354 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Nov. 2, 1885. 



hmise, being laid on in a conical shape very much 1 

 lil^o a clagoba. Then when the cultivation season 

 approches, the grain is carefully taken out audput 1 

 into a basket ami covered with leaves, or it' in a ; 

 hag, the mouth is tied up, and the basket or bag ! 

 is left iu running water for thirty-five Sinhalese 

 hours, that is, if you put it in the stream at six 

 o'clock in the moruin?, you take it out at tour or j 

 five o'clock in the evening. Then it is laid aside ! 

 for three days, when the grain germinates. Soon ] 

 afterwards it is taken otf and spread on the floor, 

 the heap being so laid as to be three or four inches 

 ill depth. You have to cover it; thickly with plant- 

 ain leaves to prevent the action of the air on the 

 seed-ccru. This lasts for a whole day. The germin- 

 atod seeds are carefully separated so as to be all 

 single. Then behold the sower goeth forth to sow; 

 some seeds fall by the way side, the footpath, some 

 on the stony places, as boulders iu the field ; some 

 on Hioriis fenciug the tiilane, and others fall on 

 good ground, and bring forth fruit, some an hundred- 

 fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty. fold. A good number 

 of widows hve by giving out seed corn on interest, 

 the rate beiug fifty per cent, so that one bushel of 

 sowing paddy will bring you another half-a-busliel as 

 interest. 



But let us mention what circumstances of late 

 have been at work iu the Central I'rovinee making 

 paddy cultivation a precarious livelihood. In some 

 districts the denuding of forests on the adjoining 

 hills has dried up the sources of water or lessened 

 their quantity. In other places the water flows 

 from the plantation into the ella or channel, bring- 

 ing the debris from the pulping house, and the 

 heat of the cofl'ee pulp is no dainty to paddy, 

 which wants cold water, the coldest being the best. 

 The fermentation of the pulp is poisou to the youug 

 paddy. Then the pasture ground tor buftaloes have, 

 by the opening of estates been circumscribed, and so 

 tiiese cattle have not multiplied ; they are on the 

 decrease. So that you have now to liring buffaloes 

 tar from the interior parts, and pay a rupee as hire, 

 defraying the expen.ses of the drivers. 



Much has been .said of late of there being not 

 au overplus of paddy by cultivation. The Kandyan 

 chiefs and owners of extensive fields will tell you 

 of paddy in their gran'.ry that is six or seven years 

 ill age. Attcr that time it is thought that paddy grows 

 bitter, and every seventh year in a chieftain's village 

 is a year of jubilee, when paddy is freely distributed 

 to tlie poor. ' ^Vhen a Kandyan wants to boast of 

 his wealth, he not only speaks of his exten-sive lands, 

 but of the quantity of padily in his aranary, and of 

 ll-cir age. In our next we shall speak of paddy 

 culti:ation in our own Province. — "Ceylon Patriot." 



STRIKING A LIGHT. 

 Iu the new edition of Mason's ISnrmn we read 

 that among other uses to which the Bamboo is 

 applied, not the least useful is that of producing 

 fire by friction. For this purpose a joint of thoroughly 

 ilry iiamboo is .selected, about \k or 2 inches in 

 iiiiimeter. and this joint is then split in halves. A 

 ball is now prepared by scraping off shavings from 

 a perfectly dry Bamboo, and this b.all being placed 

 on some 'firm support, as a fallen log or piece of 

 rock, one of the above halves is held by its ends 

 firmly down on it, so that the ball of soft fibre is 

 pressed with some force against its inner or concave 

 surface. Another man now takes a piece of Bamboo 

 a foot long or less, and shaped with a blunt edge, 

 something like a paper-knife, comineuecs a sawing 

 moti(m backwards and forwards across the horizontal 

 piece of Bamboo, and just over the spot where the 

 ball of soft fi'n-o is held. The motion is slow at 

 first, and by degrees a groove is formed, which soon 

 deepens as the motion inereases in quickness. Soon 

 smoke arises, and the motion is now maile as rapid 

 as po.fsible, and by the time the Bamboo is cut 

 through not ouly smoke but sparks are seen, which 

 soon ignite the materials of which the hall beneath 



is composed. The first tender spark is now carefully 

 Ijlown, and when well alight the ball is withdrawn, 

 and leaves and other inflammable materials heaped 

 over it, and a fire secured. This is the only method 

 that I am aware of for procuring fire by friction 

 iu Burmah, but 011 the hills and out-of-the-way 

 parts, that philosophical toy, the " pyrophorus," is 

 still iu use. This consists* of a short joint of .a 

 thick woody IJainljn.t, nearly cut, which forms a 

 cylinder. At the bottom of this a bit of tinder is 

 placed, and a tightly-fitting piston inserted composed 

 of some hard wood. The tube being now held in one 

 hand or firmly supported, the piston is driven viol- 

 ently down on the timber by a smart blow from the 

 hand, with the result of igniting the tinder beneath. 

 Another method of obtaining fire by friction from 

 Bamboos is thus described by Captain T. H. Lewin 

 {mn TiacU of Chittaijiiiui, ami tin- />ir,l/trx Thrrein: 

 Calcutta, ISOSS, p. .S3), as practised in the Chittagong 

 Hills. The Tipporahs make use of an ingenious 

 device to obtain fire; they take a piece of dry 

 Bamboo, about a foot long, split it in half, and on 

 its outer round surface cut a nick or notch, about 

 au eight of an inch broad, circling rouud the senii- 

 - circumference of the Bamboo, shallow towards the 

 edges, but deepening in the centre until a minute slit 

 of about a line iu breadth pierces the inner surface 

 of the Bamboo fire-stick. Then a flexible strip of 

 Bamboo is taken, about lA foot long and au eight 

 of an inch iu breadth, to fit the circling notch or 

 groove in the fire-stick. This slip or baud is rubbed with 

 fine dry sand, and then passed mund the fire-stick, on 

 which the operator stands, a foot ou either end. 

 Then the slip, grasped firmly, an cud in each hand, 

 is pulled steadily back and forth, iucreasiug gradually 

 iu jiressure and \'elocity as the smoke comes. By the 

 time the fire-baud snaps with the friction there 

 ought to appear through the slit in the fire-stick 

 some incandescent dust, and this placed, smouldering 

 as it is, in a nest of dry Bamboo shavings, can he 

 gently blown into a flame. — Garfk'nei'»^ ClironicU. 



THK CULTIVATION OF THE STAR ANISE 



TREE AND THE PREPARATION OF THE 



OIL IN ANNAM.f 



The star anise, or badiane, called by the Anuamites 

 " bac-giai-qua " or •' qu.a-hoi," is the fruit of a tall tree 

 that is cultivated in the mountainous regions of 

 Auiiam, upon the slopes covered with earth. The natives 

 afiinii that it is nowhere met with iu the mouutahis 

 in the wild state. At the village of Na-naiu. iu the 

 mandarin route, twelve kilometres from Ijang-son, it 

 has been ascertained by inspection that the seedlings 

 and yonng trees are the objects of attention by the 

 Annamites, who surround them with bamboos ; also 

 that the larger trees are planted in a regular manner. 



The " qua-hoi," the trunk of which is as straight 

 as that of the poplar, bears branches resembling (hose 

 of the eucalyptus. It is met with everywhere in the 

 mountains around Ha-long, Dong-dang, A'au-qn.an and 

 Pho-vi, which are the principal centres of culture 

 and production. The oil is prepared at Lang-son, 

 Ki-lun, Dong-dang and Ha-long, industrial centres of 

 manufacture. 



During ten years, the " bac-giai-qua " grows very 

 slowly. At the" end of that time it attains a height 

 of about three metres. Up to that tinier it proihiee.s 

 very little, ecarcely yielding more than ojio or two 

 Annaralte kilograms (1200 grams). From its tenth year 

 itssiae and its production increase rapidly up to thirty 

 or forty years, at which age the tree eunuuences 10 

 fall oft" and die. A tree of ten to fifteen centimptres 

 diameter yields an average of twenty Annaniite kilo- 



* It is also made of a solid cylinder of buffalo's 

 horn, with a central hollow of S-lGth ou an inch in 

 diameter, and 3 inches deep hurnl into it. The 

 piston, which fits very tightly in it, is made of 

 ironwooJ or some wood equally hanl. 



■I' I''roni the /'Hit Jfoi'ilei'r fir, la /Vi.icwrrrfV, .Tuly. 



