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CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



GROUND-NUT (ARACHIS HYPOGAEA). 



is a native of America, introduced into India probab- 

 ly through China about 60 years ago. It grows best on 

 dry, sandy soil, and it is cultivated chiefly in the light soils 

 of the Madras Presidency. The seed can be put down either 

 in February, or in May or June, or in September and October, 

 or in fact, at any time except during the two rainy months. 

 Sown in May or June the crop can be lifted in November and 

 December, and sown in September or October the crop 

 can be lifted in March or April. In heavy clay soils, the cost 

 of lifting the crop is not covered by the value of nuts obtained, 

 and so many nuts remain behind undiscovered in the unbrok- 

 en clods that the plants come up always afterwards like weeds. 

 In such soils flooding should be done before lifting which makes 

 digging easier. In light soils the yield is larger and the cost 

 of cultivation less. In heavy soils it can however be grown as 

 a fodder crop only which is of high value for milch cows. It 

 does not require irrigation unless sowing is done at a dry 

 season and it grows without any trouble. Grown year after 

 year in tracts near Pondicherry, the crop has degenerated and 

 has become subject to diseases. It is necessay to observe the 

 principle of rotation in dealing with this crop as with other crops. 

 A judicious system of manuring with ashes and lime is also 

 a desideratum. That the crop seems to stand a good deal of 

 neglect and does equally well at first with or without manure, 

 are facts which have the tendency of throwing cultivators off 

 their guard, as after taking several crops successfully out of 

 the same land they are surprised that the crop should show a 

 tendency to deteriorate all of a sudden. This is the case 

 now with the ground-nut cultivation of the Madras Presidency 

 which is threatened with ruin. The demand for ground-nut 

 and ground-nut oil is very great especially in France, and 



