October, 1910.] 



855 



Miscellaneous, 



Ontario is ceasing to take any great 

 part in the production of the cereal 

 foods for selling from the farm. We are 

 now looking more to stock raising and 

 dairying, and while this process has 

 been growing, the College and the 

 Experimental Union have a mission to 

 perform. Ex-students and students have 

 a part in this work, and we realise that 

 we have been playing their part in 

 educating the average farmer and show- 

 ing how he can get better results for 

 his labour. Farming is not just the 

 production of wheat, but there is an 

 art in agriculture and a science that 

 needs care and deep study if we are to 

 get the very best results. 



Possibly that part of the president's 

 address which deals with Co-operation 

 is one of the most striking features. 

 Co-operation in experimenting reaches 

 the farmer and shows him the advan- 

 tages that are to be derived from a more 

 thorough study of crops and a better 

 system of cropping. 



I would like to impress upon the 

 students, especially the fresh men, that 

 they should attend the Experimental 

 Union, and should not be backward in 

 getting up and asking questions. The 

 result to be obtained by these meetings 

 largely depends upon the interest the 

 audience takes in them, and the ques- 

 tions that are asked and the discussion 

 of the various papers and subjects that 

 are brought before us. The reports of 

 the experimental work that has been 

 carried on throughout the Province by 

 Professor Zavitz are very important, 

 and we will have a meeting of the Union 

 that will go down to history as a success- 

 ful one, if we all do our part in asking 

 questions and in getting and giving all 

 the information possible. 



I am sure I am very pleased to be here 

 this aftenoon. I am looking forward 

 to these meetings of the Experimental 

 Union with great interest as I have al- 

 ways done in the past- I come back 

 year after year and find that with every 

 year I get some new ideas in agriculture 

 by rubbing up against those who have 

 been working out problems for them- 

 selves- I gain information that is of value 

 to me, not only from a practical nature 

 but from a social and educational stand- 

 point. I trust we will all get splendid 

 results from this meeting, and that the 

 subjects brought up will be discussed 

 freely and intelligently. 



The President : I am very glad that 

 Mr. Henry emphasised that last point, 

 because I think the success of a meeting 

 depends upon the audience largely. We 

 want a full and free discussion and we 



invite all to take part. If you do not 



ask questions, you may be keeping 



back some thought which would be of 

 much value to others. 



SOME NEEDS OP VILLAGE 

 AGRICULTURE. 



(Prom the Ceylon Independent, 

 16th September, 1910,) 

 Papers read at meetings of the Ceylon 

 Agricultural Society about new methods 

 in agriculture, the introduction of new 

 products which villagers might cultivate, 

 and more especially the holding of Agri- 

 cultural Shows in villages in which 

 villagers may compete, have no doubt 

 tended to give some impetus to village 

 agriculture. The Society has not, how- 

 ever, succeeded in thoroughly rousing 

 villagers to make use of those means 

 which are at their very doors for making 

 life more comfortable and their house- 

 holds more prosperous. This is not due 

 entirely to the conservatism of villagers 

 or their inveterate apathy. Its causes 

 are to be found more especially in two 

 facts which are well-known to every 

 one who has any acquaintance with village 

 life in this country. The first of these 

 is the depredations of the village thief 

 of prsedial products, and the second 

 is the lack of capital, which is a chronic 

 complaint among most villagers. When 

 they are asked why they do not keep 

 poultry or raise vegetables which find 

 a ready market in towns, the most 

 usual reply is that hen-roosts are robbed 

 by village thieves and the result of 

 many weeks' labour in raising vegetables 

 enrich only the lazy vagabonds of a 

 village, while the cultivator himself 

 gets nothing. The villager, therefore, 

 becomes disheartened and apathetic and 

 prefers idleness to unproductive labour. 

 He will not do any more work than 

 he is absolutely obliged to do. When 

 fields are not sown twice in the year, 

 and inquiry is made, the reply given 

 in most cases is that there is no seed 

 paddy which could be had at a reason- 

 able rate of interest. A crop might fail, 

 and the villager who sows his field 

 twice in the year might, as the result 

 of his industry, find himself deeper in 

 debt than when he was content with 

 only one harvest in the year. The towns- 

 man who does not know the worries 

 of village life, puts down the unwilling- 

 ness of the villager to work to apathy, 

 idleness and general lack of enterprise. 

 But the two chief causes at work are 

 those we have mentioned above. It is 

 surprising that the Ceylon Agricultu- 

 ral Society and its branches, which are. 



