TRAP A BISPINOSA. 



33 



The following information is given by Atkinson in his " Notes on the Economic 

 Products of the North-Western Provinces," Part V., p. 17 : — 



" It is cultivated as a favourite food resource in the tanks and fresh-water reservoirs of these 

 " provinces, and is in great request during fasts, heing one of the phaldhas or fruits lawful for 

 n Hindus to eat during those seasons. It is eaten both raw and cooked, and is also grated into a 

 " flour which, coloured red with kamila (the red powder-like substance which covers the fruit of 

 " Mallotus philippinensis), is thrown about at the Holi festival. The singhdra is cultivated chiefly 

 " by Dhimars and Kahars, who have spaces regularly marked out by bamboos, for which they pay 

 " rent to the land-holder. The long stalks reach the surface of the water, on which float the green 

 " leaves, and amongst them the white flowers expand their petals towards evening. In the end of 

 " January the seed or fruit is scattered, at the rate of a maund of 82 lbs. to a local bigha, over the 

 " water where it is sufficiently deep to preclude all chance of its drying up before the advent of the 

 " periodical rains. The seeds are then pressed into the mud with sticks or the feet, and in a 

 " month they begin to throw out shoots. In June, just before the rains set in, the excess is thinned 

 " out and transplanted, the produce of one bigha serving for three or four : the roots are taken 

 " between the great and first toes of the planter's foot and thus fixed in the mud. * * * In 

 " October the nut forms under the water. * * * The fruit is gathered in November and 

 " December. In Hamirpur, in the Mahoba pargana, a local bigha, measured by bamboos 18 feet 

 " long, of which 12 by 2 make the singhdra bigha, yield three to four maunds of produce, worth 

 " about two to four rupees a maund. The rent is about one to three rupees a bigha, kankar in the 

 " soil being esteemed unfavourable and rich mud fetching the highest rent. The Dhimars of 

 " Hamirpur generally take the lease of a lake at a fixed rent and divide it amongst themselves, their 

 " respective cultivations being marked by upright sticks, the removal of which, as of boundary 

 " marks on shore, leads to many a quarrel. Their great enemy is an insect called bandu, which in 

 " both stages of grub and fly feeds on the plant, eating through the husks, and thus destroying the 

 " fruit, which, on being exposed to the water, spoils. The labour of killing these and clearing 

 " away weeds is very great. In Oawnpore a kind of raft is made by joining two earthen vessels 

 " together by a bamboo, astride which, or resting his arms on which, the kahdr paddles about to 

 " clear off the insects. For the cultivation flat-bottomed canoes are used, scooped out of the trunk 

 " of a single mahwa tree, costing about five rupees each to make, and lasting fifteen to twenty years, 

 " * * * The cultivation of this fruit forms one of the most important sources of the miscella- 

 " neous revenue in villages." 



Mr. Wright in his Memorandum on Agriculture in the District of Cawnpore gives 

 also the following information regarding the cultivation of singhdra : — 



" Plants that may have remained in a pond from last year are pulled up and thrown into a pit 

 " or pool of water, where they germinate, and are sold by the owner to purchasers at one maund 

 " per rupee. The purchaser plants his shoots, which increase again, and he then sows as follows : 

 " He prepares 800 pegs as thick as his finger, points them with his sickle, and ties each plant to a 

 " peg with kus grass (Eragrostis cynosuroides). Floating on a support of two gharas (earthen 

 " vessels) upside down joined by a bamboo, he plants out his pegs, diving where it is deep ; thirty- 

 " two men would sow an acre in a day. The plant must be examined every day for the purpose 

 " of clearing off the insects. The owner and his friends astride on their rafts float round the ponds 

 " doing this : eight men will manage an acre in a day. * * * On Deo uthdni Ekddashi, or 

 " five days before the end of Katik, singharas are eaten and given as offerings. The owner pulls as 

 " many as he wishes for sale, as the nuts continue forming till the end of December, when the plants 

 " rot, the nuts fall, and are dragged out by a primitive drag, * * * About ten maunds an 

 " acre would be a fair outturn, fetching one anna a seer. The singhdra plant is so liable to the 

 " ravages of certain insects that in some years the whole crop is a failure." 



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