March 1897.] 



EEPOKTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



385 



Wheat Crop of India. 



According to the general memorandum on the wheat crop of 

 the season 1896-97 issued by the Government of India on 

 the 24th December last, the failure of the autumn rains every- 

 where prevented the preparation of land for wheat and interfered 

 with sowings except on irrigated land. There has, in conse- 

 quence, been a contraction of the area under wheat, greatest in 

 Central and Western India, but large also in Northern India. 

 Prospects appeared very bad until the third week of November, 

 when some rain fell which improved the condition of the stand- 

 ing crops in some degree, and permitted additional land to be 

 sown. At the date of the memorandum the prospects of the 

 growing crop weiv good, better in Northern India than elsewhere, 

 but the usual winter rains were anxiously looked for. 



The subjoined paragraphs summarise the reports which had 

 been received : — 



In the Panjab the area estimated to have been placed under 

 wheat up to the end of November was 5,346,700 acres. This is 

 upwards of a million and a half acres, or 22 per cent, less than 

 the area finally estimated to have been placed under wheat last 

 year, and that area was itself a little under the average. 

 Sowings, however, were still proceeding. 



In the North- Western Provinces and Oudh the area sown was 

 reported to be 30 per cent, below the average. The average is 

 about 4| millions of acres, and consequently the area put under 

 wheat in these provinces would seem to be about 3J millions of 

 acres. The area cropped last year, which was also a poor year, 

 approximated to 3f millions of acres. 



In both the Panjab and the North- Western Provinces the 

 conditions were very similar. The early cessation of the monsoon 

 rains interfered with sowing generally except on irrigated lands, 

 and prospects appeared to be of the worst until some rain in the 

 third week of November helped the crop already sown and 

 permitted of additional sowings. In the restricted area on which 

 wheat is being grown prospects were on the whole good, 

 especially on irrigated land, but the position depended upon the 

 presence or absence of the usual winter rains. 



In the Central Provinces the seasonal conditions which 

 affected the sowing of wheat in Northern India had operated 

 with even greater intensity. The area sown is estimated not to 

 exceed If millions of acres, a figure which contrasts unfavourably 

 with the bad season of 1895-96, when over 2\ millions of acres 

 were sown, the average of preceding years having been four 

 millions. The decline is most marked in the northern districts 

 and in Chattisgarh. In the rest of the provinces the area sown 

 is from 65 to 75 per cent, of the average. In these provinces, 

 as in Northern India, the rain which fell in November was very 

 useful, and the prospects of the standing crops were in the main 

 fair to good, but the winter rains were wanted. 



