334 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



INTERNATIONAL 



The International Institute of Agriculture at Rome was founded in 

 1905. With the associated Bureau of Agricultural Science it has 

 aimed since that time at collecting agricultural statistics and 

 general information from all over the world and disseminating 

 them through the medium of periodical and other publications. 

 The institute is financed by an original endowment and by con- 

 tributions from numerous countries, and maintains a considerable 

 staff. Only a small proportion of the work relates directly to Africa, 

 but certain of the publications are of marked value, particularly 

 the directory of agricultural experimental institutions in hot coun- 

 tries, the directory of animal husbandry institutions, and the 

 annual volumes, mainly on agricultural economics. 



For some time there has been a division of opinion among the 

 contributing countries as to the functions which the institute can 

 best perform. Since its inception the annual mass of information 

 has increased beyond measure, particularly in the realm of re- 

 search. Meanwhile, most of those countries with extensive imperial 

 interests have developed their own means of disseminating infor- 

 mation: the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux, for instance, serve this 

 purpose for the British Empire. The U.S.A. and Great Britain 

 have been forward in suggesting a reform of the work, and in 

 March 1935, the permanent committee of the institute decided, on 

 the advice of a panel of scientists, presided over by Sir John 

 Russell, that the institute should in future retire from the purely 

 scientific side of the information service and should concentrate 

 on the practical and international aspects of agricultural progress. 



