ScieihUJ'iv clyrivullure. 



il our wells were sunk deeper aud broader, enough to contain a large eoluuiu of 

 water. If this is done, the necessity of having small wells, as we have now, in 

 each garden may be dispensed with, and we may have one well in common to 

 a group of gardens which may be supplied with the necessary water from that 

 Avell by means of a pump. It is for the leaders of our community or the large 

 proprietors of our place to come forward and sink such a large well similar to 

 the one lately sunk or enlarged by Government at Udumpirai, aud work it with 

 a large pump and show the people the advantage of mechanical labour. If the 

 people are convinced of the advantage by practical demonstration, the cultivators 

 of limited means may jointly sink a well in common to several of their gardens 

 aud work it Avith a pump and enjoy the benefit of it. 



If this cannot be done, a simple machine that could be removed from 

 one well to another and worked at a comparatively small expenditure should be 

 introduced, and I hope the Agricultural Society will interest itself in this 

 matter. 



I would in this connection draw the attention of the enterprising 

 men of our place to the Udumpirai Avell which was enlarged by Govern- 

 ment in connection with the proposed water supply to the Jaffna town, 

 and which proposal now seems to have been given up. Would it not be 

 worth the w hile of some of our enlightened countrymen to form at least a 

 Joint Stock Company, if none of them are able to do it individually, and buy 

 this well, insert a large pump in it, and supply the adjoining gardens with the 

 necessary water and recover a rate for the supply ? 



Such a pump can be very well put on the inexhaustible Puttoor well 

 and gardens could be supplied with water by means of channels cut for the 

 purpose. I think even the tracts of fields close to this well could be supplied with 

 water from this well; and this, I think, is a question worthy of consideration by 

 the Government also. Government ex pends large amounts of money on irrigation 

 works in the mainland, but nothing has yet been done in the dry peninsula. 

 If they could raise the water of this well by powerful machinery and supply 

 the tracts of fields below it by means of channels, the owners of these tracts 

 would be exceedingly glad and willingly pay even an enhanced water rate. 



Labour.- Another subject that deserves the consideration of the Agri- 

 cultural Society is the supply of labour. Labour in Jaffna has become very 

 dear, and this, I should think, is the chief reason why paddy cultivation does 

 not pay in Jaffna. I read in an Indian Magazine that agricultural labour in 

 India costs about 12 cents a day, while in Jaffna it has gone up to 37| cents ? 

 and occasionally 50 cents a day. It is no wonder that the cultivation of paddy 

 in Jaffna does not pay. It is very essential that the labour market should be 

 amply replenished, and if only sufficient inducement could be offered to the 

 Indian coolies, they are sure to be attracted to Jaffna in large numbers and 

 materially advance the cause of local agriculture. 



Cattle-Breeding. -It is generally admitted on all hands that agriculture 

 depends a good deal on the stock of cattle of any place. Manuring and plough- 

 ing are two important and indispensable factors in the matter of agriculture, 

 and these cannot be effected without a sufficient and good stock of cattle. 

 The cattle are again required by us for thrashing our paddy stacks, aud they 

 are also immensely useful to us in the supply of milk aud in serving us for 

 draught purposes. But the stock that we have now are miserably poor ; and 

 we send large sums of money annually to India for the purchase of draught 

 bulls. The bulls engaged in ploughing our fields are a miserable lot. and the 



