April 1907.] 



233 



Edible Products. 



ground-nuts, and afterwards at intervals of a few years. Animal manure is 

 regarded as beneficial only when applied to the preceding crop. Ashes are largely 

 used, at the rate of 10 to 30 cart-loads per acre, a cart-load being about a ton. 

 Indigo refuse is rarely used. It is considered that organic manures do harm rather 

 than good if there be a long drought after application. 



Seed required for sowing is kept in the pods until required. It is recognised 

 that it will not keep for more than a year, and that it must be well looked after, 

 it being desirable when the pods are in large quantities to dry them once a month. 

 As a rule seed is shelled before sowing, but this is not always done, for sometimes 

 one-seeded pods are picked out and sown. Shelling is done if possible not more 

 than five days before sowing, and requires great care in order not to injure the 

 seeds. Women perform the task, and the price paid for shelling for seed is thrice 

 that for shelling for commercial purposes. Sowing on unirrigated land is done 

 between the middle of May and the middle of August, but chiefly between mid- June 

 and mid-August. On irrigated lauds the sowing does not as a rule commence till 

 August and is continued till October. The seed is always sown thickly, 90 or as 

 much as 112 lbs. going to the acre. The seed is sown in the furrows made in 

 ploughing, is always hoed in, and the fields watched against the depredations of 

 jackals, crows, etc. It is hoed by hand during growth, and watered in January or 

 earlier if necessary. In one place it is the custom to trample down the stems to 

 bring them nearer to the soil. 



The crop matures six months after sowing ; the haulms, if forage is scarce, 

 may be then grazed or cut for fodder, or the land ploughed and the plants lifted. 

 Any pods on the haulms are then plucked and added to those gathered from the 

 soil during successive ploughings or by digging. If within a week after the 

 haulms have been gathered on unirrigated land the soil be not dug up and the 

 ground-nuts plucked, it is said that the seed will not be good for sowing though 

 good enough for other purposes. 



Heavy rain at the time of harvest causes the seeds to germinate in the pods 

 and great damage to the crop, including the hay. A labour-saving device which 

 may injure the pods is in use in some parts on irrigated ground. The ground, which 

 must be dry, is ploughed and then flooded ; the pods, if perfectly dry, float, and can 

 easily be swept with a broom to one corner of the field. In such a course the pods 

 are allowed to dry for fifteen days between the ploughing and flooding, for, unless 

 perfectly dry, they do not float, nor in any case will they float for long. 



In India the produce rarely comes to the market unshelled. The pods in 

 shelling are cracked by being beaten with a stick ; the shelled seed is then winnowed 

 and the shells used as fuel or as manure or are wasted. "Kernels " are generally sold 

 by weight, and to increase their weight the ryots add water to the pods before shell- 

 ing them at the rate of about 1(3 Madras measures for 1,400 Madras measures of pods. 



The details of commercial cultivation in China are unknown. The nuts ripen 

 at Cheffo in October (Williamson, Journey in North China, London, 1870, ii., p. 438) ; 

 a light and sandy soil is chosen for their growth (Hosie, Three Years in Western 

 China, London, 1890, p. 83). The earth in which they have grown may in the 

 harvest, after a preliminary ploughing, be passed through a bamboo sieve lest any 

 nuts should be lost (B. C. Henry, Lingnam, London, 1886, p. 239), and after the 

 extraction of the oil the refuse is used for manure (Williams, Middle Kingdom, 

 London, 1857, ii., p. 105). 



Yield. 



In Virginia the yield formerly stood at 50-75 bushels of pods per acre ; this is 

 equivalent to 1,200-1,800 lbs. It has since fallen immensely, and we read (U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin, No 25, p. 4) : " Within the last few years this 

 crop has ceased to be as profitable as heretofore. The method of culture— the 



