CH. I] RICE AND OTHER CEREALS AND FOOD PLANTS 4,9 



replaces rice. The fields are usually tilled with the plough 

 and harrow, the latter having frequently such large teeth and 

 being so heavily loaded that it is practically a cultivator, and 

 the seed is sown with a drill, or broadcasted. Most of these 

 grains ripen in a few months, and are then usually harvested 

 with the sickle, and threshed with bullocks, as described under 

 rice. The straw is often valuable as fodder, and many varieties 

 are grown expressly for fodder purposes. 



Among the more important of these grains are (1) the 

 Great Millet or Guinea Corn (Sorghum vulgare), variously 

 known in different parts of India as juar, jowar, jowari, cholam : 

 it occurs in a vast number of varieties ; (2) the Bulrush Millet 

 (Pennisetum typhoideum), or bajri, or kumbu ; (3) the Maize or 

 Indian Corn (Zea Mays); (4) Eleusine coracana, the ragi or 

 kurakkan; (5) the Italian Millet (Setaria italica) or Kangni; 

 (6) the kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) whose grain is 

 at times liable to be poisonous (it is supposed from the 

 development of a fungus in it) ; (7) the other millets (Panicum 

 species). 



Guinea corn is grown on 8,000,000 acres in Bombay, and 

 4,000,000 in Madras, as well as elsewhere in India. The soil 

 is generally manured by cattle-penning and in other ways, and 

 the seed most commonly broadcasted. The grain contains 

 more albuminoids and less starch than rice, and is a good 

 food, while the plant makes a good fodder and is much used 

 for this purpose. Guinea corn is largely exported, especially 

 from Bombay to Aden, Arabia, Abyssinia, etc. 



Bulrush millet is especially grown in Bombay, and covers 

 8,000,000 acres in tropical India. It is a summer crop and 

 reaped about September. The analysis is like that of Guinea 

 corn. 



Maize, or Indian corn, a native of America, introduced to 

 the east by the Portuguese, is cultivated all over India and 

 Ceylon, but only on the large scale in the northern non-tropical 

 parts. It shows a great range of varieties, apparently depend- 

 ing to a large extent upon climate. New varieties introduced 

 anywhere tend to go to the standard local form, and much 

 disappointment has consequently attended efforts to improve 



w. 4 



