'JL'!!EJ bU 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a SiifpUment Monthly to the " TBOPICAL AGBICULTUniST." 
The 
January : — 
following pages include Ihc Contents of the Agricultural Magazine for 
Vol. XV.] 
JANUARY, 1904. 
[No. 7. 
X904. 
|E tnke the opportuuity, in presenting 
our readers with the January 
number of the Agricultural Maga- 
zine, to wish them one and all 
May the next twelve months be for the Agri- 
culturist a time of prosperity and plenty. With 
the New Year has also come a new GoTernor, 
whom we would respectfully welcome as our ruler. 
II. E. Sir Henry Blake has already stated that " in 
everything connected with the agricultural in- 
terests of the island they would have his most 
hearty sympathy," and we thank His Excellency 
or this promise. 
THE EDIBLE "EOOT-CROPS" OP CEYLON. 
There are a great many plants growing in the 
Island that yield edible tubers. A number of these 
are uncultivated and are met with in waste places 
and in jungles, others are regularly grown in the 
■villages, and form an important addition to 
the food supply of the country. Some edible 
yams take the place of rice, and form 
the sole food of a family for days together in 
the remote villages. 
Much can be done to improve the crops 
already cultivated, while such as are found grow- 
ing wild have yet to be brought under cultivation. 
There is also room for introducing many new 
varieties which are successfully grown in other 
tropical countries. The word j'am is generally 
employed in reference to plants belonging to the 
order Dioscoreae, but the Sinhalese lernj ala 
is a more comprehensive one, and includes all 
kinds of tubers. 
The edible "root-crops " found in Ceylon can be 
classified in different ways. There are roots that 
are used rather as a condiment than as an article 
of food ; some again are used as a medicinal diet ; 
others are used only iu the form of curries taken 
along with rice, and a few are employed as a main 
article of diet. All these can be classified under 
two heads, those that are naturally palatable, and 
those that have to undergo treatment for the 
removal of certain n'ndesirable qualities. All root 
crops again come under the two divisions of culti- 
vated and uncultivated plants. Speaking of culti. 
vated and uncultivated root crops, one is struck 
with the number of uncultivated ones that are 
edible in one form or another, and that are only 
slightly removed from the more or less poisonous 
varieties. The following list* gives a number of 
edible plants (arranged under their different orders) 
that produce tubers, viz. : — 
I. Nymphaeaceae : — 
Nympliaea lotus, Sing. Olu. 
Nymphaea stellata. Sing. Manel. 
Nelumbium speciosum^ Sing. Nelun, '' 
II. Cruciferae: — 
Itaphanus sativus. Sing. Eabu. 
III. Labiateae : — 
Plectranthus tubero'sus. Sing, Innaln. 
• The list will probably have to be added to in 
tne course of this pnper. 
