CH. l] ORGANISATION OF AGRICULTURE 199 



upon which such departments of Government as Public Works, 

 Irrigation, Forests, and Land should be represented, as well as 

 the planting, village, labour, and other interests. 



In brief, then, perhaps the most satisfactory solution of 

 the problem is the establishment of a technical Department 

 of Agriculture, under a Director, who shall be assisted by a 

 thoroughly representative Advisory Board of Agriculture. The 

 Director should be mainly responsible for the agricultural policy 

 of the Government, and its adviser in all matters concerned 

 with agriculture ; a definite agricultural policy should be adopted 

 by the Government, and steadfastly and thoroughly carried out 

 for a long period of time, all departments and other agencies 

 concerned being resolutely guided and directed to the one end 

 in view. In the next chapter suggestions will be given as to 

 the policy to be followed. They form a connected scheme, and 

 bear on all the chief points which seem to require attention. 

 They should be considered as a whote, and every possible 

 agency be put in motion towards the common end, if satisfactory 

 progress is to be made. 



It is of course not absolutely necessary for the organisation 

 for the purpose of improving agriculture to be a Government 

 institution, but in the tropics it is probably better that it 

 should, as the natives of tropical countries look to Government 

 for all help and progress. An Agricultural Society, as exists 

 in Jamaica, Ceylon, Madras, etc., may often be the means of 

 very considerable aid to native agriculture, but it requires 

 skilled technical help and advice to draw upon, and these, in 

 the places named, are provided by Government departments. 



NOTE. Since the above was written, progress in the directions indicated 

 has been very marked, and most of the tropical colonies and more progressive 

 countries are now provided with departments of agriculture, and sometimes 

 with definite policies as well. 



