2l8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [September i, 1885, 



so readily go in for coconuts with their capital do not 

 care to exteud paddy cultivation, even when they have 

 found it to be largely profitable. We remember one native 

 gentleman telling ua that the sale of the sli-aw from his 

 fields near Colombo repaid hia expenses, the paddy crop 

 being all profit, and yet he and his neighbours did not 

 seem eager to extend this cultivation in the same way 

 that they looked after more coconut land. In this way, 

 it may be said that Colombo natives with means do 

 not require encouragement to plant pixlms and fruit 

 trees, but in other localities the Agents might do 

 much to make a beginning and also to introduce new 

 products. We waut, in tact, every Revenue District 

 in the island to have rts Experimental Farm or Garden 

 and Annual Agri-Horticultural Show. 



"RCIE CULTIVATIOM UNDER IRRIGATION 

 IN CEYLON." 

 At the meeting last evening (August lltli) in the 

 C( lombo Mu3( uin to hear Mr. Klliott's paper on this sub- 

 ject, th«re were present Hon. W. H. Ravenfcroft (in the 

 Chair), Hons. P. Rima Nathan and K. A. Bosanquet, 

 Messrs. A. M. Ferguson, cm. a., T. Berwick, J. Capper, 

 A. R. Dawson. H. W. Green, J. B. Cull, E. B. Hurley, 

 R. W. levers, J. G. Wardrop, A. M. Fergufon, junior, 

 D, W. Ferguson, W. J. Boake, J. Ferguson, J. J, 

 Grinlinton, W. P. Rinesinghe, J. G. Dean, Treasurer, 

 and VV. E. Davidson, Secretary, besides several ladies. 

 After reading the minutes of last meeting, the following 

 new members were proposed and accepted : — Messrs. 

 J. Alexander, A. W. Cave, P. de Saram and W. 

 Wrightson. 



Mr. Elliott then read his Paper, which, from its 

 important btaring on the agricultural intt rests of the 

 country, and on a subject hotly contested by plant- 

 ing and other critics of Government measures, we 

 reprint in full as follows ; — 



Paper read before the Eoyai, Asiatic Society, 

 Oevlon Branch, Hth August 1S85, by E. Eluott, c.c.s. 

 For many years there has been a widely accepted idea 

 that rice cultivation in Oeylon does not pay. A dictum 

 of Sir C. V. Layard has been generally quoted in support 

 of this, and two \vj-iters many years ago* published certain 

 statistics which appeared confirmatory of tliis unfavour- 

 able view ; and these were, I believe, allowed to pass 

 unchallenged, though they contained errors, which mat- 

 erially affect the result. However, whether erroneous or 

 not, tliese opinions and figures referred to a time and to 

 districts, where the attempt had not then been made to 

 provide irrigation. This fact has been overlooked in 

 recent discussions; indeed, both writers and speakers have 

 gone further, and have asserted that it would probably 

 pay better to import nearly all the rice required in the 

 Island, as it is doubtful whether Oeylon can economically 

 compete with India in the production of paddy. 



For many years past, I have been uuable to accept the 

 low estimate nmdn as to the email profit to be derived 

 from paddy cultivation | hut whatever doulits I may have 

 had OH this point have b«cn entirely removed by my ob= 

 SBrvfttion. pf the Bffe'jts of irrigation, whem that has Iseen 

 bi'ovlded an v, etitisfactoiry haBls, 



Since the queBtion has hem «o prouiluefltly revived, I 

 have taken conBiderable trouble to further Investigate the 

 subject ; and I have been able to collect a very large and 

 varied mass of data as to the yield of paddy, as v/ell as 

 to the actual outlay necessary to bring a crop to maturity 

 in the irrigated lands of the Matara and Batticaloa 

 districts. 



The results proved so far more favourable to Oeylon than 

 I bad ventured to anticipate, that, when inrited by 



* Mr. Lndovici's " Paddy Cultivation," and " Speculum" 's 

 Letters. In " Speculums' " estimate, outlay in labor is 

 excessive, especially for watching, reaping, threshing and 

 husking, while Ludovici takes too high a rate of wages, 

 7d OB the value of a day's labor in a district where no 

 agricultural labor was at the time remunerated in money, 



ptbf r point* to W» «»lett>»tio8 w» fqv>»|l}' pp#s *« qwito. 



the Committee of this Society to contribute a paper, 

 I readily accepted the opportunity for making my researches 

 public, in the hope of b<'ing able to remove doubts which 

 might exist as to the possibility of growiug paddy in Oeylon 

 at a cheaper rate than it can be imported from India. 



In discussing this question, it is convenient first to review 

 shortly the information available, especially as regards the 

 supeiior fertility of rice hind in India. I have been 

 unable to meet with any reliable returns of the yield of 

 grain in North India, but I recently saw it stated in the 

 newspapers that the average crop in Burma was 42 

 bushels per acre, and that 1,.500 lb. weight of paddy had been 

 harvested from an acre of laud in Bengal. The latter is equal 

 to 30 English bushels by measurement or a return of 12 

 fold according to the ordinary Ceylon rate of sowing. 

 Much reliance cannot be placed on such casual notices as 

 indicating the regulsir returns from an extended area ; but 

 fortunately I have had access to the transactions oit the 

 revenue settlement of parts of the Madras Presidency, in 

 which very elsiborate statistics are given of the yield of 

 various soils in the irrigated and rich districts, served by 

 the works on the Godavery and Oauvery rivers. 



lu these publications I find it recorded, that in the 

 Godavery delta soil of good quahty will produce, under 

 irrigation, about two pooties of SOU seers of paddy per 

 acre, and the next sort about one-and-a-half pooties. 

 For the inferior soil about one pooty per acre ra.ay be as- 

 sumed. As the pooty of paddy weighs 1,200 to 1,400 b 

 this yield is equivalent to .50, 40 and 26 bushels per acre. . 



In South Arcot, in the doab of the Coleroon and Vellar 

 which is irrigated by the lower Coleroon anient, it is stated 

 that 300 experiments gave the following results : — 



Per Acre. 

 Harris English 

 OoUums.* ~ 

 Island and other alluvial deposits ... 

 Permanently improved lands near village 

 Best lands with vandel or sandelf ... 

 Ordinary „ „ 



Best ordinary rich in sandel 

 Good ordinary 

 Ordinary 

 Ordinary red earth 



Col. Baird Smith, in writing of the irrigation works on 

 the Oauvery aud Coleroon, gives the average yield in the 

 irrigated lands at 40 bu-shels per acre ; and in his work 

 on Italian irrigation expresses uo surprise on learning that 

 in the permanent rice lauds of Mantua and Verona the 

 average produce per acre was estimated at 30 to 35 bushels 

 of uncleaued grain, wliile the temporary laud in the same 

 and adjoining provinces yield about one-fifth more or 40 

 bushels an acre. He adds: "The process of cleaning re- 

 duces the rice to about oue-third its bulk, so that for 

 permanent land the produce would be nearly 13 bushels 

 of rice." 



In a recent order of the Madras Government reviewing 

 the working of the Sydapet Farm, it is recorded that in 

 the reply given by the Director of the Revenue Settlement 

 to the Famine Commission, the average yield per acre of 

 rice lands lu this Presidency is stated to be 1,884 lb., and 

 in some localities it exceeds 2,500 lb. These figures re- 

 pre.icnt H5 and 60 Eoglish bushels of paddy, and wculd in 

 tlm agciculturnl ;iffi-^flii('(! of Oeylon be spoken of as oquival. 

 eiit t" a yield of 16» t" SO-fold, on n sswiug of Ji bushels 

 per acre, 



It must be rtrntnibercd that these data arc drawn from 

 the hurried trial measurements of the settlement officers, 

 and it has been recently urged, that as these results are 

 deduced from eSperlmeiits on a limited scale, the tendetic)' 

 is to exaggerated results; 



Nor must it bo overlooked that there Is In India tt 

 system of cultivation which is decidedly superior in matiy 

 respects to that followed in this island ; and I have been 

 also assured that in the Madras Presidency much more 

 manuring is done than in Ceylon, though there is still 

 room for iniprovtment in this respect. 



Turning to Oeylon, the first matter to be dealt with is 

 the coxt of cultivation : and on this point I am able to 



•» Harris Colfum^ST Madras Stamlard seers of 100 

 cubic inches=100 Kngliish bushel.i. 



t Fine »«d 4ep«sitj4 bj- the llosiis, 



