PIPER A CEjE. 187 



raising tlie water eats up tlie greater part of tlie profits. The 

 betle-leaf, it is said, cannot be grown from channel water, whicli 

 is very cold. After the site has been chosen, the next j)oint is 

 to fence it from cattle^ thieves, and strong winds. First is an 

 outer line {kumpan) of substantial wicker-work, split bamboos, 

 Zizyphus twigs, or other pliable material. Inside of this fence 

 is a thick milk-bush hedge.* Then comes a belt of the large 

 castor plant, and last of all, a row of plantains. The garden is 

 laid out in an invarying pattern. The whole, crosed by water 

 channels and roads, forms beds of different shapes and sizes. 

 Each bed, known by a particular name, such as the cheritang^ 



^/ 



garden 



be calculated with great nicety. After the ground has been 

 laid out and properly levelled, tree seeds are sown for the vines 

 to train on. Round the edge of each bed is a line of shevri{Ses^ 

 hania (egt/ptiaca)^ and in the centre from two to three feet apart, 

 the seeds oihadga (Seshama grandiflora) andpanr/am (En/thrma 



(Meiia 



from four to six feet apart, sinsrle seed 



In addition to these, thejyopai 



{Oarlca Papaya), singly, and plantains in pairs are dotted about, 

 according to the amount of shade required. These seeds are 

 sown in the first week in June {mriga nakshafra), and after 

 that, hand- weeding and watering every eight days is all that is 



wanted 



up to the end of December {pushy a nahshatra)^ when 

 the nurse-trees are eighteen inches to two feet high, or large 

 enough for planting the vines. From the tops of the best ripened 

 shoots, in the old plantations, seven-inch 



cuttinjjs 



They are first made into small bundles, wrapped in plantain 

 leaves, soaked in the water they have been accustomed to 

 carried to the new plantation, soaked in the now water, and all but 

 the tips buried in the ground. For some time water is given 

 daily; later on oace in two days ; and afterwards, except durin 





the hot months when it is given every other day, once in six 

 days. From each unburied tip a shoot springs. When they 

 are a few inches long, the shoots are led up the st ems of the 



* Euphorbia neriifolia. 



