AGRICULTURE — GENERAL 325 



farm for the improvement by selection of wet land rices. Deep- 

 water rices and salt-resisting strains are also being tried in the 

 Scarcies area under the supervision of the Rokupr farm. The New- 

 ton Fruit Farm is for the improvement of cultivation, especially 

 that of bananas and pineapples. In addition there are seven sub- 

 stations run in connection with the three principal stations for the 

 purposes of demonstration, seed supply, and young plant nurseries. 

 There is also a young plantation (about 2,000 acres) of oil-palms 

 at Masanki. The buildings at Njala were constructed at the cost 

 of some ^£"34,000 as part of a large scheme for a centre for agricul- 

 tural training and research. Owing to changes in policy and to 

 the economic depression no training was ever given there, and a 

 new scheme, less ambitious, but designed to use the existing build- 

 ings, is now under consideration. 



On the side of animal husbandry and veterinary research there 

 is no provision at present in Sierra Leone. Cattle are few and are 

 not used for draught purposes, except for ploughing in a few small 

 areas under the supervision of the agricultural department. 

 Nearly the whole of the country is overrun with tsetse, and most 

 of the stock for slaughter is brought in from neighbouring French 

 territory. The possibility of breeding a local strain resistant to 

 trypanosomiasis has been discussed, but development in this direc- 

 tion awaits the appointment of a stock expert. Up to 1929 the 

 department issued leaflets and pamphlets, but its only recent 

 official publications are annual reports. 



In the Gambia the Department of Agriculture has its head- 

 quarters at the experimental station at Yoroberi-Kunda in Mac- 

 Carthy Island Province, where groundnuts, sorghum, cotton, rice, 

 leguminous and miscellaneous crops are grown. Breeding work is 

 carried on at the Wuli experimental station. Annual reports are 

 published. 



Somaliland has no experimental stations, but trials of maize, 

 barley, sorghum, legumes for green manure, potatoes, ground- 

 nuts, etc. have been carried out on an experimental plot. Annual 

 reports are multigraphed, but not printed. 



Inter territorial conferences of agriculturalists and veterinarians have 

 been held from time to time both in East and West Africa. Such 

 conferences have been more frequent in the east, where they are 



