26 



Sarson is sown cither alone, or mixed with wheat, barley, gram, or other 

 crops. "When mixed it is sown either scattered or in lines (ad). It is one of 

 the crops sown for fodder in cotton fields, while the cotton is still standing. 

 Except in the south-western districts, where it is unimportant, it is rarely 

 irrigated. It is noted on page 168 of the Lahore Gazetteer, edition of 1893-94, 

 that on well lands it " is seldom sown except with wheat, when the two are 

 intended to he cut together for fodder." It is a delicate plant, very liahle to 

 injury from frost. It ripens the earliest of the rabi crops except toria. 



The seed yields a bitter oil (karwa tel), which is good for burning and also 

 for cooking, though for this purpose not equal to til. The refuse, after the oil 

 has been expressed, is a valuable oil-cake, but much of the seed is exported to 

 Europe. The young flowering shoot is used for sag. Sarson, when sown as a 

 mixed crop, is pulled up and fed green to cattle in January and February. 

 It is noted on page 123 of Purser's Montgomery Settlement Report that when 

 well irrigated and manured two cuttings for fodder can be got, if the first is 

 taken before, or very early in Magh. The dried threshed straw is of no use. 



The area under sarson in 1910-11 was 350,000 acres, but it is extremely 

 difficult to record the area of this crop accurately, and in one or two districts it 

 is lumped with tdramira or toria. The districts with the largest areas in 



rabi 1910 were 



Acres. 



Ferozepore ... ... ... ... 80,641 



Karnal ... ... ... ... ... 47,698 



It is a favourite crop in Gurgaon, Karnal and Ludhiana. In the 



Rawalpindi and Multan divisions tdramira is much more important than 



sarson. 



57. Srassica campestris ; sub-species napus, variety toria : natural order 



Cruciferce. For botanical description 



Toria, synonyms saturi, tirpaklu. __ _.. ,, ~-.. , , , , x , 



see pages 29-30 of Field and Garden 

 Crops and plate XLA. 



In Sialkot toria is a crop of some importance, and it was probably intro- 

 duced into the Lower Chenab and Lower Jhelum Canal Colonies by immigrants 

 from that district. It has become a very popular canal-irrigated crop in both 

 colonies, on the Upper Bari Doab Canal in Lahore and on the Sidhnai Canal 

 in Multan. 



The following passage from the Gazetteer of the Lower Chenab Colony 

 may be quoted : 



"The popularity of toria with the colonists is easily explicable. It is in the ground 

 for only some 3^ months, requires but little water, and that mainly at a time when wheat 

 sowings have not commenced. Once sown it makes no demands on the energies of the 

 colonists There is a uniformly steady demand in the market for the seed, which is 

 exported mainly to Italy and Marseilles, to be manufactured into ' finest Lucca oil '. . . . 

 It is curious that the zamindar will not eat the oil, which he uses himself only as an illumin- 

 ant. It is popularly considered to be heating. A little toria is grown by the Janglis 

 as green fodder for cattle and by Biloches for their camels .... The pressed seed is 

 given to buffaloes to increase lactation." 



In Sialkot toria is generally an irrigated crop, but in Karnal it is 

 mostly grown without irrigation. The chahi area, however, expands in a year 

 of drought when the people want a crop which ripens quickly. The name 

 sathri, by which it is known in some western districts, is an allusion to the 

 fact that it is supposed to ripen (or perhaps to be of use for fodder) in sixty 

 days. It is a delicate crop, but ripens so early that it stands a good chance of 

 escaping damage from frost. It is mainly grown for the export of the seed, 

 which fetches a good price. The oil-cake is not liked by cattle as it has a bitter 

 taste. As fodder toria is much less appreciated than sarson, as the leaves are 

 said to be bitter. But on page 221 of the Multan Gazetteer, edition of 1901-02, 

 Mr. Maclagan noted that in that district outside the Sidhnai area "it is mainly 

 grown along with turnips, and forms, when so grown, a green fodder, which is 

 available for the cattle earlier than the turnips." 



