50 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



February 14, 1914. 



that the fewer the number of plants to the acre, 

 the greater is the attention that each must 

 receive individually. Then r.gain, with permanent 

 crops, there is the continual depreciation through age, 

 disease and weather to be contended with. Thus 

 although the field work on a tropical plantation is not 

 agricultural in the generally accepted sense of the 

 term, and does not require the same shrewd judgement, 

 it nevertheless demands very close concentration. 



A typical feature, of the plantation which is 

 likely to strike the outside capitalist is the ques- 

 tion of machinery. There is much less manu- 

 facturing done in connexion with farms in tem- 

 perate countries than there is in the Tropics. The 

 reason why this plantation manufacture is necessary 

 is because produce has to be concentrated and rendered 

 as homogeneous as possible for shipment and sale. It 

 ■would be to the advantage, then, for the intending 

 settler to study the various kinds of machinery employed 

 in connexion with the industry he proposes to enter. 

 Of recent years, co-operative or central factories 

 have to some extent lessened the necessity for 

 this knowledge. Tropical plantation machinery now 

 demands the services of experts, owing to the tendency 

 towards amalgamation and the running of things on 

 a very large scale. 



Closely connected with the matter just discussed 

 are the subjects of grading and packing— both of which 

 are extremely important in tropical agriculture. Here 

 again experience on a fruit farm or market garden 

 would prove more valuable than that obtained on an 

 arable farm. Such experience would prove helpful in the 

 direction of nursery work so essential in the Tropics. 

 Until quite lately the Governments of tropical regions 

 have carried on most of the plant-raising work, but of 

 recent years estates have begun to depend upon 

 themselves in this respect. 



It is interesting to observe that school gardens in 

 the Tropics really serve a more practical purpose than 

 they do in temperate countries, because most of the 

 individual operations conducted on a large scale on the 

 plantation can be practised on a small scale in the 

 garden. In temperate countries, pupils who intend to 

 farm have little opportunity for practising in the school 

 garden those operations which they will have to do, or 

 be fresponsible for, on the farm in later years. Thus 

 school garden work in temperate countries offers 

 more advantage to those who may in after-life take 

 up agricultural work in the Tropics than it does to 

 to those who expect to stay at home. 



As regards the scientific equipment of the 

 European planter in the Tropics, we see that a proper 

 realization of the fact that most of the work is of 

 a horticultural nature is of importance as a means of 

 guidance. Obviously a knowledge of plant breeding 

 and physiology is very essential. A certain amount of 

 adverse criticism has lately been levelled against 

 a recent text-book on the cotton plant. The author of 

 this book has studied the plant in all its relations and 

 worked out some of these in great detail. From 

 a scientific point of view this had been criticised, 

 unfairly we think. However, the point of view which 

 the book portrays is what may be encouraged, within 

 moderation, in the planter. That is to say, he should 

 learn to understand his plant and its exact require- 

 ments. 



It would be far from the aim of the writer of this 

 article to convey the impression that the newly estab- 

 lished planter should become a specialist. On the 

 contrary, good business knowledge, ability to handle 

 labour and a conception of the workings of supply and 

 demand in relation to the produce he is immediately 

 interested in is e.ssential. Most of this is what 

 is known as natural ability for which no schools 

 have at present been established for teaching it 

 successfully, though a step in this direction would be 

 made if agricultural colleges were established in the 

 Tropics. 



Finally, in concluding this article it is scarcely 

 necessary to point out that the principal aim in 

 presenting the foregoing considerations has been to 

 show by comparison the general nature of land culture 

 in the Tropics. It is believed that an appreciation of 

 the circumstances would be advantageous to many 

 settlers before the truth is learnt by actua' experience. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, who is 

 at present in -Jamaica on official dut}', is expected to 

 arrive back in Barbados on March 4, 1914. 



The activities of the Imperial Institute are described in 

 a general manner by Professor Wyndham Dunstan, C'.M.G., 

 F.R.S., in the Monthly Jlnlletlv of Agrindtnral Intelli'jence 

 and Plant Diseases {D&c&aiher \^li). Reference is made to 

 the collections and exhibits, to the technical investigations, to 

 the work carried on in connexion with agricultural depart- 

 ments in the Tropics, and to the publications of the 

 institution. 



