REGULAR FOOD GRAIN 



pUnt was of a " very hardy nature, and thrives upon almost any kind of 

 soil. \ it-Ming a good amount of produce and in taste resembling wheat." 

 Wallirh identified the plant as C. I^KTI/HHI. J. D. Hooker, in his 

 i In i/an Journals (1848, ii., 289), gives some interesting particulars 

 lint,' its cultivation in the Khasia hills. " Each plant," he tells U8, 

 : ncht'8 two or three times from the base, and from 7 to 9 plants grow 

 : 'h square yard of soil ; the produce is small, not above 30 or 40 fold." 

 in, in his Burma and Its People (1860), published much useful informa- 

 jn, and this has been brought up to date in the new edition by Theobald 

 ii., 107). We there read that " Coix affords a good example of the 

 suits of cultivation of a wild plant the seed of which is of a stony hard- 

 but which is soft in the cultivated form and the kernel sweet. It is 

 inch cultivated by the Red Karens, and may be often seen for sale parched 

 the bazaars." 



In the article published in The Agricultural Ledger I have given 

 full account of the collections recently furnished to the Reporter on 

 conomic Products from very nearly every important locality of India ; I 

 ive quoted, under the special forms, the practical observations of the 

 il authorities. This course was deemed preferable to a compilation of 

 ita into a common paragraph on cultivation, of facts and opinions that 

 juld seem in many cases only applicable to the individual forms of the 

 int. It may, therefore, be accepted as undesirable to republish that 

 iformation in order to support the statement that there exists in India 

 fairly extensive and certainly a widely dispersed cultivation of the plant, 

 icre are great diversities in size, shape and colour of the grain, as also in 

 ility and purpose to which put. These diversities, confirmed by the 

 stence of many vernacular names, establish belief in an ancient know- 

 Ige, as possessed by the aboriginal (especially Mongolian) tribes of India, 

 has been affirmed that very possibly the pastoral Aryan invaders grew 

 lis grain on the slopes of the Himalaya, anterior to their becoming 

 walised and assuming cultivation as a craft. But it is much more 

 robable that the grain was distributed over the plains of India in close 

 jciation with the Mongolian conquests. From Darjeeling and through 

 Jhutan to the mountains of Upper and Eastern Assam, the Khasia, 

 Jaro and Naga hills, etc., to Burma and the Shan States, coix might be 

 lescribed as not only a fairly plentiful crop but an exceedingly important 

 bicle of diet. Certain forms of the grain are roasted, then husked and 

 iten whole, being either parched (as with Indian corn) or boiled as with 

 ice. Other forms are so very different that the grain may be milled and 

 >und to flour (dtd), and thereafter baked into bread. It seems probable 

 it the properties that necessitate so very different methods of treatment 

 id preparation involve a diversity chemically and structurally quite as 

 it as that which exists between the hard and the soft wheats or the 

 lutinous and the starchy rices. 



Romanet du Caillaud (Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat., 1881, viii., 442-4) tells us 

 lat in the 1st century A.D. the Chinese General Ma-yuen conquered 

 tonkin and became so fond of the Annamite grain 60-60 (the y-dzi of the 

 icse) that he carried away several cart-loads of seed, and thus intro- 

 duced its cultivation into China. Bretschneider (Bot. Sin., 1895, pt. iii., 

 384) says of coix that it is cultivated near Peking under the name ts'ao- 

 tsz'th. He then adds that there are two varieties, one with white, the other 

 with grey coverings to the fruits. " k l have also observed," he adds, 



395 



COIX 



Cultivation 



EhMU bill*. 



TWd. 



Jlnrm.i. 



Diversities in 

 Grain. 



Ancient 

 Knowledge. 



Roasted; 

 busked. 

 Boiled. 

 Milled. 



Baked. 



China. 



Tonkin. 



Ill 



