OEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



PROGRESS REPORT XVIII. 



There are now 1,073 members of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, being an increase of 26 

 since the last meeting. All members joining now are sent back publications from November last. 



Local Societies. — Since the last Meeting of the Board I have visited the Branch Societies at 

 Balangoda, Ratnapura, Kuruwiti korale, and Badulla, and held meetings at Passara and Welimada, 

 where new Branches have been formed. 



AX Balangoda it was decided to hold a Fair on a market day later in the year ; prizeB to be 

 offered for fruits and vegetables. The Branch has now over 80 members, an increase of 40 during the 

 past six weeks. 



Mr. S. D. Mahawalatenna has kindly promised to allow his garden at Balangoda to be open to 

 the public as an experimental garden, on the side walks being cleared and vegetables planted by the 

 Local Society, who will take the produce from the new plots opened. There is now a very good flower 

 garden on the land, with many varieties of plants imported from Australia and India. 



The Balangoda Branch has undertaken to arrange for a demonstration in castration. 



The Ratnapura Branch has done very little up to date. A paper was read at the meeting by 

 Mr. Attygalle Mudaliyar on his experiments with Kiushu paddy. A. few new members joined the 

 the Branch, and it is hoped that more work will now be done. It was agreed to arrange for a castra- 

 tion demonstration and to open an experimental garden. To do this the membership of the Branch 

 must be considerably increased, and steps are being taken for the purpose. 



At Pussdla, the centre of the Kuruwiti korale, a large number of villagers were present. 



The Kuruwiti Korale Branch has only very recently been affiliated with the Parent Society. 

 The Ratemahatmaya reports that it was difficult to get members to join, as the villagers were 

 unwilling to pay in subscriptions. It was decided at the meeting to make it a rule of membership 

 that each member should undertake to carry out an experiment, the choice of the experiment to 

 rest with the experimentalist ; all experiments to be registered by the Secretary of the Branch. 

 Members would be required to attend at the Branch meetings and report results. Failure to carry 

 out their experiments to involve loss of membership. 



Members undertaking to carry out experiments to be exempt from payment of subscription. 

 Thirty-two members joined, twenty-two of whom gave a donation to the Branch, in addition to 

 undertaking an experiment. Rs. 11*25 was paid in donations. There was a large number of 

 applications for seeds, especially for chillies and yams, which have been sent to the Branch. With 

 very few exceptions, all the members are villagers with small holdings. Most of the experiments 

 to be made are in opening up vegetable gardens. 



The Meeting at Badulla was held on the day following the Agricultural Show, and was 

 attended by many of the leading planters of the district. A paper was read on the " Propagation of 

 Plants " by Mr. J. K. Nock, and a Progress Report by the Secretary of the Branch showing what steps 

 had been taken to hold castration demonstrations and distribute seed. 



At Passara, with the assistance of Mr. James Duncan, Capt. H. Gordon, and the Ratemahatmaya 

 of Yatikinda,a Branch was started on the same lines as the Kuruwiti Korale Society. Twenty-three 

 working members joined ; seeds were distributed, and applications for a further supply received. 



At Welimada there was a very good attendance at the village school, which won the First 

 Prize for its garden at the Badulla Show. 



The Branch was very recently started, and with the additional members who joined- after the 

 meeting it has a membership of 28 — all " working " members — that is to say, members under- 

 taking to carry out experiments or pay subscriptions. 



Rs. 75*50 were promised at the meeting in prizes for the best cotton, sugarcane, chillies, 

 pumpkins, onions, potatoes, tobacco, and manioca grown in the district, for the best native vegetable 

 garden, and for the best cultivation in a paddy field in which it was not possible to raise a crop of 

 paddy. There were thirteen applications for seed. It was decided to affiliate the Branch with the 

 Parent Society. 



At a meeting held at Teldeuiya on the 3rd April it was decided to start a Branch of the 

 Agricultural Society for the Dumbara District, 



The Delft Branch of the Society has decided to plant cotton on a large scale in Delft. 



The Katunayaka Branch decided to offer two prizes of Rs. 10 and Rs. 5 for the best crop raised 

 from sixty-flays paddy. Twenty-five bushels were procured by Mr. A. E. Rajapakse, Muhandiram, 

 Chairman of the Branch, who distributed it among the villagers, half a bushel to each applicant. 



The Telijjawila (Weligain Korale) Branch has decided to open up fruit gardens. Seven Vidane- 

 Arachchies agreed to start gardens with 30 plants in each garden, five plants of each of the following 

 six kinds : — Loquats, Rata Karapincha, Chinese Guava, Star Apple, Hog Apple, and Sapodilla. 



It was further decided to purchase Rs. 30 worth of vegetable seeds and to hold a small Vegetable 

 Show at the end of the year. 



The Mudaliyar has procured three boxes of French mushroom spawn for members of this 

 Branch, as there is a considerable demand for better varieties of mushroom in this district. Results 

 will be reported in June. 



The Agricultural Education and Publications Committee held a meeting this morning to consider 

 the cost of the " Tropical Agriculturist and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society," and the 

 continuance of the vote to the Mahawalatenne Garden. 



The Hon. Messrs. H. L. Crawford and P. Arunachalam have joined this Committee. Mr. R. B. 

 Strickland, Acting Director of Public Instruction, takes Mr. Harward's place as Chairman of this 

 Committee. 



