146 



Success might also attend the growing of Phaseolus calcaratns, 

 P. Mungo and perhaps P. aconitifolius, all common in India, as well 

 as the Japanese P. anqnlaris. 



I anticipate nt success with the chick pea, Cicer arietinum, and 

 the lentil, Lens esculenta ; as they favour a drier climate, and are 

 only to be found in Java at considerable elevations. The Field peaj 

 Pisum arvense, also, for our plains is out of the question. 



Ground-nut cultivation has latterly been a. source of large 

 profits on the sandy river banks of Burma. But it is grown for oil 

 and not for eating, for which purpose there are distinct varieties 

 differing much in the chemical composition of the seed : and I prefer 

 to consider the ground-nut as an oil seed, and not as a food. 



Voandzeia, the Bambarra ground-nut, is more ideally a food 

 crop, but it is of doubtful importance. 



Vigna catiang and Cajanus incUcus both grow well here, and 

 are used as vegetables : but they furnish abroad seeds for eating. 

 The latter yields for three years if it be appropriately out back ; 

 so that it is not a crop like the other beans and will not take a place 

 in alternation with rice. Vigna catiang, under the name of cow-pea, 

 takes a very important place in the agriculture of the United States 

 where the climate is not suited for clover ; but it is not grown there 

 for the seed, but for stock feeding and for green manure. Collection 

 of the seed-harvest is laborious as it has to be done by hand daily ; 

 and it is never large. 



Two other leguminous crops may be mentioned, namely, 

 Canavalia, the sword bean, and Muctina or Stizolohitim, the velvet 

 bean. Sword beans are eaten somewhat extensively in Mysore and 

 some parts of the Bombay Presidency, and are grown a little in the 

 Malay Peninsula. The seeds, are quite wholesome, but the pod is 

 generally consumed here unripe. 



Condiments. 

 I turn to condiments of native food. They are the last 

 group of the food-stuffs for which I gave you trade returns : but 

 I take them next as they are in such a large measure sold dried, and 

 therefore like cereals and beans travel easily and are stored, 

 I consider under the head of condiments such foods as onions, garlic, 

 chillies, ginger and cardamoms, which are in general use for 

 flavouring and mixing with the more bulky substances that make up 

 native food. 



Onions can be grown in the Malay Peninsula, but perhaps 

 not commercially, as the damp climate is unsuited for the arrest of 

 leaf growth and the formation of a bulb. A few trials with them 

 are recorded but no attempt has ever been made to ascertain 

 exactly what can be done by seeking out the I'aces (they exist) 

 which do best under damp tropical conditions. Onions are grown 



