and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Auguut, 1912. 171 



the native are the important items of our equip- 

 ment. What now the line of attack ? In the 

 first place I would aim at improving existing 

 methods rather than aim at introducing new 

 ones, and I would apply this principle especi- 

 ally in the case of implements." 



The official dictum is, that when the people 

 of the country receive Western education, they 

 divorce themselves from their village brethren 

 and do not understand them as well as the 

 alien, ruling race, who generally converse with 

 them through Mudaliyars. My education must 

 be at fault because, though not Sinhalese or 

 Tamil, yet being a Ceylonese, I yield to no one 

 in my sympathy with the native agriculturists 

 and with a personal knowledge of them and 

 their methods. If Mr. Lyne, even through inter- 

 pretation, converses with the " goiya " and asks 

 him the reason for all he does, he will be sur- 

 prised at his knowledge of agriculture. His 

 methods are the concentrated experience of 

 ages, and he will give a reason for all he does. 



The opinions of Mr. Lyne as to the kind of 

 'plough for paddy-fields, which should replace the 

 one that has been handed to goiyas from the 

 remote ages, are practical and sound. Has he 

 seen the Indian plough ? It is made by the vil- 

 lage artisans, and is as simple in construction as 

 is our native plough, but is many times more 

 effective in the quality and quantity of the work 

 it does than is our plough. Mr. Drieberg intro- 

 duced light iron ploughs which are almost as 

 easy to handle and carry as the native plough, 

 and is being used largely in the Hambantota 

 District, thanks to Mr. Wolff, who has, unfor- 

 tunately for the Island, severed his connection 

 with the Civil Service. Have these ploughs 

 come under the notice of Mr. Lyne? I did not 

 notice them at the Show. Then there is another 

 plough, the invention, I believe, of Muhandiram 

 Rodrigo. It is the native plough with a mould 

 board attached to it. Exactly what I told Mr. 

 Green should replace the native plough. It is 

 of local manufacture. Has this been shewn to 

 Dr. Lyne ? 



Dr. Voelcker was sent to India to report on 

 Agriculture and to suggest reforms. He was of 

 the same sympathetic nature as is Mr. Lyne- 

 After many months of study he came to the 

 conclusion that European methods of Agricul- 

 ture cannot be introduced into India in their 

 entirety. Conditions were dissimilar. He was 

 surprised at the knowledge of agriculture the 

 ryots possessed. They had very good reasons 

 for all their methods. He had very good Bug- 

 aeatioua to make. 



There are a few things the goiya should be 

 taught and by object lessons. His fields should 

 be dry-fallowed. He should not mud-plough 

 his fields as now, but should dry-plough them, 

 turning the surface soil over completely so that 

 the soil should be thoroughly aerated and the 

 surface vegetation decayed. After the clods 

 are completely broken up, he should let water 

 into his fields. This is done in Southern India. 

 The fields are ploughed in anticipation of the 

 rains and not as in Ceylon after the rains. This 

 is possible with the Indian and not with the 

 Ceylon plough. He should be taught to have 

 " dirt in the right places," that is in his 

 fields, as is done in Southern India and in the 

 Northern Peninsula here. All the sweepings, 

 cattle droppings, old thatches from the roofs 

 of houses, and in fact, everything is made into a 

 big heap and carted to the fields and spread 

 on the surface and ploughed in. The same 

 with green leaves. The Qoiya should be taught 

 all this, as well as the benefits of hand planting 

 paddy. His nursery should be growing while 

 his fields are being prepared. 



In this connection I must remark that as far 

 as I can remember, comparisons are always insti- 

 tuted in the increase in fold between sown and 

 planted paddy. The comparison should be in 

 the yield in bushels. 



Mr Lyne has a very big task before him. 

 He can accomplish much, as he has sympathy 

 with native methods, and has already com- 

 pletely grasped the situation. He has an able 

 lieutenant in the person of Mr C Drieberg, the 

 Superintendent of School Gardens. 



That he may be successful is the ardent wish of 



B. 



RUBBER PL ANTING IN BRAZIL. 



Rio De Janeiro, April 12.— The commis- 

 sioners appointed by the Minster of Agriculture 

 to look into conditions on the Amazon Valley 

 have now reported that there is a movement in 

 favour of rubber planting in those regions. 

 There has been a great deal of dilatoriness 

 about this matter. Had a solid planting cam- 

 paign been started some years ago Brazil's posi- 

 tiou today would be much better. As it is she 

 will have a long way to go to catch up the 

 Eastern planters. Her own stock of wild rub- 

 ber, though still very large, is not inexhaustible 

 while contracts made some years ago requiring 

 fine hard Para from Brazil are now running out 

 and as likely as not will be renewed for piano 

 tation rubber instead of for wild. The outlook 

 is not reassuring.— London Timm, Supplement 

 May 90. 



