120 



[August. 1909. 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS, 



THE TREE TOMATO.' 



By H. F. Macmillan. 



Cyphomandra betacea (N. O. Solana- 

 ee£e): " Tree Tomato " ; " Gas-takkali," 

 Sinh. — An evergreen semi-woody shrub, 

 native of Peru, and introduced to Ceylon 

 through Hakgala Gardens in 1882. It 

 has become thoroughly established iu 

 many hill gardens, and is commonly 

 grown about Nuwara Eliya for market. 

 The egg-shaped and smooth-skinned 

 fruit, produced in great abundance and 

 hanging in clusters at the ends of the 

 branches, is in season almost throughout 

 the year, but chiefly from March to 

 May. At first greenish purple, it changes 

 in ripening to reddish yellow. Some 

 varieties are of a deep purple colour. 

 The sub-acid succulent fruits are re- 

 freshing and agreeable when eaten raw, 

 but their chief use is for stewing ; they 

 may also be made into jam or a preserve. 

 The tree is a quick grower, and com- 

 mences tc bear fruit when two or three 

 years old, remaining productive for 

 several years. Propagated from seed. 



THE TRANSPLANTING OF RICE IN 

 CHHATTISGARH. 



By D. Clouston, m.a., b.sc, 

 Director of Agriculture, Central 

 Provinces. 



(From the A gricultural Journal of India, 

 Vol. III., Part 4, October, 1908.) 



In the year 1906 there were 4,259,826 

 acres of rice in the Central Provinces 

 and 28,027 acres iu Berar, or a total area 

 of 4,287,853 acres for these Provinces. 

 Of this area 754,342 acres were trans- 

 planted and 3,533,511 acres broadcasted. 

 Ot the transplanted area 365,047 acres 

 were irrigated, and 389,295 acres unirri- 

 gated. The chief rice-growing districts 

 are Chanda, Bhandara and Balaghat in 

 theNagpur Division, and Raipur, Bilas- 

 pur and Drug in Chhattisgarh. In the 

 Nagpur Division 68*4 per cent, of the 

 total area under rice is transplanted ; in 

 Chhattisgarh with 2,830,074 acres, 37,873 

 acres or only 1*3 per cent, are trans- 

 planted, and even this small area is con- 

 fined to tracts bordering on the dis- 

 tricts where transplanting is already in 



vogue. It is difficult to account satis 

 factorily for this important difference 

 in agricultural practice between these 

 two tracts, which are situated at no very 

 great distance from each other, and be- 

 tween which there is a good deal of 

 inter-communication. Whilst the Wain- 

 ganga valley districts consist of soil of 

 crystalline formation, Chhattisgarh soil 

 is mostly of laterite origin, but both 

 sei in equally suitable for transplanted 

 rice. Want of knowledge or difference 

 iu the habits of the population can hard- 

 ly account for the distinction. The 

 most likely reason is that Chhattisgarh 

 has hitherto had few facilities for irriga- 

 tion, which is of more importance to 

 transplanted than to broadcasted rice ; 

 but this difference is rapidly disappear- 

 ing with the construction of irrigation 

 works in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh is 

 the most backward agricultural tract in 

 these provinces, and the Chhattisgarh 

 is recognised as one of the laziest and 

 least enterprising of cultivators. A large 

 proportion of* them are charmers by 

 caste. As a race they are strong and 

 hardy, make good farm servants if 

 properly managed, but are quarrel- 

 some and are much given to agrarian 

 disputes. 



The soils of this division are mostly of 

 laterite origin. They may be divided 

 into four distinct classes. The partially 

 decomposed laterite rock of the higher 

 lauds, which skives a reddish gravelly soil, 

 locally known as bhata, is the typical 

 soil of large high-lying ridges covered 

 with scrub and stunted grass, some of 

 which bear at intervals a poor crop of the 

 lesser millets (t'aspalum scrobiculatum 

 and Panicum psillo podium). The bhata 

 grades gradually into matasi, a fine- 

 grained yellow loam which is considered 

 the ideal soil for paddy in this tract. 

 Matasi like bhata is unsuitable for 

 double-cropping on account of its ten- 

 dency to harden after the rains into a 

 brick-liKe mass, which it is almost im- 

 possible to reduce to a fine state of 

 tilth by means of the cultural imple- 

 ments in use in this tract. Moreover, it 

 does not retain moisture well. Dorsa, 

 or dorasa (meaning two kinds), is a mix- 

 ture of matasi and kanhar; it is dark 

 grey in colour, grows rice andrabi crops 

 fairly well, and is therefore suitable for 

 double-cropping. Kanhar is a dark 

 loamy soil found at still lower levels ; it 

 contains less sand, and if pure, no nodules 

 of limestone ; it is very retentive of 

 moisture. Kanhar [~. the best wheat- 

 producing soil of the tract, but is not 



