iflippUment io the ^'Tropical AgyiciiHunst," 
[March i, 1892. 
696 
drains or on nibbisli iieaps. 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 surfiico of the 
leaves is of a whitish colour, whilst the upper 
is green. Owing to this peculiarity, the Sinha- 
lese call it I’itasudu, or white-back. Tlie plant 
boars 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 bo cultivated a.s 
a fodder. Native medical jiractitioners ascribe to 
this plant the property of helping digestion. 
A marantaceae. 
fid. Amnrant/itin Sfiecioitu/t. Katutampala. 
This is a plant fouu<l growing us a wee<l 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 aia; very 
abundant in the tender parts. On account 
of these prickles, the plant is often known as 
the prickly Amaranth us, The leaves and the 
tender stalks are used as a vegetable for 
curries. This plant has attracted some atten- 
tion in India and elsewhere as a i)robablo 
source of good fodder. Mr. .1. Howard Do 
lUnzy, in his evidence before the Vegetable 
Products Commission of Victoria says, that the 
Prickly Amarauthus grows freely in cultivated 
laud, on waste or atony patches ; that it is highly 
lactiferous, and is given to milch cows largidy, 
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, esiieciully us a fodder crop 
for milch cows. 
• 
THE CUhTlVATlON OF THE COCONUT PAL.M. 
It is of course perfectly clear that ceterm 
nnr»6«s, the richer the land the liner the trees 
"and the more generous their yield. In the East- 
ern Province, and especially in the ISatticaloa 
district, the most, succes-sful estates ari! those 
which were establisheil on wild-mango forest 
land with a rich compost of decayed leaves 
and twigs some feet deep. The wild mango is a 
tree with a soft baik which is annually renewoil, 
the old bark dropping dow'ii to the ground and 
generally supporting a growth of vari-coloured 
saprophytic fungi. Nearly every estate baa its 
bad patches of land, where the water lies stag- 
nant, or the soil is sour, with useless and objec- 
tionable grasses and other W'ced.s which 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 
pond in the lowest ground, or if practicabh', into 
a river or strearh. Marshy plots will at first 
show slow growth, but in after years wlieui I bt! 
palms are well established they seem to llourish 
amidst their humid surroundings and liear ju'o- 
fusely. On Chundivelly, Carativo, and linsogoor 
estates in ISatticaloa and in many other places 
I have noticed this, and the same results are 
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 .latt'na, 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 youwg 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- 0 ])ened 
properties, they even go the length of cleaning 
the ground along the rows of plants, encourag- 
ing tile growth of shrubs along the middle 
line. 
It may be taken ns an agricultural axiom 
that one small shower of rain does more good 
than one month's tedious watering, but when 
the jdant or tree is in need of water, it should 
never he allowed to go without it at any cost. ■ 
It is moat necessary to fence new jilantations 
till the trees are above the reach of de])redatora. 
This can be done with the forest timber, but 
it is advisable to put in at the same time seeds 
or slijis which will grow into live fences which 
give little trouble except that of Iiinding the trees 
liori /.on tally. There are many frees suitable to 
form live fences, but in the Eastern Province 
aloes and fence-crotons are put down. Here 
as well as in .lalfna, palmyra seials 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 sullicient to keep away intru- 
ders us effectually as patent barb'ed wire 
fencing. Another advantage which however is 
vary slow in reaching the iiroprietor is that the 
palmyra will yield a magnificent supply of 
timber for buildings or selling. The fridts (which 
cattle ate very fond ofj and other products of 
the ])nlmyrn, moreover, are not to be looked 
down on ; not the least valuable ol these being 
"'f* or coarse sugar preiiared from the 
toddy. 
R. Ai'insiiTON. 
VARIETIES OE PADDY, 
The numbttr of varieties of the paddy plant 
( On/za t-intiva) is so great in that it has baffleil 
the most careful student to make anything like 
a correct list of them. Resides these, numer- 
ons varieties ilch known in different countries 
and even in diffennit di.stricts of (he .same 
country, by widely different names; hence it is 
almost impos.sible to make anything like a 
com])lete list without at first I'lrociiring sam- 
ples from all rice-growing countries. The 
largest number of varieties of paddy brought 
together at the Cidombo Agri-Horticu'ltural E.v- 
hibition was two hundred, for which a Oold 
Medal was awarded to the exhibitor, and the 
collection made in Ueylon for the Imperial 
Inslitute numbers about IMG. 
