Volume 1
A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar. Performed under the orders of the most noble the Marquis Wellesley, governor general of India, for the express purpose of investigating the state of agriculture, arts, and commerce; the religion, manners, and customs; the history natural and civil, and antiquities, in the dominions of the rajah of Mysore, and the countries acquired by the Honourable East India company / by Francis Buchanan. Pub. under the authority ... of the Honourable the directors of the East India company.
- Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
- Date:
- 1807
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar. Performed under the orders of the most noble the Marquis Wellesley, governor general of India, for the express purpose of investigating the state of agriculture, arts, and commerce; the religion, manners, and customs; the history natural and civil, and antiquities, in the dominions of the rajah of Mysore, and the countries acquired by the Honourable East India company / by Francis Buchanan. Pub. under the authority ... of the Honourable the directors of the East India company. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![CHAPTER Tirucalli, or Jatropha Curcas, is dug to the depth of a cubit at the IIL same time with the nursery, and planted with rows of plantain-trees June 11. at the distance of three cubits. When the young palms are fit for being transplanted, the garden must be dug again to the former depth, and two young Arecas must be set in one hole between every two plantain-trees. When there is no rain, they must have water every third day. When the rainy season commences, a trench must be dug between every third row of trees; that is to say, so as between every trench to form beds, each of which contains two rows of the Areca. These trenches serve to carry off superfluous water, and to bring a supply from the reservoir, when wanted. The garden must be dug twice a year, to keep it clear of weeds. At the end of three years the original plantain-trees are removed, and a row is set in the middle of each bed, and kept up ever afterwards, in order to preserve a coolness at the roots of the Areca. When the betel-nut trees are about five feet high, which requires about five years, they receive no more water than what is given to the plan- tain-trees, which in dry weather must be watered twice a month. The tree, when five years old, begins to produce fruit, .and lives from thirty to forty years. Each tree pushes out three or four spadices, which from about the 21st of August until the ]6th of November, become fit for cutting, at different intervals of twenty or thirty days, one after the other. When the nuts have been cut, the skin is removed with an iron knife, and a quantity is put into a pot with some water, in which it must be boiled till the eyes be separated. The nut is then cut into three or four pieces, and for three or four days dried on mats exposed to the sun, when it becomes fit for sale. Each tree is reckoned to produce yearly the value of one Sultany Fcinam, or 8 pence, which is the usual price of two Cucha Seers, or nearly If lb. Squirrels are very troublesome, and destroy a great deal of the fruit; but it is considered as sinful to kill them. These plantations are interspersed with coco-nut, mango, lime,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30455091_0001_0194.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
