Edible Products. 



894 



[November, 1911, 



153,188 bushels, though the average rate 

 of productions given in the next column 

 disclosed the omission of the figure for 

 million*. It should have been 1,153,188 

 plus 383.782 in Trincomalie, making a 

 total of 1,536,970 for the Eastern Pro- 

 vince. 



Similarly an absurd crop of over seven 

 millions in Kaudy was found to be due 

 to the unfortunate addition of that 

 figure at both ends instead of in the 

 unit place only, possibly ascribable to 

 the proverbial P.D. 



As I believe these returns are now 

 checked in the Audit Office, 1 trust some 

 steps will be taken to prevent the pro- 

 mulgation of such absurd and unjusti- 

 fiable mistakes in future, which throw 

 discredit and suggest doubts of the 

 correctness of the whole of the figures. 



Having cleared away these errors, it 

 remains for me to deal with two other 

 grounds generally advanced for impugn- 

 ing their accuracy, viz., inconsistency 

 with each other and under-estimation. 

 To the former I would reply that these 

 apparent inconsistencies are really evi- 

 dences of accuracy, and are chiefly 

 attributable to corresponding varia- 

 tions in the rainfall which have been 

 ignored by critics who have net 

 studied its effect, and bearing on a cultiv- 

 ation so dependent on the water 

 supply, as I will further show a few 

 pages hence. As regards under-estim- 

 ation of production ; for purposes of 

 comparison it is a negligible quantity; 

 as it equally affects all the figures, but 

 it is not so great as usually alleged, and 

 which I at one time thought myself. 

 Mr. Lewis states (Wanny Manual) that 

 Mr. Fowler thought the Headmen gave 

 two-thirds the proper estimate. I think 

 this is too much, and probably three- 

 fourths would be nearer the mark. 



My experience as cultivator has 

 taught me of the very large margins 

 which must be allowed for contingencies, 

 especially when dealing with large 

 areas, in the wilder parts of the Island. 

 Even at the earliest stages there are 

 enemies _ to ward against as well ex- 

 pressed in a Tamil Proverb, which may 

 be rendered as follows :— 



Remember this, when'eer you sow, 

 One for Crab, and one for Crow, 

 One to die, and one to grow. 



Then there are elephants, pigs, 

 crocodiles, besides vast hordes of birds 

 who alone do immense damage, especi- 

 ally to limited or detached cultivations. 

 I have had Rs.200 worth of Paddy 

 destroyed in a night by a few elephants, 



in spite of a watcher armed with a gun, 

 and half my first crop off a small area 

 was eaten by birds. 



Another frequent cause of a low crop 

 return is large sowing, induced by 

 favourable weather in the early stages, 

 especially in thp very extensive tracts in 

 Batticaloa. D faculties aiise and delay 

 follows which prevent completion of 

 the sowing in the proper time. The 

 crop then " gets late " and is not ready 

 for reaping with the rest of the tract ; 

 and the swarm of birds in the air con- 

 centrate their depredations on the still 

 tender crop. The communal fence has 

 however been put up round the whole 

 tract at the time fixed, and must be 

 broken up at the time agreed on before- 

 hand (the sticks being required to 

 protect the stacked crop). Hordes of 

 cattle thus get admission, and the late 

 crop has to be abandoned unreaped. I 

 have known several hundred acres lost 

 in this way in the extensive vattais, 

 (i.e., fields associated for purposes of 

 cultivation) in Batticaloa, in some of 

 which over 1,000 acres lie within one ring 

 fence. 



I could multiply the circumstances 

 which have to be taken into consider- 

 ation in estimating the crops of large 

 tracts, but what I have said will suffice, 

 I trust, to carry conviction and enlist 

 sympathy. 



To resume the examination of the 

 returns. 



I find that the reported aggregate crop 

 for the whole Island varies in the earlier 

 years from 11£ bushels per acre (in 1872) 

 to 18$ bushels in 1879. but this rise is 

 accounted for by the fact that the rain- 

 fall in the former year was 64 inches and 

 in the latter 161 ; while in 1896 (with a 

 rainfall of 93 inches) it was 19 and in 1904 

 (with 82) it is given at 20& bushels. An 

 addition of 25% to these figures would 

 give more than the 8-fold in an ordinary 

 year which Sir C. P. Layard records to be 

 a fair average in the more favoured 

 Western Province with its equable 

 rainfall. 



With still more favourable climatic 

 conditions in the Central Province, I find 

 the figures to be 21$ bushelds per acre 

 (average of five years 1888-92) and a maxi- 

 mum of 28 bushels in the Kandy 

 district in 1905. 



I have been specially impressed with 

 the absence of any " window dressing " 

 of the figures furnished. The largest 

 crop is rarely found against the biggest 

 acreage ; and where a good crop is 

 obtained off a moderate sowing, or vice 

 versa, it appears to be fairly stated 

 without any cooking of the figures. I 



