The singhdra is grown in the ponds (tdl, taleya, pokhar, gadha) of nearly 

 every village, forming one of the fiudi or extra receipts. The kahdr or water- 

 carrying class almost exclusively cultivate it. 



Plants that may have remained in a pond from last year are pulled up 

 and thrown into a pit or pool of water where they germi- 

 nate and are sold by the owner to purchasers by the ban- 

 gU (| maund) weight, one maund per rupee. The purchaser plants his shoots 

 (bel) t which increase again, and he then sows as follows: He prepares 800 pegs 

 as thick as his finger, points them with his sickle, and ties each plant ( bel) to 

 a peg with kus grass. Floating on a support of two gharas upside down joined 

 by a bamboo, he plants out his pegs, diving where it is deep ; thirty-two men 

 would sow an acre in a day. 



The plant must be examined every day for the purpose of clearing off the 



Intermediate opera- insects. The owner and his friends (as kahdrs generally 



tions> join in a lease they have not to hire labour) astride on their 



rafts float round the pond doing this : eight men will manage an acre in the day. 



The plant flowers in November, and on Deo uthdni Ekddashi, or five days 



before the end of Kdtik, singMras are eaten and given as 



offerings. The owner pulls as many as he wishes for sale, 



and the nuts continue forming till the end of Decembfci^ when the plants rot, 



the nuts fall, and are dragged out by a primitive drag. They may be gathered 



in this way as late as the end of February, as the nut is protected by its thick 



spiky shell. 



The nut is eaten raw or boiled when fresh. Druggists store them for 

 use as offerings or to be made into flour for " pharhar," or 

 the feast after a fast in which grain may not be eaten. 

 Outturn. About ten maunds an acre would be a fair outturn 



Price, fetching one anna a seer. 



The singhdra plant is so liable to the ravages of 

 Injuries. y , 



certain insects that m some years the whole crop is a failure. 



The first that attacks is the " orna," very small, red i a colour ; next the 

 " chitya," white, even more minute (the size of a poppy seed); next the " sunri," 

 a black caterpillar about a barleycorn in length -, and lastly, "ghuhan," yellow, 

 as large as a small pea. 



