ELETTSINE CORACANA. 



11 



Area. 



Soil. 

 Sowing. 



Injuries. 



Weeding. 



Manuring. 

 Outturn. 



grown in the hilly country to the south of the Provinces, where its place is taken by 

 kodon. But it is grown to a greater or less extent over the whole of the Provinces, and 

 in the more fertile districts its cultivation is often attended with considerable care, and 

 results in a very large weight of produce. The area under raandua in the 30 temporari- 

 ly settled districts of the N.-W. Provinces is shown below. The figures are only ap- 

 proximately correct : — 





Meerut 

 Division. 



Rohilkhand 

 Division. 



Agra 

 Division. 



Allahabad 

 Division, 



excluding 

 Jaunpur. 



Benares 

 Division, 

 including 

 \ zamgarh, 

 Gorakhpur, 

 and Basti 

 only. 



Jhansi 

 Division. 



Kurnaun 

 Division, 

 including 



Tarai 

 District 

 only. 



TotaL 





acres. 



acres. 



acres. 



acres. 



acres . 



acres. 



acres. 



acres. 





14,712 



1,663 



5,035 



6,516 



14,962 



121 



160 



43,169 



58 per cent, of the total area is contributed by the two districts of Dehra Dun (in- 

 cluding Jaunsar Bawar) (11,365 acres), and Azamgarh (14,395 acres). 



It prefers light soils, and is sown at the commencement of the rains, at the rate of 

 10 lbs. of seed to the acre. In the Allahabad and Azamgarh Districts it is reported to 

 be occasionally sown in seed beds and transplanted like rice. In this case the seed is 

 sown with irrigation in May, and the seedlings are planted out when the rains break. 

 It suffers greatly from heavy rain, and a good year for rice is a bad year for raandua, and 

 vice versa. It should be weeded two or three times, and when carefully cultivated often 

 receives a top dressing of manure after the first weeding. The yield is the heaviest of 

 any of the minor millets, since not only is the gross weight of the produce large, but 

 only a small proportion of this weight consists of husk. In this respect mandua is 

 the most profitable of the minor millets. With sawan and kodon for instance, the husk 

 contributes almost 50 per cent, of the weight, while with mandua it only amounts to 

 4 or 5 per cent. 



Where carefully cultivated 12 to 14 maunds of grain may be expected to the acre, 

 but in the hills a much smaller produce than this is gathered, and cultivators would be 

 content with 5 or 6 maunds. 



1" 



at. size, 



Explanation of Plate XXVIII. 

 I 3, 



1. A leaf, 



2. A head of digitate spikes, 



Drawn from a living specimen gathered at Saharanpur. 



Upper part of plant with immature 1 j. • „ 

 innoresceiice, J 



c 2 



