Vot. XVI. No. 386. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



45 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES FOR THE 



TROPICS. 



Some interesting remarks have been received from 

 Professor Duerden, Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, 

 South Africa, in connexion with the establishment of agricul- 

 tural colleges in South Africa ar d the tropics. As regards 

 agricultural education in South Africa, Professor Duerden 

 points out that for a long time unofficial efforts have been 

 made to establish an agricultural college of the University 

 type in South Africa. It is felt in some quarters that the 

 country is not prepared for such a big, expensive scheme for, 

 if trained as specialists, the number of students which would 

 justify a college would soon fill all the billets available or 

 likely to be. Rather is it considered more advisable to send 

 a number of promising South Africans abroad, either 

 to England or to the United States, for three or four 

 years to get the training as specialists, and on their return 

 take service with the Oovernment, either in an agricultural 

 division or at one of tbe agricultural schools. Probably 

 thirty or forty have been, or are at present, abroad under 

 these conditions with an allowance of £150 per annum. 



The agricultural schools in South Africa, six in number, 

 give courses of one or two years to boys intending to become 

 farmers, not with any idea of their becoming specialists. 

 Special courses of six or nine months are however, arranged 

 for dairying, qualifying students as managers of co-operative 

 dairies. The staff of the schools consists of men obtained 

 from abroad, or sent abroad by the Giovernment and now 

 returned, and a few ex-students. The colleges also act as 

 centres of advice for their respective communities and also 

 carry on experiments and investigati(ins. In addition, the 

 Government has its department of veterinary research, 

 entomology, sheep and poultry, etc., the men doing no teach- 

 ing. 



Professor Duerden is doubtful whether the environment 

 anywhere in the tropics or sub-tropics is good enough for 

 a first class agricultural college or for the training of .special- 

 ists To this view we take exception. The tropics are 

 certainly able to furnish a proper environment for post- 

 graduate work at any rate, and for the establishment of 

 agricultural schools for intending planters. As pointed out 

 in the editorial in the Agricultural News of September 9, 

 1916, under the heading of A Further Argument for Agri- 

 cultural Colleges, there might be some difficulty in estab- 

 lishing, in any one place, an agricultural college capable of 

 providing instruction and allowing of research in connexion 

 with the many and widely differing industries that compose 

 tropical agriculture though Trinidad or Ceylon very nearly 

 approach ideal requirements in this respect. In the 

 article referred to, which was responsible for Professor 

 Duerden's remarks, it was suggested that the most feasible 

 scheme would .seem to be the establishment of a sugar 

 school in the West Indies, a rubber school in the Feder- 

 ated Malay States, and so on, adapting the principal 

 line of work of the in.stitution to the principal industry 

 in its environment Affiliation with the home university 

 would be essential to maintain a live atmosphere, and to 

 secure coordination in education and research. At any rate, 

 whatever may be the views at present on the subject of 

 agricultural colleges for the tropics, there is no question that 

 in the words of Profes.sor Duerden 'the post-war economics of 

 the world are going to make the Tropics more and more 

 important to the Empire, and that instruction and research 

 in tropical agriculture will have to come to the front'. 



THE DIEGO MARTIN AGRICULTURAL 



CREDIT SOCIETY. 



Diego Martin to which place fell the honour of being 

 the first District in Trinidad to apply for registration of an 

 Agricultural Credit Society under an Ordinance in that 

 behalf (.30 of 1915) still proudly holds her premier place, and 

 is now in full working order. The Society was registered on 

 September 19, 1916. His Excellency Sir John Chancellor, 

 formally opened it on October 14, 1916. Immediately 

 afterwards the Society applied to the Government for 

 a loan of £300. After due consideration the Govern- 

 ment agreed to lend £100 at once, and if the Society 

 raised another £100 from private sources they would 

 again lend the third £100. The Society had absolutely no 

 difficulty in raising from the Royal Bank of Canada the sum 

 of £200 and although, thereby the Government's £200 are 

 at their disposal, they prefer to demonstrate to the Govern- 

 ment and to the public their confidence in one another, and, 

 moreover, the force of co-operation which is the life's blood 

 of their Society, by themselves subscribing the sum of £100 

 which was done by five luembers at one single meeting. 

 This is as it should be. "With the help of a very strong Com- 

 mittee, at the head of which is the indefatigable Chair- 

 man, Mr. E. B. Jago, the Society is cautiously making 

 loans to their members at the rate of 10 per cent, having 

 borrowed at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum. We have no 

 doubt that if other places follow the lead of Diego Martin, the 

 efforts of those who fathered the Agricultural Credit Ordi- 

 nance will not have been in ' vain. (Port of Spain Gaze/te 

 for January 14, 1917.) 



The Vegetable Dyes of India. —Since the out- 

 break of the war in Europe investigations have been carried 

 on in India jointly by the Department of Industries in Mysore 

 and Madras with a view to determining to what extent the pres- 

 ent shortage of synthetic dyes could be made good by reverting 

 to the natural dye-stuffs of vegetable origin that were formerly 

 employed. The work has been carried out mainly in the 

 laboratories of the Applied Chemistry Department of the 

 Indian Institute of Science, and with Professor Sudboroiigh 

 have been as.sociated Dr. H. E. Watson and Dr. F. Marsden, 

 the tinctorial expert of the Government of Madras. 



Dr. Marsden's report has recently been submitted to his 

 Government, and is reproduced in the Official Indum Trade 

 Journal. The materials dealt with in the investigation 

 included chay root, nuna, ventilago bark, Rubia cordifolia, 

 red Sanders wood, sappan wood, cutch, divi-divi and other 

 tannin materials, annatto, kapila, lac and Wrightia tinctoria 

 leaves. Concerning annatto, Dr. Marsden says: — • 



'The dye obtained from Jabara seeds was tested upon 

 bleached mercerised cotton, upon which it gives a pleasinw 

 rich orange shade. The method of dyeing is simple, consist- 

 ing in working the yarn in a warm alkaline bath made by 

 extracting the dye from the dried seeds with water, and then 

 adding a little carbonate of soda or potash. The dyein" is 

 finished by giving a weak bath of acid and rinsing. 



'It is generally assumed that the shades given by 

 annatto are not fast; but I find that the fastness properties 

 are equal to those of many of the bright aniline dyes which 

 have been so largely used here, and there is no reason why, 

 if the shade is liked, the material should not find a more 

 extended use upon silk and cotton materials in which bright- 

 ness of colour is a consideration.' {Jourmd of the Royal 

 Society of Arts.) 



