112 



[February, 1909. 



cheap education, and on leaving the 

 institution they turned to every walk of 

 life— except agriculture, We know that 

 once the son of a village "gamarala" 

 dons a pair of trousers and a coat, he 

 does not care for his village life. In the 

 second place Colombo or any city is in 

 no way adapted for an Agricultural 

 school. Rural work 



MUST BE CARRIED ON AMID RURAL 

 SURROUNDINGS, 



where there will be sufficient land for 

 the actual carrying out of agricultural 

 operations in every branch, the students 

 playing the principal part. The late 

 Colombo School of Agriculture did not 

 apparently pertain to teach practical 

 agriculture, except in the form of 

 cultivating a few vegetable plots, which 

 was absolutely valueless. The next 

 thing was agricultural education in 

 the form of School Gardens. They 

 are no doubt excellent in their way 

 and for the object in view, but 

 not of sufficient weight by them- 

 selves, to reach the mass of agricul- 

 turists. Then we had the starting of 

 the Agricultural Society by Sir Henry 

 Blake, our late Governor. The Society 

 publishes a very good journal, holds 

 monthly meetings at which are read 

 numbers of valuable papers, etc., and 

 also have around it numbers of branch 

 societies doing similar work, but the 

 main object, that of reaching the agri- 

 cultural masses, is lost sight of. Now we 

 are coming into a new era under our 

 progressive and practical Governor who, 

 no doubt, will do his best to givj us 

 something that will reach the masses. 

 In starting agricultural instruction and 

 development in Ceylon I do not think 

 we can do better than be guided by 

 what has been done in other countries. 

 As I am able to speak with some 

 authority on 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN AUSTRALIA, 



having had the opportunity to spend ten 

 years there, all the time actively 

 engaged in agricultural pursuits, I will 

 refer to what has been done there. The 

 agricultural masses of Australia were 

 at one time ignorant, as far as modern 

 scientific agriculture was concerned. 

 They ploughed and sowed the same 

 crops year after year on the same land, 

 and could not understand why the land 

 would not produce the same quantity 

 of grain per acre as it did years back. 

 They used no modern labour-saving 

 appliances. They could not understand 

 that rotation of crops, green fallowing, 

 artificial manuring, the proper treat- 

 ment and application of farm-yard 

 manure, etc., would be beneficial and 

 would be their salvation, They looked 



down on scientific cultivation which 

 they called " new fangled ideas." The 

 Government had a hard task to perform, 

 but they went about it in a very prac- 

 tical way. They started establishing 

 experimental farms right in the heart 

 of great agricultural centres. These 

 farms were ^huge object-lessons. Land 

 similar to that worked by the farmers 

 was cultivated under "new fangled 

 ideas." Everybody, of course, was 

 curious to see the result, while at the 

 same time being certain that the whole 

 thing would be a failure. By and by, 

 as time went on, some of them started 

 visiting the Government farms, and 

 were shown round by the managers who 

 took the opportunity of explaining the 

 why and wherefore of things being done, 

 told them of the number of bushels per 

 acre the last wheat crop yielded, ex- 

 plained the methods adopted in making 

 farmyard manure, the amount of labour 

 saved by the use of certain implements, 

 etc., etc The visitors went back and 

 pondered over 



WHAT THEY HAD SEEN AND HEARD 



and uaturally talked about it to their 

 brother-farmers, who, in their turn, 

 visited the farms, and so on, and so on. 

 Later on the majority came to the con- 

 clusion that there was something in 

 these "new-fangled ideas " and went for 

 help and advice to the managers which, 

 of course, was most readily given, and 

 gradually modern methods began to be 

 adopted, the farmers finding that by 

 their adoption the crops were doubled, 

 and that the use of labour-saving ap- 

 pliances put more money into their 

 pockets. The experimental farms then 

 started taking in a few students, as the 

 farmers wished their sons to receive 

 modern training, and, of course, the scope 

 of these farms only permitted practical 

 agriculture being taught. As things 

 went on the time became ripe for the 

 stablishment of Agricultural Colleges 

 where a student could receive both 

 scientific and practical training. In the 

 State of Victoria, where I spent most of 

 my time, the first College started was 

 the Dookie Agricultural College, where 

 I graduated. This College was, first of 

 all, an experimental farm, then an experi- 

 mental farm with a few students, 

 and lastly an Agricultural College. 

 It had attached to it 4,700 acres of 

 land, and only received, while I attended 

 it, forty students. Since then the 

 number of students has been doubled. 

 At this institution every kind of farm- 

 ing was carried on and taught, the course 

 being two years. A student in case of 

 failure to pass examinations was allowed 

 a further year, but at the expiration of 

 that period had to leave. The 



