U2 
SitpiAement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." 
[AiJU. 1, 1899. 
had extensive experience with velvet beans were 
consulted on the suitability of velvet beans for 
food of man and beast. All hold the opinion that 
they contain no poisonous principles, but three 
of these four correspondents agree that the velvet 
bean is not a desirable table vegetable. The 
fourth, Mr. E. J. Johnson, Leesbruy, Fla., writes 
thus: — For human food they are by all odds 
the richest and best vegetable I have ever tasted. 
If eaten in large quantities they will nauseate the 
stomach, not from poison, but from richness. 
They should be soaked in water over night. This 
separates the inside hull from the bean. They 
should then be parboiled in at least two waters. 
Then cook them as you do any other beans. 
The air-dry shelled beans analysed bv Prof. 
H. H. Persons, (Fla. Bui. No. 35), contained 6-29 
per cent, of fat, 53*5 per cent of nitrogen-free 
extract (starch, etc.), and the very large amount of 
18 81 per cent of protein or muscle forming 
material. This indicates that the beans are even 
richer in food materials than the cowpea, which 
ranks especially high as a food-stuff. 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGRICULTURAL 
EDUCATION OF THE ISLAND OF 
CEYLON. 
The necessity for the appointment of the present 
Agricultui-al Commission, if I am not mistaken, 
has arisen from the fact that a cry has been raised 
that the Colombo School of Agriculture is not 
dMng what -tt'as expected of it, or in other 
words, that it has proved to be a failure. The re- 
organization of the Schojl, therefore, with a view 
to devising a more liberal system of agricultural 
education among the native population of the 
island seeras to me to be one of the most im- 
portant duties that the Commission has to per- 
form. Before proceeding further, it will there- 
fore be useful at this stage to inquire, 
1st. AVhat was expected of the Agricultural 
School to do -when it was first started. 
2nd. What it has done so far, and 
3rd. Why it has apparently been a failure. 
It is of course impossible to show by statistics 
how much good an institution of this nature may 
do to a country, nor is it necessary here to enu- 
merate instances in which this particular Institu- 
tion has been of service to the island. From an 
educational point of view nobody can be blind to 
the fact that the School has done an immense 
deal of good. In this respect I may make bold to 
say that it has done more good to the native 
population of this island than either the Royal 
Botanic Gardens or the Colombo Museum, both of 
■which Institutions absorb a much larger share of 
the revenue than the School of Agriculture. The 
Schorl is purely a scientific and a technical one, 
and anybody who is not conversant with the 
sciences tlwit go to help an agriculturist, nor any- 
one Who has not studied the methods of culti- 
vation as practised by our village goiyas is really 
unable to see what good an Agricultural 
School is likely to do to the people. The Hon'ble 
Mr. Mitchell once observed : " W;(th regard to the 
gooci the !rch"ol was doing nobody , could be bliud 
to that. Lads came from the country and studied 
Agriculture there and went back to their villages, 
and no one can be blind to the fact that very 
important results must follow from that in the 
course of time." A knowledge of Agriculture with 
its allied sciences such as Botany, Chemistry. 
Veterinary Science, &c. , will at least enable a lad 
to go about with liis eyes open, while the influence 
that he could exercise on the people among whom 
he moves is from an educational poititb of view 
incalcuable. 
Mr. H. W. Green, the founder of this Institution, 
was always a keen observer of the various 
methods of cultivation as jiractised by our village 
goiyas, and he exactly knew in what directions 
improvements should be carried out. I am f peak- 
ing with some authority, as I have had the 0{.por- 
tunity of personally discussing these matters with 
Mr. Green on several occasions during my con- 
nection with the Agricultural School from its very 
commencement in 1884 and until 1890 as a teacher 
of Botany, Chemistry, &c., there. His Primer of 
Agriculture which is at present taught in every 
village Government School from the Vtli Standard 
upwards is highly appreciated by the villagers. 
The Agricultural School has at least succeeded 
in teaching our educated youths the dignity of 
labour. In the words of Mr. Elliott, the late 
Government Agent, " the young men who have 
passed through it are a credit to the school in 
which they were trained'. They are capable Agii- 
culturists and intelligent workmen who understand 
their work, and know how and when to plough, 
to sow, to water and to reap." 
The iron plough which Mr. Green tried to 
introduce was undoubtedly a failure, and 
s'ome people are under the impression that 
this was all that the School tried to do ; 
and when the plough failed the school was 
also put down as a failure. The plough 
must be left out of account altogether in 
considering the resutis of the school. All that 
Mr. Green tried to do was to find out an implement 
by which the soil may be properly turned up and 
properly tilled and with the least expense to the 
goiya. That the soil must be properly tilled 
before anything can be made to grow on it suc- 
cessfully is an admitted fact ; the point was to 
get a suitable implement. 
It was expected that the youths who 
studied at the school would go back to 
their own lands and take up Agriculture as 
their profession ; but even the big landed pro- 
prietors who have passed through it, with one or 
two exceptions, have not done so. The reason for 
this is not far to seek. Anybody who is ac- 
quainted with native character will be able to 
supply an explanation. It is however a mistake 
to suppose that simply because these young 
men did not take to Agriculture the School was a 
failure, and the money spent in teaching them was 
spent in vain. 
Again, a promise was I believe held out 
by Government at the time that the school 
was started, that preference would be given to 
young men who had studied Agriculture in filling 
up vacancies as Korale Mudaliyars, Muhandirams 
&c. There is no instance on record in which any 
of the young mea who passed through the school 
