130 BRITISH HONDURAS. 



with the report .of a Select Committee of the Legislative 

 Council. 



This Committee felt that with such a fertile soil available on easy terms, 

 energy and industry on the part of the inhabitants are all that are now 

 requisite to grow fruit in large quantities, with every prospect of profitable 

 returns. 



At the same time the Committee were sensible of exceptional circum- 

 stances which had militated against the cultivation of the soil from the 

 earliest history of the colony ; and recognised the desirableness of some 

 steps being taken to assist cultivators in the absence of experience and 

 knowledge of the subject on their part. 



To carry this out in a practical and satisfactory way the Committee 

 suggested the formation of an Agricultural Board, with an annual grant. 

 The duties of such a Board were to be to procure all necessary information 

 relating to products adapted to the soil and climate, and suitable for avail- 

 able markets, and disseminate such information gratuitously and as widely 

 as possible. 



Simple directions for the cultivation of the several products might also 

 be printed separately or in small pamphlet form and distributed freely. 

 Seeds and plants might be procured, through the instrumentality of this 

 Board, with a view to obtaining the best species or introducing new 

 products into the colony. 



Although this report was adopted, and an Agricultural Board 

 appointed, it does not appear that any practical results 

 followed. 



It is much to be desired that this Board, with a small annual 

 grant, should be revived, and that it. be connected with a 

 government department, and submit an annual report on its 

 operations. Such a Board would require a depot either at 

 Belize or at one of the southern settlements, where some plants, 

 especially those of a delicate nature, might be raised from seed, 

 and where others not capable of immediate distribution might 

 be stored. Where the distribution by seed is practicable, it 

 should always be adopted ; but as most of the valuable objects 



