286 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



to succeed. It is sensitive to frost, and is there- 

 fore only adapted to warm climates or to 

 countries where the summers are sufficiently 

 long to mature the seeds. The plant requires a 

 fair amount of moisture, and rainfall after sow- 

 ing is essential to ensure good germination ; 

 but after the root-system has developed, less 

 moisture is needed, and in the tropics its culti- 

 vation seems to be restricted by excessive rain- 

 'tall. 



The soil best suited to the castor plant is a 

 good, well-drained, sandy or clayey loam, or any 

 land that produces good corn Very loose sandy 

 soils or heavy clays are alike unsuitable. In 

 India red soils situated at the foot of hills are 

 specially chosen. These are poor in organic 

 matter and require to be enriched with farm- 

 yard manure. The plant is also commonly 

 grown in isolated patches on land surrounding 

 dwellings, or along the tops of high mud banks 

 that surround orchards and vegetable gardens. 

 Cultivation, 



The land destined for a crop of castor seed 

 requires good preparatory cultivation before sow- 

 ing takes place. Owing to its well-developed 

 root-system the castor plant demands a deep- 

 rooting medium. Deep ploughing and harrow- 

 ing are therefore essential. 



The castor plant soon exhausts the soil, and 

 if fresh land is not available for the crop natural 

 or artificial manures are soon necessary to keep 

 up the supply of available nitrogen, potash and 

 phosphoric acid. One of the most valuable 

 manures for this purpose is the residual cake, 

 left after the expression of oil from the seed. 

 The empty capsules, shells, leaves and stems 

 of the plant should be returned to the 

 soil. In India farmyard manure is commonly 

 employed, or when this is not available 

 silt is used. The castor plant is how- 

 ever, seldom grown as a pure crop in India, 

 but is generally used as a border to cotton or 

 sugar fields or mixed with potatoes, cereals or 

 Bomo leguminous crop, hence soil exhaustion 

 is less rapid than would otherwise be the case 

 were pure crops grown. Pure crops should 

 not be taken from the same land more than 

 once in five to six years. 



Before the seeds are sown it is advisable 

 to pour warm water over them and allow them 

 to steep, without further heating, for about 

 24 hours. This treatmeut softens the hard 

 seed-coat, and tends to ensure quick and uni- 

 form germination. The large seeded kinds 

 may be planted closer : about 3 feet between 

 the rows and 18 inches from the plant 

 being the usual spacing in India. If 

 planted too thickly the plants tend to de- 

 velop tall stems and few branches, but if 

 ample space is allowed so that air and 

 light are admitted, free branching takes 

 place and more flowers and seed are in conse- 

 quence produced. 



In order to secure a good "stand" it is advis- 

 able to place from 2 to 4 seeds in each little 

 mound along the rows, the seeds being about 6 

 inches apart, or they may be dropped in the 

 furrow made by the plough, and covered by the 

 plough following, or dibbled in by hand. After 

 germination has taken place and the seedling 

 plants are from 6 to 8 inches high, they should 



be thinned out, the weakly plants in each mound 

 being removed and the most vigorous specimen 

 left to develop. 



About 1U lb of seed of the large-seeded varie- 

 ties are required to plant an acre, and about 

 14 lb in the case of the small-seeded. The 

 best time to sow the seed is at the commence- 

 ment of the rainy season. (Here March and 

 April and August and September.) In India the 

 large seeded kinds are generally grown during 

 the monsoon rainfall, and are usually confined 

 to small patches in house gardens. The small- 

 seeded kinds are generally grown as field crops 

 attheendof the monsoon season and at the 

 commencement of the cold weather. 



After the plants have been thinned out, the 

 land between the rows should be ploughed or 

 hoed occasionally to keep down weeds and to 

 conserve soil moisture. It is also advisable to 

 slightly mould up the plants by drawing the soil 

 up round the stems to prevent moisture collect- 

 ing at the base. When the plants have attained 

 a height of about 2 feet, further working of the 

 soil is unnecessary, as the plants will then be of 

 sufficient size to shade the ground and strong 

 enough to outgrow weeds. 



It sometimes happens that the plants grow 

 too vigorously, and then long shoots are pro- 

 duced but few flowers are formed. When this 

 takes place pruning should be resorted to ; 

 the long shoots should be topped to induce 

 branching and the formation of flowers, and 

 thereby increase the production of seed. The 

 crop is also easier to collect from dwarf plants 

 than from tall specimens. 



Harvesting. 



The capsules of the small-seeded varieties 

 begin to ripen in from 4 to 5 months from the 

 time of sowing, and those of the large-seeded 

 kinds in from 7 to 10 months, according to 

 variety and the prevailing climatic conditions. 

 When ripe the capsules become hard and browfr, 

 and spread out somewhat on the stalk on 

 which they are borne. At this stage tho spikes 

 should be removed from the plant by cutting. 

 This should be done rapidly as soon as the 

 capsules show signs of ripening, as if left too 

 long on the plant they are likely to dehisce and 

 scatter the seed. When the collecting has 

 once commenced the whole crop should be 

 looked over about once a week. Owing to the 

 irregular ripening of the crop, the harvest- 

 ing is a somewhat tedious process, but as the 

 work involved in not laborious, it can be done 

 by women and children. In the United States 

 an endeavour has been made to produce a 

 type of plant which ripens the capsules in 

 any one cluster at the same time. The work 

 of harvesting such plants is considerably lessen- 

 ed, and there is a smaller loss of seed. The col- 

 lected capsules should be placed in bags or in a 

 box-waggon, and conveyed from the field to a 

 drying shed or barn. Where buildings ate not 

 available for their reception, a drying floor in 

 the open may be easily made by sweeping clean 

 a piece of firm, level ground, and enclosing it 

 with boards or sheet iron from 4 to 6 feet high, 

 to prevent the seeds being scattered and lost 

 when the capsules open. Provision igainst rain 

 must also be made if an open-air drying ground 

 is used, The capsules should be spread on the 



