August I, iSgr.] Supplemmt to the- Tvopical AgncnitiwisV 
the India Balbus and Caius of the fields. Sack a 
traveller, he says, " loses his orientation" and 
admires what he cannot understand. Orientatiori 
is a sufficiently good word for argumentative 
purposes, but Mr. Oman is quite clear as to the 
need for improvement in agricultural affairs. 
There must be more knowledge of the fundamental 
principles of agriculture. The farmers must be 
"set thinking along correct [i.e. scientific] lines,' 
and "stimulated to work out improvements for 
themselves by learning what is done elsewhere," 
besides learning the "possibilities of science in its 
application to agriculture." 
I5ut agriculture is not all. Among other subjects 
which may usefully engage the attention of the 
educated community, there are : the introduction 
and acclimatization of foreign fruit trees and use- 
ful plants; dairy farming ; bee-keeping ; sericul- 
ture ; and pisciculture. Mr. Oman has also a 
word to say on the need for accurate finish of work- 
mpnship in regard to pottery and work in metals. 
But it is time to bring this paper to a close. Surely 
in all these matters, there is a great deal that 
we in Ceylon may profitably take a note of. India 
is a vast country compared with Ceylon ; yet even 
here there is room for industrial progres.s which 
shall be, as Mr. Oman quotes : — 
" Built of furtherance, and pursuing ; 
Not of spent deeds, but of doing." 
BEL. 
AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE AMO.\G THE 
ANCIENT INDIxVNS. 
( Concluded.) 
By W. a. De Silva. 
In the course of the chapter on Gai-dening in the 
Brihat-SamMta, referred to in my previous papers 
on the above subject, the author gives certain 
prescriptions and methods to induce cultivated 
plants to assume various forms which are abnor- 
mal to them. These instructions in other Avords 
intended to bring about certain monstrosities 
in plants, such as would make them more valuable 
as food products or ornamental shrubs. To quote 
the writer : — 
"To produce fruits of a very large size which 
are devoid of seed, soak the seed of the pump- 
kin, or of the brinjal or of the snake-gourd &c. 
in the serum of the fish or hog and dry the seed. If 
the seed be then sown in good soil and watered, it 
will bear fruits of very large size and without 
seed.'' 
Again: — "Make cakes of a mixture of sugar, 
rice flour, and Mahwa (Bas-sia Lati/olia) Rower 
buds, and cover with the cakes the roots of fruit 
trees throwing earth over the parts. The fruits 
will grow without seed." 
It is a well-known fact that in most fruit trees 
fruits without seed and consisting wholly of 
pulp are met with. This end is sometimes gained 
by the process of high cultivation, when the 
edible cellular tissues iu the fruits develop to an 
abnormal extent, while at the same time the seeds 
tend to diminish iu number and size, and finally 
to disappear. From this, however, it is at least 
clear that as seedless fruits are naturally met with 
in trees, and e.specially when under high cultiva- 
tion, it is not improbable that they could be pro- 
duced by artificial means. 
Among some rules for the cultivation of, orna- 
mental plants is found one which is said to cause 
the production of many-coloured flowers in the 
wliite waterlily. "Thrust the root of the j5:M?«Kf/f< 
(white waterlily) into a solution of a variety of 
colours, soak the root of the plant in urine, rub over 
it ghee and honey, and sow the seeds that are 
produced. They will grow and bearfiowers of the 
several colours in which the root of the original 
plant WHS soaked." 
No >v I shall- proceed to give a few startling 
examples of rules we find in this ancient agricul- 
tural work. 
To make trees grow like creepers : " Mix 
together the flour of rice, black gram, and of 
sesumum seeds, with the flour of barley, dead or 
decayed flesh, and a small quantity of water. 
Soak the seed of the Tamarind in the mixture and 
expose it to the smoke of the root of the turmeric. 
The seed when sown will grow as a creeper." 
Again " Dig a pit in the ground a. cubit 
square and two cubits deep, and fill it with a 
solution containing the extract of the flesh of the 
fish. Allow the pit to dry, helping it to get rid of 
the moisture by means of fire. Roib the sides 
and bottom vith a mixture of honey, ghee and 
ashes ; fill ti:e pit with the flour of black gram, 
sesamum seed, and of barley mixed with earth ; 
pour over the pit the ' fish-water,' and pound 
the mixture well till it becomes hard. Sow any 
seed at a depth of four inches and water it with 
the ' fish- water.' The seed will grow as a fine 
creeper, with tender leaves over terraces and the 
roofs of houses in a most wonderful manner." 
"If the plaintain," weare nexttold, "be watered 
with a liquid mixture consisting of the flesh, 
and serum of man, the powdered tooth of 
the elephant and water, the tree will yield mango 
fruits." 
Tlie phenomenon of the change of taste 
in soine cultivated vegetables and fruits by the 
application of certain manures is not quite new, 
as it has been found out by experience that when 
pig's dung is used in the growth of certain vege- 
tables, it imparts apeculiar taste to them. So in all 
probability the special compost which is advo- 
cated above might give the plantains a flavour 
resembling that of the mango. But here is a 
recipe that beats all previous ones : — 
" Soak any seed many times in human flesh and 
the oil of Ankola (Alangium Hcrcqyetalim.) drj'- 
ing the seed each time. Take a quantity of earth 
in the hand, bury the seed in it, and pour water 
over it, the seed will grow that instant. ' 
Now such curious prescriptions and recipes as 
have been quoted in this paper are by no means 
peculiar to the ancient Indians. Dr. A. M. Ross 
in the course of a paper on " Medical Delusions " 
in the "Journal of Hygeio-Therapy" says, that "one 
hundred and forty years ago Dr. Sydenham of 
England, called the 'English Hippocrates,' pres- 
cribed the following dainties in which he was 
followed by the medical profession of England : 
Hop lice, viper's flesh, dried human flesh, the heart 
of a mole, crab's eye, the excrement of sheep and 
dogs, powder of burnt owls and swallows, blood 
of black cats and white puppies, and spittle of 
reigning king." — (Sydmhmn's Praris Medica pp. 
151-lo4.) 
So that if eastern pundits advised the use of 
peculiarly composed fertilizers for plants over a 
thousand years ago, western physicians have pres- 
cribed still more startling remedies for human 
beings less than two hundred yenrs ago. 
