TME TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1887 
tion of a few simple scientific methods and of 
Steady well-directed labour. 
Since writing the above, we have re-perused 
Mr. Elliott's paper on rice culture contributed to 
the transactions of the local Asiatic Society, in 
which he shows that where, in districts well 
supplied with irrigation water, like Matara and 
Batticaloa, men apply their own labour and capital 
(without borrowing, as so many do, at the ex- 
tortionate rate of 50 per cent) rice cultivation, 
even with very moderate comparative yields is 
thoroughly remunerative. He mentions the co-oper- 
ative principle as in force in Matara, while there 
and in Batticaloa those who assist in culture and 
reaping are paid by shares of crop. Of course, 
without a good supply of water rice cannot be 
profitably grown, but the experiments reported by 
Mr. Green show that Mr. Elliott erred in under- 
valuing improved implements and modes of culture, 
just as we under-estimated their effects. We 
quote what is said of Matara, a district with 
which Mr. Elliott is specially familiar, having 
helped to an important degree in supplying it with 
irrigation water: — 
In Matara, one or more cultivators jointly under- 
take the tillage of a field. One at least of these men 
has generally a proprietary interest in the land. There 
is no hiring of coolies or money payments for any 
additional requirements. The work is done on the 
co-operative or bee system, neighbours mutually as- 
sisting each other without any special remuneration 
beyond a good meal provided by the individual whose 
land is being tilled. 
The cultivation of paddy has been so extended in 
the Matara District, and the available land is so in- 
cessantly under crop (two harvests being almost in- 
variably taken from the same land in the irrigated 
villages), that there is little or no grazing ground 
left for cattle, and the buffaloes especially have to be 
driven long distances* — some beyond Tangalla, 15 
miles away — for pasturage. 
In consequence of this difficulty and the abundant 
supply of manual labour, cattle are very little used, 
and the fields are almost entirely tilled with the 
mamotie. The soil is dug up and turned three times 
and then sown, and this occupies a man about 40 days 
for an area of an amunam, or 2§ acres. 
As the cattle are folded or driven away, there is no 
fancing to be done, and watching too has been nearly 
given up, as all the people live in gardens bordering 
the fields, and there are no wild animals, such as pigs 
or elephants, to be guarded against. 
Reaping an amunam's extent occupies a man 16 days 
and threshing and winnowing about 30 days for an 
average good crop. Allowing a margin for contingen- 
cies, the cultivation and harvesting of an amunam 
of land in the irrigated villages of the Matara Dis- 
trict require 90 days of a man's labour, or 36 daysf 
per acre, besides an outlay of about four bushels of 
paddy for seed and tools. 
I may here mention that Mr. Weeracoddy, in the 
report of his experiment in Kegalla, gives 34 days per 
acre as his outlay in labour, inclusive of certain per- 
manent improvements he had to undertake. 
Similar but more lengthy details are given regard- 
ing the rice district of Ceylon, Batticaloa, which 
sends a surplus for sale to Jaffna, and the sum- 
ming up is as follows:— 
The only point which is really open to discussion is 
the rate of yield. This I have purposely kept low, I 
believe below the truth, and I appeal to the gentlemen 
who have experience in such matters if I have not been 
* In Matara District in 1882 the number of buffaloes 
was only 10,162, and in the chief irrigated Pattu, the 
GaDgaboda, only 1,800, or ono to every 8 acres. In 
Batticaloa the number was 0,630 in 1882, or about 1 
to every 2 acres cultivated with paddy. 
t 1 find Ludovici in his "Rico Cultivation" estimates 
the labour for cultivating an aere at very nearly the 
same number of days. 
most moderate in basing my calculations upon a yield 
in irrigated lands which would, in the Sinhalese districts, 
be spoken of as varying from 10 to 15-foid, and of 7 to 
10-fold in the localities where 3J bushels to the acre 
are sown. 
I have selected for th e investigation of this question 
two districts in which the construction of irrigation 
works has introduced a considerable element of 
certainty in the cultivation of paddy, and it is practic- 
able to judge results by pecuniary tests in accordance 
with European ideas. "When a reliable water-supply is 
absent, and paddy-growing depends on the rainfall, it 
is probably liable to more vicissitudes than any other 
branch of agriculture in the island, perhaps in the 
world. It would be a waste of time to consider its 
pecuniary capabilities under such conditions. 
But, fortunately, the rainfall in some parts of the 
island, and in the more populous districts, is well dis- 
tributed, and paddy cultivation is carried on with 
results only second to those ensured by irrigation. 
Where such favourable circumstances are wanting, there 
is really only one remedy, and that may be summed up 
in the single word "irrigation." 
I know no other of equal efficacy. Improved modeB of 
cultivation, new implements, and fresh seed, are all of 
secondary importance. Where necessary, make the 
water-supply tolerably secure, and we may and can 
rival India, if we do not do so already, in the econom- 
ical production of paddy, though it may be a long 
day before we can entirely overtake the local demand. 
Still, the fact remains that while paddy cannot ap- 
parently be imported into Ceylon for much under 
Rl-50 per bushel, we can produce it in the island for 
one-third this sum at the very outside. 
The rate of yield, it is evident, is capable of in- 
crease by means of improved implements and 
culture to a degree of which even this sanguine 
writer never dreamed. 
PRODUCTION OP PADDY AND MR. 
GREEN'S RESULTS. 
A correspondent who has paid some attention to 
the question writes : — 
The information given by Mr. Green of his ex- 
periments is, no doubt, most useful and encouraging 
and confirmatory of the views I hold of paddy 
cultivation. But I now would beg him to abstain from 
using the term fold, which is most misleading. What 
we want to know is what is the crop that can be 
got out of an acre of land by improved modes of 
cultivation. This is not clearly set out in the 
published accounts ; indeed these notes don't supply 
data for a full comparison. For instance, it is not 
stated over what acreage the two bushels sown in 
the native way was scattered. Probably in about 
§rds of an acre, as they sow 3 bushels to the acre 
in that part of the country, I am credibly informed, 
so the yield was at the rate stated (8-fold) equal 
to 24 bushels an acre. 
Coming to the transplanting, 5 seers were planted 
out in about half-an-acre of land and the yield 
was 18 bushels, or 36 bushels an acre. 
The difference in return between the native crop 
and the transplanting system was accordingly equal 
to 12 bushels of paddy per acre. Per contra will 
Mr. Green state what was the difference in the 
cost of cultivation between the two modes ; is it 
sufficient to cover the additional outlay on labour 
for transplanting ? I was lately told it cost R10 an 
acre to transplant by one who practically tried 
it in a district where labour is cheaper than 
at Trincomalee. In the Eastern Province, 
labour is scarce and land is plenty, and there 
is undoubtedly what is generally termed slovenly, 
but what is rather rough and ready cultivation, 
and paddy is grown at a very moderate rate 
probably as low as l£d currency a bushel. There 
is a good deal of communication with the coast, 
and the people are perfectly well aware of the 
