25 



and cotton fields. It belongs to the same group as methra, senji, and lucerne, 

 and it might be worth while to try to extend its cultivation in the Punjab Tri- 

 folmm pratense (red), Trifolium repens (white), and Trifolium fra<nferum 

 (straw-berry headed trefoil) are English clovers, which also grow wildin the 

 hills. 



53. A foreign leguminous plant, Arachis hypogsea or the ground-nut 

 The ground-nut or mfbgphaii. ( see & S* 22 in Church's " Food Grains 



of India ") is now much cultivated in 



Southern India. It has the curious property of burying its pods in the ground. 

 ' The seeds are a valuable source of oil, and are also eaten. The leaves and 



branches of the plant are an excellent fodder- The hay is very nutritious 



much increasing the milk of cows. The cake holds a high reputation as a 

 food upon which cattle rapidly fatten." (Dictionary of Economic Products, 

 Tolume I, page 287). Probably the Punjab climate is too cold for the ground- 

 nut. 



54 Gli/cine hispida : natural order, Leguminosa. For botanical des- 

 Bhnt cription see Field and Garden Crops, 



part III, page 3, and plate LXXXV. 



This is the soy bean of China and Jr,pan of which the seed is now large- 

 ly exported to England for oil. In the "United Provinces it is cultivated under 

 the name of bhat in the lower hills and in a few of the neighbouring plain dis- 

 tricts. " The plant affords excellent fodder for all kinds of stock, if harvested 

 before it is fully matured." The extent to which it is now cultivated in the 

 Punjab hills requires investigation. It appears from page 243 of Punjab Pro- 

 ducts that several samples of a plant called bhut, which was identified as soja 

 or glycine hispida, were sent to the Lahore Exhibition of 1864 from the Hill 

 States. This was probably an inferior variety of the Chinese plant. The 

 desirability of introducing into the hills and submontane districts a good kind 

 of soy bean may be judged from the following extracts from the Dictionary of 

 Economic Products, volume III, page 111 : 



" The chemical composition of the bean, according 1 to Professor Kinch, places it above 

 all other pulses as an albuminous food, while that of the straw also surpasses in nitrogenous 

 value that of wheat, lentils, and even hay. The following composition is given by Professor 

 Church : In 100 parts of the bean water 11, albuminoids 35-3, starch and sugar 26, fat 18 - 9, 



fibre 4 f 2, ash 46 The soy bean is an extremely valuable fodder plant. If cut just when 



the pods are, fully formed, it makes most nutritious hay, and the residual cake (after oil has 

 been expressed from the seed), which contains, according to Church, 40 per cent, of flesh-form- 

 ing materials and 7 per cent, of oil, is an extremely rich cattle food." 



CHAPTER IV. OILSEEDS, TURNIPS AND CAEROTS. 



55. We now come to a group of plants of great importance in the 



feeding of cattle because the roots and 

 crop, included in chapter. the green leaves and stalks are eaten, 



and the refuse made after oil has been expressed from the seeds is the chief 

 source of oil-cake. These plants belong to the order Crucif eras, and three-fourths 

 of them, sarson, toria and turnips, are varieties of Brassica campestris. Taramira 

 belongs to the nearly related genus Eruca. Although carrots belong to a differ- 

 ent natural order, it is convenient to include them in this section, as their use 

 as fodder is similar to that made of turnips. 



56. Brassica campestris ; sub-species napus, varieties glauca, trilocularis, 



quadrivalvis, and dichotoma. For 



Sarson, synonyms saron, si, botanical descriptions SCO pagCS 28-30' 



of Field and Garden Crops and plates 5XXVII to XL. 



Natives recognise two varieties, black and yellow. The former, which is 

 Brassica campestris, variety dichotoma, is said to be more hardy, but less rich 

 in oil. 



