September r, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



193 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN CEYLON. 



It is very satisfactory to leavu that the system of 

 jiraotical teaching in the principles of agriculture' 

 which the Director of Public Instruction (Mr. H. W. 

 Green) set himself so earnestly to ilevelope, is really 

 taking effect throughout the island. We learn that 

 in every Government Vernaculir or Anglo- Vernacular 

 school in the higher s'audards, theoretical agriculture 

 has been taught tince last January in the same way as in 

 England, the test-book used being a translation of the 

 Director's " Primer of Agriculture." Then aga n all 

 teachers are now compelled !o pass in theoretical agricul- 

 ture before they can get a certificate — a very important 

 stimulus. As regards practical lessons, the "Colombo 

 School of Agriculture " has this jear commmotd actual 

 work. The students have bjen tra ned in the school com- 

 pound iu the use of the new ploughs, and they are 

 going to plough five acres of pa(My land belonging 

 to a private owner, for which the records of result- 

 ing crop are to be carefully kept. 'J'he owner of the 

 land will cultit'ata in the o-dinary way alongside of 

 this piece of land which the echool cultivates. The 

 comparison cannot fail to be instructive, and the crop 

 returns altogether, if carefully <-nt>ied, should be 

 interesting in connection with the subjec'; of paddy 

 cultivation. Sertral of ihc more intelligent Govern 

 ment schoolmasters are, we are glad to leirn, also 

 cultivating, after this fashion. So soon ns the D rector 

 can provide teachers, it is, we understand, his inten. 

 tion to seek leave from Government to start practical 

 agriculture at several country-schools, a piece of land 

 being allottid to each school, and the teacher being 

 partly paid in produce, so as to give him a pecuniary 

 interest in the proper working of the land. This 

 ought to prove a most interesting and beneficial ex- 

 periment ; but manifestly Mr. Green will rtijuire a 

 little time to make the necfs-ary arranjenients. 



Altogether, we are agreeably surprised at the pro- 

 gress made by the Director. And it shows that it 

 is not f imply through the medium of the Govern- 

 ment Department alone, the work is being done, 

 when we learn that sever-nl drzen of the ploughs re- 

 commended for paddy-tielda have been sold privately. 

 apart altogether from the Government and without 

 any inducement from the Director, although the lat er 

 has otfioially and very properly s^nt some ploughs to j 

 each Kachcheri. But, after all, we may e.xpcct more 

 to be done through the gradual iLfluence of the schools [ 

 than in any other way. No doubt the Governmint ' 

 igents, nr at least some of them, will he'p very 

 cordially : but s-till a Government Agent, even with 

 the be-t int ntions, can only work on adult men with 

 grown-up conservative prejudices against r.ew fangled 

 while the Director of Public Instruciion may 



ideas ; 



well hope to be able to tran up a certain peromtage I 

 at least, of the schoolboya who can eventually put 

 in practice on their own land*" what ijiey learn dnring | 

 their agricultural training. For the piizjt.kere in 

 this Department who m.ay carry out in after life the ' 

 lessons they have learnt, the Gov. rnor of the day 

 will, we have no doubt, be ready to provide encouragement 

 and reward in the -hapeoftho honrurs so dear to the 

 native mind nnd heart. By on I b\ e we may find a regular 

 system established for dra«ing then-.t vea-S'Stants to the 

 revenue otficers in all the grades o" headn. en, from the 

 passed pupils ■ f our Agricultural Schools. 



DON'T DIE IN THE HOUSE. 

 "Rough on Rats" clears out rats, mice, beetles, roachesi 

 bed-hugs, flies, nnU, insect.^, moles, chipmunks, gophers- 

 W, E. Smith ii Co., Madras, Sole Agents, 

 25 



CONSUiUPTION OF COFFEE AND TEA IN 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



10 LB OF CclFFEB PER HEAD TO IJ LB. OF TEA. 



A GRA.VD FIELD FOR PR0PAGATI>G TEE-TOTALIS.M UNTIL 



550 MILLIONS LB. OF TEA IS CONSDMED ! 



I London, 10th July 1SS5. 



I enclose copy of an extract from the annual 

 review of the Trade of the United States as 

 published by the Corporation of the Chamber of 

 Commerce of the State of New York, in April last. 

 It contains some interesting figures iu rfgard to the 

 increase of consumption of coffee in the United States. 

 In their annual report, the Committee of the Chamber 

 thus comment on the increase of consumption which 

 is described as very considerable, in view of the de- 

 pression of trade, together with the enforced economies 

 brought about by a general^ reduction in wages among 

 the largest consuming classes of the population : — 

 " It is difficult to determine satisfactorily the 

 causes that may have led to iucrea^ed consumption 

 of such an article as coffee, for the reason that those 

 who ought to be reliable authorities are by no means 

 agreed as to the influences by which it has been 

 effected. Increase of population to doubt accounts 

 for some portion of the increase, but only for a 

 moderate percentage of so large an increase as shown 

 by our tables. 



" For the remainder it is claimed by some that 

 coffee is distinctly a poor man's diet, and that when 

 times are hard, the labouring classes buy more coffee 

 than in flush times when they are ahl-; to indulge 

 in more nourishing and expensive food ; others ad- 

 vance the theory that low prices invariably increase the 

 consumption of all food staples ; and a third explanation 

 is that our population are i lowly becoming more 

 habitual coffee-drinkers than they have ever been before, 

 and that this is particularly the case with respect to 

 the large infusion of the fore gn element received 

 within late years, h'ach and all of these theories 

 are doubtless true in fact, to a c rtain extent, and 

 when taken to^ethi r perhaps they sufficiently account 

 for the mcreas-d corsun'.p'ion shown. 



"On the basis of a pnful.Ht'.n of 55,000,000 the per 

 caj)i(a consumption lat year amounted to OJ lb." 



What g'.od news would this have been for Ceylon 

 twenty years laek? But now the all-important ques- 

 tion is what about tea ? And it is sad to find that 

 on this moie interesting pioluct the Chamber has 

 Iiterilly nothing worthy of record to report. The 

 whole subject is dismitsed in the annu 1 review in 

 a few formal linef, and the following figurfs show- 

 ing the total imports of tea during the past few 

 years at all ports of the United States explain how 

 small relatively is the iinpoitance of the American 

 tea trade ; — 



Trade. 18S0 .. 12-^,131,747 lb. 



1881 ... .i5 964,2S6 ,, 



1882 ... 07,861,744 „ 

 1S83 ... 70 575,478 ,, 

 18S4 ... 78,3i,0,651 ,, 



and it is stated in the riport that " fi.r the seasou 

 1884-85 the indicatioim are at pie ent that the re- 

 ceipts of all kinds including indirect shipments from 

 Great Britau will be about 75,000,000 pounds aga'nst 

 68.000.000 pounds last season " 



The discrepancy between these figures for 1884-85 

 and those givm above for 1SS4 probably arises from 

 the year in the former case comincnciDg at some 

 date other than 1st January. 



It would seem then, that, wherens each of the 

 55,000,000 of Americans consnmes nearly 10 lb, of 



