6o6 
Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist: 
[February 2, 1891. 
and a fair idea of opening out and cultivating 
land, but who want encouragement to give them 
enterprise. The religious zeal that fires the 
Salvationist to form schemes for colonization 
and cultivation is not theirs. Official encourage- 
ment and aid is what is necessary to start them. 
Certain terms should be laid down with grants 
of land— not of course as grand or visionary as 
those of the Amercian newspaper advertisements — 
and the plea (an honest though a common one) of 
a want of capital, might be met. 
If in this way a few bands of young men of an 
adventurous turn of mind can be got to open up 
the neglected areas of Ceylon, there is no reason 
why, with steady perseverance and a knowledge 
of their work, they should not succeed in bringing 
relief to the indigenous jpopulation by introduc- 
ing new methods of cultivation and new food 
products to their notice, but also in benefiting 
themselves. 
♦ 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
We referred some time ago to the case of Mr. 
Jayasinghe, a student who passed out in 1888, 
who was engaged in opening out a very large 
tract of land in the South with the object of 
sugar-cane cultivation. Of last year’s batch of 
boys, three or four have already started culti- 
\ ation on their own lands. Mr. Abeysuriya, wdio 
since he left in Decembsr last, has been planting 
arecamits, dhall, sugar-cane and Indian corn, 
writes that he is at present occupied in clearing 
an area of two hundred and seventy acres. Mr. 
Jayawardene has inve.sted in some land in the 
Po'lgahawela district 'which he intends to lay under 
coconuts and cocoa. Mr. Manchanayake is work- 
ing hard at paddy culth'ation, according to im- 
IDroved methods, in his native district of Cotta, 
where he also intends to cultivate vegetables on 
a large scale. Afessrs. Cooray are co-operating 
with a relative in working a tea estate in the 
Ealutara district. This is all most encouraging, 
and the news comes as a pleasant sui-jirize to us 
since we penned the lines regarding the want of 
euterprize in the natives of Ceylon. We heartily 
wish all these old boys the full measxire of success 
which their pluck and perserverance will deserve. 
With their start in life as independent agricul- 
turists, and the late appointments as Agricultural 
Instructors, both Government and private, our 
stock of passed men waiting for ‘ something to 
turn up ’ is all but exhausted. 
The notes which our Agricultural Instructors 
were wont to send us pi-etty regularly in the 
early days of the Magazine, seldom or never 
reacli us now. This is unfortunate both for our- 
selves and them : for while such notes must be 
of intere.st in a circulating medium of agricul- 
tural knowledge and news, there are ways in 
wliich we may be al)le to help those con'espondents 
through the Magazine or ])rivately. lly means of 
regular I’cjiorts (whicli otlierwisu wo seldom if 
ever see or Inair) communicated to our monthly, 
we shall (lia\iiig no alternative of ])er.sonally 
visiting, eneouring, and advising) be always 
kojit informed of tin' state (j I' affairs agricultural 
at each utation, and be best able to ileal with 
special matters, when it is thought necessary to 
refer to us. 
The idea of publishing current crop and weather 
reports, brought forward by the Hon. J. J. 
Grinlinton in the Legislative Council the other 
day, is a very happy one, which, moreover, has 
been carried out to great advantage out of Ceylon. 
Early information regarding matters of such a 
nature as brooks no delay w'hen interference is 
demanded, is very necessarj'. Timely notice 
often arrests incalculable damage or loss. 
Air. Mendis has been appointed Agricultural 
teacher at Prince of Wales’ College, Aloratuwa, 
where he has a large number of students, who 
are also being instructed in j>ractical work. We 
hear that the boys evince a great interest in their 
agricultural studies, and take very kindly to out- 
door work. It is contemplated, we believe, to 
start dairy work before long at tlie College. Our 
best wishes are with the Principal, Air. Goone- 
wardene, and the Alessrs. I)e Soysa, the patrons 
of the school, that their efforts on behalf of the 
inhabitants of Aloratuwa may be fraught with 
success. 
Two other appointments have been made lately, 
viz., that of All’. Goonewardene toKolonna Korale, 
Rakwana, as a privately paid Agricultural In- 
structor, and of Air. Gunesekere as teacher of 
agriculture in the Buddhist School at Hatton. 
These private appointments, coming as they do 
after much adverse criticism and ridicule of the 
instruction imparted to the students at the School 
of Agriculture, mu.st be a source of great encour- 
agement to the teachers and promoter of that 
institution ; while at the same time it is an 
indication that there are those amongst us who 
recognise the need of improi’ement and reform 
in native agricidture, and are taking active 
measures to bring about so desirable a result. 
There is at last some prospect, however remote, 
of a geological survey of the island being made. 
The officers of the Survey Department have been 
instructed to collect geological specimens from all 
parts of the country, and forward them with their 
notes to the Colombo Aluseum, as a first step to- 
wards a geological sun'ey. But who is to identify 
and arrange the specimens at the Aluseum ? 
Evidently a special officer will have to be ap- 
pointed, for to judge from the present collection 
of rocks and minerals at the Aluseum, there is no 
one qualified for the work among the officers of 
that institution. The specimens now there are 
miserably poor in number ; some have evidently 
not yet been identified ; and what is worst of 
all, a good few are wrongly labelled. Even 
mica, which every tyro know's, is named talc ; 
while the labels ‘ lemonite,’ ‘ orthoalase,’ ‘ grann- 
lite’ go to show that someone requires a few lessons 
in spelling. However, let us hope that before 
long our students of geology will have a collection 
at the Aluseum that will help them and not mis- 
lead them in their studies. 
It is a great matter that the School of Agricul- 
turii has lieen chosen for the office of the Central 
Committee of the Imperial Institute in Ceylon, 
