INTRODUCTION 9 
existing staffs of the botanic gardens and agricultural 
departments of the various dominions and other posses- 
sions, whilst the equivalent of Washington would have 
to be created in the form of the new Imperial Service, 
- Were such a trained corps asked for with a guarantee 
of work for cadets reaching an adequate proficiency, 
there is little doubt it would be possible to provide 
them (speaking for botany alone) at a rate of twenty or 
even twenty-five a year. It is remarkable how quickly 
good men and women of the best type begin to render 
services of the highest value when put to work of this 
kind. 
When one recalls how much little countries like 
Denmark do for their possessions, one is filled with 
shame at our own backwardness. Botanists will be 
familiar, for instance, with the Botany of the Faroé 
Islands—a model of a complete monograph on the 
flora, vegetation, economics and vegetable resources of 
those islands. 
Then take the case of Germany. Whatever the defects 
of the German scheme of colonial development, it was 
right in two respects. Germany did not hesitate to 
take long views, and was content year after year to go 
on spending large sums of money on her acquisitions ; 
in the second place, their exploration was put in the 
hands of qualified experts, and not left to the chance 
visits of travellers and amateurs. 
Probably no country in the world is more alive to its 
responsibilities in these matters than the United States, 
and'the provision made for the development of their 
resources under the Department of Agriculture, to 
which reference has already been made, merits the most 
