178 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 7, 1913. 



present it is generally necessary in tropical comimi- 

 nities to have an organization at the back of the 

 specialists, of which the main function is to connect up 

 the two dissimilar types just described. 



It is evident that the knowledge of the specialist 

 is a source which must be tapped. In spite of 

 Departments and other organizations, there is a strong 

 tendency in the Tropics, to-day, for men who were 

 originally specialists to have so acquainted themselves 

 with the point of view and the requirements of the 

 practical planter that they have become practitioners 

 in the branch of science in which they are interested, 

 and this is frequently followed by their becoming 

 established in purely administrative positions where 

 they direct the work, and disseminate the results 

 of younger specialists who follow in their wake. The 

 necessity for feeders of knowledge is greater than 

 the necessity for producers of knowledge. This pecu- 

 liar and most important irend is not altogether 

 desirable, for it leads to the loss of research men just 

 as the}- are in possession of valuable experience and in 

 a position to tackle local problems deftly and with 

 assurance. In fact, to-day we find the pure specialist 

 more or less confined to the great centres of learning 

 in temperate countries. There is need for more 

 of these men in the Tropics; but, until tropical 

 public opinion better appreciates the value of abstract 

 research by learning how to tap it, there is little 

 prospect of such a change being brought about. In 

 medicine, to strike a parallel contrast, the value of the 

 specialist is clearly understood. The significance of a ser- 

 ious ati'ection of the eye or of the throat for instance, is 

 at once appreciated, and information is obtained by 

 intelligent people at the right time and from the right 

 authority. <)n the other hand, of course, an occasional 

 ailment of these organs may be treated without the 

 aid of skilled assistance Judgment is e.Kercised. In 

 agriculture, a similar attitude is very uncommon. In 

 agriculture the tendency is in the direction of laissez 

 /aire: unless the specialist rises from his microscope 

 and searches for something to treat, results will be 

 wasted. His mind, however, by interruption, is taken 

 off his work, and the results have to suffer in any 

 case. 



'i'he solution to these difficulties lies mainly in 

 the fact that education and research should go hand 

 in hand under proper conditions. At present there 

 are two many isolated attem[)ts at research in the 

 Tropics and not enough in the direction of broad 

 education. The research man should be allowed to 

 teach the young generation he will later advise. 



Agricultural education has from time to time been 

 subjected to considerable ridicule by practical agri- 

 culturists, even by those who have received one. 

 That is because it has not been correctly administered. 

 Education in agricultural science should have for its 

 main object the" teaching of where, when and why to 

 apply for advice, and nob aim merely to instil isolated 

 facts and operations or to train specialists. The student 

 who intends to cultivate land should not, for instance, 

 be taught how to analyze a soil, but rather under 

 what conditions a soil should be analyzed and the 

 usefulness of the results. 



Consequent on such a widening of the practical 

 man's square — to speak again figuratively — his contact 

 with the specialist will be increased without interfering 

 either with his own particular depth and kind of 

 information or with that of the specialist. It is true 

 that specialization might progress, under such condi- 

 tions, more rapidly than the practical man could keep 

 tip with, in which case the class of scientific practi- 

 tioner already referred to, would quickly evolve; 

 but it would be from a different cause, a more desirable 

 cause than that which necessitates the combination 

 of agriculturist and scientific specialist in one, at the 

 present day. 



With the extended appreciation of scientific 

 results by the agriculturist, the necessity for a 

 large number of agricultural departments would 

 tend to diminish. 'I'he State would be relieved of 

 responsibility. Taxation would be less. The planter 

 does himself what he jiayed others to do. ilen of 

 administrative ability would be required in the various 

 communities to direct local co-operative movements ib 

 is true, but they would be entirely unofficial. A priori, 

 one other thing would be necessary. Those who 

 intended to undertake the cultivation of the land, who 

 did so with the fixed intention of discreetly utilizing 

 the knowledge of the sppcialist, would need to be 

 catered for by the establishment of an inexpensive and 

 easily accessible tropical agricultural university. 



Several facts concerning the use of kainit, the potash 

 manure, as a fungicide, are contained in an e.xtract from the 

 Journal of A<jricidture, Victoria (pp. 737 and 738). It is 

 said that useful results have accrued from spraying leaves of 

 certain plants with a solution of this maniu-e. It does not 

 appear to have any perceptible elt'ect in the prevention of 

 disease when ap()lied in the usual way as a manure. One 

 curious action of kainit is worthy of note. It seems that 

 when applied to the soil in large ainonnt.s, the manure 

 increases the conductive power of the soil for heat, and hence 

 keeps the tempirature more uniform. In Germany, it was 

 found to reduce the formation of frost. 



