AREA AND YIELD 



ctmpMt 



Cattle 

 Food. 



Evil Reputation. 



Ji/tusa. 



im 

 ad 



DOLICHOS 

 BIFLORUS 



Horse-gram 



win n grown for that purpose. Although not deemed a superior pulse it 

 is largely used by the poorer classes, being perhaps the cheapest of pulses. 

 The pea is generally soaked for twelve hours, then husked, thus reducing 

 t la- form of did or split-peas. The husk obtained is regarded as a 

 valuable cattle food. The split peas may be reduced to meal, or boiled, 

 or fried and eaten with rice or other articles of diet. The flour is fairly Floor. 

 extensively employed in the preparation of sweetmeats. In -some parts 

 of the country the grain is dry roasted (parched), then sold to the consumers, Par-chad Orin. 

 who boil it in the preparation of ddl. 



The pea is boiled entire and given when cold as an article of cattle 

 It is one of the chief pulses so used in Madras and Bombay. Some 

 ears ago Robertson performed a series of experiments to test the 

 ents of boiled as compared with steeped horse-gram both on draught 

 and horses. The verdict was in favour of the steeped grain. [C/. 

 (. Agri. Dept. and Exp. Farms Mad., 1871, 4-7.] It is most important 

 that in any attempts that may be made to extend this use to other parts 

 the world, the distinction should be clearly observed between the horse- 

 rn of Madras (the article here dealt with) and the far superior pea 

 .own as Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum, pp. 295-302) the true gram 

 >f India. It is also extremely important that both these and all the 

 other peas and beans of India should be recognised as distinct from 

 the khesdri (Lathyrus sativus, p. 703) a pulse with an evil reputation 

 t has on more than one occasion injured the prospects of a foreign 

 emand for Indian pulses. 



The fodder is either a by-product of the cultivation of the pea (bhusa) 

 it is a special crop grown and reaped at successive intervals, the plants 

 t being allowed to form fruit. For fodder purposes it may even be sown 

 v/ii the same land two or three times within one year, and the soil is thereby 

 improved rather than injured, as the pulse both cleans it of weeds and 

 ds largely to its nitrogenous property. 



Chemistry. With regard to the chemistry of horse-gram, Church 

 (Food-Grains of Ind., 162) gives the following analysis. In 100 parts, 

 ".usked: water 11 '0 ; albuminoids, 22'5 ; starch, 56'0 ; oil, 1'9 ; 

 bre, 5 '4 ; ash, 3'2. The nutrient ratio is 1 : 2'7, and the nutrient co- Nutrient Ratio. 

 cient 83. [Of. Leather, Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 10, 360.] The seeds are 

 ed medicinally in the Panjab. Arjun (Bomb. Drugs, 40) says a de- Medicine. 

 tion of D. nut/torus is employed by the Natives in certain diseases 

 women. \Cf. Kanny Lall Dey, Indig. Drugs, 1896, 118.] The seeds on. 

 e moreover reputed to yield an oil. 



Area. As already explained, the official statistics under which this Area. 

 ulse should be recorded are referred to two sections : " Gram " and 

 ' Other food-grains including pulses." It seems likely that the former 

 " notes Cicer ariffiniini and that the latter includes the horse-gram. 

 1905-6 the total area in British India under gram came to 11,024,170 

 xes, and the others to 28,022,722 acres. The available information 

 regarding the production of gram will be found under Cicer. It need 

 only be added that of the area devoted to the " others," a fair proportion, 

 ipecially in Madras and Bombay, would be the present pulse. The fol- 

 wing may be given as an analysis, province by province, of the areas 

 ider " others " : 6,284,192 acres were in Madras ; 4,451,000 in Bengal ; 

 248,816 in Agra ; 2,417,785 in Oudh ; 4,743,321 in the Central Provinces ; 

 d 2,575,116 in Bombay. These returns give, therefore, the only possible 



507 



