23 



45. Ervum lens or lens esculenta : natural order, Leguminosae. For 

 eyncmymsmwar.moHn.ohri. botanical description see Field and 



Garden Crops, part II, page 13. and 

 plate XXXI. 



Chemical composition of unhusked grain 



Per cent. 

 Water ... ... . i?< n . ? 



Albuminoids ... m 24| . 9 



Starch . ... .... tft 5C . 



oil -- ... ... ... 1-5 



Fibre ... ... ... ... 3 . 6 



Ash ... ... ... 2-3, including 0-7 of 



phosphoric acid. 



Husked the fibre is reduced to 1'2 per cent, and the starch increased 

 to 58'4 per cent. As regards its value as human food Professor Church 

 writes 



" It is highly nutritious, but somewhat heating ; it should be carefully freed from the 

 husk or coat. The meal of lentils deprived of their coat is of great richness, containing 

 generally more albuminoid or flesh-forming matter than bean or pea-flour. The preparations 

 advertised under the names of ' Kevaleuta/ ' Ervalenta,' etc., consist mainly of lentil 

 meal mixed with flour of barley or some other cereal and common salt" (Food Grains of 

 India, page 139.)" 



We are told that the mass of pottage, for which Esau sold his birth- 

 right, was probably composed of masri flour (Dictionary of Economic Pro- 

 ducts, volume IV, page 621). Masri alone or mixed with barley is sown in poor 

 damp riverain lands or after rice in flooded lands. Its grain is used as dal for 

 human food and the dry stalks and leaves as fodder. It is not regarded as a 

 valuable fodder. Mr. Purser noted that some considered it heating and bad for 

 milch kine, while others thought it good for all cattle, as being sweet (Mont- 

 gomery Settlement Report, page 122). 



The area recorded in the district revenue registers in 1910-11 as sown 

 under the heads of masri dt,n&jaumasri was 225,787 acres. 



46. Lathyrus sativus : natural order, Leguminosce:li?m botanical 



description see Field and Garden 



ChurU - Crops, part II, page 15, and plate-- 



XXXII. 



Chemical composition of pea 



Percent. 



Water ... ... ... 10-1 



Albuminoids .... ... 



Starch and fibre ... ... 53 ' 9 



Oil ... ... ... 



Ash 

 called in the United Provinces fcesari. 



This humble pulse is grown in damp riverain lands and is used almost 

 wholly for fodder, especially for cows and female buffaloes. Ihe dal has a bad 

 reputation for human food, and indulgence in it is undoubtedly sometimes 

 followed by paralysis of the lower limbs. The curious statement in the late 

 Mr O'Brien's Settlement Report of Muzaffargarh that "to sleep m a pea 

 field is believed to produce a kind of paralysis called munda, probably refers 

 to churdl. Mr, Purser in the Settlement Report of Montgomery page 

 122 writes:-" This crop is grown chiefly for green fodder. The plants are 

 pulled up or cut. The dry stalk and leaves are considered good fodder for 

 cattle, but not for horses," as causing constipation. Mr. Maclagan on page 220 

 of the Multan Gazetteer puts the average selling value of chural at . 

 per acre. 



