CABBAGE, CAULIFLOWER, ETC. 



BRA8SICA 



Rape 



K.il Kal.i, Mustard, Rape, Savov < 'al'lmge, Turnip, etc. There are 



iltlv nearly 100 species, a good many of \vlii h an- cultivated, \\ith 



under these perhaps as many more races or special forms <1 by 



inner- and <:ardeiiers of the world. They are all native- of tin- north 



temperate xi IIH-S. hut pass into the tropics as cold-season crops. There 



would appi-ar to have been t hree great centres of production a European, 



un Oriental ami a ( 'hini-si-. The present review of Indian information 



ended to set forth the leading commercial facts n-L-anlinu tin- more 



important plants, viz. the Mustards and Rapes, and can, therefore, only 



incidentally indicate the other species. 



In th<- Dictionary (1884) it was urged that from an agricultural point of view 

 forms may be referred to three important sections: (a) Saraon, 

 and (c) Rat. The information given in that work was essentially a 

 lut in, and in no sense a report of personal investigations. Since that date, 

 1. D. I'rain while Curator of the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Cal- 

 cutta, was able to devote much attention to the study of the Bengal cultivated 

 lit- had sent to him seeds of the mustards, etc., grown in practically every 

 t if that pro\ ince. These he specially cultivated at Sibpur, and was thus 

 1'iuililed to study the plants critically, from germination to harvest. As a result 

 ililishod a very comprehensive report of his investigations, illustrated by 

 plates and two maps. [Cf. Agri. Ledg., 1898, No. 1.] By a comparison 

 li Duthie and Fuller's account of the species met with in the Upper Provinces 

 mid Garden Crops) and other such publications, it would seem that what 

 has said of Bengal is, in the main, applicable to the whole of India. But 

 following up Prain's studies, Dr. W. Kinzel, of the Agricultural Station at 

 line, nas furnished the results of microscopic and chemical studies of authenti- 

 seeds supplied to him by Prain. [Cf. Die Landwirtsch. V zrauchs-Stationen, 

 ., 169-93, transl. and republished in Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 7.] It has thus been 

 idered possible, through the combined labours of Prain and Kinzel, to identify 

 5 Indian rapes and mustards with a degree of assurance not hitherto admissible. 

 I'ntil such personal investigations had been made it was not to be wondered 

 that numerous ambiguities, due to faith having been too implicitly placed 

 i vernacular names, should have disfigured the literature of the subject, 

 lin expressly tells us that the rai of one district may be the tori of another, 

 the saraon of a third. " Although often, perhaps indeed usually, rigidly 

 jugh applied within a given district, Native names are worse than useless 

 ii i hey are depended on to yield information regarding another group of 

 iricts." This is doubtless true, but is perhaps due more to the ignorance or 

 elessness of the contributors of samples than to the cultivators of the plants. 

 writer is fortunate who, like Prain, may be able to analyse Native opinion 

 the light of authentic specimens. It is most satisfactory, therefore, that 

 literature of this hitherto very obscure subject has been placed on a rational 

 " Practically," says Prain, " there are but three mustards cultivated in 

 iar and Bengal. These three constitute the familiar Rai, Saraon, and Tori 

 Each one of the three varies within its own limits to a greater or less 

 ent : none of them shows the slightest tendency to pass from one to another, 

 far, at least, as the Lower Provinces are concerned, the existence of anything 

 the nature of a form intermediate between Rai and Sarson, Rai and Tori, or 

 between the more closely allied Sarson and Tori, is wholly imaginary." 

 iany of the errors that have been made by botanists would seem to have arisen 

 from greater faith having been put on the study of dried herbarium specimens 

 than on practical knowledge and experience of the living plants. So also the 

 aciation of the Indian with the European forms has led to confusion. Prain 

 srdingly concludes his most admirable paper as follows : "As regards the 

 itionsnip that our three staple mustard-oil crops bear to the corresponding 

 Dps in Europe, it may be tentatively held : 



"(1) That Rai (*< junren) is a crop not grown in Europe, at any 

 rate on a commercial scale, but that it takes the place here of H. nigra and 

 ii. mini, which in turn are not grown in India; 



" (2) That Saraon (B. -ijiifrJ. var. sni-Hon) is a crop not grown largely, 

 if at all, in Europe, but that in India it takes the place both of . raini'fti-in. 

 oar. olfi/k-i-ti, and . rj, uar. /,/(. which in turn are hardly ever met with 

 Lere : finally, 



175 



Recent 



Chemical and 



Microscopic 



Studies. 



Vernacular 

 Ambiguities. 



No intermediate 

 Forms. 



Indian vtrttu 



European 



Forms. 



