FODDER PLANTS. 



FODDER PLANTS. 



59 



The fodder resources of these Provinces may be conveniently classed as follows : — 

 I. — The produce of cultivated crops, either specially grown to be used as fodder, 

 or derivable as a secondary product in the form of straw, chopped straw 

 (bhusa), oil-cake, &c. 



II. — Indigenous grasses and other kinds of herbage, also the leaves and twigs of 

 shrubs and trees. 



With the exception of lucerne (Medicago sativa) and Masur-chana (Vicia Idrsuta ), 

 the cultivated crops enumerated below have already been noticed in the three portions 

 of this work. 



For information concerning the various kinds of fodder obtainable from indigenous 

 vegetation, the reader is referred to the author's article " Food and Fodder for Cattle " 

 contributed to Dr. Watt's Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. III., 

 p. 407 ; also to his book on the Indigenous Fodder Grasses of Northern India. 



List of the cultivated crops of the North- Western Provinces and Oudh yielding food 

 or fodder for cattle. 



Avena sativa (Oats). — Affords excellent fodder for horses both green and as hay. 

 It is not grown to any large extent in these Provinces except in the Meerut and 

 Eohilkhand Divisions. {See also Part I., p. 13). 



Brassica campestris. — All the oil-yielding varieties (sarson, toriga, &c.,) contribute 

 more or less to the stock of cattle food in these Provinces. The thinnings from the 

 fields, as well as the refuse after the oil has been extracted, are usually given to cattle. 

 In many parts of the Punjab sarson is sown mainly as a fodder crop, and treated much 

 in the same way as turnips. The autumn flowering variety, called toriga, is often 

 plucked as green food for cattle. {See also Part II., pp. 28-32). 



Brassica campestris, sub-species Eapa (Turnip). — (See Part III., p. 7). 



Brassica juncea (Rai). — Occasionally given green to cattle when other kinds of 

 fodder are scarce. (See also Part II., p. 33). 



Cajanus indicus (Arhar ). — The leaves furnish an excellent fodder. The husks 

 and broken grain, after soaking in water, are sometimes given to cattle to keep them 

 quiet when they are being milked. 



Carthamus tinctorius ( Safflower ). — The oil-cake resulting from the refuse of the 

 seed after the oil has been extracted is much appreciated by cattle, though apt to taint 

 the milk. The chaff is said to be sold in the Bulandshahr district as fodder for cattle. 

 (See also Part I., p. 52). 



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