192 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. Ill 



little patches of different crops. This liability to epidemics of 

 disease is one of the most serious dangers confronting large 

 agricultural enterprises. The most famous instance in the 

 tropics is of course the ruin of the coffee industry of Ceylon 

 by the attacks of the leaf-disease fungus and the coffee-scale 

 insect. 



One great difficulty in the way of dealing with such out- 

 breaks in good time is the unwillingness of estate owners to 

 confess that their property is attacked by disease. This is 

 natural enough; such a statement lowers the value of the 

 property in the share market. But there is no doubt that in 

 countries like Ceylon this difficulty has been much lessened 

 of late years, and that planters like the fruit-growers of the 

 western United States have largely realised that the policy 

 of concealment is a mistake, and that it is better to call in 

 help at the very first appearance of trouble. Applications for 

 such help to the Government officers who deal with disease are 

 of course regarded as private matters, while at the same time 

 the feeling of the public continually grows in favour of such 

 action. Greater confidence in the safety of crops from devas- 

 tating pests or diseases is naturally felt by agriculturists when 

 they feel assured that most people who notice outbreaks will at 

 once report them to responsible officers, who will do all that 

 can be done to assist the adoption of proper treatment at the 

 earliest possible time. 



At the same time, experience in all advanced agricultural 

 countries shows that even when the majority are content to 

 treat disease promptly, and have realised that this is the most 

 profitable course, there always remain some who will do nothing, 

 and whose cultivations thus form a hotbed of disease to re-infect 

 those of their neighbours. For them as in matters of public 

 health and prevention of epidemic and infectious diseases 

 legislation is necessary and just, and they must be compelled 

 to deal with insanitary conditions, as soon as public opinion 

 is ripe for so dealing with them. Ceylon now has a Pests 

 Ordinance in operation, under which Government can proclaim 

 any pest, with the measures required for its treatment, call upon 

 people to adopt these, and punish them for non-compliance. 



