174 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



{Pennisetmn clandesti?iu?n) , but on the Nioka government stock farm 

 the grass is no longer much cultivated both because it is insufficient 

 to support a larger head of stock, and because a diet of Kikuyu 

 grass alone has been found to lead to reduced milk production. At 

 Kerekere experiments are in progress with many kinds of forage 

 plants to ascertain which are the most suitable to local soil condi- 

 tions, and the department has analysed many samples of grass 

 from every pastoral district in the Congo (Congo Beige 1935). 

 Some of the results are given in a long paper by H. Scaetta (1936) . 

 The extensive researches carried out in Australia at the Waite 

 Institute have produced results directly applicable in Africa, and 

 exchange of grasses between the two continents has been made 

 during the last few years. The results so far are inconclusive. It is 

 possible that the methods of research evolved there may also prove 

 applicable throughout Africa, particularly in connection wdth 

 studies of leguminous plants, on which little is at present known 

 in Africa. Knowledge of these, especially clovers, is a necessary 

 aspect of pasture research, since the ability of pasture to maintain 

 soil fertility depends principally on the legumes. 



PLANT BREEDING AND PLANT PATHOLOGY 



Studies of plant breeding and plant pathology are directed 

 mainly towards the improvement of agricultural crops, but wild 

 forest trees have also received some attention from pathologists. 

 Together they absorb the greater part of the botanical effort which 

 Africa is able to put forward. 



In plant breeding striking results have been achieved in produ- 

 cing improved varieties of crops both for export and for internal 

 consumption. The three desiderata of increased yield, better 

 quality, and resistance to disease have sometimes been combined 

 successfully. This work will be considered together with agricul- 

 tural methods in Chapter XII. For truly scientific plant breeding 

 fundamental studies in genetics and cyto-genetics are necessary. 

 Little provision for research in these subjects exists so far; there 

 are as yet only two professorships of genetics in the United King- 

 dom, and the number of expert geneticists is correspondingly few. 

 Until this science develops, plant and animal breeding experi- 



