Miscellaneous, 



542 



[December, 1910. 



Mr. N. Wiekremaratne has been busily- 

 engaged at Tissa during October and 

 November supervising the ploughing of 

 fields for the maha crop, assisted by 

 Mr. N, M. Jayasuriya,' Probationary 

 Instructor. 



Mr. S. Chelliah, Agricultural Instruc- 

 tor of the Northern Province, who was 

 at Tissa at the commencement of the 

 work there, gave a ploughing demons- 

 tration at Mannar, and is by now on his 

 way to the Eastern Province, where he 

 will be engaged in similar work, assisted 

 by Mr, Sathasivam, Agricultural Ins- 

 tructor. 



Mr. S. R. Breckenridge, who is station- 

 ed at Chilaw, and is in charge of the 

 Rajakadaluwa garden, itinerated in the 

 district, giving instruction in connection 

 with paddy, cotton, and tobacco culti- 

 vation. 



Mr. W. Molegode, whose headquarters 

 are at the Peradeniya Silk Farm, visited 

 Wanni hatpattu and held ploughing 

 demonstrations at different centres. He 

 also visited Galabewa, Teldeniya, Gunne- 

 pana, Doragamuwa, Panwila, Morape, 

 and Doluwa, 



Improved Implements in Paddy Culti- 

 vation'— The preparation of land for 

 the maha crop at Tissamaharama has 

 been going on since the beginning of 

 October, and two agricultural Instruc- 

 tors have been put on special duty to 

 assist the cultivators in the use of light 

 iron ploughs. The extensive area under 

 cultivation is just now the scene of great 

 activity, and has been visited by the 

 Assistant Government Agent, Hamban- 

 tota, the Assistant Director of the 

 Botanic Gardens, and the Secretary of 

 the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



The Assistant Government Agent, 

 Hambantota, reports under date of 

 November 14 as follows: — "I have the 

 honour to inform you that the progress 

 of the ploughing operations at Tissa- 

 maharama has, on the whole, been most 

 encouraging, The new rule, making 

 ploughing or work with the mamoty 

 compulsory for the first cultivation, 

 except in fields exempted by me, has 

 resulted in a considerable amount of 

 ploughing. It is extremely unfortunate 

 chat the prolonged drought caused con- 

 siderable difficulty at the beginning of 

 the cultivation season. There was very 

 little water in the tanks at the begin- 

 ning of October, and even now the con- 

 dition of the tanks in this respect is 

 not satisfactory. Despite the fact that 

 the Irrigation Engineer has done every- 

 thing in his power to meet the difficulty 

 caused by the failure of the rains, a 

 certain number of persons were unable 



to begin ploughing owing to the want 

 of water. I have visited Tissa three 

 times during the present cultivation, 

 and inspected most of the land which is 

 being ploughed. A considerable acre- 

 age has been, and is being, cultivated 

 with the improved ploughs. Your 

 Instructor, Mr. Wiekremaratne, esti- 

 mates that about forty of these ploughs 

 are continually in use. There are also 

 many native ploughs in use. A remark- 

 able feature of this cultivation is the 

 great improvement in much of the 

 ploughing, when compared with the 

 work done a year ago. Much of the 

 ploughing is still of the poorest, though 

 this is scarcely to be wondered at, when 

 it is considered that even the native 

 plough was practically unknown at 

 Tissa a year ago ; but many of the culti- 

 vators who began to use the English 

 plough last year evince a far higher 

 interest and greater skill in the work 

 than in 1909. As you will remember, we 

 discussed the difficulty of smoothing 

 the field after ploughing when I met 

 you at Tissa last month, and we 

 tried a new cultivator brought by you. 

 I again tried this cultivator and other- 

 methods in company with the Assistant 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. 

 I am afraid that the cultivator is not a 

 success. At the suggestion of the Assis- 

 tant Director careful cross-ploughing 

 was tried by us, and, on the whole, I 

 think that this has so far proved the 

 most successful solution of the difficulty. 

 I again have to thank your Society for 

 lending me the services of two In- 

 structors, and I (fesire to take the oppor- 

 tunity of bringing to your nctice the 

 good work done by Mr. Wiekremaratne. 

 He displayed an interest in all agri- 

 cultural matters at Tissa, which it is a 

 pleasure to see. I may add that at the 

 beginning of the cultivation I found that 

 out of the ploughs purchased last year 

 forty-six were still serviceable. Thirty 

 new ploughs have been purchased 

 through me for this cultivation. It is also 

 an encouraging sign that some persons 

 have, I understand, ordered ploughs 

 themselves direct from Colombo." 



The Assistant Government Agent, 

 Mannar, writing on November 11, reports 

 as follows:—" I have the honour to report 

 that a very successful ploughing demon- 

 stration was held in this district on the 

 8th and 9th instant (the first of a series 

 of three such which have been arranged) 

 under the supervision of Mr. S. Chelliah, 

 Agricultural Instructor, Northern Prov- 

 ince, The plough which came out by 

 far the best was the * Pony ' plough ; the 

 ' Meston ' plough (left-handed, and with 

 short, blunt share) was not a succees. nor 



