Silkworm. 



THE EADISH 



fodder and employed for litter. In spring the monkeys often do much injury to 

 the tree by tearing down the topmost branches to get at the young shoots. The 

 leaves have also been found suitable for feeding the Chinese silkworm (Antheraea 

 pernyi, see p. 1005). [Cf. Rev. For. Admin. Brit. Ind., 1897-8, 63."] A supply 

 of living cocoons was procured in 1898 and distributed partly to Darjeeling and 

 partly to Chakrata. Those sent to Darjeeling failed, but some 5,000 larvae were 

 hatched from the supply sent to Chakrata. They were fed at first on the ban 

 oak, but did not flourish and were removed to Deoban, at an elevation of 

 8,000 feet, and finally fed on the karshu oak, on which they were much more 

 successful. The bark yields tan, but in much smaller quantities than that of 

 <?. incana. [Cf. 2nd. For., 1894, xx., 452-3 ; 1895, xxi., 149-51, 264-5.] 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. i., 



393-5. 



Radish. 



Cultivation. 



Seasons. 



Baces. 



Food. 



Oil. 



RAPHANUS SATIVUS, Linn. ; Fl Br. Ind., i., 166 ; Prain, 

 Beng. Plants, i., 1903, 223 ; Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, 

 pt. iii., 14 ; Duthie, FL Upper Gang. Plain, 1903, i., 48 ; CBUCIFER^;. The 

 Radish, muli, muro, mula sinki, tara mira, mungra, maguni-gadde, mullangi, 

 lili, lobak, etc. An annual herb, cultivated throughout the plains of India 

 and in the Himalaya up to 10,000 feet. The Rat-tailed Radish (R. 

 caudatus, Linn.), is commonly cultivated in Western India and the 

 Panjab. 



According to Boy (Crops of Beng., 1906, 142-3), high and well -drained sandy 

 loam is invariably chosen for radish cultivation. All through the rainy season 

 and after, the land is frequently ploughed and thoroughly pulverised in pre- 

 paration for this root crop. The seed is sown from the middle of August to the 

 middle of November, 1 seer per acre, and the field is immediately harrowed. 

 Cow-dung manure at the rate of 50 maunds per acre is applied directly after 

 sowing. The crop is weeded and irrigated at intervals, and a month after sowing 

 is ready for harvest. In many parts of the country it grows larger than an average 

 good-sized carrot, and is eaten more as a vegetable than as a flavouring ingredient 

 in salad. There are, in fact, several distinct cultivated races, the radish most 

 common in Bengal being a long tapering root of a purplish rather than a scarlet 

 tint. Roxburgh's description is admirable. " The root," he says, " grows to the 

 size of a man's leg, or more, and is only half immersed in the soil." Duthie and 

 Fuller allude to its value as a famine food, a crop being rapidly obtained on 

 the climatic conditions proving favourable. The root is eaten both raw and 

 boiled, and is occasionally pickled. 



The radish is cultivated not only for the root, but also for the young seed- 

 pods and the leaves, all of which are eaten. The unripe pods (especially of the 

 rat-tailed radish) are boiled and eaten with ghi or cooked in curries, and are 

 also sometimes pickled. Both roots and seeds yield on distillation with water 

 a small amount of a colourless sulphuraceous OIL heavier than water. This 

 is used medicinally. A special form is in fact cultivated in Sylhet on account of 

 the sweet oil obtained from its seeds (see Daucus, p. 491). [Cf. Bentham, Rev. of 

 Targioni-Tozzetti, Journ. Hort. Soc., 1855, ix., 146 ; Pharmacog. Ind., i., 129 ; 

 Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, pt. i., 77; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 114-5; 

 Dunstan, in Agri. Ledg., 1899, No. 12, 137, 144, 150; Gildemeister and Hoffmann, 

 Volatile Oils, 1900, 417-8 ; Woodrow, Gard. in Ind., 1903, 161-2 ; Firminger, 

 Man. Gard. Ind., 1904, 189-90; Joret, Lea PI. dans L'Antiq., etc., 1904, ii., 255.] 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. i., 

 485-6. 

 Rhubarb. 



RHEUM EMODI, Wall. ; Fl Br. Ind., v., 56 ; POLYGONACE^. 

 The Rhubarb, Hindi-revand chini, dolu, padam-chal, chukri, archu, chutidl, 

 kJuzbium, pambash, dtsu, ndttu-manjat-chinak-kishangu, etc. 



Found wild in the sub-alpine Himalaya of Nepal and Sikkim at altitudes 

 of 11,000 to 12,000 feet, and is usually considered to be the source of the so- 

 called Himalayan Rhubarb. Commercial rhubarb, known as Chinese and East 

 Indian, is said to be obtained from R. offidnaie and -R. paitnatum,, which grow 

 in South-East Tibet and North-West China. [Cf. Prjevalski, Mongolia, 1876, 



912 



