BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE IN CEYLON 323 



managed by some system of agricultural banks, perhaps most 

 simply and efficiently by the Co-operative Credit Societies of the 

 Raiffeisen type, which are now so common in Europe. Even 

 these, however, are not altogether suited to the improvident 

 tropical native, who tends to borrow money from them, not for 

 agricultural purposes, but for weddings and other festivities. 

 Probably the best method of helping him at first, and for a long 

 time to come, will be by means of Co-operative Seed-supply 

 Stores, a store being started in a village and advancing to the 

 villagers the seeds they require on advantageous terms. Unless 

 the society can be started by local capitalists, it will of course 

 need to borrow money from the Government ; but as soon as 

 this is repaid, its further profits will go to its shareholders in 

 the form of dividends, or perhaps better still, may be expended 

 in purchasing seed of a better quality than that locally in use. 

 Societies of this kind, as well as co-operative credit societies, 

 are already in operation in Ceylon. 



Provided that proper conditions obtain as to land, labour, 

 transport, education, and capital, much may be done for the 

 natives of a tropical country by the establishment of Agricultural 

 Societies. There should in general be a central society, with as 

 many local branches as possible, the central society publishing 

 details of how to grow and dispose of produce, selling seeds at 

 very low rates, and so on. The great thing in running a society 

 of this kind is to have keen and enthusiastic officers in the 

 central society, to keep up the interest and enthusiasm of the 

 local branches. A society of this kind is now at work in 

 Ceylon, and, when it has got over the difficulty of capital, will 

 doubtless appeal to the villagers ; at present its efforts mainly 

 stimulate the local small capitalist. The society is, however, 

 trying to get co-operative credit societies and co-operative seed- 

 supplies started in the various places in which it has branches. 



This must in general suffice as a sketch, necessarily brief 

 and imperfect, of the progress in botanical and agricultural 

 work that has gone on in the tropics. The serious student 

 will at once notice that there has been but little said about 

 scientific research, excepting in pure botany. As yet there is 

 but little research carried on in the tropics on lines that do not 

 promise immediate return, for in dealing with English people, 

 at any rate, pure research must be floated in, so to speak, upon 

 the top of research that has an immediate practical bearing. 



