th£ tropical 
AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1889. 
then there is no watching. The threshing is done 
at leisure, and those engaged in this operation, who 
■frequently work at night, guiird and remove the 
paddy ; so here again there is no charge for watch- 
ing. In Batticaloa, as explained in my paper on rice 
cultivation, 
In Oct: and Nov. the field servants complete the 
fences and repair the ridges, &c. ; and ordinarily for 
three months after this they have but little to do, 
beyond sleeping at night in the watch-huts, though 
they are supposed at intervals to patrol the fences. 
Their days are practically free, and they can engage, if 
bo inclined, in other occupations, which will not take 
them too far away. As a fact, all grow plots of vege- 
tables and tobacco on the higher portions which are to 
be found in every Munraari land, besides shooting 
game, fishing and collecting jungle products. In some 
localities they are able in January to undertake the 
cultivation of lands for Kalawellamai, especially in the 
southern districts. In March the reaping begins and 
the crop might be all threshed out by the end of April, 
but in practice it is stacked and threshed out later at 
leisure, to admit of the field servants taking part in the 
cultivation for Kalawellamai now going on. 
Consequently in Galle the experimental field was 
not watched and no charge was incurred on this 
account. In the Batticaloa case, until the fence 
was completed and the crop came above ground, 
no watching was done. After that a man was 
engaged to sleep in a watch-hut, for a period of 
two months to watch the field and the experi- 
mental garden in the neighbourhood. For doing 
this he was paid one ammunam of paddy worth 
R7 - 50, half of which was debited to the paddy 
experiment and half to the garden. By day this 
man's services were not required and he went 
and obtained work elsewhere. This is in accor- 
dance with the custom of the country, where a 
substitute is at times hired when the regular cul- 
tivator cannot himself sleep at his field. At the 
end of the three months, the tract having been 
sown with 90 days' paddy, the crop was ready for 
reaping, when some of the reapers lived on the land 
and no separate watcher was required or employed. 
Under these circumstances the watching at Batti- 
caloa cost 3-75, and this was included in the item 
for fencing, K5 - 60. Lest anyone should cavil at 
the small balance for fencing, I had perhaps 
better add that the share of the general fence of 
the tract comes to 12 fathoms, for of course the 7 
acres was not separately fenced. 
The fact is that as the country is getting settled 
the necessity for both fencing and watching is dis- 
appearing. In a large portion o£ Galle and Matara 
there is neither one nor the other, and it is coming 
to this here. 
If a large extent was cultivated by one proprietor 
on the cash system, it would be unnecessary to go 
to any large expense for watching, as a certain 
proportion of the labour force (for whom employment 
all the year round could be arranged) would reside 
on the property in suitably placed lines, just as is 
done on a coffee or tea estate. Possibly one regular 
paid night watcher would be wanted for 100 acres 
(chiefly to guard against the incursions of the pigs), 
whose services in Batticaloa could be readily ob- 
tained for 25 cents a night —say for 180 nights 
= B46 — say 50 cents an acre. — Yours faithfully, 
E. ELLIOTT. 
P. S. — Paddy selling today for export to Jaffna 
at RB to R8-25 per ammunam of 7£ bushels = Rl'10 
per bushel. 
THE FUTUEE Of CINNAMON : 
THE NEED OP STOPPING THE EXPORT OF 
CHIPS. 
Golua Pokuna, Negombo, 27th June 1889. 
Djjah SlB, — The persistently low prices realized 
for cinnamon bark during the past 7 or 8 years, 
and the serious outlook in the future from the fact 
that the exports instead of diminishing are in- 
creasing, has caused me ti address some of the 
largest owners of cinnamon property with a view 
to inducing them to discontinue the preparation 
and sale of " chips," which, in the opinion of most 
growers, is the main cause of the continuance of 
low prices. This of course is no new revelation, 
for we have it on record that at the inauguration of 
the " Ceylon Agricultural Association" held in 
Colombo on the 24th June 1882, this question was 
the very first discussed ; and the following re- 
solution was proposed and adopted by that large 
and influential meeting : — "That the Committee 
appointed today do take into consideration the 
question of the large exportation of chips that is 
now being made and which this meeting believes 
has materially contributed to a fall in prices of 
cinnamon, and report on this subject to a general 
meeting of this Association on a day hereafter to be 
named &e." The Committee presented their report 
on the 1st August, the pith of which was contained in 
the following clause. "The Committee under these 
circumstances trust that all members of this Associa- 
tion who are interested in the cultivation of cinna- 
mon will join in doing their utmost to stop 
the scraping of chips say for a p riod of three 
years, save for the purposes of their own stills 
and those of their constituents." (For fuller 
information see pp. 129 and 238 of vol. II. of 
the Tropical Agriculturist.) 
With the adoption of the resolution and the 
recommendation of the Committee, the matter, 
so far as I can learn from . inquiries, ended ; 
and the position today is much worse than it 
was in 1882. The output of both quill bark 
and chips is greater, and pnces have receded 
till they leave hardly any visible margin for 
profit. That one attempt has failed is no rea- 
son that another should ; and I think the time 
has arrived when a fresh, more determined and 
more united effort should be made. The replies 
to my letters are sufficiently encouraging to 
warrant a meeting being called to discuss this 
question and to endeavour to, i£ possible, arrive at 
some satisfactory solution of the difficulty. Before 
however calling a meeting it has occurred to me that 
perhaps it would be well to have the subject thoroughly 
ventilated through the local papers, both English and 
Sinhalese, so that when we do meet we may have 
some well-matured and feasible proposals to bring 
forward. The subject is evidently beset with many 
difficulties which accounts for the " Ceylon Agricul- 
tural Association " as quietly acquiescing in per- 
mitting the matter to drop out of notice. The 
more light we can get through discussion the better 
our chances of ultimate success. In endeavouring 
to revive an interest in this subject I am at 
trying to effect something more than the mere 
passing of resolutions which bind no one ; and if I 
thought that the present movement was likely 
to be as barren of results as was that of the 
Agricultural Association in 1882, I should 
have small heart to proceed : I hope for better 
things however. Proprietors must Bee that unless 
they can devise some means by which the 
price of cinnamon can be raised, the cultivation 
of it by many must become unprofitable ; indeed 
to some, I fear, this stage has already arrived, 
for how can it pay the owner of an estate to culti- 
vate when the bulk of his crop sells at from 6d 
to 8d per lb. in the London market? Any proposal 
therefore likely to offer a prospect of improving 
this state of things should, I think, be cordially 
welcomed and carefully and seriously examined. 
It is too much to expect that all cinnamon growers 
will consent to cease to prepare chips ; ignorant 
