214 [FT. 



CHAPTER III. 



DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURE has become so technical, and accurate scientific 

 experiments upon cultivation, manuring, preparation of crops, 

 rotation of crops, plant-breeding, etc., so absolutely necessary 

 to its progress in most countries, that a scientific department, 

 or some other organisation which is prepared to keep up a 

 scientific staff and meet the cost of such work, must be 

 established in every progressive tropical country. 



The department should not try to include too much. The 

 Government is the body to direct upon agricultural progress all 

 the departments concerned, whether with regard to land, roads, 

 drains, finance, education, or what not. The agricultural de- 

 partment should concern itself primarily with the technical 

 improvement of agriculture, and only in watching and criticising 

 with the work of other organisations. 



Such a department wants a trained scientific head, tech- 

 nically acquainted with the work that must go on in his 

 department, but if he is to be largely concerned with accounts, 

 or with other organisations, civilian help is desirable also. His 

 department should be established, if possible, as far as head- 

 quarters are concerned, at some cooler station than is afforded 

 by the plains in the tropics, for better work can then be done, 

 under better conditions, by the scientific staff. At the same 

 time, they must not be placed in a station too different from 

 the ordinary agricultural conditions of the country, so far as 

 outdoor experimental work is concerned. 



