TODDY (TARI) PALM 



III. Hi.. | HIP tapping for rat does not injure the wood, as in the case of tlm 

 aim. siiict- it is only necessary to bruise the flownr-ntulk and to cnwh the 

 \oung H.IU. r i>r fruit \\iihin. ami with this object slices, of tin- -(..itln- are made 



in HIM ssiiHi. An art In-rn [..it. into which tin* n tied 



.IP I nf i In- -lump, and if th juice is to be drunk fresh the pot is coated with 

 limo inside in <mlcr in prevent fcnm-nt at i. m. The Palmyra continues to yield sap 

 at tho rati- uf three or four quarts a day for four or five months. It begins to 

 .vlii-n al)out tifteen to twenty years old and goes on for about fifty years, 

 iuit on.-i in three years tin- o|-mt i-Mi must be discontinued or the tree would 

 riu> fornale tree yields about half as much sap again as the male. Tho juico 

 (her in sugar than that of most other palms ; it is said that three quarto of 

 will make one pound of jaggery, which (from canes or palms) is the sugar 

 lly used by tho poor people of India. The sweetness of Burmese bread seems 

 depend on the use of toddy-juice to raise it. 



The extent to which the spirituous liquor is employed may be judged 

 from the fact that at one time the Bombay Government became so alarmed 

 at tin- excessive consumption of arak in Surat that they ordered large numbers 

 IM useful palm to be destroyed. In this connection it is interesting to 

 observe that Fryer, who visited Surat in 1673, mentions that on drawing near 

 roadstead they saw groves of Brab-trees, from which the Parsis made a 

 " wine akin to Toddy." This wine the sailors drank, and the result was perpetual 

 disturbances of the peace. The plentifulness of the toddy resulted in the 

 district being overrun by "soldiers and seamen of the Moors." The tree 

 TS in March ,- the young fruits are formed in April and May and matured 

 July and August. Within the shell of the young fruit there is a jelly-like 

 which is eventually transformed and deposited as a hard albumen. The 

 jelly and soft albuminous layers are often eaten fresh in April-May, or cut 

 into small pieces and flavoured with sugar and rose-water. The seed within 

 dbumen is also eaten, being sold in Bengal under the name talsans. In 

 July and August the ripe fruits are gathered and the succulent mesocarp is 

 scraped off to be made into small flat cakes called p&tdli. The nuts within are 

 found to be solid and almost unbreakable, but after being buried for two or three 

 months they germinate, and the young seedlings are eaten as a vegetable or are 

 pickled. In The Agricultural Ledger will be found an account of the way in 

 ' Vh these shoots (dantalds) are regularly grown as a vegetable crop. The nuts 

 planted as close together as possible, being laid on the surface of a prepared 

 -bed in June-July. The crop is dug about four months later. About 50 fruits 

 are planted to the square yard, and these may produce 100 or more dantalds. In 

 ap year the gross value of a crop per acre at ordinary market rates would be 

 about Rs. 1,800, rising in a dearer season to Rs. 3,000. The vegetable, which is 

 >ed before being sold, is eaten chiefly by Kolis and low-class people. The 

 nut itself is usually broken open and the embryo cooked or eaten dry or after it 

 has been converted into a flour not unlike tapioca. [Cf. Paulus ASgineta (Adams, 

 transl. and Comment.), iii., 439 ; Baber, Memoirs (Leyden and Erskine, transl.), 

 \\-ll : Ain-i-Akbari, 1590, 70; P. della Valle, Trav. Ind. (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 291 ; 

 Fryer, Voy. E. Ind., 1693, 76; Rheede, Hort. Mai., 1686, i., tt. 9, 10; Jones, As. 

 Res., 1795, iv., 311; Ferguson, The Palmyra Palm, Colombo, 1850; Taylor, Topog. 

 Stat. Dacca, 1840, 61 ; Hoey, Monog. Trade and Manuf. N. Ind., 1880, 190; Bidie, 

 Cafe. Exh. Cat., 1884; Nicholson, Man. Coimbatore Dist., 1887, 39, 40, 240; Fer- 

 guson, All about Aloe and Ramie Fibre, 1890, 79 ; Trop. Agri., Nov. 1892 ; 

 Symonds, Agri. Bull. Madras, 1892, No. 25; Morris, Cantor Lect., Journ. Soc. 

 Arts, Oct. 18, 1895, 930 ; Kanny Lall Dey, Indig. Drugs Ind., 1896, 49-50; Planter, 

 April 24, 1897; Symonds, Ind. Agri., July 1, 1898, 217 ; Kew Bull. (add. ser., ii.), 

 1898, 238 ; Sadebeck. Die Kulturgew der Deut. Kolon., 1899, 7, 20-3, 313; Rept. 

 on Settl. Myingyan Dist., Burma, 1899-1901, 38-40 ; Nisbet, Burma Under Brit. 

 Rule and Before, 1901, i., 366 ; Rev. des Cult. Colon., 1901, ix., 231 ; Imp. Inst. 

 Handbook, 1903, No. 12; Joret, Lea PI. dans L'Antiq., 1904, ii., 298-9.] 



BORAX 



Sohaga 

 or Tinkal 



Uwof Lira*. 

 Yield of Tdri. 



Proportion of 



Arak or 

 Palm Spirit. 



Bdttria 



Albumen. 



Vegetable and 

 Pickle! 



BORAX or SODIUM BI-BORATE; Hall. Man. Econ. (VW. D.B.P., 

 Ind., 1881, pt. iii., 498-9 ; Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 5, 132-4 ; Min. Indust., * 504 1L 

 1900, 57-9 ; Holland, Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1905, xxxii., 99-101. This salt Borax, 

 is known in India under an extensive series of vernacular names such as 

 sohdgd, tinkdl, annabedi, kuddia khdr, tankankhdr, venkaram, velligaram, 



171 



