TECH! 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXXV. COLOMBO, JULY 15th, 1910, No. 1. 



AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED 

 STATES AND CANADA. I. 



A careful study of the history of agri- 

 culture in these two great countries re- 

 veals much that is of interest and 

 importance to the student of agricul- 

 tural progress in the tropics. We shall 

 deal first with the north. 



Starting upon a practically virgin 

 country, and with but little capital, the 

 first settlers in New England and Canada 

 made clearings which may almost be 

 regarded as chenas, and upon these they 

 grew what they required for immediate 

 use— they did not trouble about export 

 or even exchange of products till later. 

 The great distinction between these 

 early clearings and chenas must be 

 clearly pointed out at the start, however, 

 The early colonists thoroughly under- 

 stood that in the sweat of their brow 

 they must eat bread, and they worked 

 hard at the land, did not open more 

 than they could manage, and kept it 

 clear of weeds and regularly cultivated. 

 The tropical chena-cultivator does not 

 do this, and the reasons why the Ameri- 

 can did it, and the Sinhalese or Tamil 

 does not, are interesting. In the former 

 case the great risk from Red Indians to 

 anyone venturing away from the settle- 

 ments probably prevented mere chena. 

 In Ceylon this risk is not present, and 



chena is only given up when the man is 

 forced to it by increasing pressure of 

 population. 



Slowly these early settlers in New 

 England and Canada progressed, and by 

 degrees, as they ceased all to grow the 

 same things and began to exchange pro- 

 ducts, merchants and small capitalists 

 rose among them. After a while export 

 trade began, the people ceasing to grow 

 merely what they themselves wanted, 

 and with this the rise of the larger 

 capitalist became possible. But he could 

 only begin to engage in agriculture as 

 there arose, to match him, a poorer 

 population with no lauded property, 

 upon which he could draw for his labour 

 supply. This poorer population has 

 always been small in America until 

 recently, and the result has been a 

 great stimulus to labour saving, and the 

 invention of much clever machinery for 

 the purpose. A whole sermon might be 

 preached upon this text, but we must 

 now follow the main line of argument. 



After a long period of slow growth, 

 the great West began to be opened up, 

 and into it flocked the poorer folk from 

 the East ; and again, with danger of 

 Red Indians hanging over them, the 

 people kept in close settlements and did 

 not chena casually in the forests. They 

 grew what they wanted, and consumed, 

 by themselves or in their immediate 



