AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS IN THE TROPICS 229 



In the other case the disease was due to a fungus, which 

 bored into the stem of the tree and whose presence was indi- 

 cated by a bleeding upon the outside. The only treatment 

 necessary was to cut out the diseased part and burn the wound. 

 This was made compulsory, inspectors being appointed whose 

 duty it was to go round the villages and show the headmen and 

 people what to look for. The headmen had then to make lists 

 of all affected places, and notices were served upon the occupiers 

 to treat the disease within a certain time, or it would be done 

 at their expense by the inspector. In the great majority of 

 cases the notice was enough, the treatment was carried out, and 

 the disease is now confined within reasonable limits. 



Another direction in which work of this kind is being 

 carried out is in the compulsory fumigation at the port of 

 entry of plants or fruits likely to be carrying dangerous insects 

 or other complaints capable of treatment by fumigation. Yet 

 another is the prevention of entry of plants coming from 

 countries in which they are subject to dangerous diseases. 



Vegetable physiology is becoming a fruitful line of study 

 in recent years and several very important researches have 

 been carried out in the tropics, from which and from others it 

 would appear as if our knowledge of growth and the factors 

 affecting it may undergo very important changes. 



The study of plant-breeding upon the newer lines which 

 have come into existence with the rediscovery of the work 

 of Mendel is likely to become of the very greatest importance 

 in the tropics. Hitherto the improvement of crops in a country 

 has consisted in importing new varieties or new crops from 

 other places, but, as already explained, this work is decreasing 

 in importance. It is now more urgent to improve the actual 

 local crops, and for such work plant-breeding is of course an 

 absolute necessity. The great success which has attended 

 efforts in this direction in colder countries, where breeding 

 has always been carried on, shows what we may expect in the 

 tropics when once it is properly taken up. Disease-proof 

 coffees, long-stapled cottons suitable to the country, rubber 

 trees with larger yields, and innumerable other things are 

 among the possibilities of the future. 



Lastly we come back to the more strictly systematic botany, 

 which in the form of introduction of plants from abroad was 

 the chief raison d'etre of a botanic garden some years ago. 



