INDIAN WHEAT PRODUCTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1963, 6 October 1888, Page 3

INDIAN WHEAT PRODUCTION.

Some of the English agricultural journals seem to think that the great influx of wheat from India cannot oontinne. Among others of this opinion a writer m the " Field " hta discussed the question exhaustively, and the conclusions dcawn by him apparently justify the Engllih farmer m hoping that a permanent rise In ,he prioe of wheat will ensue ere loop;, sufficient at least to prevent land going oat of cultivation. It would Beem thore ii a system of exhaustive cropping m India as well as m Amerioa and m the Austcallas, snd that owing to the absence of manurir g, the deterioration of the soil is rapidly proceeding and the area of soil that Is allowed to rest is becoming smaller and smaller. The "Agricultural Eoonomht/' m commenting upon this question, re* marks th»t " the enormous Increase m the production of Indian wheat is due m the first place to the powers that be ia patent from the faot that formerly the farmers of the State land were required to pay their State rent m kind, chiefly grain ; but now the rent Is demanded m money, and the farmer (a consequently foroed to place m the market a much larger qaantity of grain to raise that money than he did nnder the old system of paying In kind, The effect the change has had may be readily jadged when reduced to figures. Rents for State land vary from 2s for unirrlgated to 6a for irrigated land per acre, and at this low rate the State rent In India annually exceeds £22,000.000. The population of India is increasing at the rate of 4,000,000 per annum, the average population per square mile ia 178, and m the wheat provinoes 400, and looking at these facts, it Is apparent the export of wheat from India is not likely to be increased or even maintained on the present scale for any length of time."