Miscellaneous. 



336 



submit that it will be a gratifying sight of a villager of one of the Northern divisions, 

 who never before had made a garden bed, exhibiting vegetables, both English and 

 native. In this manner either yielding to persuasion, or emulating their betters, 

 or through the hope of mere reward, there are at present in my Korle a small but 

 appreciable number of converts to industrial habits. It is thus within the sphere 

 of every headman to use with excellent effect, in this opportunity offered by the 

 Agricultural Society of Ceylon, his vast influence to make the villager use his 

 opportunities, at present ignored in objectionable pursuits, in a way which he has 

 only to adopt to appreciate. In the introduction of new products the incredulity 

 of the native in the good of anything new to him has to be reckoned with. If, 

 however, he sees the first experiment is successful and remunerative at a minimum 

 ^ost of labour, he will readily adopt it and will be more ready later on to 

 try other things. 



Such a product has been found in ground nuts, which seem to grow anywhere 

 except in damp soil, with varying results indeed, but always remunerative. This 

 with the further inducement of free distribution of seed, was soon in cultivation 

 all over the Korle, and now as a highly remunerative product, yielding according 

 to our experience up to 110 fold, affording with jak and yam another substitute 

 for rice, a cheap substitute for lighting purposes, as well as food for cattle it is 

 already highly popular. Its cultivation may be left to itself. 



Our attention is now being given to the cultivation of cotton, and seed is 

 being distributed free. I hope at no distant date to submit a satisfactory report 

 in regard to this cultivation. 



The staple industry of the village is paddy cultivation. The same method 

 that obtained in the time of our forefathers obtains now, and the standard of 

 remunerativeness is necessarily the same. No new methods have ever been tried, 

 and in adopting one we were solely guided by the consensus of opinion that 

 we gathered from the discussions at the Central Board in favour of transplanting. 

 Information gleaned from districts where this is a usual method of cultivation 

 with enormous results, has further helped to decide on its adoption, and 

 at present thirty-six fields of uniform area have been dealt with in this 

 manner, the results of which will soon be submitted to public judgment. But 

 the intermediate lessons learnt are so astonishing as compared with previous 

 methods that we have cause to congratulate ourselves for adopting it. The 

 figures I have carefully collected for the purposes of this paper leave no doubt as to 

 what the results will be, and that it will be, where possible, the method of cultivation 

 in the future. The plants of two kurunies of paddy have been found to be enough to 

 transplant an area of twelve kurunies— thus effecting a saving of ten kurunies of 

 seed paddy, and one plant so transplanted has put out on an average fifteen suckers 

 or clusters to the six produced by ordinary sowing. A few cases where fifty to eighty 

 suckers are seen in very rich soil are mentioned merely to show what a soil 

 enriched by artificial means is capable of producing. Measures have been taken 

 to experiment upon a kind of paddy that required only sixty days to come to 

 maturity, to overcome the distress that has been known to occur to small holders 

 who from climatic or other causes get belated in the season. The method of 

 preparation of the soil for cultivation in regard to yield has received careful 

 consideration. It is the general opinion that ploughing even with wooden ploughs, 

 which furrowed the surface only, was attended with better results than tilling 

 with manual labour. How this practice fell into desuetude cannot be definitely 

 ascertained. 



The Society is now making arrangements to introduce English ploughs. 

 The only objection that may be raised against them is that the ordinary native 



