THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
703 
EOTAL BOTANIC GAKDENS. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR FOR 1900. 
1.~Changes and Movements in the Staff. 
The Director was absent in India on privilege leave from December 6 to the end of the year, 
during which period Mr. J. B. Carruthers acted as Director. The stafE has been enlarged during the 
year by the appointment of Mr. Carruthers as Assistant Director and Mycologist, and by the retention 
of Mr. M. Kelway Bamber as Chemist, paid by fees for work done for the Department up to a 
guaranteed amount of at least Rs. 3,000 per year. Mr. Carruthers entered upon his duties on March 
30, but was absent on leave from April 16 to May 24, owing to the results of a serious accident. 
Mr. Bamber's duties were begun on July 1. Under the vote for Skilled Assistance the services of 
Mr. H. Wright have been obtained from June 28. In the early part of the year this vote was partly 
expended in the salary of Arunar Chinnappu, who was employed as tobacco curer in the experiments 
in progress. 
On April 11 the late Head Clerk, Mr. J. Ferdinandus, died in Colombo ; he had served 
efficiently from 1894, and his loss was much felt. He was succeeded on June 1 by Mr. R. H. 
Pereira, of the Colonial Secretary's Office, formerly employed in this Department. 
2, — General. 
The past year has been marked by a considerable increase in the sphere of activity of the 
Department, which enters upon the new century with an increased scientific staff and equipment. 
The permanent staff now includes the Director, who also acts as the Botanist ; the Mycologist, who 
attends to all questions of diseases of plants other than those due to insects ; the Entomologist, who 
attends to all questions of economic entomology ; and the Chemist, who attends to questions of 
analysis of soils, economic products, &c. There is also the temporary Assistant, who devotes himself 
to the detailed study of some one particular question. 
The new Lat)oratory was completed and handed over by the Public Works Department in 
February, but there was a considerable delay in the completion of the furniture, and it was not till 
the end of the year that it was really ready for work. The equipment of the Laboratory with apparatus 
will be gradual, but it already contains a good supply of all the ordinary utensils, chemicals, &c., 
required for scientific work. Since its completion the building has been largely used, and has 
proved very convenient and well arranged in most respects. A number of botanists from abroad are 
I now working here, and a noteworthy and gratifying feature is the large number of visitors who have 
been sent officially by various Gove^jiments during the year to study the organization and working 
of the Department. 
The Mycologist and Entomologist have carried out a great deal of work during the year, and 
their departments are becoming gradually organized on the lines which experience shows to be most 
useful. The bulk of their time is of course taken up with researches into the nature and life history 
I of the numerous insects and fungi which are or may become of importance with regard to agriculture, 
[ but they have also travelled through many districts of the Island to investigate diseases and to give 
I advice and assistance in dealing with their attacks. One method employed with some success has 
|i been for one of them to attend a meeting of the local Planters' Association in a given district, and 
[| there to discuss particular diseases and the modes of dealing with them, subsequently visiting 
ii selected estates to give practical instructions and to study the diseases more in detail. Such work is 
! at present considerably handicapped by the extreme reluctance of cultivators to say or do anything 
1 that may seem to confess the presence of disease among their crops, but as time goes on the advan- 
|! tages of taking early advice and action will become more evident, and this source of difficulty and 
| i friction be lessened. Detailed reports of both officers are given as appendices. 
I ; The organization of a department to deal with prevention of disease is a new and a very 
il important, though perhaps a less showy, line of work than that of the introduction of new industries. 
|s , The losses caused by disease are enormous, and to save even 5 per cent, of them is a great gain, 
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