No. 6.— 1853.] DISTRICT OF CHILAW AND PUTTALAM. 45 



of each village, and until leases for lengthened periods are 

 adopted, the peasant has no encouragement in endeavour- 

 ing to improve his farm, and it is utterly hopeless to expect 

 any great improvement in this branch of agriculture. 



Such then are some of those circumstances which tend to act 

 injuriously on agriculture. There still remains to be noticed 

 the train of evils arising from the manner in which the grain 

 tax is levied, a system which, however defective it may be, can- 

 not be easily dispensed with. This subject is, however, one of 

 too great importance to be treated of in this abstract. 



Much land being so situated that it cannot be irrigated, is 

 reserved for the cultivation of what are called " fine grains," 

 such as kurakkan, meneri, sesamum, &c. 



The system pursued is most destructive ; the same piece of 

 ground being sown only once in five, ten, or fifteen years, and 

 the land allowed to become covered with wood in the intervals. 

 The ashes of this brushwood form the only manure employed. 

 The natural effects of a plan by which each peasant must 

 possess a number of separate patches of land, each large 

 enough to give him a sufficient crop for one year, are abundantly 

 evident. I have often travelled for days together through 

 nothing but chena land — so the clearings are termed— with- 

 out seeing more than a very few trees of any value as timber. 



Nothing but the introduction of the use of manures can 

 check the inherent evils of the system. 



These plants then— the cocoanut, paddy, and fine grains- 

 employ the greater portion of the agricultural population j 

 others are however cultivated, and of the more important I 

 shall give short notices. 



Tobacco is to be met with all over the District; but more atten- 

 tion is paid to it at and to the south of Chilaw than elsewhere. 



The system of cultivation is as follows. The ground during 

 from six to twelve months is manured by railing off suc- 

 ; cessively small portions of the field and using those as cattle 



