January i, 1891.] 
Suppiemeni to the “ Tropical Agriculturists 
537 
on the roll, and the report of those students who 
have been sent forth to work in the various dis- 
tricts is entirely satisfactory. (Applause.) I 
leave it to my predecessor to comment upon the 
various modes of agriculture that are carried on 
in the Island with unvarying success in the 
various provinces. As regards the School itself, I 
note with great pleasure that it embodies one of 
the most noble feelings, and, what is best, it 
teaches the dignity of labour. (Applause.) Pass- 
ing the compound the other day I was struck by 
seeing the boys engaged in mamotying and 
other kinds of operations, and in a country like 
this, such kind of w'ork is eminently satisfactory. 
It has been wisely remarked that a man who 
makes a blade of grass to grow in a place where 
there was no grass at all is a benefactor to the 
country, and this is the great object of the Agri- 
cultural School — multiplication of the fruits of 
the earth; making nature yield more abundantly 
and tending to eliminate as far as human agency 
can eliminate the ill-effects arsing from untoward 
climatic conditions in the island. (Applause.) 
Beading in connection with this subject a poem 
written many centuries ago, the “Georgies” of Virgil, 
I was struck with the rule laid down regarding 
ploughing, in which the author recommends that 
as a preparation for ploughing one should take 
his coat off, and put his shoulder to the plough, 
and it is universally true that a man who cannot 
take his coat off and put his backbone into his 
plough is a very incomplete agriculturist. (Ap- 
plause.) I will not occupy your time any longer 
in view of the speeches which are to follow, 
save to express my great gratification at being 
present here this evening, and to express the in- 
terest I have always taken on behalf of the 
School of Agriculture. (Loud applause.) 
Mr. H. W. Green next rose, and said that the 
students of the Agricultural School, unlike other 
ordinary educational establishments, were limited 
to a certain number. They had a great many 
applications for boys, but their number was 
limited to 23 in his time, and now he saw it 
was 26. They only wanted a select number of 
boys, who had the interests of agriculture at heart. 
He read in the newspapers that one of the boys 
had been sent from the School to the clerical 
examination, but he hoped that the Principal 
W'ould never allow this to occur again, for the 
one object with which the boys entered the 
School of Agriculttrre was to qualify themselves 
in agricultural knowledge and to go forth and 
spread forth that knowledge. When he first 
thought of an Agricultural School, he had many 
discouragements to contend with, but he was now 
glad to find that he had successfully broken the 
ice. There were eleven agricultural instructors, 
seven of whom were paid by Government and 
five privately, so that all their old students were 
not simply employed under Government. The 
improved plough had done a great deal to foster 
agriculture, and from the reports to hand, he 
found that the crops had more tlian doubled 
their usual yield by the use of the plough. They 
had sent out their young men to work with the 
improved ploughs, and they had all done good 
work. The other day he sent out a hardworking 
man to work in a place some 19 or 20 miles from 
Trincomalee. The people there were not inclined 
to work at first, but the speaker himself spoke 
to the people and told them that if they did 
work, they could share the profits equally and so 
ward off starvation. At last they did set to 
work, and they got a good return and shared the 
profits. He moved the instructor on to the next 
station, and the result was so eminently grati- 
fying that here were several applications for the 
ploughs. Their object was to disseminate a 
knowledge of agriculture so that others might 
follow the example; for he found the Sinhalese 
people always ready to take advantage of op- 
portunities offered to them. They wanted the 
young men to work. A good many had already 
taken advantage of employment on estates, and 
he was quite sure that the education received 
here would not be thrown away in vain. In 
conclusion he wished all success to the institution 
and wished the pupils good-bye. (Applause.) 
The distribution of awards then took place 
according to the following li^t, each recipient 
as he came up to receive his gift being heartily 
cheered by his comrades: — 
Seniors. — Agriculture, Chemistrj", Botany, 
Zoology, Entomology, English, History and Geo- 
graphy, Mathematics, and Practical Chemistry 
(^the late Mr. de Soysa’s prize) all gained by J. 
A. Eodippily ; Veterinary Science was won by 
A. Drieberg; and Practical Agriculture by J. 
P. Eanasinghe. 
Juniors. — Agriculture and Geology by P. V. 
Cooray, and Chemistry, Botany, English, History 
and Geography, Mathematics, and Field Survey- 
ing (the Grenier prize) all by E. M. Johnannes. 
THE president’s SPEECH. 
The prize-giving over, Sir E. Walker said : — 
Mr. Principal and ladies and gentlemen : — It gives 
me great pleasure to come here today and to 
make the acquaintance of the School of Agricul- 
ture and to join with you by your presence in the 
expression of encouragement to the masters who 
have been engaged in teaching the boys during 
the past year and congratulating the boys them- 
selves on their course of study. (Applause.) I 
trust that those who have received prizes today 
will find in them an encouragement to persevere 
in after life and to exercise that industry which 
have enabled them to attain -certificates. I am 
not altogether a stranger to the School of Agri- 
culture. The deservedly high terms in wliich 
Mr. Green has spoken of the institution I am 
well aware of, as it has been my good fortune t» 
have been much associated with Mr. Green, and 
from him I have from time to time heard a great 
deal of the School and have been much impressed 
with the zeal and the interest he has taken in it. 
(Applause.) I think the Principal in his Kepoit 
has very rightly expressed regret at his 
loss, but it is not a very real loss after 
all, for you have in his successor a gentle- 
man who has the interests of practical education 
at heart, and I feel sure that he would use his 
best efforts in furthering the work of agriculture. 
(Applause.) And you have Mr. Green in a position 
to help you at the Governor’s elbow and as my 
principal colleague and assistant. As regards 
the work of the School I have heard of several 
accounts disparaging and discouraging the w'ork 
and utility of the education given in this insti- 
tution. Of course it w’ould be difficult by 
statistics to show how valuable the School was. 
