CAJANUS INDICUS. 



21 



Soils. 



Sowing. 



Irrigation. 



Weeding. 



Harvesting. 



Injuries. 



Cost of cultivation. 



Outturn. 



March and April. An early variety grown in the Azamgarh district is said to ripen in 

 February, but as a general rule at least nine months intervene between sowing and reap- 

 ing. It is said not to impoverish the soil on which it is grown, or at all events to 

 compensate for the loss it occasions by drawing up fresh food substances from the sub- 

 soil, by opening up and aerating the ground with its deep penetrating roots, and by the 

 return it makes in the shape of fallen leaves. These advantages are supposed indeed 

 to be generally characteristic of the leguminous order of plants. 



The soils on which it is grown vary with the requirements of the crop which it 

 accompanies. It will occupy, if sown with juar, some of the heaviest, and if sown with 

 bajra, some of the lightest, soils in the Provinces. But it prefers a light moist soil, 

 which allows its roots to penetrate downwards without check, and although not requir- 

 ing manure, it only attains luxuriance when grown on either freshly broken or well 

 fertilized land. 



The preparation of the land is similar to that for juar, bajra, or cotton, and the seed 

 is sown broadcast if grown alone or with juar or bajra, and generally in lines about 15 

 feet apart when it is associated with cotton. The amount of seed sown to the acre is 

 about 6 seers if it forms the sole crop on the ground, and 2 seers when it accompanies 

 other crops. 



Arhar is seldom irrigated on its own account, since the depth to which its roots 

 penetrate enable it to draw moisture from a soil apparently parched, and to keep green 

 during a rainless six months from October till March. If easily available, a watering 

 is sometimes given it as a protection from frost, the effect being not only to give the 

 plants strength to resist the frost, but also to hinder to some degree the chilling of the 

 surface by radiation. 



It receives no weeding apart from its principal crop. When grown alone a plough 

 is sometimes run over the field between the young plants to break up the surface soil 

 when caked by the rain and sun. 



It is cut with the rabi crops and allowed to be stacked on the threshing floor until 

 the threshing and cleaning of the former are completed. The leaves and pods are first 

 of all stripped off the stems and then heaped together, and the grain threshed out either 

 by bullock treading or by being beaten with a stick. The leaves form an excellent 

 fodder. The stalks are valuable for roofing, basket making, and above all for making 

 the tubular wicker work fascines {hira or ajar') which are used to line earthen wells in 

 order to prevent the earth from falling in. 



Frost is the principal enemy with which arhar has to contend. A single cold night 

 often utterly ruins the crops of a whole district, and in the following morning the culti- 

 vators may be seen sadly cutting down the withered plants as fodder for their cattle. 

 Its liability to damage is however greatly dependent on the strength of the plants, and 

 hence the crop grown on manured land near the village site will often remain green and 

 flourishing after a frost which has withered up those on outlying fields. The practice 

 of irrigating as a safeguard against frost has been already noticed. 



The cost of cultivation may be assumed to be almost the same as that of juar or 

 bajra. 



District estimates agree tolerably closely in giving 7 raaunds of grain and 16 maunds 



