4 FOOD FOR THE TROPICS 



extensively cultivated throughout India, West Indies, etc., 

 growing best on black soil where it is not too swampy, as 

 the plant rots if allowed to stand in water. At harvest 

 time in India the heads are cut off with twelve inches of 

 stalk attached to them, dried for two days, left in heaps 

 for three weeks, and afterwards stacked. To separate the 

 grain, the heads are cut off and thrashed with sticks or 

 Palmyra Palm leaf -stalks. 



The white-grained varieties are considered to be the best. 



Watt says that " to the vast majority of the people of 

 India (if Bengal be excluded) Juar and Bajra are of greater 

 importance than wheat or rice," and Sir Walter Elliot calls 

 it the staple dry grain of India. The Madras Presidency 

 in 1889-90 had 4,276,509 acres of cholam (juar), and the 

 area for the whole of India, as gathered from the Returns 

 sent in by various Agricultural Departments, was 19,000,000 

 acres ; but more than this is cultivated. 



The seeds are ground into meal or flour, and eaten as 

 cakes or porridge. The " ficcory " of the Soudan is com- 

 posed of the crushed seeds mixed with milk or water, and 

 seasoned with bird peppers. 



Duthie and Fuller say that the dry stalks and leaves, 

 chopped into small pieces, form the ordinary cattle fodder 

 for some months in the year. 



Maize 



{Zea Mays) 



De Candolle says this grain is probably a native of New 

 Granada, Columbia, etc., in South America. 



