480 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



METHODS OF CAUSING EARLY 

 FRUITI NG IN M ANGOS. 



On page 228 of the last volume (No. VIII) of 

 the Agricultural News, a reference is made to 

 a way in which mango plants may be caused to 

 bear much earlier than is the case normally, in 

 order that the quality of the fruit that they will 

 yield may be determined. It is stated there that 

 Mr Joseph Jones, the Curator of the Botanic 

 Station, Dominica, had called attention to the 

 fact that the shock caused to the plants by 

 grafting and heading back would in some cases 

 induce the stock to bear fruit when only twenty 

 months old. Others have found that, similarly, 

 twisting the top of the stems of mango seed- 

 lings, slightly damaging them, or binding them, 

 will cause early fruiting, and give an oppor- 

 tunity for determining the value of their 

 produce. — Agricultural Neivs, April 16. 



"AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS IN 

 THE TROPICS." 



In the October issue of Science Progress Dr. J 

 C. Willis, of Peradeniya, contributes the second 

 part of an article entitled "Agricultural Pro- 

 gress in the Tropics." Dealing first with land, 

 he points out the necessity of its being held 

 under a well-defined system, of drainage and 

 irrigation being attended to, and of suitable 

 crops being cultivated, Speaking of capital he 

 says that the subject is, in general, the most 

 important that requires attention at the present 

 time. In the majoiity of tropical countries, 

 he adds, progress is held back more by lack of 

 money than by any other cause. The most 

 successful method of getting the peasantry out 

 of the hands of the money-lender, the first 

 thing necessary for agricultural progress, is the 

 institution of co-operative credit societies, a 

 few of which are in operation in Ceylon. Pro- 

 vision of markets is another very important 

 aspect of the subject of capital ; for if there be 

 no market, the peasant cannot dispose of his 

 produce. The market open to the peasant is 

 in general afforded either by the travelling 

 middleman or by the existence of a local 

 market. Co-operative sale is probably the best 

 way of disposing of produce, but another 

 market, for produce which is exportable, may 

 be provided through the medium of capitalist 

 estates growing the same thing. The tropical 

 peasantry being in general simple and ignorant 

 must be protected from the rapacity of the 

 markets. To expose ihe peasant to the ex- 

 actions of the money-lender, and the chances 

 of a fluctuating market, as is so commonly 

 the case at present, is to prevent him from 

 making progress. The almost total lack of 

 capital is the greatest existing stumbling- 

 block to the advancement of tropical agri- 

 culture. For transport the continual for- 

 mation of roads is necessary. With regard to 

 labour every effort should be made to get the 

 foreign labourers to settle down in the country. 

 So long as a country has to depend for its agri- 

 cultural prosperity upon imported labour, and 

 upon foreign capitalists, so long is it in an in- 

 secure position and the profits made in agri- 

 culture will be largely taken out of the country 

 by the planters and the coolies. In connection 

 with education the school garden is proving to 



be one of the most successful means for the 

 purpose of getting in touch with the natives of 

 tropical countries. 



After dealing with the above, which he de- 

 scribes as the preliminary factors of progress in 

 agriculture, Dr. Willis goes on to consider the 

 application of science to agriculture. The study 

 of fungi has yielded valuable results, so has that 

 of vegetable physiology, of systematic botany, 

 and of plant breeding. The success of raycologi- 

 cal investigation and, of course, of the parallel 

 investigations of hurtful insects and modes of 

 dealing with them, has led to the enactment of 

 laws for the compulsory treatment of disease. 

 Another direction in which work of this kind is 

 being carried out is in the compulsory fumi- 

 gation at the port of entry of plants or fruits 

 likely to be carrying dangerous insects or other 

 complaints capable of treatment by fumigation. 

 Yet another is the prevention of entry of plants 

 coming from countries in which they are subject 

 to dangerous diseases. Vegetable physiology 

 is becoming a fruitful line of study and the 

 study of plant breeding upon the newest lines is 

 likely to become of the very greatest importance 

 in the tropics. Disease-proof coffees, long 

 stapled cottons suitable to the country, rub- 

 ber trees with larger yields, and innumerable 

 other things are among the possibilities of the 

 future. It is in the direction of the carrying 

 out of experiments aiming at improvements in 

 the existing crops, methods, tools and cattle, 

 however, that the most important advances have 

 been made in recent years. To improve the 

 cattle of a country is a more complex affair than 

 might at first sight appear, for unless the food 

 supply is improved at the same time the new 

 cattle cannot be kept in good condition, and un- 

 less the tools they are to use are also improved 

 the increased size and power of the cattle will 

 be valueless. All must go together and it is 

 obvious that the improvement of the crops, that 

 is of the food supply, must lead the way. Chem- 

 istry, lastly, is a subject the writer dwells ou, as 

 daily becoming of greater importance in connec- 

 tion with improvement in agriculture. All ex- 

 periments in manuring require the aid of the 

 chemist, and his help is also needed to decide 

 the class of soil for a given product. 



In summing up, Dr. Willis says that the im- 

 provement of agriculture in the tropics, if it is 

 to touch more than the capitalist planter, must 

 begin with political measures, attention to land, 

 capital, labour, transport, and education, before 

 the scientific factors of the amelioration of the 

 crops, etc., can come in at all. The matter is 

 one of the very greatest importance at the pre- 

 sent time, when scientific departments fordealing 

 with tropical agriculture are being formed 

 all over the world, often it may be without 

 a proper realisation of the fact that except in 

 countries like Ceylon, Java and India, where 

 there are large numbers of people properly sup- 

 plied with capital, and where land, labour, trans- 

 port and education have been and are being 

 attended to, they can do but little if any good. 

 It is not intended to imply that they are use- 

 less, but unless the Government pays attention 

 to the preliminary factors which we have indi- 

 cated, while the agricultural department works at 

 the later ones, there will not be much progress. 



