WHEAT CULTIVATION IN INDIA.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 107, 20 June 1885, Page 7

WHEAT CULTIVATION IN INDIA.

«. An important memorandum showing ' the area under wheat cultivation has just been received from the Agricultural De- i partment of the Indian Government. The total number of acre3 for the whole of India was in 1881-2, 26,782,123 acres, and in 1882-5, 20,674.720 acres, or a falling-ofE of more than 100,000 .-wres. Wheat is very little grown in j Madras, Ajmere, Assam, and Bengal, except Behar. The average gross production of these 26 million acres is seven million tons. There is an extraordinary diversity of con litions nnder wuich wheat is grown. In the !N or th- West Provinces and parts of the Punj-vub, manure and frequent watering are thought essential to secure a go>»\ crop. In the Northern districts of the Punjaub the winter rains obviate in a great measure the necessity for irrigation, while in the Mooltan country and in Scinde the wheat crop depends on inundation canals drawn from the snow- fed rivers. In Rajpoontana what little irrigation exists is obtained from tanks and catchment basins, and the finest crops are sometimes seen in the dried-up beds of these reservoirs In Central India and the Central Piovinces and parts of Bombay the inoisture-holding cotton soil which everywhere predominates, and a heavier rainfall, enables the cultivator to dispense with irrigation. The cultivation is in these tracts far less careful in character than in Northern India, and both the cost of produ« fciou and the out- ! turn is less. In 1883-4 the exports ty rail from Punjnub alone amounted to more than five million maunds, showing an increase of more than one million over those of 1^82-3. More than^ huif this quantity was sent to Scinde, and Bombay took nearly a third, leavonly a Very small amount for othei' places. The amount that goes to Calcutta is inaignificant in comparison with what is sent to Bombay and Karrachee The Duputy Commissioner at fcukkur states that he is unable to account for the co'nsidereble increase of wheat which went down the Indus from the PuuJAub. Similar progress is also reported in Oude and the North -West Provinces, where the exports rose in the year from 4,599,140 maunds to 7,997,924 inaunds. More than three- fourths of this cpmntity finds its way to Calcutta, but chiefly as an outlet to places beyond. A wheat trade is also springing up with Nepuul and Tibet, from which important results I may yet spring. The Central Provinces, ! Bombay, Scimfe, Madras and Berar are described in succession. In conclusion, | we need only «ay that of the tn'illkm tons [ of wheat exported England takes exactly one half, while the other half (excepting a small quantity sent to Africa, &c ) finds its way to the Coutinent of Europe. — Times.