May 1907.] 



283 



Edible Products. 



all necessary- The plants on the unmanured portion were so unhealthy aud stunted 

 that they seemed not deserving of the weeding and care paid to them. The best 

 plant on the unmanured did not compare favourably with the worst in the other 

 two plots. There was, also, ample opportunity to compare the results of the two 

 different kinds of manure applied. The only difference in the two manured plots 

 was that, while the growth and size of the plants in the plot fertilized with 

 artificial manure were uniform throughout, there was not much uniformity 

 in the other plot on which patches of high and vigorous plants were inter- 

 spersed with those of inferior growth and size. This was perhaps accounted 

 for by a corresponding want of uniformity in the distribution of cattle 

 manure. Although the plot fertilized with cattle manure enjoyed immunity from 

 the ravages of the stem borer, there were quite a number of plants attacked with 

 diseases called " Kara '* (white leaves), " Suruttal " (curled leaves), and"Paluppu" 

 (sudden and premature ripening), as compared with those on the other plot. " Kara," 

 which is a disease quite common on impoverished soils, prevents the full develop- 

 ment of the leaf. It is the presence of these diseases which makes the cultivator 

 have no special reliance on cattle manure. 



THE CROP IN THE SEVERAL PLOTS 



was as follows :— 



No. of No. of . 



plants. leaves. Average. 



Artificial manure ... 2,100 25,000 11*90 



Cattle manure ... 2,800 32,700 11-68 



Unmanured ... 1,900 16,000 874 



It is much to be regretted that on account of the paucity of leaves, 

 they could not have been separately cured, and therefore the difference in 

 their market value and the proportion of leaves which go to form the different 

 grades — a material point — could not have been separately ascertained. An attempt 

 was made to discriminate the leaves of the different plots, by means of certain marks, 

 but on account of the great trouble, patience and intelligent labour involved, the 

 attempt had to be abandoned. 



The experiment has been instructive in more points than one. From 

 the nature and size of the plants on the unmatured portion, it was manifest 

 that the growth of plants was tardy or wholly arrested for want of sufficient 

 food constituents in the soil ; from the rapid growth of plants on the plots 

 fertilized with cattle manure that fertilizing agents should be well incorpor- 

 ated into the soil before transplanting ; from erratic growth in one plot and the 

 uniform growth in the other that artificial manure was preferable to the system of 

 tethering cattle to ensure uniformity of growth which is advantageous in that it 

 facilitates and simplifies the gathering of the crop ; and that cattle manure is for the 

 present cheaper although it may contain constituents detrimental to the health of 

 the plants. 



Green manure, which is extensively used in the North, has not been experi- 

 mented upon in Dumbara, although the Sinhalese have been in the habit of using 

 "Keppitia" leaves in betel and " Karauda" and" Kekuna" in paddy cultivation. 

 When the difficulty of procuring cheap manure was brought to the notice of Mr. 

 Kelway Bamber, who was present at a meeting of the Dumbara Agricultural Society 

 in November last, he was kind enough to give some valuable and practical hints as to 

 green manuring. He suggested that " Pila " or Sivanarvembo (Tamil) Aftpalathus 

 indica may be raised on impoverished soils and the plants buried root, branch 

 and all before they podded. The use this plant could be put to was not 

 previously known to the Dumbara cultivator, and as it grows in wild profusion 



