285 



Fresh seeds of healthv plants, selected witli due care, need no 

 such treatment: thev i^erminate very readily, provided the soil is 

 kept moist by rain or, in case of dry weather, by one or two water- 

 ings aft^r sowing. 



On a plot sown with quite fresh seeds on the 30th March last, 

 all the plants showed their seminal leaves on the 6th of April and 

 on the 10th April, the second pair of leaves was already lout. 



After o-ermination, no more watering need be gi^-^n, except in 

 the case of a'ctual drouo-ht. No further care is recpured except weed- 

 ino- and keeping a good look-out for caterpillars which, if they are^ 

 not' kept down bv hand-picking or by insecticide sprayings (kero- 

 sine and soap emnlsion) are likely, as already stated, to cause great 

 damage to the leaves, and, in the case of Dichorrocvs punchferah^ 

 to the young flowering spikes. 



The Castor-plant can })e cultivated with advantage with other 

 annual crops. Of all such crops, the writer would give the pre- 

 ference to ground-nut, Arachi^ hijpogaea, which, besides being in 

 itself a verv profitable crop, has the advantage of supplvmg to the 

 soil some of the nitrogen which the Oastor-oil plant, an exhausting 

 plant, takes out of it. ■ , i. ^^ 



The perennial Clastor-oil plant often gfows to a height ot 

 15 feet but such a heioht is a verv great drawback and adds largely 

 to the cost of harvesting, which may last for two months, in W'eekly 

 pickino-s, as the crop ripens intermittently. 



To check the growth in height, the trees should be topped at 

 an early stage so as to maintain them at a height ot 6 to 7 teet. 

 This moreover induces the formation of lateral branches which, 

 later on will throw out flowering spikes. 



It is crenerallv admitted that the Castor-oil plant exhausts the 

 .oil that "it shouhl not he cultivated twice in succession on the 

 same oround and that a period of at least two years should be allow- 

 ed between two crops. When annual varieties of i?ta/?M.s are culti- 

 vated, it is therefore necessary t» devise a scheme of rotation 

 embracing a series of quick-growing field crops to tide over the 

 interval between one crop of tlie Cftstor-plant and the next. 



Sucili a scheme should include crops adapted to similar phy- 

 sical conditions of soil, but belonging to different natural orders, 

 so as to check any undue increase of insect-pests or the spreading 

 of fungoid diseases. 



I^icmus (h-ound-nut, (iingelly. Sweet-potatoes off'er such a 

 rotation which, moreover, lias the advantage that the deep digging 

 necessitated by the harvesting ..]xM-ations in the two cases ot ground- 

 nut and sweet-potatoes, exerts a l)eneficial effect on the mechanical 

 condition of the soil, to the advantage of the following crop ot 



' An interplanted crop of groundnut has already been suggested 

 above. In this countrv, it is a four months crop which accommo- 

 dates itself well to the quality of soil suitable for the .^aftor-oi 

 plant and which under fair average conditions, especially it the land 



