December i, 1889.] Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." 
445 
The leaves are of an obovate shape, and the whole 
plant, growing into several branches, is very succu- 
lent, having a watery crystallized appearance through- 
out. The flowers are small; and seeds minute and 
black. The tranches and leaves are very tender and 
easily severed from the stem, which too readily breaks 
at the nodes, the whole plant having very little 
fibro-vascular tissue. 
The plant is ured in food prepared in several ways 
and is relished much. It is made into curries and 
also salads. It has, when made into curries, a slight acid 
taste, whioh is by no means disagreeable. 
Portulaca is considered to be a very cooling 
vegetable, aDd hence there is a prejudice amongst 
some people against using it. Vegetables of oooling 
properties are generally objected to perhaps on account 
of the supposition of their being promotive of the 
''windy humour " 
The other two kinds of Portulaca, oommonly found 
growing wild and never cultivated, viz., Portulaca, 
Quadrifida and Portulaca, tuberosa, the Keen Genda 
and Uru-Genda of the Sinhalese are occasionally 
used in ourries when found in sufficient quantity to 
be gathered. The plant P. Quadrifida has a thread, 
like stem and branches, and very small leaves, all 
creeping on the ground ; and the leaves have a reddish 
tint, atd are succulent. The other kind, P. Tuberosa, 
resembles very much the ordinary kind, described 
before, but the haves and stems are of a blackish 
tint, and the nodes are much swollen. 
All the three speoies are used medicinally, and 
they have very cooling properties. The native Medical 
Practitioners use the bruiied leaves with success in 
cases of burns and scalds, and the juice of the plan 
is considerei to be a refriegerant and stomaehie 
The whole plant is used for diseases supposed to arise 
from a bilious condition. 
Portulaca Oleracea, though not widely cultivated 
is a favourite plant amongst market gardeners near 
towns as they always fetch a reasonable price, and 
are saleable at all times. 
. + 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
The Sweet Potato. — Among the plants cultivated for 
the sake of their tubers in this country as food for man 
and beast the sweet potato holds the prominent place. 
The sweet-potato (Battas Edulis), Sinhalese Batala, is 
a creeping or twining plant and bears showy light 
purple flowers. It is cultivated all over the tropios, 
but its original home is supposed to be the East Indies. 
The plant is grown iu all parts of Ceylon, and next to 
rice and ku.&kkau it yields the largest amount of valu- 
able fo jtl to the natives of this country. It is greatly 
relished both by cattle and pigs, and both the tops and 
tubers are valuable as food for milch c^ws, as they in- 
crease the flows of m'dk, There are sjvoral varieties 
of sweet potatos, such as Siui batu'a ; Kiribadu 
bat .da ; Hatu batala ; Sudtl batala ; Murusi batala ; 
Lewandau batala. 
They can be grown in a light loamy soil with best 
results. Both the green tops and tubers are used for 
planting. In planting tubers they should be kept in a 
moist shaddy place till they give out young buds. 
Then they should be planted on ridges. The ridges 
should be 4 feet apart, and on each ridge the tubers 
should be planted in two rows 6 by 12 inches apart. 
In planting green tops they should be cut into pieces 
not exceeding 10 or 12 inches, and these are planted as 
before described. Planting should be done in the 
months of April or May, and September or October. 
After planting the ridges should be covered with straw, 
After 4 months the tubers are full grown and good 
for gathering. For gathering the creepers should be 
cut and removed, and the tubers dug up, taking care 
not to cut them. 
The tubers can be preserved by burying in a dry soil 
and preventing them from being moistened. And also 
by packing the tubers in a box with dry 6and and 
keeping in a warm place. Coldness or dampness causes 
jmmediate decay. 
T. W. GOONEWAEDENE. 
How Decobticated Cotton Oake is Made.— The cot 
ton seed mostly grown in America, and from which the 
decorticated cotton cake is made is not clean and free 
of cotton, but is tightly bound round with lint. 
The main bulk of the cotton is picked off by the negroes, 
but the seed is afterward sent to the ginners, who give 
off a deal more cotton. It is now in a fit st ite to be 
marketable, a large proportion of the seed finds its way 
back to the land for manure, and the smaller propor- 
tion reaches the seed crushers. These gentlemen lake 
off as much more cotton as they can by means of 
linters ; the seed is thence passed over to the " b alien" 
which sculp clean off all the black husk of the cotton 
seed, together with any cotton remains, and leave only 
the kernel. The husks now proceed to the 'boiler fire ; 
the kernels are grouud, rolled, heated, and then put 
into the hydraulic presses, where the oil is ex- 
tracted, and the decorticated cotton cake results. 
Owing to improved machinery the oil left in the 
cotton cake made in the new mills shows under 8 per 
cent, and the cake is left perfectly hard. The idea of 
extracting as much oil as possible from the seed is 
now considered to be by no means an advantage so 
far as the feeding value of the cake is concerned. 
A New Plan foe Treating Sewage. — This new 
method of treating sewage, known as the " Amines " 
process, consists in the mixing of Amines t,a group 
of ammonia compounds) and lime with sewage. 
Herriog-brh e, a practically waste product, is used as 
the cheapest source of Amines. The promoters of 
this process have in their own words " abandoned, at 
all events for the present, the idea of getting a great 
piofit out of the sewage," but claim that the" Amines" 
process renders the effluent water inodorous, sterile, 
entirely free from deleterious germ life or putrefactive 
J elements — iu fact innocuous to public health." The 
