Edible Products. 



516 



[December, 1909. 



infected. The sugar planters then had 

 recourse to the cultivation of young 

 canes in the mountains ; these were cut 

 when they were only 6-8 months 

 old, and could be used entirely for cut- 

 tings. At the same time, experiments 

 with foreign canes were made on a 

 large scale, and for some years the 

 Lousier and the Canne Morte (Fiji) 

 canes had some success. Both, however, 

 showed themselves after a short time 

 liable to the sereh disease, and the culti- 

 vation of cane cuttings in the mountains 

 had to be stopped in many parts of Java 

 for the same reason. 



A root-disease, that caused many 

 hundreds of acres planted with canes to 

 dry up entirely, made its appearance in 

 the nineties, and heavily affected Cheri- 

 bon, Louzier, Canne Morte, and some 

 other varieties. But just at this time 

 the first seedling varieties were at the 

 disposal of the factories, and at once 

 proved a success, some of them doubling 

 their output in one year. All the 

 varieties that had been tested on the 

 heavy soils * in the experimental fields 

 of our station showed good results, 

 proved quite or nearly immune against 

 the sereh and root disease, so that the 

 heavy losses sustained in previous years 

 belonged to the past. 



Nowadays, in the eastern part of Java, 

 only seedling varieties are cultivated ; 

 in the western provinces, where the cli- 

 mate is more favourable for cane cul- 

 ture, the best soils are still used for the 

 old Cheribon cane, but here also the 

 larger part of the soils is planted with 

 seedling canes, and the rapid increase in 

 the Java sugar-production from 2'5 ton 

 per acre in 1887 to over 4*5 tons per acre 

 in 1908 is chiefly due to the cultivation 

 of seedling canes. — Internatianal Sugar 

 Journal. 



THRESHING GRAIN. 



With Stone Rollers. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXIV., No. 10, October 1. 1909.) 

 The following article, written by the 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture, Bellary, 

 has been forwarded to us by the Honorary 

 Secretaries of the Central Agricultural 

 Committee, Madras : — 



* The culture and propagation of seedlings 

 on heavy soil is much recommended in Java, be- 

 cause those liable to disease disappear in the 

 first years, while otherwise good varieties 

 raised and propagated on fertde sandy soils 

 may suffer very badly as well from the sereh 

 as from the root disease, when introduced on 

 heavy soils, 



A few facts relative to the method of 

 threshing grain by means of stone rollers 

 are here collected, in the hope that those 

 interested may be induced to give it a 

 trial on their own lands. 



There are three methods of thresh- 

 ing grain generally practised in this 

 Presidency : treading by bullock power, 

 beating with sticks, and the method of 

 which we are now writing, crushing with 

 a roller. The last is not suited for every 

 sort of grain, as for instance in the case 

 of Korra (Teuai) and paddy, crops 

 possessing soft fine straw, it has been 

 found that the straw becomes felted or 

 packed into masses which protect the 

 ears, and thus hinder the free extraction 

 of the grain. Even in the case of the 

 sorghum crop, for threshing which this 

 implement is most largely in actual use, 

 it is not every variety that can be dealt 

 with in this way : Irungu cholam, a 

 variety grown in the south, must be 

 beaten with sticks since it possesses 

 glumes which adhere very strongly to 

 the seed and other methods will merely 

 cause the seed to separate with the 

 glumes. It will be found, however, that if 

 the directions given below are followed, 

 most of the commonly grown varieties 

 of sorghum as well as Sazza (Cumbu), 

 gram, safflower, and no doubt other 

 crops, may be more economically thresh- 

 ed by this means than by any other. 



The history of the introduction of the 

 stone threshing roller is given by the 

 late Rao Bahadur C. K. Subba Rao as 

 follows : — 



"In the famine years of 1876-78 stone 

 rollers were very much in evidence in 

 connection with the opening of new and 

 the repair of old roads. A certain 

 intelligent ryot of Pedda Settinapalli, 

 Proddatur Taluq, Cuddapah District, 

 observed that when one of the stone 

 rollers accidentally moved over a heap 

 of Jonna ears, the grain was well thresh- 

 ed. He piled cholam ears to a height 

 of about a cubit in a circular strip about 

 8 ft. wide, and had the roller drawn 

 by a pair of bullocks. He found that 

 the roller was far more economical than 

 the usual process of treading by several 

 teams of bullocks." 



The roller is thus the ordinary stone 

 roller such as is used for road making, 

 and will be generally about a yard "long 

 and from lj ft. to 2 ft. in diameter, A 

 roller of these dimensions will weigh 

 from 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. The cost varies 

 in different districts from Rs, 10 to Rs. 

 20. Their first cost is thus somewhat 

 high, but they are frequently the joint 

 property of several owners who will 

 borrow them in turn to thresh their 

 grain. 



