iS8 
Supplement to the " Tvopical A gricultunst 
[August I, 1 89 1. 
CEREMONIES OBSERVED BY THE KAN- 
DYANS ,IN PADDY CULTIVATION. 
The time of ploughing i3 one of great solemuity 
to the Kandyau paddy cultivator. The Nelcatmla 
is again consulted for the purpose ot fixing a 
"^FiStly at the time appointed the goiya puts 
into alai-ceearthern vessel of water, the paddy 
that is to be sown. Having allowed the paddy to 
.oak for a time, it is heaped on the cow-dunged 
floor in a pyramidal or conical shape. Don- 
eomuva Bandar Batemahatmaya of the Badulla 
aifitrict informed me that a peculiar preliminary 
ceremony was observed by the cultivators of that 
part in connection with the sowing of paddy 
images of Buddha in recumbent, sedent, and erect 
nostaires are brought with every mark of solem- 
nitv to the place where tne paddy to be sown 
ia stored, and certain religious pertormances are 
gone through by the officiating Kapurala. Pour 
fav<, after the soaking referred to above, the 
ceremony of yan karanaioa takes place, that is, the 
^«naratiniz of the germinated seeds from the general 
Tpart of the fila (verandah) or other 
rouvenient place is then rubbed over seven times 
a thick solution of cowdung, and the 
mddvis placed on this prepared floor and covered 
Sver with leaves of the Habarala, Enduru or 
Mara The fleld is then got ready for sowing 
ind thekoiya proceeds to the Astrologer to con- 
St h mis to I lucky hour and day for sowing. 
Very ea^ly in the morning on this day the cultiva- 
vBir_ynai J with sandalwood or other 
*?l\Tr pa^tf hi: field wi^ the seed to be 
°owJ-the paddy being placea on plantain leaves 
3fl mixture of cowdung and water poured over 
ft Tl?e ao?Ya,ashe sows the paddy, repeats to 
himself certain religious stanzas and meditates on 
thrnatarawaran Dewiyo, the gods of the four 
tne naiaitt precaution is taken 
regions of the globe^ y y ^.^^^^ ^j^^ 
r,/rnd he goTya fences in his land with 
fleld, and tUe goiy ^^^^ 
ror?-w necS^aty^for watching his fleld. 
VTenthe paddy is about a month old weeding 
aF«?Wem«)i9done. This part of theworkis 
ixclusi^ely done by women, who are required to 
bp thorouahly clean. 
Thinning and planting or miuma is done by the 
women when the paddy is about 3 months old. On 
Tdav which is not considered unlucky the women 
LnCrthc owner of th« fieW the atfan^ 
^rn-yafand the owner, according to recognized 
custom, treats the women to l:aun an^. hmuat, 
and directs them to commence work The women, 
while transplanting, intone verses of poetry, mak- 
W pleasant music. No one dare cross the ndges 
with open umbrella while the women are at work, 
unless there be urgent need for so doing and per- 
mission be first obtained, otherwise mud .Vc 
nro thrown on the intruder whoever he be. The 
I'resident of Uda-Bulatgama mentioned to me that 
it is recorded of a certain king of Kaudy, that 
while crossing a field known as Gurudoniya 
in Kundafial6, where some women were engaged 
in transplanting, he was bespattered with mud by 
them Th-, women proved themselves no respecters 
of person in the currying out of their duty, while 
the king himself passed on without a woid oi 
censure against the treatment which no doubt 
he thought he deserved. 
T. B. PoHATH Kehklpakala. 
Gampola, Angammana Adikaram Walauwa. 
{To be continued.) 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
Mr. J. S. de Sarani, late Assistant Master at the 
School of Agriculture, and still more lately Magis- 
trate at Balapityu, has been provisionally ap- 
pointed Assistant Superintendent of Police of the 
Western Province. 
At a Committee Meeting of the Agri-Horticul- 
tural Society, it was decided that the December 
Show should be held at the Racket Court, Colombo. 
We arc anxiously looking forward to the 
conditions of the proposed settlement under 
Salawewa tanks, for uhe success of the project will 
greatly depend on the nature of the conditions. 
The following is an extract from the Adminis- 
tration Report of M'-. Price, Assistant Govern- 
ment Agent of Kegaiia, and contains some excel- 
lent suggestions : — 
"To encourage agriculture andto foster improve- 
ment in it.s methods are similarly part of good 
government. The institution of a Department of 
Agriculture or of Agricultural Boards, somewhat 
on the lines of the suggestions which have fre- 
quently been x^nblished in the local press, is a 
measure which is very desirable. Meanwhile 
progress, if it can be said to really exist, is spas- 
modic instead of being regulated under the guid- 
ance of experts. An Agricultural Show noM' and 
then, an occasional distribution of small rewards 
by the Assistant Government Agent on circuit, 
agricultural instruction — confined, owing to the 
wants of funds, which admit of the employment 
of only one instructor, to a restricted area — are 
the only efi'orts at present possible for local officers. 
More agricultural instructors are wanted, but the 
Assistant G overnment Agent has no money avail- 
able for their salaries, and the movement in this 
direction is cramped for want of funds. Ar- 
rangements are now being made, with the assis- 
tance of the Director of Public Instruction, to 
station the one agricultural instructor, for whose 
remuneration it has been found possible to 
provide, at a new school close to the so-called 
experimental Garden of Kegalle. And it is hoped 
that the headmen and people who come in from 
all parts of the district to headquarters may profit 
by what they will see at this centre. But it is a 
mere drop in the ocean. Given a little money, 
and real advance would be feasible. Another 
thing to do is to undertake the systematic plant- 
ing and careful rearing of fruit trees in public 
grounds, such as the premises of every resthouse 
and each Village Tribunal. Preparations are now 
being made for doing some work in this direction 
in earnest during 1891, and the Assistant Govern- 
ment Agent has secured promises of assistance 
from the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens." 
The Paris correspondent to the "Ceylon 
Patriot," gives the following as " useful to 
Dairymen ; " — " Hot water for cows " is the maxim 
