Miscellaneous, 



372 



[October, 1908. 



the commencement would be looked on with 

 disfavour by the generality of the people. 



The Government has with great liberality 

 caused the restoration of large Irrigation 

 Works, and thereby saved parts of the coun- 

 try from disastrous crises We find already 

 the beneficial results of such works in 

 enhancing the food supply in those districts, 

 and averting famine and epidemics. Large 

 expenditure has been incurred by the Govern- 

 ment in schemes of restoration and in 

 opening up new irrigation works. There 

 still remain, however, enormous tracts of 

 land suitable for paddy cultivation, which in 

 the olden days of the Sinhalese kings were 

 fully utilized by means of various devices and 

 contrivances for irrigating. The revival of 

 Sir Henry Ward's Minute for extension of 

 paddy cultivation axigurs well for the future. 

 But the extension of these irrigation works 

 would be like asking people to occupy empty 

 palaces, if they were not at the same time 

 provided with the means of obtaining the 

 necessary funds which are beyond their 

 reach. When the people have no means to 

 carry on effective works on their own lands, 

 they cannot be expected to do pioneer work 

 and undertake new enterprises without 

 adequate support. It is quite possible that a 

 fund created for the people on the lines 

 above suggested might, in course of time, 

 grow into such proportions as would enable 

 the carrying out of large and important 

 enterprises. 



A, DISSANAIKE, 

 Mudaliyar. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF IM- 

 PROVEMENTS INTO INDIAN 

 AGRICULTURE. 

 By D. Clouston, B.Sc, 

 (Deputy Director of Agriculture, 

 Central Provinces and Berar.) 

 (Continued from page 268,) 



Certain kinds of demonstration work can 

 be effectively carried out by means of an 

 itinerary staff. Here, again, the work is 

 most sure to prove futile unless precautions 

 be taken to employ the right class of men 

 for the work and to make all the arrangements 

 beforehand, by fixing definite centres and 

 definite dates for the demonstrations, and by 

 Securing the assistance of the District Officer 

 in intimating the same to the cultivators. 

 Good work has been done on these lines by 

 demonstrating the method of pickling juar to 

 prevent smut. The assistants deliver short 

 addresses at each centre, in which they 

 explain the advantage of using this fungicide, 

 and then proceed to give a practical demon- 

 stration of the method of applying it to the 



seed. Several cultivators are thoroughly 

 taught the process, and are then given free 

 of cost sufficient copper sulphate required to 

 pickle the quantity of juar seed which each 

 intends to sow. About 8 cwts. of copper- 

 sulphate were given out in this way last year 

 or sufficient to pickle about 200,000 lbs. of 

 seed. 



The department has successfully demon- 

 strated this process for several years, and its 

 advantages have been so fully recognised that 

 it has become a regular practice in certain 

 parts of the juar tract. Successful work on 

 similar lines has been done by sending 

 assistants on tour with selected new machines 

 and implements, which we believe to be 

 suitable for the tract. Here also it is neces- 

 sary to frame a definite programme with 

 fixed centres, such as large villages where 

 bazaars are held, where the assistant can stay 

 and work his machines for some days, rather 

 than wander about to a new village each day. 

 In this way a considerable demand has arisen 

 for some useful machines, such as winnowers 

 and fodder-cutters. A register of purchasers 

 should be maintained, and the department 

 should ascertain from time to time whether 

 the machine is working satisfactorily and 

 should assist in effecting any necessary 

 repairs. Failure has resulted in some cases, 

 where the purchaser has not known how to 

 work the machine properly, and it is now the 

 practice to try and induce a purchaser to 

 send a man to the agricultural station to be 

 taught the practical working of the imple- 

 ments that he desires to purchase. This is 

 very necessary in the case of foreign ploughs, 

 which are sometimes left useless in a village, 

 not because the plough is unsuitable, but 

 because the purchaser has not learnt the 

 proper method of working it. 



The school gardens should, to some extent, 

 at least, be the means of bringing the young 

 mind into touch with nature, and of arousing 

 his interest in plant-growth. Nature study 

 should form a fundamental part in the edu- 

 cation of every child so as to teach him to 

 observe closely and to reason accurately 

 from data gained by observation. Nature 

 study brings the child face to face with real 

 things, and tends in this case to give his 

 mind an intelligent bent towards cultivation 

 and for the assimilation, later, of such useful 

 scientific work as the stations may turn out 

 for his farm practice. As the success of the 

 scheme depends very largely on the teachers 

 in charge, they are put through a six months' 

 course at the Agricultural College, where 

 they are taught the rudiments of theoretical 

 agriculture in the class-room and on the 

 Nagpur Farm, sufficient to enable them to 

 teach intelligently the agricultural lessons 

 included in the School Readers. The system 

 of elementary rural education has a most 

 important bearing on the future of agricul- 

 tural improvement. 



