Edible Products. 



[Sept. ]90f>. 



The seeds are very small, smaller than the mustard. They are usually 

 mixed with ashes or fine sand, one part of seeds to two parts of sand being a good 

 proportion, and are sown thinly scattered over the beds. They are then mixed 

 with the upper layer of the soil and pressed down with the baud. Water is gently 

 sprinkled over the beds, which are then covered with coconut or other leaves 

 to protect them from the hot sun. It' the weather is very dry, the beds are 

 carefully sprinkled with water twice aud thrice a day for 8 or 10 days until the 

 seeds spring forth. Now the cultivators take good care to let the seedlings have 

 as much light and air as possible. They remove the leaves spread over the beds 

 and erect what is called a ' pandal ' which consists of small sticks or posts planted 

 4 feet apart all round the edges and 2 or 3 feet high to which, light sticks are 

 fastened along and across. Over this palmy rah olas or cadjans are spread and 

 thatched in order to protect the seedlings from the hot sun and heavy rains. 

 During dull weather and slight drizzling rain the ' pandal ' or shelter is removed, 

 as the cultivators consider it more beneficial to the seedlings than artificial watering. 



If the seedlings be too numerous or too close to one another, new beds are 

 prepared as before close by, to which some of the crowded seedlings are removed and 

 temporarily transplanted and sheltered as before. In about two months they will 

 be fit for transplanting into gardens which are prepared for the purpose. 



The seedlings are sometimes affected with a kind of disease commonly called 

 " karuntadi." The disease manifests itself in the stem of the young plant 

 near the root. The stem looks black at the bottom and the root decays 

 underground, but the freshness aud greenness of the tender leaves remain 

 unchanged until the whole root decays and the young plant withers and dies. 

 There is so far no known remedy to prevent or arrest the progress of this disease, 

 and I am not aware that any scientific investigation has ever been made regarding it. 



Gardens. — In Jaffna, except lands where tobacco is annually grown, all land 

 newly brought under cultivation is more or less stony soil. Huge blocks of 

 hard stone are dug out of the earth at considerable expense of time and labour. 

 A well is sunk 30 to 40 feet deep at a cost of from Rs. 300 to Rs. 500. The land 

 is then tilled, manured and prepared in the same manner as other garden lands are 

 prepared annually. Unlike lands in the Vanni, lands in Jaffna have almost 

 exhausted their fertility by continuous production of different crops on the same 

 soil all the year round. They therefore require careful manuring every time 

 products are cultivated. 



In October the cultivator begins to pen his cattle in the gardens. Generally 

 four animals are joined by means of ropes to the four legs or posts of a'toddil' 

 or a movable wooden hut with a ' kudil' or round roof like a large umbrella. The 

 ' toddil ' contains foddei for the cattle and the ' kudil ' shelters them from sun and 

 rain. They are moved from place to place until the whole garden is manured. 

 Breeding of cattle is an important factor in cultivation. They supply the best manure 

 procurable. The cultivator prefers tethering and penning cattle to manuring his 

 gardens merely with their dung. If he owns no cattle, he borrows them from other 

 persons who do no cultivation. 



When the garden has been manured in this manner, the land is hoed and 

 ploughed three or four times aud green leaves are buried a foot deep. Punku, 

 Pannai, Pavaddai, Naval, Guava, Manchavanna, Margosa, and Puvarasu leaves are 

 employed for the purpose, several cartloads aud boatloads being brought over from 

 the Pachchilapaly and Punaryn divisions during the cultivation season. The Kavilai, 

 Bot. Tephrosia purpurea, a leguminous plant commonly grown in gardens and 

 compounds, and the ' Sivanar-Vembu,' Bot. Indigofera aspalathoides, another 

 plant growing wild in the high chempadu lands of the peninsula, are both accepted 



