t36 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 1, 19Q9. 
■ ; < EUOAR PLANTATIONS. 
The sugar industry in the Malay States, like that of 
the adjacent countries, is an old one. The cane thrives, 
very well, and in the Malay Penmsii'a is priucipally 
grown in the Kvin District, aujoiui' g Lowo-r Perak, on 
the coast moot of ihe plantationK bf-incr owned by Euro- 
pf>an Companies, but the C3,ne is now being introduced 
inland and a lari^f tract of land is being opened up 
tho Perak River, clooe to Taluk-anson, by Mr. Turner 
from Province Wellesley. Tamil coolies are felling the 
jungle, and it is expected to start planting the canes 
shortly. Almost all the existing plantations have 
tlieir sugar mills; while it iniahl be mentioned that 
all the labour employed on the plantations is secured 
from South India, 
CLIMATE AND RAINFALL. 
While on the subjeco nf pb.ntin? it will not ho out 
of place to say a few worda about the climate and 
rainfall. The climate ia described as pleasant and 
healthy, and there is plenty of rain. In fact it might 
be said to be raining dnriug the whole year with the 
exception of two months which are hot and dry. The 
rainfall is pretty evenly distributed through the 
whole year, and the country well watered. There is 
said to be very little malaria in the country. 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN 
GREATER BRITAIN. 
paper read before the foreign and 
colonial section of the society of arts, on 
tuesday, february 27, 1900. 
By R. Hedger Wallacs. 
There can be little doubt that the interest taken 
in agricultural education generally is extremely 
widespread. The subject I find is not discussed by 
a few authorities alone, but seems to appeal to 
and attract the attention of the general public also. 
The title of my paper, I trust, indicates clearly the 
section or branch of the subject I intend to deal 
with, and I would ask that it be clearly understood 
that I do not approach it as an authority, agri- 
cultnral or educational. My paper can be best described 
I think, aa a compilation, in which an attempt is 
made to condense, in a form suitable for the general 
public, a large amount of data obtained from various 
' aources. It is an attempt to answer such a common 
inquiry as. What are they doing in regard to affri- 
cuUnrul education in this or that colony ? I have 
no intention, therefore, of criticising either the work 
done or methods employed in the Colonies ; and may 
only venture into the domain of criticism when 
discussing the point whether a suitable training for 
colonial life can be obtained in this country, or whether 
it is desirable to take advantage of the educational 
facilities in agriculture offered in the Colonies. Here 
of course all citizens looking forward to the settle- 
ment in life, either of themselves or of menbers of 
their families, meet on common ground. 
The subject of •' Agricultural Education " generally 
has within recent years been twice (as far as I am 
aware) brought before the Society of Arts. First by 
Mr. J. 0. Morton in 1887, and next by Professor 
"Wrightson in 1888. In Mr. Morton's paper no re- 
-ference is made to the Colonies at all, while Pro- 
fessor Wrightson only makes a passing allusion to 
Gab3.da in his. Again at the International Congress 
on Technical Education held in London in 1897, at 
the invitation of the Society of Arts, there is no 
detailed reference, as far as I can find to the work 
done in the Colonies either in the papers read on 
" Agricultural Education " or in the resulting dis- 
cussion. Some information however, can be gathered 
from the papers on technical education. In the 
period under discussion, I may add, there have been 
quite a number of papers read and published on 
" Foreign Agricaltura'l Education " but their survey 
has been limited to the work done on the Continent 
of Europe or in the United States, and the Colonies 
have been left untouched. Yet there is one paper 
to which I must direct particular attention, namely, 
the paper by Mr. Henry P. Moore on " Aprionltural 
• a(l leohnical Education in the Coloniea " reed before 
the Royal Colonial Institute in January, 1891, Thi€ 
exceedingly interesting and valuable paper, in its refer* 
ences to work accomplished in the matter of agri- 
agricultural education in Greater Britain, covers the 
same ground that I do in this paper. In fact I shall 
attempt a similar survey, but I do it after an interval 
of ten years, and if a comparison bo made, my paper 
will indicate, I hope, the progress accomplished iu 
the Colonies and dependencies surveyed. 
I have already stated that the general public are 
interested in learning what is being done in the 
Colonics in r.-gard to agricultural education, and they 
are also keenly interrtsted in discussions as to whether 
a suitable training for colonial life can be obtained 
at home or not. That such questions are really of 
general interest, and one not limited or restricted to 
the area in which dry-as-dust authorities and fad- 
dists profound and demolish the dogmatic assertions 
of each other, can be readily illustrated by refer- 
ences to our general liierature as represented by our 
ordinary monthly magazines and reviews. I would 
in this connection refer to such articles as that 
entitled "Colonial Training for Gentlemen's Sous" 
in Chambers ' Journal for 1885, to Mr. Mgntefiore'a 
" Education for the Colonies" in Macmillans' Magazine 
for 1892, to the article by Frances Macnab om " The 
Production of Liearned Pigs amongst tho Poor " in 
Temple Bar for 1896, and to Mr. George J, Holyoake's 
article on "Emigrant Education" in the Ninttttth 
Century for 1898. The articles I have just named, 
and many similar ones that could be quoted, support 
I think, the view that my paper should be addressed 
to, aud primarily intended for, the ordinary man, 
rather than for the expert. At any rate such is the 
position I have adopted, and I hope' these prefatory 
remarki will sufficiently explain. 
When one surveys the agriculture of Greater Britain 
it is at once apparent that it can b ' grouped under 
two heads, t. e., farming, farms, and farmers : and 
planting, plantations, and planters. That there is a 
difference between these two groups will be at once 
recognised ; but to define when or how the distinction is 
mide or can be drawn is by no means an easy matter. 
Generally speaking, however, it may be assumed that 
a plantation is a large estate devoted to the rearing 
of tropical or semitropical crops — such as sugar-cane, 
tea, cofiee, cotton, aud tobacco — by the labour of an 
inferior or subject race. On the other baud a farm 
can be of any size and is cultivated by the labour of 
the owner, assisted when desired by the labour of 
men of his own race, and the crops grown are those 
of a temperate clime. The distinction between a 
farmer and planter is so marked that it has been 
stated (in The Times I think) that the tendency or tone 
of a body of planters is to be exclusive and aristocratic, 
while on the other hand that of a community of far- 
mers is generally democratic. 
The technical education or training in agriculture of 
a prospective farmer and a planter (we snppose will 
be readily admitted), ought to differ a good de»l, 
seeing that the work, for instance, of a tea planter 
in Assam differs wholly from every point of view 
from that of a farmer in Tasmania. As far as I am 
aware, however, no such dstinction is made in the 
agricultural training obtainable in this country: Some 
such specialised training is, I am aware, obtainable 
at Kew, by gardeners, and a man going out from 
there to some tropical botanic stationfhas already had 
some experience in the propagation of tropical plants 
specially those of economic value. Turning next to 
Greater Britain there also, unfortunately, we find no 
facilities are provided for the agricultural edacatioBor 
technical training of the planter, such facilities as do 
exist in the tropical regions being intended entirely if 
not exclusively for the benefit of the native race. I be- 
lieve, however, that under Dr. Morris's scheme of agri- 
cultural education for the West Indies opportunities 
are to be given to the younger generation of planters 
and sous of planters to study '' the scientific problems 
which underlie the pratical work in which they are 
daily engaged." ^ 
There are many in this country, I think, who tt 
some period iu their life have had to ask tbeuiBelTea 
