Til "> Ml 1. 1 ' 



Orofw. 



PENNISETUM 

 TYPHOIDEUM 



Bulrush Millet 



Konkan and the Ghat parts of the Deocan. In the Central Provinces the area 

 occupied is believed to be greater than in any other part of India, but it is not 

 n -turned separately. Together with kutki (!<... a occupied, in 



iv" i 5. an area of 2,030,345 acres. In the same year in the United Provinces, 

 !*,, ,<i,,,,, und ,,th.r MIL all milU'ts covered 1,939,753 acre*. In Field and 

 />* it in stated to be grown more extensively than any other millet in the 

 United Provinces, and over a largo portion of three provinces it is the favourite 

 < -r<>|> t"..r inferior outlying lands. This is chiefly on account of the readiness with 

 uhich it grows on the poorest of soila, not on account of t)u< cjuaht y of the grain. poorML 

 Sow ing takes place at the commencement of the rains, at the rate of 12 to 20 Ib. flimoni 

 seed to the acre, and the crop in cut in October. It is either grown alone or (in 

 the Do&b) mixed with cotton, and in the Benares Division with dal (fnjn- 



il weeding is required to secure a good outturn, which w estimated at 10 to 

 12 maunds per acre. 



Cultivation. Of Bombay, Mollison (Textbook Ind. Agri., 1901, iii., 64-7) Cultiva 

 observes that the crop is important in the gorddu soils of the Kaira district and tion. 

 similar alluvial Boils in Baroda. It is never grown alone in Gujarat, the usual 

 mixture being tuvcr (fiijtmn* if<<-m.), tal ( mum ,,,,/.<.<), and ambddi RoUUob. 

 (ambdri) (M<i<r* < ,< ,,,,>>, IIH\. If properly manured, the mixture may 

 be grown year after year in the same field. In low-lying damp fields rice 

 and kodra are grown together, the mixture being known as vagadu. In pre- 

 paratory tillage the bladed harrow (karab) is used to loosen the surface soil and 

 prepare a friable, shallow seed-bed. The seed is furrowed with the throo-coultered 

 drill (tarfin), and the seed is mixed before sowing in about the following propor- 

 tions : 12 Ib. kodra : 2 Ib. tuvcr ; J to $ Ib. tal ; $ Ib. ambddi. After so 

 the field is levelled, and the crop should subsequently be weeded once in about 

 a month or six weeks and bullock-hoed two or three times. It is ripe early in 

 October, and reaped with a sickle, tied into bundles, and threshed by bullocks 

 in the usual way. Mollison gives the outturn of a good Kaira crop as follows : 

 kodra (12 Ib. seed), 985 Ib. grain per acre, 1,304 Ib. straw ; tuver (4 Ib. seed), 265 

 Ib. grain per acre, 232 Ib. straw ; tal (f Ib. seed), 130 Ib. grain per acre. The cost 

 of cultivation he estimates at Ra. 23 per acre. 



Though used as FOOD by a large number of people in India, the grain cannot be Pood. 

 considered a wholesome article of diet, and in some seasons contains a poisonous 

 narcotic principle. In Gujarat the poisonous and non-poisonous grain are known 

 in the bazars as mitha and mina respectively. Damp cloudy weather towards 

 harvest time, a damp season and damp soil are said to produce poisonous kodra. 

 Leather (Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 10, 370 ; 1903, No. 7, 151, 180) gives the following 

 analysis of the grain : moisture, 8'01 ; oil, 3'36 ; albuminoids, 5*81 ; soluble 

 carbohydrates 70'06 ; woody fibre, 8'47 ; soluble mineral matter, 1'34 ; sand and 

 silica, 2'95 ; total nitrogen, TOO; albuminoid nitrogen, '93. [<?/. Church, Food- 

 (Iniin* of Ind., 1886, 39-40 ; Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, pt. 2, 29 ; Pharmacog. 

 Ind., 1893, iii., 619-20 ; Rice, Mysore Gaz., 1897, i., 117-8 ; Mukerji, Handbook 

 Ind. Agri., 1901, 30-1, 259 ; Standen, Rept. Land Rev. Settl. Betul, C. Prov., 

 1901 ; Crop Exper., Bomb.] 



Weeding. 



nu, 



Oort. 



PoUonoo* sad 



PENNISETUM TYPHOIDEUM, Itirh. : Fl. Br.Ind.,\il, 82- 

 9 ; Duthie, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind., 1888, 18 ; Lisboa, Bomb. Grass., 1896, 

 34, and t. ; Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, ii., 1169 ; Penicillaria spicata, Wittd., 

 Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, i., 30-2, t. vii. ; GRAMINE^:. 

 The Bulrush, Cumboo or Spiked Millet, Mjra, lahra, kasa-jonar, fondhariya, 

 lendha, Jcambu, gantelu, sajja-lu, sajje, mattari, etc. A tall erect grass, 

 5 to 6 feet high, probably of African origin. 



CULTIVATION. Though grown to a less extent than judr (Sort/limn 

 rttt<i<n'<>), its cultivation is geographically very similar and comprises ox- 

 tensive tracts in Northern, Western and Southern India. The following 

 were the acreages in British India during the three years ending 1905-6 : 

 14,137,482 in 1903-4 ; 10,369,765 in 1904-5; and 11,630,710 in 1905-6. 

 In the Native States : 1,382,473 in 1903-4 ; 1,305,446 in 1904-5 ; and 

 893,949 in 1905-6. 



Bengal. This crop may be described as unimportant, the area fluctu- 



869 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. i., 



127-31. 



Bajra. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



ATOM. 



Bengal. 



