>i I I I.KMKNTARY TO INDIGO 



.illy the crop is allowed to be self -sown, and is found In small patches in the 

 gardens of those who rear the ailk i lie seed ia allowed to thfd W* run 



waste, but occasionally careful people collect and Mil it. The plant is found 



i \.-rywhere in Annan:, tliou^ti much less abundant in the Surma valley, 

 also grown by certain ..f tl.,- lull trilion. nu'-h a the Qaros, M 



: the silkworm. Hindus do not engage in the produ< 



MlU. ami its traffic in mainly in tli lian.U i i liu Kaoharis and Meches in thf : 

 of the Kamrup, Cnulpara and Darning . and ac<-- 



mo.^t j. !. .ilcnt in the tract* of country ., ,- U |>i,-.| by them. 



1 cr<>|). No oil is extracted from it in Annan,. ! and 



tin- Khasiti and Jaintia hills, experiments were conduct**!, but the crop* were 



l>\ insects to \\linli ili.- plant i* peculiarly |>r<.n.-. h<-i,< .. the opinion 



-ruwn in large quant. a precat .-.' and 



. Assam. 37). 



United Provinces. In the recent inquiry into castor as a possible 

 supplementary crop with indigo, Mr. Moreland observed that h- 

 al'le TO say if it would pay, since a rabi crop is usually taken after ii 

 and this could not be the case were the land occupied with <-a-t>r. So 

 far as known, it is never sown mixed with indigo. Moreover, indigo does 

 not require nitrogenous manures, so that the cake would have no sp 

 value to the indigo planter. Subsequently (in 1903) Mr. Madi (Assistant 

 Director of Agriculture) wrote a note which affords full particulars regard- 

 ing the methods of cultivation, harvesting, extraction of oil, cost of culti- 

 vation, and diseases. It would appear to be grown all over the provinces, 

 on almost every kind of soil, though chiefly on rich loams. It is generally 

 sown as a subordinate crop in the rainy season with bdjra, arhar, jndr or 

 cotton, and, at the beginning of the cold season, with gram, wheat and barley. 

 It is not uncommon as a hedge to sugar-cane fields, being in that case sown 

 in March or April. It is seldom raised alone to any extent, except 

 perhaps in Allahabad, where the khadar lands, on the banks of the Jumna, 

 are often devoted to it. Castor is also largely used as a first crop on newly 

 laid out gardens, perhaps to secure shade for young trees, for which 

 purpose it is also occasionally grown by market gardeners. 



In the kharif time a furrow is thrown up parallel to the sides of 

 the field, and seed cast into this at a distance of every 3 feet. By the 

 return course the seed is covered over. This system is carried throughout 

 the field, the furrows being 6 to 10 feet apart, and when the sowing of 

 castor is thus completed a higher ploughing is given over the entire field 

 and the chief crop sown. Occasionally the castor is cultivated on the 

 ridges that separate the water-beds, in irrigated land, and in that case, as 

 also when sown as a hedge to fields, the seed is usually dibbled by hand. 



The crop ordinarily takes eight to twelve months to mature. The small- 

 seeded varieties ripen earlier than the large. The crop sown in March or 

 April along with sugar-cane takea the full twelve months, while that sown 

 after the rainy season is harvested in ten. The plants begin to produce 

 ripe fruits in seven or eight months, and picking thus commences about 

 January and continues till April. Mention is often made, in conin- 

 with Oudh, of the existence of a form with dark-brown seeds that is 

 specially rich in oil. 



The fruits are collected and stacked in the corner of a house, and 

 covered over with straw or cloth. After six days the capsules soften and 

 the shells decay. They are then exposed to the sun for two days and when 

 well dried the shells split open, or if they do not open naturally they are 

 beaten with a mallet until the shell separates from the seed. The fruita of 

 the larger forms are buried in a pit excavated in the dung-heap, and the 



917 



RICIKW 



COMMUNIft 



i vat to n 



U. Prov. 



Production. 



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Boutioo, 



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