January i , 1892.] Supplement to the " Tropical Jgriculiunsty 
hear of the results of tlie general run of paddy 
cultivation iu this country. One sees an immense 
amount of time, labour, and patience expended 
in cultivating those fields, and the result, we are 
told, is very often of the very poorest description — 
far behind the result of t-lie paddy cultivation 
in India or Burma. In certain portions of the 
colony in which I have ridden about I have 
made a point of trying to discover from those 
who were with me, what was the yield of the 
ftekls through which we have been passing. I 
have often seen fields most beautifully cultivated, 
there being most painstaking arrangements for 
irrigation, for damming water, for ploughing, and 
for every other possible item of cultivation, and 
I have been told that probably the results may 
be sixfold or fourfold. 1 have it on the authority 
of one of our Government Agents that in his 
province there are many of the fields which do 
not yield more than fivefold. The work of this 
institutian therefore in promoting the improvement 
of paddy cultivation is, I suppose, of all its 
various works, the most important and the most 
practical. For that reason 1 am particularly glad 
to hear of the satisfactory results that have been 
attained, and I can only hope that by every possi- 
ble expedient, by the introduction of new forms of 
cultivation, and by the importation possibly of 
new kinds of paddy seed, the work of the College 
will profit the country. There is one other line 
of agriculture which I think was dwelt upon by 
the Director of Public Instruction, and in which 
1 am also glad to hear that tliere has been 
considerable progress, and that is the improvement 
of cattle. I believe an immense deal can yet 
be done in this country in that way and witliout 
very much difficulty. Even in the neighbouring 
country of India, there are breeds of cattle which 
are far superior to ours, and without going further 
tlian that country, I think we can do a great deal 
by importing good stock. ( Applause. ) I notice the 
sun is getting low, and therefore 1 will not detain 
you with any further remarks. 1 would only say 
that 1 thank the Superintendent and the students 
of the College for their kind welcome to me today. 
I also express my .sympathy with them in their 
work here, and my earnest hope that it will 
meet with increasing and well-sustained success. 
(Applause.) 
Mr. H. W. Gbeen, who was afterwards called 
upon to address the meeting, said he had hoped 
a little while ago that his days of speaking at 
prize-givings were over. It was always rather 
a pain and a trouble to find anything to say on 
these occasions wlien one had been at so many as 
ho had, but tliis school having been started by 
liim and beuig his special and favourite eldest 
child. (Ajiphiuse.) while he was Director of Public 
In.struction, he felt it would be ungracious not 
to say anything. He then expressed his pleasure 
nt learning from Mr. Cull's speech and from tlie 
report of the Superintendent that the wor]c was 
really iirngressing. He had a very hard time 
of it indeed when lie started the school. Various 
Gov(H-nnuMit Agents tohl him that in advising the 
native cultivator he was trying to teiich his 
grai\dniot herhow to suck eggs" and that his grand- 
mother knew mucli more than he did. Wlnit did 
lu) kiu)w aliout paddy cultivation y lie replied 
that in guiug about the world ho had usi^d his 
yea and thought lie know a little about il ; but 
he told the Government in starting it that he 
did so at his own risk, and that if it was a 
failure he alone was to be condemned. He was 
glad to learn that it was not a failure, bnt he 
should like to see more than had been done. 
In a country like this we could not get on too 
fast. Like the English people at home the Sin- 
halese and Tamils were very conservative, the 
Sinhalese especially so, in regard to cultivation.. 
The Governor had made a most kindly speech, 
and had shown, even more than in Iiis 'speaking, 
a kindly deposition towards the work of the 
School, by allowing the grant for the new itiner- 
ating agricultural instructors, and he hoped that 
that would considerably aid in the progress of the 
work here. Itinerating teachers were most useful 
here, and the work of private students on leaving 
the School and going to their own places or the 
lands of private gentlemen and officials who em- 
ployed them was also most useful ; but the more 
help that could be got out of Government the 
better, because all there knew that the ordinary 
native did think a great deal of men paid by 
Government. His Excellency had remarked on 
the absurdly and lamentably low yield of paddy. 
It was absurd and it was lamentable. He had 
also remarked on the beautiful cultivation of the 
fields and irrigation lands. If it were not heresy, 
might he say that it was beautiful on the outside, 
that everything except the first step was beauti- 
fully done. It was like the house built on sand 
that we read about in a certain old book. The 
house might be beautiful, but there was no foun- 
dation. The Sinhalese cultivator and the Tamil 
cultivator in some districts — not in Jaffna and 
districts where water was scarce, but wherever 
water was plentiful, — was inclined to begin on 
the top without the bottom. He forgot that how- 
ever bountiful Nature might be in giving him 
rain or tanks or irrigation, he must prepare the 
soil for the water. He began to prepare the soil 
with the water on it. He said this method killed 
the weeds, and if he spoke the truth he would 
also say that it saved trouble ; but he should 
plough the land when it was dry, turn the whole 
thing over and leave it to the baking of the sun 
for two or three months before the water and 
the beautiful cultivation came on. That was the 
one sole foundation fault of paddy cultivation 
in this country. Wherever the experiments taught 
at that School had been tried honestly — they had 
not always been honestly tried — it had been found 
that where tlie land had been thoroughly turned 
up and prepared, they had at least double the 
crop of their neighbours and often more than 
double. If the people would only work carefully 
tliere was no reason why we in Ceylon should 
not have the Burma yield, which was somethinfy 
like niuetyfold. The climate was all right, every- 
thing was all right, but they did not prepare 
the soil for the working of bountiful Providence, 
lie should be very glad indeed to hear that the 
dairy farm was going on well, for it was a most 
important thing. It was very hard iiuieed to get 
good milk, and if anything" could be done "to 
increase the supply of good milk to the residents 
here, it would be a great thing. Still more 
would it be a great thing to improve the 
breed of cattle by which theploughiiig was done. 
The objection to all their now plougli.s was that 
tliey wore too heavy for the cuttle. It was 
