502 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1889. 
sheets of tea they have seen. These results have 
been attained upon the Good Hope Garden by careful 
management; for, though the quality of the plants, 
the nature of the market, or the weather, affect the 
results, the success or failure of a tea estate io a 
great measure lies in the hands of owners and agents. 
They appoint the managers and assistants, and if 
third-rate men, with little experience, are appoiuted, 
there is very little likelihood of tea paying. The 
agents have also in their hands the supply of machi- 
nery, which should be good and in sufficient quantity. 
Now that our Indian teas have ousted China from 
thejBritish market, there are several syndicates working 
up the Canadian, United States and Australian 
markets, and experts are at present studying the 
peculiarities of the different places, so that we can 
manufacture teas to suit them. When those markets 
are won over to Indian teas there is bound to be an 
enormous increase in the demand. — Financial News. 
♦ 
ALIMENTARY AQUATIC PLANTS. 
By P. L. Simmonds, F.L.S. 
In the last number of the " Bulletin of the Paris 
Society of Acclimatisation," 5th August, an article 
appears on this subject, which merits attentiou from 
the novelty of the; information furnished, add while 
drawing one or two items therefrom, I may add some 
supplementary detail which will be interesting. It 
will come as a surprise to many that in Asia and 
in parts of North America thousands of people feed 
on the farinaceous seeds of certain water plants. I 
do not here allude to the enormous crops of cultivated 
rice in Asia, nor to the wild rice (Zizania aquatica), 
or Jluitans of America, but to the various water- 
lilies, the seeds of which are such a large source of 
subsistence to many. Firstly we have the species of 
Trapa, known in India under the name of " Singhara." 
This plant is also cultivated on a large scale in the 
lakes and rivers of Southern China. 
Fortune thus describes it: — "Being detained for 
some time at Shanghai, I resolved to penetrate, if it 
were possible, into the district of Kwey-chog-foo. In 
ascending the river in a south-westerly direction, 
I soon arrived, after passing Kea-Hing-Fo, a city of 
220,000 inhabitants, at an immense poo), which I 
suppose communicates with the celebrated Lake 
Tai-ko. The water, not deep, was covered with 
Trapa bicomis, which the Chinese call ' Ling,' the 
bizarre fruit of which, resembling a bullock's head 
with two horns is highly esteemed in China. I 
noticed three very distinct varieties, one of which bore 
fruit of a fine red colour. Women and children in 
great numbers were paddling about in small boats of a 
circular form, like washing-tubs, collecting the seeds. 
Nothing could be more curious than these singular 
boats, large enough to contain the person and the 
product collected, and pushed about among the plants 
without injuring them. The sight of this immense 
number of individuals floating about in their little 
tubs in this swamp was to me most diverting." 
Another voyager, M. Marchal de Luneville, states : 
"The Trapa bicomis forms the food of the people when 
the rice crop is insufficient. The collection reminds 
me of t;ie grape harvest in Europe. The c Ling' is 
Bowu at the close of autumn, in those ponds where 
the water is shallow and clear, and in localities ex- 
posed to the south. The Chinese affirm that this 
culture absorbs the putrid emanations which rise to 
the surface of the stagnant waters. If the harvest is 
abundant the seeds are given to poultry, which fatten 
readily on them, and their flesh acquires an exquisite 
flavour. This water-chestnut, as it is termed, is con- 
sidered refreshing and agreeable food in summer. 
In its green state it is sold in the markets of Pekin as 
nuts are in Europe. Dried and reduced to flour it 
makes a good gruel, and it may be mixed with 
flour for bread. Boasted or preserved in sugar or 
honey it is a pleasant food. It is also excellent 
food for geese, ducks and other birds of the poultry 
yard." 
The species which is cultivated in Kashmir, accord- 
ing to Roxburgh and Sir J. D. Hooker, is believed 
to be Trapa bisphwsa, although usually stated to 
be T. nutans and T. bicomis. It is met with from 
Central and Southern Asia (where it is called Sin- 
ghara), to Ceylon and Japan, and also reaches iu 
the south of Africa to Zambezi. To this species 
probably belongs T. Cochinchinensis, Lour.; and T. 
incisa, Seib. T. natans is said to have furnished a 
large part of their food to the ancient Thracians, 
in the same manner as T. hispinosa does at the 
present day to the inhabitants of Kashmir, and T. 
bicomis to the Chinese. It is mentioned by Dr. 
Koyle that the former yielded as much as £12,000 
a year of revenue to the Government of Ruujet 
Singh, the tax being levied upon from 9,600 to 
12:1,000 ass loads from the great Lake of Ooller. 
In Kashmir, after a severe famine, the Governor 
of the district ia which is situated the Woos Lake, 
introduced the culture of the Trapa. This lake, 
which measures at least 5,000 acres, is so filled with 
this plant that navigation is impossible. The fruit 
is collected by entire boatloads, and the governor 
derives a large revenue from it. Many of these 
boats filled with the seeds arrive daily at Srinagar. 
The seeds of the Trapa bispinosa and T. natans 
contain a great quantity of fecula, and are eaten 
by the natives. In Gujerat they form an important 
article of food. During the Hooly festival a red dye 
is made from the fruit, mixed with a yellow dye from 
the flowers of the Butea frondosa. Colonel Sleeman 
has given the following interesting account of this 
plant in his ''Travels in the South -Western Pro- 
vinces": — "Here, as in most other parts of India, 
the tanks get spoiled by the water-chestnut (Sinhara), 
which is everywhere as regularly planted and cul- 
tivated in fields under a large surface of water as 
wheat or barley is on the dry plains. It is cultivated 
by a class of men called Dheemurs, who are every- 
where fishermen and palankin bearers, and they 
keep boats for the planting, weeding, and gather- 
ing of the Singhara. The holdings or tenements of 
each cultivator are marked out carefully on the 
surface of the water by long bamboos stuck up in 
it, and they pay so much the acre for the portion 
they till. The long straw of the plants reach up 
to the surface of the water, upon which float their 
green leaves ; and their pure white flowers expand 
beautifully among them in the latter part of the 
afternoon. The nut grows under the water after 
the flowers decay, and is of a triangular shape, and 
covered with a tough brown integument adhering 
strongly to the kernel, which is white, esculent, 
and of a fine cartilag iuous texture. The people are 
very fond of these nuts, and they are carried often 
ou bullocks' backs two or three hundred miles to 
market. r .they ripen in the latter end of the rains 
in September, and are eatable till the end of Novem- 
ber. The rent paid for au ordinary tank by the 
cultivator is about 100 rupees (£10) a year. I have 
known 200 rupees to be paid for a very large one, 
and even 300, or £30 a year, But the mud in- 
creases so rapidly from the cultivation, that it soon 
destroys all reservoirs in which it is permitted ; 
and where it is thought desirable to keep up the 
tank for the sake of the water it should be care- 
fully prohibited." 
In Kashmir, miles of the lake and marshes are 
covered with it, and the fruit forms the stable food 
for some months in the year to a large number of 
people. It abounds in starch, resembles a chestnut 
in flavour s and is eaten either raw or cooked. Flour 
is made of it, which is eaten by Hindus on fast days, 
also made into sweetmeats. 
A variety of 2'. natans, to which the name of T. 
verb'tinensis has been given, is cultivated in the Lakes 
of Majena and Varesa in Italy, especially in the Bay 
of Augera, Lake Majena, where the bottom is visible. 
With the seeds chaplets of beads are made, and sold 
at Benares, and considered very sacred. 
Oapt. J. P. Pogson, of Simla, advocated some 
years since, in the "Journal of Applied Science," 
the more extended culture and utilisation of this plant. 
'•With the example of Kashmir before us, it seems 
