PROPAGATION IN SOUTH INDIA 



ditches placed at intervals between the rows of trees, for although the 



i rcijuin-s H perennial supply of moisture at no great depth in the 



subsoil, it is keenly susceptible of being waterlogged." " In topes exclu- 



\- apportioned to the areca-nut, the planting is mostly too close ; 1,200 



">00 trees being allotted to the acre, exclusive of the banana trees." 



A full-yrown tree is calculated to produce 250 to 300 nuts annually." 



.Mr. I . B. Murti, in his Lecture on the Cultivation of Betel-nut in the 

 < Jcxliivari district, says a man owning a plantation of 3 acres is considered 

 rich. The plantations contain mangoes, plantains, cocoa-nuts, jack- 

 fruit, oranges, pomegranates, and these form a fringe around and also 

 lines within, but areca-nuts are planted 10 to 12 years after the rows of 

 other fruit trees have been established. Seed-nuts are selected specially 

 1 1 Din trees over 50 years of age because these form few but exceptionally 

 nuts. It is believed that such nuts ensure timely sprouting and 

 stcadv L'rowth of the future tree. The details of the nursery, of the trans- 

 planting, etc., followed in Godavari are similar to those already fully 

 discussed. The harvest season is generally in the months of August, 

 September and the first half of October. 



Burma. Mr. G. G. Collins has recently published the following brief 

 account of the cultivation of Betel-nuts in Toungoo : " The Toungoo 

 district is noted for its cultivation of and trade in the betel-palm. This 

 is confined almost entirely to the Karen tracts lying in the Kanni (Leitho), 

 Tantabin, Kyaukkyi and Shwegyin townships east of the Sittang river." 



" The gardens are formed particularly on the lower slopes of the hills 

 which form the eastern boundary of the district and from which run the 

 numerous streams that drain to the Sittang. The cultivated area covers 

 at intervals a course of some 200 miles from North to South. The produce 

 of the trees varies with the locality ; a fair average may be 100 per tree, 

 but as many as 400 to 600 nuts have been obtained from one palm." 

 " The cultivators of the betel-palm also grow oranges, many to a large 

 extent, and the trade in both products in this district is very large. The 

 price of the betel-nut at the gardens after drying varies from Rs. 80 to 

 Rs. 100, and at the market town from Rs. 100 to Rs. 140 per 100 viss 

 (viss=3-651b.). 



Diseases and Pesta. It may have been inferred that in the chief Indian 

 area of production, viz. the Gangetic delta, the plant is cultivated on flat inter- 

 fluvial tracts very little raised above inundation level, and has practically no 

 labour bestowed on it during the half century or more that it continues to yield 

 fruit. In other parts of India the palm is grown under a high state of cultivation 

 with much attention and money devoted to it. These two extremes utter neglect 

 and careful treatment should manifest, and perhaps naturally, widely different 

 conditions of disease. Butler, in a paper on Some Diseases of Palms (Agri. 

 Journ. Ind., i., pt. iv., 299-310), observes that fungus diseases are fortunately 

 rare though a few have appeared in recent years, each apparently confined 

 to a particular part of the country. He then gives details of the diseases 

 found on the betel-nut palms of the Malnad district of Mysore and of Sylhet in 

 Eastern Bengal. It would appear that in the former locality a fungal disease 

 is known as kole roga or black rot, but that "up to the present it has not been 

 found elsewhere and, as it does not appear to have extended much during the 

 it has been observed, it is probably favoured by the special climatic con- 

 ditions of the locality where it occurs." Butler is of opinion that the disease 

 in question is caused by a fungus of the genus Phutophthora. The reader should 

 consult the original paper for all necessary details. The practical aspects may 

 be here summarised. The sporangia require to fall into water to ensure their 

 full propagation, and hence the spread of the disease is closely dependent on con- 

 ditions of moisture and rainfall. The disease originates on the flowering and 



87 



ARECA 



CATECHU 



Cultivation 



DUUnoe put. 

 Yield. 



Profitable. 



.-'l'-.-tj,,n 'it 



Seed. 



Cultivation in 

 Burma. 



Locality. 



Yield. 



Price. 



Diseases 

 and Pests. 



Fungal. 

 Mysore. 



Black Rot. 



Mi.i-tt;rr. 



