THE PROGRESS OP NATIVE AGRICULTURE IN CEYLON. 

 By C. DRIEBERG, B.A., F.H.A.S. 



Secretary, Ceylon Agricultural Society, and 

 Superintendent of School Gardens, Ceylon. 



IN this paper the term " Native Agriculture " is used 

 to indicate the cultivation of crops other than those 

 generally spoken of %s " Planting Products " comprising 

 mainlv tea. cocoa and rubber. 



Till within recent times and subsequent to the fall of 

 the great coffee industry, coconut cultivation was mainly 

 in the hands of the Cingalese, but with the rise of the 

 coconut industry much European capital has been 

 invested in this enterprise, which has now attained an 

 important position in tropical agriculture. 



Conversely a small proportion of the Cingalese 

 population has joined the ranks of tea, cocoa and rubber 

 planters. 



But for the purposes of this paper, tea, cocoa and 

 coconuts, as estate products, will be left out of con- 

 sideration, and attention given only to such crops as 

 are entirely in the hands of the Cingalese. The chief 

 among the latter is rice or, as it is locally called, paddy, 

 which is the term applied to rice in the husk. 



It would be out of place in this paper to give a de- 

 tailed account of paddy cultivation as practised in 

 Ceylon. Suffice it to say that the crop has not attained to 

 the importance of an export product, and that there is 

 still a large importation of grain into the island chiefly 

 from Peninsular India and Burma. 



Whether the island w r ill ever produce enough rice to 

 meet the demand not only of its permanent population 

 but also that of the large floating population of Indian 

 labourers who work on tea and rubber estates is very 

 doubtful, but there is no doubt that it could be extended 

 so as to add appreciably to the available food supply. 



