434 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December r, 1833. 



ploughs and take the bread out of the mouths of 

 the poor cultivators ! " 



Mr. Green has, however, proposed to the Govern- 

 ment Ageut of Kuruuegala, a ploughing match between 

 one of the new phiughs and any native ploughs 

 tliat may cuter the lists at the next Kuruuegala Fair, 

 thinking correctly, that it will be a good plan for 

 showing them to the people. 



We hope the new plouglis will be successful, and, 

 by enabling the cultivators to double tlie produce of 

 their lands, show them that not ruin but profit follows 

 the introduction and use of improved manufacturing 

 and locomotive machinery and agi-icultural implements. 

 If the ploughs are a ^reat success, tlicy will give 

 iucreased employment to plouglimen. because, not only 

 will existing cultivated lands be ploughed more fre- 

 quently and more deeply, but large tracts of fresh 

 land will be brought into cultivation. 



Since writing the above, our attention has been called 

 to a eliaracttristic paragraph in the local " Times," in 

 which the writer, after showbig how n.atives in towns 

 — he might have added carpenters and masons aud 

 other artizans with contractors, dealers in rice, etc., 

 not necessarily resident in towns — have been bene- 

 fitted by British rule and British capital aud enter- 

 prize, goes on to say : — 



We wish we could speak <as cheerily of the agncultural 

 population. The advent of the British in Coylou has im- 

 hapinly done but little for them, and that httle not of the 

 happiest, for their headmen have, in too many instances, 

 adopted the worst features of our civilization, aud wlien 

 their leaders fail them their course cannot be towards im- 

 provement. We have, it is true, given them roads, hos- 

 pital s, schools, and, in some places, irrigation works, but 

 it may be doubted if in these thiugs they have a compens- 

 ation for the projiagation of .arrack shops, petty, courts, 

 additional taxation, and other things. If we have given 

 with one hand we have takeu with the other, and the tale 

 that is told by old men in agricultural disti-icts is not oue 

 th.at is pleasant to hear. Tliey tell us that in the olden 

 time there was less money but more food for the people, 

 and certainly less crime, as witness the huge jails that 

 have cost the country so much during the last twenty 

 years. 



In a matter like this, we should think judgment 

 would be formed, not merely on what ignorant plea- 

 sants say but on what intelligent observers know to be, 

 the fact. From tlie first daj's of British rule in Ceylona 

 Minutes of Goverameut and the proceedings of a 

 long scries of agricultural societies show that strenu- 

 ous efforts were made to improve agriculture and 

 the condition of the farming and peasantiy classes. 

 It was in their interest chiefly that compulsory 

 laboar was abolished, <uily the British went too far 

 and found it necessary to retrace their steps in 

 favour of rules for the restoration aud upkeep of 

 irrigation works and the formation of thoroughfares. 

 In fa\our of the agricultural population, (iovemment 

 abaudoncd its share of all products excepting 

 grain, and at this moment measures are 

 in progress to render the collection of tlie grain 

 tithes as light as any tax can possibly be. We have 

 given the country roads and railways and improved 

 river, lackwater and cai al navigation, which have 

 cheapened to the agricultural cia'^ses the commodities 

 they had to purchase, such as salt, saltlish, cotton, 

 cloth and household requieites, while those means of 

 communication and the presence of coolies on estates 

 have enhanced the vidue of the grsin, straw, veget- 

 ables, fruits and " native collee " which the cultivators 

 had to sell. Is all this nothing ? Then, as the 

 above writer admits, «e have given them "hos- 

 pitals, schools, and in some jjlaces irrigation works " 

 What he ought to have said is. that, besides the im- 

 mense beuetits derived from h-siitals and schools by 

 the people of Ceylon, the British (jlovernmrnt have 



gone far ahead of what native cnterprize and industry 

 are prepared to follow in (he restoration of irrigation 

 works. There, at Kanihalai aiid so niauy other places 

 are the tauks, the precious water stored and the 

 fertile soil " under the tauks " waiting to be awakened 

 into laughing fertility. The hour has come, but 

 where are the men ? Vegetating on badly tilled or 

 worn-out ancestral fields, without the courage to 

 go ahead and better themselves, but ready enough to 

 aver "the former times were better than these " and 

 that theii- depressed condition is all tlie fault of the 

 British Government which has scattered "'petty 

 courts " over the laud. If Police Courts and Courts 

 of Requests are referred to, all we can s.T,y is that 

 for a Knropean to recognize their greater numerical 

 existence as a grievance is about as curious a pheno- 

 menon as the recent green c:ilour of the sky at sun- 

 set. In the reports of the Parliamentary C^ommittee 

 which followed the so-called rebellion of 184S, no 

 point of reform was more insisted on thau such ad- 

 ditions to the Civil Service as would render any of 

 the inhabitants of Ceylon unable henceforth to say, 

 what many then said, that in the wh-de course 

 of their existence they had never seen or come 

 in contact with a member of the ruling race. 

 Can the British Goverumeut wash the Kthiopian 

 white ? They cannot, and, therefore, in accordance 

 with the policy recommended after 18+S, as many 

 educated white men as possible were scattered over 

 the laud. Have none of them striven to improve the 

 condition of the agricultural classes by introducing 

 siiperior products, such as Carolina rice, and also im- 

 proved appliances, such as fanners ? We think we 

 heard of such things aud of the opposition of dead, 

 passive native cunservalisra. The people do not 

 know much of the Proverbs of Solomon, but they 

 evidently have an equivalent one to that which 

 deprecates meddling wiih those who -ale given to 

 chauge. Being orientals, too, it is only natural that 

 they should not consider any amount of better govern- 

 ment or social benefits, equivalents for " ad- 

 ditional taxation and other things." If the con- 

 dition of the native agriculturists of Ceylon is de- 

 pressed, it is most unfair to throw the whole 

 blame on Government. European agriculturists in 

 Ceylon are in a depressed condition, although all 

 that enterprize, skill and industry could do, they 

 did. Native agriculture has to some extent sym- 

 pathized with the cognate European pursuit. But 

 can the writer we refer to say of native agri- 

 culturists what we have said of the Kuropeaus? 

 When the native husbandmen have done all that 

 enterprize, skill and industry can accomplish, then 

 will be the time to give them all our symiiathyand 

 thro-\v all the blame on Government. 



KUBBER-HARVESTING EXPERIMENTS IN 

 CEYLON. 



The cakes of rubber sent to us by Mr. Westland 

 from Lower Haputale (.ee his letter page 450)— are not 

 so satisfactory in appearance as others sent to us. and 

 are pronounced by au expert not quite so good as 

 Madagascar or Forneo rubber, and, tliough clear, the 

 rubber is sticky and has not sufficient elasticity ; it is 

 difficult to give a quotation, but probably these cakes 

 would be worth as much as Assam rubber, say 2s a 

 lb., or at most ^s 6d. Ceara rubber, in the opinion 

 of this gentleman, is the only kiud worth cultivating 

 now. 



The eighteen cakes sent by Mr. Westlaud weigh 

 no more than 2J lb , and, if each cake took a cooly 

 balfa-day to collect, it is clear that the harvesting 

 will not pay ! The 18 cakes at outside are worth 

 only 1\3, putting exchange against all other charges 

 from the gatherer's hands to the London market ; 



