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1 HE VEGETATION OF THE DISTRICT OF 
Morinda tinctoria and M. persicaefolia appear both to be used as 
dye plants, the latter by the Chins. 
Artocarpus integrifolia Burn*. Peik-hne-bin. This plant gives the 
yellow dye of the Buddhist monies robes. The wood is cut into 
chips which are then soaked in water and boiled several times. The 
cloth is then soaked in the water until properly stained. A vegetable 
mordant is afterwards used to fix the dye, but the plant yielding 
it was not met with, at least not recognised as such. 
Fibre Plants. 
Gossypium sp. Cotton, though not a fibre, may most conveniently 
be mentioned here. It is cultivated to a small extent in the 
desert zone and by the Chins. 
Bauhinia racemosa Lamk., yields a fibre from its bark, which is 
employed to make ropes. 
Crotalaria retusa L. Burm. Paik-san-bin . 
This species is cultivated in patches all over the alluvial belt for 
its fibre from which nets and ropes are made. 
Agave sp. Burm. Tazaung~let-pat y a wild species from which fibre is 
extracted for manufacture of thread and ropes. V 
Oil Plants.. 
Sesanmm indicum DC. is, along with Andropogon Sorghum , the 
chief crop of the desert zones. There are two varieties, an 
early ( hnanyin ) which is sown in June and reaped in Septem- 
ber, and a late (hnangyi) which is sown in September and 
reaped in January or February. The oil is extracted in a 
primitive and wasteful manner in a huge wooden mortar with a 
correspondingly large wooden pestle, which is worked by a 
mechanism driven by ox-power. 
Tobacco. 
Tobacco is cultivated on the richest lands. The Burman peasant 
smokes two kinds of cheroots, one of gigantic proportions, the 
outer wrapping of which is made of the bracts surrounding the female 
infloresence of the maize, the other about the size of an ordinary 
cigar with a green outer wrapping made from the leaves of Cordia 
Myxa . 
Betel. 
Piper sp. is cultivated here and there in the district : the betel vine- 
yards seldom exceed half an acre in extent, and are irrigated 
from wells. 
