May 1, 1903.] 
Supplement lo thf " Tropical Apicuttutist." 
791 
THE DETELOPMEXT OF VILLAGE 
INDUSTRIES, 
Nj policy for tlie improvement of tlie condition 
of the villager in Ceylon will be complete 
unless attention is pnid to the development of 
minor industries. Our villager in the majority 
of cases is a land o^vner, and he can never b« 
induced to leave his ancestral holdings. But 
these ancestral lands are gradually being alienate'! 
in many places, and in these instaiwjes tlio bind 
is being so snb-dividuil >is to Icavu barely a siilU- 
cient area for a man to support himself by 
agricultural labour. One result of the reduction 
of the extent of land held by individuals will 
be an appreciation of improved methods of culti- 
vation, for when a man fiitds that by better atten- 
tion to tilhige operations, manuring and selection of 
aeed he is able to take as much out of a small 
plot as he did with larger areas of land 
under the old system, necessity compels him to 
pay some intelligent attention to the new 
methods which he looked to whith suspicion at 
one time. The School Garden system which was 
recently introduced in the Island should prove 
to be of great use at this juncture, and the 
development of the scheme will in time be wel- 
comed by even the most conservative village 
ffoyiya. 
The second requisite for the development of 
village industries is the freeing of the ffot/iya from 
the village money lender, at least in regard to 
what he actually requires in the cultivation of 
his lands. It has often been mentioned that a 
■village cultivator has to pay a hundred pai' cent 
on the seed grain he obtains, hundred per cent 
on the manure, and an equally large percentage 
on any little money he raises to enable him to grow 
a crop. This is a very large veaate, and a saving 
iu this interest will increase his earnings to two 
or three times of what they are at present. 
For example, a goyiya who owns in his own 
right |an acre of paddy land, expends personal 
labour in its cultivation, but has to borrow the 
seed paddy, say 1\ bushels, for sowing his acre ; 
he also borrows the bone meal say 56 lbs. After 
he reaps his crop in four or five months' time he 
has to return five bushels of paddy for the '1\ 
he borrowed and four bushels for the manure. Jiis 
full crop may be anything below 20 bushel?, and 
only 11 bushels are left for all bis labour, inalud- 
ing cattle for ploughing and thrashing. There 
is no reason why an Agricultural Banking system 
cannot be introduced in Ceylon, and that too 
with profit. We have the system now working 
successfully iu such places as Egypt and the 
Deccau, where the conditions and the surroundings 
of the cultivator are decidedly more unfavour- 
able for the development ©f sueh a system 
than in Ceylon. Au Agricultural Bank will do 
more than allow the cultivator to obtain bis seed 
and manure at reasonable rates, it will help in 
the speedy development of the tens of thousands 
of acres of land which are now being made avail- 
able for cultivatiui under the new irrigation 
scheme. It is only the small Undholder that 
an succesafully cultivate irrigable lands. 
hese cultivators with a little encouragement 
will take up evea-y avi^ilable acre ef irrig tblo land. 
The encouragement they require is not much, 
and will in no way affect tlie public fund^. They 
will not ask for bonuses, or free grants, or leases 
on favourable terms. 
If we have siu Agricultural Bank, ani if a 
little money is lent out on favourable rates 
for cultivating the land, nothing more will 
be required to see all th«~e lands profitably 
tnltivated. 
There aro districts in Cwylou where a number 
ot minor industries can be successfully started 
among the villagers, and it is here that some 
special attention should be given to the subjtict. 
The preparation of jams and preserves, the manu- 
facture of various articles out of the diffeueut 
kinds of fibres, leaves aad rushes so eommonly 
met with here, vaed, rattan and bambos wor-k ; and 
rarious forms of ornamental work in wood are 
industries that wiM readily appeal to the villager. 
At present these products a»e put t» use 
to a very small extent to ujeet immediate local 
demands ; but to create regular and systemetic in- 
dustries, with a steady demand for the articles 
turned out, some efforts have to be made to instruct 
and encourage the producers. There are a large 
number of wild fruit as well as easily-cultivateil 
vegetable products that can be profitably used in 
making preserves. The villager will be prepared 
to give his labour very cheap in preparing pre- 
serves, if he only knew what is required, and if he is 
Kble to readily dispose of his produce, Woodapple, 
bael fruit, biliu, lovi-lovi, guava, rambutan, pine- 
apple, Sriville oranges and many other fruits now 
almost run to waste in places far from the 
chief towns. Fibre leaves and rushes are now 
put to use in certain localities in the preparation 
of mats, bags, and a few other articles ; but these 
have only a very Wmited demand. People miKt be 
taught to turn out articles to suit modern require- 
ments. Thousands of kinds of paying articles can 
be easily made out of these raw products, and the 
villager who can turn out a mat in complicated 
patterns, or a tray or a bag with ingenious devices 
can easily be taught to turn out anything that 
may be required in the market. The same applies 
in the case of rattan and bamboo work. The 
numberless articles prepared in Japan and the 
Straits in these materials can be turned out here, 
and eau be made a profitable industry among the 
villagers. The same can be said of ornamental 
work and wood iarving. 
These are very simple matters, but if ouce 
systematically introduced will have far-reaching 
efEe«ts. There should be some practical training 
ia industrial work in out village schools. The 
village schools need not be converted into so-called 
industrial schools where the pupils are taught to 
be labourers in mere mechanical trades such as 
smithing, shoeoiaking, tailoring and printing. 
Every village school boy should know sometliing'ef 
form, colour and the properties of ommin objec's ; 
he should liave some training in plaiting, weaving 
and modelling, in fact in the n>e of his kind* ; 
withuUb tliis knowledge Ims leirniug wiW ujc 
\>i of mucli use to lum. The art schools iu 
India and Burmah are doi»f a great deal to^rards 
the improvement of minor iadustrias similar*t« 
