302 



Some of the Yams showed themselves earlier than others both in 

 sprouting and in the withering of their shoots: but further investiga- 

 tions are necessary in order to demonstrate what races are early and 

 what are late, especially as in the start of the season much depends 

 upon the part of the parent tuber used as a set (see pp. 306-307). 



2. Dwscorea aculeata, Lamk., the lesser yam. 



In this Bulletin on page 227 attention was called to the appear- 

 ance in Singapore island of the lesser yam, and on the following page 

 to its appearance in the Province Welleslej'. Since those lines were 

 printed, the yam has been found in the garden of a Kling at Durian 

 Tunggal, Malacca. 



With the advent of cultivators other than Malays into the Col- 

 onies, there is considerable probability that it will attract more and 

 more interest, and that small patches will appear elsewhere. The 

 Kling at Durian Tunggal said that he had himself brought the 

 parent tubers from India. 



This lesser yam in the eastern tropics has a rather general cul- 

 tivation from India to Papua. In India its chief centres are the 

 Nerbudda valley, the Behar plains, and upper Assam; but it is 

 by no means uncommonly grown in the south. It may be found 

 in Burma, the Shan Hills, and French Indo-China; in the Philip- 

 pine islands it is quite an important article of food, and in 

 north-eastern New Guinea it is said to be the most important 

 of all roots. South-westwards from the Philippine islands and 

 New Guinea it is met with. It was stated by the celebrated 

 Rumpf that in his time (1633-1720) it had rather recently acquired 

 an exten-sion from the east of the Archipelago to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Batavia where men, chiefly immigrants from that 

 direction had a penchant for growing it. Despite this extension 

 upon the west, north and east of the Peninsula, despite the going 

 and coming between India and Malaya, Siam and Malaya, despite 

 the Bugis invading and the Dutch and Portuguese trading from 

 islands where it is commonly cultivated, it seems not to have obtain- 

 ed a place between the Isthmus of Kra and Singapore until recently: 

 and this can only be ascribed to a want of interest in its cultivation 

 as from so many of the adjoining lands there must have been thous- 

 ands of opportunities of bringing it had Malay cultivation but 

 room for it. It had not however. But with the advent of settlers 

 whose cultivation is deeper— Kling and Chinese— there would seem to 

 be room for more yams and especially for the lesser yam. Under this 

 impression experiments were commenced at Singapore in I0I2 when 

 three races of D. aculeata received from India were first planted in 

 the Economic Garden, 



These races from India were, 



Goradu from Akola, Berar ... No. 33,346 



China alu from Jorhat in Assam, No. 34,383 



Pora alu from Chittagon;?. ... No. 34,125 



