§91 
MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR. 
one eight. The straw is used only for fewel, which is here a very 
scarce article. 
The Sa shiv ay is a mustard, which is always sown mixed with Ragy. 
It ripens sooner than that grain; and, when dry, the branches are 
broken with the hand, exposed two days to the sun, and then- 
beaten out with a stick. In this country, oil is never made from 
the seed, as is usual in Bengal; it is employed as a seasoning in 
curries and pickles. 
Tobacco is planted in very small quantities ; and that which is 
raised here is reckoned greatly inferior to what is brought from the 
low country. The consumption is not great. 
The Jam/pa, Goni-plant, or Crotolaria juncea , is here always raised 
by the manufacturers, exactly in the manner that I have described 
at Bangalore (see page 226). 
In this district, the cultivation of the Betel-leaf, or Piper Betle, 
although it is commonly, is not always, a separate profession. It' 
thrives best in low ground, where it can have a supply of water 
from a reservoir. If t licit cannot be had, a place is selected, where 
water can be procured by digging to a small depth. A black soil 
is required ; and as it pays no rent for the first three years, land 
that has been waste is generally granted for the purpose. After 
the Betel-garden fails, the land is given to the farmer; who in 
the first year generally takes a crop of sugar-cane, which thrives 
remarkably well ; for the kinds called Restali and Puttaputty 
grow to the length of eight cubits. The Betel- leaf garden pays 
5 Fanams (about 3s. Ad.) for every 100 holes; but this is less rent 
than the government derives from sugar-cane. In these gar- 
dens ginger is commonly planted. A Betel-leaf garden is thus 
managed. In Chaitra , or Vaisdka, ( 2 6 th March — 2 3d May) trench 
over the whole ground one cubit deep, and surround it with a mud 
wall ; immediately within which plant a hedge of the Epphorbium. 
Tirucalli, and of the Aranda tibialis (Roxb: MSS.). When there is 
not plenty of rain, this must for six months be regularly watered. 
CHAPTER 
V. 
July 8 ; &c. 
Mustard, 
Tobacco. 
Goni . 
Betel-leaf. 
