PIPER 



BETLE 



Bombay 



Nimar 

 System. 



Living Shade. 



Fresh Boots 

 yearly. 



Botation. 



Bombay. 



Area. 

 Dharwar. 



Living Shade. 



Poona. 



Annual Boots. 



Kanara. 



Yield. 



Madras 



and 



Mysore. 



THE PAN-LEAF 



In Nimar the method presents several interesting features. A garden 

 once established is said to yield steadily for ten or twelve years. The 

 ground is similarly prepared to that in Wardha, but trees are grown to 

 afford shade, such as the saora (Sesbania vefjyptica). The plantation 

 is also surrounded by poles of pdngrd (Erythrina indica), to which 

 bamboo mats are attached. After the saora trees die down, they are 

 replaced by poles of the salei (Boswellia serrata}. Meantime plantains 

 have been set all over the garden, at intervals of 10 or 12 feet, for 

 purposes of shade. No matting is used overhead or for partitions. Every 

 year, after the leaves have been gathered, the creeper is coiled down at 

 the root till only some 3 feet are left above ground. A fresh root is thus 

 struck, and the old coil is next year cut away. The crop is irrigated at 

 all seasons except during the rains, and at the commencement of each 

 hot season (March) the plants are pruned, manure is applied to the roots, 

 and fresh earth piled round them. Before the ten or twelve years are 

 over, the garden soil thus increases in depth by about 2 feet. After that 

 time the garden is removed, hemp is sown to clean the land, and alternate 

 fallows and irrigated spring crops with liberal manure follow for some 

 years to render the land again fit for pan. [Of. Rept. Land Rev. Settl., 

 Nagpur, C. Prov., 1899, 68-75.] 



Bombay. The area under the crop in 1904-5 was returned as 3,958 

 acres, of which 1,343 acres were in Dharwar, 518 acres in Poona, 390 acres 

 in Belgaum, 380 acres in Kanara, 372 acres in Satara, etc., and in the 

 following year (1905-6) the total area was 4,048 acres. The system of 

 cultivation differs in no essential particulars from the method followed in 

 other localities. In Dharwar, pan is the most important garden crop. 

 The shoots are planted in the open, trained on quick-growing trees, an 

 acre of land containing upwards of 2,000 plants, and the crop lasts only 

 four to seven years. The vines are then dug up, the leaves of the trees on 

 which they were trained are used for vegetable manure, and the wood for 

 fuel. The garden is deeply dug all over, allowed to lie fallow for one year, 

 and afterwards planted with sugar-cane. After the sugar-cane, it enjoys 

 another year of fallow, when betel plantations are again laid out. 



In Poona, betel is also an important garden crop. It is grown on light 

 red soils, requires much manure and constant watering, and if well cared 

 for may last fifteen to twenty years. The garden generally covers about 

 an acre, the vines are trained on various trees, planted in rows and pol- 

 larded, and the whole garden is sheltered by high hedges or grass screens 

 or mats. Every year in March, April or May the upper half of the vine is 

 cut, while the lower half is coiled up and buried under fresh red earth and 

 manure. 



In Kanara the plant is described as cultivated in gardens on mango- 

 trees. The leaves are picked three years after planting the young shoots, 

 and the yield is estimated at 100 to 200 leaves from a full-grown vine 

 every fortnight. An acre of spice-garden containing 500 plants is said 

 to produce some 40,000 leaves annually, worth Rs. 20 and costing Rs. 8 

 to grow. 



Madras and Mysore. The plant is widely distributed in the Pre- 

 sidency, being found chiefly in the moister regions. Cox (Man. N. Arcot, 

 1895, i., 265-6) fully describes the method of cultivation, which differs 

 in no essential particulars from the methods already described. It is a 

 three-year crop, grown on land capable of incessant irrigation. The 



894 



