53^ MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



to induce them to accept advice and assistance when- 

 ever offered. The means by which better results are 

 brought about are (i) by the employment of improved 

 types of implements, (2) by the introduction of the trans- 

 planting system (i.e., planting out seedlings from nursery) 

 and (3) by the employment of green manures for fertilizing 

 the land. 



Native agriculture in Ceylon may roughly be divided 

 into (a) wet cultivation and (b) dry cultivation. By the 

 latter is not meant the so-called modern system of " dry 

 farming," but the cultivation of dry as opposed to wet 

 land. Paddy is essentially a wet crop inasmuch as it 

 is grown under wet conditions, i.e., under tank irriga- 

 tion or on the low lands on which the rain water is 

 conserved, i.e., retained by means of bunds or ridges to 

 meet the requirements of paddy as a water-loving plant. 



There are, of course, certain varieties of rice which 

 grow under comparatively dry conditions, which would 

 appropriately come to be considered under dry culti- 

 vation. 



Dry cultivation is generally associated with whatt is 

 known as the " chena " system which is found to exist 

 in all undeveloped countries and is in vogue in the drier 

 parts of the island where tank irrigation is not available. 

 The chena may be described as a tract reclaimed from 

 jungle and generally cultivated for a single season, after 

 which it is abandoned for a term which may extend up 

 to ten years before it is again taken up, while in the 

 meantime the cultivator moves on to successive fresh 

 tracts. 



It would be out of place here to discuss the merits or 

 demerits of this system which can only be done with a 

 thorough understanding of all the disabilities which the 

 chena cultivator suffers; but it is obvious that the adop- 

 tion of a provident system of cultivation, if it were 

 possible, would be to the mutual advantage of the culti- 

 vator as well as the State as landlord, since the land on 

 which the former operates is the property of the Crown 

 and is rented to him. 



It may be here stated that ( the policy of Government 

 is to discourage chena cultivation and to substitute for 

 it a more rational system of agriculture. To assist in 



