June, 1910.] 



S47 



Miscellaneous, 



Staff. 



Dr. Willis, Organizing Vice-President, 

 who was absent from the Island on leave 

 since April of last year, resumed duties 

 on February 17 of this year, and relieved 

 Mr. R. H. Lock, who had been acting 

 for him. 



The number of Agricultural In- 

 structors remains as before, viz., three 

 for the Sinhalese and two for the Tamil 

 Districts. 



The question of appointing additional 

 instructors, who are much needed, is 

 awaiting the elaboration of the scheme 

 for establishing Model and Experimental 

 Gardens. It is very desirable that there 

 should be at least one instructor for 

 each Province. 



In addition to the itinerations of the 

 Agricultural Instructors, the Secretary 

 as well as the Officiating Vice-President 

 did a considerable amount of travel- 

 ling on inspection duty during the year. 



In December last the Secretary, ac- 

 companied by Messrs. N. Wickremaratne 

 andS. Chelliah, Agricultural Inst ructors, 

 spent a fortnight in Southern India, 

 visiting, among other places of interest, 

 the Experimental Station at Koilpati 

 and the Sivagiri Home Farm, The short 

 tour was full of interest and instruction, 

 and formed the subject of a special re- 

 port by the Secretary. Every facility 

 was provided by Mr. Sampson, Deputy 

 Director of Agriculture for the Southern 

 Division, and Mr. Lonsdale, Agricul- 

 tural Expert to the Court of Wards, 

 for inspecting the farms and gathering 

 all necessary information on the spot 

 with the ready assistance of the farm 

 managers. 



Branch Societies. 



The Branch Societies as a whole have 

 not furthered the work of the Society 

 to the extent they should have done. 

 Some indeed have been quite dormant, 

 but it is satisfactory to be able to make 

 a good report of others. The lack of 

 activity in the former must be attri- 

 buted to the want of initiative and en- 

 thusiasm on the part of those who con- 

 stitute the Committee, since it should 

 be quite possible for one Society to do 

 the work that another is doing if the 

 same forces are at work. Facile princeps 

 among these branches is the Dumbara 

 Society, of which the Hon. the Govern- 

 ment Agent of the Central Province is 

 Patron ; Mr. William Dunuwille, Disawa, 

 President ; Mr. R. E. Paranagama, 

 Ratemahatmaya, Vice-President ; and 

 Mr. C, Rasanayagam, Honorary Secret- 

 ary and Treasurer. It has a member- 

 ship of 201 subscribers, and at the end 

 of laat year had a fair balance in hand, 



after meeting the expenses of the year. 

 It is actively interesting itself in the 

 improvement of paddy, cotton, tobacco, 

 fruit, and vegetable cultivation; it 

 holds periodical shows and regular meet- 

 ings (at a meeting held on March 12 

 150 members were present), and has done 

 conspicuous work in connection with a 

 co-operative movement, which is referred 

 to elsewhere. 



I lately had an opportunity of per- 

 sonally following the Society's oper- 

 ations into the farthest limits of Uda 

 Dumbara, and am convinced that it is 

 working on sound lines, and has suc- 

 ceeded in awakening in the people a 

 practical interest in agriculture. If 

 every branch had as much enterprise 

 and steadiness of purpose as the Dum- 

 bara Society, the interests of the agri- 

 cultural masses would be well looked 

 after. 



Shows. 



Shows were held at Galle, Kegalla, 

 Telijjawila, Mirigama, Hanguranketa, 

 Bellana, Nuwara Eliya, and Pannala. 

 The Galle, Nuwara Eliya, and Kegalla 

 shows were on a large scale. That at 

 Mirigama was purely a school garden 

 show, held under the auspices of the 

 Government Teachers' Union, and proved 

 an unqualified success. The presence of 

 His Excellency the Governor and a num- 

 ber of visitors from Colombo was a great 

 encouragement to both the teachers and 

 scholars who participated in the under- 

 taking. The rest of the shows were on a 

 small scale, and confined entirely to 

 village produce. The value of these 

 purely village shows is now fully re- 

 cognized, and quite a long list of them 

 appears in the 1910 programme. 



Experimental Gardens. 



So far no settled scheme for organizing 

 and financing such gardens has been 

 adopted, and their initiation has hither- 

 to been mainly due to local effort. The 

 gardens at Bandaragama, Weragoda, 

 Balangoda, and Rajakadaluwa began in 

 this way, and have been maintained 

 with some assistance from the Society. 

 In all an attempt is being made to show 

 the best way of cultivating garden 

 crops, and to introduce new varieties of 

 useful plants ; but the garden at Raja- 

 kadaluwa is also carrying on an experi- 

 ment in the continuous cultivation of 

 chena crops accordiug to a four-course 

 rotation, consisting of grain, legume, 

 root crop, and cotton, each in turn 

 occupying a fourth of the area given to 

 the experiment, which, as it is continued 

 year by year, should furnish a valuable, 

 object-lesson to the cultivator, 



