AND ITS USES. 23 



it is ploughed twice, or, if tough and hard, three 

 times. The feed is sown, either broad- cast, or in 

 drills, according to the fancy of the cultivator. The 

 ground is then ploughed over again, and harrowed. 

 In one beegah* oi ground are sown, from i{ to 2| 

 muns -f of seed. In fifteen or twenty days the young 

 plants spring up. The field is then carefully weed- 

 ed, and the grounds stirred with an iron instrument. 

 This operation is repeated, at proper intervals, during 

 the first year; and in the dry months of that year 

 (that is, from January till June) the ground is three or 

 four times laid under water, After the first year, it 

 requires no farther care. In a year the plant grows to 

 the height of one or two feet, according to the quali- 

 ty of the soil. In the third year, sometimes in the se- 

 cond, it bears flowers and fruit. The flowers appear 

 in June, and the fruit ripens in September or October : 

 but the fruit of those young trees is not used for seed, 

 as it is said not to produce vigorous plants. In the 

 months of February and March following the third 

 year, the plants are dug up. They dig, to the depth 

 of three or four feet ; the root, which is the only 

 valuable part, extending so far into the ground. 

 The wood of the plant is only used for fuel. Some* 

 times the necefTities of the husbandman oblige him to 

 dig the crop in the second, or even at the end of the 



* A meafure of one hundred cubits square. 

 fThe mttn of this country is sixteen seen, of eighty rupees 

 weight each f 



first 



