190 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Director of Public Instruction and the Acting 

 Director of the Botanic Department that the 

 scheme, or rather the curriculum embodied in 

 it, was too ambitious. Possibly it is, and 

 there is, no doubt, room for modification, but 

 as his Excellency said Mr. Silva's contribu- 

 tion to the study of the subject was "a valu- 

 able paper," in that it submitted a definite 

 scheme— a working plan with all the necessary 

 specifications for the construction of an educa- 

 tional edifice. 



By a curious coincidence the Governor (as 

 His Excellency himself announced) had also 

 written a paper under the same title, but cov- 

 ering a wider area. This paper, we were in- 

 formed, is to be put before a board of qualified 

 men who will advise the Government as to 

 the technical details involved, after which it 

 will be possible for His Excellency to recom- 

 mend a definite proposal to the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies. All this is good news 

 as promising an early beginning with measures 

 that are calculated to materially help in lifting 

 native agriculture out of the rut in which it 

 has so long been and help it to move on, and 

 so assist in the advancement not only of the 

 native community but of the Colony at large. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



April 14th. 



Sik,— Agriculture (including in this term 

 horticulture and arboriculture) is mainly a prac- 

 tical art, and success follows good practice 

 rather than mere sound theoretical knowledge, 

 though this is no doubt valuable and helpful. 

 What we need in Ceylon is not more theoretical 

 knowledge of what should be done, but demon- 

 stration of the success that follows good practice, 

 based on the theoretical knowledge already 

 abundantly available. 



Ceylon achieved its success in planting enter- 

 prise through the introduction of practical 

 school gardener?, about the middle of last 

 century, who were planed in charge of coffee 

 plantations. These men laid that foundation of 

 good, sound practice in planting, cultivation and 

 pruning and in businesslike management of the 

 estates, which raised Ceylon to the front rank 

 as a planting colony and the practical knowledge 

 diffused among all the planters in Ceylon stood 

 them in good stead when they had to abandon 

 coffee for cinchona, tea and cacao, and now 

 rubber. I believe, Sir, if we could similarly 

 introduce a class of good cultivators for our 

 lowcountry products a like success will be at- 

 tained. We need practical schools where sound 

 practical men could be trained, and no induce- 

 ment of Government appointments should b( 

 held out to such men : the experience they will 

 have gained should be a sufficient foundation 

 on which to rear their future fortune 



As a beginning, I think Henaratgoda Garden 

 should form a branch of the Experi mental Station 

 at Peradeniya, and Lowcountry products should 

 be cultivated in both places, both for obser- 

 vational purposes and mainly for training those 

 desirous of acquiring a sound practical know- 



ledge of tropical agriculture. A course of two 

 years' training should be sufficient for this 

 purpose. 



Mr. de Silva's paper read before the Agri- 

 cultural Board was an exhaustive one and erred 

 in the sanguine, underlying hope that the youth 

 of Ceylon would all take eagerly to agricultural 

 studies when well-equipped educational insti- 

 tutions are to hand : this is a vain hope and not 

 justified by the experience of other countries. 

 But what can be done is to make agriculture 

 more attractive to all by the success attending 

 sound cultivation and to demonstrate to the vast 

 mass of villagers with what little effort properly 

 directed they can make fruitful and profitable 

 gardens of their now waste and neglected lands. 



As for scholarships for technical students to 

 be trained abroad, I think we should not look to 

 the Government for help of such nature. The 

 natives of the country are now- rich enough to 

 support suitable students in foreign centres to 

 acquire expert knowledge in different branches 

 of industry which it is desirable to introduce or 

 improve in this country and it is inexplicable 

 that this has not been done before now. 



J. D. vdS. 



ESTATE MARKS ON PLANTATION 

 RUBBER. 



An interesting article on this important 

 subject appears in the current issue of "The 

 India Rubber Journal." A manufacturer wri- 

 ting in the same issue says. If proper steps, he 

 says, were taken to standardise and brand the 

 various grades of rubber, there seems no 

 adequate reason why in course of time the 

 bulk of the product of each Estate should not 

 be sold under its marks and without reference to 

 samples at all. . . . 



A number of Estates have already adopted 

 this system of branding their rubber, but a great 

 number have not ; and many brands are said not 

 to be recognised or understood by the majority 

 of manufacturers— but, as the number of estates 

 increases and the quantity of rubber produced 

 becomes much larger than at present, the wide 

 difference in the qualities of the samples ex- 

 posed will become more marked and it will be- 

 come necessary to buy from recognised brands 

 and not from sample. As is rightly pointed out, 

 the mere branding of cases is not sufficient and 

 is obviously likely to aid fraud. Each sheet, 

 block or biscuit, should contain the brand of the 

 estate clearly marked. 



This should be easily done during the process 

 of preparation. At the present time when es- 

 tates are wrestling with each other for the top 

 price no man can say which will obtain the best 

 price in the near future and it behoves each one 

 to see that his rubber is plainly branded and 

 that manufacturers and buyers at home are 

 made acquainted with the various brands or 

 marks. Another advantage sufficiently obvious 

 lies in the fact that branding sheets and blocks 

 would prevent theft'. 



T. W. M. 



—Straits Agricultural Bulletin, for April. 



