CURCUMA LONGA. 



is chiefly grown to be used as a spice. The roots or rhizomes of the dye-yielding kind 



are much harder and more highly coloured. Atkinson (Him. Dist. L, 706) says : 



" It is grown in large quantities in South Eastern Garhwal and Kumaun and in parts of Dehra 

 " Dun. It forms one of the most important and most profitable of exports from the lower hills, 

 " and is cultivated in jungles where nothing else can be profitably raised, as well as in the Duns and 

 li Bhabar. It is singularly free from the attacks of wild animals. The tubers are planted in April- 

 " May, and the produce is gathered in November. Major Garstin has estimated the cost of cultivat- 

 " ing one acre of turmeric at Rs. 3o, of which one rupee goes for rent, Rs. 5 for sowing, Rs. 3 for 

 " planting out, Rs. 20 lor seed, Rs. 4^ for weeding and hoeing, and Rs. 2£ for harvesting. An acre 

 " will produce 30 maunds of root worth Rs. 60, and when cured and dried, weighing about 7^ 

 " maunds, worth Rs. 75. Setting down the cost of curing and drying at Rs. 8, the average net 

 " profits on an acre of turmeric amounts to Rs. 31, and thus justifies its popularity amongst the 

 ' : hill cultivators." 



Roxburgh thus describes its cultivation in Bengal, which is equally applicable to 

 these Provinces : — 



" The ground must be rich, friable, and so high as not to be overflowed during the rainy 

 " season, such as the Bengalees about Calcutta call danga. It is often planted on land where 

 " sugar-cane grew the preceding year, and is deemed a meliorating crop. The soil must be well 

 " ploughed and cleared of weeds, &c. It is then raised in April and May, according as the rains 

 " begin to fall, into ridges, nine or ten inches high, and eighteen or twenty broad, with interven- 

 " ing trenches nine or ten inches broad. The cuttings or sets, viz., small portions of the fresh root 

 " are planted on the tops of the ridges, at about eighteen inches, or two feet asunder. One acre 

 "requires about from nine hundred such sets, and yields in December and January about two 

 " thousand pounds' weight of the fresh root." 



In the Cawnpore district it is grown along with gliuiydn, and has to be abundant, 

 ly irrigated. The cost of cultivating one bigha of land ( = y acre) has been estimated at 

 Es. 19; and as^he yield of one bigha is four maunds, and the dried roots are sold at 

 Rs. 9 per maund, Rs. 17 remain as profit. The bazar rate at Saharanpur is 3 seers for 

 one rupee. 



In the Kheri district, where it is much cultivated, it is planted in almost sandy 

 soil. The roots, after being dug up, are boiled for two days in earthen pots over fires 

 lighted in the fields. It was first cultivated in this district about the year 1865. In 

 1877 the price per maund of the boiled root was Rs. 10. Before that time the price 

 was Rs. 17. A good crop will yield two thousand pounds (Gaz.). 



The following information is taken from Part III. of the Economic Products of 

 the North-Western Provinces, page 21 : — 



" When dug up the roots are boiled and dried in the sun : in this form they are the turmeric 

 " sold in the Indian bazars. When the dye is to be used, the roots are again boiled and powdered 

 " while wet. A decoction is then made of this paste in water, in which the cloth is well steeped, 

 " being subsequently dried in the shade. In the Kumaun district the roots are soaked in limejuice 

 " and borax before being powdered instead of being boiled." 



" The employment of borax in Kumaun," Dr. Watt observes, " will be found to have a very 

 " considerable interest, since the system there pursued, and doubtless accidentally discovered, is de- 

 " pendent on an important chemical feature of the dye principle." 



