88o 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June 2, 1884. 



80D3 we rejoice that the attention ofEuroiicana — cap- 

 italiata and working-men — has been directed to 

 paddy cultivation as a remunerative investment. 

 Cliuiatio conditions and other phjstoal causes which 

 originally rendered Ceylon a nce-produciuf; country 

 remain unchanged: population only lias shifted from 

 what once were ilourishing villages, or hai entirely 

 disappeared. Tanks innumerable abound in t>e vi- 

 cinity of these villages, which is evidence of the 

 fact that they were the means of irrigating the 

 country all round. Brtaohes, originally small, have 

 through ages of neglect become enormous, requiring 

 heavy outlay for repair. But European capital will 

 attract popuUation from over-crowded centres, and 

 European energy will effectuate the repair and re- 

 storation of tanks. Asiatics, born to be led, will 

 follow in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon, born to 

 lead, and Ceylon may once more become the gran- 

 ary of South India, instead of, as at present, de- 

 pending on India for the "staff of life." The goya 

 of the Sinhalese districts are as good hanJsat paddy 

 cultivation as are the ryots in South India or the 

 agricultural population of the north and cast of 

 Ceylon. A large proportion of this population have 

 a natural aversion to cooly work, which is often 

 mistaken for apathy or love of case. Somehow they 

 could not get over their prejudice, that it is degrading 

 to work as a cooly. But they are not above work- 

 ing in the paddy tield. It is on this account that 

 lie will be considered the real benefactor of the na- 

 tives who could resuscitate paddy cultivation. There 

 is not a native Sinhalese or Tamil, Moor, or Malay, 

 but will engage himself and interest himself in it. 

 Rico is not a luxury, but a nectssary, sort of in- 

 dispeusible necessary to the native of Ceylon, If 

 everything be dear, and only rice cheap, he will 

 get on without grumbling, but if everjtliing be cheap 

 and only rice dear, it is a real calamity. It cannot 

 be endured. 



The present depression in trade and scarcity of 

 money do not bear down so badly on the generality 

 of Ccylonese, because providentially, there is such a 

 plentitul supply of rice, as was scarcely known 

 within the last 10 years or so. With the exception 

 of a few places, local crops have kept up to the 

 average, and imports continue uninterrupted. Bur- 

 ma and India pouring out their supplies without 

 stint. But a failure— ohi; season of failure— in ludia 

 will result in famine in Ceylon : simijly because even 

 with the most plenteous outturn, local coops go 

 for nothing m the total consumption. 



At present Ceylon imports not only her food, but her 

 labour also from India, originally the coast cooly 

 was a necessity, because the Sinhalese could not lie 

 had to do cotily work ou coffee estates. But the 

 cooly did not come alone ; he brought in his train 

 the petty pawnbroker, the wily usurer, the small 

 tradesiiiau and the boutique-keeper and a large non- 

 descript class of adventurers from the South of 

 India who crowd every trade and calling and drain 

 away the resources of the country in every possi- 

 ble way, leaving nothing to the homc-Ioving, quiet- 

 going Sinhalese nothing but absolute poverty. 



It shall not be bo if paddy cultivation is resus- 

 citated. All the labour, the indigenous labour avail- 

 able in Ceylon could bo turned into profitable account 

 in paddy culture — prolitablo alike to the labourer 

 and his employer — to tho labourer because he can 

 find a market for his labour, to tho employer, be- 

 cause he can command skilled labour almost at his 

 door. The coast cooly may be good for the coliee 

 estates but commend us to the Sinhalese goya for 

 agricultural work. Not only could the Sinhalese do 

 more work and bitter work, but he does it with 

 greater tlioroughnets and in a more honest fashion. 



Then we have a superabundant population in the 



north of the island, who will crowd to any part 

 of the Island, if only for grDwiug paddy. They are 

 more rice- worshippers than Sivites. To them the 

 paddy plant is au emblem of goodness, plenty and 

 prosperity they almost adoro it. Much of earthwork in 

 tanks and paddy Belds in tho Vanui, Nuwarakala- 

 wiya and Batticaloa districts is usually done by 

 sturdy workmen from the Island of Karativu in 

 Jaffna, who in physique and in tho quantity of work 

 they could do, are as far above the coast co()ly as 

 the British navvy is above the ordinary day labourer. 

 They move in gangs of forty and fifty in each, set- 

 tle in the neighbourhood of agricultural villages, 

 work throughout the season and return to their is- 

 land homes with their earnings, thus they go ou 

 from year to year, a few stragglers only remainng 

 behind, throughout the other islands as well as in 

 the overpopulated vill.agca of Vadamaratchi and a- 

 likaman, there are hundreds of able bodiid agricul- 

 tural labourers who would flock to any place within 

 a week's notice ; and were there prospects of perman- 

 ent occupation, many would make up their minds 

 to settle in the neighbourhood, and Jaffna would 

 be relieved and the entire island benelittcd by this 

 means. 



Capital is what ia wanted to push paddy cultiv- 

 ation on in the n orth and east. In Batticaloa 

 the petty farmers or cultivatora are yearly swamped 

 by the big podies or rich land-owners. They are 

 swallowed up in scores as minnows are by the whale. 

 They cannot carry on cultivation in their small 

 fields without some sort of capital. The podi lends 

 this capital, often in the shape of paddy for what 

 is known na paddy-interest, wiiich is even more ex- 

 orbitant than usury. Year by year the poor culti- 

 vator gets more and more into the podVs debt and 

 finally his land is absorbed in the big podi'a broad 

 acres. 



The European capitalist who invests in paddy cult- 

 ivation will confer a blessing on large numbers of 

 cultivators, who nre in a state of Beini-vassalagc to 

 the moneyed few in every village. These few prey 

 upon the masses and under pretence of helping them, 

 drain them of their vitality and finally dispossess 

 them of their little all; when tho seasons are not 

 propitious, the money lenders are even more un 

 manageable than at other times ; and it is no won- 

 der that between tho two, the petty cnltiv.ators soon 

 enough terminates his agricultural speculation in a 

 hopeless collapse. NEM. CON. 



COTTON AT TEINCOMALEE. 



Trincomaleo, 25th April 1884. 



Dear Sir, — I noticed in one of your past issues a 

 correspondent writing about cotton grown in the island. 

 I send you by this day's post, in separate parcel, two 

 pods from a tree I grew. It is about 6 feet high with 

 branches "J. feet long. Tho seeds were given me by 

 a friend, liut not being particularly mentioned I did 

 not besf'iv such care, which I should otherwise. 



From II I noticed, it seems to grow very well here. — 

 Yours faithfully, J. B. COLOMB. 



[The cotton is a nice fine-stapled fibre, though not 

 over-stioug. It is probably Bourbon cotton. Cotton 

 grows well enough in Ceylon : the difficulty is that the 

 boles generally ripen in the monsoon rains to the 

 injury of the cotton. — Ed.] 



TUE TEA BUG : IIELOFELTIS ANTONII. 

 Colombo, 2nd May 1884. 



Dear Sir,— I see you have in your last night's 

 issue called attention to the existence of a possible 

 enemy to tea in Ceylon, the he.hpelth. On referring 

 to Dr. Trimen's repjit I find that he supposes that 

 the insect lias not been noticed in Ceylon until the 

 present year. This may cause alarm, it may there 



