Miscellaneous. 



154 



[February, 1912, 



There is some difficulty in obtaining 

 supplies for the various plots. 



Plantains. -The crop for the year 1911 

 was as follows : — 



Variety. 



No. of Weight. 



Amount 



realis 





bunches. 



lbs. 



Rs. 



c. 



Alu-feehel 



56 



832 



19 



90 



Kolikuttu 



19 



1*9 



i 



48 



Suwaudel 



77 



544 



10 



24 



Hondaiawalu 



73 



2,009 



1,965 



65 



Ana am 



42 



1,258 



14 



40 



Total 



267 



4,812 



71 



67 



Cost of weeding 







46 



12 





Nett profit 





25 



55 



Fibre.— The sisal fibre has been cut 

 and buried ; the weight was 9,388 lbs. 



Miscellaneous.— Maize, Castor, Sweet 

 Potatoes, varieties of yams, Ginger, 

 Vanilla and Soya bean have been planted 

 on the newly cleared land. 



WHAT SCIENCE HAS DONE FOR 

 THE WEST INDIES, 



By Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 



K.C.M.G., P.R.S., ETC. 



(From the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. 

 XL, No. 4, 1911.) 



A little more than a year ago I told in 

 these pages, with a very sore heart, the 

 story of what the late Sir Alfred Jones 

 had accomplished for the West Indies 

 by enlightened commercial methods. 

 That chapter is unhappily closed, for no 

 one has succeeded him. It is a more 

 hopeful task which is now imposed upon 

 me— to give some account of what science 

 has done, and will continue to do. It is 

 worth the telling, and it is more than a 

 mere record of success, but carries a 

 moral of far-reaching extent. 



This journal, from its first number, has 

 never ceased to preach the necessity of 

 applying knowledge to the right conduct 

 of human affairs. It continues to preach, 

 and in face of the stolid conservatism 

 of our oiethods, one might in a despon- 

 dent mood think with little effect. But 

 if one looks back over long periods it is 

 not so, and the change in public opinion 

 as represented by governmental action 

 is little short of astonishing. 



When I first became engaged in colon- 

 ial work some forty years ago, the 

 doctrine of laissez faite was in full 

 swing. It was heid that self-interest 

 would determine whether an industry 

 would succeed or fail ; if it failed it 

 deserved to do so, and another would 

 take its place. In either case it was 

 best to leave it severely alone. This is 

 not the place to discuss how far such a 



doctrine is sound. But practically it is 

 continually being abandoned, No in- 

 dustry is now free from governmental 

 interference and such interference is 

 only tolerable it directed by adequate 

 technical knowledge. Interference must 

 always be of the nature of restraint, and 

 at any rate theoretically one may ask 

 whether some compensation is not justi- 

 fied. It can hardly be doubted that the 

 community will have more and more to 

 provide knowledge for industry of the 

 kind that self-interest is powerless to 

 provide for itself. 



Mill, however, and other economists, 

 clearly saw that academic economic prin- 

 ciples were not universally applicable 

 to agriculture. The reason is obvious : 

 the soil is not removable, but has to be 

 utilized as best it can, and where it is. 

 If it went generally out of cultivation 

 food would fail. It was still, however, 

 left to laissez faire, except in some mea- 

 sure in India, where the Government 

 undertook the pioneering work in regard 

 to tea, cinchona, rubber, and some other 

 staples, and then left their commercial 

 development to private individuals. In 

 any other country but our own the work 

 of Rothamsted would have been promo- 

 ted by the State. There are undoubtedly 

 advantages in scientific research being 

 left unfettered to individual effort, but 

 it is only the richest landowners, such as 

 Coke of Holkham, and the Dukes of Bed- 

 ford, who can afford to add to agricul- 

 tural knowledge by experiment. The 

 average cultivator is powerless to follow 

 other than traditional. Yet it is in the 

 interest of the community that he should 

 do better in order that the maximum 

 return may be obtained from the land. 



When the eouutry began to acquire 

 tropical possessions, it was seen, however, 

 that something more than laissez faire 

 was required for their economic develop- 

 ment. It was the Royal Society, at the 

 hands of its president, Sir Joseph Banks, 

 who first took the work in hand. Having 

 the ear of the King, he was able to use 

 Kew, which was then the private pro- 

 perty of the Royal Family, for the pur- 

 pose. The mutiny of the Bounty was an 

 attempt to add to the cultural resources 

 of the West Indies. An indirect result 

 was the foundation of the great Dutch 

 colonial botanical establishment atBuit- 

 enzorg. When it was decided that Kew 

 shtuld be maintained as a national estab- 

 lishment, its colonial utility was appar- 

 ently one of the main reasons for the 

 decision. In a scheme which received 

 the sanction of Parliament the interest 

 of 'commerce' and 'agriculture' were 

 recognized, as well as the supply ' of 

 authentic and official informations on 



