THE TROPJCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[February i, 1892. 
596 
The following, besides many others, are names 
applied to rice, in its different stages of growth 
and preparation : paddee, original nmno of the seed : 
oamaii, grain of last season ; huiiiiee, the rioo planta 
before transplantation ; hran, or lo'O)/, rice stripped of 
its husk ; chan-uup, rice cleaned tor boiling ; viuser, 
lioiled rice, A'c. 
It any reader can give na a reference to paddy 
by any writer on Ceylon earlier than those we have 
referred to we shall be obliged. 
- * 
THE FISH Ll'lAF. 
A« no one has answered my questions; (1) the 
meaning and derivation of this name. (2) tho cause, 
or nature, of this “abortive leaf," I will say what 
I think about it myielf. Standiug before a recently 
pruned treo the other day it occurred to me for tho 
lirst time to give myeelf a scientific lesson in tho 
growth of tbe flush, and, oonseqnantly, in “pluck- 
ing.'’ This proved to be as simple as it was iuterosting, 
and, in an instant, to make the whole art of “ pluck- 
ing’’ as clear as till then it bad been obscure, and 
followed only by rule of thumb. But, as in many 
other thinga, this useful rule is often a very sale one, 
as witness ibe absolutely perfect practice carried on 
by most Ceylon planters. 
First, then, what is tho “fish-loaf ’’i’ Anyone who 
will take the trouble to examine a new “ abuot ’’ — 
whether upon a newly.pruncd branoh.orfrom the lluth- 
ing wood of a tree ready for the knife — it will be aeon that, 
the bud itself being too tender to piorce tho bark 
or skin of its parent otem, nature has provided a 
stronger and coarser gimlet for this purpose. This 
gimlet is, in fact, a hollow case composed of two 
sides, and when onoa through resolves itself in a 
smooth orifice, or matrix for the passage of tbe new 
shoot. Once bora into the light, the shoot or flush, 
g owB witbont farther aid, each bad in turn deve- 
loping itself into a true leaf. In the case of the ten 
plant this case, or mslrix, or vagius, does not wither 
and fall off. but atiaobes itself to the root of tho 
new shoot, whiob carries its birtbraae with it, and thus 
forms two abortivo leaves, One (the smallest side 
not always developed) simply onris round near the 
root of the shoot like a tiny whitish flu, whilu tbe 
other side of the case (the true Kill leaf) is carried 
further up the shoot and assumes more tho appear- 
anoe of a true leaf. I need not raoraliv.e on what 
this teaobos in regard to plncklng, ns that is self-evi- 
dent. To duly nourish a new shvot thus formed, either 
a full flew of sap is neoesaary, as in tho case of new 
growth from bare old wood, or a matured leaf on 
gtotuer wood, to feed the new shoot growing under 
its proitiction. 
Now HH to the firAt question, viz., tho numo '‘fish 
All ploutora know that thii is called by the coolies 
Toppil Kiel," but not many know that beini; traus* 
Utfif this meauB tho “Navel** leaf, the navel'* of 
eaob new shoot. Now this naroo in its absolute 
correotn«'BH is highly scientific, so much ao as to bo 
amazing, nod 1 for one should very much like to know 
whence it came. Wo are apt to look np<in our humblo 
workers aa tbe opposite of obtorvaut and soieutifio, and 
yot here is o name in common uko amoii),;at tium more 
soiculiflo than anything we have invented for tho name 
purpose. Not that Kamassmy and Minatohy ever think 
of its real signifio^tion unless their attention is called 
to it, so far oven as the more n^me is concerned, and 
of course all are ignorant alike of the facts ab-ivc 
given. Still there is this proper and oufious name in 
every»day use, and wbat I ask is, whence came ii? 
And now 1 come to its designation by the 
European planters, viz. “fish-leaf”! Why “ figh- 
leaf” ? This seems a poser, aud though I nni 
going to give a good guess (so fur a-^ Tninil ia con- 
cerned), 1 do not overlook two important consideration'^; 
first, that a closi r ncquaintance with tho science of 
botany than I poiisess may furnish an answ- r to this 
question, aud sicoud, that— if the name originated iu 
Asiim^Tamil could have had nothing to do with it, 
ihouj^h it may bO; for all that 1 know to the contrary, 
that the ooiucidoQoe gf language may evoo thoD ao* 
count for it. Well, tlien, I do not think it is called 
the “ fish-leaf,” because it bears much resemblance to 
a fish — though the smaller half of it does look finnish. 
We have already seen that Tamil is not to be deepisod 
as an ftutborily, aud, if tbe term had originated here, 
I should say “lUh-lcaf” woa nothing but a corrupt 
Knuliah rendering of Miiu elfii, or first, fore, front, pro- 
ceediog, advance leaf. Either of these words will 
render Mun (going before) in English, and also cor- 
rectly describe tbe growth and position of the ‘'fi«b-leaf.” 
But, query, how do we get “ fish *’ out of “ mlln” ? 
Answer, by the oorruntiou I have already hinted at 
— “ muo,” with a fi sound, is bv Europeans nearly always 
called min, and whereas MiiN ’* meana first, or before, 
“mix” means fi-ih ! li. W. J. 
(Note by KKb'^ly Fubdo.— The above learned dis- 
course on the “ Fish-leAf *' is full of most interesting 
and enjoyablo reading, aud will no doubt lead us all 
to study with greater pleasure and profit the life- 
history of our flush. But I must take exception to 
the derivation of the Tamil name “ miu elel ” from 
mtin, before : for the i of min ie long (sa the very 
name Minadchi,jffsyw//fd, quoted by tt. W. J,, proves), 
though derived from a root min, to shine, from 
which come puchchi, a glow-worm, and 
m’nnalf lightning. Tbe Tamile call stare wmi, the 
sky fish, aud when tho ^ky is spangled with them 
they say tbe stars min nuhirathu. nro in shoahl Th>it 
thegermdeaf is like a fiiU both in shapo and colour 1 
never heard anyone before deny t but it should aeldom, 
if ever, be allowed to come to the .scales. Thoppul 
elei, navel leaf, is certainly extraordinarily scientific, 
and it would be worth while finding out what tbe 
North Indian labourers call it.] 
Some interoating atatifttics of agi'icnlturohavo recently 
been published, from wliicli it appears that the largest 
natural hivo in the world is the nuunmoth cave oi 
Kentucky, which has l>oeu taken possession of by 
myriads of heos. The great hee-mastcr is Mr. Ilarbison, 
of California, who owns <>,000 hives. In Greece there 
are HO.lXM) hives, in Denmark 00,000, in Kussia 110,(K)0, 
in Belgium 200,000, in Holland 2'1 o.(k) 0, in Franco 
OuO.OCX), in Germany l,'ir>0,()00, in Austria 1 .550, IKK), 
and in the United States 2,H(K),(K)0 hives. U is cal- 
culated that a bee sucks 218,750 flowers for every ounce 
of honey. — (t/obe. 
The Deliveihes of Ceylon Tea in London 
for 11 months ended November wore, in 1889 
28, '148 000 lb.; in 1890 34,880,000 lb., an inoroflae of 
0,337,000 lb. J in 1891 49,862,000 lb., an exopGS over 
the previous year of no less than 1 1.482,000 lb. This 
was, no doubt, largely the result of low prices ; but 
tbe priors of Indian wore algo low without leading 
to u proportionate iooreaee, while in China there 
has been a large dooroaRe. With due oare in prepa* 
ration, there seems no fear that Or-ylon will preserve 
its loading position in the markels. The deliveries 
of our teas for 1891 in i ondon must have been 
about 53^ millions of lb ; and counting exports to 
Australia and other plaoes direct tho world’s oon- 
sumption of Ceylon tea must have been 57 mil- 
lions of lb. 
Thk Hick Cbop in Bubma — T he report received 
from the local administration on tbe prospects of the 
crop ou 3lNt December is as follows The area 
under paddy ouliivalion in the ten ebief rice-producing 
dintrictH of Lower Bnrma is now estimated at 4,107,502 
aorop, or 191,871 norts more tbau the actuala of last 
year and 34,222 acres less than tbe area reporte-l laxt 
month. The areiiB repor!ed from Akjab and Shwopyiu 
are unchanvod, whilo ihero era' ll decroMCB iu Ilaii- 
tliawaddy, Tharawaddy, Tromc, Bapsciii, Honzada, and 
Amherat. Pegu reporLs a further decrease of 10,453 
acre-i due to dci-truc ioo by floods. The crop eati- 
mates are tho same as last month excepted in the case 
of Ttisrrawaddy whore a sixteen-anna crop is now 
expected. It is estimated that th re will be avaiUb!o 
for export 1,215,500 tons of cargo rice, equivalent 
to 20,601,090 cwt. of cleaned rice, iucludiug what is 
required for Upper Burma.*' 
