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and cow-dung. These pots are then very carefully heated. The 

 turmeric is made to boil in its own juice, a process which gets rid 

 of the raw smell of turmeric. It is then dried in the sun, the dry- 

 ing taking nearly a week, during which the turmeric requires to 

 be covered in the night to protect it from dew. In some places 

 tumeric is boiled in water in which a little cow-dung is mixed." 



Of the north-west provinces. Sir E. C. Buck says : — " When 

 dug up the roots are boiled and dried in the sun ; in this form 

 they are the turmeric sold in the Indian bazaars. When the 

 dye is to be used the roots are again boiled and powdered while 

 wet. A decoction is then made of this paste in water, in which 

 the cloth is well steeped, being subsequently dried in the shade. 

 In the Kumaon district the roots are soaked in lime-juice and 

 borax before being powdered instead of being boiled." Of the 

 Punjab, Mr. Baden Powell says the tubers are taken up in 

 November and dried partly by the action of fire and partly by 

 exposure to the sun. Of Coimbatore it is reported : — The roots 

 are carefully sized and separately boiled in a mixture of cow-dung 

 and water, dried and sent to market." 



CHARACTER AND VALUE IN COMMERCE. 



There are two sorts of turmeric seen in commerce — the round 

 and the long, but both are the produce of the same plant ; the cen- 

 tral rhizomes or root-stocks constituting the round, and the lateral 

 or secondary rhizomes (r?(foT5) the long ; the latter are the more 

 abundant. The former are roundish or somewhat ovate, usually 

 from about one inch and a half to two inches in length, and one 

 inch in diameter, pointed at one end, and marked externally with 

 annular ridges. They are often found cut into halves. The latter 

 are somewhat cylindrical, more or less curved, pointed at the two 

 extremities, frequently having on their sides one or more short 

 knobs or shoots, about the thickness of the little finger, two or 

 three inches long, and marked externally with annular ridges. 

 Both sorts are yellowish externally, very hard and firm, and when 

 broken having a waxy-resinous appearance, and an orange-yellow 

 or reddish-brown colour. The powder is orange yellow. Tur- 

 meric has an aromatic taste and odour somewhat resembling gin- 

 ger, but peculiar. When chewed it tinges the saliva yellow. 



The following is a quotation from the Market Report published 

 in the Chemist and Druggist for 23rd September last : — 



"Good Madras finger has been sold at from 17s. to 17s. 6d. per 

 cwt., being steady, and Cochin split bulbs are quoted at from 

 7s. 9d. to 8s. per cwt., according to quantity." 



DYE. 



A special form of turmeric is grown for this purpose, namely 

 a harder root, much richer in the dye principle than in the ordi" 

 nary condiment form. 



The colour is only deposited in the rhizome with age, and 

 hence, in all probability, the above mentioned forms have 

 been obtained by a process of careful selection of stock 



