CH. IV] CROPS AND METHODS OF PEASANT AGRICULTURE 171 



cultivation above described is of course a considerable safe- 

 guard against disease spreading rapidly over a large area, but 

 on the other hand is accompanied by a very small return. The 

 peasant who cultivates such a product as tobacco is often very 

 careful to keep his plants free of any sign of disease or weeds, 

 but the average tropical native has much to learn in this 

 respect. A little compulsion, as is for instance employed in 

 Ceylon under the Pests Ordinance, is a very good thing. 



The fifth point mentioned above for consideration was the 

 possibility of improving native methods of preparing produce 

 for market. As a rule, native produce is of inferior grade to 

 that prepared by European planters. This is partly, of course, 

 the result of bad cultivation, especially of want of proper feeding 

 of the plants, but it is also due to ignorance, indolence, or 

 carelessness in treating the product after it is harvested. The 

 question of improvement is thus on all fours with that of 

 improvement of methods of cultivation dealt with above. The 

 fact that even with the object lessons of European estates 

 before them, and with the practical lesson of lower market 

 prices obtained, natives do not improve their methods, shows 

 how difficult it is to do much in this direction. Fortunately, 

 the natives of any one country are often willing enough to use 

 the inferior articles grown there, and it thus comes about that 

 the encouragement of export trade among peasants should at 

 first be directed mainly towards export from the village. As 

 they improve in their methods, and as cooperation comes in, 

 the villagers may export further, but at first the export trade 

 to the countries of the north is best left in the hands of 

 capitalists, except in the case of those products, such as rice, 

 that the peasant properly understands. 



The sixth point mentioned was the improvement of the 

 breed and quality of the cattle and other stock kept by the 

 peasant. This has already been fully considered in the chapter 

 on stock in Part II, and only needs mention here. The villager 

 needs to be taught to avoid indiscriminate crossing, to select 

 the best stock for parents, to castrate on better and more 

 humane principles, and so on. At the same time crosses with 



