194 



[September, 1900. 



they will find discussed those questions 

 of organisation and policy which have 

 been made the subject of special study 

 by the author ever since his first arrival 

 in Ceylon. 



As regards the policy to be adopted 

 with reference to native agriculture, the 

 author's position is decidedly a progres- 

 sive one. He is all for improvement aud 

 development ; and it would scarcely be 

 becoming for the temporary editor of 

 a journal devoted to this very object 

 to differ from his chief in this respect. 

 The ideal to be aimed at, according to 

 Dr. Willis, is the creation of a class of 

 native capitalist planters who shall grow 

 produce for export just as the European 

 planters now do. 



But, however much we may be inspired 

 by the passion for progress, we must not 

 try to move too quickly. The innertia, 

 the innate conservatism of the Eastern 

 mind is enormous, and in face of such 

 an attitude, which is by no means 

 necessarily a defective one, false steps 

 are particularly dangerous. The agri- 

 cultural expert ought to be particularly 

 sure of his ground before he indulges in 

 any assertions as to the superiority of 

 new methods over old ones, and every 

 new importation of machinery or seed 

 ought to be made the subject of careful 

 and exhaustive tests under the new con- 

 ditions before it is adopted as suitable 

 for introduction amongst the native 

 cultivators. 



With regard to the importation of 

 new machinery another point has to be 

 remembered. The most modern imple- 

 ments were not invented suddenly. 

 They arrived at their present stage of 

 comparative perfection by a gradual 

 process of evolution which went on side 

 by side with a similar evolution in the 

 minds of the men who had to use them. 

 If the native with his stereotyped ideas 

 of agriculture looks askance at what is to 

 him a totally new invention, we have 

 only ourselves to blame for adopting an 

 unnatural method of amelioration. 

 The proper plan is to start with familiar 

 implements and methods, and to in- 

 troduce gradual modifications in the 

 right direction. 



For the small cultivators co-operation 

 is the watchword. By this means alone 

 can the small holder of land expect to 

 continue to exist in a country of capital- 



ists. Co-operation, says Dr. Willis, is 

 excellent in agriculture, aud the reason 

 that the continental agriculturists of 

 Europe are probably more prosperous 

 than their British colleagues is mainly 

 that they have gone in largely for co- 

 operation. Co-operative credit, co- 

 operative seed supply, co-operative dis- 

 tirbution of produce must all be under- 

 taken if the small proprietor is to retain 

 his position and avoid the necessity for 

 earning the wages of capitalists. Not 

 that capitalist agriculture is to be 

 deprecated in the tropics. It is chiefly 

 by the example of his more progressive 

 and wealthy neighbour that the tropical 

 native may hope to advance his own 

 methods of cultivation. All progress 

 requires capital. 



And this policy ol progress has been 

 tacitly adopted by all those tropical 

 governments which have embarked upon 

 a career of road making and railway 

 construction, since railways at least are 

 meaningless except in relation to an 

 export trade. 



Throughout the book the example of 

 Ceylon is continually upheld and made 

 a basis for comparison, but this will 

 not be regarded as a defect by readers 

 of the Tropical Agirclutut ist. Ceylon, 

 we are told, has generally led the way 

 in the various European planting enter- 

 prises, first with coffee, then with 

 cinchona, cacao, tea, cardamoms and 

 rubber ; although the cultivation of 

 sugar— probably the oldest of all such 

 enterprises — has never been made a 

 success here. Certainly few tropical 

 countries can compete with Ceylon in 

 the variety and interest of its agricul- 

 tural productions. 



A number of valuable suggestions are 

 also given as regards the policy to be 

 adopted in opening up a comparatively 

 new country for agricultural purposes. 

 Many of these are drawn from the com- 

 prehensive report written in 1904 by 

 Dr. Willis for the Government of the 

 Federated Malay States, Thus the 

 question of road reservations is fully 

 discussed. In a swampy country a 

 similar system of drainage reservations 

 will also be required. In opening out 

 such a country the author recommends 

 the development of native and estate 

 agriculture side by side. The large agri- 

 culturist serves as an example to the 

 small one, and in his turn can draw 

 upon the villages for additional labour at 

 times when that commodity is scarce. 



The book is published by the Cam- 

 bridge University Press, and nothing 

 more need be said with regard to its 

 appearance and general production. 



R» H. L. 



