163 



JOTJEKALj R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



relatives and children (who get no additional remuneration), 

 and no extra aid is called in unless the crop is really a 

 heavy one, and comes in with a rush; bat I have allowed 

 the fall charge in all cases. 



I will now pass to consider the quantity of paddy that can 

 be grown on an acre of land. But I must first point out 

 that the yield in Ceylon is generally spoken of by u fold," 

 and, ordinarily, without reference to the amount of seed 

 sown, or the mode of sowing adopted. In India the seed 

 is, I believe, invariably sown in small beds, and the plants 

 transferred when about a month old to the prepared land 

 in which they are to be matured. Under this system 50 to 

 60 pounds weight of paddy, or about an English bushel by 

 measurement, suffices to sow an acre of land. 



In Ceylon (except, perhaps, in Jaffna on a small scale) 

 this system is not followed. The seed is sown broadcast, and 

 in the Batticaloa District for the munmari without being 

 previously germinated, as usual in the Sinhalese districts. 

 This leads, I believe, to great waste, as much as 3| bushels 

 to the acre being, it is alleged, sown in some lands in Batti- 

 caloa, and nowhere less than two ; while in the Sinhalese 

 districts it takes six bushels to sow an amunam's extent, or 

 about 2J bushels to the acre. A return, therefore, which 

 might be termed one of 30-fold in India, would be equiva- 

 lent to one of 12 in most parts of Ceylon, and in some parts 

 to only 7^-fold. In examining the figures for Ceylon, 

 therefore, it will be well for purposes of comparison to 

 reduce the returns secured to the number of bushels of 

 paddy per acre. 



In Mannar, Baldseas speaks of a return of a 100-fold, 

 and Mr. De Hoedt, late Head Clerk of the District Kach- 

 cheri, and a landowner and practical cultivator, assures 

 me that in a favourable season (in the absence of proper 

 irrigation) he has ordinarily obtained a return of 30-fold on 

 a sowing of 3^ bushels, or over 100 bushels an acre ; and 

 that 25-fold or 87 bushels is the usual return cultivating 

 in the ordinary native way. 



In Matara, before irrigation was introduced, in favourable 

 localities a return of 30-fold or 75 bushels an acre was 

 admittedly obtained; and Mr. Dawson, in his reports as 

 Grain Commissioner, speaks of a similar return being 



