and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



507 



A COTTON GROWSNG INDUSTRY FOR 

 CEYLON: 



WHAT WAS EXPECTED 50 YEARS) AGO. 



It is very encouraging to find that hard-headed 

 men of business, who have looked into the ques- 

 tion, consider there is a good prospect of Ceylon- 

 developing in the near future a very considerable 

 cotton-growing industry. When a Manchester 

 house, through its Colombo branch, contemplate 

 the erection of a Cotton ginning Factory in 

 Colombo (including a 24 horse power engine and 

 6 gins to begin with), it is evident that there 

 must be a full expectation of an appreciable 

 local crop of cotton to cope with. Reliable re- 

 ports, indeed, indicate that the planting of 

 cotton is extending, no doubt, in native gardens; 

 for, after all, in Ceylon as throughout the cotton 

 districts of India, the cultivation is one specially 

 suited to the natives, both the owners of, and 

 labourers on, the fields. In past centuries, 

 Ceylon— in the East and North especially — grew 

 a notable quantity of cotton to supply the local 

 spinners and weavers, and "Batticaloa cotton 

 goods ' — towellings and such like — were known 

 and appreciated even by householders in 

 Colombo up to quite a recent date. Well, 

 even now, there are quite a number of '• looms 

 for cotton worked in both the Eastern and 

 Northern Provinces— perhaps, 600 looms in the 

 former and 400 in the latter— and there are a 

 few in the Southern and North- Western Pro- 

 vinces. To keep these working, there must, of 

 course, be a certain quantity of the raw product 

 harvested ; but it is, probably, of an inferior 

 quality, except so far as good seed may have 

 been distributed and been utilised. Cotton 

 cultivation is peculiarly adapted in Ceylon to 

 the Tamil districts, and it would be strange if the 

 Tamil people here could not succeed, when 

 once they turn their attention to it, with an in- 

 dustry which prevails so largely in the Tamil 

 districts of Southern India. Cotton has been 

 grown on the black soil of Tinnevelly for more 

 than a thousand years uninterruptedly. No 

 doubt, tho cotton growing experiment in the 

 North-Central Province under the direction of 

 Dr. Willis, and to which Mr. Mee was attached 

 (until he was transferred to the Gangaruvva 

 Experimental Station) must have proved an 

 excellent object-lesson and encouraged cotton- 

 growing among the people ot the district, if not 

 of the province. 



But we are not to-day to enter further on the 

 consideration of the present state of the in- 

 dustry ; but rather to draw attention to some 

 curious information on the subject which has 

 come into our hands and which is probably 

 quite unknown to the preseut generation. 

 Amotg early write-s was the well known 

 Ceylonese naturalist, Dr. Kelaart, who pub- 

 lished " Notes on the Cultivation of Cotton in 

 Ceylon " so far back as 1854. This was followed 

 in 1856 by some very praot'cal "Notes" pre- 

 pared by Mr. J. A. Caley, a thoughtful mernber 

 of the Public Works Department, stationed at 

 Peradeniya. He gathered his information from 

 a Tinnevelly authority of prolonged experience, 

 and without entering into details, we may men- 

 tion that the yields of clean cotton per acre 

 ho gave varied from 100 to 150 lb., but there 



was 75 per cent of seed to 25 of cotton. Later 

 on, in 1809, Mr. Caley amplified his information 

 into a "Report" which he had published in 

 Manchester with some thirteen pages of letter- 

 press and two elaborate appendices — one, a 

 sketch map of " the cotton-producing districts 

 of Ceylon" which simply showed "Coffee" as 

 appertaining to the South- West quarter of the 

 island; while "Cotton" (in large letters) is 

 printed from Jaffna to Arugam bay, and has 

 indeed allotted to it more than three-fuurths of 

 the area of the island ! Mr. Caley drew a 

 number of dotted lines from the interior con- 

 verging on a series of sea-ports to show how 

 the cotton produce of these respective districts 

 could be conveyed to the coast for shipment. 

 In the way Trincoinaloe, Batticaloa, Arugam 

 Bay, and Hambantota were in the East and 

 South to represent considerable cotton-growing 

 areas ; while ot; the West and North, Chilaw, 

 Puttalam, Mannar aud two ports on the Jaffna 

 Peninsula were similarly favoured. In addition 

 to this sketch-map, Mr. Caley provided a very 

 elaborate table, m map form, "showing the 

 cotton-growing districts in the island of 

 Ceylon"; and here the Western and Central 

 Provinces are tabulated as well as the Northern, 

 Eastern, Southern and North-Western Pro- 

 vinces. 



COTTON GROWING IN CEYLON: 



FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW. 



The headings to Mr. Caley's table, showing the 

 cotton-growing districts in Ceylon, will indicate 

 the elaborate nature of his enquiry aud report, 

 file columns represent first the principal native 

 districts where cotton is grown, the divisions of 

 the said districts, then the principal places 

 (villages) where the cultivation is situated, and 

 next the principal places where the cotton is 

 spun or woven. We have also columns for "prob- 

 able quantity grown," "process of cultivation," 

 " time it takes to maturity," "description of 

 soil best suited for cotton, black or red," "kind 

 of insects that destroy tho crop," " probable 

 value per pound with seeds in it " with " value 

 when the seeds have been extracted," and, 

 finally, a column for " remarks." We submit 

 that on the same basis and with the precedent 

 herewith afforded, the several Government and 

 Assistant Government Agents concerned might 

 well institute an enquiry through their head- 

 men at the present time, aud report how 

 far the cultivation has boon maintained, ex- 

 tended or abandoned. Even in regard to 

 the native districts selected by Mr. Caley, 

 it is n >t to be supposed that he was able 

 to collect much information in some cases. 

 There are a number of blanks in the columns ; 

 but, on the whole, a large amount of interest- 

 ing information is brought together, and the 

 Directors of the Agricultural Society might, 

 in connection with a present-day Inquiry, 

 republish with advantage the table and 

 report of 1856. Curiously enough, the Central 

 Province (which then included Uva and part 

 of the present North-Central Province) figures 

 as largely as any in respect of district and vil- 

 lage returns, but chiefly with reference to by- 

 gone cultivation necessary to secure clothing for 



