J4N. 2, 1899.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
453 
the sun to act upon it for one full day. On 
the rliiid daj, having p)<)pi)ed or stayed the 
flower to prevent it fr^,m falling down, they 
make in the part of tiiC stalk near the stem 
of the tree a cavity into which they intioduce 
a mixture which they call the medicine," con- 
sisting of garlic, chillies, mustard and other 
stnfl' pounded up together; then they bind the 
flower-spikes, usually witli split cane, about as 
far as the end of the central stalk, and cut 
off the rest of the flower. J^ext day this flower 
is cut again.once, and the day after, twice, morning 
and evening, a pot being hang to it in the evening. 
The process varies some'\vliat with dilferent oper- 
ators, some of tliem thinking it better to leave on 
the bracts of the flower-stalk, and to do the 
medicining one day instead of two days after 
exposing it to the sunshine ; some washing the 
flower-spikes with Kafir lime juice, others with 
a decoction of diied gamboge fruit, others onnt- 
ting the acid lustration, and so forth. That is 
tlie ordinary way, and there are three other 
ways of which I have bepii informed, but have 
not seen ]>racti;cd. >\ot much tari is obtained 
at flrst and it is usually insipid and fit only 
to be thrown away ; bub in a few days it in- 
creases in (juantity ami improves in quality. 
The jnggery people commonly pretend that 
the composition of their so-called medicine is a 
valuable secret; but the ingredients of it vary 
niucii with ditterent men. I make use of no 
mixture at all and do not believe in it, and I 
have been informed that none is used in Kak- 
wana, where kitul trees are planted and culti- 
vated as coconut palms and in the maritime 
districts and where the management of the former 
is (heiefore presumably better undeistood than 
in parts of the island. When the "medicine" 
is used, it is necessary to make the cavity for 
its reception far down the flower -stalk, because 
near tlie tree it is tough and fibrous and will 
not break in two at that i)art ; whereas it is 
very brittle near the spadix, and might break 
oft' liy the mere weight of the flower it the 
cavity were made far from the stem of the 
tree. In order to get at base of the stalk for 
this purpose, it is usually necessary to cut away 
part of the sheathing leaf-stalks, nnri as this 
weakens the leaf-stalks, they not unfrequently 
break in high wind, so that the leaves to which 
they belong hang tlown against the stem of the 
tree; and this, together with the lopping away 
of tlie higher leaves, causes the tree to present 
a very dilajiidated appearance, looking as if it 
had been used a« a target for artillery practice 
with chain shot. The jaggery uecple deny that 
cutting ofl the leaves above a tlower does any 
harm to the tree, and say that, as the tiee flowers 
from the top downwards, the leaves above a 
Ufiwer are of no further use to the tree, hav- 
ing aJready served their natural purpose ; but 
I have observed that kitul trees which have 
been partially mutilated' of their leaves flower 
at intervals varying from a year and a half to three 
years, whereas those which have all their leaves 
intact [lower tv^o or three limes in one yeai-, 
from which it is obvious that cutting off part 
of the leaves docx impair the vitality of the tree. 
It is, however, the injury which the jaggery 
people do to the tree by depriving it of part 
of its leii\ cs that is the real scen t of their suc- 
cess, ahhdugh they do not know this. They 
ascribe their success jiartly to the exposure of 
(ho tender flower-spikes to the sunshine, and 
partly to the stull' wliicii they introduce into 
the flower-stalk; but the truth is that neither 
the diiect surJight nor their so-called medicine 
Has any eft-ct at all in promoting the flow of 
saccharine sap. By cutting ofl' the leaver thev 
impKir the vitality of the tree, liiereby prevent 
ing the flower fiom goinp to .seed .^o scon as 
It naturally would, and that is the whole secref 
of the matter. I shall not venture on anv 
directions as to the best mode of pruning the 
tree, as that is a question which must be settled 
by experience. Jf the tree be insnflicientl v 
pruned, it will, by reason of the flower too 
quickly lunning to seed, produce Jess tari than 
it woald be possible to obtain from if but if 
the pruning be done to excess, the intervals be 
tweeii the successive appearance of the flowers 
will be too much prolonged ; and this is another 
matter for the investigation of the proposed 
Agricultural Department. ^ 
I will now endeavour to explain what I believe 
to be the philosophy of the subject, promisinf 
ho\yever, (hat the explanation is only a theorv 
and that it is to be taken for no more than 
a mere theory is worth. When I was at 
school, about forty years ago, I learned that in 
the growth of trees-exogenous ones of course- 
sugar IS first formed in the sap near the roo^ 
of the tree; that the sap, containing suc^ar in 
solution, ascends by way of tlie cambium lo th« 
eaves, where the sugar is by the action of solar 
light converted into starch ; and that the «an 
now containing starch instead of sugar in sol , 
tioD, then returns from the leaves, by wav of 
the pith and medullary rays, to the branches 
and stem, when the starch undergoes a furtl Pr 
conversion into lignin or woody fibre Thi« T 
believe, was then the generally accepted theorv 
and it accounted in an apparently .satisfacto?^ 
manner for the flow in the spring season nf 
.^acchanne sap from the sugar maple trees of 
North America ; but it is now exploded 'and 
the common opinion of botanists of the m'e^Zl 
day IS that sugar in plants and trees is alwav. 
formed from starch (or its chemical equival,.nM 
and not starch from sugar, although tlie mann«; 
in which the change is eftected is not 3^ 
undeistood. Starch is artificially converted in/ 
sugar in the manufacture of gluco.se-an indnst,^ 
of some importance in Germary and the Unit J 
States- and of the natural conversion of <,t»rlh 
into sugar there are familiar examples in [i.e 
malting of barley and the ripening of bananal 
A process analogous to the ripening of banTn«; 
takes place i,i the kitul palm! except that ^h' 
•starch,, after conversion into sugar, underooes a 
further conversion into lignin or woody'fibV 
While the tree is in the growine sta&e n if 
of starch, in the form of'sago floiTr 
mulated in the stem ; and when the tree flowe,"' 
part of the starch passes into the flower-bud 
where it is, about the time of the br.rstinrof 
the spathes, converted into sugar, which would 
in the course ot nature, soon be in turn 
verted into woody fibre; but the chief art 5li 
p:ilm sugar making is to stop this last chiLp 
and keep the flower as long as possible from 
passing from the saccharine into the w ondv 
s age. Peihaps tins may not be the true o/ 
planation of the matter, but tor practical nnr' 
poses It IS a good working hy|iofhesis 
In this connection a feV "remarks ' on n»TP 
SUGAR may not be out of place, althou-h 
sugar i.s not a product of this islnmi " if 
has been previonslv suugested. t|,e tari nf' t\,l 
dale IS ol ta-.ned from the «'.^^tr-bud acd root 
