The Indian Wheat Trade. 
fall in price. That tliis statement is true may easily be proved 
in relation to the wheat-supply of America, the country which 
has gained most of all countries from the saving in expenses 
referred to. 
The average " farm value " of wheat in that country, as 
stated by the Department of Agriculture, is outside the fluc- 
tuations of cost of transport, and the average farm value of a 
bushel of wheat in America fell from 119-o cents in 1881, or 
from an average of 102 cents for the five years ending with 1881, 
to 68'7 cents in 1886. Besides, decrease in the cost of production 
and transport only affects prices, in the case of a commodity like 
wheat at vlhj rate, by increasing supplies, and supplies in the 
United States during the last eight years have been growing 
smallei', while the population has increased by more than eleven 
and a half millions. In fact, the American acreage, produce, 
and exports of wheat have all decreased. As this statement has 
an important bearing upon the effect of Indian wheat supplies 
upon prices, it is desirable to show its bases in figures. Below 
I give the acreage, produce, and exports for the last eight years 
in two periods of four years each, with the explanation that the 
exports are for the financial years ending June 30, while the 
other figures are for the calendar years named : — 
Area, Produce, and Exports of Wheat, United States. 
Year 
Area 
ProJuce 
Exports 
1883 
Total first i years . . 
Average 
37,986J17 
37,709,020 
37,067,194 
36,457,593 
Bushels 
498,549,868 
380,280,090 
504,185,470 
421,086,100 
Bushels 
180,934,478 
186,475,251 
122,597,997 
148,785,696 
1,804,101,588 
638,793,422 
37,305,131 
451,025,397 
159,698,355 
1885 
Total last 4 years . . 
Average . . . . 
39,475,885 
34,189,246 
36,806,184 
37,400,000 
512,765,000 
357,112,000 
457,218,000 
450,000,000 
111,636,302 
132,851,835 
94,913,395 
153,804,929 
1,777,095,000 
493,206,461 
36,967,804 
444,273,750 
123,301,615 
The exports, it is scarcely necessary to state, are not those 
from the crops given side by side with them, but in each case 
from the crop of the preceding year. That of course does not 
affect my object, which is simply to show the totals and averages 
for the last eight years, and there are no statistics showing 
