336 uiADELPHiA DECANDRTA. Aeschynometie. 



marked with purple dots on the outside. Winffs obovate, 

 oblong, obtuse, yellow. Keel obtuse, daggered behind. F^i- 

 laments alternately shorter, simple, and nine-cleft. Anthers 

 round, incumbent. Germ cylindric, smooth. Stigma emar- 

 ginate. Legume tending to be pendulous, from six to nine 

 inches long, linear, somewhat angular, about as thick as a 

 very slender quill, many-seeded. Seeds sub-cylindric, smooth, 

 of a light brownish colour. 



Cultivation of the Dhunchi i^\a.\\i, Aescliynomene Canna. 

 bina, Km. in Retz. Obs. v. 26. Coronilla Cannabina. Willd, 

 iii. 1148. 



The soil generally employed for this plant about Calcutta, 

 is wet and considerably lower than what is necessary for Cor- 

 chorus olitorius and capsularis, and Crotalaria juncea* 

 The preparation of the ground need not be so much attended 

 to, as the plant is hardy, and the growth so rapid, as to des- 

 troy or keep down weeds of all kinds very completely. This, 

 together with the crop being considered a meliorating one, 

 renders it advantageous, notwithstanding the cheapness of the 

 material. The time of sowing is when the soil has been mois- 

 tened with the showers Avhich fall during the storms called 

 north-toesters in May, which correspond with the tornados on 

 the west coast of Africa. About fifteen seers, or thirty pounds, 

 of seed to the acre is generally allowed, and less attention is 

 paid to the weeding than is necessary for Corchorus. In 

 September and October the crop is ready to cut, though the 

 fibre does not suffer if left standing till the seed is ripe in No- 

 vember. The process of steeping and cleaning the fibre, 

 is exactly similar to that already described for Crotalaria 

 juncea. 



The general produce of an acre is from one hundred, to one 

 thousand pounds of ill cleaned fibre; the current price some- 



* See the method of cultivating those plants in the Fourth Re- 

 port of the African Instilution and in the Transactions of the 

 Society of Arts, vol. xxii. and xxiv. 



