Yield. 



Second Crop. 



Price. 



Steins. 



Charcoal. 



Fodder 

 (Leaves). 



Cost per Acre. 



Enemies. 



RICINUS 



COMMUNIS THE CASTOR-OIL PLANT 



United Provinces 



mouth closed in with straw. After a week the fruits are removed from 

 the pit, and the shells separated from the seeds. In some parts of the 

 country the bunches of fruits are for some time then exposed to the sun. 



A vigorous plant yields as much as 8 to 10 seers of seeds in a season, 

 but those grown as hedges do not usually yield more than | to 2 seers a 

 year the flowering being hindered by a deficiency of light and air. Usually 

 the plants are cut down after yielding their crop, but when grown in 

 gardens or near the homesteads they may afford a second or even a third 

 crop in succeeding years, but in that case they are cut down each year to 

 within two feet of the ground, the result being that they throw out numer- 

 ous branches and give a large crop, though with an inferior quality of seed. 

 In the third year the crop is poor both in quantity and quality. The 

 average yield for an acre is 8 to 12 maunds the first year and 12 to 18 

 maunds the second when grown pure, or 4 to 6 maunds as a mixed crop. 

 The produce sells at about Us. 4 a maund. 



The strongest and largest stems are used as timber (rafters) for thatch- 

 ing, and are also made into pokers for sugar-cane-boiling furnaces. The 

 dried stems and husks are used as fuel or converted into charcoal and 

 worked up in fireworks. The green leaves are eaten by cattle with ap- 

 parent relish, and are believed to increase the flow of milk in cows and 

 buffaloes. The cost per acre of pure cultivation is Rs. 24-2-0. If the acre, 

 produces 10 maunds, sold at the low average of Rs. 3 a maund, and allow- 

 ing Rs. 5 as the price of the stems, fuel, etc., obtained, the balance over cost 

 of production would show a net profit of Rs. 10-14-0. 



Mr. Hadi mentions several caterpillars which eat the leaves and young 

 shoots ; an aphid which does much damage to the flowering shoots and 

 young leaves ; white ants which do much harm in fact the castor-oil 

 plant is more subject to their depredations than is any other regular crop ; 

 lastly, castor is much injured by frost. [Cf. Duthie and Fuller, Field and 

 Garden Crops, 1883. pt. ii., 38-9,t. 43 ; Maxwell-Lefroy, Mem. Dept. AgrL 

 Ind., 1907, No. 2.]' 



Central Provinces and Berar. There are two varieties ordinarily grown (a) 

 large-seeded, raised as a rainy season crop ; (b) small-seeded, grown as a cold- 

 season crop. Some few years ago (1899-1900) an estimate was made of the area 

 under both crops, and it was then found the total came to something like 67,845 

 acres. It is included in official statistics under the heading of " Other Oil Seeds," 

 which in the Man'/ season of 1905 occupied 262,477 acres, and in the rabi 85, 188> 

 acres. The districts of chief production are Betul, Raipur and Bilaspur. The 

 large-seeded plant usually occupies waste or fallow patches in cultivated land. 

 Any kind of soil suits it so long as it is well drained. The small-seeded variety 

 is sown as a regular field crop in the month of September, about 16 to 20 Ib. of 

 seed being required to the acre. Sandy loams are preferred, and black cotton soil 

 does not suit it. The seed is sown with a drill plough. One weeding is con- 

 sidered desirable when the plants are about 6 to 12 inches high. The crop is 

 harvested in March as the pods are found ripe enough. The outturn is about 

 500 to 600 Ib. per acre of cleaned seed. The seeds usually sell at 20 Ib. per rupee. 

 The oil is manufactured locally to but a small extent, to meet the demands as a 

 lubricant for cart-wheels and preservative for leather. [Cf. Sly, Note, 1901.] 



Panjab. The plant is nowhere systematically raised as a crop in the Panjab, 

 but exists (mostly self-sown) on embankments near canals, especially in Jhelum 

 and Gurgaon. It is mentioned as abundant on the Jharsa and Raisina Bunds. 

 The people pay no attention to it nor make any use of its seeds. Mr. I. H. Burkill 

 contrasts the castor-oil plant of Baroda with that of the Northern Panjab and 

 Kangra, and adds that the latter is different from the ordinary form of the plant. 

 The oil-mill at Lahore manufactures approximately 30,000 cwt. of this oil a year, 

 the seeds being procured mainly from the United Provinces. An oil-mill has 

 recently been opened in Delhi, and a demand for the seed thus exists that may 



918 



C. Prov. 



Seasons. 

 Soils. 



Propagation. 

 Yield. 



Panjab. 



Areas. 



Races. 



