and Magazine of the Ceylon AgrioultuPal Society. 



very elaborate ligures are published below, 

 and Revenue Officers of the present day should 

 study and compare the three very different deli- 

 verances there put before them. In connection 

 with Sir Alexander Ashmore's deliverance on 

 paddy cultivation in 1890, and the very different 

 production also by a Civil Servant of the same 

 period, it is of intei-est to note what the Hon. 

 Mr. Fowler, c.m.g., said on this point, after 

 Sir Henry Blake's recent lecture in London. We 

 quote the passage bearing on " rice'': — 



"Mr. G. Mi Fowlku, c.m.g.: — There are 

 thousands of acres of fertile land lying under 

 tanks that have already been restored with the 

 view of reviving the cultivation of rice ; but lam 

 sorry to say the result has been a failure toa cer- 

 tain extent. It seems strange that the abolition 

 of the Paddy tax did not lead to a vast increase in 

 the area cultivated with rice : but that has not 

 been the case. There has been but a small 

 increase, if any, and 1 think the reasons are,first, 

 that rice is not a remunerative crop ; and, sec- 

 ondly, that the people who cultivate rice are a very 

 limited class — a class that gets smaller instead 

 of increasing, owing to the spread of education. 

 A so-called educated native considers it beneath 

 him to do manual labour and it is no unusual 

 thing for a father to be toiling in the fields to 

 support in idleness his educated son while the 

 latter is waiting for a post as clerk. Another 

 reason is that when the Paddy tax was in force 

 the headmen were greatly interested in extend- 

 ing its cultivation, for they received a commis- 

 sion on the tax collected by them. Now I am 

 afraid their interest has greatly decreased. I 

 should not like to be supposed to be advocating 

 the reimposition of the tax, but I do think it a 

 pity that vast areas of fertile land should be 

 left useless in the vain hope that they may some 

 day be utilised for paddy cultivation. If paddy 

 will pay when cultivated, we may be pretty cer- 

 tain someone will cultivate it ; but if it cannot 



ay it is better that the land should be culti- 

 vated with some other product. Sir John Keane 

 rather anticipated what I had to say about the 

 utilisation of land under tanks ; but I fear that 

 there is no more prospect of extension of rice 

 cultivation in Ceylon than there is of wheat in 

 England." 



This is rather discouraging ; but we have evi- 

 dence from several favourite districts of an eager 

 desire to take up irrigated or irrigable land for 

 rice cultivation in Ceylon. 



(Extracts from Kegalla Administration Report 

 for 1885.) 



Cost of Production of Rice in Kegalla 

 District. 



The cost of the production of rice is shown in 

 the tabulated replies to the following series of 

 questions. I have taken apela (i.e., about half-an- 

 acre) as representing the extent owned by the 

 ordinary villager ; — 



Questions. 



. S £ d « ■ ~? § 

 ~ <z?" o— °73 o art 



For one pela (half acre) 

 sown, how manypelas 

 (one-and-a-quarler 

 bushels)do you get at 

 the viaha harvest ? 12 



How many times do you 

 plough ? 3 



Before the ploughing*, 

 how many days' labour 

 of one man do you re- 

 quire fnr one pela, for 

 turning the water on 

 and off, clearing out 

 Channels, repairing the 

 ridges, kamatas, &c. ? 7 



How many days' labour 

 of one man do you re- 

 quire for one pela. for 

 all the ploughing, &c. ? 6 



How many buffaloes for 

 all the ploughings? .. 6 



Mow many days' labour 

 of one man do yon re- 

 quire for one pela for 

 the sowing and the 

 mammoty and smoothing 

 work and ridge cutting 

 connected therewith 1 11 



How many days' labour of 

 one man do you require 

 for turning the water on 

 and off, repairs, &c. and 

 general supervision un- 

 til harvest, that is seven 

 months 



How many days' labour 

 of women (and child- 

 ren) do you require 

 for weeding ? 



How m:<ny days' labour 

 for w itching at nights? 

 do do fencing 

 do do reaping 

 do do heaping, 

 tying and removing to 

 threshing-floor 



do for thresh- 

 ing and throwing on 

 straw, &c. 



How many buffaloes for 

 threshing? 



How many days' labour 

 of one man for heaping 

 up the the pa dy. win- 

 nowing and measuring 

 it? 



do. drying 

 do. removing crop to 



granary ? 



Total number of days' 

 labour of on i man re- 

 quired for one pela ! 



r e« g« 



KM 



Total number of pairs of 

 buffaloes for one pela? 9 



12 



3 



24 



21 



29 



21 





21 



20 



21 





15 



14 



10 



22 



15 



14 



15 



17 



25 



4 



4 



3 





3 



4 



7 



5 



6 



8 





5 



6 



5 



6 



6 



2 



2 





6 







6 



6 



S 



6 



6 



5 



6 







3 



3 



3 



3 



3 



s 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



119 



105 



112 



101 



96 



101 



9 



11 10 



RcKcBcBcBcRc 



Market value of paddy 



per pela .. l ro 1 50 1 50 1 50 1 25 1 25 



Total average value of 



c»' P 18 TO 18 00|18 00 18 00 10 03 12 50 



Deduct seed paddy ... 150 15!) 1|50 1 50 I 2S 125 



Total . .R16 50 lrt 50 10 50 W& 0£8 75 11 2i 



