THE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXXV. COLOMBO, AUGUST 15th, 1910. No. 2. 



AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED 

 STATES AND CANADA. II. 



When we turn to the consideration of 

 the other parts of the early colonies than 

 New England or the early English 

 settlements in Canada, a different story 

 has to be told, yet one that can be ex. 

 plained upon the same underlying 

 theory of agricultural progress. 



The early French settlements, for 

 example, were of a feudal nature, the 

 Seigneur having a grant of land, the 

 habitants renting portions of this by 

 payment of 10 per cent, upon their crops. 

 In this way the Seigneur was, of course, 

 like the Kandyan chief or the native 

 landowner in the old days, saved from 

 the necessity of doing any work himself, 

 and may to some extent be regarded as 

 a capitalist, but so long as payment is in 

 produce, and there is no trade, and 

 especially no foreign trade, large capi- 

 talists cannot grow up. In many ways, 

 with a feudal people, this may be re- 

 garded as an ideal stage of progress 

 at which to rest. For be it noted that 

 though this stage is in some ways an 

 advance upon the stage where all the 

 people own their land, grow what they 

 want, and consume what they grow, 

 it is none the less an advance into a cul- 

 de -sac, and almost bars the way to agri- 

 cultural progress, strictly so-called. 

 So long as the landowner is content to 



consume the produce ol his tenants, so 

 long need there be no progress in the 

 cultivation or preparation. The country 

 needs no roads, education is not wanted, 

 no money need be spent upon it. On 

 the other hand, the revenue must neces- 

 sarily be small, for there is nothing to 

 tax but the produce of the country, and 

 that must be exported to get any money, 

 or used in the country to pay for 

 services rendered to Government. 



Such a position of agriculture as that 

 just outlined becomes to a large extent 

 untenable when civilising influences, as 

 they are called, such as roads, education, 

 and the like, are brought to bear, and 

 to a non-recognition of this fact must 

 be largely ascribed the somewhat dev- 

 ious way in which agriculture has pro- 

 gressed in many lands. If the country 

 be "opened up," either (1) the old 

 system must break up, (2) a new 

 one must grow up beside it, by the 

 influx of foreign capitalists, or (3) the 

 expenditure on opening up must be 

 wasted. 



So long as the primitive system holds, 

 there is little necessity for money in the 

 country, and there will be but little 

 there, for exchange of produce serves 

 all the purposes for which money is 

 required. 



A country in which this seigneurial 

 system holds, will be, as we have said, 



