■Vol. XII. No. 282. 



THE AGRICULTUnAL NEWS. 



51) 



■iindoubtedly be cLecked when the (rouble is taken to do it. 

 This involves some amount of deviation frnni estate routine 

 Viut that should not he impossible. It is not by casual 

 •measures taken when it happens to be convenient, but by 

 vigorous action at the right time that success can be obtained.' 



The important discovery in connexion with the occur- 

 rence of the brown hardback (l'Ji'/>'i/iis S7nit/ii) is that of an 

 abundant parasite which is here recorded. This insect is 

 a. black wasp, Tiphia paralUhi, Smith, of the family 

 -Scoliidae. Its discovery was announced locally before the 

 publicalion of the report, and a note concerning it appeared 

 in the AiicKidiiiral Ntiri (see Vol, XI, p. 234). The brown 

 hardback is not a pest of consequence in Barbados, probably 

 on account of the control exercised by Tiphia paralkla; liut 

 in Mauritius where the lieetle occur.s without the parasite it 

 has been a most serious pest of sutr^r cane (see A<iriird(iiiul 

 ^'ev's, Vol. XI, p. 90). 



It may be observed that tlie report from which the 

 foregoing is taken is the second issued independently by the 

 Local Department of .Agriculture, F.arbados, and is the first 

 in which there appears an account of the scientific work of 

 the Assistant Superintendent. 



THE CASE FOR A TROPICAL UNIVERSITY. 



The following appeared as a leading article in the 

 Times of January 23, 1913; reference is made to it in 

 the editorial of this issue of the Agricultural Neivs, 

 and it should be read in connexion with that editorial. 

 It may be stated that Mr. Norman Lament's Prohlems 

 of the Antilles will receive review in the ne.xt number 

 of the Agricultural Neu's: — 



The recent publication of a book by Mr. Norman 

 Lamont on the "Problems of the Antilles" calls attention to 



■ a subject the importance of which has not yet received due 

 recognition. It is the urgent necessity that exists for the 

 methodical development of the resources of the vast and 

 potentially wealthy tropical regions of the British Empire. 

 AVhen the population and the needs of tliis and of the world 

 were much smaller than they are today, it was thought 

 sufficient to gather such produce of tropical lands as Nature 

 provided, and the habits of thought ihen acquired have out- 

 lasted the conditions of their origin. We are still apt to 

 think of our tropical possessions as jilaces where wealth can 

 be found ready made and where it can be acquired without 

 «ffort. That, of course, is no longer the ca.se. The demand 

 for various kinds of tropical produce is far too great to be 

 met by anything short of systemati-; and scientific cultiva- 

 tion. Rubber is an example that will occur to everyone. 

 It grows wild, and for a time demand could he met by using 

 cheap native labour to collect it. Now it is found necessary 

 to devote wide areas and a large amount of capital to its 

 systematic cultivation. The same is true of many other 

 tropical products; and would speedily become equally true 

 •of many more, whose uses have not yet been investigated on 

 any adequate scale, if we had a rational system of tropical 

 agriculture. By failing to establish such a system we are on 

 one hand wasting an enormously valuable asset, and on the 

 •other hand stinting the expansion of industrial and social 

 •activity at home. 



Now the greatest obstacle in the way of those who try 

 •to develop a tropical country is the want of men trained to 



■ deal with agricultural conditions in the tropics. It stands 

 ■So reason that these conditions are widely different from those 



with which we are familiar in this climate. The most 

 accomplished agriculturist in this country, if called to deal 

 with tropical crops, would find himself obliged to begin again 

 at the beginning and to start his education afresh. Not only 

 the climate is different, but the plants, the soil, the insect 

 pests, the diseases, the methods, and the conditions of labour. 

 Hence we need, for the development of our huge tropical 

 estate, men trained in tropical agriculture. Apart from 

 a few exceptional persons, who by dint of great labour and 

 costly experiment have arrived at some practical knowledge 

 about a particular crop, such men do not exi?*-. What is 

 still worse, the means of training them do not exist. For 

 want of such men a great source of wealth and employment 

 remains sealed, a large amount of capital actually expended 

 remains unproductive or is altogether lost, men are deterre.! 

 from risking new capital, and from the standpoint of our 

 national responsibility we mi.ss by far the most powerful 

 means of elevating the inhabitants of the territories we gov- 

 ern. It is in view of such considerations that Mr. Lamont 

 advocates, as he and some others have done for the last ten 

 year.s, the establishment of a University of Tropical Agri- 

 culture, a comprehensive technical school in which men may 

 be taught everything that bears upon the cultivation of trop- 

 ical soil. The matter has, we believe, attained the qualified 

 success of receiving official consideration; but in the mean- 

 time great opportunities are being wasted, and there is even 

 a danger that in the fierce competition of the present day 

 some of them may not recur. Partly by State actioo and 

 partly through private munificence we have established 

 schools of tropical medicine which are making it possible 

 for white men to live in health in regions where existence 

 was precarious or almost impossible It seems a natural 

 development of that policy to remove the economic obstacle 

 to the success of a white population in our tropical pos.sess- 

 ions, by afi'ording the means of education in the only pursuit 

 which, so far as can be seen at present, offers any large 

 prospect of employment there for capital and brains. 

 Plenty of assistance from private sources would be forthcom- 

 ing if a well considered scheme of education in tropical agri- 

 culture were set on foot. The importance of scientific treat- 

 ment of soils, plants, and plant diseases is more and more 

 recognized in this country, where we have centuries of 

 practical experience to guide us. The tropical agriculturist 

 has no such guidance, and his dependence upon science is l)y 

 so much the more complete. 



A University of Tropical Agriculture ought obviously to 

 be situated where the students will live and work in tropical 

 conditions. Otherwise we should be in the position of teach- 

 ing men to swim without water. It ought to be ;is centrally 

 placed as possible, by which we mean that it ought to br as 

 generally accessible as possible. It ought in particular to be 

 easy of access from this country, because it is most important 

 that its professors should keep in touch with all scientific 

 effort at home. These considerations all point to the West 

 Indies as the most suitable locality for the .suggested univer- 

 sity. There it would .serve both Imperial and local purposes. 

 Unlike many of our tropical possessions, the West India 

 Islands contain a considerable population already educated 

 and very restricted in its choice of educated pursuits-. 

 A tropical university would start many upon profitable 

 employment at home, and probably send forth many more as 

 pioneers and founders of an educated community in places 

 where it does not now exist. It would not be too far away 

 to attract really competent men to its teaching stafl', nor 

 would that staff incur the risk of becoming provincial or 

 fossilized through want of easy communications with scien- 

 tific centres here and in America. 



