MAT, 1909.] 



4fg 



Miscellaneous- 



it. Japan has seen the great importance 

 of improving her cattle. Some time 

 back there passed through Colombo a 

 selection of the best types of English 

 cattle which Japan was importing from 

 England. As to what other products 

 can be grown in Ceylon by villagers, to 

 occupy the time left after sowing their 

 paddy crops, they must first be en- 

 couraged and taught to grow on improv- 

 ed lines the dry grain crops that they 

 usually now cultivate, viz., Kurakkan, 

 valu iringu, karal iringu, kollu, a mil. 

 mun, tana, kawalu, meneri, heen- 

 meneri, gopara-wala, bada iringu and 

 root crops such as manioca, sweet 

 potato, etc. Once they have done this 

 then must be gradually introduced any 

 new products which have been tested 

 at the experimental farms and found 

 suitable for the particular districts 



IN THE WAY OF NEW INTRODUCTIONS 



there are a number of products that 

 will no doubt grow here which are at 

 present imported from India. These 

 products are familiar to every villager, 

 inasmuch as he uses them daily in 

 his culinary department, namely— dry 

 chilies, coriauder, saffron, sweet cummin, 

 cummin seed, uluhal, pepper, mustard, 

 garlic, red onions, Bombay onions ; also 

 other products in general use as dry 

 ginger, horse gram, castor-seed, bean 

 seeds, etc. No doubt very few ppople 

 take sufficient interest so as to find out 

 how much money is being drained out 

 of the country for produce that we can 

 undoubtedly grow here. I have given 

 only statistics of one item trom my list, 

 but that will suffice as a rough truide to 

 calculate roughly the millions of rupees 

 that now go out of the country that 

 within all posibilities could be made to 

 circulate in the Islaud. I copy from the 

 "Tropical Agriculturist" of June, 1905, 

 from a letter from the Hon'ble Mr. W, 

 H. Jackson, Principal Collector of Cus- 

 toms, Dried chillies imported to Ceylon 

 were :— 





Cwts. 



Rs. 



1900 



53,882 



673,534 



1901 



62.531 



813,234 



1002 .. 



57,949 



754,342 



1903 



72,617 



943,071 



1904 



74,888 



1,191,323 



For the ingredients alone that are 

 used in every Ceylonese household every 

 day we may very roughly put it that 

 over ten millions of rupees are sent across 

 the sea. Some of these products we 

 know very well will grow here- Others 

 must be tested before they are intro- 

 duced to the villagers. In fact all 

 must be grown on the experimental 

 farms as object lessous. Some of these 

 products are not familiar to most, if not 



to all, the agriculturists of Ceylon so 

 they would certainly have to be tested 

 and the best and most economic modes 

 of growing found Hit. Tlie onlv way to 

 do this is aa suggested by Mr. Elliott in 

 the paragraph I quoted in a previous 

 article "and a central experimental 

 farm not far from Colombo." This 

 central experimental farm will be of 

 great importance. 



IT WILL BE THE PRELIMINARY TESTING 

 STATION. 



of all new products, and a training 

 ground for the managers of the other 

 " District experimental farms" so far as 

 the best modes of growing the new pro- 

 ducts are concerned. So that before 

 these products are introduced to the 

 villager, they will have beeu doubly 

 tested and ascertained whether certain 

 products will be suitable for the district. 

 Now the question is how is the manager 

 of the central experimental farm to fiud 

 out the best methods of growing new 

 products ? As regards products from 

 countries wheie European people culti- 

 vate we can be guided by their liter- 

 ature, but as I do not suppose that the 

 Indiau native producers have any such 

 literature, the only practical way would 

 be to send the manager of the central 

 farm to India for a few months to study 

 the modes of cultivation there. He cau 

 on his return report on what he has 

 studied and set to work to try them. 

 There is also another great advantage in 

 sendiug the experimental farm manager 

 to India. He cau study the various 

 implements used in that country, and 

 whenever he sees an implement suitable 

 to our local needs he can procure one- I 

 quote from the "Tropical Agriculturist" 

 of July, 1900, where that Journal, in 

 reviewiug a Tamil treatise on improved 

 agriculture says : "In India where, un- 

 like Ceylon, 



DRY CULTIVATION IS DONE ON AN 

 EXTENSIVE SCALE, 



there are several native implements 

 used to economise mannual labour and 

 to expedite Avork in the cultivation of 

 dry crops, the seed drill an illustration 

 of which appears, etc. . . . This im- 

 plement which can be drawn by an 

 ordinary country-bullock goes on sowing 

 three rows at a time. It is said that 

 Sir James Caird was agreeably surprised 

 at the work done by this seed drill and 

 remarked that it served just as well as 

 an Eucrlish seed drill which would cost 

 from R. 500 to R. 800. The other labour- 

 saving implements treated in this book 

 are a leveller and clod crusher used 

 after ploughing, a weeding machine 

 that can be used between the rows till 

 the plants are about 18 inches high, a 



