Reports on Foreign Crops. 



249 



Crops in India. 



The final general memorandum on the wheat crop of 

 1896-97 was issued on the 5th June, 1897. As regards Central 

 and Western India, the situation remained substantially 

 unaltered from what it was at the time ot the March 

 memorandum. In Berar and the Nizam's territory the crop 

 had been a failure, and the information obtained from Central 

 India was incomplete, but in the Central Provinces and Bombay 

 the estimated out-turn represented about half an average crop. 

 In the Panjab and the North- Western Provinces the late 

 spring rains caused an extension of sowing and greatly 

 benefited the crop, both on dry and irrigated ; lands ; while 

 in Bengal the final estimate of the yield was somewhat better 

 than the forecast made three months earlier. 



The failure of the autumn rains caused - an extension ot 

 irrigation in the North-Western . Provinces, Panjab and 

 Sind, with beneficial results, and it is noticed that in portions 

 of the North-Western Provinces wheat, being the more 

 paying crop, was sown instead of gram, as the expense of 

 irrigation seemed inevitable in the case of either crop, while 

 in Bengal and Bombay some late sowings of wheat were 

 made to replace rice or cotton that had already failed through 

 drought. In Rajputana, on the other hand, previous 

 experience of a succession of bad wheat harvests induced 

 some cultivators to substitute gram for wheat. 



The total area and yield of the season, so far as returns 

 had been received, compare as follows with those of the 

 preceding year and average ; but no information had been 

 obtained with respect to some of the important wheat- 

 growing states in Central India :— 



Area in acres. 



Yield in tons. 



Average of five years 



ending 1894-95 



1895- 96 



1896- 97 



- 26,735,884 



- 23,242,171 



- 18,002,091 



6,925,-830 

 5,510,965 

 4,760,521 



The following table shows the area and yield for each 

 province compared with last year, and an average of the 



