August I, i?9i.] Supplement to the " Tropical AgviciiUunst.'" 155 
iug gentlemau has taken effectual measures to 
cope with the great difEculty ia the way of culti- 
vation, and that is the periodic influx of brackish 
water. During the Dutch Government dams 
were constructed to keep off the salt water from 
inundating the laud. It is hoped that the long 
deferred project of draining these fields will result 
iu the recultivation of the greater part of the 
land that has been lying fallow so long, and make 
it prove worthy the name it bears. 
Mr. J. A. Kodippily writes : — Para-hera and 
Kekuna-dure are two villages about 7 miles from 
Matara, on tlie road to Hakmana and Dikwella. 
Their distance from the sea is about 2^ miles. 
The soil is a very good loam, mixed with a con- 
siderable quantity of gravel. Coconuts and Citro- 
nella grass thrive very well. There are estates 
belonging to Wellabadapattu Mudaliyar, the 
Mohotty Mudaliyar, Dr. Schokman, Mr. D. W. 
Gunaratna, and several others. Almost all are 
cultivated with coconut. One i^roprietor culti- 
vated tea as an e.xperiment, whicli proved unsuc- 
cessful : 5 out of 10 acres having been an utter 
failure. Cinnamon is also, I hear grown in one 
or two estates. 
W. A. D. S. contributes the following note on 
Chaya Root ( Oldenlandia Umbellata ) : — The plant 
which produces the Chaya root of commerce grows 
wild over many parts of the Island, and is specially 
met with in Mannar, Jaffna, the Northern Islands 
and the AVanni Districts. The roots when 
bruised have a yellowish colour, and were valued 
as a good dye stuff by Indian dyers. Large 
quantities of Chaya root were exported to India 
some fifty years ago, but the quantity has con- 
tinued to decrease of late years, till the last year's 
Customs returns showed no exports at all. Chaya is 
never cultivated, and it is believed that when it is 
cultivated the root loses to a great extent its value 
as a dye st'.r!: only an inferior dye being obtained 
from cultivated Chaya. The want of a demand at 
the present day for tliis dj'e, can only be supposed 
to have been brought about by the gradual displace- 
ment of the vegetable colours by the cheap aniline 
dyes prepared from coal tar. The quality of the 
Chaya depends to a great extent on the soils in 
which it grows : Chaya growing in the Island of 
-Karativoe was considered to be superior in quality 
to that growing in Manaar or the Wanni. The 
digging for the root was carried on by a par- 
ticular caste of Tamils. 
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
The problem of Industrial Development is one 
that Ceylon has already had to face, and one that 
will increase in importance as year succeeds year, 
and the conditions of commercial life become' 
hxrder and harder. It is a question the signi- 
fljance of which cannot be over-rated. How to 
d svelop the industries of tlie country, and thereby 
not only elevate its commercial status, but also 
add to the wealth of its people, and bring a com- 
fortable livelihood to numbers that already find 
it hard to live, — these are problems which, if they 
are not pressing now, will become so^at no distant 
period that tliese problems have already forced 
themselves on public attention is clear from the 
great interest excited over the Technical Institute 
about which so much was said some time ago. It 
may not be unfair to ask what has resulted from 
the excitement which promised so much. 
The question being so interesting in itself, it is 
well worth observing what other countries are, 
doing in regard to their own industrial develop- 
ment, as the exj^erience of others may be profit- 
able lessons for ourselves. A special interest 
attaches to the attempts made by our neighbours 
in €ndia. To one of these it is the object of this 
paper to call attention. A lecture was given at , 
Lahore early this year by Mr. J. C. Oman, f.c.s., 
P.L.S., the Professor of Natural Science in the 
Lahore Government College. This lecture is one 
so free from mere technicalities, that it may pro- 
fitably be read by even that fastidious person 
known as the " general reader." Its aim is emi- 
nently practical. It abounds in useful suggestions, 
that are none the less useful for being quite 
obvious when plainly stated ; and tliese sugges-, 
tions are brought before us in simple and direct 
phrases that make the lecture a pleasant one to 
read. Besides, it is not the production of an 
ordinary theorist, such as Professors are commonly 
reputed to be. The present writer has personal 
knowledge of the earnest effortsmade by Mr, Oman 
for the advancement of Science, and the spread of 
scientific habits iu the Panjab. He has among other 
things established a society for the cultivation of 
Science. One result of this lecture may be seen in 
the fact that a meeting was held at Lahore last 
month to form an Association with the object of 
improving the material and industrial resources, 
of the Panjab. 
With these introductory remarks we may turn 
to the lecture itself, of which what follows is 
mainly a summary. 
Mr. Oman holds that the " actual position in 
the scale of nations occupied by any country 
depends primarily upon the intellectual and 
moral condition of the jjeoi^le generally, i.e., upon 
the intellectual status of the average man in thQ 
country, not of a mere class or section of the popu- 
lation ; and not less so upon the character of the 
average man, as regards honesty and industry 
taken in their widest sense." Excluding, then, 
geographical and climatic peculiarities, the con- 
ditions necessary for advancement are these :— (.1) 
a stable Government ; (2) General Education 
or national culture, including the education of 
women; (3) Technical knowledge; (4) Indus- 
trial association and iudustrial literature ; (0) 
A market for the industrial productions of the. 
country ; (6) Capital, co-operation, and the quick 
circulation of money. The present lecture con- 
fines itself to only three of these conditions, the 
second, third, and fourth. 
And first as to General Education. The differ- 
ences between England and India in this respect 
are brought out in a striking manner. With a 
population of 250 millions in India only about 
i per cent can read and write ; in England the 
percentage is 87, and in Scotland 93 ! But the 
contrast is not in the figures only. If in a back- 
ward district of England only 15 per cent of the; 
population can read, and in an advanced district 
of the Panjab the same proportion holds, the 
two peoples cannot yet be considered as being on 
the same intellectual level. For each possesses a . 
different literature. The Englishman has it in Iiis 
power to read all the latest and best ideas 01; 
