Supplement to the “ Tropical Agriculturist." 
August I, ifQI.] 
155 
ing gentleiuftu has laken effectual measures to 
cope with the great ditViculty iu the way of culti- 
mtion, and rhat is the periodic influx of hrackish 
Water. During the Dutch (ioverament dams 
were coustructed to keep off the salt water from 
inundating the land. It is hoped that the long 
deferred project of draining the.9e fields will result 
in the recultivation of the greater jiart of tlie 
land that has been lying fallow .so long, and make 
it prove wofthy the name it bears. 
Mr. J. A. Kodippily writes: — I’ara-lmra and 
Kekuna-dure are two villages about 7 miles from 
Matara, on the roail to Hakmana and Dikwella. 
Their distance from the sea is about S-] miles. 
The soil is a very good loam, mi.xed with a con- 
siderable (inaiitity of gravel. Coconuts and Citro- 
nella grass thrive very well. There are oslate.s 
belonging to Wellabadapattu Mudaliyar, the 
Mohotty Mudaliyar, Dr. Sschokman, Mr. 1). W. 
Cunaratna, and several others. Almost all are 
cultivated with coconut. One proprietor culti- 
vated tea as an experiinout, which proved unsuc- 
cessful : o out of 10 acro.s having lieeu an utter 
failure. Cinnamon is also, I hear grown in one 
or two Gslatos. 
. A. D. S. coniributes the follou ing note on 
Cliaya Kool, ( Olthnlandia Umhellaia ) \ — The plant 
which i>roduces the Chaya root of commerce grows 
wild oyer many parts of I he Island, andis .specially 
met with in .Mannar, Jaffna, the Northern hslauds 
"uiiiii Di.stricts. The roots when 
brui.sed have a yellowish colour, and were r ained 
as a good dye stuff by Indian dyers. Largo 
i/uantities of Chaya root were exported to India 
some fifty years ago, hut the (|iiantit.y has con- 
tinued to decroase ot late years, till the last year’s 
Customs returns showed no exports at all. Chaya is 
never ciilti-. . ted, and it is believed that wlien'it i.s 
cultivated the root loses to a groatextent its value 
as a dye stcif : only an inferior dye being obtained 
from cultivated Chaya, The want of a tlemand at 
the pre.sontday for this dye, can only be supposed 
to have been brought aboiii by the gradual displaoe- 
nieiit oftlio vegetable colours by the cheap aiiiliue 
dyes prepared from coal tar. The i(unlity of the 
Chaya depends to a great extent on the soils iu 
which it grows : Chaya growing in the Island of 
arativoe was considered to besujiorior in quality 
to that growing in Mannar or the M'auui. The 
' tgffing for the root was carried on by a par- 
t'cular ca.ste of Tamils. 
1 X D C ,ST R 1 A L DE VE LOPMEXT. 
1 Development is 01: 
lliat Oejlon has already had to face, and one tin 
a wl ns year succeeds vea 
and the conditions of commercial life heoom 
question the ^ 
hcanee of which cannot he over-rated llowt 
I ormUv’‘'l ‘•■ddntry, and thereb 
foilhl "nd bring a con 
Kar to r ''Tn “’‘•"ady tin 
&re no nr w problem.s which, if the 
POT od no.distan 
themseh 1 '''‘’^'idy force 
great inir / ’’ e "“^'^1011 U clear from tli 
great interest e.xcited over the Technical Institut 
about which so much was said some time ago. It 
may not bo unfair to a.sk what has resulted from 
the. excitomeut which promised so niuoh. 
The question being so ijiteresting in itself, it i.s 
well worth obseri iiig what other countries are 
doing in regard to their own imlustrial develop- 
ment. as the experience of ot hers may he proftt- 
ablo lessons for ourselves. A special interest 
attaches to the attempts made by our neighbours 
ill India. To one of those 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.O.S., 
F.L.S., the Professor of Natural Science in the 
Lahore flovernnieut College. This lecture is one 
.so free frominere technicalities, that it may pro- 
fltalily ho road tiy even that fastidious person 
known as the “ general reader. " Its aim is emi- 
nently practical. It abounds in useful suggestions, 
that are none tlio less useful for being quite 
obvious when plainly stated ; and those sugges- 
tions urn brought before us iu simple and direct 
phrases that make the lecture a pleasant one to 
rend. Besides, it is not the production of an 
ordinary theorist, such ns I’rofessors are commonly 
nqiiited to ho. The present writer has personal 
knowledge of the earnest off orts made by Mr, Oman 
for the advaucemont of Science, and the spread of 
scietififlc habits in the I’anjab. lie has among other 
things established a society for the cultivation of 
.Science. One result of this lecture may be seen in 
tlic fact that a meeting was held at Lahore hist 
month to torm an Association with the object of 
improving the material and industrial resources 
of the Punjab. 
IVitli these introductory remarks we may turn 
to the lecture itself, of which what follows is 
mainly a summary. 
Mr. Oman holds that the “ actual po.sitioii iu 
the .scale of unlioiis occupied by any country 
depeiiils primarily upon the intellectual and 
moral condition of the jieople generally, upon 
the intellectual status of the nvern^e man in the 
country, not of n 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 iu their widest .seii.se.' E.xcluding, then, 
geographical and climatic ])ecnliarities, the con- 
ditions uece,ssary for ailvancement are these ; — fl) 
a stable (lovernment: (,2) (ieiieral Education 
or national culture, including the education of 
women; (B) Technical knowledge; (4) ludii.s- 
tria! associalion and industrial literature ; (o) 
A market for the industrial productions of the 
country; (ti) Capital, co-operatioii, and the ijuick 
circtilntiun of money. The present lecture con- 
tines itself to onlythreeofthe.se conditions, the 
second, third, and fourth. 
And first as to deneral Educatiun. The differ- 
ences liotween England and India iu this respect 
are brought out in a striking manner. M’ith a 
population of 'JAO millions in India only about 
4 per cent can read ami write; in England the 
percentage is 87, and in Scotland 93 1 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 ailvanced district 
of the Panjah the same proiiortion holds, the 
two peoples cannot yet bo eon.sidered ns being 011 
the same intellectual level. l''or encli possesses a 
different literature. The Englishman has it iu his 
power to read all the latest and best ideas og 
