IN DiNAJPUR. 15 



fi'iendly to ^these productions ; so that though the 

 plants will come up, they are yellow and sickly, and 

 either soon perish, or continue small, stunted, and 

 unproductive. 



Mustard seed is sown in great quantities at this 

 season. Three kinds are usually cultivated; viz. 

 Surshapa,* mtlg. Sursha, Rayajf and Sheta Sursha.:|: 

 The first is the most esteemed, though the other two 

 kinds are as productive, and perhaps more so. The 

 Sinapis dichotoma rises about two or three feet in 

 height, flowers in the latter end of November, or the 

 beginning of December, and is usually ripe in Janu- 

 ary. S. ramosa grows sometimes five or six feet high. 

 It flowers in the end of December, or in January, and 

 ripens in February. S. glaiica grows two or three 

 feet high, and ripens in February. This kind, having 

 a strong and disagreeable smell, is less valued than 

 the other sorts. When the crops of mustard are 

 ripe, the plants are carefully pulled up by the hand, 

 and carried to a place in the field, smoothed and pre- 

 pared for the purpose, where it is soon after thrashed 

 and winnowed. 



Flax,§ though abundantly cultivated in the cen- 

 tral parts of Bengal, for its use in making oil, is 

 but little cultivated in this district. The natives 

 know nothing of the use of its fibre to make thread. 

 The oil-men usually mix the linseed with a quantity 

 of mustard seed, to promote the expression of the.oil. 

 This so injures its quality, that Indian linseed oil is 

 unfit for painting, or the other useful purposes to 

 which it is applied : in Europe. 



• Sinapis dichotoma. t S. ramosa, t S. glauca. 



§ Liiium usitatissimum. 



