38 



PHASEOLTJS MUNGO. 



Method of cultivation. 



Harvesting. 



Cost of cultivation. 

 Avei'age outturn. 



Area. 



but it also leads to the aeration of the ground, and whether it be true or no that they 

 actually add to the fertility of the soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, they at all events 

 increase the fertility of its surface by accumulating from below food substances which 

 were beyond the reach of shallow rooted plants. 



Its cultivation is exactly the same as that of cotton or millet. When grown alone 

 it is sown at the rate of about 12 seers to the acre. When associated with millet or 

 cotton it shares the benefit of the weeding which these crops receive, and only receives 

 irrigation when they require it. It is reaped about a fortnight before the millets, and is 

 threshed out by bullocks in the usual manner. The crushed stalks and leaves are much 

 prized as fodder, and are used to give a tempting flavour to trash that even Indian cattle 

 might otherwise reject as uneatable. 



Its cost of cultivation may be assumed to be the same as that of juar or bajra. 



When grown alone the average outturn per acre is reported from most districts as 

 about 5 maunds of grain and three times this weight of fodder. 



The area returned as being under miing alone during 1881, in the 30 temporarily 

 settled Districts of the N.-W. Provinces, is shown by Divisions below : — 





■Nfeerut 

 Division. 



Rohilkhand 

 Division. 



Agra 

 Division. 



Allahabad 

 Division, 



excluding 

 Jaunpur 

 District. 



Benares 



Division, 

 including 

 Azamgarli, 



Basti and 

 Gorakhpur 



Districts 



■ only. 



Jhansi 

 Division. 



Kumaun 

 Division, 

 including 



Tarai 

 District 



only. 



Total. 





acres. 



acres, 



acres. 



acres. 



acres. 



acres. 



acres. 



acres. 



Irrigated, 



86 



239 



33 



72 





52 





482 



Unirrigated, 



8,170 



14,996 



1,955 



1,285 



"'49 



2,747 





29,202 



Total, ... 



8,25G 



15,235 



1,988 



1,357 



49 



2,799 





29,684 



These figures give, however, no real idea of the part played by mung in the agri- 

 culture of the country. In greater or less amount it is grown on fully one-fourth of 

 the total area under kharif crops in the Provinces, and represents so to speak the culti- 

 vators insurance against a shorter allowance of rainfall than his millets can make shift 

 with. 



Explanation of Flate IX. 



1. Pistil enclosed in the staminal tube, spirally twisted. 



2. Pod with portion of one valve removed to show the seeds. \ all nat. size. 



3. 4, & 5. Side, front, and back views of flower. 



