GUINEA CORN 153 



are better assured, as the old root-stocks withstand a 

 prolonged drought better than new plants. This custom, 

 if persisted in, would be a direct hindrance to the intro- 

 duction of ploughing. 



Manure is applied regularly to this crop in the northern 

 districts, but never in the Niger valley. The method of 

 applying manure varies according to the condition of the 

 crop. Where entirely new plants are to be grown, a 

 shallow bed is made upon the top of the ridge or in the 

 furrow, and the goat, sheep, and cow manure mixed with 

 ashes, and accumulated carefully in the villages, is spread 

 thinly upon the bed before the seed is sown. In other 

 places, where old root-stocks occur, handfuls of manure 

 are applied to the growing plants in May. This is some- 

 times adopted where young plants only are growing. 

 Manure is so necessary for the system of cultivation 

 adopted in the Kano and Zaria Provinces that every 

 scrap of material which is of manurial value is care- 

 fully preserved, being carried to the fields by men and 

 donkeys. 



The heads are cut when ripe and tied in bundles to 

 dry, after which the grain is readily beaten out in wooden 

 mortars or with sticks. The flour made from the grain 

 is ground between stones, and is frequently eaten in the 

 form of a thin porridge. Two varieties of Nigerian 

 Guinea corn have been examined at the Imperial 

 Institute and shown to be superior to Indian Guinea 

 corn, though not quite so good as the Syrian grain 

 (Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. vii. [1909], 

 p. 148.) 



Smut- blights, Ustilago Eeiliana and Tolyposporium 

 sp. (called in Haussa " domana "), attack the heads, and 

 a Capnodium sp. (called " derba "), the honey dew pro- 

 duced on the leaves by Aphis sorghi (cf. Bull. Imp. Inst., 

 vol. xi. [1913]). 



At certain stages, green Guinea corn is poisonous to 

 cattle, and for this reason goats, sheep, and cows are 

 muzzled in the Kano and Zaria Provinces. Local know- 

 ledge of this fact confirms what has been observed 

 elsewhere with regard to this species, and is explained by 

 investigations conducted at the Imperial Institute. 

 (Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. i. [1903], and 

 vol. viii. [1910].) 



