PAN-HOU8R8 



tli.- lines ,ii;.i used to earth up the plant*. Each time earthing-up take* 

 place, dried and pulverised pond-mud, row-dun^, . ake are used 



as manure. 



If planting is done in .) uly-August, plucking commence* in October- 

 Novomher, Inn if planting be dune in October-November, plucking taken 

 l>l;v< . in May June. Two plucking* are made each month. Two to four 

 . ure got on each OIMUMMH. .md in tl ir to six leaves a plant. 



Tin- plants arc in full hearing for some five years, at tin- <-nd <>t whirl: 

 ill.- '_';ir.len or Ixiri'i requires to be thoroughly overhauled. Mukerji given 

 tin .mi turn from one a. n- as about 80 lakhs of leaves per annum, and the 

 total cost per acre for a period of three years as K Taking 3,000 



leaves per rupee as the average price of pan, Mukerji estimates the outturn 

 of leaves at Rs. 2,500. 



IC'/. H.ISU. Ayri. Lohardaga, 1890, pt. 1, 83 ; Banerjei, Ayri. Cuttaclc, 1893. 

 96-9; Chiiudhury, Note on Piper Betel in Backergunye, Nov. 1898; Mukerji, 

 Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 429-33 ; Roy, Crop* of Bengal, 1900, 17<> 4.J 



United Provinces. H. R. Nevill states that the plant thrives best on 

 a stiff soil, retentive of moisture, and says the ted for the garden 



uerally an elevated spot with a good slope. The land is ploughed, 

 levelled and thoroughly cleaned, and then enclosed with stakes and brush- 

 wood and covered with a roof of sentha-gr&ss. Shallow trenches are next 

 scooped out, 2 feet wide by 5 or 6 inches deep and 5 feet apart, which are 

 filled with water; and when the soil is saturated, planting commences. 

 Full-grown plants, stripped of their leaves, are cut down close to the root 

 and divided into three or four portions, which are laid horizontally in the 

 trenches and covered with earth. In a few days sprouts appear at each 

 knot. Planting goes on from February to April, and each row is watered 

 two or three times a day. Stripping the leaves begins about the middle of 

 June and is continued regularly for about a year, after which the plant is 

 exhausted and is used for stocking a fresh plantation while the old garden 

 is allowed to rest for a year or two. The leaf is sold in bundles of 200 

 called dhotis, the price varying according to age and quality. [Cf. Duthie 

 and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, pt. iii., 51-3, tt. 91, IA; Nevill, 

 Dist. Gaz. U. Prov., 1904, xlvii., 36-7.] 



Central Provinces. In the Central Provinces one of the forms most 

 highly prized and sent very largely to Calcutta is known as the kafuri. In 

 the Settlement Report of Wardha the method of cultivation is fully de- 

 scribed. The leaf is cultivated by a class of people called burehs, and the 

 garden is known as bureja or pan-ka-tanda. The pan-gardens are gener- 

 ally held by a cultivating brotherhood, forming an independent section 

 in the village and paying rent to the landowner through the head of their 

 body. A portion of the village land is recognised as belonging to this 

 caste. The garden is enclosed on all sides with bamboo and mat coverings. 

 The vines are planted in ridges, varying in length with the area of the 

 enclosure, and the ridges are divided into a certain number of units of 

 length, called lani, which are portioned off among the brotherhood. 

 The plants require constant care, and much water and manure are also 

 essential. In two years they cease to bear leaves of any marketable 

 value, and new gardens are then made. The first year of cultivation is called 

 wotuk, the second korwa, the produce of the latter being more esteemed 

 and more sought after than that of the first year. At the end of the s. 

 year the ground is allowed to remain fallow for periods of two or three 

 years. 



893 



PIPER 



BBTLB 



Cultivation 



YM4. 



U. Prov. 



< .::..' 



C. Prov. 



lirotherbwxia. 



Pan-hooM. 



Duration. 



