46 
On the Conditions of Wlieat-Orowing in India. 
" Natives prefer for ordinary con3umption the hard glutinous varieties to 
the soft white varieties, which are principally in demand for the English 
market. Before the commencement of the annual drain of wheat to Bomhay, 
soft wheat of the kind known as pissi was held in very low estimation, and 
commanded a price which ruled from 8 to 10 per cent, lower than that of 
the hard kathia variety. Now its price is at least 12 per cent, higher than 
that of kathia. In old days it was no uncommon stipulation of a plough- 
man contracting for service that he should not have to eat pissi wheat more 
than twice a week. Now a ploughman who demanded it twice would 
certainly not receive it. Pissi wheat is grown on lighter land than kathia, 
and it is reported from both Saugor and Narsinghpur that the value of light 
land has risen in considerably larger proportion than that of heavy land, in 
consequence of the request in which ^nssi wheat now stands for the Bombay 
market." 
7. Madras, Mysore, and Hyderabad. 
It is impossible to deal with these provinces in detail. The 
wheat of Madras is of little importance. According to the last 
returns there were only 30,275 acres under that crop. There 
are no returns of wheat in Coorg, but in Berar there were 
808,515 acres under wheat in 1886, and in the Nizam's 
dominions wheat is also cultivated to a considerable extent. 
Berar wheat resembles in many respects that of Bombay and 
the Central Provinces, and it would, therefore, not seem desirable 
to practically repeat what has already been written. 
8. Bengal, Assam, and Burma. 
There is no wheat grown in Lower Burma. We have seen 
wheat being cultivated, to a small extent, in the Native State of 
Manipur — a small territory between Burma and Assam. It is, 
therefore, possible that wheat may even now be grown in Upper 
Burma to some extent, but we have no definite information. 
There is not the slightest reason, however, if cultivators could 
be induced to settle in Upper Burma, but that a rival to Russia 
and America might appear of which the world is ignorant at 
present. A small amount of wheat is grown in Assam, but 
only for home use — none has as yet been exported from that 
province. The same remark might almost apply to the greater 
part of Lower Bengal. A limited amount is annually grown 
in the basins of the rivers, upon flat, periodically enriched lands, 
but the amount is inconsiderable. In the upper portions of 
Bengal, however, or the districts bordering on Behar, and in 
Behar itself, the area under wheat is very considerable. 
A long and instructive report has recently been issued by 
the Bengal Agi-icultural Department, from which wo gather the 
area under wlieat to be : — 
