DAUCUS CAROTA. 



At Cawupore 60 maunds is said to be the average, and at Basti only 33 maunds. The 

 average bazar rate in ordinary seasons is from 8 to 16 seers for an anna. 



The root is eaten either raw, or boiled and seasoned with various spices ; or it is 

 cooked with milk and sugar, or gur ; it is also pickled. The pickle is prepared by 

 boiling the roots and adding salt, mustard seed, and chillies, and it will keep good for 

 one or two months. The roots are sometimes dried and ground into flour, and eaten 

 with milk or whey. They call this preparation gdjar bhat in Saharanpur. Many high- 

 class Hindus will not eat carrots, because of the supposed resemblance of the inner 

 hard portion of the root to bone. 



In many districts carrots are given as food to cattle and horses, either raw or 

 cooked ; and the leaves and tops are highly valued as fodder, especially in seasons of 

 drought. Mr. Crooke says that carrot leaves when used as fodder are known by the 

 names gajarra, gajraut, and gajra. The great utility of the carrot, sown as a famine 

 crop, was officially indicated by Sir Edward Buck in 1878. The extended cultivation of 

 this plant during the autumn of 1877, on the failure of the previous kharif crop, be- 

 came, when subjected to statistical investigation, a marked feature in the agricultural 

 operations of the N.-W. Provinces of that year, more especially, in the northern and 

 western districts, where the effects of the continued drought were most severely felt. 

 Both carrots and radishes can be quickly and successfully raised by sowing them in 

 September or October ; they will then become available as a supplementary food at the 

 most critical period following a failure of the kharif crops. It was ascertained by Sir 

 Edward Buck in 1878 that in some of the upper districts the cultivation of carrots rose 

 to three or four times the ordinary extent, and would have further increased had seeds 

 been obtainable. The price of seed rose from 7 to 40 rupees a maund ; and in some 

 instances tjf a very much higher rate, especially in the central doab, where the prices 

 ranged above Rs. 50. The acclimatized seed is more suited for this purpose than im- 

 ported seed, as it gives both quicker and larger returns. Sir Edward Buck says he was 

 informed that in 1869 (a year of scarcity) the Rohilkhand population first took the idea 

 of growing carrots as an emergent crop from the cultivators on the Meerut side. In a 

 report drawn up by Mr. T. N. Mukharji, under Sir E. Buck's direction, the advan- 

 tages of carrot cultivation in times of scarcity are thus enumerated: — 



1 . The large amount of food that can be produced on a small area. 



2. That cattle as well as men can be fed on carrots. 



3. That carrots will maintain a man in health, if supplemented by small quanti- 



ties of grain. 



4. It saves the ryots from the hands of baniyas, who will not take carrots in lieu 



of money payment. 

 The seeds are employed medicinally as a stimulant diuretic. 



Explanation of Plate LXXVIII. 



1. Portion of involucre in flower. 



2. „ „ fruit. 



3. Flower seen from below. 



4. Flower seen from above. 



5. Fruit. 



