THE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



Vol. XXX. 



COLOMBO, 15th JUNE, 1908, 



No. 6. 



Plant Breeding. 



There seems to be little doubt that the 

 future of agriculture, and especially of 

 tropical agriculture, is in the hands of 

 the skilled scientific breeder of plants. 

 We have good reason for saying tropical 

 agriculture especially, because the field 

 is here so much more open than in the 

 case of temperate cultivation, in which, 

 too, a large proportion of the possible 

 improvement has already been effected. 



This breeding of improved strains of 

 useful plants is a form of work which 

 cannot be taken up with any advantage 

 by the individual cultivator. Even the 

 owner of large estates has neither the 

 time nor space for such experiments, 

 supposing that he had the patience to 

 face the probable failure of numerous 

 individual trials. On the other hand, 

 experiments of this kind are among the 

 most important functions of any pro- 

 perly equipped central department of 

 agriculture and horticulture. The 

 Governments of most tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries are now beginning to 

 wake up to this condition of affairs, and 

 in Java, in India, and in Egypt experi- 

 ments in breeding the most important 

 agriciiltural products proper to these 



different countries have already been 

 for some time in progress. 



For once Ceylon has been behind- 

 hand in a matter of agricultural import- 

 ance, though some experiments were 

 carried out in 1903-1, but we hope that, 

 with the arrival of Mr. Lock, who is a 

 specialist in plant breeding, the colony 

 will soon overtake its rivals. Future 

 success in agriculture will lie largely 

 in this line of work. 



The iuterest shown by the inhabitants 

 of Ceylon in the improvement of their 

 own crops is scarcely what it should be. 

 Improvement may be effected by better 

 methods of cultivation, and by intro- 

 ducing better strains of plants from 

 other countries. But the most valu- 

 able of all methods of improvement lies 

 in the breeding of new and improved 

 strains on the spot, starting from the 

 existing strains already long established. 

 This method, however difficult it may be 

 of accomplishment, has the advantage 

 of leading to an improvement which is 

 permanent, whereas in the case of the 

 others the benefit lasts only so long as 

 the means of improvement continue in 

 operation. 



