May I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



853 



AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS IN BRITAIN 

 AND PLANTING DEPRESSION IN CEYLON; 

 NO REMEUY FOR ADVERSE SEASONS. 

 Though there may not be much consolation, there 

 may be some instruction in the fact tliat we are not alone 

 in our agricultural troubles. In the recent debate in 

 Parliament on the AtUlress, the prevailing distress of 

 agriculturists in the Mother Country occupies a very 

 prominent place ; ami is described as an urgent and 

 painful subject. Sir W. Barttelot said: — ''We liave 

 had eiglit bad seasons in succession, and are already 

 tlirea'ened with a ninth. The prospect of the » lieat 

 crop is injured, stock is scanty and disease in some 

 districts is rife." Mr. Biddell was still more doleful, 

 and said tliat " agriculture was as nearly as possible 

 bankrupt." The London 7'imc.5 (weekly edition of S.^rd 

 February) referring to tiie debite, says :— " It is 

 not surprising that the cry of agricultural distress 

 should be loiully heard in Parliament, and that re 

 medies of all kinds sliould be proposed. * * So ijnat 

 and so nnh'i'mal is the depression in all branches of 

 agricultural industry that it is quite possible great 

 changes may be impending in many parts of our 

 agricultural system. * * The one certain and immed- 

 iate cause of the present distress in undoubtedly, as 

 all speakers admitted, to be found in the extraordin- 

 ai'y succession of bad seasons from which this country 

 has lately suffered." The general result of the debate 

 was to "exhibit the deep uneasiness which prevails 

 concerning agricultural distress. But though the fact 

 itself admitted of no dispute, there was no practicd 

 agreement as to the proper remedies." 



As we read this statement of the undisputed fact 

 of agricultural distress in the old country, we seem to 

 be reading a report of the condition of agi'icultnre 

 in our own island. The long persistence, universal 

 prevalence and ruinous severity of failure seem to be 

 alike in both countries, as well as the perplexity as 

 to remedy. The Times indeed, seems to anticipate great 

 changes in the present system of agriculture as a result 

 of this long period of depression. 



There may not be material consolation in the fact 

 that we are but bearing our share of a common inis 

 fortune, but we may perhaps derive as we liave said 

 some instructio 1 from ii. Let us then mark tlie 

 identity of the period through which our misfortunes 

 have existed. The eight suoce sive years above men- 

 tioned take us back to 1874, when the plantei-s of 

 Ceylon liad also good harvests as well as agricultur- 

 ists at home. But that year was exceptional both 

 here and in Europe. -Mr. Caird writing in 1870 of 

 the previous decade, said there had been only sne 

 good crop, that of 1874, since 1870. Thus we are 

 carried back, curiously enough to the date when tlie 

 local failure of cofl'ee crops commenced. Exceptionally 

 higli prices, happily for us, mitigated the severity 

 and postponed the culmination of our suffering ; still, 

 the fact remains that the providential stroke fell here 

 and elsewhere at the same time, and has persisted- 

 ahis ! with but little interruption tlirougli the same 

 protracted term. 



In the absence of leaf disease, or any otiier 



specific pest, to wliicli to attribut* the dis- 



turlied condition of home agriculture, we see a 



perfect agreement nf opinion exjn-essed as to the 



108 



cause of the distress, namely, adverse seamm ; and i f 

 that compreliensive term be so used as to embrace 

 all the forces of nature, known and unknown, it may 

 serve as a confession of our ignorance, but does not 

 enlighten our miiuls. It may furnish an answer to 

 the general inquiry as to the cause of our discom- 

 fiture, but it makes tlie answer evasive, and in no 

 wise relieves our perjilexity. It may serve to stave 

 off further question, but is it wise to adopt an an- 

 swer to so great a (|uestion which satisfies the ear 

 and tends to stifie research ? 



In truth we know very imperfectly the operations 

 of the recognized factors wliich combine to produce 

 tlie complicated phenomena of life and vegetation; 

 and there are doubtless others besides whose exist- 

 ence we only suspect to account for effects not refer- 

 able to known causes. Of the nature and operation of 

 these, of course, we know notiiing ; but do we simplify 

 matters by ignoring tliem and merging all the active 

 influences of nature in one rather evasive term ? Our 

 studies of rainfall, wind, heat, and other known ele- 

 ments of that inscrutable term, season, though pur- 

 sued witli tlie aid of the most elaborate records, 

 conveniently tabulated, still too often leave us in 

 hopeless perplexity. Inferences which, after immense 

 pains, we seem to have almost established, dissolve 

 one after another, and we are driven baffled from the 

 pursuit, witli little better result, it may be than a 

 headache. In truth, the research is hopeless, so long 

 as we seek to resolve a problem of many factors by 

 a partial and imperfect investigation and comparison 

 of a few. The records of our thermometers, rain- 

 gauges, bai'ometeis, &c. , are undoubtedly of great im- 

 portance, but what light do tliey throw on the mighty 

 solar forces exerted by the agency of direct sunshine, — 

 by the strange and devious actinic ray, with its in- 

 calculable chemical force — by tlie forces which accom- 

 pany the phenomena of suiispots ? We know that 

 all these mighty foi'ces exist and operate powerfully 

 in the living organisms about us, but, as yet, we 

 know not the part they play, nor distinguish the 

 effects tliey luoduce from those of forces «e recognize 

 and examine Wliat strange force is tliat which sud- 

 denly endows with life and activity the myriads of 

 germs which, till so kindled, lie for indefinite periods 

 of time in a latent state ? Wliat, for instance, brings 

 fortli locusts, as it were out of the dust; apiiides and 

 fungi covering the whole surface of vegetation as 

 though they had sprung out of its tis.siies as an 

 exudation ; and also, a fearful brood of pestilent 

 germs wliich sweep over the earth like an atmosphere 

 of animated death-warrants served on poor helpless 

 humanity. {Helpless, however, only whilst iiiiioraiit.) 

 What may be the nature, and whence the origin of 

 those forces we know not. Neitlier rain-gaugis nor 

 otlier of our instruments of research afford us any 

 clue. But we siiall not be acting wisely if we put 

 them out of the account and lumjj them all in a 

 term which we would thus render vague and misleading. 

 Whilst deprecating the unscientific use by home 

 legislators of tlie term in attrilniting the general dis- 

 turbance of agriculture solely to adverse " seasons," we 

 nevertheless commend the soundness of their conclusion 

 in thus referring our misfortunes to Providence. Define 

 it as we maj-. season conies not within the control of 

 man, but is the act of God in the working of His 

 immutable laws. The speakers in the parliamentai-y 

 debate to which we refer addressed a sympathetic 

 audience in terms of ileepest sympathy. No attempt 

 was made to wrest the facts of the universal ilistress 

 for the support of fa\ouiite theories, or foi' party 

 purposes. The hand of the Omnipotent was, by 

 unanimous agi-ecment, recognized. No railing accusation 

 against their fellownien by sutt'erers there ! It is in 

 Ceylon alone that men are found vile enough to 

 overlook the Divine jiower whicji has been at work, 



