696 
Supplement to the ^'Tropical JgncuUunst." 
drains or on rubbish heaps. The plant is much 
branched and the stems and branches are of a suc- 
culent nature. The plant is covered with suc- 
culent ovate leaves, and the under surface of the 
leaves is of a whitish colour, whilst the upper 
is green. Owing to this peculiarity, the Sinha- 
lese call it Pitasudu, or white-back. The plant 
bears small flowers with pinkish corollas. The 
leaves and the tender stalks are used as a food 
made into curries. This plant is much relished by 
cattle, and might with advantage be cultivated as 
a fodder. Native medical practitioners ascribe to 
this plant the property of helping digestion. 
Amarantaceae, 
66. Amaranthus Speciosus. L. Katutampala. 
This is a plant found growing as a weed in 
cultivated places, especially in vegetable gardens. 
It is also frequently met with in waste lands 
on fertile soils. It is a green, succulent herb, 
generally much branched, and growing to about 
two feet in height. The leaves are small and 
are of a green colour, and the stem, at the 
nodes, contains small prickles, which are very 
abundant in the tender parts. On account 
of these prickles, the plant is often known as 
the prickly Amaranthus. The leaves and the 
tender stalks are used as a vegetable for 
curries. This plant has attracted some atten- 
tion in India and el.«ewliere as a probable 
source of good fodder. Mr. J. Howard De 
Rinzy, in his evidence before the Vegetable 
Products Commission of Victoria says, that the 
Prickly Amaranthus grows freely in cultivated 
land, on waste or stony patches ; that it is highly 
lactiferous, and is given to milch cows largely, 
mostly boiled with pulses ; and that the tender 
tops are said to be a good vegetable. He has re- 
commended the plant as suitable for cultivation 
for small farmers, especially as a fodder crop 
for milch cows. 
THE CULTIVATION OP THE COCONUT PALM. 
It is of course perfectly clear that ceteris 
paribus, the richer the laud the finer the trees 
and the more generous their yield. In the East- 
ern Province, and especially in the Batticaloa 
district, the most successful estates are those 
which were established on wild-mango forest 
land with a rich comjiost of decayed leaves 
and twigs some feet deep. The wild mango is a 
tree with a soft bark which is annually renewed, 
the old bark dropping down to the ground ami 
generally supporting a growth of vari-coloured 
saprophytic fungi. Nearly every estate has its 
bad patches of land, where the water lies stag- 
nant, or the soil is sour, with useless and objec- 
tionable grasses and other weeds whicli are 
troublesome to get rid of. The marshy parts of 
an estate must of course be drained by means of 
channels cut to carry the water into a tank or 
j)ond in the lowest ground, or if practicable, into 
a river or stream. Marshy plots will at first 
show slow growth, but in after years when the 
palms are well established they se.em to flourish 
amidst their iiuiiiid Hurroundings and bear pro- 
fusely. On (Jlwiiidivelly, Carativo, and Linsogoor 
estates in IJiit ticaloa and in many other places 
I have noticed this, and the same results are 
[March i, 1892, 
seen in the case of the palms which grow on 
the seashore. I am inclined ,'to think that 
salt in moderation acts beneficially on the coco- 
nut tree, and large trees watered with salt-water 
showed apparently good results. Arially estate, 
in Jaffna, once the property of the late Mr. Price, 
was liberally and solely manured with seaweed^ 
and bore crops that delighted the proprietor's 
heart. 
It is unwise to clear a young estate of grass 
or weeds and shrubs in the hot season. Such 
growths afford shade, moisture and perhaps 
nutriment to the young plants, but in the rainy 
season weeding may be done with impunity. 
The natives follow this plan, which they have 
found by experience a good one. On newly-opened 
properties, they even go the length of "cleaning 
the ground along the rows of plants, encourag- 
ing the growth of shrubs along the middle 
line. 
It may be taken as an agricultural axiom 
that one small shower of rain does more good 
than one month's tedious watering, but when 
the plant or tree is in need of water, it should 
never be allowed to go without it at any cost. 
It is most necessary to fence new plantations 
till the trees are above the reach of depredators. 
This can be done with the forest timber, but 
it is advisable to put in at the same time seeds 
or slips which will grow into live fences which 
give little trouble except that of binding the trees 
horizontally. There are many trees suitable to 
form live fences, but in the Eastern Province 
aloes and fence-crotons are put down. Here 
as well as in Jaffna, palmyra seeds in two or 
three rows are put down at 'the same time as the 
coconuts, and will in time grow into a magni- 
ficent and impenetrable fence, as the spines on the 
leaf stalks are sufficient to keep away intru- 
ders as effectually as patent barbed wire 
fencing. Another adviv.^age which however is 
very slow in reaching the proprietor is that the 
palmyra will yield a magnificent supply of 
timber for buildings or selling. The fruits (which 
cattle aie very fond of) and other products of 
the palmyra, moreover, are not to be looked 
down on; not the least valuable ot these being 
the jaggery or coarse sugar prepared from the 
toddy. 
R. Athkrton. 
VARIETIES OF PADDY. 
The number of varieties of the paddy plant 
( Oryza Sativa) is so great in that it has baffled 
the most careful student to make anything like 
a correct list of them. Besides these, numer- 
ous varieties are known in different countries 
and even in different districts of the same 
country, by widely different names ; hence'it is 
almost impossible to make anything like a 
complete list without at first procuring sam- 
ples from all rice-growing countries. The 
largest number of varieties of paddy brought 
together at the Colombo Agri-Horticultural Ex- 
hibition was two hundred, for which a Gold 
Medal was awarded to the exhibitor, and the 
collection made in Ceylon for the Imperial 
Institute numbers about 240, 
