Although much of the more intricate work carried out by the National Agricultural Research Bureau. would only be of interest to scientists, botanists, ete, the department is one of such' outstanding merit, that a sunimary of its aims. and activities will, we hope, interest many people hitherto unaware of the enormous advances China is making in the field of agriculture.
The need for a means of helping the agricultural industry of China was recognized by Dr. H. H. Kung, when hho was Minister of Industries in 1931, and he appointed a preparation com. mittee to study the requirements of the country, and to lay the foundation stone (metaphorically speaking) of the Bureau which has since come into being. The land chosen for. the buildings and grounds, lies outside the city walls in the vicinity of the Stadium and is a tract covering about 23800 mow.
'The main building which is of red brick' and semi Chinese outside, is, inside, of the most up to date style, and extremely well designed, com: Dining the practical advantages of modern architecture, straight wide corridors, polished' granite floors, Washable walls (of a very attractive shade of green) without losing sense of form and line, so often lack-Ing in the heavy cubes and shape the new designs.
In addition to the offices, laboratories, Conference room, ete. there Is 1 large hall seating 200 people where the lectures during the winter trame Ing course are given. The library contains a variety of about 200 per low leals, English, German French and Japanese publications; some of these the complete sets dating back in some eases to 1900 and are the only copies to be found in China, the obtaining of which entailed what heavy expenditure.
Compiling Statistics The statistical department is doing fan almost phenomenal amount of work. with Its publications and reports. There now more than 6,000, voluntary workers in 22 different provinces of China, who send in monthly reports of crop conditions in their districts, In accordance with definite instruc tions sent out by headquarters, Theie reward Is the monthly publication which Is compiled from these records and the resultant help and informa. tion they receive thereby. I think there are few, if any, other Ministries China able to boast of so much Jove of the work, the most striking feature of the Bureau altogether, the whole hearted enthusiasm of all the workers with whom I came in contact, and above all their ce-operation, each department working with and for the others, with apparently none of the petty Jealousies too often in the Tunning of big concerns, And not only do they" ce-operate at headquarters, but they have already established co.operating stations throughout the country, These stations all work under orders from the main office and the results are, therefore, of much value, showing as they do how the different crops react to the same treatment in divergent areas, Passing mention might here be made of the work carried out by those in charge of Memorial Park and Gardens, for though a perfectly separate organiza tion here again the two departments ce-operate and when as is the case latter are suffering, (Gust now it is a plague in the fir trees) the agricultural department tend thole assistance with experiments both for cause and cure, But the Memorial Park is as the fiction writer would ay another story and not to be in cluded here.
Helping the Farmers would be impossible to give anything like a comprehensive ace count of the work of the different @epartments without writing a small volume, but a few examples of som of the experiments that came under my own observation will suffice. In the forestry department a great part of the work comprised the germination and testing of seeds. One of the chief interests of this department at the moment, is the improvement of the candle-berry tree. Specimens have been collected from all parts of China, those from Chekiang Prov ince proving to be the best, and those around Nanking the poorest. Experiments are, therefore, being carried out for improvement by cross-Ing the present varieties, and when avreally good stock has been pro-agated, the seeds and seedlings will be ready for distribution amongst the farmers.
Another minor experiment just started was with. the seeds of the White Poplar tree. The average poplar is propagated with the utmost ease by cuttings, but the white variety, for some reason very seldom roots by this method. The trial seeds were scattered on a piece of damp cotton Wool and in nearly every case ger mination was just starting, but it Will be some time yet before it can be Positively proved that propagation from seed is both economical and feasible. One very elementary lesson, learned, probably already' known: to every child, and to any one who has resided in' China for any length time, namely, that the size of a bamboo depends entirely" on its variety, and is in no way connected with age. The specimen bamboos, ranged from the stoutest and strongest, to th omerest sticks. I, in "riy. ignorance had visualized the thin ones Swelling visibly year by year until they reached the status of the stout ones; but it appears a fat bamboo is born fat and remains fat, and equally a thin one remains thin and no amount of patient waiting will make
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.