174 The Philippine Journal of Science ims 



physiology of the human body, yet the agronomy of most trop- 

 ical and many temperate crops is exactly in this condition — 

 the details of the life operations of the plants in question, as 

 to their foraging ability, food elaboration, water requirements, 

 transpiration habits, organic reaction to surrounding conditions, 

 and specific reaction to disease, being unknown. The experience 

 of the practical planter is one continuous struggle with serious 

 problems, many of which might easily be solved through fuller 

 knowledge of the detailed physiological operations and needs 

 of the plant he is attempting to grow. It seems that if anji;hing 

 is to be expected from real colleges of agriculture as distin- 

 guished from farm schools, and more particularly expected from 

 colleges of agriculture in universities, it is a thorough grounding 

 in these basic lines of work that shall enable students to approach 

 the practical problems of agronomy with broad intelligence and 

 really adequate equipment. In this connection Doctor Cope- 

 land's book furnishes the best example of what a textbook for a 

 college of tropical agriculture should be. His work is, of course, 

 not final in any respect, and he clearly recognizes, as does Doctor 

 van Hall, that the science of tropical agronomy is an extremely 

 undeveloped one. In the face of this fact some temperate- 

 region agronomists do not seem to be able to understand why 

 things should not be done thus and so in the tropics — along lines 

 well-established in temperate regions. The light will not dawn 

 upon such, or rather the knowledge of the lack of light, until 

 they join the ranks of pioneers in a new tropical country and 

 undertake the practical establishment of well-ordered cacao or 

 coconut plantations. It is evident, for instance, in Doctor Cope- 

 land's discussion of fertilizers, that the subject is still an open 

 one, no comprehensive experiments having yet been carried 

 through a sufficiently long term of years. The subject of the 

 seed selection of the coconut still requires thorough investigation 

 and experimentation. Doctor Copeland does not mention the 

 interesting case of the small island of Rotumah in the South 

 Seas, which is said to produce coconuts of unusual size and 

 value. These coconuts, in years past, are said to have been 

 used extensively for the establishment of plantations in other 

 islands, some being reputed to have brought as much as a shilling 

 apiece as seed. It would be a matter of the highest interest 

 and importance to trace the results obtained from these seeds 

 in other islands and under other conditions. 



The immediate effect of Doctor Copeland's book will be the 

 stimulation of students, planters, and investigators to more acute 



