August, 1012.] 



126 



Faute de mieuxit is gratifying to learn 

 that the cultivators have in recent years 

 done earth work on 144 village tanks 

 irrigating 2,455 acres. 



In Giruwa Pattu East a beginning was 

 made with the Walawe scheme in 1886, 

 but it took over ten years to perfectly 

 complete the works which are now 

 reported to irrigate over 5,000 acres, 

 about one-seventh of which was opened 

 under the writer's personal supervision. 

 Magam Pattu. 



In Magam Pattu, though a beginning 

 was made so far back as 1871 on the 

 restoration of Tissawewa, when the 

 writer visited the village as Grain Com- 

 missioner in 1884, the area under paddy 

 was only 240 acres and subsequent 

 development was slow, but encouraging 

 under the favourable conditions then 

 prevailing, viz., cheap land and no water 

 rate. This latter concession continued 

 until 1894, since which a maintenance 

 rate has been levied on land purchased 

 prior to that year and a rate of 

 Re. 1 per acre on any subsequently 

 acquired. Under these conditions the 

 cultivated area increased to 5.1C3 acres by 

 1906, and this has necessitated a large 

 additional outilay on works, amounting 

 altogether to Rs. 340,110 to end of 1906, 

 but of this Rs. 119,000 has been recouped 

 by the sale of the land benefitted. 

 Production. 



Under the circumstances detailed 

 above the increase in production in the 

 district as a whole was slow until 1888-92 

 when it reached 277,000 B. P., since which 

 however it has risen rapidly up to 841,000 

 bushels in 1903-7, with a maximum of 

 996,000 in 1905. To these later figures the 

 Tissa lands have contributed very largely 

 according to the Assistant Agent's report, 

 viz., 480,076 bushels off 4,319 acres in 

 1905 and 530,780 bushels off 5,928 acres 

 in 1907, Apparently these are not 

 bureaucratic estimates, but the usual and 

 ordinary headmen's returns, and the area 

 stated was probably twice cultivated 

 within the year but only once enumer- 

 ated, while the crops are of course the 

 aggregate of both harvests. If this con- 

 jecture is correct the yield was 22 bushels 

 per acre, but under any circumstances 41 



bushels per acre is by no means an improb- 

 able return, as the land is known to be 

 very fertile and a good deal of it new. 

 The weather conditions appear from the 

 same report to have been favourable in 

 the Magam Pattu, though very adverse in 

 Giruwa Pattu East, where the crops in 

 the above years have consequently failed 

 to a very large extent. 



On Irrigation in the Hambantota 

 district the total outlay (inclusive of 

 that in Sir H. Ward's regime) is Rs. 

 1,135,378 and the extent benefitted 29,407 

 acres. Of the land sold in the early 

 sixties under Kirema and Urubokka 

 there is no record, but it was I am aware 

 considerable and probably equalled the 

 original outlay on both works (Rs. 86,000), 

 so this amount may be struck off both 

 sides of the account. The subsequent 

 sales have brought in Rs 193,000 and 

 rates recovered amount to Rs 170,024 as 

 against Rs 135,144 expended on main- 

 tenance. So that the outstanding 

 balance at end of 1906 was about 

 Rs. 922,000 and represented the nett cost 

 of the works in this district. 



In this connection it is interesting to 

 note that one-tenth share of the average 

 Tissa crops for 1905-7 at Re. 1 per bushel 

 amounted to 20 % on the nett outlay on 

 the works. 



YELLOW TOBACCO AND TURKISH 

 TOBACCO. 



Notes on Cultivation. 

 The following notes on the growing 

 of Yellow Tobacco are furnished by Mr. 

 C. J. Monson in the Agricultural Jour- 

 nal of British East Africa :— 



The main requirement is a light, well- 

 drained soil ; even a comparatively poor 

 sand is to be preferred to a heavy soil. 

 Next the situation should be protected 

 from wind and the land clean and well 

 worked. 



The varieties best suited for yellow 

 tobacco are Hester, Goldfinder and Yel- 

 low Orinoco. 



