60 CROPS 



wonderful tillering capacity. It is quick growing, and 

 therefore may be raised as a fodder crop though the straw is 

 considered wnen ripe, inferior in quality to cholam. 



Seed-rate — 3 lb. in black soils ; others 6 to 10 lb. 



Volume weight— 1 M.M. weighs 27 lb. 



Husk to grain— 7 to 8 per cent by weight. 



Weight of seed — 1,000 seeds weigh 4 grammes. 



Number of seeds in 1 lb— 111,400. 



Germination capacity— 93 per cent. 



Yield — Up to 1,000 lb. of grain on best black soils. In 

 other soils about 300 lb. is an average crop Productivity 

 inferior to cholam both in fodder and grain. 



RAGI. 



(Eleusine coracana.) 



Tamil Kelvaragu or Ragi. 



Telugu Ragulu, Thamidalu 



Chodulu. 



Malayalam Muttari. 



Kanarese ... Ragi. 



Hindustani Ragi. 



Oriya Mandiya 



Tulu Ragi. 



Area in Madras— 2,600,900 acres. 



Varieties— There are distinct varieties for dry and 

 garden lands and for early and late seasons. Plants differ 

 also in the nature of panicles (open or closed). In a few 

 parts of Madras, this is grown as a dry crop (generally mixed 

 with pulses and castor) in the uplands of Salem, Coimbatore 

 and Hindupur, in Vizagapatam, and in valleys near the hills. 

 In some districts it is raised as the first crop on wet lands 

 with limited or precarious water-supply. Elsewhere it is a 



farden crop, being raised in seed-beds and transplanted in 

 eds or in ridges. 



Seed-rate— 2 lb. in 2 cents of land for planting out 1 acre. 

 In dry lands about 3 lb. is mixed with pulses. 



Volume weight— 1 M.M. weighs 307 lb. 



Husk to grain— 5 to 6 per cent by weight. 



Weight of seed— 1,000 seeds weigh 2-88 grammes. 



Number of seeds in 1 lb.— 157,500. 



Germination capacity— 95 to 99 per cent. 



Yield -2,000 to 3,000 lb. garden crop. The straw is 

 usually cut and fed partly green, and will weigh up to 8,000 

 lb. Dry crop, 1,000 to 1,500 lb. of grain and 4,000 lb. of 

 straw. 



