[ 37' j 



able quantity of a sweetish farinaceous substance. The pods 

 are eaten green or dry, and raw, by itself, or boiled with salt,: 

 oinions and ghee, with bread or mixed with dahi. The bark 

 ground into flour and made into cakes is also edible. This 

 tree was the means of saving thousands of lives during the 

 Rajputana famine of 1868-69. As a food and fodder-yielding 

 tree, there are not many that can be compared to this one. 

 (8) Sajna or najna may be also mentioned as a food-yielding 

 tree. (9) The mulberry. (10) Bamboo, (u) The mahua. 

 (12) The palms, toddy palm, areca-nut palm, cocoanut palm 

 and the date palm. Plantains and dates being grown as 

 crops in some parts of Bengal, are separately dealt with. 



552. Fruits can be variously utilized if they cannot be sold 

 fresh. The strained juice of mangoes and jack fruits is spread 

 out thin in the sun and preserved in the form of thin cakes. 

 A method of preserving the juice of fresh fruits without con- 

 verting it into wine, has been described in the chapter on 

 Pineapples. Lime juice may be bottled up fresh with the 

 addition of powdered charcoal for an indefinite period. Rapid 

 dessication of fruits and vegetables by the combined action 

 of heat and bellowing, followed by tinning them in air-tight 

 cans, is now resorted to largely in Australia. The Saharanpur 

 experiments in this direction though not quite successful have 

 opened out an important field of economic research. Fruits 

 are also preserved by converting them into jams and jellies. 

 Jams are made by boiling fresh and whole fruits 4 in syrup. 

 The sugar and water are first boiled into syrup and the fruits 

 put in afterwards and boiled. The preparation of jelly from 

 the pulp or the .juice of fruits by the addition of sugar has 

 been described in the chapter on Plantains. 



553. Lord Sudeley's fruit plantation in England (in con- 

 nection with which Beech's Jam Factory is worked), is an 

 example of the success which a capitalist can attain by this 

 semi-agricultural pursuit. No calculation can be given of 

 initial outlay, annual expenditure and outturn which wi([ 



