PETROLEUM 



THE BAJRA MILLET 



Madras. 



Areas. 



Soils. 



Mixed 

 Cultivation. 



Burma. 



Food. 

 Bread. 



Fodder. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. i., 

 157-80. 



Petroleum. 



Madras and Mysore. The total area in 1905-6 was 3,004,717 acres 

 in Madras and 39,944 acres in Mysore. In Madras the largest areas occur 

 in Coimbatore, 580,299 acres ; Salem, 376,257 acres ; Cuddapah, 341,311 

 acres ; South Arcot, 276,284 acres ; Guntur, 255,511 acres ; Trichinopoly, 

 173,721 acres ; North Arcot, 133,643 acres ; Madura, 164,194, etc. In 

 Mysore, Chitaldrug had 33,448 acres. 



In the Godavari district it is grown on regoda, lanka and sandy soils. 

 The ground is manured in March by penning cattle or sheep on it, and in 

 May it is ploughed twice every six days for three weeks. The ground, 

 both then and at the time of sowing, should be moist. The seed, which 

 should be the previous year's produce, is sown in June, 4 seers to the acre. 

 In Coimbatore it is cultivated on dry lands, except black. It is often 

 grown as a mixed crop with cotton, castor-oil, pulses, etc. The land is 

 ploughed in April, during the heavy rains, after having been manured. 

 In July-August it is again ploughed, and the seed, mixed with various 

 pulses, is sown broadcast, with ddl or beans in rows a few feet apart. 

 After six weeks the crop is interploughed and occasionally weeded. In 

 November-December it is reaped by cutting off the ears as they ripen. 

 The pulses are gathered gradually up to February, when the kambu stalks, 

 beans, etc., are all pulled up together, leaving the cotton and castor only. 



Burma. In 1905-6 the area was 74,802 acres, all in Upper Burma, 

 and chiefly in Myingyan, 42,958 acres, and Magwe, 26,526 acres. 



Diseases. An interesting account of the disease known as 

 Sclerospora yraminicoln is given by Butler in the Memoirs of the 

 Department of Agriculture, India (1907, ii., No. 1). As Butler points out, 

 however, it is not usually of sufficient intensity to attract much attention. 

 [Cf. Maxwell-Lefroy, Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1908, ii., 9.] 



FOOD AND FODDER. The grain is used chiefly by the lower classes 

 of Natives, and in many parts of India is their staple FOOD. The flour, 

 made into cakes or bread with butter-milk, is considered more nutritious 

 than rice. In Khandesh it is often eaten with butter and various condi- 

 ments. The following is the analysis published by Leather (Agri. Ledg., 

 1901, No. 10, 370 ; 1903, No. 7, 151, 154, 181) : moisture, 8'77 per cent, ; 

 oil, 5'33 ; albuminoids, 9-52 ; soluble carbohydrates 73 - 52 ; woody 

 fibre, '78 ; soluble mineral matter, 1*73 ; sand and silica, '35 ; total 

 nitrogen, 1'61 ; albuminoid nitrogen, 1'51. 



In the Panjab, bdjra is occasionally grown for FODDER and in un- 

 favourable seasons may be given to cattle in the green condition, especially 

 if the crop has proved a failure. The stalks, after the grain has ripened, 

 are more or less utilised in all the provinces where available. In the 

 Karndl district it is said that in some of the higher villages the stalks, 

 called ddndar, are even stacked and preserved until required, when they 

 are chopped up and given to cattle along with green fodder. Bdjra straw 

 is much more generally employed as a cattle fodder in the Madras 

 Presidency than in most other provinces. [Cf. Church, Food-Grains of 

 Ind., 1886, 56-9.] 



PERFUMERY (see Oils, p. 820). 



PETROLEUM ; Ball, in Man. Econ. Geol. Ind., iii., 124-54 ; Fritz 

 Noetling, Occur, of Petrol, in Burma, in Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1897, xxvii., 

 pt. 2 ; Holland, Rev. Min. Prod. Ind., in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1905, xxxii., 



872 



