312 



THE TROPICAL AGRTCULTUttTST 



[October i, 1884. 



vertised for sale, hence the inference is, that planters 

 don't require it, if they did the papers would be full 

 advertisements. — Planter's Supplement to the S. I. Observer. 

 [We never heard this question of seed raised until leaf- 

 disease appeared, It is just possible that in-and-in breeding 

 disposed the coffee trees to its attacks ; but, looking at 

 its ffects, the surprise expressed at there being no ad- 

 vertiseeinents for seed is curious.— Ed. 



IMPROVED PLOUGHS FOR CEYLON. 

 The Director of Public Instruction has made the 

 followiug report on ploughs mauufacturtd specially 

 for Indian use by Messrs. Howard of Bedford: — 

 Trial at Handanduwana mi 1st Sept. 18S4. 



1. Handanduwana is a village in the Pitigal Korale, South 

 of the Chilaw District, a few miles only beyond the 

 Negombo District, across the Mahaoya, and intelligent 

 interest was displayed in the new ploughs by a better class 

 of people than is met with further north, some having 

 come from Kochchikada in the Negombo District, where 

 Mutusambba, instead of the common paddy, is not unfre- 

 quently grown. Three of the ploughs manufactured by 

 Messrs. Howard of Bedford, which I had asked their Agents 

 Messrs. Davies & Co., Colombo, to send for trial by Sir. i 

 Lushiugton were here ; they were those marked A, E, F, in 

 the accompanying sketch. Their trade designations are (A) ] 

 " Anglo American (single stilt) hillside tumwrest plough," 

 (E) "Improved ' Vitis plough, Indian pattern" and (F) I 

 " Howard's light one horse plough." 



2. The plough marked A is a light iron plough, (weighing 

 80 lb. including pole) with a single upright stilt or handle 

 no wheel, and no coulter. It has a wooden pole attached 

 so as to suit it for being drawn by cattle. It is very much 

 the shape of a native plough, except that it has a mould 

 board and share. Messrs. Davies & Co., report that they can 

 sell it at K15 if sufficient orders are received to enable them 

 to get the ploughs out, packed in dozen cases so as to reduce 



freight charges. ,',,,. ■ ., , u , f 



3. The plough marked E is a very similar plough, but 

 it has a wooden stilt or handle instead of an iron one. It 

 weighs 76 lb. Messrs. Davies & Co. can sell it at K1875 

 if sufficient ploughs are ordered to enable them to get out 

 dozen cases as above. 



4. The plough marked F is quite unsuited for present 

 Ceylon use, and I therefore say nothing about it. 



5 The two ploughs A and E were set to work against 4 

 native ploughs on a dry paddy field. After the long thought 

 which has prevailed the ground was as hard as a turnpike 

 road but while the native ploughs could make no proper 

 impression, the two iron ploughs, though drawn by ordin- 

 ary village buffaloes, did extremely good work, turning the 

 soil well over. Plough A turned a furrow of from ci to 7 

 inches deep and about 9 inches wide, while plough E turned 

 a furrow of from 8 to 9 inches deep and nearly a foot wide. 



6 After the ploughs had worked for some time, I spoke 

 to the natives present, I desired only private persons to 

 enter into discussion with me, as I wished to get at honest 

 native opinion unbiassed by headmen who might say any 

 thing to please the Government Agent. Two natives as 

 spokesmen objected 



(1) That their buffaloes were not strong enough to work 

 the ploughs. 



(2) That their buffaloes were accustomed to turn to the 

 riant but these ploughs had the mould board on the. 

 right' side, and so the buflaloes had to turn to the left. 



(3) That they did not want any new tangled ploughs— they 

 wanted tanks. 1 replied that objection (1) was disproved 

 bv the fact that their own buffaloes did work the ploughs 

 and work them well ; and, taking this and objection (3) 

 together I said that Mr. Lushingtou t Id me that he had 

 been informed that a field at Kurunegala cultivated with iron 

 Dloughs which I introduced there at the end of last year 

 had given a yield of over 24 fold, although under the 

 old system it had never exceeded 7 and 8 fold. 



As regards objection (2) the difficulty is easily met by hav- 

 inc the ploughs made with the mould board on the left side. 



After I had finished speaking sixteen ploughs were at 

 once ordered, viz., 13 ploughs of the A type by natives, 

 and two others by Mr. Byrde, Assistant Government Agent, 

 Negombo, and one by Mr. Bever., these two gentlemen 

 being present at the trial. 



7. Trial ut .1/iiihimpi; 'liul Sept. 1SS4. 

 This village is 7 miles South of Ohilaw. 

 To this place Mr. Lushingtou had removed the 3 ploughs 

 above specified and also ploughs M, C, and D. 



There was here considerable opposition to the ploughs 

 receiving a fair trial, one of them (the A plough) bad been 

 maliciously injured, but I was fortuuately able to repair 

 it, by affixing a rut from one of the other ploughs, whilst 

 a leading native who did not attend, wrote statlug that 

 he knew the ploughs would be a failure, in short every- 

 thing was against us, and nothing for us, the ground 

 here was even harder than at Haudanduwaua, very 

 wild buffaloes were given us, and every time they 

 bolted, the crowds of natives .yelled with delight,* but after 

 some perseverance Mr. Lushingtou got ploughs A and E 

 fairly to work. The othe ploughs would have bad no 

 chance in such hard ground and were not tried. 



8. In spite of the opposition, however, three ploughs 

 were ordered, and one landowner on being informed that 

 they were only specimen ploughs, and that he could not 

 receive his purchase for some three mouths, begged to be 

 allowed to borrow one at once for the ensuing maha- 

 harvest. This, I gladly agreed to, he promising to cultiv- 

 ate two contiguous fields, one with the new plough, ami 

 one with the native plough, so as to test the crops obtained. 

 When I spoke to the natives here, the objections raised 

 were the same as at Handanduwana, and my replies were 

 the same ; one new objection was, however, made, that the 

 new plough required four men to work it, whereas the 

 native plough required only one boy: I pointed out that 

 this was not true, for we had been working the new 

 plough with only one ploughman and one driver all the 

 morning, and as a matter of fact it is not true that 

 one boy is all that is used for a native plough. 



9. Trial at Chilaw on the 3rd September 1S84. 

 Very little interest was manifested here in the test, 

 there were hardly over 50 people present, and, though 

 the ploughs worked, there was nothing special to record 

 except the violent opposition of a man who turned out to 

 be a native ploughmaker. One plough was, however, ordered 

 here by a Madampe man who had followed us down. This 

 was encouraging after the opposition already recorded there. 

 10. In conclusion, in spite of all opposition which was 

 and is to be expected anywhere to a new thing, and 

 especially on the part of a conservative people, like those 

 of this country, both Mr. Lushingtou and myself were 

 much encouraged by the manner in which even our oppon- 

 ents quieted down and listened more or less assenting 

 when I spoke to them after each exhibition, and still 

 more were we struck by the very practiced result of the 

 orders for ploughs, amounting in three days to twenty. 



For my own part, I still hold with Mr. Robertson 

 of Saidapet that the Swedish plough which I took 

 to Kurunegala last year is really the best plough, 

 but the natives take much more readily to Messrs. 

 Howard's ploughs of the A and E type, and as it the 

 natives that we wish to influence, and as these A 

 and E ploughs really do very good work, I would advise 

 encouraging their use as much as possible. 



Rich and educated native gentlemen may still be ad- 

 vised to use the Swedish plough, but the general run of 

 the people very naturally prefer the Howard's pbugh above 

 described, partly because they cost rather less, partly be- 

 cause they are m"re like a native plough, while the 

 Swedish is like an English plough, and more than all be- 

 cause they ;ire so much lighter and can be lifted and 

 carried about, an especial advantage in the Kaudyan 

 districts, where the paddy fields are terraced, although 

 perhaps not so important in the lowcountry, where there 

 are long tracts of level ground. It is to be understood 

 that of the Howard ploughs I do not advise any except 

 A and E. 



D, the Ryot plough, is absolutely useless, though some of 

 the people inclined to it as being on their own lines, and 

 thus scarcely a novelty, but it does not turn over the 

 soil at all, and is not what is wanted here. It is to be 

 understood that ploughs A and E are equally suited for 

 use on coconut estates and indeed for use on any ground 

 which is level enough to plough. — H. W. Gr een. D. P. I. 

 *The time has been in Ceylon when the application of 

 the lash would bave produced yells of a different kind.— Ed. 



