194 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 17, 1916. 



•connexion with Citrus canker. These are not mere 

 petty outbreaks affecting districts, but iiuifkly spread- 

 ing scourges which affect whole States. 



In the West Indies we haveseen, and continue to 

 see on a smaller, but none the less important scale 

 from the individual's point of view, necessity for 

 similar scientific action. The passing of the Bourbon 

 cane is often cited as an event in connexion with which 

 science came to the aid of the planter. The breeding 

 of resistant seedling canes was of inestimable value, 

 4ind if this work had not been continued year after 

 jear from that time on. it is possible that there might 

 have been a repetition of the crisis. In regard to 

 •cotton at the present time, there is need for concerted 

 and scientific action in order to combat the cotton 

 stainer, which is responsible for large losses in certain 

 islands. It was only the extreme loss suffered quite latter- 

 ly which raised an outcry for the help of science in ihis 

 connexion: and the results of investigations conducted as 

 the outcome, tend to indicate that within a short time 

 the losses will be considerably reduced. In this particu- 

 lar case it is instructive to realize that the line of attack 

 is a broad one, and not only directed upon the insect 

 itself Attempts have been made to evolve a particular 

 type of plant having such habits as will enable it to 

 •escape the pest,and attempts are being made to eradicate 

 the wild plants on which the pest lives during the period 

 when no cotton is in the fields. From the nature of 

 the trouble it is more or less useless to fight the insect 

 by means of hand-collecting or spraying, or any such 

 methods. A broad outlook on such a situation is the 

 scientific outlook, and the only practical one. 



In the production of crops in the tropics 

 • one of the most important limiting fiictors is 

 rainfall and humidity. It may be either excessive 

 or deficient. Enormous areas of land naturally 

 unsuitable have been brought under cultivation 

 with success by the application of science in regard 

 to irrigation and drainage. Kgypt would grow nothing 

 without irrigation, and man} of the low-lying tropical 

 regions, as for instance the coast lands of British Guiana, 

 little without drainage. Deficient rainfall can also be 

 successfully overcome by dry farming methods, namely 

 the use of tillage to conserve for the crop such rain 

 as falls. Humidity of the air and soil fertility can be 

 increased by leguminous wind-breaks and shade trees. 

 Many of these expediencies have now become so general 

 as to be regarded as matters of ordinary practice 

 rather than of science. But they all originated out of 

 scientific research. 



Another instance in which science plays a 

 most important part in tropical agriculture is in 

 connexion with the production of special grades 

 or types of raw material to meet special market 

 demands. Science has done a great deal to im- 

 prove the uniformity of different grades of plan- 

 tation rubber: it has made great progress in a 

 similar direction in relation to cotton. By means of 

 bleeding and selection it is possible to produce pure 

 types of cotton possessing almost any kind of lint, and 

 in marketable quantities. Progress and changes in the 

 production of raw sugars are all due to the application 

 of science The layman is too readily inclined to consider 

 the establishment of a central fiictory as merely a ques- 

 tion of capital and labour. He scarcely realizes that 

 without much patient investigation and great ingenuity, 

 appliances like triple effects, refining processes, and 

 the general chemical control of a factory would be 

 non-existent. 



The various co-operative schemes for the better- 

 ment of agricultural conditions are all based on 

 scientific principles. We see this in the arrangements 

 for the supply of sugar-cane to some of the central 

 factories ot the Antigua type, and in the onion growers' 

 associations now operating successfully in the Leeward 

 Islands. Economic science has also its application in 

 land settlement and co-operative credit. The ( )rdinances 

 now in force in the West Indies regarding credit on 

 the Raiffeisen system are all based on established 

 scientific principles. In the future it is hoped that 

 science will enter into legislation more generally. 



As already intimated, it is only when something 

 goes wrong that the average layman appreciates 

 science, just as medical aid is only fully appreciated 

 in times of sickness. From a national point of view the 

 British Eiupiri: has only realized the power of science 

 through its offensive application by Germany. It 

 would seem . the wise course to invoke the aid of 

 science in every line of industry both for protecti in 

 and progress, and in no lino of work is it more 

 necessary ihan in tropical agriculture. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



At the reiniest of the tJovcrnment of Egypt, 

 arrano^ements have been made through the Colonial 

 Ofhce^for Mr. H A. Ballon, ]M.Sc., Entomologist to this 

 Department, to proceed to Egypt for the purpose of 

 advisinc the Egyptian Government on matters concern- 

 ing pests of cotton. It is anticipated that this 

 mission will occupy a year. 



