Miscellaneous. 



480 



[May, 1909, 



sickle-shaped hand-weeder, a roller 

 which can also be used for separating 

 the larger varieties of grain such as 

 Sorgnn from the stalks, and the wheel- 

 barrow." These labour-saving imple- 

 ments are exactly what we require here. 

 They no doubt are simple in construction 

 and cheap. So this opens up a field for 

 introducing cheap and improved tools to 

 our cultivators. It is more than likely 

 that the simple implements can easily be 

 reproduced by even our village black- 

 smiths or carpenters. On the other 

 question — that of 



CHEAP MONEY FOR THE VILLAGE 

 CULTIVATOR, 



I refrain from indulging in theories, as I 

 cannot speak from personal experience 

 or knowledge ; but 1 do not think we can 

 go far wrong if we closely studied what 

 another Asiatic nation, Japan, has been 

 doing. They no doubt were— if not the 

 same — in a worse condition than our 

 cultivators are, what with their old 

 prejudices and customs, etc. But Japan 

 has greatly mastered all these troubles. 

 I quote the following extract from the 

 report of the U. S. A. Consul-General, 

 Yokohama :— " The Government aids and 

 promotes the development of Agri- 

 cultural interests by means of hypothetic 

 banks. Recognising that many oper- 

 ations necessary to the prosperity of 

 agriculture require a heavy investment 

 which will not yield immediate returns, 

 and that farmers are not, therefore, able 

 to pay the high interest or accept the con- 

 ditions of short time commercial loans, 

 the Government has established the hypo- 

 thetic banks for the special accomoda- 

 tion of this class of borrowers. These 

 banks are under the direct supervision 

 of the Finance Minister, subject to strict 

 regulations, and in return receive a 

 degree of 



SUPPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT- 



They are permitted to make loans only 

 for the following purposes : (1) reclam- 

 ation of laud, irrigation, drainage and 

 the improvement of the fertility of the 

 soil ; (2) construction and improvement 

 of farm roads ; (3) settlement in newly 

 reclaimed places ; ^4) purchase of seed, 

 young plant*, manure, and other mate- 

 rial required in agriculture and in- 

 dustry ; (5) purchase of implements and 

 machinery, boats, waggons, or beasts 

 for use in farming and manufacture ; (6) 

 construction and repair of buildings 

 for use in farming and manufacture ; 

 (7) improvements in farming and manu- 

 facture not included in the foregoing 

 clauses ; (8) rearrangement of farm 

 boundaries and (9) undertakings by credit 

 guilds, purchase guilds of unlimited 

 liability and organised under the in- 



dustrial field law. The credit guilds are 

 organisations of the farmers for the pro- 

 motion of their common interests, and 

 in some respects are like the co-operative 

 home building Associations of the United 

 States. Organised in conformity with 

 prescribed conditions they are permitted 

 to borrow mcney from the hypothetic 

 banks on very favourable term*, and 

 the members have often obtained loans 

 which circumstances w r ould prevent them 

 from securing except through the guild. 

 The guild also undertakes work for the 

 common benefit, especially such as con- 

 cern control of the course and volume of 

 rivers irrigation and drainage systems, 

 road building, reclamation of unculti- 

 vated land, measures for protecting 

 against insect pests, and enterprises." 

 Cheap money must go hand in hand with 

 agricultural instruction and progress. 

 It must be the means of enabling the 

 poverty-stricken villagers to better 

 themselves by the modern methods of 

 cultivation. One without the other 

 would be like a well-equipped steamship 

 minus the coal supply so necessary for 

 putting into motion all the elaborate 

 machinery that is meant to propel 

 her forwards.— P. Geo. Schrader in the 

 Ceylon Independent, Febiuary5, 1909. 



Correspondence. 



THE LIMA BEAN. 



Sir, — As a result of my letter sug- 

 gesting the cultivation in the neighbour- 

 hood of Kandy of the Lima bean for 

 the Kandy market, I have been kindly 

 supplied by Mr. C. S. Morris of Raxawa 

 Estate, Wattegama, with a quantity of 

 seed which I am having distributed to 

 villagers of Lower Dumbara. He re- 

 marks : " I have had it always growing. 

 It is an excellent bean and certainly 

 would be profitable to the growers who 

 would find a market in Kandy. ... It 

 grows very easily. This is the climbing 

 one." 



There would therefore be no difficulty 

 about growing it in the great vegetable 

 growing divisions of the Kandy district, 

 and its superiority to the French bean, 

 which alone of beans appears to be pro- 

 curable in the Kandy market, is 

 undoubted. 



I presume it comes from the West 

 Indies. It is mentioned in Tom Cringle's 

 Log. (" The Lima bean with a stalk as 

 thick as my arm.") 



Please substitute "only "for "very" 

 in a sentence in my last letter. 



J. P. LEWIS. 



5th April, 1909, 



