Journal Crashes

Time Barrier

A couple of years ago “PIM” pub - Ushed a piece about the Papua and New Guinea “Agricultural Journal” which was then running about a year behind its date-line. Things have moved on since then, and the “ Journal” is now nudging two years behind schedule. We have (Sep tember, 1958) just received the issue for October, 1956.

IF they don’t watch it, the whole thing is likely to turn itself into one of those fantasies of the Space Age where some future issue will meet itself before it happened, on the other side of the Time Barrier. . This has happened, to a degree, in the “current” issue. Although datelined October, 1956, one of the articles refers to investigations made in May, 1957.

The Red-tape mind seems to have got stuck with the fact that, in the front of the Journal, there is an announcement that the annual sub scription is 6/-, for four issues.

It is a pity that some official

cannot be persuaded to take the bold course, drop 1957 and 1958 from the calendar, and let us have the next one—which will turn up a year hence —datelined 1959. Or would this be too much of a shock to subscribers who have become used to this leisurely approach to scientific agriculture?

October, 1956, Vol 11, No. 2, con tains three articles. A very long one about Population-Land Investi gation in the Chimbu Sub-District; a very short one on how to remove coffee mucilage by means of caustic soda {PIM had an article about this in 1955); and a medium-length article about the insects that live in cycas plants in New Guinea. (A cycas is a fern-like plant that grows in the tropics.)