of chunam the size of a tennis ball is added to every pan of eight pots, or l68 seers, of juice), until it reaches such a consistency that it will no longer drip from the finger. It is then put into a pot and well stirred, and afterwards poured on to a bamboo mat to set. Some of the ryots say that an acre of land generally yields 15 candies of jaggery worth Rs. 300, and that the cultivator makes a clear profit of Rs. 100.
Ratooning is usual. The ratooned crop is ready to cut in ten months. It is inferior to the first, but the saving in the cost of cultivation is considerable.1[1] Sometimes a third crop is cut.
Previous to the building of the Dowlaishweram anicut the cane grown in Gódávari was a thin, white, reed-like variety, similar to, if not identical with, the canes of Ganjám, South Arcot, Trichinopoly and other districts, which was called the désaváli or 'country' cane. Its hard rind enabled it to resist the attacks of jackals, so that it was possible to grow it at a distance from the villages; it did not require much water; and the jaggery it gave was small in quantity, though very sweet and white. When the anicut was made, softer, larger and more juicy canes were introduced. The síma variety, a stout dark kind sometimes called the Mauritius cane, was introduced about 1870 by Messrs. Cotton and Rundall for their factory near Rájavólu (Rázóle), but the history of the other species is obscure.
At the present time the kinds grown are désaváli or 'country,' bonthakarri or Bombay, erra or sannakarri, kéli, bontha or bontha námalu, námalu or sára, mogili and pálabontha (which seem to be only found in Rámachandrapuram taluk), and válu, confined to Peddápuram. The Bombay or bonthakarri is very similar to, and possibly identical with, the síma; its jaggery is poor and of a purple colour. The erra, or sannakarri variety is a thin, dark cane producing similar jaggery. The kéli is a white cane with a cracked bark giving watery juice which wants more boiling than usual. The bontha or bontha námalu is a stout, striped cane, but the jaggery it gives is said to be very inferior. The námalu is a thin, striped variety, also producing a bad jaggery. The mogili is a very thick kind with knots at short intervals; its jaggery is
- ↑ 1 The advantages of ratooning are still the subject of careful experiment at the Samalkot experimental farm. G.O. No. 1020, Revenue, dated 14th September 1904, p. 29. Much of what follows has been taken from the report of Mr. C. A. Barber, the Government Botanist, in G.O. No. 1193, Revenue, dated 30th December 1901, pp. 21 foil.
