Miscellaneous. 



190 



7,988 persons cultivated only 15,150 acres or about 1| acre each which is 

 very unsatisfactory. This is because we have not a sufficient acreage of paddy 

 land, and because the irrigation policy has for some time past not been pushed 

 on as vigorously and as boldly as it should have been. We want more irrigable 

 lauds. We have the lands and we have the water, but we want Government to 

 step in and build the irrigation works. We cannot do it ourselves. The next 

 most important thing is the cultivation of ehena lands. The villagers have com- 

 paratively a small area, aud in the past Government used to allow villagers to 

 cultivate ehena lands on tythe. Since of late for some reason or other this concession 

 has been withheld. I have made a number of representations to Government, and 

 I was told that ehena cultivation was not profitable- Just a glance at the relative 

 food producing powers of mud laud for paddy and chenas will show that the 

 cultivation of the latter is not so unprofitable. An adult requires about 3 lb. of 

 food a day such as cereals and other vegetables. A bushel of rice is 64 lb. in weight 

 or 2 lb. a measure. A bushel of kurakkan— ehena produce— is 56 lb. in weight. For 

 a month— 30 days— an adult will require 90 lb. of food equal to one bushel and 

 13 measures of rice or 8 bushels and 19 measures of kurakkan. Besides the food 

 a householder requires about 73*50 per annum for other expenses. On this calcu- 

 lation a family of one man, one woman and one child will require about 38 

 bushels of rice or 42 bushels of kurakkan and in cash about Rs. 148'50 per annum. 

 Therefore, the total expenses of such a family of three persons will be Rs. 300 if it 

 lives on rice and Rs. 203 if it lives on kurakkan, valuing a bushel of rice at Rs. 4 

 and a bushel of kurakkan at Rs. 1. The sustaining power of rice and kurakkan differs 

 but slightly as will be seen from the above figures, and the analysis of kurakkan does 

 not condemn it as a food. Now with regard to the food producing power. An 

 acre of paddy land will yield about 24 bushels of paddy. The cost of cultivating 

 an acre of paddy land will be about Rs. 29, aud the produce 24 bushels valued at 

 Rs, 38 - 40. In the cost of cultivating I included the cost of labour. An acre of ehena 

 for kurakkan cultivation would cost about a fourth of what an acre of paddy land 

 would cost, and the yield will be about 10 bushels of kurakkan, and other grains aud 

 vegetables equal in quantity as food stuff to about five bushels. That is, an acre 

 will yield 15 bushels of food stuff at a cost of about Rs. 7. Therefore it is 

 not correct to say that ehena cultivation is not remunerative. I was 

 astonished to hear that. Who is the judge who pronounced that decision sentenc- 

 ing ehena cultivation to the scaffold ? I am unable to find out, but whoever he is I 

 do differ from him in that most erroneous opinion of his, arrived at perhaps on a 

 basis of calculation made under most arbitrary rules. No man who knows anything 

 of the Kandyan and his mode of living, his habits, and his system of work and 

 cultivation, can correctly and conscientiously say that cheua cultivation is not of 

 profit or use to the Kandyan. I would challenge anyone to prove that it is not 

 profitable. The great decrease in food stuff I attribute to the policy of Government 

 in withholding the concession hitherto enjoyed by the people. But I was always 

 for regulating ehena cultivation, and if the concession were to be renewed it should, 

 I say. in the interest of agriculture iu general, be on improved lines. It is to be 

 earnestly hoped that these agricultural societies and gardens will not only improve 

 the methods of cultivation, but be instrumental in inducing Government to open 

 up more irrigable lands, and in general induce it to take up every question having 

 the least bearing on agriculture and deal with these quickly but liberally. 



In 1904 the Balangoda societies were established — the first meeting was held 

 in March, but beyond that I could not do anything owing to the severance of my 

 official connection with Government in June of that year. But from what I could 

 see, I think there is a great future for these societies and gardens. They are now 



