m%? 



2 TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



must be unsatisfactory, discard's being chiefly made from 

 weakness. 



Although the larger number of men trained in tropical 

 agriculture are required for plantation work, the necessity 

 for others similarly qualified for employment in Govern- 

 ment Agricultural Departments is becoming more acute 

 each year. The value which is attached to the establish- 

 ment of a Government Department of Agriculture is 

 entirely commensurate with the position of authority upon 

 agricultural subjects which its officers are enabled to take 

 up. In the United States the Government were suffi- 

 ciently far-sighted to recognize that the welfare of the 

 country largely depended upon the adoption by agricul- 

 turists of the most perfected method of dealing with 

 every agricultural problem. Agricultural colleges are 

 found in every part of the country, and the instruction 

 given them is of a practical as well as of a scientific 

 nature, extending to sub-tropical, at least, as well as 

 temperate zone requirements. Besides turning out a 

 number of diplomaed graduates each year, the nation is 

 in a position to select trained men with the highest attain- 

 ments for employment in the Government Service. The 

 United States Department of Agriculture is thereby in a 

 position to give an authoritative reply to any inquiry 

 respecting the treatment of crops, and is looked to to 

 provide from time to time the best advice upon the 

 subject. 



Owing to the fact that our only training colleges in 

 agriculture for English youths are situated in a temperate 

 climate and that the curriculum is narrowed to the local 

 requirements of such a climate, it is rare to find a Govern- 

 ment official in the British Colonies and Dependencies 

 who can advise with regard to tropical plantation work, 

 or who can do more than point to the errors, due to 

 prejudice, committed by an ignorant native population. 



A few Departments have advanced sufficiently far to be 

 able to give advice on questions of economic entomology, 

 chemistry, or botanical science; but, although such is the 

 case in India and Ceylon, I should be surprised to learn 

 that there was any official in the employment of the Indian 

 Government qualified to give advice to planters concern- 



