November, 1910.] 



435 



Miscellaneous*. 



will be a question for the moment as to 

 which is the limiting factor, to borrow 

 an expression from vegetable physiol- 

 ogy, and that factor must be strength- 

 ened. And it is further evident, from a 

 comparison with growth in plants, that 

 it is useless, from an agricultural point 

 of view, laying too much stress upon 

 one factor only — as for instance by 

 laying out too many roads, or by pro- 

 viding too much agricultural education, 

 or what not— without taking care that 

 all the other factors are up to that in 

 working capacity. 



By the operation of these factors, 

 then, the level may be raised to (2), the 

 level above which real agricultural pro- 

 gress, strictly so called, may begin. 

 And here again, as we have indicated in 

 the diagram, though we have not yet 

 spoken about it, a series of new factors 

 will come in — not, be it carefully noted, 

 excluding the old, but in addition to 

 them. If the working of the old factors 

 is removed, the level will go back again 

 to level (1). 



These new factors, it will be noticed, are 

 what we may term the scientific factors ; 

 all of them involve a careful scientific 

 study of the different things concerned, 

 whether crops, methods, cattle, or tools. 

 Now it is with these factors that a trop- 

 ical department of agriculture is mainly 

 concerned, but we cannot too strongly 

 insist upon the fact that this work 

 is all but absolutely useless to the 

 peasant agriculturist until by the oper- 

 ation of the preliminary factors the 

 level of his agriculture is raised from 

 (1) to (2). He cannot take up new or im- 

 proved methods or crops or tools with- 

 out a certain amount of capital ; he 

 cannot get rid of the produce without 

 means of transport ; he must have settled 

 possession of land if he is to take up 

 any serious cultivation. The distauce 

 between the levels (1) and (2) may be a 

 very small one, or it may be so large 

 that it will take many years to traverse, 

 but it must be passed over before the 

 scientific aid to agriculture can come in 

 in any other form than that in which it 

 has been in vogue in the tropics for so 

 many years, the introduction of new 

 products. Of course these statements 

 do not hold with reference to the 

 educated capitalist agriculturists, who 

 are usually in a position to make im- 

 mediate use of any scientific advances 

 that may be brought forward. In this 

 course of lectures, however, we are con- 

 sidering the condition of all the agri- 

 culturists of the tropics, and it is evident 

 that more help will have to be given to 

 the peasant than the capitalist, and that 

 he must be induced to, progress if 



tropical agriculture is not to become 

 even more than at present divided into 

 two types, and it the peasant is not to 

 become merely a hewer of wood and 

 drawer of water. 



We may term the factors A of the 

 diagram the preliminary factors— those 

 necessary to raise the agricultural equili- 

 brium to that level at which other and 

 more strictly scientific factors may come 

 into operation. 



These preliminary factors are (1) land 

 and its availability as determined by 

 climate, drainage, and irrigation, by the 

 possession of suitable crops, and by 

 systems of inheritance and tenure, (2) 

 provision of facilities of transport, (3) 

 capital (using the word in a very wide 

 sense, as will be made clear later), (4) 

 labour, and (5) education, and they have 

 probably come into operation much in 

 the order named, though perhaps (3) was 

 operative before (2). 



Only later in agricultural progress do 

 the mere strictly scientific factors— im- 

 provement of the elementary facts of 

 agriculture, the crops, cattle, methods 

 and tools — come into full operation, 

 although they are not without effect in 

 the early stages. This division of the 

 factors into an A group and a B group is 

 not strictly accurate, but in our present 

 imperfect knowlege of the problem is 

 the best that we can suggest. All the 

 factors A do not come into operation at 

 the same time, but in actual practice at 

 the present day , they are all in operation 

 to a greater or less extent, so that they 

 are best placed in one category. 



(To be continued.) 



LITERATURE OF ECONOMIC 

 BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE. 



By J, C. Willis. 



Sago ;— 



Sagoe en Sagoepalmen. Bull. Kolon. 

 Mus. Haarlem 44, 1909, 



Sal vador a : — 



Hooper, A short account of Salva- 

 dora Fat. Agr. Led. 1908, 1, V. P, 

 Series 106. 



Sandahvood :— 



Sandalwood at low elevations. In- 

 dian Forester, Dec. 1908, p. 715. 



Sanseviet ia : — 



Sansevieria. Agr. News, 12, 0, 1909, 

 " T.A." Apr, 1910 p. 306. 



