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be a man of experience in the practice of tropical 

 agriculture, with such a knowledge of the sciences on 

 which the practice of agriculture depends as will enable 

 him to understand when and how to call to his assist- 

 ance the members of his staff who are specialists in 

 those sciences. He must also possess administrative 

 ability and the power of organization. Without this 

 link in the Head of the Department between the scien- 

 tific staff and the practical agriculturists of the country, 

 whether native or European, the Department will lack 

 effectiveness. A mere assemblage of specialists without 

 a leader versed in agriculture will fail to effect that 

 influence on the advancement of the agriculture of a 

 country which is one of the most essential and at the 

 same time one of the most difficult functions of a 

 Government Department. It sometimes happens that 

 a specialist, it may be a botanist, a chemist, or an 

 entomologist, has sufficient interest in agricultural 

 practice to make it his study, and if he also possesses 

 other qualifications he becomes a distinguished Director 

 of Agriculture. There are several examples in the 

 British Colonies of such men who have done and 

 are doing eminent service for the advancement of agri- 

 culture in their respective countries. These, however, 

 are brilliant exceptions to the rule that a definite system 

 of educating and training tropical agriculturists is better 

 than a want of system in which the right man may 

 eventually emerge by chance. Much the same state 

 of affairs which exists in British countries has until 

 lately been the rule in other parts of the tropics. It 

 is clear, however, that everywhere the movement is now 

 towards a more systematic plan which only needs the 

 provision, through the establishment of a Central 

 College, of the means of technical education in order to 

 secure its general adoption. 



The problem of securing as head of an Agricultural 

 Department a man with a broad outlook as well as ad- 

 ministrative ability has found a different solution in 

 India. In India the head of a Provincial Department, 

 called Director of Agriculture, is a member of the 

 Indian Civil Service, usually without any knowledge 

 either of agriculture or of any of the sciences on which 

 it depends. He has complete control of the Department 



