136 CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES AND PRODUCTS OF INDIA. 



market. I have known it to sell for Bs. 40, or 41. sterling per ton, and 

 I have known it fetch double that price. Until roads, railroads, and 

 canals, with better modes of conveyance than exist at present, equalise 

 prices, no average of price can be given with any certainty, as one 

 season in one part of the country may have been favourable, and in 

 another part unfavourable, all within a radius of twenty miles, and the 

 two places show a difference of 50 per cent, in the selling price as well 

 as in production : thus proving how imperfect are the means of trans- 

 port from one part of the country to another, which would otherwise 

 equalise the produce in the dearest market till a medium was found, or 

 in other words, till further export to that place was unprofitable. 



It is grown all over Oude, and only cultivated for the sake of the oil 

 of its seed. Some fishermen make their nets from the fibre. This is 

 cultivated as a mixed crop, principally with gram, all over Oude. It is 

 sown in the month of October, and never irrigated. It is never sown 

 thickly, as the object is to get a large amount of seed for oil, and not 

 fibre. It can be cultivated extensively, and there is no doubt that, with 

 proper treatment, profitably, for its fibre. The oil is extracted by press- 

 ing. The seed sells for 18f seers per rupee, and the oil for 5 seers per 

 rupee. Every five seers of seed yield 1 j seers of oil by the native pro- 

 cess of pressing. It is used for cooking and burning. 



Mustard (Sinapis ramosa) is cultivated for its oil ; one maund of 

 mustard produces 13 seers of oil ; cost rupees 5-3. Cost of conveyance 

 to Calcutta, in dry season, rupees 10 per 100 maunds. 



The Sinapis juncea and ramosa are not sown together, but each is 

 cultivated as a mixed crop, with either grain, barley, wheat, or peas. In 

 this way it is cultivated all over Oude. The oil is extracted in the usual 

 way. The cost of the seed is 15J seers per rupee, and that of the oil 

 varies from three to eight seers per rupee. The proportion of oil ex- 

 tracted is lj seers from every five seers of seed ; it is used for cooking 

 and burning. 



The Sinapis ramosa and Sinapis dichotoma are grown generally 

 mixed with the rape seed, also called sarson, although the plant is a dis- 

 tinctly differing one, and the seed is a whitish yellow, while the seed of 

 the rape (Sinapis dicliotoma) is a dark brown. They are rarely grown 

 separately, though such is the case in many parts of the country, and 

 ought to be the case here. It is grown extensively all over the district, 

 principally for local consumption, and, being sown in the month of 

 October, is generally sown as an auxiliary with grain crops, amongst 

 which its white and bright yellow flowers are easily distinguished. 

 Being always sown as an auxiliary, it is impossible to ascertain what 

 would be its yield per acre if sown separately. It loves the loam, and 

 does not take kindly to any of the clays. It is ready before the close of 

 February for cutting, and is always cut slightly green, or the seed pods 

 would burst and scatter the seed. Being cut, the plant is dried on the 

 threshing-floor by the heat of the sun, which does its work in three or 



