1 
10 On the .Conditions of Wfieat-Gi-owing in India. ] 
rice, as the case may be, raised to the important position as- ' 
signed by the European farmer as elements in the rotation. 
That there exists a wide range in the races of Indian wheat is 
well known ; and this may be relied on as a substantial evidence ] 
of an ancient cultivation. i 
Influences of a perfectly natural character have, during the i 
past twenty-one years, been operating favourably to the wheat ] 
trade — have, in fact, been developing every branch of India's i 
foreign commerce. Some of the more important of these may I 
be here exhibited, i 
TJie Area of the Indian T^mpire extends to 1,382,624 square I 
miles. This embraces hills and plains which possess the cli- j 
mates and soils of the world. The portion known as British ( 
India has an area of 868,314 square miles. The area of Russia ] 
in Europe exceeds that of India by about 700,000 square miles. j 
The Population of India is rapidly increasing. The last , 
census gave the total for all India as 253 millions. Russia in I 
Europe stands at 88 millions, or considerably less than half the ' 
population of British India. 
The Density of Population to the square mile for India col- ' 
lectively is 184 persons, for Russia 40. The mass of the people j 
is, however, crowded into the Gangetic basin. ^ 
Taking' one province of British India by way of illustration — the 
North- West — this has a population of forty-four millions. It possesses a 
density of 403, or, approximately, twice as many human beings to every 
square mile as occur in the German empire, three times as many as in 
France, four times as many as in Scotland, five times as many as in Spain, 
and twelve times as many as in Rxissia. ' 
The ArjrimUural Area of India. — About 600 million acres 
of British India have been more or less surveyed — that is, con- 
siderably less than half the area of geographical India. The ! 
returns published do not embrace the whole surveyed region, | 
but there are certain facts shown that are of vital importance. | 
From 150 to 199 million acres are cultivated, including a mean : 
of twenty million acres of normal fallow land. The actual area 
of cultivation fluctuates from year to year according to necessity. ( 
Close upon 100 million acres are returned as land available for i 
cultivation, and about the same amount as land not available i 
for cultivation, including 38 milKon acres under forest. ' 
The table opposite shows in a summary form all the more \ 
important agricultural statistics of British India. i 
In spite of its " teeming millions " and its rapidly increasing ' 
population, little more than two-thirds of the surveyed cultiv- | 
able portion of India have as yet been ploughed. If to this we i 
add the fallow lauds which a more scientific agriculture would 
perhaps bring under crops, and if we take into consideration 
I 
