It had consequently been hoped that the completion of a first series of investigations might have coincided with the inauguration of an agricultural school affiliated to the Gordon College. Such an institution should provide a body of trained agriculturists of local extraction to carry forward the work of development, and incidentally free the Sudan from an existing dependence on Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor for this class of skilled labour. It is a cause for regret that while ample facihties exist for professional and technical training in fields of necessarily limited horizon, the potential demands of the agricultural industry have as yet received scant consideration.

The Agricultural Mission.—To teach at first the few and then wait patiently for the seed so scattered to spread from a single centre is, however, a method which will not commend itself to those who appreciate the vital necessity for hastened progress in agricultural development, and other channels of communication must be sought. In addition to officers entrusted with research and residential tuition, we require missionaries with a training at headquarters to develop the agriculture of promising areas through the agency of the landowning " samad," who, despite bis antecedents, has shown himself abundantly capable of benefiting from advice and assistance. An attempt to realise this ambition on a tentative scale is reflected in the present report, and it is hoped that the results obtained may justify a rapid extension of the system.. This class of teacher should not be encumbered with administrative functions, but devote his entire attention to the work of field education, receiving and distributing selected seed from the research farms, possibly controlling the water supply, collecting data, combating insect-pests and plant diseases, arranging for the marketing of crops and sale of livestock, and generally accepting responsibility for the agricultural welfare and development of the area undet his charge.

Such efforts applied even to a block of 5,000 feddans in a selected district, should have far-reaching results of a value out of all proportion to the salary which would be paid for the services rendered. Such functions would appear to appertain fitly to the Government, as no other agency would command a similar degree of confidence.

Decentralisation.—The mission field is broad and its problems far-reaching, for adaptibility to a wide range of climate, topography and soils- must characterise successful agricultural development in the Sudan. Systems must be evolved for more or less clearly defined areas within which the choice of staple crops, methods of cultivation and the part played by Uvestock should have direct reference to the prevailing local conditions. Agricultural experiments will similarly have an application Hmited by natural boundaries, and in the form of field tests should be duphcated at as many points as may be financially possible.