Dec. 1906.] 



503 



Miscellaneous. 



one of the least benefits that Peradeniya has bestowed on Ceylon, if the Director 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens and his staff can train young men, who will be imbued 

 with a sprit of enthusiasm for their work and who will be anxious to do their 

 xitmost in the interests of the different cultivations of the Island. The Agricultural 

 Society and its branches should further offer a wide field for the collection of 

 agricultural information ; all experiments and their results should be carefully 

 collected, reports of unusual yields, of diseases, of unexpected failures should all be 

 recorded. Analyses should be made of soils which call for special report on 

 account of the results obtained from them. Detailed information should be pro- 

 curable by every European and native planter of the crop grown, the ressult 

 seasons, average rainfall, &e, of every district in which there is an agricultural 

 society. The excellent work now being done by the Land Settlement Department 

 could be most usefully supplemented by the work of the Agricultural Society. 

 Selection of land of crops would be greatly assisted by the department with full and 

 carefully prepared records. When we have seen what can be done in the collection 

 of beautiful articles to illustrate the arts and crafts of different districts, we can 

 see no reason why equally successful attempts should not be made to procure 

 detailed and useful statistics of the different cultivations To site only one instance 

 where there is a great need for such detailed information— the Noith Central 

 Province. The experiments now being made at Maha Iluppalama in rubber 

 cultivation under irrigation, in cotton, Indian grains, and vegetables can all be most 

 usefully supplemented by the work of local societies in the North Central Province. 

 A guide to the crown land in the North Central Povince, North Western Province 

 and Northern Province, giving details of crop grown, analyses of soil &c, might 

 prove of great assistance in solving the problem of the development of the route 

 through which the Northern Railway runs. Again, a staff of agricultural inspectors 

 or instructors working through the villages should obtain most useful information 

 for those thinking of pui'chasing land in the vicinity. The importance of obtaining 

 information relative to the different soils, situation, &c, of land is, of course, well 

 recognised in India, as on its careful compilation depends the successful collection 

 of the land tax. 



The lines of work I have endeavoured to sketch out are, it may 

 be said, rather those of a Department than of a voluntary society. Can the 

 Agricultural Society as at present constituted, undertake this work or is it first 

 necessary that it should be made into a Department ? In its begining the Society 

 was necessarily a voluntary one, an experiment which has, I venture to think, been 

 fully justified. If it is to expand on the lines which such a Society should naturally 

 take and, which I have ventured to sketch very roughly, it must, I think be worked 

 by a Department. What form that Department should take it is outside the 

 subject of this paper to attempt to sketch. In some parts of India we find Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture and Land Records, in other Deparments of Agriculture 

 and Commerce, in others Departments of Arts and Crafts. But it may be 

 asked whether after all Agricultural Societies are necessary if there is a 

 Department of Agriculture. My answer to this question would be, certainly 

 yes. Agricultural societies are local councils which should enable the people to 

 meet together under their recognised leaders for discussion and exchange of 

 ideas. The principles of societies are thoroughly well understood in the country 

 They are natural agencies for the exchange of ideas and they allow the natural 

 leaders of the people to take their proper place in directing them by their energies. 

 The Agricultural Society can be productive of nothing but good, whatever its 

 final stage may be. Under the direction of His Excellency the Governor, with whose 

 name it will always be associated, we can have no doubt of its stability and the 

 value of its objects, or that those objects will not be the most practical ones. 



