'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎325] (367/476)

HISTORY OF BELOOCHISTAN.
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that state, the trenches are filled with earth and rich manure. The
plants appear in nine or ten days, and in the course of the first
summer the stalks increase to three or four feet in height; they are
cut down in September and given as fodder to the cattle. After this
the ground is repeatedly flooded and manured until spring, when
the plants again shoot forth, and such as are intended for seed, are
set apart, as this second year is deemed the best for that purpose ;
the remainder are cut every month or six weeks, which throws all
the vegetation into the roots, and adds to their size. Each stalk of
those selected for seed, produces one flower on the very top of it.
In the pod, which succeeds, are two seeds; this, when ripe, is
plucked off and laid apart, the stems are then taken away, as in
the first year, and similar precautions adopted to enrich the soil.
In the third summer the stalks are pruned as in the two preceding,
and in September the roots are dug up ; they are quite straight,
without any ramifications whatever, and usually from three to five
feet long, but very thin ; these roots are immediately cut into
small pieces and dried, in which state they are sold, about ten
pounds for a rupee in the Kelat bazar. Ooshpoosht or camel grass
is a particular kind of clover, that grows with a stalk a foot or two
high, and leaves like shamrock ; it will produce twice in a month,
from the commencement of spring till the end of autumn, and re
mains in a withered state during the winter, at the close of which it
is flooded and manured. This plant lasts in great perfection for six
or seven years, but after that period the roots are pulled up, and the
soil allowed to lie fallow for two or three seasons, r The straw of the
different grains constitutes a very principal food of the cattle, and is
commonly chopped with Ooshpoosht. The southern provinces of
Mukran and Lus have the advantage of two annual crops of grass,
owing to their two wet seasons.
In the low champaigns of Kutch Gundava, Lus, and part of
Mukran, the crops are much sooner ripe. Wheat is reaped in six
months, and barley in less than five ; the oriental grains vary from