ON PHYTOPHTHORA PARASITICA NOV. SPEC. 

 A NEW DISEASE OF THE CASTOR OIL PLANT. 



BY 



JEHANGIR FARDUNJI DASTUR, B.Sc, 



LIB! 



First Assistant to the Imperial Mycologist. 



. 



Introduction. >**«, 



The castor oil plant (Ricinus communis, L.), a native of India, 

 according to some botanists and according to others a native of 

 Abyssinia and Tropical Africa, is largely cultivated on account of its 

 multifarious uses not only in India, but also in South United States, 

 Southern Africa, Tropical Africa, Algeria, Sicily, Southern France, 

 Brazil, Java, West Indies and other tropical and subtropical regions. 

 In India and elsewhere the castor oil plant is generally grown as 

 a field-border and as a mixed crop but rarely as a sole crop. 

 The plant is extensively cultivated in Surat, Ahmedabad, Dharwar 

 and Belgaum in the Bombay Presidency. In the United Provinces 

 castor is more or less grown everywhere, especially in Allahabad, 

 where it occupies as a sole crop about 1,200 to 1,300 acres, chiefly 

 along the banks of the Jumna. In the Madras Presidency it is 

 widely in cultivation, especially in Salem and Bellary. In Bengal 

 not much castor is to be found. In Assam it is never cultivated as 

 a chief crop but in almost every ryot's garden small areas are allot- 

 ted to it. The products of the castor oil plant, on account of their 

 varied uses in industry, agriculture and the arts, are of great econo- 

 mic importance. The oil obtained from its seed, the castor oil of 

 commerce, is in great demand. Though a large part of India's 

 produce is locally consumed, still in the year 1910-11 India exported 

 1,203,007 gallons of the oil, worth Rs. 1,690,455 and 2,148,033 cwts. 



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