PHYLLANTHUS 



BMBLICA 



Aonla 



THE EMBLIC MYROBALAN 



Sugar. 



Area. 



Seasons. 



Boiling. 



Molasses used 

 in Tobacco. 



Spirit. 

 Vinegar. 



Tari. 

 Vinegar. 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. i., 

 217-24. 



Emblic 

 Myrobalan. 



Gum. 



Dye and Tan. 



the hot weather and produces an inferior yellowish or reddish fruit, 

 which is eaten by the poorer classes. 



In many localities, however, especially in Jessore and other districts 

 of Bengal, this species is of considerable importance as a source of food- 

 supply, owing to the extensive use of its sap in making SUGAR. The 

 Government of India (Resolution dated March 20, 1889) mention that 

 it had been ascertained after a careful inquiry that there were 168,262 

 acres under cultivation of this palm connected with the sugar supply. 

 A full account of the process of tapping the trees and of the manufacture 

 of sugar from the crude sap is given in the Report on the District of Jessore, 

 1874, by the late Sir James Westland. Tapping ordinarily commences 

 in November, and the largest supply of juice is obtained during December 

 and January. An average amount of 5 seers of juice per night may be 

 got from a good tree. The juice is boiled down into a dark brown, half 

 viscid mass, called gur. About 7 to 10 seers of juice are required to pro- 

 duce 1 seer of gur. The tapping season lasts 4| months or 67 nights. 

 Thus at 5 seers a night, 335 seers of juice are obtained, or about 40 seers 

 or 1 maund of gur per tree, worth, say, Rs. 2 to Rs. 2-4a. After the juice 

 is boiled down into gur, it is then sold to the sugar-refiners and by them 

 is manufactured in various ways into different grades of sugar. The 

 best known is termed dhulua, a soft, moist, powdery sugar, used largely 

 in the manufacture of Native sweetmeats. A purer, granular and more 

 expensive sugar than dhulua is called pucJca. The waste molasses, col- 

 lected during the preparation of sugar, is called chitiya gur ; this is boiled 

 down into a black, sticky treacle, which is largely utilised for mixing with 

 the tobacco for the Native hookah and also for making cheap Native 

 sweets. A small proportion of the juice, instead of being used in the 

 above way, is consumed as a drink, either unfermented or fermented, 

 under the name of tari, or is converted into vinegar (see Spirits, p. 1046; 

 Vinegar, p. 1109). 



In recent years an interesting endeavour has been made to promote the 

 manufacture of palm-sugar in the Central Provinces. A company has been 

 formed under the name of the Khandwa Sugar Manufacturing Company. Full 

 details regarding this will be found in a pamphlet (pub. 1901) by Mr. Haridas 

 Chatterji, Managing Director, and in a report on the result of the first year's 

 operations. [Of. Kanjilal, Date Sugar Indust. of Seng., in 2nd. For., 1892, xviii., 

 451-7 ; Pharmacog. Ind., 1893, iii., 520 ; Rept. Land Rec. and Agri. Beng., 1895, 

 19-20 ; Woodrow, Gard. in Ind., 1899, 526 ; Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 

 1901, 372-84 ; Chatterji, Rept. on First Year's Operat. of Date-Sugar Manuf. and 

 Agri., Morad (near Indore), Cent. Ind., 1903-4 ; Joret, Les PL dans L'Antiq., 

 1904, ii., 335.] 



PHYLLANTHUS, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., v., 285-305 ; Talbot, 

 List Trees, etc., 1902, 299-301 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 1902, 598-601 ; 

 Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, ii., 933-6 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees., 1906, 569-72 ; 

 EUPHORBIACEJE. A very large genus of herbs, trees or shrubs. Three 

 only are of economic importance. 



^ P. Emblica, Linn. The Emblic Myrobalan, aonld, dmlaki, ddula, gondhona, 

 aid thanda, meral, suom, nelle, usir, avalkati, bhoza dmali, toppi, usereki, shabju, 

 etc. A moderate-sized deciduous tree, found almost throughout India and 

 Burma, ascending the hills to 4,000 feet, chiefly in dry deciduous forests (Gamble). 



It yields a GUM of which little is known. Fruit, bark and leaves are em- 

 ployed in DYEING and TANNING. Hooper (Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 1, 52-3) states 

 that the dried pulpy portion of the immature fruit affords as much as 35 per 

 cent, tannic acid, but in a ripe state only traces are found. The leaves are 

 regarded by the Bengal chamara as one of the best tans, and are said by 



