Edible Products. 



[January, 1909. 



found that the most cheap and efficient 

 plan, in tropical countries at any rate, 

 is simply to peel the plantains or bananas 

 and dry them in the sun, the meal thus 

 obtained being of excellent commercial 

 quality. It has been found, further, 

 that a hundred kilos (a kilo equals 2,204, 

 lb.) cf bananas in bunches as plucked 

 ought to yield 65 kilos of peeled bananas, 

 and that these (55 kilos should give 

 about 19"5 kilos of plantain meal. The 

 yield of plantain flour, under ordinary 

 conditions, is thus roughly about 20 

 per cent, which agrees with the estimate 

 arrived at recently by Mr. Hooper, of 

 the Indian Museum, that the average 

 weight of fruit required to produce a 

 hundredweight of flour is five hundred- 

 weights. The manufacture of plantain 

 meal has recently been taken in hand 

 on the Malabar Coast, the climate of 

 which closely resembles that of French 

 Guinea, where the experiments referred 

 to were carried out. The most interest- 

 ing feature of the experiments, therefore, 

 for Indian manufacturers is that in 

 connection with the artificial dryers, 

 which it is essential to use in the rainy 

 season. Those cost only from Rs. 300 

 to Rs. 750, and illustrations of them are 

 to be seen at the office of the Indian 

 Trade Journal. —Indian A gricidturixt, 

 Vol. XXXIII., No. 9. 



THE CULTIVATION OF 

 GROUND-NUTS. 



Ground-Nuts as a Dry Land Crop. 



The spread of ground-nut cultivation 

 has been steadily advancing during the 

 last two years in all parts of the 

 Presidency. In many districts this is 

 quite a new crop, but it has been found 

 so profitable, that, wherever it has been 

 tried, and the local conditions have been 

 found suitable, its cultivation has 

 rapidly extended. As constant enquiries 

 are being received asking for informa- 

 tion regarding the cultivation of ground- 

 nuts, the following general instructions 

 have been written :— 



2. Climate and Rainfall. —The "Mauri- 

 tius " variety of ground-nuts, which is 

 the one now cultivated, takes from 5 to 

 6 months to come to maturity. During 

 the first two or three months of the 

 crop's growth, very little moisture is 

 required ; the plant can withstand con- 

 siderable drought until it starts to 

 flower and forms its nuts. Therefore 

 sowing should be so arranged that the 

 crop will receive the benefit of good 

 rains during the last two to three 

 months of its growth. Some districts 

 get light rains during the south-west 

 monsoon, but expect their season rain 



in October-December during the north- 

 east monsoon. Here sowing should be 

 done in the end of July or beginning of 

 August. In other districts showers are 

 experienced in April and May, while the 

 season's rain occurs with the south- 

 west monsoon from June to September. 

 Here sowing should be done as soon as a 

 sowing rain fall. s in April or May. It is 

 evident, therefore, that the farmer must 

 decide for himself whether the rainfall 

 is suitable, and, if so, what is the best 

 time tor sowing, 



3- Soil.— Ground-nuts should not be 

 grown on a heavy stiff soil for two 

 reasons. Firstly, though the plants 

 appear to be growing well, the yield of 

 nuts is small. Secondly, the difficulty 

 and cost of harvesting the crop is too 

 great to render the crop as profitable as 

 other crops, which can be grown on 

 such land. Sandy or loamy soils are 

 perhaps best suited to this crop, and it 

 is essential that the land should be well 

 drained as the ground-nut does not like 

 a soil where water can stand. In fact, 

 when quite young, even a very heavy 

 rainfall will often injure the crop and 

 check its growth. 



4. Preparatory Cultivation.— It is 

 most essential that the land should be 

 properly cleaned and freed from weeds 

 before this crop is planted ; because, 

 during the last two months of the crop's 

 growth it is impossible to do any weed- 

 ing, and this, being the time when the 

 season's rain falls, is naturally also the 

 time when weeds get a hold on to the 

 land and thereby diminish the yield- 

 Korai and Hariali are probably the two 

 weeds which most affect the yield of 

 the crop, and every effort should be 

 made to destroy these by cultivation, 

 when the land is fallow, i.e., during the 

 dry season. If the land is clean, probably 

 three ploughings and cross-ploughings 

 will suffice. 



5. Manuring.— This should be done 

 before the last ploughing and cross- 

 ploughing. If cattle manure or village 

 sweepings are used, this should be 

 spread evenly on the field, and not left 

 in heaps to dry up with the sun. All 

 large lumps of manure should be broken 

 up so as to distribute the manure as 

 evenly as possible, and as soon as it is 

 properly spread, it should be ploughed 

 in. It will always pay the cultivator to 

 manure his land for this crop. Cattle 

 manure, village sweepings and ashes are 

 always of value and can be applied at 

 the rate of 15-20 cart-loads per acre. 



6. Seed. — When purchasing seed, 

 always buy the nuts in the shell. Ground- 

 nuts for seed should always be saved 

 from the previous season's crop. The 



