October, 1910.] 



301 



Edible Products. 



In Travancore, the skin or husk of the 

 plantain is peeled off, and the pulp or 

 core is cut into slices and dried in the 

 sun. For infant food the slices are 

 pounded into flour. The flour is nutri- 

 tious. For adult food the slices are fried 

 in oil or ghee with salt. The fried 

 article is preserved for months in new 

 earthen pots in a cool place. The fruit 

 is also largely eaten by the poor, but it 

 is not easily digestible. 



An acre of banana yields, on an aver- 

 age, about Rs. 200. But the cost of ex- 

 penditure on the following items, when 

 reasonably assigned, leaves no profit to 

 the cultivator in the first year or years. 



(1) The putting up of protective walls 

 or fences around the ground. 



(2) Ploughing not less than eight 

 times. 



(3) Digging of 1,200 holes. 



(4) Collection of dried leaves for burn- 

 ing in the pits as well as for covering 

 them after planting. 



(5) The cost of cowdung and green 

 leaves. 



(6) The cost of applying the same 



(7) Watching the garden. 



(8) The collection of the crop. 



(9) The collection and preservation of 

 suckers, and 



(10) Rent for the land and interest on 

 the capital. 



The cultivator, however, derives pro- 

 fit by raising secondary crops such as 

 yams, etc., which cost him almost nothing. 

 The cost of weeding has only to be met. 

 Between two plantain trees, three yam 

 sets are planted. Some of the secondary 

 crops are havested before the bananas 

 become ripe and some about the same 

 time. This kind of cultivation does not 

 exhaust the soil as in the case of cassava, 

 and the cultivator can also grow gram 

 or peas without additional manuring. 

 Before the cultivation of banana, the 

 ground should lie fallow. 



ANDROPOGAN SORGHUM : MILLET 

 OR PYAUNG, ITS CULTIVATION 

 AND SOME OF ITS ENEMIES. 



By L. Aubert. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of 

 India, Vol. V., Pt. 3, July, 1910.) 



In the dry zone of Upper Burma, 

 where rice will not grow— the irrigated 

 districts of Mandalay and Kyaukse ex- 

 cepted—in the part of the country with 



an average yearly rainfall varying from 

 20 to 25 inches, and which includes, 

 roughly speaking, the southern half of 

 the Lower Chindwin District, the 

 Sagaing, the Shwebo, the Meiktila, 

 the northern half of Yamethin, the 

 Myingyan, the Mag we, the Minbu, the 

 Pakokku districts, and the northern 

 portion of Thayetmyo, the pyaung 

 millet (Andropogon sorghum), known as 

 joivar or cholum by the people of India, 

 is the staple food of the agriculturist 

 and of his cattle. The former lives on 

 the grain, the latter on the leaves and 

 the stalks, dried and stored up as fodder 

 for the dry season. Pyaung in this part 

 of Upper Burma is to the people what 

 rice is in the Lower Provinces, and sells 

 at a figure that rice usually fetches in 

 Rangoon. Pyaung is also grown spas- 

 modically in other parts of Upper 

 Burma, but only for sale or for export, 

 and is not consumed by the grower as an 

 article of food. A glance at the official 

 statistics published by authority will 

 show the importance of this crop both 

 as a human food and cattle fodder. 

 Within that part of the country above 

 referred to as the " dry zone," the area 

 sown with pyaung alone in 1907 covered 

 2,000 square miles, representing the main 

 staple-food of a population of 2| million 

 persons or 60 per cent, of the total 

 population of Upper Burma ; and the 

 fodder of about a million head of plough 

 cattle during four months of the dry 

 season. — (Season and Crop Report and 

 General Agricultural Statistics for Upper 

 Burma, 1908-09.; 



Pyaung cultivation starts in Septem- 

 ber on upland yas or dry fields; these 

 are termed dry by contrast with rice 

 cultivation, which requires a great deal 

 of moisture and water. Manure is not 

 used generally unless the ya is a patch 

 of jungle -freshly cleared; in this case, 

 all the useless timber or brushwood has 

 been burnt on the spot, the ashes 

 forming a fertiliser, during the months 

 of May and June, before the break of 

 the rains. Pyaung in such cases usually 

 succeeds a first crop of early shortlived 

 sesamum. The preliminary operation 

 of preparing the soil for the seed is done 

 in a peculiar and primitive fashion. 

 The surface of the ground is scraped and 

 broken up six or seven times lengthways 

 and crossways, with a harrow, for a few 

 mornings ; a plough is not used. This is 

 drawn by bullocks. A. pair of ordinary 

 bullocks can harrow or turn up in this 

 manner about 12 acres in the season. 

 Into a number of holes in the headpiece 

 of this harrow (iu Burmese htun) are 

 inserted teeth, 8 or 10 inches long, made 

 of a very hard wood, generally a form of 



