COLOMBO. 
Added as a Suppleine.it Monthlij to the " TBOPIOAL AGRICULTUIUST." 
The following pages include Lhc Coatoiits of the Agricultural Magazine for 
June :— 
Vol. XIV.] JUNE, 1903. [No. 12. 
IMPROYliD MACHINERY. 
HE quostion of the iutrodactiou of 
improved macliiiieiy for agricul- 
tural operoiioDS in Ceyion deserves 
careful attention, and it is time 
that some systematic experiments 
were conducted with a view to 
test the efficacy of implements which are so largely 
.used in foreign countries. lu doing this it is 
essential that tho.=e carrying out the experiments 
should study the conditions of village labour and 
village resouices. In the first place, it has to be 
borne in mind that the Ceylon goii/a carries 
on his work without any capital so to speak, 
and is not in a'poiitioa to raise capital bo any 
adtaTitage, for the scaricity of money will hardly 
admit of hi^ employing borrowed capital. As 
the goiya is never able to borrow money 
unless he is prepared to pay a very large per- 
centage of interest on it, ft makes it absolutely 
necessary that he should have implements of tlie 
cheapest description. In fact, any implements 
that are to be introduced should be capable of 
being made docally without the use of costly 
materials. These is a possibility of a great deal of 
work being done in this way, both as regards iin. 
plements used in tillage operations and those used in 
the gathering of crops. We will take for example 
thecultivntiou of rice, and the main operations 
employed by the goiya in the preparation cf a fielj 
for sowing. Three methods are in vogue : 
first, ploughing with the wooden native plough ; 
Second, digging up and turning the soil witli 
the manioty, then puddling the soil by using 
bufialcesto trample the wet soil. The plougli used 
cim be drawn by any ordinary pair of country 
cattle. Can it be improved without increasing the 
draught power required for its working? Light 
Swedisli ploughs were triel at one time. 
They cost abjut ten times the value of a country 
plough, thoy had to be imported, and they required 
heavier draught, and in some places the work they 
did was not what was required by the euidvator. 
The cultivator requires an implement that will stir 
up the soil and not turn it up. The native plough 
does this, but cannot the native plough be 
improved in the light of present knowledge, and 
in such a way as to do the same work that has to 
be done now, in a cheaper and more efficient 
nianner, and cannot the improved implement be 
built by the village carpenter or blacksmit with 
materials obtainable in the neighbourhood ? Is 
there any possibility of ixuproviug the mamoty 
now in use? Can anything be,iiitrodaced that 
will do the work of paddling the mud more 
expeditiously than is now done by buffaloes? 
Cin a contrivance be devised that will make it 
possible for a labourer to get the work done by 
some hand implement instead c^f animals, or can 
s.>me imptement be attached to the buffaloes, that- 
will expedite the work ? 
Next we come to the operation of reaping. At 
present a small sickle is used in reaping (he 
crop. Can this be improved on, or can something be 
introduced that will enable the reaper to do more 
work than he gets through at present? T'lere is 
much room to effect improvements in thrashing and 
winnowing, Tliese take up a great deal of labour, 
and wooden tiirrishing machinery is sniii to be 
successfully used in Italy and other pliices. Cheap 
winnowing m\chiiiery is easily made, Tliese 
are then the lines on which some investigatious ^ml 
