August, 1912.] 



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obstacles from the path of nature and Riving her rein. We should endeavour to 

 secure as far as we can that nature has full scope for the use of her vast resources 

 with each individual tree in the plantation, and that each individual tree is given 

 full play for the utmost exercise of its functions. After that we may begin 

 cautiously to offer her assistance with such puny means as we have at our disposal, 

 being ever watchful that, instead of helping her, we may not be hampering her. 



Agricultural Education. 

 I now come tc agricultural education, i.e., agricultural instruction of the native 

 population of Ceylon to which (as His Excellency has remarked) the new Depart- 

 ment will also have to devote its attention. The improving of native methods of 

 agriculture, it is thought by some, is a disappointing task to undertake ; but it is a 

 movement we cannot resist. The British Empire and all countries with responsi- 

 bilities in the tropics are taking it up and it appears to me that in Ceylon we have 

 got material to work upon which compares very favourably with that of some 

 other countries that I know. But in approaching this question of agricultural 

 education we should make up our minds rot to expect results too soon. How long 

 has it taken Hodge in England to capitulate to scientific agriculture ? He is slowly 

 giving in, but he is not by any means completely conquered yet, though more than 

 two centuries have elapsed since Jethro Tull published his book on "Horse-hoeing 

 Husbandry." Let us not forget that till the dawn of the eighteenth century we 

 ourselves remained in outer darkness. In one respect I notice the native races of 

 Ceylon ahead of the native races of East Africa, namely, in the knowledge that 

 manure promotes plant growth, and, speaking under correction, I believe this is 

 due, at least to some extent, to the teaching they are receiving in the school gardens 

 and through the instructors of the Agricultural Society. 



In East Africa 



natives understand nothing about manures and I have never seen goat or cattle 

 manure used in their gardens. In a visit I recently paid to a school garden I was 

 quite struck by the knowledge some of the boys displayed about the value 

 of manuring. 



Next to securing ourselves against disappointment and despair by making 

 up our minds to be patient and remember that " by slow degrees we reach the steep 

 declivities of time," 1 place the importance of becoming thoroughly acquainted with 

 native methods. 



In most respects,— not in all, because in some cases, as for example manures, 

 ignorance alone has been the obstacle— but in most respects native customs are 

 the outcome of long experience, of particular physical constitution, of village or 

 domestic circumstances, and hence are not to be hastily condemned. 



The writer of " Romans " said that tribulation worketh patience ; and pati- 

 ence experience ; and experience hope ; and I should like to relate a story of tribula- 

 tion in which I was concerned because it led on to useful experience. 



Clove Planting in Zanzibar. 



When I first went to Zanzibar I laid out a clove plantation of 10,000 trees. 

 Every tree was planted under the supervision of an experienced English nurseryman. 

 The Arabs came to look at us and we felt we were providing them with a useful object 

 lesson ;— as indeed we were. When the trees were all planted and shaded, we waited 

 and watched while they began to die. In three months all had perished except 10 

 per cent. After that instead of the Arabs coming to look at us we went to look at 

 the Arabs. Not only in planting but in plucking and drying ; though we tried new 

 systems we had to go back to Arab methods and pick them up where they had 

 dropped them thirty years before when their supply of slaves began to decline and 

 their prosperity to wane. We improved upon them, but the methods were theirs, 



