October i, 1887,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
247 
To the Editov of the " Ceylon Observer." 
KURAKKAN AND THE RIPENING PROCESSES 
IN CEREALS : THE MERITS OF DHOLL. 
Mullaittivu, 23rd August 1887. 
Dear Sir, — While reading your editorial about the 
" Ceylon Medical Journal " in the Weekly Observer of 
the 12th instant, I came across the following extract 
from Dr. Kynsey's leading article of this new period- 
ical: — "Like the maize in Italy there may be some- 
thing in the mode of cultivation, gathering, storing 
or preparation of this grain (kurakkan) for food which 
may render it unwholesome and disease-producing ; 
but in drawing attention to this I believe that Parangi 
is present among people of the island who never eat 
kurakkan. However the food they use may be ren- 
dered unwholesome by the same treatment that 
kurakkan is subjected to." I hope the following pass- 
age which I quote from Professor Tanner's " Ele- 
mentary Lessons in the Science of Agricultural 
Practice," page 262 and 263, may throw some light 
upon what makes kurakkan so unwholesome a food 
ia the form it is commonly used by natives: — "It 
is very commonly supposed that the ripening of corn 
has been completed when it is carried to the stack 
in good condition ; but farmers and their ploughmen 
know better than this. New oats are looked upon 
with suspicion, and tbeir use delayed, as long as old 
oats are within command on the farm. When the 
corn has been in stack for four or five months and 
especially when frost has passed through the stack 
by the cold, piercing wind penetrating it, the farmer 
knows that he may then use the oats with safety. 
The change which takes place during this time has 
yet to be determined by analysts. It is, however, 
more than probable that much of the nitrogenous 
(flesh-forming) matter existing in the oat when har- 
vested remains in an imperfectly matured condition. 
What the farmer understands by this ripening in the 
stack, is probably tho change of this nitrogenous 
matter into the more perfect form of gluten or some 
corresponding albuminoid. Somo may be disposed to 
enquire, how it is that farmers and their ploughmen 
oau know anything about such a point of char- 
acter. Tho old saying applies here as in an- 
other case. ' Tho proof of the pudding is in the 
eatiug,' and here also the use of the oat as food 
gives the necessary proof. The ploughman finds the 
use of new oats oauses an irritatiou on the skin of 
tho horse, wh.ch soon leads to mischief and disease. 
Tho horse, instead of deriving that nourishment from 
tho now oat which shall enable him to do bis work, 
finds tho food givo more inconvenience than support, 
and he rapidly loses condition in struggling to ac- 
complish his daily task. In the meantime, the im- 
perfectly ripened nutriment lias to be separated and 
removed from tho blood, so that it is not merely 
in a large dojjrcc useless, but it is distinctly injuri- 
ous. The moro usual mode of ripening the oat is by 
the l&fluenoe of cold, and the farmer then recognizes 
tho oat as being in good condition; but this could 
not take place in very largo stacks of corn. The thick- 
ness of theso stacks effectually prevents the air 
peuctratiug to any great depth : but eveu here the 
oat ripens, but from a different cause. That which 
cold accomplished, warmth also effects. The larger 
size of theso stacks causes a moderato warmth to 
bo produced, which spreads through the stack, goutly 
and slowly, accomplishing the necessary changes. We 
find a somewhat corresponding ripening taking place 
in other kinds of vegetation. Tne details of theso 
changes have yot to bo determined by chemical 
analyse* ; but tho farmer kuows when theso changes 
have taken pUee, and that they aro necessary, aud tho 
light of scieucu will in duo course givo us tho fuller 
Information wo need." 
Again while speaking about wheat Professor Tan- 
ner r. in irks (page 2T'>):— " Tho complete ripening of 
wheat is an important aud necessary sequel, to tho 
tsrl) sUgo of ripening which preccJcs the plating iu 
stack, What are the chemical changes which take 
placi in this final stage of ripening, has noc been 
fully determined. Farmers and millers are both aware 
of the necessity which demands it ; and although 
some small portion of our wheats are ground before 
this ripening is completed, yet the injurious effects 
have to be checked by grinding in with them some 
old wheat." 
Now from these passages, I think it may be fairly 
inferred that parangi may bo in a great mea- 
sure due to the use of kurakkan while new, i. e., 
before it sufficiently ripens in the stack. The poor 
villager being, perhaps, pressed by scarcity of food 
and consequent hunger, cannot afford to wait till 
this subsequent ripening of the grain takes place. As 
is implied in Dr. Kynsey's remarks other native 
cereals, too, may prove unwholesome when not sub- 
jected to the necessary process of ripening in the 
stack. For instance, food prepared from new paddy 
is looked upon as heating, and people too ofteu 
complain of dysentery, diarrhoea or boils after using 
such food. But, of course, the degree of uuwholesome- 
ness would differ in various kinds of new grain ; and 
kurakkan in this imperfectly developed condition, 
seems to he about the most unwholesome of tho 
ordinary native cereals ; and its almost exclusive 
use predisposes the eater to the attack of the dreaded 
parangi disease. 
But as Dr. Kynsey says there are other predispos- 
ing causes, too, such as the use of salted fish with 
little or uo milk, eggs or fresh meat, impure water 
and air, &c. The consumption of buffalo milk and 
curd to excess is also said to have something to do 
with parangi. If this is true the dirty habits of 
buffaloes, especially their drinking filthy water, may 
account for the fact. 
It is, however, with the greatest diffidence that 
I express my opinion on such a subject and should 
only be too glad if I could derive any further in- 
formation from your columns about this dire disease 
to which we see several miserable victims in the 
Wanni. But I may safely say in conclusion that kurak- 
kan whether new or old is iu general a comparatively 
heating food and should not form the sole or even the 
chief article of food. Natives would do well to take to 
cultivating dholl for food rather than kurakkan in dry 
lands. Dholl is in great repute in India as a 
very wholesome and nutritious article ef diet aud may 
do much good to the poor suffering humanity iu tho 
feverish and parangi-stricken villages iu Ceylon. It is 
now being extensively cultivated in village agricultural 
school gardens aud the seed is also largely distributed 
among the villagers at the special order of our Director 
of Public Instruction. It is beiug rapidly introduced 
into tho Mullaittivu district and there is scarcely a 
compound in the Mullaittivu town without at least a 
few dholl plants growing iu it. They are grown with 
little or no trouble and do not exhaust the soil, as 
their hardy ro"ts go deep down and absorb nutriment 
from the subsoil. It will be clearly seen from these facts 
that the dholl recommends itself from an agricultural 
as well as from a sanitary point of view and bids fair 
to supersede the much suspected kurakkan in the 
chenas and other dry lauds of the villager aud to form 
a favourite article of his food. 
Hoping you will be pleased to give insertiou to this 
letter in your valuable journal, excusing me fcr the 
rather long quotation, yours respectfully, 
E. T. HOOLK. 
[One of the alleged merits of dholl, in common with 
the whole of the pea and bean tribe, is, that the bulk 
of the nitrogen required by such plants is derived from 
the atmosphere. — Ed.] 
WHITE ANTS AND YOUNQ COCONUT PLANTS 
Pate Rajah Estate, Anibalangodu, 5th Sept. 
DBAS Su:,— Could any of your renders toll me of 
a certain protective against white-ants destroying 
coconut plants ? I have tried salt, sea-sand, ksrasine 
oil, habaroo, ire, with no satisfactory results. — Yours 
faithfully, A. T. B. 
[Our publication, " All about tho Cocouut Palm 
(a copy of which '' A. T. B." and all coconut pl;mu'i< 
oujj'bt to have) states that art>ouic is the only cur-.s— L'w 
