3d6 



^iiK fnoPiCAt AGkicutrijRisr. [Novemsek 2, 1S85, 



The iinlivi' paililj'is not converted in large quantities 

 into rit^e. When the rice is wanted for food, the 

 paddy is boiled and exposed to the air, under shade, 

 and then the husk is pounded off, and the required 

 mo licuni is ready for food: Consequeutly unless driven 

 by necessity, native rice is never seen in market. 

 ■\Vhat vv(! want is persons, who would buy in our paddy, 

 and convert it into rici : and this requires knowledge 

 of tlie science ; we use the word science advisedly. 

 Paddy 111 the granary, for at least five or six mouths 

 goes ilu'ough a |irooessof fermiMitation ; and the p.addy 

 then iscalleil sour ; after which it becomes sweet, and 

 is fit for conversion into rice. Then native rice being 

 full lit saccharine and glutinous matter is liable when 

 iu large quantities to be infested by weevil; lieuce inludia 

 in curing rice they use a large quantity of lime. So 

 Eui-o])eans. who have lazy cooks, careless about cook- 

 ing 1 ice, go in for dysentery in eating rice and curry t 

 and we know of long residents in the island, to whom 

 physicians have prescribed rice .and curry, to keep 

 their inside iu good condition; yet it is a fact beyond dis- 

 cussion, tliat rice and curry is the most wholesome food. 

 The truth i.s, the cooking of rice is a greater art 

 than the cooking of curries. The .Tamils say that if 

 the rice be properly cooked, there is no need of curries. 

 Thus the Tiiniil yruithful peasant when asked why he 

 seeks a wife, re.adily answers that he wants some one 

 who would cook his rice (soru) for him. The ex- [ 

 ported rice must be well pounded in a mortar, till 

 all tlie lime is brushed off: then it is to be sorted, 

 taking off" all husks, and pi. king out the black grain, 

 which is tlio consequence of over fermentation : 

 then it is put into a chatty, which is like a sieve, 

 wdiere it is rubbed down, till every particle of lime 

 h;is m clkauce of keeping on the grain : then it is re- 

 peatedly washed, till the last bucket of water receives 

 no colouring matter, but is aa pure as spring waier. 

 The water in the sance-pan is boiled to steamin j heat, 

 and haudfuls of the gram are put in. A gentle fire 

 gives you your dish of rice. When it is brought to 

 table, 'it is pearly white ; and wdien the delicious curry 

 and gravy are poured on it, and you turn it up with 

 the spoon, adding just a tiny bit of sumbol, you taste 

 amhrnsi.al food. We, as Natives, therefore, prefer our 

 rice and curry to all what English cooks can make out 

 of fish, flesh or fowl, boiled, roasted or basted. Now 

 native rice not cured by lime, requires no such pro- 

 cess, and yet when brought to our doors, we beat it 

 down in pric', and refuse to buy it, but at very low 

 rates, simply because it is native rice. Nothing is good 

 in Ceylon, but what is of a foreign market. 

 So hawkers come to our doors and say that it is 

 "Rud,gess" cloth, "Rudgess," note jiaper " Kudgcss " 

 pen, .simply because the steel of Kodgers manufacture 

 is. thought to be the best. We know of a native trader 

 who, whenever he presented his goods for sale, said, it 

 was "England made" and "London bought." 80 

 we do not go in for native rice, we turn up our noses 

 at it: W' bent it down in price; and run it down with 

 faint praise and cry that native rice is nowhere. 



If rice cultivation in Ceylon is to obviate the import 

 of rleo, then the land to lie looked to for Mich produce 

 U the Centrnl IVovi-ice. 'i'lie v:il!;.\s atf rich with the 

 fliliiviiil deprtiit of tile a;es beyond the Hoods: they lire 

 fed by tlie cfystftl sfreaiiis c dd and ewret, tlniving 

 from tlie siinimit of hlUs an' inoil-falns, whrro rilin 

 doudu rest, ttftcr iraVelliO,' IV.iiii the liistprll .and West.' 

 firii «cas, 1 ringing refreeliliiff shdwerd: even llie. sun 

 Jihcds a nieliow I, eat, that br!;ig the Hap gently; to be 

 the blaile, and full ear of corn. The peasants go ill only 

 ftir one I'lil'ii alloii. They .scrape only the surface for the 

 [ilautiiig if the rjiddy. Tliey u--e no manure. ^ They do 

 iiot care for weeillng ■ eVen th 1 so called " llviiiy " of 

 water is done slovenly, for muly anight, the man who 

 is iouiil 'o do so, prefers iiis warm heel of straw rather 

 than expose liiinself to the bleak cold wind of the 

 mountain, (to to Wilson's hungahw, I"ukiude:go ;n 

 Uva:go to the valleys of Kadugnnnava: go to the 

 range of laud sloping down into the va''ev, 

 the, terraces of our |i:iddy cultivation, and then 

 vi^it thi granaries bursting with corn : look at 

 tbc laeu aiul women, the very j)iclui-i; of hfalth, 



a living evidence of an abundance of food supply, and 

 tell us if we are exaggerating, when we say that the 

 Cent rill Province can yet produce rice enough to stop 

 the import of grain. Batticaioa and Matara can do no 

 more. — "Jaffna Patriot." 



♦ 



JOHORE TEA AT HOME. 

 (From the London Tea Letter of the Indian Planters' 

 (ia:etli:) 

 I had some Johore tea sent to me this week by a 

 friend from Singapore. It was made on a European 

 owned garden, the first opened out iu Johore, and the 

 tea certainly promises well. It was not of a make to 

 eomjiare with teas made for the market, as it was 

 " rough tea," and being somewhat higliiy fired its real 

 quality would be uulair to gauge. I have seen, how- 

 ever, much worse " rough tea " than this is in India, 

 and the growth of the bushes is more luxurious than 

 in Assam even, judging by accounts I have received — 

 ten feet high in twenty months ! 



THE SIERRA LEONE KOLA NUT PLANTING 

 AND TRADING COMP.VNY, LIJIITED. 



Under this coinpreheu.sive title a company has just 

 been formed in the West African colony, with an in- 

 fluential local Board, and a capital of £2,300 to buy 

 laud and plant the kola nut. At any rate, this is its 

 primnry object, but let the prospectus speak tor itself 

 as to the multifarious and rather mixed intentions of the 

 directors : — 



" Affricidtnm'. — To grow be.sides cocoa and coffee, 

 I0,0()0 kola trees, which will produce nuts of commercial 

 value in five years with the aid of .artificial manure 

 as prepared by Messrs, Oblendorff and Co., of London, 

 for the colonies, to meet the increasing demand for this 

 valuable dietetic article eaten in its green state by the 

 natives of West Africa and the interior, and iu its 

 dried state for export to Europe as a ' New Temperance 

 Beverage' iu connection with coffee, iSc. ' Kolatiua ' 

 will in the near future be ' the cup that cheers but 

 not inebriates.' About 15 acres will be set apart for 

 experiniouting in tobacco, potatoes, ciunhoua, iic. 



*' Votninercial. — This Company will open a small fac' ory 

 in the plantation tor the convenience of labourers 

 and others, and to buy palm kernels, &c. ; and barter 

 manufactured trade goods with the natives at (,>ui,ah 

 Land and its vicinity, and to burn lime in the vicinity 

 of the plantation where oyster shells in abundance can 

 be had ; and to supply Preetown with mangrove wood." 



There can be no duulit that the demand for the nut 

 is steadily increasing, for we .see by the Customs re- 

 turns of Sierra Ijeone that in 1883 nuts to the value of 

 £35,000 were exported, whilst the value reached a 

 little over £ 10,000 last year. A correspondent of one 

 of the local papers who has been engaged iu the cultiv- 

 ation says ; — 



" I am glad to learn from the inaugural address of 

 the [wesident of the Sierra Leone Association that the 

 iirticle was mentioned among others in that address for 

 encouraging its systematic cultivation in our gardens 

 and yards in the settlement. 



" The kola nut is a hardy plant, and a tree In full 

 growth has been known to produce nuts iu one year to 

 the value of twunty pounds. It commences to be a 

 fruit-beariog tree on the fifth yeir after planting, and 

 to deciy in it" flflietli year. One of its peculiarities 

 ic, that it Ht'nd.s it? roots not so deep in the soil ao oil 

 thi .surf toe, It is singular enough that all the largest 

 kola nuts ai'e exported from the settlement las the ex- 

 port trade demands) and that almost all the smallest 

 and unhealthy-looking ones are t'olisumcd in it. It iS 

 generally known tliat the .Vfricans Who llabituallj' uSt* 

 the kola nut live to a very old age, and when toothles.s 

 from ;ige the inits are ground before eaten. It h.^.H 

 the won lerful properties of nllevlatiug hunger, keeping 

 aivay sleep and when made into a decoction, an im- 

 me.ii lie cure for drunkenness. I have been told that 

 in au is'and on our coast the natives, from circnm- 

 st luces, subsist for weeks solely on p.ilm wine and kola 

 nuts, that is before the yam season. 1 therefore cannot 

 6:iy too much in recomnieDding- this article for extensive 

 cultivation," 



