September, 1909,] 



213 



Fibres. 



whether the manager happens to favour 

 the work. This seed-farm is doing well, 

 and the ryots of the village say that this 

 land has never borne such a good crop, 

 but, at the same time, it shows a striking 

 difference to a 20 acres block which the 

 zamindar's uncle has grown for seed for 

 us. The owner attends to all the details 

 of his cultivation himself , and has sown 

 our seed with the drill, but though quite 

 willing to grow seed for the Department, 

 does not care to accept even the assess- 

 ment. This gentleman frequently visits 

 the Koilpatty Agricultural Station and 

 takes a keen practical interest in what 

 be sees there. He has also had a set of 

 implements made locally for his own 

 future use. His crop was the best I have 

 seen this year. 



As these seed-farms were in a way the 

 forerunners of the exteusion of drill 

 cultivation, the very best of the trained 

 coolies were sent to these. A mistake, 

 however, was made in one or two cases 

 in not making proper arrangements for 

 the welfare of these men. All of them 

 were Pariahs or low caste men, and 

 consequently in some cases they had 

 rather a rough time of it. The sowing 

 season is the commencement of the 

 rains, and there is a great fall in the 

 night temperature after rain. In 

 consequence, several of the coolies fell 

 sick with fever and had to be replaced 

 by inferior men, and even these could 

 ill be spared. In future, arrangements 

 will have to be made in the village to 

 house these men properly and to arrange 

 for their food being prepared at a 

 fixed rate. 



Apart from these seed-farms and the 

 demonstration plots in their neighbour- 

 hood, there has been a rapid extension 

 of drill sowing in the villages around 

 Koilpatty, where some 500 acres have 

 been sown. One village alone accounted 

 for more than 230 acres, while two more 

 each had over 70 acres. In a few cases, 

 outlying ryots have also sown, having 

 either seen the farm crops last year or 

 the crops of ryots who had sown with 

 the drill the previous season. Including 

 the seed-farms, there is an area of about 

 1,000 acres this year sown with the drill. 



The mere fact of sowing is, however, 

 by no means everything. Each ryot who 

 has sown has to be seen constantly. 

 He has to be induced to thin, and shown 

 when and how, to use the bullock-hoe. 

 As the thinning and, very often, the 

 hoeing clash with other farm work, the 

 royts aie of ten unwilling at the time to do 

 so. They may make promises, but they 

 do not always fulfil them. This means 

 considerable patience and tact in dealing 

 with them, Thinning especially goes 



against the grain, for the ryot says, "It 

 is like taking the life of my children to 

 pull these plants which have grown," but 

 still this must be done if this system of 

 cultivation is not to degenprate into 

 that of the Bellary District where the 

 seed-rate is more than double that used 

 in Tinnevelly and no thinning is done, 

 Many of the wives and children of the 

 Koilpatty coolie staff who are employed 

 for casual labour on the Agricultural 

 Station, have had to be pressed into 

 service and sent out with one of the 

 Assistant Managers to show royts how to 

 thin their crops. Small boys are proba- 

 bly the best, as their youth favours them 

 in their training, and they can do the 

 work with that unconscious confidence 

 which always appeals to a ryot. With 

 all the success already obtained in this 

 introduction, it is by no means certain 

 yet whether this method of cultivation, 

 if now left to itself, would last. The 

 questions which next present themselves 

 are (1) when should the Department 

 withdraw its help, and (2) how to leave 

 the work on a substantial basis. This is, 

 of course, looking into the future, but 

 it seems necessary that the Department 

 should give some concession, but only 

 if the ryot will do the same. The pro- 

 posal next season is that the Department 

 should lend one set of implements to 

 the village for every one that the 

 village is prepared to make, provided 

 that 60 acres are sown with the two sets, 

 and if the villagers among themselves 

 guarantee to sow 200 acres with the 

 drill, the services of the trained coolie 

 will be lent to them for the season. To 

 a very great extent, the success so far 

 attained has depended on the Manager 

 and the Assistant Managers of the 

 Koilpatty Agricultural Station. The 

 Manager, M, R. Ry. A. V, Tirumurunga- 

 natham Pillai, has only been at this 

 station for 3| years, joining as an 

 Assistant Manager. On 14th December, 

 1906, he was put in charge of the station, 

 and it says much for him that he, not 

 being a native of this district, should, 

 in that time, gain the confidence of the 

 neighbouring ryots as well as the 

 loyal support of his Assistant Managers, 

 and that he can entrust his own coolies, 

 most of whom are Pariahs, to carry out 

 his instructions when sent out into the 

 district. The success of the seed-farms 

 from the very first has largely depended 

 on the untiring efforts of my assistant 

 M. R. Ry. Chelvaranga Raju. It is no 

 easy matter to supervise work in five 

 separate centres scattered over four 

 Taluks, especially when one has to 

 travel through black cotton soil 

 country in the monsoon season. 



