Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
59 
We  regret  to  have  to  record  the  death  of  Mr. 
V.  Kumaravelu — the  first  Agricultural  student 
we  have  lost  by  death — who  succumbed  to  an 
attack  of  typhoid  fever  last  month.  Mr.  Ku- 
maravelu was  a very  promising  young  man  of  excel- 
lent character,  and  was  prosecuting  his  Veterinary 
studies  when  he  was  seized  with  his  fatal  illness. 
INDIAN  JOTTINGS. 
There  are  many  varieties  of  pulses  grown 
here,  and,  moreover,  Bombay  being  the  port  of 
Western  India,  large  quantities  are  brought 
over  from  the  adjoining  districts.  The  grain 
market  is  well  worth  visiting,  and  one  with  which 
nothing  we  have  in  Ceylon  can  compare.  The 
large  stores  in  the  centre  of  the  native  busi- 
ness quarters  which  are  devoted  only  to 
storing  and  selling  the  different  kinds  of  grain, 
extend  over  several  streets,  and  may  be  roughly 
estimated  at  over  half  a mile  in  length. 
Among  the  heaps  of  pulses,  dholl  forms  a 
very  important  part.  There  are  two  varieties 
of  this  seed,  one  the  orange-coloured  grain 
and  the  other  a pale  whitish  one.  The  plants 
of  both  the  varieties  are  almost  alike  in 
appearance,  and  in  the  methods  of  cultivation 
and  cropping  there  is  no  difference  whatever. 
It  proved  rather  a difficult  problem  when  dholl 
cultivation  was  started  in  Ceylon  to  find  out 
a method  to  prepare  the  seed  for  the  market, 
or  in  other  words  to  turn  it  into  parippu. 
Prom  inquiries  made  here  I find  that  it  is 
no  difficult  matter,  and  large  quantities  are 
daily  prepared  for  export  by  the  help  of 
hand  stone  mills.  Two  flat  circular  slabs  of 
Stone  are  made  to  slide  on  each  other  by  a 
handle  attached  to  the  side  of  the  top  one, 
and  kept  in  position  by  fixing  the  upper  stone 
by  means  of  a hole  made  in  its  centre,  into 
a rod  fixed  to  the  centre  of  the  lower  one. 
The  principle  of  this  is  in  fact  nothing  more 
than  the  common  kurrakkan  gala , which  is 
used  in  the  villages  to  grind  the  fine-grain 
Eleusine,  but  the  stones  used  in  preparing  dholl 
are  much  larger  iu  size,  and  the  hole  in  the 
centre  of  the  top  slab  is  also  larger. 
The  dholl  seed  is  first  cleaned  of  dirt,  &c., 
by  winnowing  and  then  dried  in  the  sun. 
When  it  is  thoroughly  dry,  it  is  poured 
between  the  stones  above  referred  to.  Finally  the 
split  seeds  undergoes  a second  winnowing  before 
being  packed. 
In  order  to  facilitate  the  process  of  grind- 
ing the  seed  is  often  first  soaked  in  water 
for  twenty-four  hours  and  then  completely 
dried. 
There  is  rather  a novel  (novel  to  us)  way 
of  preparing  certain  varieties  of  beaus  as  a 
food.  The  seeds  are  closely  planted  in  beds 
and  watered  till  they  come  up  ; in  about  three 
to  four  days  the  cotyledenous  leaves  are  seen 
above  the  ground,  when  they  are  pulled  up 
and  made  into  bundles  and  sold  in  the  vege- 
table markets.  For  some  time  I was  puzzled 
what  these  bundles  which  were  exposed  for 
gale  iu  the  markets  could  be,  and  I had  no 
way  of  satisfying  my  curiosity,  as  the  only 
information  the  sellers  could  give  me  was  that  they 
gere  « vegetable.”  However,  1 chanced  a few  days 
ago  to  see  the  beans  sprouting  in  a vegetable 
garden.  When  prepared  this  vegetable  is  of  a very 
bitter  taste,  but  the  natives  here  seem  to  relish 
it  very  much. 
Speaking  of  pulses  I chanced  to  read  that 
glowing  advertisement  of  the  Lathyrus  Sylvestris 
(the  plant  that  is  alleged  to  grow  everywhere) 
in  one  of  the  Bombay  journals,  and  a few 
days  ago  Prof.  Wagner’s  Agent  in  London 
wrote  to  the  same  journal  offering  the  seed 
to  Indian  cultivators  at  reduced  prices,  further 
announcing  his  intention  of  opening  a breed- 
ing farm  in  India  and  growing  Lathyrus  on 
a large  scale.  Perhaps  the  seed  which  was 
received  at  the  Colombo  School  of  Agriculture 
some  time  back  was  not  the  geunine  Lathyrus 
of  Wagner;  in  that  case  it  would  be  worth 
while  to  write  to  Prof.  Wagner’s  Agent  in 
London,  for  some  seeds  for  further  trial,  as 
from  his  letters  the  Professor  appears  to  be 
ready  to  give  every  facility  for  demonstrating 
the  value  of  the  plant. 
I have  more  than  once  written  you  on  the 
cultivation  of  subsiding  products  in  paddy-fields, 
and  the  more  one  sees  of  the  system  of  cultfi- 
vation  round  about  Bombay,  the  more  he  is 
convinced  of  the  necessity  of  adopting  such  a 
system  in  Ceylon.  It  is  indeed  a great  waste 
to  leave  so  many  thousands  of  acres  of  land 
unused  for  more  than  half  the  year,  and  then 
only  obtain  a scanty  crop  of  paddy  after  much 
toil  and  trouble  and  anxiety  too.  It  has  been 
stated  by  villagers,  that  the  reason  why  some 
of  them  do  not  attempt  to  grow  anything  else 
but  rice  in  their  fields  is  that  certain  regu-1 
lations  connected  with  the  now-abolished  paddy-* 
tax  stood  in  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  a 
paddy-field  into  a dry-crop  land.  This  might 
or  might  not  have  been  a very  valid  excuse, 
though  in  all  probability  it  was  often  a fact 
that  if  a villager  tried  to  plant  a coconut  or 
two  in  an  unused  strip  of  land  which  once 
formed  a field,  and  which  either  in  course  of 
time  or  by  the  work  of  a few  hours  had  been 
raised  above  the  level  of  the  surrounding  fields, 
he  became  a marked  man.  Now  the  tax  is  no 
more,  and  the  cultivator  has  no  such  plea. 
But  putting  aside  this  or  that  idle  excuse,  the 
goyiya  must  now  have  more  time  at  his  dis- 
posal to  devote  to  his  land  and  more  money 
for  improving  it.  And  this  is  just  the  time  to 
try  and  get  him  to  better  his  prospects. 
Indian  Corn  was  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
products  which  could  be  profitably  grown  in  a 
large  acreage  of  fields.  I have  now  observed 
a paddy-field  here  under  lucerne : the  crop  which 
takes  only  a few  weeks,  has  come  up  nicely, 
though  I observed  the  same  land  under  paddy 
to  produce  only  a wretched  crop. 
In  Ceylon,  fields  which  are  dry  during  more 
than  half  the  year  could  be  utilized  for  grow- 
ing Indian  Corn  and  such  other  crops,  and 
when  the  time  at  the  disposal  of  the  cultivator  is 
not  sufficient  for  a subsidiary  grain  crop  requiring 
so  much  labour,  it  could  very  well  be  put 
under  lucerne  or  a quick-growing  fodder.  In 
this  connection  it  is  worth  while  trying  to 
grow  systematically  some  of  the  numerous 
Ceylon  herbs  which  are  eaten  by  people  in 
times  of  scarcity,  or  which  when  gathered 
often  form  a part  of  the  villagers’  daily  foodj 
