196 
in on the ridge as in the States. The standing crop is weeded, 
ed 
ground in October or November, the crop is not removed until 
July or August, though the nuts are ready to be eaten green 
in April. 
In India care is taken to get the soil into a good state of tilth, 
and as in the United States lime is regarded as a valuable manure. 
Subba Rao (/.c., p. 226) says that silt containing lime to the 
extent of 22 per cent. was applied at the rate of 100 cart-loads per 
cre when the land of certain villages was first brought under 
ground-nuts, and afterwards at intervals of a few ears. Animal 
manure is regarded as beneficial only when applied to the preceding 
crop. Ashes are largely used, at the rate of 10 to 30 cartloads 
per acre a cart-load being about a ton. Indigo refuse is rarely 
used. 
dis 
shelled before sowing, but this is not always done, for sometimes 
one-seeded pods are picked out and sown. Shelling is done if 
possible not more than five days before sowing, and requires 
great care in order not to injure the seeds. Wom erform the 
task, and the price paid for shelling for seed is thrice that for 
shelling for commercial purposes. 
Sowing on unirrigated land is done between the middle of May 
and the middle of August, but chiefly between mid-June and 
mid-August. On irrigated lands the sow oes not as a rule 
commence till August and is continued till October. The 
is ays sown thickly, 90 or even as much as 112 lbs 
going to the acre. The seed is sown in the furrows made in 
ploughing, is always hoed in, and the fields watched against the 
depredations of jackals, crows, &c. It is hoed by hand during 
growth, and watered in January or earlier if ne ssary. In one 
place it is the custom to trample down the stems to bring them 
nearer to the soil 
© Crop matures six months after sowing; the haulms, if 
forage is scarce be then grazed or cut for fodder, or the land 
. 
dug up and the ground-nuts plucked, it is said that the seed 
will not be good for sowing though good enough for other 
_ teavy rain at the time of harvest causes the seeds to germinate 
in the pods and great damage to the crop, including the hay. 
labour-saving device which may injure the pods is in use in 
Fome Parts on irrigated ground. The ground, which must be 
