212 Supplement to the "3 
with a view to forming an idea as to the 
extent to which they prevail. Then it will 
be found that almost every acre of paddy land 
under cultivation is indebted to the extent of 6 
to 7 rupees each season. As to the rates of 
interest it will easily be found that they are most 
unreasonable and ruinous. The usual rates of 
interest in a village on a mortgage bond is from 
20 to 30 per cent per annum on the capital, and 
on advances against crops from 50 to 100 per 
cent per four months on the capital advanced, 
working to aboat 150 to 300 per cent per annum. 
The crop loans are always given for the season, and 
50 per cent is the lowest charge ever made in a 
village. These figures are so enormous, it is to be 
feared that in mauy quarters they may be put 
down as exaggerations or isolated instances ; 
however, it may be emphatically stated here that 
20 per cent on the mortgage of property and 50 
per cent against crops are the minimum rates. 
It must be plain to any observer, that with the 
depression in the productive power of land and the 
limitation of the area of land obtainable, and the 
increase in the cost of living, the margin of 
profits left to the cultivator must be really small, 
or in the most cases is a diminishing quantity. 
And when to all these depressing effects the rates 
of interest at which captal is borrowed is added, 
there is no reason to suppose that the average 
cultivator will be able to stem the current of 
depression unless he gets some timely aid from 
some new direction. There is another 
question which, if explained, will make our case 
clearer. It may be said that there must be a 
certain amount of prosperity in the villages to 
enable the cultivators to borrow to such an extent, 
and the sooner the weaker men succumb, the 
better it will be for the general state of prosperity. 
However, the village lender is not the villager, but 
the itinerant hawker, the Moorman, who has now 
his boutique in almost every village in the island, 
and who is the only man profited by this state 
of depression. He lends the money, he makes the 
advances on crops, and buys the produce at his 
own rates, and charges the ruinous rate of interest. 
The establishment of Agricultural Banks at 
this juncture will be very opportune. They will 
just be in time to give the necessary stimulus to 
industry which is passing through depression. 
Agricultural Banks are not new instiutions, 
they have been established in a limited scale in 
the Deccan, and have worked with immense suc- 
cess. The latest Indian Budget statement shews 
that arrangements are in progress for their 
establishment in India on a more general scale. 
New Zealand has a successfully worked loan 
office established since 1895. The operations at this 
loan oifice were restricted to freehold mortgages 
upon gardens and farms, the charges for the 
survey of land proposed to be mortgaged was only 
half a guinea to two guineas, and the legal fees 
from 25«. to £2 according to the scale of the loan 
raised. The interest charged is fixed at 5 per cent, 
and the borrower has the option of obtaining his 
loan in two forms, either for a fixed period, or 
on an instalment system. Where the instalment 
system is adopted an annual charge of 1 per cent 
extra is mndo as a sinkipg fund ; ou this basis a 
'topkal Agriculturist.'* [Sept. 2, 1901. 
borrower of £100 by paying £6 per annum wip^S 
out his debt in 37 years. This scheme has since 
been adopted in V^ictoria, South Australia, and 
other Australian Colonies. 
The conditions prevailing in Ceylon will require 
the working of details to suit our circumstances, 
but this will not present many difficulties. 
In addition to affording immediate relief to the 
cultivators, an Agricultural Bank, if established, 
will be the means of opening up a large extent 
of new land under our projected railway and 
irrigation schemes. It may also not be out of 
place to mention here that the benefits of a scheme 
of a properly-organized State Agricultural Banks 
will not in any sense be confined to the small 
agriculturist, whose claims have been advocated 
here. The large and more enterprising landowners, 
European and Native, are in a measure bound to 
benefit greatly by such an institution. 
W. A. D, S. 
Colombo, 18th August, 1901. 
RAINFALL TAXEN AT THE SCHOOL OP 
AGRICULTURE DURING THE MONTH 
OF AUGUST, 1901. 
1 
Thursday 
. -13 
17 
Saturday . , 
•01 
2 
Friday 
. -01 
18 
Sunday 
•09 
3 
Saturday 
. -01 
19 
Monday 
Nil 
4 
Sunday 
. Nil 
20 
Tuesday . . 
Nil 
5 
Monday 
. Nil 
21 
Wednesday 
Nil 
6 
Tuesday 
. Nil 
22 
Thursday . . 
•03 
7 
Wednesday . 
.. 0-2i 
23 
Friday 
NU 
8 
Thursday 
. Nil 
24 
Saturday ... 
Nil 
9 
Friday 
. Nil 
25 
Sunday 
Nil 
10 
Saturday 
. Nil 
26 
Monday 
Nil 
11 
Sunday 
. Nil 
27 
Tuesday 
Nil 
12 
Monday 
. Nil 
28 
Wednesday 
Nil 
13 
Tuesday 
. Nil 
29 
Thursday . . 
•11 
14 
Wednesday 
. Nil 
30 
Friday 
Nil 
15 
Thursday 
•9 
.. -05 
31 
Saturday . . 
•03 
16 
Friday 
1 
Sunday 
•01 
Total. .1-27 
Greatest amount of rainfall registered in 24 
hours on the 15th Aug. -9 inches. 
Recorded by (J, Dbieberg. 
PRACTICAL HINTS TO HORSE-OWNERS. 
Chapter IIL— Shoeing (Continued), 
The portion of the hoof that touches the ground 
is called the soler surface, and is of very great 
practical interest to the horse-owner. The rim of 
the hoof 4 in. or so wide that extends from one 
heel to the other and above up to the coronet 
is the wall. The heel is that portion of the wall 
where the latter meets the bar. The angle of the 
heel is formed by the heel and bars. The quarter 
of the wall extends from the heel to the shoulder 
of the wall, which is the point where the quarter 
and toe of the wall meet. The toe or tip is that 
semilunar portion situated anteriorly to the hoof. 
The white line on " linea alba " separates the wall 
from the sole. This line is the guide to the faryier 
