CUMINUM 



CYMINUM THE CUMIN 



Cumin 



The kumra is mentioned in many of the ancient Sanskrit works, but f : Pepo 

 and Benim-artH cerifera were possibly confused or not distinguished. The 

 Pumpkin is often mentioned as a native of America, though this opinion rests 

 on Lindheimer's observation " apparently indigenous." Asa Gray (I.e. 333), 

 commenting on that, says " no wild specimen has since been received from all 

 that region (nor from any other)." It is grown in vegetable gardens through- 

 out the greater part of India, and is often seen scrambling over the culti- 

 vators' huts. It is nowhere, however, extensively grown, and rarely as a field 



Cultivation. crop. The following notes on Indian cultivation are taken mainly from Fir- 



minger (I.e. 171) : In South India the improved custard and patty-pan marrows 

 are delicious vegetables, but they only succeed when sown in the early rains. 

 They should be sown in boxes or pans at the end of May. When the first pair 

 of rough leaves appear the seedlings may be transplanted into richly manured 

 pits, at 5 feet apart, in the kitchen garden. The hardier long-fruited varieties 

 will succeed all through the rainy season. In Lower Bengal the seeds should 

 be sown in the open ground about the end of October to middle of December, 

 and the plants must have plenty of space to trail over. The best plan is to sow 

 two or three seeds in pits 16 inches deep and as many wide, filled with richly 

 manured soil. If many seeds germinate, eliminate all except one. When the 

 plants have formed about four of their rough leaves they will almost certainly 

 be attacked by a red beetle, but if they can be preserved at this stage they do not 

 seem to be liable to attack later. When they have set as many fruits as the 

 vines will bear the flowers should be removed. The plants require constant 

 and copious watering, and occasionally with liquid manure. The gourds must 

 be gathered when tender, say in May-June, as they rapidly become hard and 

 woody. Both Taylor and Sen speak of the pumpkin as a garden and field crop 

 characteristic of certain parts of Bengal.. In the United Provinces the sowing 

 of the seed must not be made before the end of February as the plants will not 

 live in the cold season in that part of India. On the hills, sow in April and the 

 vegetable will be in season in July. Duthie says that in these provinces it is a 

 garden, not a field crop. From Mussourie a scarlet pumpkin has recently been 

 reported as brought originally from Kashmir. [Cf. Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. 2nd., 

 1902, xii., 116-7.] 



As a field crop in Europe and America the pumpkin and vegetable marrow 

 are grown 15 feet apart with 12 feet between the rows. Three seeds are de- 

 posited in each spot, and 2 Ib. per acre will therefore suffice. The yield on 

 rich, well-manured vegetable soil is from 15 to 20 tons an acre. In India 



Oil. the seeds are preserved ; they yield a clear edible oil, supposed to be of medicinal 



value. The use of the fruit as a vegetable is of course well known, and the 

 raw fruit is said to be an excellent food for cows. The fruits of several species 

 of melon, gourd, etc., are candied and sold all over India both as a luxury and 

 in medicine. Similarly the seeds of these fruits are largely used for flavouring 

 certain preparations of Indian hemp, and the root for a nefarious purpose, 

 viz. to make the preparation more potent (Rept. Ind. Hemp. Drugs Comm., iv., 

 425, 491). [Gf. Produce World, Feb. 1896 ; Planting Opinion, Feb. 5, 1898 ; Journ. 

 Soc. Chem. Indust., 1901, xx., 1003 ; Pharm. Journ., 1901, 67, 253 ; Hanausek, 

 Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 369-70.] 



D.E.P., CUMINUM CYMINUM, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 718 ; Phar- 



ii., 642-5. macog. Ind., ii., 113-6 ; Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, pt. iii., 

 40 ; Duthie, FL Upper Gang. Plain, i., 397-8 ; Cooke, FL Pres. Bomb., i., 573; 

 UMBELLIFER^;. Cumin, zira, jiraka, ajaji, Jcamun, zird, ziya, etc. This plant 

 is more or less cultivated in most provinces of India, except Bengal and 

 Assam. There is, however, fairly conclusive evidence that it is nowhere 

 indigenous, though in several districts it would appear to be so far natural- 

 ised as to have been regarded as " wild " even by competent observers. 



History. Considerable confusion exists in Indian publications through the 

 vernacular name zird or jird being given to both cumin and caraway (see Carum 

 Carui, pp. 283-4). A similar mistake is made with regard to xif/eiia utit. 

 Black Cumin (p. 811). (The authors of the Pharmacographia Indica point out 

 that jird or jirana, the Sanskrit names for cumin, as well as the Persian zhireh 

 or zireh and all the Indian vernacular names, appear to be derived from the root 



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