Januart, 1909.] 



77 



Miscellaneous. 



will have an ideal institution, and we 

 hope that Mr. Gourlay may be as fortu- 

 nate in this respect as in others. He 

 will, of course, realise that while high 

 scientific attainments are desirable quali- 

 fications, as is equally necessary that 

 the professors should be capable 

 teachers, endowed with sympathy and 

 with the gift of winning the confidence 

 of their students. A blunder in the 

 selection of the staff will largely neutra- 

 lise all the work that has hitherto been 

 done. But, given the right men at the 

 head, what may not be accomplished? 



Capable teachers will attract capable 

 students. This is a point of great import- 

 ance. It must be remembered that 

 agricultural science has yet to justify its 

 existence in this country, and, mainly 

 because its practical advantages are not 

 appreciated, the education given has so 

 far failed largely to appeal to the right 

 kind of student. Sir Andrew Fraser 

 wisely said that he does not believe 

 that the best men for the purpose in 

 view are those who, having received a 

 certain amount of arts training, are sent 

 abroad for agricultural education. 

 "These men are not hereditary agri- 

 culturists. They have no interest in 

 agriculture. They have not the agri- 

 cultural instinct. They know nothing 

 about the land or about agriculture." 

 It may be added that they know little or 

 nothing about the ryot, and are not 

 likely to be able to exercise any influence 

 over him ; and, when all is said, if agri- 

 culture is to be improved it must be 

 improved with the help of the cultivator. 

 Sympathetic and practical teachers may, 

 however, be expected to attract the 

 hereditary agriculturists, who will find 

 no difficulty in recognising in competent 

 instructors men who know more about 

 their own industry than they themselves. 



Such students, when secured, will, in 

 Dr. Mann's phrase, be " a body of men 

 who will be apostles of a better agri- 

 culture to every corner of the country." 

 They are wanted, as Sir Andrew Fraser 

 sagaciously points out, to replace the 

 experts that are now imported. Agri- 

 culture, at least, must be a Svvadeshi 

 industry, and " we shall never," to quote 

 the Lieutenant-Governor's words, "'have 

 full advance in agriculture in the pro- 

 vince until we are able to enlist men 

 trained on the land, and educated mainly 

 within the country, to do the great part 

 of the work." We are glad to see that 

 the Government have set before them 

 this ideal, which ought to go far to win 

 for the new institution a wide popu- 

 larity, and which is in any case a condi- 

 tion of any real and permanent success. 

 Students of the type indicated are also 

 needed as managers of estates ; while, if 

 they are themselves zemindars or heirs 

 of zemindars, the training which they 

 will receive will scarcely fail to result in 

 improved methods of cultivation and 

 more profitable crops. Nor will the ryot 

 be without his share of the benefits of 

 the new scheme. Agricultural teaching 

 in schools is at present of a jejune and 

 useless character, mainly owing to the 

 want of qualified teachers. We may 

 reasonably assume that the activities of 

 the new College will directly or in- 

 directly tend to remove this defect. 

 Further, Mr. Gourlay looks forward to 

 the day when in each sub-division there 

 will be an expert working in co-oper- 

 ation with the local agricultural associa- 

 tion. It will be admitted thai if these 

 objects can be achieved, the province 

 has seldom received a greater boon than 

 the Agricultural College whose walls are 

 steadily rising at Sabaur.— Indian Agri- 

 culturist, Vol. XXXIII., No. 9. 



Correspondence, 



WILD PASSION FLOWER. 



Peradeniya, 8th December, 1908. 

 Sir, — At a time when there is a great 

 demand for seeds and plants of the Wild 

 Passion Flower (fassiflora fcetida), 

 which, it is claimed, keeps down weeds, 

 some information as to the identity of 

 the plant will perhaps be useful. Dr. 

 Trimen, in his " Flora of Ceylon," says 

 that it is extremely common in C ylon, 

 and has spread into the forests of the 

 low country where it has the look of a 

 native, and that it is indigenous to 

 Tropical America. 



The Sinhalese iow-couutry name of the 

 plant is Bimpuhul (bim= ground, and 

 puhul = pum\jkiu) owing perhaps to the 

 similarity of its fruit to a miniature 

 pumpkin ; or Bedipuhul (b6di= jungle). 

 It is commonly known under the term 

 PadagMi owing either to the rather dis- 

 agreeable smell of the involucre of the 

 fruit, or to the crackling noise of the 

 fruit when crushed. In up-country it is 

 also known by the term Delbatu {del = net, 

 and bafw=fruit of Solanum xanthocar- 

 pum) because the fruit resembles that of 

 S. xantkocarpum, being enclosed in a net- 

 like construction. The fruit when ripe is 

 eaten by the natives : it is of a subacid 



