140 



USEFUL FIBER FT, ANTS OF THE WORLD. 



full account of tlic treatment of the plant in cultivation., from which extracts are 

 reproduced : 



In Kolaba it is sown in November, after the rice is harvested, and the stalks are 

 uprooted in March. In Kolhapur it is sown in August and harvested in December, 

 by being cut when the plants are full grown. In Foona it is sown in July and ripens 

 in October. In the central provinces and the northwestern provinces it is a kharif 

 crop, being sown with the advent of the rains, but in Bengal it is sown a little earlier, 

 namely, from 15th of April to 15th of Juue. In Madras the sowings take place still 

 earlier. In the experiments performed at the Saidapet farm. Madras, sunn was sown 

 on the 2d of February. In the Ain-i-Akbari the plant is described as bearing its 

 yellow flowers in spring, a fact at which Mr. Kerr (writing of Bengal) expresses some 



astonishment, since "it now flowers in 

 the rainy and cold seasons." Roxburgh 

 says it is sown in Bengal in May and 

 June and flowers by August — that is to 

 say, toward the end of the rainy sea- 

 son. In the last agricultural report of 

 Bengal it is stated that the crop is har- 

 vested from 15th of August to 15th of 

 September. 



It requires a light, but not necessarily 

 rich, soil, and it can not be grown on 

 clay. It is therefore sown on the high 

 sandy lands, less suited for the more 

 important crops. Wisset remarks that 

 clay soils are injurious, but that on a 

 rich soil the fiber is of a coarser quality 

 than that grown on dry, high situations. 

 The opinion prevails all over India 

 that high cultivation is not necessary 

 for sunn hemp. Of Kolaba it is said: 

 '•The soil is roughly plowed twice and 

 the seed sown broadcast." In Bengal 

 ••'the seeds are sown broadcast. It is 

 necessary to have the plants grown 

 thick, otherwise they become bushy and 

 coarse and give very inferior fibers." 

 "There is nothing more required after 

 sowing till harvest time." In the North- 

 west Provinces " two plowings at most 

 are given, and the seed is sown broad- 

 cast and plowed in. It germinates 

 quicker than any other crop, the seed- 

 lings showing above ground within 

 twenty-four hours alter being sown. Irrigation, even when necessary, is rarely 

 given, and no weeding is required." In the experiments made in Madras, to which 

 reference has already been made, it was apparently sown in drills. ''The land was 

 prepared for an ordinary crop by plowing aud harrowing until it was reduced to 

 a proper state, and the seed was then sown with the drill in rows 9 inches apart 

 at the rate of 12 pounds per acre," but in the Northwestern Provinces about 1 

 maund (or 80 pounds) to the acre in general. In Bengal 20 seers (40 pounds) to 

 the bigha (three-fourths of an acre) is the customary amount of seed. Roxburgh 

 states that from 80 to 100 pounds weight to the acre were used in his time. The 

 plant should not be more than 21 to 3 inches apart each way. and hence thick sowing 

 is desirable. 



Inmost cases the plants are pulled up by the roots; in others the stems are cut 



l"i<.. 4'i. — Leaf and Llossom of Cr talaria juncea. 



