CAJANUS 



INDICUS 



Dal 



THE PIGEON-PEA 



Chemical 

 Composition. 



Charcoal and 

 Gunpowder. 



Lac -insect 



(feeding on 

 Arhar). 



last mentioned. The plants are cut off close to the ground by a sharp 

 knife and conveyed to the homestead, where they are stacked on the 

 threshing-floor. The leaves and pods are then stripped or shaken off 

 Fodder. and the grain thrashed out. The leaves form a valuable FODDER, and 



occasionally a pruning of the young shoots is taken and given to cattle. 

 The outer integument of the seed with part of the adhering kernel is a 

 favourite food for milch-cows it is known as chuni (Agri. Ledg., 1895, 

 No. 6, 75). The pea or meal is largely employed as a cattle-medicine. 

 [<?/. Cattle Diseases, Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 28, 275, 283, etc.] 



Church (Food-Grains of Ind.) gives the composition of the husked pea as: 

 water 10'5; albuminoids 22-3; starch 60-9; fat 2-1; fibre 1-2; and ash 3-0. 

 The nutrient ratio is 1-3 and the nutrient value 80. "It is wholesome and 

 nutritious when properly freed from the husk, its irritant and laxative character 

 being thus greatly reduced. It is not unusual to find that the higher-priced 

 and finer qualities of this pea have been slightly oiled before sale, to improve 

 their appearance. This practice is not unknown in reference to wheat in the 

 South of Europe." Leather (Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 10, 356) has published 

 his analyses of some four samples of this pea : one, a white, and two, red 

 peas from Poona, and a fourth from Cawnpore. His results for the white pea 

 may be here given to allow of comparison with the above : moisture 6-77 ; 

 oil 6-93 ; albuminoids 13-25 ; soluble carbohydrates 51-38 ; fibre 18-10 ; soluble 

 minerals 6-44; sand 3-13; total nitrogen 2'45 ; albuminoid nitrogen 2-12. 

 Leather thus found higher proportions of fibre and minerals than given by 

 most other chemists. \Cf. Greshoff, Chem. Zeit., 1903, No. 42.] 



The stalks are used as fuel, the larger ones being prized for the charcoal 

 sold to the makers of gunpowder. The thin straight branches are employed 

 for roofing and basket-work, as also for the wattling of carts and the tubular 

 wicker-work linings of wells. 



In Northern Bengal and Assam the arhar is specially grown as a food-plant 

 for the lac-insect. One of the earliest accounts of this special industry (lac- 

 rearing) was written by Buchanan-Hamilton in his Statistical Account of Rangpur 

 (1809). He there gives the plant the name of mendu-kolai and says the seed 

 is sown in the spring, generally in the form of a hedge around gardens. In the 

 beginning of the cold season the insects are applied by tying to each bush a 

 small branch containing those about to produce larvae. A year afterwards 

 the twigs of the bushes are then found to be covered with the lac incrustations 

 (Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 9, 218). There would seem to be much less lac reared 

 on arhar in Bengal nowadays than in former years. In Assam the opinion 

 is held by the Garos and Miris that while the lac-insect may be reared on many 

 plants, the arhar forms its most convenient and suitable food. If sown and 

 well watered in November, the young plants are fit to be transplanted at the 

 close of the following rams end of October and each should average 4 feet 

 in height. They should be planted 4 feet by 8 feet apart (about 1,360 to the 

 acre), and will be ready to receive the insects two years after date of sowing. 

 They should be charged with stock-lac in November : about 40 Ib. will be 

 necessary to the acre. One year later, the crop should be obtained, each bush 

 yielding about 8 Ib. or 6 Ib. of cleaned lac, which at present rate would fetch 

 about 144 per acre, less expenses. If well cared for and properly pruned, 

 to prevent flowering, seed for next year's crop being left on the bushes, the 

 same plants may continue to yield for several years. \Cf. Agri. Ledg., I.e. 232, 

 271.] 



Silkworms. Jumelle (Lea Cult. Colon. (Aliment.), 1901, 128-31) gives a most interesting 

 account of the cultivation of this plant in Madagascar for the purpose of feeding 

 a special silkworm (landibe) of that country. This industry exists mainly in 

 the south of the island at Betsileo. It would appear to be a silk that 

 resembles tasar or eri. The landibe is said to be the Jioroceran cnjnui of ento- 

 mologists. It lives in the open air, and forms its cocoons among tufts of grass placed 

 within the bushes for that purpose. It lays its eggs in March, is in chrysalis for 

 one month, and takes eight days to spin its cocoon. It requires a warm, sheltered 

 situation. Tussac (Fl. des Antil., 1827, iv., 94-6) also alludes to the fact 

 Arhar Silk. that a silkworm is reared on the leaves of the Angola-pea. Arhar silk would 



thus seem well worthy the attention of the Indian cultivators as a possible 

 additional source of revenue. 



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