Magazine,  of  the  School  of  Agriculture . 
75 
I prune  twice  here,  because  I observed  that  in 
February  and  October  the  leaves  begin  to  wither 
and  the  vine  is  ready  to  put  forth  young  shoots, 
and  this,  I believe,  indicates  the  time  for  pruning.” 
If  any  other  particular  is  required  under  this 
head,  it  might  be  added  that  about  three  weeks 
before  other  fruit  trees  are  usually  in  full  blossom 
will,  as  a rule,  be  the  proper  time  for  pruning ; and 
this  is  considered  to  be  a safe  guide  in  all  districts. 
E.  T.  Hoole. 
INDIAN  JOTTINGS. 
I have  lately  seen  a farinaceous  seed  sold  in 
the  bazaars  here  called  “ Sliengoda.”  The  seeds 
are  round  and  a little  larger  in  size  than  an 
ordinary  gallnut,  and  are  invested  with  a hard 
covering  of  a dirty  black  colour;  when  the 
covering  is  removed  the  whole  mass  inside  is  a 
hard  lump  of  starch  which,  when  boiled,  tastes 
well  and  much  like  a yam.  Its  scientific  name, 
so  far  as  I have  succeeded  in  discovering  it,  is 
Trapa  bispinosci  If  this  is  so,  it  must  be 
pretty  common  in  Ceylon.  For  Dr.  Trimen’s  list 
gives  Trapa  bispinosci  as  the  Sinhalese  ‘ Ikilya.’ 
It  grows  commonly  in  marshy  places,  and  the 
roots  are  used  medicinally  in  Ceylon,  though  I 
am  not  aware  that  the  seed  is  made  use  of  at 
all.  But  as  it  appears  to  be  considered  tolerably 
good  food-product  here,  it  would  be  advisable  to 
encourage  its  collection  for  use  in  Ceylon. 
I had  recently  occasion  to  notice  a method 
of  husking  paddy  which  is  very  speedy  and  at 
the  same  time  done  with  very  little  waste.  The 
methods  now  in  vogue  in  the  villages  of  Ceylon 
are  rather  tedious,  viz.,  that  of  pounding  in  a 
mortar  or  on  a mud  floor.  Not  only  do  such 
methods  necessitate  a loss  of  time,  but  there 
is  much  waste  in  the  form  of  broken  grains, 
while  the  quantity  of  dirt  and  stones  which 
get  in,  is  such  that  the  grain  requires  careful 
winnowing  before  use.  The  method  1 have 
referred  to  consists  in  grinding  the  grain  by 
means  of  an  ordinary  stone  hand  grinder,  which 
I had  occasion  to  describe  in  my  last,  in  con- 
nection with  the  preparation  of  dhall  seed.  The 
paddy  is  thrown  in  the  middle  through  the  hole 
of  the  upper  slab  with  one  hand,  while  the 
other  is  used  in  giving  the  slab  a rotatory 
motion.  The  first  thought  which  struck  me  was 
that  a large  quantity  of  grain  would  be  crushed 
in  the  process,  but  I could  not  find  a single 
crushed  grain  in  one  or  two  handfuls  which 
I examined.  The  husks  separates  quickly,  and 
the  quantity  which  one  woman  cleans  in  a given 
time  may  be  roughly  said  to  be  about  five  or 
six  times  that  obtained  by  crushing  in  a mortar. 
It  is  very  desirable  that  some  attempt  to  bring 
about  simple  improvements  to  save  labour 
on  the  part  of  the  goyiyas  in  preparing  their 
staple  food  should  be  made  in  Ceylon. 
If  improvements  are  gradually  introduced 
which  do  not  entail  much  expense,  the  cultivators 
would  no  doubt  adapt  them  gladly. 
Husking  the  grain  by  means  of  a grindstone 
is  only  an  example  of  a possible  improvement. 
Another  improvement  which  is  greatly  needed 
is  the  simplification  of  the  thrashing  process. 
The  number  of  weary  nights  and  days  passed 
by  the  goyiya  and  the  patience  exhibited  by  him 
in  getting  a few  stacks  of  corn  thrashed  (which 
could  probably  yield  not  more  than  a score  of 
bushels  of  paddy)  is  worthy  of  notice.  Perhaps 
the  technical  knowledge  which  would  be  brought 
before  the  youths  of  Ceylon  by  the  new  technical 
scheme  would  help  in  devising  some  in- 
expensive hand  machine  to  do  the  work  at  less 
cost  of  time  and  labour.  Let  us  hope  the 
goyiyas'  claim  would  not  altogether  be  overlooked. 
The  hand-thrashing  machine  which  you  once 
referred  to  as  being  in  use  in  Italy,  and  an  account 
of  which  you  gave  in  the  pages  of  the  Magazine, 
should  have  had  a trial  in  Ceylon.  Japan  is  a 
large  rice-growing  country,  but  curiously  enough 
possesses  very  few  cattle ; and  the  cultivators  are 
said  to  be  as  conservative  as  those  in  Ceylon. 
But  the  Japanese  seem  to  have  a very  simple 
instrument  that  does  thrashing  work  with  com- 
paratively little  labour  and  waste  of  time.  The 
appliance  is  described  as  an  iron-spiked  comb  of 
about  a yard  in  length,  with  teeth  set  close  together 
so  as  to  just  admit  the  passage  of  a rice  stalk. 
These  combs  are  fixed  on  a raised  stand,  and 
the  workmen  separate  the  grain  from  the  straw 
by  drawing  handfulls  of  the  reaped  corn  through 
the  teeth  by  a dextrous  stroke  of  the  hand. 
Unseasonable  rain  and  consequent  floods  are 
often  a source  of  danger  to  growing  paddy  crops, 
and  in  some  districts  of  the  island  large  areas 
of  paddy  land  are  not  cultivated  if  the  season 
is  at  all  likely  to  be  rainy  for  fear  of  the  crop 
being  lost.  I have  been  informed  that  there  is 
a variety  of  rice  grown  in  Bengal  in  the  Ganges 
valley  well  adapted  for  cultivation  in  such  lands. 
These  plants  are  said  to  grow  up  from  eight  to 
twelve  feet  in  height,  and  hence  the  floods  which 
come  a few  weeks  after  sowing,  or  when  the 
crop  is  ripe  do  not  affect  the  plants,  as  they 
’are  usually  above  the  water  level.  Sir  William 
Hunter  also  mentions  this  variety  of  rice  in  his 
recent  work  on  the  Indian  Empire,  and  there 
cannot  be  any  doubt  about  its  existence.  It 
would  be  advisable  to  procure  some  seed  paddy 
for  experiment  in  Ceylon,  if  possible,  through  the 
Agricultural  Department  of  Bengal. 
TEAPA. 
The  Trapa  mentioned  by  our  correspondent 
“ W.  A.  D.  S.”  belongs  to  the  small  aquatic  order 
Haloragege.  T.  bispinosa  and  T.  bicornis,  known  as 
“ wateT-chesnuts  ” are  important  food  plants  in 
Thibet,  N.-W.  India  and  China.  Hooker  mentions 
that  T.  natans,  which  he  also  calls  the  water-ches- 
nut  or  caltrop  inhabits  stagnant  water  in  Central 
and  Southern  Europe,  and  that  its  seeds  afford 
a farinaceous  food  as  do  those  of  the  two  above- 
mentioned  species.  T.  bicornis  is  known  among 
the  natives  of  China  as  ling  or  ki-chi.  Trimen 
gives  the  Sinhalese  name  of  Trapa  bispinosa  as 
Ikiliya,  and  Tliwaites  mentions  that  it  is  found 
in  tanks  in  the  hotter  parts  of  the  island.  The 
small  order  Haloragese  is  sometimes  included  in 
Onagracese,  to  which  the  well-known  Fuchsia  of 
our  gardens  belongs.  T.  bicornis  is  also  known 
as  the  “ singhara  nuts,”  and  is  now  being 
cultivated  experimentally  in  N.  S.  Wales.  The 
Indian  Agriculturist  referring  to  “ singhara  ” 
says  : — “The  plant  furnishing  this  important  article 
of  food  appears  to  have  been  extirpated  from 
the  tanks  of  Southern  India,  but  it  has  been 
preserved  in  the  Mahratta  country  and  the 
Nizam’s  Dominions,  though  we  have  Rot  heard 
of  it  occurring  in  the  Nerbudda  Valley  to  any 
