Edible Products. 



W 



It is, I believe, a fact that the flour is much used by the bakers of Jaffna 

 in adulterating wheat flour. The leaves are used as fodder for cattle, but care 

 has to be taken that they are given dry, otherwise they give rise to wind in 

 the stomach sufficient to cause death. 



I have obtained from the Government Agent. Eastern Province, an account 

 of cultivation in the Eastern Province, and Mr. A. E. Byrde, Chief Irrigation 

 Inspector, has been good enough to send me a paper on the same subject which 

 is appended.* I also annex a description of its cultivation and preparation as 

 food in British Guiana taken from Sir Everard im Thurn's book " Among the 

 Indians of Guiana."t 



As in Jaffna it is found both in the Eastern Province and in British 

 Guiana that a sandy soil is best suited to the plant. It is cultivated in the 

 Eastern Province usually in chenas and in clearings for paddy fields where the 

 ground is not too low. It is generally planted at the beginning of the North- 

 East Monsoon rains about August or September. The result is that in the 

 Eastern Province no watering of the plant is required or carried on. The practice 

 here differs from that in the Jaffna Peninsula where the cultivation is started 

 at all times of the year, and consequently some watering is necessary. I do not 

 suggest that the Jaffna practice should be altered, as no doubt the Jaffna culti- 

 vator has discovered by experience what suits him best, but if the cultivation 

 is extended in the Vanui and introduced into the more remote divisions of 

 Jaffna and into Mannar, the time for planting should certainly be September 

 or October, so as to obviate the necessity of watering. 



It is usual to put in two cuttings in each bed in the Eastern Province, in 

 British Guiana three or four. In Batticaloa it takes 14 or 15 months for the plaut 

 to grow sufficiently for the root to be fit for use, and consequently the roots 

 are usually dug up in the last quarter of the year. In some places where the 

 soil is more forcing 12 to 13 months are sufficient. In British Guiana according 

 •to Sir E. im Thurn the period is ( J or 10 months. It is noteworthy that in the 

 Jaffna Peninsula the period is only 6 or 7 months. This probably means that 

 the Jaffna man takes more care over the cultivation, or it may be due to -the 

 watering. 



In Batticaloa instead of being planted with dry grains it is planted between 

 coconuts or in a new clearing for paddy between rows of Indian corn. The 

 cultivation in that district is extending with the extension of new clearings. 

 Formerly it was cultivated in chenas, but chena cultivation is now stopped. When 

 the Veddahs were induced to take to cultivation, they were required to culti- 

 vate among other things maniocca. They did this at first perfunctorily, but when 

 they found how useful it was as food, they carried on its cultivation voluntarily. 



In the Batticaloa district it is, during the winter months, the mainstay 

 of the large number of paddy cultivators living in the interior. Why should it 

 not be the same in the Vauni? I know of no reason beyond the disinclination 

 of the people to try any new sort of food or cultivation. The result is that 

 when their paddy crops fail, as they often do, they live on jungle roots and 

 leaves, or have to be supported by relief works. 



I would allow them a certain extent of chenas on condition that they culti- 

 vated maniocca in them, so as to popularize the cultivation of this plaut. 



In the Eastern Province largo quantities of the yam are dried into odiyalu 

 which are sold or exported, and these are of great use during time of scarcity or 

 famine. This use of the yams in large quantities is unknown in Jaffna and quantities 



* Annexure B. f Annexures C. and D. 



