572 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist.'*' 
[Feb. 1, 1904. 
yards to about half an acre in extent in good deep 
loamy soils. The land is well dug and prepared 
into narrow beds, and small tubers or plants 
are placed in rows about a foot apart. The 
plants come up without much trouble. The beds 
are weeded and a little earth is thrown round 
the roots of the plants. Maranta yields fairly 
large crops, and in favourable situations about 
ten cwt. per acre are dug up. The tubers when 
well grown are from an inch to two inches in 
diameter, and are six to twelve inches in length, 
tapering at the ends and covered with a thin 
leathery scale. The tubers find a readj' sale 
and are eaten boiled ; a pound sells from one to 
four cents. The tubers when pounded and 
treated with water and washed several times 
give an abundance of white starch. The pre- 
paration of this starch is well understood in 
Ceylon, and as the crops are small, nothing more 
than the ordinary wooden pestle and mortar has 
been used in its preparation. The plant is of 
great economic value and is capable of profitable 
growth in a fairly large scale, as the tubers not 
required for immediate local consumption can be 
easily converted into starch. 
The root which is very largely cultivated, and 
which in many places take the place of rice as 
a village food is the Sing. Batala, Ipomea batatas. 
It is extensively grown all throughout the 
Island, and its cultivation is well understood. 
There are many varieties of batala all more or 
less introduced to the Island at different times. 
I have been able to trace the following varieties 
grown in different places, and there ought to be 
many more cultivated in other parts of the 
Island. 
The common Batala ; The Maduwel Batala with 
long small leaves and small white tubers ; Diya Ba- 
tala grown in moistlands with small white tubers ; 
Kahambilya Batala with coarse hairy leaves and 
white tubers ; Cochin or Cochi Batala with small 
rounded white tubers ; Kiribadu Batala with large 
irregularly formed white tubers without much 
flavour ; Ratuogara Batala with tubers with a red 
coloured outer covering and reddish stems and 
leafstalks; Lewandau Batala with small tubers 
with a blood-red covering ; Kak Batala, fair sized 
tubers of a deep purple colour when cut open ; 
three kinds of well-formed compact tubers known 
as Mauritius varieties, white tubers, red tubers 
and creamy coloured tubers ; and Rata Batala a 
recently introduced variety with fine large tubers 
of a creamy colour, very starchj', and a alight 
sweetish taste undoubtedly a genuine "sweet 
potato." Though the Batalas are largely grown 
in Ceylon, no cultivator ever attempts to im- 
prove a good particular variety by selection or 
cultivation. A prolific hardy variety of a good 
quality can easily be propagated if sufficient 
attention is paid to the matter, and such an 
experiment is well worth a trial.* 
* The Superintendent of School Gardens" has estab- 
lished three introduced American varieties in the 
Government Stock Garden, and is distributing them 
throngh the School Gardens.— Ed. A. M, 
Batala is largely grown along with other crops 
in new clearings, as well as in garden lands, 
in new clearings the cultivation is not attended 
witli much trouble, and the yield is always a very 
good one, averaging about fifteen hundredweights 
per acre, whereas under garden cultivation it 
yields about ten cwts. on an average. The plant 
is propngated from cuttings ; strong cuttings 
from one and a half to two feet in length are 
made. 
In cliei'.as shallow holes are dug about two feet 
apart, and two cuttings are placed in each hole ; 
in garden lands narrow beds about three feet 
in brendtli and nine feet long are made, well 
drained, and the earth heaped up about one and a 
half feet above the level of the land, and cuttings 
laid down about a foot apart. The plants come up 
fast and creep along the surface of the beds, cover- 
ing them with a thick layer of foliage. The 
tubers are dug up four months after planting. 
W. A. D. S. 
(To be continued.) 
* 
RAINFALL TAKEN AT THE GOVERNMENT 
STOCK GARDEN FOR JANUARY, 1904. 
1 
Friday 
. Nil 
17 
Sunday 
. Nil 
2 
Saturday .. 
. -10 
18 
Monday 
. Nil 
3 
Sunday 
. Nil 
19 
Tuesday 
. -36 
4 
Monday 
. Nil 
20 
Wednesday .. 
. 1-40 
5 
Tuesday 
. Nil 
21 
Thursday 
. Nil 
6 
Wednesday.. 
. Nil 
22 
Friday 
. -04 
7 
Thursday .. 
. Nil 
23 
Saturday 
. -21 
8 
Friday 
. Nil 
24 
Sunday 
. Nil 
9 
Saturday .. 
. -05 
25 
Monday 
. Nil 
10 
Sunday 
. -31 
26 
Tuesday 
. -08 
11 
Monday 
. 2-10 
27 
Wednesday .. 
. -08 
12 
Tuesday 
. Nil 
28 
Thursday 
. -12 
13 
Wednesday .. 
. Nil 
29 
Friday 
. -02 
14 
Thursday .. 
. 1-10 
30 
Saturday 
. Nil 
15 
Friday 
. -le 
31 
Sunday 
. -02 
16 
Satui'day .. 
. Nil 
I 
Monday 
. Nil 
Total in,. ..6-95 
Mean in.... "23 
Greatest amount of rainfall in any 24 hours 
from 10th to 11th = 210 inches. 
No. of days in which rain fell — 15 days. 
Alex. Pebera. 
» 
PLANT PESTS AND REMEDIES. 
Amateur gardeners as well as professionals, who 
concern themselves about the well-being of their 
plants, have continuously to contend with two 
classes of pests which injure their crops. The first 
of these is noxious insects ; the second, parasitic 
fungi. 
Insects vary greatly in their shape, size, and 
colour, but on broad lines they all possess three 
pairs of legs attached to a body divided into three 
definite portions — a head, a thorax, and an 
abdomen. 
