SEPTEMBER, 1008.] 



275 



Miscellcmeous. 



While concluding our observations on 

 these "rudely caroll'd chiming phrase, in 

 uncouth rhymes, we cannot but admire them 

 for the broad commonsense, and the keen 

 observative nature they sometimes display. 

 These also give an insight into the character 

 of our peasants. Though prejudiced and 

 imbued with a firm belief in fatality which is 

 ingrained in an oriental nature, they have 

 sense enough not to be solely guided by 

 these sayings, however oracular they may be 

 represented. No cultivator would hopelessly 

 give up his plough, though in the coming 

 Bengalee year "Saturn is the king and Mars 

 his minister, and in vain would one hoe and 

 plough," rather should he join ia the pious 

 prayer of our fathers in the holy Rig Veda, 

 "Sweet be our crops, sweet be our cattle." — 

 Agrieidtnral Journal of India, Vol. Ill,, 

 Part II., April, 1908. 



AGRICULTURAL BOARD. 



Minutes op the 41st Meeting. 

 {Ceylon Observer, Aug. 3rd.) 

 PAPERS ON "THE VILLAGE CULTI- 

 VATOR AND PADDY CULTIVATION": 

 AND; " VERMIN DESTRUCTION." 

 The monthly meeting of the Ceylon Agri 

 cultural Society was held in the Council 

 Chamber on the 3rd August, 1908, under the 

 presidency of H. E. the Governor. 



Agricultural Instruction. 



Dr. Willis, in submitting the Report of the 

 Special Committee on Agricultural Instruc- 

 tion, said: — The Committee had met on t wo 

 or three occasions and had discussed the 

 matter very fully ; had also paid a visit to the 

 School Garden at Mirigama. The school in 

 that district was, he added, one of the best 

 within easy reach of Colombo. The Report 

 was as follows : — 



Report op the Committee on School 

 Gardens and Agricultural Education : 

 Appointed by the Ceylon Agricultural 

 Society, &c, &c. 



1. We recommend that the Director, Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, by whose Department the 

 School Gardens are now worked, be requested 

 to apply to Government for the following 

 additions to his votes, viz., (a) Rs. 1,000 under 

 the head of implements, to permit of the 

 extension of the scheme to a larger number 

 of Government and Grant-in-aid Schools ; 

 (b) Rs. 1,000 under the head of prizes, in order 

 to give greater encouragement to teachers 

 in charge of School Gardens ; (c) Rs. 1,000 for 

 providing a special course of lectures in 

 Nature Teaching to be delivered annually to 

 teachers at the Training College, on similar 

 lines to the lectures to teachers on Sanitation, 

 which are given annually at the Medical 

 College. 



■2. That Dr. Willis and Mr. Lock be asked 

 to prepare a Manual giving materials for 

 lessons on Nature Study, to be translated into 

 Sinhalese, for use by teachers in the lower 

 standards of Vernacular Schools, and that 

 Mr. Drieberg be asked to prepare an Agri- 

 cultural Reader suitable for Ceylon, to be 

 translated into Sinhalese for use in the upper 

 Standards. 



3. That in certain schools where special 

 facilities favour this departure, more definite 

 agricultural teaching (illustrated by practical 

 experiments) be provided for boys in the fifth 

 and higher Standards, and that, with a view 

 to assisting and encouraging their work, the 

 Agricultural Society and local authorities be 

 asked to offer prizes for competition among 

 the boys. 



I. That the course for teachers at the 

 Training College be expanded so as to include 

 instruction in Nature Teaching, and that as 

 soon as one is available, a suitable man lie 

 appointed to carry on regular instruction in 

 the College and act as an organising inspector. 



5. That a School of Agriculture be started 

 at Peradeniya, as soon as practicable, with a 

 view to undertaking the Training of Agricul- 

 tural Instructors, and when this is done that 

 a practical coxirse in the vernacular, consisting 

 chiefly of field work, should be combined 

 with it l or the benefit of candidates nominated 

 for Village Headmenships, twenty-five to be 

 trained at one time for a period of one year. 



The Committee desires to express their 

 thanks to Mr, E. Evans and Mr. W. A. de 

 Silvafor their valuable suggestions. — (Signed) 

 J. Harward, John C. Willis, S. D. Banda- 



RANAIKE, P. ARUNACHALAM, S. C. OBEYESE- 



kere, H. Marcus Fernando. 



A Point of Order. 

 The Colonial Secretary: — Before any 

 membennoves the adoption of the Report, 

 may I ask whether it is any part of the pro- 

 vince of the Society to recommend the 

 expenditure of Government money. No one 

 could have a greater sympathy than I have 

 with agricultural instruction throughout the 

 schools of the Colony. I think that a system 

 of instruction such as is already now being 

 inaugurated and now- in progress is very 

 much needed in an agricultural colony such 

 as ours, and that the benefits likely to accrue 

 from it should probably be very great. At 

 the same time I may make it clear that it is 

 for this Society not only to suggest expendi- 

 ture but even to name the amount which it 

 considers should be provided, if the Society 

 was itself a contributor to that expenditure — 

 it would certainly be absolutely within its 

 rights; but when it is being startlingly gener- 

 ous with other people's money, we must begin 

 to question how far it is justified in the action 

 it takes. I would ask the members to bear 

 that in mind before they adopt the Report of 

 the Special Committee. 



