TJEEJUi 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



Vol. XXVII. COLOMBO, AUGUST 15th, 1906. No. 2. 



Some Possibilities of Improvement in Village Agriculture. IV. 



Weeding is another direction in which native agriculture appears capable 

 of improvement. The native usually knows well enough that weeding gives a 

 better crop, but he does not always consider the result worth the labour. If some 

 simpler and easier method of weeding could be introduced, say by the use of a 

 tool like the American roller-hoe, or like the " cultivator," it might be possible 

 to encourage weeding, and thus get an increased crop in many cultivations. It is 

 idle to tell the native to weed, or to teach him theoretically that weeding is good ; 

 he must be shown that it pays, without costing more money or labour than he 

 can afford, or than he is willing to give. 



A conspicuous feature in native agriculture throughout Southern Asia, 

 which often offends the eye of those who have a superficial acquaintance with 

 European agriculture, is the wild jungle-like mixture of fruit trees, bamboos, 

 vegetables, etc., which forms the average native compound. It is highly probable 

 that this arrangement gives many of the advantages which have elsewhere to be 

 attained by rotation of crops, and the villager is thus able to grow his familiar 

 foods, etc., on the same ground for an indefinite number of years. Mixture of 

 crops, as well as rotation, requires very careful study in detail before any hasty 

 attempt is made to change immemorial custom. 



The treatment of the individual trees, or of the crop plants, on the other 

 hand, is probably capable of a good deal of improvement without such great 

 difficulty. If the villager knew how to graft and bud, he might have his fruit 

 trees improved by introducing new varieties. His methods of sowing broadcast 

 are probably often capable of being improved to the saving of seed. He might 

 very well learn the advantages of regular pruning of fruit trees on definite 

 principles, of selection of good parents for seed, of better methods of propagation, 

 of sound systems of manuring and other such matters. But the motto must be 

 "festina lente," or perhaps still better "ca'canny," and every step proposed 

 must first be carefully tested. 



The next point in native agriculture to be considered is improvement in 

 cleanliness of cultivation and freedom from disease. The mixed cultivation above 

 mentioned is, of course, a considerable safeguard against disease spreading rapidly 

 over a large area, or getting out of hand, as it has so frequently done in cases of 

 " pure " cultivations of single products. The villager, however, has a lot to learn 



