

THIRD IMPORTANT PULSE 



CAJANU8 



INDICUS 



Cultivation 

 Area. 



Provincial 



AP-.I. . 



Area and Production. It is impossible to form any trustworthy 

 lusions regarding the total supply of this dol in India, or of the area 

 u in It- r t he crop. Mollison speaks of 700,000 acres in the Bombay Presidency. 

 Duthic and Fuller estimate for 3 railion acres in the United Provinces 

 as partly or entirely under it. In recent Bombay official papers mention 

 I.I.- of 566,465 acres kharif and 14,024 acres rabi having been in 

 J .'5 under this crop. It is not known if these figures were worked 

 it as pure or as mixed crops. In the Season and Crop Report (1905-6), 

 5 area in the Presidency proper is said to have been 443,365 acres, 

 connection with the United Provinces we read of 2,039,692 acres, 

 subtless mixed crops, and for the Central Provinces 262,493 acres, both 

 turns being for 1902-3. In connection with Berar it has been stated 

 it for the year named there were 266,709 acres under this pulse, all 

 >\vn as kharif crops. Regarding the other provinces of India no recent 

 timates are available, so that a full statement of the area for all India 

 mot be furnished for any one year. It is placed in official statistics under 

 le heading of " Other Food-grains including Pulses," of which the total 

 : all India has, during recent years, ranged from 27 to 29 million acres. 

 Similarly particulars cannot be afforded regarding the trade in the Trade, 

 jeon-pea since it is placed under " Other sorts of Grains and Pulse." 

 [ollison says that the dry pulse sells at from 35 to 40 Ib. per rupee, and price, 

 exceptionally cheap years 50 Ib. or more to the rupee may be obtained, 

 ic official publication Prices and Wages (1906, 72-3) gives an elaborate 

 itement of the annual returns (seers per rupee) of this pulse in all 

 rovinces of India back to 1861. A further table (I.e. 122-3) re- 

 ices these to quinquennial averages, and the following are the prices 

 iven for the five years 1901-5 : Eastern Bengal and Assam, 10*8 

 era per rupee ; Bengal, 11'75 ; Agra, 12'59 ; Oudh, 13'01 ; Rajputana, 

 14-18 ; Central India, 10'32 ; Panjab and N.W. Frontier Province, 10'49 ; 

 id and Baluchistan, 9 ; Bombay, 9'56 ; Berar, 10'15 ; Central Pro- 

 vinces, 10-65 ; Nizam's Territories, 15*97 ; Mysore, 7'02 ; Upper Burma, 

 19 ; Lower Burma, 8'37 (the seer equals approximately 2 Ib.). 



Economic Value. In India the pulse is highly esteemed by the Food, 

 fatives, who regard it as the third in rank of importance among 

 leguminous SEEDS. Taleef Shereef (Playfair, transl., 1833, 10) 

 lescribes it at length, adding that a decoction of the leaves makes an 

 itiseptic wash. It enters very largely into the vegetarian diet of the 



idus and is sold either in the form of split peas or as pea-meal, of which split Peas, 

 reet cakes are often made. Many of the early European authors, writing Pea-meal. 

 )f the East Indies, speak of this pea as in demand by seafaring people, 

 ^heede, for example, says it is specially valued as a food for ships' com- 

 mies. Burmann observes that pigeons live on it, and men chiefly when 

 >n board ship. Decourtilz (I.e. 222) remarks that from the peas may be 

 prepared a sort of sago much sought after by British and American 

 lilors an observation that recalls the parody on " The Mariners of 

 ingland " who lived on " yellow peas " (see Cicer, p. 295). 



Sometimes the tender green pods with their contained peas are in 

 India cooked in curry like French-beans. They constitute in fact an 

 excellent VEGETABLE much neglected by the Europeans resident in 

 India. Of the ripe peas there are, as already indicated, at least two 

 seasons of their coming into market, viz. November to December for seasons, 

 the early crop, and February to April for the late. The chief crop is the 



199 



Valued by 

 Seamen. 



