Miscellaneous. 44 



The garden is 2J acres in extent, and at 

 the time of my visit there were some 

 12,000 "vines" running on trellises. 

 There is a ready market for the produce, 

 which is conveyed by cart loads to 

 Colombo. 



Morape School Garden, situated in 

 Kotmale, has now been set on a proper 

 footing with the assistance of Mr. Mole- 

 erode, Agricultural Instructor, and the 

 Ratemahatmaya of Pallepone korale, 

 who has kindly given an additional 

 piece of land for the garden. The people 

 of the district are greatly in need of 

 some stimulating influence to induce 

 them to adopt more systematic methods 

 in the cultivation of their high lands. 



Twelve school garden sites in the 

 Eastern Province have been selected, and 

 will soon be ready for planting, the 

 extent of each varying from \ to 1 acre 

 each. These are all under the Wesleyan 

 Mission. A number of Church Mission- 

 ary Society schools in the Kegalla and 

 Kandy Districts have also been noted 

 for aid. Gardening with the aid of 

 school children is being carried on under 

 the Roman Catholic Mission station at 

 Maggona and the Christian Brothers' 

 Seminary at Mutwal. One of the Bud- 

 dhist school gardens (at Walana) is quite 

 a model in its way. These aided gardens, 

 added to the regular Government school 

 gardens, of which the number has now 

 reached 200, will greatly add to the work 

 of the Superintendent of School Gardens 

 and his assistants ; but it is expected 

 that the additional assistant to be al- 

 lowed next year will somewhat relieve 

 the pressure on their time. 



The Assistant Government Agent, 

 Puttalam, has made final and satis- 

 factory arrangements for the experi- 

 mental garden situated on the Chilaw- 

 Puttalam road. The clearing and fenc- 

 ing of the land has already been put in 

 hand. 



Paddy Cultivation. 



As stated in the last Progress Report, 

 the Society despatched three instructors, 

 Messrs. S. Chelliah, N. Wickremaratne, 

 and L. A. D. Silva to the Hambantota 

 District, to demonstrate the working of 

 light iron implements and ascertain their 

 suitability for preparing paddy land for 

 sowing, in view of the dearth of cattle 

 for " puddling," as the result of the great 

 loss of stock through rinderpest. 



The Assistant Government Agent of 

 Hambantota has been good enough to 

 furnish the following report on these 

 demonstrations : — 



" I have the honour to inform you that 

 I waited to report on the progress of 

 56 



i [November, 1909. 



the ploughing demonstrations until they 

 had taken place at different centres. 



"2. There are four large irrigation 

 works in this district, and I arranged the 

 following programme for your instruc- 

 tors : — 



Tissamaharama. — August 3 to 8, fields 

 under the Kirindi-oya irrigation works. 



Ambalantota.— August 11 to 14, fields 

 under the Walawe irrigation works. 



Ranna.— August 16 to 18, fields under 

 the Urubokka irrigation works, 



Tangalla.— August 19, fields irrigated 

 by the Kirama-oya. 



"3. The important demonstrations were 

 at Tissa and Ambalantota, where rinder- 

 pest has been most severe, and where 

 ploughing is unknown. Fields under 

 the Urubokka and Kirama works are 

 ploughed with native ploughs, 



" 4. On August 3 I attended the de- 

 monstration at Tissa. There was a large 

 number of proprietors and cultivators 

 present. The following ploughs were 

 tried : (1) Climax, (2) Meston, (3) Koeri, 

 (4) Cultivator. 



" 5. Two pairs of bulls used were train- 

 ed to the native plough. The others 

 used were untrained. 



"6. The Koeri plough is undoubtedly 

 too heavy for the Hambantota bulls. 

 The Climax worked admirably, though 

 it is somewhat heavy for the bulls ; it 

 also needs strengthening in the plough 

 arm. The Meston is just the right 

 weight for the Hambantota bulls, but 

 the angle of the share to the pole is not 

 right, the point enters the ground too 

 vertically, with the result that (1) the 

 share is liable to stick in the ground, (2) 

 the plough cuts the earth but does not 

 turn over the clods sufficiently. 



" 7. On the whole, the demonstration 

 was unexpectedly successful. I informed 

 proprietors that I would get any ploughs 

 they desired consigned to me at Hamban- 

 tota from Messrs. Walkers, in which 

 case they would probably be sent 

 freight free. Twenty persons gave in 

 their names at once with orders for 63 

 ploughs (20 Climax and 43 Meston) and 

 6 Cultivators. 



"8. Nearly all the landowners and culti- 

 vators with whom 1 spoke are agreed 

 that ploughing at Tissa is possible. 

 Their only fear is that the cattle are not 

 strong enough for the work. That is the 

 reason why they prefer the light Meston 

 plough. The whole difficulty is undoubt- 

 edly the cattle, which, of course, are 

 absolutely untrained to the work. 



