Sept. 1906,] 



Edible Products. 



as the best manure tor tobacco, as are the leaves of the tamarind, margosa ami 

 palmy rah found to be best suited for paddy, and arukkalai, avarai and pavaddai 

 leaves for onions. After the leaves have been buried cattle are penned a 

 second time, or goats and sheep similarly employed, or merely cattle dung is 

 spread over the soil, which is then turned with the hoe and levelled and made 

 ready for transplanting the seedlings. The above process of preparation com- 

 mences about the end of October and continues till the end of December. Early 

 in January the seedlings are removed from the nursery and planted in the garden 

 in small holes three feet apart. The young plants are covered with small 

 boughs of trees containing clusters of leaves as a protection against the hot sun. 

 The plants are watered once and twice a day as may be necessary. After two or 

 three weeks the shelters of leaves are removed and furrows or channels are made 

 at convenient distances between the plants with smaller furrows leading to the 

 root of the plant, by means of which water is led to the plant from a channel 

 starting from the mouth of the well, without wetting the intervening spaces 

 between the plants. Cattle dung is again spread over the ground, or goats and sheap 

 penned among the young plants for manuring. Two young palmyrah olas are tied 

 round each plant which is within the sheep pen to protect it from injury during 

 night. The olas are removed next morning soon after the goats or sheep have been, 

 let out in the plains to graze Every day the manured portion is tilled and weeded, 

 and earth raised round each plant forming small squares enclosing four plants in 

 each, so as to form small reservoirs into which water is conveyed every other day. 



The means of irrigation in Jaffna is entirely from wells at depths varying 

 between 20 and 40 feet, from which water is raised by means of ola baskets worked 

 with a well sweep. One person is at the mouth of the well letting down the basket 

 and lifting water in it, a second person, and not infrequently a third man also, on the 

 well sweep helping the first to raise the water, while a fourth person conducts the 

 water to each reservoir and plant. In the manner plantations are watered in the 

 Jaffna peninsula, the work cannot be done by a less number. Three persons at least 

 should form a company to work. But in some villages of Punaryn, Pachchilapaly 

 and Vadamaradchi East, whose sandy soil is not suited for irrigation by means of 

 channels, there are water holes dug, called ' thuraviis ' in which men take their 

 vessels, fill chem with water and empty it at the root of the plant. By this mode of 

 irrigation one or two men may carry on the cultivation of tobacco, but it is on a 

 limited scale. The young plants are stunted in growth and their leaves are 

 smaller than those grown in other divisions where the plants have an abundant 

 supply of water by means of channels. Nothing better can be done in a sandy 

 soil, and the cultivator toils hard and does his best to get anything he can 

 from it. The young plants begin to blossom in March, and then the top 

 portion is lopped off leaving about twelve leaves on the stem. Any off-shoots 

 which appear on the stem are carefully removed at once. If the top is not 

 lopped and the blossom allowed to mature and form seeds, the leaves at the bottom 

 will wither and fall, the middle leaves will not lay out well but get smaller and 

 thinner. If the top is lopped off, in about 60 or 70 days the leaves will have grown 

 to their full size and maturity. According to their quality the leaves when cut are 

 separated into four kinds, viz., 1st called 'Thiram' or best kind which consists 

 generally of the fully matured middle leaves, five in number ; second sort called 

 ' Kochchi' next below in quality ; two or three leaves to a third sort called ' Idai ' or 

 middling sort, also two or three leaves to a plant ; fourth and the last sort called 

 ' Sachchu ' which consists of the two leaves at the bottom of the plant. These are of 

 inferior quality to all others. There are some persons who separate the leaves into 

 three classes only called ' Kali,' Galle sort ; 'Kochchi,' Cochin sort; ' Gampolai,' 

 Gampola sort, named after the places to which the leaves are transported for sale. 



(To be continued.) 



