APPENDTX, ■ ]43 



Upper Burma first commenced. The high price of kernels througli- 

 oiit the season was no doubt the main cause of the falling off, but it 

 is noticeable that there was a considerable decrease in 1891, when 

 both nuts and oil were comparatively cheap. The average number 

 of casks shipped yearly from 1887 to 1390, both inclusive, was 18,068, 

 as compared with 16,390 for 1891 and 1892, The average quota- 

 tions of the oil, for the same periods, were Rs. 59 and Rs. 70, 

 respectively, per French candy of 529 lbs. The trade with Calcutta, 

 the Straits and Coast ports shows no signs of improvemeutj while 

 Mauritius and Bourbon figures remain pretty much the same as in 

 former years- The ground-nut oil trade — at least so far as its con- 

 sumption is concerned — is an enigma* In Bourbon and Penang, 

 where Indians monopolise the labour markets, very little of this 

 generally indispensable culinary article is used, while in both Upper 

 and Lower Burma the consumption is enormous, although the Indian 

 population is, comparatively, very much less than it is in the' former 

 colonies. We must assume that the native Burmese is the better 

 customer of the two. The price of the oil has risen in greater pro- 

 portion than that of ground-nuts. In 1875 the highest quotation 

 w^as Rs. 49 per candy and the lowest Rs. 32-12-0, when in 1892 

 the rates were Rs. 86-8-0 and Rs. 69, respectively. As in the case 

 of the kernels — which are grown almost exclusively on British soil 

 the great bulk of the ground-nut oil shipped at Pondicherry is 

 manufactured in English territory, the village of Valavanur, a 

 station on the Pondicherry- Villapuram Railway, supplying the 

 greater part. The trade is entirely in the hands of native operators. 

 The approximate value of last year's shipments may be taken at llj 

 lakhs of rupees. For the current year the prospects are, so far, 

 encouraging. In spite of the high pnces of the kernels, the ship- 

 ments from the 1st January to the 31st March amounted to 3,923 

 casks, as compared with an average of 3,888 casks for the same period 

 dimng the preceding four years. The average price was Rs. 7:^,140 

 per candy, the highest Rs. 79-8-0, and the lowest Rs. 65-8-0, against 

 Rs. 67-5^0, Rs. 83-8-0, and Rs, 58-12-0, respectively. {Madras 

 Ma il, ) 



Crotalaria paniculata. 



Dr. Mootoosawmy, in March 1890, sent a specimen of this plant 

 for identification. It is used as a fish poison in Tanjore and other 

 places in Southern India, and is known by the Tamil name 



