Aug, 1, 1899.] 
Siqjplemcni to the " Trojjical-AgncuUarist." 
143 
ever attained to this distinction. This is not rery 
encouraging. 
Kow I come to an impoitaut i:)oiut. When 
Mr, Green started the school, he was anxious to 
have it as part and parcel of the old Kormal 
School, the only training Institution for Govern- 
ment teachers. He succeeded in this, and it was 
placed in charge of the Principal and Science 
Master of the^vormal School who was a European. 
Unfortunately, soon after the school was started 
Mr. Green, who was then the Director of Public 
Instruction fell ill and had to leave the island on 
furlough. The Vernacular Xormal students who 
were trained to be village teachers were then 
taught Botany, Chemistry and Agriculture iu 
addition to the ordinary school subject. Mr. 
Green's idea was to give these teachers a training 
in practical Agriculture also, so as to enable them 
to teach Agriculture to the villagers through the 
school boys. This was a capital idea. The in- 
fluence that a good village teacher can exercise 
among the people with whom he mixes is great. 
The boj's who pass through the village school v.'ill 
be the future men of the district, and what an 
opportunity a teacher who understands his duty 
has in forming the character and habits of 
the people and reforming existing methods of culti- 
vation ; while very little can be done by directly 
going to the older people. Agricultural reform 
must be made to pass from boy to man, 
and this can only be done through educational 
agencies. Mr. Green had recognised this fact 
befoie he started the school, but unfortunately 
during his absence in England the Government 
decided to abolish the old Normal School and to 
open village Training schools instead, A large 
saving was thus effected, but from then the Agri- 
cultural School had to stand alone. Mr. 
Green on his return to the island was apparently 
much vexed at this, and we read in his Admini- 
stration Eeport that he never ceased to regret 
the closing of the old ^Normal School. He was, 
however, equal to the occasion, and decided to 
make teachers of the Agricultural students and 
the sanction of Government was obtained to 
appoint a number of studerits as Agricultural 
Instructors. So long as Mr, Green was at the helm 
things went on very smoothly. Passed students 
were sent out expressly with the view of showing 
improved methods ot paddy cultivation to the 
villagers. The experiments conducted by tiiese 
young men from all we gather from records 
proved successful iu most cases, and the villagers 
iu some instances learnt much from them. But 
in a country like this where the peoi)le are so 
conservative it is impossible to create a lasting 
impression upon them by experiments conducted 
in a haphazard manner here and there. A series 
of experiments for a great length of time at each 
place and under proper guidance should have been 
systematically carried out. Unfortunately this 
was not done. Youug Instructors were iu most 
cases placed under the guidance of the native 
chiefs of the district. These chiefs had not 
received any training in Agriculture, and they 
themselves were as ignorant as the ordinary 
Tillager, The Instructors were further much 
handicapped in their work, and were rather 
expected like the Hebrew of old to make bricks 
without straw. They had no money, no seed 
paddy, no implements given them, but were 
generally attached to an ordinary village sciiool 
and expected to cultivate paddy in an improved 
style. Progress, under such circumstances, was 
of course impossible. Mr. Green's primary object iu 
starting the school was to help small agricul- 
turist and not the big one ; small owners of little 
tracts of land who fuffered ■ distress from want of 
food. That want of food he had seen, and he was 
satisfied that it was caused by the people not 
knovving what to do with what they had. They 
threw away 3 bushels of paddy in sowing when 
10 seers would be enough, and this saving of seed 
paddy would keep a family in comparative 
comfort for a month or six weeks : and that iu a 
time of famine and distress was a great thin". 
In some of the Kandyan districts of the islaifd 
the preparation of the land for paddy is apparently 
most carefully done, and weeding and transplanting 
are carried out. These methods are, however, 
confined to only a very small area of the island, 
and the people even here have as yet to learn a 
great deal as regards the most improved methods 
of preparing the land and vatious other details, 
such as the selectiou of seed paddy, &c. 
The Agricultural Instructors are no more, and 
the step that the Government took iu discon- 
tinuing their services is, 1 think, a mistake. These 
young men should ha»'e been properly guided, 
Their work should have been constantly supervised 
and reported upon by somebody who was 
competent to do so. In my opinion there were 
a few among them who were incompetent for the 
work, and they should have been dismissed; while 
there were others who were really capable men, 
and they could have done a deal of good it they 
had received sufficient encouragement to do so. 
I have, 1 think, so far partly explained the primary 
object in starting the Agricultural School, and 
have also to a certain extent pointed out what it 
tried to do and has done. 1 shall next attempt to 
show why it is that it has apparently been a failure 
in the eyes of the public. 
, ( To he continued.) 
IxNFECTIVE DISEASES OP ANIMALS. 
The above is the title of the 1st vol. of a work 
on Veterinary Pathology, recently written by 
the German Veterinary Surgeons Priedberger and 
Prohner, and translated and edited by Veterinary 
Surgeon Hayes. Among the commoner diseases 
treated of m this work are Septicaemia and Pyae- 
mia, Strangles, Distemper, Ezootic Abortion, 
Dysentery, Anthrax, Poot and Mouth Disease and 
Kinderpest. 
It is an up-to-date book containing the latest 
information on the diseases treated of, and is con- 
sidered one of the best authorities on the sub- 
ject. The term ' infectioe diseases ' is used to in- 
clude both contagious and infectious diseases, a 
distinction which the translator calls in the appen- 
dix as mainly one of degree, as the difference in 
their mode of transference is often more apparent 
than real. ^ 
The following passage occurs under the head of 
nuderpest:-."imri.ig the year 1897, Koch an4 
