MAfleii i, mj.] THE T^OFiCAL AQRiCULTUKIST, 



THE DROUGHT; NATIVE CATTLE AS 

 DRAFT ANIMALS AND MILKERS. 



Hapitigama Korale, 16th Feb. 1887. 



AVe had a mere sprinkling of rain on the 9th and 

 10th ; uo sign of any since. The sua blazes and the 

 wind blows, and everything is suffering more or less 

 according to its nature; man, beast, and plant. After 

 all we have no right to complain as it is the only 

 weather we have to expect at this season, and though 

 the heat and the cold, and the wind are disagree- 

 able, I hear of no sickness out of the common, either 

 on the estates or in the villages, and for certain kinds 

 of work nothing could be better. Coconuts on dry 

 gravelly ridges or sun-baked clay suffer sadly both 

 in the loss of leaves and fruit, but we must, take 

 the bite with the buffet and make the best of our 

 situation. 



In my own case my cattle are my gre^itrst trouble, 

 the herbage is utterly burned up and day by day 

 they become more lean and wretched. "With refer- 

 ence to your recent article on our breed of cattle, 

 it does not appear to me that in the low-country 

 anything would be gained by crossing the breed 

 with anything larger or less hardy. The native breed 

 is admirably suited to the country and the habits of 

 the people. Left to shift for itself the Ceylonese 

 bullock is supple and enterprising, he holds in con- 

 tempt all ordinary fencing and ranges far in search 

 of a succulent mouthful; cunning and watchful, he 

 dashes off like the wind whenever he smells danger 

 in his marauding expeditions. He has great strength in 

 proportion to his size and weight, and when trained to 

 work is patient and docile in the hands of those 

 he knows. Indeed both his vices and his virtues 

 suit him exactly to his lot in life, but when well 

 fed and tended he becomes a very perfect animal 

 and will accomplish a run of six miles in a light 

 hackery, in three quarters of an hour. As the cows 

 are never milked* the lacteal glands are never pro- 

 perly developed but get a young cow with her first 

 calf, feed her well, and milk her dry twice a day, 

 and she will give as good a return for the food 

 she eats as any other breed. 



Cattle keeping is not a paying business in Ceylon, 

 either breeding or fattening, anything except milking 

 oows, and draught bullocks' are kept at a loss. 

 The value of an 18 months calf is E5 and if kept till 

 it is three years old, a handsome young one may 

 be as high as E15, but a quey of that age will 

 not sell for more than seven or eight, and if you go 

 to the cost and trouble of fattening a barren cow 

 or a young bullock that proves unfit for draught 

 the butchers will give no more than for a wild animal 

 from the jungle. There are more or less cattle kept 

 on most coconut estates, but I think most proprietors 

 of experience will agree with me that they are kept 

 without profit, if not at a loss when they pay a keeper. 

 If the manure is conserved that is something, but 

 manure of equal value may be bought for less than 

 it costs. "Where cattle are kept on an estate, how- 

 ever, there is some gain in the cost of weeding, 

 because even rank grafts is injurious to coconut trees 

 and the cattle droppings are of some service to the 

 aoil. I pay my cattle-keeper K90 per annum and my 

 returns, the milk and butter of the year, would be 

 worth a like 3um if there were a market, but as it 

 is all consumed on the premises, that may be written 

 oft' as balanced, then I have my bullocks for cart and 

 hackery work and 20 cubic yards of manure worth 

 R40 and I could sell three head annually for R30, so 

 that I am a gainer of about R70. Mine, however, 

 is a special ca.se; none of my neighbours milk their 

 cows and few of them turn their manure to good 

 purpose, and as mj' chief profit is in the milk, theirs 

 must be a loss. None but a Scotchman can make a 

 good breakfast on milk parritch with milk, and only 



* Our Correspondent does not seem to have the fear 

 of the " Examiner " and its Correspondents before his 

 eyes. For asserting that the natives .seldom milked 

 their cattle, we were severely reprehended, but there 

 is our Correspondent, with his long experience mak- 

 ipj[ tlic aseertioQ in a etroagcr form,— Sd, 



he who takes all the milk he can get from his cows, 

 can make from KoO to RIO in a year from ghee 

 prepared from his spare butter. 



We, coconut planters, are fortunate in being outside 

 the Medical Wants Ordinance and with no personal 

 interest in railway extension. Of course, my sympathies 

 are with my mountain brethren «n both questions and 

 were I a member of the Association, I would vote 

 for the most violent and outspoken of the iiroposed 

 notions on the medical question. 



INTERESTING ADMINISTRATION REPORTS. 

 {iVom ticport of Assistant Government Agent Keyalle.) 



Coconuts and Plantains. — There is a considerable 

 area under coconuts and plantains ; indeed, there is 

 a large export trade in the latter in the districts 

 bordering on the railway, the quantity sent away 

 from Rambukkana alone lu 1885 being 661 tons. On 

 the whole, there is an abundant supply of food for 

 the people, and it is only in the case of the estates, 

 and to some extent the floating bazaar population, 

 that imported rice is used. 



Cost of I'roduction. — The cost of the production of 

 rice is shown in the tabulated replies to the following 

 series of questions. I havejtaken a pela {i.e., about half 

 an acre) as representing the extent owned by the 

 ordinary villager : — 



If hire of buffaloes and Government tax is included, 

 the value of each day's labour' comes to (from 3 to 

 5 cents 1) 



Xotcs. — (1) There is scarcely any sale for straw 

 in the Four Korales and Lower Bulatgama, and only 

 a very limited sale in the Three Korales, where » 

 pela's production of straw can sometimes . be sold for 

 from El-50 to R2. 



Other Products. — ^'ea.— The cultivation of tea haa 

 increased on a large scale during the year. Thera 

 are now over 100 estates in the District, and the 

 out-turn during the year from them all must have 

 been close upon a million pounds. Land is going 

 up in value, and is being eagerly sought after by 

 investors, and the average price has risen to £3, £4t, 

 and even -t'5 an acre. 



There can be Httle doubt that the Kelani Valley is des- 

 tined to become the finest tea district in the Island. 

 The soil may not be so good as in some up-country 

 places, but in point of climate for tea and cheapness of 

 production it beats them all. It has a navigable river 

 within easy distance of every estate, that only requires 

 a little money spent on it to be suitable during a con- 

 siderable portion of the year for steam traffic ; it has an 

 unlimited labour supply in the village population, who 

 are readily taking to estate work ; and it has extensive 

 tracts of Government jungle suitable for cultivation. I 

 annex a table of the average rainfall, and of the number 

 of days in which rain fell during the year, that may be 

 of interest as showing the suitability of the District ia 

 point of climate for ttie cultivation of tea : — 



Average of five years, tj t-. 



Inches. ^°^ "'^"y Day»- 



Kegalla ,., 117 to 120 ... 174 



Ruanwella ... 130 to 187 ... 149 to 160 



Kitulgala ,,, 188 to 239 ,.. 200 (about) 



Yatiyautota ... 145 to 150 ... 2uO ( ,, ) 



Dehiowita ... 135 to 155 ... 240 ( ' ) 



Avisawclla ... 125 to 168 ... 164-228 



Indurana ...120 to 168 ... 168-179 



Rambukkana ... 72 ... 175 



Western Dolosbage ... 180 ... 223 



Panawal Korale ... 148 to 171 ... 217 to 243 



The lowest rainfall is at Rambukkana, but even 

 here there are the compensating advantages of a heavy 

 dew at nights during the dry season, and the rich 

 loose soil of the Mabaoya valley. 



Cacao. — The cultivation of cacao has not been on 

 so large a scale as in former years. Much of that 

 already grown is dying out. I do not think that the 

 soil and wet chmate of the Distict are particularly 

 suited to it. 



Cardamoms. — The cultivation of cardamoms has ex- 

 tended in every directian. The soil and climate of 

 the Western Dolosbage range and in the Kelani Valley 

 appear to be very well adapted to it, 



