THE 
AGRICULTURAL fDAGAZlfiG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine 
for August :— 
Vol. VI.] AUGUST, 1894. [N 0 % 
TILLAGE IMPLEMENTS. 
EOF. Primrose McConnel contributes 
a most interesting paper on tins 
subject to the last journal of the 
Highland and Agricultural Society 
of Scotland. He tells us that the 
origin of tillage husbandry is lost in the mist of 
ages, though we are able to infer from ancient 
Egyptian monuments that some forms of imple- 
ments were in use more than 5,000 years before 
the Christian era ; and though these were com- 
paratively rude in construction, they contained 
the germ ivnd principles of most modern forms. 
The origin and evolution of the plough are 
first traced by the author in an ingenious man- 
ner. The modern plough — the implements for 
turning over a furrow slice — is of comparatively 
recent evolution, and was preceded for ages by 
the use of a manual tool resembling a sort of 
large hoe or pick. To this the Eomans gave the 
name of sarcle. 
Jethro Tull was of opinion that men must have 
got the first idea of cultivation from the rooting of 
their hogs. Antedeluviau swine had enormously 
long snouts, and prehistoric man noticed that 
where the pigs rooted around, there seeds after- 
wards sprouted and grew best. Thus he came to 
think that if he dug up the soil with a stick and 
planted seed, the same results would follow; and 
in this way arable farming began. The sarcle 
was an improved form of stick, used exactly 
like a pick, and it broke up and pulverised fclie 
soil most efficiently. Work with it could, how- 
ever, only be done on a small scale, and il 
became necessary to find some way of working 
the sarcle with less trouble and in a more ex- 
peditious way. This led to the lengthening of 
the handle of the pick or sarcle, yoking an°ox 
to it, and making the animal drag the "digging 
point along through the ground. For the°pur- 
pose of keeping the implement steady in the soil, 
a handle was fitted on to the heel or an»le of 
the implement,— and thus became evolved the 
first plough. 
The material of the first plough was undoubtedly 
the forked branch of a tree, cut to the form and 
size desired. At the best, however, a plough of this 
description could only tear out a jagged rut aloii" 
the ground. The ancient implements known as the 
Casch)-omwa.s simply the branch of a tree sharpened 
at one end and shod with iron. Beyond this point 
it is unnecessary to trace the evolution of the 
plough so far as our native implements are 
concerned, for after this came the attempts at a 
mould-board or wrest which turned over all the 
torn-up or cut-out soil to one side— this state of 
development the Sinhalese plough never reached. 
It is remarkable, says Prof. McConnel, that 
to the present day the most primitive forms of 
implements are adhered to throughout the East • 
and, he asserts, " though the progress of agricul- 
ture has undoubtedly been slow, it is doubtful, 
if it had been left to those Eastern peoples' 
whether it would have progressed at all !" ' 
We have already indicated our views with 
regard to native implements in Ceylon. Their 
improvement, as we then stated, must be taken 
in hand after carefully considering the matter 
in all its bearings. It is just here that we feel 
the need of an Agricultural Department in Ceylon, 
or even of a properly organized Agricultural' 
Association, for deliberations on all matters con- 
nected with the native agriculture of the country. 
That agriculture is in a backward condition 
among the indigenous population no one can 
truthfully deny, but the pity is that it has Sol 
yet been thought fit to appoint even a re- 
presentative Board of Agriculture, thai should 
have a well-thought-out scheme, for fostering 
and improving the methods and means, of cul- 
tivation among the natives of due tsiand. 
