Miscellaneous. 



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visited these on tour, and was so pleased at the success of the school garden 

 that he on my application sanctioned the removal or the experimental garden to 

 Mahawalatenne. The Government Agent, at his own expense, procured seeds for us, 

 and I did the same. We distributed large quantities of seeds and plants of many- 

 varieties among the villagers, and our work was steadily progressing when the 

 Instructor died. From that time we began to decline. We were given as the 

 late Instructor's successor a sort of dandy and a sportsman, who would not 

 budge an inch out of his cottage without his boots and gaiters and rifle. His 

 successor was a madcap-preacher who was never happy unless he was engaged 

 in open-air preaching. I believe he is in the lunatic asylum now. He was succeeded 

 by the present Instructor, Mr. Silva, who, I am glad to say, takes a deal of trouble 

 and works the garden well. We tried cinnamon and citronella which are flourishing 

 indeed. The growth shows that in this country the soil and the climate are far better 

 for cinnamon and citronella than in the low country. We tried cotton which, too 

 was successful. We got out tobacco seed from America and grew a crop, but the 

 leaves did not come all right. There were yellowish spots all over the leaf, and these 

 spots were so thin that on drying they became so many rents, rendering the 

 leaf perfectly useless. This was a failure. Then we tried ratatora, ground 

 nuts and American maize. These were successful. The Instructor was made to visit 

 the School Gardens periodically, and we supplied him with seeds and plants for dis- 

 tribution. The number of schools increased rapidly, and every one of them had a 

 garden. The reluctance on the part of the boys to work and the parents to allow 

 them to work disappeared, and it was pleasing to see that the majority of the boys 

 actually had tiny plantations of their own in their fathers' residing gardens. The 

 villagers themselves took to planting, and large quantities of vegetables were 

 daily brought to town for sale. This is a result of the garden and the school 

 gardens, and it is a satisfaction indeed. The only disadvantage is that during vacation 

 when the teachers go to their villages there is no one to take care of the gardens. 

 The Government Agent says the arachchi must look after the garden ; but I know 

 the difficulty and the expense the arachchi will have to undergo to do that, so these 

 gardens will never be the success they will otherwise be. About the time I was 

 agitating for more schools and experimental gardens, and for Agricultural Banks, 

 for the repurchase of alienated villagers' lands, for introducing a system to regulate 

 their cultivation on economic and profitable principles, for partition of lands held in 

 undivided shares or under the Tattu Maru Tenure, introduction of new stock with a 

 view to the improvement of the country breed, introduction of seed paddy from 

 foreign countries, free distribution of praedial products, introduction of pasture 

 lands, planting up communal gardens, the introduction of provincial agricultural 

 shows and other improvements, I was informed of the Government's decision to 

 close all the experimental gardens. I pleaded the case of our garden so earnestly, 

 that Mr. W. E. Davidson, the then Government Agent, fought hard and secured the 

 retention of the garden. It is the only one that was not closed, and I believe is the 

 only survival of the gardens under Mr. Green's scheme. Now that we have the 

 Agricultural Society and a Governor who is so keenly and greatly interested in the 

 agriculture of the country, there is no fear but that in the near future we will be 

 able to see vast and rapid progress. Speaking of the wants of this district only, I can 

 say without fear of being contradicted that up to date although much has been 

 attempted, we have done nothing to materially improve agriculture or the condition 

 of the agricultural classes, or to remove the great disadvantages under which the 

 peasant carries on his agricultural work. The villager now works as it were not for 

 himself, but for the boutique-keeper or moneylender. All the profits from the 

 fields go to pay the usurious interest at which seed paddy and other things are 

 borrowed during the cultivation time, and at the end the land goes to repay th 

 capital. 



