February, 1910.] 



148 



Miscellaneous. 



as a guide to the education and training 

 of the future farmers of South Africa. 

 By such means this land, so rich in 

 natural resources, will be assisted in 

 achieving aud maintaining in its proper 

 place among the agricultural and 

 pastoral countries of the world. 



SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL 

 DEPARTMENT. 



(From the Report on the Work of the Im- 

 perial Institute, 1908, No. 601, July, 1009.) 



The facilities offered by this Depart- 

 ment, which were fully described in the 

 Report for 1906-7, have been largely 

 utilised during 1908 for the conduct of 

 investigations and the supply of infor- 

 mation respecting the problems of tro- 

 pical agriculture and the utilisation of 

 raw materials, mineral and vegetable. 



The number of investigations and en- 

 quiries requested by the Colonies and 

 India in 1908 was 375 ; the number of re- 

 ports completed was 393 ; and at the 

 close of the year 141 investigations were 

 in progress. The subjects which were 

 investigated and on which reports were 

 completed are referred to in the follow- 

 ing sections under the headings of the 

 various groups of commercial products 

 to which they related. The countries 

 represented were :— Cyprus, Malta, 

 Egypt, Sudan, Somaliland, Uganda, 

 British East Africa, Zanzibar, Nyasa- 

 land, Rhodesia, Natal, Transvaal, Cape 

 Colony, Gambia, Sierra Leone.Gold Coast, 

 Southern Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, St. 

 Helena, Mauritius, Seychelles, India, 

 Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Federated 

 Malay States, Johore, Fiji, Australia, 

 Falkland Islands, West Indies, British 

 Guiana, British Honduras, Bermuda, 

 Newfoundland, Canada, Portuguese 

 East Africa, Madagascar, Norway, 

 Turkey, Greece, Brazil, Mexico, China, 

 Japan, French Dahomey, and Liberia. 



Brief allusion may be made here to 

 some of the more important work of 

 this Department during the year. 



A very large number of samples of 

 cotton, representing, as a rule, either 

 native cotton or cotton experimentally 

 grown in British Possessions, have been 

 examined and reported on, and several 

 important questions relating to the cul- 

 tivation and growth of cotton have been 

 dealt with. In connection with the ad- 

 vances which have been made in the 

 tropical Colonies in the successful growth 

 of cotton, it is becoming more and more 

 apparent that in many cases the best 

 results are being obtained by the im- 

 provement of native cottons, or cotton 



already established in the country, 

 rather than in the attempts to estab- 

 lish exotic plants. The probability that 

 this would prove to be the case was 

 emphasised in several publications which 

 have been issued by the Imperial Insti- 

 tute (see especially Professor Dunstan's 

 Report on Cotton Cultivation in the 

 British Empire and in Egypt (1904); 

 Hand Book to the Cotton Exhibition, 

 Imperial Institute (1905) ; British Cotton 

 Cultivation (1908). It is very desirable 

 that systematic work on this subject, 

 including hybridisation experiments, 

 should be steadily continued in con- 

 nection with the Agricultural Depart- 

 ments which have now been established 

 by Government in nearly all the tropical 

 Colonies and Protectorates. 



The maintenance of a reference col- 

 lection at the Imperial Institute of 

 standard cottons and of cotton pro- 

 duced in every British Possession have 

 proved of much practical value. It has 

 been largely consulted by those con- 

 cerned with cotton cultivation and with 

 the cotton industry in this country. 



At the instance of the Colonial Office, 

 the Director visited the cotton districts 

 of Asia Minor in 1907, and his report 

 on the growth of cotton in that country 

 and its possibilities was published as a 

 Parliamentary Paper (Cd. 4324, 1908). 



Much attention has also been given 

 to fibres other than cotton, and a very 

 large number of samples have been ex- 

 amined and reported on. Cultivation 

 experiments have been conducted in 

 several Colonies in communication with 

 the Institute, with a view to the pro- 

 duction of fibres suitable for cordage 

 and as substitutes for jute, especially 

 in West and East Africa. In this sub- 

 ject the Imperial Institute has had the 

 advantage of the co-operation of the 

 principal users of these materials in this 

 country. 



Allusion may be made to the experi- 

 ments now in progress in Sierra Leone 

 and in other parts of West Africa with 

 a view to the growth of species of Hi- 

 biscus and other fibres of value as sub- 

 stitutes for jute, and to the attempt 

 which is being made to establish an in- 

 dustry for the growth of New Zealand 

 hemp in St. Helena. In consequence of 

 the continuous demand for information 

 both in this country and in the Colonies 

 respecting the work of the Imperial 

 Institute on commercial fibres, the 

 principal reports which have been 

 made since the issue of the volume of 

 "Technical Reports " in 1903 are now 

 being collected and prepared for publi- 

 cation. 



