86 



SESAMUM INDICUM. 



Season. 



Soil. 



Method of cultivation. 



Harvesting^. 



Injuries. 



Outturn. 



Mode of extracting the oil. 



This amounts to no less than 8 per cent, of the total area under kharif crops in 

 these five districts. The only other district in which til is largely grown alone is Alla- 

 habad (3,800 acres), and this is due to the fact that a large portion of the Allahabad 

 district lies south of the Jumna, and is characterized by the same conditions as Bundel- 

 khand. In no other district does its cultivation as a sole crop reach 300 acres. 

 Judged by these returns til cultivation appears to be of insignificant importance over 

 the greater part of the Provinces, but this is very far from being the case. Although 

 not cultivated by itself, it is almost universally grown to a greater or less extent in fields 

 of juar, bajra and cotton, and it may be therefore said to have a place on more than half 

 the total area under kharif crops. It is, however, grown less commonly in the eastern 

 than in the western districts, both because it does not thrive in a rice country, and 

 because the mahua tree {Bassia latifolid) abounds in the eastern districts, and mahua oil is 

 commonly consumed there. 



As has already been implied, til is a kharif crop and is sown at the commencement 

 of the monsoon, and harvested in October and November. It prefers a light soil, and 

 the wide extent of its cultivation in Bundelkhand is in great part limited to the light 

 yellowish soil, locally known as rdnlcar, which abounds in the raviny tracts near rivers. 

 Indeed a crop of til can be gathered from land which will yield no other crop but one 

 of the inferior millets (kodon or kutki). 



The method of its cultivation is the roughest possible. The seed is sown broadcast 

 after two or three hurried plougliings and ploughed in. When grown with millet or 

 cotton it gains the benefit of the care which these crops receive. It is in this case 

 either sown broadcast, the seed being mixed with that of the principal crop before sow- 

 ing, or it is disposed in parallel lines running across the field or along its margins. 

 When mixed with other crops the amount of seed sown to the acre varies of course with 

 the inclination of each individual cultivator. When grown alone from 8 to 12 seers of 

 seed are used. 



When ripe the til plants are cut with a sickle to within two or three inches of the 

 ground, and the stalks collected in shocks, heads uppermost, and allowed to dry. The 

 seed capsules split open and the seed is extracted by beating the plant against the ground. 

 The dry stalks, called tilsota, are used for fuel. 



The til plant is very liable to damage from ill-timed rain, and this may explain the 

 rarity of its cultivation as a sole crop in the thickly populated districts of the Ganges- 

 Jumna Doab, where risk must be reduced to the lowest minimum possible. Heavy 

 rain, when the flowers are in process of fertilization, often ruins the crop, and hence, like 

 bajra, it is very liable to suffer if rain falls in October. Indeed it is not uncommon for 

 the crop to be an almost total failure. 



Under the circumstances of its cultivation it is obviously impossible to frame any 

 reliable estimate of its outturn per acre, which varies very greatly with the amount of 

 seed sown. From 25 seers to a maund-and-a-half are commonly gathered, when it is 

 sown with juar or cotton. When grown alone from 4 to 6 maunds is the average return 

 to the acre. 



The oil is extracted by simple pressure in a mill, which is identical in form with 

 the Jcolhu or pestle-mill used for crushing sugar-cane, but of a smaller size. The mill 



