Drugs, 



218 



[September, 1909. 



The ripe papaw is palatable and is an 

 excellent aid to digestion. Meat wrap- 

 ped in papaw leaves for a short time 

 becomes quite tender without any 

 impairment in appearance or taste. 



In extracting the juice the hands 

 should be protected by rubber gloves, 

 as in its crude state it attacks the tis- 

 sues. An average tree will produce 

 about one-fourth of a pound of the gra- 

 nulated juice. It sells in the United 

 States for from $4 to S6 per pound in 

 the crude state. 



"[Papaya, CaHca papaya, £. (Passi- 

 floracece).—A tree commonly cultivated 

 for its edible fruits, introduced from 

 America." 



" The Papaw. Merrill."— A great many 

 types of this tree grow in these islands. 

 It is subject to great variations in 

 growth, gives a heavy yield per acre, 

 and makes good hog feed. When set 

 out 10 by 10 feet apart and cultivated it 

 improves greatly in quality and quantity 

 of yield.— Editor.] 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



THE BRAZIL NUT, 



By H. F. Macmillan. 



Bertholetia e.vcelsa (N. O. Myrtaceae.)— 

 "Brazil-nut," or " Para-nut." — A tall 

 handsome tree, with oblong wavy leaves 

 which are 14 to 10 inches long and 

 about 3 in. broad, native of Guiana, 

 Venezuela and Brazil. In its native 

 home, especially on the banks of the 

 Amazon and Oriuica, the tree attains 

 a height of over 100 feet. I have no 

 record of its success as yet in the East- 

 ern tropics, exceptlat Peradenjya, AVhere, 

 but for the indifferent ground chosen 

 for it when first planted out thirty years 

 ago (1880), it would seem to find a con- 

 genial home. The tree referred to is 

 now about 40 to 50 feet high, produces 

 at the top every year, in the dry season, 

 large erect racemes of white flowers 

 followed several months later by a few 

 fruits, which hang on the tree for many 

 months after ripeuing. The large round 

 fruit is from 4 to 6 inches in diameter, 

 with a brown and hard woody shell, 

 which has to be sawn, or broken with 

 au axe, in order to get at the contents. 

 In the interior are arranged from ten to 

 twelve large angular seeds with a hard 

 woody testa; these are tne Brazil-nuts of 

 commerce, which form an important 

 article of export from their native 

 country, heing largely used for dessert 

 in Europe, America, <fcc. The tree may 

 be propagated by seed or gootee (layer- 

 ing), and thrives best on a rich alluvial 

 soil, in a hot and moist climate. 



THE TRANSPLANTING OF RICE. 



(From the AgriculturalJournal of India, 

 Vol. III., Pt. IV., October, R08.) 

 (Continued from p. 124.) 

 The water supply on the Raipur 

 station has so far been very inadequate, 



and for that reason late-ripening paddy 

 has not yet been tried in these series. 

 With a late heavy-yielding paddy and 

 an adequate water supply, the results 

 would have been still more favourable. 

 This is at least indicated by the outturns 

 obtained on the demonstration farms 

 last year, where Gurmatia, a late paddy 

 grown in this division, was sown. 

 The results were as shown below : — 



OUTTURN OF PADDY IN LBS. 

 PER ACRE. 



■° k o Value of in. 



.g tj creases due to 



aS ? £~ Transplanting. 



Jageshwar Farm 

 Jawarbhandha Farm 

 Kolar Farm 



a a. 

 — . a, 



3,940 

 1,690 



•2,b80 



2,<T-0 l,4f0 

 b0) 1,090 

 1,27a 1,108 



In year 

 of, 



normal 

 rain- 

 fill. 



Rs A. 



35 7 

 25 15 

 38 5 



190?. 



The transplanted plots of the depart- 

 ment and the biasi plots of the culti- 

 vators were manured alike and irrigated 

 alike, so that the difference in the out- 

 turns is due to the superiority of this 

 new method of sowing introduced. The 

 result appeared all the more striking to 

 the village cultivators, because the 

 department only took over these demon- 

 stration plots about a fortnight before 

 the rains, and no manure was applied 

 save that which had been added by the 

 ryot himself. He followed the example 

 set to him by the demonstration farms 

 and irrigated his rice this year for the 

 first time. Even the primitive mind of 

 the chamar could not fail to see that 

 under these circumstances the increase 

 in the outturn must have been due to 

 the one varying factor, viz,, the method 

 of sowing. As a cultivator, he could 

 not help seeing that on the demonstra- 

 tion plot the Sircar (Government) pro- 

 duced a better crop than his own by 

 means that were at his disposal. 



