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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES,
VOLUME XVIL
JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1918.
ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
London :§ Messrs. Dutau & Co, Lrp,, 34-36, JMargaret Street, Cavendish Square, W.; Tur Waesr [ypr. ComMirrer,
15, Seething Lane, E.C., Barbados: Tur Apvocate Co., Lrp., Bridgetown.
}
ERRATA IN VOLUME XVII.
for
”
Icohnaspis longirostris vead ‘ Ischnaspis ‘longirostris.
Recources vead ‘* Resources’.
Benicasa cerifera vead ‘Benincasa cerifera’.
Crotolaria juncea vead ‘Crotalaria juncea’.
Vol. XIV, No. 4, read ‘Vol. XVI, No. 4
Vol. XIV, No. 4, zcad ‘Vol. XVI, No. 4’.
Agave Keratto vead ‘Agave Karatto’.
Ipomea sp. read ‘Ipomoea sp’.
Astragalus baeticus read ‘ Astragalus boeticus’,
Australia read ‘ Austria’,
Ee EAE WR eT
ee _P > eas
=a Ses Sas
VARS PRS ‘
x m 4 riup
pee AAR
Vol. XVII. No. 410.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1918. [One penny. —
a a R [Vi S F,
a SOR ey B @ -) a
M
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‘a
THE AGRICULTURAL, NEWS. €
THE TREATMENT :
OF
Tick INFESTED CATTLE
Some Notes on Hand-Spraying
Tick -destroyiag tions may be applied to Cattle in three ways, namely, (1) by hand; (2) by the «se of Spray Pumps;
3) by means of the Boing Tank.
THE DIPPING TANK is the best and cheapest m of applying remedies when large herds are to be treated. The ret
advantage of dipping over Spraying or Hand-dressing fies in the fact that the process is automatic—the cattle dip themselves ,
fous the thorou of the treatment under all conditions is practically assured, not being dependent to any degree on the
care exercised by those in charge of the work. This point is of the utmost importance in countries where only more or less
untrustworthy negro or native labour is available.
In many cases, however, where the number of Cattle em a property is small, it is not economical to construct a dipping
tank; in such cases, if there is a sufficient number of cattle within a radius of a few miles to warrant the construction of a tank,
it would be advisable for the various owners of cattle to co-operate in constructing a tank where all the cattle in the vicinity
may be dipped. In case the joint construction of a tank is impracticable, it will then be necessary to resort to spraying or
hand-dressing.
HAND-DRESSING is practicable only when a few animals are to be treated. Unless very great pains are taken, this method
‘of treatment is not thorough; and, even at the best, some portions of the body where ticks may be located will be missed.
HAND-SPRAYING is adapted for small size herds, but to be effective, it must be done with great care and thoroughness.
The Pump. A good type of Bucket Pump will be found very satisfactory. When more than a few head have to be sprayed,
a pump designed for attachment to a barrel is preferable, as, in a barrel, a larger quantity of dip can be mixed at one time.
The Hose. The pump should be fitted with not less than 12 feet of good quality §-inch high pressure hose,
The Nozzle should be of a type furnishing a cone-shaped spray, of not too wide an angle. A nozzle witha very small
aperture should not be used, as the spray luced is too fine to saturate thoroughly the hair and skin of the animals without
consuming an unnecessary amount of time, The Proprietors of Cooper's Cattle Dip make a special nozzle and handle for the
purpose of Cattle Spraying.
Tethermg the Animal. The animal to be sprayed should be securely tied to one of the posts of a fence, or in a fence
corner, where it cannot circle about to avoid treatment.
_ Nervous animals should have their hind legs tethered above the hocks; a strap is better than a rope for this purpose.
The Spraying Operation. Hold the nozzle some 6 to 12 inches from the animal’s body. Always spray against the lay of the
‘air. Start on one side near the head, and work round to the other, taking care to saturate all parts thoroughly.
Keep a pod going continuously, and see that the spray fluid gets into all recesses, most particularly and thoroughly into
the hollows of the ears, under the tail, and between the udder and the legs. Other parts requiring special care are the head,
dewlap, brisket, inside of elbows, inside of thighs and flanks, and tail.
The hair of the tail brush and around the edges of the ears should be trimmed off to admit the spray fluid more readily.
Care of Pump. After use, cleanse the pump, hose, and nozzle thoroughly with clean water.
Sundry Notes. (1) When preparing the small quantities of wash required for hand-spraying, accuracy in measuring both
dip and water is of special importance. If you usea paraffin tin, remember that it holds only 43th Imperial gallons—not 5
gallons—and thus it takes 6 tins (not 5) to make 25 Imperial gallons.
' (2) A large oil can, with a hole cut in the top for the admission of the pump, has been used in place of an ordinary bucket :
- gach a can has the advantage that animals cannot drink from it, should it, as often happens, be left unguarded at any time
@uring spraying operations.
| (3)_A convenient arrangement for handling the nozzle during spraying is to tie it loosely by its base to the end of a stick
about 3 feet long. By moving the stick rapidly back and forth, the spray may be caused to vibrate; and by various manipalla-
~ thoms of the hose in relation to the stick, the spray may be readily directed in any desired direction.
[The above notes have been compiled from various somrecs, but mainly from U.S.A. Department of dgrienijurs Bulletin 400).
-
if
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
. Shas received the official approval of the following Coantrive: #T. KITTS: S.L.Horstord &Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Br, son & Ce.
Walon of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, ann ENADA: HThomsom, asia cont
ADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd.
Nyasaland, Swazilagd, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, BAHAMAS: WER. Teyanas, Nassaw
_ British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
. BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
* Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone.
United States of America, New South Wales, DANISH WEST INDIBS: A, Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
: MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Framptom
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
4 Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chiccgo. Sydney, Melbourse, Aucklnod, vemos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa
re ——
SN WSs
OU!
Woy 5 SOG -
eis
Sa
Y JURA
Dal ee aiaetiy REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
JANUARY
Pricz ld.
—
12, 1918
Vout. XVII.° No. 410. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PaGE. PaGE.
Agriculture, Application Mango, Cross-Pollination
of Science to ... ... 9 Of ieyecciate ss teas nt“
Agriculture in Barbados 7 | Market Reports sce nde <6 16
Avocado Pear in Califor- Meal, Shortage of ... ... 15
mvt el MOGs oes laaoe Soong AD +. ops
2 7 ae Ministry of Munitions
Boy. DR EN and Agricultural Ma-
Bougainvillaea Seedlings 9
British Honduras, Devel-
opment of a3 ooo) UL
Cacao Trees, Spraying
Experiments on
Copeland, Professor E.B. 8
Corn Cakes, American .. 7
Cotton:—
British Cotton Growing
Association .., 6
Sea Island Cotton Mar.
ket s cect he
Foodstuffs in Malaya Cae;
Gleanings .. ... ... 12
Insect Notes:—
The Production of Light
in Certain Animals 10
Items of Local Interest... 6
Lime Cultivation, Exten-
sion of FG" OO 13
chinery
Notesand Comments ... 8
Plant Diseases: —
The Dissemination of
Parasitic Fungi ... 14
SchoolGardensin Jamaica 5
Sugar Industry :—
Scientific Progress in
the Sugar Industry ... 3
Sugar-cane Experiments
Wn beta)” ee5 een 90)
Sugar Industry in the
Smaller West Indian
Colonies, Outlook for 1
Tomato Breeding in St.
Vincent .. coh, cE
Vegetables, Drying on
a Large Scale... ... 15
Zapupe Hibres Plant) s...) So
Outlook for the Sugar Industry in the
Smaller West Indian Colonies.
3 tt
Se HE high price of sugar, owing to war con-
BS } ditions, has not unnaturally led to a consid-
SP@ erable increase of the acreage put under
sugar-cane in the smaller British West. Indies in the
last two years.
tone {with regard to the
There has also been a more cheerful
future of the sugar-cane
industry in the utterances of those interested. In
view of this condition it may be well to consider the
position of these islands as sugar producers, and the
factors which will tend to the permanent stability of
the industry, or otherwise.
In the first place, it is reasonable to hope that the
sugar-cane will be freed in the future from any handi-
cap in the shape of bounty-fed sugar produced from
beet. But, on the other hand, itis to be remembered
that the sugar-beet industry has attained vast pro-
portions, and is conducted on most highly organized
and scientific lines, so that, even apart from bounties,
it must remain a most powerful factor in fixing the
price of sugar throughout the world. Unless cane
sugar can be profitably put on the market ata cost
no greater than can be done with beet sugar, the
growers of sugar-cane and the manufacturers of cane
sugar will necessarily be in as difficult a position as
they were ten or twenty years ago. It is well to
remember that the world’s beet-sugar crop of 1911-12,
according to Dr. Prinsen Geerligs (The World's Cane
Sugar Industry, p. 39) was estimated at 6,801,000
tons against 8, 648,010 tons of cane sugar.
Another fact has to be steadily faced by those
interested in the sugar-cane industry of the smaller
West Indian islands. The total production of cane
sugar in all of them is absolutely a mere nothing as
compared with the total output of cane sugar in the
world, or even relatively, as compared with the produc-
tion of any large sugar-making country. The total output
of cane sugar in all the West Indian islands, leaving ou
Cuba and Porto Rico, was in 1910 only 282,000 tons, to
which total the smaller British Colonies of Barbados,
the Windward Islands, and the Leeward Islands only
contributed 68,740 tons, which is much less than one
large factory in Porto Rico, the Guanica Central, made
this last crop, not to speak of the large factories in
Cuba. It is therefore certain that these smaller
islands must be able, if their sugar industry is to con-
tinue, to produce it at as low a price as it is produced
in these larger places, the conditions of production, at
to
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. January |12; 1918.
least as regards climate and probably soil, being very
similar to one another.
It would be avery false idea, to assume that
because of their small size and relative unimportance,
these islands could be exempt from economic laws. It
is true that legislation under war conditions has
taken great strides in a socialistic direction, and that,
even after the war, it may not be possible for any man
to produce just what he pleases, and as he pleases.
But it is most improbable that under any circumstances
the price of a product like sugar would be legislatively
fixed higher than necessary, only for the benefit of
the small producer. It is to be hoped that in the
future it will be impossible for any commercial
‘trust’ or ‘ring’ to squeeze out small producers by any
fictitious lowering of prices with a view of a forced rise
to follow at the ultimate cost of the consumer.
Although therefore it may happen that the minimum
prices of necessary commodities may be fixed by
‘Government Departments when peace conditions once
more obtain, as they have been fixed to meet war
heeds, yet it appears certain that any such regulations
will be made with a view to the benefit of the
greatest number, i.e. the consumers, and that any
commodity will have to be produced at the lowest
cost possible. In any such legislation it would be
almost certain that the wage earners will receive
great attention, and that minimum wages will be
fixed, if minimum prices are.
Now, in view of these considerations, is it possi-
ble that the sugar-cane industry of these islands can
-eontinne, and éxpand, as it certainly might do, within
reasonable limits’
One of the chief reasons of the rapid decline of the
sugar-cane industry in the trying times of the latter
part ofthe last century was, as regards most of the
islands, the low rate of wages. ‘This was not altogether
the fault of employers. Those who kept on growing
and making sugar were doing so more often than not
at aloss, and with the probability of final ruin facing
them. They could not pay better wages because they
had not the means of doing so. On the other hand, the
West Indian labourer, though accepting the situation
more or less calmly, very naturally gave only a little
work for his little wage. And further, the industrious
ones emigrated in numbers to places hke the Panama
Zone, Santo Domingo, and even to the United States
and Canada, where although the work was harder, and
the cost of living higher, the wages to be earned were
also much more, The result was that in most of the
islands the labour supply deteriorated both in quality
and quantity.
In considering the question of the future cost
of sugar production, attention will have to be paid
to the wages side. The end to be striven for
is a fair days work to command a fair day's
wage, which will enable all employés in field or
factory to live healthily and contentedly. What the
rate of wage should be can only be settled by careful
consideration and co-operation. We feel convinced
that one great solution of the labour question will be
the increase of individual man-power by a scale of
wages which will be an incentive to individual industry,
But the question still remains how the plan-
ters, in face of the certain return to normal prices for
sugar, are to increase their wage bill. This it seems
can only be done by-inereased production, and by
lowering the cost of production in other directions.
To begin with the production of the raw material: the
tonnage of canes per acre can be increased, and ought
to be increased. Where plant canes are concerned, any
thing less than 30 tons an acre should be considered
too low. Planters will have to strive continually for
better results, and not to remain passive, with the
notion that what was good enough ten years ago is
good enough still. It is a good omen that there are
signs of a progressive attitude of mind, and a readiness
to try new methods manifest among the planters. This
appears to have been a good result of hard times. It
is to be hoped that the sunshine of present prosperity
will not cause any diminution of alertness of mind and
effort.
The process of manufacturing the cane juice into
sugar has of late years been brought to a high state
of efficiency in some cases in these smaller islands, as
the report on the Antigua and St. Kitts Factories, in
No. 405 of this Journal, shows. It may pay perhaps
in the future completely to refine the sugar at its
place of origin as a further step in progress. In this
direction, however, if may be well to point out that
there may be a possibility of making better use of
what be termed by-products. Should alcohol
largely take the place of petrol for use in motor
engines, which seems at least very possible,
the manufacture of this for commercial pur-
poses from the molasses, might well form a remun-
erative adjunct to every sugar factory. Again, it may
be possible in the future that it will be remunerative
to recover the wax on cane stems, or the salts from
megass, or to utilize the latter for paper making. So
that even the sugar manufacturer has no reason to
cease from ettorts alter progress,
may
Vou. XVII. No. 410.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 3
Lastly, if the sugar industry in these small islands
is to remain on a firm basis, there must be greater
co-operation among all concerned. The planter and the
labourer must co-operate in getting as much out of
the ground as possible, and in fair sharing of profits;
the manufacturer must co-operate with the planter by
getting all that is possible out of the cane, and in
equitable sharing of the profit accruing therefrom. The
day will soon be past when it will be any longer
allowed for any man, or body of men, selfishly to amass
great wealth at the expense of others. But the day is
not past for those interested in the sugar-cane industry
in the West Indies to make a decent living, with
moderate profits, by putting into their business,
energy, science, and fairness.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
SUGAR-CANE EXPERIMENTS IN
TRINIDAD, 1915-16.
In the Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture,
Trinidad and Tobago, Vol. XVI, Part 3, 1917, which has
recently been received at the Head Office of this Department,
there is a report on sugar-cane experiments, 1915-17, by
Mr Joseph de Verteuil, F.C.S., Saperintendent of Field
Experiments. A summary of this will be of interest to cane
planters in other islands.
The experiments were conducted at the Government
estate, St. Augustine, and the canes experimented with
consisted of plant canes, and first and second ratoons. The
plant canes received pen manure at the rate of about 15 tons
per acre. No manures were applied to the ratoons, and all
the canes received ordinary estate cultivation.
The weather conditions during the season are reported
as having been favourable, and a high tonnage of cane
per acre was obtained. The quality of the juice was also
above the average.
Apparently the standard cane is still the Bourbon.
‘It would be very interesting to know if the name is
authentic, in the sense that the cane so called in Trinidad
is the same as the old Bourbon of the smaller islands.
This standard cane gave a calculated yield in plant
canes of 37°84 tons per acre, and 3°25 tons of sucrose in
juice. Of the thirty-three other varieties experimented with,
twenty-five have done better than the Bourbon, some of
them giving very high returns. The highest results were
obtained from B.156, with a calculated yield of 52°27 tons
of canes, and 5:06 tons of sucrose in juice per acre. The
next ten varieties on the list also show remarkably good
returns, none being below 40 tons of canes or 4 tons of
sucrose per acre.
The first tests were made in Warch 1917, when the cines
were from seventeen to eixhtcen months old. Mr. de Verteuil
considers that the quality of the juice in these tests was com-
paratively poor, as the canes had not reached maturity. This
‘was borne out by the fact that the quality of the juice
was much improved in a second test made in April, thus
leading him to consider that under normal conditions plant
canes do not appear to be fully ripe at St. Angustine before
April.”
With regard to first ratoons, the first tests were made
with ratoons reaped only eleven months after the harvesting of
the plant canes of the same plois The returns trom these were
also excellent in most cases. Here, however, the t-urbon
came out last on the list, with a calculated yield of 10°73
tons of cane, and 1:07 tons of sucrose in jnice per acre,
B.156 took the sixteenth place with 20:40 tons of cane and
2°12 tons of sucrose in juice per acre. The first plac» was
held by D.504, with 28°08 tons of cane, and 3:18 ‘ons of
sucrose per acre. Of the leading twenty none tell below
a calculated yield of 18 tons of cane or 2 tons of <nerose per
acre. A second test made with ratoons when they hid been
twelve months growing, showed that hardly auy of the varie-
ties reaped at eleven months were really mature
The four varieties of Hawaiian canes under experiment were
reaped as second ratoons this season, with the rather curious
result that, with one exception, they gave better yields per
acre in sucrose content as second ratoons of thirteen months.
growth, than they had given as plant canes seventeen months
old. Some newer varieties from Barbados, and some from
Louisiana and Mauritius are also under trial at St. Augustine.
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN THE SUGAR
INDUSTRY.
The report of the standing committee of the Louisiana
Sugar Planters’ Association, on this subject, made to the
Association on October 11,1917, is given in full in the
Louisiana Planter of October 20.
We reproduce below some paragraphs of this report,
which show that the Louisiana cane-sugar manufacturers are
turning their attention seriously to the utilization of the
by-products of the sugar-cane industry, which are referred
to in the editorial of the present number of this Journal:—
‘The high price of alcohol has made the use of mo!asses
for fermentation purposes quite profitable. This in turn,
has reacted upon the price of molasses to such an extent as
to interfere seriously with its use in preparing cattle feeds.
The high price of potash salts has also resulted in s verat
experimental plants for its recovery from vinesse or distil-
lery slop. From a commercial standpoint potash recovery
from cane molasses has probably not passed the experimen-
tal state. On the other hand, the alcohol plants have been
continually enlarged. The growing importance of industrial
alcohol serves again to emphasize the enormous amount of
red tape attached to its manufacture. When tax-free
alcohol for industrial purposes was first proposed, the idea
was that there should bea number of small plants large
enough to supply the demands of a small community or
perhaps a single corporation. Inspectors and red tape have
made this impossible, but the fermentation of various
by-products of the cane industry is too important to permit
the present condition of affairs to goon unchallenged. It
has recently been suggested that molasses be not fermented
into alcohol, but into acetic acid, to be uselin the manu-
facture of calcium acetate which in tura would yield acetone.
This proposition is practical, as there is no government
control of the process. If the commercial problems could
be satisfactorily solved it would be particularly applicable
to sour juices and the like. The idea would seem to be
worth investigation.
‘The use of bagasse and molasses in connexion with the
inaking of mixed feeds for cattle is of considerable economic
importance. A company is now under‘aking to place this
process on a commercial basis. Several new propositions
for the making of paper from bagasse have been organized in
the past year, and these will operate either with baga-se. or
with bagasse and wood pulp mixed. They are expected o
start active opera'ion during the coming season.’
4 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SPRAYING EXPERIMENT ON CACAO
TREES.
A paper by Mr. J. B. Rorer, Mycologist of the Board of
Agriculture, Trinidad, published in the Bulletin of the
Department of Agriculture. Trinidad and Tobago, Vol. XVI,
Part 3, 1917, describes a spraying experiment made by him
in 1916, for the purpose of testing the value of a combination
of Bordeaux mixture and nicotine sulphate as a control
measure against both the fungus disease, Phytophthora or
black rot of pods, and the insect pest, thrips.
For the experiment, a field on an estate at Sangre
Grande, which in previous years had been very badly attacked
by thrips, was selected. The field contained 1,200 trees,
and was dividid into three plots of 400 trees each. One
plot was sprayed, while the remaining two plots were left
unsprayed. The whole field was very even in general
appearance, and had always received the same treatment
throughout in regard to pruning, draining, forking, etc.
The trees were sprayed three times—August 23, Sep-
tember 14, and October 19. At each spraying 400 gallons
of mixture were used, made on the following formula: 5 b.
blue-stone and 5b. lime to every 50 gallons (American) of
water, to which was added 5} oz. of ‘Black Leaf 40’. The
mixture was made in the usual way in 50-gallon barrels,
and the spraying was done with a spray motor pump No. 2,
mounted on a barrel, with two 50-foot leads of hose, and
10-foot bamboo rods. Friend angle nozzles were used. On
each occasion six men were employed.
On August 23 the trees were quite well covered with
young pods (chirellos), and adult thrips were fairly numerous
on the young leaves, especially those on suckers (chupons),
and were evidently laying their eggs in the leaf tissue.
The second spraying on September 14 was made chiefly
for the purpose of giving the young fruits additional pro-
tection from black rot, and to kill any thrips which had
hatched out since the first spraying. Between this spraying
and the third spraying the trees had made a considerable
amount of new growth, and some of the young leaves,
especially along the borders of the sprayed plot, were
being used by adult thrips for egg-laying, so that the third
spraying was made for the purpose of killing these thrips,
and alsoto give the fruit additional protection.
The first picking was made on November 22, and there-
after pickings were made at intervals, varying from three
to six weeks, until June 11, after which time there was
practically no fruit left on the trees.
Last year both thrips and black rot did a great amount
of damage thronghout the Sangre Grande district, and
a marked difference could be seen between the sprayed and
unsprayed trees as early as the middle of November, and
from that time on the difference became more and more
marked until the end of the crop. The unsprayed trees of
the experiment, as well as unsprayed-trees on adjacent fields
and estates, were very badly attacked by thrips, and were
almost defoliated towards the end of the year, which naturally
resulted in a distinct loss of crop. On the other hand, the
sprayed trees remained in full foliage during the whole time
that they were under observation, and produced a very good
crop of cacao.
The tabulated results of the pickings from the sprayed
and from one of the unsprayed plots of an equal number of
trees show that it is advantageous to spray cacao in districts
where the phytophthora rot is prevalent, and where the
trees are subject to repeated attacks by thrips, for without
any additional manuring, drainage, or other cultivation, the
400 sprayed trees yielded 4,371 more pods, and 4,765 more
JaNuaRY 12, 1918.
sound pods than the control trees, and the crop was extended
to the middle of June. The total number of pods picked
from the sprayed plot was 10,921, of which 9,933 were
sound, while from the unsprayed the total was 6,550 pods
picked, 5,168 of which were sound. Only 9 per cent. of the
fruit from the sprayed trees was affected with black rot,
while 21 per cent. of that from the control was so affected.
The total amount of dried cacao from the sprayed
plots was estimated as 1,082 tb. dried cacao from the 400
sprayed trees, while the 400 unsprayed trees gave 72 hb.
The cost of spraying was as follows:—
120 Ib. bluestone at 8c. $9°60
120 bb.‘lime “72
1 gallon ‘Black Leaf 40’ 10 00
Labour, six men for four days at 40c. 9:60
Total $2992
When spraying is done on a large scale the cost of the
labour would be relatively less, because six men can spray
from 500 to 600 trees per day.
The above figures show that the spraying, even three
times, of trees which are well cultivated, pays well; in fact
every spraying more than pays for itself, even if the trees
are only sprayed once. Each spraying helps to reduce the
amount of black cacao and to kill thrips
The above account will doubtless be of interest to cacao
growers in other parts of the West Indies, probably especially
so in Grenada, where thrips has been causing a definite
amount of anxiety.
TOMATO BREEDING IN ST. VINCENT.
The following notes have been sent us for publi-
cation, by Mr. 8. C. Harland, B.Se., Assistant Agricul-
tural Superintendent, St. Vincent. They will be read
with interest by many tomato growers in the West
Indies, some of whom will probably be glad to obtain
cuttings of Mr. Harland’s F.1 generation of hybrids,
with its desirable character of bearing all through the
ear:—
t In the fifth Report of the Board of Commissioners ef
Agriculture of Porto Rico (issued 1917) there is a preliminary
account of hybridization experiments with tomatoes. It is
there suggested that it might be possible to combine, by
cross-pollination, the disease-resisting qualities of the native
varieties with the superior qualities of the introduced kinds.
Some work of this kind has already been carried out in
St. Vincent, and it is therefore desirable that some account
of the experiments should be given.
The St. Vincent native tomato is characterized chiefly
by the following features: it is perennial in nature, and grows
so vigorously that a plant may produce branches several feet
long; the fruits are small—about 14 inches in diameter—
regularly shaped and smooth, containing a large number
of seeds, and so acid to the taste that they are useful only
for putting in soups, etc.; the variety is quite unaffected by
the disease ‘Blossom-end-rot’, although it seems to be occa-
sionally attacked by the bacterial disease due to Bacterium
solanacearum; growth and fruiting apparently take place
throughout the year, It has been considered that the
St. Vincent native tomato is merely a degenerate strain
of some introduced kind, but the writer cannot agree with
this theory. The type behaves as a pure strain, and is quite
constant in all the characters which have been studied.
Crosses were made between the St. Vincent native &nd
the variety Ponderosa. ‘The latter is a great favourite
with West Indian growers, and is dfstinguished from
Vou. XVII. No. 410.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 5
ns
the native type by being much less vigorous in growth,
by susceptibility to ‘Blossomend-rot’, and by the large,
meaty, well flavoured but usually poorly shaped, ribbed
fruits. Ponderesa does not as a rule give a good crop
unless planted in late autumn, What is wanted is a tomato
which will fruit continuously throughout the year, and bear
fruits of a better quality than those of the native
The F.1 generation. The plants of the first hybrid
generation were quite uniform. Planted in March 1917
they made vigorous growth, and produced a large crop. In
size the fruits were intermediate between the parents; in
shape they took after the uative parent, being free from
ridges; in quality the fruits could best be described as
intermediate. The flavour was not so delicate as that of
Ponderosa, nor was the flesh so meaty. The fruits were,
however, quite suitable for table use. As the plants grew
older, it was apparent that the continuous fruiting habit ot
the native was behaving as a dominant, and from May 1917
to the present time abundant fruits have been produced.
It has to be recorded, however, thit the fruits of the F.1
generation were subject to ‘Blossom-end-rot’, though not to
any great extent.
‘As tomatoes are very easily produced from cuttings, it
will be an easy matter to keep the F.1 generation running
for as long a period as may be desired.
The F.2 generation, About 300 plants were grown in
the second generation The cross was not being made the
subject of a genetic study, owing to lack of time, but the
following are the chief points noticed: —
(a) In habit the plants ranged from that of Ponderosa
to that of native, apparently with no clear line of demarca-
tion.
(b) Every plant was different in the general fruit char-
acters. There was an enormous range of sizes and shapes;
both the original parent shapes were reproduced, together
with many intermediates. There was a great variety of
flavours, and several new and attractive ones were recorded.
A most important point is that no fruits as large as those of
Ponderosa were found, and none quite so small as those of
the native. Most were of, or near the size of, the fruits of
the F.1.
(c) During the five months the plants were under
observation, many were attacked by ‘Blossom-end-rov’, but
others were apparently immune to this affection. The
disease caused by JB. solanacearum appeared in the plot
while the plants were in the fruiting stage, and all the plants
finally succumbed. It was noticeable, however, that some
plants resisted the disease for a long period, and these are
regarded as showing a partial resistance. This observation
is in accordance with the experiments of Dr. Nilsson-Ehle,
of the Svalif Plant Breeding Station. He found that when
two kinds of wheat were crossed, each of which was sus-
ceptible to the attacks of the rust disease, there were
produced in the second generation forms which were much
more resistant to rust than either parent, and other forms
which were more susceptible. Further, some of the forms
which were more resistant in the F.2 bred true to the
increased resistance in F.3.
With reference to the opinion that rats act as carriers of
swine fever, a correspondent of the Veterinary Record, Sep-
tember 22, 1917, states that they cannot act as pathological
carriers, thongh possibly they may act as mechanical carriers
of the disease, but that great importance need not be
attached to the influence of the rat in the spread of swine
fever. The diseased pig is and always has been the chief
means of its spread.
SCHOOL GARDENS IN JAMAICA.
The following extracts from the report on the Education
Department, for the year ended March 31, 1917, submitted
to the Governor of Jamaica by the Acting Director of
Edueation, Mr. F. E. Reed, appear worth noting 4 propos
of the stimulated interest in the matters referred to.
Under the head School Gardens, Mr. Reed remarks
that one of the Agricultural Instructors writes: ‘The abnor-
mal prices for every description of imported foodstuffs gives
a unique opportunity to teachers to show to the scholars and
to the cultivators of their respective districts the neecessity
for not only providing enough food for their own immediate
requirements, but for that large and increasingly large
number of persons who are continually leaving the rural for
urban centres.’
He goes on to report:—
‘The Agricultural Instructors have paid numerous visits
which have proved of great value to the teachers, and must
be of lasting benefit to the pupils.
‘The Jamaica Agricultural Society offered prizes during
the year for the best kept school gardens, and the competition
led to useful work, and encouraged the steady maintenance
of the work a!l through the year.’
Mr. Reed gives several other quotations from the
Agricultural Instructors’ reports on School Gardens, a few of
which are reproduced below. One writes:—
‘Some of the gardens have done exceedingly useful
work in making trials of special crops in my district, especially
with broom corn. There is no lack of interest on the part
of the children where even a fair garden is kepr, and I much
enjoy some of my visits when I meet the pupils. Some of
the gardens serve no useful purpose, while the best are
invaluable. The main failing is due to lack of consistent
effort, especially as regards tidiness. Fences in many
gardens are still very inefficient.’
Another remarks:—
The weather conditions during the year were anything
but favourable to gardening operations. However, the
interest and generally useful character of the work has been
well maintained, and, taken in comparison with the work of
the previous year, good steady progress has been made, and,
in comparison with afew years ago, present conditions are
very encouraging. An excellent example has been set in
the production of vegetables and other quick-growing crops.
There are also instances where the tillage operations are very
good, as well as forceful examples of the value of mulch and
manure. Nursery beds need more attention.
A third gives the following good advice:—
‘More importance is being given to tillage than hither-
to. The value of systematic drainage, the use of mulch
when and where necessary, the supevior results of manuring
when properly applied—these are the points which are taken
care of by those in charge of the best gardens.
‘T have for some years been trying to impresson the
teachers the value of experimental work. In many instances
this has been fully realized, with the result that the scholars
are always deeply interested.
‘I regard the educational value of the work as being the
most important. The scholars of to-day are to be the
agriculturists of the future, and the greatest care should be
taken to show the differences between right and wrong
methods of cultivation. I cannot too strongly recommend
the necessity of school garden work being continuous.’
School Gardens throughout the West Indies have not
always been a conspicuous success. The above hints are
useful in indicating lines of improvement.
ia THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
COTTON,
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States. for the week
ending December 1, 1917, is as follows:—
ISLANDS. The market remained quiet throughout the
week with only a limited demand, and with Factors unwill-
ing to sell at any concession from prices previously ruling.
However, towards the close, with the offerings iacrea-
ing, some sales were made at a decline of 4c, on a
basis of Fine to Fully Fine at 73c., with some Factors
refusing to sell, and holding at 734c. to 74c.
We quote, viz:—
Fine to Fully Fine 73c. to 73)c.=75c. to T5ke. c.i-f.
GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. During the early part of the
week the market was dull, as the firm which had been
buying largely, presumably on account of Government con-
tracts, had temporarily withdrawn, and there was apparently
no other demand.
Nevertheless the market was firmly held and only some
small lots were sold at interior towns at any decline.
Later on, towards the close, the firm buying on account of
the Government resumed purchases, admitting of the Factors
selling their limited offerings at full prices. This renewal of
the demand renders all holders of cotton very firm in their
views, and encourages them to look for even higher prices.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Choice to Fancy
Average Extra Choice
74c.=76c. c.1.f.
74c.=716¢. _,,
The exports from Savannah for the week were, to
Northern Mills 1,103 bales, to Southern Mills 46 bales, and
from Jacksonville to Northern Mills 2,595 bales.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSOCIA-
TION.
The one hundred and sixty-sixth meeting of the
Council of the British Cotton Growing Association was held
at the Offices, 15 Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday,
December 4, 1917. ,
In the absence of the President (The Kt. Hon. The Earl
of Derby, K. G.) Mr. Charles Newton occupied the Chair.
west areics. The distribution of cotton seed for the
new crop has now been completed, and it was reported that
833 tons had been distributed to native growers, as compared
with 780 tons for the previous year. It is hoped that the
climatic conditions will remain favourable, and that the
increased quantity of cotton seed which has been distributed
will result in a larger crop during the coming year.
Shipments of cotton seed are now coming forward from
West Africa more satisfactorily, and up to date the Associa-
tion has received about 1,100 tons, and if consignments
continue to be made at the present rate, it is anticipated that
a fair quantity of last year's seed, which is a very valuable
foodstuff, will have been received by the time the new cotton
crop is ready for shipment
A report has heen from Association’s
Manager in Northern Nigeria dealing with the increased
production of Allen’s improved !ong staple cotton. This is
a vutiety of long stapled American cotton which bas been
introduced into Northern Niger by the Government
Agricultural Department, and the quantity grown by the
natives uncer sunervision has been ag follows: 1913-14 nil;
received the
JANUARY12) “198:
1314-15, 12 bales; 1915-16, 110 bales: and 1916-17,
461 bales. The production during the past season would
have been much greater had the climatic conditions been
favourable, and there is every prospect that the cultivation
of this class of cotton will increase, as 138 tous of seed have:
been distributed to planters in certain specified districts
where the cotton will not be mixed with the native types.
The cotton commands a higher price, and gives a heavier yield
than the native varieties, and the price paid by the Associa-
tion daring the past season has been 13d. per Ib. of seed-
cotton on the railway, and 14d. per tb. at out-stations.
The purchases of cotton in Lagos to November 30
amounted to 7,807 bales, as compared with 9,282 bales -for
the same period of last year, and 6,121 bales for 1915.
The purchases in Northern Nigeria to October 31 were
3,814 bales, as compared with 10,624 bales for the same
period of last year, and 773 bales for 1915.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR DEALING WITH THE 1917-18 corron
crop. It was reported that in view of the difficulties of
shipping, the Government propose to offer to buy the
Uganda cotton crop through the agency of the different
firms engaged in buying and ginning cotton in Uganda.
The Government have also offered to buy the West Indian
Sea Island cotton crop at the port of shipment at a fixed
rice. The Nyasaland cotton crop has now all been mar-
keted, and, although the difficulties of shipping are very
acute, it has been decided that for the present there is no
necessity for any intervention on the part of the Treasury.
With regard to West Africa, the buying of the cotton crop
has been left to the Association, as it is considered that the
difticulties of shipping may not be so great.
‘DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
Nevis. The Agricultural Instructor, Mr. W. I. Howell,
reporting for the month of November 1917, describes reap-
ing operations and preparation work in connexion with the
various plots in the Experiment Stations. The following
plants, seeds, ete., were destributed from the Botanic Station
during the month: onion seed, 127 Ib.; sweet potato cuttings,
1,450; black-eye peas, 30 tb.; Lima beans, 5 bb.
The dry weather during the month was very harmful
to the cane crop, which was already very poor, and the crop
throughout the island is expected to be a very short one.
Sugar is being manufactured on some of the estates for the
local market, where it fetches a good price. The first picking
of cotton in the early fields is almost finished, and the fields
are taking on a new growth, but this is not very vigorous in
consequence of the dry weather, which has given a very great
set-back to the late fields, as boll-dropping occurred to a great
extent; hence the returns from this cotton will be much
below what was anticipated, On account of the dry weather
also, very little planting of provision crops was done during
the month. The reaping of sweet potatoes is in progress,
and the yam crop will soon be ready. Several small corn
mills we:e imported recently, and were practically all sold
to peasants. The rainfall for the month was 2:11 inches;
for the year to date, 42°01 inches.
BARBUDA, In his notes on items of interest concerning
the Government estate, Barbuda, for the month of November
1917, the Agricultural Instructor, Mr. C. A. Gomez, men-
tions that the picking of the cotton crop was in full swing dar-
ing the month, and approximately 12,000 tb. of seed-cotton
‘-
f
Vous XVII. No. £10;
~were harvested. The reaping of the first ‘crop, it was antici-
pated, would not be completed until late in December. Dry
weather continued throughout the month, and consequently
the late planted cotton fields hold out no great prospect. If
the drought continues, the second erop of cotton will be
‘seriously menaced, although the position is not yet hopeless.
An active campaign was waged during the month on large
hordes of rats, which ravenously attacked cotton fields
and were responsible for considerable damage to the mature
-cotton bolls: Over seventy-five rats were killed by poison
in one district alone. Their presence was doubtless due to
the scarcity of fruit, etc., in the woods, asa result of the
“protracted drought.
: Some difficulty is being experienced in keeping bay
plants alive owing to the scarcity of water for purposes of
watering. On this account also it was impossible to attempt
any work in the onion nursery, and it is very doubtful if
the island will produce an onion crop this season.
The young stock received careful inspection during the
month, and a few bad outbreaks of tick infestation amongst
_the horses were promptly attended to. The growth of the
~ young stock received a set-back on account of the scarcity of
fresh fodder.
Dry weather was experienced in all districts of the
island. Vegetation is parched and agricultural activities
have become impracticable. Rain fell on three days only
during the month, when the total precipitation measured
1:85 inches, making the total rainfall for the year to date,
35°10 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The weather for the month of December has been
excepticnal in every way. Up to the 22nd day of the month,
“with the exception of the rain which fell on the 18th instant
over a very limited area of the island, there was a continu-
ation of the drought which began early in November. Since
_the 23rd instant there has been an abnormal rainfall for
this time of the year. In some districts 12 inches is the
record for three days, the 23rd, 24th, and 25th instant,
.while the lowest we have heard of is 2} inches. Literal
rainstorms visited the island on these days.
We need hardly say how very acceptable the change in
the weather has been. It has considerably relaxed the
tension of the whole community, both in respect to the crops
which are approaching maturity, and to those which have
been recently planted.
The following is the rainfall for the years 1915, 1916,
“1917, on two estates, one in the centre of the island, and
-the other in the south: _
LOS: 1916, 1917.
Centre of island 79°31 inches 93°80 inches $4°73
South ~*, 5129 =», 5562 ,, 50:95
Tt will be seen that the total rainfall for 1917 compares
well with that of 1915, and yet the crop of 1918, now about
to be reaped, will fall far below the standard of that of 1916,
“This is accounted for by the fact that the period of growth
in 1917 was a period of drought, whereas the heaviest
rains in 1915 fell in the latter part of the year, when most
beneficial.
The last eaette of the year is a very important one,
and. any irregularity of rainfall at that time not only handi-
“faps the new crop by a poor start, but it also considerably
reduces: the vigour and. quality of the crop then approaching
_maturity.. The crop to be reaped next year had a very poor
start, and at its journey’s end it has experienced an unusual
‘and unexpested drought. It may be that the recent rains,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. a
followed by a favourable January and February. will reduce
the anticipated shortage. We hope so.
We are glad to be able to state that the tillage for the
new cane crop is almost completed, Everywhere the fields
present a satisfactory appearance. It is dueto this fact that
the late rains, heavy as they were, did not cause a severe wash.
The manuring of the young crop still remains a difficulty
for the planters. Numerous pens are being rapidly fdrced,
but the quality of this manure cannot be upto mark. A
few weeks of the new year must elapse before these pens
will be ready, and doubtless some estates, after starting their
crops, will have to cease reaping ope for a short time
in order to distribute manure.
With the continuance of gone weather, the cane
crop now being planted should have a much better start than
that planted at this time last year, in spite of the fact that
supplying on a large scale has been necessary.
Nothing more beneficial could have happened for the
old cane crop than the downpours already mentioned in
this report. Not only will the growth of the canes be
revived, but there will be considerable improvement in the
juice.
The following totals, compiled from the returns of the
various vacuui-pan factories, show the amount of crystallized
sugar made in 1916 and 1917 in the island. in the former
year 41,104 tons were made, and in the latter 35,895 tons.
It will be seen that the output of the iactories this year
is less by 5,209 tons than last year. This decrease is due
to two causes: (1) the lighter crop produced this year,
(2) the more remunerative price of syrup.
We are rapidly approaching the time when the open-
tayche system will have disappeared, perhaps even in the
manufacture of syrup.
As many as twenty-two estates have changed hands
during this year, fetching very high prices in many instances.
The yam crop, though not an abundant one, has been
better than was generally anticipated. It is being disposed
of at 31:20 per 100 %; by retail at 5 tb. for 10c. The
prices at this time last year were $1°00 per 100 b., and
8 bb. for 10c.
Peas and beans were very plentitul early in December,
but at Christmas time the supply was not so abundant, and
the price gradually rose from 2c. to de. per pint. (Agrz-
cultural Reporter, December 29, 1917.)
AMERICAN CORN CAKES.
The following recipes, contributed by a correspondent
to the Field, September 29, 1917, may very likely be usefu
to housekeepers in the West Indies, in these days of substi-
tutes for wheat flour:— :
Thin Cake. One beaten egg, quarter cup sugar, one
tablespoonful melted butter or lard,-one*eup yellow corn
meal, one cup flour, half teaspoonful salt, two teaspoons
(rounded) baking powder, one etp milk. Bake in greased
pan about twenty minutes.
Sponye Corn Cake. One cup flour, half cup corneal.
half teaspoon salt, half teaspoon soda, one-third cup sugar,
yolks of two eggs, white of one egg, one tablespoon butter
(melted), one cup sonr milk. Bake in shallow round pan or
in brick-loat pan.
Indian Bannock. One cup corn meal, one
teaspoon
sugar, one teaspoonful salt, one pint boili 1 When
cold add two eggs, beaten separately. n a shallow
ea: then dish in a very h pt Oven, and: serve: in the dish like
a pudding.
8 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Asniddcdbiner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados. :
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and { W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor \ Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
ais cosats jH. A. Ballou, M.Se.t
eae \J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
S. GC. Harland, B.Se.tt
CLERICAL STAFF,
A. G. Howell.
fe A. Corbin.
Mycologist
Assistant for Cotton Research
Chief Clerk
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistont Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egypt. :
$+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
z Aqricultu ra] dews
OO. LL ne Og
Vor. XVII. SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1918. No. 410.
Typist
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial is concerned with the outlook in the
future for the sugar-cane industry of the smaller
West Indian islands.
A continuation of the subject of the production of
_dight in certain animals is given under Insect Notes
on page 10.
—
The question of the dissemination of parasitic
fungi is dealt with on page 14, under the head of Plant
Diseases.
Articles referring to the loeal shortage of food-
stuffs will be found on page 15.
January 12, 1918.
Professor E. B. Copeland.
It is announced in the Philippine Agriculturist
and Forester, September 1917, that Professor Edwin
Bingham Copeland, Ph. D., has retired from his position
as Dean of the Agricultural College and Professor of
Plant Physiology, which office he held from 1909. His
retirement isa great loss to the College, for his work
has been of the soundest in a wide range of subjects.
His book on the coco-nut will long remain a leading
authority on the subject.
Dr. Copeland has given the keenest study to the
problems of agriculture in the’ Philippines, and is prob-
ably the best authority on the agricultural conditions
of those islands. He placed great emphasis on the
necessity for right principles in agricultural practice,
for he took the view-point not only of a scientist, but
also that of a practical agriculturist.
———n> eee
The Ministry of Munitions and Agricultural
Machinery.
The following has been received from The Special
Intelligence Branch of the Ministry of Munitions with
a request for its publication—
‘With a view to removing possible misunderstand-
ing of the functions of the Agricultural Machinery
Department of the Ministry of Munitions as regards
the supply of agricultural machinery, implements, fuel,
and accessories, it is to be noted that these functions
are confined solely to the carrying out of Government
orders for such material received from the Boards of
Agriculture for England, Scotland, and Ireland, the
issuing of permits to manufacturers, the control of
imports and exports: and to giving general assistance
to manufacturers in the execution of their orders,
whether Government or private.
‘The supply of the above-mentioned commodities
to the consumer, in so far as it is undertaken by the
Government, is in the hands of the Food Production
Department of the Board of Agriculture, to whom all
communications on the subject should be addressed.’
ED ee
Zapupe Fibre Plant.
Some years ago, as was noticed in the Agricul-
tural News, Vol. VII, No. 156, considerable attention
was attracted to the planting and cultivation of Zapupe
(Agave Deweyana), which resembles sisal hemp
(A. sisalana) somewhat closely, allowing for the
slightly narrower leaves with the prickles on the
edges. By 1910 several companies had been formed
for its cultivation in addition to the planting done by
private individuals in Mexico. In 1913, however, it
was reported that the cultivation had ceased. This
seems to have resulted from the superior value
realized by sisal hemp when compared with Zapupe
fibre. The Bulletin of the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew, No. 6, 1917, in a note on this plant, says that it
would seem to be advisable for those colonies where
the conditions are suitable for Agave cultivation to
confine their attention to the better-known sisal hemp,
over which, notwithstanding early recommendations,
Zapupe apparently possesses no advantage.
Vou. XVII. No, 410,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 9
Application of Science to Agriculture.
The British Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies,
in reporting on the aim, objects, and results of the first
years work, 1916-17, devotes considerable space to the
work of the sub-committee on the application of science
to agriculture. This sub-committee was constituted
‘fo inquire into and report upon the work at present in
progress on the application of science to agriculture,
and to make such recommendations as they think fit
with a view to promoting the application of engineer-
ing to this subject. The sub-committee reports,
amongst other matters, that it believes that a great
future awaits the development of electrical applications
to agriculture. While on the one hand, in Germany
enormous developments have taken place in agricul-
tural districts, and farmers have inereasingly utilized
electric power, on the other hand, in England, unhappily
no applications of electricity to agricultural purposes
beyond those within the power of stationary motors
have been made. The sub-committee believes that
a matter which requires practical experiment and
proof is the application of electricity to ploughing and
cultivation, reaping and binding, etc. An electrically
propelled plough or other agricultural machine would
be both simpler in construction, and easier to handle,
inspect, and repair than an oil-driven machine.
As an outcome of these recommendations of the
sub-committee, the Conjoit Board passed a unanimous
resolution on October 10, 1917, as follows:—
‘The Conjoint Board recommend that the Board
of Agriculture be asked to grant the necessary funds for
designing, constructing, and testing practically an
electrical tractor and certain other agricultural machines,
and to appoint the agricultural sub-committee, or some
of its members, as an executive committee to superin-
tend the designing, building, and testing of such plant,
and to prepare a report thereon.’
a re
Cross-Pollination of the Mango.
Interesting work in this direction is being under-
taken by the officers of the Hawaii Agricultural
Experiment Station, according to the report for 1916.
The first phase ot the work was the determination
of a suitable technique for the pollination of the mango;
and the second, the origination, if possible, of new
varieties combining desirable characters now found in
different varieties, as, for example, the rich colouring
of one with the flavour and texture of another.
On the mango there may be several hundred
flowers ina single cluster, which is only able, however,
to mature a few fruits. In cross-pollinating, therefore,
it 1s necessary to select a few of the best flowers, and
to cut out the others to prevent their setting fruit.
This makes it possible to segregate the selected flowers
from chance fertilization by covering the cluster with
a paper bag. Frequently the best flowers are found
on the very short branches of the flower-cluster near
the outer end of the central stem. When such is the
case, the flowers are removed from the larger side bran-
ches, without cutting off the side branches themselves,
which might cause the whole cluster to fail. The flowers
at the end of the cluster are not disturbed. In carry-
ing on this pollination work the flowers are prepared
the day before transfer of pollen is made. The flowers
are emasculated, and any others that might pollinate
them are removed; the whole cluster is then covered
with a large paper bag which is removed the next day
tor pollination, and is replaced immediately. Later
Howers on the cluster may be operated upon in the
same manner.
A
Bougainvillaea Seedlings.
With reference to Bougainvillaea hybrids noticed
in the issue of this Journal for November 3, 1917, in
a letter, dated December 14, 1917, Mr. A. J. Brooks,
Agricultural Superintendent, St. Lucia, says that he
has_ successfully raised a plant from the seed obtained
by Dr. G. V, Perez by crossing /?. lateritéa and B. glabra,
This seedling was unfortunately eaten down when
only an inch in height, and remained dormant, with
only half an inch of bare green stem, for nearly seven
months. By keeping it under a glass bell-jar, and
treating it with minute doses of sulphate of ammonia
every two weeks throughout the dormant period, the
reward has been obtained of having two strong shoots
given off from the roots, and it is now making satisfac-
tory progress, though it has not yet flowered.
It will be interesting to get further details when
the flowers appear. Mr. Brooks’s experience bears out
Dr. Perez’s observatiois on the great vitality and
reproductive power of the roots of Bougainvillaea.
Mr. W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent,
St. Vincent, also records that he has successfully raised
plants from root-cuttings of the brick-red Bougainvil-
laea, as recommended by Dr. Perez. This is worth
noting, as the variety in question is not readily propa-
gated by means of stem-cuttings.
Se ee
Botany and the Living Plant.
In an article published in the New Phytologist,
November 14, 1917, on the influence of aeration of the
nutrient solution in water culture experiments, the
authors, Walter Stiles and Ingvar Jorgensen point out
the need for a synthesis of the science of botany. They
say:—
: ‘Our whole outlook on the physiology of the plant,
resulting as it does from incomplete researches on
isolated organs, and imperfect generalizations derived
therefrom, fails to realize the plant as a unit, or to
consider it as a whole. Thus the law of the minimum,
and the special case of it called the principle of limit-
ing factors, are not of general application to the activi-
ty of the plant as a whole, on account of the interaction
of factors and the processes dependent on them. We
are still waiting for the more exact statement which
shall properly express the law of physiological relations;
in other words, we are still waiting for a more satisfac-
tory primary survey of the life of the plant. We are
waiting, in fact, for that science of botany which will
embody physiology, ecology, and agriculture, and make
it the science of the living plant as a whole, having as
its basis an elementary analysis of the plant’s activities
in relation to environmental and hereditary factors,’
10 THE_ AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JANUARY 12,
1918.
INSECT NOTES.
THE PRODUCTION OF LIGHT IN
CERTAIN ANIMALS.
In the first part of the article which appeared in the
Jast number under this title, mention was made of some of
the animals whieh are capable of. light production, and
-a short account was given of the habits of some of the
_ so-called ‘fire-flies’ or ‘glow-woims’ belonging to the beetle
family Lampyridae, occurring in Europe and America,
Before proceeding to an account of the recent investigations
as to the source of light in certain luminous animals, it may
be of interest to mention some of the luminons insects in
- other parts of the world.
Lefroy, in ‘Indian Insects’ gives an account of some
Jarval or immature fire-flies belonging to the family Lampyr-
idae which abound in moist localities of the forest areas in
India. The luminous patches are on the under side of the
hinder part of the body, as is the case in the adults of
European and American Lampyridae. Lefroy says: ‘This
luminosity is very striking, a bright greenish white light
being emitted. The light is evidently under the control of
the insect and can be quickly produced, though on the cessa-
tion of stimulus it fades only slowly. ... These insects
are nocturnal, are dependent upon moist, conditions, and feed
upon snails. A large specimen required at least six small
srails daily, and with sufficient moisture and enough snails
throve in captivity. The luminosity is not used in feeding:
the insect seizes a snail, curls over on its back with the snail
held in its legs, and slowly devours the muscular part, leaving
the alimentary canal. This has been observed frequently,
and the luminous organ is not functional.’
Lampyrid beetles belonging to the genera Luciola and
Diaphanes axe stated to be the commonest light-producing
species in India, but it is not known whether these are the
adult forms of the larvae mentioned above. Lefroy has
observed that in these beetles the males have a larger
luminons area than the females, and are extremely bright
and vivid in some cases.
We now come tothe family Elateridae or click-beetles, one
genus of which, /yrophorus, includes some of the most bril
jiant luminous insects in existence. As mention d in the
first part of the article, the distribution of these beetles is
confined, so far as is known, to the tropics of America and
the West Indies. Various species of these beetles are quite
common in some of these islands for a few weeks during the
summer, but very little is known about their habits A
Porto Rican species, /’. /uminosus, is known to be beneficial,
as the larva feeds on white grubs or hard-back grubs in the
sugarcane fields. These ‘fire flies’ show a great diversity
in the position of the luminous organs at different stages
in the life of the insect. Itis stated by Sharp that the
young larva of 2 noctilucus has a luminous area at the
gunction of the head and thorax, while the older larva
has several luminous points along the sides of the body.
‘The adults of some species of /yrophorus -liave a promi-
nent eye-like lamp on each side of the dorsal or upper
surface of the thorax, and a third luminous area on the
ventral or under side of the body atthe junction of the
thorax and abdomen.
Having touched upon the distribution and habits of
some ofthe luminous animals, I will now givea short
account of the structure of the luminous organs of certain
typical insects as worked out by sine investigators, and
of the researches on th- origin of the light produced. The
whole subject is somewhat complicated and technical, and
can only be dealé with here as simply and briefly as possible.
Our knowledzé of the structure of the luminous organs
of insects dates back some fifty years or so to the work of
Schultze, who worked on a species of Lampyris, one of the
European ‘glow-worms’. This investigator found that the
light-producing organ, situated in this insect near the
extremity of the abdomen, consists of two layers, an external
layer which is luminous, and an internal layer which is
non-luminous. These two layers are of about eqnal thick
ness, are composed of different types of cells, and are closely
associated with each other. They ave supplied with. tracheae,
or air-tubes, and nerves similar to those in other parts of
the body, which branch throughout the luminous organ
between the cells.
The luminous organ of Pyrophorus was studied by
Heinemann, who found that it was essentially similar in
structure to that of Lampyris, but the chemical composition
was somewhat different. He concluded that the light is the
result of a process of oxidation.
The first important contribution to the study of the
physiology of the light-producing organs of luminous
animals was made by Dubois in France some thirty years
ago, and the subject has been further investigated within
recent years by E. N. Harvey in the United States, and by
Dubois. The researches of Dubois and Harvey have shown
that in three different groups of animals, namely fire-flies,
ostracod crustacea, and molluscs, there are two distinct
chemical substances, in addition to water and oxygen which
are necessary for the production of light. It is considered
that one of these substances is the source of the light, and
that the other substance assists in producing the light. These
two investigators as will be shown, differ in their theories
as to which of the two substances is the actual source of
light. .(S cence, V. S., Vol. NLIV, Nos. 1128, 1140, 1184.)
These two substances were termed duciferin and
luciferase by Dubois, who was the first.to discover them
in 1884 in the West Indian ‘cucullo’ Pyrophorus noctilucus.
A few years later he also found them in the luminons
mollusc, Yholas Jactylus. In the course of his researches
he found that lueiferin is not destroyed by heat, is capable
of oxidation with light production, and can be prepared by
extracting the luminotis cells with hot water, which destroys
the luciferase and not the luciferin. Dubois ‘also found that
luciferase has the properties of an enzyme, aud is cap-
able of accelerating the oxidation of the Titeiferin, and
can be prepared by allowing an extract of luminous
cells to stand until the light disappears The luciferin
is completely oxidized and used up, while the
remains... Dubois made extracts of each of
substances separately in solution by th:
then was able to obtain light by, mixing the solutions of
luciferin and Juciferase in the presence oxygen., He con-
cluded therefore that lueiferin is the source of tbe light, and
that luciferase acclerates the process of oxidation. _
The recent researches of Harvey h ive led him to arrive at
quite different conclusions from thgse formed by Dubois,
Harvey has worked with a Wiithber of luminous animals,
including fire-fies of both families, and’ ostracod crustacea,
luciferase
these two
ibove processes, and
ot
Vor. -XVII,. No, 410.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 11
He has found that the crustacean, Cypridina, and the fire-fly
Luciola both contain bodies similar to luciferin and luciferase,
but that the production of light in these forms differs from
that described by Dubois for Pholas,
In the case of Cypridina and Luciola, Harvey has found
in the first place that the luciferase of Dubois occurs only
in the luminous cells, and the luciferin is widely distributed
in the non-luminous forms. Secondly, he has been able to
oxidize luciferin with light production by the use of certain
oxidizing agents: and thirdly, Cypridina luciferase will give
light with certain substances, some of which could not possi-
bly be oxidized.
Harvey therefore comes to the couclusion that it is the
luciferase of Dubois which is the source of the light, and not
the luciferin. He concludes that luciferin merely assists in
the production of light from luciferase. He therefore
proposes to change the names of these two substances, giving
luciferase the name of photogenzn or light producer, and call-
ing luciferin by the name of photophelein or light assister.
Harvey givesa simple experiment to show which of
these two substances is the source of the light in certain
luminous insects. It may be remembered that in the
frst part of this article (see last issue) mention was made
cf the fact that the two common fire-flies of the Eastern
United States produce light of different colours, Photinus
giving off an orange light, while Photwris em'ts a greenish
yellow light. This difference in colour has been shown by
Coblentz to be genuine, since the spectrum of Yotinus
extends further into the red than that of _Photuris.
The two light-producing substances cin be
from each of the two species, and Harvey found that the
photogenin (luciferase) of /Photinus mixed with its own
photophelein (luciferin) gives an orange light, while the
photogenin of /hoturis, mixed with its own photophelein
gives a greenish yellow light. He found that it was possible
to ‘intercross’ the light-producing substances of the two
species, so that the photogenin of /hotinus gives light with
the photophelein of /otwris, and vice versa.
Now if the source of light is photophelein (luciferin),
as Dubois considers, then the light produced by /'hotinus
(photophelein ‘crossed’ with Photuris photogenin) should be
orange, the colour characteristic of //otimus, which supphed
the photophelein. Harvey found, however, that the light
from the ‘cross’ is greenish yellow, and conversely the light
from a mixture of /hotinus photogenin (Inciferase) and
Photuris photophelein (luciferin) is orange. In each case
it will be noticed that the colour of the light in these ‘crosses’
is that characteristic of the fire-fly supplying photogenin
(luciferase). The photogenin, Harvey concludes, must be
the oxidizable substance, and the source of the light.
This subject may be taken up again at some future
date, and something further said about the chemical nature
of these two substances, and the way in which they react on
one another.
prepared
J.C.H,
DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH HONDURAS.
British Honduras is one of the tropical British American
colonies that is capable of considerable development. An
interesting paper on this colony appeared in the Geogrophical
Journal, September 1917. The writer, Brigadier-General
Sir Eric Swayne, K.C_M.G., C.B., lately the Govercor of the
eolony, points out that British Honduras is nearly equal in
are. to all the British West Indian islands together, but
that its populaticn of only something over 41,000 is fewer
than five people per square mile. Large tracts of the interior
have hardly been explored as yet, and its resources have
not been at all adeqnately estimated.
The colony had for its beginning a small crew of ship-
wrecked British sailors in the year 1638. These settled
down to cut and export logwood, the profits on which soon
attracted new settlers. After many vicissitudes owicg to
Spanish attacks, the colony was left definitely in the hands
of the British at the end of the 18th century.
The wood-cutting industry still continued to be the
chief interest, and even when the price of logwood fell from
£100 per ton to £8, so that it ceased to be profitable, the
forests of mahogany provided a remunerative product for the
wood-cutter. This has militated very seriously against
agricultural pursuits, as the mahogany cutter hated to
exchange his free forest life for the more settled life of
agriculture. The greatest drawback to agriculture there-
fore in British Honduras, even in its more populous clistricts,
has been the want of a steady labour supply.
Sir Eric Swayne rightly considers that in the develop-
ment of agricultural interests lies the future of the colony to
a very large extent, and he points out that most tropical
crops are eminently suited to its climatic and soil conditions.
Efforts are being made to stimulate and encourage more
interest in agriculture, as the report on the Botanic Station
for the year 1916, recently received at -this Oftice, clearly
shows. In this report, Mr. E. J. F. Campbell, Superintendent
of the Botanic Station, begins by emphasizing the view
taken by Sir Eric Swayne, that the most serious drawback to
the agricultural development of the colony is the scarcity of
labour, largely due to the superior attraction of wood-cutting.
The coco-nut industry seems to hold out great promise
of future importance in British Honduras, being well adapted
to local conditions. It is hoped that, as there are large
tracts of land suitable for coco-nut cultivation not utilized
at present, coco-nut plantations will be considerably extended
in the near future. The experiment plot under coco-nuts
at the Botanic Station is devoted to the demonstra-
tion of proper methods of planting and treatment. The
system of drainage of the land at the Botanic Station has
attracted a good deal of attention, and it is noted that several
coco nut planters have adopted a system of drainage for the
purpose of improving their lands, with noticeably good
results. Another important crop which is capable of improve-
ment and extension is bananas. It seems however that the
exportation of this fruit has considerably decreased, owing
possibly to crude methods of cultivating the crop.
Mr. Campbell thinks that there are thousands of acres
of land in the colony eminently suited to the production of
rice. Practically no rice however is grown at present.
This also seems to be an industry capable of great develop-
ment.
Among minor industries, that of the collection of chicle
gum, the produce of a species of achras very similar to the
well-known ‘sapodilla, has recently been carried out with
considerable profit.
Mr. Campbell thinks that among other tropical agricul-
tural products, maize, coffee, and Para rubber, could be
largely and profitably cultivated in the colony, although at
present no attention is being paid to them
Amongst valuable plants introduced into the Bota: ie
Station at Belize we notice the Brazil nut (Bertholicsia
ercelsa), and the rare palm (Lodvicea Sechellarwm), known as
coco-de-mer or double coco-nut, from the Seychelles Islanils,£
two specimens of which are now growing well in the grounds,
12 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. January 12, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
The Governor of Barbados, by a Proclamation dated
December 20, 1917, has ordered that no yams and no eddoes
shall be exported from the island. A similar prohibition has
been extended to sweet potatoes by a Proclamation dated
December 27, 1917.
The Department of Agriculture, Mauritius, is engaged
in careful soil surveys of the island. Copies of these surveys
containing the analyses of various soils, have been forwarded
to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West
Indies. A very useful feature is the statement of the
analytical methods pursued both.as regards physical and
chemical analysis.
The Board of Trade Journal, November 29, 1917,
states that the Ministry of Food has issued an order pro-
hibiting the use by brewers of any saccharine substance
other than solid glucose, or other produce of low-grade cane
sugar polarizing not over 89°, and from which not less than
40 per cent. of its weight has already been extracted in the
form of sugar or syrup.
The Louisiana Planter, October 20, 1917, praises highly
the seedling L. 511, raised at the Audubon Experimental
Station. It is stated that in the last crop it has proved
ite superiority over the two standard varieties Louisiana
Purple and D.74, especially in sucrose content. It is
considered that, on an average, 15 tons of this cane will make
as much sugar as 20 tons of D. 74
Some attention has been drawn to the possible
extension of the cultivation of the castor oil plant in
Trinidad, on account of the demand for the oil chiefly for
lubricating purposes. This is shown by a circular published
by the Department of Agriculture of that island offering to
supply seed for sowing at 5c, per tb. and drawing
attention to the methods of cultivation and reaping.
The reproach that England is almost the only important
country in which there are no adeauate regulations with the
object of preventing t) e importation of weed seeds, and of
providing pure seeds 1or any official seed-testing station,
is about to be removed, as it is announced that an official
seed-testing station for England and Wales is being organized
at the Food Production Department. (Nature, November 8,
1917.)
Exports of coffee from Martinique appear to decline year
by year, although in 1916 the decrease was perhaps due to
want of transport facilities. Only 35 quintals of coffee were
exported in 1916, as compared with 93 quintals exported
in 1915. Inthe early part of 1917 however, exports of
coffee were 30 quintals more than in the corresponding
period of 1916. (Documentary Leaflets of the International
Institute of Agriculture, Rome, Octcber 18, 1917.)
The editorial notes of the Colonia! Journal, October
1917, point out that Gold Coast cacao is of comparatively
poor quality, but that the production is enormous, and the
quantity seems to be regarded as a good compensation for
quality under the agricultural conditions prevailing in that
colony. The native does not keep his plantation in good
order, because he can generally get land for a new planta-
tion when he wants it. The native farmers periodically
abandon pest-ridden cacao orchards.
Mr. W.G. Freeman, Acting IDirector of Agriculture,
Trinidad, has notified the Agricultural Society of that colony
that the Government has recently opened a depot in Port-
of-Spain for the purchase and sale of locally grown foodstuffs.
The main object of the depot is to help those who have
responded to the call for the increased production of food-
stuffs to dispose of their produce, and to obtain yood prices
for it. (Proceedings of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad
and Tobago, November 1917.)
The Cook Islands may be called a tropical province of
New Zealand, as can be seen from a report of their exports
commented on in 7'’ke Board of Ti ade Journal, November 8,
1917. The export of copra from these islands during 1916
was 1,120 tons, valued at £28,000, and it is estimated
that the 1917 coco-nut harvest will exceed that of 1916.
During 1916, 94,000 cases of oranges, valued at £16 V00,
43,000 cases of bananas, valued at £12,000, and 36,000
cases of tomatoes, valued at £5,000, were shipped to
New Zealand. The new season’s crop of oranges is estimated
at 200,000 cases.
A considerable amount of attention has been given in
recent years to the recovery of wax from the waste produced
in the extraction of sugar from the sugar-cane, and this
industry has now been started on .a small scale in Natal,
Samples of the first consignment of Natal sugar-cane wax
shipped to this country [England] have been exxmined at
the Imperial Institute, and found to be of good quality.
Sugarcane wax is vow becoming better known on the
market, and could be used as a snbstitute for Carnauba wax
in the manufacture of gramaphone records, polishes, etc.
(The Board of Trade Journal, November 2, 1917.)
The part of the inventory of seeds and plants imported
by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the
United States Department of Agriculture, issued October 30,
1917, reeently received at this Office, has an interesting note
on a hybrid cane, the result of a cross between the sugar-
cane (Saccharum officinarum) and a species with little sugar
content (Saccharum ciliare). This hydrid was produced by
the pollination of the flower of a seedling variety of the
cultivated sugar-cane with the pollen of the wild species,
Although of no commercial value, the hybrid is interesting
from a botanical point of view.
Vor. XVII. No, 410.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 13
THE EXTENSION OF LIME CULTIVATION.
The cultivation of the lime tree, which for some time past
only received attention in the smaller West Indian islands,
is now being extended to several other British colonies. In
British Guiana, for instance, in the last few years a consider-
able area has been put under this crop. The Government
Factory for the manufacture of lime products at Underneem-
ing, the opening of which was commented on in the
Agricultural News, Vol. XIV, No. 374, has shown very
satisfactory results on the first two years’ working. In
Trinidad also the cultivation of the lime tree is being much
extended.
A report in the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute,
April-June 1917, deals with the prospect of a paying
business in this crop in Nigeria. The variety of lime is the
same as that grown in the West Indies and Demerara—viz,
Citrus acida. The lime tree occurs in most parts of British
West Africa, and in some places has become naturalized.
The fruits yield asupply of juice which is consumed locally,
but up to the present, export trade is practically non-existent.
The lime tree grows well, and is fairly abundant in some
parts of Nigeria, and an investigation as to the possibility of
developing trade in the fruits and their products has been
undertaken by the Government Chemist at Lagos, who
forwarded specimens of limes, citrate of lime, and lime oil
to the Imperial Institute for examination. The Imperial
Institute reports that the fruits are smaller than Dominica
limes, but yield juice equally rich in citric acid. The limes
are of good quality, but reports from firms of importers in
London, who were consulted on the matter, show that the
market for fresh limes in Great Britain is very limited,
and the demand not sufficient to warrant the fruit being
grown extensively in Nigeria for the purpose of export to
British markets
With regard to distilled oil of limes, it is reported that
on account of its method of preparation the oil is not quite
comparable with the distilled oil of limes of commerce.
“A firm of brokers in London, however, regarded the oil as
nominally worth from 7s. 6d. to 8s. per tb, in July 1916.
The odour of the oil was satisfactory, the colour pale
yellow. As regards the sample of citrate of lime presented
for examination, which consisted of a fine white powder with
a slight cream tint, chemical examination at the Imperial
Institute showed it to be of satisfactory composition.
Samples of the material were submitted to firms of chemical
manufacturers, who reported that it represented a high grade
citrate of lime, and that material of similar quality would
be readily saleable in the United Kingdom at good prices,
When it is considered what large areas at present
uncultivated, and well adapted to the cultivation of the lime
tree exist both in British Guiana and the West African
colonies, it seems more than likely that in the near future
the trade in lime products will receive much greater attention
in colonies outside of the West Indies, and that the
West Indian islands at present growing this crop will have
to make every effort to compete with their larger rivals.
Sicily has long been the chief producer of citrate of lime,
and consequently the price of this article has largely depended
upon the Sicilian output. The Perfumery and Essential
Oil Record, November 1917, states that the unsatisfactory
condition of the industry in Sicily and Calabria was causing
considerable anxiety to producers. ‘The condition was such
that a royal decree has been ‘issued by the Italian Government
to control the production of both lemon oil and citrate of
lime during the war, and for three months after its conclusion.
This decree fixes the quantity to be produced and the time
of delivery for citrate factories, and also establishes the
price which factories shall pay the lemon growers for fruits.
In view of the Sicilian situation, one firm to whom the
sample of citrate of lime from Nigeria was submitted by
the Imperial Institute, stated that they were interested
in the question of assisting the citric acid industry in the
British Empire, as at present manufacturers are chiefly
dependent on Sicily for their raw material. This position is
considered unsatisfactory, and the firm stated that the develop-
ment of fresh sources of supply would, they were sure, be
welcomed by all the manufacturers concerned.
Having regard to the foregoing it would not seem
that there is danger, at present at least, of any overstocking
of the market with citrate of lime or concentrated lime juice
FOODSTUFFS IN MALAYA.
A report of the proceedings of the first Agricultural
Conference held in Malaya in 1917 appears in the Agricul-
tural Bulletin of the Federated Malay States, August and
September 1917.
Two of the papers read related to food crops and food
supplies in the Malay Peninsula. It would seem that those
States suffer very much like the West Indian colonies from
devoting their attention to some one paying commercial crop,
in their case rubber, and neglecting food crops,
Some remarks of the Chairman, Mr. L. Lewton-Brain,
Director of Agriculture of the Federated Malay States, who
was formerly Mycologist of the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture for the West Indies, in the discussion which followed
the reading of the papers referred to, seem particularly
pertinent to the present state of affairs in the West Indies. He
pointed out that the subject could be divided into two parts:
first, the growing of vegetables by individuals for themselves,
and second, the general food supply of the country. Far too
few planters grew their own vegetables, or planted fruit
trees. It was perfectly easy to do so, but it certainly
required persunal attention. The question of the general
food supply of the country was of great importance not only
to the Government, but also to the planting community as
large employers of Jabour which was now dependent for
its food on imported supplies. Taking the staple food of
the country, rice, approximately three times as much was
imported into the Federated Malay States annually as was
produced. The Government was doing a great deal to
increase the food production by small holders, but the culti-
vation of rubber had made the small holder so prosperous
that he was not anxious to undertake the more laborious and
less profitable work of growing paddy. Could not more be
done on and by estates to increase the production of food-
stuffs? In all other countries he had worked in, where there
was aresident labour force on estates, the Jabourers grew
most of their own foodstuffs. In Malaya there was practi-
cally nothing of the sort done at all, and the estate labourer
was entirely dependent on imported food. As the reader
of one of the papers had pointed out, there were many kinds
of food that could be grown there, and which probably, in
course of time, would be grown. It was not, however,
a healthy state of affairs that an agricultural community
should be content to continue depending on imported foods
to such an extent.
14 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
January 12, 1938.
PLANT DISEASES.
THE DISSEMINATION OF PARASITIC
FUNGI.
Tn a paper on the dissemination of parasitic fungi and
international legislation relating thereto (Memoirs of the
Department of Agriculture in India, Vol. 1X, No.1) Dr. E. J.
Butler, Imperial Mycologist, discusses a subject of very
general interest to agriculturists. For the detailed examples
with which the discussion is illustrated reference must be
made to the original paper; the following summary will
show the nature of the conclusions reached.
Fungi depend for their spread upon the transfer of
either spores, which in their nature are analogous to the
seeds of flowering plants, or of their vegetative part, the
mycelium. The former are small and often form a dry dust,
and are quite commonly long-lived, resistant bodies. They
are thus capable of transmission for long distances in a large
variety of ways. Air-currents, streams, and animals of all
kinds from insects to man afford obvious agencies for their
dispersal.
The mycelium is mainly liable to be transmitted only
with the plants or their parts on which it occurs, in some
cases on living material only (which may include seeds), in
others on dead parts such as wood, stems, or leaves. In
a few cases the mycelium of plant parasites may be trans-
mitted in dry or moist soil.
In considering transfers from one place to another when
natural barriers—seas, mountain ranges, or regions of widely
differing climate—intervene, the natural means are practically
reduced to two: winds and migratory animals, (chiefly birds,
and ina few cases insects). While these are possible means,
consideration of the evidence does not suggest that they
have much importance over any but short distances.
The positive and negative evidence of the distribution
of all the best-known diseases points to the conclusion
that their introduction to new countries depends on the
interchange of growing plants, of seeds, and perhaps, to
a lesser extent, of fruit and vegetables. The agencies
most conspicuous in this respect are Departments of
Agriculture, Botanic and Experiment Stations, and com-
mercial nurserymen and seed dealers, (The criticism: often
heard of the activities in this direction of the first- and
second-named institutions may be met to some extent by
pointing out that asa rule they arethe only agents fully
aware of the dangers involved and ina position to take the
necessary precautions.)
Probably at no period in the history of the world has
the movement of plants of economic worth, to and from
distant countries, been carried on so extensively as at the
present day. The time taken in transit has been continually
shortened since the introduction of steam, and whether the
parasite is best fitted to trave] as spores or as mycelium, few
parts of the world are now remote enough to prevent the
great majority of the fungithat cause disease from being
introduced with their host plants in a living condition,
Diseases, once they are present in a country, can
ordinarily make use of the methods of continuous
spread which are mostly uncontrollable. There have
been attempts in the past, and several are in progress at
the present moment, to exterminate newly introduced parasites
in various parts of the world, It is doubtful if any have
succeeded, while some are known to have failed completely.
The action taken to be effective must be such as to keep the
disease from getting a footing in the country. For this
purpose it is important to know from what part of the world
diseases dangerous to the crops of any particular country
are likely tocome and what diseases exist in each area which:
could be imported and might prove injurious. In order to-
be as secure as possible against the introduction of exotic-
diseases there seems to be no alternative at present but to
consider each important economic plant separately, and
examine the records of the parasites that attack it in various:
countries. Difficulties arise from the imperfections of our.
knowledge regarding even the best-organized countries, and
the almost entire absence of information regarding others.
There is also the unfortunate circumstance, illustrated by
some of the most notorious diseases, that a parasite which
is relatively harmless in one country may be extremely
destructive in another. No amount of organization will
remove this difticulty.
in February 1914 an International Phytopathological
Conference was held at Rome and agreed upon a Convention
the object of which was to control the inter-state circulation
of horticultural produce. The application of the Convention
has been largely suspended as a result of the war.
It is proposed to control the interchange of living
plants, cuttings, grafts, flowering bulbs and cut flowers
with certain exceptions. Each State undertakes to set up
a Government service of Phytopathology, the duties of
which will be to supervise nurseries and inspect consignments
intended for export. No such material will be admitted
without a certificate that its sanitary condition is satisfactory,
and (where - required) that itis free from certain specified
diseases. Each adhering country will prepare a list of che
diseases against which it wishes to guard itself. Common
diseases already widely distributed must not be included, and
the diseases mentioned must be those of an epidemic character,
very harmful, and easily disseminated by living plants or their
parts. The Convention does not apply to seeds or to edible
root crops, fruits and vegetables, or field produce. Living
plants for scientific study in authorized institutions are also
exempted. From non-adhering countries imports may not
be accepted unless certified by ‘competent official agents.’
Dr. Butler points out that these rules, while representing
the maximum of control that could be agreed upon, and
presenting numerous difficulties in their application to special
circumstances, will fall very far short of ensuring complete
security. The stipulation that only very harmful diseases
may be listed leaves out of account the variation in virulence
already referred to, and for that reason the rules could not
have hindered the original transmission of parasites which
have turned out to be extremely destructive in fresh countries.
The exemptions referred to each leave a large loophole for the
introduction of disease. There is however no reason why any
particular country that so desires should not further protect
itself, and the international machinery once it is established
will no doubt quickly be improved upon.
The position of the West Indies with regard to these
questions is in many respects a special one. Their agricul-
tural territory is divided by broad channels of the sea inte
relatively small areas, each concerned with but a small number
of staple crops, and the existence in each island of an agricul-
tural department makes it feasible for a close control to be
maintained over introductions. But these circumstance,
though they make protection possible, do not in themselves
ensure it.
So far as it can be ensured it depends on the mainten-
ance of an up-to-date service of information, on the restriction
of introductions to responsible agencies, and their reduction
to the minimum consistent with real requirements, and above
allon the vigilance with which the orders made are adminis-
tered. As regards imports, local regulations have in most
cases already gone well beyond the scope of the Conyention, .
W.N.
Vn. XVIL No. 410.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 15
SS ae SS EE
DRYING VEGETABLES ON A LARGE
SCALE.
That locally produced foodstuffs must be reserved for
‘local needs is evidently becoming a truism in these islands.
“This is shown by Government Proclamations in different
islands prohibiting the exportation of such things as corn and
potatoes, yams and eddoes, peas and beans.
But the problem is uot entirely solved by such a step.
W th regard ty many locally produced foods, there is a difti-
-eulty in storing them for any length of time so as to pteserve
them in a sound and wholesome condition. In several recent
issues of this Journal attention has been called to this point,
and recomme: dations as to methods of drying roots and
other vegetable products for future use have been put for-
ward, based on experience in orher countries.
Especially has attention been drawn to the possibilities
of drying and storing sweet potatoes in considerable quanti-
ties, as was successfully done in Antigua some years ago
by Mr. Spooner, who contributed an account of his successful
experiment to this Journal, Vol. XV, No. 402. From that
account it may be gathered that the ability to effect this is
well within the power of practically every estate manager.
We have not received any communication as to whether
such drying of potatoes or other roots has been tried. Even
however at the risk of appearing prolix, we return to the
question. as a shortage of imported foods, if not the absolute
cessation of any importation seems, in view of the present
world’s situation, not only very possible, but very probable.
In the Journal of the Department of Agriculture of
Victoria, Australia, October 1917, there is a description
given of a kiln evaporator for the production of dried
apple rings. This description is extracted from a_ bulletin
issued by the ‘gricultural Experiment Station of the State
Oollege of Washington, U.S.A. This method of drying
apples, with perhaps slight modifications, seems very suitable
for application to sliced sweet potatoes or any other vegetable
product. It is claimed for the kiln evaporator that it may be
constructed and operated at a lower cost than is necessary
for other driers of similar capacity, and that the quality
-of the product is better and more uniform,
Plans and details of contruction are given in extenso
in the article referred to. The smallest plant is a building
20 feet square and two stories high, the lower story, which
contains the stoves or heating furnaces, being about 10
or 11 feet high, while the second story, where the fruit is
spread on the floor to be dried, is only about 6 or 7 feet
high at the eaves. The floor is made of narrow slats laid
with an interval of } or j-inch between them, and the
product to be dried is spread upon this floor to a uniform
depth of 4 to6 inches. Two lines of pipes conveying the
heat from the furnace are carried round the room one
or more times at a distance of 2 feet from floor and wall.
Such a kiln will dry a charge of sliced apples, spread 5
or 6 inches deep, in from eighteen to twenty-four hours. The
actual daily working capacity fora kiln 20 feet square is
from 70 to 100 bushels, according to circumstances.
The cost of such a building will of course vary according
to local prices, ete., but a New York firm contracts to erect one
of concrete blocks, and to equip it fully with the necessary
appliances for $1,450. A noticeable appliance is the bleacher,
by means of which the sliced apples are subjected to sulphur
fumes, in order to avoid their turning dark in the process of
drying, . |
"A plant of such a kind might be of the greatest value in
-any one of these islands at the present time, for drying all
sorts of vegetables and enabling them to be stored for a long
time without danger of spoiling,
SHORTAGE OF MEAL.
The shortage of imported foodstuffs, which has been
expected in the West Indies, is evidently becoming a fact
to be faced. The Barbados Advocate, January 9, 1918,
states that ‘the arrival of a recent steamer from New York
without any meal has caused considerable disappointment.
Enquiry at one of the principal importers of meal as to the
reason for non-importations, developed the fact that there
appears to be difficulty in obtaining permits for exportation
from the United States Government,
‘Of course we ought to be better off than we are in
respect of food supplies, as we should have taken better care
to grow local foodstuffs.’
The last paragraph is somewhat like crying over spilt
milk; but the question is whether anything can at once be
done to relieve the situation, which is certainly one not
affecting Barbados alone.
We throw out the following suggestion. Let every planter
in these islands sow, on the banks between his young plant
canes, rounceval or black-eye peas. These ought to bear in
six or eight weeks—the quickest food crops to be grown, It is
true that in dry weather, which is to be expected at this
time of the year, a large return is not likely to be obtained,
but unless an absolute drought is experienced, a moderate
yield will probably result, if the peas are sown much more
closely than is the usual practice in rainy months. The grow-
ing of peas in this way is not likely permanently to injure
the young cane plants, but will assist in keeping down weeds.
In six weeks time there will be some food at least being
produced. Supplies of these peas for planting can probably
be obtained quickly from St. Vincent and Trinidad.
THE AVOCADO PEAR IN CALIFORNIA.
Santa Barbara County in California has taken up the
cultivation of the avocado pear, according to an article in the
Monthly Bulletin of the State Commission of Horticulture,
California, November-December 1917. It appears that the
first avocado pears grown in that county were introduced from
Mexico in 1870. One of these produced large crops of fruit
from which many seedlings were distributed. In 1911,
however, seeds of choice varieties were introduced from
Honolulu. One of these varieties, known as the White
Avocado, seems to have very valuable qualities. An
ordinary stock budded with this variety in 1912 produced
in less than two years a crop of sixty matured fruit. So
prolific is this tree that it is said to bear fruit almost every
month in the year. :
Another of the Jatest varieties brought from Honolula
is known as the Nutmeg Avocado, remarkable for the size of
its fruit, each fruit weighing from 1} tb. to 2 b.
There are said to be no less than seventy-eight distinct
varieties of the avocado pear now under experiment in the
Santa Barbara county. ‘The experiments are undertaken
not only with a view to determining what varieties bear
the best fruits both as to flayour and keeping qualities, bu
also with a view to test the comparative hardiness «
varieties, in view of obtaining some which will stand
comparatively heavy frosts. Bearing avocido trees are now
found in hundreds of the local gardens, and the more they
are known the better they are liked, so that it will soon be
impossible for any Californian to think, as some now do,
that the ‘alligator pear’ is a kind of wild animal food,
16 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, , . January 12, 1918,
M A RKET RE PO RTS. New York.—Messrs Giuespre Bros. & Co., December 11.
Cacao—Caracas, 124c. to 13c.; Grenada, 12c. to 12}c.;
Trinidad, 12$c. to 13c.; Jamaica, 9c. to 10}c.
London.—TxHe West Inpia ComMiTTEE CIRCULAR,
November 1. Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $40°00 to $42-00; Trinidad
ARROWROOT—5id. to Ghd. selects, $35°00 to $38°00; culls, $20°00 to $30°00 per M.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/2; Sheet, 3/9} to 3/11. Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to llc. per tt.
Beeswax—No quotations. GincerR—l6kc. to 2le. per th.
Cacao—Trinidad, 87/- to 95/-; Grenada, 90/-; Jamaica, no Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 80c.; Antigua and Barbados, 70c. to
quotations. 75c.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 65c. to 70c. per th.
CorrEe—Jamaica, 72’. Grare Frurr—Jamaica, $2°25 to $3:00 per box. :
Copra—£46. Lutes—$6°50 to $7°00 per bri.
Fruit—No quotations. Mace—32c. to 38c. per tb.
Gincrr—Jamaica, no quotations. Nutmrcs—18%c. to 2le.
Honey—Jamaica, 100/- to 110/- per ewt. OrancEes—$2°50 to $3°00.
Lime Juice—Raw, 2/6 to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations; Pimento—5jec. to 6c. per fb.
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 16/-. Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°70c; Muscovados, 89°, 5°86c.;
Loswoop—No quotations. Molasses, 89°, 5°57c. all duty paid. ;
Mace—No quotations.
Nutrmecs—No quotations.
Pinento—No quotations.
Rvusger—Para, fine hard, 3/1; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs, Gorpon, Grant & Co., November 22. Barbados.—Messrs. T.S. Garraway & Co., October 30.
Oacao—Venezuelan, $1125 to $11°50 Trinidad, no?quota-
tions. ArrowRroot—$8'00 per 100 fh.
Coco-nut O1—$1°30 per gallon. Cacao—$11°00 per 100 fb.
Correr—Venezuelan, 12c. per tb. Coco-nuts—$36 ‘00 husked nuts.
Oorra—7}e. per Ib. Hay—No quotations.
Duat—No quotations. MotassEs—No quotations.
Ontons—$8°00 per 100 fb. Ontons—$12°00.
Pras, Sprit—$12°00 to $12°50 per bag. Pxas, Sritit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—English, $4°50 to $5-00 per 100 fb. Porators—$6°75.
Rice—Yellow, $10°50 to $11°75; White, $9°25 to 9°50 Ricz—Ballam, $10°00 to $10°80 per 180 tb.; Patna, no
per bag. quotations; Rangoon, no quotations.
Suear—American crushed, no quotations. Sucar—Muscovado centrifugals, no quotations.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HAND-BOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
_ The Pamphlets and Hand-books are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two.
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each—
Post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. THos. LAwtor & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonanre, ‘Times’ Office,
Barbados; Apvocarr Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nixxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: Tue Epucationat Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripaewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station,
British Guiana: Tue Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuaty & Co., Port-of-Spain. St, Kitts: Tae Brs.e anp Book Surety AcEnNcy, BAssETeere,
Tobago: Mr. C, L. PLAGEMANN, Scarborough. Nevis: Mesars. Howext, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W, Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto.
a eee ea a ht Do
gs
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are piepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
Se ek RQ Dg
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SNIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
chents instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
_ or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
im exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
-» Tn addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conge-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
I er ——————
ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
Vor. XVII. No. 410. THE AGRICULTURAL NWS, January 12, 1918.
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONIAL USE
Dissolved (Soluble) Guano
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GENERAL USE.
TRADE MARK.
E ay
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Prideeanen
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
E West Indian Cotton Seed
auring the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to o the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
_ BARBADOS.
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street Bridyetown, Barbados,
t B- e ss ’ ‘ CZ \4,
aS: 2 Oax 3
SM tp eee pea
a tr f° S, eg) Hy E Lie 5
ffl Shc} ar oH 7
hit
\
=
_ SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1918.
R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
{One penny.
wy TO
THE UNITED KINGDOM
CANADA
DEMERARA &® PARAMARIBO
PORTS OF CALL
Azores.
{ St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
+ Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
|Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
Grenada & Trinidad.
- | Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
|Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent.
REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA, |
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA = =
& JAPAN. hele comers.
Head Office: 18, ‘Moorgate Street, London,
_ Branches at BARBADOS, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, etc. i
vy ty _
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SPRAYING HorsgEs
FOR
Ticks, LICE 2 MANGE
2 ae ee
OATTLE TICK
PeMaLe
TICKS. Horses suffering from tick infestation should be subjected to the same treatment as cattle, i.e., they should
be sprayed or dipped with an arsenicai solution.
The more nervous temperament of the horse causes him to be acutely sensible to tick worry, and, in addition to the
actual loss in blood caused by ticks living on him, his sensitiveness under the irritating action of the parasite results in a loss of
appetite, with a very noticeable shrinkage in energy and working power. (
Under the constant skin and blood irritation set up by ticks, a horse noted for his gentle manners often becomes apparently
totally changed in disposition. This is especially true of well-bred nfares and geldings, and unfortunately the better bred
animals suffer much more than others.
Many Owners entertain doubts as to whether horses can stand the same treatment as cattle, and it may therefore be pointed
out that in South Africa, a disease known as “ Horse Sickness,” for want of a better name, has for many years taken toll of horse-
kind in immense numbers, and although the causative agent of this dreaded malady has not yet been discovered, dipping or
spraying with reliable arsenical cattle dips has been proved an efficient preventive, with the result that the dipping of horses is
now as common in South Africa as the dipping of cattle—that is to say, it is universal. The safety of Gipping horses is thus
established beyond all doubt. In the West Indies, the spraying of horses for the destruction of parasites has already been
adopted by many Owners, and has been proved to be extremely beneficial.
In undertaking any measures for the eradication of ticks, West Indian planters should include in their campaign the
treatment of horses and mules in addition to cattle. It is useless to hope to clean a property of ticks if, whilst destroying those ~
on the cattle, ticks on horses and mules are allowed to thrive undisturbed.
Ticks are often found firmly attached, and in considerable numbers, on the inside of the ears of horse-kind, and also
attached to the membrane of the nostrils : special attention should be given to these parts, particularly to the nostrils, as the
perforation by the parasite of the delicate membrane will allow the entry of one or other of the germs to which many of the
organic diseases of horses can be traced.
MANGE. Spraying horse-kind with a reliable arsenical tickicide has been amply demonstrated to be a perfect cure
and preventive of mange. Mange in the West Indies is of some importance on account of its general prevalence and steady
increase.
LICE. Lice at certain seasons of the year attack horse-kind in appalling numbers, and éhese minute parasites, so
hard to detect, will in a very short time cause a great loss of condition in the hardiest animals. The same measures of
systematic spraying as used against ticks, will also check lice.
HINTS ON SPRAYING HORSES
1. If the dip is applied in the usual way, by means of a Spray Pump, that is all that is required.
2. Onno account should the dip be rubbed into the skin with a mop or other object. This is inadvisable, even with
cattle ; but it is very risky with horses.
3. It is as well to keep mares and foals apart for a time after spraying, until they are dry ; this obviates all risk of an
overdose of arsenic being taken as a result of mares licking foals, or the foals sucking the mares’ udders whilst the
latter are still wet with dip. Since arsenic, in proper quantities, is a recognised tonic for horses, the risk of an
overdose from the above causes is not great, but it will be entirely avoided if mares and foals are kept apart until dry.
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS: ;
Blas received the official approval of the following Coantrieer OT. KITTS: S.L. Horstord & Co. ANTIGUA: Sennett, Be Son & Co.
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kineston,.
Walon of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutolaud, GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, BARD ADS: CE ee anys Cotton Co. kie
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, PSN IDADS T. Geddes Grant. rest of Spain,
RITISH GUIANA: S ch, ker & Co.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, BT. VINCENT: Corea a Co., ilisitewn. NEVIS: sD. Malone,
DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmiegeclow, St. Croix.
Bmuen Stateg ol America, New South Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall, DOMIENICA: Hton. 1. A Frampton,
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA; Barnard Sons & Co., Castries
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
CRANLHES: Torosto, Chiczgo, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Moxte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Qdessn
ie
ay
i =) > ee
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vor. XVII. No. 411: BARBADOS, JANUARY 26, 1918. Price ld.
CONTENTS. ducers’ Organization, which was reported in The Times, ene
= November 9), 1917, uttered a warning to the nation as TA Yo
et é age AGE. to the seriousness of the food outlook even if peace , NIC,
Arsenic, Stimulating In- Notes and Comments ... 24 UAKDEN
fluence of upon the Peace and Food Scarcity 17
Nitrogen-fixing Organ- Plant Diseases: —
isms of the Soil... ... 24 Factors Affecting the
Bougainvillaea Seedlings 24 | Smut Disease of Corn 30
Worm Growin se. ss -s< 25 Plant Diseases in
Departmental Reports ... 29 Ugandaiieee su eres OU
Dominica, Food Situation Plants Poisonous to Live
Tay ® aon aebOO). BAe ockoeaectee led Stock .<#iReetesrcu. set koo.
Food Control Committee Poultry Feeding Places 25
in Barbados... ... 24 | Rubber Cultivation in
icloamings aise ces Hee Ol ae CLrinidad Weegee. laa 922
Eee e ee eee in Usanda, 26 | Setsland Cotton Market 22
INTACHMEB Orenauaots Stock, Breeding Pure _
‘ ee Bred ~_..qaEeReeees = ee) 20
Sugar-cane in Mau- F > Aeeap eget oc 5
ittco ine See Tanning Possibilities im %
Items of Local Interest... 20 the . Wesgiindies\g—-." 025
Marine Products in the War) Breadman cess 15
Bahamas... ... ... 19} West Indian Products 3l
Market Reports ... rice Gee
32 | Wood or Candle Nut Oil 27
Peace and Food Scarcity.
N(] (SYHE title of this article may scem strange
| WOLand strike a jarring note, for the expression
Z peace and plenty has a more familiar ring,
and moss people appear to feel that food serrcity will
somehow :\utomatically cease with the war, and that
peace and plenty will be synonymous terms. Such an
idea howZver is demonstrably wrong. If peace were
proclainied to-morrow, the scarcity now existing in
food yupplies must continue not only for this year, but
prolfably for some time afterwards, because of the world-
wid\: conditions which the war has brought about, and
whic can only be ameliorated by degrees.
Mr. Prothero, President of the British Board of
Agriculture, ina speech to the British Empire Pro-
were soon made. ‘This speech is so apposite to notions
apparently widespread in these West Indian islands,
that the reproduction of parts of it in this Journal need
no apology. Mr. Prothero said that some of them,
perhaps, were inclined to think that the difficulty of the
situation would be over, when they heard the joy bells
ringing ‘peace and plenty. But the food situation would
not be rendered less difticult by the proclamation of
peace; on the contrary, the difficulty might even be in-
creased by it. It was quite true that sources of food
supply which had been closed to us would be reopened.
On the other hand, it was almost certain that the
demand for the world’s exportable surplus would be
very largely increased. A danger not unforeseen had
been slowly approaching, and unless it was arrested if
would rapidly develop. The productive power of the
soil of Hurope was failing. It was not merely that
large areas under cultivation were now devastated
itp was that regions remote from military
operations were losing their fertility for want of labour
and fertilizers.
wastes:
After referring to the proverb about peace and
plenty much in the terms alluded to above, the
speaker went on to say that peace would not bring
plenty to us uniess we were able at once to return in
three important particulars to pre-warconditions. We
must have the food for sale on the foreign market; we
must have the means with which to buy it; and we
must have the means by which to carry it home.
The three conditions referred to by Mr. Prothero
as applying to Great Britain equally apply to the,,
1s THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Janvary (26, 1918.
islands. Whether peace is won, or the war prolonged,
there will be a shortage of food supplies, we repeat,
throughout the world in 1918 and for some consider-
able period afterwards. This isa certainty of which
we are warned, a statement resting upon demonstrated
facts, and admitting of no doubt or contravention. In
these. islands, as in Great Britain, people have been
_aceustomed to import from abroad the food that we
-could not, or would not, or at all events did not, produce
for ourselves. We too have enjoyed the facilities for
importation so long that we find it hard to ander-
‘stand that an entirely new situation could arise, which
in fact has now arisen. Owing to the conditions refer-
red to above, the European nations at war cannot
produce the same quantity of food that they formerly
produced, and are forced to look for other markets.
Jt is therefore idle for us in the West Indies to
delude ourselves with the idea that the United States
and Canada, who are themselves beginning to feel the
-drain of man-power, can so increase their output of
food as not only to supply the pressing needs of their
European allies, but also to send to us the amount of
food which we haye been accustomed to receive from
them. Weare bound to suffer, and to sutfer in pro-
portion that we have been dependent, not only for
luxuries, but for food necessities, on imports from
-abroad.
Turning to the second condition given by
Mr. Prothero: in spite of money coming into these
West Indies more freely on account of the increased
price paid for their productions exported, we shall stall
have to pay double for everything we import. Assum-
ing therefore that the food was obtainable, shall we
have money enough to buy it?
With regard to the third condition: are we going
to find ships to bring sufficient food supplies to us/
It must be remembered that every ship used as a food
earrier will diminish the tonnage that might be
employed in the transport of raw and semi-mannufac-
tured which great
industries of Europe depend, and that the supply of
ships owing to war destruction will be limited.
materials, on manufacturing
It would be foolish to prophesy how long the
period of scarcity will last after the war. That will
depend upon the efforts made to reduce the scarcity.
For instance, the moment war ceases, some materials
now used for the manufacture of munitions will be
available for fertilizers, and the exhausted soil of
Europe may recover with astonishing rapidity. Many
men liberated from military duty will turn to agr-
cultural pursuits; the machine shops also, at present
producing munitions of war, will be enabled to
pay attention to the manufacturing of agricultural
implements such as tractors, ploughs, and all the
various machinery that will doubtless play so large
a part in the agriculture of the future. Meanwhile
there onght to be no slackening of the etforts to be
made in all directions, towards economy in food
supply, and towards increasing local production of
foodstutts.
At the conclusion of his speech, Mr. Prothero
praised the efforts made in 1917 by the farmers
of Great Britain: they had grown more wheat,
barley, oats, peas, and potatoes than in 1916, in face
of the most tremendous discouragement owing to the
weather, want of labour, want of fertilizers, and want
ot almost all the implements of production. The
example of the British farmer may be well held up as
a guide to the West Indian planter. It is to be
hoped that when they realize the situation our planters,
like the farmers in Great Britain, will do all that is
humanly possible to lessen the certain scarcity.
Mr. Prothero concluded his speech as follows:
‘Peace has its dangers as well as war. The future is
dark and ditticult but for one thing. We have a unity
such as never before, a unity which is the most precious
of our national treasures, although we do not seem
sometimes to realize it. Will that unity stand the
test of hunger’ Make what answer yon like: I will
not answer it: butremember that hunger is inexorable,
essentially selfish, implacable, blind, deaf, and _ pitiless.
If we want in time of peace to pass through the diftfi-
cult period of reconstruction, let us pray “God speed -
the plough in our native land.” ’
WAR BREAD.
Bakers Review, December 1917, published in New
York, contains several articles with reference to the above
subject, extracts from which will doubtless be interesting and
useful under existing circumstances. In these troublesome
times innovations in many matters are no longer received
with surprise, but rather as a matter of course. It is
therefore scarcely astonishing to learn that the Food \dmin-
istration Department of the United States has been for some
time considering the advisability of requesting bakers, and
possibly housekeepers, to try the experiment of using with
their wheat flour a small or moderate percentage of substi-
tutes, so as to reduce the consumption of wheat without
causing any noteworthy dissatisfaction among consumers.
From a nutritious point of view, and with regard to calories
or food values, most of the kinds of bread experimented with
are satisfactory, and even palatable, especially that made with
a mixture of corn meal,and their use is to be enconraged to the
Von, XVII, No, 411.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 19
greatest possible extent in the present crisis. With the excep-
tion of corn bread, which is sometimes eaten in preference to
the best white wheaten bread by people used to it, probably
no other bread than that from wheat flour will be appreciated
by everybody, so that itis hardly probable that any such
bread will become universally popular. Nevertheless, every
baker should do his best to make as good a special loaf of
bread containing the minimum percentage of wheat flour as
is possible. All such special bread is not difficult to make
in small batches of a few loaves.
It is characteristic of all flours deficient in gluten that
the dough becomes more or less sticky, owing to lack of this
substance, to which wheat flour owes the peculiar property
of forming a spongy dough. For this reason the making
of a satisfactory loaf of bread in large quantities from other
than pure wheat flour is quite a serious problem, which bakers
will have to face.
The review referred to goes on to say that the wheat sup-
ply of the United States must be utilized not only to satisfy
the needs of that country, but also to feed the population of
the allied countries in Europe. For this reason it is necessary
to make the American wheat supply go as far as possible, by
using some substitute for it. These substitutes are, in the
order of their nutritive qualities, corn flour and corn meal,
rye flour, oat meal, rice flour, and potato flour, and sweet
potatoes. Inthe West Indies we are practically concerned
with only the first and last of these.
Regarding the use of corn flour or corn meal, it can be
said that from 15 to 30 per cent. of this can be advantageously
used in combination with wheat flour, if the bread is made
either with yeast or with baking powder. According. to
experiments made by Bakers Revew, the formula and
method of making are as follows: —
CORN BREAD RAISED WITH YEAST. Make a_ sponge
from 14 bb. of strong wheat flour, 1 oz. of yeast, and three-
quarters of a quart of water. When the sponge is ready,
add }-oz. of salt, 1 oz. of sugar, 1 oz. of lard compound, and
1 bb. to 1} bb. of fine yellow corn meal. The dough must be
very soft, because the corn meal while being baked absorbs a
great amount of water. Place this mixture immediately in
papered pans, and let it stand until fermentation starts again.
Then bake in good heat.
CORN BREAD RAISED WITH BAKING POWDER. Bakers
Review also experimented with baking powder, and found
bread thus prepared preferable to the yeast-raised corn bread.
The formula is a very simple one, and usually turns out very
good bread, it is reported. Mix together 1} tb. strong wheat
flour, 14 bb. fine yellow corn meal, 5 0z. baking powder, 1 oz.
salt, 1 to 2 oz. sugar, 1 to 2 oz. lard compound. Place, as
in the former recipe, in papered pans, and bake in good heat.
Another excellent formula for mixed bread is given as
follows: 3 tb. sweet potatoes, }-fb. corn meal, }-pint milk,
loz. baking powder, }-oz. salt, 1 oz. lard or other short-
ening, one egg. Boil the sweet potatoes, peel and wash them,
add salt and shortening. Mix in the corn meal, the baking
powder and the beaten egg. Pour into a greased pan, and
bake in a moderate oven for half-hour.
The use of cotton-seed flour has been suggested as
a substitute for a portion of wheat flour by the [ood
Administration. Experiments in this direction have also
been made in St. Vincent with some success. Cotton-seed
flour is exceptionally rich in protein, andis used only in
proportion of about 1 to 4 with wheat flour or corn meal.
The cotton-seed flour is made from the cotton-seed meal of
commerce, by a roasting and bolting process, by which
process the resins, fibre, and seed-coat particles are
removed, thu&S rendering the meal fit for human
consumption.
It would not be advisable to use the ordinary cotton-
seed meal in bread, without some special preparation such
as is mentioned above.
MARINE PRODUCTS IN THE BAHAMAS.
Colonial Reports—Annual, No. 932. contains the Annual
Report for 1916-17 on the Bahamas, transmitted from the-
Governor of that Colony to the Secretary of State. An inter-
esting portion is the report of the Marine Products Board.
It appears that the sponge trade has had a large reyival,
proved by the fact. that the sales of sponges for the year
reached the sum of £113,300, an increase of nearly £14,000-
over the largest previous record. It is true that the market
has been stimulated by war conditions because of the military
restrictions in the Mediterranean, which have seriously
interfered with the sponge industry in that sea, so that
larger orders have been placed in the Bahama market. It
is to be reyretted that the supply of certain kinds of finer
sponge required for the trade is only limited in the Bahamas,
owing to the fact that the fine-sponge fields in those islands
are few,.limited, and over-reaped. The Board states that
there is no room for doubt that artificial culture of sponges
is not only feasible, but profitable, and that the probabilities
are that it will soon be classed among the regular industries
of these waters. It therefore should be carried on exten-
sively by the Board with the object cf replenishing dep'eted
sponging grounds. Tbe Board however, at present is only
able todemonstrate in a small way, as at Exuma. that
sponges can be artificially grown with success in the Bahamas.
During the year reported on, the Board has scattered
in the current beds 85,000 shells with sponge cuttings
attached. This quantity is by no means sufficient to restore-
these beds to their former condition. However, by means of
a close season, and the scattering of considerably more shells,
the Board expects to see this result achieved, Sponge is the
chief source of revenue of the colony, but the Board is doubt-
ful if this important industry can be maintained under the
present system of practically indiscriminate picking.
Another marine product, which the Board considers
as worthy of more attention, is béche-de-mer. This consists of
dried marine animals related to the sea-eggs, and belonging to
the genus Holothuria. These are very commonly koown
as sea cucumbers, and occur in considerable numbers
throughout the West Indies. Béche-de mer constitutes an
important article of diet amongst the Chinese. In Australia,
also, béche-de mer soup is regarded by connoiseurs as the equal
of turtle soup, and is to be found in the menus of the
leading clubs and hotels. Even in Paris, béche-de-mer is
served at many restaurants, but the great market for the
product is China.
The Board recently obtained from Hong Kong a very
fine lot of béche-de mer prepared for the Chinese market, as
an object-lesson of what marketable béche-de mer should be.
Since then experiments have been made, and a number of
béche-de-mer have been cured almost in the same manner
as the Chinese samples.
This lot, which has been despatched to Hong Kong, is as
near to the Chinese product as they have got. The Board
anxiously awaits the verdict of the experts to whom they
have been submitted. But, as in other matters, it is
impossible to carry on experimental work without se/entitic
assistance.
20 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
st. vinceNT. The Agricultural Superintendent, Mr.
W. N. Sands, in his notes for the month of December 1917,
describes reaping operations in connexion with manurial
experiment plots in the Experiment Staticn, and reports
increased yields and larger size of the rhizomes from the
inulched arrowroot plot. Work in the Botanic Gardens
was of a routine nature. Plant distribution included 3
coco-nut plants, und 25 decorative. Regarding staple crops
the picking of cotton was continued, and there was little
change in the crop outlook to report. The condition of other
crops was normal: the cane crop was, however, poor in
places. Mention is made of estates visited in connexion with
pests and diseases by the Entomologist and Mycologist of
the Imperial Department of Agriculture. Both these
officers left for Barbados on December 9. The weather
during the month was fairly dry; the rainfall recorded both at
the Botanic Station and Experiment Station was 4°66 inches.
Attached to this report is one from the Ioreman of the
Experiment Station, on the condition of crops on the Land
Settlement Estates at Belair and Clare-Valley Questelles,
during December 1917. At Belair comparatively little cotton
is grown, and the cultivation, with three or four exceptions,
was very poor. ‘This is attributed to poor soil, and heavy
intercropping with sweet potatoes and cassava. The interest
of the holders at Belair is chiefly centred on sugar-cane
cultivation. Thiscrop, however, was a failure this seasor,
owing to the ravages of pests and disease, the reduction
in some cases from last year’s yield being 90 per cent. The
variety generally grown is the Bourbon, which is very
susceptible to attack by almost any pest or disease. The
remedies suggested are, (1) to plant risistant varieties in the
place of the Bourbon, (2) the cutting out and destruction
of dead hearts in order to kill as many grubs as possible, (3)
not to plant Indian corn along with the canes, as this plant
is also attacked by the pests, and (4) cultivating and
manuring the canes in the best possible manner.
At Clare Valley Questelles cotton is the chief crop grown,
and the holdings situated on the side of the hills which were
not thickly intercropped by ground provisions, yielded good
crops of cotton. On the other hand, the holdings situated
in the valley gave poor yields from the following causes:
(1) boll-dropping, due to infestation of green bugs living in
Jarge numbers on black-eye peas sown throughout the hold
ings; (2) intense intercropping, and overhead shade by
bananas and plantains; (3) mildew, causing boll-dropping in
some few cultivations badly situated with respect to not
receiving direct sunlight. Cacao plants on some holdings
were badly attacked by thrips. Ground provisions, especially
cassava and yams, are extensively grown.
pomrica. The Curator, Mr. Joseph Jones, in his notes
for the month of December 1917, states that 10 bags of cacao
each of a gress weight of 210, also 1 bag of nutmegs
and 1 bag of kola nuts were shipped to London from the
cacao experiment station. Inthe Botanic Gardens work of
a routine nature was performed. Vlant distribution was as
follows: limes, 5,375; shade trees, 800; budded citrus, 56;
grafted mangoes, 3; miscellaneous plants, 37; making a total
of 6,271. In addition, 82 packets of vegetable seeds were
sold. ‘The price of fresh and ripe limes remained unchanged
at 8s, and 7s. per barrel. The local price of good quality
January 26, 1918.
lime juice stands at Ils. per gallon, with second rate
juice at 6d. per gallon. The weather was fine; the rainfall
for the month equalled 4°58 inches. The total rainfall for
the year was 80°80 inches. ‘The weather since October 1 had
been remarkably dry, the total rainfall during the throe
months being 8°96 inches, a3 against a mean precipitation over
a period of twenty-four years of 21°84 inches for the last
quarter of the year. These remarks apply to the leeward
coast only. During the period mentioned heavy rains fell
in the interior districts, and there was ample rain on the
windward and northern coasts.
MONTSERRAT. In his items of departmental interest during
the month of December 1917, Mr. WW. Robson, the Curatoy,
states that the yam plot in the experiment station was reaped
with fairly satisfactory results. A quite appreciable second
crop is being reaped from the cotton plot, and the total crop
will be good, Lint of tlhe three main types grown in the
island has been prepared for spinning tests, but not yet shipped.
Included in the plant distribution were 2,900 bay plants,
12 tb. sword beans, and 6 tb. cowpeas. In the Botanie Gar-
dens several thousand bay seedlings were planted into the
nursery beds. Reapings from the bay tree experiment
plot were completed, and totalled 6,515 Ib. of leaves, as
compared with 6,242 Ib. in 1916. The results from the cotton
manurial plot show that only 3 per cent. of stained cotton
was obtained owing to the absence of any cotton stainer
attacks. There is evidence that three oxt of six of the
progeny rows of pigeon peas grown are hybrid in character,
The date fixed this season by Proclamation, for the
destruction of old cotton plants is January 31, 1918, and
planting is allowed from March 1. Exemptions are
being sought for several large areas carrying appreciable
second crops, and these will probably be granted, asin the
case of tio areas last seacon. ‘The number of small planters
applying at the Treasury for licenses to sell cotton has
exceeded 1,000, which is a record for this island. Very eon-
siderable areas are also growa by peasants on the share
system, when no license to sell is required. The growing of
cotton on the share system is likely to increase, and people
are travelling long distances to secure access to cotton land,
The building of a sunken silo on one estate is of interest,
The examination of samples from the cotton breeding plot was
completed, Samples of oil from the forty-one distillations made
from the bay plot in 1917 were forwarded to the Govern-
ment J.aboratory at Antigua fer examination. The rainfall
at Grove Station was 2°72 inches, the total for the year
being 68°22 inches. ‘The rainfall in December consisted
of light showers only, and rain is much needed.
ANntIGUA. Mr, T. Jackson writes to say that plant dis-
tribution during the month of December 1917 included 25
coconut plants, 26 miscellaneous, 2 lb. of cotton seed, and 2
packets of miscellaneous seed. In the Botanic Gardess
further attempts are being made to raise new sugar-
cane varieties. ‘The new Antigua varieties were removed
from the station to Skerretts. A considerable number of
these were destroyed on account of undesirable field
characters.
The area of cotton planted in Antigua is. 519 acres,
In addition, 60 acres of cotton are planted in Barbuda, The
dry weather experienced during the month has made a con-
siderable difference to the general appearance of the cane crop.
Unless good rain is experienced, the crop, Mr. Jackson
thinks, will be 33 percent. less than that of last year,
A combined motor plough and tractor has recer.tly been impor-
ted into the island by Messrs. A. J. Comacho & Co, It
would secm that this implement will prove of value,
ieee ree oe, |
Vou. XVII.. No. 411.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 21
ee ee eee
Full details in connexion with this will be forwarded to
Barbados in a short time.
The lint from cotton selections was examined during
the month, One plot at Sawcolts was allotted, and two
applications for plots were received. During the month
3,508 tb. of seed-cotton were purchased by the Antigna
Cotton Growers’ Association. Only 2:09 inches of rain fell
during the month. The rainfall for the year was 39°15
inches, as against 65°03 inches for .ast year. On the whole,
the weather during the year, from an agricultural point of
view, has been unfavourable.
Appended to the above 1s a short report on the work of
agricultural instruction during the month of December 1917.
From this it appears that the yields obtained from the
cotton crop of the peasants are far below what was antici-
pated. The decrease, the Agricultural Instructor states,
is probably due to more than one reason, the chief being
the large number of bolls that were shed just before reach-
ing maturity. ‘This, possibly, was caused by the plants
having received a shock by severe attacks of cotton cater-
pillars, followed by spells of dry, hot days. Cotton stainers
were responsible for some amount of damage during the
month, two peasants having had one-third of their crop
as stained cotton. Part of the onion seed purchased by
one of the two peasants was sown, and a fair germination
obtained. The seedlings were on several occasions attacked
by slugs. These were kept under contro] by hand collecting.
Throughout the district the crops are beginning to show signs
of want of rain.
parBUDA. The Agricultural Instructor mentions a con-
tinuation of the drought, reported in previous months,
with greater severity during December. Hot sunny days,
and the absence of rain have resulted in the drying up of
the vegetation on the island.’ Cotton picking was con-
tinned in the Guava Field throughout the month,
bringing up the total amount of seed-cotton reaped to about
25,000 tb. In cotton fields the depredations of rats continued,
but to a less extent than in previous months. The presence
of cotton stainers (Dysdercus andreae) was observed in this
district on the 30th of the month. All work on minor agricul-
tural activities has had to be completely abandoned on account
of the very adverse weather conditions.
December, like thy four previous months, passed away
without rain. This is the fifth successive month of drought
recorded for the year. It will be noticed that the drought
this year has occurred in the months which have always been
considered as the wet season in Barbuda. Only 60 parts
of rain fell during December, the total precipitation for the
year being 35°73 inches, or 18°57 inches below that of last
year.
‘The peasants’ grounds are yielding little or no food crops,
and, asa result, praedial larceny is becoming very common
among the people. The more energetic peasants who planted
cotton early are now reaping good results Up to the
present the peasants have supplied 1,000 tb. of seed-cotton.
The late planted cotton fields area complete failure.
sv. kirts. The Agricultural Superintendent, Mr. F. R.
Shepherd, reports general routine work in the Botanic Gardens
during the month of December last. There were distributed
2,300 cane cuttings from the experiment station, and 190
ornamental plants and cutfings from the Botanic Station.
Concerning staple crops, there was little to report beyond the
fact that there has been no improvement in the condition
of the cane crop since last month. The rainfall for the
month was 3°92 inches, but not sufficient to make any change
in the low stunted growth, and the prospects of the coming
crop are very poor. ‘Phe young cane crop is being planted,
but the germination must be poor, owing to lack of moisture,
especially where cane cuttings have been used. The cotton
crop is practically finished, only a few fields being kept for
a second picking. Lands are being prepared for early planting
in the northern district. Cotton stainers have been very
plentiful in the fields kept for second picking. but so far,
there does not seem to be much damage from internal boll
rot. The rainfall for the month was 3°92 inches; for the
year 39°81 inches. In the northern district the rainfall
for the year was 52:12 inches.
In the summary of work performed at the Government
Laboratory during December, attached to these notes, is
included analysis of eighteen samples of milk from the
Inspector of Police.
NEvis. Mr. W. I, Howell reports very dry weather
during the month of December, in consequence of which
there is not likely to be any second picking of cotton from
the demonstration plot in the Experiment Station The
first picking is completed, giving a return of 630 Ib. of seed-
cotton. The onion plot has been reaped. and the return
therefrom is expected to average about 1,000 tb. per acre.
Plant distribution included 12,000 sweet potato cuttings,
and 13 tb. of Guineacorn.
The cane crop throughout the island is verypoor, and
the dry weather experienced since October has done consid-
erable damage to many of the fields. Preparation and plant-
ing for next crop are in progress, but the weather is so dry
that it is doubtful whether the plants will germinate.
Cotton throughout the island has been very greatly
damaged by the dry weather, In the late planted fields
no less than 75 per cent. of the bolls have been shed;
those remaining are poor, and the lint not very
good. In addition to the adverse weather conditions tha
crop has been severely attacked by cotton stainers, which —
pest is more abundant this season than for some years past.
Consequently the percentage of stained cotton is very high.
On account of the dry weather the provision crops are
making little progress, and practically no planting was done
during the month; there probably will be a shortage in
March and April. The rainfall for the month was 2:09
inches, and for the year 44°10 inches.
The Food Situation in Dominica.—From an
address delivered by His Honour the ~ Administrator of
Dominica to the Legislative Council of that island, reported
in the Dominica Chronicle, January 9, 1918, we quote the
following remarks: ‘I would tike this public opportunity
of impressing upon the people of this Presidency the necessity
for economy, and the sin that is committed by wasting
foodstuffs at this time . , . . . Dominica is most fortunate
in posessing land which will grow almost all that is necessary
for the support cf the population. If full. advantage were
taken of that great fact. we should be able to endure with
comfort the rationing progress which is almost certain to
come in the near future... .. We have asked that our
annual supply of flour shall be considerably less than that
of normal years, but we have no certainty that even that
reduced quantity will be supplied tous....... in the
year '916 the amount of flour consumed in this island was
approximately one-half barrel to every man, woman, and
cbild. This, to those who know the country districts, will
seem—nay is, vastly more than can be accounted for save
by admitting the existence of a very great wastage somewhere.
That waste shonld cease, or there will be a very grave lik
of flour when our rations are allowed to us”
9
“a
to
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
January 26, 1918.
See ee
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea {Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ending December 15, 1917, is as follows:—
IsLANDS. There has been only a limited demand
throughout the week, the trade having temporarily withdrawn.
The factors continue unwilling to make any concessions to
sell, as the offerings are not very large, and holders are not
urgent about selling, as they think that the cotton will be
required in time.
As thereis no freight room at present available for
export, the buying is confined to the mills in this country.
We quote viz: —
Fine to fully Fine
73c.=7de c.i.f.
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation 7
Vile —Woc uct.
GEORGIAS AND FLoRIDAS. The Savannah market has
remained quiet and dull, with apparently no demand, the
sales reported consisting entirely of cotton bought in the
interior towns, and only reported to the Exchange when
received ‘at the port for shipment. The limited offering
stock is firmly held at prices last current, as Factors are
still unwilling to make any concessions.
We quote nominally:—
Extra Choice to Fancy
Average Extra Choice
74c.=76c. cif.
74ce.=76c. c.if.
The exports from Savannah for the week were, to
Northern Mills 220 bales, Southern Mills 104 bales, and
from Jacksonville to Northern Mills, 900 bales.
The United States Census Bureau estimates the total
crop as follows:—
South Carolina 8 000 bales |
Georgia 47,000 ,, Total 93,000 bales.
Florida 38,000 ,,
(tS This estimate is in accord with the general views of
the trade, except the South Carolina crop, which it is thought
may not exceed 7,000 bales.
RUBBER CULTIVATION IN TRINIDAD.
The Special Committee of the Board of Agriculture,
Trinidad and Tobago, appointed in April 1916 ‘to investi-
gate and to report upon the present position and prospects
of rubber cultivation in the colony, and to suggest means
whereby the most efficient means of tapping, and an uniform
method of preparing rubber may be introduced on each
plantation,’ has presented its report, which is published in
the Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad and
Tohaao, Vol. XVI, Part 3, 1917.
The report is very thorough, reviewing in the first
place the history of rubber cultivation in the colony, then
giving its present condition, ané ending by recommendations
as to cultivation of the trees, and preparing the product.
The committee addressed a schedule of questions to the
proprietor or manager of the 155 estates in the colony on
which there was any extent of rubber cultivation. Only
fifty-two replies were received, conveying in some cases much
useful information. In addition, the committee visited some
twenty estates, and made personal investigation into the
rubber cultivation on them.
The two rubber-producing trees principally grown in
the colony are Hevea brasiliensis (Para rubber) and Castilloa
elastica (Central American rubber); these are dealt with
separately in the report. Some trees of Muntumia elastica
(African rubber) have also been planted in years past, and
this cultivation too is reported on.
There are about 1,500 acres of rubber cultivation in
the colony, and, besides, a larger area under mixed cultiva-
tion of rubber with other crops, generally cacao, but occa-
sionally coffee or limes. On the fifty-two estates which made
returns to the committee there are 130,593 Hevea trees,
81,975 Castilloa, and 45,000 Funtumia. These totals
would of course be largely increased by the figures for the
103 estates not making returns.
The export of rubber from the colony ia 1905 was
3,659 Ib., of the value of £549, rising in 1907 to 27,505 tb.,
valued at £4,150, the highest output recorded. ‘This
decreased in succeeding years, with fluctuations, until in
1914 only 4,642 Ib. were exported, valued at £500, but
in 1916 it had again risen to 10,170 tb., valued at £1,524.
Dealing first with Hevea hrasiliensis, the report states
that it was introduced into Trinidad in 1876, when two
plants were received by the Botanical Department from Kew.
In early days the weight of official opinion was on the
side of planting Custzlloa in Trinidad. Mr. J. H. Hart, F.LS.,
late Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, in his report
on the Gardens for 1897, after enumerating the cultivated
species of rubber-preducing plants, gave as his opinion:
‘Of these, according to our experience, the most suitable for
growth in Trinidad is Castilloa elastica.’ He apparently
based this conclusion on the following grounds: —
‘Ist—It takes but few years before obtaining returns.
‘2nd—It is easily tapped, and the latex is given off in
good quantity.
‘3rd —The rubber can be obtained by mechanical means.
‘4th—The rubber is of the finest quality.’
In consequence of this advice, the majority of planters
in Trinidad and Tobago who were taking up rubber culti-
vation planted Castillo1, while //evea, on the other hand,
was planted, except in avery few instances, only on an
experimental scale, or among cacao,
Further investigation, however, has not confirmed the
previous opinion as to the superiority of Castzlox, Mr. J. B.
Carruthers, who succeeded Mr. Hart, came to the colony with
experience of the plantations of Hevea in Malaya and Ceylon,
and was very active in endeavouring to build upa rubber
industry in Trinidad and Tobago. With this object he set
about ‘obtaining accurate and reliable data by exact obser-
vation and experiments.’ In the only paper he published
curing his short time of office before his death, he stated
that from general observation he was of the opinion that
the growth of Para rubber under the local conditions was
very little if at all inferior to that of trees, treated in tke
same way, cf the same species in. Malaya and Ceylon.
Although he did not apparently feel justified, before the
collection of more ageurate data, in definitely pronouncing
in favour of //evea, he was instrumental in causing the
Government to arrange for the importation of 2,000,000
Hevea seeds from Malaya, and in getting definite experimen-
tal work begun on an estate scale. The committee’s opinion
is, that the results since then obfained demonstrate that
Hevea, under favourable conditions, gives in Trinidad
a return of rubber per acre comparable with that of average
estates in Ceylon and the Federated Malay States. Castzlloa,
on the other hand, has yroved a costly disappointment.
The report goes on to make recommendations for the
cultivation of //evea asa pure crop. It is considered that
Vout. XVII. No, 411.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 23
the trees when planted 14 « 14 feet are, according to Malayan
experience, planted too close. Thin, overshaded trees will
neither give a good yield of latex nor make a healthy bark
renewal. The committee recommends the cutting out of
the poorer trees in such cases, even if the resulting appear-
ance of the field be irregular. It is advisable, in the light
of knowledge acquired by later experience, to plant J/evea,
in conformity with the best practice in Malaya, at 20 x 20
feet apart.
At such distances, seeing that the trees take several
years to cover the ground, the loss of soil through wash may
be very great, particularly if ‘clean-weeding’ is practised.
It is recommended that a cover crop be grown, and Canavalia
ensiformis (sword bean or horse bean) is suggested as emi-
nently suitable, for the following reasons. Like most legumi-
nous crops it adds nitrogen to the soil. Unlike other legumi-
nous cover crops it is tolerant of a moderate amount of shade.
It has very little disposition to climb, a good characteristic
when planted under young trees. It makes a dense growth
2 to3 feet high. It prevents wash. [ts heavy crops of
beans, maturing in from four to six months, provide a whole-
some and palatable human food.
Hevea seems to suit most of the soils in Trinidad and
Tobago, with the exception of the Naparima district, showing
an apparently good growth even in one of the driest districts
of the island of Trinidad, thus indicating that a heavy
rainfall is not absolutely essential to its cultivation,
provided that the subsoil is such as to be easily penetrated
to a considerable depth by the roots of the trees.
After discussing various methods of tapping, the report
seems to recommend the method known as the ‘single quarter
ent, for the following reasons: («) its extreme simplicity,
(4) that a man can tap a greater number of trees per day than
by other methods, (c) that instead of four, a period of seven,
or even eight years may be allowed before it is necessary to
tap renewed bark, (7) that it reduces the amount of ‘scrap’
rubber to a minimum.
Valuable data as to cost of production and profit per
acre were supplied to the committee from two of the largest
estates. In one case the cost of production per acre was
given as $86°14, and the rubber produced sold at 50c. per b.,
giving $147 per acre, leaving a net profit of 60°86 per acre.
In the other case the profit was estimated at $6127 per acre,
a strikingly similar result compared with the first.
With respect to tapping intervals, the committee seems
to agree with the conclusions reached after experiments at
the St. Clair Experiment Station by Mr. W. G. Freeman,
Acting Director of Agriculture, that tapping at intervals of
four days will probably be the most profitable in Trinidad.
As to the care of trees, the report emphasizes the very
great precaution that must be taken to guard the bark from
iojury, and to dress any accidental wounds with a mixture of
crude oil and tar, both to help the wounds to heal, and to
protect them from fungi and boring insects.
Referring to the practice of growing other perennial
crops along with Z/evea, the committee is strongly averse to
cacao, on the ground that it only comes into full bearing
when the Hevea shade becomes so heavy that the cacao has
to be cut out. Besides, Phytophthora, a widely spread
fungus disease of cacao, also attacks Hevea. The first
objection to cacao also applies to lime trees as an intercrop.
Coffea robusta is regarded as perhaps the most suitable crop
for the purpose, if an intercrop is to be grown, as it
comes into full bearing in three years, and thus gives two
ov three years’ crops before it is too densely shaded by the
Hevea. On thé whole, however, the report seems to conclude
that ‘pure cultivation’ of Zevea is the best plan to adopt.
With regard to Castilloa elastica (Central American
rubber) which was introduced into Trinidad in 1880,the com-
mittee advises against any extension of its cultivation, although
it was so strongly recommended earlier, and was largely
planted. In fact it has proved so much of a failure that
hundreds of Castilloa trees are being cut down for more
profitable cultivations.
Nor is the committee able to advise any further exten-
sion of the cultivation of Funtumza elastica (African rubber),
especially as satisfactory growth and yield are being obtained
from Hevea even in the drier districts of the island, to
which it was thought that /unéwnia would be specially
suited.
The report contains very valuable recommendations as
to preparing the rubber obtained from the three species dealt
with, so as to place it on the market in the best conditisn;
these are hardly within the scope of this review.
A summary of recommendations closes the report, to
which attention has already been drawn in No. 407 of this
Journal. The co-operation of rubber growers is strongly
advised as a means of furthering the extension of the indus-
try, and of setting it on a sound basis.
A most useful bibliography of literature on the subject
forms one of the appendices of this full and interesting report,
which may profitably be read by those interested in rubber
cultivation in the West Indies.
PLANTS POISONOUS TO LIVE STOCK.
The book with the above title, a review of which in Nature
was noticed in the Ayriculiwral News, Vol. XVI, No. 405,
has recently been received at this Office. The discussion
relating tothe poisonous plants occurring in Great Britain
is very full in the book in question. Some general remarks
however, are worth attention by those interested in live stock
every where.
The author states that in many cases it is practically
impossible to come to any conclusion as to the degree of
toxicity of a plant, owing to the want of exact information.
This especially applies to the condit'ons obtaining in our
West Indian islands, where much work remains to be done
in exact study of the properties of the flora. It is noticed,
for instance, that many plants are quite harmless, except
when affected by fungi, ete.
_ A really poisonous plant may be defined as one, a small
quantity of which when eaten, induces some form of indis-
position with serious, or even fatal consequences, either
immediately or asa result of the cumulative action of the
toxic property. =
The action of plants on animals may be ascertained (1)
by observing the effects in cases in which it is certain that
the plants in question have been eaten, or (2) by direct
experimental feeding of animals with the plants. The real
test as regards (2) would, in general, consist in a feeding trial
in which the suspected plant occupied a place in the ration
in such a quantity as might be taken in natural circumstanees.
Should such a test prove negative, it may generally be held
that the plant is not poisonous, or only so in exceptional
circumstances,
It is pointed out by the author that a number of poison-
ous plants have a considerable influence on the milk-yield of
animals which eat them, reducing it in volume, or imparting to
it an’ unpleasant flavour which renders it unfit for human
consumption. Even if not actually poisonous, such plants
must be considered harmful, as is the case with the common
West Indian weed, gully root (/etiveria alliacea), which it
is well known, imparts a most unpleasant flavour to the milk
of cows which have eaten it.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JANUARY 26, 1918,
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Comriiasioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page + of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor | Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A.
{H. A. Ballou, M.Sce.+
Entomologists \J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.L-C.
S. CG. Harland, B.Se.t+
CLERICAL STAFF.
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
A ff L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants , P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson,
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egupt.
‘+Provided bu the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial: Research. :
Anricultural ews
Agricultural dlews
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1918, No, 411.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this issue draws attention to the
probable continuance of food scarcity in the world, even
atter peace is declared.
Assistant for Cotton Research
Typist
Under Insect Notes will be found an article on
the prevailing insect pests in (ganda, and another (on
the moth borers of sugar-cane in Mauritius.
Fungus diseases affecting plants in Uganda are
the subject of an article under Plant Diseases. Another
article under the same heading deals with the smut
disease of corn.
The Report on the Agricultural Department,
Montserrat, 1916-17, is reviewed on page 29,
Bougainvillaea Seedlings.
An interesting note has been received at this Office
from Mr. H. E. Biades, 01 Barbados, stating that having
found some seeds on a Bougainvillaea plant in his
garden in April 1914, he planted them. They all grew,
and most of them are now flowering. The flowers of
one of them are of a distinctly different shade from
those of the parent plant.
A friend of the writer’s, he says, has also obtained
a true hybrid—-a cross between the cherry-red and the
terra cotta varieties, which is growing satisfactorily.
{
—— +» +
Food Control Committee in Barbados.
Early in December the Government of the United
States asked to be furnished with the requirements of .
foodstuffs in Barbados during the year 1918 of those
heretofore imported from the United States. This
information was sent by the Governor to the British
Ambassador at Washington. Precisely similar infor-
mation has been obtained from each of the British
West Indian colonies.
The British Ambassador at Washington despatched
a circular telegram, dated January 3, 1918, to these
colonies, stating that all returns have been received
and tabulated, and are under consideration by the
United States authorities, Pending conclusions of
negotiations for export, licenses will be granted immed-
iately for one month's supply. Use of wheat and wheat
flour should be discouraged, and every ettort must be
made to substitute corn meal, oat meal, and rye.
In a circular telegram to the several eolonies,
dated January 8, the Ambassador says the following
procedure is suggested: ‘Your Excellency to form local
Food Control Committee, which will guarantee to keep
imports of foodstutfs down to the amount eventually to
be agreed upon with the United States.’
In accordance with the above, the Governor of
Barbados has appointed a local Food Control Com-
mittee, and doubtless similar steps have been taken
generally throughout the West Indies.
ee
Stimulating Influence of Arsenic upon the
Nitrogen-fixing Organisms of the Soil.
A note on the above subject was published in the
Agricultural News, Vol. XIII, p. 133., but further
researches are given in an interesting paper contribu-
ted to the Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. VI,
No. 2,by J. E. Greaves, Baeteriologist, Utah Agricultural
Experiment Station. In the course of previous experi-
ments the writer found thatthe addition of arsenic
to the soil stimulates the ammonifying and especially
the nitrifying micro-organisms. Further, it was found
that very large quantities of arsenic had to be applied to
a soil before its toxic effect beeame marked. This toxic
effect only become pronounced when quantities of
arsenic, which far exceeded those found in any of the
cultivated soils, had been apphed.
From data obtained by further experiments, and
from results given by similar experiments carried out
by other writers, it seems to be conclusively proved thas
- compounds.
.
Vout. XVII. No, 411.
arsenic when added to the soil in the form of sodium
arsenate, lead arsenate, or of arsenate trisulphide and
zine arsenite, stimulates the nitrogen-fixing powers of
the soil. This stimulation is greatest when lead arsen-
ate is applied and least when zine arsenite is used.
Paris green (cupric aceto-arsenite) did not stimulate
in any of the concentrations, but became very toxic
when the concentration reached 120 parts per million.
‘The toxicity of this compound is due to the copper,
and not to the arsenite contained in it. Sodium arsen-
ate became toxic when a concentration of 40 parts per
million was added, and 250 parts per million of arsenic
entirely stopped nitrogen fixation. On the other hand,
lead arsenate was not toxic even at a concentration of
400 parts per million of arsenic, while the toxicity of
arsenate trisulphide and of zinc arsenite was very small
at this concentration.
The above is of special interest in the West Indies,
on account of the use in cotton cultivation of Paris
green as an insecticide.
Only one type of Azotobacter was isolated which
was stimulated by arsenic, and in this case the stimula-
tion was due to the organism utilizing its source of car-
bon more economically in the presence of arsenic than in
its absence. Thus arsenic and its compovnds do not
act as sources of energy to the organism. The main
part of the stimulation noted in the soil with its mixed
organisms is undoubtedly due to the inhibiting of
injurious species by the arsenic.
Arsenic cannot replace phosphorus in the vital
process of the nitrogen-fixing organism, but it can in
some manner liberate the phosphorus from its insoluble
This may either bea direct or-an indirect
action.
a
_ Breeding Pure-Bred Stock.
Pure-bred stock represents the accumulated etfort
of generations of breeders leading toa well defined
end, which may be expressed in profits already realized,
or in profits to be realized in the future.
In a review of some literature on the above sub-
_ ject, a writer in the Agricultural Gazette of Canada,
October 1917, considers that to the intelligent. breeder
the pedigree is the most important consideration to be
kept in mind. If there are animals, whose excellence
has been proved, most closely related to the genealogi-
cal tree, and if they occur in both branches of the
genealogy at the same time, the breeder may feel
4 certain sense of security with regard to the power of
the strain to transmit superior characteristics, The
greater the number of descendants whose worth has
been proved, the greater is the certainty * as to
dominance of desired characteristics. With regard
to valuable animals, the length of the pedigree is looked
_ upon by breeders as an indication of marked powers of
“Teproduction and selection. The length of the pedi-
$ree isan equally valuable criterion in the descend-
“ants, and it is here that a pure-bred animal is superior
to an ordinary one. The breeder of pure-breds, who
Studies the indications connected with hereditary
" power, and acts on these indications, is assured of pro-
i. which cannot be realized in ordinary animal pro-
. for general market purposes,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 2
or
Poultry Feeding Places.
The Queensland Agricultural Journal, Septem-
ber 1917, refers to a bulletin of the West Australian
Department of Agriculture, on the subject of the
necessity of cleanliness in the feeding places of poultry.
In many places the food is scattered on the ground
and the birds are continually ‘ted within a small
space. The surface of that space soon becomes foul
with the droppings of the flock. It is true that sun-
shine partially acts as a germicide, but gener-
ally the spot becomes « juickly contaminated with the
continual trampling of the fowls, and if there be
one sick fowl among them, the whole flock may soon
become infected. Spading up of the feeding place
once or twice.a week will bring good results. It will
tend to purify the ground, and’ will induce exercise
on the part of the birds because of their having to
scratch for their grain, and this is always desirable,
especially when poultry are confined in yards. If also
grain is scattered as the ground is spaded up, much
will be buried so deep that fowls will not scratch Ib
out, and some of it will be thrown up at the next
spading haying already sprouted, and the green
succulent blades are much r-lished by fowls. Of course
it must be remembered that the constant turning
over of the same soil in a small poultry run may
eventually mean the reworking into the soil of heaps
of droppings, which is not good for the health of the
fowls.
—_—eee
Growing of Corn.
An article on the above
Lynch, Agricultural Instructor, Jamaica, appears in the
Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Nociety,
November 1917, which would seem to apply, after
making allowance for somewhat different conditions,
to many of the smaller islands. The writer says, iD
answer to the question as to how much corn Jamaica
is capable of producing, that if 50,000 acres were planted
with corn as only a catch crop, and if the yield were
20 bushels to the acre, the 1,000,000 bushels would
be just about four times as much as the usual importa-
tion of corn into Jamaica. Touching the question as to
why so little corn, comparatively speaking, is grown in
Jamaica, he says it depends upon whether it pays, and
that depends, on the other hand, on how it is grown,
If a man plants 1 acre of cassava or potatoes, and plants
peas and corn through it, and then gets only 10 bushelg
which he sells at 3s. per bushel, it pays him, for he gets
cassava and peas for his labour, and the corn is nea
profit. But ifa man plants 1 acre of corn alone, after
the cost of cleaning, weeding and harvesting is me®
it does not pay to sell at 3s. per bushel, even if ix
yields 20 bushels. To grow corn as a staple, and make.
it pay at 3s. per bushel, it is necessary to plant it so
that the yield per acre shall be more than 20 bushels.
This can be done, for a yield of over 90 bushels to the
acre. has bzen obtained in some parts of Jamaica. If
by selection of seeds, and proper tillage and manuring,
the average vield is increased to 50 or 60 bushels per
acre, it will pay well to grow corn even as a pure crop,
subject by Mr. H. W.
-26
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
1918.
January 26,
Pa
a e
= eee
ie
INSECT NOTES.
———
INSECT PESTS IN UGANDA.
The Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture
of Uganda, for the year ended March 31, 1917, contains an
interesting record of the progress of agriculture in the
Protectorate during the above period, and since many of the
crops grown in Uganda are similar to those grown in the
West Indies, certain points of interest connected with these
crops will be referred to in this number of the Agricultural
News. The foilowing notes dealing with those insects which
are of special importance to readers in these islands are
taken from the report of the Government Entomologist,
Mr. C. C. Gowdey, and are arranged under their respective
host plants.
correE. This crop is attacked by sixteen species of
seale insects, most of which dre of no special economic
importance. The most important of these is the mealy-bug
Pseudococeus citri, Risso, which occurs almost everywhere in
tropical regions. This specics not only clusters on the coffee
flowers and newly set fruit, sometimes causing these to drop,
but also infests the foliage and the roots. Mr. Gowdey gives
a brief account of the life-cycle of the insect, as follows: ‘The
eggs are laid on the fruit, twigs, under the loose bark on the
stem, and roots. They are enclosed in light cottony
material in clusters varying from 300 to 500 in number.
The period of incubation is about eight days. The
newly hatched larvae are light yellow in colour, and at first
are deyoid of any waxy covering, and hence it is at this stage
that remedial measures would be the most effective. The
larvae moult three times, about fifteen days elapsing between
each moult. Egg-laying begins about ten days after the
final moult—that is after the adult stage is reached—and
death soon follows oviposition.’ The other species of scale
insects mentioned under coffee, which also occur in the
West Indies, though not always on coffee, are Psewdococcus
virgatus, Ccecus viridis, Saissetia hemisphaerica, S, nigra,
Sclenaspidus articulatus, and Leshnaspis longirostris.
The coffee (Leuroptera [| Cemivstoma|
ccffeella), Staint., has recently appeared as a_ pest
in Uganda, but is at present confined to one district
This insect is a minute, silvery, white moth, which lays its.
eggs onthe leaves, The larva, on hatching, bores into the
leaf, and feeds between the upper and lower surfaces. It
eventually causes a large brownish blotch due to the drying
of the upper surface of the leaf, and badly infested leaves
often drop. The larva becomes full.grown in about two
weeks, and, crawling out, pupates on the outside of the leaf.
‘The moth emerges in about a week. Mr. Gowdey finds that the
only control measure is the ‘collection of the infested leaves,
those that have fallen as well as those remaining on the trees.’
It may be mentioned that this leaf-miner is abundant on
coffee in Porto Rico agd Cuba, but in both of these islands
the larva is parasitized to some extent by minute hymen-
optera.
corton. Species of cotton stainers, Dysdercus spp.and
Oxvearaenus spp., are mentioned as being abundant on cot-
leaf-miner,
ton. The species of Dysdercus in the West Indies are now
known to be disseminators of certain internal boll diseases,
which are apparently not present in Uganda. These boll
diseases are the principal cause of the staining of the lint
which was formerly thought to be due to excrement deposit-
ed by the bugs. In this connexion it may be mentioned
that measures are now being taken in some of the cotton-
growing islands of the Lesser Antilles to control the stainers
by the eradication of their wild food-plants, and this method
has so far proved very successful in St. Vincent.
RUBBER, Ceara‘and Para rubber trees were badly in-
fested with the bourbon scale (Aspidiotus destructor, Sign.),
and in several cases the Ceara trees were killed.
rrurr TREES. A list is given under their respective
host plants of the various insects attacking fruit trees.
Among the insects attacking orange trees are the orange but-
tectly (('apilio demodocus, Esp.), and the fruit fly (Ceratitis
capitata). Caterpillars of the butterfly genus Papilio occur
as pests of the leaves of citrus trees in many parts of the
world, and sometimes defoliate the trees. Two species are
recorded from Cuba, namely P. andraemon and P, thoas.
In British Guiana the species P. anchiscades sometimes
defoliates orange trees, but insects belonging to this genus are
not known to be injurious to orange trees in the Lesser
Antilles.
The fruit fly mentioned above is the Mediterranean
fruit fly, which is a serious pest in some parts of the world.
Although this species is not known to occur in the West
Indies, it has been established in Bermuda for many years
(Agricultural News, Vol. XV, p. 10). An account of this fly,
as it occurs in Uganda, was given by Mr. Gowdey in his
Annual Report for 1912-13, and was reproduced in the Ag7i-
cultural News, Vol. XIII, p. 122.
Ameng the scale insects mentioned as occurring on fruit
trees are Lepidosaphes gloveri and 1, citricola on orange,
and Aspidiotus destructor on mango, guava, and banana,
The shade tree (Gliricidia maculata) is mentioned as
Leing seriously attacked by the scale insects, Pseudococeus
citvi and Coccus longulus, and by the aphid 7'oroptera coffeae.
This plant is sometimes used as a shade tree or as a wind-
break in cacao and lime orchards in the Lesser Antilles, but
so far has been remarkably free from pests.
In conclusion, Mr. Gowdey gives a list of some of the
parasitic and predaceous insects which he has succeeded in
breeding, and this list shows that many of the crop pests in
Uganda have their own particular insect enemies.
MOTH BORERS OF SUGAR-CANE IN
MAURITIUS.
In view of the importance of the moth borer (Diatraea
saccharalis) wherever sugar-cane is grown in the West
Indies, it may be of interest to give a short account of the
moth borers attacking sugar-cane in Mauritius. These pests
have been studied by M. d’Emmerez de Charmoy, the
Entomologist, and the results of his work have been pub-
lished as Bulletin No. 5, of the Mauritius Department of
Agriculture,
There are four species of moth borers which attack
sugar-cane in Mauritius, and these are known respectively
as the pink borer (Sesamia vuteria, Stoll.), the spotted borer
(Diatraea sacchariphaga, Bojer), the white borer (Grapholita
schistaceana), and the brown borer (A/ucita sacchari, Bojer).
The pink borer is distributed throughout the island and
is known in many sugar-growing countries, but has not been
recorded from the West Indies. It is very common on
many graminaceous weeds, on some of which it lays its eggs
hee
Vor. XVII. No. 411.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 27
eS eee — eee eee
The young caterpillars pass their early stage on these weeds,
tunnelling into the stems, and later go to thesugar-cane. The
best remedy is to keep the fields clear of weeds, but this can
rarely be practised in Mauritius owing to shortage of labour.
Other methods, however, can be used, such as cutting out of
dead hearts, rotation of crops, and growing catch crops
to keep down weeds.
It is strongly recommended in Mauritius that on no
account should sorghum, maize (Indian corn), or any other
plant related to sugar-cane be used as a catch crop, as the
cultivation of these crops in close proximity to the canes
would only serve to increase the infestation with moth borers.
It has been found that maize can be planted in Mauritius
as a trap cropon definite areas, and carefully watched and
destroyed when the plants become well infested. Experience
has shown that the pink borer has so marked a preference
for maize that this crop can be used not ouly as a preventive
against infection, but that it even serves to check an infection
which may have broken out. iz
The spotted borer is not as serious a pest in Mauritius
as the above species. The eggs are not laid merely on the
leaf-blades, as is the case with the West Indian species, but
may be laid on almost any part of the plant above ground,
and are consequently very difficult to find. The collec-
tion of egg-masses, as practised in the case of Dratraea
saccharalvs, is of no value against the Mauritius species. The
measures recommended against the pink borer may also be
used with this species, since it frequents graminaceous weeds
in the same way that the pink borer does. Both these species
have parasitic enemies in common.
The white borer moth lays its eggs on the leaf-blade or
on the sheaths, and the young larva crawls down and enters
the underground portion of the shoot. It does not go
immediately to the centre of the plant as do the other two
species, but reaches the heart by ascending spirally. The
cutting out of dead hearts is recommended, care being taken
to destroy all plants so cut, since it is important to destroy
any eggs laid on the leaves or stem. The plant should be
severed well below the surface of the soil, and as near as
possible to its point of attachment with the stool.
The brown borer as a rule only attacks cane shoots that
have been injured by the other borers, or stalks that are
diseased. It is advisable in planting not to use infested or
diseased cuttings.
M. de Charmoy also gives an account of the natural
enemies of these borers, both parasitic and predaceous, with
descriptions of the species of parasites. :
J.C.H.
WOOD OR CANDLE NUT OIL.
In forwarding to the Imperial Commissioner of Agricul
ture for the West Indies an advance copy of a note to be
published in the last number of the Ae~ Bulletin for 1917,
the substance of which is reproduced below, Mr. A. W.
Hill, Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
remarks; ‘As it is probable that the demand for drying oils
of this particular character will increase in the future, we
are inclined to think that the cultivation of the tree on a large
scale in British dominions, and especially in the West Indies,
may be worthy of serious consideration.’
The special demand for the oil yielded by the seeds of
Aleurites spp. is in connexion with varnishes used for
aeroplanes. ‘The chief source of this type of oil is 4. Purdiz,
the Chinese species, but owing to difficulties of transport
-supplies from this source are not now readily available.
Attempts have been made by obtaining a number of
seeds of A. Mordii from the Botanic Gardens, Hong Kong
both in 1912 and 1916, to grow this species in the Botanic
Gardens of several of these islands, but without success.
The seeds have germinated in most cases, but after some
time the plants have failed completely, showing that they
are unsuited to West Indian conditions. On the other
hand, A. tri/oha grows well and fruits abundantly in most of
the smaller West Indian islands, notably in Nevis and
Dominica. It would seem advisible to experiment further
with systematic cultivation of this species in favourable
localities, in view of the opinion quoted above, and the note
in the Kew Bulletin, which follows: —
‘Candle nut or Indian Walnut (Alewrztes triloba, Forst.).
A tree 40 to 60 feet high; native of Polynesia and Malaya,
distributed by cultivation to India, Burma, Ceylon, Hong
Kong, Mauritius, West Indies, East Africa.
‘Allied species A. cordata, R. Br., A. Fordii, Hemal.,
and A. trisperma, Blanco, have been dealt with in previous
issues of the Bulletin. As a source of oil the species under
consideration is of equal importance. The seeds contain
a large quantity of oil which is obtained by expression, and
because of its drying properties is used tor mixing with
paints under the name of Country Walnut Oil. The kernels,
when dried and stuck upon a stick, are used as candles in
the Polynesian Islands.
‘The nuts and oil have been reported to be edible; but
this is open to serious question, as considerable difference of
opinion exists amongst writers on the point. Having regard
to the Order (Huphorbiaceae), and the close alliance with
species known to be distinctly poisonous, it would be inad-
visable to rely on the oil for table use; it can be readily
dispensed with for this purpose since we have so miny more -
oils of proved quality and that come nearer the standard of
“olive oil” The nuts might pass locally for food, but only
when quite fresh. According to the 7vopical Agriculturist,
“the half-ripe fruits with salt have a delicate flavour, but the
ripe fruits are unwholesome and only eaten in time of scarcity.
This uncertain character is borne out by the variation in |
analyses of the oil, some comparisons of which are given in
Colonial Reports, No. 83 (Misc. Series) pp. 449-50. The oil,
however, is of growing importance because of the industrial uses
to which it may be put, and the above report bears out the
opinion already referred to as to the drying properties, typified
by linseed oil, and recommends it ‘“‘for the manufacture of
softsoap, the preparation of oil varnishes, paints and linoleum,
and for other similar purposes to which oils of this class are ‘
applied industrially.” further, the value (1906) for nuts
in Europe is given at £12 to £15 per ton, and of the oil
(1911) at £28 to £30 per ton, with the residual cake at
£110s. to £2 per ton—suggested for fertilizing. The
percentage of oil in the kernels has been variously quoted
at from 50 to 68, and where the oil cannot be expressed
locally it is recommended that only the kernels be exported
to this country. An analysis of the kernels from one
of the Pacific Islands is recorded in the Agricultural
News, Barbados, October 6, 1906. In Ceylon the nuts
are known as ‘‘Kekuna”, and an important paper entitled
“Candle Nut (Kekuna) Oil as an Industry” is published in the
Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. XUVITI, May 1917, pp. 300-2
urging its cultivation, which, as the tree grows so freely,
should not be attended with any difficulty. Planting 25 to
30 feet apart in protected situations up to 2,600 feet above
sea-level is recommended, and the tree is said to bear at the
end of the second year.’
It may be noted that an account of the efforts to
introduce A. Fourdii into the West Indies, and of the value
of its nuts as a source of drying oil, appeared in the Ayri-
cultural News, Vol. XII, p. 403.
DS THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
GLEANINGS.
By a Proclamation issued by the Governor of Barbados
~lated January 14, 1918, all foodstuffs ordinarily used as food
by man, and two articles of stock feed, namely oats and
pollard, are forbidden to be exported from the island.
The Governor of Jamaica has announced that owing to
the shortage of foodstuffs in England, he proposes to limit
the importation of food into Jamaica. The colony, he said,
must grow more food, and feed itself. (The Times, December
21, 1917.)
Out of the 49,201 tons of palm kernel exported from
Sierra Leone in 1913 Germany secured 43,016 tons. The
position is now reversed. Of the total quantity exported in
1916, which amounted to 45,316 tons valued at £680,705,
practically the whole went to the United Kingdom. (Colonial
feports—Annual, No.939. )
The advent of the first mill making white sugar direct
in Porto Rico marks a new era in the industry in the island.
{t has been put up at Central Constancia at Ponce. The
installation cost $250,000, and the plant will be capable of
dealing with 250 tons of cane daily. (Lousiana Planter,
November 10, 1917.)
A note in the Lowisiana Planter, November 3, 1917, says
it is well known that cane planters and beet growers are
more and more solving the problem of labour on their fields, in
ploughing and cultivating by the use of tractors, A recent
report states that there are now 34,371 tractors in use all
over the United States, This number has certainly increased
since that report.
Mr. H. B. Cowgill, of the Experiment Station in Porto
Rico, has published in the Journal of the Department of
Agriculture of Porto Rico for July 1917, a method of identi
fication and description of sugar-cane varieties. He truly
says that the number of varieties of sugar-cane is increasing
rapidly, and for this reason it is desirable to have a method
of accurately describing and identifying them.
In British Guiana the art of straw plaiting for making
Panama hats is being regularly taught in some of the Girls’
Primary Schools, the young leaf shoots of Carludovica
yalmata grown at the Botanic Gardens, Georgetown, and
the Experimental Rubber Farm, Issororo, N. W. District, being
supplied to the schools, as the raw material for the purpose,
by tke Department of Science and Agriculture. (Com/ined
Court Minute Taper, No. 927, 1917, British Guiana.)
tons,
January 26, 1918.
In order to make the best use of her existing resources,
India must give up most of her industrial crops for both:
seasons of 1915-19, and concentrate her energies entirely on
food grains—in a word, increase her output of grain by as.
many million tons as possible She is one of the few countries
which ean tall lightly about millions of tons; she is in a posi-
tion to add to herproduction of food grains an amount which
might make all the difference to the world. (The Agricultural
Journal of India, October 1917.)
Ina printed reply to Colonel Faber, who asked how
many tractor ploughs had been supplied by the Government,
how many acres had been ploughed, and at what cost,
Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of Agriculture says, that
the number in England and Wales, up to November !, was
1,618, of which about 1,000 had been supplied since July 1.
The area ploughed to November 1 was estimated at about
200,000 acres. The average gross expenditure throughout
England and Wales on the running expenses of tractors
amounted to 28s. 6d. per acre, but it is known that since
August the average cost has been reduced. (Zhe Times,
November 13, 1917.)
It is contended, and the contention is supported by
a great and growing volume of evidence, that where tractors
have been properly used and adequately supervised they are
progressively useful’ in agricultural operations. It may be
impossible entirely to guard against bad weather, shortage of
spare parts, and various other causes: but doubtless in the past
much of the indifferent work done by tractors has been due-
to an unwise selection of the land on which they were put
to work, slack control, or want of skill on the part of the
men entrusted with them, (The Jownal of the Board of
Agriculture, November 1917.)
The utilization of kelp for obtaining a supply of potash
in California was noticed in a recent issue of this Journal.
Similar experiments which are recorded in the Agricultural
Gazette of Canada, November 1917, have been condue-
ted in Nova Scotia ona sea-weed of the Atlantic coast, :
Fucus nodosus. The sea-weed is dried and ground. until
the finished product bears a close resemblance to coffee in’
appearance. As a fertilizer it has given good results. When,
however, normal prices for nitrogen and potash obtained,
this product could not have been prepared and used econom-
ically; but under existing conditions the possibilities of this
source of potash seem to invite further investigations
Two Japanese companies are being formed for .the
purpose of engaging in the sugar industry in the Dutch East
Indies. One company, it is understood, has purchased a large °
sugar mill in Java. The other company is being established
for the purpose of purchasing suitable cane-growing land in
Java and Sumatra, The capital of this company is -stated
to be about £612,000. It has already purchased a ‘sugar
estate in Sumatra, and a tract of land.in Java to be brought
under cane cultivation, Manufacturing operations will
be commenced with a plant of a daily eapacity of 300 tons,
which it is intended to inzrease later to a capacity of 1,500
(The Board of Trade Journal, November 8, 1917.)
Vou. XVII. No, 411.
THE AGRICUL-
MONTSERRAT: REPORT ON
TURAL DEPARTMENT, 1916-17
This report, which has just been issued, is longer than
usual, and is full of interesting matter. It shows that the
Curator, Mr. Robson, not only takes a keen interest in the
agricultural welfare of the island, but is doing good work in
promoting that welfare. It scems somewhat of a pity that
the space available at the Botanic Station in Montserrat
should be so limited, but it is plain that good use is made
of this limited area. In connexion with the gardens, the
remarks on hedges bear out what has been several times
noted in this Journal, that ‘Bread-and-cheese’ (P2thecolobium
unguis-catt) is probably one of the best p'ants for a hedge in
the tropics, although the sweet lime (7'raphasva aurantiola)
is rightly mentioned as forming a most ornamental hedge.
A number of peach trees have been growing at the station
for some years, but there has been no indication of their
successful fruiting, and accordingly most of them have been
cut down. From experiments made in the germination of
bay tree seeds it has been demonstrated that they can easily
be raised in secd-beds under shelter, and after the young
plants are established the shade can be removed, and the
plants transplanted into nursery beds without further pro-
tection from the sun. Seeds of the bay tre2 have been sent
from Montserrat to Eyypt, Jamaica, and Hast Africa. The
seeds were packed in powdered charcoal mixed with water in
the proportion of 4 fluid ounces to 1 lb. of charcoal, which
proved a satisfactory method of conveyance.
Mr. Robson is conducting a series of experiments on
breeding cotton to fix a type which will be satisfactory to
the cotton growers of that island, and als» to the spinners.
Ten varieties were tested for yield, and the following
details were examincd: (1) the actual yield of lint, (2) the
broker’s valuation of a sample of lint, (3) proportion of lint
to seed, (4) size of the bolls, (5) behaviour of lint under spin-
ning test, (6) the purity of the strains as indicated by the lint
lengths and the percentage of lint on a given number of plants.
As regard the spinning tests, five samples were for-
warded to the Vice-President of the Fine Cotton Spinners’
and Doublers’ Association of Manchester, who reported that
all five samples were of high grade, and approximated closely
to the better St. Vincent types. Lint from two varieties,
namely Donglass, the strain which is highly valued in St.
Kitts, and H. 9Th., which has been thought most highly of
in Montserrat, was submitted to Mr. E. Lomas Oliver, who
reported that if the samp'es represented what the bulk of tha
Montserrat crop is as regards quality, that the difference
in price, which then existed between St. Kitts and Montserrat
cotton in favour of the former, will doubtless soon disappear
altogether; for the samples were most excellent cotton, and
all concerned were to be congratulated on so steadily main-
taining and improving the quality of cotton grown in
Montserrat.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 29
Turning to the lime industry, it appears that it is not
in a very satisfactory condition. The area under cultivation
is lessening, and there secins to be a feeling that the con-
ditions of this cultivation need considerable improvement.
Experiments are being conducted as to tlie benefit which may
result from spraying young lime trees for the extermination
of the purple scale, which is looked upon as a very serious
pest.
The bay oil industry is receiving considerable attention,
as is shown by the fact that no less than 50,000 bay plants
have been distributed from the Station in the last four years,
and the demonstrations at the Station of the proper care
and treatment of bay trees must be of great value to those
interested in the industry.
It would not seem from the returns on experimental
shipments made to Canada, that the cultivation of pine-apples
as a crop in Montserrat would be sufficiently remunerative.
Among the leguminous crops experimented with was
a species of Stizolobium or Mucuna, a sample of which was
forwarded to the Imperial Institute for examination. The
interesting report received will be published in the next
issue of this Journal.
The results of the yield of eighteen different varieties of
sweet potatoes are given in the report. The best of them,
known as North No, 4, gave an estimated yield of 21,318 b.
This same variety, however, only gave an estimated average
yield on fourteen experiments of 12,864 fb. This variety is
supposed to be of local origin. Of the introduced varieties,
Trinidad No, | took the first placa, giving an average yield
on nine experiments of 14,967 bb.
Cotton stainers damaged the crop in Montserrat to
a considerable extent, the proportion of stained cotton in
last season’s crop being 77 percent. Mr. Robson advises
that the same destruction of host plants of the stainer be
carried out in Montserrat as has proved beneficial in St. Vin-
cent. The quality of the cotton now being exported from
the island has evidently steadily improved in recent years,
and the island is fortunate in having an industry so well
suited to local conditions; no efforts should be spared to
further its interests. Mr. Robson thinks that sugar-cane
would be a satisfactory rotation crop for cotton, except for the
difficulty that the reaping season for cane overiaps the
planting season for cotton. Hesuggests that a bean or
pea crop will be found to answer every purpose as
a rotation crop. This opinion appears thoroughly sound,
especially in view of the need of increased local supply of
foodstuffs.
Onion cultivation is receiving considerable attention,
and the industry is furthered by the successful working of
the Montserrat Onion Growers’ Ass ciation in co-operation
with the similar association in Antigua.
From a table of principal exports it appears that
394,049 tb. of cotton lint, valued at £33,079, together with
448 tons of cotton seed, valued at £3,188, were shipp2d from
Montserrat in 1916, being a long way its principal industry.
The second place is taken by lime products. Of these
116,447 gallons of raw lime juice, valued at £17,185, and
3,188 gallons of concentrated lime juice, valued at £739,
together with 235 cwt. of citrate of lime, valued at £352,
were exported. The export of pipiin is peculiar to
Montserrat of all the smaller West Indian islands. In 1916
this reached the considerable total of 2,476 lb., with a value
of £1,560. The sugar indus‘ry, which for some years past
has been almost a negligible quantity, has, as in most of the
smaller islands, witnessed a considerable extension, 417 tons
of sugar having been shipped in 1916.
PLANT DISEASES.
—_—_—_
PLANT DISEASES IN UGANDA.
The Annual Report for 1916-17 of the Department of
Agriculture of the Uganda Protectorate contains references
to diseases of cultivated plants which are of interest for
comparison with those of older established cultivations else-
where in the tropics.
The principal export crop is cotton, which it is estimated
covered 130,000 acres. This is followed in importance by
coffee and rubber, and as small but developing industries,
by cacao, tea, sugar-cane, and tobacco. With regard to cotton
it is reported that as the result of adverse weather conditions
the losses were exceedingly heavy, and there was a large
percentage of stained and immature fibre. At the Govern-
ment Plantation heavy rain in the midst of the picking
season resulted in the proportion of bolls diseased and spoilt
by the weather reaching 90 percent. Early and late cotton
was alike affected. Specific information as to the modes of
loss is scanty, but the Government Botanist, Mr. W. Small,
reports that anthracnose and areolate mildew were common.
No reference is made to the presence of Bacterswm malva-
cearum, the most widely distributed cause of serious disease
in this crop in the West Indies.
The principal disease of coffee appears to be die-back,
of uncertain causation, but following in many cases on the
bearing of a very heavy crop.
In this affection the primaries and twigs are most
freauently attacked at the joint, but the middles of young
primaries also often become affected. The affected part
turns black, and the tissue breaks down. In the early stages
such primaries present a sickly appearance, the leaves at the
apex hang down, wither, and {all off. The primaries eventu-
ally become dry sticks. In some cases laterals grow out
from one or two of the older nodes.
The fungus Colletotrichum coffeanum, Noack, is closely
associated with the disease, occurring even in its early stages.
It is not invariably present, and the Government Botanist
takes the view that it cannot be held responsible for the
die-back that occurs on such a large scale.
It is the opinion of that officer that die-back, in the
sense of the weakening and frequent deaths of trees which
follow over-bearing, especially at the time of the first heavy
crop, is more to be feared in Uganda than the notorious
Hemileia disease. The latter is always present on Coffea
but its effects have not the disastrous nature of
those attributed to it elsewhere.
Cercospora coffeicola, causing a leaf and berry blotch,
is always to be found on coffee estates but was not much in
evidence during the year. A root disease characterized by
black rhizomorphs has occurred on coffee, cacao, tea, rubber,
and indigenous trees,
The most harmful of Uganda cacao diseases is the die-back
familiar in the West Indian and other cacao districts,
essociated with Lastodiplodia theulromae. A soft rot of the
pods is attributed to the same fungus. A fungus identified
as Colletotrichum theobromicolum, Del., causes a destructive
Lardening of the pods. A similar disease, possibly identical,
cecurs occasionally in the West Indies, and has been recently
met with causing reddish-brown hardened
immature pods in St. Vincent
On Hevea, die-back attributed to the same fungus as in
1e case of io has been fairly common, Other recognized
> have not as yet made their appearance in
araticu
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
patches on:
1928.
January 26,
The conclusion reached is that Uganda is still im
a favourable position as regards the frequency of plant
diseases and the harm done by them, but itis recognized
that this state of affairs cannot be expected to continue for an
indefinite period.
The reference to root diseases of permanent crops indicates
the approach of a troublesome stage which has to be passed
through in all tropical countries where plantations are
established on forest land. The fungi encountered vary with
the situation, but have this character in common, that they
spread from stumps and logs and soil rich in the accumulations
of forest debris. If their advent is foreseen, much can be
done to diminish their effects; ifearly precautions are
neglected, depressing losses have to be faced, and the problem
of eradication becomes far more difficult.
Wee
FACTORS AFFECTING THE SMUT
DISEASE OF CORN.
In view of the occurrence —varying in intensity, but never
as yet reported to be severe—of the smut disease of Indian
corn in these islands, the following summary of conclusions
reached in a study of the fungus by E. J. Piemeisel (Phyto-
pathology, VII, 4, 294-307) is reproduced:—~
1. The infection of corn by Ustilago Zeae (Beckm.)
Unger., is purely local; no evidence of systemic infection was
obtained.
2. When very young plants become infected they are
often killed. ‘
3. Injury to the host plant, close planting, very early or
very late planting, and growth on rich soil are conducive to
heavy smut attacks.
4. Vigorously growing plants, between 2 and 3 feet
high, are most susceptible to smut attack.
5, The spores of U. Zeae can cause infection either
when young or old. Spores germinate readily as soon as
mature, and retain their viability for several years; infection
was obtained by inoculating corn plants with spores five
years old.
6. The corn-smut fungus does not lose its virulence
_quickly when grown on artificial media.
7. The spores of U. Zeae, almost without exception,
lost their viability after having been kept in a silo for a few
weeks.
_ %. The factors causing spores to lose their viability in
the silo have not been determined definitely; it seems prob-
able that the silage acids, especially acetic, may be the
destructive agents.
9. Sporidia were kept in pure culture continuously for
three and a half years, at the end of which they remained
viable. Inoculation experiments with the same material
gave inconclusive results,
10. Sporidia were desiccated for about five months with-
out seriously impairing their viability.
11. Freezing injures sporidia but little; alternate freezing
and thawing, however, is injurious to moist sporidia, less so
to desiccated sporidia.
12. The optimum temperature for the budding of
sporidia is between 20° and 26° C., the maximum at about
10°C., and the thermal death point near 46°C.
13, Sporidia can germinate and bud in silage juice
but are injured in a solution containing acids in the propor-
tionate concentration in which they occur in silage.
14. Theability of sporidia, as well as spores, to with-
stand wifavourable conditions is very significant in explaining
some of the facts in the parasitism of WU. Zeae.
Ss
auctions are always held.
“October.
-demand.
Calicut.
-disposed of at 2s. 3d. per hb.;
throughout the month. It
Vora; XVII... No. £11.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 31
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice markets
for the month of November 1917:—
In reviewing the conditions of the drug and spice market
-during the month of November, it is necessary to say that
the business of five weeks, instead of the usual four weeks,
-comes under review, as the Ist and 29th of November both
fell on a Thursday—the day of the week on which the drug
With regard to the condition of
the markets from week to week, but little or no change can
be reported, either in supply or demand, since our report for
Buyers do not proceed beyond satisfying their
immediate wants, and with regard to prices the general
tendencies are upwards. The following are the principal
items of interest.
GINGER.
At auction on the 8th of the month ginger was in quiet
Some 812 packages vf Cochin and Calicut were
brought forward, and 114 sold at 65s. per cwt. for brown
rough Calicut: sound was all bought in at from 72s. to 74s.
‘Some 100 bags of Sierra Leone were bought in at 65s.
A fortnight later ginger was again in steady demand and in
plentiful supply; 420 packages of Cochin and Calicut were
brought forward, and 281 sold, 67s. 6d. being paid for fair,
washed, rough Cochin, and 65s. for bold, brown, rough
Some 100 bags of Sierra Leone were also offered,
and bought in at 60s. per cwt.
MACE AND PIMENTO,
Mace has commanded slightly advanced prices on previous
rates, and has been in good demand. Thus at auction on
November 7, 4 cases from Java of fine, bold, palish realized
s, 2d. to 4s. 3d. per tb., while 2 other cases from Penang of
bold character, but somewhat wormy, fetched 4s. to 4s. 2d.
Some 20 cases of Bombay were also disposed of at 73d. to
$id. per Ib. Towards the end of the month some 31 cases of
flat, red Singapore were disposed of at 3s. 8d. to 3s. 10d.
Pimento has been in good demand during the month. At
-auction on the 7th, 500 bags were offered and sold at 44d. per
Ib., a price that was slightly less towards the end of the month,
when 434 bags were offered, described as the result of
a Prize action.
SARSAPARILLA.
It was reported in the early part of the month that the
prices generally of ASEROGRE had advanced, and that
2s. 3d. per fb. was asked for Mexican. On the 15th of the
month the offerings at auction were as follows: grey Jamaica
10 packages, native Jamaica 8, Mexican 17, and Honduras
3. None of the grey Jamaica was sold, 4s. per lb. being
asked; while 7 packages of the native Jamaica found
buyers at the following rates: 2s. 3d. to 2s. 4d. per tb. for red
and yellow mixed, and Is. 10d. to 1s. 11d. for dull red partly
sea-damaged. Of the 17 bales of Mexican, 5 only were
out of the 9 bales of Hon-
duras 3 only were sold at 3s. 3d. per bb.
CIERIC ACID, ARROWROOT, LIME OIL, CASSTA FISTULA,
KOLA, and TAMARINDS.
Citric acid has remained at from 3s. 2id. to 3s. 3d.
has been stated, however, that
it is the intention of the Italian Government to advance
the price of the raw material by 60 percent. At auction
on the Ist of the month arrowroot was in very full
supply, amounting to several hundred barrels of fair to
fine manufacturing St. Vincent, part of which was disposed
of at from 5}2d. to 64d. per bb. a price which varied only
slightly throughout the month. The price of lime oil in the
middle of the month was 7s. per bb. for distilled, and 1€s. for
hand-pressed. At auction on the 17th of the month
(is. 6d. per ewt. was asked for Cassia Fistula pods. Kola
was in good supply at the auction on the 15th, as
many as 16] packages being offered, and sold at from 914,
to 94d. per tb. for medium to bold, dried Java halves, ‘At
the same auction the large consignment of 188 barrels of
Antigua tamarinds was disposed of at 35s. 6d. to 37s. 6d,
per ewt.; and for Montserrat, 37s. 6d. to 39s. 6d. was paid.
.
TANNING POSSIBILITIES IN THE WEST
INDIES.
The tanning of locally produced hides and skins has
been undertaken more or less successfully in most of the
West Indian islands on a small scale from time to time,
Jamaica being the only one,as far as the writer of this
article is aware, where the industry is carried on somewhat
extensively and scientifically in fairly large tanneries. In the
smaller islands, such as Barbados, Grenada, St, Lucia and
Antigua, there are small attempts made at tanning by
individuals here and there, with a very limited coupes In
some of these cases the product has not been able to compare
favourably with imported leather.
Owing to the difficulty under present conditions o=
obtaining imported leather, renewed interest has been
shown in this direction. In Antigua for instance, Mr. C olen
Superintendent of Agriculture, at a meeting of th local
Agricultural and Commercial Society i in August £1917, Pp pointed
out the possibilities of a local tanning industry, as was noticed
in Vol. XVI, No. £04, of this Journal. In St. Lucia, we learn
from information supplied 1 by Mr. E. Buckmire, Agricultural
Assistant in that island, that most of the leather used } by the
shoemakers there is locally tanned, but that the quality is
inferior to imported leather in durability and resistance to
wet.
Mr. Buckmire reports that the tanning industry in
St. Lucia has been gradually developing for more than twelve
years, and that skins are now being tanned in almost every
district of the island, but in no case is it carried on as
a man’s sole occupation, nor is there any regular BAIDERY:
The bark of the mangrove is the usual material emy loyed in
the process, and sox netime also the bark of a tree known
locally and in some other islands also as ‘Bois tan (Syrsonimea
spicata).
It seems desirable thatthe tanning indus
be encouraged and devel oped; and for this pur
improvement of the quality of the leather ought to
at. In the first place the: co-operation o7 individ
might lead to the construction of i
where competent w orkmen 1 ig
enabling them to devote their Bhcis attentio :
In the second place, research might be made into lozal
supplies of tanning material, for as is well-]
a number of indigenous or naturalized p
rich in tannin. Thus the quality of the
improved as to be able to compete fairl
with that imported, and leather enou
supply local needs, if not for export.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, “Janvary 26,1918.
to
MA RKET RE PO RTS. New York.—Messrs Gitesprz Bros. & Co., December 11,
London.—Tng Wesr Inpra Committee CrRcuLaR, Cacao—Caracas, 12he. to Ic.; Grenada, 12c. to 12}c.;
Breanber 13 Trinidad, 12$c. to 13c.; Jamaica, 9c. to 10}e. ‘
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $40°00 to S$42-00; Trinidad
ArRownoot—6/. to 7d. selects, $55°00 to $3800; culls, $20:00 to $30-00 per M,
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/33 to 3,54; Sheet, 3/9 to CorrrE—Jamaica, 9jc. to 11c. per tt.
4/-. Gineer—IlGhc. to 21e. per tb.
Bereswax—No quotations. ; Goat Sxrxs—Jamaica, 80c.; Antigua and Barbados, 70e. to
Cacao—Trinidad, 99/-; Grenada, 96/-; Jamaica, no quota- 75c.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 65c. to TOc. per fb,
tions. Grape Fruit—Jamaica, $2°25 to $3:00 per box.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations Lres—$6°50 to $7°00 per bri.
Corra—£46, Mace—32c. to 38c. per tb.
Frvit—No quotations. Nourmecs—18hc. to 2le.
Griscern—Jamaica, 105/- Orances—$2'50 to $3:00.
Honey—Jamaica, 130/- to 135/- per cwt. : Pimento—5jc. to 6c. per ft.
Live Jurce—Naw, 2 - to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations; Svuear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:'70c; Muscovados, 89°, 5°86c.:
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17,6. Molasses, 89°, 5°57c. all duty paid. KC
Locwoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotat ions.
Nurmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—4}¥/. :
Rescer—Para, fine hard, 2.6}; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
_ Barbados.—Messrs. T.S. Garraway & Co., January 21,
Trinidad.—Messrs, Gorpox, Grant & Co., December 27,
Cacao—Venezucelan, $12 00 to $12°25 Trinidad, no quota- Arrowroot—$9'00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—$12'00 per i00 fh.
Coco-nuts—$28'80 husked nuts.
Hay—$2°90.
tions.
Coco-nut Or~—$1°35 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, 12c. per th.
Corra—$7‘70 per 100 In. Motasses—No quotations.
Daat—No quotations. Ontoxns—No quotations.
Oxstoxs—$8‘00 per 100 tb. Peas, Sptit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations,
Pras, Sprit—$1 2-00 to $12°50 per bag. Potators—No quotations.
Potators—English, $4°50 to $5:00 per 100 ir. Rick—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, ro quotations; Ran-
Rice—Yellow, $11°50 to $11°75; White, 9°50 per bag. goor, no quotations.
Svear—American crushed, nv quotations. Sucar—Dark Crystals $3°C0.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal,
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HAND-BOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Hand-books are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The numbcr issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, ie
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each—
Post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMEN'TS may be obtained on-application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos. Lawton & Co., St. George,
West Inp1a Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonavre, ‘Times’ Office,
Barbados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nives, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: Tue Epucationan Suprry Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripcewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station,
British Guiana: Tut Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Manone, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Mutr-MarsHaty & Co., Port-of-Spain, St. Kitts: Tuk Brete anp Book Suprpty AGENcy, BASSETERRE,
Tobago: Mr. C, L, PLacemann, Scarborough, Nevis: Messrs. Howe, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W, Ciemens, §1, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto.
We are buyers of =
a
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Bare OP ouceay te
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Widget PRAM. =
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And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
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a LO Se ee er
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
chients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
--- In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ein
ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
Vot,. XVII. No. 411 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. January 26, 1918,
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONI‘! USE
PAE Ni jas
Dissolved (Soluble) Gua
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GHNERAL USE.
TRADE MARE.
ZS Oy
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd. -
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C,
_Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
| THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business’ are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation ea! business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage, =
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
Waa __BARBADOS. _
Printed at Office of Agriculimra! Reporter, 4, High Street) Bridgetown, Barbadda,
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1918.
R. M. S. P.
‘Vol. XVII. No. 412.]
3 MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
; WEST INDIES
: ' TO | PORTS OF CALL
THE UNITED KINGDOM Azores.
[ St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad.
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PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
\Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
'REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SEKViUnK> ekOM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
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CANADA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
Hee SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
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STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA ==": ,
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Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos Airas, Santos, Sao\Paulo
Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
eae } :
— THe Lire History
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OF
THe CATTLE TICK
y. itis nece,
to know the life history of the tick, and the influence of temperature, moisture, and other climatic conditions on the
é
GATTLE Tee
roe
The impo Aance of accurate knowledge on this subject lies in the fact that, before methods of eradication can be carried out intelligentty and success- »
existence. In the following notes, whenever the term “tick” or “cattle tick” is used it refers to the one species, Margaropus annulatus, the common
Cattle Tick, which is so prevalent throughout the West Indies.
Only % part of the development of the tick takes place on the animal host; the rest of the development occurs on the pasture occupied by the host.
DEVELOPMENT on the GROUND
"WHE ENGORGED FEMALE. In tracing the life
aoe Od the cattle tick it will be convenient to begin
wit'a “ae plump, olive-green female tick, about half
evs inch in length, attached to the skin of the host.
Baring the last few days — on the host, she has
imcreased enormously in size, as a consequence of
drawing a large supply of blood.
When full Sa fest she drops to the ground, and
at once, especi @ weather is warm, begins to
search for a hiding place on moist earth beneath leaves
or any other litter which may serve as a protection
from the sun and numerous enemies, or shield her from
unfavourable conditions. The female tick may be
devoured by birds, or destroyed by ants, or may perish
as a result of unfavourable conditions, such as low
temperature, absence or excess of moisture, and many
other conditions ; so that many female ticks which fall to
the ground are destroyed before they lay eggs.
; EGG LAYING. Egg laying begins during the
spring. summer and fall months in from 2 to 20 days.
and during the winter months in from 13 to 98 days,
after falling tothe ground. The eggs are small, elliptical-
shaped bodies, at first of a light amber colour, later
ehanging to a dark brown, and are about one-fiftieth of
an inch in length. As the eggs are laid they are coated
with a sticky secretion which causes them to adhere in
clusters and no doubt serves the purpose of keeping
them from drying out. During egg laying, the mother
tick gradually shrinks in size and finally is reduced to
about eet or Spee g 3 = 1 size. Egg
laying is gteatly influenced mperature, being
ed or even arrested by my It is completed in
from 4 days in the summer to 161 days, beginning in
the fall. During this time the tick may deposit from
a few hundred to more than 6,000 eggs. After egg laying
ig completed the mother tiok has fulfilled her purpose
and dies in the course of a few days.
Since each female lays an enormous mass of eggs
at one spot, thousands o! larve will eae, d in. the
course of time at the same place, and will ascend the
near-by vegetation and collect on the leaves and other
parts of plants. This instinct of the seed ticks to climb
upward is a very important adaptation of Nature's to
increase their chances of reaching their host. If the
vegetation upon which they rest is disturbed, they
become very active and extend their long front legs
upward in a divergent position. waving them violently
in an attempt to seize hold of a host,
The seed tick during its life on the pasture takes
no food, and consequently does not increase in size, and
unless it reaches a host to take up the parasitic portion
of its development, it dies of starvation. The endurance
of seed ticks is very great, however, as they haye been
found to live nearly eight months, even during the
colder part of the year.
DEVELOPMENT ON CATTLE
“SEED” TICKS. The parasitic phase of develop-
ment begins when the larve or seed ticks reach a
favourable host, such as a cow. They crawl up over
the hair of the host, and commonly attach themselves
to the skin of the escutcheon, the inside of the thighs
and flanks, and to the dewlap. They at once begin te
draw blood, and soon increase in size.
THE NYMPH. In a fow days the young tick
changes from a brown colour to white, andin from 6 to
12 days sheds its skin. The new form has eight legs
instead of six and is known as a nymph.
SEXUALLY MATURE TICKS. In from 5 to ll
days after the first moult the tick again sheds its skin and
becomes sexually mature. It is at this stage that males
and females are with certainty distinguishable for the
first time,
The Male. The male tick emerges from his skin
as a brown, oval tick, about one-tenth of an inch in
length, He has completed his growth and goes through
no further development. Later he shows great activity,
moving about more or less over the skin of the host.
The Female. The female tick at the time of
ous stages of
moulting is slightly larger than the male. She never
shews much activity, seldom moving far from her
original nt of attachment. She still has to undergo
most of hergrowth. After mating, the female increases
very rapidly in size, and in from 21 to 66 days after
beco attached to a host asa seed tick, she Becomes
and drops to the pasture, to start again
development by laying eggs.
m each
a six-legged larva or “seed” tick, at first
amber coloured, later changing to a rich brown. The
“seed” tick, after crawling slowly over and about the
ascends the nearest vegetation, suck es graas, other full
herbs. and even shrubs. thee
‘ SUMMARY OF LIFE HISTORY
‘ : om thi th found three larva or seed t ima} host
are aes herat Dagee, Date tha laren = Ge oe the Het nek apes hy po gee py rth the et en en ec
(The above ts an extrast from a Bulletin issued offirially by the United fiates Department of Agriculture, entitled—
“ Metheds of Eixtterminatiing the Temae Power Tick.)
WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
OT. KITTS: S. L. Horsford & Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Br, $99 & Ce
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston,
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd.
BAHAMAS: W.N. Twynam, Nassau,
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP
Blas received the official approval of the following Counteles:
Walon of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutelamd,
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar,
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, seit. > ee ran gal my hh ipalns
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queenslasé, “ = gy VINCENT: Corea & Co,, Kingstown. NEVIS: S. D. Malone.
DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
pared States Of America, New South Wales, MONTSERRAT: W.Liewellyn Wall, DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton,
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA; Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Manufs-turers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toremto, Chicago, Sydmey, Melbourme, Amckland, Bueaos Aires, Monte Video, Ponta Arenas, East London, Odessa
MAN 2&0 III
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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW |
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. ee
Vou. XVII. No. 412. BARBADOS, FEBRUARY 9, 1918. Price ld.
CONTENTS achievement. The modern manufactures and natural
: materials of commerce have a very important province
to fulfil, but there is proof both here and on the
oe Pack. Continent articularly in Germany, to show that
Agricultural Exanina- | Manures, Farmyard and wiht ake : onan veer sl : oe 7
Rie on Ree Other ee 33 continuous exclusive artificial manuring is detrimental
Agriculture in Barbados 36 | Market Re sports... 48 to the health and ultimate productivity of the soil,
Agriculture in Jamaica 36 ) Mosquitoes and Malaria 43 Bhs: = b : 7 CPI « 25 -
Bengal Beans in Mont- | Notes and Comments 40 s may be due to chemical action, but it is quite
BOrTe Utes) ea. 33)| pa) Thaliaeanc ; as likely to result from the absence of the beneficent
(Gan eM ore 39 Pine, The Canary “ge VE
Coco-nut Flowers, ne poe Poe. ae ecnes influence of farmyard manure upon the physical state
; for Treatment of Cotto1 p : :
ation of... 40) ord against... 49 Of the land. Ib is known that while concentrated
Corn Meal, Home- Ground A ss - OViee *): : - :
Tistaceeicntal Bano oi Bint Dis ee fertilizers may, in certain circumstances, be more
af F pete ‘omes Tucidus as a epi eaieies BL. Se: a ; ;
abe Gocumphion tear: i Parasifieniigane AG effective than dung in forcing crops safely through
Bleanines Tress 14g | Queensland Sponges... 41 critical stages of development, and, used freely, will
Grass, A Mud-Binding 41 | Se !sland Cotton Market 88 produce more vigorous growth than farmyard manure
Hog Cholera in Barbados 47 | Tomatoes and Asparagus a 5 RES REVO.L a Le , sae tyes :
=2 ee eae 2 Gina dele 5 4 alone, the latter acts as a valuable corrective to weather
The Sweet Potato Root Tractor, New Ford 45 extremes; 1b conserves moisture in dry seasons, and
Weevil 42.) Waste Products of Cane- facili oat ee ates EA are :
5 acilite are o , ne S xcess yal
Items of Local Tnterest oe | Sugie Making... 38 tates lr Minage Ww hen there is an excess of water in
the surface soil.
Farmyard amt Other Manures.
N anarticle under this heading, The Mield
of September 15, 1917, draws attention to
a possible divergence of opinion between
pe iners and their scientific observers concerning the
relative merits of farmyard and artificial manures: in
this it states: “here are two points upon which it looks
as if practice and science were tv come into conflict,
The latter has a greater belief in the virtues of the
concentrated artificial manures than the former. The
farmer appreciates the qualities of artificials, but in
his estimation, based upon personal experience and
careful observation, they can be used to better advan-
tage tosupplement dung than to displace it. It will
take a great deal to shake this conyiction, for it is
rooted in generations of careful study and practical
The confidence reposed in manure
made in the yards, therefore, is firmly founded upon
solid economic teaching coupled with practical attain-
ments. Dressings of artificial manures may
be added with varying advantage, often very great
benefit, but animal manure should, wherever practi-
cable, form the foundation in the general scheme of
manuring land.’
As regards West Indian agriculture and the
advice given by scientific advisers to planters, we think
it may safely be asserted that this is mainly in accord
with the view of the writer of the article quoted above.
Here both scientist and planter realize the value,
indeed the necessity, of using farmyard manure or its
equivalent, though the advisers of the planters may
at times urge that more farmyard manure should be
used, that more effurt should be made to increase the
quantity that is available, and that greater pains should
34 THE AGRICULTURAL
be taken to conserve it soas to avoid waste of its
valuable qualities.
As Phe Ficld’s article indicates, farmyard manure
performs two distinct functions: it provides material
which acts, more or less directly, as food for the crop,
and it exerts certain beneficial effects upon thé soil.
The former of these functions can be fulfilled to a very
large extent by artificial manures, but the function of
soil amelioration is largely confined to farmyard manure,
or to the somewhat similar substances employed by
way of ‘green dressings. ‘The provision of decaying
vegetable matter, to form what is familiarly spoken of
as humus, is recognized to be essential to the produc-
tion of fertile fields,and it is also acknowledged that this
provision is even more necessary in the tropics than
in temperate regions, on account of the rapidity with
which humus decays and disappears under tropical
conditions of heat and moisture.
At the present moment the difticulty of the West
Indian planter lies in the tact that he is unable to
obtain those quantities of artificial manures which
practice has informed him to be desirable for supple-
menting the farmyard manure commonly used.
Ib is quite true that the employment of artificial
manures is often regarded both in England and in the
-colonies as evidence of scientific agriculture, and so it is
to a certain extent; it may be true also, that the undue
or wasteful use of these manures often characterizes
the less skilful planter, whose practical experience may
not have kept pace with his theoretical ideas, but it
cannot be said that scientific workers who have had
much experience in the tropics underrate the value
of farmyard manure, or advise planters to neglect its
aise in favour of artificials.
‘The other point, says The Field, ‘upon which
a division of opinion is prohable is the influence of the
ration upon the fertilizing value of the dung. Science
appears to be changing its view in respect to this
question. It has been suggested that existing beliefs
concerning the fertilizing properties of manure made
from stock fed liberally with meals and cake are not
justitied by actual results. ‘The evidence upon which
this far-reaching pronouncement is based has not yet
been made known, but should this plea be seriously
advanced, a sharp contlict with practical experience is
assured. Farmers, who had the support of early
scientists and many still living, hold decided views
on the value of high feeding as a source of soil fertility,
-and, as a matter of fact, the whole system of farming is
based upon the acceptance of this principle. There
NEWS. Fesrusry 9, 1918.
are not a few who believe that the present estimate is
founded upon too generous a scale, but science will
tackle a difficult problem if it should now set out to
disprove wha‘ its earlier exponents and successive
generations of competent farmers established as a
tindamental condition ia good husbandry,’
This question receives much less consideration. in
the West Indies than 15 does in Britain: it is perhaps
a pity that it does so, for a fuller perception of the
points at issue would lead to more careful conservation
of the farmyard manure produced upon estates.
There is one point in connexion with the use of
farmyard manure which may perhaps be worth raising
at this point, and that is, the value of farmyard manure
as a means whereby certain necessary beneficial bac-
teria are conveyed to the soil. It is probable that the
beneficial effect of farmyard manure is largely inflnenced
by the manner and the rate at which it undergoes
change in the soil. The changes are, doubtless, largely
caused by certain bacteria which have the property
of decomposing the cellulose of the tissues of the
vegetable matter existing in the manure. ‘The
necessary bacteria exist in the alimentary tract of the
animals producing the manure, and continue their
functions in the manure heap and in the field. In
this way they help to render more immediately nseful
the tissues contained in the litter which forms a large
part of most farmyard manure and the vegetable
matter from other sources which is added to the soil.
In this connexion the suggestion has been made that
probably the addition of small quantities of farmyard
manure, with its attendant bacteria, to the soil at the
same time that green dressings are applied. will
prove the idea being that, in the event
of there being a deficiency of these organisnis in
useful,
the soil, the green dressing will only become ayail-
able at aslow rate, and so may fail in its etticiency,
whereas the addition of the required bacteria may
speed the process of decay, and so hasten and increase
the activity of the green dressing.
It is probably on account of this bacterial action
that planters prefer, when possible, to put the extra
material in the way of bush, grass, and the like, into
the pens to mingle with the farmyard nianure, rather
than to bury it directly in the land. It would be
a useful matter for experiment, to determine whether
similar useful action will go on in the field if additions
of farmyard manure are added to green dressings. If
this is the case, it may possibly lead to an increased
use of the practice of green dressing, which appears to
be svffering some neglect.
Vou. XVII No. 412.
BENGAL BEANS IN MONTSERRAT.
Experiments have been made at the Botanic Station in
Montserrat with species of Stizolobium (Mucuna), in order
to discover a reliable type which can be used as a sto:k food,
and, in conjunction with pigeon peas, be grown as a rotation
the
crop with cotton. A sample of the beans was sent to
Imperial” Institute for examination, and a report on the
sample was returned to Montserrat, and embodied in the
report of the Agricultural Department of that island for the
year ended March 31, 1917, which has just been issued.
As these beans are being experimented with in other
islands also, the report which is quoted in extenso below
will doubtless be of value and interest.
‘The sample consisted of flat beans of a roundish rectan-
gular shape, and of a, light greyish-ash colour with very faint’
marking, and a prominent cream-coloured hilum. The beans
had a thin, tough, outer coat, and a firm buttcoloured
interior.
RESULTS OF ENAMINATION.
: Bengal
Lyon or white velvet | 0
© Deans
beans from :
eo from
ae = Ss =
= Ae 3)
SS 7. we
Moisture — — 10 2 aha 13'8
Crude proteins — 24'S 24:7 25:1 25'3
consisting of ;
True proteins — 21°8 22°3 21:3 22:5
Other nitrogen-
ous substances— 30 2-4 3°$ 3:3
fat .§ — — = 39 a9 a3 oD
Starch, etc. (by
dittérence) — 51-5 5d'4 51-0 48°8
Fibre — — — 6°35 5-4 TS 4:9
Ash — — — 3°5 a4 371 32
Nutrient ratio — 1:24 1:26 1:2°3 1:22
Food units — — 123 127 122 122
‘No alkaloids or cyanogenetic glucosides were detectecl
in the above samples.
REMARKS,
‘These beans are similar in composition to Bengal beans,
and also to the Lyon or white velvet beans from Nigeria and
Nyasaland referred to in the above table and previously exam-
ined at the Imperial Institute, and which were identified at
Kew as Mucuna nivea (M. Lyont or Stizololium niveum).
They resemble the latter in appearance, but are more elon-
gated in shape, and the veins on the seed-coat are less
couspicuous.
‘There is some conflict of opinion as to whether Mucuna
nivea beans are suitable for food, though Lyon beans are
stated to be eaten with great relish in the United States,
The green pods of this species, moreover, are stated to be
eaten in India asa vegetable, the outer velvety skin of the
pods being removed before cooking. ‘Some confusion exis's
as to the identity of the various species of Mucuna beans, and
though velvet beans have been used as human food by natives
in Nyasaland, it is not quite clear whether the white beans
(IZ. nivec) or the black beans (M. aterrima or Stizolohium
atervimum) or both varieties are so employed,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 35.-
‘The Imperial Institute communicated wrth the United
States Department of Agriculture on the subject in 1916.
and in reply the Department stated that they had no
information that Mucwna niver beans were harmful, and
pointed out that there had been freqnent favourable
reference in the Annual Reports of the Florida Experiment
Station to the use of the beans for feeding domestic
animals, and no allusion to any harmful etfects when they
were used for this purpose,
‘The United States Department of Agriculture also
referred the enquiry to Professor Rolfs, who was responsible
for a staremet that the beans had caused unpleasant effects
in human beings. In his reply Professor Rolfs stated thar
feeding experiments with cattle and pigs have given con-
vincing proof of the value of the beans as a feeding stutt
for farm animals, and further, that the beans have been
used by whites and black labourers in Fiorida, and that
the only complaint made was that the flavour was not
good. He added that persons who used them in a trial
which he arranged, felt certain ill effects, though they did no;
regard them as serious.
‘All the samples of these beans received at the
Imperial Institute, including that now under report,
have been carelully examined for alkaloids and cyanogenetic
glucosides, and no traces of constituents of either
type have been found in any of the samples. Similarly,
extricts of the beans have been prepared by processes
designed to concentrate in the extracts deleterious
substances of any type likely to be present in the beans, and
no indications have been found of the presence of any poison-
ous constituent.
‘The position therefore is that, as regards the varieties of
Mucuna nivea, there is a considerable body of evidence that
they have been used as food for human beings in the United
States, Nyasaland, India, and elsewhere, and also as a feeding
stuff for animals without causing ill effects. Further,
numerous independent analyses of the beans have be-n made, |
and no indication of any del:terious constituents has been’
found, The suspicion that has been cast on the suitability of
the beans as a foodstuff is due to the results of a single ‘rial
arranged by Professor Rolfs, and it will be seen from the
remarks of this investigator quoted above that he does not
attach final importance to the results of this trial, in view of
the general experience in the United States that the beans
are wholesome.
‘While therefore further trials of the beans as a foodstuff
seem to be neeled, the bulk of the evidence available indicates
that they are wholesome, and certainly justifies cautions trials
of them as a feeding stuff for animals if not as a foodstuff:
for human beings.
We reproduce the following from Ve Times of Novem-
ber 20, 1917: ‘Sir Arthur Yapp who presided yesterday, at
Grosvenor House at a Conference arranged to disseminate,
information on the tood value of potatoes said that, after
providing for the normal consumption, there was a surplus of
considerably over 2,000,000 tons of potatoes, which if used
during the next six months—a most critical period—instead,
of bread, would save half a million tons of flour, equal to
390,000,000 bread rations, which was. sutticient to keep the,
whole of the United Kingdom in bread for two months. He
urged the necessity of breaking more ground for potato
growing. Dr. Campbell, who has made a special study of the
potato question, stated that arrangements had been made for
the starting of mills for producing potato flour in the
New Year.
36 ' THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
—_—-
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
GRENADA. The notes of the Superintendent of Agricul-
ture, Mr. J. C. Moore, for the months of October, November
and December, which have now come to hand, disclose a
continuation of work of a general routine character in the
Experiment Stations and Botanic Gardens during the period
covered. Plant distribution was as follows: for October and
November—8,600 lime plants, 150 cacao, 17 budded orange,
11 grafted mango, 94 timber trees, S3 ornamental plants,
7 various, and 15,000 potatocuttings; for December—85 cacao
plants, 4 mango, 29 ornamental, and various seeds.
The gathering of the cacao crop, commenced in October,
was in full swing in December, but is expected to be below
the average. The nutmeg crop is reported as normal, while
the lime cropis said to be smaller than that of last year.
The sugar crop was satisfactory. Provisions were plentiful.
The corn crop was good on the whole, and one of the largest
on record. The second crop was fairly promising. The dry
weather in November aifected the young plants adversely in
some places. Thrips has shown considerable development
in some places, and has become locally severe.
The weather during October was normal, the rainfall
recorded at Richmond Hill being 7-92 inches. November
was unusually dry, only 6°54 inches of rain being registered
at Richmond Hill. December was showery up to the last
week, when heavy rains fell, the precipitation at Itichmond
Hill being 7:08 inches.
st. Lucra. Mr. A. J. Brooks, Agricultural Super-
intendent, reports the following plant distribution during
the month of December: limes, 2,500; grape fruit, 18; budded
oranges, 10; grafted mangoes, 2; cacao plants, 70; coffee, 50;
ornamental plants, 9. There were also distributed 120
packets of vegetable seeds. The wooden bridge in the Botanic
Gardens is being replaced by aconcrete bridge which is
raised 3 feet above the former level. A large mahogany
cabinet made from trees grown in the Gardens was com.
pleted and placed in the central office, and now honses the
‘Kennaway Collection of St. Lucia Birds’.
The cacao crop is reported as good; limes second crop,
hieavy; sugar, fair. Experiments on a commercial scale were
carried out at Réunion during the month in connexion with
the manniacture of farine, starch, and potato chips and
flour.
The rainfall registered at the Botanic Gardens, Castries,
during the month was 7:95 inches, and at the Agricultural
and Botanic Station, Choiseul, 2 39 inches.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. In his notes for the month of Decem-
ber, Mr. W. C. Fishlock, Curator, Tortola, mentions work
chiefly of a routine nature carried on in the Experiment
Stations. Plant distribution was as follows: onion seedlings,
31,000; potato cuttings, 1,000; coco-nut plants, 31; cabbage
plants, 16; decorative plants, 19; cotton seed, 30} tbh.; vege-
table seeds, 13 packets.
The cotton cultivation appeared to be in fair
general condition; the same is said of ground provisions.
In régard to the cotton industry it is mentioned that
the prevailing high prices and the payment of the bonus
on the 1916-17 crop have had 4 stimulating effect. Cotton
worm has been troublesome in some districts, notably West
End, and there has been some enquiry for Paris green,
Weather conditions during the month were abnormal:
strong northerly winds alternated with calms. The nights
Fresruary 9, 1978.
were often exceptionally cool. The month was dry. Rain fell
in measurable quantity on sixteen days, the total precipita-
tion being 2°55 inches as compared with 5°51 inches, the
average for the month for the past sixteen years.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
We do not think that the same difliculty is being
experienced in establishing the young cane crop as was the
case at this time last year. We have observed that the
supplies have grown with a good deal of regularity. This
is doubtless due to the effect of the heavy rain on Christmas
Day. When plants are already in the soil, a rain has a much
better effect on them than if they are planted after a soaking
rain, with two or three weeks of dry weather succeeding.
The majority of fields are growing well, and, given
moderately showery weather during the next fortnight, the
crop for 1919 will have been established. The fact that but
comparatively few shoots are to be seen in some fields does
not mein that the plants are dead. The recent rains will
cause many a cutting to come up.
A start is being made with the reaping of the cane crop
for 1918. Only a few factories are ready for grinding, and
not even all of these have started operations. .\ good many
windmills and a few steam mills are engaged in making
syrup, and some of these would not have been vet at work
but for incendiarism.
We learn that the juice is somewhat richer than was
anticipated. Ina few districts the density is 10°, in most
districts 9°. The B.376 is at this staze sweeter than the
new seedlings, and the earlier it can be reaped the hetter;
for already a few rotten canes and many canes which have
recently lost their tops are being found in each load as it is
overturned in the mill yard. This is not, so far as we have
been able to observe, the case with the new seedlings,
Beyond having been checked in development by the unfa-
vourable weather of the past four months, they show no
signs of depreciation of any kind. The tonnage of the first
few acres of plant canes on an estate in St. George’s parish
has averaged between 30 and 35.
Tt will be observed that the factories have not made
as early a start as last year. This is due not only to the
fact that the crop in most districts is not as mature as at
this date last year, but also to the delay in the completion
of improvements of various kinds at almost every factory.
The recent rains have enabled planters to sow potatoes.
We know that in many districts this was done without delay,
and we hope that this has been the case everywhere. Every
class of the community should realize the gravity of the
present crisis, and do its part—the plantér, the peasant
proprietor and the labourer. —(Agrivultiira/ Reporter, Jann-
ary 26,1918.)
AGRICULTURE IN JAMAICA.
The Governor of Jamaica in his report on the colony for
1916-17, issued as Colonial Reports —Anhual, No, 943, states
that: ‘The chief feature of the year in relation to the agri-
cultural interests of the colony was the hurricane in August
which practically swept the whole island from Hast to West
so as to destroy the whole banana crop, and to doa good deal
of damage to coco-nuts, canes, and cacao. For so serious
a disaster to occur two years in succession has been a heavy
blow to the banana industry. Owing to war conditions
other staples, such as sugar, rum, logwood, cacao, annatto,
ginger, orange oil, and hides have sold for high prices, and
Vou. XVII. No. 412.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 37
it is now evident that but for the hurricane, the exports of
Jamaica for 1916 would probably have created a record in
the history of the trade of the colony,’
It is noted that the revival of the sugar industry is now
being prosecuted, and with an Imperial market for its
produce, this industry will probably be conducted with
enterprise and success, wherever conditions in the island are
favourable.
With regard to the banana indnstry, the report mentions
that: ‘The incidence of Panama disease of bananas during
the year has shown a marked reduction, only 163 diseased
plants having been reported on forty separate spots, or an
average of four plants per base. This disease is a very
difficult one to control, but where the strict measures of
quarantine provided under the Law have been successfully
enforced, the results have been satisfactory, and with care
and watchfulness there is no reason for the planters of
Jamaica to view this disease with serious apprehension. It
has been demonstrated, however, that infected land appears
to remain permanently unfit for the cultivation of the “Gros
Michel” or ‘Jamaica banana”, although the “Chinese” or
“Canary” variety has been fonnd to be immune to the disease.’
In spite of some alarm at the disc very that the black
weevil borer of bananas was somewhat widely spread over
three parishes of the island, it is now considered that this
insect is not a very serious pest where bananas aie well
cultivated.
Iu conclusion, the Governor remarks: ‘The high
prices of imported foodstuffs, and the uncertainty as
to their supply, in view of the shortage of shipping
and the demands of the Allies in Europe, rendered it advisa-
ble to take steps to, urge the p'anting of amp'e foodstuffs in
the island, to render the population independent of an
imported supply, should there be any failure in that supply.
‘The measures taken have ensured that, if supplies from
outside are obtainable in decreasing quantities, there should
be ample food for all, and it is stated that never before have
such quantities of provisions been planted out as during the
year under review. It has furthermore been generally
. Impressed that the present situation will not be confined to
the period of the war alone, but that it appears to be increas-
ingly probable that for some time after there will be a world-
wide shortage of food for man, and that surplus supplies may
be in great demand.’
BARBADOS: REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE, 1916-17.
This report, issued as a supplement to the Official
Gazette, January 24, 1918, bas just been received.
Naturally much space is devoted by the Superintendent
ef Agriculture, Mr. J. R. Bovell, I.S.0., to details in con-
nexion with sugar-cane experiments. These, however, have
been previously issued in a separate report, which has been
already referred to in this Journal (Vol. XVI, No. 407).
Following the portion of the report on sugar-cane comes
that dealing with the cotton industry. The experiments
with this crop are carried out, it is stated, in two series.
‘In the first series an effort is being made, by a selection of
the best formed plants giving heavy yields of good quality
lint, to improve the Sea Island, certain indigenous, and
other varieties of cotton. In the second series an effort is
being made in the same manner to improve a number of
hybrid cottons that have been obtained by crossing some of
the improved varieties with some of the indigenous cottons.’
With regard to Sea Island cotton, seed of a special strain,
obtained by selection over several years; was distributed to
nine planters for experiment under field conlitions, but
accurate returns both of the yield per acre and of the
quality as tested in England are not available.
By indigenous cottons Mr. Bovell means varieties that
have survived in the island from former times when cotton
was grown here on a commercial scale. Attempts are being
made to improve some of the best of these. The improve-
ment seems to be a slow process, but Mr. Bovell states that
some of the varieties have already greatly improved, and seem
‘practically free from insect pests and funogoid diseases.’
In addition to these indigenous cottons there is a cotton
obtained from Dr.C. E. Gooding who had growa it from
seeds of a wild cotton, which so far has kept true to type.
This cotton has also been up to the present practically
immune from disease, and the quality of the lint is said
to be improving under cultivation,
With regard to food crops, experiments are made by the
Agricultural Department, Barbados, as by other agricultural
departments throughout the West Indies, on several of these
crops. With regard to cassava, experiments are continued
with varieties obtained from different countries, as well as
with a number of seedling varieties obtained in previous
years from the cassava under cultivation in Barbados. Three
of these Barbados seedlings have continued to give good
results for four years of cultivation. A useful item of
knowledge has been verified by the experiments on tanias
and eddoes. It seems definitely reliable that better results
are obtained when corms are used in planting tanias, than
when rhizomes are so used. The contrary however is the
case with eddoes. We note that Mr. Bovell speaks of
eddoes as Caladiums. Several writers, however, in pub-
lications of the United States Department of Agri-
cultuce, prefer the generic name Colocasia; the Cala.
diims are said to be of little or no economic value.
Experiments on yams include not only loval varieties, but
also some from Dahomey. The return per acre for six years
‘from the Lisbon yam has been an average of 14,677Ib., by
far the largest averige yield of any variety experimented
with. Mr. Bovell \hinks highly of the properties of Panicum
divaricatissimum, a closely related species to Guinea grass,
as a fodder grass, and hopes that it will be successfully
introduced into the island.
The list of plants at present in the herbarium of the
Department of Agriculture, Barbados, is appended. Acten-
tion must be drawn to what is an evident mistake,
by which two cottons, namely Gossypium barbadense and
G. herbaceum, together with Thespesia populnea, belonging
- to the order Malvaceae, and ddansonia digitata, belonging
to the allied order Bombaceae, are classed under the unre-
lated order Capparideae.
The portion of the report dealing with the insect and
fungus pests prevalent in Barbados will be dealt with in
another issue.
38 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
GEL TON Notes
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ended January 5, 1918, is as follows:—
IsLANDS. We have had a dull market throughout the
week, and all business has been more or less suspended by
unprecedented» co!d weather
The Exchange reports no sales.
The Factors are still refusing to make any concessions
t» sell, and are holding for prices last quoted. However, the
offering stock is increasing, and with orders in hand we can
buy to advantage, having a good s‘ock to select from.
We quote, viz:—
Fine to Fully Fine 73c.=75c. c.i-f.
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71e, = 72e.
to 73c. c.f.
GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. The market in Savannah
and the interior towns has been very quiet throughout the
week, with limited demand resulting in small sales. All
the offerings are firmly held at our quotations, and there is
a general feeling among all holders of cotton that the limited
supply will be required, and that the mills in the near future
will resume purchases.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Choice to Fancy
Average Extra Choice
The exports from Savannah for the week were, to
Northern Mills 72 bales, and from Jacksonville to Northern
Mills none.
WASTE PRODUCTS OF CANE-SUGAR
MAKING.
In an article in the issue of this Journal of January 12,
it was suggested that although good work was now being
done in the matter of extraction of sugar from the cane in
some of the smaller West Indian islands, it would probably
be advisable in the future to devote more attention to what
may be called the waste products of the sugar industry,
if this industry is to continue to be remunerative here.
That this question is engaging much attention in larger
sugar-growing countries was evidenced by the report of
the standing committee of the Louisiana Sugar Planters
Association, some of which was reproduced in the same
issue of this Journal. The subject is again dealt with in
a paper in the Zowisiana Planter, December 29, 1917. con-
tinued inthe nninber tor January 5, 1918, by Dr. W. E.
Cross, who is now the Director of the Sugar Experiment
Station at Tucuman in Argentina, This paper was written
some years ago, but it bas been brought up to date by
Dr. Charles E, Coates, and it is thus published. It is not
wuly a very interesting stuly of the question, but also seems
Fesruiny 9 1918.
to suggest developments in this direction. A résumé of it,
therefore, will possibly be of utility to West Indian sugar
manufacturers.
Much remains to be accomplished in the utilization of
the waste products of the manufacture of cane sugar, one
reason perhaps being that the has:e and hurry of the reaping
season is such as to leave little opportunity of dealing with
other things than'the chief product, the sugar itseif, and
perhaps the molasses, which is rather a by-product than
a waste product
These waste products of cane sugar making are (1) the
tops and trash, (2) the megass, (3) the filter-press cake. The
first of these is utilized in the West Indies probably in the
same way as has always been done; the tops are used as fodder,
and the trash is utilized as litter for estate animals, or as a
mulch on the fields. That the tops might be more economi-
cally used for the same purpose as at present by a more
general employment of silos is probably true; but whether
for tops and trash more profitable uses could be found is at
least doubtful at present, although the possibilities with regard
to megass may apply to a lesser extent to the utilization
of the trash also
The use of megass to snpply the necessary fuel for the
factory appears not only to be essential but economical in
these islands, where other fuel is scarce or expensive. Yet
in well managed factories there is quite a considerable
amount of megass remaining after all the fuel necessities
have been met.
Hitherto all attempts to utilize megass for other than
fuel purposes have been in the direction of paper making,
bnt with no conspicuous success. Apparently this idea was
first started in Guadeloupe as far back as 1872. Since then
it cannot be said that any factory, up to 1912 at least, bas
been able to conduet paper making from megass as a commer-
cial success. The most hopefal undertaking in megass paper
seems to be that of mixing megass j-ulp with other substan-
ces such as grass, wood, bamboo, etc. This was done, it is
said sucecssfully, a couple of years ago ata factory in Triai-
dad. At Nipe Bay, Cuba, extensive experiments have also
been made in this direction, and paper made of a mixture
of megass pulp and wood was of excellent quality. The
paper-making plant was burnt down in 1916, but it is
reported that a new plant for the purpose is to be built this
year for operation during the next sugar-making season.
The Searby shredder, to which attention was drawn in
the issue of this Joumal for December 1, 1917, is said not
only to increase the percentage of the extraction of juice
from the cane, but also to reduce the megass to such an
admirable condition for paper making that it seems a pity
to burn it. The extended use of this machine in cane-sugar
factories may perhaps lead to the utilization of at least a part
of the megass in the manufacture of paper
Two other uses for megass are suggested which may
be developed in the future. One is asa raw material for
the manufacture of ethyl alcohol. The process by which
cellulose is dissolved in concentrated cold sulphuric acid, and
theu hydrolized to glucose, is in snecessful operation in
several factories in the United States, sawdust and waste
wood being employed as the raw material. The simil-
arity in composition between sawdust and megass would
indicate that the latter ought to be just as good « material
for the process as the former. Indeed the porosity of megass
should be so advantageons as to make it possibly the better
material of the two for the purpose.
A second suggestion is the employment of megass for
‘listillation, Fa‘r profits are male in various countries from
-very considerably with the method cf cl<rification.
Vor.- XVII. No. 412.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 39
the distillation of different woods, by whieh wood alcohol,
acetone, acetic acid, and various oils, etc., are produced on
a commercial scale. It is possible that meyass, subjected to
the process of dry distillation, would give products of such
value as to justify the commercial exploitation of the idea. The
writer of the article in the Zovisane Planter states that he
has conducted preliminary experiments with megass on these
lines, by which methyl alcohol, acetic acid, and acetone
were indentified among the products obtained, which also
included a tar of a peculiar odour, which. has not yet been
fully investiyated. ;
The third’ waste product of the cane-sugar manufacturer
is the filter-press cake. The composition of this cake varies
In every
case however, wax is an important constituent, being present
toan extent of upto 12 per cent. of the dried cake. This
wax can easily be extracted by boiliog the dried cake with
organic solvents like alcohol, naphtha, ete. The extract
thus obtained is filtered off and, after evaporation, cooled as
a yellowish white mass. ey f
Very considerable attention bas been given to the
possibility of extracting this wax on a commercially pro-
fitable scale. As was noted in the issue of this Journal,
January 12, the question een
Natal sugar factories. Samples of Natal sugarcane wax
shipped to England have been examined at the Imper-
ial Institute, and found tobe of good quality, so that
it could be used as a substitute for Cirmanba wax The
industry has been started ona small sc'e “in Natal. Ose
difficulty in extracting the wax is the danger of fire, due to
the nse of alcohol or gasolene in the process of extraction. This
however is overcome by the use of non-inflammable carbon
tetrachloride. The wax is said to be probably worth 20c. to
25c.atb. The other ingredients of the filter-press cake
do not offer any prospect of economical extraction. The
prefitable utilization of filter-press cake itself is also receiving
attention. It is used at present to some extent as a fertilizer.
The filter-press cake is also used-as a valuable food in the
West Indies for estate animals, and after it has been
eaten by the stock a large proportion of its contents of
mineral value will be recovered in the pen manure.
Tis high lime content probably causes benefit to the soil from
its ase. and the small quantities of phosphate and nitrogenous
matter it contains are undoubtedly of some fertilizing value.
Avother use has been recently suggestel from Java. It is
<y-gested that the filter-press cake shoull be birned+hat
is to say, charred—and that this should be used inst/ad of
uone black for the decoloration of the juice.
[t is thus evident that in severa! directions research is
cing made for the utilization of hitherto waste products of
cane sugar manufacture.
CANE FARMERS.
The Louisiana Planter, December 15, 1917, contaias an
article on this subject, more particularly with reference to
conditions in Trinidad. The matter is of so much importance
to the sugar industry everywhere that the article in question
will be of general interest. : a : :
‘As the island of Trinidad is becoming of increasing
importance in the cane-sugar world, its present output
reaching 70,000 tons per annum, and still larger results are
promised within a few years, the data that come from that
island are of importance to all persons concerned in cane sugar
anywhere. In reviewing in this Journal some months Ago
the official report of the Agricultural Iepartment of Trinidad
aaa Tobago on cane farming, we were surprised to see the
increasingly large amount of cane coming from the cane
has been taken up in the
farmers, The sugar industry of Cuba could never hove
attained the proportions that it has done had it not-been for
the cane farmers or colonos, as they are termed on that island.
Some of these colonos are experienced sugar planters of the
old mascovado days, who found that they could now do better
by selling their canes to the new-great central factories than
they could by continuing in the old lines. In fact, the
.central factory idea has come to stay, and has practically
supplanted the old-fashioned sagar planter who grew his
own cine, and made the cane into sugar.
‘In referring to the work done in Trinidad, we adverted
to the fac: that the great St. Madeleine central factory there
Was reporting a larger nuinber of tenants than formerly. Oar
intention was simply to show that the cane fields and the
cane factories were two separate establishments, and that the
modern tendency was to identify the tiller of the soil with
the work that he was doing, and in this way to secnre the
highest degree of efficiency from the individual man, if such
efficiency be procurable by any means.
‘The point thus under consideration, and which we believe
will be under very serious consideration in all the West
Indies before any years, is as to where the factories shall
get their sugar-cane.
‘The underlying principle in the whole matter is to
secure piece work, so that the individual will learn that each
effort he makes is for himself, and that even while he may
be employed by a great factory, or by som2 single sugar
planter, the work that the employee does as an individual,
is for his own account. If the cane farmer be ambitions he
will endeavour to utilize every moment of time and all the
knowledge that he has in the siccessful production of his
crop.
‘Of course, the cane farmer on his own land, free and
independent aod not in need of any financial relief, might
be careless without injuring anyone excepting himself. At
the same time, if he or such men as he were the main
dependence o! the sugar factories, they would necessarily
be seriously damaged by the carelessness on the part of ail
of these farmers. _
‘Bat we find thit the East Iodiin government has.
been discouraging the migration of the coolies to the West
Tadies, aud that the labour supply in Trinidad, as well as else-
where has been seriously impaired, and the matter of
human labour is now becoming a very serious one throughout _
the cane-suzar world.
‘They are beginning to feel the scarcity of labour in
Cuba at the present time.. Inthe implement world every
effort is making to produce agricaltural tools that will reduce
the cail for human labour down to a minimum. All the world
seems to he benton utilizing this idea, and we are reaching
an age in which the application of mechanical power is rank-
ing higher and higher every day.
‘As the years roll around us, and as labour grows scarcer,
the cond tions presented thrust new problems out for solution,
and cane farming isone of the present solutions that is
producing in Louisiana and in Cuba about half of the canes
produced in these two countries, and is gradually progressing
throughout the cane-sngar world,’
From official returns which Mr. J. R. Bovell, LS.O.,
the Superintendent of Agriculture; Barbados, has forwarded,
it appears that 1,337 acres are under Se. Island
cotton cultivation in that island, 21 acres of which’ are-
cultivated for asecond crop. Practically the :vhol2 of the
cotton area is in the drier parts of the island, 1,02 acres
being in St. Philip and Christ Charch, the south eastern dey-
district, and 177 more in St. Luey, the dry northern parish.
40 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Frpsruary 9, 1918.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
mmissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados. }
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
(H. A. Ballou, M.Se.t
Repomihosiss \J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.tt+
CLERICAL STAFF.
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
Clerical Assistants
Typist
P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Equpt.
t+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientyie and
Industrial Research.
{e A. Corbin.
Agricultural News
OO. LL CEE
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1918. No. 412.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this issue deals w th the value of
farmyard and other manures, especially when used in
combination.
Under Insect Notes, on page 42, will be found an
account of the sweet potato root weevil, a closely
related pest to the scarabee of these islands,
A fungus disease ateclay many species of trees is
the subject of a note under Plant Diseases, on page 46.
An article on page 38 draws attention to the
ssible utilization of the waste products in the manu-
facture of cane sugar.
Pollination of Coco-nut Flowers.
According to a paper on coco-nut experiments,
contributed to the Agricultural Bulletin of the
Federated Malay States, July 1917, by G. E. Coombs,
Economic Botanist, and W. 8. Cookson, Manager of
Dindings Estates, the average loss in a year's crop of
four to four-and-a half-year-old palms, which is due to
undeveloped nuts falling off, is from 50 to 60 per cent.
The authors place such losses in the following
categories:—
(a) Nuts which are unpollinated, and therefore
unfertilized;
(b) Nuts which are pollinated, but in which
fertilization does not take place;
(c) Nuts which are pollinated and fertilized, but
which are thrown off from physiological causes, because
of the trees’ inability tocarry them. Nutrition factors,
water-supply in particular, here play an important
part, and may possibly largely determine periodicity in
crop production.
The probability ts that the overwhelming majority
of these falling nuts are those under category (a), in
which pollination is never effected.
The coco-nut flower is pollinated both by insects
and by wind. As an insect flower, however, it falls
short of the general attractive mechanisms of scent,
colour, and amount of nectar produced. As a wind
tlower, it lacks the generally present pendulous stamens,
the much expanded stigma, and other characters, though
it produces a quantity of smooth pollen. Some experi-
ments on hand pollination are being now conducted in
Ceylon, with a view to finding out whether the number
of falling nuts can be thus reduced.
Machines for the Treatment of Cotton Seed
against Pink Boll Worm.
In Bulletin No. 14 of the Technical and Scientitic
Series of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. G.
Storey discusses the general nature and action of the
machines which have been proposed for the treatment
of cotton seed in order to kill pink boll worms therein,
and to render the seed safe for distribution for planting,
and generally innoeuous as regards the dissemination
of the pest.
The machines which are the subject of the
bulletin are of two kinds, those which attempt the
destruction of the pest by means of poisonous gases,
and those which seek to attain this end by means of
heat.
The bulletin contains an interesting discussion
of certain fundamental principles which must be
attained if the machines are to prove effective. As
regards machines employing poisonous gases, it is
pointed out that it is essential that these gases must
reach every part of the material under treatment if
they are to be effective, It would seem that this is not
so readily achieved as might be expected, for even in
machines in which a vacuum is created, and into
which hydrocyanie acid is subsequently admitted, it
was found that this gas did not readily penetrate
Vout. XVII. No. 412.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 41
nn ee TE EEE UE EES nnnDENS
thick layers of cotton seed, the reason being that the
gas is absorbed toa considerable extent by the seed
itself, whereby its deep penetration is checked.
In machines operating by means of heat it is
found that marked irregularities often exist as to the
temperatures to which the seed is heated in different
parts of the machine; some of the seed may be insuffi-
ciently heated, while some of it may be over heated.
Where it can be certain that the temperature is
actually applied, it would seem that an exposure to
a temperature of 52°C. for five minutes is sufficient
to kill the pink boll worm; while the seed will bear
heating to about 60°C. without loss of germinating
power.
Five types of machines for the use of poisonous
gases are discussed, and fifteen machines making use
of heat.
>
Tomatoes and Asparagus in Guadeloupe.
According to notes on kitchen gardens in the
Bulletin des Chambres d Agriculture de la Guade-
loupe el Dependances, October 1917, the same tendency
to degenerate is found in tomatoes there, when con-
tinuously planted from seed, as is experienced in
most of these islands. It is however possible, the
writer says, to graft tomatoes on what is known in
Guadeloupe as ‘bellangere batarde’ (Solanum torvwm)
which is called in some of the English islands turkey
berry. This grafting is productive of good results,
inasmuch as the grafted plants continue for a long
time to bear fruit of the original large varieties. The
idea is worth being put into practice elsewhere.
It is interesting to ote that asparagus is success-
fully grown in Guadeloupe. The bulletin quoted above
states that in five months the shoots are as large in
Guadeloupe as they are in France aiter a year’s growth.
An asparagus bed well cared for bears all the year
round in Guadeloupe. The great point is to choose
light soil, well drained, and to till it well to the depth
of from 70 to 80 centimetres. The method of cultiva-
tion advised is to make a trench 1 metre in breadth,
digging out the earth to a depth of 60cm. At the
bottom is to be placed a layer of sticks cut from any
easily obtainable wood. On them a layer of well rotted
manure is spread and pressed down. In three lines,
at a distance of 25 cm. from one another, also at
distances of 25cm. apart, basketfuls of good mould
are turned over, and on each such heap is placed an
asparagus plant, its roots being carefully spread out in
order that they may take good hold of the soil. The
plants are then covered with mould to a height of 10 cm.,
and the trench is then filled with the earth taken
from it. Three or four a times ayear a layer of well
rotted manure should be applied to the bed. The
asparagus bed should be completely cleaned in July or
August by cutting down all old shoots and covering
it with a layer of mould from 5 to 6 cm. in depth, with
the addition of a little chemical fertilizer.
If this most delicious vegetable is successfully
grown in Guadeloupe, it is well worth trying in other
islands. Seeds or roots are obtainable from any reliable
seedsman in Europe or the United States
Queensland Sponges,
The natural resources of (Queensland exist in the sea
as well as upon the land. The great reef which skirts
the northern sea-board of Queenslandis the home of
the commercial sponge, the trechus shell fish, the béche-
de-mer, and other things which a more systematic or
scientific search might reveal. So far, the growth of
sponge has not been exploited, but trochus shell to the
value of 30,000 has been exported to Japan from North
Queensland. The luggers fish consistently and effectu-
ally. What is requiredis (1)a greater first-hand know-
ledge of the resources of the barrier and its environs;
(2)a more stringent enforcement of the licensing laws;
(3)the necessity for a closeseason in various sectors of the
waters; and lastly, the introduction of scientific methods
for development and control. It is interesting to note
in connexion with this last proposal, that in Florida,
U.S.A., a sponge farm has been successfully inaugurated,
and sponges to the value’ of £40,000 are about to be
put on the market. The way was made clear for this
achievement by the American Bureau of Fisheries, an
institution which is doing, in conjunction with the
American Bureau of Standards, monumental research
for American industry. The sponges are separated into
tenths, and secured by platinum wire to small slabs
of cement, which are ‘planted’ in a water vat selected
for the complete absence of fresh water, protection
from marauders, and freedom from sand. The marine
produce of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of
North Queensland furnishes raw material for many
industries. (The Chamber of Commerce Journal,
December 1917.)
——— a
A Mud-Binding Grass.
There are many aquatic and waterside plants, whose
roots, stems, and leaves arrest the removal of soil, etc.,
by water, and, by the accumulation of solid matter
brought down by streams, build upas it were a founda-
tion on which other plants obtain a footing, so that in
time what was once swamp may be changed into
forest.
According to The Field for November 17, 1917,
a plant of this nature has become established about the
shores of Southampton water, .The grass has been
identified at Kew asa species of Spartina, and is now
known botanically as S. Zownsendit. It is a vigorous,
stout, stiff grass, about a yard high, forming close tufts
more or less circular in outline, the tufts measuring
anything between 3 feet and 15 feet across. It
is supposed to be of hybrid origin, but is just as
likely to be a sport or variation from SN. stricta.
The copious system of roots and stolons of this
grass must contribute to the stabilization and solidi-
fication of the mud. In addition to this binding
action, the stems and leaves act as a very effective
strainer on the water, which is charged with solid
particles brought down by the streams, catching and
precipitating them. The result is an accelerated and
increased deposition of mud over the area tenanted by
the grass. The level of the mud bank becomes raised,
the mud itself firmer. If the process continnes, the
muddy foreshore will gradually be replaced by terra
firma
AQ THE
——————— OE
INSECT NOTES.
THE SWEET POTATO ROOT WEBVIL.
Although the above insect, which is known by the
scientific name of (plus furmivarius, has not so far been
recorded from the Lesser Antilles, it is well known as a pest
<f the sweet potato in Jamaica, Cuba, Porto Rico, British
Guiara, This insect also occurs in
several other parts of the world, and is considered to be of
ciental origin. It was first noticed in the United States
sut forty years ago near New Orleans, whence it has spread
= other Gulf States and to the West Indies. This weevil
is quite distinct froin the scarabee cr Jacobs which is found
attacking sweet jotatoes In some of the Lesser Antilles,
but the damage dore by the two weevils is similar, ard any
measures taken to control the root weevil would also be
applicable to the scarabee! A somewhat detailed account
cf Cylas formicarivs appeared in the Ayricultural News for
April 24, 1915 (Vol. XIV, No. 339), but in view of some
recent investigations on this pest in Florida, it may be of
iaterest to give a few additional notes on the subject.
Some of the latest information on this weevil, as it
occurs in the Gulf States, is given in the Quarter/y Bulletin
of the State Plant Board of Florida, Vol. II, No. 1, by
Wilmon Newell, the Plant Commissioner, and it is from
this article that the following notes are mostly taken.
and the Bahamas.
in}
Apuiy, Pura,
Fic. 1. Sweer Povaro WEEVIL.
AND LARVA,
(From US, Dept. Agric.)
DESCRIPTION OF ‘THE INSECT. The adult weevil is
& «maf] antlike insect about a }-inch long, with a smooth,
shiny body. The bead is black, and is prolonged to
form ateak. at the end of which are the biting mouth
parts, The thorax (or middle portion of the body) and the
legs are a bright brick-red, and the abdomen (or hinder part
of the body) is a dark steel-blue. Although the adults
possess well-developed wings they have rarely been observed
fiying.
cuve-nisrory. ‘The life-history of this species has been
yorked out under Texas conditions by A. F, Conradi,
sith the following results. The very small yellowish
white eggs are laid in cavities made by the female
either in the tubers or in the vines, and a minute, foot-
ices grub batches in from five to six days. If the egg is
} the stem the ecwerging grub may sometimes
e] in the stem and complete its development
Jueic cD
’
qnctesy (unt
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, Fepruary 9, 1918,
there, but more often it works its way down the inside
of the stem to the tuber. Grubs hatching from eggs laid
in or on the tuber itself bore into the tuber, and complete
their development in about fifteen days, very quickly riddling
the tuber with numerous tunnels which become filled with
excrement and decaying matter. When full-grown the grub
changes into a pupa, and the adult weevil emerges in about
eight days. The whole development of the insect occupies
from twenty-eight to twenty-nine days, and allowing a few
days between the maturing of the adult and the laying of the
first eggs, it will be seen that a complete generation can be
produced in about thirty-five days. Since the weevil breeds
continuously in the tropics, there is a possibility of ten or
even eleven broods a year. It was found that the egg-
laying period may continue for twenty-one days, so that
there are no distinct generations, but weevils in all
stages of development may be found almost any time. It
will thus be seen that in the tropies this insect, with its
powers of continuous reproduction and development, may
be extremely destructive.
KoOp-PLAN?S. The sweet potato (/fomara batutas) and
the morning glory (/Aomwa sp.) are the favourite host
plants, and the weevil eggs and larvae have been found on
closely related vines. The adults, however, can feed upon
a great variety of vegetation.
HOW THE WEEVIL SPREADS. The adult insect has only
once or twice been observed in flight, and its slow rate of
spread in a newly infested area shows that spreading by flight
need hardly be taken into account. This pest is dissem-
inated mainly by the movement of infested sweet potatoes
and sweet potato plants from one locality to another.
NATURAL CONTROL. The sweet potato root weevil is
remarkably free from natural enemies, No parasites have
been recorded, and there is no mention in any records of
birds destroying the weevils. Therefore reliance must be
placed on artificial methods to contro] this pest.
ARTIFICIAL CoNTROL, This includes quarantine measures
to prevent the spread of the weevil to new areas, and direct
methods to reduce damage in areas already infested,
A short outline of the quarantine measures adopted by
the Plant Board of Florida to exclude the sweet potato
root weevil was given in the Agricultwral News for November
3, 1917 (Vol. XVE, No. 405). These measures prohibit the
importation of any part of the sweet potato and morning
glory plants into Florida from outside, and also prevent the
shipping of any portion of these host plants from the infested
areas in Florida, and the movement of any sweet potato
tubers from the infested areas, unless first fumigated by an
agent of the Plant*Board, and certified by him.
FUMIGATION, Experiments made by Conradi have
shown that all stages of this weevil can be killed by fumi-
gating the tibers. Carbon bisulphide is used at the rate
of 3 tb. to each 1,000 enbic feet of space, and it is essential
that the compartment used for fumigation be air-tight.
REDUCTION OF DAMAGE, It is recognized that once the
weevil has become well established in a district there is no
satisfactory way of eliminating it, but much can be done to
reduce the damage.
The following are some of the control measures which
have proved to be of practical value in the Gulf States, and
are also applicable to West Indian conditions. No one
measure alone will have much effect in reducing the weevils
but a combination of all of them, if used thoroughly oe
systematically, will bring about a marked reduction in the
numbers of the weevils and the extent of their damage
These methods can also be used with good results against the
scaratee or Jacobs:— x
Vor. XVII. No. 412.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 45
1. Sweet potatoes should not be planted on the same
land in two successive seasons, and the different sweet potato
patches should be separated from each other as widely as
possitle. This makes it difficult for the insects to spread
from cue potato field to another.
2. When planting, be very caveful to use only those
plants which are known to have come froma locality where
the weevil does not occur.
3. When harvesting the crop, great care should be
taken to remove all portions of the sweet potato plants from
the land, All vines, damaged tubers, pieces of root, ete.,
should be collected and burnt, otherwise they will only serve
as breeding places for the weevil.
4, Infested or damaged sweet potatoes should not be
thrown out, but should be burnt. If they are needed for
feeding stock they should first be boiled. This will destroy
any infesting grubs or weevils, and prevent the infestation
‘of new areas.
If these measures are practised thoroughly it will be
possible to reduce the damage done by the scarabee at a time
when every available sweet potato is needed.
J.C.H.
MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA.
In the Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, October 1917,
there is printed a lecture on malaria and black-water fever,
by Dr. A. M. Fleming, C.MG., M.B., C.M., Medical Direc-
tor. Although the cause of malaria has been so absolutely
proved by medical research in the last few years, there are
still some people in the West Indies who do not believe that
to mosquitoes, and mosquitoes alone, the infection of malaria
isdue. The lecture in question so clearly states the present
knowledge on the subject, and the means to be taken for the
prevention of malaria, that it is worth reproducing largely.
Malaria as a disease has been known and described from
time immemorial. Long ago it was recognized that it was
associated with residence in or near low-lying, marshy
ground, and it was for centuries ascribed to some poisonous
miasma or exhalation arising from such swampy ground
as the result of decomposing vegetable matter. The
breathing in of these mists or miasmas was supposed
to infect human beings with malaria. In 1880, how-
ever, a French scientist discovered that in the blood
of persons suffering from malaria there were invariably to be
found minute organisms in the corpuscles of the blood.
These organisms gradually grew in size, and subdivided
into numerous little particles or spores. The corpuscles
burst, and these spores were poured out into the blood
streams, and found their way into other corpuscles where
they went through the same process. Further he showed
that the various stages of ague, high temperature, and
excessive sweats, were coincident with the growth and the
breaking up of these organisms in each successive cycle.
Still it remained to find out how these organisms got into
the blood. Thirteen or fourteen years later, Sir Patrick
Manson suggested that in the case of malaria the organisms
might be carried by some variety of mosquito. Major
Ronald Ross, working in India, took this up, and was able
to prove in a short time that the mosquito theory was
-eorrect, that the malaria parasite was taken up by the
‘kind of mosquito known as anopheles, and that in the
mosquito’s body it went through various changes, and when
mature was injected into healthy persons along with the
saliva of the mosquito.
To prove this, numerous experiments were carried ont.
For instance. Doctors Sambon and Low spent three of the
most unhealthy months of the year ina spot in Italy so
infected with malaria that no one living under ordinary
conditions ever escapes the disease They lived in mosqnito-
proet houses, and were careful never to be bitten by a mos-
quito, the result being that neither of them was infected,
although the inhabitants around were scourged with the fever.
Again, some mosquitoes were allowed to feed on the blood of
a person suffering from malaria in Italy. These mo-quitoe=
were tnen brought to England and allowed to feed on two
healthy persons who had never been in a malarial country in
their lives, the result being that both had an attack of malaria.
The success of the anti-malarial crusade in the Panama Zone,
undertaken by the Americans under the direction of Colonel
Gorgas, has proved . abundantly what can be attained by-
systematic effort tu prevent malaria. A region which for
centuries was considered one of the most pestilential spots in
the world is now a country where white men, women, an®
children can live and enjoy health,
So much for the cause of malaria. But how is malaria
to be avoided? Four methods have been laid down: —
(1) By the extermination of
quinine,
(2) By the extermination of mosquitoes.
(3) By the protection of healthy persons from tha bites
of mosquitoes.
(4) By the isolation of malarial patients, so as to prevent
them from affecting mosquitoes.
malarial parasites by
Theoretically, the strict observance of any one of these
methods should be sufficient to prevent infection, but in
practice it is impossible to ensure absolute observance in
every case. What therefore is to be aimed at is a combina-
tion of these methods. In other words, ay far as possible,
destroy the parasite in the system, and keep down mosquitoes
in and around houses,
Firstly, quinine is the one drug. which has proved itself
tc be a direct poison to the parasite. It is, however, difficult
to take, with any degree of regularity, sufficiently largs
doses of quinine altogether to preventan attack of malaria
in cases of severe infection. As a preventive in malarial
districts, the best method is to take 5 grains nightly,
10 grains on Satnrday nights, and 10 grains on Sunday
nights; and for a child, from } to 3 grains nightly, according
to age.
Secondly, there is the extermination of the mosquito.
Depressions of soil where water might collect, should be
drained, tanks should be mosquito-proof, and all rabbish
like tins and bottles should be cleared up.
Thirdly, protection of individuals from mosquitoes
There are two methods for this purpose—the use of
mosquito nets, and the building of mosquito-proof houses.
The chief disadvantage uf nets is that they are used only at
night time, but the unfailing use of mosquito nets wil! do
much to reduce the possibility of infection. Probably, how-
ever, the best method of protection is to have the house
itself rendered mosquit3-proof by affixing wire-gauze screens
to all doors and windows.
Fourthly, the segregation and isolation of infected
persons. This is not only a practical step, but fortunately
also a simple one. Persons infected with malaria, or thosa
likely to harbour infection should always sleep under
a mosquito net, and should endeavour to avoid being bitten,
as far as possible.
These four methods for the prevention of malaria ara
not in themselves either difficult to follow,
practice, and yet how few living in malarial dis
attention to them that they deserve.
44 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Fesruary 9, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
Mr. W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Vin-
cent, reports that he has grown two strong plants of
Bougainvillaea hybrids from seed sent by Dr. Perez of
Teneriffe to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture. At
present the leaves of these plants are’more like those of
Bougainvillaea ylara than B, laterita.
According to the returns received in the Department of
the Director of Statistics with the Government of India, the
number of sugar factories working in India in 1916 was
twenty-eight. The annual output of these factories it is
difficult to know. Roughly it must be about 100,000 tons.
(The Agricultural Journal of India, October 1917.)
Among various exotic trees introduced into Uganda,
the breadfruit tree is now thoroughly established, and
frequently bears fruit. The fine collection of mangoes
introduced from India in 1908 has also made excellent
growth. (Annual Report Botanic Department, Uganda Pro-
tectorate 1917.)
The sugar crop of Queensland for the season now
ending is estimated as 346,000 tons, which it is hoped will
be produced from a total amount of canes reaped, estimated
at 2,900,000 tons. This will be the largest sugar crop
ever produced in Queensland, and it is expected that it will
realize the value of £7,266,000. (The Australian Sugar
Jowrnal, November 8, 1917.)
Apropos of the interest in tanning now being shown in
these islands, the following from the Kew Bulletin, Nos. 7 and
$, 1917, may be of interest. The best mangrove bark or
extract is not so acceptable to tanners as oak bark, valonia,
quebracho, mimosa bark, etc.; the principal objection is its
deep red colour, and it is only considered satisfactory for
tanning leather when used in combination with better class
substances.
In an account of a visit to the Rothamsted Experiment
Station, a correspondent of the Wealth of India, October
1917, is struck with the magnitude of the work done there.
Some idea of the work done on soil at Rothamsted in
the course of twelve months may be formed, when it is
explained that the farm is divided into more than 200
experimental plots, and that each year something like 250
samples have to be taken with proper precaution, and
preserved for future reference
The piassava fibres of commerce are obtained from
the sheathing cases of several species of palms. The palms
from which they are obtained are al] growing wild in their
respective localities, and apparently are not under cultiva-
tion for fibre production. Some of these have been
introduced into the West Indies as or:amental plants,
notably the kitool palm (Caryota urens’. (Kew Bulletin,
Nos. 7 and 8, 1917.)
British Malaya is now the leading country for the
production of cultivated rubber, and the industry has added
very substantially to the prosperity of the Malay Peninsula
during the past decade. The tendency has been spreading
to devote more and more land to rubber planting. Alive to
the danger of relying too much upon one industry, however
successful, the authorities in Malaya are seeking to encourage
development in other directions, and their policy has been
warmly approved by resident planters.
From the report of the Government Cinchona Pianta-
tions and Factory in Bengal for the year 1916-17 we learn
that the acreage under cinchona has been increased to
2,405 acres. For an outlay of 4,484,100 rupees the Govern-
ment has received 5,124,900 rupees, and has acquired, within
the period 1905-17, additions to factory buildings, ete.,
a large reserve of quinine, 2,738 acres afforested with timber
and fuel trees, the 2,405 acres of cinchona, and a large
output of other* manufactured products, making a total
return in cash and readily realizable assets of 11,766,634
rupees. (Mature, December 6, 1917.)
A recent calculation of the yield of sugar in Hawaii
during five-year periods shows the following remarkable
development in productiveness: 1902-6 the yield was 4:40
tons sugar per acre; 1907-11 the yield was 4-87 tons; and.
from 1912-16 the average reached was no less than 5-23 tons.
It is claimed that the aggregate production, which increased
from 1} million tons for the first named period to upwards.
of 3 million tons for the period ended 1916, has been due to
better agriculture rather than to increased areas. (The
Australion Sugar Journal, November 8, 1917.)
{nquiries are often made as to the best way of getting
rid of poultry ticks. The Journal of Ay icultwre of Victoria
for November 1917, gives the following recommendation:
A good remedy for poultry lice or ticks is kerosene emulsion,
and it is easily made as follows: dissolve 1 bb. of
common soapin | gallon of hot water, add 2 gallons of
kerosene, emulsify with garden syringe, heat up mixture, and
add 10 parts of water to 1 of the mixture. Use with a spray
pump or syringe. Whitewash, as recommended by many
poultry writers, is not as effective as spraying fowl houses
with this mixture.
We are informed that there are two positiens as
Assistant Pathologists at present open in the Insular
Experiment Station, Porto Rico. The salaries are, respectively,
$1,800 and $1,500 perannum. One of these assistants will
devote his time to sugar-cane investigations, and the other
to questions connected with citrus cultivation. Applicants
must have had a thorough training in botany and plant
pathology. A Bachelor's degree or its equivalent will be
required. Applications, with a statement of training and
experience, may be made to Mr. John N. Stevenson, Chief
of the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology, Insular
Experiment Station, Rio Piedras, Porto Rico,
Vor. XVII. No, 412.
THE AGRICULTURAL
ou
NEWS. 4
AGRICULTURAL EXAMINATIONS.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS,
Six candidates presented themselves for this examina-
tion in November 1917; four in St. Vincent, one in Antigua,
and one in Barbados. Of these the one in Antigua failed to
satisfy the examiners. Of the others, one of those from
St. Vincent and the one from Barbados sent in such papers
as entitled them to be placed inthe first class. Of the
other three in St. Vincent, one obtained a second class and
the other two third class certificates, The two candidates
who obtained first class certificates were found by the
examiners to be well grounded in the majority of the
subjects of the syllabus. One thing however, must be noted,
the apparent want of knowledge displayed by the St. Vincent
candidates of the value in agricultural operations of farm-
yard manure. This possibly reflects local agricultural practice
in some degree.
INTERMEDIATE EXAMINATIONS.
For this examinatien five candidates presented them-
selves, one in St. Vincent and four in Antigua. Hrom some
unexplained circumstance, the report of the local examiners
on the result of the oral examination of the candidate in
St. Vincent has not been received by the Imperial Commis-
sioner of Agriculture. Of the four candidates in Antigua
one failed to satisfy the examiners, the other three obtained
third class certificates. These have gained their prac-
tical experience in agricultural matters only in work
connected with the Botanic and Experiment Stations
in that island. The local examiners report that the
candidates, as a whole, exhibited some weakness in their
knowledge of estate practice. One of them, however, showed
good acquaintance with the practical cultivation both of cane
and cotton, the special subjects selected by him for examin-
ation. The written papers were fairly well answered, with,
however, a tendency in many cases to vagueness of expres-
sion and slipshod grammar.
RESULTS.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION,
Name. Tsland. Result.
EB. O. ©. Walker St. Vincent Ist class
H. F. Wall ” 19 2nd class
©. A. Marshall Pe ‘2 3rd class
S. F. Leigertwood * bs 3rd class
K. R. C. Foster Barbados Ist class
LIST OF EXAMINERS.
The Imperial Department of Agriculture is indebted to
_ the following agricultural officers and planters for the care
and trouble exercised in the conduct of these examinations: —
A, E. Collens, Esq., F.C.S., Acting Superintendent of
Agriculture for the Leeward Islands.
T. Jackson, Esq., Curator, Botanic Station, Antigua.
R. 8. D. Goodwin, Esq., Collins Estate, Antigua.
John Roden, Esq., Diamond Estate, Antigua.
W. N. Sands, Esq., F.L.S., Agricultural Superintendent,
St. Vincent.
S. C. Harland, Esq., B.Se., Assistant for Cotton
Research, Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The examination papers were prepared as usual at the
Oftice of the Imperial Department in Barbados, and the local
reports and the corrected papers examined by Sir Francis
Watts, K.C.M.G., the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture,
and the Rev. C. H, Branch, B.A., Acting Scientific Assistant.
Below will be found the questions set for the Prelimi-
nary paper. The questions set for the Intermediate
examination will be published in the next issue of the
Agricultural News.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION.
The preliminary examination of the Imperial Department
of Agriculture was held in St. Vincent, Barbados and
Antigua during November 1917. :
Of the thirteen questions set not more than nine were
to be attempted, which had to include three from Section A,
three from Section B, and one from Section ©. The
remaining two questions were allowed to be selected
irrespective of the section.
The following are the questions set for the written
paper:—
A. Tue Som.
1. Give the chief reasons for cultivating and tilling the
soil. What are the objects for which (a) ploughing, and (5)
harrowing are respectively employed?
2. What methods are employed in practice to increase
the amount of nitrogen in the soil!
3. What is the effect of a large proportion (a) of clay,
(b) of sand ina soil! How may heavy soils be made lighter?
4, Explain the reasons why the application of lime to
soils is beneficial.
B. Tue PLant.
5. What gas do green plants give off under sunlight!
How can it be shown in a simple way that they do give off
this gas!
6. Describe by means of labelled drawings 9/), the
structure of any two of the following: (a) a cane stem,
(b) a lime fruit, (c) a cotton pod, (d) a cacao pod, (e) a banana
fruit, (f) a green leaf, (g) any common flower.
7. What are the reasons why a sufficient supply of
water is necessary to plants! Describe how plants take in water.
8. Describe in detail some piece of work you have
done in sowing seeds, giving reasons for the various opera-
tions,
C, Tur ANIMAL.
J. Describe the structure and action of the heart of
any mammal.
10. State the functions of the blood in such a mammal.
11. Give a general account of the digestive process of
a horse.
12. Relate any observations you have madeas to damage
done to crops by birds or vermin.
13. Describe how a horse's age may be known by the
appearance of its tegzh.
The New Ford Tractor.—The lord tractor which
has recently been tested with gvod results by the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, and thousands of which
have been ordered for use, has the following chief points: —
The tractor has no real chassis; the radiator is fixed
directly to the motor which is supported by arms attached to
the axle. The wheels are of stee], and all the working parts
are completely closed in to protect them from dust and mud.
The tractor weighs less than a ton. The motor is a large
size of that used for the Ford automobile, giving 20 b.h.p.
with a 10 h.p. pul! at the draw bar. There are three speeds
and a reverse.
AS THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
PLANT DISEASES.
FOMES LUCIDUS AS A PARASITE OF
TREES.
The fungus above named has come to notice from time
to time in these islands as a suspected parasite working on
the roots and collarsof various trees. Its occurrence on
the ioots of lime trees in Montserrat was discussed in the
Heest Indian Bulletin by Mr. F. W. South (Vol. XIT,
p. 493) who found the evidence strongly suggestive that it
was responsible for some of the losses of trees experienced
in that island and in Antigua.
A ease in which, owing to the absence of complications,
the connexion of this fungus with root disease was more
clearly indicated received some attention from the writer in
Sr. Kittsin 1914. At the Basseterre Botanic Gardens a row
of large Saman trees (///ccolobium Saman) was thinned out
a few years ago by cutting down alternate trees. About
a yearafterwards three of the remaining trees died with
a fungus rot of the roots, and an adjacent hedge of bread-and-
cheese (7. wuguis-cati) was similarly killed. The Saman
trees have continued to die one by one. White mycelium is
plentifully developed, in some places in thick masses, under
the bark of the collar and roots, and large sporophores of
Fumes lucidus regularly grow out from this when the
tree is dying or dead. The bracket-like fructifications attain
in well-vrown examples to adiameter of 30 centimetres,
They are usually snpported on short thick reddish-black
polished stalks single or fused; the upper surface is irregu-
larly wrinkled and has the appearance of being coated. with
brownish-red lacquer; while the under side when fresh is
whitish or buff in colour. The fungns has been similarly
associated with root disease of coco-nut, mango, :nd Puinciana
in Ceylon.
A letter recently received from \Ir. P. J. van Breemen,
Director of the Agricultural Department at Curacoa,
gives the information that the fungus has come under
suspicion there of being the cause of a white rot of Caesa/priire
coriavia and Acacia fortuosa which is at present under
investigation.
Coincident with this re-opening of the subject there has
come to hand a reprint from the .Sew/h African Journal of
Science containing a note by the Union Mycologist,
Mr. P. A. van der Bijl, on the occurrence of the same fungus
on certain trees, particularly Acacia spp. and willow in
South Africa. The death of a large number of acacia trees
around Pretoria is attribuied to the fungus, and the fact that
Acacia mollissima, the cultivated wattle, is involved, adds to
the economic importance of the disease. The author regards
the fungus as a facultative parasite, which is only likely to
become established when the ability of the trees to resist its
attack is impaired by unfavourable conditions, This agrees
with the conclusion formed by the present writer with
regard to lime trees in Montserrat and elsewhere in these
island: ;
The action of the fungus on the wood of the willow
is described as one of delignification and digestion which
proceeds slowly and gradually.
The importance of methods of control aiming at the
destruction of the fructifications and of all material harbour-
ing the mycelium of the fungus is emphasized, on the
geound that the mycelium remains active and retains its
power of fruiting for years after the host plant is dead.
The note contains a vseful discussion of the synonymy
cf the fungus. The author uses the name /o’yporus lnerdus,
Fenruary 9, 1918.
and points out that a generalized description covering the-
rather wide range of variability shown by the fungus will
also include a number of forms which have been described
as distinct species.
Saecardo gives the name of the fungus as /vmes /ucidus,
a rendering which has been followed in the publications of
this Department. The usually accepted distinction between
Polyporus and Fomes, namely the annual character of the
former and the perennial habit of the latter, is one which
in practice may be very difticult to apply, especially in the
tropics. If Murrell’s scheme of classification be accepted, the
fungus should presumably be placed in the genus Ganoderma.
The absence of all synonymy, combined with the general use
of new and unfamiliar names, in the last mentioned writer's
monograph on tropical Polypores, hinders one from learning
his views on the fungus in question.
W.N.
HOME-GROUND CORN MEAL.
A correspondent of the Journal of the Jamaica Agri-
cultura! Society, December 1917, contributes the following
useful hints, which may be of practical value as a suggestion
to housekeepers in other islands:-— iS
‘T have made corn meal with my cotfee mill that would
make some of the imported corn mills feel ashamed. ‘This
is how Ido the thing: First, I have the mill properly
cleaned with hot water and dried. Then I screw it down so
that the corn comes out in coarse grit from the first grinding.
Secondly, I screw it up to three-quarter tight, and pass the
grit through which should come out nearly done. Thirdly
I screw up as tightly as possible, return meal to mill and
the result is that after sifting I get as fine a meal as could
be desired. Again, if I desire to havea real good plate
of pea soup, all I have to dois to pass the peas through
the mill before cooking, and the result is marvellous.
I have not tried it with banana or potato chips, but I
feel confident that. the same results can be obtained.
Of course, it takes up more time and labour than the corn
mil], but the results pay when you haven’t got a corn mill of
your OWn or one near by.’
A kitchen corn mill used to be very common in Barba-
dos thirty or forty years ago, in which the daily supply of
meal for the household was ground from fresh corn, A_ re-
turn to the old practice is certainly advisable now.
THE CANARY PINE.
The question of afforestation, or reaffurestation, is one
of some importance in many of the smaller West Indian
islands. The kind of tree which it is best to plant on nearly
denuded areas is worthy of consideration, and any hints as to:
valuable forest trees possibiy suited to West Indian’ con-
ditions, especially to those in the drier islands, are valuable.
Dr. G. V. Perez of Teneriffe, in an article contributed to
the Bulletin de la Suctélé Nationale d Acclimatation dé France
August 1917, draws attention to the merits of a species of
pine tree (/%nus conartensis) indigenous to tke Canary
[slands, for afforestation purposes. He says that this pine
has been found to grow well in all of the warmer temper-
ate countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and also bas
been introduced suecessfully into South Africa, Chile
Australia, and New Zealand. The tree grows vigorously
from coast lands toa height of 1,500 feet above sea level.
In Ciscussing the merits of the tree, Dr. Perez states that
its wood is one of the hardest, unsurpassed for endurance
Vor. XVII. No. 412.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 4?
sand resistance to every variation of temperature; even when
buried in the earth it lasts like iron. The tree is of fairly
rapid growth after the first eight or ten years: thus at twenty
years {of age the height of one of these trees may reach 20
to 30 metres with a diameter varying from 20 to 30 centi-
ametres. Its adaptability to various conditions is great. It
endures a Jarge amount of moisture or very dry conditions.
Strong winds do not cause it to fall, as is the case with
other species of the genus, and it can withstand some
degrees of frost. When cut down it springs again from the
trunk, which is a rare habit among pines. These trees may
be planted at a very short distance from one another, 1°25
metre apart, and even | metre apart in very dry soils, is the
advice given as the result of his‘experience by M. F. Albert,
the Chief of the Forest Department in Chile. Another
“admirable feature of this tree is that its trunk grows
perfectly straight, even when the tree is isolated. Dr. Perez
eonsiders that Pinus canarvensis is an ideal forest tree for
warm temperate regions, especially with regard to its toler-
ance of drought.
It might be advantageous if experiments were made
in these drier tropical islands as to the adaptability of this
tree to local conditions.
HOG CHOLERA IN BARBADOS.
In a letter to the Burhados Advocate, February 5,
Dr. R. A. Stoute, D.V.S.. Government Veterinary Surgeon,
states that after making several post mortems, as well as doing
other work, Dr. Johnson, the Government Bacteriologist, and
he have been able to pronounce the disease among hogs which
exists at present in the island to be hog cholera or swine fever.
Unfortunately they have been unable to trace its origin.
After quoting in full the symptoms of the disease
from Dr. Dorset’s book on hog cholera, Dr. Stoute gives
gome suggestions which he hopes may be helpful. They
are as follows:—
‘On finding that your hogs are attected with hog cholera
give to each well animal a dose of salts in its drinking water.
Some American farmers recommend one large tablespoonful
of characoal in each animal’s feed twice a day as a preventive.
‘L would suggest, when practicable, to remove the well
hogs from the sick ones, and consequently from the infected
pens. Thoroughly wash each hog with soap and water,
putting a little Jeyes fluidin the water; be careful to wash
the feet and lower parts of the abdomen; be careful that no
manure is carried from sick pens to new ones, and keep each
hog as much separated from others as possible. Under no
consideration allow attendants to visit the pens with the
sick hogs, and then go to pens with healthy animals. The
utensils used for feeding before removal must not be used
with the hogs after being separated.
‘One of the rules issued by the Board of Agriculture
and Fisheries in England is that every person going in or to
a sty with a hog sick of swine fever must thoroughly wash
his hands with soap and water, and must also wipe his
boots or feet. ;
‘The spread of the disease here cannot be accounted for,
but, as birds are blamed for carrying the infection on their
feet, Iam inclined to blame our blackbird for at least
helping to spread the infection. ;
‘Under no consideration allow a fresh animal to be
brought into the herd, or allow any animal to be sent _from
an infected herd, except under certain regulations which L
presume will have to be carried out by the Sanitary
_ Authorities.
‘In addition to the above if must be remembered that
the pens, troughs, and all utensils used with the hogs must
be kept perfectly clean, and the bedding must be also kept
as clean as possible.”
with a prescription which Dr. Dorset is of opinion acts
principally as a tonic, and so improves the health of animals.
This deadly disease was the subject of an article in the
Agricultural News, December 1, 1917, p. 378, to which ov:
réaders are referred. This was based on Furmers’ Bulletin
No. 834, of the United States Department of Agriculture,
August 1917. We quote the following from the bulletin refer~
red to: ‘no drug or combination of drugs is known which can
be regarded either as a preventive or a cure in the true sense
of the word for hog cholera. Only one agent known can
be regarded as a reliable preventive, that is anti-hog cholera
serum. . . . Complete immunity from the disease is obtained
by the injection of hog cholera virus in addition to the
serum. The practice is to administer the germs of the hog
cholera in the virus, and at the same tinie to give a dose of
serum, which will protect the hogs from cholera. The theory
is similar to that of vaccination. Tn view of the magnitud=
of the interests involved if would seem to be desirable thaz
such serum be obtained, as it may be, from the licensed
manufacturers thereof in the United States.
ECONOMY IN FOOD CONSUMPTION.
An article in The I%eld of November 24, 1917;
very truly remarks that ‘the solution of the food problem
will be found in careful harbouring of supplies rather than
in increased production. It will be the duty of all, ia
a position to do so, to exert themselves in augmenting the
output of essential commodities, The farmer as the
principal producer has a heavy responsibility in -'the
matter, but the smaller holder and the allotment
holder will be required to play a proportionate part,
if it be only to grow enongh for home use. The
work of production must be encouraged in every way
compatible with the public interest, for there is a limis
that we need not be afraid of exceeding, from home sources,
below which supplies cannot be reduced without imperilling
the nation; but, while it may be assumed that the minimum
standard of output can be maintained. it would be unwise to
count upon any considerable quantity in excess of it. If the
critical period is to be surmounted, it will certainly be neces-
sary to insist upon strict economy in the homes of
the people. Indeed, in the opimion of many careful
economists the consumer can go at least as far as
the producer towards solving the vital problem that now
confronts the nation. While the one can help throagh
increase exertion on the land, the other has an egnally
etfective part to fill in economising in the home. ‘There
must be an advance from both directions towards the point
at which safety is to be found. Since this sharing of res-
ponsibility has been insisted upon in these columns before,
as the only means of overcoming the food difficulties, 7
note with peculiar satisfaction the piominence that is now
being given to economy in consumption. It may well bs
said of the economy movement that this way lies the satety
of the country. The farmer can do much, and, subject to
the weather will strain the resources of his holding to che
utmost, but if the consumer fails to do his part, which ia
not so susceptible to natural disturbances, the trial wil] not
be successfully surmounted.’
4s THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, Fesrvary 9, 1918,
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tne West
December 27
Inpra CommitreEE CIRCULAR,
ArrownootT— No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/34;
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Tiinidad, %4'- to 99/-;
Jamaica, no quotations.
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations
Copra—£46.
Fruit—No quotations.
Grincer—Jamaica, nv quatations.
Honey—Jamaica, 134/- to 144/- per ewt.
Live Juice—Raw, 2/- to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17/6.
Loawoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nurmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—4} 1. ;
Rusper—Para, fine hard, 2/94; fine soft, no quotations:
Castilloa, no quotations.
Sheet, 4/- to 4/1.
Grenada, 85/- to 96/-:
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpox, Grant & Co., January 15
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12°00 to $12°25 Trinidad, no quota
tions. -
Coco-nut Om—S1°35 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, 12c. per fh.
Corra—$7°‘70 per 100 Ip.
Dxat—No auotations.
Ontons—$8-00 per 100 t.
Pras, Sprrr—$12°00 to $12°50 per bag.
Porators—English, $4°50 to $5:00 per 100 Ib.
Rice—Yellow, $11°50 to $11°75; White, 9°50 per bag.
Scear—American crushed, nv quotations.
Publications on sale
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
New York.—Messrs Giixesrie Bros, & Co., January 15,
Cacao—Caracas, 12}c.; Grenada, no quotations; Trinidad,
lske. to 13fc.; Jamaica, 9c. to 10}c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $3800 to $40°00; Trinidad
selects, $36°00 to $38-00; culls, $1800 to $2000 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to llc. per tk.
GincerR—liise. to 20c. per tb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, Tic. to
$85c.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 70c. tv 75c. per th.
Grape Fruit—Jamaica, $2°00 to $2°50 per box.
Lies—$6'50 to $8°00 per bri.
Mace—3lc. to 37c. per th.
Nourmecs—18c. to 2le.
Onanees—$1°75 to $3°50.
Pimnento—(e. per tb.
Suear—Centrifygals, 96°, 6-05c; Muscovados, 89°, 5 (dc.¢
Molasses, 89°, 4:85c. all duty paid.
'
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garzaway & Co,, February 6,
Arrowroot—$9'00 per 100 fb.
Cacao—$12°00 to $14:00 per i00 to.
Coco-nuts—$28'80 husked nuts.
Hay—$2°90.
Mo assres—No quotations.
Oyr1ons— No quotations.
Pras, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, ro quotations! Ran-
goor, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $4.75.
—~a
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nes. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HAND-BOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Hand-books are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made ia
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, ia
Qs. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each—
Post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMEN'rS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PU LICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
West Inpia Commirver, 15, Seething Lane.
Barbados: Apvocatr Co. Lp., Broad Street, Bridgetown.
Jamaica: Tuk EpucationaL Suppty Comeany, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana: Tux Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsnatyt & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C, L. Puacemann, Scarborough.
Grenada: Messrs. THos. Lawton & Co., St. George,
St. Vincent; Mr. J. D, Bonavie, ‘Times’ Office.
St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nixes, Sotanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brrpcewarer, Roseau,
Montserrat: Mr. W, Rosson, Botanic Station,
Antigua: Mr. S. D. Matong, St. John’s.
St. Kitts: Toe Brose AnD Book Suprpty AcEncy, Bassererre,
Nevis: Messrs, Howes, Bros,, Charlestown,
Canada: Lewis W, Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto.
t
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
a
— —__
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. W. N-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES |
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that.
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how_our
clients instruct. us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
f
:
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
4
Be s
1) nS
era)
|
Vor, XVII, No. 412; THE AGRICULTURAL “NEWS. Fesrvuar® 9, 1918,
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONI/
Dissolved (Soluble) Gua:
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GENERAL USE.
TRADE
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lyneh & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS|
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage,
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON Ws.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
i BARBADOS.
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street} Bridgetown, Barbados,
Py
Vol. XVII. No. 413.] | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1918. [One penny.
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Branches at BARBADOS, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S, Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao \Paulo
Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, etc. :
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Vzrious METHODS
OF
Tick “DESTRUCTION
a te
Ip the compilation of these notes, reference has been made to many sources of information, but particularly to an
article which appeared in the “ Bulletin of the Jamaica Department of Agriculture,” Vol. 1, Number 3, from CATTLE Tite
which much of the following matter is quoted, almost textually. ewan
HAND PICKING. This is a primitive method and absolutely ineffective, on a large property, for keeping down ticks. Only the engorged females
offer themselves as objects for removal by the hand of the operator. A certain proportion of engorged females drop off in the pastures, or the road-
side, or in the cattle pen. A certain number fail to be destroyed by the fingers or heel of the picker,.and the result is that a great many more ticks
survive than are picked off the bodies of the cattle. This method is largely responsible for the tick pest retaining its most virulent form,
TARRING. This was the remedy recommended by Professor Williams as a result of his mission to Jamaica in 1896. ‘One part of Tar to three parts
of boiled linseed oil was recommended. In many instances the result of its too thorough application was that the animals so treated became
asphyxiated through a blocking of the pores of the skin. This tar remedy, however, or variations of it containing sour orange juice, carbolic acid,
Lerosene oil and other fearsome remedies, are still widely used in Jamaica. A boy with the paint pot daubs a smear of the tick-dressing only
on such portions of an infected animal as appear to him to be in pressing need of treatment; but to cope properly with the tick pest, every spot
on the surface of every animal must be reached by the tick destroying agent. While a few score of engorged ticks are hastily brushed over on a
cow's flank or thighs, there may be hundreds of larval ticks all along the spinal region, on the poll, and in fact on all parts of the body, undergoing
development. Unless all these ticks are killed, and not merely 60 or 70 per cent., the complete eradication of the ticks is out of the question.
So long as Cattle breeders keep to the tar brush, so long will the tick plague wax fierce and flourish.
BRUSHING. Brushing with a tick-destroying wash represents a fairly efficient means of treating tick-infested cattle, but is attended with some
risk. The bulk of the remedies used for “ brushing” are coal-tar emulsions of the type of Jeyes’ Fluid. None of these preparations will kill ticks
unless used at a strength that is very liable to strip the skin of the cows under treatment ; in no case do they give a high efficiency of tick-destruction.
lt is perfectly certain that brushing is not a good method, and will not solve the tick problem so as completely to abolish ticks on a property,
because it is not capable of complete or perfect results, nor is it free from risk of injury to the animals treated. Many pen-keepers are entirely
satisfied with their results from brushing, because they have not rea!ly made accurate observations of the tick mortality resulting from their operations.
ETARVATION METHOD. This is a sure and inexpensive method, but can only be applied by the owner of a large herd who has a
permanent pasture and two or three other fenced fields which have not been pastured by cattle for a year or so. It consists in keeping the cattle
of) the infested pasture for a period of twelve months or more, until the young ticks are starved out. The cattle are taken from the tick-infested pasture
and placed on tick-free ries before young ticks hatch from the eggs laid in this first tick-free field by the female ticks on the cattle when moved
> trom the tick-infested pasture, the cattle are moved a second time on to another tick-free field.
RASS BURNING. If burning is done at the right time, it cannot fail to kill immense numbers of the young “seed ticks ; but it is the common
experience that “ burnt” pastures very quickly again become heavily tick-infested. . This is due to the fact that the tick-eggs on the ground are not des-
tro, ed, and no doubt many female ticks escape the effects of the fire by hiding in cracks and crevices, or under stones, or logs of wood, etc. Grass-
burning, even when carried out at the proper time, will not completely eradicate ticks, it will only reduce their numbers, and that only temporarily.
HAND SPRAYING. Spraying by means of one or other of the many types of hand-pumps or syringes is, if very carefully and thorough'y done,
a very effective method of treating tick-infested cattle ; but it is slow, unpleasant work, and, moreover, very wasteful of the wash. The effic:ency of
hand spraying may be said to be in direct proportion to the care and thoroughness with which the operation is conductet; for this reason, ic should
never be entrusted to natives or negroes without effective supervision. (
MACHINE SPRAYING. The principle of machine spraying is the passing of the animals through a short tunnel, lined with piping, through holes
er jets in which, a tick-destroying fluid is sprayed at them from the floor and from all possible angles by means of apump. There can be no «leu it
that. next to dipping, machine spraying is by far the best method of treating tick-infested stock ; but it is not by this means absolutely certain th
ticks will be destroyed, as, however ingenious the arrangement by which the wash is sprayed from “all points of the compass,” ticks deep dov
the ears, or under the tail, or in the “ brush” of the tail may not be reached. But where expense, or some other Ansa precludes the em
ment of a dipping bath, a spraying machine is by a long way the most efficient substitute. The machine manufactured by William Cooper & Nepiiews
is the latest and cheapest form of Spraying Machine. y ‘
. :
DIPPING. The only really completely effective method of treating ticky cattle, horses, &c., is to pass them through a swim dipping bath ; the process is
absolutely automatic ; it is quick ; it is economical ; it is absolutely efficient, as, at the first plunge at the entrance, or during the process of swiraming
through the tank, every dingle tick is brought into contact with the tick-destroying fluid, even if deep down in the ears, or under the eyes, or beneath
the root of the tail. Dipping is very economical of wash, as, with a proper draining floor or pen, every drop of surplus wash flows back into the tank
and is used again. The first-cost of a tank is comparatively high, but its low cost of operation, its simplicity, its efficiency, and its permanency, more ‘han
compensate for the extra initial expenditure, The great advantage of dipping over spraying or hand-dressing lies in the fact that the throroughness of
the treatment under all conditions is practically assured, as it is not dependent, to any degree, on the care exercised by those in charge of the work ;
the cattle dip themselves. No other method can approach dipping in efficiency, and in this connection it should be remembered that, even if, by
some other method, you kill 75% of the ticks, great and small, on your animals, you are only “ suppressing” the ticks, and are still far from solving
the problem of complete eradication. A method that will ki!) 190% of the ticks is worth to a Cattle owner ten times as much as a method that
will kill only 90%. The truth of this will be apparent after two years of faithiul and systematic operations. With dipping, the efficient treatment
of tick-infested Cattle becomes a verv simnle matter and cormnlate tick eradiratian hannmas ~ 4
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
; ; : son & Ce.
Wes received the official approval of the following Countries: oT. KITTS: om A, Horstord I ce beeen it
Waion of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland. GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd.
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, ALLS Twynam, Nassau.
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: XO een pete: & Oat
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensiané, ST. VINCENT: Corea & Cow Kingstown. ; NEVIS: S.D. Malone.
j DANISH WEST IN : A. Schmilegelow, St. Croix.
Matted States of America, New seat Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hen. H. A. Framptes,
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Ce., Castries.
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
LEANCIIES Toreptc, Chicago, Syduey, Melbourne, Amckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East Londem, Odessa
Ww
prey
SV RRS
3 —. >
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No. 413. BARBADOS, FEBRUARY 23, 1918. Price 1d.
before this body. It had no alternative. It “either
CONTENTS. had to fight or to admit that it had no honour, was
not a free nation, and would henceforth be subjected
Pace, PAGE. to a medieval power that in the last analysis know
Agricultural Examina- Insect Notes:— : : wie J oes
ana ot 61 Insel Enda. Bar no law but might. The nation was living on a peace
Agriculture in Barbados 53 bados in 1916-17... 58
American Way, The ... 49 | Insect Pests, Introduction
Antigua Corn Granary ... 57 to be Avoided ... ... 56
Cotton Notes: — Items of Local Interest... 52
British Cotton Growing Maize, White Cho! ceo." HN)
Association ... ... 54 | Market Reports ... ... 64
Sea Island Cotton Mar- Notes and Comments ... 56
ket ... ... -.. ... 54} Oil Industry of Trinidad
The Toxic Substance in T9FGoemeee e-s eee OO
in Cotton Seed ... ... 54 | Palm Wax from Colombia,
Department News ... 61 A. JNengede cine: Oe
Departmental Reports ... 65 | Plant Diseases:—
Hlectrical Stimulation of Notes from Recent Lite-
Cropsmnedinecd cause. On rature on Citrus Dis-
Fish Skins, Demand for 58 CaSeS capes yess, e<5 OZ
ed of the West Indies, x Sorghum Tests in Queens-
le ane eee Sco ma) land 63
Gleanings ... ... .. 60 : arene ee
Guatemalan Sugar Indus- Tapioca Starch from Rho-
‘
EDVge mee Nee ese Ol CREE) aco GcoeCrOr socceehed
The American Way.
HE following, from an address given by the
’ Secretary of Agriculture of the United States
, <8 of America, Mr. Houston, to the Association
of American Agricultural Colleges and Experimental
Stations, is so apposite to present conditions, that no
apology is needed for reproducing it from Sczence,
November 30, 1917:—
‘According to the calendar it is almost a year to
the day smce my last meeting with you. Judging by
the experiences through which we have passed,it seems
more like a generation. Then this country was at
peace, though its patience was being sorely tried.
Now it is at war for reasons which I need not discuss
basis, and was not fully prepared for war in any res-
pect; but it was fortunately circumstanced in the
character of its agricultural organization, and the
number and efficiency of its expert agencies.
‘The nation may well pride itself on the fact that
it had had the foresight generations ago to lay deep its
agricultural foundations. I congratulate the represen-
tatives of the land grant colleges on the fine opportu-
nity for service presented to them, and on the
splendid way in which they have seized it. The
Department of Agriculture had had great comfort in
the thought that these institutions, ably planned and
wisely directed, existed in every part of the nation, and
stood ready not only to place themselves at the service
of the national government, but also to take the
initiative in a vast number of directions.
‘When a state of war was declared on April 6, the
food situation was unsatisfactory. The need of action
was urgent, and the appeal for direction was insistent.
The nation looked for guidance primarily to the Federal
Department, and to the State agencies which it had so
liberally supported for many generations. It was not
disappointed.
‘In a two-day~ session at St. Louis the trained
agriculttral officers of the country conceived and
devised a programme of legislation, organization, and
practice, the essential features of which have not been
successfully questioned, and the substantial part of
which has been enacted into law, and set in operation,
This great democracy revealed its inherent strength,
50
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fesruary 23, 1918.
LE ee ee oe ee ee ee
‘To the normal forces of the government dealing
with agrienlture and rural problems there has been
added anemergeney agency with great and unusual
powers, with enormous possibilities for good, and with
a remarkable record for achievements already to its
credit. It has enlisted in its ranks men of wide experi-
ence, fine spirit, and high ideals, many of whom are
gladly volunteering their services for the common
eause. I refer to the Food Administration under the
direction of Mr. Hoover.
‘The relation between this agency and the other
organized agricultural forces of the nation is intimate
and fundamental. It is impossible completely to disas-
sociate them, and it would be undesirable to do so.
‘The problem in part is a common one, and it is
of the first importance that the work be done in the
closest co-operation, and with an eye single for the
public good. There is no need for undue duplication
of effort, and no causes of fnetion which cannot be
remoyed through an intelligent conception by each
agency of the powers and purposes of all, and by a
spirit of mutual accommodation. In a broad way it is
agreed that the prime function of the Department of
Agriculture shall be the stimulation of production, the
conservation of products on the farm through all the
normal and approyed processes, the promotion of better
marketing and distribution of products from the farms
to the markets, the prosecution of the work in home
economics along usual lines, the dissemination of
information, and the extension of all these activities
as authorized by law. Ina similar way the principal
function of the Food Administration is the control and
regulation of commercial distribution of foods; that is
of products which have reached the markets, are in the
channels of distribution or in the hands of consumers,
their conservation by consumers, the elimination of
waste, and the handling of foods and feeds in the
market by legal means, through its regular officials
as well as thrcugh its volunteer agencies.
‘In the main the Department of Agriculture deals
wih all the processes of farming up to the time
products reach the market, until they are in the
requisite form for consumption, and are available for
the purpose. At this point the Food Administration
enters and exercises its wide powers of regulation,
direction, and suggestion, Where the Food Adminis-
tration through its powers can be of assistance to the
Department of Agriculture in its field, it is at liberty
freely to make suggestion, and when necessaiy, 10
co-operate 1n execution: and the same relation obtains
as to the department’s participation in food adminis-
tration matters in which it has a vital interest, and
toward the promotion of which it can be of assistance.
This is the substance of the agreement originally
entered into between the Fvuod Administration and the
Department of Agriculture, and will be more satis-
factorily observed as the agents and divisions of the
two departments familiarize themselves more fully
with their tasks and with the prescribed lines of efforts.
‘Obviously the making of a programme for the
agricultural actitives of the nation did not end with
the St. Louis conference. Thought, action, and co-oper-
ation between the members of this association and
other state agencies on the one hand, and the federa)
department on the other, have been continuous. Atten-
tion has been given without cessation to problems in
the field of labour. It was obvious that difficulties
would be presented, and that apprehension would run
beyond the actual condition. Aa army could not be
raised without taking men from every field of activity,
and it would have been unfair to any class of work-
ers in the community to have proposed its exemption.
It was impossible, in the haste of the first draft, satis
factorily to work out in detail the principle of selective
service: but, nevertheless, under the regulations, con-
sideration was given throughout by exemption boards
and by the officers of the War Department to the needs
of agriculture. With ampler time at its disposal, the
War Department has worked out a system of classifiea-
tion which gives due regard to the necessity of retain-
ing skilled farmers and expert agricultural leaders on
the farms and ranches, and in the edueational and
administrative services.’
THE FOOD OF THE WEST INDIES.
The Hon, H. A. Alford Nicholls,C.M.G., M.D.,
F.LS., Senior Medica] Officer of Dominica, has eontri-
buted to this Journal the following article on the above
subject which is claiming so much attention at present —
‘in these islands:—
Some time ago in one of the West Indian colonies the
question of the deficiency of protein in the food of the people
became the subject of official reports, and it was asserted that
this deficiency involved a starving and stunting of
young growing persons, and a lowering of the physique
of the people, with the consequent diminution of their work-
ing power.
It was also considered that the low protein content and
the excess of carbohydrates in the food were the causes of
the prevalence of pellagra and peripheral neuritis.
The official paj ers in regard to the questions raised were
sent to me for my consideration and report. The matters
dealt with are of interest to the West Indies generally, and
a request was made to me that my report should be published
Von. XVII. No. 413.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
qn
—
With the sanction of the Government it now appears as this
paper. suitable for the general reader. All special official
references have been eliminated,
It may be taken as an incontrovertible fact that the
greater part of the food of the people of the West Indies
generally is made up of vezetabic products which contain
much carbohydrate and relatively little protein and fat.
A healthy working man requires a supply of tood
capable of creating potential energy cqual to from 3,000 to
3,500 calories daily; and, as regards the nature of the food,
one authority gives the following table of what might be
considered a satisfactory allowance: —
Protein 125 grams equal to 512°5 calories
Pat LOD ane DOE See
Carbohydrate 420 lg t22:0
; 3,211:0 calories
Other authorities, whilst agreeing as to the quantity of
protein, diminish the fat somewhat and increase the carbo-
hydrate; but there is a consensus of opinion as to the neces-
sity of the potential energy reaching 3,000 calories or over.
These views concerning quantities have within recent
years been called in question. Thus Chittenden (Physio-
logical Economy of Nutrition, New York, 1904) shows that
health and efficiency are compatible with a diet containing
much less than the accepted minimum of protein. His con-
clusion was that ‘the amount of proteid tond needed daily
for the actual physiological want of the body is not more
than one half that ordinarily consumed.’ Since the
publication of the result of Chittenden’s work it has been
demonstrated in Germany that he was right, and that 75
grams of protein daily is a sufficient quantity for an average
man.
Of course, if too little proteid food be taken, the
muscular tissues are not properly nourished, and there is less
resistance, to disease. And undoubtedly this occurs in
regard to some of the people of the West Indies who live
almost entirely on so-called ground provisions. But, in most
instances this food is supplemented by fresh and salt fish,
and by peas and beans—in which the protein content is
high—and occasionally by other foods rich in nitrogenous
matters.
One of the principal leguminous foods of the people is
the pigeon pea (Cujanus indicus) which is grown extensively
throughout the West Indies. It is richer in protein than
salt fish, and much richer than bread made of the white
wheaten flour imported into the West Indies. The follow-
ing table shows the compcsition of pigeon peas and white
bread:—
Pigeon peas White bread,
Water 10°5 390
Protein 223 6:5
Fat 2:1 1-0
Carbohydrate 60°9 51:5
Fibre 1°2
Mineral matter 3°0 10
That the majority of the labouring people get enough
protein in their food would appear to be evident from the
fact that they are not short-lived, and that they are capable
of performing continuous heavy work. Those of them,
however, who are mainly vegetarians by necessity are com-
pelled to consume large quantities of food in order to supply
the need for protein. The result is that the digestive apparatus
is often distended by the excess of the carbohydrate portion
of the diet ‘which cannot possibly be digested, and which
conseqnently is responsible for gastro-intestinal complaints.
In connexion with the food of the West Indies it should
be remembered that the bulk of the pgople have lived on it
for generations, that they have increased and multiplied on
it, and that they are ‘the hewers of wood and the drawers
of water.’ Humin beings becme adapted to conditions
under which they live. ‘The negro of the tropics manages
to live and work and increase in nnmbers mainly on vegeta-
ble food, whilst the Esquimo of the arctic regions thrives
on meat and blubber. In both of these instances there is
a contradiction of the dictum that a diet necessary to main-
tain health must be made up of definite proportions of
protein, carbohydrate and fat.
In order that human beings may be kept healthy and
well-nourished, it was considered thit their food should
contain due proportions of (1) protein, (2) carbohydrate,
(3) fat, and (4) water. Comparatively recent acquisitions of
knowledge, however, show that to these four essential
elements there must be added a fifth, to which, in 1913,
Funk gave the now accepted name of vitamine. Later dis-
coveries have shown that there are two kinds of vitamines,
viz., (a) the anti-neuritic vitamine which exists in the seeds
of cereals and pulses, and in fresh meat and eggs of anima's:
and (b) the anti-scorbutic vitamine which occurs in
abundance in fresh fruits and vegetables, and sparingly in
meat and milk,
Vitamines have not yet been isolated, so that their com-
position is not known, but their necessary presence in food
has been demonstrated beyond doubt by biological experi-
ments. Their absence in diet results in what are known as
deficiency diseases, such as beri-beri (which is a spzcific
multiple neuritis) pellagra, and scurvy.
As the people of the West Indies obtain an abundance
of fresh vegetables and fruit containing anti-scorbutic
vitamines, scurvy does not occur amongst them.
Pellagra and peripheral neuritis are degenerative
diseases of the nervous system, due to defective metabolism
resulting from the deficiency in dict, not of protein, but. of
anti-neuritic vitamines. The food of the people of the colony
referred to, whilst rich in carbohydrate, appears, according t»
general accepted ideas, to be deficient in protein, so it was
suggested that the labourers of the island would be better off
if they lived largely on imported wheaten flour, and devoted
all their energies—which it was believed would be thereby
increased —to the cultivation of articles for export. ‘
Wheaten flour, imported from Canada and the United
States, is consumed in large quantities throughout the West
Indies. It is a white flour consisting of the endosperm of the
wheat, the embryo and the aleurone Jayer—in which the
anti-neuritic vitainines occur—being separated in the roller
milling, and carried away io the bran. White wheaten flour,
therefore is useless in preventing deficiency diseases, indecd
it has been found that it will give rise to multiple neuritis,
if used as a sole diet.
The protein content of bread made from wheaten flour
is 65 per cent.; and larger amounts of protein can be
supplied by the ingestion of peas and beans, which are
grown abundantly throughout the West Indies. The people
therefore should be taught to eat leguminous foods largely,
and should be encouraged in every possible way, as has been
very properly urged, to keep small live stock such as pigs
fowls, ete. in order to supplement their main vegetable diet
with animal food. If this plan were carried out, doubtless
there would be in time an improvement in their physique,
and a marked diminution of the prevalence of deticiency
diseases. : :
(10 he continued.)
52 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Frsruary 23, 1918.
ee
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
———
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
st. vincent. Mr. W. N. Sands reports general routine
work in the Botanic Gardens during the month of January.
The reaping of various crops was continued. The prospects
are saidto be not so good as last year. The planting of
ground provision crops was extensively carried on. Corn and
peas were also planted where conditions were favourable,
the excellent rains enabling good progress to be made.
The export of live stock, poultry, and eggs, as well as
farine, yams, cotton seed, and cotton-seed oil has been prohib-
ited except under license. The export of sugar, syrup,
and molasses had been already prohibited on similar
terms. The granary’s bins containing 1,200 ewt. of kiln-
dried corn were filled and sealed. It is hoped to keep
this in reserve for some little time. The refining of cotton-
seed oil for Jocal consumption was continued at the ginnery.
The Agricultural Superintendent visited Bequia in connexion
with the destruction of silk-cotton and John Bull trees in
a campaign started against the native food-plants of the
cotton stainer in that island. ‘The pest had done a great deal
of damage during the past season. At several places visited
by the Cotton Inspector old cotton stalks were being destroyed,
and food crops planted. A similar condition of affairs is
reported from the Land Settlement estates of Lindley Valley
and Belair, where the people were said to be busily engaged
in planting ground provision crops.
The rainfall recorded at the Botanic Station during the
month was 7°86 inches,’ and at the Experiment Station,
6°43 inches. The rainfall for 1917, the Agricultural Super-
intendent remarks, was exceptionally well distributed
in most districts of the Colony. There were no floods
or continuous rains to cause damage to lands or crops
as in 1916. ‘The year’s rainfall, recorded at the Botanic
Gardens, was 102°35 inches, which was 5°17 inches below
the average of the last twenty-four years. At the
Experiment Station the precipitation was 88°75 inches. At
coast stations and other districts it nowhere exceeded 70
inches. The monthly returns show that the month of July
was wetter than usual, but that the rainfall of the other
months closely approached the average, with the exception of
November and December, which were very dry and much
below it.
sr, LucIA. From the report of the Agricultural Superin-
tendent for the month of January it appears that work in the
Experiment Station included reaping cassava and preparing
farine and starch on a commercial seale; reaping sweet
potatoes and making from tbem flour and chips for bread.
Plant distribution was as follows: limes, 1,200; grafted man-
goes, 26; budded oranges, 8; ornamental plants, 11. There
were also distributed 400 tannia and 400 dasheen plants,
1,000 cassava cuttings, and 198 packets vegetable seeds.
Further progress, Mr. Brooks states. has been made with the
erection of a koker to prevent the sea-water from entering the
Botanic Gardens at Castries. The concrete bridge referred
to in the last report is almost completed. Special work has
been undertaken, as indicated above, in making farine, starch,
sweet potato flour, and dried potato chips. Corn meal and
bread made from these flours and meals were supplied to mem-
bers of the Food Committee and to several prominent families.
Assistavce was also rendered to the management of the lead-
ing bakery in Castries in making sweet potato bread and corn
meal bread. The rainfall for the month, recorded at the Botanic
Station, Castries, was 5°46 inches; at the Agricultural and
Botanic Station, Choiseul, 3:08 inches,
pominica. Mr. Joseph Jones, the Curator, reports plant
distribution during the month of January as follows: limes,
1,500; budded citrus, 42; cacao, 150; shade tree cuttings, 100;
eucalyptus, 100; bamboo, 100; miscellaneous, 116. In
addition 128 packets of vegetable seeds were sold. Work in
the Botanic Gardens was of a routine nature. The local
price for fresh limes rose from 8s. to 10s. per barrel. The
rate for ripe limes dropped from 7s. to 6s. 6d. per barrel.
The lime crop for 1917 amounted to 396,184 barrels of fruit.
This is an increase of 12,000 barrels over the crop of 1916,
and 5,000 barrels in excess of the record crop of 1913. The
love vine (Cuscuta americana), 1 parasite on lime trees, is
reported to be spreading to new localities, and legislation on
the lines of that adopted in Grenada and St. Lucia has been
suggested by several planters. During the first half of the
month the weather was very dry, only ‘08 inch of rain
being recorded from the Ist to the 15th. Towards the end
of the month, however, the rainfall was considerable, the
total for January being 6:02 inches.
MONTSERRAT. Reporting for the month of January,
Mr. W. Robson states that the effects of the long drought
since November have been very evident in the Experiment
Station during the month. Work of a routine nature was
nevertheless performed. Plant distribution included 500
bay plants, 400 sugar-cane cuttings, and 1 lb. of cowpeas.
In the Botanic Gardens a distillation of growth of the
American horsemint was made with moderately satisfactory
results, as shown by analysis at the Government Laboratory.
Five distillations of bay leaves were also made, one of which
yielded at the rate of 21°7 oz. of oil per 100 Bb. of green
leaves.
The destruction of old cotton plants fixed by law
at January 31 has been pushed forward, but several areas
were granted exemption until February 25. It is now
evident, says Mr. Robson, that the crop, if it does not exceed,
will nearly reach 400,000 tb. of lint. By a recent oppor-
tunity 516 bales of cotton, together with lime products,
were shipped during the month, A large proportion
of the crop will not ke delivered to the Government
unless it is commandeered, and under the present arrange-
ments the export of this cotton is prohibited. A very
large area is ready for planting the new crop, and planting
in March will be largely undertaken if rains permit. The plant-
ing of vegetables and corn during the last two months has
been almost impossible, and a shortage of supplies is feared
ina month or two. Two tins containing 74 Ib. of bay oil
distilled from the experiment plot were shipped to England,
as well as samples of cotton lint for spinning tests. Inves-
tigation was made into the ‘question of the suppression of
lint length in second crop pickings of cotton, and the results
obtained were forwarded to the Head Office at Barbados.
The rainfall for the month, recorded at Grove Station, was
264 inches. The island has not been so dry in January
in any previous year.
wricua, The Curator, Mr. T. Jackson. in items of
departmental interest for the month of January includes the
following plant distribution: onion plants, 132,050; cane
plants, 50,000; coco-nuts, 412; miscellaneous, 50; yam sets,
520; vegetable and flower seeds, 10 packets; cotton seed,
26 tb. On account of exceptionally dry weather only routine
work was perforined in the Botanic Gardens. [ain fell in
the central and southern parts of the island during the
month, and the planters took advantage of this to put out
their onion seedlings. In the western and northern districts
very little rain fell, and all crops are suffering considerably,
Where rain fell, corn and vegetable crops were put in. Oo
‘Vor. XVII. No. 413.
account of the recent drought, the crops of sweet potatoes
have in certain parts been a failure. This, Mr. Jackson
observes, is a serious matter at the present juncture, as there
is a decided scarcity of foodstuffs in the island. During
the month the engine at the granary was taken to pieces,
the various parts receiving necessary attention, and the
engine re-erected. The corn grinder was taken down and
moved toa new position. This useful work was done by
Mr. Henzell, and the thanks of the community are dive to
him for his valuable services. A preliminary run was made
with the meal-maker, and several bags of corn meal were
made. It would seem as though the alterations effected
are such as to allow corn meal to be made in the future.
This work is being proceeded with. More than 10,000 bb. of
seed-cotton were purchased by the Antigua Cotton Growers’
Association. Aproximately 30 acres of land have now been
allotted to peasants in connexion with the Sawcolts Land
Settlements Scheme. The rainfall during the month has been
meagre, only 97 parts being recorded at the Botanic Station.
In the report of the Agricultural Instructor, which is
appended to the foregoing, it is stated that the peasants have
fully realized the seriousness of the food question, and are
utilizing all available lands at their disposal, which are not at
present unJer cotton, for the planting of provisions. Fresh
areas are being opened up for this purpose. The planting of
corn has also been started, but to a limited degree, the time
being regarded by some peasants as out of season for this crop.
sr. Kirts, The Agricultural Superintendent, Mr. F. R.
Shepherd, writes to say that owing to the very dry weather
little could be done in the Botanic Girdens beyond watering
to keep the plants alive, together with general routine work.
The Basseterre sugar factory commenced to grind at the
end of the month with the prospect of a very small output, as
the canes were short and stunted. The germination of the
young cane crop is very poor, and, in addition to the lack of
rain, the very high winds now prevailing make it difficult to
establish a good stand of cane. On many estates it has been
impossible to plant out the sugar-cane variety experiments for
this season. The cotton crop is now off, and the land is being
prepared for planting canes. There seems to be a great ten-
dency to increase the acreage in cotton for the coming season,
and to this end all the selected seed has been already engaged.
The rainfall for the month was 1:06 inches, registered in
very small quantities, the highest being ‘17 inch.
nevis. Mr. W. I. Howell, Agricultural Instructor,
writes to say that operations at the Experiment Station
during the month of January have been practically at
a standstill on account of dry weather. The cotton plot
had. been reaped, anda return of 1,700 Ib. of seed-cotton
_ obtained, which isa record for the plot. The old cotton
plants are being pulled up. The corn crop is ripening, but
the returns will be very poor, as the crop was badly affected
by the drought. With regard to staple crops. Mr. Howell
states that the cane crop is being reaped with very poor
returns Sugar is being made on all the estates, and so'd
at good prices in the local market. Planting for next
season’s crop is not yet completed, and, on account of the
dry weather, germination of plants is bad. The cotton crop
has almost been reaped, and, as was expected, the returns
from the late fields have been very poor. Coutton staimers
are very prevalent throughout the island, and quite a large
number of bolls were attacked by internal boll disease,
causing a great amount of stained cotton. Prepara-
tion for next season’s crop has begun in some places
but there are still many fields of old cotton left standing.
The reaping of potatoes is still in progress but th» supply of
provisions generally is getting less and less, The total
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 53
number of bales of cotton purchased for the Imperial Govern-
ment to the end of January was 166. The rainfall for the
month was 2°18 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
January closed with a rainfall of about 2 inchesin the
south, south-western, and western parts of the island, while
in the districts in the centre of the island the register was
slightly over 4 inches.
A larger rainfall would have been very acceptable, but we
cannot say that January was a very unfavourable month
either for the young or for the old crop. although the prevail-
ing high winds have caused the old crop to present a more
weather-worn appearance than would otherwise have been the
case.
The start made by the young cane crop has been distinct-
ly more favourable than last year. There is, no doubt, a good
deal of supplying still to be done in the fields last planted,
but those planted earlier are regular and, in some instances,
forward.
Even in districts which at this time of the year have
completed the tillage and manuring of their young crop,
both these are still in progress Large quantities of manure,
both from the yard and field pens, are still being distributed,
and draining and forking are also going on It would be
more satisfactory if thorough tillage could be done earlier.
but it is better late than never. It is impossible to estimate
the value of exhaustive and intensive tillage. The particles of
the soil are minutely divided, the air gains access, and the
soil is rendered lighter and more permeable to the roots. The
vegetable matter it contains decomposes more rapidly by
a constant turning of the soil, and wherever the fibres of the
roots penetrate they find organic food provided for them,
and an abundant supply of oxygen of the air to aid in
preparing it. We do not sufficiently realize how much the
air assists in the fertilization of the soil. We can greatly
enrich our land by having it thoroughly exposed to the
atmosphere by deep and frequent tillage.
Reaping has been started, but is not so generalas at this
date last year. The canes are certainly not as ripe, and, as the
crop is a lighter one, it is not thought necessary to force the
pace. The density of the juice is not yet up to a good
standard: 94 is generally quoted. Practically all the wind-
mills are at work, as their progress is naturally slower than
steam power. All of these are making syrup, even where
machinery for centrifu,al muscovado had been installed. We
may say that, outside of the factories, very little sugar will
be made. The demand for liquid produce is strong, and
a good price is being paid. We are of.opinion, however,
that the high price offered for molasses, Fancy and Choice,
is to some extent the result of competition in the local
market. The good price paid for syrup is enabling owners
of estates on which this article is being manufactured to
purchase canes from the peasants at apparently a better price
than that offered by the factories. We have heard of one
such estate which is purchasing at $7:00 per ton.
But little remains of the old yam crop for market
purposes, and eddoes are very scarce. Potatoes are being
retailed at 7 tb. for 10c. Aneffortisheing made to till the
land from which canes have been recently removed,in order
that potatoes may be planted All depends on the weather.
A small quantity of Indian corn has been reaped, aud scattered
here and there are to be seen fairly healthy p'ots of growing
corn which, with showers at intervals, should develop satis-
factorily. (Agricultural Reporter, February 9, 1915.)
54 THE
AGRICULTURAL | NEWS.
Fesruary 23° 1918:
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
Tue repore uf Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ended January 26, 1918, is as follows:—
ISLANDS. During the past two weeks there has been an
active demand for the odd bags classing Fine to Fully Fine,
resulting in sales of about 850 bales, at 73c., showing an
advance of le. per tb. This demanc has taken a large
proportion of the cfferings, and has rendered Factors firmer
in their views, being now unwilling sellers, except at a further
advance, which lias not yet been paid. As the prices ruling
he:e are relatively 1c. lower than those being asked for
“Georgias and Fioridas, the mills requiring any supply were
induced to place some orders in this market. The buying
has been on account of the Northern Miils.
The limited demand for planters’ crops of Extra Fine
has not resulted in any sales so far.
We quote, viz:—
Fine to Fully Fine 73c. to 74c.=75c. to 76c f.o.b.
and freight.
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71¢,=72c,
to 73c. f.o.b, and freight.
GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. There has heen a very limited
-demand, resulting in small sales on private terms. The
-offerings are small and continue to be firmly held at quota-
tions, notwithstanding that there is very little inquiry, the
trade being apparently not interested . This is the condition
ruling throughout the interior markets, the holders of the
cotton being also under the impression that they will be able
to sell in time at very full prices, on account of the difficulty
and uncertainty of getting Egyptian cotton to this country.
We quote, nominally held: —
74c. =76c. f.0.b, and freight.
The exports from Savannah for the past fortnight have
been to Northern Mills 33 bales, and from Jacksonville to
Northern Mills, 583 bales.
The United States Census Bureau report the amount
-of cotton ginned to January !6, as follows:—
South Carolina 6,254 bales |
Average Extra Choice
-Georgia 45,651 ,, ;making a total of 88,747 bales
Florida 36,862 ,, |
-agsinst last year 115,463 ,, total crop 113,109 bales
3 L9IIG. 2905736 +52, ew oes; 208)
- WOVE? 79}484 |; ~~) “ee 18;857™
i 1914276; 188'- "> ,.. Bye 80,584 5
The above report indicates a total crop of 90,000 bales
to 91,000 bales
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO-
CIATION.
The one hundred and sixty-seventh meeting of the
‘Council of the British Cotton Growing Association was held
at the Offices, 15 Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday,
January 8, 1918.
In the absence of the President (The Rt. Hon. The Earl
-of l'erby, K.G.) Mr, J. S. Hoyle oceupied the Chair.
WEST AFRICA. It was decided that the buying price in
Nigeria should be fixed at 2’. per Ib. of seed-cotton for the
1917-18 cotton crop, as compared with 12. per tb. which
was paid last season. As in previous yeais, an extra price
will be paid for the lowg staple cotton which is grown
under the auspices of the Government Agricultural Depart-
ment. It is hoped that this increase in price will induce the
natives to extend the area under cotton.
uGANDA. The diffienlties of shipping cotton from
Mombasa are still very serious, and a considerable quantity
of the 1916-17 cotton crop still remains to be shipped
tepresentations have been made to the Government, and it
is hoped that arrangements will be made for the shipment of
the cotton, which is urgently required in Lancashire.
THE TOXIC SUBSTANCE IN COTTON
SEED.
As was noticed in the issue of this Journal for January
25, 1918, p. 19 the nutritive value of cotton-seed meal has led
to experiments, more or less satisfactory as to i's being used
in bread making in the United States and, on a small scale,
in St. Vincent. The well-known fact, however, of a toxic
property in the meal has naturally induced caution in the use
of it as human food.
The results of investigations into this toxic property by
Messrs. W. A. Withers and Frank E. Carruth, of the Chem-
ical Division, North Carolina Experiment Station, are recorded
in a paper contributed by them to the Jour xa/ of Agricultural
Research, January 1918. Previous work on this subject by
these two scientists was recorded in the same journal
(November 1915), and noticed in the Agricultural News,
Vol. XV, No. 358.
They find that the toxic property of cotton-seed meal is due
to an active principle, which they name gossypol, and which
is present in raw cotton-seed kernels to the extent of about
0-6 per cent. Gossypol is readily soluble in acetone and
ether, and moderately soluble in ethylic alcohol. The
extraction of the gossypol by ether rendered the remainder
of cotton seeds non-toxic when fed to pigs, whereas the ether
extract containing about 2 per cent..gossypol was highly
poisonous.
It was found that cotton-seed meal was much less
poisonous than raw cotton seed, owing mainly, in their
opinion, to the oxidation «f gossypol by the cooking during
tha process of manufacture.
The experimenters conclude that the toxicity of cotton-
seed meal varies with the conditions of cooking the raw seed.
Even after cooking for twenty-eight minutes there was still
left in cotton-seed kernels 0 07 per cent. of gossypol, as com-
pared with the original 0°6 per cent They are of opinion that
thoroughly cooked cotton-seed flour and meal have no
apparent toxicity for rats, when supplemented by milk powder
in the diet, although inferior in nutritive value to cotton-seed
kernels from which the gossypol has been extracted by ether,
It would seem, therefore, that it is possible, probably by
a combination of extraction and cooking, to obtain a
valuab!e foodstuff for human consumption from cotton seed,
if also the seed is subjected to decortication for the purpose
of removing the bard outer skin. Some such process is
probably «employed in the production of cotton-seed flour
in Texas. where, it is said, it is increasingly being employed
in bread making. An extersion of such manufacture in
all cotton-growing countries would materially add to food
resources, if after further trials the resulting flour can be
depended on as free from the toxic property which has
hitherto prevented its use as a food.
Vor? XViD No; 413;
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, D5
SEYCHELLES: ANNUAL REPORT ON AGKI-
CULTURE AND CROWN LANDS, FOR THE YEAR
1916.
This report by Mr. P. R. Dupont, Curator of the Botanic
Station in the island of Mahe, the chief island of the group,
contains most interesting details of agriculture in the colony,
and also of its other resonrces, especially those bearing upon
the agricultural interests,
From the list of plants, either already established or
recently imported into the Botanic Station, it is easy to see
that the conditions are very similar in that group of ‘islands
in the Indian Ocean to those obtaining in the wetter islands
of the West Indies, which impression is borae out by the
meteorological returns, the temperature ranging from S5-7°
maximum to 75°5 minimum, the rainfall for the year being
99:29 inches, which however was 30 inches less than that of
the’ previous year.
Among introduced plants, Mr. Dupont notes that the
‘Gros Michel’ banana flourishes since its introduction in 1912,
and produces bunches of enormous size. Papaw seeds from
Hawaii have been successfully grown, the seedlings fruiting
six months after planting, and producing fruits from the very
base of the stem, which strikes: one accustomed only to
West Indian varieties, as a very unusual trait in a papaw.
A tree, formerly very common in Mahé, is being reintro-
duced. About 3,000 plants, raised from seeds impor’ed from
Madagascar, of ‘he gum copal (7rachylohium verrucosum)
are being planted on Crown Lands. Besides yielding the
gum of commerce, this tree affords good timber and grows
cnickly on even poor soils.
The extended cultivation of the oil-palm (laevis
-uineensis) is recommended as being specially suited to the
oil and climate of the Seychelles. A bunch of nuts weigh-
ing 48 Ib. has been taken from a tree growing at the
Botanic Station. The palms also seem to begin to bear much
earlier than in most places where they are cultivated, plants
coly two anda half years .old producing nuts already.
Mr. Dupont says that he does not recommend substitut-
ing the oil-palm for the coco-nut, which is the staple industry
at present, but considering that the latter palm is very
much attacked by many insect pests in these islands, it
would be worth while to cultivate the oil-palm as an
adjunct. on account of its suitability to the conditions, its
productiveness, and the value of its crop. In connexion with
the oil-palm, mention is made of the ge of time which
its seeds often take to germinate. Seeds received from
Lagos in 1912 were still germinating in 1916.
It would appear that in some of the uninhabited islands
of the group there are large and valuable deposits of guano, as
these islands are frequented by myriads of sea-fowl. This
source of increased fertility is being utilized to some extent,
but Mr. Dupont warmly advises a much more extended use
of it locally. It is also a source of revenue as an article of
export, 34,720 tons having been exported in 1913; although
the quantity fell to 980 tons in 1916 owing to difficulties
of transport.
G
=
An interesting series of experiments on manuring coco-
nuts is being carried on. The experimental plots are in
duplicate of a series of six, and are subjected to the
following treatment: (1) no manure, (2) green manuring
with velvet beans, (3) green manuring plus guano (800 b.
per acre), (4) green manuring plus guano and coco-nut husk
ashes (800 tb. per acre’, (5) green manuring plus guano,
ashes, and lime (1,270 tb. per acre), (6) fish guano (600 b.)
plus fresh sea-weed (3 tons per acre). he yield of nuts was
carefully ascertained for the year reported on, in order to take
into account the natural yield of each plot, and the yield for
1917 will also be treated as a natural yield, owing to the fact
that the embryo leaves of the coco nut, together with the
subtended clusters of nuts, on which it is calculated that
the influence of the manures will make itself felt, take two
years and nine months to reach maturity. From the
table of yields appended it is evident that, as Mr. Dupont
points out, the productiveness of coco-nut trees in the
Seychelles leaves much to be desired one plot giving an
average of only eight nuts per annum; and although it is trne
that on another the average was thirty, that even is a low
yield compared with the yield in most other places where
the palm is cultivated.. The total crop of coco-nuts of the
colony for 1916 was estimated at 23,679,935, being about
2 million nuts less than that of 1915. The chief reasun
of the reduction in this crop seems to have been the ravages
of insect pests.
The vanilla industry, which was not so long ago very
flourishing in the colony, seems to have much decayed, due-
apparently to want of careful cultivation, and also, Mr.
Dupont thinks, to the failure in vitality of the vines
which have been reproduced constantly for fifty years
by cuttings only. This renders them snsceptible to a
fungus disease which is very prevalent. He snggests the
growing of seedlings to produce a fresh stock. He advocates
the ‘madre del cacao’ ((ririetdia maculata) as the best tree
for props and shade for the vanilla.
Owing to present high prices the rubber industry, which
had practically been quite neglected of late years, appears to-
have been stimulated, and it would seem asif there were
possibilities of a very considerable increase in the cultivation,
especially if more care in planting the trees at proper
distances is observed, and if tapping is conducted on the
best approved lines.
Another industry which is steadily progressing is the
distillation of essential oils, especially cinnamon teat oil; the
quantity produced of this in 1916 being 15,069 litres. This
oil finds a ready market io England at remunerative prices.
Oil of cirmamon bark and oil of clove leaves are also produced.
in largely increased quantities. The residues from the
stills after distillation are employed as very valuable humus-
forming manure, especially on coco-nut estates.
Another minor industry is mentioned in the report, that
is the manufacture of citrate of lime on one of the islands,
For this purpose the juice of the small bitter orange is used.
The report states, however, that this fruit is becoming much
lese common in the colony, the trees being infested with scale
insects.
Mr. Dupont draws attention to the great waste of coco-
nut husk fibre that takes place, and advocates a large
extension of the manufacture of coir, as a means of utilizing
the fibre of the husks.
Apart from agricultural products, the, islands export
guano, which has already been noticed, and several fishery
products— whale oil, dried calipee, trepang, and shark fins,
and a considerable quantity of salt fish.
56 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Fesruary 23, 1918.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
ommissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A.
jH. A. Ballou, M.Sce.t
Entomologists \J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Catton Research S. CG. Harland, B.Se.tt
CLERICAL STAFF.
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
(lL. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist * Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
#Seconded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egypt.
t+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scicntifie and
Industrial Research.
Typist
Agricultural News
Vor. XVII. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1918. No. 413.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial is a reproduction of an address of
Mr. Houston, the Secretary of Agriculture of the
United States of America, which is very apposite to
present conditions.
An article on Insect Pests in Barbados, as dealt
with in the last report of the Superintendent of Agri-
culture of that island, appears on page 58,
ee
Some notes on recent investigations with regard to
diseases of Citrus trees will be found on page 62.
The food of the Wcst Indies is the subject of an
article on page 50,
Oil Industry of Trinidad in 1916.
According to the report for 1916 by the Acting
Colonial Secretary of Trinidad and Tobago (Colonial
Reports—Annual, No. 930), there were ten companies
engaged in the production of petroleum in Trinidad
at the end of 1916. The total output of oil in that year
was 32,475,695 imperial gallons, as compared with
31,666,396 imperial gallons in 1915. Drilling to the
extent of 58,390 feet was carried out during the year.
Oil was struck in thirty-four of the forty-seven wells
drilled. The total number of wells drilled in the colony up
to December 51 last was three hundred and twenty-five.
Several refineries have been engaged in the production of
petrol, for which there is a large demand locally, as well
as in some of the neighbouring islands. Kerosene has
also been produced for local consumption. The value of
crude petroleum, fuel oil, and petrol exported from
Trinidad in 1916 was over £200.000, as compared
with £79,000 in 1915, thus bringing oil into the third
place of importance in the list of exports trom the
colony.
Sa A A
Introduction of Insect Pests to be Avoided.
The Journal of Heredity for January 1918, in
a brief note on the necessity for increased production of
foodstuffs, and the practice of war economies at the
present time, emphasizes the importance of measures
being taken for preventing the further introduction of
insect pests and plant diseases into the United States.
In this connexion it is mentioned that the Massachus-
etts Forestry Association, in Bulletin /27, has brought
together some striking figures to show the loss annually
caused by those pests and diseases which are already
present in that country, and makes the startling
announcement that the Bureau of Entomology of the
Department of Agriculture has listed over 3,000
more insects which are found in foreign countries as
pests, and although not yet introduced into the United
States, may have to be contended with at any moment.
It appears, says the journal, that the inseets which
by a conservative estimate are costing the country
$500,000 000 annually, are but a scattered vanguard of
the myriads which are ready to follow at the first
opportunity.
Undoubtedly the only possible _ prophylactic
measure, as suggested, is to enact such legislation as
will provide for keeping these pests out by keeping
diseased importations out. It is not so much a question
of keeping the plants out, as of how the plants shall be
brought in, but without insects and diseases. Eftective
quarantining before the pest has secured a foothold
in the country would do much to make the task of
those who are producing the foodstuffs to win the
world war less heavy. Quarantine measures on the
lines of those indicated above have already been
enacted in most of the West Indian colonies. Similar
steps now being taken by the United States in refer-
ence to the importation of sweet potatoes and yams
will be noticed in our next issue.
Vor. XVII. No. 413.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 57
a SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssSsSSSsssSSsssssss
Tapioca Starch from Rhodesia.
Cassava or manihot (from the roots of which
tapioca and tapioca starch are prepared) has been grown
for several years past at the Agricultural Experiment
Station, Salisbury, Rhodesia. The climate appears to
be well suited for its cultivation, and 10 to 20 acres are
being planted with the crop at the Government
Experiment Farm, Gwebi. The roots, itis said,
have been fed to stock experimentally without ill
effects, and in view also of the existence of a South
African market for tapioca, and the possibility of export-
ing cassava starch to Europe, the Director of Agri-
culture considers that the prospects of this crop for
~~ Rhodesia are good.
A small quantity of starch, prepared experiment-
ally from cassava yrown at Salisbury, was examined
recently at the Imperial Institute. Microscopic
examination showed that the sample consisted entirely
of tapioca starch granules. A firm of importers in
Liverpool, to whom samples of the material were sub-
mitted for valuation and report, stated that in their
opinion the quality of the starch was good, and that
the product would have a ready sale, provided the
commercial shipments were equal to the sample. They
valued the product at about £28 per ton less 24 per
cent, ex quay Liverpool, war risks included.
The results of examination indicate that the
present sample represented a fairly good quality of tapi-
oca starch which, in the opinion of the Bulletin of the
Imperial Institute (Vol. XV, No. 2), from which this
information is obtained, should find a ready market
in the United Kingdom, if offered in commercial
quantities.
aa
Electrical Stimulation of Crops.
Among the many uses to which electricity is now
being put, perhaps one of the most interesting and
far-reaching is its application to the stimulation of
plant growth. In view of the increasing food shortage
of the world at the present time, any means whereby
stimulation of crops can be etfected is of immense
lmnportance. é
Many investigators are now in the field, and are
obtaining distinct results. The English Board of
Agriculture is turning serious attention to the question
-of the utilization of electricity in agriculture, and it is
thought that by its aid the people of Great Britain.
may be made tar more independent of imported food
without calling on the scanty reserves of man power.
From an article in the Journal of Agriculture, New
Zealand, October 1917, it appears that experiments
are being made in the province of Canterbury as tu
the stimulation of crops by electricity, both in glass
houses and in orchards. ‘The electric installation in
a glass house 80 feet by 30 feet, in which 1,400 tomato
plants were set out, consisted of fifteen 100-candle power
nitrogen-filled lamps with frosted globes. The lamps,
each provided with a 9-inch enamelled iron shade, were
hung at a height of 2 feet from the ground, the area
under the influence of each lamp being 100 square feet.
‘The current was switched on each night at 9 p.m., and
switched off at 5 a.m. each morning. As the height of
the plants increased, the lasnps were raised accordingly,
until the tops of the plants completely enveloped them.
Unfortunately there was no control to this experiment,
but there was sufficient evidence, according to the
article, to establish the fact that the electrical treat-
ment resulted in a definite stimulation of growth, with
4 proportionate increase in the yield, the resulting crop
being a very heavy one, and maturing relatively early.
The experiment on orchard cultivation consisted of
attaching in the centre of each of twenty-four trees
a 250-watt radiator lamp. In this case the crop of
apples on these trees, in addition to being a heavier
one than on others in the orchard, was ready for
picking fully a fortnight earlier.
For use as a crop stimulant, electric power must of
course be obtainable at a cheap rate. With the abundant
water-power in New Zealand these experiments were
conducted at a cost of id. per unit, which is very
low. Most of the British and American experiments
have been worked out on the basis of cost at 2d. to 5d.
per unit, and, even at these prices, the electrical
stimulation of crops is found to pay well.
sos Seen oS Ee
The Guatemalan Sugar Industry.
Next to cotfee, sugar is the most important crop
of Guatemala. The chief sugar districts are all on the
Pacific coast. There the chief varieties of cane grown
are (1) the variety known as Jamaiquina, and (2)
a variety planted extensively in the coast district, and
known as Cristalina. The area devoted to the culti-
vation of sugar in 1916, according to an article in the
International Sugar Journal, December 1917, was
76,352 acres. From a report by the United States
Consul at Guatemala City, it appears that there are
twenty sugar mills in the Pacifie coast region, haying
each an average crushing capacity of 540 tons per day,
along with several smaller mills. The machinery used
is modern, and was imported mainly from the United
Kingdom andGermany. The grades of sugar manufac-
tured are 86° to 89° brown sugar, and 96° to 99° white
sugar. The quality of sugar produced is declared to
be excellent, and there is a large local market for the
product. The sugar exported is principally the raw
product known in Guatemala as ‘Moscabado’. The
exports of sugar from Guatemala in 1915 were valued’
at £67,000
a a
Antigua Corn Granary.
From a report forwarded to this Office by the
Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands,
it appears that after repairs and alterations the
Antigua Government Corn Granary is now in good
working order, and capable of producing, on an average,
800 tb. of corn meal per working day. The present
difficulty is the little stock of corn in the island. Of the
2,672 tb, of corn ground in the three days, February
6 to 8, 1 025 Th. were sent from St. Kitts, to be returned
as meal. It may be mentioned that the two bins
attached to the granary have each a storage capacity
of 1,600 bushels of shelled corn.
58
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Fepruary 23, 1918,
INSECT NOTES.
INSECT PESTS IN BARBADOS IN 1916-17.
The Report of the Barbados Department of Agriculture
for the year ended March 31, 1917, has recently appeared as
a supplement to the Barbados Official Gazette of January 24,
1918, and it is proposed to give some brief notes on those
portions of the report which deal with insects.
‘The report of the Superintendent of Agriculture, Mr.
J. R. Bovell, is occupied mainly with a list of the Acarina
(mites and ticks) and Insecta of Barbados, except the Coccidae
or scale insects, a list of which was published in the Report
for 1914-15. The present list does not claim to be by any
means complete, but it serves as a useful preliminary
weference which can doubtless be added to from time to time.
The report of the Assistant Superintendent of Agriculture,
Mr. J. S. Dash, is concerned with the various crop pests, which
are dealt with under the crop headings.
SUGAR-CANE. This crop has for many years been
attacked by three pests whose combined onslaughts must
cause considerable annual losses. Mr. Dash calls attention
to the fact that two of these pests, the root borer ( Diaprepes
ahhreviatus) and the brown hard back (Phytalus smiti:c), are
on the increase, while the moth borer (Diatraea saccharalis)
continues to cause a great loss every year. He urges the
necessity for more general co-operation among the planters
in carrying out measures for keeping these pests in check,
As Mr. Dash points out, the campaign against insect pests
should be one of the routine operations of estate practice. A
certain annual outlay should be set aside for this purpose,
and the benefits of increased yields would more than repay
any such cutlay expended in the right way. Hand-collecting
of the various stages of these insects is very useful as
a measure of control, but it must be supplemented by proper
rotation of crops, otherwise much of the expenditure of
labour and monev is wasted.
Minor pests of sugar-cane are the mealy-bugs (/seudo-
coveus calceolariac and P. sacchari), and the scale insect
Aspidivtus sacchari. Termites or white ants are also
ynentioned as occasionally attacking sugar-cane. A previous
report recorded the species Hutermes hartiensis, Holmg.,
while this report mentions the finding of another species
Coptoltermes narabitanus, Hag., as a minor pest of sugar-cane.
The cane-fly (Delphar saccharivora) has not been
observed by Mr. Dash since 1914 when the egg-masses of
this plant bug were feund to be heavily parasitized by
» minute hymenopteron, Anayrus flavescens. It was formerly
considered that lacewing flies (Chrysopa sp.) and coccinellid
beetles were the chief natural enemies of this pest.
corvon, The presence of the leaf-blister mite (“r/ophyes
gossypii) was reported from some places, while small attacks
of the cotton caterpillars (Ala/ama wrgillacea and Aletia
iuridula) are recorded. ‘These caterpillars were controlled by
the use of Paris green. The red maggot (Porricondyla
ossypii) caused injury to cotton stems in one locality.
The larger importation of cotton seed into Barbados from
outside to meet the needs of the two local oil factories has
increased the danger of the introduction of foreign insect
pests. Mr. Dash reports that many of these cargoes of cotton
-eed have been found on arrival to be insect-infested, and at
least two species of Microlepidoptera, or small moths, and
a Tenebrionid beetle have been intercepted. These have, in
eyery ‘case, lie continues, survived ‘fumigation with the
method in vogue, thereby showing the necessity for the
erection of an up-to-date fumigatorium, if the cotton industry
is to be protected from dangerous imported insects. such as
pink boll worm, boll weevil, etc.
PROVISION CROPS. The scarabee (Huscepes batatie)
has been recorded as prevalent in swe:t potatoes in several
districts, and the need of sound action against this pest is
emphasized, especially in view of the present food situation.
It may be mentioned here that the more important measures
of control which are to be used against the scarabee were
given in the last number of the Agricultural News (Feb. 9,
1918).
The red spider (7etranychus telarius) was present on
sweet potatoes during the dry months, but this pest is
usually thrown off by the plants with the arrival of good
rains, Dusting with equal parts of flowers of sulphur and
lime is recommended for bad attacks.
Diaprepes abbreviatus is recorded as attacking young
potato plants which had followed canes badly attacked by
this pest. The grubs bored into the stems below ground,
with the result that the plants so attacked were killed. This
shows the danger of using sweet potatoes as a rotation crop
after sugar-cane; a crop such as cotton or cassava, which is
less liable to attack by the root borer, is recommended.
The leaf-hopper (Peregrinus mazdis, Ashm.), was taken
on sorghum leaves during the period under review.
MISCELLANEOUS. A number of insects are referred to
under this heading, with short notes on their habits. These
insects are given in the list of Barbados insects referred to
above. The finding of a species of Peripatus is mentioned.
An account of this interesting animal appeared in the
Agricultural News for June 10, 1911 (Vol. X, No, 238).
This will be referred to again at an early date.
J.C.H.
DEMAND FOR FISH SKINS.
In a note in the Agricultural News for October 6, 1917,
p. 313, on industries in the Caicos Islands, mention was made
of the utilization there of shark skins for making leather,
which was said to be of good quality. rom a letter received by
the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture from the American
Consul in Barbados, enclosing one from merchants in New
York, it would seem as if there were possibilities of some
trade from these islands in fish skins of various kinds.
The merchants in question, Messrs. H. 8. Berner & Co.,
of 25, Beaver Street, New York, write that they are prepared
to deal with regular monthly shipments of large quantities
of fish skins such as sharks, porpoises, whales, stingrays and
other large fish skins without scales They would contract
for regular shipments of several thousand per month of these,
or all they could get, if they could obtain an idea as to the
quantity which could be supplied. Before ordering such large
quantities they request that samples of the skins which might
be supplied be sent to them, in order that they might see
which would suit their purpose Each skin of such
samples should be marked so that they may state the
quantities required of approved sorts. The skins must be
large, preferably 4 feet in length or more. Small skins
cannot be used very well, so the larger the better. They can
also use whale intestines, for which they pay 3c. to 4c!
a Wb, cif. in New York, for any quantity they cin get.’
Directions are given for the preparation and packing af tlie
skins or intestines.
Messrs. H.S, Berner & Co. also state that in the sample
shipment might be ineluded a few skins of - large fish with ’
Vu XVID No, £13.
scales, numbered like the scaleless skins. They do not know
at present if they can use these, but they desire to try them
for some special purpose, and see if they can order a quantity
of these also. Satisfactory arrangements regarding sayment
will be made, they state, after receipt of the sample shipment.
Now inthe sea all round these West Indian islands
there are many of the fish whose skins are asked for,
and of which at presentno useis made. In the bays
and channels of practically all these islands sharks and sting:
rays are plentiful. At a very short distance out to sea shoals of
porpoises are to be met, especially in the deep waters close to
the shore of the more mountainous islands. No effort is
made to capture these at present, owing to their lack of
value as food; but they might be caught doubtless in con.
siderable numbers. if the capture of them was remunerative.
Among the Grenadines there is a whaling business conducted,
but as far as the writer knows no use is made of the skins
of the whales. It might be worth while for some enterprising
persons to attempt a sample shipment of these large
fish skins, though of course neither whales nor porpoises are
really fish. : :
But beside these scaleless skins it seems as if a trial
shipment of some scaly skins of the many species of very large
fish abounding in West Indian seas might lead to profitable
results. The albacore, the bonito, the dolphin (Coryphaena),
the Jew-fish, the king-fish, and the barracouta all attain
to several feet in length. It is true that the flesh of
all these is used for food, but one does not see why the
flesh should not be sold just as readily after the fish
is skinned as with the skin attached. Animals are skinned
before the flesh is sold, and why not large thick-skinned fish
whese flesh is sold by the pound in cut off portions. There
are other thick-skinned scaly fish, though not attaining any
very great size, whose skins might be found useful on the
market such as the grouper, and the oid-wife The sikim of
the latter is dried in several of these islands and used for
scrubbing purposes. on account of its toughness.
The fishing industry in most, if not all of these islands,
could probabiy be largely extended, and if asa by-product
of the industry, so to speak, the skins of the larger fish could
be profitably sold, this might stimulate the fishermen to
improve their methods and increase their catch. In the
Virgin Islands, for instance, where a considerable nnmber of
the men are fishermen—who market much of their fish in
St. Thomas—the profitable disposal of the skins would largely
add to their otherwise very limited resources. In the Lee-
ward and Windward Islands also the fishing industry is
practically confined to the supply «f the small local markets.
In connexion with the small whaling industry existing in
the Grenadines there are doubtless many meu who would
expand and diversify their work, if opportunit es snch as this
under discussion can be developed.
Barbados has much more efficiently equipped and or-an-
ized fisheries with larger boats and better appliances, owing
to the fact that the flying-fish have tobe netted some dis-
tance out to sea, and with them the dolphins hooked. Still
much larger quantities of fish might be cauzhr, and then pre-
‘served by salting or drying or canning, and thus help to solve
the pressing question of the present— the food supply of the
West Indies.
The following are the directions for the pr-paring and
pecking of fish skins for market, given by Mess s. H. S.
Berner and Co., which they particularly request should be
adhered to in shipments to them: —
; ‘The skin when removed from the fish should be entirely
free from flesh placed on the floor, backs down, au’ the entire
surface of the flesh side covered with a thin layer :f salt: The
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 59
utmost care should be used in spreading the salt, leaving no
space untouched, so that the back of the next skin spread
comes in contact with salt only.
‘The height of the kench or pile should not exceed 3
feet for thin skins of delicate fibre, and 4 feet for heavy skinse
‘They should be salted for three to five days (depending
on thickness) and would then be ready for shipment.
‘The containers for their transportation must be cases or
barrels. A case 30 inches long, 20 inches wide, 18 inches high
(inside measurement) should hold 200 hb. The material
could be of the cheapest quality of Inmber, ends 1 inch,
sides, top, and bottom 2-inch. The skins could be.packed in
these cases backs down, or each skin rolled up, but in either
case care must be used to give them a‘slizht sprinkiing of salt
on the flesh sides to prevent heating or sliming.
‘Second-hand sugar, flour, fruit, and fish barrels can be
used, but the fishermen or packers must be cautioned to
examine these packages carefully for nail points on the inside
of the barrels.
‘The skins must be free from fork or hok holes.’
WHITE MAIZE.
We have been informed that the shipment of maize
lately received in Barbados from Venezuela is of a white
variety. This is of interest for more than one reason. There
is no doubt that one cause of the disinclination to use maize
flour for bread making is its usual yellow coleir. It is
really only a matter of prejudice, since, providing that the
material is perfectly clean, the colour does not have anything
to do either with the taste or the value as food of a loaf.
We are, however, to a great extent creatures of custom and
slaves of prejudice. Therefore the conversion of maize into
flour which looks white may conduce to its being used in
bread making more widely in these islands. It may be
remarked that in some of the formule for making corn bread
given in the Agricu/tural News of January 26, white corn
flour was especially recommended.
Another point of interest is the possibility of cultivating
white varieties of maize in these islands. As far as
the observations of the writer go, all the varieties of maize
at present cultivated in the West Indies are of the yellow
dent kinds. Perhaps this has also been a marter of custom
and prejndice, seeing that the only use hitherto made of
corn meal has been the making of cakes and ‘couscons’ the
appearance of both of which is much improved by the yellow
colour of the meal.
Of course, if the white varieties were not so prolific as
the yellow kinds, or if they were not adapted so well to the
climate and soil conditions of these island-, there could be no
question of cultivating them. Accorjing, however, to Dr.
Morgan, in his book ‘Field Crops for the Corton Belt? the
white varieties are quite as proitiv as the y+rllow ones, and
white varieties are grown all through th= corn-producing
States, as far south as Louisiana, qnite as ¢ mnonly, it not
more so than yellow kinds.
Now that the subject of the suitabioty of using maize
meal for bread making is beiny so mieh ventiated, it might
be well if planters and agricultural tepa;:ments would test
the suitability of some of ‘he white dew varieties of maize
to the conditions in these i
In any such experim):- \ wrt
remembered that it must
yellow variety, and the t '
field or in the bin:
maize, it must be
separate from any
‘testher in the
60 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fesruary 23, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
According to Nature, January 3, 1918, Professor T.
Johnson, of the Royal College of Science for Ireland, has
introduced under the name of Inometer, a new form of food
chart, constructed on the principle of the thermometer. The
degrees on the scale represent large calories.
The gum of Acacia ara/ica is an impor ant minor
produc ofIudia. I is no’ 'he true gum arabic, which is
oh ained from A. senegal, but is the Indian gum arbic of
‘ecorumerce. The gym exudes spon aneously. oris procured
by incisions in the bark, in the form of sma!] lumps varying
in furm and size. A good tree is s ated 'o yield about 2 bb.
of gumayear. (Forest Bulletin, No. 35, India.)
Some interesting fiyures as regards the fish supply of
Trinidad are given inthe Port-of-Spain Guzette January 6,
1918. It appears that for the week ended January 4, there
were sold in the market 40,596 lb. of fish Of this quantity
33 392 tb. were king-fish, which were sold according to size
at 6, 12 or 16for $1:00. Aca'ch of this fish, amounting
to 400 tb., which arrived a' San Fernando, was sold at 10
for $1:00.
Accordirg toa report received by ‘he Department of
Trade and Commerce of O ‘awa from the Canadian Trade
Commissioner at S. Jobns, Newfoundland, the colony’s
po'ato crop should exceed 2,500,000 bushels. This figure
represen s a supply per head for the year amoun ing !o twice
asmrch as is ordinarily cons med, so that there should be
a considerable surplus available for seed p:rposes and for
export to Earope. (United Hinpire, Jannary 1918.)
At the Carrera Convict Prison in Trinidad the prisoners
are engayed in varions useful employments, mat making
from coco-nut husk fibre |eing one of them. Locally, nearly
all the stores, many of the churches, and a large number of
motor car owners purchase mats from the prison. The indus-
try has grown tosuch anextent that it is understood that hard
ly any mats are imported from abroad. Qu the contrary,
St. Kitts and others of the smaller islands now import mats
from Trinidad. (The Voice of St. Lucia, February 2, 1918.)
The United States has succeeded in establishing a suc
cessful dye stuff industry since the war began, and itis found
that American dyes are as good as German dyes, according to
a report made by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com
merce. Formerly importing annually as much as $10,000,000
worth of aniline dyes alone, the United States exported during
.ten months of last year $12,500,000 worth of dyes to foreign
countries, and exports are growing rapidly. (Science, Jan-
vary 25, 1918.)
The area under rice in British Guiana for the year
1916 amounted to 57,000 acres. The total yield was
72,000 tons of paddy. The rice grown was of excellent
quality: 13.000 tons of rice and 300 tons of rice meal
were exported during the year. The very keen demand
among planters of rice for the specially selected seed produced
at the experimental fields of the Board of Agriculture
steadily increased during the year. (Colonial Reyorts —
Annual, No. 937.)
In Denmark a Government committee has been experi-
menting with he European stinging nettle as a source of
fibre sui able for manufacture of textiles. It has been found
possible to make from nettle fibre, fine rope, strong s‘ring,
coarse linen, sail cloth, sacking, and binder twine. Sheets,
eycle tyre covers, and fine ma eri] snitable for clothing can
also be made,-but have no’ as yet been produced in Denmark
owing to lack of expensive, delica'e machinery. (Zhe Board
of Trade Journal, Jan: ary 3, 1918.)
The to al produc'ionof rice inthe UnitedS ates of
America was 2,000,000 tb. in 1866; it has now reached
350,000 000 tb. last year. Hundreds of miles of irriga'ion
canals in connexion with this cultiva'ion have been con-
strveted. Rice has been the redemption of the prairie lands
of Texas and Lo isiana. (Queensland Agricultural Journal,
December 1917.)
The principal export from Gambia is ground nuts,
During the year 1916, 46,366 tons of ground nuts, valued at
£506,098 were expor ed, less than half of the expor' of the pre-
vious year, bu' in consequence of higher prices the value was.
greater by £105,663. For the first time in the last fifty years
the United Kingdom received a larger portion of the crop than
was shipped to France. The export to the United Kingdom
amounted to 22,374 tons, and to Fiance, 19,313 tons. In
1913, out of a total crop of 67,404 tons the figures were 984
tons to the United Kingdom, and 42,420 tons to France,
(Colonial Reports—Annual, No. 936.)
The /ndia Rubber World, Jannary 1, 1918, states that
Egyp ian cotton occupies the third place among long staple
co tons, the true Sea Island being the first grade, and Georgias
and Floridas the second. There are seven chief varieties
grown in Egypt of which Ashmuni ard Sakellarides form 90
p-r cent. of the yearly imporiations into the Unite! S'ates of
Egyp'ian cotton, In length, Ashumi occupies the lowest:
grade, the staple being as a rule abont 1} inches or less. It
is brown in colour and not as clean and strong asthe other
varieties Afifi or Mutafifi forms the bulk of the Egyptian
crop ‘the s‘aple is very s'rong and regular, and 1} to 13
inches in length
For use on their estates in Trinidad the Ste. Madeleine
Sugar Company, Limi ed impor ed some pedrail wagons with
the idea that they would be useful for getting canes o1t of
the field in wet weather. The manager of the S e. Madeleine
Factory writes that in is present form the pedrail wagon,
which is a flat 'ray-shaped box fixed on ‘op of the pedrails, is
unsuitable for the haulage of canes as i is top heavy and is
apt 'o turn over even witha half load no' only in the fields
bu! in the ‘races. On mudy traces also ‘he mnd ge’s through
the rails, and clogs the whole machine. They answer, however,
splendidly on hard roads for car ing gravel, Inmber, or
anything when the load i8 no’ piled ‘oo high, and one male
or two oxen can easily haul from 1 to 14 tons.
Vou, XVII. No, 413.
AGRICULTURAL EXAMINATIONS.
The three candidates in Antigua, who obtained certifi-
cates in the Intermediate Examination in Practical Agricul-
ture keld in November 1917, are: —
Name. Result.
H. E. McDonald 3rd_ class
C. T. Michael 3rd class
V.G. Pariera 3rd_ class
The following were the questions set: —
I
GENERAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE.
A,
1. How may insects be classified in relation to the
ways in which they feed; and how does such classification
give indications as to the methods to be used for their control!
2. Give an account edther (a) of the moth borer of
the sugar-cane, 07’ (b) of the cotton stainer, and of methods
of control in either case.
3. Describe any two of the following: a fungus disease
(a) of the sugar-cane, (b) of cotton, (c) of lime trees, (d) of
Indian corn. State in each case methods of control advised.
4. What characters should be shown in a good variety
(a) of cotton, (b) of maize!
What do you understand by rotation of crops! What
useful purposes are served by such rotation! Give your idea
of a suitable rotation of crops on airy estate you are acquainted
with.
6. What is the usual method on any estate you know
of making pen manure/ Point out its advantages or defects.
7. What artificial manures are more suitable (a) for
sugar-cane, (b) for cotton, (c) for Indian corn, in your island;
and why are they suitable?
8. Discuss in relation to drainage the nature of the
soil in the neighbourhood in which you live; if drainage is
required, how is it best done?
C.
9. Give a description of two of the best fodder plants
in your island.
10. Briefly describe an ordinary form of plough, giving
diagrams to illustrate your description,
11. What kind of food, and in what quantity, should
be given to a working ox or to a working horse!
12 Discuss in connexion with some one crop, such as
cotton or sugar-cane, the general question of rainfall,
indicating what may be beneficial and what injurious, giving
reasons.
II.
SPECIAL CROPS.
A, SUGAR-CANE. -
1. Describe how you would select and prepare cane tops
for planting.
2. Diseuss the question from a practical standpoint
whether, with a definite area of cane land, it is better (a) to
cultivate half in plant canes and half in ratoons, or (b) to
cultivate one-third in plants, leaving one-third in ratoons and
one-third in bare fallow.
3. How is the soil of cane Jand best maintained in
good tilth?
4, What varieties of sugar-cane do you consider most
suitable for the district you reside in’ Describe the charac-
teristics of two of them, and give reasons for your preference.
5. Describe briefly any insect pest of sugar-cane, state
the damage it occasions, and any methods of control,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 61
—$ $$ $$$
6. What methods do you consider the best in dealing
with (a) cane tops, (b) cane trash!
7. Describe briefly the damage occasioned by any fungus
diseases of the sugar-cane you have personally met with, and
state any measures of control.
8. Outline briefly the system of cultivation best suited
for ratoon canes.
B. Corron.
1, Give an account of how you would prepare land
for planting cotton. What precautions would you take (a) if
the field were flat, (b) if the field were sloping?
2. What methods and precautions must be taken in
picking cotton and preparing the lint for ginning!
3. What are the characteristics of a desirable type of
cotton for your district? How can those characteristics be
maintained?
4, Why is the destruction of old cotton plants necessary?
5. Describe ‘internal boll rot,’ its cause and its control.
6. How is cotton seed utilized in your district! Can
any other uses be made of it; and if so, what are they!
7. Describe one of the following pests. stating any
methods of control: (a) Leaf-blister mite, (b) Cotton stainer.
8*, Examine the sample of seed-cotton supplied to
you, and report on its character and quality.
*This question must be attempted, if Cotton is a subject taken.
C, Proviston Crops.
1. What advantages are there in a crop of Guinea corn?
2. In planting yams, does the size of the set affect the
development of the plant/ How do you explain your answer
to this!
3. In the cultivation of Indian corn, what production
per acre ought to be aimed at! What measures would you
take to obtain such a yield!
4. What benefits are to be derived from planting root
crops such as yams, sweet potatoes, or eddoes as a rotation
crop? What other crops would you use in rotation with such
roots!
5 Describe any insect pest which attacks any root
crop in your district. State its effects upon the crop, and
what may be done to control it
6. Deseribe methods of storing maize for use (a) as
seed-corn, (b) for food.
7. State approximately what ought to be the yield per
aere Of a sweet potato crop. Give any methods of storing or
preserving sweet potatoes for any length of time.
8. State the methods employed in growing and haryest-
ing a crop of onions.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture is
leaving Barbados at the invitation of the Governor of
Jamaica, with the approval of the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, for a visit to that island. Sir Francis
Watts is expected to be absent from Barbados for abont
three months.
Mr. A. E. Collens, Acting Government Chemist
and Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward
Islarids, has been, admitted to the Fellowship of the
Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland.
PLANT DISEASES.
NOTES FROM RECENT LITERATURE ON
CITRUS DISEASES. -
CITRUS SCAB tN PoRTO Rico, J. A. Stevenson (Bulletin 17,
Department of Agriculture and Labour).
Among the various diseases of grape-fruit in Porto Rico,
citrus scab has beyond much doubt assumed a position of
first rank. It is the chief agent in sending fruit to the cull
pile and inthe lowering of grades. The disease has been
especially virulent during the past four or five seasons, and
in some cases has disfigured and rendered worthless the
larger part of the crop.
Citrus scab is an introduced disease which has probably
come by way of Florida. and been present many years. It
first appcared on sour orange and lemon, and remained
practically confined to these two hosts, appearing only
occasionally on young grape-fruit trees until the excessively
wet season of 1911-12. In that period the grape-fruit was
attacked suddenly and virulently in the Bayamon section, and
the disease has since progressed without cessation, invading
in turn most of the other citrus districts.
On sour orange and rough Jemon the disease is so
prevalent that itis quite usval forall the seedlings in nursery
beds to be badly distorted and stunted; other varieties of
lemon are reported to have been equally subject to the
disease.
The lime and the mandarin have not been noted as
susceptible to attack: the sweet orange is usually considered
as immune, though afew cases have been seen of trees
exposed i infection bearing scabby fruit, and the author
considers it not at all unlikely that this species may lose
its immunity at any time, as happened to the grape-fruit.
The Triumph variety of the grape-fruit is also immune,
but its commercial defects prevent its adoption.
The disease attacks the fruit, leaves, and young twigs,
producing first minute translucent areas, which are suc-
ceeded by the corky outgrowths characteristic of the disease.
Often on the fruit these run together and cover a large part
of the surface. Young fruit are frequently much distorted,
and in some cases caused to drop. The affection is super
ficial only, and increases rather than diminishes the keeping
quality of the fruit.
The cause of the disease is a specific fungus infection,
spread mainly by rain and wind. Atmospheric conditions
during and shortly after the flowering period determine the
severity of the attack: wet cloudy weather favouring its
development.
Unlike many plant diseases, citrus scab shows a decided
preference for healthy vigorous trees, and actually avoids
unhealthy or neglected trees.
The only known means of controlling scab is by spray-
ing with a fungicide. Bordeaux mixture gives much the
best results, but has proved in practice to have the great
disadvantage of also destroying the fungus parasites of scale
insects, and so leading to severe infestation of the groves.
Lime-sulphur mixture is much less efficient, but is free from
this objection, and is recommended for general use.
bad cases it may be necessary to alternate with Bordeaux
mixture.
So far as is known to the present writer, scab does not
occur in any virulent form in the Lesser Antilles,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
In very’
Fepruary 23, 1918.
WOOD ROT OF CITRUS TREES IN PoRTO RICO, J, A,
Stevenson (Circular 10).
A serious amount of loss in Porto Rico arises from decay
of the wood of fruit trees, consequent on the invasion of
stems and branches by wood-rotting fungi which gain
access by way of broken branches, pruning cuts, and the
lesions of various primary diseases. The author feels
assured that this type of trouble will play a most important
part in the decadence of citrus groves in the not very distant
future. Its effects are often laid to other causes, and action
to prevent it is seldom taken.
It is interesting to note the statement that as a general
rule the rebudding or topworking of citrus trees in Porto
Rico has not been successful. The poor results obtained from
a system which works well in other citrus regions are
attributed to wood rot, following on sunburn of unprotected
branches and trunks, and on untreated or poorly treated
pruning wounds. an. -
The adoption of advanced methods of tree surgery is not
considered practicable under Porto Rican conditions. The
recommendations made are (1) to attempt to treat only simple
cases, (2) to replace badly affected trees, and (3) to concentrate
on preventive measures, These consist in removing all dead
material, sterilizing exposed surfaces with corrosive
sublimate solution or Gordeaux paste, painting later with
gas tar (from the use of which no injurious effects have bean
noticed),, and renewing the coating periodically until the
wound has _ healed.
ABNORMAL WATER RELATIONS IN CITRUS TREES, KR, W,
Hodgson (University of Califorma Publications in
Agricultural Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2).
This and the publication referred to below represent
attempts to secure by systematic experimental studies some
definite and accurate information as to the physiology of
the genus Citrus. Only by a thorough understanding of the
relations existing between normal trees and their environment
can one hope to find the underlying causes of the numerous
obscure troubles classed as ‘physiological’ diseases, to which
citrus trees in some districts are particularly prone.
The present study, referring to trees grown in arid
districts in California and Arizona, deals with a phase of the
excessive shedding of, young oranges, known as ‘June-drop,’
which has beea experienced for years in those districts,
This annua: loss of young fruit is most serious in regions
where rainfall and atmospheric humidity are lowest
temperature and solar radiation highest, and air movement
greatest during the growing season. A hot wave in June
1917, during which a temperature of 118° I’. was reached:
caused a drop so severe that practically the entire crop was
lost in districts where shedding is not usually excessive
Following a reference to various published observations,
including those of W. L. Balls on the cotton plant,
on the daily deficit of water in the tissue of plants exposed
to conditions promoting rapid transpiration, a deficit which
commonly leads to something like definite wilting in the
afternoon of each sunny or sunny and windy day, the author.
remarks that the effects ef such temporary deficit may be.
expected to occur to an unusual degree when citrus plants,
with a leaf structure adapted to somewhat humid tropical’
conditions, are grown in,the dry interior valleys.of, California,
With these considerations in mind it was thouglit that the.
shedding might be due to these irregularities in water relations
resulting in abscission in some way analogous to the shedding -
of cotton bolls
Vor, XVII. No. 413.
The most interesting of the results obtained from the
experiments is the evidence they afford of strong negative
pressures in the water column during the afternoon, so that it is
entirely possible for the leaves to draw water back from the
young fruits. The actual decrease of water in the fruit was
indicated to be as much as 15 to 20 per cent., most of which
is believed to be caused in the manner above described.
The dropping of the fruit appears to be most severe when
the water relations are most abnormal, and there is consid-
erable probability that the shedding is a reaction to these
conditions.
OPTIMUM MOISTURE CONDITIONS FOR YOUNG LEMON TREES ON
A Loam som, L. W. Fowler and C. B. Lipman
(Ibid. Vol. 3, No. 2).
The conclusions reached are as follows:—
‘In attempting to determine the optimum moisture
content of a rather heavy loam soil for young Lisbon lemon
trees grown in cylinders, at the Limoneira ranch, Santa
Paula, California, the following information was obtained in
the course of the first two years of the experiment:—
(1) A moisture percentage of 20 per cent. based on the
dry weight of the soil has produced the tallest trees.
(2) Trees grown with 16 and 18 per cent. of moisture,
while not as tall as those grown with 20 per cent of soil
moisture, show better colour and more vigour. The differ-
ences are not very marked, however.
(3) The foregoing facts seem to show that the range
of optimum or nearly optimum moisture percentages for the
soil and plant in question is a relatively wide one.
(4) Much more visible damage results to the young
Iemon trees from moisture percentages in excess of the
optimum than from those below the optimum.
(5) Every successive increment of moisture beyond the
optimum is accompanied by a sharp depression in growth,
colour, and general vigour of the trees.
(6) Every successive decrement of moisture from the
optimum shows only a relatively slight depression in growth.’
W.N.
SORGHUM TESTS IN QUEENSLAND.
The London correspondent of the Worth (Queensland
Reyister sonds us the following interesting note on experi-
ments with varieties of Sorghum or Guinea corn in the
tropical districts of Queensland. It is evident that this
grain will prove to have as much value there as it has in
‘other tropical lands:—
‘Some interesting work has been done in Queensland
by the State Department of Agriculture in experimental
test-growing of non-saccharine and saccharine varieties of
sorghums for seed and fodder purposes. Some of the returns
obtained exhibit features of interest in relation to their
important bearing on production.
‘The non-saccharine sorghums are particularly valuable
to Qneensland in many ways. ‘The grain is usually bold in
character, and larger than the commonly known sorghums.
The white-seeded varieties form excellent food fur human
beings or for stock, and the other more or less coloured kinds
are good alike for poultry and stock, particularly for fatten-
ing pigs.
‘This group of plants seems co be designed by Nature
-to reproduce themselves in the face of adverse seasons. They
will atfurd seed where maize would fail to produce a p yable
erop of grain, and they are undoubtedly prolific’,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 63
ee se eee. eee
A NEW PALM WAX FROM COLOMBIA.
A sample of crude wax obtained from the leaves of
Ceroxylon andicolum, Humb. & Bonpl.. the wax palm of the
Andes, was recently forwarded to the Imperial Institute for
examination and report. The palms, which oseur only in
western tropical South America, are stated to be exceedingly
abundant, but no wax has yet been exported, although it is
used in Colombia for making candles.
The sample ia question consisted of fine powdered wax
of a pale straw colour, with a small admixture of vegetable
matter. After purification and removal of the vegeteble
matter, the wax was analysed with comparatively satisfac-
tory results. The purified wax was completely soluble in
cold chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, benzine, or hot turpen-
tine oil, but it was not completely soluble in cold alcohol,
ether, or light petroleum.
As prepared, the wax was submitted to firms of manu-
facturers and brokers, who reported (1) that the material
could replace Carnauba wax for many purposes. They
stated, however, that its value would be considerably
enhanced if it could be bleached, and that this process would
also widen its field of possible application in industry.
(2) A second firm stated that the product could certainly
be employed industrially, and that its use was simply
a question of price. (3) A firm of brokers stated that it
was possible they might be able to place supplies of the
material on the market as a substitute for Carnauba wax.
This palm wax when purified, is said to be similar in
character to Carnauba wax, the product of another palm
(Copernicia cerifera) which is collected chiefly in Brazil, and
to the Candelilla wax obtained from a species of Euphorbia
imported from Mexico, with the exception that its melting-
point is higher. It should be readily saleable at the same
prices as these waxes, which before the war were selling in
the United Kingdom at £5 to £10 per cwt.
As it would be necessary to purify the wax before export,
experiments were mide at the Imperial Institute with the
object of devising a simple method of purification, especially
from vegetable debris. The following means were sug-
gested: —
‘The crude wax-dust, as collected, should be placed in
a canvas or calico bag, and immersed in boiling water, the
bag being weighted to keep it below the surface: most of
the melted wax will then gradually pass through the fabric
and rise to the surface of the water. A convenient device
would be a strong canvas bag, the mouth of which is sewn
or tied up after the bag has been filled with the wax dust.
Two sticks, each with a slit in one end, can bs fixed easily
along the top and bottom of the bag by means of screws. By
twisting the sticks pressure is exerted on the canvas bag and
causes the melted wax to pass through the canvas, The
water with the layer of wax on top can then be allowed to
cool, When quite cold the wax can be removed, powdered,
and dried in the sun or in a warm place. The dried p»wdered
wax should finally be melted in a deep vessel over a small
fire, or better, in an oven at about 110° C., care being taken
not to heat it longer than is necessary, or at a higher
temperature than 110°C., as otherwise it will darken in colour,
The remelted wax on cooling will be found to have deposited
a dark layer at the bottom of the cake; this can be cut off
and either sold as a lower grade of wax or worked up with
the next batch of wax-dust. The cake thus freed from the
dirty material will be ready for shipment.
The above information is gleaned from the Bulletin of
the Imperial Institute, Vol. XV, No. 2.
G4 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Feervary- 23, 1918.
MARKET REPO RTS. New York.—Messrs Gittesrrz Bros, & Co., January 15,
London.—THe West Inp1a Commirrez CrecuLar, Cacao—Caracas, 12fc.; Grenada, no quotations; Trinidad,
eee 7 13ke. to 13fe.; Jamaica, 9c. to 10jc.
: Sti Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, S38°00 to $40°00; Trinidad
Arrowroot—No quotations. selects, $36°00 to $38-00; culls, $18-00 to $20°00 per M.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/33; Sheet, 4/- to 4/1. Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to 11c. per tk.
Berswax—No quotations. Gincer—lbsc. to 20c. per th.
Cacao—Trinidad, 94'- to 99/-; Grenada, 85/- to 96/-; Goat Sxiss—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, 75c. to
Jamaica, no quotations. $85c.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 70c. to 75c. per th.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations. ; Grave Fruit—Jamaica, $2°00 to $2°50 per box.
Corpra—£46, Limes—$6'50 to $800 per bri.
Fruit—No quotations. Mace—3lc. to 37e. per th.
Gincer—Jamaica, no quatations. Nurmecs—18c. to 2le.
Honey—Jamaica, 134/- to 144/- per cwt. ae Onaners—$1°75 to 83°50.
Live Juicke—Raw, 2/- to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations; Pimmento—6e. per tb.
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17/6. Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°05c; Muscovados, 89°, 5‘O5e,
Loewoop—No quotations, Molasses, 89°, 4°85c. all duty paid.
Mace—No quotations.
Norsmes—No quotations.
Prrexto—4}d. s
Rusrer—Para, fine hard, 2/94; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., Feb y
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co., January 15 ebruary 6
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12°00 to $12°25 Trinidad, no quota- Arrowroot—$9'00 per 100 fh.
tions. Cacao—$12'00 to $14:00 per 100 ib.
Coco-nut Om—*#1°5d per gallon. Coco-nuts—$28°80 husked nuts.
Corree—Venezuelan, 12c. per tb. Hay—$2'90. ;
Corra—$7 ‘70 per 100 In. MotassEs—No quotations.
Daat—No auotations. Ontons— No quotations.
Os1oxs—$8'00 per 100 fb. . Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations,
Pras, Sprit—$12°00 to $12°50 per bag. Porarors—No quotations.
Porators—English, $4°50 to $5°00 per 100 ih. Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations! Ran~«
Rice—Yellow, $11°50 to $11°75; White, 9°50 per bag. goon, no quotations. a
Scvear—American crushed, nv quotations. Sucar—Dark Crystals, $4.75.
= = — —— — = = —
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HAND-BOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Haxd-books are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
ia especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by tha
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each—
Post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutavu & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. THos. Lawior & Co., St. George,
Wesr Innis Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D, Bonante, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: Apvocatr Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nivxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: Tar EpucationaL Suppry Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brrpcewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tux Anrcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Mutr-Marsuauu & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Toe Bree anp Book Suprpty AceEncy, Bassereren,
Tobago: Mr. C, L, Puacemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Messrs. Howe, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W, Cremens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SHED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
— — =
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
AGEGENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
. Be :
; ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ar -
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONIAL USE
ee
Dissolved (Soluble) Guano
FOR SUGAR-CAN E AND GENERAL USE.
ry ,
TRADE > MARK. peo
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lyncha Co., Ltd., Wabi ted 09
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
. WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further*
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
‘execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON @BS.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
BARBADOS. _
Printed at Office of Agricultura! Reporter, 4, High Street] Bridgetown, Barbados,
aS SS
AM
ANDY)
nt)
SD
a)
v)
iS
1
‘Vol. XVII. No. 414] | SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1918. —*——‘[One_ penny.
R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
J TO PORTS OF CALL .
THE UNITED KINGDOM ~ Azores.
( St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
Bermuda, Halifax, N’ S., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad.
{ Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
Cartagena, Colon, Panama, ;
\Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
/REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
| MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA mei
& JAPAN. [a
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London.
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao }Paulo
Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
| ‘THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
it
Pa
>
a
-
| : . 4
Do CATTLE TICKS AFFECT
: HIDE VALUES? |
The above question was addressed to a number of Chicago hide and leather dealers, and their replies printed below
will doubtless convince the most sceptical that thé cattle tick works very definite injury to hides in the Southern Pick.
CATTLE TICK
vemate
a4 infested areas of the United States, and the same thing applies, of course, wherever ticks are found.
; P This injury i is far greater than the average cattle owner realizes—they bite the skin, and the injury this effects ows up very plainly, and causes a —_
in the grain of the finished leather.
Their market value is thus considerably reduced, and lower prices rule.
This occasions a serious depreciation in values, chiefly because tick-injured hides cannot be used for high-class work.
The only remedy is to eradicate the tick, and, fortunately, this is by no means difficult. f
Dipping or spraying with a reliable arsenical Cattle Dip will destroy all the ticks and so overcome this injury. KS
TICKS CAUSE LOSS OF $1.26 PER HIDE
“The presence of the tick among the cattle of the South not only lessens the value of the cattle on the hoof, but causes the grading of hides that have
been infested with ticks as No. 4 quality. The same hide, if free from tick marks, would grade No. 2. The difference in price between these two grades
of hides is 3 cents a pound. As the hide of a southern steer weighs about 42 pounds, the presence of the tick in the hide causes a loss in the hide alone of
more than $1.26 a hide.
\
Le, Extract from Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 569, on “ Tick Fever,” issued by the United States Department of Agriculture.
A
<
¥
“It has been shown that the cost of eradication is only about 50 cents a head, so that if Cattle owners make a joint
ic campaign to eradicate
the tick, the increase in value of the hide alone would pay for the cost of tick eradication, and leave a net profit of about 70 cents a hide.”
: Ticks are the cause of very deavy loss in a number of different ways, but the letters which follow show how serious és the leakage of profit arising from
a Tick Damage to Hides.
. Ticks Reduce Value 33%
-
D : “Cattle Ticks have a very deteriorating effect upon hides and calfskins,
_ . particularly calfskins. We do not buy many Southern hides or skins on
| account of the ticks, but when we do get some here we are obliged to sell
them for No. 3 stock at about one- third less price than good Northern
stock free from ticks. This does not apply so much to heavy hides for sole
_ leather purpose but for all light hides and galfskins, it renders them
_ altogether useless, for all kinds of leather.” JOHN MILLER & Co.
Price 2c.'to 2ic. Lower
A “Tn regard to cattle ticks, they damage the hides so badly that very
os few of them can be sold in this market ; and when they are, the price is
from 2.to 2} cents. lower than price of our Northern and Western hides,
ry This reduction is largely due to tick damage, though partly to poor take-
off. I handle very few Southern hides on account of ticks.”
. ‘
£ i J. M. BOND.
r _ Value Reduced 2c. per lb.
Py) ' “The Southern hide, which is generally a titky hide, is sold in this
:® i market at about 2c. a pound less than similar hides free of ticks.”
+ ; 9% BOLLES & ROGERS.
4 ;
K | Ticky Hides Worth 10% Less
ie “We buy large quantities of hides, but as we require a very good
{ quality, it being used for fancy leathers, we are unable to use Southern
a | hides, as they contain so many cattle-ticks. These ticks show an abrasion
* upon the grain of the hide. In other words, we cannot make smooth
* \ in leather out of hides with ticks in them and we regard Southern
ides with such imperfections worth fully 1o per cent. less than from
| districts where there are no ticks."
i
H. ELKAN & Co.
| ' Damages 2c. to 2)c. per lb. :
i * As to the difference in value between the ticky hide and a nen-ticky
Ly hide, I wish to say that we figure a ticky hide to be, at least, 2 to 2c. less
' in value.
& In general a Southern hide has not the value of a Northern, Eastern
or Western hide, even if they are not ticky they are eulirely of a different
mature, too thin and spready.” GUS DREYFUSS
it
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Shes received the official approval of the following Countries:
Walon of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutolaad,
a Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar,
Britigh East Africa, German Bast Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland,
United States of America, New South Wales,
Northern Territory of Australia.
BKANCI.<S~ Toronto, Chicago.
Sydney,
|
{
Reduce Value Ic. per Ib. -
“Re the effect of cattle ticks upon the price of Southern hides. They
damage the grain of the hide to a very large extent, and reduce their value
at least Ic. per pound.” ISAAC WEIL & SONS.
Worth ic. to Ic. Less per Ib.
“From our experience we have found that ticky hides are quite inferior
to our good quality stock, originating from points outside of the South,
and tanners, without exception, are very averse to take hides of this descrip-
tion, and in buying them reduce prices a full half to a cent a pound.”
ADLER & OBENDORF, Inc.
Tick Damage 1 to 2c. per Ib. G
“Ticky hides from the Southern States are certainly an inferior article
to the quality that is produced inthe North. The difference in prices varies
according to the season and weights, but the damage done by the tick
probably amounts to Ic. to 2c. per pound, or from 50c. to $1.00 per hide.
This pertains chiefly to the hides suitable for upper leather. On the
heavier branded hides for sole leather, the damage is less consequential.”
CHARLES FRIEND & Co., Inc
Damages Ic. or More per Ib.
“Cattle ticks are a very serious defect on hides, and the hides we buy
from Southern points, where the cattle run ticky, do not bring within } to
1c, a pound of Northern hides, for certain grades of heavier leathers,
while on upper leather that comes out of calf kip and light cow hides,
there is even a larger spread in price.” LAPHAM BROS. & Co.
Ticky Hides make Poor Leather
Phe A hides, or Southern hides, dg not sell for as much money as the
Northern hides. These ticky hides, when unhaired, are all spotted and
make a very poor leather and most tanners refuse to buy any Southern
hides at any price.” , EMERY & Co.
Ticks Make Black Spots on Leather
“Ticks on cattle make black spots on the leather and are cause of |
considerable loss in value, I should think fully 3c. to qc. 1b.; on an |
average tc, to 2c. per lb. would bea fair difference, I should say, on the
prices paid for hides.”
: WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
ST. ROTTS: S.L. Horsford & Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Br, 498 & Ce
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston,
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd.
BAHAMAS: W.N. Twynam, Nassau.
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST. VINCENT: Coren & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone,
DANISH WEST INDIBS: A. Schmliegelow, St. Croix.
MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall, DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Framptom
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Munvfact-rers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
Melbourne, Auckland, Buesos Aires,
Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa
Monte Video,
FRANCES M. POTTER |
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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW |
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No. 414.
BARBADOS, MARCH 9, 1918. Price ld.
For centuries Great Britain has been the great
NTENTS. rs E O Fare
oe colonizing power, but cannot be said to have made full
Piece Pacz. use of her opportunities as regards the provision of
Agriculture in Barbados 71 | Insect Notes:—
Agriculture in Santo Quassia Extract as a
Domingo Sos Roa. ACG) Contact Insecticide 74
i - i c rts 80
Antigua, Progress in Market Reports ... ... §
Co-operation in ...... 67 | Notes and Comments ... 72
: 7 1 —
Banana Meal, How to Pine-apple Guava, The 77
Prepare fe 73 | Plant Diseases:—
Cotton in Egypt, The Ques- Plant Diseases in Bar-
tion of Pure Strains of 70 bados, 1916-17... ... 78
Department News... 67 The Control of Cacao _
Departmental Reports .... 7 Canker in Java ... 78
Dominica, Rainfallin 1917 72 | Quarantine in the Un
Food of the West Indies, ted States of Sweet
The, . Seomeyess Manes ek OS: Potato and Yam... ... 69
c Tales soneh PGC “
Food ‘ alues, Meaning of 62 Research Work and
Gleanings Posed tee 6 Applied Science ... ... 72
Hook-worm and Malaria,
Progress in Combating 72 | Sandalwood Mette tec Eo
a ‘ SOM Cogs
Indigo, Natural, Govern- University, A Tropical in
i" Bein tecetiee bices
ment Control of... ... 73
A Tropical University in Being.
Y HROUGHOUT the Empire at the present
time the general question of education and
=oOW technical training is receiving much attention,
The Education Bill recently introduced into Parliament
by the President of the Board of Education, and the
Reports of the various Committees appointed by the
Board of Trade are evidences of the feeling in the
United Kingdom that in spite of the progress which has
undoubtedly been made in education in late years, and
especially in technical education, the position even
there is far from satisfactory. Still more is this the case
in the smaller dependencies of the British Empire.
There technical education on scientific lines is almost
unattainable.
facilities for thorough and scientific education for
the natives of her dependencies. The large self-
governing members of the Empire have developed their
own educational systems: and in the great Empire of
India many colleges and universities have been founded
in .the interests of higher education, but doubts have
been expressed for the most part whether these have
been best suited to the Indian type of mind, or to the
furtherance of the immense agricultural interests of.
that empire.
This is not to be wondered at, when itis remem-
bered that the educational system in England is
predominantly ofa traditional and pedantic type. But
there is certainly a change coming in the point of view
from which education is looked at, It will no longer
be considered that high technical training is necess-
ary for those only who intend to enter the ranks of
the three so-called learned professions, but that in every
calling in life in which technical knowledge and skill
are required, good training and the best technical
instruction shall be obtainable. Particularly will this
be the case as regards the science of agriculture, which,
although a foundation of national prosperity, has
been regarded in the past as worth acquiring only
by rule of thumb.
For some years past there have been put forward
from time to time suggestions as to the desirability of
establishing one or more colleges in tropical parts
of the British Empire for the scientific training of
students in the principles and practice of tropical
agriculture. Recently the movement has been more
definitely focussed on Ceylon and Trinidad ag
suitable centres for such colleges, and it is to be
hoped that some adequate result will be reached in the
near future from these movements.
Meanwhile, however, the Government of the United
States of America has not waited long to utilize its
position in the possession of tropical territories. The
University of the Philippines, which has just completed
its seventh year of existence, is an example of what
-ean be done in providing an advanced type of education
in all branches in the tropics.
In 1908 ‘an Act, by the authority of the United
States, was passed by the Philippine Legislature for
the purpose of founding a university for the Philippine
Islands, giving it a corporate existence, providing for
a Board of Regents, defining the Board’s responsibilities
and duties, providing higher and professional instruc-
tion, and for other purposes. The Board of Regents
were empowered by this Act to provide for the estab-
lishment of a College of Liberal Arts: a College of Law:
a College of Social and Political Science: a College of
Medicine and Surgery: a College of Pharmacy: a College
-of Dentistry: a College of Veterinary Science: a College
of Engineering: a College of Mines; a College of Agri-
culture; a School of Fine Arts: and other Colleges
for which the Legislature may provide by appropriation.
The Board was avthorized to open these colleges, or
any of them, as soon as they should deem that con-
-ditions favoured such action, and funds were available
for their maintenance. The sum of 1,000,000 pesos
about £200,000) was appropriated by the Philippine
Treasury for the above purposes.
The first college of the University to begin work
was the College of Agriculture, which was opened in
June 1909, with fifty-six students. The number enrolled
in June 1917 was 431, making this the largest college,
except the College of Liberal Arts, which numbered at
the same date 520 students. Of the colleges proposed
to be established there are at. present the following
six: the College of Agriculture: the College of
Engineering: the College of Law: the College of Liberal
Arts: the College of Medicine and Surgery: and the
‘College of Veterinary Science: with a total number of
1,574 students.
Besides these collegiate departments in which
degrees are obtainable, there are also the following
schools under the direction of the University: the
School of Fine Arts: the Forest School; the Conserv-
atory of Music; the School of Nursing; which grant
diplomas. An additional !,400. students are enrolled
in these schools,
66 _THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWs, Marcu 9,
19i8.
A statf of thirty-four professors, together with 165
lecturers and assistant protessurs and fifty junior
assistants make up the teaching body of the Univers-
ity. Itis evident that education o! a high grade is within
the reach of the Philippine islanders, aud judging from
the number of students, they are evidently taking
advantage of their opportunities
The arrangements of the College of Agriculture,
and the course of study pr scribed are of much
interest in connexion with the question of the necessity
for thorough and scientific training in this subject,
The College occupies a tract of abous 125 hectares of
land at Los Banos, a village witnin easy reach by
train or boat from Manila. The land is of diversified
character, and permits of the cultivation of every
important crop of the Philippines.
A large majority of the students live in club-
houses, most of which are located in the College
grounds. The College furnishes, free of rent, land for
the houses, and oversees the sanitation and neatness of
the premises. ‘The clubs own their houses, and in part
have built them, at an average cost of about 25 pesos
a student. The cost of living in these clubs varies from
10 to 20 pesos a month.
The usual student activities in literary, musical,
and athletic directions are in full force; the students
publish a monthly magazine, the Philippine Agricul-
turist and Forester, and there is a library containing
standard books of reference, standard works on
agricultural and kindred sciences, and a collection of
publications on tropical agriculture.
Tuition in the College is free, and there are no
matriculation or graduation fees, the College being
supported by the Legislature.
There are two undergraduate courses: (1) a six-
year course based on the intermediate course of the
public school, and leading to the degree of Bachelor
of Agriculture: and (2) a four-year course based on the
high school course of the public schools, and leading
to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture,
The obligatory subjects taught in the six-year
course are, for the first two years, English, Mathematics
Rural Economics, and Botany, all with a careful view
towards agriculture. Thus the subjects of themes
or essays in English are matters of interest in agricul-
ture and industrial economies: the lectures in Mathe-
maties are specially directed to elementary surveying
and the practical use of the compass, tape, transit,
and level: Rural Economies consists of practical farm
Vou. XVII. No, 414.
tHE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 67
work, in the shop with wood and iron, and in
the field in the preparation and cultivation of land
under various crops: it also includes b«k-keeping
as it ought to be practised on a Philippine farm. For
the third year the course retains Mathematics, and
enters on Chemistry, Zoology, and Agronomy. The
study of this last subject is continued until the end of
the course; whereas for Mathematics and Zoology there
are substituted in the fourth year Physics and Ento-
mology. In his fifth year a student may select one
course for himself, while for the last two subjects
wentioned, Animal Husbandry and Rural Engineering
are substituted. For the sixth year the only obligatory
subject is Agronomy, the others being selected by the
student.
The courses in Agronomy include practical daily
work in all the operations ona farm, orchard, or garden,
and, inthe two last years, special instruction in the
cultivation of tropical crops, and also in the principles
of plant breeding.
The four-year course follows the same lines, but
presupposes a higher standard of education to begin
with, and for its completion there is required the
presentation of a thesis representing a year’s work on
some agricultural problem.
That this College is producing good results is
evident from the articles appearing in the College
Magazine written by students, and giving evidence of
thought and study. Practically, the output of many
young men trained on these lines, who will be turning
their energies into agricultural pursuits in the
Philippines, must lead to continual advance in all
agricultural matters in those islands.
As compared with the West Indies, the Philip-
pines have much the same area, and contain not more
than a million or so more inhabitants, but whereas the
West Indies are politically split up among several
nationalities, and speak at least three different lang-
wages, the Philippines are politically one, and speak
only Spanish, although now the study of English is
being encouraged. Still one cannot help dreaming and
hoping that something like the Agricultural College at
least of that eastern University may soon be seen in
these western islands.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. S. C. Harland, B.Sc., Assistant for Cotton
Research on the stati of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture for the West Indies, arrived at Barbados
on March 1, on departmental business.
- = - = - = oe
PROGRESS IN CO-OPERATION IN
ANTIGUA.
In the Report on the Agricultural Department, Antigua,
1916-17, a general review of which appears on another page
of this issue, there is an interesting account of the general
progress made in that island on co-operative lines, much of
which is here reproduced. :
During the past few years a considerable amount of
time and attention has been given by~Agricultural Officers
to the question of co-operation among planters. The first
move of this kind made in Antigua was in the year 1904-5,
when Gunthorpes Central Factory was erected. The work-
ing of this factory is well known, and comments on it in this.
report would be superfluous. Apart from this, however,
there has been considerable activity in connexion with
industries other than sugar-cane growing, and there exist in
Antigua at the present moment, the Antigua Onion Growers”
Association, the Antigua Cotton Growers’ Association, and
the Antigua Lime Growers’ Association.
It was realized in 1916 that the work of these various.
associations would probably be furthered if a Central Board
were formed consisting of a representative from each of
them, together with representatives from the Antigua
Agricultural and Commercial Society. The outcome of this
was the formation in November of the Central Buard for
Co-operative Organizations.
The object of this organization is to facilitate the
spread of co operative enterprise in Antigua. Itis within
the power of the Board to deal with matters in connexion
with co-operation not provided for by existing associations,
as well as to cooperate with the existing bodies to secure
development. It is within the power of the Board to raise
money by loans or by other means, to embark in trading
enterprises, to rent or purchase land or buildings, to appoint
and organize sub-committees and meetings of private or
public character, and to found and regulate organizations for
co-operative purposes.
The Antigua Agricultural and Commercial Society
during the latter part of the year 1916 referred to the B-ard,
with the concurrence of His Excellency the Acting Governor,
the question of the shortage of fond supply. The question
was taken up by the Board, and in order to obtain informa-
tion as to the quantities of foodstuffs planted locally, and
also in order to bring the seriousness of the situation home
to the peasants, the island was divided into nine districts,
each having its own Chairman. The Board was regularly
informed as to the quantity of foodstuffs in stock, and the
prospect of obtaining further supplies, and thus was kept
intimately in touch with the situation as regards the lovak
supplies of food. Planters were periodically circularized as
to the area planted in provision crops, ete., and at the sug-
gestion of the Board, Dr. Tempany compiled a leaflet on
food values. This was subsequently printed, and widely
circulated.
The committee has done a considerable amount of useful
work in bringing home to the people of Antigua the
seriousness of the position in connexion with food supplies.
This movement indicates that there is a lively spirit of
co-operation existing among Antigua planters which is wortliy
of careful fostering. The following are some of the lines
along which co-operation in the future may expand. There-
is the possibility of stock improvement by co-operation, the
obtaining of estate supplies by co-operacive organizations,
and the introduction anc furthering of new industries,
6s THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 9, 1918,
THE FOOD OF THE WEST INDIES.
The following is the conclusion of the article on
the above subject by Dr. H. A. Alford Nichols, C.M.G.,
M.D., F.L.S., Senior Medical Officer of Dominica, the
first part of which appeared in the last number of this
Journal:—
It is better in every way for a country to be able to feed
its own people on home-grown food, and to employ imported
food products only in emergencies and as luxuries. A
population dependent on imports for food may at times be in
a precarious position, and another important consideration
is that the money sent abroad for provisions would be avail-
able for home industries, not the least of which would be the
raising of the food itself.
Of all the West Indian Colonies; Dominica has reached
nearest the point of being capable of supplying the sustenance
of its people by the products of the country. Mr. Joseph
Jones, the Superintendent of Agriculture, in his report on
the Botanical Department for 1916-17, says in regard to this
matter: ‘With the exception of Roseau, with its considerable
population, the country districts of Dominica are self-depen-
dent toa remarkable degree, and although the cessation of
imported foodstuffs even for a short time would cause
inconvenience, there is no community in the West Indian
islands which is quite in so fortunate a position in regard to
local foods as Dominica.’
There are several factors which together bring about this
satisfactory condition of affairs. Dominica is a mountainous,
well-watered island of large area, covered in the interior with
virgin forests, so that there is an abundant rainfall, and the
country never suffers from the severe droughts that sometimes
occur in neighbouring islands. Most of the cultivated lands
lie along or near to the seacoast where the greater part of
the inhabitants dwell, but there are many settlements on the
highlands of the interior. The greater number cf the
estates’ labourers live in the towns of Roseau and Ports-
mouth, or in the numerous villages along the seashore.
A considerable number of them, however, live up the valleys
or on the hills, and they come down to the plantations daily
to work.
Dominica isa land of small estates, and its peasant
‘proprietors are very numerous. Many of the owners of the
sinaller estates, and practically all the peasant proprietors
grow ground provisions and fruits, and rear live stock in
sufficient quantities for their own needs, and also for sale in
the markets. Most of the beef, mutton, and pork sold by
the butchers, and the supply of milk and eggs, besides vege-
table products, come trom this useful and prosperous section
of the agricultural population. Pigs are raised in large
numbers by the peasant proprietors, who often pickle the
flesh for future consumption.
Many of the labourers rent ‘gardens’ on the outlying
lands of the estates, in which they grow vegetable foods for
themselves and their families, as well as for sale, The people
dwelling in the coast villages obtain an abundant harvest
from the sea. Most of the fish is eaten fresh, but a quantity
of the smaller kinds is slit open and salted, and dried in the
sun for future use.
The forests contribute in no inconsiderable degree to the
food supplies of the people. Indigenous animals-—the «gouti
(Dasyprocta agouti), a large rodent, and the manicou
(Diadelphys sp.), a marsupial— are fairly abundant in the
woods, and their flesh is eaten both fresh and smoked. Game
birds, too, are obtainable in the shooting season; and a big
edible frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus) and several kinds
of Jand crabs are found aback of the coast lands.
The forest vegetable food products are important addi-
tions to the food supply. There are three kinds of wild yams:
the waw-waw (lajania pleioneura), a closely allied species
known as the cush-cush, anda third yam, called baba-ou-lé
or cap-la-ou, which isan undetermined species of Dioscorea
probably escaped from cultivation. \ fourth food-plant is
a Calathea (C. A//ouya), which is called topie tambou. These
foods are fairly plentiful, and they are eaten largely by
the people in the country districts. The waw-waw or Carib
yam, as it is often called, is sometimes sold in the market of
Roseau, and it grows toa large size: but the people are so
anxious to secure it that they dig it up long before it is
fully developed. It has recently been analysed in the
Botanical Department of Dominica, and its protein content
was found to be as high as 5°58 per cent.
Thus the people of Dominica are really well off for
native foods as compared‘ with the populations of the neigh-
bouring islands, in which most of the land is taken up by
the estates of large proprietors, and in which the local foods
have to be more largely supplemented by imported wheaten
flour, and salted fish and meat.
The Hon. W. H. Porter, 1.8.0., the Treasurer of Dom-
inica, has been good enough to furnish me with figures show-
ing the consumption per head by the population of the island
of the principal items of imported foods, His figures are
calculated from the imports of 1916 divided by the popula-
tion of 1915, and they are as follows: —
Consumption per caput per annum.
Wheaten flour 89°50 bb.
Rice 10°52 ,,
Salt fish 13-90 ,,
Salt pork 2°35. ,,
Salt beef O;6)\aeee
Mr. Joseph Joses, in his report already referred to, states
that ‘Dominica is self-supporting to a much larger extent
than Antigua and St. Kitts, the only important article of
imported foodstuff being wheat flour.’
As might be supposed from this fortunate position in
regard to the home production of food, the labouring
population of Dominica bears favourable comparison with its
neighbours as regards vigour and health.
Some of the peopledwelling in Roseau are of poor
physique, for, owing to difficulties of transport, much of the
surplus ground provisions of the country districts cannot be
brought to town except with difticulty, and sometimes at
a prohibitive cost, so the townspeople have to pay much
higher rates for their native food, and to supplement it
largely by imported wheaten flour and salt fish,
Thus the poorer town dwellers, and those who are past
work find it extremely hard to obtain proper nourishment in
sufficient quantities. Fortunately, however, these people
form only a small part of the island population which, as
has been shown, obtains suflicient nourishment containing
the necessary elements for providing energy, and for building
up the body tissues.
It is found that the ordinary labourer is not deficient in
power todo continuous hard work. My observations some
years ago on my own estate taught me that the agricultural
Jabourer was fully capable of performing his daily task, and
that there was no undue exhaustion. Mr. George Branch, the
Manager of the lime estates of Messrs. L. Rose & Co., Ltd., who
is probably now the largest employer of labour in the island,
informs me that the people are quite capable of doing an
ordinary day’s work, and that in this respect many of them.
are ‘hard to beat’. He finds, too, that those who come from
Vor, XVII, No, 414.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 69
the interior are, on the whole, better and stronger workers
than those from the town.
Although the Dominica labourers live mainly on the
food of the country, they are remarkably free from deficiency
diseases. Pellagra and peripheral neuritis are exceedingly rare
in the island; and, most of the few cases I have seen in
recent years gave a history showing that the disease was
contracted in one of the neighbouring colonies.
This practical immunity is due to the fact that the food
of the peop!e contains abundance of vitamines; although at
times and in certain instances it may not contain what until
recently has been considered the proper proportion of protein.
THE MEANING OF FOOD VALUES.
A food may be defined as a substance which, when
absorbed by the body, either supplies material to restore
tissue-waste, or which supplies energy, or serves both of
these functions.
Ifa foodstuff is analysed it is found to consist of: —
Nitrogenous bodies—proteins,
Carbohydrates,
Fats,
Mineral salts,
Water.
Of these, the proteins, mineral salts, and water acting
together, can alone restore tissue-waste.
The proteins also have another valuable property, namely
that of producing energy, which property they share with
the fats and carbohydrates. In brief, then, the proteins are
double foods in that they both restore tissue-waste and
supply energy, while the fats and carbohydrates supply
energy alone. It is therefore evident that proteins are
indispensable, whilst the other two great groups, though of
great advantage, can on a pinch be done without.
There are substances in foods which are neither tissue
formers nor energy produceis, but which cannot well be
dispensed with, namely the mineral salts and indigestible
residue. The former are required for the body chemistry,
and the latter plays the important part of ballast-—that 1s,
a sufficient bulk of material to stimulate intestinal action.
The term enerpy, in speaking cf foods, is used in its mechan-
ical sense. This energy is convertible into heat in the body,
and by means of it the body can perform work. A simple illus-
tration may be given. During its growth,a tree collects its
energy from the sun’s heat. It is cut down and burnt; in
the burning i's energy is reconverted into heat; this hea tmay
be used to generate steam, which can do work in the shape of
driving a piston, Instead of a tree let us take a potato; it
too collects energy from the snn’s heat, itis eaten and burnt
up in the body, giving off heat which is used to produce the
energy necessary to enable the body to do work.
The unit of energy as applied to human food is called
the large Ca'orie, and approximately represents the amount
of heat necessary to raise 1,000 grams of water 1°C. in
temperature.
It is necessary briefly to mention this point, as all caleula-
tions on food value are based on it.
The energy of the chief constituents of food are:—
1 gram proteins yields 5°6 Calories
1 gram carbohydrates _ yie «ls 4-1 Calories
1 gram fats yields 9°4 Calories
The proteins and carbohydrates are quicker in action
than thefat, but have not their staying power, so to speak.
Taking results that have been obtained from the mest
recent investigations in regard to food energy necessary for
various degrees of work in a normal adult man of about 150b,
weight, we have the following:—
At rest, abont 2,000 Calories per day.
Moving about, but no active work, about 2,300 Calories
per day.
Moving about, and light sedentary work, about 2,500
Calories per day.
Moving about, and moderate mechanical work, about
3,000 Calories per day.
Moving about, and active agricultural work, about
3,500 Calories per day.
Moving abont, and very active physical work, about
4,500 Calories per day.
Moving about, and extremely hard physical work, about
5,000 or more Calories per day.
These results are obtained by figuringa man’s day as
composed of various activities incident to it, e.g. eight hours
sleep, at 65 Calories per hour; two hours for meals, going to
and fro, at 170 Calories per hour; six hours sitting, at 100
Calories per hour; eight hours of labour, at from 170 to 690
Calories per hour, depending upon the degree of activity.
It may be mentioned tht, according to Dr. Chamber-
lain in his book ‘Organic Agricultural Chemistry’ all efforts
to determine the energy expended in even the most severe
mental work have failed,
Not only, however, does the human body require
a certain amount of energy to be supplied in food, but the
food must also contain a certain minimum amount of protein,
Food protein is essential to the formation of body protein;
used up muscle tissue must be replaced by protein supplied
in the food. Apart therefore from the energy supplied by
the protein in food, a certain amount of protein has to be
regarded solely as building or rebuilding material. Thus,
although the minimum energy req: irement of 2,000 Calories
per day fora man might easily be s1pplied by carbohydrates
or fats alone, yet, except for a short time, such non-protein
iood cannot meet the needs of the body for the replacement
of used up tissue. The amonnt of the protein requirement
for an averaze man of 150 tb. weight is usually given
as 100 grams per day, though some investigators reduce it to
70 grams or even less.
The figures given above show tha* increased muscular
activity raises the energy requirement from 2,00@ to 5,000
Cories per day. In contrast to this, the fact is that increased
muscular activity has only a slight effect upon the amount of
protein needed for tissue building.
Sweet Potato and Yam Quarantine in the
United States.-—According to a notice recently issued
by the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the impor-
tation of sweet potatoes and yams (Ipomwa batatas and
Dioscorea spp.) into the United States from all
foreign countries is now forbidden, except for experi-
mental or scientific purposes. It is provided, however,
that the entry for immediate export, or for immediate
transportation and exportation in bond of sweeg
potatoes and yams inay be permitted.
This quarantine became effective from January 1
1918S, and has been established to prevent the
further introduction into the United States of the
sweet potato weevils (Cylas spp.), and the sweet potato
searabee (Buscepes batatae), which are prevaient? in
various parts of the world.
This notice of quarantine is not to apply to the
territories of Hawaii and Porto Rico,
70 THE AGRICULTURAL
—-— ————
THE QUESTION OF PURE STRAINS OF
COTTON IN BGYPT.
The following letter by Mr. John W. McConnel, of
Manchester, is reproduced trom the Textile Merewry,
of Jannary, 19, 1918 Into the merits ot the controversy
we do not at present propose to enter, but the matters
discussed are of intense interest to workers in the
improvement of West Indian cotton and will not be
without their appeal to cotton planters in general:—
It is probable that comparatively few of your read-
ers ever see the Agricultural Journal of Egypt. It is
however the official publication of the Egyptian Ministry
of Agriculture, and consequently what it says about covton
is of real importance to Lancashire. The issue, Vol. VII, 1917,
just published. contains a report by the Botanist on his work
on cotton during the year 1915. This occupies about 108
pages, and is followed by some 8 pages in the editorial notes,
in which some information is given of the reports by spinners
and others on the four cottons, of which the fist pure
strains were separated by Dr. W Lawrence Balis when occu -
pying the position of Botanist.
These reports on the samples are apparently printed for
the purpose of throwing doubt on the favourable reports made
by spinners, and indeed also by the broker. But whatever
may be the exact object of the editor in printing these more
or less confidential reports and sugmatizing them as ‘rather
contradictory,’ it does not seem to be a very courteous reply
-to those spinners who have hitherto put their machinery and
personnel at the service of the Agricultural Department.
What. however, is of much more importance is that both from
the editorial remarks, and from the opening sentences of the
Botanist’s report, it is evident that thereis a detinite intention
to return to the antiquated practices by which in former years
successive strains of cotton in Eyypt have so sadly deterior-
-ated.
The Botanist speaks of work previous to 1915 being
conducted ‘solely on Mendelian principles, with unsatis-
factory results, It is difficul' t» know what this means.
Again the Botanist raises a curious kind of issue between the
introduction of new strains and the improvement of existing
-ones. He does not explain what is meant by a new strain
of cotton, nor yet how an old strain cau be improved. Is the
Mendelian theory to be taken as the basis, or is it to be
ignored? It seems hardly possible at this time of day to
ignore it. Surely in an attempt to develop plants for the
practical service of man, some system of scientific Jaw must
be followed. It would be interesting to know at what point
the Botanist thinks Mendel’s law to be incapable of application
to cotton. It is not, however, the object of this letter to
-discuss the auestions of botanical science that seem to an
-outsider to be so curiously touched upon in this issue of the
Agrinltwal Journal. There are wo other matters, or
perhaps other aspects of the matter, on which I desire to say
something, because of their importance to the proper under-
standing of the need for research in raw cotton.
(1) What do spinners really want!
(2) Are the reports on samples made by spinners of any
value to the grower!
As regards the first uestion, it must be remembered
that there are many different branches of cotton spinning.
Nov only are there wide differences in counts, but there are
other differences, snch as those between twists and wefts.
Sometimes colour is important; sometimes everything else
may be sacrificed to strength; sometimes cleanliness is the
NEWS. Maren 9, 1918.
main requisite. Therefore, that the editor should speak as
he does of Sakellaridis, as meeting all requirements in Egypt,
is itself a grave danger to the industry. It is true, of course,
that Sakellaridis has many features which are attractive to
the grower, but what follows from this is that any cctton
which is also wanted by the trade mst also be attractive to
the grower. Cottons which will only command a lower price
than that of Sakellaridis will have to be better in yield, better
in lint percentage, as good or better in earliness. Is it not
the proper function of the Agricultural Department to
find out how to produce these results? On the other
hand, it is obvious to any student of the economies of cotton
that there is just now an urgent need for some new supply of
really fine stapled cotton to take the place of American Sea
Island when the boll weevil has destroyed it. For this
purpose Balls’s 310 was at any rate so promising as to deserve
further investigation and perhaps further development. But
for such cotton as this a higher price would have been paid,
and a useful study for the Agrienltural Department would
have been the equivalents of price and quantity for such
a cotton as compared with Sakel. Unfortunately this has
not been recognized by those in charge.
In this connexion it will be remembered that when the
Sakellaridis cotton first came into general cultivation on
a large scale strong recommendations were made by spinners
and other authorities that it should not be grown so
extensively as to crowd out all other cottons. It is a cotton
with many and great merits, but it is undoubtedly not the
cotton that the Bolton mills want as the sole product of
Egypt. If, then, it is desirable that Egypt shou'd grow
some other cottons as well as Sakellaridis, is it necessary that
these should be new strains! This cannot be answered
without defining what is meant. by a new strain. It is clear
that when a different kind of cotton is introduced as an
exotic into any country this may be spoken of as a new strain.
Thus the American Uplands anil some Ngyptian types have
been introduced experimentally into India and into different
places in Africa. .\lso the Egyptian Mitafifi has been
introduced into Arizona, and there developed into a cotton
equal to or better than Sakellaridis. These are al] obviously
called new strains. But this-is not the kind of thing that
has been done in Kgypt. The history of cotton in Egypt
during the last half century is broadly that one kind or
several closely kindred kinds have been for a time satisfactory,
that each in turn has gradually or rapidly become poor, and
that the general good quality of Egyptian cotton has been
maintained or raised only by the more or less accidental
discovery of a special plant which has bred true and has
yielded an improved stock for general use. ‘Thus spinners
of mature years will remember the great attractions presented
when they first appeared by Gallini, Mitafifi, Yannovich,
Nubari, and finally by Sakellaridis, not to mention Abassi,
and Voltos. Now if these are what the present
Botanist calls new strains, it is quite clear that Kgypt
in the past has absolutely depended on the finding
of a new strain just in time to replace the deteriorated cotton
of the moment. If, on the other hand, these are what he
speaks. of as improvements of existing strains, then it seems
that he and the editor migbt well have refrained from speak-
ing of Dr. Balls’s varieties as if they lad been something
strange. and therefore abhorrent to spinners. Dr, Balls’s varie-
ties are, all four, frue-born children of the Egyptian family;
310 is so much finer that it may claim a more secluded
walk in life, but the other three—77, 95, 111—do not
differ from the usual type im any other way than did the
various new or improved types nained above. The claim
made for Dr. Balls’s varieties was that they were pure, and
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEW». 71
Vou. XVII No, 414.
therefore, if kept pure, would supply for all time cottons of
a regular and trustworthy character. It is truly unfortunate
that this so far unique achievement in cotton growing should
have been wrecked by the scientists at present responsible
for the quality of Egyptian cotton.
Let us turn now to the other question. Are the reports
on samples, made by spinners, of any value to the grower!
There isa theory put forward occasionally that the only
indication of merit which should guide the grower is the
price which can be obtained, ard further that in the matter
of samples, the best guide for the grower is the cotton broker's
valuation. There is an appearance of truth in these sayings,
but the real defect of all this kind of talk is that it ignores
the possibility of there being made any scientific analysis of
the characteristics of cotton which produce particular results
in yarn and in manufactured material, If nothing can
be known of the real nature of cotton in use, or again
if nothing can be done to modify the cotton of a district or
country so as to make it better in some characteristic
or another for its purpose—then certainly, why need we
trouble at all’ We might even do without the expense
of Botanistsin our Agricultural Departments. But surely
there is a promise of better things than this in the years
io come.
It is true that in examining small samples of cotton we
have many difficulties. First there is inaccuracy. Samples
are sometimes labelled badly even by the scientific people.
The people in our mills, on whose unrecognized care and
patience every detail depends, are not trained observers, and
have many other duties to perform, and mistakes may some-
times occur. Again much judgment is required. Machinery
has to be set to suit the cotton in use. It is a delicate
matter to set correctly for a small sample, and incorrect set-
ting may falsify the result. Such a cotton as 310, for example,
requires to be worked among its equals. the Sea Islands;
and if put through machines set for Mitafifi or other robust
but short cottons would be condemned as in fact it has been
sometimes. Yet much has been already learnt by testing
samples. It is a truism to say that it is the spinner’s verdict
about a cotton that eventually decides its value. It is also
a truth to say that all spinners, and at any rate most brokers,
are continually, though for the most part unconsciously,
modifying and correcting their judgment of cotton in the
light of the lessons they learn from cotton in use.
What is wanted in the future is to elaborate the organi-
cation for testing samples. It is at present impossible to
cake these tests anywhere else than in ordinary mills. But
the control of the sampling must be in scientific hands. It
iaust, of course, be absolutely impartial, but besides this it
must be accompanied by accurate examination of single
Sbre characteristics. Of Dr. Balls’s three cottons, 95 is gen-
erally judged to be shorter than 77 or 111, yet it has
invariably made the strongest yarn, The reason for this
is not known: it willbe one of the duties of the Cotton
Research Association to ascertain why some cottons make
stronger yarn than do others of greater length. It is proper
toadd here that many tests have been made of these three
cottons grown in different places and under different con-
Gitions. The results have not been, as the editor thinks,
contradictory, but quite extraordinarily uniform.
Another thing that will be necessary, if satisfactory
results are to be obtained by testing samples, will be to have
the records properly kept and indexed. Some West Indian
cottons have now been tested for several years, and progress
noticed. The scientists in Egypt tell us that they sent their
samples on one occasion ‘marked with numbers instead of
¢he usual indications.’ This is the kind of silly precaution
which will have to be foregone in the future if our scientific
work at home is to be made of use to scientists working on
the growth of cotton. In the operations by which the cotton
is cleaned and spun, and again, in all the testing and exam-
ination, prejudice must be and is always avoided by working
under numbers, but to make the practical tests useful it is
necessary that all available information should ne given to the
scientist in charge. Co-operation between scientists at home
and abroad is impossible without mutual confidence.
It is to be regretted for many reasons that the scientific
study of cotton in Egypt, so.promisingly begun by Dr. Balls,
should have been interrupted, but I trust that thoughtful
people in Lancashire will not jump to the conclusion that all
scientific work in cotton breeding is consequently useless.
Tt will be one of the advantages of a strong Association for
tesearch, of which practically all spinners are members, that
it will put an end to certain petty jealousies which have
retarded progress in the past, and will speak and act with
authority that has necessarily been absent from the efforts
of individuals.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
February has been a showery month in most disbtriets,
Although the total rainfall for the month will probably. not:
exceed that for February 1917, the chiracter of the weather
has been more favourable for the starting of the yoang
crops.
The lighter crop, combined with the highly remunerative
price of syrup, will cause’ a smaller output from the factories
this year than last year. And it will be remembered that
last year the amount of sugar made by the factories turning
out crystals was 5,000 tons less than the output in 1916.
We believe that itis gradually dawning on the planting
community that the present factory system, or rather lack
of system, is very imperfect. No doubt what has been done
is a great improvement on the old system of sugar mannfac-
ture, but we are still some way off from what is being done in
up-to-date factories. In future nothing less than a 14-ro!ler
mill should be put down with every accessory for the
recovering of the highest percentage of sugar content
and with every labour-saving device. In connexion with the
improvement of our factory system we should also include the
sugar chemist. His knowledge is very necessary, if loss -in
manufacture, even with the most up-to-date equipment
is to be avoided.
We are very glad to be able to report that the young
crop is everywhere growing well. In many fields several
shoots are to be seen in each hole, and the rezent showers
will be of great help where there may be any irregularity or
backwardness.
The provision crops have shared in the benefit bestowed
by the recent showers, notably Indian corn, which has been
largely planted. Too much of this cereal cannot be sown at
the present time, and all that is grown, however great the
quantity, could be disposed of ata remunerative price. A
good deal of the mea] being sold in the groceries has been
made from corn imported from St. Vincent and the Argentine.
The same could be done with corn grown locally.
In the black soil, land is now available for tillage for
potatoes. We sugyest that on every red soil estate a fie li
of second or third ratoons be cut, if even not quite ripe, s»
that foodstuffs may be generally planted with each raiv.
The price of potatoes has been fixed at 7 tf. for 10 cenis_
(The Agricultural Reporter, February 25, 1918.)
~7
to
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 9, 1918.
~
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
mmissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of
» Agriculture for the West Indies
Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
D.Se., F.1.¢., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and { W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
JH. A. Ballou, M.Se.t
Entomologists (J. ©. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C..
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.tt
CLERICAL STAFF,
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
lk. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egypt.
+tProvided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Typist
“Agricultural News
3 ...00C.0CC eee eee
Vou, XVII. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1918. No. 414.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial draws attention to the work of the
University of the Philippines, especially in relation to
Tropical Agriculture.
The value of quassia extract as an insecticide is
discussed under Insect Notes on page 74.
Under Plant Diseases on page 78, will be found
an account of the control of cacao canker in Java, and
some notes on plant diseases in Barbados.
The article on food in the West Indies is con-
cluded on page 68.
Rainfall in Dominica in 1917.
Copies of rainfall returns of Dominica for 1917
have been forwarded to this Office by Mr. Joseph Jones,
the Curator of the Botanic Gardens. From these it
appears that the mean rainfall for thirty stations was
110°53 inches—for thirteen Leeward Coast stations,
88°67 inches; for three Windward Coast stations, 123°90
inches; for eight Inland stations, 149°30 inches; for six
Lasoye stations, 9949 inches. The highest total
recorded was 199°50 inches at Corlet, an inland station;
and the lowest, 56°92 inches at Batalie on the leeward
coast. Compared with the rainfall of the two previous
years, that of 1917 is considerably lower than the
average. In 1916 the mean for thirty-three stations was
125-70; and in 1915, for thirty-four stations, 137:11.
Progress in Combating Hookworm
Malaria.
According to a note in Science, November 30, 1917,
the annual report of the Rockefeller Foundation states
that during the year 1916, in co-operation with the Gov-
ernments of the respective countries, systematic efforts
towards control of hookworm have now been inaugnrated
ineight of the Southern United States and in the
fifteen foreign countries situated in the tropical and
subtropical belt between the degrees of latitude 36
North and 30 South, which is the native habitat of the
hookworm. During the year reported on, prelimin-
ary infection surveys were made in British Honduras
and in Barbados. Active measures to control and
peevent hookworm disease are now in operation in
Antigua, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad,
of the West Indies, and also in British Guiana.
The Board conducted during the year a series
of experiments in malaria control. The object of
these experiments was to determine the degrees to
which malaria could be controlled within the limits of
reasonable expenditure, and under conilitions prevailing
in typical farm communities of the south. Gratifying
results have been obtained.
An experiment is being conducted as to the
practicability of malaria control by detecting the
human carriers, and freeing them of the malaria
parasites, Communities with an average population of
a thousand were dealt with one after another, the work
ineach lasting about four weeks, with subsequent
visits to ensure thoroughness. Jn these the blood of
individuals was tested, and those found infected were
treated with quinine.
and
.ow—
Research Work and Applied Science.
The Presidéential address delivered to the Réntgen
Society on November 6, 1917, by Captain G. W. C,
Kaye, is reported in Nature, January 31,1918. The
chief subject of the address was the important use
made of X-rays in military hospitels during the war.
In concluding, the President emphasized the value of
applied science to industry which, he said, was now
thoroughly accepted by the British public; and British
industry should begin to feel the benefit, especially
now that the principle of State-aided research has been
established,
e
Vor. XVII. No. 414.
He went on to point out that it must not be
forgotten that pure academic research, unrestricted
and unprescribed, has been the prime cause of all the
radical changes in industrial methods. Research in
pure science is rarely appreciated by the general public
or the manufacturer, for it cannot be done to order. One
must put faith in the research worker that he may con-
tinue to have faith in himself. Much of what he will do
will be discontinuous and abortive, but he must not be
hampered by utilitarian notions being continually
rammed down his throat. If he does not solve the
original problem he will probably solve some other
which has sprung from it, and one successful discovery
may far outweigh all his failures.
The equal importance of the applied research
worker, who is responsible for turning to account the
discoveries of the pure investigator, must not on the
other hand be lost sight of. There is no line of demar-
cation between the two divisions of research. Each
devolves study, hard work, and thought. The methods
of both branches are questioning and searching; the
common end is knowledge, to which there is no short
cut.
The war is bringing home to the nation the
dependence of its very existence on science, and a little
good may come out of a very great evil, if public
opinion can be brought to realize that a nation’s
administrators, as well in peace as in war, should
always include among them suitable men of the highest
technical and scientific standing, not merely to advise,
but also to initiate and direct.
er + re
Agriculture in Santo Domingo.
The Dominican Republic. or, as it is more commonly
known in the West Indies, San Domingo, has an area
of nearly 20,000 square miles. The latest estimate of
the population is only 700,000. The fertility of the
land, which is mainly in its virgin condition, gives the
possibility of immigration and future development. In
fact trom many of the smaller West Indian islands,
especially the northern ones, there is a considerable
emigration of labourers to work in that Republic.
One of the most important products of the
Republic is sugar, produced mainly in the southern
half, and it is probable, in view of possible future
developments, that the entire southern part of the
island will be devoted to this industry. The chief
product of the northern part is cacao, much of it grown
in the land areund Samana Bay, while coffee is
produced in the higher lands of the interior to a con-
siderable extent. Tobacco is grown mainly in the
central part, and is the third in vaine of the exports
of the country. The grade of tobacco raised is good,
although its quality could be much improved by more
eareful methods of cultivation and curing.
A large portion of the country is covered with
forests. The wooded area is estimated at about 85
per cent. of the total land surface. The mahogany of
these forests is well known for its excellent quality.
Lignum-vitae is plentiful, especially in the south, while
there are immense quantities of valuable dyewoods in
the interior.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 73
Government Control of Natural Indigo.
When the war broke out the dyers of Great
Britain ceased to be able to obtain supplies of synthet-
ic indigo, which was almost, if not quite,a German
monopoly. It was ther felt that there might be
a danger of the supply of natural indigo falling into
the hands of a very small group, which would not be
for the interests of the dye industry in general. In
order to ensure, as far as possible, an equitable distri-
bution of the available supply of natural indigo, the
British Government purchased practically the entire
available stock, and allowed it to be gradually sold to
the dyers at a reasonable price.
The amount purchased was 267 tons, at a cost
of £351,000 Out of this the British Government
were able to sell to the French Government, at their
request, 100 tons. The remainder has been gradually
disposed of to the trade, both for home consumption
and for home export.
The Board of Trade Journal, January 31, 1918,
says that the object of the Government in making this
purchase was achieved, as at all times during the past
three years the dyers have been able to obtain supplies
of natural indigo at a fair market price. The entire
amount has now been disposed of, showing a profit
of £3,556.
a
How to Prepare Banana Meal.
The following directions and suggestions by Mr.
Joseph de Verteuil, Acting Director of Agriculture,
Trinidad, were published in the Port-of-Spain Guzette,
February 7, 1918. They ought to be useful throughout
the West Indies:—
Any kind of banana or plantain is suitable.
Cut the bunch when it is about three-quarters full
or the fruit will ripen instead of drying.
Peel the bananas and slice thinly with a nickel or
fruit knife, or one made from a thin piece of bamboo.
Do not use steel knives. Spread the sliced
bananas thinly on wooden trays in the sun todry. In
fine weather they will dry in two or three days.
When dry, crush in an ordinary corn mill or pound
in a mortar, and sift through fine muslin.
Banana meal is very digestible and nutritious.
Good bread can be made by using it with equal parts
of wheaten flour made in the same way as wheaten
bread.
Banana meal cooked and eaten as oatmeal porridge
is an excellent food.
In cake making the same proportions of banana
meal can be used as in the making of bread.
Used in the form of milk pudding, it is prepared
in the same way as rice pudding, and it is very palatable.
Make your Johnny cakes, and dumplings by mix-
ing equal parts of wheaten flour with banana meal.
Dasheen, sweet potato, tannia, and yam meals can
all be made in the same way as advised for banana
meal, i.e., peeling, washing, slicing and milling the
dried chips. Excellent bread, ete. can also be made
from equal parts of wheaten flour, and any of the
above meals.
74 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
INSECT NOTES.
QUASSIA EXTRACT AS A CONTACT
INSECTICIDE.
An article under the above title appeared in the Jowrna/
of Agricultural Research for September 3, 1917 (Vol. X, No.
10) describing some experiments undertaken to find out the
value of quassia extract as a general insecticide for all aphids,
since this extract has been reported in literature as efficient
against the hop aphis (Phovedon humuli, Schr.). The results
of these experiments by Messrs. N. EH. McIndoo and A. F,
Sievers may be of interest, and are given in the following
notes.
Official quassia is derived from either deschrion (Picras-
ma) excelsa, Swz. (family Simarubaceae), known commercially
as Jamaica quassia, or from Quassia amara, L., a plant of
the same family, known commercially as Surinam quassia.
According to the literature on this subject there are several
c her plants sich furnish wood with similar characteristics
whose active constituent is identical with, or similar to
quassiin, the bitter principle and main constituent of official
quassia. These inelude Syaruéa amara, Aubl., S. versicolor,
St. Hil., Aeschrion (Picrasma) quasstoides, Benn., and
Atlanthus excelsa, Roxb.
The authors give a historical review of the literature
dealing with quassia and quassiin, from which it seems
that quassia has been used in different countries as a remedy
for various internal disorders of man, and that from time to
tine numerous experiments have been made to find out the
best way to extract quassia, and to determine its different
constituents. ;
The literature on the use of quassia extract as an
insecticide is also reviewed, from which it appears that
qr ssia extract used in a spray solution with soap Is effective
against the hop aphis, but its action is slow.
The authors used a number of aphids and other insects
in their experiments to determine the effectiveness of quassia
extract as an insecticide. They tested the formula recom-
mended against the hop aphis and found it efficient only on
the nasturtium aphis (4///s vmicis, L.), although it was
tested upon six other species. This solution was composed
of 6°3 grams of quassia chips soaked for twenty-four hours in
2,000 c.c. of water, to which fish-oil soap was subsequently
added in the proportion of 1°6 tb. of soap to 100 United
States gallons of water.
This mixture was also sprayed upon caterpillars of the
fall web-worm (Ayphantria cunea, Dru.), and larvae of the
potato beetle (Lepi/inotarsa decemlineata, Say.), but these
were merely reduced to a state of stupor, from which they
recovered the following day. (uassiin powder dusted on
web-worms had the same effect on them, but caterpillars of
Bombyx mori, L., the silk-worm, were killed.
The following summary of the remainder of the above
article is reproduced from the Review of Applied Entomology,
Vol. V, Ser. A, part 12. December 1917.
It gives the results of the experiments made by Messrs,
McIndoo and Sievers to determine the best method for pre-
paring quassia extract, and to find out the pharmacological
effects of quassia extract, and quassiin on aphids. It also
gives the conclusions of the authors that owing to the poor
incecticidal properties of quassiin and its expense, quassia
extract can never become a general insecticide for all aphids.
‘Experimental tests for selection of effective formulae
led to the conclusion that in making the extract a relatively
Jong period of soaking is essential in order to get the
Marcu 9, 1918.
maximum quantity of quassiin in solution; boiling the
chips in water forfour hours extracts 1} times the amount
obtained by soaking them in cold water for twenty-four
hours; the smaller the chips and the finer the quassia powder
used, the greater the quantity of extract obtained;
the larger the quantity of water used as a solvent, the greater
the quantity of extract; the addition of lye and soap to the
water materially increases the effectiveness of the extract.
‘As regards the pharmacological effects of quassiin, it
was found that exhalations from quassiin powder killed
aphids, but that those from quassia chips, quassia powder,
and from soJutions containing quassiin extract and quassia
extract were ineffective. It was also shown that quassia
extracts affected aphids only, and that quassiin extract does
not act as a stomach poison upon bees (4A/s medlifica)
or Rhagoletis pomorella, Quassia powder dusted on insects
had no effect, but quasstin powder killed them by affecting
the nervous system. Quassia and quassiin spray solutions
killed aphids, if used sufficiently strong, their effectiveness
being increased by the addition of soap. While nicotine
acts quickly and causes pronounced symptoms, quassiin acts
very slowly and causes but few, feeble symptoms, the aphids
slowly dying in a state resembling coma.
‘It is concluded that, owing to the poor insecticidal
properties of quassiin and its expense, quassia extract can
never become a general insecticide for all aphids. A spray
solution made by soaking 22 Ib. of quassia chips in 100 U.S.
gallons of fish-oil soap solution (1°6 lb. soap to 100 U.S.
gallons water) for twenty-four hours, was efficient on only two
out of six species of aphids tested, while the result was about
equal to that obtained by using nicotine sulphate solution;
the expense was nearly the same, while owing to its slower
action it was much less reliable, as a shower of rain or the
migration of the aphids nullifies its effects.’
ANTIGUA: REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURAL
DEPARTMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH
SL OTT.
During the year under review the Botanic Gardens were
improved as to condition by a better drainage of a portion of
them, and as to appearance by the substitution of a hedge of
bread-and-cheese in place of one of Bougainvillaea which was
not flourishing, as,not suited to its situation, in the shallow
soil of the spot. ;
A noticeable feature in the work of the niiseries during
the year has been the large number of cane seedlings raised,
no less than 4,111 having been grown from seeds of eight.
different parent canes. After field tests the majority of these
will probably have to be discarded, but it is hoped that some
will be found specially suited to local conditions, or suited
to other canegrowing countries. One or two previously
raised Antigua seedlings are regarded with approval in some
districts in St. Kitts. The sending out of more than 8,000-
Vo. SVIL No, 414,
sisal playts sufficient for 11 acres in the windward
distri), oms to mark a laudable attempt at establishiag
a fire industry in that drier part of the island. Most of
these plants were obtained from older stations connected with
the Il’epartment, where they had been established by former
agricultural officers. ' In the list of plants distributed we also
notice 3,196 eucalyptus trees, and 459 seedlings of Prosopis
Zulijflora. This latter is known as the algaroba bean tree,
and is a valuable shade tree in pastures: the seed pods are
also readily eaten by cattle, and form a nutritious food. It
appears that these trees will thrive well in Antigua, where
they will doubtless benefit the pastures. The distribution of
1,565 coco-nut plants is an evidence that this cultivation is
‘being extended in the island: in fact it appears that the local
market for coco-nuts, which in the past depended on imports
from Dominica, will soon be adequately supplied from recently
planted groves. Many other plants and cuttings of economic
value, together with a great number of seeds, were also sent
out. The distribution of such large numbers of seeds and plants
of valuable, and in most cases well tested varieties, must tend
to the advantage of the various agricultural interests of the
island. Among interesting plant importations of the year
we notice Cazuwm copticum or ajowan, a source of thymol, and
Passiflora cdulis, a hard-skinned, edible species of passion
flower.
The plot experiments in connexion with minor products
are carried out on a series of, plots at Skerretts on Govern-
ment land, less than a mile away from the Botanic Gardens,
while varietal and manurial sugar-cane experiments are
earried out in conjunction with the planters on estates in
different parts of the island. The results of these sugar-
eane experiments will be published separately.
Among the experiments at Skerretts there had been for
many yearsa series in connexion with varieties of sweet
potatoes. These experiments appear to have fulfilled their
purpose as regards varieties already in cultivation, and they
have therefore been discontinued. Experiments now, how-
ever, are being begun with seedlings raised from siz well-
known established. varieties. One year’s experiment is, of
course, insufficient to establish reliable data as to the qual-
ities of any of these new seedlings, still it would seem as
if a few of them might.give larger yields than any of the
older varieties, and might be equal, or even superior in
quality to most of them. “The suitability of these new. seed-
lings to various types of soil, or to differing moisture con-
ditions will be well.worth observing. Sweet potatoes form
a very large part of the vegetable food of these islands, and
improved yield and quality will be widely appreciated.
Another crop, with varieties of which experiments have
been conducted for several years in Antigua, is cassava.
Until recently not much of this was grown in Antigua. In the
year reported on, however, there has been a considerable exten-
sion of the cultivation, as is shown by the fact that some
14,000 cuttings of the most approved varieties have been dis-
tributed from the Experiment Station. Cassava is so valuable
flour for bread making, either as an adjunct to or as a sub-
stitute for wheat flour, that such extended cultivation is to
be commended. It appears that cassava bread is being
produced in Antigua, and is meeting with the approval of
the public.
As might have been expected, the cultivation of other
West Indian root crops used for human food—tanmias,
eddoes, and yams—has also been extended in the island since
the threatened serious shortage of imported foods. The
results of experiments with these roots, undertaken also for
many years, must tend to give confidence in selecting . the
-varicty to be planted.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 75
——y
The onion crop of Antigua is now of some importance,
6,910 crates having being shipped trom the island during the
season reported on. Interesting experiments are being
conducted on keeping onion seed over from one season to
allow of early planting, so as to enable the produce to be put
on the American market before the Bermuda crop comes in.
A full account of these experiments appeared in the 4grz-
cultural News, April 7, 1917.
Trials in raising crops of Ruta Baga (Sweedish turnip)
and Mangel Wurzel, as food for hogs, were fairly successful.
It would seem that the latter especially might be cultivate®
profitably in the island.
With regard to progress in the chief industries, the total
sugar crop for the season was 18,542 tons, namely 14,929 tons
of crystals and 3,615 tons of muscovado, This is probably
a record crop for the island, and is due not only to the favour-
able weather during the growing season, but also to the fact
that so much of the crop is manufactured by the two factories,
thus securing a much larger percentage of sugar from the
canes reaped. Asa result of the high prices obtaining for
sugar there has been a considerable increase in the area put
under sugar-cane, especially by peasant growers. We notice
that the most popular varieties of cane in Antigua are said
to be six of the Barbados seedlings—one of them being the
Sealy Seedling—and the White Transparent. It also appears
that the Uba cane from South Africa, introduced some years
ago, is becoming increasingly popular on some of the
heavy lands. The value of this cane is, that although its
sucrose content is low, it produces fairly heavy crops on
poor soils, and is capable apparently of standing protracted
dry weather.
With regard to the cotton industry a decrease in acreage
is reported. This was attributed to the high prices for
sugar, causing many planters to grow more cane and less
cotton. The selection of cotton is being continued in order to
fix a reliable type suitable to the local conditions
A very pleasing feature in the report is the evidence
afforded of an increasing spirit of co-operation, not only among
those connected with any one particular industry, but all inter-
ested in the welfare of the island. Thus the Onion Growers’
Association has been followed by the Cotton Growers’ Associa-
tion,and the Lime Growers’ Association, and now representa-
tives of these associations, together with representatives of the
Agricultural and Commercial Society, are formed into a Cen-
tral Board for Co-operative Organizations. The objecs of
this board is to facilitate the spread of co-operative enter-
prise in Antigua. It is to be hoped that its efforts will be
crowned with success, and that co-operation may be adopted
in yet other directions.. Some of these directions are noted
in the report here reviewed. Further particulars on this
subject will be found on another page of this issue.
The report contains reviews of the work for the year
of the associations mentioned above, which are full of
interesting matter, and also reference to the proceedings
of the Antigua Agricultural and Commercial Society.
There are also appended Rules made by the Govern-
or-in-Council for the sale of Crown Lands in Antigua,
which appear to be wisely conceived. These — especially
apply to Sawcolts estate which has been set apart fora Land
Settlement.
In connexion with the Land Settlement scheme, the
work of agricultural instruction undertaken by ofiicers of the
Department will undoubtedly have a good effect.
The report is an interesting one, and shows that good
work is being done in many directions by the Agricultural
Department of Antigna.
~I
for)
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Marcy 9, 1918,
= “Tey
GLEANINGS.
According to preliminary estimates, the sugar crop of
Cuba this year should yield 3,462,000 tons, as against
3.019,900 tons in the year preceding. The harvesting of
the crop, however, may he difficult owing to a scarcity of
labour. (The Financier and Bullionist, Jannary 23, 1918.)
Voultry of all ages are fond of turning over manure as
it leaves the stable in order to find lirvae and remnants of
food occurring between the layers of litter; the voracity with
which poultry destroy the larvae is a very important factor
in rural hygiene. (Juternational Review of the Science and
Practice of Agriculture, October 1917.)
In Trinidad the Department of Agriculture states that
from a plot 100 feet by 25 feet, there should be obtained in
a year, with good cultivation, 500 tb of yams, 250 bb. of sweet
potatoes, $0 ip. of tannias, 180 Ib. of cassava, 80 tb of corn,
as well as some miscellaneous vegetables such as tomatoes
and cabbage. (The Colonial Journal, January 1918.)
An advertisement in the (ort-ofSparn Gazette, Feb-
ruary 7, 1918, seems to show that Trinidad is able to
stand a shortage of impor.ed butter. A coco-nut butter
substitute is advertized as haying stocd the test of the
prejudice against local products, shown by the fact that within
the previous six months over 10,000 tb. have been supplied
to dealers both in town and country.
According to the Veterinary Record, January 12, 1918,
an Italian veterinary surgeon has employed sugar in the
treatment of numerous lesions, and has reached the conclusion
that on account of its absorbent, antiseptic, and cicatriziny
properties. sngar represents a therapeutic agent of the first
order, which may render ,reat service in veterinary surgery,
especially in private practice, as a substitute for the common
antiseptic powders,
Considerable attention is now being given to cotton
production in South Africa.and 30 tons of cotton have recently
been shipped to the United Kingdom, The success of cotton
evltivation depends largely on the use of by-products, espec-
ially the seed. The Imperial Institute has examined a sample
of cotton seed from South Africa which was found to be of
good quality, containing about 20 per cent. of oil. (Z%e
Board of Trade Journa/, January 24, 1918.)
The market for the essential oils produced in the West
Indies continues steady at high and remunerative prices
According to the market report in the Perfumery and
Essential Oil Record, January 1918, bay oil is in good request,
and theprice is maintained at from 13s. to 14s. per Db.
West Indian lime oil is quoted at $s, to Ss. 6d. for distilled,
and at 20s. to 21s. for hand-pressed. Jamaica orange oil is
qvoted at 8s. to 8s. 6d. per BD.
It cannot be too strongly urged that all liquid manure
should be saved and applied to the land, if for no other reason
than because of its richness in potash. Hendrick has shown
that 1,000 gallons of liquid manure contain nearly 50 tb. of
potash, equivalent to that present in 3 ewt. of kainit. In
addition, there is about 20 tb. of nitrogen, equivalent to
that present in 100 tb. of sulphate of ammonia, and also
there is a little phosphoric acid. ( The Journal of the Board
of Agriculture, December 1917.)
Attempts to acclimatize the camphor tree have extended
in different parts of the world over a good many years. In
America particular attention has been given tu planting
Cinnumonun Camphora in Florida, where extensive planta-
tions already exist, and others are in process of formation.
In America all the real attempts to obtain camphor appear
to have been directed to the leaves and young twigs, the
distillation of the wood having apparently been found to be
unsuitable to the locality; - (The-Perfumery and-Hssential Oil
Record, January 22, 1918.)
The carambola (Averrhoa Caram/ola), belonging to the
family Oxalidaceae, produces an ovate fruit from 2 to 5 inches
long, with five prominent acutely angled ribs The skin is very
thin, light yellow in colour when ripe, and the flesh is watery
and crisp. There are two distinct varieties. the sweet which
is eaten fresh, and the sour which is very acid and is used
for pickles. An excellent drink is also made from the mature
fruit in much the same manner as lemonade is prepared. This
Species must not be confused with Averrhoa Bilimhi, which
has smooth, green, cucumber-shaped fruits, which make
excellent pickles, but are far too azid to be caten raw.
(The Hamaiian Forester and Agriculturist, October 1917.)
The cultivation of Ipecacuanha (Psychotria ipecacuanh+)
is being experimented with at the Kuala Lumpur Experi-
mental Plantation ia Malaya. Propagation is by roor, stem,
and seed. The permanent distance of planting is 18 inches,
Ipecacuanha must have shade throughout its period of
growth. The plants are ready for lifting when two and a
half years old, and yield from 2 to 3 oz of marketable root
per plant. The roots require to be carefully lifted, thor-
oughly washed, sun-dried. and all foreign matter removed
before being sold. [pecacuanha can be grown as a catch crop
under moderate shade, The present value of the roo: is
about 8s. per Ib. (The Agricultural Bulletin of the Feder-
ated Malay States, August and September 1917.)
The Co’onial Journal for January 1918 states that His
Majesty’s Government have recently appointed a committee
to investigate the best meats of developing the growing of
cotton within the Empire, and to advise the Government as
to the necessary measures to be taken for this purpose. The
committee have prepared a statement of the points on which
they desire information from various parts of the Empire, und
the Secretary of State has asked the Colonial Governments,
which are or might be concerned, for their observations. The
first uestion put relates to the area of suitable land which
could be made available, under three heads: (1) without
public expenditure; (2) with moderate expenditure on roads,
etc,; (3) with extensive programme on railways, ete. Other
points are the supply of labour, and the best method of
development.
Vou. XVII. No. 414.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 77
THE PINE-APPLE GUAVA.
The true guavas (Psidium) are widely known and
enjoyed throughout tropical and subtropical regions, both
as fresh fruit and in the form of jam, jellies, marmalade, ete.
Closely related to them, however, is a little-known species,
the pineapple guava (Meijoa Sellowiana)—correctly pro-
nounced fay-zho-a.
This species is native to subtropical South America,
particularly Western Paraguay, Southern Brazil, Uruguay,
and parts of Argentina. In these countries it is common in
the forests. Although not cultivated by the natives, the
fruit is highly prized by them. The designation pine-apple
guava refers to the flavour of the fruit, which strongly
resembles that of the pineapple. It is called Brazilian
guava or fig guava. The genus is closely allied to Psidium,
but distinguished from it by albuminous seeds and stamens
suberect in the bud. The only general account in American
literature of this species is that of F. W. Popenoe, in the
Pomona Colleye Journal of Economie Botany, 2 (1912),
No. 1, pp. 217-42, but this journal had a limited circu'ation
and has been defunct for several years, The fruit was
unknown in the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1908, and the
following account, taken from the Hawaiian Forester and
Agriculturist for December 1917, is the first to emphasize
its possibilities in this territory of the United States.
The pine-apple guava was introduced into Southern
Europe in 1890, and is grown in Southern France and
Italy. From Italy it was introduced into the United States
in 1900. It has been widely planted in California; in 1908
the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station received
plants from Southern California, and these have grown
satisfactorily. The tree itself is well adapted for use as an
ornamental and as a hedge-plant; the fruit is of unusual horti-
cultural promise. There are now in the market several
named varieties, of which André, Hehre, and Besson are the
best known.
The shrub attains a height of 10 to 15 feet. Very
old plants may have a total spread of 18 feet or more, the
trunks S to 10 inches thick at the base. The branches
are rounded and swollen at the nodes. The bark is
light gray, the entire plant, with the exception of the
upper surfaces of the leaves and the corollas, is
covered with white tomentum, the leaves are opposite,
short petioled, thick and coriaceous. hey resemble those
of the olive, but are much larger. The upper surface
is dark glossy green; the lower surface is silver gray,
canescent, and finely pubescent. The striking contrast in
the two surfaces constitute one of the ornamental features of
the plant. The margins are slightly recurved. The veins
are inconspicuous on the upper surface of the blade; below
they are fine, prominert, and in arcuate reticulations,
re-uniting before reaching the margin of the leaf.
The flower buds are globular, puberulent, and con-
stricted’ above the ovary. The flowers are showy (1 to 1°5
inches in diameter) red, white and purple, bisexual, and solitary
or in clusters. They appear in late spring. The pedicles are
one-flowered at the ends of the branches or becoming lateral.
They are at first straight, then reeurved, “50 to ‘75 inch
long, whitish and velvety. The calex tube is turbinate.
The sepals are 4, unequal, obtusely elliptical, recurved;
pubescent, and ciliated. The petals are 4, spreading, thick
and fleshy, ovate or obovate, entire or emarginate, obtuse,
glabrous and ciliated. They are cupped, white on the out-
side, and purplish crimson within. After anthesis they
become recurved; they have a sweet flavour.
The stamens are numerous, perigynous, erect in a large
cluster of many series, about 1 inch long. ‘The filaments are
showy, filiform, deep purple or crimson red. The anthers
are globular and yellow. The style is longer than the
stamens, filiform, and with a capitate stigma. The ovary is
4-celled, oblong, turbinate. The flower asa whole is very
attractive, with plentiful nectar, pollen and aroma; a bush
in full blossom is handsome to a marked degree.
It has been demonstrated that the flowers of the pine-
apple guava are largely self-sterile, and although isolated
plants are not infrequently productive, it is good horticul-
tural practice to plant two or more bushes together so as to
permit cross-pollination.
The fruit is a berry, oblong or oval, 2 inches long and 15
inches in diameter (there is considerable variation in size),
with 4 many-seeded locules, \When mature it is characterized
by a delicious penetrating odour, The surface is at first
tomentose, then smooth. The fruit is crowned by the thick
disc and cupped sepals of the persistent calex. The skin is
much indented, slightly and unequally furrowed, but upon
maturity becomes smooth. In colour it is dull green, some-
times flushed with crimson on one side. The green colour is
retained at maturity. ‘The flesh comprises a firm, whitish,
granular layer, which surrounds the central pulp. The pulp
is thick, creamy yellow or translucent, and melting. It
possesses a delicious flavour, strongly resembling that of the
fully natured pine-apple, with a rich heavy bland perfume.
In the pulp are twenty to thirty very small oblong seeds, so
small as to be unnoticed in eating the fruit, and contrasting
with the seedy interior of the common guava.
The fruit should not be picked until it is fully mature.
It ripens in autumn and early winter, and falls to the
ground upon maturity. The ripe fruit should be laid in
a cool place until ready for eating. little care is required
in packing; the fruit is an excellent shipper if it is kept cool.
It quickly spoils in a hot, humid atmosphere, but can be kept
for a month or more if suitable conditions are maintained.
It is not only delicious when eaten out of hand, but can also
be cooked, erystallized, and made into jams or jellies,
A notable feature of the pine-apple guava is that it grows
better under subtropical conditions than in strictly cain ical
regions. The best climate for it seems to be one free trom
excessive moisture and cool for at least a portion of the year.
The plant is notably drought-resistant, and contrasts strongly
in this respect with many other tropical fruits. It requires
very little pruning or other attention, and is said to be hardier
than most of the fruits found in the Hawaiian Islands, such
as the mango, and the avocado pear.
Propagation is usually by seed, which comes fairly true.
The seedlings come into bearing in three to five years.
Cuttings of the young wood are successfully rooted under
glass; the layers root in about six months.
The pine-apple guava offers very attractive possibilities
to all who are interested in tropical and subtropical horticul-
ture. A note referring to the introduction of this plant into
England, and also into! ne Botanic Gardens, Dominica, in
1912, appeared in the 4oricu/tural News, Vol. XVI, p. 411,
ts
PLANT DISEASES.
PLANT DISEASES IN BARBADOS
IN 1916-17.
The following account of observations made by Mr. J.
S. Dash, Assistant Superintendent in the Barbados Depart-
ment of Agriculture, is contained in the Annual Report of
that Department, issued as a Supplement to the Officia/
Gazette of January 24, 1918.
SUGAR-CANE.— During the year the root fungus,
Marasmius Sacchavi was by far the most troublesome disease,
particularly in young ratoon canes. Many instances of this
came under notice, especially in districts where very long
ratconing is practised. In the black soils, plant canes in
some fields also suffered from the disease. It is often thought
_that this fungus is only a product of dry weather. As
a matter of fact any unfavourable environment will induce it.
Tn very wet seasons such as have been experienced in the
last two or three years, the disease frequently makes its
presence felt in heavy fields which haye not been sufficiently
drained. The yields of cane from such fields are often
considerably reduced and planters are unable to explain the
cause satisfactorily, yet an examination of some of these
aoparently good fields during November and December will
reveal the presence of many holes with few canes, and these
thin and poorly developed. It is not necessary for the leaf-
sheaths to be all matted together for the disease. to be
detected: at this stage there may be hardly any cane to
reaj) at all. Good drainage, proper tillage, and the use of
healthy plants, in other words, conditions which keep up
the vitality of the plant, make the lossesfrom root disease
very small in most seasons.
Colletotrichum falcatum, the fungus causing red rot-
has been noticed in one or two isolated instances,
Thielaniopsis paradoxa, the fungus causing pine-apple
disease, continues fo be a very troublesome disease of cane
cuttings. The necessity of using good material for planting
and thoroughly disinfecting the cuttings with properly made
Bordeaux has been dwelt on over and over again in these
reports.
The leaf-sheath red spot fungus, Cercospora vaginae,
has been fairly common during the season.
The fungus Cephalosporiwn sacchari, which was discov-
ered during the previous season attacking sugar-vane, and with
which much work was done last year (Report 1915-16), has
not appeared this year to any extent at the estate on which
most of the attack was noticed in 1915-16. [t will be
remembered that the «lisease was noticeable only cn canes
whose growth had been interfered with in some way, being
most apparent on the outer rows of certain fields, which had
suffered somewhat from the effects of a strong southerly gale.
A few examples of cane possessing this fungus bave been
sent to the laboratory during the season from different places,
and isolated specimens have been observed in several cane
fields. In most of these cases Cephalosporium had tollowed
an attack of Marasmius sacchari, or had gained an entrance
through a borer hole.
MISCELLANEOUS,--The writer knows of no instance
where cotton suffered much from any particular disease.
Mildew and leaf spots are always prevent in most cotton fields,
and there has been no report or observation that these were
more prevalent than usual during the season.
Tobacco is grown by one or two persons locally. During
the season two diseases have come to the attention of the,
writer. One appears to be a bacterial disease causing a wilt
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 9, 1918.
of old plants by attacking them just above ground, a cankered
area from which there is much exudate being formed, which
gradually extends up the stem, The other is caused by
a fungus, a species of Fusarium, which has been found attack-
ing the roots of young plants and in many cases the bases
of the plants. The injury causes the young plants to wither
and finally die. The damping off fungi, Pythium sp. and
Rhizoctonia sp.. were not present in this case. The recom-
mendations made for dealing with the former disease were
frst, to pull up all plants showing the affection and to burn
them; then, if the trouble persisted, to grow some crop other
than tobacco on the soil fora few years, Vor the second
disease, the destruction of all dying plants was advocated,
this to be followed by a liberal application of lime to
the soil, which should be given a rest for several months.
THE CONTROL OF CACAO CANKER
IN JAVA.
In a recent communication (Afdedeelingen van het
Laboratorium voor Plantensiekten, No. 30), Dr. C. J. J. van
Hall reports the very striking success obtained on a certain
cacao plantation in Java by the adoption of a revised method
of general treatment for cacao canker.
It must be borne in mind in considering the following
account that whereas in the West Indies, in Ceylon, and in
other cacao-growing areas the canker fungus, Pvtoph/hora
JSavert, is also responsible for heavy losses sustained from the
black rot of pods, and the passage of the fungus from pod to
cushion is held to be a fruitful sonrce of canker infection,
mycologists in Java, while confirming the common origin of
the two diseases, consistently report that pod rot, even on
estates badly infested with canker, causes but a very small
percentage of loss in that country.
The cacao on the estate concerned in Dr. van Hall’s
report is of the susceptible Criollo type, and the trees
originally numbered some 18,500 on about 90 acres of land.
They were planted in 1901, and canker began to take effect
about seven years later. In the following four years, ie, up
to the beginning of 1913, some 4,644 trees, no less than 25
per cent. of the stand, succumbed to the disease. The
treatment applied during this period was adopted from Ceylon
practice, and consisted in deep excision of the canker spots
until the discoloration was all removed, and covering the
wound with a mixture of carbolineum and black tar,
The failure of this treatment,as demonstrated by thedeath of
about 1,000 trees in 1912, led to a reconsideration of methads,
and the following measures were tested and recommended:
(a) thorough pruning, in order to reduce the heavy canopy
previously maintained, and thus to admit more light and air;
(b) the mere shaving of the surface of the affected bark as
opposed to its complete excision, the idea being that
in consequence of tbe close dependence of the fungus on
moisture, the exposure of the affected tissues would dry
them out sufliciently to make them untenable by the
parasite; the treatment with tar was discontinued on
the grounds that it prevented effective supervision
of the work done, that it hindered the recognition of
recovery or relapse, and that the tarred layer prevented the
drying out desired; (c) the more careful control of boring
beetles, the tunnels of which afford openings for infection,
It was desired to add spraying of the trees with
Bordeaux mixture to these measures, but the difticulties
encountered, especially that of the provision of water, were
so great that a decision was reached to test the effect of
the rest of the treatment without the spraying.
Vou. XVII. No. 414. THE AGRICULTUKAL NEW: 79
e's eee
The results, as set out in the following table, speak thre quarters of the worin’s supply of true sandalwood is
for themselves: — derived.
NUMBER OF TREES ATTACKED BY CANKER.
1913. 1914. 1915. 1916.
No. of trees on estate 16,296 15,845 15,549 15,438
January 870 98 29 11
February 943 125 24 9
March 836 103 35 2
April 552 81 55 16
May 566 «137 31 10
June 185 €3 19
July 141 44 20
August 53 44 16
September 4] 50 2]
October 78 54 19
November 48 44 21
December 87 40 2¢
After May 1916 further reports were not received. The
first quarter of the year, in which as will be seen the number
of attacks is greatest, is the season of highest rainfall. It
will facilitate comparisons with West Indian conditions to
give an abridged table of the rainfall for the period covered.
1913. 1914. 1915, 1916.
3S wl g L zg z B a
dee eS Galeeaes
a a a a
Jan.-Mar. 39.16 61 35:38 47 4984 50 62°88 61
Apr.-June 21°51 30 8°82 23 19-20 27
July-Sept. 059 2 007 7 886 10
Oct.-Dec. 16°94 23 22:93 32 18°10 38
Total 78°20 67:20 36°00
The returns of the number of the trees annually lost
shows a steady decrease, though this is rendered less marked
by the death of trees so badly damaged in previous years
that they could not possibly recover. The average annual
loss from 1908-12 was 929 or 5:4 per cent.; in 1915 it was
447 or 2°8 per cent.; in 1914 it was 396 or 1°9 per cent.; and
in 1915 it was 111 or 07 per cent.
As is well known, Criollo cacao, in spite of its superior
quality, has been practically abandoned in the West Indies
owing mainly to its susceptibility to diseases, of which canker
is the most important. It seems highly probable that with
careful attention to control measures, including periodic
spraying with Bordeaux mixture, it conld now be maintained
in fair health. Whether the higher quality could be made to
pay for the extra care needed is a question worth
attention from the planter. The growing competition of
African cacao would szem to render reduction of prices for
the common kind inevitable. A sound policy for a well-
organized industry to adopt in competition with cheaper but
less well-organized production lies in the improvement of
-quality. It remains to be seen whether the West Indian
producers are able to justify their inclusion in the
former class.
W.N.
SANDALWOOD.
Sandalwood oil is one of the most expensive essentiai
oils employed in the manufacture of perfumes. The source
-af the genuine article is the heart-wood of the trunk and
-of the larger roots of Santalwn al/um, a small evergreen tree
indigenous in Southern India, more particularly in the dry
hilly districts of Mysore, from which it is estimated nearly
According to the #ul/etin of the Imperial Institute,
Vol. XV, No. 1, hefore th- ontereak of the war about 52
per cent. of the export of the wond trom India went to
Germany for distillation, and oy tom LO to 20 per cent.
to the United Kingdom, anoiber 12 per cent. going to
the United States.
The closing of the German murket at the outbreak of
the war Jed to something nke # col'apse for the time being
of the sandalwood indusiry in Mysore. Tne Government
however started the distJlation of the oi! in Mysore, as
a government monopoly. This as carried on with modern
appliances is practicaily 2 sew indastry in India. The first
factory erected, capable of producing 2,0U0 bb. of oil per
month, was so successful that it was enlarged to a capacity
of 5,000 fb. per month, A second tactory erected in Mysore
will probably ultimately have an output of about 20,000 b.
of oil per month, suflicieut to supply the whole of the
European demand for sandalwood oil. It is likely that all
the sandalwood from the South Indian forests will ultimately
be dealt with at this factory
Besides the true sandaiwood oi) there are certain substi-
tutes put on the market, the most common being oil obtained
from Amyris Lalsamifera a plant indigenous in Venez iela
and many of the West Indian islands.
Besides the demand for the oil, there is a large market
for sandalwood in Eastern countries, particularly in India
and China for ceremonial uses, and for carving. Its use in
religious rites, especially for cremation, can be traced to very
early times. The word sandalis in facta Sanscrit word
meaning ‘the tree’. Real sandalwood therefore fetches a high
price in China. Ownne to this there is an importation of
substitutes for the wood chiefly from Australia.
The so-called sandalwood exported from Australia is
mainly derived from /'wsanus spicatus, a tree of Western
Australia, the value of the export of this wuod ia 1915 being
estimated at £83,556. In addition, there is a small export
from other states of the Commonwealth, of /. accuminatus,
known locally as ‘quandong’.
It would seem as if European distillers will be obliged
to seek other sources of supply of true sandalwood, and no
doubt efforts will be made to cultivate Santalum album in
other tropical countries.
Already the wood is being exported from Celebes. It
is said also to be cultivated in Java, and to some extent in
Mauritius. Possibly it might be cultivated with success in
some of the drier islands of the West Indies. Owing to the
semi-parasitic habits of the tree there may be some difficulty
in providing suitable hosts in new localities. In India some
144 ditferent trees have been recorded as serving as hosts of
thesandalwood. Swr/alum acbumis a tree of slow growth,
requiring from twenty to forty years to develop the maximum
amount of fragrant wood. It is therefore necessary to selecti
as hosts species of trees that have themselves a life of at least
forty years, and trees of the leguminous family are suggested
as being the most suitable for the purpose. Many of these
trees, however, are well known in the West Indies,
and grow well, such as Pethecololium Saman and
Albizzia Lebhek. As regards hosts therefore, it would
seem as if these West Indian islands were well provided with
them. In the matter of soil, Dr. C. A. Barber, in a paper
contributed to the Afemuirs of the Department of Agriculture,
Jndia, Botanical Series, Vol. I, No. 1, states that although
the trees grow and flourish in rich soil, those grown on poor
rocky soils in the Mysore hills produce wood which yields
a much higher percentage of oil.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tsue West Inp1ia Committee CIRCULAR,
January 24.
ArrowrRooT—bjd. to Td.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, no quo-
tations.
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, no quotations; Grenada, no quotations;
Jamaica, no quotations.
Corree—Jamaica, 79/- to 160/6.
Corra—£46.
Fruit—No quotations.
GinceR—Jamaica, 87/- to 115/- per ewt.
Hoxney—Jamaica, 148/- to 155/- per ewt.
Lure Juice—Raw, 2/- to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17/6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Notsecs—1/t to 3/6.
Prtento—4}d.
RusBer—Para, fine hard, no quotations; fine soft, no quo-
tations; Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., January 29.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $13-00 to $13°75 Trinidad, 312-00
to $13-00.
Coco-nut Om—$1°36 per gallon.
Correre—Venezuelan, 12c. per tb.
Corpra—$7°75 per 100 tb.
Duat—$14°25 to $1440.
Ontons—$8°00 per 100 fb.
Pras, Sprit—$12-00 to $12°50 per bag.
Porators—English, $3°85 per 100 ft.
Rice—Yellow, $11°50 to $11°75; White, 9°50 per bag.
Scear—American crushed, nv quotations.
80 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 9, 1918.
ee ee
New York.—Messrs Gitzespre Bros, & Co., January 15.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c.; Grenada, no quotations; Trinidad,
13hc. to 13fc.; Jamaica, 9c. to 10}c. 4
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $38°00 to $40°00; Trinidad
selects, $36°00 to $38°00; culls, $18°00 to $20°00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to 1lc. per tt.
Gincer—l6kc. to 20c. per th.
Goat Sxrins—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, 75c. te
$85c.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 70c. to 75c. per fb.
Grave Fruit—Jamaica, $200 to $2°50 per box.
Lures—$6°50 to $8°00 per bri.
Macz—=3lc. to 37c. per tb.
Nurmecs—18c. to 2le.
Ornances—$1'75 to $3°50.
Pimento—6c. per fb.
Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6-05c; Muscovados, 89°, 5 O5c.
Molasses, 89°, 4°85c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co,, March 4.
Arrowroot—$10'00 per 100 ft.
Cacao—$12°50 per 100 fo.
Coco-nuts—$24'60 husked nuts.
Hay—S2'90.
Motasses—No quotations.
Ontons— No quotations.
Peas, Serit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations! Ran-
goon, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $4.75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
_ The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in tham
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
Di Bhe : peutuitizal er A ee from official correspondence, and from progress and
er reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in ‘i
S cheateral matters throughout the West Indies. : Powe. ce he ee
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including nosing is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s cane
ost free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tos. Lawtor & Co., St. George
West InpraA Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonapre, ‘Times’ Office ey
Barbados; Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nrvxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THE Epvcation at Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brooaewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tux Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown, Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuatt & Co., Port-of-Spain., St. Kitts: Tue Bree anp Book Suprty AceEncy, Bassererre
Tobago: Mr. C, L, Puacamann, Scarborough. Nevis: Messrs. Howe t, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W, Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto,
3
h
¥.
d
|
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SHED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
———————
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients). WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
m exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
AG GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
e. BR SPN Tams) rt ee Re dere tace ret at ER eat Bs
i é ced oa nT ees,
Vou. XVI. No. 414. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Marcu 9 1918, 9
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONIAL USE
Lt ST ay c= Parl
Dissolved (Soluble) Guano
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GENERAL USE.
TRADE
‘APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C,
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED. |
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLBASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
‘BARBADOS. _
Printed at Offive of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street] Bridgetown, Barbados,
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‘Vol. XVII. No. 415.]
\ {One penny.
R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES |
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
PORTS OF CALL
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1918.
\ TO |
THE UNITED KINGDOM | Azores.
| { St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
| - Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
| |Bermuda, Halifax, N.8., & St. John (N.B.)
| Grenada & Trinidad.
| Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS = {Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| allao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso,
REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
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BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
i al
I REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
& JAPAN.
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London.
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Rio oe Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
P anee ra “y
ane TBE AGNIOCU LPURAL
——— ee
WORKING CATTLE
>
va
,
In many countries the main use for cattle is for haulage or other working purposes, and the object -
of these notes is to emphasise the fact that in the case of working cattle, it is especially true that
the presence of ticks means a constant money loss to the owner. A consideration of the following pple os
facts will make it abundantly clear that it is cheaper to kill ticks than to feed them. arm
TICKS ARE BLOOD-SUCKERS. While maturing, each tick abstracts a definite amount of blood from an animal, and to
that degree injures it. The quantity of blood abstracted is many times the weight of the ticks when grown, for these represent
only that fay of the solids and fluids which may be converted into the tissues of the tick, the remaining solids and fluids
being reject
e amount of blood taken by a single tick may be relatively small, but the total amount drawn by thousands of ticks
on one animal cannot fail to be injurious. 7
If each tick represents but a dram of blood, a few over 1,000 would represent 8 pounds of blood; it is possible that each
tick absorbs more than a dram of blood.
Hence it is no matter for surprise that according to the statement of a reliable authority, blood up to 500 lbs. in weight
may be taken by ticks from the body of a single animal in the course of a year.
A CONSTANT DRAIN ON THE SYSTEM. The presence of any considerable number of ticks on cattle is clearly a great
drain on the animal economy, increasing the amount of feed required by each animal, and demanding a greater expenditure
of energy on the part of the animal in obt2ining, digesting, and assimilating this additional amount of food. In consequence of
this drain, the rate of putting on flesh in the case of beef cattle is reduced, and the amount of milk produced by dairy cattle
is diminished; and in the case of working cattle the only result can be a greatly reduced working power.
EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES. The following figures illustrate very clearly the effect upon the constitution
and general welfare of cattle of long-continued exposure through many generations to tick infestation. Although these figures
refer to beef cattle, the facts they illustrate apply equally to working animals.
AVERAGE WEIGHTS OF BEEF CATTLE:
Tick-free States : Wyoming 985 Ibs. Idaho 966 lbs. Montana 938 lbs.
Tick-infesied States: Florida 340 lbs. Georgia 419 lbs. Louisiana 471 Ibs. Alabama 500 Ibs. Mississippi 550 ths.
TICKS MEAN REDUCED WORKING POWER. Cattle whose vitality is reduced by tick-infestation cannot give the same
’ returns in work as clean healthy cattle. It is as if one had a5 horse-power engine and allowed it to get so dirty that at least
2 out of the 5 horse-power is required to'overcome the friction of the working parts, leaving only 3 actual horse-power available
for performing work.
The cattle have to eat sufficient to feed the ticks before their own bodies receive any benefit; if the ticks are numerous, the
feed will not suffice for both animal and ticks, and loss of condition will result. In an experiment designed to secure information
on this point, a herd of cattle were divided into two lots, one of which was infested with ticks and the other kept free from
ticks. Both lots were fed in exactly the same way, yet the tick-infested cattle lost an average of 9 Ibs. in weight, whilst the
tick-free cattle gained an average of 44 lbs!
TICKS MEAN SHORTER LIFE. Although no definite experimental evidence on the point is available, it is certain
that working cattle, if their vitality is kept at a low point by gross tick-infestation, not only do less effective servi
but would also be much more susceptible to diseases of all kinds, and would thus be shorter-lived. In the tick-infested area
the United States the death-rate amongst cattle is nearly three times greater than in the tick-free area.
» IN TIMES OF DROUGHT. In the West Indies there are times when green food and even molasses are not available ag
cattle food. The pastures are at their poorest, and not only are unable to maintain in condition the animals intended for the
butcher, but also are inadequate for supporting the general herd.
In the face of such conditions, largely unavoidable, it becomes all the more necessary to free the cattle from ticks, which,
as already stated, drain their bodies of blood and seriously reduce their vitality. \When food is scarce, none can be spared fag
the feeding of ticks and it must all be used for the benefit of the cattle.
The case for keeping working cattle free from ticks may be summed up in three lines :—
Ticks consume the Blood of Cattle. Decreased Blood Supply means Decreased Vitality,
Decreased Vitality means Decreased Working Power.
IT IS CHEAPER TO KILL TICKS THAN TO FEED THEM.
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
KILLS ALL TICKS AND LICE CURES MANGB Has received the official approval of the following Countviept
DEADLY TO FLIES ‘ "
DOES NOT SCALD OR BURN CATTLE Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutotes@
AN EXCELLENT SKIN TONIC Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madageseag,
EQUALLY SUITABLE POR HORSES AND MULES British Rast Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Afrien,
ALWAYS UNIFORM IN STRENGTH AND COMPOSITION Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensiamd,
ALWAYS READY POR USE NO PREVIOUS PREPARATION United S New South W.
EASILY MIXED WITH COLD WATER nited States of America, New Sout ales,
VERY CONCENTRATED—1 GALLON MAKES 150 GALLONS WASH Northera Territory of Australia.
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England,
BRANCHES: Voramic, Chicage, Sydmey, Melbourne, Ancklend Baemes Aires, Mlomte Video, Panta Aremas, East Londen, Oder
Ari ~
ia
Bile a
pees
atlas FY
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vincent
Botanic Gardens.
ARR IER EK is perhaps a tendency in the speech
Jiand thoughts of most people to confuse
botanic gardens and experiment stations,
and to consider the terms as more or less synonymous.
In reality the origin and functions of the two institu-
tio. 3 are very different.
In the first place, botanic gardens are much the
older of the two. They can be directly traced back to
the gardens attached to the monasteries of Europe,
where medicinal herbs as well as nutritious yege-
tables were cultivated, and their properties studied.
Perhaps one may not be far wrong in tracing
the origin of modern botanic gardens to the dawn
Vor. XVII. No. 415. BARBADOS, MARCH 23, 1918. Price ld.
CONTENTS. of history, for we find not only in Hebrew tradi-
Pace. Pace, tions, but in early records of Egypt, Assyria, and
Antigua Government | Gleanings .., ... ». 92 China that gardens wherein was ‘every tree that
Ba "Shae ae RR - Spee ue g: 18 pleasant to the sight and good for food’ were desirable
Agricultural Develop: Hutton; J). eee 88 possessions of the race. For instance, as Mr. Hill the
Beowvas in British East iy Index to the ‘Agricultural Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
Africa , “1 ces ane SS points out in an address delivered at the twenty fifth
Beas eae Devalogea 81 The Red Spider ... 9 anniversary of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the earli-
Seed 2, gg | Items of Local Interest 384 est garden of which we have any representation is that,
By pioqucts of es Soe bei Oftal and Dried | of Thothmes IIL in Egypt about the year B.C. 1,000
elegy: Cultivation of 80 | Market Reports 95 which was planned by the head gardener of the
Sat ter (Ganeraeack Mules’ .-- ii Ll gardens attached to the temple of Karnak. Perhaps,
Association ... ... 86 | Notes and Comments 83 however, the Chinese rather than the Egyptians are to
Cotton Exports fromthe Plant Diseases:— be credited with having first had the idea of a real
West Indies SiS; Protecting Citrus Fruit c > 3 bees
Bearee Telawa) cotton against RRRaeee al nnnl: botanic garden, seeing that itis clear that several of
Market... «. 86 sit w+ s+ «. §4 their early rulers despatched coliectors to distant
as pee Central We: gg | Tannias in the Philippines, countries to bring back plants which were cultivated
Departmental Reports... 93 | a va aes “i for their economic or medicinal value. From a list
epee aiyesids in St. 85 Oe Toate ae me a8 of plants thus introduced by the Emperor Wu Ti in the
second century B.C., the banana and the sweet orange
have been identified along with many others by modern
scholars.
Coming to a more recent period of history we haye
an exact contemporary description of a monastic garden
of the ninth century with its attendant ‘Physic Garden,’
which was the direct origin of the gardens established.
in-connexion with the medical faculties of the Italian
universities of later centuries
As the monks were bound to live for the most
part on pulse, vegetables, and truit, the cultivation of
the monastery garden was of the greatest importance
It is difficult to speak too highly of the
the care the
to them
debt which botanical science owes to
monks of the middle ages took of their gardens. and
to their knowledge of drugs and plants.
82 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Marcu 23, 1918.
ee eee
‘Then came the Renaissance with its great revival
and widespread interest in science of every kind, not
least in that of bot»ny. With a real growth in the
knowledge of plants and their uses, there grew up also a
great pumber of ridiculous or superstitious beliefs about
plants, which accurate investigation and experiment
have entirely dispelled. Then were founded the physic
gardens attached to the medical faculties of the uni-
versities, one of which, at Padua, founded in 1545,
still exists in very nearly its original plan in the same
place. These physic gardens-gave students of medi-
-cine an opportunity of studying the plants from which
they compounded their drugs, and were also a source
from which they might obtain such plants in their
future practice.
Very soon after the founding of the gardens at
Padua there were introduced into them plants other
than those of merely medicinal value. This was
-doubtless dne to the rivival of interest in plants them-
selves, and the desire for collecting them from other
lands, which seem to have been awakened in the
middle of the sixteenth century by the then recent
geographical discoveries.
From this time onwards there appears to have been
a kind of rivalry between the various gardens as to which
-eould grow the greatest number of plants collected from
all parts of the world. Along with the interest aroused
in the collection and cultivation of all kinds of plants,
there was also displayed great interest in the descrip-
-tion and illustration of them. Not to speak of many
-snch herbals published on the Continent, there are the
famous ones of Gerard, and Tradescant, and Parkinson
‘in England, the authors of which roust not only have
been most successful gardeners, but must also have
been very patient and exact observers.
Thus we come to the foundation in the seven-
teenth century of gardens by private or municipal bene-
factions for the purpose of allowing the public to observe
and stndy plant life ‘This leads us to the establish-
ment of the greatest of all botanic gardens, the Royal
Botanic Garden at Kew. in the eighteenth century,
and its like in many cities of Europe, and their
descendants or copies all over the civilised world.
The first botanical garden in the tropics seems
to’ have been that of the island of St. Vincent
founded by the British Government in 1764,
But the magnificent gardens at Buitenzorg in
Java, at Ca'ciitta, and at. Peradeniya in Ceylon,
together with that at Mio de Janeiro are striking
examples of the benefits such gardens confer upon
the countrics in which they are situated, by the
introduction of newerops, such as_cinchona in India
and rubber in Ceylon,
We have seen that botanic gardens, in their origin,
were based on utility. This is perhaps the best
distinction that can be made between their function
and that of the public garden or park, where plants
are grown primarily for purposes of ornament or shade,
The essential difference is apt to become blurred,
especially in the case of botanic gardens situated near
to towns, and needs to be re-emphasized from time to
time. ‘There is no reason why botanic vardens cannot
or should not be ornamental, but this should be
strictly subsidiary to their main purpose.
What then are the proper functions of a botanic
garden, large or small, in the neighbourhood of a great
city, or ina small tropical island’ First there is the
scientific function. New plants are introduced from
other climates and other lands, and these are grown
and studied so as to discover whether they are
capable of adaptation to their new surroundings, and
whether they are likely to be of value, economic
or :esthetic.
Second only perhaps to plant introduction
should be the maintenance, so far as it is possible, of
a representative collection of the more interesting and
useful plants of the surrounding country, and especially
of species allied to those in cultivation. The latter
are of great interest to the taxonomist, to the plant
breeder, and to the pathologist, because of the
likenesses and differences they exhibit in comparison
with the species grown for use. In a cotton-growing
island, for example, nothing could be more appropriate
or more useful, so far as botanic gardens go, than
a representative collection of the native cottons, many
types of which are in process of extermination owing to
increasing strictness regarding close seasons. With
them, it is quite conceivable, may be lost characters or
qualities which would some day prove highly valuable.
Again, botanic gardens afford botamical students
opportunity for research in plant biology and pathology.
One can hardly place a limit to the benefits that
agriculture and horticulture have derived and may
derive from researches in this direction. Our moder. .
science of genetics, for instance, is derived frow ‘he ~
studies of Mendel in a monastery garden in the last
century. By work on the lines indicated by his dis-
covery, races of useful plants are being multiplied and
modified so as to be more exactly suited to the variable
conditions in which economic plants are grown, and
Vou. XVII. No. 415.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 83
to produce far greater crops than~ their ancestors.
Studies which lead to such results can best be carried
on in botanic gardens, where there ought to be found
a greater amount of material and more scientific appli-
ances than are possible in most private establishments.
Besides the scientific function of botanic gardens
there is their educational aspect. In an article on this
subject in Science, June 29, 1917, it is well remarked
that the notion that knowledge can be acquired from
books is too prevalent: the idea that one can read about
nature,and thus acquire knowledge of nature is as mis-
leading as to suppose that one can acquire knowledge of
buisness byreading about business. We must distinguish
between information and knowledge. Information may
be obtamed by reading, but knowledge can only be
acquired by contact with and experience of realities,
Hence botanic gardens open to the public a source of
real knowledge of plants; and there is no more pressing
problem to-day than to learn how to grow plants, and
how to grow them in increasing quantities and of
increased value in every possible situation. If made with-
out insight into plant nature. efforts in this direction
pass through a period in which knowledge is acquired
through painful experience. very often with failure as
the ultimate result.
THE ORIGIN OF THE UBA CANE.
The Uba or Yuba cane is best known as the only
variety of sugar-cane grown to any large extent in Natal,
where, ‘although it is not altogether a satisfactory type from
a milling point of view, it meets with great favour by the
planters, and is the only one which has hitherto stood
successfully the ravages of frost and drought, as well as
the various fungoid and animal pests met with in the sub-
tropical areas of that province.’
The variety has several times been introduced into the
West Indies, and though it is hopelessly inferior to the West
Indian types, it has been found capable of useful application
in Trinidad and Antigua on soils physically unsuitable for
ordinary cane.
The most likely theory regarding the origin of this
cane is that it was brought to Natal bya former Gover-
nor when returning from a voyage to India in 1884-5,
Dr. C. A. Barber contributes a note on this point to the
International Sugar Journa/ for January 1918. Having
. grown Uba cane from Natal for a considerable number of
years alongside Indian varieties, Dr. Barber feels no doubt
whatever that it isa Gana cane of the Pansahi group of
Indian cane, a series which is grown in many places from
Assam to the Punjab, a distance of over 1,200 miles along
the Himalayas. The Ganna canes as a class are interinediate
between the thick tropieal canes and the slender indigenous
Indians one. The idea that the l'ba is an Indian cane is
therefore definitely confirmed.
Dr. Barber has met with a difficulty in the name. No.
word bearing any likely relation to uba has been tuund in
any Indian language. But a recent visit to Burma has
supplied a possible explanation. Noticing a Moulmein cane
that was indistinguishable from Uba the question was asked
if there was any Burmese word of that sound. The reply was
‘Oh, yes, of course, “u-ba” means “take it”’. It is the
usual reply of the polite Burman (who will give you
anything) to any request made on going round his fields. So
that the suggestion follows that the Natal Governor, leaving
from a Burmese port, as was likely at that time, asked for
specimens of this cane, and mistook the inevitable reply for
its name.
Dr. Barber further remarks that he has often wondered
at its being grown in Natal and Queensland. It is true that
it is very resistant to salt in the soil, moderately fibrous, very
luxuriant, and tillers well. It requires little water, and is
much easier to grow on poor land than thicker canes. On
the other hand, it has a low sucrose content, and is subject to
red rot. It is not reckonéd at all as among the best Indian
varieties. The Madras cane-breeding station has raised
a number of thin canes which possess the hardy qualities of
the group combined with a good sucrose content, and plants of
these are offered to the Natal growers for trial, with a good
prospect of their being found superior to the present stock.
HUMUS CONTENT OF THE SOIL, AND
FERTILITY.
Experiments conducted at Purdue University using a
surface clay soil very deficient in organic matter and different
organic manures, undertaken to prove whether the humus
content of the soil is a guide to fertility, are reported in
Sotl Science, 3 (1917).
The results of the vegetation and humification tests
seem to show that wherever there is rapid humification of
manure, the growth of the plant is greatly stimulated,
indicating ‘that the decay of organic matter is desirable in
plant growth and not just its mere presence. This was
especially noticeable when green manures were rol'ed under
and limed, as compared with discing or mixing the manures
uniformly with the soil.
Certain of the manures seemed to be as soluble in a 4-per
cent. ammonia sulution when just mixed with the soil as after
humification. This was found to be true with alfalfa and steer
and somewhat with cow manures. Horse manure seemed to
humify slowly, and its plant food was largely unavail-
able to corn during the first year, but the humification
and vegetation tests showed it becomes more available in
the second year. It was possible to increase the rate of
humification of horse manure in the first year by adding
dolomitic limestone, which resulted in a greater yield of
corn than where humification had not taken place.
The organic residues left in the soil from manure
treatment were not very effective during the second year in
producing a growth of corn, probably because the most
available or valuable complexes had disappeared in the first
year. There is no apparent relationship between the
percentage of ash in humus and the growth of corn, The
humification and vegetation tests seemed to indicate
a rather close relationship between the amount of humus an@
the growth of corn,
84 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 23, 1918.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
GRENADA. The Superintendent of Agriculture writes to
say that during the month of January and February the
picking of the cacao crop was continued with good results.
The spice crop prospects for the next four months are very
satisfactory. The sugar crop which had been started
will, Mr. Moore estimates, be smaller than usual. A native
food crops campaign for 1918 has been started, and a corn
drying and storing scheme submitted by the Superintendent
to the Government. The month of February was windy up
to the 18th, but calm and very rainy during the last week.
A somewhat severe shock of earthquake, of about 40 seconds
duration, was experienced at 7.10 pm. on February 24.
Accompanying the foregoing are reports of the Agricul-
tural Instructors for the month of January. Amongst
interesting items in these, the following are noted. Ground
provisions are fairly plentiful: large quantities of potatoes
are beinz reaped not only by the peasantry, but by estates
in the southern portion of St. George’s parish. About
sixty skins (goat, sheep, and cattle) have been converted
into leather at the small tannery recently established at
Fontenoy. It is hoped that this will prove a successful minor
industry of the colony. An attempt has also been made to
place the deep-sea fishing industry on a better footing, by
the employment of a boat equipped with both sail and motor
power.
The past crop season in Carriacou was very favourable
and an unusually large crop of Indian corn was reaped—
approximately 15,000 barrels of cob corn, very nearly 50 per
cent. larger than that of 1916. There was a much larger
yield than usual in sweet potatoes, while the yield of pigeon
peas was satisfactory. Cotton, which-gave promising growth,
is being handicapped by a strong growth of bonavist beans.
* “st. vincent. The Agricultural Superintendent reports
the following plant distribution during the month of
February: cane cuttings, 1,500; ornamental plants, 14; cured
cacao, 50 th. Work in the Botanic Gardens was of a routine
nature. On some estates the destruction of cotton stalks
was started; pickings of good white cotton were made to the
end of the month. Mr. Sands records the fact that instances
have occurred where the flowers and bolls which would have
produced the first pickings were shed to a large extent, and
second pickings, due to the absence of plant bugs, saved the
situation. During the month 400 bales of Sea Island cotton
were shipped to the Admiralty. The weather was favourable
for crops, and large areas of ground provisions, etc., were
making good progress. The rainfall, registered at the Botanic
Station, was 5-27 inches; at the Experiment Station, 5:85.
Appended to the above are extracts from the Cotton
Inspectors’ report for the month of February, regarding
agricultural conditions in Union Island. From these
there appears to have been a shortage of the cotton crop
during the present season. This is attributed to the follow-
ing causes: the effect of heavy rains which fell during the
planting and growing season; the presence of pests—cotton
stainers and leaf-blister mite; improper tillage and the
absence of manures; and poor condition of lands.
From a further appendix it appears that work in con-
nexion with the destruction of the native food-plants of the
cotton stainer was still in progress.
st, LuctA. Work inthe Jxperiment Station during the
month of February included the making of farine for supply-
ing Castries, and the manufacture of sweet potato flour for
3
disposal to bakeries. The Agricultural Superintendent,
Mr. A. J. Brooks, also reports plant distribution as follows:
lime plants, 1,650: oranges, budded, 8; mangoes, grafted, 5;
dashcen plants, 300; also 155 packets of vegetable seeds.
Regarding the staple crops the picking of cacao was continued,
the lime crop was slackening, while reaping operations of
sugar were general. Mr. Brooks further mentions the
erection of buildings near the Government Lime Juice
Factory to establish a Government granary and ground
provision depot. The depdt opened for business from
Monday 25th; considerable quantities of provisions have
since been purchased and sold, and there is every indication
of the venture proving an unqualified success. The rainfall
recorded at the Botanic Gardens, Castries, for the month
totalled 5°80 inches; the record at the Agricultural and
Botanic Station, Choiseul, was 2°96 inches.
antigua. Mr. T. Jackson, the Agricultural Superin-
tendent, reports the following plant distribution during the
month of February: onion plants, 10,300; miscellaneous,
54; and 2 packets and 10 tb. of seed. The exceptional dry
weather experienced retarded the growth of all staple crops.
The canes in some of the fields were drying up for want of
rain. Attempts to plant vegetable crops in some cases failed
for the same reason. Reaping operations were in some
districts almost brought to a standstill on account of the dis-
satisfaction of the labourers in connexion with a suggestion
made by planters that crops should be reaped by the ton
and not by the line. Only indifferent crops of onions can
be expected in consequence of the continued drought.
Thrips in some cases were attacking onion seedlings in
nurseries. The amount of corn meal made at the granary
aggregated 6,381 tb. Unfortunately this work cannot be
proceeded with, on account of the disintegration of the stone
rollers. The Antigua Cotton Growers’ Association purchased
7,790 Ib. of seed-cotton; the quantity of cotton purchased by
the Association amounts now to 23,000 tb. The rainfall for
the month, recorded at the Botanic Station, was 1°60 inches;
for the year, 2°57 inches.
st, kirrs. Mr, F. R. Shepherd, the Agricultural Super-
intendent, in the items of interest forwarded for the month
of February, states that 7,875 cane plants, 167 cuttings of
ornamental plants, and 100 mahogany seedlings were dis-
tributed. In addition, 24 Ib, of peas and 1,574 tb. of
selected cotton seed were sold. The usual routine work was
carried on in the Botanic Gardens, Much wacering bad to
be done until the last few days of the month when
1°85 inches of rain were registered. The reaping of the cane
crop was rapidly proceeded with, especially in the district
connected with the Basseterre Factory. The returns per
acre in the Valley district are low, but the sucrose content
is high. The condition of the young cane crop was not
promising, but the rains referred to above, it is hoped,
will doagreat deal towards establishing the young plants,
All the old cotton plants were being taken off, and in some
places the preparation of the land for the coming crop had
been started. The weather was so dry that ground provision
crops and corn could not be planted, but an attempt will now
be made to plant after the recent rains. During the month
353,824 th. of cotton lint were purchased on behalf of the
Admiralty, and a total of 445,309 Db. of lint is awaiting ship-
ment in St. Kitts-Nevis. The rainfall for the month was
4°30 inches; for the year, 5°36 inches.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. Reporting for the month of January,
the Curator, Mr. W. C, Fishlock, mentions plant distribution
as follows: onion plants, 381,900; cabbage, 30; tomato plants,
12; vegetable seeds, 12 packets; cotton seed, 15 tb. In
connexion with staple crops there was little to report,
Vor, Xavi No, 41/5.
Ground provisions, especially potatoes, were more plentiful.
The general condition of the cotton crop was not good.
Exceptionally severe attacks of cotton worm were reported
from all districts. Onion caterpillars were also bad in all
places where onions were planted. The rainfall recorded for
the month was 1°68 inches, as compared with 2°95, the
average for this month for the preceding sixteen years.
DOLICHOS HYBRIDS IN ST. VINCENT.
Among the leguminous plants used for human consump-
tion in the West Indies, the bonavist bean (Dodlichos /ablab)
is one of the most valuable. It appeared, however, to the
writer, that better varieties than those at present cultivated
might be obtained through hybridization. An examination
of available material in November 1916 showed that there
were at least four different types present in St. Vincent:—
(1) A strong climber, devoid of anthocyanin colouration,
with yellowish-white seeds, white flowers, and small pods;
ate flowering. (A).
(2) An upright or bush form, devoid of anthocyanin
colouration, with yellowish-white seeds, white flowers and
small pods; early flowering. (B).
(3) Resembling (A) but with broader pods and larger
seeds; late flowering. (C).
(4) A rather weak climber, with a considerable develop-
ment of purple anthocyanin colouration, purple flowers,
purple pods, and black seeds slightly speckled with brown;
early flowering. (D.)
Of these, A, B, and C are in general use as food-plants.
Form D is chiefly used as an ornamental plant but Rev.
©. H. Branch states that this variety is also edible.
In the spring of 1917 a variety known as Dodichos
gigantens was obtained from Messrs. Ryder & Sons, of
St. Albans. This proved to be quite different from the
types mentioned above. The habit was that of type B, but
less vigorous; the flowers were pale purple; the development
of anthocyanin colouration was feebly marked, the pods
being whitish instead of purple; the seeds were black, slightly
speckled with brown. ‘This type will be denoted by the
symbol (E).
The following hybrids were made: A xD, Dx B, and
DxE. In the F, generation of AxWD the habit was
similar to A, but more vigorous. Flowering did not take
place until the plants were several months old. The
exact date of flowering was not recorded, but the
late flowering habit certainty behaves as a dominant.
The development of anthocyanin colouration was intermediate;
the flowers were purple and indistinguishable from D: the
seeds were black, slightly speckled with brown, an:! indis-
tinguishable from those of D.
In the F. generation of A x D, segregation in respect of
thé climbing habit, the time of flowering, and the development
of anthocyanin colouration was observed. It appeared that
there was a genetic correlation between the presence of
anthocyanin colouration in stem, leaves, and pod, and the
purple colouration of flower and black testa of the seed, ie. all
plants showing any anthocyanin in stem or leaves possess
also purple flowers and black seeds speckled with brown,
whilst if a plant bas no anthocyanin in stem or leaves, its
flowers are pure white, and its seeds are yellowish-white.
The followinz numbers were obtained:—
Anthoeyanin present in stem, leaves, and pods. fowers
purple, seed black speckled with brown, 39.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 85
Anthocyanin absent, fiowers white, seeds yellowish-
white, 12.
This ratio approximates to the normal Mendelian
one of 3:1.
No further studies were made with this cross.
In the F, generation, of Bx D, the climbing habit of
D was completely dominant. The amount of anthocyanin
colouration was again intermediate, the flowers being purple,
and the seed coat black, speckled with brown.
In the F. generation Bx D several hundred plants
were grown, and these were examined for (a) climbing or
dwarf habit, (b) presence or absence of anthocyanin colour-
ation. It may be observed that the segregation of the
dwarf or bush habit was very sharp, and no difficulty was
experienced in classifying the plants.
Climbing habit. Dwarf habit.
Anthocyanin Anthocyanin Anthocyanin Anthocyanin
present. absent. present. absent.
451 147 155 44
Expectation on 9:3:3:1 basis.
448°2 149-4 1494 49°8
From these figures we are justified in concluding,
tentatively at all events, that the presence and absence of
anthocyanin colouration form a Mendelian pair, and, as was
found by Mendel himself in Pisum, another Mendelian pair
is formed by the climbing and dwarf characters,
In regard to the economic aspect of this work, selections
are being made tor yield and table qualities. Although this
work has not proceeded very faras yet, the results are
encouraging,
In the Journal of the Board of Agriculture of British
Guiana for April-July 1917, Mr. J. F. Waby has described
a hybrid Dolichos which he calls Dolichos lablab, vay.
macrocarpa, Waby. This is said to bea natural hybrid
between two varieties known as Park Runner and Vilmorin’s
Stringless. So far as wecan see, Mr. Waby has described
a heterozygous type as a new variety—a procedure of
doubtful biological validity. We await with great interest
an account of the behaviour of the F., generation from the
single I’, plant which he was able to save.
In case any readers of the Agricultural News wish to
hybridize the bonavist bean, the following short account of the
method adopted by the writer may be useful. Take a bud
which is unopened and the anthers of which are unburst, and
with a needle carefully slit the edge of the keel, being careful
not to injure the stigma. Then with a pair of forceps, nip
off the anthers. On the following morning pollen from the
male parent may be applied to the stigma witha small
camel's hair brush. This method is quite easy, and 90
per cent. of successes have been obtained thereby by the
writer
8.C.H.
The Antigua Government Granary. —Mr. A. E.
Collens, Acting Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward
Islands, reports that unfortunately the surface of the mill-
stones at the granary began to disintegrate towards the end
of February which spoiled the meal with particles of grit.
This occurred in grinding hard imported corn. Orders have
been sent to England for duplicate sets of stones; and mean-
while it is hoped that the present set may be able to deal
with local corn, which is not so hard as that imported.
Itis unfortunate tha this break down should have
ocewred just when the granary was satisfactorily producing
from 800 to 900Ib. of meal a day, and was proving of great
utility to the community.
36 THE AGRICULTURAL
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ending February 16, 1918, is as follows:—
ISLANDS. ‘There has been a demand this week for
odd bags classing Fine to Fully Fine at 73c. to 73$c.,
resulting in sales on account of the Northern Mills, who
find this quality better and relatively cheaper than Faney
Georgias and Floridas. 5
The market closed firm, with Factors unwilling sellers
under 734c. to 74c., the larger portion of the unsold stock
being held at 74c. :
This crop is being rapidly disposed of, there remaining
now unsold only about 700 bales, classing Fine to Fully
Fine, and 400 ba'es classing Extra Fine. The latter consists
of Planters’ crop lots held at 80c. to 85c.
We quote, viz:—
Fine to Fully Fine 73c. to 74c.=75he, to 76. cif.
Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71c.=72c. to 73e. aie
GEORGIAS AND FLormAs, Although the Factors
continue very firm, refusing to make any concessions to sell,
there is only a limited inquiry, resulting in some sales at
prices $c. to lc. below quotations of small lots that were
sold. The buying is on account of the Northern and
Southern mills.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Choice to Fancy
Average Extra Choice
73ec. to 74c,.=75he. to 76c. cif.
73¢. =75c.
The exports from Savannah for the week were, to
Northern Mills 100 bales, and from Jacksonville to Northern
Mills 436 bales.
”
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO-
CIATION.
There was a large attendance of members present at the
one hundred and sixty-eighth meeting of the Council of the
British Cotton Growing Association, which was held at the
Offices, 15 Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday, the 5th
instant.
A letter from the President (The Rt. Hon. the Earl of
Derby, K.G.) was read regretting his inability to attend
owing to important business in London, and at his special
request the Chair was occupied by Sir Frank Forbes Adam.
RESIGNATION OF THE CHAIRMAN, A letter from Mr. J.
Arthur Hutton, addressed to the President, was read,
regretting that he was no longer able to carry on the work of
the Association as it should be done, and asking that his
resignation as Chairman of the Council might be accepted.
A letter from the President was also read stating that it was
with extreme regret that he had received the resignation
of Mr. Hutton as Chairman of the British Cotton. Growing
Association, and expressing the wish that he could be present
it the meeting at which such resignation was to be considered.
The President alluded to Mr. Hutton’s past great services, and
hoped that he would speedily be restored to good health, and
be able to give the Association the benefit of his advice
while not haying to stand the strain that the Chairman
must have.
NEWS. Marcu 23, 1918.
Sir Frank Forbes Adam referred to the work which
Mr. Hutton had done to promote the interests of the
Association. By his ability, energy, and zeal, and often
under difficulties and discouragement, Mr. Hutton had, along
with those co-operating with him, made the Association what
it is to-day. It was greatly to be regretted thatthe state
of his health would not permit of Mr. Hutton continuing
to stand the worry which the Chairmanship of the Council
entailed. His resignation must be taken to be definite and
final. The following resolution proposed by Sir Frank Forbes
Adam, seconded by Mr. Howarth, and supported by Messrs.
Hayhurst and Crinion, was unanimously approved:—
‘That the Council of the British Cotton Growing Asso-
ciation has learned with profound regret of the
resignation of Mr. J. Arthur Hutton from the
Chairmanship of the Council, and desires to place
upon record its most grateful thanks for his whole-
hearted and unremitting devotion to the best.
interests of the Association since its inception,
‘Tt recalls with gratitude the ability with which he has
guided the’ Association’s policy and work through
many difficulties, until it has attained its present
recognized position as an Empire Institution, with
every promise that its work and example will
ultimately result in a large increase of British
Empire grown cotton.
‘The Council earnestly hopes that Mr. Hutton will, as.
one of its members, continue to give its delibera-
tions the benefit of his experience and advice.’
It was proposed by Sir Frank Forbes Adam, seconded
by Mr. Crapper, and spoken to by Messrs. James Brown and
D. Marriage and others, and unanimously resolved: —
‘That Mr, Hutton be elected a Vice-President of the
Association.’
Mr. A. V. Paton (President of the Liverpool Cotton
Association) in supporting this resolution, spoke of the
inestimable value of Mr, Hutton’s services to the Association,
He regretted that the Government had not done more in the
past to assist the Association’s work, and he assured the
Council that if Liverpool could do anything to help the
Association in their representations to the Government, they
would be delighted to do so, as they were of opinion that the
work of the Association was of the utmost national
importance,
It was decided not te appoint any permanent Chairman
to fill Mr, Hutton’s place, but that the work should be carried
on by the present Executive Committee with the co-operation
and general superintendence of the Manager, Mr. Himbury.
The Executive Committee have decided to meet more
frequently for the purpose of keeping the closest possible
touch with the work, and to meet at regular intervals, and
practically act as a Board of Directors.
WEST AFRICA. The purchases of cotton in Lagos for
the year 1917 were 7,807 bales, against 9,286 bales for 1916
and 6,161 bales for 1915. /
In Northern Nigeria the total purchases for 1917
amounted to 3,829 bales, as compared with 10,746 bales for
1916, and 1,128 bales for 1915. A cable has recently come to
hand advising the purchases in Northern Nigeria for the
month of January as 536 bales.
It is too early yet to form a reliable estimate of the size
of the new crop, but the Association’s Local Manager reports
that the crop in Lagos is expected to be about the same as
last year. In Northern Nigeria the new crop is now begin-
ning to come in, and is estimated at 6,000 bales, of which
1,500 bales will be long staple cotton which has been grown
Vor. XVII. No, 415.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 87
Nee ee a eee
under the auspices of the Government Agricultural Depart-
ment. Considering the great difficulties caused by the war,
a crop of 1,500 bales of long staple cotton is very satistactory,
as it compares with 461 bales of this cotton last year, and
when once the cultivation of this long staple cotton has
been established, it is felt that the future of the cotton-
growing industry in Northern Nigeria will be assured.
UGANDA. The latest reports are to the effect that the
cotton crop will not be so large as had been expected, and the
total crop is estimated at about 20,000 bales.
COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE WEST
INDIES.
The following figures show the quantity and estimated
value of Sea Island cotton exported from the West Indies for
the quarter ended December 31, 1917:—
Colony. Quantity, Estimated value,
bb. £-
Grenada 217 3
St. Vincent 54,565 - 6,232
Barbados 4,618 115
Montserrat 48,664* 7,961
Antigua nil nil
St. Kitts x os
Nevis 5 s
Anguilla 4
Virgin Islands 5,9057 130
‘Trinidad 450 75
Total 115,119 16,146
*The cotton shipped from Montserrat was made up of
21,563 Ib. of lint, and 108,405 tb. of seed-cotton, equal to
27,107 tb. of lint, making the total lint 48,664 Ib. as shown
above.
+This cotton is presumed to be Sea Island, quality
unknown.
In addition to the above there were exported of Marie
Galante cotton from Grenada, 274,596 tb. and from
St. Vincent, 44,363 lb., of the estimated values of £9,150,
and £3,327, respectively.
EXPERIMENTS WITH TANNIAS IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
The Philippine Agriculturist and Forester, November
1917, contains an interesting article by Francisco A. Abadilla
on experiments in the cultivation of what are called in the
Philippines yautias and gabis, or, as we know them in the
West Indies, tannias and eddoes. The gabis or eddoes
(Colocasia spp.) have been planted from very ancient times
in the Philippines, but no care has usually been taken in
weeding or manuring the crop. The yautias or tannias
(Xanthosoma spp.) have been introduced comparatively
recently from the American tropics, and have been found
to do well in many parts of the Philippines. They appear
also to be less susceptible to diseases which attack the gabis
‘or eddoes there, and are much more productive, and more
resistant to drought.
The experiments referred to above, show that it is
advisable only to use the tops of the old root-stocks in
“planting. They develop earlier and produce from 15 to 20
per cent. more tubers in shorter time than when tubers are
used.
As to fertilizers, stable manure gives the best results,
while the application of chemical nitrates and phosphates is
not advised.
A method called castration is mentioned as a means of
increasing the production of the crop. This consists
in removing the soil around the plants, and then taking up
the ripe tubers for use. The soilis then put back. It is
stated that by this method in eighteen to twenty-four
months as much as 30 tons of tubers can be harvested from
1 acre.
In the cultivation of the crop in the open, the plants were
spaced about 3 feet apart and set from 5 to7 inches deep.
The same distances and depth were observed in the experiment
of planting between the trees in a coco-nut grove. During the
first month after planting, cultivation of the soil surface once
a week was found necessary. During the next two months
this was done once a fortnight, and afterwards until the
time of harvest, once a month was found to be sufficient. In
fact the tannias planted in the coco-nut grove only needed
one cleaning after the third month.
The crops were harvested at the age of seven months.
From the tables of returns given, the yield seems to have been
much larger than crops obtained from the same varieties of
tannias grown in the West Indies. To take as an instance the
variety known as Rolliza, which has been grown at the Exper-
iment Station, Antigua, for some years; according to the Report
en the Agricultural Department in that island, 1915-16, the
calculated yield of tubers from that variety was 6,13SIb.
per acre; and the yield in the experiments in the Philippines
with the same variety in the open field is given as 15,644
kilogrammes per hectare, which is roughly equivalent to
13,768 fb. per acre; while as an intercrop among coco-nut
trees an equivalent of 11,664 tb. per acre is given as the
result from the same variety. In the open field the produc-
tion of the varieties varied from nearly 5 to more than
13 tons per acre. It was also demonstrated by experiment
that wider spacing of the plants than 3 by 3 feet led to
a loss per acre of from 2 to 18 per cent. Such wider
spacing was therefore not only unnecessary but wasteful.
As a catch crop in a coco-nut plantation, promising
results were obtained from the tannias, none of the ten varieties
planted producing much less than 5 tons of root-stock per
acre. The production varied, according to the variety, from
nearly 5 to more than 10 tons per acre, in spite of the fact
that the crop was well shaded by the coco-nut trees. In this
situation it was only necessary to weed and cultivate the
plants four times inseven months. In fact cultivation was
only to insure the plants a good start, for after they had
out-grown the weeds, their own shade and the shade of the
coconuts kept the weeds down. Of course such inter-
cropping tends to impoverish the soil, and therefore it may
be advisable to apply fertilizers to the coco-nut trees more
liberally than if no such catch crop is grown. It is recom-
mended that if a coco-nut grove is to be thus intercropped
with tannias, the cultivation should only be practised when
the trees are young.
In conclusion it may be noticed that in these experi-
ments the crops were reaped after seven months’ growth, and
it is considered that even better results would have been
obtainable had the plants been given more time to mature,
as tannias really require from eight to twelve months to
attain their full maturity. [t is also pointed out that
uniform growth, and good results are obtained by using
only the upper part of the mother root-stock for planting.
&S THE AGRICULTURAL
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page + of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
(W. R. Dunlop.*
‘Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
{H. A. Ballou, M.Se.t
\J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.tt+
CLERICAL STAFF,
A. G. Howell.
(L. A, Corbin.
+P. Taylor.*
(K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Lgupt.
++Provided bu the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Scientific Assistant and
Assistant Editor
Entomologists
Chief Clerk
Clerical Assistants
Typisi
Agricultural slews
————————
Vor. XVII. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1918. No, 415.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The subject of the editorial in this number is
Botanic Gardens, with reference to their origin and
function
Insect Notes on page 90 describe the red spider
or spider-mite, and discuss measures for its control.
On page 94, under Plant Diseases, are given hints
for the protection of citrus fruit from rots during
shipment.
Interesting notes on the hybridization of varieties
of bonavist beans will be found on page 85,
NEWS. Marcu 23, 1918.
Mr. J. A. Hutton.
As will be seen in the report of the meeting of
the Council of the British Cotton Growing Association
on February 5, printed on another page, Mr. J. A.
Hutton, owing to the state of his health, has felt
himself obliged to resign his position as Chairman
of the Council. Mr. Hutton has been intimately
connected with the establishment of the cotton
industry in these islands, and the putting of it on a
sound basis. His disinterested efforts in forwarding
the progress of the industry have been continuous;
and we are sure that we voice the feeling of the cotton
growers of the West Indies in expressing the most
grateful appreciation of his efforts. and profound regret
forthe cause of his resignation of his office. We
sincerely hope that Mr. Hutton will soon be restored
to health.
Index to the ‘Agricultural News’.
With this number of the Agriculturul News is
published, as a supplement, the index to Volume XVI.
This may be bound at once in the usual manner with
numbers 384 to 409, of which Volume XVI is
comprised.
The index should prove useful for purposes of
reference or all matters relating to tropicai agriculture,
and will be of value as a guide to concise information
on insect pests and fungus diseases of tropical cultivated
plants.
TT +
By-products of the Sugar-cane Industry.
In the Agricultural News, February 9, 1918, atten-
tion was drawn to possible developments in the direetion
of the utilization of waste-products of cane-sugar manu-
facture. Such developments are already taking place
in Natal. According to the South African Sugar
Journal, November 15, 1917, the Natal Cane By-
products Co., Ltd., have erected a factory for the purpose
of utilizing molasses on an extensive scale in the pro-
duction of various grades of alcohol, and also for the
manufacture of cane wax.
The factory contains distillation plants of large
capacity and most efficient pattern. In the large under-
ground tanks something like a million gallons of molasses
can be stored for treatment, and it is believed that the
petrol shortage in South Africa will be materially
relieved by the production of considerable quantities of
of ‘Natalite’, a form of alcohol specially adapted for use
in combustion engines.
One of the features of the factory is a yeast culture
plant, one of the most modern of its kind in the world,
where the yarious yeast ferments wanted in the dis-
tilleries are cultivated. For, in addition to ‘Natalite’,
the company's products will include recvified and
methylated spirits; in fact alcohol for all industrial
purposes. The rectified aleohol will be the purest kind
produced, and will be weleomed by perfumers, dru
compounders, etc, There is also in the factory a stil
for the manufacture of ether, consisting of an enormous
Vou. XVII. No. 415. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 89
lead-lined kettle, with purifiers and rectifiers, capable
of producing 3,000 gallons of pure ether in twenty-four
hours.
Another product of the company’s factory is cane
wax. The plant for the manufacture of this is working
most satisfactorily, and several hundred tons of the wax
have been placed on the London market. The refined
product is equal in quality to the best Carnauba wax,
and fetches a remunerative price.
Basic Slag as Affecting Agricultural Develop-
ments.
A review of experience in Europe and the United
States on the use of basic slag and rock phosphate for
fertilizer, published in the Journal of the Society of
Chemical Industries, 36 (1917), is briefly referred to
in the Exveriment Station Record for December 1917.
In the investigations special attention was given to
the difference between the citrate solubilities of the
basic slag derived from the Bessemer steel process, and
of that derived from the English basic open hearth
process. Lins f laa.
The conclusion is drawn that ‘citric solubility is
certainly not the only criterion, and is appacently not
even a reliable criterion, of the value of phosphatic
material as a manurialagent. It is therefore sub-
mitted that total phosphoric acid content is a far more
reliable test of manurial value, and possesses the
further advantage that it depends on the definite
apalytical determination of a substance, instead of
being an empirical test liable to be affected by the
conditions and methods of its application, and that it
should therefore be authoritatively substituted for the
citric solubility test throughout the country. This
change would not only render available for the use of
British agriculturists an annual amount which may
reach up to 100,000 tons of phosphoric acid, but
would at the same time render yaluable assistance to
the steel trade of the country.’
_ ————
A Huge Central Factory in Cuba.
The gigantic sugar factory of Central Cuba, known
as the Central Stewart, was built in 1907 by Messrs.
Duncan Stewart & Co, Ltd., of Glasgow, from whom
it takes its mame, and was originally designed to
deal with 2,300 tons of cane per day. Extensions
were made year by year, until it now has a capacity of
dealing with over 6,000 tons of cane per day. Accord-
img to an article in the South African Sugar
Journal, November 15, 1917, the estate covers an area
ef over 43,000 acres, and is intersected by more than
60 miles of standard-gauge railroad witha full
complement of heavy locomotives and cane and sugar
cars. .
é The milling plant consists of three trains of 36-inch
mills, two trains being 6 feet wide, and the third
7 feet wide, each with a Krajewski crusher. The steam
generating plant consists of twenty-four multitubular
steam boilers, each 8 feet in diameter by 22 feet in
length.
A Breadfruit with Developed Seed.
The breadfruit tree (Artocarpus incisa) is, as all
West Indians know, reproduced from root-suckers,
because the fruit is seedless. Itis perhaps not so
generally recognized that the bread-nut tree, which
is not uncommon in these islands, is only a seeding
race of the same species. This alsois almost always
reproduced by root-suckers, and the two races have
been kept distinct, and have remained true to type
since the introduction of the tree into the West Indies
from the Pacific Islands at the end of the eighteenth
century.
Occasionally, however, a seed has been found in
a breadfruit. Recently Mr. J. C. Moore, Superintendent
of Agriculture, Grenada, sent to the Imperial Commis-
sioner of Agriculture a photograph of a section of
a breadfrait in which a seed was developed, which was
similar to the seed of the bread-nut, but somewhat
rounder. The photograph was forwarded to Sir Dayid
Prain, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
as of interest.
There has been some question as to whether the
breadfruit, at least the seedless variety, was cultivated
in Cuba. The botanist of the Experimental Station
at Santiago de las Vegas has however written in reply
to an enquiry made on the point by the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture, that both forms of the
fruit, seeding and seedless. occur under cultivation in
Cuba, having been introduced there from Jamaica very
many years ago.
The Cultivation of Celery.
Instructions for the cultivation of celery are given
in the Bulletin des Chambres d’ Agriculture de la
Guadeloupe et Dépendances tor October 1917, whieh
may also be of use in other, West Indian islands.
Celery seeds should be sown in a box at any time
from September to December. The seedlings should be
picked out when quite smal!, and transplanted several
times until they are strong. When they are to be
permanently planted the roots and leaves ought to
be trimmed. ‘Trenches from 1 to 13 feet deep should
be dug in a well prepared bed, and the plants set out
at a distance of about | foot apart at the bottom of
the trenches. As the plants grow the trenches are to
be filled in by the soil which had been removed. When
the bed has thus become level, the plants should
be moulded up every week. Celery needs frequent
watering, the quicker it grows the more tender are the
stalks. It can be blanched by tying the stalks of the
leaves together in a bunch or by lifting the plants with
a ball ofearth round the roots, placing them side by
side in a trench, and filling it with mould, The latter
would seem perhaps to be the more practicable method
nader West Indian conditions.
90 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 23, 1919.
INSECT NOTES.
THE RED SPIDER.
(TETRANYCHUS TELARIUs, L.)
The common red spider or spider-mite is of almost world-
wide distribution, and sometimes becomes numerous enough
to be a pest on certain cultivated crops. It is usually
troublesome wherever plants are grown in greenhouses.
Within recent years it has come to be recognized asa period-
ically serious pest of cotton in the South-eastern United
States, and during a red-spider year the losses from the
ravages of this small mite in the cotton belt are severe,
amounting, it is estimated, to $2,000,000. Much of the fol-
lowing information on this species is taken from Bwdletin 76
by Messrs. E. A. McGregor and IF. L. McDonough, of
the United States Department of Agriculture, and from
Farmers Bulletin 831 by the first of these two authors.
The name Zétranychus telarius, L., is that given to the
original Evrorean red spider, and is the one that is apparently
being used at present. The minute size of these creatures,
and their great variations due to age, host plant ,environment,
ete., have led to a confusion of names. Among the commoner
scientific names used in literature for the red spider are
TZ. bimaculatus, Harvey, and 7. glover, Banks.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RED SPIDER.
This minute creature is not a true spider but a mite,
and is more closely related to the ticks than to the
spiders. As is usually the case with mites, the full-grown
male and female have eight legs but no wings. The
colour of the female varies considerably. ‘At times it is
rusty green, sometimes greenish amber, occasionally yel-
lowish, at times almost black, but most often brick-red,
and a large spot of much darker colour is usually seen
along the back half of each side of the body.’ The
females are less than one-fiftieth of an inch in length, while
the males are considerably smaller, more pointed behind, of
a rusty salmon colour, and the spots at the sides are not
conspicuous.
LIFE-HISTORY SUMMARY.
Leg. The red spider lays its eggs on the under
surface of the leaves of a great variety of plants. The
eggs are almost complete spheres. When freshly laid
they are quite clear and almost transparent, but gradually
become opaque, and are a dark honey-yellow just before
hatching. They are deposited singly on the underside of
the leaf surface or on the fine webbing sometimes spun by
the mites just above the surface of the leaves. '
Female. The egg hatches in about four days
to a minute, colourless, six-legged creature known as
a larva. This feeds, and in about two days under summer
‘conditions sheds its skin, and becomes an eight-legged form
called the primary nymph, which is usually greenish or
yellowish. After feeding there is another moult in about
two days, and the secondary nymph appears. This gradually
becomes more like the adult, and changes to the female in
a little less than twodays. Thus under favourable conditions
the female takes between nine and ten days to develop.
Male, The development of the male is very similar to
that of the female, except that there is no secondary nymphal
stage. It is found, however, that the other stages are
slightly lengthened, so that the males usually take one day
less than the females to develop.
: FEEDING AND INJURY.
The feeding is done by means of sharp, slender,
lance-like mouth parts. which pierce the leaf-surface,
usually on the underside. The injury is caused by the
extraction of the plant juices, andin a heavy infestation
the leaves curl up, wither, and usually drep. In the case of
cotton, the presence of the red spider is usually first indicated
by the appearance of red blotches on the upper surface of
the leaves, and in severe cases the foliage withers and drops,
and this dropping is accompanied by boll shedding. Other
plants attacked by red spider do not as a rule show the red
blotching, but yellowish patches appear on the upper surface,
which gradually spread.
FOOD-PLANTS.
The red spider has been found breeding in the United
States on over 180 different kinds of plants, including
weeds, ornamental plants, garden and field crops. A few
of these plants are specially attractive to this pest, and
it ison these that the infestation of the red spider in the
cotton belt is mainly concentrated. Some of these serve as
over-wintering hosts of this pest, while others support it
during the spring and summer. It was found that the culti-
vated violet is one of the most important wintering hosts,
and serves as asource of dispersion to adjacent weeds and
neighbouring cotton fields in the spring. The garden beans
(Phaseolus spp.) are important host plants during the
summer months, and are therefore a constant menace to
surrounding crops. The red spiter is generally found on
cotton in the south-eastern Siates when this plant is availab'e,
but in the great majority cf cases the infestations on this
plant are very slight. Outside the cotton season the red
spider is supported on a number of plants, both weeds and
cultivated plants, from which it spreads again to the colton,
DISPERSION,
It has been shown that when the food supply becomes
exhausted on one set cf host plants, the red spider is
able to migrate by crawling to another set of plants, and
so on all through the year. Tor instance, when cotton and
other annual plants die in the autumn months, the red spiders
migrate to various weeds and to certain cultivated plants,
such as the violet, which remain green throughout the com-
paratively mild southern winter. With the coming of spring
this pest returns to the weeds which are often left growing
on borders of cotton fields, and thence to the cotton as’ it
appears. Red spiders may also be washed off by heavy
rains and carried on the surface water to other parts of a
field, where the survivors are able to start a new infestation,
They may also be blown from place to place by heavy winds,
or they may travel directly from one plant to another by
means of the interlacing branches.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
In the United States the red spider on cotton is known
to be attacked by thirty-one predaceous enemies, including
other mites, thrips, predaceous bugs, lacewing flies, larvae of
syrphid flies, larvae of midges, coccinellid beetles, ete. These
predatory enemies, however, are known to be attacked by
seventy-five species of predaceous and parasitic enemies,
so that their usefulness is somewhat lessened
REMEDIES FOR THE RED SPIDER,
The measures against the red spider in the cotton belt
of the United States fall under two main headings, preventive
measures and repressive measures,
Preventive measures. These are far more economical
and practical than measures of repression. ‘They include the
destruction of weeds round cotton fields during winter and
early spring, the control of the red spider on cultivated
plants in yards, etc., by spraying, the maintenance in cotton
fields of a finely pulverized surface mulch in order to retard
the migration of the red spiders, the jadicious use of fertil-
izers to keep the plants in good health and therefore more
resistant to injury. The use of a fine surface mulch would
Vor. XVII. No. 415.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 91
only be practicable where the plants are spaced widely
enough to avoid interlacing of the cotton branches. Weeds
can be killed by spraying them with a solution of 1 bb. of
sodium arsenate in 20 gallons of water,
Repressive measures. These include measures which
have to be taken against the red spider after it has invaded
the cotton fields. Dispersion in an infested cotton field may
usually be prevented by pulling up and destroying the first
infested plants. This must be done before the infestation
has gone very far. Otherwise, in the case of a general attack,
spraying should be resorted to. And since the red spiders
asa rule are found only on the underside of the leaves,
great care must be taken in spraying to hit the entire
underside of every leaf of an infested plant. Further-
more it has been shown that no safe insecticide is known
which will destroy red spider eggs, so that a second
spraying is necessary to kill those mites which have hatched
out since the first spraying.
Out of seventy-five different spray mixtures tried against
the red spider on cotton, the following have proved entirely
satisfactory: (1) potassium sulphide (1 ounce to 2 gallons of
water); (2) lime-sulphur (home-made or commercial); (3) kero-
sene emulsion; (4) flour paste solution, It may be mentioned
here that arsenical sprays are of no use against the red spider.
THE RED SPIDER IN THE LESSER ANTILLES.
The red spider cannot be regarded as a serious pest in
these islands, judging from the monthly and annual reports
of the agricultural officers in the various islands, and from
personal observations.
It is sometimes fairly common on sweet potato, and on
some peas and beans, and occurs on cotton, but its attacks
usually occur only in the dry season, and are not of long
duration. In Barbados the writer has observed the larvae
and adults of a minute staphylinid beetle attacking the red
spider, mainly in the immature stages, and it is claimed that
this small predator is very effective at times. A predaceous
thrips has also been observed on leaves of Lima bean infested
with red spider.
JACEE:
MULES.
We are indebted to the London correspondent of the
North Queensland Register for the following notes on mules,
which will doubtless be of some interest to our readers,
In a series of articles recently contributed to the
Brisbane Courier there are some interesting notes about
mules, which are to be introduced into Queensland in numbers,
The usefulness of mules depends in a great measure upon the
circumstance that they combine in a remarkable degree
the constitutional attributes of their parents on both sides.
Descended originally from the species of wild ass inhabiting
the rocky semi-desert of Upper Egypt, where food is scarce
and the heat intense, the jacks transmit to their hybrid
progeny the faculty for resisting privation and withstanding
tropical heat, which horses do not possess.
The value of mules can hardly be overestimated. This has
for a long time been realized in most parts of the world,
although'in England and Australia ignorance and prejudice
have debarred their use on any big scale.
The testimony of those who have had experience of both
horses and mules is convincing as to the superiority of the
latter in tropical regions. They live longer, and are able to
withstand the effects of hard work for a greater number of
years; they are constitutionally stronger, and less liable to
sickness to which horses are subject; they can be kept oa
coarser and cheaper food, and they are hardier and able to
resist extremes of temperature, especially heat. Their narrow
and small hoofs make them more sure-footed than horses, and
they can pick their way over mountains and on the edge
of precipices without much risk of disaster, and in positions
such as these show more pluck and caution than horses.
The all-round advantages of mules over horses in the
way of economy or keep outweigh the disadvantages with
respect to certain uses. It is conceded at once that a mule
is not as fast as a horse, and the heaviest draught mules are
not as good as the heavy Clydesdales for actual pulling
power; but an ordinary team of mules will beat the ordinary
team of horses for pulling and for travelling great distances
where food is scarce.
There are two distinct types of jacks in Europe. Those
for getting heavy draught mules are bred in Poitou, in the
west of France. The height of these is about 15 hands.
In America, where hundreds of thousands of mules are bred
each year, the Spanish or Catalonian jacks are the most
popular. The Kentucky mules are famous all over America,
and owe their fame to two Catalonian jacks imported to
America about 1850 or 1840, and crossed with the ordinary
female donkeys of the State. They have produced a most
useful strain of mule-breeding jacks. It is said that all the
best mules in America owe their quality to their descent from
those two jacks. So highly appreciated are mules in the
Western States that in 1890, 150,000 were foaled. At the
present time something like 200,000 mules are foaled
annually.
Anyone who has visited America must be struck with
the numbers used. One sees them doing heavy dock work
and railway work in the country, ploughing and ordinary
farm work, and they are invaluable in mining and pack
work. They will carry more than 200M. over rough, high
country, if properly loaded.
It is generally considered that three mules can be kept
on fodder that would only be sufficient for two horses.
They are peculiar creatures, and it has been proved
they will pull better if a mare is in the lead, for, having
been foaled and brought up by mares, they have a great
affection for horses, and a corresponding dislike for asses.
The objection that is taken to mules on the score of bad temper
and obstinacy may be dismissed by the remark that, in the
opinion of competent judges, these so-called vices are the
outcome of mismanagement and cruelty to beasts of highly
nervous temperament, which require kindness and intelligence
in handling.
Production of Beeswax in British Hast
Africa —A brief note appears in the Jovrnal of the Royal
Society of Arts for February 8, 1918, on this subject. The
gathering of beeswax in the East Africa Protectorate is said to
be almost entirely in the hands of the natives, who obtain the
product from wild hives in the country. Very little scientific
apiculture is practised, and that only by the European settlers
in the highlands. Notwithstanding the present small
production of honey and beeswax, writes the United States
Consul at Mombasa, the higher altitudes of the colony are
peculiarly well adapted to apiculture. Clover is an abundant
crop, and other flowers are plentiful. There are two rainy
seasons, no winters, and so far no serious bee diseases have
developed. The Government is giving every encouragement
to the industry, and the active interest of the settlers is being
aroused to the opportunity. It is believed that the near
future will witness a substantial development of the industry,
92 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, Marcn 23, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
Liquid manure is applied to the roots of young plants to
push them on, and should not be sprinkled over lettuces and
cabbages ready for cutting. Apart from this being a most
insanitary practice, the liquid manure would burn the leaves.
Only the purest of pure water should be applied to plants
like lettuce. (The Journa/ of the Jamaica Agricultural Society,
January 1918.)
A report by the Imperial Institute on samples of castor
seed grown in Northern Rhodesia states that the Seeds con-
tained a normal amount of oil, and were in good coudition.
The maximum controlled price of castor seed in the United
Kingdom was £37 per ton in August 1917, but in normal
times the value is only about £11 per ton. (The Rhodesia
Agricultural Journal, December 1917.)
In searching for uses to which molasses might be put
it seems very probable that solidified molasses may become
a practical proposition some day, and a remunerative one also.
Java has produced 96,281 tons of solidified molasses, and the
output of this commodity is steadily increasing, it having
been less than 67,000 tons in the previous year. (The .Sov//
African Sugar Jonrnal, November 15, 1917.)
An exhibition of the products and industries of the
Turks and Caicos Islands was held on January 24, 1918;
789 exhibits were presented under nine classes. In the
agricultural class there were 143 exhibits, sixty-two of which
were of beans and peas, and thirty of Indian corn. ‘The
exhibition seems to have been a very great success, according
to the report of the Committee of Management.
Owing to the enormous demand in Japan for sulphate
of ammonia, and the consequent rise in prices. one Japanese
carbide factory, with a capacity of from 25,000 tu 3U,uuU
tons per annum, is now concentrating its efforts on the
production of sulphate of ammonia, the ammonia being made
from calicium cyanamide produced from the carbide hy the
fixation of nitrogen drawn from the air. (7%e Poard of
Trade Journal, January 10, 1918.)
According to Colonis/ Reports—Annual, No. 945, for
1916-17, the natives of Swaziland are beginning to use
ploughs more generally in their agricultural operations.
They do not grow enough food crops however for their own
requirements, and the shortage is made good by imports of
grain from the Transvaal. The principal crops of the natives
are mealies, Kaflir corn, ground nuts, pumpkins, melons,
and sweet potatoes.
In Zululand a fair average yield seems to be about
30 tons of cane to the acre, and it ranges as high as 50 tons
or more, This would seem to prove that in the matter of
growing cane that country is not far behind many of the
best sugar-producing countries in the world, while it actually
gives a much higher return per acre than an old-established
sugar-growing country like Louisiana. (The South African
Sugar Journal, December 1917.)
In the Philippines it has been repeatedly demonstrated
that Phaseolus /unatus answers the purpose as a cover crop
for rubber better than perhaps all other plants that have so
far been tried. assiffora fwtida (known in the West Indies
as Love-in-a-mist) also makes an excellent cover crop, but
does not enrich the soi] to the same degreeas Phaseolus
dunatus, (The Philippine Agricultural Review, Vol. X,
No. 3.)
The Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at
Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, has just announced that exten-
sive experiments will be carried on there in developing better
varieties of canes from seed, and in the event of varieties
appearing which are better than those now planted in Cuba,
these will be distiibuted among the planters much after the
system now in use at the Audubon Park Experimeut Station
in New Orleans. (The Zowtsiana Planter, March 2, 1918.)
A note in the South African Sugar Journal, November
15, 1917, states that sweet potatoes and garden vegetables
are planted in Cuba between the rows of sugar-cane in the
fields. It is held that by this means not only are valnable
eri ps grown, but the multiplication of weeds is greatly dimin-
ished. Maize and Engiish potatoes even are grown between the
rows of cane while the latter is still too small to overshadow
the other crops. This has resulted, amongst other things,
in improving the quality of the cultivation, which was sadly
needed in many parts of Cuba.
In the lawton method of preserving perishable food-
stuiis the produce is kept under anwrobie conditions so that
putrefactive and other changes are arrested, but the objection
to itis that the gas used contains carbon monoxide, forming
an explosive mixture in the preserving chamber. Dr. 8. A.
Kapadia has made an improvement in the system by using
a gas consisting of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, with only
a trace of oxygen. ‘alted fish kept in the preserving chamber
for six weeks appeared to an expert to be in exactly the same
condition as when introduced. (-Va/vre, February 7, 1918.)
It is amatter of regret to all botanists that South
America, so rich a storehouse of botanical treasures, shonld
contain but few important botanic gardens. The magnificent
garden at Rio de Janeiro, which was founded in 1808, the
Rotanie Gardens at Santiago in Chili, at Georgetown in
British Guiana, and at Buenos Aires represent the
measure of botanical enterprise in the Continent. The
botanical possibilities at Rio de Janeiro are very great,
and the garden, in addition to its collection of living
plants, possesses the herbarium of Martius, a library,
and laboratories. When interest in botanical science
becomes fully aroused in Brazil, a striking development of
the Butanie Garden may be confidently expected. (Amna/s
of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2.)
Vout. XVII. No. 415.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 83
REPORTON THE AGRICULTURAL DEPART-
MENT, NORTHERN PROVINCES, NIGERTA, 1916.
This report, which was issued in November 1917, contains
much matter of interest with regard to tropical agriculture.
Besides the general summary of the Director of Agricul-
ture, Mr. P. H. Lamb, the report contains a special appendix
by the Chief Veterinary Surgeon, and two detailed accounts
by the Assistant Superintendents of Agriculture on the two
government plantations at Maigana in the Sokoto district, and
Tlorin inthe Yoruba country, together witha report on the
Horticultural Station at Kaduna by the Horticultural Over-
seer.
Mr. Lamb, while noticing the reduction in number of
the Europeans on his staff, owing to causes arising from the
war, highly commends the work done by his West Indian
overseers and native officers.
Owing tothe sharply defined dry and rainy seasons in
those provinces, the exact date of sowing each crop is of the
utmost importance if the best yields are to be secured. Thus
in the year reported on in some parts of the provinces
the dry season set in suddenly and prematurely, causing
considerable damage to the cotton crop through severe boll-
shedding, and interfering withthe ripening of the ground
nut crop, with the result that only the earliest sown plots
gave an average yield.
Considering that the experimental work on the
plantations and in the horticultural station has only been
going on for four years, the results so far obtained are very
encouraging. The aim is to improve and develop the existing
agricultural industries, and to introduce new ones which may
be profitably undertaken as subsidiary to those already in
existence. Thus with regard to cotton, the cultivation of
long staple cotton, especially in the province of Zaria, has
been largely extended and placed on a more secure foun-
dation. This was evidently the result of the work on the
Maigana plantation, ,
Approximately 44 tons of cotton seed were dis.
tributed as compared with 5 tons in the previous year.
Great credit is given to the three itinerant agricultural
instructors for the way in which they performed their duties
of supervising the sowing and subsequent care of the crop,
and the expurgation of objectionable types, which has
led to a high grade of cotton being reaped. The plan of
making cotton cultivation more attractive to the native
grower, by making it more profitable, has been greatly assisted
through the establishment by the British Cotton Grow-
ing Association of depéts for buying the cotton direct
from the producers at a fair price. The native growers realize
nét only that the long staple cotton is worth 50 per cent.
more than the indigenous kind, but that the yield per acre
is generally larger, and that the crop matures at least a month
earlier—a point of importance under the usual climatic
conditons.
A four-course rotation of crops is followed at the Maigana
plantation, namely, Guinea corn, millet and cowpeas; cotton;
ground nuts; cotton. This scheme embraces the principal
crops of the district, at the same time providing a leguminous
crop in alternate seasons. The. procedure in growing the
mixed crop of the first year is interesting. The millet,
known locally as ‘gero,’ is sown during the first rains, a few
weeks before the Guinea corn, which is then sown in alternate
rows with the millet. When the millet is harvested the soil
is ridged up around the Guinea corn plants, and cowpeas are
sown between the corn.
The introduction in 1914 of five sugar-cane varieties
from Barbados has been very successful. Apparently the
sugarcane is cultivated in Nigeria only for chewing. The
natives so approve of the imported varieties that a'l the canes
raised at Maigana were sold on the spot at a penny each,
while the native canes were being sold at four for a penny.
Other economic plants successfully introduced from the
West Indies and now being distributed from Maigana, are
eddoes and tannias, which are much approved of by the
native growers, the eddoes giving better results than the
tannias, being apparently better suited to the local soil
conditions.
In the more southerly plantation at Ilorin successful
results have been obtained in the cultivation of tobacco, which
has found a ready market locally. Samples submitted to the
Imperial Institute for examination and valuation were favour-
ably reported on. It is possible that the cultivation may be
largely extended.
It would seem that cotton, the cultivation of which is
usually practised in the southern districts in connexion with
that of vams, is not likely to assume a position of impor
tance there owing to climatic concitions. The cultivation of
sisal is however being advocated as suitable to the agri-
cultural conditions, and to the habits of the natives.
Kola of two species, Cola acuminata and C. nitida, has
long been planted in this district, and its cultivation is
systematically encouraged by the Agricultural Department,
while improved methods of culture are being aimed at by
instruction and practical demonstration.
Experimental plots of coco-nuts and limes promise well
also at the Ilorin plantation.
Great progress has been made in horticultural work at
the Kaduna station in several directions, notably in the best
methods of producing European vegetables under the climatic
conditions of extreme humidity alternating with extreme.
dryness at different periods of the year. Thus it has been
proved there that potatoes, if sown between July 15 and
August 15, can yield, four months after planting, at the rate
of 4°86 tons per acre; and that, also in four months,
Jerusalem artichokes gave the extraordinary yield of 14°4
tons per acre.
The horticultural station is also making a point of
grafting and budding for distribution the choicest varieties
of tropical fruit trees, especially the best kinds of citrus and
mango. Experiments are also being conducted with good
varieties of pine-apples, which give every promise of }being
a success.
Itis found that for the production of really: good-bun-
ches of bananas irrigation during the dry season is necessary,
but if banana cultivation should prove remunerative, this could
doubtless be done over large areas. ht
As regards insect and fungus pests Mr. Lamb reports
that there have been no outbreaks of such plagues worthy
of.special mention during the year, and that the usual damage
done by the cotton boll worm in the more humid districts
could be largely prevented, were the uprooting and burning
of all cotton plants at the end of February made compulsory —
a conclusion perfectly in accordance with West Indian
experience with regard to several pests of cotton.
94 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcn 23, 1918.
PLANT DISEASES.
PROTECTING CITRUS FRUITS AGAINST
ROTS IN TRANSIT.
South of Porto Rico little interest is taken in the ship-
ping of oranges and grape fruit, save for unimportant and
unorganized inter-island trade. The only citrus fruit industry
of importance is the green lime trade with New York. In
this case, when the fruit is well selected and packed accord-
ing to approved methods, the losses from storage rots are
not, so far as the writer is aware, of serious consequence.
‘The complaints which have been made would scem to have
reference to poor quality and careless packing in the ship-
ments made by speculators during periods of heavy demand.
In Porto Rico and the Isle of Pines there is a develop-
ing trade in grape fruit, and considerable attention has to be
given to prevention of losses in transit. A recent paper by
J.M. Rodgers and F. §. Earle (Phytopa‘hology, VII, 36)),
who are working at San Pedro, Isle of Pines, records the
discovery of a simple and. effective method of protecting
citrus fruits against stem-end rot. It may find an applica-
tion in the British West Indies in the occasional shipments
made to England, and may even come to have an interest
for the green lime trade when the growing compctition leads
to more discrimination as to quality.
Most growers are by now acquainted, at least in theory,
with the dictum that fruits for shipment should be handled
as delicately as if they were eggs, but it was found at San
Pedro that even this did not suffice. J'ruit picked under
direct supervision of careful foremen, by labourers wearing
cotton gloves, placed in standard field crates, and hauled to
the packing house on waggons with bolster springs, graded
by experts, and every doubtful fruit rejected —conditions which
would suggest the millenviuin to any planter of the writer's
acquaintance—still showed a large amount of decay in
transit.
A large proportion of the loss was found to be due to
Diplodia rot starting from the stem end of fruits with no
apparent injury. A Diplodia species, it may be remarked,
appears to be common on ripe limes throughout these islands.
It was noted that fruit which had been clipped, retaining
the calyx, showed much more susceptibility than frnit which
had been pulled, owing to prevention in the former case of
quick dryingout of the stem cavity.
The first attempt at protecting the fruit was made with
paraffin wax. The coating of the rind with this substance
did not materially alter the amount of loss from rot, but it
prevented the fruit from shrivelling, and made it possible
to keep thin-skinned lemons in excellent condition for two
or three months. The application of paraffin to the stem
ends gave promising results as a measure against stem-end
rot, but was not altogether satisfactory because the material
did not stick well.
The next method tried was so successful that there was
no necessity to seek further. It consisted in the apphieation,
to the stem end of pulled fruits, of shellac diluted toa thin
consistency with alcohol. Jt is easy and qnickly applied,
sticks well, and seals the cavity perfectly. With clipped
frnits the resu'ts are much less satisfactory.
The difference between pulled and clipped fruit was
consistently high all through the experiments, and is in itself
at least as significant as the differences obtained by coating
the stem end. Incidentaliy it was found that washing, in
running water or;ina tank, so increased the amount of
decay that, in the authors’ words, ‘the use of a soaking tank
is the greatest possible folly.’
The conclusions reached may be thus set out:—
(1) That citrus fruit should be pulled, not clipped.
(2) That coating the stem cavity with shellac largely
prevents stem-end rot,
(3) That coating the rind with paraftin keeps the fruit.
in good:condition for an additional month or six
weeks.
(4) That washing the fruit induces heavy losses.
Want.
USE OF OFFAL MANURE AND DRIED
7 BLOOD:
Offal manure from abattoirs, as is well known, is the
residue that has been steamed in the digesters to remove
grease, and then steam-dried (with constant stirring) in
jacketed iron cylinders until it is dry, and is reduced to
a fine mechanical condition. It can be dried economically
so that it does not contain more than 10 to 12 per cent
of water, and in this state may contain as high as 5 to 7
per cent. nitrogen, and 13 to 16 per cent- phosphoric acid.
Blood from the abattoirs, which is dried in the same
way, is generally considerably higher in nitrogen, but it
contains very little orno phosphoric acid. The average
composition of good samples of these products is given in
the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales for Decem-
ber 1917, as follows: —
Offal, Dried blood,
per cent. per cent.
Nitrogen 6:98 10-71
Phosphoric acid 12°87 ae
From the analysis it will be seen that dried blocd is
a purely nitrogenous’ manure, whereas offal manure, though
poorer in nitrogen, contains also phosphoric acid. Neither of
them, therefore, is what is known as a complete manure; that
is, they do not contain those elements required for plant food,
namely nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potah, in which soils are
often deficient. In the case of offal manure potash salts or
ashes containing potash, must be added to make it a complete
manure, In the case of the dried blood manure, both phos-
phate and potash must be added to make it complete.
Dried blood commauds the higher price per ton on account
of its higher content of nitrogen, which is the most expen-
sive of the manurial ingredients.
The following method and rate of application of these
manures are given in the journal above quoted:—
METHOD OF APPLICATION.-—Both offal and dried blood
are best broadcasted and lightly harrowed in. This
should be done before the seeds are sown so that the manure
may be well mixed with the earth, and not come in contact.
with the seed inits raw state. or fruit trees or ‘standing
crops it can be applied at any time as a top dressing, being
mixed with loam before application, or lightly harrowed
in immediately after. Thorough mixing with the soil is
essential, as the efliciency of the manure depends upon
its fermentation, lor this reason moisture is necessary,
Von. XVII. No, 415.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 95
and disappointing results are to be expected if the soil
sis too dry for fermentation to take place.
Where the soilis dry, it isa good plan to compost the
-offal and dried blood in a heap with lime and soil in alternate
dJayers, covering the heap with soil to prevent loss of ammonia,
and keeping it moist with urine, waste water from the farm,
etc., which may conveniently be poured at frequent intervals
through a central passage left open for the purpose. On
account of the fact that fermentation is necessary in order
to render the nitrogen available for the plant, these manures
do not give immediate results, and some time must be
allowed for them to undergo fermentation before results are
to be expected.
RATE OF APPLICATION.—For land which is to carry
ordinary crops, such as vegetables, fodder crops, etc., a dres-
sing of 4 to 5 ewt. per acre of offal manure would be a fair
dressing; and for fruit trees in full bearing up to twelve
years oid, 5 to 6 tb. of-offal manure per_tree. Somewhat
larger quantities should be used for older trees.
In the case of dried blood, about half the above quantity
will provide the same amount of nitrogen. ©
Offal manure, blood and bone dried manure, and dried
blood are all suitable for use on any class of soil and for any
kind of crop. They have the advantage over chemical manures
<ontaining “nitrogen and phosphoic acid, such as sulphate of
ammonia and superphosphate, that they contain organic matter
in addition, which produces humus—an extremly valuable soil
constituent. They have the disadvantage however that, even
under favourable conditions, they are slow in their action; at
the same time, this disadvantage is compensated for to some
extent by the fact that their beneficial action is more lasting,
and that they are not so liable to be leached out.
Mr. F. B. Guthrie, the writer of the article from which
the above is abstracted, emphasizes two points to which atten-
tion has been previously drawn, and which must not be lost
sight of: (1) that neither offal not dried blood isa complete
manure, and (2) that good results are not to be excepted if the
soil istoo dry. Failure to realize these facts may result in
disappointment.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON.
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
flowing report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of January 1918:—
The report of the condition of the drug and spice markets
for the first month of 1918, differs but very little from what
has prevailed during the preceding twelve months. ‘The
tonnage question is one that affects all oversea prodcts alike,
whether it be for food, medicine or manufactures, and the
consequent reduction in imports automatically causes increase
in the prices demanded, so that buyers are still depending
on the lowest limitation of purchases to meet current demands.
“The following are some cf the principal items of interest: —
GINGER,
There has been but a very quiet demand for this article.
At auction on the 24th of the month the offerings consisted
-o!f #46 bales of Cochin and Calicut, all of which were
borght in, washed. Cochin at 72s. per cwt.; some 180 bags
of Fopnese limad ulso held at 54s. to 55s, A week later
it was reported that some sales had been made of good
common Jamaica at 85s. 10 92s, 6d. Some medium to good
also found purchasers at 100s, to 105s., and washed Cochin
at 70s.
NUTMEGS AND MACE.
Nutmegs were in good supply at aucticu on the 10th
when some 392 packages were offered and sold at an advance
of 2d. per tb. on previous rates. Again on the 24th of the
month some 60 packages of West Indian, and 27 of Singapore
were brought forward and disposed of at steady rates, At
the first sale on the 10th of the month as many as 1,046
packages of mace were brought forward, and soid at
a decline of from 3d. to 8d. per fb. on previous prices. Again
at auction on the 24th of the month there was a steady
demand for mace; 35 packages of West Indian were
sold at the following rates: for bold flat pale 4s. 6d., good
pale 3s. 7d., for fair 3s. 1d. to 3s. 4d., and for fair common
to ordinary 2s. 9d. to 3s.
SARSAPARILLA.
At auction on the 19th of the month sarsaparilla was
in fair supply, being represented by 3@ bales of grey Jamaica,
14 of native Jamaica, and 6 of Lima-Jamaica. Two bales
only of the grey Jamaica were disposed of at 3s. 9d. per tb.
for fair grey. The 14 bales of native Jamaica were all sold,
12 of them fetching 2s. 3d. per tb. for ordinary red and
yellow. Of the 6 bales of Lima-Jamaica offered, only 1
was disposed of at 3s. 6d. per Ih. for part mouldy.
CASSI*
and PIMENTO.
CITRIC ACID, ARROWROOT, KOLA,
TAMARINDS,
FISTULA,
At the beginning of the month the quotation for citric
acid was from 3s. ld. to 3s. 2d. per Ib., which wasa slight
decline on the price of the previous month. Later in the
month, however, the quotations rose to 3s. 2d. to 3s, 214d.
At the beginning of the month good manufacturing
St. Vincent arrowroot was quoted at 7s. 4d, per Ib. Three
weeks later it was reported that a considerable amount of
business had been done at prices varying from 67d. to S}d.
per tb. At auction on the 10th of the month kola was
represented by 24 bags of dried West Indian, which were
sold at prices varying from 7d. to 9}d. per b. Again at
auction on the 16th some 68 packages of kola were
offered, and all disposed of. Vorty-five packages of West
Indian, chiefly from Jamaica, realized from 8}d. to 94d.
per Ib. for fair to bold, while 7d. to 8d. was paid for part
mouldy. Some 18 bags of Java were also disposed of at this
auction, fair to good bright halves fetching from 8}:3. to 94.;
small halves realized 7{d., and part wormy 64d. per bh. Art
the auction on the 17th Cassia Fistula was represented by
13 packages, only 9 of which found bnyers. For 7 bags
of wormy dry pods from Dominica 70s. was paid, while 78s.
was paid for fair bold fresh pods. At the beginning of the
month it was reported that a fair amount of business had
been done in West Indian tamarinds at 47s. 6d. in bond. Of
pimento 200 bags were offered at the last auction of the month,
all of which were bought in at 44d. In connexion with pimento
the Chemist and Druggist has the following note on Pimeuto
Oil: ‘Stocks of ‘the usual West Indian distilled oi] as
imported appears to have disappeared off the market,
and reconrse has to be had to English distilled, which is
worth about 15s. per bh, There isa stock of over 40,000 bags
of pimento in Loadon, enough for five years’ consumption,
while the export is prohibited.’ :
G6 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Mancw'23, 1918. _
New York.—Messrs Gitiespie Bros, & Co., March 6.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Txe West Inp1a Coumitrezr CrRcuLar,
February 7.
ARROWROOT— No (uotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/4 to 3/7; Sheet, 5/10 to 4/-.
Beeswax—No quotations. £
Cacao—Trinidad, no quotations: Grenada, no quotations;
Jamaica, no quotations.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Frouit—No quotations.
Gixcger—Jamaica, 92/6 to 115/- per ewt.
Honex—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 2/- to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17/6.
Locwoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Normecs— No quotations.
Prrento—4d.
RousseR—Para, fine hard, 274: fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., February 27.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $1535 to $13°60 Trinidad, $13°25
to $13°75.
Coco-nut O1Lr—S$1°36 per gallon.
Correr—Venezuelan, Ile. to 12c, per th.
Corra—$8-00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—Caracas, I4c. to I4hc.; Grenada, I4c. to I4the.¢
Trinidad, 14$c.; Jamaica, 12 fc. ;:
Coco-Nuts—Jamaica selects, S48°00 to $50°00; Trinidad
selects, $43°00 to $4800; culls, $22°00 to $25°00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to 12c. per Ib.
GincEr—15}c. to 20c. per tb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 70c. to 7ic.; Antigua and Barbados,.
70c. to S75ce.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 70c. tu 75e.
per tb.
Grape Fruit—Jamaica, $2°25 to $2°50 per box.
Limes—$7-00 per bri.
Mace—35c. to 40c. per tb.
Nurmrcs—24c.
Orances—$00.
Pinento—6e. per fhe
Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6 005c;Muscovados, 89°, 5:00be.
Molasses, 89°, 4°48c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., March 4,
Arrowroot—$1000 per 100 th.
Cacao—$12°50 per i00 fb.
Coco-nuts—$24'60 husked nuts.
Hay—$2°'90.
Motasses—No quotations.
Daat—$14°25 to $14°40.
Os1ons —$8°00 per 100 1b.
Peas, Sprit—$12:00 to $1250 per bag.
Porators—English, $3 85 per 100 f..
Rice—Yellow, $1200 to $12°25; White, 9°50 per bag.
SvGar—American crushed, nv quotations.
Onrons— No quotations.
Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, 1.0 quotations! Ran-
goor, no quotations.
Svuear—Dark Crystals, 54.75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nes. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions, The numbcr issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters. throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by eoch mail, and is on sale by tha
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, ia
2s, 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Drice 4s, each—
oat free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tnos. Lawtor & Co., St. George.
West Inpia Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonapre, ‘Times’ Office,
Barbados: ApvocaTE Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nives, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: Tne Epucationat Surrty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. Rt. H. Brrpcewarter, Roseau.
Street, Kingston. Montserrat; Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tuk Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antiqua: Mr. 8. D. Martone, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuatt & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Toe Brs.e AND Book Suppty AGEnNcy, BasskTERRE,
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PLacemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Messrs. Howext, Bros., Charlestown,
Canada; Lewis W. Cuemens, $1, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto,
We are b
js:
(E AGRICULTURAL NEWS. ,
uyers of =»
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
TE CR yrs:
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
- class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make ‘all such payments when, where, and_how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying _facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
_ In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A’. GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
|
3 “ Cot eRe ae Cd wae fog POE ss ch AN
Vou. ‘XVIL No. 415) THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Marcu 23, 19)
SS) hia a
meh £55,
;
Dy
: USE
Dissolved (Soluble) Guano
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GHNERAL USE.
Ge
TRADE > MARK.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C.
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONIAL
Barbados Agents: James A. Lyneh & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
BARBADOS.
—_ - en i SER OGY
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street] Bridgetown, Barbados,’
i
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vig 7“ So :
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Vol. XVII. No. 416.] SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1918 ‘(One _ penny.
R. M.S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
e
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
TO | PORTS OF CALL
i'THE UNITED KINGDOM | Azores.
(St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA | 1 Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
| (Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO | Grenada & Trinidad.
( Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS | ,Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| | Callao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
/REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO wad
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
| REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA, :
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA =='*”
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Rio ae Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
oe A | 2%. i TS ee phat 9 4 ear one ih
. /* THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. |
PAT PAYS *' ,
TO ERADICATE Ticks]
>
The Results of Tick Eradication work in the United States
‘7 >
; ‘<
.A vigorous co-operative campaign for the eradication of the cattle tick in the South amd South-West States of North
America, has been in progress since 1906, the work being conducted joint e the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United
States Department of Agriculture and the State and county authorities. ,000 squaré miles (an area ter than France) has
already been completely cleared of ticks. An effort has recently been made to secure direct evidence the cattlemen and
farmers concerned as to the results of the work. For this purpose a circular letter embodying the folowing questions was
_ widely distributed among the stockmen and farmers in 11 different States. The questions asRed were :—
:
\ 1. What has been the average increase her head in the value of cattle in your county since tick eradication began in 1906?
fe 2. What, if any, has been the average per cent. increase in the weight of the cattle since tick eradication began ?
“ny 3. Express in percentage the average increase in grade or quality of the cattle since ticks were eradicated ?
. 4. Approximately what per cent. of cattle died annually of fever in your county before tick eradication began ?
; 2 5. What is the probable per cent. of increase in milk production of dairy cows due to the absence of ticks ?
a“ Slightly over 1,000 replies were received in all. The following isa summary of these replies, taking each question in order :—
* 1. AVERAGE INCREASE in VALUE of CATTLE SINCE TICK ERADICATION BEGAN in 1906.
_ Alabama ss... $7.70 Arkansas ___... $8.31 California‘ ... $15.00 Georgia... $8.00
_ Mississippi... 9.00 North Carolina 8H & Oklahoma... 8.20 South Carolina 9.25
ah Tennessee $10.94 Texas ate $13.79 Virginia $13.28
ee | z Average of 11 States ~ sos os $9.76
; = hould be deducted / i ing the in the
Sn Sede ree Carrs clos Sarg he ase em Pe rome eras
si 2. INCREASE IN WEIGHT OF CATTLE.
The averages for the States ranged from 11 per cent. in Texas to 23 per cent. in Mississippi, and the average per cent. of gain
ll
‘ter the entire tick-free territory was 19.14. In other words, the cattle asf’ whole are considered to be about one-fifth heavier ©
than before tick destruction was commenced.
3. INCREASE IN QUALITY OF CATTLE.
8 The lowest State average was 16 per cent. for Georgia, and the highest 31 percent. for Mississippi. The average for the 11 States
«25 26.91 per cent., which means that the cattle in the tick-free sections at present are rather over one-fourth better in grade or quality.
a _ This is proof, if proof were needed, that the unprofitable “scrub” animal and the tick go together, and that when the latter
3 RT banished, and not until then, is the influx of pure bred animals on a large and profitable scale possible.
; = 4. ANNUAL LOSSES BEFORE TICK ERADICATION.
Bs There is practical unanimity in allowing that considerable losses were caused by Tick fever before the inauguration of the
‘tick eradication work. The figures range from 9 per cent. in Georgia, to 15 per cent. in Mississippi and North Carolina, and the
__ average for the 11 States is 13 per cent. This is a trifle over one-eighth of the total cattle.
"Jt requires but little imagination to see what a serious handicap to the cattle industry of the South an annual loss of this
magnitude must be. Some idea of its extent may be had by taking the census figures for cattle in 1910. According to these there
__ were in round numbers 15,000,000 cattle below the Tick quarantine line, with a valuation of slightly over $270,000,000.
4 . One-eighth of this sum is $34,000,000, which represents roughly the annual loss from deaths alone, not counting the depreciation
5 ¢m numerous other ways, such as stunted growth, discrimination in markets, shrinkage in milk production, etc., all of which
will more than double the amount named.
j 5. INCREASE IN MILK PRODUCTION.
} The owners of dairy cows in the region cleared of ticks are evidently well satisfied with the results of the work, since 95 per
4 cent. of the replies admit there was an increase, usually very substantial, in the yield of milk.
The lowest estimates are from Alabama and Georgia, these two States averaging 15 per cent. increase in each, while the highest
average, 25 per cent. increase, is from North Carolina, closely followed, however, by 24 per cent. each in Mississippi and Oklahoma.
: , hao r 5
fa , The average for the 11 States is 23 per cent., which is a gain of nearly one-fourth in the total Milk yield.
i It is easy to see what a great advantage this would be if it could be applied to all the ticky cows in the South, The
i additional milk would in the aggregate be worth many millions of dollars.
\ Ay’ IT IS CHEAPER TO KILL TICKS THAN TO FEED THEM.
A REM SEER
( COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
Bees received the official approval of the following Coantrow: #Y. KITTS: S.L. Horstord & Co. ANTIGUA: Rennett, Br £99 & Ce
Walon of South Africa, Northern Khodesia, Brazil, Basutolasd Be ARENA DL vba ie as
ay ‘ i S BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd
Ayssaland, Swaziland, outhern Rhodesia, Madagascar, BAHAMA SEM whan. Neer, i
) British East Africa, German Exact Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: 1, Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
F , . é a BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, &T. VINCENT: Coren & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone,
hk United States of America, New South Wales, DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
A ‘ MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall, DOMINICA: Hon.H. A. Framptom
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
— Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
ERANCHES: Toronto, Chicago. Sydney, Melbowrme, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa
MAY 0” T9160
WSS
NN Ui
A FO
RTNIGHTLY REVIEW i:
OF THE BO
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. *
Vou. XVII. No. 416. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
Pace. PaGE.
Market Reports ... ... 112
Mineral Oil Resources in
the British Empire... 105
American Potash ... ... 107
Avocado Pears as Food,
and as a Source of Oil 102
Castor-Oil in the West Notes and Comments ... 104
° Incase, BrOnCE CPJ ger .Pedigreed Seed .» 105
Coco-nut Prices and Coco- ae ;
: fe Plant Discases:—
nut Butter in Dominica 104 Citr Blast 110
Cotton Notes:— ~ AUrUS wes epee
Sea PAP a Gorton The Mottling Disease
é Market 102 of Cane in Porto Rico 110
Th = NECA for Méxe ~ | Radic-Active Ore, Influ-
Cotton , 102 ence of on Plants . 105
Department News . 101 | St. Lucia, Committee on
Experiment Stations ... 97 Development of Eco-
Food-Borne Infections 105 nomic Resources of .., 104
Gleanings vec se» --» 108 | Sugar Factory, New Use
Guinea Fowl ... . 109 of Centrifugal Force
Insect. Notes:— in The Scie a)
The West Indian Mole Sugar Plantations Sup-
Cricket or Changa 106 plies and Renewals 99
Ttems of Local Interest 101 | Sunlight as a Factor in
Light in Healing Tree Evolution Son snc AUILTL
Wounds, Effect of . 105 | Sweet Potatoes and other
Lime Estates, Relation of Vegetables, Storing of 107
Flowering to Crop on 105 | Sweet Potato Starch ... 104
Experiment Stations.
1N the editorial of the last issue of this
ai
Experiment stations, on the other hand, have only
Journal it was pointed out that botanic
gardens had their origin in remote ages.
come into prominence in quite recent times as indis-
pensable instruments in the scientific study of the
principles which underlie the cultivation of all crops,
and the problems connected therewith.
The oldest of such experiment stations, in the sense
just stated, is that of Rothamsted in England, which
was started by a private land-owner about the year 1840,
for the investigation of all sorts of questions connected
with farming, and for elucidating the principles upon
APRIL 6,
1918. Price ld.
which the practice of sound agriculture might be
established. It is hardly too much to say that
Rothamsted has been the model on which the present
system of experiment stations has been formed. In
the latter half of the last century the institution of
cepartments of agriculture in most of the civilized
countries of the world led to the almost universal
establishment of experiment stations in connexion
with these departments. In this development the
United States of America have been foremost. Every
State in the Union has its experiment stations, gener-
ously supported from public funds, which, as a result of
their investigations,supply an amount of practical infor-
mation to agriculturists, the value of which can hardly
be overestimated. It will be remembered that when
the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West
Indies was created to deal with the problems connected
with agriculture in these islands, and to further its
interests, experiment stations were at once established
in every island.
Now in these islands, as elsewhere, the planter or
farmer is a notoriously conservative person. Experiment
stations are zonducted in reality with a view to
the benetit of the planter or the farmer, but the results
obtained on them, and the advice based on these results,
often run contrary to ordinarily accepted practices and
cherished prejudices. If a long-established agyricul-
tural practice is demonstrated sound, it is the business
of the experiment station workers to explain the
principles on which it rests, and to establish it on
If, on the other hand,
is the function of
its unsoundnéss or
a basis of definite knowledge.
a practice is unsound or wasteful, 16
the experiment station to expose
No such
wastefulness. maxim as this, for instance,
‘Oh, it has worked very well for a number of
98 THEAGRICULTURAL. NEWS.
Aprit 6, 1918:
years, or ‘It was the way in which my father
and my grandfather worked his land; and what was
good enough for them is good enough for me’, should
be acquiesced in, unless proof can be adduced that it is
the best possible practice under the circumstances.
It seems necessary, therefore, for the benefit of the
agriculturist, that experiment stations should under-
take yery largely the work of the dissemination of
general information in at least two ways: (1) by practi-
cal demonstration of improvements in the field, and
(2) by publishing from time to time in popular
language the results obtained by scientific experiments,
and the conclusions drawn from them. For in order
that the planter or farmer may understand the results
of investigations it is necessary to explain in a some-
what systematic way what research has ascertained,
and to show the benefit of such results in practice on
the land. In this way too the interest and sympathy
of the agricultural body are secured, without which the
work of an experiment station is not attaining the
end for which it was designed,
Here again the experiment stations of the United
States set an example. The thoroughness which they
have displayed in etforts to interest and benefit the
farmer, and the whole-hearted co-operation of the latter
with the station workers, is most admirable. In the
work of the experiment stations in the West Indies,
in their more limited way, the same lines have been
followed, and it is gratifying to note that planters
of all classes, large and small, are coming to take more
and more an interest in this work, and to regard its
results with appreciation and respect.
Unfortunately, the fact that much time and energy
have to be expended in the two directions mentioned
above has its danger, especially in these islands, where
the statf of experiment station workers is mostly of
necessity small, and quite inadequate ideally. The
tendency is to look upon the station as a sort of model
plantation on asmall scale, and to consider that the
chief function of the staff in charge is to give personal
advice to every individual planter how to cultivate his
estate, Where agricultural instructors can be appointed
in connexion with the agricultural departments, the
Jatter is their function, but the real work of an experi-
ment station is to experiment in all directions in
questions relating to agriculture,
It may seem a strange thing to enunciate, but
itis true, that in experimentation just as much is
learnt from failures as from suecesses. For the ordinary
planter, who must make his land pay, often repeated
failure in new crops is disheartening, if not ruinous.
He cannot afford to vary his experiments over a long
period of time, so as to locate the cause of failure.
Here comes in the experiment station, which ought
never simply to be regarded as a model paying plan-
tation. Experiments, carefully controlled, on soils,
manures, crops, can be conducted there fora series of
years, with necessary or appropriate variations, and
then the results ean be stated with such a reasonable
amount of certainty that planters may themselves avoid
the failures, or copy the successes.
The field of experimentation is a very wide
one, and conclusions ought not hastily to be jumped
at in any direction, The varying annual. climatic
conditions in these islands, and their influence
upon various crops, especially on various varieties
of the same plant, cannot be said to have been
exhaustively studied. The ditterent types of soil, and
the best means of increasing its fertility in different
localities, in spite of much research, still need further
local experiment and investigation. The testing of
introduced varieties of a ctop, and of their behaviour
under new conditions of soil and climate, is perhaps
the most obvious and useful kind of work undertaken at:
experiment stations. But to obtain reliable conclusions
in this kind of investigation, experiments must be
carried on over a series of years, with an inevitable
amount of failure. Some new varieties which promise
well at first will have to be discarded as worthless in
the end, while others may so improve as to be deemed fit
to be recommended for cultivation on an extended
scale.
Apart from the above more generally recognized
lines of experiment and research, there is that of plant
breeding by hybridization and selection, together with
the improyement of indigenous fruits and vegetables.
(ood work has been done in the experiment. stations
of these islands in the first of these directions on cane
and cotton, as is well known. Perhaps in the future
something more may be done in the second.
To carry on experiments and investigations
scientifically, on all or indeed any of these lines, there
should be a sufficient amount of land attached to the
experiment station, Again, the station worker should
have his residence near to the scene of his work, for
experience has shown that it is the man who lives
among his plants who gets the best results, Espec-
ially is this the case in the matter of plant breed-
ing, which of necessity has to be done chiefly in the
Vou. XVII. No. 416.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 99
ete ee.
early morning, and the chance of a special bit of work,
if not taken advantage of at once, may not happen
again for months and even years. Another desideratum
is an adequate staff of trained experts in different
subjects. It does not conduce to efticient experimen-
tation or the obtaining of reliable results, if the atten-
tion of the worker or a large part of his time has perforce
to be divided among several duties. As was noted above,
instruction and the dissemination of information are
functions of the experiment station, but the instructor,
even the scientific instructor, has a part to play other
than that of the experimenter and research worke:. An
idealexperiment station staff would bea body of experts,
each one conducting research on the lines of his specialty,
acting in co-operation and consultation with the others,
and along with them, agricultural instructors, whose
business it should be to publish and éxplain the results
obtained by the research workers, and the conclusions
thereby reached.
A NEW USE OF CENTRIFUGAL FORCE
IN THE SUGAR FACTORY.
Anyone familiar with sugar machinery in a modern
factory is well aware that centrifugal power is used for the
expulsion of the molasses from the crystallized sugar. In an
article published in the ZLourscana Planter, for February 9,
1918, Mr. George M. Newhall describes experimentation on
a large scale with centrifugal power adapted to the filtration
of cane juice and other products. He believes that he lias
developed a machine that will perform filtration more easily,
more effectively, and more economically than the filter-presses
at present generally used.
The centrifugal designed for the purposes of treating
the juices and syrups at various points in the process of sugar
making is a separator of solids according to their specific
gravity. Substances lighter than the main solution are
deposited near the centre of the machine, while those that
are heavier are deposited against the periphery. The
following experiments were made:—
(1) On cold cane juice direct from the mill.
Twenty thousand gallons of juice, without liming, were
machined to obtain a charge of cake in a 36-inch basket.
The duration of the run averaged four hours. The weight
of this cake (equal in compactness to filter-press cake)
varied from 750 to 950 tb., with 49 to 50 per cent. moisture,
and less than 1 per cent. sucrose. The bulk of it farthest
from the centre of the machine resembled filter-press cake of
good quality; the inner cake was quite like glazier’s putty.
The weight of this portion averaged about 5 per cent. of the
total charge. It contained S80 per cent. of vegetable wax,
according to the chemist’s report. It is being further
investigated. It is evident, therefore, that cold cane juice
can be readily and properly filtered by centrifugals on its way
to the defecators, and freed of much more solids than are
generally thought to be present in it.
(2) On hot juices from settlers and filter-presses.
This juice, gauging about 6° Beaume, should have been in
condition to pass along to the evaporators. It was however
far from that, as was shown by obtaining 559Ib. of gocd
cake froma run of 3,360 gallons through the centrifugal.
(3) On low grade molasses warmed up. Very cold
molasses was found unfit for separation into solids and
liquids, but, when warmed up, the residue of black, gummy,
and oily precipitate only proved the propriety of resorting
to centrifugal filtration to standardize such an output.
(4) Serious trouble having arisen in getting the settlings,
etc. handled in the filter-presses, the centrifugal found no
difficulty at all in forming first class cake from this stuff.
The centrifugal appeared to work equally well on this gummy,
viseous and rather foul mixture, whether sour or sweet, thick
or thin, In short the centrifugal found no difficulty in
dealing with any of the sugar-house solutions, and it will
probably be found a valuable manufacturing agent in the
sugar-cane factory.
SUPPLIES AND RENEWALS FOR SUGAR
PLANTATIONS.
The war has done the sugar industry generally a good
turn in raising prices to a remunerative level; but, on the
other hand, it is tending to liamper the sugar producer more
and more; it may well be that the difficulties of carrying on
sugar estates will be so great before long as to affect the
production toa large extent. A note in the Jnternational
Suvar Journal, November 1917, draws attention to this
aspect of the question. As matters stand at present, the
scarcity of shipping, the high rates of freight, the prohibition
of exports of various kinds, all contribute to make it a slow
and tedious task, even when it is possible at all, for sugar
plantations in different parts of the world to get renewals
of machinery, implements, and chemicals.
The necessity of getting licences to export goods, or
even to have them manufactured in a reasonable time, is
inevitable when the claims for war material are the chief
matters to be considered. The result is, however, that when
an order for goods has escaped the submarine menace, and
arrives at its destination, a delay often of months occurs in
getting the goods manufactured, and finally, even when
shipment is made at length, it is quite possible that the
goods may only reach the bottom of the sea, and the order
has to be repeated with still further delay and risk.
The result is bound to be that some plantations will be
held up for lack of supplies. Implements for field purposes,
or chemicals for the factory, or spare parts for the mill or
the engine may fail to turn up in time for the reaping season,
and managers of estates or factories will have to makeshift
with existing supplies and stock.
Such are the conditions which apply more or less to
plantations receiving their working supplies from the United
Kingdom. Now that the United States has also entered into
the war it is more than probable that sugar estates which
have been accustomed to obtain their supplies from that
country will meet with the same difficulties in obtaining
them.
The chief thing, however, is to win the war. All efforts
must be concentrated to this one end, and the sugar
industry must be prepared to suffer along with other
forms of production, It must make up its mind to an
increasing scarcity of supplies. Those who are wise will
send their orders for supplies so much in advance that the
delay even of months will not seriously affect them; they
will husband what supplies they have in hand, and avoid all
waste, so as to have the means to carry on their production,
even if at a restricted rate, until conditions become once
more normal. It must be remembered also that the end of
the war will not immediately vestoré normal conditions.
100
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 6, 1918.
NOTES ON CASTOR-OIL IN THE WEST
INDIES.
Owing to the increased demand for the oil obtained
from the seeds of the Castor-oil plant many planters are now
considering the advisability of growing this crop on
a commercial scale.
Experiments were carried on in Antigua for a number
-of years with four varieties of casvor-oil, and the results
indicated that the cultivation of this plant was not likely to
be commercially successful, owing to the low yield obtained.
As an example of the fluctuation in yield, the results of the
two seasons 1910-11 and 1911-12 nay be alluded to. In
1910-11 the yield from }acre with four varieties planted
5 by 4 feet was at the rate of 240Ib. per acre, aud the young
plants were severely attacked by aphis. In 1911-12 the
yield was at the rate of 1,97CIb per acre. It is evident that
the yield obtained from this crop may be largely affected by’
environmental conditions, and the incidence of insect pests.
Nevertheless, further work may result in the production
of types which will give better results, and a number of
-observations have been made by the present writer which
may serve to assist those who intend to grow castor-oil.
The first step in any proposed set of experiments would
be to collect as many different varieties as possible, and test
them comparatively under the particular environmental
conditions with which the experimenter is concerned. When
work was started at the Cornell University Experiment Station
in connexion with the production of new and improved
-varieties of Timothy grass, no less than 223 lots of seeds were
tested, and these were obtained from all parts of the world.
It is not perhaps generally realized that there exist in the
West Indies an enormous number of morphologically different
types of castor-oil, and these would probably be found to vary
very widely in characters of commercial importance.
Thus in St. Vincent and Barbados, an examination of the
seattered groups of plants growing rear peasants’ huts
showed the following differences in respect of morphological
character: —
(1) Types with anthocyanin colouration in stems and
leaves.
(2) Types with no anthocyanin colouration in stems
leaves.
(3) Types with a waxy bloom on stems and immature
fruits.
(4) Types devoid of bl.om.
(5) Seeds not easily freed from husks. ‘
(6) Seeds easily freed from husks. These types often
shed the seeds on the ground, and an excessive development
-of this habit is to be avoided in selection work.
(7, Capsules with spines strongly developed.
(8) Capsules practically devoid of spines.
and
Besides these obvions differences it was also noticed
that the size and colour of the seed varied greatly from
plant to plant. r
In connexion with the character noted above under
(5), it may be stated that one of the chief obstacles met with
in the Antigua experiments was that the seeds were very
difficult to shell, It is quite evident, however, that the
difficulty will not be a real one, provided that the right type
is chosen for growing.
In the Antigua experiments spacing between the plants
was 5 by 4 feet. It is most important that the effect of different
spacings on yield should be carefully investigated. From
-some preliminary experiments in St. Vincent, the writer is
—
inclined to think that with some types closer spacing might
give better results.
At the St. Vincent Experiment Station a hybrid was
made between a native type anda variety named Aicinus
Gibsont, obtained from Messrs. Ryder, of St. Alban’s The
characters of the parents and of the I, may be tabulated
as follows: — ;
The Fy, generation.
Native. R. Gibsoni. F,
Anthocyanin colour- Leaves and stems Intermediate,but
ation weakly devel- a bronzy purple, nearer to Native
oped in stems and owing to _ strong
leaves. development of an-
_thoeyanin — colour-
ation
Waxy bloom present
on stems and imma-. Waxy b!oom absent. Intermediate.
ture fruits.
Seedsnoteasilyfreed Seeds very easily Intermediate.
from capsule. freed from capsule.
Seeds very small. Seeds larger. Apparently — in-
termediate.
Pattern of seed
dark brown, and
much more
strongly develop-
ed than in either
parent.
Pattern of seed dark
brown.
Pattern of seed pal-
er brown
The Fy generation.
In the second hybrid generation such an enormous range
of variation occurred in respect of both morphological and
physiological characters that, with the limited amount of
time at the writer's disposal, a detailed examination of the
plants was out of the question. The only character which
was carefully gone into was the inheritance of the waxy
bloom, segregation of the parental types being quite well
marked.
The following numbers were obtained:—
Bloom intermediate Bloom absent.
as in F,
230
Bloom as in Native.
101 118
From these results itis probable that the presence and
absence of wax in Ricinus constitute a Mendelian pair.
A general survey of the plants showed a re-appearance
of all the characters of both parents, and, in addition, others
not possessed by the Jatter. Some of the new characters
appeared to be of economic value; e.g. one or two plants
possessed a larger number of fruits to the spike than either
parent Certain of the plants possessed the habit of shedding
the whole capsule as soon asit became ripe. This character
is obviously an undesirable one.
Without entering into the subject in a very detailed
manner, it may be said that until exhaustive experiments on
a large scale have been carried out in the West Indies, it
must remain an open question as to whether the cultivation
of this cropis likely to be a commercial success. At the same
time the writer does not know of any institution in the West
Indies which has sufficient. resources at its command to carry
out such a series of investigations,
8.C.H,
No, 416.
Vor. XVII. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
101
—
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
©. GreNApA. Reports from the Agricultural Instructors for
the month of February, which have recently come to hand,
indicate considerable activity over native food production
work. Both officers are engaged on the native food crops
-eainpaign this year.
It has been decided by the Agricultural and Commercial
‘Society that a Provision Gardens Competition be offered in
-each parish in Grenada and in Carriacou during 1918. No
cacao competition has been offered this year. A Cotton
Competition will be offered by the Agricultural Department
in Carriacou during 1918.
Aegarding the chief industries, it is stated that the cacao
crop continued during the month with very big pickings and
most estates are well forward up to date, The spice crop
has a satisfactory appearance and prices are moving upward.
The sugar crop does not show very satisfactory prospects.
In regard to peasant agriculture, praedial larceny is
complained of as being on the increase, A yam (locally
known as Cut-and-throwaway) was dug by a peasant at
Grand Roy, weighing 53ib. and measuring 3 feet 6 inches in
length. With favourable weather the planting of sweet
potatoes still continues,
pominica. The Curator, Mr. Joseph Jones, reports
usual routine work in the Botanic Garden and Experiment
Station during the month of February. Plant distribution
included 2,650 limes, 150 shade trees, 100 vanilla, 142
miscellaneous. In addition, 344 packets of vegetable seeds
were sold. The price paid for fresh green limes locally rose from
10s. to 16s. per barrel, whilst ripe limes remained unchanged
at 6s. 6d. per barrel. The Permanent Exhibition Committee
met on the 27th instant, and decided to take steps to
forward to the newly formed Commercial Museum at Ottawa
a collection of samples of the chief commercial products of
Dominica. The weather was normal; the rainfall for the
month equalled 8°73 inches.
MONTSERRAT. Plant distribution during February was
as follows: bay plants, 610; cane cuttings, 7,250; sweet
potato cuttings, 1,200; ground nuts, 12 tb.; and pedigree
cotton seed, 2401. In the Botanic Gardens three distil-
lations of “bay: leaves were made with the usual results.
Regarding staple crops, Mr. Robson observes that good rains
‘having recently fallen, a start will be made to plant the
new cotton crop. ‘The destruction of old plants from last
erop had been carried out fairly effectively, although a
number of prosecutions: under the Cotton Ordinance were
found necessary. [tis suggested that 2 special instructor
should be appointed each year for about six weeks to carry
out the provisions of this Ordinance. The importance of the
cotton industry to the small grower is evidenced by the fact
-that for the sale of cotton 1,043 licenses Were issued in the
past season. Present’ indications are that the area planted
in cotton in 1918 will exceed that of any previous year.
A shortage of vegetables is feared, as the weather in Novem-
ber and December prevented the planting of potatoes to any
extent. Samples of cotton lint were sent to the newly
formed Commercial Museum at Ottawa. The rainfall
recorded at Grove Station was 6°38 inches; the distribution
however was very local, and the windward district has had
very little rain. ;
nevis. Mr. W. I. Howell, in his notes for the month
-of February, refers to the progress made by the vari-
ous plots in the Experiment; Station. Plant distribution
included 1,000 cassava cuttings, and 6%. of cotton seed.
The cane crop throughout the island is being reaped but the
returns are poor. Sugar is -being made on some of the
estates; the greater part of the crop, however, is being sold
to the St. Kitts Factory. ‘The old cotton bushes are being
pulled up and preparation made for next season’s crop. di
sufficient labour can be obtained there is likely to be a fairly
large increase in the acreage under cotton cultivation this
season. There is a large quantity of available land for
cotton growing, and advances could be obtained; the only
difficulty is labour. A small area was planted in provision
crops during the month but not nearly as much as ought to
be putin, and every effort is being made to induce growers
to plant ground provisions.
The total number of bales of ‘cotton purchased for the
Admiralty amount now to 923, weighing 297,535. The
rainfall for the month was 3'27 inches, and for the
year; 5°45 inches.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. The Curator reports plant distribution
at Tortola as follows: onion’ seedlings, 58,600; ‘cassava
cuttings, 525; potato cuttings, 325; coco-nut plants, 12;
cotton seed 10fb.; vegetable seed, 6 packets. The condition
of the cottou crop, Mr. Fishlock writes, is somewhat better;
the plants are recovering from the attacks of cotton worm,
There will be a small cane crop. Onions are promising
a good crop, but the prices in the local market are likely to
be lower than last year. The weather was more favourabla
than in January. Rain fell: in. measurable quantity on
nineteen days of the month, the total precipitation recorded
at the Station being 2°40 inches. It is hoped, Mr. Fishlock
observes, to resuscitate the Cotton Growers’ Association. A,
meeting with this object in view was planned for March 8,
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
News has been received that-Sir Francis Watts,
K.C.M.G., the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture
for the West Indies, arrived in Jamaica on February 27.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Se., Entomologist on the staif
of this Department, has been decorated by the Sultan
of Egypt with the Order of the Nile, Third Class, in
recognition of his services in the investigation of cotton
pests during the past year in Egypt.
A despatch has been received from the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, to the effect that Mr. Ballou
left- Port Said on February 18, on his return journey
to the West Indies. :
Mr. S. C. Harland, B. Sc.,
Scientifie Assistant for
Cotton Research, returned’to St.
\s
W
Vincent on March 23,
According to the dustralian Sugar Journal, November
8, 1917, Cuban sugar planters are advised to use native bas
guano asa substitute for phosphate. Formerly very little
was known regarding the deposits in the bat caves of Cuba,
re HO
ths
but considerable activity is now being manifested in
working of them. These caves are in the limestone
and for centuries. have been the home of millions of
whose excrements and bodies have leit depo
principally of phosphate of lime, sometimes amo
as much as £0,000 to 50,000 tons “and probably more.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Arrit 6, 1918.
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ended March 9, 1918, is: as follows:—
IsLaNnps. There has been some inquiry, but only
a limited demand for Fine to Fully Fine, yet notwithstanding
this, Factors continue very firm in their views, refusing to
make any concessions to sell. The small sales reported con-
sisted of Fine to Fully Fine, slightly off in preparation. We
can buy full quality at our quotations, and can make satis-
factory shipments at prices relatively cheaper than Georgias
and Floridas.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine 75¢, to 80c=77c. to 82c c.if.
Fine to Fully Fine 73c. to 734c.=75c. to 7d5he. c.if.
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71c.=72c.
LORMOC MC It.
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 65c. to 68c. = 67c. to 70c cif.
GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS, The market in Savannah has
been very quiet, with the limited offerings firmly held.
During the past few weeks 300 to 400 bales have been
bouglit on account of the Northern Mills, on a basis of average
Extra Choice at 73c. These purchases were made partly
in the interior markets.
The stock of the better grades, Extra Choice and Fancy,
is small, especially so, Fancy, and they are held at le.
advance over average Extra Ghoice. It would be difficult to
fill orders satisfactorily for Fancy only.
The holders of the unsold stock still think that the
cotton will be required in time, and that the spinners will
pay full prices.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Choice and Fancy 74c=76c. c.if.
Average Extra Choice 73e=75c. cif.
Choice 72c=7T4e. cif.
The exports from Savannah for the week have been, to
Liverpool 50 bales, to Northern Mills 390 bales, and from
Jacksonville, nil.
THE NEED FOR MORE COTTON.
An article in Zhe Zimes Trade Supplement, February
1918, on the cotton industry, remarks that spinners and
manufacturers of cotton goods regard with suspicion estimates
of cotton crops. Crop estimates could be made however on
a scientific basis so as to be trustworthy, and if they were so
made they would have a steadying influence on the price of
cotton all the year round, and would be of real benefit both
to growers and consumers. The article referred to goes on
to say that as far as can be ascertained, there will be enough
cotton to meet all the demands of this season, and to leave
a comfortable margin to be carried into the next season. For
one thing, consumption is on a low scale owing to the abnor-
mal prices; and for another, merchants are prepared to work
with smaller stocks than usual.
That the supplies of the raw material are sufficient to
meet the requirements of this season seem to be generally
admitted. That the present supply is not within measurable
distance of the needs of the not distant future seems also to
be certain. When the fantastic prices which the war has
brought into existence depart, the demand for cotton goods
is bound to be enormously increased. One fact which the
war has emphasized is that articles of clothing made of cotton
are more useful than was realized before, and are compara-
tively cheap, Itis inevitable, therefore, that when peace is
declared there will be a great demand for them.
At the present time the Lancashire industry is far too
dependent upon the United States for its supply of cotton.
Cotton supplies have been, as we know, short for several
seasons, Cotton prices have advanced to about four times
as much as they were at the beginning of the war. Then
there is the fact to be reckoned with that whereas seven years
ago American cotton mills were only consuming 36 per cent.
of the American*cotton crop, last year these mills consumed
54 per cent. And the proportion is increasing year by year,
The Lancashire industry has to face the prospect of the
American mills consuming, all the. product of the American
cotton fields. Hence the supreme necessity of endeavouring
to secure supplies grown in the british Empire.
AVOCADO PEARS AS FOOD AND AS
A SOURCE OF OIL.
In spite of the prejudice among Americans against
food which they are not accustomed to eat, the avocado has
made rapid strides towards popularity in the United States,
as is evidenced by its increased cultivation in California and
Florida. In an article by Mr. Wilson Popenoe in the
Journal of Heredity, March 1918, on avocados as food in
Guatemala, he points out that among the Guatemalan
Indians the avocado replaces meat to a very great extent
in the dietary of those industrious people. He calls attention
to the food value of the fruit as shown by a table of analyses
by Professor Jaffa of the University of California in
Bulletin 254 of the Agricultural Experiment Station at
Berkeley. The results of twenty-eight analyses of about
twenty-four varieties showed that water was present in the
pulp or edible portion of the fruit in percentages varying
approximately from 60 to 80. Protein was present in
amounts varying from 1°30 to 5°7 per cent., while the
percentage of fat varied from about 10 to 30, carbohydrates
being present in varying quantities from 3°69 to 16:17
per cent. Finally the amount of ash varied from ‘60 to 1:93
per cent. Professor Jaffa, in his explanation of these
analyses, points out that the total dry matter in the edible
portion of the fruit is greater in the avocado than in any
other fresh fruit, the nearest approach being the banana,
which contains about 25 per cent, as compared with the
average 30 per cent, of the avocado. The protein content
is also high for a fresh fruit, approaching closely that of
some dried fruits in common use, such as dates and raisins,
Professor Jaffa says: ‘so far as protein and ash in fresh fruits
are concerned, the’ avocado stands at the head of the list,
and with reference to carbohydrates, contains on an average
fully 50 per cent. of that found in many other fresh fruits,
These facts alone would warrant due consideration being
given to the value of the avocado as a fresh fruit. The
chief value of the avocado as food, however, is due to its
high content of fat. This varies, as is shown by the analyses,
from a minimum of 9°8 to a maximum of 29:], with an
average of 20:1,’
As to the caloric or energy-producing value of the
avocado, 1 tb. of the pulp represents about 1,000 calories on
Gas
an average, corresponding to about 75 per cent. of the fuel
Vou. XVII. No. 416.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 103
value of the cereals, and not far from twice that for average
lean meat.
Professor Jaffa says that it would appear that, as far
as fruits are concerned, the avocado is in a, class by itself,
containing on the average a far higher caloric value than
any other fresh fruit except the olive.
It must not be assumed that the avocado hasa total
food value greater than that of lean beef. Itis only the
caloric values which are compared, and much of the value
of meat as a food lies not in the energy that it produces, but
in its ability to build up and repair the wa up tissues of
the body.
__.The presence of such a large Fee of oil in the
avocado has suggested that this fruit might yield a table
or cooking oil which would be as valuable as olive oil, peanut
oil, or other products of this nature. The Bureau of Chem-
istry of the Department of Agriculture, United States of
America, has extracted from the avocado a thick white fat
which strongly resembles some of the cooking fats now on
the American market, and A. C. Hageman of New York
was able to extract from avocados grown in Florida a green
oil very much like olive oil in character. -
The extraction of oil from the avocado ig a subject which
may possibly receive much attention, for it is possible that
the large quantities of avocados annually ‘produced in the
American tropics might be utilized for this purpose.
In comparing the possibilities of the ayocado with the
olive as an oil producer, Mr. Popenoe calculates that
assuming that 50 per cent. of the oil in the fruit be lost in
extraction, 48 gallons of oil would be the Average product
per acre from avocado trees, which is practically the same
as the average obtained from the olive in Gee rnia to-day;
but, considering that the calculations are based on the
percentage of oil contained in the Trapp variety of avocado,
which is not quite 10, while in some other varieties it is as
high as 30, there is evidently a possibility of getting more oil
from avocados than from olives.
No commercial extraction of oil from the avocado has
been undertaken as yet, and the calculations, though based
on actual figures obtained in Florida avocado groves, and on
laboratory analyses of the fruit, are not to be considered as
anything more than suggestive of the possibilities of this
fruit in a very important line, the production of oil.
FOOD-BORNE INFECTIONS.
An address on the above subject delivered by Dr. Edwin
©, Jordan tc the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, at Pittsburg, in December 1917, is given at
length in Scrence, January 25, 1918. Some interesting extracts
from it are given below. Dr. Jordan says that not long ago
the majority of attacks of gastro-intestinal disturbance,
traceable to some food eaten shortly before, were declared
due, to ptomaine poison, and were deemed to be sufficiently
explained by this designation. It was believed, though
hardly on very good evidence, that the foods responsible for
the trouble had been kept too long or under improper
condition, and had undergone bacterial decomposition. This
decomposition was supposed to have resulted in the formation
of ptomaine, a name given to certain compounds formed in
the later stages of protein disintegration.
Confidence in this theory has been shaken by many facts.
For one thing, ptomaines are formed in the later stages of
protein decomposition, and there is little doubt that food
containing ptomaines would almost invariably be condemned
by the senses as nauseating and unfit for use, Perhaps
the principal reason however for the decline in the belief
that ptomaines have any important share in the production
of food poisoning has been the discovery that in
many instances the responsibility can be placed definitely
upon other factors, The outbreaks of food poison-
ing that have been most thoroughly investigated have
been found to be due, not to the use of spoiled food contain-
ing ptomaine, but either (1) to the presence of true bacterial
toxins comparable to the toxins of the diphtheria and tetanus
bacilli and not to be regarded as the simple product of
decomposition, or (2) to infection with specific bacteria borne
in or upon the implicated food.
Poisoning from bacterial products in food, when it occurs
at all, seems to be due to the accidental and occasional
presence of toxigenic microbes which give rise to specific
toxins. Little is known about the condition under which
the relatively rare toxigenic bacteria find their way into
foodstuffs. All told, demonstrated instances of food
poisoning due to bacterial products are not very numerous,
On the other hand, the careful investigation of food
poisoning outbreaks has brought to light a very large number
of instances of apparent poisoning, which are in reality
due to infection with some pathogenic micro-organism,
In general micro-organisms pathogenic for man do not
increase freely outside of the human body, but in many foods
conditions obtain very much like those in the artificial culture
media used in laboratories. There are many instances where
the incriminated food when fresh gave rise to little or no
injury, but after standing twenty-four hours or less, without
visible signs of decomposition produced numerous cases. of
illness, There can be little doubt that the almost universal
preference tor fresh food rests on’a sound physiological basis.
Thorough cooking, including adequate pasteurization of
milk, is probably the best means of preventing all forms of
food-borne infection,
MINERAL OIL RESOURCES IN THE
BRITISH EMPIRE.
Some interesting facts about the production of mineral
oil within the British Empire were given by Professor J. 8.
S. Brame, of the Royal Naval College, in a recent lecture
before the London School of Economics. In the present
circumstances such sources are specially valuable, as being
less liable to interruption than those in foreign regions. By
far the most important source of supply is Burma, which
furnishes nearly 3 million gallons per annum. Assam and
the Punjab also afford useful contributions, while among
other regions may be mentioned Taranaki in New Zealand,
Trinidad and Barbados, Canada, Egypt, Sarawak, and British
North Borneo. In Canada the output has unfortunately
diminished during recent years. Within the United Kingdom
the Scottish shale-oil industryis an important asset, and
further possible sources in Norfolk and elsewhere are being
examined. There are vast latent possibilities in the distil-
lation of oil from the tar fields of Athabasca, which extend
over thousands of miles, and probably contain enough oil to
last the world for 2,000 years. When the country is more
fully developed, better transport facilities available, and
the cost of extraction reduced, these deposits may
prove a very valuable asset to the Empire. At present, only
about 3 per cent. of the world’s production of mineral oil
comes from the British Colonies and Dominions.
The foregoing information is gleaned from the /owrnad
of the Royal Saciety of Arts, February 8, 1918,
104
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. |
Aprit 6, 1918.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — Barsapbos.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
Specimens tor naming, should be addressed to the
ommissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for, copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
‘ The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of , SirFrancis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF,
Scientific Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Biodtigisis fH. A. Ballou, M.Se.+
bil aa \J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologisi
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research’ §._C. Harland, B.Se.tt
CLERICAL STAFF,
A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
P. Taylor.*
LK. R. ©. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egupt.
7+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Chief Clervi:
Clerical Assistant:
Typist
Agricultural dlews
SS
on - E —————————
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1918. No. 416.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
Experiment Stations,.and their function in agri-
cultural science form the subject of the editorial in
this number
The life-habits of the West Indian mole cricket
ve described under Insect Notes on page 106,
Under Plant Diseases will be found notices of
= new bacterial disease of Citrus trees,and a new and
serious disease affecting sugar-cane in Porto Rico.
on eastor-oil plants in the West
Indies ppear or page 100
some
notes
Coco-nut Prices
Dominica.
By a Proclarnation published in the Dominica
Opicial Gazette, March 4, 1918, the exportation from
that island of coco-nuts, coco-nut plants, copra, or any
product of the coco-nut is prohibited except under
certain conditions.
By a notice published in the Gazette of March 6,
the local retail market prices for mature coco-nuts have
been fixed at 14d. for one, or Is. 3d. for a dozen small
coco-nuts, and 2d. for one, or 1s. 9d. for a dozen large
coco-nuts. The price per 100 is fixed at 10s., and per
1,000 at £5 12s, 6d. tor small nuts, and at 14s. per 100,
and £6 5s, per 1,000 for large ones.
Mr, Joseph Jones, the Curator of the Botanic
Gardens, Dominica, in a letter dated March 16, 1918,
states that coco-nut butter is being used in increasing
quantities. Im the country districts the parish priests
are teaching the people how to make coco-nut butter
on the lines of the recipe wnich was published in the
Agricultural News of October 6, 1917.
—— |; -
and Coco-nut Butter in
Committee on the Development of the Economic:
Recources of St. Lucia.
The Administrator of St. Lucia has recently appoint-
ed a Committee to consider what steps can be taken by
the Government further to develop existing resources of
economic value, and to encourage the cultivation of
products which, will be of value to agriculture and to.
the revenue of the colony.
In a letter to the Chairman of the Committee,
reproduced in the Voice of St. Lucia, March 2, 1918,
the Administrator, after referring to the steps taken
by the Government with regard to the lime industry
and the drying, of corn, and to the proposed establish-
ment of a factory on co-operative lines for the extraction
of coco-nut oil, goes on to say that limes, corn, and
coco-nuts do net exhaust the list of economic products
either already cultivated or capable of being developed,
whether for local consumption or tor export, either as
raw material or ina manufactured state, He remarks
inconclusion that the only sound policy is to attach
the peasant to the land by providing the means
whereby he can translate the fruit of his labour inte
money. Ifit is made worth his while he will stick to
the land.
TT A
Sweet Potato Starch.
A letter to the Journal of the Jamaica Agqri-
cultwral Society, January 1915, points out that the
sweet potato makes a splendid starch which can be
used for pretty nearly the same purposes as cassava and
other starches. It makes very nice cakes, biscuits, and
eyen bread, when mixed with wheat flour or corn
meal. The writer gives the following as the process
of manufacture:
‘Select ripe, sound, potatoes, and wash them clean,
there being no need to scrape or peel them: grate them
in the same way as arrowroot Or cassava is treated,
Wash the grated stuff through a clean soft strainer in
Vor. XVIF. No. 416.
the same way as the other roots, and allow to settle.
The sooner the starch is taken out and dried after it
settles, the better its colour. :
‘The refuse left in the strainer, mixed with wheat
four or corn meal, can be made into puddings or dump-
lings.’ }
Ee
Pedigreed Seed. ;
Much interest in this subject is being evinced in
Canada, as shown by various articles in the Agvricul-
tural Gazette of Canada, February 1915.
The outstanding requirement ih good seed is that
it be able to reproduce plants with desirable characters.
In speaking of pedigreed seed wemight define it as
that grown from plants with a ‘known record, and
strictly speaking. that definition is correct. In
seed, as in live stock, the ruling principle is that like
tends to produce like, as a result of which it is of the
greatest importance that the seed or the animal used
for propagation of its kind should be of the best
quality and breeding. Two methods are used in this
direction: hybridization followed: by selection, and
selection alone. In every case where selection has
been consistently applied to plants grown in cultiva-
tion, its value has been proved in maintaining the
purity and vigour of the type.
The Relation of Flowering to Crop on Lime
Estates.
Mr. Joseph Jones, the Curator of the Botanic
Garden in Dominica, sends the following interesting
note on the above subject: — :
‘Recently, lime trees have flowered abundantly,
which is taken by many to indicatéan excellent coming
crop. But lime trees always flower sufficiently to bear
excelient crops, as successive flushes of flowers occur
between January and June. The dominating factor
in crop production is the presenee in the soil of the
necessary plant foods in sufficient quantities to enable
a good crop to be borne. The well-grown trees, with
their dark-green foliage, which are seen on the best
lands, although they flower well, never make a con-
spicuous show such as is seen on thin-foliaged trees
growing on soils which, owing to poor husbandry, are
deficient in the elements necessary for healthy and
productive plant life. The latter trees in what is
called a good season are almost white with flowers: yet
this is nothing but an outward sign of poverty, and
a visible assurance that a good crop cannot be carried
owing to lack of vigour caused by want of plant food.
Estimates of coming crops on the mere evidence of
flowers should never be made. It would be better to
base estimates on the amount spent in draining and in
fertilizing the fields. There never was a tree more
willing to do its work of producing fruit than the lime.
If only cultivators were as willing to do their share in
attending to the tree’s requirements, the lime crop of
Dominica would be doubled or nearly so within two
years. As it is, even under the best conditions, nothing
like full advantage has been or is being taken of the
wonderful bearing capabilities of the lime tree.’
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
105
The Influence of Radio-Active Ore on Plants,
The question as to whether radio-activity plays
any part in the growth of)plants has been considerably
debated, and although statements have been made as
to the value of radio-active material in the soil, based
mainly on the resultsf experiments conducted in
America, the work donéso far in England has not
bourne out the expectation, An extensive series of
trials carried out at Reading by Mr. H. I. Sutton, pro-
duced negative or contratlictory results. In the report
er pot-culture experiments in 1916 at the Woburn
Experimental Station: Dr. Voelcker, Consulting
Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England,
gives the result of investigations on this point carried
out at Woburn.
A quantity of a radium ore from Portugal, very
finely ground, was obtained, and used in the experi-
ments. The ore was stated to be ground radio-active
natural ore, and to contain ‘15 per cent. of uranium
oxide,
It was determined to try it in quantities equiva-
lent to 5 ewt., 10 cwt.,and 1 ton, respectively, per acre,
and on a wheat crop. The experiments were in
duplicate, with two untreated pots as controls, each
pot containing 40Ib. of soil. The ore was used intimate-
ly mixed with the top 20Ib. of soil.
There was nothing to be noted in regard to
germination, the several treated pots and the untreated
all doing much about the same. During the period
of growth also, the untreated set looked quite as well
as any of the others. The crop was harvested five
months after sowing, the result being that the untreated
pots gave a somewhat superior return both of corn and
straw compared with any of the treated pots It would
not appear therefore, from this experiment, that there
was any advantage whatever accruing in the case of
wheat from the application of radio-active ore.
—E—— _——
The Effect of Light in Healing Tree Wounds.
Experiments have been made in the Dutch East.
Indies on four-year-old rubber trees of equal dimensions,
to prove the influence of ight with regard to the heal-
ing of wounds of the bark. A note on the subject in
the India Rubber World, February 1, 1918, gives the
following short account of the experiments and results,
From each tree a strip of bark and cambiuna,
measuring | by 5 centimetres, was cut at a height of 15
metres from the ground, and the wound was covered,
excepting a small opening at the bottom, with pieces
of blue, green, yellow, red, and colourless glass. The
best results were obtained with the blue and colourless.
glass; yellow glass gave the worst results, all the wounds
under this becoming imouldy, It appeared also that
wounds from which the rubber scraps had been removed
healed more slowly that those in which scraps had beer
left, while the latter healed less rapidly than wounds
covered with colourless glass. thus indicating that it is
desirable to cover wounds on the trees asa healing
measure
106
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS Arr. 6, 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
THE WEST INDIAN MOLE CRICKET
OR CHANGA.
An account of the West Indian mole cricket (.Scapferiscus
vicinus) has recently been issued by the Porto Rico Agri-
cultural Experiment Station under Bulletin No. 23 by Mr.
R. H. van Zwaluwenburg. Since the above species or closely
related species of mole crickets occur as pests of vegetable
garden crops and of grass lawns in some of the other West
Indian islands, it may be useful for readers of the Agricultural
Vews to have a brief description of this insect and of some
of the control measures used against it in Porto Rico.
This mole cricket is commonly known as the ‘changa’
in Porto Rico, a name derived, according to the writer, from
the fancied resemblance of the insect’s head to that of
a monkey (chango). This cricket’is considered to be the most
serious insect pest of general agriculture in the above island,
and has been the subject of investigations extending over
a number of years. :
DISTRIBUTION.
The writer states that the first mention of this insect as
a pest appeared in 1836 in letters from A. McBarnet of
St. Vincent, who described the cricket as injurious to pastures
and to cane plantings. Although the pest is named only as
the ‘mole cricket’, the insect in question is without doubt
this species.
This cricket has usually been known in literature under
the name of Scaféeriscus diductylus, but didactylus is
apparently limited in its distribution to parts of South and
Central America, whereas .S. a/cé/js has a wider distribution,
being found in the south-eastern United States, the West
Indies, and portions of South America. The present known
distribution of the ‘changa’ (S. v/e/nus) is given as follows:
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Cuba, Haiti, Costa Rica, Panama,
Porto Rico, Culebra Island (P. R.), St. Croix, St. Vincent,
St. Lucia, Trinidad, Barbados, French and Dutch Guiana,
Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.
Fic. 2.
Seen from above and from the side,
Moe CRICKET
(U SS: Deft. Agric.)
HABITS, ©
The mole cricket is mainly an/underground insect, since
all its stages of development are spent in burrows, which it
rarely leaves, and then generally at night. This insect is
never found in heavy clay lands in’)Porto Rico, but in light,
loamy soils, which admit of easy‘tunnelling, whereas the
difficulties of burrowing in heavy soils would be too great:
The changa usually avoids tunnelling on very sloping land,
and works mostly on level areas. It was observed that this
cricket is influenced by moisture changes, since in the dry
season its burrows are carried to a depth of some 12 inches
while during the rainy season they are to be found usually
within 4 inches of the surface. In Porto Rico a prolonged
drought often causes an overland migration of adults and
nymphs at night to more favourable breeding and feeding
grounds. t ;
The mole crickét has its fore-feet powerfully developed
and well adapted for digging, while the hard rounded shield
behind the head is suitable for shaping and compressing the
soil which forms the’sides of the tunnel. The changa, in spite
of its clumsy movements, due to the weight of its fore-legs, is
a rapid runner, ever’ over the surface of the ground, where
it often increases its speed by short hops. In its under-
ground tunnels it is able to progress very rapidly, moving
forward or backward with equal ease. During the early
stages this insect is very active both in jumping and running,
but it was noticed that in the later stages the power of
jumping is lost, and in its efforts to leap the insect often
turns a somersault in mid-air.
The adult is a heavy, clumsy flier, landing heavily after
a long swoop. It isnot an uncommon occurrence in Porto
Rico : for adults to fly into lighted houses during the early
evening frcm dusk onwards, especially on damp cloudy nights,
FEEDING (1ABITS AND FOOD-PLANTS.
The changa is primarily a vegetable feeder, only occasion-
ally indulging in animal food. It remains underground and
feeds from below, and almost any young plant growth is
attacked. A seedling may be partially gnawed through at
its base, or in the case of tender growths almost the whole
sprout is pulled into the soil and eaten.
Of the crops of\economic importance tobacco seems to
be the one that suffers most from the changa in Porto Rico,
but the use of a poisoned bait (Paris green and flour) has
lessened the damage done to this crop.
Sugar-cane is attacked when planted on loose or sandy
soils, the injury beingyeonfined to the germinating seed and
to the bases of the young shoots, which are partially gnawed
through.
Most garden crops, such as corn, tomato, cabbage, lettuce,
and pepper, are severely damaged by the changa. Grasses
of all kinds serve as food for this cricket, Pasfa/wm sp. and
Lleusine indica being the favourites among the common wild
species. Damage is also done to the roots of any plants that
happen to be encountered by this insect in the course of its
‘tunnelling.
LIFE-HISTORY.
The life-history was worked out under laboratory
conditions, but the writer is of opinion that it does not seem
probable that the results so obtained differ very much from
the actual life-cycle under natural conditions, except that in
nature the developmental stages are probably shorter than
in the insectary.
Egg. The gray, oblong-oval, shiny eggs are laid in an
oval chamber about 1} inches long, | inch high, and 1 inch
wide, According to ‘the observations of the writer this
chamber is a blind pocket leading off from one of the galleries,
and its entrance is concealed by a packing of loose earth
after the eggs are laid,‘Wwhich serves to protect them from
nymphs or adults. The eggs are dropped by the female in
aloose heap. It was found that under laboratory conditions
the egg stage averaged about nineteen days.
Later stages. After hatching the young changa is very
active and begins feedirig almost immediately. During the
first few days of its life the changa exhibits a cannibalistic
tendency under insectary conditions, but cannibalism is not
Vou. XVII. No. 416.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
107
entirely confined to the earlier stages. ,The earliest hatched
and stronger members of an egg cluster often feed on the
weaker ones, or on some of the eggs, while the adults, both
males and females, devour the eggs whenever chance offers.
This species of mole cricket usually moults eight times
after the egg stage, although occasionally males are recorded
as moulting only seven times before reaching the adult con-
dition. The younger stages are somewhat similar to the
adult in general appearance. The fore-legs are slender at
first and the wings are undeveloped, but with each succeeding
stage the nymph becomes more like the adult, the fore-legs
gradually developing and growing specialized for digging,
while the wings increase in size with each moult. Moulting
asa rule is carried out in a specially constructed underground
cell similar in shape to the egg-chamber, but it sometimes
takes place above ground.
It was found that the entire period from the egg stage
to the adult averaged 295 days for nineteen individuals.
It is estimated that about a year is required for the full
development of a generation.
ENEMIES.
No true parasites have been found to attack the changa
in Porto Rico, but this insect has a number of predaceous
enemies, the combined efforts of which, however, are unable
to keep it under control.
The writer states that the most efficient enemies of the
changa are to be found among the native birds. The two
most important birds in this connexionare the Cuban green
heron (Busorides virescens cubanus), and the Porto Rican
sparrow hawk (fulco sparverius loguagula). Among other
birds mentioned as feeding on the mole ‘cricket in Porto Rico
are the little blue heron or gaulding (/¥orida coerulea
coerulescens), the tick bird or ani (Cvotophaga azz), and the
rain bird or pitirre (Zyzaznus dominicensis dominicensis).
It may be mentioned here that in St. Lucia the West
Indian mole cricket is attacked and eaten by the above species
of birds or by varieties of the same species. In St. Vincent
the gree-gree or chicken hawk (Awteo antillarwm) was found
by Clark to feed largely on mole crickets, This bird formerly
fed mainly on lizards, but owing to the fact that the lizards
have been greatly reduced in numbers. by the mongoose, it
seems that mole crickets have become the prey of the
gree-gree.
Fowls are very useful in feeding on mole crickets
where land is being cultivated, and hogs, in addition to
devouring white grubs, also eat the changa.
Among other probable enemies of this mole cricket
Boers by the writer are the large burrowing lizard or
‘siguana’ (Ameiva exul), the common centipede (.Sco/opendra
alternans), a predaceous carabid beetle (Ca/osoma alternans),
and the larvae of the luminous elaterid beetle (Pyrophorus
Luminosus).
J.C.H.
(Zo be continued.)
STORING OF SWEET POTATOES AND
OTHER VEGETABLES.
It is well known that a great difficulty in connexion
with sweet potatoes as a food supply is that of stor-
ing them for any length of time. At a meeting of the
Tacarigua District Agricultural Society in Trinidad on
February 23, reported in the Port-of Sparn Gazette, February
26, Mr. A. F. Miller read a paper on the preservation of fruit
and vegetables, in which he made some, useful suggestions on
this subject.
He said that the best way to deal with large quantities
was by hilling and banking. This might be carried out
under a shed, or other means could be used to prevent
exposure to weather. Lay out the ground (which must be
dry) with a ditch round the space required; put a good layer
of straw or trash; then put the potatoes (or other roots or fruit
to be preserved) in the form, of a mound of triangular section;
cover the whole heap with a,liberal layer of straw or trash,
and then cover with damp earth, packing firm with a spade.
Where large quantities were ,stacked, a zine pipe perforated
with l-inch holes should be placed upright through the
centre of the heap thus. allowing surplus moisture to
escape while the potatoes were going through their sweating
process. On a small scale the best way was to obtain
a number of empty cement barrels, and place at the bottom
of each a 3-inch layer of dry sand, then a layer of potatoes,
then another layer of sand, and so on, until full, putting
a layer of about 4 inches of sand on top; this would keep
the tubers quite sound for six months: and only one
barrel need be opened at a time. These methods were appli-
cable to potatoes, yams, tannias and all other root crops
(except cassava).
The same method might be employed in the storage of
many fruits, such as mangoes and citrus fruits, as well as
many kinds of other vegetables, such as cucumbers and
melongenes. Such fruit for storage should be picked in
a green-ripe or ‘full’ condition.
With regard to breadfruit and cassava, the following
hints seem useful. As to breadfruit, in the Marianne
Islands, the simple and effective method was used of peeling,
coring, slicing, and baking the green-ripe fruit in dry
ovens. These dried slices ate like biscuits and kept well.
With regard to cassava, without discussing the well-known
methods of starch, farine and tapioca preparation, the writer
described some of the less-known ways, such as preservation
for table use by slicing and sun-drying, and finally baking in
ovens like breadfruit slices.
AMERICAN POTASH.
The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts publishes the
following particulars in connexion with the potash supply in
the United States of America: —
The production of potash in the United States was
greatly increased in 1916, according to a report of the United
States Geological Survey. The total production of potash
salts and potash products in the United States in 1916 repre-
sented about 10,000 short tons of pure potash, with a net
value at point of shipment of at least $3,500,000. This is
ten times the value of the production reported for 1915, but
the figures submitted by many of the producers represent
only a start made towards the end of 1916.
The potash produced in 1916 was derived from the
following sources: —
Mineral sources.—Natural salts or brines, 3,
tons; alunite and silicate rocks (including furnace
recoveries), 1,900 short tons,
Organic sources.—Kelp, 1,100
(mostly from hardwood ash), 220 short tons;
industrial waste, 1,750 short tons.
The largest output comes from the Nebraska alkali lakes,
but the natural saline deposits elsewhere are beginning to
make important contributions. The production of potash
from organic sources is about half that from mineral sources.
The recovery of potash from pearlash isan old-established
industry.
850 short
dust
short tons; pearlash
miscellaneous
GLEANINGS.
The Judia Rubier IVordd for February 1, 191%, states
that the world’s total production of crude rubber of all
grades is estimated at about 240,500 tons, an increase of
nearly 40,000 tons on the previous crop. The rubber plan-
tations in the Far Hast are responsible for about 80 per cent.
-of the world’s total present production.
It is gratifying to learn from authoritative sources, says
the Dominica Chronicle, March 9, 1918, that the planting of
ground provisions has of late been carried out ona very
-appreciable scale. As one travels in the country districts
numerous new provision gardens are observed on all sides,
whilst many of those which were already in existence have
been considerably enlarged.
As the result of a series of experiments with ‘humogen’
(bacterized peat) in the treatment of beans and mustard,
the conclusion was reached that nitrogen, supplied in an
-active form like nitrate of soda, has been more eftective than
the same amount of nitrogen supplied in the less active form
of bacterized peat. (Report on Pot Culture Experiments,
1916, Woburn Experimental Station. )
It seems that unless the seedling cane B,6450 is planted
prior tothe end of November, or very early in December,
it will always be found very difficult to establish fields
planted in this seedling. The eye of this cane is small
and flat-lying, and for healthy germination requires most
favourable conditions as well as very careful planting.
<The Barbados 4ericuliural Reporter, March 23, 1918.)
During the year 1916, 14,772 tons of cacao were
exported from Ashanti, a decrease of 3,167 tons on the
previous year. ‘This was inno way due toa decrease in the
quantity produceable by the natives of the Dependensy, but
solely to the fall in prices, which so militated against the
industry that many cultivators did not even tronble to pick
their fruit, while others refused to sell at such low prices,
4 Calonial Reporis—Annual, No. 949.)
The Agricultural Department, St. Lucia, published in
February a leaflet on war-time recipes for using corn and
corn meal, gathered from various sources in order to popularize
this valuable food. In the introduction, Mr. A, J. Brooks,
the Agricultural Superintendent, draws attention to the fact
that a Goverement Granary is now being erected in Castries
to handle all the corn that the island can produce, and that
though the importation of corn meal from the United States
is now forbidden, corn can readily be obtained from
Venezuela, and the Agricultural Department is in a position
to grind this corn into flour as fast as the Jocal merchants
can handle it.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 6, 1918.
Experiments have been made in the Dutch East Indies to
determine the value of papain as a coagulant for Hevea latex.
It is reported that a watery solution of this preparation-
acted twice as powerfully as acetic acid of the same concen-
tration. Rubber prepared with papain has normal tensile
strength and period of vulcanization, but it has the disadvan-
tage that it dries with surprising slowness, and that smoked
sheet worked in the usual way can under no circumstances
be dried internally. “(The Zvdia Rudlier World, February 1,
1918.)
In the /ie/d, February 16, 1918, there is a notice of
a new vegetable gourd which might be worthy of trial in the
West Indies. This is known as the wax gourd (Benicasa
certfera), and is cultivated in India and other warm countries
as a vegetable, being used as we use the vegetable marrow.
The fruit grows to a large size, between 2 and 3 feet in length,
and weighing up to, or8 fb, ‘The flesh is solid, snow
white, and there is little waste. The skin is covered with
a white waxy substance, which is said to be used in Japan
for candle making. .The seeds yield an oil. The plant
thrives and fruits freely under the same cultural treatment
as the cucumber.
In Colonial Reports—Annual, No. 948, it is stated that
the exuberant fertility: of the soil is the principal asset of the
Gold Coast. Unfortunately the ease with which valuable
economic plants and trees thrive in the colony and Ashanti,
with practically no attention after planting, has engendered
in the native farmer a deep-seated reluctance to interfere in
apy way with the course of nature until the fruit is ripe for
him to gather. The most difficult task of the Agricultural
Department is that of persuading the cultivators, especially
the cacao growers, of the importance of keeping their
plantations clean, and using such simple measures of culture
and sanitation as may preclude the possibility of disease
spreading, and becoming a serious menace to the industry.
The Committee of the Imperial Institute for South
Africa and Rhodesia reports, according to the Rhodesiz
Agricultural Journal for December 1917, that in the pasi
much of the starch nsetl for industrial purposes in the United
Kingdom has been imported from (sermany and Holland.
Considerable interest therefore attaches to the possibility of
increasing such starch from British territories overseas, and
one of the most promising sources of supply is cassava, which
is widely grown in British tropical colonies. A sample of
cassava starch recently veceived at the Imperial Institute »
from Rhodesia was found on examination to represent a fairly
good \uality of starch, which should find a realy market
in the United Kingdom, if offered in commercial quantities.
From the /azex/ory af Seeds aud Plants Imported by
the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, Bureau of
Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture,
which was issued September 15, 1917, it appears that the
discovery of a new oil plant seems to have been made in
a creeping plant (/7uhenetia condphora) belonging to the
Euphorbiaceae, which grows in Kamerun, West Africa, in
tle fields among maize, and can be obtained in great
quantity, It bears a thin-shelled nut about the size of
a walnut, containing an oily kernel loose in the shell, It is
reported that these nuts contain 535 percent. of an oi)
which is used by the natives for cooking, but which migh:
be a valuable substitute for. linseed oil, to. which it is very
similar.
Vor. XVII. No. 416.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 109
THE GUINEA FOWL.
Farmers Bulletin 858, of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, comprises an instructive account of
the guinea fow!, by Andrew 8. Weiant, Scientific Assistant in
Poultry Investigations, Animal Husbandry Division, from
which the. following notes are summarized as being of
interest to poultry keepers in the West Indies.
Several species of wild birds, known as guinea fowl, are
found in Africa, and derive their name from Guinea, which
is situated on the West Coast of that Continent. From one
of these wild species (Vumida meleagris) the common domes
ticated guinea fowls are descended. They have long been
domesticated, having been raised as table birds by the ancient
Greeks and Romans. In Africa, where there are still many
wild flocks, they are highly prized by hunters of game birds,
and in England they are sometimes used to stock game
preserves. In the United States guinea fowl are also
growing in favour as a substitute for game birds, with the
result that guinea fowl raising is becoming more profitable.
Domesticated guinea fowls are of three varieties —Pearl,
White, and Lavender. ‘The pearl is by far the most popular.
It has a purplish-gray plumage, regularly dotted or ‘pearled’
with white, and is so handsome that frequently the feathers
are used for ornamental purposes. The white guinea fowl
is of pire-white plumage, and the skin is somewhat lighter
in colour than in the pearl variety. Lavender guinea fowl
resemble those of the pearl variety except'that the plumage
is of a light gray or lavender, regularly dotted with white
instead of a dark or purplish-gray dotted with white. By
crossing the pearl or lavend+r varieties with the white, what
is known as the ‘Splashed’ guinea fowl is produced, the breast
and flight feathers being white, and the remainder of the
plumage being pearl or lavender. Crosses between guinea
birds and other poultry, particularly fowls, and less commonly
turkeys, are not unknown, but such birds without exception
-are sterile
The male and the female guinea fowl differ so little in
appearance that many persons have considerable difficulty
in making a distinction. Indeed it often happens that
those who are inexperienced in raising these fowls will
unknowingly keep all males or all females as breeding
stock. Usually the males can be distinguished by their
larger helmet [or ‘horn’ as it is commonly known in
the West Indies] and wattles, and coarser head, but
to be positive one should listen to the ery made by each
bird. That of the female resembles ‘buckwheat, buckwheat’,
and is decidely different from the one-syllable shriek of the
male, When excited, both the male and female emit one-
syllable cries, but at no time does the male imitate the cry
of ‘buckwheat, buckwheat’. [In the West Indies this cry is
usually vocalized as ‘come back, come back’.| Sex can be
distinguished by this difference in the ery of the male and
female when the birds are about two months old.
As regards breeding, guinea fow's in their wild state
mate in pairs like most other wild birds, and this tendency
prevails among domesticated guinea fowls also, provided the
males and females are equal in number. As the breeding
season approaches, one pair after another separates from the
remainder of the flock, and ranges off in the fields in search
of a suitable nesting place. Once mated in this way the
male usually remains with his mate throughout the laying
season, standing guard somewhere near the nest while the
hen is laying, and ready to warn her of any approaching
-danger. It is not necessary, however, to mate them in pairs
under domestic conditions to secure fertile eggs, and most
breeders keep but one male forevery three or four females,
When mated in this way the héns are more apt to lay near
home, and several usually lay in the same nest, thus making
it muck easier to find the nestsand gather the eggs.
As profitable egg-producers guinea hens can not compete
with the ordinary common fowl, but during the latter part of
the spring and throughout the summer they are persistent
layers. They usually begin laying in April or May. A short
time before the opening of the laying period the hens with
their mates begin searching for suitable nesting places among
the weeds and brush along the fences and in the fields In
this search the male takes as active an interest as his mate,
and when a suitable location is found both help to dig out
the nest and make it intoa suitable shape. Each day as the
hen goes to the nest to lay, the male accompanies her and.
remains near by until she comes off. Should anyone
approach he shrieks in warning, and thus betrays the where-
abouts of the nest, which might otherwise be difficult to
locate. From twenty to thirty'and often more eggs are laid
before the guinea hen becomes broody; if not allowed to sit,
she will continue to lay throughout the summer, laying from
forty to sixty and in some cases 100 eggs during the season.
If the hen becomes frightened by the intrusion of some
enemy, or if all her eggs are removed from the nest, more
than likely she will change her nesting place to a safer
locality, For this reason she should not be disturbed while she
is on the nest, and the eggs should not be removed without
leaving a few nest eggs in their place. If a number of eggs
are removed at one time half a dozen left in the nest usually
are sufficient to keep the hen from seeking a new nest. If
the eggs are gathered every day, two or three are usually
enough to leave as nest eggs. It is unnecessary to remove
the eggs with a spoon or to scrape them out with a stick, as
is sometimes done to prevent the hand from coming in
contact with the nest and leaving a scent. After the eggs
are gathered they should be handled with as little jarring as
possible, and should be set while fresh, never keeping them
more than two weeks if it can be avoided.
Suinea hens usually are too wild to be set anywhere
except in the nest where they have become broody, and
often such a nest is unsafe. Because of these disadvantages,
and the fact that guinea hens do not make the most
satisfactory mothers, ordinary hens and turkeys are
commonly used to hatch and rear guinea chicks, and it
is thus very easy to raise a large percentage of the total
number of chicks hatched, care -being taken to keep
them off wet grass for the first two or three weeks.
Guinea fowls are fed in much the same way as chickens, but
they require less feed, as they are natural rangers aud can
be trusted to find enough seeds of weeds and grasses, buds,
insects, and green vegetable in’ the fields to supply much of
their food.
When the guinea chicks are old enough to roost, that is
between six and eight weeks, they will leave their coop and
start roosting in some near-by tree or other roost that may be
provided for them. If they have been raised with a hen they
can be induced to follow her inside a poultry house and to
roost there. It is advisable to have them become accustomed
to go into a house or shed of some sort, otherwise it is almost
impossible to catch them when they are wanted for the
market. Guinea fowls, even after they are grown, become
quite attached to the mother hen, and this attachment affords
an easy method of controlling the natural wild instinct of
guinea fowls, and makes raising them under domestic condi-
tions much simpler.
1L0
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Arrit 6, 1918.
PLANT DISEASES.
CITRUS BLAST.
A second important bacterial disease of citrus trees was
announced two years ago as having made its appearance in
California. It was found to be due to a new bacterium to
which the name Bacterium citrarefaciens, Lee, was applied.
The affection itself received the name of Citrus Blast. A
descriptive account of the disease in its recent phase is given
by Robert W. Hodgson, of the University of California, in
the Quarterly Bulletin of the State Plunt Board of Florida,
dated January 1918, from which the following particulars
are obtained. ;
Since the season of 1915, when it was confined to only
two local areas, the disease has spread very rapidly and has
now been reported from practically all parts of the citrus-
producing districts of Northern and Central California. It
is described as having been particularly virulent in 1917.
Infection is apparently confined to new spring growth
or unseasoned wood produced the previous season, and occurs
mainly at the junction of the petiole and blade of the leaf.
Apparently a certain amount of infection also occurs at the
tips of the very young leaves and tender shoots. Upon
infection the leaf turns pale yellow, then darkens irregularly
in spots, and wilts in place, where it later shrivelsand dries
still hanging to the shoots. Once established the disease
progresses rapidly down the shoot toward the older wood.
Only relatively new growth is affected, the older limbs
possessing greater resistance. The yonng shoots are often
killed back to the older wood, including a portion of the
bark about the base of the shoot. At these points character-
istic lesions are formed, It is not unusual to find a branch
several feet long with every, node affected in this manner.
If the disease is virulent and conditions are favourable, as
was the case last season, it may. attack branches of the previous
season’s growth as large as }-inch in diameter, killing
them back for a distance of several feet. The killed area
about the base of the infected leaf or shoot varies consider-
ably in size, and is ordinarily more or less irregular in shape,
frequently extending some distance along the stem. In the
case of vounger growth girdling may occur about the point of
infection with the resultant deathof the shoot to this point.
The rapidity with which the disease spreads is remarkable, and
only a few days of the proper weather conditions are required
for serious damage to appear.
The disease is only active when warm damp weather
during a flush of grewth supplies favourable conditions
for its rapid development. In California these condi-
tions rarely occur save in spring, and with the coming
of the dry season the disease becomes quiescent. In
the period which follows, the lesions often exude a
pinkish resinous gum or bacterial slime, and such lesions
and all the dead tissues later take on a characteristic
dark-red colour. The dead twigs when dry are very hard
and tough. During the healing process wound callus is
developed at the infected nodes, which raises the dead lesions
up in the form of scab-like masses. These are sloughed
off in the course of time, leaving very characteristic scars
which are visible for several years.
What would be the form and ettects of the disease in
a climate which permitted it a longer period af activity is at
present unknown. Its effect in California is to kill back the
fruiting twigs first grown and so to delay the setting of fruit
until they are replaced by new growth.
Little or nothing is known as yet of effective methods
of control,
THE MOTTLING DISEASE OF CANE IN
PORTO RICO. ©
An account. of this new and serious disease of sugar-
cane, based on an article by Mr. John A. Stevenson in the
Louisiana Planter, was given in this Journal (Vol. XVI, p.
286). In PAy/cpatholoay for December 1917, the same author
gives a later and more complete description.
The information as to the geographical distribution of
the disease is especially interesting, and is here quoted in
full: ‘The trouble first appeared in the Western end of
the island, in the region between Arecibo and Agua-
dilla, and in ,the summer of 1916 was practically
confined to that area, Since that time not only have its
ravages continued in the original territory, but its boundaries
have been extended so as to include an area extending from
near Bayamon to Anasco, or approximately a quarter of the
island,
‘It has not been possible as yet to ascertain how long
the disease had ‘been present before the first report was
received, but certainly a year, so that as near as is now
known it has been active about three years.
‘The trouble is as yet confined to the upper reaches of
the river valleys, to small enclosed inland valleys, and
particularly to fields among the foot-hills. The broad stretches
of the coastal plain, but little above sea-level, are still free
of disease, although they are planted to the susceptible
varieties of cane} and form great continuous areas. The
greatest damage has occurred in the rolling stretch of country
between Arecibo and Aguadilla, a region which suffers mucli
from drought. Cane culture has been abandoned on hundreds
of acres,
‘All observations show an apparent tendency of the
disease to occur in upland fields. In its eastward progress
it has apparently jumped from valley to valley, some distance:
back from the ocean, or has appeared sporadically rather than
working along through the continuous coastal fields.’
It is agreed that the monetary loss already runs into
hundreds of thousands of dollars. An instance is given of
one Central, which in spite of 3,000 additional acres planted
last year, and the purchase of some thousands of tons of cane
from outside districts, dropped behind its previous year’s
production by more than half a million pounds of sugar.
A considerable number of small planters have been complete-
ly forced out of cane growing in two years’ time.
The one marked and constant symptom of the disease,
and the one by which it is easily recognized, is the peculiar
mottling of the leaves, consisting of innumerable white or at
times yellowish spots and stripes with irregular indefinite
margins, The ground colour may be normal green, but
more often is yellow or yellowish green.
The mottling is apparent as soon as the leaves unfold.
In the ratoons the second type of lesion, canker of the
stalks, appears. At first there are linear spots somewhat
sunken, and brown in colour. They soon become ashen
or dull grey, and often coalesce to form continuous patches
practically covering the surface between the joints, but
never crossing the latter. They are quite superficial.
Not only is there a lack of juice in cankered canes, but
what does occur is’ of such an objectionable nature that the
centrals refuse to receive affected cane, ’
The cause of the disease remains obscure. All direct
measures of control have proved useless. In rotation of crops,
a practice previously unknown in Porto Rico, lies the only
visible prospect of saving the sugar industry in the affected
districts,
Vou. XVII. No. 416. i
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Ill
SUNLIGHT AS A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION.
A very suggestive paper on the influence of varying
amounts of sunlight as a probably potent factor in the
evolution of plants and animals was read by Colonel H. E.
Rawson, O.B., C.E., F.L.S., at a meeting of the Noyal
‘Colonial Institute on November 20, 1917, Major Leonard
Darwin, R.E., being in the chair. This ‘paper is printed
under the title, ‘The Sun as Empire-builder’ in the War
Number of United Empire for January 1918.
As the Chairman of the meeting pointed out at the
close of the reading, it is a well-known “fact that certain
plants show variations, especially in their leaf-structures,
according to whether they grow in sunlight or in shade.
‘There has, however, been no reason hitherto to believe that
these variations are heritable. To gain the fullest value
from any series of experiments we not only want the facts
carefully recorded, but we want a true explanation of them.
Before drawing any theoretical conclusion, great caution
has to be exercised, It may be that under certain condi-
tions of sunlight, certain Mendelian factors in the germ
plasm are slowly killed or weakened, and thus the result
might be not only that a slow change would appear in the
flowers produced year after year, but that a change or
mutation might also take place in succeeding generations.
The chairman concluded by hoping that Colonel Rawson
would associate with himself some physiological botanist
in the enquiry into his experiments, which had evidently
been conducted with great zeal and perseverance. He
warned him, however, that he would be strictly questioned
on many points, as, for example, the purity of the strain
of the plants experimented with, and the controls adopted
in his experiments.
Colonel Rawson exhibited a large number of examples
of what he claimed as the effect of sunlight in changing the
structure, as well as the colours of flowers, foliage, and other
organs of plants.
Nearly all of such variations had appeared from time
to time, and were known to botanists as sports, but attempts
to reproduce them at will, or to account, for them satisfac-
torily, have hitherto failed. These sports had been now,
in the experiments described, reproduced at will over and
over again. The method consists in removing full sun at
selected intervals of daylight by erecting a screen at any
convenient distance from the plant so as to secure that full
sun only falls on the plant when desired, while at other
times it gets all the skylight which its position will allow.
Whenever a result is obtained, the conditions should be
carefully noted and copied, even such trifles as the position
of any stakes supporting the plant.
Colonel Rawson says that when quartered in South
Africa, his attention was first drawn to this subject by
noticing that the portion of a border to a flower bed of the
shrub called the Kei-apple (déeria Caffra), which was in
shadow from an adjacent building for two hours in the
morning, died, though it was in full sunlight from 9 a.m.
to sunset, while the rest of the border, which got the full
benefit of the morning sun, flourished luxuriantly. The
same thing was observed in other gardens with the same
species of plant. He began therefore to make experiments
at Pretoria, and continued them in England to try to ascer-
tain whether any other plants showed a similar sensitiveness
to the direct rays of the sun.
Several garden vegetables were first tried, and the
results showed that, if they were deprived of full sun in the
early hours of the day, sunlight during the rest of the day
was not able to make up the loss. The plants that got the
morning low sun grow faster, and were stronger than those
deprived of it.
These preliminary experiments led to others being
made to see whether the colours of flowers were affected
by screening the plants at selected intervals of daylight.
It was decided to specialize on the ordinary garden nastur-
tiums (Zyopacolum majus, tuberosum and minus) on account
of the remarkable results obtained from screening a clump of
twelve of these plants, which had been established for some
two or three years in the garden.
Within two years eleven out of the twelve plants had
been transformed into a new purple variety, which was
unknown at Pretoria, and the seed from them came true
when the same conditions weré attended to in the screen-
ing. Seed brought to England also came true, and the
seeds from the twelfth plant at last also yielded to
screening under an English sun. This new form, now grow-
ing freely in Colonel Rawson’s garden, has doubtless given
vise, he thinks, tomany other forms which have appeared
from time to time. With the changes of colour in the
flower marked changes have occurred in the foliage. The
scent also changes with the colour. A range of colour has
been obtained from pure yellow toa rose-purple, and from
pure orange to a chocolate-purple. Varied as the colours
are, they can all be reduced by continuous screening of the
plants to one or other of the two forms, pure yellow or pure
orange.
It was found that the whole plant, not only the flowers
and leaves, was affected by the screening, many most curious
variations in structure also having been obtained. Some
of these variations have been reproduced at will time after
time, and after a change of colour or structure has been
obtained in three successive years, a large number of seeds
reproduce it without special screening. For instance, a dwarf
purple form has been obtained which comes true from seed
year after year, although there was no dwarf form nor purple
form in these experiments when begun twelve years ago.
Colonel Rawson considers that his experiments demon-
strate that with nasturtiums the yellow colour is correlated
with receiving the rays of the sun at a low altitude from
the horizon up to 35°, the red with a middle altitude from
35° to 55°, and the blue and purple with the sun above 55°,
and he believes that this will hold good for the colouring
of all flowers.
Experiments on yellow and red tomatoes seemed to show
that the yield of fruit is substantially increased by attention
to the shading which the plants receive from their surround-
ings at particular periods of daylight. Four times as much
fruit was noticed on a 30-foot length of yellow tomato plants
well placed for the reception of the rays of the low morning
and evening sun,as on a similar length parallel to it, but
shaded from these low rays.
As in the case of the Kei-apple, the consideration of
which led to these experiments, Colonial Rawson found that
he was able to render nasturtium plants unhealthy or to kill
them altogether, or to restore the unhealthy plants to vigour
by selective screening during short periods of daylight.
He affirms his belief that sunshine, shade, and darkness
represent the presence and absence of factors of energy as
important in the process of evolution as the presence and
absence of Mendelian units in tracing heredity. He thinks
that the examples of the sun’s influence on plants leave no
room to doubt its influence upon animals and man. He
concludes by hoping that many others, especially in sunny
lands, will be induced to inake similar experiments for
themselves and so increase our knowledge of what he
styles a ‘fascinating subject.’
112 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Arrit 6, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tue West Inpria CommitTTEE CrRcULAR,
February 7.
ArRowrno00T—No quotations.
Batata— Venezuelan Block, 3/4 to 3/7; Sheet, 3/10 to 4/-.
Berswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, no quotations; Grenada, no quotations;
Jamaica, no quotations.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Corra—£46.
Fruit—No quotations.
Grincer—Jamaica, 92/6 to 115/- per ewt.
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 2/- to 3/.; concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17/6.
Locwoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nurmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—4d.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 2/74; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., February 27.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $13°35 to $13°60 Trinidad, $13°25
to $13°75.
Coco-nut Om—$1°36 per gallon.
Corrre—Venezuelan, llc. to 12c. per fb.
Corra—$8°00 per 100 tb.
Duat—$14'25 to $14°40.
Ontons—$8°00 per 100 fb.
Pras, Sprir—$12‘00 to $12°50 per bag.
Porators—English, 33°85 per 100 tb.
Rice—Yellow, $12:00 to $12°25; White, 9°50 per bag.
Svuear—American crushed, no quotations.
New York.—Messrs Gruesprz Bros, & Co., March 6.
Cacao—Caracas, I4c. to l44c.; Grenada, I4c. to 14hc.3
Trinidad, 14$c.; Jamaica, 12jc. i
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $48°00 to $50°00; Trinidad
selects, $45°00 to $4800; culls, $22°00 to $25°00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to 12c. per th.
Gincer—15jc. to 20c. per fb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 70c. to 75c.; Antigua and Barbados,
70c. to S75e.; St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 70¢e. tu 75ec.
per hb.
Grare Frouir—Jamaica, $2°25 to $2°50 per box.
Limzes—$7 ‘00 per bri.
Macr—35c. to 40c. per th.
Nutmecs—24c.
Ornances—$6 000,
Pimento—6c. per fb.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:005c;Muscovados, 89°, 5'005c.
Molasses, 89°, 4°%48c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co,, March 4.
Arrowroot—$10'00 per 100 th.
Cacao—$12°50 per i100 in.
Coco-nuts—$24'60 husked nuts.
Hay—$2°90.
MotassEs—No quotations.
Onrons—No quotations.
Peas, Sprir—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations! Ran-
goon, no quotations.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 54°75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s, 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes IV to XV complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each—
pst free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. THos. LAwtor & Co., St. George.
West Inpra Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent; Mr. J. D. Bonapre, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: AvvocatE Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Niwes, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: Toe EnucationaL Soppry Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripcewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station,
British Guiana; Tuk Arcosy Co,, Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua; Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trimdad: Messrs. Muir-Marsuaut & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tur Brsie anp Book Surety AGENoy, BASsETERRE,
Tobago: Mr. C, L, PLAGEMANN, Scarborough. Nevis: Messrs. Howett, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W. Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto,
Wi,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SHED
And we are prepared to buy year after year.
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
Be a a a ED OY or
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that’
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
In exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
_ ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
_ AG’ GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
_ CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
4
i
;
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
q ERNEST THORNE, LTD. BARBADOS.
: PUP ct an Te oe
Lae, “ "
Vor. XVII. No. 416. THE AGRICULTURAL i Arr. 6, 1918, ;
THE BEST MANURE FOR GOLONIAL USE —
Is
Dissolved (Soluble) Guano
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GENERAL USE.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C.
/
Barbados Agents: James A. Lyneh & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
| THE BARBADOS |
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
___BARBADOS. _
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street] Bridgetown, Barbados,?
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1918. [One penny.
Vol. XVII. No. 417.]
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
. FROM THE
. WEST INDIES
Wy TO iS PORTS OF CALL
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[St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
| }Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
| \Bermuda, Halifax, N.S., & St. John (N.B,)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO | Grenada & Trinidad.
{ Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| |Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
‘}REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO ‘SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
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Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
ee em eee eh ee
& JAPAN.
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Branches at BARBADOS, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Rio ae Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
——_—— ———
Sa aan
THE IMPROVEMENT of NATIV
CATTLE in the WEST INDIES
Adverse Effect of Ticks
The Urgent Need for Dipping Tanks
| THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
—————E
Extract from an article by The Director of the Jamaica Department ef Agricaltare, published in Ne. 8 Vol. 11 of the “ Bulletin™
of the Department.
“Until quite recently very little had been done to control
the cattle ticks in Jamaica, beyond the application of “Tar
and Oil” as a smear to congested areas of large ticks.
The intensification of non-tropical blood in the herds,
with the consequent increase in the hair of the animals and
the tenderness of their skins, resulted in a serious increase
in the tick-pest under the inadequate system of control
generally prevailing on the pens.
er nee eeenwe
The consequence has been that the breeding of high-
j class beef cattle became commercially unprofitable owing
= to ihe serious loss of calves from tick-infection and the
{slow maturation of the fattening gangs. By the introduc-
ition of cheap cattle from Central Amierica about 20 years
t ago, the blood parasite of Tick Fever| was introduced into
‘Jamaica, and the tick-pest became not merely a sucker
, of the blood and a depreciator of the vital forces of our
-cattle, but an actual propagator of a parasite which
: destroyed the whole blood system of a susceptible animal so
_as to cause it the most serious loss of condition, or even to
: die of ‘red water.’ ;
When this disease first spread in Jamaica very serious
losses of cattle were incurred, and the best bred beef stock
were the most susceptible to the disease. By the control
of the ticks within reasonable limits, and the natural im-
munisation of the cattle that survived the attacks of the
parasite, the cattle industry surmounted’this attack, but
the deteriorating infiuence has remained, and even ‘immune’
cattle suffer severely from partial destruction of the blood
System when badly infested with the ‘grass lice, which is
the stage of the tick in which the fever parasite is inoculated
into the animal with fresh virulence.
I In the first degree, therefore, the improvement of our
beef cattle in Jamaica has been hampered by the tick
problem, and sepondly by the wide spread prevalence of
‘the fever parasite wherever cattle are bred in the Island.
The finest breeds of beef cattle are the most susceptible to
tick-infestation and the least resistant to the fever
ite. This fact explains the miserable animals that
have frequently resulted from the use of English Shorthorn
Bulls of the finest breeding on a native herd of cattle.
The half-breds have remained stunted and unthrifty
with long staring coats,and in many cases have proved
vastly inferior to their dams on which it was sought to
effect improvement by -the prepotent and pre-eminent
qualities of the premier breed of British Cattle, the
Shorthorn.
It has been found for example, that under ordinary
commercial conditions of management, 80 per cent. of the
Hereford Calves have died; whereas, under the same con-
ditions, only 10 per cent. of the progeny of the ordinary
tropical cattle with a basis of Zebu blood failed to mature.
The tick-problem, therefore, lies at the root of the
improvement of our Beef Cattle in Jamaica.
Since the visit of Proressor NEwsTEapD in 19]0, pen-
keepers have largely developed the spraying of cattle.
One proprietor reports that consistent spraying has enabled
him to prime his steers for the butcher in six months’ less
time than under former conditions of tick-control.
The use of Dipping Tanks is undoubtedly indicated to
be the best solution of the tick-problem, and Jamaica
should now resolutely follow the example of South Africa,
Australia, and the Southern United States in this direction.
It has been demonstrated at the Hope Farm that a Tank,
as designed by Mr. A. H. Ritcaie, Government Ento-
mologist, can be erected at a cost of £25 for labour
and materials, which is capable of dealing with a large herd
of cattle.
It may be safely asserted that no large enterprise in the
rearing and fattening of high-class beef cattle in Jamaica
can be adequately equipped without a Dipping Tank, and
it is hoped that a wide extension of dipping will very
shortly be taken in hand by all the larger proprietors of
cattle in the Island.” 3
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Gas received the official approval of the following Countries:
Galen of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland,
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar,
British East Africa, German Fast Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland,
United States of America, New South Wales,
Northera Territory of Australia.
WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
@T. KITTS: S.L.Horsford &Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Br $97 & Co
JAMAICA: D, Henderson & Co., Kingston.
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd.
BAHAMAS: W. N. Twynam, Nassau,
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone.
DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmlegelow, St. Croix.
MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton.
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries. &
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES : Terento, Chicago. Sydney, Melbourne, Amckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa.
= , ; tie
rire
LIN HY
QS 2777.7
EE: f 2: | NY RY ec)? &
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Voi. XVII, ‘No. 417, 4 BARBADOS, “APRIL 20, ils. etc te meee 1d.
CONTENTS. availed to control the pest or disease, so as to allow
PAGE. Pace. of the continuation of the cultivation of the crop with
Agriculture in Barbados 119 | Market Reports ... ... 128 due precautions; but meanwhile disastrous conse-
Cotton Notes: | Notesand Comments ... 120 2 Ay ap a a Seen ee a
, quences to planters have necessarily ensued.
British Cotton Growing Pacaya or Salad Palm ... 120 u E Yacuses
Association .... ... 118 | -Plants, Capillary Water- ‘ re. . Pee ; yes:
Cotton-Growing Resour- ing of a Sy EA One of the striking features of these epidemics Is
ces of Semitic ae : é fhe
ines the) British 11g | Sarawak Bean as a Cover the rapidity with which they spread. To take the
¥ ; ae ate fo bean a = hae : . a
Sea Island Cotton a a ar nists. De 120 coftee-leaf disease as an-example. Arabian coffee had
N fe Q Oo eri 1 ypimes, e- a . : ¥ = Ce
rf ae a eo Retse 118 velopment of The... ... 127 been cultivated in Ceylon by the Dutch from the later
asheen Shoots, oremye - ae r < i S
and Blanchingof ... 121 | S¥s# Tadustry:— years of the 17th century. Its culture had been lazgely
Bp eancs os Re Pests TE SN ee meee = 116 extended under English rule, so that the production
Food Mammal. A New 15 "| The Sugar Factory as had reached a total of nearly 1,000,000 ewt. in 1873
ee es emails oe i. iu lig Tepresenting invested capital of nearly £14,000,000.
Gleanisia (oy is ot ee Thyme New The leaf disease, cansed by a fungus (Heimileia
>
Insect Notes:— vastatri), believed to be indigenous on certain native
Fleas and their Control 122 | Vesetable Oil Pgs as ee - ao :
Mike West’ Indian Mile HVidsrota HCEMED RoRERaAtIOn shrubs allied to coffee, was only noticed to have assumed
Cricket or Changa 122 of by Fermentation and a virulent form about 1869. From this time it rapidly
Trems of Lozal Interest 119 | Salting Sohce ee arene 245) ae l | § isl 1 he x
Legumes as Green Manure, West Indian Products 127 spread { broughout the island, and led to the abandon-
Comparative Value of 120 ' Yerba Mate 121 ment of coffee cultivation on most of the plantations
on such a seale that the production of cotfee in Ceylon
Epidemics of Plant Pests and Diseases: in 1895 was less than one-fourth of what it had been
twelve years before. In Ceylon tea took the place
Past and Present. of coffee as a crop; but in other places, as in Java, the
eet struggle against the disease took the form of intro-
(era a5
BRN? KOM time to time there have oce irred in the
Vale past, and still do occur, severe outbreaks of
IS S) pests or diseases attecting various crops in This method of combating plant diseases or pests
ducing other more resistant varieties of coffee, such as
Cofiew liberica and C. robusta.
y,
diferent countrics. These may be so severe as to has been found effective in more than one instance,
threaten to destroy completely the cultivation of Just about the same time that the Hemileia was first
a particular crop in the region attected, and, in fact, in noticed in Ceylon, the vine industry in France was
some cases it has been necessary to substitute another threatened with extinction, owing to the wide-spread
crop for the one attacked. devastations of Phyllorera vastatriz, an insect which
had been introduced on imported vines from America.
Fortunately, in most cases incasurss. either prophy- It has been said that this insect cost France more
lactie or remedial, haye been possible, which have than the huge indemnity exacted by the Germany
114
THEAGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 20, 1918.
nnn ee Er En IEnI EEUU ESS
after the Franco-Prussian war. By using hardy American
varieties of the vine as stocks, this pest has been
controlled to a great extent.
In the West Indies the sugar-cane cultivation
towards the end of the last century seemed doomed,
owing tothe wide-spread infestation of the Bourbon
cane with the fungus of red rot, the so-called rind
disease. Here again the substitution of canes of a more
hardy type has replaced the sugar-cane cultivation in
these islands ona firm basis. The strains at first
available were much inferior to the Bourbon, but the
widening of the area of selection by raising large
numbers of seedlings has enabled types to be found
which, if not equal to the Bourbon in popular estimation,
at least give very satisfactory ‘returns. Somewhat
similar in effect, but differing in cause, is the destruc-
tive disease of sugar-cane known in Java as ‘sereh’.
Whereas in the case of the Bourbon cane the epidemic
is known to have been caused by a specific fungus
(Colletotrichum faleatwm), with regard to the ‘sereh’
disease, in spite of most patient investigation, the
actual cause still remains unknown. Though it
has not been definitely proved to be infectious
from cane to cane, it yet spread with great rapidity
over the lowlands of Java, and, once established, persists
in spite of the importation of planting material from
outside its range. But the fact’ that such material
takes a few years to become seriously infested has
enabled the industry to continue on the basis of a
carefully organized system, by which cuttings from
canes grown in nurseries in the hills, where the disease
does not occur, are used to plant the fields in the
lower lands, A similar epidemic'is just now causing
alarm among sugar-cane growers in Porto Rico.
Some of these plant epidemics, as was noticed
above, occur from the sudden multiplication of organ-
isms previously existing in the locality. Others, how-
ever, and these perhaps the most difficult to deal with,
have been carelessly introduced, and have usually
become well established before the menace of their
presence was realized.
__ A striking instance of this is the case of
the gypsy moth in the New England States. This
pest is a native of Enrope, where, probably on account
of the presence of natural enemies sufficient to keep it
in check, its ravages are negligible, A distinguished
entomologist at the University of Harvard had
some specinens of this moth sent him from Europe.
Seme of the moths escaped, and could not be recap-
tured. In a few years time they had so multiplied
that it seemed as if the larger portion of the forest
trees of the neighbouring States would be des-
troyed by the larvae. Hundreds of thousands of
dollars have been and are being spent by the
Federal Government and by the Governments of
the various States to control this epidemic pest, and it
is only kept in check by ceaseless vigilance.
Perhaps a still more remarkable case of damage
caused to forest trees by an epidemic is that of
the chestnut bark disease in the eastern United States,
The cultivation of chestnut trees has been carried on
for centuries by the Chinese for the sake of the nuts
The chestnut trees in China are attacked by a disease”
which is somewhat similar in appearance to the canker
that occurs in Enrope and America on apple trees.
The Chinese, however, have never noticed it as
especially harmful, nor is it conspicuous enough
to have attracted the attention ot travellers. This
disease, now known in America as the chestnut bark
disease, is caused by the fungus Hndothia parasiticu.
It seems to have been unwittingly introduced into
the United States somewhere about the year 1890, and
to have been distributed to various points on chestnus
nursery stock. The parasite found the American
sweet chestnut an attractive host, and has spread and
assumed a virulent character which, as far as is
known, is totally unparalleled in its native habitat.
The disease is now-generally distributed on native
chestnut trees from New Hampshire in the north
to Virginia in the south. It is difficult to estimate
the loss which the above epidemic has caused. In
1912 the total loss was said to be about $50,000,000.
The disease has killed all the chestnut trees in the
localities where it has been present long enough. No
case is reported of a tree or grove once attacked having
been saved by any method. No method has yet been
discovered to control it. It would seem that all
chestnut trees in the eastern States are doomed. Prob-
ably the chestnut forests will be to some extent
re-established by the breeding and
immune or resistant, varieties.
propagation of
Another introduced pest into the United States is —
the white fly (Alcwrodes citri), which has been
a menace to citrus cultivation in Florida and California
The story of the measures taken to combat this pest
was told in the Agricultural News, Vol. XVI, p. 383.
A still more serious disease, which is threatening in an
epidemic form the prosperity of the citrus industry, is
the citrus canker, due to a bacterium introduced from
the Far East. Here the only remedy that seems to he
of avail is the drastic one of absolutely destroying by
fire any trees with the least trace of the disease.
Vou. XVII. No, 417.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 115
LS eS eee
The story of the cotton boll-weevil is too well known
to need repetition, and that of the pink boll-worm seems
likely to achieve an equal notoriety. The warning,
however, against possible careless introduction of them
in chance importations of cotton seed or cotton waste
is worth repeating.
From these instances it would appear that the
agriculturist can never be sure that his crop is safe
from ravages of epidemics, whether caused by insects,
fungi, bacteria, or the still unknown and therefore most
insidious infections such as that which produces the
‘sereh’ disease. The only plan is that of care and
watchfulness—care in the cultivation of the crop, and
watchfulness against the introduction of pests or
infected plants. When such epidemic diseases as
citrus canker and the new cane disease of Porto Rico,
and such a pest as the pink boll-worm exist, compara-
tively speaking, in the immediate neighbourhood of
these islands, the authorities are well advised to main-
tain the strictest plant quarantine.
The greatest difficulty in these matters lies in the
impossibility, in the present state of knowledge, of
prediction. No man can say, for example, whether, if
citrus canker become established in these islands, it
would ruin the lime industry or prove to be compara-
tively harmless. And, conversely, it has been demon-
strated again and again that a disease or pest, so
obscure in its native country as to be unknown, may
in a new environment give rise to an epidemic of the
worst type.
A NEW FOOD MAMMAL.
The shortage of meat, and the high price of fodder have
caused a writer in the Journal of /feredity, August 1917, to
call attention to an animal the meat of which is delicious;
which eats food which has hitherto not been utilized; does
not occupy land suitable for cultivation; and is easily tamed.
This is the manatee of Southern Florida, scientificaily named
Trichechus latirostris. There are two other species of mana-
tee known, besides that which inhabits Florida, namely
T. inunguis which frequents the Atlantic shore from Mexico
as far as the 20th parallel of latitude south, and 7! senxega-
Zensis which lives along the shores of Africa and in the
Indian Ocean, All three species are very similar.
The manatee, popularly called the sea cow, is a docile,
easily domesticated animal, resembling a long-bodied seal in
appearance. The animal attains a maximum length of 15 to
18 feet, and old bulls weigh as much as $ or {-ton. These
animals breed in small lagoons, and produce one or two calves
at a birth, the family commonly consisting of four—the adult
pair, one half-grown, and the young ealf which is generally
born in the autumn.
The animal is perfectly inoffensive, and unable even to
resist attack. Its survival in the struggle for existence seems
to be due to the fact that it stays in shallow water, where it
is safe from enemies like sharks, and, being unable to go on
land, it escapes falling a prey to land carnivora.
According to Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, these huge
inoffensive creatures fairly swarmed in the rivers, bays, and
lagoons of Florida when it was first discovered. They grazed
upon the sea-weeds and water plants just as the herds of
buffalo grazed on the prairies of the west. The flesh of the
manatee was much prized, and its hide and oil were both
valuable. It was so easily caught that, with the increase of
the white population, it was threatened with extinction.
A protected herd still exists in the Miami River in Florida,
With suitable protection this herd would again increase, and
be made into an important food supply for Florida and the
world.
There is no reason to doubt that herds could be easily
kept in confinement as private property in the lagoons
of Florida, or in other suitable places in tropical or subtropical
regions. [t is to be remarked that in May 1907, a Bill was
passed by the Florida Legislature imposing a fine of $500
for the killing of a manatee.
The dugong, the only other genus of the order Sirenia,
besides the manatee, is an animal which is practically iden-
tical with the manatee except in a few minor anatomical
differences; it inhabits almost the whole tropical region of
the Old World. The dugong is considered by the Malays as
royal food, and their chiefs are entitled to all that are taken,
Unlike many unfamiliar meats the flesh of the manatee
is. universally liked by everyone who has tasted it. It is
often compared to veal cutlets, although some have likened
it to lean pork or tender beei, and all agree in praising
its whiteness, delicacy, and flavour. When salted it is like
excellent bacon, and keeps well. The buccaneers of the
18th century were accustomed to replenish their supplies
by a raid on the manatees; they held the flesh in high esteem.
They also used the skins for their most strenuous work,
including thole straps for their oars.
The thick layer of blubber which surrounds the entire
body of the manatee furnishes an oil which is also of much
value. Jt is said to be odourless and practically tasteless,
and old writers remark that it never becomes rancid.
Because of the unusual density, shape, and size of the
bones of the manatee they might be used as a substitute for
ivory. Thy take a high polish without cracking, and have
no central cavity. For this purpose, practically the entire
skeleton would be available.
With the present high price of meat, the economic
worth of an animal weighing perhaps }-ton with 85 per cent.
of the weigbt available as saleable meat, is easily seen.
The natural food of the manatee is Cyodocea mana-
forum or manatee grass. It grows in the rivers of Florida
in enormous quantities with stems often 4 feet long, lying
dormant in winter, but in summer almost filling the river.
Its value as forage seems to be very high on analysis, being
almost that of cowpea hay. Such a plant might receive
further investigation regarding the possibility of extended
cultivation. ;
The writer concludes that the manatee can probably be
easily and profitably reared in the warm shallow waters of
the Southern States which are now unproductive. A manatee
will apparently furnish as much meat as an ox; they will
possibly increase as rapidly as cattle, can be more easily cared
for, and may involve Jess expense. Manatee breeding as a
commercial enterprise in the lakes and rivers where the
climate is warm enough looks like a profitable and feasible.
undertaking.
“8
116
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
THE SUGAR FACTORY AS A SOURCE OF
SUPPLY OF ACETIC ACID AND ITS
COMPOUNDS.
Notice was drawn in the Agricultural News ot
February 9, 1918, to the possible utilization of surplus
megass. The following article by Mr. Frank Coxon,
which appeared in the Jnternational Sugar Journal
for February 1918, will be of interest in connexion
with the subject:—
In 1913 market prices for acetic acids and its com-
pounds were as follows: acetate of lime, £12 per ton;
acetic acid, £37 per ton; acetone, £74 per ton.
Current prices to date are: acetate of lime, £40 per
ton; acetic acid, £200 per ton; acetone, £200 per ton.
As in the case of most chemicals, the shutting down of
Continental supplies on the outbreak of war immediately
produced a scarcity, and, acetic acid being war material, high
prices soon reigned; there is every indication of their present
level being maintained.
The modern sugar factory of to-day possesses great
‘potentialities in the supply of these compounds from the
treatment of bagasse, either the main supply or the surplus,
and two methods suggest themselves. (1) By using the
bagasse as a gas-producing fuel in a standard producer
generating gas for combustion under the boiler. (2) By
destructive distillation of the bagasse in closed retorts.
In the first case, the generation of gas from the main
bagasse supply for the boilers would appear to be less efficient
than direct firing of the bagasse in ,the usual furnace. But the
question of by-products from condensation and washing of
the gas, before passing to the boilers; the elimination of
excess air losses, a feature so necessary in efficient bagasse
burning; and the more complete utilization of the effective
heat units—all suggest that this method may have advan-
tages worth some consideration. In any case, however, such
a procedure would be carried out with surplus bagasse.
Regarding the destructive distillation of the main supply,
this would produce a greater quantity of acetic compounds,
but the boiler-house would require to look to other sources
for its fuel supply, an impossibility in many cases unless oil
is abundant, and a substantial profit shown between its
cost and the sale of acetic acid, charcoal, and tarry
compounds or their distillate.
In both systems the gases would go through similar
processes, whereby the tarry matters, acetic vapours, and gas
are separated by fractionation, the acetic vapours passing on
to milk-of-lime absorbers,’ and ultimately being concentrated
to yield SO per cent. calcium acetate. The crude acetate
would then be decomposed by one plant into ernde acetic
acid, and by another, as required, into acetone. Re-distillation
of the erude acetic acid into anhydrous form, and the
extraction of the light oils from the tars present no difficulty.
The foregoing suggestions, it will be noted, when
applied to surplus bagasse are on the assumption that such
a supply is available, which in a factory working on modern
lines with a fairly high fibre content of the cane should by
no means be considered out of reason, raw sugar factories
having a still better opportunity than those turning out white
plantation sugars. The recovery of these by-products in
England on a small scale from a wood-working factory's
waste has in very few cases, if any, resulted in other than
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1918.
Aprit 20,
financial success, and in a large factory, where modern
chemical control exists, the chances of success are doubled,
refined qualities of the materials being easily obtainable from
the crude runnings.
A further point of advantage in this gas production
suggestion is that since losses from excess air are eliminated,
and better thermal conditions will exist in combustion, there
isa greater possibility of overall efficiency in generating steam
from a pound of bagasse turned into gas than if fired direct.
Such a contingency would allow either more maceration water
to be used, or, in the case of some factories, the possibility of
conversion to gas production will eliminate the extraneous
fuel bill.
It would not be a difficult matter to roughly scheme ont
balance sheets on either suggestion; but, of the inflated prices
of to-day, whilst many may remain, others are likely to alter
and the advantage on the commercial success of the proposi-
tions would not be seen in a true light except where condi-
tions in the factory are of the best, and at once apparent in
their possibilities of giving a good start to the conversion.
The percentage of by-products recovered on 100 bagasse
as fired, would be in the case of gas production 1 to 2 per cent.
acetic acid, or about 3 per cent. calcium acetate. In the
destructive distillation the sucrose in the bagasse converted
into acid could be added direct to these figures.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY FOR VARIOUS
SUGARS.
in a presidential address delivered before the Washington
section of the American Chemical Society on January 10
1918, which is reproduced in the Zowisiana Planter tor March
9, 1918, the President, Mr. C. S. Hudson, gave some SH EeEBRE:
ing details as to the various sugars and their uses.
_ The annual consumption of sugar in the United States
13 approximately estimated as 4,300,000 short tons, of which
amount 79 per cent. is cane sugar and 21 per cent. beet sugar
The growth of the beet-sugar production in the United State
has been phenomenal. In 1888 only 2,000 tons were produced,
’
but in 1915 the output had risen to 800,000 tons. Besides
those two well-known sugars, dextrose (corn sugar) is large)
produced in the United States by the acid eae
lysis of corn starch. It is employed in baking, io tanning
and, to some extent, in the manufacture of a type of vinegar.
A third sugar of commercial importance is milk sugar,
which was produced in the United States from milk to the
extent of about 3,500,000 tbh. in 1914.
Many sugars thatare of much interest to scientists
particularly chemists and bacteriologists, are almost wholly
unknown to the general public, although they occur in
considerable quantities as natural components of foodstuffs
Levulose, used to some extent in medical practice is
prepared by forming from inverted cane sugar and lime the
crystalline calcium levnlosate, which is broken up into levulose
and calcium carbonate by the use of carbon dioxide,
Raflinose, a sugar which is used in bacteriology, is
contained in cotton-seed meal to the extent of nearly 8
per cent.
Maltose, a very palatable sugar, is prepared from starch
by the action of malt. The field of possible uses of this eugar
either in crystalline form or as a syrup is possibly large.
Mannose, a sugar of much interest to scientists, has
usually been prepared from the hydrolysis of vegetable ivory
the seed of Phytelephas macrocarpa, a native palm of South
America. Although closely related to dextrose and Jevulose
+)
Wor. XVII. No. 41%.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 117
the latter being the sweetest sugar known, it is surprising
that perfectly pure mannose has only a slightly sweet taste
followed by a distinctly bitter one.
A source of supply of the very rare trehalose, employed
in bacteriological and chemical research work, has been dis-
covered in Selaginedla lepidephylia, a plant of the dry south
western regions of the United States, obtainable in large
quantities.
The sugar galactose, which is needed by scientists, for the
production of derivatives such as dulcite, is prepared from
the hydrolysis of milk sugar. It has however been shown
that a species of larch, a lumber tree of the North-western
States, contains a considerable quantity of a gum that by acid
hydrolysis yields galactose. Shits
Arabinose may be prepared readily by the hydrolysis of
‘beet pulp. This also is used by bacteriologists, but its cost
has hitherto been almost prohibitive.
During the last year two new sugars have been added to
the group by the work of La Forge, both of which have been
found to occur in natural products. Mano-keto-heptose was
found to occur free in the well-known avocado pear. Sedo-
heptose was found in the free state in the stone crop (Sedu
spectavile), a European plant now domesticated all over
the world.
Xylose, which was first found in the gummy portion of
‘various woods, it is now stated can be obtained from the
acid hydrolysis of corn cobs, in yields of about 10 per cent.
If industrial uses could be found for xylose, either in the pure
state or in the form of the syrup that results from the hydro-
lysis of the corn cobs, a very cheap and abundant waste
product might be put to profitable use.
ed
‘A POSSIBLE NEW SOURCE OF THYMOL.
Attention was drawn in several numbers:of the Agri-
cultural News (Vol. XVI) to experiments that are being
conducted in more than one of these islands with regard to
the possibility of the remunerative cultivation in the West
Indies of the ajowan plant (Cavw copticum) as a source of
thymol, considering the present high price of this valuable
antiseptic.
Before the war the production of thymol was practi-
cally a monopoly iu the hands of Germany, where the oil
was extracted from ajowan seeds imported chiefly from
India. The scarcity of thymol, owing to war conditions,
led to the suggestion in the Bulletin of the Imperial Instt-
tute, Vol. XII, No. 12, 1914, that its manufacture should be
undertaken in the United Kingdom, and reference was made
toa number of other plants, which yield oils containing
thymol, and which might be utilized as sources of that
material. Thymol is now being commercially manufactured
in Great. Britain, it is satisfactory to learn, from ajowan
seed imported from India and Spain, and its distillation has
also been undertaken in India itself.
Among the plants suggested for trial was Ocimum
viride, a native of West Africa, very abundant in Sierra
Leone, and said to occur also in the West Indies. This plant
belongs to the same genus as the commonly cultivated
<pot basil’ (Ocimum basilicun) which is often grown
used as a pot herb, and flourishes 10 these islands. Oem:
viride appears, however, to be « more vigorous grower than
its congener, as it is said to reach a height of from 3 to
6 feec in its native habitat. In Sierra Leone it is known as
the ‘mosquito plant’ on account of its supposed property of
keeping off these insects. Specimens of the leaves from
while that from the shoots contained 52 per cent.
and.
Sierra Leone have been examined at the Imperial Institute,
and have yielded from 0°35 to 1°2 per cent.-cf cil containing,
thymol in quantities varying from 32 to 65 per cent.
According to the Bydletin of the Imperial Institute,
Vol. XV, No. 3, 1917, seed of the plant was obtained from
the Department of Agriculture, Sierra Leone, by the Imperiat
Institute, and distributed to Seychelles, Cyprus, and the
East Africa Protectorate.- The plant has grown well
in Seychelles, and two samples of oil distilled locally have
been forwarded to the Imperial Institute for examination,
In the cultivation experiment in Seychelles the seedlings
when two months old were transplanted ‘into good garden
soil, and when eight months old the bushes were 6 feet high.
When the plants were only four months old, and had just
started flowering, a trial distillation was made of some of the
leaves only. The yield of oil was 0°5 per cent. When the
plants were eight months old a distillation was made of the
shoots, that is to say, of the green portions of the stem above
the part which turns brown, along with the leaves and
inflorescences attached to them. The yield of oil was
0:45 per cent. of the weight of the green material, and the
estimated yield per acre was about 35 bb. of oil, the yield of
green material being reckoned at nearly 3} tons from one
cutting. It is however expected that five or six cuttings might
be made annually.
When examined at the Imperial Institute, the oil from
the leaves alone was found to contain 62 per cent. of thymol,
A firm
of manufacturing chemists estimated the value of the oil as
approximately at from 5s. to 6s. per fb. in London.
It would appear, therefore, that the oil from Ocimum
ziride might be a useful source of thymol if it can be marketed.
at a suitable price, and it has been suggested that the
cultivation be continued in Seychelles, and that a trial
consignment of several hundredweight of the oil be
forwarded to the London market.”
Considering that the climatic conditions in Seychelles
are very similar to those obtaining in the West Indies,
a plant which flourishes there might very probably be equally
suited to cultivation here. -lt might be advisable to make
experiments in some of these islands as to whether Ocimum
viride may not prove a remunerative crop, considering the
present high price of thymol. In Montserrat, for instance,
where bay oil is distilled, it might be quite feasible to
combine the two crops, and make the distillation locally in
the existing stills.
Among plants suggested as a source of thymol, the
writer of this note has never seen suggested Co/ews
anboinicus, which is known in these islands as wild thyme.
From the strong thymy odour of the leaves it would seem
likely that it contains a ‘percentage of thymol. Experiments
in analysis of the leaves might be interesting work for some
of our agricultural chemists. _ The plant is certainly quite
naturalized in several of the West Indies, having been origin-
ally introduced from the East Indian Archipelago.
Storm and flood have been responsible for heavy damage
of late in several sugar-cane districts. A cyclone and flood
in Mackay, Queensland, in January, resulted in some
12,000 tons of sugar being lost, while the general damage in
the district is put at 14 million sterling. Then in the Jieire
district in Portuguese East Africa phenomenal rains have
inundated many square miles of cane, and it is reported
besides, that a. very large. quantity of bag sugar has been
lost.. The cane districts of Zululand also have suffered
from floods. (The /¢ernational Sugar Journa/, March 1918.)
11s
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Apri 20, 1918.
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ended March 16,1918, is as follows:—
IsLanps. The market has been very quiet with only
limited demand for the odd bags classing Fine to Fully Fine,
which are firmly held at quotatiors.
There has been, however, some demand for Planters’
<crop lots classing full Extra Fine for export, and several crops
4dhave been sold on private terms.
Factors are very firm in their views, refusing to make
«concessions to sell, thinking that the ‘unsold portion of the
<rop will all be required, and that at prices current it is
xelatively cheaper than Georgias and Floridas.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine 75c. to 80c=77c. to 82c c.if.
Fine to Fully Fine 73kc. to 74c.=.75hc. to 76c. ,,
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71c.=72c.
to 73c. cif.
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 65c. to 68c.=67c. to 70c._,,
GEORGIAS AND FLoRIDAS. The market in Savannah is
-very quiet, with apparently no inquiry, and the Factors
report having made no sales. The sales reported by the
Exchange of 300 bales were cotton bought in the interior,
or appropriated on orders by exporters out of their stocks.
Notwithstanding the lack of general demand, the holders of
the unsold stock are very firm in their asking prices, remaining
under the impression that the cotton will be required in time
on a basis of prices current.
We quote, viz:—
Fancy 74c=76ce. c.f.
Average Extra Choice 73c=75e. c.if.
Choice 72¢=74e. c.1.f.
The exports from Savannah for the week have been, to
Northern Mills 153 bales, and from Jacksonville to Northern
Mills 338 bales.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO-
CIATION.
The one hundred and sixty-ninth meeting of the Council
of the British Cotton Growing Association was held at the
Offices, 15 Cross Street, Menchester, on Tuesday March 5,
In the absence of the President (The Rt. Hon. the Earl of
Derby, K.G.) Mr. William Mullin occupied the Chair.
A letter which had been received from the Colonial
Office with reference to the resignation of Mr. Hutton, as
Chairman of the Association, was read as follows:—
‘T am directed by Mr. Secretary Long to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of the 11th of Ilebruary reporting
the resignation by Mr. Arthur Hutton of the Chairmanship
of the Council of the British Cotton Growing Association.
‘2, Mr. Long has received with great regret the informa-
tion that Mr. Hutton’s health will not permit of his retaining
his office as Chairman, and he desires me to express his deep
sense of the services which Mr. Hutton has rendered
for so many years in the active prosecution of pioneer
work in cotton cultivation, especially in tropical Africa.
He is glad to note that Mr, Hutton’s connexion with the
Association will not end with his resignation of the Chair-
manship; and he hopes that in any future discussions which
may take place, as in the past, between the Association and
the Colonial Office, the benefit of Mr. Hutton’s advice and’
experience may still be available.’
WEsT arrica. The crop reports are not altogether
satisfactory, but there is no doubt that the season isa late’
one, and from the reports received from the staff it is
estimated that the Lagos crop will be about the same as last
year, viz. 8,000 bales, and the crop in Northern Nigeria is
estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 bales.
An embargo has recently been placed on shipments of’
cotton lint and cotton seed from West Africa; fortunately all
last year’s cotton crop has now been shipped, and it is hoped
that the authorities will be in a position to give permission
for the resumption of shipments of cotton at an early date.
COTTON-GROWING RESOURCES OF THE.
BRITISH EMPIRE.
The Agricultural Journal of India, January 1918,
reprints from the Lmpire Review an article on the above
subject by Mr. J. Arthur Hutton, who, as our readers are
aware, has only just resigned the Chairmanship of the
Council of the British Cotton Growing Association.
Mr. Hutton states that during recent years it has been a.
matter of constant complaint with spinners that they find
an evergrowing difficulty in obtaining suitable cotton for
spianing yarn of good quality, and that year by year they
have to pay a higher premium for the requisite quality of
cotton.
The demand for finer goods, and consequently for high
class cotton, will certainly grow in the future as it has done-
in the past, and this is a question aftecting the British cotton-
manufacturing industry more than that of any country.
British manufacturers have been able to meet the competi-
tion of the world by devoting themselves to the production
of goods of a finer quality. If ample quantities of
the requisite auality of cotton are not available, the export
trade will certainly be most seriously injured, with disastrous
results to the whole country. On the rapid development
of every district in the British Empire which is capable of
growing high class cottons depends the whole future of the
great British cotton industry. :
Few people realize that at the present time something:
like 5} million bales of eotton are produced every year in the
British Empire. At the first glance this is reassuring, for
we have a total production of nearly 5} million bales,
whereas the annual consumption of Lancashire is about
4 million bales. It would appear, therefore, that the Empira
ought to be able to produce all the cotton required by the
British manufacturers, with a fair surplus for other countries.
There are, however, several factors to be taken into considera-
tion. In the first place, India itself requires more than half
of the cotton crop for use in its own mills. This therefore
reduces the available quantity to 3} imillion bales, which is
half a million bales less than the consumption of Lancashire.
We have also to consider the needs of our Allies, who use
a considerable quantity of Indian cotton and nearly one-third
of the Egyptian cotton. Further, probably not more
than 200,000 bales of Indian cotton, which is almost entirely
short staple, would be suitable to the requirements of
Lancashire mills.
The question therefore is whether the resources of the
Empire can be sufficiently developed to supply cotton of
Vor. XGvVil.- No: 417.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
119
-suitable quality, and in sufficient quantity to satisfy the
requirements of the British cotton industry. This is the
problem which led to the formation of the British Cotton
Growing Association. It is an immense advantage that
-a great deal of fundamental work in this direction has
-already been carried out by the Association, and they have
not only proved where and how cotton can be grown, but
also where it cannot be grown. Fourteen- years ago the
Association realized the danger of the position of the cotton
industry, which is perhaps only now beginning to come home
to the minds of the whole nation.
The problem the Association ‘set out to solve was
whether the Empire could produce sufficient cotton to keep
British mills running full time, and so bring prosperity and
happiness tothe millions who depend on the cotton trade
for their daily bread. Everything had to be learnt from the
beginning, and, as was only to be expected, many mistakes
--were made, but the Council has never been afraid of owning
up mistakes. As the results of the Association’s work the
_-cotton crop grown under its auspices last year was expected
to amount to 100,000 bales, worth over £2,500,000. To
build up an annual turnover of £2,500,000 in fourteen years
is no small achievement, especially when the countless difii-
‘culties which had to be overcome are taken into consideration.
It is true that 100,000 bales is a small matter in comparison
with the 4,000,000 bales which are required every year
by the British manufacturers. The Association, however,
_ has made a good beginning, and has acquired experience
which will be invaluable in efforts made to increase the
-cotton production of the Empire.
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
pominica. During the month of March plant distribu-
tion comprised the following: lime plants, 1,800; vanilla,
1,600; cacao, 500; miscellaneous, 106. In addition, 296
packets of vegetable seeds, and 5,000 onion seedlings were
sold. Mr. Joseph Jones, the Curator, states that there was
considerable activity inthe fresh lime trade, the local price
of which advanced from 16s. to 26s. per bushel during the
month. There is now no market for ripe limes. The
rainfall for the month was 3°32 inclies.
MONTSERRAT. Taking advantage of rains which fell
in the early part of March, seed was sown in the cotton-
breeding plot in the Experiment Station, where twenty-one
types of cotton are being grown, each occupying one-sixteenth
acre. Plant distribution during the month included the
following: Bay plants, 480; sweet potato cuttings, 10,600;
yams, 456,Ib.; pigeon peas, 174 Ib.; black-eye peas, 46 packets;
ground nuts, 25 Ib.; and 83 corn cobs. In the Botanic
Gardens seven distillations of bay leaves were made.
Referring to staple crops Mr, Robson, the Curator,
states that probably one-half the cotton crop has been planted.
It is the largest area ever planted so early, and is likely to
exceed 3,000 acres. The total area planted last season is now
shown to have been 2,608 acres, and as the total crop will be
in the neighbourhood of 400,000 tb. of lint cotton, the average
return of lint per acre for the island will be 150 tb., which,
though slightly less than last season, is above the average
for the last fourteen years.
There wasa general scarcity of foodstuffs during the
month, the supply of imported flour having been exhausted
at one period. Considerable areas have been planted in
sweet potatoes, but there will probably be a scarcity
of imported foodstuffs for a few months, after which
the situation will be relieved by local supplies.
Further investigations were made with a view to
determining the available fibre in samples of cotton. Samples
of fleshy pod and velvet beans were sent to the Government-
Laboratory for examination for poisonous principles. In
view of the discovery of a new alkaloid in Datura Meteé,
arrangements have been made for appropriating 14 acres to»
the cultivation of this plant. Observations are being made
in connexion with silk-cotton trees that are now bearing pods.
At the close of the month no general infestation by cotton
stainers was noticed, although afew of the insects were
observed. The rainfall recorded at Grove Station for the
. month was 3°89 inches, which fell mostly in the early part
of the month; the rainfall for the year was 12°94 inches,
antigua. Mr. T. Jackson writes to say that during
March the following plants were distributed: onion plants,
1,900; miscellaneous, 9; and 5 packets of miscellaneous seeds.
During the month the weather continued to be dry, and
vegetation throughout the island has suffered intensely. The
canes that have been reaped are light in weight. Water had
to be carted from the Country Pond to the Botanic Garden
to keep pot plants there alive, the water main at the Garden
having been shut off. Food became alarmingly scarce ate
one period of the month, and disturbances which culminated
in a serious riot on the 9th, interfered with the routine work
on estates. At the present moment, however, labour
conditions appear to be again normal. To date 44,763b.
of cotton have been taken over by the Governmentfor the
Admiralty. Nine plots at Clare Hall have been rented by
the Agricultural Department for the purpose of growing
ground provisions. The rainfall recorded for the month
was 2-05 inches; for the year, 4°62 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The following is reproduced from the Barbados
Agricultural Reporter, April 6, 1918:—
The total rainfall for March is under 2 inches in the
low-lying parts of the island, and between 4 and5 inches
on the higher levels. This total is about the average, and
the distribution of it was by no means unsatisfactory.
This year is the ideal syrup year, but in spite of this
we advocate co-operative factories as being absolutely the
best system for the future of the sugar industry of the island.
With the character of the cane grown in Barbados it should
be possible with a factory of 4,000 or 5,000 ton capacity to
recover the same high percentage of sugar content as that
recovered in large modern factories. A disastrous multipli-
cation of small factories is taking place, and there isa spirit
of individualism shown when co-operation is suggested which
must resuit in loss in machinery, in milling, and in manufae-
ture.
The young cane crop does not seem to have suffered from
the dry weather of the past fortnight. In most fields there is
a healthy green appearance, and the holes are bunching satis-
factorily.
The most important question at the present moment is
the food supply of the island. Some Indian corn has been
planted, and here and there a field of potatoes, but the dry-
weather has hindered planting to any extent. Some pre—
paration is being made almost everywhere for food crops,
but rain is necessary before anything further can be done.
The Governor of British Guiana has warned us thats
that colony will be unable to supply us with all the rice we
have asked for, and the Allies cannot divert any food untit
their armies have been amply supplied.
120
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BaRBADOs.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies, of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc, F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and {W. BR. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
loniats H, A. Ballou, M.Se.t
ae J.C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. G, Harland, B.Se.tt
CLERICAL STAFF.
A. G. Howell.
{F. A. Corbin.
Chief Clerk:
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
K. R..C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egypt.
t+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research. ey.
Typist
Agricultural stews
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1918. No. 417.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
he editorial draws attention to ravages in the
past and the present caused by severe epidemics of
pests and diseases on various crops.
(Tnder Insect Notes, on page'122, will be found
the conclusion of the article begun in the last issue on
the West Indian mole cricket or changa, with special
mention of measures for its contro). Another article
on the same page deals with Heas and their control.
Attention is drawn in an article on page 126 to
the importance of the variability of yield in fruit trees
under apparently uniform conditions in comparisons
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 20, 1918.
SS
The Pacaya or. Salad Palm.
The young unopened inflorescences of the cabbage
palm (Oreodoxa regia) are commonly used in the
West Indian islands as a very tasty pickle prepared
with vinegar. From’a note by Mr. O. F. Cook, in the
Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported by the
Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, United
States Department of Agriculture, issued September
15, 1917, an account is given of a palm from Guatemala
which might be usefully introduced into the West
Indies. Its native name is ‘pacaya, a species of
Chamaedorea. It produces a large, fleshy, edible
inflorescence which is used in Guatemala as a cooked:
vegetable, or’as a salad. They are grown in some places.
in great abundance. Some of the palms have four, five
and even six ‘pacayas’, as the edible male inflorescences
are called. They attain a height of from 12 to 15 feet,
but fruit probably from the third or fourth year after
planting. Mr. Cook thinks that the palm would grow
very well in sheltered situations in Southern Florida.
—— nD + ae
Sarawak Bean as a Cover Crop.
Dolichos Hoseti is given as the botanical name.
of a small creeping bean which is indigenous to
Sarawak. This bean appears to fulfil all that is
required as a cover erop in rubber plantations. It is.
a low-growing leguminous plant, which can be dug
into the soil, and it reproduces itself in time to check
the growth of weeds; it also grows readily from cuttings.
The flower is yellow, and the leaf a rich light green.
The roots do not seem to penetrate the ground more
than 1 inch, while the plants form a thick mass about
6 inches thick on the ground. It will grow on almost
any soil, but probably best on a light one. If planted
3 feet apart, in six months’ time the ground should be.
so covered as to prevent all wash, and keep down all
weeds, This plant was brought to the notice of the
Department of Agriculture of the Federated Malay
States by Mr. Hoseya rubber planter in Sarawak.
>
Comparative Value of Legumes as Green,
Manure.
In experiments conducted by the chemical depart-
ment of the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station,
Honolulu, the results of which were published in Febru-
ary 1917, varieties of legumes were grown on two soils
of different types. Three crops were grown of each of
the varietics, using four pots for the trial of each
variety. At maturity the plants were removed,
weighed, and analysed for nitrogen. Analyses of’ the
soil for nitrogen were mace before planting and after
removing the crop. The results show thata great
deal of the nitrogen of the legumes had been obtained
from the nitrogen of the air, and fixed by the root
nodules. Comparisons were also made as to the
amounts of nitrogen added to the soil by the various
legumes. From the data given it appears that Croto-
lavia juneea (sunn hemp), C. saltiana, and C. in¢ana
the latter a wild rattle-bush of the West Indies:—are
the legumes which most increased the nitrogen content
of the soil, Sevenof the legumes experimented with
Vou. XVII. No. 417.
cecur commonly as weedsin Hawaii; of these the most
important appear to be the wild rattle-pods already
mentioned. ‘These plants grow wild, and seem adapted to
nearly every kind of soil and climate occurring in Hawau.
The chief objection to these wild rattle- ods is the weodv
character of theirstems. ‘This woody character appears
however to be of advantage under Hawaiian conditions,
since rapid decay is there undesirable. Of the other
plants used in the experiment we may mention Zndigo-
jera Anil, Phaseolus semicrectus, and Mimosa pudica,
as alse growing wild in many islands of the West Indies.
ate
nee
Yerba Mate.
The dried leaf of Llee puraguayensis is the yerba
até (herb of the woods) which when smoked, dried, °
end cured is used by millions of South Americans to
make an infusion which is their staple drink.» A cor-
_vespondent. to The Times T rade Supplement for
March 1918, gives some interesting information as to
the use and value of this product.
of the world’s supply.. ‘The handsome, rather solid-
looking leaves are gathered from May to August, dried
on frames over fire, packed in bags, and sent to factories”
where they are milled and sieved, and divided into
c«rades according to the fineness of the scraps to which
c
che leaf is reduced. Thence they are shipped, chiefly
to various countries of South’ America. South Brazil’
exported in 1915 nearly 76,000 tons of yerba mate,
58,000 tons of which went to Argentina. These wild ilex
forests are accordingly a source of great profit. It seems.
there is some difficulty in raising plants from the seed,
but successful experiments have been lately conducted
in Argentina with slips: and, to the alarm of the South
Brazilian exporters, the intention of developing plan-
tations of the tree in Argentina has been announced.
Brazil last year started energetic propaganda to
promote the use of the leaf in other parts of the world.
Of the total amount exported from Brazil in 1915 less
than 1,000 tons went to any other part of the world
than the countries of South America.
+
Forcing and Blanching of Dasheen Shoots.
Attention was drawn in the Agricultural News,
Vol. XVI, p. 398, to this question as reported in, the
Yearbook of the United States Department of Agri-
culture,
Plant Industry of the same Departinent, has recently
been received at this Office, giving full directions for
this purpose.
‘To obtain the shoots, corms—usually called in the
West Indies ‘heads’—weighing 2 to 3 tb. apiece are
planted ina fairly warm place in very moist sand or
sandy soil. A half-and-half mixture of sand and
ordinary potting soil has given good results. ‘The
corms are just covered, the terminal bud being at the
surface. Provision must be made for keeping the
“THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
' of the corms used.
Yerba maté com-_
bines the stimulating virtues of tea and coffee without -
their ill effect upon the nerves. The tree grows thickly |
in the forests of Southern. Brazil and the adjoining -
territories, the Parana forest forming the chief source »
1916. A pamphlet, issued by the Bureau of
121
shoots in total darkness from the time they begin” to
grow. Water should be supplied often enough to keep
the soil continually moist. A cover, practically light
proof, and with sides 18 to. 24 inches high, is required,
The first crop of shoots is usually ready for cutting
in thirty-five to forty days after planting. The shoots
are cut close to the corm, and, as far as practicable,
before the leaves begin to expand. They will then
usually be from 6 to 12 inches long. From six to ten
cuttings can be made at intervals of ten to fourteen
days, depending upon the attention paid, and the size
After the corms become exhausted,
which is indicated by the weak growth of the shoots,
they are discarded. This cultivation has been success-
fully undertaken in Florida out of doors, but it is very
essential that the shoots must not be exposed to light
for any considerable length uf time at any stage of
their growth,
Recipes for cooking the blanched shoots were
given in the Agricultural News already referred to. As
however dasheen shoots. uncooked have a somewhat
acrid principle in them, they should never be tasted raw.
Lemon juice in a little water has been found etfective
in’ relieving the irritation of mouth and throat when
raw shoots have been carelessly bitten.
eee ___
Capillary Watering of Plants.
The following note under the above headin the
Wealth of India, December 1917, appears of interest,
especially to growers of plants in plots. M. Lucien
Daniel describes the effects on garden plants of continu-
ous capillary watering in place of the intermittent
watering ordinarily employed in market gardening.
Vessels with a large surface filled with water are
placed near the plants, and the water is conveyed to
the bases of the plants by wicks of wool or cotton, which
serve as siphons. The amount of water thus supplied
to each plant is easily calculated. and can . be
readily increased or reduced by altering the number
of threads. The advantages claimed for the process
are economy of water, no burning of leaves even
when carried out in full sunshine, no washing out of
nutritive substances from the soil, and no caking of the
surface. In a series of tests with lettuce, chicory, and
cabbage, the capillary method produced much finer
plants than other methods of watering. This method
was also successfully applied to the germinating of
seeds, and the subsequent watering of the seedlings,
plants being thus produced more rapidly than by
other methods. The author believes that it would be
possible to devise simple appliances for using capillary
watering on a commercial scale.
A somewhat similar practice was in use some years
ago in the island of St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands of
the United States, with respect to grape vines. A
kerosene tin or other similar vessel had a small hole
pierced near the bottom; this was placed near the base
of the stem of the grape vine, and was kept contin-
ously supplied with water. It was claimed that much
heavier crops were obtained by this continuous water-
ing than by heavier periodic waterings.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Aprit 20, 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
THE WEST INDIAN MOLE CRICKET
OR CHANGA.
( Concluded.) ©
In the last issue of the 4yrvicu/tural News some account
was given of the habits, life-history and enemies of the above
insect, as observed in Porto Rico. The following notes are
concerned with some of the more important methods of
control used against the mole cricket in that island.
ConrroL MEASURES.
Gontrol measures against the changa in Porto Rico
may be divided into preventive measures and repressive
measures.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
Among these may be mentioned the use of certain
mechanical devices and repellents, and the practice of certain
methods of cultivation and planting.
Mechanical devices. The writer states that it has long
been the custom among tobacco growersand market gardeners
in Porto Ricoto wrap the roots of seedlings in the leaves of
mammee (J/ummea americana) when transplanting. Later,
when maimmee leaves became scarce, their place was taken by
- cylinders made of tin, heavy paper, or wire. These cylinders
however are expensive, and those of tin and paper are found to
cause unnatural rooting conditions. These devices are no
longer practicable on a large scale, but a few will always be -
used for valuable plants.
Repellents. These include flowers of sulphur and naph-
thalene fiakes, but neither are effective in the case of a heavy
infestation of mole crickets.
Planting methods. Sugar-cane is now protected from
the changa by planting in an upright or slanting position,
since this pest only attacks the eyes and the bases of the
young shoots. It has been found tHat hilling-up is some-
times useful in protecting gardens against the changa,
advantage being taken of the insect’s aversion to making
its burrows up slopes, but this method is apparently ineffec-
tive against a heavy infestation. Clean cultivation by itself
is not effective against the mole cricket, but is useful when
preparing to apply a poisoned pait.
REMEDIAL MEASURES
These include ploughing, trapping of
flooding, and the use of poison baits.
Ploughing is valuable in controlling the changa, since
by this method the insects in the soil are turned up and
exposed to chickens, lizards, and other enemies. Further,
egg-chambers are broken up and someof the eggs are exposed
to the sun, and are thereby apparently prevented from
hatching.
Trapping. he use of trap-lights against the changa
is only practical during the period that the annual flights
take place. In Porto Nico the changas fly in large numbers
in Oc ober, November, and December, and most abundantly
on damp, cloudy evenings. It is recommended that the trap-
light be very bright, and that the pan of oil and water placed
under it shonld be as large as possible. If only a small pan
is available, it is useful to have the changas that fall outside
the pan collected, since it has been found that the changas
are not attracted to the light itself, but only to its vicinity.
It has also been found quite unnecessary to keep the light
going after 10 o clock
Experiments made with traps in Porto Rico by sinking
wide-mouthed bottles in the earth upto the mouth were
found to give no results, even when baited with corn meal.
It is stated that sacks or bags are used with good results
various kinds,
in the Isle of Pines as traps fer mole crickets. The bags
are spread on the ground, examined early each morning, and
the mole crickets found under them are killed.
Flooding is usetul wherever the position of the fields
makes water easily available. Nymphs and adults are not
killed even by a complete submersion for three hours, but
they usually find their way to the surface during that time.
being able to float, and although active swimmers they usually
fall prey to such birds as the heron.
foison baits. These have been found to be the most
successful upon small areas, such as garden plots. It is
essential that the land be cleared completely of al)
vegetation, including even grasses, and kept clean for three
or four days before spreading the bait, and the crop may
be planted three to five days after the bait has been applied.
It is stated ‘that the most satisfactory bait yet found
is a dry mixture of 3 per cent. Paris green with cheap flour.
Flour of the poorest quality, even that ruined by weevils and
moths, is satisfactory for this purpose, corn meal, cotton-seed
meal, and bran making good substitutes, though flour seems
to be preferred by the changa. Barrett reported very satis-
factory results from the use of a mixture of grass stems,
molasses, and Paris green. The Paris green and phosphorus
mixture used against crabs is said to be acceptable to changas
as well.’
It is recommended that this mixture be applied, prefer-
ably in the late afternoon, at the rate of 300Ib to the acre,
and it maybe spread broadcast over the land. This method
has the further advantage of killing other injurious plant-
feeding insects, such as.other crickets and cut worms.
The Paris green and flour mixture may also be applied
in a shallow trench around the young plant at a distance of
an inch or more from the main stem, or it is suggested that
it may be introduced into a changa gallery where this
approaches the surface.
It is advisable that fowls and domestic animals be kept
from access to poisoned mixtures.
FLEAS AND THEIR CONTROL.
As Dr. Shipley has remarked, the fact, now fully
established, that bubonie plague is transmitted by fleas, has
taken that wingless insect out of the category of those
animals which it is indelicate to discuss, A recently published
pamphlet (/armers’ Bulletin So7, of the United States
Department of Agriculture) by Mr. F. C. Bishopp, gives some
information of general interest about the life-history and
habits of various fleas, and the measures which should be
taken to control then.
There are about 500 species of fleas known to be in
existence, but the great. majority of them need not concern
us here, as they are parasitic on wild birds and mammals.
There are, however, some half a dozen species which are of
special economic importance as pests of man and certain
domestic animals. 2
Habits. As a general rule it may be said that each
host has its own particular species of flea; for instance, cats
and dogs are normally infested by the cat-flea (Ctenocephalus
felis) and the dog-flea (Crenocephalus canis), but these fleas
are sometimes a nuisance to man: again, the human flea
(Pulex irritans) is forthe most part confined to man, but
may also be found on some of the domestic animals; further,
rat fleas sumetimes bite man, and if coming from plague-
infested rats can thereby transmit the bubonic plague to
man. The Indian rat flea (\Venopsv//a cheopis) and the
European rat flea (Ceratophydlus fasciatus) are the two
species responsible for the spread of the plague in variou
Vout. XVII. No. 417.
THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS,
123
parts of the world. The higher domestic animals, such
as horses, cattle, sheep, and goats are not often annoyed
by fleas, but pigs may be infested to some extent.
It has been found that fleas differ considerably in the
intimacy with which they are associated with their hosts.
Some species remain on their hosts practically all the time,
while others are merely passing guests. For instance, the
chigoe flea or ‘jigger’ (Dermatophi/us Penetrans) ordinarily
buries itself in the skin of its host and there reaches maturity,
develops its eggs, and dies. The sticktight flea or chicken
flea (Echidnophaga gallinaceus) spends the greater part of
its life attached to its host, but does not penetrate the
skin of the animal. Poultry are attacked chiefly on the head,
about the eyes, comb and wattles, while dogs and cats may
be infested with this flea about the ears, mainly along: the
edges. Dog and cat fleas pass most of their adult existence
on their hosts, but do not attach themselves, and feed only at
intervals. The human flea spends very little time on man,
the rest of its existence being passed elsewhere, mainly on the
floor.
Life-/ustory. The fiea, like many other insects, passes
through four distinct stages—the egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Usually the eggs are laid by the adult female flea while on
the animal host, but since they are not stuck to the hair or
feathers, they usually fall out in the resting place or nest of
the animal. For instance, numbers of the minute, whitish
eggs may sometimes be seen on mats or cushions slept on by
infested cats or dogs. These eggs can easily be seen on dark-
coloured cloths. ‘The eggs are also scattered about on the
floor, and the hatching larve or maggots teed on the dust
refuse under carpets or matting, and in cracks. Fleas also
breed outside where animals sleep beneath houses. During
the period of growth the skin is moulted two or three times,
add then the full-grown larva spins a cocoon in which it
passes the pupa or resting stage.
The length of the life-cycle varies considerably with
different species of fleas, and under different conditions of
temperature, moisture, food, etc. Hainfall and the amount of
air moisture have a great influence on flea breeding. Frequent
rains anda high humidity favour the production of these
insects, while a hot dry spell tends to check them. This does
not mean that fleas require very moist places in which to
breed, on the contrary, excessive moisture is as harmful to
them as excessive dryness.
In the tropics, or under favourable summer conditions the
life-cycle of the dog flea may be completed in from seventeen
to thirty-seven days, while in cool weather or under unfay-
ourable conditions the period from egg to adult may occupy
considerably over a year.
The adult flea under ordinary summer conditions does
not live very long without food, the life of the human fiea
probably averaging two months, that of the dog flea some-
what less, and that of the chicken flea still less.
(To he continued)
J.C.H.
VEGETABLE OIL.
Staple supplies of food have.) as we all know, been
seriously affected by the war, and there have been much
shifting of sources of supply and evolution of new material.
One of the most striking instances of the foregoing is the
supply of fat and oil. Up to the beginning of the war the
use of animal fats as a foodstuff predominated, but the
unprecedented demand for them for the use of millions of
armed men reduced the possibility of an adequate supply for
those who remained at home, As a correspondent of Ze
Times Trade Supplement, March 1918, points out, efficient
substitutes have been found in vegetable fats, chiefly derived
from the coco-nut and oil palms growing in profusion in the
tropical colonies of Great Britain and her allies. Vegetable
oil-palm growing is therefore of paramount importance, for
vegetable fat is a cheaper and more prolific production than
animal fat.
The fact may be remembered that Germany firs
embarked upon a vegetable butter industry, which before the
outbreak of the war assumed such. large proportions that
fleets of British ships were busily engaged in transporting
the raw material for vegetable oil from British and French
colonies to Hamburg.
There has been a great deal of misconception in ‘some
quarters about coco-nut or oil-palm growing in the tropics.
It has been thought that it does not pay, or that it takes too.
long to reap returns. Modern methods of cultivation have
however shown the fallacy of such ideas.
By merely pursuing the policy of careful seed selection
for instance, it has been proved that a modern plantation can
be made to yield four or five times as much as by the. old
‘laissez faire’ methods. It has also been pointed out that it
would pay handsomely to raise cattle and hogs on these palm
plantations, for the residue pulp from the nutsis a most
valuable feeding stuff. On the other hand, the animals
ensure an ample supply of manure for the trees, and thrive
on the sandy coast land under their shade. Until the palm
trees themselves attain an age at which they bear, the space
between the trees may be utilized for growing catch crops,
such as peanuts, which would materially lessen the cost of
the upkeep of the plantation until the palms begin to bear.
Another profitable product of a coco-nut plantation is
coir or the husk fibre, the employment of which is now being
rapidly developed in the United States. Another apparently
valuable by-product from the coco-nut is the cellular refuse:
whichremains after the fibre has been extracted from the husk.
Experiments have shown that this possesses high non-con-
ducting properties, equal in\this respect to cork dust, and it is.
now being used in the mantfacture of material for steam pipe
packing, and for the lining of refrigerating chambers. This
coco-nut husk dust has the great advantage over cork of being
much cheaper, and of being available in much larger quantities.
This new insulating material is called ‘pectine’.
The correspondent of Ze Zimes calculates that, whereas-
in the temperate zone it requires 4 acres of fairly decent land
to support one cow or steer, ona palm estate in the tropics
no less than two cows or five hogs could be raised on an
average per acre, and that therefore, a coco-nut or oil-palim
plantation ought to be, if conducted on scientific principles,
an exceedingly profitably undertaking.
Coco-nut and oil palms are confined to a belt approxt-
mately within 18 degrees of latitude north and south of
the equator. The cultivation of these palms may be enor-
mously extended. It is probable, for instance, that at least
50,000,000 more palm trees could be grown on the east coast
of Africa and in Madagascar. But possibly the most
favourable land for increasing the cultivation of vegetable oil
palms is the stretch of about 600 miles on the north-east
coast of Brazil. where the nucleus of such cultivation now
exists of nearly 2,000,000 coco-nut trees, and about 150,000 oil
palms (Z/aei’s guineeste), Which were orginally brought from
the Gulf of Guinea in slave ships. Strange to say, they
thrive better in Brazi! than in their original home, yielding
a larger fruit with a greater percentage of oil.
GLEANINGS.
The number of Jive stock on the farms of the United
States on January 1, 1918, was estimated by the United
States Department of Agriculture as 187,104,000, valued at
$8,263,524,000, an increase of 6,395,000 in number compared
to a year ago, and in value, of. $1,527,912,000. (The
Agricultural Gazette of Canada, March 1918.)
The Voice of St. Lucia, March,16, 1918, calls attention
to the fact that the manager of the Maple Leaf Hotel in
Castries has begun curing fish and,meat by pickling. The
sample examined was as good as the best of its kind imported.
Fish, pork, and beef were in perfect condition; and, when
cooked, in no way fell behind similar articles imported,
Health experts in the United States condemn the glass
wilk bottle as a pernicious germ carrier. Some dairies have
begun to employ destructible bottles made of light card-
board coated with parafin. As these bottles are impervious
both to air and light, milk can be kept fresh in them many
hours longer than in glass bottles. (The Scientific American,
Vol. XCVI, No. 11.)
Seeing that after the war there will be a serious falling
off in the cotton crops of America ‘owing, it is stated to the
imperious demand for foodstuffs, it is possible that cotton
growing may become as important and -paying an industry
in Queensland as in the United States of America. In
(Jueensland the cotton grower happily has not to contend
with destructive pests like the boll-weevil and cotton
stainer. (The Queensland -\gricultural Journal, February
1918.)
Among experiments carried out last year by Messrs.
Sutton « Sons at Reading, some as to the effect of the
removal of blossoms on the yield of potatoes are of special
interest. From the results it appears that, in five out of seven
plots experimented upon, picking of the blossoms resulted in
an increased yield of tubers, and that the -average increase
was by no means negligible, amounting to 5 per cent. (The
International Review of the Science and Practice of Agri-
culture, December 1917.)
In a note on the development of the impire’s fishing
areas, in 7ropica/ Life for February 1918, it is remarked
that attention might be given to developing the splendid fish
supplies in tropical and semi-tropieal areas, where the fish
obtainable are very nonrishing, even if not equal to the fish
obtainable from cold oceans, and extremely pleasant as food.
Another point to remember is that if the fisheries of the
tropics are developed, the inhabitants of those regions will
need smaller supplies of meat and of foodstutfs from America
and Europe.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 26, 1918.
The noted American inventor, Edison, claims that he
can produce thin sheets of metal, especially of nickel, which
would serve every putpose for which paper is now employed,
as far as books are concerned, and that these will be cheaper,
thinner, tougher, and more. flexible than ordinary’ paper.
(The IVealth of India, December 1917.)
The conclusions reached on the results of experiments
for a period of six years on crop rotations at the University
of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, as recorded
in Bulletin 170, for October 1917, is that the net income
per acre from grains ‘and corn grown in rotation with clover
or similar legumes may be constantly expected to be higher
than from the same crops grown continuously, or in rotations
not including clover.
Considerable progress has been made in Germany an?
Austria in the manufacture of paper yarn. Samples of
German fabrics containing these yarns have been received in
England. Some of these samples have been found to consist
of 40 per cent. twisted paper, 40 per cent. of cotton, and 2)
per cent. of wool waste. Passable-looking’ suits have beea
made of woolien and paper yarn, alternating two by two.
The fabric is certainly not improved by exposure to rain.
(The Board of Trade Journal, February 14, 1918.)
In answer to an enquiry made by the Ceylon Agricul-
tural Society to the Imperial Institute as to whether there
was any likelihood of a demand for tuemeric dye, the reply
was that there is a regular demand for turmeric, partly for use
as a dye, but chiefly as a spice for curries, ete. There seems
no reason to anticipate any great increase in the demand. The
colouring matter is not extracted by the grower, but the
turmeric /hizomes themselves constitute the marketable
product. (The Tropical Agriculturist, December 1917.)
The following recipe for making corn bread is taken
from the Jamaica Ganev, February 8, 1918: ‘Bring
1 pint of milk to the boiling point, add three-quarters of
a cup of corn meal mixed with a little cold water, and cook
a few minutes, then add one tablespoonful of salt, one rounded
tablespoonful of lard or butter, one quarter teaspoonful of
soda, and, if liked, one half-cup of molasses. Let cool. When
blood-warm add three-quarters of a yeast cake dissolved
in one cup of warm water. Let this batter rise until lighs,
then mix very stiff with white flour, and knead well. Les
rise until double its bulk. Then form into loaves, and let
rise to top of pan. Bake one hour.
xperiments recently published in the Aydéetin de
Société des Lngénieurs, Civils de Trance describe how iron
plates, well cleaned and polished, were coated, some with
one and others with two, three, or more coats of paint, and
then exposed to the action of steam fora whole day, after
which the paint was removed, and the surface of the plates
examined. Those plates with one coat only were found
to be as bright as before; those with two showed a few rust
spots, while those with three and four were attacked
to a greater extent. Itis explained that the deeper layers
dry badly, and tend to dissolve the uppermost coating,
increasing its porosity to moisture. Plates should therefore
be covered with only one coat of paint. and any old pains
removed before doing so., (The Zaternational Sugar Journ?
February 1918.)
Vou. XVII. No. 417.
PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLES BY
FERMENTATION AND SALTING.
Among the methods of preserving vegetables for future
‘use, worthy of consideration at this time, are those based on
fermentation and salting. Airmers’ Bulletin, No. 881, of
the United States Department of Agriculture, contains full
directions for carrying out these processes at home. One
advantage that these methods possess is that use may be
made of wooden kegs, butter tubs, stone or glass jars, even
without covers, if thoroughly cleaned.
The methods of preservation considered in the bulletin
are grouped under three heads: (1) fermentation with dry
salting, (2) fermentation in brine, and (3) salting without
fermentation.
Fermentation with dry salting consists in packing the
material with a small amount of salt. No water is added,
for the salt extradts the water from the vegetables, and
forms the brine. The method in general is as follows: —
Wash the vegetables, drain off the surplus water, and
weigh them. Salt, in the proportion of 3 per cent. by
weight of the vegetables, is required. . Cover the bottom of
the container with a layer of the vegetables about 1 inch
thick, and sprinkle over this a little of the salt. Try to
distribute the salt equally among, the different layers
so that the quantity weighed out will be sufticient
for the quantity of vegetables packed. If a little of the
salt is left over it can be added to the top layer, but it
more has to be added than has been weighed out the
finished product will taste too salt. Continue adding layers
of the vegetables sprinked with salt until the container is
about three-fourths full. Sprinkle the last of the salt on the
top layer, and spread over it one or two thicknesses of cheese-
cltoh, tucking them down at the sides. On the cloth place
a round piece of board which may be of any kind of wood
except yellow or pitch pine, ora plate, and on this put a clean
stone or one or two clean bricks. The size of the weight
depends on the quantity of material being preserved. The
weight added should be suflicient to extract the juices to
form a brine, which will cover the top in about twenty-four
hours. ‘Sometimes it may be necessary to add more weight
if the brine does not form readily.
After itis packed allow the container to stand in
a moderately warm room to ferment. ‘The stone and the
board serve to keep the vegetables beneath the surface of the
brine formed. Fermentation requires from eight to ten
days in warm weather. It is shown by bubbles rising to
the surface of the liquid. When bubbling stops, fermentation
is complete.
d The surface of the liquid must be treated to prevent the
development of micro-organisms which feed upon the acid
formed in fermentation, and develop into a heavy mould
which will eventually destroy all the acid and spoil the
fermented material. One method of accomplishing the
-exclusion of air from the surface of the brine in order to
prevent the formation of mould is to fill the container as
nll as possible with the material fermented, and after
allowing part of the gas to escape ih the process of fermen-
tation, to remove the board and weight, and to seal the
container up tight. A better method. apparently, is to use
an oil like cotton-seed oil, which, floating on the surface,
effectually prevents air from reaching the brine. Brine
covered witha layer of cotton-seed oil about 1-inch thick
will keep indefinitely. Before the vegetables are to be
yemoved, the oil should be skimmed off the surface of the
prine. A third method isto cover the surface with very
pot melted parafin, which makes a ‘perfectly air-tight seal.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
125
—
It is stated that under home conditions the following
vegetables have been preserved successfully by the above
method of fermentation by dry salting: cabbage, string beans,
beet tops; and it is probable that others might be added to
this list.
Some vegetables are better fermented by covering them
with a weak brine in the following way:—
After the vegetables are washed and drained, they are
packed into a container until it is nearly full. A weak
brine for use is prepared as follows: to each gallon of water
a pint of vinegar and three-fourths of a cup of salt are added,
the mixture is stirred until the sait is entirely dissolved.
The amount of brine necessary to cover the vegetables will be
about equal to one-half the volume of the material to be
fermented. This is easily calculated by measuring the contents
of the container used. Pour the brine over the vegetables, and
provide for pressure as described above. When fermentation
has stopped, the surface of the liquid should be treated to
prevent mould, by one of the foregoing methods.
The following vegetables have been preserved satis-
factorily in this way: cucumbers, string beans, green peas,
corn, beets, and green tomatoes.
In the method of preserving vegetables by salting
without fermentation, they are packed with enongh salt
to prevent fermentation or the growth of yeast or
mould. As in the foregoing methods, the vegetables
are washed and drained. They are then weighed, and salt
is provided in the proportion of one-fourth of the weight of
the vegetables. he method employed in packing is the
same as in the first method described. The salt ought to be
distributed evenly among the different layers, so that the
quantity weighed out, will be just enough to pack the
vegetables. When thecontainer is nearly full of alternate
layers of vegetables and salt, it should be covered with the
clean cloth, board, and weight, as in the method of fermenta-
tion by dry salting. If the salt and pressure of the weight
have not extracted sufticient brine to cover the vegetables
after twenty-four hours, enough strong brine, prepared. by
dissolving 1tb. of salt in 2 quarts of water, should be poured.
over the vegetables to come up to the wooden cover. There
will be a small amount of bubbling at the start, but this will
not continue long. As soonas the bubbling has stopped, the
surface of the liquid should be protected in one of the ways
described above.
In general, the fermented and salted vegetables may be
prepared for the table in much the same manner as_ fresh
vegetables, except that before being cooked they should be
soaked in fresh water for several hours to remove the salt,
the water being changed several times. The amount of salt
or acid taste to be thus removed depends upon the flavour
desired, If a decidedly azid flavour is desired, fermented
vegetables, after being removed from the container should
be rinsed thoroughly in fresh water, and then cooked without
soaking. If one does not desire the acid flavour, it may be
modified to any extent, or removed almost entirely, by
soaking the fermented vegetables for as. long as necessary,
and changing the water several times,
In the Report of the Commmissioner of Agriculture and
Labour of Porto Rico for 1917, it is stated that the breeding
work with sugar-canes in that island has now reached a point
where several new varieties have been developed which give
promise of being superior under local conditions to any at
present grown. Several of these canes have been tested on the
estates of two centrals, and afew of them have been specially
selected for superior characteristics
1 26
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Ape 20, 1918.
VARIABILITY OF YIELD IN FRUIT TREES,
AND ITS EFFECT ON FIELD TRIALS.
The importance of the wide natural differences in yield
which may occur in fruit trees grown in closely adjacent
positions under apparently uniform conditions has on several
oceasions been emphasized in this Journal. Its effect is to
render extremely doubtful the validity of comparisons made
in trial plots unless. careful measures are taken for its elimin-
ation, so far as this is-possible, and full allowance made
for it, so far as it may still exist.
The results of an elaborate study of the influence of this
factor are now available in a paper by Professors L. D.
satchelor and H.S. Reed, of the University of California
Citrus Experiment Station, which appears in the /owrval
of Agricultural Research, Vol. XI, No. 5. Careful con-
sideration of the conclusions reached, which are reproduced
below, is recommended not only to experiment station
workers, to whom the matter is of the first importance, but
to growers, who usually, and very naturally attribute signifi-
cance to the effects of differing treatment on evidence which
analysis may prove to be wholly insufficient.
It may be explained that the coefficient of variability, as
used below, expresses asa percentage the extent to which vari-
ation is found to occur in the given case. If there is no
variation the coefficient is zero; if there is wide variation the
coefficient is high.
(1) The present paper is the result of a study of the
nature and extent of the casual variability of yields of fruit
trees under field conditions, and its bearing on the reliability
of plot trials.
(2) Studies have been made upon the variability of the
yields of orange, lemon, apple, and walnut trees. The
orchards studied were selected on account of uniformity of
treatment and appearance, yet the variability in productivity
was considerable. The coefficient of variability for the
yield of individual trees of the clonal varieties ranged from
29°27 + 069 to 41°23 + 1°52 per cent., but for the
individual seedling walnut, the coefficient was somewhat
higher reaching 53°91 + 1°92 percent. The variability
of these tree yields approaches the normal curve of errors.
This variability may be assumed to be the result of “casual”
factors which are beyond the control and possibly the recog-
nition of a careful experimenter.
(3) The effect upon variability of combining trees into
plots of various sizes and shapes has been investigated. As
the number of trees per plot is increased, the coefficient
of variability decreases. The coeflicient of variability does
not decrease, however, in proportion to the increased
number of trees per plot. In most cases there is little
gained in accuracy by increasing the plot to include
more than eight adjacent trees.
4) One of the great causes of variability in yields
appears to be the heterogeneity of apparently uniforin coil.
While a combination of a sufficient number of adjacent trees
into a plot will overcome largely the fluctuations of individu-
als, nevertheless the plots may not sufficiently include both
high and low-yielding areas to give a typical average. Greater
reliability may be secured by a systematic repetition and
distribution of plots through the. experimental area. A
consistent gain in reliability resulting from this method of
repetition is shown ‘by the use of several different methods
of computing the variability.
‘The coefficient of variability for an average plot of
sixteen adjacent trees was 22°58 + 1°01, while sixteen trees
in four scattered ultimate plots each of four trees have
a coeflicient of variability of 929 + 040. The larger the
number of units ia a combination plot the more typical is the
sample of the area obtained. A sixteen-tree plot can be
expected to give more reliable results if divided into four equal
plots and repeated at four regularly placed intervals than can
either two eight-tree plots, or sixteen adjacent trees. The same
principle holds true for larger units. A given number of
unit plots will give a greater accuracy than half the number
of units with twice as many trees per unit.
‘Four repetitions of an ultimate plot reduced the co-
efficient of variability to a point considered practical for
cultural operations. _ Further repetitions, though reducing
the coefficient in less degree, did not appear to justify the
additional number of ‘trees required. A minimum of eight
to ten trees is required for plots involving cultural experi-
ments. In the case of root stock, pruning, or variety trials,
twice as many plots each containing half as many trees
might be used to obtain greater accuracy.
‘The fact that marked soil variations occur which tend
to make adjacent trees or adjacent plots yield alike, even on
soils which were chosen because of their apparent unifor-
mity. is well shown byapplying the formula proposed by
Harris (1915) for mieasuring the coefficient of correlation
between neighbouring plots of the field. Applying this to
the Arlington navel oranges, the writers have calculated the
correlation between the yield of the eight-tree plot as the
ultimate unit, and the yield of the combination of four such
adjacent plots, and it was found that the result shows
a marked correlation, indicating a pronounced heterogeneity
in the soil of this grove influencing fruit production. How-
ever, when the correlation between the eight-tree plot as the
ultimate unit, and the yield of the combination of four such
systematically scattered plots was calculated, it was found
that the coetticient is practically equal to its probable error,
and can be regarded as significantly zero.
(5) In the computations made by the writers, emphasis.
is also laid upon the nature and magnitude of the probable
error. It is shown in several cases that the probable error
of comparison between plots may be so large that relatively
large differences must be evident between treated and
untreated plots, for a reasonable assurance that it is ‘due to
the factors being exprimented upon. With the plots of
sixteen to thirty-two adjacent trees which were studied,.
a difference of from 62°94 to $1°97 per cent. of the mean
production would be necessary in order to obtain chincés-
of 10 to 1 that the results were due to differential
treatment and not to casual variation in the productivity of
the trees. With the same number of trees in scattered units,
a difference of 28°42 to 50°02 per cent. would be necessary
for the same odds. » It seems probable, therefore, that
a difference between two tree plots of less than 50 per cent.
of the mean production should be considered with caution
before attributing it to’ differential treatment.
(6) The relation between the shape of a plot and its.
variability was investigated by making comparisons between
square plots and linear plots containing the same number
of trees. Except in the case of large plots, the difference in.
the variability of plots of different shapes was insignificant.
’-(7) In any method of field experimentation where:
a standard of comparison is desired, the theoretical or
“normal” yield of a plot is a question of importance. By the
use of certain formulas the “normal” yield may be computed
from control plots. Asa standard one may use the average
yields of the control plots of the entire area, or of the nearest
control plots, or a combination of the two. In cases studied
the coefficient of variability was reduced 50 per cent. by
calculating the normal ‘yield from the nearest controls in
Vou. XVII. No. 417.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS: 12
Cy
place of using the mean of the entire area. The employment
of every alternate row asa control plot was not sufficient
to offset the variability due to soil heterogeneity.
‘(8) Computations made on the yield of orange, walnut,
and apple trees, for several consecutive years, showed little
annual fluctuation in their variability, One or two crops
may not show greater variability than the average of six or
seven crops.’
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTHERN
PHILIPPINES,
The outlying territories of the United States comprise
some rich and fertile lands, such as the Philippines, Hawaii,
and Porto Rico, the devolopment of , whose resources the
Americans have undertaken with. remarkable energy.
Conspicuous progress has been made in the Southern Philip-
pines (department of Mindanao-Sulu); during the last few
years, according to an American Consular report,, and
a noteworthy development of this rich, virgin country may
be expected. The chief fields for investment are in the
production of hemp, coco-nuts, lumber, cattle, and now
rubber, which has hitherto been neglected because, says the
report, a scientific investigator decided some years ago—
erroneously, it has since been proved—that the region was
mot suited to that crop. When it was decided scientifically
that rubber could not profitably be grown in Mindanao,
a large American rubber company established its plantation
in the Datch East Indies instead. -A smaller enterprise,
however, persisted, and its success has revealed the entirely
erroneous character of the scientist’s findings. The company
now has 72,000 Para rubber trees growing on the island of
Basilan, of which 22,000 have come into bearing. A leading
rubber expert has now stated that he is favourably impressed
with the rubber-growing possibilities of the region.
" NEW USES FOR MANILA HEMP. Though rubber is one of
the most promising plantation products of Mindanao, the
leading and best paying commodity at the present time is
Manila hemp, growers of which are realizing prices four or
five times those which they obtained and found profitable
afew years ago. The finest grades ot Davao hemp command
‘the equivalent of £175 a ton. Sach high values are attributed
to war demands, reduction in the output of sisal in Yucatan
and German East Africa, and new uses for the finer grades
of hemp in the manufacture of textile fabrics. The Japanese
have been the foremost in developing new uses for Manila
,hemp in textile manufacture, and Japan is the leading market
-for the finer Philippine grades. As the best of these are
produced in Mindanao, Japanese enterprise has interested
itself especially in that region. Japanese buyers are said to
“be offering contracts for hemp deliveries over long periods of
years.
coco-Nuts. The position ot hemp as the leading. and
most profitable product for the time being is due mainly to
war conditions, and it is felt that the coco-nut will probably
-jn due course take a leading and permanent place in the
agricultural development of Mindanao. Two large copra
crushing plants are now in operation in the Philippines; the
greater part of the copra, however, is shipped as such,
though the exports of oil are rapidly increasing. Before the
war Marseilles was the chief destination of the copra, but
San Francisco is now of greater importance. Substantial
and rapid development of coco-nut planting is expected in
Mindanao, whilst many thousands $f palms will come into
bearing during the next few years. (The Chamter of Com-
merce Jourval, February 1918.)
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has torwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice markets
for the month of February 1918:—
The condition of the produce markets: for the month of
February shows little or no change from that which prevailed
throughout January, and indeed throughout the whole
twelve months of the previous year, due to the continued
shortage of imports front lack of tonnage, and the dangers of
loss on the high seas. With prices ruling high for most
products, the tendencies of buyers is to limit their purchases
only to such quantities as will meet their own immediate
requirements.
ARROWROOT, TAMARINDS, AND SARSAPARILLA.
Of products that have commanded higher rates during
the month may be mentioned arrowroot, tamarinds, and grey
Jamaica sarsaparilla. Of the former there was a good supply
at auction on the 14th of the month, when good mannfactur-
ing St. Vincent met with a ready sale at 87. to 9d. per. ib.
A week later some 22 barrels were offered and bought in at
the former figure, and at the close of the month sales were
effected at 9d. to 94d. per Ib. At the beginning of the month
tamarinds were reported to be scarce, 65y. to 70s. per cwt.
being paid for good Barbados. At the end of the month
the price had advanced to 77s. 6d., duty paid. The offerings
of sarsaparilla on the 14th of the month’ were as follows:
grey Jamaica 36 bales and Honduras 6. Of the former,
14 bales were disposed of fetching 4s. par Ib. None of the
Honduras was sold, 3s. 67. per tb. being asked for it.
GINGER, LIME JUICE,
ANNATTO, KOLA, CITRIC
FISTULA.
ACID,
AND GASSTA
At the last spice auction in the month, namely on
February 28, the quotations for Cochin and Calicut ginger
were from 65s. to 70s., and for Japanese 55s., at which prices
a good amount of business was done. At the first auction on
February 7 lime juice was in good supply at from 3s. 3. to
3s. 6d. pee gallon for prime, and 3s. for good. At the
auction on the 21st of the month it was still in good supply,
new crop raw Jamaica being obtainable at the above figures.
Annatto seed was represented at auction on the 14th of the
month by 80 packages, but no sales were effected. Kola was
also well represented at the same sale by 189 packages,and 144
were disposed of at the following rates: good bright Java
halves at 93d. per tb., good bright Dominica 8}¢.; some 95
packages of African, consisting of damaged and partly mouldy,
realized from 7d¢. to 7}d., and good tair quarters, slightly
mouldy, 1@}¢. Citric acid has been firm throughout the
month at 3s. 2d. per ib. Quite at the end of the month
good sound Cassia Fistula pods from Java were quoted at
90s. per ewt.
California marsh vegetation, particularly the tule plant
(Scirpus lacustris), contains potash which may be somewhat
easily obtained by drying and burning. The ash may be used
directly, or high grade potash salts may be extracted by
simple, inexpensive methods. Potash recovery from tule
may be of considerable local importance as a source of potash
at times such as the present. (u/letin, No, 288, Berkeley
College of Agriculture Experiment Station, California.)
128 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS Apri. 20, “E988,
MARKET REPORTS. New York.—Messrs Gittzseiz Bros. & Co., April 3.
London.—Tur West Inpia Committee Crrcubar, Cacao—Caracas, I3he. to 14c.; Grenada, I4c. to 14hc.:
March 7 Trinidad, 14}c.; to 14jc. Jamaica, 134c. “eet
enawnnor—-Dd’to 1d. Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, S58°00 to $60°00; Trinidad
Barata—Venezuelan Block, 3/53; Gheet, 3/8 to 4/-. selects, $55°O0ito $56°00; culls, $22°00 to $30°00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, lc, to 12c. per th.
Beeswax—No quotations.
Gincer—lLdkc. to Qile. per fe.
Cacao—Trinidad, no quotations: Grenada, no quotations:
Jamaica,’ no quotations. ( < : Goat Skrns—Jamaica, 5c. : Antigua and Barbados, Tic.
CanbesIemaics. | ro guotahon®: St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 7dc. per th
Corpra—£46. ; Grapvz Fruit—Jamaica, $275 to $300 per box.
Freit—No quotations. Ligs—$12!-00 to $13°50 per br.
Gixcer—Jamaica, 92/6 to 115/- per ewt Mace—sitic. to 4c. per fb.
Hoxex—Jamaica, 160/ to 175/. perewt. Nourmmrcs—23c. i
Lite,J.cvice—Raw, 3/3.: concentrated, no quotations; Opanoes—$2 00. to S71)
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17/6. Pimento—tije. to74c. per tb. _ }
Loswoop—No quotations. Sue ar—Centrifugals, 96°, 6 WW0de; Muscovados, 89°, 5 GO5e.
Mace—Ne quotations. Molasses, 89°, 4°948e. all duty paid.
ANutMecs—No quotations.
Porento—4d. to 43d.
Rvusser—Para, fine hard, 2/8: fine soft, no. quotations: peesss 15%
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad. —Messrs. Gorpox, Grant & Co., March 27. Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., April 2.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $1325 to SI8-75 Trinidad, $1350 Arrowroor—$10'00 per 100 ft.
to $14-00, Cacao—$12°50 per 100 fb.
Coco-xut Om—S1°36 per gallon. Coco-Nuts—$36 00 husked nuts.
Correz—Venezuelan, Llc. to 12c. per tt Hay—S2 40.
Copra—$8 ti) per 100 th. Mo tasses—No quotations.
Daar—S14 (0. Oxtons— No quotations.
Ontoxs—$s ‘00 per 100 fh. Pras, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Pras, Sprit— $11°50 to $12°00 per bag. Porators—No quotations.
Poratoes—English, $6-00 per luo ft. Rice—Ballam,.no quotations: Patna, no quotations! Ran»
Rice—Yellow, $12°00 to $1225; White, 9°50 per bag. zoor, no quotations.
Srear—American crushed, nv quotations. Suear—Dark Crystals, $4°75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The WERE INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume AVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them.
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly’ Review.
‘The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress aad
other reports; and, in faet, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
loca] agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subseription price, including postage, i
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 3s. 5d. perannum. Volumes IV to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each—
post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos., Lawtor & Co., St. George.
Wesr Ixpra Commuirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D, Bonapte, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: Apvocatr Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nixs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THE EpucationaL Souppry Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BrwpGewarer, Roseau.
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tue Arcosy Co., Lrp,, Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs, Mura-Marsuari & Co., Port-of-Spain. St, Kitts: Tue Brste anp Book Suppriy -Aczncy, Basserzaze
Tobago: Mr. C. L. Puxcemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Mesars. Howet, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lew W, Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto,
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
— —____——
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
_ A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
- quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
Vou. XVII. No, 417. 7 _ ‘THE AGRICULTURAL a. aes Bigs
THE BEST MANURE FOR COLONIAL USE
_S ee
Dissolved (Soluble) Guano
FOR SUGAR-CANE AND GENERAL USE.
TRADE
APPLY TQ LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
Dock House, Billiter Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS _
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE(JOURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY,{LTD.,
__ BARBADOS. |
Printed af Office of dartoudtural Reportar, 4, High Street Bridge town,¢ Barbados
)
_.
ae
A
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Af
| ‘Vol. XVII. No. 418.] “SATURDAY, ‘MAY 4, 1918. _ {One penny. —
: R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
: FROM THE
WEST INDIES
TO PORTS OF CALL
_ |THE UNITED KINGDeM | Azores.
| | (St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
|CANADA Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts, :
| Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
_|DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO | Grenada & Trinidad.
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PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS + Cartagena, Colon, Panama, f
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STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA =
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= t Branches at BARBADOS, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Ei Rio oe Janeiro, Madrid, etc,
THE INSPRICIENCY of
CARBOLIC FLUIDS as
) Tick DESTROYERS
CATTLE TICK
remace
As Carbolic or Coal Tar Fluid Preparations are largely used in the West Indies and Central America for treating tick-infested cattle,
When Professor Newstead paid a special visit to Jamaica to investigate the Tick Problem, the efficiency of a number of the more
popular of these Carbolic Fluids was carefully tested, with the result that
the number of ticks killed was never more than 65% and in some cases as low as 5%
The following reference to the Jamaica tests referred to above is taken
‘from a Paper by the Hon. H. H. Cousins, M.A., F.C.S., Director of
a ; e in Jamaica, entitled “ Practical Measures for the Prevention
of Ticks in Jamaica ”:—
“ Professor Newstead, and the Jamaica Department of Agri-
“culture, carefully tested the efficacy of all the dp washes offered
“for sale in Jamaica, and it was found that the bulk of these
“ remedies were Carbolic or Coal-Tar Emulsions.
: “ We found, however, that these preparations had not a high
“standard of ‘ Wetting Power,’ and tended to ‘bead off’ the
“ticks on the skin of the animal, much as plain water beads off
t “a duck’s back.
F “* Again, we found that none of these preparations would
“kill ticks unless used at a strength that was very liable
af “to strip the skin of the cows under treatment, and in
“no case did we obtain a high efficiency of tick
“dl : “destruction.”
These statements have been confirmed by many investigators in
different Countries, as will be seen, for example, from the following
extract from United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin 144, in
which are given full particulars of a large number of tests, the result of
_ which was to show that arsenical preparations alone are really
« ' efficient and satisfactory tick-destroyers :—
“ Ever since the fact that the tick js the agent of transmission
* of Texas Fever was established, investigations have been carried
“on for the purpose of discovering some substance which, when
“applied externr!!y to the bodies of tick-infested cattle, would free
; “them from ticks without injury to the animals themselves. Several
“remedies which give good results in the case of such external _
“3 Parasties as mange mites and lice are of little or no use in the case
“of ticks. Fer example, Lime & Sulphur, tobacco, and carbolic
“or coal-tar dips have been found to have no practical
“ value in the destruction of ticks,”
The same conclusion was arrived, at as the result of similar tests
carried out at the Central Agricultural Station in Cuba. The [following
is a quotation from Bulletin 8, entitled ‘‘ Texas Fever and The Cattle
i
} it is desirable that it should be known that such preparations possess only a very low degree of tick-killing power.
y
"
“Creoline and other carbolic and coal-tar products
“were tried, mixed with water, and also with alcohol, in 2, 3, 4,
“and 5 per cent. solutions.
“The stronger applications will kill some ticks, but
“not enough to warrant their use, as the skin of the
“animals is irritated by them.”
The continued use in the West Indies of ineffective Carbolic Prepar-
ations for the destruction of ticks is no doubt due to the fact that most’
Owners of Cattle look upon ticks as a pest that will always exist whatever
is done, and regard the struggle against them as a hopeless, never-ending
one. They are consequently more or less satisfied so Woe as the number
of ticks on their cattle is kept within reasonable bounds, and are reconciled
to the belief that, so long as they have cattle, so long will they have to
keep on treating them at intervals for ticks. They do not realize that it is
perfectly possible to eradicate ticks completely from a property
within a period of two or three years.
To get rid of ticks completely, once for all, it is only necessary to
treat the cattle regularly with some properly prepared arsenical prepar-
ation, for it is now generally recognised that arsenical fluids alone cam
be relied on to kill every tick with which they come into contact.
To employ a Carbolic preparation which will not kill more than
60% of the Ticks is merely trifling with the Tick Problem, for the
multiplication of ticks takes place with amazing rapidity. One single
adult female tick has been known to lay 5,000 eggs. But if we take
2,500 as the average number, and assuming that all these 2,500 eggs
matured, and that one half were females, the following figures show the
number of ticks that might be produced in one year by a single tick:—
Ist Generation «.- a aa sae ne DUR
2nd Generation «. ae 3,125,000
3rd Generation, «+ 3,906,250,000
4th Generation ... «+ 4,882,812,500,000
5th Generation «.. 6,103,515,625,000,000
Total progeny from 1 tickin 1 year ... 6,108,402,346,877,560
These figures shew the importance of using Preparations which will kill every single tick.
Even the most effective Carbolic Preparations never kill more than
65% of the ticks, and the use of such inefficient fluids can only reeult, at
i “ Cattle Ticks upon animals are very difficult to destroy, but the most, in keeping the ticks in check ; whereas if an arsenical prepare
: ) ‘we have been making a careful search for some cheap and ation, such as Cooper's Cattle Tick Dip, be regularly and carefully used,
. ; * efficient remedy for them. complete eradication is possible within a few years. =
y COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS; :
f i following Countries GIFTS: S$. L. Horstord &Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Br, 50m & Ce
Ros receiced the official approval of the e ot. rie amb rte |
Walon of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basateland, GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co, “
; Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, ee IG Tannen, Nate ee é
. t t Afi TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain. 5
‘ British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, RID AD ME pecan eteeca ne 5
| Portugucse West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensiand, ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone,
DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmiegelow, St. Croix. 2
| United States of America, New South Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Framptem:
y Northern Territory of Australia. ST, LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Ce., Castries.
4 * Muosufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
4 ' BRANCHES Teromto, Chicego, Sydmey, Melbomrme, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, Enst London, Odessa
> /
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By
SV Pg PN LPI y S
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———»* —~s
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Bibs,
wt
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Hone KV. Ne. 418. BARBADOS, MAY 4, 1918. Price 1d.
= one-quarter of the total world production of this
COSEENTS. valuable foodstutt.
Pace Pace, The industry is almost entirely in the hands of
Agricultural Instruction Items of Loeal Interest 134
in Canada 142 | Jamaica Oil of Orange 141
oric - > a “ce. F
eee es 142 Market Reports : 144
SieeiPecn tock aise Notesand Comments ... 136
Berries, Old and New 135 | Palm Nuts. A Clever
Book Shelf 5 san dE Device to Crack .. ... 137
Cacao, Qualities in, Peanut Crop in the Uni-
Desired by Manufae- ted-States’ i... --. ... 136
turers : aa. . 129 | Plant Diseases:—
Cane Varieties, Breeding Infection of Orange
on Mendelian Lines 136 Fruit through Bug
Cotton Notes: Punetures —. wes, 142
Sea Island Cotton Plants, Exchange of
Market 134 Useful E 139
Departinent News 134 | Potato Butter 137
Educational Courses in J
Botanic Gardens 143 poe ISSN 9 :
Giaaince iia ap Palnis as a C ommereial
Hyacinths, Water, Value : BI SOE STHEENY = 133
of as Fertilizer 141 | Selec o CEs
TRE Not tings before Planting 152
138 | Wood or Candle-Nut Oil 137
Fleas and their Control
Qualities in Cacao Desired by
Manufacturers.
of the most striking developments of
y recent years in the cultivation of a partieular
<WD Crop in a locality where no attention was
previously paid to it, is the cacao industry in the Gold
Coast Colony. In the year 1891 there was officially
recorded the first exportation of cacao from the colony.
It was 80 fb. in weight, valued at £4 In 1916 the
otticial reports place the exports at 72,161 tons, of the
value of £3,847,720. The Gold Coast
fact, in the short space of twenty-five years, the great-
est producer of cacao in the world, supplying nearly
has become in
natives on small holdings, to which fact may be
attributed the low grade of the cacao which is mostly
shipped, as not much trouble is taken in harvesting
or preparing the beans in order to obtain the best
results. Consequently the price which the product
fetches on the market is only very low as compared
with that of Trinidad or Grenada cacao.
The large quantity of cazao, produced at low cost,
must however have an effect on the market in lowering
prices generally, and it would seem that, if cacao pro-
duction in the West Indies is to continue to hold its
place, the planters will have to strive, not so much after
producing quantity, for in that they will not be able
to compete with other sources of supply like the Gold
Coast, but atter improvement of quality.
A useful analogy may be derived from the local
cotton industry. It would be hopeless for these islands
to compete in the production of Egyptian or American
Upland, but from specializing in a type, for which the
demand is relatively small but the prices high, the
industry retains, to all appearance, the prospects of
continued prosperity.
By cacao of a high quality we mean the cacao
which is regarded as most desirable from the manu-
facturer’s point of view. A paper published in the
Transactions of the Third International Congress of
Tropical Agriculture which was held in London in
June 1914, is full of very valuable hints on this question,
The
authors ofthe paper referred to, Messrs. N. P. Booth
and A. W. Knapp. of Messrs. Cadbury Bros., Ltd., say
that who
from the point of view of the cocoa manufacturer.
they believe there are many planters
130
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 4, 1918.
would be glad to know exaetly "what qualities in cacao
are considered desirable by manufacturers of cocoa and
choeolate. Untortunately, it is by no means possible
to make a definite statement which is generally
applicable, because the various manufacturers look for
different qualities, and cacaos from certain districts
are prized tor special purposes. There is, further,
some danger in deseribing a desirable appearance, for
it is not the appearance that is wanted, but the qualities
that are associated with it. In general, it is indicated
that if the planter only allows ripe pods to be gathered,
ferments for a reasonable period, cures with care, and
keeps the beans dry, they will have the right appearance
to satisfy the manufacturers, and he will be producing
the best that the type of tree on his plantation is
capable of. It is to be regretted that in many cases the
individual who does better work than his fellow-
planter does not directly reap his reward in higher
prices. Indeed, it has been said by planters that it
does not pay to take more than a certain amount
of trouble in fermenting and curing their cacao, as
they obtain the same price any way: but if all planters
worked down to the minimum quality, the price
obtained for beans from that district would fall, and
all would suffer. At present the planter who produces
above the average is a benefactor to his fellow-planters,
and he who produces below the average quality lowers
the price of the whole production of his district.
Any district which could establish and successfully
maintain a standard which’ prohibited the presence
of unfermented, diseased, germinated, or grubby beans,
and which fixed a maximum percentage for rub-
bish and shrivelled beans, and could at the same
time put on the market large consignments suit-
ably marked, would be sure of establishing a repu-
and as a result obtain
tation in the London market,
high prices.
Probably the most highly. appreciated character is
constancy or reliability of quality. Cacao which varies
from bag to bag, or trom time to time, will get little
appreciation. Under ideal conditions, standard qnali-
ties would be put on the market—Criollo, Forastero,
and Calabacillo would be fermented separately, and the
beans graded according to size. Such a procedure
would only be practicable where the cacao from several
plantations was taken to a central fermentary. At the
present time we are far from this: indeed, instead. of
a careful grading of good qualities there is in practice
a mixing of good and bad. There is good reason to
believe that some merchants buy cacao which they
know to be diseased, or unfermented, or mouldy, and
deliberately 1x it with good cacao. Such an action
may not seriously atfect the price of that particular lot,
but it affects detrimentally the reputation of the cacao
from that district, and the manufacturer comes to
regard it as less desirable.
A matter of great importance, within the con-
trol of the careful planter, lies in the picking of the
pods at the right stage, neither under nor over-ripe. It
is in this connexion that thrips, by concealing the
signs of ripeness, probably do more real and wide-
spread harm than in their etfects upon yield.
It is sometimes stated that cacao is valued largely
according to its geographical origin, but it may be
pointed out that this value is the resultant of the value
of the type of bean grown in that district. It is also
sometimes contended that the value of cacao depends
almost entirely on its botanical variety. It is the old
problem of heredity and environment. Criollo obtains
a higher price than Forastero and Calabacillo, because
itis the rarest. But the planters problem in most
parts of the world is how to produce the best cacao
from the mixed breed which his plantation contains,
This is done by providing a suitable environment, ie.
keeping the trees under healtiy conditions, and by eur
ing the cacao with the greatest care. In Ceylon, since
rubber became of such great importance, less care has
been taken in the cultivation of cacao, and a deteriora-
tion has resulted.
It should be pointed out that the manufacturer
does not make a final judgment of the bean in its raw
state. It is only when it is roasted that he is able
to determine its exact value for his purpose.
The question of co-operation between planters and
manufacturers is of great importance in the production
of almost every crop. Continuous efforts have been
made in connexion with the cotton industry in the
West Indies to discover exactly what quality of cotton
is most valued by the spinners in Manchester. These
efforts have resulted in mutual benefit to planters and
manufacturers, enabling the latter to obtain the more
uniform product for which they are willing to pay
a higher price.
With cacao, as with cotton, it would appear that
uniformity is the first essential, a point which is easy
to understand when the standardized nature of modern
manutactnred prodygts is considered,
As has just been pointed out, much can be done
in this direction by careful preparation of the raw
material, by picking at just the right time, and by the
Vou. XVII. No. 418.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
131
yrading of the material of differing quality. But in
the end, however long it may continue to be evaded, the
matter is bound to become one of growing pure strains
instead of the present to be
This question will be further
mongrel collections
seen on cacao estates.
considered in a subsequent issue,
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE HANDBOOKS: COT-
TON AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES; THETR
PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION. By Ernest
Goulding, D.Sc., F.1-C., with a preface by Wyndham k.
Dunstan, C-M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., pp. 231 + viii, Plates
XII. London: John Murray, Gs. net.
This volume of the Imperial Institute Handbooks to
the Commercial Resources of the Tropics is intended as
a general summary of the position and prospects of the
world’s production and utilization of fibres, in view of the
increased attention which must shortly be given to extend-
ing the sources of supply. The author is described as having
been for many years in charge of the fibre section of the
Scientific and Technical Department of the Imperial Institute.
Three of the eight chapters of the book deal with the
subject of cotton, its origin and cultivation, the main sources
of world supply. and the development of cotton production
in the British Empire. The remaining chapters relate to
the nature and production of flax, hemp, ramie, jute, the
cordage hemps, and miscellaneous fibres.
For the commercial or the general reader, especially
if it is used in connexion with the exhibits at the Imperial
Institute Galleries or in provincial collections, the book
should be of considerable educational value. If the ideas
which are now current with regard to fuller development
of the agricultural resources of the colonies are to result in
action, it is essential under our forms of government that
an intelligent interest in colonial products and their uses
should be cultivated, and for that reason the issue of hand-
books such as the one under notice is to be welcomed. But
while this view of the function of the book would seem to be
most in keeping with the origin of the series, some parts of
the discussion in the section relating to cotton tend to pass
from description into advice in matters More appropriate for
an agricultural treatise.
The difticulties of counsel with regard to the subjects of
manuring, of seed selection, of the treatment of pests and
distases, are perhaps greater in respect of cotton than of
any other crop, for in none is adjustment to local conditions
a wore delicate matter. When information has to be
compiled, as it very evidently has been in the present case,
from publications of varying age and authority, it affords
a very unsafe basis for recommendations regarding agricul-
tural practice. Very marked progress in the application of
science to cotton growing has been made in the last dozea
years.
The most successful example so far of the deliberate
development of cotton production in the British Colonies,
the Sea Island industry of the West Indies, stands in direct
opposition to the statement on page 29 that ‘if there is
already a native cotton plant which appears capable of
yielding a satisfactory crop, attention should be primarily
directed towards the improvement of this variety.’ Had such
a view been taken in 1900 these islands would be producing
a selected Marie Galante. the only type of commercial
significance which was to be found here. (The idea that
Sea Island cotton originated in the West Indies is hardly
more than a legend.) ‘hat this would have remotely
approached the quality of Sea Island is about as unlikely as
getting a quart out of a pint pot.
Nor can the information that ‘considerable improvement
can be achieved by simply picking out large, ripe, well-
developed seeds for sowing’ or, without some hint of limita-
tion, the statement that ‘if it is desired to increase the
length of staple the seeds should be selected from those
plants which produce the longest fibre’ be regarded as showing
biological insight of a high order. That experiments in the
direction of improving cotton by hybridization shuuld only
be undertaken by a competent botanist is certainly true, and
the reference could well have been made wider.
The information regarding pests and diseases of cotton
might reasonably have been expected to be somewhat more
modern. Angular leaf spot, e.g., here classed as a physio-
logical disease, was proved by inoculation to be of
bacterial origin in 1905 or earlier; the announcement of
this reached popular form in 2 Farmers udletin of the
United States Department of Agriculture in 1967, and
would hardly be questioned by anyone who has seen
the disease. /Véocosmospova as the cause of wilt has been
discredited since 1910. Bacterial boll rot may, as stated,
start ata point near the peduncle, but it may equally well
start near the tip of the boll, and can occur over any part of
the intervening surface. ysdercus is, as usual, described as
staining the cotton in the open boll with its excrement, while
the best remedial measure against this insect is said to consist
in the attraction of the bugs to heaps of cotton seed or sugar-
cane on which they can be destroyed by kerosene or boiling
water, a remedy which is likely to prove a disappointment to
those who try it- That the leaf-blister mite does not usually
do much harm to full-grown plants is hard to be believed by .
anyone who has seen the havoc it commonly produces on the
secondary growth.
There are considerable differences of usage among
botanists with regard to terms for the bracts subtending the
cotton flower, but the latitude can hardly be extended to
cover a description of the young fruit as enveloped in the
calyx. ‘The account of the petals changing in colour until
the third or fourth day might readily be taken to mean that
the flower opens or remains open after the first day, which
would be contrary to the habit of any variety known to the
reviewer.
There is no intention to-disparage Dr. Goulding’s book
in making these criticisms: they apply to no more than a few
pages which do not concern the main purpose of the book
as itis stated in the preface. They may serve as usefwi
illustrations, with a quite general application, of the dangers
which wait upon attempts to issue detailed advice concerning
agricultural matters in the colonies from centralised
institutions in London.
W.N.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Way =" 91's;
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
SELECTION OF CANE CUTTINGS BEFORE
PLANTING.
An instructive article on this subject by Mr. Arthur H,
Rosenfeld, late Director of the Tucumin Experiment Station,
Argentina, appears in the /zternational Sugar Journal for
February 1918. His conclusions are based upon demonstra-
tive experiments undertaken at the Tucumiin Station. Now-
adays the principle of the value of selection for the ‘mainte-
nance or improvement of the characters of any plant or
animal would seem to be such a settled question as to render
experiments in this line unnecessary. Nevertheless it is often
the case that the most common facts are those which are
ignored in our daily agricultural routine, and it frequently
happens that experiments along the most common lines of
investigation, if conducted on sound scientific principles,
result in calling the attention of agriculturists to facts not
unknown but forgotten. Recognizing, as accepted by every
intelligent planter, the value of selection in general. two
series of experiments were conducted at the Tucumin Experi-
ment Station in selecting cane before planting.
The selection was made principally with the object of
planting cane as free as possible from the common moth
cane borer (Déatraca saccharalis), but the results obtained
are a further indication of the value in general of selection
of cane cuttings. Selecting cuttings free of borer attack
and the diseases introduced through the perforations really
means a selection of sound, healthy cane, and this is the
basis of all seed selection. Mr. Rosenfeld states that the
selection of borer-iree canes did. not represent a careful
selection of other characteristics than freedom from borer
attack; in fact the selected cane was inferior as regards size,
development, ete., to the ordinary cane used for planting in
the control plot. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that
the larger, thicker canes, offering a larger surface to the
attacks of the borer, were infested very heavily, a larger
proportion of thin canes being found free of the borer than
of the better developed specimens.
In conducting these experiments, apart from the actual
selection of cuttings as free as possible from borer attacks and
the fungus diseases which gain entrance to the cane through
the perforation of the borer, there was no difference made in
the cultivation of the selected and non-selected plots of cane,
the latter having been planted with: the type of cane usually
planted in the neighbourhood—cane of good appearance in
general, but without any attention being paid as to whether
it was infested with borers, or whéther a large proportion of
the eyes had been destroyed by this insect, or from other
causes.
The first experiment was begun in August 1910, and
careful counts were made at frequent intervals of the number
of sprouts above ground in the two plots. The difference
in appearance between the plots planted with selected and
unselected cane was most noticeable from the beginning of
the germination. The following table gives the results of
these germination counts at various dates in number of
sprouts above ground per row of 100 metres:—
Plot. Oct. 17, Dec. 1. Dec, 12-16, Crop.
Selected 153 506 1.203 1,111
Unselected $4 464 S74 942
It will be observed that in every count the selected cane
showed much better germination than the unselected—so
much so, in fact, that all the canes which existed in the
selected plots on December 16 could not mature, the number
of matured stalks however still being far greater at crop
time in the selected plot than in the unselected. It is
interesting to note also that the average weight of stalks
from the selected plot was just 40 grammes more than that
of the stalks harvested from the unselected plot.
The next table makes clear how this difference in
germinative power bedrs upon yield. It must be borne in
mind also, that the same money will be spent on producing
inferior cane per acre as on producing good cane, hence the
cost of cultivation per ton of superior cane is always Jess.
This table would also appear to demonstrate that if
unselected cane is planted, it is only putting into the ground
a great amount of cane which cannot germinate with fall
efficiency, and which would have been much better sent to
the mill, replacing it with selected cane of high germinating
power.
_ The following table shows the result of the experiment
in yield of cane in kilograms per row of 100 metres, both for
plant canes and for ratoons:—
Plot. Plants. Ratoons.
Selected 954 582°3
Unselected 776 4813
From this table it appears that the selected canes, both
as plants and as ratoons, gave over 20 per cent. more yield
in each case than those of the unselected. This increase in
production, with probably the same cost of cultivation per
acre, certainly repays many times the small cost of selection,
An interesting part of this experiment was the determi-
nation, by careful examination of several hundred individual
canes from each plot, of the percentage of cane containing
cane borers when cut at crop time. The results of the count
showed that 37 per cent. of the selected plot contained live
specimens of cane borer, and that 60 per cent. of the cane
from the unselected lot harboured this pest. That is to say
that even in small plots a careful selection of the cane as free
as possible from borers at the time of planting gives direct
results in the diminution of the consequent infestation by
the insect, As Diatraea is not a strong flier, it would appear
that the results should be still more pronounced by the
selection of cane plants over large areas.
The experiments described above were made wnder
irrigation conditions. But in order to continue the demon-
stration of the benefit of selection, another experiment was
made with canes planted in unirrigated land. In both series
the cane was planted in rows 5 feet apart, employing two
complete running rows of cane for planting, and in both
series the cane for planting was hand stripped, the seed
cane being covered in the rows with a small share plough.
The following table shows the results of the germination
counts on the cane grown in unirrigated land: —
Plot. Oct. 18. Oct. 26. Nov. 14. Crop,
Selected 140 356 636 660
Unselected 1204 292 464 524:
As in the previous experiment, the counts were per row
of 100 metres. ' a
Although the difference between the number of sprouts
above ground in the two plots is not so striking as in the
first series of experiments, it nevertheless plainly shows again
the advantages of selection.
Vout. XVII. No. 418.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
133
The following were the results in kilograms per row of
100 metres of the crop reaped on August 15 of the following
year: —
Selected 662°
Unselected 547-7
Here again is shown the same increase of yield of the
selected over the unselected cane—just a little over 20
per cent. This represents pure profit to the planter, as he
would have spent the same amount in cultivating an acre of
the unselected cane as of the selected. Eu
The results of these experiments appear very striking.
They seem to indicate that a more systematic selection of
cane cuttings is highly profitable, and it must always be
remembered that canes rejected for planting purposes do not
represent a total loss, as they can always be sent to the mill
for grinding.
PALMS AS A COMMERCIAL SOURCE
. OF SUGAR,
An interesting paper on the above subject, much of
which we reproduce below, by H. E. Annett, B.Sc., F.LC.,
F.C.S., Agricultural Chemist to the Government of Bengal,
is published in the Transactions of the Third International
Congress of Tropical Agriculture. ;
It is not generally known that the world’s production
of palm sugar is about 500,000 tons annually. Most of this
is produced in India, but a proportion is also produced in the
Philippine Islands and in the Dutch East Indies.
Tt is known that a large number of palms produce
sugar. Among them the following have been recommended
for sugar production on a commercial scale:—
The wild date palm (Panix sylvestris), by far the
commonest sugar producer among the palms in India.
The fan or toddy palm (Borassus flabelliformis), grown
for the production of sugar in Madras and Burma.
The coco-nut palm (Coces nucifera), also fairly largely
used in Madras for the same purpose. ;
The Nipa palm (ipa fruticans), from which the palm
sugar of the Philippine Islands is chiefly obtained. This is
a swamp palm, growing almost up to its crewn in water in
marshy places by the sea. i ie
Carvota urens is also used for the production of sugar
to a small extent in Madras; it has been credited with
enormous sugar yields on the Malabar coast.
Arenga saccharifera appears to be commonly used for
sugar production in the Dutch East Indies, :
The sugary juice is obtained from the young inflores-
cence in the case of the above palms, with the exception of
the wild date palm, the stem of which is tapped just
below the crown of the leaves. ad
The Nipa palm contains 16 to 17 grammes of cane sugar
per 100 c.c. of juice, while the wild date palm only contains
10 to 12 grammes of cane sugar in the same amount of juice.
The toddy palm juice,contains about 14 to 16 grammes of cane
sugar per 100 c.c. Investigations carried out during the palm
sugar season in Jessore district, Bengal, show that even
by the crude methods practised there, an average of about
221. of raw sugar is obtained per tree during the season
in the case of the wild date palm. Reckoning 350 trees
per acre, which is a fair estimate, this would yield
3-6 tons of raw sugar per acre¢ ‘The yield of sugar
from the toddy paim would probably considerably surpass
the yields from the wild date palm, while figures given
erably, only destroys the
from the Philippines seem to indicate very large yields.
of sugar from the Nipa palm.
The following are the advantages which Mr. Annett
claims that palms offer as a source of sugar supply:—
(1) The certainty of the yield year after year. There-
need no fears be entertained of drought or of flood. Both
of these occurrences have practically no effect on the yield
of a palm plantation.
(2) The small annual cost of the upkeep of a plantation.
(3) No capital needs to be invested in crushing
machinery, which is such a large item in sugar-cane factories.
(4) Owing to the fact that different palms yield sugar at
different seasons of the year,it might be possible by combining
the cultivation of the wild date palm with the toddy palm,
practically to produce sugar almost all the year round.
(5) The juice of the palms is easily treated in a factory.
It would require much less defecation than cane or beet
juice. Owing to the alkaline reaction of the juice to-
litmus, even liming would be unnecessary.
(6) It would seem possible by better cultivation and
plant selection largely to increase the yield per acre, and
thus obtain more sugar per acre than even from sugar-cane.
On the other hand, the following are the disadvantages
of palms as a commercial source of sugar:—
(1) Lack of fuel.—In the cane sugar industry the
megass which is obtained after extracting the juice from the-
cane supplies sufficient fuel for the needs of the factory.
There is no such fuel in the case of palm trees.
(2) Time of establishment of plantation.—A period of
six years elapses from the time of seed planting until the trees.
can be tapped for sugar. During this time, however, certain
crops such as peas may be grownon theland. And further,
when once established, the plantation needs very little annual
upkeep, and each tree, in the case of the wild date palm at
least, will go on yielding for twenty-five years.
(3) Difficulty of collecting the juice.—At present this
would seem to be one of the chief drawbacks, but it
might be possible to develop a system of pipe lines from
the fields to the factory.
(4) The concentration of the sugar in the juice. —In the-
case of the wild date palm, with only 10 to 12 grammes of
sugar per 100 c.c. of juice, the work of evaporation would
be very much more tedious than in the case of cane juice.
The Nipa palm, and perhaps others, would be better than
the date palm in this respect.
The writer of the paper referred to comes to the
conclusion that, since it is probable that much higher yields
of sugar per acre could be obtained from palms than from
sugar-cane, the advantages of palms as a source of sugar
seem to outweigh the disadvantages,
He mentions that a small factory in the Jessore district,
working on palm juice, has produced some very high quality
white sugars from the juice. These sugars found a ready
sale locally. No special treatment of any kind was used
during the process of manufacture. After a small amount
of preliminary heating, the juice was concentrated in
a vacuum pan.
He suggests that a factory dealing with palm juice
would be best run in conjunction with a distillery, so as not
to be dependent on a fluctuating market for the sale of its
molasses.
We would add that under West Indian conditions there
appears to be another great disadvantage in palm plantations.
A hurricane, which damages the sugar-cane fields consid
growth of a year, whereas in the
case of palms it might completely destroy what it would
take six years to restore.
134 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 4, 1918.
Be Ges
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
veek ending March 23, 1918, is as follows:—
IsLaNDs. The market has remained very quiet for the
-odd bags classing Fine to Fully Fine, there being little
enquiry at present; nevertheless the Factors continue firm in
their asking prices, refusing to admit that they would make
any concessions to sell.
The sales reported consist of Planters’ crop lots of
Extra Fine, on private terms, the buying being for export.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine 75e. to 80c=77e. to 82c.,
Fine to Fully Fine 734c. to 74c.=753c. to 76c_,,
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c., to 71¢e.=72e.
to-73c, c.if
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 65c. to 68c.=67c. to 70c., cif
cont:
GEORGIAS AND FLoRIDAS. The Savannah market has
‘been dull, with apparently no demand. The sales reported
are purchases made in the interior, or cotton appropriated
by exporters on orders from their holdings. There is
a general disposition to hold firmly for quotations, the
impression being that the unsold portion of this crop will
all be required before the next crop is marketed.
We quote, viz:—
Faney 14c.=76c. c.i.f
Average Extra Choice TCs — (DC. .
Choice 12¢; = 738C¢.
The exports from Savannah for the week have been, to
Northern Mills 4 bales, Southern Mills 278 bales, and from
‘ Jacksonville to Northern Mills 311 bales.
On March 20 the United States Census Bureau made
its final report of cotton ginned to March 1, as follows:—
South Carolina 7,315 bales}
Georgia 47,888 ,,
Florida 37,300 ,, |
-against last year 117,544 ,,
-making a total of 92,501 bales
1916 91,920 ,,
7 1915 81,598 ,,
% 1914 77,490 ,,
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Information has been received from the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies,
Sir. Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., that by request of the
Secretary of State for the Colonies he will proceed to
the Bahamas on the conelusion of his visit to Jamaica,
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
st, VINCENT. In items of Departmental interest during
the month of March, Mr. W. N. Sands Agricultural Super-
intendent, mentions the distribution of 7,715 cane
cuttings of selected varieties. With favourable weather
conditions, ground provisions, corn, and other crops
continued to thrive. Cotton picking was still in pro-
gress in several places at the end of the month. The
eradication of John bull stumps and seedlings which had
made growth, was carried out by the Cotton Inspector in
the Georgetown and Colonarie districts. Cotton stalks were
destroyed on many estates, but it will not be possible to get
the work finished this season before April 30. Arrangements
have been made for the shipment of 7 tons of yams to
Grenada for planting purposes. A local Syndicate has
arranged to purchase and refine the crude cotton-seed oil
produced by the Government Ginnery. Mr. S. C. Harland,
Scientific Assistant for Cotton Research, returned from Pare
bados on March 26, and resumed his duties at the Experiment
Station. The weather during the month was fairly dry. The
rainfall recorded at the Botanic Station was 7°53 inches
and at the Experiment Station, 5°79 inches.
st. LuctaA. According to notes received from the
Agricultural Superintendent, operations in the Experiment
Station during the month of March, in addition to
the usual routine work, included the making of farine,
reaping of cassava and potatoes, and the preparation
of dried potato chips, and making of flour. Plant distribu-
tion comprised the following: limes 950, oranges’8, decotative
and economic 294, vegetable seeds 64 packets. The reaping
of cacao and sugar-canes continues, but the lime crop is
practically over. Mr. Brooks states that large areas are
being cleared fur planting limes. The Government Granary
and Provisions Depot, which continues to be largely pat-
ronized by the general public, has now undertaken
to supply all ground provisions required by the public
institutions. © Work in connexion with the Cacao Prize
Holdings Scheme was continued throughout the month.
The rainfall registered at the Botanic Gardens Castries,
during -the month totalled 5°52 inches, and at the Agricul-
tural and Botanic Station, Choiseul, 4°68 inches. ;
sr, krrvs. During the month of March plant distribution
was a follows: cane plants, 3,300; peanuts, 20lb. In addition,
1,270 tb. of selected cotton seed were sold. Cuttings of
seven varieties of cassava, and tubers of seven varieties of
yams were sent to the Agricultural Department, Grenada.
Operations in the Botanic Gardens were of a routine nature.
Regarding staple crops, the Superintendent of Avrical-
ture, Mr. F. R. Shepherd, states that the cane crop is “being
rapidly taken off, and there is little to report in this connex-
ion beyond the general short tonnage per acre. The general
condition of the young cane crop is reported as unsatisfactory.
Cotton is being planted on estates to the north, and the lands
in the Valley district were being prepared for planting
during this month, ‘The acreage seems likely to be increased.
All available selected seed from the Experiment Station has
been sold. The lands at LaGucrite, rented for the growing
of ground provisions, are being planted chiefly in sweet
potatoes. Certain estates are allotting lands to the labourers
for the purpose of growing provisions. ‘lhe rainfal) for the
month was 3°38 inches; for the year, 3°74 inches,
Nevis. Mr. W. I. Howell, Agricultural Instructor,
states that on account of the dry weather experienced in
Vout. XVII.- No. 418.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 13:
oO
March, the crops in the Experiment Station were making
yery slow progress. Plant distribution during the month
included 1,650 onion slips, 9,000 sweet potato cuttings,
16fb. seed corn (maize), 597. selected cotton seed, and
1 tb. of Guinea corn. Concerning staple crops it is mentioned
that the young canes throughout the island are very poor,
and in some places the germination has been very bad.
Reaping of the old crop is still in progress. Cotton lands
have nearly all been prepared, and planting has been done on
a few estates, but in consequence of the dry weather germin-
ation has been poor, aud the crop is making little progress.
Regret is expressed that old fields of cotton are still found
standing about the island. Prevailing weather conditions
also affected the planting of provision crops in the lowlands,
In the highlands, however, where the weather is not so dry,
there is a fair acreage of provisions planted, and the crops
are doing fairly well in these parts. The rainfall for the
month was 2°75 inches; for the year to date, 8°20 inches.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. Mr. W. C. Fishlock, Curator, mentions
a continuation of dry weather during the month of Mareh,
which prevented cultural operations to any extent. Plant
distribution was limited to 4,600 onion seedlings. The
condition of the cotton crop is not satisfactory, dry weather
and pests having considerably reduced-the anticipated yield.
Leaf-blister mite was observed in all districts visited. The
attempt to revive the Tortola Onion Growers’ Association
has been abandoned, consequent on tlhe lack of interest
shown at two meetings held with that object. The rainfall
recorded at the Botonic Station, Tortola, during the month
totalled 1°60 inches, as compared with an average of 2°41
inches for the same month for the preceding seventeen years.
BERRIES, OLD AND NEW.
A very widely distributed order of plants throughout
the tropics is known as the Myrtle family (Myrtaceae).
Of the many thousands of species grouped under this order
nearly all are natives of the tropics, either of the Old or
New World. It is true that the common myrtle, from which
the order takes its name, and the pomegranate, another
member of the order, probably originated in the subtemperate
regions of Western: Asia. Another genus of the order
(Eucalyptus), now widely spread throughout the warmer
portions of the world, is indigenous in its many species to
Australia. To this order belongs several tropical edible
berries, the best known of which is probably the guava,
(Psidium guayava). Attention has been drawn in previous
numbers of the Agricu/tural News to two other members of
this family, the Jaboticaba (AZyrciaria cauliflora) of Brazil,
and the pineapple guava (/evjoa ‘sellowiana), as being
possibly desirable introductions to these islands. In fact
we have been informed that specimens of Jaboticaba are
now growing in the Botanic Garden, Dominica.
Another genus of this order (Eugenia) comprises several
hundred species, some of which are indigenous to the West
Indies, and some have been introduced for the sake of their
edible berries into these islands from tropical Asia. Amongst
the latter are the Malacca apple (gent madaccensis), the
pomme de rose or rose apple (Z. /améos), and the Java
plum (£. javanensts), all of which are natives of the East
Indian Archipelago. Among the native Eugenias there are
some which are also esteemed as fruit, such as 2. wvijlora
(the Surinam cherry), 7. procera (the black cherry), and
E. floribunda (the guava berry of the Virgin Islands).
In common with most of the members of the order the
Enugenias are distinguished for generally possessing pungent,
aromatic flavours and odours. As is the case with most
tropical berries, no attentiou has ever been paid to improving”
their qualities by hybridization or selection, and yet many of
them possess most agreeable flavours. By the introduction
of other species of the genus, and judicious hybridization, it
may be possible for horticulturists to produce superior
varieties in the future.
The Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of
the United States Department of Agriculture, in the inventory
of seeds imported during 1914, makes mention of several
apparently desirable species of Eugenia originating in Brazil,.
which might be found to be so well adapted to West Indian
conditions as to be an addition to our somewhat scanty list of
refreshing berry fruit. ugenia dombeyi, called in Brazil
‘Grumichama’, both for its ornamental value and its fruit,
seems specially worthy of trial. The tree grows to 25 or 30-
feet in height, well shaped, and thickly covered with glossy,
deep-green foliage. In general appearance the fruits very
much resemble cherries. They are round or slightly flattened,
and of a deep crimson colour. The thin skin encloses a soft,
tender pulp of mild and delicate flavour, containing from one
to three rounded small seeds. Mr. Dorsett, the Department’s
collector in Brazil, says that the Grumichama is one of the
most agreeable myrtaceous fruits which he has tasted.
Another of these Brazilian Eugenias is 2, /uschnathiana.
Mr. Dorsett procured seeds of this fruit from near Bahia,
where it is called by the natives, ‘Pitomba.’ He describes.
the tree as a very handsome, compact tree of from 20 to 30
feet in height. The fruits, which are produced on the small
branches, are about 1 inch in length and {inch in breadth
onan average. The colourof the fruit is deep orange-yellow
when fully ripe, with a thin and easily broken skin enclosing
a soft, melting pulp, bright orange in colour, very juicy, and of
an acid aromatic flavour. The tree does not produce as heavy
a crop as the Grumichama, but the fruit is especially esteemed
for making jellies and jams, it being somewhat acid when
eaten raw. It is a vigorous and easily grown tree, and might
probably be successfully grown in the tropics of the northern
hemisphere.
A larger fruited Eugenia is 2. £/otzschiana, known in
Brazil as ‘pera do campo,’ which means field pear. This is
not a tree, but a shrub, growing to the height of 4 to 5 feet,
with very few branches. The fruits are strikingly similar in
appearance to a small russet pear. They vary from 2 to-
3 inches in length, and are russet-brown in colour, with
a thick down on the suface; the skin is thin, and surrounds
a whitish, very juicy and aromatic pulp, so fragant that
it can he smelt several yards away. ‘The flavour is rather
acid, but very aromatic. Mr. Dorsett considers that this
shrub seems, on the whole, unusually promising for trial
in the warmer parts of the United States. He calls
attention to three other species of Brazilian Eugenias
which he thinks worthy of trial in other tropical reg-
ions. He describes £. campestris as a small, highly
ornamental tree, which bears small, yellow, rather acid
fruits, which are appreciated by the natives. Another
small tree is Z. myrcianthes which produces oblong, pur-
plish-red fruits about the size of an olive, with greenish
flesh. It is said to bear profusely, but the fruits are rather
hard when ripe, and for this reason are usually crushed into
a paste before eaten. The third species is 2. sfectosa, which
is a large, much branched tree, the fruit of which is said. to
be of valne.
Perhaps some of our horticulturists in the West Indies
might interest themselves to obtain, and make experiments
with one or more of these new species of Eugenia.
136
WHE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Miy -4,° “1916;
2 OETOm”'’"*"0.0.0.0..LE
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
-specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
mmissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
ypage 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor | Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
or fH. A. Ballou, M.Sc.t
Entomologists \J.@; Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.tt
CLERICAL STAFF.
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L, A. Corbin.
P. Taylor.*
LK. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
_ Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egypt.
++Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Agricultural Sews
OOOO E—=eeee
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1918. No. 418.
-Clerical Assistants
Typist
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
‘Contents of Present Issue.
The benefit which would probably be derived by
the cacao planter from paying attention to the qualities
desired by manufacturers of cacao, is discussed in the
- editorial.
Under Insect Notes, on page 138. will be found
the conclusion of the article on fleas and their control,
the first part of which appeared in our last issue.
The nature of akee poisoning, many cases of which
have recently occurred in Jamaica, is the subject of
an article on page 159.
ag
On page 143 will be found an account of eduea-
tional functions which Botanic Gardens may perform.
Breeding Cane Varieties on Mendelian Lines.
In an article on scientific progress in sugar
cultivation in Java. contributed to the International
Sugar Journal, February 1918, Dr. Prinsen_ Geerligs
draws attention to the fact that in former times the
raising of cane varieties had more the character of
a lottery than of a scientific, thought-out plan. If
a good variety had been obtained, no one could trace
back its origin. In, order to remedy this haphazard
proceeding, the experiment station in Java is now rais-
ing seedling canes on Mendelian principles, and eare-
fully recording the cross-fertilization of canes from
different varieties. If by this methodical research a new
variety is evolved which combines excellent qualities,
this cane may at any time be reproduced by following
the lines laid down in the plan for its production, and
noted down in the records of the station. Up to the
present the scientists of the station have not yet
raised a variety which may be considered superior to
the excellent ones now in cultivation, but they are
confident of attaining their aim, and presenting the
Java planters, not only with a good,-sound, superior
cane, but also with the recipe to get the same cane
again, if through misfortune it should deteriorate after
the lapse of some years.
TT
The Peanut Crop inthe United States.
According to ‘the World Wide Magazine of
Montreal, February 16, 1918, the ravages of the boll
weevil have forced the cotton growers of the Southern
States to turn their attention to other crops, among
which the peanut has risen to prominence.
It was estimated that the peanut crop in the
United States in 1908 was worth $12,000,000. The
valuation of this year’s crop is put as probably more
than $60,000,000. ~In Texas alone there are 200.000
acres planted in peanuts.
The high food value of the net and the oil
extracted from it has been often emphasized in this
Journal. The article referred to above states that pea-
nut oil can be extracted in the same mills by the same
machinery that turns out cotton-seed oil. This is
a great advantage in districts where cotton is largely
cultivated. The cotton-seed mills have a capacity
beyond the available supply of their raw material, and
therefore lie idle fora large part of the year. Now
that the machinery of these mills, with but slight
adjustment, can be turned into peanut-oil plants, they
will naturally welcédme the new industry that will
extend the yearly period of operation, and at the same
time increase the profits on their working.
In addition to the valuable products derived from
peanuts, they are, like other leguminous plants, of
great benefit in enriehing the soil in which they ‘are
grown. ;
The planters of the Southern States realize that
there is considerable profit to be derived from the
cultivation of peanuts, s0 that the acreage in Texas
under this crop has inereased more than 1,000 per cent,
from 1915 to 1916. In that State it is estimated that
Von. XVII. No, 418.
‘the peanut.and,the.cotton crop wil
-equal in value.
Special machines have been invented to deal with
the crop in every stage of its progress. The peanuts
| this year be about
-are dug, cleaned, bunched, and placed or on ie mill by
machinery.
$< ¢
A Clever Device to Crack Palm Nuts.
The West India Committee Circular for Mareh 21,
1918, draws attention to a recent American invention
for cracking the hard shells of palm nuts produced
in Mexico and Central America, solely by centrifugal
force. The machine is shaped somewhat like a drum,
-and measures 6 feet in diameter. Its height, when
the top feed and bottom discharge appliances are
added, is nearly 7 feet; it weighs approximately
‘6,000 tb.
The nuts are conveyed in a steady stream to the
hopper at the top, and from the hopper they drop into
a fast revolving drum wheel which throws them with
great force against a continuous stationary belt of
breaker blocks lining the inside surface of the main
drum-shaped casting.
A pressure of about 1,800 tb. is required to crack
them, as the nuts have an extremely hard shell, about
$-inch thick. The drum wheel turning ona perpen-
dicular set axle is speeded to 800 revolutions per
‘minute, and hurls the nut ona tangent a distance of
but, 2 feet. This force is sufficient to break the
shells into several pieces, and to release the kernels.
Deflected by the downward sloping surface of the break-
er block, the kernels and hulls drop toward the bottom
of the machine, where they enter a discharge pipe, and
are separated from each other by a system of blowers.
The machine has a capacity of dealing with about 10
tons of nuts per hour.
The difficulty experienced heretofore in preparing
these nuts for the market has been in the matter
‘of cracking the hard inner shell, In Mexico this
work is ordinarily done by hand, and is tedious and
slow work. ‘This machine solves the problem very
advantageously, not only because of the greater speed,
but because in cracking the nuts by centrifugal force
the kernels for the most part remain whoie, and do
‘not lose any of their oil.
—— E> +e
Wood or Candle-Nut Oil.
The following memorandum has been received
from Mr. A. W. Hill, Assistant Director of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew, with reference to this subject as
noticed in the Agricultural News, January 26, 1918:—
‘Of the limited number of species of Aleurites as
already referred to in the Kew Bulletin, Alewrites
Fordii, Hemsl., is a native of the Central Provinces of
China, South-western Province of Yunnan, and north-
-wards to the borders of Eastern Tibet; A. montana,
Wilson, of South-eastern China; A. cordata, R. Br., of
Southern Japan; A.triloha, Forst. (A, moluccana, Wild.)
of Polynesia and Malaya—videly distributed in the
tropics; A, trisperma, Blanco, native of the Philippine
Islands,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
137
‘It would seem, therefore, that although Alewrites
triloba may not be Roe «26 the present time the
most important commercially,6r the best in its drying
properties, it is clearly yaluable source of oil, and the
best “plant of the series’ to: rely on for cultivation in
tropical countries—warnt* temperate or subtropical
regions being apparently more suited to the other species
(excepting A. trisperma) mentioned above, and perhaps
they would succeed on some of the higher elevations of
the West Indies.
‘Aleurites trisperma might also be tried. Accord-
ing to Kew Bulletin (1908, p. 93), the native names
in the Philippines are “Balocanad’, “Baguilumban”, —
“Calumban”, and “Balucanag”, and “the oil, which is
regarded as poisonous, is perhaps superior to Chinese
Wood-oil in its drying properties.”
A. triloba attains a considerable size, and fae
well in Dominica. Specimens exist iu most of the
islands. ‘There is a small plot in Nevis, planted by the
late J. S. Hollings, which was in good order when last
reported on.
A
Potato Butter.
The following recipe appeared in The Times,
January 9, 1918, ‘and seems worthy of attention by
housekeepers in these days of short butter supply.
‘The Ministry of Food states that in view of the
shortage of butter they have been carrying out experi-
ments in order to find suitable and economical ways
of eking out the available butter and margarine
supples by mixing in other food substances, and go
producing cheap and polatable substitutes. These
experiments have shown that an excellent “potato
butter” costing only about 5d. per tb. (or less if mar-
garine is used) can easily be made in any household
without special knowledge or apparatus in accordance
with the following recipe:—
“Peel the potatoes and boil (or steam) until they
fall to pieces and become floury. Rub through a fine
sieve into a large basin which has been previously
warmed. ‘To every 14 0z. of mashed potato add 2 oz,
of butter or margarine and one teaspoonful of salt.
Stir thoroughly with the back of a wooden spoon until
the whole is quite smooth. The butter may then be
made up into pounds or half-pounds, and kept in a cool
place.”
‘The potato butter may be improved ia appear-
ance by the addition of a few drops of butter colouring,
and if it is to be kept for more than a few days, butter
preservative, of which there are several forms on the
market, should be used. The amount should be in
accordance with the printed instructions on the packeb
for use in butter. Both the colouring and the preser-
vative should be well mixed into the potato at the
same time as the butter and salt. Ifthese directions
are carefully followed, potato butter will keep for a con-
siderable time, though it may be found that the surface
is apt to become dry, but this can be obviated by keep~
ing 1b wrapped in grease-proof paper.
INSECT NOTES.
FLEAS AND THEIR CONTROL,
( Concluded.)
There are certain general principles in the control of
fleas which can be applied to nearly all species, with certain
modifications for the different species and for the different
conditions under which they live. It was pointed out in the last
number of the 4ericu/tuval News that the cat and dog fleas
and the human flea are the most important species invading
houses. It was also noted that the adult fleas feed more or
less on cats and dogs, while the younger stages develop in
the cracks of floors and beneath houses.
Two main measures of contro] are therefore required to
keep down fleas in houses; first, the destruction on the. hosts
of the adult fleas which lay the eggs; and secondly, the
cleaning up of the immature stages which develop in or
under houses.
HOW TO KILL FLEAS ON CATS AND DOGs,
For killing fleas on cats and dogs the writer* recom-
tends giving the animals a thorough washing in a tub con-
taining one of the so-called ‘stock dips’. This is usually
a saponified coal tar creosote preparation, and should be used
in the proper proportions. The animal should be scrubbed
thoroughly, special attention being paid to the head whither
many of the fleas rush to avoid the bath. With dogs the
solution may be allowed to dry on the animal, but in the
case of cats, especially if tender-skinned, the preparation
should be washed out of the fur soon after the animal is
removed from the bath.
An alternative bath of kerosene emulsion may be used
in the following proportions: dissolve 2 oz. of washing
soap in 1 quart of hot water, and when boiling remove from
fire and add 2} pints of kerosene. This mixture must be
beaten up thoroughly, until a creaming mass is formed in
which there is no free oil. Then add water to make 5 gallons,
It is important that no kerosene should separate, since free
oil is injurious to animals,
Cats and dogs may also be rid of fleas by treating them
with powdered naphthalene, or with pyrethrum powder.
Kither of these can be carefully rubbed into the hair of the
animal, Both of these materials stupefy the fleas, and make
them come to the surface or drop out entirely. This treat-
ment can be given on papers spread on the flour, and the
naphthalene can thus be recovered and used again.
It is important to note that the skin of cats is much
more susceptible to injury by chemicals than that of dogs;
hence any preparation used should be weaker when used on
cats than on dogs.
HOW TO DESTROY FLEAS LN IMMATURE STAGES,
In addition to ridding infested animals of adult fleas
it is essential to destroy the younger stages which are
constantly developing to the adult stage, and reinfesting
animals and annoying man. ‘The breeding of the immature
stages usually takes place in the cracks of floors or under
~ . F.C; sishopp, Farmers’ Bulletin
of Agriculture.
897, U.S. Department
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS May 4, 1918.
carpets or matting, or in rooms which are not swept frequently,.
and which may be visited by cats or dogs.
It is recommended that the carpets and rugs be removed,
the floors thoroughly swept, and all the dust be burned, as
this will contain the younger stages of fleas. Then the floor
should be thoroughly scrubbed with strong soap:suds. The
floor coverings should be properly aired and beaten before
being replaced. Powdered alum can be sprinkled about,
or papers dipped in an alum solution can be placed under
the rugs.
Another method of destroying fleas in houses is to
scatter 5 tb. of naphthalene flakes over the floor, and close
all doors and windows for twenty-four hours. The naphthalene
can be swept from room .to room. In extreme cases
fumigation with sulphur fumés or with hydrocyanic acid yas
is sometimes| employed. If sulphur is used, it is necessary
to remove metal objects and potted plants, as the gas given
off by the burning sulphur corrodes metals and injures plants,
Hydrocyanic acid gas should only be used under competent,
direction, as this gas is highly dangerous, ;
It sometimes happens that fleas breed beneath or around
houses, which are thus constantly reinfested from outside. In
cases of this sort it is necessary to clean up all the refuse and
burn it. ‘Then common salt should be sprinkled about freely
and thoroughly soaked. Additional wettings should be given
at intervals, if necessary,
Various substances are used as repellents for keeping
fleas away from bedding, but these are only temporary meas-
ures. The most effective way of keeping fleas in check
is to destroy the immature stages in their breading places,
and the adult fleas on their host animals, as described above
Mention may be made here of the control of the sticktight
or chicken flea, which also sometimes infests cats and dogs.
All animals, and poultry as well, should be prevented from
resting beneath houses or barns, as fleas breed favourably in
such places, and these are difficult to treat if they become
infested. Chicken houses and places frequented by poultry
should be thoroughly cleaned, and the breading places of fleas
should be sprinkled with crude oil, or salt should be scattered
about and then wet thoroughly. Fowls should not be allowed
to eat the salt as it is poisonous to them.
It is not an easy matter to destroy the sticktight flea on
fowls without injuring the bird, but in the case of heavy
infestations, the clusters of fleas about the head can be treated
with carbolated vaseline or with a mixture of kerosene and
lard—1 part of kerosene to 2 parts lard. Cats and dogs can.
be treated in the manner described above for ordinary
fleas. Rats are sometimes infested with the chicken flea,
and the control of these animals will also help to keep down
this flea. =
Flea bites can- betreated with such substances as
menthol, camphor, or carbolated vaseline, which will serve
to relieve the irritation. A 3-per cent. solution of carbolic
acid in water is also beneficial.
' J.C.H.
The original form of banana must have been of little
value as a fruit, judging from the present wild species. Tt
has been therefore concluded that it was first used by
mankind as a root crop, the roots even yet being used as an
article of food by the natives of some tropical regions, while
the tender heart of the stem is used for the same purpose in
Abyssinia to-day. Under cultivation the banana probably
began to produce better fruits, and such varieties were
probably selected as desirable for reproduction. (The Joxrna/
of Heredity, Vol. V, p. 2738.) '
WOE, MEE. » No. 218:
THE AGRICULTURAL -~ NEWS.
139
AKEE POISON. -
From articles and correspondence in recent numbers of the
Jamaica Gleancy we gather that there >have been so many
fatal cases of what was commonly called ‘vomiting sickness’,
-especially in the parish of Trelawny, that the Government
Bacteriologist, Dr. .H. H. Scott. was especially commissioned
to investigate the matter. He reports most definitely that
the cause of the complaint is akee poisoning. Ina lecture
reported in the Géeaxer of March 19, 1918, Dr. Scott
explained the matter, and we reproduce some of his remarks
as of general interest; for although the akee (Biighia sapida)
is not a very common tree in the other islands of the West
Indies, it is grown here and there, and the fruit is used for
food. We have never heard, however, in these other islands,
-of the evidently dangerous practice of using as soup the
water in which the akees have been “boiled; it is always
thrown away. It may be mentioned that in Barbados the
* akee is called ‘fig nut’, while the well-known ‘genip’ (J7Ze/-
cocca bijuga) which is a harmless, if rather tasteless fruit, and
is eaten raw, is known as ‘akee’.
Blighia sapida is a native oi tropical West Africa,
whence it was carried by a slave ship to Jamaica. The
edible portion of the fruit consists of the white, fleshy arils
which surround the black shiny seeds for two-thirds of their
length. In appearance this arilis strongly suggestive of
the sweetbread of a calf.
Dr. Scott states that unopened and immature akees as
weil as over-ripe ones are to be strictly avoided. He insists
that the akee, if incautiously gathered when immature, and if
improperly prepared, is a deadly poison, killing oftentimes so
rapidly that, unless taken under control at once, it gives no
second chance, and may sweep away afamily in a day; but
that if they are ripened naturally, and properly prepared,
they are, as far as he is aware, wholesome at all seasons,
and excellent food.
Dr. Scott says that the poison present in akees belongs
to a very obscure group of very poisonous substances known
as phytalbumoses and tox-albumins. These are soluble in
water, and are precipitated by alcohol; they kill rapidly;
they probably break down readily to form other bodies, and
in attempting to extract them for tests they become
transformed into other products, and are thus very difti-
cult to identify. Other members of this group of poisons
are ricin, which is present in the castor oil bean (Avcenus
communis), and abrin, an extremely toxic substance pres-
ent in the seeds of the ‘jumbee bead’ (Adrws precatorius).
These substances are a very obscure subject in physiological
and chemical botany.
In allusion to the epidemic character of the disease in
-Jamiica, Dr. Scott says that the period corresponds exactly
with the main akee season, when other fruits and foodstuffs
are relatively scarce. During the present epidemic the
number of cases has been highest where the scarcity was
most marked. In Trelawoy district, as the result of the
hurricane, there was practically very little but akees, and
the poor people had been almost living on them.
The symptoms following akee poisoning are vomiting
followed by rapid recovery if the dose is small, but if large,
and in solution as in the water in which akees are boiled,
absorption is too quick, and after the first vomiting there is
a quiescent interval, a return of vomiting, with drowsiness,
coma, and death.
Dr. Scott emphasizes as a precaution that the water in
which akees have been boiled should be thrown away, and
further, that akees should be boiled separately from other
articles of food. We muy also state thabivis most unadvisable
‘to eat akees raw.
plants.
THE EXCHANGE OF USEFUL PLANTS.
A free interchange of knowledge and material has
widely extended the application of the products of the plant
world to the needs of mankind. Travellers have not only
conveyed from one country to another knowledge and
experience gained at home, but have also brought back fresh
information which can be turned to useful account. An
article in the /ie/d, February 16, 1918 points out that the
United States has established a system of world exploration
with respect to plants which cannot fail eventually to enrich
America. A branch of the Departnient of Agriculture,
known as the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction,
is devoted to obtaining from other countries such plants
as have an economic value, and which may be suitable for
cultivation insome part or other of the territories of the
United States. Experts are sent out to explore and collect,
and their collections are propagated and distributed free of
charge to cultivators who are willing to experiment with
them. Bulletins giving helpful information respecting the
plants thus distributed are published from time to time, and
reports on results obtained are invited for the guidance of
others.
The Head of the department, Mr. David Fairchild, im
a paper recently read before the Pan-American Scientific
Congress, dealt with this question of the exchange of useful
plants between one country and another. As instances of
the benefits resulting from this exchange, it may be mentioned.
that the civilized world is indebted to Peru for the potato,_
now the staple food of many countries; and from the same
country the tomato is a comparatively recent addition to the
food-plants of the world. From Peru also cinchona, from
which quinine is produced, has come. The plant that
supplies most of the rubber used in the world is a native of
Brazil; cacao is a South American tree; tea comes from China;
coffee from Arabia—these are a few of the plants which now
largely contribute to the health and welfare of mankind _
The largest grain crops of the world, grown wherever suitable,
are maize,a native of America, and rice which comes from
China, while the interchange of fruit from one place to
another is one of the most striking features of modern
horticulture.
Under the auspices of the United States Department of
Agriculture, experiments on a very large scale are being
conducted with many different kinds of exotic fruit and
The persimmon (Diospyros kaki), which in China
and Japan is what the apple is in Europe, is being extensively
experimented with in the United States, hundreds of
thousands of trees of it having been planted. The long-
lived, large-fruited Chinese varieties are expected to prove
most serviceable, as their fruit contains no tannin. In the
south of France this fruit seems to flourish well, It may be
mentioned that efforts have been made from time to time to
introduce it into some of the: West Indian islands, but
hitherto these have not met with any success. Another
tropical fruit, the introduction of which in quite recent years
into California and Florida has proved most successful, is the
avocado pear. Other tropical fruit trees like the cherimoya
(Anona cherimolia) and the jujube (Z/zyphus jujuba) are
being experimented with, in the belief that they may be
grown on a large scale, and add to the food resources of
America.
Mr. Fairchild believes that every country should have
its government institution of plant introduction, gathering
together material for cultivators and breeders to work upva,
and that the results should be freely distribazed as “gifts
from one country to another.’
-—— —
140
~ CS:
~GLEANINGS
H. M. Consul at Para reports that the quantity of
cacao exported from the States of Para, and Amazonas during
the year’1917, amounted to 4,691 tons, as compared with
3,314 tons in 1916. The 1917 export was the largest for
the lasteight years. (Z%e Board of Trade Journal, March
21, 1918.)
Use of horse meat by the people of the United States is
increasing rapidly, despite of widespread sentiments against its
use for human consumption. Horse meat retails for half the
price of beef, and is palatable and wholesome. It can scarcely
be distinguished from beef by the average buyer. (The Aav-
sas Industrialist, March 27, 1918.)
The Louisiana Planter, March 30, 1918, states that it
appears to be evident that there will be more or less of
a reduction in the acreage under cane in Louisiana for the
present year, especially in the south-western part of the
sugar district. A considerable area of cane land will be
put into rice, and some into cotton.
From the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture
and Labour of Porto Rico, it appears that the Entomologists
of the Department have found that two plant bugs which
are quite injurious to tobacco in that island are new to
science. The life-history of the more important one has
been worked out with methods for its control.
The tea industry in Nyasaland is steadily prospering,
and the crop exported finds a ready sale in the London
market at about ls. per lb., which price, with the low cost
of production, leaves a good margin of profit. The export
of tea for the financial year 1916-17 amounted to 420,615 b.,
the local value being £14,022. The acreage increased from
4,141 acres in the previous year to 4,228. (Colonial Reports
—Annual, No. 955.)
A comparison of average analyses of sea-weed from the
New England coast, New York horse manure, and cow manure
with litter shows that the average sea-weed contains less
organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphoric acid than the horse
manure, and that it has about the same amount of nitrogen,
much less phosphoric acid, and more potash than the cow
manure. Seaweeds are relatively deficient in phcsphoric acid.
(The Lxperiment Station Record, Vol. XXXVII, No. 9.)
——n,
The Botanical Journa/ for March 1918 has the follow-
ing notice; ‘We are sorry to announce that the Council of
the Royal Botanic Society finds it necessary, to its great
regret, to suspend for atime the issue of the osanica/
Journal. The printing and paper, added to the
other difficulties with which the Society is faced, renders it
manifestly impossible to continue publication at the present
time, and it will not be renewed until circumstances become
normal,’
cost of
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 4, 1918.
The cattle so long described as Holsteins have no
conuexion whatever with the German province of that name.
They are exclusively from Dutch Friesland. British breeders
have at last decided to describe the breed correctly. The use -
of the term Holstein was always a misnomer, and has in
recent years become offensive. In future, this famous milking
breed of the Netherlands is to be known in England—-and let
us hope in other countries—as Friesian, (The /7e/¢, March
9, 191S:)
The American Consul at Rio de Janeiro states that
there is a possibility of Brazil’s developing a large industry
of its native vegetable fibres. One of the most promising
of these appears to be that of the Piteira (/urcraea gigantea),
because Of its adaptability to the making of sacks for bag-
ging coffee. Potash and wood alcohol are said to be avail-
able bye-products, thus helping to lessen the actual cost*
of extracting the fibre. From 2 to 3 per cent. of the weight
of the leaves is said to consist of fibre. (The Colonizer,
March 1918.)
For the successful culture of roses, it is recommended
in Bulletin No. 796 of the University of Illinois Agricultural
Experiment Station, that the nitrogen content of the soil
should be maintained by turning under, before planting,
green or farm manure in preference to commercial fertilizers.
If roses show signs of nitrogen starvation—a lightening of
the colour of the foliage—make application of liquid manure,
mulches of manure, or top dressings of dried blood, the last
not exceeding 5fb. per 100 square feet, and applied not
oftener than six weeks apart. Manure only during sunshiny
weather, and most generously during periods of heavy
flowering.
Before the American civil war Florida was looked upon
as something of a sugar-producing State, with quite a fine
promise for the growth of the sugar industry. The civil war
stopped all this development, and the continual decline in
prices of sugar, owing to the beet sugar competition in
Europe, gradually destroyed the industry. It appears .now
that efforts are being made to resuscitate the sugar industry
in Florida; and at Miami a movement is on foot to convert
a large acreage of the Everglades into a sugar plantation.
Many persons are reported to have consented to plant large
acreages. One proprietor, it is said, will plant 1,000 acres
of his Everglades land in sugar-cane, and will subscribe
$50,000 towards the erection of a sugar factory. (The Zow/s
tana Planter, March 30, 1918.)
The /ie/d for March 9, 1915, states that Mr. Prothero,
in an address to a meeting of agriculturists at Reading on
March 2, made the following remarks which are worth
attention in all parts of the Empire: ‘Ih the present
struggle the test was endurance. has become the
munitions of
Food
most important of war. We had found
leaden and silver bullets, and it is now up to the
farmers and their]abourers to find food bullets. Growing
food was an insurance to save our own skin. If we were
compelled through shortage of food to accept a victor’s peace
from Germany we should be skinned alive, and for many
years to come every half-penny of profits we might bring out
from the soil by the sweat of our brow would goto paying
indemnity taxes. If the food line at home broke, it was of
no use holding the trenches at the front.’
Vor. XVII. No, 418.
JAMAICA OIL OF ORANGE.
The editorial in the Perfumery and Essential Oil
Record, March 1918, draws attention to the remarkable
development of the production of orange oil in Jamaica in
the last few years. Whereas the export to the United
Kingdom, the United States, and Canada in 1911 was valued
at nearly 310,000, in 1916 it had reached more than
$141,000. It would seem as if the ‘industry might be
remunerative in some of the smaller islands, especially such
an island as Dominica, where the écuelling of limes is largely
practised, and where there is probably a glut of oranges at
present, owing to shortage of shipping. The present price of
Jamaica orange oil-on the London market is from 8s. to 9y.
per hb.
The initiation of the extraction of the oil from oranges
in Jamaica, notwithstanding the abundance of the fruits
grown in the island, is of comparatively recent date. The
first experiments appear to have been induced by the heavy
tariff against citrus fruits imposed by the United States, and
the distance of Jamaica from other large consuming centres.
Small headway seems to have been made until the Sicilian
earthquake of 1908 paralysed for a time the industry in the
Mediterranean island, and gave a splendid opportunity to
introduce the West Indian oil, which is now firmly established
on the markets. In addition to its use in the United
Kingdom and on the Continent, Jamaican oil of orange has
a big sale in the United States, where it is largely employed
in the manufacture of wafer biscuits, and in cakes and confec-
tionery; this, of course, is in addition to that consumed
in perfumery, soaps, and flavouring essences. The main
method of preparation in yoguein Jamaica is a variety of the
écuelle process of Southern Kurope, although we believe that
distillation was formerly and may still be to some extent
employed. The actual apparatus, the ‘rinder’, is somewhat
simpler than the Sicilian écuelle, in fact it seems almost iden-
tical with the écuelle used in Dominica for lime oil extraction.
t consists of a shallow copper basin, coated with tin and
studded with sharp copper points about }-inch in length.
At the bottom ot the ‘rinder’ is a receptacle to collect the
oil, in the form of a funnel spout, the larger end opening into
the basin, and the smaller being closed. The ‘rinder’ is held
between the knees of the operator, and the orange is lightly
rubbed by the palm of the hand against the spikes, which rup-
ture the oil cells. When the receiver is filled, the oil is strained
through a cloth into a bottle, and permitted to settle, so that
it can be drawn off from the mucilage and juice with which it
is usually contaminated. It is then filtered into tin-lined
copper or tin vessels. Women and children do the actual
rinding. The oranges are not, as in Florida and Sicily, grown
in groves, but are in scattered plantations, and the oil is
extracted on the spot, and carried to-the merchants. The
fruits should be fully grown, but not fully ripe, and the best
yields of oil are obtained in the early morning before full
sun power develops. About 2,000 fruits will give 2Ib of oil.
Jamaica orange oil was formerly crudely adulterated with
kerosene and cotton oil, but this short-sighted practice has
now nearly disappeared.
The prices obtained fluctuate somewhat, and are depen-
dent not only on the demand for the oil, but on the size of
the orange crop, and the outlet for the fruits for export.
Thus a poor orange crop in America will favour a big enquiry
for Jamaica oranges, and militate against oil production, with
consequent raising of the price. The greater part of the
Jamaica oil is from sweet oranges, a1i:1 this commands a rather
better price thnn that from the bitter variety, which does not
accord with relative values of the two grades of the Sicilian
product.
‘
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
14]
THE VALUE OF WATER HYACINTHS
AS A FERTILIZER.
The apparent resemblance of the flower of Lf-hornia
crassipes to that of the European hyacinth is responsible for
its ordinary English name; no botanical relation however
exists between the two plants, Lvchorniu crassipes belongs to
the botanical family Pontederiaceae. -It is a native of South
America, but has become a troublesome weed in other
countries, notably Florida, Indo-China, Australia, and India,
It was introduced into these countries, as it has been into
many of the West Indian islands, for ornamental purposes,
The plant normally floats on the surface of the water, with
abundant sub-aqueous roots. It has also large, bladder-like
leaf-stalks which make it remarkably buoyant. It multiplies
extensively by division of the root-stalks, and soon becomes
a pest by forming such a dense mass of vegetation in canals
and slow-flowing rivers, as to render navigation impossible,
The means to be taken to exterminate it in India is the
subject of Audlletin Vo. 77 of the Agricultural Research
Institute, Pusa. In Burma, the pest has become so wide-
spread that it has been found necessary to legislate against
it: the object of the bulletin is to indicate that a certain
return can be obtained from the plant in the process of
exterminating it. Its extermination and not its commercial ex-
ploitation is aimed at; but it is thought that efforts to get rid
of it may be more energetic if some return is obtained for the
labour involved. In Indo-China investigations have beencarried
out towards finding an economic use of the weed, such as the
manufacture of paper, and the extraction of salts of ammonium
It has also been proposed to employ the fibrous matter of the
plant for the manufacture of bags. No commercial successful
enterprise has as yet been elaborated. In this bulletin the
matter is approached from an agricultural standpoint. From
the analyses of specimens of the plant it appears that the
water hyacinth contains considerable stores of valuable plant
food, of which potash is the chief constituent. If rotted, the
residue contains about the same amount of nitrogen and phos
phoric acid as, perhaps rather more than, ordinary farmyard
manure; and itis several times as rich in potash.
The fresh green plant contains about 95 per cent. of
water, and could not be economically transported over any
great distance. The rotted plant contains about 60 per cent.
of water, comparable with cow dung in this respect.
The dried material is only about one-twentieth of the
weight of the green plant: it is thus in a much more
convenient form for transport than either the green plant or
the rotted material. It contains from 1°5 to 2 per cent. of
nitrogen, and about 8 per cent. of potash.
After burning, the ash- residue of clean plants unmixed
with earth has been found to contain as much as 35 per cent.
of potash. The ash is therefore several times richer in potash
than ordinary wood-ashes.
The results of a series of field tests on a jute crop showed
conclusively that water hyacinth is ‘a valuable manure, either
in the rotted state or as ash, on various types of soil. On
high, light, well-drained soils the rotted material might be
preferable, but on heavy low-lying lands the ash would
probably be more successful.
There are indications that the cultivators in the Dacca
district of Bengal are beginning to appreciate the manurial
possibilities of water hyacinths; and in a densely populated
tract like Eastern Bengal, where one of the staple crops like
jute responds to heavy potash manuring, there is a power-
ful incentive for the people to extirpate this obstruction of
their water ways, either individual or collectively.
142 THE AGRICULTURAL
PLANT DISEASES.
INFECTION OF ORANGE FRUIT
THROUGH BUG PUNCTURES.
The sweet orange has to be added to the list of fruits
serving as hosts for the fungi associated with the internal boll
disease of cotton bolls. i’art ef an orange purchased in
Barbados, and reputed to have come from Grenada, was
handed over to the writer by the Acting Scientific Assistant
as havinga peculiar flavour. Most of the segments were
intact, and in each of them there were in the pulp near the
surface of the fruit one or more regions in which about
a dozen juice cells were collapsed and slightly browned. Ia
each of these spots was found a prolific culture of (Veyza-
tospova sp., the species D of the writer's papers on. interoal
boll disease. The rind of the orange had been thrown away,
but there can be little doubt, from analogy with other fruits,
and from the absence of any visible lesion other than a slight
scar on the surface of the segments, that the infection had
been introduced by the punctnres of some plant-feeding
bug
AWN
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF
JAMAICA.
In an article dealing with tbe economical development
of the island, which appeared inthe Jamaica G/eaner,
March 8, 1918, the writer seems to be very hopeful of the
future. Portions of the article are reproduced below.
‘The session of the Legislative Council, and the meeting
cf the island’s representatives to discuss and decide on some
definite programme for developing, let us hope, not only
sugar, but the other economic, resources of this island, is
apparently a healthy sign that the old policy of laissez
faire is now about to give place to the doctrine of
preparedness.
‘Apart from the unrest that has manifested itself
during the past years, there are many reasons why the
period of settling down to peace conditions should be
a difficult one. On the top of the dislocation of industrial
life, will come the necessity for increased production, which
inust be achieved by improved organization and methods,
rather than by adding to the strain of the workers. The
outlook causes anxiety to most thinking people, lest the
end of the war should find the old relations between employers
and employed still existing. All suggested solutions come
back to a complete understanding and harmonious co-operation
between capital and labour. ‘Something more will be
required than simply good-wiil—there must be definite
schemes, which will enable employers to take labour into
their confidence, and improve their social and financial
positions, as capital and labour must work hand in hand
and be in sympathy one with the other.
‘Assuming, therefore, that employers and employed will
adjust all their differences, and reasonable, substantial
inducements be offered to the workers to retain their services
at home, and thus stem the present tide of immigration to
alien countries to earn wages on which they can with some
comfort exist; then, the presence here of Sir Francis Watts,
the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, may be advan-
tagcous in settling, once and for all, whether the Govern-
ment are going to give financial help in starting sugar
NEWS.
May 4, 1918.
centrals, in such districts where cane can be successfully
grown.
‘T think that the views of the Right Honourable the
Secretary of State for the Colonies ina recent despatch to
His Excellency the Govenor, are those that should be care-
fully considered; inter alia, he writes: —
“Tt is most desirable that any scheme of central factory
development should be co-operative. | should
prefer co see at least a part of the capital required for the
factory provided by the planters: the larger their stake in
the success of the factory, the better. Tf the Govern-
ment finds practically the whole of the capital, or guarantees
a loan, I fail to see any convincing reasons for limiting its
interests in the factory for aterm of years, and handing it
over to the planters at the end of that term.”
‘But, is sugar the only product to be developed! Surely
we should also turn our attention to a variety of other
products, minor as wellas major. Why not start factories
for manufacturing banana flour, kilns for drying corn, and the
necessary machinery for grinding the same, both important
factors of food supply—then sisal and henequen plantations
may be started under the same auspices; similarly the
cultivation of rice could be materially extended; the best
varieties of the breadfruit and avocado pear should be grown
by the Government, and seedlings distributed broadcast
through the country gratis to every landowner, large or
small. Factories also for curing salt beef and pork should
command serious attention, and there is no reason why
condensed inilk could not also be manufactured here.
‘And last, though not least, the technical staff of our
agricultural department should be considerably strengthened
and better paid, and should have added to it a mining
geologist, and an expert on forestry, and an experimental
station specially organized for study and research.
‘These are the days of science; rule of thumb methods
are the fetish of the ignorant, and as Adam Smith in his
‘Wealth of Nations says, “Science is the great antidote for
the poison of superstition.”
‘Let us therefore be firm at this juncture, and insist
that all our economic resources capable of development be
exploited as a whole, and not any particular one of them to
the detriment of the others.’
AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN
CANADA.
Under the above title there has been published, by direc-
tion of the Canadian Minister of Agriculture, a review of the
work performed by the different provinces of Canada with the
inoneys granted under the Agricultural Instruction Act
during the four-year period 1915-17.
Under this Act, passed by the Parliament of Canada in
1913, the sum of $10,000,000 was set apart for expenditure
by the provinces on agricultural instruction and demonstration
during the ten years ending March 31,1923. Four years of
the period have now elapsed, and $5,400,000 has been
distributed among the provinces for the benefit of agriculture.
With the year 1917-18 the grants to the provinces (which
have have been made on a gradually ascending scale) reached
the maximum, there to remain until the completion of. the
period. A summary of the. work accomplished hitherto is
therefore now published.
The purpose of the Agricultural Instruction Act is, in
brief, to assist the provinces by grants of money to carry on
educational and instruetional work for the benefit and
Vor. XVII. No. 418.
encouragement of agriculture.
four divisions:—
This work is classified under
(1) The teaching in the public schools of the first prin-
ciples of the sciences relating to agriculture;
(2) The teaching of more advanced agriculture in agri-
cultural schools and colleges, devoting attention more
particularly to the training of teachers, investigators, and
community leaders;
(3) The carrying on of extension work, having for its
object the instruction of farmers by acquainting them,
through demonstrations and other means, with the results of
scientific Investigation and research;
(4) The amelioration of the conditions of rural life,
particularly in so far as women and children were concerned.
Jn all the provinces the developments contemplated by
the Act made necessary the employment of an increased
staff of instructors, demonstrators, and superintendents.
Deficiencies noted have to a great extent been remedied with
the funds supplied. No province can now claim, on financial
grounds, to be handicapped by inability to secure the men
and material equipment necessary to the successful carrying
on of the work.
The following is a brief outline of the nature of
the work performed in the different provinces in making
effective the intention of the Act.
In Ontaria, the District Representative system has been
greatly extended, building equipment has been provided at
the Ontario Agricultural College, and the teaching of agri-
culture in the public schools has been facilitated.
In Quebee, a large sum has been allotted to the teaching
of approved methods of agriculture to the farming popula-
tion, the colleges and schools of agriculture have received
assistance for increased building accommodation and for the
maintenance of their teaching staff, and the teaching of
agriculture and domestic science in schools and academes has
been given considerable aid.
In Manitoba, the Extension Service of the Agricultural
‘College, embodying boys’ and girls’ club work, home economic
societies, and agricultural short courses, has been greatly
extended.
In Saskatchewan, the teaching staff of the College of
Agriculture has been strengthened in order to enable that
institution to qualify men for agricultural leadership, to
conduct research work, and to promote college extention.
Alberta has been assisted in the equipment and main-
tenance of three schools of agriculture and household science,
designed to supply a form of education adapted to the needs
of boys and girls from the farm.
Instructional work among the farmers in British
Columbia has been greatly extended, and the movement to
establish the teaching of agricultural and domestic science
in schools is entirely due to the assistance given by the
grant. . we
In the Province of Nova Scotia, about 45 per cent, of
all the work done under the Department of Agriculture,
including the Agricultural College, may be credited, in so
far as it is represented by moneys expended, to the Federal
grant.
In new Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, there were
practically no facilities for agricultural instruction at the
time the Act went-into effect. Schools of Agriculture and
other necessary buildings and ejuipmeént have been provided;
trained instructors have been secured; the interests of farm
women have been promoted: while the teaching of the
agriculture in the public schools has been greatly advanced
with the funds placed at the disposal of these provinces.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
145
As to the efficiency with which the work has been carried
out, and as to the qualities of the results, it is difficult, in so
wide a field, to speak except in general terms. Ina number
of instances the work has suffered from the loss of trained
agriculturists due to the war, and indirectly in other ways
from the same cause In the main, however, the conclusions
are distinctly tavourable, and the results will be, it is believed,
still more apparent as time goes on.
EDUCATIONAL COURSES IN BOTANIC
GARDENS.
In the editorial of the Je7icudewral News, March 23,1918,
it was pointed out that Botanic Gardens might perform
a real educational function, if the imparting of Avowlede
and not merely dissemination of formation was the object
aimed at.
The /Jeurnal of the New York Botanical Garden,
February 1918, contains the outline of a scheme by which
the staff of the garden in Bronx Park are evidently endeavour:
ing to fulfil this educational purpose in a practical way.
Two courses in gardening are offered to the public. The
first is called ‘Simple Home Garden Courses’ for those
desiring to conduct their own gardens. It consists of ‘talks’
on soil and its preparation: cultivation and weed control;
what and how to plant and transplant; food values of garden
crops, and the relation of sunlight, air, and water to the
garden. Along with these ‘talks’ garden practice and
observation are insisted on with regard to all the ordinary
operations of a garden. The course is planned for four
months, one day a week, from March to June inclusive, and
the fee charged is $5, which is to include necessary supplies
and materials.
The second course is called ‘Training Courses for
Teachers for School Gardens.’ There are thirty lectures of
one hour each, and thirty hours of garden practice, together
with thirty hours of labaratory and garden practice. The
course extends, on various days, from April 1 to August 16.
The fee charged is $25, which will include necessary
materials and supplies, and laboratory and garden tools are
also supplied without charge.
This course will show the pedagogical value of the
school garden, and how it may fit into the curriculum with-
out disturbing it.
How, by proper planning, a teacher may take a full class
into the garden and do effective work in the ordinary class
period.
How the garden will furnish material of educational value,
alive with interest, which will aid and inspire the regular
class-room studies of reading> writing, arithmetic, langnage,
drawing, geography, and hisiory.
Instruction will be given. by lectures, practice work, and
reading, in those subjects needed by teachers in school garden
work, and connected with class-room experiments.
The New York Botanical Gardens in Bronx Park have
a reputation for the researches carried out there, and this
educational move is likely to add to their reputation and
effectiveness.
According to the St. Thomas newspaper, Zighdbourn’s
Mail Notes, March 16, a new industry has just been started
in Tortola, It is stated that an American has begun sponge
fishing at the North Sound of that island, and it is reported
that a fine lot of sponges have already been gathered and are
being cured. It is to be hoped that this undertaking will
prove a commercial success.
{4 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS May 4. 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tue West Inpia Commitree CrrcuLar,
March 2).
AREOWROOT—No quotations.
Bartata— Venezuelan Block, 4/4; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/1
Brrswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 95 -: Grenada, no quotations: Jamaica,
no quotations.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Freit—No quotations.
Grxcer—Jamaica, no quotations
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Line Jurce—Raw, 3/3.: concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17).
Loe woop—No quotations.
New York.—Messrs Girzespiz Bros. & Co., April &.
Cacao—Caracas, lide. to I4e.; Grenada, i4c. to 144c.;
Trinidad, 14}e.; to 14jc. Jamaica, 154c. ;
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, S58°00 to S60°00; Trinidad
selects, $55°00 to $56°00; culls, $22°00 to $30°00 per M.
CorretE—Jamaica, Ile. to 12c. per tt.
Gincer—ldéc. to Qe. per th.
Goat Skrss—Jamaica,75c.: Antigua and Barbados,
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 75c. per it
Grave Froir—Jamaica, $2°75 to $500 per box.
Limes—$13-(0 to $13°50 per bri.
Macr—itic. to 4(0e. per th.
Nourmecs—23ce.
OrancEes—$5 00. to $700
PimeNto—bjc. to74c. per th.
Sve4r—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°005c; Muscovados, 89°, 5 W05e.
Molasses, 89°, 4°948c. all duty paia.
Mace—2/9 to 3/9.
Nourmecs—1/7 to 24.
Porento—jd.
Rcsser—Para, fine hard, 2.84: fine soft, no quotations: ——
Castilloa, no quotations.
. Barbados,—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., April 16.
March 27.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $153°25 to SL3-‘75 Trinidad, $13-°50
to $14:00.
Coco-net O1w—S1°36 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, IIc. to 12c. per ft
Copra—$8‘00 per 100 th.
Drar—S14°00.
Oxtons—$8°00 per 100 fb.
Pras, Serrr— $11°50 to $12°00 per bag.
Porators—English, $6-00 per 10U f.
Rice—Yellow. $12°00 to $12°25; White, 9°50 per bag.
Scear—American crushed, nv quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co.,,
Arrowroot—$12‘00 per 100 ft.
Cacao—$12°50 per i00 fr.
Coco-nuts—$36-00 husked nuts
Hay—S2 0.
Morassrs—No quotations.
Ostons— No quotations.
Pras, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
goor, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, S4°75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them.
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions, The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and)
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the.
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subseription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. Sd. per annum. Volumes IV to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each—-
post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMEN'TS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. THos, Lawtor & Co., St. George.
West Inpia Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane. St, Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonavte, ‘Times’ Office,
Barhados: Apvocare Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nivzs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THe EpucationaL Suprpry Comeany, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripcewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tue Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8S. D. Maton, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuaxy & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tak Brae anp Book Suppty AGENcy, Bassereger
Tobago: Mr. C. L. Pracemayy, Scarborough. Nevis: Messrs. Howstt, Bros., Charlestown.
i Canada: Lewis W, Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto
# THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SHED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
—— —.
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are —
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
chents instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
m exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
8 A een, Ae seca Wi taes bees Pees ae Me
: a
&
Vou. XVII No. 418 -
—————E
: In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS an se resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements,
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS a
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON @s.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
| BARBADOS. _
Printed at Offios of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown,?Barbados,?
- =
ERS.
[One penny.
‘Vol. XVII. No. 419.] SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1918.
R. M. S. P.
iS n> a cat aaa
:
: MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
E | wT TO PORTS OF CALL
_ |THE UNITED KINGDOM _ Azores.
- | (St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA | 1 Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
| : _ |Bermuda, Halifax, N. §., & St. John (N.B.)
‘DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO | Grenada & Trinidad.
| | Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS _— Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| | Callao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
[REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM ‘THE
UNITED KINGDOM ‘TO
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA A
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
& JAPAN. <= 4
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London,
“Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buanos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Rio ae Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
ens
ee ee
-~ gy ee OT A RO 8 (Ge TORTURE AON
aot =" “= _ THE AGRICULTURAL 5
ae Tes "aa Sas a
SomE Tick PAcTs
jaa
A single Female Tick may lay as many as 5,000 eggs. The progeny of one single
Female Tick may, in the course of seven months, come to number 6,750,000,000 individuals.
—__+—_——
§. Hf gorged ticks are crushed, it will be found that their
intestines are completely filled with a dark, thick mass
of blood which has been sucked from the animal host:
this blood should have gone to the formation of milk,
flesh, and the laying on of fat.
2 A Female Tick, when fully gorged with blood, may
weigh as much as 30 times more than before it began
to engorge.
3. A beast, badly infested with ticks, weighed 730 lbs. It
was freed from ticks by dipping, and two months
later—its food and general treatment remaining the
same as before dipping—it had gained 285 lbs.—a daily
average gain of 4# lbs.
4 No less than 28 lbs. of Ticks were taken from a horse
which died from anzmia resulting from gross tick
infestation
§. A large number of tick bites oyry a limited area of skin
may be followed by infection with pus-producing
organisms, giving rise to small abscesses which may
develop into ulcers. The discharge from such sores—
or even the mere oozing of blood serum through the
tick punctures—keeps the hair moist and matted: in
such areas fly eggs are laid and hatched, resulting in
infestation with destructive maggots, causing ulcers
and other complications that will require medical
treatment.
@ In the United States, the death rate amongst cattle in the
Tick areas is three times higher than in the areas free
from ticks.
7. Ticks only stop on an animal for three weeks; dipping
or spraying must therefore be done not less often than
every three weeks in order to catch ticks before they
drop off.
@& The perforations of the skin caused by tick bites
facilitate the entrance of various kinds of disease germs.
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Baion of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil,
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Seutherm Rhodesia, Madagascar,
@ritish East Africa,
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt,
United Stc:es of America, New South Wales,
Northera Territory of Australia.
Manufacturers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Terento, Chicago, Sydaey, Melbeurme, Auckland Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East ffeded
Has received the official approval of the following Countries:
Basutoland,
German Fast Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
Argentine Republic, Queensland,
-9. Ticks prevent cattle maturing
15.
— ———— —
8T. KITTS: S.L.
ST. VINCENT: Coren & Co,, Kingstown.
MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall,
CATTLE TIC.:
rewace
a
.
normally, and this
necessitates Beef Cattle being kept until they are 3 or
more years old. Cost of two years extra feed and care,
and interest on capital tied up, involves a heavy
additional outlay, the necessity for which can be
entirely avoided by the adoption of thorough tick
destruction measures.
The total annual loss sustained in the United States
as a result of ticks is enormous. $100,000,000
(£20,000,000) is the amount named by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
If ticks are not kept under control, young animals may
never become fully developed, but remain thin, weak,
and stunted, and thus the more easily succumb to
diseases, as a result of lowered vitality.
Newly-hatched ticks can live as long as eight months
without food, even during the colder season.
Hides from animals that have been infested with ticks
are graded as No. 4 quality: the same hides if free
from tick marks would grade as No. 2 quality. The
difference in price between these two qualities is three
cents a pound, Therefore, on an average hide, weigh-
ing 42 lbs. the loss due to ticks would be more than $1.26.
It has been calculated that a single beast may, as a result
of Tick infestation, lose as much as 500 lbs. of blood ir
a season.
In a carefully conducted test it was found that tick-
infested cows lost an average of 9} lbs. in weight,
while the cows free from ticks gained during the same
period an average of 44 Ibs., both lots of cows being
fed exactly alike.
The presence of ticks on cattle is a serious drain on the
animals’ systems, one consequence of which is that the
amount of milk produced by cows is diminished. In one
experiment, cows badly infested with ticks produced
42% less milk than cows kept free from ticks.
WEST INDIAN AGENTS;
Horsford & Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & CO
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston,
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co.,
BAHAMAS: W.N. Twynam, Nassau.
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant. Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
NEVIS: S.D. Malone
DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Framptem
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Ltda
Odessa
——S
— \
~
¢
CL)
UR
AY
¢ . ty
AY
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vout. XVII. No. 419. BARBADOS, MAY 18, 1918. Prick 1d.
CONTENTS. appears that the production of such a grade of cacao
Paw Pace, Within the British Empire is much desired, the cacao
Agriculture in Barbados 157 | Items of Losal Interest 157 manufacturers having stated that they are prepared
Lines, Embargo on the
Importation of Green,
Antigua Central
Facts ry
Sugar
etd!
Australia, Farming in, into the United States 155
for Discharged Soldiers 147 | Market Reports . 160
Bermuda, Food Situation | Notes and Comments SER
in, see eee eee 18, Oil, Castor, Demand for 155
Cacao, Uniformity in the | Paper fron. Megass, Manu-
Production of, . 145 | facturenQimene edo.) es Lod
Cotton Notes: Pepper, Black, British
British Cotton Grow- | Produetion of Lag
ing Association . 151 | Plant Diseases: —
Sea Island Cotton Sugar-cane Diseases in
Market - 150} the West Indies . 158
St. Croix, Experiments in
Supply of Fine Cotton 150
Sugar-Cane Cultivation
Department News . 149 |
Factories, Sugar, Chemical in BEA Wels é ~ l49
Contiol in . 149 | Sisal Cultivation in
Fruit and Vegetables, Antigua... . .. 155
Simple Methods of Soils, Tropical... coe JEN
Keeping Fresh 155 | Sorghuins in Queensland 147
Gleanings eer eee eee 156 | Thyme, Wild, Investiga-
Gossypium, Does Muta | tion of Thymol Yield of 154
tion Oceur in... ... 148 | Trinidad, Agricultural and
Granuvries in Jamaica 152 Industrial Exhibition in 145
Insect Notes:— ; ‘West Indian Bulletin’,
The Value. of Zoology Vols XIV, No. 4:.. = ee
to Human Welfare 154 ! West Indian Products 159
Uniformity in the Production of Uacao,
journal it was pointed out that if cacao
fre) (ON the editorial of the last issue of this
growers desire to obtain the highest pessibl:
price for their product, the chief thing to aim at 1s
unitormity in the quality of the beans, as that is what
the manufacturers most require.
An instance of this is the reputation that Guaya-
quil cacao bears on the market
information received from the Imperial Institute it
iEnghsh From
to support any eftort made in this direction by
continued orders for a definite. quantity. From this
information, and from the description of the cacao
cultivation in Ecuador by Dr. van Hall in his book
Cocoa, it appears that the cacao plantations in Ecuador
are distinguished by the uniformity of the types grown
in ditterent districts, as compared with the mixture to be
found in West Indian plantations even in the same field.
Caeao beans of
characters of ‘body’, flavour, and aroma, and these
various types exhibit varying
various qualities are made use of by manufacturers in
producing blends which are usually put on the market
under the ditferent makers.
easily understand, therefore, that manufacturers are
desirous of being able to obtain uniform lots of the
names of the One can
qualities they require, so as to enable them to make
theic blends with accuracy.
There have been several plans suggested for the
attainment by any given estate or district of a standard
product of cacao, which might be definitely relied on as
of uniform quality. The simplest of these is the plan
suggested in Surinam, to which attention was drawn
in the Agricultural News for December 29, 1917.
This plan is to carefully examine and label the
trees ona plautation, and then gradually to eliminate
those which are proved to be undesirable, replacing
them with others of the type required. With the
present almost universal custom of raising cacao
trees from seed a ditteulty arises here. With the
existing mixed types of trees on cacao plantations it is
146
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. May 18, 1918.
a
quite impossible to guarantee the propagation of any
-desirable variety by seed, as there are no pure strains
which can be depended upon to breed true. All sorts
-of varieties may arise from seed of a most desirable
type oftree, the pods and beans of which may show
-characteristics in the next generation differing in the
most essential respects. Some of them might be taken
to be almost pure Criollo, others various types of
Forastero, and still others resembling low-bred Cala-
bacillo. It would appear therefore that the effort to
_attain uniformity of product in cacao by seedling propa-
gation must necessarily result at the best in very
partial and by no means permanent success.
Another method which was forcibly advocated by
the late Mr. Hart of Trinidad in his book, Cacao, its
Cultivation and Curing, is by employment of grafting
and budding He truly remarks that:— ;
‘The difference which an “even sample” would
make to the seller is obvious. We know that it .can
-only be obtained by means of grafting and budding
from selected trees, or, as some would call it, by
vegetative reproduction, in contradistinction to seminal
reproduction. It is clear that once a tree has been
selected and largely propagated by grafting because
-of its possession of superlative qualities, the produce
-of those trees must be of an even character, and that,
taken year by year, the crop will vary but very little in
general quality. By using the process of grafting, the
planter will be able to secure trees of one habit, pods
of one colour, and beans of the very best quality. Such
beans, when cured, would be immensely superior to any
yproduce harvested from seedling trees. ‘To adopt
grafting as a regular practice wpon a cacao estate
would be to adopt a method the benefit of which has
been proved ages ago to the agricultural and _horticul-
tural world.’
It is thus evident that by selecting trees produc-
ing the type of bean which the planter has determined
upon he can by degrees bring his plantation up to a per-
fectly uniform standard as to the beans produced by the
trees, by resorting to budding or grafting in the
replacing of the undesirable trees eliminated.
Valuable work has been done in experimen-
tation on budding and grafting cacao by Mr. J. Jones,
Agricultural Superintendent, Dominica. In 1908
be read a paper at the West Indian Agricul-
tural Conference, held in Barbados, on the successful
results. he had obtained in Dominica in grafting cacao
by the approach method. This paper was published
in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. VIII. In the
Annual Report on the Agricultural Department,
Dominica, 1915-14, Mr. Jones gave an account—
reprinted in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XIV—
of further successful experiments in budding cacao by
various methods. He states in this report that he
obtained the greatest percentage of successes by
employing the well-known system of patch budding.
Reference to these papers will repay any cacao planter
who cares to try the methods described, which, it
may be said, Mr. Hart in his book declared to be by
no means difficult to carry out.
In order, however, to--guaraptee his product.
to the manufacturers the planter will have to be
careful in the first place to pick only really ripe pods,
and also to submit the beans to one uniform process
of drying and sweating. He may then confidently
expect that he will obtain the best market price for
his dependable article. In every kind of merchandise
the market is always commanded by standard products.
In viewing the mixture of types of plants to
be met with on a cacao estate, one is drawn to consider
whether there may not be the possibility of fixing
pure strains from field selections or after scientific
crossing on Mendelian lines, as has been done, for
instance, in the case of cotton. This requires the
attention of special investigators, and considerable
patience, in order to.be sure of the accuracy of the
results obtained. Unfortunately for impatient men, cacao
usually takes four to five years to begin bearing, so that
it might require ten, fifteen or twenty years for a sufti-
cient number of generations to be studied in order that
the results might be definitely considered as trustworthy.
It may not be too much to hope, however, that work
on these lines may be provided for by some central
research committee of similar constitution to that
now concerned with cotton. It is probably the real
solution of the question how to obtain and preserve
uniformity in the production of cacao.
Although stress has been laid in the foregoing
remarks upon the vital necessity of securing uniformity
in the quality of the yield of cacao plantations, the
question of obtaining greater quantity per acre is also of
importance. The two questions by no means conflict.
As in the matter of quality there is an extraordinary
difference at present in the product of cacao trees
planted in the same field, so also there is to be noted
a very great difference in the amount of yield compar-
ing tree with tree, In this direction there is the same
Vou. XVII. No, 419.
uncertainty involved in selecting’ seed for planting
from trees which are known to be consistently heavy
producers, and multiplication of the type by grafting or
budding would certainly be more efficacious. That
increased production can be secured by careful atention
to details of cultivation and manuring must be evident,
but that question is outside the scope of the present
article. The review of aseries of manurial experiments
on cacao, conducted for a period of seventeen years in
Dominica by Mr. J. Jones, appears in the West
Indian Bulletin, Vol. XVI, No. 4, which has just been
issued. This may be consulted with advantage by those
interested in the matter.
SORGHUMS IN QUEENSLAND.
The value of the sorghums, known in the West Indies
generally as Guinea corn and imphee, has often been pointed
out in the pages of this journal. It would seem from a
communication sent us by the London correspondent of the
North Queensland Register, that their cultivation is receiving
much attention in that country. He says that even in a
drought year in Kingaroy district, when part of the maize
crop failed completely, grain sorghum yields were consistently
good, over 30 bushels per acre being obtained, bearing out
the oft-reiterated statement that this group of plants is
highly drought-resistant, and one of the surest grain crops
under adverse conditions. In the summer of 1915, out of
seven grain sorghums tried in the Boonah district, one gave
a return of 50 bushels per acre, and the others ranged from
76 to 103 bushels, illustrating that high yields are procur-
able under good seasonable conditions. Special exhibits have
been made each year at the National Show by the Agricultural
Department to popularize these sorghums, and to bring them
before the public with a view to their utilization as human
food, and for maintaining stock, and as fattening food for
pigs. Dairymen usually prefer the saccharine sorghums,
but the non-saccharine varieties also make valuable green
fodder and ensilage. Last year’s -results in the central
district, in fodder and grain, of both groups of sorghum,
have been very encouraging, grain yields of four kinds
ranging from 64 to 80 bushels per acre.
The Advisory Council of Science and Industry has
latterly been carrying out an investigation of the commercial
possibilities of the production of power alcohol from
saccharine sorghums. The matter of utilizing grain sorghums
for a similar purpose was brought up at the recent Common-
wealth Agricultural Conference, and if the investigations
prove satisfactory, a wide field will be opened up in Queens-
land for the successful production of this crop, apart
altogether from its value as a source of human and stock food.
FARMING IN AUSTRALIA. FOR
DISCHARGED SOLDIERS.
The following communication has been received at this
Offce from Mr. H. A. Davies, Australia House, London, with
a request for its publication. This we are glad to accede to,
as the subject is of importance to the whole Empire. It may
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
147
—
also be noticed in this connexion that some of these West
Indian islands, in which there are undeveloped lands, such as
Trinidad and St. Lucia, have also taken steps on similar
lines.
‘Australia has wasted no time in the preparation of
comprehensive land settlement schemes for soldiers. Within
a few months of the outbreak of war the problem of placing
the men on suitable areas after their service ended was
tackled by public men, and the merits of various schemes
inquired into. The Commonwealth Government intends
to set aside a total of £32,000,000 for repatriation, and
various State schemes are already in operation.
‘British soidiers and sailors will be interested in the
scheme lately adopted by the Government of Queensland.
Land comprising 234,300 acres has already been set aside,
and negotiations are in progress for the occupation of
other areas. Within the meaning of the “Discharged
Soldiers Settlement Act” which deals with the subject,
a ‘discharged soldier” not only includes members of
the Australian Imperial Forces, but any person who-
has joined the forces of the United Kingdom during-
the war, and who has received an honourable dis-
charge. The terms may be extended so as to include
members of His Majesty’s forces during the present war
from any part of the British Empire, or members of the
allied forces who have received their discharge before their
arrival in Queensland. The term also includes the dependants.
of any such soldier, in the event of his death before he
receives his discharge, or within a period of twelve months
after he has received it.
‘Portions of the land set aside have already been cleared
and planted, and a varied assortment of farming pursuits are-
recommended, such as pine-apple growing, poultry raising,
bee keeping, apple, pear, peach, and plum orchards, dairy
and sugar-cane farms. Liberal financial assistance will be
given to settlers, particularly in the first years of their
occupation.’
TROPICAL SOILS.
In the Daily Argosy of Demerara, April 25, 1918, there is-
a report of a general meeting of the Royal Agricultural and
Commercial Society, held in Georgetown on April 17, at
which the President, Professor J. B. Harrison, C.M.G., read
the conclusion of his inaugural address.
After referring to the numerous analyses made by him on
the soils of different lands in the colony, the Professor con-
cluded that portion of his address with some striking remarks.
He said that the commonly held view that the soils in the
tropics were of very high fertility was directly contrary to
the facts. The intensity of all chemical action in the tropics,
and especially of oxidation and hydration, was opposed to the
production of widely spreading areas of high alluvial and
fluviatile plains, especially those which had been formed under
swamp conditions. Such were the front lands and great
areas of the lower river beds of the colony. The idea that
tropical soils merely wanted tickling with a hoe to produce
great and remunerative crops of economy plants was an error;
tickling the soil in the tropics resulted in the production of
immense crops of weeds, He was satisfied from nearly forty
years’ experience in connexion with tropical agriculture that
permanent cultivation in the tropics required a higher degree
of skill, and more persistent efforts than in temperate or sub-
tropical lands. A training in an agricultural college in
a central part in the \Vest Indies, followed by practical work
under an experienced planter, was the only way he knew by
which the skill he had referred to could be obtained.
DOES MUTATION ».OCCUR IN
GOSSYPIUM?
An interesting paper by Thomas H. Kearney, entitled
‘A Plant Industry Based on Mutation” appears in the
Journal of Heredity for February 1918 According to the
author, experiments to determine whether Egyptian cotton
could be grown in the United States were begun by the
United States Department of Agriculture some twenty years
ago.
Several. introductions were made, the most important
being by Mr. David Fairchild, who visited Egypt in 1599,
and obtained seed of the principal varieties then grown in
that country. This seed was tested by Dr. H. J- Webber
at a number of stations inthe southern and south-eastern
States. All the varieties, when first introduced, were not
only relatively late in ripening, and unfruitful, but were
extremely variable. Plant breeding experiments were begun
by Mr. Kearney at Yuma, Arizona, in 1903, with the variety
Mit Afifi. Selection was carried on for several years, result-
ing in a gradual improvement in the uniformity, earliness
and productivity, in the manner in which the bolls opened,
and in length of the fibre. Up tothis point no marked
change of type was observed to have taken place.
A new era in the breeding work began in 1908, when
two of the progeny rows were found to differ strikingly
from the parent stock, and from one another. These rows
gave rise to the Yuma and Somerton varieties. The Yuma
variety was preserved, and became the basis of the Egyptian
cotton industry in Arizona. This variety differed from the
parent Mit Afifi in numerous characters, of which the most
conspicuous were the longer (about 1} inches) and lighter-
coloured fibre. Another variety, the Pima, was derived
from Mit Afifi through Yuma. In 1910, in a field of Yuma
eotton at Saccaton, Arizona, a plant was selected because
of its superior productiveness and length of fibre. Upon
examination of the remarkably uniform progeny row which
was grown the following year from seed produced by this plant,
it was evident that another new and very distinct variety
had appeared. As compared with the parent variety (Yuma),
Pima is distinguished by its fewer vegetative branches and
better developed fruiting branches, by its plumper, more
sharply pointed, and less deeply pitted bolls, and by its
longer (12 to 1} inches), finer, silkier, and lighter-coloured
fibre.
The commercial production of Egyptian cotton in
Arizona began in 1912, i.e., some thirteen years after the
original experiments were initiated. In that year the
United States Department of Agriculture supplied seed of
the Yuma variety to planters in the Salt River Valley, and
some 200 acies were planted.
From this small beginning the industry expanded, until
in 1917. in the Salt River Valley alone, about 23,000 acres
of Yuma cotton and about 7,000 acres of Pima cotton were
grown, and the value to the farmers of the fibre and seed
produced was estimated at about $5,000,000, The prospects
are that in 1918 not less than 100,000 acres will be planted
to this crop.
The fibre of both the Yuma and Pima varieties has
found much fayour with American spinners, the automobile
tire manufacturers having shown especial interest in this
product.
Here then, in brief, is the history of the development
of the Egyptian cotton industry ,in the south-western
Wnited States. No one will grudge unstinted praise to the
patient investigators who have built up such a flourishing
THE AGRICULTURAL “NEWS. i
sMayydpy 19187
industry, least of all any one, familiar with the great . difiic
eulties inherent in. cotton-breeding work.
sut in the article under discussion, and in a former
paper, Mr. Kearney has definitely committed himself to the
view that the varieties Yuma and Pima have been developed
from Mit Afifi by mutational origin, and it is upon his
scientific opinions, and not on the economic results which
have developed out of the work of himself and his associates,
that the present writer wishes to offer some criticism.
First of all, what does Mr. Kearney mean by the term
mutation! His own definition is as as follows: ‘Mutation
in plants may be definéd as a type of variation manifesting
itself in the sudden appearance of a distinctly ditferent
individual, the characters of which are uniformly expressed
by its descendants when self-pollinated or cross-pollinated
among themselves.’ The meaning which we must attach to
this statement is that a homozygous individual suddenly
appears in (a) a mixture of homozygotes and heterozygotes,
(b) a population of heterozygotes only, or (c) a population of
homozygotes only.
Mr. Kearney rejects Johannsen’s definition of mutation
as a sudden discontinuous alteration of the biotype, indepen-
dent of all crossing, because such a limitation of the term
leaves us without a designaticn for the well-known cases
which most biologists regard as the best examples of muta-
tion, and which represent a distinct and important
phenomenon, although probably to be interpreted as
resulting from remote or complex hybridization.
Later, Mr. Kearney states that mutation manifests
itself in the sudden appearance ef an individual which ditfers
from the parent stock in oxe or more strongly heritadle
characters. ‘If this. individual ‘‘breeds true,” the new
characters being uniformly expressed in its progeny genera-
tion .after generation, a stable variety will have been
produced.’
Now if Mr. Kearney can show that the behaviour of his
new types of cotton conform to his first definition, he will
accomplish a fine piece of scientific work, but he has not yet
shown any such thing. He has expressed an opinion, but
he has not backed up that opinion by any ordered collection
of data which bear on it.
Further, Mr. Kearney’s first definition of mutation
seems to conflict with his second, for it appears that in
the latter he is not concerned whether the other characters
of the plant breed true or not. He only insists that the
plant must be homozygous for the ‘new characters’. How
many new characters would be sufficient for a Kearney
mutation! Would one be enough! If so, the appearance
of single-comb fowls in F, of a cross between rose and
pea-combed fowls would be a mutation, for it satisfies
Mr. Kearney’s definition very well.
Dr. Nilsson-Ehle, at the Svalof Experiment Station,
crossed two red-kernelled sorts of wheat, The F, was red-
kernelled, but in the F. appeared some white-kernelled
individuals which bred true in I... According to Mr, Kearney
this would be a mutation, although it was explained «uite
simply by the hypothesis that each of the parents had its own
peculiar unit for red colour, The cross was of the nature
Ry r.xr,R,. Thus ,', of the I. would be constant
r, rs (White). In general the appearance of a new constant
form ab in across aB x Ab—especially where aB and Ab
were outwardly alike—would be hailed as a mutation,
although such cases have been explained again and again
quite simply in Mendelian terms.
Again, one is forced to ask for Mr. Kearney’s evidence
is to the purity of his ‘mutants’. So far as the present
Vor. XVII. No, 419.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 149
writer is aware, the only evidence that the ‘mutants’ were
pure for the new characters is Mr. Kearney’s assertion that
such was the case. No geneticist would accept evidence so
meagre, when such an important biological point has to be
decided upon.
The mutants are said also to be comparable with those
of Ocnothera Lamarckiana, as described by de Vries. The
scientific world owes a debt of gratitude to Professor J. P.
Lotsy for his able criticism of the Lamarckiana question.
He says: ‘De Vries has shown that O. Lamarckiana is
a heterozygote and he has shown nothing else; all thé rest
is mere hypothesis, . . . The behaviour of O. Lamarckiana
gives not the slightest cause to suppose that the aberrant
‘forms thrown by it owe their origin to a process of mutation;
they can perfectly well be explained without resorting to
an “explanation” lying cutside the pale of experience, by
the simple fact which the experiments that have been
published all tend to show, viz., that O. Lamarckiana is
a mixture of heterozygotes of different, constitutions, throwing
rogues (the pretended mutants) by a process of Mendelian
segregation.’
In the same way no mutative hypothesis is necessary
to explain Mr. Kearney’s results. If, as he says, he does
aot think that they can be explained by the hypothesis of
reconstruction of Mendelian factors, it is for him to demon-
-strate scientifically that this bypothesis is inapplicable.
8.C.H.
EXPERIMENTS IN SUGAR-CANE
CULTIVATION IN ST. CROIX.
A series of experiments, designed to ascertain the
relative value of planting canes on the flat or between banks,
has been conducted for the last couple of years on the Slob
Experimental Station, St. Croix. A report for the year
1917-18 by the Manager of the Experimental Station,
Mr. Edward Gedde, has been forwarded to the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies. From
this it appears that after three years’ experiments Mr. Gedde is
quite convinced that, under similar conditions of rainfall and
cultivation, the system of planting on the flat leads to
a considerable increase in weight of canes reaped per acre,
at least in plant canes. Experiments with green dressing, as
compared with pen manure, have given somewhat inconclu-
sive results, for when applied to canes cultivated on the flat,
the green dressing led to a less yield than was obtained on the
control plot to which no manure was applied, whereas pen
manure, applied on the fiat, led toa very large increase.
On the banked field pen manure again produced the great-
est yield, but green dressing produced almost 50 per cent.
higher returns than were given by the unmanured plot. Another
experiment with regard to pen manure of different
conditions seems to show that pen manure mixed with turfy
earth (Mr. Gedde does not say in what proportion) caused
an appreciable increase of yield over that from plots manured
either with pen manure from a covered pen, or with pen
manure prepared in the open.
Although from experiments conducted in several of
the smaller English islands, the cultivation of alfalfa as
a forage crop has not appeared worth further trial, it would
seem that in St. Croix alfalfa has succeeded fairly well.
Mr. Gedde advises planters in St. Croix to cultivate it, at
least to a smal! extent.
Farther experiments on the
tation crops best suited
for cultivation with sugar-cane,
ul as to the best distance
apart for planting canes are being carried out. Another
interesting series of experiments which Mr. Gedde has
planned is one to investigate what difference, if any, will
result from using as plants, (1) tops from plant canes
only, (2) tops of first ratoons, (3) tops of old ratoons, and
(4) plants of ripe cane joints.
CHEMICAL CONTROL IN SUGAR
FACTORIES.
The importance of what may be termed an exact chemi-
cal audit of the working of sugar factories has been many
times emphasized in this journal. An instance of this
importance in the factories in Java is mentioned by
Dr. Prinsen Geerligs in an article in the Jx/ernational
Sugar Journal, February 1918. He says:
‘It has been observed that the mill control, as required
by the Experiment Station, was much too intricate and too
troublesome for practical use. and that considerable simplifi-
cation might be considered. The result of recent deliberations
was, however, that the figures required were really necessary
to obtain a good insight into the milling work, and that it was
obligatory to collect these data in order to serve as a basis for
improvement as soon as a falling-off in the efficiency of the
mills was noticed.
‘An example of the excellent results of careful mill
control is given by the fact that large losses of sugar, which
till recently escaped detection, are now brought to light by
the close control.
‘It was originally the custom to ascertain the amount of
sugar in juice and in bagasse, and to consider the amount of
sugar in cane to be the sum of these two, making no allowance
for unaccountable losses during milling. The new control
records the amount and the sugar content of the different
mill juices separately, and that of the total of the mixed
juice; and it found in many instances that the amount of
sugar in the mixed juice was smaller than that of the sum
of the component parts. This strange phenomenon could
not be ascribed to a personal error, as the weighing and
determinations were all made on the same scales, with the
same instruments, and by the same individuals, and not-
withstanding, always tended in the same direction. It was
found that in the tanks, gutters, collectors, etc. of the juices,
especially those of tbe maceration with last mill juice,
such huge amounts of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi could
accumulate, that large quantities of the sugar, amounting
to as much as 6 per cent. of the total quantity, were
lost by inversion. The new control can detect those
losses, which may be rather easily overcome by contin-
ually cleaning the conducts through which the juices pass,
or even by using double sets of tanks, suction pipes, collectors,
etc., of which one set is cleaned and disinfected, while the
other one is working. This rather simple device has already
reduced these unaccountable losses in many factories to an
insignificant fraction of their former sum, thereby proving
that they had really existed, and were nota consequence of
errors.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
News has been received that Sir Francis Watts,
K.C.M.G., the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture
for the West Indies, has arrived at Nassau, Bahamase
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COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ended April 6, 1915, is as follows:—
ISLANDS. We have nochange to report in the market,
which remains quiet with only limited inquiry. The Factors
however continue unwilling to make any concessions in their
asking prices, consequently we have to repeat our last
quotations.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine 7de. to 80c. =77e. to S2c., c.1.f.
Fine to Fully Fine 733c, to 74c.=75hc. to 76c._,,
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71ce.=72e.
to 73¢., cif.
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 65c. to 68c.=67c. to 70c., cif.
GEORGIAS AND FLorIDAS. The market remains very
quiet, with Factors: willing sellers of average Extra Choice
at 73c. but there is only limited inquiry and apparently no
demand.
The exports consist largely of cotton held by the
Government in Savannah and Jacksonville, which it is
reported they forward to such mills as they have contracted
with for material requiring this quality of cotton.
We quote, viz:—
Fancy (ate— DOC. coinf
Average Extra Choice 73e. = T5¢ 5s
Choice 72¢e.=74c é
The exports from Savannah for the week have been, to
Northern Mills 527 bales, and from Jacksonville to Northern
Mills 714 bales.
THE SUPPLY OF FINE COTTON.
The Empire Cotton Growing Committce, which was
appointed last year by the Bourd of Trade, has issued a
report on the fine cotton supply in the immediate future.
This report published in Z%e Board of Trade Journal,
March 21, 1918, is of special interest to «the British
West Indies, where the finest cotton in the world is produced.
It is pointed out in the report that the tendency towards
a diminished supply threatens to become more marked during
the next year or two. The yield of the Egyptian crop has
been falling somewhat steadily for some years past, and
a very serious reduction is threatened in the Sea Island crop.
If the world’s cotton supply is divided into five grades,
the finest grade of all, the best Sea Island cotton, is a very
small crop, but of very high value. It comes only from
(1) certain small islands off the coast of South Carolina, and
(2) from some of the British West Indies. The supply of
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1918.
May 168,
this type of cotton before the war amounted to not more
than 10,000 bales of 400 Ib., and the value of the very best
grades went as high attimesas 40¢. per b. During the
war the total Sea Island crop of this grade has shown a
marked dcwnward tendency. In 1916 the total was under
700,000 bales.
The best West Indian Sea Island cotton only represents
about 20 per cent. of the West Indian crop, a further 50
per cent. is of the second grade, about the same quality as
Florida and Georgia Sea Island, and the best Egyptian.
The whole West Indian crop has suffered serious diminution
since the war began. This has especially been noticeable
in Barbados, where in 1913 there were 3,970 aeres
under this crop, but this fell to 1,078 acres in 1916,
The reduction has been largely due to the competition
of sugar at high war prices, tempting the planters to devote
their attention entirely to the cultivation of sugar-cane.
The future prospects of the crop depend largely on the relative
prices of sugar and cotton, and though it is said that the
area under cotton will be considerably increased, there is
hardly any reascn to hope for the return to the pre-war
figures of the area under cotton for some years to come,
As regards the supply of the second grade cotton from
Florida and Georgia, the extreme variationof the yield, coupled
with the speculative character of the price, has done much to
render the crop unpopular among the planters. For the year
1916-17 Florida and Georgia produced 110,000 bales of
400tb., while they are not expected to yield much more than
90;000 for 1917-18. The greatest factor in the diminution
of the cultivation of Sea Island cotton in Florida and Georgia
is the boll weevil, which has steadily been advancing from
the Gulf States towards the Atlantic, and when once it arrives
in the Sea {sland districts there is every reason to believe
that it will cause the complete abandonment of the cultiva-
tion of fine cotton. It must therefore be expected, as quite
probable, that the American supply of both the first and
second grades of fine cotton will be seriously reduced in 1918.
It may be said that this reduction in American fine cotton
will not seriously affect the British supplies, because for
sometime past very little Sea Island cotton has been exported
from America, the whole of the crop having been practically
kept for the needs of American spinners: and British spinners
have been dependent almost entirely upon the West Indian
crop and the finer grades of Egyptian cotton.
In considering possible alternative sources of supply of
fine cotton, there must be taken into account a remarkable
development in irrigated districts of Arizona and California,
where the cultivation of certain new types of cotton of
Egyptian character has been introduced, and is being consider-
ably extended. The crop of the present year has been
estimated within the very wide limits of from 55,000 down
to 15,000 bales, but even at the largest estimate the total
amount of the crop would not be suflicient to replace the loss
of the Florida and Georgia crops, even if its quality was of
the same high grade, ©
The other quarter from which it might have been hoped
that a largely increased supply of fine cotton inight have been
obtained is Ngypt, but there, unfortunately, recent tendencies
have been all in the wrong direction. The best Kgyptian
varieties are almost, though not quite, equal to the best
Florida and Georgia Sea Island, but the quantity of these
varieties was comparatively small, Of late, unfortunately,
the tendency in Egyptian cotton has been towards deter-
ioration, and it does not seem likely that any considerable
increase in production of the best grades is to be looked
for in the near future from Egypt
Von. XVII. No. 419.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSOCI-
ATION.
The one hundred and seventieth meeting of the Council
of the British Cotton Growing Association was held at the
Offices, 15 Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday the 9th.
instant. In the absence of the President (The Rt. Hon.
the Earl of Derby, K.G.) Mr. R. J. Clegg occupied the
Chair.
West ArRICA. The purchases of cotton in Lagos to
March 51 amounted to 886 bales, as compared with 3,714
bales for the same period of last year, 4,201 bales for 1916,
and 1,880 bales for 1915.
In pores Nigeria the purchases to March 31
amounted to 2,142 bales, as compared with 3,353 bales for
the same period of last year, 8,356 bales for 1916, and 229
bales for 1915.
The increased buying price which the Association have
arranged to pay for this season’s crop is welcomed by the
natives, and skould result in the farmers having every con-
fidence in cultivating cotton, and in further increasing the
area under cotton. The reports from Lagos all state that
the season isa late one, as too much rain fell during the
planting season, and in many cases, owing to this, the seed
did not germinate; fortunately the Harmattan winds held
off until late, which will give the late plantings a better
chance of maturing.
It is expected that the crop of long stapled American
cotton grown under the supervision of the Government
Agricultural Department in the Zaria District of Northern
Nigeria, will amount to about 1,000 bales; although this is
Jess than had been expected, it isa great improvement on
previous results, and will give ample seed for distribution
for planting purposes another season. It is understood that
this variety has done better under the unfavourable climatic
conditions than the indigenous types. A number of regu-
lations have been made by the Government, with a view
to preventing a mixing of seed of this long stapled cotton
with the native varieties, and it is hoped that these regu-
lations will prove effective.
THE ANTIGUA CENTRAL SUGAR
FACTORY.
The thirteenth annual report of the Directors of the
Antigna Sugar Factory, Limited, for the year ended Septem-
ber 30, 1917, has been forwarded to the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies. Besides
the purely financial statement contained in the report,
some observations with regard to the future of the cane
sugar industry in Antigua will be useful and instructive to
others interested in the questions involved.
_ In the first place, the total tonnage of canes dealt with
during the year was 102,593 tons, derived from the following
sources: the original contractors supplied 25,796 tons, for
which £1 16s. per ton was paid including the bonus; new
contractors supplied 71,172 tons of cane, for which
£1 Qs. 1d. per ton was paid including bonus; from peasants
were bought 5,624 tons at the rate of "20s. 10. per ton.
The report shows that the factory charges, which
include ay items as salaries and wages, repairs and taxes,
were £3 18s. 5¢. per ton of sugar Made; railway transport
charges were 18s. 3¢. per ton of sugar; while administration
charges were 2s. 9¢. The number. of tons of sugar made
jo 1917 was 11,705, and the total proceeds from this sugar
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
151
and the molasses produced was £252,617. The total
expenditure on the other hand was £184,560, thus leaving
a surplus for division of somewhat more than £68,000.
It is evident that though the weather was not so
favourable, nor the yield per acre so high as in the year 1916,
it has again been a successful year for the company, as
prices were better, and there was an increase of sucrose in
the cane. The factory work has maintained, if not even
surpassed, the high level it reached in 1916, as the following
figures will show. The sucrose left in megass in 1916 was
3:01 per cent., in 1917 it was lowered to 2°66; the purity
of juice in 1916 was 83°95, in 1917 it was increased to
84:78; the recovery of sucrose in 1916 was 84-48, it was
84:52 in 1917; the yield of sugar 96° in 1916 was 11-01,
in 1917 it was 11°42.
The Directors remark that the grinding season was
again unduly protracted to August 24. Estate managers
have represented to the Directors ethat such a late
finish of a crop has a very prejudicial effect on the following
crop, and that one of the most important steps towards
securing a heavier tonnage of cane per acre would be to
finish by the end of June. This could be done if crop were
begun not later than February 1, and if the same full reap-
ing were carried out on Mondays and Tuesdays as on the
later days of the week. With regard to this slacking ott
of work on Mondays and Tuesdays, which occurs probably
only in Antigua, the Directors would urge estate managers
to endeavour to bring about a change in this custom, in the
interest of their estates, and in the interests of the Jabourers
themselves also.
The question of higher wages has been met for the
present by an adequate advance which the high prices for
sugar have enabled the estates to make. For the prosperity
of the island, however, the Directors point out that it is of
the utmost importance to avoid a return later on to the
low pre-war rates of wages, and important also that the pay
of managers and overseers should not fall back again to
the former low scale Therisk of this would be removed,
if heavier crops per acre could be produced. The improve-
ment in the present recovery of sucrose in the factory, as
compared with the average of the five years immediately
preceding the war, is equivalent to giving the planters
2} tons extra cane per acre. Proprietors and managers
may be able to do as much by introducing improvements in
methods of agriculture, and again, there is reason to hope
that as much might also be brought about by the labourers
giving full work on Mondays and Tuesdays, and further
by their reducing holidays in crop time, thus enabling
the reaping to be finished early. If all this could be suecess-
fully accomplished, it would be equivalent to an addition of
7 tons of cane or £5 per acre (calculated at pre-war prices).
After allowing for extra expenditure on many items neces-
sary for increasing the crops, there would still be enough to
maintain adequately all rates of pay.
The most notable feature of the crop statistics for
1917 of Rhodesia is the largely augmented area of land under
cultivation, an increase of 46,092 acres being returned.
Out of these no less than 28,503 were planted in maize
as a grain crop. Without doubt the Imperial offer to
purchase all maize produced acted as a stimulant to its
cultivation. The total amount of land under maize for the
year is returned as 203,150 acres, from which were reaped
938,130 bags of 200 tb. weight, giving an average yield. of
4:62 bags per acre. (The Rhodesia Agricultural Journal,
February 1918.)
152
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
mmissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
uddressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF,
Scientific Assistant and W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
7 H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.t
aeons J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.tt
CLERICAL STAFF.
A. G. Howell.
{r A. Corbin.
Chief Clerk
Glerical Assistants
| Typist
P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Seconded for Duty in Egypt.
tt+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Agricultural News
‘Vo. XVII. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1918. No. 419.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial discusses the methods of obtaining
uniformity of product from cacao plantations.
Under Insect Notes, on page 154, will be found
an article dealing with the question of the value ot
zoology, especially entomology, with regard to human
welfare.
Sugar-cane diseases in the» West Indies is ‘the
subject of the note under Plant Diseases on page 158.
The question of the occurrence of mutations in
cotton, and the scientific meaning of the term is dealt
with on page 148,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. May 18,! 1918.
The ‘West Indian Bulletin’, Vol. XIV, No. 4
This number of the West Indian Bulletin, com-
pleting Volume XVI, has just been issued. The first
paper, on the diseases of sugar-cane in tropical and
subtropical America, especially the West Indies, is a.
very comprehensive description by Mr. J. R. Johnston
Pathologist of the Central Experiment Station, Cuba,
of the various diseases affecting the sugar-cane in
these regions, along with notes on the same subject
contributed by the Mycologist of the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture, and other West Indian inyestiga-
tors of plant pathology. It is well illustrated by
distinct drawings of various fungi. The second paper
is the report on some pests and diseases affect-
ing various crops in the West Indies during
1916, compiled from the reports of the principal
local agricultural officers. In the third paper, Sir
Francis Watts, the Imperial Commissioner of Agricul-
ture for the West Indies, deals with the important
subject of the liming of soils, especially under West.
Indian conditions, and in relation to some of the
principal West. Indian crops. Mr. Joseph Jones,
Curator of the Botanic Garden and Experiment Station,
Dominica, contributes the fourth paper on manurial
experiments with cacao in Dominica. This is a review
of acontinued series of experiments for the last ten
years, and therefore affords very reliable conclusions.
The last paper in this number is the continuation of
the studies on the genetics of crinkled dwarf rogues in
Sea Island cotton, by Mr. 8. C. Harland, Scientific
Assistant for Cotton Research, attached to the Imperial
Department of Agriculture.
nD
Granaries in Jamaica.
Information has been received from the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies that
the Government of Jamaica has ordered machinery
for two granaries of the St. Vincent type, and when
these are erected, which it is hoped will be quite soon,
the Government will undertake the buying of corn on
profit-sharing lines in two or probably three districts.
Active steps are being taken to encourage the culti-
vation of as great a variety as possible of food crops
on the part of both large and small owners. In the
first instance it is thought that it will be best to-
begin co-operative work in buying, storing, and
distributing of food crops by dealing with corn; later
on other crops may have attention, but most of these
can be dealt with without drying: it is only the
surplus in these cases that needs drying, and at present
there is no great surplus.
The Jamaica Gleaner, April 19, 1918, reports
a speech on this subject made by Sir Francis Watts at
a meeting of the Board of Management of the Jamaica
Agricultural Society. ‘Sir Francis pointed out that
the granaries proposed to be erected would be able to
deal with 400 bushels of corn a day, and he believed
that by the end of the second year it would be
necessary to increase the number of granaries.
Vor. XVII. No. 419.
Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition in
Trinidad.
The annual agricultural and industrial exhibition
held by the co-operation vf the Agricultural Society
and the Board of Agriculture, and, to a lesser extent,
the Horticultural Club, took place in Port-of-Spain
on March 22, 1918.
The Acting Director of Agriculture, Mr. Freeman,
in his speech at the opening of the Exhibition by
His Excellency the Governor, is reported in the Port-of
Spain Gazette, March 23, to have drawn attention to
the dominant note of this year’s exhibition; this was
the question of the production of local foodstuffs. One
of the greatest attractions of the show was the war-
time garden, a plot of ground tilled in model fashion
under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture.
This was meant to show how much could be produced
in yams, corn, Cassava, etc. from’ a small piece of
ground. There were besides exhibits by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture showing the eftort made by
planters to obtain high production from smali areas.
The results showed that the gain was over 100 per
cent. over haphazard methods. Attention was also
directed to the use that can be made of ground
provisions, and amongst these was the making of bread
from them, which was recommended particularly to the
small cultivator, who is accustomed to have his
food made in his own household. ‘he breads exhibited
were obtained from the Governor of the Prisons, who
had had them made from various meals supplied to him.
Among excellent exhibits of various local manu-
factures that of the Prison Department of various
specimens of joinery, stone-cutting and other manual
industries drew especial attention.
Naturally there were numerous exhibits of the
products of the chief industries of the island, among
which must be noticed coco-nut and cocoa butter, and
prepared chocolate produced by a local manufacturer.
The reporter in the Port-of-Spain Gazette
mentions the really fine exhibits of goats, mostly
Toggenburg, showing a distinct improvement in the
class of goats bred at present. Hogs seem to have been
somewhat disappointing, and it is suggested that there
is room for much further development in hog raising.
The cattle were all of high class, an advance as far as
quality is concerned, on past years. The exhibits of
horses were but few, but were quite up to the level in
quality compared with past years.
ED ee
Embargo on the Importation of Green Limes
into the United States.
Mr. J. Jones, Curator of the Botanie Garden,
Dominica, reports that news was received in that
island on April 15 that the United States Government
had piaced an embargo on the importation of green
limes. This is aconsiderable blow to the lime industry
in that island, for it means that, for the time being,
a trade estimated at about £50,000 annually, ceases.
Representations haye been made with the hope that
the United States Government may raise the embargo,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
153
Another difficulty which tbe lime industry in
Dominica appears to be confronted with, is that for
the last two months there has been no market for ripe
limes, and the future position is not at all clear in
regard to this matter, which is of great importance,
especially to peasant growers. During a good crop
year it is probable that the peasants market from
70,000 to 75,000 barrels of ripe limes,—roughly one-
fifth of the crop of the island. Last year, when high
prices were obtained for green limes, and the usual
prices for ripe limes, it is estimated that nearly £20,000
must have been paid to the peasants for their fruit. -
It will be seen, therefore, that this closing of the
market is a serious matter.
The difticulty of the disposal of the ripe limes:
is owing largely to the want of shipping accommo- |
dation for the export of the raw juice for use as
a beverage. The only other way of utilizing the ripe
fruit is for making citrate of lime or concentrated
lime juice. Again, on account of shipping difficulties,
these products may have to be stored for a consider-
able time.
Sisal Cultivation in Antigua.
In areview of the report on the Agricultural »
Department, Antigua, for the year ended March 31, -
1917, which appeared in the Agricultural News for
March 9, 1918, attention was drawn to the fact that
8,000 sisal plants had been sent out from the Agri-
cultural Station to plant 11 acres in the windward
district in an attempt to establish a fibre industry in |
that drier part of the island. Mr. T. Jackson, the
Agricultural Superintendent, has forwarded to this
Office some notes on observations he made after
paying a visit to the sisal cultivation.
He states that there are growing on the estate
where the cultivation has been begun four varieties of
agave: (1) the ordinary wild agave found in Antigua
(Agave Keratto); (2) Agave sisalana (sisal); (3) Agave
fourcroydes (henequen); and (4) ‘an unnamed variety
which occurs locaily. The second and third of these-
varieties are the only ones which are valuable as a
commercial source of fibre.
Mr. Jackson remarks that, although the plants
have made very slow growth, their healthy appearance
indicates that the conditions are, on the whole, such
as to favour the success of the experiment.
With regard to the planting of sisal and henequen,
Mr. Jackson observes that it is evident that the plants
should not be set deeply in the soil, as is exemplified
by the manner in which the wild agave grows. The
lower leaves of the plants should never be covered by
earth.
He also advises that, until the plants attain a
considerable height, careful weeding around them by
means of a scuftle hoe is necessary, the ordinary agri-
cultural hoe not being suitable for the purpose: the
land between the rows of plants he advises to be kept
clean by occasional cutlassing.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 18,
1918.
INSECT NOTES.
THE VALUE OF ZOOLOGY TO HUMAN
WELFARE.
The above title formed the subject for discussion by
some of the leading zoologists of the United States at a
special symposium held under the auspices of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science during its last
annual meeting at Pittsburg in ‘December 1917. Each
speaker had been assigned one general topic relating to that
branch of zoology in which he himself is a specialist, and it
was hoped that the contributions by the various speakers
might more or less supplement each other. The present
symposium was also intended to supplement a former discus-
sion onthe same general subject held at the Philadelphia
meeting of the above Association in 1914-15. Since the
time allotted to each speaker was necessarily limited, the
various aspects of the subject could only be touched upon
briefly by the different speakers. The whole subject is one
of general interest, and some of the different topics will be
referred to later.
Among the speakers on the present occasion was
Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Burean of Entomology at
Washington, who discussed the subject from the point of
view of the economic entomologist, and alluded to the
‘work that those zoologists who study insects have
done and are doing for the welfare of humanity.’ A brief
sketch of this paper, which was published in .Sc7ence for
April 1, 1918, is given here.
Dr. Howard begins by stating that the Class Insecta
includes a host of species which are most keenly competing
with the human species in the struggle for existence. Insects
have theirorigin in an early period of the earth’s history,
dating back to Carboniferous or perhaps to Silurian times.
They have persisted and flourished by adapting themselves
to almost all conceivable conditions, until at the present time
they are the chief competitors with the human race for the
contro] of the earth.
The unceasing struggle between insects and man is
vividly sketched in the following words: ‘Man labours for
months to produce a food crop—he must share it with many
species of insects. He builds himself a house with infinite
toil—it must harbor insects as well. He makes garments
for himself—without great care on his part they are eaten
by insects. His harvested food is ‘destroyed by therm; his
blood is sucked by them; he sickens and dies from a multi-
plication of disease germs which they have introduced by
their bites, or with which they have contaminated his food,
and after his death they consume his body.’
The relations between insects and the food crops of
man is then discussed by Dr. Howard. This subject has
become one of vital importance at the present time,
In peace times it was estimated that the damage
caused by insects to the food products of the United
States amounted to approximately $1,300,000
or roughly, about 10 per cent. of the whole.
as expressed in terms of* money,
per year
This estimate,
is open to criticism,
as Dr. Howard points out, for the obvious reason that a fall
in production is followed by an increase in price. The loss,
however, may be estimated just as well in terms of human
food, and consequently of human vitality. The writer con-
tinues: ‘\ loss of 10 per cent. of the possible food, and not
considering the question of waste, means strictly that a given
number of people must live on a ration of 90 per cent. of
the possible; not necessarily that 10 per cent. of the people
must die of starvation.’
It has been estimated that the Burean of Entomology
saves the United States over 322,000,000 annually, but this
estimate is probably far too small.
In addition to the insect enemies of growing crops there
are a large number of species which attack stored food pro-
ducts of ail kinds, and the problem of preserving stored
foodstutis from the attacks of insects has become of
the greatest importance in the present crisis. As an
instance of the importance of this question of food pre-
servation from insects at the present time, the writer
mentions that Mr. Maxwell-Lefroy has been sent from
England to Australia to study the condition of the Australian
wheat awaiting export to the United States, and to prevent
damage by insects which attack stored grains. The United
States has sent large supplies of milled grain to England, and
in order to save the long transportation, the Australian wheat
is to go direct to San Francisco for use in America,
much depends on the success of Mr.
Australia.
Dr. Howard then touches upon ‘the enormous problem
of medical zoology’, in which the entomologist has a most
important interest. ‘It is true’ he continues, ‘that most of
the important discoveries concerning the carriage of disease by
insects have been made by medical men, and not by
entomologists. But even in these cases, the discovery once
made, the entomologist, with his training in methods of
investigating the life-history and habits of insects, plays
the important part in the investigation of every point
in the life-history, habits, and behaviour of the insect carrier,
and in the perfection of the methods for its destruction.’
The writer considers that the prevention of insect-borne
diseases is a matter for the economic entomologist and not for
the medical man; or at the very least, for the individual who
does not yet exist, namely, the medical man trained as an
entomologist. At present the entomologist forms. a link
between the medical man and the sanitary engineer,
J.C.H.
So that
Lefroy’s work in
Investigation of Thymol Yield of Wild
Thyme.—In the -lericultural News, April 20, 1918, a
query was made as to the possible utility of Coleus amboin-
‘cus, known generally in the West Indies as wild
thyme, as asource of thymol.
With reference to this subject Mr. A. E. Collens,
Superintendent of Agriculture, Antigua, states that he
investigated this plant, known in Trinidad as Spanish thyme,
for thymol content at ithe Government Laboratory there in
1914. <A reference to this appeared in the annual report of
the Officer in Charge of Special Investigations for that year.
The amount of oil recovered was too small for any definite
investigation—the freshly gathered herb, which contained
practically 90 per cent. of moisture, yielding less than 0:2
per cent. of oil. Mr, Collens goes on to say that it may
perhaps still be of interest to examine local specimens, as
the oil content may be considerably influenced by climatic
conditions, and a comparatively dry climate, such as that of
Antigua, may lead to an increased yield.
Vor Oval Non 419:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 155
SIMPLE METHODS OF KEEPING FRUIT
AND VEGETABLES FRESH.
Most of the ordinary methods for preserving fruit and
vegetables involve a certain amount of cooking; that is to
say, the fruits are not kept in a fresh condition. The
following methods of keeping fruit aud vegetables fresh for
a long period are described in the IJlealth of Srdia,
January 1918.
It is stated that if the fruit is not wanted to be
kept for more than a month or so,.-tins with well fitting
lids, perfectly clean and dry inside; should be provided.
The fruit to be kept must be carefully examined, and any
specimen showing the smallest sign of decay should be
rejected. Every fruit should be ripe but not in the least
degree over-ripe. Immerse the fruits for a moment in
a bowl of water almost at boiling point. The moisture soon
dries off, and then the fruits may be packed in the tins,
which when closed should be put away inacool place. The
dipping in the scalding water is for the purpose of killing
any germs of moulds which might be present on the skin of
the fruit.
Another method advised is to pack the fruit with
powdered cork. This material forms a protection against
changes in temperature and variations in the amount of
moisture in the atmosphere. In this case also, perfectly
sound fruit should be selected, and wiped perfectly dry.
A 2-inch layer of cork dust is to be spread on the bottom
of a wooden box, and the fruit arranged on that, care being
taken that no one fruit touches another, When the first
layer is arranged, fill up ail the spaces between the fruit
with powdered cork, and cover the first layer with another
inch of the material. Proceed in the same way until the
vox is filled. It is claimed that fruit and vegetables treated
in this manner will keep fresh for a year. When taken out
the fruit need only be dipped into water to remove the cork
dust.
Sawdust has been tried in the same way, but it is not
entirely satisfactory, owing probably to the fact that it is
ditficult to obtain sawdust absolutely free of moisture.
It is said that experiments in this direction, conducted in
France, have shown that fine sand is of value for the purpose.
The sand must be perfectly clean, and in order to render it
so it is necessary to subject it to several washings. After
washing, the sand must be completely dried by sun heat, or
artificial warmth. Each specimen of fruit or vegetable to be
preserved should be wrapped in thin paper, and packed in
a box with the sand in the same manner as with cork dust.
Most vegetables, and all kind of fruit, except soft berries, can
be treated in this way, and are found to keep their flavour
and aroma for a long time. When required for use the pre-
served articles are simply washed with plain water.
Another plan, which 1s stated to be especially useful in
dealing with apples and pears, and which would seem to be
just as suitable for dealing with many tropical fruits, is
described as follows: Prepare a solution in the proportion of
1b. of resin, loz. tallow, and loz. bees-wax. Put these into
an iron saucepan, and melt slowly over a fire, taking care
that the mixture does not boil. Each fruit must then be
separately rubbed over with whiting or precipitated chalk.
In order to dip the fruits into the hot mixture a small pointed
stick should be inserted into each. . After dipping, hold the
fruit in the air fora moment, that the thin coating of the solu-
tion may set firm. The wooden chip should not be pulled ont,
as that would leave an unprotected spot. The coated fruit
may then be put away on shelves or in boxes, and when they
are required for use, it is only necessary to crack the coating
and peelic off. It is claimed that fruit thus hermetically
sealed upare beautifully preserved for a considerable time.
It must be remembered that when fruit has been pre-
served in any of these methods, it is important that it should
not be kept too long after removal from the box in which it
has been stored. After any process of preserving, fruit when
exposed again to the air will decay more rapidly than’ when
ithas been freshly gathered.
THE DEMAND FOR CASTOR OIL.
During the last couple of years considerable attention
has been directed to increasing the production of castor
oil. According tothe Lastern JJorning News, April 10,
19LS, Hull has for many years been practically the only
centre in the United Kingdom where castor oil is dealt with.
The great expansion of the aeroplane industry has resulted
in a greatly increased demand for castor oil for lubricant
purposes, because it has the special advantage of not freezing
at low temperatures. Its value therefore in the high
altitudes to which aeroplanes soar is obvious.
Up to the present, India has been the largest producer
of castor seed in the worid, its export of seed being estimated
at 100,000 tons annually, together with 2,000,000 gallons of
oil. Now, however, atteation is being given to the cultiv-
ation of the seed in other places. Since the entry of the
United States into the war, with the programme of building
an enormous number of aeroplanes for military purposes,
there has been a necessity of providing a sufficient supply of
castor oil for their use. It is said that in some of the
western States, where the seed has been already cultivated,
there has been no less than 100,000 additional acres put
under this crop.
Attention is also being paid to the possibilities of castor
oil cultivation in these West Indian islands. The Agricul-
tural Department of Trinidad has published information with
regard to this subject, and the notice of agriculturists in
Jamaica has also been drawn in several issues of the /omsna/
of the Jamaica Agricultural Society to the possibilities of
the remunerative nature of the crop.
The Revista de Agricultura, February 1918, which is the
official organ of the Department of Agriculture, Santo Dom-
ingo, has an article strongly advising the cultivation of castor
oil plants in that republic. The writer of the article recom-
mends the Indian or Bombay variety of the plant as being
the best suited to local conditions, and gives instructions for
its sowing and culture. He estimates that, with the present
prices, the net profit per hectare from an average yield
would amount to about $200, equivalent to about $40 per
acre.
It must also be remembered that under the auspices of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture experiments with this
crop were made some years ago in Antigna. At that time
it did not seem to hold out any prospe:ts of being sufficiently
remunerative to cause the cultivation to be taken up to any
extent. The price then was not more than £12 per ton.
The present market price is about £32 per ton, and seems
likely to rise. ‘The question therefore may deserve re-
consideration in some of these smaller islands where
the plant certainly flourishes. Could the seeds be dealt
with locally for the extraction of the oil, the residue
might be utilized as a fertilizer of considerable value.
It cannot however be used as a cattle food. It might
be possible for the present factories extracting cotton-seed
oil to utilize their machinery for the production of castor-
seed oil during the part of the year when their machinery
perforce lies idle.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
May 18, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
The area under rice in British Guiana in 1917 was
-6,000 acres with a yield of 45,000 tons valued at £500,000.
The average yields of the colony per acre were only exceeded
by those in Egypt and Japan, the abandoned sugar lands
being especially suited for rice cultivation. (The Demerara
Daily Argosy, April 27, 1918.)
From the Cuéu Review, March 1918, we gather that
although the sugar planters of Cuba have done exceedingly
well with their crop, the tobacco planters are experiencing
rather hard times on account of war conditions, the expor-
tation of cigars from Havana for instance during 1917 being
some 10,000,000 less than the previous year.
United Empire, April 1918, states that according to
-a report issued by the Colonial Office it is estimated that the
natives in the British sphere of occupation in Togoland have
33 per cent. more land under cultivation now than they ever
had under German rule. The freedom from forced labour
_gives them time to develop their own interests and resources.
The Parliament of South Australia has decided that all
towns in the State bearing names of German origin are to
be renamed. A first list of twenty-two such towns with the
new names has been published, among which may be noticed
the following changes: Kaiserstubl to Mount Kitchener,
Rosenthal to Rosedale, Grunthal to Verdun, and so forth,
-(The Coloniser, April 1918.)
Pig keepers who have access to grazing should give the
fullest trial to outdoor methods of feeding. Green food alone
will not as a rule fatten pigs, but it will keep them in healthy
condition, and save a great deal of meal. Barren sows have
actually fattened on good pasture without any supplementary
foods, and palatable pork can be produced under the same
conditions, (/ournal of the Board of Agriculiure, December
1917.)
In order to make clean liquid manure for application
to vegetables, a bag of well-rotted stable manure is placed
in a barrel filled with water. The bag should be well shaken
in the water, and after about twelve hours the liquid may
be used freely on the plants. The barrel may be filled with
water several times before it becomes necessary to empty
and refill the bag (The Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural
Society, March 1918.)
Since the commencement of the war up to the present
time it is stated in ature, March 28, 918, that tens of
thousands of acres of woods and forests have been destroyed
in the British Isles. What the effect of this will be upon
the wild bird life it is difficult to foretell, but it seems very
likely that it will mean a large decrease in the number of
insectivorcus birds, and that consequently for some years to
come there will be trouble with plagues of various insects,
The name ‘Jerusalem artichoke’ is most inajpropriate to
that tuber. It is not an artichoke, and it ix nots native of
Jerusalem. De Candolle, in Origin of Cultivated Plants,
says: ‘the English name Jerusalem artichoke is a corruption
of the Italian girasole, sunflower, combined with an allusion
to the artichoke flavour of the root’. If we are tu have a name
that fits the plant it might be suggested that ‘sun-flower
potato’ would meet the case. (The /ve/d, April 16, 1918.)
The /ournal of the Jamaica Agricultural Soctety for
March 1918 draws attention to the fact that cane planters
could grow large crops of corn through their young canes,
and though corn takes something out of the soil which ought
to goto the cane, still in these times there will be a margin
in favour of the corn. This is an old-time practice which
should be commenced again. It is stated that on the highly
cultivated soils of sugar estates 30 bushels of corn should be
the return per acre.
According to the Port-of Spain Gazette April 28, 1918,
there has been an outbreak of swine fever or hog cholera in
certain districts of the island, including Belmont and Diego
Martin. The Government Veterinary Surgeon is busy in
combating the disease. It is thought that the local outbreak
is due to infection from Barbados, where the disease has been
recently making ravages. It is to be hoped that the Trinidad
authorities will be able soon to control and eradicate this
disease by the only method known viz., serum inoculation,
Arrangements have been completed by the Ministry of
Munitions for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen on a large
scale in the United Kingdom, as a source of supply for the
production of explosives. It is probable that in order to
save tonnage, and owing to the length of the voyage from
Chile, it will be found necessary to develop this production
still further. This source of supply is also expected to be
of great value after the war for the production of fertilizers.
(The Times, February 15, 1918.)
A party of American scientists, chiefly from the
State University of Iowa, under the guidance of
Professor C. C. Nutting, Professor of Zoology of that
University, has arrived in Barbados for the purpose
of studying the marine biology of these waters. The
Government of the island has placed at their disposal the
quarantine station of Pelican Island during their visit. They
hope, after concluding their work in Barbados, to pay a visit
to Antigua.
The term upland rice is applied to those varieties of rice
which grow in ordinary well drained fields during the rainy
season. An article in the Pxrlippine Agriculturist and
Forester, January-February, 1918, recommends upland
rice as suitable for extensive rice culture wherever corn and
sugar-cane are grown, or on newly opened lands in sugar-cane
districts. The article states thst the putting of upland rice
in rotation with sugar is recommended by the Bureau of
Agriculture, and further, that there are varieties of upland
rice which yield much more that any lowland varieties,
Vor,,; XVII. No. £19.
- THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
—
or
~I
» DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
~pominica. Aceording to notes “forwarded by the
Curator, during the month of April 885 plants were distri-
buted, and 392 packets of vegetable seeds, 3 barrels of pigeon
peas, and 60 barrels of horse beans were sold. Rainfall for
the month was 1°86 inches.
MONTSERRAT. Mr. W. Robson, Curator, writes to say
that plant distribution during the month of April comprised
the tonne? Bay plants, 1,380; potato cuttings, 700; pigeon
peas, 5} Ib.; ‘black eye peas, 16 packets; corn cobs, 26; papaw
seeds, 34 oz. Work in the Experiment and Botanic Station
was of a routine nature, consisting chiefly of reaping opera-
tions.. Owing to the breakdown of the still at the begin-
ning of the month, the distillation of bay leaves has been
suspended.
The cotton planted at the beginning of March is suffer-
ing from lack of rain, particularly on the leeward side of the
island. Very little cotton has been planted since the middle of
March, and about half the area remains to be put in. Estates
have increased their acreage so far as labour permitted.
Over 400 bales of cotton of last season’s crop remain to
be shipped. The planting of areas in limes is practically
at a standstill, and the area in plant canes will probably be
below that of last season. All estates complain of shortage
of labour, which is stated to be chiefly due to labourers plant-
ing cotton in their own interests. Foodstuffs still remain very
scarce. Ata general meeting of the Agricultural Society
it was unanimously agreed to recommend that the Govern-
ment proceed with the Cotton Stainer Ordinance for the
destruction of the host plants of this pest. The appointment
of an Assistant Curator has been arranged for as from
July 1. Only light showers fell during the month. The
rainfall recorded at Grove Station was 2°25 inches. The total
rainfall for the year to date is 15°19 inches. ;
ANTIGUA. Plant distribution during the month of
April was as follows: Pandanus, 1,301; lime plants, 560;
eoco-nuts, 341; eucalyptus, 165; onion plants, 100; decorative
61; cotton seed, 42041b; miscellaneous seeds, 2 packets.
Mr. T. Jackson, the Curator, states that the scarcity of water
at the Botanic Station is seriously handicapping the work
in the nurseries. Early in the month fairly good showers
were experienced in some parts of the island. Advantage
was taken of this by many to plant provision and other
crops; but'at the time of writing rain was required through-
out the island. On the whole, the onion crop is almost
a complete failure; apparently only one-fourth of the returns
obtained last year will be harvested this year. This is
attributed to the severe drought experienced during the last
three months, which was followed by severe attacks of thrips.
The conditions of the young cane crop improved somewhat
during the month. Preparations are being made to plant
cotton. ‘The returns per acre for last year are decidedly
poor; the amount of cotton reaped to date by Antigua and
Barbuda was approximately 49,000 tb. Three hundred and
forty crates of onions were shipped by the Antigua Onion
Grower’s Association. The rainfall for the month was 3°64
inches; for the year to date, 8°26 inches.
st. kirts. In his notes for the month of April the
Agricultural Superintendent, Mr. F. It. Shepherd, mentions
plant distribution from the Experiment Stations as follows:
7,700 cassava cuttings and 1,200 sweet potato cuttings; 200
cuttings of ornamental plants were also distributed from the
Botanic Station. Owing to the dry weather, which made
constant watering necessary to keep the plants alive, .only
the usual routine work could be carried out. The cane crop
was being rapidly taken off; the returns, with a few
exceptions, were very low. The young canes were feeling
the effects of the dry weather, and plants recently supplied,
especially in the Valley district, were germinating poorly.
A considerable area of cotton has been planted in the
northern district where weather conditions are more favour-
able, and the young plants are doing well. In the Valley
district very little has as ‘yet been planted, but with the :
advent of rains a large acreage will be putin, Wherever
possible, sweet potatoes, cassava, and corn have been planted.
At the end of April 586,8041b. of lint cotton was awaiting
shipment at St. Kitts-Nevis. The rainfall. for the month
was 1:07 inches, for the year to date, 9°81 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
Although the rainfall has been in some districts below.
the average, the weather during the past month was more
favourable than during April 1917. It will be remembered
that the last two weeks of April 1917, were the driest and
dustiest for the whole year.
The total rainfall for the four months of this year in the
hilly parishes is about 13 inches, while in the low lying
parishes it is just under 74 inches.
On some black soil estates the crops have been completed.
The season has been practically perfect for grinding, but the
yield has been under last year’s mark
We have noted that this year’s crop will be shorter than
last year’s or that reaped in 1916. We are aware that weather
conditions have had a good deal to do with this, but we
cannot refrain from sounding a warning note, as on more
than one previous occasion, in connexion with the treatment
of the soil. Weare of opinion that our soil, in spite of
the tillage and manuring which it receives, needs further
help. There should be rotation of crops, and a period of rest
for every field, if we would keep up a high standard of
fertility.
Once more, the rotation of crops would atford excellent
opportunity for green manuring. Hardly any of this is done
at the present time, but it is acknowledged by scientific
agriculturists that this is a most, effective means of feeding
the soil with those constituents which it requires. It is also
an inexpensive process. Many a light sandy soil which needs
humus would be restored to a healthy condition by the
ploughing in of green crops.
Where recent showers have fallen in sufticient quantity,
the young crops have immediately responded. It is mar-
vellous to see how quickly the blades of grass shoot up from
the earth after a rain. The young canes in the hilly districts
are, we think, in a more satisfactory condition than they
were at the corresponding period last year.
The ratoons are bunching well, and a few fortunate
planters have been able to put inthe first application of
artificial manure to some fields. A limited supply of nitrate
of soda is daily expected, and arrangements are being made
to obtain the sulphate of ammonia required for the commg
season.
The supply of ground provisions has naturally growa
scarce. There are very few fields of mature potatoes left,
and many planters are anxious not to continue selling until
they have been able to plant. They have to be very careful
lest they run out of slips.
With the recent rains some planting of corn and potatoes
has been done, but only toa limited extent,
estates it has not been possible to prepare the land.
Barbados Agricultural Reporter, May 4, 1918.)
(The
for on many.
158
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 18, 1918.
PLANT DISEASES.
SUGAR-CANE DISEASES IN THE WEST
INDIES.
The current number of the Iles Zndian Bulletin con-
tains a detailed review by Mr. J. R. Johnston, Pathologist
of the Central Experiment Station, Cuba, of the diseases of
Sugar-cane in the West Indies. Information concerning the
history, causation and symptoms of each disease, the original
accounts of which in many cases are widely scattered in
literature difficult of access, is brought together in a form
convenient for reference.
In order that the paper might supply as far as possible
a complete survey of the distribution and status of sugar-
«ane disease in this region, the manuscript was submitted
“to, and, excepting Trinidad, has been annotated by the
sesponsible pathologists of the cane-growing areas from
Cuba to British Guiana. The notes appended give evidence
of no important divergence of opinion, and subject to
possible differences of emphasis, the paper may be taken
adequately to represent the present situation. It is to
be hoped that it may have an influence in checking the
persistent text-book currency of the series of early errors
associated with the description of Z7ichosphaeria Sacchart,
Massee.
Apart from the great epidemic of the nineties on the
Bourbon cane, the interest of which, owing to the general
adoption of resistant varieties, is now mainly historical; and
the new epidemic in Porto Rico, which is too recent to have
revealed its true significance, the outstanding interest of
the present day is with the root disease associated with
Marasmius Sacchari. The remaining affections, where they
are not trivial, are local and incidental; root disease is
general in its distribution, and, under frequently recurrent
conditions, serious in its effects.
The presence on the base of canes and on the trash of
white mycelia other than that of Marasmius has been
commonly noticed, and there is no doubt that they
have often been confused. Three of these fungi are
here described as the outcome of attention given to root
disease in Porto Rico. //imantia steliifera, Johnston, is
regarded as identical with what has been previously
known as ‘the ‘stellate crystal fungus’; its mycelium
is distinguished on a general view by the feathery pattern
it assumes in its growth. and, on microscopical examination,
by the stellate crystals of calcium oxalate borne on short side
branches. It is commen on cane and pasture grasses.
Odontia saccharicola and O. Sacchari, Burt, are Basidio-
tycetes of very simple form. The first-named, ‘the granular
leaf-sheath fungus’, is very common in Porto Rico at the
base of cane stalks, binding together the lower leaf-sheaths.
The only visible damage resulting is the rotting of the
sheaths infested. It occurs on healthy and unhealthy cane,
and its chief importance arises from the readiness with
which its occurrence may give rise to the assumption that
Marasmius is present. O. Sacchari is a similar but rarer
species.
It would be well worth while to investigate more closely
the occurrence of these fungi in other localities. The same
ce similar species are common in some of the Lesser Antilles,
with at least one other form in which the hyphae are combined
into strands of various thickness, and heavily encrusted
with needle-crystals of calcium oxalate.
The control of root disease is discussed at some length,
the recommendations being on familiar lines. Some interest-
ing information emerges as to the views taken of varietal
resistance to the disease.
_ ance of the. tissues.
With regard to Velanconium Succhari, the rind fungus,
the subject of so much dispute, the conclusion reached, to
which no objection is entered, is that the damage due to it
typically occurs only in over-ripe or injured cane, though
occasionally it is the only fungus to be found in mature canes
affected with a rot marked by sourness and a dingy appear-
The severity of infestation with this
fungus, even when conditions appear favourable to its
development, as in severe moth-borer seasons, is observed to
vary greatly for reasons not yet explained.
Colletotrichum falcatum is now litt'e noticed, but it may
be again recorded here, from recent instances, that it is very
liable to occur with unreduced virulence, reproducing the
symptoms of the old ‘rind disease’, when plots of Bourbon
cane are tentatively tried.
W.N.
THE FOOD SITUATION IN BERMUDA.
It appears that, although Bermuda is so much nearer to
the United States than these West Indian colonies, it has
been placed under the same regulations with respect to the
exportation of foodstuffs. Mr. E. A. McCallan, the Acting
Director of Agriculture, Bermuda, has forwarded to this Office
an interesting report on the steps that are being taken in that
colony to increase the local production of foodstuffs, and to’
lessen the colony’s dependence on imported foods. The
matter is, in the first place, under the direction of a committee
of the Board of Agriculture, and in every parish local
committees have been appointed to stimulate production in
their respective districts.
These local committees are evidently, as the report
shows, doing excellent work in a very thorough manner.
Besides the holding of general meetings, and the issuing
of pertinent bulletins, the members of the local committees
undertake individual house-to-house visits in which the
necessity of increased vegetable and live-stock production is
explained, and instructions are given in household economy,
and in the best methods of cultivating kitchen gardens. In
connexion with this matter, members of these committees
undertake in many cases not only to distribute packets of
vegetable seeds, but also the growing of vegetable seedlings
for distribution among kitchen gardeners. In many cases
lectures are given to housewives on subjects of household
economy, cookery classesare held, useful ‘war’ recipes are
published and distributed, and demonstrations in methods of
preserving food, as for instance by canning, are also given.
The schools are visited and prizes have been offered for work
in school gardens.
The results of this diligent work seem to have been
most satisfactory. The local committees, in general, report
that there has been 'a very considerable increase in the.
extent of land under cultivation of foodstuffs, especially of
staple crops; that there has been an extension of school
gardens, and that much grass land and many flower gardens
have been put under food crops. There has also been an
increase in the number of small live stock produced, especially
pigs, goats, and rabbits, so that the locally produced food
for home consumption has been much augmented. Another
result has been the inception of a vigorous campaign for the
extermination of rats, on account of the loss caused by their
depredation on stored food. Efforts are also being made to.
keep the sparrow in check because of the damage to growing
crops,
Vor. XVII. No. 419.
It must be very satisfactory to the members of the
various committees to find that their yisits and advice have
met with cordial appreciation by the people in general, who
have been thereby stimulated in_ the increased production of
food.
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM
MEGASS.
In the Agricultural News, December 15, 1916, attention
was drawn to a new process for destroying weeds in cane fields
by the use of paper mulches, and it was noted that the
erection of an auxiliary paper mill was being contemplated
by the Directors of the Olaa Sugar Company for the purpose
of making the paper needed. The Louisiana Planter, for
April 6, 1918, says that the manager of the Olaa plantation,
in his annual report to the stockholders, states that:—
‘Following a careful investigation into the practicability of
making a suitable mulching paper from bagasse as the raw
material, it was decided in December last that a small
auxiliary paper plant be erected alongside of the sugar
factory to turn out approximately 16 tons of asphalt-saturated
paper per day.
‘It has been demonstrated that about 50 per cent. of
the labour ordinarily required in the care taking of our cane
fields can be saved by the employment of suitable paper
mulches in accordance with the practice which has been
developed under Olaa conditions, and that a materially
increased yield can be obtained at the same time.
‘The product of the auxiliary mill will, therefore, be
used primarily to meet the agricultural needs of the
plantation, and only a comparatively small surplus output
will be placed on the general market where it should find
a ready sale in the forms in which its manufacture will be
adapted forthe trade. In addition to the manufacture of
mulching paper for which the plant is primarily intended, it
will be equipped and devised so as to permit the production
of roofing and sheathing felts, tissue and wrapping paper, and
eard and box boards. About one-tenth only of the present
supply of bagasse will be utilized in paper manufacture, the
balance of it being used as formerly, as fuel in the furnaces.’
It is hoped to have this auxiliary plant in operation by
the beginning of 1919. The estimated cost of the plant is
$185,000.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice markets
for the month of March 1918:—
The conditions of business in Mincing Lane during the
month of March exhibited but little or no change since
our report of February. The continued reduction of
imports of natural products, owing to the still prevailing
submarine menace, has had the effect of more enquiries being
made for synthetic products, which might result in lowering
the prices of the better-known products of nature. Purchasers
conunue to show a desire to buy ouly those articles that are
absolutely necessary to meet their present requirements, and
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
these only in limited quantities. The following are the
chief details.
GINGER.
At auction on the 14th, of the month ginger was in
good demand at advanced: rates. Washed, rough Cochin
was held at from 72s. 67. to 75s. for fair to good; 70s. was
asked for rough Calicut, and the same price for Sierra Leone.
A week later ginger was again in good supply, some 879
packages being offered and sold, rough washed Cochin
fetching 90s. per ewt., fair to good brown. Calicut 80s. to
85s. 67, and limed Japan 75s. It was stated at this auction
that some sales of Jamaica had been effected at 97s. 6d. to
100s. for common to good lemon, and 110s. to 115s. for
medium to good. Similar prices prevailed quite to the
end of the month.
SARSAPARILLA,
There has been but little or no business done in this
drug throughout the month. The only offerings made were
on the 14th., when 19 bales of grey Jamaica were offered,
and sold at from 4s. to 4s. 1d. for fair quality.
MACE, NUTMEGS, PIMENTO, ARROWROOT, KOLA, CANELLA
ALBA, ANNATTO SEED, LIME OIL, CITRIC ACID.
At auction on the 2Ist, of the month mace was
represented by 78 packages, which were disposed of at from
1d, to 2d. per tb. advance of previous rates, Nutmegs were.
also well represented by 237 packages of West Indian, which
were also disposed of at similar rates. In the middle of the
month it was reported that a good amount of business had
been done in Pimento at from 44d. to 54d. per tb., which
had slightly increased towards the end of the month.
At the beginning of the month good mannfactur-
ing St. Vincent arrowroot was quoted at 101d. to
1ld. per bb., but later ly. to 1s. 1}¢d. was asked and
at the end of the month ly. 1}¢. was the price quoted.
It was reported in the middle of the month that kola
was becoming scarce. At auction on the 14th. 17 bags
were offered, and the whole disposed of at an advance on
previous rates of about 3 farthings per lb. The consign-
ment brought forward consisted of West Indian halves, vary-
ing from small to medium, and slightly mouldy: 1047. per b.
was the price paid. Cannella alba bark was represented at
auction on the 14th- of the month by 10 packages, none of
which was disposed of. Annatto seed was also in abundant
supply on the 14th. of the ménth, with 90 packages. These
also failed to find buyers. West Indian distilled oil of
lime was sold in the middle of the month at 7s. 6. to 7s. 9d.
per Ib. and hand pressed at 21s. Citric acid has been quoted
during the month at from 3s. 13d. to 3s, 2¢. per b.
British Production of Black Pepper.— Although
the Dutch East Indies are by far the most important pepper-
producing locality of the world, Ze Times Trade Supple-
ment, April 1918, points out that the Malabar coast of
Southern India produces a considerable portion of the article
imported into the United Kingdom. In Sarawak pepper is
the chief crop of the country, and it is also an important
article of production in the Malay Peninsula. Pepper was
formerly grown in Zanzibar, but its cultivation there has been
abandoned. The cultivation of pepper has not been carried.
on in the West [ndies or South America: it has been success~
fully tried in Trinidad, but never planted on a large scale.
In Jamaica also it has been tried but did not flourish,
160
- THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. '
May 18, .19¥8.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpox, Grant & Co.,
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tne West Ixpia Commirree Crrcuar,
March 21.
ArrowRoot—No quotations.
Batata— Venezuelan Block, 3/4;Sheet, 3/11 to 4/1
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 95 -; Grenada, no quotations; Jamaica,
no quotations.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Freit—No quotations.
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations,
Lime J cice—Raw, 3/5.: concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 17,6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—2)9 to 3/9,
Nourmecs—1/7 to 2 4.
Porento—jd.
Rosser—Para, fine hard, 2 Ss;
Castilloa, no quotations.
fine soft, no quotations;
March 27.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $13°25 to SIS-7A Trinidad, $13-50
to $14-00.
Coco-nut Om—S1°36 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, llc. 10 12c. per th.
Copra—S$8‘(4) per LOO th.
Daat—314°00.
Oxytons—$8°00 per 100 fh.
Peas, Sprit— $11°50 to $12°00 per bag.
Poratoes—English, 86-00 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow. $1200 to $12°25; White, 9°50 per bag.
Sce@ar—American crushed, nv quotatious.
_—
New York.—Messrs. Gittespre Bros, & Co., April 3.
Cacao—Caracas, Ic. to Ide.; Grenada, ide. to 144c.;
Trinidad, 14}c.; to 14zc. Jamaica, 15}c. ‘
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, Sd8°00 to S60-00; Trinidad
selects, $55°00 to $56-00; culls, $2200 to $30°00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, l(c. to 12c. per tt.
Gincer—ldéc. to Qe. per th.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica,75c.; Antigua and Barbados, 7ic.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 75c. per it
Grape Fruit—Jamaica, $2775 to $3.00 per box.
Limzs—$15}'00 to $13°50 per bri.
Mace—3tic, to ae. per th.
Normecs—23e.
Orances—$'U0. to $700
Pimento—(fc. to 74e. per tb.
Suear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6: W0dc; Muscovados, 89°, 5 005e.
Molasses, 89°, 4°f48c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., April 16.
ARROWROOT—$12°00 per 100 ft.
Cacao—$12°50 per i00 th.
Coco-Nuts—$36'00 husked nuts.
Hay—S2'90.
Morasses—No quotations.
On1toys— No quotations.
Pras, Sprir—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porarors—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam,.no. quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
gzoor, no quotations.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, $4°75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nes. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them.
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in, each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 13d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 5s. 5d. per annum, Volumes IV to XV1 complete, with.title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each—
post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D, Bonapre, ‘Times’ Oftice.
Barbados: Apvocate Co, Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nixes, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THe EpoucationaL Surety Comeany, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British, Guiana: Tue Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Martone, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Muir-Marsuart & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: THe Brste anp Book Suprty AGENCY, BasseTERRE
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PLaGEMANN, Scarborough. Nevis; Messrs. Howxwt, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W, Cusmens, $1, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto.
Grenada: Messrs. Tros. LAwLor & Co., St. George.
:
3
:
q eng
i le
se, ed
Pes
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
| WEST INDIES.
SS
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that :
Policy we invariably pay the mghest prices compatible with the —
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how_ our
chents instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
Vor. XVII. No, 419. oe THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Tn consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS an be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements, =
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd. —
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.-
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation BuppLy business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON @S.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
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Printed at Odice of Agricultura! Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados,)
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MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
Vol. XVII. No. 420.1
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SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1918. ‘(One _periny. _
ee ee
ei ee Die Cee
_ Tue Lossps CAuseD by
| CATTLE TICKS
HOW TO AVOID THEM
7,"
States Department of Agriculture, and it was shown that :—
_ butcher.
THE LOSSES CAUSED BY CATTLE TICKS. Many cattle owners
who have always been accustomed to see both Ticks and Ticky Cattle om
their farms are unfortunately not inclined to attach much importance to
Cattle Ticks, and, as a rule, through lack of appreciation of their damaging
effects, placidly consider them as of little consequence. That Ticks may
cause losses in many different ways has probably not suggested itself to
these stockmen, who are really most vitally affected, and it therefore seems
necessary to emphasize the fact that, in addition to their relation to
diseases such as Texas Fever (or Redwater), Ticks may also be the cause
of serious loss in many directions.
While the power of transmitting Redwater (and other diseases in other
countries) is undoubtedly the most dangerous property possessed by Cattle
Ticks, and is the principal cause for adopting stringent measures in secur-
ing their complete eradication, nevertheless there still remain other good
feasons for the accomplishment of this achievement, as will be gathered
from a reading of the following notes.
LOSS OF CONDITION IN CATTLE. Apart from questions of
disease, the presence of Ticks on Cattle reduces their condition.
During the period of an experiment made’ specially to test this point,
heavily infested cattle lost an average of 9 Ibs, in weight, whilst the tick
free cattle gained an average of 44 lbs., both lots of cattle being fed alike.
There is another case of a tick-infested steer which weighed 730 lbs.,
and which, after being freed from ticks by dipping, weighed 1015 Ibs. two
months later, the feed remaining the same as before dipping.
DECREASED MILK YIELD. Great losses occur by Ticks on Milch
ows, reducing the milk yield, and in some cases 80 injuring the teats as to
fender them useless.
A series of experiments on this point was carried out by the United
(1) Cows lightly infested with Ticks produced 18} per cent. less milk
than Tick-free cows ;
(2) Cows heavily infested with Ticks produced 42.4 per cent. less milk
than Tick-free cows.
REDUCED WORKING POWER. Cattle whose vitality is reduced
by Tick infestation cannot give the same returns in work as healthy
cattle. This is another source of loss in countries where cattle are used
for haulage, ploughing, and other working purposes.
DAMAGE TO HIDES. The market value of hides is greatly reduced
by the perforations caused by the Cattle Tick. Tick-bitten hides are
worth 13d. per pound less than uninjured hides. Even on a hide weighing
50 pounds there would thus be a dead loss of over six shillings.
HIGHER MORTALITY RATE. [Ii the vitality of cattle is kept at a
low point by Tick infestation, they will be much more liable to disease,
and much less able to offer resistance to any disease they may acquire. In
‘the Tick-infested area of the United States the death-rate amongst cattle
is nearly three times greater than in the Tick-free area.
STUNTING OF GROWTH. This is another material loss caused by
Ticks. With Tick infestation at babyhood, there is very little chance to
bring cattle to early maturity. The stunting which they receive requires
them to be kept as much as two years longer before they are fit for the
That means two years of extra’ feed and care, and loss of
‘interest on capital tied up unnecessarily long.
CATTLE TICK
ramace
————
INCREASED LIABILITY TO DISEASE. Ticks suck blood, and
thus, by reducing the general vitality of cattle, render them generally much
more liable to diseases of all kinds.
But there are some diseases the attack of which is directly facilitated
by Tick Bites, such as Ulcerative Lymphangitis and Sporotrichosis of
horses. The spread of Demodectic Mange is also greatly assisted, and the
‘same applies to. many skin diseases, such as Ringworm, caused by
fungus growths. Tick also inoculate the microbes of suppuration, causing
obstinate abscesses.
The discharge of such sores,and in some cases the mere oozing of
blood serum through incisions made by the mouth parts of the Tick, keeps
the hair moist and matted together ; the laying and hatching of fly eggs in __
such area give rise to infestation with destructive maggots, causing uleers
and other complications that require medical treatment.
LOSS OF BLOOD. It has been calculated that cattle heavily infested
with Ticks may lose as much as 500 Ibs. of blood in the course of a year.
This drain on-the system of ananimal means that extra feed is required,
and involves a greater expenditure of energy on the part of the animal in
obtaining, digesting and assimilating this additional amount of food. All
this extra food and extra energy means loss of money.
OTHER BENEFITS OF CATTLE DIPPING OR SPRAYING. The
dipping or spraying of cattle is ordinarily carried out with the sole object
of destroying Ticks, but many other benefits are incidentally derived from
the operation. Dipping prevents and cures Ringworm, Mange, Warts.
It kills the Bot, Warble, Horn and other Flies, and the Maggots and
Larvae deposited by same. It prevents Hairballs in Calves by allaying
Skin irritation. It kills the Fly which is the transmitting agent of the
Worm causing Ophthalmia. The attacks of Lice and all other skin para-
sites are prevented. Dipping destroys the organism of Contagious Abor-
tion. In fact, the man who dips or sprays his cattle and horses regularly
has the satisfaction of knowing that he is “killing many birds with one
stone.”
HOW TO AVOID LOSSES FROM TICKS. Obviously, losses caused
by Ticks can be prevented by destroying the Ticks ; and a ready means
of doing this is to treat the cattle with an effective Tick-destroying pre-
paration, such as—to quote the best known—Cooper's Cattle Dip.
This preparation is the outcome of a costly series of experiments at
Gonubie Park Experimental Farm in South Africa, extending over some
years; briefly it may be described as the solution of the problem of
utilising the Tick-killing properties of arsenie, without incurring risk of
injury to the animals by “scalding” or otherwise.
Irrefutable evidence of the superior merits of Cooper's Cattle Dip is
afforded by the Governments of the following countries:—
United States of America. Brazil. Northern Rhodesia. Madagascar.
Southern Rhodesia. Union of South Africa. British Bast Africa. Sudan.
Swaziland. German East Africa. Northern Territory of Australia.
Basutoland. Portuguese East Africa. Egypt. Portuguese West Africa.
Queensland. British West Indies. Argentine Republic. Nyasaland.
. New South Wales.
Therefore, Cooper's Cattle Dip may be said to command the official
approval of the Governments of practically all the important cattle raising
countries of the world, which in itself is ample testimony to its value.
soo
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Has received the official approval of the following Countries:
Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland,
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar,
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland,
United States of America, New South Wales,
W. Indies, Northern Territory of Australia, Sudan.
Union of South Africa,
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS,
Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video,
BIRANCHES : Toroste, Chicago,
WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
SY. KITTS: S. L. Horsford & Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Co.
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston,
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd.
BAHAMAS: W.N. Twynam, Nassau,
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co. .
8T. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone.
DANISH WEST INDIBS: A. Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A, Pramptem
ST. LUCIA: Barmard Sons & Co., Castries.
Berkhamsted, England.
= e
Punta Arenas, East Londen, Odessa. :
“
em .
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Price ld.
Germany
Vou. XVII. No. 420, BARBADOS, JUNE 1, 1918.
There is an old Latin saying, Fas est ab hoste
CONTENTS. ee ying. :
doceri: it is right to be taught by the enemy—and if
there is one lesson which we can rightly learn from
the Germans it is the value of organization.
PaGE. PaGE. pete
Agriculture in Barbados 165 | Food Hoarding . 167 had so correlated all her activities that she was able
Agriculture in Grenada 175
Banana Bread in Jamaica 171
Bauxite in British Guiana -175
Gleanings SEP feet solo
Insect Notes:—
The Value of Zoology
Blackie’s ‘Senicr Tropical | to Human Welfare 170
Reader’... : . 169 | Items of Local Interest 165
Cabbage Palm Fruit as Jamaica Imperial Asso-
as Hoodtor Hogs)... 171 |. ciationies.) \..- .-.. |... 168
Cheese, Cottage, How to Jamaica, The Food ()ues-
make SoH ideo poly dl ass) tion in be aiimeneerm Jone)
Citrus Conditions in Flor- | Johnson and — Sudan
ida, California and Cuba173 | Grasses in Barbados 168
Cotton Notes:— Market Reports ... ... 176
Cotton Exports from National Physical Labor-
the West Indies ... 166 atory, The . 1693
Sea Island Cotton Notes and Comments ... 168
Market : . 166 | Onions in Dominica 5 GY)
Cuban Sugar Industry, Plant Sanitation in Cuba,
Development of ... 162 Organization of ... ... 174
Dairy Cattle, Prominent Trinklad’s Food Supply 169
Breeds of of ... 164 Vegetable Products Fac-
Farm Tractor, The tory in Demerara ... 166
Post-War . ... 167 West Indian Agriculture,
Fish Skins, The Tanning of 168 Organization of S61
Organization of West Indian Agriculture.
=SOQ importance to all those interested in the
future welfare of these islands. For in the past our
greatest weakness has been a kind of parochialism,
each island—and in the case of the larger islands, each
district—thinking only of its own limited interests,
This has been the case with all the chief industries,
and has led to weakness in them all.
to throw all her energy in any direction. This was
shown in every branch of industry and commerce
before the war began, and during the war it has been
proved in military matters.
perhaps so very wonderful or very efficient, but appear-
ing so by contrast, Germany owes her military effi-
ciency, and her powers of endurance.
To her organization, not
But to return to the question of West Indian agri-
culture, let us take some of the chief industries, and
examine some aspects of the problem of organization in
connexion with them. By this problem we mean in
the first place, the correlation of supply and demand,
and in the second place, the correlation of capital and
labour.
The vicissitudes of our oldest, most wide-spread
industry, the cultivation of sugar-cane and the
manufacture of sugar, afford an instance in most
of these islands of the evils which result from want
of organization in both those directions. When the
highly organized beet sugar industry began to threaten
the supremacy of cane in the markets of the Mother
Country and of the world, it was long before those
interested in the sugar-cane began to ‘learn from the
enemy . The beet-growing countries organized
a system whereby the grower could devote his energies
to the production of the highest amount of beet of the
highest saccharine content, while the manufacturer
and refiner devoted his to the turning out of the
purest sugar possible, at the lowest cost. Meanwhile
162
the sugar-cane grower was content for long to continue
to combine the functions of grower and manufacturer
in one; to make no attempt to grow more or richer
canes, and to make sugar of most inferior quality.
It is not to be wondered at that the pure white
-erystallized beet sugar was preferred by the consumer
to the dark muscovado laden with impurities. This
-condition has been changed in recent times. The or-
ganization of the sugar industry—thongh by no means
perfect—has in most of these islands led to the
establishment of central factories, which supply the
sugar market with a standard product of approved
-excellence, while the planter directs his attention—
with marked good results—to the production of more
sugar per acre by improved methods of cultivation, and
the employment of better varieties of cane.
For the future stability of the cane-sugar industry
in these islands it would seem that better organization
must be arranged in the second direction. The labour
supply of almost all these islands is very limited. The
-cultivation of sugar-cane and its manufacture have not
hitherto seemed able to afford sufficient attraction to
the working classes to retain them permanently; they
emigrate, as is well known, in large numbers of the
most industrious type. How to remedy this is
a problem to be faced.
food have called for, and the high price of sugar has
permitted, a substantial rise in the labourers’ wages on
sugar plantations. That, however, is not enough, for the
high price of the product will not continue indefinitely,
-and wages cannot be reduced without dissatisfaction.
“There must be organization between the employer and
labourer to attain more production per man, thus
-enabling each man to obtain rightfully more pay.
_Just as the employer must remember that he ought
to give ‘a fair day’s wage, so the labourer must
recognize that he must give ‘a fair day’s work.’
‘wonders whether after all some system of organized
profit-sharing is not the panacea which Maurice and
Kingsley believed it to be.
One
The more advanced experience of industrial
countries shows that little is to be hoped from merely
moral suasion on either side. There must be either the
compulsion of necessity or a community of interest.
The former is the basis of the present system, and
% may be possible to continue it, in the face of a reduc-
tion of the working population, by the better
organization of work and more extended use of agricul-
tural machinery. The development of mechanical
power has been the means by which prosperity has
bcen achieved in every modern manufacturing industry,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
The present high prices of
Juxe 1, 1918.
It does not in itself remove the labour difficulty, but it
postpones it, and by the economies it permits, affords
a margin which is wisely used if it is applied to make
the conditions of the worker more attractive. The
attention of economists is at present hopefully turned
towards the efforts of enlightened employers in this
direction, in which a degree of success has been
achieved which, to many at least was unexpected. It
is admittedly difficult, in an indux:ry which not so very
long ago was based on slavery, to adopt this point of
view, but there is no other of which we are aware that
offers the same prospects of either sound commercial
prosperity or social amelioration.
The cane-sugar industry in those islands is, with
the exception of the lime industry, the only one in
which the manufacturing of the marketable article is
carried out locally. The other agricultural industries
are concerned with the growth and exvortation of raw
products. Insuch the correlation of the grower and
manufacturer seems to be the desirable aim _ of
organization.
In a recent editorial of this Journal the advantages
which the cacao planters would derive from organized
attention to the requirements of the evcoa manufacturers
were pointed ont, and therefore need not be repeated.
Such advantages have already accrued in the case
of the cotton industry in several of these islands from
organization in the direction of finding out what
the spinners chiefly require in cotton, and then
combining to supply them with a dependable supply of
the desired material.
A narrow but to some extent current view of the
function of agricultural departments in these islands
has been that they exist to give advice to the cultivator
regarding his cultivation. ‘This they will no doubt con-
tinue to do where it seems to be required. But a more
important duty is the adjustment of the quality of the
raw material produced in the tropics to the require-
ments of the industries dependent on them. This may
be achieved, to mention some of the means, by the
improvement of crop plants, by seed supply, by eduza-
tion in the requirements of the market, and by the
promotion of co-operation among growers,
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CUBAN
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
When the industrial history of the West Indies comes
to be written, it will not fail to be noted that the cultivation
of the sugar-cane has been one of the chief factors in the
fluctuations of prosperity which they have experienced.
Vou. XVII. No. 420.
A brief sketch of the history of the sugar industry in Cuba,
by H. O. Neville, published in the Cuba Review, March
1918, gives a very interesting account of the influence which
this industry has had on Cuban affairs,
The exact date of the introduction of the sugar-cane
into the island of Cuba appears to be unknown, but it would
seem that not very many years after the discovery of the
New World by Columbus, the plant was introduced from the
Canary Islands by Diego Velasyuez, the conqueror and first
Governor. It is stated that he bent his energies to the
utilization of the agricultural resources of the island, espe-
cially favouring the cultivation of the sugar-cane. For this
purpose he made grants of land to his followers, and assigned
to them numbers of the wretched aborigines as slaves needed
in the work.
After his time, during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, Cuban~ industries, especially the manufacture of
cane sugar, were much oppressed by the Spanish Government;
at one time the planting or cultivation of sugar-cane was
even prohibited. Even after this prohibition was withdrawn,
monopolies and restrictions were so continued that the
industry could not advance, in spite of the natural great
advantages possessed by the island. In 1772, however,
most of the restrictions were removed, and active progress
in the industry began. The exportations of sugar rose from
4,392 in 1760 to over 14,000 tons in 1790, The insurrec-
tion in Santo Domingo, and the ruin and destruction of the
prosperous sugar industry there in 1791 gave Cuba an
opportunity of filling the place formerly held by that island.
In 1792 the exports of sugar were 14,600 tons, which rose
to 40,890 tons in 1802. 1t must be remembered that this
production was only from small mills worked by oxen—the
only kind of mill which at that time existed in the island.
Owing to the Napoleonic wars during the early years of
the nineteenth century, the Cuban sugar industry was severely
depressed by war conditions. But after the establishment of
peace, prosperity returned, so that by 1826 production had
fully reached its former figure. The increase in the area of land
tilled caused the same difficulty to be felt as has been
likewise felt in these last years, namely the lack of sufficient
labourers to handle the crop. In 1854, the very year that
emancipation was proclaimed in the British West Indies, the
then Governor of Cuba encouraged the slave trade by every
means in his power, and was instrumental in the introduction
of numbers of slaves from Africa. At the same time, it
must be said, he discouraged many of the corrupt and
restrictive customs which had been practised by former
Spanish Governors. Then began the period of greatest
prosperity ever enjoyed by Cuba before its occupation by
the United States. Noaccurate record is obtainable of the
area planted under cane, or the total production during the
greater portion of the period, but approximate data indicate
that in 1870 some 610,000 tons of sugar were produced from
about 1,200 small mills.
For the next ten years the continuous war of rebellion
changed these conditions. The island was swept with fire,
frequently set by the mill owners themselves, the fields
burned, and most of the mills destroyed. Meanwhile also
the beet sugar industry in Europe was forging ahead under
the protection of bounties granted on sugars produced for
export. In 1880 all slaves in Cuba were set free without
any remuneration being given to theirowners. The labour
difticulty was thus again confronting the planter. Never-
theless the output of sugar began to inerease year by year,
until in 1890 it again reached some 625,000 tons, practically
the position which it had occupied in 1870, though it is
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
163
evident that, as this output had been produced by about
470 small mills, there had been great improvement in the
capacity of each mill.
In the early days of the small mills each cane grower
had his own little cattle-mill, ground his own cane, and made
his own sugar. As labour became scarcer after the liberation
of the slaves, many of the small owners were no longer able:
to obtain the labourers that they required, and many of the
larger planters found if necessary to sublet their lands in
small parcels. This gave rise to the system at present
prevalent in Cuba, by which the cane growers have no,
connexion with the manufacture of the sugar, merely growing
and selling their canes to the mills. The separation of
grower and manufacturer continued to spread, and concen-
tration of small mills and estates was effected more and more
till to-day in Cuba is to be seen the giant central factory,
purchasing cane often grown as much as 100 miles from the:
mill, possibly from growers who have never visited the factory
that grinds their cane. This period of reconstruction con-
tinued with ever-increasing output till the year 1894, when
a production of 1,054,214 tons was obtained, The War
of Independence, the bloodiest in the history of Cuba, broke
out in 1895, and incendiarism was so freely practised that
by 1897, the greater part of the factories had been destroyed,
the fields burned, and the cattle used for transporting the
canes killed, so that the production of the island had
fallen to only 212,051 tons. The losses of this war added
to the reasons for the concentration of estates, as many
planters emerged from the struggle without funds or credit.
with which to re-establish themselves on their former lines.
Thus the sugar-manufacturing business began to fall into-
the hands of large companies, and this tendency continues
and has doubtless become firmly established.
The increase in the average capacity of the mills is
shown by the fact that in 1907 the average production was
about 8,000 tons per mill, while in 1917 it was about
16,000 tons.
A very important factor in the recent great develop-
ment of the sugar industry in Cuba is the effect that the
present war has had upon the production of sugar all over
the world. At the time the war broke out sugar prices in
Cuba had reached about their lowest level, and there seemed
to be little hope of a future rise. The good prices realized
for sugar since the beginning of the war seem to have put
the industry on a firm basis. Capital has been obtainable,
enabling mill owners to scrap all old and inefficient plant, and
to instal the most modern machinery, so that they are now
in a position to face lower prices with confidence that the
results obtained in the factory will enable them to produce
sugar at lower cost than ever before, when the price of
supplies, labour, etc., once more become normal.
An account of the development of the sugar industry in
Cuba would hardly be complete without figures giving the
relation between the total world production of sugar, the
total world production of cane sugar, and the cane-sugar
production of Cuba alone. Fifty years ago the total pro-
duction of sugar in the world was estimated at nearly
2,000,000 tons, while the production of cane sugar at
the same date was about 1,447,000 tons, of which
Cuba produced 620,000 tons, For the year 1916-17 the
world’s production of all kinds of sugar was estimated at
16,466,777 tons. the total amount of cane sugar produced
being put at 11,265,292 tons, of which Cuba contributed
3,019,936 tons, or a little more than 18 per cent, of the total
production of sugar of the world, and nearly 27 per cent. of
cane sugar,
164
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 1, 1918,
PROMINENT BREEDS OF DAIRY CATTLE.
Farmers Bulletin 893, United States Department of
Agriculture, contains interesting information, together with
a brief history of the origin and development of the chief
breeds of dairy cattle which have attained considerable
prominence for the purpcse of dairy products in the
United States of America.’ The prevailing type of each
breed, and the ideal towards which the breeders are striving
aré described in this bulletin. Inasmuch as some of the
breeds included in the discussion—four at least-—have now
fot some time been introduced into the British West Indies,
it should be of interest to dairymen in these colonies to
reproduce here certain of the characteristics noted in connex-
ion with these breeds of cattle.
In the United States five breeds of dairy cattle have
attained considerable prominence, namely, the Ayrshire,
Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Friesian, and Jersey. These
breeds have been developed carefully for a considerable
time for the purpose of dairy products, and in consequence,
each transmits its characteristics with regularity to its
offspring. Certain distinct features distinguish each breed
from the others, but all possess ability as milk producers
There is, of course, considerable variation in the character-
istics of individuals within each breed; but the description
given in the bulletin refers to the general, or predominating,
type.
AYRSHIRE.
_ The Ayrshire breed originated in the County of Ayr, in
south-western Scotland. It is only within the last hundred
years that Ayrshires have had a type well enough established
to be entitled to the designation of breed. No exact
account of the different infusions of blood of other breeds
into the native Scotch cattle to form the Ayrshire breed is
at hand. It is probable, however, that the Channel Islands,
Dutch, and English cattle were all represented.
The colours of Ayrshires may vary from a medium red
to a very dark mahogany-brown and white, with either
colour predominating. Of late years among breeders there
has been a decided tendency toward white with red markings.
Perhaps the most picturesque feature of animals of the breed
is their long horns, which turn outward, then forward and
upward. Another point, of which breeders of the Ayrshire
are very proud is the uniform, square, level udder with long
body attachment, which is common among the cows. ()uick,
brisk actions are characteristic of the animals, which seem
always to have an abundant store of energy, and to be
exceptionally alert. Ayrshires have a highly nervous dis-
position, which is useful both for production and self-support.
Probably none of the other dairy breeds can compare with
the Ayrshires in ability to obtain a livelihood on scant
pastures. Their ability as ‘rustlers’ has made them very
useful in sections where there is much rough land in pasture.
The animals are noticeably compact in body, with a tendency
to smootliness over all parts, Ag a breed Ayrshires are
generally very hardy, and show great constitutional vigour.
Milk from Ayrshire cows contains comparatively little
colour, and has the fat in uniformly small globules which
average smaller in size than in any other breed.
GUERNSEY,
The Guernsey breed had its early development on the
Channel Islands of Guernsey and Alderney. The origin of
the? breed is obscure, but it is probable that the parent
stock came from Normandy, which is adjacent to the
islands. arly live-stock laws of the islands prevented the
importation of live stock for any purpose except slaughter,
and under these conditions, in the course of the last century,
the cattle developed into a distinct breed. Although they
come from the same parent stock, Guernseys differ from
Jerseys in having been developed by men who had somewhat
different ideals. The Guernsey of to-day is larger than the
Jersey, and differs in other respects, as is pointed out later.
‘The characteristic colours of Guernseys are some shade
of fawn and white. The former varies froma very light
orange fawn to a deep reddish or brownish fawn. An orange
fawn with white markings, the fawn predominating, is
perhaps the most common, ‘The under parts of the body,
legs, and switch of tail are usually white. A buff nose, and
amber-coloured horns of medium size are typical of the breed.
A rich yellow secretion of the skin is most highly thought of
by breeders, and is considered as an indication of the quality
of the milk. Guernseys possess a nervous disposition, but
are very quiet and gentle if properly handled, and are not
easily excited. They are medium in size. There is some
resemblance between thé Guernsey and the Jersey, but the
former is larger and slightly coarser-boned, with a deeper
and more ‘rangy’ body. The head also is somewhat longer
and more narrow than that of the Jersey.
Milk from Guernsey cows is noted for its extremely
yellow colour, and high percentage of butterfat. The fat
globules are larger than those in milk from either Friesian
or Ayrshire cows, and consequently the cream rises more
rapidly upon setting. Guernseys are particularly adapted
for the production of butterfat or cream, or for rich milk at
a special price.
_FRIESIAN,
In the low countries bordering on the North Sea,
especially in the northern part of Holland, Friesian
cattle have been bred for centuries. Different names have
been used to designate the breed, both in Europe and
America, among which the following are the more common:
North Hollander, Holland, Netherland, Holstein-Friesian,
Dutch, Dutch-Friesian, and Holstein. The last is the name
usnally employed in the United States of America, but
Friesian is the official name in England. !riesians have grown
greatly in numbers and popularity in recent years, owing in
a great degree to the increased demands of large cities for
market milk. With the exception of the Jersey, there are
more Holstein cattle in the United States than of any other
dairy breed.
A universal characteristic of the Friesian cattle is
the black and white colour of their coats. ‘The sharply
defined and contrasting colours of jet black and pure white
give them a very s'riking appearance, Although either colour
may predominate, black below the knees is objectionable,
Pure-bred animals with any red or grey on their coats are
ineligible to registry. In disposition Holsteins are docile,
even-tempered, and not excitable; in fact, they are rather
lazy in general habits, as is shown in their poor ‘rust-
ling’ ability in grazing scanty pastures. They are large
consumers of feed, especially roughage, and do best when
plenty is readily avaiiable. The Holstein is the largest of
the dairy breeds. It has a large, bony frame, which often
is smoothly covered over all parts. As a breed it shows
good constitutional vigour. The breed has been criticized
for irregular udders and sloping rumps, but these defects are
being improved.
From the point of view of milk production, Holsteins
average higher than any other breed. The percentage of
butterfat, however, which averages lower than that of
any other dairy breed, tends to counterbalance the advantage
of a greater production, The butterfat of Holstein milk is
in the form of very minute globules, and for that reason the
cream does not rise so rapidly on the milk. Holstein milk
Vout. XVII. No. 420.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
165
has little colour, and its percentage of butterfat, according to
the average test of some strains of the breed, is only 3
per cent., or even lower.
JERSEY.
The island of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands,
is the native home of the Jersey breed of cattle. Except
for immedia'e slaughter, no cattle have been landed on the
island since 1779, so that ever since that time the purity
of the breed has been preserved. It seems probable that the
foundation stock is the same as the Guernsey, namely, from
Brittany and Normandy, in near-by north-western France.
_ Conditions on Jersey are similar to those on Guernsey. The
breeders on the island have developed cattle that, in addition
to productive ability, have uniformity of type and natural
beauty, while in America the breeders have developed greater
size, with less refinement of features.
Jerseys vary considerably in colour. The solid-coloured
animals are preferred by many breeders. Various shades of
fawn, squirrel gray, mouse colour, and very dark brown are
common colours, and in the broken-coloured animals, white
is mixed with these colours. The muzzles and tongues are
usually black or lead-coloured, and it is very common for
animals to have a light or mealy ring around the muzzle.
A black switch is also a desirable feature. Next to the
Guernsey the Jersey has the yellowest skin secretion of all
the dairy breeds. The horns are small, waxy, and frequently
are tipped with black. Jerseys have a distinctly nervous
disposition, and are usually somewhat excitable. Their
highly organized nervous system causes them to respond
quickly to good treatment and abundant feed. Some
have criticized the breed for small size, lack of develop-
ment of symmetrical udders, and small teats, and the
breeders have made much improvement in remedying these
features. Jerseys are the smallest of the dairy breeds.
Compared with the Guernsey, the Jersey is smaller, and has
finer features and more refinement throughout.
In natural yellow colour the milk of Jersey cows ranks
next to that of Guernsey cows, and is usually slightly richer
in butterfat. ‘The large fat globules ‘cause the cream to rise
readily upon standing. Jerseys, like Guernseys, are there-
fore adapted to the production of butterfat.
Details as to the scale of points for each of the breeds
discussed, and records of the highest milk and butterfat
producers for a given period for each of the breeds, may be
obtained on reference to the bulletin quoted above.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
st. VINCENT. Plant distribution during the month of
April included 11,770 cane cuttings of selected varieties,
and 30Ib. of Para peas. Work in the Botanic Garden was
of a routine nature. In regard to staple crops, Mr. Sands
states there is little to record. Preparations for planting
cotton were made. A large portion of the arrowroot crop
was awaiting shipping opportunities. The Marie Galante
cotton crop of the Grenadines was purchased by the Govern-
ment Ginnery. Exports of refined cotton-seed oil were made
by alocal refining company. The corn and ground provision
crops continue to make good progress, and there was no likeli-
hood of a shortage of locally grown foodstuffs. The campaign
against cotton stainers was continued energetically.
A number of planters from, Grenada arrived at
St. Vincent on April 4 for the purpose of obtaining
information on cotton growing and ginning. The Agricul-
tural Superintendent visited the cotton ginnery and granary
with them. The granary was then working at its full
capacity, and the methods of handling seed-cotton, cotton
seed, and corn were fully explained. A visit was also paid
to the Experiment Station, where the breeding experiments.
with cotton, corn, peas, and other crops were ispected.
The rainfall recorded for the month was—Botanie Garden,
4°54 inches; Experiment Station. 3°21 inches.
NEvIs, The Agricultural Instructor, Mr. W. I. Howell,
mentions the continuation of dry weather during the month
of April, which is seriously militating against the crops
in the ‘experiment plots, and cultivations throughout the
island generally. Plant distribution was as follows: cotton
seed, 225hb.; black-eye peas, 144fb., Para peas, 3lb.; seed corn,
2Ib.; sweet potato cuttings, 1,800. The cane crop continues
very poor, and the outlook, on the whole, is not very hopeful.
Preparation for cotton was almost complete, and a fair amount
of planting had been done, but on account of the dry weather
germination has been poor and no field is yet established.
The planting of provision crops has been carried on by many
of the planters, but the crops are making very little progress.
for the reason stated above. The live stock in some parts of
the island are in very bad condition, and many deaths have-
occurred from starvation. The rainfall for the month regis-
tered 2°59 inches; for the year to date,10°79 inches.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. Mr. W. C. Fishlock, the Curator, states
that no plants were distributed during the month of April,
but 105tb. of cotton seed was sold. The gathering of the
present cotton crop is now nearly over. The quantity of
cotton dealt with by the Government Factory during
the season appears to be the smallest since 1907. The
sugar crop has been reaped, and ground provisions continue
to be fairly plentiful. The weather continued dry. Rain
fell in measurable quantity on ten days of the month, the
total precipitation registered at the Station being 1-17 inches,
as compared with 2°38 inches, the average for the previous
seventeen years.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
In the centre of the island the weather for the current
month has been ideal. In marked contrast with this, very
dry weather has prevailed along the sea-board in Christ
Church and St. Philip.
Generally speaking the earth is not dry and parched as
at this date last year, nor are so many cracks apparent in the
fields and pastures.
The young plant canes have, on the whole, stood the
strain of the dry weather very well indeed.
Artificial manure is now needed in order that the
ratoons may not be handicapped. Here and there a planter
has been able to get asmall quantity with which to make
a start, but there has been as yet no arrival in bulk,
A shipment of nitrate of soda was expected about the
beginning of this month, but it seems that the engagement
cannot now be filled before the middle of June. The crisis
demands that there should be no grumbling, but thankfulness
that we are able to get supplies at all.
This year will always be remembered as the high-water
mark for syrup. It has paid the owner of every windmill,
even with its imperfect crushing, to make syrup rather than
to sell canes on a dark crystal basis.
Where the crops have been finished, tillage for provisions
is being done, but slowly. There will be a great scarcity
of potatoes during the coming months, and cereals should be
freely planted as these mature rapidly. The utmost possible
care should also be bestowed on the breadfruit and banana
trees. The former, we are glad to say, are beginning to
bear, (The Barbados Agricultural Reporter, May 18, 1918,)
So -
COTTON.
COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE WEST
INDIES.
The following figures give the quantity and estimated
value of Sea Island cotton exported from the West Indies
for the quarter ended March 31, 1918:—
Colony. (Juantity, Estimated value,
b. £.
Grenada nil
St. Vincent 144,741 24,124
Barbados 135,865 20,380
* Montserrat 183,196* 32,231
Antigua nil nil
St. Kitts a .
Nevis A ¥
Anguilla Ag a
Virgin Islands 7,0507 996
Trinidad nil nil
Total 470,852 h. £17,131
In addition to the above, there were also exported from
St. Vincent 2,841 tb. of Marie Galante seed-cotton, and
221 tb. of native cotton from the Virgin Islands, of the
respective estimated values of £59, and £11.
*The cotton shipped from Montserrat was made up — of
£175,333 Tb. of lint, and 31,454 tb. of seed-cotton, equal to
7.863 Yb. of lint, making the total lint] 83,196 th.
+The cotton exported from the Virgin Islands comprised
5,138 bb. of lint, and 7,650 fb. of seed-cotton, equal to 1,912 th.
of lint, making the total lint 7,050 tb., as shown above.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ended May 4, 1918, is as follows:—
ISLANDS. We have had a continuance of the «niet
market throughout the week, with only a limited inquiry,
resulting in no sales.
The Factors are becoming more anxious to sell the
small stock remaining on hand, but do not express any
willingness to make any concessions in price. ‘Therefore we
have to renew our last quotations.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine 7dc. to 80c. = 77e. to 82c.,_ c.i.f.
Fine to Fully Fine 73c. to 74c. = 75c. to 76c.
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71c,
to 73c., c.1.f.
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 65c, =67e. cif.
”
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JuNE 1, 19)8.
GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. ‘The demand has continued
in a limited way in Savannah and the interior markets on
a basis of Average Extra Choice 72}c., resulting in sales of
several hundred bags on account of the Northern Mills.
The purchases are still made with the understanding that
the seller will carry the cotton until freight room can be
obtained.
The Steamship Lines are still more or less congested,
rendering it difficult to get any freight for prompt shipment.
We quote, viz:—
Average Extra Choice T2t¢.=7T4he. c.i.f.
The exports from Savannah for the week have been, to
Northern Mills 225 bales, Liverpool 50 bales, and from
Jacksonville to Northern Mills 749 bales, consisting partly
of cotton held there on account of the Government.
HOW TO MAKE COTTAGE CHEESE.
Cottage cheese, a most palatable and nutritious pro-
duet, is one of the few varieties of cheese which can be
manutactured on a small scale. It furnishes a convenient
and economical means for using skimmed milk as a human
food. The following directions for making it at home are
taken from Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 850.
The first consideration in the production of good cottage
cheese is the quality of the milk itself. The fresher the
milk the more satisfactory it is for cheese making, because
then it is possible to direct and control the souring. For
best results, milk should be kept cool at 50°F., or lower, if
possible, until it is to be made into cheese,
The most scrupulous care should be exercised in order
to keep all utensils sweet and clean.
One gallon of skimmed milk will make about 1} th,
of cheese. If the milk is sweet it should be placed in a
pan and allowed to remain in a temperature about 75°F,
until it clabbers. Ordinarily this will take about thirty
hours. ;
As soon as the milk is thoroughly clabbered, it should
be cut into pieces 2 inches square, and then the curd
should be stirred thoroughly with a spoon. The pan of
broken curd is then to be placed in a vessel of hot water to
raise the temperature to 100°F. It should be cooked at
that temperature for about thirty minutes, during which
time it should be stirred with a spoon for one minute at
five-minute intervals.
At the conelusion of the heating, the curds and whey
should be poured into a small cheese-cloth bag to drain, or
the curd may be poured into a colander or strainer over
which a piece of cheese-cloth has been laid. After five or
ten minutes’ work, the curd towards the centre with a spoon.
Naising and lowering the ends of the cloth helps to make
the whey drain faster. ‘lo complete the draining, tie the
ends of the bag together and hang it up. Since there is
some danger that the curd may become too dry, draining
should stop when the whey ceases to flow in a steady stream.
The curd emptied from the bag is then worked with
a spoon until it becomes fine in grain, smooth, and of the
consistency of mashed potatoes. Then the cheese is salted
according to taste, about one teaspoonful to a pound of
curd.
Because of the ease with which this cheese can be made,
it is desirable to make it often, so that it may be eaten fresh:
although, if it is kept cold, it will not spoil for several days.
If the cheese is not té be eaten promptly, it should be stored
in an earthenware or glass vessel and kept cool.
Vor, XVEI. No. 420.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
167
THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTS FACTORY
IN DEMERARA.
At ageneral meeting of the Board of Agriculture of
British Guiana held at Georgetown on May 14, 1915, the
Daily Argosy in its report of the meeting, states that Professor
J. B. Harrison, C.M.G., Director of Science and Agriculture,
referred to the progress on the Vegetable Products Factory.
He said that orders had been placed in the United States
for machinery for the purpose of converting rice and corn
into flour, and it was hoped that the first shipment of this
macbinery would arrive in the course of a few weeks. The
question of afactory for converting ground provision into
flour was a somewhat different matter. It had been
necessary for them to plan outall the machinery for such
purpose, and the estimated cost in New York was $16,900,
which would meana total expenditure of something like
$25,000. The question was whether they were justified at
the present time in spending such a large amount.
In connexion with this subject His Excellency the
Governor, Sir Wilfred Collet, who presided at the meeting,
said that he was informed trom Canada that the Canadian
Government considered that the requirements of the Colony
of British Guiana as regards flour were about 22,000 bags —
for two months, and licenses had been issued for the expor-
tation of that quantity. As the Colony received 2,500 bags
in addition from the United States, they were only 1,500
bags short of their estimated full requirement. For the
present at any rate they were better off than had been
feared.
Referring to the cultivation of food crops, Professor
Harrison stated that in accordance with ‘the Governor's
instructions he had distributed about a ton of black-eye
peas and other leguminous food crops to farmers.
Food Hoarding.—-The Food Commission in England
has issued the following statement, dated February 11, 1918:
‘It is impossible to give any precise and general defin-
ition of food hoarding, or to lay down an exact standard of
supply which householders may reasonably hold of the various
articles of food. Each individual case must be judged on
its merits. It may, however, be taken as a very rough
indication of the view of the Ministry of Food, that a fortnight
to three weeks’ supply of any of the staple articles of food
is not regarded as excessive, and, if already purchased, need
net be surrendered. Stocks for a longer jeriod may, in
special circumstances, be held by people living in districts
remote from the source of supply, and subject to exceptional
difticulties of transport.
The food hoarding orders do not apply to stocks of any
home-produced food, e.g. bacon, jam, bottled fruit, vegetables,
preserved eggs and the like. (The Pvoduce Murkels Review,
February 16, 1918.)
ne
The Hawaiian sugar crop for 1917 was 694,663 short
tons. The average yield of cane per acre is given for 1917
at 42 tons, This is a wonderful showing, we presume better
than can be found elsewhere in the sugar-cane world.
In 1875, when the Hawaiian production was but some
40,000 or 50,000 tons, it was seriously stated that it was
impossible of being increased beyond 75,000 to 100,000
short tons; it has however for the last three years
averaged about 600,000 short tons, or twelve times the
production of forty-three years ago, and six times more than
the maximum then contemplated. (The Zowsfana Planter,
April 20, 1918.)
THE POST-WAR FARM TRACTOR.
An interesting article on the above subject appears in the
Field, April 6, 1918, from which the following is taken:—
‘It appears to be a common conviction amongs tthose
who have had to handle or control the agricultural motor
tractor that so soon as the war is over the whole design and
construction of these machines will be over-hauled and fresh
lines adopted, and we shall expect some British manufac-
turers to lead the way. In all probability this will be done
by fresh entrants into this line of engineering, for it is one
of the most difficult operations in commerce to induce or
compel a manufacturer to scrap the designs and abandon the
constructions he has spent much time and money in
producing and selling. The maker of the pre-war machine
aimed at producing an all-purpose machine; we now see
that such a model has a too limited application and a more
limited sale. To construct a tractor efficient for road haul-
age and farm cultivation means compromising on both points,
and the amount of haulage possible with a small tractor
makes the compromise inadvisable. The popular tractor
will be a machine not intended to do other than haul, plough,
and harrow, reaper and mower, drive a threshing machine,
and undertake other similar work. Haulage will be done
by a light lorry, of which we make no doubt that a number
specially designed for farm use will be on offer. The post-
war farmtractor wili have a true engineering lay-out, as
distinct from the present very inefficient form of exposed
gearing, underpowered, overweighted type.
‘No less important than the improvement of the tractor
must be the improvement in ploughs and other implements
designed for use withit. At the moment, the most accepted
view is that good tractor ploughing cannot be accomplished
at a speed in excess of 3 miles per hour furrow travel, and in
order to secure a maximum efficiency, the number of shares
in operation is calculated to admit no greater rate of travel.
We are not at all satisfied that this is a sound conclusion.
We do not deny the wisdom of the circumscribed speed to-day,
but we greatly question its acceptance in the near future.
The speed of the tractor is governed by the design of the
plough.
‘But if the plough be designed for a speed of 4 or
more miles per hour, there is no reason to apprehend that it
would not give results equally satisfactory with the present
slow speed instrument. The history of the marine screw
propeller leads us to surmise that the ploughing efficiency of
the high speed tractor will be found to depend more on
the design of the plough fitted than on the quality of the
tractor or its drivers. Once this theory is established
and proved correct in practice we may expect to see high
pressure ploughing such as at present would be regarded as
impossible. The times rightly demand an improvement in
the design and construction of farm tractors, but even
more urgent still is improvement inthe implements with
which it has to work. Weare confident that considerable
strides can be made in this direction by careful, methodical,
and exhaustive experiment which might well be subsidized
by the Government in order that patentees may not be able
to impose a heavy tax on the use of the improved implements,
In all probability it will be found that each different quality
and consistency of soil will require its own special type
and design of high speed plough or other tackle, and
it is for that reason we would ask for State assistance in
order to shorten the time of evolution, and to prevent the
farmer from being made the trial horse for the agricultural
engineer,’
168
—_-
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Hkap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
‘specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Odtnttiissiotiet, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
pee 4 of the cover.
imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Se., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFE.
Scientific Assistant and { W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor \ Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
(H. A. Ballou, M.sc.t
Eniomologists \J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mucologist W. Nowell, D.I C.
Assislant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.tt
CLERICAL STAFF,
A. G. Howell.
fe A. Corbin.
“Chief Clerk
Olericul Assistants P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
_ Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
_ Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
Seconded for Military Service.
tsecunded for Duty in Egupt.
ttProvided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Typist
Agricultural Stews —
“Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1918. No. 420,
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial discusses some aspects of importance
in organization applied to some West Indian agricul-
tural industries.
The subject of the value of zoology to human
welfare is continued under Insect Notes, on page 170.
The important subject of plant sanitation, exempli-
fied in the organization of the Commission of Plant
Sanitation in Cuba is dealt with on page 174,
The characteristics of the prominent breeds of
-dairy cattle form the subject of an article to be found
on page 164,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. June 1, 1918.
The Jamaica Imperial Association.
This association, recently formed in Jamaica, seems
to be likely to accomplish very good work. It is an
Important association of large landowners, who are
anxious to form sound public opinion, to work together
in their industries, to keep such records and accounts
on a common basis as will serve for the economic study
of their work with a view to development, and to help
in the proper development and government of the colony.
It is.probable that there will be internal groups deal-
ing with the principal industries, such as sugar, bananas,
stock raising and dairying, cacao, etc. These groups
will be able to gather valuable information as to the
condition and needs of the several industries,
o—_—E_— ——
The Tanning of Fish Skins.
An article in the Agricultural News, February
23,1918, noticed the demand for certain large fish
skins for tanning purposes, to which Messrs. H. S.
Bernard & Co., of New York, had drawn the attention
of this Department.
‘The same firm has recently written, stating that
in preparing fish skins for the market the fish
should be cut open along the back, and not along the
belly so as to preserve the full skin. They also
mention that the fish in which they are especially
interested, and the skins of which they could use in
any amount, are the so-called spike sharks, for which
they would pay at the rate of 10c. per th.
ee
Johnson and Sudan Grasses in Barbados.
A note received from Mr. R. Foster Parkinson, of
Barbados, gives some useful information on his experi-
ence in the cultivation of these grasses. Although
somewhat alike in appearance, these two fodder grasses
differ much in habit of growth. Johnson grass deyelops
long creeping rhizomes from which it sends out fresh
shoots in the same manner as devil's grass. This
makes it very difticult to get rid of when once estab-
lished. Mr. Parkinson says, in fact, that the more you
dig it up the better it grows, although when left
entirely alone, and allowed to be grazed by goats, he
noticed that it was killed out ina few months. All
stock are exceedingly fond of this grass, but if not cul-
tivated twice a year little yield is obtained from it.
Mr. Parkinson has been growing it for about five years.
The Sudan seed was imported Jast year, and
Mr. Parkinson reports most favourably on the results
obtained up to the present. This grass has a great power
of withstanding drought, but it will require good eulti-
vation, and should be replanted after several cuttings.
It is planted, like Guinea grass, by dividing the clumps;
one plant will grow into a huge clump, a foot in
diameter at the roots, and as high as 7} feet. Even in
dry weather the grass can be cut about every six
weeks, although, of course, it does not grow as tall as
in rainy weather.
With reference to the above, it is to be noted
that Johnson grass isa serious weed of arable land
in some parts of America, and on account of its spread-
ing rhizomes has proved a very great nuisance and
Vor. XVII. No. 420.
_
source of expense at Union, St. Lucia, where it was
introduced some years ago. Apparently under Barbados
conditions Johnson grass is not so troublesome. With
the case of devil’s grass in mind, however. it may be as
weil to be cautious in extending its cultivation.
Se
Blackie’s ‘Senior Tropical Reader’.
The Senior Tropical Reader, by Sir Francis
Watts, K.C.M.G., D.Sc. Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies, and the Rev. C. H.
Branch, B.A., working in collaboration, has been added
to the well-known series, Blackie’s Tropical Readers,
with a view to placing in the hands of young people in
tropical lands a more advanced book than the series
has yet contained. The general theme of the book
may be expressed as being the story of the linking
together of the tropics and the lands of the temperate
zones through exploration, trade, and commerce. The
book is written specially from the point of view of
young people who live in the tropics, but will be found
to torm highly instructive and interesting reading also
for pupils in temperate lands.
The Senior Tropicul Reader forms a handsome
volume printed on excellent super-calendered paper.
It is freely illustrated with photographie and other
pictures. t
The earlier numbers of the Tropical Reader Series
are too well known to require description. They were
produced originally for the Board of Education,
Jamaica, and have proved their usefulness for schools
in all tropical countries.
——————> +
Onions in Dominica.
In a letter recently received from Mr. Joseph Jones,
Curator of the Botanic Garden, Dominica, an interest-
ing account is given of some experiments in planting
onions in that island at Spring Hill estate. Mr. E. J.
Seignoret, the owner of that estate, left in the seed-bed
a number of onion seedlings of the sowings made in
September 1916. He only took steps to transplant
them after the dry weather had come on. Owing to
the dry season these seedlings remarned as ‘sets’; these
were later on lifted, dried, and stored until November-
December 1917, when they were planted out. During
the month of March 1918, full sized onions were reaped
from this planting. Thirty 0; the onions, moreover,
were then producing seeds.
The observations made by Mr. Seignoret may
prove to be of considerable importance to the onion
industry in these islands, (1) as to. the feasibility of
regularly producing onions out of season by delayed
transplanting, and (2) as to the local production of seed.
It is hoped that the seed so produced will be care-
fully saved, and tried in comparison with Teneriffe seed
at the regular planting season.
On April 9, 1918, Mr. Jones forwarded a sample of
these onions to this Office. Jt was in excellent condi-
tion, of good form and size, and also of capital flavour.
It measured 3 inches in diameter, and weighed 5 oz.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
169
The National Physical Laboratory.
In a lecture at the Royal Institute on February
26, 1918, which was noticed tn the issue of The Times of
the next day, Sir R. T. Glazebrook gave some particulars
concerning the future of the National Physical
Laboratory. J
He explained that hitherto the control of the
laboratory had rested with the Royal Society. Indeed
it had really been a private concern of the Royal Society,
dependent for part ofits income on a grant-in-aid from
the Treasury. From April 1, however, its property-
will be vested in the Imperial Trust for the Encour~
agement of Scientific and Industrial Research, and its
income will be vested in, and be under the control of
the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research.
In the future, as in the past, the laboratory will
endeavour to discharge the two functions of being a
laboratory of industrial research, and a national testing
institution. It will be organized in eight different
departments, each with its own superintendent and a
large statf of scientific assistants and observers. The
statf now numbers over 600 persons, of whom about 180
are women. The expenditure, which was £5 479 in 1900,
will be considerably over £100,000 during the current
financial year.
This appears to be a welcome sign of the in-
creased interest and attention that is being paid to
scientific research by the British Government.
EEE ed
Trinidad’s Food Supply.
In an article on the above subject, which appears
in the West India Committee Circular, April 4, 1918, it
is pointed out that Trinidad, owing to its proximity to
the mainland, is in a better condition than the other
West Indian islands as regards food supply. It is true
that the removal of two of the steamers of the Canadian
Royal Mail will doubtless in time make a serious
ditference in the supply of flour and other foodstuffs
from North America. Up to the present, however,
there cannot be said to have been any real shortage.
Bread substitutes are being more used, and locally
grown provisions more extensively planted. Trinidad
could easily be self-supporting in the matter of food,
but the fact that the cultivation of cacao and cane has
in the past paid better, has led the people of that island
to import vegetables rather than to cultivate them
themselves. Owing to the’ island’s proxi.nity to Vene-
zuela, where there are practically unlimited numbers
of cattle, there is no fear of a shortage in the supply of
meat, From the same country also, cargoes of plantains
are constantly being imported, together with a large
quantity of Indian corn. Of course the prices of all
foodstuffs have risen, but there does not seem, fortun-
ately, to be any reason to think that there will be any
real dearth in the near future.
This condition of atfairs seems to be iargely due to
the unwearying exertions of the Acting Director of Agri-
culture, Mr. W. G. Freeman, who has been lecturing in
every district of the island on the necessity of more
extensive local food pioduction.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JuNE 1, 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
THE VALUE OF ZOOLOGY TO HUMAN
WELFARE.
In the Jast number of the Ag77eultuval News reference
was made in this column to a symposium held by some of
the leading zoologists of the United States at which papers
were read under the above general title, and to each speaker
was assigned that particular branch of zoology in which he
himself is a recognized authority. An account was given
ot a paper by Dr. L. O. Howard, on the advantages which
humanity has gained from the work of those zoologists who
study insects. In the present issue’ it.is proposed to touch
briefly on the part that zoology has played in the modern
history of the fishing industry in the United States, as it
has been so ably and concisely sketched by Dr. H. M. Smith,
of the Bureau of Fisheries. His address appeared in Scvevice
for March 29, 1918, from which account the foilowing notes
are taken.
In the opinion of Dr. Smith, ‘It is doing no violence
to truth or justice, to claim that the beginnings of a sane
and beneficent fishery administration in the United States
date from the time when a man, already eminent in Science,
with many years experience in zoological work’ was
appointed to investigate the position of the food-fishes of the
coasts and lakes of the United States; and to take all measures
necessary for their conservation.
‘Since that year (1871), Dr. Smith continues, ‘when
Baird began those masterly and far-sighted inquiries,
zoology has been the constant forerunner or associate of
fishery progress; and the conservation of the resources of our
lakes, rivers, and coastal waters became an established policy
and an acemplished fact many years before the term conserv-
ation came into general use as applied to any other
resources.” ;
From the first it was recognized that a complete knowl-
edge of aquatic creatnres was essential for putting the
administration of the fisheries on a sound basis, and that
this knowledge must be acquired by minute investigations
into the biology of the various forms, important or otherwise,
connected with the fishing industry.
Baird was successful in drawing round hima large body
cf men trained in the methods of zoological research, and the
success of the work all through has been largely, in many cases
entirely, dependent on the services of zoologists.
[t may not be out of place to mention a few special
cases, ont of the many which might be cited, in which
zoology has rendered conspicuous and noteworthy service,
The zoologists, Brooks, Ryder, and others, ‘through
their studies of the biology of the oyster, and from experi-
mental work in oyster breeding have given enduring aid in
solving many of the practical problems of the oyster industry.
‘With the oyster, as with other water creatures, the teach-
ings of zoology have been at complete variance with the
confirmed practices and deep-seated prejudices of certain
States. The welfare of their oyster industry was for a long
period neglected; and the delivery of these States from the
thraldom of absolute, efficient aod wasteful methods has
depended on their eventual willingness to accept zoological
facts as the basis for administration.
Again, the lobster industry has suffered from the failure
or refusal of certain States to recognize the elementary
needs of the lobster as set forth by the investigations of
Herrick. In the opinion of Dr. Smith, had these States
heen willing to be guided by the teachings of zoology, the
lobster, instead of being the rare and expensive article of
food that it is to-day, could have been made a staple,
moderate-priced food forall time, One redeeming feature
is the adoption in Rhode Island of a system of artificial
rearing devised by the zoologist Mead, which has enabled
that State to maintain a better lobster supply than any other
State in the Union. ~
A further illustration of the application of zoology to
the public good is the prompt use made by the American
Government of the results of the investigations of Lefevre
and Curtis on the habits of the glochidia, or larval stage, of
the pearly mussels. “The establishment of an expensive
laboratory for continuing these investigations, and the main-
tenance of an adequate staff for applying the results of
zoological researches and, experiments have been of conspicu-
ous practical value in preserving this great industry, which
supports many thousands of people.
The writer also refers to the recent studies of the scales
and bones of fishes asa result of which it is now possible
‘to substitute facts for guesswork in formulating protective
fishery Jaws bearing on the size and age of food and game
fishes.’
A final example of the enduring services which zoolozy
has rendered to humanity is given by Dr. Smith in the
following words: ‘A year or two ago there arose
a situation in one ofthe largest sea-board cities where ill-
advised administrative action threatened to exclude from the
market one of the most abundant and wholesome marine
fishes, with consequent. disturbance of long-established trade,
and serious loss to the fishermen even of remote regions.
A real disaster impended because a market inspector saw
certain parasites and misconstrued their significance. The
evil was averted by the ability of the government to
recommend to the city authorities a zoologist with a most
convineing mass of zoological evidence, with the result that
the embargo was promptly lifted and in all probability will
never again be placed in that community for such a reason.’
The writer considers it a hopeful sign for the future that
more and more reliance is being placed by the public on the
recommendations of zoology in the handling of fishery
questions.
SJA@NI6
THE FOOD QUESTION IN JAMAICA.
In a Gazette Extraordinary, the late Governor of
Jamaica, Sir William Manning, has issued an appeal to all
classes in the island to join in increasing the local food
production. The following is the text of His Excellency’s
appeal: —
‘The Governor desires to invite the full co-operation of
all sections of the community in the matter of increasing the
food production of the island, and with this object in view
asks that all landowners, both great and small, and also
small settlers, should fully inform themselves of all that
has been done in order to increase food production, and that
they themselves should, without delay, take every possible
means of increasing the food supply of the island.
‘His Excellency is of opinion that all Ministers of
Religion could greatly help in the matter, and would be glad
if they would do so by bringing to the notice of their
congregations the urgency of the food situation, and on each
Sunday address to their congregations some remarks to the
effect that the necessity for food production will grow as
time goes on; that the situation will no doubt be rather worse
when the war ends; that not only for feeding themselves
Vor geval eNos420!
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Lip!
but for patriotic reasons they should help England to win
the war by endeavouring to make the island self-supporting
in regard to food supplies, thereby releasing such food
as may be available for use elsewhere, first of all for feeding
the army, which is fighting for the liberty of the world,
‘and then to feed the women and children of the Allied
countries, who now. are receiving only barely what is
sufficient to keep them alive.
‘His Excellency desires to point out that there is no
finality in the proposals which are now being put forward,
but that these are merely a commencement of endeavours
which should result in general development as time goes on,
and possibly in the establishment of ‘an industry which will
be of general benefit to the island, in so far as much of the
foodstuffs now imported into the island could be produced
locally, to the advantage of those who could produce them.’ |
BANANA BREAD IN JAMAICA.
The United Fruit Company have recently issued in
Jamaica a circular, pointing out that the employment of
a large proportion of boiled bananas in bread will be an easy
way of helping to meet the threatened shortage in flour.
The following is the recipe in the circular:—
‘If you will substitute for the precious grain, the fruit
that you haye known from childhood, the green banana, in
proportions of 30 per cent. of this fruit and 70 per cent. of
“flour, boiling the absolute green bananasin salted water, and
mashing the bananas, adding to the cough 30 per cent. of
its weight of the mashed boiled bananas, you will produce
a bread which is both palatable, and hard to distinguish from
all-wheat bread, though darker in colour.’
At the same time that the company issued this circular
they sent out samples of bread made in the manner recom-
mended Itis reported in the Jamaica G/eaver, April 22, that
the loaves turned out were excellent in flavour, and as palat-
able as any wheaten bread. Sir Francis Watts having
tried this bread gives his opinion’ that it was of good
flavour, and had no unusual taste, so that the pres-
ence of the bananas was not noticeable. The bread had
however a somewhat dark, bluish-grey colour, which may be
thought objectionable by some people. He thinks that this
colour is due to changes brought about by enzymes, and that
it might be avoided by throwing the green bananas into
Aoiling water immediately the skins are remoyed, and that in
this way a still more acceptable bread would result. It
might be tried in other of these West Indian islands.
The question is one of considerable importance to
Jamaica, where immense quantities of bananas are available,
in connexion with the export of which there may be some
difficulty in finding shipping. Large quantities of bananas
might thus be used locally, and a great saving be effected
in connexion with the importation of flour.
In order to introduce the bread, the United Fruit
Company have offered to furnish, free of cost to responsible
bakers, a reasonable supply of green bananas for experimental
purposes.
The proportions of bananas to flour advised in the
circular quoted above may perhaps be more readily grasped
it it is stated that 3 tb. of boiled, mashed, green bananas
should be mixed with 7 Ib. of dough made from wheaten
flour, the whole being worked up into 10 th. of dough to be
made into loaves for baking.
Probably the recipes for preparing, potato bread already
given in former issues of the Agricultural News would suit
for the preparation of this banana bread.
_ further desiccation tends
THE CABBAGE PALM FRUIT AS A FOOD
FOR HOGS.
It has long appeared to the writer of this note that the
fruit of the cabbage palm (Oveodoxva regia) might be utilized
as a food for animals, especially hogs, in those of the West
‘Indian islands where the palm is abundant. Inthe Revisza
de Agricultura, Comercio y Trabajo, March 1918, the official
publication of the Department ot Agriculture, Cuba, an
interesting article appears on this subject written by
Dr. E. Moreno, Chief of the Chemical Department of the
Agronomic Experiment Station in that island.
Dr. Moreno has undertaken careful analyses of the
fruit of the cabbage palm in order to ascertain its food value,
and the possibility of its employment for feeding hogs, or
for other industrial uses.
The analyses show that the quantity of oil contained
in the fruit varies within large limits—between 12 and 32
per cent. Although this oil content does not allow the
cabbage palm to be placed in the first rank of oleaginous
nuts, it is interesting, nevertheless, as showing ina con-
clusive manner the value of the fruit for feeding and
fattening hogs.
After detailed analyses of the rind, the -pulp, and the
nut separately, as well as of the complete fruit, Dr. Mcreno
comes to the conclusion that the best results are obtained
from the perfectly ripe fruit, when it has acquired a dark
purple colour, and that as a foodstuff for hogs, the complete
fruit in its fresh state is superior to the dried article,
whether sun-dried or dried by artificial means.
The reasons for this judgment he gives as follows.
Although the greatest part of oil is contained in the kernel
yet there exists in the mesocarp (the pulp) a_ consid-
erable quantity of oil, along with watery juices; the
rind also, although very poor in oil content, is relatively
rich in protein. In the rind there has been proved to exist
also the presence of a stimulating principle of a slightly acid
and fermentable nature, analogous to that contained in
mustard and other piquant seeds, which without doubt acts
as an enzyme or ferment, stimulating, and assisting the
digestibility ot the cabbage palm nuts. Therefore the con-
clusion is arrived at that the cabbage palm nuts should
be fed entire to hogs without stripping them of their
rind, and preferably fresh, or at least air-dried, because
to get rid of the stimulating
principle, which has been mentioned.
The following table gives the average composition of
the fruit:—
Fresh. Air-dried. Stove dried.
Water 42°27 16:78
Oil Hikoo 21:16 26°55
Protein 3°43 4°38 6-08
Carbohydrates 20°93 32°84 39-47
Fibre 12°79 20:79 23°57
Ash 3:29 3°58 4°33
The following table is given as representing the com-
parative food value, expressed in Calories, of cabbage palm
fruit, alfalfa hay, cowpea hay, and maize:—
Cabbage palm fruit 548°24 Calories
Alfalfa hay 223°86 7
Cowpea hay 180°01 is
Maize 57410 3
The above shows that the cabbage palm fruit compares
favourably with many other foodstuffs which possess
considerable reputation.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
JunE 1, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
The extraordinary price of £236 per ton has been paid
for faxin Dundee. The flax was part of a consignment
damaged by water, and this is perhaps the highest figure
ever paid for the fibre. (7ZZe Times, February 28, 1918.)
The future position of the world’s sugar as regards pro-
duction and distribution depends entirely upon the position
of the British Empire in the direction of fostering sugar
production, and upon the future attitude of the United
States towards its protective policy in that direction. (The
West India Committee Circular, April 4, 1918.)
The Lousiana Planter for April 20, 1918, says that
Canada is coming to the fore with her maple sugar produc-
tion. It is reported that the ontput for the present season
will be 40 million fb. with 4 million gallons of syrup.
It is estimated that at the present prices of maple sugar and
syrup this crop will be worth close on to $10,000,000.
The average price being | dtained for plantation rubber
is lower than it has been for quite a long period, and, in view
of the continued rise in the cost of most estate requisites,
and the restriction of output leading to a higher cost per b.
of raw rubber collected, the total profits from plantations
will be appreciably affected. (The /udia Rubber Journal,
April 6, 1918.)
The Japanese are very fond of the ‘Morning Glory’
(/pomea sp.), of which they have a great number of varieties,
They grow them in pots for house and table decorations, and
keep them compact by pinching off the climbing stems. The
result is a compact bush from 1 to 2 feet high which bears
from two to five blooms a day. (The Levptian Horticultu-
val Review, January 1918.)
Bees-wax is not suitable as a seal for bottled fruit
because it shrinks in cooling, leaving a space through which
air with the germs of decay can penetrate. The best preser
vative for household use is the tasteless paraffin oil now
largely used for medical purposes. The oil may be removed
by means of a salt spoon when the fruit is required for use,
and may be utilized again for the same purpose. (The /ic/d,
April 13, 1918.)
Kadio-activity is normally a factor of plant environment:
it has been shown that freshly fallen rain and snow, soil,
common rocks, soil air, and in fact practically every kind
and form of matter is more or less radio-active. Radium,
however, is not a plant food, and the necessity of fertilizers
does not seem to be decreased by its application to the
soil. (Memoirs of the Ne York Botanical
August 1916.)
Garden,
According to Vafure, April 11, 1918, the Bulletin des
Usines de Guerre for March 18, gives particulars of a motor
car propelled by hydrogen, which is probably the first of its
kind. Experiments made with the vehicle show: (1) that
a car motor can be made to work perfectly well with a mix-
ture of pure hydrogen and air; (2) that it is not necessary to.
modify the construction of the motor; and (3) that the motor
can be worked with a simple type of carburettor.
In a note on the demand for onions in the /ye/d for
April 27, 1918, it is stated that in 1914 no less than
7,499,313 bushels of foreign-grown onions were imported
into England. It is strongly urged that more extensive
cultivation of this indispensable vegetable be undertaken.
For culinary purposes it may be said to be in almost hourly
demand. For small holdings the onion is a most valuable
crop, as there is no vegetable that better repays care in
cultivation,
The Board of Trade Journal for April 11, 1918, draws
attention to the appointment of Mr. A. J. Pavitt, as His
Majesty’s Trade Commissioner in Trinidad. Mr. Pavitt will
have within his sphere uf duty the whole of the British West
Indian islands and a number of adjacent foreign West Indian
islands, as well as the British, French and Dutch Guianas.
His services are placed at the disposal of British firms who
are desirous of extending or developing their export trade
in the area included within his sphere of operations.
The Journal of the Royal Society of Aris, April 5,
1918, has a note on the exploitation in Argentina of a new
dye material ‘algarobin’, obtained from the wood of the
Carob tree (Ceratfonia siligua), The material is said to be
giving good results in its industrial use, in addition to being
economical in comparison with other dye material. Algarobin
imparts a light brown colour to any textile fibre, cotton,
wool, silk, ete. In combination with other vegetable
extracts, such as fnstic, logwood, ete., it gives a number of
varied and fast colours.
Guinea grass, a native of tropical Africa, is cultivated at
the present time for forage purposes practically through-
out the tropics. Its introduction into the Philippine Islands
only dates from 1907, with the shipment of twenty root-
clumps from Hawaii to Manila. It is estimated that at the
present time—1917—the twenty root clumps received in
1907 are now the parents of some millions of plants distri-
buted throughout the archipelago, the crop being in high
favour as a forage for horses and cattle. (The Zropical
Agriculturist, February 1918.)
For some time the deposits of imonazite sand in Brazil
were the only commercial source from which to obtain coms
mercial supplies of thorium required for the manufacture of
incandescent gas mantles, but this monopoly was broken up
by the discovery of deposits of monazite in the native State
of Travancore, India, which was found to contain nearly
twice as much thorinm as the Brazilian monazite. As a result
of the recent mineral survey being conducted in Ceylon,
there has also been discovered valuable deposits of monazite
sand in that island. (Uzxtted Empire, April 1918.)
Vor, XVII. No. 420.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
ssa __a—===
SOME CITRUS CONDITIONS IN FLORIDA,
CALIFORNIA, AND CUBA.
The importance of the citrus cultivation in Florida and
California may be judged from the fact that, according to
the census of 1910, Florida produced in round numbers
5,970,000 boxes, and California 17,300,000 boxes of citrus
fruit that year. In a paper by Professor- Howard 8. Fawcett,
Citrus Experiment Station, University of California, puolished
in the Monthly Budletiz of the State Commission of Horti-
culture, September 1916, some comparisons are drawn
between the conditions of the industry in these two States,
and also of the same industry in Cuba.
Florida’s principal rainfall (40 to 60 inches) comes
chiefly in the summer months. In contrast to this, California’s
principal rainfall (10 to 25 inches) is in the winter or early
spring months. This is why citrus trees may be grown in
Florida mostly without irrigation, while in California the
industry is almost entirely dependent upon irrigation. The
greater summer humidity of Florida tends, however, to tbe
development of certain types of fungus diseases which are
absent or negligible in California.
A comparison of soils shows great variation in both
States. Generally speaking the soils in Florida are more
deficient in the elements of plant food than those of
California, An artificial supply of water is the prime
necessity in California, while fertilizers are the prime neces-
sity in almost all types of soil in Florida.
In Florida, within every citrus-growing section, with few
exceptions, the individual orchards are. scattered, and not
in continuous, almost solidly planted areas, as are commonly
seen in California. One reason for this scattered condition
within a region well snited for citrus cultivation is that since
there is no need for general irrigation, there is no necessity
for close co-operation in the formation of irrigation districts.
The practices in cultivation of citrus orchards prevailing
in Florida and California differ to a considerable extent. In
Florida, cultivation is usually discontinued during the heavy
rains of the summer, and only put into practice after the rains
areover. During this drier part of the year the cultivation
on most soils is very shallow. Some growers use a definite
cover crop in summer, while others simply allow grass and
weeds to grow during the rains. If these grow too high and
rank, they are mowed down, and usually left as a mulch on the
ground. On some of the lands no cultivation at all is prac-
tised, apart from merely hoeing the weeds that come up
under the spread of the trees. Many such orchards without
any cultivation are thrifty and profitable. Professor Rclfs,
Director of the Florida Experiment Station, says that some
of the best groves in the State are heavily sodded with Ber-
muda grass, and are not cultivated. This is quite different
in many respects from the general cultivation practised in
California, where in the summer the ground is prepared for
irrigation every one or two months, and instead of a cover
crop being grown in California in summer, it is usually grown
in winter during the period of rain.
The varieties of citrus fruits generally grown differ
greatly ia the two places. In Florida there are probably
twenty to thirty or more different standard varieties of
oranges, but in California there are only three or four grown.
In California nearly all oranges are classified under the three
names, Navel, Valencia, and Seedlings, while in Florida
a much larger number of varieties are grown, and many names
are in use.
The Washington Navel has apparently never become
a successful orange in Florida, though it has been tried
repeatedly. Usually the trees of this variety in Florida do
not bear well, and the fruit tends to become too large, and
in most locations to be lacking in juice. This also seems to
be the case in the West Indies where the Washington Navel
has been tried.
What has been said as to the large number of standard
varieties of oranges cultivated in Florida is also true with
regard to grape fruit varieties. Commercially speaking grape
fruits are to Florida what lemons are to Caliiornia,
Lemon growing, such an important branch of the citrus
industry in California, is practically non-existent in Florida.
The last commercial lemon orchard of 40 acres was budded
over in grape fruit about 1911. It is said that the main
reason why lemon growing was discontinued in Florida was
that the fruit grew too large for the taste of the market.
Another reason was that lemons in Florida are apt to be
severely attacked by the rust mite.
The citrus stocks mostly used in Florida appear to be
sour orange, rough lemon, and grape fruit; in California the
principal stocks used are sweet and sour orange. Sour
orange is probably used more in Florida than any other, and
is also now being used extensively in California, because of
its great resistance to gummosis. For years it has been
noted for its resistance in Florida to the foot-rot cr mal-di-
gomma there. The same resistance to this disease on the
part of the sour orange has also been noted in some of these
West Indies. In Dominica for instance, it is well known
that unless grafted on a sour orange or rough lemon stock,
no. sweet orange tree is able to live many years without suc-
cumbing to gummosis. In Florida the rough lemon is
preferred by some because the scion appears to grow more
vigorously during the first two years. It is also said to be
able to stand drought better than other crops. An objection
has been made to the rough lemon stock in that it appears
in many cases to cause the fruit, at least for the first few
crops, to be coarse, pithy, and dry.
It is estimated that in 1913 there were about 20,000
acres under citrus cultivation in Cuba and the Isle of Pines,
about 14,000 acres being in grape fruit, 5,000 acres in
oranges, and 800 acres in lemons. The citrus chiefly exported
from Cuba is grape fruit, oranges being chiefly grown for local
consumption, and little attention being now paid to lemons.
The lemon orchards are being now budded over to other
citrus varieties. The Cubans themselves eat very little
grape fruit, but are very fond of what may be termed
oversweet, insipid oranges. It has been estimated that the
city of Havana alone consumes an average of 100,000 such
oranges daily the year round. The citrus growers of Cuba
_ have one great advantage over most of the citrus regions of
Florida and California, namely, the total freedom from loss
owing to frost.
The method of cultivation in Cuba varies from no
cultivation at all to clean cultivation throughout the year, or
mulching, and growing of cover crops. Practical experiments
as to the difference between mulching and not having any cover
on the ground at all for a period of seven years have shown
the great benefit to citrus trees in Cuba of the practice of
mulching. Professor E. 8. Earle believes that the secret of
success of mulching is largely due to the shading of the soil.
He is of opinion that in hot weather the sun interferes with
the work of the soil bacteria, and so prevents the formation
of humus. It is a frequent practice to place vegetable mulch
directly beneath the trees, and to cultivate and raise
cover crops between the rows.
The pigeon pea (Cajanus indicus) seems to give excellent
results when grown between the rows of young trees, not
only in shading the soil, but in serving as a partial wind-
break.
174
THE ORGANIZATION OF PLANT SANI-
TATION IN CUBA.
Bulletin No. 1 of the Commission of Plant Sanitation
in Cuba contains orders, reports and correspondence pertaining
to the establishment and operations of the Commission,
which was constituted by presidential decree in 1916
The relation of knowledge regarding infectious diseases
and pests of plants to agricultural industry affords a number
of administrative problems which are as yet only in course
of being worked out, The rapidly extending appreciation of
the importance of plant sanitation within a given country,
and of protection against plant pests and diseases from
-without, is leading in many cases to the creation of a new
function of governmental activity, comparable to that which
thas long been exercised in connexion with the public health,
From this point of view the constitution of the Cuban
organization is of general interest. The Decree establishing
the Commission is as follows. It is resolved:—
rirsTLY. Teo create in the Department of Agriculture,
Commerce, and Labour, a commission to be called the Com-
amission of Plant Sanitation, pertaining to the Office of
Agriculture, composed of three members, namely, J. R.
Johnston, Pathologist of the Agricultural Experiment Station,
as President; Patricio Cardin, Chief of the Desartment of
Entomology of said Experiment Station; and Mario Sanchez,
Professor of the Agricultural School of Havana, in order
that the following may be carried out:—
A. To study the diseases and insects that are present
or that may be present in the plants in whatever part of
the national territory.
B. According to the studies made, to take, with the
approval of the Secretary of Agriculture, without other
requirement, the prophylactic measures that may be con-
sidered necessary in order to combat the diseases, using the
resources that will be mentioned further on.
©. For the organization and direction of the work
relative to the measure referred to in paragraph B preceding,
the Commission may send any of its members to any place
it is considered necessary, for which purpose the President
of the said Commission will issue the necessary transporta-
tion requests, a book of which will be issued by the Secre-
tary of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labour, and during the
time that they remain away from the Office on official
business, they will receive a per diem allowance of five
dollars, which will be paid by the Secretary from the funds
placed at his disposal in a succeeding paragraph.
D. ‘The President of this Commission or other member
in his absence may order the removal of machinery and
other materials, to whatever place is necessary in order to
combat the diseases that may appear in any plantation
E. In the same way, the Commission, the member who
undertakes the work of disinfedtion of any crop, or any of
the inspectors who have been appointed by the Commission
for this purpose with the proper instructions, may proceed
to employ labourers to clean or destroy infected plants, and
also contract for whatever other service is considered neces
sary, (first consulting and obtaining the approbation of the
Secretary, which should be done in the most rapid manner, )
whose wages or expenses will be paid from the funds
designated for this purpose, to which end the Paymaster
of the Department of Agriculture is especially authorized
to facilitate the amount agreed upon, the expenditure of
which will! be accounted for by whoever receives it, in at most
sixty days, counting from the day of its receipt,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
- ——————_—___—_ —
Juneé 1, 1918.
F. When the case of infection is of such gravity that
only by the destruction of the crop can the plague be extermi-
nated, the Commission will submit the case to the Secretary
of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labour, who will take such
measures as he considers necessary, both in accord with the
owner of the plants and with the necessities of the case.
G. This Commission will meet as often as it may be
necessary, and report te the Secretary of Agriculture at least.
every fifteen days as to the progress of the work, and will
study in its meetings, under the auspices of the President of
the Commission, the problems of greatest importance.
H. When there is necessity for laboratory work, or any
work related to that which is conducted at the Agricultural
Experimental Station, the Commissioners may request per-
mission from the Director of said establishment, who will
grant it.
SECONDLY. The Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce,
and Labour is authorized to impose fines that do not exceed
fifty dollars on those owners of plantings who do not fulful
the instructions that are given by the Commission to avoid
the spread of diseases and insects in the fields where they have
appeared, for which purpose there will be conceded the time
that is considered necessary.
THIRDLY. For the expense that may be necessary for
the purchase of apparatus and other material, as well as for
the paying of wages and per diem allowances of inspectors
that: are appointed for this service, the Secretary of Agricul-
ture, Commerce, and Labour, will appropriate ten thousand
dollars from the funds that are credited in the current budget
to ‘Imprevistos’ which sum may be requested by the Pay-
master from said department in the form designated by the
Secretary, all at once if that is agreed upon, and it will be
credited by the Secretary of the Treasury.
FOURTHLY. In accord with the statements in the last
paragraph of Article 394 of the Organic Law of the
Executive Power, it is authorized to name three inspec-
tors, to whom may. be assigned the monthly salary
of $150, and when necessary an allowance per diem of
five dollars, to aid the Commission of Plant Sanitation,
constituted by this Decree, who will put themselves at the-
immediate order of the said Commission without conflicting
with the superior authority of the Secretary of the Depart-
ment; the terms of employment of these inspectors will last
through the fiscal year, if necessary.
rIFTHLY. The Commission named will submit to
the Secretary of Agriculture proposals concerning the
quarantine regulations that should be made against the
importation of plants, and the means that ought to be
employed in those cases in which they may be admitted.
sixTHLy. Said Commission is also authorized to issue
certificates for plants destined for exportation,
sSEVENTHLY. The Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce,
and Labour will see that this Decree is fulfilled.
The correspondence regarding foreign quarantine regu-
lations affecting Cuba gives evidence that a careful and
comprehensive survey of the island has shown that’ citrus
plantations are free-from canker; the possibility is not
excluded that it may exist on some of the thousands of trees
scattered about in gardens, but no evidence of it has been
found in the inspections made.
The diseases of plants in the island to which attention
is principally being given by the Commission are the coco-nut
bud-rot, and the Panama disease of bananas. The adoption
of the recognized measures of control is compulsory in both
cases, and inspectors are detailed to see that they are
effectively carried out.
,Vou. XVII. No. 420.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 175
Reference is made to a troublesome pest known as
tthe marabu (Dichrostachys nutans), a leguminous shrub
closely resembling the acacias. It is indigenous to Senegal
‘but has become firmly established in Cuba. It takes pos-
session of land, forms a dense spiny impenetrable growth,
and in some cases has compelled the diversion of roads and
the removal of houses.
Numerous remedial measures, stimulated by the offer
-of a reward, have been suggested~and tried, including
cutting, burning, poisoning, the use of bacteria, fungi,
insects, and twining plants, none of which appears soar. to
be regarded as affording an adequate remedy. ae
BAUXITE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The geological and analytical examination of the soils
-and rocks of British Guiana, carried out during some years
past by Professor Harrison, C.M.G, Director of Science and
Agriculture of the colony, has led to the discovery of
numerous and extensive deposits of bauxite. Some of these
deposits have been leased for working to an American
company, but the lands already leased by no means exhaust
the depusits of the mineral in the colony.
The importance of conserving and developing the bauxite
deposits of British Guiana is due to the prominent place
that aluminium holds in modern iudustries, and bauxite is
the necessary raw material required for the production of this
metal. This importance, it seems, will become greater than
ever, because aluminium has become an essential for the
motor and aircraft industries.
The manufacture of aluminium from bauxite consists
of two stages: (a) the production of alumina from bauxite,
which is done by refining bauxite; and (b) the transformation
of refined alumina into aluminium by electrolysis, using
eryolite as the electrolytic flux.
By feeding alumina into cryolite in electric furnaces of
special construction, decomposition takes places, and metallic
aluminium is tapped at intervals from the bottom of the
furnace. Besides the production of aluminium, fresh uses
-are constantly being found for bauxite, which seems to have
an ever-increasingly wide possibility of application.
Up to the present, Great Britain has been chiefly
dependent on France for the supply of bauxite. It is
therefore most advisable that all sources of supply within
the Empire should be developed and controlled for our own
use, so that the British Empire should no longer be depen-
dent on foreign countries for the supply of the raw material.
In the manufacture of aluminium the three principal require-
ments are: (1) cheap electrical energy; (2) bauxite; (3) cryolite.
It is true that cryolite in its natural state is only obtain-
able from Greenland, but on the other hand, this
mineral is produced synthetically. With the large deposits
of bauxite, and possessing in the Kaieteur Falls a source of
electric power greater than that of Niagara, British Guiana
is most favourably situated to enable it to become a most
important producer of aluminium, and it would bea very
short-sighted policy if the deposits of this mineral were to
be alienated from the control of the Government, or not
utilized for the benefit of the Empire at large.
Sir Francis Watts, the Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies, has for some time believed
that there were deposits of this mineral in some of the
smaller West Indian islands. Early in this year he forward-
ed a box of simples of minerals to Professor Harrison for
examination. In his report Professor Harrison states that
a sample from the small island of Balliceaux, near St.Vincent,
consists of a hydrated aluminium silicate with alunite. He
says that the finding 0! tne potash and aluminium containing
mineral, alunite, the presence of which is indicated by the
analysis of the specimen, is of some interest now when
available sources of soluble potash salts are of great impor—
tance to the Empire.
He advises that a search should be made in Balliceaux
for more promising deposits of alunite.
AGRICULTURE IN GRENADA.
A copy of the progress report ‘on the work of the Agri-
cultural Department, Grenada, for the quarter ended March
31, has been forwarded to this Office by Mr. J. C. Moore,
the Superintendent of Agriculture.
A scheme to facilitate the Agricultural Department’s
activities in prosecuting a vigorous campaign against cacao
thrips was submitted to the Board of Agriculture, and, with
some amplification in special committee, was adopted.
A scheme for the erection of a corn drier and granary in
Grenada has also been prepared and subinitted for the
approval of the Governmen:.
Decails of work in the Botanic Gardens inelude results
of experiments with onions Sown in November and trans-
planted in December these are reporied to have dune fairly
well. It is observed, however, that had there been universal
showery weather during February and March, there undoubt-
edly would have been a failure as the result of such unavoid-
able late sowing. ‘Trials in a few private vardens have
also given very promising results. I. is estimated that
about 20 acres, yielding at the rate of 8,000 bb. per acre,
would provide Grenada with onions equalling the quan-
tity imported during 1916 If such a yield can be
obtained, there is the possibility of estanlishing another
minor industry capable of yieiding the growers a good profit,
with onions retailing at 3¢. per it. With skilled and indus-
trious work, onions from Teneriffe seed should with hired
labour, be produced at a cost of one to one-and-a-half cent
per fb. The Department is trying to arouse interest in this
new industry, to which end an order for 25 b of seed from
Teneriffe has been placed with the Imperial Commissioner
of Agriculture.
Spraying appliances and materials have been imported
by the Agricultural Department in readiness for a vigorous
camptign against the cacao thrips. Six estates now have
suitable spraying outfits, and four others have them on order.
In this connexion it may be mentioned that the presence of
the black weevil of banana (.Sphexophorus sordidus) has been
recorded in coco-nut piots, and steps are being taken to
ascertain its distribution.
Plant and seed distribution for the quarter totalled—~
plants, 4,658; seeds, 1,700. In addition, 2,000 seed coco-
nuts. were imported for planters. The Department obtained
8 tons of yam plants for distribution in May. Ground
provisions are stil fairly plentiful, with moderately high
prices ruling.
Accompanying the foregoing are monthly reports of the
Agricultural Instructors for March last. Perusal of these
shows steady progress in agricultural pursuits among the
peasants, and it is interesting to note that the Depart-
ment’s activities in connexion with the local food crops
campaign have been productive of better organization as
compared with last year’s efforts, and the work is proceeding.
satisfactorily.
176 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. June 1, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tue West INpra Commirree CrircuLar,
April 4.
ARROWROOT— 1/-.
Batata— Venezuelan Block, 3/6; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/2.
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Frouit—No quotations.
Grycrr—Jamaica, no quotations.
Honey—Jamaica, 195/- to 200/-.
Lm Jvice—Raw, .2/6 to 3/3.: concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime thana- pressed), 17/6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nourmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—No quotations.
RKusper—Para, fine hard, 2/10}; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., April 27.
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations; Trinidad. $12-75 to
$14-00.
Coco-nut Om—S1°50 per gallon.
Corrre—Venezuelan, 13hc. to 14c. per fb.
Corra—$7°80 per 100 th.
Duat—No quotations.
Onrons—$10°00 to 310-25 per 100 fb.
Pras, Sprit— $11°50 to $12-00 per bag.
Porarors—English, $5:00 to $6°00 per 100 tb.
Rice—Yellow, $12°00 to $1225; White, 9°50 per bag.
Scear—American crushed, no quotations.
New York.—Messrs Gittespie Bros, & Co., April 23.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to l3hc.; Grenada, {3fc. to 14e.;
Trinidad, 14c. to 14}c. Jamaica, 12}c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $52°00; ‘Trinidad selects,
$49°00; culls, $25-00 to $26°00 per M.
CorrEE—Jamaica, 9c. to 12c. per tb.
GincEr—15$c. to 20c. per tb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 80c.; Antigua and Barbados, 80c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 80c. per tb.
Grare Froit—Jamaica, $2°50) to $3 00 per box.
Limes— 0c. to Ie,
Macre—388c. to 45c. per tb.
Nutmrcs—24c. to 28c.
OranGEs—$3°00 to $5-00.
Pimento— 7$c. to 8c. per fb.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°005c; Muscovados, 89°, 5:005c,
Molasses, 89°, 4°948c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., May 1.
ArrowrooT—$12°00 per 100 th.
Cacao—$12°50 per i100 th.
Coco-nuts—$36'00 husked nuts.
Hay—$2°90.
Motassres—No quotations.
Ontons—No quotations.
Peas, Spritr—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, ne quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran
goon, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, 34°75
Publications on sale bf the finperiab Danan i Agricultitte.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in ean
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress an&
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. ‘The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, “with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutavu & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs, Tuos. Lawtor & Co., St. George.
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D, Bonavte, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: Apvocatr Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Niues, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: Tur Epucationat Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brrpcewarer, Roseau.
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tuk Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Manone, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-MarsHaut & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tez Brete AND Book Surety AGENcy, BASsETERRE
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PLacEMann, Scarborough. Nevis: Messts. Howxxt, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W. Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto.
j
~
3
s
We are buyers of =
mw
_ THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
Se Sa
ee
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TQ IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped —
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying _facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADF: conse-
E
e.
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
‘CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
_ ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
ry : fans
Vor. XVII. No. 420. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Jone «1, 18a
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted. ;
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER :
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 8.
orks: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
4
d
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
- Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
a a _BARBADOS.
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Strest, Bridgetown,*Barbados,?
Ay
ap a - ry ae {> ¥- Fool
* ; 4 feet LE ac By — leew ee
+ . A ~ , rg ee IIT a
Has
/
—
__ SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1918. Bs
R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
Wy TO PORTS OF CALL
‘THE UNITED KINGDOM | Azores.
| f St. Vincent; St. Lucia, Dominica,
|CANADA | Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
| (Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO | Grenada & Trinidad.
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bel | Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
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___{One penny. _
= —___ = Sete. : i y ge
A A A ESS “3
ge ee
peas og
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. es
THE MANY BENe=FITS of
CATTLE DIPPING or
SPRAYING
Soe
CATTLE TICK
rewae
The Dipping or Spraying of Cattle is ordinarily carried out solely to destroy Ticks, as, by the Destruction of Ticks, all Tick-
borne diseases (such as Texas Fever, Redwater, Heartwater, Gallsickness and East Coast Fever) are effectually prevented.
But many other benefits are incidentally secured by dipping, as will be
Indeed, so numerous
“~
by the following notes.
and so important are these incidental benefits as almost to justify the prophecy that, in time, Cattle Dipping
or Spraying will be systematically carried on even in countries where no Ticks exist.
RINGWORM. Dipping prevents and cures this highly contagious
disease by destroying the fungus which is the cause of it.
WARTS. These are also caused by a micro-organism which is de-
stroyed by dipping.
OPHTHALMIA. Thisis due to the presence of a worm carried by
a fly. Dipping destroys the fly. and thus prevents the disease.
HAIRBALLS, By allaying all skin irritation caused by parasitic
attacks, dipping goes far to prevent calves licking their coats, and thus
prevents the formation of hairballs.
BLACK LEG OR QUARTER EVIL. Many farmers claim that
dipping bas eliminated Quarter Evil from their herds, which, previously,
bad never been free from it; but in view of the nature of this disease, this
-laim must be regarded as requiring confirmation.
WHITE SCOUR. This disease is quickly eradicated by dipping. In
herds regularly dipped, a death from White Scour is now almost unheard
of, whereas before systematic Dipping came into vogue, the mortality of
calves from this disease often ran up to 60% or 70%, and even higher.
LICE. Regular Dipping destroys these pests and guards the cattle
against further attacks.
BOTS. The botfiy lays its eggs on the skin of the horse. When the
larvae emerge from the eae they are licked from the skin and thus
transferred to the stomach. ipping kills these larvae whilst on the skin.
It will also kill many of the flies.
WORMS IN CALVES. Dipping has been proved to prevent worm
| fection in calves. This is explained by the fact that dipping destroys the
‘ worms, or their eggs, which are present on the teats and udders and
H ey on other parts of the bodies of the mother cow, whence they
‘ ome transferred to the calves by sucking or licking.
' HORSE-SICKNESS. This disease, which is responsible for a sigh
' yate of mortality amongst horses in South Africa, has been shown to be
H vented by dipping. Horse-sickness is caused by an organism introduced
nto the blood by a mosquito, and by dipping, the skin of the horse and the
tlood vessels immediately beneath it, become impregnated with arsenic,
gel making the skin blood poisonous to the mosquito, but destroying
‘ organisms which may be introduced into the blood by the mosquito in
\ the act of biting.
WARBLE FLY. The action of dipping in preventing this pest is the
j same as described under the heading “Bots.” ‘That is to say. dipping kills
; many of the flies themselves: nd it will kill the larvae which hatch out
from the eggs deposited on the skin by the flies. In addition, the arsenic
the dip would assuredly reach and kill many of the mature maggots in
the stage when they are just ready to emerge from the skin.
PREVENTION OF DAMAGE TO HIDES. The market value of
hides is greatly reduced by the perforations caused by the warble-fly larva
and the Gattle Tick. By dipping. this damage can be stopped and serious
losses prevented. Tick-bitten hides are worth 14d. per pound less than
uninjured hides.
DECREASED FECUNDITY. A further loss to be recordeil against
the Tick is the reduction of the fecundity of female cattle; perhaps «lso in
Me greater liability of Tick-infested cattle to disease or abnormal conditions
@f the reproductive organs.
Fi
ae ee ee
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Has received the official approval of the following Countries:
} Union of South Africa. Northern Rhodesia.
Nyasaland. Swaziland. Southern Rhodesia. Madagascar.
' British Bast Africa. German East Africa. Portuguese Bast Africa.
Portuguese West Africa. Lgypt. Argentine Republic. Queensland.
United States of America. New South Wales.
W. Indies. Northern Territory of Australia.
Brazil. Basutoland.
Sudan.
“Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England
Auckland,
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne,
_ LOSS OF CONDITION IN CATTLE. Apart from questions of
disease, the presence of Ticks on cattle reduces their condition. Dipping.
by destroying the Ticks, not only prevents this loss of condition, Rn
result of the well-known tonic action of arsenic on the skin, causes t)<
animals to put on weight and thrive.
During the period of an experiment made specially to test this poin'.
heavily infested cattle lost an average of g Ibs. in weight, whilst the tick-
free cattle gained an average ot 44 Ibs., both lots of cattle being fed allke
There is another instanceof a Tick-infested steer which weighed 730 Ib-..
and which. after being dipped, weighed 1015 Ibs. two months later, the fer!
remaining the same as before dipping.
EARLIER MATURITY OF SLAUGHTER STOCK. In the
rearing of stock for the butcher, the freedom from parasites which result~
from dipping enables the young cattle to mature more quickly. This may
mean 1 saving of 12 or 18 months’ feed and attention, and also enables th
cattle owner to turn over his capital much more quickly.
MILK YIELD. Great losses occur by Ticks on Milch cows, reducing
the milk yield, and in some ‘cases so injuring the teats and udders as tv
render them useless; Dipping has proved a preventive of all such trouble.
A very fine series of experiments on this point was carried out by the
United States Department of Agriculture, and it was shown that —
(1) Cows lightly infested with Ticks produced 14 pints less per cow por
day than Tick-free cows: ‘
(2) Cows heavily infested with Ticks produced 2 quarts less per «ow
per day than Tick-free cows.
CONTAGIOUS ABORTION. It is reported by the Veterinary
Bacteriologist of the Southern Rhodesian Department of Agriculture that
QOooper's Cattle Dip destroys the organism of thisdisease, He has therefore
prescribed Dipping as one of the measures to be employed in dealing with an
outbreak. Regular dipping must have great effect in preventing outbreaks.
LIVER DISEASE IN CALVES. Instances are on record of herds
in which, as a result of regular systematic Dipping, losses from this disease
have been reduced from as much as 80% to n
MANGE. This disease, as is well known, is of parasitic origin. Dippine
destroys the e mite and cures the disease. Spraying and dipping with
Cooper's Cattle Dip is officially strongly recommended by the Nyasaland
Veterinary Authorities as a preventive of the spread of Demodectic Cattle
Mange—the most difficult form of mange to deal with.
FLIES. The continual torment caused to stock by flies must inevit-
ably react ees pig A their state of health. Flies also act as carriers
of many diseases of stock and of human beings. Innumerable flies ure
killed, directly or indirectly, by cattle dipping.
EPIZOOTIC OR ULCERATIVE LYMPHANGITIS—The Chief
Veterinary Officer of British East Africa states in his 1914-15 Annual Report
as “Dipping has been proved to be an efficient preventive agninst this
pease,
HORN FLY. The ravages of this very serious pest can be very greatly
minimised by means of a simple adjustment at the entrance to the pping
tank. 12in. boards are attached to the upright splash boarding, and these
projeet into the tank on either side, and and break the wave made
cattle when jumping into the Bath. In this pet hy heavy spray is sent
the backs of the cattlo, which precipitates into the poisonous waab the
onan of Flies which rise from an animal when it plunges into the dipping
solution.
WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
ST. KITTS: S. L. Horsford &Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson @ Ce
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston.
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co. Le&
BAHAMAS: W.N. Twynam, Nassau,
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spala,
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co,
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone
DANISH WEST INDIBS: A. Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall, DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Pramptea.
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
i
.
Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Odessa. y
Punta Arenas, East London,
‘iad
——
Wieck
i ee RS
“ls, ree
i
gal oA
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
JUNE 15, 1918.
Vor: XVIT. “No: 421: BARBADOS, Price ld.
CONTENTS. Dr. Balls begins by what might appear to many
ete ie people as a somewhat startling assertion, the truth of
Pacer. PaGE. which, however, is evident on reflection.
Agriculture in Barbados 180 | Food, False and True
Berry Poisonous to Fowls 187 Kconomy mm... ... ... 189
Butter Substitutes in
Monica va. “ena oe LOD
Butter Substitutes, Nu-
Genetic Investigation in
the Tropics, Material
ae * - for Bees uks ss soo ISS]
tritive Value of ... 185 Gleaninee 188
Cottees, Imitation... ... 190 <i Fae a a
sz 4 Giass) Trees, Economic
Cotton Industry, Some Value of 179
. . c eee wee eee .
Applications of Re- ;
search to The... <.. 177 | Insect Notes:—
: Ne Some Insect Pests im
Cotton Notes:— Guna ah _ 186
A Length-Sorting Ma-
: sms. Mele teTinterest 280
inal EGE Gatton Item f Logal Interest 18
He says that
the whole technique of cotton manufacture is based
upon the properties of single, unicellular seed hairs.
The knowledge of the properties of these hairs,
the manner in which they are formed, and their
behaviour in the process of spinning is necessary that
the grower and the user of cotton may work together
in order to produce the best results from the raw
material. This raw material is not so much the cotton
hair itself, but is rather the sex cell of the cotton
plant and the embryo arising therefrom.
When the magnitude of the Lancashire cotton
Fibres Ee tise, etl 82 Market Reports Sea 24
British Cotton Grow- Mendelian Terms. Ex-
ing Associatien .., 182 planation of Some .. 189
panien ee an 1g3 | Notesand Comments... 184 industry, and the ingenuity and organization involved
jarbadoOs ... .-. a of Cee S 6 ; Sacre A F ELT
Sea sland Cotton | Plant Diseases: in it are considered, that which lies behind it in the
_ Market... ... 182 Algal Disease (Red shape of agriculture is apt to be forgotten.
Cowpea, New Strain of... 185 Rust) of Cacao... 190 :
*Cunas’ or Chinese Gam- ‘Station Agronomique de
hier, Increased Use of 183 la Guadeloupe’... ... 184. : .
4 into two halves of equal importance
Department News... ISL Sudan Grass, Dying Out
The study of the cotton crop is naturally divided
These are (1) the
of Clumps of ... ... 184
Vanilla Crop in the
French West Indies ... 185
Departmental Reports ... 189
Drainage, Efticient wee) LOS
Enzymes of Some Tropi-
Calmllantiswesepokeib sols 7
Some Applications of Research to the
Cotton Industry.
VIPAT a meeting of the Royal Society of Arts,
5, held on April 10, reported in the Society’s
Smiiioe Journal of May 3, 115, a most interesting
paper on the above subject was read by Dr. W. L. Balls,
who is a well-known authority on the application
of science tothe production of cotton,
West Indian Products ... 191
plant itself, and (2) the environment in which it lives.
Any particular plant has certain constitutional
capabilities which have been transmitted to it by hered-
ity, and are definitely fixed at the moment of fertiliz-
ation. Such constitutional potentialities are developed
by the interaction which takes place between the
organism and its environment.
Many mistakes have been made in agriculture
from missing the distinction between the potentialities
of a plant, and the effect of its environment. On the
one hand, the attempt has been made to grow unsuit-
able seed in suitable places, and on the other, to plant
suitable seed in unsuitable localities.
Cotton research has led in the first place to the
study of the preparation, propagation, and cultivation
178
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
JUNE 15, 1918.
a a a a IT SE
of pure strains of cotton plants. In the second place
arising out of the study of these plants, it has led to
the scientific examination of the length of the lint, the
fall investigation of which has only become possible
quite recently by means of a new piece of scientific
apparatus.
When in 1905 Dr. Balls began his researches
into the course of heredity in cotton, there was a
general conviction that the deterioration of the Egyp-
tian cotton crop could be deait with primarily by
breeding new kinds of cotton. Beginning by taking
natural seed from single plants of the 1904 crop, and
raising smail families from these in 1905, an examin-
ation of these families showed that the commercially
grown seed with which the start had been made was
very far indeed from being the seed of ‘pure lines.
Although the families raised were quite small, it was
most unusual to tind a family in which all the plants
resembled one another. This fact indicated that the
parent plant must have been a hybrid, and that an
appreciable amount of intercrossing was taking place
under the conditions of the ordinary Egyptian field
crop of cotton. The work was extended to determine
the chance of crossing compared with the chance of
self-fertilization, which was found to be approximately
one inten. This amount of crossing is amply sutt-
cient to contaminate hopelessly any pure line pedigree
within a period of only two or three years.
It was then considered more useful to attempt the
study of these natural hybrids on Mendelian lines, or
better still, by the deliberate making of hybrids for ex-
perimental purposes, than to isolate pure lines. Further
experimental work was directed to the study of crosses
between American Upland cotton and the Egyptian
—practically an inter-species cross—rather than to
fnter-Egyptian crosses. In many cases definite simple
rules of inheritance on Mendelian lines were traced
through most complex phenomena, and in even more
cases most complex inheritance was found in pedigrees,
which on the face of them appeared to have been
quite simple.
The characteristics of commercial value in cotton
such as length, and breadth, and thickness are nearly
_all measurable. With regard to the inheritance of these
measurable features, the difficulty arose that there was
not enough known about the ettect of environment
upon the degree of the manifestation of such character-
istics. It was not known to what extent, or in what
manner a cotton plant which had inherited long lint
hair might have those hairs shortened, or even made
longer by the action of environment.
In 1912 a demand from the Agricultural Depart-
ment of Egypt was made for a new cotton to replace
the deteriorated Afifi. After seven years’ experience
Dr. Balls considered that it was perfectly easy to
introduce a new cotton, but that it was one of the most
difficult things in the world to predict what the
agricultural behaviour of plants in bulk would be from
the behayiour of a few parent plants grown on a breed-
ing plot. Again, to introduce a new variety of cotton
of an impure strain, however slight the percentage of
impurity. or even to allow it to become contaminated
by natural crossing, much less by seed mixture, during
its propagation from the breeding plot to field cultiva-
tion, was simply to condemn it to the same failure
which had sooner or later resulted with every other
variety of cotton which had ever been developed in
Egypt or anywhere else in the world. This meant
that a system of continuous seed renewal was inevitable.
In developing this system, the prime essential was
that the strain should be a pure one, and it was
undesirable to introduce the use of any but Egyptian
stock. The work was restricted to strains which had
been obtained by choosing individual plants of commer-
cial Egyptian varieties. These plants and their
descendants had been self-fertilized for a number of
generations, and all their various characteristics
measured, registered, and studied, until such of them
as had been hybrids originally had been split down to
purity. Four strains were selected, and for two years
theenergies of the investigators were expended on
devising and executing methods whereby these four
pure strains could be propagated in sufficient quanti-
ty to sow 50 or 100 acres of land, without contamina-
tion from other cotton by natural crossing.
Seed mixture and natural crossing can be pre-
vented by the usual research precautions while under
laboratory control: and on the propagation plot they
can be minimized by surrounding certain areas
with a protective belt of plants of the same
variety, and only utilizing the seed from the protected
plants for sowing. Such a system, combined with a
system of seed distribution year by year, would have
provided for continual renewal of the seed of the
Egyptian crop. The inevitable deterioration of
a variety of cotton exposed to contamination in the
field would thus be counteracted by renewal from the
pure stock. This system of pure strain seed supply
was initiated in Egypt, but never carried through to
completion.
Natural crossing and therefore contamination of
strains must inevitably take place until a cotton plant
VOTRE OV lle No: 4:2)1:
is discovered or bred which is naturally self-fertilized.
The effect of such mixture is enormously increased
year by year. The presence of 2 per cent. of natural
hybrids in a handful of seed of pure strain can convert
30 per cent. of the individuals of that strain into
rogues at the end of only three years.
Trials were made of the four selected strains: one of
them turned out to be definitely superior to any other
Egyptian cotton from the agricultural point of view; a
second was remarkably good in every spinning test: a
third, first selected for propagation as being thoroughly
well known, turned out only moderately successful: while
the fourth, selected for the length of its lint, although
its yield was no better than had been anticipated,
showed that Egypt could grow cotton comparable to
that of the Sea Islands, if the necessary trouble were
taken.
The cultivation of these four strains has now been
abandoned, but the importance of guarding against
natural crossing has been shown by the fact that, one
strain which had been isolated sinze 1906, and was
pure when sown im the field eight years later in 1914,
was badly contaminated by 1917.
From the above it will be seen that the ordinary
commercial crop of cotton in Egypt, is, from the genetic
standpoint, far from being derived from pure strains;
there are innumerable differences existing in the plants
of a single field. Amongst these are those relating to
the length of the lint, over and above such modifica-
tions of lint length as may be caused by environment.
These genetic differences take two forms: (1) differences
in the mean maximum length of the lint produced on
any one seed, and (2) differences in the degree of
variation in lint length in difterent parts of the same
seed. Consequently a single plant (or equally, a pure
strain population of plants) may produce most irregular
jint, the hairs from one end of each seed being very
much shorter than those from the other end; while
every gradation is found between these extremes. On
the other hand, suitably chosen pure strains are capable
of producing lint more regular in staple than are our
present cottons.
The method of obtaining the length of cotton
lint from the mean maximum width of the halo made
by combing out the fibres gives areinarkably accurate
The
limitation to the method is its inapplicability to
ginned lint. A method is now ayailable for dealing
with the accurate measurement of ginned lint by
result in measuring lint attached to the seed.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
179
————
a mechanical arrangement, invented by Dr. Balls, which
is described at some length on another page of
issue. It that this would
offer possibilities of useful application in all places
where experimental cotton growing is carried out. It
is possible by the use of it to take a sample of
raw cotton, treat it for a few minutes only in an
automatic machine, weigh the graduated produce of
the machine's activity, and at the end of half an hour
to be able to plot frequency curves of a reasonable
and measurable degree of precision, showing the vari-
ation of length of staple within the sample.
this seems machine
At the conclusion of his paper Dr. Balls pointed out
that enquiries, begun with a scientific object, simply to
strengthen the foundations of knowledge about the
cotton plant, have quite unexpectedly produced results
of economic significance. In research of this kind
there can be no distinction between pure and applied
science. It is really quite immaterial what such
research is called, for it is in intention and execution
strictly scientific work carried out on an economic
material.
ECONOMIC VALUE OF GRASS TREES.
The economic value of grass trees (Xanthorrhea spp.) has -
formed a subject of investigation in South Australia. Atten-
tion was drawn to the matter, says the Sydney Irning
Herald (quoted by the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts),
on account of the fact that the resin known as yacka gum
appears likely to be of considerable commercial importance
in the future. yrass trees are not found outside
Australia, and they yield products the like of which
are not obtained from other plants. The grass tres, it may
be mentioned, is a plant with skrubby stems, tufts of long
wiry foliage at the summit, and a tall flower-stalk, with
a dense cylindrical spike of small flowers.
The only product at present of commercial impor-
tance obtained from these trees, is the resin, variously
known as gum acaroides, yacka gum, and _ grass-tree
gum. Previous to the present war, by far the greater
part of the output of resin was consumed by Germany.
The purposes for which it was used are not known
with any certainty. Inquiries made in 1910 led to the
explanation that it was used in Germany chiefly for the
manufacture of cheap furniture polish, and lacquer for
metal ware. It is not certain, however, that other uses
were not found for it. For instance, it is pointed out that
resin derived from a species of grass tree was one of
the earliest known sources of picric acid, a yield of 50
per cent. of which was said to have been obtained by
treating the resin with strong nitric acid. As picric acid is
one of the most widely usedof modern war explosives, and was
also formerly used to some extent as a dyestuff, an impres-
sion has arisen that the resin was being used for picric acd
manufacture. Dissolved in methylated spirit the resin g:ves
a spirit varnish of a deep orange-red colonr. The core and
leaves of the grass tree are further believed to Le useful in
the production of pulp tor paper-making, though it is found
somewhat difficult to bleach
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 15, 1918.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
GRENADA, Work in the Experiment Station and Botanic
Gardens during March and April was of a routine character,
and included the preparation of Jand for native provision
crops. Regarding staple crops, the Superintendent of
Agriculture states that the pickings of cacao were decreasing,
and the crop prospects not as good as last year. The cane
crop was smaller than usual. Ground provisions continued
to be fairly plentiful, and increased activity in preparing
land for the planting season was evident. The food crops
campaign work was progressing favourably. The dry season
has been much less severe than last year, and potato and
cassava planting has been continued. Mr. Moore mentions
that interest in Sea Island cotton growing is taking shape
in the proposed cultivation of 200 to 300 acres this year;
while the local Agricultural Department advises caution in
view of failure of previous trials through boll disease. The
rainfall recorded at Nichmond Hill during the month of
March was 2°49 inches; during April the precipitation
amounted to 1°60 inches.
AnTIGUA. Plant distribution during the month of May
included—Eucalyptus, 889; limes, 194; onion seedlings,
1,200; whitewood. 24; sweet potato cuttings, 25,000; cotton
seed, 1,479 tb. Work in the Experiment Station and Botanic
Gardens consisted for the most part of planting operations:
rains fell during the month, in consequence of which,
Mr. Jackson states, the young crop has considerably improved.
There are about 300 acres of cotton planted to date. A mod.
erately large area has been put under provision crops in
various parts of the island. The total number of crates of
onions shipped was 974. The quantity of seed-cotton
purchased by the Antigua Cotton Growing Association to
date was 25,967 tb. clean cotton, and 2,505 fb. stains. In
consequence of the rains referred to above, which fell
throughout the island, the agricultural outlook at the present
moment is considerably improved. ‘The precipitation regis-
tered for the month was 6°57 inches; for the year, 14°83
inches.
sv. KITTs. According to items forwarded by Mr. F. R.
Shepherd, in addition to routine work during the month of
May, planting operations were carried on in the Experiment
Station and Botanic Gardens. Plant distribution included
20 tb. Mazzagua Guinea corn, 600 Casuarina equisetifolia,
and 600 cuttings of ornamental plants. The reaping of the
sugar-cane crop in the Valley district and on the estates con-
nected with the Factory has been completed. The total crop
for the factory has been 7,300 tons of sugar. ‘The return of
canes was very poor, ranging from 20 tons to 9 tons per
acre, the average being about 12 tons. The young cane crop
in the early part of the month was ina critical condition,
but a rainfall of about 5 inches at the middle of the
month saved the situation. Since then there has been
no rain, which is now much needed, The rain enabled
growers in this district to plant cotton, The germination
has been excellent, but more rain is necessary to keep
the young plants alive. In the northern district, where
cotton was planted as early as January and lebruary, there
are some remarkably fine fields of cotton; all the cotton
in fact in that district has made a good start. The
rainfall recorded for the month was 6°19 inches; for the year
to date, 16°00 inches. From the 13th to the 16th the
precipitation registered was 5°25 inches. Since then there
has been absolutely no rain.
VIKGIN ISLANDS. Plant distribution during the month
of May consisted of 37 cobs of corn and 400 cane plant
tops. In addition, 300 Ib. of cotton seed were sold.
Mr. Fishlock states that considerably more interest is being
displayed in the cotton industry than was the case last year,
Attention is also being paid to the planting of provision
crops. There was little to report otherwise. The weather
was favourable, rain falling in measurable quantity on four-
teen days. The total rainfall recorded was 6:28 inches
as compared with 4°67, the average for the month for the
previous seventeen years.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The month of May closed with a rainfall below the
average in the sea-board parishes, but the weather in the
other parts of the island has been favourable. In the centre
of the island there has been sufficient rain to plant cereals
and vegetables of every kind. Year after year there is a great
disparity between the rainfall in the sea-board parishes and
that in the inland districts.
The Indian corn recently planted is springing well, and
the continued showers will do much to give it a healthy and
regular start. In most of Christ Church and St. Luey the
showers have been too light to plant much besides corn, but
even in these districts a commendable etfort has been made
by some planters to sow potatoes. In the more favoured
parts of the island some yams have been planted, and also
potatoes on a limited scale. The difficulty in these districts
has been to get the land tilled, and even with the rains that
have fallen the position will not be much changed while the
crops are being reaped. a
The returns to the Commissioners under the Vegetable
Produce Act for the planting of ground provisions have been
completed, but the fulfilment of the contracts of the planters
will depend upon the goodwill of the labourers, )
In the next fortnight the reaping of the cane crop on
the black soil will have been completed. On the red soil
also many estates will svon be finishing up, There will only be
a few windinills which will be grinding beyond the middle of
the month.
In spite of the general shortage of yield as compared with
last year, there are a few estates on which the return has been
very satisfactory. Seedling Ba 6032 still holds the premier
record tor heavy weight. We understand that this seedling
has given a return this year of nearly 50 tons of cane on an
estate in St. Andrew’s parish. (The Barbados Agricu/éyra/
Reporter, Jane 1, 1918.)
According to a British Consular Report, there is a
small experimental cultivation of sugar-cane in the French
zone in Morocco. our varieties were cultivated in 1916 at
the Jardin d’Essais withont irrigation, on an area for each
variety of 400 metres. ‘The yields obtained from the two of
them which were most productive were, respectively, 26 and
14:25 quintals per hectare, with a sugar content of 1b9 and
11:8 per cent In 1917, however, there was an important
falling off both in the yield and in the Sugar content, due
doubtless to the soil being deficient in plant food, as well ag
to frost. The trials are being transferred to more suitable
localities, and an attempt is being made to import from Brazil
varieties better adapted to the conditions in Morocco. (Che
International Sugar Journal, April 1918.) .
Vio, SAVE Aome Bg
MATERIAL FOR GENETIC INVESTI-
GATION IN THE TROPICS.
The study of the inheritance of characters in both plants
and animals has now reached the stage where a broad view
may be taken of the subject, in so far as it affects the practi-
eal agriculturist. When Mendel’s law was rediscovered in
1900, it was thought that the application of it to plant and
animal breeding would lead immediately to results of the
highest economic importance. But as time went on it was
seen that in respect of many points, where improvement was
urgently necessary, the application of Mendel’s law did not
Jead to the desired results.
One of the most destructive diseases of plants is the
rust disease of wheat, which causes an annual loss of many
millions of dollars. Ten years ago it was announced that
Bitten, of Cambridge, had discovered that resistance to rust is
a recessive. It was straightway thought that it would be an
-easy matter to send out desirable rust-resistant varieties to
replace the older kinds. So far as the present writer is
aware, no great change has resulted in the varieties of wheat
grown by English farmers. The evidence presented by
Biffen that resistance to rust is a simiple recessive is by no
means conclusive, and the work of Nilsson-Ehle has shown
that the whole matter may be much more complex. The
latter has found that in crosses between two sorts of high
resistance there were produced a number of lines, some of
which in F,, proved much more susceptible than either
parent.
It is of the highest importance to settle once and for all
the way in which resistance to rust in wheat is inherited, and
to determine how far such resistance is compatible with
economic characters.
So far, little progress has been made in the direction of
predicting what will happen when plants are crossed. Some
few things we can predict. If a new species of the Legumino-
sae were discovered in two forms, one with white flowers and
another with purple, it would be fairly safe to say that the
purple would be dominant over the white, but we cannot go
much further. What is needed more than anything else in
the science of genetics is an accurate survey of inheritance
in asingle genus. By an accurate survey is meant the
complete elucidation of the relation of all the possible
characters capable of examination, whether physiological or
morphological. In the study of a single character it should
not be -regarded as sufficient to generalise on the results of
100 F., plants and adozen F., families. To establish the
mode of inheritance of even one character, if it be inherited
simply, requires that many hundred F, plants should be
studied, and as many F., families as may be considered
necessary to establish the proportions in which occur the
three types AA, Aa,and aa. No hypotheses based on F,,
results alone can possibly be accepted as more than tentative.
The dangers of generalising from insufficient data are
illustrated from some work of the present writer which has
not reachetl the publishing stage. A cross was made be-
tween two plants possessing different types of pattern on the
seed coat, Aand B. The F, was always of type A. In the
F., the ratio between A and B was not exactly 3:1; there was
always a slight excess of type A. Out of 585 plants, 485
were Aand 100 were B- In faiilies of fifty plants the
ratio was often near the 3:1 characteristic of a single genetic
difference. A number of F., families were grown. Some of
the families bred true to A. The B families were composed of B
only. Others of the A families segregated into A and B. In
the heterozygous families the ratioof A to B was again dis-
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
131
torted by an excess of A, and the ratio of A to B was about
{9 to 1. The proportion of pure to impure domiants, as
revealed by their behaviour in F, was not 1 to 2. Ten fami-
lies bred true, and twelve segregated. From this and from
other evidence it was concluded that pattern A was due to
two factors, each of which could produce the pattern acting
alone, and the effect of the two when combined was the
same as the effect of either one. Further, the two factors
are coupled according to some system not yet worked out.
Had the results of the second geueration been taken, it might
have been supposed that one factor was concerned.
What are the characters necessary to render a plant
desirable for genetic investigation! The desirable characters
may perhaps be summarized as follows:—
(1) It should consist of a large number of different
forms which will cross readily, produce a large quantity of
selfed seed, and be easy of culture.
(2) It should not be affected by any destructive
fungoid disease, or by any insect pest likely to destroy the
plants completely.
(3) It should’come to maturity in a reasonably short
time, and be capable of culture at any time of year.
(4) It should be a perennial.
(5) It should be capable of being multiplied vegetative-
ly. It is perhaps impossible to discover an ideal plant. One
of the most promising seems to be the Castor plant (Aiczzus
communts). Another almost as good is the Pigeon pea
(Cajanus indicus.)
To working out the inheritance of characters in these two
plants it may be suggested that the best method would be to
lay out a piece of ground of, say, 5 acres, as a permanent
genetic experiment.
There could be, say, a row of 200 of each parent, and
a similar number of the F,. Next could follow, say, ten
families of F., each consisting of 100 plants. The F., fami-
lies would each consist of, say, 100 plants. The adoption of
this method would render possible a very thorough study of
inheritance in the plant chosen, Thecharacter could be
followed through three generations at a time, and if any
further evidence were required on any particular point, a fresh
culture could be obtained without much trouble.
Perhaps the main idea contained in these notes, upon
which it is necessary to lay stress, is that of permanency,
and the possibility of repeating work over and over again, if
necessary.
When a set of coherent principles applicable to any
plant have been established, and when the relations of genetics,
cytology, and chemistry have been elucidated, we may be able
to tell the practical man how far it is possible to give him
what he stands in need of. Of the science of breeding we
have as yet barely scratched the surface.
8.C.H
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Information has been received from Sir Francis
Watts, K.C.M.G., the Imperial Commissioner of Agri-
culture for the West Indies, that he had arrived in
New York on his return from Bahamas vid Florida.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Se., Entomologist on the staff
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has left
Hong-Kong on his return to the West Indies from
Egypt. When he returns, Mr, Ballou will have gone
round the world.
ne
Rg
to
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ended May 18, 1918, is as follows:—
IsLANDs. Since our circular report of the 4th instant
the market has been very quiet with no demand for the odd
bags classing Fine to Fully Fine, of which there are about
700 bales in stock remaining wnsold. Although the Factors
are showing more disposition to sell, they are unwilling to
admit that they would consent 1o make any markec conces-
sion to sell.
During the Jatter part of this week, there has been some
demand for the remaining Planter’s crops of Extra Fine,
resulting in the sale of them on private terms.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine foc. to 80c. = fire: to S2c., en.f.
Fine to Fully Fine 73c. to 74c.=75c. to 76c. -
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71¢.=72e.
to 73c., c.i.f.
Fine to Fully Fine. stained, 65c. =67e. c.if.
GEORGIAS AND FLoRIDAS. During the past fortnight the
market has continued very quiet with no demand.
The unsold stock is still held ona basis of
Choice 724c.
Freight to all New England points is difficult to get, the
Ocean Steamship Co. refusing to make any engagements for
the present.
The shipments from Savannah for the past two weeks
have been either Government cotton or contracts entered
into some time since.
In the absence of demand we renew our last quotations,
viz:—
Extra
Average Extra Choice
The exports from Savannah since May 4, have been, to
Northern Mills 1,350 bales, and from Jacksonville to North-
ern Mills, 839 bales.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSOCI-
ATION.
The one hundred and seventy-first meeting of the Coun-
cil of the British Cotton Growing Association was held at the
Offices, 15, Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday, May 7.
In the absence of the President (The Rt. Hon. the Karl
of Derby, K.G.) Mr. J. B. Tattersall oceupied the Chair.
WEST AFRICA. It is estimated that the purchases of
cotton in Lagos this season will not amount to more
than 5,000 bales; it now appears that the crop is smaller
than usual, and the Association’s manager reports that an
increased quantity of cotton is being used for the local
weaving industry, which has been revived on account of the
high cost of European manufactured cotton goods,
The purchases of cotton in Lagos to April 30 amounted
to 1,654 bales, as compared with 5,480 bales for the same
period of last year, 6,648 bales for 1916, and 1,880 bales
for 1915,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 15, 1918.
The purchases of cotton in Northern Nigeria to April 30
amounted to 2,238 bales, as compared with 3,540 bales for
the same period of last year, 9,617 bales for 1916, and 282
bales for 1915.
For the time being all shipments from West Africa
have been suspended with the exception of ground nuts,
palm oil, kernels, and tin ore; an embargo has been placed
on the shipment of cotton and cotton seed, but fortunately
the Association have had very little to ship for some months;
but a quantity of the new crop is now ready, and it is hoped
that arrangements may shortly be made for it to be shipped.
The Council are of opinion that the Government should
take steps to open up roads in Northern Nigeria, as urless
something is done in this direction there will never be any
great extension m cotton cultivation.
NYASALAND. A Jetter from the Director of Agriculture
for Nyasaland was read, stating that the returns for native
cotton, 1917, have been completed, and the crop amounted to
1,070 tons of seed-cotton (about 2,000 bales) against 944
tons in 1916. This is the second largest crop yet produced
by the natives, and there has been the keenest competition
for the crop, and no difficnlty in selling it to a large number
of interested buyers. The Director of Agriculture states that
the results are splendid in view of all the work the natives
have been called upon to do, and demonstrate the popu-
larity of cotton growing in the districts provided with
reasonable transport.
UGANDA. ‘The Association’s local manager reports that
the crop this season is not likely to amount to more than
50 per cent. of the average crop or, say, 15,000 to
20,000 bales; it had been anticipated that there would
be a crop of 40,000 bales, and the result, which is
due to unfavourable weather during the planting and
growing seasons, is very disappointing. At the same time
the prospects of any cotton bought this year in Uganda
being shipped from Mombasa are not at all promising, and it
may be that the cotton will have to be held in the country
for some considerable time.
GENERAL. It was reported that the Annual Meeting of
the Textile Institnte had been held in Manchester on May 3,
and that the Meeting had been addressed by Sir Arthur Steel
Maitland, M.P., Head of the Department of Overseas Trade,
who made an interesting reference to the Association. As
a former Under Secretary of State for the Colonies be bore
testimony to the good work which has been done by the
British Cotton Growing Association under the Chairmanship
of Mr. Hutton, and said that up to the present this is the
only instance on the partof British manufacturers in any
trade, to combine together to provide supplies of their raw
materials
A LENGTH-SORTING MACHINE FOR
COTTON FIBRES.
This machine, to which reference is made in the
editorial, has been devised for the measurement of the cotton
fibres in ginned lint, in sufficient quantity to eliminate
sampling error, and to determine not only the mean maximum
length of the sample of fibre, but also the distribution of
lengths of all kinds, and to do these operations quickly. A
comparatively simple mechanical arrangement, which can
be worked up to various degrees of operative complexity for
the sake of making the mechanism automatic, has been
invented, and a provisional patent has been obtained for it.
Dr. Balls describes this length-sorting machine in the
paper already largely drawn upon in the editorial of this
Vou. XVID. No. 421.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
number. He says that it consists primarily of a pair of revolv-
ing rollers which, as they revolve, are traversed, or translated
bodily along a path at right angles to their axis of rotation.
The cotton to be examined is first run through ordinary
drafting mechanism, so as to cause the hairs to lie parallel
and straight, and this ‘sliver’ is presented to the rollers
at the beginning of a traverse until they have seized a_ milli-
metre or so of the front end of the foremost hairs.- The
sliver is then drawn away, leaving in the nip of the rollers
a tuft of hairs which are all held by their front ends.
The rollers continue to revolve, and obviously the first
hairs to be delivered from them on the other side will be the
shortest hairs, while the longest hairs will be the last to
escape, since all started with their front ends level. But
since this feeding action of the rollers is combined with, and
positively geared to the motion which® canses the traverse,
it follows that the short hairs will escape on to a suitable
collecting device at the beyinning of the traverse, the long
ones at its completion, and intermediate lengths at interme-
diate points. Thus the cotton is fractionated by a contin-
uous cycle of operations, repeated as many times as is
convenient, not merely into separate parcels of hairs but
into a graduated series which may be subdivided to any
degree desired.
COTTON CULTIVATION IN BARBADOS.
According to the Barbados Agricultural Reporter, Jane
1, 1918, ata meeting of the Agricultural Society held the
day before, a letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary
dated May 22 was read, informing the Society that
the Acting Governor had received a telegram from the
Secretary of State for the Colonies asking that, as far as
possible, the acreage of land planted in Sea Island cotton in
that island might be increased. The Imperial Government
would purchase all the cotton of the next crop, and no
quantity could be too large for their requirements. His
Excellency had been advised that there was land in the island
which would grow good cotton, but poor cane, and that
a considerable portion of this land, formerly planted in
cotton, had been, owing to the tempting price of sugar,
planted in cane. His Excellency would be obliged if the
Society could further the interests of the Imperial Govern-
ment by using their influence as far as possible to induce
planters to revert to the cultivation of cotton on such land.
“The grant of a bounty on cotton cultivation in Barbados had
been recommended by His Excellency-in- Executive Committee,
and this matter would shortly be brought to the notice of
the House of Assembly. As a preliminary step the Govern-
ment intended to issue posters and leaflets appealing for the
increased cultivation of cotton wherever practicable. His
Excellency asked the Society to consider the matter at their
next meeting.
In regard to this subject, the President of the Society,
Sir F. J. Clarke, K-C.M.G., stated that formerly Barbados
cotton fetched a price within the range of prices quoted
for superfine cotton and not very much below that of
St. Vincent cotton. After the Admiralty commandeered the
West Indian Sea Island crop a communication was received
stating that Baroados cotton would be relegated to a lower
grade, and consequently fetch a very much lower price.
Under such circumstances, there was no encouragement to
cotton growers in Barbados to continue the cultivation of
cotton on a large scale.
That there has been a very large decrease in the output
of cotton from Barbados during the last four or five years is
evident from the official returns. of the cotton exported.
183
In 1907-8 the total export of Sea Island cotton from
Barbados was given as 988,473 Ib. In the year 1915-16
the export had dropped to 132,733 tb., whereas from other
cotton-growing islands, notably St. Kitts-Nevis and Mont-
serrat, the average production has been fairly well maintained.
As is pointed out by Dr. Balls in his paper dealt with
in this issue with regard to Egyptian cotton, the contamin-
ation by natural crossing or by seed mixture of any type
of cotton means deterioration in the product, Continual
and careful seed selection is imperatively necessary for pre-
serving a type of cotton of superfine grade.
In a letter from Mr. J. W. McConnel published in the
West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XVI, p. 90, reference is made to
the statement of a speaker at the West Indian Cotton Confer-
ence to the effect that in the case of Barbados, where there
was no elaburate process of selection for purposes of general
seed supply, and where yields and types fluctuated consid-
erably, the cotton had yet always commanded a _ good
price; he says, ‘I entirely disagree with this statement
as showing that seed from mixed types would give satisfactory
lint. Ido not think the best cotton growers in Barbados
would accept this description of their ideals, and so far as it
is the practice in Barbados, it may explain the great failing
off there has been for many years in its production of cotton.’
INCREASED USE OF ‘CUNAS’
CHINESE GAMBIER.
According to the /owrnal of the Royal Society of Arts
for March 8, 1918, there was an increased trade in ‘cunas’ or
Chinese Gambier in South China during 1916; the value of
the trade in this product in Hong-Kong alone is nearly 30,000
short tons (of 2,900 tb.) annually. The product is one of
great value, and merits the attention of dyers. It has been
used by the Chinese for many generations for dye and pre-
servative purposes, and, since the disappearance of aniline
dyes from the Chinese market as a result of the war, it is
coming into still more general use.
The dye is the oroduct of crushing and soaking the root
of a plant known by the Chinese as ‘cunas’, and drawing off
and concentrating the liquor therefrom. It is of a brown
colour, is highly astringent, works well with various mor-
dants, and is used extensively by the Chinese for dyeing both
silk and cotton, a certain class of silk dyed with it being one
of the standard cloths of South China. The coarser quality
is also the chief component part of a mixture applied to
fishing-nets, sails, and similar fabrics to prevent rot. The
product seems to have all the merits of gambier, and in
general is much cheaper.
It might be worth while to remind readers of the
Agricultural News of an attempt which was made so far
back as 1891 to introduce the Gambier plant (Uxcaria
Gambier) into the West Indies. A description of such intro-
duction was given in this Journal (Vol. II, p. '58), in the
form of an abstract from an account by Sir Daniel (then Dr.)
Morris, published in the Kew Audletin, 1891, pp 104-9
and reprinted in the /Ves/ Jndian Bu/lletin (Vol. TV, p. 80).
Unfortunately the attempt did not prove a success. Plants
were sent to Jamaica, british Guiana, Trinidad, St. Vincent,
and Dominica. In Trinidad the plants, although they pro-
duced flowers, never set seed;im Dominica also no seed: was
produced; in British Guiana one plant only, which was tried
in the forest region of the interior, flourished. Whether
further attempts at tmtroduction have been made, and with
what measure of success, the writer of this note is not aware,
OR
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 15, 1918.
184
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BARBADOS,
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
@pecimens for naming, should be addressed to the
mmissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applicatiens for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and { W. BR. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Mal adlicists H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.+
har J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.tt
CLERICAL STAFF,
Chief Cleri: A. G. Howell.
L, A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
tSeconded for Duty in Equpt.
tt+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Agricultural Hews
Vow. XVII.
Typist
SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1918. No. 421.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this issue gives'a résumé of a paper
by Dr. W. L. Balls on some applications of research to
the cotton industry.
Insect Notes, on page 186, contain descriptions of
some insect pests in Cuba, and the measures taken to
control them.
Some notes on the red rust of cacao are given
under, Plant Diseases, on page 190,
On page 1Si some suggestions will be found for
the prosecution of genetic investigation of plants 1D
the tropies
The ‘Station Agronomique de la Guadeloupe’.
This agricultural station which has recently been
established in the French island of Guadeloupe in the
interests of the sugar industry, is now at work. The
establishment is unofficial in its standing, being:
financed by a syndicate of sugar manufacturers. Mr. J. S..
Dash, B.S. A., formerly Assistant Superintendent of Agri-
culture in Barbados, has been appointed Director. He
has his office and laboratory in Pointe-a-Pitre, while
the experiment fields of the station are about 24 miles
out of the town. — It is intended after the war to erect.
more suitable permanent official buildings at the
station itself.
Under the direction of Mr. Dash the station will
doubtless prove of great benefit to the sugar-cane
industry in Guadeloupe. It would seem that the most
important function of the station will be the raising of
seedling canes suitable to local conditions.
TT
Dying Out of Clumps of Sudan Grass.
A case has recently come to notice in regard to-
the dying out of clumps of Sudan grass, which illus-
trates a condition lable to occur in the growing of
fodder grasses of this type in dry situations.
This condition is essentially the same thing as the
so-called root disease of sugar-cane, which is really
only the form which failure takes when some condition
necessary for growth is deficient. Most commonly it
is brought about by shortage of water—which of course
is most severe in a shallow soil—or by poorness of soil.
In this particular instance, the heavy drain on the
vitality of the plants caused by frequent cuttings in
dry weather (when even if plenty of manure is supplied
there is not enough water to enable the plant to make
use of it) is quite enough to account for the trouble.
The case of sugar-cane, which is only a grass after all, is
similar: in deep soil in well-watered countries it can be
grown for twenty years or more without replanting, but
in the dry parishes of Barbados for example, it has to be
replanted every year to give a good return. The
Barbados planters method with sugar-cane should be
copied for Sudan grass, viz., frequent replanting in
ground rested by growing a different crop, and heavy
manuring. It would also be well, if possible, to trash
the ground in dry weather.
a i
Efficient Drainage.
The fundamental necessity of etticient drainage
has been Jong known to agriculturists, as also the
fact that efforts to induce fields to yield more abundant
crops are largely futile where the land is imperfectly
drained.
An article in the Field, May 11,1918, on this
subject, very truly states that although improve-
ments in other respects besides draining are necessary
to render land fertile, and to maintain it ina_ highly
productive state, it is no exaggeration to say that the
first and chief essential is the affording of proper facili-
ties for the escape of superabundant water, not only on
the surface, but under it. The harm done by water
Vor, XVIL No. 421.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
135
lying on the surface is quickly revealed, and as a result,
measures are usually taken to provide forits speedy
escape from land under crops—a proeess not entailing
great expenditure asa rule. Subterranean drainage
is a much more serious and complicated attair, while
its influence upon the fertility of the land is correspond-
ingly great and far-reaching. Stagnant water under
the surface isas great a hindrance to the growth of
plants as water on the surface, and its harmful influence
spreads far more widely, neutralizing all other efforts
to promote increased fertility, thus giving 1t an Impor-
tance much exceeding that attaching to any temporary
surface flooding.
eee
False and True Economy in Food.
One of the vitamines that is necessary for the
maintenance of health is always found present in cer-
tain animal fats. It is found in butter fat and also in
the fat of eggs. Consequently it is false economy in
arranging a dietary to reduce the consumption of dairy
products, for this vitamine though not present in veget-
ables except in the leaves of certain plants, is obtained
in milk and butter. The use of these substances in the
human diet is the greatest safeguard to nutritive food.
As an article in the Journal of Agriculture, Victoria,
Australia, March 1918, remarks, the first and safest
way to economise in diet is in the consumption of
meat. Human beings can do without meat without
any detriment to health or strength; they only have
to give up the pleasure that is derived from eating
meat. Most human beings like meat, and it will
probably continue to be an article of human food.
Besides, other industries are dependent upon the beef
industry; the leather industry for instance. But
nevertheless, wherever it is necessary to economise in
the dietary, the wise thing to do is to lessen the
expenditure on meat while keeping the consumption
of butter and milk, using meat chiefly for conferring
palatability on vegetables, and in the form of soups
and gravies. Especially could this be done with
advantage by the inhabitants of the tropics.
ee ee
New Strain of Cowpea.
The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and its con-
cener the black-eye pea (Vigna Catjang) have been
cultivated in the West Indies as green dressings or
articles of diet from a very early period. As was
pointed out in an article on these peas in the Agri-
cultural News, Vol. XIII, p. 370, the imported strains
of cowpeas from America have been found to be very
susceptible to attacks of insect pests, and it was
suggested that work in selection and cross-breeding in
these plants might prove of value. We are glad to
notice that Mr. S. C. Harland has been experimenting
in this direction, and has produced a hardier strain
of cowpea, which at the same time is very productive.
He proposes that this varicty be known as the
‘St. Vincent brown-eye’ pea. Small parcels of this
new pea have been forwarded for trial to the ofticers
in charge of the Experiment Stations in other islands,
The Vanilla Crop in the French West Indies.
The Perfumery and Essential Oil Record, April
1918, states, on the authority of the United States of
America Consul in Guadeloupe, that the crop of vanilla
of that island for 1917, the picking of which commenc-
ed in December, is expected to be at least 55 per cent.
larger than the output of 1916, which amounted to
73,000 tb. of cured beans. Until November 1 there
was every indication that the coming crop would be
an especially fine one, but from that time on the dry
weather caused many of the beans to drop off, thus
spoiling the chances of a record year. The action of
the French Government in prohibiting the importation
of Mexican vanilla, will probably increase the demand
in France for beans from her West Indian colonies.
The exports of vanilla from Martinique for 1916 were
valued at $3,610, as compared with $7,412 for the
previous year. This decrease is stated to have been
largely due to inability to obtain transport facilities.
> © Ome
Butter Substitutes in Trinidad.
The Port-of-Spain Gazette, April 14, 1918, states
that the recipe for making coco-nut butter has met
with the greatest appreciation in that colony as well
as in the Northern Islands. Coco-nut butter is largely
employed for family use, being made regularly in
small quantities. Some enterprising firms in Port-of-
Spain have begun manufacturing on commercial lines
coco-nut butter prepared by some patented method,
whereby it can be preserved for months. This article
is coming into general use at present in the colony,
It is said that scrupulous cleanliness and care are
observed in the manufacture. The following certificate
by the Acting Government Analyst shows that the
local butter substitute is quite up to the mark of any
such preparations. The local butter is certified to
contain: non-fatty organic matter, 1:00; salt, 3°10;
water, 12°85; fat, 83:05. With the large local supply
of coco-nuts, Trinidad ought to be independent, at
least during the war, of imported butter.
RR
Nutritive Value of Butter Substitutes.
Apropos of the question of butter substitutes, it
may be useful to direct attention to the following
conclusions drawn from experiments to determine the
nutritive value of margarins and butter substitutes
with reference to their content of fat-soluble accessory
growth substance, published in the Experiment
Station Record, April 22, 1918:—
‘The fat-soluble accessery growth substance is
present in beef-fat and “oleo-oil”, and is present in
margarins prepared upon such a basis. Such margarins
are nutritively the equivalent of butter.
‘Coco-nut oi!, cotton-seed oil. arachis oil, and
hydrogenated vegetable oils contain little or none of
this accessory substance, hence margarins prepared with
a basis of these fats have not an equal nutritive value
to that of butter. Nut butters prepared from crushed
nuts and vegetable fats are similarly not equal to butter,’
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
JuNE 15, 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
SOME INSECT PESTS IN CUBA.
In the Jast number of the Agricultural News (No. +20,
p- 174) an account was given of the Decree establishing the
Commission of Plant Sanitation in Cuba. This Commission
was established in 1916 to deal with the important problems
in the contro] of insect pests and plant diseases with which
Cuba is contronted at the present time.
It may be of interest to give some notes on the chiet
insect pests with which the Commission has been concerned
since its establishment
THE SPINY CITRUS WHITE FLY (Aleurocanthus woglumt).
In the gricu/tural News tor January 13, 1917, there
was published an account of this insect, giving its early history,
its appearance and spread in a district in the eastern part of
Cuba, and the measures taken to control it there up to the
end of October 1916. The following notes on the subse-
quent history of this pest in Cuba up to the end of 1917 are
taken from Audletin No. 7 of the Commission of Plant
Sanitation in Cuba, and from an article by P. Cardin in the
Revista de Agricultura, Comercio y Trabajo, March 1918.
Mr. Cardin is Chief of the Department of Entomology at the
Agricultural Experiment Station, and a member of the said
Commission.
The spiny white tly was first discovered in Cuba in
Angust 1915 in a small area in the Guantanamo valley, and
further inspection showed that there were a number of
smaller infestations in the district of Guantanamo, and the
city of Guantanamo was found to be thoroughly infested.
While species of citrus, mainly’oranges and lemons, are the
favourite food-plants of this pest, a number of other plants,
such as coffee, guava, mango, sapodilla, etc., are also
attacked. This white fly is a serious pest of citrus in the
neighbouring island of Jamaica, and it is now consid-
ered that it gained entrance to the Guantanamo district
through the nearest port of Santiago de Ciba, between
which port and Jamaica there is frequent communi-
cation. From July 1916 to January 1917 the largest in-
fested area was sprayed repeatedly, and the trees were restored
to good condition, although not entirely freed from the pest.
Owing to the internal troubles which occurred in Cuba
during the early months of 1917, the control work against
the spiny white fly had to be suspended, and no further report
is available.
In November 1916 this insect was found in Havana,
and it seems probable that the infestation originated with
the introduction of mango plants from Guantanamo
some two years previously. Further inspection determined
the fact that the spiny white fly was present in several
suburbs of Havana, and in some of the smaller towns to the
south of the city. Control measures were started immediate-
ly and have been carried on subsequently.
Mr. Cardin supplies some details of interest in
connexion with the life-cycle of A/eurocanthus woglumt.
The eggs are laid on the underside of the leaves,
and after hatching, the insect passes through three
stages before becoming adult. Asis the case with other
white flies, it is during these intermediate stages between egg
and adult that the actual damage is done. Ina bad infes-
tation the underside of the leaves is almost completely
covered with an incrustation of minute, shiny black, spiny,
seale-like insects, while the film of ‘black blight’, which often
accompanies outbreaks of scale insects, white flies and mealy-
bugs, further adds to the blackened appearance of the leaves.
A bad infestation causes the leaves to curl up, turn yellow,
and eventually fall. The adults have dark bluish-grey wings,
and bright reddish orange bodies.
The complete life-cycle, according to Cardin, occupies
rbout sixty-five days, so that there may be five generations
a year. The adult females are estimated to lay about forty
eggs on an average. This pest is therefore capable of a
rapid increase in a comparatively short time.
Among the enemies of the spiny white fly in Cuba are
ants; a small spider, in the webs of which large numbers of the
adults are caught; and a ladybird beetle (Chz/ocorus cact?).
A species of Aschersonia fungns also attacks this pest, and
experiments are being made with this fungus. Heavy rains
are said to be detrimental to this white fly.
The Commission, of Plant Sanitation is making every
effort to control this increasingly serious pest by prohibiting
the importation of any of the food-plants from other infest-
ed countries, by restricting the transportation of plants
within the island of Cuba, and by establishing an inspection
service in this connexion.
FROGHOPPER (Jonecphera bicincta).
1
This insect has been known in Cuba since 1910 as
occasionally attacking sugarcane and certain forage grasses.
It came into prominence towards the end of 1916, when it
was discovered to have destroyed large areas of grass pasture
in the main cattle-raising district of the island. This pastur-
age consists mainly of the so-called ‘Parana’ or ‘Panama’
grass (Panicum numidianum), among which Guinea grass
(Panicum maximum) is sometimes found. Among other
species of grass attacked by the froghopper are Susghim
halepense and Andropogon muricatus. The worst outbreaks
of this pest occurred in the midst of fertile pastures where
the grass was in a vigorous condition, and the attacks of the
froghoppers resulted in the complete drying up of large areas,
the grass being either killed outright or so weakened that it
was overrun by weeds. The damage is done mainly by the
nymphs, or immature stages, which attack the base of the
plant and the roots near the collar, gradually sucking the
plant dry. The adults also do some damage in this way, but
fortunately their period of existence is somewhat shorter.
The following details of the life-history of this pest
may be of interest. The eggs were found to be laid on the
soil close to the plant in protected places. In the wet season
the eggs hatch in from twelve to twenty days, but under dry
conditions the eggs may remain unhatched as long as four
months until rains come, when they are able to hatch. This
pest is found in greatest abundance during the rainy months
from July to November. The nymphs moult four times
before reaching the adult stage, and in the younger stages
are covered with a white froth, hence the name ‘spittle
insects’. The complete development occupies from thirty-two
to forty days, under favourable conditions,
Various methods are suggested for the control of the
froghopper in pastures. In the case of bad infestations it is
recommended that the dried up areas be burnt over, the fire
being controlled by fire-guards, By this means it is hoped
to destroy the different stages from egg toadult, though it
seems probable that a certain proportion of the adults will
escape. It is further suggested that the adults should
be collected by the use of trap-lights, but the value of these
as a means of control is questionable. The use of a machine
somewhat resembling the ‘hopperdozer’ is also suggested for
collecting the adult froghoppers. This apparatus consists of
an upright, oblong framework covered with cloth which is
smeared with tar or tanglefoot. his machine is dragged
across the fields on runners, and catches a number of the
Vions eGVit. No, 491).
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
187
adults which fly up at its approach and are trapped by the
sticky material. The rough, uneven nature of many of the
Cuban pastures, large areas of which have been in timber,
makes the use of a machine of this type somewhat difficult.
The employment of the green muscardine fungus, which is
present in Cuba, is also suggested as a further remedy against
the froghopper.
THE SUGAR-CANE MEALY-BUG (Pserdococcus SaCChGrl).
This insect causes serious injury to sugar-cane in some
parts of Cuba by attacking both the roots and the stalk. In
mild infestations it produces a stunted appearance in the
canes, but in certain areas the mealy-bugs occur in such
numbers as to kill the canes outright. It is stated that in
some places the poor cane is burnt over, the fields ploughed,
and new cane is planted, but usually replanted cane fails to
grow since the young shoots are killed off by the swarms of
mealy-bugs. It was at first thought probable that other
factors might have contributed to the death of the canes, and
a thorough examination was made
Termites were abundant in many places among tlie
roots and stubble of the cane, but only in dead parts. A few
white grubs were found, but there was no evidence of injury
to the roots of the cane by these insects. Fungi were not
present in quantity to cause them to be suspected of injuring
healthy plants. The soil conditions were found to be as good
in the infested areas as in the non-infested. There only
remained the mealy-bug to be held responsible for the trouble.
This pest is considered to be the most serious insect
problem in relation to sugar-cane in Cuba, and further study
is urged in order to determine the exact distribution of this
insect, and to discover methods for its control.
J.C.H.
THE ENZYMES OF SOME TROPICAL
PLANTS.
A paper on the above subject by Harvey C. Brill, Chief
of the Division of Organic Chemistry, Bureau of Science,
Manila, appears in Zyopical Life, April 1918,. from which
the following is mainly taken.
An interesting part of biological chemistry is the study
of enzymes and their properties. Much is known regarding
enzymes, but much is still to be discovered with regard to
their functions in the growth of the plant, and their effect
on digestive processes when taken into the human body along
with food.
Some of the foods we are accustomed to eat uncooked
contain enzymes of various kinds, and in different quantities.
For example, Chittenden has investigated the pine-apple, and
studied the proteolytic enzyme present init. He calls this
enzyme bromelin, from the botanic name of the family of
plants to which the pine-apple belongs. Bromelin digests egg
albumen and blood fibrin. A rennet-like ferment is associated
with bromelin. Instead of purchasing pepsin at druggists’
shops, which in many cases is worthless, because of faulty
preparation, Mr. Brill suggests that it would be more profit-
able and agreeable to dyspeptics to purchase and consume
pine-apples.
Another proteolytic enzyme is papain, which is obtained
from the fruit of the papaw. Mr. Brill says that the ripe
papaw fruit has all the virtues of the drug sold as papain,
and besides is a delicious fruit. It is certain that this
opinion is widely held in the West Indies, and it is claimed
in these islands that many dyspeptics have been cured, or at
any rate very much benefited, by regularly partaking of ripe
papaws along with their meals. Papain is considered to be
indentical with, or at least to resemble, bromelin very. closely.
The banana has recently been thoroughly investigated
for enzymes. This fruit is rich in ferments, «iving evidence
of the presence of enzymes which influence ti. digestion of
starch, sugar, proteins, and fats. Thus banauus eaten along
with breakfast aids the digestion of all the materials which
generally compose that meal.
The mango also contains a proteolytic enzyme which
has properties similar to those of bromelin.
Tt would thus appear that these four prominent fruits
of the tropics, the pine-apple, papaw, banana, and mango
have a positive food value other than that of nutrition, in
that they aid in the digestion of other foods.
The simple synthetic food tablet which was to carry the
necessary food elements—protein, fat, and carbohydrates—
in the relative proportions demanded by the human body for
its growth, development, and performance of its daily duty,
must now be relegated to the dreams of pseudo-science.
The process of assimilating food is a much more complex
one than was once believed, and the perfect food of the
future will hardly be prepared in tablet form.
A BERRY POISONOUS TO FOWLS.
The order of plants, So/amaceae, to which the potato
belongs, contains species possessing very different qualities,
Some are extremely poisonous, and others, as are well known,
are among the most nutritious of vegetables. These differing
properties occur in different species even of the same genus,
as is the case in the genus Solanum. The berries for instance
of Solanum melongena, known as the egg plant or Melongéne,
are a wholesome article of food. The berries of other well-
known West Indian species, such as those of the bitter berry
or canker berry (.Sodanwm igneum), although distinctly bitter
in flavour, are, as far as the writer of this note knows, per-
fectly innocuous, and are quite freely eaten by children in
the West Indies without any deleterious effects. There are,
however, some species of this genus the berries of which are
very poisonous. Among these is So/anum seaforthianum.
This is a South American species, cultivated as a climber in
West Indian gardens, and is one of the lighter varieties of
climbing plants, with deeply lobed leaves as muchas 6 inches
in length, and produces graceful racemes of light blue flowers,
the expanded petals of which measure about ?-inch across,
with a centre of bright yellow coherent anthers, making a
very pretty contrast. These flowers are succeeded by bunches
of berries which turn a brilliant red when ripe, each about
t-inch in diameter, and containing many seeds, which are
covered with a dense mass of hairs.
In the West Indies these berries have always been
considered poisonous, and children are warned against them.
It appears however that these berries have proved to be very
poisonous to fowls in Queensland, where also the plant has
been introduced for ornamental purposes. In the Australian
Sugar Journal, March 7, 1918, it is stated that Mr. Henry
Tryon, Government Entomologist and Vegetable Pathloogist,
has been investigating cases of poisoning amongst fowls which
he attributes to the berries of this plant. These are consumed,
it is stated, with avidity by fowls. Under these circumstances,
it will be well for poultry keepers to be aware ot growing
this plant in situations where theiz fowls can obtain access to
the berries. It is not stated whether the berries, which fall
only after they are almost quite dry, -till retain in their dry
condition this poisonous property. Caution, however should
be used in allowing poultry to eat the berries even when drv¥
on the ground. :
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 15, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
According to the London Daily Express, Aprii 30, 1918,
Jamaica pine-apples had not reached the English market
for eighteen months, but a large consignment had just
arrived, with a quantity of Canary bananas and grape fruit.
It is stated that molasses made from pine stuinps, and
called ‘pintose’ has been exhibited in New Orleans. This
pine molasses is described as well adapted for use as a filler
in stock feeds. It looks like poor cane blackstrap molasses,
but has not the same feeding value, and, by itself, is indiges-
tible. (The Zowisiana Planter, May 18, 1918.)
From an experiment conducted in Mysore, it would
seem that prickly pear might be profitably used for paper
pulp if the spines and massive flesh could be removed by
some cheap and easy method. The remaining fibres produced
pulp suitable for paper, when mixed with longer-fibred pulp
-of some other raw material. (The IWealth of /ndia, February
1918.)
One of the most notable war developments of Indian
agriculture has been the revival of the natural indigo industry.
With the cessation of supplies of synthetic indigo from Ger-
many, the area under indigo increased from 148,400 acres in
1914-15 to 756,400 acres in 1916-17. Every effort is being
made to give the present revival of the natural dye a_per-
manent character. (The /ze/d, May 4, 1918.)
A greater production of manioc, yams, sweet potatoes,
and other tubers is this year assured in Ceylon. An effort to
encourage the cultivation of these crops in the principal
rubber-growing areas has been made. In one section an
increase of over 100 acres is recorded, and this is mainly
under yam crops and vegetables. (The Zyopical Agri-
culturist, March 1918.)
The advantages of using goats’ milk are: (1) that the
goat eats about one-sixth of the quantity of food required by
a mileb cow; (2) tbat for nine or ten months it yields 3 to 5
litres of milk which can be safely taken uncooked; because
(3) goats are very seldom affected by tuberculosis; and
(4) that the fat in the milk, being in very fine emulsion, is
easily digested. (The I ea/th of India, February 1918.)
More than one independent line of argument will be
found to point to the conclusion that ina period of 2,000
years there has been no appreciable change of climate in
the world. Therefore the balance of the heat exchanges
between the earth’s income from the solar radiation, and its
expenditure in terrestria) radiation into space, may be regard-
ed ax only fluctnating between ‘narrow limits. (Wature,
May 2, 191%.)
The . /nternational Sugar Journal, April 1918, states
that according to Facts About Sugar, the Santo Domingo
sugar crop will be fully up to expectations. 200,000 tons of
cane being the estimate. A new central, La Romana, is
being erec:ed to grind 2,000 tons of cane per twenty four
hours, with provision for expansion to 4,000 tons.
According to the Zow/stana Planter, May 18, 1918,
operations with the Luce cane harvester in the fields of Cen-
tral Mercedes in Cuba have been very satisfactory. The
harvester, operating in short rows of 400 feet, in cane
averaging 20 tons per acre, harvests a little over || tons an
hour. In jionger rows it could do much better than this. On
account of the necessity of turning the machine round at the
end of a 400-foot row, work is necessarily slower than it
would be in longer rows. -
Development of the honey industry in the West Indies,
in the interests of the English food supply, is under the
consideration of the West India Committee. Some of the
finest honey in the world comes from Jamaica, which exports
to England some 500 tonsa year. But the other British
West Indies produce little honey, though well suited
for it. It is suggested that at least half a million bee hives
might be put down this year between the Bahamas and
Trinidad, and an increase of production by 5,000 to 10,000
tons. (The Yorkshire Post, April 27, 1918.)
The protection and preservation of insect-eating birds
is a matter of urgent necessity. Difference of opinion exists
as to the economic status of a few species, but all who have
studied economic ornithology and entomology are agreed:
(1) that the great majority of wild birds are beneficial to
man; (2) that insect-eating and vermin-eating species in
particular are invaluable to him in field and garden; (3) that
children should not be permitted to take part in the destruc-
tion of birds and eggs, even of species deemed injurious,
since useful ones inevitably suffer also. (The /ve/d, May 4,
1918.)
The 7Zyopical Agriculturist, March 1918, refers to
experiments made in Ceylon on the preservation of coco-nuts
by storing them under different conditions. These experi-
ments showed that nuts in the husk, stored in the open, lost
their water in nine months, and all germinated between the
seventh and ninth month. Nuts, however, stored under
shade ina dry place, lost their water in six months, and
were all sound at the end of twelve months. It is pointed
out that in storing nuts care must be taken that no heating
takes place by over-heaping, and that the husks should be
perfectly dry before storing.
Professor William Bateson, in opening the meeting of
the Royal Society of Arts, April 10, 1918, said in the course
of his speech that anyone who knew something of genetic
science and its possibilities would feel amazed at the practices
which prevailed on rubber plantations in the Malay Penin-
sula. He was quite sure that the application of trained
intelligence for a few years would work a revolution. Good,
bad, and indifferent plants were being cultivated; all sorts
were grown together, oceupying ejual space and attention.
In a reasonable time it ought to be possible to produce a pure
strain of the best trees only. The same thing also applied
to coco-nuts. (The Journal of the Roval Society af Arts,
May 3, 1918.)
Vote evil, No 421'.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
189
AGRICUL-
TORTOLA: REPORTS
TURAL DEPARTMENT, 7915-26 AND 1916-77.
ON THE
The reports on the Agricultural Department of the
Virgin Islands, for the years 1915-16 and 1916-17 have just
been issued together. It appears that the publication of the
former was delayed through unavoidable circumstances,
hence the publication of the two reports together. _
In the report for 1915-16 we notice that the Curator,
Mr. Fishlock, thinks that the Governor plum, of which there
is a hedge at the Botanic Station, Tortola, ought to be named
Flacourtia sepiaria and not /. Ramontchi, on the ground that
the latter grows to a small tree, whereas the former is
ashrub. This is quite true, but nevertheless, as was stated
in a note in the Agricultural News, Vol. XIV, p. 339,
the species fairly well spread throughout the West Indies,
and successfully grown as a hedge not only in Tortola but
in St. Lucia and Dominica as well, is #. Ramontchi, which
like other small trees, lignum vitae fer instance, forms a
capital hedge, if kept well trimmed. “As far as we know,
there is only one specimen of /: sep/arta in the smaller
islands, and that is in the Botanic Garden, Dominica. This
is a slow growing shrub with small, oval berries, quite
distinct from the fairly large, round berries of “2 Ramovzetche.
The tone of the two reports is markedly different. That
of the first is hopeful; of the second, one ean only say that it
is but slightly removed from despondency. Nor is this to be
wondered at, when it is remembered that the Virgin Islands,
especially Tortola, experienced the {ull violence of a destruc-
tive hurricane in October 1916, which greatly damaged all
the crops of the Presidency. We can only hope that the
energetic efforts which were evidently made to repair the
damage caused by the hurricane have met with success in
the year just passed.
The establishment in 1915 of a Cotton Seed Farm,
mainly for the purpose of producing seed of dependable
quality, and of a pure strain suitable to local conditions, is
a step in the right direction. Hitherto all the Sea Island
cotton grown in the Vigin Islands has been from seed
obtained from St. Kitts and Sr. Vincent. But experience
in other islands has shown that each island tends to produce
its own strain of cotton, which it is advantageous to develop
and keep pure. Itis to be hoped that good results will
accrue to the Virgin Islands from this undertaking. For it
must be noted that the production cf cotton, to which the
conditions of those islands seem eminently suited, has much
declined there. In 1912, the year of the greatest production,
52,677 Ib. of cotton lint were shipped, of the value of £3,165,
but this fell year by year, until 1916 when only 15,253 tb.
were shipped, valued at £1,465. It is to be regretted that the
cotton flower-bud maggot (Coxfarinta gossypit) has made
its appearance in Tortola. This pest seems to have been
successfully dealt with in Antigua, where it was troublesome
some yearsago. Early planting was advised by Mr. Ballou
the Entomologist of this Department, and it may be practi-
cable to adopt this means of avoiding attack should the
effects become serious in Tortola.
The lime industry, on which some hopes had been
based has been practically put an end to by the hurri-
cane of 1916. Such large numbers of trees were destroyed
that it will be some years before the lime plantations can be
re-established, should that course be considered advisable.
As the result of manurial experiments with lime trees,
Mr. Fishlock advises liberal’surface mulching with sparing
applications of nitrogenous manures.
The important food crop of sweet potatoes has been the
subject of experiments with a large number of varieties,
carried on for some years.
t would seem asif a profitable market for onions grown
in the British Virgin Islands ean be found in the neighbour-
ing Virgin Islands of the United States, and that this
industry might be profitably extended in the future.
Experiment plots planted in other foodstuffs—I{ndian corn,
cassava, beans, and peas—were yielding interesting results, but
were practically destroyed by the hurricane.
A crop which Mr. Fishlock thinks deserving of more
attention, is coffee. He considers that it cculd be successtully
grown in many parts of Tortola, and that a sufficient
quantity could be produced to meet local demands.
In spite of the immense damage done by the hurricane
of 1916, the reports show that progress in agricultural mat-
ters is being made in the Virgin Islands, and that the
Agricultural Officers in charge of the Experiment Station in
Tortola are to be congratulated on the results of their work.
EXPLANATION OF SOME MENDELIAN
TERMS.
As certain technical terms are often being used in
articles in this Journal relatiag to plant breeding, it will be
useful for general readers to have a short explanation of some
of them.
Except for relatively rare instances, a new individual,
whether plant or animal, arises as the joint product of two
sexual cells derived from individuals of different sexes. Such
sexual cells, whether ova or spermatozoa or derived from
ovules or pollen grains, are known by the general term of
gametes, or marrying cells, and the individual formed by the
fusion or yoking together of two gametes is spoken of as
a sygote. Since a zygote arises from the fusion of two separ-
ate gametes, the individual so formed must be regarded
throughout its life as a compound structure, in which the
components brought in by each of the gametes remain inti-
mately yoked in the form of partnership,
The various generations are denoted by the signs F,, F.,
ete. In this system F, denotes the first filial generation, F.,
the second filial generation produced by two parents belong-
ing to the F, generation, and so on. Whenin the F, gener-
ation a character which is peculiar to one of the parents
appears in each individual, that character is denoted the
domtnant. In the same way a character possessed by one of
the parents, which disappears from view in the F, generation,
is denoted recessive.
To express the constitution of individuals in res-
pect of inherited characters, the words omozygote and
heterozygote are employed. An individual is said to be
homozygous for any character when it is derived
from gametes both of which possess that character.
When however the zygote is formed by two gametes, of
which one bears the given character while the other does not,
it is said to be heterozygous for the character in question,
and only half the gametes produced by such a_ heterozygote
bear the character.
PLANT DISEASES.
ALGAL DISEASE (RED RUST) OF CACAO.
In the annual return regarding the prevalence of pests
and diseases in St. Lucia in 1917, Mr, A. J. Brooks, Agricul-
tural Superintendent, reports that algal disease of cacao
occurs on most estates at certain periods. Although speci-
mens were collected as early as 1902 by Mr. G. Whitfield
Smith in Grenada, the disease has previously attracted
little or no attention from cacao growers in Grenada,
St. Lucia, or Dominica. Its occurrence in Trinidad was
made the subject of a paper by Mr. J. B. Rorer in the
Proceedings of the Agricultural Society, Vol. XVII.
The algal organism responsible is best known and has
been closely studied as the cause of a troublesome affection of
tea twigs in India and Java, known as red rust. The alga is
widely distributed and common in the tropics, especially on
the leaves of numerous trees. That it can resist severe con-
ditions is illustrated by its presence on avocado pear leaves
in all but the most exposed situations in Barbados.
The twigs of cacao are -occasionally attacked, and die-
back due to this cause is reported to be not uncommon in
Trinidad, and is recorded from Jamaica. The organism
occurs in fairly extensive patches on twigs and small branches
of limes in some localities, forming at the same time spots on
the leaves which are blackish or rusty red according to the
stage of development. It occurs aiso on mango both in India
and the West Indies.
CAUSATIVE ORGANISM. Cefhaleuros virescens, Kunze,
(C. mycoidea, Karst., MZycoidea parasitica, Cunn,). The
causative organism is one of a group of mostly epiphytic
algae, and affords an instance of partial parasitism which
outside this genus is exceedingly rare in the algae. The
organism is very common on leaves, especially those with
a smooth surface and somewhat leathery texture.
In this type of situation it forms, generally on the
upper surface, orange or rusty red, roundish or less often
irregular, slightly raised patches up to nearly }-inch in
diameter. Asa rule the presence of the alga on leaves
causes little or no damage. In the case of tea, cacao, limes,
and mango alike, itis in its occurrence on the twigs that
destructive powers may be developed.
The first outward sign of the disease on cacao shoots is
the occurrence during the dry season, on the twigs of the
previous season’s growth, of dark purplish or black spots
ranging upto } or {-inch in diameter. With the com-
ing of the rains these take on a rusty-red colour due to
the development of a dense pile of fine hairs bearing tiny
globular heads, the sporangia of the alga. The latter when
ripe discharge when wetted numerous biciliate zoospores,
which after a short active period come to rest, and are capa-
ble of germination. The ripe sporangia are capable of being
broken off and transported by wind before this discharge
occurs
A second type of sporangium, essentially similar, is
formed in the body of the thallus as it occurs on the
surface of leaves.
The alga is itself liable to be invaded by fungus hyphae,
producing fora time a type of structure resembling that of
a lichen
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 15, 1918.
NATURE OF THE ATTACK. On various leaves the alga
exists in all conditions between the cousmon case of mere
attachment to the cuticle and complete penetration leading
to the development) of thalli (cellular expansions) on both
sides of the leaf. The epidermal ce'ls beneath an algal patch
are usually, but not invariably, discoloured and dead. The
only importance attributed to the occurrence of. the organism
on leaves lies in the provision of material which can
infect the stems.
Infection of the twigs appears to take place from ger-
mination of the zoospores in the surface cracks which develop
in connexion with the formation of the first layers of bark.
The alga pushes in among the cortical tissues, successive
layers of which are sloughed away. The irritation caused by
the presence of the parasite sometimes results in hypertrophy
(abnormal swelling)’ ofy the twigs. In severe cases the
separate patches first occurring on the twig may coalesce
and competely envelop it for some distance.
If growth is not sufticiently vigorous to throw off the
infection by new and deeper bark formation, the result is the
failure of the leaves and the death of the twig, and short of
this effect, the lesions. in the bark are liable to afford access to-
the die-back fungus (Diplodia).
INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS. The accounts of
the diseases caused by this organism agree as to the depen-
dence of serious injury on lack of vigour in the host. On tea
the disease occurs suddenly and constantly whenever bushes
become unhealthy from any cause whatever. On cacao most
harm has been observed where the trees were in poor con-
dition as a result of exposure or insufficient drainage.
The reasons for this are believed to lie in the inability
of weakly twigs, as indicated above, to get rid of the parasite,
and in the greater susceptibility to infection of twigs in
which bark formation is weak and slow. It has been observed
that at the other extreme, the very (uick-growing shoots pro-
duced on tea after severe pruning develop cracks in the bark
which are liable to infection.
CONTROL. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture has proved
ineffective against the disease, and no direct method of con-
trol is known. The appropriate remedy, adopted with great
success in the case of tea, lies in close attention to drainage,
cultivation, and manuring.
W.N.
IMITATION COFFEES.
The agreeable and stimulating qualities of coffee as
a beverage have given it world-wide importance, and this has
led to the employment of a number of substances known as
coffee substitutes. An interesting account of some of these
appears in the IVvadth of India for February 1918. It is
pointed out that, properly speaking, these substitutes should
rather be called imitation coffees, since they do not contain all
the qualities which give to coffee its peculiar individuality.
Coffee contains three essential principles: caffeone, an
aromatic principle developed during roasting; a bitter prin-
ciple possessing febrifugal properties; and caffein, a stimulant,
Many nervous persons are obliged to forego coffee as a drink,
even though they may be fond of it, on account of the
presence of caffein, In recent years decaffeined coffees have
been put on the market which have been deprived by
chemical. treatment of the stimulating effect of the caffein,
still retaining the aroma of the caffeone.
The imitation coffees de not possess all the properties of
coffee, and only vaguely suggest its flavour. They are either
mixed with coffee or used alone; they all contain a_ bitter
Vou. XVII.
No. 421.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
191
principle, and impart a brownish yellow colonr to water.
One of the most largely used coffee subs'itutes is the roasted
and ground root of chicory (Cychoriwm intybus), which was
largely produced before the war in Belgium and the north of
France. Some persons use a mixture of coffee and chicory
as a matter of taste, but still more probably use it involun-
tarily in some of the ground coffee sold in packages.
Another widely used entice substitute is barley malt,
which when roasted has a pronounced aroma resembling
coffee, hence its extensive use as a non stimulating tonic, and
digestive beverage. The non-germinated grains of barley,
oats, wheat, rye, and maize, roasted over a slow fire, and then
ground in a mill, are also frequently mixed with coffee.
The seeds of three European leguminous plants are used
in some parts of Europe as coffee substitutes: they are the
narrow-leaved lupine (Lupinus angustifolius); the chick pea
(Cicer arietinum); and the Spanish astragalus (Astragalus
bacticus). The seeds of these p!ants are roasted and ground,
and the infusion made from the resulting powder, is said not
to be unpleasant.
The long pods of the carob or locust tree (Ceratonia
siligua) reduced to a pulp, and subjected to a roasting pro-
cess, form the basis of an imitation coftee largely consumed
by the natives of Algeria.
About fifty years ago the use of fig coffee began in
Austria-Hungary. Thence it spread to Germany and the
Balkan States. It has been used in France for the last ten
years, especially during the war, and is found in stock in
many groceries there. The success of fig coffee in France is
a result of the war, many persons having substituted the
roasted figs for chicory, which has become scarce owing to
the occupation of Belgium and Northern France by the
enemy. Fig coffee is said to resemble the real article
amazingly. Used alone, it yields a sweet infusion of agree-
able flavour. Mixed with coffee in the proportion of one-third,
it colours the infusion deeply, and modifies its bitterness: it
sweetens and makes it nutritious. The use of fig coffee
makes it possible to give children a nutritious cup of café
au lait, the taste of which pleases them, and which con-
tains no unwholesome substance.
There is a saying in Austria that there is no good coffee
without figs. Although this may be going somewhat too far,
it may be affirmed that the numerous good qualities of fig
coffee place it in the first rank of this group of prceducts which
consists of what we have designated as imitation coffees. It
possesses one drawback, however, in the fact that unless kept
in tightly closed receptacles it quickly deteriorates, as it so
easily absorbs atmospheric moisture
The okra (Ade/moschus esculentus), well known in the
West Indies, is said to form an excellent imitation coffee.
The dry seeds are carefully roasted, and when cooled are
ground. The infusion suggests coffee, but with a special
flavour which is agreeable to many people.
Another West Indian plant which grows, in the tropics of
both the East and the West, is the small shrub, Cassza
occidentalis. Its seeds, roasted and crushed, furnish the
so-called black coffee of Senegal. They are also used for
the same purpose by the labourers in several of the West
Indian islands. The aroma of the infusion recalls that of
coffee, but it possesses no stimulating properties.
Lastly, according to Revue Agricole de PIle de la
Réunion, December 1917, it has been discovered that the
seeds of the widespread wild tamarind (Zucaena glauca),
roasted and ground, yield a reddish brown powder having
the colour and the smell of coilee, the infusion of which
possesses an even stronger arom than genuine coffee itself.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice markets
for the month of April 1918:—
The general tone of the Produce Markets during the
month of April has shown little or no change since that of
March, either in bulk cf produce brought forward, the
quantities that have changed hands, or in prices demanded or
obtained. The intervention of the Easter holidays also has
had an adverse effect on business generally. The following
are the principal details affecting West Indian products.
GINGER,
At the first auction on April 3, ginger was in good
supply: 1,164 bags were offered and disposed of, washed
rough Cochin fetching from 90s. to 91s., and fair to good
rough Calicut 86s. to 885, A fortnight later the offerings
were 30 cases of small cut Cochin, and 133 bags of limed
Japanese. The former were all bought in at 120s. per ewt.,
and the latter at 85s. At auction on the 3rd of the
month some 40 odd cases of Bombay mace were offered;
ordinary dull to fair reddish fetched 3s. 2d. to 3s. 6d. per b.,
being an advance of from 1d. to 2d. per tb. on previous rates.
These advanced rates were maintained a fortnight later when
some 68 packages of West Indian were disposed of. Nutmegs
also have been in good demand; some 150 packages of West
Indian found buyers at auction on the 18th of the
month at an advance of from 2d. to 3d. per Ib. on previous
rates. There has been a steady demand for Pimento
throughout the month at from 54d. to 54d. per bb.
SARSAPARILLA.
At auction on the 11th of the month the offerings
of sarsaparilla were as follows: grey Jamaica, 19 bales; native
Jamaica, 13 bales; and Honduras, 3 bales. All the grey
Jamaica was disposed of at 4s. 3¢. per tb., consisting of
a mixture of fair grey, and some partly mouldy and rough.
The whole of the native Jamaica also found buyers at from
3s. dd. to 2s. 1ld. per tb. for good red, yellow, and red
mixed, and common grey and yellow. The 3 bales of Hon-
duras remained unsold.
CITRIC ACID, KOLA, ARROWROOT, AND CASSIA FISTULA.
In the early part of the month citric acid was steady
at 3s. 2d per tb., but later it advanced to 3s. 3¢., at which
price it stood at the close. Kola has been in good supply
as well as in good demand. At anction onthe 11th of the
month 75 packages of West Indian were offered, and 74 dis-
posed of at rates from 10¢. to 114d. per tb. for good bright
halves and whole nuts. For good manufacturing St. Vincent
arrowroot ls. 4d. per tb. has been asked throughout the
month, Cassia Fistula is at the time of writing reported to
be so scarce that one holder has been asking as much as
£5 for a small and indefinite quantity.
During November 1917, to which the latest returns
refer, there were actually being worked 146 oil wells of the
365 which have been sunk in Trinidad, and the quantity of
crude oil produced amounted to upward of 4,500,000 Imperial
gallons. (The /ovrnal of the Royal Society of Arts, April
19, 1918 )
192 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
JUNE 15,’ 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tre West Inpia Committre CrRcuLar,
May uA
ARRowROOT— No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/44; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/2.
Brereswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Freuit—No quotations.
Grycer—Jamaica, no quotations
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lime Juice—Raw, 2/6 to 3/3.: concentrated, no quotations;
Otto of lime (hand-pressed), 16. 6.
Logwoop—No quotations.
Mace—2,5 to 3/6.
New York.—Messrs Grutespre Bros, & Co., May 17.
Cacao—Caracas, 128c. to 13jc.; Grenada, i3}c. to 18ke.;
Trinidad, 13ke. to 13¥c. Jamaica, 12c. P
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, S40°00; Trinidad selects,
$5800; culls, $19°00 to $20 00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, 9}c. to L04c. per ib.
Gincer—1d$c. to 19c. per th.
Goat Sxryss—Jamaica, S5e.; Antigua and Barbados, Sdc.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per
Grape Fruit—Jamaica, $2°50 to $4.00 per box.
Lres—Import prohibited.
Mace—38c. to 47c. per fb.
UTMEGS—2%c.
Orances—Import prohibited.
Pinento— 7c. to Tjc. per te.
Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:°005c; Muscovados, 89°, 5:005e,
Molasses, 89°, 4°948c. all duty paid.
Noutrmecs—1/10 to 2/4.
Pimento—No quotations.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 2,14; fine soft, no quotations; —_—_—
Castilloa, no quotations.
@rinidad.—Messrs. Gorvox, Geanr& Co, May 27 Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., May 30.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°S0 to $11°75; Trinidad. $11°25
to $11°75.
Coco-nut Om—S1°51 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, 12c. to lsc. per th.
Corra—$6°80 per 100 tr.
Dxeat—S§13'75 to $14°00.
Ostons—$3°25 per 100 tv.
Pras, Sprit—S11-00 per bag.
Potators—English, $3°00 per 100 ft.
Rice—Yellow, $15°75 to $1400; White, 9°50 per bag. &
Scear—American crushed, nv quotations.
ARRowROOT—$12'00 per 100 fr.
Cacao—$12°50 to $13-00 per i00 ih.
Coco-nuts—$36'00 husked nuts.
Hay—S2°90.
Mo.tasses—No quotations.
Oxtons—No quotations.
Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, ne quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
goor, no quotations.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, $4°75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the : 1formation contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The numbcr issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact,,any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, ia
2s, 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dvuau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. THos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Comautrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonavte, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: ApvocaTE Co, Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nives, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THE Epucationat Suprty Comeany, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Rosean,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tuk Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-MarsnHaty & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tz Brste anp Book Suprety AGENCY, BasseTERRE
Tobago: Mr. C, L. PLacemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Messts. Howett, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada: Lewis W, Cremens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto.
a.
"THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. ‘
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
aa. oe
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
m exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
poe re ee Poa 7 a
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Bea i te y eri LY 5
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Vox... eaV iL. Ne 42) THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. ~ JUNG 10, “2926 eeee
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of (ruano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian fricads is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) D}SSSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C, 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS Ag
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED,
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS —
AT ALL TIMES. 7
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
SIRCEAD | : BARBADOS. _
Printed at Ottice of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados
An
Ny :
LK : y/
A\
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, [One penny
R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
_1918,
Y) Wy TO PORTS OF CALL
bi [THE UNITED KINGDOM Azores.
| St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
Bermuda, Halifax, N.8., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad.
(Trinidad, Puerto Colombia, |
}PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
|Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
| REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
t UNITED KINGDOM TO
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA 4 te :
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent. .
a REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY. ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
_ STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA |
& JAPAN.
Head Office : -18, -Moorgate Street, London,
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Damerara. Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buanas Aires, Sastos, Sao Paulo
Rio ac Janeiro, Madrid, ete.
kt ale, Cu ‘- i.
5 ZN ate
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
HISTORY OF
CoopEr’s CATTLE Dip
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF TICKS
>
-
CATTLE TiOn
rewae
Cooper's Cattle Dip is the result of 5 years» continuous research work, not only by chemists working in a
Laboratory, but by Practical Cattlemen working under practical conditions in badly Tick-infested areas.
It was in 1905 that our search for the Perfect Cattle Dip commenced, and the method we adopted was to purchase,
purély for experimental purposes, a large farm right in the very heart of the Tick-infested Coastal Area of South Africa. —
This farm is called Gonubie Park, and is close to East London, in the Cape Proyince.
What we aimed at was the co-operation of the trained Chemist and the practical Stockman ; so a Laboratory was erected
on the Farm in charge of our Head Chemist, and the practical Manager in charge of the Stock was told -that his first, and —
indeed his only duty, was to assist and further, to the full extent of his power, the research work of the Chemist.
It should be mentioned that, previously to its purchase by us, the Farm had been practically abandoned owing to the
Tick infestation being so bad as to preclude absolutely the raising of either Large or Small Stock—for ticks in South Africa
are the cause of many other diseases besides Red-water or Texas Fever, which is the only Tick-borne disease of economic
importance met with in most Tick-infested countries. One cannot conceive of a more grossly Tick-infested area than was
Gonubie Park. It was impossible to keep sheep there for any length of time, as they died from Heart-water, transmitted by
Ticks, within a few weeks. About 80% of the calves born there also died from Heart-water or some other tick-borne —
disease ; whilst dairy farming was in such a deplorable state, due to the ravages of Ticks, that a cow with a sound udder and
teats was a great rarity, and it was not an uncommon occurrence to be compelled to sell to the butcher, owing to their udders
being completely ruined by Tick bites, what had been really first-class milking cows. Stock raising, as an economic farming
proposition, was impossible under such conditions. Here, then, was excellent material for us to work upon.
Our next step was to equip the Farm fully with Dipping Tanks, and there are four of these on the property—this number
being necessary to permit of simultaneous comparative tests of various experimental mixtures, of which hundreds were tested —
before Cooper's Cattle Dip was finally evolved.
It is a principle of the “ Cooper” business not to put on the market an article upon which the reputation of the Firm
cannot be staked, and so these lengthy and very costly experiments were persisted in until the Perfect Cattle Dip was arrived
at, notwithstanding the fact that, at a very early stage of the researches, a Dip was found which was superior to any Cattle Dip
then on sale. But this Dip was not the Perfect Dip, and thus did not satisfy us ; and so the experimental work went on for
several years, for rather than offer the public a dip which was not completely satisfactory, we preferred to see the business going -
to other firms offering inferior dips, until we had a Dip really worthy of the “ Cooper” reputation.
And that policy of restraint has been rapidly and completely vindicated, for at the present time practically no other
Proprietary Cattle Dip is used in South Africa, and the success the Dip has met with since it was first offered for sale 4 years
ago cannot be more strikingly emphasised than by the list of the Governments and Administrations by which the Dip has beea
approved, and, by which, with but two or three exceptions, it is being actually used in Official Cattle Dipping Operations,
The list is given below.
We submit that this list is the most convincing evidence that could possibly be produced of the merits of
COOPER’S CATTLE DIP
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
Has received the official approval of the following Countries: ST. KITTS: S. L. Horstord & Co. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson @
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston.
Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, A RB BAHAMAS: W.N. Twynam, Nageare
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD! T. Geddes — Port of Spain.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, st. Sincimer aren & Gow itingstown. Nee at sb. Malone,
DANISH WEST : . La Beet, St. Thomas,
United States of America, New South Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon.H. A. Fram
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, Englan
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East Londee, Odessa.
Seta sae TRIG
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No, 422.
JUNE, 3295" 1918:
BARBADOS, Pricx 1d.
researches, the knowledge of the factors involved in
CONTENTS. piant breeding has gradually increased, and been widely
disseminated. Recent developments in this direction
PAGE Pacz, have forcibly called attention to the great improve-
American Zoologists, Visit | Jamaica lnperial Associa-
of to the West Indies 200 | tion, Work of ..- 200
Cane Seedlings, New, Light Wood, Demand for 206
Testing in North India 201 | Lime Industry in Domin-
Cotton Notes:— ica, Situation of ... . 200
Local Prices of St. Vin- | Market Reports . 208
cent Cotton, 1916-17 198 | Notes and Comments ... 200
Prospects of Cotton Plant Breeding, Progress
Production in South \ ein... eee gees fess, 93
Africa .... ... -.. 198 | Plant Diseases:—
Sea Tsland Cotton EKel-worm Disease (Blavk-
Market calenese) 9B head) of Bananas ... 206
Courses of Reading and Power-Alcohol, Proposed
Examinations in Practi- Production of in Aus-
cal Agriculture sulk) brdlin ame tet ees.) 207
Department News... ... 196 Prickly Pear Sap in Ar-
Food Campaign in Kng- | senical Sprays, Use of 195
tnd pnd Wales, Re- 199 Sugar as a Meat Presery-
sults of «ose 199 hee . ~ 901
Garden Competitions, | Sugar: Cancmmmetatlios aii
__ Value of y ae | Inheritance in . 196
Gleanings » 204 | Sweet Potatoes, Behay-
Insect Notes:— k
: iour of in the Ground 207
The South : "
American
Locust in British
Guiana seed eO 2a
Ttems of Local Interest 205 |
Yam and Cassava Cultiva-
vation in Trinidad, Ex-
periments in ... 2 ANS
Progress in Plant Breeding:
\\Wy
HE fact that plants, hke animals, are capable
PSsyof being improved by careful breeding, has
only been thoroughly recognized during the
last century. Only a few scientific horticulturists at
the beginning of the nineteenth century had begun to
realize the importance of this process in agricultural
matters. During the century, chiefly owing to the
promulgation in the latter part of it of Mendel’s
ments which skill and patience under scientific control
may achieve in this field, and it may be said that
interest in plant breeding has been stimulated enor-
mously in the last few years.
With regard to -West Indian agriculture and
horticulture, it must be remembered that almost all
the plants cultivated throughout these islands, either
in the field or in the garden, with very few exceptions,
have been introduced from other parts of the world. In
the early days of colonization each expedition brought
seeds and plants to use in starting agricultural indus-
tries; and subsequent importations of new varieties
continued to be The early settlers probably
practised a system of what might be almost called
automatic selection in growing these plants, and in
testing experimentally the possibility of their sueceed-
ing under the different conditions under which they
were being grown. This selection, which must cer-
tainly have been exercised to a greater or less extent
throughout the history of these islands, probably did
not have any definite improvement or change in view
other than to secure the best and most vigorous seed.
To-day, however, the careful and complex methods
of modern plant breeding and selection have placed
a different aspect upon the introduction of new varie-
ties. These are still being introduced, but chiefly for
a different purpose. Not entirely with the idea that
they may become commercially important themselves
are such introductions now made, but that select
seedlings from them, and hybrids between them and
made.
194
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1918.
Junz 29,
already existing varieties may be obtained, and through
these, strains possessing qualities locally desirable may
be produced.
In the last century, it seems that the systematic
breeding of plants may be said to have begun with the
work of Knight and Van Mons about the beginning
of the century. Thomas Andrew Knight, an
eminent English plant physiologist, may be called the
father of plant breeding, since he was the first to show,
in 1806, the practical value of hybridization in the
production of plant varieties. Of almost equal impor-
tance, however, was the work of a contemporaneous
Belgian horticulturist, Jean Baptiste Van Mons, who
emphasized mainly the principle of selection. It will
thns be seen that the fundamental laws of plant breed-
ing were fairly well understood at the beginning of the
<entury, and had been published in_ horticultural
text-books and papers. It requires long years, however,
for scientific principles to become thoroughly recognized
and widely disseminated. This result, as was noticed
before, has largely been due to the universal acceptance
of the laws of heredity expounded by Mendel, as a
result of his classical experiments on the common pea.
During the first fifty years of the century almost
the sole method of breeding, both in Europe and
America, was to select seeds from the best types of
plants, and to raise numerous seedlings, of which those
were selected for further propagation which seemed
to be of better quality than the parent. For instance,
when a particularly good fruit was produced, its seeds
were carefully preserved and planted, and some
varieties in the main true to type were reproduced,
but only a few superior or new varieties resulted,
Hybridization and cross-fertilization in improving
plants were very little utilized until during the last
half of the century.
Since the middle of the century additions to the
knowledge of the laws of inheritance have caused a
great advance in methods of improving plants. One
important factor in the application of hybridization to
producing improved strains is the securing of what have
been termed ‘dilute hybrids’, that is hybrids containing
more constituents of one of the parent varieties than
of the other. If in any hybrid the characters of one
of the parents are found to be too pronounced to give
a successful combination, that hybrid may be crossed
back with the other parent, and the process repeated
until the desired combination is obtained.
The prime importance of growing hybrids through
geveral generations in order to fix the characteristics
aimed at has only been recently recognized as a neces-
sary deduction trom Mendelian laws.
The production of varieties which have been ob-
tained by careful methods of selection carried through
from one to many generations has always had a marked
effect on the development of certain agricultural indus-
tries, notably that of cotton. Scientific hybridization
has also had a very marked effect in the development
of many cultivated piants, and in the future there is
no doubt that it will be more and more extensively
utilized in securing and perpetuating desired modifi-
cations in probably every crop economically valuable.
A striking instance of the wonderful amelioration
that can be accomplished by careful breeding in a
plant is the tomato. According to an article in the
Yearbook of the United States Department of Agri-
cultare, 1899, in the early part of the century the
races of tomatoes produced mostly small and lobed
fruits. Dr. Hand, of Maryland, began his work in
connexion with it in 1850. He crossed the smooth
tomato, which was filled with juice and seeds, with the
compound convoluted tomato generally cultivated at
that time. By selection and turther hybridization he
produced a race of large, smooth, round tomatoes with
solid contents, and the improvement of this fruit has
been continuing ever sinze.
Another striking instance of the improvement in
a plant by selection and hybridization is the maize,
very mapy of the best races of which have originated
as carefully produced hybrids, and have been improved
and fixed as to characteristics by further long-continued
selection.
The selection that is regularly practised by all
intelligent growers, and which to-day may be regarded
as one of the necessary cultural methods in the pro-
duction of cotton, especially Sea Island cotton, has
resulted in the increase ot length and fineness of fibre,
until in places where such selection is rigidly employed
the cotton has reached a very high standard in respect
of the characters regarded as most desirable.
Probably in no plants, however, has hybridization
given such marked results asin those cultivated tor
their flowers. This is due largely to the fact-§hit in
such plants variations of form and colour are the:
greatest desiderata, and such modifications are found
to be easily obtained by hybridizing different coloured
species or varieties. pat vs
It may be observed that the tendeney to get rid
of existing varieties of commercial plants’ in favonr of
Vou, XVIE.- Ne. 422.
some new, apparently more desirable strains, is not
without its danger. In the West Indies, for instance,
Mr. 8. C. Harland states that recently in St. Vincent
a survey made of the forms belonging to the common
French bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris) showed that, in res-
pect of seed colour alone, twelve varieties existed in
that island, and it is certain that the number of - kinds
differing in other characters must be many more. The
biological composition of no one species of cultivated
plant has yet been thoroughly investigated in the West
Indies, and it is highly desirable that a survey of
native material should be instituted in the interests of
plant breeding.
The experience of European plant breeders tends
to show that old races of economic plants should not
be allowed to become extinct. Dr. Nilsson-Ehle, the
celebrated Swedish plant biologist, says, as quoted by
Mr. L. H. Newman in his book Plant Breeding in
Scandinavia, that ‘even if the new sorts actually are
superior to the old sorts, and deserve to be spread, it
may be insisted that by displacing the old so-called
native sorts there may be a danger of losing for all
time many valuable constituents which they may
possess, and which might become of value in breeding
work. Mr, Newman goes on to say that this would
seem to indicate the advisability of a breeding station
adopting some definite plan whereby representative
cultures of the best old races may be retained, in order
that a perennial source of new selection and material
for continued crossing work may thus be provided,
Mr. Harland suggests that much could be done by the
existing Botanic Stations in these islands, in making
and preserving collections of this kind.
In connexion with the advocacy of the growing of
pure strains of cotton referred to in the editorial of our
last issue, it was pointed out by Mr. W. Nowell at the
West Indian Cotton Conference held in St. Kitts in
1916, that ‘there were dangers in restricting seed selec-
tion to narrow limits. At the present time there were
good many different strains exhibiting great similarity,
but still possessing differentiating characteristics. If a
strain was selected which had certain of these particular
characters, and this were exclusively grown, some
characters possessed by other strains would be lost.
Provided the lint was satisfactory, mixed types were
safer, because more capable of adjusting themselves to
their environment, including diseases which might at
any time occur. Moreover, should the cireumstances of
the market so change that the type which had been put
into cultivation was no longer the most desirable, and
it became necessary to recover the characters lost in the
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 195
other strains, the planter would be limited and narrowed
down to selection from that one type for which the
demand had declined ’
Examination by Mr, 8. C, Harland, the Assistant
for Cotton Research, attached to the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture, conducted on a broader basis.
than that from which the original selection was made,
of certain approximately pure strains already in culti-
vation, has shown that certain characters of value-
have actually been bred out in securing others regarded
as of primary importance.
It would seem, therefore, that Mr. Harland’s sug-
gestion of collecting and preserving various strains of”
cotton in special plots of the Botanic Stations in the
islands where that crop is cultivated, would be highly
advantageous, and would at the same time in no way
interfere with careful selection in planting the type at.
present found most desirable.
USE OF PRICKLY PEAR SAP IN
ARSENICAL SPRAYS.
A note in the Journal @ Agriculture Tropicale, April
1918, draws attention to the value of the sap of the prickly-
pear in preparing arsenical sprays. It is of importance to
impart to these sprays the greatest possible adhesive power,
not only that they may exercise their effect as long as possi-
ble, but also that the least possible quantities of them may
be used to obtain the desired purpose. Experiments, under-
taken by the Bureau of Entomology of the United States ,
on prickly pear stems, have given good results in determin-
ing the manner in which these stems may be used.
To begin with, the stems, cut into thin slices, are put
to soak in the receptacles for the preparation of the sprays.
To obtain the best result the stems should be cut in such
a manner as to ensure the rupture of all the cells which
contain the mucus which possesses the adhesive property.
It is remarked that the eftect is not the same with all
insecticides. In fact, arsenate of zinc gives the best result,
then comes Paris green, but the results are almost nezligible
with arsenate of lead, or with the salts of iron. - About
10 kilos of cactus stems are used with about 75 litres of
water, and the required quantity of the arsenical insecti-
cide added to the solution. This infusion of cactus leaves
in water keeps for a very long time before its mixture with
the salt, if only a little sulphate of copper be added to it.
The comparison of prickly pear with other adhesive
substances employed in the preparation of arsenical sprays is
in favour of the former from the point of view of its
efficaciousness; and this advantage is increased by the fact
that in most cases prickly pear is found in the neighbourhood
of new agricultural undertakings, where it can be collected
at little expense.
Prickly pear has become such a pest in many countries
where it has been introduced, notably in South Africa and
Queensland, that the possibility of its employment for some
useful purpose seems worth drawing attention to, and the
method of thus employing it, as described above, appears te
present no difficulty.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
STUDIES IN INHERITANCE IN
SUGAR-CANE.
Mr. H. B. Cowgill, Plant Breeder, Insular Experiment
Station, Porto Rico, contributed to the Journal of the
Department of Agriculture of Porto Rico, January 1918,
a paper on the above subject, in which he records such data
as have been secured from investigations of seedlings which
were being propagated and selected at that station, although
only a few experiments had been conducted for the sole
purpose of studying questions of inheritance in the sugar-
cane.
Points of interest are: (1) the extent to which characters
are inherited from the parent varieties when the latter are
self-pollinated; (2) whether new types are produced in the
nature of mutations; (3) to what manner and to what degree
varieties when crossed can be expected to transmit their
characters to seedlings.
It seems from Mr. Cowgill’s observations that, in general,
even when cross-pollination has not been attempted, there
is a difference in the appearance and probable value of
seedlings produced from the different varieties, and that
_ there is also considerable difference in the amount of resem-
blance of the seedlings to the parent variety. The reason
for this may be that all cane varieties are probably more or
less heterozygous. It is also possible that accidental inter-
crossing sometimes takes place between varieties growing in
the same locality, and that this affects the appearance of the
resulting seedlings.
The seedlings under observation in the Porto Rico
experiment station were raised from seed obtained from
unprotected cane arrows. For that reason the purity of the
pollen cannot be guaranteed. However, it is not probable that
sugar-cane pollen is carried more than a short distance by
the wind, as it has no special adaptation for being thus
transported, and is soft and delicate. It is probable, therefore,
that the stigmata of the flowers of the cane in the centre of
a field planted in one variety, are entirely fertilized by pollen
of the same variety.
The following observations on seedlings produced from
five uncrossed varieties are of interest.
The seedlings produced from seed of D.109 showed
a very close resemblance in outward characteristics to the
parent cane every year since 1913. D.109 is a dark greenish-
red to purple cane, usually reclining in habit, with buds
semi-elliptical in shape. Many of the seedlings plainly show
some or all of these characteristics, while the resemblance as
to colour is especially noticeable.
The majority of the seedlings from seed of T.77
resemble the parent very much in colour and habit, and more
or less as to the form of the bud.
Of the thirty-four seedlings produced in 1916 from the
light-coloured cane, B.347, only two are of a darker shade
than the parent.
The seedlings of B.109 were all like the parent variety
in colour, and more or less resembled it in the shape of the
internodes and the buds, A few of them however were
slightly tinged with red on the upper internodes. There
were however other variations among these seedlings: two
were markedly glaucous, one had specially prominent buds,
one had extremely small joints, two had many adventitious
roots, one had especially thin stalks, one was very thick-
stalked. There was also a great difference amongst these
seedlings as to vigour of growth.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1918.
JUNE 29,
Out of 366 seedlings from D. 448, which is a red cane,
60 per cent. showed redness on the stalk, though some in
a less degree than in the parent variety. Among the
remainder there were two wine-coloured canes, two
greenish yellow, two reddish green and glaucous, three were
light reddish green and glaucous, and one had distinctly
tumid joints,
All seedlings produced from D.117 seed showed marked
resemblance to the parent in colour and habit of growth, but
they have shown much variation in the type of the internodes
and the bud. Abnormalities. rendering a cane unfit for
commercial cultivation, such as dwarf canes, extremely short
internodes and wedge-shaped internodes have been common
in these seedlings. Of the 900 seedlings of this variety
grown to maturity in 1916-17, only one differed in colour
from the parent variety, being green instead of yellowish
green. ‘Twenty-four of them were classed as abnormalities,
nine of which were dwarfs. They had stalks not over 3 feet
long, internodes } to 1 inch long, usually semi-prominent buds,
and erect growing leaves. Other unusual characters in these
abnormal canes were stalks with all or many of the buds
sprouted, and stalks with many adventitious roots. Some
plants also had stalks with wedye-shaped internodes,
averaging about | inch long on one side of the stalk, and
narrowed dowa to sometimes practically nothing on the
opposite side. It is planned to grow some of these varia-
tions to see whether the abnormal characters are inherited.
It may be that such unusual types are due to characters
acquired by intercrossing of various types of cane at an early
stage in the development of the species, and that these charac-
ters have been hidden by reason of the dominance of others,
Since the sugar-cane has been propagated asexually for an
unknown period of time. But the question also arises whether
such abnormalities are not of the character of mutations,
and whether some of the other variations in cane seedlings
may not also belong to the same class.
The following interesting observations were made by
Mr. Cowgill with regard to seedlings produced by pollinating
the flowers of the Crystallina cane with pollen of D.109.
These seedlings show resemblances to both parents; some
of them were almost identical in appearance with the
pollinating variety, while a few closely resembled Crystal-
lina. Setween the two types many variations were
found. Where the parents are not so distinctly differ-
ent in colour as these two varieties, it may not be
absolutely certain whether individual seedlings are from
cross-pollination or from self-pollination of the variety
intended for the seed parent. Ona whole, however, the
progeny can be considered erass-pollinated seedlings,
Of the canes resulting from this cross-pollination last
year, 1nany appear promising for commercial culture. Only
one abnormal stool was found among them. The data
obtained from the comparison of the characteristics of these —
cross-bred seedlings indicate that there is a form of combina-
tion of characters in some at least of them, resulting from
the cross. There ig a greater variation also in seedlings
so produced than in those obtained from flowers not cross-
pollinated,
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
De, C. P. Stoute, M.D.V., Government Veterinary
Snrgeon, St. Vincent, has resigned that office, on his
appointment by the local Government as Inspector
of Imported Animals in}Barbados.
i
Von, sxcqval, No. 423.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 197
EXPERIMENTS IN YAM AND CASSAVA
CULTIVATION IN TRINIDAD.
Ata meeting of the Board of Agriculture, Trinidad,
a full report of which appeared in the Port-of Spain Gaszetie,
May 17, 1918, Mr. W. G. Freeman, Acting Director of
Agriculture, submitted some interesting facts with respect
to experiments in the cultivation of yams and cassava which
had been carried out at the St. \ugnstine Experiment Station
by the Agricultural Officers in charge. The results of these
experiments will be useful to those interested in the culti-
vation of these crops.
The yam plants were put into the ground at the end
of May and the beginning of June 1917, and were reaped
in the last two weeks of February 1918.
In the first experiment on the yield of three different
varieties-_Barbados Lisbon, Horn, and Red yams—these
were planted in trenches 3 feet apart, the plants being 2 feet
apart. The Lisbon proved a most prolific yielder, giving an
-estimated yield of 18°47 tons per acre, which at 3c. per b.
would be a crop of the valne of $1,241°18 per acre.
A second experiment was made with the object of
ascertaining whether it was preferable to use the top,
centre, or bottom portions of the tubers for planting purposes.
The results showed that the difference is very small, and
within the limits of experimental error. There is appar-
ently therefore no advantage in selecting any special part of
the tubers for planting purposes. A third experiment with
regard to the method of planting had for its object the
determination of two points: (1) whether it is more profit-
able to plant in holes or in trenches, and (2) what is the
‘best planting distance.
In this experiment trenches were dug 2 feet wide by
18 inches deep, 4 feet apart, and planted at distances of
18 inches, 2 feet and 4 feet apart, respectively. One set of
holes was dug 2 feet wide by 18 inches deep, at distances of
4 feet by 4 feet, and 4 feet by 3 feet, respectively.
Another set of holes was dug 2 feet wide but only
8 inches deep; trash and manure were applied to one-half
of these holes as is usually done, whereas no trash nor manure
was put in the others, which were simply refilled with loose
earth from around, and the soil drawn up in a _ hill over the
holes
Barbados Lisbon yams were planted throughout these
lots.
a The results obtained showed that, notwithstanding the
higher cost of preparation, it is more advantageous to have
deep holes, i.e, 18 inches deep. It also was shown that
-a larger profit is obtained per acre from close than from
distant planting; 3 feet by 2 feet or 4 feet by 18 inches has
given the best results. It should be mentioned, however,
that the further distances give a larger return per hole, and
the largest yams. But this is not an advantage, as very large
tubers do not sell as readily as smaller ones. Trenching is
more expensive than holeing, but as it permits of closer
planting it is likely to be more profitable.
Moreover, the land is better prepared for subsequent
-erops, especially if the untrenched portion of the first year
is worked up for the second year. Holes 4 feet by 3
feet gave 1,460 tons and $782:49 net profit per aere.
“Trenches 4 feet apart, planted at distances of 18 inches
and 2 feet, gave 1,506 and 1,422 tons, with a profit of
745-90 and $703-06 per acre, respectively. With trenches
3 feet apart and planted at a distance of 2 feet, a yield of
1,847 tons was obtained giving a profit of $975-06 per acre.
To ascertain what would be the loss on yams if stored -
for a long time, 100 Ib. of freshly dug yams were weighed
on February 13, and reweighed at intervals of three or four
days. On April 26, about ten weeks later, they had lost 10
per cent. in weight. During the last two weeks, however, the
loss in weight was very slight.
The total area under yam cultivation at St, Augustine
Experiment Station during 1917 was 14,462 square feet, or
practically }-acre, from which 10,090 bb. of yam were
reaped, i.e. 13 tons per acre. The value of the crop at
3c. per tb. works out at $911:73, and the total cost of
cultivation, including the purchase of plants, was $197°85
per acre, leaving a profit of $713-88 per acre.
Experiments in the cultivation of cassava on the yield
of fifteen varieties showed between 531 and 7°41 tons of
roots per acre.
With regard to the best planting distance for cassava, it
is found that 3 feet by 3 feet has generally given the highest
yield per acre. It also appears that the centre portion of
the stems is more suitable for cuttings than either the less
mature or the very old portions.
An experiment for testing the relative merits of plant-
ing on the flat, on banks, or in forked holes showed that
though a slight increase may be obtained trom the two latter
methods, the increase in crop scarcely justifies the extra cost
of banking or holeing.
A new experiment was started with the object of
ascertaining which was the best month or time for planting
and reaping cassava. Accordingly, from May 23, 1916, and
thence monthly, duplicate plots were planted of the some
variety. All of these plots were reaped between October
and November 1917, so that the cassava was from six to
seventeen months old when reaped.
In another set of experiments, twelve duplicate plots
were planted between April 29 and May 4, 1916. Two plots
were reaped on November 2, 1916, and thence monthly, so
that the cassava was also from six to seventeen months old
when reaped. The percentage of starch was estimated in
samples from all of these plots.
The results obtained from these experiments show that:
1. The yield of roots has increased generally from
month to month with the age of the plants, and it is probable
that a still larger yield would have been obtained if the
plants had been allowed to remain more than seventeen
months. It was 1°29 tons at six, and 5:80 tons at seventeen
months.
2. The percentage of starch does not necessarily increase
with the age of the plants, but depends chiefly on the
weather prevailing at the time of reaping. For example, the
highest percentage of starch (28-9 per cent.) was obtained in
March from cassava ten months old, whereas the same variety
sixteen months old, reaped in September, only contained
19°47 per cent. of starch, This is entirely due to weather
conditions, i.e. the ten-months-old cassava was reaped dur-
ing the dry season, whereas the sixteen-months-old cassava
was reaped in rainy weather. Although the yield of roots
in September was nearly 30 per cent. more than that reaped
in March, still a larger amount of starch was obtained in
March than in September, viz. 1,534 tb. as against 1,348 Db.
per acre.
It is evident, therefore, that the best time for reaping
cassava is in the dry season, about February-March, and the
cassava should then be not less than fifteen to seventeen
months old, so as to obtaina good yield of roots. These
experiments, however, do not show conclusively which is the
best time for planting.
Incidentally these experiments show that a yield of nos
less than 1} tons of starch per acre may be obtained from
cassava seventeen months old, reaped in March.
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for ‘the
week ended June 1, 1918, is as follows:—
ISLANDS. During the past fortnight the market has
remained very quiet, with little inquiry.
The unsold stock consists of odd bags, classing Fine to
Fully Fine, as the Planters’ crop lots have been sold. The
Factors are showing more disposition to sell, but continue to
ask previous prices, being still unwilling to admit that they
~ will sell at any concession in price. However, with orders in
hand we can probably buy at some decline from quotations.
We quote, viz:—
Extra Fine 75c. to 80c.=77c. to 82c.,_ c.i.f.
Fine to Fully Fine 72c. to 73c.=74e. to 75c. &
Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. = 72c. ,,
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 65c. = 67e. cif.
GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. Since our last circular report
the market has been generally quiet, with Factors holding
average Extra Choice at 72}c., for which there has been
limited demand. However, during the past few days small
orders have come into the market; resulting in sales of about
250 bales Extra Choice to Fancy at-73c., taking some lots of
good cotton which were seeking sale.
We quote viz:—
Extra Choice to Fancy 73¢ DC;
Average Extra Choice T2t¢=T44¢";,
The exports during the past two weeks have been large,
there having been shipped from Savannah 2,202 bales to
New York and 1,075 bales to Boston, and from Jacksonville
to Northern Mills 766 bales. The larger part of these ship-
ments are reported to be Government cotton, which is being
forwarded to the mills which have contracts for the Govern-
ment. Consequently the cotton is going into consumption.
This movement serves to encourage the holders of the
unsold stock to think that all of this crop may be required
before the next season opens, and that they will find a
market for this cotton on a basis of prices current.
Local Prices of St. Vincent Cotton, 1916-17.
—Mr. W.N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Vincent,
has forwarded to this Office some figures as to the results of
the co-operative purchase of cotton by the Government
ginnery in that island for the 1916-17 crop.
For first grade white seed-cotton, the payment on
account and the final bonus netted the seller 17}c. per b.,
or at the rate of 70c. per b. of clean lint,
The seller of white Marie Galante cotton netted in the
same way l04c. per Ib. of seed-cotton, or at the rate of
43}c. Th. of clean lint.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 29, 1918.
PROSPECTS OF COTTON PRODUCTION
IN SOUTH AFRICA.
In an article on this subject in Z%e Board of Trade
Journal, April 25, 1918, itis stated that according to the
latest figures, there are approximately 5,200 acres under cotton
cultivation in the Union. The total yie'd for the season
1916-17 was 700,000 bb, of seed-cotton and 233,000 tb. of lint,
Throughout the Union there are considerable areas where the
soil and climatic conditions are suited for this cultivation.
The type of cotton which appears to be best adapted to South
African conditions is the American Upland variety.
For the proper production of cotton, the rainfall should
increase from the time of planting until flowering sets in, and
then decrease until harvesting time, which should take place
in dry weather. These conditions are fulfilled in South
Africa. The rains begin in October, and increase in volume
until January, when they gradually decrease, and by the end
of May the rainfall practically ceases. Dry weather during
the maturing and harvesting periods is especially favourable to
cotton production. These conditions do not always prevail
in America, where the cotton is often damaged by rain before
it can be picked. In the sections of South Africa suitable
for cotton cultivation, the rains have generally ceased by
harvesting time, so that practically no cotton is damaged by
excessive moisture after the bolls open.
In the Union there are vast areas of virgin soil of
suitable types for cotton cultivation, which are located
where favourable climatic conditions prevail, and which
could be utilized fora large increase of cotton production.
As compared with the conditions which prevail in the cotton
belt of the United States of America, it would appear that
the soil and climate of South Africa are eminently suit-
able for the cultivation of this crop. In the sugar-pro-
ducing area of Natal and Zululand, cotton is recommended,
as being the most suitable and remunerative crop which can
be used for the purpose of rotation with sugar-cane,
Reports on South African grown cotton place it on a
considerably higher grade than Middling American. On
account of this fact, there is an idea that South African
cotton is much superior to any Upland cotton produced in
the American cotton belt. This is erroneous, but it is true
that Scuth African cotton is generally of better quality than
the bulk of the Upland cotton grown in the States.
As South African cotton is of the same type as that
produced in America, it can be used by spinners for the same
purposes. This class of cotton supplies the bulk of the
cotton trade both in England and on the Continent, so that
there is no fear of not finding a market for the South
African product.
The St. Vincent Sev/ry, June 14, 1918, notes that
although the current. market quotations in London for
arrowroot are at present yery good, the impossibility of
securing tonnage to convey arrowroot to the United Kingdom
is preventing the St. Vincent producers from obtaining the
benefits of the higher prices. The wisdom of not relying on
one crop is now evident. The planters who, besides producing
arrowroot, have devoted a portion of their land to the culti-
vation of cotton, are now perceiving the advantages of such
a policy. The assurance of immediate spot cash purchase of
the entire crop of the colony by the Government is another
reason for directing attention towards the production of
cotton.
Vou. XVII. No.- 422.
RESULTS OF FOOD PRODUCTION
CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND AND
WALES.
The Director-General of Food Production for England
and Wales, Mr. A. Lee, has just issued an interim report
which is of great interest to the whole of the Empire, as
showing the wonderful response that has been made by the
farmers of the mother country to the demand for increased
food production.
The report states that an official and compulsory census,
obtained on April 27, 1918, from occupiers of land in
England and Wales, shows the following total acreages up to
that date:—
Corn and. Potatoes.
Crop. Acres. Increase over 1916.
Acres.
Wheat 2,665,000 752,000
Barley 1,490,000 58,000
Oats 2,820,000 735,000
Rye dmdee Sars 682,000 280,000
and pulse ? ; ;
Potatoes 645,000 217,000
Total acreage 8,302,000 2,042,000
Complete returns of the acreage of grass land ploughed
are not yet available, but a compulsory census, taken on
March 11, 1918, showed that over 1,800,000 acres of per-
manent grass in England and Wales had been broken up by
that date, and it is estimated that a total addition of not less
than 2,500,000 acres to the tillage area of England and
Wales (as compared with 1917) has now been made.
If, as may be anticipated from the recent forecast of the
Boards of Agriculture for Scotland (300,000) and Ireland
(1,500,000), the corresponding addition to the tillage area in
those two countries will approximate to 1,800,000 acres, the
total for the United Kingdom will be well over 4,000,000
acres.
The foregoing figures indicate that the total acreage in
the United Kingdom under wheat, barley, and oats in 1918
will be the highest ever recorded in the history of British
agriculture. The acreage under potatoes will be the greatest
since 1872. Particulars of other crops are not yet available.
It is, of cougse, not possible to foretell the quality of the
coming harvest, but, speaking generally, the present condition
of crops is very promising, and gives reasonable hope of at
least an average yield.
Proceeding upon this assumption, and further assuming
that (after deducting seed and light corn) the whole of the
wheat and barley crop, one-fifth of the total oat crop, and
one-quarter of the potato crop (i.e. the surplus above normal
consumption) could be made available for bread-flour in case
of need, it may be reckoned that the United Kingdom harvest
of 1918 could provide forty weeks’ supply of breadstuffs for
the entire population at the present seale of consumption,
and on the existing basis of milling.
The English and Welsh harvest would further provide
concentrated feeding-stuffs for animals (in excess of the
normal home productions of oats reserved for this purpose)
to the amount of some 500,000 tons, besides additional oat
straw equivalent to at least 350,000 tons of hay.
Reckoned in tonnage, the net saving in shipping result-
ing from the increased production of corn and potatoes in
England and Wales alone, should amount in the coming
year to 1,500,000 tons.
The foregoing figures relate only to holdings of 1 aere
and upward, and take no account of the increased produce
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 139
from allotments and gardens. These, however, contribute very
largely to the supply of home-grown food. The increase in
the number of allotments alone since 1915 is not less than
800,000 in England and Wales, or 140 per cent. The addi-
tional weight of foodstuffs produced by this expansion may be
reckoned at not less than 800,000 tons above the normal.
Whereas the production of home-grown breadstuffs in
the United Kingdom was only sufficient for supplying the
population with food for one-fifth of the year in 1915-17, it is
estimated that in the present year, 1918-19, the production
will suftice for the provision of food for four-fifths of the year.
These results, so far as Great Britain is concerned, have
been achieved under exceptional difficulties created by short-
age of labour. In England and Wales alone there are over
200,000 fewer male labourers on the land to-day than in the
year before the war, even after crediting all military and
prison labour furnished by the Government. This fact by
itself is a sufficient proof of the euergy, resource, and
patriotism with which all sections of the agricultural commun-
ity have devoted themselves to the service of their country.
COURSES OF READING AND EXAM-
INATIONS IN PRACTICAL
AGRICULTURE.
On the occasion of the presentation at the Antigua
Grammar School on June 4, of certificates awarded by the
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture to three successful
local candidates fur the Intermediate Examination in Practical
Agriculture, Mr. Collens, the Acting Superintendent of
Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, remarked that these
certificates, issued to successful candidates, were evidences of a
certain amount of proficiency, which he was pleased to state
was well recognized and acknowledged by the planters in that
island. In the local Department of Agriculture all junior
officers and cadets are expected to graduate in this course.
In this connexion it may be well to draw again the atten-
tion of readers of the Avricultural News to the courses of
Reading and Examinations in Practical Agriculture, which
are annually conducted under the auspices of the Imperial
Department of Agriculture.
They were established in the year 1909 for the purpose
of enabling overseers on estates, and others engaged in the
practice of agriculture, to acquire, from reading, knowledge
which they can apply to their practical work. The syllabus
and suggested courses of reading were revised in 1913.
Examinations are held during October and November
each yer at the Agricultural Stations of the various islands,
There are three examinations in the series—Preliminary,
Intermediate, and Final. Each examination consists of two
parts, written and oral.
Persons who wish to take the examinations must be
registered as students, and the examinations must be taken
in order.
Candidates who are successful in passing the prescribed
examinations are awarded certificates by the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture.
It is intended that the possession of the three certificates
shall be a guarantee of a sound, general knowledge underly-
ing the practice of agriculture, and also a practical knowledge
of at least two of the principal crops grown in any particular
district.
Information concerning these Reading Courses and
Examinations can be obtained from local Agricultural
Departments.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 29, 1918.
20€
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Hzap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
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specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
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All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
‘News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
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SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
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Agricultural News
Vor. XVII. JUNE 29, 1918.
SATURDAY, No. 422.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In the editorial, attention is drawn to the progress
rade in recent years in breeding new varieties of plants,
and to some of the problems connected therewith.
Under Insect Notes, page 202, will be found a
description of the South American locust, which has
recently been causing considerable damage in British
Guiana.
An eel-worm disease of bananas, which has been
found in Grenada, is described under Plant Diseases
on page 206.
On the same page will be found some notes on
certain corky woods of the West Indies.
Visit of American Zoologists to the West Indies;.
The party of zoologists from the State University
ot Iowa, under the direction of Professor C. C. Nutting,
whose visit to Barbados was noted in the Agricultural
News for May 18, 1918, left that island on June 17
with the intention of staying a few weeks in Antigua,
where they will continue their biological studies on the
fauna of these seas.
On their departure Professor Nutting wrote to the
Barbados papers, expressing the appreciation by the
party of the hospitality received by them during their
stay in Barbados, and of the assistance rendered to
them by the local Government.
Work of the Jamaica Imperial Association.
The recently formed Jamaica Imperial Association,
to which attention was drawn in the Agricultural
News, June 1, 1918, is putting forth energetic efforts,
as is shown by the report of a special meeting of the
Association’s Council published in the Jamaica Gleaner,
May 18, 1918, to induce the larger land-owners in that
island to engage in more extended cultivation of food-
stuffs. From the speeches made it is evident that the
aim of the Association in regard to the question of
food supply is two-fold: it is Imperial as_ well as local.
It desires that Jamaica should produce locally a con-
siderable increase of foodstuffs, in order that the
mother country may benefit by the saving made in
the colony in the consumption of imported food. Ib
also aims at securing Jamaica against actual want of
food, and at protecting the population from exorbitant
prices, which naturally would result from great scarcity.
At the meeting referred to, it was resolved to
obtain from proprietors of 40 acres and over personal
guarantees that they will put land under cultivation
in foodstuffs, and establish the crops.
The form of agreement which was decided upon
reads as follows: ‘We, the undersigned, in view of the
urgent necessity for increasing the food supply of the
island, hereby undertake to put under cultivation in
foodstuffs on the property undermentioned, the number
of acres mentioned opposite the name of such property,
apart from any tenants’ cultivation.’ j
The Chairman, Mr. A. W. Farquharson, estimated
that, as a beginning, it would be necessary to cultivate
some 33,000 additional acres. Furthermore, if Jamaica
was to succeed in supplying herself with substitutes
for the cereals imported during 1916-17, it would be
necessary to cultivate twice or three times as many
additional acres. He did not think that the serious-
ness of the situation had been fully realized.
EEE —
The Situation of the Lime Industry in
Dominica.
Attention was drawn in the Agricultural News,
May 18, 1915, to the serious ettect likely to be produced
on the lime industry of Dominica by the embargo
placed on the importation of green limes into the United
States. The following note as to the present situation
VoL. XVIL No, 422
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
201
has been recieved from Mr. J. Jones, Curator of the
Botanie Garden in that island:—
‘From recent information received, it would appear
that there is no likelihood of the American embargo on
green limes being raised. There are some hopes that
citrate of lime may be admitted. If this is allowed, it
may permit of bying ona limited scale for making this
product.
‘Asa result of the embargo, the fruit usually shipped
as green limes will now have to ripen on the trees and
_ to be turned into concentrated juice or citrate of lime.
. The addition to the ripe lime crop will probably amount
to 50,000 or 60,000 barrels of fruit,and for these approxi-
mately 1,000 casks of 40 gallons capacity will be neces-
sary in addition to ordinary requirements. Enquiries
are being made by the Government witha view of obtain-
ing the extra packages needed.
‘His Honour the Administrator has addressed a
Circular to the leading planters asking them to assist by
buying peasants’ limes, and, if possible, to do so on a
co-operative basis.
‘The business of buying limes by planters will
naturally be a speculative one, as the future market
position of concentrated lime juice is uncertain. It is
clear that buyers can only offer a low price, therefore
the small growers are likely to experience a very trying
time.
‘News has just been received that Messrs. Rose &
Co., Ltd., have resumed the buying of limes and lime
juice. It is however not yet known whether the firm
will be able to buy throughout the crop season.’
TR
Testing New Cane Seedlings in North India.
A note on this subject by Dr. C. A. Barber, Goy-
ernment Sugar-cane Expert, Madras, appears in the
Agricultural Journal of India, April 1918.
The cane-breeding station at Coimbatore, which is
under Dr. Barber’s dire¢tion, was founded with the aim
of obtaining better varieties of cane than those at
present grown in India. This «aim is complicated by
the fact that the canes experimented with are divided
into two classes: thick tropical canes, and thin indi-
genous ones. There are already many excellent thick
canes in the country, but the thin ones are generally
of very inferior qualities.
To obtain seedlings of promise of the thick varie-
ties presents no difticulty, and a large number has been
raised at the station, some of which it is hoped will
prove of value in cultivation. The raising of seedlings
of the thin varieties, so as to replace the indigenous
class with plants of greater value, is more difficult, but
because of the greater area devoted to the cultivation
of these indigenous canes, their production has received
most attention.
Seedlings raised with this object are chiefly crosses
between thick tropical canes and hardy Indian ones.
It is noticeable that in the seedlings raised a distinct
advance has been made towards the problem of obtain-
ing varieties suited to the ditferent conditions of North
India sugar-cane districts.
Dr. Barber points ous that the work on the
Coimbatore cane-breeding station is necessarily very
different trom that in tropical countries, where only
the thick varieties are paid attention to. A yet more
important difference is that improved seedlings are
wanted for places where the climate and the soil are
very different from those at the station. It has there-
fore been decided to start a tentative distribution of
some of the most desirable seedlings, obtained by
crossing tropical canes with thin Indain varieties, on
certain North Indian provincial farms. It is important
that the period of testing should extend over several
years, because it takes some time for a seedling to
accommodate itself to the vegetative mode of repro-
duction, as well as to acclimatize itself to the very
different conditions of soil, temperature, and moisture
it its new surroundings. Dr. Barber gives a striking
instance of this. A certain cane was distributed because
of its rich sucrose content; it refused to grow more than
a couple of feet in length for the first four years, but
was kept because of the richness of its juice; in this,
the fifth year, it has suddenly grown well, and the
juice does not seem to have suffered by the change.
There are numerons instances, says Dr. Barber, in
Indian experience of the past twenty years, of such
gradual acclimatization.
The seedlings thus far grown to maturity have
been numbered Madras 1-1,7000. A new series of
numbers will now be started of such canes as are, after
testing in the provincial farms, considered worth trial
in the field. The new series will be termed ‘Coimbatore’
seedlings, and designated ‘Co. 1, 2’, ete.
mPa
Sugar as a Meat Preservative.
A note in the Queensland Agricultural Journal,
April 1918, deaws attention to the employment of sugar
instead of salt as a preservative for meat. It is stated
that hams may be placed in a ‘pickle’, if it is possible
so to call it, of sugar and molasses. ‘The fresh hams are
first well rubbed with powdered sugar, and are then
placed in the saccharine solution, and left undisturbed
for some weeks. When cooked the meat does not pre-
sent the red appearance of the brine-cured article, but
looks more like fresh pork. The taste however is said to
be like that of ham, only a little sweeter. It is stated
in the same journal that experiments have been made
under the direction of the French Minister of Agricul-
ture, which demonstrate that sugar possesses some
advantages over salt as an agent for preserving meat. It
is pointed out that salt absorbs a portion of the nutritive
substances and of the flavour of the meat, and the more
deeply it enters the tissues so much the more readily
does 1t deprive meat of some nutritive substances of
genuine importance. Powdered sugar, on the contrary,
forms round the meat a sort of solid crust, which
removes very little juice from the meat, and does not
alter its taste. It is sufficient to immerse the meat in
water, before cooking. Itis true, however, that preserv-
ing meat by sugar costs a little more than its preserva-
tion by salt.
202
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
JuNE 29, 1918.
—_— errr en SSS
INSECT NOTES.
—
THE SOUTH AMERICAN LOCUST IN
BRITISH GUIANA.
Towards the end of June 1917 British Guiana was
visited by a vast swarm of locusts which entered the North
West District from Venezuela, and spread down to the mouth
of the Pomeroon River and the Essequebo Coast. An interest-
ing account of this invasion is given by Mr. G. E. Bodkin,
Government Economic Biologist of British Guiana, who had
the opportunity of observing the swarm in most of the invad-
ed districts soon after its arrival. (Journal of the Board of
Agriculture of British Guiana, Vol. XI, No. 1, January
1918.) A previous notice of the arrival of this locust
(Schistocerca paranensis) appeared in the above journal for
April and July 1917.
The swarm was described by eye-witnesses in various
ways; ‘some likened it to a cloud in the sky which temporarily
obliterated the light of the sun, while the sound of their flight
is well represented by the wind-stirred rustlings of a multitude
of dead and dried Jeaves evenly sustained and heard from afar,’
The locusts gradually distributed themselves over a large
area, and almost every cleared and cultivated piece of land on
the forest received its detachment. It is considered that this
vast swarm originatedon some of the large islands at the
mouth of the Orinoco, and a portion of the swarm is known to
have reached the Penal Settlement on Essequebo River some
200 miles to the south-east. These locusts covered most of
this distance in flight against the wind. As each detachment
settled down the insects immediately began feeding greedily.
Indian corn and cassava seem to have been preferred in
almost every instance, and these crops were quickly stripped
of allfoliage. Feeding was done largely at night. When dis-
turbed, the adults flew strongly, and invariably went off down
wind, so that capture was extremely difficult. Therefore,
hardly any attempts were made to control the swarm at the
time of the invasion, since the cost of the labour expended
would have been out of all proportion to the number of
locusts destroyed. Within a fortnight of their arrival
the two sexes were observed mating, and egg-laying began.
The eggs are deposited beneath the surface of the soil,
the female boring a hole by means of certain hardened
processes at the tail end of the body. A depth of from
14 to 2 inches is reached, and oviposition begins. The
female first exudes a small quantity of froth and then
lays her eggs rapidly, mixing them with more froth. inally
a large quantity of froth is exuded to seal the hole. The
froth soon hardens, forming a protective covering for the eggs,
and causing them to adhere together in a rough cylindrical
mass, conforming to the shape of the hole. Mr. Bodkin
mentions that in spite of these precautions the eggs may be
attacked by enemies, an egg-parasite having been bred out
from amass of these eggs dug up ina field in the North
West District.
It was observed that on the pegass soils in this district
egg-laying took place on the drier and more rigid patches,
The writer continues: ‘A favourite locality seemed to be
where a palm had originally stood, and the network of
decaying roots mized with soil was almost universally selected,
The somewhat higher ground on the edge of the draining
trenches, and on the drains themselves, was also utilized. On
the sandy soils which prevail in certain districts the eggs
were deposited in any open space. During the early evening
hours from about 3.30 to 5.30 this operation took place. An
open piece of sandy soil with several hundreds of locusts all
busy ovipositing presented a most peculiar spectacle. So
engrossed were the locusts in their occupation that it was an
easy matter to seize them between the finger and thumb and
forcibly remove them.’
It is stated that the eggs are about the size of a weil
matured grain of rice, and of a dull yellowish-brown colour.
During development they increase slightly in size and become
softer, while a greenish tint appears. Finally the eyes of the
embryo can be seen through the shell. In the process of
emerging the young locust ruptures the shell longitudinally.
Mr. Bodkin found that none of the farmers whose land
was invaded by the locusts had any idea of the real signifi-
cance of the vast swarm, and of its capabilities of sidden
enormous increase. So that when the young hoppers began
to emerge in countless numbers, there was general disillusion-
ment and consternation, and the question of control
immediately became urgent.
A number of control methods were devised to meet the
varying local conditions, and were everywhere effective.
During the dry weather large numbers of the young locusts,
or-‘hoppers’, could be destroyed by burning. Whenever a
large swarm was found it was surrounded by dry and
inflammable bush, which was then fired. This method was
very effective against the younger stages up to the third
stage, but the older hoppers were in many cases able to
jump through the ring of fire and escape. It was found
that it was useless to burn a swarm in high grass, since the
majority made their way down to the damp tangled growth
at the roots, and thus avoided tie fire.
Various methods of trapping the young hoppers
were tried with excellent results. Small canvas sheets,
banana leaves, etc,, were smeared with tar, and clusters of
young locusts were brushed off to these tarred surfaces,
where they stuck and soon died.
In another district the insects were driven into draining
trenches where the surface of the water had previously been
covered with a film of kerosene, and were effectively killed.
The following ingenious method of control is described
by the writer as being introduced by Mr, E. S. Nicholson, of
of Anna Regina: ‘Tarpaulins about 12 feet square were
smeared with the thickest molasses. A large swarm of
hoppers having been located, this sheet was laid out on the
ground in the proposed direction of the drive. The swarm
was then surrounded by a number of individuals and gently
yet firmly urged towards the tarpaulin. Obviously this
method can only be exercised where the /ervain is only
slightly encumbered by vegetation. It would be quite
impossible, for instance, to utilize such a means in high
grass. For wholesale destruction of well matured hoppers
in large swarms this method cannot be approached.’
Poisons were used to a very small extent by the people,
although abundant supplies of these were available from the
Government at half the original cost price. This was
attributed to the fact that many of the small land-owners can
barely eke out an existence, and that they are probably unfami-
liar with the handling of poisons.
In some instances it was found necessary to deal with
recalcitrant land-owners under the Insect Pests and Plant
Diseases (Prevention) Ordinance, which in 1914 became a
law of British Guiana, But in the great majority of cases
the small farmers and grant-holders co-operated to combat
the locust invasion, and thus averted a danger which menaced
the whole colony, With the exception of two districts
where the hoppers have reached the adult stage and are thus
capable of flight, the pest has been eliminated from British
Guiana.
J.C.H.
Vote VII No. 422:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
203
THE VALUE OF GARDEN COMPETITIONS.
The writer of an article on the above subject, appearing
in the Agricultural Gazette of Canada, for May 1918,
commences by saying that, if he were asked to state in a few
words what is the greatest value of a garden competition, he
should say, ‘It is the inspiration to greater effort and higher
achievement.’ Full exemplification of the truth embodied in
this brief statement may be found in the results obtained by
the institution in many of the West Indian colonies of
Peasants’ Exhibitions so successfully carried out under the
auspices of the Imperial Department of Agriculture several
years ago, and in the extension and further development of
Prize Holdings Competitions, having for their object the
encouragement of greater attention being devoted by peasants
to the cultivation of certain economic crops in these islands.
These prize holdings schemes and peasant exhibitions have
.been shown to be most valuable agencies for improving the
general condition of the holdings of small proprietors in the
islands where they have been successfully established; there
can be no doubtas to their value alsoto the immediate
community or locality in which they may be located.
Although the garden competitions referred to by the
writer in the Agricultural Gazette quoted above, might not
be altogether on all fours with the prize holdings schemes and
peasant exhibitions of the West Indies, yet the objects appar-
ently aimed at are not dissimilar, but rather of relative
importance; and the observations in regard thereto cannot fail
to be of interest, and also instructive to competitors in prize
holdings competitions in these islands.
Describing the different orders of garden makers, the
writer says these may be divided into several groups: first,
those who are enthusiastic ard ignorant, but anxious to learn;
second, those who are ignorant, but too confident or
conceited: they have the confidence of ignorance, which is
not an uncommon characteristic of the man or woman who
has read a great deal about gardening, and thinks he or she
knows all about it, althongh his or her practical experience
is very smal]. Then there is the skilful and successful
gardener who has good reason for thinking himself in a class
by himself, but fails to recognize the merit of others: and,
finally, there is the enthusiastic, successful], and skilful gar-
dener, with his place clean and in good order, always on the
look out for information, and eager to impart his knowledge
to others.
A garden competition, the writer very truthfully
remarks, puts each of these gardeners into the proper place,
and opens the eyes of each to individual shortcomings,
and to the skill and good taste of others. The gar-
dener, in thus having a proper value placed by the judge,
gets both information and inspiration to greater effort next
year. Moreover, the friendly rivalry which a garden
_ competition brings about, leads to intercourse which would
not otherwise take place; and the visits which competitors
pay to one another’s gardens, and the observations made from
the street, andthe new varieties which they are becoming
acquainted with, do much to bring about a greater incentive
to improvement, and thus the standard of each is raised.
Not only is the owner of the garden benefited by the
competition, but naturally the whole family is more interested
in. the garden than they would be ifit had not been entered
in the competition; and there is no Goubt that the younger
members will be more likely to make gardens of their own
later on, if they go from a home where there has been a good
garden.
Then there is the value of a garden competition to the
district or community. Good gardens scattered here and
there through the country give an enviab’e reputation to
the community, and the more good gardens there are, the
better the reputation. If a garden, throuzh the special
effort which a competitor makes, becomes conspicuously
better than those near by, the likelihood is that the owners of
the latter will at least keep their places neater than they
otherwise would do. It is seldom that a garden which has
been raised to a certain standard through the efforts made to
win a competition, is allowed to return to the condition it was
before.
PROPOSALS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF
POWER-ALCOHOL IN AUSTRALIA.
Attention was drawn in the Agricultural News,
Vol. XVI, p. 325, to the appointment of a Special Com-
mittee by the Advisory Couneil of Science and Industry of
the Commonwealth of Australia, to enquire into the produc-
tion of power-alcohol. This Committee, it is stated in Zhe
Board of Trade Journal, April 18, 1918, has now published
its report. The Committee state that the question of the
utilization of power-alcohol on an extensive scale naturally
divides itself into three main problems—the production,
utilization, and denaturation of alcohol.
As regards production, it appeared that the most suit-
able raw material at present available is the sugar molasses in
Queensland. This, however, is insufficient, as it would only
be sufficient for the manufacture of a little more than
3,000,000 gallons of alcohol, whereas the annual require-
ments of Queensland alone exceed this. There are, however,
certain other materials, such as sorghum stalks, cassava,
and sorghum grain, which would offer favourable oppor-
tunity as a source of alcohol. As these crops are only grown
on a small scale in the Commonwealth at present, the
Committee cannot state whether they can be cultivated
profitably as a raw material for the manufacture of alcohol.
If some stimulus or inducement were offered for the manu-
facture of alcohol, it appears that there is a fayourable
opportunity for the establishment of a new and important
industry in the Commonwealth.
As regards the utilization of power-alcohol, experiments
have shown that it can be used with success in internal
combustion engines. It is not likely, however, to be more
economical in the near future to substitute alcohol for
kerosene in engines designed to use the latter as fuel,
but in this connexion the possibility of a shortage in the
supply of kerosene must be borne in mind.
In order to develop the use of alcohol for power
purposes, and to encourage the production of the raw
materials upon which the manufacture of such alcohol
depends, the Committee recommended: —
(1) That necessary action be taken to allow of the
manufacture and use in Australia of powtw-alcohol dendtured
with 2 per cent. of ether.
(2) That an allowance at the rate of 3¢. per gallon be
granted by the Commonwealth Government on power-alcohol
denatured. in the above manner, and manufactured in
Australia from raw material produced in Australia, by reim-
bursement of the extra cost caused by fiscal restrictions on
the manufacture of alcohol.
(3) That a bonus, also at the rate of 3d. per gallon, be
granted by the Commonwealth Government on such power-
alcohol, in order to encourage its manufacture, and to
develop the primary industries on which the supply of the
necessary raw material depends,
204
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 29, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
—
The best method of growing tomatoes is to train the
plants to one stem, planting them 18 inches apart, in rows
about 3 feet apart, or ina single row. Rooted cuttings pro-
duce earlier fruit than seedlings. (The Queensland Agri-
cultural Journal, April 1918.)
Sisal is second only to cotton in being the most
‘extensively used fibre in the United States. Its importance
for the manufacture of binder twine is steadily increasing.
“The only important sisa!-growing portion of the United States
jis the territory of Hawaii. (The Hawasian Forester and
Agriculturist, February 1918.)
A report has been submitted to the Federal Food Admin-
istrator showing that every sugar plantation in the Hawaiian
‘territory is now engaged in producing food for its own con-
sumption. Many acres of hitherto idle land have beem
turned into large gardens for the production of foodstuffs.
(The Louisiana Planter, May 4, 1918 )
The Port-of-Spain Gazette, May 7, 1918, says that
Tobago will again maintain her first place this year as far
as food production is concerned. All round the island can
be seen large areas of prepared land for the planting of corn
and peas as soon as the first heavy rains come on. Good for
Tobago! There is certain money in corn and peas this year.
Sir Charles Mandleberg. of Manchester, has written to
the editor of this Journal, drawing attention toa scheme
which he has put forward for increasing the British export
trade by the formation of a British Manufacturers’ Corpora-
‘tion. It would appear that already some 250 firms in
various industries have agreed to be associated with the
proposals put forward.
The Dutch East Indies are the world’s chief producers
of nutmegs and mace. The production of these spices in
Grenada in the British West Indies has increased during the
last few years, and the value of the crop exported in 1915
was over £42,000, The cultivation of nutmegs, however in
Penang, Straits Settlements, has steadily declined. (Zh
Times Trade Supplement, April 1918.)
In an article dealing with the production of cotton in
the Sudan, the Agricultural Journal of India for April 1918,
says that the general character of the cotton grown is excel-
lent. It is entirely of the Egyptian type. The most
striking feature of the district is the way in which the
4Movernment, by careful control of the native handling of the
¢rop, has secured and maintained a high level of quality in
he product as a whole,
In the Hawatan Forester and Agriculturist, Febrnary
1918, it is stated that during the past two years experiments
have been carried on in Hawaii to produce a hybrid plant
derived from the two parents, henequen (gave régida, var>
elongata) and sisal (4. sisa/ana). It is hoped that this
hybrid will produce the superior qualities of fibre obtained
from 4. stsa/ana, and partake of the much desired quality of
the long life of the henequen.
As aresult of experiments on the culture of native
yellow flint maize in the Philippines, recorded in the
Philippine Agriculturist and Forester, March 1918, i8 is
stated that the strains which take longest to mature, that is
about 100 days, are heavier yielders than those which
mature in ninety days, and that the tall-growing strains,
which attain a height of 300 centimetres or more, are moze
productive than the dwarf types, which are not recommended
therefore for field culture.
The Loursiana Planter, May 4, 1918, says that the
cultivation and canning of pine-apples is the second leading
industry of the Hawaiian Islands—second only to the sugar
industry—-and that it is rapidly increasing in importance, In
1917 the islands produced approximately 2,600,000 cases
of the canned fruit, and the estimated output for 1918 is
approximately 3,000,000 cases. About one-half of the
winter output has been taken over by the United States
Government, which is to use canned pine-apples as a portion
of its soldiers’ rations.
In a note on Jerusalem artichokes, the Journal of the
Board of Agriculture, April 1918, states that recent investi-
gations show that this vegetable is an excellent human food,
and moreover yields large crops. An average yield from field
cultivation is about 10 to 12 tons per acre. Another advan-
tage possessed by the Jerusalem artichoke is that it is not
subject to disease, and will grow in almost any soil and
situation, though it sueceeds best on a friable, sandy loam.
It may be mentioned that this tuber can be successfully
cultivated under West Indian conditions.
Mr. B. A. Maleolmson, the Honorary Secretary of the
Agricultural Section of the British Empire's Producers’
Organization, writes from Evelyn House, 62, Oxford Street,
London, W.I., to draw attention to the fact that, owing
chiefly to sentiment and custom, the British Friesian Society ~
are likely to eliminate from their register all ‘dun’ Friesian
cattle only allowing the registration of black and white, and
black bulls. In tropical countries ‘dun’ is a gocd colour for
cattle, and there are in England some of the finest Friesians
of that colour, heavy milkers, and all pedigree stock. These —
could be secured on much more favourable terms for export
than if they were black, or black and white.
The low grade of cotton produced in India has long
been a subject of remark. 7Z%e Times Trade Supplement,
April 1918, says that Lancashire interests should note the
declaration of Mr. Gammie, the cotton specialist, appointed
some time back by the Government of India, that since the
low grade varieties are profitable for the ryot, they will
continue to be produced until buyers are willing to pay
a bigger price fer the longer stapled sorts. If the prices
offered encourage the Indian cultivators to do so, they would
willingly take up the finer sorts, which, after all, are just as
easy to grow as the coarser varieties.
=
gee wtp
ge © “a? =e
Vor evil. No; 429:
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
lo
o
cr
E=
SS
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
sr. vincent, Mr. W. N. Sands, the Agricultural Super-
intendent, describes operations of a routine nature both in
the Experiment Stations and Botanic Gardens during the
month of May. He states that land throughout the island
was being prepared for planting in cotton and other crops.
The cotton planted has germinated well. About 3 tons of
selected cotton seed was distributed from the Ginnery for
planting purposes. Exports of various food products and of
stock were made to the neighbouring colonies. Owing to the
efforts made, the position in regard to local foodstuffs was
most reassuring. A gas-tight store for dry food products has
been erected at the Ginnery. ‘he destruction of food plants
of the cotton stainer, including the Tobago Bread-nut tree
(Pachiva aquatica) and bois flot (Ochroma lagopus), is
being continued. ‘The Barbados blackbird, or ‘Bequia
sweet’ (Quuscalus fortirostris) has been placed on the list of
locally protected birds.
The Agricultural Superintendent, by notice and other-
wise, made known to cotton growers throughout the island
the fact that the local Government would purchase all the
Sea Island cotton of the 1918-19 crop on behalf of the Admir-
alty, at the same prices as were paid last season. It is hoped
that not less than 4,000 acres of Sea Island cotton, will be
planted. Cotton growers in Bequia are said to have been much
depressed by the failure of the crop last season, but the
campaign against the food-plants of the cotton stainer, and
the careful destruction of all cotton stalks have reassured
them, and also served as a useful and instructive object-lesson.
st. LucIA. Work in the Experiment Station and Botanic
Gardens during the month of April was of a routine character,
and included the making of farine and sweet potato flour,
and planting cassava and potatoes. Plant distribution
included 100 lime seedlings, 19 budded oranges, 2 orna-
mental plants, and 148 packets of vegetable seeds. The reaping
of cacao and sugar-cane was in progress, while the lime trees
were flowering, and land was being cleared for an extension
of lime cultivation. The rainfall recorded for the month
was: Botanic Gardens, Castries, 141 inches; Agricultural
and Botanic Station, Choiseul, 1°45 inches. J
During the month of May a continnation of operations
commenced in April is reported by the Agricultural Super-
intendent. Plant distribution comprised: limes, 950; caeao,
100; banana and plantain suckers, 60; grafted mangoes, 6;
ornamental plants, 50; vegetable seeds, 160 packets; Gliri-
cidia cuttings, 25; ornamental cuttings, 6. _The cacao and
cane crops were practically over; limes continued flowering,
au\ preparation for an extension of lime cultivation was in
progress. The rainfall for the month was as follows:
Botanic Gardens, Castries, 12°36 inches; Agricultural and
Botanic Station, Choiseul, 6 24 inches.
pominica. Both in the Experiment Stations and in
the Botanic Garden necessary cultural operations were
carried out during the month of May. Plant distribution
included: limes, 775; budded citrus, 47; grafted mangoes, 3;
coffee, 50; and miscellaneous, 112. In addition, 20 hb. of
horse beans, and 240 packets of vegetable seeds were sold.
The rainfal] for the month was 5°90 inches.
MONTSERRAT, The weather during the month of May
was unfavourable for planting operations in the Experiment
Stations. Plant distribution included the following: Bay
plants, 875; lime seedlings, 1,150; potato cuttings, 2,500;
cassava cuttings, 1,125; black-eye peas, 11 b.; pigeon peas,
3 tb. In the Botanic Station self-fertilization of cotton
flowers on the breeding plot was commenced; four distilla-
tions of bay leaves were made with good results; a distilla-
tion of growth of the ajowan plant was made, and the
resulting oil sent to Antigua for examination.
Regarding staple crops, Mr. Robson states that the major
portion of the cotton crop has been planted, although the
weather has not been favourable for germination, and many
fields are irregular. The area planted early in March is
suffering from want of rain, and the outlook for the
crop at the mament is not bright. On certain areas
planted in cotton, much trouble is being experienced
with devil’s grass (Cynodon « actylon). Excepting the
loss of seedlings through attacks of the caterpillar of
LProdenia sp., which is not very general or severe,
there will be little trouble Mr. Robson says, in getting the
crop established, provided the weather continues favourable.
An incipient form of root disease is often noticed, associated
with seedlings growing under unfavourable conditions.
Observations have been continued on the question of the
association of silk-cotton trees and cotton stainers, and
judging from the general prevalence of the insects, this
may prove .to be a season in which the cotton stainer
may be regarded as being more abundant than usual.
Considerable interest is being shown in the planting
of bread-and-cheese hedges, a fair supply of seeds now
being available. The rainfall recorded at Grove station
was 3°01 inches; the total precipitation for the year to
date is 18°20 inches.
NEVIS. Welcome showers fell during the early part of
May, which enabled the various plots in the Experiment
Station to be planted. The following plants, seeds, etc.,
were distributed: 108 bags sweet potato cuttings, 707 hb,
cotton seed, 12 tb. black-eye peas, 12} tb. Para peas, 5,100
cassava cuttings, and | tb. of seed corn. Reaping of the old
cane crop has been completed. Cotton planting throughout
the island was in full progress during the month. The
germination, on the whole, is very good, and the fields have
all made a good stand. Over 2,000 acres are already planted,
and it is estimated that no less that 3,000 acres will be put
under cultivation in Nevis this season. A large acreage of
provision crops was planted during the month, and the
position, says the Agricultural Instructor, Mr. Howell, is
now much more satisfactory. The rainfall for the month
was 6 14 inches; for the year to date, 16-93 inches.
BARBUDA. Notes on items of interest concerning the
Antigua Government estate of Barbuda for the months of
January and February, by the Agricultural Instructor, Mr. C.
A. Gomes, have now come to hand. As a result of the protract-
ed drought which prevailed, the reaping of the first crop of
cotton was completed in January, the total yield being 29 bales,
weighing 7,157 tb. of lint. The scarcity of fodder caused by
the drought seriously affected the live stock, and there were a
few deaths among young horses, older mares, and cows,
Very high northerly winds prevailed throughout the two
months. According to the records, February was the sixth
month of continuous drought, which has resulted in the
complete cessation of all agricultural activities. A contina-
ation of this state of affairs much longer, rays Mr. Gomes,
will mean disaster to all crops and live stock on the island.
In January 1:15, and in February 2:05 iuches of iain were
registered.
£06 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
JuNE 29, 1918.
PLANT DISEASES.
EEL-WORM DISEASE (BLACKHEAD) OF
BANANAS.
A serious aifection of the coarse banana known in
“Grenada as the bluggoe. is reported from that island by the
Superintendent of Agriculture. {t is described by Mr. Moore
as follows:—
‘It appears that the disease may develop in plants of all
ages, though its presence is most evident to the casual
observer in plants that are approaching or have actually
reached a fruiting stage. :
‘A common characteristic is the drying of the outer leaves
and then of the partly developed bunch, the fruits of which
often dry to a hard blackened condition when only 2 or
= inches long.
‘Plants examined do not show signs of disease in the
parts most distant from the bulb and roots, the general
impression conveyed by a survey of the affected plants being
that they are suffering from lack of water and nourishment.
‘In every instance, examination of the bulb and roots
revealed a root system almost entirely dead, or partly dead
and dying. The dead roots were either entirely black, or
black between the cortex and the central column. The outer
part of the bulb from which the roots arose presented the
same black disorganized appearance, and this was repeated to
a lesser degree on the bulbs and roots of young suckers
arising from the diseased parent.’
Several hundred clumps have already been seen with the
symptoms of this disease. The following notes refer to the
conditions under which it occurs in three distinct localities.
A. About 300-400 stools of bluggoes planted with
material from various sources two years ago; a crop of cane
recently reaped from the land; young cacao plants set to each
stool. Two types of soil, one black and heavy, one brown
and loose; disease occurs on both. Trouble observed ever
since plants reached maturity.
B. A field of several acres of limes interplanted last
year with bluggoes, now fruiting for the first time. A view
of the whole field conveys the impression that all the outer
leaves of the bluggoe plants have been scorched. The dying
commences along the margins of the leaf-blades.
C. Isolated clumps among mature cacao affected. The
external symptoms, and the condition of the roots and bulbs
are the same in all three cases.
Spirit-preserved material from the first two localities
was forwarded by Mr. Moore for examination. Slices of the
diseased bulb’ show peripheral blackening penetrating to a
depth of about an inch in places, and blackened areas isolated
in section but connecting with the exterior at a higher or
lower point. The thick roots haye short vertical cracks,
connecting with extensive discoloured patches spreading
upwards and downwards in the tissue of the cortex, reaching
in many cases to the central vascular cylinder but not pene-
trating it! The discoloured tissue isin various stages of
disorganization, but in ninch of it the cell walls were not
visibly decayed.
The affection has the general appearance of a fungoid
disease, but neither liyphae nor bacteria were present to an
extent or with a uniformity suggesting more than a saprophy-
tic role. On the other hand, nematodes (eel-worins) were
regularly present in all the material examined; their eges
were present in the least altered and deepest seated of the
discoloured tissue, and in some cases the worms themselves
were seen occupying the cells of undecayed tissue close to the-
central cylinder of the roots,
Reference to literature shows that N. A. Cobb ( Journad
of Agricultural Research, Wasbington, Vol. IV, pp. 561-8) has
described an eel-worm, Zvéenchus similis, as the cause of
a serious outbreak of a disease of bananas in Fiji in 1890-91
and has found the same species attacking sugar-cane in
Hawaii. S. F. Ashby (Budletin of the Department of Agricul-
‘wre, Jamaica, Vol. II, p. 316) describes a type of so-called
blackhead disease in Jamaica, which be attributes to an
eel-worm (identified later by Dr. Cobb as Zvlenchus similis),
The description of the condition of the roots and bulbs agrees
in general with that given above.
From the nature of the infestation —minute worms living
and laying eggs deeply within the tissues, capable of living
in the surrounding soil, probably, as is the case with related
species, resisting drying for monthis or years, infesting suckers
on diseased plants from their earliest inception, possibly
living on other species of plants—it will be seen that control
may present difficult problems.
The first essential must bz complete avoidance of the
use of suckers from affected clumps as planting material.
Where land is badly infested some other crop should be
substituted. Direct treatment appears quite impossible.
Ashby (loc. cit.) remarks regarding the Jamaica disease:
‘The worms are widely present in cultivated soils, and even
the roots of vigorous plants may show slight signs of attack.
Unfavourable weather and soil conditions by checking active
root growth and forcing the plant to depend on the older
roots bring eel-worm injury into prominence, and make later
recovery more uncertain.’ Observations will no doubt be
made as to whether more intensive cultivation will enable
plants to ‘grow away’ from the disease in Grenada.
Further information is being sought as to the disease,
and specimens of the nematode found have been submitted to-
Dr. Cobb for the favour of identification.
: W. N,
DEMAND FOR LIGHT WOOD.
The Imperial Conimissioner of Agriculture for the West
Indies has been informed that there is at present a demand,
arising out of the conditions of ocean transport, for very
light woods, suited to the purpose of making rafts and
equipment that will readily float.
There are growing in these West Indies several trees,
the wood of which is of very low specific gravity. Among
these is Ochroma /agopus, known in some of these islands
as cork-wood, on account of the lightness of its wood: in
others as down-tree, because of the silky fibres which envelop
its seed; and in other islands, as bois flot. According to
Cook and Collins in their book Lconemic Plants of Porte
Rico, the wood of this tree is very porous, and is the lightest
of all woods, lighter even than true cork, the specific gravity
of which is 0'240, while the specific gravity of this wood is
only 0°120. The tree is fairly abundant in the damper
islands of the West Indies, and according to Mr. Bugene
Campbell, in a note contributed to the dgricu/tural Nezws
for August 10, 1907, the down-tree is found growing plenti-
fully along the banks of all the principal rivers in British
Honduras. The trunks are used there for making rafts for
floating logwood down the rivers. Some of the trees attain
large dimensions, being 30 or 40 feet high andl over 2 feet
in diameter. In the West Indian islands, from Trinidad te
Porto Rico, wherever the tree grows, the wood is used instead
of cork by fishermen to make floats for their nets, The
Vor. XVII. No. 422.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS,
207
fibre enveloping theseeds is used for the same purpose of
stuffing pillows and mattresses us the fibre of the silk-cotton
tree (Exiodendron anfractuosum), which is the kapok of
commerce.
In some of the drier islands, such as Antigua, where, so
far as the writer of this note knows, the cork tree does not
grow, the wood of another tree is used by fishermen for the
same purpose. This tree is the swamp or monkey apple
(Anona palustris). Tt is a small tree seldom growing more
than 20 feet high, the trunk being from 10 to 12 inches in
diameter. The wood is very light and soft, and is said to
be used in Porto Rico for making rafts. Cook and Collins
give the specific gravity of the roots as 01175. Besides being
used for the making of floats for fishing nets, the wood is
sometimes employed for sharpening razors.
Although not nearly as light as the wood of the two
trees above mentioned, the silk-cotton tree affords a very soft
and light wood which is said to be rather strong, and to resist
water moderately well. It is stated that canoes are some-
times made from the enormous trunks or huge branches of
this tree, but that such canoes are not very durable.
Another common tree of the West Indies is Aursera
_gummifera, the turpentine tree, or gommier rouge of ‘the
French islands.. It grows to a considerable size, and seems
especially to like limestone districts. The wood of this tree
is also very soft and light, and is also said to be used for
making canoes.
Two species of Spondias, the golden apple GS, dulcis) and
the hog plum (.S./‘a) are common throughout the West
Indies. The trees of both of these species attain a consider-
able size in height and diameter of trunk. The wood of both
.of them is also light and soft, but is not used for any purpose,
as far as the writer of this note knows. =A
The breadfruit tree (Artocarpus incisa) also furnishes
-a yellowish-grey wood rather light and soft, but strong,
resistant, and elastic. These trees are, however, altogether
too valuable as food producers to be cut down to supply any
large quantity of timber.
The obtaining of any large amount of a given kind of
timber from West Indian forests is a matter of difficulty,
owing to the fact that there is very seldom a collection of
the same species growing together in one neighbourhood.
Such trees, however, asthe cork wood and the monkey apple
are found more or Jess in groups along the banks of rivulets,
vin the case of the cork tree; or in swampy land, in the case of
the monkey apple.
The possibility of the employment of the huge flower-stalks
of the various species of Agave for the construction of rafts
-may be noticed in connexion with the use of very light woods.
These flower-stalks are regularly used for this purpose by the
fisher folk in some parts of Antigua. In several islands it
would be possible without much difficulty to collect large
numbers of these.
‘THE BEHAVIOUR OF SWEET POTATOES
IN THE GROUND.
In some investigations on the behaviour of sweet
potatoes in storage by Messrs. Hasselbring and Hawkins, of
the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of
Agriculture, recorded in the /aur7a/ Of Agricultural Research,
Vol. III, p. 331, and noticed in the dericu/tural News,
Vo!. XIV, p. 140, it was observed that the percentage of
starch was always highest, and the percentage of sugar
lowest, in freshly dug potatoes. The constancy of the con-
-dition seemed to justify the conclusion that, in the growing
sweet potato the reserved material exists essentially in the
form of starch, and that the appearance of sugar in consid-
erable quantities occurs only in storage, or after the destruc=
tion of the leaves.
In order to determine whether these quantitative
relations between the starch content and the sugar conten®
of the sweet potato remain constant throughout the latter-
part of the growing season, and to what extent they are
changed by the death of the vines, Mr. Hasselbring conducted_
a further series of experiments on sweet potato roots from_
the time they were large enough to furnish the requisite
samples, until they were seriously damaged by frost. The
results of these experiments are recorded in the /ovrnxal oF
Agricultural Research, Vol. XII, No. 1.
This record of the condition of sweet potatoes during the=
period of growth may be useful as an aid in determining the
time for harvesting the crop. Mr. Hasselbring advises
growers, 2s a rule, to dig sweet potatoes when they are fully
matured, or after they have thoroughly ripened. While it ix
implied that the roots reach a more or less definite stage of
ripeness, the characteristics by which this state may be recog-
nized are not precisely defined.
After giving detailed descriptions and tables of , analysee
made after various periods of growth of the root, Mr. Hassel-
bring comes to the conclusion that the changes occurring in
sweet potatoes in the ground during the latter part of the grow-
ing season proceed in a reguiar and orderly manner. During
the latter part of the period of growth the composition of the
roots remains remarkably uniform, and presents no striking-
on irregular fluctuations. During this period the root is
characterized by a high stareh content anda low sugar
content. The changes which occur later are associated with
the death of the vines. Prominent among these changes i=
the accumulation of water in the roots as a resultof the
cessation of transpiration, in consequence of the destruction
of the leaves. With the termination of the flow of materials
from the vines, the carbohydrate transformations charac-
teristic of sweet potatoes in storage are inaugurated. These
changes consist in the transformation of starch into sugars.
Appreciable destruction of carbohydrates does not appear to
occur in potatoes in the ground until after the roots have
been injured by frosts.
The changes here spoken of have a practical bearing oo
the question of maturation of sweet potatoes, and the best
period of harvesting them. Since the carbohydrate relation
of the roots in the ground remains practically unchanged
while the vines are uninjured, the roots cannot be said to
undergo a definite process of ripening, in the sense of a pro-
gressive transformation of one reserve substance into
another, such as the change of starch into cane sugar and
invert sugar in the ripening apple. . Under ordinary condi-
tions sweet potatoes continue to grow, withgut reaching any
definite state of maturity recognizable by progressive change
in the reserve material which they contain. ‘The choice of
time of harvest, therefore, is not a matter of maturity of the
roots, but is governed by other factors. In the United
States sweet potatoes may safely be kept in the ground
until the leaves have been injured by frost.
Of the changes which occur after the destruction of the
leaves, the accumulation of water in the roots deserves
consideration. It can scarcely be doubted that this increased
water content is detrimental to the successful storage of the
roots, and causes them to be more subject to decay than roots
of normal water content. On this*accownt itis of utmosk
importance that the harvesting of swéet potatoes be not long
delayed after the ]éaves have been killed.
208 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. JuNE 29, L918.
MARKET REPORTS. New York.—Messrs Gitespie Bros, & Co., May 17.
London.—Tre West Inpia Commer Circurar, Cacao—Caracas, 12%c. to 13fc.; Grenada, I3}c. to 13he.;
May 2. Trinidad, lhc. to 13¥c. Jamaica, 12c. F
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $4000; Trinidad selects,
$38°00; culls, $19°00 to $20 00 per M.
CorrrE—Jamaica, 9}c. to 104c. per Ib.
ArRowrkootT—No ouotations.
Bartata— Venezuelan Block, 3/44; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/2.
Beeswax—No quotations.
~ - 7 - . —15 9c. ;
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota- GincErr—Lb}e. to Is SaPas th : . e
ee Goat Skins—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, &5c.;
wons. : St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per th ‘
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations. : Y ? f
Corpra—£46 GrarE Fruit—Jamaica, $2°50 to $400 per box.
Rains quotations Limes—Import prohibited.
h oti S aig 1 ,
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations. ys v ue 47c. per th.
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations. On nk i peaeitioa
Lime Juice—Raw, 2,6 to 3/3.: concentrated, no quotations; RANGES—Import prohibited.
x rd int
Otto of li -pressea), 16 6. Pintento— 7c. to 7jc. per tb. }
WORE ho civiatoee omy E80 Sucar—Centrifuga's, 96°, 6:005c; Muscovados, 89°, 5:°005c,
Macr—2 5 to 3/6 Molasses, 89°, 4°948c. all duty paid.
Nutmecs—1/10 to 2/4.
Pimento— No quotations.
Kusper—Para, fine hard, 2,14; fine soft, no quotations —_—-
Castilloa, no quotations.
PHGidhd.—Messrs, Goxon, Gaanr & CO, May 27 Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., May 30.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°40 to $11°75; Trinidad. $11-25 ARRowROOT—$12'00 per 100 fh.
to $11-75. Cacao—$12'50 to $15°00 per i00 th.
Coco-nut Om—S$1°51 per gallon. Coco-nuts—$36'00 husked nuts.
Corree—Venezuelan, 12c. to Lc. per fh. Hay—82'90.
Corra—$6°80 per 100 tb. Mo xassrs—No quotations.
Daat—$13°75 to $14:00. Ontons— No quotations.
Oxtons—S$3°25 per 100 th. Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Pras, Sprit—S11-00 per bag. Potators—No qwotations.
Porators—English, $300 per 100 ft. Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
Rice—Yellow, $1575 to $1400; White, 9°50 per bag. goor, no quotations.
Srear—American crushed, no quotations. Suear—Dark Crystals, $4°75.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, 8, and 4. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the :aformation contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The numbcr issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress an@
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subseription price, including postage, is
2s, 2d. per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 48, each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMEN'TS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dexau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada; Messrs. THos. LAwLor & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Committer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. BonavtE, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: ApvocatE Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Niuxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica; Tuk EpucationaL Surpty Comrany, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brrpcewarter, Roseau.
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tuk Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua; Mr. S. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs, Mutr-Maisuatt & Co,, Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tex Brste AND Book Surriy Aaznoy, BasseTeRRe
Johaao: Mr. C, L.:PLAGEMANN, Scarborough. Nevis: Messrs. Howext, Bros., Charlestown.
Canada:-Lewis W, Ciemens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto,
To ee ee ee. eT
eee Pe eee
= er ae ee ae ae es eee ee
y ai
_. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SHEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
aS a er
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that —
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices, compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and_how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili- —
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO ~
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
>
Vout. XVII. No. 422. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. —
> ¢ ae
‘ ae y
Juxe 29, \OISh se faey
A WORD TO PLANTERS
asOeT
ad
In consequence of te continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that bu mess with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
©O0-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
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Recon. Ska ct
| THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. | - Po vie
How Ticks ARE KILLED
WHEN CATTLE 4
: eee
ARE DIPPED OR SPRAYED ee
at
CATTLE TICK
—_—_ + - > - s+ —— vewace
A knowledge of how a dip is absorbed by Ticks when cattle are dipped or sprayed with an arsenicall wash is of great assistance in elucidating the
problem of Ti.k destruction. Although this subject has given rise to much conjecture, very little definite information is obtainable as a result of practical
experiment. Work directed by William Cooper and Nephews in South Africa has, however, furnished results from which feasible deductions have been
made, and these appear to throw some light on the subject.
The theories advanced by different workers are :—
1. That the Tick absorbs the poison through its own skin during the process of dipping or spraying.
2. That the absorption of the poison through the skin of the Tick takes place after the operation of dipping or spraying is completed.
3. That the poison is absorbed by the skin of the animal, and that the Tick sucks in the poison with the fluids extracted while feeding on
the animal.
It follows from No. | theory, and it is asserted by those who favour this theory, that the longer the period of immersion of the animal in the tick-killing
Suid, the more certain is the destructive effect on the Ticks. For this reason the supporters of this theory advocate a dipping bath with a long swim.
As a result of the work carried out under the direction of William Cooper and Nephews, it has been established that a brief, thorough immersion #
ithe animal kills the Ticks as effectively as along one. That is to say, complete immersion for a comparatively short time, ensured the death of the Ticks.
H If Ticks are taken off cattle soon after they have been dipped or sprayed with an arsenical wash, and are thoroughly cleaned to remove any externally
‘adherent arsenic, their bodies are found to contain no traces of the poison, whilst Ticks similarly removed on each of the six days following dipping are
\found to contain appreciable quantities of arsenic, thus proving that the arsenic is absorbed after the operation of dipping or spraying is completed.
With regard to theory No. 2, it is highly improbable that the arsenic is absorbed through the skin of the Tick, for the fluid dries on the skin in less
‘than an hour after treatment, during which period, as was shown in the previous paragraph, no absorption takes place.
There only remains then theory No. 3, viz., that the host animal absorbs the poison into its skin, and later, the Tick imbibes the poison during the”
‘process of feeding. All experience with dips in the field goes to support this theory.
i Given dips which contain equal amounts of the poisonous agent, it has been proved by actual experiment that thote which spread over and thoroughly
iwet the whole surface of the skin of the animal possess the greatest killing power. Therefore, an essential feature of a dip is that it should give complete
‘and uniform penetration over the whole skin surface of the animal. .
lt is a proven fact that those dips which saturate the skin in patches kill only the Ticks which achere to those patches. It is found, moreover, that if
‘2 solution of arsenic is injected subcutaneously, the Ticks attached around the site of the injection are poisoned, and although they have had no contact
‘with arsenic from the exterior, their remains are found to contain appreciable quantities. This poisonous action is limited to an area of about 6 inches radius
‘from the site of inoculation.
i
i
t
j
{
| Investigations have shown that arsenic applied to the undamaged skin of an animal does not appear in appreciable quantities in the internal organs of
the body. This scems to prove that the arsenic which is absorbed by the skin fails to reach the circulating blood which would carry the poison from the
surface to the interior. The accumulated facts which have resulted from enquiries into the matter lend the greatest support to the theory that the living
eels, which form the deeper layers of the skin, have an actual affinity for arsenic, and the poison is arrested and fixed in them and thus prevented from
‘teaching the circulating blood. If this theory is correct, then after dipping or spraying, the deeper layers of the skin will become strongly impregnated
‘with arsenic, possibly in a state of combination with the organic tissues. It is then easy to suppose that while feeding on a beast which has been recently
dipped or sprayed, the tick takes in considerable quantities of the poison with the blood and lymph which have necessarily passed through these deeper
ayers of the skin, which are more or less saturated with arsenic.
4 TT
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
Has received the official approval of the following Countries: ST. KITTS: 5S. L. Horstord & Ce. 2 SN ede. Bennett, Bryson & Ca,
Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, sAmAlCe Thomson, Hankey & Co.
‘i 8c , BARBADOS: Barbados operative Cotton Co., Ltd.
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, ‘adagascar, BAHAMAS? WIN, Twynam, Nassau.
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T; Geddes a abil Spain.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, aT. Pindar. Caren & Coy Klingstow. NEVIS: a Maténe:
N DANISH WEST IND + Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas.
United pa of pmericn, New ghee Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon.H. A. Framvton.
a Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Manufacturers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa.
LOLS
:
ay
TSS lon =
/
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
<a te Ree er » —>
2 ER Pe
: 4
Ze]
AY
M\
D8 te
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST
INDIES.
Vout. XVII. No. 423. BARBADOS,
TU 2 hee LOLs. Price ld.
CONTENTS,
=
PacR. Pace.
Agneculture in Barbados 225 | Insect Notes:
, ; E Starch, Tostead of Linc,
British Guiana, Primary pets aes Hee eects
= ; A oan with Arsenicals a Ea)
Education in cos ANUS) ; seh
peas 7 The Control of Coru
British Honduras, New : ; Ot
Industry in 213 Caterpillars we 2AM
‘ b eee eee eee oa we yay:
: ad Insecticide, An Efficient,
Chrome Tanning Indus- Quick and Safe ... AZ.
trv, The Peon sore dU Lima Beans 1 ko
Cotton. Seaweed Subst:- Marker Reports was 2A
e ~ ~ + I
MaveakGin:. cas ee 216, New Food Mammal... 216
Department News ... 211 = Notes and Comments 21
r ; ; Perenmial Forage Shrubs 217
Ferrilizers and Chemicals rae aus ; Mi
5 : : Plant Diseases in) British
Employed in Agricul- Guinan 999
r ye z ri « nae eee eae ee ome
ture, The World’s Pro- : - 4
nck f 214 Small Vegetable Gur-
duction 0 dog cea, len if 229
Forestry in the West Sugar Industry:
Thuties Be <n 209 Sugav asa Food... ... 212
Fruit Cultivation in Trini- The Sugar Industry
dad : Sera atter the War ... . 22
Gleanings... ... ... ... 220) Sweetest Plant Known... 215
Home Vegetable Garden 216 Tree. A) Possibly Useful 228
Forestry in the West. Indies.
| Re HE question of the conservation of the
the West
islands has been considered and legislated
sremaining forests 10 Indian
en nore or less adequately in recent years. An article
by Sir Francis Watts in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vol. XIII, deals comprehensively with this aspect of
the matter, and it is to be hoped that reckless
denndation of forest aveas in the West Indies is-a
thing of the past. Much usef ‘| work has been dane
also by the Agricultural Departiaents in the ditterent
islands in encouraging more, extensive planting of
trees both economical and ornamental.
Forestry may be defined as the art of managing
forests regarded as crops, so as to make a rational use
of them. and to secure continuous supplies of the crop.
If looked at from this standpotnt, it is evident that
very little, if anything. has been attempted in forestry
in the West Indies, though an exception must be made
of ‘Trinidad, where in recent years some planting of
forest trees has been begun on sctentife lines.
Very many people seem to forget that the
art of dealing with forest crops, as defined above, is
just as much dependent on scientific attention to de-
tails in order to obtain really good results, as the art
As
long as there are extensive virgin forests from which
of dealing with any ordinary agricultural crop.
supplies of wood may be drawn, most people seem to
think it unnecessary to bestow any care upon the
methods of using them or of replacing them. Trees
are cut wastefully, and thew reproduction is left te
chance and to nature's slow processes, although nature
cannot be said to have any detinite economic object to
When, however, the
more avd more limited by the extension of the agri-
cultural area, it becomes apparent that wood crops are
subserve. forest area becomes
as necessary as food crops, and the need of forestry
is then realized.
Another aspect of the question demonstrates the
need of forestry, namely, the influence of forest cover
upon the soil and water conditions of neighbouring
210
—
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Jury 13, W918.
agricultural lands, which is often rendered apparent by
the reckless denudation of mountains and hillsides.
There are two questions involved in this aspect of
the matter. First the effect of the forest cover on the
conditions within its own boundary, and secondly, its
effect on the conditions of the surrounding country.
The intiuence upon the conditions under its own
cover which a forest exercises seems to be mainly due
to the canopy of foliage interposed between the sun,
the rain and the wind, and the soil. ‘The exclusion of
the sun and the wind reduces the evaporation, and
therefore both the air and the soil under the shade of
a forest are, as a rule, not only codler, but moister than
in an open field. Trees bring up the water also from
greater depths, and transpire this water into the air,
thus increasing its humidity in their neighbourhood.
tis true that it does not seem likely that an
increase of rainfall in their neighbourhood can properly
be attributed to the intuence of forests, for other condi-
tions producing rainfall are so much more powerful,
that it is doubtful whether such a forest effect, even if
it existed, would be appreciable.
‘The most important etfect of forests upon water
and soil conditions is a mezhanical one. It mast be
remembered that agricultural crops depend chiefly on
water supplied to their roots, whether furnished by
rain directly, by artificial watering on the surface, or
by a natural underground drainage, this latter being
the ideal form of supply.
Now this is exactly what a forest covering aids in
securing. A forest growth conserves moisture in the
air above the soil, and by its deep-reaching root system
assists the percolation of the falling rain, and permits
the subdrainage of such water, at the same time
preventing its wastage by surface evaporation. he
waters falling on a well forested slope find lower levels
underground, and furnish constant supplies to fields
below them.
Considering forestry as the art of producing a crop,
it must be remembered that the forest crop differs
from all other crops in the fact that it takes. such
a long period to yield returns. There is no detinite
period when the crop can be said to be mature, as in
the case of agricultural products. It consists of
annual accumulations which are allowed to continne
until the individual trees attain either a useful
or a / profitable size; and, to attain such
s long time, and, with different Species and conditions,
Thus, for firewood produc-
size
a variable time, is needed.
tion a growth of fitteen to twenty-five years might sufiice,
while for good lumber production not less than seventy-
five to one hundred years and more are needed. In
an average of a hundred years the yearly growth,
according to species, soil, aad climatic conditions,
would vary between 30 and 180 cubic feet of wood
per acre each year. But, unless firewood is the object
of forest cropping, itis not quantity of wood merely,
but wood of given size and of given quality, wood fit
for the arts, that is to be grown.
With regard to the production of timber, there
isa great drawback attaching to tropical forests in
the fact that, although such forests contain valuable
woods; these woods are seldom found in groups of trees
of the same species in any considerable number. One
object of scientific forestry in the improvement of
already existing forests in these islands might well be
the elimination of the less valuable kinds of trees,
leaving those of more value, and the planting of seed-
lings of the kind desired in the room of the trees
taken ont. In this way, in course of time, existing
forests would become more and more valuable as the
source of timber supply.
But a still more practicable and _ profitable aim
would seem to be the reattorestation of already denuded
tracts of land, especially on hillsides, or on rocky or
sandy soils unsuitable for growing ordinary crops. In
this connexion the value of scientific forestry would
certainly make itself felt. The mere planting of a
few trees of one species this year, and perhaps next
year the planting of a few more of possibly quite a
different kind, and soon, although useful in a way,
is not likely to obtain the production of any really
valuable forest crop.
In the first place, the suitability of any species of
tree, or the situation in which it is to be grown, ought
to be determined, in order to avoid inevitable disap-
pointments which arise from trying to grow any plant
in an unsuitable environment. In the next place, it
has been demonstrated in countries where forestry is
suecesstully practised, especially in France and Ger-
many, that afforestation is only really beneficial and
profitable when considerable tracts of the area to be
afforested are planted at one time with seedlings of the
same age, in order that there may be a wood crop of
sufficiently large proportions which would arrive at
maturity at the same time.
‘In ‘trinidad it appears that a considerable extent
of country is being now afforested in this way with the
Vou. XVII. No. 423.
red cedar (Cedrelu odorata.) The example might well
be followed in many places in some of these smaller
islands, some other valuable
wood, as for instance, in Antigua and the Virgin Islands
Ip an island like Barbados, which depends for firewood
almost entirely on importations from other places,
it would seem to offer a paying investment to replace
on the not inconsiderable areas behind the beaches the
present haphazard growth of rmanchineel, whitewood,
and almond with regularly grown woods of Casuarina
for instance, which would yield in from ten to fifteen
years a valuable crop of firewood, continuing to do the
same at intervals of two to three years for a long
with the same tree or
subsequent period.
THE CHROME-TANNING INDUSTRY.
In view of the interest which is at present dis-
played in the development of local tanneries in the
West Indian islands. which has been noticed in recent
issues of this Journal, the following extracts from an
article in The Board of Trade Journal, May 9, 1918,
may be of interest:—
Tanning by means of chromium compounds has been
very much more extensively developed in Germany and the
United States of America than in the United Kingdom.
German and American manufacturers quickly realized the
value of the new method and madesuch rapid progress in
the practice of the various processes that they were able to
sell in the United Kingdom at prices lower than the British
cost of production, and by this means, to discourage the
establishment of the industry here
There was at that time no prejudice against using
foreign goods at the expense of British manufacturers, and,
since foreign chrome-tanned leather possessed certain
obvious advantages, British boot manufacturers were ready
to purchase it. It was unfortunate that the chrome process
was not developed in the United Kingdom, because there
is no doubt that it had become a serious factor in the
deflection which occurred in the tannage of certain hides and
skins from this country to our competitors in Germany and
the United States of America. This movement of trade was
most pronounced in respect of the hides and skins exported
from India.
Before the war, India exported about 345,000 ewt.. of
raw hides per annum, of which the Central Empires took
one-half, the United States of America one-third, and the
remainder was divided between the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and Italy. The position regarding raw. goat
and sheep skins was just as satisfactory to this country.
The United States of America imported direct about.75
per cent. of the total export of raw goat skins of India, the
United Kingdom 10 per cevt., France ¢ per cent., the
Netherlands and Belgium 5 per cent, and Germany an
insignificant quantity.
NY
1
cutely here until the out-
break of war convulsed the world’s markets, and made
its effect felt in the raw-hide trades. The sudden demand
for footwear for the armies of this country and her Allies
The position was not felt
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Hit
made it essential that the normal tanning capacity of this
country should be materially extended. At the same time
fresh sources of raw materials had to be utilized, and once
more attention was directed to the vast potentialities of the
Indian Empire.
Up to the present the tanners of the United Kingdom
have shown a distinct, even an overwhelming, preference for
vegetable tannage, as distinguished from mineral, including
chrome tannage The fundamental principle in both vege-
table and mineral tanning is the same. It may be thus
expressed in the words of a distinguished tanning authority:
‘It is not only necessuy to dry the fibres in a separate and
non adhesive condition, but so as to coat them or alter their
chemical character that they are no longer capable of being
swelled or rendered sticky by water’
The action of chromium salts, whether normal or basic,
on hides was first studied by Knapp (Dre Matur und Wesen
der Gerberet, 1868). Knapp described a method of chrome
tanning which is identical with one of the modern processes,
for he proposed the formation of a basic chromium salt by
the addition of some compound, such as normal sodium car-
bonate to the chrome solution after the manner of the so-
called ‘single-bath’ process.
In 1884 a successful two-bath process was patented in the
United States of America by August Schultz, and the process
proved a commercial success in the production of light
leathers. According to the Schultz process, the skins are
impregnated with a solution of potassium bichromate, acidi-
fied with hydrochloric acid, and the chromic acid absorbed
by the skins is subsequently reduced by means of sulphurous
acid, through the immersion of the skins im an acidified
solution of sodium thiosulphate.
One of the main advantages of chrome tanning is the
rapidity of the process as compared with vegetable tannage,
aud the consequent increase in the possible turn over. The
- waterproofness and compactness of the leather after fat
liquoring, etc., cause it to be sought after for box-calf, giacé
kid, and other upper-leathers. The affinity for chrome tan-
nage varies from leather to leather. Sheep skins, horse hides
and kips show a smaller affinity for it than goat skins, ox-
hides. and especially calf skins. The further property of
the chromium salts of forming lakes with many mordant
colouring matters makes their use for tanning skins of
considerable interest where the production of coloured leath-
ers is the objectin view. The chrome tannage of skins
entails closer technical supervision of processes than veget-
able tannage; but the problems it offers the chemist and
tanner, and the possibilities it affords of achieving all those
resu'ts in leather production that have given the German and
American tanners their advantages in the past, must necess-
arily appeal to progressive tanners and leather chemists . of
the United Kingdom.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the
West Indies, Sir Francis Watts, K C.M.G., has returned
to Barbados from his visit to Jamaica and the Bahamas,
Me. H: A. Ballou, OLN. M.Se., has also returned
to Barbados, on the completion of his work in Evypt,
to
_
bo
SUGAR INDUSTRY,
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AFTER THE WAR
A summary of a paper with the above title, read before
the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, by Mr. T. H. P.
Heriot, Lecturer on Sugar Manufacture at the Royal Tech-
nical College, Glasgow, is given in the Zutervational Sugar
Journal, April 1915.
The lecturer pointed out that foreign beet sugar had
gained an ascendency in British markets which lasted until
the outbreak of the present war. ‘Ihe bulk of the supplies
having been then cut off, the British market was compelled
to rely chietly on neutrals, Cuba and Java. Our coloniat
industry has slightly increased its production during the war,
but is seriously handicapped by shortage of labour, and the
difficulty of obtaining supplies and machinery.
The future problem is to increase the production of
sugar within the Empire, until we become independent of
foreign supplies. As regards the three contributing factors
—land, labour, and capital—the enquiry set on foot by the
West India Committee leads to the conclusion that there is
no scarcity of suitable land in the Empire. As regards
labour, Indian indentured labour has long been employed in
the British Crown Colonies, but the supply has been barely
sufficient to meet past requirements, and has recently been
entirely stopped. ‘To attract this labour to our colonies we
must offer more favourable terms than in the past, and
reduce the period of indenture. Capital is required to set
this labour to work, and to erect additional factories, and
the only way to attract capital is to make the industry
secure, and profitable to the investor.
Before the war the price of sugar was abnormally low,
resulting in extravagance and waste; to-day sugar stands at
least at 53d. per hb. to consumers. After the war a reduc-
tion in price following on a larger supply is hoped for. Even
assuming that the present high duty of 1}/. per tb. is main-
tained for some time after peace is declared, the retail price
of British Empire sugar should not exceed 4d. per Ih. If it
received a preferential duty to the extent of 50 per cent. of
the duty on foreign sugar, such British sugar might be
retailed at 34d. per Ib.
A fourth factor of production is science, the function
of which is to direct labour in its tasks. Sugar production is
a highly complex business, requiring expert knowledge of
various kinds. It is evident that it should be recruited from
young men who have received, first of all, a good general
scientific training, and subsequently a more special training
in sugar technology to prepare them for the special duties
they have in view. The old style of training was to plant
a youth down in a factory, and let hard experience and many
blunders be his instructors. Doubtless he learnt his business,
but only slowly and superficially. The true method is to
teach the student all essential principles by means of lectures
and laboratory experiments outside the factory, so that when
he enters the factory he understands what he sees, and
hardly needs any other instructor than his own eyes and
intelligence. He has then only to study on a large scale
what he previously studied on a small one; and the more will
he learn during his practica) experience in the sugar factory.
Technical training is, however, only the first help
towards rendering the sugar industry efficient. The second
step is to provide more men and more funds for research, in
order to solve the numerous problems which practical experi-
ence brings to light. Research must follow two directions,
namely, the agricultura! and the manufacturing branches of
sugar production.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Jury 13, 1918.
Problems relating to the cultivation of the sugar-cane
must be studied in the tropics where the plant is grown. The
special aims of agricultural research would include the pro-
duction of improved varieties of sugar-cane raised from seed;
the manurial requirements of the cane crop when cultivated
on different soils; and the study of plant diseases and insect
pests with a view to devising practical remedies. Indoor
investigation would include the analyses of sugar-cane, soils,
and fertilizers, and also the microscopical investigation of
diseased plants, thus reyuiring chemical and _ biological
laboratories adjacent to the experimental fields. It will be
evident that such agricultural research stations should also
afford every facility tor training students in field operations
under the supervision of experts, thereby combining practical
training with scientific research.
The other branch of research relating to problems in the
factory, cannot so well be carried on in the factory itself, with-
out seriously interfering with the routine work. Experiments
must begin on a small scale in the laboratory, the final or
factory test being only possible after every detail is studied.
It is proposed to utilize some of the technical laboratories in
Great Britain forsuch investigations, but funds will be required
to carry out this work. For this purpose a Sogar Research
Association is now being formed by a committee of the British
Empire Producers Organization, and when a fund has been
subseribed the Government will contribute an equal sum.
Techinal training and research require the active support
of those interested in the industry. Hitherto in the
British Empire co-operation in this direction has been almost
unknown, and research has been mainly carried on by Govern-
ment chemists and botanists attached to the colonies, and
free of all expense to the sugar-cane industry. But if we
turn to the Hawaiian Islands we find there a research depart-
ment initiated by and entirely maintained at the expense of
the sugar-cane industry which it assists. The Hawaiians also
earry co-operation on these lines still farther. There are
separate associations of cane planters, factory engineers, and
chemists, which meet periodically to discuss every phase of
sugar production. There is also a central office or bureau
which receives the weekly reports from all the factories,
tabulates these records, and issues copies to every factory, so
that the results from different factories may be compared week
by week.
SUGAR AS A FOOD.
The value of sugar as a foodstuff for human beings has
been frequently pointed out. An article in the Zowisiana
Planter, May 25, 1918, remarks that it was demonstrated
twenty or more years ago that for athletic exercises, the
quickest reliable stimulation is produced by the use of sugar,
whieh stimulation is produced in less than an hour from the
time the sugar is consumed. Sugar in fact seems to be in
this respect at the head of the list of foodstuffs,
Pure cane sugar is the most easily digested of all foods,
except levulose and dextrose, which are known as invert
sugars. When taken into the system, cane sngar is promptly
inverted by the secretions of the stomach into levulose and
dextrose, and is then immediately assimilated. These invert
sugars arise from the breaking up of cane sugar into dextrose
and levulose, the one polarizing to the right and the other to
the left. There is no other food which is capable of being
assimilated without digestion in the stomach. These two
sugars, formed at once in the stomach, are diluted by the
xtomachic juices, and are immediately absorbed in the
intestines. It is stated that the great value placed on wines
Vor; XVII. No. 423.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS,
to
when administered to exhausted patients is not because of
their alcoholic contents, but because of their invert sugars,
‘which give immediate nutrition due to the quick assimilation
of them by the system.
Although sugar has risen considerably in price, it is still
probably the most economical cf all popular foodstuffs for
the purpose of conveying energy to the human system. It
must of course be borne in mind that a certain amount of
protein and other matters are essential to make up what is
-called a balanced ration, but nevertheless, as regards nutrition
and bodily stimulation, sugar is the most quickly acting of
any foodstuff known. ;
An increase in sugar consumed, when not too great, and
when the sugar is not too concentrated, lessens or delays
fatigue, and increases working power. It has been found
that the taking of 3 or 4 oz. of sugar, a short time before
the usual time for the occurrence of fatigue after labour,
prevents the feeling of fatigue, the effect of the sugar being
evident about half an hour after eating it.
THE SWEETEST PLANT KNOWN.
A well-known Paraguayan botanist, Dr. Moises S. Ber-
toni, in Anales Crentificos Paraguayos, January 1918,
das published an interesting account of a plant which
he has named Srevia Rebaudiana. This plant grows
an the higher lands in the neighbourhood of San Pedro,
Paraguay, although it is comparatively rare. It belongs to
the order Compositae, and is closely related to the genus
Eupatorium, several species of which occur in the West Indian
islands.
It would appear that a chemical analysis of the leaves
of this plant in 1899 first drew attention to the wonderful
sweetening power which they possess. Further chemical
investigation of the plant in the Official Iaboratory of Ham-
durg in 1913 drew still further attention to this plant. The
report cf the last named authority states that the specimens
received are of the plant which some years ago caused alarm
to the producers of sugar. The sweet substance which the
leaves contain is more or less 180 times sweeter than cane
sugar. Two different sweet substances have been isolated
from the leaves: eupatorin or estevin, and rebaudin, the
latter being the tripotassic and sodic salt of the former. The
crystallized substance, sweet in taste and red in colour, is
probably a glucoside, and is contained in the leaves in cone
junction with resins, tanic acid, wax, and a little oil, in the
proportion of from 20 to 26 per cent. The sweet substance is
not fermentable. It appears from the analyses made, that the
plant has no equal with regard to the power of its saccharine
contents, but it will not be likely tc compete in its industrial
application with the known classes of sugar, cane sugar, and
beet root sugar, but will probably be limited to medical
purposes, such as the preparation of saccharine for use in
diabetic cases.
The importance of the product of this plant is chiefly in
its quality as a substitute for saccharine. In this respect it
presents the following great advantages over saccharine:-—
(1) In not having any toxic effect, but being on the
contrary wholesome, as has been shown by experience, and
by the chemical examination of the plant made by Dr. Reb-
andi, a chemist in honour of whom Dr. Bertoni gave it its
Specific name.
(2) In being a sweetening substance of greater power.
(3) In being capable of being employed just as it is
found in its natural state, by using the leaves crushed
to powder. :
(4) ‘In the fact that it can be put on the market at
a much lower price than saccharine.
With regard to its possibilities under cultivation,
Dr. Bertoni says that it can be easily ciltivated, and might
reasonably become an important article of production in Para-
guay. Furthermore, a sure market would be open to the pro-
duce, seeing that from small samples remitted to Europe and
North America a lively interest has been evoked, aud
requests have been made for the supply of many tons if
possible.
The advantages which the plant possesses as a sugar for
various medical purposes, the infermentability of the glucoside
derived from it, its enormous sweetening power, from 150 to
180 times greater than that of sugar, the agreeable taste of
syrups prepared with it, tend to show that there may possibly~
be a great future for the production of this plant.
It is true that the cultivation of it is attended with this:
drawback that the plants under cultivation have not given
many fertile seeds, but its multiplication by cuttings, suckers,
and division of the stalk, chiefly the latter, is comparatively
easy.
- Inconclusion it is stated that its principal sweetening
substance, which ought to be known by the name estevin
rather than eupatorin, is a glucoside which it is not necessary
to separate from its salt, rebaudin, and that for general medi-
cal and economic purposes the powdered leaf might well be
employed. The sweetening power of the powdered leaf is forty
to forty-five times superior to that of any other known natural
substance, and it contains no other active principle or harm-
ful substance. The bitter aroiuatic resin, shown by analysis
to be contained in the leaves, has on the contrary a tonic
action on the digestive organs. Another advantage which
the leaves possess is that they may be preserved dry without
deterioration for an indefinite period. If cuttings or seeds
could be obtained, it might be interesting and perhaps profit-
able, to make trial of growing this plant in the West Indies.
A NEW INDUSTRY IN BRITISH
HONDURAS.
The Cohune palm (A¢falea Cohune) is met with in nearly
every part of Honduras. The nuts which it bears in large
quantities, yield a fine edible oil, but the shell which covers
the kernel is extremely thick and hard, and on account of the
difficulty of breaking it but little use has been made of the
nuts in the past.
Of late years considerable interest has been shown in
the Cohune nuts, and at various times machines have been
introduced to deal with them, but for one reason or another
complete success has not been attained.
It appears from the British Honduras Clarion, May 30,
1918, that another venture is to be madg, and this time these
nuts are to be used in furtherance of the war.
The use of Cohune nuts in producing a material of the
highest value in protecting the lives of the soldiers of the
allied nations has recently assumed very great importance.
The United States Government requires large quantities
of them, and has commissioned the Franklin Baker Company
to organize a collecting and purchasing system.
Many discoveries have been mide in the process of
organizing war industries. One of the most unique of these
is the high value possessed by charcoal made from the shell
ofthe Cohune nut, which is proiuced in abundance from
a variety of palm common to the forests of British Honduras.
This charcoal is extremely efficacious in neutralizing the etfect.
of gas attacks.
214
THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF FERTIL-
IZERS AND CHEMICALS EMPLOYED
IN AGRICULTURE.
Important data contained in an interesting review cover-
ing detailed enquiry into the above subject, recently
published by the International Institute of Agriculture at
Romie, are summarized in the /vfernational Sugar Journal,
May 1918. In view of the growing scarcity of labour
occasioned by the prolonged war, the problem of the use of
fertilizers asan aid to agriculture has become a prominent
one, and there is need for increased fertility in the different
countries which are now forced more than ever to resort to
their own agriculture to produce their food requirements.
For this purpose. the use of fertilizers is one of prime
importance, and the summary of data concerning known
sources and quantities of the world’s present production is of
Interest.
NATURAL PHOSPHATES,
Natural phosphates are a production confined mainly to
the United States and the north of Africa. In the former,
tbe sales in 1916 amounted to 2,014,196 tons; Tunis in the
same year supplied 1,695,000 tons, while smaller amounts
‘were yielded by Egypt and Algeria. Makers of fertilizers
claim that the price of phosphatic fertilizers should show
a much greater increase than that of the rough phosphate,
the rise being necessary to meet the enhanced price of the
sulphuric acid required in the preparation of fertilizers.
It is anticipated that the improvement in the manufactured
quantities of natural phosphates, manifest in 1916, will
have continued during 1917.
BASIC SLAG.
The production of Germany in the first ten months of
1916 was 1,592,000 tons as compared with 2,500 in 1913.
The production of this commodity has also decreased consid-
erably in all other countries, as will be seen from the
following summary:—
Superphosphate of lime. 1916. 1915. 1914. 1913.
Thousands of metric tons.
Spain 315 194 22 235
France 350 600 1,600 1,920
Great Britain — 685 — 820
Italy S45 915 906 972
United States = 2 5gpee 0,080 2,348
POTASIL SALTS.
The German distribution department for production of
potash fixed the following aggregate for the year 1917:—
Germany, 762,250 tons; other countries, 155,000 tons;
total, 911,450 tons of pure potash.
Deliveries of German potash salts in 1916 reached a
total of 883,696 tons of pure potash, as against 680,005 tons
in 1915, 903,988 in 1914, and 1,110,370 tons in 1913.
The production of potash salts in the United States in
1916 was estimated at 32,422 metric tons of products with
an average of about 7 per cent. of potash, representing a
production of potash amounting to 8,518 tons. This is very
nearly ten times the production of 1915, but no more than
one-twentieth the normal consumption of potash in the
United States.
NITRATE OF SODA.
The production of the Chilean nitrate beds in the first
half of 1917 was very nearly equal to that of the corres-
ponding period in 1916, being 1,482,122 metric tons in 1i7,
and 1,488,792 in 1916. In the first half of 1915 a minimum
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DULY Ws TOTES
was established on a production of about 600,000 tons. ‘The
stocks on the Chilean coast on June 30 have never been
so large as those in 1917. they amounted to 936,235, while
they were 919,102 tons at the same date in 1916, about
850,000 tons in 1915, and 775,000 tons in 1914. The
reason for this abnormal increase of stocks must-be sought,
itis stated,in the fact that, while production totals show
little change, the shipments to European and American ports
have been much hampered by the lack of tonnage, and by the
consequent enhancement of freight rates. These shipments
represent, curing the first half of 1917, a total of 1,230,947
tons, as against 1,356,629 tons in 1916, say, 125,082 tons
less than 1917.
SULPHATE OF AMMONIA,
A production of 700,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia
was expected in Germany for 1916, while, according to the
most recent available data, the quantity for 1915 was
549,000 tons.
Owing to the enormous demand for steel, both for
European countries and American foundries, the production
of sulphate in the United States has greatly increased since
1914. In 1916 the production of ammonia, reckoned in
sulphate, was about 294,838 metric tons, or 47-7 per cent.
more than in 1915. The increase is still clearer when the-
data are compared with those of 1914, when the production
was only 166,016 tons.
For 1917 the American production of ammonia was
estimated at 400,000 tons, reckoned in sulphate; and the
capacity for production in 1918, it is stated, may reach at
least 500,000 tons.
The Japanese production of sulphate of ammonia is also
continuously increasing. For 1917 the estimate was 50,802
tons, and some people predict a total of 60,000 tons. This
increased production is said to ke due to the same causes that
have influenced the output in America.
The subjoined table summarizes the information pub-
lished by the Institute of Agriculture with respect to the
production of sulphate of ammonia from 1914 to 1916:—
Sulphate of ammonia. 1916. 1915. 1914.
Thousands of metric tons.
Spain 18 16 16
France 25 42 =
United Kingdom 445 433 433
Netherlands 4 5 5
Russia 33 16 17
United States 295 227 166
Japan tal 32 16
Australia it 7 6
CYANAMIDE OF CALCIUM,
Cyanamide of calcium was, previous to the war, chietly
produced in the United States and Canada, Norway, Sweden,
Germany and Austria-Hungary. As compared with 1914,
Germany in 1916 had raised her production from 24,000 to
500,000 tons, Norway and Siwedeu from 40,000 to 220,000
tons, while the North American production was only increased
from 48,000 to 60,000 tons, These figures are, however,
only estimates. France from producing only 7,000 tons in
1913 obtained about 100,000 in 1916. The American
consular reports consider that, besides this production of
cyanamide, Germany would recover in 1917 nearly 500,000
tons of ammonia by the aid of the Haber process, which
represents, for that country alone, a total of nitrates extracted
from the atmosphere, equal to 200,000 tons. If to this
are added the 140,000 tons of nitrates represented by the
700,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia expected in 1917 for
Vor, XVIEV No: £23.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS..-
215
that country, we find for Germany an available aggregate
of 340,000 tons of nitrate, if the production of cyanamide
in 1917 is estimated as equal to those of 1916 and 1915.
SULPHUR.
The Italian production of raw sulphur during the first
half of 1y17 was officially estimated at 100,240 metric tons,
as against 269,374 and 558,107 tons, respectively, for the
complete years 1916 and 1915. Almost the whole of the
sulphur produced in the United States at present comes from
deposits in Louisiana and Texas, but deposits that might
have been or might be productive are known in Wyoming,
Nevada, Utah, California, Colorada, Oregon, and Alaska.
Some authorities on the question reckon that the United
States have consumed about 900,000 tons in 1915 and 1916,
as compared with 300,000 in 1915. It is expected that the
demand in the States will have attained 1,200,000 in 1917,
and may probably grow to 1,600,060 in 1918.
The only other large producer is Japan, which had an
output of 61,000 tons in 1915, and 93,000 tons in 1916.
SULPHATE OF COPPER.
Subjoined are the items of information published by the
Institute: —
Sulphate of copper. 1916. 1915. 1914. 1913.
Thousands of metric tons.
Spain Ss 1 0 0
France DT 16 21 26
Great Britain 39 . 166 60 Ue
Italy 48 4] 51 44
United States 6* ys) 14 25
* Production of the American Smelting and Refintig Com-
pay only.
From asummary of wholesale prices for fertilizers, we
find that the average prices for the first half of 1917, per
long ton, were as follows:—
Sulphate of potash (London), £66.
Nitrate of soda (Liverpool), £23.
Sulphate of ammonia (Hull), £19. 10s.; (New York), £24.
Raw sulphur (Sicily), £8 3s. 4d.; (London), £14 8s.
Sulphate of copper (London), £63 7s. 6¢.; (New York),
£48 10s.
LIMA BEANS.
Wherever agriculture is practised, either in tropical or
temperate countries, some kind of leguminous crop is
grown. ‘The seeds of such crops come next in importance to
cereals. Among the most widely grown of these are the
many varieties of Phasec/ws /unatus, known as Lima
beans, or butter beans, or white beans, and sometimes even
as haricot beans, although this nsme properly belongs to the
seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris.
The seeds of the white or Lima bean vary considerably
in appearance, but they are usually flattened more or less,
kidney-shaped in profile, and from deep purple to red-brown
or white in colour. All the varieties of the seed show lines
radiating from the hilum to the outer edge, usually strongly
marked in coloured forms, but only appearing as faint lines
in the white varieties.
A native of South America, Phaseolus lunatus is now
widely distributed in cultivation throughout the warmer
parts of the world. Under cultivation the size of the seed
has been much increased, and the colour has been changed in
many varieties from purplish red to white,
The importation of these beans into the United Kingdom,
as stated in an article on the Peas and Beans of Commerce in
the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, October-December
1917, amounted in 1916 to no less than 1,077,600 ewt., of
the value of £1,239,325, Of this total, 801 670 cwt. were
imported from countries within the British Empire, chietiy
from Burma, The largest importation from foreign countries
was from Madagascar, to the amount of 138,570 ewt.
In Madagascar the bean is said to receive but little
cultivation. Holes are made in the soft ground in which
two or three seeds are planted, but during the period of about
six months which the crop requires to ripen its seeds, the
plar receives no attention, The long twining stems are
simply allowed to trail over the ground. The harvesting is
done by hand, the ripe pods being plucked and thrown
together in heaps, and afterwards thrashed with a flail to
obtain the beans. These Madagascar beans are of large size,
flat, and kidney-shaped, and of an ivory white colour.
. The two most common forms known in Burma are the
red-seeded and the white-seeded kinds, the latter being known
as Rangoon beans, which are, however, much smaller than the
Madagascar butter bean. In Burma no less than 240,000
acres were devoted to the cultivation of the white variety,
and 94,000 to the red in 1916-17. There the seeds are
usually dropped into furrows in rows of about 1 foot to a foot
and a half apart; they are also sometimes sown along with
maize. When sown with maize the stems of the maize plant
serve as supports to the trailing stems of the beans, but when
sown alone the stems are allowed to trail over the ground.
The development of hydrocyanic acid in the beans of
Phaseolus lunatus has been studied at the Imperial Institute
for several years. Inthe first instance, beans produced in
Mauritius by wild plants were examined, and were found to
yield 0°l per cent. of hydrocyanic acid. Soon after, when
large quantities of burma beans began to be placed on the
British market, samples of these were examined, and found
to yield only traces of hydrocyanic acid which were too small
to be harmful.
In 1905, beans derived from wild plants of P. un2ztus
appeared on the market under the name of Java beans, and
these caused the death of a number of cattle in England, as
well as of some human beings on the Continent. Samples of
these beans were also examined at the Imperial Institute,
and were found to furnish quantities of hydrocyanie acid
varying from 0:03 to 0°16 per cent.
There is a great difference in the poisonous properties
of beans produced in Java and Mauritius by wild plants of
the species, and of those produced in Burma or elsewhere
from the cultivated varieties. Both the white and the red
form of Burma beans have been repeatedly examined. As
a rule, the white beans yield no prussic acid, though some-
times traces are present. The red beans usually yield traces,
but in no cases have quantities of prussic acid which can
be regarded as harmful been found at the Imperial Institute
in Burma beans of either type.
White cultivated types of P. /wnatus from South Africa
and Madagascar have also been examined, and found to yield
no hydrocyanic acid, or only mere traces. It is evident there-
fore, that the beans derived from cultivated forms of P. /wa-
tus which are obtained from Madagascar, South America,
and Burma, and probably also those produced in the United
States and Southern Europe, rarely, if ever, yield hydrocyanic
acid in quantities likely to be injurious, but at the same time
it is advisable that if the cultivation of any varieties of this
species be extensively undertaken on new areas, the product
should be examined before being placed on the market as an
article for human consumption.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
JuLy 13, 1918.
21
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
(
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados. ’
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
En Joaist H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
tomologists J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.t
CLERICAL STAFF,
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants {2 Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
ppist Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst,
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Ty
Agricultural
oo eeewTwsaoeoeow
Vor. XVII. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1918. No. 423.
“ay...
Aews
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial draws attention to the advantage
which more scientific forestry would confer on these
islands.
Under Insect Notes, on page 218, an article will
be found on the substitution of starch for lime in
srsenical mixtures for insect control,
a a
On page 213’ there appears an article describing the
wonderful sweet content of a Paraguayan plant.
Figures showing the total production in the world
of agricultural artificial fertilizers are pre sented in an
article on page 214,
A Seaweed Substitute for Cotton.
According to a note in The Board of Trade Jour-
nal, May 16, 1918, an interesting account of a substi-
tute for cotton in Japan has been published in a recent
issue of the Japan Advertiser. The discovery of the
substitute, which is. said to be a good one, was
reported to the Japanese Federation of Marine Indus-
try Associations by the Vice-President of the House of
Xepresentatives. Seaweeds called ‘sugamo’ and ‘gomo-
gomo form the raw materials from which the cotton
substitute is extracted. These weeds are found in
abundance in the seas around Japan, and have been
chiefly utilized hitherto as good fertilizing material.
The process of manufacture is stated to be com-
paratively simple. The weed is boiled in water to
which ashes have been added, and then in water mixed
with rice bran. When itis thoroughly boiled it is
then bleached. This is stated to be all that is necessary
to produce good fibres. It is also said that the Tokio
Fibre Laboratory, where the discovery was made, has
taken out a patent for the process, and it is estimated
that an annual production of about 826,700,000 tb, can,
be attained.
>
A New Food Mammal.
Referring to the article under this heading in the
Agricultural News of April 20, 1918, Mr. Joseph
Sturge, of Birmingham, contributes the following
interesting note: ‘I expect you have seen, as I have,
the manatee swimming about in the lake in the
Botanical Garden at Georgetown, Demerara, but
probably you have not heard of an interesting use
for the creature. Mr, Wrigglesworth, of the Demerara
Railway, told me that he had two long wayside tanks
to provide the locomotives with water. These con-
stantly needed freeing from grass growth, which
encumbered them. He bought a young manatee, and
put him into one of the tanks; ina month he had
absolutely freed the tank from grass. He then had the
manatee caught in a strong net, and taken to the other
tank, which he cleaned out in like manner, The
creature filled this useful office for years, until it had
grown 9 feet long, when it escaped in a time of flood.
When there was no grass left in the tank the manatee
would come to the watchman for its food.
ED + x
The Home Vegetable Garden.
In another column in the present issue of this Jour-
nal is reproduced from Farmers’ Bulletin, SIS, of the
United States Department of Agriculture, interesting
and useful advice on the management of small vegetable
gardens. As supplementing the advice there given, it
may be worth while to add the following admonition
published in the Journal of the New York Botanical
Garden, April 18, 1918, on the subject of the ‘home
vegetable garden. Itis stated there that one of the
strongest national appeals this year for the home food
garden is to save transportation space. Cargo for all
Vou, XVII No. 423,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
217
carriers is far in excess of the means to move it, and war
material has the first call. Whatever each of us can do
to relieve the situation is a real help. More than ever
we must use good judgment in our gardens, and never
was there more inspiration to do our best. Seeds,
fertilizers, and labour are scarce. Let us show our
patriotism by using these to the best advantage. Let
us have the best gardens we can with the least waste of
any of these precious items. Buy the best grades of
seeds, and only as much as is needed. Plant these
seeds carefully, with special attention to spacing in
the rows, and between the rows, so that there will be
less thinning this year than usual. Let us plant
or transplant this year into gardens that have the
soil better prepared than ever before, deeply dug, free
from weeds, well cultivated. Let novices grow what is
reasonably sure of success, and leave to the experienced
growers the special, the difficult, and the field crops.
Green foods are especially valuable in the dietary,
and the fresher they are, the more valuable they are.
Only from the home garden can they be gathered just
at the right stage of development, and a few minutes
before using.
The war is rapidly teaching us to measure many
things by their service value rather than by the dollar
value. The dollar value in times like this is uncertain.
Plan your food gardens and measure their results with
rations. Moss of the garden vegetables may be canned
profitably at home, and only when young and fresh
are they at their best for canning. The more of these
vegetables that are canned for family use this year, the
longer they can be substituted for the foods we are
urged to save. :
(-—_—_—_— —
An Efficient, Quick, and Safe Insecticide.
The following note appeared in the Medical Press,
April 10, 1918, and the subject seems worth drawing
attention to again.
De. George V. Perez writes from Santa Ursula,
Teneriffe: ‘The practical knowledge acquired by horti-
culturists ought to be made use of in modern hygiene
where the destruction of insects such as fleas and
pediculi have been shown by modern investigators to
play such an important part in the prophylaxis of
disease.
‘An emulsion of petroleum and soft soap was used
in India with the greatest success for ridding the floors
of houses infested by fleas, where cases of bubonic
plague had occurred, and it was confirmed that no
antiseptic substances acted better than this emulsion
as a flea exterminator.
‘In the number for August 29, 1914, page 282, of
the Agricultural News, full details are given of an
insecticide, to which its discoverer, Mr. H. H. Cousins,
who was also the author of a book entitled The Chemis-
try of the Garden, published in 1898, gave the name
of Paranaph, and patented it in 1595; besides soft soap
and petroleum, naphthalene enters into its compost-
tion, and the combination of those three insecticides
seems to enhance the action of each in a remarkable
way: this compound, which is quite easy to prepare,
followmg the instructions given, keeps indefinitely,
ferus, is known in its native island as Tagasaste.
and is a soapy substance readily dissolyed in coldi
water,
‘In the proportions of about one ounce to the
quart of water, it forms a most wonderful wash in
which tleas and pediculé perish almoss instantaneously,
as can be seen during the washing of a dog infested
with feas, or in the case of a human head full of
pediculi: this would be a very ready and practical
way of dipping and washing clothes infested with
pediculi vestimenti, and one which deserves to be
known far and wide, which is the only object of these
lines.’
It may be mentioned that the Mr. Cousins re-_
ferred to above, is the present Director of Agricul-
ture, Jamaica. The formula for making Paranaph is
given as follows:—
‘To 56 tb. of the best soft soap add 2 gallons of
water. Simmer over a fire with constant stirring until
all lumps have disappeared and a perfectly uniform
melt has been obtained. Add 6 th. of naphthalene. Stir
until dissolved. Remove from the fire, and add 2
Imperial gallons of ordinary kerosene oil. Stir until
uniform. The finished product is semi-solid, and dis-
solves readily in cold water so as to give a milky
emulsion.’
EE ae __
Perennial Forage Shrubs.
Experiments which are being made in the
Botanic Gardens, Sydney, as to the fodder value of
three useful leguminous shrubs from Teneriffe, are
noticed in the Agricultural Gazette of New South
Wales, April 1918. he first of these, Cytisus proli-
This
is stated to bea leafyshrub with a graceful drooping
habit, which does well under dry conditions, and stands
considerable variations in temperature from hot to cold.
Its quick growth makes it useful as a wind-break, and
if kept trimmed, it grows into a pleasing shrub from 8
to 15 teet high. For fodder purposes it should never
be allowed to grow into a small tree, but should be
cut regularly at least twice a year: the foliage is then
always young and soft,and in this state it is readily eaten
by ali kinds of stock. It is recommended as a safe and
profitable stand by in districts where droughts interfere
with the cultivation of better fodder.
The second shrub of the same genus is C. steno-
petalus, called Gacia in Teneriffe. This makes a
beautiful, sweet-scented, yellow-flowering shrub, not so
large in growth as the Tagasaste, but just as robust,
producing thick green foliage.
The third of these shrubs, C. pallidus, is known as
Gacia blanea, and is even more beautiful as a shrub than
the Gacia, because of its charming silvery foliage,
although both species bear the same yellow flowers,
Both the Gacias make excellent fresh fodder and
silo material, if cut in the same way as the Tagasaste.
The flowers also of both of them yield large quantities
of nectar, and are exceedingly useful to bee-keepers.
Dr. G. V. Perez of Teneriffe, is interested in haying
these three plants experimented with in various parts
of the world, and would probably be glad to supply
seeds for trial in any of the drier West Indies.
218
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Juty 13, 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
INSTEAD OF LIME, WITH
ARSENICALS.
In the -lericu/tural News for November 6, 1915
(Vol. XLV, No. 353) the attention of readers was drawn toa
cheap and efficient method for poisoning certain caterpillars
which are pests of staple crops in St. Vincent. This method
was devised by Mr. 8. C. Harland, Assistant Agricultural
Superintendent of St. Vincent, in the course of his experiments
to control the corn ear worm (Laphvgma frugiperda). Sum-
maries of the information contained in the above article
appeared in the St. Vincent Annual Report for 1915-16, and
in the Review of Applied Extomology, Vol. IV, p. 42.
It has been thought desirable to remind planters of the
value of this poison mixture, especially in view of some
recent experiments in the control of the corn worm carried
out by the Superintendent of Agriculture in St. Lucia, which
will be referred to below. -
Harland found that by diluting Paris green or arsenate
of lead with a low grade arrowroot starch which had been
passed through a sieve of eighty meshes to the inch, a mix-
ture was obtained which seemed to have a peculiarly deadly
effect upon all kinds of caterpillars. He continues: ‘The
greater effectiveness of these mixtures, as compared with
similar lime mixtures, is thought to be due to the fact that
insects usually avoid vegetation where lime is present, and
refrain from eating it until actually foreed by hunger. A
longer period of time thus elapses before the poison is taken
in than in the case of starch mixtures, where feeding goes on
at the same rateas before. Greater dilution is thus possible
with starch mixtures, and the cost of applying poison becomes
proportionately less.’ Harland states that the additional
advantages of starch over lime are that (a) starch adheres
better to leaves than lime, (b) it is insoluble in water, (c) it
is more pleasant to sift.’
In the course of his observations on the habits of
Laphygma in St. Vincent, Harland found that the larvae
after hatching from egg-clusters on the leaves, remain
yuiescent fora time and then migrate to the heart of the
young plant where they begin feeding immediately. It was
observed that the young larvae showed such a marked
tendency to devour each other that it was rarely possible to
find more than two full-grown larvae in a single plant.
Similar cannibalistic tendencies in this species have been
observed by Bodkin in British Guiana (Journal of the Board
of Agriculture of British Guiana, Vo". VI, No. 4, p. 172).
Since the larvae of the corn ear worm, or corn worm as
it is often called in these islands, remain in the heart
of the plant, they are not easy to reach by the ordinary
methods of dusting or spraying, and both these methods
are wasteful of materials. It has been found that the
simplest and most economical method is to drop a small
quantity of poison into the heart of each plant, using an
ordinary pen nib, (Harland /ac. et.)
Experiments with various mixtures showed that both
Paris green and lime separately and together burn the leaves
of corn, so that they cannot be used against the corn worm.
Harlaud found that the best poison for the control of
Luphygma frugiperda on young corn is a mixture of lead
arsenate and starch in the proportion of 1 : 30 by volume.
Paris green and starch may be used against caterpillars on
most other crops at the rate of 1 : 60 by volume,
In this connexion a communication has lately been
received at this Office from Mr. A. J. Brooks, Superintendent
STARCH,
of Agriculture, St. Lucia, in which he gives an account of
some experiments which he has been making to control the
corn worm.
The 1 : 30 lead arsenate and starch mixture was used in
the manner recommended by Harland, except that the starch
was passed through a sieve of sixty meshes to the inch
instead of eighty.
Brooks has given the following description of his expevi-
ments: “The mixture (mentioned above) was applied by
means of an ordinary pen nib, the point being pushed into
the soft stem of a piece of bamboo grass, or similar material,
to form a handle. The curved base of the pen holds a_ sutii-
cient amount of the poisonous mixture required to be dropped
into the heart of each corn seedling.
‘rom extensive trials made by this Department
(St. Lucia) this mixture has given by far the best. results of
any ever suggested for dealing with this troublesome pest,
which is almost entirely responsible for the lack of interest
taken in corn growing locally.
‘The processes of dusting by the use of muslin bags or
machines formerly employed have always been a failure,
the machines getting ont of order and the bags tearing or
becoming chokid through the mixture getting damp.
Too much or too little was applied and the results were at
the best doubtful.
‘Paris green, lime, and such mixtures have never proved
satisfactory on corn owing to their burning properties, and
in some instances greater injury has been caused by the
application of these remedies than by the worms themselves.’
Brooks then goes on to say that the adulterants usually
suggested, such as corn meal, ete., are often unobtainable,
but that corn is a crop suited to all soils where cassava or
arrowroot is regularly grown, so that there should be no diti-
culty in obtaining a good stock of starch as an adulterant,
He suggests that the outer layer of the starch blocks, which
is often dirty and unsaleable, could be used instead of the
higher grade,
drooks continues: ‘The only apparatus needed is a ciga-
rette tin to hold the mixture and a pen nib to apply it. The
planter is not left in doubt as to the results, as the worms
leave the heart of the seedling when the poison they have
consumed begins to worry them, and they are found stretched
out flat and dead on the upper surface of the broad sheaths
of the leaves. Our experience has shown that whens the
mixture is applied just before sunset the worms are quite
dead by the following morning.
‘A careful test was made by the individual inspection of
each seedling in a half-acre plot, and although the infesta-
tion had been great, due to the late arrival of the lead arsen-
ate, not a single live worm was found after a period of four-
teen hours from the time of applying the poison. During
this period heavy storms were experienced and a rainfall of
‘$2 inch was registered. By following the simple instrue-
tions given in the memorandum from St. Vincent absolute
success is assured even in spite of unfavourable weather
conditions,’
Brooks considers it exceedingly helpful to find such an
effective, practical, cheap and easy method of dealing with
a pest, and is of the opinion that much more corn could be,
and would be grown, if peasants and others knew ot such
a simple remedy for the greatest trouble they meet in the
cultivation of corn.
lt would appear then from the above experiments in
St. Vincent and St. Lueia that a mixture of lead arsenate or
Paris green with starch provides a remedy that is both cheap
and efficient, in that only one application is necessary, if
Von. XVII. No, 423.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
219
carefully applied in the first instance. These mixtures are
especially suitable for use in these islands where starch is
easily available, and where the areas under corn are compara-
tively small. A 1:60 Paris green starch mixture has been
used by Harland in St. Vincent against the arrowroot worm
(Calpodes ethlius) with the result that 90 per cent. of the
caterpillars were dead in less than twelve hours after the
application of the poison.
The writer has seen the results of the use of this lead
arsenate starch mixture in St. Vincent against the corn worm
and considers that this poison is decidedly worth a general
trial by corn growers in the West Indies.
THE CONTROL OF CORN CATERPILLARS,
THE CORN EAR WORM (Litf/igma frugiperda).
THE BOLL WorM (Chloridea | Heliothis] obsole/c).
Both these pests attack Indian cora in much the same
way by feeding on the leaves and by boring into the ears,
While the two species of caterpillars are alike in their habits
of feeding, the adult moths differ in their egg-laying habits.
The female of Laphygma deposits eggs on the leaves in
clusters which are more or less thickly covered with greyish
down from the moth’s body, while the Heliothis fem:le lays
eggs singly on various parts of the plants. In the United
States the number of eggs ina cluster of Laphygma range
‘from fifty to several hundreds’ (/armers’ Bulletin, 752),
while Heliothis lays ‘from nearly 500 to almost 3,000 eggs’
(Farmers Bulletin, 872).
controL. The collection of eggs is hardly a practicable
measure against either of the above pests, at any rate where
corn is grown on fairly large areas. Harland found that the
collection of Laphygma egg-clusters was practicable over
a small area, since the clusters are easily seen, but even on
half an acre of corn the masses were being collected at the
rate of 300 per day.
‘The best method of controlling l.aphygma in the West
Indies is the application of the Jead arsenate starch mixture
in the manner described above. The boll worm often attacks
cornat the time when this plant is ‘silking’ and lays its eggs
on the corn silks., The hatching larvae eat their way through
the silks and attack the immature ears. Advantage is
sometimes taken of this egg-laying habit to dust the corn
silks with a poison mixture. It is suggested that the lead
arsenate and starch mixture be tried against Heliothis.
THE MOTH BORER (Diatraca saccharalis),
The moth borer often attacks corn ina manner very
similar to that in which it injures sugarcane. The best
method of controlling this pest is by collecting the egy-masses
which are laid on the leaves. These masses are often well
parasitized. The darker egg-masses should be left on the
leaves, if possible, to allow the parasites to emerge. The
lighter masses should be collected and destroyed.
Harland (St. Vincent Annual Report, 1915-16) has found
that Diatraea shows a marked preference for laying eggs on
Indian corn rather than on sugar-cane, even when corn is
planted along the edge of the cane plot. The old corn stalks
should always be removed after the crop, as if these are left
standing in the field the infesting lavyae will be able to com-
plete their development. ;
The stalks can be cut as soon as tue crop is harvested and
used for litter in cattle pens; the stumps should be removed at
the c<ametime. This method will destroy most of the larvae
and pupae, and isa very effective measure of control.
J.C.H,
——e
PRIMARY EDUCATION IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
The report of Mr. H. W. Sconce, the Director of Primary
Education, British Guiana, for the year 1917, has lately been
received at this Office. Much of it is, of course, more or less
of local interest, but it touches upon many subjects which
are of general importance with regard to primary education
in all these colonies.
One of the sub-Inspectors, Mr. Lawrance, makes some
pertinent remarks as to training in manual occupation.
Time spent on work of this kind, says Mr. Lawrance,
is regarded in some quarters as time wasted, and so it is,
when the work is not done properly; but that does not
appear to be a conclusive argument against the utility of a
subject Which undoubtedly introduces a welcome variety into
the school course. Besides that, however, such manual work
has an educational value of its own, in fostering habits of
close attention, in coordinating hand and eye, and in provid-
ing the means of self-expression.
The same sub-Inspector criticizes the teaching in nature
knowledge as very often lacking in interest. Provision is
seldom made for first-hand examination of objects. Too much
stress is laid on the memorizing of facts, and too little on
preparing the mind to recognize and receive them.
In connexion with nature study, the subject of school
gardens naturally presents itself. It seems that, on the whole,
there is a considerable amount of useful work done in the
school gardens throughout the colony of British Guiana in
the course of a year. The report truly remarks that the
object of a school garden is to lead pupils of suitable age to
a first-hand knowledge of natural processes, to give a practical
turn to their instruction, and to create and foster in them
a liking for agricultural pursuits. This, it may be said, is the
object to be aimed at by the establishment of school gardens
everywhere.
Part of the report is taken up in the discussion of certain
clauses of the New Draft Education Code of 1917. The
Director of Kducation says that the chief mistake in the past
has been the tendency to treat all schools alike, but that in
any system of payment by individual results such a tendency
is practically unavoidable. Now, however, it is proposed to
abolish in its entirety the money value of a subject of
instruction, or of an individual pass. It will be quite
feasible, therefore, to allow a large amount of freedom to
school authorities in the drawing up of a course of instruction,
the promotion of pupils, ete , and at the same time to enable
the government to have complete control over the efficiency
of the schools and the teachers. The cast iron system
of a uniform curriculum, and of a uniform number of
classes and standards. for schools in all parts of the
colony, and for all the children of the six different
races which inhabit it, is, the Director trusts, departed
forever. Every school, however, will be required to pay due
attention to the reading, writing, and speaking of English, to
arithmetic, manual work, hygiene, and physical training.
With regard to school gardening in the future, the
Director quotes with approbation some remarks of a Trinidad
Education Commissson on the subject: ‘We recommend
that every country school should have a garden in which
practical gardening should be taught on lines to be approved
of in advance by the Director of Agriculture. There shouid
be no special bonus for school gardening, but no country
schoo}, which did not possess a suitable and properly equipped
garden anda qualified teacher for it, should be graded as
a first class school, however satisfactory its work in other
respects might be.’
320
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JULY ds koe:
GLEANINGS.
The estimated output of date palm sugar in Bengal in
1917-18 is calculated as 101,000 tons, as compared with
‘99,700 tonsin 1916-17. (Zhe Board of Trade Journal,
May 16, 1918.)
An embargo has been declared against the shipment of
grape fruit from Cuba in order to conserve space for war
essentials on ships leaving there. Pine-apples and bananas
are the only fruit which do not come under the embargo,
(The Cuba Review, May 1918.)
The cultivation of the castor oil plant in Santo Domingo
has become very profitable, and a contract for 500,000
bushels of castor beans has been recently placed by the
United States Government with a local firm. (Z%e Loard
of Trade Journal, May 23, 1918.)
A note in the Chamber of Commerce Journal, May
1918, states that experimental work in coco-nut planting is
being carried out by the Federated Malay States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, and from measurements of the rates
of growth of young palms it would appear that Malaya can
produce these of 50 per cent. better growth than that
recorded from other countries,
From the Da//y Argosy of Demerara for June 22, 19138,
-we learn that the food problem in Surinam was getting more
serious each day. In fact there is real danger of famine.
The Dutch Guiana newspaper, Sis7name, expected, however,
that the food situation would be relieved by the end of the
month by supplies of flour from the Argentine, and food-
stuffs from Venezuela, which are said to be on the way.
In the course of a lecture on Cotton Growing in
St. Vincent, reported in the Sentry, June 21, 1918, Mr. W. N.
Sands remarked that what the control of cot'on stainers
meant was shown by the fact that from July 1, 19:6, to January
31, 1917, the operators caught 204,660 stainers in the cotton
plots, whereas for the same months of 1917-18 they caught
but twenty five, and these at the close of the cotton-picking
season.
In Canada the shipping of day-old chickens, in prefer
ence to eggs, is becoming very general. The method of
packing is quite simple, strong cardboard boxes being used
in sizes to hold a dozen, twenty-five, fifty or 100 chicks, res-
pectively. The Agricultural Gazette of Canada, May \918,
gives reports on this method from several agricultural officers.
It is stated that even when the chickens are forty-eight hours
on the road very few losses occur,
1
It is stated in Hawaii, that the Olaa Plantation’s pro-
posed bagasse paper plant will be superior to what was
expected. The manager of the company shows more than
a dozen different grades of paper manufactured from bagasse,
which lends itself, in reality, better to the production of
the high and finer grades of paper than it does to the coarse
product for mulching purposes, for the production of which
itis chiefly intended. (The Louisiana Panter, June 1, 1918.)
A note on the production of sugar beets in Canada,
which appears in the Cuda Review, May '18, 1918, states
that the total of 117,600 tons from 14000 acres was pro-
duced as the crop of the season of 1917. All this production
was from the Province of Ontario. A large number of
Belgian sugar beet workers are now residing in Canada, and
beet production is increasing. In the past season the
refineries paid $8°73 per ton for beets, an increase over
the previous year of 52°73 per ton.
Ata meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and Com-
mercial Society held on June 8, 1918, the Chairman,
Mr. AP. Cowley, stated that the Secretary, Mr. T. Jackson,
as Curator of the Agricultural Department, had ordered for
planting purposes several thousand pounds of black-eye peas,
sufficient to plant approximately 400 acres of land. It seems
as though these peas might have a considerable effect in a
few months time in supplying the people with a very nutri-
tious food. (The Antigna .Svv, June 18, 1918.)
The Board of Trade Journal, May 16, 1918, notes
that during the past year a systematic study of possible
means of effecting improvements in the actual manufacture
of indigo in India has been in progress. It is hoped that by
controlling the bacterial action during the process of fermen-
tation, a considerable improvement in the yield may be
effected. Surprising increases in the yield of indigo are re-
ported to have been obtained this season at many factories by
the use of the so-called ‘dhak’ gum, which promotes better
settling.
In 1917 the United States took 71 y;ercent. of the
world’s total output of rubber. Practically all the planta-
tion rubber produced in the world is at present grown in the
East. The plantations occupy about 2,000,000 acres, of
which approximately ],000 000 are in the Malayan Penin-
sula, 500,000 in the Dutch East Indies, and the remainder
distributed through Ceylon, India, Burma, Cochin China,
and Borneo, with a eomparatively small acreage in the
Philippines. Forest rubber, on the other hand, is chiefly
produced in South and Central America, and West Africa.
(The Zidia Rubber Journal, May 11, 1918.)
A correspondent of the Jamaica G/vaver, May 17, 1918,
advocates the use of boiled yam mixed with flour for bread
making. The yam, having been previously boiled, is
well mashed, and mixed with flour dough in the
proportion of 2 parts flour and 1 part yam, the water in
which the yam was boiled being used as the liquid to make
the dough. Dough mixed io this manner rises, he says,
much quicker than that made with flour alone, and the bread
made in this way is as light and white, and will keep as
long as_ the ordinary all-wheat bread, being indistinguislable
from it in taste.
Vou. XVII. No. 423.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 22
FRUIT CULTIVATION IN TRINIDAD.
A special committtee of the Agricultural Society of
Trinidad was appointed on August 12, 1917, under the
chairmanship of Mr. W. G. Freeman, Acting Director of
Agriculture, to report on the above subject.
The terms of reference to the committee were: —
(1) To ascertain what fruits of merit already exist in
the colony, with a view to their cultivation for local use or
possible export; .
(2) To recommend the importation of any desirable new
fruit; : = .
(3) To ascertain what markets are available out of the
colony, especially for citrus fruit, mangoes, and avocados;
(4) To recommend measures for the establishment of
ofa froit industry in Trinidad and Tobago on a business
basis;
(5) To make recommendations as to handling. packing,
and grading fruit for local and export trade.
The committee presented its report to the Society on
May 9, 1918, a copy of which has been forwarded to the
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture.
The committee recommends that for purposes of an
export trade attention should at first be directed principally
to oranges, grape fruit, and mangoes. There exist in the
colony many excellent varieties of oranges, and ample
material is available for their more extensive propagation.
Good, well-known, commercial varieties of grape fruit are
already in the colony, and the committee recommends that
other good kinds should also be introduced and tested.
Both of the local varieties the committee considers worthy
of propagation.
With regard to mangoes, several of the varieties which
have already proved successful in the colony seem to be well
suited for export. The Department of Agricultnre has
about forty varieties under cultivation, among which are
some Indian mangoes of high reputation. With regard to
avocados, the excellent varieties in the colony can readily
be propagated by budding, but the supply does not equal
the local demand.
Among other fruit to which the committee draws
attention is the Sapucaya nut (Zecv//7s Zabucajo). This nut,
a relation of the Brazil nut, to which it is usually considered
superior, has already been introduced, and the plants are
thriving in some localities. It has not however fruited in
the colony as yet.
Trees of the mangosteen, one of the most delicious of
tropical fruits, thrive and bear moderately well at the St.
‘Clair Experiment Station.. A limited supply of young plants
it usually available each year. The tree does much better
however in moister localities.
There seem to be only four trees of another very highly
prized fruit, the Litchi, at present growing in the Botanic
Gardens. These do not seem to have borne very successfully,
but the committee considers that trials of this fruit in other
localities are desirable.
More attention, the committee thinks, should be given to
the sapodilla, by growing plants from specially selected seed
of the excellent Tobago strains. Tobago offers better oppor-
tunities than Trinidad for this purpose, as sapodillas are not
attacked there by the fruit fly. ;
Pine-apples do well in some docalities in Trinidad, for
instance at LaBrea, where was formerly established a canning
industry. Experiments are being made with importations of
fresh strains of pine-apples from Porto Rico, the results of
which are being loaked for with interest.
_—
It is recommended that papaws should be more largely
grown for local consumption, as there is always a demand
for papaws of good quality in the local market.
Attention should be given, the committee states, to the
selection and cultivation of good varieties of guavas. The
large spice guava is always in demand locally asa dessert
fruit Tobago, however, offers better opportunities for guava
cultivation. owing to freedom trom fruit fly.
More attention might be paid to the cultivation of grapes,
which are already successtully grown in a few places. The
green Muscat, and some black varieties do well. A dry district
with facilities for irrigation will probably prove the most
suitable for growing grapes.
Among new fruits which have been received by the
Departmént of Agriculture during the last few years,
plants of which have been successfully raised, are two edible
passion flower fruits (Passfora edulis) and (P. maliformis),
two other species of which are already well known, viz. the
water lemon or bell apple (7. dvwr/o//a), and the granadilla
(P. quadrangiduaris). Selected varieties from Egypt of the
date palm are also growing successfully, as are also plants of
the well-kown Durian of Malaya (Duvrio Zrbethinis).
In order to obtain information regarding the possibilities
of an export trade in fruit to the neighbouring colonies and
elsewhere, the chairman made enquiry of other West Indian
Agricultural Departments. From the information received
it appears that Barbados is an immediately promising market,
while there is opening in St. Kitts also for a small general
fruit trade, and in Antigna for grape fruit only. Possibly,
later on, when the industry has developed sufficiently to form
a strong organizatlon capable of doing a steady business on
a large scale, a good market might be opened in Canada.
Six trial shipments made to Bermuda of oranges and
grape fruit, to fill an order received from that colony, have
been very successtul, the gross profit of $683°95 having been
obtained on a shipment altogether of 514 crates,
In conclusion, the committee recommends the formation
of a Co-operative Fruit Growers’ Association for both export
and local trade, and suggests that this could be worked on
the same general lines as the Antigua Onion Growers’
Association.
The advantages of such co operation ought to be obvious,
Without it a number of individuals casually send smal! con-
signments, of fruit to the market probably in competition
with other local producers. The result is that small and
irregular consignments of poorly graded fruit prevent any
possibility of Trinidad and Tobago fruit of a definite standard
becoming recognized in a distant market. Secondly, by
the work of a properly organized association the
expense of marketing is considerably reduced. And thirdly,
what is of most importance, only fruit of definite grades,
packed in a standard manner, are despatched, so that the
Association fruit may earn a reputation for uniformity and
quality. Such an association could make a beginning by
trading with Barbados, Bermuda, and, on a small scale, with
St. Kitts and Antigua.
The abnormal prices obtained for honey during the past
two months has caused very many persons to start bee keep-
ing in Vere parish, Jamaica, while old bee-keepers have been
enlarging their apiaries. It is true that the fall in the price
which has recently taken place has reduced the profits very
much, It is confidently expected, however, that the price
will not go below 12s. per gallon when the market has
become settled. (The Jamaica Gleaner, May 2, 1918.)
Spore
222
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Jute as, VOUS:
PLANT DISEASES IN BRITISH GUIANA.
Mr. GC. K. Bancroft, in the dmnual Report cf the
Department of Science and Agriculture of British Guiana,
1916. gives the following summary of the position regarding
plant diseases during that year:
‘Fungoid diseases were not prevalent during the year.
Spasmodie cases of Marasmius Saccharé were reported; this
disease appears to have been continually diminishing since
1914. The other fungi parasitic on sngar-cane, with the
exception of Leptosphaeria Sacchart, “ring spot’, were
observed only in small quantity. The ring spot disease was
present on several plantations, though the damage attrib-
utable to it was small. Cases of bud rot of the coco-nut
continue to appear more particularly on the Canal Polder
and on the Essequibo coast. The “witch broom” of cacao
continues to diminish as the result of careful prun-
ing of the trees and improvement in drainage. No fresh
disease was recorded during the year. The principal
fungoid diseases of the lime plant during the year were
“collar rot” and “wither tip’. These, however, were not
prevalent; the former was confined almost solely to limes
on heavy clay land. The leaf disease of the Para rubber
tree showed distinct diminution towards the end of the
year. The trees growing at Christianburg and Wismar on
the Demerara River, are, however, still very badly affected,
and it is feared that the cultivation of both of these
places will be ruined. A fairly uniform wintering in
February to April 1917 has been followed by a still further
improvement in the condition of the trees in other parts of
the colony.
THE SMALL VEGETABLE GARDEN.
Nowadays, when everyone is being urged to do his best
in producing more food crops, advice on the above subject
contained in Farmers’ Bulletin, 818, of the United States
Department of Agriculture, is not only interesting but useful.
By the exercise of care and forethought in planning the
succession and rotation of crops, and by the utilization of
every foot of available space, it is possible to grow consid-
erable quantities of vegetables on limited areas, and so
supplement the family food supply.
The primary needs for successful vegetable gardening
on a small scale are the same as those for market gardening
ona large scale. On limited p'ots, however, more atten-
tion must be paid to intensive culture, and to carefully
arranged rotation,of .crops in order to produce the maximum
yield. A great deal also depends upon the care the gardener
bes!ows on his plot.
The soil of every garden should be of a relatively open
texture, in Order that the rootlets of the vegetables may
readily extend themselves in the search for the plant food
stored in the soil. To maintain this open condition, a high
proportion in the soil of humus—that is to say, rotted veget-
able material-—is most desirable, since it not only produces
an open texture, but adds nitrogenous plant tood, and also
ensures the prcsence of beneficial baeteria, and increases the
moisture-retaining properties of the soil.
About 50 per cent. of ordinary earth is not soil at all,
but consists of air and water. Water dissolves the plant
food that is present in the soil, and thus renders it available
for use by the plant, while the air in the soil tends to
bacterial development, and facilitates chemical action on the
mineral constituents necessary to plant growth
With a little forethuught a comparatively small tract of
Jand may be made to supply the average fainily with fresh vege
tables throughout the year. Most owners of stall gardens
are content to raise a single crop at a time on their plot of
land. It is quite possible, however, to grow two or three
crops of some vegetables on the same bit of ground, if these
are properly selected. It will pay the small gardener to
grow certain specialties of which he may be particularly
fond, and which it may be troublesome or expensive at times _
to purchase. Little beds also of parsley, thyme, and other
pot herbs take up very little room. and are always most
welcome to the housekeeper.
Every available foot of the small garden plot ought to
be made to produce continuously. It is well, therefore, eare-
fully to plan the lay-out for the garden in advance. No more
space should be allotted to cach crop than is needed to furnish
the sufficient quantity of the vegetable desired for consump-
tion. It is well to remember also that many kinds of
vegetables may be interplanted, but plants which make a
high growth and cause heavy shade should not be planted to
interfere with small sun-loving plants.
In this connexion it must be remembered that if a
successful garden is to be maintained, the greater portion of
the plot must have at least five or six hours of sunlight
a day. As a rule, crops which are grown for their leaves,
such as lettuce and cabbage do fairly well in partial shade,
but even these need several hours of sunshine a day. Plants
which are grown for their frnit, such as tomatoes and egg-
plants, should have a plentiful supply of sunlight.
The most practical device for use by the small gardener
for starting his vegetables is a flat seed-box. Any sort of
wooden box filled with good soil answers the purpose, but
a good size is one of 3 or 4 inches deep, 12 or 14
inches broad, and 20 to 24 inches long. A layer of about
1 inch of gravel should be placed on the bottom of the box,
which should then be nearly filled with rich, fine soil. In
the West Indies it is very desirabie to protect seeds sown
from the depredations of ants. Tor this purpose it is welt
to add four legs to the box, and to place under each leg an
empty butter tin’ partly filled with water to which about
a tablespoonful of kerosene oil has been added.
When the young seedlings are from 1 to 14-inches high
they should be thinned to 1 or 2 inches apart, so as to give
them space enough to make a strong, stocky growth. If it
is desired to keep the plants which are thinned out, they
may be set 2 inches apart each way in boxes similar to the
seed-box. A good watering should be given just before the
plants are taken out of the box for transplanting, so that
a ball of earth should stick to the roots of each one.
Transplanting, if properly done, instead of injuring them,
seems to help the plants to develop a strong root system. In
planting out the pliant sh6uld be lifted with a trowel, keeping
as much soil as possible on the roots, a hole opened in the
ground, the earthenecased roots of the plants inserted, the
soil drawn up to the stalk, and then pressed down with the
hand. When 91] the plants are set, the surface. round each
plant should be carefully raked.
Since a number of vegetables continue to mature almost
throughout the year, it is possible to utilize the same space
for successful plantings of the same vegetables, or for rotation
planting of different ones. Tor suecessive planting
the gardener should not sow all his seed at once, but
shonld make successive plantings at intervals of about two
weeks. In this way it is possible to grow almost continuous
crops of such things a¥ radishes and lettuce. In planting
rotations of crops, it is well that in type and character of
growth the succeeding crop should ditter as widely as possible
from the crop which it follows. It is well to divide the
plants grown ina vegetable garden into root crops, suchas
Vou. XVII. Ne, 423. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWs. 29%
beets and carrots; fruit crops, such as tomatoes and egg-plants:
and leaf crops, such as cabbages and spinach.
The importance of continual and eareful cultivation after
the plants have been set out cannot be too strongly empha-
sized. The gardener should never permit the surface of the
soil to become baked, or even to form an appreciable crust.
The rake is perhaps the gardener’s most valuable tool in
cultivation, but where the ground has become compacted
beneath the immediate surface, other tools must supplement
the rake. Close chopping with a garden hoe will break up
such hardened soil satisfactorily, and put it in good con-
dition, the finishing touches being given to the surface with
a rake. Care must be taken, however, not to cultivate when
the soil is too moist, although, on the other hand, to prevent
a cmst forming, the ground should be stirred as soon as the
moisture from rain has soaked in or partially evaporated.
A POSSIBLY USEFUL TREE.
There is a small tree or shrub widely spread throughout
the tropics, and well known in the West Indian islands
under different names, which is usually looked upon as more
or less of a nuisance, but which it appears might form the
basis of some minor industries if exploited. This is 4cucza
_ fariesiana, belonging to the Mimosa tribe of the order
Leguminosae. It is known in Barbados as ‘sweet briar’ on
account of its numerous thorns and the exquisite odour of its
flowers. In Antigua it is called ‘stinking eossie’—the last
word probably being a corruption of Acacia, and the adjective
attached referring tothe particularly disagreeable smell of
the wood when cut. In the French islands it is called
‘pompon jaune’, and in Cuba it goes by the name of ‘aromo
amarillo’, in both cases evidently on account of the colour of
its Howers, This plant is so widely distributed throughout.
the West Indies, growing especially vigorously on poor and
rocky soils, that there is no need to enter into a detailed
description of its appearance. “<
It is said to have originally been brought from Mexico,
-and to have been cultivated in the Farnese Garden at Rome,.
to which circumstance it owes its botanic specific name. At
the present time it is cultivated on a commercial scale in
Ttaly, Spain, and Southern France for the sake of its frag-
rant flowers which are employed in the perfumery industry.
The annual value of the crop of the flowers of this plant in
France is stated to be thousands of francs, and a particularly
delicate and fragrant perfume is extracted from them. The
flowers are very commonly used in the West Indian islands
to fill sachets for placing in wardrobes in order to impart
a pleasant odour to clothing containedin them. The pods,
which are produced in considerable numbers, contain a fair
amount of tannin, and might be utilized in the preparation
of leathér. From cracks in the bark of the trunk and branches
there exudes a gum which is hardly to be distinguished
from the true gumarabic, and is utilized for the same
purposes. When freshly cut, the | wood exhales a very
disagreeable odour, somewhat similar to asafeetida. It is
a very hard and handsome wood, and although the trees do
not attain to any considerable size, the larger portions of
the trunk are employed by joiners in small woodwork. The
wood is utilized also for the production of charcoal, for
which purpose it is much yale the West, Indies.
Besides the above commercial purposes to which dcacia
sfarnesiana might be put; it is also credited with possessing
valuable medicinal properties. The Revista de Agricultura,
Commercio y Trabajo of Cuba for March 1918, has an
article on this plant in which reference is made to AY Medico
Botanico Crioalt: book which appears to treat of the
medicinal values Cuban plants. According to this refer-
ence, an extract of the flowers of 4. farneséana in alcohol
may a‘ivantageously be employed in cases of dyspepsia. An
infusion of the green pods in cold water possesses a strongly
astringent property, and has been used with effect for that
purpose, although the disgusting smell of the infusion makes
it ordinarily unacceptable to patients.
Tn the future, should the West Indian islands ever become
sufficiently populated to enable small industries to be profitably
carried on, 4. farnesiana might prove of value as one of the
many plants which might be utilized in a local perfume indus-
try. Whether the pods could profitably be utilized in local
tanneries, to which attention has been lately directed in
several of the smaller islands, might be a matter of experiment.
At any rate, 4. farnestana need not be looked upon as
altogether a pest, considering the many useful products which
it is capable of supplying.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The weather for June has been ideal. Although the
amount of rain which has fallen has been less in several
districts than last year, better weather has prevailed inas-
much as the rainfall has been excellently distributed.
Very satisfactory progress is being made with the
tillage of the fields from which the cane crop has been
reaped. Cane hole digging is being proceeded with very
rapidly on black soil estates, and preparation for the planting
of provison crops 1s being hastened. We have noticed some
very good preparation for potatoes.
A very large area of corn has been planted. In many
instances more has been put in than was required by law,
and, as far as we can judge the fields of this cereal are -in
a much more satisfactory condition than at this time last
year.
The present scarcity of potatoes will not be relieved
before the end of August, but thenceforward there should be
a steady supply.
Most fields of Lisbon yams have only just started to
grow and they are receiving a fairly liberal supply of farm-
yard manure. Taking the outlook as a whole, there need be
no anxiety, if favourable weather’ continues, concerning the
supply of locally grown food. It cannot be sold at prices as
low as those to which we were accustomed, but it will be
secured at rates reasonable in the present crisis. For all
that we have said, we would advise all peasants and holders
of small areas of land to supplement as far as they can what
is being done under “The Vegetable Acv’.
The young cane crop, though not very forward, is
looking well and bunching satisfactorily. Here again, the
B.H. 10 (12) is showing to the best. advantage. There are
some fine fields of this seedling to be seen in almost every
parish. The bunches are very full, the foliage very green,
and the shoots are remarkably strong and bulky. In our
report at this date last year we noted that the B.H. 10 (12)
had developed fewer dry hearts during the dry season than
had the other two favourite seedlings. We have to record
the same thing again this year.
There continues to be very great scarcity of artificial
manures. A few estates which bought very early have
secured their season's supply, but, generally speaking, only
very small quantities are being doled from each shipment.
The cost of sulphate of ammonia at the presen: time is about
3186 per ton, as compared with 3155 lass year, and $100 in
1916. (The Barbados Agwreultural Reporter, Jane 29, 1918.)
234 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Juty 13, 1918
New York.—Messrs Grmtespiz Bros, & Co., June 8
MARKET REPORTS.
GLondon.—Tur Wersr Inpta Commitree Crrcurar,
May 16
ARROWROOT— No quotations
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3.5 to 5 7h; Sheet, 3/L1 to 4/3
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 91) -; Grenada, 85 ; Jamaica, no quota
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations
Copra—£46.
Froit—No quotations.
Gruycer—Jamaica, no quotations
Hoxey—Jamaica, no quotations
Lore Jurce—Raw, 2/9 to 3/i: concentrated, £32; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16 6.
Loe woop—No quotations.
Cacao—Caracas, 12\¢ ; Grenada, 124. to 13c.: Trinidad,
12ic. to L2ic.; Jamaica, 1 ¥c. to 11¥c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, S34°00 to S36-00; Trinidad
$5700 to 539-00; culls, $17°00 to $19°00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, ‘}c. to lle. per tt
Gincer—l5c. to 7c. per tb.
Goat Skins—Jamaica, %5c.; Antigua and Barbados, Sic. ;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per ft
Grarr Froit—Jamaica, importation prohibited
Linxes—Linportation prohibited
Mace—40c. to 48c. per th.
Notmecs—27e. to 28e
Orances—ITmportation prohibited.
Pitentro— Tc. per fe.
Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6-15c; Muscovados, 89°, 5-005c.
Molasses, 89°, 4°48e. all duty paid.
Mace—Nw quotations.
Notmecs— No quotations
Prento— No quotations
Resper—Para, fine hard, 1 quotations; fine soft, no _——-
quotations; Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpox, Grant & Co., June 27 Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., May 30
Cacao—Venezuelan, S10-75 to SLEW): Trinidad. $11-00
to $11°75.
Coco-nut O1L—S1°36 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, 1c. 10 lle. per t
Copra—$6'75 per 100 th.
Drar—$12°50.
Ontons — 32°50) per 100 fh.
Pras, Sprit—$11-00 per bag
Potators—English, $514) per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow, $15:0U to $13°25; White, $400 per bag.
Svear—American crushed, nu quotations.
ARRowKOOT—312°00 per LUO th.
Cacao—$12°50 to $1500 per ido ft
*Coco-nuTs—$36°00 husked nuts.
Hay—S2 0.
Motassrks—No quotations.
Ontons— No quotations.
Pras, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No (uotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations: Patna, no quotations; Ran.
goor, no quotations.
Scu6ar—Dark Crystals, $474.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Containing Papers on general subjects.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the :aformation contained in theme
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The numbcr fssued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each“mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ApveRtIseMEN'rs may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Deuau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada; Messrs. THos. Lawton & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonapig, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nuigs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica; Tue Epucationat Survty Comeany, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BrioGewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Roxson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: THe Arcosy Co., Liv., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matons, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuaty & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tes Brste anp Book SupPLy AGENoy, Bass areger
Todago:; Mr. C, L. PuacemMann, Scarborough, Nevis: Mr. W. I. Howx xt, Experiment Station
Canady: Lewis W. Crxmens, 81, Yonge Street (Royal Bank Building), Toronto
E ‘ ; <=
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SHED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
se RD Se
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having frst-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL. IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
3
~ ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
Be Fe
be ; Cine =, gh ee
os * by
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment o? our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, ve shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are pr ‘ared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PF S IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too ..v.. known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL’ ON Us.
_ THE BARBADOS CO;SPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
_________ BARBADOS. _
Printed at Ottice 0: fortcwltural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados
me
~ *
_——— |
Jury 13, 1918
4
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MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
i TO PORTS OF CALL
THE UNITED KINGDOM Azores.
[ St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
IDEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad.
( Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
[PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| |Gailao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
|REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
CANADA
UNITED KINGDOM TO
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent.
REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
& JAPAN.
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London.
Branches at BARBADOS, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.$., Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Rio oc Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
ae Me me he
; epabiget ata NEWS.
7 TICKS
REDUCE 2 a MiL_k YIELD
+
i
An Important Matter for Owners of Dairy Herds oe
veuale
+>
-
ee FT
‘Che following information is taken from Farmers Bulletin, No. 639, issued officially by the Department of Agriculture of the United States.
P.
q
= . The actual amount of harm which ticks do to cattle is no longer a matter of mere conjecture. But the need of definite knowledge on this subject
. Jed the De t to conduct some experiments on the effect of the tick on milk production and on the body weights of dairy cattle. ,
: partmen
Be f 4 , .
ta hy ; RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS "4
r - = “Swe Ao ces aL Sa »
4 ‘ Forty cows were divided into 2 lots of 20, each of which was producing practically the same amount of milk, and was given the same feed and 7
~ care for an average of 152 days, during the season most favourable to the development of ticks. 7
se One of the lots in each experiment was allowed to become infested with ticks, while another was kept free from them—in one case by spraying 4
&, d in another by dipping. :
< The main results of the experiment were as follows : 4
Os a
f E 1. Cows carrying ticks did not hold up so well in milk flow as cows kept free from ticks, and did not inerease their fow of milk when-the _
; feed was increased, as did the tick-free cows. :
es F 2. At the close of the experiment the cows lightly infested with ticks were producing 18}9¢ less milk than the cows kept free from ticks,
a5 { practically 1} pints less per cow per day.
id 3. At the end of the experiments the cows heavily infested with ticks were producing 42.4% less milk than the tick free cows, or nearly
nas one-half gallon less per head per day.
4 i 4. During the experiment period of one of the tests, which included 20 cows, the heavily infested cows lost an average of 9.3 pounds in
{ weight, while the tick frec cows gained an average of 44.2 pounds, although both were fed alike. .
: THE COST OF FEEDING TICKS
If a pen keeper or dairyman with 20 cows, each producing 8 quarts of milk a day, should let them become lightly infested with ticks, the milk
production would be decreased to the extent of 1} quarts a day for each cow.
At as low an estimate of 20 cents. a gallon or 5 cents. a quart, this would amount to 72 cents. or $1.50 for the entire herd of 20 cows each day. -
If the tick infestation were heavy the reduction in the milk yield would be 3.5 quarts a day for each cow, equal to 17 cents. in milk values.
This would amount to $ 3.40 a.day for the herd of 20 cows.
The following is an actual experience of a dairyman in a very heavily tick infested territory, which strikingly illustrates how heavy is the
cost of feeding ticks.
sf Late in the season when his cows were covered with ticks, the ss were dipped and the ticks killed, One week after dipping the 42 cows
im his herd gave 10 gallons of milk more than before dipping. This was an increase of 16.6% and as the milk was bringing 35 cents. a
€. gallon the extra 10 gallons were worth $3.50. Hence, asa result of being freed from ticks by dipping, the same 42 cows, on the same feed,
produced extra milk suffcieat to increase the dairyman's profits by $3.50 per day, or $1277.50 per annum.
.%
ae
ww
IT COSTS MORE TO FEED TICKS THAN TO KILL THEM
hos
as x. 15 gem heopers ad estate owner will work together the ticks can be eradicated. Complete eradication, and not merely suppression, should be
the aim of exvery Owner of Cutie. The dipping tank, or spraying machine, makes the work easy, effective and practical.
Aa il
e..
e
My COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
a Has received the official approval of the following Countries: SY. KITTS: S, L. Horsford & Co, ANTIGUA: Bennett, Uryson dt Ca,
‘= JAMAICA: D. Menderson & Co., Kingston,
eo ‘Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazi!~ Basutoland, GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
a Nyosaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, j ica ag eT omen. a It.
y | British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
fi BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
- Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, ST, VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. pay tae =D. Malone.
7 i y NLSH WEST INDIBS: Carl La Beet, S ors.
a United States of America, New South Wales, MONTENRRAT: Witieweltya Wile SEGUINICA! HoniHl.A, Frampton,
y Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Manufacturers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa.
eG;
= Fe SS Ee ———— oe
Ee ao *
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Ves
ere \\) "2m
— aks Le eS he
SS Uk: Le
Pa GPs i
MA
fia
Al ‘FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No. 424. BARBADOS, JULY 27, 1918. Price ld.
CONTENTS. produced. Wild plants, it is well known, are greatly
modified and improved under the influence of zultiv-
Pace. Pace.
Agriculture in Barbados... 229 Items of Local Interest ... 228
Anopheles and Malaria ... 233 | Market Reports -.. 241)
| Notes and Comments ... 232
Bay Trees, Different Vari-
eties of . Soa! Boeie
British Cotton | Growing
Association ... see, 2d)
Cabbage Palm, The Wine
Species of SOS. "6
Cotton and Corn in St.
Para Rubber Seed, Com-
mercial Possibilities of 229
Plant Diseases: —
Internal Disease of Cot-
ton Bolls in the West
Indi ans 4 PBI
Vincent, Co-operative | pl PI Ses 1 3
Purchase of.. 231 ant Eigetelony an Agti-
Department News a 200 R ae = he bisa ae
Dominica, Unusual Weath- le ae ae
rere 939 | Sisal Cultivation in Ei ist
: Sees “SA Af 238
Forestry in eaenidad ... 233 | rica ;
Gleanings ... .. 236 | Sugar Industry :—
Grape Culture i in South A Simple and Whole-
America... _.. 231 | some Syrup... 227
Ground Provi isions, Profit- | Small Sugar-cane Mills 227
able Cultivation of 232 | Ultra-Violet Rays, Effects
Hookworm, Campaign in | ofon Plants... .
Jamaica against 234 | Water-Lilies in St.
Insect Notes:— cent ..
Entomology in Relation ‘West
to Disease, Hygiene, Vol.
and Sanitation ... 2: 4 West Indian Products
Vin-
co. (ee deo Moppeal
Indian Bulletin’,
OVe Nos al! (555 232
7239
Plant Physiology and Agriculture
eee in the etrict sense of the
3) word means the cultivation of the soil for
B2%the purpose of obtaining the yield of the
product of plants valuable to man. It must have been
one of the oldest arts practised by members of the
human race. Probably, in the first instance, primitive
man selected for his agriculture the plants which he
liked best to eat, and then, by degrees, through selec-
tion and cultivation, better strains of plants were
ation and selection, so that it is easy to realize that
greet changes have been produced by centuries of
such treatment under varying conditions of soil and
climate.
The adaptation of a plant to suit a new environ-
ment, or the modification of the environment to meet
the requirements of the plant, is an achievement of
agricultural science of comparatively recent times. In
fact, such attempts must have been more or less em-
pirical, until the very modern development of plant
physiology. The scientific study of the effect of soil
and surroundings, together with the knowledge of the
vital processes of plants, is enabling modern plant
physiologists to state fairly on @ priory
grounds what will be the behaviour of any particular
plant when subjected to the influence of different cli-
mates and soils, and vice versa, what the eftect of any
given environment will be upon the plants subjected
to 1t.
accurately
The importance of the scientific and practical
knowledge of plant improvement has been more and
more realized in the last fifty years. There is now
scarcely an important crop of temperate climates that
has not been greatly improved in various directions.
The work of plant physiology on tropical crops may be
said only to have just begun to show tangible results,
but the results already obtained demonstrate that this
science is destined to produce in the plants cultivated
in tropical regions results as greatly beneficial as it
has already produced on those of temperate climates,
which have been longer under its influence.
926
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Jury 27, 1918.
———— eee
Plant physiology has as an object the study of
the manner in which the lives of plants are influenced
by temperature, soil, and moisture.
The study of the conditions under which the life
of the plant can be best maintained has had the most
important bearing on agriculture. It is only within
the last 200 years that the manner in which plants
obtain the substances necessary for health and growth
has been scientifically studied, and accurate results
obtained. Up tothe end of the seventeenth century
it was believed that plants obtained all their food from
the soil, although the elements constituting even the
food so obtained were not then known. In fact, it may
be said that not until the middle of the nineteenth
century did the researches of Liebig and Boussingault;
on the subject of plant nutrition, attord such infor-
mation on the point, that the knowledge could be of real
profit to agriculture. From that time on, however,
rapid progress has been made in the study of the
complex chemical and physiological problems relating
to the assimilation by plants of the several food ele-
ments necessary to their growth under various condi-
tions, and which are derived from various sources.
The demonstration of the requirements necessary
for the growth of most cultivated plants has given to
the agriculturist the knowledge of the means essential
to maintain and increase the fertility of the soil. In
fact, in many cases, soils that were long considered
hopelessly barren have been rendered fertile by putting
into practice the knowledge thus acquired. The know-
ledge too that plants need light and air, ana that
really the larger portion of their food is obtained by
them from the atmosphere, has in many cases led 10
a considerably greatly increased yield of certain crops,
by a modification of hitherto practised methods of
cultivation, each individual plant being now given
more room in which to grow. The art of feecing
plants, based on the scientific knowledge of plant
nutrition, has developed remarkably of late years. As
an article in the Yearbook of the United States
Department of Agriculture, 1904, puts it: ‘the well
informed farmer now knows that the varying combina-
tions of essential conditions and elements that occur
naturally in different soils and climates are an index
to the adaptability of these climates and soils for
special crops. He knows also that these condi-
tious can be modified favourably or unfavourably by
cultivation and fertilization. He understands the
importance of a physical and chemical examination of
soils as indicating the presence or absence, and the
1elative proportions of the essential elements of plant
food,’
Whether certain crops, however, are adapted to
particular conditions, or whether the conditions may
be made more favourable, has to be determined under
actual trial; and this is really the work of the plant
physiologist. His examination of this question would
also relate to the determination of the micro-organisms
present in the soil, and the beneficial or injurious
changes which they might produce. Some bacteria and
fungi cause the decay of organic remains of animals
or plants, leaving the nitrogen and other elements of
piant food in forms available for assimilation by other
plants. On the other hand, there are organisms which
produce conditions of soil directly or indirectly un-
favourable to crops. The work of the physiologist
is to study the life-history and habits of all these forms,
so as to put the useful kinds to work, and to eliminate
the injurious ones.
Investigations of plant physiologists on the causes,
prevention, and cure of plant diseases, have also been
of immense benefit to modern agriculture. This scien-
tific investigation of plant diseases, which has been
conducted for little more than half a century, has
already resulted in the discovery of remedial meas-
ures which have been the salvation of many crops
in various countries.
In this connexion it appears that the best results
have been obtained because physioiogists are concern-
ing themselves in enquiries into the life condition of
the plants affected by disease, rather than confining
their attention to the diseases themselves,
It will thus be seen that agriculture is much
indebted to the development of the science of plant phy-
siology, which, first, has very greatly increased the
power of the practical agriculturist to secure harmony
between crop and environment: in the second place,
it has enabled him to maintain and increase the
fertility of soils by the knowledge of the elements
required for their nutrition; and thirdly, it has shown
him how to increase the yield and quality of crops
by setting to work to improve nature’s machinery
the accumulation in the compounds
available to the plants. Plant physiology also has -
discovered the causes of, and found remedies for,
many of the most destructive diseases of all kinds of
crops. The result of this is that in modern times the in-
telligent planter or farmer is enabled to protect and
control his crops to a wonderful degree, so that it may
be well said that scientific agriculture is fast becoming
if it has not already become, one of the safest forms of
investment of capital and labour.
for soil of
Vout, XVII. No. 424.
THE AGRICULTURAL
to
to
oe |
NEWS,
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
SMALL SUGAR-CANE MILLS.
Owing to the abnormally high price of sugar, a good
many enquiries are being made just now with regard to the
possibility of using small mills in remote places. The follow-
ing information received by the Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies from Mr. W. Robson,
Curator of the Botanic Station, Montserrat, as to the work-
ing of such small mills in that island, will probably be useful
in this connexion.
Mr. Robson reports on five small mills, two of them
driven by steam engines, and three by oil engines.
Of the steam engines, the one at Olveston is a 4 h.p.
Blymer engine, driving a mill with rollers 14 inches long,
at a steam pressure of 60 to 70 tbh. This will grind about
11 tons of cane per day, which produces 34 tons of sugar
per week. The other steam engine at Lees is a 6h.p.,
driving rollers 2 feet long. This makes 50 bee of sugar
a week when constantly working.
Of the oil-power engines, the one at Parsons is a 6} h.p.
Wilson magneto oil engine, driving rollers 12 inches long.
This turns out 1,109 gallons of juice per day of twelve hours,
which produces 34 barrels of sugar per day. At Roches,
the 6 h.p. American oil engine, driving a mill with rollers
15 inches wide, yields 120 gallons of jnice per hour, which
produces 4 barrels of sugar per day. ‘he mill at Brades,
which seems of a particularly good type, has a Hornsby engine
of 10 h.p. using low flash kerosene oil, and the mill is from
McKinnon, of Aberdeen, with rollers 18 inches long. With
the engine working full power a yield of juice may be
obtained of 200 gallons per hour. One ton of sugar can be
turned out per day.
A SIMPLE AND WHOLESOME SYRUP.
The Louisiana Planter, June 22, 1918, repro-
duces the following from the Jnternational Confec-
tioner. ‘The process described is simple enough, and
the product would appear to be worth some attention
at the hands of those engaged in makiog sweets:—
Cane or beet sugar can be inverted by the simple
process of heating in the presence of an acid. The chemical
reaction that takes place results in the same products being
formed as are formed when the sugar (sucrose) is taken into
the human body, the sugar forming equal parts of dextrose
and levulose. The following formula may be used in making
invert sugar syrup of such sweetness that a pound of the
syrup will replace a pound of sugar:—
100 tb. of sugar.
44 tb. of water.
1} oz. of powdered tartaric acid.
These ingredients are mixed together and boiled for thirty
to thirty-five minutes. If boiled longer than thirty-five minutes
the syrup darkens in colour, and a flavour develops which tends
to make the syrup resemble glucose syrup, and this is some-
what undesirable. This solution boils at a temperature of
220 degrees Fahrenheit. A steam pressure kettle can be
used, or an open candy kettle over a steady fire. If the
solution is boiled too vigorously there will be too large
a loss by evaporation. Ordinarily the loss will be from 3 to
© per cent.
The above formula should make 140 bb. of syrup, and
if there is considerable loss due to evaporation, the syrup
can be brought up to this weight by the addition of water.
The resultant invert sugar syrup is not unlike strained honey
in appearance and taste. It contains 71°4 per cent. of sugar,
and tastes considerably sweeter than a sugar syrup of the
same strength. It can be used in the same proportions as
sugar the amount necessary for 10 gallons of ice cream being
6°5 tb. to 7 tb. It gives very satisfactory results in freezing,
and a pleasant fiavour in the finished product.
Itcan be readily seen that by using the above method,
the sugar supply can literally be stretched, for with only
71:4 per cent. as much sugar as is now being used in ice cream,
the same degree of sweetness can be obtained.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSOCI-
ATION.
The one hundred and seventy-second meeting of the
Council of the British Cotton Growing Association was held
at the Offices, 15, Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday, June
4, 1918. In the absence of the President (Tne Rr. Hon. the
Earl of Derby, K.G.), Mr. Joseph Watson occupied the Chair.
West ArRrica. Reports have been received that large
quantities of seed-cotton are being bought in the local mar-
kets for the native weaving industry, which has received.a
big impetus on account of the high price of European cotton
goods. Even in the Southern Provinces, where the industry
had practically become extinct, large quantities of cotton are
being used for making native cloths. The local demand has
greatly affected the Association’s purchases this year, and,
in addition, the crop isa short one, owing to unfavourable
climatic conditions during the growing period.
The purchases of cotton in Lagos to May 25 amounted
to 2,074 bales, as compared with 6,379 bales for the same
period of last year, 7,845 bales for 1916, and 2,656 bales
for 1915.
The purchases in Northern Nigeria to April 30 amounted
to 2,238 bales, as compared with es 540 bales for the same
period of last year, 9,617 bales for 1916, and 282 bales
for 1915. }
The crop of long staple American cotton grown in the
Zaria district under the direction of the Government Agricul-
tural- Department is now practically all bought, and the
Association’s purchases amount to over 800 bales, as compared
with 462 bales last year. A good deal of this cotton has
also been used locally, and there is every reason to believe
that the cultivation of this type of cotton in Northern
Nigeria will continue to increase rapidly.
NYASALAND. It was reported that Nyasaland and
South East Africa generally have suffered from some excep-
tionally heavy floods, and the Zambesi River has been flooded
higher than the previous record, and the Shire River was as
high as during the flood of 1914. Thousands of natives
have lost their lives in the flood, and millions of acres of
crops have been destroyed, and considerable damage done to
property.
Owing to the restriction of the cotton area in Egypt,
that under sugar-cane this year is expected to exceed that o
last year cons siderably. Weather conditions are said to have
F
materially reduced the sugar contents of the cane coming to
the mills in the latter part of the present season. (Monthly
Bulletin of Agricultural and Commercial Statistics, May
1918.)
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Juty 27, 1918.
228
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
GRENADA. According to notes forwarded by the Super-
intendent of Agriculture, plant distribution during the
months of May and June from various sources included the
following: lime plants, 1,300; yams, 16,960 tb.; eddoes and
tannias, 9,843 fb.; sweet potato cuttings, 8,960 fb.; cassava
cuttings, 3,298 Ib.; horse beans, 1,350 b.; pigeon peas, 344bb.;
Indian corn, 5,407 fb.; cotton seed (Marie Galante), 1,455 bb.,
(Sea Island) 457 Ib.; coconuts, 900; budded oranges, 35;
grafted mangoes, 31. In addition, the quantity of plants and
seeds raised and used on the Department’s Stations for plant-
ing purposes, was as follows: yams, 2,230 b.; eddoes, 700 bb.;
various peas and beans, 60 Ib. Mr. Moore states that in the
Botanic Gardens a Jarge amount of work was involved in the
special plant distribution in connexion with the food crops
campaign; this has now been completed.
Regarding staple crops, cacao is said to be in bloom,
and anearly crop is anticipated. Spice prospects may be
described as fair. Cloves are selling locally at 16c., 18c, and
20c. per tb. Limes are fruiting well. The crop of nutmegs
is good; the price locally is 19c. per tb.; recent London prices
ranged from £12 to £15 per barrel, During the June
quarter, cotton to the value of £21,885 was shipped to the
United Kingdom, Rats and blackbirds are reported as having
destroyed sowings of corn. It is understood that the male
progeny of the recently imported Berkshires will sell at
£5 apiece.
Regarding weather conditions, the rainy season is said
to have begunin May. June was calmand rainy. The
rainfall recorded at Richmond Hill in May totalled 7:93
inches; for the month of June the precipitation was 10°26
inches.
ST. VINCENT. In his items of interest for the month
of June the Agricultural Superintendent, Mr. W. N. Sands,
states that good progress has been made with cotton planting.
Since the commencement of the season 5 tons of selected
cotton seed have been distributed to growers from the
Government Ginnery. Indications point to the planting
in Sea Island cotton on an area exceeding 4,000 acres. The
condition of the young cotton plants was excellent. During
the month 584 bales of Sea Island cotton, and 66 bales of
Marie Galante were exported. The total crop of Sea Island
cotton for the season 1917-18 exceeded 900 bales of 360 Ib.
each, as against 444 bales for the 1916-17 crop. A scheme
for supplying corn meal to small growers who sold cotton
or corn to the ginnery or granary has been put in operation.
Special work undertaken by officers of the Department
during the month was in connexion with the control of bush
bugs and the cotton stainer. The destruction at Government
House grounds of Tobago bread-nut trees (Pachira ayuatica),
and the trapping of cotton stainers which had collected
on the fruits of those trees were continued. Visits of inspec-
tion were made to several estates in connexion with bush
bug infestation.
Excellent weather is said to have prevailed during the
month. The rainfall recorded at the Botanic Station was
11°7 inches; the register at the Experiment Station showed
9°4 inches.
sv, Lucia. During the month of June the following
plants were distributed: lime plants, 2,350; budded oranges,
6; decorative and ornamental plants, 247; vegetable seeds,
58 packets. Regarding staple crops, Mr. Brooks states that
cacao was flowering, limes coming in, and the sugar-cane mak-
ing good growth. The extension of Jime cultivation continues,
The scheme of garden improvement at Government House,
commenced in April last, has been carried a stage further.
Work in connexion with the cacao and lime prize holdings
scheme was continued throughout the month The rainfall
recorded at the Botanic Garden, Castries, during the month
totalled 8°78 inches; at the Botanic Station, Choiseul, the
record was 4°92 inches.
pomrinica, Plant distribution during the month of June
included: limes, 4,325; coffee, 500; shade trees, 150; bamboos,
100; budded citrus, 70; grafted mangoes, 8; miscellaneous,
29, making a total of 5,182. In addition, 120 packets of
vegetable seeds were sold. The Curator, Mr. Joseph Jones,
mentions the fact that ripe limes were selling at 5s. per
barrel. The total rainfall for the month was 6:04 inches.
MONTSERRAT. The Curator, Mr. W. Robson, writes to
say that comparative drought prevailed during the month of
June, and as a result, the first crop of cotton from the breeding
plot in the Experiment Station will be small. Plant distri-
bution comprised: Bay plants, 855; sweet potato cuttings,
420; black-eye peas, 3 Ib.; Madagascar beans, 4 packets:
Lima beans, 7 packets; papaw seed, 2 oz. In the Botanic
Gardens seven distillations of bay leaves were made, bringing
the total quantity of leaves reaped for the year up to date,
to 4,000 tb., with a yield of 46 bb. of oil for the half year. The
return of oil from the last eleven distillations averaged 22 oz.
per 100 fb. of leaves. Returns show that the quantity of
cotton obtained from the 2,608 acres grown in 1917-18, and
delivered to the Government, was 409,511 tb. of lint, being
at the rate of 157 Ih, of lint cotton per acre, which is 11 hb,
above the average for the last fourteen years. The outlook
for the present crop has not improved, and in most districts
the rainfall has been less satisfactory than at Grove Station.
The season, so far, has been the most disappointing,
Mr. Robson says, in his experience. In fields of cotton
planted in March the bolls have commenced to open, with
the prospect of producing half a crop only. Cotton stainers
are already reported from a larger number of districts than
usual, and leaf-blister mite has appeared in a few cases.
Lime cultivation has also suffered on account of the dry
weather. In one important lime district, the rainfall for the
last ten months totalled 20 inches only. For a similar
reason ground provisions are scarce.
Observations made at Blakes and Trants estates appear
definitely to ccnnect the existence of certain malyvaceous
plants, particularly S/da acuminata, with the tiding over
of the cotton stainer from one season to another. At Blakes
it was noticed that the St. Vincent Jack Spaniard, introduced
by the Department in 1910, was plentiful. The rainfall
recorded at Grove Station during the month was 3:81 inches.
making a total of 22-01 inches for the year to date.
AntiGuA. Mr, T. Jackson mentions that onion seed kept
over quicklime since November last in the Experiment Sta-
tion gave at the beginning of June a germination of 71
per cent., and when planted out in the nursery produced
strong seedlings. He expresses the opinion that this method
ef keeping onion seed for early planting is likely to be
a success. Plant distribution for the month of June included
100 lime plants, 2,669 Tbh. of black-eye peas, 915 bb,
of yams, 7084 lb. of cotton seed, 4 tb. of onion seed,
and 6 packets of miscellaneous seeds. On the whole,
the young cane crop looked promising, but required rain
at time of writing. The young cotton crop also looked
promising. The returns for last year’s cotton crop amounted
to 50,151 Tb. of clean lint cotton, and 2,221 Ih. of stains.
Slight attacks of cotton caterpillars were experienced
during the month. A silo has been erected at Cassada
Garden estate. Approximately 50,000 fb. of cob corn
Vorsexvide No. 4:24;
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 229
was shelled and dried at the granary, the operation
occupying two and a half days. During the month the
peasants were busily engaged in the sowing of cotton and
provision crops. In spite of the dry weather experienced,
surprisingly good results were obtained from the harvesting
during the month of the corn crop planted early in the year.
The rainfall recorded for the month was 2°83 inches; for the
year, 17°66 inches,
st. KITTs. Inthe Botanic Gardens during the month
of June the usnal routine work was carried ont, but all
plants, says Mr. Shepkerd, are suffering from the prevailing
dry weather, and constaot watering is necessary The young
cane crop remains in the same condition as that reported
last month, consequent on the lack of rain. The position is
a critical one, as if heavy rains do not come soon, there will
be another short crop next season. Constant tillage keeps
the plants green, but there is no growth. The young cotton
crop, where established, is looking remarkably well, and only
needs showers for development before flowering. Cotton
planted in the northern district early in the year gives promise
of good returns: picking has begun on some of these
estates. The area under cotton for the coming season
has been increased about 30 per cent., but the actual
figures are not to hand. ‘The total amount of cotton
purchased in St. Kitts for the Imperial Government to
date is 297,697 Ib. Ata meeting of the Agricultural and
Commercial Society held on June 12,a resolution was passed
approving of the proposal of the Government to take
roeasures for destroying food-plants of the cotton stainer, and
also for providing a close season for cotton, if the island is
divided into districts. The rainfall for the month was 1:74
inches; for the year, 17°74 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
To date, the rainfall for the year is about 6 inches less
than that recorded at the middle of July last year, but there
has been an excellent distribution. The crop of 1917 is now
almost a thing of the past. Here and there a red soil estate
has closed with an average of 20 tons of cane per acre, but the
average of a very large number is 16, 17, or 18 tons. It does
seem that a change in the ratooning system is necessary, if
a better average is to be obtained. The soil is giving warning
that it is unequal to the strain of second or third ratoons,
unless it has been very heavily manured, or has been given
a period of rest. The seedlings which are now grown will
not develop as ratoons. unless the soil isupto mark. At this
time there is also the shortage of artificial fertilizers to be
reckoned with, but even these cannot be substitutes for
conditions which are essential. The warning that rotation
and rest are needed has been so far a mild one and time is
being given to establish a system scientifically correct, the
neglect of which may possibly result disastrously.
Tt should be remembered that an important effect of
rotation is the resting of the various layers of the soil. For
instance, corn sends down its roots deep into the ground, and
so derives much of its sustenance from the subsoil. Rotation
also exerts a beneficial effect on the soilin two ways. The
preparation of the land for each crop, through the turning
over of the soil, causes exposure to the atmosphere, and we
know the effect of this. Next, the rotting of the roots of
former crops makes the soil more porous, and the atmosphere
is able to exercise its fertilizing etfect not only on the surface
but also on the subsoil. (ther cane growing countries have
suffered from neglect of the fundamental laws of agriculture.
There is no charm which can ward off similar results here if
similar causes exist:
We are informed that the outpnt of the factories will be
smaller this year than last, and it will be remembered that
last year's tonnage was much below that reached in 19 6.
This is due to some extent to the smaller crop, but more to
the highly remunerative price of syrup Except in those
eases where factory owners are also the owners of large
areas of land, the position of factories will be precarious unless
co-operation takes the plaze of the present system of isola-
tion.
It would appear that in the black soil all the provision
required under the Vegetable Produce Act has been planted.
In the red soil some progress is being mide, but in a large
number of cases such work has been delayed through insufi-
ciency of labour to get through both the reaping of the crop-
and the tillage necessary for planting.
Corn, we observe. has grown very mich better than.
last year, and the development of some fields has been most
satisfactory, particularly where a crop of fall potatoes had
been reaped a few months previously.
We notice that a good many peasants io St. Philip's.
parish have recently planted their holdings in cotton. They
have acted wisely. Soil and weather conditions in this part
of the island are admirably suited to the growth of this
plant. (The Barbados 4gv7iculturval Reporter, July 13, 19°8.)
COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES OF PARA
RUBBER SEED.
In the Agricultural Bulletin af the Federated Malay
States, February 1918, an account is given by Messrs. F. G.
Spring and FW. F. Day of experiments conducted by the
Department of Agriculture, Federated Malay States, and the
Imperial Institute in order to throw some light on the above
subject. The following is the summary of the conclusions
reached.
At the beginning of the present experiment in Septem-
ber 1916, a consignment of 30 tons of Para rubber seed
was sent to Hull for crushing and valuation. The oil
realized £50 per ton, and the residual cake £8 per ton, the-
price of linseed oil being then £60 per ton. These figures.
show beyond doubt the unquestionable value of the oil, aid
it would appear that as soon as the new product has acquired
the confidence of the oil market, it will occupy a place but
little inferior to linseed oil. Though Para rubber seed oil is
a drying oil, it dries less quickly than linseed oil, and is
therefore inferior to the latter for certain industrial uses.
When linseed oil is hiyh in price, however, it has to be re-
placed by oils that are intrinsically inferior to it for these
purposes, and among these substitutes Para rubber seed oil
takes a high place.
Much might be written of the enormous possibilities of
Para rubber seed oil, but it is sufficient to point out that this
high grade oil requires hardly any refining, is obtained fram
a waste product available in great quantity, is easy to collect,
transport, and store, and can be readily crushed. Although
it would pay well in normal times to ship the seeds, yet under
restricted freight facilities it would seem that shipping the
oil is more advantageous. Moreover, oil keeps far better than
seed, and is more conveniently stored.
Finally, the production of rubber seed oil would not
interfere with the market for coco-nut oil or other vegetable
oils used essentially as human food in the form of mar srine
and cooking fats. These are never used for paint, varnishes,
and such like purposes
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JULY) Sian Lolo:
WATER-LILIES IN ST. VINCENT.
The following interesting notes on the above sub-
ject are contributed by Mr. W. N. Sands, the Agricul-
tural Superintendent in St. Vincent:—
All the streams in St. Vincent are swift, running from
mountain to sea, and the coastal lands are well raised above
sea-level, consequently there are no swamps. Owing also to
the light volcanic soil, ponds retain water for short periods
only, with the result that there are few striking flowering
water plants. Attempts to introduce these plants into pools
in rivers have not been successful, because the pocls
are so frequently washed out during heavy rains. As far as
the writer is aware, the water-lily (Vimp/aca ampla) is
found only in one small pond in the colony, and this dries
up after the rainy season every year: Sporadic efforts have
been made from time to time to grow aquatic plants in gar-
dens, but these have not been viewed with favour by the
sanitary authorities, owing to the fact that the tanks or tubs
often served as breeding places for mosquitoes. This disability,
however, can be easily remedied now that a permanent
source of supply of the ‘millions’ fish (G/rardinus pocciloides)
is maintained in the Botanic Gardens,
In the year 1915 a large circular concrete basin or pond,
30 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep, was constructed in the
gardens, in order that water plants, more particularly the
true water-lilies of the genera Nymphaea and Victoria,
might be cultivated. With tte idea that a short account of
the experience gained in the growth of certain of these might
be of interest to others in the West Indies, these notes have
been written.
The water-lilies, with the exception of the Jic/oria
vegia, are grown in tubs 14 inches high. Cement barrels
sawn in half have been found suitable for the purpose, as
they do not readily rot under water, Even strong-growing
nymphaeas will thrive and flower freely in these tubs without
it being found necessary to transplant them. Other advan-
tages are: (a) the water of the pond can be kept fresh and
clear, and free of decaying vegetable matter, and (b) the
growth of individual plants can be controlled.
{n preparing tubs for planting, holes are bored with
a large auger in the bottom of each, as well as around the
sides, about 3 inches from the base. To insure proper
drainage, a layer of stones or broken crocks is placed
inside the tubs, covering the holes, and on this is placed
a layer of rotten wood. The soil mixture or compost used
consists of good loam, cotton-seed meal, and wood-ashes,
in the proportion of 10:2: 3 by volume. This has given
excellent results, and it has not been uncommon for a single
plant to produce eight or nine flowers at one time, some of
which have exceeded 12 inches in diameter. Before the
cotton-seed meal and wood-ashes were used, green filamen-
tous algae, known as ‘moss’, produced very unsightly effects
in the pond each spring. Copper sulphate might perhaps
have been used to control the algae, but for various reasons
it was considered inadvisable to use it. Whether it was
amere coincidence or not has not been ascertained, stfl
the fact remains that after using the above mixture the
algae disappeared completely, and gave no further trouble.
It may be added that other rich soil composts could be used
for the tubs, or varied to suit particular circumstances.
When planting the different kinds of nymphaeas, small
plants are selected from those which have grown up around
the old flowering heads. Suckers were usually produced in
considerable numbers in the .V. Zofws and .V. ¢wderosa hybrids
and varieties that have been grown. One young plant of
strong-growing kinds, and two or three of those less robust,
are set in each tub just before it is submerged. Small tubers
may also be used, especially of those varieties that have
a distinct resting period each year even in presence of an
abundant supply of water and a slight fall of a few degrees
only in temperature.
For the Victoria regia, a bed is formed in the centre of
the basin with the same soil mixture as described above.
The soil is kept in position by means of a circle of large
stones built up to the requisite height of 14 inches; this, as
in the case of the nymphaeas, allows of a maximum depth
of water of 10 inches covering the soil, which is ample.
Seedlings of the lilies are raised annually from seed produced
in the pond, and one of these is planted in the bed.
The plants must be fully exposed to sunlight, and shel-
tered from high winds. They require little attention subse-
quently, but it is necessary every week to take off exhausted
or damaged leaves and flowers, in order to keep them in good
healthy condition.
The raising of new kinds ot water-lilies is quite easy, and
repays attention. Our experience has hitherto been confined
to the raising of hybrids between .V. Zofws and .V. tuderosa,
and we have already obtained some beautiful forms. These
two species were selected, because (1) the diurnal movements
of the floral organs were practically identical, and gave most
promise of early success, and (2) because only a small number
of seedlings could be tested at one time. It may be explained
that certain groups of nymphaeas flower by night, and others
in the day. For example, the flowers of .V. Zofus and NV. fuder-
osa begin to open after dark, remain fully open all through
the night, and commence to close soon after sunrise. They
are quite closed by 10 a.m. Again JV. sansibarensis starts
to open about 9°30 a.m., remains fully open al! day, and
closes about 6 p.m. A variety of this species, V. savz/bar-
ensts, Var. yosea, commences to open soon after sunrise, and
closes about 5 p.m. Apart from the question of raising -
seedlings, it is important to note that unless the pond
is visited before 10 a.m., or by moonlight, V. Zo‘us and
V, tuberaga are not seen with open flowers, whereas the full
beauty of V. sans/barensis cannot be seen until after 10 a.m.
The flowers are frequented soon after sunrise by the
honey-bee (4f/s me//ifera). This is the chief insect visitor
observed. Night-flying insects have not yet been seen on
the flowers. The honey-bee does not confine itself to visiting
tiowers of one colour only, but has often been noticed to col-
lect pollen from white, pink, and red flowers in succession. It
is this fact which renders common the production of natural
hybrids.
Owing to the limited facilities for handling seedlings,
the practice is to allow only one or two flowers on selected
plants to mature seed. All the other flowers, as soon as they
have faded, are taken off. It is often difficult to aseertain
when the fruit is ripe, for after flowering the flower-stalk
bends outwards and downwards, and submerges the fruit,
which ripens under water, or rather, gradually decays. When
sufticiently decayed, the seeds are liberated. To each seed is
attached a spongy mass of tissue filled with air, by means of
which the seeds are enabled to float, and are dispersed over
the surface of the water. After a few hours the tissue loses
the air, and the seed sinks. Some days later, provided the
conditions are suitable, the seed germinates. The Vic/oria
vegia bed in the centre of the pond provides a suitable nidus,
and itis usually possible to obtain an adequate number of
seedlings from this source for testing purposes, Ata very
Vout. XVII. No. 424.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS 231
early stage seedlings can be recognized in respect of reds and
whites; and there isin the species described a correlation
between leaf and flower colour—that is, seedlings which will
produce pink and red flowers have reddish-brown leaves of
different shades, and those which will produce white flowers,
green leaves. The distinction is noticeable in the first rosulate,
sagittate, submerged leaves of the seedlings, and is very
pronounced in the earliest fioating ones. Seeds can of course
be collected, and sown in pots or boxes under water, if so
desired.
On one occasion a fruit of a Zanzibar lily, from which
seed was specially desired for sowing, liberated its seed
before it could be secured, and fortunately no other seeds
were being germinated in the pond at the time. After a few
days a large number of small seedlings, possessing one minute
leaf and one or two fine roots only, with the seed still
attached to the littie plant, were discovered in various places.
The seedlings were so small—less than }inch long—
that they were difficult to handle. A novel method was
desised in order to transplant them into boxes. The boxes
were filled with sandy soil, and submerged in the positions
they were to occupy. Then some clay was obtained, and
rolled into small balls about the size of a playing marble.
Each small seedling was then placed in the ball of clay,
leaving only the small leaf exposed. The seedlings with
their clay ‘sinkers’ were then planted in the soil of the boxes
under water, at distances of about an inch each way. This
method proved successful, and the seedlings were successfully
established.
When floating leaves lave been formed, the selected
seedlings are trausferred to boxes large enough for them to
produce a few flowers in. These boxes can be made con-
veniently out of the ordinary kerosene box, by sawing it in
half, and boarding up the sides cut through. These boxes
are prepared for the plants in a similar manner to that des-
scribed in the case of the tubs. ‘The seedlings will ‘declare’
themselves in a few months, and then if they prove to be of
sufficient interest, they can be propagated vegetatively in
the manner already described. The fact that most water
lilies can be reproduced by vegetative means eliminates the
difficulties usually met with in fixing hybrid plants that
have to be grown from seed.
For the amateur with limited facilities it is suggested
that a start might be made with the nymphaeas named
below; these are easy to grow, are robust, flower freely, and
have not been found susceptible to disease: ---
N. Lotus, var. dentata
N. hybrida
Large pure white
Large light pink
NV. tuberosa, var. rosea Bright deep pink
NV. sanzibarensis Intense blue
N. sanzibarensis, var. rosce Heliotrope
NV. ‘William Stone’ Blue
The above-named lilies give charming floral displays.
Several others might be named, and the list added to or
modified, but, at the outset, most growers will find that these
will meet their cequirements.
Although the parentage of natural hybrids from probably
impure varieties is always open to question, and cannot be
exactly given, yet several excellent hybrids have been raised;
among these are a fine white one, named ‘Rena Sands’, and
two large and distinct maroon forms, to one of which has
been given the name of ‘St. Vincent’. These are merely
mentioned here to indicate that, with even a few good varie-
ties, striking novelties can readily be obtained, which adds
much interest to the culture of these beautiful flowering
plants.
DEVELOPMENTS CONNECTED WITH
THE CO-OPERATIVE PURCHASE
OF COTTON AND CORN IN
ST. VINCENT.
A further example of the value of co-operative work
in agriculture to the small grower is exhibited in some
recent developments connected with the co-operative purchase
of cotton and corn at the Government Ginnery in St. Vincent.
Mr. W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent in that
island, in forwarding the information below, remarks that
the small grower of cotton usually requires all his available
ready cash for planting his land, so that if he can obtain
corn meal for food, and seed for planting, on credit, he is
encouraged to do his best in improving his cultivation with
the resources at his disposal.
During the 1917-18 season 1,427 passbooks were issued
to growers selling seed-cotton to the St. Vincent Government
Ginnery and Granary on a profit-sharing basis, and 346
to those selling corn, making a total of 1773, many of
which contained several entries. The transactions connected
with the purchases are not yet complete, so that the actual
figures are not available, but approximately the sales
amounted to 223,920 bb. of Sea Island seed-cotton; 132,000 b.
of Marie Galante, and 147,840 Ib. of ‘wet’ grain corn.
In order that the sellers of both cotton and corn
might obtain kiln-dried corn meal for home consumption at
a time when local foodstutfs were comparatively scarce and
dear, and during the period when planting operations were in
progress, a new scheme was inaugurated in June last at the
granary under which any person who sold cotton or
corn to the amount of $6°25 and $5:00, respectively, might
obtain on credit 25 tb. of corn meal at the rate of 5c, per bb.,
on the security of his prospective bonus. These were the
minimum amounts for which corn meal was issued, but larger
quantities could be obtained in proportion to the value of
the sales made. ;
The scheme is working well, and is likely to have an
excellent effect on the growing of both cotton and corn
by the peasantry in the colony.
For the past two seasons it has been possible for the
small grower to obtain on credit at the ginnery all the cotton
seed he required for planting. This had a most beneficial
influence, because it practically assured the planting of seed
from a selected strain of good ordinary Sea Island cotten, and.
greatly facilitated the grading of the cotton when offered for
sale.
Grape Culture in South America.— 7Z%e Zimes
Trade Supplement, June 1918, in an article on the indus-
tries of South America, draws attention to the fact that
grape culture both in Argentina and Chile is an industry of
great commercial importance.
In Argentina the grape is very extensively cultivated
in the neighbourhood of the town of Mendoza, where an
extensive system of irrigation has been introduced by the
damming of a river which flows down from the Andes.
A marvellously fertile district has thus been brought into
being, from which enormous quantities of wines of essentially
sound character are produced, These wines, however, are
seldom kept long enough to mature thoroughly.
Chile is admirably adapted for grape cultivation. It
specializes in the quality of its wine which is unusually fine,
many growths challenging comparison with any of the
average vintages of th: famous wine-producing countries of
Europe.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming. should be addressed to the
Cas inenser Impenal Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant an! { W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
{H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
Fotomolagiels J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Catton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.+
. CLERICAL STAFF.
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
_ P. Taylor.*
Lk. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Clerical Assistavits
Typist
Agricultural Stews
a
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1918. No. 424.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
‘The benefits which the science of plant physiology
rencers to agriculture is the subject of the editorial.
Some recent applications of entomologists’
researches in the contro! of mosquitoes will be found
ander Inseet Notes, on page 234
An interesting article on the production of hybrid
water-lilies in St. Vincent appears on page 230.
The distinguishing characteristics of the two West
Indian species of the cabbage palm are described on
4 age Ae (a
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
‘
‘West Indian- Bulletin’, Vol. XVII, No. 1.
The first two papers in this number of the West
Indian Bulletin. which has just been issued, are
by the Mycologist and Entomologist attached to
this Department, recording respectively their investi-
gations on internal disease affecting cotton bolls in
St. Vincent, and of the insects which are con-
nected with its spread. The first of these papers,
by the Mycologist, is re“erred to in another column of
this number ot the Agricultural News. he third
paper is a statement bv the Agricultural Superin-
tendent, St. Vincent, on the beneficial results obtained
by measures adopted to control the cotton stainer, and
the fourth’ is a record of results obtained also by him
in trapping the cotton stainer in that island. Some
notes on the thymol content of horse-mint and ajowan
seed, obtained after analyses made by him in Antigua,
are given by the Acting Government Chemist and
Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands
in the fifth paper. The last paper contains some obser-
vations on fish poisoning in the british Virgin Islands,
by Dr. Clarke, the Medical Officer of that Presidency.
Unusual Weather in Dominica.
Mr. Joseph Jones, the Curator of the Botanic
Station, Dominica, reports that on the night of July 11,
a squall of considerable violence was experienced on
the south and south-west coasts of that island. In
Roseau, for about twenty minutes between 945 and
1030 p.m., gusts of almost hurricane force came from
the south. The Botanie Garden is fairly well pro-
tected on that side, and suffered only slight damage,
but at the Experiment Station a few lime trees were
blown down
There has been some loss of lime trees, with a con-
siderable loss of immature fruit, on the south and the
south-west coast estates. On the north of the island
the wind was scarcely felt.
For the three days before this unusual storm was
experienced the weather had been unsettled, the rainfall
at the Garden during that period being 532 inches.
—_ .-
The Profitable Cultivation of Ground Pro-
visions.
A note in the Bulletin of the Department of
Agriculture, Trinidad and Tobago, Vol. XVII, Part 1,
issued June 17, 1918, gives actual figures of some
results obtained during the past season in the cultiva-
tion of ground provisions Now that so much atten-
tion is being given to this question, it is important. to
emphasize the advantage of intensive cultivation,
Many cultivators attempt to work a large area in
poor fashion, and get correspondingly poor returns,
whereas, in many cases, from the same labour and
expenditure on a smaller area, larger profits wonld be
obtained.
Vor. “VIE, No, 424:
FHE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Mr. A. B. Carr, of Caparo, planted on $-acre
250 tb. of yams in well prepared trenches, and reaped
5,030 th. The total expenditure was $1950, being
$750 cost of yams for planting, and $12:00 cost of
7
enltivation. The value of the crop at 3e. per tb. was
$150°90, showing a protit on the !-aere of $131-40.
Ona similar small plut Mr. W.S. E. Barnardo, of
Tamana, with an expenditure of $1870 on cultiva-
tion, obtaimed crops to the value of $86°45, leaving
a net profit of $67°75. Mr. Barnardo's crops were the
following: 3,690 tb. cf yams at 2e. per tb; 200 tb. of
Chinese tannias at le. per th: 100 tb. of cush-cush
at 3c. per tbh; 165 tb. of pumpkins at Ie. per tb.
Mr. Barnardo states that the yam crop was poor
compared with that of the previons season, owing to
excessive rain in May and June.
As an example also of the way in which ground
provisions may be profitably cultivated on larger areas,
the following is the result obtained by Mr. L. Seheult,
River estate, Department of Agriculture, in growing
eatch crops, mainly in establishing permanent cultiva-
tion of the following plants: 500 limes, 100 mahogany,
4,000 cedar, 8,000 coffee. He reaped 19,000 th. of
yams worth $540, at 2c. to 3c, per Ib; 72,000 Ib.
of tunias worth $1,440, at 2c. per tb.; 100 barrels of
corn worth $175, at $1°75 per barrel; and $100 worth
of cassava, peas, ochroes, pumpkins, and cucumbers;
making a total return of $2,255, at an expenditure
of $1,100, showing a net profit of $1,155. The above
expenditure included the cost of planting and cultiva-
tion of the permanent crop, but not the cost of the
plants themselves.
qu + oe————__
Forestry in Trinidad.
In the editorial in the last number of this Journal,
reference was made to the fact that in Trinidad alone
of these West Indian islands was forestry being carried
out on scientific lines. In the Proceedings of the
Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tohago, May
1918, the following figures, taken from the Report of
the Forest Officer for the year 1916, are given of the
number of the principal species of trees which are
being grown in the forest plantations There are:
62,993 cedar, 42,355 cypre, 10,525 balsam, and 14.353
teak trees growing in the plantations at present. The
Forest Officer states that the trees are not less than 10
feet apart, and that, including other valuable species,
there are over 140,000 trees in the plantations.
The East Indian teak (7ectona grandis), the seeds
of which were obtained from Burma in 1913, continues
to do well. Many of these trees have now attain:d
a height of from 40 to 50 feet, anda girth of 24 feet
at 5 feet from the ground. The Forest Officer thinks
that the growth of the teak in Trinidad is equal to
that in any part of the world, and some 4,000 seeds
collected in the last year will be further sown in the
plantations. In each locality w here these trees are
planted, the original forest contaiming.no marketable
timber of any consequence, was felled,. burnt, and
lined out with stakes at 10 feet by 10 feet.
~~ Tt is estimated that the yield m 100 years will be
240 tons of about 50 cubic feet of first class wood
per acre, the present price of which is £50 per ton,
although the normal pre-war price averaged £25
per ton. Teak is one of the most valuable timbers,
much employed in shipbuilding, and tor other purposes
where durability is required.
rr + mee
Are Anopheles of Non-Marshy Districts Cap-
able of Transmitting Malaria?
In a notice of an article by M. E Roubaud in Comp-
tes Rendus des Séunces de V Academie des Sciences,
September 17, 1917, published in the Agricultural
Gazette of Canada, May 1918, the result of the author’s
personal investigations of the subject is given.
It is stated that in spite of the continuous presence
of Anopheles maculipennis in certain reclaimed dis-
tricts of France which were previously marshy, malariae
has not reappeared to any marked extent. This face
has given rise to the supposition that the extine-
tion of the disease may be connected with a sorm
of natural immunity of the mosquitoes concerned To
settle the point, patients under treatment for malaria as
the Pasteur Institute at Paris were caused tobe bitten
by perfectly healthful anopheles taken in the town, an@
it was proved that these mosquitoes were infected with.
the malarial parasites. The author, who was_perfeet-
ly healthy, then allowed himself to be bitten by one
of the infected mosquitoes. Fifteen days afterwards
the fever appeared, preceded a few days previously
by exhaustion; on the next day the sporazoites
which are known to cause tertian malaria fever
were located in his blood.
It is therefore evident that Anopheles maculi-
pennis of the Parisian non-marshy districts is in no
wise an immune species, and is perfectly capable of
transmitting malaria. It is indeed highly improbable
that any such immune species of anopheles exists.
+
Rubber Substitutes.
An article in the India Rubber World, July 2,
1918, by M. André Du Bose, a distinguished French
chemist, on the preparation of rubber substitutes, gives
much information on the subject.
The action of metalloids like oxygen and sulphur,
of certain chlorides like chloride of sulphur, and of
acids like mtric acid, on vegetable or animal oils, pro-
duce new bodies of which the physical and chemical
properties differ absolutely from the oleaginous sub-
stances from which they have been derived. Because
of their physical resemblance to rubber, these products
are called rubber substitutes.
The chemicals most frequently employed in pre-
paring commercial rubber substitutes with differens
kinds of oils are sulphur, and chloride of sulphny
In principle, all vegetable or animal oils may be
used; nevertheless experience has proved that certain
drying oils ike that from linseed are preferable How-
ever, non-drying vegetable oils like castor oi] may also
give an exe ‘lleutrabber substitute. Finally. since the
war, fish oils have also been used.
THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JuLty 27, 1918.
=We
et
LAA
INSECT NOTES.
ENTOMOLOGY IN RELATION TO DISEASE,
HYGIENE, AND SANITATION.
During May last, a very important and interesting
movement was started by members of the Staff of the
United States Bureau of Entomology at Washington, D.C.
This was the formation of a class for the study of the
Entomology of Disease, Hygiene, and Sanitation. The
object of this class, and the method of procedure were
explained in a memorandum prepared at the request and for
the approval of Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau.
In the minutes of the first meeting of the class these were
summarized briefly, as follows: “There is a possibility of the
Army here (in the United States) and abroad calling upon
the entomological profession to furnish before long a large
number of men informed on the subject of disease. transmit-
ting insects, and the methods of controlling these insects.
It is intended, therefore, by means of this class, and through
correspondence with field men, to prepare as many as are
willing to undertake such work.’
It was arranged that the class should meet for one hour
per week, or oftener if conditions warranted it, and thata
collection illustrating the various aspects of the work should
be made. A class leader and a secretary were chosen. The
duties of the leader are to give or to provide fora twenty
minutes talk at each meeting, which should be followed by
discussion, all of which was to be recorded and mimeographed
for subsequent reference and use.
This class organization has met with favour, the
attendance at the meetings has increased, and the members
who have joined by correspondence have also increased in
numbers.
The problems to be dealt with relate particularly to the
diseases of army camps and their surroundings, and include
the hygiene and sanitary conditions of towns and cities,
especially those which are in any way connected with such
camps, either by their proximity or because they are sources
of food supplies for them.
Dr. W. Dwight Pierce, the class leader, recently visited
the Marine Camp at (Quantico, Virginia, and his account of
this visit is likely to be of interest to readers of the Agrici/-
/ural News, since he records some simple and apparently
efficient devices for mosquito control. A review of the
subjects dealt with at the class meetings would also be of
interest, but as these are intended, first of all, for the use of
Army and Municipal sanitariaus, rather than for application
to conditions such as those existing in the West Indies, they
will not be further dealt with at the present time, but will
probably be referred to later.
Dr. Pierce found at Camp Quantico an excellent ento-
mological organization attached to the Post Surgeon’s
office, the work of sanitation having been organized by
Lieut. Ebert who is directly in charge of this work.
The largest problem in the sanitation of this camp was
found to be mosquito control, on account of the fact that
there are boggy places in the camp, and large swamps
adjoining, along the*P6tomac River.
The work of mosquito control falls under three heads:
ditching, clearing vegetation from the banks of the ditches,
and the application of insecticides.
The most interesting of these operations were those
concerned with the application of insecticides, and it is to
this phase of the work that attention might be directed in
the West Indies.
Crude oil is the larvicide used at the camp. It is not
applied by spraying on the surface of the water in the usual
way. Dry sawdust is saturated with crude oil, the propor-
tion being about 30 per cent. of oil and 70 per cent. of
sawdust.
This mixture is used in a variety of ways. The detailed
squads in charge of insecticide application carry with them
on their rounds quantities of this oil-saturated sawdust, sprink-
ling a handful of it on each small breeding hole they find.
Even a few sawdust particles dropped in a small puddle of
water will quickly forma film of oil which will remain for
a long time.
In streams of running water, cross booms consisting of
two small boards or sticks fastened together, and anchored
to form a V on the surface, are used to hold up a quantity
of saturated sawdust. These are arranged so that the oil
which is liberated from the sawdust passes between the ends
of the sticks in the middle of the stceam, or around the
ends towards the stream bank, and a film of oil is thus _pro-
vided on the surface below the boom. A series of these
booms placed at intervals has been found to check mosquito
breeding almost altogether. A modification of this idea, which
was also successiully used, consisted of a box filled with oil-
saturated sawdust. Two sides of this box were screened,
and it was fixed in the stream. The water flowing through
the box carried with it a small quantity of oil.
This idea would seem to be capable of application in
the West Indies in many places where mosquitoes have been
found difticult of control.
Sawdust saturated with crude oil would be easy to
transport and to apply, and by means of the boom or
screened box it ought to be possible to treat small or
even fairly large streams of running water; and ia
the case of swamps and large bodies of water it ought
to obviate largely or entirely the difficulty which arises
from the crude oil not spreading properly when sprayed on,
and to overcome satisfactorily the drawback due to the rapid
evaporation of the oil on the water under the influence of the
tropical sun.
In many places sawdust is available for trials of this
idea; in others, substitutes will be found by anyone who
really wishes to carry out an experiment. It would seem
that coco-nut husk might be useful in this connexion, and
there are probably many native substances which need only
to be tried in order for something to be found in any locality
suitable for the purpose.
H.A.B.
CAMPAIGN IN JAMAICA AGAINST
HOOKWORM.
A leading article in the Jamaica G/eaner, June 14, 1918,
draws attention to the arrival in Jamaica of Dr. M. hi,
Connor, one of the officers of the Rockefeller Foundation,
which has been combating the hookworm disease in the
United States and neighbouring tropical countries.
One of the first efforts made by the recently founded
Jamaica Imperial Association was to bring to the attention of
the local Government the need of taking advantage at once of
the Rockefelloer Foundation’s offer to treat hookworm in the
Vor. XVII. No. 424.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 235
eee eS
island, provided the local Government would find the funds
necessary for the purchase of drugs and stationery, and would
also undertake to make the necessary arrangement for per-
manently improved sanitation, without which the treatment
of individuals would represent a waste of energy and money.
As soon as the Legislative Council met in their present
session, a deputation of members of the Jamaica Imperial
Association urged upon the elected members the vital neces-
sity of the Council availing itself of the Rockefeller Founda-
tion’s offer, A resolution was brought forward in the Council
calling for immediate action in this matter, The (Govern-
ment accepted the resolution, placed £2,000 on the estimates
for the drugs and stationery that would be required in the
first year’s campaign, and promised that not only hookworm,
but other germ diseases would be dealt with in the near
future. Since then the Council has passed a law for the
compulsory treatment of venereal diseases, while the abnox-
ious disease of yaws is to receive far more attention than it
has ever received before. The G/eaner remarks that this
may be called the beginning of a remarkable revolution in
the health of the island. The Jamaica Imperial Assoviation,
the Legislative Council, and the Government are to be
congratulated on the prompt steps taken.
Dr. Connor intends to make a preliminary survey of
the island, so as to be able to strike an average of what
percentage of the people may be infected with the hookworm
parasite in the different districts. In parts of the island
where there may be better sanitation, it is not probable that
a large percentage of the people will be found infected, but
where sanitation is neglected, there is probably a very large
percentage.
Tf anyone had been told ten years ago that ‘West Indian
laziness’ was largely a disease caused by microscopic blood-
sucking parasites, the suggestion would have been laughed
at. We know now, however, that the microscopic hookworm,
boring into the arteries of human beings, sets up internal
bleeding which leads to a wretched state of health, and thus
produces the lassitude and want of energy in a large propor-
tion of the inhabitants of these islands, which had been
formerly attributed to the enervating influence of a tropical
climate.
DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF BAY TREES.
The manufacture of bay oil and bay rum constitutes two
important industries in some of the West Indies, having
been developed chiefly during the last fifty years.
A note on the subject in the Aew Bulletin, No. 4, 1913,
points out that the industry has suffered much from the
admixture of the leaves of two forms of Prmenta acris, which
are known in the French islands as ‘Bois d’ Inde citronelle’
and ‘Bois d’ Inde anise’, which are so similar as to be
distinguished with difficulty. ‘Bois d’Inde citronelle’ is known
botanically as Pimenta acris, var. citrifolia (P. citrifolia,
Myrtus citrifolia); the oil of this has the taste and odour
of lemon, owing to the presence of ‘citral’, which reduces
the value of the true bay oil if mixed therewith. ‘Bois
@ Inde anise’ does not appear to have been distinguished
botanically, but its oil also is an equally undesirable
product, which reduces the value of bay oil. The true
economic plant is known as ‘Bois d’ Inde’, or in English,
the bay tree. The presence of the leaves of the other two
varieties amongst produce sold as true bay leaves is not
only a matter of considerable inconvenience and possible
loss to distillers of bay oil, but tends to give a bad name
to samples of such mixed oil when put on the market.
Leaves and flowering branches of all three forms have
been submitted to Kew by Mr. J. Jones, Curator, Botanic
Garden, Dominica, with a view to the detection of any
botanical characters by which they can be distinguished, but
the principal difference detected is in the fragrance of the
bruised leaves; that. of the ‘Bois d’ Inde citronelle’ being
citron-scented, while the others are simply aromatic, a char-
acter difficult to utilize in collecting leaves from wild sources.
Moreover, it fails in differentiating the ‘Bois d’ Inde anise’,
and itis not yet clear why this particular variety fails to
reach the desired standard as regards its essential oil. The
specimens have been subjected to botanical comparison, and
to more detailed examination in the laboratory, but no con-
spicuous differences have been observed.
Mr. Jones remarks that the three varieties have been
cultivated in the Botanic Garden for fifteen years, and that
they were obtained as representing the true varieties. The
differences observed are thus defined: ‘The “Bois d’Inde citro-
nelle” is possessed of a lax growing habit, which is quite dis-
tinct from the compact erect habit of the “Bois d’Inde anise”.
The appearance of “Bois d’Inde” approximates that of ‘Bois
d'Inde anise,” but is less compact. The cymes of ‘Bois d’Inde
citronelle” are longer than those of ‘Bois d’Inde anise”, and
several times larger than those produced by the true ‘Bois
dInde.”’
Fruiting specimens are not yet available. Any ditfer-
ences here, however, if they exist, would be of no practical
value as a guide in gathering the leaves before the fruits
are developed.
At present the leaves are collected from the wild plants
in several islands, including Dominica, Porto Rico, and the
Virgin Islands; while in Montserrat there is increasing
interest being taken in the cultivation of the trees. It is
suggested therefore, that wherever the plant is being brought
under cultivation, steps should be taken to ensure that the
plants selected have been derived from a pure stock of true
Pimenta acrts.
This case of varietal forms of /imezta acris affords a
parallel to those of camphor (Cinamomum Camphora) and
chicle gum (Achras Sapota). Of both these plants more
than one form is known to exist, and the present instance
affords yet another example of the absolute necessity of
making sure of the value of any particular strain or physio-
logical form of an economic plant, before establishing
plantations on an extensive scale.
Mr. Jones states that Pimenfa acris in its three
varieties exists in great numbers on poor soils near the coast.
When the lemon-scented pimento was brought to the
knowledge of Kew some thirty-five years ago, the plant
was propagated, and between the years 1885 and 1889 there
were distributed many seedlings to Jamaica, Demerara,
Lagos, Queensland, Fiji, Ceylon, Java, and Singapore.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. W. M. Malins-Smith has resigned his oftice of
Agricultural Instructor on the Statf of the Agricultural
Department, Grenada, in order to take up the appoint-
ment as manager of the estates of the heirs of the late
Mr. George Patterson. In accepting Mr. Malins-Smith’s
resignation as froin the 51st inst., His Excellency the
Governor of Grenada expressed his appreciation of
the efficient and conscientious work performed by
Mr. Smith in the public service.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Juty 27, 1918.
A correspondent of the Jamaica Géeaver, June 11, 1918,
states that the pimento crop will be very poor this year,
<wing to the continuous rains, although the price is pretty
good. He also states that in some parts of the island, if the
hkeayy rains continue, a large proportion of corn will be spoilt.
More than $7,000,000 was paid out by the Hawaiian
plantations in bonuses to labour during 1917, according to
figures just completed by the Bureau of Labour and
Statistics of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association. The
wate of bonus was 78 per cent. (The Zowrstana Planter, June
29, 1918.)
The Louisiana Planter, June 2y, 1918, draws attention
é the labour difficulty in Louisiana. It is stated that in
some parts of the State there is hardly enough labour avail-
able to harvest the corn crop, and to harvest the cane crop
eequires about thirty times more men than the corn harvest-
ing does.
Botanists will be interested to know that the botanical
ecllections and the library of the Boissier Herbarium have
been presented to the University of Geneva by the children
of the late Madame Barbey-Boissier, who have made arrange-
mnents that this valuable collection shall remain accessible to
the scientific world
Dr. George V. Perez, in referring again to the extraordi-
warty vitality of Bougainvillaea root cuttings, says that some of
his are still alive, although they have been out of the ground
for cighteen months. He rightly considers that these
cuttings wonld be a very convenient way for sending Bougain-
villsea plants far and wide for striking them afterwards.
The Jamaica correspondent of Zhe Zimes writes in the
rade Supplement of that Journal, June 1918, that the
demand for Jamaica honey is exceptionally great. The price
has jumped from a couple of shillings almost to 20s, per
gatlon, In view of the shortage of butter, and the restrictions
©o sugar, a considerable increase of the industry appears to
be likely,
The International Sugar Committee has issued a circular,
dated June 27, 1918, in which the following resolution of the
Committee is brought to the notice of the seller and all
parties to the agreement as to Cuban sugars, 1917-18 crop, to
the effect that the International Sugar Committee avails
itself of the option to purchase a second additional 250,000
tons of sugar, as provided for in paragraph 4 of the agree-
ment referred to,
From Documentary Leaflets of the International LInsti-
tute of Agriculture, Rome, for May 1918, it appears that
the demand for the vegetable fibre produced in the capsules
of Bombax malabaricum is continually Imcreasing, and it
may be accepted on the market as true kapok. The Anna nese
are becoming more interested in this product, and collect it,
though they take very little care of it, and are apt to ask
high prices. This industry is capable of rapid development,
as the Bombax tree grows quickly, and bears in a very few
years.
Ample scope exists in Jamaica for British investors in
the direction of the development of coffee, cacao, and sugar,
and of other industries, but it is noteworthy that while
Americans and others are turning their attention to this
island, and are acquiring properties for the purpose, the
sritish capitalists have so far not shown much enterprise.
Possibly this is due to war conditions: but it is hoped that
the British investor will not forget the warm welcome that
awaits him in this the second oldest colony of Britain.—
(The Times Trade Supplement. June 1918.)
In addition to the two concrete corn bins erected last
year, the Trinidad Government has erected at the Government
Farm, St. Joseph, two concrete silos to hold about 150,000 b.
each of black-eye peas, corn, or other perishable crops.
These will be available this year for food crops, and with the
return to normal conditions be used as silos. An existing
building at the farm has also been altered slightly, so that
fumigation can be done in it, and it is estimated that this
will hold about another 200,000 tb. of peas, ete. The total
storage -room will amount to about 650,000 tb. (The Bulletin
of the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad and Tobago,
Vol. XVII, Part 1.)
A letter received by the Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies from the Adjutant-General
of the State of New York encloses a General Order of
March 23, 1918, which shows that it is the policy of the
Military Department of the State of New York to assist in
every way in guarding against an international food shortage.
The General Order states that in order to assist those engaged
in agricultural pursuits, Commanding Officers of the New
York Guard are directed to excuse from attendance at drills
those members of their commands who are actually engaged
in civil life in farm labour, whenever their attendance at
drill would interfere with their agricultural employment
Under the administration of the Department of Agri-
culture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, according to
a circular issued by that Department, dated May 1915, the
production of food in Ireland, especially food exported to
Great Britain, has for several years past been steadily grow-
ing. ‘The value of food and drink stuffs imported into Great
3ritain from Ireland and retained for consumption there in
1913 was £36,000,000, only exceeded in that year by the
value of the imports of the same articles from the United
States, which was £39,000,000. Since the war the supply
coming from the United States has abnormally increased,
amounting to the value ot £116,000,000 in 1916. The Irish
supply, though not in this proportion, has gone on increasing
during these years also, the value of this in the same year,,
being £59,000,000
Vor. XVII. No, 424.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 23
-I
THE EFFECTS OF ULTRA-VIOLET RAYS
ON PLANTS.
Asis well known, in the spectrum of sunlight there
are seven visible colours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, violet, which are visible to the human eye, but besides
these, on each side of the spectrum there are invisible rays
known on the one side as _ultra-red, which are heat rays, and
on the other side ultra-violet, which are chemically active.
These ultra-violet rays vibrate so many million times a second
that our eyes are blind to them, just as our ears are deaf to
the most rapid vibrations of sound. But these invisible
rays which are recorded on photographic plates have a strong
chemical effect on plants. They are very quickly absorbed
by the atmosphere, and only a comparatively small part of
these rays given off by the sun reaches the earth’s surface.
An interesting paper by Taizan Tsuji, in the Lowdscana
Planter, Jane 29, 1918, records some experiments made by
him onthe stimulating effect on the ultra-violet rays on
some tropical crops.
In one experiment, germinated sugar-canes were planted
in moist soil, and cultivated in the dark at a temperature of
about 22°C. The plants grew, but naturally turned pale.
After thirty days these etiolated plants were divided into
two groups, one of which was exposed to sunlight, while the
second was exposed to the ultra-violet rays produced by
a quartz mercury-vapour lamp. After two hours and a half
the etiolated leaves of the sugar-cane exposed to the action
of the ultra-violet rays were found to takea deep green
colouration, whereas those exposed only to sunlight still
preserved their yellow appearance.
In another experiment three rows of sugar-cane were
planted: the first row was shaded with coloured glass so that
the ultra-violet rays of the sunlight were decreased by
50 per cent.; the second row was planted in open sunlight so
as to obtain all the ultra-violet rays naturally existing in
the rays of the sun; the third row was planted so as to be
fully exposed not only to the sunlight but to ultra-
violet rays from the mercury Jamp for a certain time
each day. All of these rows received the same amount
of fertilizers. After several months the result was
that, in the first row the sugar-canes gained 1} tb. each,
on an average; the canes in the second row gained 2+ bb.
on an ayerage; while those in the third row gained 3} hb.
average. The writer of the article thinks that there-is a
possibility of a future use of these rays in sugarcane cultiva-
tion in Hawaii, where the experiments have been made, for,
as he points out, the row of canes in the above experiment,
exposed not only to the sunlight but to the uitra-violet rays
of the sun, had considerably more sugar than the canes
exposed to sunlight alone.
In another experiment, unripe pine-apples exposed to
weak ultra-violet rays were found to ripen earlier than those
under sunlight. Two rows of pine-apples were planted in an
open field, the first row of which was exposed to sunlight
only, while the second row, in addition to sunlight, was
exposed to the ultra-violet rays of the mecury vapour lamp
for forty minutes every morning. The result showed that
the pine-apples in the second row ripened earlier, and were
sweeter, Jarger, and more juicy than those in the first row.
An experiment made on etiolated banana leaves showed
that after three hours action of ultra-violet rays the leaves
began to take ona marked green colouration, while five hours
sufficed to make their colour a deep green. Banana leaves
and stalks exposed to ultra-violet rays after having been cut
and kept in water were found two weeks afterwards to be
quite fresh, whereas some kept in diffused daylight were
almost completely withered after six or seven days. The
writer thinks that by the use of these rays bananas may be
ripened and sent unspoilt to distant markets.
The problem is to find a process by which these rays
may be obtained cheaply. They may be produced abundantly
by specially constructed mercury arc lamps with quartz sides,
but the cost at present of such an installation to stimulate
the growth of crops is commercially prohibitive.
THE TWO SPECIES OF CABBAGE
PALM.
As some confusion exists whether the names ‘royal palm
and cabbage palm are only local appellations of the same
tree, or whether they are really two species, the following
note will be useful in clearing up the question.
According to Dr. Beccari, the well-known Italian
authority on palms, there are two if not three species of
Oreodoxa to which the name cabbage palm or royal palm is
given in the British West Indies. In a monograph on the
palms indigenous to Cuba, published in the Pomona College
Journal of Economic Botany, Vol. 11, No. 2, Dr. Beccari
gives descriptions of these three species.
In the first place, Oreodoxa regia, the royal palm, is the
species commonly found growing in the Greater Antilles—
Cuba, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, and Porto Rico—and also in
St. Croix. In this species the stem is usually more or less
fusiform, bulging out sometimes in more than one place,
giving the impression that the palm has been influenced
during its growth by periods of unegnal nutrition. It is
true, however, that some individuals have stems almost
regularly cylindrical from base nearly to summit. The leatt-
ets in this species are alternately inserted in contrary ways
along the midrib, and stand in four different planes, at least
in its lower and intermediate parts, but are more regularly
set, almost on one plane, towards the end. ‘The fruit
in this species is almost globose, the breadth being only little
less than the length. Thestamens of the male flowers are
about as long as the petals when they open, and they
remain fairly upright, between these latter,
A second species (QO. charihaez), which occurs in Porto
Rico, differs so slightly from O. vegza as_ to be considered by
Dr. Beccari as only a geographical form of the latter, or in
any case nothing more than a second degree species.
The common cabbage palm of the Lesser Antilles, and
apparently of Trinidad also, which is stated to be peculiar to
those islands, is O. v/eracea. The stem of this species is
quite cylindrical and never bulging, being always thickest at
the base. The leaflets in this species are equidistant, and all
on one plane, especially in the intermediate portion of
the midrib. Its fruit also differs from that of O. regia, in
being rather elongate than globose, and being somewhat
curved and concave on the side of the stigmas. The male
flowers, too, are quite different in appearance from those of
O. regia, as the stamens spring beyond the corolla a long
time before the anther cells open, and are much longer than
the petals, above which they le almost horizontally. On
account of this circumstance, the inflorescence of O. oleracea
has quite a different appearance from that of O. regia. The
white floury matter which covers the inflorescence of both
palms when still enveloped in the spathes, and which is
dispersed when the spathes open, is much more abundant
in O. oleracea.
On account of its beautifully cylindrical stems, O. ofe-
vacea would seem to be superior to O, vegéa as an ornamental
plant, in spite of the latter’s royal designation.
PLANT DISEASES.
——-
INTERNAL DISEASE OF COTTON BOLLS
IN THE WEST INDIES.
In the recently issued number of the //es/ Indian
Bulletin (Vol. XVII, No. 1), there appears a paper on the
above subject by Mr. W. Nowell, D.LC, Mycologist on the
Staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
In a previous paper in the Jes? Indian Bulletin
(Vol. XVI, No. 3), the writer has shown that in the West
Indies the staining of developed cotton lint takes place in
the green unopened boll, and with the exception of a varying
proportion due to external boll disease, is principally caused
by direct infection of the lint with specific fungi, of which
four species have been found, or, more rarely, with bacteria.
Such infection was shown to take place, without apparent
exception, through bug punctures, mainly made, under pre-
vailing circumstances, by the cotton stainers (Dysdercus spp.).
The present paper discusses («) the part taken by other
bugs, especially the green bug (Nesara viridu/a), in injuring
and infecting bolls, (/) the nature and significance of direct
bug injuries which are not infected, and further, (c) records
the occurrence of the fungi of internal boll disease in the
seeds of numerous plants other than cotton.
The observations and experiments recorded were made
during a visit of seven weeks’ duration, from October 17 to
December 9, 1917, to the island of St. Vincent.
The methods of study adopted included (a) field obser-
vations of the relation between the prevalence of bugs and
the amount of shedding, boll injury, and infection occurring;
(4) close examination and record, lock by lock, of parcels of
fresh green bolls obtained from selected typical districts; (c) a
series of experiments in which bugs of various species, from
known sources, were confined in cambric bags on uninjured
bolls of known age; (¢) examination for infection of fruits of
the wild and cultivated host plants of bugs; (¢) attempts by
means of direct examination, dissections, and cultures to
elucidate the carriage of infection by the bugs concerned,
The conditions relating to the occurrence of bugs in the
field are separately discussed by the Entomologist in another
paper of the same Bulletin. The commonest species, (Vesa
airidula and Edessa meditabunda, known collectively in St.
Vincent as bush bugs, have a wide range of hosts, but are
most commonly found associated with leguminous plants, the
latter especially with Cajanus indicus, the pigeon pea. On
the estates most infested with these bugs there were heavy
losses from the shedding or drying up of small bolls, and
from direct bug injury. There was also a variable but
rather low percentage of infection with internal boll disease.
The following is a summary of the paper first mentioned,
which is the outcome of careful experimental investigation.
The success of the control measures adopted against the
cotton stainer in that island was found to have reduced the
prevalence of the disease to negligible proportions over large
ATCA.
Severe infestations with tlie green bug and the pea chink
occurred in some localities, and the resulting damage to
cotton bolls afforded the principal subject of study.
Close attention was given to the direct effect of bug
punctures on the bolls, and it was found, in regard to the
green bug especially. that the resulting injury to the develop-
ing seeds prevents or stops the development of the lint,
causes the shedding or drying up of young bolls, and is in
both ways the source of heavy losses. Punctures made by
cotton stainers and the leaf-footed bug have similar effects
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1918.
JULY 27,
The losses brought about by direct injury are for the
most part complete, and are additional to those caused by
the staining of developed lint due to internal boll disease.
The amount of injury of the latter nature was found to be
notably less in the case of green bug than of stainer infesta-
tion.
The direct injury resulting from infestation with the pea
chink was small in amount, and consisted of stained spots on
the surface of the lint, occurring immediately below some of
the small proportion of punctures which appeared to pene-
trate the wall of the boll. No injury to the seeds was
observed in connexion with this bug, and no case of infes-
tion with internal boll disease.
A series of experiments is recorded illustrating the effect
of confining bugs from known food-plants on previously
protected bolls of known age- Evidence was obtained that
the punctures of the green bug readily bring about infection
with the fungi of internal boll disease, but only when the bugs
are transferred from infected plants. No infection was pro-
duced even in the latter case by the pea chink.
SISAL CULTIVATION IN EAST AFRICA.
The third of a series of articles appeared in Topical
Life, March 1918, consisting of notes by Mr. E. H. Heron,
Director of Agriculture of the Mozambique Company. The
author bases his opinions upon experience of sisal cultiva-
tion in Portuguese East Africa and on the Zambesi River dur-
ing the last nine years. The total area under sisal in these
districts is between 19,000 and 20,000 acres of different
classes of soil on plantations which are practically at sea-
level, the highest altitude not being more than 400 feet.
The life of the sisal plant in East Africa is put by
Mr. Heron at six anda half years, and rarely seven. The
plant reaches maturity in the third year, thus allowing
leaves to be cut for nearly four years, before ‘poling’ and the
consequent death of the plant take place.
It must be remembered that the sisal plant is propaga-
ted either by bulbils, which are produced on the branches of
the flowering pole, or by suckers, which arise around the
parent plant from the underground rhizome. Mr. Heron
devotes much of his article to the consideration of which of
these two methods of propagation is the more advantageous.
In reckoning the period of growth of the sisal plant,
Mr. Heron only takes into consideration plants grown on
suitable soil, and where the cultivation is conducted in a
proper way during the whole life-time of the plants. He
remarks that any neglect in the cleaning and cultivation,
even when the plants are in good soil and under excellent
climatic conditions, causes them to pole irregularly, and
before their proper time.
With the exception of a few experjmental patches planted
from suckers, the whole area under sisal in the district has
now been planted from bulbils.
Mr. Heron in summing up the advantages and disad-
vantages of this method of propagation, states that the advan-
tages of bulbils are as follows:—
(1) They can be selected from vigorous plants that
have all poled at the, proper time.
(2) They are all about the same age and size.
(3) They can be planted out in large numbers in the
nurseries at the same time.
(4) The collection of bulbils is cheap, costing only a
few pence per thousand,
Vor; XVII. No. 424.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 239
(5) Bulbils, after being in the nursery for about a year,
are all about the same size, and therefore regularity in growth
and size of the plants when set out in the plantation can be
assured.
(6) Properly selected bulbils, well cared for in the nurs-
-ery, and afterwards regularly set out in the plantation will
produce plants that reach maturity at thesame time, give the
same number of cuttings, and pole at the correct time. Thus
it can be arranged that the different sections of the planta-
tion, will be ready for cutting at difterent periods of the
cutting season, in this way supplying the extracting machine
with mature leaves during the whole season.
If through unforeseen circumstances enough land has not
been prepared to receive the bulbi's at the end of the first year
of their growth in the nursery, their growth will not be
retarded, provided they have been planted in the nurse-
ry at the proper distance of not less than 20 inches by
20 inches. They may, in fact, be allowed to remain safely
in the nursery for two years before being planted out.
There are two disadvantages, however, pointed out by
Mr. Heron, in the use of bulbils: —
(1) On starting a plantation on these lines the best
newly cleared land must be used for the nursery. It is
true, on the other hand, that after removing the bulbils the
same land may be used as a part of the regular plantation.
(2) The bulbils must remain about one year in the
nursery before being set out in the plantation.
With regard to the propagation of the sisal plant
from suckers, the following advantages of the method are
noticed: —
(1) No nursery is required, as suckers can be set out in
‘the plantation immediately they are taken from the soil.
(2) Suckers after being removed from the ground can
be kept under cover for from six weeks to two months with-
out in any way having their vitality affected.
(3) Suckers are extremely hardy, and can stand several
weeks of dry weather after being planted out.
The disadvantages of this method are stated to be: —
(1) The cost of the collecting of them is considerable,
-owing to the fact that suckers grow irregularly around the
mother plants.
(2) The difference in the size and development-of the
suckers growing around the same parent plant is very great.
(3) If a plantation is kept thoroughly clean, no suckers
will be allowed to grow, theretore, if suckers are required, the
plantation must remain uncultivated to a certain extent.
In conclusion, Mr. Heron condemns the method of
planting from suckers, because he says that suckers when
-allowed to develop uncerneath the plant at all stages of its
life, and then used for planting out, are liable to pole
-at the same time as the parent plant, causing the
loss of two or three cuttings perhaps. As an instance,
he mentions that in Portuguese East Africa he observed
the plants on a section of 250 acres all poling in the
third year after planting, only having given one cutting of
leaves. These plants were grown as an experiment from
suckers, and all poled at the same time as the parent plants.
Owing to the different size and development of each
individual sucker, the growth of the plantation will be irregu-
lar, which involves on a large plantation increase of cost,
owing to the necessity of more labour tu perform the cutting.
Mr. Heron lays stress on the point that sisal must be
carefully cultivated, and planted on suitable soil. The ider
that it can be successfully grown in any kind of soil, or that
when once planted the crop will look atter itself, is quite
a fallacy.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of May 1918:—
In reviewing the business and condition of the London
produce markets for the month of May it will be necessary to
point out that the actual period under review covers five
weeks instead of the usual four weeks—the first auction
having fallen on the second of the month and the last on
the 50th. The only effect of the additional week is to add
to the bulk of the products dealt with in a given time, and
at this period of the year, the anticipation of the summer
holidays also has some effect, more especially in normal
times. The following are some of the principal details.
GINGER.
This article has been advancing in price for some
little time, and still shows an upward tendency. Abt
auction on the 23rd of the month sales were effected
at the following rates: common to good common Jamaica,
110s. to 112s. per cwt., and medium to good 115s.
to 125s. Cochin washed fetched 95s. and common
92s. 6d., Calicut 88s. to 90s., and Sierra Leone 90s.
At the last auction on the 30th the prices were still advanc-
ing, good common Jamaica ranging from 112s. 6d. to 115s.,
and medium to good 120s. to 125s., while washed Cochin
was quoted at 95s. to 97s. 6¢., and Calicut and Japanese at
95s. and 90s., respectively.
SARSAPARILLA.
This drug was in good supply at auction on the 9th of
the month, being represented by 15 bales of grey Jamaica, 8
of which were sold at ts. 9@. per tb. for fair, which was said
to be an advance of 3. per fb, on previous prices, The other
offerings were, Lima Jamaica 38 bales, + only of which
found buyers at 4s. 62. per tb. for fair. Ten bales
of native Jamaican were offered, and all sold at prices vary-
ing from 4s. 2d. to 4s. 6¢. per tb. for dull red and yellow.
CITRIC ACID, ANNATTO
CASSIA FISTULA,
SEED, KOLA, LIME JUICE,
PIMENTO, TAMARINDS.
Citric acid was firm at the beginning of the month at
3s, 3d. to 3s. 33d. per tb. A week later it advanced to
3s. 43¢., and at the end of the month to 3s. 5d. Annatto
seed was in full supply at auction on the 9th of the month,
as many as 160 packages being offered but none sold; from
Sd. to 9d. per Ib. was the price asked. Kola also was in
abundant supply at the same auction, but out of the 272
packages brought forward, 3 only were disposed of, being fair
dried Jamaica halves, which fetched 11¢. per ib. There has
been a good demand for lime juice throughout the month,
raw West Indian fetching 2s. 9¢. to 3s. 3¢. per gallon,
according to quality. Cassia Fistula pods were stated to be
in limited supply during the month, 115s. per ewf. being
the price asked. It was reported during the month that
there were large stocks of pimento in store, and that any
quantity cou'd be had at 5d. per tb. In connexion with
this, it was also stated that pimento oil was obtainable at
21s. 6d. per Ib Daring the’month it was further stated
that West Indian tamarinds had gnite disappeared from
the market. >
240
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tue West Inxpia Committee CircuLar,
May 16.
ARROWROOT— No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 35 to 3 74; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/3.
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Frouit—No quotations,
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lue Juice—Raw, 2/9 to 3/6: concentrated, £32; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16,6.
Logwoop—No quotations,
Mace—No quotations.
Nourmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—No quotations.
Russper—Para, fine hard, no quotations; fine soft, no
quotations; Castilloa, no quotations.
; Jamaica, no quota-
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpox, Grant & Co., June 27.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $10°75 to $11°00; Trinidad. $11-00
to $11-°75.
Coco-nut O1r—$1°36 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, 10c. to llc. per tb.
Copra—$6'75 per 100 th.
Daat—$12°50.
Owtons—$2°50 per 100 fh.
Peas, Sprit—$11-00 per bag.
Porators—English, $300 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow, $13°00 to $13°25; White. $9-00 per bag.
Suear—American crushed, nv quotations.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1918.
JuLY 27,
New York.—Messrs Gutxesriz Bros, & Co., June 8,
Cacao—Caracas, 12}c.; Grenada, /24c. to 18c.; Trinidad,
12kc. to 12%c.; Jamaica, 10#c. to 11fe.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, S34°00 to $36-00: Trinidad
$5700 to $3900; culls, $17°00 to $19-00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, fc. to llc. per Ib.
Gincer—l15c, to l7c. per th.
Goat Sxivs—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, 85c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, $5c. per th
Grare Fruit—Jamaica, importation prohibited.
Limgs—Importation prohibited.
Mace—40c. to 48c. per th.
Nurmecs—27c. to 28c.
Orances—Importation prohibited.
Pimzento— 7c. per ft.
Svuear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6 005c; Muscovados, 89°, 5 :005c.
Molasses, 89°, 4°948c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., May 30.
ArRrowRrooT—$12'00 per 100 fh.
Cacao—$12°50 to $13°00 per i00 fh.
Coco-nuts—$36'00 husked nuts.
Hay—$2:90.
Mo tassrs—No quotations.
Ontons— No quotations.
Peas, Serit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations,
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, ne quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
goon, no quotations.
Svear—Dark Crystals, $4°75.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’:
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Volume XVI, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Containing Papers on general subjects.
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of »-
And we are prepared to buy year after year
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4 a=.” te ee
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ee ee ip Se ee eS
Vou. XVII No. 424, cs THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England, E
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time eing, :
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lyneh& Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS ©
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED. —
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at ;
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further ~
comment. Qur large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to —
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THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
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PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
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BARBADOS.
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. | btn a,
rr
AN OBJECT LESSON
IN
Tick BRADICATION
—_ —____+}-+ — ————
The Mastrations given below, and the accompanying particulars, are taken from an Officied publication ef the United States
Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 498.
ea— o—
—
It has been ! A case is on
calculated that ticks may, record of a horse which
in the course of a year, ee es x died from anzmia re-
deprive an animal of TICK INFESTED: BEFORE DIPPING, Aven 12th, 1911. sulting from gross tick
103 gallons of blood. ‘ WEIGHT 730 POUNDS. : infestation, and from
Some ticks absorb as ea he ne ag
which no less than
much as 2 cc. of ‘@ |bs. Lof ticks were
blood each. collected.
——— —————— ai
it r
2. wha
THE SAME BEAST TICK FREE: 2 MONTHS AFTER DIPPING,
October 12th, 1911. WEIGHT 1015 POUNDS.
The above illustrations afford an example of the benefits afforded by Tick Eradication. The animal shown, when infested with ticks, weighed only
730 pounds on 12th August, 1911. On this date the beast was completely freed from Ticks by dipping. Two months later (12th October), its weight
head increased to 1015 pounds, the feed in the meantime remaining the same as before. The total gain after being freed from ticks was thus
285 pounds in 2 months, or a daily average gain of 44 pounds,
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
Has received the official approval of the following Countries: ST. KITTS: a L, Horst A wal : Viernes Bryson & Cee
. erson 0+. ngston,
Usion of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, : GRENADAI Thomson, Hankey & Co.
i BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd.
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, BAHAMASI I: MoT wynad, N ty
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, ST, VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown, NEVIS: S.D. Malone.
“ ~ 5 DANISH WEST INDIES: Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas,
“nehagchegae: aber haa eee cont Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon, H. A. Frampton,
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co,, Castries. ©
»
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
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FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
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AUGUST 10, 1918.
——
?
Vor. XVII. No. 425. BARBADOS, Price ld.
CONTENTS. Agriculture is fundamentally a scientifie industry.
It depends upon the utilization of natural knowledge
Page, Pace. which after all is natural science, though it may not
Agriculture in Barbados... 251, Market Reports ncn MAaih}
British Guiana Govern- New Products from South
ment Lime Factory . 245| Africa Gecen. ses 1249)
Chicle Gum Industry . 249) Notes and Comments ... 248
Co ‘oper Bue an ocie Ae Plant Diseeeee
(C; ee "Ne Fae Gk eee a A Market Disease of
Soun Ex 5 ts from the Citrus Fruits seat Dod
WotLOnTEXPOLts ICOM ULE yA Powdery Mildew of
West Indies... ... 246} Roses 4
Sea Island Cotton Mar- _ Roses Si phees 25,
, ie ; 246 | Seed Treatment and
GUNS sodda Fobs! Tope} bo Gs Angular Leaf-Spot ... 254
Department News ... ... 245 Pusa Wheat 248
Electric Power Supply O55 )|p toe |” Caen cscc a
; . 959 Research in Tropical Agri-
Gleaniness...) c-d vese.| se:
Grenada, Native Food
Crops Campaign in 1918 2
Guayule, Successful Culti-
culture, Need for eee
Sugar Industry: —
Sugar Crop of British
MHpLOMN wl Ole werty deed aieses 200 Guiana o.5 240
Hurricane Season, The ... 246 | Sugar Factory Results
Insect Notes:— in Mauritius . 244
Feeding Habits — of The Possibility of In-
the Parasites of Hard- creased Production of
back Grubs ... ... 200} Sugar in India... 244
Items of Local Interest ... 251 | Water Containing Zine,
Manures, Mixing and Pre- Wholesomeness of 248
249 West Indian Products 255
servation of ...
Need for Research in Tropical Agriculture,
Ta meeting of the Royal Society of Arts,
\ May 8, 1918, a most interesting paper on the
relation of biological science to the rubber
industry was read by Dr. .J. B. Farmer, Professor of
Botany, Imperial College of Science and Technology.
Much of this paper is so apposite to the relations of
‘scientific research to tropical agricultural industries in
general that in the following columns we quote chiefly
from it,
The know-
ledge may be largely empirical, it may be very imperfect,
but it must be there in some degree to ensure any
In tropical agriculture this truth
is even more evident than in that of temperate climates,
where for many generations a wide experience of crops
has been accumulated.
crops cultivated in tropical regions, relatively speaking,
in all cases be recognized by the schools.
measure of success.
A new industry, such as most
represent, demands the study of new conditions for
the accumulation of the necessary knowledge.
It is here that research comes in. For although the
empirical method of trial and mistake can lead £0 the
slow accumulation of knowledge, it takes a long time,
and is expensive. It is the chief business of science to
strive to detect for practical use the relationship of
cause and effect. But in nature we hardly ever encoun-
ter a simple problem. Each resolves itself usually into
a number of what seem more elementary ones, not,
The immediate
problem has to be disentangled or analysed into its
simpler components, each of which has to be unrav-
elled more or less fully. In this process much is learnt
which is perhaps not directly convertible into cash,
but which may lead to such improvement of actual
practice that later ona substantial financial benefit
may be obtained.
unfortunately, always easy to solve.
It would be wrong to say that no research hag
been undertaken with regard to tropical agricultural
industries. On the contrary, much useful work hag
been carried out by agricultural departments in various
242
eee
tropical lands. The trouble has been, however, that
the few scientific workers have had their hands too full
of routine work to carry out the enquiries that are
necessary to obtain anything even approaching to
a complete knowledge of tropical plant physiology.
Professor Farmer in the course of his paper remarked:
‘It must I think be clear to anyone who has
watched the progress of most of our great commercial
enterprises, that one of the commonest causes of arrest
or decline lies in a certain lack of imagination which
seems to be one of our national defects. The bird in the
hand is not always really worth two in the bush, but
we are rather too apt to grudge expenditure which gives
no immediate promise of a tangible return. Our atti-
tude to so-called “applied science” affords an illustration
of this. Thus, when we have grasped the fact that we
require scientific assistance to enable us to cope with
the natural difficulties of disease and so on, we get out
our mycologists, entomologists, and what not, and then
set them down mainly todo rontine work—to deal with
current difficulties only. No serious attempt is made
to tackle the really big problems. We have, as I have
already remarked, no adequate establishments to deal
with the important matter of breeding. Provision in
the tropics should be made for such work on a liberal
scale, and there ought to be no question of a five or
ten-years’ scheme, but it will have to be secured on a
permanent basis, if any real good is to come of it. A
well-staffed and well founded establishment will cer-
tainly, in the long run, repay all the expenditure many
times over, but results of immediate practical value are
not likely to come in this or next year, nor ought they
to be expected or demanded.
“This is perhaps not the oecasion on which to raise
or to discuss details of high policy, but, in general terms,
it is safe to say that the matter ought to be taken in
hand by the Governments specially concerned, and
administered by a body on which the planting industry,
and also the relevant branches of science are properly
represented. Such a combination of official, practical,
and scientific men ought to be able to ensure that the
work would be carried out on well-considered lines.
The three lines of interest, if I may use such a term,
would view the matter from different angles, and
although there might be differences of opinion as
regards details, the general outcome of such co-operation
should make for real efficiency. But, as I have already
said, it should be essential that the enterprise should
be definitely freed from the start from all demands for
early practical results. And furthermore, when once
ahe general lines have been laid down, and good men
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Avucusr 10, 1918.
have been secur:d, those responsible for conducting the
experiments must be given as free a hand as possible
and the less said about time-limits the bettér.
‘T believe it would be of great advantage if a
suitably constituted committee were formed to serve in
this country in connexion with any such scheme. The
functions of such a committee evidently should not be
administrative, otherwise friction would almost certainly
arise, and it might seriously impede the usefulness of
an institute working in a distant country, and con-
fronted with conditions that might be imperfectly
understood by persons living at home and unfamiliar
with local circumstances. But a home committee,
charged with advisory functions only, would serve
the useful purpose of bringing the tropical insti-
tutes into direct contact with the clearing-house
of European knowledge, both economic and _ scien-
tific. From the latter point of view at any rate,
such a connexion would to be eminently
desirable, inasmuch as the results of the rapid
advances which are being made in scientific knowledge
and outlook would thus be rendered easily and natu-
rally available to those engaged on the more specialized
work of the institute or institutes. And such an associ-
ation or committee, by furthering the aims and objects
of the several institutes that may be brought into
being, could not fail to react beneficially on the plant-
ing industry as a whole. Its efforts should be the
more acceptable, since matters affecting individual trade
interests would lie entirely outside the terms of its
reference.
seem
‘The germs from which such organized institutes
as I have indicated might be developed, are already in
existence in the various agricultural departments of
Colonial Governments, while influential bodies of men
interested in the plantations have shown than they
take an enlightened view of the situation. If they so
chose, they obviously could do much, both by influence
and material support, to promote the establishment of
veal research institutes.
‘Of course the scheme would cost money, but the
expense would be very small in comparison with the
magnitude of the interests at stake.’
The Professor points out, in conclusion, that science
has been invaluable in the service of the tropical
agricultural industries, both from the chemical, and
also, and especially, from the biological side. If these
industries are to continue to prosper, it has beceme
essential thatthe investigations of disease and immunity,
of the mode and significance of the vital processes
within the plants, as well as of the breeding of better
races of plants, shall not only be maintained at their
Vou.
XVII. No. 425. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 213
present level, but considerably increased. A distinc-
tion will have to be drawn between the necessary
routine, such as scientific sanitation and inspection
work on the plantations, and the research work largely
to be carried on in the institutes suggested. Both are
essential.
In older countries the function of higher scientific
research is connected with educational institutions of
the highest standing—universities old and new. It
would seem probable that the best results in the tropics
might be attained by a similar relationship. Professor
Farmer’s ideas are therefore indirectly a further justifi-
cation of the plea that has often been urged by those
interested in the development of the tropics as
to the need of establishing in these regions one or
more teaching universities, where biological research in
the science of agriculture might receive especial atten-
tion, seeing that, for practical purposes, agriculture is
at present the only industry of these undeveloped
countries.
CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT SOCIETIES IN
MAURITIUS.
The report on the working of co-operative credit societies
in Mauritius, for the year ended June 30, 1917, has been
forwarded to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for
the West Indies, by Dr. Tempany, Director of Agriculture
in that colony, and from this report it appears that very
satisfactory work has been performed by the societies during
the year under review. The total number of the societies
was twenty-three, comprising 2,823 members.
A close control is kept over the operation of the societies
by the official inspector, for it is found that it is necessary
to exercise very careful supervision of accounts, as the
system of book-keeping in force is by no means simple. The
general principles involved appear, however, to be fully
grasped by the members of the various societies, and errors
are readily recognizable. In addition to the work of
supervision of accounts, the inspector freely gives advice
on all points to the managing committees of the societies.
The principal loans made have been for purposes of
cultivation, and in special cases loans have been issued also
for such objects as weddings and funerals. Some cases
of advances for the purchase of land have likewise been
recorded,
The necessity for prompt repayment of loans has been
emphasized, and the report records that although the total of
loans is considerably larger than in any previous period, the
outstanding debts show an appreciable decrease over the
total recorded in the preceding year.
In some few instances it has been observed that members
of the managing committees of societies are in arrears of the
repayment of loans which they have received—a very bad
example for the bulk of the members. The tendency is also
witnessed in some cases to grant disproportionately large
loans to members of managing committees. Too great a
tendency in this direction is to be deprecated, for it should
be a guiding principle of such societies that, as far as possible,
equal facilities should be afforded to all members to take
advantage of the financial assistance which their society is in
a position to offer.
While there hive been no additions to the number of
societies operating, and the number of members is about the
same as last year, the increase in share capital points to
steadily increasing popularity and appreciation of the move-
ment. The total share capital on June 30, 1917, was Rs.
116,307, an increase of over Rs 10,000 on the previous year.
An outstanding feature of the year’s work lies in the
increase in the deposits of non-members, carrying interest,
which have been placed with the societies. The amount
of outside capital which such societies are able to attract to
themselves in this way is a trustworthy indication of their
condition, and of the confidence which the public reposes
in them.
The sum of money to the credit of the reserve funds is
steadily increasing, the policy having been adopted that no
dividends are to be declared by any society until the expira-
tion of five years from its foundation, and all profits earned
are credited to the reserve fund during this period. This.
provides an adequate guarantee against the effect of unfore-
seen losses which may occur in the future. It would appear,.
on the whole, that the condition of the societies indicates
operations on sound and safe lines.
The association of the work of the supervision of the
societies with the Agricultural Department appears to pro-
duce satisfactory results. The work of the Agricultural.
Department is brought into touch with the small planters,
and a spirit of confidence in the department, so essential:
for successful progress in agricultural matters, is aroused
among them.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
On the return of Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc., to resume-
his duties as Entomologist on the Staff of this Depart-
ment, Dr. J. C. Hutson, B.A. Ph.D., has retired:
from his acting appointment, which he held during
Mr. Ballou’s absence from December 1916 until the
middle of July 1918.
Dr. Hutson is shortly proceeding to England to.
offer his services for war work.
A post-card has been received by the Imperial
Commissorer of Agriculture for the West Indies from
Lieut. J. A. Robotham, of the Machine Gun Corps, to
the effect that he is now a prisoner in the Officers’
Prison Camp at Pforzheim in Baden, Germany,
Mr. Robotham was formerly Agricultural and Science
Master at the Grammar School, St. Kitts. His friends
might note his address, should they care to communi-
cate with him
From Nature, June 6, 1918, we learn that
Dr. C. A. Barber, Se.D., now Sugar-cane Expert in the
service of the Government of India, formerly Super-
intendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, has
been made a Companion of the Order of the Indian
Empire.
Dr. Barber's researches are calculated to be of very
great service in arriving ata true knowledge of the
genetic constitution of sugar-canes; at the same time
they are already of value, as advancing the develop-
ment of the Indian sugar industry. Prior to his work
on sugar-canes Dr. Barber did much valuable werk of
a botanical nature, amongst which his researches on.
the growth of the Sandal-wood tree was particularly
noteworthy,
244 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Aveusr 10, 1918.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
—E
THE POSSIBILITY OF INCREASED
PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN
INDIA
An interesting note by Dr. C, A. Barber, on the posst-
bility of increasing the production of sugar in India, has
been published by the Agricultural Department, Madras.
As is well known, India has been importing increasing
quantities of sugar during recent years, the annual total being
nearly 1,000,000 tons. Before the war this imported sugar
chiefly came from Austria. More recently Mauritius largely
supplied the Indian market, but at present the imported
sugar comes almost exclusively from Java. The question
Dr. Barber raises is whether India, taking advantage of the
world’s shortage of sugar and the increased price resulting
therefrom, can herself prcduce enough sugar for her own
consumption, and even in the future become an exporting
country, as she once was.
In the first place it is not an easy matter to start a sugar
factory, and several years must elapse before such an enter-
prise can be considered to be placed on a firm foundation.
Sugar making on modern lines must be considered to a large
extent as a new industrial enterprise in India. A vital
qnestion as to its success is the price of sugar after the war.
Dr. Barber thinks that it will take many years before the
price sinks to the pre-war level, if it ever does, for the
following reasons: (1) because there is a constantly increas-
ing consumption of sugar in all countries, which he regards
as likely to be permanent; (2) because it seems probable that
the British Government will in future take steps to prevent
the free dumping of sugar on the markets of the Empire by
the countries at present at war with us; (3) because the
particular ‘area where beet is grown in Europe has
snffered immensely by the great and calculated destruction of
sugar factories there during this war; and (4) that, with the
exception of Cuba, it is not likely that there will be any
immediate great extension of the area under sugar-cane in
the tropics,
With regard to the question of sugar-cane cultivation in
India, it is to be noticed that the two great sugar-cane tracts
in that country differ fundamentally. ‘The first region consists
of Madras, Mysore, the lower parts of Bombay, the Central
Provinces, Assam, and Burma. In the main this tract is
* within the tropics, and thick tropical canes can be grown
- there to maturity, asin Java or the West Indies. The second
region is extra-tropical, including the alluvial plains of the
Ganges and Indus, and extending into the north of the
Central Provinces and Bombay. Inthis region sugar-cane
cultivation is at present confined to thin, hardy, indigenous
varieties, generally unsuited for the economic production of
sugar. In fact, this region may be called properly the
wheat region of India, and it is a curious fact that at least
90 per cent. of the acreage under cane in India is to be
found in this apparently unsuitable tract. The canes grown
in this region are unsuitable, as is stated above, for the pro-
duction of crystal sugar.
A second difficulty also in the way of the extension of
sugar making in India is that the people prefer the extremely
impure form of sugar known as jaggery or gur, which is pre-
pared from the poor canes so extensively cultivated. Gur mak-
ing can be conducted by anyone who has the canes growing:
accurate tests regarding ripeness are unnecessary: no capital is
required; and the cultivation of the canes and the making of
jaggery can be discontinued at any time without loss.
On the other hand, sugar making on modern lines requires
large capital and the combination of many growers, and it
can only be instituted after considerable preparation, and
eannot be discontinued without serious financial loss.
Another difficulty with regard to the extension of cane-
sugar making in India is the competition with other crops.
In fact, sugar-cane growing depends on the relative profit-
ableness of the crops now being grown compared with
sugar-cane.
Madras, for instance, can grow sugar-cane as well as any
average place in the tropics. Irrigation however is required,
and thus irrigated crops, chiefly rice, enter into competition
with the cane. ice is perhaps the easiest crop to grow in
this Province, while sugar-cane is one of the most laborious.
It is not therefore likely that sugar-cane will replace rice to
any large extent.
With regard to Mysore, which is not a rice country,
Dr. Barber thinks it not impossible that with the
extension of irrigation, sugar factories might be profitably
started there. :
In Bombay. where excellent cane crops of rich sucrose
content are raised, it might not be difficult to extend largely
the cultivation of sugar-cane, if the capital is available.
There is a reasonable hope that a great deal more sugar-
cane than the present extremely small amount will be grown
in the near future in the southern part of the Central
Provinces, which is well adapted to the growth of thick
tropical varieties of cane, but Dr. Barber does not consider
that any large extension of improved varieties of sugar-cane
can be looked for in Bengal.
There are large unoccupied areas of land in lower Assam
on both sides of the Brahmaputra, which would seem to be
well suited for the growing of sugarcane. An experiment
on alarge scale has been made in this direction by the
Government, and it is evident that, with certain precautions,
excellent canes can be grown over large areas, and the
prospect is distinctly encouraging.
In Bihar there are a number of sugar-cane factories, in
the main working successfully, The chief need in that
Province seems to be the introduction of superior varieties of
cane, and the improvement of the local methods of agriculture.
With regard to the United Provinces and the Punjab,
there does not seem to be much prospect of instituting sugar
factories under the present conditions. The canes grown in
these regions are exceedingly thin and fibrous, the yield per
acre is small, and the percentage of the juice is often low.
There are large areas in Upper, Middle, and Lower
Burma, where first class canes can be quite easily grown.
There is any amount of ‘uncultivated land available for the
growth of sugar-cane, so much so that there is no part of
India which can compare with Burma as a possible place
for the installation of cane-sugar factories.. The region
however is but thinly populated, and labour would have to
be introduced, At present everything connected with the
sugarcane industry in Burma is on an extremely primitive
footing, but cane cultivation is being considerably extended.
SUGAR FACTORY RESULTS IN
MAURITIUS.
The sugar factories of Mauritius, like those of Hawaii,
have adopted a system of mutual control, whereby the various
factories can compare the results obtained on the year's
working. The sheet of such results on the working of
twenty-six factories for the crop of 1916, published by the
Société des Chemistes de Maurice, has recently been received
at this Office. It contains a volume of statistics, some items
Vou, XViIE No. 425 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS,
1s
of which may be of interest to West Indian sigar manufac-
turers for the sake of comparison.
The sucrose contained in the canes operated on by the
Mauritius factories, calculated on the weight of canes for the
whole crop, ranged from 12°35 to 14:03 per cent., while the
fibre content varied from 10°49 to 15:30. per cent. The suc-
rose left in the megass was from 3°31 to 5-08 per cent. The
actual yield of sugar varied from 73°12 to 83.6 per cent. of
the sugar content of the canes, and from 80°8 to 90°6 per
cent of the sugar content in the juice, these being the
maxima and the minima of the averages of the several
factories.
Comparing these figures with the results of last year’s
working of Gunthorpe’s Factory, Antigua, and the Basseterre
Factory, St. Kitts, given in the dgricu/tural News, Novem-
ber 17, 1917, it appears that the sucrose in the cane is much
the same, whereas the fibre content is lower on an average
in Mauritius than in those two islands.
The percentage of sugar left in the megass was much
less in Antigua and St. Kitts than the average recorded in
Mauritius, and the percentage of sugar recovered both from
cane and from juice is much better in the West Indian
islands than in the great sugar island of the Indian Ocean.
THE BRITISH GUIANA GOVERNMENT
LIME FACTORY.
The report on the Government Lime Factory, worked
in conjunction with the Government Industrial School at
Onderneeming, British Guiana, for the period January 1,
1917 to March 31, 1918, shows that, on the whole, the
factory has had a successful year, for although the prices
obtained both for concentrated juice and distilled oil are
lower than those of 1916, the working expenses have been
reduced, and more limes have been dealt with.
A total of 3,504 bags of limes has been purchased at
the factory. about half of which ‘vere obtained from Onder-
neeming (arm, and the other half from farmers and villagers.
The juice extracted was 27,652 gallons, and another 447
gallons of raw juice was purchased. These 28,098 gallons
of juice yielded 54 hogsheads of ‘concentrate, equal to 2,975
gallons, testing, on an average, 116 oz. of citric acid to the
gallon. The oil obtained by distillation from the total
quantity of juice was 1,100 b., equal to slightly under 4 b.
per 100 gallons, as compared with 34 tb. during the pre-
vious season. It was observed that juice distilled when
entirely fresh yielded a greater return in oil than that stored
for several weeks. The yield from fresh juice on several
occasions exceeded 44 tb. per 100 gallons, while that from
stale juice sometimes fell below 2 tb. per 100 gallons.
In spite of the fact that the price of concentrated juice
had fallen from £30 per pipe in 1916 to £28 in the present
season, and the price of distilled oil had also fallen from
9s. per th. to 6s 3d., the net profit on the factory’s working
was $875°75, approximately 16 per cent. on the capital
outlay. The value of the factory is by no means repre-
sented by this sum only. [tis also of value on account of
utilizing the boys’ labour on the Government Industrial
School, the purchase of limes grown on the farm, and of
firewood from the same source. The factory also provides
a ready market for limes grown by farmers and villagers in
the neighbourhood.
From the number of iime seedlings so'd from the
institution during the past three years it would appear that
a considerable development of the lime industry is taking
place. In 1915 there were 3,170 lime seedlings sold; in
1916 the total rose to 9,800; while in 1917 the large number
of 17,350 was reached.
The usefulness of the factory has also been extended in
other directions. A coffee pulper and coffee huller have been
moved into the factory, and connected to the driviny shaft of
the mill. A grain mill has also been erected in the fac’ ory,
and is doing useful work. A rice huller and polisher has
also been installed, and had been working for five weeks,
during which time it had milled rice for ninety-seven persons;
it is much appreciated by the small rice growers in the
neighbouring «listricts, and promises to be a remunerative
Investment.
NATIVE FOOD CROPS CAMPAIGN IN
GRENADA IN 1918.
A copy of the report of the Agricultural Instructor,
Mr. W. M. Malins-Smith, on the native food crops campaign
in Grenada for the current year, has been forwarded for the
information of the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture.
From this the following particulars are abstracted.
The distribution of plants and seeds to. fifteen distri-
buting centres, and the clerical work of the campaign were
carried out by the Staff of the Agricultural Department.
The Government, the Board of Agriculture, and the Agricult-
ural and Commercial Society approved of an expenditure of
£356 on the carrying out of the campaign, Mr. Malins Smith
being chosen as the Executive Officer. Committees were
appointed in each parish for arranging and carrying out
operations. Work performed to the end of March
included the issuing of circulars and letters inviting
the co-operation of the District Boards, the Commissioner
of Carriacou, planters, clergymen, and head teachers of
schools; the importation from St. Vincent and the storage
of 7 tons of yams and 11 bundles of manioc (cassava) sticks;
arrangements for the supply of tannia, eddoes, and dasheen
plants; the planting of peas, beans, and sweet potatoes at
certain experiment plots, and so on. In the distribution of
plants and seeds to peasant gardeners, a ticket system was.
adopted. Special addresses were delivered by the clergy in
their churches on the purposes of the campaign, and notices
given by them of the dates and places of distribution.
A series of seven short papers was published in the
Grenada JVest Zndian, and, with the approval of the Society,
these were subsequently printed in pamphlet form for free
distribution, 500 copies having been issued.
Plants purchased for distribution included: yams, 15,680
fb.; tannias, 3,440 tb.; eddoes, 5,600 bb. ; Indian corn, 70 barrels
in cob; dasheen, 5,000 plants; manioc (cassava), 11 bundles of
sticks (about 500 tb.), The total quantity of plants and
seeds distributed throughout Grenada and Carriacou was as
follows: yams, 16,480; tb. eddoes and tannias, 9,840 b.; Indian
corn (shelled), 5,407 tb.; pigeon peas, 344 fb.; dasheen, 5,000
plants; manioc, 1% tons of sticks; sweet potato cuttings, 4 tons.
Of the above 5,707 fb. of yams, 1,565 tb. of eddoes, and
900 tb. of corn were sold to planters; the remainder was dis-
tributed to 2,083 peasant gardeners.
Attached to the report are copies of the plan of cam-
campaign, of two leaflets on food production, and of a
pamphlet on seasonal notes,
The efforts made in this campaign would appear to
have been fully justified by the resu'ts already attained, which
have been largely contributed to by the very commendab'e
degree of thoroughness with which the executive duties of
the Agricultural Instructor seem to have been discharged.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
AuGustr
10, 1918,
—
VW,
COTTON.
COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE WEST
INDIES.
The following figures show the quantity and estimated
value of Sea Island cotton expcerted from the West Indies
for the quarter ended June 30, 1915:—
Colony. Quantity in hb, Estimated value,
£.
Grenada nil nil
St. Vincent 174,965 29,161
Barbados 40,705 6,106
Montserrat 33, 244* 4,543
Antigua — nil nil
St. Kitts . s,
Nevis = x
Anguilla 3 ; 5
Virgin Islands 5,449 639
Trinidad nil nil
Total 254,363 Ib, £40,449
Besides the above, there were also exported of Marie
Galante seed-cotton from Grenada, 221,424 tb., and from
St. Vincent, 21,376 tb., of the estimated values of £21,885,
and £1,781, respectively. : A
*The cotton shipped from Montserrat comprised 10,887 tb.
of stains, valued at, 1s. 62% per Ib,. and 22,357 of lint, valued
at 3s. 4d. per bb.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ended June 29, 1918, is as follows:—
ISLANDs. Since our last report of June 1 we have had
a continuance of a very quiet market with limited demand,
consequently the sales have been small. Notwithstanding
this, the Factors hold the unsold stock very firmly at last
quotations, consisting of about 350 bales classing Fine to
Fully Fine, 150 bales more or less stained.
Shipments have been interfered with and delayed by
the appearance of German submarines along the coast.
We quote viz:
Fine to Fully Fine 72c, to 7c. = 74e. to 75c., c.f.
Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 50c. to 60c.=52e. to 62c., cif.
GEORGIAS ANb FEORIDAS. We have to report a very
dull market during the month, with only some occasional
demand for limited quantity, and delayed shipments.
Although the Factors are showing more disposition to
sell at quotations, they remain unwilling to make concessions
to do 80.
The Government is gradually forwardiig their cotton
purchased last winter to such mills as have been allotted
contracts for goods,
The unsold stock is held at the following quotations,
V1Z :—
Extra Choice to Fancy
Average Extra Choice
The exports from Savannah since June | have been, to
liverpool 299 bales, to the Northern Mills, 238 bales, and
from Jacksonville to the Northern Mills, 2,618 bales.
ACREAGE, The advices from Carolina and Florida are
that about the same acreage has been planted, but in Georgia
there has been a decided decrease, especially in some sections,
where the boll weevil did much damage this past season.
There is a general apprehension of much damage from the
weevil this year again, as they have appeared more generally
than last year, consequently crop estimates have a wide range
of 60,000 bales to 90,000 bales.
THE HURRICANE SEASON.
With the advent of the hurricane season, a few notes
in regard to the nature of storms and the signs which
herald their approach at this period of the year are here
reproduced from the Agricultural News, Vol. VIII,
No. 108.
It is urged that instruction in connexion with this
subject should be given in all secondary schools in the Wind-
ward and Leeward Islands, and possibly in the primary
schools as well. One or two lessons given in each year
immediately before the hurricane season should prove of
real service.
A hurricane is a storm in which there is a great rush of
air towards and around the centre, the whole mass moving
slowly along. These storms originate near the equator, and
generally travel in a westerly or north-westerly direction in
the Jower latitudes; recurve at about the latitude of the
Jahamas, and take a north-easterly direction across the
Atlantic. During the so-called hurricane season, storms
originate at from 10 to 11 degrees north of the equator in
mid-ocean,
It will be seen from what has been said, that Trinidad
and Grenada, and even some of the islands of the Grenadines,
are not at all likely to encounter one of these storms.
St. Vincent and Barbados, however, and all the islands to
the north lie in the storm track. The origin of these storms
may be explained in the following manner.
If a mass of air, practically at rest, becomes very highly
heated, a strong upward current is induced. and this creates
a rush of air from all directions towards the point at which
this upward current leaves the earth’s surface. It was dis-
covered by Ferrel, on purely mathematical grounds, that on
account of the rotation of the earth on its axis, all moying
bodies to the north of the equator swerve slightly to the
right. This, it will be seen, would cause the rotating move-
ment of the cyclonic storm. The rotation is thus from right
to left, or in a direction opposite to the movements of the
hands of the watch. South of the equator moving bodies
swerve to the left, and the rotation of the hurricane is from
left to right.
In a paper by Mr. Maxwell Hall, Government Meteor-
ologist in Jamaica, on West Indian hurricanes as observed
in Jamaica, published in the Monthly Weather Review of
the Weather Bureau of the United States Department
of Agriculture, December 1917, it is stated that cyclones
require vapour which they turn into rain, thereby developing
VoL. XVII. No. 425.
the heat necessary for their prolonged existence; and it seems
probable that the.supply is insufficient until the month of
August, when the region of equatorial heavy rains between
South America and Africa reaches as far north as latitude
16°. It may be stated, however, that this theory of the
mechanism of hurricanes is sti]] under discussior by meteor-
ologists, 2
in considering hurricanes it is necessiry to distinguish
clearly between the two distinct movements of the storm,
which are known as rotation and translation. The rotation
of the storm is the movement of the currents of air around
the centre, and the translation is the forward progression of
the whole storm along the storm track.
The rate at which the storm travels along the storm
track (the translation) is not very great, ranging from about
10 to 17 miles an hour in these lower latitudes, but the velo-
city of the wind (in rotation) often becomes very great. It is
not known what the limit of this velocity may be, but it has
been recorded up to 120 miles an hour, with an air pressure
of over 70 tb. per square inch. At the centre of the storm
there is an upward rush of air, which produces the effect of
a calm in the midst of the storm.
Reference to the accompanying diagram will help to
make clear what has already been said about the rotating
movement of the wind and the forward progression of the
storm, the larger arrows indicating the latter. The small
letters accompanying the small arrows indicate the direction
from which the wind is blowing with reference to the storm
centre.
The following premonitory indications are largely taken
from the United States Pilot Chart. Before a hurricane
the barometer is somewhat higher than usual, with cool, very
clear, pleasant weather; there is a long low swell on the sea
from the direction of the distant storm; the sky is covered
with a quantity of light feathery cirrus clouds (mare’s tails)
radiating from a point on the horizon, wherea whitish are
indicates the bearing of the centre. If the cirrus plumes are
faint and opalescent in tint, fading gradually behind a slowly
thickening haze or veil, the approaching storm is an old one
of large area. If of snowy whiteness, projected against a
clear blue sky, it is a young cyclone of small area, but great
intensity. Great activity of movement of the upper clouds
while the storm is still distant indicates that the hurricane is
of great violence.
As the storm approaches, the following unmistakable
signs display themselves: the barometer falls rapidly; halos
are seen around the sun and moon; the ocean swell increases:
the weather becomes hot, moist, and oppressive, with light
variable winds; deep-red and violet tints appear at dawn and
sunset, tints which assume a coppery glare or ominous aspect;
a heavy mountainous cloud-bank on the distant horizon indi-
cates the position of the approaching storm; the barometer
falls more rapidly; and finally, if the observations are made
on ornear the storm track in the West Indies, the wind
begins to blow in a direction between the north-east and
north-west, soon rising to hurricane force, increasing till the
central calm passes, then breaking out with violence from the
south-west to south-east.
In the diagram, the northern portion of the storm is
marked the dangerous semi-circle, because in this semi-circ!e
the wind all the time is from an easterly direction, and all
such winds blow to the front of the storm. ‘The southern
half of the storm is considered the navigable semi-circle,
because the wind in this portion of the storm is always from
a westerly-quarter, and blows toward the rear of the storm.
Tt. may be added that, owing to the usual track of these
storms in these latitudes being about south-east to north.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWs 247
ae = IETS |
west, it follows that as soon as the word south can be used in
describing the direction of the wind, the centre of the storm
may be known to have passed, and the worst may be consid-
ered to be over.
IN MIGH LATITUDES:
VelocitY along track
20 to.30 milss per hour
~NS~ a
EE
see ar be
ee i i Vere 2
= + Neow\ \ AN ‘ ) i [s rs
WO NSA G seis
WA = Law <<
Ney’
Pd
ane/ ys )
«| /) 4 NRE (NMIDOLE LATITUDES 3
1 “Zia STORM RECURVING:
SS 0 Vel elons tract
(7, \ ore
‘Wan We YAyS ae ste
BWA AY YAS \ase NOTE._ Enrricaaes recurve ebout j
~ EZ f'f the following latitadas :
Gk a, af June and Oct., lat. 20°to 23°N -
= July and Sept. lat. 27"t0 29° !
a ae 1 [> August.lat 30’t 33° N.
oe
“IR LOW LATITUDES:
3 Velocity along track
‘About 17 miles per hour
t
It is useful for an observer on land to have a clear
understanding of the manner of ascertaining the progress of
the storm along its track from observations on the direction
in which the wind blows, and the changes which the direction
undergoes.
It is clear from what has been said, that if the observer
faces the direction from which the wind is blowing, the
centre of the storm lies on his right hand. If he is directly
on the storm track, the wind will remain constant in direc-
tion, with increasing violence and a rapidly falling barometer
until the centre arrives; then there will be a short period of
calm, after which the wind will suddenly begin to blow from
the direction opposite to that previously experienced, and
the violence will slowly abate as the centre passes away.
It is essential to be on the lookout for this occurrence of
wind of great violence after the passing of the central
calm.
If the centre of the storm passes on the north side of
the observer, the wind will steadily shift from north to
north-west to west, and die away somewhere in the neigh-
bourhood of south-west.
If, on the other hand, the centre passes on the sputh,
the wind will steadily shift from north-north-east to east
and die away some where in the south-east,
> pe, EY
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
‘specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Cesnntatincs, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados. :
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
‘News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
(W. R. Dunlop.*
(Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
S. C. Harland, B.Se.t
CLERIC,y, STAFF
A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
P. Taylor.*
LK. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secouded for Military Service.
t+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Scientific Assistant and
Assistant Editor
Entomologist
Mycologist
Assistant for Cotton Research
Chief Clerk
Clerical Assistants
Typist
Agricultural News
Vou. XVII SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1918.
-=
No. 425.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
‘Contents of Present Issue.
The need for research in tropical agriculture, and
the benefits to be derived from such research. is the
snbject of the editoriai.
Under Insect Notes, on page 250, will be found an
interesting account of the feeding habits of some of the
parasites which help to control the destructive grubs of
hardback beetles.
Among the notes on page 254, under Plant
Diseases, one on the powdery mildew of roses will be
fonnd useful by horticulturists.
An article on the signs of approaching hurricanes,
on page 246, deserves attention at this season.
248 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Avcusr 10,1
The Sugar Crop of British Guiana, 1916-17.
In the Journal of the Bourd of Agriculture of
British Guiana, April 1918, an arucle contributed by
Ofticers of the Department of Science and Agriculture
of that colony, shows that the total area under canes for
the crop of 1916-17 was 78,546 acres, an increase of
2,602 acres on the area for the crop of the preceding
year. Of this acreage, 37,174 acres, nearly one-half of
the total area, was planted with D. 625, tne Bourbon
cane being still planted on 9.109 acres.
In spite of its popularity, D.625 has not given
such a large yield as several of the varieties under
cultivation, as is shown by returns supphed by manag-
ers of sugar plantations. According to the table
attached to the report, the varieties yielding the great-
est amount of sugar per acre are D. 216 and D. 453,
which each gave 3 tons of sugar per acre, while D. 625
yielded 2°41 tons, and Java 247, 2°81 tons. The yield
of the Bourbon was 2:10, while that of JavaJ was only
‘87. The sugar yield per acre of seventy-two varie-
ties is given in the table.
The export of sugar for the year 1916 was 101,649
tons, the total production being 114,292 tons. The
total export of rum was 4,386,854 proof gallons. No.
molasses was exported during the year, but the export
of molascuit was 997 tons.
DO
Pusa Wheats.
The benetit which science is rendering to agri-
culture is strikingly brought out in the work at Pusa in
India on wheat. ‘The annual report on the progress of
Agriculture in India shows that through the medium
of Pusa No. 12, the enltivators of certain districts of the
Punjab and the United Provinces have increased their
output by 25 per cent., while the use of Punjab 11 is
expected to yield an additional income of at least 2
lakhs of rupees in the year to the cultivators of 97,000
acres on which it was sown. In the Central Provinces
again it is stated, in a note in the Journal of the Royal
Society of Arts, June 21, 1918, that the 200,000 acres
under various types of Pusa seed are bringing in an
additional income of from 10 to 20 lakhs of rupees
annually.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard, whose experiments in cross-
breeding wheat at Pusa are known throughout the
world, believe that the present varieties may be even
surpassed by others, which they hope soon to be in
a position to give to the cultivator. The area under
wheat in the year under report amounted to nearly
33,000,000 acres: the possibilities therefore of increased
food prodnetion in this direction are readily apparent.
TR > A
The Wholesomeness of Water Containing Zinc.
It is often said that water stored in galvanized
iron tanks, or passing through galvanized pipes becomes
unfit for drinking purposes, because of the zinc taken up
by the water under such conditions. It appears, how-
ever, that water holding a considerable quantity of zine
in solution may be considered perfectly wholesume, and
No, 420.
Vou, XVII.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 249
that the zine has also a germicidal effect. An article
in the Lancet, June 30, 1917, contributed by Dye, 1B 18 I.
Scott, Government Bacteriologist 1n Jamaica, and
Dr. W. W. Jameson, writing in collaboration, makes
this quite clear. It is an account of very careful inves-
tigation and experiments on the supply of drinking
water of a smalidepot in the Aldershot command of
some 200 men, which was found to contain from 2°5 to
472 parts of metallic zine per 100,000, that is from
1:75 to 3°33 grains of zinc per gallon. The following
are the conclusions arrived at.
During a period of two years this was the sole
source of supply of drinking water, and no disturbance
of health resulted.
In one household the disappearance of a per-
sistent condition of ill health, attributed locally to a
contaminated water-supply, coincided with the laying
on of a water containing considerable quantities of
zine.
The number of organisms of the coli type develop-
ing at blood-heat from the well-water used as a control
was materially greater than was found in the water
fatter it had taken up from 3 to 4 parts of metallic zinc
per 100,000, and remained in storage for two days at
most.
To ascertain whether this effect on bacterial
growth might be due to the zinc content of the water,
Various experiments were undertaken, from which it
appeared: (1) that from 3 to 4 parts of zinc sulphate
were sufficient after twenty-four hours contact to
inhibit, if not to destroy, organisms in numbers con-
siderably exceeding those likely to be found in any
drinking supply: and (2) that even as small an amount
of zine sulphate per 100,000 as 1°5 renders such water
practically sterile in forty-eight hours.
The use of water containing zinc naturally in
solution as a carbonate, shows analogous results, but
the reduction of organisms after the first. twenty-four
hours is not so great as by the use of the sulphate,
though complete sterilization does appear to take place
‘between forty-eight and seventy-two hours.
_—_—— +
New Products from South Africa.
The results of investigations by the Imperial
Institute of a large number of South African products
were considered by the Committee for South Africa
and Rhodesia ata recent meeting under the Chair-
‘manship of the High Commissioner for the Union,
the Right Hon. W. P. Schreiner.
A small consignment of liquid ostrich eggs was
recently sent from South Africa for examination at the
Imperial Institute, with a view to ascertaining its
value as a substitute for liquid hens’ eggs in_confec-
tionery. The material proved to be similar in com-
position to the commercial liquid hens’ and ducks’
eggs. The opinions of confectioners were favourable,
and another consignment of the eggs is being obtained
from the Union for further trials. There would appear
to be a good opening for this material in the United
Kingdom, if it can be exported in quantity.
Owing to the great scarcity of vegetable waxes of
all kinds in the United Kingdom at present, it- seems
likely that there would be a good market for increased.
supplies of the sugar-cane wax which is being extracted
from sugur-cane waste on certain estates in Natal.
The shortage of tin-plate has led to the manufacture
on a large scale in the United Kingdom of card-board
containers for jam, syrup, and other foodstuffs. These
containers must be coated with a film of hard wax to
render them impermeable to the semi-Huid contents,
and sugar-cane wax appears to be qnite suitable for
this purpose.
— an
The Chicle Gum Industry
Chicle gum is the latex of a variety of che sapo-
dilla (Achras Sapota) which grows wild in large num-
bers in that part of Guatemala bordering on British
Honduras. The chicle resources of that country are
declared to be practically inexhaustible, although no one
is permitted to gather the gum without a government
concession. A large tree will yield as much as 100 tb.
of the crude gum, and smaller and younger trees less in
proportion. The gum is boiled in large iron pots, from
which it is poured into wooden boxes with a capacity
of 80 tb. each. The gum hardens in these boxes, and 16
is carried in this form to the shipping seaport, where
+t is removed from the boxes and packed in sacks for
export.
The bulk of the product is shipped from Belize,
British Honduras, to the United States, where 1t meets
with a ready market for the mannfacture of chewing
gum.
Eee
The Mixing and Preservation of Manures.
Asis well known, difficulties sometimes arise from
want of information as to the descriptions of manure
which may or may not be brought into association with
each other. In an article appearing in the South
African Sugar Journal, April 1918, an endeavour is
made to clarify some of the doubtful points, and thus
to reduce fertilizing to practice.
First, emphasis is placed on the necessity, when
purchasing a manure, for insistence on a guarantee of
its composition as determined by analysis. Then it is
suggested that artificial manures should be mixed with
about three times their weight of dry loam, and dis-
tributed evenly.
Lime, it 1s advised, should never be added to a
manure containing sulphate of ammonia, or blood and
bone manures, as in such cases loss of nitrogen results;
and when lime has been applied to the land, do not
use manures until three weeks afterwards.
When mixing various fertilzers together, such mix-
tures must be avoided as would lead to decomposition,
as, for instance, ammonia sulphate mixed with lime or
with Thomas phosphate, or superphosphate with nit-
rate of soda; or which may cause caking, a3 mixing
kajnit with Thomas phosphate, or with superphosphate.
All manures should be in a dry, friable condition,
and must be free from hard lumps, and for this reason.
must be kept in good dry bags; and in covered sheds.
250
ee
INSECT NOTES.
FEEDING HABITS OF THE PARASITES
eget OF HARDBACK GRUBS. ..
Frequent references have been made in previous issues
of the Agriciltural News and other publications of this
Department to the occurrence of the grubs of various species
of beetles which live in the soil and attack the roots of
cultivated and other plants, and the reports and_ bulletins
of other Departments of Agriculture and Experiment Stations
often include accounts of these insects. Some of these
insects have long been known as pests, while others have more
recently attracted attention on account of their depredations.
In recent years, soil-inhabiting grubs have become a much
more prominent feature in agricultural practices in many
parts of the world, both in tropical and temperate countries,
and, at the same time, the parasites which attack them have
come to be regarded with greater interest. Any parasite which
attacks a pest of agricultural crops is of importance and
interest, because of the likelihood that it may be a factor in
limiting the numbers of the pest to such a degree as to
prevent its causing serious damage to the plants, and conse-
quent loss in the amount of crop obtained.
Several species of beetles, which in the larval stage of
development attack the roots of plants, occur in the West
Indies. One of these, the brown hard back (Phyta/us smith’),
which is known asa minor pest of sugar-cane in Barbados,
and is recorded as occurring in Trinidad and Brazil, has,
since 1911, come into great prominence as a most serious
pest of sugar-cane in Mauritius.
It is believed that this insect was introduced into
Mauritius not long before its discovery there in 1911. Its
remarkable increase in numbers in that colony was without
doubt due to its having been removed from the association
with its natural enemies, one of which is now known to be
the Scoliid wasp (Ziphia paralle/a), which is an active and
efficient parasite of the beetle larva.
As the result of careful observation, Mr. W. Nowell, then
Assistant Superintendent, Barbados Department of Agricul-
ture, discovered in 1911 the relationship of host and parasite
which exists between the grubs of the brown hard back and
the Tiphia wasp, and published an account, which is to be
found in the [Vest Indian Bulletin (Vol. XV, p. 149) of this
and a related parasitic wasp (Campsomerts dorsat2).
From this account it appears that the adult female
Viphia, having found a suitable grub of Phytalus, stings it,
thus rendering it quiescent or paralyzed. An egg is then
laid on and securely attached to the surtace of the grub’s
body, In a few days the egg hatches, and the young parasite
grub, blind and footless, attaches itself by means of its mouth
parts at the point where the egg was attached, and proceeds
to suck out the contents of the beetle grub’s body, this being
completed at the time when the parasite has attained its full
growth. The period of pupation follows, and in due course
the adult parasite wasp issues forth.
This seems to be the usual method of feeding, during the
larval stage by the several parasites of this group of wasps
on the grubs of beetles.
The adults of some of these insects are visitors to flowers,
feeding on the nectar which they find there. Campsomev/s
dor-ata, for example, is a very frequent visitor to flowers;
on the other hand, Z%p/ia para//e/a is not recorded as
visiting flowers at all, but is known to feed on the secretions
of plant lice, and, in captivity, on sugary liquids and honey.
THE AGRICULTUNKAL NEWS,
10, 1918.
A UGUST
Soon after the parasitism of Tiphia on the larvae of.
Phytalus was established, the Government of Mauritius
attempted through the co-operation of the Barbados Govern-
ment to introduce the parasite into Mauritius, with the object
of establishing it for the purpose of controlling the epidemic
of Phytalus attack. A paper entitled ‘The Importation of
Tiphia Parallela into Mauritius’, by Mr. D. d’Emmerez de
Charmoy, Government Entomologist, Mauritius (Bu/letin
Lntomological Research, August 1917), gives a good account
of the trials that have been made.
‘Five consignments of parasites and parasitized grubs
were sent from Barbados to Mauritius: three in 1913, one
in 1914, and one in 1915, Of these only one was successful -
from the point of view of living Tiphias arriving in Mauritius
in condition to live and_ breed.
At the end of the year 1915, two couples of this insect
were liberated near the Botanic Gardens, and two other
couples escaped from the imsectary at the Botanic Gardens.
In May 1916, parasitized beetle larvae were found in
the same field where the Tiphias were liberated about
six months before, and later many adult Tiphias havezbeen
observed in the same vicinity. In May 1917, Tiphias were
to be found in thousands on the estates near the Botanic
Gardens.
The success of this importation seems to have depended
altogether on the ability of the freed Tiphia adults to find
suitable food during the period of mating and egg-laying.
From this emerges a very interesting point, one which may
also have a bearing on the local distribution of these insects.
in the West Indies.
It has been stated in the course of this article that
adult Tiphias in Barbados feed on the sweetish secretions of
aphides. In Mauritius, aphides appear only at a certain time:
of the year, and then are rapidly destroyed by their natural
enemies. From this it was feared that the first Tiphias to
gain their freedom in Mauritius would not be able to liveand
propagate on account of lack of suitable food, but they
appear to have made up for this deficiency ‘by having re-
course to the sweetish content of the vesicular hairs of Corda
interrupia. This plant is a native of British Guiana, which
was introduced about fifteen years ago: it is now a regular
vest and infests all uncultivated fields.’
From reference to Floras of the West Indies, it appears
that Cordia interrupta is a variety of Cordia cvlindrostachyva,
the common black sage of Barbados and other islands, It
seems certain that it is the chance introduction and establish-
ment of this plant that has made possible the successful im-
portation of 7phia parallela into Mauritius.
In a report by the same author (Mr. d’Emmerez de
Charmoy) dated December 1917, on the Importation of
Scoliid Wasps from Madagascar for the purpose of controlling
the large soil-inhabiting, root-feeding grub, Orveres tarandus,
the following statements occur in numbers 4 and 5 of the
summary of general conclusions in relation to .Svo/fa
orvetophaga:—
‘4, In attempting the introduction of Svodia orvetophaga
in Mauritius for the purpose of parasitizing Ovyc/es ‘arandus,
due regard must be had to the feeding habits of the adult
insect, and provision be made of an adequate supply of suit-
able nectar-bearing flowering plants in the localities in which
it is desired they should increase.
‘5, The most suitable plants for the purpose appear to
be Cordia tnterrupta and Urena tomentosa, and it is desir-
able that these plants should be established on the borders
and in the vicinity of cane fields in the districts in which
introduction of the parasite is to be effected.’
Vou. XVII. No. 425.
—————— ee — — ——————— — —
The difference between the method of feeding of the
larvae and of the adults of these parasitic insects is of interest,
and while the actual feeding of the larva, causing the death
of another insect which is an agricultural pest, is rightly con-
sidered a matter of greatest importance in estimating
the value of the work of the parasite, it is shown that
the very different habits of feeding on the part of
the adults must be taken into accountin any attempt to
introduce these insects from one country into another, or to
distribute them from one locality to another in the same
country. ~ he varied feeding habits of the adults of nearly
related species make it necessary to study each species by
itself in this respect. ah
The matter of parasite introduction is now recognized
as involving much more than the mere carrying of the
adults from one place to another, and liberating them in
good condition to hive and increase in numbers. ae
a
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST,
NEVIS. On account 6f the prevailing dry weather, opera:
tions at the Botanic Station during the month of June were
practically at a standstill, The following represent plant
distribution from the Station during the month: sweet potato
cuttings, 25,000; white velvet beans, 18 Db., Mazzagua Guinea
corn, 2 Ib. Mr. W. I. Howell, the Agiicu}tural Instructor, states
in respect of staple crops, that the yotng canes throughout
the island are suifering very much from-want of rain;
the supplies have grown very badly, anf the fields arc al]
irregular. The cotton crop also is makibg very slow pro-
gress on account of the dry weatlier. There being no oppor-
tunity for supplying, many of the fields are growing very
irregularly; in some places planting has not yet been done.
A fair acreage was planted in provision crops in May, but
these are doing badly on account of the prevailing dry
weather. The rainfal) for the month was 2-02 inches; for
the year to date, 18°95 inches.
The Leport of the Agricultural Lastructor for the quarter
ending June 30, which has also been received at this Office,
mentions that in the Experiment Station an acre plot was
planted in the best varieties of sweet potatoes during the
early part of the quarter, chiefly with the object of supplying .
cuttings to growers when the weather permitted planting to
be done, This plot of potatoes, Mr. Howell states, has
proved of greatest value to planters in the island, for in
the month of, May, when the rains came, there were prac-
tically no potato cuttings available elsewhere, and a very
large number of cuttings was distributed from the Station,
There has been a great demand for muscovado sugar in
the neighbouring islands, chiefly at Antigua, where good
prices were obtained. Advantage was taken of this by
planters in Nevis,and it is now feared that there will
be ashortage of sugar during the latter part of the year,
as practically the whole crop has been sold, and very little
kept on hand for local consumption.
The total quantity of cotton purchased for the Admiral-
ty now amounts to 1,324 bales, weighing 398,592 tb. This
cotton was not all grown in Nevis; a fair quantity came
from the Dutch islands, and from Montsériat,
VIRGIN ISLANDS. The Curator, Mr. W. C, Fishlock,
writes to say that lack of labour interfered considerably with
operations in the Experiment Station during the month of
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
to
1
—
Jute. In consequence it has been impossible to plant any
cotton or other crops in the experiment plots. What little
labour was available had to be utilized in keeping cultivation
already established in some semblance of order. Plant dis-
tribution included 3764 Tb. of cotton seed, and 24 cobs of
Indian corn. The outlook as far as the cotton crop is con-
cerned is good: the weather has been favourable, and there
has been considerable activity in planting, on an area probably
larger than for some years past, Large areas have also been
planted in ground provisions, and all cultivations are at
present in good condition, No pests have been reported.
Rain fell in measurable quantity on thirteen days of the
month, the total precipitation registered at the Station being
4°83 inches. The average for the same month for. the pre-
. O * Ls
ceding seventeen Years is 4:54 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
There is no comparison between the rainfall of this
month with that registered last July. Last year some districts
had as much as 10 inches for the month, and in most parishes
the total was 12 inches. This year the record to date is
about 3 inches in the south of the island, and slightly over 4
inches in the central and northern parishes. This fotal is
somewhay below the average rainfall for July, but the distri-
bution of it has 52" very satisfactory.
With the closing ot unc STOPS, no time is being Jost with
the tillage of various kinds whien Fie taken in hand at
this time of the year. z
We observe that trash is being turned in in a very fair
number of fields. This means that fertilizers will be applied
at a later date te these fields, instead of farmyard manure.
Already we cai? see carts proceeding to the various parishes
with sheep manufe evidently for application to fields which
will not receive a share of home-made manure. It would be
well if fields thus treated could also be green-manured. It
should be remembered that green manuring is feasible, inex-
pensive, and has been reckoned among the most potent agents
for enriching the soil. At this time when mineral manures
are so scarce and so costly nothing that can add to the ferlil-
ity of the soil should be omitted.
Agriculturists will always find it to their advantage
to improve the land without’ the aid of foreign manures.
These are valuable as a stimulant. but the back-bone should
be vegetable and animal manures.
Field pens are being forced everywhere, and it is sur-
prising to see how quickly heaps of compost are built up,
and the hurdles removed to other fields. Not only are estates
carting the manure from the yard into the hurdle pens for
forcing purposes, but they are buying’manure from labourers
or others so as to hasten each heap to its conclusion, Of
course, the faster that cane trash and cane-tops can be
trampled into the pens the better. The most successful
planter is he who can provide the greatest quantity of well
trampled manure for application by the time his fields are
ready to receive the cane plant.
The provision crops have started well. We do not think
the yam crop in general is as advanced as we have been
accustomed to see it. The majority of fields seem to have
been planted later than usual, owing, perhaps, to the necessity
there was for planting, potatoes first.
Potatoes are still scarce. As soon as it is known that
a field is for sale, it is practically surrounded ‘by carts, and
at the end of the first d:y almost the whole field has been
bought up. There are standing fields of corn in many
districts, but very little has as yet been harvested. (The
Barbados Agricuttural Reporter, Saly 27, 1918.)
Ce me SEE aE ESSE: oa
252 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
10, 1918.
Aucust
GLEANINGS.
The House of Assembly, Barbados, at a recent sitting,
after considerable discussion, rejected a resolution introduced
dy the Attorney General on behalf of the Government, in which
it was proposed to grant a Lounty on increased production of
cotton in the island, in order to stimulate its cultivation.
The St. Croix Azs, July 20, 1918, states that corn meal
is being ground at the Bethlehem factory. It was fine in
quality, and of a rich yellow colour. It was obtainable locally
at $10°50 per sack of 175}. This industry, says the 47zvs,
must be regarded as a boon to the consumers of this staple
article of food.
The IVest India Committee Circular, May 30, 1918,
draws attention to an address of the Governor of Mauritius,
Sir H. Hesketh Bell. to the Board of Agriculture of that island,
on the possibilities of lime cultivation. The Agricultural
Department proposes to se’ect a suitable piece of land of not
jess than 15 to 20 acres on which to start a lime plantation.
In the report of the President of Stanford University,
California, for 1916, on the Botanical Department, we notice
that portions of the University estate have been set aside,
and will be fenced, to form permanent plant reserves for the
perservation of the native vegetation. These tracts will
prove valuable for future study of native types by plant
physiologists.
Arrangements are being made for the establishment of
a factory in Yucatan for the manufacture of bags and sacks
from the henequen fibre, which in the past has all been
exported in its unmanufactured condition. The sugar growers
of Cuba use 10,000,000 sacks annually, and the Yucatan
factory proposes to supply this demand. (The Cuba Rez/ex,
June 19158.)
A new compauy for the exploitation of vegetable oils,
established last year at Wakamatusuin Japan, hopes to
begin manufacturing in January. The cousumption of raw
material (soya beans) will, it is stated, be 100 tons per day,
approximately 30,000 cons annually. The output of bean
cake will be 24,000 tons; of bean oil, 4,200 tons. (7%e Roard
of Trade Journal, Sune 20, 1918.)
According to the L’roceedings of the Agricultural Society
of Trinidad and Tobago, June 1918, there are unduly large
stocks of cacao on hand in the island. The quantity offici-
ally permitted to be shipped to the United Kingdom, namely
22,500 bags of 200 tb. each, has for the most part already
gone forward, leaving about 6,000 bags only for permitted
shipment in the coming six months.
The Trinidad Guardian in a recent issue reports that
experiments are being conducted at the Usine St. Madeleine,
Trinidad, with the view of manufacturing refined white sugar
for local consumption and for export. The future of the
refinery effort will probably depend chiefly upon the reception
which the local public may give to locally refined sugar
A new breed of cotton has been developed in St. Croix,
which gives promise of large yields. Last year, on a field of
7 acres, this new cotton gave an extraordinarily large yield
per acre. Samples have been sent to Liverpool, and the
reports on it are excellent. Dr. Longfield Smith, Director
of the Experimental Station in St. Croix, says that this year
there will be a considerable acreage planted to the new var-
iety. (The St. Croix Avs, June 29, 1918.)
According to a survey of the United States Food
Administration’s Sugar Division, the quantity of sugar used
annualy by the manufacturing industries of the United
States amounts to nearly one million short tons, approxi-
mately 25 per cent. of the total sugar consumption of the
States. Recent figures given out officially in the United
Kingdom put the proportions there at over 30 per cent. of
the total consumption. (The /yternational Sugar Journal,
June 1918.) =
In advocating more extended use of bananas as an
article of food, the Journal of the Board of Agriculture of
British Guiana points out that the fact that bananas may
be obtained in abundance throughout the year, that they
may be used either cooked or raw, or dried or powdered,
shows that in this fruit we have an addition to our dietary
which should not be underestimated, as the banana will stand
comparison with any food upon the market on the basis of
caloric costs.
For the last quarter of 1916 the value of the corn meat
imported into Jamaica amounted to £20,774, and for the
same period of 1917 the value was £15,508. In 1916 the
value of imported corn for the same period was £6,113; for
the last three months of 1917 it was £33. These figures
show almost conclusively that with only £33 worth of corn
coming into the island for three months, it could grow enough
to supply all its needs. (The Journal of the Jamaica Agri-
cultural Soctety, May 1918.)
Marine fibre, derived from the sea plant /%osidonia
australis, is said to be obtainable in great quantity in the.
shallow water of Spencer Gulf, Australia. It is being com-
mercially exploited, and fair qualities of paper have been
made from the fibre, which is also employed in the manufac-
ture of bedding, and its use by the textile trade is being
advocated. The cost of production is estimated at about
81°57 per ton delivered ata European port. The market
value of the fibre is about SL!10 per ton. (Lxpertment
Station Record, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 6.)
british Guiana has benefited immensely by the present
war. These colonies are in the enviable position of being
very remote from unpleasant circumstances, such as air raids,
wholesale compulsory rationing of our food, and other horrors
of modern warfare. We could, however, have benefited to
an infinitely greater extent had we in the earlier years of
the war more fully grasped what lay in store for us. If in
1914 the farmers throughout these colonies had anticipated
the present situation, it is safe to predict that our supplies of
food grown within them would be now neither short now
high in price. (The /ournal of the Board of Agriculture
of British Gutana, April 1918.)
Vor. XVII. No. 425.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 253
Dene eee en ee ee
THE SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION OF
GUAYULE.
What is known as guayule rubber is the product of
a shrub not more than 2 or 3 feet high, which grows abund-
antly in some of the desert regions of Mexico. This shrub
is known botanically as Parthenium argentatum, of the same
genus as the common West Indian weed known in many of
these islands as ‘white head’, which is ?. Hysterophorus. The
guayule shrub is the only member of the Compositae which
contains India rubber in sufficient uantity for commercial
exploitation. Indeed the contents of rubber in P2rthenium
argentatum is so great that this plant is the richest in yield
of all known rubber-bearing plants, the average content of
pure rubber substance being from 8 to 10 per cent. on the
dried plant material. In the later years of the nineteenth
century companies were formed for the exploitation of this
product in Mexico. The largest of these was an American
concern; and the story of how this American company has
attained remarkable success in gitayule cultivation is a strik-
ing instance of what was pointed out in the editorial of the
last issue of this Journal, namely the benefit to be derived
by agriculturists from the researches of plant physiologists
and other scientific men.
This story appears in an article by Mr. Henry C
Pearson in the /vdia Rubber World, July 1, 1918, from
which the following paragraphs are chiefly compiled.
To those in charge of the American concern referred to
above, it was perfectly apparent ten years ago that the time
would come when the wild guayule fields would be exhausted,
and the business be either entirely stopped or shut down
until new plants matured. No one knew whether regrowth
could be induced, or whether the shrub could be raised from
seed or cuttings. In fact most people believed that the
plant would never yield to profitable cultivation.
The head of the company set about solving the problem
in the right way, and here is the interest of the story. The
first thing done was the selection of a corps of chemists,
botanists, plant physiologists, and experts in desert
plants. For this purpose men were obtained from agri-
enltural colleges, desert laboratories and experiment stations,
and arrangements were made to send their notes and
observations to seats of botanical learning, so as to obtain
aceurate conclusions on the subjects investigated. The
following points in relation to the plant were examined most
thoroughly: the geographical and altitudima: distribution,
climate, air and soil temperature, rainfall, soil moisture and
relative humidity, analysis of soils and of plants under all
conditions. The seeds, leaves, flowers, stems, and roots were
‘serntinized under the effects of disease, drought, rain, and
irrigation.
In time the work begun in Mexico was transferred to
California and Arizona, where laboratories and experimental
plants were established, and the work on a commercial scale
actually commenced. But before this took place the plant
may be said to have been practically remade by science.
In the first place, tle wild plant of the desert yields very
few good seeds, As plenty of vital seed is an essential for
extended cultivation, the plant physiologists planted the
guayule under all kinds of conditions, until positive knowledge
was gained what treatment was necessary to obtain plentiful
seeds. There was another difficulty in connexion with the
seeds of the wild plant. Although the seeds appeared to be
perfect, very few could be induced to germinate. It may be
mentioned that of seeds of the guayule obtained by the
Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies from
Mexico some time ago, and distributed for trial among some
of the Botanic Stations in these islands, not one germinated.
In the experiments now being described the same thing hap-
pened. Of a bushel of seed first planted most carefully not
one grew. For along time only failure resulted in this
direction, although small lots of seed were sown under every
‘imaginable condition, and the problem was only solved by
what Mr. Pearson calls an accident.
Another difficulty in profitable cultivation of guayule
was the question of its slow growth. Under desert conditions
in its original habitat the plant takes some twenty years to
arrive at maturity. It only grows a little at one season in
each year. The plant physiologists however took advantage
of this habit of a slight growth in the spring, and furnished
the plant, so to speak, with simulated springs, so that before
it could settle back for months to rest, the plant began grow-
ing again. By this method the shrub was induced to attain
its full growth in four years.
The study of the varieties of the guayule led to most
satisfactory results. The plant physiologist, to whom this
investigation was entrusted, states that he had observed more
than 900 different types of the plant. An analysis was
undertaken in the first place to ascertain the difference in
the amount of rubber in the different types. This was shown
to vary from 1] per cent. to as high as 20 per cent., and some-
times even to 27 per cent. The poorer varieties were
eliminated, and those that produced the largest percentage
were selected as seed bearers.
Guayule rubber was not at first considered to be of the
highest grade. When it first came upon the market its
resin content was so high, and it was so soft, that it was
accepted with reluctance. The plant physiologists, how-
ever, when they began to test the quality of the
rubber. in different plants, found out some more secrets.
Some of the types gave simply a black resinous paste that
did not contain enough rubber for extraction. Others con-
tained rubber with about 20 per cent. of resin, the kind of
rubber familiar to dealers in the guayule product. A few,
however, yielded a firm, hard product equalling the best
rubber. In this case also the types producing the best rubber
were planted as seed bearers for cultivated guayule. Asa
final result, by hybridization of the types prodncing the
largest quantity of rubber with the types producing the best
quality, plants were obtained having the good points of each,
so that at length the real cultivation of guayule was
demonstrated to be feasible
The growing of India rubber, particularly the tapping of
the trees and gathering of the latex is entirely done by hand
in the great plantations of the East. In the cultivation and
collection of guayule, however, machinery takes the place of
men. The preparation of the fields is done by disc harrows
drawn by tractors. The planting is done by specially built
machines which plough four furrows, set the plants at the
proper intervals, cover them in, and pack the earth about
the roots. One machine plants 18 acresa day. The culti-
vation is also done by machinery. For gathering, there are
two systems: in one, the rows are cut down bya reaping
machine; in the other, the plant is p'oughed out root and all.
The extraction of the rubber is also, of course, wholly
mechanical.
Fuayule growing in a large plantation involves a labora-
tory for examining and testing the plant and the product,
a green house for seed experiment and hybridization, out-door
plants for seed bearing, seed beds protected by wind-breaks,
machinery for planting and harvesting, an extraction plant,
and plenty of capital. Asan example of beneficial co-opera-
tion between science and practice, the successful cultivation of
the guayule plant is a striking one,
254 THE
PLANT DISEASES.
A MARKET DISEASE OF CITRUS FRUITS.
In Phytcpathology, Vol. VIII, No. 2, O. T. Wilson, of
the University of Cincinnati, gives an account of a hitherto
undescribed disease common on Florida-grown limes on sale
in the Cincinnati markets. The matter has local interest
inasmuch as an affection identical in the peculiar characters
described has been met with now and again, by the present
writer, on West Indian oranges imported into Barbados.
The affected fruit is recognizable by the presence of
surface areas more or less discoloured, which are smooth in
comparison with the normal surface, the colour varying from
a deepened yellow to copper colour, with the margin of the
spot mostly brownish. Upon opening a diseased fruit an
abnormal odour can be detected. A distinctive fungus is
found in the fruits so affected. It has been cultivated by
Wilson, and the disease reproduced in inoculated limes.
When the fruit is surface-sterilized and left for develop-
ments, no soft rot takes place, but it gradually dries up and
becomes mummified, the exterior blackening, and the con-
tents being converted into carbonaceous material mainly
constituted of dense black mycelium. In this condition the
fruit may be kept for months, if protected from scavenging
insects, and, according to Wilson, the mycelium retains its
vitality. No fructification has been observed by Wilson, nor
<lid the present writer succeed in several attempts to induce
spore formation.
W.N.
POWDERY MILDEW OF ROSES.
Several requests have reached this Office recently for
information as to the control of rose mildew. At this time
of the year, when new shoots are put out freely, and may
develop under conditions of considerable atmospheric humid-
ity, the trouble is especially common. The young shoots and
leaves are externally invested with grayish-white mycelium
and conidia, which give them a powdered appearance; the
leaves are more or less discoloured and crumpled.
Certain types of rose, especially the ramblers, are very
susceptible to the disease, and the best way of avoiding the
trouble is to grow others more resistant, of which there are
enough and to spare. It may, however, be effectively con-
trolled, on plants which are otherwise in good condition, by
the use of flowers of sulphur. This material may be diluted
about one-third with powdered air-slaked lime if desired.
According to recent writers in America, some advantage has
been gained by using a mixture of 90 parts of sulphur and 10
parts of arsenate of lead. The powder should be dusted on
in the early morning, while the foliage is damp, a day being
chosen which seems likely to afford hot sunshine without
showers. This treatment is much more effective than the
use of Bordeaux mixture, and avoids any unsightly deposit
on the leaves.
WON:
SEED TREATMENT AND ANGULAR
LEAF-SPOT.
In view of the importance to cotton growers of
angular leaf-spot and the related boll-rot due to Bacterium
malvacearum, a paper on the similar spot of cucumber,
caused by Lacterium Jlachrymans, with reference to the
effects of seed treatment, has considerable local interest.
Information as to the means by which &. ma/vacearum is
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avuseust 10, 1918:
carried over from season to season is lacking, and pending
the needed investigation some analogy with the cucumber
disease may be assumed.
W. W. Gilkert and M. W. Gardner, in Py/opathology,
Vol, VIII, No. 5, give particulars of large scale tests of the
theory that overwintering may take place on the seed. Seed
was surface-sterilized by various means, the most satisfactory
of which proved to be immersion for five minutes in corro-
sive sublimate (mercuric chloride) 1:1,000, followed by fif-
teen minutes washing. Trials were made on whole fields,
some in which diseased cucumber crops had been grown the
previous year, others with clean soil. The use of treated
seed in infested scil, and of untreated seed in clean soil led
to the appearance of the disease in July, and its destructive
prevalence by August 1. In fields planted with treated seed
on clean soil, the disease made only a belated appearance at
a few isolated points, from which it slowly spread, but
never attained to destructive prevalence. As all the ground
was cultivated by the same workmen, the authors suggest
the possibility of such infections as did occur on the latter
fields having started from infective material conveyed on
implements or clothing.
The conclusions to be drawn from the experiment are
these: that infestations may arise from infested soils or from
infested seed; that surface sterilization of the seed removes
the latter source of infection; and, in general, that crops
grown from treated seed planted in clean soil should remain
free of the disease, except so far as it is incidentally intro-
duced from outside during their development.
The practice of treating cotton seed with corrosive sub-
limate appears to have largely fallen into disuetude in these
islands. It is probable that the benefits which may in some
cases be obtained are worth the amount of trouble which the
treatment entails.
W.N.
STUDIES OF LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.
The results of preliminary studies by N. Gangulee on
some aspects of nitrogen fixation in certain leguminous plants
suitable for green manuring in Poona, recorded in the Poona
Agricultural College Magazine, 8 (1917), receive reference in
the Experiment Station Record for June 1918. From these
results it appears that the experiments were planned to
study the following points: At what stage of growth nodule
development and, hence, nitrogen fixation begins; the quan-
tity of nitrogen fixed in the whole plant at various stages of
growth; the proportion of nitrogen fixed at various stages
of growth normally occurring above and below the ground,
the latter being only available with ordinary cultivation for
an increase in the permanent fertility of the land; and the
influence of available potash, phosphoric acid, and lime on
nodule development, and their effect on the quantity of
nitrogen fixed in the whole plant at various stages of growth,
As certain of the plants experimented with are at
present grown in the West Indies for green-dressing purposes,
a summary of the conclusions arrived at in connexion with
these is given below.
Dolichos Lablab (bonavist bean) began nodule forma-
tion ahout fifteen days after germination, chiefly on the
primary roots. Nodules formed on the smaller roots except
at the extreme ends, but gradually disappeared as the plant
approached maturity, with afew large nodules (about the
size of a pea) remaining on the larger roots. The nitrogen
in the plant gradually increased from 0°21 per cent. in the
dried seedling to from 3°7.to 3°$ per cent. in the dried plant
at the flowering stage. The portions above ground con-
Vou. XVII. No. 425,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. : 225
‘tained considerably more nitrogen than the roots, at all
stages of growth. ;
Cicer arietinum (the chick-pea of Europe) developed
nodules chiefly on the primary roots, although from fifteen to
twenty days after germination the large nodules shrank and
numerous small ones formed on the smaller roots. Nitrogen
increased from 0°23 per cent. in the dried plant just after
germination to 0°55 per cent. at the end of the seedling stage.
The above-ground portions of the seedlings are reported to
have contained from five to six times as much nitrogen as
the below-ground portions.
Crotalaria juncea produced an abundant supply of
nodules throughout the root system of healthy plants, espe-
cially in the presence of an excess of phosphates. The nitro-
gen increased rapidly during growth, the maximum being
reached at time of full flowering, and the most rapid increase
occurring between the eleventh and twenty-fifth days of
growth. Nitrogen accumulation appeared to be in direct
proportion to an excess of phosphoric acid and lime, while
excess potash gave distinctly inferior results, except in the
very early seedling stages.
This plant is cultivated very commonly in gardens in
the West Indies under the name of ‘sweet pea’. It is largely
grown in India as a source of the fibre known as sunn hemp.
Nodules first appeared on Phaseolus mungo radiatus
(woolly pyrol) when the seedlings were about ten days old.
With an excess of potash and lime small nodules formed
largely on the primary roots, but extended throughout the
root system as the plant approached the flowering stage. An
excess of lime encouraged nitrogen fixation, and nodule
-development particularly, while similar results were obtained
with an excess of phosphoric acid.
ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY.
Early in 1917 the President of the Board of Trade
ap) ointed a Committee ‘to consider and report what steps
should be taken, whether by legislation or otherwise, to
insure that there shall be an adequate and economical supply
of Electric Power for all classes of consumers in the United
Kingdom, particularly industries which depend upon a cheap
supply of power for their development.’ ‘lhe Report of that
Committee, dated April 29 last, has now been issued. An
article dealing with this report appears in Zhe Board of Trade
Journal, May 30,1918, from which the following extracts
are taken: —
The supply of such power was now seen to be virtually
as essential as labour and materials, in so far as it affected
‘economical production. f
The extent to which electricity might be further applied
ito cheaper and better mechanic.l production, to improved
railway service, to electro-chemical and metallurgical processes,
to agriculture, and to domestic labour-saving apparatus, was
altogether incalculable.
It should be recognized that cheap electrical power
would in the future be essential to the industrial progress of
this country. The concentration of large generating units in
larger and fewer power stations was urgently required in
order to reduce the cost of industrial power toa minimum,
to conserve coal, and to get the fullest value out of every
ton consumed.
There were to-day in the United Kingdom about 600
bodies generating electricity for public purposes, apart from
the large number of manufacturers, collieries, and others, who
generated their own power. The Committee had no doubt
that these separate stations could be reduced to a relatively
small number, and that the country would greatly benefit by
> the concentration.
It is believed that as a result of the improvements re-
commended, and the development which?may be expected to
proceed from them, the use of electricity for domestic pur-
poses, such as lighting, heating, cooking, and small power,
will greatly increase. The cumulative effect of a really cheap
supply of electricity, on town conditions in particular, would
be most marked. The saving of labour would be great, while
the reduction of air pollution by smoke would result in a
lower death rate from bronchial diseases and phthisis.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of June 1918:—
Though our report on the London produce markets for
the month of June varies but very little from that of the
previous month in the matter of bulk of produce brought
forward, or of prices demanded, the approach of the holiday
season is being more marked this year than has been the case
in previous years since the outbreak of the war. The people
have found that war weariness must have a reaction, and are
taking what pleasures they can get of a modified form. The
produce markets are always affected by the holiday season,
and this year is noexception to the rule, purchasers being
content to buy only from hand to mouth. The following
are some of the chief items.
GINGER.
This article has been advancing in price for some
time, and at auction on the 13th of the month the quotations
were as follows: common to good common Jamaica 112s, 6d.
to 115s. per ewt., and medium to good 120s. to 125s. Washed
Cochin fetched 97s. 6¢., and Calicut 95s., while 92s 6d. was
paid for Japanese and Sierra Leone. A week later the prices
had advanced as follows: washed Cochin 97s. 6d. to 100s.,
Calicut 95s. to 100s., and Japanese 92s. 6¢. At the close of
the month prices were still advancing, the quotations being
110s. to 1lls. for washed rough Cochin, and 102s. 6d. for
Japanese.
SARSAPARILLA.
This drug was in fairly good supply at auction on
June 6, when the offerings were: Lima-Jamaica 44 bales,
none of which found customers. Of 26 bales of native
Jamaica offered, 23 found purchasers at an advance
of from 3¢. to 6d. per tb. on previous rates, Fair red,
and dull red and yellow, mixed, fetched from 4s. &d.
to 4s. 10d. per t., while for common yellow and
part mouldy, 4s. 3d. per tb, was paid. Seven bales of Hon-
duras were also offered at the same auction, but were unsold.
CITRIC ACID, ANNATTO SED, CASHEW NUTS, LIME OIL,
LIME JUICE, AND TAMARINDS,
At the beginning of the month citric acid was firm
at 3s. 5d. per th., which price was maintained to the
end. At auction on the 6th annatto seed was repre-
sented by 60 packages, but no sales were effected. At
the same auction 2 packages of cashew nuts were offered,
but none sold. West Indian distilled lime oil was quoted
towards the end of the month at 6s. 6¢. per Hb. while
lime juice, which has been in good demand, was fetch-
ing from 3s. 6d. to 4s. per gallon. It was stated towards
the end of the month that quantities were arriving at Liver-
pool and Bristc]. It was also stated in the middle of the
month that West Indian tamarinds were scarce, and muek
wanted,
D6 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Aveust 10, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tse West Inpra Committee Crrcucar,
June 27.
ARROWROOT—] /- to 1 5
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3.4} to 37; Sheet, 3/L1 to 4/5
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota
tions.
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Fraouit—No quotations.
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations.
Honey—Jamaica, 175/- t> 195.-.
Lue J uice—Raw, 3,3 to 4/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16,6.
Los woop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nourmecs—No quotations
Pimento—5]d. to 6d..
RKusser—Para, fine hard, 3/1}: fine soft, no quotations:
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., July 27.
Oacao—Venezuelan, $11°10; Trinidad. $11°75 to $12-40.
Coco-nut Or—S$1°16 per galion.
Oorree—Venezuelan, no quotations.
~ Oopra—$6°25 per 100 th.
Daat— No quotations.
Ontons— 34°00 per 100 th.
Pras, Sprit—$8-00 per bag.
Potators—English, $50 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow, $13°00 to $13°25; White, $9°00 per bag.
Suear—American crushed, no auotationa.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $4°75.
New York.—Messrs Gitzesriz Bros, & Co., July 12,
Cacao—Caracas, lie.; Grenada, 13c.;
L3e.; Jamaica, ll4c. to 12c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $4200; Trinidad $40-00;
culls, $2000 te $21°00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, 9}c. to 11c. per Ib.
Gincer—1L5}c. to lige. per th. ,
Goat Sxiss—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barhados, S5c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per th
Grape Frvuit—Jamaica, iinportation prohibited
Lyares—[inportation prohibited,
Mace—40c. to 45c. per th.
Noutmecs—27e.
Orances—Importation prohibited.
Prmento—bije. to Te. per fh.
Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6 055c; Muscovados, 89°, 5055,
Molasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid.
Trinidad, 12}c. to
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., July 10.
ARrRowrooT—$12'00 per 100 ft.
Cacao—$12°50 to $1300 per i00 fb.
Coco-nuts— $3600 husked nuts.
Hay—#2 90.
Mo assrs—No quotations.
Ontons— No quotations.
Peas, Sprit—No yuotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations, Ran-
goor, no quotations.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVIT, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The numbct issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by tha
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d, The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonanvrx, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: ApvocatE Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nivxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THE Epucationat Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Roseau.
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tue Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. S. D. Maton, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-MarsHat & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tas Brste anp Book Suprty AcEncy, Bassersrre
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PLAGEMANN, Scarborough. Nevis: Mr. W. I. Howegtt, Experiment Station.
Bahowas: Mr. H, G. Curistte, Bcard of Agriculture, Nassau. Canada; Lewis W. Crusmens, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
_
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that —
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
a eee
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
are Cy CR ar et ee te a ae ed ee ee
ee APD Cee he oe te en
a , a _" ts
Vor. XVII. No. 425. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, Avcusr 10 1918.
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
‘
j
~The Angtlo-Continental Guano
: Works, Ltd.
3 DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
P Works: Victoria Docks, E.
3 al ; | Bea aes sii Wah te rid ae He % hi Ltd., hoe at) 73
¢ THE BARBADOS
i
:
‘
5
.
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past ejght years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute avy orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridge:own, Barbados,
_
BARBADOS.
.
A RAYS k 4 py va
TMM Gal fi\4
AR WSL yy
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TN Ve WES
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Pie i" ?
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7) 4
__ SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1918. ‘(One penny,
R. M. S. P. |
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES | |
be
FROM THE :
TO | PORTS OF CALL :
THE UNITED KINGDOM Azores.
St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, “wy
CANADA {Montserrat Antigua, St. Kitts, 4
Bermuda, Halifax, N.S., & St. John (N.B.) 4
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad. et
Trinidad, Puerto Colombia, Ly
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
|Callao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso,
(REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
ou
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
}
REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
& JAPAN. = : ‘| |
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London, ag |
Branches at BARBADOS, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara. Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S. Buenos Aires, Santos, Sao Paulo ‘
te Rio ae Janeiro, Madrid, etc. ;
—— % aes Me
‘
A PRACTICAL EXPERIMENT
IN
2 TicK ERADICATION
y IN
a. | ANTIGUA
THE —tbuaalestab y's: NEWS.
2 ~~ ee? eee Pen. OY PS
a Sea es
page 7
Mt AE
+ J «~& * > .
’
The fellowing extracts from “ The West Indian Bulletin,” No. 2, Vol. xiv., from a report by Mr. P. T. Saunders, M.R.C.V.S., Ceterinary Officer on
> the Staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies, show conclusively the value of systematic work in Tick Eradication, omd
z, incidentally prove how easily and cheaply the great economic waste caused by Ticks can be obviated in the West Indies and other tropical countries.
nw The question of Ticks and their eradication is one that has played an
a important part in the economy of the stock industry in the West Indies
for many years. It is feared, however, that in many islands no attempt
has been made to deal with the question in an efficient manner, and, as a
oe natural consequence, the Tick has always had, more or less, the upper
hand in the struggle.
. > In a bad tick season, the
effect on the animals is very
_markéd from the anemia con-
sequent upon the meclianical
ae ~ loss of blood from the sucking
: of the ticks, and many herds
look poor and miserable from
their effects. Diseases may
also be propagated through
the agency of Ticks ; so there
4 _ at once appears every argument
i __ ‘or their systematiceradication,
F This conclusion was forced
“upon the representatives of
Messrs. Henckell Du Buisson
— -& Co, and the firm imported
a spraying machine to deal
wl with the herds of cattle used
on the company’s estates in
Antigua.
After nearly twelve months’ trial, it is gratifying to be able to record
ap entire satisfaction, both in its working and in ils results.
The spraying solution used is Cooper's Cattle Dip—an arsenic-
containing preparation, manufactured by the proprietors as a result of
euany )-ars’ experiment and investigation in South Africa and elsewhere.
The diections for use are easy to follow, and the preparation of the
. semi solution is accomplished simply by the addition of the dip to cold
ie ‘water aad thoroughly mixing, in the strength required. As the surplus Dip
‘Geaias beck to the tauk, and as each animal carries away on its skin something
Pe a)
THE IMPROVED “COOPER” CATTLE SPRAYING MACHINE
(Erected ready for use)
less than 4-gallon, it will be gathered that the cost of spraying per head is
very small : the actual cost per head works out at about 4d., and it is esti-
mated that the cost of spraying would not exceed 18d. per head per annum,
The results obtained from spraying have fully justified the most
sanguine expetiations, It should first and foremost be recorded, that on
sprayed cattle it has resulted
a complete absence of ticks :
no ticks whatever have been
seen on the animals since their
second or third spraying.
It may also be observed
that, as a result of spraying,
the animals look more thrifty ;
they are seldom hide-bound—
a condition which was formerly
common—and their skins are
softer and more pliable, while
the coat is also improved.
Once the cattle have
become accustomed to the
Machine, there is no difficulty,
and the spraying may be
performed in very short time.
On one occasion, seventy-three
cattle passed through the
machine in seven minutes, each one being effectively and completely sprayed.
The success which has attended this innovation should be sufficient
encouragement to those owners who have the interests and the economy of x
their stock at heart, to follow the lead of Messrs. Henckell DuBuisson & Co.
The erection of spraying machines is a maver which is well worthy of
the attention of stock owners generally, and the writer very strongly
advocates their erection in different parts of the several islands of the
West Indies. It may be possible, in many instances, fer groups of owner
to combine to secure this end.
SS ee eee
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Ito received the official epproval of the following Countries:
ss Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland,
4 Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar,
_—‘ Bltish East Africn, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
D _ Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queenstand,
ix United States of America, New South Wales,
a @ “Northern Territory of Australia.
WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
ST.KITTS: S, L. Nerstord & Co, ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Ce
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston,
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co,
BARBADOS: Burbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd.
BAHAMAS: W.N, Twynam, Nassau.
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA; Sandbach, Parker & Co,
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: S.D. Malone.
DANISH WEST INDIES; Carl Y. La Beet, St. Thomas,
MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall, DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton.
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries. <
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BKANCHLS: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa.
P
+ ih
ng Rat
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No. 426.
BARBADOS, AUGUST 24,
1918. Price ld.
CONTENTS.
Page, Pack.
Agriculture at Oxford ... 265) Items of Loeal Inter-
Agriculture in Barbados... 262| est ... 0, se ... --. 262
American Bureau of Stand- | Market Reports ... ... 272
ards and Sugar ... ... 264) Notes and Comments ... 264
British Native
Oil Palms of... . 263
Castor Oil Plant, Cultiva-
Guianz :
UN Plant Diseases:—
Resistance and Suscepti-
bility <9 270
“ee eeiere eg ee 260 Porto Rico Agricultural
of Oil... ace + 20 , ta CT :
feet onto Africa 264 Experiment Station ... 269
<i : ai 5a, | Porto Rico College of
Dye-Woods, West Indian 264
Ege Plant, The 264
Food Supply, New Sources
Agriculture and Mechaz-
ical AYiS@ec).-.) --. 201
Bittragiitee ¢ Ais ke. 965 Power Alcohol... ... ... 259
Forestry in Cyprus... . 265] Sea, Harvests of The ... 257
“Gleanings... ... ... ... 268} Sugar and Its Value as a
Hog Cholera, Sources and | “Bood \ Gipeemmers sia 200
Channels of Infection ... 271 | Sugar Industry, Brazi-
Insect Notes:— lian <BR cee «259:
Cotton Stainer Control Tamarind, Wild, A Pest ux
in St. Vincent... ... 266| a Benefit? ...
The Harvests of the Sea.
these West Indian
UBLIC
) islands has been continually directed during
attention in
the war to the question of increasing the
amount of food to be obtained from the land, and in
most cases with notably good results. It might be as
well if some efforts were made towards greater employ-
ment of the harvests of the sea.
With the exception of British Guiana and British
Honduras, these western tropical colonies of the Empire
are all islands surrounded by seas teeming with fish
and other marine creatures, the majority of which
might be utilized as sources of palatable and whole-
some food. Nowhere, however, in these colonies have
there been any other than slight attempts made
towards the encouragement and development of
fisheries. While so much attention is being directed
towards the improvement ef the harvest of the land,
it might be worth while considering the great poten-
tialities in increasing the food supply existing in the
seas surrounding the West Indies.
An exceedingly interesting paper on the Marine
Resources of the British West Indies was read by
Dr, Duerden, Curator of the Museum of the Institute of
Jamaica, at the third West Indian Agricultural Confer-
ence, held in Barbados in 1901. He pointed out that
everywhere attention is being directed to the utiliza-
tion and development of the resources of the sea.
Government departments are charged with the econo-
mical investigation, and the artificial cultivation of
many species of fish, lobsters, and oysters, and in most
countries of any importance these are attended to with
the same amount of scientific care as is bestowed upon
the crops of the land. Piscieulture has become a recog-
nized industry and science as much as agriculture.
As is stated above, however, the fishing industry
in West Indian waters is only carried out by private
and limited concerns. The methods of capture employed
are usually primitive in character, and rarely is
taken of modern improvements in
The quality of much of the
advantage
fishing implements.
255 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS Avcusr 24 “ISts
fish is excellent, but the quantity of fish caught The use of the seine and other nets along the shores
is seldom more than sutticient to satisfy ocal
mands for the fresh article, while no provision is
made to supply from local sources the dried, salted,
or pickled fish which forms such a Jarge item in the
dietary of the population. An enormous import trade
in salt fish is carried on, chiefly with British North
America. In view of this demand for cured fish, the
«question very naturally arises as to whether some com-
bined effort might not be made to utilize toa greater
xlegree than at present the natural resources of the
islands in marine products.
Some years ago an etfort was made in barbados,
nnder the auspices of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture tor the West Indies, to set on foot the
regular curing of fish in that island, especially flying
fish, which are often caught in large quantities. ‘This
<ffort at first appeared to meet with some success, but
eventually it failed, owing it would seem to the lack of
co-operation among the numerous individual masters of
fishing boats.
In Jamaica also, in the year 1598, a private
Fisheries Development Syndicate, receiving a sub-
sidy on certain conditions from the Government of
the island, began operations with a steam trawler
in the seas around Jamaica. Trawling however was
found to be absolutely impossible except in very
limited areas, owing to the almost universal occnrrence
of coral growth.
1t is not likely that the fisheries of the West Indies
could ever reach the proportions of those of temperate
regions with their vast supplies of cod, mackerel, her-
ring, and allied fish, yet it would appear that fuller
knowledge of the habits and life-history of the native
fish, the conditions under which they occur in numbers,
along with experiments as to the best means of captur-
ing them, together with co-operation, not only in
capturing but in curing them, might result in consider-
able extension of the fishing industry of the West Indies,
thus supplying a much-needed increase of local food-
stutts.
As was noticed above, wherever coral is_ plentiful
trawling will be found to be impossible. It would
seem also that in tropical seas such bottom flat-fish as
are obtained by trawling in northern seas do not exist
in any abundance. Line fishing is very successful, but
the length of lines employed with advantage is far
Jess than that of temperate seas. Fish caught on long
lines in tropical seas are very apt to be snapped
off by predaceous fishes, such as sharks and barracoutas.
and on shallow banks yields good returns, as schools of
certain fish, such as the sea-mullet and the jack, are
met with in such situations at certain times, but more
knowledge is required as to the habits of these migra-
tory species. Probably most of the fish at present
caught in these islands are captured in fish pots, many
of which are of very primitive construction, though
apparently fairly effective for the purpose for which
they are designed.
Throughout the West Indies the tishing industry is
almost entirely in the hands of private individuals, and
is conducted without organization, capital, or enterprise.
In most cases the fishermen are content to earn merely
enough to maintain existence, and hence pursue their
calling in a very desultory manner. Any development
of the fisheries shonld aim at the introduction of
co-operation among the fishermen, which might attract
capital such as is available for the industry elsewhere.
One of the great needs of West Indian marine
industries is scientific investigation. In almost all
other countries the fishery organizations have been
evolved by government assistance and encouragement.
The well-known beneficial result of Imperial support
for West Indian agriculture would seem to justity some
such support for the marine possibilities of these
islands. The products of the sea must be treated in
like manner as those on the land. what
improvements in agriculture have resulted from im-
proved cultivation and introduction of new varieties,
and similar results might well be expected from simi-.
lar attention to marine products.
We know
Besides fish, in the strict sense of the word, there
are other harvests which might be reaped in inereas-
ing quantity trom the tropic seas, if attention was
paid to the cultivation of them, and the protection
vf certain areas for the purpose of increasing the
supply. Among these there are large possibilities
of increasing the supply of turtle, two species of
which, the green turtle and the hawksbill, are valua-
ble, the one for its fesh, the other for its shell. Jt is
quite probable from what is known of the habits of
these animals, that the hatching and rearing of them
would readily permit of control.
From. the ceaseless capture of the adults betore
they have had time to lay their egus a preater searcity
must in time result, The female turtle lays from 200
to 500 eggs during the season. But onee the young
are free they are snbject to innumerable enemies, so
XVIE No, 426.
that it is probable that only a sma!l percentage attains
maturity. Ifhowever they were reared under control
for a period of probably not more than two or three
months, they could then be set free, and from their
rate of growth it is supposed that they would be large
enough for market purposes in two or three years.
With regard to some other harvests of the seas,
such as sea-eggs, béche-de-mer, lobsters and crabs, and
many species of molusca, much might be said as to the
extension of interest in exploiting them. On some
other occasion we hope to deal more in detail with one
or more of these subjects.
THE BRAZILIAN SUGAR INDUSTRY.
According to a British Consular Report, there are
thirty-three sugar factories operating in Campos State,
Brazil, and the estimated area devoted to cane cultivation
is about 98,000 acres, while the production of cane is about
1,055,000 metric tons (nearly 10:8 tons to the acre). This
however is not the true ratio, since the land belonging to
the usine is not all devoted to cane cultivation, a portion
being set apart for cattle raising and agricultural produce
The production of sugar at these thirty-three factories
in 1915 amounted to 54,000 metric tons, plus 2,112,000 litres
of alcohol, and 11,688,000 litres of aguardiente (a cheap type
of brandy), as compared with 72,120 metric tons in 1914.
The production, however, is tending to increase, especially as
the recent high prices prevailing for sugar have helped
Campos greatly. The factory owners are usually heavily
pledged to the big buyers in Rio de Janeiro who
make them large advances; they also receive loans
from local banks. One reason for this indebtedness is
the fact that there is no usine which has been built
as a whole, All the factories have been constructed
piecemeal, and improvements made, and machinery added
from year to year in each usine. Capital has constantly been
required for this, and the factory owner has rarely seen
himself free from liabilities on account of these advances,
The supply of fuel for the factories is a problem of some
importance; all the fuel used is wood derived from the
surrounding forests.
SUGAR AND ITS VALUE AS A FOOD.
In a previous number of this Journal (423) reference
was made to an article published in a recent issue of the
Louistana Planter (May 15, 1918) on the value of sugar as
a food for human beings. farmers’ Bulletin 535, of the
United States Department of Agriculture, publishes an
interesting paper which deals very fully with the same
subject. the matter being treated under suitable sub-heads.
Regarding sugar in the dietaries of children, it is
remarked that the amount of sugar to be given children, and
in what form, is a question of much importance, Sugar
would seem to be a food especially adapted to children,
because of their great activity. Those, however, who have
studied the food habits of children seem to agree that sugar
should from the very first be withheld from the dish that
forms the staple food of the child—that is, the mush or
~ <= =,
THE AGRICULTUINAL NEWS, 259
porridge of oatmeal or other cereal. The sugar given the
child is better furnished in the occasional simple pudding,
ic the lump of sugar, or home-made candy, not that its food
value 1s better utilized, but that the whole diet of the child
is thus made more wholesome. In sweet fruits, fully ripened,
the child finds sugar in a healthful form, and these should be
freely furnished
Tn the general conclusions reached by the author,
it is pointed out that persons who do hard work in the
open air cau consume great amounts of food containing
considerable quantities of sugar, apparently with impunity;
but it is equally true that people living an indoor life
find that undue amounts of pie, cake, and pudding, with
highly sweetened preserved fruit, and sugar in large amounts”
on cooked cereals, almost always bring on indigestion sooner
or later.
In the diet of the undernourished, larger amounts cf
sugar would doubtless help to supply adequate nutrition,
This point is often urged by European hygienists. In thé
food of the well-to-do it is often the case, however, that starch
is not diminished in proportion as sugar is added. That
sugar, on account of its agreeable flavour, furnishes a tempta-
tion to take more carbohydrate food than the system needs,
cannot be denied. The vigour of digestion and muscular
activity in each particular case would seem to suggest the
limit. A teaspoonful of sugar represents about as much nutri-
ment as an ounce of potato, but, while the potato will be eaten.
only because hunger prompts, the sugar, because of its taste.
may be taken when the appetite has been fully satisfied.
Sugar is a useful and valuable food. It must, however,
be remembered that it is a concentrated food, and therefore
should be eaten in moderate quantities. Further, like other
concentrated foods, sugar seems best fitted for assimilation
by the body when supplemented with other materials which
dilute it or give it the necessary bulk.
Persons of active habits and good digestion will add
sugar to their food almost at pleasure without inconvenience,
while those of sedentary life, of delicate digestion, or with a
tendency to corpulency would do better to use sugar very
moderately. It is generally assumed that 4 or 5 oz. of sugar
per day is as much as it is well for the average adult to eat
under ordinary conditions.
Power Alcohol. —In Scence Progress, July 1915, there-
is a short review of a small book by Mr. Robert N. Tweedy,
entitled ‘Industrial Alcohol’. It is pointed out that the
subject is of great importance for two reasons. First, because-
the world is using the existing limited supply of mineral oils
faster than the rate of supply; and secondly, because the
production of denatured alcohol is an important and profitable
industry which has almost been entirely neglected in Great
Britain. In France the regulations governing denaturation,
which made the spirit expensive, have been withdrawn since
the war began, and the French Government intends to make-
alcohol a cheap national motor fuel. The production of
power alcohol as an industry hardly exists in the United
Kingdom, and of what is manufactured there is no record
that any was used previous to 1914 for light, heat, or power.
In 1915 the United Kingdom imported 120,000,000 gallons
of petrol, though the equivalent quantity of alcohol might
have been easily produced at home. Only 5,000,000 tons of
potatoes would be necessary, and 600,000 acres, properly
cultivated to yield 12 tons of potatoes per acre, would have
provided enough of the crop for food, and for the manufacture:
of the alcohol.
260
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aveust 24, 1918,
THE CULTIVATION OF THE CASTOR
OIL PLANT, AND THE PREPARA-
TION OF THE OIL.
Attention was drawn to the increasing demand for castor
oil in an article in the Jgricultural News, May 18, 1918.
This demand stil] continues, and in many of these islands
interest is being taken in the cultivation of the plant.
Mr. A. EB. Collens, Superintendent of Agriculture for
the Leeward Islands, delivered an interesting address on the
subject to the Antigua Agricultural and Commercial Society
on August 2, much of which is reproduced below.
According to DeCandolle, in his book ‘The Origin of
Cultivated Plants’, the castor oil plant is a native of Africa,
although it is now naturalized throughout the tropics.
The oil has been employed for various purposes from
the earliest times. It is especially valuable at present as a
Jubricant for fast moving machinery, particularly for aeroplane
motors, owing to the fact that it is unaffected by a wide
range of temperature.
The medicinal use of the oil is well known, but it is also
valued in India as an illuminant, burning with a minimum
production of soot. It is also used in leather dressing, and
for fixing alizarine red in the dying of cotton.
‘The leaves of the plant are employed in rearing a certain
type of silk-worm in India, and recently attention has been
paid to this matter in Trinidad. The leaves are also fed to
cattle in India, and are said to make excellent forage.
With regard to cultivation, castor seed requires much
the same attention and cultural methods as cotton. It
thrives best on a rich, well-drained, sandy loam, and will not
do well on heavy wet soils, or ill-drained, swampy lands.
The root penetrates deeply, and therefore the land requires
to be deeply ploughed and weli worked.
Castor seeds have an extraordinary vitality; seeds known
to have been kept for fifteen years in a stoppered bottle have
been sown in Queensland, and have produced healthy plants.
Under normal conditions germination is slow, and the
seeds when sown may take a more or less prolonged time to
germinate. In modern practice it is advocated that the
seeds should be softened by having hot water (almost
boiling) poured over them, and being left to soak for twenty-
four hours before planting.
The seeds are usually planted 6 feet apart each way,
three or four seeds in a hole. They usually germinate within
ten days. When the plants are 8 to 10 inches high they are
thinned out to one stem in each hole. In the experiments in
Antigua the seeds were planted 4 feet by 5 feet. If exten-
sive cultivation is undertaken, a space should be left every
eighth row, to allow for the passage of a waggon or cart to
collect the seed in harvesting. About 8 bb. to 10 th. of seed are
required per acre.
In from three to four months the plants commence to
bear, and will continue in bearing for at least three months.
In the tropics the castor plant is a perennial, but it is ques-
tionable whether under cultivation it is desirable to allow the
plant to continue growing after six months. As the plant
ages it is liable to be attacked by seale insects, and apart from
that, the difficulty of gathering the crop, and the diminished
yield indicate that at the end of six months it should be
ploughed up. If left alone, the plant would grow to an
inconvenient height. It should therefore be topped by pinch-
ing back the main stem when the plant is about 2 feet
high; this will cause the plant to throw out more fruit
spikes. When the capsules turn brown it is time to harvest
the seed. This is done by cutting off the spikes, and remov
ing them to a barn to dry. The seeds should not ordinarily
be allowed to dry on the plant, as in some varieties the pods
are very apt to burst open automatically.
Several methods are adopted for removing the woody
capsule.
In the United States the spikes are spread ont ona
drying ground toa depth of 6 inches or 1 foot, according
tothe weather. This drying ground may be either covered
or open; the floor should be clean swept or boarded; and it
should have a low wall or fence to prevent the seeds from
scattering when the capsules burst. If out of doors, means
should be available fer protecting them from the weather
e.g. by drawing them into heaps and covering them if rain
threatens.
The spikes should be turned over frequently in the sun;
the capsules soon burst, and in four to five days they will
have shed theirseed. The seed is then winnowed free from
the husks.
In the Bengal gaols the splitting of the shell is done
with a machine, which consists of two smooth iron rollers about
2 feet long, placed parailel to one another, and working
towards one another by a simple arrangement of cog wheels.
One of the cylinders or rollers is fixed, the other movable by
a screw adjustment. By means of the latter contrivance the
space between the cylinders can be regulated to the required
distance, the space being increased or diminished according to
the size of the seed about to be spilt. The great point is to
give the seed sufficient squeeze so as to split the shell without
crushing the kernel. The seed can then be winnowed by
hand or by a mechanical shaker.
Mr. Archibald Spooner, several years ago, while in
Antigua, experimented in castor oil cultivation and devised
a machine with a knapping action, consisting of two
horizontal superimposed wooden discs; the top of one was
fixed and the lower one revolved. ‘The capsules were fed in
on the centre, and traveHed along grooves until they finally
came in contact with the fixed top disc, when the knapping
action caused them to split open.
The yield per acre varies with the different kinds of
seeds, and also with the type of land. In Madras, where
over 500,000 acres are planted in this crop, the normal retura
in dry lands is 200 Ib. to 300 th. per acre, while in more
favoured localities up to 700 tb. are obtained. In Texas
and Florida yields as high as 2,700 tb. per acre are stated to
be obtained, while the average yield in the United States
varies from 700 tb. to 1600 tb. per acre. In Colombia
2 Ib. per plant is stated to be the average yield, which appears
to be somewhat high; 1 tb. of dried seed per plant being
nearer the usual quantity.
The following table represents some yields obtained in
the Leeward Islands in recent years: —
CALCULATED YIELDS PER ACRE,
Variety. Antigua. Nevis.
LOLI. 1912. 1913-14. “1917,
Ricinus communis (major) — —— = 550
‘is mn (minor) — — —_ 460
Zanzibarensis 980 390 1040 650
Native large == == — 780
Native small — _ — 475
3172 1280 450 400
3173 _ 420 560
3175 900 —_ —
3176 780 330 460
The yield varies greatly, but this may be partly due to
seasonal changes. The rainfall in 1912, for example, was
abnormally low, the average being 32 inches as against
a normal average of 45 inches for forty-four years,
Vor. XVII. “No. £26.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 261
Two types of seeds, large and small, are met with usually
in commerce ‘The large type yields a slightly larger
percentage of oil, but the oil extracted from the smaller type
is considered more valuable, and is especially used for medi-
cinal purposes.
Recent examinations in the Government Laboratory,
Antigua, of types of castor seed obtained locally, indicate the
following oil contents in the whole seed (unshelled): —
Percentage of oil.
Small local type 49:0
Large white, slightly speckled seed 56D
rr Ricinus Zanzibarensis 552
"i Communis major (brown speckled seed) 55°8
Castor oil requires considerable purification after expres-
sion to free it of albuminous compounds, gummy substances,
ete. The following isa crude method Which is sometimes
employed in these islands. The seed is heated in a pot, and
then pounded in a mortar, The pounded mass is then placed
in boiling water, and well stirred till the oil rises and is
skimmed off; a fresh supply of boiling water is then added,
and it is boiled for the second time to xecover any remnants
of the oil. The oi] is then boiled to evaporate any water it
contains. This also helps to volatilize acrid principles. The
pan is at once removed from the fire when the last drop of
water has been evaporated, so as to prevent scorching or
burning of the oil.
In the United States the seeds are cleaned from frag-
ments of capsules, etc., but are not decorticated like cotton
seed, nor crushed between rollers as are most oil seeds, but
pressed whole. The usual process is to express the oil cold, by
gradual pressure under a powerful hydraulic press. In the
‘United States of America single pressing is generally used,
the cake being trimmed, and the edges repressed with fresh
seed.
The oil as it flows from the press is a whitish liquid
containing starch, albumen, and mucilage, which are subse-
quently separated by caretul clarifying and refining.
In the United States of America 32 per cent. is the
average amount of oil expressed from the seeds, the beans
containing a total of 45 per cent.
Io England the industry is chiefly centred at Hull,
where, after cleaning, the hulls are removed by a slight crush-
ing, and the seeds pulped. The oil is then expressed in
hydraulic presses, and afterwards refined with fuller’s earth
and filtered through a filter press. The press cakes are
afterwards steamed and repressed, and yield a lower grade
of oil.
An interesting feature to West Indian planters is
the experimental trial in India of the Anderson Oil
Expeller, a type of oil extractor which has been recently
erected in S. Vincent, and which has been found to give
- excellent rm sults in the manufacture of cotton-seed oil in that
colony. Trials with the Anderson Expeller in Mysore in
1915 gave a yield of 44:3 per cent. with seed containing
47:2 per cent. of oil, the residual cake containing 5:05 per
cent. oil, which is considerably less than with other types
of pres:es.
The principal by-product of the industry is the castor
cake or pomace; this has no feeding value owing to noxious
‘substances contained in it, and is only used as a fertilizer.
The toxicity of the cake is due to the presence of a poisonous
nitrogenous principle, ricin, which isnot an alkaloid, but
belongs to a class of unorganized chemical ferments termed
phytalbumoses. It cin is extremely poisonous, 9:3 milli-
grammes, (0046 grain) will kill a dog. Curiously enough,
fowls are fairly resistant to this poison, and castor cake
can, to a certain extent, be fed to them with impunity.
Researches are being made in methods of removing this
toxin by treatment with high pressure steam. As a fertilizer,
however, the pomace is highly valued, and is largely used in
India.
In India the greater bulk of the Madras output of pom-
ace, some 80,000 ewt. in 1914-15, is shipped to Ceylon, to
be used as a fertilizer, and fetched from 75s. to 100s per ton
in 1916. Its present value in Great Britain is £16 per ton.
In connexion with the recent boom in castor seed pro-
duction, it may be noted that over 50,000,000 tb. of seed
were imported into the United States of America in 1916.
With regard to West Indian and South American exports,
Puerto Cabello in Venezuela exported 185,465 tb. in 1917,
and recently Colombia sent two shipments of 62,000 bb. of
seed to the United States. A contract of 500,000 bushels
(roughly 25,000,000 tb.) of seed was placed by the United
States Government with a local firm in San Domingo in 1917.
In London, February 1918, the price of castor oil was
£E0 per ton (about 9d. per gallon), and of castor seed £37
per ton (about 4d. per tb.). In the United States of America
the price in New York, June 1918, for castor oil was 29c. to
35c. jer tb., as compared with Ye. to lle. per Ib. in 1904.
THE PORTO RICO COLLEGE OF AGRI-
CULTURE AND MECHANICAL ARTS.
This college is situated in the neighbourhood of the
town of Mayaguez, and is a department of the University
of Porto Rico. It is one of the fifty colleges known under
the name of Land Grant Colleges, to which the Government
of the United States apportions the sum of $50,000 annually
for the purpose of instruction in agriculture and mechanical
arts. The courses of instruction are as extensive and thorough
as those which are offered by the universities of the
United States. The young men of Porto Rico have no need
to go to the United States to study agriculture or engineer-
ing, since they can obtain the same instruction in their owa
country.
It is to be noticed that a great portion of the work
ot the college is carried out practically in the fields, in the
workshops, and in the laboratories. The aim of the college
is to turn out efficient workers. The students who finish
their collegiate course obtain the degree of Bachelor in Agri-
cultural Science, in Sugar Chemistry, in Civil Engineering,
or in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, according to the
subject to which they have devoted their attention.
The prospectus of the college for the year 1918-19,
from which we obtain the above information, indulges in
a little self-gratulatory retrospective. In enumerating
the reasons why the young men of Porto Rico should
in increasing numbers take advantage of this means of
education, the prospectus states that all the former graduates
of the college are in good positions, and are in receipt of
good salaries. The Department of Extension of the Experi-
mental Stations of the United States has found situations
for all the graduates of the agricultural section which
the college has been able to f-raoish. The D minican
Republic has taken all the graduates which the cvullege hag
recommended and asks for more. All the students who are
taking the second and third year of the sugar chemistry
course are working in central factories in the island, andi the
college has been assured by many other central factories that
they will glad.y find situations for all such students as soon
as they have completed their course,
io
>
bo
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Aveusr 24, 1918.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
Plant distribution during the month of
limes, 4.350: coftee. 100; vanilla, 100:
DOMINICA,
July included:
eucalyptus, 40; budded citrus, 46; miscellaneous, 14. Mr. J. .
Jones, the Curator, referring to staple crops, states that limes
are uow ripening rapidly; the local price for ripe limes has
dropped from 5s, to 4s. per barrel. A very beavy squall
was experienced on the evening of the 11th. The rainfall
recorded for the month was 11°28 inches.
MONTSERRAT. The Curator, Mr. W. Robson, states
that drought continued throughout the month of July, con-
sequently very little progress was made by the plots at the
Experiment Station. Plant distribution included: bay plauts,
1,960; black-eye peas, 2 fb.: various beans, 16 packets. In
the Botanic Station five distil]ations of bay leaves were
made. The continued dry weather has put an end to any hopes
of their being a considerable first crop of cotton from early
planted fields. The season, so far, is undoubtedly the worst
in the history of the industry. The proportion of stained
cotton in the 1917-18 crop is now seen to be 6°8 per cent.,
as compared with 7°7 per cent. in the crop of the previous
year. A case was met with in a remote district, where several
acres of two-months-old cotton was being dug out on account
of severe infestation by leatf-blister mite, caused by neglect to
destroy old infested plants in the neighbourhood. This emphas-
izes the need for more strenuous enforcement of the Cotton
Ordinance. On the representation of the Curator, special
inspectors are to be appointed to see that the law is more
effectually enforced.
The Assistant Curator, Mr. A. W. Gallwey, from Antigua,
assumed his duties on July 8.
The rainfall recorded at Grove Station for the month
was 3°45 inches: the total rainfall for the year to date is
25°46 inches.
anticua. Plant distribution during the month of July
was as follows: eucalyptus, 510; miscellaneous economic, 17;
decorative, 10; black-eye peas, 1,792 lb.; cotton seed, 429 fb.:
vegetable seeds, 5 packets; bread-and cheese seeds, 1 fb. In
consequence of the protracted dry weather a considerable
amount of the time of the labourers employed in the Botanic
Station was taken up in carting water from adjacent ponds to
keep the nursery stock alive. In reference to staple crops,
Mr. Jackson states that practically the whole of the cane
crop has been reaped. A large proportion of the canes grown
on muscovado estates has been converted intosyrup. Returns
were poor, and an exceptionally short crop has been made.
The young cane crop is beginning to feel the effects of the
protracted drought. This is also the case with ratoon canes in
various parts of the island. ‘The early planted cotton, on the
whole, Jooks very promising. Caterpillar attacks were
experienced during the month. Only 2°12 inches of rain
fell during the month. ‘The total rainfall for the year to
date is 19-78 inches.
st. kiTTs. Mr. I’. R. Shepherd writes to say that the
past month was most unfavourable for crops, very high winds
and low raiofall prevailing. Only 2°46 inches of rain was
registered during the month. The young cane crop has made
no progress, and unless heavy rains soon set in. the prospects
for the next season will be very poor. The ratoons, having
received no artificial manures up to the present, are very
backward, and it is questionable whether it will be profitable
to apply sulphate of ammonia later on, when it is received
Cotton picking has begun on the estates in the north where
cotton was planted early, and there is promise of a good
return in spite of the dry weather.
Nevis. The Agricultural Instructor mentions a contin-
uation of dry weather during the month of July. The follow-
ing comprised plant distribution during the month: cotton
seed, 34 b.; sweet potato cuttings, 15,000; vegetable seeds,
24 packets. In addition, 6 tb. of Paris green was distributed,
Mr. Howell states that the cane crop throughout the
islanil continues poor, and a very short crop is expected.
The cotton crop is looking a little better, but the greater
part is late. Picking has begun in some of the early planted
fields, but cotton stainers have already made their appear-
ance. Boll dropping has occurred to a fair extent in some
of these fields, and many of the fallen bolls have been
observed to be attacked by internal boll disease. Cotton
worms attacked many of the fields during the month, but
they were kept im check by the use of poison, Pro-
vision crops are doing fairly well, but are much in need
of rain,
A mecting of the Agricultural and Commercial Society
was held on July 17 to discuss the possibility of placing
the cotton industry on a more stable footing. The questions
uf advances, insurance against hurricanes, and a close season,
were also discussed.
The rainfall recorded for the month totalled 4°08 inches,
tor the year to date, 23°03 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
August opened with a very rainy day. As much as
5 inches fell in some districts, and we have heard of no
district in which less than 1} inches were registered. Again
on the 5th instant there was a day of rain, and on this
occasion the southern part of the island seems to have been
more highly favoured than other parts.
The recent rains were very acceptable in the drier dis-
tricts where for almost a fortnight there had been no rain,
added to which the rather high breezes had begun to nip the
leaves of the various crops.
The last fortnight has seen marked progress in the
development of the cane crops, particularly in those parishes
which are not subject to spells of drought, and the growth
would have been still more noticeable if there had been no
scarcity of artificial manures. At last the expected cargo of
nitrate of soda has been received. This was rapidly removed
from Bridgetown, and there has been an immediate applica-
tion of it.
The arrival of artificial manure has been very opportune,
as the plant canes in some districts were so forward that
further delay would have made it almost impossible to get
through without injuring them.
The ratoons too in some fields, although they had been
bravely holding out had begun to show sigus of lack of
vigour. The greatest difference is observable in the develop-
ment of those fields which have received an application of
artificial manure as compared with those which have had
to wait their turn. °
Tn respect to plant canes, all the seedlings are coming on
satisfactorily. The foliage of the Ba. 6032 is not of a deep
green, and one is tempted sometimes to suspect it of unhealthi-
ness, but on closer examination it is found that this is its
natural hue, The B.H.10(12) continues to develop as
rapidly as was noted in our recent reports, and seems to
justify the confidence whien is being placed in it. The vigour
of this seedling compels us strongly to recommend planters
to treat it very liberally. Our soi! at present has no reserve.
The food supplied is practically taken out by each crop
Vou. XVII. No. 426.
Indeed the tendency of modern systems of manuring is not
to manure the land, but to manure for each crop cnly. We
do not question the correctness of such a system, so long as
each crop receives a supply sufficient to bring it to healthy
maturity.
There is a much larger area under the B,H.10(12) for
the crop of next year than was at first thought, and we have
noticed several fairly large nurseries of the seedling being
grown for the next planting season.
The heavy tonnage given by our seedlings as plant canes
in the black soil demands that there should be recuperation
before another crop of canes is grown. The increased value
of a catch crop from a field which has only grown one crop
of canes compensates to some extent for the amount which is
realized by the second crop of canes. There is also the danger
of exhausting the soil, and thereby exposing it to the inroads
of disease. There is too in addition, but little chance of
resting fields where cropping is so continuous.
The fields of B. 6450 are not disappointing, and, as this
is acane which develops later than either the Ba. 6032 or the
_ B.H.10(12), we cannot as yet compare it with the more
forward condition of its rivals.
Since our last report the putting out of farmyard
manure has been generally started. One can hardly drive in
any district without meeting roads of this valuable stuff
being carted in different directions. This application is being
made from the yard pens. The field pens are not yet fit for
distribution.
Fodder is fairly plentiful, and the supply of cane shoots
is only now being finished up. These have been in some
instances supplemented by fields of imphee, and now the
pastures are ready to yield their supply. Fodder is also
being sold at a moderate price in Bridgetown, as the peasants
are disposing of their crop of Guinea corn fodder grown since
the incoming of the rainy reason.
The Indian corn crop has proved satisfactory practically
everywhere, and reaping has been started. As this crop ripens
very rapidly, the next few weeks will see its general ingath-
ering. We regret to record that many peasants have had to
sell their young corn crop as fodder, in order to save it from
the depredations of thieves.
The scarcity of potatoes is being relieved, but it will
still be a few weeks before a fair supply can be placed on
the market. Some estates are selling to their labourers
only. We cannot object to this, and we are informed that
this has had the effect in some instances of increasing the
volume of labour. Many villagers who were only very tran-
sient labourers have given general assistance on neighbouring
estates, in order to become eligible purchasers of potatoes,
(The Barbados Agricultural Reporter, August 10, 1918.)
NATIVE OIL PALMS OF BRITISH GUIANA.
The discovery of new sources of raw material, or the
further development of old sources is the only means of
overtaking the large and ever-growing demand for vegetable
oil. Any information of a new source of vegetable oil is
welcome, more especially if such be a natural forest product,
and not a cultivated one. In a paper in the Journal of the
Board of Agriculture of British Guiana, April 1918,
Mr. L. S. Hohenkerk, Forestry Officer in the Department of
Lands and Mines of that colony, draws attention to the possi-
pilities as an oil producer of the Kokerit palm (Aaxizmiliana
regia) which is widely distributed throughout easily access-
ible forest areas of British Guiana.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 263
The Director of the Imperial Institute has furnished
a report on a small sample of kokerit fruit and oi! forwarded
to him for examination.
The kokerit fruits are about 1} to 2 inches long, and
from }-inch to 1 inch in diameter. The fruit consists of a
soft, pulpy pericarp containing oil, and the nut, a hard
woody shell enclosing two or three kernels, which resemble
African palm kernels in consistency. *
The pericarp yielded 17:1 per cent. of a semi-solid
orange-red oil, reseinbling African palm oil in appearance,
but differing somewhat from it in chemical composition. The
report was of opinion that this pericarp oil would find a ready
market, if it could be obtained in quantity.
The kernels yielded 641 per cent. of a fairly hard
cream-coloured fat, with an odour resembling that of coco-nut
oil, and in chemical composition similar to African palm
kernel and coco-nut oil. It was stated in the report that
there can be no doubt that kokerit kernels would fetch the
same price as palm kernels, or possibly a little more.
The meal left after extraction of the oil from the kernel
Was pale brown, with a mild and not unpleasant taste, some-
what suggestive of coco-nut. It should have a feeding value
about equal to that of palm kernel cake, and somewhat lower
than coco-nut cake.
The question therefore is to ascertain whether the fruit
can be obtained in British Guiana in large quantities at a price
which will admit of their being sold in Liverpool at about
the same price as palm kernels.
From a survey of about 90 square miles by the Forestry
Officer, he has computed that the number of kokerit palms
in the Canje River district alone would not be less than
511,785 fruiting trees, which would produce, even supposing
a tree gave only one bunch of nuts per annum, of an
average weight of only 50 b., a weight of fruit equal to
25,589,250 th., which ought to yield something like 1,108
tons of oil. Even at the pre-war rate of palm oil at £22
per ton, the value of this oil would be £24,376 per annum.
Mr. Hohenkerk considers that the best plan for exploiting
this product would be to obtain machinery for cracking the
shells and extracting the oil in the colony, and then to
export both the oil and the meal to the home markets.
Machinery for the purpose is however unobtainable at
the present time, but an export of kokerit kernels might be
started in a comparatively short time. The aboriginal
Indians, who reside on the banks of the rivers in the districts
where the palms are eommon, might be interested in this
industry. Both men and women could collect the nuts,
either while returning to their homes from their fields or
work plaées, or by making special journeys to the palm
trees in their neighbourhood. The nuts could be sun-
dried and broken, the kernels picked out and packed into
baskets by women and children, and the baskets conveniently
shipped by steamer, launch, or boat, for sale to one of the
firms in the colony who are willing to buy them.
In this connexion Mr, Hohenkirk says that he himself
has seen in the fruiting season hundreds of tons of these
nuts, cleaned of the pericarp, lying under the trees in the
region of the Canje and Berbice Rivers, and he thinks that
it would be more feasible to collect only the fallen nuts
than to strive to obtain the whole fruit.
There are other palms also growing in numbers in British
Guiana, the fruits of which are known to yield from both
pericarp and kernel edible oils of a high value. For instance,
the Awarra (Astrocaryum tecumoides), the Akuyuro (sfro-
caryum tucuma), and the Turu (Oexocarpus bacaba), along
with several others, which it might seem advisable to get
reports on.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avcust 24, 1918.
EDITORIAL
Heap OFfricr
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
epecimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados. :
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
nddressed to the Agents. and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFP.
{W. R. Dunlop.*
(Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A,
H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
‘ution Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.t
CLERICAL STAFF.
A. G. Howell.
fe A. Corbin.
stcientific Assistant and
Assistant Editor
Entomologist
sMycologist
Assistant for
Chief Clerk
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant{for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Provided by ihe Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Typist
Anricultural Sews
Vor. XVIL SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1918. No. 426.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial points gut how beneficial it would
be to these islands, if a larger supply of food was
obtained from the seas around them, by improvement
in methods of capturing and curing fish.
Attention is drawn under Insect Notes, on page
266, to the considerable amount of success in control
of the cotton stainer, which has been obtained in
St. Vincent by systematic destruction of the wild
host-plants of the insect.
The importance of producing strains of plants
resistant to disease is pointed out in the article under
Plant Diseases, on page 270.
Cotton in Africa.
In an address given before the Royal Geographical
Society, June 10,1918, on ‘The Backbone of Africa’,
Sir Alfred Sharpe, a former Governor of Nyasaland,
foreshadowed a new source of supply for Lancashire
cotton manufacturers. It was quite certain, he said,
that sooner or later America would be unable to supply
the demand of British manufacturers, but there was
no reason why Africa should not step into the breach
in the matter of the supply of raw cotton. The plains
of the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara only
required irrigation on a large scale to make the country
one of the largest prodecers in the world of cotton.
grain, and other tropical and sub-tropical products.
The American Bureau of Standards and Sugar.
The International Sugar Journal, July 1918,
gives prominence to the fact that fiscal Bills lately
before the American Congress for the year 1918-19,
provide for the appropriation of £4,000 for the use of
the Bureau of Standards, to be utilized for the standard-
izing of sugar-testing apparatus, and the developing of
technical specifications for the various grades of sugars,
with particular reference to urgent problems made
pressing by war conditions, especially involving the-
standardization and manufacture of sugar. The purpose
of the Bureau, in short, is to make a strictly scientific-
classification of the different grades of sugar, and place
the technical standardization of the sugar industry in,
general on a proper scientific basis, as well as to solve
the problems incidental to the collection of revenue
on sugar.
Besides the above appropriation, there is one of”
£2,000 to be used in the development and improve-
ment of American strains of sugar-beet seed, and for
the establishment of a permanent beet seed industry
in the United States.
It is also interesting to note that the agricultural
experiment stations in Hawaii and Porto Rico have
each been voted £9,000 for maintenance expenses;
while a new station projected for the Virgin Islands
(formerly the Danish West Indies) receives a grant of
£3,000 for the year.
oo
West Indian Dye-Woods.
The following note taken from the Demerara
Daily Argosy, August 5, 1918, is of interest in con-
nexion with West Indian industries.
There is every indication of a great development
in connexion with the dye-producing woods of British
Guiana and the West Indian islands, consequent on
the requirements of American manufacturers.
It is stated that the American Government wants
particularly great quantities of woods that give a yel-
low dye which is much in demand for khaki, and these
woods are not available in sufticient quantity in the
United States.
Among the woods that are producing this yellow
dye is fustie, which abounds in the West Indies and in
British Guiana
Vou: XVII. No. 426.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
265
In order to ascertain the resources of the West
Indies and British Guiana in this wood, Mr. E. B.
Fairweather, who holds a contract to supply fustic to
American manufacturers, and who is ona visit to these
parts, was recently for a short time in British Guiana,
awaiting the granting of licenses by the United States
Government for the shipment of fustic to America. He
left a few weeks ago for Trinidad, whence he will ship
about 50,000 tons of fustie.
With regard to British Guiana, application was
also made! for the shipment of wood to the United
States, but some hitch occurred. and the export license
was not allowed up to the time that Mr. Fairweather
left the colony. While he was there he interested
himself in the logwood industry, and it is understood
that he is returning, on completion of his business
abroad, to initiate schemes for the development of this
industry.
New Sources of Food Supply.
A note in the Geographical Journal, June 1915,
points out that there is need of paying attention to new
sources of food supply by those concerned with increas-
ing the world’s food both during and after the war.
Apart from animal food, much may be done to supple-
ment the staple diets of the human race by judicious
cultivation of other vegetable products besides cereals.
The agricultural development of the United States is
taken as an example of what has been the custom of
agriculturists in the past. Cultivators have usually
adhered to the staple crops to which they have grown
accustomed, and thus great areas—the corn belt, the
wheat region, the cotton belt—have been occupied by
these particular crops, because of the suitability of the
soil and climate to their production. When the land
suitable for these crops was fully occupied, resort was
not had to land of other character in the same region
by using it for other products, but the cultivators
either spread out into new regions, leaving much of the
land in the older districts uncultivated, or wasted their
energies in vain endeavours to grow the old staples
upon unsuitable ground. With the rapid diminution of
new land, and the increase in population, new methods
must be adopted, so that the productive power of every
kind of soil may be drawn out in fuli measure, Already
much has been done in the great arid region of the
west by ‘dry farming’ methods, both by revising the
methods of tillage, and by cultivating a different set of
plants, or special varieties suited to dry conditions. The
wet lands, especially in the south-east, present a diff: r-
ent problem. It is calculated that there are about
$0,000,000 acres of such lands now useless because too
wet, and though much may be done by drainage, a wise
selection of crops will do more. An extended cultiva-
tion of rice, for instance, may be well looked for in this
region, but besides that familiar crop, certain species of
Aroideae with tuberous roots, such as the dasheen,
particularly suited for cultivation in damp soil, would
form a good substitute for potatoes, and afford a large
and wholesome additional supply of food.
Agriculture at Oxford.
In The Times, May 30, 1918, attention is drawn
to an important statute promulgated in Congregation at
Oxford on May 28, the object of which is to establish
a new School of Agriculture and Forestry at the
University. The novel feature of the school proposed
is that it will be neither a pass nor an honour school
according to the old definition, but will be a pass school
leading up to a degree in arts, in which candidates
adjudged worthy will receive ‘distinction’.
The statute was introduced by the Warden of
All Souls College, which college it may be interesting
to note has a sort of connexion with Codrington
College, Barbados, through the benefactor of both,
Sir Christopher Codrington. In introdueing the
statute, the Warden explained that it grew out of
a suggestion of the Board of Agriculture, and that it
was designed to provide education especially suitable
for men who would become owners or managers of
land, not a few of whom go to Oxford,
This new move appears to show that the older
English Universities are really beginning to recognize
that classics and mathematics do not constitute the
only subjects which are worth studying.
———oq28® +a
Forestry in Cyprus.
Ina recent number of this Journal the editorial
pointed out the benefits that would accrue to these
West Indian islands by more attention to sciertific
forestry. An article in the International Review of
the Science and Practice of Agriculture, April 1915,
on Agriculture and Forestry in Cyprus, gives a striking
instance of the progress made in forestry in that
island.
In ancient days Cyprus was known to be rich
in timber, and its mountain districts were clothed with
trees. In 1878, when Cyprus passed under British
control, the condition of the so-called forests had
become deplorable under centuries of Turkish misrule
Steps were at once taken to appoint Government
Forest Officers with scientific knowledge in order to
remedy this condition, and to stop further destruction
of the forests remaining. The forest areas were grad-
ually delimited and settled. They now extend to-
some 700 square miles. ;
Owing to the fact that very small sums were for
some years voted annually to the Department of Fores-
. try, the work of protection was the only course opened
to the officers, and no progress in artificial re-afforesta-
tion was made for nearly thirty years after the British
occupation of the island. Since 1907, however, special
tree planting has made considerable progress, and there
is no doubt that the forests of Cyprus are now on the
high road to recovery, and are likely to become an
added source of beauty and prosperity to the island. It
may be interesting to note, although the connexion
between forests and rainfall is open to question that
the rainfall of Cyprus appears of late years to have
increased
= =
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INSECT NOTES.
COTTON STAINER CONTROL IN
ST. VINCENT.
An editorial in the St. Vincent Sev/ry for July 28, last,
comments on a resolution passed by a meeting of the Board
of Directors of the St. Vincent Electric Light Company, Ltd.,
in which the Government is urged to adopt the most strin-
\ gent measures for enforcing the provisions of the Cotton
Stainers Ordinance and the Cotton Diseases Prevention
Ordinance, with respect to the close season and the destruc.
tion of ‘John Bull? and ‘Silk-Cotton’ trees which provide
food for the cotton stainers. Everyone interested in cotton
growing will approve of this.
The passing of this resolution by the Electric Light
Company has been made the occasion for reference by the
Sentry to the cotton stainers, and the work of the cotton
stainer control, as if this was a new pest, and the wark of
control had not yet been started; instead of which the
cotton stainer has been known in St. Vincent as a
pest of cotton during the entire period of fifteen to
sixteen years that Sea Island cotton has been culti-
vated as a crop in that island; and the work of stainer
control has been efticiently carried out during the past
two cotton seasons, in the earlier days of cotton cultiva-
tion in St. Vincent, and, in fact, in all the West Indian
islands where cotton stainers occur, the exact nature of the
damage done by these insects to cotton was not realized.
About three years ago it was found that the cotton stainer
was closely associated with the internal boll rot, which was
the most destructive disease of cotton in St. Vincent.
In this connexion the work of Mr. Sands, the Agricul-
tural Superintendent, Mr. Harland, the Assistant Superin-
tendent, and Mr. Nowell, the Mycologist on the Staff of the
Imperial Departinent of Agriculture, should be referred to.
This work has been published in recent numters of the
West Indian Bulletin and the Agricultural News, and
recorded results go to show that the food-plants of the cotton
stainer in St. Vincent are now known, and that the destruc-
tion of large numbers of ‘John Bull’ and ‘Silk-Cotton’ trees
has resulted in a very great reduction in the numbers of the
cotton stainers.
Asa direct consequence of this work the cotton crop
of last season (1917) was much better than that of any
recent year,
The existence of wild trees in the mountains, to which
the cotton stainera resort for food in the absence of those
plants which are preferred by the insects, has already had
the consideration of the Agricultural Superintendent, and
references to this aspect of the matter are to be found in the
published accounts mentioned above.
In connexion with the appearance of cotton stainirs in
the fields of the present growing crop, the Imperial Commis-
sioner of Agriculture has received a letter from the Agricul-
tural Superintendent from which the following information
is obtained.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aucust 24, 1918.
The infestation of certain young cotton fields (May-
planted), which were investigated in the Windward and
Leeward districts during this month (July), undoubtedly had
their origin, not from the forests, but chiefly from the vicin-
ity of buildings on lands near to which cotton had been
grown. <A few of these insects may have survived on bushes
such as those described in the papers in the West Jndian
Bulletin (Vol. XVI, pp. 245-6, and Vol. XVII, p. 47).
On one large estate inspected in the Windward district,
in the neighbourhood of buildings used for dealing with seed
cotton, there was discovered a very large number of cotton
stainers. Efforts had been made from time to time, but not
systematically or very successfully, to collect the pest since
the cotton stalks were cut down in the month of April. On
July 11, the Cotfon Inspector reported that the bush near
the buildings was‘tut and burned, and he had observed that
a very large number of stainers were put to flight. n the
morning of the néxt day a heavy infestation of the cotton
plants at the Experiment Station and about the buildings of
the Government Ginnery was reported. No insects had been
observed on the previous day in either of these places. The
estate was situated 3 miles to windward of the station,
and a high easterly wind was blowing on the date mentioned.
On the 16th the estate was visited, and very few stainers
were to be found; these were being trapped successfully by
the methods which had been advised. r
In the Leeward district another case occurred. where the
pest arrived about the 12th or 15th in considerable numbers:
this infestation is attributed to the same or a similar source,
A third case investigated indicated that sufficient care
was not exercised in the control of the stainers in the months
of May and June in the vicinity of buildings; the pest was
reported present at this place during May.
Close attention has been given to the food-plants of this
insect. It may be found necessary to deal with the ‘bois-flot’
or ‘cork wood’ (Ochroma lagopus). The ‘Mountain John
Bull or ‘Mahoe Cochon’ (.Sfercv/va caribaea) is not considered
to be sufficiently important at present to make necessary an
attempt to eradicate it.
It is stated that it was not possible to enforce the des-
truction of the old cotton stalks by the end of March, last,
notwithstanding that the Cotton Diseases Prevention Ordi-
nance of 1911 was amended on February 11, 1918, to make
the month of April constitute a close season. On some
estates cotton picking was in progress at the end of March,
and at many places the cotton stalks were not destroyed until
the end of April, Cotton planting was started early in May,
therefore there was no close season. The season was a gand
one in that there was little dry weather experienced, and the
cotton stainer took every advantage of the facilities it was
offered for tiding over the period from May to July.
It is only by systematic trapping of the pest in the
months of April, May, and June, and the strict enforcement
of the Jaw relating to the close season, that a more effective
control of the pest can be hoped for in the future. If there
had been ‘Silk-Cotton’ and ‘John Bull’ trees present this
season as formerly, the stainers would have been carried
over in enormous numbers, and by this time the whole indus-
try would have been in danger of extinction, ‘The flights of
the pest that have been reported so far have been quickly
controlled, and the insects have not been allowed to breed to
any extent,
The Agricultural Superintendent has spent a great deal
of his time during the past three months in closely studying
the pest and the best methods of trapping it, and two other
officers have devoted a large part of their time in visits to
estates and small holdings in connexion with control
Vou. XVII. No. 426.
work. No efforts have been spared to bring to the notice of
the planters the necessity of dealing with the insect whenever
and wherever found.
Although there was a very heavy infestation ot cotton
stainers on trees of several kinds near the Botanic Gardens
in-May and June, these have all been destroyed by means
of traps and by the use of the Primus torch, and for the
four weeks previous to writing no stainers had been found on
the traps which were put down in the places where the
insects had been killed in large aumbers. At the Experi-
ment Station and at the Government Ginnery there are no
stainers, owing to the careful and systematic trapping and
destruction which had been practised.
This account shows plainly that a very considerable and
important amount of work has been done in St. Vincent on
the control of the co'ton stainer, and it indicates that the
great need at present is for co-operation by the planters and
all interested in cotton growing with tlhe Government in its
efforts to destroy the food-plants of the insect, and to estab-
lish a close season during which no cotton shall be grown
in the island.
In order for a close season to be a success, the law must
be wost strictly enforced, and when the appointed time
arrives, all cotton must be removed from the fields, and ”
disposed of in the manner decided upon as being the most
suitable. No compromise is possible, if the cotton industry
is to. be safeguarded. his also applies to the destruction
of the food-plants of the insect. It has been demonstrated
that the destruction of food-plants is capable of greatly
reducing the numters of the stainers which can tide over
the non-cotton season, and now it is required that constant
care be exercised to prevent new growths of the plants that
have already been destroyed, and to apply the provisions of
the law to other plants as soon as they are found to provide
sufficient food to allow these insects to live and breed during
this time.
Another point raised in the editorial menti ned in the
first part of this article is the matter of natural enemies of
cotton stainer. This aspect of the case has received much
study by the officers of the Imperial Department of Agricul-
ture, and the officers of the local Departments in all those
islands of the West Indies where cotton is grown. Cotton
stainers have also been studied in this respect in many other
countries, always with the same conclusion, that the group
to which cotton stainers belong comprises insevts which have
very few natural enemies. Stainers themselves are particu-
larly free from natural enemies. and it is certain that in the
West Indies there are none which can be expected to exercise
any satisfactory degree of control over this pest.
The resolution passed by the Board of Directors of the
St. Vincent Electric Co. Ltd., indicates that they were alive
to the need of continued attention to the control of cotton
stainers by the Government, and of co-operation by everyone
interested in the cotton industry in thatisland. The com-
nents on the subject by the .Szv//) indicate that there are
those who have not kept themselves informed as to the work
that has been, and is being done in this connexion.
H.A.B.
THE EGG PLANT,
This plant is rather commonly cultivated throughout
the West Indies under various names. Perhaps the com-
monest is Melongene, or some corruption of it, which is
evidently derived from the botanical mame of the species
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
joint from the rays of the sun.
bo
[=r
my
Solanum melongena. This plant thrives well in these islands,
perhaps because it is originally a native of the tropics, and
has not long been submitted to the process of selection in
temperate gardens. As was noticed, however, in the article
under Plant Diseases in the dericultural News, December 29,
1917, it is susceptible to a bacterial disease known as wilt,
This trouble may be met by grafting the egg plant on wild
species of Solanum. The one used for this purpose in
Jamaica is said to be Solanum mammosum. In ‘Nature
Teaching’, by Sir Francis Watts, it is suggested that So/anum
zorvum, another wild plant of the same genus, should be used
for this purpose. The process is as follows: a wild plant of
a convenient size is selected as the stock. A piece of the
stem of the stock is then cut off, and with a sharp
knife a longtitudinal cut to the depth of about 14}-inches
is made into the stump, and a wedge removed. The
scion, a small branch of the egg plant about twice as
thick as an ordinary lead pencil, and about 4 inches
long, is tapered to fit the cut made in the stock, and
most of its leaves trimmed off. The scion is then inserted
into the stock, care being taken that the cambium
layers or inner bark of stock and scion are in contact, at
least in one place. The graft is then wrapped round with
twine or woollen yarn. A large leaf should be tied like a cap
over the scion and the top of the stock, so as to shield the
As this isa soft, quick-
growing plant, there is no need for the use of grafting wax
or tape, the plant remaining moist until union has taken
place.
It is considered advisable to pick off any flowers which
form during the first two or three months, in order to allow
the plant to make vigorous vegetative growth.
It is als» reported from Jamaica that buds of the egg
plant take readily when inserted into the wild stacks.
It would seem that this method of growing egg plants
is far preferable to permitting the plant to depend upon its
own roots. In the first place, the stock is perennial, and
therefore bearing is continual. In the next place, the raising
of seedlings is attended with certain difficulties, not only
owing to insect attacks, but, as has been before stated, to their
susceptibility to wilt infection, The use of a more vigorous
and hardy stock of she wild species for grafting with scions
of improved varieties of the garden vegetable offers, it would
seem, every advantage in the way of protection against the
foregoing adverse conditions.
Should the fruit trade of the West Indies in the future
attain dimensions which are desired, another advantage con-
nected with this method of the propagation of the egg plant
suggests itself. The grafted plants are perennial, as was
noticed above, and therefore by pinching off the flowers
during the season when the fruit is not desired to be shipped,
the energies of the year’s growth could be concentrated upon
production in the months when the market offered most
remuneration, for instance, during the early winter months
before the Florida crop is ready for the northern markets.
In Jamaica Solanum mammosum is known as ‘shushum-
ber’, and in many of the smaller islands So/exum ftorvum
is known as ‘plate bush’ or ‘turkey berry’. Both of these
species have a strong erect habit. growing 5or 6 feet in
height. The berries of So/anum forvum are occasionally used
in cooking, as a substitute—a poor one it may be stated—
in place of tomatoes. These plants are really common weeds
along roadsides and in waste places, so that there would be
no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of stocks for
grafting purposes.
GLEANINGS.
The Food Production Department in England has direc-
ted the attention of owners and occupiers of land, not in use
for the growing of food crops, to the sun flower, the seeds of
which are valuable both asa source of oil and for poultry
food. The ash obtained from burning the sun flower stems,
leaves, and heads is rich in potash. It is important that this
valuable source of potash should be fully utilized. (The
Journal of the Board of Agriculture, May 1918.)
In a previous issue of this Journal attention was drawn
to the manufacture of industrial alcohol in Natal. Zhe
Board of Trade Journal, Jane 6, 1918, states that it is
now avnounced that the first instalment of 10,000 gallons
of alcohol motor fuel has been placed on the mirket. This
is being succeeded by another iustalment of 20,000 gallons.
Ether is added to the alcohol to render the fuel more volatile
to facilitate starting up.
The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, April 20,1918,
has an interesting article on the influence of bees on fruit
crops. It is stated that many fruit growers in the United
States so recognize the great importance of bees in the pollin-
ation of the flowers of their fruit trees, that they pay as
high as $5 per colony to bee keepers who are willing to
bring their bees into the orchard during the blossoming
period of the fruit trees. The fruit growers consider that by
renting colonies of bees oa such terms each season they get
good value.
According to Zhe Board of Trade Journa/, July 18,1918,
‘the quantity of coffee exportcd from Venezuela in 1917, as
shown by figures supplied by the British Vice Consul at
‘Caracas, was 728,041 bags, as compared with 833,791 in
1916. These totals are for the whole country. The propor-
tion of the total exports shipped by German firms was con-
siderably lower than in 1916. In this connexion the Vice
Consul reports that German firms are now buying up coffee
with the intention of storing it for shipment at the end of the
war to the depleted market of Germany.
In the House of Commons, Sir R. Winfrey lately gave
interesting particulars respecting research work in animal
diseases, and the immunization of animals from native and
tropical diseases. He stated that the Board of Agriculture’s
Laboratory at Addlestone is now practically completed, and
several scientific investigations have been undertaken there,
in which useful results have been obtained. The best
method for immunizing British live stock against tropical
diseases before export are also continuously under considera-
tion, and good progress has been made in that study, (Z%e
Field, July 27, 1918.)
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
ylucusr 24, 1918.
A cable message was received from India on July 29, to
the effect that the Indian Government had prohibited the
exportation of castor oil. This will mean that the already
restricted supply. of castor oil will be still more restricted,
and the price will rise to a very much higher figure than ap
present. (The Demerara Daily Argosy, August 5, 1918.)
From the Rothamsted Experiment Station advice is
given to farmers that in view of the restricted supplies of
nitrogenous manure every possible care should be taken of
the liquid manure. Long experience of farmers, and direct
experiments by investigators alike, prove its usefulness as
a fertilizer, (The /ournal of the Board of Agriculture,
May 1918.)
A note in Zhe Field, June 15, 1918, states that there are
indications that this years fruit crop in England will be
insufficient to supply the jam factcries. In view of the great
importance of sufficient supplies of jam for use by the Navy
and Army, and by the civilian population, the Food Produe-
tion Department. is appealing to all cultivators to plant
immediately, on as large a scale as possible, vegetable mar-
rows for supplementing the fruit supply. The department
is informed that thousands of tons of ripened vegetable
marrows can be utilized during the coming season by the
jam manufacturers.
Dr. Britton, the well known botanist, published in March
last, a /Vora of Bermuda. The Journal of the New Veork
Botanical Garden, in a notice of this publication, says that
the work contains descriptions and illustrations of all the
native and naturalized flowering plants, ferns, mosses, and
hepatics of Bermuda, together with descriptive chapters on
the lower cryptogams. In addition to the kinds of native
and naturalized plants, briet descriptions are given of the
cultivated plants of the colony. This work, says the journa),
is perhaps the most complete description of all the plants of
a small area that has ever been published,
The effect of the flowering of potatoes on the develop-
ment of the tubers seems to be that the effort of the plant
to provide for its reproduction by means of seeds results in
a corresponding weakness in its root growth, and in the size
and numbers of the tubers. leferring to experiments on
this question, the editor of the Queensland Agricultural Jour-
nal, ina paper published in the Zropical Agriculturist, April
1918, on the cultivation of the potato, stated that the crop
from which the blooms were not cut at all gave the worst
yield, whereas the best crop was yielded by plants that had
been prevented from blooming by being topped at frequent
intervals.
Av a meeting of the Royal Society of Arts, May 1, 1918,
a paper was read by Mr. George Martineau, C.B., on ‘Sugar
from Several Points of View’. In the discussiun which fol-
Jowed, the Chairman Lord Balfour of Burleigh, said that if
the resources of the Empire were to be developed, a certain
reasonable continuing security must be given fora period
long enough to encourage the investor to put his money inte
the industry. He did not think it was impossible -for this
country to do with cane sugar what the Germans had done
with beet root sugar, because in all probability the one was as
susceptible of improvement on right lines as the other.
(The Journal of the Royal Soctety of Arts, June 14, 1918.)
Vor. XVII. No. 426.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 269
ne
THE PORTO RICO AGRICULTURAL
EXPERIMENT STATION.
The report for the year 1916, of the Porto Rico Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, which was issued on February 5,
1918, from the Office of Experiment Stations, United States
Department of Agriculture, consists of six separate reports of
officers on the staff of the Station. The first, which is by
Mr. D. W. May, the Agronomist-in-Charge, deals with the
general aspects of agriculture in the island. The year
reported on witnessed an increase in agricultural production
jn Porto Rico, with excellent yields of most crops, and high
prices for the products. Especially has this been the case
with food crops. Mr. May notes with approval that greater
skill, more extended and better cultivation, and the use of
larger quantities of fertilizers have been apparent. The fact
that more land has been brought under cultivation than
ever before in the history of the island promises well for its
fature, for it must be remembered that, although Porto Rico
is, for a West Indian island, thickly populated, having about
350 persons to the sjuare mile, only 20 per cent, of the land -
is under crops, in spite of the fact that very little of it is
wholly unsuited to the purpose.
Sugar is the leading crop, and this has of course yielded
large profits. The rotation of crops on cane lands is a
matter deserving more attention in Porto Rico, as the gene-
ral custom is to allow such lands to return to pasture. The
agricultural station urges the planting of legumes, especially
velvet beans, after taking off the last crop of ratoons, This
bean makes an enormous growth under Porto Rican condi-
tions, and not only improves the soil by adding nitrogen,
put also yields a large quantity of forage which is very useful
in feeding the number of working cattle employed on cane
estates. Moreover, the velvet bean is so easily planted that
it is scarcely more expensive to grow itas a crop than to
allow the land to lie fallow.
- Another good practice strongly advocated by this ex-
periment station is that of planting edible beans in the fields
of young canes. One of the largest Porto Rican importations
is the red bean, which, along with rice, forms the principal
article of diet of the people.
Not only is the growing of this crop profitable in itself,
but the practice improves the land by storing nitrogen, the
element most needed by Porto Rican soils. Mr. May thinks
that, since the labourer needs the beans for food, and the
planter wants the nitrogen in his soil, it would be of advan-
tage to both if the planter allowed his labourers to grow the
bean wherever possible, because the resulting improvement
of the soil would repay the owner, even though he gave the
labourer the entire crop of beans.
The coffee industry had somewhat fallen off throughout
the year. Prices have been low, and the difficulties of ship-
ping have been great.
A movement for the formation of an association of the
coffee growers seems to offer hopes of better success in the
future. The association will arrange to have Porto Rican
coffee roasted and packed under its own name and brand,
and to sell the product by agreement with grocers who will
give it a thorough trial, the growers carefully guaranteeing
its quality and freshness.
In connexion with the cultivation of coffee also Mr. May
urges the advantage of growing beans on the plantations.
Although red beans are sold locally for as much as 18c.
per fh, and are brought from countries as far away as
Manchuria, the coffee growers, as well as the sugar planters,
seem to think their production not worthy of attention.
The cultivation of tobacco, the third of the principal
crops of Porto Rico, has increased, and the quality of the
product has been much improved. New methods of culti-
vating the plant, and curing and fermenting the leaves have
built up a reputation for Porto Rican cigars in the United
States. The tobacco factory employees in Porto Rico are
the best organized labourers there, and receive the highest
wages.
The fruit industry has not been particularly flourishing;
as the prices throughout the year have been low. The
trouble is that the larger part of the fruit shipped has been
poorly packed, or defective in appearance and quality.
Improvement in this industry will come through organization
and co-operation, especially in packing and marketing. It is
most Important in any fruit industry that the product should
be of standard quality.
With respect to minor crops, the production of those con-
sumed locally has shown the greatest increase. There is still
room, however, for much extension in this direction. Mr. May
points out that 80 per cent. of the land of Porto Rico is
uncultivated, while $5,598,799 worth of rice is imported; and
he believes that there are vast possibilities of growing that
crop on the island. Beans and peas also, to the value of
$819,703, were imported during the year, and these can be
easily grown almost all over the island. The fact is that the
profits accruing from the chief crops, such as sugar and tobacco,
overshadow those of the minor ones; and yet some of these
might possibly be the more profitable. Without diminishing
its efforts to increase its export trade, Porto Rico could with
great profit produce a very great portion of the foodstufis
now imported, thus guarding against the danger of food
shortage.
A local manufacture, which has grown very largely in
recent years, is that of weaving hats. From Mayaguez, a port
on the west coast of Porto Rico, hats valued at more than
$500,000 were exported during the year.
With regard to stock farming, it appears that owing
to the greatly extended planting of sugar-cane there is
a large demand for working oxen, and the value of
these has increased greatly. To raise more live stock,
however, more forage must be grown. The pasture lands
of the hills produce for the most part grasses of a poor
type. The experiment station has introduced, and is dis-
tributing seeds of Sudan grass, kafir corn, and other forage
plants of desirable types. Here again the velvet bean is
proving one of the best plants introduced as a forage producer.
The native cattle in Porto Rico, which are mainly in-
tended for working purposes, show size and vigour, but as
milk producers they need much improvement. In this diree-
tion the station is giving much assistance, by assisting breed-
ers to import cattle of good breeds, and by selling at reason-
able prices animals bred in the station herd.
The Journal ef the Board of Agriculture, May 1°18,
draws attention to a notice issued by the Food Production
Department early in May, as to the advisability of growing
maize for fodder in certain parts of England. In the south-
ern and south-eastern counties where, comparatively speaking,
the climate is mild, the rainfall low, and periods of drought
are frequent, no forage crop will better repay attention at
the present time than maize. Easily cultivated, it is suited
to a variety of soils, and will produce a large bulk —20 tons
and upwards per acre—-of succulent material suitable for
supplementary grass in early autumn, or, if made into silage,
for replacing part of the winter root-ration. Maize is much
relished by all classes of farm stock, and it is especially
valuable for dairy cows, encouraging’a large flow of milk.
Aveust 24, 1916.
PLANT DISEASES.
RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY.
The American Journal of Botany, June 1918, contains
two papers bearing on the above subject. W. A. Orton
(Breeding for Disease Resistance in Plants’) reviews some of
the salient instances of success along these lines.
The common asparagus was cultivated in America up to
1896 without any notable loss from disease. Six years after
that date the European asparagus rust had spread across the
continent. An English variety, Reading Giant, was found
to be so resistant as to escape serious damage, and frem this
and other similar imported types the American continent is
now being restocked. It is found that where the susceptible
types have been eliminated, and the reservoirs of infection
thus removed, the disease can be reduced to negligible propor-
tions.
Selection has been notably successful in the well-known
cases of Fusarium wilt of cotton, and the similar disease of
cowpeas; and in the more recent case of cabbage yellows,
another Fusarium disease, great success has been attained,
and varieties are now being propagated which will prevent
the devastation experienced on infected soil. The Fusarium
wilt of tomato is being dealt with on similar lines, with
results that are already good in regard to a late variety,
while satisfactory early varieties are in sight. Strains of
flax tesistant to Ausariwm lind have ade possible the con-
tinued culture of this crop in regions where it was being
abandoned.
The writer discusses the addititional risks, as a result
of extending commerce, of the importation of new diseases,
and makes 4 suggestion that explorers in search of new
varieties should in all cases be accompanied by pathologists
to note the diseases occurring in regions from which intro-
ductions are made
The second paper, by D. I’. Jones, deals with the segre-
gation of susceptibility to parasitism in maize, as studied
in the inheritance of this character in relation to the corn
smut (Usti/ago Zeae)
Six inbred strains. derived from one original variety,
and two from a different variety, and the first and second
generation hybrids of these strains were studied.
In the comparison of nearly 1,000 individuals grown
side by side, there was a difference in two of the strains
between complete freedom and 10 per cent. of infection.
The strain from which infection was absent was the most
vigorous of the fouc inbred lines from the same parent, having
a darker green colour, and being larger and more productive
than the other three. The author considers it doubtful,
however, that vigour in this case is more than a minor
factor in resistance. since many naturally crossed varieties
are several times as vigorous and productive, and yet are
quite susceptib'e.
The results ‘show without a doubt that segregation of
susceptibility to infection by the smut fungus has taken
place during the reduction to homozygosity accompanying the
anbreeding process.’
report, oc the trials conducted by
the British B ; Agriculture of varieties of potatoes
resistant to the black seab disease, shows that numerous
immune straivs of considerable productiveness are now avail-
able tor use in infected districts. Where cases of the apparent
breakdown of immunity have occurred, they have usually
been traceable to impurities in the strain. The production of
these resistant and immune varieties is of high importance ia
connexion with the war-time production of food, as some of
the principal potate-growing areas had become infected with
this highly destructive and persistent disease.
A recent pr
WN,
WILD TAMARIND—A PEST OR
A BENEFIT ?
A leaflet published by the Department of Agriculture,
Ceylon, on the uses of ZLencaena giauca. has recently been
received at this Office. As will be noticed below. this plant
is utilized in several ways not only in Ceylon, but in other
parts of the East. In reference to the above question, we
have received a communication from Mr. Joseph Jones,
Curator of the Botanic Station, Dominica, in which he sounds
a note of warning as to this plant for planters in the West
Indies. It may also be remarked that Mr. Jones's opinion
that the wild tamarind is regarded as a pest on or near to cul-
tivated land, on account of the great difficulty in eradicat-
ing it when once established, is fully shared by planters in
St. Croix, Antigua, and Barbados, all of which are among
the drier islands of the West Indies. This corroborates.
Mr. Jones’s conjecture that the characteristic of persistency,
so evident in the plantin drier situations, may have been
modified under damper conditions. Mr. Jones says:—
‘From time to time notes appear in the publications of
the Agricultural Departments in the Eastern Tropics on the
uses of Zenucaena g/auca, a small leguminous tree native te.
Tropical America. In some of the West Indian islands this
plant is known as the Horse Tamarind or Wild Tamarind.
The value of its food for fuel is well known, and the leaves.
are eaten by cattle and goats. It is, however, regarded in
some parts of the West Indies asa pest. Once established
in the land it is almost impossible to eradicate it except at a
very great cost of labour. No amount of cutting back will
kill the plants. Only by digging out the roots, which is a
most tedious operation, can the land be cleared. It comes
therefore as a surprise to find that this plant is recommended
for use as a soil renovator, this is, as a green dressing, in the
Eastern Tropics, when so many other plants, the roots of
which rapidly decay or ate easily eliminated from the goil,
would accomplish the same result.
‘In Dominica the plant thrives in places in which the
rainfall averages 80 inches annually, that is, in the drier
parts of the island, It does not occur in the wet districts,
and it is possible that when grown in wet places in the East
as shade for coffee, the characteristic of persistency which is
so dominant in the West may be modified. It may even
require some care to grow it under damp conditions, and
when grown it may not spread as it does in dry places in the
West Indies.
‘No doubt Zeucaena glauca has its uses in dry districts as
a fuel plant, and also for fodder. But under the latter condi-
tions in the East, unless some great change has taken place
in the habit of the plant, it is bound sooner or later to come
to be regarded as it is in the West, that is, a pest on or near
to cultivated lands.’
In the leaflet referred to above, information is given
with regard to Zeucaena glauca a8 4 green manure, and as
fuel.
Wor, XVEE. No. 226.
THE AGRICULTURAL NWS
For some years the plant has been used on the Haperi-
ment Station, Peradeniya, as a green manure for rubber, and
has been regularly cut four or five times a year with the
object of adding humus to the soil. The average quantity
of green material per acre per year, has heen found to be:
first year after planting, 29,000 tb.; second year, 77,000 ib.;
and third year, 91,900 fb. Under these conditions it is kept
at an average height of 2 feet. In Java it is likewise used
as a green manure plant. It is commonly employed in young
eoffee and rubber plantations, and has been experimented
with on tea estates.
It is also used in Java as a light shade for Robusta cottee,
and is being similarly employed at the Peradeniya Experi-
ment Station, where it seems to be well suited for the pur-
pose. As shade trees the plants are allowed to grow to about
“10 feet in height, and are lopped twice a year, the loppings
being used as mulch around the coffee trees.
In Mauritius, where the plant grows wild over extensive
areas, it is cut regularly every year or every alternate year
for fuel. The individual stems of the plants cut out for
this purpose have a diameter of between 2 and 3 inches.
Under Mauritian conditions, trees left for years uncut rarely
attain a height of more than 15 to 18 feet. In Java the
trees grow to a height of 24 feet. In Mauritius the
plant is found mainly in the dry zone, and is encouraged as
a light shade in fibre plantations. In the neighbouring
island of Rodriguez, large tracts of land are covered with
Teucaena glauca, Fuel is cut from these lands for local
purposes, the leaves are collected for feeding cattle and
goats, and the dry seed for export to Mauritius, where it is
greatly appreciated as a cattle food.
Cattle are very fond of the leaves of Lewcaena gluuca,
and so are goats, herds of these animals being in some places
housed, and fed solely upon leaves of the plant. An analysis
of tbe leaves shows that they are particularly rich in nitrogen
and potash salts.
The seeds are also a valuable foed, rich in nitrogen, and
may be fed to cattle, sheep, or goats. Neither the leaves
nor the seeds, however, should be fed to horses, as they cause
an irritation of the skin, with subsequent loss of hair from
the mane and tail.
On account of the hard seed-coat it is usual in practice,
before feeding them to stock. either to boil the seeds until the
seed-coats burst, or to crush the seeds dryin an ordinary seed
erusher. The latter practice is generally recognized in Mauri-
tins as being the more satisfactory.
In the Philippines, Zevcaeva y/auca is used to provide
shelter for seedlings in the forest plantations. The young
forest trees are afforded a light shade by the Zewcaenu glauca,
and when they have attained a fair size it is cut out and
used as fuel. Experimental plots have yielded average
returns of 10 cords of fuel per acre per year, The fuel is
considered to be a high-class fuel wood, with a straight grain,
splitting easily. The leaflet from which the above informa-
tion is taken, considers that under average conditions in
eylon, the first cutting of wood would be possible at the end
of three years after planting.
Leucaena glauca is also reported to be a soil renovator.
It isa general experience in the eastern countries where it
is being grown that soil, after having been under this
plant and subsequently taken into cultivation, is of good fer-
tility, and there are instances of poor land having been im-
‘proved hy being allowed to remain for some years under it.
The leatiet concludes that the plantis most svited in
“Ceylon to semi-tropical conditions, and to thoxe localities
that do not have tov high a rainfall.
THE SOURCES
AND
CHANNELS OF
United States Departme
Cholera, the sources and
ated as follows:—
(1) Pigs purchased fro:
contact with those from infected
grounds which had been oeenpied
three months previously.
(2) Infected streams may communicate the disease to
herds below the source of infection.
(3) Infection may be carried in feed, on implements,
and on the feet and clothing of persons coming from infected
herds and premises.
(4) Winds, insects, birds, and various animals may
transport hog cholera virus.
This statement of the ways in which hog cholera is
spread forms the basis ot the present sanitary regulations
with regard to this disease in the United States. In actual
practice, however, one or more of these channels of infection
may be of preponderating importance, and the determination
of such relative importance might greatly simplify the diifi-
cult problem of sanitary control. Accordingly, Messrs. M.
Dorset, C. N. McBryde, W. B. Niles, and J, H. Rietz, of the
Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of
Agriculture, have recorded in the Journal of Agricultural
Research, April 8, 1918, a series of experiments conducted
by them in investigating this question.
The authors state that although the data obtained from
these experiments are not sufficient to warrant sweeping con-
clusions, the results are nevertheless quite suggestive, and
they serve to bring out some interesting points which may be
summarized as follows:—
(1) The fact that the blood, excreta, and eye and nose
secretions of hogs sick of cholera contain the virus of the
disease has long been well established. When injected into
healthy hogs, the eye and nose secretions and iveces were
found to be infectious on the third day aiter infection; the
urine was regularly infectious by the fourth or fifth day, and
the blood was infectious as early as the first day. It is to
be noted that the eye and nose secretions may be infectious
before there is any visible discharge from those organs.
(2) Healthy pigs were associated with cholera-infected
pigs for forty-eight-hour periods on every second day from
the first to the eleventh day after infection. With the exception
of those exposed during the first forty-eight hour interval, all
contracted hog cholera. Other pigs exposed to cholera-infected
pigs seventeen and twenty-one days after infection also
contracted the disease. It is evident, therefore, that cholera-
infected pigs may transmit the disease by contact at
practically all stages of the disease, even before the appear-
ance of visible symptoms, and before the animal can be
recognized as sick.
(3) Healthy pigs were placed in pens with pigs which
had recovered from attacks of hog cholera. cher healthy
pigs were inoculated with blood from the recovered pigs.
None of the pigs associated in this way with recovered pigs
developed hog cholera.
(4) Healthy pigs were exposed for long periods of time
to pigeons which passed daily from a heavily infected pen,
only 10 feet away, containing sick and dying pigs, to the pen
containing the healthy ones. None of the exposed pigs in
this experiment developed cholera. While the assumption
would hardly be warranted that pigeons never convey hog
cholera, it does pot seem likely that they are often concerned
in the spread of thi
in 1389, on Hog
ction were enumer-
ted herds, or coming in
rms, or running over
by diseased swine two or
i)
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avcust 10, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tre Wesr Inpra Commrrres Crrcuar,
July 11.
ARRowROOT—1/- to 1/5.
Batata— Venezuelan Block, 3/4} t
o 3/7; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/3.
Berswax—No quotations
Cacao—Trinidad, 90'-; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Freuit—No quotations.
Grncer—Jamaica, no qiivtations.
Hoxry—Jamaica, 175/- to 195)-.
Lore Juice—Raw, 3/3 to 4/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nurmecs—No quotations.
Piwento—5}d. to 6d..
Russer—Para, fine hard, 3/1}: fine soft, no quotations; ©
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., July 27.
Oscao—Venezuelan, $11°10; Trinidad. $11°75 to $12-40.
Coco-nut O11—$1°16 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, no quotations.
Oorra—$6°25 per 100 th.
Dxaat—No quotations.
Oxtons—S4'00 per 100 fh.
Peas, Sprir—$8'00 per bag.
Porators—English, $5:00 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow, $15:00 to $13:25; White, $9-00 per bag.
New York.—Messrs. Grttespiz Bros, & Co., July 12.
Cacao—Caracas, 13c.; Grenada, 13c.;
13c.; Jamaica, ll$c. to 12c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $42°00;
culls, $20°00 to $21:00 per M.
OorrrE—Jamaica, 9}c. to lle. per th.
Gincer—1L5kc. to L6$c. per fb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, S5c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per tb.
Grare Froit—Jamaica, importation prohibited.
Limgs—Importation prohibited.
Macze—40c. to 45c. per th.
Nurmecs—27c.
Orances—L[mportation prohibited.
Pimento—fjc. to 7c. per fb.
Svueag—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:055c; Muscovados, 89°, 5°055c,
olasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S, Garraway & Co., August 6.
Arrowroot—$12‘00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—$12°50 to $13:00 per i00 th.
Coco-nuts—$48'00 husked nuts.
Hay—S2'90.
Motasses—No quotations.
Ontons— No quotations.
Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
goon, no quotations.
Trinidad, 124c. to
Trinidad $40-00;
Svear—American crushed, no quotations. Sucar—Dark Crystals, $5-00.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the iaformation contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made in
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed ia time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subseription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each
—post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMEN'TS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT,
London: Messrs. Deusy & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonanre, ‘Times’ Office,
Bartados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nivxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica; Tur EnvcationaL Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BriGewareEr, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station,
British Guiana: Tux Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Manone, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuat & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts; Tes Brste AnD Book Suppty AcrEncy, BAssETERRE
Tobago: Mr. C, L. Phacemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Mr. W. I. Howext, Experiment Station.
Lehamas: Mr. H. G. Curisire, Beard of Agriculture, Nassau. Canada; Lewis W, Crsmens, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto
Pad ne ae if e
by he
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
4
if
a
y
Rae Ea
GSE ELL A Phan Ke Ss fost
a a
‘ !
: ;
{ inv eat! RYE Mary
: \
And we are prepared to buy year after year
“ys CORSET SSSR Oe
GEER aR Luana BO o Cans aaa)
renga ee) See Gs Ets Sa
Ne : i
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
| WEST INDIES.
I a = a a
| Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
‘TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
‘conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how our
clients instruct us. If payment isrequired in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crusnng, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
7
x
.
Ms 4
a
are
Vor. XVII. No.» 426. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Avowst 24, 1918
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
| Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E. ‘
Barbados Agents: James A. Lyneh & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown. ~
THE BARBADOS :
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and-we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute aiy orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE;,OURS
AT ALL TIMES,
PLEASE CALL ONSUS.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
BARBADOS.
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street Bridgetown, Barbados,
=
i
J -
Vol. XVII. No. 427.) | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1918.
ae
R.M.S.P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
TO PORTS OF CALL
THE UNITED KINGDOM | Azores.
| ( St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA | -Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts
| Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
Grenada & Trinidad.
\DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO |
| { Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
|
|
| - Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
|Gailao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
|REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
' UNITED KINGDOM TO
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent
REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
& JAPAN. o—
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London.
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S. Buenos Air2s, Santas, Sao Paulo
Ria ac Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
Dn ae eee
a...
oe
lt ih eee
ia
me Sh ; Re ay:
BS ies: AGRICULTURAL NEWS. a haat Fe, * !
Wuart iT Costs A CouNTRY
TO Keep Ticks
THE CASE OF THE UNITED STATES
Retraci from OS. Dept. of Agriculture, Bullesin No. 261. “The Cattle Tick
in its Relation fo Southern Agriculisre,” by AUGUST MAYER :—
“What it costs the Southern States to harbor the cattle tick is not
a but from observation and experience we can estimate
this with some assurance of approximating the truth.
BEEF CATTLE. “Below the quarantine line we have something
Over 15,000,000 cattle, the total farm value of which is given by the last
census a8 nearly $183,000,000. The dairy cattle are credited with a value
of about $58,650,000, and the other cattle with over $124,0900,000. From
observation and experience I estimate that a shrinkage in value of 20% in
vattle, other than dairy cattle, is due to the effects of the cattle tick. In
round numbers this would mean a loss of $25,000,000 for beef cattle.”
DAIRY CATTLE. “In the case of dairy cattle, considerable damage
's experienced because of the extra feed required, and the shrinkage in the
tiow of milk caused by tick infestation. It is believed that an estimate of
5% of the total value of the dairy cattle is not overcharging the tick. This
means an annual loss of nearly $3,000,000 for dairy cattle. The total
depreciation then’ of southern cattle, on accopnt of the tick, would be
$28,000,000.”
HIGHER DEATH RATE. “The average death rate among cattle in
the tick-infested area for the year 1904-5 was about 8.33%; in the tick-free
area it was about 3.12%. The total number of cattle that died in the tick-
infested area during the year ended March 31st, 1905, was about 1,250,000.
The average farm value of these southern cattle may be put at $12,
according to the Bureau of Statistics ; therefore the total annual loss from
death in the tick-affected States amounted to $15,000,000. The :iverage
death rate in the quarantined States being nearly three times as great as
' that in the tick-free States, it is not unfair to assume that two-thirds of
this loss by death is directly attributable to the tick, that is $10,000,000."
DECREASED FECUNDITY. “There is a further loss to be recorded
against the ticl: in the reduction of the fecundity of the female cattle, and
perhaps also in the greaicr proneness of tick-infested cattle to diseases or
abnormal conditions oi the reproductive organs.”
STUNTING OF GROWTH. “There is another material charge to
ne entered against the tick With tick infestation at babyhood, there is
maturi'
very little chance to bring cattle to The stunting which
they wemally receive obliges us to carry them until they are three or more
yaass c4. =That meant two years of extra feed and care, and capital tied
wp wanece: sarily by adverse conditious. It costs easily from $5 to $10 per
yaar to pro vide and care for a cow ; and to keep our 12,000,000 beef cattle
longer means, accordingly, an extra outkay of at least
“it im very coaily scen that the annual loss sustained by the
to am enormous sum—$100,000,000
of A, for 1904.”
Extract from US. Dept. of Agriculture, Bulletiw 78, on “Texas Fever,” by
DR JOHN R. MOHLER, V.M.D., Chief of the Pathological Division, Burcow of
‘Animal Indusiry :—
DECREASED MARKET VALUE. “Animals coming from tick-
infected districts bring an average of one-fourth to one-half a cent less
per pound than’ the quoted market price, The handicap that is placed on
the southern cattle raiser asa result of this decrease in value of his stock
will average at the former figure at least $1.50 per head, allowing an
individual weight of 600 pounds for all classes of animals ; so that the loss
on the estimated 705,000 southern cattle marketed yearly under these con-
ditions will sum up at a loss of $1,057,500 per annum. It will be found
that this decreased valve reacts and fixes the valuation of all cattle which
remain in the infected territory, thereby reducing the assets of the cattle
industry of that section by this ratio per head for the four and a half
millions of cattle east of the Mississippi River, and the eleven millions of
cattle west of the Mississippi River; or, altogether, the enormous
shrinkage in value of $23,250,000 directly chargeable to the cattle tick.”
LOWER MILK YIELD. “The shrinkage of the milk production of
cattle harboring many ticks will average 1 quart per day, and the loss
occasioned thereby at 3 cents per quart for the $75,000 ticky dairy cattle
out of more than 4,000,000 dairy cattle below the quarantine line, would
amount to $26,250 per day, or counting three hundred milking days for
each cow to the year, $7,875,000 per annum.”
LOSS OF IMPORTED STOCK. “The damage resulting to the
southern purchaser of northern pure bred or high-grade cattle is another
item of no smal] moment. About 10% of all such cattle taken South die
of Texas Fever, even aiter they are immunized by blood inoculations, and
about 60% of these cattle succumb to Texas Fever when not so treated.
Of the approximate 4,600 of such cattle brought South each year, at least
460 die of Texas Fever. The Joss entailed would naturally depend on the
value of each animal, and since the prices paid for such well-bred cattle
range trom $100 to $1,000 or even more, it can readily be conceived *hat
the yearly Joss from this item alone varies from $46,000 upward"
Extract from a Paper read by DR. F. BAHNSEN, Chief Veterinarian of ihe
State of Georgia, at the 1915 Anuual Meeting of the United States Live Stock
Sanitary Association —
LOSS OF MILK. “ Tick infestation costs the Southern States each
and every year not less than $150,000,000. Every milk cow infested with
ticks will give anywhere from a quart to as much as a gallon less milk than
one that is not infected with ticks. If they are infested with ticks they
will not recover their normal milk flow again until the next period of
lactation. That item itself (and let us place it conservatively at a loss net
exceeding $15 a head on each and every milk cow) will make an item in
excess of $75,000,000.”
LOSS OF CONDITION. “When your cattle get infested with ticks
they get poor. They get thin in flesh and you have to sell them for Jess
money. It is a certainty that the difference in value between a poar cow,
infested with the tick, and the value of the cow if she were not tie®-
infested is conservatively, even with our scrub cows, $5 a head, and om
that basis we lose not less than $45,000,000 or $50,000,000 om that ,
one item”
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Maz received the official approval of the following Countries:
Ueion of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Besutolamd,
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Somthern Rhodesia, Madagascar,
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
Portuguese West Africu, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland,
United States of Americe, New South Wales,
> Northern Territory of Austealia.
Manufacturers :
HRARCHLS -
Tereuio, Chicago, Syaney, Mleibourve,
WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
SY. KITTS: S. L. Morsford &ACe ANTIGUA: Bonnett, Bryson & Ca
JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston.
GRENADA: Thomeen, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co. Lta.
BAHAMAS: W. N. Twynam, Nassau,
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: 5.0. Matone.
DANISH WEST INDIBS: Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas.
MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall, DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton,
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries. ,
WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, Fngle.J,
Auckland, Buenos Aires,
Wionte Video, Punts Arenas, East London, Gnleasa
al any
A
FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF .THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No. 427 BARBADOS,
CONTENTS
Pace, Pacg,
Book Shelf «see ee 280| Items of: ocal- Inter-
British Cotton Growing est... uae . 277
Association ee . 277 Jack Spaniards : 279
Department News ... ... 275!) Lead for Stimulating
Departmental Reports ... 285! Growth in Plants, Use
- sieht ai 4 [| of _——_— supe
Bagtonee My ost Jadian Market Reports -. 288
Uer a wee w. © ors |. }Museum, Commercial at
of two eee rou afi Ottawa 2733
Farming im South Africa 281 Notes antipernmenie en: O80
Forests in Modern War- > ae
Plant Diseases:—
fare, Valueof ... ... 281 a “ee i
; = Diseases of Coco-nuts in
Fruits and Vegetables, Tamastl 286
: 4 Jamaies = ‘peg on ed
e Home Drying of ... a (8 Thick versus Thin Canes
Geography in Edueation cP) ane 2
Pl. ; Onn for Planting... ... ... 280
Gl gee Ore aa Tomato Seeds and Skins,
7 TS 3 =i8 . y
SLUTS a Utilization of Waste 280
Insect Notes:— West Indian Products 287
Insect Pests in St. Lucia. Wheat Growmg, Research
. 282 in
1917-18 ...
Commercial Museum at Ottawa.
tendent
( SOWARDS the
y)))
of the
1
ciose ot
Commereial
1917 information was
received from Mr. Watson Griffin, Superin-
Intelligence
Branch of the Canadian Department of Trade and
Commerce, of the intention of
the Department to open
a Commercial Museum in Ottawa at an early date, and
that it was deemed desirable to
nstitute a West Indian
Section, more particularly devoted to West Indian raw
materials that might be used in Canadian manufac-
tures
taken to foster it and to enconrage
The idea seemed admirable, and steps were
the co-operation of
SEPTEMBER 7, 1918. Price 1d,
—s
the several West Indian colonies. Some progress haa
already been made, and certain colonies have sent
forward instalments of interesting and useful exhibits
In the past there were recurrent efforts to send
exhibits from practically all the West Indian colonies
to the Canadian National Exhibition held annually a4
Toronto. While, doubtless, these efforts were useful and .
served to draw considerable attention on the part of
Canadian and American the West Indies:
their products, and
Exhibitions were fleeting in character, and the exhibits
had to be renewed annually, at considerable expendi-
ture of energy and trouble.
visitors to
There will be particular advantage in having
a permanent Exhibition, for this will be available for
steady and constant reference on the part of business
men who desire to obtain information concerning the
products of the West Indies. The knowledge which will
be thus available will be supplemented by abundant
references to the business aspects of the case and
to. the literature of the matters under consideration,
and this in a degree and to an extent that was imposs-
ible in the case of a temporary Exhibition, however
interesting. Once established and possessing adequate
exhibits and of a
cial. agricultural, and scientific character, this Museum
will be consulted by those interested in the
products; and doubtless information will be sought, nob
concomitant information commer-
Various
only by dwellers in Canada, but also by those in the
West Indies or other countries capable of producing
raw material of interest, and so the Museum, with its
catalogues, libraries al d general forms of information
will be eraploy ed both by the users and the producers
their potentialities, still these .
274
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS SEPTEMBER 7, 1918.
—— an Ln EEEEEEEEORnEce ener nme on nt rere ae
of materials as a means of acquiring and exchanging
knowledge in a manner which cannot fail to be of
service to established industries, but will also be inval-
uable in building up new ones. Such a Museum with
its concomitant means of affording and obtaining infor-
mation appears to be essential to the further develop-
ment of commercial relations between the West Indies
and Canada.
A feature arising out of its permanence which will
appeal to all those who have taken part in preparing
exhibits for the Canadian National Exhibitions already
referred to, is that exhibits fur the Museum can be
collected at leisure; there is no time limit, such as often
worried intending exhibitors in other cases, where
exhibits must be sent by a particular steamer and ran
the risk of being useless if they failed to arrive in time.
Furthermore, it is unnecessary to send the exhibits
prepared in a form for immediate display; the Museum
authorities will prepare them in the most appropriate
manner. All that the senders are concerned with is
that the specimens sent shall be typical of the product
in question, and that the quantity shall be such as will
enable proper display to be made.
Reference to the literature of the several West
indian colunies, and particularly to the handbooks
which were annually produced by the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture to accompany the exhibits sent
to the Toronto Exhibition, goes to show that there are
abundant materials to be sent from each colony to
form instructive exhibits, which could serve, not
merely for amusement or transient instruction, but for
aiding in the building up of a sound body of commer-
cial and agricultural. knowledge, which will reflect
itself in further development of existing industries,
the creation of new ones, and a marked expansion of
the trade between Canada and these islands.
Not only those who in the course of their connex-
ion with Exhibition Committees, Agricuitural Depart-
ments, and other administrative bodies who have to do
with exhibition matters, but also planters and mer-
chants interested in the development of the trade and
resources of their respective colonies will be well advised
to inform themselves concerning this Museum, and the
part that is being taken locally to ensure the adequate
representation of the colony in which each is inter-
ested. The matter is one of real importance, and
one in which individual interest will go far to secure
success.
The following outline in tabular form of the
exports from the West Indies and British Guiana will
afford some idea of the materials existing in each
colony to form the basis of a permanent exhibit in the
Museum, and the hope may be expressed that at no
distant date the Museum will be adequately furnished
with exhibits doing justice to each colony.
Colony. Principal Articles of Export.
British Guiana ..,._- Sugar, gold, diamonds, balata,
rice, timber, charcoal, Inm-
ber, coco-nuts, coffee.
Sugar, molasses, cacao, asphalt,
coco-nuts, copra, hides.
Trinidad and Tobago..
Grenada Cacao (raw), coco-nuts, spices
(nutmegs, mace).
St. Lucia Cacao, coco-nuts, limes and lime -
juice, hides, sugar (muscovado,
vacuum pan), mace, nutmegs,
honey, bay leaves, bay oil.
St. Vincent... Cotton, arrowroot, cacao, molas-
ses, sugar (crystallized, mus-
eovado), syrup, ground nuts,
cassava starch.
Barbados Molasses, syrup, sugar, cotton,
hides and skins, rum, vegeta- -
bles (fresh).
Sugar (crystals, muscovado), ~
syrup, molasses, cotton, tamar- ~
inds in syrup, onions, limes and
lime juice, hides and skins.
Antigua
St. Kitts-Nevis Sugar (muscovado, vacuum
pan), molasses, cotton, lime
juice, vegetables, coco-nuts.
Limes (fresh and pickled),
oranges, other fruit and vegeta-
bles, raw and concentrated
lime juice, lime juice cordial,
citrate of lime, cacao, coco-nuts,
bay leaves, bay oil, orange oil,
jams and jellies. hides, honey.
Dominica
Montserrat ... ».. Cotton, sugar (muscovado),
papain, fresh fruit, bay oil and
bay leaves.
Jamaica .. Sugar, rum, tobacco (includ-
ing cigars), bananas, oranges
oil. coffee,
>
orange ginger,
pimento, dyewoods, cacao, hides
and skins,
Bahamas Sponges, sisal canned pine-
apples, turtle shell, béche-de-
mer.
Mahogany and other wood,
dye-woods, cohune nuts.
British Honduras ...
Vor. XVIL No. 427.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
“275
As stated above, exhibits have already been for-
warded from several of the colonies, and it is under-
stood that others are in preparation: these exhibits can
be forwarded as they accumulate, and it is hoped that
they will now go forward in a steady stream, until the
resources of each colony are adequately made apparent.
It is gratifying to be able to record that the Royal
Mail Steam Packet Company has signified its willing-
ness to convey, free of cost, exhibits intended for this .
Museum and forwarded recognized
channels.
through duly
In addition to exhibits of raw materials it will add
greatly to the attractiveness of the Museum's galleries,
and to the instructiveness of the exhibits, if good dis-
plays of photographs and other forms of illustration
can be included. These may show the manner in
which the various commodities are grown or prepared
for export, and also the nature of the country in which
they are produced. Anything which tends accurately
to inform those with whom business relations are to be
established and maintained is calculated to facilitate
the exchange of ideas, and to put matters on a sounder
footing. Photographs, illustrations, models, and similar
objects are desirable, and should be acquired for the
Museum, whenever possible.
It is quite probable that arrangements may also
be made in connexion with this Museum, as has been
done at the Imperial Institute, to imaugurate series of
lectures for the information of commercial men, explan-
atory of the products and industries of the several
countries represented. It is quite possible too, that
some similar use may be made of this institution
for educational purposes in connexion with Universities
-and Colleges. ;
Mention should also be mace of the similar per-
manent exhibition in the Colonial Galleries of the
Imperial Institute in London. The foregoing remarks
“apply equally to this: it is felt that the best interests
of these colonies will be served by énsuring that these
‘exhibits in London are maintained in a_ proper cond1-
tion to illustrate with reasonable accuracy the resources
of these colonies.
THE PLACE OF GEOGRAPHY IN
EDUCATION.
The Geographical Journal, July 1918, publishes the
address delivered-at the Anniversary General Meeting of the
* Royal Geographical Society, held on May 27, 1918, by the
President, Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich. In the course of
this address, the President made the following interesting
- yemarks concerning a more general “recognition of the
‘claims of‘ geography in the field of education than has
hitherto been accorded to it. He said: ‘We, as -you
know, have taken an active interest in advocating a more
general recognition of the claims of geegraphy in the
field of education than has hitherto been accorded to
it. The opportunity at present before us of pressing
these claims is perhaps exceptional. All the world which
gets its political and war news from the pages of the
daily papers must by this time have learned the value of
such education in map-reading, as may enable them to under-
stand the topography of the countries which are the theatre
of military operations, and to appreciate, to some extent at
least, the advantages of position on either side to which the
belligerents may attain. Geography must take its due place
with other natural sciences in the school curriculum, and
here, no doubt, we touch on he chief difficulty which besets
the subject. The time is limited which can be devoted to
education, and it must be matter for most earnest considera-
tion with our education authorities to partition it fairly
amongst the many subjects which make up general instruc-
tion. But unnecessarily short rations in geography haye
certainly hitherto been dealt out in schools, and schools haye
influenced examinations, and the examiners have been hard
to convince of the necessity of more liberal distribution.. At
present the matter can only be described as being in a state
of flux. That is to say, that it is under consideration by the
constituted educational authorities; but wecan truly say that
it is a sympathetic consideration which is being accorded to
it, and we may fairly hope for good results. A great impetus
to geographical study of the higher class will be given by
the example of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,
if they decree, as is now proposed, in both universities, that
geography shall be included in the subjects for a degree in
honours; and I trust that those of our Fellows who are
members of Convocation or,of the Senate, will exert their
influence in the universities on behalf of the science for
whose ‘advancement this Society was founded. If England
is to hold her own in the future markets of the world,
the study of commercial geography must be inculcated
to an extent that is quite unrecognized at present in this
country, although it is apparently well enough, under-
stood elsewhere: It is indeed astonishing how little the
subject of commercial geography attracts students, for it
cannot fail to be of the greatest practical importance in
a commercial career. One reason may be that the great
majority of students are not seeking a commercial career.
Another may be the peculiarly technical character of the
subject, as well as its infinite capacity for change in its
objective from year to year—even from month to month.
Clearly it demands special schools and specialized instruc-
tion. It should not be neglected or ignored, for it may be
doubted whether practically it is not as important a branch
of geographical teaching as that which touches political or
military issues. In this connexion I trust that all the
accumulated information of the War Trades Intelligence
Department may be made available for public use when the
wat is over.’
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. W. Nowell, D.LC., Mycologist on the statf of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture has left: Barbados
for Dominica with the object of investigating certain
points which have arisen in connexion with root diseases,
Mr. Nowell will afterwards proceed to Montsérrat to
continue the. study of cotton boll diseases, He is
expected to’ return to Barbados about the middle of
October.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF TWO WEST
INDIAN SUGAR FACTORIES, 1918.
At the instance of the Directors of Gunthorpe’s Factory,
Antigua and Basseterre Factory, St. Kitts, the results of the
‘working of these factories for the past season have been
furnished to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for
the West Indies. The following. information based on these
reports is not without interest and value to those concerned
with the manufacture of sugar in; the West Indies.
The Antigua factory manufactured 7,316 tons of sugar
from 64,282 tons of canes; the St. Kitts factory 7,314 tons
of sugar from 62,555 tons of canes.
The work of these factories is about up to the standard
reached in the last season, St. Kitts again leading slightly, as
on the previous occasion.
The main features of the factories’ work may be gathered
from Table I.
Table J] shows the recovery, and losses of sucrose. The
average composition of the cane dealt with, calculated from
the data supplied, is given in Table ITI.
TABLE® I.
1918.
Antigua. St. Kitts.
Cane crusbed, tons 64,282 62,355
Juice diluted, tons 62,462 57,274
Juice undiluted, tons 47,905 46,437
Juice expressed per 100 cane 745 745
Juice expressed per 100 parts of juice
in cane. Or sucrose extracted per
100 parts of sucrose in cane 93°85 93°69
Sucrose in juice, tons 7,901 7,606
Commercial sugar made, tons 7,316 7,314
Purity diluted juice 83-7 86:2
Sucrose in 100 cane 13:10 13 02
Fibre in 190 cane 16:05 16:03
Sucrose in 100 megass 2°45 2°50
Juice in megass per 100 fibre 30°6 313
Juice Joat per 100 cane 49 5:0
Recovery commercial sugar per 100
sucrose in juice 92-6 99:17
Recovery sucrose per 100 sucrose
in juice 89°] 92°4
Commercial sugar made per 100
sucrose in cane 569 901
Calculated to 96° sugar 87°1 90:2
Sucrose in above per 100 sucrose in
cane 33°56 $66
Tons cane per ton (omumercia) sugar 8°78 8-53
Polarization sugar 1ade 96°17 96°07
Molasses, Imperia) gallons 332,239 276,910
Molasses per ton of sugar 45°4 37-9
Filter cake, tons },038 831
4°25 4°87
Sucrose per 100 filter cake
SEpremBer 7, 1918,
. TABLE II.
Per 100 parts of Cane. Antigua, St. Kitts.
Sucrose recovered in sugar 10°95 1] 27
Sucrose lost in megass “Bl “82
Sucrose lost in press cake ‘07 ‘06
Sucrose lost in molasses 114 { —
Unrecorded loss 15 ‘87
13:10 13:02
Per 100 parts of Sucrose in Cane.
Sucrose recovered in sugar 83°56 86°55
Sucrose lost in megass 615 6°31
Sucrose lost in press cake D2 "46
Sucrose lost in molasses $72 —
Unrecorded loss 1:05 (6°63
100:00 10000
TABLE III.
Composition of Cane.
Sucrose 1310 13-02
Glucose 1:04 ‘79
Non-sugars 1°51 1:29
Fibre 16:05 16:03
Water 68°30 68:87
100:00 100°00
The character of the work done may best be appre
ciated by comparison with that in the best factories in other
countries. The principal] factor in determining the work ‘of
a sugar factory is the efficiency of the mills. Gunthorpe’s
mills in the season under review extracted 93°85 per cent.
of the sucrose in the cane, and Basseterre 93°69, while the
average work of the mills in Java for the crop of 1917 is
represented by an extraction of 88:9.
One point not to be overlooked is this: that the extrac-
tion of sucrose from the cane is influenced by the amount of
fibre that the cane contains. In Java the amount of fibre in
the cane averaged 13°10 per cent.; in Antigua and St. Kitts
the averages were, respectively, 16:05 and 16°03, showing
these mills to be at a disadvantage in this respect. ;
The recovery of sucrose from the sucrose in the juice,
that is to say, the work of the factories subsequent to the
mills, was good at St. Kitts, being 92°4 per cent., it was
somewhat Jess efficient at Antigua, where it was 89°1 per
cent.
The recovery in the form of sucrose in the sugar sold
was at Antigua, 83°6 percent. at St. Kitts, 86°6, the
Antigua factory producing a larger proportion of molasses.
The foregoing review of the work of the past season
shows that the character of the work at Antigua and St.
Kitts, and the high level of efficiency reached, concerning
which comparisons were made last year in this Journal (Vo),
XVI, p. 356) have been well maintained.
At the present time the greater part of the cohune oil
extracted in the tropics is consumed locally by the natives for
culinary purposes. A considerable tonnage of the kernele is
shipped to the United Statesfor extraction of the oil.
Probably 80 per cent. of these kernels are extracted by the
natives, who break the nuts between two stones after
removing the outer husks. (The /*rfumery an@ Essential
Oil Record, July 23, 1918.) ,
Vor. XVII. No. 427.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO-
CIATION.
The one hundred and seventy-fourth meeting of the
ouneil of. the British Cotton Growing Association was held
-at the Offices of the Association, 15; Cross Street, Manchester,
-on Tuesday, August 6, 1918. :
In the absence of the President (The Right Hon. the
Karl of Derby, K.G.,) Mr. <Alfred=Crewdson -occupied the
“Chair. ;
Wesr arrica. The whole of the long stapled Ameri-
' €an cotton crop grown in the Zaria District, under the
‘auspices of the Government Agricultural Department, has
wow been marketed, and the actual returns in bales of 400 hb.
‘each for the past five years are as follows:—
1918 1917 1916 1915 1914
850 433 121 24 11
These figures show tbat substantial progress is being
‘made, but the returns for the past season would have shown
~even greater improvement had it not been for the unfavour-
-able climatic conditions. Some of this cotton has recently
been received in Liverpool, and has realized good prices. It
was pointed out that this type of cotton exactly meets the
xequirements of the Lancashire spinners, and it is intended
to develop its cultivation as-rapidly as possible. There has
been a satisfactory demand for seed for next season’s crop,
-and practically all the long staple cotton seed has been
-distributed in approved areas, in addition to large quantities
of the native variety in other districts.
The purchases of cotton in Lagos to July 3], amounted
to 2,492 bales, as compared with 7,649 bales for the same
period of last year, 8,993 bales for 1916, and 5,108 bales for
2915.
‘The purchases in Northern Nigeria to June 30, amounted
to 2,516 bales as compared with 3,652 bales for the same
period of last year, 10,386 bales for 1916, and 411 bales
kor 1915.
UGANDA. The 1917-18 cotton crop was very disappoint-
ing, and only amounted to about 13,000 bales. Practically
the whole of the 1916-17 crop has now been shipped, and
the position is more satisfactory than appeared likely some
“months ago.
Owing to the lack of freight, and heavy insurance charges,
larger quantities of Uganda cotton are being shipped to
Tndia than previously, and the returns for the quarter ending
March 31 last show that 210,000 tb. weight of cotton, valued
- at £17,500, was exported to the United Kingdom, and
1,251,633 Tb. weight, valued at £104,303, to India and
Burma. Under present conditions India is in a much more
favourable position than this country as regards shipping
facilities and insurance charges from East Africa.
Year
Bales
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
GRENADA. Plant distribution during the month of July
- 2omprised: limes, 2,800; budded oranges, 70; budded grape
fruit, 64; grafted mangoes, 46; ornamental, 60; various, 2;
cuttings, 6; seed coco-nuts, 496: Carum copticum seed, 4 b.;
other seeds, 2 packages. Mr. J. C.,Moore, the Superintend-
ent of Agriculture, referring to staple erops, states that cacao
is still blossoming, and the crop promises fair: lime trees were
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Die
fruiting well, and crushing bh: 4 begun. There has been no
noticeable extension of the area under canes: some land has
been prepared for fal) planting. There isa good crop of
nutmegs, with very high prices, inducing speculation by
shippers. Sea Island and Marie Galante cotton is being
planted on some estates: at present about 200 acres are sown.
Thrips on cacao is reported prevalent in some localities. Spray-
ing with Nicotine-Bordeaux mixture isin progress on several
estates, andthe Agricultural Departmentis assisting in various
waystocombat theoutbreak. The present Prize-Holdings Com-
petition is said to be the largest on record, there being over
700 entries. The weather in July was fair: several nights
were gusty. Some planters complain of absence of needed.
showers. The rainfall registered at Richmond Hill was 10°57
inches.
sf. Lucta. During the month of July the following
plants were distributed: limes, 3,977; ornamental and decora-
tive, 36; vegetable seeds, 46, packets; Cyrysalidocarpus
utescens, 2 tb. 10 oz) In regard to staple crops, the
Agricultural Superintendent, Mr.A J.Brooks, states that cacao
was setting, limes were good, and good growth was being
made in the cane fields; there was a steady extension of lime
cultivation. Special attention was given during the month
to the eradication of love vine in the Castries district. The
Lime Factory was working at full pressure. A self-feeding
carrier—an improvement on the one working at Carenage,
Trinidad, —has been devised and erected at the factory. This
carrier keeps the mill fed without attention. Instruction in
connexion with the Cacao and Lime Prize-Holdings scheme
was continued throughout the month: good work is being
done. The rainfall recorded at the Botanic Gardens,
Castries, during the month was 6:07 inches; at the Agricul-
tural and Botanic Station, Choiseul, therecord was 8-25 inches.
ST. VINCENT. TheAgricultural Superintendent, Mr. W. N-
Sands, writes to say that the ginning of the 1917-18
cotton crop was completed in July. The yield of Sea Islan®
cotton lint was equal to 914 bales of 360 Ib. each, or ap
increase of 105 per cent. on the output of 1916-17. The Marie
Galante cotton equalled 106 bales of 360 tb. each, so that
the total crop of cotton for the Colony was 1,020 bales.
Cotton planting was continued during the month. At the
Experiment Station 14,368 cotton stainers were collected as
the result of an invasion on July 18. The weather during the
month was excellent—showery. The rainfall recorded at the
Botanic Station amounted to 11-08 inches; at the Experi-
ment Station the precipitation was 7°44 inches. Plant dis-
tribution included 100 Ib. of selected Indian corn.
Accompanying the foregoing is a record of special work
of otticers for the month of July, in connexion with the con-
trol of bush bugs and the cotton stainer.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. Shortage of labour caused serious
inconvenience in carrying on the work of the Tortola Experi-
ment Station during the month of July. Plant distribution
consisted of 133 tb. of cotton seed only. Mr. W. C. Fishlock,
the Curator, says that rain is needed for the newly planted
cotton; otherwise, the condition of the peasant cultivations is
fairly good. There isa considerable revival of interest in
cotton, and reports agree that a much larger area has been
planted than for some years past. There is also a gratifying
display of interest in the planting of food crops. Worm-eaten
cotton was observed at Virgin Gorda, but the damage appear-
ed to have been done by grass worms, and not by the true cot-
ton worm, which usually makes its appearance late in the year.
The weather during the month was dry. Though rain fell
in measurable quantity on eighteen days, the total precipita-
tion was but 2°14 inches, as compared with an average of
4°16 inches for the previous seventeen years.
278
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SEPTEMBER 7, 1918.
nnn ENE
HOME DRYING OF FRUITS AND
VEGETABLES.
Farmers Bulletin 984, United States Department of
Agriculture, is devoted to the subject ‘of farm and home
drying of fruits and vegetables. In the introductory
remarks it is pointed out that, at the present time, imperative
necessity demands nation-wide conservation of those portions
of our food crops which have heretofore been permitted to go
to waste. Asis well known, a considerable portion of this
wasted food material is made up of perishable fruits and
vegetables produced in home gardens and fruit plots in excess
of the immediate needs of the producers, and in the absence
of accessible markets for the purpose.
Drying offers a simple, convenient, and economical
-method for preserving food materials, and permits the carry-
ing over of the surplus into periods in which fresh fruits and
vegetables are expensive or unobtainable.
Success in drying depends upon the observance of a few
fundamental principles, and the quality of the product
depends upon the care employed in the selection of the raw
‘material, upon proper preparation for drying, and upon
careful control of the temperatures employed, rather
than upon the particular type of evaporating apparatus
employed.
As a general principle, it may be stated that,
in districts which normally have a rainless period coin-
ciding with the ripening period for fruits and berries,
these crops may be successfully dried in the sun or by
means of glasscovered solar driers, In regions which
do not have such favourable climatic conditions, driers
employing artificial heat must be used. In this bulletin
a number of driers are described, and directions for their
construction given. The smaller sizes are adapted to the
needs of the individual home, and are designed to care for the
surplus of garden products and fruits from the home grounds.
The larger types are suited to the needs of individuals or
communities having a considerable surplus cf perishable
crops. All the driers described are said to have been thor-
oughly tested in practice, and are such as may be constructed
at very moderate expense from materials everywhere avail-
able by any one who can use ordinary tools.
Directions for the preparation, drying, and subsequent
storage and care of the dried products are given for each of
the more important fruits and vegetables. For ordinary
family needs, a consijerable number of small driers both pat-
ented and unpatented are mentioned, which are intended to be
operative over the ordinary cook stove, and in connexion with
the usual routine of the kitchen. In plan, these range from
single trays, or open racks supporting several trays to be
suspended from the ceiling, to strongly built all-metal cabinets
with a capacity of 1 to 2 bushels at asingle charge. In
mauy cases the housewife will find it possible to do without
special apparatus, and to dry such materials as she wishes to
preserve in the oven of the cook stove, the products to be
dried being spread thinly in baking pans or pie tins, which
should be placed upon racks so that they do not come into
direct contact with the oven wall. The door of the oven
should be left open, so that the water vapour driven off may
pass out, and the fire should be so regulated that the
material may not be scorched.
Such a device as the last mentioned, would appear to
be specially suited to conditions in the West Indies, where
with the use of an ordinary evaporator, placed on the stove,
sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and other vegetables grown in
these colonies may be preserved in the manner described
below.
SWEET POTATOES,
Sweet potatoes intended for drying may be prepared in
the general manner outlined for root vegetables in so far as
washing and paring are concerned. They may be cut into
slices, like potatoes or carrots, or split lengthwise into
quarters or eighths according to size, and dried in that form.
If sliced, six or eight minutes is sufficient for blanching; if
cut into quarters, the time should be increased to ten
minutes, as the potatées must be partially cooked. The
temperature of the drier may be 145° to 150° F. at the
beginning of the drying, and raised 10 or 15 degrees after
the product loses most of its moisture. Sweet potatoes should
remain in the drier until the pieces have become quite brittle,
and break readily under pressure.
In humid districts in which the storage period for
sweet potatoes is comparatively short, an evaporator may
advantageously be used for partially drying or curing
potatoes to increase their keeping period. ‘The potatoes are
brought from the field or market, spread upon the trays one
or two deep, and placedin the drier, which is kept at a
temperature of 90° to 100° F. by slow, careful firing. After
forty-eight to seventy-two hours of this treatment, the pota-
toes will have lost 10 to 15 per cent. of their weight, and
will have become slightly shrivelled superficially. All cuts
or broken surfaces will have dried out. The potatoes should
then be removed and stored in bins or cellars in the usual
way. The ordinary fungi which cause rotting in storage do not
attack potatoes which have been subjected to this treatment,
while the cooking qualities and flavour of the potatoes are:
entirely unaffected by it.
TOMATOES.
Fruit intended for drying should be well ripened but
still firm. Wash the tomatoes, place them in a wire basket,
and submerge in boiling water for one or two minutes, to
loosen the skins. Remove and allow to cool, strip off the skins,
remove the hard, woody central core and any adhering skin
or diseased areas, and cut the fruit into slices 2- to}-inch in
thickness. Spread the slices in a single layer upon the
trays. Tomatoes cannot be placed directly upon naked wire
trays, as the acids of the frnit become so concentrated during
drying that the metal is rather vigorously attacked. Trays
may be protected by painting them over with a brush dipped
in boiling paraffin, or by laying pieces of cheese-cloth over
them.
The temperature at the beginning should not be more
than 120°F., and may be gradually increased to a maximum
of 140°F., towards the completion of the drying.
Properly dried tomatoes, as taken from the drier, will
show no moisture on being pressed between the fingers, and
the slices will break crisply on bending. Like all other
vegetable products. they will become somewhat flexible and
elastic after being shovelled over for some days in the curing
room,
OKRAS.
The younger pods of okra may be dried entire after
being steamed or blanched in boiling water for two to three
minutes, while older pods should be split into halves, or if
quite large, into quarters, and blanched for two minutes,
Spread thinly on trays so that the pods do not overlap.
Begin the drying at a temperature of 115°l. to 120°F, and
gradually increase to, not more than 135° as the drying
proceeds,
BEANS AND PEAS,
Garden peas intended for drying should be gathered
when in ideal‘condition for immediate table use, that is,
when the seeds have attained full size, and before the pods
Vou. XVII. No. 427. THE
have begun to turn yellow and dry up. Shell them by
placing the pods in boiling water ‘for five minutes, then
spread them on a wire screen, having.a mesh large enough to
permit the shelled peas to pass through, with a box or basket
placed beneath it. Rub the pods vigorously over the screen
with the hands, which will burst and empty practically all
the pods much more quickly than they could be shelled by
hand. The shelled peas are then given a very short dip, one
to two minutes, in boiling water, drained, spread toa depth of
3-inch to 1 inch on the trays, and dried at 115° to 120°F.
as initial temperature, rising to 140° toward the completion
of the drying. Stir occasionally while drying. Properly
dried peas will be uniformly dry throughout, showing no
moisture near the centre when split open.
String beans, not yet full-grown but sufficiently develop-
ed for table use are strung, broken into pieces, each containing
not more than two beans, and dipped into vigorously boiling
water for five minutes if very young, for seven to eight
minutes if older or nearly grown, in water which has had
two tablespoonfuls of ordinary baking soda to each gallon
added toit. This will preserve the bright-green colour of
the pods quite perfectly. Then spread the beans about 1 inch
deep on trays, and begin drying at 130° F. Stir occasionally,
and increase the temperature very gradually to 140° or 145°.
The drying is complete when no moisture can be expressed
from freshly broken pieces. Beans and peas which have
been allowed to dry onthe vines may advantageously be
given a short treatment in the drier. Shell and spread them
to a depth of }- to {-inch in the trays, and place in the drier
for ten to fifteen minutes at 165° to 180° F. This treatment
will destroy insects’ eggs and bean weevils, thus reducing
the poscibilities of loss in storage; but it also destroys
the vitality of the material treated, which’ consequently can
not be used for seed.
TREATMENT OF PRODUCTS AFTER DRYING.
After removal from the driers fruits or vegetables must
‘be subjected to an after-curing or conditioning process before
they are permanently stored away. Any lot of material,
even that removed from a single tray, will not be uniformly
dry throughout, some portions being over-dry, while others
contain too much moisture for safety. If such material while
still warm be piled loosely upon a clean floor, and subse-
quently thoroughly stirred at daily intervals for ten days or two
weeks, the wetter portions give up some of the water to the
drier parts or to the atmosphere, the moisture content of the
entire mass becomes uniform, and a condition of equilibrium
with the surrounding air, such that the material neither
absorbs nor gives off measurable quantities of moisture, 18
presently attained. Material so treated is said to have been
‘conditioned’, and may be stored without danger of spoilage;
without such treatment, the spores of fungi and bacteria
present upon the material will be able to begin growth upon
the wetter portions, ultimately destroying the whole. The
curing room should be conveniently located with reference to
the drier, should have over all the windows blinds or shutters
which effectively exclude sunlight or strong daylight, and
should be closely screened to exclude insects. Containers in
which such products are stored should, of course, be air-tight.
————
——————
Observations on the occurrence of infertile spots under
tamarind trees and bamboo clumps indicate that, while
numerous factors were perhaps involved, the infertility in
these particular cases was due mainly to the accumulation of
soluble salts accelerated by the great transpiring power of the
plants, which removed soil moisture, leaving behind the
greater part «f the soluble salts, (Experiment Station
Record, Vol. XXXVIII )
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 279
THE USE OF LEAD FOR STIMULATING
GROWTH IN PLANTS.
Experiments carried out in 1914 and 1915 on the action
of aqueous solutions of lead nitrate showed that plants grew
vigorously when treated with small quantities of lead. The
maximum growth was obtained with 0°5 gram of nitrate per
litre of nutritive solution. Not only did larger quantities
affect the development of the roots, but they also retarded
that of the leaves. The same results were obtained in this
respect with all the experimental plants—rye, wheat, oats,
barley, maize, and peas. The difficulty of spreading the lead
nitrate was overcome by making it into a fine powder, and
mixing it well with the potash salt or sodium nitrate used as
a manure. Manuring experiments with beets resulted in a
certain inerease in yield of both roots and sugar, which could
be attributed to the lead nitrate. Potatoes, on the other
hand, proved very sensitive to the action of lead which
caused a decreased yield of tubers and starch.
In experiments with wheat in sandy loam, the addition
of 44 Ib. of nitric nitrogen to the basic manure increased the
grain yield by 880 bh.; 56 percent. of this nitrogen was
assimilated. The addition of 9 tb. of lead nitrate only
increased the grain yield by 187 Ib. as compared with the
basic manure, and only 21:5 per cent. of the nitrogen
was assimilated. The addition of 66 b. of nitric nitrogen to
the basic manure increased the grain yield by 1,320 fb., and
32:3 per cent, of the nitrogen was assimilated. In this case,
the addition of 9 Ib. of lead nitrate had a favourable effect on
the grain yield, which it increased by 2,123 Ib. as compared
with the basic manure.
There is nothing against the practical use of lead nitrate
and so long as the manufacturer can guarantee a uniform
distribution of the lead, the mixing of lead nitrate with
potash salts in sodium nitrate on a commercial basis is
recommended, (Zxperiment Station Record, Vol. XX XVIII.)
JACK SPANIARDS.
‘The Curator, Montserrat, in a letter to the Imperial
Commissioner, states that the Jack Spaniards, (Polistes annul
aris) introduced into Montserrat from St. Vincent, in 1910,
had for several years been plentiful at Blake’s Estate where
they were first established.
Recent reports were to the effect that these insects were
spreading to adjoining estates to a distance of 4 miles to
the south-east, and to an equal distance to the north-west.
This has been confirmed by a personal visit on the part of
the Curator with regard to the spread to the south-east, but
in the opposite direction careful search failed to confirm the
report.
Attempts made in 1914 to re distribute the Jack Span-
iard to other parts of the island from Blake’s were not
successful. The establishment of this insect, and its
spread in Montserrat is of considerable interest, since it has
proved to be of value in keeping the cotton worm in check,
In the Agricultural News for September 11, 1915,
(Vol. XIV, p. 298), an article on West Indian Wasps appear-
ed, in which the importation of Jack Spaniards into Mont-
serrat is mentioned, and an account is there given of a
‘disease’ of the native wasps (P. crinitus), which may be
responsible for the failure of Podistes annudaris to establish
itself in certain districts in Montserrat, although this matter
has not been investigated fally.
H.A.B,
9-0
EDITORIAL
Heap OFrricz
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
{W. R. Dunlop.*
| Rev, C. H. Branch, B.A.
H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
Mycologis W. Nowell, D.1.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. Of Harland, B.Se.+
CLERICAL STAFF,
Scientific Assistant ant
Assistant Edito-
Entomologisi
Ohief Clerk A. G. Howell
L. A. Corbin.
Glericai Assistant P. Taylor.”
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant?for Publications A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Provided bu the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Agricultural Hews
Vor. XVIL. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1918. No. 427.
Typist
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this number deals with the opening
of a Commercial Museum in Ottawa by the Canadian
Department of Trade and Commerge, in“which a West
Indian section has been instituted
Insect Notes, on page 282, reyiews the section ou
Insect Pests contained in the Annual Report of the
Agricultural Department of St Lucia, recently issned.
Information obtained so far in the investigation of
coco-nut diseases in Jamaica forms the subject of Plant
Diseases, on page 2N6.
On page 276 there is a review of two sugar
factories in the Leeward Islands for the season just
ended which will be font al interesting and valuable for
its statistica comparisons
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SreevemMBer 7, 1918.
Utilization of Waste Tomato Seeds and Skins.
A review of workjalready done in foreign countries.
on the utilization of tomato waste, an investigation of’
the annual output of tomato refuse in the United
States, a comparison of methods of separating the.
ingredients of the waste, and chemical analyses and
value of the most important ingredients, are included
in the United States Department of Agriculture,
Bulletin 6°”. It is,estimated that the annual dry
waste from the tomato industries in the United States
is about 1,500 tons of seeds, and 1,800 tons of skins.
From the seeds can be extracted an oil averaging by
the continuous extraction process 22 per cent. of the
dry seeds,
The refined oil is similar in constituents to cotton
seed, soy bean, sesame, and corn oils. Digestibility
experiments by the Office of Horne Economics show a
coefficient of digestibility of 97, comparing favourably
with the common edible oils. It possesses a certain.
value as a paint or varnish oil, and makes a soa
of good texture. The residue after extraction of the
oil compares favourably vith other seed meals used for
stock feed, analysis showing moisture, 715; ash, 464:_
protein, 37: nitrogen-free extract, 29:1: and fibre, 22-11
per cent. By incorporating the dried skins with the
meal, the annual amount available as feed stuff would:
be about 3,000 tons.
The author of the bulletin suggests that the
reduction of waste material to oil and meal could best
be handled by establishing a reducing plant at some
central point in each of the sections in which the
accumulation of tomato residue principally oceurs. In
view of the threatened shortage of fatty oils, it is sug-
gested as an economic measure of both agricultural and’
industrial importance, that the utilization of this.
material be considered.
—- a © imme
Thick Versus Thin Canes for Planting.
In Volume XVI of the Ziternationl Sugar Journal
(1914, p. 561), and under the above title, the author,
Mr. Arthur H. Rosenfeld, ex-Director of the Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, Tncuman, Argentina, pub-
lished the results of a series of experiments made in
Tucuman Experiment Station during the years 1911
and 1912, to determine whether the fact that a cane
was thin indicated hereditary tendency to that type
of growth or degeneration, or was simply the physical
result of its location on the inside of a stool, for instance,
or of unfavourable conditions of growth during the
year. The results of the first experiments—consisting
of crops of plant canes and of first year stubble (or
ratoons) from the same planting —indieated practi-
cally no difference in the yields or analyses of the cane
from the thin canes and the normal-sized canes, there
being, in fact, a slight difference in yield, in’ favour
of the cane from the thin parents, but a difference so
small that it may easily be attributed to be within the
limits of experimental errors.
A second series of experiments, having the same
object in view, was undertaken and carried out during
the years 1912-18 to 1915-16. The :
results of these
Vout. XVII. No. 427
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
are briefly summarized in the volume of the journal
above mentioned for July 1918, as follows:—
‘The results of the second series of experiments
confirm those of the first, and lead us to the inevitable
conclusion that provided the stalks planted are healthy,
the thickness of the cane used for plants is of little
importance. It is evident that the'size of the stalk
does not indicate the hereditary potentialities it may
possess, and we may therefore, safely assume that a
rigorous selection from the point of view of healthy
condition and freedom from insect attacks and disease
is much more likely to give practical results in the
field than a selection based on the diameter of the
canes. This is brought plainly to view in the table,
where we see that the average weight of stalk from
the two classes of cane is almost identical, as well as
the average yields of cane and the chemical analyses
of the juices. Too much care, therefore. cannot be
given by sugar-cane planters in selecting for health
rather than for size.
D> - ae —
The Value of Forests in Modern Warfare.
The important part that forests are playing in the
present war, is thus referred to in a paper by C. S.
Judd, published in the Hawaiian Forester and Agri-
culturist, for May 1918: In this age of coal and iron,
wood and other forest products, which have almost
innumerable uses in modern warfare, are being sought
more eagerly. and used more extensivelv than ever
before. In the trenches, on the road, in the air, in the
shipyard, in the munition factory and chemical labor-
atory, and in the building of cantonments, wood has
become a dominant factor, and never before has the
demand for exact knowledge on the quality and uses
of wood been so urgent.
In modern warfare forest products are needed in
large quantities. The average trench requires alone
about 1 cubic foot of wood to 10 feet of trench, or
about 60,000 board feet to the mile, or 15 million feet
to the French front, exclusive of that required for
shelter, artillery. screens, block houses, and fuel.
Forest industries which were on the decline or
entizely abandoned have been revived by the war, and
new uses for wood products developed.
Wooden ships and airplaues call for special materi-
als. Sitka spruce, once a despised material, is now
found almost indispensable for airplane construction,
furnishing long, clear, light, yet strong material, in
which failure is far less common than in the metal
parts. In fact, the demand for spruce wood is now so
great that a spruce-production division of the Signal
Corps has been formed of 10,000 men to get this needed
commodity from the woods to the airplane factories.
About 200 board feet of wood is used in the actual
construction of the average airplane. To obtain this
material it is ordinarily necessary to work over about
1,500 feet of select lumber, which often represents all
that ean be used for airplanes of 15,000 board feet of
standing timber, i
ef
Farming in South Africa.
The Annual Report of the Transvaal Land Owners”
Association provides as | usual, says The Field, an
instructive and well-balanged survey of the development
of the farming industry Hot only in the ‘Transvaal but.
throughout the South African Union. A feature of
the last year or two has been the rapid growth of the-
meat export trade. In 1914, 700 quarters were:
exported: in 1915, 33,000 quarters: in 1916, 117,000-
quarters: and in the first ten months of the last year-
308,000 quarters. ‘The demand for land has improved,
and this is attributed iargely to the prosperity resulting
from the high prices ruling for live stock and farm
produce generally. The tendency throughout the
Union appears to be for farmers in the southern
occupied districts to sell their holdings at comparatively
high prices in order to migrate northwards to the
sparsely occupied districts, where at present land has.
appreciated in value only to a small extent. Other
branches of farming besides the live stock industry are
showing abundant signs of vigorous life. As the
Chairman of the Transvaal Land Owners’ Association
said at the annual meeting at Johannesburg on May 6:
‘The war in matters agricultural has provided alike an
opportunity and a stimulus, and whether the Empire's
necessity or self-interest has acted as the spur, it is
gratifying to find that advantage is being taken of that
opportunity in an ever-increasing degree. In all
directions one sees neglected or unconsidered industries
growing up.
Research in Wheat Growing.
On June 27, according to The Times, Mr. Prothero,
M.P., Minister of Agriculture, addressing a meeting ot ©
the Incorporated National Association of British and
Irish Millers, amongst other things said:
‘The Board of Agriculture appeals to millers to
support a national institute for agricultural botany
on the commercial side, working with the Plant- Breed-
ing Institute. As soon as we get a useful variety of
cereals established we want to be able to hand it over
to the conimercial side, who will bring it out on com-
mercial lines, acting through the seed agents. At
present it takes years and years to get a new variety
of wheat or other cereal in the market, and our propos-
ed institute is vastly to accelerate this process.
‘Sir Daniel Hall, Secretary of the Board of Agricul-
ture, said that the Plaut-Breeding Institute had been
in existence for some time, but the new Institute
would incorporate with the scientific side the skill and
commercial knowledge of the practical man. It was
for the miller to place before the scientist the needs.
difficulties, and problems of his trade. Undoubtedly
English wheat had been rapidly deteriorating in recent
years, and if was to arrest this that plant-breeding
research had been started, and it was now desired te
develop it on the commereial side.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
SEpTEMBER 7, 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
INSECT PESTS IN ST. LUCIA, 1917-18.
The annual report on the working of the Agricultural
Department, St. Lucia, for the year 1917-18, which is
reviewed on p. 285 of this issue, contains a section on Insect
Pests and Fungus Diseases. The portion dealing with insect
pests, which is reviewed herewith, consists of a report by
Dr. J. C, Hutson, acting Entomologist, Imperial Department
of Agriculture, on the Black Weevil Borer of Banana, with
notes on other insects; and notes by the Agricultural Super-
intendent on a few miscellaneous insects.
Dr. Hutson visited St. Lucia in July 1917 for the
purpose of investigating the habits of the black weevil borer
of banana (Cosmofolites sordidus). Bananas and plantains
are not grown in St. Lucia as definite crops, but they are to
be found in small clumps or patches all over the island, and
these plants are used as wind belts and temporary shade
in young cultivations of cacao. Dr. Hutson’s investigations
were mostly carried on in connexion with scattered clumps
of bananas and plantains in the plots of peasant proprietors
on the slopes of the Morne, above Castries.
Several different varieties of banana are grown in St.
Lucia, such as the plantain, the Makabou (the bluggoe of
Grenada), the Gros Michel, and the fig banana.
The black weevil was found wherever these different
varieties were examined, and it is probable that the black
weevil borer occurs wherever the banana is grown in St.
Lucia. This insect was found to attack al] the varieties of
banana mentioned above, but it seems to prefer the plantain,
with the result that the plantain is going out of cultivation
and the Makabou taking its place.
The borer was not found in young banana clumps which
had been recently planted. All the material for investigation
was obtained from the older stools, many of which were in an
abandoned and neglected condition, and in stocls which had
been planted within two or three years and had not suffered
very much trom the attacks of the borer. An interesting
description is given of a typical neglected and overgrown
stool of plantains, infested with weevil. A clump of this
type is made up of a number of shoots of different ages all
crowded together very closely just as they originally grew, no
attempt having been made to prune out any suckers, except
such as had been taken for planting new land. The original
parent bulb, or at any rate the oldest bulb in the stool, was
generally found to be in a more or less decaying condition,
and riddled through and through by the tunnels of the black
weevil grubs. This stump, however, was still fairly firm and
had not broken up at all. Inno instance were any weevil
grubs found in any old stumps of this description.
Next in point of age there might be some two or three
daughter stems which had already borne, and had been cut
down leaving, in some cases, a stump 2 or 3 feet high.
Sometimes these stumps had fallen over, while those that
remained standing could easily be pushed over. The under-
ground bulbs were usually pretty well riddled with tunnels
and discoloured but in no way disintegrated. Occasionally a
few larger grubs and pupae were still to be found in the tun-
nels. Then, next in succession there might be some two or three
stems in the ear y fruiting stage, ranging from stems from
which the flowering shoot had not yet emerged to those which
were bearing a small bunch of fruit. These plants were still,
as a rule, in a fairly vigorous condition, and could very seldoin
be pushed over. The bulbs when dug up and examined were
usually found to be attacked by the grubs of the black
weevil in all stages of development, and sometimes pupae or
newly issued weevils were to be seen in their cells.
Of the young suckers of different sizes which may be
seen pushing up'all over the clumps, the larger ones are
sometimes slightly attacked on the side nearest the parent
bulb but a cross section through the sucker at the point of
attack showed that the grubs had only barely cut into the
outer surface of the sucker, aid then probably turned back
into the parent bulb again.
These young suckers were examined for the tunnels of
newly hatched larvae, but instances of these could not be found,
so that it seems likely that the weevils are not attracted to
young suckers under St. Lucia conditions. Several newly
planted suckers ‘were examined for grubs of the weevil]
but in no instance were any grubs found in such plants.
It would appear from the foregoing that there is a period
during the lite of the banana plant when it is most attractive
to the egg-laying weevil. This period appears to be, in
St. Lucia, the time when the flower and fruit are being
developed.
The weevil begins to lay its eggs in the plant about the
time that the flowering shoot is in the process of developing
with the bulb as a reservoir of food for the future bunch, or
even at some time previous to the formation of the shoot,
and that it continues to breed in the bulb till the tissue has
begun to deteriorate. The process of deterioration is prob-
ably hastened by disease, and by the attacks of the grubs
themselves.
During this period of infestation the weevil appears to
pass through several generations, the bulb being more and
more riddled by each successive generation.
In the matter of contro], the need of good enltivation
is strongly emphasized. It should be the aim of every
banana grower to keep his plants in as healthy a condition
as possible all the time, so that the bunches may be fully
developed before the attacks of weevil grubs can reduce the
food supply stored up in the bulb and thus indirectly impair
the size of the bunch of fruit.
The disposal of the stem and the infested bulb after the
bunches of fruit have been cut is a problem not easy of slu-
tion. It has been recommended for Jamaica that these be
cut in thin pieces and spread out on the ground. Such pieces
should serve as traps to attract the adult weevils, and these
should be collected from time to time. If the old banana
material is cut in small enough pieces, it is not likely that
the grubs would be able to develop in them; but this is a
point on which definite information does not seem to exist.
The introduction of the predaceous Histerid beetle from
Java to prey upon the weevil is suggested as likely to be
a useful measure.
Other insects attacking the banana in Src. Lucia
are the large Dynastid beetle (Zomarus dbituberculatus)
which attacks the newly planted bulbs of plantain and the
Makabon banana, and also attacks young tannias and
dasheens; and the striped weevil borer (Je¢amasius sericeus)
which is well known as the weevil borer of sugar-cane.
Limes were found to be attacked in St. Lucia by the
adults of Diaprepes abbreviatus, var. punctatus. Diaprepes
abbreviatus is known in Barbados as the root borer of sugar-
cane.
of the lime trees, but no observations were made on the
attacks of the grubs on the roots of these trees.
The purple scale (Zepidosaphes beckit), the snow scale
(Chionaspis citri), and the green scale (Coccus viridis) were
common on trees that were at all neglected or suffering from
insufficient drainage. The white-headed and red-headed fungi
were abundant on the purple scale and the black fungus
The adults and egg masses were found on the leaves .
Vout. XVII. No. 427.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 283
SSS Ei TT
occurred occasionally on the snow scale. The small metallic
bluish green lady-bird (Zxochomus njtidulus) was also
observed on the lime trees infested with scale insects.
A small lemon-yellow to yell» wish-green beetle was
observed on leaves of limes in the Soufriére valley. These
beetles are leaf feeders and produce a notching of the margin’
of the leaves. This insect is (/Veocyphus |Germariella] pudens),
which is common in Montserrat. :
Mole crickets are reported as doing some damage to lime
seedlings at Réunion Estate. Several birds feed on the mole
cricket. Once a small gaulding or heron, known locally as
Caille, was seen searching for this insect in the grass walks
which were being badly attacked by the mole cricket.
Mahogany trees (Szwetenta Mahagont) were attacked
by a small caterpillar boring in the twigs. This was after-
ward identified as (Aysipyla grandella, Zell.) The insect
attacks the Honduras mahogany (.S. macrophyl/a), and the
Cedar (Cedrella odorata) more readily than the native
mahogany. The cutting off of infested. twigs is the only
remedial measure suggested.
Mr. C. B. Williams, the Entomologist in charge of
Froghopper Investigations in Trinidad, visited St. Lucia for
the purpose of ascertaining if the sugarcane froghopper
occurred in that island, but though careful search was made
in the sugar-growing districts the pest was not found.
During the year under 1eview reports were received of
grass-hoppers defoliating young orange, trees. The grass-
hoppers proved to bea species of Microcentrum. They
feed at night and hide by day. They are attacked in the
early morning by the black tird (Quwzsca/us sp). On account
of the abundant rain at the time of the attacks spraying with
lead arsenate proved to be of no avail.
H.A.B.
Zee
= A | D
SSS
THE. STAPLE TRADES OF THE EMPIRE.
Edited by Arthur Percival Newton, M.A., D. Litt., B.Sc.
London & Toronto. /. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., Price 2s. 6d.
net. Pp. 184.
This comprises a series of lectures delivered within the
University of London at the Londen School of Economics
and Political Science in the Spring of 1917, The course
was planned under the auspices of the Imperial Studies Com-
mittee of the University and the Royal Colonial Institute, but
for the views expressed in his lecture, e#eh lecturer alone is
responsible, the task of the committee being solely to ensure
that each trade should be dealt with by’someone who could
speak with authority concerning it- The series comprises the
following lectures: Oils and Fats in the British Empire, by
Sir A. D. Steel-Maitland, Bart., M.P-, His Majesty’s Under-
Secretary of State for the Colonies; TheSugar Supply of the
Empire, Its Production and Distribution, by C. Sandbach
Parker, M.A., C.B.E.; The Cotton Resources of the British
Fmpire, by John A. Todd, B.L., Professor of Economics,
University College, Nottingham; Metals as the Base of
Imperial Strength, by Octavius Charles Beale, ex President
and Representative of the Associated Chambers of Manufac-
turers of Australia; The Wheat Supplies of the British Isles,
by Hugh R. Rathbone, M A.; Member of the Royal Commis-
sion on Wheat Supplies, Member of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Board, : etc.; The Importance of Imperial Wool by
E. P. Hitchcock, M.A., Raw Materials: Department of the
War Office. 3
_ _ In these lectures attention is mainly directed not to the
raising of the products, but to their distribution from the
producer to the consumer through the processes of commerce.
_ Regarding the trades dealt with, Those to which greatest
interest and importance will necessarily be attached in these
West Indian colonies are those which form the principal
staple products of these colonies, viz.—taking them in the
order of local importance—those dealing with sugar, cotton,
oils and fats. In each case the trade has been dealt with by an
expert who can speak with first-hand knowledge, and the very
large volume of data and information supplied, cannot fail to
be of value and use in carrying out such proposals and recom-
mendations as may be finally agreed upon for the further
development of these staple trades of the Empire.
The lectures that are here printed afford an illustration
of the fact that the best ‘practical man’ may also be a scien-
tific thinker about the conditions of the trade to which he
has devoted his energies, and may supply within the very
narrow limits assigned, a survey of the actual conditions
of certain great branches of commerce at the present day.
Each lecturer dealt with his subject not merely from the
historical standpoint, but also with the design of indicating
the conditions that will govern future developments, and of
emphasizing the steps that. in his opinion, are necessary to
secure the greater benefit of the Empire as a whole. Though
the treatment of the commercial questions dealt with has been
entirely independent in each case, it will be noted that a con-
siderable unanimity of opinion is evinced by the lecturers, as
to the direction in which future efforts must be made if the
British Empire is to recover in fall strength from the losses
of the war and of the period of slackness and easy-going
indifference that preceded it,
This can but be regarded as an expansion of the idea
conveyed in the words of the Royal Commission on the
Resources of the Dominions with which the introduction con
clndes, namely, that ‘it has been a commonplace for years
that British manufacturers and merchants should be stimu-
lated to study and cultivate the Dominions’ markets, and to
produce goods of the nature and quality which are required
by consumers across the seas. It has equally been a common-
place that the manufacturers of the Mother Country should
be urged to use the vast resources of raw materials which the
Dominions possess. The difficulty has lain in suggesting
acceptable measures for the realization of these ideals.
Hitherto the proposals made have been mainly the work of
advocates of sume particular fiscal or other theory, which
they have pressed. in season and out of season, as a universal
remedy. In our judgment these counsels however impor-
tant they may be, cover only a part of the problem. An
Imperial policy in the broadest sense must include much that
is not fiscal. ‘There is no short cut to the formulation of
such a policy; what is needed is detailed examination
of existing conditions, and practical and definite proposals for
the removal of difficulties and for securing co operation.’
The present volume is regarded as a small contribution
to that task of detailed examination. A book such as this
can safely be commended to the general reader, who will
amply be repaid for the time spent in its perusal.
281 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Serrember 7, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
Phe Colonial Journal, July'1918, is responsible for the
statement that, in some countries very sweet boney is
-extracted from the ripe cotton plant, and it should be more
-generally known that this is one of the best honey-yielding
plants. The honey granniates readily.
A number of factories in Natal extract the wax from
the filter-press cake, using the benzol process. The filter-
-press cake contains up to 17 per cent. of wax, and 14 per cent.
iscommon. This is where the cane is trashed, but should
the cane be burnt, the percentage decreases to 10 and less.
(The South African Sugar Journal, May 1918.)
The Commissioners under the Vegetable Produce Act,
Barbados, give notice under date August 29, 1918, that the
-dates for reaping provision crops under existing Orders
having expired, nntil further notice provision crops now
growing may be reaped at the discretion of planters, provided
such crops have arrived at the maturity fixed by the Orders
for planting.
—__—__
The Scientific American describes a newly designed machine
for cracking the coco-nut and freeing the kernel. . This is
operated solely by centrifugal force, the whole nuts being fed
into a rapidly revolving drum, and driven violently against a
-continuous stationary belt of breaker blocks lining the inside
suriace of the main drum-shaped casting. (The dustra/ian
Sugar Journal, June 6, 1¥18.)
Rhodesia is becoming a promising ground for the pro-
dnetion of certain oil At present only ground nuts
and sun flower seeds are produced commercially; the cultiva-
tion of both is increasing, and the latter are likely to become
a staple export. Castor oil seeds, sesame seeds, and linseed
can also be produced (Fiu//etin af the Imperial Institute,
Vol. XV, No. 4.)
seeds.
Well decomposed stable manure is the best general
purpose fertilizer for lawns. Jt contains all the chemical
elements essential for plant growth, and adds humus to the
soil, thus making it more retentive of moisture, and also
improving its texture. If this can be used, a heavy dressing
should be applied. A ton to 2,000 sq. feet would not be too
heavy. (Aulletin Ne. 287, Michigan Agricultura] College.)
An Ordinance (No, 29 of (1917) has been passed in
Frinilad, which provides that ho person shall acquire any
interest tn the oil-bearing lands’ without the written consent
A the Governor. It is retrospective in operation, and applies
to all interest previously agreed to be acquired. The object
is to safeguard fuel oi) for the Navy, and the Ordinance is
to remain in force during the war and for six
months after.
According to the Produce Jaréet’ Review, Jane 22,
1918, operations are in progress for the erection of a plant on
the Brisbane River for the manufacture from molasses of an
acetate of lime which will ultimately be utilized for certain
purposes; this may eventually involve the use of a very large
quantity of molasses which annually runs to waste in ()ueens-
land. ‘The enterprise is understood to be in the hands of the
Commonwealth authorities.
Experiments made in Java seem to prove that, in the
ease of Hevea rubber, the latex flows in a horizontal as_ well
as in a vertical direction. The horizontal How is less rapid.
Experiments made on a number of trees of equal yield show
tbat the maximum latex flow occurs at 6 a.m. and not at 10
a.m. A crooked incision yields as much as a V incision, the
total length of the two branches of which equals that of the
crooked incision. (The Colonial Journal, July 1918.)
It is satisfactory to find, writes the iVest J/ndia Com-
mittee Circular, that the Agricultural Society of Trinidad
and Tobago shares the views expressed by the West India
Committee, 'hat enough attention has not been given to cacao
asa food. When quite lately the Cacao Committee of the
Trinidad Board of ‘Agriculture was consulted as to the fixing
of a minimum price for that product fn London, stress was
laid-on the necessity of impressing the Food Controller that
cacao should no longer be treated as a matter of luxury, but
as a food.
The Wes: India Committee have received intimation
that the Government have decided to give to the signatories
to the Brussels Sugar Convention the reyuisite six months’
notice of their intention to resume complete liberty of action
with regard to theirsugar policy. This is in keeping with
the pledge given to the signatories in 1913 when Great
Britain withdrew from the Convention that a preference
would not be given to British Colonial sugar or to cane sugar
over beet sugar without first giving the signatories six months
notice.
The Chamber of Commerce Journal, July 1918, reter-
ring to the reported discovery in 1917 of a new deposit of
molybdenum at Lier, Norway, states that the deposit was at
once bought up by a group of Christiania business men who
proceeded to test the metal. The work has now advanced
to a stage where it.can readily be seen that the new deposit
is an extensive one, and the metal of a good quality. The
metal is found in quartz veins, the ore-bearing veins having a
breadth of 5 c.c. (2 inches), but the metal itself is in such
concentrated form that it can be prepared for the market
with a minimum of Jabour.
re
As aresult of the restriction of trade due to the eur-
tailment of shipping between the lar Kast and Europe,
difficulty has arisen in the disposal of the copra crops in the
Malayan Peninsula. ‘This has led to the revival of proposals,
says the Chamber af Commer e Journal, July 1918, to extract
coco-nut oil on the spot on a larger scale than hitherto, and
it is understood that the Federated Malay States Government,
with the view of encouraging the establishment of local oil
mills, will grant a site for a factory at a nominal rent, and
will also grant a loan against mortgage. Jt is estimated
that a minimum of 7,200 tons of copra per year or 14,000
acres of coco-nuts in bearing, would be reqnired to justify
the erection of a co operative mill,
—
Vor. XVII. No. 427.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
285
AGRI.-
THE
CULTURAL DEPARTMENT, 1977-18:
This report which has recently been issued contains much
Sf. LUCTA:- REPORT QHN
of interest to the general reader. In common with the other
“West Indian colonies, St. Lucia has evidently been experienc-
ing difficulty with regard to the exportation of the products
of the chief industries, owing to shortage of shipping facili-
ties. This difficulty appears also to have affected the
sugar industry, through the deficient supply of artificial
manures obtainable The fair results: attained during the
year in regard to this industry would seem to be entirely due
to the perseverance of the estate managers, who in some
instances considerably increased their expenditure on tillage
in an effort to minimize, as far as possible, the shortage in
production which must have resulted in: the absence of fertili-
zers. Ina small colony like St. Lucia, it is not possible to
throw out large areas of land to lie fallow for any length of
time, and to take up new land, as is the practice of larger
colonies. It is therefore not difficult to foresee that unless
the sugar planters are given some practical assistance in
procuring the manure they require, the sugar crops will
diminish year by year, and sugar being the mainstay of the
agricultural industries, the future must» be viewed with some
misgiving. i
Judged by the exports alone the cacao industry would
appear to have received a set-back, the export of this
product during the year under review being the lowest
recorded since 1961, and 2,851 cwt. less than the previous
year; but the falling off is in great measure again attribut-
able to the difficulties experienced in shipping, and also
to the fact that larger juantities of native cacao are being
used locally. There is also recorded an apparent falling
off in the lime crop, as shown by the export returns.
This falling off is due to large supplies of juice remaining
on hand at the close of the year through lack of shipping
opportunities. Steady progress was however maintained in
the green*lime trade, and it is satisfactory to note that the
St. Lucia brands continue to secure the highest market prices.
The total value of lime products exported during the year
‘was £6,945, Continued attention is being given to an
extension of the areas under coco-nut cultivation. Large
areas are now coming into bearing and it is anticipated that
the exports of coco-nut products will in future be greatly
increased. i :
In regard to minor industries, the closing down for a
ortion of the year of the private factory for the distillation
“of bay oil is to be regretted, for the reason that the trade in
‘bay leaves is capable of being developed into quite an
important peasant industry, there being no scarcity of leaves.
On the other hand, it is satisfactory to note that bay rum
was manufactured for the first time, and disposed of locally,
“and it is hoped that this article will be included in the list
‘of exports of the colony in the near. future. Lime
‘planting having become general. increased attention is bein
‘given to bee keéping by lime growers, the value of bees in
‘tion given to this minor
fertilizing the flowers and thus producing larger crops of
truit having been more generally recognized. Owing to the
difficulty experienced in obtaining imported leather, increased
attention has also been given to the tanning of locally pro-
duced hides. These are fprchased direct from the butcher,
and tanning is carried oift in each district of. the island.
It is estimated that threg-fifths of the total leather now
used in the trade is today tanned. The increased atten-
industry is reflected in the exports
of hides, which show a decr of 6,570 during the last two
years. Although comparing favourably with some of the
inferior grades of America leather, the best quality produced
at the St. Lucia tannery, is said to leave much room for
improvement,
A considerable amount of time and energy appears to
have been devoted by the agricultural officers throughout
the year in dealing with the question of the local food supply,
and in taking steps to prevent as far as possible any serious
hardships that may have resulted through the threatened
shortage of imported foodstuffs from the United States and
Canada. After careful investigation it was decided that the
best practical results would be obtained by devoting special
energies to the production of sweet potatoes, cassava, and
corn. As a result a Government corn granary and a depot
for dealing with locally grown ground provisions were estab-
lished. Following on this a farine plant at Réunion
Experiment Station was also. erected. Sweet potato
meal has been manufactured on a commercial scale at
Reunion, and supplied to local bakeries for mixing with
wheaten flour for bread making. More than 23,000 Ib. of
farine and starch were manufactured at the farine factory, and
supplied to public institutions and to the general public for
local consumption.
Interest in the introduction and distribution of new
botanical species has been maintained. A consignment of
3,000 seeds of Swretenia macrophylla was obtained
from the Agricultural Department, Trinidad. Plants are
being raised to enable this valuable tree to be distributed
throughout the island. Seeds of a drought-resistant strain
of alfalfa were received from St. Croix through the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture, and sown ina dry light soil
with full exposure. The plants grew bushy, to an average
height of 9 inches, and flowered profusely. When sown in
more humid beds they were killed out by a fungus, The
green-dressing plant (Do/ichos Hoseiz) has continued to spread
vigorously. Planted a year ago between permanent crops of
oranges, grape fruit, mangoes, etc., it “bas made a dense
compact covering of the soil over large areas, and in
numerous places is now over 1 foot thick. Mr. Brooks,
the Agricultural Superintendent, regards this as being
by far the most successtul green-dressing plant intro-
duced, as it is permanent and requires little or no weeding.
The ajowan plant (Cxrvm copticum), which yields thymol,
has been successfully grown at Réunion. Each trial bas
clearly shown that this plant can be successfully grown, and
without any particular care. It thrives in very light soil,
with full exposure to the sun, and without any care beyond
forking the soil, scattering the seed and then breaking the
lumps with a hoe. Under this treatment at Réunion the
plants grew to an average height of 14 inches, and produced
a good supply of seed. Under more generous treatment, with
a copious supply of moisture, the plants made greater growth,
but the production of seed was not so great.
The officers of the Agricultural Department are to be
commended for their energetic efforts im many directions,
and for the effective way im which the yaried work of ‘the
Départimeit is being conducted.
286
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
| ~ SEPTEMBER 7, 1918.
NN.
PLANT DISEASES.
—_——
DISEASES OF COCO-NUTS IN JAMAICA.
Two leaflets recently received from Mr. S F. Ashby,
’ Government Microbiologist, Jamaica, embody the information
obtained so far in the investigation of coco-nut diseases in
that island.
The differentiation of bud rot into two distinct diseases,
one of which is believed to be of fungus origin, is particularly
interesting and important. The view which for a number of
years seemed justified by the available evidence was that bud
rot in the Western ‘I'ropics was solely bacterial in its nature,
‘while the similar disease of coco nut and other palms in the
East was due to a fungus of the genus Pythium. This has
recently had to be modified owing to reports of bacterial
disease in Malaya and elsewhere, and it seems that as a result
of Ashby’s discoverie in Jamaica, the converse modification is
necessary as regards the Western forms.
Ashby’s description of the two types met with in Jamaica
is as follows. In the first type, which is presumably still to be
regarded as bacterial, ‘one or more fruiting bunches begin to
drop the young nuts, followed by a breaking down of the
limbs. In this type weeks or months may elapse before the
disease reaches and kills the heart, so that as a rule ample
warning is given of the progress of the disease
‘In the second type of bud rot the first symptom
“noticed is a drooping of the heart leaf which soon dies and
dries up. This form of the disease gives no warning, as the
tree is dead before anything wrong is noticed ‘his kind
of bud rot is now very widespread in St. Thomas and
Portland. It has been present in these parishes for years,
_ but the hurricane of September 1917, followed by much rain
‘ towards the end of that year has caused a great increase of
the disease since February 1915.
‘The disease is due to a fungus which causes pale or dark
brown spots to appear on the bases of the limbs. round the
‘ heart. The fungus gradually eats its way through the strainer
or thicker parts of these limbs until it reaches the heart of
the tender cabbage, which is rotted quickly and changed
usually into a soft, stinking mass. It is only when the rot
_ has reached intg the heart of the cabbage that the heart leaf
droops, dies, and dries up. The spots on the leaves and strainer
- of the limbs round the heart are not asa rule large enough to
cause these leaves to appear diseased, so that the death of the
heart leaf is the first symptom to be seen, and then it is too
late to try to save the tree. ;
; ‘As soon as a tree shows a dead heart leaf it must be cut
down, the buds split open, chopped up, and thoroughly burnt
sa as to be charred to the centre It is not enough to chop off
the limbs and make a fire on and.around the unsplit buds,
as such fire usually does not reach into the heart. The bud
must be split open and chopped into a number of pieces so
that all the rotted parts get destroyed by the fire The fungus
frequently causes sodden spots in the fibrous parts at the top
of the stem below the cabbage. In such cases the top of the
steni showing these spots must be cut off and burnt with the
_bud. Cutlasses and axes used in splitting and chopping up
the diseased buds should be flamed in a fire on the spot
until the iron is too hot to be touched by the hand.
‘Tt is very necessary that the prompt destruction of trees
killed by bud rot be continued, 4s the disease may remain
* dormant in the tops on the older imbs for many months (as
Jong a5 two years in India) before penetrating into the heart.
fe ‘Bud rot attacks trees of every age, from the youngest
to the oldest. It is usually especially severe on deep, rich,
‘local and rare.
alluvial soils in wet, districts; in these localities the trees
make a very rapid sappy growth, bear early and heavily, and
seem more susceptible to the disease than slower growing,
later bearing trees on poorer lands and hill lands, and also in
drier districts. Trees in well-drained land appear to be less
susceptible to the disease. The fungus of bud rot may
cause rows of spots to appear on living heart leaves, giving
rise to one kind of Leaf-Bite disease (Phytophthora or
Pythium Leaf Bite). Such trees very probably die finally
from bud rot.”
The leaf-bite diseases here referred to are dealt with in a
second leaflet. ‘At least four forms can be distinguished in
the fields of which the causes were different. During the
last couple of years two kinds have become very conspicuous
in north-eastern parishes, three of the forms are caused
primarily by vegetable parasites, and in each of them the
heart leaves are the first part to be attacked, before being
pushed out into thelight, As attack occurs while the leaflets are
pressed together on, the stalk, they are killed down to the
same level, giving a chopped off or bitten off appearance to
the leaf when finally pushed out, hence the popular name.
‘The most frequent form of the disease is caused by the
pineapple fungus (Zhielaviopsis paradoxa, von Hohnel),
another widely spread but less frequent form, probably by
a small yeast. ‘The other kind due to a vegetable para ite is
caused by a downy mildew (PAvfophrhora sp.), and is more
The further kind due to the rhinocerds
beetle (.S¢vatezvs sp.) shows the leavas torn or pierced For
convenience the forms may be named:—
Pine-apple Leaf-Bitten Disease
Hard or Little Leaf-Bitten Disease
Phytophthora Leaf-Bittery Disease
Rhinoceros Beetle Leaf-Bitten Disease.’
Holo
_ The symptoms of the first (pine-apple fungus) type are
given as follows: “Ihe younger green unfolded and unfolding
leaves appear bitten off at the ends or show successive leaflets
lower on the stalks broken or reduced to stumps. Those
nearest the heart show spots on snecessive green leaflets
which bend over or break and hang down at these points.
‘Leaves just pushing up can be detected with black tips;
if the end of the heart leaf is cut out with the white leaflets
overlapping and pressed on the stalk, characteristic discolour-
ed patches and spots will be seen. Infection usually starts as
a yellow discolouration with a brown edge along a narrow line
beside the ribs of the leaflets; the infection runs across all
the leaflets overlapping at that point. These long narrow
spots widen to wedgé-shaped patches with dark brown, broad
edges and a pale-brown centre, with the skin raised into a
blister, so that it can be torn off to expose the fibres with
the tissue between them more or less decayed away, ~
‘If infection is high up, only the tips of the Teaflats
become black. A heart leaf may show one or more wedge-
like patches of disease. Spots are also present on the lvaflets,
at first minute, round or oval, yellowish with depressed
centre, later with paleyellow centre and brown edge; by
union these become patches; in bad cases the leaf-stalk
(rachis) beneath the diseased leaflets is attacked by a dark.
brown rot, so that when pushed out the end of the limb may
break off. Spots and patches show black specks consisting
of spore masses of the fungus. The frequency of infection
beside the ribs of the leaflets is due to a line of thin cells
there, which regulate the opening and closing of the mature
leaHets in dry and moist air so as to control evaporation, af
water from the leaf pores, which are confined to the undgy
“sides of the leaflets,
Vor. XVI, No, 427.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
287
=> iia eee eee
‘The disease, as already pointed out, starts on the heart
leaves while still white and tender, before they push into the
light. Just what conditions favour this infection cannot be
stated yet. Check to growth during a period of drought
may have started it at some estates, while the last two
unusually wet years have made it epidemic.’
The presence of this disease seems to lay the tree more
open to attack by bud rot, and itis also being followed by
Metamasius sericeus (the weevil borer of sugar-cane) which
is attracted to the rotting patches on the heart leaves, and
does a limited amount of damage by enlarging the injuries.
The basis of the treatment now adopted consists in
chopping back the whole bud until no discoloured leaflets
show in the heart. A mixture of salt, lime, and copper sul-
phate is then applied to prevent re-infection. veoh
The second type (hard or little Jeaf-bitten disease) is
more widely spread but not so definitely epidemic. The des-
cription is as follows:—
‘As arule short limbs can be seen in any part of the
crown with a bitten off appearance of the foliage: the leaflets
are frequently reduced to short, dry stumps, and the limbs
brown and dried up: Such dwarfed, withered leaves are
frequently mingled with normal green leaves, showing that
fora short time good leaves may be developed. Ina bad
case all the youngest leaves in the heart remain dwarfed, and
the ends wither up, giving the tree the appearance of having
lost its heart, and resembling an advanced case of bud rot.
Affected limbs which are still living show long, brown, raised,
cracked and very hard patches on the upper surface. This
condition may be present on all the leaves in the heart, and
reach deep down intoit. As the affected limbs and strainer
become hard and unyielding, the youngest growth is held as
if ina vice; if able to push out the leaves are dwarfed, and
the leaflets deformed and twisted from having developed
under great pressure. If the heart fails to push out, it hardens
and dies, and the tree ceases to grow, and eventually dies.
When such a bud is chopped open. the heart is found brown
and hard, wi'hout odour, and with no signs of soft rot. If
bud rot is prevalent in the cultivation, the tree may be killed
by a secondary attack of that disease which may therefore
follow both pine-apple and hard leaf-bitten diseases. Trees
not severely attacked by this disease may recover naturally,
at least for a time;the bud leaves in such cases are shorter
than usual, often curved or twisted, and may show cracks on
the limbs from which a colourless gum oozes, hardening into
ish lumps.
Be ‘In ie cas stage of attack the leaflets and limbs show
yellow spots, and after the brown, raised, cracked areas have
appeared on the limbs, these are bounded by a yellowish,
waxy-looking zone. Between the cells and these yellow spots
and patches a very small yeast can be seen in quantity, and
cultures have always yielded the same yeast, which as a rule,
is the only organism to develop. The same yeast has been
frequently found in a yellowish sodden rot of coco-nut trunks,
sometimes in association with pine-apple fungus.’
The third disease, lue to a fungus of Phytophthora type,
is shown by Ashby’s most recent work to be closely connected
with the fungus type of bud rot already referred to. Yellow
spots with brown edges are present on and run across a series
of overlapping leaflets in the heart; a delicate mildew may be
present on the spots. The affected leaves when pushed out
jnto air and light show brown sp ‘ts on the unfolded leaflets at
the same level. The fungus resembles very closely, and seems
likely to prove identical with Py/icwm palmivorum, the cause
of bud rot of coconuts and of Palmyra palms (Borassus
fabelliformis) in India. —
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
M4RKET.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.LS., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of July 1918:—
GINGER.
The month started with advanced prices for this article.
Common to good-common Jamaica was quoted at 130s. to
135s. and medium to good, 140s. to 150s. Washed Cochin
realized from 140s. to 160s., and Calicut 135s, while
Japan was quoted at 130s. At auction on the 17th of
the month ginger was reported very firm, Jamaica fetch-
ing from 165s. to 175s. according to quality, and fair
washed rough Cochin 180s., while Calicut was quoted at
165s. Quite at the end of the month the ruling prices were
as follows: Jamaica 160s. to 170s, Cochin 170s. to 180s.,
Calicut 160s. to 170s., and Japanese 125s. to 135s. Com.
menting on these prices the Chemist and Druggist says:
‘The recent advance appears to be due to speculation, and,
consumers are disinclined to take interest at the much higher
level of prices now prevailing. Second-hand dealers offer
good Jamaica at 140s., Calicut at 125s., and Cochin at 140s.
which prices are much lower than those asked by Mincing
Lane operators.’
SARSAPARILLA.
This drug was in fair supply at auction on July 4,
consisting of 29 bales of grey Jamaica, 28 of Lima-Jamaica,
40 of native Jamaica, and 10 of Honduras. Of the first,
28 bales were disposed of at 5s. 3¢. to 5s. 6d. per tb. for
fair fibrous, 5s. being paid for slightly mouldy. Ten bales -
only of the LimaJamaica found buyers, fetching from 5s.
to 5s. 1d. per Ib. Of the 40 bales of native Jamaica only
26 were disposed of at from 5s. to 5s. 1d. per Ib. None of
the Honduras was sold, being limited at 5s. 6a.
ARROWROOT, PIMENTO, CITRIC ACID, CASSIA FISTULA,
LIME JUICE, MACK, NUTMEGS, TAMARINDs.,
At the first auction in the month, namely on the 4th,
as many as 800 barrels of St. Vincent arrowroot were offered,
and sold at from ly. 52. to 1s. 6¢. per bh, for common to good
manufacturing. Further sales were also effected at the same
rate at the close of the month. Pimento has had a steady
sale throughout the month at 6d. to 64d. per Ib. There has
been a steady demand also for citrie acid throughout the
month, at from 3s. 5d. to 3s. 54d. per bh. At auction on
July 4, Cassia Fistula was represented by 30 packages, all
of which were sold at 5Us. per ewt, over previous prices,
fair bold, part rattley from Dominica fetching 132s. 6d.
Lime juice was in large supply at auction on the 4th of the
month, some 56 packages being offered, all of which were
bought in at 4s. 6¢. per gallon for good pale raw. A week
later it was reported that there was a steady de mand for raw
West Indian at from 3s. 9¢. to 4s. 6d. per gallon. At auction
on the 11th of the month mace and nutmegs were both
in fair supply, the former selling at 3s. 5d. per Ib. for fair
quality, and the latter at 3s. 6d. per bb, for Penang 80's.
A consignment of some 135 barrels of Antigua tamarinds
were brought forward quite at the end of the month, and
were disposed of at prices ranging from 98s. to 128s. per ewt,
in bond; for small, mostly dark colour, and pulpy. It was
reported later on that a portion of this consignment had
been re-sold at prices up to 140s. per cwt.
288
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
SertemBer 7, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
Inpra Commrrres
London.—Tue
July 11.
ARRowRooT—1/- to 1/5.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, 3/4} to 3/7; Sheet, 3/11 to 4/3.
Bereswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90,-; Grenada, 85/-;’ Jamaiea, no quota-
tions. ;
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Froit—No quotations.
Gryezr—Jamaica, no quotations.
Honrex—Jamaica, 175/- to 195/-.
Live Jurce—Raw, 3/3 to 4/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nurmecs—No quotations.
Prwenro—5}d. to 6d..
Rousser—Para, fine hard, 3/1}; fine soft, no. quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
West Crgcucar,
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpos, Grant & Co., July 27.
Oacao—Venezuelan, $11°10; Trinidad. $11°75 to $12°40.
Coco-nut Om—$1°16 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, no quotations.
Oorra—$6'25 per 100 th.
Daat—No quotations.
Ontons—#4-00 per 100 th.
Pras, Sprit—$8-00 per bag.
Porarors—English, $5°00 per 100 Ib.
Rice—Yellow, $13°00 to $13°25; White, 39° per bag
Svesr—American crushed, no quotations.
New York.—Messrs Gitzesere Bros, & Co., July 12.
Trinidad, 123c. to
Trinidad $40-00;
Cacao—Caracas, lSc.; Grenada, Lijc.:
13c.; Jamaica, Ilgc. to 12c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $42 °(W):
culls, $20°00 to $21°00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica{9}c. to lle. per tt.
Ginerr—1L5}c. to 16gc. per th. ‘
Goat Sxins—Jamaiea, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, 85e,;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per tb.
Grare Fruir—Jamaica, importation prohibited.
Limes—Importation prohibited
Mace—40c. to 45c. per th.
Nvérmecs—27c.
Onances—Importation prohibited.
Pimento—6je. to Je. per th. :
Suear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:055c; Muscovados, 89°, 50650,
Molasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid. ~
|
Barbados.—Messrs, T. S. Gazraway & Co,, August 6...
ArrowRroot—$1200 per LOW th.
Cacao—$12°50 to $13°00 per LOO fh
Coco-nuts— $4800 husked nuts
Hay—#2°90.
Motassers—No quotations.
Onrons—No quotations.
Peas, Sprir—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rick—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran
goon, no quotations.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, $5°00
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Voinme XVII, No. 1.
Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the :atormation contained in them
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions, The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two.
The
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’:
extracts
A. Fortnightly Review.
from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made ig
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subseription price, including postage, is
2s, 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each
— post free, 5s.
The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dubay & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane.
Barbados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown.
Jamaica; Tue Epucationat Surety Company, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana: THe Arcosy Cv., Lrp., Georgetown
Trinidad: Messrs, Murr-Marsuaun & Co., Port-of-Spain,
Tobago: Mr. C, L. PLaGEMANN, Scarborough.
Bahomas: Mr H. G. Curistie, Board of Agriculture, Nassau
Grenada: Messrs. Tos. Lawtor & Co., St
St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonavie, ‘Times’ Office
St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nives, Botanic Station
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Rosean
Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matone, St. John’s.
St Kitts: Tez Brace anp Book Surety Acenoy, bassereess
Nevis: Mt. W. I. Howgn1, Experiment Station.
Canada: Lewis W.'Onemens, 31, Yonge Street, Toroate
George,
ha ah Wipes “Vy
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
ee ————e—
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and_ how our
elients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
m exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crusnmg, WE DO
-A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
_ CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
_ REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
| WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
, THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
Serresrser 7, 1918.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantae,
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLRASE CALL ONES.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
_ BARBADOS.
Printed at Ortice of Ayrieuleursl Reporter, 4, High Street Bridgetown, Barbados,
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—_—
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TICK SUPPRESSION
Kd
ge THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1
‘
oO
; |
TICK ERADICATION?
——_—_. *
>
How often should Cartle be Sprayed?
HALF MEASURES. There are innumerable Cattle owners who think that the object of dipping or spraying is to keep ticks from getting on to
the cattle : this wrong impresston is held almost always by those men who do not set before themselves as their goal the absolute eradication of ticks from
their property, but are content simply to keep the number of ticks within bounds, These men aim merely at tick “ suppression,” and are apparently
content to regard ticks as a trouble that will always be with them ; they look forward with equanimity to the prospect of having always to keep on spraying
their cattle from time to time, and do not even realise that it is perfectly possible, by spraying or dipping regularly and thoroughly, to completely eradica:e
ticks from a property within a period of two or three years.
ERADICATION SHOULD BE THE AIM. It should, therefore, be most strongly emphasised that the determination which should be behind
cattle dipping, or spraying operations, is not merely to ‘‘suppress’” ticks, but to completely eradicate them.
So far from it being desired to keep ticks off cattle, the whole idea is to use the cattle to collect the ticks from the infested pastures, and then to kil! <'I
the ticks on the cattle by spraying or dipping them in a tick-destroying fluid. In this way the ticks are being continually ‘* mopped up” by the cattle, and
the pasture eventually becomes absolutely free from ticks.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROPER INTERVAL. But it will be clear that, if this desirable result is to be obtained, the cattle must
be treated sufficiently often to prevent any ticks which get on after one dipping from falling off again before the Cattle are again dipped. If the interval
between treatments is too long, many female ticks will fall off withou' ever having becn dipped cr sprayed. [Each of these female ticks will lay several
thousand eggs, which means that the pasture is being continually re-infested with young ticks. The importance of not allowing any female tick to escape spraying
will be realised if it is borne in mind that the progeny of one single female tick may, within a period of seven months, come to number 6,750,000,000 individuals.
"INTERVAL DEPENDS ON LIFE HISTORY. Ih considering what is the proper interval between sprayings or dippings, the deciding factor
must be the period which a tick spends on an animal from the time it first gets on, as a seed tick, until the time it falls off as a fully-engorged female, reecy
to lay eves.
It has been proved beyond all doubt that the ordinary Cattle Tick requires at least three weeks to complete that portion of its life-cycle which it
spends cn an animal. It follows, therefore, that one dipping or spraying every 21 days, is quite sufficient to catch and destroy all ticks which have got
on to the wal since the previous dipping. If the operation is performed every fortnight, so much the better, as ticks will be eradicated more quickly.
AM OFFICIAL RECOMMENDATION. The following procedure is recommended by the Jamaica Department of Agriculture, when first
commencing tich-eradica‘ion measures :-—
Spray once, handpic!.ing engorged female ticks on the point of dropping. Spray again 10 days later. If ticks still appear, spray again 10 days Jeter.
If no ticks are found, spray 3 weeks later. Spray every 3 weeks throughout the year, whether any ticks are seen or not.
The next year the three-weekly spraying should be persisied in. The following year the property should be free from ticks, if this procedure is
observed and the spraying is always very thoroughly carried out.
HOW LONG TO CONTINUE SPRAYING. If ticks apparently disappear from the Cattle after they have been under treatment for some time,
the dipping or spraying should not be discontinued until it has been determined by a number of careful hand inspections that the cattle are really free of ticks
ticks continue on cattle unti! cold weather and then finally disappear, it should be borne in mind that in all probability eradication has not really been
accomplished, as there may be engorged females, unhatched eggs, and inactive seed ticks on the farm ; consequently, even if the cattle should remain free of ticks
during the winter, they may become re-infested the following spring. In any case in which ticks disappear from the cattle and treatment is discont pued,
the cattle should be watched with the greatest care for ticks until ample time has elapsed to leave no doubt that the property is free of ticks.
HOV’ TO KEEP A PROPERTY CLEAN. After a property has been freed of ticks, precautions should be observed to prevent ticks from
being reintroduced. In case it becomes necessary to bring cattle from a*ticky property, they should be completely freed of ticks before being
brought on the place; or, if this is not possible, a quarantine lot, or pen, should be set aside to be used exclusively for ticky cattle, where such cattle may be
kept and entirely freed of ticks before being placed with other cattle. Such cattle may be freed of ticks by dipping them twice at an interval of 10 days in am
ersenical dip. After the second dipping, the cattle should not be placed in the quarantine pen, which may be “ticky,” but placed in a tick-free lot, where they
ean be observed for a time, to make abeolately certain that they carry eo ticks, after which they may be placed with the other cattle.
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS; ¢
Has received the official approval of the following Countries: SY. KITTS: 5. L. Horstord . SSA: Bammer Uryson @ Ce
Ualon of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, ary gee, Hankey eo
‘ BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co, Ltée
Nyasaland, Swazilan’, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, a BAHAMAME a, ‘Teynan, Naseath
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T. ee crest, 24 of Spain.
Portuguese West Afri.:, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, st. Welein cole Con Biiesewa. Nevise re Matic
DANLSH WEST INDIES: Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas. :
United States of America, New South Wales, MONTSERRAT: W. ityn Wall, DOMINICA: ton: H. A. Fringe
Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
ie
Manufacturers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydmey, Melbourne, Auchinnd, Busnes Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odesss.
patent HSS Se 2
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a “FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF .AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
SEPTEMBER 21, 1918. Price ld.
Vout. XVII. No. 428. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
Pace. Pace.
Acid Phosphate — rersus Market Reports ... ... 304
Raw Rock Phosphate... 293 Medicinal Herb Growing 291
Agriculture in Barbados... £4 Milk, S: anitary, Produc-
“ic ele 1. : x tion of .. SeeeB)
Cayman. Tslands, Hurri- | |-Muscovy ingle “The 299
cane in 1916-17 ... 297 90%
' ri We be Notes and Comments ... 296
Cotton, Varieties of e . z
als 2 Oil, Vegetable, New Source
KRgyptian Produced by F 209
Mutation ... ‘ . 295 Plat HiDisell at ton
Cyclones on August 22, An Se
Coco-nut Bud-rot... 302
918 296 e
eae - 206 plant, Effect of One Grow-
Fish, Preserving without : By
Tee _ 999). ing, on Another... ... 201
= ee * 300 Royal Agricultural and
a ee nla at Bos Commercial Society,
nsec otes:— ritish Guiana .. . 292
I t Not British G 292
Spread of the Mexican Rubber in North Borneo 295
Sealy Leg in Fouwls, Treat-
ment for .. £297
Scientitic Research it in n Agri-
culture ... aso SIIB
Sugar and the Teeth . 291
Suyar-canes, Seedling ... 289
University Empire Study 303
Cotton Boll Weevil
in the United States 298
Items of Local Inter-
est...
Margarine “Industry ‘of the
United Kingdom, Expan-
sion of . . 296
294
Seedling Sugar-Canes.
Vi
kext his Presidential Address to the Royal
Agricuitural and Commercial
- Briish Guiana, which is referred to on
another page of this issue, Professor J. B, Harrison,
C.M.G, M.A., discussed the general outlook as regards
seedling sugar-canes, with especial reference to their
stability, and the manner in which their production is
best undertaken. These remarks, embodying as they do
Society of
the experience of one of the principal workers in this
field of enquiry, extending over the whole period since
the simultaneous discovery in the West Indies and in
Java of the seminal fertility of the sugar-cane, carry very
great weight: they are accordingly here reproduced in
order to extend the publicity given to them, and to
render them readily available to the readers of the
Agricultural News. Professor Harrison said:—
‘In 1897 investigators generally were of the opinion
that once a new variety of sugar-cane was produced,
that after its first period of excessive vegetative vigour
had passed, its characteristics were fixed for all time-
Soon after the cultivation of the new varieties had
been extended over large areas, it became painfully
evident to the majority of planters that their charac-
teristics are not fixed, and that in many instances, char-
acteristics which in the earlier years promised to make
a variety of sugar-cane of high value both in field and
factory, were the first to fail. This tendency towards
senile degeneration renders it necessary tu raise new
varieties of seedling canes year after year, in the hope
of having fairly good varieties available to replace
others which may gradually fail.
‘Experience has proved to us that it is very easy
indeed to raise new varieties of sugar-canes which are
of high promise as plant canes. It has further proved
to us that it is relatively difficult to obtain sugar-canes
capable of producing good erops as plant canes and as
first ratoons; and that it is exceedingly difticult to
produce varieties which can be relied on to give satis-
factory crops of plant canes, Ist, 2nd, and 3rd ratoons,
Few indeed of the enormous numbers of new varieties
which are now raised each year in various parts of the
290
tropics will do this, and the problem of getting good
varieties for cultivation under the long-ratooning sys-
tem necessitated here by our deficient labour-supply
_and dependence on hand, instead of on mechanical, culti-
vation, becomes an exceedingly difficult one. Elsewhere,
with the exception of Cuba, sugar-canes are as a rule
only cultivated as plants, or as plants and Ist ratoons.
Hence as the best varieties raised in Barbados, Java, and
Hawaii have been chosen for their suitability for short
ratooning periods, it is rarely that a sugar-cane suitable
for our long-ratooning conditions can be imported from
-elsewhere.
‘The most successful method we have tried here
for raising new varieties of sugar-cane of promise is
‘based on the facts that a sugar-cane for successful
‘cultivation on our heavy clay soils must be of well-
marked vegetative vigour, and that whilst the range
of yariation in the saccharine content of seedling
sugar-canes is very great, its relative: sugar-content
is a fairly fixed characteristic of any variety. We
-endeavour to raise as many seedlings as we can from
varieties of proved vegetative vigour, and select from
them those having both well-marked vegetative vigour
-and relatively high saccharine content. By this method
we raised from J).625 the seedlings D.118 and D.419,
the areas under which have increased from 2 acres, and
1 acre, respectively, for the crop of 1911-12, to 2,710,
-and 1,360 acres, respectively, for this year’s reaping.
‘We have been advised time after time to give up
-our proven methods and to confine our efforts towards
raising canes by cross-fertilization. If we had in this
-eolony sugar-canes of single parentage showing fixed
characters and, through their purity of origin, having
little or no tendency to mutation or sporting, that advice
wouid be excellent. In India, and to a less extent in
- Java, sugar-cane varieties of high purity of strain exist:
and with these it is possible that by the application of
Mendelian principles in raising seedlings, new varieties
of high value may be obtained. Up to the present,
however, this has not taken place.
‘At the inception of the sugar-cane breeding work
here, Jenman was enthusiastic over the possibilities of
raising new varieties of high promise by controlled
methods of cross-fertilization; but in 1892-3 our hopes
in that direction received a severe shock. Using a vari-
ety of sugar-cane, the Kara-kara-wa cane, which our
experience in three preceding years had shown to
produce seedling-canes having usually somewhat close
resemblance to the parent variety, and placing it under
conditions by which it was impossible for its arrow or
THE AGRICULTURAL
eo
NEWS
SerPreMBeER 21, 1918.
Howering shoot to be either cross-fertilized by any other
variety, or fertilized by any other flower shoot of its
own kind, we got seedling canes from the one arrow of
267 different sorts. The parent cane in its own seedl-
ing stage was hence possibly derived from fourteen
diverse ancestral strains.
‘Supposing, for example, that we take two kinds of
sugar-cane, one, X, having as ancestral kinds the varie-
ties A,B,C,D,E and F, and the other, Y, derived from its
ancestors A,B,G,H,I, and J,it is evident that 406 differ-
rent combinations can arise from the interbreeding of
the two kinds, instead of a single blend or cross, X x Y.
‘By Mendelian segregation, the inheritable proper-
ties of this diverse progeny will fall into three groups.
We do not know which properties are inherited; but
assuming that the general characteristics as a whole are
heritable, the segregation of the seedlings from the
cross X and Y may give rise in the first generation to
1,218 groups of varieties.
‘Now either X or Y, by interbreeding with its own
kind, could produce only 15x3 groups or forty-five
general strains of sugar-canes. The complexity intro-
duced by the cross-fertilization of existent complex
hybrids is well illustrated by this example.
‘Up to 1902 we had not made any systematic
attempt at raising canes of controlled parentage. We
now do it as a matter of regular routine—not with any
idea of ggtting seedlings having definite and desired
characteristics, but as a means of greatly widening the
range of their variation. We have complete proof of
the success of the method in this line. Unfortunately,
there is no chance in british Guiana of controlled cross-
fertilization of the sugar-cane proving a short and cer-
tain way to successin the productioe of new varieties
of high saccharine value.
‘Probably a more disappointing investigation has
never been pursued than has been the search for
improved varieties of sugar-cane. There are now many
stations at work at it in the tropics and sub-tropics;
their results appear to be very similar; in the earlier
years working with natural varieties of -sugar-cane,
several kinds of high promise are almost invariably
obtained; in later years, when the mass of material for
parental purposes has rapidly and enormously increased,
the production of really good varieties appears to
become increasingly difficult, and results satisfactory
to both investigator and planter tend to be few and
far between. It looks as though the good results arose
Vor. XVII. No, 428,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
291
from the unravelling of the complex ancestry of the
natural varieties, whilst similar results from the retangl-
ing of the new strains thus obtained are compara-
tively rare, and are very elusive.’ ‘
Those who are interested in the introduction of
new seedling canes into their fields will, doubtless, in
the light of these remarks, carefully consider the results
which they are obtaining from their efforts. It will be
observed that, in Professor Harrison’s view, the work
of finding promising seedlings is much more difficult
when it is required to have canes that will ratoon well;
when plant canes only are grown, the problem is_rela-
tively simple.
The question of the stability of seedling canes pro-
pagated by cuttings has long been under investigation.
Some have held that these canes would prove stable, and
indeed in the early days of the work this was the com-
monly accepted view: now, however, many are doubt-
ing this, and Professor Harrison appears to be amongst
those who are convinced of the tendency towards early
senile degeneracy on the part of these seedlings. It is
observed that, in some districts where sugar-cane is
cultivated, there is a tendency to substitute one new
seedling after another in the hope of obtaining ever-
increasing yields. Where adequate records exist, it
would be well to examine these carefully, in order to
see whether the newly introduced varieties retain their
productiveness. in full degree, or whether they fall off,
so that the substitution of successive new varieties
merely serves to maintain the sugar production at a
high level, but does not tend to raise that level to the
extent that is hoped and desired. Now that it is the
commonly accepted practice on the majority of West
Indian sugar estates to weigh the canes which are
delivered to the large factories, and seeing that in the
factories continuous analyses are made of the juice
obtained from these canes, there should be in existence
some data whereby it may be possible to learn some-
thing definite concerning the stability or otherwise of
seedling canes during the years subsequent to their
introduction into cultivation on a large scale.
Still the fact remains that the continued produc-
tion of new seedling canes is a matter of moment for
the sugar industry. This work affords means of combat-
ing many of the forms of fungus disease to which sugar-
canes are liable, and it also atfords the means of main-
taining the level of production, even if it does not tend
to raise that level so rapidly as was at one time hoped
might be the case. It is therefore work essential for
the well-being and development of the industry, and
should be carried on continuously.
SUGAR AND THE TEETH.
In the course of a paper in Farmers’ Bulletin 535,
United States Department of Agriculture, on Sugar and Its
Value as Food, there occurs the following information in
regard to the effect of sugar on the teeth, which should be
of interest: —
‘It is often said that sugar is harmful to the teeth, but
the facts seem to be as follows: According to the theory
universally accepted, the decay of the teeth, technically called
caries, is caused by bacteria, such as are found in every
mouth, entering the soft portions of the teeth through defects
in the hard outer covering. If acid is present in the mouth,
and especially in the interstices of the teeth, it tends to eat
into the enamel and thus provide an entrance for the earies:
producing bacteria. Ordinarily, saliva is alkaline and protects
the teeth against this dancer, but when it is in contact with
sugar or starch, acid is produced, hence a carbohydrate mate-
rial lodged upon the teeth may be the indirect cause of caries.
Some authorities hold that certain forms of sugar cause the
flow of a less alkaline saliva, but this point is not fully estab-
lished. In general, it is believed that starch is not as dan-
gerous as sugar, and that the form and manner in which the-
material is eaten is a more important consideration than its-
exact chemical structure. Soft foods are especially likely to-
cause trouble, both because bits of them may remain on the
teeth where they form “plaques” which are centres of bacterial
action so long as they remain, and because they are swallowed
without much chewing and thus do not rub the food “plaques”
or other deposits irom the teeth. Modern specialists consider
that the cleansing action of proper mastication is as important
for the preservation of the teeth as the regular use of a tooth-
brush, important as this last is. Any soft carbohydrate food.
eaten alone is much more likely to leave a deposit on the
teeth than if it is eaten in combination with other foods. If
candies are eaten by themselves, they are more likely to-
cause the development of acid in the mouth than if they are
taken during a meal. Some physicians advise finishing the
meal with acid fruit for the sake of lessening the chances of
carbohydrate material clinging to the teeth. While soft
foods may possibly cause trouble, the hard ones may also be
dangerous, especially to diseased teeth, as the effort to crush
them may tend to increase flaws in the enamel. Such things
as hard crusty food, hard candies such as lemon drops, stick
candy, etc., may be dangerous in this respect, though investi-
gations by G. V. Black on the crushing force of the teeth,
have proved that sound teeth are capable of crushing much
harder substances than these without injury.’
Medicinal Herb Growing.—Dr. David Ellis,.
Professor of Botany in the-Royal Technical College of the
University of Glasgow, has written a book to foster the~
growing movement for the revival of herb cultivation in this
country [Great Britain], a movement which was organized
with the object of supplementing the supply of some of the
more urgently required drugs, such as digitalis, belladonna,
and opium, at the beginning of the war. The industry,
which now adds toa useful extent to the synthetic drugs,
has greatly developed in the last two years, and private
growers and collectors, thanks to good organization in several
countries, have reinforced the efforts of the professional
firms. The book, which is full of varied information on the
subject, is entitled Aedicinal Herbs and Poisonous Plants,
and will shortly be published by Messrs. Blackie & Son.—
Lhe Field, July 1918.
292
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SepremMber 21, 1918.
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL AND COMMER-
CIAL SOCIETY, BRITISH GUIANA.
The Presidential Address delivered by Professor J. B.
Harrison, C.M.G., M.A., ete., to the British Guiana Royal
Agricultural and Commercial Society, the first part on
February 4, 1918, and the second part on April 17, 1918,
en the Society’s work in the period of twenty-one years be-
tween 1897 and 1918, is published in Zimehri, Vol. V, 1918.
This address constitutes a review of the changes which have
taken place in the society, and in the industries of the colony
since January 1897 (the year during which Professor Harrison
was President of the Society, and the West Indian Royal
Commission made its enquiries and issued its report) up to
the present time.
In 18¢7, Professor Harrison points out, the society
showed more activity in practical pursuits than it has done
of late years. It was not then as purely a literary or book-
collecting society as it now is. Its agricultural and its
correspondence committees were alert and active. The
Professor regrets that this, the premier agricultural society
of the West Indies, and the second in the Empire, in point
of years of existence, has, in this respect, shown some lack of
Vitality.
After payirg a fitting tribute to the efforts of his prede-
cessors, and of his co-workers who have passed away during
the interval, he proceeds to discuss the various matters in
which the society had interested itself, and the progress
which had been made during the twenty-one years under
review. Professor Harrison refers firstly to the efforts that
have been made in connexion with the promotion of agricul-
tural education, and the proposals which years ago were
brought forward, on his initiative, in regard to the establish-
ment of (a) a central agricultural college for the West Indies,
and (b) agricultural or farm schools in various districts of
British Guiana. The society’s interest in this highly
important question appears to have waned during recent
years, but still some interest had always been taken in it by
certain of the members; and he often wondered whether any
practical steps will be taken towards the establishment of
such a school, but more especially of a Central West Indian
Agricultural College, before his official connexion with these
colonies terminates.
Regarding local foodstuffs, the society, it is shown, had
devoted much attention in the early nineties towards the quali-
ty and purity of these, as also the conversion of locally grown
vegetable products into permanent forms in which they may
be stored; the latter, however, with scant success. Under
present war conditions, the position with regard to locally
produced foodstuffs has become very acute. As the outcome
of a report and recommendations of a special committee, the
Government was endeavouring to obtain from the United
States, machinery for the equipment of a factory for convert-
ing rice and maize into ground riee, rice flour, and corn flour.
The success of this should be assured, and should lead in the
future to an export trade in ground rice and rice flour.
It is hoped that it will also be feasible to equip the factory
for the commercially successful production of various flours
from plantains, bananas, cassava, various pulses, and ground
provisions generally. Professor Harrison is careful to remind
his hearers, however, that a factory of this sort working on
a commercial scale is an entirely novel proposition. It is one
which the society hoped would prove successful, but the
success of which will be entirely dependent on the receiving
of ample supplies of the various raw materials from planters
and farmers. Unless the factory can work continuously, and
at its full power, its failure is a foregone conclusion.
An address by Professor Harrison reviewing the work of
this society covering a period of twenty-one years, must
necessarily include more than passing reference to the question
of soils—a subject'to which the major portion of his life-
work has been assiduously devoted. This, the Professor has
amply dealt with, and it will receive fuller notice in a later
issue of this Journal So also with reference to the progress
of agricultural industries, particularly the sugar industry.
The portion of the address dealing with the raising and
propagation of seedling canes forms the subject of the editorial
in this issue, while other matters will receive attention later.
In regard to the rice industry, steady progress has been
made, as is evidenced by the data supplied in the address
under review. Thearea under rice cultivation in 1896-7, it
is shown, was about 6,500 British acres, yielding paddy equal
to about 4,000 tons of cleaned rice, in value about £48,000
or $230,000; whilst in 1917 not less than 63,580 acres were
reaped, yielding paddy equal to about 45,000 tons of com-
mercial rice, having a value in normal times of at least
£540,000 or $2,600,000.
Coming next to the coco-nut industry, it is shown that
there were, in round figures, 9,700 acres planted in the
colony prior to 1911, If these palms had been planted at
proper distances, and properly tended, the Professor states,
there shouldnow be about 390,000 trees in full-bearing, produc-
ing at least 15,000,000 coco-nuts a year. In addition, at least
2,300 acres should be commencing to bear, and their yields
should increase the total to about 21,000,000 nuts per annum.
The annual exports of coco-nuts is about 2,000,000 nuts.
The copra exported annually represents about 325,000 nuts,
and the coco-nut oil about 1,075,000, leaving apparently
about 17,600,000 nuts available for local consumption. If,
he postulates, this is the actual position, then the community
can look with equanimity towards the threatened scarcity of
imported fatty food, for they will have the equivalent in
food value of 6,750,000 tb. of butter or oleomargarine, or of
5,000,000 Ib. of ghee and oil. But Professor Har.ison is
doubtful whether the colony does produce 21,000,000
coco-nuts annually. On the contrary, he expresses himself as
being satisfied that, owing to lack of care in planting, uneven
spacing, neglect of drainage and of tillage, the ravages of fun-
goid and insect pests, and especially lack of continuity in
clean-weeding, the areas which should now be bearing are not
producing nuts in numbers even approximating to those they
should do, The exports of coco-nut products, however, have
increased from 500 in 1896 to, in round figures, 1,911,000
nuts, 169,000 fb. of copra, and 26,674 gallons of oil in 1917,
and these alone served to measure the reserve stock of fatty
foods on which the colony might be compelled to rely,
In its agricultural activities the society has always
been interested in coffee growing, and Professor Harrison
recalls the fact that in the eighteenth century, and in
the earlier part of the last century, Guiana, and especi-
ally Berbice, was celebrated for the high quality of the
coffee produced; and that at the time of the cessation
of slavery, circumstances beyond the control of the plan-
ters necessitated the gradual abandonment of its cultiva-
tion. There has been, however, a marked extension in
coffee planting during the period under review, which has
-been carried out mainly, if not entirely, with the Liberian
variety. Whilst ptogress with regard to coffee planting
during the past ten years appears to be marked, Professor
Harrison represents the industry in British Guiana to be
practically in a deplorable state of stagnation, in comparison
with that of their neighboursin Surinam, There, not only
had the area planted with Liberian coffee been greatly
augmented, but coffee was being grown on excellent cultural
lines, such as were followed by very few indeed of the planters
Vou. XVII. No. 428.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 293
-—_S esses
in British Guiana, with the result that on plantations in
‘Surinam—plantations having from, say, 400 to 800 acres
of Liberian coffee in full-bearing—returns of coffee per
acre were attained which, to growers having only local experi-
-enoe in British Guiana, were almost incredible.
Cacao planting does not appear ever to have been a
prominent or even a very promising industry in British
‘Guiana, it being, nevertheless, one of the earliest followed.
Berbice appears to have been the part of the colony where
in early days cacao was principally produced. The maximum
export, 115,000 tb. in those early days, was in 1820. In
1896 the export was about 47,000 fb., increasing in 1897 to
105,000 tb., and attaining its maximum of 124,000 ib. in
1900. The present stagnation in the ‘cacao industry, Pro-
fessor Harrison thinks, has been largely due to the fact
that the planters of cacao in the seventies to the nineties of
the last century were wedded and adhered to the Trinidad
policy of densely shading the trees with the Bois Immortel
-or Oronoque trees, this practice, in his opinion, not being
suitable to the conditions of British Guiana.
The address then deals more or less extensively, accord-
ing to their relative importance, with the rubber industry,
in connexion with which the late G. S. Jenman played so
‘prominent a part: fruit, fibres, minor industries generally,
the concluding portions being devoted to the varied mineral
resources of the colony.
Regarding the mineral resources, these are among the
chief fundamental industries of British Guiana. In addition to
gold and diamonds, the recent discovery of bauxite is a
matter of vital importance to the future development of the
‘colony, having regard to the fact that British Guiana is the
-only part of the British Empire in which large deposits of
‘this mineral exist, all other known deposits existing in
foreign countries. Professor Harrison narrates the circum-
stances which led to the chance discovery by himself of the
widespread deposits of bauxite in the Christianburg-Akyma
district whilst President of the Society in 1897, in company
with the then Curator of the Museum, Mr. J. J. Quelch—the
latter in search of zoological specimens, the Professor enquiring
into the physical nature of the soils.’ Professor Harrison
by chance noticed the occurrence of sinall blocks and gravel
of hard material all along the paths, from the riverside to the
honse at the summit of the low hill at Three Friends,
Akyma. He collected samples and asked Mr. Quelch
aif he knew what the7stuff was. Mr. Quelch said it was
an indarated clay (exactly what it was), and that there
were very wide areas of it in that district. Professor
Harrison suspecting the concretionary mineral might be
phosphate of alumina, afterwards analysed the specimens
and found that they contained exceptionally high proportions
of a hydrate of alumina. Thus to a chance visit of the then
President of the Society, accompanied officially by the
Curator of its Museum, the colony, and it may be added, the
Empire, are indebted for the finding of the large superficial
deposit of bauxite of the CGuianas, which, with its vast
~water-power resources are among the most valuable of the
potentialities of the colony. d
Professor Harrison must be congratulated on the
valuable and instructive fund of information which he has
‘supplied in the address under review. He has dealt with the
subject az only one of his long years of active experience,
observation, and research in a colony possessing such diversi-
fied industries conld be expected to do. Efforts such as
these cannot fail to receive the tull measure of appreciation
frem those immediately concerned: they should tend to revi-
vify waning interest, and give stimulus to greater activities
amongst members of the Roya! Agricultural and Commercial
Society.
PRODUCTION OF SANITARY MILK.
Experiments undertaken with the object of investigating
and determining the four essential_ factors in the production
of milk of low bacterial content are presented in AyJetin
Ne. 642, of the United States Department of Agriculture,
The summary of results with the conclusions arrived at,
indicates, amongst other things, that in general the greatest
contamination of milk comes from the use of unsterilized
utensils, and that the use of small-top pails, that is pails
with a hood on the.top, was found to lessen the quantity of
manure and dirt which may gain entrance into the milk, and
to assist in lowering the bacterial count.
In view of the efforts taken from time to time by the
proper authorities to ensure the production of pure milk,
that is, milk free from dirt and other impurities (in contra-
distinction from fraudulent adulteration) in these islands, the
chief of the conclusions reached are here reproduced:—
Milk of low bacterial content and practically free from
visible dirt, when fresh, was produced in an experimental
barn under conditions similar to those on the average low-
grade farm.
: Three simple factors were necessary for the production
of milk with a low lacterial content, namely, sterilized uten-
sils, clean cows with clean udders and teats, and the small-
top pail. Washing the udder and teats of the cows not only
caused a decrease in the bacterial content uf the milk, but
also more nearly uniform counts.
A study of the bacterial groups in the low count milk
showed that they correspond closely to those in the milk
drawn directly from the udder.
A practical demonstration of the value of the three
essential factors was made on six farms. The results indicate
that it is possible tor the average farmer with inexpensive
equipment to produce milk of low bacterial content with
little extra work.
The results of the experiments indicate that it is possible
for the average dairyman on the average farm, without
expensive barns and equipment, to produce milk (praetically
free from visible dirt) which when fresh has a low kacterial
count. By the use of the three simple factors, namely, ster-
ilized utensils, clean cows with clean udders and teats, and
the small-top pail, it should be possible on the average farm
to produce milk which corresponds closely to milk as it leaves
the udder of the cow.
In connexion with the production of milk of low
bacterial content, and which is practically free from visible
dirt, it seems evident from the results that undue emphasis
has been given to factors and methods of minor importance,
while those which directly affect the bacterial content have
not been sufficiently emphasized.
Acid Phosphate versus Raw Rock Phos-
phate.—The superiority of acid phosphate over raw rock
phosphate when applied in equal amounts, both alone and in
combination with muriate of potash, lime or manure, is
thought to be fully demoastrated in experiments involving
rotations of corn, oats, and clover, conducted at Wooster for
thirteen years, and of corn, wheat and clover in practice for
twenty years, as indicated by both crop and money returns
based on values prevailing up to 1914, and on current values.
An experiment recently established, involving a rotation of
corn, oats, wheat, and clover, and in which 480 tb. of acid
phosphate and 768 f. of raw rock phosphate, representing
equal recovery values, were used, in addition to 8 tons of
manure, has given the same relative results. -Axferiment
Station Recor?, May 1913.
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
st. vincent. During the month of August work in the
Botanic Gardens was of a general routine character. In
regard to staple crops Mr. Sands states that the cotton crop
continued to make good progress. There was some damage
done by wind on August 22, but this was local, and not ofa
serious nature. The corn crop promised well, and reaping
was started. Cotton picking will be in progress during the
coming month. The Agricultural Superintendent, the Cotton
Instructor, and other agricultural officers again devoted much
attention to problems connected with the cotton industry,
involving the control of cotton stainers, bush bugs, and in
one or two cases, leaf-blister mite. The absence of cotton
stainers and bush bugs in the fields in the lower Leeward
Districts was particularly noticeable. At one estate, a few
cotton stainers were found on bolling cotton plants which had
been cut back last season and not stumped out in a field
which was subsequently planted in cassava. The occurrence
of leaf-blister mite in other places was attributed to a similar
source of infection.
The rainfall for the month recorded at the Botanic
Station was 17°14 inches; at the Experiment Station, 12°25
inches.
Attached to Mr. Sands’s notes is a report on a visit to
the Grenadines by the foreman of the Experiment Station,
in connexion with the contro] of cotton stainers, bush bugs,
and other pests in these islands. The presence of cotton
stainers in many of the districts is reported. In one particu-
lar case, cotton stainers were seen on Marie Galante cotton
plants. living on bits of seed-cotton left on the plauts from
the last picking, and on the bolls ona plot of ratooned Sea
Island cotton. These bolls were badly infected with internal
boll disease. The occurrence however is said to be local, as
the examination of cotton bolls in plots situated about }-mile
or less away revealed no internal disease, nor were any cotton
stainers observed in these! plots. Attention is directed
to the desirability of taking measures to prevent the spread of
leaf-blister mite, which affects a large proportion of the Sea
Island cotton in a section of the Grenadines. The foreman
was not in a position to say whether the disease is increasing
in magnitude from year to year, but it seemed desir-
able, in the interest of the Sea Island cotton industry of
Union Island, that the operation of the Ordinance for the
destruction of old cotton plants at the end of the crop should
be extended to this island. As the pest does not appear to
affect Marie Galante plants, he suggests that the established
methods of growing this perennial cotton need not perhaps
be interfered with. Only the desteuction of the Sea Island
cotton stalks may be necessary.
st, KITTS. Owing to the very dry, hot weather of the
past month it was found impossible to do any planting or
distribution of cuttings during the month of August. From
the Botanic Gardens 12% ornamental plants only were distri-
buted. The usual routine work was carried on, and constant
watering to keep the plants alive was necessary. The record of
the past month, Mr. Shepherd states, isa very gloomy one so
far as weather is concerned. The rainfall was only 2:28
inches, aud rain fell on eight days only. From this it will be
seen that the condition of the cane crop is very poor, and
unless the rain comes soon and heavy, there is little
promise of more than half the average crop being made
The ratoons especialiy are very poor, having had no
artificial manure. The cotton crop has stood the dry weather
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
1916.
SkeremBer 2],
well, and where planted early, the returns are very satisfac-
tory. Picking isin full swing on the northern side of the
island, abd the yield per acre in this district will be above.
the average, as the weather has suited cotton. In the Valley
District showers ate needed to develop the bolls, which are-
opening prematurely. Cotton stainers have appeared at the-
experiment plots, and every effort is being made to keep
them under control. A visit te the estates round the
island showed that asa general rule the cotton crop is
better than for-many years past, and the cane crop very poorg:
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The spell of dry weather which prevailed during the-
latter half of August was broken by the very stormy weather
which was experienced on the 22nd day of the month. ‘lhe.
previous day was sultry and somewhat misty, but no one
expected the cyclonic disturbance which took place within
twenty-four hours afterwards.
On the 22nd there were light rains before the veering of
the wind to the south. After the disturbance, which was
purely local, there was a rain storm which gave 3 inches and
a little more in portions of St. Michael, St. George, Christ
Church, and St. Thomas. In St. Joseph and St. Lucy, 14
inches was the result of the rainfall on this date, while at
Haggatts in St. Andrew the total was only an inch.
From the 22nd to the end of August the southern and.
south-midland portions of the island received excellent
showers—just what were needed to keep the surface of the.
earth from developing a hard crust. After the 22nd the
northern and north-midland portions of the island again had
a spell of dry hot days, but on the 30th there was a downpour
in St. Thomas, St. James, St. Andrew and part of St. Peter.
As a result of the rainy days subsequent to the 22nd ultimo,
the rainfall for August, which scemed likely to be under
last years figure, exceeded it. Indeed, in some parts of
Christ Church, last month’s total lacked but little to be twice-
as much as that for August last year, while it very nearly
reached the total of August 1916, when the whole island had
a rainfall almost equal to the high record of 1886.
The cane crops quite held their own during the hot days
of the latter half of August, and were ready to make good
progress with the recent stimulating rains. It is a pleasure
to view the fields at this time. Now that the artificial
manure has thoroughly penetrated the soil and the cane roots
have had sufticient time to take it up, each landscape presents.
an expanse of livid green.
The B.6450, which was somewhat behind the other
seedlings in growth, has made rapid strides during the past
few weeks.
So far there is no seedling of accredited value being
grown for next year’s crop except the three of which we have.
written in recent reports. In non-ratooning districts we-
would recommend an a small area of the B.6508 be kept
on trial. We would also like to see the breed of the B.208
and the B.3922 kept going.
While the ratoons are generally green they appear very
low after one has been observing « field of plant canes. They,
of course, are but a few months old, and have yet to receive, .
in the red soil at least, a second application of artificial
manure. Although most of the ratoons are fairly satisfac-
tory, we have noticed several fields which are not improving
with age.
The Vegetable Produce Act will prove a benefit to the
Fields which wonld neither have been rotated nog,
land
Vor. XVI. No. 428. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS 29:
or
‘sested will be so treated for a short period at least. Perhaps
the good results will prove an effective object-lesson and
eause planters in general to apply one of the soundest
principles of agr:culture.
The cultivation of the fields for the crop to be planted
-at the close of the year proceeds apace. The black soil is
well up and the initial tillage has been practically completed.
In the red soil there is still much to be done.
The provision crops have revelled in the favourable
‘weather of the past fortnight.
~progress, even though they may not be as advanced as we
‘have frequently seen them at this time of year. There
-is hardly a field planted in this vegetable which has not
»received a fair share of manure. The spires look very healthy,
and with favourable weather, in October particularly, this
-erop shonld give a satisfactory return,
The worm has been busy of late. We have seen several
‘fields where the leaves of beans, woolly pyrol, and potatoes
“have been freely eaten. This is not unusual at this time of
the year, and we hope that the potatoes will not be affected
-toany extent. Where the plant has reached the point of
‘maturity this may not be the case, but the attack might
vretard the progress of younger fields. (The Barbados 4e7/-
cultural Reporter, September 7, 1913.)
VARIETIES OF EGYPTIAN COTTON PRO-
DUCED BY MUTATION.
Egyptian cotton is much in demand on the American
qarket for the manufacture of articles requiring a high
degree of tensile strength, such as sewing thread, durable
hesiery, and motor-ear tyre fabrics. At the suggestion of
the United States Department of Agriculture, and under the
-direction of Dr. H. J. Webber, numerous comparative cul-
-tural experiments were begun in 100 at agricultural stations
in the South and South-west, using cotton seed imported
.directly from Egypt. These experiments, as summarized in
“the Journal of Heredity for February 1918, showed that it
-is possible to cultivate Egyptian cotton in the United States
‘if it is grown on the irrigated lands of the South-west.
Nevertheless, even under the most favourable conditions, the
newly imported varieties produced little, ripened late, and
-varied greatly. This latter circumstance is probably due to the
fact that, in Egypt the cotton fields are often exposed to cross-
-fertilization with hybrid varieties, particularly with the
‘Hindi’ cotton, which grows wild iu the fields.
Careful selection was therefore required to obtain
earlier, more productive, and more uniform types. Selection
_ experiments begun at Yuma (Arizona) gave very satisfactory
results in a few years, involving the improvement and gradual
fixing of the desired characters without altering the structure
and appearance of the original type, ‘Mit Afifi’.
Tn 1908 a new era began with the unexpected appearance
_ of two lines, obtained by selection, differing greatly from the
parent stock, and from each other. These two lines gave rise
to the Yuma and Somerton varieties. The second variety
had to bedisearded because of its excessive production of
sterile branches, but the first became the basis of the Egyp-
tian cotton industry in Arizona. This new variety ditiers
from the Mit Afifi variety in longer and more pointed bolls,
and in a looger (13 inches) and lighter fibre.
Mr. E. W. Hudson obtained 2 third variety, Gila, from
a plant selected in 1908 in a ‘field Of acclimatized Mit Afifi
Yams have madessplendid ..
cotton at Sacaton, Arizona. Although differing less from
the original stock than the Yuma and Somerton varieties,
nila is sufficiently distinet to be considered as a new variety.
The Yuma, Somerton, and Gila varieties are thus all
derived from the Mit Afifi Egyptian cotton.
In 1910, in a field of Yuma cotton. at Sacaton, a speci-
men was selected and kept separate because of its superior
productiveness and length of fibre. From this plant was
derived -the Pima variety which differed from the Yuma
variety'In fewer vegetative branches aid better developed
fruiting branehes, by its pluper, more /Sharply pointed, and
less deeply pitted bolls, lighter, sillier gnd longer (12 to
1} inches) fibre. e.¢
The new varieties spread rapidly, especially in the Salt
River Valley, where they were gp@wn over ever-increasing
areas: in 1912, Yuma,“200 acres; in 1917, Yuma, 23,000
acres, and Pima, 7,000 acres (a total of 30,000 acres); in
1918 it is estimated that the crop will cover 100,000 acres.
The Yuma and Pima varieties supply first quality
material for spinning and for motor tyres. Pima is preferred
on account of its earliness and long fibre, and will undoubt-
edly completely supersede Yuma- It is not easy to solve
definitely the problem of the origin of these varieties; certain
phenomena point to reguing, whereas others point rather
to true mutation.
Roguing. (1) Mit Afifi cotton probably originated
tewards the middle of the 19th century from hybridization ot
Sea Island with a brown-linted African tree cotton; (2) as
has been already stated, Egyptian cotton fields are frequently
exposed to cross-fertilization.. Consequently the presence oi
many heterozygous characters would explain the frequent
appearance of rogues.
Mutation. Yhe tollowing phenomena, however, are in
favour of the mutation hypothesis: (1) the sudden appearance
and fixation of the new types; (2) the total absence of forms
intermediate to the original and new types; (3) the differential
characters of the new type, which are entirely new, and of
which no trace is found in the species of varieties of cotton
which are likely at. any time to have come in contact with
Mit Afifi.
Rubber in North Borneo.—The area planted with
rubber at the end of 1916, according to returns received from
managers of estates says the Monthly ulletin of Agricultural
Intelligence and Plant Diseases, May 1918, was 30,910 aeres.
Small holdings planted by Chinese and natives are not
included in these figures. The amount of new land planted
during the year, was only 529 acres. The number of trees
‘in tappiog at the end of the year was 2,030,150, or a little
over half the total number planted, which is returned at
4,049,050. The area in full tapping was 14,720 acres as
against 9,806 acres at the end of the previous year.
According to the figures supplied by the Customs
Department, the export in 1915 was 1,937°7 tons, an increase
of 84°4 per cent., on the total of 1,050 tons shipped in 1915.
In January the price of smoked sheet reached 4s. 2¢., bus
dropped quickly to about 3s. 6¢., it then declined steadily
until August, when it had fallen to 2s. 1}d., after which it
rose to about 3s. in December.
The extension of tapping operations necessitated an in-
erease in the labour force at most estates. At the end of the
year the total number of coolies employed was 12,334, an
inerease of 2,698 over last year’s total,
296
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Hap OFFICE — Barsabos,
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applicatiens for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF,
Sevntiyic Assistant and {W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor (Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Entomologist H. A. Ballou,?M.Sc.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.t+
CLERICAL STAFF.
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants {2 Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Tymst Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assisiant3for Publications A.B, Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
tProvided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Agricultural Sews
oe
Vor. XVII. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1918. No. 428.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this number gives prominence to
the question of seedling sugar-canes as dealt with in the
Presidential Address of Professor Harrison, C.M.G., to
the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of
British Guiana.
Insect Notes, on page 298, indicate the spread of
the Mexican cotton boll weevil in the United States.
A further note on the coco-nut bud-rot, dealt with
in the previous number of this Journal, will be found
under Plant Diseases, on page 302.
Observations in reference to two West Indian
eyclones on August 22,1918, are given on this page.
THE AGRICULTUBAL NEWS.
SepremBber 2], 1918.
Expansion of the United Kingdom Margarine
Industry.
According to The Board of Trade Journal, June
15,1918, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of
Food (the Right Hon. J. R. Clynes, M.P.), speaking in
the House of Commons on June ©, stated that the con-
trol of oils and fats has become one of the most impor-
tant and intricate of the duties of the Ministry of Food,
and of its trade operations. All important oil seeds,
nuts, kernels, vegetable and animal oils and fats, are
either purchased by the Ministry abroad, or they are
requisitioned on arrival in the United Kingdom. Be-
tween twenty and thirty different raw materials are
involved under the head of oils and fats, and of marga-
rine. The most important finished product is, of course,
margarine. As many as twelve different branches of
industry are affected in one way or another, and each
has its representative association or committee to assist
the Ministry in the allocation and distribution of the
raw materials, and of the semi-manufactured articles.
It is really a striking development of the Ministry's
activities that the increase in margarine manufacture:
in this country has been so considerable. The pro-
ductive capacity of the margarine industry has increased
fourfold during the War, and this country is now
entirely independent of foreign imports. Imports from.
the Netherlands supplied more than half the con-
sumption of the country in pre-war days, and in the
last two months these imports have entirely ceased:
because the country no longer needed them.
n> ao
Cyclones of August 22, 1918.
On August 22, the weather conditions throughout
the whole West Indian region from Antigua to Bar-
bados were so disturbed as to cause some uneasiness,
and about midday the wind blew with such force in
Barbados as to occasion a considerable amount of
damage to small and fragile cottages, and in some
instances trees of considerable size were damaged or:
even uprooted. '
An examination ofthe mformation obtained through
the courtesy of the West Indian and Panama Telegraph.
Company, and from reports subsequently received from:
the several islands, makes it clear that there were
simultaneously two centres of disturbance. The one
most noticeable in its effects was that which appeared
to form near to and to the south-east of Barbados, the
centre of which passed on the south side of that island
soon after 11 a.m, of the day in question. It appears to
have passed over the north end of St. Vincent about
4 p.m., where the wind blew with some considerable-
force, but not with hurricane violence, and no serious
damage is reported.
At present there is no information to hand to show
what the subsequent course of this cyclone was.
The second of the cyclonic centres referred to,
appears to have been central at 4 p.tn, over some point
between Antigua and Dominica. This cyclone had not
then developed as much violence as the one passing
near Barbados and St. Vincent. In this cage too, no-
Vou. XVII. No, 428.
information has yeb been received to show what was
the subsequent course and history of this disturbance.
The evidence of the existence of the two centres
is clear from the information obtained from the Tele-
graph Company as to the conditions prevailing at
4 p.m., as follows:—
Antigua—wind NE, gusty.
Dominica—wind SE, squally.
St. Lucia—wind ENE.
St. Vincent—wind W, squally.
The simultaneous appearance of two centres of
disturbance seems to be a common feature of West
Indian cyclones: a similar instance was recorded in
connexion with the disturbances occurring on Octo-
ber 15, 1916, in the Virgin Islands.’ (See Agricultural
ews, Vol. XV, p. 355.)
It is well for observers, particularly captains of
steamships, to be on the look out for the existence of
more than one centre of disturbance. Unless these are
recognized it is difficult to locate the centres from
observations of the wind directions, for it may be that
the observer may have evidence of winds arising from
opposite sides of two centres of rotation, and it may be
difficult to interpret the facts: this condition is quite
likely to happen 1n the case of a rapidly moving steam-
ship, which may pass into both the areas of disturbance.
o> +a ——____
Hurricane in the Cayman Islands, 1916-17.
The Report on the Blue Book of the Cayman
Islands for 1916-17 is published as Colonial Reports
—Annual, No. 959. In addition to the financial and
other data usually presented in reports of this descrip-
tion, this contains an account of a severe hurricane
which visited Grand Cayman on September 24, 1917.
The most serious feature of the storm was the complete
destruction of all provision grounds: very few fruit and
breadfruit trees were left standing. Breadfruit had
been the mainstay of the poorer ciasses owing to the
high price of foodstuffs, and it can well be realized how
serious their position has been. Unfortunately two lives
were lost. All the available vessels in Grand Cayman—
fourteen in number—were driven ashore, thus adding to
the difficulty of communication with Jamaica, Fortun-
ately but a few days elapsed before a schooner arrived
from the turtle-fishing grounds of Nicaragua, which pro-
ceeded to Montego Bay with mails, A supply of
foodstuffs was sent down as quickly as possible by
His Excellency the Acting Governor of Jamaica. In
the meantime a relief committee was appointed to
distribute supplies, and everything possible was done
to alleviate suffering and distress. Approximately one
hundred houses were demolished beyond all hope of
repair, and a grant of money was given to those most
deserving of help to enable them to rebuild. The
east end district of the island sustained the most
damage; about sixty houses were blown down in
this portion of the Dependency. Very little Govern-
ment property was destroyed, and the roads, though
strewn with debris, were left intact. Relief work on the
roads was immediately begun, thus rendering it poss-
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
297
ible for those willing to work to purchase food. while
the steps taken by owners in salving schooners driven
ashore, involving an expenditure of some hundreds of
pounds, provided labour fora large number of ablée-
bodied men.
—— Ee
Treatment for Scaly Leg in Fowls.
The following should be of interest to poultry
keepers in the West Indies, where scaly leg is fairly
prevalent. The account of the cause of this affection
and the recommendations for treatment are taken from
the Annual Report on the Department of Agriculture,
Fiji, for the year 1916.
Acarina.—A request for information regarding
‘scaly leg’ or scabies of the legs of poultry, was received
during the year, and as the subject may be of general
interest to those who keep poultry, the following notes
are included in this report. This disease is caused by
a mite, Sarcoptes mutans, which lives under the
epidermal scales covering part of the legs and digits
causing irritation which, if untreated, may affect the
general health of the birds. The fowls lose condition,
cease laying, and lose appetite, and sometimes succumb
to the effects of the affection. Although it often
happens that some fowls remain healthy for long periods
in spite of the cohabitation of healthy with diseased
birds, it must be remembered that the disease is
highly contagious, so that the first step towards
eradicating the disease should be the isolation of affeeted
individuals. The hen-house and all parts thereof
should be thoroughly disinfected by scrubbing with
some standard disinfectant in boiling water. The
crusts should be removed from the legs of the fowls
and means taken to prevent their reappearance. The
crusts are often removed by means of the finger
nail, or scrubbed off with a brush dipped in tepid
water, but this is painful to the bird. The best plan
is to soften the crusts by soaking the legs in a tepid
alkaline bath for a few minutes, and then remove the
crusts without causing bleeding. Convenient alkaline
baths are lime-water made from calcium carbide refuse
[whitelime], washing soda in water, or Scrubb’s ammo-
nia in water. When the legs are dry, smear a little
of the following ointment, known as ‘Helmerich’s’
pomade: —
Parts by
weight.
Sublimed sulphur (fowers of sulphur) 10
Distilled water :
Almond oil 5
Potassium earbonate 5
Lard 5
This ointment can be made up locally, and for the
sum of 2s, a sufficient quantity could be obtained to
treat many fowls. The ointment may be washed off in
two days’ time with soap and water, when the legs will
be found perfectly clean and free from parasites. Ib is
advisable to smear the cured portion with vaseline for
a few days, to allay the irritation which sometimes
remains.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Serrember 2], 1918.
INSECT NOTES.
SPREAD OF THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL
WEEVIL IN THE UNITED STATES.
The Mexican boll weevil as a pest of cotton has been
the subject of notes in previous numbers of the .dg7icudtural
Vews. The most recent of these appeared in the issue for
January 27, F917 (Vol. XVI, p. 28), giving a short account
.of the spread of this insect during the year 1916.
A circular entitled,‘The Spread of the Cotton Boll Weevil
in 1917’, by W. D. Hunter and W. I. Pierce, issued by the
United States Department of Agricnlture, has now been
received, which gives an account of the gains and losses in
territory by the pest in the year 1917, summarizes the
present situation, and reviews the spread of the boll weevil
during past years.
It appears that early frosts often kill out the boll weevil,
especially in newly invaded territory, so that the gains in one
year are offset by losses in the previous winter. Thus in
1917, the total gains in area infested was 12,800 square miles,
and the loss 5,500, leaving a net gain of 7,300 square miles.
The total area in the United States infested by the
boll weevil at the end of 1917 was 488,240 square miles, and
there was an area of only 121,500 square miles in the cotton
belt still to be infested. These figures do not take into
account the presence of a form of the boll weevil infesting
a wild cotton, Vhurheria thespedioides, in the mountains of
Arizona.
The points of great interest to votton growers in the
West Indies are, that for a period of twenty-five years the
Mexican bol] weevil has spread steadily through the cotton
belt of the Southern States at an average rate of more than
15,0U0 sqvare miles each year, that the Sea Island cotton
districts of Georgia and Florida were invaded, and that the
pest had reached South Carolina and threatened the Sea
Jsland cotton district of that State at the end of 1917.
Half of Georgia was infested, and the whole of the
votton-growing area of Florida may be considered to be per-
manently infested. ‘The extension of the weevil in Florida is
beyond the limits of cotton growing in previous years. The
-extension of cotton growing in Florida was due to the effort
to find uninfested territory, but the weevil followed closely
upon this extension.
The history of the boll weevil in those States growing
Sea Island cotton is shown by the following table: —
State. Year first Area infested Area infested
infested. in 1916. in 1917.
Georgia 1915 44,400 14,500
Florida re) Ce 20,300 25,000
South Carolina 1917 _ 300
it will be seen from this table that in llorida during
the tive years from its infestation to the end of the year
1916, 20,300 square miles of territory had been occupied by
the pest, and that an additional area of 5.700 square miles
was invaded during 1917. In Georgia, 44,400 square miles
were infested in the first year of the pest’s invasion into that
State, the additional 100square miles recorded in 1917 being
the difference between a gain of 1,900 sqnare miles, and
a Joss of 1,800 square miles in that year.
The bearing of this information on the Sea Island cotton
industry in the West Indies is fairly obvious. The output of
Sea Island cotton from Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina
is bound to suffer reduction, and it is a question whether, in
the face of the high cost of prodnetion, growers of this
class of cotton will not turn to some more profitable crop to
take its place
In the event of this happening, the West Indian cotton
growers will be in an increasingly strong position; the demand
for their product will be greater than formerly, and the price
is likely to be higher. It is therefore more than ever incun-
bent on the West Indian planters and all interested in the
welfare of the cotton industry in these islands to protect it by
every means. This is now a matter of national importance.
Every precaution should be exercised to prevent the
introduction .of insect pests not already known to occur in
the West Indies, of which the Mexican boll weevil and the
pink bollworm are the most important at the present time.
Strenuous efforts are needed to control the pests which do
occur and are well recognized. Most of these are now capable
of being dealt with, either by direct remedia! measures, or by
cultural measures regulating the time of planting, as in
the case of the flower-bud maggot in Antigua; the early
removal and destruction of the old plants after the crop is off,
and the strict enforcement of a close season, as in the case of
the leaf-blister mite and cotton stainers; and the destruction
of the wild food-plants, as in the case of the cotton stainers.
The cotton pests of the West Indies are at the present
ume well known, and the methods of controlling them are
understood by cotton planters and agricultural officers. For
the most part this control consists of the carrying out of reme-
dial measures and the application of agricultural practices
which are generally understood and provided for. Additional
legislation is needed in certain instances, however, to facilitate
matters.
It must be remembered that the boll weevil has within
a period of twenty-five years spread over an area of nearly
500,000 square miles, and in afew years more will occupy
the whole of the cotton belt, an area of something like
600,000 square miles.
This steady spread has been in the face of the most
careful study and strenuous exertion on the part ef the
officials of the United States Department of Agriculture, the
Officers of the State Experiment Stations and Agricultural
Colleges, and of the planters as well, and no means have
been devised or discovered to prevent it.
The pink bollworm which has made such extraordinary
progress in- the pastfew years is alsoa pest difticult of
control, and probably impossible of eradicationfusder any but
the most exceptional conditicns in any district where it has
become established.
This insect now occurs, in addition to its Asiatic,
Egyptian, and African distribution, in Brazil and Mexico, and
has even made its appearance in Texas. With regard to the
latter locality it cannot be said to be established there, an;l
most energetic measures are in force to eradicate it: these
may be successful.
The importation of cotton seed into any of these islands
from North, South or Central America, or any other
place in the West Indies should be considered as dan-
gerous to the cotton industry, because of these two pests,
and because there are perhaps other pests which are not
recognized at the present time. Such importation is pro-
hibited in most of the West Indian cotton-growing islands.
IXveryone interested, in the welfare of these islands
should aid every effort. to maintain the Sea [sland cotton
industry by helping to enforce the regulations for com-
bating our known cotton pests. The Sea Island cotton
industry of the West Indies is now a national asset of valye
even beyond its pecuniary interest to the cultivators.
H.A.B
Vor, XVI.
No, 428.
THE MUSCOVY DUCK.
The Muscovy is a domesticated duck which has
for years been known to poultry keepers in the West
Indies, and especially amongst the peasantry: but it is
doubtful whether the rearing of them has ever been
seriously undertaken as a business proposition on a
commercial basis. In the following article, abstracted
from the Queensland Agricultural. Journal, July
1918, a description of these birds, their habits, and the
smali expense incurred in rearing them are given,
which should be of interest to poultry keepers in these
parts, as indicating the financial benefit to be derived
from keeping Muscovy ducks:— :
Originally, the Muscovy luck—a wild South American
dack—was caught and domesticated, and by careful breeding
these ducks have been mated up to a very fine standard
of perfection.
Their natural colour was black and white, or blue-black
and dirty white, but fanciers have created two distinct
colours—white or black. The snowy white variety is, how-
ever, much more admired for its beautiful white plumage,
scarlet face, and pale orange-colour legs,.and these are much
more acceptable for market purposes on that account. Their
flesh is of fine flavour, and in greater proportion on their
breast bones than in any others of the duck family, and when
in their prime they often turn the scales at 12 to 14 b.
The Muscovies are noiseless, very docile, good layers, and
as sitters, hatchers, and mothers, are excellent. Incubators
cannot equal their results as hatchers. They choose and
make their own nests, lay, sit and hatch, and owners have
absolutely no worry. Being small eaters, upon a free range
they can practically feed themselves. That is another point
greatly in their favour. Their food consists of over half
green stuff—grass, weeds, roots, and other herbage. Therefore,
two meals per day and free range make them mature quickly.
They commence to lay at between five’and six months old,
and generally desire to sit after laying from twenty to thirty
eggs. Furthermore, Muscovy ducks, from hatching onward,
are extremely hardy and seldom ail.
The ducklings are of strong constitution from the shell.
They agree very well among themselves, therefore a whole
fiock can be allowed to range together. Wherever Muscovy
ducks are kept, they never cause any annoyance to neighbours,
are never alarmed or timid, and it is practically impossible to
frighten them. As travellers they make the best, sitting in
their coops as contentedly as if in their own pen.
The rapidity with which this variety has leaped into
favour is marvellous, and being marketable at an early age,
they command a high value. Hotels, restaurant, and boarding-
house proprietors favour them because of the high qualities of
meat they possess.
They keep far easier than fowls in condition, and are
always plump. There is no specia! season for hatching them,
and the ducklings are exceptionally strong at all times,
growing and fattening rapidly on any‘ good food.
. Duck farmers starting in a small way have three methods
of making a beginning. First, hatching with incubators:
second, using Muscovy ducks as hatchérs and mothers: third,
buying day- or week-old ducklings trom some reliable breeder.
The last plan is recommended as being the most reliable for
beginners. Should Muscovy ducks be used, it will be neces-
sary to purchase a pen of birds, and use their eggs, or buy
a setting from some reliable breeder. Should it be decided
to obtain. ducklings. a brooder ‘or re aring them up to three
weeks old will be requirec
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
299"
Always feed at regular times, laying stock as well as
breeders. Should birds increase in fat, the quantity of food
should not ke decreased, but add a greater bulk of green
stuff. Remove all foods from troughs after twenty minutes.
to half an hour, so that no sour food remains. If birds are
confined ina limited space they are likely to go off their
food, consequently the egg yield suffers. As this class of
water fowl is easily kept, reared, and quickly sold, a huge:
profit is assured for an enthusiast in duck farming.
PRESERVING FISH WITHOUT ICE,
The Monthly Bulletin of Agricultural Intelli-
gence and. Plant Diseases for June 1918, publishes
a method for preserving fish without ice, which com-
paces verv favourably with methods hitherto adopted
in these West Indian colonies, and seems worthy of
trial. Hs OP
In British Colombia and in England a new method has.
been adopted for keeping fish. As ice is no longer necessary,.
the fish can be sold cheaper because the expense incurred
through the ice is done away with. The fish keeps its.
flavour perfectly, and the method may be applied to either
fresh or smoked fish, and even to meat.
The whole procedure lasts only three hours. The fish
is first placed in a cooling tank containing water at a low
temperature. After half an hour the latent heat of the
fish has completely disappeare?. The fish is then placed in
a tank containing sea-water, or fresh water to which salt has
been added. ‘To prevent the water from freezing it is stirred
with a pump which sends it into a pipe. in which it passes
through a filter filled with willow charcoal which kills all
bacteria, and then passes out again, The extreme tempera-
ture of the salt solution closes the pores of the skin of the
fish, prevents saturation, and acts on the exterior as a disin-
fectant. At the end of three hours the fish is taken out and
has the appearance of fresh fish. There is no danger of its
going bad for ten days, and it may be kept for months in
a cold room. A plant has been set up in Portugal for
preserving fresh fish by this method. According to the
English engineers who installed the plant, the fish keeps fresh
and in excellent condition for about fifteen days, even ata
variable temperature. ‘lhe flavour is that of fresh fish. It
does not go soft like fish kept in ice, and may be smoked
after having been treated. The method is highly recom-
mended by the Inspector of the Dominion fisheries.
M. A. Cligny, Director of the Marine Station of bou-
logne-sur-Mer, France, believes the method to be of the
greatest value. It includes two independent parts, the first
of which appears the more original, and may be called
pre-refrigeration. It is always advisable to wash fish
before any freezing procedure, and it would be excellent
to wash it in very cold water which would bring
it to a temperature of about 0°C. This is an important
improvewent on the expensive and defective method of
covering it with ice or laytag it out in cold and relatively
large stores fora period of time, which must of necessity be
very long. Pre refrigeration by thorough washing in very
cold water could be carried out advantageously io fishing
boats. It might be of great importance in the mixed instal-
lations, proposed by M. Cligny for fishing boats, im which ~
the use of ice plays its essential pact.
The second part of the method consists in freezing the
fish previously cooled te O°C. This second stage may be
attained by the use ot ice, dry cold, or, as the author pro-
poses, soaking in cold brine.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SepreMBer 2], 1918.
Sw
GLEANINGS.
According to Colonial Reports—-Annual, No. 959, the
turtle trade of the Cayman Islands during 1916-17 was far
from satisfactory, the total amount exported being 833 turtles,
valued at £1,666. The value of the Islands’ exports to all
countries amounted to £8.169, as compared with £11,566
in 1915-16.
A cheap fertilizer for growing flowers and vegetables is
given in the Queensland Agricultural Journal, July 1918, as
follows: “Collect a load of cow dung, not too wet, and make it
into a round heap, covering it with a layer of sods. Then
set fire to it to char the dung; the charring destroys all seeds.
When ccolit is fit for use. It must on no account be allowed
to get wet before using. If not wanted at once, put it into
bags, and keep dry.’
In the January number of Phytopathology, L. M. Massey
claims that a dust mixture consisting of 90 parts of sulphur,
and 10 parts of arsenate of lead is more effective in the
control of powdery mildew of roses than a spray of lime-
sulphur. and is much less unsightly. The mixture acts both
as a fungicide and an insecticide, and is easier to handle than
the pure sulphur dust, since the arsenate of Jead keeps the
sulphur from packing.
The United States Consul-General at Hong Kong reports
that quite a fair trade has developed there with the United
States in what is known as ‘palm fibre’ for the manufacture
of brushes. ‘The material is the centre of the leaf stem of
the small palm (Zivistoxa chinensis), which grows wild over
much of the South China hill country, and is generally culti-
vated in some districts for its leaves—the common palm-leaf
fan of commerce. (The Chamber of Commerce Journal,
July 1918.)
The fibre referred to in the above note is obtained by
soaking the stem and stripping off the outside portion. The
fibre in the stem is then cut into convenient lengths and
shipped in bundles of sbout 200 fh, each. At present it sells
wholesale at about 174c. local currency per Ib. The fibre is
used locally, and in fact all over South China, in the manu-
facture of what are popularly known as ‘bamboo brooms’,
and for Chinese scrubbing brushes and similar articles. It is
usually employed in the United States in the manufacture of
scrubbing brushes, but is capable of many other uses.
An interesting method of killing weeds in sugar-cane
fields in Hawaii, according to the Queensland Agricultural
Journai, Jaly 1918, consists in spreading over the fields,
after the dormant canes have been manored, strips of tarred or
asphalted felt paper (weighing 9 Ib. to the 100 square feet).
The pointed shoots of the young cane grow through the paper
which is weighted with stones, and the softer-tipped weeds,
failing to penetrate it, are smothered. A similar practice
hae been employed in England for making lawne.
An article in the Popular Science Monthly (New York)
states that the undertaking recently established in California
for obtaining supplies of potash from seaweeds is proving so
successful that one firm alone is producing three times as
much potash as was previously exported from Germany. The
kelp is cut by means of a reaper, which cuts the weeds 4 feet
below the water. It is stated that sufficient potash is obtain-
ed by these means to supply not only American needs, but
also those of all the Allies. (The Journal of the Department
of Agriculture, Victoria, May 1918.)
In the South African Sugar Journal, May 1918, it is
stated that there are now eleven sugar factories in operation in
the island of Formosa, and the production for the 1917 season
reached 451,000 short tons. This sugar was produced by
vacuum pan and centrifugal processes in the eleven factories.
When it is recollected that less than a generation ago the
whole interior of the island of Formosa was occupied by
untamed savages, and that the sugar industry had only been
carried on in a very small way, this development, reaching
up to that of the sugar industry in Porto Rico, becomes
rather startling.
Tn the report of the Inspector of Schools on Elementary
Education, Trinidad and Tobago, for 1917, it is stated in
reference to competition in agriculture and nature study,
that many of the school gardens have been extended,
and greater attempts have been made, and with success,
to cultivate local provision crops instead of choicer
vegetables and salads. This is a step in the right direc-
tion, for although it is useful and instructive to grow
exotic foods, it is of much more practical value to children to
learn first to cultivate their own local foods in a proper
manner.
The Department of Botany of the University of
California has undertaken a study of certain West American
shrubs belonging to CZrysothamnus and other genera of the
Compositae, to determine whether or not an emergency or
supplementary supply of rubber exists in such native plants,
The investigation is one of the projects of the Botanical sub-
Committee of the Pacifie Coast Research Conference, acting
under the Council of Defence of the State of California. It
might be noted here, that the quality of the new rubber
exploited, is, according to rubber experts, somewhat better
than the best grades of Guayule, but not as good as Para.
(Science, May 10, 1918.)
It is estimated in an article on coal saving by the scies-
tific control of steam-boiler plants, appearing in Lvgrneering
for July 12, that 58,500,000 tons of coal per annum are vised
in England for steam-raising purposes (in normal times),
exclusive of 15,000,000 'tons used in railways. The 250 steam-
boiler plants operating in Great Britain had a total of 1,Q)0
boilers, principally of the Lancashire type. The author's
experience is that, in normal times, the average firm could
save 7 to 10 per cent. in the fuel bill alone by buying on
scientific lines; he estimates that there are 45,000 to
60,000 steam boilers at work in Great ~ Britain,
calenlated in terms of average size Lancashire boilers, and
he considers that all the steam produced in the country
today could be obtained much more economically with
25 per cent. fewer boilers, (Vature, July 25, 1918).
Vor. XVII. No. 428.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 301,
DS a eee
THE EFFECT OF ONE GROWING PLANT
ON ANOTHER.
From time immemorial gardeners have been convinced
that certain plants injure others and, in many cases, it is
firmly believed that the harmful effect remains in the soil
for months, if not for years. This has led to the opinion
that certain plants excrete something from their roots which
is poisonous to other plants of the same kind, though not
necessarily so to those of a different kind. For a long time
the plant was considered as completely analogous to the
animal, and, thus the scientist agreed with the practical man
in admitting the existence of a poisonous excretion in plants.
Of recent years, however, much doubt has been thrown on
the idea of a poisonous excretion, and'serious obstacles have
been shown to hinder its acceptance. "In a good grass field,
for example, the plants are as crowded as they can be, yet
they show no signs of ‘sickness’ or poisoning. If the soil be
poor the plants may go hungry, but this may be remedied by
applying suitable fertilizers; there is nothing in the appear-
ance of the plants to suggest that any other factor is con-
cerned.
On the other hand, some years ago Dr, Whitney, Chief
of the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of
Agriculture, expressed the opinion that plants do excrete a
toxic substance which may, however, be precipitated or
rendered inactive by fertilizers. Therefore the improvement
of plants by fertilizers is due, not only to the food they
supply, but also to the above-mentioned action, and perhaps
to others as wel].. Whitney's hypothesis gave rise to much
discussion, which led to a great deal of progress being made
on the subject. ;
Dr. E. J. Russell, discussing the subject in a recent
fissue of Gardeners’ Chronicle (January 1918), observes that
British investigators have usually taken the view that there is
no evidence of a persistent toxic excretion. The experiments
at Rothamsted seem to bear this out. At the present time
the famous Broadbalk field is carrying its 75th successive
crop of wheat, and the plants look as well as any on the
farm, and better than a good deal of the wheat in the district.
The last crop of mangolds was the 42nd; it was well above the
average, and has rarely been exceeded during the whole
period. Similarly, barley has been grown for fifty-seven years
in succession without showing any signs of suffering. Legumi-
nous crops, however, cannot be grown in this way, and, after
.a short period, fail; they are the only crops which experi-
mental evidence has shown cannot be grown year after year
on the same land. Observations show, nevertheless, that
other plants also fail in the same way; thus foxglove grown
splendidly in the soil of a freshly cleared wood (provided the
soil is suitable, e.g, the clay patches on the Downes) but for
one year only, not longer. It is also said that flax and
onions may fail if grown too often in the same soil. These,
however, are all simply observations which, even if exact,
may have some other explanation. _
The idea that plants excrete poisonous substances has
been investigated by Mr. Spencer Pickering. The growth of
plants was found to be considerably decreased if they
received water which had washed part of the roots of
another growing plant. This effect seems to be general;
the washings from the roots of mustard check the growth
of mustard; those from grass check the growth of fruit
trees, and so on. It was possible to establish the important
point that these washings lose their poisonous quality very
rapidly, so that they do not necessarily affect the soil after
plant growth has ceased. These experiments are, therefore,
perfectly consistent with those at Rothamsted described
above.
Another set of Rothamsted experiments is, however,
more difficult to reconeile with Mr. Pickering’s result.
Dr. Winifred Brenchley grew wheat alone, weeds alone, and
wheat mixed with wheat; she observed that when poppy
(Papaver rhoeas), black -bent (Alopecurus agrestis), and
(Spergula arvensis) were grown with wheat they made
~
less growth than when grown alone; on the other
hand, wheat made more growth per individual plant.
This, of course, does not mean that wheat should -
always be grown with weeds; the plants would have
done better had no weeds been present, but they suffered
Jess from the presence of the weeds than they would
have done from an equal number of wheat plants. In these
experiments spurry proved more harmful than the other weeds,
because by its straggling habit it badly checked the young
wheat, which never recovered properly. Charlock and wheat
settle down to some sort of equlibrium as neither masters
the other.
So far as could be seen; the effect was solely one of
competition for food, and it made no difference to the indi-
vidual wheat whether it competed with another wheat plant
or a plant of a completely different order. The whole
phenomenon could be explained by the supposition that
the number of plants the soil can carry depends on the
amount of plant food present in the soil, and the amount of
space available for growth; if the food and space are to be
divided, each individual will get a smaller share and will,
consequently, make less growth than if they were fewer
plants present. At first sight these results seem dificult
to reconcile with those of Pickering’s experiments, which
seem to prove that a large number of plants suffer not
only from starvation, but also from mutual poisoning,
so that growth would be less both individually and collec-
tively than when a smaller number is grown. The apparent
disagreement may, however, be explained. in another of
Mr. Pickering’s experiments, plants grown in plots divided
into compartments so that each individual root was kept
separate from its neighbour made no better growth than did
plants in uadivided plots where the roots of the plants mixed
freely. Thus, the toxin produced by one individual plant
does it as much harm as that produced by its neighbour.
Further, Mr. Pickering found, in open soil, that the total
growth was the same whatever the number of plants (within
certain Jimits of distance apart), or, in other words, that the
weights of the plants were inversely proportioned to the bulk
of soil available. This is in full agreement with Dr. Brench-
ley’s results, and may be explained perfectly well, without
assuming the existence of a toxin, simply by the fact that the
full crop-bearing capacity of the soil has been reached. If,
with Mr. Pickering, a toxin is assumed to be present, it must
be supposed to be at least as harmful to the plant itself as to
any other, This assumption involves possibilities which new
experiments should investigate.
_ ee
Before the war India exported annually 20,000,000 raw
and 7,500,000 tanned goatskins. The United Kingdem
purchased most of the tanned skins, about half of which were
re-exported to the Continent, and about a third of the
remainder to America, Of the raw skins 75 per cent. were
exported to America, 10 per cent. to England, 7 per cent. to
France, 5 per cent. to Holland and Belgium, and an insig-
nificant quantity toGermany. Since the war America takes
85-5 per cent., and English imports have dropped to 8 per
cent. (The Afonthl) Bulletin of Agricultural Intelligence
and Plant Diseases, June 1918.)
302
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Sepremser 21, 1918.
Ll Se
PLANT DISEASES.
COCO-NUT BUD-ROT.
In the last number of this Journal, in giving an account
of the type of bud-rot commencing in the heart of the tree,
now suspected to be comparable with the fungeid bud-rot of
the East, brief allusion was made to. the alternative type of
disease occurring on the outer limbs or fruit-stalks. To
complete the account of bud-rot as at present understood,
some particulars will now be given, also drawn in the main
from the Jamaica descriptions of this form. The affection
is believed on good grounds to be of bacterial origin, but the
characters of the particular species, believed to be causative
by different workers, exhibit somewhat wide diversity.
The attack may begin either on the bases of the leaves
cr flower spikes, or the tissues between them. It never
extends far on the leaf-stalk, nor does it affect the woody part
of the stem.
When infection is of this nature, the first sign is commonly
the falling of unripe nuts owing to the infestation of the base
of the fruit-stalk. The dropping of young nuts is not in
itself evidence of bud-rot. It occurs quite commonly when
trees are suffering from drought, water-logging, or any cause
which affects the ability of the tree to nourish the full number
of fruits set. Injury to the base of the spike, such as may be
caused by insects or by careless picking, will also cause
dropping.
Another early sign of the disease is the discoloration
of the flowering spikes, which turn chocolate-brown, and
eventually blacken and wither. Investigation at this time
reveals a dark-coloured wet rot about the base of the affected
parts. The rot works its way through or under the moist
strainer, affecting the various organs as it reaches their points
of attachment. Water-soaked areas appear on the leaf-stalks,
and as the rot progresses the leaves involved turn yellow and
hang down. Eventually, though it may be the work of
monthe, the rot reaches to the central column, and the tree is
killed.
The usual method by which treatment is attempted to
arrest the development of this disease in an infected tree, is
the firing of the dry matter in the top, using kerosene if
necessary to start a blaze. It is said to be a good
plan after firing to spray the whole top with Bordeaux mix-
ture, adding 2 tb. of lead arsenate to each 50 gallons
of spray, in order to prevent weevil-damage to the scorched
tissues.
W.N.
A NEW SOURCE OF VEGETABLE OIL.
S. H. Parsons and R. F. Heron have described in the
Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, for March 15, what they
designate ‘a new source of vegetable oil close to United States
ports. The following interesting information concerning this
is abstracted from a summary appearing in the Perfumery and
Essential Oil Record, Suly 23, 1915.
The suddenly increased demand ,for vegetable oils
has drawn attention to the immense forests of oii-seed
bearing palms in Central and South America. For over
fifty years the fruits of several of the nut-bearing palms
have been exploited asa source of oil in a sporadic and
desultory manner. Chief among these’are the Affa/ea cohune,
of British Honduras, the manaca and coyol of Guatemala
gud Spanish Honduras, and the coquito of Southern Mexico
At various times writers on the subject have classed the
manaca and coquito as the A/falea cohune, but a very cursory
examination of the habits and fruits of these trees shows
such differences that the writers are inclined to consider
them of a different speties rather than simply a variant of
the same species.
THE COHUNE NUT,
The 4/talea cohune of British Honduras, and the neigh-
bouring territory of Yucatan on the north and Guatemala on
the south, does not entirely confine itself to the coast lands,
but it is seldom found ata greater altitude than a very few
feet above sea-level. The tree grows in dense clumps,
usually following alongthe slight ridges which mark the
ancient beach lines.
The cohune, coquito, and manaca trees are very similar
in general appearance. The first two have a smoth, greyish
trunk, paler where the trunk is exposed to direct sunlight.
The manaca has a somewhat more persistently clinging leaf-
stalk. Very often the entire trunk of mature trees is hidden
by the dead stalks. The coyol differs considerably in its
appearance, both in leaf and trunk. The trunk of this tree
seldom. if ever, is found clean and smooth.
While the cohune, manaca, and coquito leaves are per-
fectly regular, having equal and opposite leaflets, the coyol is
easily distinguished by its somewhat more ragged and irregu-
lar leaf, the leaflets being unequal, and irregularly placed on
opposite sides of the mid-rib. The fruit of the coyol is
smaller and less elongated, being almost round. It is borne
in bunches of from 30 to 50 tb, each. Underneath a thin
outer husk which covers each nut is found a sweet, oily pulp,
somewhat prized by the natives as an edible fruit. -
Fruit of Manaca.—The fruit of the manaca is borne in
bunches similar to those of the coyol, though usually large in.
size. These bunches will average from 50 to 60 tb. each, and
in some cases will weigh as high as 100 tbh. ‘The individual
fruits are elongated, measuring from 1} to 2 inches in length,
and about | inch through the short diameter. The pericarp
of this nut, which is very thin and fragile, is underlaid by a
pulp considerably thicker and much softer than is the case
with the coyol. Considerable oil is contained in the pericarp
and in the pulp. The 9il extracted from this pulp approxi-
mates very closely the African palm oil of commerce.
The coquito and cohune have considerably less of the
fleshy pulp surrounding the shell of the nut, but both of these
nuts contain a fair percentage of oil in the husk. Extract-
able oil to the amount 15 per cent. by weight has been found
in both cases. On account of the bulk, and the tough
fibrous nature of the outer layer of these nuts, there would
be some difficulty in extracting the oil except by
solvents. Certain experiments are being made, however,
which promise an inexpensive metliod of recovering this oil.
The present value of the palm nuts is in the kernels.
Of the Atfalea cohune, the kernel is from 8°6 to 13°5 per cent.
of the total weight of the dried nut. The usual number of
kernels is one to each nut, Probably 50 per cent. of the
nuts contain two and sometumes three kernels.
From a comparativejanalysis of coco-nut oil and cohune
oil, it appears that, physically both oils have the same colour
and apparent solidity. The faint odour of the unbleached
cohune kernel oil greatly resembles that of oil from coco-nuts.
Almost no odour can be noted after treatment with animal
charcoal. Unless care is taken in the preparation of the oil,
especially oil prepared in warm climates, a tendency te
rancidity is noticed. ‘@his, however, is avoided by the
experienced manufacturers, :
The greater part of;the kernels are extracted by the
natives. An industrious native gathers about one-half ton
Vor. XVII. No. 428.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
— -
of nuts per day, and spreads them out on a ‘patio’, or drying
floor, where they remain for several weeks. This drying loosens
the kernel from the shell. The native then cracks the nuts.
"The average man is able to crack and separate the kernels
from about 100 to 125ib. of nuts per day This gives
about 15 bb. of kernels, for which helis paid approximately
5c, per b.
Many attempts to improve upon the natives’ methods
have been made, and many machines have been tried with
the object of doing away with the hand cracking. Almost-all
these experiments have failed. The nut is so hard and so
difficult to crack that the ordinary commercial nut crack-
ng machine is useless. Also these machines are usually
of a complicated nature, and therefore unfitted for use with
the unskilled labour available. Otber forms have been tried
-on the principle of the rock crusher. These machines crack
the nut as well as the kernel, instead of only cracking the
shell, thereby causing a portion of the oil to be pressed to
the surface. In the warm, humid climate of the tropics,
fermentation takes place very rapidly, and the oil becomes
rancid. Recently a new process has been patented in the
United States and foreign countries, which bids fair to solve
‘the problem. The nut as soon as gathered is passed through
a rotary husking machine, which removes the outer covering,
thus assisting in more rapidly drying the cuts. They are then
delivered by a conveyer to a machine which throws the nuts
against a breaking plate with a speed of 9,000 feet per minute.
This is sufficient to crack the shell of the properly dried nut,
put does not crack the nuts thateare not yet sufficiently
‘tempered. The broken nut is then passed through a separator,
which separates the kernels from the shell. The capacity of
asingle unit of the plant is about 40 tons of dried nuts
per day. The kernels are then put through an ordinary copra
drier, and when sacked, are ready for market. Upon arrival
in the United States, the kernels are treated to almost iden-
tically the same process as coco-nut copra for the extraction
~of the oil. -
UNIVERSITY EMPIRE STUDY.
A letter has been addressed by the Imperial Studies
Committee of the Royal Colonial Institute to the universities
of the United Kingdom, urging that, under the changed con-
ditions which must be expected after the war, the importance
-of founding endowments for the adequate teaching of Empire
subjects, and in particular the history of the Empire, should
be placed in the foreground. Very encouraging replies have
been made. ‘
According to Zhe Times for June 28, the following
-sesolutions of the Committee indicate their view as to the
best methods of promoting Empire study at the universi-
ties: —
‘In every university in the Mother Country, the Domin-
ions, and Dependencies, there should be a chair of colonial
and Imperial history, with adequate salaries to the professor
and. staff.
2. ‘Inall universities there should be adequate arrange-
ments, including specialized libraries and properly endowed
studentships, for post-graduate work in colonial and Imperial
history. os
3 ‘In such universities there should also be a chair of
the history and organization of commerce,
4, ‘Professors of the above subjects should once at least
“in each complete period of seven years be allowed one year’s
period of special leave on full salary, that they may travel to
~ investigate and report on the prevailing conditions of trade
and industry, the natural resources, methods of administration,
and progressive organization and development of the different
parts of the Empire,
5, ‘During such period of special leave, the professors con-
cerned should have facilities afforded for conference with the
staffs of the universities visited, for delivering lectures in
such universities, and addresses to the general public. Suit-
able travelling allowances should be made, and each such
professor should be accredited by his own State and university.
6. ‘The system of travelling fellowships should be com-
pletely organized and greatly extended throughout the entira
Empire.
7. ‘Reports by professors under paragraph 4, and the
research work of post-graduates under paragraph 5, should ba
published in appropriate form, and widely circulated.
8. ‘Specimens and samples of the staple products of tha
Empire, reports as to conditions and prospects of trade, tha
extent of natural resources, photographs, and films illustrating
the customs and habits of native races should, by arrangemené
with the proper authorities, be supplied to all universities.
9, ‘Each university should, within its area or sphere of
influence, arrange with the local education authorities for
series of extension lectures and addresses on the problems of
the Empire and its administration.’
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE,
The President of the Board of Agriculture (Mr. R. E.
Prothero), in the House of Commons on July 18, reviewed tha
operations of his department during the past twelve months.
After alluding to the work of Professor Russell at Rothamsted,
in connexion withthe turning of grass land into arable, and the
production of an effective insecticide, and of Professors Wood
and Hopkins at Cambridge, on animal nutrition, he illustrated
the possibilities of scientific research in agriculture from
Professor Biffen’s well-known plant-breeding investigations.
He pointed out that, after examining a number of varieties
of foreign wheat, Professor Biffen discovered a Russian wheat
ealled ghirka, which resists rust. Now rust destroys annually
thousands of quarters of wheat, but this ghirka wheat was of
no use to the British farmer because its yield was miserably
low. But Professor Biffen, by using the Mendel system, was
able to transfer the rust-resisting quality of ghirka to a high-
yielding English wheat, and though that wheat has now been
in use for several years, it has shown no tendency whatever
to revert either to the rust tendency of one parent, or the
low-yielding tendency of the other. He has now produced
a wheat which produces a high quality of straw—a fine, stiff,
upstanding straw—and a high quality of yield of grain, so
much so that without pushing it will produce 42 bushels to
the acre, and by pushing, up to 72-bushels to the acre. It
also possesses a very high quality of disease resistance, which
is so highly valued: by both millers and bakers, and which is
recognized in increased prices.
Mr. Prothero added: ‘Hitherto the plant-breeding work
has been hardly applied toany of the crops of the farmer
except wheat—though it has been applied to barley—and
mainly to wheat suitable to the Eastern Counties. But
suppose you apply it to the wheats and barleys used in other
districts, to oats and rye, to temporary grass and potatoes.
There is an extraordinary list of possibilities opened to the
British farmer. If, for instance, you could produce a potato
which was ‘immune from blight, and immune from wart
disease, it would be an invaluable boon to English agricul-
turists, and there is every prospect that that may be achieved.’
(The Journal of the Reyal Scciety of Arts, August 9, 1918.)
304 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Te West Inpia Commitree Crrcurar,
August 22.
ARROWROOT—No yuotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, no auo-
tatuons.
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90-; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Corra—£46.
Frvuit—No quotations.
Grvger—Jamaica, no quotations.
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lime Juice—Raw, 4/6 to 5/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16,6.
Locwoop—No quotations,
Mace—No quotations.
Nurmecs—No quotations.
Prtento—9sd.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 3/()\; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs, Gorpoy, Grant & Co., July 27
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°10; Trinidad. $11°75 to $12°40.
Coco-nut Om—$1'16 per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, no quotations.
Copra—$6°25 per 100 tb.
Daat— No quotations.
Ostons—$4°00 per 100 fh.
Peas, Sprit—$8-00 per bag.
Potators—English, $5°00 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow, $13°00 to $13°25; White. $900 per bag.
Scear—American crushed, nv quotations.
SerreMBek 21, 1918.
New York.—Messrs Gresrre Bros, & Co., July 12.
Cacao—Caracas, lic ; Grenada, lic.; Trinidad, 123c. to
lSc.; Jamaica, Ide. to 12c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $42°(0(): Trinidad $40-00;
culls, $20-00 to $21-00 per M.
CorreE—Jamaica, $c. to Llc. per ft.
Gincer—1dhc. to 16ge. per tb.
Goat Sxrvs—Jamaiea, 85c.; Antigua and Barhados, 85c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per th
Grare Frouit—Jamaiea, importation prohibited.
Lrtzs—Importation prohibited.
Mace—40c. to 45c. per tb.
Norsecs—27c.
Orances—Importation prohibited.
Pimento—bjfc. to Te. per th.
Svucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 6 055c; Muscovados, 89°, 5 :055¢.
Molasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., August 29:.
AgrowrooT—$12‘00 per 100 fr.
Cacao—$12-00 to $12°50 per 100 i.
Coco-nuts—$48'00 husked nuts.
Hay—$3 00.
Mozasses—No quotations.
Ostoxs—No quotations.
Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rics—Ballam,-nc quotations;»Patna, ro quotations, Ran
goor, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $500.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture..
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scieutific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papirs on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the )aformation contained 1n them.
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review. fi
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and:
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made im:
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed ia time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s, 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s. each:
— pst free, 5s. The scale of charges for ApverTisemMENTs may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT...
London: Messrs. Deisu & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
West Inpi1a Committee, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonaptk, ‘Times’ Office,
Barbados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Niugs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THe EpucationaL Suprty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brwoewater, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tue Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Muir-MarsHau & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tez Braue anp Book Surrty AcEncy, Bassereeas:
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PLacemawn, Scarborough. Nevis: Mt. W. I. Howeth, Experiment Station.
Bahavias: Mr. H. G. Curtsrte, Board of Agriculture, Nassau. Canada: Lewis W, Cremeys, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto-
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of = |
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
S232
| Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
_ class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UN LESS BOTH PARTIES
- I0 IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
_ Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the ;
conditions obtaining from time to time: and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments When, where, and how our
chents instruct. us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying — facili-
fies enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed ans WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOu.
a eT ee Ae nes Pe
icitae: PEST tele
‘ ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS. _
. ok co tw Ras Oe
o
B |
TicK-INFESTED CATTLE
Some Notes on Hand-Spraying vere ree
-destroying : : cutabinteane awe a ea
payee ot ine cr ply ways, namely, (1) by (2) by the use of Spray Pumps
THE DIPPING TANK is the best and cheapest of applying remedies when large herds are to be treated. The great
advantage of dipping over Spraying or Hand-dressing fies in the fact that the process is automatic—the cattle dip themselves ;
fius the thoroughness of the treatment under all conditions is practically assured, not being dependent to any degree on the
care exercised by those in charge of the work. This point is of the utmost importance im countries where only more or less
untrustworthy negro or native labour is available. :
In many cases, however, where the number of Cattle on a property is small, it is not economical to construct a dipping
tank ; in such cases, if there is a sufficient number of cattle within a radius of a few miles to warrant the construction of a tank,
it would be advisable for the various owners of cattle to co-operate in constructing a tank where all the cattle in the vicinity
may be dipped. In case the joint construction of a tank is impracticable, it will then be necessary to resort to spraying or
hand-dressing.
HAND-DRESSING is practicable only when a few animals are to be treated. Unless very great pains are taken, this method
of treatment is not thorough; and, even at the best, some portions of the body where ticks may be located will be missed.
HAND-SPRAYING is adapted for small size herds, but to be effective, it must be done with great care and thoroughness.
The Pump. A good type of Bucket Pump will be found very satisfactory. When more than a few head have to be sprayed,
a pump designed for attachment to a barrel is preferable, as, in a barrel, a larger quantity of dip can be mixed at one time.
The Hose. The pump should be fitted with not less than 12 feet of good quality $-inch high pressure hose.
The Nozzle should be of a furnishing a cone-shaped spray, of not too wide an angle. A nozzle with a very small
aperture should not be used, as i A uced is too fine to saturate thoroughly the hair and skin of the animals without
consuming an unnecessary amount of time. The Proprietors of Cooper's Cattle Dip makea special nozzle and handle for the
purpose vi Cattle Spraying.
Tethering the Animal. The animal to be sprayed should be securely tied to one of the posts of a fence, or in a fence
corner, where it cannot circle about to avoid treatment.
Nervous animals should have their hind legs tethered above the hocks; a strap is better than a rope for this purpose.
The Spraying Operation. Hold the nozzle some 6 to 12 inches from the animal's body. Always spray against the lay of the
hair. Start on one side near the head, and work round to the other, taking care to saturate all parts thoroughly.
Keep the pump going continuously, and see that the spray fluid gets into all recesses, most particularly and thoroughly mto
he hollows of the ears, under the tail, and between the udder and the legs. Other parts requiring special care are the head,
dewlap, brisket, inside of elbows, inside of thighs and flanks, and tail.
The hair of the tail brush and around the edges of the ears should be trimmed off to admit the spray fluid more readily.
Cre of Pump. After use, cleanse the pump, hose, and nozzle thoroughly with clean water.
Su idry Notes. (1) When preparing the small quantities of wash required for hand-spraying, accuracy in measuring both
dip and water is of special importance. If kay use @ paraffin tin, remember that it holds only 44th Imperial gallons—not §
gallons—and thus it takes 6 tins (not 5)to make 25 Imperial gallons.
@) A large oil can, with a hole cut in the top for the admission of the pump, has been used in place of am ordinary bucket :
gach a can has the advantage that animals cannot drink from it, should it, as often happens, be left unguarded at any time
@uriag spraying operations. }
@)_A convenient arrangement for handling the nozzle during spraying is to tie it loosely by its base to the end of a stick.
about feet long. By moving the stick rapidly back and forth, the spray may be caused to vibrate; and by various manigaie-
thems of the hose in relation to the stick, the spray may be readily directed in any desired direction.
‘The above notes have been complet from various sources, but mainly from U.S.A. Department of Agriculture Bulictia 8).
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
Mas received the official approval of the following Countries: ST.KITTS: S. L. Horsterd & Ce. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Ce
; JAMA & Co., KI
ae of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutolamd, x “GRENADA: Thomson, Meskcy a Car
asaland, Swaziland, BADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co,, Ltd
y n waziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, , BAHAMAS? W, N. Twynam, Nassau,
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T, Geddes Grant, Port of Spain.
ITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Park f°
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentige Republic, Queensiasé, ST. VINCENT: Corea & oy Kingstown, NEVIS: S-D, Malone.
United States of America, New. South Wales, DANISH WEST INDIBS: Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas.
7 4 MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton.
> Northern Territory of Australia. ST. LUCIA: Barmard Sons & Co., Castries.
Manvfacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRKANCLiS: Toronto, Chicago, Sydpey, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, “Punta Arenas, East Londoa, Odessa.
; > i % = re lam : | :
| LE N/
x.
ity
a
Ni cor a
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vor. XVII. No. 429.
CONTENTS.
PaGE. Pace.
Agriculture as a Business ey :
‘Proposition S06. cee can GBS) pasect aaa Porto
Agriculture in Barbados... 311 Bien ee ; 314
Alcohol Production from
Wood Waste... ... ... 313
Pooks Shelf 22.00.2090. 2s) OLD
British Cotton Growing
Association ... ... ... 310
Buchu Cultivation in South
Scale Feeding Habits of
Porto Rico Millipedes 314
Scale Insects and Their
Control@iitesmc-s) «-- ol4
Items of Local Inter-
ere bcs tao | Oct «meee ce ott
Copra and Coco-nut Oil, jesarket tee ae oat
The Study of ' | Notes anc omments ... 312
Curing Meat in Hot Weath-
| Plant Diseases:—
Gbmeeie-siee" os <-- O0Y| Moulds S@tenrmine” on
Department News. ... 307 Copra and Coco-nut
Fruit Trees, Intermittent Meat 22am 318
| Rice Cultivation in British
. o12 Guiana ‘<Saeeeeeeess ce GUS
316 | Sugar Factory Control ... 308
The Crow, and Its Rela-
tion to Mamie... ... <
Bearing of, How to
Avoid ... so
NALBATINGS vey ess yeas! > exe
Influence of Records on
Development... ... ... 305
Influence of Records on Development.
9 NE of the most striking ways ia which the
bagriculture of the present differs from that
SSO of the past, and in which the agriculture ot
the future will differ even more strikingly from that of
the present, is the extent to which dependence is
placed upon, and advancement conditioned by, the use
of written records. In the past, agriculture the world
ever has built up a body of tradition which served to
guide its work, and which slowly made for progress. The
jndustry was, to a large extent, self-contained. In late
BARBADOS, OCTOBER 5, 1918.
Price ld.
years, however, the increased intercourse between
farmers, and the large amount of special literature have
caused the farming world to be more and more invaded
from outside. New ideas have been thrust upon farmers,
some of which, taking hold, have been found to be of ser-
vice and have been adopted, while others have been
sought or tendered, and as a result, the trend of events
has been towards intellectual change, often amounting
to revolution, and consequently, farming the world over
no longer remains an isolated industry to be carried on
in a leisurely way by men who come only remotely
into contact with the world’s affairs.
The increased and increasing facilities for inter-
course between places within the same region, and also
between widely separated countries, have done much to
introduce and foster the new spirit, partly by making
exchange of ideas more readily possible, but even more
by creating competition between the farmers of widely
separated regions. Men have been urged to make their
living under new conditions, and have striven to
increase their wealth in new surroundings, and thus
have brought into the world’s markets vast and unexpec-
ted quantities of farm products which have profoundly
affected the welfare, and the modes of life and thought
of most distant places. In this way, the farmers of the
United Kingdom have been profoundly affected by the
developments on the American prairies, and by the
wheat fields of the Canadian West. At the same time
they have felt the competition of New Zealand mutton
and Argentine beef.
Instances might be multiplied almost indefinitely,
and illustrations might be taken nearer home, if one
306
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
OcrosEk 5, 1918,
were to enquire concerning the changes which have
taken place in West Indian agriculture since the days
when the early settlers cultivated tobacco, indigo, and
ginger as their staple crops: and if one thought of the
changes leading to the growth and decline, followed by
the present revival of the sugar industry, or the
‘development of such industries as the cultivation of
cacao, bananas, and coco-nuts. In all of these can be
traced the effect of competition and the bringing in of
new ideas from outside for the stirring up and en-
-couragement of planters.
As already stated. when these changes are looked
at, the great effect of the written record becomes more
and more apparent. In the older countries, and in the
early days, the forward movement was largely influenced,
as regards its written records, by Agricultural Societies,
Farmers’ Institutes, and kindred organizations. It was
soon found that there were important fields of know-
ledge which appeared attractive, and promised to be
profitable: but the busily oceupied farmers, having
little experience of things lying outside their daily
duties, were unable to deal with these to advantage:
so the aid of specialist enquirers and investigators
was invoked and welcomed. This, in turn, led to the
recognition of yet wider and wider fields of knowledge,
but at the same time deepened the conviction that the
exploration of these fields to advantage necessitated
the employment of special investigators. Hence there
grew up a body of scientific men, not themselves
farmers, and often having but an imperfect apprecia-
tion of the business of farming as a whole: but who
were able to investigate special portions of farming
problems, and to put forward ideas and cenclusions
which the farmers themselves were able to weave into
their daily practice.
These conditions in turn reacted more widely; the
early specialist investigators, such as Lawes and Liebig,
found themselves hampered by their isolation and the
extreme imperfection of their knowledge, so that they
were often unable to solve the problems confronting
them, or found themselves drifting to wrong conclu-
sions owing to their imperfeet knowledge. A
ment therefore quickly grew up for improving the
facilities of investigators, and adding to their knowledge.
‘This took many forms, amongst them the improvement
‘and increase in academic teaching in schools and
universities of the sciences bearing on agriculture, and
the creation of agricultural departments, such as are
now to be found in practically every country in the
-world, culminating in the wonderful organization to be
seen in the United States, with their vast Federal
move-
Department with its ever-increasing Divisions, supple-
mented by important State Departments, each aided by
an experiment station for the advancement of knew-
ledge, and in many eases by an agricultural college,
often of university rank, for the purpose of inculcat-
ing and ditfusing that knowledge.
Such a survey makes it evident that agriculture
is no longer an isolated pursuit which can be carried
on in the light of simple tradition handed down from
father to son; it is perhaps the most complex industry
of the world. Only since the effects of the present
world-war have begun to be seriously felt by the con-
tending nations hasit been realized how completely
dependent modern States are upon their agriculture,
and upon the agriculture of their neighbours. Complete
isolation in agricultural matters will quickly bring to
stagnation and ruin any State, large or small. The
service of agriculture is world-wide, and its modern
continuance is conditioned and determined by scientific
knowledge.
The written record has miadé this development
possible. In this connexion an idea occurs. It is often”
said, and more frequently thought, that once an idea
is placed on record its effectiveness is secured. This is
far from being the case; mere written records are
liable to lie dead or dormant, unless they fall on fertile
times and places, and appeal to the minds of those who
can use them. This may seem a mere truism, and it
may be so, but it isa fact which profoundly affects pro-
gress. The extraordinary instance of Mendel’s work. the
record of which lay enshrined, dormant and inoperative,
for thirty-five years, from 1805 to 1900, in the archives
of the Natural History Society ®f Brunn, is a case in
point. For the whole of that time this work was
practically unknown and entirely useless, but when
the attention of modern botanists was directed to it,
and it was carefully investigated, it became of the
greatest value, and exercised startling infuence in the
development of many modern agricultural problems.
It is necessary in every country, including: Sr
small West Indian communities, to make provision for
the means of keeping alive, and bringing into promin-
ence from time to time, the ideas contained in the
written records of our own and other countries. This
forms one of the most important, but perhaps little-
recognized functions of the officers of our Agricultural
Departments. One of their duties is the carrying on of
work and experiments directed towards the improve-
ment of agricultural methods, the introduction of
Vor. XVIE-No 429.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
307
new crops and new plants, and generally, to be
vigilant in noting what is passing in the agri-
cultural world, in order to seize upon it for local
application, where such a bearing is possible. At
frequent. intervals they put forward in reports and
papers, accounts of their work in this connexion,
and the information thus accumulated appears to
be ready and available for the use of the planter
whom it may concern. Much of this work, thus record-
ed, would pass with little recognition, unless these
officers themselves pointed to the possible applications
of what they have recorded, and pointed to it frequent-
ly; for often information fails to strike the busy man as
applicable to himself or to his own concerns, from the
fact that at the moment when the information comes
‘under his notice his thoughts are centred on other
things, and later he forgets the information, and fails to
make the application. Thus an important part of the
work of agricultural officers lies in keeping alive the
knowledge that is available, and producing it for use
when occasion requires.
At times, too great reliance is placed on this
function of the agricultural officers and_ planters,
and others relegate the whole duty of pointing out
the path of progress to these men, instead of them-
selves maintaining a lively interest in current events.
As a result, the work of the agricultural societies, the
bodies which should form the Planters’ Parliaments,
frequently languishes, and the records show that such
vitality as they possess often depends on the efforts
and activities of the agricultural ofticers, instead of upon
those of the planters, for whose benefit these institu-
tions ostensibly exist. A striking imstance of waning
activity in this direction was referred to in the
editorial in the last issue of this Journal, as brought
into prominence in thé Presidential Address of
Professor Harrison to the Royal Agricultural and
Commercial Society of British Guiana. Parallel
instances may be found in the records of the majority
of West Indian agricultural societies.
By way of summary it may well be urged that
while the written record is essential for progress, it
must be added that this is of no avail without live
men to interpret and apply it.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. W. Novell, D.1.C., Mycologist on the staft of
the Imperial Department of Agriculture, returned to
Barbados on September 27, after a short visit to
“Dominica and Montserrat in conuexion with inyesbi-
gation of certain plant diseases.
CURING MEAT IN HOT WEATHER.
The following recipes for curing meat in hot
weather are reproduced from the Queensland Agri-
cultural Journal, for June 1918, as likely to be useful
to readers of the Agricultural News. In this connex-
ion, reference might also be made to a successful
experiment in salting pork, carried out by Mr. C. P.
Stoute, then Government Veterinary Ofticer of St. Vin-
cent, vide Agricultural News, Vol. XV, p. 159:—
Recipes for curing meat in hot weather are of special
interest, and the ones given here have been tried. Meat for
curing must be thoroughly cooled, because if the surface of
meat comes in contact with salt before all the animal heat
is removed, it will havea tendency to shrink the muscles, and
form a coating on the outside which will not allow the gen-
erating gases to-escape.
Good brine for brine-curing can be made from 10 b. of
salt, 2 fb. of sugar or molasses, and 4 gallons of water to-
100 fb. of meat. It is a good precaution to boil and skim
the mixture. Two or 3 oz. of saltpetre may be added to pre-
serve the natural colour of the meat, but is harmful to-
the health even if used in small quantities. Meat cures
more rapidly if the brine does not become too cold. Bacon
will cure in from twenty-two to thirty days, while heavier
hams need from forty to sixty days. Freshen cured meat
in lukewarm water for six hours, then dry and smoke.
For dry curing, make a mixture of clean, fine salt,.
40 tb.; white or brown sugar, 10 tb.; white or black pepper,
4 tb.; red pepper, }-Ib. This will make enough mixture for
about 1,000 fb. of pork. If saltpetre is desired, use 2 tb. in
the above mixture. Rub each piece of meat thoroughly with
the mixture, working it in well around the bones of hams
and shoulders. Pack with skin down, in a cool, airy place,
not in direct sunlight, nor in a damp musty cellar. After
four or five days overhaul the meat, rub thoroughly with the
mixture, and repack; repeat this in about a week. Hams
and shoulders should remain in the mixture from one and
a half to two days per pound weight apiece; the latter
time is safer for meat that is to be kept during the
summer. Bacon should bein the mixture a shorter time.
Ten days will give a very nice mild cure to a 6 or 8 bb. piece-
Any of the mixtures which give good results in curing
pork can be used satisfactorily for beef, but beef should not
be allowed to remain in the brine or mixture quite so long.
Corned beef is best when it has been in the mixture about
ten days.
Get the tender side of the round of good fat beef.
For every 20 tb. of beef take 1 pint of salt, a teaspoonful of
saltpetre, and a }-Ib of brown sugar. Mix these well, rolling
out any lumps; divide into three equal parts, and rub well
into the beef for three successive days. Turn the beef daily in
the liquor it w.ll make. It should not make much, but what
there is rub well into, and pile on the beef. Rub a little extra
salt into the hole cut for the string to hang it by. At the
end of a week hang the beef in a dry, rather warm place, till
it stops dripping, then in a cooler, dry place. Do not smoke
it; smoking spoils the flavour.
Sometimes there is trouble in keeping meat after it has
been cured or smoked. It should be stored in a dry, cool,
and well-ventilated place. The most satisfactory way to handle
such meat is to wrap it up in paper, and then enclose it in
strong muslin sacks tied tightly at the tops.
308
OcroserR 5, 1918.
SUGAR FACTORY CONTROL.
In an article in the August issue of the Jx/ernational
Sugar Journal, Mr. Frank Coxon, writing under the heading,
‘Sugar Factory Control, a neglected duty of the home admin-
istrations’, points out that sigar factory reports and control
sheets, when sent to the Head Office of the various concerns,
seldom receive the critical consideration which they deserve,
-and are seldom used to make the necessary comparisons for
appreciating the correct position of the reporting factories as
regards the excellence or the defects of their work. This
he thinks is partly due to the multiplicity of the matters com-
monly dealt with in the sheets, and partly to the lack ot
detailed technical knowledge on the part of those to whom
they are submitted. He suggests that these difficulties
might be minimized, and the information made readily
accessible even to those having bat slight technical training,
if steps were taken to abstract from the lengthy main
reports of the factories, the principal figures on which the
working of a factory may be judged. He mentions some
of the salient items.
He further suggests that the information contained in
these abstracts will find more ready application in the
managing offices if comparisons are continuously made
between the figures so recorded for any company’s factory,
and the similar figures collated in respect of various other
factories, so as to enable comparisons to be made at once,
and with the minimum of effort.
Instances are given of such abstracted reports, and of
the comparisons which may be readily drawn from them
without abstruse calculation of any marked technical
knowledge.
We need hardly remind our readers that this method of
working has been made free use of in the case of the pioneer
central sugar factories at Antigua and St. Kitts, abstracts
from the working-sheets of which, and deductions drawn there-
from, have frequently. appeared in the publications of this
Departwent, the Directors of these tactories holding that it is
to the general advantage of the West Indian sugar industry as
a whole thus to circulate knowledge. It may be added that
this advantage might be widened, if the Directors of other
concerns were to adopt a similar policy, and to put forward
the main features of their factory control sheets for
the information of their colleagues,
It may be unnecessary to refer to the very full and valuable
information along these lines which is regularly furnished by
the great sugar-producing countries, such as Java, Hawaii,
and others, These instances afford precedents which might
well be followed to a greater extent than at present by our
British West Indian factory owners.
RICE CULTIVATION IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
In continuation of observations in the last issue of
this Journal with reference to the Presidential Address
of Professor Harrison, 0.M.G., M.A., to the Royal Agri-
cultural and Commercial Society, British Guiana, the
following particulars regarding the progress of the rice
ndustry of that Colony since 1884 are appended:—
Among the sost striking, if not the most striking, of
the agricultural developments in the West Indian Province
during the twenty-one years which have elapsed since 1897
has been the very extensive rice industry of British Guiana.
In 1897 one of the most important steps ever taken with
regard to that industry was completed by the erection, by
the aid of a Government loan, of the pioneer large-scale
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
ricefactory in Georgetown. In the Report of the West
Indian Royal Commission issued towards the end of 1897,
was the following:—
‘Rice to the value of £180,000 was imported in 1895-6
for consumption in the Colony. Rice of excellent quality is
already grown in British Guiana, and every effort should be
made to produce locally all that is wanted of this article.’
Whilst in the Dr. Morris’s Subsidiary Report was the
following:— .
‘There can be no doubt as to the decided opinion which
prevails that rice growing is a most promising industry on
the coast lands of British Guiana. The cultivation so far
has been undertaken on comparatively small areas by coolies,
and with very crude appliances for threshing and husking the
grain. Recently a loan has been sanctioned by the Govern-
ment for erecting and working one or more rice factories
where the rice could be milled and prepared at a small cost
for local consumption. The present cost of husking rice by
hand-pounding in mortars is estimated at 3s. 6d. per bag.
At well-equipped mills this could be done at a cost of about
ls. 6d. per bag. It is confidently anticipated that as soon
as mills are established a great impetus will be given to rice
growing all over the colony.’
The progress of the rice industry since 1884 is shown in
the following statement:—
QUINQUEXNIAL PERIODS,
Periods. No. of acres, Rice exported, Rice imported,
British, reaped. tb. per annum. ib. per annum.
1884-88 (about) 2,500 nil 43,500,000
1889-93 $3 2,500 x 41,964,000
1894-98 is 7,490 10,820 32,062,000
1896 6,000 nil 82,918,000
1899-1903 ,, 15,020 6,000 18,127,000
1904-8 » 29,000 3,769,000 5,644,000
1909-13 5 37,750 10,177,000 355,000
1914, 1915
and 1916 (3
years only) 50,276 21,769,300 20,100
1917 68,980 = 32,182,000 nil
The statement verifies in a most striking manner the
views of the Royal Commission and of their able colleague
and adviser, Sir Daniel Morris; 32,000,000 tb. imported in
1896; 32,000,000 exported in 1917.
The area under rice cultivation in 1896-7 was about
6,500 British acres, yielding paddy equal to about 4,000 tons
of cleaned rice, in value about £48,000 or $230,000, whilst
in 1917 not less than 63,580 acres were reaped, yielding
paddy equal to about 45,000 tons of commercial rice, having
a value in normal times of at least £540,000 or $2,600,000
The yields of rice in the colony vary very greatly; for
instance, on empoldered lands with satisfactory facilities for
irrigation and drainage, the crops may be from 20 to 28
bags (of 140-150 fb.) of paddy, the average yields on these
lands being 25 bags per acre; on non-empoldered lands with
fair irrigation, the yields are from 16 to 20 bags of paddy per
acre, whilst on poor and unsuitable lands with defective
irrigation, or with no means of irrigation, and dependent
solely on the rainfall, the yields are only from 8 to 14 bags
per acre. Over the whole colony the average yields are from
18 to 23 bags per acre per crop, the yields being governed by
the characteristics of the seasons.
In some districts, more especially in North-East Esse
quebo, where facilities for irrigation and drainage are excep-
tionally favourable, two crops per annum are usually reaped.
On the best empoldered lands the two crops yield a total of
Vor, XVII. No: 429.
THE AGp;CULTURAL NEWS.
309
————
from 38 to 45 bags (of 140 tb.) of paddy per acre, whilst on
non-empoldered lands the total annual yields are from 30 to
35 bags.
Prior to 1897 several attempts were made, with but
little success; towards improving the quality and yield of
vice in British Guiana, by importing seed-paddy from Cal-
cutta. They were resumed in 1897, but failed, as at that
time the Botanic Gardens proper were used almost exclus-
ively for ornamental and horticultural purposes, whilst there
was not any land available in the experimental section de-
voted to sugar-cane. In 1902, with the assistance of the late
Sir Alexander Ashmore, some marsh paddies of choice varieties
were Obtained from Ceylon. An area of then practically
marsh land in the north-eastern section of the Botanic
Gardens was cleared from bush, and laid out in rice beds
under the direction of Mr. Gainfort, whilst acting as Super-
intendent of the Gardens. A year later, supplies of hill paddy
were obtained, but owing to ‘heating’ on the voyage from Cey-
lon here, the seed-paddy proved almost entirely non-fertile;
Mr. E. Ward, however, succeeded in germinating nine grains
of the paddies, and from them some good strains of hill-rice
were obtained. Later supplies of seed-paddy have been
obtained from several different countries and colonies, and
over 300 varieties have been under experimental field trial.
Few of them have been able to compete in yield and quality
of paddy with the Creole rice of British Guiana as improved
by careful and continuous seed and field selection. On these
fields the yields of the Creole rice have increased from 35 cwt.
per acre in 1905 to 42 ewt. in 1916, and to 41 ewt. in 1917.
The best of the introduced varieties now only yields, on the
average, about 14 cwt. of paddy per acre more than does the
Creole, whilst its former excess yields over the local kinds
were from 3 to 4 ewt. per acre per crop.
From 10 to 12 tons of seed-paddy, 99 per cent. true to
type, of the best imported and local strains have been distri-
buted from the Botanic Gardens among rice planters each
year since 1907.
The average yields of rice per acre in British Guiana
are fairly satisfactory, but the following table shows that,
whilst the colony occupies an enviable position among rice-
producing countries with regard to this, a few others far
exceed it, and it is to their standards that rice growers in
this colony should strive to attain:—
Cleaned rice,
ewt. per acre.
Spain 26 0
Egypt 21:5
Japan 21:5
British Guiana 15:0 to 19°0
16-0 to 22°0
{ Empoldered lands
11-0 to 16°0
\ Other lands
Italy 16-7
Formosa 15:0 to 17:0
Korea, 11°0 to 12:0
Java 11:0
United States 8-6 to 12°0
Borneo 8-4
British India 7:3 to 86
Malaya Go
Trinidad 70
North Borneo 6:3
Ceylon 4-4 to 5°6
Philippine Islands 40 to 50
Our high yields may be due in»part to the excellence of
our local strains of rice, and in part to our facilities for irri-
gation; but notin the same degree to excellence of cultivation.
When it becomes feasible to cultivate the rice lands more
thoroughly, the yield should increase to a considerable extent,
We are favoured here in many places by the special suitabil-
ity of savannah and creek-waters for the irrigation of the-
rice fields, the high content of plant food in the waters
enabling the lands irrigated with them to produce heavy
crops of rice year after year without showing any signs of
falling-off in yield. Abandoned Sugar-cane landa are espec-
ially suitable for rice cultivation, owing to the impervious
clay-pans which have formed in them at about 12 inches
from their surfaces, and which tend to conserve the irrigation-
water from loss by seepage; and to the marked stimulus to
the growth of the rice by the saline matter which has accum-
ulated in the lower layers of their soils. Rain-water does not
result in such heavy returns of rice as does irrigation
with creek-water: whilst the yields from using artesian
well-water may be even lower than from rain. Our trials
during recent years have proved that artesian well-water
must be applied to the land in a continuous flow, and not
intermittently, as swamp or ecreek-water is used. Where
artesian water is employed, the need of repeated tillage
between the succeeding crops becomes very marked; our
trials show that an additional thorough ploughing may
increase the yields from 4 to 9 ewt. of paddy per acre.
It is possible to get five crops of rice in two years by
using continuously flowing artesian well-water, the total
yield of paddy thus obtained in our trials being 166 ewt. per
acre, or at the rate of 334 cwt. per crop, or 83 ecwt. per
annum. During the same period two crops of rice were
obtained on similar land using creek-water which together
weighed 87 cwt. Thus, although the crops obtained through
the use of artesian water are not individually as high as
those obtainable by the use of creek-water, the total yields
obtained by constant cropping may be much the greater.
I am satisfied that by using artesian well-water with
thorough tillage between the crops, four crops of rice can be
obtained in two years, weighing from 130 to 150 ewt., which
yield would compare very favourably with the crops obtained
by the double cropping system with creek-water in North-East
Essequebo, where an average yield of about 96 cwt., and a
maximum one of 120 ewt, are obtained.
There are still vast areas of potential rice lands available
on the front lands of the colony, and I think we may look
forward with confidence to a time in the near future when wa
shall have, say, 100,000 acres cropped with paddy, yielding
from 75,000 to 80,000 tons of cleaned rice per annum.
It is usual to ascribe the success of the rice industry
solely to the East Indian section of the community. This
is not strictly correct; its initiation was ue to negro colonists:
its early devolopment on a small scale was due to the unaided
efforts of the East Indians; its greater devolopment has been
due to the manner in which rice millers and local capitalists
have co-operated with, and financially aided the East Indians
in building up the industry on commercial lines.
I alluded earlier in this address to the great impetus
which the establishment in 1897 of the pioneer, thoroughly
equipped, rice mill in Georgetown gave to the industry.
There is now under inception by the Government the erection
of a factory for producing flour from rice, pulses, corn or
maize, and similar grains. Its cost may be in the vicinity of
$30,009. I think that sum will be well invested, and that
British Guiana rice flour may in the near future become «
regular article of export to the West Indian islands. At
present there is a large amount of broken rice produced in
the various rice mills, and it is hoped with suitable appliances
so thoroughly to clean this by-product that it may he
successfully converted into high-grade rice flour.
310
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OctToser 5, 1918.
BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO-
CIATION.
In presenting the Thirteenth Annual Report of the work
of the Association, the Council records with much regret the
deaths of Mr. John Edward Newton, one of the Vice Presi-
dents of the Association, and Mr. Edwin Stansfield. Both
of these gentlemen were actively connected with the Associa-
tion from its inauguration in 1902, and took a prominent
part in the development of cotton growing
Mr. H. Boothman, the General Secretary of the Amal-
gamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners, has been
elected a member of the Council, to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Mr. William Marsland.
Owing to reasons of health, Mr. J. Arthur Hutton has
resigned his position as Chairman of the Association, and the
Council has accepted the resignation with profound regret,
and desires to place upon record its most grateful thanks fur
the whole-hearted and unremitting devotion which Mr. Hutton
has given to the Lest interests of the Association since its
inception. The Council recalls with gratitude the ability
with which he has guided the Association’s policy and work
through many difficulties, until it has attained its present
recognized position as an Empire institution, with every
promise that its work and example will ultimately result in a
large increase of British Empire-grown cotton. Mr. Hutton
has been elected a Vice President of the Association,
The Council has decided not to appoint any permanent
Chairman, but that ‘he work shall be carried on ty the pres-
ent Executive Committee, with the co-operation and general
superintendence of the Manager, Mr. Himbury. The Execu-
tive Committee have arranged to meet frequently at regular
intervals, and practically to act as a board of directors.
Asa result of representations made by the Council,
a Committee has been appointed to consider the best method
of continuing and developing the work inaugurated by the
Association. A great deal of valuable evidence has already been
placed at the disposal of the Committee, and a complete
and exhaustive statement of the Association’s case for the
future development «f the cotton-yrowing movement within
the Empire was drawn up Mr. Hutton, and considered by
the Committee.
Evidence was given by representatives of the Sudan
Government, which showed that within a period of, say,
twenty-five years about 440,000 bales of 500 tb. each could
be produced annually in the Sndan by the aid of dam and
irrigation works, but without any extra storage works.
Evidence was also given by Sir Murdoch MacDonald,
the head of the Egyptian Irrigation Department, with regard
to the ) ossibilities in Egypt, where it is estimated that by
drainag: and irrigation schemes another 800,000 bales of
500 Ib. cach might be added to the Egyptian crop,
The Committee are still continuing their investigations.
Owing to the war no further efforts have been made to
complete the raising of the capital, namely, £500,000, but
additional subscriptions amounting to £114 have been
received during the year.
The total capital subscribed is £477,034, of which
£468,585 has been allotted in the form of shares. The
balance of capital still to be raised amounts to £22,966,
towards which £13,000 has been promised conditionally on
the whole of the capital being subscribed, leaving a net
balance of £9,966 still to be found.
Considerable «lifficnlties and delays have again been
experienced in shijping the 1916-17 cotton crop, but the
Council are glad to report that, notwithstanding the very
acute shortage of tonnage which has existed during the year,
the whole of the 1916-17 cotton from West Africa and the
Sudan has now been received in Liverpool. A considerable
portion of the Uganda and Nyasaland crops still remains
to be shipped, as well as the bulk of the Sea Island
cotton grown in the West Indies. The shipment of the
Uganda cotton crop has been a source of anxiety to the
Council, but they feel confident that the Government will do
everything possible to ensure the shipment of cotton from
Uganda.
The total amount of cotton which has passed through
the hands of the Association during recent years is shown in
the following statement:—
Year. Bales. Value,
; £.
1912 40,094 507,122
1913 _ 47,466 661,227
1914 38,694 456,147
1915 48,087 627,763
1916 40,730 788,061
1917 39,191 1,415,644
The Council consider the results of the past year’s work-
ing are eminently satisfactory, more especially in face of the
transport and other difficulties which have prevailed.
The estimated amount of cotton grown in new fields in
the British Empire in the last six years, stated in bales of
$00 Ib each, is as follows:—
1912 71,490 bales.
1913 72800,
1914 82,350 5;
1915 75,200
1916 78,800 _,,
1917 72,600) =:
Reporting on workin the colonies, it is mentioned, in
reference to the West Indies, that owing to difficulties in
obtaining a sufficient supply of long stapled cotton for military
requirements, His Majesty's Government found it necessary,
in Imperial interests, to acquire all Sea Island cotton pro-
duced in the West Indies. The Secretary of State for the
Colonies has therefore prohibited the exportation of this
cotton, with a view to its purchase by the Colonial Govern-
ment on behalf of the Admiralty. While Mr. Long regrets
to interfere with the business arrangements of the agricul-
tural community, he feels that he has no alternative to doing
so, and he relies with confidence on the patriotic eo-opera-
tion of the planters. All Sea Island cotton offered is bought,
ginned, baled, and delivered at the port of shipment, and
the planters are accordingly relieved of all difficulties in the
provision of tonnage.
The exports for the year ending September 30, 1917,
only amounted to 892,867 tb., as compared with 1,008,288 hb,
in 1916, and 1,823,956 Bb. in 1915, There were also exported
from St. Vincent 19,656 Ib of Marie Galante seed-cotton,
of an estimated value of £204. The estimated production
of St. Vincent was 160,168 Ib., but a considerable quantity
remained unshipped.
From the Virgin Islands were also shipped 1,170 hb,
native, and 460 tb. of, stains, the estimated values of which
were £88 and £54, respectively.
Owing to lack of transport shipping facilities from the
West Indies, a large quantity of the 1916-17 crop still
remained on hand up to September 30, 1917.
In conelusion, the Council are of opinion that while the
war, depletion of staff, discontinuation of the Government
Grant, and other diffieylties have prevented the undertaking
of new developments Inthe year 1917, the Association may
congratulate themselves upon a very successful effort to ‘carry
Vout. XVII. No. 429.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS 311
‘on’ the work of former years. The members have good reason
to be satisfied with the present position, and with the bright
prospects of the future. The Balance Sheet, with its surplus
* maintained at about last year’s level, is evidence of the large
business which has developed in the few years of the Associa-
tion’s existence. In comparison with Lancashire's require-
ments, it is true the British Cotton Growing production is
small, but it is not negligible, and one must not lose sight of
the fact that a very firm foundation has been laid for the
benefit of Lancashire and the Empire. The Association’s
members may now see in the appointment of the Empire
Cotton Growing Committee, evidence of having, by their
cheerful sacrifices of the past, convinced the Government
Authorities that the question of the development of cotton
growing in the Empire is worthy of closer attention than it
has hitherto received.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
pominica. During the month of August, 289 barrels
of limes were gathered in the Lime Experiment Station,
making a total crop since April of about 536 barrels. Plant
distribution included the following: limes, 1,475; vanilla, 100;
Eucalyptus, 49; bamboos, 59; budded citrus, 23; grafted
mangoes, 4; miscellaneous, 85; dracaena cuttings for wind-
breaks, 150, In addition, 155 packets of vegetable seeds, and
26 tb. of black-eye peas were sold. Hegarding staple crops
Mr. Jones states that the lime crop for the reason has reached
the maximum, and is now on the decline. Ripe limes continue
to sell at 4s. per barrel. The embargo on green limes and
other lime products has been raised, and it is understood
that shipments can be made freely. The free movement of
concentrated juice and citrate of lime to New York, Mr. Jones
says, will greatly help at this time, but it is too late in the
season for much to be done in connexion with the green
lime trade. The total rainfall for the month was 8°46 inches.
High winds were experienced during the afternoon and
evening of August 22. Fortunately but little damage was
done ;
st. LucrA. Plant distribution during the month of
August included 2,500 lime plants, and 738 decorative
and ornamental. In addition, 3 lb. of cotton seed, and 47
packets of vegetable seeds were sent out. Mr. A. J. Brooks,
the Agricultural Superintendent, states, in regard to staple
crops, that the cacao crop was setting, extension of the lime
crop continued steady, while the sugar crop was making a
good stand throughout the island. Special work had
been undertaken in connexion with the eradication of
love vine. The lime factory was working at fnllest
pressure, necessitating the regulating of the incoming
produce. The Chula drier arrived safely, and has been erected
at the Granary; it gave satisfaction during its first trial.
The rainfall recorded at the Botanic Gardens, Castries,
duriag the month, was 7:90 inches; at the Agricultural
and Experiment Station, Choiseul, the record was 7:79
inches. ts ay
anticua. The following plants were distributed during
the month of August: sisal, 3,229; henequen, 47; limes, 18;
vegetable seeds, 213 packets; cotton seed, 446 fb. Some
20,000 sisal plants were imported and planted out in nars-
ery beds in the Botanic Gardens. Mr. Jackson states that
dry weather was seriously affecting the cane crop throughout
the island. On the heavy lands, even with the best seasen-
able weather during the next few months, only very limited
returns can be looked for. On such types of land root
fungus is extremely prevalent. Some of the early cotton
fields look promising, and cotton is being harvested from
some of these. Others present a very indifferent appearance
on account of the severe drought. Many cotton planters
have not been able to get their crop established. Cotton
Stainers have been observed in moderately large numbers.
Attacks of caterpillars were experienced, and some fields have
been attacked by aphis. The rainfall for the month was
2-02 inches. Crops throughout the island, except on one or
two estates, require rain badly.
Since the above notes were received, news has come to
hand that welcome heavy rains have fallen, rendering the
outlook much brighter
NEVIS. Mr. W. I. Howell, the Agricultural Instructor,
writes to say that during the month of August the plots in
the Experiment Station have all been kept in good order,
and the crops, on the whole, are doing a little better than in
previous months.
Cotton in the demonstration plot is being reaped, but
the first picking will be poor, as the plants are very small,
and a number of the bolls were shed on account of the
dry weather. Cotton worms made their appearance, but were
kept in check by the use of Paris green. The following
plants and seeds were distributed from the station during the
month: cotton seed, 4 lb.; sweet potato cuttings, 1,600; and, in
addition, 70 tb. of Paris green.
The cane crop throughout the island, Mr. Howell states,
is very poor, and in some places presents a miserable appear-
ance. In the windward part of the island the weather has been
particularly dry, and the crops have suffered very mueh. The
cotton crop in some places is doing fairly well, and picking has
been begun, but the returns generally will be poor. In other
from the crop is late, and the young plants are suffering much
from want of rain. Cotton stainers are very plentiful, and in
some of the early fields a very high percentage of the crop is
stained cotton. Stainers have never been observed in such num-
bers so early in the season. Cotton worms were very active
during the imonth, and many fields in the New Road district
have been damaged through lack of proper attention, and
tbe use of poison which was mixed far too weak to be effective.
Provision crops in the Gingerland district are looking fairly
well, but in other places they are much in need of rain. The
rainfall for the month was 5 inches: for the year to date,
28°15 inches.
Agriculture in Barbados.—The first fifteen days
of September were marked by low breezes, intense heat, and
heavy downpours of rain at intervals in various parts of the
i-land. These Gownpours were sometimes partial, but the
whole island has registered a very satisfactory rainfall during
the past fortnight, while in some districts the total already
reached is much above the average. Roughly speaking it
is already three times as much, and it has exceeded to date
the total registered during any month this season.
The cane crop—the plant canes especially—is mak-
ing excellent progress. One has but to visit a district at
intervals of a fortnight to observe the strides made by some
fields. All estates have now had their full supply of sulphate
of ammonia, and planters have been tusy putting in the
second application to their ratoons. A good supply of Indian
corn is being reaped. Field after field is being broken in,
and the return in most cases has been satisfactory. (The
Barbados Agricultural Reporter, September 21, 1918.)
312
fDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
-3pecimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
‘Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
-News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of
Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies
D.Se., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
JW. R. Dunlop.*
(Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
H. A. Ballou,’M.Sc.
W. Nowell, D.I.C.
S. C. Harland, B.Sc.+
CLERICAL STAFF.
“Seientific Assistant ani
Assistant Editor
Entomologist
Mycologist
Assistant for Cotton Research
- Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L, A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants P. Taylor.*
\K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Miss W. Ellis.
A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Typist
_ Assistant Typist
Assistant{for Publications
Agricultural Stews _
“Vor. XVII. SATURDAY, OCTOBER dD, 1918.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In this number the editorial discusses the influ-
ence of records on devolopment, especially in connex-
jon with agriculture.
Under the head Insect Notes, on page 314, will
be found notes on insect pestsin Porto Rico.
Plant Diseases present a description of moulds
oceurring on copra and coco-nut meat in the Philippine
Islands, which are held to be responsible for the
deterioration of these products both in storage and
in transportation.
‘The Crow and its relation to man’, forms the
subject of an interesting article on page 319.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroser 5, 1918.
How to Avoid Intermittent Bearing of Fruit
Trees.
In a recent article in Cowntry Life, it is maintain-
ed that the intermittent bearing of truit trees can be
avoided by a proper system of manuring. The writer,
H. Vendelmans, says that, in spite of a very common
belief, it is certain that the bearing capacity of fruit
trees is not limited to every other year. Ninety-one
orchardists out of every hundred in England assert that
a good crop is followed by a thin crop, and vice versa:
but the regularity with which excellent returns are
obtained annually from espalier trees, and trees under
glass, which receive different treatment from that meted
out to orchard trees, ought to suggest some scepticism
about the old tradition. In the case mentioned, it is
possible to rely on good crops every year. Among
the reasons which explain this more regular bearing,
manure takes a first place. Without it, the abundant
crop of one year makes so great a demand upon plant
food that the reserves of the trees are exhausted, and
are not strong enough to feed a new crop for the next
year, Hence a poor return follows a good return. In the
year following the bumper crop, the trees often carry
no fruit at all, but they accumulate new reserves, and
are then ready tofeeda large crop the next year.
When the exhaustion of the trees is prevented by
appropriate manuring, bearing takes place much more
regularly.
In manuring fruit trees, it is necessary to bear in
mind that the blossom buds are formed the year before
they come out, that is to say, during the period of
bearing, or shortly afterwards. Consequently, they are
forming at a time when the trees are being exhausted,
or have been exhausted. Therefore, a liberal supply of
easily assimilable manure must be placed at their
disposal during this period. Liquid manure, wood-
ashes, basic slag, and lime should be used, taking into
account that a supérabundant supply of nitrogen might
lead toa production of wood instead of Hower buds,
and that phosphates assist in developing the favour of
the fruit.
This serves to emphasize the essential use of
manures in orchard cultivation, if the best results
are to be attained.
+
Buchu Cultivation in South Africa.
The Buchu plant, a hard perennial and evergreen
shrub belonging to the rue family, is said to be indi-
genous to South Africa, but its culture there seems
to have been neglected in recent years—as late as
1908, 240,742 tb. of leaves were exported. The high
price now prevailing for buchu oil, however, is again
stimulating interest in this plant to some extent in
South Africa.
According to an account of the cultivation of the
plant given in the South African Agricultural Jour-
nal, and quoted in the Perfumery and Essential Oil
Record for AuguSt 1918, the leaves of the buchu, to
which the value of the plant is due, are opposite or
scattered, and are Hat and dotted with oil glands, the
margins are glandular, serrate, or, in some cases, almost
Vor. XVII. No, 429.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 3]
wy
a sess
entirely revolute. When touched, or dry, the leaves
emit a strong aromatic odour, which is due to a volatile
oil contained in the glands. This oil is greenish in
colour when pressed out of the cells, and when left to
dry upon the leaves forms a camphor-like substance.
There are three species of buchu plant used in
medicine: the kloof buchu (Barosma_ serratifolia),
the mountain buchu (B. betulina), and (B. crenulata).
While containing the same essential oil and camphor,
they differ in the shape, appearance, and colour of the
leaves. The mountain buchu is probably the most
valuable, as it contains the greatest number of oil
glands in its small, light-green leaves: it is more com-
pact and dwarfed than the kloof buchu, the leaves of
which are dark green, resembling somewhat those of
the orange tree (Citrus Aurantium). The B. erenu-
lata species has larger leaves than the others, but this
kind is not so widely distributed, and is consequently
not so well known.
The buchu does not thrive in every soil. In its
native state itis not found in earth having limestone
as one of its component parts, nor in brackish or sandy
soil and stiff clay. On the other hand, according to
the species, a black or red sandy ioam, impregnated with
decayed vegetable matter, facilitates its culture.
ood results, however, are said to be obtained when
the plant is cultivated on sandy loam, properly drained
and deeply dug, but not irrigated by brackish streams..
rr
Alcohol Production from Wood Waste.
The demand for alcoho! in industry increases enor-
mously, and in the present circumstances especially,
scientists are directing their energies to new sources of
supply. The methods of producing ethyl alcohol may
roughly be divided under two heads: (1) strictly syn-
thetic, such as manufacture from calcium carbide via
acetylene, and (2) fermentation processes, the mater-
ials fur which are many.
Among the chief sources of fermentation of alcohol
up to the present have been the various sugars found
as such in plants, and the carbohydrates of grain and
potatoes, but there are other sources to which much
attention is being directed nowadays, and in a paper
discussed at a recent meeting of Canadian chemists held
at Ottawa, and published in full in The Board of Trade
Journal, August 1, considerable importance is foreshad-
owed in regard to wood waste as a raw material in alco-
hol production. Two plants have within the last decade
been installed in the United States, which are said to
be economically producing high-grade spirit. The wood
almost exclusively used is yellow pine, but it is stated
that equally satisfactory yields are obtained from fir,
spruce, and white pine.
By the process in use—heating under pressure
with a dilute hydrolysing acid—as much as 25 to 28
per cent. of the anhydrous wood is rendered soluble,
and of this amount as much as 80 per cent. can be
- delivered as fermentable sugar. It is not believed to
be likely that a greater percentage will be obtained by
the use of dilute acids. For the present, therefore, a
- conversion yielding 20 to 22 percent. of fermentable
sugars, or from 10 to 11 percent. of ethyl alcoho
corresponding to a maximum of, say, 55 gallons of 95
per cent. alcohol per dry ton, represents the immediate
result. The actual average yields on a large scale
have hardly exceeded half of this amount, so that there-
is a wide margin for improvement, and, to obtain this,
investigation is now being carried out.
The quality of the product was reported to be
one of the purest cologne spirits that had come under
the observation of the analyst. It might be added
that the plant, giving the above result, is operated at
Fullerton, Louisiana.
TT po
Agriculture as a Business Proposition.
‘British Agriculture as a Business Proposition’ has
been discussed recently at a meeting of the Agricul~
tural Club, over which Sir Henry Rew, K.C.B., pre~
sided. The discussion was opened by Mr. J. H. Guy,
the Assistant Financial Secretary to the Ministry of
Munitions. After describing certain basic conditions of
farming in the United Kingdom as they had struck him
(an American), he asked his hearers to compare such
conditions with those of a commercial undertaking.
There they had a simple direct aim—the profit of the
holder of ordinary shares. Every transaction is jndged
by that one standard. It was the creed of may com-
mercial men that the more intelligently this object
was pursued the more easily could it be reconciled with
the rising standards of social obligations.
In farming, the fundamental objectives are much
confused, and, for the moment at least,the British people
seemed inclined to conduct agriculture as an insurance
against a submarine siege of these islands, as a nursery
of manhood, and a phase in a scheme for giving the
returning soldier a strip of the land for which
he has fought. However admirable these schemes
might be, they are not intrinsically business proposi-
tions, though they can be reconciled with business, at
a price.
If we grant the premise that farming is to
be conducted for profit pure and simple, he would
concur whole-heartedly in the application of the tactory
system to the farm, and would accept the conclusion as
to farm labour that our choice lies between five labonr-
ers at £1 per week, and two labourers properly equipped
and directed at £3 per week. He would, however,
assume that any policy to command wide approval in
the United Kingdom must etfect a reconciliation be-
tween pure business and certain State requirements.
This, however, was only the beginning of an answer to
the questions, what is farming’ and who is running it?
which Mr. Guy thought were vital to the subject.
In trying to find an answer to these qnestions many
phases of our farming were discussed, and among the
conclusions arrived at were that the farming industry
requires to turn overits capital more frequently, to
‘control its purchasing and distributing machinery so
that 1 can not pass on to every unwelcome interloper
who can manage to intrude between the farm and the
consumer. This can only be done by capital, com-
bined with expert management.
314
INSECT NOTES.
———<—-.
INSECT;;NOTES FROM PORTO RICO.
The following notes are abstracted from papers by
Mr. R. T.Cotton, Assistant Entomologist, Insular Experiment
Station, Porto Rico. They are reproduced here, as being of
general interest in the British West Indies, with comments
on our local conditions,
THE EGG-PLANT LACE-BUG.
The egg-plant (So/anum melongena) is attacked by
several pests, the worst of which is the lace-bug (Corythaica
monacha, Stal.). ‘This bug is widespread over the island and
attacks the egg-plant wherever it is grown, causing heavy
damage when not controlled by spraying. It feeds normally
on the so-called wild egg-plant (So/anum torvum), and it is
on this plant that it is able to survive during the interval
between crops. So/anum torvum is one of the most abun-
dant weeds on the island, growing luxuriantly in all parts
and at all times, and it is undoubtedly owing to this fact
that the lace-bug isso abundant. If it were dependent
solely on the cultivated egg-plant for its food supply, it would
soon die out, as the egg-plant is seldom grown at all times
of the year, even in the most favourable localities.
The injury to the plant is occasioned by the feeding of
the nymphs and adults, which congregate in hundreds on the
undersides of the leaves, and suck the vital juices from the
plant. Their presence on the leaves is first indicated by the
appearance of small yellowish-brown patches, which growing
in size soon involve the entire leaf, causing it to dry up and
fall off. It is not an uncommon sight to see a whole patch of
egg-plant entirely denuded of its leaves. The insect has a very
short life-cycle, and multiplies so rapidly that, once introduced
into a field, it soon spreads to every plant.
Control. This insect may be effectively controlled by
a soap-and-water spray, 8 Ib. of soap to 50 gallons of water
being a good strength to use, The plants should be
sprayed as soon after the appearance of the lace-bugs as possi-
ble. since it is much easier to control them then than later.
(Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Porto Rico,
Vol. I, No. 3, July 1917, p. 170.)
Although the egg-plant is not cultivated on a large scale
in the Lesser Antilles, it is grown in vegetable gardens by a
great raany people who will probably be glad to know of such
a simple and easily prepared control method as a soap-and-
water spray.
The lace-bug in these islands is to be found on wild plants
of the genus Solanum, and, as an aid to control, all the plants
on which this insect occurs should be searched out and des-
troyed for some distance around gardens where the egg-plant
18 grown.
SCALE-FEEDING HABITS OF PORTO RICO
MILLIPEDES
During investigations into the feeding habits of some of
the common millipedes of Porto Rico, one was found to feed
on the purple scale (Lepidosaphes deckit) on citrus trees.
This millipede is a large,dark, reddish-brown form about
$0 mm. (34 inches) long, which has been identified as ARAcucrr-
cus arboreus, Saussure, which is recorded as occurring in seve-
ral West Indian islands—St. Thomas, St. Croix, Antigua, etc.
‘These millipedes were observed to be feeding voraciously
on purple scale on grape fruit. In the laboratory it was
found that they thoroughly cleaned off the scales from
infested grape fruit twigs in a short time. It was ascertained
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Octoser 5, 1918.
from actual count that one speciman consumed 2,000 scales
in a period of three hours, and after a short rest resumed
feeding.
Several small grape fruit trees which were badly infested
with purple scale were selected, and in each abouta dozen
millipedes were placed. They at once commenced to feed on
the scales, and at the end of two weeks these trees were clean
and free from scales. and they remained clean for some time.
Fic. 3, MILLipEDE.
These millipedes are not considered likely to be of any
great importance in controlling scale insects, but this is an
interesting note of a scale-feeding habit on the part of an
animal supposed to be a vegetable feeder. (Journal of the
Department of Agriculture, Porto Rico, Vol. I, No. 3, July
1917, p. 175.)
Tn all the islands of the Lesser Antilles millipedes occur
which are much like this one, if, indeed, they are not the
same species. They are often to be seen in cane fields, and
after rains they may be seen crawling in the roads. When
disturbed they curl up in a spiral, The accompanying
illustration may serve to give an idea of the general appear-
ance of a millipede.
SCALE INSECTS AND THEIR CONTROL.
Circular No. 9, entitled ‘Scale Insects and their Control’,
issued by the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture, Porto-
Rico, gives an interesting popular account of scale insects,
what they are, how ,they feed, and consequently, how they
injure plants, and mentions a few of commercial value, such
as those which produce Cochineal, lac, from which shellac is
made, and a wax used in making candles in China.
The following paragraph gives an account of the agencies
which work against the scale insects: —
‘The scale insects “have by no means a calm and
undisturbed existence, for they are beset by many
enemies. Many beetles of the Coccinellid family feed
almost exclusively on them, and hymenopterous insects
deposit their eggs inside the scale, eventually causing
its death. In Porto Rico, the large brownish-black milli-
pede, or ‘gongol’ feeds voraciously on the purple scale of
the citrus trees, and should be encouraged and introduced
into the groves. Birds also feed to some extent on scales, and
should be likewise protected and encouraged. Various ‘ene-
ficial fungi wage a deadly warfare against scale insects, and in
Porto Rico the so-called red and black fungi are extremely
effective in keeping down the scales in citrus groves. To
provide favourable conditions for the growth of these fungi,
it 18 necessary to grow wind-breaks all through the groves.
These wind-breaks will do away with the strong winds which
are unfavourable to the growth of fungi, and ordinarily the
scales will be kept pretty well in check.’
It is stated that most seale insects may be kept in check
by means of control sprays, and the following formula is given
as being the cheapest and most effective spray yet devised
for use in Porto Rico.
The
follows:—
Government formula for its preparation is as
Vor. XVII, No. 429.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWs.
315
SE ae
‘Soap (preferably whale oil 8 fb. or 1 gal.
Oil (Corvus or Red Junior) 2 gals.
Water 1 gal.
‘Disolve the soap in water by heating or allowing to
stand overnight or for several days. Add the oil slowly ina
thin stream stirring constantly. Stir in each addition of oil
before more is added, This will makea stock solution of
4 gallons, which should be diluted 1 to 50, making 200
gallons of spray. The spray will contain 1 per cent. oil and
05 per cent. soap. Half a pound of sodium carbonate
(commercial) per !00 gallons of spray, shonld be added to
make the water soft; if the water is still hard, and a yellow
sticky scum floats on the top of the spray, more sodium car-
bonate should be added. The stock solution will keep for
several weeks after it is mixed, and the purplish-brown oil
that comes 10 the top after it has stood a while may be easily
stirred in with the rest when diluted for use. The Corvus
oil may be obtained from the Texas Company, while the Red
Junior Oil is supplied by the West India Oil Company. Car-
bolic acid will mix readily with the stock emulsion, and may
be added, if desired, at the rate of | pint to the 4 gallons of
stock solution. Directions for the use of this spray follow.
‘The labourers should be instructed to spray the top of
the tree inside, and not to confine their attention to the leaves
and trunk. The spray is cheap, and an ample amount should
be used to insure a thorough job. Immediate results should
not be expected, but in two or three weeks the dead scales
should begin to come off. They will come off easily if the
hand is rubbed along a branch or leaf. Where the infesta-
tion by scale is heavy, the first spraying should be followed
by another application a month or six weeks later. This
will kill the scales missed the first time. If women are used to
scrub the trunks, the best time to have them do it is between
sprays, when they will get off the dead scales, moss, ete.,
which cover up the live scales beneath.
H.A.B.
Te
ra
= — =
2 <i qe
THE SUGARS AND THEIR SIMPLE DERTI-
VATIVES, by John E. Mackenzie, D.Se., Ph.D., Lecturer
on Chemistry, at the University of Edinburgh, § Gurney
and Jackson, London (1913). Price 7s. 6d. net.
In addition to their commercial importance, the sugars
are of primary importance in the normal processes of plant
and animal life, constituting as they do some of the main food
substances both of plants and animals. A knowledge of their
properties is therefore essential to a large and varied class
of workers, including those concerned with plant and animal
nutrition, such as physiologists, chemists, and those con-
cerned with agricultural problems, and also those interested
in the great industries of sngar production, fermentation,
brewing, and distilling, to mention only some of the interests
connected with sugar.
The great number and diversity of the sugars, and their
chemical complexity make it impossible to deal adequately
with them in general textbooks, consequently it becomes
necessary to have recourse to special treatises, such as the
one under consideration
This book is the outcome of a course of lectures to
students, delivered first at Birkbeck College, London, and
subsequently at the University of Edinburgh. It is intended
to serve as a source of information to students of chemistry
more particularly concerned with sugar problems, and also as
a companion to works on physiological chemistry, and to
technological works on brewing, distilling, sugar manufacture,
and sugar analysis.
The opening chapters, following a general introduction
dealing with the general properties of sugars, and the
synthetic methods of their preparation, give consideration to
the sugars of principal physiological and commercial impor-
tance. Chapters II, III, and IV deal with sucrose, giving a
simple account in outline of the methods of production and
preparation of commercial sugar from the sugar-cane and
beet root,
Maltose and lactose form the subjects of the two follow-
ing chapters. Three chapters are devoted to the cons:dera-
tion of glucose, the extended reference being necessitated by
the great physiological importance of this substance: informa-
tion is here brought together in a form convenient for study
and reference.
In Chapter X consideration is given to glucosamine,
‘glucose and its derivatives. and to inactive glucose. At
this point, in Chapter XT, follows a useful study of the strue-
ture of the molecules of the various Sugars as regards the
arrangement and configuration of the constituent molecules.
This chapter is calculated to be very useful, for it is conven-
ient to have the main facts brought together for easy refer-
ence; critical students will find, however, that some progress
has been made in connexion with these studies since the time
when this chapter was written.
The dioses, trioses, and tetroses are dealt with in
Chapter XII, the pentoses in Chapters XIII and XIV, the
following two chapters being devoted to the hexoses: and
appropriate consideration is given to the di-tri- and tetra-
saccharides in Chapter XVII. A chapter is also devoted to
the glucosides, and one to the consideration of the general
principles of ferrgentation.
The work closes with a short chapter on metabolism,
which is useful as showing the manner in which some of the
Sugars function in physiological processes. The work is
arranged ina form convenient for study and for reference,
and will be usetul to students and workers in fields alluded
to at the beginning of this review.
The format of this volume is excellent, the letterpress
and clearness of the diagrams being commendable.
The June Biochemical Jaurna’ contains work on the
antineuritic and antiscorbutie accessory substances by Messrs,
A. Harden and 8. 8, Zilva. These authors find that when
the precipitate obtained by shaking orange juice with dialysed
iron is extracted with alcohol, the product will not cure
guinea pigs of scurvy, nor will it protect healthy animals
against attacks of the disease. But orange juice which has been
treated with dialysed iron or with fuller’s earth retains practi-
cally all its antiscorbutic activity, A mixture of equal parts
of orange juice and autolysed yeast will both cure and protect
from attacks of pelyneuritis and scurvy. Orange juice
can be filtered through a Berkefeld filter without losing an
appreciable amount of its antiscorbutie a tivity. (Varure,
August 29, 1918.)
GLEANINGS.
We regret to have to record the death in Antigua, after
but a few days illness, of Mr. Walter Conacher, the Manager
of the Basseterre Sugar Factory, St. Kitts. Mr. Conacher
had just returned from America, where he had successfully
undergone 4 serious operation
The bleeding of balata treesin British Guiana was
actively carried on in 1916 in consequence of the high prices
obtaining, and the recora quantity of 1,450,702 tb. of balata
was exported, the previous highest output being 1,350,526 hb.
in 1913.14. (Colonial Reperts—Annual, No. 937),
In the Preliminary Report of the Water-Power Commit-
tee of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, which was
issued in July 1918, it is noted that the falls of Kaieteur in
British Guiana are said to form perhaps the finest untouched
water-power in the Empire. It is also noted that the water-
power possibilities of British Honduras are known to be
large
It is stated in Colonia/ Reports—Annual, No. 936, that
the piassava palm is abundant along the river banks of one
district of the Gambia fora distance of about 30 miles.
The piassava industry has been in abeyance for several
years, but in 1915 the cutting and preparation of the fibre
was begun by a British firm. The work had not advanced
sufficient], however, by the end of: 1916 to enable exports
to be made. .
The typical oil-palm, which is so widely distributed in the
Cameroons, is called Dilombe or Dipobe, and its fruit contains
a hard shell. A different variety (Z/aeis gutneensis, var,
microsperma), Which is known as Lisombe, differs in having a
fruit with a thin shell, and is of only isolated occurrence; it
never is gregarious, and in some districts it does not occur at
all. Germany consumed more thanhalf the world’s commer-
cial supply of the produce of oil-palms. (The Aezw Aid/letin,
No, 6, 1918.)
The Agricultural Superintendent of St. Kitts, Mr. bf. K.
Shepherd, writing on September 13, reports that good rains
had fallen in that Presidency. Since September 9 there
had been a precipitation of 4 inches without any wash. This
must benefit the cane crop, although Mr, Shepherd fears that
some of the ratoons are past recovery He further reports a
good rainfall at Nevis: no news had been received from
Anguilla
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroser 5, 1918.
Hitherto the oil-palm (Z/ae/s guineensis) has only beer
a wild crop, but it is of interest to note that recent attempts
to cultivate it on the Gold Coast have met with remarkable
success, the yield obtained in tilled soil at fair distances apart
being more than three times as large as that from palms
under native conditions. The establishment of similar
plantations in the JFederated Malay States and the
Seychelles may therefore lead to far-reaching results,
and under these more favourable conditions the oil-palm
may so flourish that the native industry, unless properly
cared for, may collapse and disappear. (Va/ure, August
15, 1918.)
The improvement of the natural indigo industry is a
subject receiving much attention from scientific workers in
India. A note in ature, August 15, 1918, points out that
Mr. C. H. Hutchinson has published a paper entitled ‘The. ’
Importance of Bacterial Action in Indigo Manufacture’, -
which shows that the yield of indigo froma given weight
of indigo plant is found’ to depend upon the intervention of
bacteria during the steeping process, and that while some bac-
teria operate beneficially, others are detrimental. In the
absence of the former the yield is reduced, and the author-
considers that the presence of these beneficial forms could be
secured by artificial inoculation.
Coffee cultivation continues to be an industry of increas-
ing importance in the North Western District of British
Guiana, according to the Journa/ cfthe Board of Agriculture
of British Guiana, July 1918. The coffee farms are well
laid out into rectangular fields, and are maintained under a
proper system of drainage. The cotfee, which is of the Liberian
variety, grows luxuriantly, and bears prolifically. The soil
of the district is so well suited to the cultivation of this crop.
that even in their early years of growth the young trees are
capable of yieldings8 cwt. of coffee per acre, with trees planted
at 300 to theacre. In 1917 the census returns show the
area under cultivation to be 800 acres
Ground nut oil-cake has been imported from India to
the United Kingdom, Ceylon, and Germany. Ceylon has
increased her imports from 17,000 tons in 1912-13, te
35,000 tons in 1915-16. These supplies come chiefly from
Madras, and are largely used asa manure for tea, etc. In
Europe, ground nut cake, as is well known, is regarded as a
very valuable cattle food, and the manure produced by the
animals fed on the cake is ‘exceptionally rich in manurial
value. In India, interest is being directed towards the
utilization of such oil-eake for sugar-cane and for wet lands.
(The Zropical Agriculturist, June 1918.)
‘How to Pay for’ the War by Developing the Latest
Rescurces of the Empire’ is the title of a recently published
book by Mr. Harold Hamel Smith, the well-known editor of
Tropwal Life. The book contains an outline of the anthor’s
views in connexion with the development of the tropical and
sub-tropical portions of the Empire, and of our trade relations
with the nations of Latin America, and with Russia. The
book is very suggestive, and is of great interest to those
connected with agriculture or commerce in the regions referred
to. Some of the views expressed may be legimately open to
discussion, which will no doubt be welcomed by the author,
asa means of drawing further attention to the object he has
in mind.
Vor. XVII. No. 429.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
317
THE CROW, AND ITS RELATION
TO MAN.
In Bulletin No. 627, United States Department of
Agriculture, is published a paper giving an account and the
results of an investigation as to the economic status of the
common Crow (Corvus brachyrynchos) in relation to its
value or otherwise to man, undertaken by E. R. Kalmbach,
Assistant Biologist, in response to the many urgent requests
fer a number of years for information touching the habits
of this bird.
Some idea of the amount of labour involved, and the
completeness of the investigations undertaken, may be
gathered from the fact that no fewer than 2,118 stomachs of
crows, both old and young, became available for examination.
Effort was made also by means of 3,000 letters of enquiry,
to secure reliable information as to the good or harm done
by the crow, based on actual field observation. The data
obtained have made it possible to present considerable trust-
worthy testimony, which, it is claimed, distincly reflects
present conditions; the quantity and character of the com-
bined evidence secured seems to justify the final conclusion
reached as to the economic status of the crow in the United
States.
Although not native to the West Indies, and confined
in its distribution practically exclusively to America, yet the
crow is of so world-wide reputation, that any available liter-
ature concerning its life-history and food habits, should be of
interest to the general reader. For that reason, the informa-
tion given below is abstracted from the source above-men-
tioned. e
Practically omnivorous, the crow is capable of surviving
in widely diversified environments. In its diet may be found
everything from the choicest poultry and the tenderest shoots
of sprouting grain to carrion and weed seeds. The fact that
no less than 656 specifically different items were identified in
the stomachs examined in course of this investigation, give
some idea of the bird’s resourcefulness, its potentialities for
good or harm, and the complexity of the problem of deter-
mining its worth. Many complaints against the bird are
well nigh traditional, while some of its beneficial habits have
been matters of common knowledge for generations.
A brief summary of decisions reached, respecting each of
the more economic problems that have arisen in this investi-
gation, makes it possible to review, with some degree of
thoroughness, the many-sided question of the value of the
crow. a
As regards its food habits, it is seen that the crow’s
destruction of insects presents the strongest argument in the
bird’s favour. Nearly one-fifth of the adult crow’s yearly
sustenance comes from such sources. That injurious insects
greatly outnumber beneficial insects in the diet of the crow, is
seen from a review of the four most !mportant orders: beetles,
grasshoppers, caterpillars, and true bugs. The crow’s relation
to beetles is all that the frugal agriculturist could desire.
Foremost amongst these in its food are May beetles, and their
destructive larvae, white grubs. In its consumption of grass-
hoppers, however, the crow renders man its most important
service; in regions where these decidedly injurious insects are
abundant, their nymphs form the principal insect-food of
nestlings. In its consumption of caterpillars the nestling
crow exceeds its parent in effectiveness in the ratio of 4 to 1.
This food, found in over a third of the stomachs of young
crows, is all in the bird’s favour, especially since cut-worms
constitute the major portion. Among the true bugs, only
Pentatomidae, and the periodical cicada, are considered
worthy of mention in the summary. The consumption of
crustaceans is classed among the minor benefits conferred by
the crow, while its feeding on the smaller snakes and lizards,
and its destruction of the highly insectivorous amphibians,
especially toads and frogs, are to be deplored, as such work
is opposed to the best interests of man The crow’s destruc-
tion of wild birds and their eggs is a noxious trait of no
small importance. It is somewhat mitigated, however, by the
fact that most of the depredations on eggs occur early,
enough in the season to permit the raising of a second
brood, at a time when there is little or no danger from crows.
As regards crops, corn is the principal food of the adult
crow: it is eaten in every month of the year, and from October
to January forms over half the bird’s diet. Damage to wheat
and oats is confined to sowing and sprouting time, and is by
no means so serious as the pilfering of sprouting corn.
As a distributor of disease the crow, along with the
turkey buzzard, has been a target for much unjust criticism.
While the crow may be an agent in the transmission of live-
stock diseases, it does not follow, it is argued, that even the
extermination of this species would materially lessen the dan-
ger of infection. The crow’s consumption of wild fruit in
itself mvolves nothing of economic interest, as the embryos
of the seeds eaten are seldom destroyed, and as this material
is regurgitated after the digestible portion has been assimi-
lated, it is apparent that the crow thereby becomes an agent
in the dispersal of seeds.
In the following conclusion reached, the author appears
to have fairly and accurately stated the position as regards
the economic status of the crow in relation to its valne to
man:—
‘When feeding on injurious insects, crustaceans, rodents,
and carion, and when dispersing seeds of beneficial plants,
the crow is working largely for the best interest of man;
when destroying small reptiles, amphibians, wild birds,
poultry, corn and some other crops, when molesting live
stock and distributing their diseases, and when spreading
seeds of noxious plants, the bird is one of the farmer’s
enemies; when destroying spiders and molluscs, however,
ifs work appears in the main to havea neutral effect. The
misdeeds of which the crow has been convicted greatly
outnumber its virtues, but these are not necessarily equal
in importance. Much of its damage to crops and poultry
can be prevented, while the bird’s services in the control of
insect pests can ill be spared. Atthe same time no policy
can be recommended which would allow the crow to become
so numerous that its shortcomings would be greatly accen-
tuated. As the capabilities of the crow for both good and
harm are great, it is believed that an extermination of the
species would have ultimate consequences no less serious
than an overabundance.
‘Tnasmuch as this investigation aimed at reaching general
conclusions respecting the status of the crow, in order that
our attitude toward the bird might be based on sound
economic principles, it may be said that the laws relating to
it at present in force in most States, are altogether satisfac-
tory. It is well that no protection be afforded the bird, and *
that permission be granted for shooting it when it is actually
found doing damage. Bounties can not be recommended,
nor can a campaign of wholesale destruction where com
plete extermination is the object sought. However, a
reasonable reduction of numbers is justifiable in areas where
there is an overabundance of the birds. The attitude of the
individual farmer toward the crow should be one of toleration
when no serious losses are suffered, rather than one of
uncompromising antagonism, resulting’ in the unwarranted
destruction of these birds, which at times are most valuable
aids to men.’
TRE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroper 5, 1918:
SSS ee SS
PLANT DISEASES.
MOULDS OCCURRING ON COPRA AND
COCO-NUT MEAT.
In course of investigations undertaken by the Bureau
of Science, Philippine Islands, in the study of copra and
other coco-nut products, involving experiments in connexion
with the deterioration of copra and coco-nut oil both in stor-
age and in transportation, due to the action of certain fungi,
the following description of the moulds found to be respon-
sible for such deterioration under the conditions obtaining
in the Philippines, is abstracted from the results published in
the Philippine Journal of Science for March 1917.
We have found four moulds constantly occurring upon
mouldy copra and coco-nut meat. The spore masses of these
four moulds differ greatly in colour, and hence the moulds
~ ace very readily distinguished even without the use of
a microscope. In the order of the moisture necessary for
their growth these moulds are Azizopus sp. (white mould),
a mould occurring only upon fresh meat, and there forming
loose masses of white mycelium with many black spor-
angia; Aspergil/us niger, van ‘Teigh. (black mould),
a mould occurring on copra with a relatively high moisture
content, and producing black spore bodies which give the
mould a black colour; Aspergillus flavus, Link. (brown or
yellow mould), a mould occurring most commonly on mouldy
copra—the spore masses are first greenish-yellow, later turn-
ing brown; Penicillium glaucum, Link, (green mould), a mould
producing green spore masses and common on copra, especially
that containing a low percentage of moisture.
EHIZOPUS SP. (WHITE MOULD) occurs only upon fresh
coco-nut meat, and then only when the surrounding air is in a
practically saturated condition, When moisture conditions are
favourable, the growth of this mould is very luxuriant. It
spreads by means of stolons, and in from thirty-six to forty-
eight hours the mycelium frequently entirely covers a piece of
coco-nut meat 10 centimetres in diameter with a tangled mass
of aerial mycelium, which may attain a height of from 3 to 5
centimetres, and which is specked with small black sporangia.
Tke aerial mycelium collapses upon the slightest drying.
The spores germinate in about six hours in a hanging
drop of coconut decoction, Although this mould grows
rapidly and destroys a high percentage of the oil in the meat,
itis probably the least important of the four moulds con-
sidered in this paper. It grows only upon fresh meat, and
hence its growth is checked, and the plant killed almost as
scon as drying commences. A//z0pus can rarely make any
ecnsiderable growth, since the meat is usually treated or
placed on the grate, and heat applied within the period
necessary for the germination of the spore.
ASPERGILLUS NIGER, VAN TEIGH, (BLACK MOULD)
plays a more important part than does A/izopus sp,
but a far less important one than does <Avsfergil/us
flavus (brown mould), It is the black mould often seen
on badly moulded copra. Its moisture requirements are
lower than those of white mould, but slightly higher
than those of brown mould, and although it often grows
with the latter, it appears only upon copra that contains
at least 12 per cent. of water, and it makes its most
luxuriant growth upon copra that contains 18 to 20 per
cect. of water. Properly dried copra should not have
such a high moisture content as is required for the
growth of this mould. However, as copra is usually prepared
in the Philippines, it often contains enough water for
this mould to appear, and to makea considerable growth,
and under such conditions it undoubtedly causes an appreci—
able loss in oil. Our experiments indicate that this loss may:
sometimes be as much 4s 40 per cent. of the total oil.
In hanging drops the spores germinate in about six
hours, and the subsequent growth is rapid. In forty-eight
hours the mycelium froma single spore may grow ont and
extend over an area from 3 to 4 centimetres in diameter. On
a nutrient agar medium, such as coco-nut, prune, or string
bean, the colonies are circular in outline, and the substraturo.
is yellow. Thiscolour isalso often seen when the mould
grows upon coco-nut or copra, and it appears to be character-
istic of the species.
ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS, LINK. (BROWN MOULD) is the
mould that plays the most important part in the destruction.
of the oil in copra. It is the brown mould that is.
usually seen on badly moulded copra. In many cases.
it is mixed with the black Aspergillus, discussed above,
and often with the green Pey/ci//ivm which is con-
sidered later. It occurs upon copra with a moisture
content of from 7 to & per cent.— a water con-
tent lower than the average for Philippine copra—and
because of its ability to grow on copra with so low
a moisture content it destroys a very high percentage of the
copra of the Islands, The oil destroyed may be almost
40 per cent. of the total oil contained in the copra-
The oil expressed from copra upon which this mould has been.
growing also contains a high percentage of free fatty acid.
In hanging drops the spores germinate in from four to
five hours. In nutrient agar media the mycelium becomes
visible in from twelve to fifteen hours, and mature spores
are produced in about forty-eight hours. The growth from
a single spore is slow as compared with one of white mould
or black mould, but the early production of spores leads
to a rapid multiplication of colonies, and so the mould in a
comparatively short time, will completely cover the surface
of the meat of half a coco-nut.
PENICILLIUM GLAUCUM, LINK, (GREEN MOULD) is often
seen upon copra. It grows well on copra containing
a very low percentage of water. Analyses show that
this mould destroys hardly any of the oil in the copra,
and the production of free acid is low: therefore a good
grade of oil can be made from copra upon which this
mould has grown. Its growth appears to be almost
entirely superficial. It can be readily removed by brush-
ing, leaving a firm white copra. A growth of Penici//ium
alone may be said almost to serve as an indicator of good
copra, because it grows at a moisture content between 5 and
7 per cent., causes practically no loss in the oil content, and
produces very little free acid. However, green mould grow-
ing with one or both of the species of Asferei//us loses its
significance as an indicator of good copra, as it will grow at
any degree of moisture higher than 5 or 6 per cent., and
the Asfergi//us indicates a high moisture content. The
reason green mould does not usually appear upon copra with
a high degree of moisture is because of its slow rate of
growth. The spores germinate in hanging drops in about
six and a half hours, but the subsequent growth is slow, and
colonies upon copra do not become visible to the naked eye
until from about twenty-four to thirty-six hours after the
spores are placed uponit. The colony grows very slowly,
and mature colonies from a single spore are hardly ever more
than 1 c.c. in diameter, The spores are mature in abont
eleven honrs after the mycelium becomes visible. Due to
the much more rapid growth of the other moulds, Penici//ium
is either crowded out or covered over by them, and under high
moisture conditions it is only after the other moulds have
stopped growing that Penrci//ium becomes visible.
Vor: XVIL No. £29.
THE STUDY OF COPRA AND COCO-NUT
OIL.
The production of copra constitutes one of the leading
industries of many tropical countries. In the Philippine
Islands, practically the entire annual crop of about
431,387,000 nuts, with the exception of those used for local
‘consumption, is turned into copra. Copra exports from the
Philippine Islands for 1916 were 72,277,164 kilograms, and
-oil exports were 16,091,169 kilograms. The annual exports
represent approximately one-third of the world’s ontput; but
Philippine copra is quoted lowest on the world’s market.
In view of the importance of this industry to the
Philippine Islands, the Bureau of Science has for several
years undertaken work, and endeavoured to accumulate
information with the object of suggesting improvements in
the methods of drying copra, methods for the most effective
recovery of the oil, and for preventing loss through deteriora-
tion of copra and coco-nut oil during storage and trans-
portation, due to the action of moulds, and otf other micro-
organisms. ‘The results of the latest efforts in this direction
eare presented in the Philippine Journal of Science, March
els) We
It was determined by experiment and observation, that
moulds (of which four species are described,) grow most lux-
uriantly upon copra with a moisture content of 10 per cent.
or greater, which is common in commercial copra, and which
results in loss in weight; that there is a further loss in weight
of copra on shipboard, which the copra dealers estimate at
from 3 to 6 per cent., depending primarily upon the length
of time of storage before shipment; that the losses incident
to storage and shipment are not due entirely to the evapora-
tion of water, but also to slow combustion which takes place
with the formation of carbon dioxide and water, necessarily
at the expense of the meat and the oil; that when properly
dried to a moisture content of approximately 6 per cent.,
copra does not mould when stored where there is a circulation
of air, and does not absorb sufficient water, unless in a
saturated atmosphere for prolonged periods of time, to
develop even a superficial growth of mould.
This poor quality of Philippine copra is, of course,
dependent upon the methods employed. There are two general
methods in use in the Philippines—sun-drying, and kiln-
drying. The sun-drying method used throughout the southern
islands is said to produce the better grade of copra; it consists
simply in halving the nuts, without previously husking, and
exposing the meat to the sun. Where sufficient care is
exercised in the way of cleanliness and complete drying, this
method produces an excellent grade of copra. In the
other, which is known as the grill, or ‘tapahan’ process,
the nuts are husked, halved, and placed on bamboo mats,
under which shells and husks are burned. After the meat
is partially dry, it is removed fromi the shells and subjected
to further drying. Analyses showed that the finished
product, as it leaves the drier, contains at least 20 per cent.
moisture. But even with these two existing methods, it is
suggested, a better grade of copra could be prepared if proper
care were exercised in handling the product. By using
sun-drying in conjunction with the tapahan, a more evenly
dried product could be obtained. In the southern islands,
where the drying could be carried on entirely by the sun’s
heat, the precautions said to be necessary would be to keep
the copra free from dirt, and to secure more complete drying
» with facilities to protect it during short rainy periods.
The use of mechanical driers 18 suggested as one possible
solution of the prob!em for improving the copra production
of the islands, but these have not been introduced in a com-
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 319
mercial way: mechanical drying machines have been dis=
credited by the public through the erroneou; belief that
when coco-nut meat is dried in a current of hot air, a part of
the oil is carried away from the copra. It was found as the
result of experimentation, however, that when coco-nut oil
was heated for four hours in a current of hot air at 100°C.,
there was no appreciable Joss in weight.
The Bureau of Science has developed a simple metho?
for the preparation of copra by treatment with sulphur
dioxide gas, and allowing the meat to dry without the addi-
tion of artificial heat. The apparatus used ie a wooden box
provided with trays with split bamboo bottoms, and a
4-wheel car consisting of frame work and two pairs of
small iron wheels mounted on a wooden track, twice the
length of the box. The husked nuts are halved, and
spread on the trays with the concave side down, the
trays are loaded in the car and pushed into the box,
and 8 kilograms of sulphur are next placed in a shallow
pit under the car and ignited, and allowed to burn for
from ten to twelve hours, liberating sufficient sulphur
dioxide gas for the treatment. At the end of the sulphuring
period the car is rolled into the open, and the meat removed.
from the shells with an ordinary copra knife, or allowed to
remain for from four to five days, at the end of which time
it has become sufficiently dry to allow of its ready removal.
After free access of air for two weeks the sulphured material
is cut up and sacked forthe market. Itis claimed that
copra prepared by this method is clean and white, and free
from mould, the oi] expressed being practically colourless,
acd free from rancidity and acidity. The labour cost by this
method should not exceed that of the tapahan or the sun-dry-
ing processes, and the initial outlay is small.
A further suggestion put forward as a result of these
investigations, is thatripe nuts only should be used for
the production of copra, because only fully matured nuts
produce copra containing the maximum oil content, The
nuts when opened shonld be kept free from dirt, and dried
immediately, and without smoking, to a water content of
5 per cent.
The establishment of copra standards and organization
of copra eentrals by sovernment have also been proposed,
but for reasons p shown that complete standardiza-
tion would be diffcnls to establish.
So much for copra improvement.
Regarding gestions of improved methods for the
production of pure cocamut oil, which constituted the second
part of the investigation, a method for the production of
pure coco-nut oil and a valuable press cake is ontlined. This
does not eliminate drying, but isa continuons process in
which the meat is removed from the shells and ground as jg
done under the first method, which consiSts (a) in grating out
the meat from the half nuts by means of a revolving burr,
or (b) freeing the meat from the shell by treating the
nuts with live steam fora period of from fifteen to thirty
minutes before gr The t is dried v i
and subjected to pressure for the removal of the oil, In
thiz process a drier is used; the type suggested to be efScient
could be constructed along the lines of a sugar drier. The
meat would be machine-handled from the time that it’ ig
removed from the shells unti] the oil and press cake are
reached. It is estimated that one expeller would be suffi
cient fora plant handling 45,000 nuts daily, giving an oil
output of 6 tons. Over 80 per cent. of total oi] can be re-
moved in one operation, The oil obt yy this process is
said to be water-white,is free from acidity and rancidity,
and would co ed the best market prices.
uw
320
is especially adapted to West Indian conditions,
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
Ocroser 5, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tue West Inpra Commirree Crrcunar,
August 22.
ARrRrowRooT—No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, no auo-
tations.
Brreswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90/-; Grenada; 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations.
Corra—£46.
Frvuit—No quotations.
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lore Juice—Raw, 4/6 to 5/-; concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nutmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—9bd.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 3/04; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs, Gorpon, Grant & Co,, September 4.
Oacao—Venezuelan, $11°50; Trinidad. $12°75 to $13°50.
Coco-nut O1—$1°46 per gallon.
Correze—Venezuelan, lic. per t..
Oorra—$7°25 per 100 tb.
Daat—$11°50 to $12°00 per bag.
Ontons—$10-00 per 100 fb.
Peas, Sprit—$8‘00 per bag.
Porators—English, $4°00 per 100 f.
Rice—Yellow, $13:00 to $13:25; White, $9°00 per bag.
Svear—American crushed, no quotations.
New York.—Messrs Guuzsprz Bros, & Co., July 12.
Cacao—Caracas, 13c.; Grenada, Lic.;
13c.; Jamaica, 114c. to 12c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $42:(0:
culls, $20°00 to $21°00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, 9}c. to Llc. per It.
Gincer—L5$c. to 16gc. per th.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barbados, 85c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per tb
Grarz Fruit—Jamaica, importation prohibited.
Limes—Importation prohibited.
Mace—40c. to 45c. per th.
Nourmecs—27c.
Orances—Importation prohibited.
Pimento—6jc. to Tc. per fb.
Svear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:055c; Muscovados, 89°, 5:055c,
Molasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. §. Garraway & Co., August 29.
ArrowrootT—$12‘00 per 100 fb.
Cacao—$12°00 to $12°50 per 100 br.
Coco-nuts—$48 ‘00 husked nuts.
Hay—$3°00.
Mo tasses—No quotations.
Ontons—No quotations,
Pzas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
goon, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, 35°00.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
The ‘WEST INDIAN
BULLETIN’:
A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning.
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We are
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
buyers of =
COTTON SHED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
Sinan ft ble te 4 i tee Fe ak as
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WEST INDIES.
<e —_—__—_—
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_ CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
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ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
1 ~
| Sey eed
_ THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
|
SPRAYING HorsEs (
FOR | |
Ticks, LicE © MANGE
~ | :
a i OATTLA TiOK
| re@ae
TICKS. Horses suffering from tick infestation should be subjected to the same treatment as cattle, i.c., they should
be sprayed or dipped with an arsenical solution.
The more nervous temperament of the horse causes him to be acutely sensible to tick worry, and, in addition to the
actual loss in blood caused by ticks living on him, his sensitiveness under the irritating action of the parasite results in a loss of
appetite, with a very noticeable shrinkage in energy and working power. €
Under the constant skin and blood irritation set up by ticks, a horse noted for his.gentle manners often becomes apparently
totally changed in disposition. This is especially true of well-bred mares and geldings, and unfortunately the better bred
animals suffer much more than others,
Many Owners entertain doubts as to whether horses can stand the same treatment as cattle, and it may therefore be pointed
out that in South Africa, a disease known as “ Horse Sickness,” for want of a better name, has for many years taken toll of horse-
kind in immense numbers, and although the causative agent of this dreaded malady has not yet been discovered, dipping or
spraying with reliable arsenical cattle dips has been proved an efficient preventive, with the result that the dipping of horses is
now as common in South Africa as the dipping of cattle—that is to say, it is universal. The safety of dipping horses is thus
established beyondiall doubt. In the West Indies, the spraying of horses for the destruction of parasites has already been
adopted-by many-Owners,and has been proved t6 be extremely beneficial.
| In undertaking any measures for the eradication of ticks, West Indian planters should include in their campaign the
treatment of horses and mules in addition to cattle. It is useless to hope to clean a property of ticks if, whilst destroying those
on the cattle, ticks on horses and mules are allowed to thrive undisturbed.
'
_ Ticks are often found firmly attached, and in considerable numbers, on the inside ‘of the ears of horse-kind, and also
attached to the membrane of the nostrils: special attention should be given to these parts, particularly to the nostrils, as the
perforation by the parasite of the delicate membrane will allow the entry of one or other of the germs to which many of the |
organic diseases of horses can be traced.
MANGE. Spraying horse-kind with a reliable arsenical tickicide has been amply demonstrated to be a perfect cure
and preventive of mange. Mange in the West Indies is of some importance on account of its general prevalence and steady
increase.
_ LICE, Lice at certain seasons of the year attack horse-kind in appalling numbers, and these minute parasites, se
hard to detect, will in a very short time cause a great loss of condition in the hardiest animals. The same measures
paste spraying as used against ticks, will also check lice.
HINTS ON SPRAYING HORSES
1. If the dip is applied in the usual way, by means of a Spray Pump, that is all that is required.
2. Onno account should the dip be rubbed into the skin with a mop or other object. This is inadvisable, even with
cattle ; but it is very risky with horses.
3. It is as well to keep mares and foals apart for a time after spraying, until they are dry; this obviates all risk of an
overdose of arsenic being taken as a result of mares licking foals, or the foals sucking the mares’ udders whilst the
latter are still wet with dip. Since arsenic, in proper quantities, is a recognised tonic for horses, the risk of an,
; overdose from the above causes is not great, but it will be entirely avoided if mares and foals are kept apart until dry.
«
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DJP WEST INDIAN AGENTS:
Mes received ficial cal of the follow Countries @ITTS: S. L. Norsford & Ce 9 ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Ce
a edi pA ah ae ‘onl : = JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston,
Gaion of South Africa, Northera Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
Nyssaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, 4 Serene beeen ead etae penn ose ee
Britieh East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant. Port of Spnin.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Varker & Co.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co,, Kingstown, NEVIS: S.D. Malone
DANLSH WEST INDI Carl V. ta Beet, St. Thomas
United States of America, New South Wales, monteoananar pple | Reece k. Prvmocale
Nortbern Territory of Australia. — ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castrics.
» 4
Manufacturers: WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, Eneland,
LRANCHES : Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Bmemos Aires, Monte Vitleo, Pumta Arenas, Eest London, Ovens,
eee eee
WW
‘A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. XVII. No. 430
BARBADOS, OCTOBER 19, 1918.
Paice ld,
CONTENTS.
Pace,
Agriculture in Antigua ... 529 Market
‘Agriculture in Barbados ... 331 Notes and Comments ... 328
Agricultural Returns of Nutshells and Fruit
England and Wales ... 329 Stones, War Use of ... 329
Balata, Venezuelan Produc- Orange Wine in the West
tion Of ... ... ... .. o23|. Indies, Manufacture of 328
Barbados- Antigua Expedi- Pigs and Soil Grubs .. 328
tion from the State Uni- Plant Diseases:—
Reports... ... 336
versity of Iowa ... ... 327. Gray Mould of Castor
Bat Guanos of Porto Rico Beans Buaisset est! OO
and their Fertilizing Plant Quarantine ... ... 334
Vales ee cet 003 lc. .4. Seine New Se
Caster Seed nog Seeds, Breeding New ... 335
es Sugar Industry:—
€vco-nut Cultivation in = we: :
: Control of Sugar Prices
itish Guianz see O20 -
Ree ke sy by the International
: Newsi.<s 5 as ¢ Soa ie 39
Education, Compulsory ... 521 oe eee ee .
Empire Resources, Impe- aioe . 394
rial Institute’s Investiga- ate : CO ea ie
5 ; : So ao | Food Value of the Su-
tion in Development of 335 es. 20
Gibanihes D0 gar-Cane os 2 ses Uae
Tassat ¥ ete “~| Sugar-Cane in Costa
ae oe a Ricgimemecin ei (,.6' 825
Cotton Insects in Ariz-
Ona hots kee EE ed
Items of Local Interest
3530) Velvet Beans,
Feeding
33! to Pigs :
Compulsory Education
HE subject of education, the mistakes that
have been made in educational systems in
the past, and the improvement of such
systems for the future, is one of the subjects that are
taking up a great deal of attention in every part of
the Empire. The new Education. Bill just passed in
the Imperial Parliament seems to hold out a hope
that every child in the United Kingdom will in the
future have an opportunity of being really educated.
Similar schemes and provisions are being brought
forward and enacted in al! parts of the Empire. There
seems, however, to be a certain amount of misunder-
standing as to the meaning of education, and as to
the manner in- which it may be conveyed.
A fundamental error in this direction appears to be
that of holding that education must be more or less
compulsory. Now, strictly speaking, such a thing as
compulsory education, in a real sense, can never exist.
An article on this subject by Professor Jacks, in Land
and Water, July 11, 1918, puts this ina very striking
manner. He says truly that you can compel parents to
send their children to school, you can compel the
children, within limits, to learn lessons, but you can
never compel anybody to be educated. All education
is a joint operation of teacher and learner, and, unless
the learner willingly contributes his share, nothing
that the teacher can do for him, or compel him to do
for himself, will make him an educated human being.
He can only be educated by his own connivance. Al!
real education therefore is by consent, and not by com-
pulsion.
As the Professor poiats out, the word education
carries a picture to the minds of most of us, ofa
school—the teacher sitting at his desk and ruling the
situation with a rod ofiron, and the children on the
forms submitting to the system imposed upon them,
and being punished if they refuse. In fact the notion
is deeply rooted that education consists in imposing a
system upon those who in the last resort must be
coerced into receiving it.
That is how the matter comes to be conceived
when we treat education, as we almost invariably do,
asa schoolmaster’s problem. Fundamentally it is nothing
ww
to
to
-ot the kind. It is a social problem. If means the
provision of the chance of acquiring the knowledge best
snited to the requirements of each individual, and of all
-collectively. Education in fact does not consist alone
in imparting a knowledge of subjects which it may be
desirable in the abstract that people should be taught,
but still more definitely the imparting of what they
are capable of assimilating, and of what they are
willing to learn. Looked at in this way, it is evident
that compulsion, in the strict sense of the word, is
inapplicable to education.
It would appear therefore that ifthe education of
the future is to be as successful, as we all hope it will
be, we must abandon the old attempt at compulsion.
That is to say the action ofa learned minority, who
think themselves possessed of the right or the power
to impose their type of intellectual attainment on the
-community in general, must te abandoned.
Those whom we style the uneducated masses are
really not indifferent to education, but they distrust to
a large extent the particular sort of education that has
been offered them in the past, as being of no particular
value to them. Moreover, they resent the notion that
the community is divided into two classes—an edu-
cated and an uneducated—and that the former are
the masters of a school in which the latter are the
pupils, bound to learn what they are taught, and to
believe what they are ordered. Their notion of educa-°
-tion, and it seems a sound one, is that it must take
the form of teaching them to make the best of the life
they have to live. The education that has been offered
them has little or nothing to do with that life. It is
-at best an ornament. There seems to bea fine idea
-at the back of such notions, namely, that anyone's life
hard thongh it may be, may be transformed into a fine
and noble life, if only the individual were educated for
that object. This applies to agricultural communities
most especially.
Professor Jacks, in the course of his article,
instances the Germans. ‘The Germans are the greatest
exponents of compulsory education the world has ever
seen. In their own eyes they are the educated class
of the universe, and their policy accordingly is to
impose their culture on the rest of mankind. Germany
is to be not merely the master, but the schoolmaster of
al] nations. She alone knows what is good for them. She
alone is to wear the cap and gown, and to wield the rod.
The others are to be forced to accept her culture, and
to accept it with delight and gratitude. This is com-
pulsory education carried to its logical conclusion. The
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
October 19, 1918.
answer of the world to these would-be German masters
in the school of mankind is that we all want education,
but we are not taking the kind you want to cram down
our throats.
By giving up the notions and abandoning the
policy which makes education an attempt by one class
to force its culture on another which does not want
that particular kind ofculture, we might surely find
a better way. It seems possible, especially under the
conditions of our time, that a type of culture might be
found, of which it might be said that it is education not
by compulsion, but by consent. In such a system teachers
and taught might be at one in what they value, and in
what they desire. Both might become co-operating
partners in the pursuit of a common aim.
In this connexion, Professor Jacks remarks that a
few simple principles need to be grasped and applied,
First, that every man is essentially what his labour
makes him, and that unless he is educated by his
labour he is not educated at all. A proposition which
would seem to hold true about every man, no matter
what his station, from the highest to the lowest. The
educated man is the man who understands everything
about his own job, and enough about other people's jobs
to enable him to co-operate with them intelligently in
the social machine. To this principle may be added
the further indisputable truths: that the happy man is
the man who enjoys his job, and that the only good
man is the man whodoes his job to the best of his
ability.
From these principles we get a view of the ulti-
mate object of real education. The aim must be not
merely to educate labour, but to see that all labour
becomes an education. In fact, education is not
merely a schoolmasters problem, though it includes
that, but a social problem, only to be solved in connex-
ion with a wide and broad conception of the needs,
aims, and value of every human life.
Now, if we come to apply these principles to West
Indian conditions. we see the mistakes of the past.
The interests of these islands are almost entirely agri-
cultural. In the system of education followed hitherto
the plan has rather been scholastic or commercial, both
in primary and secondary or higher grade schools. The
results have been, only too generally, that the pupils
have not been really educated, that is in the sense of
placing them in aceord with the conditions of their
lives. It must be borne in mind that itis by no means
advocated that too early vocational education should be
Vor, XVII. No. 430.
resorted to, That would only lead back again to com-
pulsory instruction. At that stage of mental develop-
ment children would not be capable of assimilating
amass of technical details, nor would they be sufticient-
ly grounded in essential knowledge of facts to do so. But
if the system ofeducation should have, from the outset,
the aim of interesting children, whose future life
and work will be mainly rural, in rural matters, by
getting them to see that agricultural work and life
have adignity quite as great as any other kind of
employment, and that there is a divine joy in causing
the earth to bring forth fruit, along step will have
been taken in the direction of a well educated popula-
tion. Hitherto the education in country schools has
been divorced to too large an extent from the realities
and pleasures and duties of the ordinary life of country
children.
' It is well to cease thinking of education in terms
of school, and to learn to think of if in terms of labour,
remembering that labour is the common raw material
of all human life, and giving to the word a meaning
sufficiently broad to cover every man who has a definite
status and occupation in the social fabric. The aim
of education is that every man shall be trained to
enjoy his day’s work, and to produce a good article,
whatever the article may be, from a picture to a brick,
at the end of the day,
VENEZUELAN PRODUCTION OF BALATA.
Balata, the gum similar to gutta-percha, and largely
used in the manufacture of belting, is obtained from the sap
of ATimusops globosa,a tree reaching 100 feet or more in height,
which is widely distributed over Eastern Venezuela and the
Guianas, The latex is stated to be secreted between the bark
and the wood of the tree; it contains nearly equal proportions
of resin and gutta, the latter being identical with true gutta-
percha. Notes on the commercial exploitation of this tree in
Venezuela are given in the June number of the J/onthly
Bulletin of Agricultural Intelligence and Plant Diseases
(1918), from which the following interesting information is
abstracted.
The word ‘balata’ is of Carib origin, and is used by the
natives of British, Dutch, and French Guiana, as well as by
those of Venezuela, but it is applied solely to the gum, the
tree being known as the ‘purguo’. On the coast between
Puerto Cabello and Cape Codera the tree is called the
‘nisperillo’.
The commercial exploitation of this tree in Venezuela
began near Maturin, where by 1894 it had been already exter-
minated. Sap collecting was then begun near San Felix in the
State of Bolivar, and, as the tree became scarcer, the area of
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 223
operations was extended eastward to the boundary of British
Guiana, and southward along the Orinoco and its tributaries,
to all accessible regions. In Venezuela the custom is to cut
down the trees in order to obtain the sap, and the industry
has thus been progressively destroying itself. A govern-
mental commission estimates that in the last ten years alone
the 10,000 collectors have destroyed 36,000,000 ‘purguo”
trees, and that the direct loss to the nation from this cause
amounts to more than half a billion dollars. In spite of the
fact tbat in British Guiana and Dutch Guiana felling is
prohibited, and that regular production of latex is obtained
by tappings that do not kill the trees, the merchants of
Ciudad Bolivar have opposed any governmental prohibition
of the cutting down of trees, arguing that in whatever-
manner the tree is cut it will die, and that there is no better
method of obtaining the latex than felling.
The ‘purguo’ is of slow growth, the period required for
a tree to reach the productive stage being more than ten
years, and full development not being attained for thirty
years or more. The fruits, being agreeable in taste, are
nearly all eaten by wild animals, so that natural reproduction
is slow. The trees usually grow at the foot of hills where
the soil is fertile and moist, but not water-logged, always
scattered among other species, and never densely. Land on
which there are sixteen ‘purguos’ to the acre is considered
rich.
The balata harvest begins in May and ends in August,
but in years of continuous tains work may be carried on at
all times, except when the tree is in flower, the sap being
then so poor as not to be worth gathering. The collector
leaves his camp at 5 a.m., fells the first tree he finds, and
makes four cuts on each side of the fallen trunk, to each
of which he attaches a tin receptacle to catch the flow of
latex. Having worked two trees, he returns to his camp
about noon, carrying the product of his toil in a bag, water-
proofed with the same sap. The contents of the bag are
emptied into a large receptacle. On Saturday all the collec-
tion of the entire week is coagulated by cooking, and after-
wards the gum is pressed in wooden moulds into slabs
weighing from 50 to 100 fb.
Under present methods, the average production per tree
is 3 gallons of latex, yielding 18 th. of balata worth from
l5c. to 40c. a Tb. By tapping properly it is estimated
that each tree would produce latex worth $2 each year for
thirty years or more.
For a number of years balata, ranking immediately after
coffee and cacao, was third in importance among Venezuelan
exports.
The war has caused great changes in the course of the
trade in Venezuelan balata. During 1913 Germany led
among the buyers of the gum on the Ciudad Bolivar market,
France ranked second, the United States third, and Great
3ritain fourth. In 1914 the United States rose to first place,
followed by France, Germany, and Great Britain in the order
named. In 1915 Great Britain occupied first place, the
United States was second, and France was a poor third,
Germany disappearing from the list. In January-June 1916,
Great Britain and the United States again ranked first and
second, respectively, and France and Germany were both
missing from the list.
In 1916 the price of balata in Ciudad Bolivar reached
the then high mark of 35c. a tb., the average price is between
14 and 2lc. The best price in 1915 was 23:7c., but the latest
official taritf of exportable produets, issued by the Ciudad
Bolivar Custom House, fixed the official valuation of balata at
5 kolivares per kilo, or 43°8e. per Bb,
324
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroser 19, 1918.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
CONTROL OF SUGAR PRICES BY THE
INTERNATIONAL SUGAR COMMITTEE.
The following announcement to the trade was issued on
September 9, 1918, by the International Sugar Committee
from their New York Office:—
By direction of the United States Food Administration,
the International Sugar Committee announce, effective at
once, a temporary basic price of 7°28c. per Ib. delivered
duty paid, for 96° centrifugal sugar, refining points, for the
sole purpose of determining the refiners selling margin
under their voluntary agreement with the Food Adminis-
tration. This means that the refiner’s seiling price, effective
at once, will be 9c. per Ib, less 2 per cent. usual terms.
The above announcement in no way changes the basic
price of 6°055c. fixed June 21, 1918, which remains the
basis for the purpose of 96° centrifugal sugar by the Inter-
national Sugar Committee as heretofore, and until further
notice.
THE FOOD VALUE OF THESUGAR-CANE.
An article on sugar and its valueas a food appeared
in the Agricultural News, August 24, 1918, and with refer-
ence to the same subject the following, by a correspondent of
the Barbados Agricultural Reporter, under the nom de plume,
‘Pentosans,’ is reproduced from the issue of that paper for
September 19, 1918, as showing clearly what a valuable
source of food these islands possess in the sugar-cane in its
untreated condition.
‘Apart from its value in the production of sugar, the
sugar-cane is extremely valuable as a food. The following
table will convey at a glance the true food value of the
cane :— ;
-s oa = _
2 Semeses =
a © qu 5/22 5
2 co a a
Constituents & Ss 8 5 ‘ @ 5 £3
of sugar-cane. os ase 3. & 25
a8 O8@e58 Ad
Water — — 72:00 326°60
Sugar — — 1310 59°42 244 carbohydrate
Reducing Sugars 1:00 454 19 do,
Fibre — — 12:00 54°43
Ash — — 0°55 2°49
Organic non-Sugar = 0°75 3°40 :
Nitrogenons bodies 0°60 2°72 15 protein
10000 45360 278
‘The average adult doing an average day’s work requires
3,400 calories. Therefore, 12°23 Ib. of cane contains the
necessary calories to support a working adult for one day. In
eating (sucking) the cane there is a very great waste, as the
node is not eaten as a rule, and mueh of the inter-node is lost
with the rind, The average loss in eating cane is about 50
per cent.; therefore the actual amount of cane required to
give the necessary calories would be 24°46 Ib. It will be
seen by the table that the protein content of the
cane is very low, and in dealing with food values protein
plays a most important part, as it is the only energy-pro-
ducing item that replaces the wasted tissue of the body, and
therefore an adequate supply is essential to keep the body in
good repair. The irreducible minimum of protein required
for an average adult is 60 grammes per day, and to get this
amount of protein from the average cane by eating, an adult
would have to eat 44°12 Ib. of cane. That the average adult
can live on this amount of cane for a certain period there is
not the slightest doubt in my mind; but eventually, serious
disorders would attack the digestive system, from lack of
solids to give the involuntary stomach muscles the necessary
exercise.
‘The following ration table contains the necessary 60
grammes of protein, and is the most economic way in which
the sugar-cane can be used as a food without ill effects:—
IRREDUCIBLE MINIMUM DAILY RATION FOR ADULT.
Weight in Protein Fat Carbohydrate Total
Tb Calories. Calories. Calories. Calories.
Flour 0-75 208 32 1,053 1,293
Sugar-cane 17:06 128 — 2,234 2,362
336 32 3,287 3,655
‘The great loss of 50 per cent. of the food value of the cane
by eating can be greatly reduced by the use of a handmill of
simple construction, with two rollers. With such a mill,
70 per cent. of the food value of the cane could be recovered.
This would be a great saving, as it would reduce the daily
ration of 17°06 Tb. of cane to 1213 tb. A ton of average
cane treated by a hand mill is worth 206°47 tb. of best flour,
or $1755. It is remarkable that the small growers of canes
have never attempted growing canes as a food. There is
no season for canes, they ripen in about fourteen months. If
a stnall grower were to plant in June, he would have his crop
ready for sale in August of the following year, when there
would be a great scarcity of cane, and he would get a fancy
price—probably about $20°00 per ton—selling in small
quantity, There should not be any set planting season for
the small growers of cane; a portion of their land ought to be
planted in canes every two months. This would give a con-
tinval supply ef ripe, sound cane. If this were done, the
small grower would be much better off in pocket than he is
at the present time, and the masses would be better off by
always having a good and wholesome food supply.’
FILTRATION OF CANE JUICES.
The above subject is discussed by E. W. Deming, in the
Louisiana Planter forsAugust 3, 1918, with a view to show-
ing the losses that are incurred under the present system of
filtration adopted in sugar houses. The writer points out
that the use of multiple mills operated under high pressure,
and the heavy maceration at high temperature yields a juice
heavily laden with suspended impurities, such as gums, wax,
ete, which when acted upon by lime and heat produces
compounds and colours whith can only be removed by the use
of animal charcoal] as employed by the refiner. He contends
that the present system of removing these impurities is
radically wrong. The suspended impurities, he suggests,
‘should be removed from the juices in the cold state, before
the application of heat and lime, by filtration through cloth,
after which the juices carry only the impurities in solution, a
very small proportion of the whole. Cold juices filtered
would require a minimum of lime; there would be no colour
formed by lime acting on cane fibre. The juice could pass
through a heater, and be discharged directly into the body of
the first evaporator, and no clarifiers or settlers used. There
will be no surface scums, and no settled ones to foul the
evaporator walls or tubes. By filtering this syrup, then
applying sulphur, there can be obtained a white sugar. One
or two boilings will exhaust the sugar, and the molasses will
be of high grade, fit for human consumption.
Vout. XVII. No. 430.
‘The heavy crushing of modern milling carries into the
juices a finely subdivided fibre, nearly pure cellulose, known
as bagacillo, which is always maintained in suspension in the
cleared juices. This bagacillo absorbs and reflects light, so
its presence is not suspected - even in the brightest juices-in
asample test tube. It cannot be removed by any form of
settling, but is partially removed by passing the settled
juices quickly over a fine perforated screen placed nearly
horizontal. It can only be removed by the restraining action
of some filtering medium, using cloth as a backing.
‘During the process of granulation the bagacillo becomes
discoloured by the molasses, and its presence is noticeable
in a dissolved sugar solution within a test tube. It is ze-
tained in the sugar,, not washed out with the molasses.
it furnishes the necessary binder for the formation of scale
upon all the heating tubes. It is uniform in its distribution
throughout the sack of sugar; it bulks up the sugar, causing
air spaces; it absorbs moisture from the air, which it com-
municates to the surface of the grains of sugar. This mois-
ture induces a ferment, which continues Increasingly in action
so long as conditions are favourable. Its injurious effect is
greater than that of all other suspended matters found in the
cleaned juices, and it stould be removed. Any form of filter
removing this bagacillo will also remoye all other suspended
matter.
‘There is at present no process of clarification that gives
uniformly satisfactory results. The removal of all precipitate
possible by settling will be unsatisfactory if the bagacillo
still remains.”
The writer claims to have given twenty-five years of
service to juice-handjing devices, on which he has many
machine and process patents. He is quite convinced of the
hopelessness of looking for further improvements in existing
systems or processes, except one that is based upon a filtra-
tion of the entire juice ourput - otherwise the bagacillo must
be reckoned with. He points out that the juice from, say
1 ton of cane, cortains at the most 50 fb. of filter cake of
50 per cent. moisture—a very small amount. To filter
these juices coming direct from the heater with this 1 5
per cent. of mud, each gallon carrying its own proportion
of mud, would require a considerable time (even if the
filterect juices were perfect) before there was secured a filter-
ing medium on the cloth, so that pressure could be used and
quantity work begun. Clarified juices present the same
objections to filtering them: separately, and they contain less
solids than accompany the juices as they leave the heater.
To filter volumes, there ust be large surfaces, a pressure at
all times, and no cloth used as « restraining medium (no
matter how heavy) can be depended upon as a filtering
‘medium under the action of pressure. ‘Not until a filtering
is secured can we obtain in volume good filtered iuices
working under pressure.’
Sugar-Cane in Costa Rica.—The United States
Consul, resident at San José, Costa Rica, in his report in
May last, according to the /ouisiara Planter, August 10,
1918, gave some interesting data concerning sugar in that
country, For many years Costa Rica has been noted for the
excellence of its cotfee, and Costa Riea coffee generally com-
mands considerably higher prices than coffee coming from
Brazil. Attention is now being given to the sugar industry,
and at the prevailing prices it is probable that this industry
will receive considerable expansion. It is reported that the
production for 1918 was 30,000,000 Ib, or 15,000 short tons,
as against 62,000,000 t., or 31,000 short tons for the year
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 325
before. The area under’ cultivation in 1917 was 21,850
acres. Planting is reported to be done at the beginning
of the wet season, which varies somewhat, and the
growing time for the first crop extends for two wet seasons
and one intervening dry season, thus approximating eightees
months, after which the cutting is done annually. The
small crop of 1918, while based on common report on various
local causes, is most likely the result of the general drought
throughout the world, and insufficient rainfall to produce
a normal crop. ‘Che local consumption of sugars in Costa
Rica is reported as about 6,000,000 th, and the national
liquor factory took 2 million tb. of molasses. It is estimated
that 2) million fb. of sugar or molasses was fed to animals.
FEEDING VELVET BEANS TO PIGS.
The Experiment Station Record; for June 1918, records
the results of experiments comparing the use of velvet beans
with corn and dried blood for fattening hogs. The farmers
of Alabama are using the velvet beans in two ways with
hogs. The more common method is to sow the beans along
with corn, and to gather the corn after frost has killed the
velvet bean vines growing over it, and then turn the pigs
in the field. The other method is to gather the ripe beans
and feed as a concentrate.
An experiment was made with three lots of pigs of five
each with corn and dried blood, 10:1, as concentrates.
Lot 1 was fed a full ration alone, lot 2 a half ration (2 b.
to each 100 tb. live weight) with the pigs on velvet beam
pasture, and lot 3 a one-fourth ration (1 tb. to 100 tb. live
weight) on velvet bean pasture.
Valuing the corn at $l per bushel, the dried blood at
$60 per ton, and the velvet bean pasture at $2°83 per acre,
it cost $6°59 to produce 100 Bb. increase in lot 1, 84°91, in
lot 2, and $4:02 in lot 3.
In another experiment, lot 1 was fed corn meal, and
lot 2 corn meal and velvet bean meal without the pods, 1:1.
It took 483°57 Tb. of the corn meal to produce 100 tb, gain,
and 537:64 tb. of the mixture. Valuing the corn at Si
per bushel and the velvet beans at $34 per ton, it cost
8-64e. per fb. of gain with the corn meal, and 9°37c. with
the mixture.
The melting point of the lard from the corn-fed lot was
46°04°C., and from the corn meal velvet-bean meal lot
44°35. The carcasses of the latter were slightly darkened.
All carcasses were firm ariee.
These experiments seem clearly to demonstrate the-
advantage to be derived from feeding velvet beans to pigs as
a ration in combination with corn and other feeding stuffs,
Pig raising in the West Indies on « commercial scale
has from time to time been advocated in various numbers of
the Agricultura’ News, and the possibilities of an industry
established on proper lines foreshadowed. The great scarcity
and the high prices demanded and rea'ized for marketable
pigs at the present tinté should prove an incentive to the
establishment of pig-raising farms in those colonies possess-
ing lands well adapted for the purpose. The resuits of the
experiments mentioned above should supply a further encour-
agement, showing as they do the advantage of using velvet.
beans in the ration for pigs, and indicating an additional
and easily procurable feeding stutf; for the velvet bean grows
readily in these West Indian colonies, and could without
difticulty and at small expense be established in pasture for
purposes of pig-raising.
It may be well to remember that the foregoing resuits
apply also to Kengal Beans, and other species of Stizolobiums,
326
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OctoBEeR 19, 1918.
COCO-NUT CULTIVATION IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
In the Ayricultwral News of September 7, 1918,
a review of Professor Harrison’s able address as
President of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial
Society of British Guiana appeared. In that review
the position of the colony with regard to coco-nut
cultivation was briefly noticed. In view, however,
of the increasing interest in this question in these
islands, it seems advisable to reproduce in the fol-
lowing paragraphs the major part of the Professor's
remarks on the subject:—
In the late seventies and early eighties some impetus
had been received towards the cultivation of coco-nuts in the
Mahaicony-Abary district, where there are great areas of
relatively light loamy to sandy lands, especially well-suited to
the growth of coconut palms. The late Honourable B.
Howell Jones’s paper in Vol. IL of Zimefri for 1883,
entitled ‘A Visit to the Oil and Fibre Works at Plantation
Fortitude’ supplies a striking picture of the coco-nut
industry at that time. The industry, as appears to be
the rule with industries here in their earlier stages of
inception, later fell into a condition of temporary stagna-
tion, so that in 1897 there were, including scattered trees,
not more than 3,500 acres under coco-nuts in the whole
colony. The following is practically the only reference of
any importance to the cultivation of coco-nuts in this colony
which appears in the report of the West Indian Royal
Commission :—
‘The cultivation of coconuts has existed in British
Guiana from an early period, but it has apparently never
attained large dimensions. This is probably due to the
unsuitable character of the stiff clay soils on the coast, and to
the prevalence of disease. In 1847 the number of coco-nuts
exported amounted to 466,530, At present, large quantities
of nuts are used locally by the East Indian immigrants. The
recent exports are only slightly in excess of those of 1847.
Mr. William Smith’s evidence before the Special Commission
in 1895 indicated that at Mahaicony Creek and other locali-
ties the conditions were favourable for coco-nut cultivation,
but the nuts were small, and consequently they fetched low
prices. The present condition of the industry deserves to be
carefully investigated Only specially selected lands should,
be planted, and suitable manures applied to ensure large nuts’:
This statement could not be regarded as encouraging,
and hence little attention was given towards the extension of
the coco-nut cultivation, until the arrival of Sir Alexander
Swettenham from the Straits Settlements in January 1902
brought a different aspect to bear on coco-nut growing. His
experience there had taught him that successful cultivation of
the coco-nut is not confined to light or sandy soils near the
seashore. He was aware that heayy crops of coco-nuts,
although the nuts may be of relatively small size, are
obtained from strains of coco-nut palms which have become
accustomed to growth on clay-loams or on heavy clay soils,
He saw here coco-nut palms bearing crops of exceptionally
large numbers of coco-nuts, and he reasoned that if this is the
case on trees, isolated or in widely scattered small clumps,
there should be no reason why similar heavily bearing
palms should not be grown over large areas.
At first Sir Alexander feared that the relatively small
size of the nuts produced here would stand in the way of an
export industry, and he moved the Board of Agriculture to
import selected seed-nuts from Singapore: but before these
outa arrived he had seen nuts from Wakenaam and from
near Lichfield in the Abary district which more than favour-
ably compared with those received Jater from Singapore,
The Singapore nuts were sprouted, and some of the palms
obtained from them were planted at the Experimental Fields;
the majority of them, however, being set out at Onder-
neeming. Some thousands of nuts yielded by the palms
riised from the Singapore seeds have been distributed for
planting purposes. Sir Alexander Swettenham was, as he
was in every way, energetically aided by the late
Sir Alexander Ashmore, who was largely responsible for the
preparation of the earliest leaflet published by the Board
dealing with coco-nut planting, Oftimes Mr. Ashmore, as
be then was, told me: ‘I have never anywhere seen coco-nut
palms bearing such great numbers of nuts as many of them
in Georgetown and its vicinity do.’
In January 1903 the total area planted with coco-nuts
was under 3,800 acres, but an impetus to coco-nut planting
was at once given by Sir Alexander Swettenham’s views so
that the area had increased to 5,140 acres at the end of 1904
just after Sir Alexander Swettenham had relinquished the
Government of the colony. Since then coco nut planting
has regularly and steadily increased, so that on December 31,
1917, not less than 23,870 acres had been so planted in
British Guiana.
tecent enquirics have proved that the ripe nuts from
coco-nut palms, growing under the climatic conditions preva-
lent on the front lands of the colony, not only contain as
high a proportion of oil as do nuts, the products of any other
country, but are capable of yielding copra of exceptionally
high oil-content, hot-air dried copra from them having been
found to contain from 72 toas high as 79 per cent, of oil.
Medium-sized nuts yielded the highest proportion of oi] in
their copra, both as sundried (76 per cent.), and as hot-air
dried (79 per cent.)- ;
Since Sir Alexander Swettenham left us we have found
experimentally that the most reliable kinds of seed-nuts for
planting purposes are medium-sized ones, yielded by palms
which are flourishing—not merely existing —on lands of like
nature to that on whichthe nuts are to be planted, and
under similar climatic conditions. It is not wise to endeav-
our to improve our strains of coco-nut palms by placting
seed-nuts obtained from palms growing 01 the far lighter soils
of Trinidad or Tobago or of any other country; those obtained
from Wakenaam, from near Aurora, and perhaps from else-
where in Essequibo, and specially selected seed-nuts from the
Mahaicony-Abary District will give better and more vigor-
ously growing palms, and what is more important, palms
more resistant to adverse climatic influences than such
imported ones will be. The sole exception to this that I am
aware of are a few, a very few, of the strains imported at the
instance of Sir Alexander Swettenham from the Straits
Settlements. '
Dr. Cramer, late of Surinam, and now in Java, is
strongly of opinion that a strain of eoco-nut palms specially
fitted for growth on heavy clay soils, and resistant to our
local climatic conditions, has been naturally evolved in
British Guiana in the course of many years’ growth under
these conditions.
On the other hand, from what I have seen during recent
years of local coconut palms, I believe that the average
annual yields from trees vary from probably less than five to
as many as 150 nuts per tree—some trees here being of
remarkably heavy bearing power—but, as a rule, farmers
will just as soon set seed-nuts from a palm of five-nut type
as from one of 150-nut strain.
Planting coco-nut palms from nuts without reference
to the bearing power of their parent palm, either in number
Vo. XVII, No. 430.
or size of the nuts, or to its suitability to the kind of
soil the seedling is to grow on, appears to me to be a
singularly unwise proceeding. It is hoped to geta palm
yielding crops of nuts from its seventh to its fiftieth or
sixtieth year—a permanent investmment—and yet the planting
is done in a manner which cannot be regarded as Jess com-
mercially unsound than investing capital in a risky business
yielding less than 1 per cent. per annum... .
Our experience during the twenty-one years under re-
view has, I consider, conclusively proved that coco-nuts are
suitable for cultivation over large areas in the lowlands of
the colony; that local varieties of coco nuts yield very heavy
crops of medium-sized nuts on relatively heavy clay soils on
the coastlands, whilst on lighter ‘lands similar varieties
produce much larger-sized nuts; that there can be no doubt
that the colony is emphatically a coconut land, and that,
ag such, there are in it practically unlimited areas of land
very suitable and readily available for coco-nut cultivation.
THE BARBADOS-ANTIGUA EXPEDITION
FROM THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF
IOWA.
The following article by Prefessor Nutting, who was in
charge of the expedition, appeared in Scence, September 6,
1918 :—
The Barbados-Antigua Expedition from the State
University of Iowa returned to New York on August 1,
with all its members in good health, and without mishap of
any kind.
There are nineteen persons in the party, nearly all of
- them instructors or graduate students from the State Univer-
sity of Iowa. Their object was not only to secure collections
in marine zoology, entomology, and geology from a region in
which little work had hitherto been done: but also to study
the living forms in and around the islands visited, end thus
supplement the future more intensive work based on the
collections secured.
In both Barbados and Antigua the colonial authorities
provided excellent quarters for the party, and adequate labor-
atory facilities in government buildings, and both officials and
private citizens aided the enterprise in every possible way.
At Barbados dredging’ was accomplished at about one
hundred stations, working down to over 150 fathoms, this
was rendered possible by the use of a fully equipped
27-foot launch provided by Mr. John ; B. Henderson, of
Washington, who accompanied the expedition, and who will
report on the collections of Mollusca, of which many new or
rare forms were taken.
Practically all species taken with the dredge or tangles
will provide new locality records «xtending the known geo-
graphical range. The tauna, while not so rich as that of the
western end of the Antillean chain, or the continental shelf of
the Florida Keys, is of remarkable interest from a distribu-
tional standpoint, while a number of new forms will intezest
the systematist. The apparent scarcity of certain groups
abindant in the western parts of the West Indies, such
as the Asteroidea, was something of a surprise. As is
usually the case in a_ region of growing corals, . the
ceelenterate fauna was most conspicuous, but there seemed to
be a remarkable scarcity of medtisae. Indeed the pelagic
fauna was rather poor.
Shallow water forms, on the contrary, were remarkably
abundant and interesting, furnishing ample material for
laboratory work and study of formsin situ. Sopde proba.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
ably new forms of actinians and corals were secure,
Balanoglossus was found in the sand near our laboratory on
Pelican Island.
By employing a native diver many species were secured
at depths from 3 to 9 fathoms. Some remarkably fine
corals and alcyonarians were thus obtained. The use of
fish-pots and native fishetmen resulted ina fairly complete
set of reef fishes'which would not otherwise have been secur-
ed. Very few deep-water fishes*were taken.
Many gorgeously coloured comatulics were dredged, but the
pentacrinoids were represented by but a single Rhizocrinus.
‘he serpent stars were, as usual, very abundant, and a num-
ber of simple-armed basket-fish were found, Crustacea were,
of course, particularly numerous, perhaps the most interesting
being small macrourans secured by breaking up old coral
heads. ;
At Antigua the party was given quarters at the old dock-
yard at English Harbour, a formidable naval base in Nelson’s
time. Here the conditions were entirely different from those
at Barbados. ‘The trade-winds were so strong and constant
during our stay that little dredging could be accomplish-
ed, and the entire time was devoted to shallow-water forms in
English Harbour, Falmouth Harbour, and Willoughby Bay,
These waters were over mud bottoms; the shores, however,
being varied in the form of mud flats, mangroye swamps,
sand beaches, and rocky shores. Here were found a veritable
wealth and variety of aquatic forms, a great majority being
different from those secured at Barbados.
Tube-dwelling worms, some of great size aud beauty,
were perhaps the most striking feature; tunicates and
holothurians coming next in point of abundance both in
individuals and species. Among the Mollusca, a great quantity
of beautiful Murices were collected off the sea wall, where
they seemed to be devouring the soft parts of a bivalve
(Perna) that was attached in great quantities near high-water
mark. A very large Chietopod, called locally ‘sea scorpion’,
was found to bore through a heavy Livona shell, making a
hole as smooth as a drill.
Large and wonderfully beautiful anemones of several
species were abundant, particularly in Falmouth Harbour,
as well as the finest colonies of Pennaria that I have ever
seen. The Echinoidea were well represented, mostly by
well-known forms.
One small spatongoid was found to live buried from 6
to 12 inches under the sand. Among the Crustacea,
avery large land-crab, with orange brown carapace and
purple and white chelae, was perhaps the most striking form,
At both Barbados and Antigua extensive collections
were made in the field of geology by Professor A. O, Thomas.
Mr. Henderson made a practically complete collection of
land mullusks, while Mr. and Mrs. Dayton Stoner did faith-
ful and successful work in the entomological field in which
they were very materially aided by both the local and
Imperial Departments of Agriculture. The field of botany
had no professional representative in the expedition: but
considerable collecting and field work was done by Mr. Willis
Nutting. A fine series of two species of bats was secured
at Antigua.
As already indicated, Mr. John b. Henderson will
reporton the Mollusca. The reef fishes will be reported on
by Dr. Barton W. Evermann. Professor W. K. Fisher will
attend to the Asteroidea and Holothoroidea, while the writer
will probably report on the Hydroida and Aleyonaria. The
other groups have not as yet been assigned. }
A large series of excellent photographs, including
moving picture films. was secured by Mr. Maurice Ricker
official photographer of the expedition
32 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OcroveR 19, 1918.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap Orricr — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter tor publication, as weil as all
specimens for naming. should be addressed to the
‘ommissioner, Impenal Department of Agriculture,
‘Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental pnblications, should be
addressed to the Agents. and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francie Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
{ W. R. Dunlop.*
| Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A.
H. A. Ballou,’ M.Sc.
W. Nowell. D.1.C,
S. C. Harland, B.Sc.*
Seientific Assistant and
Assistant Editor
Batomologist
Mycologist
Assistant for Cotton Research
CLERICAL STAFF.
A. G. Howell.
{ L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants “P. Taylor.*
LK. R. ©. Foster.
Mise B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Mise W. Ellis.
Assistant3for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secouded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Trdustrial Research.
‘Chief Clerk
Typist
x
Agricultural stews
wy
Wor. XVII SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1918. No. 430.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
‘Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this number exposes some
fallacies which are commonly believed on the subject of
general education.
Notes. on page 330. wili be
insects damaging cotton in
Under Insect
found an article on
Arizona.
In connexion with the ivterest being taken in
cultivation of the castor oi] plant, a disease affecting
this plant in some parts of the United States is des-
cribed under Plant Diseases page 334.
Qn page 327 will be found a notice of the scientific
expedition trom the Jowa State University to Barbados
and Ap‘igua in the earlier part of this year,
Castor Seed.
India practically has the monopoly of the world’s
export trade in castor seed. A large quantity of oil is
made for home consumption, and a surplus exported.
These exports, according to the 7ropical Ayricultwrist
for June 1918, are gradually dwindling down. owing to
the crude methods adopted for expressing the oil, and
the wholesale adulteration practised by the small deal-
ers. Resides this, the mineral oils are ousting casbor
oil as a lubricant.
The cake is exported chietly to Ceylon as a
manure for tea, etc. ‘In India it is one of the most
valuable of oil cakes as a manure, especially for crops
of potato and sugar-cane. The cake has been used in
India also as fuel for stationary engines. and gas has
also been obtained trom the cake for hghting railway
stations. It is stated, however, as being unable to
compete with cheap coal for fuel.
The oil, apart from its use in medicine, is chietly
employed as a lubricant on the Indian railways; it is
also used for dressing leather, and in the process of
turkey-red dyeing.
o_—— _—-
Manufacture of Orange Wine in the West
Indies.
Owing to uncertamty and high cost of procuring
Madeira and French wines, the manufacture of orange
wine promises to become quite an industry in some
of the West Indian colonies. This beverage has been:
manufactured,in small quantities for loca] consumption
for a number of years both in Jamaica and Trinidad,
but for the reason above stated, its mavufacture is now
being considerably extended, in quantities large
enough to meet the increased local demands.
A correspondent in the Commercial Review of British
Guiana, September 1918, referring to the matter claims
this product to be on a fair level, both in taste and
bouquet with ordinary Madeira or French wines of its
age; in colovr it approaches that of a sherry, but
manufacturers state that it can be made to assume a
rich deep port colour withont the use of injurious
chemicals. This appears to be an industry that might
well be encouraged in all colonies in the West Indies
where large crops of oranges are grown, but where only
a comparatively small proportion of the fruit is
exported to foreign markets, in view of existing high
prices, and the difficulty in obtaining imports in usual
quantities under prevailing cirenmstances.
or --
Pigs and Soil Grubs.
In the July number of Revista de Agricultura .
Comercio y Trabajo, the ofticial organ of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture of Cuba, there is an interesting
account of the life-history of one of the beetles, the
grubs of which attack the roots of sugar-canes,
Cognate species, if not identical, are among the
recognized insect pests of many of the West Indian
islands, and one of them has proved a serious menace
to the sugar-cane industry in Mauritius. The grub
described seems to be causing wneasiness in some dis-
Vou. XVII. No, 430. THE AGRICULTURAL NzwWs, 329
oe ee I
tricts-in Cuba, and the article referred to suggests Agricultural Returns of England and Wales,
‘means of combating its attacks, One suggestion, 1918. ,
which although often made before, seems worth draw-
ing attention to agaiu, is the employment of pigs to
root out and devour the grubs. Immediately the canes
‘are cut in infested districts it is advised that the field
be ploughed, and that pigs be turned in after the
plough. They will, it is stated, almost infallibly nose
‘out and devour everv grub,
A few years ago there was a bad outbreak of
the grubs of a brown hard-back ( Laehnosterna sp.) on
one of the sugar-cane estates in Antigua. The manager
of this estate has recently informed us that the damage
done to the last cane crop by these grubs has been
very slight, and he attributes the control of the pest
tothe employment in the way suggested in Cuba of
a small herd of pigs.
—_—_— + ee
Agriculture in Antigua.
Mr. A. E. Collens, the Superintendent of Agricul-
ture in Antigua. reported under date September 23,
that the cane crop generally, which up to the beginning
of the month presented a parched and stunted appear-
ance was commencing to recover. owing to the rain which
had fallen later on, especially on September 10 and 14.
Where steam ploughing and impiemental culture have
been practised, the canes had been able to survive the
drought, and looked healthy and regular, though low.
The deep ploughing, followed by the implemental
cultivation, has enabled the soil to retain snfficient
moisture to ensure the vitality of the plants.
A kerosene tractor with plough attachment—
the ‘Titan’,manvfactured by the International Harvester
Co. U.S. A.— has been lately imported by one of the
estate owners, and has been doing good work on
moderately heavy soil. It is stated that on such
soils it is capable of ploughing 2 acres a day at a very
moderate cost. Owing to the scarcity of draught oxen,
machines of this type onght to prove of great use.
Another planter had just imported an Avery oil-tractor
of 12-14 horse power, for the double purpose of plough-
ing and hanlage. This machine had not yet been at work.
The cotton crop had sutfered a good deal from the
‘drought, but the plants stil! look green and healthy. The
Agricultural Department was able to obtain adequate
supplies of Paris green and London purple, the prompt
use of which has controlled attacks of the cotton worm.
The picking of cotton for the new crop has begun.
Some estates in Antigua have received supplies of
a new type of nitrogen manure, known as ‘nitrogenous
peal’ or ‘acidulated leather. This is manufactured
from leather waste treated with sulphuric acid in order
to render it soluble. Mr. Collens draws planters’ atten-
tion to the fact that this fertilizer 1s only suitable for
use on soils that contain a suthcient quantity of lime.
He suggests that it may be found valuable in the treat-
ment of so called ‘gall-patches.
A leatiet published by the Board of Agriculture
and Fisheries on August 27, 1918, states that the
returns of acreage and ‘live stock collected on June
+ show that the total arable area in England
and Wales this year is 12,398,730 acres, representing-
an increase of 1,152,620 aeres or 10 per cent. over the
arable area of 1917. This is the largest area returned
for the past twenty years, The area under permanent
grass is 14,588,900 acres, a decrease of 1,246,470
acres on the year. The total area under crops and grass
thus amounts to 26,987,630 acres, as compared with
27,081,480 acres in 1917,
The greater part of the grass-land ploughed up
has been placed under wheat and oats. The increase in
the area under wheat is 638,260 acres, or 33 per cent.
and the total now under this crop amounts to 2,556,740
acres, which is the largest since 1884. Oats this year
cover 2,778,980 acres, the largest on record, and 520,070
acres (23 per cent.) more than last year, The other corn
and the pulse crops alsoshow increases: barley by 42,000
acres, rye by 45,000 acres, beans by 40,000 acres, and
peas by 19,000 acres. To these cereal areas there have
to be added 141,580 acres under mixed corn now for
the first time separately distinguished, the returns of
such crops having previously been divided between the
various corn crops, according to the kinds grown.
The total area under corn and pulse (wheat, barley
oats, rye, beans, peas, and mixed corn) this year thus,
amounts te 7,481,000 acres, as compared with 6,035,000
acres in 1917, an increase of 1,446,000 acres sor 24 per
cent., and the largest area under corn since 1879.
Potatoes have been inereased by 125,880 acres, or
25,per cent., and the total area (633, 840 acres) is mnch
the largest on record.
War Use ot Nutshells and Fruit Stones.
Under war conditions many uses have been found
for hitherto wasted products. One of the latest of
these is the employment of fruit stones and nutshells
in making the charcoal which is best adapted for use in
the masks which protect our soldiers from the fumes of
the gas used by the enemy. The charcoal thus produced
very greatly increases our soldiers’ chances of life in gas
attacks. The Pimes in its issues of July 25 and August
10, 1918, draws attention to this matter, and commends
the idea of ‘Stone and Shell Clubs’, the members of
which undertake to make every effort to collect stones
from fresh frnit as well as from prones and dates, and
also the hard shellsof coco-nuts and other hard nut
shells, and to ferward them in parcels when collected to
the proper quarter.
It is pointed out that the material is required for
the satety of the soldiers in the trenches, and therefore
the effort to avoid its waste, and to secure an adequate
supply is a patriotic duty at this time.
330
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OctoBER 19, 1918.
Snr nn nnn nnn UIs
INSECT NOTES.
—EE
COTTON INSECTS IN ARIZONA.
The increase in the cultivation of cotton in Arizona
during the past six years has been very considerable, and the
insect pests of that crop have naturally been more numerous
and more troublesome with the extension of the area planted
in it. The report of Dr. A. W. Morrill, State Ento-
mologist, in the Ninth Annual Report of the Arizona Com-
mission of Agriculture and Horticulture for the year ended
June 30, 1917, which has just been received, contains an
interesting section on the pests of cotton observed in Arizona
during the year, from which the following notes are taken:—
It is seen that during the season under review, and for
the past six years the cotton crop has been increasing, while
for the previous three years the amount of planting oi fruit
trees had greatly decreased.
The development of the cotton industry is indicated by
the following diagram which shows the amount of the annual
crop for the State in the years 1912-17.
Bales. 1972. 7073. 191-1975.
A new species of thrips was discovered attacking cotton
during 1917. This has been given a manuscript name
(Thrips arizonensis). t was fairly destructive on a moder-
ately large scale, and the statement is made that if this
insect continues to appear as a cotton pest it will be necessary
to spray for its control.
A small beetle (AZvochrous dongu/us, Lec.) caused serious
injury to young cotton in one section, where 500 acres were
twice replanted, and the seedlings each time completely
destroyed. The cotton had to be abandoned in this area,
and another crop was planted. The following is quoted :—
‘In the affected fields not a trace of cotton, was to be
seen above the ground. Search in the soil of the bed rows
revealed the presence in great numbers of the above
species. The adults were seen in many cases still in
place on the underground portion of the stems of the
decapitated seedlings, but were also seen commonly feeding
on the subterranean succulent stems of arrowweed, trailing
mallow, and Sacharis sp.
‘All affected fields were in crop for the first time, and
prior to clearing the land had (last season) supported an almost
pure growth of arrowweed (P/uchea sericea). Owing to the
ease which the Myochrous beetles were found on the arrow-
weed stems it would appear probable that this is the native
host of the pest. It is reasonable to suppose then, that
following the eradication of the arrowweed the beetles trans-
ferred their attention to the young, tender cotton plants
which were readily at hand.’
This insect is known to occur on Mesquite (Prosopis
juliflora) and. has been reported to attack young cotton in
California. It is likely that this beetle is found throughout
all cotton sections of Southern Arizona. (In the West Indies
the small beetle Jfvochrous armatus is known as the corn
leaf beetle, a minor pest of sugar-cane and Indian corn; an
account of this insect was given in the Agzicultural News,
Vol. XV, p. 26 January 15, 1916.)
The light-brown grape-leaf beetle ( Codaspis drunnea,F ab.)
which is common in the Salt River Valley, ordinarily causing
perforations in tbe leaves of the grape, was found in con-
siderable numbers on cotton in 1917. The injury to the
leaves was of the same nature as that inflicted on the grape
leaves. (Co/aspis fastidiosa, a related insect which occurs in
St. Vincent also attacks cotton leaves.)
The cotton worm (Alabama argillacea, Fab.) was not
found in the cotton fields during 1917, making two years in
succession when thisyinsect was not found. At one time
it was feared that the cotton worm would live over the
winter in Southern Arizona, and that the infestation would
start early in the year. Experience has so far shown that
the status of the cotton worm in Arizona is about the
same as it is in the South Eastern States. It is thought
that a moderate infestation of this insect would be very
beneficial to the cotton fields of Southern Arizona, where the
tendency is toward too rank growth of plants.
»The cotton boll worm (/e/iothis obseleta, Fab.) was.
more destructive in the cotton fields during 1917 than at any
time since cotton-growing has been taken up on a commercial
scale in the Salt River Valley. In one field it was estimated
that 30 per cent. of the bolls had been destroyed by this pest.
In another field this insect was responsible for a rather
unusual form of injury to cotton. This injury consisted in
the attack on the cotton stalk about 6 inches from the
growing tip. The young caterpillars entered the stems at
the leaf axils, and tunnelled the stems for some 2 or 3
inches, which killed the stalk from the point of attack to the
tip. In one section it was estimated that 40 per cent. of the
stalks were affected in this manner. This injury is credited
to the boll worm, on the evidence of finding one boll larvae in
an injured stalk. This specimen was parasitized, several .
specimens of one of the flesh flies (Sarcophaga helic’s Town.)
being reared from it. ‘The total damage was not great from
this form of twig boring, and in fact the damage by the boll
worm in the Salt River Valley was estimated at less than 5
per cent. {
The cotton leaf perforator (Awcculatriv thurbertel/a,
Busck.) was more abundant than in previous seasons. The
grasshopper (J/e/ayoplus differentialis) completely destroyed
a few acres of cotton, but was quickly and completely checked
by the use of poison baits. The cotton stainer (Dysdercus
albidiventris, Stal.) mentioned in a previous report was not
common in 1917, and did no appreciable damage. In the
section where these insects were most destructive the previous
year, it was with difficulty that a few specimens could be
found. ‘Tarnished plant bugs (Zeus pratensis obltneatus
Say and Z. e/isus var. Hesperus, Wnight) were plentiful and
destructive in the Salt River Valley in 1917. In one field
it was estimated that 90 per cent. of the cotton squares were
destroyed. mostly by these insects. This was on July 24,
and though the plants were from 4 to 5 feet in height very
few bolls had set. Soon afterward the bugs left the field,
and a small crop was produced,
=”
a
a SS
°
a
Vor. XVII. No. 430.
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
———__
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
GRENADA. Mr. J.C. Moore, Superintendent of Agricul-
‘tore, states that during the month of August the work on
the Experiment Station consisted chiefly of routine work on
lawns, roads, and plots. Some onions were harvested from
sets planted in June. Apparatus and materials for spraying
thrips on cacao were supplied to several planters. The
following distribution of plants was made from the Experi-
ment Station: limes, 400; coco-nuts, 787; grafted mangoes,
3; ornamental plants, 2. Besides, there were sent out 35lb. of
Sea Island cotton seed, and 3 packets of other seed. With
regard to staple crops, Mr. Moore regards the coming cacao
crop as promising to be fair on the whole, although thrips are
troublesome in places. Spraying for the control of this pest is
being proceeded with on several estates. The lime crop is
reported to be normal. The spice crop is good, and high
prices are obtained, a large shipment having been recently
made. At the South end of the Island the Sea Island cotton,
ratooned from 1917,sutfered much from the dry weather. June
sowings elsewhere are said to show promise, Some further
sowing in September is contemplated. The weather during
August was very hot; the rainfall at Richmond Hill was
‘6°55 inches.
MONTSERRAT. Plant distribution during the month of
August was as follows: Bay plants, 350; pigeon peas, 6 hb.;
‘sword beans, 1ib.; bread-and-cheese seeds, 2b.: Lima beans,
4 th.; and red Bougainvillaea, 8 plants; black eye peas, 3 pack-
ets, The reaping of the first crop.of cotton on the breeding
plot in the experiment station was practically completed, the
yield being in the neighbourhood of 200 tb. of lint per acre,
with prospects of a good second crop. In the Botanic
Station six distillations of bay leaves were made, including
two further tests with sea-water in the boiler,
Mr. W. Robson, states that the rainfall has been
inadequate for the cotton crop of the island as a whole, and
is of opinion that unless there is a much larger second crop
‘than usual, the, returns cannot: come up to the average of
previous years. The Cotton Stainer Ordinance and the Ordi-
mance of 1918, relating to the close season for cotton and
enforcing the destruction of the host plants of this pests
have been passed.
A short lime crop is anticipated on account of the
drought. The total rainfall registered for the month at the
‘Grove Station was 4°65 inches.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. Mr. W. C. Fishlock, Curator, writes
to say that, owing to drought and scarcity of labour, little
beyond ordinary routine work could be attempted in the
Experiment Station. Plant distribution consisted of 56 hb.
of cotton seed. Consequent on the drought, the conditions
of cultivation throughout the islands was poor, and there
‘was no progress to report.
Rain fell in measurable quantity on fourteen days of the
month, the total fall recorded at the station being 1-97
inches, as compared with 4°12 inches, the average for the
previous seventeen years. A cyclonic disturbance passed
apparently north-east of Tortola on August 23.- The storm
was either a moderate one, or its centre far away, as the usual
heavy rains on the fringe of such storms were not experienced.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 331
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
_, rhe rainfall for September was regular and continuous.
Fair days were few, and they were sincerely appreciated.
From the 4th to the Sth, from the 9th to the 13th, and from
the 18th to the 23rd there were summer days, but practically
on every other day rain fell in varying quantities. Oh
several occasions there were general rains of over an inch,
while in some districts there were heavy downpours. In the
northern, north-western, and southern parts of the island the
rain gauge record is above the average, while in every part of
the island the total was equal to the figures of the most
favourable years.
The plant canes everywhere continue to make excellent
progress, and many fields are now being stimulated by the
recent application of sulphate of ammonia. The length
of cane is very satisfactory, and we cannot remember having
seen any field in which there is any sign of disease,
The ratoons, like the plant canes, have had very favour-
able weather, and, generally speaking, are developing fairly
well. They are thick, but not as forward as we should like
to see them.
Apart from the condition of the soil necessary for the
production of healthy ratoons, planters have also to consider
whether the seedling grown is capable of producing satisfac-
tory crops both as plant-canes and ratoons. It would appear
that a more liberal treatment will have to be the order of the
day, if the seedlings best suited for ratooning are to be able
to keep up their vigour for first and second ratoons. We are
glad to say that planters are beginning to lose their faith in
the inexhaustibleness of the soil for a protracted period of
ratooning. We should also like to see entirely discontinued
the practice of forcing back for plant canes fields from which
three or four crops have been previously reaped.
Tillage has been retarded during the past fortnight, and
it has been possible to weed only spasmodically. Pecking,
cane-hole digging and the gathering of material for manurial
purposes were proceeded with fairly regularly, but it was
too wet even for forking.
Potatoes are more plentiful in Bridgetown and the
leeward parishes, but in the centre of the island there is still
some scarcity of this vegetable. The prigpjin Bridgetown
a few days ago was 84 cents per 100 bb.
Indian corn is being sold at 7s. per bushel, and hucksters
are selling the meal at the same price as at the date of our
last report—4 cents per pint.
The yam crop is developing well. If a favourable
October assures a good return, the coming crop ought to be
a Satisfactory one. A few new yams have been sold at the
rate of 4 tb. for 10 cents. (The Barbados dericultural
Reporter, October 5, 1918.)
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture has left
Barbados for St. Vincent with the object of paying an
official visit to that Colony. Sir Francis Watts is
expected to return to Barbados in about two weeks time.
Mr. W. Nowell, D.1.-C., Mycologist on the statt of
the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has left for
Grenada, at the reauest of the Government of that
island, for the purpose of imvestigating a disease of
coco-nuts.
32 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OcroseEr 19, 1918.
GLEANINGS,
As is well known Zanzibar and Pemba supply most of the
cloves used in the world. From the Annual Report on the
Agricultural l’epartment of the Zanzibar Protectorate for the
year 1916 which has just been received at this office it appears
that the export of cloves had risen from £12,785,149 tb. in
1910 to 25,425,454 tb. in 1915, although in 1916 it dropped
to 20,282,816 bh.
Large quantities of pigeon peas (Casas indicus) are
consumed in India, under the name of ‘dhall’, The dried peas
are soaked over night and then dried in heaps from three to six
days in the sun, being stirred from time to time, When thor-
oughly dry they are ready for the grind stone which removes
the outer skin and splits the seed. They are then in a
marketable condition. (Zyeprcal Agriculturist, April 1918.)
The Times tor May 16, 1918, records the success of an
experiment for making paper from sawdust. An Aberdeen
pewspaper had been printed on paper which contained a large
percentage of sawdust, The experimental reels were in every
respect satisfactory and that newspaper-has been the first in
the United Kingdom to prove the practical utility of sawdust
‘paper, the output of which promises to have a far-reaching
effect on the paper scarcity problew
By cutting off the supply of synthetic dyes from
(iermany, the war has led to a marked revival in the demand
for natural dye-stiff, especially indigo and fustiec, used res-
pectively for the blue and khaki cloths required for naval
and military uniform. The ontput of indigo has greatly
increased both in India and Java, the chief sources of supply,
and fustic. which is obtained chiefly from Jamaica, Honduras,
and Brazil has been exported from Jamaica in greatly increas-
ed quantities, (The /ie/d/, August 24, 1915.)
In a review of a book on malaria in ~ Macedonia
among British troops it is stated in Verve, July 18, 1915,
that malaria in Macedonia has been responsible for a much
higher degree of invaliding than wounds have. The infection
is so widespread that even units at the base and on the lines
of communication are liable to the disease. The dithculty in
dealing with the breeding grounds of anopheles in ‘No Man's
Land’ at the front is responsible for the greater prevalence
of malaria amongst the troops in that area. An outline of
the general system observed by the military medical author-
jties in dealing with the problem shows that the measures
adopted are both systematic and thorough.
Mr. R. R, Bennett, of the British Drug Houses, Ltd., in
the course of a lecture on ‘Progress on Pharmaceutical
Products’, said that the total number of vegetable drugs whicls
have become unobtainable owing to the closing of enemy coun-
tries is remarkably small, but the cultivation of drug-yielding
plants should be prosecuted in the United Kingdom to the
utmost, and that the resources of our Colonies should be
developed to an increasing extent for the supply of vegetable
drugs which can not be grown at home. (.Va/w7e, August 22,
1918.)
Very considerable numbers of odoriferous plants are
being experimentally cultivated in the United States at the
present time. In this connexion it may be noted that
government experiments conducted in Florida and Wisconsin
had shown that an acre planted with horsemint (J/ona/da
puctata) will yield about 40 tb. of essential oil. It has been
calculated that the commercial production of this oil can be
made to show a profit of about $16 per acre.
(Perfumers
and Essential Oil Record, July 23,1918.)
s
With suitable labour and a fair market the South Pacific
Islands, according to the report of the Interstate Commission
on the trade of the South Pacifics offer a wide and promising
field for cotton cultivation. In New Caledonia and the New
Hebrides the French have already shown how premising is
this field from the point of view of production and consump-
tion. The variety of cotton cultivated is Gossypzum peru-
vianwm, a coarse, Sstrong-grained cotton, largely used by
spinners for mixing with woolen thread. (The Aoard of
Trade Journa/, August 22, 1918.)
Commenting on the report on foreign trade of Ceylon in
the Blue Book for 1917 the Avard of Trade Journal,
August 2y, 1918, notes that for the first time rubber takes
its place at the head of the table, while tea, which was the
principal article of export previously, has the second place.
There was a strong demand for coco-nut oil but the average
price of this article was lower than in the previous year.
The quantity of cacao exported was practically the same as in
1916 but here again the article showed a considerable drop
in value.
The Bulletin of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in
Shanghai draws the attention of Italian spinners to the
advantage of importing cotton from China in view of the
increasing shortage of the raw material. The average chineese
production is 2,200,000 bales (of 500 Tb.) per annum, of
whick 1,000,000 go to the Chineese spinners and 200,000
are exported. Japan takes about 100,000 bales, the United
States 50,000, and the United Kingdom 50,000. As regards
price it should compare favourably with American cotton,
c.i.f. Genoa.
An article by Dr. G B. Mason, in Onited Empire for
August 1918 gives the following interesting comparison of
area and population between the british West Indian colonies,
Newfoundland and New Zealund taken from the Colonial
Office list for 1917. The total area of the West Indies
exceeds that of New Zealand and is more than twice that of
Newfoundland. ‘The total population is more than eight
times that of Newfoundland and more than twice that of
New Zealand being over 2 million. The population per
square mile is more than tlivee times that of Newfoundland
and nearly twice that of New Zealand
Vor. XVII. No. 430.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWs.
333
a ee
BAT GUANOS OF PORTO RICO AND
THEIR FERTILIZING VALUE.
Deposits of bat guano are especially common in the
tropics and in sub tropical regions, and their fertilizing value
has never been investigated thoroughly. Generally they are of
small size, consisting of from a few to several thousand pounds,
and they usually occur in limestone caves. Results and
analyses of an investigation to determine the fertilizing value
of the bat guano of Porto Rico comprise Bulletin No. 25
of the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station. This
material is roughly divided into fresh bat manure, decom-
posed guano, and leached or phosphate guano.
The analyses and tests reported show the great variation
in different bat guanos, in respect to their content of the
fertilizing elements, and the availability of the elements.
Bat guanos, except fresh bat manure, cannot therefore be
regarded as a specific fertilizer in the same sense as modern
commercial fertilizers, or even as the old Peruvian guano.
The fresh bat manure, however, is a fairly definite
material in appearance, composition, and availability of its
phosphoric acid. It is a complete fertilizer, high in nitrogen,
medium in phosphoric acid, and low in water-soluble potash.
The water-soluble potash, of course, is all available, the
phosphoric acid is of high availability (little less than that
of acid phosphate), and the nitrogen is in part immediately
available and in part slowly available. This material is
somewhat similar to tankage, differing in containing potash,
in having part of its nitrogen more available and part less
available than the nitrogen of tankage, and in containing,
as a rule, more immediately available phosphoric acid.
The monetary value of fresh bat manure averages about
$33 per dry ton. It should be analysed where practicable,
as it is somewhat variable, especially where not freshly
gathered.
All other guanos, excepting the fresh material, are
incomplete fertilizers, lacking either potash, nitrogen,
or both. All bat guanos however, contain phosphoric
acid. As a rule the uncontaminated guano increases
in phosphate content as the nitrogen content diminishes.
Most bat guanos are-to be regarded as phosphatic fer-
tilizers containing a small amount of nitrogen, although
some are merely phosphatic fertilizers. They ought to be
reinforced by the addition of other materials before being
used for certain crops on certain soils.
Most bat guanos, but not all, are to be classed with the
low-grade fertilizers, either because of alow percentage of
the fertilizing elements, or because of a low availability of
the nitrogen or phosphoric acid. This does not mean that
- they are capable of utilization only under certain conditions,
although they can be used mcre advantageously under some
conditions than under others. As guanos contain a variety
of other substances besides nitrogen, phosphoric acid, or
potash, some persons have an idea that they ought to have a
peculiar fertilizing value because of their very complexity.
This is not true for the most part, although a few of the bat
guanos, in common with the old Peruvian guanos, are particu-
larly effective for certain conditions, because of having their
nitrogen present in different degrees of availability.
Most guanos can be mixed with any of the commercial
fertilizers without loss of availability in the mixture. A few
guanos containing carbonate of lime should not ke mixed
with sulphate of ammonia or acid phosphate. A test for car-
bonate should be made by observing whether the guano
effervesces with acid, before mixing a guano with such mater-
jals. If it is desirable to use a guano containing carbonate
with sulphate uf ammonia, the sulphate of ammonia should
be applied to the soil first, and later the guano incorporated
with the soil. On the other hand, a few guanos contain con-
siderable ammonium salts and these should not be mixed
with basic slag, as the free lime of the slag will liberate the
ammonia.
Guanos can also be used to supplement stable manure,
as stable manure is relatively deficient in phosphoric acid.
A ‘phosphatic guano can be advantageously added to the
compost heap as it is being formed. By making the material
more compact, this will-tend to conserve ammonia.
Low-grade phosphatic guanos can be mixed with cotfee
hulls and pulp, which contain a small amount of potash.
Doubtless the acetic acid produced in the fermented hulls and
pulp will aid somewhat. in rendering the phosphates more
available. Experiments, however, have not been conducted
in support of this conclusion, Composting soluble phos-
phatic guanos with waste or decaying citrus fruits and pine-
apples, or with refuse from pine-apple canneries would
doubtless be quite effective in increasing the availability of
the phosphoric acid in such materials.
In applying the guanos, it should be borne in mind that
most of them contain little water-soluble material. Conse-
quently they will be most effective when well and evenly
mixed with the soil.
When fresh bat manure, or guanos high in nitrogen and
organic matter are to be used for young pine-apples, the
material may be safely applied in the crown, as is done with
dried blood. Even though these guanos should contain con-
siderable ammonia and nitrate, there will be little danger of
injuring the plants, a3 the bulky nature of the fertilizer pre-
vents dangerous concentration of soluble salts in any place.
Only fresh bat manures, or guanos composed chiefly of organic
matter, should be applied in this way. as other guanos, like
soil, will tend to smother the plant.
Compounded with other materials, on the basis of their
analysis and efficiency to make the proper formula, guanos
can be used for any crop. There are some specific features
about the guanos, however, which make them especially good
for long-time crops.
All the guanos contain a considerable portion of their
nitrogen in an insoluble and relatively unavailable form.
To this part of the nitrogen a value only one-fourth that
of the ammoniacal and nitrate nitrogen was given. It is
nevertheless probable that practically all this insoluble
nitrogen will become available in time. It should therefore
be regarded as of considerable value for a long-time crop,
or at least for the permanent enrichment of the soil.
Work is at present under way to determine the relative
efliciencies of the standard phosphatic: fertilizers on the
different soils of Porto Nico. When this work is com-
pleted, quantitative data should be available concern-
ing what phosphates are best for the different soils.
From the general knowledge available on the sabject,
and from the availability tests reported here, it appears that
the bat guanos should be particularly valuable phosphatic
fertilizers for acid soils and for non-calcareous clay soils. On
neutral sandy soils they should show an efficiency equal to
that assigned them in this report, but not an enhanced
efficiency. On strongly calcareons soils Many guan»s, in
common with bone meal and rock phosphate, will have their
efficiency lowered much more than that of acid phosphate. A
few guanos, however, appear particularly good for calcareous
soils, their efficiency being less affected by liming than any
of the other phosphates. Thus far no analytical method has
been found which will tell whether or not the efficiency of a
guano will be affected by liming,
334 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
IVE
OcroveR 19, 1918.
eS eee. hc hrencennaninee
PLANT DISEASES.
GRAY MOULD OF CASTOR BEANS.
Considering the increased attention which is being
siven to the cultivation of the Castor Oil plant an
article on the above subject by H. E. Stevens, which
has been issued as Press Bulletin, No. 296 of the Umi-
versity of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, is
reprinted below, as~ of interest in connexion with this
crop.
A fungus disease that has appeared on the castor bean
within the last two weeks is causing serious injury to the
crop in many regions of,the state. It is a gray mould that
attacks the fruit spikes in various stages of development.
The unopened flower buds, flowers, and nearly mature pods
are attacked by the fungus. In some cases from 50 to 90
per cent. of the plants in a field are affected with the disease.
Rain and shady conditions seem to favour a rapid spread of
this mould.
APPEARANCE,
The disease is at once recognized by the grayish, webby
amass of fungus growth on the affected heads. In well
developed cases from one-half to three-fourths of the affected
head will be enveloped by a gray, webby mass more or less
powdery in appearance. Pods and flowers in a head that
are killed by the fungus become brown and covered with a
dusty gray, powdery mass which contains countless numbers
of spores. The disease appears to start at one point and
«preads rapidly until the entire head is affected. The fungus
also attacks the stem of the fruit spike and flower stems caus-
ing at first a dark, watery rot. The affected part soon dies,
turns brown and becomes dry. :
The first appearance of the disease is marked by a dark
coloured spot or stain usually on one or more adjacent pods.
This spotting sometimes appears first on the stem of the fruit
spike or on the pod stems. The affected tissue is found to
be rotted and watery. No fungus growth is visible at this
stage, and the remainder of the pods or heads appears green
and normal. Three or four days later a fourth or half of the
head may be enveloped with a grayish growth, and all parts
covered by the fungus are killed.
CAUSE,
The disease is caused by a fungus which appears
to be a new species of Botrytis. Specimens were sent
to Mrs. F. W. Patterson, Bureau of Plant Industry,
United States Department of Agriculture who reports the
fungus as an undescribed species of Botrytis. Very little
is known of its habits at present and it does not seem to have
been reported on the castor bean before. Under moist con-
ditions the fungus produces spores (seed) in countless numbers
in the webby growth enveloping the affected heads. These
are readily scattered by the wind and insects and infect
other fruit heads,
The fungus is very active under moist shady conditions
and during periods of rain and cloudy weather it may become
very destructive, especially where beans are closely planted
and are making vigorous growth.
CONTROL,
The rapidity with which this fungus has developed and
spread within the last two weeks, and the nature of the castor
bean plant, offer little encouragement for an easy method of
contro], Where it is widely scattered through a field very
little can be done to protect the fruit heads that may develop
during the rainy season, After the dry season comes on the
disease will probably cause small loss.
In fields where the disease is just appearing and only «
small ‘number of heads are affected, further loss may be pre-
vented if immediate steps are taken to suppress it. All
aftected fruit heads should be cut off and put directly into
a pail of kerosene and carried from the field and burned.
Plants from which affected heads are cut should be thorough-
ly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, 4-4-50 formula, to kill
spores that have Icdged on the leaves and stems. The
flower and fruit heads on all plants in the vicinity of dis-
eased ones should be thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux.
An area of 50 to 100 feet beyond all diseased areas should be-
sprayed and inspected frequently for new outbreaks.
PLANT QUARANTINE.
In the Monthly Bulletin of the State Commission
vf Agriculture, California, June 1918, appears a note,
which is reproduced below. The old Latin tag would
seem very appropriate to our West Indies in this
matter. De te fubula narratur.
From Australia comes the report that citrus canker has
made its appearance in the commonwealth. True to tradi-
tion, the press does not hesitate to jump on the horticultural
officers, and lay the blame for allowing the importation at
their door.
This is in a large measure to be expected. Speaking in
the abstract it should be stated that there are many aspects
of such problems that are seldom brought to the notice ef the
public.
The assertion is ventured that there are horticultural
ofticials who have had a chance to wear themselves out
trying to squeeze from a reluctant legislature funds fer
the purpose of providing a means of preventing the
introduction of some plant pest or disease that may
be causing consternation in some other part of the
world, and which it is realized will sooner or later be
brought to their shores. Nor is the legislature entirely
to blame. Such bodies as a rule are generally composed of in-
dividuals largely ignorant of the bionomics of insect pests and
plant diseases, without training in the estimation of evidence
in this line, and withal unable to appreciate the extent or
imminence of danger which may be anticipated from this
source. The responsibility may often be traced farther back
to the fruit growers themselves who, with full knowledge of
the true significance of the menace, wait for someone else to
take the initiative until the eleventh hour, when the pest in
question appears, and their chance has vanished. This atti-
tude is particularly reprehensible, as they must surely under-
stand fully that whatever happens they will be the losers.
As a result of this combination of circumstances pleas
for preventive rather than remedial measures too often
receive a deaf ear. Whatever the reason, the results are
always the same, In tracing the course of introduced plant
pests and diseases it isan unwritten law that the govern-
ment which has failed to take necessary precaution in provid-
ing adequate means to prevent the introduction of undesirable
alien plant pests and diseases, sooner or later, but neverthe-
less surely, has an opportunity to dig down into its coffers te
the extent of about one hundred times which the amount of
a proper insurance against this class of undesirable aliens
would have cost.
Vor. XVII, No, 430,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Tit may seem a far cry, but perhaps some day it will be
mrecognized that any insect or pathogenic organism which
utilizes as a host some particular plant, no matter in what
ypart of the world that host plant may exist, without proper
\protective measures becomes in this day of modern trans-
portation facilities a potential pest throughout the entire
vegion where such a plant may be grown.
California has had an opportunity to view the case in
its different aspects, The price of her knowledge has been
alternative between destruction of her citrus industry, and
the annual expenditure of large sums of money to keep under
control a host of these introduced enemy aliens, brought into
her midst before the potentialities of such things began to be
appreciated. Viewing her experiences in retrospect, she now
yourchases insurance against their further introduction by
a judicious system of quarantine and a trained inspection
.Serv:ce exceeded by none, and equalled by few. It is believed
that a few pages taken from the experiences of our state will
well repay the trouble.
‘THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE’S INVESTI-
GATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
EMPIRE RESOURCES.
At a recent meeting of the Executive Council of
the Imperial Institute, presided over by Lord Islington,
information was submitted concerning a large number of
investigations in which the Institute has been engaged during
the past few months. The subjects of these investigations
have been mainly new or little known raw materials, which
haye been brought into prominence by the war,
The general scarcity of paper, in spite of the recent
allocation of additional shipping for its importation, con-
tinues to invest the discovery of new sources of supply with
great interest for manufacturers and traders. Though the
present problem is largely one of shortage of ship’s tonnage,
the steady growth of the world’s demands for paper renders it
imperative that new paper-making materials should be
brought into use, if prices are to be kept down after the war.
Among the materials examined at the Imperial Institute
. during the present summer have been grasses from South
Africa, the Federated Malay States, Australia,and St. Helena.
. Samples of ‘Tambookie’ and similar grasses from the Pre-
~foria district gave a high yield of pulp of good quality, capable
. of conversion either into excellent brown paper or (after
bleaching) into white paper. Lalang grass—which grows
abundantly in the Malay States, and hitherto has been so
little esteemed that on the rubber plantations it is regarded
_ as a troublesome weed—was found on investigation at the
Imperial Institute to compare favourably as a paper making
material with Algerian esparto grass, though not quite so
_ good as Spanish esparto. Bamboo grass from the Northern
Territory of Australia came up to about the same standard.
All these grasses would be suitable for utilization in their
. gountries of origin for the manufacture of either pulp or
paper, and full reports on their properties as paper-
- making materials have been drawn up by the Imperial
Institute for the Governments concerned.
The shortage of shipping is limiting not only the imports
of raw materials into the United Kingdom, but the exports
of manufactured articles, with the result that the outlying
portions of the Empire have a new and compelling motive
: for seeking among their own resources the wherewithal for
the supply of their needs. For example, the restrictions on
» the export of galvanized iron have stimulated interest in
‘
|
|
|
\
several colonies in the suitability of ‘he local clays for the
manufacture of bricks, tiles, ete., for building purposes.
The Government authorities of Northern Nigeria have been
experimenting in this way, and the Imperial Institute, after
a large number of technical trials with samples sent to the
Institute, has been able to suggest various methods of
improving on the results obtained from the first experiments
in Nigeria.
A sample of clay received from Tasmania, and described
as kaolin (china clay) proved on examination to be a fire
clay, suitable in the crude state for the production of high-
grade refractory bricks. This enhances its importance in
view of recent metallurgical developments in Australia, and
further investigations have been recommended. The washed
clay is of a white colour, and if mixed with other suitable
materials could be utilized for the manufacture of porcelain
and pottery.
BREEDING NEW SEEDS.
Addressing a meeting of the Agricultural Seed Associa-
tion of the United Kingdom at the Cannon-Street Hotel of
July 15, on the aims and objects of the National Institute of
Agricultural Botany, which it is proposed to establish at
Cambridge, Mr. Lawrence Weaver, Director of Supplies,
Food Production Department, according to Zhe Times of
July 16, 1918, said that we stood at the threshold of a new
reconstructive era for agriculture. The labourer was certain
of a living wage; the farmer was fairly certain that for a good
many years to come he would receive an adequate return for
his produce;the scientist had the knowledge that his efforts
would be better supported by the Government; and the
trader and distributer were satisfied that business would be
better organized largely by their own efforts.
The proposed Institute of Agricultural Botany, he
thought, would command the confidence of the farmer and of
the seed trade. Asa foundation for the trust fuad he had
received £10,000 down from Sir Robert McAlpine, anda
further £1 000 a year for five years. Four others had given
£4,000 altogether. The Millers’ Association had resolved
to raise £5,000, and the Corn Merchants’ Association had
agreed to open a subscription list.
The Institute was not intended to be educational, but
its purpose was to introduce new breeds of seeds, and to
improve existing varieties. He desired it to be regarded as
a grand co-ordination in the improvement of seeds and plants.
It would not compete with the seed trade or control it, but
would help it, making use of trade channels for distribution,
At Cambridge there was already a plant breeding institute
under the direction of Professor Biffen, who was one of the
great assets of British agriculture. He had, however, been
enormously hampered by lack of funds and helpers, and the
chief function of the new Institute would be to take over an@
carry on, on a commercial basis, the valuable efforts of
Professor Biffen.
Mr. G. P. Milne, the chairman, announced further
donations amounting to £9,550, and a resolution was carried
welcoming the scheme in the interests of British agriculture
and of the seed trade.
Mr. Weaver said that he would call a meeting of the
subscribers to the trust fund, and invite them to adopta
draft deed governing the Institute’ The Board of Agricul-
ture would provide all the money for building and equipping
the seed testing station, which would form part of the
Institute.
Subscriptions in the room brought up the total from the
Seed Trade Association to over 10,000 guineas.
336
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 1918.
Ocroser 19,
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tnaz Wesr Inpvra Committers Crrconar,
August 22.
ARRowROOT—No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no gubimbons; Sheet, no auo-
tations.
Berswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46.
Fruir—No quotations.
Grneer—Jamaica, no quotations
Honey—Jamaica, no quot: ations.
Lime Juice—Raw, 4/6 to 5/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16,6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Noutmecs—No quotations.
Pimento—9}d.
RKosser—Para, fine hard,
Castilloa, no quotations.
3/0%; fine soft, no quotations;
Grant & Co., October 4.
Trinidad,
Trinidad.—Messrs.
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations;
tions.
Coco-nut Om—$1°46 per gallon.
Correz—Venezuelan, L5c. per te..
Corra—$7°25 per 100 tb.
Daat— $11°50 to $12-00 per bag.
Oxstons —$10°00 per 100 fh.
Peas, Sprrt—$8'00 per bag.
Poratozs—English, $4:00 per 100 fh.
Ricz—Yellow, $13:00 to $13:25; White, $9°00 per bag.
Gorpon,
no quota-
Scear—American crushed, nu quotations.
New York.—Messrs Gizsprz Bros, & Co., July 12,
ea lSc.; Grenada, lic.;
; Jamaica, Lhe. to 12c.
as wore Janell selects, $42-00:
culls, $20-00 to $21-00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, 9}c. to Llc. per tt.
Gineer—1L5he. to L6ge. per th.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 85c.; Antigua and Barhados, S5c.;
St. Thomas and St. Kitts, 85c. per
Grare Fruit—Jamaica, importation prohibited.
Limzes—Importation prohibited.
Mace—40c. to 45c. per Ib.
Notmrcs—27c.
Oranees—Importation prohibited.
Pimento—6jc. to Te. per fb.
Sugar—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°(/55c; Muscovados, 89°, 5-05bc.
Molasses, 89°, 4°98c. all duty paid.
Trinidad, 12{c. to
Trinidad $40-00;
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S..Garraway & Co., Auguat 29,
Arrowrogt—$12'00 per 100 fr.
Cacao—$12 ‘00 to $12°50 per i00 th.
~ Coco-nuTs—$48°00-husked nuts.
Hay—$3°00.
Motassrs—No quotations.
NIONS— No quotations.
Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rices—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran
goor, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $5°00.
Publications on seis of the fifipettal Department Af Agriculture.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’:
Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls,
Volume XVII, No. 1.
A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
and a Paper on Fish Poisoning.
HANDBOOK ; AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the :aformation contained in tham
ls especially adapted to West Indian-conditions.
The
‘ Agricultural News’
The contains
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’:
extracts
The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
A Fortnightly Review.
from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made a
earenltd. mae throughout the West Indies.
‘ Agricultural News’
is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by tha
local agents ie the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2a. 2d per half-year, or 3¢. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XV I complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, ~
— pat free, 5s.
The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Detau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lance.
Barbados: Apvooa'ry Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown,
Jamaica: THe Epvcationat Surry Company, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
Brstish Guiana: Tax Axcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuaty & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C, L. Puacemann, Scarborough.
Bahamas: Mr. H. G. Cuersrie, Beard of Agriculture, Nussau.
Grenada: Messrs. THos, Lawtor & Co., St.
St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonavte, ‘Times’ Office,
St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nixes, Botanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Briocewarer, Roseau,
Montserrat: Mr. W. Ronson, Botanic Station.
Antigua: Mr. S. D. Matong, St. John’s.
St. Kitts: Tex Brsie anp Book Suppty Acency, Bassererar
Nevis: Mi. W. I. Howxgtt, Experiment Station.
Canada; Lewis W. Oremeys, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto
George,
PEN on.
—
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
———$——__——
And we are prepared to buy year after year.
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
———— —
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having: first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest. inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are
Teady to make all such payments when, where, and how our
q
:
;
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRAD
clients instruct us. If payment. is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it: if goods are to be shipped
mm exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying | facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed UUs WE DO
: conse-
“quently we are open to handle any possible. transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH You
_ ERNEST, THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
4
“REQUIRE ASSISTANCE. AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO You.
‘ Ret ee se nw 5 = ‘re Sa Sel lee
he
pS ors OA wees
Vou. XVII. No. 430 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. © Ocroser 19, 1918.
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of che continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret:that business with our West Indian friend$ is, for the time being,
interrupted. ;
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we-shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
orks: Victoria Docks, E,
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage,
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
a3 _ BARBADOS.
Printed at Offics of Agricultural Reporter, “4, High Steoet! Bridgstown, Barbados,
aa se fe wr ‘
ee ee ee ee
SS eee
— ge ee Cy eee ee
=
“Vol. XVII. No. 431.) __ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1918, _
R. M. S. P.
rf MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
TO PORTS OF CALL
iTHE UNITED KINGDOM Azores.
f St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
i}CANADA | Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
. | | Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
IDEMERARA & PARAMARIBO | Grenada & Trinidad.
. | (Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS | ;Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| (Callao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
F UNITED KINGDOM TO ‘.
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent,
/REGULAR SAILINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO
MOROCCO, CANARY ISLANDS & MADEIRA,
& JAPAN.
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London.
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tovago, Demerara Colon, Jamaica, Antilia, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos yAires, Santos, Saa Paulo
"Rio oe Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
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THE Lire History
OF
THe CATTLE Tieéx
+
¢
The impo Aance of accurate know)laiige on this sabject lis in the tact that, before methods of
flcciseaee to know the life history of the tick, and the influence of tem
a
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
be carried out —_ oa.
eradication can
ture, moisture, and other climatic conditions on the
In the following notes, whenever the term “tick” or “cattle tick” is used it refers to the one species, Margeropus annulatua, the common
vrhieh is so prevalent throughout the West Indies,
Only “s part of the development of the tick takes plate on the anima) bost ; the rest of the development occurs on the pasture occupied by the host.
DEVELOPMENT on the GROUND
‘SHE ENGORGED FEMALE. In tracing the life
begin
wifa the large, plana, female tick. about balf
in gth, attac to the skin of the host,
During the last few days t on the host, she has
imcreased enormously in size, as a consequence of
drawing a large supply of blood.
When fully preeee she drops to the ground, and
ut once, especially i © weather is warm, begins to
search for a hiding place on moist earth bendath leaves
or any other litter which may serve as a protection
from the sun and numerous enemies, or shield her from
unfavourable conditions, The female titk may be
devoured by birds, or destroyed by ants. or may perish
a## 4 result of unfavourable conditions, such as low
temperature, absence or excess of moisture, and many
other conditions; so that many female ticks which fall to
the ground are destroyed before they lay eggs.
EGG LAYING. Egg laying begins during the
spring. sammer and fall months in from 2 to 20 days.
and during the winter months in from 13 to 98 days,
after falling tothe ground. The eggs are small. elliptical-
ehaped Bation, at first of a light amber colour, later
changing to a dark brown, and are about one-fiftieth of
an imch in length. As the sare laid they are coated
with a sti secretion which causes them to adhere in
lusters and no doubt serves the purpose of keeping
‘them from drying out. During egg laying, the mother
fick gradually shrinks in size and finally is reduced to
about ape or “ania “ig Freire | size. ae
aying is greatly influen emperature, ing
erarded or even arrested by cold. It Te completed in
from 4 ied in the summer to 161 days, beginning in
the fall. During this time the tick may deposit from
& few bundred to more than 5,000 eggs. After egg laying
is completed the mother tick has fulfilled her purpose
and dies in the course of a few days.
“SEED” TICKS. After a time, ranging from 19
days in the summer to 183 days during the fall and
winter, the eggs begin to hatch. From euch cyg issues
'# small oval, six-legged larva or “secd” tick, at first
amber coloured, later changing to a rich brown. ‘l'be
“peed” tick, after crawling slowly over und about the
abel) from which it has ernerged, usually remains more
ar lees quiescent for several days, after which it shows
great activity, especially if the weatbor is warm. and
macend+ the nearest vegetation, such ss grass, otber
berbe. and even shrubs. >
Since each female Inys an enormous mass of
thousands of i
eat one f+) eppear in, the
course of time at the same place, and ascend the
near-by tion and collect on the leaves and other
parts of plants. This imstinct of the seed ticks to climb
upward ig a very important adaptation of Nature's to
increase their chances of reaching their host. If the
vegetation upon which they rest is disturbed, they
become very active and extend théir long front legs
upward in a divergent position. waving them violentiy
in an attempt to seize hold of a host.
The seed tick during its life on the pasture takes
no food, and consequently does not increase in size, and
unless it reaches a host to take up the parasitic portion
of its development, it dies of starvation. The endurance
of seed ticks is very great, however, as they have been
found to live nearly eight months, even during the
colder part of the year.
DEVELOPMENT ON CATTLE
“SEED” TICKS. The parasitic phase of develop-
ment begims when the larve or ticks reach a
favourable host, such as a cow. They crawl up over
the hair of the host, and commonly attach themselves
to the skin of the escutcheon, the Inside of the thighs
and flanks, and to the dewlap. They at once begin to
draw blood, and soon increase in size.
THE NYMPH. In a few days the young tick
cbanges froma brown colour to white, and in from 6 to
12 days sheds its skin. The new form has eight legs
instead of six and is known as a nymph,
SEXUALLY MATURE TICKS. In from 5 to il
days after the first moult the tick again sheds its skin and
becomes sexually mature. It is at this stage that males
and females are with certainty distinguishable for the
first time.
The Male. The male tick emerges from his skin
as a brown, oval tick. about one-tenth of an inch im
length. He has completed his growth and goes through
no furtherdevelopment. Later he shows great activity.
moving «bout more or less over the skin of the host.
Thé Female. The female tick at the time cf
moulting is slightly larger than the male. She never
shews much activity, seldom moving far from her
original point of attachment. She still bus to undergo
most of hergrowth. After mating, the female increases
very rapidly in size, and in from 21 to 66 days after
becoming attached to a host asa seed tick, she becomes
fully engal and drops to the pasture, to start again
the cycle of development by laying eggs,
SUMMARY OF LIFE HISTORY’
To sum up:on the pasture there are found three stages of the tick—the engorged female, the egg, and thé Jarvn or seed tick: and on the anima! Bost
wre alec found three stages—the Jarva or seed tick, the nymph, the sexually mature
th sexes, und in aildition the exyorsged female
~
(The above ta an extract from a Bulletin isaued offictally by the United States Departuent af Agricuiture, entitled—
“ Methods of Kiteriuunuatliy the Tewas Feoer Tick”)
COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP
Has received the official approval of the following Countries:
Baion of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazi!, Basutoland,
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesis, Madagascar, ,
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa,
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland,
United States of America, New South Wales,
Northern Territory of Australia.
WEST. INDIAN AGENTS:
SY. &ITTS: S. L. Hor &Ce ANTIGUA: Bennett, Brysco & CH
JAMAICA: Henderson & Co., Kinxston.
GRENADA: Thomson, Nankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd
BAHAMAS: W. N. Twynam, Nassau,
TRINIDAD: T, Geddes Grant. Port of Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
BT. VINCENT: Corea & Co Kingstown. NEVIS: 5.D. Malone.
DANLSH WEST INDIES: Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas
MONTSERRAT: W. Liewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H, A. Framptom,
ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Det actarbes WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, Eng!and,
BRANCHES: Torenlc, Chicago, Sydmey, Melbourne, Auckland Buenos Aires, Motte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa.
i
yi
DFC 2 2 W909
SS etc ELEY:
~~
OF THE
(IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vor. XVII. No. 431.
BARBADOS, NOVEMBER 2,
1915. Price 1d,
CONTENTS.
Pace. Paar.
Agriculture in Barbados ... 351 \{nsect Notes:—
Agriculture in Grenada ... 351, Weevils Attacking Sweet
Coco-nuf Piantations, Minor Potato and Yam . 46
Crops on... ... ... 349) Termite Injury to Sweet
Cvco-nut Press-cake for Potatoes ... . 346
[tems of Local Interest +
Market
Notes
Human Food, Recipes
for the Preparation
DT Ghaebcetn ance o-- 349
Coffee Cultivation in British
Guiana ... B43 Olona, A Valuable Haw:u-
Reports Seo
and Comments ... 3
Cotton Notes : inn Fibre é 340
Sea Island Cotton _ Onions in Dominica 544
Market 340 Power Aleohol ... ... ddl
Department News... ... 346 pois and Mongoose in the
Devil's Grass eee ee 949)" \Voct MeIMEIES noo
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Rats and Mongoose in the West Indies.
; century, and within a space of about ten
years had spread to all the islands where it is now
known to occur, namely, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago,
Grenada, St. Vincent, Barbados St. Lucia, Antigua,
and St. Kitts-Nevis. It does not oceur in Dominica,
Montserrat, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands nor Car-
riacou. The mongoose is found in Cuba and Santa Cruz
In 1907 it was reported in a meeting of the Jamaica
Agricultural Society that a correspondent in Mexico
had asked to have some mongoose sent to him in
order that the species might be established in that
country. The Secretary of the Society was not able
to comply, because of a lack of suitable shipping facil-
ities, but if the individual interested in importing
them was persistent it is likely that he has been suc-
cessful, and that before this time the mongoose has
become established in that country. .
Rats, which seem to occur wherever man exists,
were to be found in these islands from very early
times. The black rat and the brown or grey rat, both
of Oid World origin, have been brought to the West
Indies with the shipping. The ‘cane piece’ rat of
Jamaica appears to be of uncertain origin. It is said
to have been larger than either of the other two, and
distinctly marked.
Previous to the introduction of the mongoose the
injury to the sugar-cane by rats was so great that rat-
catching was a regular part of the routine of many, if
not of most, sugar estates. Not only did rats cause
mach injury to the canes, but they were a source of
direct expense. It has been estimated that in Jamaica
the losses to the island as a whole amounted to as much
as £100,000 per annum, while some estates paid as
high as £300 to £400 per year for rat-catzhing.
The rat catchers were a source of further expense,
for they often pulled down walls in order to catch the
rats. and these walls had afterwards to be repaired
The introduction of the mongoose into Jamaica
was found to be of great value to the island, a saving
338
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
NovEMBER 2, 1918.
of some £45,000 per annum being estimated as the
direct and almost immediate effect of the reduction in
the number of rats due to the activities of the mon-
goose, and, in all the islands where the mongoose was
introduced for the purpose of killing rats, the value of
the introduction was appreciated ab once; rats were
much reduced in numbers, and the losses in sugar-canes
and the expenses of rat-catching were saved to a large
extent.
After a time, some ten to fifteen years, complaints
began to be made that the mongoose had failed to kill
off all the rats but hadtaken heavy toll of many ground-
nesting birds, lizards, and toads, and had caused much
loss of poultry and eggs, Later, the apparent increase
of insect pests of crops was charged to the accuunt of
the mongoose. which having upset the balance of
nature by kiling off many insect-eating forms, had
thus provided for the increase of undesirable insects.
In Jamaica, this phase passed in a short time, and
for the past fifteen years or more the opinionseems to
have prevailed in that colony that the mongoose is of
sufficient benefit more than to offset its depredations.
In Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Vincent,
on *he other hand, the mongoose has been, and still is
considered an unmitigated pest by a very large pro-
portion of the people.
It should be stated, however, that in 1911 a Com-
miss‘on appointed by the Governor of Barbados to
enquire into the usefulness or otherwise of the mon-
goose asa rat killer, came to the conclusion that the
mongoose was of value in keeping the rats in check,
and that the mongoose destruction law ought to be
repealed. This was not done, and the law is still
in force. It may be remarked, however. that the
Select Committee, which in 1917 reported in favour of
mongoose destruction, found that the impression pre-
vailed that the law of 1909 was not operative,and in
consejuence practically no money was being claimed
as bonaty for mongoose heads,
In the islands where the mongoose does not
oceur, there are laws against its importation. Such
Ordinances occur in Montserrat, Barbuda, the British
Virgin Islands, Dominica, and Carriacou.
The mongoose was introduced into St, Lucia for
the direct purpose of combating the serpent, the
fer-de-lance, and it has been so successful as a snake
killer that up to the present no serious complaints
have been heard of its being a nu'sance in that island.
The mongoose in St. Lucia lives principally in
the lower, more open lands in the neighbourhood of
dwellings and cultivations, and preys upon poultry
to some extent. The result is that very few serpents
appear in these, the inhabited, districts.
The Select Committee (1917) of the House of
Assembly, Barbados, was of opinion that the destruc-
tion of the mongoose ought to be continued; but did
not refer to the destruction of rats.
Rats are not only pests of sugar-cane, but of every
crop: ard all stored food products and many household
articles suffer from their depredations. They destroy
books and papers, gnaw through the woodwork~ of
buildings, and often dig out the interior of walls, and
undermine cement floors and masonry foundations,
They are the cause of epidemics of disease, espe-
cially plague, which being a rat-borne disease, is com-
municated to human beings by the bite of the rat flea.
At the present time the situation with regard to rats
and mongoose appears to be as follows. In Jamaica it
is realized that rats are still a serious pest, and that
any reduction of the numbers of their enemies would
immediately be followed by an increase in the
numbers of rats, and in the damage done by them,
Consequently, the feeling in that colony appears to be
that the mongoose is doing more good than harm.
Vigorous efforts are being made to reduce the numbers
of the rats, although there seems to be no government
action in the matter.
In Trinidad the mongoose is looked upon as being
all harm and no good, at least, that the harm done by it
is so much in excess of the good that the latter is hardly
taken into accountat all. In St. Vincent and Antigua
the same opinion seems to prevail.
In Barbados the feeling at the present time on
the part of that portion of the community represented
by the Select Committee of the House of Assembly
appears to be that the mongoose should be destroyed,
without regard to any useful purpose it may have served
or may be expected to serve. In 1911, however, the Com-
mission on mongoose reported that on account
of its value as a rat killer the mongoose
ought not to be destroyed. Probably the real attitude
toward the mongoose and rat question in Barbados is
somewhere between that of the Commission of 1911
and the Select Committee of 1917. At times the rats
are very destructive—then the mongoose ought to be
encouraged; at other times the depredations of the
Vou. XVII. No. 431.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 339 ©
. eS
mongoose are noticed, and attacks of insect pests
experienced, and then the feeling is that the mon-
goose should be exterminated.
The situation in Grenada is shown by letters from
the Colonial Secretary and the Agricultural Superinten-
dent, to the effect that the mongoose was not a pest in
that Colony, and that there were no laws or Ordinances
dealing with its control. These letters were in reply
toa letter addressed in 1917 by the Trinidad Govern-
ment to the Government of Grenada and to the
Governments of other West Indian Colonies as to the
status of the mongoose, and the steps being taken to
control it.
The introduction of the mongoose into these
islands has very seriously upset the balance of nature,
and it is likely that the introduction of the rat did the
same. These two animals now form such a part of
the faunistic economy that the complete extermina-
tion of either one -would be likely to cause as great an
upset in the balance of nature as their introduction
has done. Exterminate all the rats, und the mongoose
would be likely to reflect the new condition by
increased ravages on other sources of food. Exter-
minate the mongoose, and the rats would without
doubt soon become as serious pests as ever they
were in the past.
It appears to be quite certain that the mongoose
has influenced the abundance of ground-nesting birds,
and of insectivorous animals such as toads and lizards,
and that rats have taken to nesting in trees in order
to escape from them. Perhaps the rat, now that it climbs
to escape the mongoose, is more destructive than for-
mierly to the eggs and nestlings of thany of our tree-
nesting birds.
In all these ways the mongoose may be said to be
' responsible for the decrease in the natural enemies of
the insect pests attacking our crops: but it must be re-
membered that there were serious insect pest epidemics
in the West Indies before the introduction of the mon-
goose.
The problem of rat and mongoose control involves
the question whether this shall be inany way the duty
of Government, or shall be left to private energy and
enterprise. The course taken by the several Govern-
nents, consisting in paying a bounty for rat carcasses,
was not eminently successful in the control of rats.
After long years of such effort the mongoose was intro-
duced to aid in the matter.
The evidence appears to show that both the rab
and the mongoose can be controlled on any given prop-
erty and in any given district by individual effort. If this
is so, concerted action of individuals over large areas,
or throughout an entire colony, would reduce this
undesirable animal to small numbers.
It would appear, then, that the first step in such
contro! would be individual action, concerted and
unified through the Avricultural Societies or similar
bodies. When the efforts of individuals are carried as
as far as they can be, the Government may be
asked to help in matters. of advice and assistance in
regard to poisons, traps, and methods to be employed
to extend and increase the effect of the work of the
individual.
THE BENEFIT OF ADDING FRESH BUL-
LOCKS’ BLOOD TO FOWLS’ RATIONS.
Many experiments undertaken in various Experimental
Stations in the United States have amply proved that when
an addition of animal food, rich in protein, is made to the
ordinary food rations of laying hens, there is marked increase
in the number of eggs they produce. Such additions as
meat, mitk, dried blood, etc., invariably lead to a greater
production of eygs.
Following out these results, Dr. Rafael de Castro and
Senor Pedro Benitez Quirch have recorded in the Rezista de
Agricultura, Commercio » Trabajo, August 1918, the
result of an experiment carried on by them in Cuba, as to
the effect on the egg production of hens, obtained by adding a
certain portion of raw bullocks’ blood to the daily ration.
Two lots of thirty hens and six cocks each, of the
single comb White Leghorn breed, were placed in separate
enclosures, marked | and 2.
Both lots received daily a ration consisting of 4 Ib. of a
mixture of oats, crushed maize, sun-flower seeds, and barley,
but for this was substituted, after the fifth week, the same
weight of food composed -of 2 parts of maize to 1 part of
oats. In addition to this, lot No. 2 received 2 fb. of fresh
bullocks’ blood mixed with their corn, this blood being
brought daily from a slaughter-house. Both lots were
supplied with as much water as they would drink, and were
given from time to time equal quantities of fresh garden _
stuff, and also equal quantities of calareous grits, The
rations were placed daily iu feeding boxes at 3 p.m.
The experiment was begun on February 3, and continu-
ed until April 6, a period of nine weeks, with the following
results.
The total number of eggs produced by lot 1 was 530,
while lot 2 produced 682 eggs.
The cost of the food df each lot was $1445, and in the
case of lot 2, an additional 40c., the cost of the blood. That
is to say, this additional 40c. produced 152 eggs.
It is not to be wondered at that the experimenters claim
that they have clearly proved that the addition of a certain
portion of fresh bullocks’ blood to the daily ration of laying
hens increases largely their egg production, and this at a trifi-
ing cost, because the substance may be obtained cheaply and
easily in any place in the neighbourhood of a slaughter-house,
1918.
NOVEMBER 2,
ns}
COTTON.
——_-
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ended September 7, 1918, is as follows:—
IsLANDs. Since our Annual Report of August 3, the
market has remained quiet and unchanged, with only a
limited inquiry, but no sales or réceipts.
The unsold stock of old crop is still held on a_ basis of
Fally Fine 72c., of which there is left unsold about 325 bales
bright cotton, and the balance more or less stained.
The new crop will not be marketed until October Conse-
quently the market will not open until then.
GEORGIAS AND FLOoRIpDAS. There have been sales in
Savannah during August aggregating about 600 bales ona
basis of average Extra Choice 68}c , taking such lots as were
ordered sold by the owners, the buying being on account of
the Northern Mills.
The stock is generally. held thigher, say, average Extra
Choice 69c. to 70c., and a sale -has been recently made of
100 bales Fancy at 71c.,on account of a Southern Mill. This
sale has caused Factors to be firmer in their views, at least
temporarily.
No new crop cotton has been put on the market yet, but
there should be some receipts during the next fortnight.
However, the planters throughout Florida have at some
meeting parsed resolutions to delay ginning until October.
crop apvices. In Carolina and along the coast, the
promise of a month ago bas deteriorated in consequence of
intensely hot and dry weather, and estimates are reduced to
7,000 to 8,000 bales.
In Georgia and Florida, we have to confirm our
advices in our Annual Circular of August 3. The boll
weevil is doing considerable injury, and the continued hot
weather has caused the plants to shed and to rust. Crop
estimates for these States still range from 60,000 to 75,000 Bb.
THE OLONA, A VALUABLE HAWAIIAN
FIBRE.
The ever-increasing demand in the world’s market for
fibres gives interest to the following extract from an account
of a possible valuable source of supply of fibre of the finest
quality by Vaughan McCaughey, of the College of Hawaii,
published in Science, September 6, 1£18.
The Hawaiian people formerly made use af a consider-
able range of fibre plants. Some of these were brought by the
natives from the South Pacific, others were discovered in the
new island home. The paper mulberry (Broussonettia papyri-
fera) isan excellent example of a fibre plant widespread in
the Pacific region. From its copious bast was made the typical
‘kapa’ or bark-cloth of Polynesia. Olona ( Zouchardia /ati-
Jelia, Gaud.), on the other band, is wholly confined to the
Hawaiian Islands; the genus is monotypic and endemic. The
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
ancient Hawaiians undoubtedly discovered the valuable fibre
of this plant at a very early time. They were intimately
familiar with the lotal flora and its economic utilization.
The olona is mentioned in many of the old songs and Jegends.
Special interest is attached to the olona fibre, as it is
generally recognized’ tobe the strongest and most durable
fibre inthe world. No other fibre is recorded to exceed it in
these two important characteristics.
The natural habitat of the olona is the lower and middle
forest zone, lying on the mountains between elevations of 800
to 1,000 feet. It is strongly hygrophytic and shade-loving; it
never occurs naturally in the open or in dry sections. The
favourite habitats are deep, cool, gloomy ravines, or moist
slopes that are well screened by forest cover. The olona
belongs to that ecologic section of the Hawaiian flora that
Juxuriates in the dense moist shade of the montane forests.
It occurs in little patehes or thickets here and there in the
forest, but is nowhere-abundant. It does not form continu-
ous stands; reproduction is not vegetative, but apparently
always from seed. In any one spot the collector is not likely
to find more than a few score of individual plants,
The Hawaiians formerly - cultivated the olona in a
primitive manner. They did not prepare the land or plant
seed, but merely searched out good patches of the wild
plants. Such a patch was cleared of any obstructing vegeta-
tion, not disturbing, however, the large trees which shaded
the plants. If the olona plants were too crowded they were
thinned out. The old plants were pruned so as to give
a number of young, straight shoots.
At irregular intervals, as convenience or necessity
dictated, the grove was visited and the crop harvested. This
process consisted in cutting all the long, straight shoots that
had reached a diameter of about 1 inch. The bark of such
shoots was rich in bast fibres, and these were of maximum
length. Six feet wasan average length. The bark was
carefully stripped from the wands, in one or more pieces
packed into rolls or bundles, and carried down to the settle.
ments on the lowlands, where the final operations were
performed.
A suitable situation was found along a stream or irriga-
tion ditch. The bundlesof bark were opened out in the
shallow running water, where ‘they were allowed partially to
macerate. This required several days; then the long strips
were removed from the water, and the remaining pulpy
matter was scraped frém them while still wet. The scraping
was performed on a long, narrow, hardwood board, specially
devised for this purpose. The prepared fibre was carefully
dried and rolled into cordage of varions sizes.
Among the Hawaiians it was put toa great variety of
uses. All fishing-lines and nets of the best quality were
invariably made of olona, because of its high resistance to
the action of salt-water. Olona lines and nets which have
been in more or less constant use for over a century are
almost as good as new, and are handed down from generation
to generation as precious objects. Most of the natives are
very unwilling to part with any of their fishing-gear that is
made of olona.
This fibre not only partakes of all the best characteris-
tics of this genus, but is superior to any other of its members
producing the best of all fibres known at the present time.
The three dominant features are: —
First—The great tensile strength. The strength of olona
is estimated as about three times the strength of commercial
Manila. The statement is made that olona is about eight
times as strong as the hemp (Canabtis sativa). So far as I can
gather, this great strength is due to the unusual length of
the cell in proportion to its width.
Vou. XVII, No, 431.
THE AGRICULTURAL NeEWs, SAL
Second—Its great resistance to deterioration in salt-
water. A ball of olona fish-line, the Hawaiian owner of
which stated that it had been in their family, and in constant
use, for over fifty years, has been examined, and the fibre was
still in an excellent state of preservation.
Third—lIts pliability, and thus its adaptabi'ity for spio-
ning by hand. Fishing-lines and nets made from this fibre
by expert Hawalians present an appearance of so uniform a
calibre and twist that it would lead one to believe that the
fibre had been made by the most intricate machinery.
A fibre with these characteristics should be exploited to
the fullest measure. The extraction of this fibre is not a
difficult process, 3
The key to the situation lies in transforming this plant
from its wild state to a cultural form., When this is done,
the world will be in possession of a new fibre, having a greater
tensile strength, weight for weight, than any other fibre
known.
SEA-EGGS AS FOOD.
In the editorial of the Agricultural News, August 24,
1918, it was pointed out that besides fish in the true sense
of the word, there were other marine products which might
be more. largely utilized as a source of tood in these West
Indian islands. :
Among these and among the easiest of utilization is
the echincderm, known in the West Indies as the sea-egg.
The species, which in Barbados is quite an important source
of food, is known scientifically as ///pponoe esculenta, _ It is
found on coral grounds in all the tropics of the Western
Atlantic, from the coral reefs of Florida down to Brazil. Two
other species of echinoderms are used as food in other parts
of the world. chinws-escu/entus, the sea urchin of England,
fairly plentiful on the western coast of Scotland, is eaten, at
least by the fishermen in those parts, according to the
Cambridge Natural History. An allied species in the
Mediteranean is regularly exposed for sale in the markets
of Naples under the name of ‘frutta di mare’.
When we say that these animals are used for focd. it has
to be remembered that only the genital organs are so employ-
ed. These are found lining the inter-ambulacral plates of
the sea-eggs, five in number, in the form of a branching
system of tubes. When they are filled with sexual cells
ready for emission, they attain a considerable size, as large as
the middle finger of a man’s hand in many instances, and con-
stituting a very large portion of the bulk of the whole ani-
mal. It isin this condition that the sea-egg, or rather its
roes and milts, is best for food. ; b
It is to be regretted that no accurate investigation has
been undertaken as to whether the sea-egg matures its ova
and spermatozoa only at certain periods of the year, or all
the year round, according to the growth of individuals.
Some time ago it was found that the sea-egg supply was seri-
ously falling offin Barbados. The Government of the island
obtained a scientific report on the matter from Dr, Duerden,
the Curator of the Museum of the Institute of Jamaica. He
advised artificial propagation of the spawn, and certain pro-
hibited areas, wherein fishing should be unlawful at any time.
It must be said that the sea-egg !s protected in Barbados,
it being unlawful to take sea-eggs from the end of April to
the beginning of August. But, according to local beliefs. it
is just in August and September that the ‘fullest’ sea-
= = = ——.
eggs are taken. This is however leading us away from our
subject-—the use of sea-eggs as food.
In spite of the fact that AMipponoe esculenta abounds
throughout these islands, only in Barbados is it utilized ag
a food. Although it is very hard to obtain an estimate of
the value of purely locally used foodstutts, it was computed,
according to the evidence yiven before the West Indian Royal
Commission in 1898, that a large proportion of £4,000 was
to be placed to the credit of this industry.
The method of taking sea-eggs is simple. ‘he fisher-
men employ either small rowboats, or, in calm waters, only
large wooden trays which they push before them. When on
the ‘grounds’, the boats or trays are anchored by a stone
attached to a rope, and the fishermen proceed to collect the
sea-eggs by diving for them, sometimes in water as deep as
almost 3 fathoms. They take with them a wide-meshed open-
mouthed bag, and usually a hook of thin iron hoop to remove
the sea-eggs trom their attachment. These are placed in
the bag and brought to the surface and placed in the
boat. As soon as the fishermen have obtained a sufficient
load, the boats are brought to land.
The second stage then begins. Sea-eggs of a diameter
of 4 or 5 inches are carefully opened by breaking the
shell around the mouth so as to preserve the shell fairly
whole, but to allow of the contents being easily removed.
Every other part of the ainmal, except the genitalia
adhering to the shell, is washed out in the sea, These
shells are then filled with the genitalia taken from the rest of
the shells, which are not so carefully broken. The next
process is a partial cooking of the filled shells. This is
usually done by steaming them over a fire of brash wood on
the beach in kerosene tins at the bottom of which some
water is placed, with sticks so arranged as to prevent
the shells themselves touching the water. In this con-
dition they are hawked about all over the island of Barbados, -
forming a nutritious and cheap food.
The following recipes for further preparation of sea-
eggs for the table are taken from a book by the late Mrs.
Graham Yearwood, of Barbados : —
1, SEA-EGG PLE
Four large shells of sea-eggs steamed, } th. of butter.
some bread crumbs, { fb. of onions, some chopped, some
sliced, half a wine glass of sherry, 2 tablespoonfuls of olive
oil, Put in a pie dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake,
2. SEA-EGG PI.
Beat 6 eggs and add } gill of biscuit crumbs, } of”
butter, 4 good shells of sea-eggs, salt and plenty of onion.
Mix well, put in a pie dish, sprinkle with crumbs, put pats of
butter on, and bake.
3. SEA EGGS.
Two or three shells of sea-eggs steamed, | quart tin of
tomatoes or fresh ones skinned and mashed, } fb. of onions,
} tb. of butter, salt and pepper. and a little meat gravy,
Fry the sea-eggs with the onions, and mix with other ingre
dients. lay in a pie dish, throw over 4 a wine glass of sherry-
Cover with mashed English potatoes, baste with white of
egg. and bake
It may be said, however, that sea-egys are very tasty
morsels when eaten plataly fried or steamed with simple
seasoning of salt and pepper to taste.
342 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
NovemBer 2, 1918.
i nnn nnn,
THE GO-TA-NI BEAN.
The following information concerning a new kind
of bean called ‘go-ta-ni’, is abstracted from the Jour-
nal of the Royal Society of Arts, Angust 23, 1918.
This would appear to be a valuable bean, and possibly
one which would prove worthy of trial in these West
Indian colonies:—
Attention is drawn by the United States Consul at
Mombasa to the production in East Africa of a new kind of
bean, called the ‘go-ta-ni’, which is described as yielding two
crops per annum, with high percentage of albuminoids and
oil, while the moisture is low. The owner of the estate at
Changamwe, where the experiments have been made, calls
the product a cross between the Madagascar butter bean and
the Canavalia eusiformis. Tt iseredited with a yield of
22 ewt. of dried marketable beans per acre during the 1916
season. The Mombasa Times, in'an article on the subject,
gives the following details:—
‘The period for maturing is five months. The plant is
a standard perennial, and attains an average height of 2 feet
6 inches. It is extremely hardy, being both a drought and
insect resister. The foliage is dense, and if planted J foot
apart in drills, the rows being 3 feet apart, it entirely
prevents the growth of weeds. At this distance 63 fb. of
seed will plant an acre. The seed readily germinates.
When the plants are 6 inches high, the ground should be
hoed, after which they require no. attention until the crop
comes off. Planted between young coco-nut palms, coffee,
sisal, ete., they do away with at least two cleanings per year,
while their foliage offers excellent shade and protection to the
young plants.
‘The pods attain a length of 14 to 16 inches, and yield
fourteen to sixteen perfect beans, which are }-by }-to }-by-3
inch in two dimensions, and }-inch thick. They are white
externally, the hilum being brown. The interior is a
pale ye'low, and they possess an agreeable flavour. Un a
sample sent to England £18 per ton was offered. This works
out at £19 16s. per acre every six months. As the crop can
be picked. thrashed, and bagged on the land, it should prove
one of the most profitable products grown in the colony.
‘The advantages of a perennial legume of this nature
are manifold, and cannot be over estimated, For planters it
reduces the tremendous cost cf cleaning to a minimum, and
brings the plantation into an almost immediate paying
concern. It gives a good return in six months with very
little outlay.
‘There is nothing in the chemical analysis to indicate
that the material is unfit for fopd; on the contrary, the
beans should provide a nitrogenous food of a concentrated
kind, the protein content being nearly equa] to that of dried
beef. No prussic acid has been detected in the macerated
product, nevertheless, if ahe material has not been used before
as food for human beings or animals, it would -be advisable to
ascertain by experiment that no poisonous substance is
present.’ 4
ooo”
THE ROLE OF WATER IN A COW'S
RATION.
It is fairly generally known that some dairymen claim
that if the amount of drinking water given to a cow is
limited, the body temperature is raised, the composition of
the milk modified, and the percentage of fat especially
increased, In order to verify this assertion, a series of experi-
ments was undertaken inthe United States of America on
the effect of watering cows at different intervals with varying
quantities of water, on the following factors: amount of food
consumed, digestibility of food, quantity and composition of
milk, composition and quality of butter fat, body temperature
and physical condition of the cow. The experiment was
divided into three periods, separated by a period in which the
ration was norma]. In the first period the animals were water-
ed every twenty-four hours (an average of 61°65 Ib. per head),
in the second period every sixty hours (an average of 51°20 b.
per head), in the third period with half the normal ration
of water (40:00 Ib. per head). The following were the results
obtained, according to the Monthly Bulletin of Agricultural
Intellizence and Plant Diseases, June 1918: —
Food consumed.—When the cows are watered once in
twenty-four hours instead of two or three times, there is a
slight decrease in the total amount of food taken and in the
quantity of milk produced, but this second decrease is not
proportionate to the first. During the thirty days of the
experiment the animals Jost an average of 11 hb. per head.
This loss wzs much greater during the second test (17 bb.),
and the third (95 tb.) per head, on an average. ;
_ During the periods in which the cows received a full
ration of water at long intervals, the expected decrease in
milk production was not obtained. If the slight decrease in
the amount cf food consumed and the loss in weight be
considered, it must be concluded that cows can utilize the
water stored in their systems for milk production and other
functions. When thé cows only received half the normal
quantity of water, there was a marked decrease in the amount
of hay consumed, milk produced, and in body weight.
Digestion of rations.--The coefficient of digestibility
was increased in each of the tests in which the intervals
between watering were lengthened, and in those in which the
cows only received half the normal ration of water. This
increase in the coefficient of digestibility is particularly
marked in tbe case of erude fibre. Cows watered once in
twenty-four hours digested 55 per cent. of crude fibre as com-
pared with 54 percent. digested by the control animals
watered three times a day; cows watered once in sixty hours
digested 71:07 per cent, of fibre as against 55:7 per cent. by
the control animals, and those receiving half a ration of
water digested about 2 per cent. more than the control
animals.
These results slaw that to obtain the most efficient
digestion of food, it: is wise not to water the animals too
abundantly at feeding time, or immediately before or after
a heavy meal.
Effect of the quantity of water ingested, on the quantity
and composition of themilk —Vn all the tests, the composition
of the milk and butter fat remained absolutely unchanged
Tt is for this reason that a cow receiving insuflicient water
goes dry without theretbeing any modification in the compo-
sitiomof ber milk. Frequent watering has little influence
on the quantity of milk produced. When the normal water
ration was reduced by half, the milk yield was reduced a little
at the beginning, this reduction increasing as the experiment
continued, till.it was ‘about a quarter. There is no doubt
that the cows would have gone dry if this ration had been
continued.
Lifect of water on the body temperature of the cow,.—
When the cows were watered every twenty-four hours the
body temperature was lowered by the fraction of one degree
Fahrenheit fifteen minutes after watering. With intervals of
sixty hours, the temperature dropped 2°F, The minimum
was obtained one to one-and-a-half hours after watering
(130 Tb. of water per head). The temperature of cows
receiving half the normal ration of water was 1’F. higher
a
Vou. XVII. No. 431.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 343
Mit” ll! LLL“. Sc ee
than when they received a normal amount, but there was no
increase in the fat content of the milk.
In conclusion it may be said that Keeping dairy cows in
milk in hot sheds, blanketing them, and withholding water
in order to raise the fat content, is very dangerous to their
health. ig
Physical condition of the cows.—The abnormal conditions
bronght about by withholding water were nervousness, gaunt-
ness, and high body temperature. When the animals were
watered every six hours, and when they received half the
normal ration of water, a larger amount of energy was re-
quired to accomplish the body functions. :
Chief functions of water in a dairy cow's ration —
The results of the experiments led the authors to the
following conclusions: A good dairy cow probably requires
more water than any other domestic animal, Water dissolves
food (for this reasun the more food an’animal eats, the more
drink it requires), distributes it to the different parts of the
body, and removes the waste products. The authors showed
that more ‘than 12 percent. of the total water drunk is
eliminated through the skin in winter in the shed, and
27 per cent. in August. On an average, 15 per cent. of the
water drunk passes into the milk (in good milkers this per-
centage is higher; in one of the experiment animals, among
which there were no choice cows, this percentage was 24).
= =—
COFFEE CULTIVATION IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
In the course of the interesting address delivered
before the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society
of British Guiana, portions of which have been repro-
duced in the last two issues of this Journal, Professor
Harrison described the past history and the present
condition of the coffee industry in the colony. Coffee
has played such an important partas a crop of the
West Indies in the past, and may perhaps do the same
in the future, that we are glad to reprint below the
Professor’s remarks on the subject:—
We are aware that in the eighteenth century and in the
earlier part of the last century Guiana, and especially Berbice,
was celebrated for the high quality of coffee produced; and
that at the time of the cessation of slavery, circumstances
beyond the control of the planters ecessitated the gradual
abandonment of its cultivation. For instance, in 1821 the
export of coffee from the colony was 124,086 cwt.; in 1833
it had shrunk to 51,860 cwt. ; in 1840 to 30,000 ewt.; in
1845 to 4,400 cwt.; whilst in 1847 it had disappeared from
the list of exports. In 1896 locally grown coffee had again
become an article of export, but only-to the extent of 63 cwt.,
whilst 1,763 cwt. x coffee was imported, its value being
37 600.
ay Sea Woes in his subsidiary report to the West
Indian Royal Commission, laid great stress on growing
coffee, as being, next to rice, the most promising of all sub-
sidiary products. He pointed out that for coffee-growing
‘British Guiana can offer exceptional advantage in soil and
climate, and in proximity to suitable markets. These are
most important elements on which to base the existence of
| industries.’
oy Picccs table illustrates how far his advice has
been followed, and with what results-as regards the extension
of the area planted and the exports and imports of coffee:—
No, of acres Coffee Coffee raw and
Quinquennial (British) under exported, prepared, im-
periods. cultivation. hh ported, hb.
1894-1898 No records 5,600 262,700
1896 he 7437 197,476
1899-1903 718 5,580 284,160
1904-1908 1,370 17.900 181,37C
1909-1913 2,660 115,200 83 200
1914, 1915 & 1916
(3 years only) 4,466 304,000 55,200
1917 4 S5S 266 S64
In 1917 the export would have been far more than
doubled were it not for the lack of shipping facilities, as in
1916 over 501,000 Ih. were exported,
The marked extension in coffee-planting during the
period under review has been mainly, if not entirely, with
the Liberian variety. Both Arabian or so-called Creole
ccffee, and Liberian coffee grow with exceptional vigour,
whilst the former is singularly free from disease.
In 1897 it was already recognized that Liberian coffee
grew very well indeed in miany parts of the colony, and that
wherever it flourished it was very prolific. It has since been
found that at times and in certain places the difficulty is to
restrict its bearing propensities sufficiently to prevent the
tree either permanently injuring itself or even dying from
the effects of over-production. Climatic conditions on lands
situated at some distance from the coast-line, and on the lands
along the lower reaches of the rivers are the most favourable
for the growth of Liberian coffee.
There are still plenty of openings for the development of
plantings of coffee, the best of which, perhaps, ar+ on the
lands bordering both banks of the Berbice River along its
course from about 30 to 150 miles from its mouth, whilst
similar plantings in the North West and in the Pomeroon
Districts would be of almost equal promise.
Whilst progress in this Colony with regard to coffee-
planting during the past ten years appears to us to be
marked, our coffee industry is practically in a deplorable state
of stagnation in comparison with that of our neighbours in
Surinam. There, not only has the area planted with Liberian
coffee been greatly augmented, but coffee is being grown on
_ excellent cultural lines, such as are followed by very few
indeed of our planters, with the result that on plantations
there—plantations having from, say, 400 to 800 acres of
Liberian coffee in full-bearing—-returns of coffee per acre are
attained which to growers having only local experience, are
almost incredible. I do not know of any coffee-plantation
here that can poist to fields which yield year after year crops
of from 1,500 to even 2,000 tb. of cured coffee per acre.
Not alone have the Surinam coffee-planters materially
extended their cultivation and vastly increased their yields
per acre, but by the establishment of coffee pulping, drying,
cleaning, and grading machinery of the very best modern
types they have brought their product from being one of
the lowest valued types of coffee on the market to one
occupying a very prominent position among the highest
grades of coffee in the market of New York. Unfor-
tunately there are not any coffee plantations here of
areas sufficient in the opinions of their owners to justify
investments in the latest types of coffee machinery, and
what is equally important, the employment of managers
capable of getting the best results from the best equipped
factories. Iam satistied that there is a certain remedy for
this condition. itis the installation of co-operative coffee
factories in each of the more important coffee producing
districts of the colony.
344
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
1918,
NOVEMBER 2,
NOTICES.
— BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
Bpecimens for naming, should be addressed to the
eee Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
‘News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of _ Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D-Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and (W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor t Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Entomologist H. A. Ballou,*M.Se.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S.C. Harland, B.Se.t
STAFF.
A. G. Howell.
(Lh. A. Corbin.
Glericol Assistants - P. Taylor.*
(kK. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Miss W. Ellis.
A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service,
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Tudustrial Research.
Agricultural sews
“Vou. XVII. SATURDAY, NOVEMBEN 2,
CLERICAL
Ohief Clerk
Typist
Assistant Typist
_ Assistant for Publications
1918. No. 431.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
‘The editorial in this number discusses the position
of rats and mongoose at the present time in the West
Indies.
tinder Insect Notes, on page 546, an article will
be found concerning the weevils which attack sweet
potatoes and yams, and another’ describing the injury
done by termites to sweet potatoes.
On page 341, an article on the use of sea-eygs as
food. will doubtless be ‘found: of interest.
The great possibilities connected with the forest
industries of British (inian& form the
an artie’e® on page 347.
subject of
Onions in Dominica.
Mr. E. J. Seignoret is continuing his expirements
in growing onions at Spring Hill estate in Dominica,
which were noticed in the Agricultural News, Inne |,
1918.
Mr. J. Jones, Curator of the Botanic Gardens,
Dominica, has recently forwarded two san: ples of onions
grown by Mr. Seignoret from sets raised from Teneriffe
seed imported in November 1917. Sample No. 1 con-
tained six onions grown from sets planted in July.
These six onions weighed 4 o0z., with an average diameter
of 14-inches. Mr. Jones says that owing to drought this
planting did not do very well. Nevertheless, the onions
forwarded, though small, were sound, and apparently
would keep well. .
Sample No. 2 consisted of a single onion grown
from a set planted in August. The weight of this onion
was 1!-9z,, and its diameter slightly over 2 inches.
Mr. Jones says that this lot did really well. “The onion
forwarded was an excellent specimen.
Mr. Seignoret has not planted any sets in Septem-
ber, but is again planting this month, .
It is hoped that Mr. Seignoret will continue his
experiments in onion cultivation in Dominica. The
results already obtained are very interesting, for they
show that onions ¢an be produced to advantage at
several seasons of the year under certain conditions in
Dominica.
In the notice referred to above in the Agricultu-
ral News, June 1, 1918, allusion was made to
Mr.-Seignoret’s experiments in the local production
of onion seed. With reference to this, the following,
extracted from the Journal of the Department of
Agriculture of Victoria, Australia, April 1918, may
be of use to him or any other experimenter in the
same direction:— :
‘Following are brief instructions for saving
some biennial root crops for seed: Onions—the onion
bulb should be pulled a little earlier than when
used for food, and should be cured with the tops lets
on where there is @ ‘free circulation of air, but pro-
tected from direct sunshine and rain.
It will be remembered that the onion takes two
years to mature seed, These cured bulbs should then
be replanted, and in the following season they will
produce seed. The seeds turn black before they are
ripe, but the heads should not be gathered until there
is danger of loss of seed from scattering. The heads
should then be cut from the stalk, and dried,
——E_ _
Green Manure Cyops in Southern California.
The following sammary of the results of experi-
inents at the College of Agriculture Experiment “Sta-
tion, Berkeley, Califormia, recorded in Bulletin No, 292
of the University of Califormia publications, will prob-
ably be of interest to growers of citrus crops in these
West Indian islands.
(ireen manure erops have had a marked etfeet on
citrus trees, The trees on the plot where legume
green manures have been annually turned under are
superior in every way to those similiar ly ferwlized, where
SESeTT
Vor. AVIL No. 431.
mo leguminous green manure has been used. Green
manuring has resulted ina 30-per cent. increase in size
of tree. The total yields at the age of tea years were
98 per cent. greater on the green-manured plot. N
only was more fruit produced but the proportion
of fancy and choice fruit was larger. Green
manuring had a marked effect upon the size of the
fruit. there being 63 -per cent. more of the desirable
sizes than on the plots not green-manured. The trees
where legume green manure had been used were in
much better health, as evidenced by the fact that only
‘3 per cent. of the leaves were ‘mottled’ during the
seasons of 1912, 1913 and 1914, while on plots simi-
larly fertilized, where legumes had not been used, the
average was 13°5 per cent.
Green manures have additional values in that
their geowth prevents serious washing of the soil
‘during heavy rains.
Large amounts of nitrogen are saved from leaching
below the limits of roots by growing winter-green
manure crops which utilize the excess nitrogen, and
hold it until they are ploughed under. The decay of
the roots of the crop tends to make the soil more open
to the access of air and water. :
Greeb-manure crops may be expected to give most
‘satisfactory results when ploughed under to a depth of
from 7 to 10 inches. ‘They should never be ploughed
under when the land is dry, as this will, result in
poor incorporation of the green tops, and slow decay.
ee
Devils Grass.
There is an old proverb, ‘give the devil his due’,
which may also reasonably apply to devil’s grass
-(Cynodon dactylon), known in the Southern States of
America as Bermuda grass. West Indian planters
know well that this grass is a_pestilent weed among
erops, almost impossible of eradication once it has taken
hold of a field, and that it can only be kept under con-
trol by careful cultivation. Still it is always interest-
ing to hear another side of any guestion, and a verl-
table advocatus diaboli in this matter is Mr. Samuel
M. Tracey, whose interesting paper, ‘Bermuda Grass’,
is published by the United States Department of
Agriculture as Farmers’ Bulletin, 814.
Mr. Tracey considers that as a permanent peren-
nial meadow grass, Bermuda grass is the most valuable
in the south-eastern part of the United States, where it
has been grown for more than a hundred years. —
There are several distinct varieties, ditfering in
vigour of growth and in the character of the under-
ground running stems or stolons. The best variety
for a hay crop is said to be the Giant Bermuda grass
(Cynodon dactylon. var. maritynus), which was
introduced into the United States from Brazil a few
years ago. This variety, on a rich moist soil often
makes ‘runners’ 20 feet or more in length, with an
abundance of erect stems 2 feet or more in height,
affording two or three annual cuttings, and yielding
more than any other variety yet tested by the United
"States Department of Agriculture; It is true that the
yield of hay varies greatly with the locality where the
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Not"
oo
ro
Mi)
—- —$$_—<<—=<=<«<=—- _- «
mY
grass is grown. On favourable soils it has been known
to yield annually from 6 to 8 tons per aere.
As a pasture grass‘on lands of ordinary fertility in
the South-eastern States it is calculated to support one
steer per acre for eight. to nine months.
___Inspite of these data, it would hardly be wise to
import into these islands the giant variety—the dwart
devils we know are probably better than this unknown
giant—or rather not quite so bad from our point of
view,
One value of Bermuda grass mentioned by Mr.
Tracey is quite comprehensible from the nature of its
growth. It has been found of great use in stopping the
wash of gullies, and in binding the slopes of embank-
ments.
The Position of University and Higher Tech-
nical Education.
In Vature, August 15, 1918, there appeared a very
striking article on this-subject from the pen of Professor
R. A. Gregory, a well-known authority on such subjects.
The article is a review so to speak of the report, issued
early this year, of the Government Committee under
the championship of Sir J. J. Thompson, on the position
of natural science in the educational system of Creat
Britain.
Professor Gregory points out the very inadquate
assistance atforded by the Government of the Umited
Kingdom to higher technichal edueation, when com-
pared with what is done by the Government of the
United States, and of (ermany. He coneludes that it
is evident that in the domain of higher edneation the
United Kingdom compares very unfavourably with
those two powers. Yet the conditions of industrial
development, and, we may add, of agricultural develop-
ment also, and the competition in both fields of other
nations, make it essential to secure an adeqnate supply
of trained workers.
Increased grants to umiversities and technical in-
stitutions are needed to enable the tuition fees to be.
reduced, and so to attract a large number of men to
such institutions who are now unable to stand the
expense of the course of training. Inereased grants
are also needed to enable the tuition fees to be reduced,
and to ensure that the staffs are paid salaries commen-
surate with the high quahfications demanded of the
members of such statis. The present aid given by
Parliament is in no way adequate to modern needs,
and compares very unfavourably with what is available
in the United States and in Germany. The grand
total of all Parhamentary grants to universities
and technical colleges in the United Kingdom
is about £500,000, whereas the Federal and
States grants in the United States amount to
£7,000,000, and in Germany tonearly £2,000,000, Tha
provision made by Parliament for higher education is
thus obviously not that which should be expeeted of a
State which intends to maintain its position among
leading Powers, more especially in the arts of peace,
346
INSECT NOTES.
WEEVILS ATTACKING SWEET POTATO
AND YAM.
Two papers dealing with weevils of the groups to which
the Scarabee and sweet potato weevil belong have recently
been issued. One of them, by Dr. G. A K. Marshall, appeared
in the Bulletin of Entomological. Research, Wondon,
Vol. VIII, February 1918, p. 259, entitled ‘A New Weevil
Pest of Sweet Potatoes in Jamaica’. The other, by Dr. W. D.
Pierce, published in the Journal of Agricultural Research,
Washington, Vol. XII, No. 9, March 4. 1918, was entitled
_ Weevils which affect Irish Potato, Sweet Potato, and
Yam’. Dr. Marshall describes Ya/aeopus costicollis, a new
species sentin by Mr. A. H. Kitchie, Government Ento-
mologist, Jamaica, who found this insect doing serious
damage to sweet potato. In general appearance itis $0
much like the Scarabee (Zxscepes, batatae, that it might be
mistaken for that insect; the injury to the sweet potato is
similar to that of Scarabee also. It is considered likely that
the two insects have been confused under one name, and that
the injuries resulting form the attacks of both have been up
to the present time attributed entirely to the Scarabee.
Two other specimens of weevils of this genus in the
collections in the British Museum, very similar in appearance
to P. costicollis, proved to represent two new species, and
while nothing is known of their habits, it is suggested that
these will be similar also.
These two species are /. grenadensis from Grenada,
and P subgranulatus from St. Vincent.
Dr. Pierce, in this paper, describes a new species of this
genus from Jamaica asa pest of yams. The name given to
this is Palaeopus dioscoreae. Tt was described from two
specimens reared from tubers of yam (Dyoscorea batatas) by
Mr. S. F. Ashby. in 1914, ’
This indicates that the genus Palaeopus attacks yams as
well as sweet potatoes, and the new species described from
Grenada and St. Vincent may prove to be pests of yams, or
even of other starchy roots or tubers.
Dr. Pierce als» deals with the sweet potato weevil
(Cylas formicarius,\Fabricius) and other species of the genus.
It would appear that there has been some confusion in the
identity of certain species of this penus. Three-species known
or supposed to be pests of sweet potato seem to be well
established. They are Cylas formicarius, Fab., C. turcipennis,
BRoheman, and C. femoralis, Faust:
An account of C. formicarius was given in the Agrv-
cultural News, Vol. XVII, p. 42.° This insect has greatly
increased in importance in the United States and the West
Indies within the past few years. C. furcipennis occurs in
India, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippine Islands,
while C. femoralis is recorded from Liberia and Kamerun,
Africa.
DISTRIBUTION OF WEEVILS ATTACKING
AND YAM.
Jacobs or Scarabee (Luscepes hatatae, Waterhouse).
General throughout the West Indies. Occurs in Brazil, the
Hawaiian Islands, Guam, and New Zealand.
Palacopus costicolis, Marshall. Occurs in J amaica, sim-
ilar in appearance to the Scarabee, and affects sweet potatoes
in the same manner.
Sweet potato weevil (Cy/as formicarius, Vabricius)
General throughout the Hastern Tropics. Occurs in the’
Southern United States, Porto Rico, the Bahamas, and
British Guiana,
SWEET POTATO
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
es ee ee ee
NoveMBer 2, 1918.
Cylas femoralis, Faust. A serious sweet potato pest
in Liberia, Occurs in Kamerun.
Cylas turcipennis, Boheman. Occurs in Java, Sumatra,
the Philippine islands, Sarawak, and India. The food - of
C. turcipennts is not recorded.
Palaeopus dioscoreae, Pierce. Occurs in Jamaica;
attacks the tubers of yams.
Palaeopus grenadensts, Marshall.
museum specimen from Grenada.
Palacopus subgranulatus, Marshall. Described from a
museum specimen trom St. Vincent. Feeding habits of the
two species last mentioned are not known; they may attack
sweet potatoes or yams.
Described from a
TERMITE INJURY TO SWEET POTATOES.
A note on the above subject by E. W. Berger appeared in
the Quarterly Bulletin of the State Plant Board of Florida,
July 1918, which appears of interest to planters in the
West Indies, and is reproduced below.
Owing to the great importance of sweet potato weevil
(Cylas formicarius, Fab.) sweet potato growers should be on
the watch for it everywhere, and especially in sections sup-
posed to be free from the pest.
Among injuries qost likely to be confused with the
work of the sweet potato weevil are those caused by termites
or ‘white ants’ The differences between the injuries done
to the tubers by the two pests are summarized as follows:—
1. ‘Absence of larvae (grubs) and pupae in the tunnels
when infested by termites, but their presence in apparent
abundance when the tuber is infested with the weevil.
2. ‘Absence of frass (excreta) when the injury is due
to termites, but an abundance of this in the tunnels pro-
duced by the weevil.
3. ‘Exit and entrance holes very apparent with ter-
mites, but tuber infested with weevil may show little or no
outward evidence of its condition inside.
4. ‘The clean-cut outlines of the tunnels made by the
termites are in marked contrast with those made by the
weevil.
5, ‘If the plants,are growing, tunnelling larvae (grubs)
in the stems near the ground indicate the weevil. .
6. ‘The presence of large (about j-inch ldxg) ant-
like insects with black head and snout, brick-red\ thorax
(middle) and legs, and dark steel-blue end, is an alm|st cer-
tain sign of the weevil.
7, ‘The presence of whitish, rapidly running insects,
having much the appearance of ants, indicates teray/tes.’
H.A.B.
ti
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Sir Francis Watts. K.C.M.G., the Imperial Com-
missioner of Agriculture, has returned to Barbados
after paying an official visit to St. Vincent.
i
Mr. W. Nowell, DLC. Mycologist on the Staff of
the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has also
returned to Barbados after a visit to Grenada for the
purpose of investigating a disease of coco-nut trees in
that island.
o
Voz. XVII. No. 431.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 347
ae
THE TIMBER INDUSTRY OF BRITISH
GUIANA.
A pamphlet, prepared by the Honorary Secretary of the
Permanent Exhibitions Committee of British Guiana, and
recently issued by that Committee, contains much useful and
interesting information with regard to the forest industries of
that colony.
The forests of British Guiana cover some 78,000 Sq.
miles of country, or about six-sevenths of the whole area of
the colony. The utilization however of the practically
illimitable forest resources of the colony is checked by great
difficulties of transportation. Although British Guiana
possesses considerable facilities in waterways, much of the
most valuable timber, having a higher specific gravity than
water, cannot be transported over such obstacles as cataracts
and rapids. eee
The trees composing the forests of British Guiana are
rarely of social habit. Many different kinds of trees exist in
any one area, and the forests are of the class termed ‘mixed’.
The forests vary in height. On the low coastlands and along
‘the tidal reaches of the rivers the average height of the trees
would be about 60 to 70 feet, but furtherinland they are, on
the average, about 100 feet’ in height. As arule, the trees
in the high forests rise with straight, clean stems, and are
of small girth proportionately. i :
The following industries are carried on at ‘present in
connexion with the forests of the colony: Wood cutting
for (a) timber and lumber, (b) wallaba@ shingles, paling and
vat staves, and posts, (c) charcoal, (d) firewood. f
Greenheart (JVectrandva odicet)is commercially the
best known of all the timbers of the colony, Large quan-
tities have been regularly exported for many years. On
account of its resistance to the action of water and boring
molluscs, it is chiefly used for submerged work such as
wharves, piles, dock and lock gates. ‘There are two varieties
of this wood, the brown or yellow greenheart, and the black
variety which is much scarcer. Logs of greenheart can be
obtained from 10 to 25 inches square, and up to 65 feet
in length. . ; ;
In habit the greenheart is partly gregarious. The green-
heart_areas are estimated to contain an average of thirty-two
trees to the acre, and are almost entirely contined to the
central pazts of the colony. There is a large quantity of this
wood in the interior waiting easier’ means of transport for
or ating wood which is exported in considerable quati-
‘ties is the crabwood (Carapa gucanensis), of which there are
also two varieties, the red and the white. The former is a
red-coloured wood, with a moderately coarse and open grain,
and is locally the most popular furniture wood. It resembles
mahogany in appearance when polished. The white is simi-
Jar in structure to the red variety, but paler in colour. Logs
of crabwood can be obtained ftom 40 to 60 feet long, and
inches square. .
oe Teak Peedi. of the colony’s timbers are the sev-
eral varieties of wallaba. ‘Those principally used are ‘soft
wallaba’ (Lferuc falcata), and Lturt wallaba (Eperua
Jenmani). The heartwood of these varieties is in great
demand for posts, and for making shingles, ete. Metisha
is a heavy hardwood, with a very Coarse, but more or es
even grain. It splits readily, and is very resinous. cone
been favourably reported on as a material for wood-block
oie addition to the abovementioned woods there are
many other valuable timbers of which at times some are
exported in small quantities. Of+these we may mention
the wood of, the locust tree (Aymenaca Courbaril), and the
bullet tree (Mimusops &/obosa), which latter, however, is
only now cut by permission for special purposes, that tree
being the source of balata, - ;
There is a considerable charcoal-burning industry on the
Demerara and Berbice Rivers. All kinds of wood and all
parts of the trees are used for the purpose, and are converted
into charcoal by being burnt in covered pits dug in the sand.
The charcoal is largely exported to the southern West Indian
islands.
On the river lands all kinds of wood are cut for fuel, but
wallaba is mostly favoured, as it splits readily and burns well.
Practically all the firewood exported is from the lower
Demerara River, whence it can be transported cheaply for
shipping to Barbados and other West Indian islands.
In normal years the colony of British Guiana exports
about 280,000 cubic feet of timber, 250,000 feet of lumber,
2,500,000 wallaba shingles, 4,000 tons of charcoal, and
9,000 tons of firewood.
Besides these timber exports there are—apart from the
considerable collection of balata, which amounted in 1917 to
1,595, 888Ib. of the value of £198,871—exports of certain
gums, oils, resins, etc. Gum animi, the product of the locust
tree. is exporied in small quantities. This gum in its fossil
state resembles amber in appearance, and is often found in
blocks of considerable size. Hiawa gum, or ‘resin of conima’,
used for incense, is obtained from Protinm heptaphyllum, a
common tree in the colony
Among other forest products which are collected and
exported are Tonkin beans, which are borne on the Kumara
or Tonkia bean tree (Dipteryx odorata)—a large tree growing
plentifully in the region above the rapids of the Essequebo
River—and Souari or butter nuts, the product of Caryocar
zomentosum. This is one of the giants of the forest. Under
cultivation at Onderneeming Experiment Station, trees of
this species have fruited in six years from planting.
It is very evident from the foregoing, that the forests of
British Guiana possess vast potentialities, only limited by
lack of transport facilities, Jabour, and capital.
HYGIENE IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF
ST.. LUCIA.
In his annual report on the Education Department of
St. Lucia, Mr. F. H. K. Moulder, the Inspector of Schools of
the colony, states that hygiene is taught regularly throughout
all the juvenile schools of the colony. Although many of the
children are unfamiliar with the terms ‘malaria’ and ‘hook-
worm,’ the majority of them do know that mosquitoes pro-
duce fever, and that neglect to wash hands and feet when
they are muddy may give them hookworm Mr. Moulder is
satisfied with the progress which is being made in the
knowledge of this subjectin the upper standards of the
primary schools. ;
He says that the fo'lowing summary of statements in
the reports sent to him by the head teachers, is interesting
to note: ‘The applications for quinine, both by children and
parents, are beginning to show that they are convinced of its
effectiveness as a specific for malaria; despite the taste, the
children now take quinine more easily, in the hope of being
cured. Children do not indulge in playing in the earth as
they used to do, and come to school with their hair properly
combed, and their faces, hands, and feet well washed. Theo-
ry and practice are getting more closely associated, especial-
ly when it is seen thatthe habits of cleanliness mean the
“avoidance of disease.’
THE
GLEANINGS.
Iceland, too far north tc
tnake herself independent of
of her potato crop into flour
Angust 1918.)
. - .
raise wheat, is preparing to
in ships by converting part
(The Southern Planter,
Experiments have been made in Jutiand in the utilization
of grass for the manufacture of sewing thread. The experi-
ments are said to have given very promising results, It is
also reported that an inventor in Sweden has succeeded in
producing from fir an artificial sill of excellent quality, soft.
glossy. and strong. (7/e Board of Trade Journal, August 15,
1918.)
The United States Consul at Rosario, Argentina,
reports, according to the ZLowzstana Planter, August 24,
1918. that there is the promise now of more than double the
crop of sugar in the State of Tucuman, as compared with
that of 1917. The estimated crop for this season is about
209,000 metric tons, as against the complete yield for 1917
of 88,075 tons
The Cuba Keview, August 1916, states that Spain is
again permitting the exportation of olive oil, and consid-
erable quantities are now being imported into Cuba, the price
bowever being several times more than normal. Cargoes of
rice also continue to come direct from the Orient to Cuba
by sailing vessels, and also considerable quantities of Ameri-
can rice are brought over through the Gulf
According to the Journal of the Board of Agriculture,
July 1918, investigation was madein France last year on
the use as fodder of the seaweed common on the Berton
coast. Experiments showed that as a feeding stutt 3 tb. of the
dried seaweed material were equivalent to 4 tb. of oats.
Horses suffering from lymphangitis improved under this diet
and the disease disappeared. This action has been attributed
to the trace of iodine present in the material, but the state-
nent. needs further evidence.
Profitable utilization of the husk of the cacao bean which
is detached, and not included in the manufacture of high grade
cacao, has occupied the attention of numerous chemists and
agriculturists. Among the uses to which the husks have
been put is their employment in cattle foods. Feeding experi-
ments have shown that cacao shells are fattening fodder for
cattle, and that the daily yield of milk from cows is con-
siderably increased as the result of the use of this material
(The Anals/, June 1918.)
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 2; TSS:
Vhe Board of Trade Journal, August 15, 1918, states
that the Board are in receipt of information, throvgh the
Foreign Office, from His Majesty's High Commissoner in
Egypt, that the area sown with the various descriptions of
cotton in Egypt in the present season is 1,315,572 feddans.
Of this total, 952,480 feddans are under the Sakellarides
variety, chiefly grown in Lower Egypt, and 273,936 feddans
under Ashintni, which is almost all-grown in Upper Eepyt.
(A feddan is practically the same as an acre in square
measurement).
In rose pruning. the rule is that strong growing planta
require lest severe pruning than weak-growing ones. As roses.
always flower on new wood, it is essential that the bushes be
pruned regularly. if good blooms are desired. All weak
growths, exhausted and worn out wood, must be removed,
retaining only vigorous growths. It is generally advisable to
prune to four or five eyes or buds, so as to have subsequent
strong growth. Spindly growth, especially in the centres of the
bushes, should be removed. (The /ovrna/ of the Department.
of Agriculture, Victoria, Australia, June 1918.)
The grand total of allotments in Mogland and Wales at
present covers an areaof about 200,0U0 acres, says the
Journal of the Board “of Agriculture, July 1918. Taking
this figure and estimating that 50 per cent. of each allot-
ment is planted with potatoes—a conservative estimate——
we have 100,000 acres of potatoes on our allotments. If
these produce an average of 7 tons per acre (a moderate
assumption for garden and allotment potato crops) this
means that the allotment holders of England and Wales wilt
grow this year 700.000 tons of this most essential war-time:
crop practically on the spot where it is to be consumed,
Since September 1, 1917, approximately 200,000, 0000),
of sugar have been used by the United States Army, and
this amount is exclusive of depots and camps on the western
coast which have been using raw sugar from Manila, having
it refined in the West. A conservative statement of the
amount of sugar procured on the Pacific coast is about
25,000,000i., making the total purchase for the Army
225,600,000I. By calculation it is found that about 237 te.
of sugar are consumed per thousand men at their meals in one
day—a little under 4-92. per soldier per day. (The Zomis-
wana Planter, August, 31, 1918.)
Amongst suggestions for the preparation of locally grown
foodstuffs in a circular issued by the Acting Director of
Agriculture, Trinidad, the following is worth drawing atten-
tion to: ‘To prepare corn to get best results for several
kinds of bread or pudding it is best to take off the skin. This
is done as follows: To 2 fb. corn allow 2 th. sifted ashes
and about 1 gallon water, and boil for one hour. It is suffi-
ciently boiled when a grain squeezed between the fingers
pulps out of the shin. Place the pot from the,fire under a
stream of cold water, and rub the corn with the hands, when
the skin will easily separate, and the overtlow of water will
carry away all the ashes and the skin. When clean, drain off
the water, add about I$ gallons clean water, and reboil for
about fifteen minutes “The grains must then be crushed into
a fine paste, either in a mill or a meat minocer
Vor. XVII. No, 431.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 349
MINOR CROPS ON COCO-NUT
PLANTATIONS.
An interesting story of the establishment of a coco-nut
plantation in Porto Rico, written by Arthur J. Harvey,
appears in the Rewsta de. Agricultura de Puerto’ Rico,
April May 1918, from which some of the beginners in
coco-nut planting in these smaller islands may get hints.
Mr. Harvey and his brother purchased, at the begin-
ning of 1913, 530 acres of land in the neighbourhood of
San Juan, with the object of establishing a coco-nut planta-
tion. The property, as a whole, is flat, rising only a few
feet above the level of the sea. The soil is a sandy loam.
A part of the estate had been under pine-apple cultiva-
tion for three years previously, but the greater part of the
land remained in pasture, or was covered by bush There
were only six coco-nut palms in bearing on the property.
After having performed some necessary clearing the
brothers began to set in their coconut palms at a dis-
tance of 33 feet apart each way. This gave forty trees
to the acre. Although this space between palm and pilm
seems considerable when they are young, yet by the
time the palms, if healthy, are between four and five years
old, the leaves touch one another. The planting of coco-nuts
in seed-beds is advised, rather than planting them 7x s/tw.
Mr. Harvey accentuates the importance of chosing the
nuts for planting not only with reference to their size, but
looking to their origin from healthy and productive parent
trees. Very soon it was determined that it would be unadvis-
able to pasture animals on the plantation. In the first place,
because of the damage which cattle do to small palms; and
secondly, because of the necessity of keeping the ground in
cultivation.
‘Stable manure has been the principal fertillizer
used on the property. In opening the holes for the
young plants they were made 3 feet in diameter by
a foot and a half in depth, and a bag of dung was
placed in each hole. The urine of the cattle was care-
fully preserved in a concrete cistern, and the application of
it to the palms was very beneficial. The method of applying it
was by transporting it to the field in barrels and immediately
after having poured it round the trunk, covering it with earth,
to avoid as faras possible loss of ammonia. Good results
also have been obtained by using seaweed and other marine
plants heaped around the trees. 3 hal
It was desirable to maintain under cultivation the larg-
est possible area of land between the coco-nut trees, and in
order partly to recover the expense which this could not but
occasion, potatoes, maize, beans, etc., were grown. j
The planting of potatoes has been the most extensive,
eecupying at present some 40 acres. The produce of this
crop has met with ready sale ata price from 2 to 3c. per b.,
as varieties were chosen which were of local reputation.
The crop of potatoes reaped during 1917 reached a total
of about 42,000 fb. from 20 acres planted, that is to say,
an average of 21,000 Tb. per acre. During this period the
local market price per Ib. was 2}c. on an average, giving a
gross return of $52°50 per acre. No kind of fertilizer was
used on this crop. The ground however was prepared as
usual by ploughing and forking, and’ the slips planted in
trenches. Besides the potato crop, yams and tanias have
been planted toa lesser extent. Certain varieties of tanias
gave exeellent results on the flat land. :
In addition a respectable quantity of maize has been
reaped. The greatest obstacle to the cultivation of the
maize on the sandy soil was the damage occasioned by the
changa or mole cricket, which in many eases prevented the
plants from growing uniformly.
At the present time a great extension has been made in
the cultivation of beans of various kinds. In one variety of
these not less than 25 acrés have been cultivated. Great
benefit has accrued, as might be expected, from alternating
the cultivation of potatoes with that of legumes,
‘Actually, of about 300 eres: planted in young coco-nuts;
most of it could be maintained under minor crops, especially
by the cultivation of roots:such as yams and potatoes. In
same cases, where it has ngt been possible to p'ace under”
cultivation the whole extent of ground between the coco-nut -
palms, it has been found most desirable to plant sword beans,
because not only are they of value as a fertilizer, but because
of the protection which theitfoliage gives to the superficial °
roots of the young palms.
The primary aim of Mr. Harvey and his brother was
to plant coco-nuts on their estate, and to induce them to
produce fruit as soon as possible. The production therefore
of minor crops was only of secondary importance. The
experience acquired by this procedure has proved to their
satisfaction that the practice of more or less intensive cultiv-
ation on a coco-nut plantation far from occasioning preju-
dicial results to the growth of the coco-nut palms, has been
of benefit. On the sections of the estate thus cultivated the
palms have grown twice as tall as those on other sections
where the land around them has not been cultivated.
Recipes for the Preparation of Coco-nut
Press-Cake for Human Food.—The possibilities of the
press cake obtained from copra after the expression of the oil
are worthy of consideration not only as a stock food,
but for human consumption as well. Recipes for the
preparation of food products from the cocs-nnt meal
obtained from this process are given as follows:—
Coco-nut oven scones: }-eup coco-nut meal, }-cup tour,
1 teaspoonful baking powder, }-cup sugar, }-cup eggs, milk
sufficient to make batter, }-teaspoonful salt—cook thirty
minutes in a hot oven. Coco-nut gems: }-cup coco-nut meal,
3-cup flour, 14 teaspoonful baking powder, } cupsugar, milk
suffic'ent to make batter, }-teaspoonful salt—cook for thirty
minutes in a hot oven. Coco-nut griddle cakes: 3-cup coco-nut
meal, }-cup flour, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, 1 cup eggs,
milk sufficient to make batter, }-teaspoonful salt—zook until
brown, fried in lard or crisco. Coco-nut rusks: }-cup coco-
nut meal, $-cup four, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, }.-cup
sugar, 1 cup eggs, {-cup milk, }-teaspoonful salt—cook from
thirty to forty minutes in hotoven. A }-teaspoonful each of
nutmeg and cinnamon is added to the dough, and the surface
is sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Coco-nut bread: 3-cup
coco-nut meal, }-cup flour, 5 teaspoonfuls baking powder,
J-cup sugar, 1 cup eggs, 1 cup milk, }-teaspoonful salt—cook
thirty to forty minutes in a hot oven.
It will be noticed that in allof these products no lard,
crisco, or butter is needed for shortening. Water may be
substituted in all cases for sweet milk.
In view of laboratory tests, it seems possible
that coco-nut meal might be substituted to advantage for
wheat flour and lard in the preparation of cheap edible
products. It must, however, be borne in mind, that the
meal used was obtained from freshly dried coco.nut meat
and not from ordinary commercial copra meal; meal from
fresh machine-dried copra would be valuable for the same
purpose. It would seem that there isa good opportunity
for a plant producing edible’ oil and pressecake for human
consumption,
—
Bh0
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
NovempBer 2, 1918.
Eo Le a ~~ ne a
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
crenaps. The following comprised plant distribution
@uring the mouth of September: coco-nuts, 50; budded
oranges, 6; grafted mangoes, 6; timber trees, 12; oranmental
plants, 16; cuttings, 36; castor oil seeds, 5} fb.; palm seeds,
12,200. Regarding staple crops, Mr. J. C. Moore, the
Superintendent of Agriculture, states that the cacao crop will
be very late, but of fair promise; the lime crop in Carriacou
is reported good and a few fields of Sea Island cotton sown
in June July in Grenada are reported as showing good promise
“Thrips appears to be normal in distribution and intensify of
attack: spraying with Bordeaux-Nicotine is in progress on
several estates. The rainfall recorded at Richmond Hill
for the month was 980 inches.
ST. VINCENT. According to notes forwarded by Mr.
WN. Sands, Agricultural! Superintendent, during the
mouth of September in most districts the’ weather was
favourable, and the crops made good progress. Cotton pick-
ing was commenced on several estates, and the corn crops
were being reaped. Corn was being bought by the Granary,
and also for shipment to the United Kingdom. The collec-
tion and destruction of cotton stainers and bush bugs found
in the carly planted cotton fields was being continued. The
weather was aeascnable—plenty of rain and sunshine. The
rainfall recorded at the Botanic Station was 15:48 inches; at
the Experiment Station, 16°81 inches.
Special work of officers of the local Agricultural Depart-
ment during the month included visits to certaia estates in
connexion with the collection and destruction of cotton
siainers and bush bugs. Returns of the acreage of cotton
planted in the colony, sent in to the Cotton Inspector,
indicate an area exceeding 4,000 acres.
sr. pucta, Plant distribution during the month of
September coms rised—limes, 2,250; budded oranges, 12;
grafted mangoes, 6: ornamental plants, 2; and in addition, 70
packets of vegetable seeds, and 5,500 cassava cuttings. Re-
garding staple crops, Mr. Brooks states that the reaping of
cacao was now in full swing, the lime crop was slackening,
aud there was a good stand of sugar canes. Three crates con-
taining commercial samples of sugar, cacao, copra, lime juice,
and lime oil, obtained from the Cul-deSac Company, were
forwarded to the Commercial Museum at Ottawa. The
openivg of this Museum by the Canadian Department of
“Trade and Commerce in which a West Indian section has
heen instituted, and the benefits likely to accrue therefrom,
were referred to editorially in a recent number of the 4yg77-
cultural News (Vol. XVII, No. 427, p- 273). The rainfall
recorded at the Botanic Gardens, Castries, during the month,
was 6'40 inches; at the Agricultural and Botanic Station,
Choiseul, the total precipitation was 9°18 inches.
pominica. ‘The Curator, Mr. Joseph Jones, states that
the quantity of limes reaped from the Lime Experiment
Statioc during the month of September was 80 barrels,
making total of 617 barrels since April 1. when harvesting
was commenced. Plant distribution included—limes, 1,145;
grafted “mangoes, 9: miscellaneous plants, 44. In addition
the following were sold: vegetable seeds, 165 packets;
black-ey2 peas, 95 tb.; horse beans, 20 bb. The local price
for limes and raw lime juice remained unchanged. Planters
are said to be in general agreement that the crop this year
je 2 Short one. That lime products are being disposed of satis-
factorily is evidenced by the shipment during recent weeks
of 21,000 gallons of concentrated juice, and 162,000 gallons
of raw juice. A visit by the Mycologist on the Staff of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture to the Gardens and
Experiment Station on September 10 and 11, while on his:
way from Barbados to Montserrat, is recorded. The total
rainfall recorded for the month was 4°14 inches: there were.
twenty-five dry days during ths month.
MONTSERRAT. The weather during the month was
very seasonable, and gave the heaviest rainfall since
September last year, Mr. Robson writes to say. As a result,
the outlook for provision crops, including ground nuts, has
improved considerably. Plant distribution during the month
included—bay plants, 1,300: papaw plants, 86; galba, 36;
sword and Stizoblinm beans, 50 tb.; cowpeas, 6 b., pigeon
peas, 4 th. The bay experiment plot is making profuse growth,
the acre having yielded so far, 5,500 th. for 1918. Matters
have improved considerably in connexion with the
cotton crop, and the prospects of good second pickings
are better than for some years. Leaf-blister mite,
however, is more prevalent than for many years, and is
sufficiently severe in cases to retard the development of the
second growth. On the whole, itis questionable if the crop
can come up to the average of previous years, though growers
feel satisfied with the results so far. The lime crop ‘reaped
has been small, but a second crop is looked for later in the
season. The position as regards sugarcane seems to be
retrograde: the area in plant canes is less than for some years.
Except in one or two localities, cotton stainers have not
increased to the extent expected; persistent collecting
of the insect has been carried out. The Mycologist of
the Imperial Department of Agriculture, Mr. W. Nowell,
visited the island from September 12 to 14, and was concern-
ed with the investigation of cotton diseases. Consideration is
being given to the destruction of the silk-cotton and mahoe
trees in the island, and it is expected that operations in this
direction will commence at an early date. The chief matter
of interest to the island atthe present time, Mr. Robson
states, is the anticipated return from the cotton crop, the
present area under cotton being the largest in the history
ot the industry. The rainfall recorded for the month at
Grove Station was 7:83 inches, and was well distributed
The total rainfall for the year to date is 37°94 inches.
ANTIGUA. During the month of September the
following plants were distributed from the Botanic Gardens:
sisal, 6,300; eucalyptus, ‘984; mahogany, 282; lime plants,
150; Guinea corn seed, 65°m.; Indian corn, 390 fb.; cotton
seed, 661 th.; vegetable seeds, 3 packets: sweet potato cut-
tings, 120; cassava cuttings, 24. Mr. Jackson states that
good rains fell throughout the island during the early part of
the month, in consequence of which the cane crop has mate-
rially improved. Good returns from this crop cannot, how-
ever, be expected this year, he adds, unless exceptionally
favourable weather is experienced from now until the end of
the rainy season, The cotton crop, on the whole, looks
fairly well, and reaping from the early fields has been com-
menced. ‘he rainfall registered at the Botanic Station for
the month was 5:23 inches; for the year, 27°03 inches.
Appended to the foregoing is a short report on agricul-
ral instruction for the months of August and September. In
this, reference is made to the dry weather experienced, and
the condition of the cotton and corn crops in consequenee
thereof. The reaping of the corn crop was completed during
these months, the corn being disposed of locally at rates
varying between 7s. to 10s. per 100 th. on the cob. There is
about 5,000 fb. remaining unsold.
ST. KITTS. Mr. W. R. Shepherd, Superintendent of
Agriculture, writes to say that fine rains during the month of
Vor. XVII. No. 451. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 351
of September have considerably improved the appearance AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
of the Gardens. A large number of Cypre seeds (Corda The weather for OctaWemchae been ibs Gavcneiete
gerascanthus) have been received frem Trinidad, and plants
will soon be ready for transplanting, and for distribution.
The old cane crop has responded to the rains of the past month,
and the plant canes have much recovered. The ratoons,
especially in the Valley district, were so badly aftected by the
long drought, that only a moderate’ return is expected from
them. , Prospects for the next crop have somewhat improved
however, but, Mr. Shepherd states, all depends on constant
rain for even an average return. Picking of cotton is in
full swing and the returns from all districts are distinctly
good. The quality of the lint is also good and uniform. Ot
the new crop 95 bales have been purchased by the Govern-
ment at an advance price of 3s. perth. The rainfall for the
month was 6-22 inches; for the year todate, 29°30 inches.
NEvis. According to the notes forwarded by Mr. W. I.
Howell, Agricultural Instructor, the erops on the whole are
-doing much better in consequence of the good rains which
fell during September. From the Botanic Station, 13,000
sweet potato cuttings were distributed. The cane crop
throughout the island has very much improved. Pre-
paration for next season’s crop is in progress.. The
cotton crop is very much more promising and a fair
yield is expected; picking from the early fields is in
full progress and good returns have been obtained from some
of these. Cotton stainers are very pleutiful and the percentage
of stained cotton is high. Over 900 acres are planted in
provision crops, chietly sweet potatoes, cassava, and yams.
The potato crop will be a large one—perhaps more than
can be consumed locally. The rainfall for the month was
6-21 inches; for the year to date, 34°36 inches.
AGRICULTURE IN GRENADA.
The progress report on the work of the Agricultural
Department for the quarter ended June 30, 1918, a copy of
which has been forwarded to this Office, contains matters of
interest noted below.
In the Botanic Gardens, the routine work connected
with the upkeep of the economic and ornamental sections of
the grounds has been maintained. Considerable interest has
been aroused in the efforts to establish an onion industry.
The small crop of onions obtained from the plot in the Gardens
were retailed in single strings, with the object of spreading
as widely as possible a knowledge of the quality of the local
product. Several imported varieties of manioc have been
placed under trial, and the area under tannias extended
Sowings of several varieties of edible beans have been made for
trial purposes and seed production.” Sea Island cotton seed
amounting to 800 tb. was imported from St. Vincent by the
Department for local distribution, and about 450 tb. disposed
of at cost price. The list of plants and seeds distributed
during the quarter, appearing in the report, indicate the
large amount of work in this direction that was successfully
accomplished during the period under review.
Regarding minor industries, there are ample indications
that the area put under ground provisions and corn this year
will exceed that of any previous year. Owners of estates
have considerably assisted in these efforts by the rental of
land for garden purposes at a nominal value, and by them-
selves taking up provision growing. The Government also
have assisted in a similar manner. It is further worthy of
note that increasing attention is being given to yam
cultivation,
Heavy and continuous rains fell during the first week, but
since that time there have been in general only light rains.
The fair days of the past fortnight have greatly aided.
the planters in making progress with tillage of various kinds.
A considerable amount of forking and ploughing has beea
done.
Sheep manure is being extensively used. It would
appear that planters are giving a more liberal application of
farmyard manure and making up the deficit with sheep man-
ure. In addition to this, we understand that several planters
are substituting sheep manure this year for early cane
manure.
With the approach of the planting season, planters are
discussing the proportion in which they should plant the
different seedlings. It would appear that the B.H. 10 (12)
is going to receive a very appreciable increase ef patronage.
This seedling has given proof of excellent qualities, and the
decision to increase its area is to be expected.
The B. 6450 is a tried seedling and it would be well if
it were given a fair share of patronage. Its poor germina-
tion, with the consequent laborious supplying before it is
established, has caused planters, especially in the drier
districts of the island, to look with greater. favour on the
B.H. 10 (12) and the Ba, 6032.
We recommend that small areas of the B.3922 and the
B.6308 be planted, the former in the red soil, as it is an
excellent ratooner, and the letter in the black soil. The
B.6308 will give a good account of itself as a plant cane.
With the increase in the number of fields of potatoes
which are being placed on the market, the supply has growa
more plentiful.
The Indian corn crop is being rapidly disposed of aod
is growing somewhat scarce.
The major part of the cotton crop, such as it is, is to be
found in the leeward parishes. It is reported to be looking
well, and picking has been started.
The fields under yams present generally an excellent
appearance and promise well. We have also obseryed some
good fields of white eddoes, but the nut eddo is conspicuous
by its absence in many districts, and by its feeble growth
in most, (The Barbados Agricultural Reporier, October 19,
1918.)
Power Alcohol.—The Lxperiment Station Record,
June 1918, contains a note in reference to proposals for the
production and utilization of power alcohol in Australia,
which are discussed in the Buw/letin of Science and Jndus-
tries, 6 (1918), of the Australian Advisory Council. This
publication includes a general discussion of the question
of liquid fuels in Australia, the advantages of alcchol as
a fuel, and the available sources for its production, with
the relative cost of the product from each source.
The crops suggested as promising for cultivation «8 raw
material for the manufacture of power alcohol are green
sorghum stalks, sorghum grain, cassava, and sweet potatoes.
As these crops are not grown at all, or only on a small scale
in Australia at the present time, it is suggested that their
development may lead to the cultivation of ares suited for
other crops, and so may assist in diversification. It is recom-
mended that power alcohol be denatured with 2 per cent.
of either the fractions of coal-tar oil distillates, obtained at
a temperature of from 170° to 230°C., or with creosote oil,
352
‘THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NovemBer 2, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tneze West Inpia Committee CrircuLar,
August 22.
ArrowRkooT—No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, no auo-
tations.
Beeswax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 90 -; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—£46,
Frourr—No quotations.
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations é
Hoxey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Luz JuicE—Raw, 4/6 to 5/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6.
Logwoop—No quotations.
Macz—No quotations.
Nourmecs—No quotations.
Prmento—9}d.
Russrr—Para, fine hard, 3/(0$; fine aoft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., October 4.
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations; Trinidad, no quota-
tions.
Coco-nut O1r—$1°46. per gallon.
Corree—Venezuelan, Lic. per f..
Corra—$7°25 per 100 tb.
Daat—$11°50 to $12-00 per bag.
Oytoxs—$10-00 per 100 fb.
Pras, Sprit—$8-00 per bag.
Porators—English, 34°00 per 100 tr.
Rice—Yellow, $13:00 to $13°25; White, -$9°00 per bag.
Suear—American crushed, no quotations.
New York.—Messrs Giitesere Bros. & Co., October 2,
Oacao—Caracas, lige. to l4c.; Grenada, 13¥c.; Trinidad,
13fc. to 14c.; Jamaica, 12c. to 124c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $5000; Trinidad $52-00;
culls, $27-00 to $29-00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, lOc. to Wc. per It.
Gincer—l7c. to 22c. per fb.
Goar Sxrns—Importation prohibited.
Grare Frvuit—Jamaica, $4°50) to $5°50.
Limes—Importation prohibited.
Mace—40c. to 45e. per th.
Nourmecs—‘ic. to 32c.,—unassorted.
OrancEes—$4°50.
Pimento— fc. to 10c. per tb.
Suean—Centrifugals, 96°, 6:°055c; Muscovador, 89°, 5-060,
Molasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid. :
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., October 18.
Arrowroot—3i2‘00 per 100 th.
Cacao—$12:00 to $12°50 per i00 fh.
Coco-nuts—$30°00 husked nuts.
Hay—$3 00.
Mo tasses—No quotations.
Ontons— No quotations.
Pras, Sprir—No quotations; Canada, no quotationa.
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran-
goor, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $5°50.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’:
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning.
A Quarterly Scieutific Journal.
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the ijaformation contained in thane
{a especially adapted to West Indian conditions, The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made is
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 43, each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
West Inpia Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane.
Barbados: Apvocart Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown.
Jamaica: Tue Epucationat Suppty Comeany, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana: Tux Arcosy Co,, Lrp., Georgetown.
‘Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Marsuatt & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C, L. PLacemMann, Scarborough.
Bahavias: Mr. 1. G. Curtsrie, Board of Agriculture, Naasau.
Grenada: Messrs. THos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonanrr, ‘Times’ Office,
St. Lucia; Mr. R. W. Nitxs, Botanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Briocewarer, Roseau.
Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station,
Antigua: Mr. 8S. D, Matone, St. John’s.
St. Kitts: Tew Brste anp Book Suprty Aozncy, Bassaraaes
Nevis: Mr. W. 1. Howett, Experiment Station. .
Canada: Lewis W. Cusmens, 81, Yonge Street, \Toronto
‘es 7 4 4 i 1 ‘? i
ue Fah *
4) LD: oe
4 flay y
;
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
eS Tarn OL Ee a ee) :
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE =
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that —
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
eis
conditions obtaining from time to time; and moreover we are ~
ready to make all such payments when, where, and how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crushing, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
<a >
4
i
;
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE: AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
\
—
q ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
a
if “t oth
“ BP an :
eos
Vor. XVII No. 431 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWR November 2, 1913,
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our*well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage,
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS GO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
BARBADOS. _
Printed at Offica of Agrivuimral Reporter, 4, High Steeet! Bridgatown, Barbados,
i
4
os wy} “eee AG i ,
EE Ae OS BEF
itt =
=e.
Vol. XVI._No. 432] __ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1918. [One _penny.
PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
j TO PORTS OF CALL
THE UNITED KINGDOM Azores.
( St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA ; | + Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
(Bermuda, Halifax, N. S., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad.
( Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
PANAMA CANAL & PACIFIC PORTS + Cartagena, Colon, Panama,
| Gallao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso,
REGULAR MAIL, PASSENGER AND CARGO SERVICES FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO
BRAZIL, URUGUAY & ARGENTINA
Via Spain, Portugal, Madeira & St. Vincent,
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STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, HONG-KONG, CHINA =
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Head Office : 48, Moorgate Street, London,
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Colon, Jamaica, Antilla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos yAires, Santos, Sao Paulo
) Rio Ge Janeiro, Madrid, etc. ,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. .
Various METHODS:
nie OF : ate =
Tick *DESTRUCTION
In the compilation of these notes, reference has been made to many sources of information, but par ticalamiy to an
article which appeared in the “ Bulletinudfthe Jamaica Department. of Agriculture,” Vol. 1, Number 3, from CATTLE Tite
which much of the following matter is quoted, almost textually. { 28" seme k
HAND PICKING. This is a primitive method and absolutely ineffective, on a large property, for Keeping’down ticks. Only the engorged females
"offer themselves as objects for removal by the hand of the operator. A certain proportion of engorgéd females drop off in the pastures, or the road-
side, or in the cattle pen. A certain number fail to be destroyed by the fingers or heel of the picker,/and the result is that a great many more ticks
survive than are picked off the bodies of the cattle. This method is largely responsible for the tick pest retaining its most virulent form. ;
TARRING. This was the remedy recommended by Professor Williams as a result of his mission to Jamaica in 1896. One part of Tar to three parts
of boiled linseed oil was recommended. In many instances the result of its too thorough application was that the animals so treated became
asphyxiated through a blocking of the pores of the skin. This tar remedy, however, or variations of it containing sour orange juice, carbolic acid,
Lerosene oil and other fearsome remedies, are still widely used in Jamaica.- A boy with the paint_pot daubs a smear of the tick-dressing only
on such portions of an infected animal as appear to him to be in pressing need of treatment; but 'to cope properly with the tick pest, every spot
he <u face of every animal must be reached by the tick destroying agent. While a few score of engorged ticks are hastily brushed over on a
flank er thighs, there may be hundreds of larval ticks all along the spinal region, on the poll, and in fact on all parts of the body, undergoing
development. Unless all these ticks are killed, and not merely 60 or 70 per cent., the complete eradication of the ticks is out of the question.
Se long as Catile breeders keep to the tar brush, so long will the tick plague wax fierce and flourish. :
; .
BRUSHING. Brushing with a tick-destroying wash represents a fairly efficient means of treating tick-infested cattle, but is attended with some
risk. The bu'k of the remedies used for “brushing” are coal-tar emulsions of the type of Jeyes’ Fluid. *None of these preparations will kill ticks
unless use | at a strength that is very liable to strip the skin of the cows under treatment ; in no case do they give a high efficiency of tick-destruction.
}: is perfectly certain that brushing fis not a good method, and will not solve the tick problem so as completely to abolish ticks on a property,
because it is not capable of complete or perfect results, nor is it free from risk of injury to the animals treated. Many pen-keepers are entirely
satisfied with their results from brushing, because they have not really made accurate observations of the tick mortality resulting from their operations.
STARVATION METHOD. This is a sure and inexpensive method, but can only be applied by the owner of a large herd who has a
permanent pasture and two or three/other fenced fields which have not been pastured by cattle for a year or so._. It consists in keeping the cattle
of the infested pasture for a period of twelve months or more, until the young ticks are starved out. The cattle are taken from the tick-infested pasture
end placed on tick-free land; before young ticks hatch from the eggs laid in this first tick-free field by the female ticks on thé cattle when moved!
irom the tick-inlested pasture, the cattle are moved a second time on to another tick-free field. ee ‘
GRASS BURNING. If burning is.done at the right time, it cannot fail to kill immense numbers of the young “ seed ticks ; but it 1s the common
experience that “ burnt” pastures very quickly again become heavily tick-infested. Thisis due to the fact that the tick-eggs on the ground are not des-
tro ed, and no doubt many female ticks escape the effects of the fire by hiding in cracks and crevices, or under stones, or logs of wood, etc. | Grass-
burring, even when carried out at the proper time, will not completely eradicate ticks, it will only reduce their numbers, and that only temporarily.
HAND SPRAYING. Spraying by means of one or other of the many types of hand-pumps or syringes is, if Very carefully and thoroughly done,
a very effective method of treating ti¢k-infested cattle : but it is slow, unpleasant work, and, moreover, very wasteful of the wash. The efficiency of
hand spraying may be said to be in direct proportion to the care and thoroughness with which the operation is conducted; for this reason, it should
never be entrusted to natives or negroes without effective supervisien. ¢ 3
MACHINE SPRAYING. The principle of machine spraying is the passing of the animals through ajshort tunnel, lined with piping, through holes
or jets in which, a tick-destroying fluid is sprayed at them from the floor and from all possible angles by means of apump. There can be no doubt
that, next to dipping, machine spraying is by far the best method of treating tick-infested stock; but it is;not by this means absolutely certain that alt
ticks will be destroyed, as, however ingenious the arrangement by which the wash is sprayed from “‘all points of the compass,” ticks deep down in
the ears, or under the tail, or in the “brush” of the tail may not be reached. But where expense, or'some other obstacle, precludes the employ-
ment of a dipping bath, a spraying machine is by a long way the most efficient substitute. The machine manufactured by William Cooper & Nephews
is the latest and cheapest form of Spraying Machine.
DIPPING. The only really completely effective method of treating ticky cattle, horses, &c., is to pass them through a swim dipping bath ; the process is
of tick-infested Cattle becomes a verv sifonle matter and camnlate tick eradication hannmar ~
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP. WEST INDIAN AGENTS.
ST. KITTS: S. L. Horsford & Co.
Has received the official approval of the following Countries: ANTIGUA:/ Bennett, Bryson & ‘Co.
: JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston.
i $ fr Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland GRENADA; Thomson, Hankey & Co. |
i aL : ars | ; BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Lids
as i é a BAHAMAS: H. T. Brice, Nassau.
wena ete 427 said Hipaenta, eseeanoa, TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Ltd., Port-of-Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST, VINCENT? Corea & Co., Kingstown.
i / NEVIS: 8. D. Malone.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, sy MRIGAN VIRGIN ISLANDS: 0.H. Schiniegelow, St. Croix.»
MONTSERRAT: W_ Llewellyn Wall.
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa.
(4s ;
United States of America, Méw South Wales, DOMENTCA? Hon. H. A. Frampton. _
{5 ST. LUCLA; Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Northern Territory of Australia, GUADELOUPE: Société Industrielle et Agricole, Point-a Pitre,
Manufacturers{WILLIAN COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England,
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbowrne, Mecktand, Cueros Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, @dessa, j
we
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
NOVEMBER .16 1918
Price 14.
Vot. XVII. No. 432. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS
Pace Pace.
Agriculture in Barbados... 359
American Agricultural Com-
mittee ... ... wl Nss0 BOO
British Sugar Machinery
Manufacturers’ Associa-
tion . 356
Canada, Openings for West
Indian Trade with . 360
Cassareep +, 308.
| Jerusalem Artichoke, Hints
for Cooking 4 ec
Man-power, A Preventi-
ble Loss of 5-5. 3B}
Market Reports ... ....368
| New Zealand Hemp 367
and Comments ... 360
seaOS.
OOO
Notes
|Orange Wine ...
Peace within Sight
Plant Diseases:—
Cork Wood, Properties
of See se, BOT |
- ong
364
Department News...
Gleanings, 2) Seed bc.
Indian Corn Industry of
St. Vincent . 306
Tnsect Notes:—
Report on Cacao Thrips.
in Grenada Referer oOo,
Items of Local Interest 359
Jerusalem Artichoke, A
Neglected Source of
Food oy . 365
A Preventible
A Scheme ‘of Classifica-
tion for Para sitic Plant
DISEdROSEE ..<- ec0-, =< O00
| The Panama Disease of
Bananas in Cuba
| Philippines, A New Citrus
Fruit of The aio)
Prince Benaparte’s Collec-
tion of Ferns se eel
| Spanish Influenza, Epi-
demnlGggk 5.1) 361
| Tractors in Hawaiian Cane
Fields . Se Se
West Indian Products
Loss of Man-power.
RSseca
the world.
in the number of men
available for agricu!tural labour throughout
The hundreds of thousands
of young,
strong men actually killed, together with the still
greater number maimed and partially, if not entirely,
incapacitated for hard ‘work, must inevitably lead to
a shortage in man-power. And this is the more
serious ag it is mecessary to inerease the available
food supply of the world, and to restore to fertility
the great extent of hitherto cultivated lands now
wasted and devastated.
It is true that woman-power has been revealed
as a resource to be reckoned with, and that motor-
power and mechanical implements are being more
and more resorted to in tillage operations. But in
the first case. it is to be hoped for the well.
being of generations yet unborn, that women will
not be compelled by necessity to devote their lives to
hard physical work: and in the second case, machines
need human beings to direct and control their opera-
tions,
Apart from the above considerations, an aspecb
of the question concerning the supply of man-power
touches West Indian conditions still more nearly.
it has been stated so often as to be a truism, that the
labour supply in the tropics is generally unsatisfac-
tory owing to one or both of two reasons. Either the
population does not imerease, even where there is
ample scope tur enlarged crop production, thus pre-
venting extension, or even where there is a large
population, the people are inetticient workers, lazy and
indifferent. These charges may be admitted to be
true for the most part. Some of the reasons for this
state of affairs have been discovered in recent years.
Modern research has fully proved that the depreet-
ation of working power observable in the tropics among
all races inhabiting them, white and coloured, arises
largely from the endemie occurrence of enervating—
though not necessarily fatal—diseases, and that these
diseases can be com)ated with success by attacking their.
causes. Tle chief of these endemic enervating diseases
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. '
November 16, 1918.
are malaria—caused by the carrying of pathogenic
protozoa trom the infected subjects to others by varions
species of mosquitoes (Anopheles), —and ankylosto-
miasis—caused by the presenceof the hookworm-in the
imtestines of human beings.
With regard to this Tatrer, it is sufficient to
remark that it is essentiully a filth-borne disease,
and that strict attention to personal cleanliness,
and to the proper disposal of human excreta, would
lead to its extermination." That such measures,
combined with the’ treatment of infected persons
are etfective, only tor, the control, but for the
eradication of ankylostomiasis in districts formerly
badly infected, has been amply proved by work per-
formed in this direction under the auspices of the
~Rockefeller Foundation, not only in the United States
but in other countries also.
not
The serious loss to agriculture trom the presence
of malaria in any given district arises not so: thuch from
the actual deaths which result from the disease or
: its complications, as from the rednced crop returns
ewing to the loss of the labourer’s time, and the
reduced efficiency of the labour, owing to the loss
-of ‘vitality and energy which follows on recurring
attacks of this disease. his; as was noticed aboye,
_ hinders the development of large areas of fertile land.
The losses by death occur owing to the tact that the
enervating results of malarial attacks predispose ‘the
subject te other more fatal diseases.
a In a paper read before the Southern Medical
Association at Richmond, Virginia, in November 1914,
Mr. D. L. van Dine, of the Burean of
United States Department of Agricultnre, gives some
striking facts on the above points.
Entomology,
; An estate was selected in Louisiana for studies in
malaria and its
of 1,800 acres of enltivated land, and 1,700 acres ot
swamp landin timber. No less than
“being cultivated by seventy-four negro tenant-farmer
families, giving an average acreage of 16 acres th ‘each
family. The total number of the members of ‘these
families was 299, or an average of fonr persons to each
conseanences. The estate consisted
1911 acres were
family.
malaria, for it. is evident from the average family that,
the population on that estate was not increasing.
In the crop season, trom May to October ab,
1914. out of the seventy-four families, forty-eight were
tveated by the doctor for malaria, and the number jof
' days lost to work amounted to. 970 of actual illness, or .
This fact seems to point to another result of
counting the work of an adult woman or a lad between
. 4
twelve and eighteen years of age as half that of an
adult male, while the work of a boy between eight and
“twelve years old was reckoned as a quarter, the loss
was computed as 2 25°5 days of adult men’s work. Ip
‘was also the opinion of the investigator that there
were many eases which were not reported. but were
treated’ with ‘mixtures’ prepared at home, and'*hy
‘taking a day or two off.
An ettort was “made to form an ‘estimate of ‘the
labour toss ocenrring from the numerous cases of
malaria not reported to the doctor. It was computed
that, without any error on: ‘ithe ‘s sidei “ot. exaggeration,
there were 487 days of illness from this cause not
reported, er 25075 days of adult work lost.
Time is also lost by the adult members of
family in attending those whoy are ill. From the
record of time lost due_to this cause, if appeared thas
385 days, or 235°5 of adult work, were to be included
under this head. }
During the crop season tor which the records were
kept there were 1,457 days of actual. illness among
members of the tenants’ families, making a loss of
1,842 days, representing 1,066 days of adult labour.
There were 166 separate attacks among 138 persons
out of the total of the 299 members of the families,
Hach malarial attack averaged 8°77 days of illness, or
(42 days of adult work for each case of malaria,
This actual loss of over a thousand days of work
, quiring the crop season is a significant fact in view of
the possibility of controlling or eradicating malaria,
and thus making possible a great increase in the
available man-power for the development of the agri-
enltmral vesonrees of the tropies.
he means of combating this’ loss consist of
curative measures during attacks, which may be lefts
to the physicians—though it eannot be too widely
known that quinine, in some form, is the antidote to
nalaria—and of prophylactic measures, consisting in
destroying the Anopheles, chiefly in its larval fm,
and in warding off the bites of the adult fenthle
insect. As regards these prophylactic measures,
steps have been taken in these Wess
Indian islands to do something in this direction, bus
more vigorous efforts are needed, and more stindy of
Joeal conditions attecting the life-history of any partien-
Jar species of Anopheles requires to be, undertaken,
Mr. van line points out that the treatment, of the
disease for Jong periods « of time. in malarial regions has
most of
Vou. XVII. No. 432.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 355:
a nnn nn
not reduced the malarial rate, except where prophy-
lactic measures have been taken. The disease is well
understood and treated by physicians, he fact that
malaria continues, then, in certain localities, is due, not
to lack of treatment of the chsease, but to the lack of
control of the mosquitoes that convey it. It has been
proved that where areas of land have been drained and
brought under cultivation, malaria “has decreased in
proportion to decrease in collections of surface water in
which the larvae of malarial mosquitoes thrive. J)rain-
age is, then. one great prophylactic: and another is so
to cover or screen the surface of standing water, either
by afiim of kerosene or by mosquito-proof wire net-
ting that the female insects are prevented trom ob-
taining access to their breeding places, or that the
jarvae are smothered. Some suggestions on this point
were given under Insect Notes in the Agricultural
News of July 27,1918. It must be emphasized that
these prophylactic mesures are too variable to be stan-
dardized, and as Dr. Samuel ‘T. Garling, Chief of the
Laboratory of the board of Health of the Panama
Canal Zone, stated in 1914, ‘each region and each
locality must be studied by itself even though the
region contains Anopheles, the bionomics of which for
other regions are well known.
Among Wes Indian islands barbados enjoys the
reputation of being free from malaria, there being no
species of Anopheles found in that asland. This has
been conjectured to bedue to the presence of small
insectivorous fish (Girardinus poeeroides)—locally
known as ‘millions—in all natural collections of
standing water. .In regard to the influence of this
factor, it may be noticed that, in his investigations
already referred to, Mr..van Dine found that in
‘open collections of water of “permanent character,
having margins free from vegetation’ or trash, the min-
nows and the predaceous aquatic imsects were very
effective in controlling the larvae of Anopheles. Where-
ever, on the other, hand, the margins were orass-grown
or the water shallow enough to support aquatic vege-
tation, or when trash, stumps, brash-wood, or other
debris was allowed to accumulate om the surface, the
larvae were found to thrive in the presence of even
numerous fish. The Anopheles from
Barbados’ cannot be adequately explained on these
absence of
lines.
To sum up. Seeing that malaria is responsible to
a large extent for the depreciation of working power
in mosquito-infested lands such as are most of the
West Indies, and that man-power js more than ever
needed for. the. well-being of the whole world, espe-
cially in agriculture, it is amatter of necessity that:
every effort be made tu control and eradicate the
carriers of this enfeebling and enervating disease.
With regard to ankylostomiasis, the Kockefeller
Foundation has been doing splendid work towards. its
evadication— Jamaica, St, Vincent and St. Lucia being
among the fields where the officers of this philanthropic
institution are at work. .The inhabitants of the West
Indies, however, must combine to spread the knowledge
ot hygiemic principles ainong all classes, and to put these
principles into practice, so that a disease so easily
eradicated by cleanly habits may disappear from our
midst, to the enhancement of man-power and energy.
The greatest obstacle to improvement is the general
and somewhat fatalistic acquiescence of the population
in things as they have been and are.
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPM&NTS
IN JAMAICA.
The Jamaica correspond-nt of Zhe Zimes Trade Supple
ment, October 191%, writes, with regard to agricultural
devolopment in that Colony and in British Honduras, that
banana growers in the eastern section of Jamaica are turning
their attention to cane cultivation. A public meeting was
held recently in one of the eastern townships, when it was
decided that the Government should take up the question of
a State-aided sugar factory in that area for the development
of the cane industry.
The doctrine of co-operation is being preached in every
British possession in this quarter of the globe. The Jamaica
Imperial Association and the Agricultural Society are
doing all they can to bring all sections: of the ‘people
in Jamaica together for the advancement of the coun-
try, and societies in the other colonies are working on
similar limes. It is safe to say that the future of
these possessions of the Crown depends on the develop-
ment of the soil, Want of cohesion has been a serious diffi-
culty in the past, but it now appears that West Indians in
general are on the threshold of a new era. In British
Honduras an association has just been formed for the follow-
ing objects:’ (1) to grow ground provisions,- grains and
other foodstutts: (2) to approach landowners of whom
cultivators are tenants, asking for a reduction of existing
rents; should this request be refused, to secure Crown lands
for ‘the planting of staple crops, like ¢acao, coco nuts, coffee,
oranges, and other citrus -and tropical fruits; (3) to give
mntual assistance to one another in preparing the land and
planting same; (4) to raise stock.
The Demerara Argosy, October 13; 1918, statés that
the Governor of the Colony has advised the Governinents, of
Trinidad, Barbados, and other islands which His Excellency
had agreed to supply with rice, that owing to the dronebt
now, prevailing in the colony, and which is likely to continue
there will be a shortage in the rice crop, and asa result it
will not be possible for him to allow any further export of
the commodity. 4
me. @ A
356
THE INDIAN CORN INDUSTRY OF
ST. VINCENT.
The following information relating to the Indian corn
industry of St. Vincent, especially in regard to the recent
developments which have taken place in connexion with
efforts to increase the production of local foodcrops, is
abstracted from notes forfrarded to the Head Office by
Mr. W. N. Sands, the Agricultural Superintendent.
Indian corn (maize) had always been grown in the
colony as an intermediate or catch crop with cotton, arrow-
root, sugar-cane, and ground provision; It was no doubt
one of the earliest food-plants cultivated by the original
Carib inhabitants. Previous to recent developments the
bulk of the corn was consumed locally, but a small quantity
was annually exported to neighbouring colonies. The exports
for the period 1904-14 averaged 564 bushels per annum.
Towards the end of 1914 the Government of St. Vin-
cent, viewing with alarm the depressed condition of the
markets for cotton and arrowroot, the chief products of
the colony, consulted with the Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture as to the prospects of a corn industry, as it was
desirable, under the circumstances described, to diversify still
further the local crops.
In February 1915 Sir Francis Watts outlined a scheme
(a) for the erection of corn shelling and drying machinery at
the Government Ginnery on similar lines to thatin opera-
tion in Antigua; (b) the establishment of a system of corn-
purchase on a profit-sharing basis such as was in operation
with cotton; (c) offering’ to growers facilities for shelling
and drying corn. Acting on the advice of the Imperial
Commissioner, the Government decided to erect a Granary,
and to advocate the growing of corn wherever suitable land
for this purpose wasavailable. This machinery was obtained
from the United States of America early in 1915, and was
installed in a special shed adjoining the main building of
the Government Ginnery. The total cost of the Granary,
with buildings, machinery, and bins, was £600. The cost
would have been much higher had it not been possible to
connect the machinery to the main driving shaft of the
ginnery, and thus use steam from the boiler.
As the result of «xperiments for the selection of a uni- ,
form yellow corn, 620 Ib. of the native yellow corn was dis-
tributed from the Experiment Station during the year 1916
to the chief planters. The good results of planting this
selected seed were demonstrated at the granary when the
1916-17 crop was dealt with. A special study of the insect
‘pests of corn was made by ths Assistant Agricultural Superin-
tendent, and effective methods of contrcl of certain of the
most notorious of these were devised. The Agricultural
Superintendent, by means of lectures and leaflets, was
successful in arousing much interest in the industry. These
efforts, together with the incentives to production, led to a
considerable increase in planting.
The bulk of the crop was grown as a catch crop with
cotton and arrowroot, but more particularly with the former,
With arrowroot, corn is grown after the arrowroot has been
reaped. The newly dug fields, especially those which are
harvested in the last three months of the year, are sown with
corn, Experiments in planting at different distances with
corn as the sole crop showed that the most satisfactory
results were obtained when the corn was planted on 4-foot
banks in rows with single plants 1 foot apart. Satisfactory
returns were also obtained by planting on 3-foot banks with
one row on the bank, and the plants singled out to one in
the hole, the holes being 1 foot apart. It was found that
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
NovemBer 16, 1918,
when corn was planted as a catch crop, and the distance,
between the holes was about 6 feet, four plants to a hole
could be safely left and would give good results if the distance
between each plant was 9 inches; in other words, itis a
better plan to sow the seed separately than to drop four
or five grains together in a hole.
The total quantity of corn dealt with during the past
two seasons, in terms of undried or wet grain, was in
1916-17, 128,598 tb. or 2,296 bushels; in 1917-18,
295,908 Th. or 5,284 bushels. Under the profit-sharing
scheme the payment on account was $1°50 per 100 b. for
shelled corn, and $1°12 per 100 fb. for cob corn. For the
1916 17 crop, the payment on account and the bonus netted
the venders 2!c. per Ih. of wet corn. The transactions of
the 1917-18 season are not complete, but a much higher
final payment than this is likely to be made. The amount
advanced was the same as in the previous season.
The exports of corn for 1915, 1916, and 1917 were
1,515, 1,652, and 2,855 bushels, respectively. The exports
are relatively small, but it is of interest to add that during
the 1917-18 season, 55 tons of corn were shipped to the
United Kingdom, and realized prices satisfactory to the ship-
pers. As, owing to the war, a larger proportion than usual of
the crops of the past three years has been consumed locally,
it is not possible to ascertain the total ouput in each season,
The Granary has proved a valuable asset to the people
of the colony, in that it made possible the maintenance of a
supply of valuable cereal food in the form of corn meal
for use at times when imported breadstuffs were restricted
and expensive, and locally produced foodstuffs scarce and
dear. In tke months of June and July 1918, the output
averaged 8,000 Tb. per week.
The industry has been placed on a sound footing, and
it is hoped that the substantial progress already made will
be maintained from year to year.
BRITISH SUGAR MACHINERY MANUFAC-
TURERS’ ASSOCIATION. >
A Sugar Machinery Manufacturers’ Association has been
formed in Great Britain by the leading companies and firms
in the industry there, who have followed the recommenda-
tions of the British Ministry of Reconstruction, tbat all trades
form organizations to facilitate the distribution of materials
and to carry out other common purposes.
A statement issued in behalf of the new association
points out that cessation of the import of beet sugar from
Germany and Austria has rendered the United Kingdom
entirely dependent upon the tropics for sugar, and that there
has been an urgent demand for cane-sugar machinery. The
Jovernment has taken over the control of the whole engineer-
ing industry, in the interests of munitions production, and it
has, therefore, been necessary to get special permission to
employ inetal materials or to export machinery containing
such materials. It is considered that the questions thus
raised can be better discussed in official circles from the
point of view of an associated industry than from that of
individual firms.
There is, moreover, a clear field of usefulness for this
association during the problematic period following the war.
On the one hand, it will continue to be necessary for British
makers of sugar machinery to do their utmost to assiat the
development of the cane-sugar industry, while, on the other
hand, it is to be expected that for some time there will arise
questions of priority and precedence in regard both to
supplies of metal and to shipping accommodations.
Vor. XVII. No. 432.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 357
—_—— ——————— — rT —vrvrmrererwlélévC aOR
The Sugar Manufacturers’ Association is affiliated to the
British Empire Producers’ Organization which is determined
to oppose the resumption of importation from Germany, and
which is therefore actively interested in the increase of
production in the Allied and neutral countries. The
machinery makers are vitally concerned in this policy, and
the whole purpose of their collective action as an association
is to enable them to co-operate more efficently with the sugar-
growers on tropical estates, with whom they have had cordial
relations for so many years, and also to deal effectively with
the design and supply of machinery for the manufacture of
beet sugar in the United Kingdom and other countries. (The
Australian Sugar Journal, August 8, 1918.)
TRACTORS IN HAWAIIAN CANE FIELDS.
The Australian Sugar Journal, August 8, 1918, says
that the furrowing-out of cane fields preparatory to the
planting of cane is one of the most diffieult kinds of work in
connexion with the raising of Hawaii’s most important crop.
Formerly mules were employed in this task on nearly all of
the plantations, but practical tests have convinced one of the
leading Hawaiian sugar companies, the Ewa Plantation
Company, that this work can be done more efficiently and
economically with the Caterpillar tractor,
When mules were used for furrowing-out, eight or even
ten mules were required for each plough. Ten mules could
pull a single plough cutting a furrow of the required depth
in most of the ground; with eight mules to a single plough
the strength of the animals was severely taxed, and frequent
t them were necessary.
Ae tien the Holt Caterpillar ‘45° was tried out in this
work, it had no difficulty in pulling two of the same big
ploughs. It had formerly taken the mules forty-five minutes
to make one trip across the field where the tractor was tried.
The tractor makes the same trip in nine minutes, and could
make it in even less time if the men handling the ploughs
; sti faster pace.
ge ee te Caterpillar “5° furrowed a field that
it had formerly taken two weeks to furrow with mules.
From centre to centre of the furrow measures 66 inches. :
Furrowing is not, however, the only use to which this
tractor is being put at Ewa. During the harvesting of the
cane crop it is employed to haul trucks loaded with cane Over
the ridges formed by the ploughing. “Itis one of the advan-
tages of the Caterpillar tractor that if can work over rough
ground where tractors of the ordinary type cannot be used.
The extent to which fe ate is ne its Lied on
waiian plantations has been much commented on
Hoey by the newspapers of the Islands. ° The Pacific
Commercial Advertiser recently called attention to the fact
that, whereas five years ago there were only three tractors in
all Hawaii, at the present time there are well over 100. It
adds: ‘The majority of the plantations that have purchased
one or more tractors as experiments have followed quickly
with orders for more, and hardly a manager who mentions
that his plantation 1s equipped with tractors but adds that
ave n ordered. :
more Sa tuniae furrowing, cultivating, hauling cane cars
and waggons, and a dozen other uses, are being found for the
and plantations.’ ;
ye O nmaied that there are about 140 tractors of
different types in use at the present time among the planta-
tions of Hawaii, of which nearly 7> per cent. are Caterpillar
tractors.
THE PROPERTIES OF CORK WOOD.
In the Agricultural News for June 29, 1918, attention
was drawn to the demand in certain quarters for light woods.
An interesting note concerning the uses to which it is sug-
gested that cork wood (Ochroma dagopus), or as it is known in
the American timber market, ‘balsa’ wood, may be put,
appeared in the Proceedings of the American Society of Civil
Engineers, Vol. XLII, No.6, August 1916. In the course of
a discussion at a meeting of that Society ,on a paper read
by Professor Carpenter, Mr. A. P. Lundin said that his atten
tion was drawn to this wood many years ago during voyages
to tropical countries. He first remarked it when he saw
a number of natives come floating down a river on a raft
made of balsa logs. The natives in parts of Central and
South America used such rafts to float their produce down the
rivers to the seacoast. They seldom use them, however, more
than once, because in the first place it would be difficult to
bring the raft up against the stream, and because the wood
in question absorbs water so very readily that the raft is
more or less water-logged after its one journey.
Mr. Lundin went on to say that later on his attention
bad been drawn to some’ crude attempts made to use balsa
(cork wood) in life-belt manufacture; but it was found
that the wood absorbed water so rapidly that the belts had
to be made two or three times as large as the ordinary cork
life-belt to assure the required buoyancy. After several
unsuccessful attempts to devise methods for making the wood
non-absorbent, it was found that Colonel Marr's water-proof-
ing process could be successfully and practically applied for
this purpose.
The United States Government has tried balsa life-belts,
life-buoys, etc., as compared with the same articles made of
cork, for a period of forty-nine days (twenty-four hours per
day), at the end of which period the cork belt had lost all
its buoyancy, while the balsa belt still retained the buoyancy
stipulated in the Government’s requirement.
Owing to the fact that the peculiar structure of the balsa
wood rendered it suitable for such articles as life-belts, it was
considered a few years ago that it might also be adapted for
insulation purposes, and accordingly experiments in
that direction were begun. The first ice box made with the
new material gave surprising results. During hot summer
weather ice was put into the box on Friday or Saturday,
and on the following Friday or Saturday the temperature in
the box would still be quite low, and some ice still left
unmelted.
A small ice box or ‘pony refrigerator’, made by an
American company, is stated to be of balsa wood 2 inches
thick. The box is about 36 inches long, 31 inches wide, and
22 inches deep, and weighs about 30 fb. Itis stated that
such a box could not be made of any other known insu-
lating material. It is strong enough to stand severe jars,
and a man could jump on it without straining it unduly.
A small container on the lines of a thermos bottle, but
in the form of a box made of l-inch material, and which has
the capacity of about 1 cubic foot and weighs 6 Ib., has been
used to send butter all the way from Virginia to Southern
California, The average outside temperature during the
trip of eight days was 82° F., yet when the boxes arrived
at Los Angeles the butter was still hard and frozen.
Mr. Lundin considers that there are many uses, especially as
a most efficient insulator, to which balsa wood will be
increasingly put in the near future
58 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
CASSAREEP.
As is well known, the juice of the cassava or manioc root
is, in its raw condition, very poisonous. This same juice,
however, when boiled down, becomes an ingredient of various
sauces, and is known throughout the West Indies as ‘cassa-
reep’ or ‘cassaripe’.
In this part of the world, although it is manufactured
locally in small quantities in most of the islands, Demerara
alone seems to have export trade in this article.
Its preparation is simple. In Guiana the cassava roots,
after being peeled, are washed and grated. The resulting
pulp is then placed in long, flexible, cylindrical baskets or
filters, which are plaited by the Indians from a local fibre.
The pulp placed in one of them is compressed more and more
as the basket- elongates. One end of the basket is attached
to a beam or prop, and to the other end a weight is attached.
Under the influence of the compression thus caused the
cassava juice is pressed out through the interstices of the
filter, and is collected in a receptacle placed beneath the
weight.
When the juice has ceased to flow, the grated mass with-
in the filter is taken out and dried thoroughly. The dried
fiour is known as ‘farine’, from which the tasty cassava
biscuits are made; it is also cooked in many other ways. The
collected juice is then boiled down, with the addition of a
little salt, to the consistency of treacle or molasses. In its raw
state the juice is a somewhat opalescent, milky fluid, but when
boiled down into cassareep it isa dark-brown, sticky stuff.
In the West Indian islands where the special baskets men-
tioned above are not obtainable, the grated pulp is placed ina
bag of coarse cloth, and wrung or pressed until the juice is
extracted.
It must always be remembered that the juice must be
thoroughly boiled down so as to destroy its poisonous
qualities. If so prepared, cassareep is a valuable accessory
in the kitchen for the preparation of sauces, It is also
the basis of the dish known in the West Indies as ‘pepper
pot’, into which al] kinds of odds and ends of meat
Jeft over from meals, and which otherwise would be wasted,
may be placed. Owing to the preservative effect of the
cassareep, a pepper pot may be kept going for years, if only
it is daily brought to the boil. Itis said, although one
would not vouch for the literal truth of the statement, that
in Demerara there are pepper pots which have been handed
down from father to son for at least three generations.
ORANGE WINE.
In the Agricultural News, October 19, 1918, there was
a note on the manufacture of wine from oranges in British
Guiana. Considering that in some of the West Indian
islands, as for instance, in Dominica where orange oil is
expressed, there must be thousands of oranges the juice of
which is thrown away, it would appear that if this juice
could be utilized for making wine, even for local consump-
tion, it would be an advantage.
Orange wine is said to be a good tonic of agreeable fia-
vour, and what is more, a perfectly pure, unsophisticated
wine of low alcoholic content. In’ case any of our ‘readers
should care to make experiments in this direction, the follow-
ing recipes for the manufacture of orange wine are reproduc-
- Novemper 16, 1918.
ed from a book entitled ‘Florida Fruits’, by Helen Harcourt,
in which the writer advocates the manufacture of this wine
from unmarketable fruit.
From the directions given—especially those in recipe
No. 3—it would appear that almost anyone in the paiession
of even a small quantity of oranges might make such an
experiment. It need hardly be added that scrupulous clean-
liness must be observed in all the appliances and utensils
employed. ,
ORANGE WINE. No, 1.
Take perfectly ripe, sweet oranges. the riper the better,
as then the saccharine matter is entirely developed; peel,
and cut into halves across the segments; cut over a tub so as
uot to loose any juice, and squeeze both halves hard before
dropping into the tub. When the tub is full, put the whole
mass through a wire press, which must be so close that none
of the seeds can escape into the mash, as they would give
the winea bitter taste. To each gallon of juice add | h.
of granulated or loaf sugar, and to each gallon of
this mixed juice add 1 quart of pure water. Put the
whole into a barrel, leaving a space of about 5 gallons’ for
expansion of the wine during fermentation.
Orange wine has to undergo the lower fermentation, as
by the upper fermentation all the volatile matter and the
aroma would escape. The barrel must be closed air-tight,
and a fermenting tube adjusted; the fermentation is very
vigorous for the first few days, and the barrel must be
closely watched to prevent its bursting. The fermentation
subsides gradually after a few days, then the wine has to be
racked oft, and the lees can be filtered; the fermenting tube
must be adjusted again to the new barrel, to remain until
the fermentation shall have ceased entirely. Rack the wine
off again in about six weeks after the latter period, and in
a month after this second racking it will be fit for market,
as there is no second or ‘spring’ fermentation, as with grape
wine,
ORANGE WINE: NO, 2.
Ninety sweet oranges, 32 Ib. of lump sugar; break
sugar in small pieces and put in a dry, sweet 9-gallon
cask; place the latter where it isto remain. Have ready
close to the cask two large pans or small tubs, put
the orange peels pared thin into one, and into the other
the pulp, after the juice has been squeezed from it; strain
the juice carefully and put it into the cask; then pour 14
gallons of water on both peel and pulp; let it stand for
twenty-four hours, then strain into the cask; add more water
to peels and pulp; next day strain into cask. Repeat this
process until the cask is filled, which should take just seven
days to accomplish, the water being properly proportioned
to this end, and the contents of the cask being stirred each
day. On the third day after the cask is full, it may be
securely bunged down.
This is a very simple and easy method, and if directions
are followed the wine can not fail to be excellent. It should
be bottled in eight months, and will be fit for use twelve
months after making.
ORANGE WINE, NO. 3.
Juice of sweet oranges and water, equal parts; to every
gallon add 3 tb, of raw sugar; place in tight barrel,
filled, with a bent tube from the closed bunghok to a pail
of water. When the gas bubbles cease to show in the water,
close the barrel; leave it undisturbed for four months, then
bottle and cork tight. This makes a very fine wine that will”
keep well in wood or glass.
Orange wine is of an amber colour, tastes like dry
Hock, but always retains a decided aroma of the orange.
Vout. XVII. No. 452.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Se EE Sn ns a ene
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
VIRGIN IsLANpDs. The Curator, Mr. W. C. Fishlock,
- writes to say that the work of cotton planting has been great-
ly delayed by lack of labour, and by unfavourable weather.
Plant distribution during the month of September consisted
of 39 tb. of cotton seed sold. Owing to long spells of dry
weather the condition of the cotton erop is not altogether
good, and there has been a large percentage of boll shedding.
The earlier planted plots of ground provisions have been
reaped, and consequently, provisions are not as plentiful as
they were a short time ago. On account of the high prices
prevailing in St. Thomas, there is still considerable activity
in the planting of sweet potatoes and similar crops. Rain
fell in measurable quantity on sixteen days of the month.
The total precipitation at the Experiment Station was 5°92
inches as compared with 4°81 inches, the average for the
month for the preceding seventeen years. ;
GRENADA. The monthly report of the Agricultural
Instructor for September last has been received at this
Office. Under Notes on Peasant Agriculture it is mentioned
that the cotton crop gives signs of being very good. The
good work begun years ago by the Government in the im-
provement of horse breeding in Carriacou is said to be show-
ing marks of decline, due largely to the fact that inbreeding
is being practised on a somewhat large scale; and the’ pro-
bability of the creole horse reverting in the next few years to
the type from which his improvement began is emphasized.
Thrips continues to be prevalent, while rats have been and
are still very destructive to grain, so much so that a com-
mittee has been appointed by the Agricultural and Commer-
cial Society to enquire into and report upon the matter of
beginning a co-operative campaign for the reduction of
these rodents. The cultivation of the sugar-cane as an
industry is being revived in Carriacou by a large
landed proprietor. Duiing the months of June, July
and August, mahogany logs to the value of £146
were shipped from the colony. The present prices
for mahogany timber offer, it is thought, sufficient induce-
ment to persons, owning lands which cannot successfully
grow other crops, to put in mahogany seedlings to supplant
the trees that have been cut down. Stormy weather accom-
panied by thunder and lightning prevailed from September 16
for some days. The earlier part of the month was very
hot, and despite the rains, heat characterized the latter part
also. +
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The heavy rains with which October began ceased on
the 18th. Since that date only showers have fallen, total-
ing in general about 1} inches. e
The rainfall for last month has, however, been sutiicient
in every part of the island, except perhaps in the seaboard
part of the parish of St. Lucy. | ; eS
The totat average rainfall for Ogtober is about 74 inches;
of this, about 64 inches were registered during the first
eighteen days of the month, when rain fell almost continu-
ously. This total is less than last year’s, and considerably under
that recorded in October 1916. The difference has, however,
been more than made up for by a seasonable distribution.
The plant canes of the island aredn excellent condition
They are green and free from disease, and the bunches are
full. Thelength of cane also is most satisfactory, and the
October shoots are numerous and healthy.
At the present stage the'cxop is, in our opinion, as
promising as in 1915, at least as faysas plant canes are con-
cerned. But, of course, a good deal? Roped on the weather
of the next two and a half or three months.
We learn that the beetle pest is not_so troublesome as
last year. In the districts in which this pest appears in large
numbers planters have co-operated, and persistently collected
the beetles during this season, They have taken the warn-
ings sounded by the Government Department of Agriculture
and their labours have not been in vain.
The ratoons in many fields in the red soil are’ poor.
Their vigour has not been maintained, and it is clear that
they will not develop much more. ‘There are, of course, some
splendid fields of first ratoons, but the second ratoons are
those to which we principally refer. There are some estates
on which a change will be introduced whereby only first.
ratoons will be kept. This was the system which generally
obtained forty years ago when the Bourbon cane was grown. _
Like the Bourbon, che new varieties give a good return as
plant canes, and the soil is not equal to the strain of second
ratoons, .
The tillage for the fast-approaching planting season is
fairly well advanced in the black soil districts, and
the planters are straining every effort to.manure their fields
before the canes are planted. Je
This planting season will practically see the B.376. dis-
carded, while the B.H. 10 (12), the Ba. 6032, and the B.6450
will be patronized according to the suecess with which their
growth has been attended-in -the different districts of the
island. &
The ripe fields of potatoes are being sold with some
rapidity so as to clear the land for cane planting. »Potatoes
have been sold as cheap as 16lb. for 10c., but 12 tb. for
10c. is the more usual price. c
The yams have had ideal weather and show promise.
Both yams and eddoes of two or three kinds are being sold
in limited quantities. There is an eddo, called the China
eddo, which matures very quickly, and which might be more
generally planted.
The breadfruit crop, which has rendered such opportune
assistance to the food supply, is now drawing to a close.
The Indian corn crop has been practically reaped, and is
being sold at 9s. per bushel. (The Barbados Agricultural
Reporter, November 2, 1918.) °
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left
. Barbados on November 7-forthe purpose of paying an
official visit to Antigua. Sir Francis Watts is expected
to return to Barbados early in December.
At the request of His Excellency the Governor of
Trinidad, Mr. W. Nowell, Mycologist on the Statt of
the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has been
assigned to collaborate with Mr. C. B. Wilhams
Entomologist in charge of Froghopper, Investigations
in an examination of the ¥elation of root disease of
sugar-cane to froghopper damage. Mr. Nowell is
expected to leave for Trinidad early in December; and
to return about the end of Jannary.
360
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
HEAD OFFICE — BARBADOS.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
ommissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Scientific Assistant and W. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Entomologist H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.t+
CLERICAL STAFF,
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants {8 Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Typist Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Agricultural Sews
NOVEMBER 16, 1918. No. 432.
Vou. XVII. SATURDAY,
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
The editorial draws attention to the loss of daily
work in most of these West Indian islands, which is
due to endemic diseases, to a great extent preventible.
Under Insect Notes, on page 362, appears a review
of a recent report on cacao thrips in Grenada.
A scheme of classification for parasitic plant
diseases, and a note on the Panama disease of bananas
in Cuba, appear on page 366,
A short article on the making of orange wine
will be found on page 358,
THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS.
November 16, 1918,
Peace within Sight.
In common with the Mother Country and her
Allies, the West Indian colonies are all rejoicing this
week at the complete success of the Allied Forces.
These islands have been very fortunate in escaping the
miseries and great, privations that have befallen the
countries within actual reach of German barbarity. They
too, however, proudly mourn many of their most promis-
ing sons, who have made the great sacrifice for justice
and liberty. Their privations and discomforts have been
comparatively slight, and West Indians of all ranks
have borne them well for the most part. It is to be
hoped that all classes in these islands may stand the
reaction of the ensuing period of readjustment as
calmly and well. Aswas pointed out in the editorial
of the Agricultural News, January 26, 1918, plenty is
not likely to follow peace so immediately as some people
imagine. Itis the duty of every member of the Empire
to continue to maintain the intensive production and
economical use of all the commodities needed for
the reconstruction of industry and the resumption of
normal conditions of food supply.
aa
The American Agricultural Committee.
The following interesting information is repro-
duced from Science, October 11, 1918. The United
States Department of Agricultural announces the
arrival in England of a committee of men familiar with
food production and agricultural organization activities
in the United States.
The committee will secure general information
regarding food production conditions in England,
France, and Italy, so that when they return they will
be able to reveal the needs more effectively to the lead-
ers of agriculture in the United States, and to farmers
generally. They will also study agricultural problems
in England, France, and Italy, including the use of
machinery and the assignment of labour in farming
operations, the live stock situation, the depletion of
herds, and the probable extent to which Europe may
eall on the United States for live stock to replenish
herds, the seed situation, the probabilities of secur-
ing supplies from Europe, and similar matters.
ee ———_
Openings for West Indian Trade with Canada.
The Government of Canada evidently desires to
develop trade relations with the West Indies. This is
shown by the following despatch recently received by
’ the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the
West Indies from the Superintendent of the Commer-
cial Intelligence Branch of the Department of Trade
and Commerce, Canada, which is published as of inter-
est and importance to West Indian readers :—
‘With a view to encouraging the export of the
natural products of the British West Indies to Canada
we shall be glad to publishin the Weekly Bulletin of
the Department of Trade and Commerce offers of West
Indian products. We shall not publish the address of
the West Indian exporter offering the products, but
will number each offer, and in case we receive letters
from Canadian houses asking for the address, we shall
furnish it by private letter.
Vout. XVII. No, 432.
‘As our space is limited we could not publish a
large number of offers in any one issue of the Weekly
Bulletin, but we shall be glad to publish a few every
week,
It is requested that a separate letter be written for
each subject under correspondence, and that all com-
munications be addressed to the Commercial Intelli-
gence Branch, Department of Trade and Commerce,
Ottawa, Canada.
Anyone in the West Indies who may have com-
modities to place on the market, especially any pro-
ducts the market for which is not yet developed,
would do well to avail himself of tifis opportunity of
advertising, which the Canadian Government places at
his dtsposal.
—_— + aa
The Epidemic of Spanish Influenza.
The accounts received both from America and
England of the widespread outbreaks’ of a virulent
form of influenza, and of the serious consequences
following attacks of the disease, have caused considerable
apprehension lest it should spread through the West
Indies. The following note, which is reproduced from
Science, September 20, 1918, is of interest, and may
be of use under the circumstances.
In aneffort to prevent an epidemic of Spanish
influenza throughout the United States, Surgeon-
General Blue, of the Public Health Service, has pro-
vided a list of methods for the control of the disease.
Dr. Blue’s bulletin of information on the disease,
issued primarily for physicians, contains information
as follows:—
Infectious agent—The Bacillus influenzae of
Pfeiffer.
Sources of infection—The secretions from the nose,
throat, and respiratory passages of cases or of carriers.
Incubation period—One to four days; generally °
two.
Mode of transmission—By direct contact or indi-
rect contact through the use of handkerchiefs, common
towels, cups, mess-gear, or other objects contaminatea
with fresh secretions. Droplet infection plays an
important part. uJ
Period of communicability—As long as the per-
son harbours the causative organism in the respiratory
tract.
Methods of control—The infected individual and
his environment.
Recognition of the disease—By clinical manifes-
tations and bacteriological findings.
Isolation—Bed isolation of infected individuals
during the course of the disease. Screens between
beds are to be recommended.
Immunization—Vaccines are used with only par-
tial success. "
Quarantine—None; impracticable.
Concurrent disinfection—The discharges from
the mouth, throat, nose, and other respiratory passages.
Terminal disinfection—Thorough cleansing, air-
ing and sunning. The causative ofganism is short-
lived outside the host. ;
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 361
$$$ eee
‘ oe measures—The .attendant of the case
should wear a gauze mask: During epidemi
eee g a g epidemics persons
E crowded assemblages, street cars, and the
Peer CupE as regards the danger of promiscuous
coughing and spitting. Patients, because of the ten-
dency to the development of broncho-pneumonia,
should be treated in well-ventillated, warm rooms.
-_-—-—-—"—">- >
Prince Bonaparte’s Collection of Ferns.
- A letter has recently been received by the
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West
Indies from the Custodian of Prince Bonaparte’s Her-
barium in Paris. A portion of this letter is repro-
duced below, as some of the readers of this Journal may
take a fancy tomake a collection of West Indian ferns,
and forward them as requested. Ferns are among the
easiest of botanic specimens to dry and press for her-
barium purposes.
‘His Imperial Highness who has devoted many
long years to the study of ferns has established, in
order to facilitate the determination of the pterido-
logic collections that may be entrusted to him, a her-
barium, which at the present time contains 300,000
specimens.
‘Being desirous of still increasing it by the addition
of the ferns of your regions, allow me to ask you if you
know any people who could gather and forward the
said ferns to us. The more there will be the better.
It is understood that we will pay the expenses of
carriage, and that we will give the collectors the
amount asked for their trouble. If you know any who
are willing to do this, please give me their names
and addresses so that we can write to them.’
Any letters or specimens are to be addressed to
Monsieur C. Belhatte, Conservateur de l’Herbier de
S.A.I le Prince Bonaparte, 10 Avenue d’Iena, Paris.
EE
A New Citrus Fruit of the Philippines.
An article in the Philippine Agricultun
Review, Vol. X, No. 4, by P. ip Westee sabe bs
interesting account of the ‘miaray’,a new species of
citrus, discovered by him.
Apart from a purely botanicai point of view,
new forms are at present also of great interest as
opening up new possibilities in hybridization, espe-
cially in connexion with the problem of breediag new
types resistant or immune to citrus canker (Pseudo-
monas citri, Hasse).
The ‘miaray’ (Citrus miaray, n. sp.), described
and named by the author, was found by him in August
1917 in the interior of Mindanao, at an elevation of
750 metres.
With its willowy, slender, drooping branches, and
dense crown of dark-green foliage, the miaray is an
exceedingly handsome tree, about 6 metres in height.
The fruit is about the size of a iime. It is pleas-
antly acid, and may be used like the ‘lime. The
clean, vigorous growth of the tree indicates that it ig
likely to prove a desirable stock for other cultivated
varieties of the citrus.
ow
362
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. -
NovemsBer 16, 1918,
TT a we
INSECT NOTES.
REPORT* ON CACAO THRIPS (HELIO-
THRIPS RUBROCINCTUS) IN
GRENADA IN 1917.
This report contains an account. by Mr. F. W. Urich of
a visit in 1917 to Grenada which was made at the request
of the Government of that island.
The title of the report is ‘Thrips, Black Ants, and other
Insect Pests of Cacao in Grenada, and a note on Coco-nut
Disease, Report presented to the Government of Grenada by
F. W. Urich, Entomologist, Board of Agriculture, Trinidad.’
Mr. Urich’s occurrad during the period August 18
to September 25,1917. It appears to have resulted from
a somewhat more extensive occurrence than usual of thrips
( Aeliothrips rubrocinctus) Quaring the latter part of the year
1916 which caused members of the Agricultural and Com-
mercial Society to view the situation with alarm. The
attention of the Government was directed to this serions
menace to the staple industry of. the island, and in a reso-
lution dated November 29, 1916, the hope was expressed
that Mr. Urich’s services might be obtained for a few weeks
at as early a date as possible
During his visit Mr. Urich inspected cacao in most
parts of the island, and gave spraying demonstrations in
several districts.
As far as the information regarding thrips is concerned,
the report contains nothing new. Mr. Urich found that thrips
probably occurs on every cacao estate, but that its serious
attacks appear to be confined to the southern and western
parts of the island.
With regard to the status of thrips in Grenada, Mr,
Urich found himself at variance with the frequently expressed
opinion of the officers of the Imperial Department of Agricul-
ture. He states that ‘the position of thrips is that of a first class
primary pest of cocao, which demands serious and united
attention on the part of all cacao planters, especially those in
the western and southern parts of the island. While good
cultural methods will help to keep down the numbers of
thrips, this is not enough, and regular spraying must be
resorted to. It is the only sure way of keeping it in bounds
and preventing it affecting the cacao crops.’
Under the heading ‘Recommendations’, the following
statements occur: ‘if thrips are to be kept under in the island a
universal campaign is necessary, and every planter and peasant
proprietor should endeavour to spray his cacao trees for thrips
at the right time... If spraying is not taken up universally,
then the Government may consider the advisability of intro-
ducingesuch measures as it sees fit to make the control of
thrips by spraying compulsory for all. Stress is put on
spraying, as it is the writer’s opinion that although thrips can
be controlled toa certain extent by cultural methods, it is
absolutely necessary that it be sprayed also.’
In 1900 Mr. Maxwell-Lefroy, the Entomologist on the Statt
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, considered thrips
a possible enemy to cacao rather than an actual pest, He
recommen led spraying as an emergency measure, and advo-
cated good cultural methods for keeping the health and
vigour of the cacao trees at the highest level, and the thrips
at the lowest. or the past seventeen years this has been the
steadfast policy of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
as is shown by all the published accounts of cacao thrips,
and all references to this insect in connexion with its occa-
sional outbreaks.
——-s=
In 1915 the writer of this review went further, and
stated that outbreaks of thrips indicate that something is
wrong with the attacked trees, and that thrips, in Grenada
at least, ought to be considered a useful insect, because its
presence is a certain indication that the trees are suffering
from some untoward condition. (Vide Agricultural News,
Vol!" XTV, p- 314t)
The factors which may atfect cacao trees, and are observed
to-result in enormous increase of thrips, are root disease,
unfavourable soil conditions, including shallow, infertile soil,
lack of drainage. or impropar drainage, lack of organic matter
in soil, lack of proper shade for plants and soil, exposure to
wind, or any other cultural or environmental condition which
affects the health of the tree.
Cultural treatment of cacao plantations for the
control of thrips is fundamental, and may reasonably be
expected to reduce the numbers of this insect to such a point
that spraying will only be necessary under exceptional]
circuinstances,;and at widely separated times. As an insect,
thrips is present on nearly every cacao tree in Grenada at
almost all times, and it also occurs on several other trees;
but it is only at certain times in certain districts, or even on
certain trees, that outbreaks occur, and the same trees and
the same localities are the sites of their development year
after year.
Once the outbreak has fairly started, however, the
insect, favoured by the condition of the trees in the thrips
‘patches’ or ‘areas’ where it may be said to be endemic,
breeds to numbers beyond the capacity of these trees to”
support, and they may extend to the surrounding trees, and
the more general occurrences or epidemics take place.
There are in Grenada many areas in which thrips
appear never to haye occurred to such an extent as to
cause appreciable loss of crop or apparent injury to the trees,
although it appears that these trees at most times carry
afew thrips, and are in some cases in close juxtaposition
to areas which have been severely attacked.
In the report under consideration it is stated that ‘the
pest isnot widespread yet, but as it may become s0 it is
necessary that it shonld be controlled before it gets out of
hand,
In 1900 thrips ocsurred in all parts of the island, even as
in 1917, and although during that period of seventeen years
no continued, systematic spraying for the control of thrips has
been practised for any length of time, Mr. Urich states that
the pest is not ‘widespread yet.’ During the same period the
exports of cacao have risen from: 53,000 bags in 1900 to
77,000 bags in 1917. The crops for the years 1916 aud 1917
were the largest in the history of the eacao industry ih
Grenada.
The following figures show the amonnts of cacao
exported from Grenada in each year from 1900 to 1917:—
Year. No, of bags. Year, No. of bags,
1900 58,388 1909 67,329
1901 53,887 1910 73,863
1902 61,286 1911 67,144
1903 63,019 1919 70,082
1904 67,225 1913 63,456
1905 64,319 1914 65,510
1906 54,381 1915 62,166
1907 60,089 1916 76,980
1908 64,398 1917 14275
The cacao industry has made this progress over a long
period of years without any remedial measures being applied
other than the improvement of cultivation, which has natur-
ally resulted from extended experience and increased know-
Von. XVII. No. 432,
“THE AGRICULTURAL NEWs
363
: 2 ae
ledge of the requirements of the trees “on the part of the
planters. The Government is not likely to be greatly attracted
a policy of compulsion to control an insect which, on the
whole, has not seriously interfered with the development of
the industry.
Mr. Urich can be supported in so far as his recommend-
ations are to the effect that every cacao planter ought to supply
himself with spraying apparatus, which he should know how
to use, and with insecticides, the use of which also he should
understand, and he should be energetic in spraying,
whenever thrips develop to such an extent as to cause
actual damage, either in the amount of thecrop, or by
injury to his trees.
In the section of the report under the heading ‘Does
Spraying Pay’, the result of an experiment carried out in
Trinidad is quoted to show that spraying does pay. But the
expetiment was one in which a combined object was sought —
the control both of an insect pest and of fungoid diseases.
Bordeaux mixture and ‘Black leaf 40’ were used together,
the former against the Phytophthora diseases (canker and
pod rot), and the latter against thrips. There is nothing
in that experiment to show that spraying for the control of
thrips pays.
In the section of the report on black ants, Mr. Urich
states that the ‘black ants do no direct damage on the trees
they inhabit, but they live on the secretions of scale insects,
aphides, and other Homoptera.
The insect referred tois the acrobat ant (Cremm.asto-
gaster brevispinosa, var. minutior), of which an account was
given in the Agricultural News in 1914 (Vol. XIII, p. 298).
In 1915 it was stated to possess great possibilities as a pest
of cacao in that island in an abstract of a report on a visit
to Grenada published in the Agricultural News (Vol. XIV,
p. 514). This insect .is a direct and serious pest of cacao
and other trees. It invades pruning cuts, wounds caused by
the breaking of branches. or other injuries and attacks the
living tissues of bast, cambium, and sap wood, preventing
a proper healing over of the exposed surfaces, and is res-
ponsible for many cavities in the tissues of the trees.
SUMMARY.
Mr. Urich finds thrips a serious pest in Grenada, and
makes very strong recommendations for universal spraying
for its control. He considers this insect to be increasing in
destructiveness. He believes that cultural measures for the
improvement of the condition of cacao trees are useful, but
not of fundamental importance. .
The Imperial Department of Agriculture maintains that
cultural measures are fundamental, and spraying a pallia-
tive, and that as the agricultural problems are resolutely
faced and overcome, the necessity for spraying for the
control of thrips will become less and less.
The argument to the effect that thrips is increasing
in destructiveness in Grenada would seem to be met
effectively by reference to the figures showing the amount of
cacao exported for the past seventeen years, during which
thrips has been known to occur in Grenada, while the
figures for the years 1916 and 1917 appear to dispose of the
serious menace to the staple industry of the island, which was
complained of by the members of the Agricultural and
Commercial Society. The crops of 1916 and 1917 were
about 12,000 bags above the average for the ten-year period
(1906-15) just preceding.
With regard to the black ant, Mr. Urich says it does
no direct harm. In making this statement he apparently
had in mind the harmful indirect action of the acrobat ant
in protecting scale insects. The attacks of this insect on
the tissues of the trees are very real and serious.
H.A.B.
HINTS FOR COOKING JERUSALEM
ARTICHOKES.
Professor Cockerell, at the close of the article referred
to on page 365 of this issue of the Agricultural News, gives
the following directions and recipes for cooking Jerusalem
artichokes, for which he says he is indeb'ed to Mrs, Cockerell.
The tubers have a delicious aroma (due to essential oil)
when cooking, and this should be preserved, as far as possi-
ble, by keeping them covered. They should be put in
boiling water, a few tubers at a time, so as not to lower the
temperature; steaming would probably be still better, reduc-
ing the loss of soluble contents. The boiling should continue
fifteen to twenty minutes (possibly less at sea-level) when
the skin is easily removed. At this stage the following
recipes may be employed, but in the case of the salad
(No. 2), the preliminary cooking should last a little
longer: —
1. Soup may be made with the addition of celery tops
rubbed through a colander, with milk, or stock, or cream
added.
2. The cooked tubers, sliced with egg, or celery, or
endive, served with French dressing or mayonnaise, make
a delicious salad.
3. Slice the boiled or steamed tubers, cover with milk
use salt and pepper to taste, cover with bread crumbs, and
then bake for an hour. Grated cheese may be added to
this dish.
4. Slice boiled tubers, and fry with steak or chops.
5. Slice boiled tubers, mash, and cream, salt and pepper,
or cream them by adding sliced tubers to rich, white sauce,
and serve with toast, :
In Cuba, it is said, that the tubers, after being boiled,
are mashed, with the addition of flour and seasoning to taste,
and are then formed into cakes, and fried.
The Four O'Clock (Mirabilis Jalapa).—In the
International Review of the Science and Progress of Agricul-
ture, July 1918, there appears an interesting note on an
article by a writer in Za Revista Agricola, May 1, 1918, on
studies made on a plant well known in the West Indies as
Four o'clock (A/tralilis Jalipa), This plant was introduced
from South America into Europe under the name of ‘Marvel
of Peru’, and a description and a very accurate engraving of it
is to be found in Parkinson’s Garden of Pleasant Flowers,
published in 1522. The West Indian name doubtless arose
from the fact that the flowers always open about 4 o'clock in
the afternoon.
The author of the article referred to above has made a
long study on this plant, and concludes that its cultivation
for various industrial uses is advisable.
When grown in gardens it flowers excessively, to the
detriment of the seed, which is small. In arid soil, however,
especially with ashes, it flowers less, and the seeds are much
larger and richer in starch.
The stamens, pistils, and perianth (which dries ug
without separating fiom the seed) give a fast, purplish colour
which dyes silk.
The starch contained in the seed is of very good quality,
When freed from the husk and germs, the seeds givea fine
flour which may be used for making bread, paste, biscuits, etc.;
they may also be subjected to fermentation, as they contain
a sugar.
The cultivatiou of this plant in malarial districts might
be advantageous: the flowers open in the evening, and during
the night give off a smell which is said to keep away
or to stupefy mosquitoes, thus making them inoffensive.
364
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS November 16, 1918.
GLEANINGS.
According to Ze Times. September 13, 1918, the area
under wheat in England and Wales is 2 556,000 acres, and
a production for this harvest may be anticipated of 10,500,000
gnarters, or fully 3 300,000 quarters more than last year.
It is expected that the vorn crop in Jamaica will finish
much earlier that was anticipated. The dry weather has had a
good deal to do with curtailing the production. In_ certain
well informed circles it has been stated that the dry weather
has caused a shortage of fully 33,000 bushels in the is'and’s
supply. (The Jamaica Gleaner, October 4, 1918.)
The Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labour,
Cuba, issued a statement on August 10, announcing that
the total sugar production of the crop of 1917-18 amounts
to 3,408,878 tons. No decision- has yet been arrived at
as to the price to be allowed by the International Sugar
Committee for Cuban sugars during the next season. (The
Cuba Review, September 1918.)
Bulletin 328 of the Obio Agricultural Experiment
Station says that an acre ot land devoted to the growing of
corn, with an average yield of 35 bushels, will produce more
than four times as much energy if used directly asa human
food than if devoted to pork production in the growing of
corn and clover in the most desirable proportion for economic
rk production. An acre of wheat, with an average yield
of 23 bushels, will furnish more than thirteen times as much
energy a8 an acre devoted to beef production.
——
The Veo York Journal of Commerce is quoted in the
Pei eae Firs October 17, 1918, as stating that the
importation of copra into the United States grew from
56,000,000 tb. in the fiscal year 1914 to 247,000,000 Db. in
1917. The imports are drawn from more than thirty coun-
tries and islands, the Philippine Islands supplying nearly one-
half, The quantity of coco-nut oil imported has also grown
rapidly from 74,000,000 b. in 1914 to about 250,000,000 b.,
the Philippines, as in the case of copra, contributing about
one-half.
According to an address, on the fertilizer requirements
on citrus trees, by H.J. Webber, Director of the: Citrns
Experiment Station, Riverside, California, delivered before
the State Fruit Growers’ Convention in 1914, it would seem
that, in general, one of the factors of fundamental importance
in citrus groves is to increase the amount of organic matter
in the soil; and this can probably best be done by the regular
use of a cover crop. This bears out the results of similar
experiments undertaken on lime plots in some of these West
Indian islands.
F In Mauritius, according to’Co/onial Reports—Annual,
No. 961, the fibre industry has been much hampered
by lack of shipping facilities. However, with the
satisfactory prices in the home markets, remuner-
ative prices were obtained locally, and a certain quantity of
good fibre turned out. Experiments with the new Corona
decorticating machine were continued during the year.- In
the treatment of sisal leaves (Agave) it has proved to be
a complete success, and further trials are contemplated for
dealing with the local fibre plant (Furcraea).
The Revista de Agricultura de Puerto Rico, June 1918,
contains on article by Mr. J, A. Stevenson, of the Insular
Agricultural Station, drawing the attention of the planters in
that island to Johnson grass as a particularly dangerous
plant. The writer says that, unfortunately, by some means
or other, this grass has obtained an entry into Porto Rico.
It has been noticed in different situations in the sur-
roundings of Rio Piedras, and is very common in the district
of pine-apple cultivations, around Vega Baja. Planters are
warned that it is very difficult to eradicate if once it has
established itself, both on account of its perennial root sys-
tem, and also on account of the number of seeds it produces.
The cultivation of onions, potatoes, and other vegetables
for the United States markets still continues to be the chief
agricultural industry of the Bermuda Islands. The principal
market is New York. From figures given in Colonial Reports—
Annual, No, 960, it appears that the quantity of potatoes
exported from those islands in 1916 was 55,150 barrels, of
a declared value of £58,414. The quantity of the onions
exported during the same year was 147,000 crates, of the
value of £33,446; While the quantity of other green veget-
ables exported also in 1916 was 252,233 crates, valued at
£36,817. It is also to be noticed that there were exported
during the same year 1,224 packages of the well-known
Bermuda lily bulbs, valued at £1,305.
The International Institute of Agriculture has laid down
a definite system for furming its estimates of crop condition.
The fixed basis (100) was a definition formulated by the
teneral Assembly of that Institute during the session of
1911. The number, 100, which is the basis of the system, is
defined as representing a condition which, apart from any
subsequent extraordinary occurrence, forecasts a yield for each
unit of area equiva)ent to the Jast ten years. Every possible
crop condition is stated in percentages of this fundaraental
basis. For example, if the average yield ofa given cereal is
20 bushels, and the forecast is a yield of 21 bushels per acre,
that will be represented by 105. Buta forecast of 19 will
be represented by 95¢ (Documentary Leaflets of the Internas
tional Institute of Agriculture, Rome, August 15, 1918.)
Vor. XVII. No. 432.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, A NEG-
LECTED SOURCE OF FOOD.
Under the above title, Professor T. D. A. Cockerell, of
the University of Colorado, contributed an article to the
Scientific Monthly, March 1918, to which we are indebted for
much of the following.
The sun-flowers, genus Helianthus, are native only to
the Western Hemisphere. About seventy valid species are
recognized by botanists as occurring in. America, north of
Mexico, and between twenty and thirty species are found
south of that line as far as-Pern.
The species of Helianthus in the north-eastern United
States and the adjacent parts of Canada develop edible
tubers, so that there is a group of sun-flowers which possess
no permanent aerial stems, but are reproduced annually both
by seedsand by underground stems. Plants like these are
ordinarily classed as perennials; they are, however, only
perennial in the same sense as the potato is. Among these
perennial sun-flowers is the Jerusalem artichoke (/e/ianthus
tuberosus).
Asin the case of the potato, the tubers of the Jerusalem
artichoke arise from underground stems. The tubers of the
potato are terminal, that is to say, produced at the extremity
of the underground stem, whereas those of the Jerusalem
artichoke are formed laterally also, or the underground stem
itself may swell up and become a tuber. Consequently the
Jerusalem artichoke bears a mass of tubers close to the main
stem, although others may be more widely separated in the
soil. Accorlingly the tubers are very easy to harvest, and
the space occupied by them is surprisingly small considering
their quantity.
Helianthus tuberosus is not the only member of the
genus which has been used as a source of edible tubers.
H. subtuberosus, the so-called Indian potato of Michigan, has
thick, fleshy, edible tubers. 7. doronicoides,a native of
Ohio, is used as food in Europe in the same manner as salsify.
As asource of food, Helianthus tuberosus was well
known to the natives of America long before the advent of
the white man. The tubers were much valued by the Indians
oo account of their hardiness and productiveness, and because
they retained possession of the soil for many years. These
tubers were mentioned by the French explorer Champlain
in 1603, and brought to France by Lescarbot in 1612, who
described them as being as big as small turnips, excellent to
eat, with the taste of artichoke, but more agreeable, and
multiplying in a wonderful way. Strange to say, though
originally so much valued in the New World, the plant is
now much more cultivated in the Old World,
The tubers appear to have been highly appreciated in
Europe from the first. The plant was grown in the Farnese
Gardens at Rome, and was distributed thence under the
name of Girasole Articiocco, or sun-flower artichoke. Par-
kinson, the English botanist, noted in‘1629 that they were
then very commonly offered for sale in London.
The name artichoke is supposed to be derived from the
Arabic name applied to a thistle-like plant, Cyxara Scolymus,
a native of the Old World. This is the true artichoke, and
the edible part of that plant is the flower head, particularly
the thickened involucral bracts. This and the Jerusalem
artichoke have little in common, the plants being entirely
different in appearance, and furnishing quite different parts
as food. The name artichoke appears to have been given to
flelianthus tuberosus solely on account of its somewhat
similar flavour, while -‘Jéefusalem’ is only an English
corruption of the Italian ‘Girasole,’ which means sun-flower.
Thus the designation ‘Jerusalem artichoke’ is as misleading as
‘Guinea pig’. The French have a distinctive name, ‘Topin-
ambour’, and the name in Spanish is ‘Cotufa’. In view
of the astonishing size of the crop and the value of the
tubers as human food, it is singular that this plant is so
largely neglected at present in the western world.
An experiment conducted by Professor Cockerell himself
in Colorado gave a yield of 9°66 tons to the acre, and this
has been exceeded in several other localities of the United
States. In England, Messrs. Sutton & Sons have reported
a yield of 18 stone of splendid tubers from 6 tb. planted.
It must be remembered that the average yield of potatoes in
the United States is said to be 84°5 bushels, though rising
in some States to an average of over 150 bushels. Against
this, the ‘Encyclopedia Americana’ states that the usual yield
of Jerusalem artichokes is 200 to 500 bushels per acre, and
that 1,000 bushels are sometimes obtained. The Jerusalem
artichoke requires less labour to plant and to cultivate than
the potato.
As a tuber for general cultivation, the Jerusalem arti-
choke is not likely to become a successful competitor of the
sweet potato and other edible tubers cultivated in the tropics,
although it can be grown and give very large returns in
these regions. It is, for instance, successfully grown in the
Philippine Islands and in some of these West Indies.
Under the cultivation in Europe, especially in the hands
of Vilmorin in France, and Sutton in England, several
improved varieties have been put on the market, and doubt-
less such breeders in the future will stiil more improve the
plants, and produce sorts adapted to special purposes and
conditions.
The food value is about the same as that of the potato.
Asa food for stock, particularly hogs, it is stated that the
Jerusalem artichoke is about equal to potatoes, and ricber in
protein than sweet potatoes. The dried leaves and stalks of
the plant have been fed to sheep and cows, and found
about equal in nutritive value to good meadow hay. The
young plants are also sometimes used as forage for cattle.
As a human food, the tubers can be used boiled as a
vegetable, or as a salad, or in soup. In preparing them for the
table, the irregularity of the tubers makes them hard to peel,
and their peculiar taste is sometimes objected to at first,
although it is easy to acquire a liking for them.
The cultivation of this plant, which is equally valuable
as food for man and beast, might add very considerably to the
food resources of these islands. The greatest obstacles seem
to be prejudice and want of knowledge.
In Cuba, some interest is being taken in the cultivation
of this plant. An article in the official organ of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Cuba, July 1918, from the pen of Dr.
Mario Calvino, draws the attention of Cuban planters to the
desirable qualtities of the Jerusalem artichoke. The Doctor
considers that the best way to grow this crop is to select
healthy and vigorous small, tubers, and to plant them in
furrows, about 3 feet apart, the tubers being placed abont
2 feet one from the other.
365 _
BEG
. PLANT DISEASES.
—_—
A SCHEME OF OLASSIFICATION FOR
PARASITIC PLANT DISEASES.
In a paper by Fy. L,, Stevens (Bofanical Gazxttte, Vol.
€3. No. 4) the need, which will be generally admitted, fora
classification of plant diseases, with-reference to the nature of
the parasitism involved, is pointed ont, and the following
useful scheme is suggested to this end: —
I. The parasite living in the sap or in cavities or parts
deyoid of living protoplasm:—
(a) Wilt disease, due to mechanical stoppage of
‘vascular bundles by parasites, e.g. 2. so/aza-
cearuni :
(b) Diseases caused by disintegration of xylem
structures, e-g. various -wood rots, Hydnum,
fories, ete. width
II. The parasite for the most part of its life drawing its
soatriment from host cells that are still living:— 2
(a) Endecellular parasites—the strictest type ot
parasite, e.g. Sychutrtunt,
() Diseases due to parasites which draw their
nutriment from living cells by haustoria (endo-
cellular haustorial parasitism,) e.g- Perovos-
pora, Cystopus.
(c) Diseases affecting only live epidermal cells
(epidermitis), e.g. Lrvsiphales
(a) Diseases in which the parasite grows between
the living host-cells; absorption is by the inter- |
eg. ,
cellular mycelium (intercellular mycosis),
rusts.
{e} Diseases in which the host tissue is displaced ,
or replaced by fungous masses (mycosclerosis),
e.g. Claviceps and the smuts.
(f) The tumour-like diseases, e.g. Pseudomonas
tumefaciens.
[IIl. The parasite living Within host-cells or tissues
which have recently been killed or partly disorganized by it: —
(a) Diseases in which the dominant feature is
death of the host-cells before they are actually
invaded by the parasite (necrosis). According
to the part involved we may recognize:—
(i) Cortical necrosis, in-which the cortex chiefly is
involved, e.g. Spharropsis.
(ii) Parenchymal necrosis, in which the paren-
chyma is affected, including the greater
number of the soft roots, e.g. ARArsopus
Penscallium.,
(iii Macular necrosis, ia which necrosis is limited
to spots chiefly oceurring on leaves. Of this
there are twe types, according to whether
there is abscission, or not, Examples of the
former are Cy/indrosporium and Marssonta;
of the latter, Psexdopéciza and Sepforia.
THE PANAMA DISEASH OF BANANAS IN
CUBA
‘pr. J. B.! Johnston, Plant Rathologist, Department of
Agriculture, Cuba contributes anvarticle to the! Aezis/a de
Agricultur2, COMMIS Trabajo for August 1918, on the
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
or Ooo—
_and withering of the leaves.
NovemsBer 16, 1918.
banana and its diseases, the greater portion of which is devoted
to the Panama disease This disease is caused by a fungus
(Fusarium cubense), and has caused severe loss to growers of
bananas in Cuba, especially in the case of two highly valued .
varieties known as ‘Manzano’ and ‘Johnston’, Entire planta-
tions of from 10,090 to 29,000 plants have been destroyed '
by the progress of the disease. Many planters have given up.
the cultivation of those two varieties, substituting for them
another which goes by the name of ‘Macho’,
Lhe first symptoms of the disease are the yellowing
The bunch of frpit becomes
twisted or aborted, or at least the fruits become small and
dry. The stem of vigorous plants attacked splits longitudin-
ally from the outside inwards. The suckers remain green
until they too begin to show symptoms of the disease, and are”
unable to produce a healthy bunch of fruit. Suecessive
generations of plants are in every case smaller and smaller.
Transverse sections of a diseased stem show that the-
fibro vascular tissues are affected with a yellow discoloration
changing to red and brown, which at length turns almost
black. A transverse section of a diseased root-stock shows
the central portion much discoloured, owing to the presence
of the disease-producing organism which traverses it.
There arefew healthy roots, and these are to be found
chietly towards the surface of the soil, taking their origin »
from the upper part of the rootstock. The only varieties of
banana badly attacked in Cuba by this disease are the Man-
zano and the Johnston. On the other hand, there are several.
varieties which Dr. Johnston says may be considered for the
present as immune. A similiar fungus however attacks these
very varieties in Panama, and apparently the same fungus
attacks other of these varieties in Porto Rico. he advice is
given that in place of the Johnston banana in those districts
where the disease occuts, one of the immune varieties should
be planted. :
Many investigations have been undertaken in the hope
of discovering effective remedies against this disease. Chemi-
cal fertilizers have been applied to plants attacked, obtaining
in some cases a vigorous growth but withont conquering the
disease. ‘
Chemicals have heen injected into the stem of the plant
attacked without apparent results. Healthy plants from a °
district free of the disease have been brought into an
infected district and» they have contracted the disease.
Diseased plants have been carried to spots free of the disease
without any benefit resulting from such transplantations,
Other crops have been cultivated for three years in fields
where the disease existed, and when replanted with bananas
the disease has broken out afresh. The control of this
disease is certainly a great problem for the Cuban Vepart-
ment of Plant Pathology.
results in the line of preventive measnres have been
obtained by destroying the infected plants, disinfecting ,
all instruments used in their cultivation, preventing the
transport of earth or plants from infected fields, and forbid-
ding the transport g& plants from au infected region ‘to
another where the disease may not exist.
Diseased plants ought to be cut down. The stems
should be cut in pieces and burnt with the foliage as
completely as possible; the remainder ought to have a covers
ing of quicklime. It is to be hoped that effectual remedial
measures for combating this disease may soon be found.
Up to the present, only partial, —
7)
Vor. XVII. No. 452. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 367
NEW ZEALAND HEMP.
Under the above heading, an interesting article occurs in
_ The Times Trade Supplement, October 1918. Tt would
-appear*that this fibre might possioly succeed in other
,countries on swampy lands. The plant belongs to the
Liliaceae, 10 which family the common aloes of the West
Indies also belongs. The following is taken from the article
referred to:—
British cordage manufacturers and American and
Australian makers of binder twine for harvesters are fully
conversant with New Zealand hemp (Phormium ftenax), or
flax, asit is called in this country. It is made from the
fibrous structure or ‘skeleton’ of the leaf of the Phormium
by a process of scraping the. green pulpy coating of the
~Yéaf, and washing the remaining fibre in water, drying it in
the open air, scutching and polishing it when it is fairly
bleached, and then packing it in hanks, which are done up
into bales, which usually go 5 bales to the ton.
The Phormium tenax is distributed throughout’ New
Zealand from north to south, but it is most abundant in
swamps in the Manawatu district, at’ the extreme south of
_ the North Island, and here it is worked and attended to
‘more as a crop. The swamps are all drained, and roaded for
light tramways. Although the flax nominally prows wild,
the swamps nevertheless are carefully looked after, and
especially so for fires, and a very largesum of money in the
aggregate is spent annually on their draining. This éultiva-
tion, if the term be permitted, has resulted in the production
of 20 to 40 tons of green leaf per acre from swamps _ several
feet under water all the year round, and considered worthless.
The leaves are from 5 to 8 feet long. They are
“’sword-shaped, and grow in clumps. ‘The clump or bush is
eut down, ‘int grows to full height four years after.
The Phormium tenax does not appear to suffer greatly
from frosts. It is grown in England as an ornamental plant,
and is being grown in St. Helena as a commercial under-
taking, with what it is hoped will be satisfactory results~ to~
the people of that island.
The use of flax for rope, string, and twine by the Maoris
was general from the time they arrived in New Zealand, and
it was probably used for the same purposes by the people
whom they displaced, and of whom but very few traces
remain. Flax-weaving was brought to a fine art by the
a: Maoris, who made ceremonial garments of the woven fibre,
and soinetimes introduced feathers into the fabric for orna-
mental effect. These cloaks are today worn on great
occasions, and are held in great respeeb by their owners, to
whom they have come as heirlooms.
' The modern use of the flax fibre is for making up into
binder twine fo: harvesters, and for this purpose it is shipped
_ to the United States (before the war through London). It
is made into binder twine also in Australia and in New
’ Zealand, and for this purpose is said to be superior to every
other fibre.
The manufacture of the fibre is quite simple, and the
principle ismuch thesame as the Maori women observed.
The green leaf is cut well down to the butt. Work in the
swamps is hard in hot weather, but the ground is then quite
dry under foot. There is no malaria, and there are no
noxious insects or other pests. The leaves are bundled up,
and carried by tramway tothe mill. Here leaf by leaf it is
fed into the stripper, which is a solid steel dram shaped wheel
of about 12 inches in diameter, with zigzag ridges on -its
_ periphery. Asthis wheel revolves with great rapidity it
serapes the flax leaf or blade again§t a steel bar, and. so
trees it of its gummy green.coating, The fibre is then
drawn away and washed, and thence conveyed to drying
paddocks, which are used for no other purpose. ‘The fibre
is hung along wires or allowed to bleach on the grass.
These paddocks amount in the aggregate to an enormous
acreage. When dry, and sufficiently bleached, the fibre is
conveyed back to the mill for scutching and baling. Tt is
afterwards graded by Government officers, and is sold on its
grade note.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
i
MARKET. ;
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol-
lowing report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of September, 1918:— :
The general condition of trade in the J.ondon produce
market during the month of September showed .very little
change from that contained in our report for the previous
months, either in the bulk of produce brought forward Or
disposed of, or in the matter of prices paid or demanded;
though the general tendency continues in an upward “dirée-
tion, and is likely to do soas long as the war continues.
The following are the chief items affecting West Indian
products: — TT
GINGER AND PIMENTO, el
Ginger has been in very quiet demand throughout the
month. At auction on the 15th, fair washed Cockin was
quoted at 175s. and Japan at 140s. Ab the first. spice
auction on the 5th of the month, Pimento was gnoted at
from 67d. to 7/¢.—a price that was continued to the end of
the month. ar ‘
SARSAPARILLA. : ?
i & {i
This drug was in full supply at auction on the 26th
of the month, being represented by 19 bales of grey
Jamaica, 30 ‘of native Jamaica, 26 of Lima-Jamaiea,
and 3 of Honduras. The grey Jamaica was all disposed
at from 5s. 2¢. to 5s. Td. per tbh. for fair and pari
mouldy; +40 bales out of the 80 offered of native Jamaica
were disposed of at the following rates: for yellow
to dull red 3s. per tb., and dull red to fair red 3s. Ad.
to 3s. 6¢. There were no buyers for either the Lima-Jamaica
or the Honduras.
KOLA, OASSIA FISTULA, CITRIC ACID, AND TAMARINDS,
Kola was fully represented at the auction on the 26th'>#
the month by 56 packages; 2 only,’ however. found
buyers, 87. per lb. being paid for ordinary mouldy from
Antigua; the remainder—good bright West African ghar-
ters—were all bought in at ls. 3d. per tb. Cassia Fistula was
reported at auction on the 19th of the month as being scarce
in consequence of the non-arrival of any consignment, which it-
was stated would probably fetch 150s: per ewt. when they ajd
arrive. Citric acid has been the subject of some interest
during the month in consequence, it.was reported, of a con-
siderable rise in the raw material due to its demand for
export. Prices which at the early part of the month ranged
from 3s. 7d. to 3y. 8d. per Ib, had advanced at the close to
3y.11d@ and in some cases, it was said, as much as 4s. 6¢. had
been paid. There has been but little demand for tamarings.
The price asked at the beginning of .the month was 140s.
per cwt.,in bond. , i, i vg 4
7
London.—Tue
8 ' THE AGRICULTURAL
MARKET REPORTS.
West Inpra Committee CIRCULAR,
August 22.
ARRowRooT—No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, mo auo-
tations.
Berswax—No quotations. -
Cacao—Trinidad, 90.-; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
NEWS.
Nowemser 16, 1918.
New York.—Messrs. Grttespre Bros. & Co., October 2.
Cacao—Caracas, 13sec. to 1de.; Grenada, 13§c.;\‘Trinidad,
l5jc. to 14c.; Jamaica, 12c. to 124c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $5000; Trinidad $52-00
culls, $27 -00 to $29°00 per M.
CorreE—Jamaiea, lhe. to 10$c. per tk.
Gincrer—l7c. to 22c. per th.
Goar Sxrxs—Iimportation prohibited.
Grare Fruit—Jamaica, $4°50) to $5°50.
tions. Hi say
Corree—Jamaica, no quotations Limes—Importation prohibited.
Copra—£46 , a Macze—40c. to 45c. per tb.
Nurmecs—‘ic. to 32c.,—unassorted.
Ornances—$4 “50.
Prtento—9 jc. to 10c. per tb.
Suvearn—Centrifugals, 96°, 6-055c; Muscovados, 89°, 5-0d65e.
Molasses, 89°, 4°998c. all duty paid.
Fruit—No quotations.
Gryczr—Jamaica, no quotations.
Howey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lore Juice—Raw, 4/6 to5/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Nourmecs—No quotations.
Prnento—9d.
Rosser—Para, fine hard, 3/04; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations,
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpox, Grant & Co., October 4. Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co,, October 18.
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations; Trinidad, no quota-
tions.
Coco-nut O1m—$1-46 per gallon.
Corrse—Venezuelan, lic. per fb..
Corra—$7°25 per 100 fb.
Daat—$11°50 to $12°00 per bag.
Ontons—$10-00 per'100 th. .
Peas, Sprir—$8‘00 per bag.
Poratoss—Hnglish, $4°00 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow,-$13'00 to $13°25; White, 39°00 per bag.
Scear—American crushed, nv quotations.
ArrowrootT—$12‘00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—$12:00 to $12°50 per i00 fo.
Coco-nuts—$30°00 husked nuts.
Hay—$3:00.
Mo tasses—No quotations.
Owstons—No quotations.
Pras, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations,
Potators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran
“goor, no.quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $5°50.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
° The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the :aformation contained in them»
ls especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progreas and:
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed ia time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by tla
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postaga, is
4s. 2d per half-year, or 3s, 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, aach.
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Detau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
Wesr Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonavre, ‘Times’ Office.
Barbados: Apvooate Co. Lrv., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nixxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THe EpucationaL Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripckwarezr, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Toe Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Manone, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-Maxsuaxt & Co., Port-of-Spain, St, Kitts: Tes Bisce anp Book Supety Acency, Basserareg
Tobago: Mr. C. L. Pragemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Mr. W. I. Howext, Experiment Station.
Bahamas: Mr. H. G. Cuersttie, Board of Agriculture, Nassau. Canado: Lewis W, Cremens, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we are prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
> ————
. Being possessed of ample financial resources. and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining ‘from time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and_how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
m exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying — facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to oUr business of Cotton Seed -Crusning, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are . open to handle any “possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE! AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS. -
Vou. XVII. No. 432 THE AGRICULTURAL NWS, ircaaes 16, -1918,
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being,
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements. '
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
orks: Victoria Docks, E.
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large planiau.ui supply business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage,
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
4 BARBADOS.
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street! Bridgetown, Barbados,
— ERO rs = .
__SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1918, [One penny. _
R. M. S. P.
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
y TO | PORTS OF CALL
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Do CatTTLe Ticks AFFECT
HIpB VALUES? <2
The above question was addressed to a number of Chicago hide and leather dealers, and their replies printed Belew
will doubtless convince the most sceptical that the cattle tick works very definite injury to hides in the Southern tiak-
infested areas of the United States, and the same thing applies, of course, wherever ticks are found.
This injury is far greater than the average cattle owner realizes—they bite the skin, and the injury this effects écts shows up
in the grain of the finished leather. This occasions a serious depreciation in values, chiefly because tick-injured hides cansot
Their market value is thus considerably reduced, and lower prices rule.
very plainly, and causes 8 break
be used for highclegs work.
The only remedy is to eradicate the tick, and, fortunately, this is by no means difficult. “ 3
Dipping or spraying with a reliable arsenital Cattle Dip will destroy all the ticks and so overcome this injury. hee
TICKS CAUSE LOSS OF $1.26 PER HIDE
Extract from Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 569, on “ Tick Fever,” issued by the United States
lepartment of Agriculture.
‘The presence of the tick among the cattle of the South not only lessens the value of the cattle on the hoof, but causes the grading of hides that have
been “infected with ticks as No. 4 quality.
of hides is 2 cents a ponnd.
more than $1.26 a hide.
The same hide, if free from tick marks, would grade No. 2. The difference in price between these two grades
As the hide of ajsouthern steer weighs about 42 pounds, the presence of the ey in the hide causes a loss in the hide alone of
“It has been shown that the cost of eradication is only about 50 cents a head, so that if Cattle owners mike a joint systematic campaign to eradicAte
the tick, the increase in value of the hide alone would pay for the cost of tick eradication, and leave a net profit of about 70 cents a hide.”
Vicks ave the cause of very Seavy loss in a nuniber of different ways, but the letters which follow show how serious & the leakage of profil artsing from
Tick Damage to Hides.
Ticks Reduce Value 33%
“Cattle Ticks havea very deteriorating effect upon hides and calfskins,
particularly calfskins. We do not buy many) Southern hides or skins on
account of the ticks, but when we do get some here we are obliged to sell
. 3 stock at about one-third less, price than good Northern
mi ticks. This does not apply so much to heavy hides for sole
»ose but for all light hides and, calfskins, it renders them
ether useless, for all kinds of leather.” JOHN MILLER & Co
Price 2c. to 2}c. Lower }
“In re gard to cattle ticks, they damage the hides sa badly that very
them can be sold in this market ; and when they are, the price is
2 to 2 cents, lower than price of our:Northern and Western hides.
reduction is 1 lue to tick damage, though partly to poor take-
I handle very few Southern hides on account of ticks.”
J. M. BOND.
Value Reduced 2c. per Ib.
“The Southern hide, which is generally a ticky hide, is sold in this
market at about 2c. a pound less than similar hides free of ticks.”
9 , BOLLES & ROGERS.
Ticky Hides Worth 10% Less
“We buy large quantities of hides, but as we require a very good
quality, it being used for fancy leathers, we are unable to use Southern
as they contain so many cattle-ticks. These ticks show an abrasion
“rain of the hide. In other words, we cannot make smooth
eather out of hides with ticks in them and we regard Southern
with such imperfections worth fully ro per cent. less than from
districts where there are no ticks.” H. ELKAN & Co.
Damages 2c. to 2c. per lb.
“ As to the difference in value between the ticky hide and a non-ticky
hide, I wish to say that we figure a ticky hide to be, at least, 2 to 2c. less
in value.
In general a Southern hide has not the value of a Northern, Eastern
or Western hide, even if they are not ticky they are entirely of a different
nature, too thin and spready.” GUS DREYFUSS
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP.
Ras received the official approval of the following Countries:
Rhodesia, Brazi',
Rhodesia,
Union of South Africa, Northern
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Madagascar,
British East Africa, German East Africa,
Egypt,
Z United States of America,
Portuguese West Africa,
New South Wales,
Northern Territory of Australia,
Basutoland,
Portuguese East Africa.
Argentine Republic, Queensland,
Reduce Value Ic. per Ib.
“Re the effect of cattle ticks upon the price of Southern hides. They
damage the grain of the hide to a very large extent, and reduce their value
at least Ic. per pound.” ISAAC WEIL & SONS.
Worth jc. to Ic. Less per Ib.
“From our experience we have found that ticky hides are quite inferior
to our good quality stock, originating from points outaide of the South,
and tanners, without exception, are very averse to take hides of this descrip-
tion, and in buying them reduce prices a full half to a cent a pound.”
ADLER & OBENDORF, Inc.
Tick Damage 1 to 2c. per Ib.
“Ticky hides from the Southern States are certainly an inferior article
to the quality that is produced in the North. The difference in prices varies
according to the season and weights, but the damage done by the tick
probably amounts to rc. to 2c..per pound, or from §0c. to $1.00 per hide.
This pertains chiefly to the hides suitable for up; per leather. On the
heavier branded hides for sole leather, the damage is less consequential.”
CHARLES FRIEND & Co., Inc
Damages lc. or More per Ib.
“Cattle ticks are a very serious defect on hides, and the hides we buy
from Southern points, where the cattle run ticky, do not bring within 3 to
Ic. a pound of Northern hides, for certain es of heavier leathers,
while on upper leather that comes out of calf kip and light cow hides,
there is even a larger spread in price. LAPHAM BROS. & Co.
Ticky Hides make Poor Leather
“ Ticky hides, or Southern hides, dq not sell for as much money as the
Northern hides. These ticky hides, when unhaired, are all spotted and
make a very poor leather and most tanners refuse to buy any Southern
hides at any price.” EMERY & Co.
Ticks Make Black Spots on Leather
“Ticks on cattle make black spots on the leather and are cause of
considerable loss in value, I should think fully 3c. to qc Ib; op an|
average Ic. to 2c. per Ib. would be a fair difterencs, 1 should say, on the
prices paid for hides.” FRANCES M. POTTER
WEST INDIAN AGENTS.
ST. KITTS: S. L. Horsford & Co,
ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Co,
JAM‘ICA: D. Henderson & Co., Kingston.
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd.
BAHAMAS: H. T. Brice, Nassau.
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Ltd., Port-of-Spain.
BRITISH GUTANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown.
NEVIS: 8S. D. Malone.
\MERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS: O.H. Schmniegelow,
Croix.
MONTSERRAT: W. Llewellyn Wall,
DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton,
ST, LUCTA: Parmad Sons & Co., Castries.
UADELOUPE: Socidcté Industrielle et Agricole, Point-a Pitre.
Manufacturers: WILLIAN COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney,
Melbcurne, Auckland, Pxenoo Aires, Monte Video,” Punta Arenas, East London,
Cdessa
ae -,
Sa aR a ee et ab es |
Say tig QZ
ee
i"
Pp & .
eh),
wats aS
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES, aA
Vou. XVII. No. 433. BARBADOS, NOVEMBER 30, 1918. Peice ld.
CONTENTS. quite useless tor War Office purposes and consisted
almost entirely of indigenous cotton, and there were
Pace. PaGE, traces of such indigenous cotton throughout whole lot.
Agricultural Tractors in Pink Boll Worm at Bar-
Trinidad EERE eon ibados: / eameeunsedic. ts (oO
Agriculture in Barbados... 373 | Plant Diseases:—
Alcohol Fuel Committee 383) A New Coffee Disease in
Alcohol Production wee BOR | Suritiameyeaeess ss OO2
Oprtombctenorations ue SGo singel Relation of Lint a
Department News... ... 373). sen) ec aN
Exoties, Influence of on | See Vincent, Manurial
Nihivel Mora) fir ay7| ke xPerimegeauaaae Seas
Glesvizies 390) |, Island Cotton in... ... 375
TC Ue aie, Mig or rath | Sugar Imports and Exports,
Insect Notes:— United States ... ... 381
Insect Pests in the West Sugar, Pricesof ... ... 381
Indies in 1917 ... . 378) Tea Cultivation, Experi-
Items of Local Interest 372 ments iMeeeeee a was. ke
Market Reports ... ... 384| The ‘West Indian Bulletin’,
<I
Mosquito Control ... ... 374| Vol. XV, No.2... 376
Notes and Comments ... 376| West Indian Products ... 383
Cotton Deterioration.
TELEGRAM has been received by the
Barbados Government from the Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies directing
attention to a serious mixing of low grade native
cotton with fine quality of Sea Island. Mention is
made of the fact that West Indian Sea Island cotton is
intended for use in connexion with the war, and that
great harm might be done if these inferior admixtures
, were spun and woven into cloth.
The telegram, as published, is as follows :—
12th October. War Oftice states very serious
mixing D.F. indigenous cotton has been found in lot
i Vauxhall ex “Colonial”, - Bales numbers 84, 90, 91 were
War Office cannot emphasize too strongly seriousness
of admixture not only renders valueless cotton so mixed
but may if undiscovered cause much damage to cloth,
Immediate steps must be taken to prevent recurrence.
This telegram, it will be seen, refers only to
Barbados cotton. The only other complaint of a
similar nature of which we have information was with
regard to two bales of cotton shipped from St. Kitts,
but since found to have been produced in the Dutch
Colony of St. Martin.
On the publication ot the telegram and the cover-
ing letter from His Excellency the Governor, several
references to this affair were made in the local press.
in some of which direct and deliberate fraud was
suggested,
If this matter is regarded impartially, it will be
seen that the probability that deliberate fraud had
been practised in the mixing of low grade cotton with
fine sorts 1s not very great.
In order for such fraudulent practice to be pOSssi-
ble on a large scale, it would be necessary that consid-
erable quantities of low grade cotton should be pro-
duced in the island.
This however can hardly be said to be the case in
Barbados, where the bulk of the cotton grown is_pro-
duecd from Sea Island cotton seed. There is, however,
& certain amount of cotton produced in Barbados which
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
~ November 30, 1918.
.
is not of the Sea Island length and fineness. This is
commonly known as ‘native’ cotton, plants of which
may be seen growing about the houses of the labourers
and small proprietors. It is of perennial type, and
probably is descended from the cottons cultivated
previous to the introduction of Sea Island; and is
the cotton referred to in the telegram as indigenous,
It is also a matter of record that the Barbatlos Depart-
ment of Agriculture has experimented in the produc-
tion of hybrid cottons, and has made extensive trials
in the cultivation of the perennial types already
‘mentioned.
would
found
‘The cotton produced from all these sources
hardly be sufticient in amount, even if it had all
its way into the one shipment against which the charge
of mixing is made, to have attracted the. attention
which this lot of cotton did, and unless ‘some other
sources were known to be available from which native
eotton could be obtained, it would be well to hold in
abeyance any judgment to the effect that low grade
cotton had been deliberately and wilfully mixed with
the fine Sea Island type.
There can be no donbt; however, that in the ship-
ment of cotton under consideration, there was a very
considerable amount of Jint which fell so far short of the
standard as to lead the cotton experts who examined
and valned the cotton on behalf of the (savernment to
«declare that mixing had taken place.
If the amount of Jow grade cotton produced in
Barbados 1s not sufficient to account for such a mixture
as that reported on, it wonld be well to consider
another possible explanation of the sitnation.
Reference has already been made to perennial
plants grown without cultivation about the smal! houses
of the peasantry, and to the trials that have been made
in the cultivation of hybrid and native cottons.
‘These all have an influence on the quality of
the cotton produced in the island. Every plant of
‘native’ cotton which grows within reasonable distance
of* cultivations of Sea Island is a source of pollen
which may cause cross-fertilization, and thus produce
mixed seed in the next generayon,
Hybrid cotton of the first generation or cross pro-
dnees lint equal to that of its Sea Island parent, but the
second and snbsequent generations, and the crosses
-arising from the ‘transfer of its pollen to Sea Island
plants, result in the produetion of extremely divergent
types which mostly yield Very inferior lint.
It will be seen from this that the presence of
native cotton and of hybrid strains is always likely to
cause a deterioration in the Sea Island cotton as a
result of cross-pollination, and if seed is planted from
fields in which sueh crossing has taken place, the
result will be the production of mixed cotton contain-
ing lint of very inferior quality.
“
r . ‘ .
There is further to be considered the fact that
Sea Island cotton as at present grown consists, as in
the case of most plants under cultivation, of numerous,
shghtly divergent strains. Itis therefore necessary,
in order that the most desirable of these should remain
predominant, to practice constant seed selection.
fver since the establishment of the Sea Island
cotton industry in’ the West Indies, some sixteen
years the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture has advoeated a system of strict
eareful seed selection, together with the clearing
out of plants m the field, which from their appear-
auce indicate that the cotton they would produce
would be different, and of inferior quality. Such plants
are spoken of in general as ‘rogues’, and the process
of clearing them out of the field as ‘roguing’,
ago.
reason or other. cotton in Barbados
appears to have been given much less attention in the
matters of seed selection and roguing than is the ease in
the other cotton-growing islands. Ib is quite acommon
sight in certain districts of Barbados to see fields and
small patches of cotton in Which the plants represent
in their general appearance and habit of growth many
different types of cotton, that is to say, there is great
divergence amongst the plants, and it is well known
that this divergeneé is represented by variation in the
lint produced. This applies principally to the cotton
of small proprietors, bwt it is by no means entirely con-
Cotton fields on Jarge estates are often
For some
fined to them.
seen to contain many rogues, and give evidence of very
mixed seeds.
This condition prevailing in the cotton cultivation
in Barbados was well recognized at the time of the
Cotton Conference held by the liperial Department of
Agriculture in St. Kitt's in March 1916. Mr, Nowell,
in discussing the question of the influence of pure
strains on the prices obtained in the Liverpool market,
pointed out that although Barbados cotton fields pre-
sent obvions evidence of variety in type, and conse-
qnently their produce is far from being pare, it was still
and
Vou. XVII, No. 433 Tae
receiving the same. relative price asin former years,
when the purity of the strains was equal to that of the
strains grown in other islands. In the earlier years of
the cotton industry in the West Indies, Barbados,
St. Kitts, and St. Vincent ordinary were classed to-
yether, and usnally sold tor the same prices, these
being slightly in advance of those paid for the Antigua,
Montserrat, Nevis, and Anguilla cottons. (See West
Tadian Bulletin, Vol. XV, p. 273.)
Reference to the schedule issued by the Admiralty,
_ when it was decided to take over all West Indian Sea
island cotton for the Imperial Government, will show
that Barbados had lost its place in the matter of the
price paid for its cotton lint, which was not then classed
with St. Vincent and St. Mitts, but was put into a lower
grade along with Montserrat, other
islands. This point was discussed at a meeting of the
Barbados Agricultural Society, where the following
statement is reported to have been made by Sir F. J.
Clarke, K.C.M.G,, President of the Society:
Antigua, and
‘Formerly the Barbados cotton fetched a price not
much below that of St. Vincent cotton. That price
was withia the range of prices quoted for supertine
cotton. After the Admiralty commandeered the cotton
of this island q communication was received stating
that, upon the advice of some gentlemen connected
with the British Cotton Growing Association, Barba-
dos cotton would not be within the range of prices
quoted for superfine, but would be relegated to the
lower grade of ordinary cotton, and consequently
_ fetch a very much lower price.
It would appear that the inferior quality of the
cotton complained of by the Colonial Office may have
resulted from the conditions outlined above, and if
this be true, the suggestion of fraud in the matter
would disappear.
Barbados is the only one of the British West
Indies against the cotton industry of which this charge
of mixing has been made. Ib is also the only island in
which hybrid cotton has been grown on a commercial
scale, and where the local Wepartment of Agriculture
has persisted with experiments in the hybridizing of
cotton, and in the cultivation of low grade native cotton
with the idea of improving it.
, There are in Barbados, of course, estates on which
good cotton is produced. Some of this is prodneed
directly ‘from seed imported from, St. Kitts, which
| represents the closely bred strain of eotton maintained
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. sul
at a high -level by persistent and consistent efforts on
the part of the local Superintendent, under the direction
of the huperial Department of Agriculture. So good
indeed is the present situation in St. Kitts, that
Mr. FP. Kk. Shepherd, the Agricultural Superintendent:
stated in a letter to the Imperial Commissioner recent-
ly, that ‘one could ride ronnd the island, and hardly
see a rogue in any of the cotton fields.
Experience has shown, and the instance under:
discussion illustrates, that the fine cotton industry. can
not safely be left to individual effort, but it must be
the close concern of the Government of each island to-
provide throngh its Agricultural Department for an
adequate supply of seed of good quality. Cotton grow-
ers will usually be found not only willing, but anxious
to avail themselves of any source of carefully selected
seet 1,
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE RELA-
TION OF LINT LENGTH TO
RAINFALL.
A paper on the above subject by Mr. K. K.
Kelsick, Acting Chemical Assistant, St. Kitts, appears
in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XVII, No. 2. The
conclusions reached by Mr, Kelsick are of considerable
interest: they are reproduced below:— — -
During the season 1917-18 it was cbserved that the
lint from the selected plants of the different strains of Sea
Island cotton grown at the Experiment Station, La Gucrite,
was much shorter than lintfrom the same strains grown
during the previous season. fi ;
As it was considered improbable that the plants had
deteriorated, an attempt has been made to discover some
other factor which could account for the difference in lint
length in 1916 and 1917, :
It has been fonnd in Egypt that -there is a rise in lint
length a few days after the plants have been irrigated. There-
seems to be no reason why the same should not hold good in
these islands ; that is, that cotton plants will only produce.
lint of maximum length when they have an ample supply-
’ of water at their disposal.
These results seem to indicate that in these islands the
length to which cotton lint will attain in any season is
dependent on the watersupply of the plant at the critical.
period of developwent,
To return to the length of lint of the different strains im
1917-18. The plots from which the plants were selected
were planted on April 26, 1917, therefore over 60 per
cent. of the flowers produced opened during the month of
August; during this period there were only 3 inches of rain.
On the other hand, in 1916-17 the rain which would have
affected the developing bolls amounted to 11 inches—S inches.
more than in 1917-1S—consequently a great difference in.
the length of the lint is seen.
‘In view of these facts, it appears that great caution
should be exercised in making comparisons of the length of
cotton lint grown in ditterent seasons, or in different islanda
the rainfall of which is in no way comparable 4
372
TRE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
NoveMBER 30, 1918.
DOWN THE ISLANDS.
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
_ pominica, The following comprised plant distribution
during the month of October: limes, 5,450; budded citrus,
48; nutmegs, 26; grafted mangoes, 11; miscellaneous, 33;
Nicaragua shade tree cuttings, 10,000; horse beans, 65 b.;
Tepbrosia seeds, 3 th., vegetable seeds sold, 180 packets;
black-eye peas, 84 Ib. Mr. J. Jones, the Curator, states that the
crop from the lime experiment station during the month
aggregated 77 barrels, making a total to date of 694 barrels
of limes. The local market price for lime products remained
unchanged. Shipments during the month were satisfactory,
averaging 46,170 gallons of concentrated juice, and 132,700
gallons of raw juice. The cacao crop is late, and prospects
appear to be poor. The rainfall recorded for the month was
6°67 inches.
GRENADA. During the month of October the following
plants and seeds were distributed: limes, 1,500; coco-nuts,
192; budded oranges, 26; grafted mangoes, 15; ornamental
plants, 15;Sea Island cotton seed, 11 tb,; horse beans, 219 h.;
red kidney beans; 9 tb.; large papaw seeds, 50 packets;
various seeds, 22 packets; cuttings, 4 Regarding staple
crops, Mr. Moore states that the picking of cacao had begun,
promising a good cropin some sections though backward in
others. The nutmeg crop is spoken of as exceptionally good,
and the lime crop as good. Potatoes are being extensively
planted; yams are fair to good, according to cultivation; a
second crop of corn is being sown. Sea Island and Marie
Galante cotton, where properly cultivated, are looking promis-
ing, Cotton stainers are making their appearance. Mr. W.
Nowell, Mycologist on the Staff of the Imperial Department
of Agriculture, visited the island from October 19 to 28,
investigating a disease of coco-nuts. The rainfall registered
at Richmond Hill during the month was 11°76 inches.
sr. Lucta, Plant distribution during the month of
October included: limes, 3,575; budded oranges, 20; coffee
(Robusta), 158; decorative and ornamental plants, 16; cassava
cuttings, 550; vegetable seeds, 75 packets. Concerning staple
crops, Mr. Brooks states that cacao was being reaped, and
promised well; the lime crop was still coming in; while sugar-
canes were growing welland gave promise of a good cro}.
Shipments made from the Government Lime Juice Factory
during the month comprised 3,680 gallons of concentrated
lime juice and 1,584 tb. of distilled lime oil to England, and
500 tb. of distilled lime oi] to New York. The rainfall record-
ed during the month at the Botanic Gardens, Castries, was
13°46 inches; at the Agricultural and Botanic Station,
Choiseul, tle total precipitation was 7°89 inches.
MONTSERRAT. The Curator, Mr. W. Robson, writes to
say that the weather during the month of October was
excellent for crops. Plant distribution included: lime plants,
2,500; bay plants, 700; corn, 184 ears; sweet potato cut-
tings, 1,690; sapodilla, 19; cowpeas, 31 Ib.; sword beans,
21 b.; climbing Lima beans, 9 tb. The Chateau bay plot yield-
ed 6,000 Ih. of bay leaves to the end of October. There is
promise of a good second crop of cotton, the chief danger now
apprehended being an excessive rainfall during the next two
months. Of the 1918 cotton crop, 588 bales have been deliv-
ered to the Government: it now appears probable that the island
will make an average crop. The remainder of the 1917 crop
(416 bales) was shipped during the month. The destruction
of old cotton plants has been started on areas severely
infested with leaf blister mite, or where the rains have
caused the plants to make excessiye second growth. In one
or two districts cotton stainers are present in great numbers.
Experiments have been started to destroy silk-cotton trees by
means of poisons; the destruction of Mahoe trees by felling
has also been commenced. The rainfall recorded at the Grove
Station dnring the month was 7°13 inches, chiefly in the early
part of the month; the total rainfall for the year to date is
45°07 inches.
_ St. kitts, Ino his notes of interest for the month
of October, the Agricultural Superintendent, Mr F. R.
Shepherd, states that there has been much improve-
ment in the crops'in the Experiment Stations in conse-
quence of recent rains. Plant distribution included 65
cypre (Cordia gerascanthus) for planting at Govern-
ment House. The condition of the Botanic Gardens
has much improved. since the rains, and annuals have been
planted out. The cane crop throughout the island has also
considerably improved during the month, and in the northern
district a good average return is anticipated. In the Basse-
terre or Valley district, the ratoons are very poor in conse-
quence of the long drought and the absence of artificial
manures, and the returns are not expected to exceed the crop
of last year. On some estates where plants were available, the
planting of the new cane crop has begun. The cotton crop in
the northern district has been gathered, and the plants are
being turned under as the land is being prepared for cane.
The yield has been above the average for many years in this
district owing to the suitable weather. In the lower !ands
cotton picking is in full swing, and the new growth on the
plants consequent on the rains is remarkable. The cotton
worm has been very violent in its attacks, and large
quantities of poison had to be used owing to the frequent
showers. Cotton stainers are also very prevalent, and the
recent Ordinance passed for the destruction of their native
food-plants is very much needed. All the old cotton crop has
now been shipped, together with 46 bales of the new crop
The rainfall for the month was 5:48 inches; for the year to
date, 34°78 inches. ;
__ NEVIS. Mr. W. I. Howell, the Agricultural Instructor,
writes to say that the plots in the Experiment Station were
all in gond order, Plant distribution during October
included 17,000 sweet potato cuttings. The sugar-cane crop
throughout the island has very much improved since the
rains, and the crop, though-very late, may not be as bad as
was anticipated. Preparation for next season’s crop is in pro-
gress, and there will be a fair increase in the acreage pat under
cane. The cotton crop throughout the island is fairly good,
and reaping is in progress. Good returns are being obtained on
many estates, but it is feared that the heavy rains will cause
boll-shedding, and that the second picking will not be as good
as was expected. Cotton worms are very troublesome through-
out the island, and damage is being done to many fields.
In many cases a sufficient quantity of Paris green was not
secured by the planters, and in consequence, the worms were
not dealt with promptly. Cotton stainers are also very
abundant, and a fair amount of stained cotton and diseased
bolls has occurred. Provision crops, on the whole, are doing
well; the planting of sweet potatoes is still in progress. The
rainfall for the month was 6°36 inches; for the year to date
40-72 inches. ‘
ANTIGUA. According to items of interest forwarded by
Mr. T. Jackson, plant distribution during the month of
October comprised; eucalyptus, 2,788; coco-nuts, 161:
decorative plants, 47; miscellaneous, 4; sugar-cane cuttings,
200; sweet potato cuttings, 41,600; cassava cuttings 700:
cotton seed, 157 tb.; rice seed, 23 bb.; vegetable seeds 2
packets. ‘he cane'crop, on account of the last two months’
seasonable weather, has materially improved. Althon h
the c-nes are low, they now have a healtby growth, and
Sm
7
U Vor RVIL. Noe35. %
should good weither be experienced during the next two or
three months, it’ is possible that a fairerop will be made.
The cotton crop, of the whoie, is giving rather better returns
than Jast year: this applies to the earlyplanted cotton. Very
aevere-atlacks’o! cotton caterpillars hase*oceurred dining the
month, aud difficulty in keeping these in check on account of
showers, and the weak mixture of Paris green and lime used
(1:20) has been experienced. Some fields have been
damayed considerably by the pest. The Granary was opened
daring the month, and 33,218 bb. of cab corn was dried. The
mil! for making meal is now in working order. Lt appears
from experimental trial that 200 Ib. of meal per hour ean be
rhade. Good rains were experienced throughout the island
during the month. The rainfall at the Botanic Station was
4°28 inches; for the year to date, the record is 31°31 inches
sp. vincent. Daring the month of October, 600 cane
-euttings of good varieues were distributed. In some districts,
Mr Sands States, the rainfall was too heavy for early planted
eotron,and the lower bolls more particularly were attacked ay
Phytophtiiora rot. The reaping of arrowroot was started. The
‘corn crop was smaller-than that of ‘ast season: about 800 cwt.
‘of dorn was purchased at the Granary. Some shipurents went
forward to Barbados, and ove shipment of about 15 tons
to the United Kingdom. The sale of corn meal at the
Grihary was continued. The payment on account, and bonus
for corn purchases of the 1917-18 crop equalled 5-1%c. per bb.
of ‘wet’ grain. ic
The Agricultural Superintendent visited several estates
in connexion with cotton investigations. The relatively few
Stainers seen had been collected. Bush bugs were also few in
number, and eggs collected were extensively parasitized. In
early planted cotton on one estate, external boll disease had
damaged the lower bolls. : iin,
Phe Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, Sir rancis
Watts, arrived at St. Vincent on October 9, and left on
October 28. Besides visiting the Botanie Gardens, lxperi-
ment Station, and the Government Ginnery and Granary, and
inspecting and advising on the work of these institations, the
©ommissioner visited the. Windward and Leeward Districts,
_and discussed with planters questions connected with the
eoco-nut, cotton, and sugar industries. Before a meeting
of che Agricultural and Commercial Saciety held on October
4 under the presidency of His Honour the Administrator,
Sir Prancis read a paper entitled ‘Concerning Cotton in
St. Vincent, and the Steps that must be taken to Sategnard
the Industry.” et:
The weather during the month was rather too wet at
times for crops. The rainfall recorded at the Botanic Station
mas 13°29 inches; at the Experiment Station, 10°05.
ae
Vd * ~ ee
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
So far, the rainfall for Novembgp averaged 3 inches,
the distribation of which has been most satisfactory. Chere
-gould be no complaint of the charactet of the weather which
has prevailed during this month. E
Planters have been able to proceed almost uninterinpt-
-adly with the preparafion of their fieldsy while up to the pres-
ept there has been no anxiety about ihe healthy and vigor-
ous development of the crops for the next reaping seasan.
Men, women, and children are busily engaged with every
form of work, and one seldom passes an estate yard without
sepiag carts carrying manure either to he pot into the elds
opto be -spreadjon pens which are. being forced for: distriba- .
tion next month. “4
yr
THE AGRICULTURAL N¥Wws
We would refer, as we haye in past reports, to the fact
than in some districts a largé’amount of green material fs let
on thehillsides and in gullies, Phis would considetably
assist in raising peas during the earlier months, “We have
heard in some instances that the labour is not sufficient | f6r
the collection of this material: in othiea, that ir isnot the.
éustom to have it done. Money spent on such work is a
good investment, and we kaow of estates which years age
used to green. manure some fields with excellent results.
It is a serious loss to the soil of the island not to turn,
into it, either through heaps of compost or through green- -
manuring, every scrap of material that is available foe
manurial prrposes. We are sure that the sheep manure bill
will be thus reduced, while the benefit to the soil wold be
considerable,
Potatoes have been less plentiful during the past fort-
night. The rush to get them out of the fields to be planted.
in canes is drawing to a close, and the supply will soon be
normal only. We observe that the Government has
prohibited the exportation of sweet potatoes after today,
16th instant.
The old cane crop, as faras the plant canes are con
eerned, leaves nothing to be desired. Everywhere it is
thought that the results will be in advance of this year’s.
The fields of 3.6450 have developed very much recently,
and are continuing to grow rapidly.
The cotton crop, thongh smail, is generally healthy.
folls are, in many instances, well developed, while the trees
still continue to flower abundantly.
The yam crop on the estates shows much promise, It
has had just the weather it required. his vegetable is being
sold at 4c. per Ib. in Bridgetown and the neighbour-
ing parishes, but in the north of the island we learn that it
inay be purchased at the rate of 4 or 5b. for 10c. The
peasants would do very much better with their yam crop
if they would manure their plots. Their yams are ready for
the market before the estates reap, and a good return would
be very profitable. (The Barbados desicultural Reporter,
November 16, 1918.)
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Sur Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., the Jmperiat Com-
missioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, returned
to Barbados to-day after an official visit to Antigna,
Mr. H. A. Ballon, M.Se., Ensomologist on the Statf
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, will be
visiting Grenada early in December on matters con-
nected with his work. Mr, Ballou will probably be.
absent from Barbados for abont a fortnight,
It is stated in ‘Leaflet No. 2.’ Department of Agricul
ture, Mauritius, that there appears to be a belief current ig
many quarters in that colony, that the cultivation of taize
exercises a peculiarly exhausting effect on the soil. and that
as a result, the production of the crop is likely t> be
fraught with undesirable consequences in the future.
isa mistaken notion. Maize is by no means an excessivel
exhausting crop; the toll of plant food removed front the cot
as the resnlt.of its cultivation is indeed distine ly Jess than is
the case with other crops which are extensively pla ted.
4
Tais ©
374
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Novemser 30, 1918.
eae
MOSQUITO CONTROL.
In the publications of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture for the West Indies, attention has from
time to time been drawn to the importance of mosquito
contro! in tropical countries, but, as was pointed out in
the editorial of the previous number of the Agr?-
cultural News, there is need for more sustained
and instructed work in this direction. The West
India Committee Circular, September 19, 19138,
points out that Dr. Sambon, who visited these islands
some years ago, thinks they are very backward in
the measures taken to control mosquitoes of all kinds.
A lecture by Dr. W. Dwight Pierce, the leader of
the class for the study of the Entomology of Disease,
Hygiene, and Sanitation—the formation of which was
noticed in the Agricultural News, July 27, 1918—
has been received at the Head Office of this Depart-
ment. The lecture is reproduced below. At the end
will be found a brief list of recent publications on
the subject.
Probably more money and more concentrated effort have
been devoted to mosquito control throughout the world than
to the control of any other disease-bearing insects. We may
discuss the essential elements of mosquito control topically.
PREVENTION OF MOSQUITO BREEDING,
By farthe most important measures to be taken are
those which prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. In this
class of measures we therefore have to deal in some manner
with water. If general mosquito control is sought, it is not
essential to ascertain the species breeding, but when large
communities or armies are to be protected against disease-
bearing mosquitoes, time may not permit of general mosquito
control, but may necessitate particular attention to the
haunts of the disease bearers.
SCOUTING,
The preliminary measures to be taken, therefore, are the
organization and training of scouting parties designated
primarily to search out the breeding haunts of these species,
and to report them to the details or squads designated for
control work. The scouts must be trained entomologists,
skilled in the knowledge of mosquito haunts. They must
examine the water in all receptacles in and around buildings,
and in discarded vessels. They must seek out all puddles,
hoof prints, wagon rots, tree holes, ditches, and streams, and
carefully examine these. A chart should be kept showing
the location of all water, and this can be marked in various
ways to indicate the species present. Coloured pin markers
on a wail chart are very serviceable. A field chart would
have to be marked otherwise.
LEVELLING AND FILLING WATER HOLES,
Squads of men may be detailed to look after the level-
ling of ground where water is apt to gather and remain, and
to fill up small puddles, pools, hoof marks, ruts, etc., which
serve no useful purpose, and where drainage is inadvisable.
Holes in trees should be be filled up with cement. Stumps
which hold water should be grubbed out, and the stump
holes filled. In rocky streams, pot holes in the rocks often
breed many mosquitoes. [f possible, the rock should be
grooved, or removed, or the holes may be filled with cement,
DITCHING AND CLEARING STREAMS AND SWAMPS,
Other details may be designated to clear stream beds,
and drain lowlands. Spring lands, bogs, and swamps furn-
ish an abundance of mosquitoes, and are the first places to
receive the attention of the ditching squads. Ditches must
be constructed to carry off standing water. ‘These should be
laid out by an engineer. The ditches must have straight
banks, and even bed, and must be kept free of vegetation.
Sometimes it is necessary to spray the vegetation along the
ditches with oil, and barn it. All burrow pits and puddles
caused by grading roads and railways should be connected
up by a ditching system, or filled. Flowing streams usually
have trees along their sides. Under such trees water is
often trapped to form a quiet undisturbed place for mosquito
Jarvae. Trees must not.grow on the edge of the bank. Tree
roots must be removed from the stream. Any kind of vege-
tation growing in the bed of a stream favours mosquito
breeding, as it affords some protection against natural
enemies, and prevents adequate artificial control. The
stream bed must be clear of vegetation. The banks
must be straightened, and constructed without overhanging
ledges. There should be no obstruction to the free flow
of the stream, If it meanders, a new and Straight
course ought to be constructed, and the old course filled.
Springs which furnish good water should be boxed and pro-
tected. Le Prince and Orenstein very ably describe in their
book, the methods of clearing streams and propagation areas
in jungles in the tropics.
CLEARING OF WEED-FILLED BAYS AND LAKES,
Large bodies of water in which dense growths of grass
aud weeds occur furnish great problems in many camps; and
in tropical: countries, especially where feasible, it is often
desirable to furnish the mosquito squad with two motor boats,
and with submarine saws or other implements for cutting and.
removing vegetation. If this cut vegetation remains, it aggra-
vates the situation. Large lily leaves, which when alive
furnish no place for breeding, willoften, when dry, form cups
of water, in which mosquitoes breed prolifically.
DRAINAGE,
The construction of drainage systems should preferably
be done by a sanitary engineer who understands the mosquito
phase of the problem, The main ditches should be con-
structed first, and the laterals added later. Sometimes, where
weed growth is rapid, it is desirable to have a double,
parallel, series of ditches, one only operating at a time
during heavy rains, with the idea that the idle ditch can be
cleaned and shaped up. It is essential that the floor level of
the ditch affords no opportunities for puddles to form after
the greater part of the water has passed off. In permanent
ditching it is sometimes feasible and advisable to line the
ditch with concrete, or at least to line the bottom. Weep
holes should be made at sufficient intervals to carry into
the drain water which gathers on the outside of it. Branch
ditches should enter the main ditch at an acute angle, or on a
curve. At the junction of bridges there should be a splash
wall to confine the water within the ditch. Pot holes formed
in dirt ditches should be filled up after rains with gravel or
stone and tamped hard (see Le Prince and Orenstein,
pp: 137-44).
In certain soils, where seepage water out-crops abun-
dantly on hillsides, it is sometimes practicable to install an
intercepting tile drainage system. The tiles are laid at right-
angles to the flow of the seepage at the highest seepage water
level, with aspace of one-eighth toa quarter inch between
joints, The grade of the trench bottom must be true.
Tiles must not be located: on soft mud where they may sink.
Vou. XVII. No, 433.
The outlet should be well above the ground surface (see
Le Prince and Orenstein, pp. 130-66). ,
In soma localities, when ditches become matted with algae
and other matter, and contain mosquito larvae, it is possible
to construct water gates to permit temporary impounding of
water, which will enable the ditch squads to flush thoroughly
the ditch below the gate, and to remove all mosquito larvae
and algae.
LARVICIDES.
The ditching, draining, and cleaning of water ways
ensure a regular flow, and carry off all surplus water, and
thus reduce but do not prevent mosquito breeding. It is
necessary to use some additional means of control; and for
this purpose various larvicides have been applied, but princi-
pally kerosene, and crude oils of paraffin and of asphaltum
base, as well as creosote oils.
The question of the effect of oils on mosquito larvae is
most thoroughly discussed by Freeborn and Atsatt, who find
that the toxicity of the petroleum oils as mosquito larvicides
increases with an increase in volatility, the more volatile oils
producing the more marked lethal effects. The volatile con-
stituents of the oils contain the principles that produce the
primary lethal effects. The lethal effects are produced by the
penetration of the tracheal tissue by the volatile gases of the
oils. In the heaviest and least volatile oils, having a boiling
point greater than 250°C., this action may be supplemental,
or apparently secondary to the effect of actual contact of the
oil with the body tissue, or perhaps to mechanical means
such as suffocation or plugging of the tracheae. They found
that oils which killed very quickly did so by means of the
volatile gases, whereas in case of oils with slow effective-
ness, the mechanical suffocation may be the cause of death.
These authors have set down a number of requireme nts
for a good larvicide:—
1. It shall have a high toxic power, so that a small
quantity may suffice for a large volume of water.
2. It shall kill rapidly, in order that subsequent dilution
and weakening by rain have as light effect as possi-
ble.
3. It must be uniform in its toxic power, and capable of
standardization.
4. It should mix freely with brackish and alkaline
waters,
5. It must be harmless to. man and domestic animals,
when in the dilution necessary for larvicidal action.
. It shall not be susceptible to rapid deterioration.
7. It must be inexpensive.
They did not find any substance which fulfilled all these
conditions, but found that a soap, now known as the Panama
larvicide, met most of their requirements.
This was made of the following ingredients:—
Resin 150 to 200 bb.
Soda B0n a.
Carbolic acid (sp. gr. 0 97) 150 gallons.
This makes liquid soap which freely emulsifies with fresh
water. The carbolic acid must have at least 15 per cent. of
phenols, and no greater specific gravity than 0-97.
This Jarvicide is manufactured as follows: Heat the
carbolic acid in a steel tank with steam coil. When steaming
hot, add the resin, and continuously stir the mixture by means
of a paddle agitator until complete solution is effected.
Dissolve the caustic soda in 6 gallons of water, and add to the
mixture. Heat and stir for five minutes. Draw a sample
and pour into water. If it emulsifies, the process is complete,
and the product may be put into shipping drums which must
be tightly closed.
Ser)
(Zo be continued.)
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Se ore
MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH SEA
ISLAND COTTON IN ST. VINCENT
IN 1917-18.
Mr. S. C. Harland, Assistant for Cotton Research
on the Staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
for the West Indies, has contributed a paper to the
recently issued number of the West Indian Bulletin
(Vol. XVII, No. 2), in which he continues his record of
manurial experiments with Sea Island cotton in
St. Vincent, the first part of which is to be found in the
West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XVI, No. 3.
Mr. Harland seems to have reached some impor-
tant conclusions as a result of his experiments; the
summary of these is reproduced below:—
The manurial experiments with Sea Island cotton at the
St. Vincent Experiment Station have been studied by means
of flowering and bolling records for two successive seasons, in
which weather conditions were widely different. .
All the manured plots showed increases over the unman-
ured. The increase was greatest in the plot to which potash
was applied; but a large gain was also shown by the complete
manure plots. The remarkable fact was brought out that the
te of phosphate to the potash tended to lower the
yield.
Manures had no effect whatever on the time of maturing
of the crop. Manures had no effect on the precentage of
bolls to flowers. The yield obtained when two plants per
hole were left was considerably greater than when there was
only one. The need for further experiments on the spacing
of Sea Island cotton is emphasized. Spacing had no effect on
the percentage of bolls to flowers.
It has been shown clearly that, under the conditions
under which the experiments were carried out, there isa
striking uniformity in the time at which flowering begins,
reaches its maximum. and declines to zero. If the sowing
date be known, we can state with certainty when most
flowers and bolls wili be produced, and when the crop will be
finished. We cannot predict what the size of the crop will
be further than by stating its probable maximum. The
size of the crop depends on weather conditions, and on the
incidence of fungoid disease. Thus, in the West Indies, or
indeed in any country where cotton depends for its water-
supply on rainfall and not on irrigation, the value of its
flowering records is very much less thanin Egypt. The
Egyptian bolling curve is of less amplitude than the flowering
curve, chiefly through shedding. The percentage of shedding
is said to be practically constant at 40 per cent. In non-
irrigated countries the bolling curve represents the bolls left
after shedding and disease have taken their tol}, and we have
seen that the percentage of bolls to flowers fluctuates greatly
from season to season. For manurial and spacing experi-
ments in the West Indies, it is probably sufficient to take
bolling records only, at weekly intervals. Ido not think
that the practical planter need concern himself with either
flowering or bolling curves. For the comparison of different
varieties in regard to yielding capacity, both flowering and
bolling records are almost essential. It is certain that con-
siderabie differences existin Sea Island cotton in respect of
the liability to shed bolls. These differences could be brought
out adequately, only by a careful study of the flowering and
bolling records,
————
aif THE AGRICULTORAL NEWS.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BaRsADos.
Letters and matter for publication. as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to- the
ommissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for copies of the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover
Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
D.Se., F.1.C., F.C.S
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
jf W. RB. Dunlop.*
| Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A
H. A. Ballou, M.Se.
W. Nowell, D.1.C.
S! C0. Warland, B.Se.+
STAFF.
A. G. Howell.
(& A. Corbin,
P. Taylor.*
LK, R. C. Foster
Miss B. Robinson
Assistant Typist Miss W, Ellis.
Assistant for Publication: A,B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Svientifie and
Industrial Research.
Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies
and
Seientijic Assistant
Assistant Rditor
Fnitomologis:
Mycologisi
Assistant for Cotton Research
OLERICAT
Chief Clerk
Clerical Assistants
Pypist
Agricultural News
Vou. XVIL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1918. No, 433,
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
‘The editorial in this number deals with the impor-
tant question of deterioration of Sea Island cotton.
Insect Noves, on page 378, give a snmmary of the
ocourrence of insect pests observed 1 the stoaller British
West Indian islands during the year 1917.
“Ti
The appearance of anew fungus disease ot cotlee in
Surinam is Hoted vnder Plant Diseases on page 882.
The first part of » Jecture op mosquite control, by
a distinguished ‘Amertean entomologist, is reprodnecd
on page 574. }
November 30, 1918.
The ‘West Indian Bulletin’, Vol, XVII, No. 2.
The first paperin thisnumber of the West Indian
Bulletin, which has recently been issued, is a continu-
ation by Mr. S. C. Harland of the record of his manu-
rial experiments with Sea Island cotton in St. Vincent.
‘Lhe first article on these experiments, condueted at the
St. Vincent Experiment Station during the period
1912-17. appeared in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vol. AVI, No. 3. The present article deals with the
experiments carried through in 1917-18, The interest-
ing summary of the results obtained, and the conelu-
sions arrived at by theauthor are reproduced on another
page of this number of the Agricullirul News.
The second paper, a short one, by Mr. R. 6 Kel-
sick, deals with the relation of lint length in cotton to
rainfall. Mr. Kelsick’s conclusions as a resnlt of his
observations will also be found on another page of this
number of the Agricultural News ;
The third paperis the Report on the prevalence of
some pests and diseases inthe West indies during 1917.
This is compiled by the Entomologist and- Mycologist
attached to this Department. A review of the first
part of this report will be found under Insect Notes in
the present number of this Journal.
The fourth paper relates to the shrinkage of soils,
the larger portion of which has been reproduced from a
paper by Ir. H. A. Tempany, in the Journal of Aqri-
culdural Secence, Vol. VII, Pars 3.
It willthus be seen that the present number of the
West Indien Bulletin. although somewhat shorter
than usnai, contains matter of distinct interest.
- ——
The Pink Boll Worm at Barbados.
A schooner recently arrived at Barbados from
Para, Brazil, with a mixed cargo consisting of cotton
seed, pollard, drv cassava, and cassava furine.
The cotton seed was destined for oil mills in Bar-
bados, and the entire cargo was to be landed at that
port, and a portion of it forwarded later on to England.
According to the authority vested in him by the
Order of November 21,1912, the Superintendent of
Agriculture, Barbados, prohibited the landing of the
cargo, because the cotton seed came from a country
where aserious pest of cotton (the pink boll worm) was
known to oceur. ‘The cotton seed and the other cargo.
were regarded as things which might introduce the
pest into the island. The cargo did not only come
fromm a country in whieh a dangerous pest is known to
exist, but if was actually infested, as evidenced by the
capture in the holds of the schooner of several moths.
of the pink boll worm ((relechia gossypiella). A small
nortion of the cargy other than cotton,seed was landed,,
but this was afterwards ordered to be reshipped.
The final action in the matter indieates that the
entire cargo will be wanshipped in the bay to some.
vessel which will convey it to Edgland.
Phe arriyal of a vessel at a port in the West»
Indies carrying « cargo of cotton seed infested by thes
Voz. XVI. No. 433.
, THE AGRICULTURAL. NEWS
pink boil worm is a imost serious affair, and even if
“permission is refused: to land the eargo, there is still
a menace to the cotton industry... The distance from
the* anchorage to the shore. and to growing + cotton
erops is probably not move than the moths are capable
of covering. in their flight in such ports as Barbados,
St. Vincent, Montserrat, and St. Kitts. It is true thas
the anchorage-is usually to leeward, and that ordinarily
the flight ashore of the moths would mean flight
against the wind, but during the whole of the rainy
season a southerly or westerly breeze js of frequent
occurrence.
Cotton seed, seed-cotton, and eyen ginned cotton
from a country 1p which the pink boll worm is known
to occur, shonld not be imported mto any cotton-grow-
ing country. Any packages of’ cargo in the hold, in
which seed infested by pink boll worm is contained, are
liable to be the means of carrying ashore the pupae of
this insect, and from these the moths may emerge and
make their way to growing cotton.
The qnestion has been raised in’ Barbados as to
whether the legislation which <provides for meeting
such an event as the present is of sufficient power. The
danger to be apprehended in any colony where cotton
is grown, and cotton seed is tmponted for planting or for
oil production is so great that most careful attention
should be given to the details of existing legislation:
and if this is not adequate to make 1b possible to deal
satisfactorily with any such condition in the evens of
its arising, then special attention should be given to
enacting adequate legislation.
ant 4 eit
Experiments in Tea Cultivation in Ceylon.
The results of experiments in the various naaures
on tea plants for 1914, at the Peradentya Experiment
Station, are recorded in: Builetan No. of’ the
Department of Agriculture, Ceylon, July 1918, from
which’ the following items of general interest are
reproduced: —
Dist
DE.
Some-of the plots nob under permanent green
manures began to show marked deterioration in the
wood and frames of the bushes. although yields. were
fairly maintained,
“Plots under rubber also fell off rapidly in yield
owing to the shade of. the latter. and thertea was cut
out in Augusp 1916. In; September 1916, two plots
were each. treated with 1,000 th: of) well-burned and
slaked lime, the lime: being breadeasted upon every
row and‘lightly forked in. Three plots each had
500 th. similarly applied
The. permanent effect of cattle vaannure in one
plot: has also been most marked, the lust application
having been. made in March’ 1908) when 30 tons per
acre were applied.” The toval acthal yield ‘from this
plot since 1906 is 89ST th. or tf caleulated to 2,722
bushes per acre, 11,379 th., the area only containing
2158 bushes Taking bi-vearivtperiods since 1906,
the cattle manure being apphed ‘11908, a practically
fontinuous tise. in wield is shown TOsthe present ume.
t
Agricultural Tractors in Trinidad.
Frouy an editorialnote in the.-Praceed: nys of the
Agricultural * Socvicty of Erinidad und Tobago-
for September 191, it would appear that the use of
tractors for ‘agricultural purposes Is extending in
Trimidad, Reference is made to the recent importation
of six Breaman garden tractors, which are designed _for
work in vegetable gardens. This tractor, it is stated,
will cultivate any érop planted in yows from 12 inches to-
3 feet apart. Li is’ easily’operated and controlled, and ean
be turned round.in a small space, Attachments of gar-
den hoés, cultivators, discs, ete. are provided for, and
thesecan be adjusted for use on rows of ditterent widths.
It is claimed that the Breaman tractor costs no more
than a first class young mule, and that it can do the
work of two mules.
Besides these garden tractors it is noticed that.
a Caterpillar tractor is at work on one of the. large
coco-nut estates with very satisfactory results, the work
performed per day being more in quantity. more effee-
tive, and cheaper than that hitherto accomplished by
teams of draught oxen.
Many sugar plantations on the island are making
extensive use of mechanical implements in their
cultivation.
-
Effect of the Introduction of Exotic Animals.
and Plants on Native Flora.
In an article on Hawaiian botany, in the
Hawaiian Forester und Agriculiurist, October 1918,
attention is drawn to the effect of alien agencies on
indigenous vegetation. In his three visits, 1892-94. the
celebrated explorer. Vancouver, not only introduced
many Enropean seeds and plants into the Hawatian
islands, but also landed the first goats and eattle ever
seen there, and the cattle were placed under taboo by
King Kamehameha tor a period of ten years. The
wild goats and cattle multiplied with almost ineredible-
rapidity, and before many years had passed. they had.
much damaged the Hawanan forests. The pronounced
depletion of the forests in all regions to whieh these
herbivorous animals had access, the extinction of numer-
ous plant species. and the conspicuous curtailment of”
the ranges of many others may all be traced to the
destructive influences of wild goats and cattle ranning
at large through the mountains and waste lands. ;
Similarly, thousands of acres formerly oceupied by
the native vegetation is now in the possession ot weeds
cesmopolitan throughout the tropics, which have dis-
placed the Jess vigorous indigenous forms. Thére is
probably no region that manifests with greater clearness
than Hawaii the rapid action and far-reaching inflitences.
of alien organisms upon an insular fauna and’ fora.
he mnumerable intYoductions—both intentional and:
unintentional--of plants and animals trom many other
regions have entirely changed the ph¥yto-geography of
all Hawai save the coraparatively inaccessible mountain
fastnesses ;
To a less extent she above description of the eee
of cosmopolitan weeds may bé noti¢ed alsd inthe Wi st
ladian islands.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Novemser 30, 1918.
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INSECT NOTES.
INSECT PESTS IN THE WEST INDIES
IN 1917.
The Glatest number of the JVest Zndian Bulletin
(Vol. XVII, No. 2) contains, at page 83, a report on the
Prevalence of Some Pests and Diseases in the West Indies
in 1917.
rigs This has been compiled from the reports of the
Agricultural Officers in the several islands of the Wird-
ward and Leeward Islands groups, and is the ninth in the
series, the last previous one, that for 1916, hzving appeared
in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XVI, p. 309.
The object of the present article is to review the portion
of the report dealing with insect pests, which was compiled
by Dr. J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D., Acting Entomologist on
the Staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
SUGAR-CANE.
The pests of sugar-cane were the same as in previous
years, and occurred to about the same extent.
The moth borer (Déatraea saccharalis) was reported
as present in cane fields generally, Severe attacks were
noted in certain localities in St. Vincent and St. Lucia; in
the latter island these occurred more particularly in the
naturally drained Jands.
The weevil borer (AZefamasius sericeus) was of general
distribution in St. Lucia and Antigua: in the latter island it
is stated that this pest is probably doing more damage than is
realized at the present time. No definite records are given
of the injury caused by the root borers, Diaprepes and
Exophthalmus. The adult beetles were present in those
islands where sugar-cane is grown, but no mention is made
of the presence of the grubs attacking the underground
portions of the cane.
In St. Kitts large numbers of the adults of the insect
Exophthaimus esuriens were found in the hearts of the
young canes in the widdle of the year, and on the experl-
ment plots at La Guérite quantities were collected and
destroyed.
The hard back grubs (Zachnosterna sp.) were common on
heavy Jands in the central part of Antigua, and it is stated
that they are probably responsible for a considerable amount
of damage to the cane crop.
White ants, or termites, were reported only from
Antigua, where they occurred on limestone land, but were
not regarded as serious pests. In St. Kitts, where attention
was first attracted to the attacks of white ants on sugar-cane
on certain estates, they were not reported in 1917, and they
seem to be dying out.
The cane fly (.Stexocranus |Delphax| saccharivoris)
was not recorded from any of the islands.
In Grenada the froghopper (Z'omasp/s saccharina) did
not spread to cause any extension of the infested area,
and the degree of infestation was less severe than in 1916.
In St. Lucia mealy-bugs were recorded as being
common in cane fields, grasshoppers were of general distribu-
tion and caused slight injuries, while a emall beetle is record-
ed as doing a fair amount of damage to the blades of young
cane plants,
The young shoots of the cane were attacked by the grass-
looper (Aemigia repanda) in Dominica, and grasshoppers
caused a considerable amount of damage to young canes jn
St. Kitts, and a small amount in Nevis.
COTTON,
The cotton worm (A/abama argillacea) is report-
ed to have been less severe in Montserrat than for
several years past, while in Antigua severe attacks of this
insect were experienced in October and November when
showers of rain washed off the insecticides applied, and, in
consequence, a considerable amount of damage was done,
especially to peasant-grown cotton. In the Virgin Islands
unusually severe attacks occurred late in the season.
The corn ear worm (Laphygma frugiferda) and the boll
worm (He/iothis armiger), were of general occurrence, but
appear to have caused no damage of consequence. Cotton
stainers, which are now known to be associated with the
occurrence of internal boll disease, have assumed a
new importance. In St. Vincent, where active control
measures were in force in 1916-17, cotton stainers occurred
locally only where control measures were defective. In Bequia
their attacks were severe,
In Montserrat they probably did less damage than usual,
while in St. Kitts the cotton stainer was more in evidence
during the 1917 season than perhaps ever before. They
appeared about November, and yielded to no endeavours to
reduce their numbers. For the first time flights of these
insects from field to field were noticed.
In Nevis it was estimated that cotton stainers caused
serious damage by infecting cotton with internal boll
disease.
The bush bugs (Vesara viridu/a and others) have been
studied in St. Vincent principally, and the relation of these
insects to cotton in that island has formed the subject of
articles in the IVest Indian Bulletin and Agricultural News,
The green bug has been found capable of causing bolls
to be attacked by internal boll disease. Scale insects on
cotton are not generally considered serious pests, since their
attacks become severe late in the season, usually about the
lime the crop is off and the old p'ants about to be destroyed.
In 1917 scale insects were reported as being severe in the
Jeeward districts where certain infested trees occurred near
cotton fields,
‘The flower-bud maggot (Conéarinia gossypit) was
recorded at the Experiment Station, Tortola, where it occur-
red in the previous season.
Leaf-blister mite (Zviophyes gossvpit) was rather more
abundant than usual in St. Viocent, Antigua, and Nevis; in
all cases this was due to carelessness in destroying old cotton,
or to planting cotton inthe immediate neighbourhood of old
infested plants. In St. Kitts this pest attacked cotton with
great severity, and in one district caused some loss.
In Antigua isolated attacks of aphis were recorded. In
Nevis the Lachnopus weevil occurred in localities on young
cotton, but caused little damage. Grasshoppers and the
common field cricket attacked young cotton in one district in
Nevis.
CACAO.
The cacao thrips (/fe/iothrips rubrocinctus) was reported
as being severe in two islands only. In St. Lncia it was
said to be locally severe, especially on lowlands; and
in Grenada the attack was said to be milder than. in
Vou. XVII. No. 433.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 379
oT SSS
1916, and that there was only slight extension of the area
‘on which the attacks occurred. Some control had been
effected on small areas by spraying with Bordeaux mixture.
In the previous number ef the Agricultural News the
Insect Notes related to cacao thrips., Figures given in that
issue show that the cacao crops of 1916 and 1917, as seen
by the amounts of cacao exported, were the largest
ever recorded for Grenada. This was in face of the
attacks of thrips in 1916, which were reported to be most
severe.
The cacao beetle (Stevrastoma depressum) was reported
during the year from the western coast of Grenada, where it
was locally severe.
Mealy-bugs were reported as occurring in Grenada,
St. Lucia, and Dominica. The insect referred to was prob-
ably Psewdococcus nipae.
Cacao trees were damaged to a slight extent by non-
tunnelling termites in Grenada.
LIMES AND OTHER CITRUS CROPS.
In Grenada, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia, scale insects on
limes were reported to be generally distributed and locally
severe. Coccus viridis was reported as being severe on seed-
lings in nurseries in St. Lucia. In Dominica scale insects
were reported as usually present on poor cultivations and on
cultivations in the course of being established.
The bark borer (Lef/ostylus praemorsus) was recorded
in Grenada and St. Lucia.
The records as to the occurrence of the Diaprepes and
Exophthalmus weevils in the case of cacao, as with sugar-
cane, refer only to the adults; the grubs live in the soil, and
are very difficult to observe, and in consequence they are
but little remarked. Itis reported that on one estate in
Antigua, 100,000 adults of Lxcphthalmus esuriens were
estimated to have been killed in June.
SWEET POTATO.
The sweet potato pests would appear to have been
of’ small consequence during 1917. The ‘jacobs’ or
‘scarabee’ (Euscefes datatae) occurred in most of the
islands. In Antigua this pest commonly occurs in pota-
toes grown by peasants, and not as a rule in potatoes
grown on estates. The leaf-eating caterpillars appear . to
have caused but little injury except at Virgin Gorda, where
Pretoparce cingulata attacked sweet potato vines rather
badly. :
INDIAN CORN.
The pests of Indian corn are of interest because of the
efforts that have been made to increase the production of
this cereal as a war-time measure. 2
The caterpillars He/rothis armiger and Laphyema frugi-
perda were present. In Antigua a fair amount of damage was
reported, while in St. Kitts the corn ear worm caused much
loss during the year, and the situation was made more
serious by: the extremely dry weather. The use of Paris
green and corn meal was successful in controlling the attacks
on the plant. but later, the corn was_attacked in the ear.
In certain localities in Antigua Indian corn was some-
what damaged by attacks of hard back grubs,
The moth borer of sugar-cane was very troublesome
as a pest of Indian corn in St. Vincent. Grain weevils are
reported as having been generally distributed, ‘attacking the
corn while ripening in the field, and when stored.
coco-NUTS.
The usual pests of coconuts were reported as occur-
ring, but they appear to have been of very little impor-
tance during the year.
GROUND NUTS
Ground nuts were attacked by plant bugs in St. Vincent.
f ONIONS.
Onions were attacked by caterpillars, but these were not
recorded as being severe, except in the Virgin Islands.
Thrips were reported from Antigua and Nevis, and in Antigua
the hard back grubs attacked onions so severely as to make it
impossible to grow this crop in certain districts
GREEN DRESSING (BEANS AND PEAS).
_ The principal pests of green-dressing crops are leaf-eat-
ing caterpillars and the bush bugs (WVezara viridula and
others). The leaf-eating caterpillars were not much in evi-
dence in 1917.
The bush bugs are of special importance, since in addition
to the direct damage which they do by feeding on these plants,
some of them are responsible for infecting the fruits with the
fungi of internal boll disease, and of carrying it from these
plants to the cotton. During 1917 these insects were
reported from Grenada; as doing much damage by carrying
fungi of internal boll disease in St. Vincent; of being
abundant and doing a fair amount of damage on
the crop at the Experiment Station at Nevis; while in the
Virgin Islands they usually appear early in the year, and are
frequently destructive.
In St. Vincent a weevil which attacks the young seeds
of cowpeas, bonavist, and pigeon peas has done great damage
In many parts of the island, and a certain amount of damage
has resulted from attacks of the small moth (Bad(ovia cistipen-
nis) on the pods and seeds,
PLANTAINS AND BANANAS,
The black weevil borer (Cosmopolites sordidus) occurs in
St. Lucia, Dominica, and Antigua. Although it has long
been recognized as attacking these plants, it has not attracted
much attention until lately. Reference may be made to
articles in the West Indian Bulletin and the Avricultural
Yezvs as to the status of this insect.
In the report under review it is not recorded from
Antigua; the record of the occurrence of this insect in that
island is of recent date.
To St. Lucia the injury is reported as being particu-
larly apparent during the dry season. In Dominica it is
a serious obstacle to the cultivation of plantains. Bananas
are attacked to a much less extent.
In St. Lucia the black hard back borer (Zomarus
bitubercu/atus) attacks banana and plantain bulbs, and is
a serious pest of tannias, dasheens, and eddoes.
Under the heading ‘Miscellaneous Insects and Pests
otherwise unprovided for’, reference is made to the attacks
of boring insects in the twigs of mahogany in St. Lucia and
Antigua, This was probably the larva of the small moth,
Avpsipyla grandella.
The large longicorn beetle (Aatocera rubus), which has
been introduced into the Virgin Islands in recent years,
continues to be ptentiful.
In Dominica the mango maggot, the larva of the fruit
fly (Anastrepha sp.), was unusually abundant. Wood-boring
beetles, ambrosia beetles, were troublesome in their attacks
on hogsheads and puncheons for shipping lime juice. The
slug or ‘ palute’ (Veronicella occidentalis) was not so much in
evidence as a pest of provision crops asin 1915.
NATURAL ENEMIES OF INJURIOUS INSECTS
The predaceous thrips (Frankdinothrips vespiformis) was
fairly well distributed in Grenada on cacao trees infested
with the cacao thrips. The hy:nenopterous egg-parasites of
bush bugs were abundant in certain districts in St. Vincent,
In the Virgin Islands the Jack Spaniards have disappeared
since the hurricane of 1916, and the unusually severe infesta-
tion of cotton worm is believed to be in part due to the
absence of this useful predaceous insect. H.A.B,
GLEANINGS,
yl
it has been found that rice can be produced very readily. and
in beavy crops of fine grain.
to.90 tb. per acre for the first crop, and up to 130 fb. in snb-
sequent years. Por the firstand second crops 40 sacks of 100 b. ‘
each is regarded as the minimum successful yield, and crops ¢
of about 50 sacks on a whole plantation are not rare.
(Tropica! Life, September 1918.) ~ 1. ,
Not only is the production of camphor declining mark-
edly in Japan, but considerably less menthol and mint’ oil
is heing produced. The Japanese farmers are turning their
attention to peas, beans, and other esculents, which tney find
more profitable to grow than mint.» : Estimates of this year’s
-erap iniicate that the yield will be about one-third short of
the average. (The /erfumery and. Essential Ol Record,
September 1918.) °
The /ulernational Sugar Jouripi, OQerober 1918, has a
sbort note on the working of three sugar factories on the-
Yambesi Hiver in Portuguese Kasp Africa. Each estate
harvests annualiy some 140,000 tons of cane, mostly of the
Uba variety, which gives np to 90 tong per acre in plant canes,
sixteen and eighteen months old.‘ Fipst ratoons give 30 to 35
tens; other ratoons go down to 15 tons per acre. ‘he fibre in
the Mba cane ranges from 16 to 20. per cent.
Aceording vo the Ferm Journal for November 1918—
a journal published in Philadelphia —the United States pro-
duced before the war more swine than any other nation in
the world. Germapy being second. The number ef hogs in
the United States before the war was estimated at nearly 60
millions, and in Germany abont 25 millions. Av present. it
js éstimated that in the United States the pig population has
incyeisl to imore than 70 millions. while in Germany it has
diminishal te abont 12 millions.
In the Preccedtugs of the Agricultural Soaety of Trinidad
arid Tobage, September 1918, in an article on the banana, it is
stated that the local Wepartmentof Agriculture has dove good
service in popularizing the use of greem bavanas asa dilnent
for wheat flour in bread. Many recipies have been reconumen-
ded, bnt the following seems to be wértha trial on account of
its simplicity: oil green bananas igesalted water, and when
thorouvh'y couked, pour off the nail ‘nash the bananas, and
te 30 per cent, of that mash add 70 per cent, of floar dougb:
this wil produce « bread of very palatable quality.
ak) ss THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. :
In the rich vall~y of the Sacramento River in Culifornia,’’ J es ;
waste with proper organization of the industry.
It is planted at the rate of 85 -
’ tures.
‘from about $8,000,000 to $21,000,000.
J
3 d ie, MBER 30, 19158.
ee
,
The Sugar Equalization Board in the United»States has
_ bad to tix the prices for, the coming erop. The Cnban 1918-19
> crop price has been ‘the most important. one under con-
sideranon, Cuba has been holding out for an increase ;
of le. per Ib. over ther présent fignre of 4:°60c., on the,
ground that even that Increase will do little more. than ,
coyer’ the rise in cost of production. The data supplied ,
by the Cuban manufacturers have ,been,too convincing to be -
ignored, for the Board has finally fixed on the price of 5-50c.,
only 0:10c, below the dwaban demand. (The /xternational
_ Sugar Journal, October L918.)
—EEEE ’ ‘
‘
4 1
ae ..
In an article on the development of the ground nut
industry in Jritish Toc ia, The Board of Trade Journal,
September 12, 1918, states tliat there should be absolutely no
Besides the
vaiue of the oil as human food, the grouid nut cake is valu-
able as a cattle food, and eyen the plant itself makes excellent
fodder and hay for cattle. “fhe paper-like husk containing
the seed may be used for stutiing mattresses and cashions,: 5
and possibly also as a séurve of cellulose for paper-making.
If these husks are burnt as fuel, the ash, being rich in phos.
phates, makes a good manure, as also does the thin red coat-
ing to the kernel.
Arrangements have’ been made, says the 7rapica/
_ Agriculturist, Joly 1918, between the College of Hawaii and
the Sugar Planters’ Jxperiment Station, for the institation
of 2 four-years’ conrse in Sagar Technology. This includes
general science as applied to agriculture, the agriculture of
the snga-reane under Hawaiian conditions, the chenistry of
sugar, and the chemistry and engiveering of sugar manutac-
Arrangements have been made for practical training
in chemistry and engineering in factories while at work. The
proposals follow closely those which have been successful at
~ Audubon Park, Louisiana, and at the School of Agriculture
gel 5
Mauritius.
The eighteenth annna! balance sheet of the Coastal Parm-
erg’ Co-operative Society, Ltd., for the sale of farm and dairy
produce, the head office of which is at Sydney, New South
Wales, affords a wonderful example of progress and benefit
as the result of ev-openation among farmers, The sales of
the first year of its operation (1901) were £71,855. . yielding
a dividend upon paid wpeapitalof £45, and a bonus returned
to consignors of £1,262, The total sales for the year ended
March 31, 1918, of dairy and farm produce were £2,348 324,
the dividend upon paid np capital at the rate of 7 per cent,
was. £2,170, and the bonus returned to consignors jwas
£22,708.
Tu an article on Canada and the West Indies in the
Kinancer and Bullionist, October 20, 1918, iv-is stated that
‘even under presen’ unsatisfactory commercial treaties and
lack of saflicient direct transportation facilities, the exports
from Canada to the West Indies have move than donbled
during the last’ three years, and the imports have inereased
If the Canadian
consumption of tropical, products increases in the same ratio,
in ven years they would amount to more than $50,000,000,
C©anadians are bound to realize more and more how much the
world depends upon tropival produce, and that the gre
rivalry of the future will befor control of the tropics. '
:
Vou. XVII. No. 433.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 381
UNITED STATES SUGAR IMPORTS
AND EXPORTS.
The United States reports of Foreign Commerce in the
United States for the seven months ending July 31, says the
Louisiana Planter, October 26, 1918, show that during
those seven months 1,927,516 short tons of sugar were
imported into the United States and were valued at
$179,589,491. These figures stand as against the figures
for the previous year of importations of 1,956,518 tons,
practically the same quantity, valued at nearly 15 million
dollars less, or at $164,980,375. For ‘the year ending
July 31, 1916, the total imports reached 2,062,694 short
tons, valued at $164,529,038, slightly more sugar than the
succeeding year, and about’ $450,000 less in total value.
Considerable quantities of these sugars were taken to the
United States, and there refined and then exported.
tn the exportation of these sugars the Department of
(Commerce includes them among the exports of domestic
products, whereas probably not one pound of the sugar
exported was of domestic production. The sugar refiner
takes the sugar already produced and of high grade, gener-
ally about 96-test, and by washing and filtering it eliminates
the brown colour and whitens the sugar, a manipulation that
bears little or no relation to the real manufacture of the
sugar. Any way, this vagary of the government in its com-
mercial reports is misleading in its character.
For the seven months ending July 31 ovly 49,676 tons
of sugar were exported. The limited quantity stands as
against 307,538 tons during the same period last year, and
547,339 tons the year before. The emergency calls in
Europe for sugar led to the landing of many of their foreign
sugars in New York to undergo the process of refining, but in
the meantime Great Britain has so improved her own
resources in refining as to’ have caused the immense drop or
decline in our exports of refined sugars.
The fixed values placed upon sugars by the Food Control
Board have resulted in a degree of uniformity in the import
prices of sugar that, while no longer a novelty, is a phase of
the sugar industry never before seen.
The exports of refined sugar for the seven months ending
July 31 were valued at $6,413,256, and were almost exactly
50,000 short tons in quantity. Over 24,000 short tons of
these sugars, valued at over 3 millions of dollars, went to
France ; 8,000 short tons, valued ata little over a million
dollars, went to Belgium, and the United Kingdom got 7,000
short tons valued at about $900,000; the rest of the Ameri-
can exports went to various smaller countries.
Apropos of the foregoing, Mr. Herbert Hoover, Food
Administrator, has recently issued, through the United
States Food Admistration Office in New Orleans,
a prospectus of the food conservation necessary for the
Federal Union for the year 1919. As affecting the
sugar question, Mr. Hoover’s views of sugar supply are
of great interest. Sugar shipment from the United
States for the three years before the war averaged
618,000 tons. For the year ending July 1, 1918, 1,520,000
‘tons were shipped, and Mr. iloover now calculates that for
the year ending July 1, 1919, there must be shipped 1,850,000
tons of sugar—an increase of 330,000 tons over the previous
ear.
eich is estimated as slightly over 50 per cent., the percent-
age of increase in the exports of sugar (slightly under 20 per
cent.) does not look very large, still it is quite significant ;
for it is compated that it would praétically take all the loose
sugar Jying in Cuba and anywhere in the Westera World,
While as compared with foodstuffs, the increase of:
and also the surplus lying in the Far East, unless there
happens to be a very successful season in the Western World
and the crops turn out much larger than usual, and larger
than can fairly be expected.
An additional point taken into consideration is that this
increased quantity of sugar demanded for Europe is a con-
tinued and convincing appreciation of the wonderful value of
sugar as food.
PRICES OF SUGAR.
In a pamphlet entitled ‘(Juestions and Answers concern-
.ing Sugar’, issued by the Bureau of Statistics, Washington,
there are many interesting facts brought forward which
perhaps are not always well understood even in sugar growing
countries.
With regard to the price of sugar, it is remarkable that
until the War occasioned an abnormal rise in price, sugar is
the one staple food product the price of which has not shown
a material increase for the decade 1900-1910. In 1900 the
price of sugar per lb. in New York was 5°32c. and it had
fallen in 1910 to 4:97c. The increase in prices of other
staple foods in the New York market for the same period
ranged from 14°4 per cent. for potatoes and beans, to 89°8
per cent. for salt pork. The average increase, as shown by
the Bureau of Labour, in the price of thirty-three leading
staple foods was 45°3 per cent. while, on the other hand, the
price of sugar decreased 7 per cent.
The price of raw sugar in the world is regulated by the
law of supply and demand. The quantity of stocks on hand
is always relatively small, and both an actual and an antici-
pated material increase or decrease in the world’s production
violently affects the price. For instance, owing to serious
drought in Western Europe in 1911, which resulted in a
decreased production of 1,500,000 tons of beet sugar, the
price of raw sugar in Hamburg advanced 50 per cent. within
ninety days from the time the drought was first reported.
Again, owing to increased world production of both beet and
cane sugar, and the consequent-increase in sugar stocks, the
average price of sugar in 1913 had reached its lowest point.
Because of the war, however, the beet-sugar crop of Europe
in 1914-15 was 665,000 tons less than the preceding crop,
and the production of the next year was still further reduced
by 2}-million tons, a decrease which was not made up by
the increased production of cane sugar. Great Britain, which
had been purchasing 60 per cent. of her sugar supply trom
Germany and Australia, immediately began buying raw
sugar in tropical islands, especially in Cuba, which had
formerly marketed the bulk of its output in the United
States. With two competing purchasers instead of one
who had known that the Cuban producer must come to
him sooner or later, the world’s price of raw sugar rapidly
increased, causing a similar rise in the price of refined.
Great Britain was unable to purchase a sufficient quantity of
raw sugar, and then commenced purchasing refined sugar
made from Cuban raw sugar in New York. Other European
nations also entered the United States market, which raised
the price of raw sugar delivered at New York from 3-50c.
per ib. in 1913 to 5°78c. per fb. in 1915, while the average
price of refined sugar, which was 4°27c. per tb. in 1913,
advanced to 6°86c. in 1916.
Sugar may be said to bea hand-to-mouth product. It
is also to be remembered that the present high price paid
by the consumer for sugar, is also due tothe rise in the
rates of freight, and the difficulties of marine transport.
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
PLANT DISEASES.
A NEW COFFEE DISEASE IN SURINAM.
Dr. Gerald Stahel, in Wed. van het- Depart. van den
Landbouw in Suriname, No. 13, describes an affection of
Liberian coffee under the name of the Sclerotium Disease.
Tt was brietly noticed by Kuyper, in Bud/etin 37 ot the samme
Depattment. as the Coremium disease, but since that time
has assumed a greater importance.
On mature leaves the fungus produces brown, dead spots,
with distinctly marked concentric rings. In continuously
humiid weather these may expand over the entire leaf. The
underside of the spots bears white, spiny outgrowths,
2.4 mm. long, which do not bear spores, but are easily
broken offand carried by the wind to other coffee trees, on
which they serve to originate new infestations.
The ripening fruits are similarly attacked, with the pro-
duction of concentric-zoned spots, and when dead they are
entirely covered with the white spines. (n both leaves and
berries while stiJl on the tree, there may be developed (in
damp weather) brown or orange-brown selerotia, and these
occur in profusion on the fallen berries. In very damp
weather a feathery mycelium is prodused on the material
‘ lying on ‘he ground.
Where a cluster of fruit is involved as a whole, the
fungus may invade the cushion, and thus inhibit further pro-
duction.
The disease ceases to extend with the onset of the dry
season. It is supposed that it is again renewed from the
sclerotia, but in what manner remains as yet unknown.
Spore-formation of any kind has not been observed, but from
the presence of clamp-connexions im the hyphae. the fungus
ja believed to be a Pasidiomycete.
Apparently good results have
deaux mixture against the disease. The disease is at present
confiaed to plantations along the Surinam River, and is
especially severe 6n an estate on the npper river. Tt has not
been detected, in the field. on Robusta, Uganda, or Surinam
coffee, though infections were seeured by artificial means.
Abeoknta and Excelsa are very susceptible
followed the use of Bor-
W.oIN:
ALCOHOL PRODUCTION.
From time to time, and very much more so recently,
suggested additional sources of alcohol have been discussed
and experimented with, and up to the present the most prom-
ising new raw materials for fermentation spirit are apparently
wood waste, which is used on a, small commercial scale in
America (Agricu/tural News, Vol. XVM, No. 429, p. 31+),
and certain tropical plants rich in carbohydrates. True syn-
thetic alcobol is also being made in Switzerland from
calcium carbide via acetylene. The Pezfumery and Essential
Of Recora, October 1918, now discusses the subject from
the standpoint of increasing the production of fermentation
spirit: After stating the essentials necessary for making
carbide alcohol, namely, cheap power such as is provided by
waterfalls, and.ample applies of coal and limestone, atten-
tion is directed to what ia considered to be really of more
Novemeer 30, 1918.
immediate importance, that is, the breaking of fresh ground
for fermentation spirit. It is mentioned that the chief
sources of the European spirit have hitherto been three.
Great Britain has depended on grain, and Germany on
potatoes, while in certain wine-growing countries such as
Italy, years of abundant vintage have yielded alcohol at a
low rate from surplus wine All these, however, trench on
the food supply. and whatis now sought is primarily material
which is not waated for human consumption. . The Imperia}
(Government is taking the matter up seriously, and a com-
mittee has been appointed to investigate the available sources
of supply (with particular reference to manufacture from
materials other than those which can be used for food pur-
poses), the method and cost of sach manafacture, and the
manner in which alcohol: should be used for power purposes.
The whole question, it is pointed out, is one of prime
moment to the perfumery trade.
Sir T. E. Thorpe, -writing to Ze Times of October 16
concerning the appointment of the Committee referred to
above, remarks that, no doubt, the main object of the
enquiry will be to determine methods of producing cheap
alcohol for use as fuel, particularly motor fuel. He recalls
the fact that the question had been already dealt with by a
Departmental Committee, It was admittedly surrounded
with difficulties—eeonomical, fiscal, and mechanical —some
of which have possibly-been overcome. As for the fiscal
objections, these, Sir Edward states, will have to be met, if
it is satisfactorily established that alcohol can be economi-
cally used for power purposes. Under the changed condi-
tions due to the War, and owing to the great increase in
knowledge and experience, it is undoubtedly time that the
problem should be officially reconsidered. Many projects
have been published from time to time for the production of
ordinary alcohol from non-alimentary materials, and there is
a large amount of patent literature on the subject. The
greater number of these suggestions may be classified under
two heads’ They depend either on the production of fer-
mentable substances capable of forming ethyl alcohol, or on
the synthetic formation of compounds which may be made
to yield this alcohol by purely chemical means.
Sir Edward goes on to say that. in the first class is
the production of alcohol from marine algae. It has been
shown that such seaweeds as /aminarta digitata, 1. steno-
phvlla, and JL. saccharina, the common wracks or tangle,
and the various /icv. the black and bladder wracks, ali of
which are abundant on the British shores, and some cf which
were formerly of importance as sources of alkali and iodine,
may be made to yield-considerable quantities of alcohol by
appropriate treatment. Thus it has been stated that 100 Ib.
of red wrack, dried to a moisture content of 10 per centi,
when heated for a short time with weak sulphuvie acid and
the acidity still further reduced after cooling, may be fer-
mented with brewers’ yeast, and is then capable of yielding
about 6 litres of alcohol on distillation. It is alleged that
under industrial conditions this amount may be increased,
Tf these statements can be verified, continued Sir Edward
Thorpe, we have in our seaweeds a ready and cheap source
of alcohol, and the possibility of employment to a poor popu-
lation whose means of livelihood were greatly impoverished
by the loss to them of the kelp industry. The mode of
collection and preliminary treatment of seaweed for use in
the chemical arts were largely worked out by the late
Mr. KE. C. G. Stanford many years ago, and are applicable
to the present suggested employment. In addition, we have
the experience of America; the collection and utilization of
the giant weeds of thy, Pacific coast is now an established
industry.
.Y
|
|
|
-could be done by private enterprise of endeavour.
Wor. LVIE yy Now 433:
THE AGRICULTURAL News 383
ALCOHOL FUEL COMMITTEE.
The Fieid, October 19, 1918, draws attention to’ the
appointment by the Government of a new eommittee, under
the chairmanship of Sir boverton Redwood, delegated to in-
vestigate the possibilities of proiducing aleohol in Great Brit-
ain from other than articles of human food for the purpose of
fuel, and, no doubt, other commercial purposes.
The question of providing some alternative fuel to petrol
for motor use is so pressing that much of the article in Ze
Fidld \s reproduced below.
There is no objection to the uss of alcohol as ‘motor fuel
bevond a necessity to modify engine design to meet its char-
acteristics, or an alternative loss of power as compared with
petrol or benzol, and a difficulty im starting the engine—
which can be obviated by doing that on petrol. By the
admixture of a form of ether a fuel capable of easy starting,
and said to possess much of the practical characteristics of
benzol is being used in South Africa, under the name Natal-
ite. tf the accounts rendered of that fuel be borne out by
experience, it would appear that the fue) problem is solved
for most of our colonies.
Unforturately in Great Britain there are no considerable
supphes of alcoho) producing material outside foodstutfs such
as potatoes, but there is much which, in the ordinary course
of events, is not utilized for any purpose, and so that would
be all to the good. Tz is not likely that in Great ‘Britain
sound potatoes could be used for aleshal production, for the
simple reason that it is an extravagant use of food- material
of which it is not probable that too much will be produced
for some years to come. Prior to the war pure alcohol
reached this country from Germariy at a price! of 10d. a
-gallon—a figure which would not permit the British farmer
to raise potatoes with profit ; and yet it seems essential that
fuel alcoho] must not cost very much more if itis to be
a standard fuel. Possibly it is for that reason that Sir Bover-
ton ltedwood’s committee is limited im its terms of reference
to other than articles of human food. Even if and when
that committee in its report advises a practical programme,
there will remain many obstacles to surmount before alcohol
‘or Natalite, or any other similar blend, can be sold in the
Same way as petro] and benzol. Butan altered attitude on
the part of the Inland Neveune authorities is to be hoped
for, which will entirely change the situation as it has been
governed in the past. Itis no: too Much to say that had
those authorities been other than antagonistic, alcohol fuel
would have been placed on the market years ago, even
though it could only: have been aw alternative to petrol
at about 2s.-per gallon. No doubt there’ were serious
fiseal difficulties in the way, but there was no sympathy
wasted on the desire for an alternative fuel, and nothing
The chief
value of this committee will come in’the information it. will
bring regarding the vaiue of alcohc] as a motor fuel.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
ce oe
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET. |
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the {o)-
lowing report op the London drugeand spice markets
forthe month of October, 1918:—
The ‘satisiactory condition of the war news that hag
prevailed through the month of October has had its influence,
though slight, in the produce markets, sometimes with the
tendency towards the lowering of prices, and at other times
in the opposite direction. It is, however, too early to expect
any real change in either direction, or deed in any other;
consequently buyers are still content to purchase only im
sufficient quantities to meet the immediate requirements.
The following are the principal details affecting West Indian.
products.
PIMENTO, GINGER, AND) MACE.
Pimento has gradually advanced in price during the
month, due apparently to the fact that its importation can be
ettected now only under licence. In the early part of the
month 7}d. per ib. was the price asked, but at auction
on the 17th, sales were effected at Tid. per tb., and
at the last auction on the 31st of the month, fair quality
sold at from 6{/., to Td. Ginger was in good supply
at auction on the 17th of the month, consisting of 120
barrels and 154 bags of Japanese, 40 bags of washed rough —
Cochin, and 25 bags of limed Japanese. All these were
brought in at prices varying from 185y, to 190s. per cwt. for
good bold Japanese. Limed Japanese was held at 135s., and
the rough washed Cochin at 170s, At auction on the 24th of
‘the month, ginger was again in good supply, anda small
amount of business was done, Jamaica fetching from 165s. to
180s. per ewt, for middling to good, washed Cochin 170s.,-and.
Calicut 160s. Some Sierra Leone was also disposed of at fron:
135s. to 137s. Ge. per ewt. At auction on the 17th of the
month, mace was represented by 32 bags of Bombay, and
124 packages of Singapore. Of the first, 3s. 11d. per tb.
was paid for wormy and broken, and for the second,
3s. 10d. to ts. for reddish.
CIPRIC ACID, ARROWROOT, SARSAPARILLA, KOLA, CASSIA
WISTULA,
Citric acid has been in good demand throughout
the month, starting at 4. G7 per Tb. at the beginning,
and 4s. 103d. to 5s. at the close. Arrowroot has been
in good demand at advanced rates, fair manufacturing
St. Vincent being quoted at Jy, 7d@. per Ib. At auction
on the 24th of the month, sarsaparilla was in good
supply, consisting of 43 packages of grey Jamaica, 86 of
native Jamaica, 39 of Lima-Jamaica. and 6 of Honduras ;
23 bales of the grey Jamaica were disposed of at 5s. to
ds. 2d. per th. for fair to “good fibrous, and 4s. L1d. for sea~
damaged. Only { bale of the native Jamaica was disposed
of at 2s. per tb, for sea-damaged. The Lima-Jamaica and
Honduras found no buyers. At this samé@ auction 34
packages of kola were offered, and disposed of, good*
bright West Indian halves fetching 8. to Sid. per D.; fair
and partly mouldy fetched 77. to Sd.. and small, part
mouldy, G¢. to *}d. per Ib. At this auction 8 packages of
Cassia Fistula—all that were offered—-were sold at an ad-
vance of from 32y. 6d. to 35s, per ewt. on previous rates,
wormy | )ominican realizing as much as 157s, to 160s. per ewt.
Kapok, the fibre surrounding the seeds of the silk-cotton
tree (Hriodendron anfractuosum), is being imported into the’
United States in increasingly large quantities, princip2ily
from Java. The consumption of kapok fibre in the United:
States amounted to 8,472,830 bb. in 1917, an increase of 45-7,
per cent on the amount used in 1915. (7%e Board af Trade
ptember 19, 1918) ,
Journac >“
384
. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Novemser 30, 1918.
ee * A }
MARKET REPORTS.
London.—Tse Wesr
August 22.
InprA Committee CrrcuLar,
ARROWROOT—No quotations.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, no aQuo-
tations.
Brrswax—No quotations,
Cacao—Trinidad, 90/-; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota-
tions.
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations.
Corpra—£46.
Fevit—No quotations.
Grxczer—Jamaica, no quotations.
ONEY—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lie Juice—Raw, 4/6 to 5/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6,
Locwoop—No quotations.
Mace—No quotations.
Normecs—No quotations.
Pinento—9}d.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 3/04; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., October 4.
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations; Trinidad, no quota-
tions,
Coco-nut Orm—$1°16 per gallon.
Oorrer—Venezvelan, 1c. per tb..
Oorra—$7-25 per 100 tb.
Duat—$11-50 to $12:00 per bag.
Ontons—$10-00 per 100 tb.
Pras, Sprir—$8°00 per bag.
Porarors—English, $4:00 per 100 th.
Rice—Yellow, $13°00 to $13:25; White, $9-00 per bag.
Svear—American crushed, no quotations.
New York.—Messrs Gittespre Bros & Co., Novem-
ber, 14.
Cacao—Caracas, l4jc. to lic.; Grenada, 14}o. to [4}e.;
Trinidad, 144c. to l5c.; Jamaica, 12}c.
Coco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $51-00; Trinidad $52-00
culls, $25-00 to $29°00 per M. F
Corree—Jamaica, 14c. to 7c. per It.
Gincer—l7c. to 20c. per tb.
Goav Sxins—Importation prohibited.
Grape Fruir—Jamaiea, $2°51) to $4:00.
Liwgs—Nominal. —
Mace—4ic. to 45c. per th.
Nourmecs—330c.
Orances—$2°50 to 33°50.
Prmento—9%c. to 9c. per fb.
Suear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°055c; Muscovados, 89°, 5°155c
Molasses, 89°, 5:02. all duty paid.
Barbados.—Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., October 18.
AgzRowrooT—$12‘00 per 100 tr.
Cacao—$12:00 to $12°50 per 100 h.
Coco-nuts—$30'00 husked nuts.
Haxy—$3 00.
Motasses—No quotations.
Ostons—No quotations.
Pras, Sptit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Porators—No quotations.
Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran
‘goor, no quotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $5°50
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: “A Quarterly Scieutific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning,
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the 1aformation contained 10 them
le especially adapted to West Indian conditions.
The
The ‘ Agricultural News’
contains
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’:
extracts
The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
A Fortnightly Review.
from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress made ip
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed ia time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, ia
2s, 2d. per half-year, or 3s. 3d. per annum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, tach
— post free, 5s.
The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.
London: Messrs. Duta & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
West Inpra Commitrer, 15, Seething Lane.
Barbados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown.
Jamaica: THE EpucationaL Suppry Company, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana; Tre Anrcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown.
Trinidad: Messrs. Muir-Marsuaty & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C. L, PLaGEMANN, Scarborough,
Bahamas: Mr. H, G, Curistie, Board of Agriculture, Nassau,
Grenada: Messrs. THos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
St. Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonapre, ‘Times’ Office, 4
St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nuzes, Botanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brrocewarter, Roseau, P
Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station, .
Antigua; Mr. 8. D. Matone, St. John’s,
St, Kitts: Tez Brste AND Book Suppty AcEncy, Bassererrs
Nevis: Mr. W. I. Howgit, Experiment Station. ; 4
Canada: Lewis W. Cremens, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
We are buyers of =
COTTON SEED
And we ace prepared to buy year after year
THE WHOLE PRODUCE OF THE
WEST INDIES.
——
Being possessed of ample financial resources and having first-
class connections in all the primary markets of the world we are
able to offer the highest inducements to our clients. WE CON-
SIDER NO TRANSACTION COMPLETE UNLESS BOTH PARTIES
TO IT ARE ENTIRELY SATISFIED, and in pursuance of that
Policy we invariably pay the highest prices compatible with the
conditions obtaining from. time to time; and moreover we are
ready to make all such payments when, where, and_how_our
clients instruct us. If payment is required in London, New York,
_ or anywhere else, we can arrange it; if goods are to be shipped
in exchange it is our pleasure to do so, and, our buying facili-
ties enable us to acquire such goods at rock bottom prices.
In addition to our business of Cotton Seed Crusning, WE DO
A GENERAL IMPORTING AND EXPORTING TRADE: conse-
quently we are open to handle any possible transaction, so
CONSULT US UPON ANY MATTER ON WHICH YOU
REQUIRE ASSISTANCE: AND LET US SEE IF
WE CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO YOU.
— ——
ERNEST THORNE LTD. BARBADOS.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
It Pays :
TO ERADICATB Ticks |
°
The Results of Tick Eradication work in the United States
*
°
't
A vigorous co-operative campaign for the eradication of the cattle tick in the South and South-West States of North
America, has been in progress since 1906, the work being conducted jointl py the Bureau of Animal endusiry Pt United
States Department of Agriculture and the State and county authorities. 2 square miles (an area ter than ) has
already been completely cleared of ticks. An effort has recently been made to secure direct evidence from the cattlemen aad
farmers concerned as to the results of the work. For this purpose a circular letter embodying the following questions was
widely distributed among the stockmen and farmers in 11 different States. The questions asked were :—
What has been the average increase her head in the value of cattle re county since tick eradication began in 1906?
What, if any, has been the average per cent. increase in the weight of the cattle since tick eradication began ?
Express in percentage the average increase in grade or quality of the cattle since ticks were eradicated ?
Approximately what per cent. of cattle died annually of fever in your county before tick eradication began ?
What is the probable per cent. of increase in milk production of dairy cows due to the absence of ticks ?
Slightly over 1,000 replies were received in all. The following is a summary of these replies, taking each question in order :—
1. AVERAGE INCREASE in VALUE of CATTLE SINCE TICK ERADICATION BEGAN in 1906.
od aed
Alabama path $7.70 Arkansas ee $8.31 California =. $15.00 Georgia = $8.00
Mississippi... 9.00 North Carolina 8.30 @ Oklahoma... 8.20 South Carolina 9.25
Tennessee... $10.94 Texas aa $13.79 Virginia se. $13.28
Avernge of 11 States - $9.76
NOTE.— 22.50 should be dedweted from the above increases as representing the 3 rise in the value af cattle which has taken place throughout the country,
and which cannot, therefore, be said tp to due to the eradication of ticks. “4 u!
2. INCREASE IN WEIGHT OF CATTLE.
The averages for the States ranged from 11 per cent. in Texas to 23 per cent. in Mississippi, and the average per cent. of gain
ror the entire tick-free territory was 19.14. In other words, the cattle asa whole are considered to be about one-fifth heavier
than before tick destruction was commenced.
3. INCREASE IN QUALITY OF CATTLE.
The lowest State average was 16 per cent. for Georgia, and the highest 31 per cent. for Mississippi. The average for the 1] States
was 26.91 per cent., which means that the cattle in the tick-free sections at present are rather over one-fourth better in grade or quality.
This is proof, if proof were needed, that the unprofitable “scrub” animal and the tick go together, and that when the latter
is banished, and not until then, is the influx of pure bred animals on a large and profitable scale possible.
4. ANNUAL LOSSES BEFORE TICK ERADICATION,
There is practical unanimity in allowing that considerable losses were caused by Tick fever before the inauguration of the
tick eradication work. The figures range from 9 per cent. in Georgia, to 15 per cent. in Mississippi and North Carolina, and the
average for the 1] States is 13 per cent. This is a trifle over one-eighth of the total cattle. .
It requires but little imagination to see what a serious handicap to the cattle industry of the South an annual loss of this
magnitude must be. Some idea of its extent may be had by taking the census figures for cattle in 1910. According to these there
were in round numbers 15,000,000 cattle below the Tick quarantine line, with a valuation of slightly over $270,000,000.
One-eighth of this sum is $34,000,000, which represents roughly the annual loss from deaths alone, not counting the depreciation
in numerous other ways, such as stunted growth, discrimination in markets, shrinkage in milk production, etc., all of which
will more than double the amount named.
5. INCREASE IN MILK PRODUCTION.
The owners of dairy cows in the region cleared of ticks are evidently well satisfied with the results of the work, since 95 per
cent. of the replies admit there was an increase, usually very substantial, in the yield of milk.
The lowest estimates are from Alabama and Georgia, these two States averaging 15 per cent. increase in each, while the highest
average, 25 per cent. increase, is from North Carolina, closely followed, however, by 24 per cent. each in Mississippi and Oklahoma.
The average for the 11 States is 23 per cent., which is a gain of nearly one-fourth in the total Milk yield.
It is easy to see what a great advantage this would be if it could be applied to all the ticky cows in the South. The
additional milk would in the aggregate be worth many millions of dollars.
IT IS CHEAPER TO KILL TICKS THAN TO FEED THEM.
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK I 'P. WEST INDIAN AGENTS.
. . ; : aa , : ST. KITTS: S. L. Horsford & Co.
Has received the official approval of the following Countries. ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Co.
! ; JAM‘ICA: D. Henderson & Co., MKingsten.
Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Prazil, Basutoland, GRENADA: ‘Thomson, Hankey & Co,
: BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd.
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, Madagascar, BAHAMAS: H. T. Brice, Nassau. '
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Ltd., Port-of-Spain.
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa. BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown.
NEVIS: 8. D. Malone.
Portuguese West Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, 4 RICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS: 0. H. Schmiegelow, St. Croix.
aXe MONTSERRAT: W Llewellyn Wall.
United States of America, New Sovth Wales, DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton.
: ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
Northern Territory of Austealia, GUADELOUPE: Société Industrielle et Agricole, Point-a Pitre.
Manufacturers: WILLIAN COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Odessa
lye
4 7 e Ne
~ bub ©: YOLELALY Looe
. a > ie 2 = cane — They ae Lar
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW Paes:
OF THE bor, ay
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. OARD EN
Von. XVIL No. 434 BARBADOS, DECEMBER 14, 1918. Perce 1d.
CONTENTS. ? :
its agriculture as much as, or possibly even more than,
pean Pace, nits manufactures, for the food supply is fundamental
Agriculture in Barbados... 389 Equatorial — Experiment and of the first consideration, As the outcome of this
ose ee ris! Gc ae ae it seems probable that agricultural matters both in
Book Shelt 391, Insect Notes:— the United Kingdom and in the colonies will have more
Capybara Skins, Market Summary of Entomolog-
Seught for POOL. ical Information
Cereal Crops in Malaya... 397 during 1918 . o4
Cocoa in America ... . 395 Items of Local Interest 389
Cotton: Johnson Grass in Fiji... 392
Market Reports --. 400)
Mongoose not in Tobaso 392
Montreal Commercial and
Cotton Exports from the
West Indies S
. 390)
Ordinances Relating to
Cotton De cee et Industrial Museum 392
Sea Island Cotton Mar- Mosquito Control :
ket .. ... as. ... 2396) Notes and Comments ...
Vhe Antigua Cotton Pink Boll Worm, Food-
Growers’ Association 390 Plants, Giese ae. 93
Varthquake in Porto Plant Diseases:—
Rico SOR Coeo-
Efficiency in Production... 38%
Efficiency in Production.
Root Disease of
nut Palms in Grenada 308
ASin KRANCIS WATTS! @K.C.MG., the
7ANy) Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for
AZ? the West Indies, on «a recent visit to
Antigua, delivered an address to the Agricultural and
Commercial Society of that island, much of which,
being of general interest, especially in view of these
times of reconstruction on which we are now enter-
ing, is reproduced below.
There is no doubt that the West Indies, as a
whole, have benefited, so far as their agriculture is
concerned, from the disturbed conditions of the past
four years. and this in common with agriculture in the
United Kingdom, in Canada, anc Ainerica, The terri-
bie struggle from which we are just emerging has
roade it evident that the welfare of 4 nation depends on
consideration than they have had in the past, and that
brighter times are in view for farmers and planters.
In all this, however, there is some danger lest we
be disappointed in matters pertaining to high prices,
High prices may be misleading and disappointing
if they are universal and affect all commodities and
conditions. for this alone would leave individuals just
in their former condition: they would receive more
money, but they woud have to sffend it all. as before,
in satisfying their needs.
With the era of high prices to which we look for-
ward there will still come keen competition, and
success, in the form of profits, will only be secured by
competent With high prices will come
increased cost of production, and the margins of profit
may remain as before, or may even be less. Relief can
only come from etticiency in production, and so we find
individuais
ourselves back in the old, familiar position, when we
had to face the eftects of competition in an era of low
prices. It is true that we may hope for some relief
from some of the peculiar disabilities which affected
agricultural interests, and West Indian agricultural
interests In particular. But still the fact remains that
safety lies in increased efficieney in production.
Increased efficiency in production means making
the best use of toen, material, land, and machinery, and
so covers the widest possible scope. What can best be
done to accelerate progress along the desired lines 7
386
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
December 14, 1918,
In various industries and in various sciences it has
been found that the rate of progress is vastly increased
so soon as adequate and accurate records are kept con-
cerning the facts with which the industry or the
science has to deal; and this is true in agriculture and
its allied industries. To illustrate the point reference
need only be made to the developments which have
taken place in connexion with the sugar manufacture
of these isiands. In the oid days of the manufacture
of muscovado sugar, it is not too much to say that no
one connected with the industry knew how much
cane he handled, or how much sugar or molasses
he extracted from it, or how much it cost to produce or
to handle: how much, that is to say, in any stage of
the process: the end results were known, and that was
al]. A planter could say, fairly accurately, that an
estate made or lost so much money in the course of a
series of years, but he could not say just what was
happening in each stage of the process of growing and
manufacturing. Efforts then began to be made to
ascertain what was happening in the process of manu-
facturing sugar, data were collected, discussed, and
sifted, and often disputed, until a settled conviction was
arrived at that a deplorable degree of preventable
waste was going on. Although this collecting of data
took years, it stimulated activity, and directed it into
definite channels, so that, eventually in Antigua a
sugar factory, working with a most creditable degree
of efficiency, was erected, followed by similar progress
elsewhere. This was the outcome of definite knowledge
concerning the work that was being done under the
old system—knowledge wnich led to arecognition ot its
wastefulness, and‘to a conviction that change alon&
definite, recognized lines was necessary.
Progress will be greatly facilitated if steps are
taken to apply somewhat similar methods to other,
matters relating to our agriculture. The prcduction
of the lands of these islands would be greatly increased
if careful records were kept of what each field produces,
and of the conditions affecting the growth of the crop.
It is not easy to predict just what kind of information
would be forthcoming, but it may be predicted that
mapy cases would be found where work is carried on at a
loss, and where either remedies could be found for the
losses, or the work, with its consequent loss, abandoned,
and the effort more effectively applied elsewhere. It
has been more than once suggested, and the sugges-
tion is worth renewing, that careful record should be
kept of the weight of cane reaped from each of the
fields of an estate, and it is more than likely that this
is being done in many instances; but it is questionable
whether these records are being as carefully studied as
they might be in order to extract from them all the
lessons which they have to teach. It would be a good
thing if owners of properties were to collect carefully
the information which is in existence or which can be
obtained, and, at the end of each season, discuss the
results with their managers, so as to see what infor-
mation could be extracted for future guidance. Such a
course would lead to an intelligent appreciation ot funda-
mental facts, and make aseful a mass of statistics which
would otherwise probably conduce to but little benefit.
After individual results had been discussed, it is fairly
certain that points would emerge which might most
usefully be brought to the notice of associations, such
as agricultural societies, and receive further discussion
on the part of the members of them In this way in-
terest would be stimulated, and progressive develop-
ments would ensue. It is possible that there are
already in existence many records of the kind referred
to; it is worth enquiry whether it will not be possibie
for their possessors to analyse them, and to formulate
the facts and lessons to be deduced from them. Benefit
would assuredly result, and this benefit would be
increased if the information were made public.
Connected’ with this idea of increased efficiency
in production, comes the consideration of the crops
produced in a country, and the skill with which they
are handled. The principal crop of most of these
islands is undoubtedly sugar; this, therefore, may have
first consideration.
Sugar-cane growing engages most of the time and
energy of planters in the islands where it is the prin-
cipal crop, and its problems have been fairly carefully
studied, though probably the labours of the planter
in this direction would be rendered more effective if
more attention were to be given to statistical methods of
studying these problems. As regards increased produc-
tion, it may be said that the principal factor governing
the success of sugar-cane cultivation in these islands is
the rainfall,and that no human efforts can alter that; and
further, that such things as irrigation, which are of
service in other countries for ameliorating the defects
of rainfall, are not likely to be extensively employed in.
the smaller islands. Still there remain for considera-
tion some matters connected with soil and soil moisture
that may well have systematic study, coupled with the
careful keeping of records for future guidance. There
are methods of ploughing and draining which have
a profound bearing on the retention of moisture by the
soil. Careful and systematic study will assuredly lead
to an understanding of what is best and most profitable
tad
Vou. XVIL No. 434
: THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 387
el
in this connexion. This line of enquiry opens up the
whole question of the influence of organic matter in
the soil; its effect in increasing the retention of
moisture in dry times, and aiding draimage in times
of excessive rain; ite effect in increasing fertility. and
in maintaining that condition of openness and tilth
upon which high productivity depends.
Arising again out of this, come the questions con-
nected with manuring, and the fundamental points con-
cerning the production of pen manure and «of green
dressings. These matters lead to endless others. For
instance, what is going to be the effect on estate
practice, in the matter of manuring—of the increasing
use of mechanical power in place of animai power?
Mechanical haulage of produce as exemplitied in tne
facwry railways, mechanical ploughing, which is being
increasingly adopted, the use of motor ears in place of
horse-drawn carriages, and other similar changes all
affect the question, and careful planters will study the
outlook. Anything which tends to reduce the quan-
tity of pen manure available for a2 estate is, from that
point of view, detrimental, but the advantages of
mechanical traction are so great that this wil! assuredly
be persisted in and extended, in spite of this incidental
defect.
; The defee; can be remedied to a considerable
extent by the intelligent application of scientific
principles It is essential that fertile soils shall
be supplied with the requisite quantity of organic
matter; nothing will efficiently replace that. The sources
of this organic matter are cither the pen manure
which we are considering, or green dressings.
* Now the green dressings are cither these which the
plaster deliberately grows for the purpose, or they
arise from the crop residues, such as the cane trash and
the cane tops which remain on the land, or from the
weeds which grow there, and are ultimately ploughed
in. Carefully handled, these things-will supply the
amount of organic matter which may suffice to keep
the land in good condition. A little consideration will
show that few properties spend much on imported food
for animals, and that such expenditure as is made is
laid out on concentsated foods which, while enriching
the resultant manure in the matter of nitrogen and
other constituents, do not add greatly te the bulk of
organic matter, which is the thing we are immediately
considering. The loss of fertilizing material arising
from lessened purchasing of imported concentrated
foods can be made good by the purchase of chemical
manures, and no great harm, if any, resulta The mater-
*
ial used for the feeding of the animals on a sugar estate,
largely cane tops and grass, still remains on the prop-
erty, so that the question is to make best use of them.
It isa matter of common experience that these things
when turned into the land prove less effective as manures
than when they have been fed to animals, so thas
there seems to be here some loss of efficiency, if these
crop residues and similar materials are simply allowed
to remain on the ground to be ploughed in It has
been suggested that the increased efficacy of pen man-
ure, as contrasted with the raw material used for the
animals’ food, lies in the presence in the pen manure of
beneficial bacteria, which probably assist in the break-
ing down of the plant structures, thus permitting their
free mingling with the soil,and theirmore ready availa-
bility to the growing crop. Atthe same time some of the
bacteria may be such as are capable of assimilating
atmospheric nitrogen, thus adding appreciably so the
fertility of the soil. There are grounds for thinking
that such bacteria play an iraportant part in maiotain-
ing fertility in the tropics.
It is not diffiexls to apply the principles thas
referred to. Should the introduction of mechan‘cal
means of haulage lead to an undesirable diminution
of animals on any pantation, every effort shoald
be made to produce as much pen manure from
the reduced number of animals as was formerly
obtained from the full number. -To this end, as
much fodder as formerly should be brought to- che
pens, the quantity should be as greatly as possible
in excess of the actual food requirements of the
animals, the object being to make as much compost as
possible. In scientific languye this might be des-
seribed as making 4 culture of the beneficial bacteria.
This may seem a simple suggestion, but it is certain
that its use will be attended with good resulta
Still continuing to think of the sugar crop, it may
be suggested that increased efficiency in production
will result from the more extensive use of nitro-
genous manures in growing ratoon canes, provided
that the plant canes have been adequately treated
with pen manure. This is the ouseome of the teaching
of the manurial experiments conducted in the Leeward
Islands and elsewhere
The increased efficiency in production to be -
derived from the use of improved varieties of sugar-
canes is having careful attention, and. doubtless, will
continue to be a master of serious concern on the part
of planters.
S88
* MOSQUITO CONTROL.
(Concluded.)
The following is the conclusion of the lecture on
the above subject by Dr. W. Dwight Pierce, the first
part of which appeared in the issue of this Journal
tor November 30, 1918:—
OMANG,
There are many ways of applying the oil. The com-
monest method is by knapsack sprayer, or, where the ditch
is along a road, by horse-drawn tanks fitted with a spraying
bar. For slow moving water, and stagnant water, as well
as for the treatment of ruts, puddles, hoof prints, and so
forth, these methods are satisfactory.
For moving water there are many devices for maintain-
ing a regular dripping of oil from a suspended vessel upon
the surface of the water- Such devices can easily be rigged
‘np by any practical man.
‘ The war has brought about, however, some new and
even more efficient methods of oiling, which bave been
developed along many angles by Dr. Mann, the Post Surgeon,
and Lieut. Evert ot the Marine Corps, at ()uantico, Va.,
with the assistance of Pharmacist Mate Duncan, They
-have found that sawdust impregnated with crude oil will
hold it for along time, and will slowly give it up to the
water. They therefore place the sawdust impregnated with
oil in a box,and sink itin ‘a flowing stream; or they throw
afew grains of sawdust in’ a hoof print, or a handful oa
‘a puddle; or they fix a floating boom to hold at the back of
4{t a quantity of sawdust, and thus give off a constant film.
For each condition a slight modification of the application
is made, and they obtain an excellent and lasting film, not
destroyed by rains. °
Dr. Ebert’s automatic oiler is a cylinder sunk beneath
the surface, which takes in water and displaces the oil, the
‘amount of displacement being regulated by spigots. This
~iler, dropped under a bridge in a big river, or placed in
a large tidal bay amidst rank vegetation, produces a con-
stantly renovated film of oil which is very effective.
; ARTIFICIAL CONTAINERS OF MOSQUITO LARVAE.
In inosquito work much attention must be given to all
types of artificial water containers, as rain barrels, cisterns,
Jatrines, tin can dumps, garbage cans, gutters, water pitchers,
tlower vases, aquaria, table isolation receptacles in tropical
countries, cesspools, sewers, toilets, and flushing boxes, traps
in sinks, drinking fountains, water troughs, etc. I*lushing,
periodic emptying, covering with oil films, stocking with
fish, are among the possible expedients available in one or
another of the cases. Lieut. W. L. van Dine and Dr. W. V.
King have devised a new treatment for water in fire barrels
and water tanks nsed for storage of water to be employed
fin cleansing cans, in each of which cases oil is, very indis-
pensable. These receptacles may be treated with borax.
FISH AS MOSQUITO CONTROL,
Among the principal patural enemies of the mosquito
are fish; and in permanent ponds and lakes, and in streams,
the stocking with the proper species of fish may be consid-
ered as one of the most satisfactory methods of mosquito
control. In the United States top minnows and gold fish
are commonly used for this purpose. The bureau of Pisher-
ies lists the following Anieri¢dn fish available for introdue-
‘tion into American waters infested by mosquitoes: the
killifisher. /indu/us dtaphenus, F dispar, F. notatus,
Fi. chrysotus, and F Noiti?; the top, minnows, Gamdusia
alfinis, Heterandria formosa, Mollientsia latipinna, Ennea-
canthus vbesus, LE. gloriasus, Mesogonistius Chaetodon,
i
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
‘Decewper 14, 1918;
i ia
Centrarchus macropterus, Depomis cyanellus, D. gibbasus,
Elassoma sonatum, Notemigonus chrvsolencas, Labtdesthes
stcculus, Carassius auratus (gold tish).*
The most complete summary of the species of fish
available in various parts of the world is given by Hegh
(pp. 140-50). Howard Dyar, and Knab, and also Le Prince
and Orenstein discuss the subject.
The Panama larvicide is somewhat toxie to fishes, and
undoubtedly s ime of the volatile oils are a'so, although the
literature speaks only m general terms on this subject,
DESTRUCTION OF ADULY MUSQuIvTORS.
Howard, yar, and Knab, and also Hegh cite varions
methods of destruction of adult mosquitoes in dwellings,
snch as putting powdered pyrethrum into nooks trequented by
the mosquitoes, fumigation by burning pyrethrum, sulphur,
or cyanide fumigation, vapvurs of cresyl and of ereoline.
Le Prince and Orenstein describe a labyrinth trap for
windows yuite similar to the Hodge window fly trap: Hegh
figures and describes other traps,
PROTECTION OF DWELLINGS FROM MOSQUITORS.
In mosquito sections the screening of all habitations
against mosquitoes is essential. This must be, done thor-
oughly, and the screens must be carefully examined and
repaired. When holes or openings occur in the screening
the mosyuitoes enter and are trapped, and the building is
often worse off than if unscreened.
For protection against Anopheles alone a 16-mesh wire
screen is sufticient, but small Aedes can pass throngh this,
and therefore 17 or 18-mesh is necessary. Le Prince and
Orenstein zive the specifications for the 1S-mesh screen
to be of 90 per vent. pure copper and not more than one-
half of 1 per cent. of iron for damp tropical countries, the
gauze having eighteen strands of wire of one-hundredth of
an inch diameter in each linear inch. In many parts of
the United States other types of wire screening are thor-
oughly efficient. Mr. F. ©. Bishopp has for several years
been making tests of serviceability of many types of screen=
ing in various parts of the country, and although he has not
submitted a final report, will gladly advise anyone desiring
this information for official parposes. His address is Box
208, Dallas, Texas.
Where imosquitoes are abundant, the double door
vestibule, arranged so that the two doors cannot be opened
at the same time, is highly desirable, especially for hospitals.
In tropical countries, with verandahs around the entire
house, the entire screening of the verandah is essential.
PROPECTION oF THE INDIVIDUAT,
Campers are in the habit of using almost anything that
will make a dense, smudge to drive away mosquitoes. The
fumes of. burning pyrethrum powder are not obnoxious to
most persons, and are very effective in freeing a room of
mosqnitoes. This powder, slightly moistened and moulded |
into a eandle, will burn slowly like punk. ‘The essential oil
of the powder may be volatilized by placing the powder on
a metal screen above a lamp chimney. ‘The odour is only
slightly perceptible, and not unpleasant.
For protection of the body, camphor, oil citronella, oil
cassia, and other essential oils are found eflicacious. Howard,
yar, and Knab recommend as the best in their experiments:
Oil of citronella 1 oz.
; Spirits of camphor Ps
Oil of cedar
dui i Wiehe c= a cheep Sia de nee bia oS ge
* In the West Indies anyone desiring to stock a reservoir
or other body of water with fish should communicate with the
othicers of the Agritultural Departments
Vou. XVII. No. 434.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 389
ee a
This may be rubbed on the clothes or body. A few
drops on a bath towel hung over the bed will keep Culex
pipiens away for a whole night. : ‘ :
Graybill lists many repellents against flies. which have
been tried on animals. The most successful substances
tried by him were 50 per cent. pine tar in cotton-seed oil,
or 10 per cent. oil of tar in cotton-seed oil, when applied
lightly. Fish oil is a very effective repellent. Bishopp’s
fish oil repellent is very effective in keeping flies from live
stock, -when.applied lightly. - It.consists of:—
Fish oil 1 gallon
Oil of tar 2 02.
Oil of pennyroyal 2 02.
Kerosene } pint
Mosquito nets for the bed are used in many parts of
the South where the buildings are unscreened. Campers
who sleep in hammocks may easily arange a good sleeping
net by tying a rope to the hammock supports, and hanging
from this a tent-shaped net, which can be fastened at the
ends, and tucked in beneath the blankete. }
Hegh illustrates mosquito bars for tent coverings, for
tent doors, and soldiers’ cots, and also a mosquito bar
fastened inside a small soldier’s field tent, so that the sides
of the tent can be raised to give air. Various types of
protective headgear have been described for troops in tropi-
cal countries, two of which are illustrated’ by Hegb.
The references cited below are worthy of study in
eonnexion with this lecture. There are many other works
in all languages on the special problems of different countries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
|. Freeborn, Stanley B., and Atsatt/ Rodney F., 1918.
‘The effects of petroleum oils on mosquito larvae’.
Journ. Econ. Ent., Vol Il, No. 3, pp. 299-307. _
Graybill, R. W., 1914. ‘Repellents for protecting
animals from the attacks of fli-s’, United States
Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 131, 26 pp.
_ Hegh. E., 1918. ‘Comment nos Planteurs et nos
Colons peuvent-ils se proteger contre les Mous-
tiques qui transmettent des maladies’. Minister
of Colonies, Service of Agriculture of Belgium,
Etudes de Biologie Agricole, No. 4, 200 pp.
4. Howard. L. O., Dyar, H. G., and Knab, F., 1912.
‘The Mosquitoes of North and Central America
and the West Indies: Vol. I, Carnegie Institution
of Washington, pp. 320-449. :
5. Le Prince, Joseph A., and Orenstein, A. G., 1916.
‘Mosquito Control in Panama’, ‘The Era.tication of
Malaria and Yellow Fever in Cuba and Panama’.
G. P. Patman’s Sons, 325 pp. _
6. Howard, L. O., 1917. ‘Remedies and Preventives
against Mosquitoes’. United States Department
of Agriculture, Harmers’ Bulletin 444.
tw
(ws)
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
VIRGIN ISLANDS. During the month of October, 60
coco-nut plants and 500 potato cuttings were distributed,
and 10 mb. of cotton seed sold. Regarding staple crops
Mr. W. C. Fishlock states that cotton eultivations have res-
ponded to the mere favourable climatie conditions experi-
enced since the middle of September, and are now, generally
speaking, in fair condition. There is a fair local supply of
ground provisions, but, in sympathy with St. Thomas, prices
rule very high. Quite large patches are being planted, and
the aggregate area under these crops must be considerable.
The sugar industry isin a bad state. Cotton worm is re-
ported from several districts, and there is a shortage of Paris
green. During the month the weather was showery. Rain
fellin measurable quantity on twenty-eight days, the total
precipitation registered at the Botanic Station, Tortola, being
7-42 inches, as compared with 7°16 inches, the average for
the month for the previous seventeen years. Sharp earth-
quake shocks were experienced on October 11, 14, and 23.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
The rainfall for November, though generally a moderate
one, has been, as far as distribution is concerned, fairly satis-
factory. At the date of writing the total is between 5 and
6 inches, if we except certain districts in the western and
south-western portions of the island, where a very heavy rain
fell on November 17.
The planting of the young crop proceeds rapidly On
the majority of estates all the fields that are to be put under
B. 6450 have been planted, and progress is being made with
the planting of the other seedlings. The germination of the
fields planted three weeks ago has apparently been satisfac-
tory, and already many shoots are to be seen above the banks.
It would appear that, in general, care is being taken with
the selection of plants. Most planters have determined
not to put in anything except cuttings from plant canes or
from nurseries. But here and there we notice estates which
planted cuttings from fields of ratoons which are lacking in
vigour. ‘This reminds one of the old proverb of saving a
penny but Josing a pound. We are aware that in some dis-
tricts there are first ratoons from which very healthy plants
can be obtained, but the most vigor ns plints are those to be
got from plant canes, or from healthy uurseries. Whatever
the cost, the best cuttings should be secured, and whatever the
waste of cane every cutting which is not in the best condition
should be discarded.
This year, too, as in recent years, planters are finding it
lificult to complete the manuring of their fields, and, in all
probability, this will not be finished before the end of
January. And late manuring in any year means a shortage
for the next. . Pianters. are doing their best. but it will
doubtless mean that the Jas: fields will receive short rations.
As in previous reports, we would state that pasture land, if
eared, would greatly assist in the accumulation of manure.
At present there are sever tl hundreds of acres of grass which
yield at most eoly one-fourth of what they would if they
received at intervals an application of sheep manure mixed
with mould, The cost would be inconsiderable, and the
benefit incomputable.
We learn that limited sales of dark crystals have already
been made at $520 per 100%. and we have heard that
a factory owner has made 2 large engagement of syrup at 50c.
per gallon. “At this date last year syrup opened at 26c. per
gallon, and this price induced a few owners to sel] ont their
entire crops.
Many peasants have taken advantage of the favourable
weather, and, since selling cane plants from their small
holdings, have put in potatoes and other crops. We aré
glad to see this, as the cessation of hostilities does not
mean that plenty will follow immediately. The future -is
uncertain and we should maintain intensive production
with a prudent use of all foodstuffy. (The Barbados 4er7-
cultural Reporter, November 30, 1918.)
COTTON,
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost. & Co. on
Sea Island cotton wm the Southern States, for the
week ended November 9, 1918, 1s as follows:
ishanps. The market has remained yuict throughout
the week, with only a limited inquiry, which has not resulted
in any business, consequently uo Sales are reported. The
Factors are still holding Fine to Fully Fine at 72c., f.o.b. and
freight. being encouraged to do so by the sharp advance in
Upland cotton and the prospects of peace, which they think
will resuitin a better market acd more general demand
Therefore, we yuote:—
Fine to Fully Fine, sominaiy held at 72c., fo.b. and
freight ’ :
GEORGIANS AND FLORGDAS, The Savannah marker is dull,
with limited offerings of the new crop. the stock in Factors
bands consisting largely of old crop cotton, for which there.
4s no demund,
The smail sales reported’ by the exchange was cotton
bought in the interior markets, and forwarded to Savannah
for shipment.
The demand is very limited, nd the market very irreg-
tilar, being governed by the desire of the holders throughout
the interior markets to dispose of some of their cotton. some
ef them being more urgent than others,
The United States Bureau reports a very smal] quantity
of the crop ginned to November J, which leads the trade to
thick that the total crop will fall short of the Governine nt’s
estimate of 65,000 bales '
We can buy «day in a limited way, viz:
Faocy 66e , fob. and freight
. Extra Choice 65¢., fob. and freight.
The exports frem Savannah for the week bave been:
to Northern Mills (54 bales, and from Jucksonville to the
Northern Mills, 499 bales.
The United States Ceusus Bureau reports the amount
uf cotton yinned to November 1, as follows:-
South Carolina 1,680 bales
Georgia 7,560 making a total of 14,780 bales
Florida 5,290.
Aagainstiast year 57,38! ., total erop 88,174 bales
“ IOIG BOGIO oF ee Las, 109 Py
x TOUD 55,358 2 oy eae 8b, 278"),
% IOUS" 45.35) om 78,857
THE ANTIGUA COTTON GROWERS’
ASSOCIATION.
An interim report presented by the Secretary to. the
Antigaa Cotton Growers’ Astociation on its work for the
year 191 7-18—the second year since its inanguration—shows
by the progress made that the Association has done work
of « very useful kind.
During the season nnder report, the Association distri.
buted aclected seed to the amount of 3,852 fb. to members
and others. Compared with the last season, 2,435 Ib. more
were distributed this vear than last, This seer was obtained
from Yeptons estate where selection work on cotton has been
carried ont by officers of the Agricultural Department for a
considerable time.
Duro the course of the season under review some 600
Jots of cotton were purchased, as compared with forty lots
|. SHE AGRICULTURAL NEWs.
ee ee ee ee
-
4 Bm’ NS nF SRP pee 7 ae Se
ee A? : aa a he Pie ok a ae
4
December 14, 1918,
}
parchased in the previous season, ‘Ihe total amount of seed-
cotton purebased was 28,509 tbh., of which 2.539 tb, were
stains, and the remainder clean—an increase of 21,260 th.
over'the quantity hought in 1916-17. ,
The grower in 1916.17 received a total of 13ke. for eack
pound of seed-cotton sold to the Association: in the present
season he has received 16¥c, per tb. and in addition, will
receive a further small bonus, The total sum of money paid
as second payments to vendors of cotton during the period
reported On was $981-72, as against $363-86 in the previous
year.
The quantity of lint obtained from the seed-cotton
purchased was 7 069 fh,
The Association's useful work chiefly seems to be that it
places in ‘he hands of small growers seeds of the best type of
cotton available, and, in addition, guarantees that peasants
receive a fair and reasonable price for their produce. °
COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE WEST
INDIES.
The following figures show the quantity and estimated
value of Sea Island cotton esported from the West Indies
for the quarter ended September 39. 1918:—
Colony. Quantity Estimated value,
in fb. £.
Grenada 1,334 Wl
St. Vincent 9.754 1463
Barbados 13,798 1,769
Montserrat nil nil
Antigua 58,000 993s
St. Kitts 2457 365
Nevis 187,748 28,162
Anguilla 652 98
LoOLy 1,801 266
Virgin Islands
Total
200* I
268,539
Tn addition to the above,
138.829 th, of
12 235
Marie Galante
seed cotton, of an estimated value of £1,152 were exported
from St. Vincent, and 329 th Native cotton, of an estimated
value of £16 from the Virgin Islands.
Except in the cases of Grenada and Antigua, the above
values were calculated at the rate of 3s. per fb.
The following figures show the quantity and estimated
value of Sea'Island cotton exported from the West Indies
for the season October 1, 1917 to September 30, 191S:—
colony (Quantity Hstimated value,
. in th. =.
Grenada 1hat 204
St. Vincent 384,025 62,980
Barbados 192,981 28,370
Montserrat 265,104 44,355
Antigua 53,000 9,938
St. Kitts 2,457 368
Nevis. 187,748 28,162
Anguilla 652 98
Virgin Islands 20,905 2,031
Trinidad 450 75
Total 1,108,878 176 561
as bay ee ERI 9,83
* Kquivalont of TT RR. of seed-cotron. valned at £26. .
ENS ys ° =
Vo. XVIL No. 434,
‘ —
Besides the abote,there were also ex
Galante seed-cotton from Grenada 496,020 b.,
St. Vincent 82,409 tb., of the estimated val
ed of Marie
and from
oF £31,035
and £6,319, respectively. bi ;
There were also shipped from the Virgi nds 953 Bb.
Native cotton lint, and 1,745 tb. Native seed cotton, of the
respective estimated values of £32 and £89,—
_ It is to be noted that, owing to transport difficulties, the
amount of cotton exported during this sea: by no means
represents the total crop produced. Mueh cotton still
remained on hand ready for export at the | of September. '
_ ORDINANCES RELATING TO COTTON.
In the Presidency of 3t. Kitts-Nevis two Ordinances
velating to the cotton industry have recently been passed:
the Cotton Stainer Ordinance, which is No. 7 of 1918, and
the Cotton Ordinance, which is No. 8 of 1918, both being
dared September 19, 1915.
- The former of these, the Cotton Stainer Ordinance, has
for its object the control of the cotton stainer, and ir follows
closely the St. Vincent (rdinance, No. 16 of 1916, and the
amendment No. 3 of 1918, which were enacted for the same
purpose, je. the control of the cotton stainer. The means by
szhich it is hoped to bring abont this control are the elimina-
tion of the food-plan:s of these i insects other than cotton, and
the destraction of cotton stainers in. and in the neighbonr-
hood of cotton ginneries and storehouses. The (Cotton
4)rdinance establishes a close season for cotton in the islands
of St. Kitts, Nevis, aid Anguilla.
The island of St. Kitts is divided into four districts,
A,B,C, and D. The close season varies with the district,
being about six weeks in duration in each ease, the dates
being fixed for the three districts 4,}3,C. The dates given are
District A from February 15 to March 31; District B, Janu-
ary 15 to February 28: District U, December 15 to January
31. In district D, and in the islands of Negis and Anguilla,
the close season is to ve fixed by proclamation.
In Montserrat. the Cotton Stainer Ordinance, No. 4 of
1918, dated Angust 20, 1918, aiso follows the similar Urdis-
ance of St. Vincent, and like that and the Cotton Stainer
Ordinance of St. Kitts, has for its object the destruction of
the food-plants of the cotton stainer other than cotton.
- ~ The several articles dealing with the control of cotton
- stainers in St. Vincent. which have appeared io the -4¢77-
cultural News and West Indian Bullefin, indicate the
| conditions resultisg from the working of these Ordinances.
Ju the main, the principle involved is thatethere shall be
atime in each) year when no cutton H4ll be planted or
allowed to grow. 1p any district or island, and that all food-
+ plants of cettom, stainers other than eptongeshall be elim-
; inated, so-that they will be onable to survive, .
So far as experience goes, the principle. i= perfectly
; sound, and in St Vincent, where't two Ordifanees have been
. in operation tovether, e: ston stat pes have remained a pest”
Bly where “carelessness or wilful” f:stegard oF tite hw has
resalted-in neg'ect to comply with its provisions.
Nolwitbat - the relation of the-cotten stainers to the
attacks of interaal boll disease is well nodemee the, impor-
tance FoF cont roling thete insects will be mo dearly real ize af
than ever Gefore- “The clisi* season’ will ie value “io com
Bating the l¢af*blister- mite’ aiso*: ead, * anctinn* with
the destrniction vt Leghatae, ‘Stents of che-shin ill C65 + Serve
s.doabiipartrne,: dg bot-Isgs power) Affiergets aii od
epee Phd lyse. seanonieBvatentseer 3 jaar opethe $id on
; “Ordinance, No. 5 of 1914, is a season dumng which
he aes q** a ¥y
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
cotton shall be sown or planted,
ing from September | to © 31 followiog. It is,
however, provided tha: all cottod plants planted before the —
month of September in the previous year most be destroy: é
on or before the last day of ‘february. This provides for “ ,
a period of one m- nth » dorigg whieb there shali be no 9 tine
growiog in the island
snd it ic given as extend= fs
aoe) He
4 MANUAL OF D, ANGEROUS ‘INSECT
LIKELY TO BE INTRODUCED IN THE
UNITED STATES THROUGH pers
Edited by W: Dwight Pierce, Zotomologist, Southern Field
Crop Losect Investigations, 1.8. Bureau of Entomology
This manna was issued in 1917, from the Office of t
Secretary, 0.5. Department of Agtizaltuee, being pene a
tion from the Burean of Eatomology, L. O. Howard, Chief
in collaboration with the Federal Horticultural Board, c. a
Marlatt. Chairman-
This publication is 2 obipilasion of information for
purpose of aiding those officials of the Federal Horzi
Board, Bureau of Entomology, and others who have to,
with the work of inspection and quarantine of imp ee.
plants for the prevention of the introduction of insect rene *
The insect pests of all part of the world are listed under
plant headings, the plants being arranged alphabetically “a
under the American common nataes, with the technical namea
following Many of the insects are described, zome
illustrated by means of photographs or drawings, while others —
are merely listed. In this latter group are ineladed
insects the importance of which isnot fally and
others of which there is but seantg information to be had.
In subzeqnent issnes of this mannal which are certain wo
follow, many of these will be be:ter known, aud more infor:
mation regarding them will be ay: ailable
This ought to be a very useful book for the parpx2 ae
which it was intended. Its veal walue can only be deter-
mined by those who have togseis The references to the
crops and other plants in the West Indies, and their insee-
pests whick might be intrédaced; into the United Statez
appear to be clear and comprehensive.
Is is useful not only forthe inspectors of imported plants
in the United States, bat in all’ situations where attempts are.
being made to. prevent tae intredeejien of poss with j
plants. The agricoltaral of
Islands have been on
aid in their work of plan inspect tog and farsigation.
Iatthe very painre of things i€ can’ hard) phe sae
that such a compilaty tioh Hashim cvakd bel perfect and
eomplete, and when i it bas beer used and tested. many
additicie xofy-hast +p) ‘sy tind: Hutin decahitjed wie
becotie ayailadle.- a Saene mo = n- eeu ge
A mannal
for addition:
s this mak antsy. ac ailatesigi
inecdatiogs in addition to its frst fanction,
>»:
4
392
“THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
—Decrmmmrr !4, 1918.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Heap OFFICE — BarsBapos
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
ecimens for naming, should be addressed to the
ommissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applicatiens for copies ot the ‘Agricultural
Wews’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
page 4 of the cover.
Emperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF.
Setentific Assistant and sW. R. Dunlop.*
Assistant Editor Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Bniomologist H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Sc.t
OLERICAL STAFF,
Ohief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin.
Clerical Assistants {e. Taylor. *
K. R. C. Foster.
Pypist Miss B. Robinaon.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Seconded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Endustrial Researcl..
Agricultural Sews
Vor XVII. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1918. No. 434.
NOTES AND COMMENTS. |
The editorial in this number deals with
important subject of efticiency in crop production.
the
Insect Notes on page 34, give the first part of i
suiamary of the entomological information published
duriag the year.
The concluding part of a lecture on mosquito
contral is reproduced on page 48x.
A portion of a Eepow depliag with diseases of coco-
nut trees in Gtenada forms the subject of Plant
Diseases on page 308.
“Mongoose not in Tobago: A Correction.
The editorial in the Agricultural News for
November 2, 1918, dealt with the occurrence of rats
and mongoose in the West Indies. The statement
was made that Tobago was one of the islands in which
the mongoose was known to occur. ;
Since that number of the Agricultural News was
issued, a letter from the Commissioner-Warden of
Tobago has been received, stating that the mongoose
does not occur in that island, and that its importation
is prohibited ‘by law.
In the first paragraph therefore of the editorial
referred to, Tobago should be omitted from the list of
islands in which; the mongoose occurs, and on the fol-
lowing page ( 338) it should be included among those
islands in which the mongoose does not occur, and
where there are laws against its importation.
—
Johnson Grass in Fiji.
Attention has been drawn on several occasions in
previous issues of the Agricultural News to’the fact
that Johnson grass is capable of becoming a very
serious pest, espécially on sugar-cane estates:
Some information from Fiji about this grass has
lately been received at this Office. It appears that in two
different islands in the northern part of the Fijian
group it was introduced about twenty-five years ago.
Aiter apparently favourable experiences for a few years
the grass was widely distribu'ed, with the best of in-
tentions, but with the worst of results. On one ‘of
these islands there are about 25,000 acres under sugar-
cane. abous 15.000 acres of which are badiy infested
with Johnson grass, the remaining 10.000 being as
yet uninfested. One. estate in this district, about
500 acres in extent, 1s so badly infested that it
reyuires eighty coolie labourers and forty horses
to keep it in proper order, whereas fifty labourers
and thirty horses would suffice, if Johnson’ grass
had not to be contended against. The tonnage
of cane on the badly infested land is also serious-
ly decreased. Strenuous precautions are being taken
to avoid the introductivn of this grass into uninfected
estates and plantations.
Jubnson grass is not only freely propagated from
its underground stems, but it is also widely distributed
by seed, which it produces in abuodance. It grows
luxuriously on rich alluvial soils, and does very much
better than cane on peor soils. The opinion in Fiji
ie that Johnson grass 1s the worst weed pest with which
the sugar-cane planter there has to contend.
_-_ ED +) oe
The Montreal Commercial and Industrial
Museum
The editorial of the Ayricustura/ News, September
7, 1918, drew the attention of West Indian producera
to the advantage offered them of exhibiting their pro.
ducts in the permanent Commercial Museum established
at Ottawa. This article has come under the notice of
the Director of the Commercial and Industrial Museum.
of Montreal, who writes to the Imperial Commissioner
Vou. XVII. No. 434, THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 393
9" a an ne Ss | a ae ee Re Eee EEE Se
of Agriculture, that under the auspices of the Provin-
cial Government in Quebec, a commercial and industrial
museum is being organized in Montreal. Professor
Laureys, the Director, states that it is desirable to have
in the museum nearly all the West Indian products
mentioned im the editorial referred to, and that he is
sure it would be to the advantage of West Indian
producers to have their goods exhibited in Montreal,
the city which is practically the commercial metropolis
of Canada.
The object ofthe Museutn is to stimulate com-
merce by demonstrating to Canadian dealers and manu-
facturers what may be produced and manufactured at
home aud abroad.
In the next place, as the names of exhibitors
accompany the products and samples, the Montreal
Commercial and Industrial Museum constitutes tor both
Canadian and foreign manutacturers and producers a
cheap and permanent means of advertising their goods.
The collections of the museum are intended to
contaia samples of all the natural and manufactured
products of the world. Labels of exhivits will give
summarized information concerning the processes of
cultivation and fabricvtion, «nd concerning the proper-
ties and uses of the diffcrent raw materials and
products
All samples are exhibited, classified, ete., free of
any charge, All specimens may be exhibited with the
naines of the persons or firms furnishing them.
The address of the Director is Professor H. Laureys,
Director of the Commercial and Industrial Museum,
399 Viger Avenue, Montreal, Canada, who will give
any further information required to intending exhibi-
tors.
—_—-—_——s
Antigua Government Granary.
In spite of several untoward accidents which have
happened to the machinery of the Granary, the work
performed during the months of August and September
mikes a considerable showmg: The quantity of cob
corn received for drying from August 26 to September 7
amounted to 43.499 tbh. Work was commenced at the
Granary on August 26, but unfortunately the engine
broke down about midday of the following day. ‘Tne
repair’ were not finished until September 5, and
Operations were completed on September 7, sv that
the above mentioned quantity of corm was shelled and
dried in f ur days.
The total amount of dried corn obtained from the
quantity of cob corn stated above was 28,655 tb., giving
a percentage of dried corn to cob of 95°87. The shelling
and drying of the above amount cost £5 4s. 54d. with a
further cost. of £1 5s. 4¢. in connexion with the bag-
ging of the dried corn, making a total of £6 9s. 94d.
Roughly speaking, 256 bags of corn or 512 bushels were
dried. It will be seen that as the drying of corn is
charged for at the rate of 4. per bushel, there is a fair
margin of profit to the Granary on the transaction.
One of the difficulties that the Granary has had to
-coutend with during the season was scarcity of water:
is was very difficult to obtain really sufficient to.
run the engine. The other was thé serious breakage
‘plant wherever this insect occurs.
referred to above, which might have resulted in great
damage, had it not been for the presence of mind of one
of the mechanics. These difficulties. it is satisfactory te,
know are now things of the past, and the Granary, it is
to be hoped, will continue todo much useful work in
the tuture. “
en
Food-Plants of the Pink Boll Worm.
The plants which furni-h food for the development
of the pink boll worm larvae have been a subject for
some discussion, Cotton of course is a recognized food-
nt In Egypt, okra
(Hibiscus esculentus), til (Hibiscus cannabinus), and
hollyhock (Althea rosca) were known as food-plants.
In India. hibiscus and ‘trees with oily seads’ were
recorded as food-plants, while in the Hawaiian Islands
the milo, known in the West Indies as ‘John Bull’,
mahoe or gamboge (Z'hespesia populnea), was given as
a tood-plant of this insect. ;
In a paper on the pink bol! worm. Mr. August
Buseck, of the United States Bureau of Entomology,
who spent some time in Hawaii studying the piak
boll worm. stated that only plants of the genus (os-
sypium, that is to say, cultivated or other cottons, were
atiacked by this insect.
In a letter recently received from Mr. C I.
Marlatt, Chairman of the Federal Horticuitural Board,
who is in charge of the work being carried out for ihe
eradication of the pink boll worm in Texas, and is
earrving on observations and experimental work in
Mexico, it is stated that ‘our experimental work in
Mexico has developed very conclusively that the pink
bol! worm does fecd rather readily on okra and _holly-
hock, and, in fact, under a litle stimulus will feed on
almost anything. Nevertheless it remains perfectly
patent that cotton is the favourite food-plant, aad
that these others are exceptional.’
These results as to the feeding of the pink boll
worm on okra and hollyhock stand as a correction to
the conclusio s of Mr. Busck. and tend to confirm the
observations of workers in Egypt and India. They
constitute an additional warring to the cotton growers
in the West Indies as to the great caré necessary to
prevent the introduction of this insect into these
islands. One ofthe ways in which an introduction
might occur was mentioned in the last number of she
Agricultural News; where reference was made to she
arrival at Barbados of a schooner, part of the cargo of
which was infested cotton seed from Brazil.
$$ ae
The Earthquake in Porto Rico
A severe earthquake occurred in Porto Rico on
October 11. The city of Mayaguez on the west coast
seems to have been the centre of this earthquake,
although it was severely felvall over the island. Ab
Ponce, a large city on the south side, seven men were
killed and the dainage reporced at $250000. The loss
of live in the island is estimated ar 200 persons and she
damage at $5,000,000
The sympathy ofthe neighbouring islands is sin-
cerely felt for che sufferers
— wy
SY}
fo as ip =
i ——— <
WOE ES;
SANS
INSECT NOTES.
SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL INFOR-
MATION DURING 1918.
Mor several years past it bas been customary for a
summary to be prepared of the entomological information
which has appeared in the slgviu/tural News during each
year. This was not done, however, for the years 1916: and
1947.
Information relating to entomological subjects is usually
tobe found in the 4ericu/tuval News on the page or pages
devoted to Insect Notes. It sometimes happens, however.
that roves of particular importance are included in a num-
ber of the Journal after the Insect Notes columns are
full, and these together with small articles of general interest
are at times to be found in other places.
In addition to notes on insects in the -/g7zcu/tural News,
the departmental contributions to entomological knowledge
are published in the IJ es/ /ndian /iudetin, the Pamphlet
and Handbook Series, and in the Annual [eports on the
Agricuitaral Departments in the several islands. During the
year 1918 there have been no pampblets or handbooks
iseued. Of the lest Indian Ruilelin three numbers. have
been published during the year, and the usual set )of reports
for the Windward and Leeward Jslands have appeared
“ The West Indian Bulle/in articles dealing with entom-
ology aie five in number.” Two of them have presented
reviews of the prevalence of pests and diseases in the West
Tudies. That for the yedr. 1916 appeared in the |) es/ Jndian
Bidletin, Vo\. XVI, p 309,'and that for 1917 at page 83 of
Vol. XVII. A review of this, which appeared in the Agriteu/ti-
val. News, is mentioned at another place in this summary, The
orber articles referred to were included in the first number of
Volume XVII: ‘Notes on Certain Plant Bugs connected with
Cotten in St, -Vincenv’, by J: C. Hutson, Ph.D.; ‘Some
Effects of Cotton Stairer Control’, by W. N. Sands, F.L.S.;
aud “Netes cn Trapping the Cotton Stainer in St. Vincent’,
by WN, Sands ¥.L.5. ; .
'* Tbe notes on insect pests in the reports on the working
of the agricultural deparunents of the several islands for the
yéear'1916-17 are briefly summarized ‘below; 5
GRENADA, On page 11 of the'report, experiments with
a parasitic fungus of thé cacao thrips are nol d. Cultures of
the fungus OSporctrichion sloliilferum), which was origin-
ally obtained from Sk. Vincen'. wére sent by» the Imperial
Commitsioner of Agriculture for the West Indies: t4 the-
Qrehady' Xgricultural Wepartinent. Severabitrials were made
of this -funéns which Was later found tooccur naturally. iv
(trenadh
oe eThe: totes onderithe be
anv pagé 12 Gk (he ame re
bir 5.0, Mutsen’s meperton |
ding Insect Bests.and: Diseases
port are largely taken up with
igpvisit, to Grenada io January
1917. Tt refers to cacao thripsandjtoabe occurrence of fi te
hs ppers in sugar-vane, The viet to Grenada of Mr. 0. 1
Williams, Kntomolagiat iy. charse, of Froghopper, Investi
gitions, Trinidad, 44 mentioned. = The ngival insect pests of
the staple crops of the island are recorded,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
7+ 7
DeceuEn 1 ea
Plant legislatioa in Grenada is summarized on page 29 |
of the report.
sT. VINCENT. O& page 1] of the report on the Agri-
cultural Department of this island are to be found notes on
work conuected with insect pests and their control. ‘These
notes are devoted to an account of the investigations eun-
nected with the study of the cotton stainer bug (ysdercus
delaunevt), avd the control ox remedial measures adopted.
The control measures recommended Include the destruction
of wild food-plants: close season —February to May, or longer;
collection of stainers inthe field: trapping he pests; and
general inspection and supervision to prevent any breeding
and feeding place passing unnoticed, and in order to observe
the first indication of the development of the pest in any
district or locality. %
Plant legislation in St, Vincent is summarized on page 33,
of the seport. ‘ '
st. Lucia. The insect notes im the report on the
Agricultural Department of this island, (p- 5), consists ‘of a
brief summary of the plant legislation in force in the island. °
The increase in the exports of honey, and the attention paid
to bee keeping during the year are mentioned also on page 1?.
Notes on the trials for the contro) of ticks are to be found
on page LB.
pomMINICA, The reporton the Agricultural Department
of this island contains, on page 33, notes on the work
connected with insect and fungus pests and their control.
It is stated that, on the whole, the lime cultivation of
Dominica continues to be remarkably free from serious
insect and fungus pests. ‘
Plant legislation in foree in Dominica is reviewed
on page 59 of the report.
MONTSERRAT. The notes on work connected with
insect pests appear on page 26 of the report on the
Agricultural Department of this island. They consist prin-
cipally of a discussion of the situation as to the cotton
stainers, together with observations on an outbreak of the
corn leafhopper. ‘
Plant legislation in foree in Montserrat is reviewed at
page 38 of the report,
antigua. The occurrence of insect pests of sugar-cane,
cotton, limes, sweet potatoes, Indian “corn, and onions is
mentioned on page !6 of the report on the Agricultural
Department of this island. On page 28 there is a short note
on the benefits resulting from spraying and dipping for the
control of vicks, On page 35 there is a review of the plant
legislation in force in Antigua. The supplement to. the
report deals with the agricultural work in the island of
Rarbuda, and contains references to a few insect pests,
ST, KITTS-NEVIS.
repott of the Agricultural Department refer, to a few pests’ -
of svgar-eane and cotton, and avbrief review ofthe plant
lewislation in force in the Presidency is also ziven. Notes are.
also given op. page 36, with respect to certain pests of ¢ (
and the édisinfection of plants, elias
The following references are to jnsect notes and” articles
in Volume XVI of the fertagitural ews. — Sablon ees
“\ Lusect pests in Li voutos. Vhe-insect notes on pagen5s!
presént a the annual report of “the Barbados
cotton *
aL hy ay
review of
Departmentof Agriculture for thé year endéd March’3 1, 1917
which contained ‘a’ list” of the insects (except Choceeidas) and:
mites of Barbados, together swith notes on the pests of sugars
cane and‘ cotton! ’ ; TO: SH A ese
Taste pests Of Stk Luci 1916-77. That portion ot. the
annual report on t¢ Agrientrural Department, St. uncia;
1916-17) whith dcils With insect pests was feviewed at page
82 This largely consisted Of a report” by Dr, J.C. Whtson
hy
The insect wotes on page 12 of .the é
J oe @ ae a eee - 7) ol
Vee More read ed
4% se f ¥ * - 7 . ‘ - ; 3
H Vou. AVIL No, 434. THE AGE
P25 ‘ ° - = -_— - oer ee d _ J
| on 2 visit to that islard in July 1917. fo inves igate the
‘ babita of the black weevil borers of ban (Cosmopalites
aand plantain,
sordidusy Other tusects attacking the banap
‘ neous insects in
f insect pests of imes and neces un mic
| & Lucia wereslso deait with in this report.
| Caraa thrips in Grenade in 1016-47.
: Mr: FLW. Unieb, Enitoavlogiss to the B iA Agriculture,
Triuidad, was requested sy the Government of (recads to
Visit that island and exawive tite the me 88 ol he e1cac
thrips. Mr. Urichs report was reviewer ab page 462.
Tnsecl pests in the West Indies in i917. The report on
the prevalence of insect pesrts in the Weat Indies in 1917,
! which appeared in the Wes /idian Pullin, Vol. XVKK,
p. 3%, was reviewed at page 37+ This ref at was the ninth
in the series of similar reports compiled trom the reports of
- — the agrienltural officers in the several! islands.
Some insect pests in Cuha. At pave VB6 an account was
given of some insect pests in Cuba. These were the syiny
eitrus white fiy, the sugarcane mesly-pug, and the frog-
hopper. It might be weil at thi- piace to mention the article
whieh appeared at page 174. entitied “The Organization of
Plant Sanitation in Caba’. giving an acconnt of the organiza.
“tion, and the object for which 1t was created, of the Coui-
Inission of Plant Sanitation, which was constituted by Presi-
dential decree in 1916. é
Tusect notes from Porto Riw. These notes on page
414. consisted of abstracts of three papers from the Inanlar
Experiment Station, Porto Kico, entitled “The Ezg-plant Lace
| wag? Sealefeeding habits of Porto Nice willipedes’ and Seale
ins eta and their control.” These papers were all by Mr. Ki. T.
‘Cotton. Assistant Entomolozist.
Tasect poste in Uganda, The report of Mr. C C.
Gowder, Government Entoulogis:, Uganda, for the year
ended March 31, 1917. was reviewed at page 26. h's
dealt principally with ineect pests of coffee, cotton, rubber.
and frait trees.
Daring 1917
{
H. A. B.
(Vo be contiriéd 3
i ; COCOA IN AMERICA |
In 4 recest. naomber of the West Indra Committee
Civadar (September 19, 1914). prominepee is gives to the
jueressed attention which ie bcirg paid to the advantages of
esece. in the Vinired Srates. a= reflected im an article in
Dudas Review tor Angus ws: Cocoa, Ze. the product of
the cacao tree, the writer states. has long been regarded as
ove of the foremost staples of international commerce. and
=
ath
‘
- at present ta beld im higher regsrd than ever before through-
7 out the civilized world. Scientists called the cacac plant the
_ ~* *Pood of the gods’, and seversi commercially important coan-
) tries and colonies “derive most of their prosperity from its
| ealtivation >
ha Quoting frm a reeent report of the Bureau of Yoreign
and Dowiestic Commerce on the subject, it is stated that
Oe ee: present, when the world’s attention is being concen-
trated on food snpplies as never before. and the food value of
4 articles is being carefully weighed, cacas and its products
will receive special attention because of their admittedly
bigh nstntive qualtities, Chocolate for along time has been
; ized as poesessing these qualities in concentrated form,
and it isa staple part of the comtents of the pack of moun-
‘tain climbers and polar explorers. Fors and sailors it
isa weleome addition to the regular 1 especially as it
ip easily preserved. Every comfort kin” up for Ameri-
ean fightiog forces, says the writer, contail cake of sweet
% 0 “s t ;
chocolate, shich sspplies nourishment the necessary
I
ik i bale Td
| fiscal years 1914 and 1917 -—
P iy é
i A «
‘
{torn gore
595 Fe
--———
; ¥
element of sweets in the diet of the man in the trenches
on thioboard, and at the ame time gives him th- satesf
tion of having one ol the laxen i available bees hin in.
times. The importance of ch wilate and coona for Sra
Navy purpres has been eeognized by the War Trade 4 +
in Vaying out ite policy with: tespect to the resteuctinm of ">
; oom
CULTURAL NEWs,
oe
co
imports.
Tue changes in the iroport trade in coem into the United
States since the war are shown in the following table for’
es f
IMPORTS OF (OCON INTO THE UNITED sTaTES 19 1914 —
sxe LOLT. fy
Fiscal year Fiscal year
1914. 1917 «
Imports from fh } Bee
Karope : 39,227,120 28,218, 3: rs
Costa Rica 73.316 1.259411
Pauauva 121.547 1,020, #0s
Sausica 962,292 2799 Ny
Trinidad and Tolago 39,672,729 B1,0NS,592
Other British West Indies. 3.427.405 6,257 ABe
Cuta 2 S18 18H _ 11st. 762-
Dominican Kepublic 26.782. 966 63 [AS RES
Haiti 2 245.943 ” (B359,836
Brazii 25,870, 186 AAG 624
Ecuador 26 219.535 67,227,698 —
Datch Guiana 4,05 L368 4,100,961
Veneznels 4 003 464 16,493,654
British West Africa 7.495 S424 DIT
All other countries 632,992 5,223,007 Pa .
Toral 176,267,646 339,653,876
—_ a ae .
The eax rawus expacsion in the imports inte the United
States indicated in the foregoing table was, it is printediont,
primarily due to the fact tha: the great trade with Hamouse
which existed uricr to the War. has ceased entirely, these
exports now finding their way for the most part to New
York. The Netheriands was alsoa heavy importer pricy to
the War. bnt that trade has been mnech restricted, and at
present (1415) is a’most negligible Shipments to France
and England are also on a sedncged scale, hence the United —
States bas become the main reliance of the etperting coun
tries of the Caribbean region. Gentraland Sonth America,
sat for the greatly incrrased American importations, many
of these countrics would now be facing severe financial diffi-
enlties instead of which. generally spesking. it may be said
they are qnite proeperons with their leading staple selling-
freely, at fairly bieh prices. [m the current year exports —
from Venezuela, it is said, are likely to stow a marked
decline, bat otberwire the movements, indicated in the figures
given in the table quo'ed above, will probably be continned. _
Several of the shifts In thi« trade indicated by the table-
are of more than pissing interest. The Dominican Republic,
for example, increased its sales ia the United States market
by more than 100 pr cent isi the period under review, while
Brazil increase| her -hipments by almost precisely 100 por
cent. Ecnador also more than doubled her trad with tie
United States, most of the crop of that country having gone
to Europe chiefly t) Hamburg —prict to the War. The mex.
remarkable change of ail, from a statistical viewpwint. ix the
increare in direct importations from British West Afries, fr 1m
7.896 Bh. in 1814 to 40.424,017 B last year. inspew-
tations no doubt incladee large quantities from Portug
West Africa, shipped via the British posscesiong
3
GLEANINGS.
Abnormally heavy rains were experienced in Tortola
during the first ten days in November, the rainfall amounting
to 13-07 inches. The heaviest fall of over 4 inches in about
six hours occurred on November 9. Following a rainy
October, this amount of rain has caused considerable damage
to the roads all over the island.
The way in which cement is used as a poison for rats is as
follows: Take a roasted or boiled potato; crush it, and mix
with the cement—about one-third the mixture must be
cement—roll the mixture into balls, and'place them in the
field, (The /ournal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society,
August 1918.)
The Times for October 21,1918, reports that its Jamaica
correspondent telegraphs that the Government of the island is
considering the question of the settlement of natives who
have served in the West Indies Regiment on their return from
the war. Plans are being discussed for the establishment
of communal farms. The Government is to assist to develop
the farms. and to market the produce. After expenses are
deducted, the balance is to go to the men.
Probably the largest butter manufacturing concern in
the world is the North-Coast Co-operative Company, Ltd.,
Byron Bay, New South Wales. The quantity of butter
manufactured for the half-year ended April 30, 1918, was
10,627,543 b., the average price received being 163d. per b.
The company also deals largely in hogs, having treated 19,815
carcasses during the same half-year.
A note on citrus cultivation in Surinam, which appears in
the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, October 2, 1919.
states that a yield of 1,000 fruit per adult tree is not excep-
tional. The average vield per tree may be placed at 500
fruit. Estimating the sale price at }d., per orange, an acre
of sixty-five trees, with an average of 500 fruit per tree, would
bring in about £40; from this must be subtracted the cost
of cultivation, placed at about £4.
Jtis understood that. telegrams have been addressed
to ali West Indian Colonial Governments by the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, stating that the Government
has decided to appoint a Committee to consider the
probable effect of the shipping position after the war on
British trade in the West Indies, and on intercolonial commu-
nication, and to report on measures to be taken to maintain
adequate communication between the Colonies, and to pro-
vide increased port or other facilities for shipping. The
Colonial Governinenis are invited to send representations to
the Committee.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Drcempsr 14, 1918,
Although Spain was probably the first country on the
Mediterranean to produce cane sugar after its introductith
from the Hast, it seems now probable that tlie culture bf
sugar-cane on the Spanish mainland will cease entirely
before many years, the crop having fallen from 16,176 tons ik
1912, to 4,584 tons in 1917. (The Zoucstana Planter, October
19, 1918.)
The quickest way to rid land of Johnson grass (.Sore/um
halepense) is to overgraze with sheep, meanwhile irrigatiby
frequently. ‘he most effective way, as well as the mos
economical way, 1s the frequent cultivation of a crop such as
corn, followed by another crop demanding much tillage, seh
as cotton. The method demanding least labour and outlay of
cash, is dry fallow in summer followed by grain crops,
(The Experiment Station Record, July 1918.)
The Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, August 1918, states
that cultivated varieties of cowpeas very frequently fail to
thrive in that country owing to attacks of the stem borer.
although cases are reported of excellent crops being produced.
The native cowpeas, on the other hand, seem highly resistant
to those pests. Of these native beans there are several distingt
strains, and these are now being experimented with at the
Agricultural Experiment Station, Salisbury.
The Lgyptian Horticultural Review, October 1918
states that by adding carbonate of soda to the water ja
which cut flowers are placed, in the proportion of a lea-
spoonful to a pint, it is possible to lengthen the life of the
flowers. The action of the chemical tends to inorease the
power of absorption in the cells of the plant. A weak solution
of camphor and water will have a similar effect. To keep
the water sweet and clean it is an excellent practice to add
a small Jump of charcoal to each vase,
The /rdian Vrade Journa/, August 9, 1918, states that
the work on sugar-cane on the part of the Department of
Agriculture, Bengal, has shown satisfactory progress. Out
ot fifty-one varieties selected for tests, forty-one have
been eliminated. The tests which are applied are sugar
content and fitness for local conditions, which vary greatly
throughout the Presidency. Two exotic canes have proved
successful, and three local varieties the most popular. The
exotic canes give the best yield, but are inclined to. deterior-
ate. There is an increasing demand for sugar-cane cuttings
from the Government farms,
The I!eckly Hudletin, Department of Trade and Com-
merce, Canada, October 21, 1918, in an article on copra
production in the South Sea Islands, says that copra, being
the chief article of production and of export of the South
Pacitic Islands, plays the foremost part in their commercial
and material prosperity. It is stated that the approximate
average export of copra from the South Pacific before the
war was between 70,000 to 80,000 tons per annum,
In the report on the Agricnitural Department, St. Lucia
1917-18, itis stated that there has been rapid extension of
cultivation in some of the districts where agricultural credit
societies have been established. In other districts, where
cultivated areas lacked care and attention, the peasants are
endeavouring to improve their small holdings uoder the
instruction of tbe Agricultural Instructors of the Depart-
ment, and by the judicious use of money loaned to them for
tbe purpose.
"Von. XVII. No. 434.
CEREAL CROPS IN MALAYA.
The Government of the Federated Malay States,
through the local Department of Agriculture, has been
enconraging the planting of foodstutiy and increas.
ing the loral production of food. Good progress in this
direction seems to have been made, and it is evident that
the cultivation of various kinds of cereais is meeting with
a considerable amount of success. :
An article on the cultivation of foodstntis, by Messrs. F,G.
Spring, and J. N. Milsum, in the Agricultural Bulletin of
the Federated Malay States, June 1918, deals especially with
‘the cultivation of cereal crops, +
The authors state that it seems probable that soon the
majority of estates having suitable land will sericusly con-
sider the production of cereal crops. They go on to say
that in many instances rnbber and coco-nut clearings up to
two and a half years old are suitable for the cultivation of
cereals, and that the utilization of even a small proportion
of such land in this connexion would materially affect
the food «uestion in a beneficial way. They consider
that a new clearing can support one or perhaps more
annual crops which take a matter of a few months
to mature withont, to any appreciable extent, injurious
results to the permanent crop. It is quite possible that
the culture and tilth required for the temporary crop
will more than compensate for any materialsremoved from the
land. The resultant stubble, when turned:into the ground,
considerably assists in improving the mechanical condition
of the soil, and in this way benefits the permanent crop.
Among the cereals described are three which seem to be
at present unknown in the West.Indies. It might be well
for experiments to be made with these cereals in these islands,
seeing that they are evidently suited to tropical conditions,
where the rainfall is about 50 inches per annum,
The first of these is known in India as hagi (Z//ew-
sine coracana). This isa stout, tufted grass, growing
about 2 feet high, producing globular, brown seeds. There are
two main classes of the several varieties grown in India —close-
headed varieties, and open-headed varieties, Ragiis an impor-
tant food crop in India, and it is estimated that the total area
devoted to this crop- for all India averages from 54 to 64
million acres. It many parts it is the staple grain, being
perhaps the most productive of Indian Cereals. It keeps
‘well, and is frequently stored in pits for several years in
Mysore. Cakes made of Ragi flour are largely eaten in some
parts of India. It is also eaten mixed with rice. ‘The crop
begins to mature froi five to six months after sowing. The
heads ripen unevenly, and are cut as they mature. It is said
that a yield of about 2,100 Tb. per acre may be reasonably
expected from this grain.
Another cereal to which attention is being paid in the
Federated Malay States is known as Italian millet (.Se/aréu
ttalica). This is a graceful, annual grass,.about 3 feet high,
producing small, smooth seeds, commonly yellow in colour.
This millet is cultivated and eaten in many parts of India.
The grain is ground, and is eaten in the form of cakes and
porridge. The flour is said to be scarcely inferior to wheat,
and makes excellent pastry. When boiled with milk it makes
‘a pleasant, light food. Itis a short duration crop, occupy-
“ing the land for about three months. Seeds sown at the
Kuala Lumpur Agricultural Experimental Plantation in the
middle of November 1917 germinated rapidly, and the crop
‘was harvested during the third week of February 1918. It
is estimated that a crop of 1,950 tb, per acre per crop might
be expected on good land. a
Gis
THE. AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 397
Soe SSS aa a
The third of the cereals referred to above is bul-
rush millet, sometimes knowneas spiked or pearl millet
(Pennisetum typhoideum). This is desevibed as an erect grass
with thick round stems from 4 to 6 feet high, bearing spikes
from 6 to 9 inches in’ length,’ eylindrical in shape. The
seeds are of medium size, smooth, and of a dull, slaty-browa
colour. his millet is extensively enltivated in many parts
of India, and in districts where it is grown it forms the staple
food of the people. The aréa devoted to this erop in British
India is probably well over 10,000,000 acres. “The Hour is
made imto cakes and bread" The plant also mikes a useful
fodder, and is used generally in« Madras for this purpose.
The crop is ready for harvesting incthree and a half months
from sowing. The heads are placed in the sun to dry, and
the grain is removed by threshing with sticks. The yield is
estimated at about 1,800 Ib. per aere per crop
Besides these cereals described above, which are unknown
to the West Indies, the Wepartment of Agriculture of the
Federated Malay States is also advocating more extended
cultivation of varieties of sorghum (Gainea corn), and also of
rice, both as an irrigated crop on alluvial soils, and as a dry
erop under the hill variety on newly burnt jungle land. Much
attention is also being devoted to the improved production of
maize,
Market Sought for Capybara Skins.—Accord-
ing to the Journal of the Royal Society af Arts for October
18, 1918, a market is at present beiny sought for Capybara
skins. Millions of this animal, which is the largest living
rodent, and is common throughout South America from
Venezuela toCentral Argentine, are fonnd in the Orinoco River
and its tributaries, This animal is also known as the “chiguire’,
and is sometimes called the ‘carpincho’. Tt is aquatic,
inhabiting the marshy banks of brackish streams, and is
notorious for the great damage that it does to’ neighbouring
sugar plantations. When full-grown the animal is about
+ feet long, and has a girth of 3 feet, weighing'nearly 100 th.
The skin is thick, and is covered with a rongh brown coat of
short coarse hair, It appears from a report from the United
States Consul at La Guayra, that the chignuires have been
otiiciaily pronounced undesirable animals,and the Government
of Venezuela advocates their extermination. No use for their
skins. however, has yet been found.
The Board of Trade Journal, October 3, 1918, states
that an American company, with a capital of $50,000, is con-
structing at Coion a factory for the manutacturing of coco-nut
oil and palm oil, and their by-products, soap, glycerine, caustic
potash, carbonate of potash, soda, ete. The factory will have
a capacity for making 1,500 gallons of coco-nut oil and 250
gallons of palm oil daily. An ample supply of coco-nuts can
be obtained from the neighbouring territory all the yéar
round. Palm oil will be extracted from the nuts of palm
trees growing in various parts of the Republic of Panama, as
well as in the Canal Zone.
The Eimpire Cotton Growing Committee met at the
Board of Trade on September 25. At this meeting a scheme
for the development and expansion of the Committee’s work
was put forward in outline, and fully discussed. It is pro-
posed to set up a number of sub-committees to deal respec~
tively with finance, commerce and development; research and
education, and the collection and dissemination of informa-
tion as to co ton gr wing. (The Board of Trade Journal,
October 3, 1918.)
‘
.
PLANT DISEASES.
ROOT DISEASE OF COCO-NUT PALMS
IN GRENADA.
MYCOLOGIST’S REPORT.
The most serious affection met with is that which is
destroying the trees at the Government plot at Westerkall.
Tt was further met with on two estates visited, and from
reports received may occur on several others. The Wester-
hall plot consisted originally of something less than 100
trees, well spaced out and planted on sloping stony land
with a fair depth of medium loam on clay subsoil. The
plot would have been the better for close draining when
the trees were planted, but there is no suggestion of actual
water-logging, and coco-nut trees not far away are mature and
thriving under conditions much less favourable in this respect.
The age of the trees is some five or six years and the growth
‘made is very good. The trees not yet affected by the disease
have an exceedingly healthy and vigorous appearance, and
those which are failing were equal to them in condition up to
the time when they began to show the symptoms of the disease.
The process of failure is somewhat rapid, and its onset definite.
At Westerhall it has taken effect about the time when the
trees were beginning to bear. In another situation, however,
trees were dying before they had flowered, and in yet another
after two or three bunches of nuts had been ripened.
In no case could the occurrence of the disease be asso-
ciated with poor cultural conditions or with any lack of
vigour or any sign of unhea'thiness whatever apart from the
disease in question.
The symptoms of the disease, as they were conveniently
exhibited in all stages at Westerhal!, are as follows: The
outermost, oldest leaf begins to turn yellow at the tip, and
the discoloration progresses until the whole leaf is
brown. By this time the next leaf has begun to fail in
the same way, and this rocess continues until all the
expanded leaves have failed. In older trees examined
in another place the leaves which were first to fail,
thongh in all cases mature, were not always the oldest. It is
noteworthy that the leaves not yet reached in this process
preserve a healthy and vigorous appearance. When the
support of the mature leaves is removed from the central
column of partially expandea leaves death is accelerated by
secondary causes. The unripened tissues are no! usually
strong enough to support the weight of the column, and their
natural weakness may be increased by the admission of palm
weevil. There is further the tendency for the young tissues
near the bud of a failing tree to become involved in a putrid
bacterial rot. This is not necessarily related to the specific
infectious bud rot which attacks normal trees, and I saw no
sufficient evidence of the presence of this in the cases which
came under my notice. What is observed is the bending
over of the top while it is still green, with a rapidly develop-
ing infestation of palm weevil in some cases, of a putrid rot
in others, and sometimes of both together. During the
progress of the disease there is also very commonly a firm
brown wet rot in large patches on the expended leaf bases,
and there may be similar smaller patched on the petiole
higher up.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Decemper 14, 1918.
I regard the whole of the symptoms so far described as
secondary, consequent on the condition of the roots. Even
in trees which outwardly are just beginning to fail a large
proportion of the roots are already affected from without
inwards almost or quite to their points of attachment. The
coco-nut root consists of a hard outer shell and a central
woody strand, with pure white cortical tissue of loose consis-
tency between. This cortical tissne appears to be the seat of
the trouble. While the woody central strand still appears
quite healthy the cortex becomes dry and flaky and passes
through stages of discoloration from white to light yellow
then to dark yellow and brown; finally the root becomes
obviously dead and rotten. This condition is well advanced
before the failure of the top has progressed very far.
When the stem of a tree in any stage of the disease is
cut through, there is seen a well marked red ring 2 to 3 inches
wide lying 2 to 3 inches from the exterior. It is of greater or
lesser intensity, and extends in a well marked form to a greater
or lesser height in the trunk according to the stage the disease
has reached. High up in trees with the central column of the
leaves intact the ring is resolved into separate reddened
strands in the soft stem aniin the petioles of leaves still
green and vigorous in appearance.
_ In no case reported, so far, has recovery from this
disease ensued. There is no very definite evidence of its
communication from tree to tree, but in the case of the
Westerhall plot appearances suggest that all the trees will
eventually be killed. Two other instances of plots in which
the affection appears likely to become general were seen; a
few cases were reported as apparently isolated in their ozcur-
rence.
The symptoms of the disease agree completely with
those of the root disease of coco-nuts prevalent in Trinidad and
Tobago, first described by F. A. Stockdale in 1906, and
more closely investigated later by J. B. Rorer. (Stockdale
West Indian Bulletin, Vol. 1X, pp. 362-71. Rore>. Circular
No. 4 Bd. of Agric., Trinidad and Tobago, pp.2i- 33.)
Rorer reports the result of an extensive mycological
examination, in which i94 cultures were made from diseased
material, as having proved entirely negative so far as the
recognition of any causative organism is concerned. He ma
be considered to have shown convincingly that Stockdale
idea of the causation of the disease by the fungus Diplodia
is without foundation. Norer’s investigations, extending
overa period of two years, led him to the conclusion that
no fungus parasite is involved, and he was forced to regard
the disease as arising from unfavourable conditions in the
soil. What these conditions are, ‘whether it is the lack of
some element necessary to the continued growth of the
coconut tree, whether it is the presence of some substance
which is toxic to coco-nut roots, or whether it is due to
acidity or lack of aeration in heavy soils it is difficult to say.’
A point he considers worthy of note is that the disease Aa
frequently met with on old sugar land.
It is difficult to reconcile the apparently sudden mani-
festation of the disease in trees which for five or six years
have grown with maximum vigour with any hypothesis of the
lack of an essential element from, or the presence of a toxic
substance in, the soil. The definite and seemingly specific
characters of the disease are against the suggestion that it is
due to the physical condition of the soil, since the ordin
effects of poor aeration and heavy untilled soil are mall
known to result in a general sickly appearance of the tree
poor growth, and infestation with scale insects, Moreover
Vou. XVII. No. 434.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 399
the observed condition of the soil in the Grenada cases lends
no colour to this suggestion.
My observations in Grenada agree with those cf Rorer in
Trinidad as to the absence of any fungoid or bacterial para-
site in such association with the disease as to suggest its
causation. In all cases examined in Grenada, however, in
situations as much as 10 to 15 miles apart, each smallest flake
of the affected cortex in each of a large number of roots
collected and examined, contained nematode worms of what
seemed to be in all cases the same species, judging by the
gross characters of size and general form.
A nematode theory of origin would seem to fit exactly
the characteristics and mode of occurrence of the disease as
described. It would supply the adverse agent in the soil
which Rorer’s studies led him to postulate, without conflict-
ing, as his hypotheses of unsuitable chemical or physical
conditions do, with the observed characters of the soil in
these respects. The decision as to its probability will largely
turn on the association of nematodes with the production of
the exactly similar symptoms of the Trinidad disease.
Steps have already been taken to make the necessary com-
parison.
Pending decision as to the tenability of this theory, the
advice now offered can only be tentative. There may be
considerable significance in Rorer’s observation that the
disease most commonly arises on old sugar-cane lands, which
is confirmed, so far as the few cases yet examined go, by the
Grenada experience. Some light may be thrown on this
aspect of the case when the worm has been submitted to a
specialist for identification. The most obvious measure, at
this stage of information on the subject of the disease, is the
application of a complete system of narrow deepisolation drains
to the whole of plots or sections of fields in which this disease
has made its appearance, dividing up the cultivation into
squares, each carrying a single tree. This course of action
T strongly recommend. It would seem to be useless to replant
places in which trees have died until a period of perhaps two
or three years has elapsed. If cultivation is carried on in
that period it would seem desirable that sugarcane and
banana should be avoided. - Cassava may be suggested as
a suitable crop. Heavy liming and deep cultivation can be
expected to help in cleaning up the soil. Trees which show
definite signs of attack may as well be cut cown at once.
The dis; osition of the top, apart from the possible encour-
agement of palm weevil, is a matter of no consequence. The
succulent parts might well be used as a weevil trap.
As evidence of the destructiveness of the similar and
probably identical disease in Trinidad, and in justification
of a serious view being taken of the Grenada disease, Rorer’s
remark may be quoted that ‘at one time many of the hill-
sides in the windward district of Tobago were well covered
with coco-nut palms, but now one sees only a few trees
here and there, the rest having all died off as a result of the
root trouble.’
By courtesy of the Acting Director of Agriculture,
material collected by Mr. Rorer in his investigation of the
Trinidad root disease of coconut has been received and
examined. A nematode worm, which so far as I am
able to judge is the same as that found in all the
Grenada material, is present in abundance in these Trinidad
specimens. This supports, so far as it goes, my theory as
to the causation of the disease by nematodes. I hope to
extend my observations on this point during my forthcoming
-yisit to Trinidad, i
Wm. Noweti
(Zo be continued.)
EQUATORIAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS.
A pamphlet has recently been received at this Office,
written by V. H. Kirkham, Government Analyst, Nairobi,
British East Africa, in which is outlined a scheme for the
establishment of agricultural experimeut stations in the Hast
Africa Protectorate, which seems likely to make tehse stations
not only of local value, but of universal interest. Most of
this pamphlet is for this reason reproduced below.
The Government of the East Africa Protectorate, with
the approval of the Secretary of State, has made provision
for the inception of a scheme of research directed towards
the exploration and development of the resources of Hast
Africa,
This country and the adjacent Protectorate of Uganda are
the only portions of the British Empire through which the
equator passes. The Uganda railway, in its 580-mile tract from
the coast to the Victoria Nyanza, rises from sea-level nearly
8.000 feet to the edge of the escarpment of the Great Rift
Valley, drops into the valley 2,000 feet below, rises again
to cross the western side at an altitude of 8,320 feet, and
then descends into the Nyanza basin, terminating on the
lake shore 3,726 feet above sea-level. The meteorological
conditions are as diverse as the changes in altitude; tempera-
tures vary from the intense heat of the tropical coast belt
to sharp night frosts in the highlands; rainfall varies from
10 inches to 80 inches per annum.
It is intended to conduct local research upon scientific
lines, and to observe the effects of the different meteoro-
logical conditions upon the most extensive collection
of endemic and exotic plants which can be assembled.
It is hoped that within the next twelve months plots
will have been cleared and laid out at every interval of
1,000 feet in altitude, from sea-level to 9,000 feet. It is
proposed to plant these plots according to a uniform plan,
and to adopt a uniform method of treatment throughout.
Meteorological data will be obtained and registered at each
station. Laboratory work and microscopic examination of
plants will be carried out in the Government Laboratories
at Nairobi.
It is proposed to arrange the work in two schedules:
(A)—plants under experiment; (B)—plants under observation.
The number of kinds of plants which could be dealt with
in schedule B is almost unlimited, and it is with a view,
Mr. Kirkham states, to obtain assistance from the outside
world in collecting seeds, bulbs, ete. of the greatest possible
variety, that this brief account of the scheme is being ciren-
lated. The behaviour at the different stations of plants
grown from material thus received will be duly notified to the
donors.
It is hoped that these equatorial experiment
stations may arouse interest in other countries, and that this
interest may be shown by gifts of the most varied assortment
of material for schedule Bb.
In addition to helping with material, it is hoped that
those interested will notify their wish to receive annual
reports, and will make any suggestions which may occur to
them. Correspondence will no doubt result in collaboration
with workers in other latitudes, whereby the correlations of
observations may lead to the evaluation of some faetors
in plant growth which it might not be possible to obtain by
experiments in any one latitude.
Correspondence, suggestions, pamphlets, material, etc.,
will be cordially welcomed, and should be addressed to the
Government Analyst, Nairobi, British East Africa.
#00 THE AGKICULTURAL NEWs Decemper 14, 1918,
MARKET REPORTS. New York.—Messrs Girtrespre Bros & Co., Novem-
ber, 14.
London.—Tre Wesr Inpia Commirree Crrounar, Cacao—Caracas, I4fe. to lic.; Grenada, I44e, to ‘144c.'
August 22. : Trinidad, 14kc. to lic.; Jamaica, 12¥c.
; Coco-Nuts—Jamaica selects, $5100; Trinidad $52"
AkROW —Nov quotations alls, $28-00-to $2 aa eRe Sa
owRooT—) juotations. culls, $28°00 to $29-00 per M.
Batata—Venezuelan Block, no quotations; Sheet, no auo-
tations,
Berswax—No quotations.
Correr—Jamaica, 4c. to 7c. per tt.
Gincer—l7c. to 2c. per th.
=e p Skrns—Tinpertatio rohibited
Cacao—Trinidad, 90'-; Grenada, 85/-: aica, ne quot: One SET: ete lee ah
tions eae 5 Gens Soggeemsica, aro Au Grare Fruit—Jamaica, $2°51) to $4-00.
s. . —Nouwitnal.
Corrre—Jamaica, no quotations. Le 43 ge ser ih
Copra—£46. = ER apie gg OY
Frvuit—No quotations Rigas — 300,
u ote =. : NGES—$2°50 to $3-A0.
Gincer—Jamaica, no quotations. OnaNcEs Cee deat Tames
1 Pimento—9%c. to Sic. per ft.
Honey—Jamaica, no quotations.
Lime J vice—Raw, 4/6 to 5/-: concentrated, quiet; Otto of
lime (hand-pressed), 16/6
Loewoop—No quotations,
Mace—No quotations.
Nutmzes—No quotations. ae
PIMENTO— 94d.
Ruesrr—Para, tine hard, 3/04; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
Scrcear—Centrifugals, 96°, 6°055c; Muscovados, 88°, 5°155¢
Molasses, 89°, 5°052c. all duty paid.
: s.—Messrs. T. 8S. RRAWAY & °
Trinidad.—Messrs. Gorvox, Grant & Co., October 4. Barbado fosares i CAPRA WAT Go. Octo
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations; Trinidad, no quota- ARRowRooTtT—$12°00 per 100 fr.
tious. Cacao—$12'00 to $12°50 per i100 fr.
Coco-nut O1—S1-46 per gallon. Coco-nuts—$30°00 husked nuts.
Corres—Venezuelan, Lic. per th.. Hay—$3:00.
Oorra—$7°25 per 100 tb. Motassrs—No quotations,
DHat—$11°50 to $12-00. per bag. Ostons— No quotations.
Oxtons—S10-00 per LOO fb. 7 . Peas, Sprit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Pras, Serir—S$8 ‘00 per bag. - Potators—No quotations.
Poratoss—English, $4:00 per 100 fr. Rice—Ballam, no quotations; Patna, ro quotations; Ran
Rice—Yellow, 313°00 to $13-25; White, $9-00 per bag. goor, no quotations.
Svear—American crushed, nv quotations. Sucar—Dark Crystals, $5750)
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scieutific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the :aformation contained in them
in especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two.,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
The * Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official eorrespondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going onin each colony, and the progress | made im
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by’each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s, 2d per half-year, or 3s, 3d. per annum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents.
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT,
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West Inpra Commirter, 15, Seething Lane. St, Vincent: Mr. J. D, BonaprE, ‘Times’ Office,
Barbados: Apvocare Co, Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown, St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nixes, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THE EpucarionaL Surety Comeany, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H, Brrpcewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kiagston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station,
Avitish Guiana: THe Axncosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown. Antiqua: Mr. 8. D. Maton, St. John’s,
Trinidad: Messrs, Murr-Marsuauy & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Tes Broie anp Book Suppty AGEncy, Basserzerag
T hugo: Mr, C. L. PLAGEMANN, Scarborough. Nevis: Mr, W. I. Howe t, Experiment Station.
fahonis Mr H G. Curwrte Beard of Agriculture, Nassau. Canada: Lewis W, Cremens, 81, Yonge Street, Toroato
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
FOR SALE.
A COTTON GINNING PLANT
Complete with 8 Gins, 1 Lintergin, Boiler,
ALL IN GOOD WORKING ORDER.
The Building is of Pitch Pine covered |
with galvanized iron, and could he easily |
removed,
For further particulars apply to
0. H. SCHMIEGELOW,
Christiansted,
St. Croix, V.1LU.S.A.
(439)
JUST ISSUED.
WEST INDIAN BULLETIN,
Engine with up-to-date Machine-shop, etc. 3
Vol. XVII, No. 2.
ONTAINING papers on: Manurial Experiments with
Sea Island Cotton in St. Vincent in 1917-18, by 8. CG,
Harland, B.Se-; Some Observations on the Relation of Lint
Length to Rainfall, by R. E. Kelsick; Report on the
Prevalence of some Pests and Diseases in the West Indies
during 1917, (Compiled from the Reports of the Principal
Agricultural Officers); and the Shrinkage of Soils.
Price 6p. Post FREE 8p
SPACE AVAILABLE FOR ADVERTISEMENT.
:
Vor. XVII. No. #34. THE AGRICULTURAL “NEWS,
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequeme of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that business with our West Indian friends is, for the time being
interrupted.
Directly shipment of our well-known (original) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be g’3d of. orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all “equirements. |
The Anglo-Contineiital Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Decks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS ,
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are t.. well known to vur friends to need any further
comment, Our large plantation supply business places vs ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES.
PLEASE CALL ON US. |
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FAC ORY, LTD.,
___BARBADOS. _
Printed at Offica of Agricudtwra! Renorter, 4, High Stree. Br iwetown, Barbados,
- ze som, El! as
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ER 23, 1918. {One penny.
Vol. XVII. No. 435] __‘ SATURDAY, DECEM
td
MAIL, PASSENGER & CARGO SERVICES
FROM THE
WEST INDIES
TO PORTS OF CALL
‘THE UNITED KINGDOM _ Azores.
' St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica,
CANADA | ‘Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts,
| (Bermuda, Halifax, N.S., & St. John (N.B.)
DEMERARA & PARAMARIBO Grenada & Trinidad.
4 | (Trinidad, Puerto Colombia,
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|Callao, Iquique, Antofagasta & Valparaiso.
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& JAPAN.
Head Office: 18, Moorgate Street, London,
Branches at BARBADOS. Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara Colon, Jamaica, Antitla, New York, Halifax N.S., Buenos ghires, Santos, Sao Paulo
Rio oe Janeiro, Madrid, etc.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
THE. IMPROVEMENT of NATIVE
CATTLE in the WEST INDIES
Adverse Effect of Ticks
The Urgent Need for Dipping Tanks
Extract from an article by The Director ef the Jamaica Department ef Agricaltcre, published in Me. & Vol. II of the “ Bulletin”
of the Departmeat.
“ Until quite recently very little had been done to control
the cattle ticks in Jamaica, beyond the application of “Tar
and Oil” as a smear to congested areas of large ticks.
The intensification of non-tropical blood in the herds,
with the consequent increase in the hair of the animals and
the tenderness of their skins, resulted in a serious increase
in the tick-pest under the inadequate system of control
generally prevailing on the pens.
The consequence has been that the breeding of high-
class beef cattle became commercially unprofitable owing
to the serious loss of calves from tick-infection and the
slow maturation of the fattening gangs. By the introduc-
tion of cheap cattle from Central America about 20 years
ago, the blood parasite of Tick Fever was introduced into
Jamaica, and the tick-pest became not merely a sucker
of the blood and a depreciator of the vital forces of our
cattle, but an actual propagator of a parasite which
Gestroyed the whole blood system of a susceptible animal so
as to cause it the most serious loss of condition, or even to
die of ‘red water.’
When this disease first spread in Jamaica very serious
losses of cattle were incurred, and the best bred beef stock
were the most susceptible to the disease. By the control
of the ticks within reasonable limits, and the natural im-
munisation of the cattle that survived the attacks of the
parasite, the cattle industry surmounted this attack, but
the deteriorating influence has remained, and even ‘immune’
cattle suffer severely from partial destruction of the blood
‘system when badly infested with the ‘grass lice,’ which is
the stage of the tick in which the fever parasite is inoculated
into the animal with fresh virulence.
In the first degree, therefore, the improvement of our
beef cattle in Jamaica has been hampered by the tick
oblem, and peenely by the wide spread prevalence of
fever parasite wherever cattle are bred in the Island.
finest breeds of beef cattle are the most susceptible to
eee inieeiation and the least resistant to the fever
This fact explains the miserable animals that
have frequently resulted from the use of English Shorthorn
Bulls of the finest breeding on a native herd of cattle.
The half-breds have remained stunted and unthrifty
with long staring coats,and in many cases have proved
vastly inferior to their dams on which it was sought to
effect improvement by the prepotent and pre-eminent
Bealibes of the premier breed of British Cattle, the
horthom.
It has been found for example, that under ordinary
commercial conditions of management, 80 per cent. of the
Hereford Calves have died; whereas, under the same con-
ditions, ely 10 per cent. of the progeny of the ordinary
tropical cattle with a basis of Zebu blood failed to mature.
The tick-problem, therefore, lies at the root of the
improvement of our Beef Cattle in Jamaica.
Since the visit of PRoressor NEWSTEAD in 1910, pen-
keepers have largely developed the spraying of cattle.
One proprietor reports that consistent spraying has enabled
him to prime his steers for the butcher in six months’ less
time than under former conditions of tick-control.
The use of Dipping Tanks is undoubtedly indicated to
be the best solution of the tick-problem, and Jamaica
should now resolutely follow the example of South Africa,
Australia, and the Southern United States in this direction
It has been demonstrated at the Hope I'arm that a Tank,
as designed by Mr. A. H. Ritcuie, Government [Ento-
mologist, can be erected at a cost of £25 for labour
and materials, which is capable of dealing with a large herd
of cattle.
It may be safely asserted that no large enterprise in the
rearing and fattening of high-class beef cattle in Jamaica
can be adequately equipped without a Dipping Tank, and
it is hoped that a wide extension of dipping will very
shortly be taken in hand by all the larger proprietors of
cattle in the Island.”
COOPER’S CATTLE TICK DIP.
Has received the official approval of the following Countries:
Rhodesia,
Rhodesia,
South Africa, Northern Brazil, Basutoland,
‘nion of
Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Madagascar,
British East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa.
Africa, Argentine Republic, Queensland,
New South Wales,
Portuguese West Egypt,
United States of America,
Northern Territory of Australia,
WEST INDIAN AGENTS.
ST. KITTS: S. L. Horsford & Co.
ANTIGUA: Bennett, Bryson & Co.
JAM‘ICA: JV). Henderson & Co., Kingston.
GRENADA: Thomson, Hankey & Co.
RARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Lid.
BAHAMAS: H, T. Brice, Nassau.
TRINIDAD: T. Geddes Grant, Ltd., Port-of-Spain.
BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co.
ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown.
NEVIS: 8. D. Malone.
AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS: O.H. Schiniegelow, St.Croix.
MONTSERRAT: W > Liewellyn Wall.
DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampton.
ST. LUCTA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries.
GUADELOUPE: Société Industrielle et Agricole, Point-a Pitre.
Manefacturers: WILLIAN COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England.
BRANCHES: Toronto, Chicago, Sydney,
Melbourne, Auckland, Picros fires, Mente Video, Punta Arenas, East London, Qdesse
= ITs -
MUS — Bre
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW | Unseen
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. “oTANNe,
Vor. XVII. No. 435. BARBADOS, DECEMBER 28, 1918. Price ld,
Pacer. PacE,
Agviculture in Barbados... 413 Insect Notes:—
Authocyanin Pigmenta- Summary of Entomologi-
tion in Castor Bean cal Information during
Crosses, The Inheri- TOTS eeeertetecs | sey SLO)
tance of ... .. ... 403 Items of Local Interest 406
Ajowan Seed and Thymol 411 Jamaicx Imperial Associa-
| tion Seaiactys feces iecs 415,
Market Reports ... ... 416
Notes and Comments ... 408
Plant Diseases: —
Diseases of Coco-nut
Camphor, Decreasing Sup- Pahns in Grenada ... 414
ply of ... ... ... ... 405 Plants Poisonous to Stock 411
Citrus Hybridization ... 407 Pop Corn... ... ... ... 418
403 Se Island Cotton Market 414
yy Sugar-cane Manurial Experi-
Barbados Agricultural and
Industrial Exhibition ... 408
Biologia Central-Ameri-
cana Sct, acacia Stoee-ces: LUM)
Department News ...
ar é sports .. 40 = :
Departmental Reports 40% ments, Demerara we. 406
Efficiency in Pro- Sugar Crop, British
duction 5 401 Guiana, 1917-18 ... 409
«, 412 Sun Spots, Influence of 409
Vanilla Crop of Guade-
loupe ,oe, 405
Gleanings) =...) :2,\.::.
Goat Society, Bar-
bados Sangh we 408
Efficiency in Production.
(SN HE editorial in the previous number ot
-the Agricultural News contained the part
of the address by Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
delivered before the Antigua Agricultural and Com-
mercial Society, in which he dealt with efficiency
in production as applied to the sugar-cane industry.
His remarks on the same subject with regard to
minor crops are reproduced below:—
~
In many of the smaller islands the crop next in
importance to sugar-cane is cotton, The various food
crops are also very important, perhaps of increas-
ing importance, in view of the augmented cost of
imported goods.
The high price which is now being paid for cotton
has led to a revival of interest in its cultivation, and it
is a matter for consideration whether it is worth while
to take those serious efforts, without which it seems
that cotton growing is not likely to succeed. It is
now pretty generally admitted that community action
is necessary if the cultivation of Sea Island cotton is
to be carried on successfully. It is found that concerted
action is necessary in procuring the right kind of seed
and in maintaining its purity, and that concerted
action is also necessary in the matter of controllicg
insect and fungus pests.
In these circumstances it is found best in the
Windward and Leeward Islands to entrust the work
of seed production to the Government, acting through
the Agricultural Departments, and for the Government
to make regulations in respect to the control of pests
and diseases.
A yery important point in connexion with increas-
ed efficiency in production is this control. Considerable
study in this direction has been undertaken and pub-
lished by the specialists attached to the Staff of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, Planters should
be on the alert to detect attacks, and they will be wise
if they follow the directions given by those who have
studied the question of control of their insect or other
+
Toes.
It would seem certain that the matter of pests
and diseases of cotton may best be dealt with by intro-
ducing a close season, that is to say, fixing a time when
all old cotton plants, or indeed cotton plants of any
description, throughout any given districts, shall be
402
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DECEMBER 28, 1918,
destroyed, and also fixing a time before which no cotton
plant may be planted, thus creating a period, at least
of about one month, during which no cotton plant is in
existence in any given district. Snch an arrargement
assists greatly in the control of pests and diseases, and
ereates a barrier which to a large extent prevents the
carrying over of these pests and ‘liseases from one season:
to ‘another. This is not sufficient in all cases, and it
still remains for cotton growers to take the proper steps
‘to control such pests as may arise, and it may also be
necessary to take other compulsory measures.
It is not necessary now to deal with cotton questions
in detail. Suffice it to say that, troublesome though it is,
the industry is one which should not be neglected, for it
is capable of putting considerable sums into circulation,
and of adding considerably to the value of the exports
of those islands where the conditions are favourable for
the cultivation. of this crop.
Reference may be made to the question of the
production of food crops as atfecting efficiency.
Although the war is drawing to a close, it must not be
expected that the cessation of hostilities will lead to an
immediately increased and cheapened food supply: indeed
itis likely that the opposite will be the case. The armies
still have to be fed, and it will be some time before the
fighting men can turn to the work of food production.
Furthermore, the marked shortages of food on the
European Continent have to be dealt with from the
food supplies of the Allies, and this will tend to con-
sume more than any surplus which might have been
-created by the vigorous efforts of the past few months.
Then again there will remain a serious shortage of
shipping, for many of the ships will of necessity be
engaged in the work of transporting troops and mili-
tary stores. Hence we may look forward to a period of
some length during which imported foods may be
both scarce and dear. It is necessary to provide for
this by continuing and even increasing the efforts in
the direction of local food supplies. This
should have consideration on the part both of the
matter
local Governments and of the planters if the work is
to be carried and the
assurance reached that there will be adequate supplies
out in an efttcient manner,
of food to obviate serious discomfort or inconvenience.
It may be well if estate owners will undertake to plant
a fixed and stated proportion of their arable Jand in
food crops, and if they will carefully consider the
nature of the crops to be planted, so as to ensure a
proper diversity, and the avoiding of a glut of perish-
able material.
The cultivation of corn, and peas and beans which
are capable of being stored, will doubtless have dne
consideration. ‘The existence in some islands of grain
driers is a fact of some importance, of which fall
advantage should be taken. The excellent work
that has been done in Ss. Vincent in connexion
with the grain drier which has been erected and oper-
ated in that colony makes evident how useful such an
appliance is when properly used in conjunction with
such things as adequate storage bins, grinding mills, and
other accessories. Jf may be pointed out that in that
colony planters and merchants availed themselves of the
means of ridding grain from weevils and moulds, and
of storing it for short periods until required for use,
whereby much food was saved to the colony.
Amongst matters relating to food production,
reference may be made to pigs, and to the making of
pork, bacon, and other products. As is well known, the
Imperial Department of Agriculture has long advocated
the increased keeping of pigs in these islands, and the
Commissioner has suggested that pig raising might
well assume the character of a large staple industry.
It should be quite possible to raise pigs in_ suffi-
cient numbers to permit of the erection and work-
ing of bacon factories of amte considerable size, and
the agriculture of the islands would be greatly stimu-
lated thereby, There is an increased interest being taken
in this question of pig raising, and 1t is to be hoped that
it will receive serious and systematic attention. It is
a business which has great potentialities, but it must
be recognized that it is a business which needs know-
ledge, skill, and energy for its successful operation.
With an interest in pig raising one may also hope
to see increased interest in other branches of animal
industry. The raising of catt'e is a business of some
little importance, even for the production of the work-
ing cattle required for the estates; but it can hardly
be said that the industry receives the skilled attention
it deserves. So far as is evident, very little care is
taken in the selection of animals for breeding. In this
connexion it is interesting to refer to the great pains
and expense incurred some six years ago by Messrs,
Henckell, Du Buisson & Co., in the importation of four
Indian cattle into Antigua. These cattle constitute
an important addition to the breeding stock of that
island, and, if intelligently used, their influence should
extend beyond the island, and have a marked intluence
in neighbouring colonies. There are possibilities in
this way of improving the general rua of working
cattle, but beyond that it should be possible to
Vou, XVII. No, 435.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
403
build up from them a herdof pure-bred cattle for the
permanent benefit of the West Indies. Recent inves-
tigations into stock-breeding problems seem to render
this possible.
In connexion with stock raising, reference must be
made to the benefits accruing from the adoption of dip-
ping or spraying for the control of ticks.* The health of
the animals is thereby greatly improved and, inciden-
tally, some diseases such as ‘skin disease’ are likely to
be eradicated.
‘There are various indications of progress in agri-
cultural matters in most of these islands, and signs
that something is‘being done to secure that efficiency
in production which alone will make agriculture sound
and remunerative. Attention
increased crop production as influenced by soil prob-
lems, by the nature of the crops grown, and by
the animals employed in the industry. Much also has
been done to improve the method of sugar manufacture.
A substantial move has been made in the direction of
mechanical haulage, including steam ploughing, motor
ploughing, and the use of motor traction gener-
ally—a movement which is certain to
rapidly in the near future. It would seem too, that
it is becoming recognized that agriculture once
more offers a useful career for voung men_ of all
classes, and thata larger number are being attracted to
it than formerly; at the same time it is being recognized
that the higher branches of the work require sound
education and good traintng on the part of those con-
cerned, and agricultural education is calculated to be
stimulated thereby.
is being given to
rogress
BxOe
It is well to look for these signs of progress from
time to time, and to endeavour to foster them by
frankly discussing them. Such observation and discus-
sion will tend to strengthen and confirm progress, and
keep it on sound lines.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. S. C. Harland, BSc., Assistant for Cotton
Research, provided by: the Imperial Department of
Agriculture and Scientific Research on the staff of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West
Indies, left St. Vincent on December 27 for the pur-
pose of research work on cotton in Montserrat, where he
is expected to remain for about a month, :
_ Ricinus Grbsont.
A NOTE ON THE INHERITANCE OF
ANTHOCYANIN PIGMENTATION IN
CASTOR BEAN CROSSES.
In a previous number of the <Avricultural News
(Vol. XVII, p. 416) it was pointed out by Mr. S. C.
Harland that the presence and absence of ‘bloom’ in
the castor bean appeared to form an allelomorphic pair.
‘The cross under observation was one between a semi-
wild type from St. Vincent and a variety known as
The latter is characterized by a strong
development of anthocyanin pigmentation in stem, leaf cap-
sules, ete:, and for this reason it is used extensively as an
ornamental plant in gardens. The native type is not al-
together devoid of colour, for the stem is distinctly tinged
with pink, and the veins of the leaf are seen with a strong
lens to contain a certain amount of pigment. The capsules,
however, are green.
The F, of the cross between these two varieties was
intermediate, inclining towards the green parent. The stem
was strongly reddened, but the capsules were green.
Segregation took piace in F., and classification was
made into two groups, (a) capsules green, (b: capsules red,
leaves more or less reddened, stem dark purple. If the-
capsules were green the rest of the plant was correspondingly
less coloured. The plants were also examined for the presence
arid absence of bloom, with the following result:—-
Capsule green. Capsule red.
Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom
present absent. present. absent.
74 28 22 9
Expectation on
9. 3: 3:.1 basis
74:8 24-9 24:9 83
It will be seen that the above ratio is quite near to
expectation on the assumption that the difference in the
amount of pigmentation of the two parents is due to a
single factor partially dominant to its absence, and inherited:
independently of the factor for bloom. “It must be-
pointed out that there was a certain amonnt of varia-
tion in the double recessive class, and this possibly
indicates that subsidiary factors may be concerned,.
having the effect of modifying the intensity of the pigmenta-
tion.
CONNEXION BETWEEN CCLOUR OF SEED AND COLOUR OF
CAPSULE,
The native parent hada seed of characteristic warm:
brown pattern, while the seed of R. G/+sonz had « pattern”
which was very dark brown, almost black in colour. The
seeds of the F, were quite uniform, and different from those
of either parent, being almost uniformly dark browao. It
wus noticed that the plants with red capsule contained no,
plants with seeds of the characteristic F, pigmentation. ‘This
seems to indicate that a genetic correlation exists between
seed coat pattern and pigmentation of the vegetative par:s.
it is intended to make further observations on this poiut
when the F., cultures are available.
fHE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
DeEcemBER 28, 1918,
GRENADA: REPORT ON THE AGRICUL-
TURAL DEPARTMENT, 1917-78.
This report. which has recently been issued, is one that
shows considerable progress during the year under review.
There wasa marked increase in the number of plants and
seeds distributed from the Botanic and Experiment Stations
as compared with plant distribution in previous years,
especially in regard to sugar-cane and sweet potato cut-
tings. The plot experiments with food crops carried on
at the Botanic Station continue to be of interest. This is
particularly the case as regards yams, concerning which spec-
ja] efforts continue to be made to encourage a more extensive
eultivation. The experiments with onions also give promise
of a local iudustry of some value resulting therefrom in the
near future.
A very striking feature of the report is the account
given of the results attending the Native Food Crops Cam-
paign. Initiated by the Agricultural and Commercial Society,
with the approval of the Governmert, this campaign was
undertaken and carried out by the officers of the Agricultural
Department in co-operation with ‘District Boards, with
the object of increasing the production of native food
erops in view of the advancing cost and possible shortage
of imported foodstufts consequent on the war, and
the scarcity of ground provisions locally. It entailed
a considerable amount of work on the part of these
officers, but met with avundant success, as may be gathered
from the concluding paragraphs of the account, which are
as follows:—
‘The campaign has been an entire success throughout
the planting season. The very satisfactory co-operative
spirit which pervaded the entire community during this
season, and the keen interest taken by planter and peasant
alike in increasing production, are responsible for the very
satisfactory position in native food production at the end of
August 1917,
‘It may be said that almost every available plot of land
in the colony, suitable for the growing of provision crops,
has been cultivated in quick-growing and early-producing
food crops during this season, :
‘A very satisfactory feature of this planting season,
without doubt due to the activities of the campaign, has
been the considerable increase in tillage and draining per-
formed in preparing the land for garden purposes.
‘Several hundred acres of Jand previously held in reserve
on many estates have been let to peasant gardeners during
' this season.’
As regards the staple crops of the island, it appears
that cacao has produced the largest crop ever known, the
exports for the year—77,275 bags of 180 Ib. each, valued at
£486,519 13s. 7¢.—constituting a new record, and exceeding
by 295 bags the previous record of 76,900 bags for the
year ending September 30, 1916. The spice crop, while
showing a decrease in quantity as compared with last
season’s record, was nevertheless satisfactory. The lime crop
also showed a decrease as compared with the record for Jast
year The Prize Holdings Competitions were again held,
and, as in previous years, gave evidence of eventually
becoming of great benefit to the agriculture of the island.
In this connexion it may also be observed that the Land
Settlement Scheme continues to be a success, satisfactory
progress having been made on all the Settlement estates
during the year, especially in the growing and cultivating
of ground provisions.
This report bears further testimony to the efforts
towards the continued improvement of agriculture in the
colony put forward by the Officers of the Depart-ment, and
the good results which attend them.
JAMAICA: REPORT ON THE ~DEPART-
MENT OF AGRICULTURE, ‘1977-78.
For the third year in succession the island of Jamaica
was visited by a hurricane, which again caused the general
destruction of the banana fields. In certain sections of the
eastern part of the island a heavy loss of coco-nut trees als»
resulted. This loss was even greater than appeared at first
to be the case, for many hundreds of trees, which seemed to
have withstood the storm so as to offer promise of recovery
to health, have since fallen victims to various forms of
parasitic diseases.
On the other hand, the sugar industry, stimulated by
high prices, has established a modern record for sugar in
Jamaica by an export of 32,000 tons in 1917, Although no
practical projects for central factories have so far been
established under the scheme prop»sed by Sir Francis
Watts, Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West
Indies, for the financing of central factories by general revenue,
still it is stated that three new factories have been erected
in the irrigable area of the parish of St. Catherine.
One of these is reportec to be capable of dealing with
100 tons of sugar a day. In connexion with the revived
interest in the sugar industry, it is to be noticed that
there has been a great demand made to the Department
for cane plants of superior varieties. It is said that the new,
locally produced variety, J.72, has done remarkably well in
some districts, and it is recommended for extended culti-
vation, especially by small'settlers in wet districts. Experi-
ments made with the Uba cane have shown it to be a very
vigorous grower at the Hope Experiment Station, and
although not likely to be of much use for the production of
sugar in Jamaica, it will probably prove of considerable value
if planted for fodder.
The coco-nut industry is rapidly assuming an important
position among the industries of the colony. Including
copra, equivalent to about 6,000,000 nuts, the exports
of coco-nuts for 1917 were estimated at nearly 30,000,000
nuts. Had it not been for the hurricane of September
this figure would have been decidedly higher. So many
young trees, however, are now coming into bearing
that the loss of many thousand bearing trees at the
east end of the island will soon be. made good, and Jamaica
will probably show progressive development in coco-nut pro-
duction. The manufacture of copra is a new business in
the island, but planters have been securing good results in
this matter. It has been found that the use of 1Ib. of sul-
phur per 100. of copra, injected as fumes in the early stages
of the drying of the copra, is effective in securing a high class
copra, free from moulds and bacterial infection, The Jamaica
coco-put planters are right in striving to ensure the prodc-
tion of a first class copra, so that the Jamaican produce may
be regarded in the markets of the world as of the highest
grade. af tae fag
’
Vor, “Vili No: 435.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
407 -
The export of logwood fell to less than half of that of
1916, but logwood extracts kept up steadily, and brought
up the total value of logwood and its products to the
respectable sum of £540,000. Ginger and pimento each
brought in about £70,000.
Owing to war conditions, the export of citrus fruits fell
off considerably, but, as a set off to that, a remarkable
demand sprung up for orange oil, and £47,000 was received
for this product during the year under review. Unfortunately,
with the growth of the industry, dishonesty has appeared in the
form of! adulteration by kerosene and cotton-seed oils. Active
steps have been taken to check this evil. It may be men-
tioned that the detection of cotton-seed oil adulteration of
orange oil is easily accomplished by the grease spot test on
paper, so that buyers can test their oils by this simple means.
Honey has become under war conditions a lucrative pro-
duct in Jamaica, The honey exported in 1917 was sold for
£46,000, at an average of 5y. 6d. per gallon, three times the
price of honey exported before the war. Bee keepers are
reaping a profit they had scarcely hoped for.
The fibre plantation at [.ititz has made great progress,
there being at least 1,000,000 sisal plants now established at
that station. Provision has been made for: an extension of
300 acres during the current year, and it would seem
that a lucrative industry has been started for that par-
ticularly dry district of the island. The conclusion come
to in this experiment is that in poor soil plants do not
make such robust growth as in more fertile soils, and
therefore closer planting is advisable in poor soils. It
is also stated that it is advisable to cultivate a smali area
round each plant in the field to break up the hard soil, and
then to mulch this with grass. Plants so treated are greatly
improved in vigour. Theexperiments at Lititz have corro-
borated the conclusions reached in Hast Africa that
the planting of bulbils is much more satisfactory than
the planting of suckers. in fact, the report under
review states that if a plantation is kept in good condi-
tion no suckers will be allowed to grow, as they con-
sume a great deal of nourishment, and their development
impoverishes the parent plant, and causes it to pole pre-
maturely- ;
The report includes a special report on the Government
Stock Farm at Hope. This will be dealt with at more
leneth in a future number. The |epartment of Agriculture
in Jamaica is evidently doing useful work in many directions.
Vanilla Crop of Guadeloupe. —It is reported by the
United States Consul at Gaudeloupe, according to the /e7-
Jumery and Essential O11 Record, September 1918, that the
crop of vanilla which was harvested and cured during the
first six months of 1918 proved to be the best that Guade-
loupe had produced. The total exports of vanilla for the
year 1916 were $9,401 tb., which fell in 1917 to 41,985 Ib.,
whereas in the first six months of the present year no less
than 69,652 Ib. were exported to the United States alone.
In spite of the exceptionally large crop, prices for both green
and cured beans did not fall below those paid during 1917,
the average prices for both years having been 4 francs per
kilo for green, and 20 francs per kilo for well cured beans.
Most of the exporters succeeded in shipping their produce
before the United States War Trade Board prohibited the
importation of vanilla from the West Indies, and it is prob-
able that the total quantity of cured beans at present unship-
ped in Guadeloupe does not exceed 18,000 bb.
DECREASING SUPPLY OF CAMPHOR.
From very early times camphor has been held in high
estimation, chiefly for medicinal and sanitary purposes. In
recent years it has been increasingly used industrially, particu-
Jarly for the production of celluloid. The supply, however,
has by no means kept pace with the demand. In several
recent issucs of the Perfumery and Essential Owl Record,
attention has been directed to the increasing difficulty in
obtaining supplies of raw camphor for refineries in the United
Kingdem. This deficiency appears undoubtedly to be due to
two causes, which, acting together,-are gradually shutting out
the crude article from importation both into the United
Kingdom and into the United States. In the first place,.
there is the very natural desire of the Japanese to export the
finished article rather than the crude material for British aad
American factories to refine. Secondly, when it is remem-
bered that most of the camphor in the world’s market comes
from Formosa, the marked decrease in the productiveness of
the camphor forests there mst needs tend to a
deficiency in the supply of the product. The progressive
exhaustion of the camphor trees in the readily accessible
districts of that great Eastern island, coupled with the
savage nature of its interior and its inhabitants, renders the:
problem of keeping up the supply »f camphor an extreinely
difficult one. When it is remembered that comparatively
little has been done in the way of new plantations to replace
the wild trees which are disapp-aring, it is not likely
that the situation will become easier in the near future.
Tt appears also that conditions in the Chinese camphor:
districts are more or Jess the same as to the pro-
gressive exhaustion of the trees Not only are the
shipments of crude camphor to the United States becoming
smaller and smaller, but the refined coming in is much less
than enongh to meet the demand, In Japan also, an.
extreme scarcity of sapply is fel:,s» much so that a gov-
ernment commission has been app inted to endeavour to
increase camphor prodaciin in the Taiwan district, through
personal inspection and supervision of camphor plants there.
The greatest trouble now being experienced in Japan is the
scarcity of labour, andthe preference on the part of growers
to raise other crops.
Of course, the shortage of supply has been accompanied
by considerably higher prices cam hor oil being quoted:
brown, 160s. to 170s. per ewt.; and white, as much as:
175s. to 200s.; and yet the refiners are often unable to obtain
any «uantity even at these rates,
It is suggested in the journal referred to above that
there might be a hopeful outlook commercially for planters
in some of the tropical countries to experiment.in the acclima-
tization of the camphor tree (Crxnamnomum Camphoray.
It is not merely a question of whether the trade-shall or
shall not become a complete monopoly of Japan, but the
even more important question of ensuring that sufficient
camphor for the world’s requirement is forthcoming.
It must be remembered in this connexion that, as was
pointed out in the 1yricu/tural News, Vol. XVI, pp. 179 and
317, there are at least two distinct varietal types of the
camphor tree, one of which only yields oil from which no
solid camphor is obtainable. It is suggested that in estab-
lishing a camphor plantation great care should be taken
in planting only seeds from trees well known to produce
solid camphor, or to propagate this desirahle variety by cut-
tings. As far as is known at present, no camphor tree grow-
ing in the West Indies produces anything but the oil.
406
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. DecemBer 28, 1918.
—ift. 2 eee a ee aL ey, Lg eee eee
DEMERARA SUGAR-CANE MANURIAL
EXPERIMENTS IN 1917.
Professor J. B. Harrison, C.M.G., Director of Agri-
culture, and Mr. R. Ward, Agricultural Superintendent, con-
tribute an interesting paper on the above subject to the Jowr-
nal of the Board of Agriculture of British Guiana, October
1918. These experiments were carried out on the experi-
mental fields of the Board of Agriculture, Botanic Gardens,
where tbe rainfall for the year was 92°22 inches.
One half of the south field, after lying fallow from cane
cultivation for two years, was placed under cultivation in
June 1916. At the commencement of the fallow period
Bengal beans (.S//z0/obium aterrimum) were sown throughout
the field; the beans however did not spring well, nor did they
produce a satisfactory cover, and the lard was purposely
allowed to become covered with a spontaneously growing
mixed herbage consisting largely of indigenous or naturalized
leguminous plants. The herbage was cut and forked in
twice each year during the period the land remained fallow.
Thirteen varieties of Demerara seedlings were planted in the
fields. A table is given of the average yield of these vari-
eties in tons of cane and of indicated sugar per acre, together
with the average gravity and purity of the expressed juice.
From this table it appears that D.118 takes the first place,
with an average yield of 3371 tons of cane per acre, and an
indicated yield of sugar per acre of 3°78 tons.
The plots were either unmanured, or received 40 bb. or
60 Ib. of nitrogen per acre in the form of sulphate of
ammonia.
As a rule the increased manuring with sulphate of
ammonia did not result favourably, although the lower
application gave a comparatively large increase both in tons
of cane and indicated sugar per acre. It is suggested that
this was doubtless due to prevalent weather conditions, the
period of actual growth not being long enough to allow of
the complete utilization of the larger quantities of the
manure. .
Alternate half-plots of this variety were dressed with
superphosphate of lime. The results given in tabular form
show that the mean gain by the application of superphos-
phate of lime to plots not manured with sulphate of ammonia
was 1°7 tons of cane per acre, whilst on plots manured with
sulphate of ammonia as well it was 1°] ton. It is not
considered that, at the usual price of superphosphate of lime,
the increase due to the manuring would pay the cost of tbe
application. iy :
Owing to the increasing scarcity of su)phate of ammonia,
it is necessary for cane planters to seek for other sources of
nitrogen. For this purpose experiments were made in mulch-
ing plots heavily with rice straw, large quantities of which are
readily available in British Guiana, It was considered that
such applications of the straw would conduce to” beneficial
effects for three reasons: (1) because of its direct man-
urial action by the addition of nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
lime and potash to the soil; (2) because of its action in
preventing the development of weeds, especially grasses;
(3) by the large amount of woody fibre not immediately
decomposable added to the soil, which would gradually
render the surface soil lighter, and hence of better tilth.
With regard to the first reason, it is computed that an
application of 12 tons of rice straw per acre adds to the soil
the following quantities of the more important constituents
of plant food: nitrogen, from 70 Bb. to 94 bb.; phosphoric
anyhdride, 32 tb.; potash, from 214 Ib. to 231 tb.; lime, from
32 tb. to 38 bb.
With regard to the second reason, the surface dressings ©
of rice straw have a marked effect in keeping down the growth
of weeds, if the straw is spread fairly thickly over the land in
which are young canes, or before planting it in canes. In
the experiments the plots dressed with rice straw remained
comparatively free from weeds, especially grasses, while plots
not receiving any straw dressing became ccvered with a thick
growth of such weeds.
The third benefit will tend to increase after the land has
received several dressings of the straw. The result of experi-
ments with three varieties showed an average increase of cane
peracre of 2° tons on plots treated with 25,000 hb. of rice
straw per acre over those receiving no rice straw. It is stated,
therefore, that from the results of this first year’s compara-
tive trials, it is evident that it is worth the while of sugar
planters in British Guiana to make Jarge scale trials with any
rice straw which may be available, remembering always that
the full advantage of mulching with rice straw will not be
apparent until repeated for several crops
Professor Harrison has pointed out on several occasions
that although the soils in British Guiana are extremely rich
in potash, there is always a possibility that sugar cane cul-
tivation long continued without any break may result in the
readily available potash of the soil being the first soil ecn-
stituent to show signs of commencing depletion. A series
of plots was arranged to be manured with sulphate of
potash at ‘the rate of 150 tb. per acre in addition to the
usual nitrogenous manuring.
From the tables given as to the results of this experi-
ment, it would appear that the gains due to the application of
sulphate of potash in the above amount per acre were 2°6
tons of cane per acre, and ‘42 per cent. of saccharose,
These results indicate that when the supply of immedi-
ately available potash in the soil has become somewhat
depleted, the nitrogenous dressings, as well as the readily
available nitrogen of the soil, cannot exert their full effect
unless aided by applications of potash salts.
DOWN THE ISLANDS,
ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
st Lucts. During the month of November plant. dis-
tribution included the following: lime plants, 2,500: grafted
mango, 2; budded orange,41; grape fruit,6; decorativeand orna-
mental plants, 39; cassava cuttings, 60,000; potatu cuttings,
20,000; also 80 packets of vegetable seeds. Regarding staple
crops, Mr. Brooks, the Agricultural Superintendent, mentions
that the reaping of the cacao and lime crops continues, while
that of the sugar crop has commenced. A leaflet containing
notes on drainage was issued for general distribution, while
one giving notes on the general improvement of cacao planta-
tions in St Lucia is now in the press. Both of these were
prepared by the Agricultural Superintendent. The rainfall
during the month recorded at the Botanic Gardens, Castries,
was 4°82 inches; the record at the Agricultural and Botanic
Station, Choiseu), was 4°24 inches.
ANTIGUA, According to notes of interest forwarded by
Mr. ‘I. Jackson, Superintendent of Agriculture, plant distri-
bution during the month of November included the following:
bay plants, S98; coco-nut, 103; lime plants, 66; miscel-
laneous decorative, 59. The cane crop continues to improve,
and the preparation of land for next year’s cane crop is well
under way. The reaping of the cotton crop is in full swing
Vor. Xvi. No, 435:
Regarding this, the opinion is expressed that normal
returns will be obtained. During the month severe attacks
of cotton caterpillars were experienced, which completely
_ defoliated the plants in some parts of the island. The
flower-bud maggot of cotton was also noticed duriny the
month. The amount of seed-cotton purchased during the
month was 9,553 tb.; the quantity purchased to date is
17,439 tbh. During the month Sir Francis Watts addressed
a meeting of the Agricultural and Commercial Society, also
a meeting of the Antigua Cotton Growers’ Association. The
rainfall recorded at the Station for the month was 7°17
inches; for the year 38°48.
In a brief report on agricultural instruction, attacks
of cotton caterpillars on the holdings visited by the Agri-
cultural Instructor during the month are recorded. These
were being kept in check by repeated dustings of Paris
green and lime, or London purple and lime. Dusting with
ashes has also been tried by the peasants, but although the
worms are killed the ashes do not adhere to the leaves. This
cannot, therefore, take the place of Paris green.
st. kitts. During the month of November 87 b. of
peas of various kinds were distributed from the Botanic
Station, where work of a routine nature was carried on
Regarding staple crops, Mr. F, R. Shepherd, the Agricultural
Superintendent, states that the cane crop throughout the
island has considerably improved during the past month, and
if the rains continue, the prospects for the coming season
will be decidedly better. The canes look green, vigorous, and
healthy, and in the northern district the returns will be above
the average of the past two seasons. A few of the musco-
vado estates are reaping their ‘stand over’ canes, and making
syrup, which is fetching a good price. It seems likely that
these estates will go in for syrup making toa large extent
in the coming season. The young cane crop is being
planted, and the germination appears to be good. ‘The
old cotton plants are being rapidly turned in on the
estates in the northern district; the close season takes
effect on December 15. The yield per acre has been
above the average for this district. In the valley district
picking still continues, but the heavy rains have caused
much loss of bolls, and the great prevalence of the cotton
staiuer will render the second picking of little value. Visits
were paid during the month to the estates round the island in
connexion wi'h sugar-cane experiments, and the campaign
against the native food-plants of the cotton stainer.. All own-
ers of estates have agreed to destroy these plants growing on
or about their properties, and the Ordinance will soon be in
general operation. The total rainfall for the month was
9-87 inches; for the year to date, 44°65 inches.
pominica. The Curator, Mr. Joseph Jones, writes to
say that the crop reaped from the lime experiment. station
during the month of November was 103 barrels, making a
total to date of 797 barrels of limes. Plant distribution dur-
ing the month was as follows: lime plants, 2,775; budded
citrus, 48; grafted mango, 4; nutmeg, 2; miscellaneous plants,
16, In addition, 3,500 shade tree cuttings, and 800 cane
cuttings were sent out, and 235 packets of vegetable seeds
sold. The local market price for fresh raw lime juice has
fallen from 8d. to 6d. per gallon, and that for ripe limes from
4s. to 3s. 6d. per barrel. Mr. C. A. Gomez was appointed to
act as Assistant Curator, and took up his duties on November
28. Dry weather prevailed during the month, the rainfall
recorded being 3-36 inches.
MONTSERRAT, In items of interest for the month of
November, Mr. W. Robson states that the rainfall con
tinued to be satisfactory for the development of crops
in the Experiment Station. Considerable trouble has been
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 407
experienced with the caterpillar (Prodenia sp.) on the
ajowan plot. Plant distribution included: lime plants,
3,250; bay plants, 1,580; cane cuttings, 340; sweet potato
cuttings, 800; cassava cuttings, 100; various beans, 22 pack-
ets. The second crop of cotton in the Station is turning out
fairly well. Samples of seed-cotton were selected for further
inquiry into the question of the suppression of lint length
in second crop pickings, Generally the weather has been
favourable for the development of the second crop of cotton,
and the ultimate result from the crop will probably be up
to the average of previous years. Of the 1918 crop, 859
bales have been delivered to the Government. Attacks of
cotton worm have been particularly severe on the second
growth, and on large areas the plants have been completely
defoliated. An experiment is being conducted on one estate
as to the advantage of pulling out alternate rows of cotton
when the second growth is abnormally vigorous. On cer-
tain areas, and in many cases where there was a prospect of
good second pickings, cotton stainers have become unduly
numerous, and in this respect —taking the island as a whole
—are perhars a month ahead of the time of their occurrence
in previous years. The destruction fof mahoe trees was pro-
ceeded with. A large crop {of limes is developing’ on the
areas which produced a poor ‘crop earlier in the season.
The rainfall registered at Grove Station during the month
was 5°20 inches, and was well distributed; the total rain-
fall for the year to date is 50°37 inches.
Nevis. The Agricultural Instructor, Mr. W. I. Howell,
writes to say that during the month of November the plots in
the Experiment Stations have all been kept in good order.
Cotton plots have suffered much on account of the heavy rains,
which caused boll dropping and black bolls. The sugar-cane
crop throughcut the island has very much improved since the
rains. All the fields have made very good growth, and a fairly
good crop is expected. Preparation for next season’s
crop is in progress, and planting has begun in some places.
Syrup for local consumption was made on small estates. The
continuous rains, coupled with the very severe attack of cotton
stainers, have shattered all hopes of anything like an average
second picking anywhere; poor yields were obtained from all
the late fields. An Act providing for a close season, and one
providing for the destruction of native food-plants of the
cotton stainer were recently passed, and will soon be put into
operation. The provision crops are all doing well, and a good
crop of yams and sweet potatoes is expected. The quantity
of new crop cotton purchased for the Imperial Government
up to the end of November is 413 bales, 377 of which were
from cotton grown in Nevis. The rainfall recorded for the
month was 10°98 inches; for the year to date the record is
51:70 inches.
Citrus Hybridization.—The /ournal of Heredity,
October 1918, states that in the spring of 1914 exten-
sive hybridization of citrus fruits was begun at Riverside,
California. Crosses have been made between the varieties
of orange, lemon, pomelo, and mandarines (tangerines), besides
a few crosses of bergamot orange.
within botanical species, for instance, between Valencia
Orange and the Mediterranean Sweet orange; many, however,
are between different species as between the Dancy tan-
gerine and the Marsh pomelo. Some of these crosses have
already proved to be of considerable interest, and there will
doubtless be produced ia the future varieties possessing one
or all of the desirable characteristics of hardiness, productive-
ness, and flavour, which may render them of great commercial
importance.
‘These crosses are partly’
408 THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS, DEcEMBER 28, 1918.
The Barbados Agricultural and Industrial
Exhibition
The annual exhibition ander the auspices of the
ICES. : : : Pp
© DITORIAL — Barbados General Agricultural Society was held on
December 18, at (Jueen’s Park. The weather was alk
Heap OFFICE — BARBApos. that could be desired, and the attendance, it is said,
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
‘Specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
(Barbados,
All applicatiens for copies ot the ‘Agricultural
News’ and other Departmental publications, should be
addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department.
The complete list of Agents will be found on
ipage 4 of the cover.
Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.,
-Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc., F.1.C., F.C.S.
SCIENTIFIC STAFR.
{W. R. Dunlop.*
(Rey. C. H. Branch, B.A.
Scientific Assistant ant
Assistant Editor
-Entomologist H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.
-Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C.
Assistant for Cotton Research S. C. Harland, B.Se.t
t CLERICAL STAFF,
Chief Clerk A. G. Howell.
L. A. Corbin,
Clerical Assistants {z. Taylor.*
K. R. C. Foster.
Miss B. Robinson.
Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis.
Assistant for Publications A.B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst.
*Secunded for Military Service.
+Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research.
Typist
Agricultural Stews
I
* Vor XVII SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1918. No. 435.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
‘Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial is the conclusion of Sir Francis
Watts’s address to the Antigua Agricultural and
Commercial Society on the subjeet of efticiency in
production, the first part of which appeared in the
previous number of this Journal.
Insect Notes on page 410 conclude the summary
of the entomological information published by the
Department during 11S.
Some other diseases of coco-nut palms in Grenada,
are the subject of the article under Plant Diseases on
page 414.
Some recent activities of the Jamaica Imperia]
Association are noticed on page 415.
copsututed a record.
As far as the quality of the exhibits is concerned
the exhibition may be pronounced a success, but as
regards the number and varicty of them it must be
said that, considering the fact that Barbados is pre-
eminently an agricultural commuvity, more might
have been expected. From the attendance it is plain
that the general public takes great interest in this
exhibition, but the agriculturists of Barbados seem to
need some awakening to a serse of appreciation of the
advantages to be derived from taking part in agricul-
tural competitions. :
The exhibits of canes, although individually good.
could hardly be said to be representative of Barbados
cane cultivation. The exhibits of vegetables and fruit
presented fine specimens in the various classes, but
considering the favourable weather conditions of the
past year, a larger and more varied collection was to
be expected
As regards live stock, the ponies exhibited,
although few in number, were very attractive. One
feature of this section as compared with last year’s
was the good show of splendid donkeys, the improve-
ment produced by the services of the lately imported
jacks. The cattle, sheep, and hogs were up
to the usual standaid. As to the poultry and
rabbits, the number of empty coops seen: to indicate
either a falling off of interest in the production ot such
stock, or a lack of public spirit in the exhibition of them.
It is quite true, however, that individual pens presented
first class samples of various breeds of poultry. The
exhibit of goats was inost praiseworthy; a separate
notice of this will be found elsewhere in these columns.
There was the usual attractive display of native
confectionery and pickles, and other winor industries
of the island. The art section was displayed to much
greater effect than usual, and was of considerable inter-
est and excellence.
One of the most striking displays of the exhibition
on its industrial side was that ofthe cabinet makers.
The specimens of furniture shown, of local manufacture
and chiefly of local woods, would stand comparison
with work of that kind in any part of the world.
A new feature of this exhibition wasan exhibit of
motor trucks. which attracted considerable attention
from the public in geueral aud trom planters especially.
There can be no doubt that motor traction will be in-
creasingly employed in the island. We must however
issue a note of warning that, in consideration of the
narrow roads, it may be well to limit very strictly the
width of loads on such trucks.
lly Ay A
The Barbados Goat Society.
The eighth annnal show of the above Society was
held on December 18, 1918, in connexion with the
Vor. XVII. No; 495.
General Agricultural
Queen's Park.
The Barbados Goat Society is to be congratulated
on the evident success of the efforts to impreve the
breed of goats in Barbados) he exhibits at this show
would seem to be of an‘unusually high class, both as
regards the milch goats of some age, and those
which had produced only one litter of kids,
In Class I, of ten exhibits consisting of gdats
which had produced more than one litter of kids, the
champion milker was‘Ann’.- This goat, after 292 days
of milk production, yielded 45 tb. of milk when milked
at the show, her last milking having been at 5 o'clock
on the previous evening. The first prize, and a Diploma
of Merit were awarded to the owner of this goat by the
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West
Indies. In the second class, of goats having had but one
litter of kids, the first prize was awarded to ‘Springhead’,
who after 294 days of milk production gave 3:10 tb.
milk at the show under the same conditions as in
Class 1. In Class III of doe kids, among the twenty
exhibits there were some remarkably fine specimens,
the first prize going to ‘Enfield Sina’, Class IV, bucks.
‘contained only four exhibits, two of which received
prizes given by the Barbados Agricuttural Society.
The goats shown in many cases seemed to be pure
bred Saanen or Toggenburg, though probably a large
number were not quite pure, being the results of
-erusses with native goats, and ia some instances
-certainly, having an admixture of the Anglo-Nubian
strain.
and Industrial Exhibition at
+
Biolozia Centrali-Americana.
Daring the nineteenth century a number of scien-
tific surveys of countries, and scientific voyagés were
undertaken by variqus European governments, which
have added greatly to the world’s knowledge of zoology,
botany and archaeology. Most of these publications
were produced, altogether or in part, at the expense
of various European governments who were able to
enlist the co-operation of the most eminent scientific
men. Perhaps, however, the most comprehensive and
beautifully executed work of this class is the ‘Biologia
Centrali-Americana’, which was initiated and completely
-earried out by the authors, Dr. F. Ducane Godman and
Mr. Osbert Salvin, two eminent English naturalists, at
their own expense, between the years 1879-1915. Its
sub-title is the modest one of ‘Contributions to the
Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Cen-
tral America’. It describes the antiquities, flora, and
fauna of the whole of Mexico and Central America as
far as thesouthern boundary of Panama, The work
consists of sixty-three volumes, containing 1,77 plates,
of which more than 900 are coloured. The total number
of species described is 50,263, of which 19,263 are des-
eribed for the first time. It was privately issued, and has
therefore remained for the most part unknown to the
general public, After Mr. Salvin’s death in 1898,
Dr. Godman completed the book, and has recently sold
the remaiuder sets of this monumental work to Bernard
Quaritch, Ltd., to be disposed of commercially,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWs £09
The Influence of Sun Spots on Climate and Plant
Activity.
Variation in solar radiations should be followed by
variation in terrestrial climatic conditions. Meteorolo-
gists have long looked to variation in the number of
sun spots as a possible factor underlying variation in
climatic factors:
If such climatic factors as heat and rainfall be
related to the number of sun spots these should be a
factor of importance in plant growth. From a_ review
of recent literature on this subject in the American’
Naturalist, December 1917, it would appear that Dr. J.
Arthur Harris considers that the results of recent
investigations are directly opposed to the theories
which seem to have prevailed among many writers.
In the first place, the relationship between the
number of sun spots and the annual record of terrestrial
meteorological phenomena is very slender indeed.
In the second place, with regard to raintall and
barometric pressure the correlation between these and
the number of sun spots is especially low.
In the third place, the correlation between number
of sun spots and terrestrial temperature is the
more consistent and substantial. It is remarkable.
however, that the years of larger numbers of sun spots:
seem to be, in the long rin, vears of lower, not higher
terrestrial temperature.
On + —aee—————
The British Guiana Sugar Crop, 1917-18.
In, a note which appears in the Journal of the
Bourd of Agriculture of British Guiana, October
L918, Professor Harrison. M.G., Director of Agriculture.
and Mr. Robert Ward, Agricultural Superintendent, state
that the total area in sugar-cane cultivation in the
colony during 1917 was 78,346 aeres, an increase of
2,602 acres over the area occupied by that crop in 1916,
For the crop of 1918, 77,823 acres are under canes, being
518 acres less than in 1917. i
By far the most widely grown cane is D.625, no
less than 30,000 acres being planted under this variety
for the present year. It is to be noticed that a consid-
erable area—4,950 acres—is_ still planted with the old
Bourbon. Returns supplied by the sugar plantations give
the following percentage of the crop of 1918: Demerara
varieties, 79°5 per cent: Bourbon and other old yarie-
ties, 13 per cent.: Barbados varieties, (7 per cent; Java
varieties, 5 per cent. ;
From the returns supplied by the managers of
the sugar plantations, as to the average yield in tons
of commercial sugar per acre of the principal varieties
under cultivation for the crop of 1917, it appears that
the variety 1D.419 headed the list with a return of
2°15 tons per acre.
The results of large scale field trials with other
varieties show that ab least seven of the Demerara
seedlings indicate a yield of 3 tons or more per acre,
410
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
December 28, 1918.
SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL INFOR-
MATION DURING 1918.
{ Concluded.)
Moth borers of sugar-cane in Mauritius. Bulletin No. 5
of the Mauritius Department of Agriculture gave an account
of the moth borers, four in number, of sugar-cane in that
is'and. This bulletin was reviewed at page 26.
Cotton. The insect notes dealing with insect pests of
cotton during the year were as follows: ‘Cotton Stainer
Control in St. Vincent’, p. 266; “The Spread of the
Mexican Cotton Boll Weevil in the United States,’ p. 298;
and ‘Cotton Insects in Arizona’, p. 330. A note on
machines for the treatment of cotton seed for destruction of
the pink boll worm in Egypt appeared on page 40. Cotton
seed from Para, infested with the pink boll worm, arrived at
Barbados, and the cargo was prohibited from landing. This
was dealt with ina note on page 376. An account of the
recently passed Ordinances relating to cotton pests will be
found on page 391.
Sweet potatoes. Articles in which accounts are given
of insects attacking sweet potatoes appeared at pages 42 and
346. The first of these was entitled ‘The Sweet Potato Root
Weevil’. The second includes two notes: one on weevils
attacking sweet potatoes and yams, and the other on ter-
mite injury to sweet potatoes. A note on page 69 refers to
the prohibition of the importation of sweet potatoes and
yams into the United States from January 1, 1918. This
action was taken to prevent the further importation into that
country of the sweet potato root weevil and the scarabee of
the sweet potato.
Indian corn. The control of corn caterpillars includ-
ing the corn ear worm, the cotton boll worm, and the moth
borer of the sugarcane, all of which have attacked corn in
St. Vincent, are the subjects of the insect notes at page 218.
The use of starch instead of Jime as a carrier for arsenical
poisons is dealt with at some length in these notes, and
successful results reported from St. Lucia and St. Vincent.
Mole cricket. The West Indian mole cricket or
‘changa’ formed the subject of two insect notes on pages 106
and 122, being a review of Au/le/in 27 of the Porto Rico
Agricultural Experiment Station,
Locusts. The insect notes at page 202, entitled ‘The
South American Locust in British Guiana’, give an account
of the invasion of the North West District, British Guiana,
by a huge swarm of locusts from Venezuela.
Jack Spaniards. A note on the establishment and
spread of the Jack Spaniard (//is/es annu/arts) in Montser-
rat, into which island this insect was introduced in 1910,
was given on page 279.
Red spider. The notes on the red spider (7?/ranvchus
telarius), on page 90, give an account of this troublesome
mite, and the four best spray mixtures out of a list of seven-
ty-five tried. These were: (1) potassium sulphite, (2) lime
sulphur, (3) kerosene emulsion, and (4) flour paste. Another
mite pest well known in the West Indies is that which causes
the disease known as scaly leg of fowls. A note on page 297
gives methods of treating this disease.
Parasites of hard back grubs. The insect. notes on page
250 entitled ‘Feeding Habits of the Parasites of Hard Back
Grubs’, give an account of the accidental circumstance which
seems to have been vital to to the success of establishing
Tiphia paralle/a in Mauritius, This insect is a parasite of
the grub of the brown hard back which has been such
serious pest in that island, Another reference to the occur-
rence of hard back grubs, and their control by pigs is to be
found at page 328.
Fleas. Two articles on fleas and their control appeared
at pages 122 and 138. These give accounts of several kinds
of fleas, aud recommend measures for their contro!. A note
on the use of Paranaph for the destruction of fleas is given at
page 217, under the heading ‘An Efficient, Quick, and Safe
Insecticide’
Mosquitoes and malaria. The insect notes at page
43 present an account abstracted from the Rhodesia
Agricultural Journal, October 1917, which discusses the:
increased knowledge with regard to the nature of malaria and
the method of its transmission, and recommends measures for
the prevention of malaria, Ina note on page 233, the ques-
tion ‘Are mosquitoes of non-marshy districts capable of
transmitting malaria?’ is discussed.
Mosquito contrel. An article on mosquito control,
which appears in two numbers of the Agricultural News, at
pages 374 and 388, reproduces a lecture by Dr. Pierce, the
leader of the class for the study of the entomology of disease,
hygiene, and sanitation at Washington. This gives a good
account of the various operations involved in systematic mos-
quito control, as applied to the neighbourhood camps, of towns,
and villages, and the treatment of swamps, margins of ponds
and lakes, and coastal bays and indentations.
The class for the study of the entomology of hygiene and
sanitation was formed in May 1918 by members of the Staff
of the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, with the idea that men would be required
for the sanitary work in connexion with the control of disease-
transmitting insects (see page 234).
The value of zoology to human welfare. This is the sub-
ject of the insect notes at pages 154 and 170. It is taken
from an account in Scéewce, of speeches by Dr. L. O,
Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology at Washington,
and by Dr. H. M. Smith, of the Bureau of Fisheries, ac the
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science at Pittsburg, December 1917. Dr. Howard touched
on the many ways in which insects affect the welfare of man,
and Dr. Smith referred to the many zoological problems to
be met and solved in the proper administration of work in
connexion with the conservation and protection of the food
fishes of the coast and lakes of the United States.
The production of light in certain animals. The
notes dealing with this subject appeared in two parts: the
first in the last number of Volume XVI, and the second at
page 10 of the present Volume. ‘These notes refer to light
production on the part of animals of different groups, but it
is pointed out that it is among insects that this phenomenon
is developed to the greatest extent.
A note regarding the necessity for avoiding the intro-
duction of insect pests was presented on page 56. Some
3,000 insects recognized as pests in other countries, not yet
known to occur in the United States, might at any time be
imported. ,
Quassia extract as a contact insecticide is dealt with on
page 74. The conclusion reached was that, although valua-
ble for certain insects, it is uncertain in its action, and too
expensive to become a general insecticide for all aphides.
The production of beeswax in British Kast Africa is the
subject of a note on page 91, giving a brief account of the
collection and preparation of beeswax from the wild hives
in the country.
H.A.B.
Vou. XVII. No. 435.
PLANTS POISONOUS TO STOCK.
Recently in Barbados very serious losses of valuable
goats have occurred in the flock of one of the most prominent
members of the Barbados Goat Society. In response to his
invitation the writer of this note went over the grass fields
from which he cut his fodder, to see if there were any plants
mingled with the grass to the poisonous effects of which the
death of his valuable goats could be attributed.
The grass was very much inter-penetrated with a growth
of Zeramnus uncinatus, a legminous plant, known in Barba-
dos as ‘Burn mouth’, in some of the Northern Islands as ‘Wis’.
This is a climbing plant, with trifoliate leaves, and inconspic-
uous, small, yellowish-white papilionaceous flowers, producing
slender black beans, about 14 inches long, covered with a white
down. The writer of this note, from his own experience as a
rabbit keeper, has found that in Antigua this plant, if fed to
rabbits, even in small quantities, isfatal to them. On the
other hand, it is asserted on excellent authority, that goats
and sheep can feed on it with impunity.
A few days ago, however, the gentleman referred to
above sent to the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the
West Indies a specimen of a weed which he had found grow-
ing onhis land, and which has a bad reputation. This has
been identified as Spigedia anthelmia, a weed widely distribu-
ted in the Lesser Antilles from St. Croix to Grenada. In the
Northern Islands it is known as ‘Worm-weed’; in the islands
where French is spoken it goes by the name of ‘Brinvillier’,
evidently in allusion to the Marquise of the 18th century, of
notoriety as a poisoner; in Barbados it seems to be called
‘Water weed’, probably because it is chiefly found in damp
localities.
This plant has long been used by,the natives of the West
Indies as avery effective vermifuge, and that this is certainly
its effect is shown, not only by its botanic specific name,
but also by the fact that another of the same genns (.S. ar7-
Jandica). is quoted in the Pharmacopceas both of Great
Britain and the United States as official for that purpose
S. anthelmia is, however, a dangerous poison when
administered in large doses, as the following extract trans-
lated from Hore Phanerogamigue des Antilles Francatses
by Reverend Father Duss, .will show:—
‘This plant is better classed among the Loganiacae along
with the genus to which it belongs. The root is employed
as a vermifnge against intestinal worms. In large doses it
isa violent poison. The plant contains, according to Dudley,
a volatile alkaloid (spigeline) which is the active poisonous
principle, and which possesses close affinities with nicotine
and lobelline—well-known poisons. It should be employed
medicinally with the greatest care, on account of its toxic
properties, although it is certainly a good vermifuge.’
The British Pharmaceutical Codex, 1911, also has the
warning about spigelia that ‘it is said to depress the circula-
tion and respiration, and cause loss of muscular power when
given in large doses. The drug is anthelmintic, and is used
to expel round worms; it is said to be safe and efficient if
given in proper doses, followed by a saline purgative.’
Now, whether the goats referred to above succumbed to
a dose of this poisoncus weed can only be determined by
a careful analysis of the contents of their stomachs. And
even then, it is very difficult to determine by jostmortem
analysis of stomachs the exact vegetable poison to which
death may be attributed.
One point may be noted: that goats and all other
grazing animals seldom eat any poisonous plant, if left to
graze at will, unless driven to do so by hunger, from lack of
nutritious fod ler.
THE AGRICULTURAL
Oa the other hand, when such anim aj,
NEWS, oral
are chiefly fed by cut forage administered t> them, they do
not exercise so much discrimination. Too much care, there-
fore, can not be taken in seeing that fodder placed before
animals fed in confinement is freed from all possibly noxious
plants.
C.H.B.
AJOWANESEED AND THYMOL.
Attention is drawn in the Perfumery and Essential Oil
Record, September 24, 1918, to the great saving in transport
charges which would be effected by distilling aromatic plants
in the countries where they are cultivated, and exporting the
oils rather than the raw material.
As has been pointed out in recent issues of this Journal,
and also in other publications of this Department, experiments
have been tried in the cultivation of ajowan (Carwm coprticum)
in several of these islands, especially in Montserrat. This
plant, which before the war was grown on a commercial scale
mainly in India, whence the seeds were exported chiefly to
Germany, is the principal source of the antiseptic thymol,
largely employed in the treatment of hookworm disease.
This is extracted from the oil distilled from the seed. During
the last few years the plant has been experimentally grown
not only in the West Indies, but in the Seychelles. Samples
of seeds from plants cultivated in the Seychelles and Mont-
serrat have been examined in the laboratories of the
Imperial Institute, and tke results of the investigation
published in the Bulletin of the Imperial Lunstitute,
Vol. XVI, No. 1. Compared with the Indian product,
the following results were obtained: oil yield, Indian
seed, 3 to 4, per cent. Seychelles, 9 per cent.; Mont-
serrat, 3°] per cent. On the other hand, the Indian oil
contained 40 to 55 percent. of thymol; that from the Sey-
chelles, 38 per cent.;and tha: from Montserrat, 54 per cent,
The seed from Montserrat was submitted for valuation to
three firms of manufacturing chemists. One firm stated
that under the present abnormal conditions, ajowan seed oil
containing about 50 per cent. of thymol would probably real-
ize not less than 10s. per tb., but they were of opinion that it
would probably be essential to undertake the distillation of
the seed locally, as the heavy freight charges on the seed, if
shipped to Europe, would make competition with Indian
thymol impossible. The opinion of a second firm corobora-
ted that of the first, viz. that it would be more economical to
distil the oil locally than to export the seed. The third firm
also considered that the percentage of thymol in the oil
from Montserrat seed was satisfactory, but in view of
the difficulties of freight, aud the competition of thyme oil
from Spain as a source of thymol, it would be better, if the
distillation of the seed could be carried out economically in
Montserrat, to export the oil rather than the seed.
The results of this examination of the Montserrat
ajowan seed, together with the market reports on its value,
appear to indicate that the plant could be successfully cul-
tivated in that island as a source of thymol. The actual
yield of ajowan seed per acre in countries where it is already
grown does not appear to be on record, so that comparisons
on this point are not possible. The Perfumery and Essen-
tial Oil Record quoted above gives the price of thyme oil
on the London market as from 7s, 6¢. to 8s. per tb., and the
price of thymol crystals at from 47s. 6¢. to 50s. per bb,
It might be possible in Montserrat, if the cultivation of
ajowan proves satisfactory, to combine the distillation of the
oil with the present bay oil industry.
GLEANINGS.
A new tree, known’‘as ‘wild pimento’, has recently been
discovered by the Government Botanist, Mr. W. Harris,
F.L.S., in the interior limestone mountains ‘of Jamaica. It
grows to a height of 40 feet or more with a trunk 1 foot in
diameter. The leaves yield by distillation a very pleasan:
essential oil which is quite diferent from that of pimento or of
the West Indian bay tree.
The report on the crops
_states that the area under cotton was estimated for the
season at 34,091 acres against 32,290 acres in the previous
season. The people have extended their cultivation in cotton
on account of the high prices obtained. The cotton grown
in Assam is usually sold, curiously, as an adnlterant of
wool. 7
It is reported in the Jamaica G/eaner, October 21,
1918, that there isa project of erecting machinery in that
island for the purpose of making banana figs. If the support
of the banana planters of the Rio Nuevo district could be
assured, it would be likely that all small fruit which the
shipping companies do not handle would be disposed of
at a fair price.
In the report of the Surgeon-General, british Guiana,
for the year 1917, it is noted that at the bakery of the
Lunatic Asylum in that colony special efforts were made to
nse substitutes for wheat flonr, in view of the rapidly rising
price of this article and the possible difficulty of obtaining
any at all. Both rice flour and cassava meal were found
quite suitable for replacing from 25 to 30 per cent. of wheat
flour in the bread.
This year, Central Delicias, in the Oriente Province of
Cuba, established 4 world’s record for sugarcane production
at a single mill, the crop having been 615,360 bags of sugar.
The previous record was held by Central Chaparrain the
game province, and belonging to the same company as Central
Delicias: this was 615,000 bags of sagar made during the
crop of 1915-16. (The /owisiana Planter November 9,
1916 )
The extraordinarily liberal scale on which the American
Government subsidizes agricultural education and research is
shown by the following figures whieh deserve notice. The
expenditure of the United States Department of Agriculture
has risen from £284,000 in 1890 to upwards of £5,000,000
in 1916, « figure which may be contrasted with the
£300 000 odd expended by the English Board of Agriculture
in the Jutter year. (.Va/nse, September 19. 1918.)
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
of Assam, for the year .
1917-18, by the Director of the Department of Agriculture,-
DrceMBer 28, 1918.
a
According to the entomologist at the Experiment Station
of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, good results are
being obtained in the campaixn against field cockroaches by
the use of a wasp imported from the Philippines into the
Hawaiian Islands a year ago. Only a dozen pairs of speci-
mens survived the trip across the Pacific. These were releas-
ed, and are multiplying rapidly. The wasp attacks young
cockroaches and kills them. (The Zox/sfana Planter,
November 2, 1918.)
The banana industry, which is the mainstay of the
population in the Province of Limon, Costa Rica, has been
decadent for several years, chiefly on account of the spread
of the disease known as the ‘Panama banana disease’. The
reduction in the export of this fruit, owing to decreased
shipping facilities, has accentuated economic distress in the
Province. Large numbers of British West Indians are
leaving for Cuba and other parts where conditions are better
than they areat Limon, (7% Soard of Trade Journal,
October 24, 1918.)
An article in the I/vet/v Audctin of the Department of
Trade and Commerce Canada, October 7, 1918, poicts out
that in the five years, 1914-15, the present production of cane
sugar has increased from 9,854,941 tons to 13,572,711 tons,
while the production of beet sugar has decreased from
8,216,922 tons to 3,422,000 tons, making a decreased pro-
duction for the world’s output of sugar of both kinds of over
2,000,000 tons It is also noted that Cuba. with an output
of 3,350,000 tons of cane sugar in 1918 produced one-fifth
of the total sugar out-put of the world.
The IMMWeekl\ ABudletin of the Department of Trade and
Commerce, Canada, October 14, 1918, draws attention to the
transformation of Mesopotamia under British occupation.
It is predicted that it will become one of the world’s great
agricultural countries. This year's harvest is expected to be
the greatest in historic times, in spite of war conditions,
The British are reported to have dug out more than 100
canals, formerly used for irrigation purposes in connexion
with the river Euphrates, “but disused for many years. As
a result, some 320,000 acres have been brought afresh under
cultivation,
The prices of West Indian essential oils, as reported in
the Perfumery and Essential Or Record, September 1918,
seem to be remunerative. Very littl» bay oil was
then on the marker, and the price had hardened to 22s.
per Ib, With regard to lime oil, 7y. to 7s. 6d. was qnoted
for West Indian distilled, and I6y. 67, to 17s. 6d. for hand-
pressed. Orange oil was uoted at 11s, to 12s. per Ib. for
sweet Calabrian, while West Indian orange oil commanded
9s. to 9s, 6d. per Ib. For pimento oil 22s. to 25s. per Ib, was
wanted.
The principal raisin-producing countries of the world are
Greece, California, Turkey, Spain, and Australia. © Greece
produces 60 per cent. of the total world production, almost
entirely inthe shape of currants, and California comes next
with 22 per cent. of raisins. The California crop increased
from 40,000 to 128,000 tons (220 per cent.) between 1904
and 1915, uring the same period the crop of Australia
increased 126 per cent., while that cf Spain decreased 26 per
cent. The crops of ‘Turkey and Greece were practically
stationary. (2y//etin No. 298, University -of California
Publications. )
ws, 2a
ew
Von. - XVII. -No...435.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 413
eee Se
POP CORN.
By West Indians the term ‘pop corn’ is always applied
to the grains of Guinea corn when subjected to the influence
of dry heat, causing them to turn inside out. In the United
States, however, andin Australia, the term is usually applied
to a variety of maize which is employed in the same way as
West Indians employ Guinea corn. It does not seem that
this variety of maize has ever been cultivated in these
islands. It might be worth while experimenting with,
especially in small plots or home gardens. The following
description, taken from the Agricultural Gazette of New
South Wales, August 1918, is of interest: --
Pop corn belongs to a group or race of maize known
botanically as Zea mays, var. everta, on account of its tendency
to evert or turn inside out on the application of heat. It is
a delicacy which is greatly enjoyed by children, and deserves
some encouragement because of its food value and its whole-
someness compared with many other sweets which are craved
for at times by young people. It is also of interest on
account of the amusement it affords in the actual operation
of popping
Pop corn differs from other maize in its smaller
and more slender growth of stalks, smaller cobs, and smaller
grain. The ears of pop corn are seldom longer than 8 or
9 inches at their best, and the size of the grain is such that it
takes from 2,000 to about 3,000 to weigh a pound.
The grain itself is more like fint than dent maize in
composition, but has even less soft starch than those common
varieties. It consists entirely of germ and horny starch.
The best pop corn should show but little trace of soft or
white starch, at least on the exterior of the grain.
The cause of popping is not thoroughly understood, but
it is supposed to be due to the expansion of air and moisture
inside the grain.
Tt is essential that pop corn should fully mature in
order to pop properly, as when the filling of the grain is
checked by frost or cold weather it gives an unsatisfactory
sample for popping.
Owing to the smaller growth of pop corn, it may be
sown closer than field varieties, the distance between the
rows recommended being 3 to 4 feet.
The grain should not be sown too deeply, especially
with an early planting. From 1 to 2 inches is sufficient
under most circumstances. The surface should be harrowed
lightly while the plants are small, and afterwards cultivated
to a shallow depth to keep down weeds, and to keep the
soil loose. : ‘
Pop corn should be allowed to mature thoroughly on
the stalk. It should not, under any circumstances, be
harvested immature.
Many home garden plots of pop corn are grown for the
‘purpose of amusing children with the operation of popping,
and at the same time providing a nutritious sweetmeat. The
soil should be well enriched with stable manure some months
in advance of sowing, and, owing to the manner in which
the plants are pollinated, at least three rows should be grown
in order to get a good setting of grain.
In order to get the corn to pop properly it must be
thoroughly air-dry, i.e, containing about 12 to 14 per cent,
of moisture. If too moist, a lot of charred and swollen corn
will be the result. It may sometimes happen that the corn
hag become too dry for successful popping. This is easily
remedied by either sprinkling with or soaking in water, and
subsequent air-drying,
The source of heat shou'd be fairly strong. A glowing
bed of coals gives the best results with the Open-wire poppers,
where a flame fire is objectionable on account of the ease with
which the corn may be scorched. Where a pan popper is
used a flame fire is all right. A large amount of corn should
not be put into the popper at once, but just enough to cover
the bottom of the popper, and the popper should be kept
constantly agitated to prevent burning or scorching of the
grain. Popping should take place in about a minute and
a half .with the right degree of heat and good corn, The
popped product has from ten to twenty times the bulk of the
original corn.
Popped corn is chietly used as a form of confectionery.
The application of heat in popping has the effect of breaking
down the fibre in the grain to a large extent, thus rendering
it more digestible.
The addition of a little salt after pepping is usually
required, and most of the popped corn sold by confectioners
also has a coating of melted butter and sugar to improve its
flavour. .Popped corn also makes a good breakfast food
when used with milk and sugar. In nearly all cases there
will be a small percentage of parched unpopped grains left
after popping. These can be well used as a breakfast food
by boiling and serving with milk or cream and sugar
Popped corn loses its crispness readily after popping, on
account of absorption of moisture from the air. With the
loss of the crispness the flavour also largely disappears; so
that popped corn should not be kept for any time to enjoy
it at its best. For this reason p»ppedcom is usually sold
in waxed or oiled paper bags to prevent it absorbing moisture.
AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS.
Although December has not brought as much rain as we
should have liked, still prospects are better than at this date
last year. Both October and November last year were
unfavourable, and, being followed by a dry December, crops
of all kinds suffered materially. This year the moisture
accummulated in the soil during October and November has
enabled it to hold its own during the recent absence of fre-
quent showers.
Unlike last year, weather conditions have given no
cause for hesitation in planting. Planters have found the
land sufficiently moist for their purpose. The fields planted
in October and early in November are making a good show-
ing.
: It would now appear that about half the crops of the
island will be planted in the B. 6450, the remaining half
being planted in the B.H. 10(12) and the Ba. 6032—with
small areas of other seedlings such as the B. 6308, the
Ba 11,569, the B. 3922, anda negligible area in the B.376.
The local Agricultural Show was held on the 4th instant
at Drax Hall Plantation, St. George. The show was quite
as successful as that held last year at Lancaster. The exhibits
reached a good standard, and they were well grown and
properly selected. There is no doubt that these local shows
have stimulated peasants, and have taught them what is
meant by marketable produce. The exhibits from elemen-
tary school gardens also reached a good mark, and for the
third time prizes were offered to boys of elementary schools
for cane-hole digging, etc. This competition was a keen one,
and some very good work was done. (The Barbados Agri-
cultural Reporter, December 14, 1918.) eat
i a
Pee es ee Se
yeh 4
.
ee
414 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
PLANT DISEASES.
DISEASES OF COCO-NUT PALMS IN
GRENADA.
MYCOLOGISTS REPORT.
(Concluded.)
- The little-leaf disease. so far as could be Jearned, is up to
the present only of occasional and scattered occurrence. I saw
examples among young trees in plantations at the north
end of the island and on the west coast. Its first manifesta-
tion is the appearance, in succession to normally developed
leaves, of diminutive leaves which are commonly more or less
bent or twisted. There is some brown spotting of the leaflets
in evidence before they unfold, and the base of the petiole is
affected with a firm brown rot which does not nsually pene-
trate very deeply. The treatment applied has been the lay-
ing bare of the seat of the injury by cutting away the strainer
and some of the adjacent outer leaves, and the pouring of salt-
water, cassava water, Jeyes fluid, or Bordeaux mixture
into the heart. The disease is likely to have a fatal
termination, often apparently owing to infestation of the
damaged spots with palm weevil; but 1 saw several cases in
which normal growth had been resumed, and recovery appear-
ed complete.
The disease appears to be due to an infection with a fun-
goid or bacterial organisin, the identity of which I have not
yet had time to determine. There appears to be no relation
to bud rot, nor is there any evidence of relation to the dwind-
ling of the leaves sometimes seen in old trees. 5S. F. Ashby
attributes a similar disease in Jamaica to the action of a
species of yeast.
I recommend in cases of this disease that the strainer be
carefully cnt away, and the leaves opened outas far as can be
done without injury. The cutting of the tissues, or any
violent injury is to be deprecated, on account of the danger
of attracting palm weevi!. The affected region should then
be wel! covered with Bordeaux or Burgundy mixture which
adheres very much better if milk (which may be separated or
skimmed) is used in its preparation, in the proportion of
4-pint in each gallon.
A thick mixture, which may be expected to be particu-
larly suited to this purpose, and which is easi'y made up in
small quantities, may be prepared according to the following
formula :—
Copper sulphate—4 cz. dissolved separately in 3 pints
of water.
Washing soda —d oz. in | pint of water.
Mix when dissolved, and add 1 pint of milk if it can be
obtained. The mixture may.be poured or swabbed into the
heart, but is far more effectively and economically applied
by any kind of sprayer, pushing the nozzle well down between
the leaves ‘The idea of this treatment is to give the tender
pacts « coating which is protective against infection, and it
should be repeated when it 13 judged to be necessary fromm
this point of view Where the tissues are eut or split, a
local application of carcolineurn might be tried, to keep out
palm weevil,
December 28, 1918.
The “home remedies’ referred to above are all open to
the objection that their ingredients are readily soluble, and
must be quickly washed away by rain.
The third type of affection noted, the condition of
debility due to want of drainage, root interference from
other trees, or exhausted or untilled soil will be dismissed
briefly, as being well within the planter’s powér to deal with
by purely agricultural methods. It is only necessary to out-
line the distinctive features of the condition. The mature
leaves take on a general yellow or even reddish-brown
colouration ; usually the whole top has a sickly appearance ;
fruit production dwindles, or in old cases almost ceases ;
leayes and often fruit become infested with the round papery
seale insect (4spidiotus destructor). The trees do not die,
but make poor growth. New leaves remain green but a
short time. When the unfavourable condition is temporary,
as in the case of water-logging from floods or blocked drains,
the yellow colour appears suddenly, and is soon removed
When the roots are again set free to breathe. The remedies
are drainage. cultivation, and in some cases manuring.
The first essential in dealing with the subject of bud rot
is to insist on discrimination between rotting of the bud in _
general, and the infectious disease known as bud rot in par-
ticular. The existence of a stinking rot of the heart is not
evidence of the specific bud rot disease. _ Bacterial putrefac-
tion cf the enclosed tissues of the heart appears to be
as natural in a dead or dying coconut tree as it is
in the case of the internal organ of a dead animal. [It is
seen in trees which die of root disease, and stillless equivo-
cally, has occurred in an experiment made by the writer,
within two weeks of the insertion into the base of a vigorous
tree of an ounce of sodium arsenate. In spite of much
investigation the only character by which the infectious bud
rot can be certainty recognized is by its infectiousness. It
may first attack the heart of the tree, or it may start at any
point among the outer leaves or flower and fruit bundles,
reaching the heart only after many months. In both forms
the stem and roots remain healthy to the last.
The only cases seen during this visit which I regarded
as suspicious were those of some half-dozen mature bearing
trees on one estate, in which groups of outer leaves, not the
oldest, were discoloured and drooping. These trees I have
asked the Superintendent of Agriculture to keep under obser-
vation. If the affection shows signs of progressiny, it will be
advisable that they should be fired and sprayed, and if that
does not suffice, cut down and burnt.
Wa. Nowett.
COTTON.
SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET.
The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ended November 9, 1918, is as follows:—
isLAnbs. Wehave had a continuance of a very dull
‘market, with only limited inquiry, but no demand; conse-
quently no sales are reported.
The unseld -tock is gradually accumulating, which
renders the factors more desirous of selling. uring this
period of unsettled business, they continue ‘o hold nominally
for prices last paid, but, should any actual demand spring up,
they will probably be willing to make 1 decided concession
in price to sell.
}
Vor.° XVIL
Therefore we quote. nominally:-—
Fine to Fully Fine 72c, f.0.b. and freight
GEORGIAS AND FLOoRIDAS. The market in Savannah,
and throughout the interior, has remained very quiet, with
limited demand.
Under the present disorganized and unsettled conditions
of business everywhere, there is a general indisposition to
do anything, and in consequence, it is impossible to give any
established quotations. The sales reported are 1aade at very
irregular prices, Cepending upon the requirements or wishes
of the holders of the unsold stock, which is accumulating
at all interior points.
We can buy to-day, in a limited way: —
Fancy 65c. f.o.b, and freight.
Extra Choice 64e. ,, “A Pe
The exports from Savannah for the week have been
to Northern Mills 826 bales; and from Jacksonville to the
Northern Mills, 255 bales.
The shipments from Savannah were largely made by
‘George H. McFadden «& Bros.’ Agency, which are reported
to be Government cotton held there on storage, and now
being forwarded.
THE JAMAICA IMPERIAL ASSOCIATION.
At the quarterly meeting of the Council of this Asso-
-ciation, held at Kingston, Jamaica, on October 16, 1918,
the report of the work of the Executive Committee of the
Association was presented.
This report is dealt with in the Jamaica G/ewner,
October 19, 1918, from which tbe following items are taken,
showing the activity of the Association, and the benefits
likely to accrue to the colony from its public spirited efforts.
Since the last meeting of the Council on June 26 the
Executive Committee of the Association has devoted itself
particularly to efforts looking to the maintenance and devel-
-opment of Jamaica industries. The most important of these
efforts may be arranged under the following heads:—
(1) The obtaining of shipping facilities for Jamaica.
(2) The development of the sugar industry.
(3) The procuring of a better price for Jamaica sugar.
The question of shipping facilities for the removal of pro-
-duce from the outports has also been engaging the Executive
Committee’s attention. Representations on this matter have
been made to the proper authorities, and it is confidently
hoped and believed that satisfactory arrangements will be
made to facilitate exports.
The Executive Committee, in view of the fact that
nothing had been done for over a year to settle on practical
lines the central sugar factories question, decided to take this
question up with the Governor in connexion with the Jamaica
Sugar Committee. The Chairman of the Jamaica Sugar
Committee was accordingly invited to associate himself with
the Executive Committee for the purpose of urging upon the
-Governor the necessity of pushing on with a programme of
sugar development. A lengthy letter, tracing the history of
the sugar development movement in Jamaica from October
1914, was prepared and despatched to His Excellency. As the
Secretary of State for the Colonies did not accept the scheme
prepared by Sir Francis Watts, and adopted by the Legisla-
tive Council, but had insisted upon permanent Government
control in any centrai factory scheme and also upon the
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
415
Government sharing the prolits of such venture (unless one-
fifth of the money required were found by cane farmers inter-
ested ina central factory), the Executive Committee with the
Chairman of the Jamaica Sugar Committee, thought it advis-
able to support the original scheme of the Sugar Committee.
That, as generally known, provides for a division of the
profits between the Government and the cane farmers as
follows: the canes to be purchased by the cane farmers on @
5 per cent. basis, 25 per cent. of the net profits of the under-
taking to go to the Government in perpetuity, and 75 per
cent. to go to the cane farmers. In regard to parishes which
may already have an established sugar industry, and which
may desire to amalgamate their several concerns into one or
two great central factories, tbe proposalis that the Govern-
ment should advance them two-thirds of the capital required,
on their giving adeqnate security for the repayment of the
loan.
His Excellency has, since the receipt of the Committee's
letter, had an interview with the “hairman of the Associa-
tion, and has made some counter suggestions to be considerec
by the representatives of the Imperial Association and the
Jamaica Sugar Committee. It is understood that His
Excellency is prepared to push on with sugar developments
on the basis of the scheme which will shortly be placed before
the sugar producers and the country.
In view also of the danger of the island’s depending on
the banana industry in the future as much as it did in the
past, the Executive Committee is strongly of the opinion
that no means should be neglected of placing Jamaica’s sugar
industry on a broad and stable foundation without delay.
It was recently brought to the attention of the Executive
Committee that Cuban sugar producers obtained a better
price f.o.b. for their sugar than the sugar producers of
Jamaica. The Committee at once took this matter up with
the local Government, with the Sugar Commission of London,
with the West India Committee, and with Mr. J. R Bruce of
the International Sugar Commission of Canada. It also
communicated with the Chambers of Commerce of Barbados,
Demerara, Trinidad, and Antigua, asking their co-aperation
and the co-operation of their several Governments in
its efforts to obtain a better price for Jamaica sugar.
The Governmeut of Jamaica has supported, on the
Executive Committee’s request, this move on the part
of the Jamaica Imperial Association; and the Chambers of
of Commerce in the colonies mentioned have promptly
co-operated with this Association in this matter. The Sugar
Commission of London replied to the Association to the
effect that ‘f.o.b, prices for British West Indian sugars will
be governed by prices fixed for Cuban crop, which, however,
have not yet been determined.’
The difficulty of esta'es obtaming machinery at present
is another matter that has been brought particularly to the
Executive Committee’s attention. The Committee has there-
fore made it known to those approaching it inthis matter
that it will do its very best to place the needs of Jamaica for
machinery before the Imperial Authorities.
With regard to agricultural implements, the Association
has moved the West India Committee to endeavour to obtain
the steel necessary for the making of such implements.
Cotton cultivation to a limited extent has been tried in
Queensland with success,, 46,977 tb. having been accepted by
the Department of Agriculture in May 1918 as against
10.163 bh. in May 1917. (Zhe Board of Trade Journal,
October 31, 1915.)
416
ee es aM December 38, 1918.
MARKET REPORTS. New York.—Messrs Giuesriz Bros & Co., Novem-
= ber, 14.
London.—Tue West Inpra Committee Crecurar, Cacao—Caracas, 14fe. to 15c.; Grenada, 14}. to 14Jc.;
October 31. 2 Trinidad, 14sec. to 15c.; Jamaica, 12fe. :
o er") oco-nuts—Jamaica selects, $51:00; Trinidad $52-
area RooT—1/7 to 1/4. ae culls, $28°00 to $29-00 per M. beige
ALATA—V enezuelan Block, 3,7; Sheet, 4/14. Correr—Jamaica, l4c. to U7c. per tb
Berswax—No quotations. GincErn—Iie. to 20e per ise a :
Cacao—Trinidad, 90-; Grenada, 85/-; Jamaica, no quota- Goan Sxins—Importation pre Ibited
tions. : ; 1-0
5 ‘ Grape Fruit—Jamaica, 82°51) to $4:
Bera, no quotations. Limes— Nominal See ast
pra e iS ae
. RA £46. A Mace—4:3c. to 45c. per th.
RUIT—No quotations. Nourmecs—i0c
Giycer—Jamaica, no quotations OnancEs—$2°50 to $3°50
Honey—Jamaica, 238/- to 251/-.
, | h . Pimento—9c. to 9}c. per fb.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 4/- to 4/6: concentrated, quiet; Otto of Beue Osnaraeae Be, 6°055¢; Muscovados, 89°, 5°155¢
lime (hand-pressed), 15/- to 16) . Molasses, 89°, 5°052c. all duty paid . :
* Loewoop—No quotations. . a rae
Mace—3/4 to 3/9.
Nurmecs—3/- to 3/9,
Pimento—b6$d. to 7a. Te ©
KvcseseR—Para, fine hard, 3/-; fine soft, no quotations;
Castilloa, no quotations.
S55 bs .—Messrs. T. S. G TAY etot
Trinidad.—Messrs, Gorpon, Grant & Co., October 4. SEED SS eis Garraway & Co., October 18,
Cacao—Venezuelan, no quotations: Trinidad, no quota- ArrowKxoot—$12'00 per 100 fh.
tions. Cacao—$12'00 to $12°50 per i00 th,
Coco-nut O11—$1°46 per gallon. Coco-nuts—$330-00 husked nuts.
Corree—Venezuelan, 1c. per te.. Hay—33 00.
Copra—$7°25 per 100 tb. Mo tasses—No quotations.
Dxat—$11°50 to $12-00 per bag. : Onrons— No quotations.
Ontons —510-00 per 100 ih. Peas, Spirit—No quotations; Canada, no quotations.
Peas, Sprit—$8-00 per bag. Porators—No quotations. ,
Potaroes—English, $4°00 per 100 f. Rice—Ballam, nc quotations; Patna, no quotations; Ran
Rice—Yellow, $13-00 to $13:25; White, $9°0U per bag. goon, no quotations.
Srear—American crushed. no auotations.
Suear—Dark Crystals, $5°50
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’: A Quarterly Scieutific Journal.
Volume XVII, No. 1. Containing Papers on Insects attacking Cotton Bolls, and a Paper on Fish Poisoning,
HANDBOOK AND PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets and Handbooks are written in a simple and popular manner, and the information contained in them
le especially adapted to West Indian conditions. The number issued up to the present time is eighty-two,
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’: A Fortnightly Review.
~The ‘ Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence, and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made ig
agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News ’ is printed in time to be distributed regularly by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free 14d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d per half-year, or 3s. 3d. perannum. Volumes VIII to XVI complete, with title page and index, as issued—Price 4s, each
— post free, 5s. The scale of charges for ApverTisEmENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents,
AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT,
London; Messrs. Driav & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Grenada: Messrs. Tuos. Lawtor & Co., St. George,
West Inpia Commirrer, 15, Seething Lane. St, Vincent: Mr. J. D. Bonanre, ‘Times’ Office,
Barbados: Apvocate Co. Lrp., Broad Street, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. R. W. Nivxs, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THe EpucarionaL Suppry Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripcewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat: Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tne Arcosy Co., Lrp., Georgetown, Antigua; Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad: Messrs. Murr-MarsuHaty & C©o., Port-of-Spain, St. Kitts; Tes Brsue AND Book Suppty AGEnNcy, Basserenes
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PLacemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Mt. W. 1. Howe tt, Experiment Station.
Bahamas. Me H G. Curssvre Beard of Agriculture, Nassau. Canada; Lewis W,. Criemens, 81, Yonge Street, Toronto
NOTE—References to
417
EN DES.
pests and diseases are classified wnder Inseet
Notes,
Fungus Notes, Insect Parasites and Predators, respectively.
A:
Abelmoschus esculentus (okra), 191.
Aberia Caffra (Kei-apple), 111.
Acacia arabica, 60.
_— farnesiana (sweet briar, stinking
cossie, etc.), 223.
— mollissima, 46.
—, Senegal, 60.
— tortuosa, 46.
Acetate of lime manufactured from mo-
lasses, 284.
Acetic acid, the sugar factory as a source
of supply of, 116. c
Achras Sapota (chicle gum), 235, 249.
Acid phosphate versus raw rock phos-
phate, 293.
Adansonia digitata, 37.
Aeschrion (Picrasma) excelsa (Jamaica
quassia), 74.
—' — quassioides, 74.
Africa, cotton in, 264. ]
African rubber (Auntumia elastica) 10
Trinidad, 22, 23. :
Agave Deweyana (Zapupe fibre plant), 8.
— fourcroydes, 153.
— Karatto, 153.
— rigida, var. elongata (henequen), 204.
— sisalana (Sisal hemp), 8, 153, 204.
Agouti (Dasyprocta agoutt ), 68.
Agricultural and industrial exhibition,
Barbados, 408.
==; Lrinidad,, 153.
— development, basic slag as affecting,
89.
—— developments in Jamaica, 359.
_— examinations, 45, 61.
experiment station, Porto Rico, 269.
industries of the Bermuda Islands,
_
364.
— instruction in Canada, 142.
resources of Jamaica, 142.
ceturns of England and Wales, 329,
-—— tractors in Trinidad, 377.
Agriculture, application of science to, Gi
~—. asa business proposition, 313.
— at Oxford, 265.
fertilizers and chemicals employed
in the world’s production of, 214.
— in Antigua, 329.
— — Barbados, 7, 36, 53, 71, 119,
157, 165, 180, 223, 229, 251, 262.
994, 311, 331, 351, 359, 372, 389,
413,
—
—
Agriculture in Grenada, 175, 351.
Jamaica, 36.
Santo Domingo, 73,
—, practical, courses of reading and
examinations in, 199,
—, scientific research in, 303.
Ailanthus excelsa, 74,
Ajowan (Carum copticum), 117, 285, 411.
Akee (Blighia sapida), 139.
Spurs palm (Astrocaryum tucuma),
263.
Albizzia Lebbek, 79.
Alcohol Fuel Committee, 383,
—, Lae manufacture of in Natal,
268.
—, power, 259, 351,
— production, 382.
— — from wood waste, 313
Aleurites cordata, 27, 137,
==) Pordit,) 27; 137.
— moluccana, 137.
— montana, 137.
— triloba (Candle nut or Indian wal-
nut), 27, 137.
— trisperma, 27, 137,
Althea rosea (hollyhock), 393.
Ameiva exul (siguana), 107.
America, cocoa in, 395.
American Agricultural Committee, 360.
— Bureau of standards and sugar, 264,
— Zoologists’ visit to the West Indies,
200.
Amyris balsamifera 79.
Andropogon muricatus, 186.
Annatto seed on the London market,
127, 159, 239, 255.
Anona cherimolia (cherimoya), 139.
— palustris (swamp or monkey apple),
207.
Anopheles and non-marshy districts, 233,
Anthocyanin pigmentation in castor bean
crosses, 403.
Antigua, agriculture in, 329,
— central sugar factory, 151.
—, co-operation in, 67.
— corn granary, 57.
— Cotton Growers’ Association, 390.
— Government Granary, 85, 393.
— iten.s of local interest, 20, 52, 84
119, 157, 180, 228, 262, 311, 350,
372, 406.
—, sisal cultivation in, 153.
Apis mellifera (honey-bee), 230.
Applied science and research work, 72. | —
Arenga Saccharifera, 133.
Arrow weed (Pluchea sericea), 330.
Arrowroot on the London market, 31,
95, 127, 159, 191, 287, 383.
Arsenic, stimulating influence of upon
rite rays organisms of the soil,
Arsenical sprays, use of prickly pear -
sap in, 195.
Artocarpus incisa (breadfruit tree), 89,
207.
Asparagus and tomatoes, cultivation in
Guadeloupe, 41.
Astragalus boeticns (Spanish astragalus),
19}.
Astroc a :¢
pg tucuma (Akuyuro palm),
— tueumoides (Awarra palm), 263.
Attalea Cohune (Cohune palm), 234, 302
Australia, farming in, for discharged
soldiers, 147.
—, proposals for the production of
power-alcohol in, 203.
Averrhoa Bilimbi, 76.
— Carambola, 76.
Avocado pear in California, 15,
—— pears as food and sonrce of oj
102. I
Awarra palm (Astrocc Lote
ob Pp ( caryum tucumotdes),
B.
Bacharis sp., 230.
Bacillus influenzae, 361,
Bacterinm Solanacearum, 4, 5.
Bahamas, marine products in, 19.
Balats, Venezuelan, production of, 223,
Ballou, H. A., 101, 181, 211, 243,
Banana bread in Jamaica, 171.
— meal, how to prepare, 73,
Barbados agricultural and industrial exhie
bition, 408,
—, agiiculture in, 7, 36, 53, 71, 119,
157, 165, 180, 223, 229, 251, 269
<¢ o 20 é - ~ 2
294, 311, 331, 351, 359, 372, 389,
413
—, area under Sea Island cotton cultie
vation in, 39,
— Iacwbird, or ‘ Bequia sweet’ (Oxia.
calus fortirostris), 2us.
—, cotton cultivation in, 183.
—, feod control committee ‘n, 24.
Cesz Sasiety; 108;
Plant Diseases an
dee
Barbados, hog cholera in, 47
~, Johnson and Sudan grasses in, 168.
Barbados-Antigua expedition from the
State University 6f Towa, 327.
Barbuda, items of local interest, 6; 21,
o 205.
‘Barber, Dr. C: A., 243.
Barosma betulina (buchu), 315.
— crenulata, 313.
— serratifolia, 313.
Basic slag as affecting agricultnral devel-
opment, 89.
Bat guano as a-sutstitute for phosphate,
10%.
— gnanos of ‘Porte Rico and their
fertilizing value: 333.
Bauxite im Britis Guiana, 175.
Buy tree (Mirtus citrifolia), 255.
(Pimenta acris), 235.
— — (Pimentic aris; var: citrifolia);
235.
(Pimenta citrifolia), Y35.
Bean, Go-ta-ni, 342.
Beans: and! peasy preserving, by drying;
278, 279.
—, Time, 275)
Bees, influence on fruit crops, 268.
Beeswax in British East A'frica, pro:
duction of, 91.
Bellamgere batarde (So/anum torvum),
#1.
Bengal beans; experimentsin Montserrat,
35.
(Stizolovium aterrimum); 406:
Bengal, estimated’ output of date sugar
in, 220.
Benincasa cerifera (wax gourd), 108.
Bermuda, food'situation in, 158
— grase(Cjnodin dattylon, var: mart-
timus), 345.
— Tslands, cliief agricultural industries
of, 364.
Berries, old and new, 135.
Berry poisonous to fowls, 157.
Bertbolletia excelsa (Brazil nut), 11.
‘Biologia Centrali-Amerteana’, 409:
Birds, insect-eating, protection and pre: |
servation of, TS j
Black bent (Avopecurus agrestis), FOWL |
— cherry (Bagenia procera), 135. |
— pepper, predixction of, 15%.
Black-eye pea (Vigna Catjany), V8.
Blackbird (Qiaseadus sp:), 2B5-
Blackie’s “Senior! Tropical Reader’, 169: |
Blighia sapida (akee), 139:
Bais fot or'cork: wood! (Oc/hroma /ago- |
pus), 205, 206, 266,
“_. tan’ (Byrsonimasprcata), 31,
Bombax malabaricum, 236.
Bbnaviet bean (Dolicios Lablab), #5, 254.
Books reviewed :—
+ \f&) Manna? off dangerous insects likely
to be introdneed into tha United |
States threvgliimportations, W. D: |
Pierce, 391.
; Books Reviewed (Continued) :—
‘_— —, timber industry, off 347. |—
| British Mionduras, Cohune ont industry |
418
é ‘ Broussonettia papyrifera
Imperial Institute Handbooks : Cotton| berry), 340.
and. other Vegetable Hibres; their! Buchu (Barosma detulina\, 313
Production and Utilization, Gould-; — ( — crenulata), 313.
ing, 131. |— ( — serratifolia), 313.
Medicinal: Herbs and Poisonous: Plants, — cultivation in South Afpica. 312
pera te, aa ou atte | Bullet tree (AZimusops globosa), 347.
e aple Trades of the Empire, ! Bulpash. mi CNNISE phoide
attic bacieal Newton, 283. : 307. ia. neni ies
The Sugars and their Simple Deriva-| Bureau of s ards i
oven Mackenzie; 315. E | 264. eT eaeeae Bs
Borassus flabelliformis (fan or toddy ‘Burn mouth’ or ‘Wis’ (7Zetramnus
palm), 138: | wuacinatus), 411,
Botanic Gardens, educational courses in, | Bursera gummifera (turpentine tree, or
143. gommier rouge), 207. i
“Botanical’ Journal’, temporary suspen- | Buteo antillarum (gree-gree or chicken
sion of, 140. hawk), 107.
Botany and tlie living plant, 9. | Butorides virescens (© c
Bougainvyillaea lating g. 4h. | 107. 1 en aE,
—— Jaterita,, 9; 444 Butter, potato, 137.
— seedlings. 9; 44. /— substitutes in Trinidad, 185
- nut Weald on excelsa), (I. | —, nutritive value of 185.
razilian sugar indnstry, 259. | By products of the sugar-cane indu f
Bread-and-Cheese (Di habalb Bion Unguis:\ Bee a spicata ( Busan ue
cati), 29, 46: ve
(paper mul-
Bread, banana, in Jamaica, 171. C.
—, corn, raised with baking powder,
19. | Cabbage palm fruit as food for hogs, 171
Sy Tg. — — (Oreodoxa oleracea), V'71- 237,
Breadfruit’ tree (Av¢acarpus incisa), 207.,— — ( — xegia), V20, : .
— with developed'seed, 89: — —, two species of, 237.
Bread-nut tree (Pachirva aquatica), 205. Cacao trees, spraying experi
' . , y yeriment on, 4.
sees war, 18. Caesalpinia coritirtay 16. Sl
reeding new seeds, 335. Cajanus indicus (pigeo |
— pure-bred stock, 25: 238: AROS Bem IE sh
Breeds of dairy cattle, 164. Calathea Allouya, 68.
| British Cotton Growing Association, 6, California, avocado pear in, 15.
54. 386, 118, 151, 182; 277; 310. —, citrus conditions in, 173,
British East Africa, beeswax production Campaign. in Jamaica against heokworm
in, 91. | 2B
British Empire; cutton-growing, resources | Camphor (C7x2amomum Camphora), 76,
of, 118: 234, 405.
— —, mineral’ oil resources in the, —, decreasing supply of, 405.
103. 'Canabis-sativa. (hemp), 340.
British Guiana, bauxite in, 175. Canada, agricultural instruction in, 142,
— —, cosonnt cultivation in, 326. —, maple sugar production in, 172 ;
— —, coffte cujtivation in, 316, 345.) —, production of sugar beets. in, 220,
— — Government Time Factory,|—, West Indian trade wi ings
245. "| tor, 360. i aoe
, Dative oil palms of, 263; Canany pine (7s canariensis), 46, 47.
, primary education in, 21'9. Canavalia ensiformis, 342. alee fe
—, rive cultivation in, 308. — — (sword bean or horse bean), as
—, — industry - 1917, 165, cover crop for rubber cultivation, 23.
Up RRR crs Jandle nnsior Indian wal leurites
sritish Guiana Royal Agricultaral’ and; ¢7/oba),. 27. bob baaecey
Commercial’ Society, 292: ;Candle-nut oil, 137, ;
sugar crop, 1917-18, 409: | Cane Farmers, 39.
| fields, Hawaiian, tractors in, 3572
— -—, vegetable procinets factory in, — juices, filtration of, 324,
167. |— seedlings, new, testing, in North
India 201.
in, 213 —- sugar, increased’ production, of, 412
wi development of, 11. Wanellaalba.on, the: London market, 159.
British Sugar Machinery Mxoufacturers’ | Canker’ berry, (Sblawum igneum), 187,
Association, 356, Capybara skins, ‘market sought for’, 39.
419
| Citrus cultivation in Surniam, 396.
Carapa,guianensis (crabwood), 347,
fruit of the Philippines, a new, 361.
Carludovica palmata. 28. —
Carob tree (Ceratonia siligua), 172,191.}|— ‘hybridization, 407.
Carum copticum, 75, 117, 277, 285, 411. miaray (the ‘miaray’), 361,
Caryocar tomentosum (Souari or butter-| Climate, influence of sun spots on, 409.
nut tree), 347. -| Cocoa in America, 395.
Caryota ‘urens (kitool palm), 44, 135. ,}Coco-de-mer (Zodvicea Sechellarum), 11.
Cashew nuts on the London market, 255.) Coco-nut butter in Dominica, 104.
Cassareep, 358. j}—— cultivation in British Guiana, 326.
Cassava cultivation in Trinidad, 197. — flowers, pollination of, 40.
Cassia Fistula on the\London market, 31,!— palm “(Cocos nucifer2), 133.
95,127, 191, .289,° 287, 367, 383 — plantations, minorcrops.on, 349.
— . occidentalis, 191. — prices in Dominica, 104.
Castillow elastica (Central American rub-)Coco-nuts, preservation of, P88.
ber) in Trinidad, 22, 23. (Coces-nueitera ‘(coeo-nut palm), 133.
Castor bean «crosses, anthocyanin ;pig- {Coffea arabica, 30.
mentation in, 403, |— liberica, 11/13.
Castor oil (Rieinus communis), 139, 181.;— robusta, 23, 113,
— —, demand for, 155. Coffee cultivation in British Guiana, 316.
— —, exportation prohibited by In-| 343.
dia, 268. — exports from Venezuela, 268.
— — in the West.Indies, notes .on,}Coffees, imitation, 190.
plant, cultivation of in Santo| 213.
Domingo, 220. — — soi), : 276.
— —, preparation of, 260. — palm (4¢talea Cohune), 213.
— —, yields; per acre,.290. }Cola acuminata, 93.
— seed, 328. -— nitida, ‘93.
Casuarina equisetifolia, 180. !€oleus amboinicus, 117, 154.
Cattle, datry, prominent breeds of, 164 i sgn 87.
Cayman Islands, hurricane ‘in, 1916-17, (Colombia, mewspalm wax from, 63.
297. {Control of sugar priees ‘hy sugar .com- |
— —~, turtle trade of, 300 | «mittee, 324.
Cedar (Cedrela odorata),.211, 283. \Cook Islands,eexports!from, .]2.
Celery, ‘cultivation “of, 89. | Co-operation in#Xntigna, 67.
-Cement,ias ‘poison ‘for rats, 396. Copeland, Prof. E.:b,, 8.
Central American tubber (Cas////pa. e/as- | Copernivia eetifera, 63.
tice) in Trinidad, 22, 23. /Copra and coco-mut oil,:study of, 319.
— sugar ifactoryrin Antigua, 151. |— importation ‘into ‘the United>States,
ee Cha, 89. 364.
Ceratonia Siliqua,(Gareb.tree), 172, 191. | Cordia coylindrestachya, 250.
Cerealuerops:in Malaya, 397. |—. gerascanthus (cypre), 851, 372.
Ceroxylon sandicolum, ‘65. | interrupta, 250. d
Ceylon, teareultivation in, 077. Cork ssrood.(Ochroma:laggpus ), 387.
Cheese, cottage, how to make, 166. t—— —, properties of, 357.
Chemical: control :in-suyar-factories, '!49. | Corn ,bread raised with baking :powder,
‘G@hick “pea (Cicer er a as 19. ‘o
-Chicle Uctchras -Sapota),'235, —-- = -— =— yeast, 19.
pen sree i ; 29” — —, recipe for making, 124.
Chicopy. ((Cichorivm. intybus), V9. — cakes, Anteriean, ‘7.
Chinese ¢ganibier vor ‘cunas’, iner+aged )— @grapary,-Antigna, 57
use Of, 183. —, growing of, 25. ‘
-Chrome-tanning industry, 21). —_ med}, ‘homeround, 46.
-Chrysalidocarpus }itesvens, 277. Cottage:cheese, how to make, 166. :
Cicer arietinum (nick pea), 191, 255. —_ | Cottonsandscorn,:co.operative;purchase:of
Cichorium intybus (chicory), 191. ‘in St. Vincent, 231.
-Cinnamomum Campbora (camphor), 76, | — cultivationiin Barbados, 183:
235, 405. ~., Egyptian, warieties, produced’ by -n-
‘Citric acid on the Londonimarket,.31,) ‘tation, 295. — , d
195,127, 159, 191, 239, 255, -287,|— exporte from .the West iIndies, 87,
‘387 283. 166, 246; 3300. jj
Citrus Aurantinm (orange), 319. —. fibres, ‘length-sorting imathine for,
— popditions in Florida, Gdlifornia and | 182. é
@uba, 173. |, fine, supply of, 1590.
100. Cohune nut industry in British Honduras,
a os
Cotton Growers’ Association, Antigua,
390.
— growing resources of the British |
Empire, 118.
— in.Africa, 264.
'— market, Sea Island, 6, 22, 38, 54,
56, 102, LE8, 134, 150, 166, 182, 198, ~
249, 540, 390, 414.
|—. need for more, 102.
;—, new breed developed in St. Croix,
252.
|—, Ordinances: relating to, 391.
-— production in ‘South ‘Affica, pros-
‘pects of, 198.
;—, pure strains in Egypt. 70.
|—, elation of lint ‘length ‘to ramfall,
| observations on, 371.
|—, St. ‘Vincent, local prices of, 198.
:—, Sea Island, area under cultivation
: in Barbados, 39.
i—, — =, Manurial experiments ‘in
St. ‘Vineent, 375.
—, »‘sea-weed, substitute for, 216.
+ .stamers iin St. Vineent, control of,
220.
-— seed, machines ‘for treating agaist
pink boll worm, 40.
'— —, toxic substancelin the, 54.
- Cottons, Egyptian, 60.
Courses of reading <and ‘examimations in
practical agriculture, ‘199.
Cowpea (‘Vigna «wrguteulata), Y85.
'—, new Strain‘df, ‘8D
: Cow’s «ation, ‘the réle df water “in,
i aaa,
: Crabwood (Curvapa guianensts), 347.
‘Credit ‘societies, co-operative, in Man-
writius, 243.
Crop ‘on ‘linte ‘estates, relation of “Hower-
ing’to, ‘HOD.
Cr.ps, electrical sstinnilation of, 57-
| Cross:pollination of tthe mango, 9.
Crotalaria *incana, 120.
— juncea((sumshenyp), 120, 255.
— saltiana, 120.
Crotophaga,ani (tiek:bird or-ani), 107.
Crow:( Corvusbrathyryachos) antits re-
dation ‘te man, SI7.
Cuba, central sugar factery in, 89.
—, citrus cenditiens .in, 73.
—, organization of :planit ‘sanitation’in,
‘Te.
Cuban sugar industry, -devélopment sof,
162.
f Cunas +or (Chiwese gzanibier, increaseit.
use Of, 1183. .
Curing meat in hotrweather, “307.
Cuseuta americana (love vine), °42.
Gyanamide.of «calcium, cthe wwotld’s rpro-
duction of, °2E4:
Cyclones of Aygust-22, 1018, 296.
Cymedoeeasmanatorm ‘(mandtee ‘gracs},
ITS.
‘|Cynara Scolymus, “365:"
S ~ed
@Fynoicn dactylon (devil’s grass),-205, |Dominica;coco-nut butter in, 104.
S40.
|
— —, var. maritimus (Ucrmuda grass), |—,
-, items of local interest, 20, 52, 101,
345. ;
Cypre (Cordia gerascanthus), 351, 372.
Cyprus, forestry in, 265. ,
Cytisus pallidus (Gacia blanea), 217.
— proliferus (Tagasaste), 217.
~— stenopetalus (Gacia), 217.
D.
Dairy cattle, prominent breeds of, 164.
Dasheen shoots, forcing and ‘blanching
of, 121. ¢
Dasyprocta agouti (agouti), 68.
Date palm (Phanix sylvestris), 133.
-— — sugar in Bengal, estimated out |
put in 1917-18, 220.
Datura Metel, 119.
Demand for Jamaica honey, 236.
Demerara, sugar-cane manovrial experi-
ments in 1917, 406.
Department News, 61, 67, 101,
134,
149, 181, 196, 211, 235, 245, 275, | Earthquake in Porto Rico, 393.
East Africa, sisal cultivation in, 238.
307, 331, 346, 359, 373, 403.
372, 407.
| Drainage, efficient, 184.
Dried blood and offal manure, use of, |
Drying vegetables on a large scale, 15.
Duck, Muscovy, 299. =, var. microsperma, 316.
Durian (Durio Zibethinus), 221.
| Dye stuff industry of the United States, | Electric power supply, 255.
Dye-woods, West Indian, 264. a2
420
Education, place of geography in, 275,
—-, prices in, 104. —, primary, in British Guiana, 219.
food situation in, 21. —, university and higher technical,
position of, 345.
119, 157, 205, 225, 262, 311, 350, Educational courses in Botanic Gardens,
143.
Jime industry in, situation of, 200. Egg-plant or melongéne, (.So/anum melon-
onions in, 169, 544. gena), 187, 267, 314.
rainfall in 1917, 72. Egypt, pure strains of cotton in, 70.
unusual weather in, 232. | Egyptian cottons, 60. .
_— _ cotton, varieties produced by muta-
tion, 295.
Eichornia crassipes, 141.
_Elaeis guineensis (oil palm), 55, 123.
94.
Electrical stimulation of crops, 57.
60. Eleusine corocana (ragi), 397.
indica, 106.
|Embargo on importation of green limes
into the United States, 153.
| Empire resources, Imperial Institute’s
| investigations into, 335.
E. England and Wales, agricultural returns
| of, 329.
|—, demand for onions in, 172.
|—, food production campaign in, results
‘Departmental Reports :— Echinus esculentus, 341. i | of,» 199,
Antigua : Report on the Agiicultural | Economy in food consumption, 47. | Enzymes of some tropical plants, 187,
Department, 1917, 74.
Barbados: Report on the Department | Editorials :-— | tas.
of Agriculture, 1916-17, 37. |
* Grenada : Report on the Agricultural
Department, 1917-18, 404. |
Jamaica: Report on the Department!
of Agriculture, 1917-1918, 404.: |
Montserrat: Report on the Agricul-
_ toral Department, 1916-17, 29.
Nigeria; Report on the Agricultural
Department, Northera Provinces, 93.
St. Lucia : Report on the Agricultural
Depastmment, 1917-18, 285.
Seychelles: Annual Report on Agri-
culsure and Crown Lands, 1916, 55. |
Tortola : Reports on the Agricultural |
Department, 1915-16 and 1916-17, |
189.
Development of British Honduras, 11. |
— — the Southern Philippines, 127. |
Devil's’ grass (Cynodon daciyion), 205, |
245.
Diade)phys sp. (manicou), 68.
Diatraca saccharalis (moth borer of sugar- |
cane), 132.
Dichrostathys mutans (marabu), 175. |
Dioscorea batatas (yam), 69, 346. |
Diospyros kaki (persimmon), 139, |
Dipteryx odorata (Kumara or Tonka bean
tree), 547.
Dolichos giganteus, 85. ‘
_- Hosei (Sarawak bean), as a cover
crop, 120, 285. one
_ jiybrids in St. Vincent, 85. 4
— Lablab (bonavist bean), 85, 254, |
— —, Var. mucrocarpa, 8b. ae
a
—-, false and true, 185." _Eperua falcata (wallaba), 347,
| Jenmani ({turi wallaba), 347.
A preventable loss of man-power, 353, | Epidemic of Spanish influenza, 361.
A tropical university in being, 65, Equatorial experiment stations, 399,
Botanic gardens, 81. Eriodendron anfractuosum (silk-cotton),
Commercial Museum at Ottawa, 273. 207, 383.
Compulsory education, 321, Eugenia campestris, 135.
Cotton deterioration, 369. | Dombeyi (‘Grumichama’), 135.
Efficiency in production, 385, 401. — floribunda (guava berry), 135.
Epidemics of plant pests and diseases:|—- Jambos (pomme de rose, or rose
past and present, 113. apple), 135.
Experiment stations, 97. — javanensis (Java plum), 135,
Farmyard and other manures, 33. — klotaschiana (‘Pera do campo’), 135,
Forestry in the West Indies, 209. luschnathiana (‘ Pitomba’), 135,
Influence of reeords on development, — malaccensis (Malacca apple), 135.
305. —— myrcianthes, 135, 4
Need for research in tropical agricul-,— procera (black cherry), 135.
ture, 241. |—- speciosa, 135. -f
Organization of West Indian Agricul- — uniflora (Surinam cherry), 135,
ture, 161. Examinations, agricultural, 61.
Outlook for the sugar industry in the Exchange of useful plants, 139,
smaller West Indian colonies, 1. Exotics, influence of, on native flora, 377
Peace and food scarcity, 17, _ Experiment stations, equatorial, 399. ”
Plant physiology and agriculture, 225, Extension of lime cultivation, 13.
Progress in plant breeding, 193. :
Qualities in cacao desired by manufac-
turers, 129. : Spl
Rats and mongoose in the West Indies, | ‘
337. ead bn 8
Seedling sngar-canes, 289, ~ °
Some applications of research to the Factory, vegetable products, in Britieh
cotton industry, 177. °° Guiana, 167. ~ pO) Maat
The American way, 49.,° Valeo sparverius
The harvests of the sea, 257. ° , hawk), 107. ,
Uniformity in the production of cacao, Fan or toddy- palm (Aorassus fabellt-
145, ‘oak TOES) lisoa eo eeu
loquacula (sparrow
Crore Cen
“
oe | . o3
Hee
42]
Farm tractor, post-war, 167.
Farming in Australia for discharged sol-
diers, 147.
— South Africa, 281.
Feijoa sellowiana (pine-apple guava), 77, |
135.
Fertility, humus content of soil as guide
to, 83.
Fertilizer, cheap, for growing flowers and |
vegetables, 300.
Fertilizers and chemicals’ employed in
agriculture, the world’s production of,
214.
—-, wholesale prices of in{1917, 215, |
Fiji, Johnson grass (Sorghum halipense)
in, 392, 396.
Filtration of cane juices. 724.
Fish, preserving with ut ice, 299.
skins, demand for 58.
— —, tanning of, 168.
— supply of, in Trinidad, 60.
Flacourtia Ramontchi, 189.
sepiaria, 189.
Flora of Bermuda’. 268.
Florida, citrus conditions in, 173.
—, coerulea coerulescens (little blue
heron or gaulding) of, 107.
—, resuscitation of sugar industry in,
140.
‘Flowers, cheap fertilizer for growing, 300,
Flowering on lime estates, relation of, to
crop, 105. ;
Food-borne infections, 103.
Food eonsumption, economy in, 47.
— control committee in Barbados, 24.
— crops, native, campaign in Grenada,
245.
false and true economy in, 185.
hoarding, 167. ;
mammal, a new, 115, 216,
of the West Indies, 50, 68.
production campaign in England and
Wales, results of, 199.
question in Jamaica, 170.
situation in Bermuda, 158.
Dominica, 21.
supply, new sources of, 265,
Trinidad’s, 169.
value of sugar-cane, 324.
— values, meaning of, 69.
Foodstutis in Malaya, 13.
Forage shrubs, perennial, 217.
Forestry in Cyprus, 265.
— Trinidad, 233.
Forests in modern warfare, value of,
281.
Formosa, sugar production in, 300.
Four o'clock (Mirabilis Jalapa), 363:
Fowls, a berry poisonous to, 87. |
Fowls’ rations, benefit of adding fresh|
bullocks’ blood to, 339,
, scaly leg in, treatment for, 297.
French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), 195:
French West Indies, vanilla crop in, 185. |
tylus), 68.
Frost, Henry W. & Uo., 6, 22, 38, 54,
86, 102, 118, 134, 150, 166, 182, 198,
246, 340, 390, 414.
Fruit and vegetables, simple methods of
keeping fresh, 155.
. cabbage palm, as a food for hogs,
171.
—, citrus, of the Philippines, a new,
361.
crops, influence of bees on, 268.
cultivation in Trinidad, 221.
trees, intermittent bearing of, 312.
fruits and vegetables, home drying of,
278, 279.
trees, variability of yield in, 126.
Fucus nodosus, a source of potash, 28,
Funtumia elastica (African rubber)
Trinidad, 22, 23.
Furcraea gigantea (Piteira) , 140.
Fusanus accuminatus, 79.
spicatus, 79.
in
G.
Gacia blanca (Cytisus pallidus), 217.
(Cytisus stenopetalus), 217.
Gambia, exports of ground nuts from, 60.
Gambier, Chinese, or ‘ cunas’, increased
use of, 183.
Garden competitions, value of, 203.
, small vegetable, 222.
—, the home vegetable, 216.
Genetic investigation in the tropics,
material for, 181.
Genip (elicocca bijuga), 139.
Geography, place of in education, 275.
Ginger on the London market, 31, 95,
127, 159, 191, 239, 255, 287, 367, 383.
Girardinus poeciloides (‘millions’), 230,
355.
Glass milk bottle, a pernicious germ
carrier, 124.
Gliricidia maculata, 26.
Goats’ milk, advantages of using, 188,
Goat Society, Barbados, 408.
Golden apple (Spondias dulcis), 207,
Gossypium, does mutation occur in? 148,
barbadenee, 37.
herbaceum, 37.
peruvianum, 332.
Go-ta-ni bean, 342.
Government control of natural indigo,
73.
jranary, Antigua, 85, 393.
— —, St. Lucia, erection of, 108.
Granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis),
221.
Granary, Antigua Government, 85, 393.
108.
NS
(Frog, edible (Zeftodactylus pentadac-|Granaries in Jamaica, 152,
Grape culture in South Africa, 231.
Grasses, Johnson and Sudan, in Bare
bados, 168.
Grass, mud-binding, 41,
—, Sudan, dying out of clumps of, 184,
trees, economic value of, 179.
Gree-gree or Chicken hawk (Buteo antita
larum), 107.
Green heart (Wectrandra Rodioet), 347.
manure crops in Southern California
344.
legumes,
120.
Grenada, agriculture in, 175, 351.
—, items of local interest, 36, 84, 101,
180, 228, 277, 331, 250, 359, 372.
—, native food crops campaign in, 245,
Ground nuts, export from Gambia, 60,
ie provisions, profitable cultivation of,
“Grumichama’ (Zugenia Dombeyi), 135.0
Guadeloupe, cultivation of tomatoes and
asparagus in, 41.
—, vanilla crop of, 405,
Guatemalan sugar industry, 57.
Onete pine-apple (2ijoa sellowiana)
rite
— (Psidium guayava), 135,
Guayule, successful cultivation of, 253,
Guinea fowl (Vumida meteagris), 109,
— grass (Panicum maximum), 186. |
‘Gully root’ (Pettiverta alliacea), 23.
Gum copal (Zrachylobium verrucosum),
5D.
— comparative value of,
EE
Hawaii, average yield per acre of sugars
cane in, 167. :
Hawaiian cane fields, tractors in, 357.
Hawaiian Islands, pine-apple industry
in, 204,
Helianthus doronicoides, 365.
subtuberosus, 365,
scree (Jerusalem artichoke),
Hemp (Canadis sativa), 340.
“aA Zealand (Phormium tenax),
ie
Henequen (Agave fourcroydes), 153.
(Agave rigida, var. elongata), 204
Herb growing, medicinal, 291.
Heron, Cuban green (Busorides virescens
cubanus), 107.
—, or gaulding, little blue (loridg
coerulea coerulescens), 107.
Hevea brasiliensis (Para rubber) in Trin.
idad, 22, 23.
— rubber, papain as a coagulant for,
108.
St, Lucia Government, erection of,| Hibiscus cannabinus (til), 393.
esculentus (okra), 393.
Hipponoe esculenta (sea-egg), 341.
Hog cholera in Barbados, 47.
sources and channels of infec-
tion of, 271.
plum (Spondias dutea), 207
Hogs, cabbage palm frvit as a food for,
Ibe
Hollyhock (A/thea rosea), 393.
Home drying of fruits and vegetables,
278, 279
vegetable yarden, 216.
‘Home-grown corn meal, 46.
Honduras mabogany (Swrefenia macro-
phylla), 283, 285.
Honey industry in the West Indies,
development of, 188.
Jamaica, demand for, 236.
Honey-bee (Apis medlifera). 230.
Hookworm, campaign in Jamaica against,
234.
Horsemint ( Moxarda punctata), 332.
Horse meat, use of in United States, 140.
Hamus content of soil as a guide to
fertility, 83.
Hurricane in the Vayman Islands, 1916-
E17, 297.
season, 246).
Hutson, Dr. J. C., 243
Hutton, J. A., 88.
Hybridization of citrus, 407
Hygiene in primary schools in St. Lucia,
347
‘Hymenaea Courbaril (locust tree), 347.
1
Identification 4::4 description of sugar-
cane varieties, 25.
‘Mex paraguayensis (Yerba rate’, 12]
Imitation coffees, 190.
Imperial Association, Jamaica, 415
Imperial Institute's investigations into |
Empire resources, 335. |
Index to the © Agricultura] News, 88.
India, revival of indigo industry in, 188.
Indian corn industry of St. Vincent, 356.)
Indigo ipdustry, revival of in India, 188, |
—, natural, Government control of, 73.
Indigofera Anil, 121.
Infections, food-borne, 103.
Influenza, ‘Spanish, epidemic of, 36).
Tnher:tance in sugar-cane, studies in, 196, |
Insect-eating birds, protection and pre-|
servation of, 188.
|
Insect Notes :—
Acrobat ant (Cremastogaster hy evt-|
spinosa, vax. minutior), 362. |
Alabama argillacea (cotton worm), |
330, 378.
Aleurocanthus woglumi (spiny citrus
white fly), 186.
ae Notes (Continued): —
422
Aleurodes citri (white fly), 114.
Alucita sacchari (brown borer), 26,
Anastrepha sp. (fruit fly), 379.
Anopheles maculipennis, 233.
Apis mellifica, 74.
rumicis, 74.
Aspidiotus destructor (Bourbon seale),
26, 414.
Balloyia cistipennis, 379.
Bark borer (Lepfostylus praémorsus),
379.
Batocera rubus (longicorn beetle), 379.
Black hard back-borer (Zomarus bitu-
berculatus), 379.
weevil borer of banana (Cosmo-
polites sordidus), 282, 379, 395.
weevil of banana (Sphenophorus
sordidus), 175.
Boll worm (Ch/oridea [Heliothis] odso-
leta), 219.
— (Heliothis armizer), 378, 379.
Bombyx mori (siik-worm), 74.
Bourbon scale (Aspidrotus destructor),
26.
Brown borer (A/ucita sacchari), 26.
— hard back (Phytalus smithr), 58,
250
Bucculatrix thurberiella (cotton leaf
perforator), 330.
Bush bug (Wezara viridula), 378, 379.
Cacao beetle (.S/e/rastoma depressum),
ioe
thrips (/leliothrips rubrocinctus),
378.
Cane fly (Delphax saccharivora), 58,
378.
Cat flea (Ctenocephalus felis), 122.
Ceratitis capitata (fruit fly), 26.
Ceratophyllus fasciatus (Kuropean
flea), 122,
Chigoe flea or ‘ jigger’ (Dermatophilus
penetrans), 123.
Chionaspis citri (snow sca'e), 252.
Chloridea | Heliothis} Shsolsta\ (boll
worm), 219,
Coccus longulus, 26.
viridis, 26, 282, 379.
Coffee leaf {miner (Lexcoptera | Cemios-
toma coffeelia), 26.
Oolaspis brunnea (grape leaf beetle),
330
fastidiosa, 330.
Contarinia gossyppi (cotton flower-bud
maggot), 189, 378.
Control of corn eaterpillars, 219.
Joptotermes marabitanus (termites- or
white ants), 58
Corn ear worm( Laphygmea frugiperda),
218, 219, 378, 379.
leaf beetle (AZyochrous armatus),
330.
Corythaica monacha (egg-plant lace-
bug), 314.
rat
Insect Notes (Continued -)—
Cosmopolites sordidus (black weevil
borer), 282 379, 395.
Cotton boll worm (/ediothi's obsoleta),
330.
flower-bud maggot
gossypit), 189.
insects in Arizona, 330.
leaf perforator (Bucculatix thur-
beriella). 330,
—- Stainer (Disdereus albidiventris),
330.
(Contarinia
ee ( — andreae), 21.
— ( — delauneyi), 394,
— stainers ( — spp.), 26, 238.
— -— cortrol in St. Vincenr, 266,
worm (4/abama argillacea)
~ 378.
Cremestogaster brevispinosa, var
utior (acrobat ant), 362.
Ctenocephalus canis (dog flea), 122,
felis (cat flea), 122.
Culex pipiens, 389.
Cylas femoralis, 346.
formicarius, 42, 346.
Cylas Spp- (sweet potato weevil), 69,
turcipennis, 346.
Delphax saccharivora (cane fly) 58.
a a penetrans (chigoe flea
‘jigger’), 123.
Dismenes abbreviatus (root borer), 58,
282.
Diatraea saccharalis (sugar-cane moth
borer), 26, 27, 58, 219, 378.
seochariphage (spotted borer. of
sugar-cane), 26.
Dox flea ( Clenocephalus canis),
Dynastid beetle
culatus), 282.
Dysdercus albidiventris (cotton stain-
er), 330.
andreae (cotton stainer), 21.
delauneyi (cotton stainer), 394,
— spp. (cotton stainers), 26, 131, 238,
Echidnophaga gallinaceus (stiek- -tight
or chicken flea), 123.
Edessa meditabunda (green bug’, 238,
Eel-worm (7 ylenchus similis), 206.
Egg-plant lace-bug (Corpthaica mon
atcha), 314.
19) ntomology i in relation. to disease, by.
giene, and sanitation, 234.
Eriophyes gossypii (leaf. blister mite),
378.
European rat flea (Ceratophyllus fas
cialus) 122.
Euscepes batatae (scarabee), 346, 379,
Eutermes haitiensis (termites or white
ants) 58.
Exochomus_nitidulus
lady bird), 283,
Exophthalmus esuriens, 378, 379.
Feeding habits of the parasites of
hard back grubs, 250,
330,
. in-
192,
(Zomarus bituber-
(bluish green
Insect Notes (Continued) -—
425
Fish as mosquito control, 388,
Fleas and their control, 122, 138.
Flower-bud maggot (Contarinia gOs-
sypput ), 378.
Food-plants of the pink boll worm,
393.
Franklinothrips vespiformis (thrips),
379,
ee (Monecphora bicincta),
186
(Zomaspis sacchav ina), 378.
Fruit fly (Axastrepha sp.), 359.
(Ceratitis capitata), 26.
Gelechia gossypiella (pink boll worm)
at Barbados, 376.
Grape leaf beetle (Co/uspis brunnea),
330.
Grapholita schistaceana (white borer),
26.
Grasshopper (J/elanoplus differential. |
is), 330.
Grasslooper ( Remigia repanda), 378. |
Green bug (Edessa meditabundd), 238
(Nezara viridula), 238.
scale (Coccus viridis), 252.
Hard back grubs (Zachnosterna sp.-),
378.
Heliothis armiger (boll worm), 378,
379.
Heliothrips rubrocinctus (cacao thrips),
378.
Hop aphis (Phoradon humulr), 74.
Human flea (Pulex irritans), 122.
Hyphantria cunea (web worm), 74.
Hypipyla grandella, 283, 379.
hes rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopts),
12
Tae notes from Porto Rico, 314.
pests in Barbados in 1916- 17, 58.
— St. Lucia, 282.
the West Indies in 1917,
378.
— Uganda, 26.
Ischnaspis longirostis, 26-
Jack Spaniards (Polistes annularis),
279, 410.
‘ Jacobs’ or
tatae), 379.
Lachnosterna sp.
329, 378.
Laphygma frugiperda (corn ear worm),
218, 219, 378, 379.
Leaf-blister mite (Zviophyes gossyvpi?), |
378.
Leaf-eating caterpillar (/rofoparce cin-|
gulata), 379.
Lepidosaphes beckii (purple scale),
282, 314. |
citricola, 26.
gloveri, 26.
Leptinotarsa decemlineata
beetle), 74.
Leptostylus praemorsus (bark Rarer
379.
scarabee (Luscepes ba-
(brown hard back),
(potato |
Insect Notes (Continued):—
Leucoptera {Cemiostoma | coffeella (cof-
fee leaf-miner), 26.
Longicorn beetle (Batocera rubus),
379.
Lygus elisus var, hesperus, 330.
pratensis oblineatus, 330.
Mealy-bug (Pseudococcus calceolariae),
58.
— — ( — citri), 20.
= Sy | — nipae), 379.
—- — ( _ Sacchart), 58.
Melanoplus differentialis (grasshopper),
330.
Metamasius sericeus (striped weevil
borer), 282, 287, 378
Mexican boll weevil in the United
States, spread of. 298.
Mosquito control, 388.
Moth borer (Diatrace saccharalis),
38, 132, 219, 378. |
Myochrons armatus (corn ieaf beetle), |
330.
longulus, 330.
Neocyphus (Germariella) pudens, 283.
Nezara viridula (green bug), 238, 378,
379.
Orange butterfly (Paprlio demodocus),
26
a0.
Oxycaraenus spp. 26.
Oryctes tarandus (root-feeding grub),
250:
Palaeopus costicollis 546.
dioscoreae (yam weevil), 346.
grenadensis, 346.
snbgranulatus, 346.
Papilio anchisiades, 26.
— andraemon, 26.
demodocus (orange
26.
thoas, 26.
Phorodon humuli (hop aphis),
Phylloxera vastatrix, 113.
Phytalus smithi (brown hard back.,
58, 250.
Pink boll worm ( Gedechia Se ae
at Barbados, 376.
— borer (Sesamia-vuteria) 26.
butterfly),
Polistes annularis (Jack Spaniards), |
279, 410.
crinitus, 279.
Potato beetle ( Leptinotarsa
lineata), 74.
Prodenia sp., 205, 407.
Production of light in certain animals, |
10.
Protoparce cingulata (leaf-eating cater-
pillar), 379.
Pseudococcus calceolariae, (mealy-bug),
58.
citri (mealy-bug), Fi
nipae (mealy-bug), 379.
sacchari (mealy-bug),
virgatus, 26.
Pulex irritans (human flea), 122.
decem-
137.
58,
Insect Notes (Continued): —
Purple scale (Zepidosaphes beckit), 282
314.
Pyrophorus luminosus, 10.
noctilucus, 10.
Quassia extract as a contact insecti-
cide, 74.
Red spider ( Zetranyehus telarius), 90,
410.
Remigia repanda (grasslooper), 378,
Report on cacao thrips (eliothrips
rubrocinctus) in Grenada in 1917,
362.
Rhagoletis pomonella, 74.
Rhinoceros beetle (Stvazegus sp.), 286.
Root borer (Diaprepes abbreviatus), 58,
Root-feeding grub (Orveles tarandus),
250.
Saissetia hemisphaerica, 26.
— nigra, 26
Sarcoptes mutans, 297.
Seale-feeding habits of
millipedes, 314.
Sca'e insects and their control, 314.
Scarabee (Zuscepes batatae), 58, 346,
Scapteriscus didactylus, 106,
— vicinus (West Indian mole cricket
or thanga), 106,
Schistocerca paranensis, 202.
Selenaspidus articulatus, 26.
Sesamia vuteria (pink borer), 26
Silk worm (Zombyx mort), 74.
Slug or * palute’ (Veronscel/a oacciden-
tadis), 379.
Snow seale (Chioxaspis citri), 282.
Some insect pests of Cuba, 186.
South American locusts in
Guiana, 202.
Sphenopherus sordidus (black weevil
of banana), 175.
Spiny citrus white fly (4/eurocanthus
qwogdume,) 186
Spotted borer of sugar cane (intraca
sacchariphaga), 26.-
Starch, instead of lime, with arseni-
cals, 218:
Steirastoma depressum (cacao beetle),
379.
Stenocranns (Velphax) saccharivorus
(cane. fly), 378.
Stick-tight flea or chicken flea (2cA/d-
nophaga ga/linaceus) 123.
Strategus sp. (rhinoceros beetle), 286,
Striped weevil borer (e/amasius ser/-
ceus), 282.
Sugar-caue borer (/aprepes abbrevt-
atts, vars, punctatus), 282.
mealy-bug (Pseudococcus sacthart),
. 187.
moth. borer
alis), 26, 27.
Summary of entomological information
during 1918, 394, 410.
Sweet potato weevil (Cv/as formica-
rius), 42, 69, 346._
Perto Rice
Sritish
(Diatraea sacchar-
Wnsect Notes (Concluded):—
Termite injury to sweet
336.
Termites or white ants (Cuffofermies
marabitanus), 48.
— — (L£utermes haitiensts),
potatoes,
58.
Tetranychus bimaculatus, 90.
gloveri, 90-
telarius (red spider),
410.
Thrips arizonensis, 330.
— (Franklinothrips vespiformis), 379.
Tomarus bituberculatus (Dynastid bee-
tle), 282, 379.
Tomaspis saccharina (froghopper), 378.
Toxoptera coffeae, 26.
Tylenchus similis (eel-worm), 206.
Value of zoology to human welfare,
154, 170.
Veronicella occidentalis (slug or ‘ pa-
lute’), 379.
Web-worm (Ayphantria cunea), 74.
Weevils attacking sweet potato and
yam, 346.
Weevil borer of sugar-cane (J/efama-
sius sericeus), 287, 378. =
West Indian mole cricket or changa
(Scapteriscus vicinus), 106, 122.
White borer (Grapholita schistaceana),
26.
— fiy (Aleurodes citri), 114.
Xenopsylla cheopis (Indian rat flea),
122.
58, 90,
Insect Parasites and Predators :—
Anagrus flavescens, 58.
Bluish green lady-bird (Zxochomus ni-
tidulus), 283.
Calosoma alternans (Carabid beetle),
107.
Campsomeris dorsata, 252.
Carabid beetle (Calosoma alternans ),
107.
Centipede (Scolopendra alternans),
107.
Chilocorus cacti (lady-bird beetle),
186,
Chrysopa sp. (lacewing flies), 58.
Elaterid beetle °(Pyrophorus lumr-)
nosus), 107.
Lacewing flies (Chrysopa sp.) 58,
Ladybird beetie (Chilocorus cacti),
186,
Pyrophorus luminosus (elaterid bee-
tle), 107.
Rhincricus arboreus, 314.
Sarcophaga helicis, 330.
Scolia oryctophaga, 250.
Scoliid wasp (Ziphia paradlela), 250.
Scolopendra (alternans centipede),]
107.
Typhia parallela (Scoliid wasp), 250,
410,
Insect pests, introduction‘of, to be avoided,
56.
?
,
’
’
Kapok,
Kei-apple (Averia Caffra), 111.
Kitool palm (Carvyota urens), 44.
Kokerit palm (A/aximiliana regia), 263.
Kola on the London market, 31, 95, 127,
Insoot Posts 1— =
Alabama argillacea (cotton caterpillar),
58.
Cotton caterpillars (Aletia luridula), |
58.
Eriophyes gossypii (leaf-blister mite),
58.
Euscepes batatae (scarabee), 58, 69.
Leaf-blister mite (Z77ophves gossypit), |
58.
Leaf-hopper (Pevegrinus maidis), 58. |
Monecphora bicincta (froghopper), 186.
Peregrinus maidis (leaf-hopper), 58.
Porricondyla gossypii (red maggot), |
58.
Red spider ( Zé¢ranyvchus telarius), 58.
Insecticide, an efficient, quick, and safe,
217.
Ipomcea batatas (sweet potato), 42, 69.
sp- (morning glory), 42, 172.
Italian millet (Se¢uzia 7talica), 397.
Ituri Wallaba (Zferwa Jenmani), 347.
J.
Jaboticaba (ALyciaria cauliflora), 135.
Jamaica,
agricultural development in,
355.
agricultural resources of, 142.
agriculture in, 36.
banana bread in, 171.
food qnestion in, 170.
—, granaries in, 152.
honey, demand for, 236.
—, hookworm in, campaign against,
234.
Jamaica Imperial Association, 168, 200,
415,
— oil of orange, 141.
— quassia (Aeschrion [ Picrasma] ex-
celsa), 74.
—, school gardens in, 5.
Java plum (Zugenia javanensis), 135.
Jerusalem artichoke (//e/ianthus tubero-
sus), 365, 204.
— —,_ hints for cooking, 363.
‘John Bull’,‘ Mahoe’ or ‘gamboge”( 77%es-
pesta popuinea), 393.
Johnson and Sudan grasses at Barbados,
168.
grass (Sorghum halepense), 392, 396.
Jujube (Zizyphus jujuba), 139.
‘ Jumbee bead’ ( Adrus precatorius ), 139,
K.
383.
159, 191, 239, 367, 383.
Kumara or Tonka bean tree (Dipfer'yx
odorata), 347.
L.
Laminaria digitata, 382.
—- saecharina, 382.
— stenophylla, 382.
Lawns, best fertilizer for, 284.
Lead, use of, for stimulating growth in
plants, 279.
Lecythis Zabucajo (Sapucaya nut), 221.
Legumes as green manure, comparative
value of, 120.
Leguminous plants, studies of, 254.
Length-sorting machine for cotton fibres,
182.
Leptodactylus
frog), 68.
pentadactylus
Lier, Norway, new deposit of molyb-
denum discovered at, 284.
Light, effect of in healing tree wounds,
105.
— wood, demand for, 206.
Lima beans, 215.
Lime cultivation, extension of, 13.
— estates, relation of flowering to crop
on, 105.
— factory, British Guiana Governe
ment, 245.
200.
— juice on the London market, 127,.
239, 255, 287.
255.
Limes, green, embargo on importation.
into the United States of, 153 .
Live stock, plants poisonous to, 23.
Livistona chinensis, 300.
Locust tree \(/Zymenaea Courbaril), 347;
Lodoicea Sechellarum (coco-de-mer), 11,
Love-in-a-mist (Passiflora fwvtida), 92,
Love vine (Cuscuta americana), 52.
Lucaena glauca (wild tamarind),
270, 271.
Lupinus angustifolius
lupine), 191.
M.
McConnel, J. W., 70.
Mace on the London market,
159, 287, 383.
‘ Madre del cacao’ (G/iricidia macu/ata),
55.
Mahogany (Swie/enia mahagont), 283,
Maize, white, 59,
Malacca apple (Lugenia
135,
Malaria and mosquitoes, 43.
—, progress in combating, 72.
Malay Peninsula, rubber cultivation in,
_ 188,
Malaya, cereal crops in, 397.
—, foodstuffs in, 13.
Malins-Smith, W. M., 235.
Mammal, food, a new, 115,
Mammea americana (mammee), 12%.
(edible
industry in Dominica, situation of,
oil on the London market, 31, 159,
191,
(narrow-leaved
31, 95,,
malaccensis),
—
425
Manatee (Zrichechus inunguts), 115.
( latirostris), 115.
senegalensis), 115.
grass (Cymodocea manatorum), 115
Mango, cross-pollination of, 9.
Manicou (Diadlshys sp.), 68.
Manure, comparative value of sea-weed
as, 140,
Manures, mixing and preservation of
249.
Maple sugar production
172.
Marabu (Dichrostachys nutans), 175.
Margarine industry in United Kingdom,
expansion of, 296.
Marine biology of the West Indies, 156.
fibre, 252.
products in the Bahamas, 19. .
Market Reports, 16, 32, 48, 64, 80, 96,
112, 128, 144, 160, 176, 192, 208,
224, 240, 256, 272, 288, 320, 336,
352, 368, 384, 400, 416
Mat industry in Trinidad, 60.
Mauritius, co-operative credit societies
in, 243.
Maximiliana regia (Kokerit palm), 263.
Meal, banana, how to prepare, 73.
—, shortage of, 15.
Meat, curing, in hot weather, 307.
—, sugar as a preservative for, 201.
Megass, manufacture of paper from,
159.
Melicocea bijuga (genip), 139.
Mendelian terms, explanation of some,
189.
Mesquite (Prosopis judiflora), 330.
* Miaray ’ (Citrus miaray), 361.
Milk, goat's, advantage of using, 188.
, sanitary production of, 293.
Millions’ (Grrardinus poectloides), 230,
355.
Mills, small sugar-cane, 227-
Mimosa pudica, 121.
in Canada,
Mimusops globosa (bullet tree), 323,
347.
Mineral oil resources in the British
Empire, 103.
Ministry of munitions and agricultural
machinery, 8.
Minor crops on coco-nut plantations,
349.
Mirabilis Jalapa, (four o'clock), 563.
Molasses, acetate of lime manufactured
from, 284.
solidified, 92.
Molybdenum, new deposit discovered at
Lier, Norway, 284.
Monarda punétata (horse mint), 332.
—_——$— $<
ee
Mongoose not in Tobago : a correction, |
392.
Montreal Commercial and Industrial
Museum, 392.
Montserrat, experiments with Bengal
beans in, 35. © \%'
yy
Montserrat, items of local interest, 20, 52, |
101, 119, 157, 205, 228, 262, 331, |
Ochroma lagopus (bois flot or cork wood),
350,,372, 407.
Morning glory (Zpomea sp.),*42, 172.
Mosquito control, 374.
Mosqaitoes and malaria, 43. |
Motor car propelled by hydrogen, 172.
‘Mountain John Bull’ or ‘ Mahoe Co-
chon’ (Stercudia caribaea), 266.
Mucuna aterrima, 35.
Lyoni, 35.
nivea, 35.
Mud-binding grass, 41.
Mules, 91.
Muscovy duck, 299.
Museum, Montreal Commercial and In-
dustrial, 392.
Mutation in gossypium, 148.
Myrciaria cauliflora (Jaboticaba), 135,
Myrtus citrifolia (Bay tree), 235.
N.
Narrow-leaved lupine (Zufinus angustt-
folius), 191.
Nasturtiums ( Zropacolum ees |)
_s ( — minus) Ve
— ( — tuberosum) | :
Natal, manufacture of industrial aleohol
in, 268.
National Physical Laboratory, 169.
Native flora, influence of exotics on, 377.
Nectrandra Rodioei (greenheart), 347.
Nevis, items of local interest, 6, 21, 52,!
101, 134, 165, 205, 251, 262, 311,
351, 372, 407.
New Zealand hemp (Pormium tenax),
367.
Nipa fruticans (Nipa palm), 133.
Nitrate of soda, the world’s jproduction
of, 214.
Nitrogen-fixing organisms of the soil,
stimulating influence of arsenic upon,
24.
North Borneo, rubber in, 295.
North India, testing new cane seedlings
in, 201.
159, 287.
Nuts, palm, device to crack, 137.
Nutshells and fruit stones, use of in war,
329.
Nyasaland, tea industry in, 140.
Nymphaea ampla (water-lily), 230.
hybrida (water-lily), 231.
Lotus (water-lily), 230.
—, var.’ dentata (water-lily), 231.
tuberosa (water-lily), 230. ‘
zanzibarensis, var. rosea (water-lily),
230, 231, ;
“
Numida meleagris (Guinea fowl), 109. —
Nutmegs on the London market, 95, | —
O.
205, 206, 257, 266.
Ocimum basilicum (pot basil), 117.
viride, 117.
Oenocarpus bacaba (Turn palm), 263, —
Oenothera Lamarckiana, 149. ;
Offal manure and dried blood, use of, 94.
Oil, avocado pears as source of, 102,
, castor, demand for, 155.
, cohune nut, 276.
industry of Trinidad, 56, 191.
of orange, Jamaica, 141.
palm (Zvaets guineensis), 55, 123,
316.
palms, native, of British Guiana,
263.
resources,
Empire, 103.
—, vegetable, 123.
+ —, @ new source of, 302,
—, wood or candle nut, 137.
Okra (Adelmoschus esculentus), 191.9
(Hibiscus esculentus), 393.
Okras, preserving by drying, 278.
Olona (Zouchardia J/atifolia), 340.
Onions, demand for, in England, 172.
in Dominica, 169, 344.
Orange (Citrus Aurantium\, 313.
wine, 358.
—, manufacture of in the West
Indies, 328.
Ordinances relating to cotton, 391.
Ore, radio-active, influence on plants,
105.
Oreodoxa charibaea, 237.
oleracea (cabbage palm), 172; 237,
regia (cabbage palm), 120, 237.
Organization of plant sanitation in Cuba,
174,
Oxford, agriculture at, 265.
_
mineral, in the British
Pp.
Pacaya or salad palm, 120,
Pachira aquatica (Tobago bread-nut tree),.
205, 228.
Palm fibre, 300.
nuts, device to crack, 137,
wax, a new, from Colombia, 63.
Palms as a commercial source of sugar,
133.
Panama or Parana grass (Fanicum —
numidianum), 186.
‘| Panicum divaricatissimum, 37.
— maximum (Guinea grass), 186.
numidianum (Parana or Panama
grass), 186, ;
Papain as a coagulant for Hevea rubber,
108; 4
Papaver rhoeas (poppy), 301.
Paper, making, from sawdust, 332.
Paper manufacture from megass, 159.
mulberry (Aroussonettia papyrt-
fera), 340.
Para rubber (Hevea
Trinidad, 22, 23.
seed, commercial possibilities
of, 229.
Parana, or Panama grass (Panicum
numidianum), 186.
Paranaph, 217.
Parthenium argentatum, 253.
Hysterophorus, 253.
Paspalum sp., 106.
Passiflora edulis, 75, 221.
{cetida (Love-in-a-mist', 92.
laurifolia (water lemon or
apple), 221.
maliformis, 221.
quadrangularis (gravadilla), 221.
Peace within sigit, 360.
Peanut crop in the United States, 136.
Pennisetum typhoideum (bulrush millet),
397.
Pepper, black, production of, 159.
* Pera do campo’ | Lugenia Klotzschiana),
135.
Persimmon (Diospyros kaki), 139.
Petiveria alliacea (‘ gully root’), 23.
brasiltensts) im
—
Es bell
Phaseolus lunatus, 215.
— — as a cover crop in the Philip- |
pines, 92.
mungo radiatus (woolly pyrol), 255.
semierectus, 121.
_ Spp-, 90.
vulgaris (French bean), 195, 215,
Philippines, a new citrus fruit of the, 361.
—, tannias in, experiments with, 87.
Phenix sylvestris (date palm). 133. |
Phormium tenax (New Zealand hemp),
367.
Phosphates, natural, the world’s produc-
tion of, 214.
Phytelephas macrocarpa, 116.
Pigeon pea (Cajanus indicus),
181, 238, 332
Pigs and soil grubs, 328.
—, feeding velvet beans to, 32),
Pimenta acris (Bay tree), 235.
—, var. citrifolia (Bay tree), 235,
Pimento on the London market, 31, 95,
159, 239, 287, 367, 383.
Pine-apple gnava (/éjoa Sellowiana),
77, 135.
— industry in the Hawaiian)
Islands, 204
Pink boll worm, machines for treating |
cotton seed against, 40.
* Pintose’, 188.
Pinus canariensis (Canary pine) 46, 47
Pitcira ( Furcraea gigantea), 140.
Pit} ecolobium Saman (Saman tree), 46,
79.
— Ungvis-cati (bread and-cheese), 29,
46,
173,
| ‘Pitomba’ (Zugenta luschnathiana), 135, | Plant
Plant activity, influence of sun spots on, |
409.
Plant Diseas:s and Fungus Notes:—
Abnormal wa‘er relations in citrus
trees, 62,
Algal disease (red rust) of cacao, 190.
Angular leaf spot (Bactertwm malva-
cearum), 254.
Aspergillus flavus (brown or yellow
mould). 318.
niger (black mould), 318.
Bacterium citrarefaciens, 110.
lachrymans, 254.
malvacearum (angular leaf spot),
30, 254.
solanacearum, 366.
Black mould (Aspergillus niger), 313.
Blossom-end-rot, 4, 5.
Borassus flabelliformis, 287.
Brown or yellow mould (Asfergid/us |
flwus), 318.
Cacao canker, control in Java, 78.
Canker fungus (/4ytophthora fabert),
78
Cephaleuros mycoidea, 190.
virescens, 190
Cephalosporium sacchari, 7S.
Cercospora coffeicola, 30
vaginae (red spot fungus). 78.
Chesnut bark disease (Audothia para-
sitica), 114.
Citrus blast, 110.
capker (Pseudomonas ciiri), 361
scab in Porto Rieo, 62.
Coco-nut bud-rot, 302. |
Coffee-leaf disease (Heme/eia
tatrix), 113.
Colletotrichum coffeanum, 30. |
falcatum (red-rot disease of sugar- |
cane, 78, 114, 158.
theobromicolnm, 30
Corn smut ( Us//ago Zeae), 270.
Diseases of coco-nuts in Jamaica, 286.
—- coco-nut palms in Grenada, |
114. |
Dissemination of parasitic fungi, 14. |
Kel-worm disease (blackhead) of bana-
nas, 206
Endothia parasitica (chestnut bark
disease), 114.
Fomes lueidus as a parasite of trees,
46.
Fusarium eubense, 366.
lini. 270.
Grey mould of ‘castor beans, 334,
Green mould (l'enicillium glancum),
318. |
Himantia stellifera, 158.
Infection of orange fruit through bug
punctures, 142.
Internal disease. of cotton bolls in the
West Indies, 238.
Laodiplodia sitheobromae, 30.
vas |
Diseases and Fungus Notes
(Continued ):—
Leptosphaeria sacchari (ring spot),
222
Marasmius sacchari (root fungus), 78,
158, 222.
Market disease of citrus fruits, 254.
Melanconinm sacchari, 158.
Mottling disease of cane in Porto Rico,
110.
Moulds occurring on copra and ecoco-
nut meat, 318.
Mycvidea parasitica, 190,
Nematospora sp., 142.
Neceosmospora, 131.
New coffee disease in Surinam, 32.
Odontia sacchari, 158.
saccharicola, 158. ‘
Optimum moisture conditions for youn
Jemon trees on a loam soil, 63.
Panama disease of bananas in Cuba,
366.
Be glaucum (green mould),
318.
eee faberi (canker fungus),
8.
on Hevea, 23.
sp-, 286
Pine appl» disease ( Zhielaviopsis para-
doxa), 78.
—tfungus ( ), 286,
Bae diseases in Barbados, 1916-17,
8.
British Guiana, 222.
Uganda, 30.
quarantine, 334.
Polyporus lucidus, 46.
Powdery mildew of roses, 254, 300,
Protecting citrus fruits against rote
in transit, 94.
Pseudomonas citri (citrus canker), 361,
tumefaciens, 366.
Pythium palmivorum, 287.
sp., 78.
Red rot \ Colletotrichum falcatum), 78
114.
spot fungus ( Cercospora vaginae)
78.
Resistance and susceptibility, 270.
Rhizoctonia sp., 78.
Rhizopus Penicillium, 366,
species (white mould), 318.
ng ie (Leptosphaeria sacchart),
“
Root disease of coco-nut palms in
Grenada, Mycologist’s Report, 398,
fungus (MWarasmius sacchart),
(78 158, 222.
Scheme of classification for parasitic
plant diseases, 366.
Seed treatment and angular leaf-spot,
254.
Smut disease of corn, 30.
Sporotrichum globuliferum, 394.
cant han lala
/ —, the living, and botany, 9.
ees. poisonous to stock, 23, 411.
‘ Posidonia australis, 252.
: Potato butter, 137.
427
Plant Diseases and Fungus Notes|Preparation of castor oil, 260.
(Concluded): — Preservation of vegetables by fermen-
Sugar-cane diseases in the West Indies,! tation and salting, 125.
158. Preserving fish without ice, 299.
Thielaviopsis paradoxa (pine-apple dis-|Prices, whoiesale, for fertilizers in 1917,
ease), 78, 286. 215.
Tricosphaeria sacchari, 158. Prickly pear sap, use of in arsenical
Ustilago Zeae (corn smut), 50, 270.) sprays, 195. Sh
White mould (Rhzzopus ep.), 318. Primary education in British Guiana,
Wood rot of citrus trees in Porto} 219.
Rico, 62. — schools of St. Lucia, hygiene in,
Plant, growing, effect of one, on another,| 347. j
301. Prince Bonaparte’s collection of ferns,
— sanitation in Cuba, organization) 361.
of, 174. Products, new, from South Africa, 249.
|Properties of cork wood, 357-
—, — sweetest known, 213. 'Prosopis juliflora (mesquite), 75, 330.
Plants, capillary watering of, 121. ‘Protium heptaphyllum, 347. ee
—, effects of ultra-violet rays on, 237. | Provisions, ground, profitable cultivation
—. influence of radio-active ore on, 105.| of, 232 ;
— leguminous, studies of, 254. Psidium guayava (guava), 135.
Psychotria ipecacuanha, 76.
|Pusa wheats, 248.
>
—, tropical, enzymes of some, 187.
—, useful, exchange of, 139.
—, use of lead for stimulating growth Q
ins 29. : . 2
Pluchea sericea (arrow weed), 330. \Quassia amara (Surinam uassia), 74.
Plukenetia conophora, a new oil plant, |Queensland, sorghum tests in, 63.
108. —, sorghums in, !47.
i akee, 159. — sponges, 41
as of coco-nut flowers, 40. Quiscalus fortirostris (Barbados blackbird
Pomme de rose or rose apple (Zugenza| or ‘Bequia sweet’), 205.
Jambos), 135. \ il aes (blackbir’?), 283.
€Pop corm’ (72a wa) 5s, var. everta), 413.
Poppy (P2paver rhoeas), 301. R.
Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Sta- ‘
tion, 259. |Ragi (Zfeusine coracana), 397.
|Rainbird or pitirre domini-
censis), 107.
bat guanos of, 333. (Tyranus
— — College of; Agriculture and
Mechanical Arts, 261.
Rainfall in Dominica in 1917, 72.
— —, earthquake in, 393.
Raisin-producing countries of the world,
— —, white sugar manufacture in,| 412.
28. Rajania pleionura, 65. 4
|Rats as carriers of swine fever, 5.
Post-war farm tractor, 167- —, cement as poison for, 396.
Potash, American, 107. ines |Rays, ultra-violet, effects of on plants,
, Fucus nodosus, a source of, 265. 237. ; P
— obtained from sea-weeds, 300. ~ Recipe for making corn bread, 124.
salts, the world’s production of, 214. preparation of coco-nut press
sunflower sceds a source of, 268. cake for human food, 349.
Red cedar (Cedre/a odorata), 211.
Potatoes, effect of flowering on develop- |Research in wheat growing, Ae
ment of tubers, 268. _ |= work and applied science, 72. F
—, sweet, and other vegetables, storing |Resources, agricultural, of Jamaica, 142
of 107. —, economic, of St. Lucia, 104.
f behaviour of in the ground, |Rhodesia, tapioca starch from, 57.
a
— 4
107 Rice cultivation in British Guiana, 308
Pot basil (Ocimum basilicum), 117. — industry, British Guiana, in 1917
156-
ltry feeding places, 29. iy ok
oe Tice and fies remedy for, 44. — __ of British Guiana, 60.
Power alcohol, 259, 351. ia production in tha United States,
— —, production of in Australia,| 60. '
ro ‘gals for, 203. Ricinus communis (castor oil), 139, 181.
Pe cupply, electric, 255. — Gibsoni, 100, 403.
—
in, 220.
Sapodilla (Achras Sapota’, 249.
¥ |
at
ew ees
~~
| Robotham, J. A., 243.
| Royal Agricultural and Commercial
| Society, British Guiana, 292.
| —palm (Orveodoxa regia, 237.
Rubber, African (untumia elastica), in
Trinidad, 22, 23.
|—, Central American (Castilloa elas-
tica),in Trinidad, 22, 23.
— ultivation in the Malay Peninsula,
188.
— — Trinidad. 22.
—, Hevea, papain as a coagulant for,
108.
~- in North Borneo, 295.
—, Para (Hevea brasiliensis), in Trini-
dad, 22, 23.
— seed, Para, commercial possibilities
of, 229.
— substitutes, 233.
—, the world’s total output of, 220,
Ss.
St. Kitts, items of local interest, 21, 52,
84, 134, 157, 180, 229, 262, 294,
350, 372, 407.
St. Lucia, economic resources of, '104,
Government granary in, 108.
— —, items of local interest, 36, 52,
84, 134, 205, 228, 277, 311, 350,
372, 406.
— —, primary schools of, hygiene in,
347.
St. Vincent, control of cotton stainers in,
220.
— —, cotton and corn in, co-opera-
tive purchase of, 231.
local prices of, 198.
Dolichos hybrids in, 85.
Indian corn industry of, 356.
— —, items of local interest, 20,
2, 84, 134, 165, 205, 228, 277, 294,
50, 372.
|— -—, tomato breeding in, 4.
— —, water-lilies in, 230.
. palm, or ‘pacaya’, 120.
es)
2
0
Saman tree (/%thecolobium Siman), 46,
Sandalwood, 79.
Santalam album, 79.
Santo Domingo, agriculture in, 73.
— —, cultivation of castor oi! plant
Sapucaya nut (Lecythis Zabuccjo), 22),
Sarawak bean (Dodichos FHfoset), as, a
cover crop, 120.
|Sarsaparilla on the London market, 31,
95, 127, 159. 191, 239. 255, 257,
| 367, 383.
Sawdust, making paper from, 332.
Scaly leg in fowls, treatment for, 297:
School gardens in Jamaica, 5,
| Science, application of, to agricultnre, 6-
‘Scientific research in agriculture, 303,
——
428
Scirpus Jacnstris, (tule plant), 127.
Sea-egg (//ipponve esculenta), 341.
Sea eggs as food, 341.
‘Sea Island cotton, area under cultivation
in Barbados, 39.
market, 6, 22, 38, 54, 86,
102, 118, 134, 150, 166, 182, 198,
246, 340, 390, 414.
Sea-weed as a manure, comparative value
of, 140.
substitute for cotton, 216.
Sea-weeds, potash obtained from, 300.
Sedum spectabile, 117.
*Seed, Para rubber, commercial possi-
bilities of, 229.
—, pedigreed, 195,
Seeds, new, breeding, 335.
Selaginella lepidophylla, 117.
Setaria italica (Italian millet), 397.
Shortage of meal, 15.
Shrubs, perennial forage, 217.
*Shushumber’ (So/anwm mammosum),
267.
Sida accuminata, 228.
Siguana (Ameiva exu/), 107.
Silk-cotton (/riodendron anfractuosum),
207, 383.
-Simaruba amara, 74.
versicolor, 7+.
Sisal (Agave sisalana), 153, 204.
cultivation in Antigua, 153,
East Africa, 238.
hemp (Agave szsalana), 8.
Skins, fish, demand for, 59.
. , tanning of, 168.
Soil grubs and pigs, 528.
—, humus content of, as guide to)
fertility, 83.
—, nitrogen-fixing organisms of, stimu-
lating influence of arsenic upon, 24.
Soils, tropical, 147.
Solanum igneum (canker berry), 187.
mammosum (‘shushumber’), 267.
melongena (egg-plant or melongéne),
187, 267, 314.
seaforthianum, 187.
torvum (‘bellangere batarde’) 41,
267, 314.
Soldiers, discharged, farming in Australia’
for, 147. |
Sorghum halepense (Johnson grass), 186, |
392, 396. |
tests in (Jueensland, 63.
‘Sorghnms in Queensland, 147.
Souari or butternut tree (Caryocar
tomentosum), 347.
Source of thymol, a possible new, 117.
Sources of supply for various sugars, |
116,
South Africa, buchu cultivation in, 312.
—, cotton production in, prospects
—of, 198.
farming in, 281.
, grape culture in, 231.
, hew products from, 249.
Southern California, green manure crops
in, 344.
Philippines, development of, 127.
Spanish Astragalus (AstragaZus doevicus),
191.
influenza, epidemic of, 361.
Sparrow hawk (Falco sparverius logua-
cula), 107. ;
Spartina stricta, 41.
Townsendii, 41.
Spergula arcensis, 301.
Spigelia anthelmia (‘worm weed’, ‘brin-
villier’, or ‘ water weed’), 411.
marilandica, 411.
Spondias dulcis (golden apple). 207.
lutea (hog plum), 207.
Sponge fishery, Tortola, 143.
Sponges, Queensland, 41.
Spraying experiment on cacao trees, 4.
Standards and Sugar, American Bureau
of, 264.
Starch, sweet potato, 104.
‘Station Agronomique de la Guadeloupe’,
184.
Sterculia caribaea (‘Mountain John Bull’
or ‘ Mahoe Cochon’), 266.
Stevea Rebaudiana, 213.
Stizolobium aterrimum (Bengal beans),
35, 406.
niveum, 35.
Stock, plants poisonous to, 411.
—, pure-bred, breeding, 25.
Storing of sweet potatoes and other
vegetables, 107.
Storms, nature of, and signs of approach,
246.
Stoute, Dr. C. P., 196.
Substitutes, rubber, 253.
Sudan grass, dying out of clumps of,
184.
Sugar and its value as a food, 212,
259. .
— the teeth, 291.
as a meat preservative, 201.
beets, production of in Canada, 220.
Sugar-cane, average yield per acre in
Hawaii in 1917, 167.
-—-, breeding varieties on Mendelian
lines, 136.
cultivation in St. Croix, experi-
ments in, 149.
cuttings, selection of, before plant-
ing, 132.
experiments in Trinidad 1915-16, 3.
fields, weeds in, methods of killing,
300.
—, food value of, 324.
hybrid, (Saccharum officivarum x
Saccharum ciliare), 12.
in Costa Rica, 325,
industry, by products of, 88.
manurial experiments, Demerara, in
1917, 406.
mills, small, 227,
production, a world’s record, 412,
Sugar-cane, ‘selection of cuttings hefore
planting, 132.
; Studies in inheritance in, 196,
thick czersws thin, for planting,
280.
—, Uba, origin of, 83.
varieties, identification and
cription of, 28.
wax, possibilities of, 12.
Sugar factory, Antigua central, 151,
control, 308.
results in Mauritius, 244.
factories, chemical control in, 149.
‘Sugar from Several Points of View’,
268.
imports and exports, United States,
381.
industry after the war, 212
Brazilian, 259.
Cuban, development of, 162,
—, Guatemalan, 57.
in Florida, resuscitation of,
dese
140.
Sugar industry :—
Possibility of increased production of
sugar in India 244.
Review of the working of two West
Indian sugar factories, 1918, 276,
Scientific progress in, 3.
Sugar crop of British Guiana, 1916-17
1917-18, 248, 409.
Supplies and renewals for sugar plan-
tations, 99.
The sugar factory as a source of sup-
ply of acetic acid, 116.
Use of centrifugal force in the sugar
factory, 99.
Waste products of cane sugar making,
38,
White sugar manufacture in Porto
Rieo, 28.
Sugar palms, a commercial source of,
133.
prices, control of, 324.
production in Formosa, 300.
technology, 380.
—, use ofin veterinary surgery, 76.
Sulphate of ammonia, the world’s pro-
duction of, 215, :
— copper, the world’s production
of, 215.
Sulphur, the world’s
215.
Sun-flower seeds, a source of oil and
potash, 268.
Sunlight as a factor in evolution, 111.
Sun spots, influence of on climate and
plant activity, 409.
Sunn hemp (Cro¢a/aréa juncea), 120,
Supply of fine cotton, 150
Surinam cherry (Zugenia uniflora), 135,
, citrus cultivation in, 396,
— quassia (Quassia amara), 74.
Swamp or monkey apple (Anxona palus=
tris), 207.
production of,
429
———
Sweet briar, ‘stinking cossie’,
(Acacia farnestana), 232.
lime (Zizphasra aurantzola), 29.
pea’, or ‘sunn hemp’ (Crofa/aria
juncea), 255.
potato (Zfomaa batatos), 42.
-— quarantine in the United States,
39,
starch, 104.
potatoes and other vegetables, stor-
ing of, 107.
—, behaviour of, in the ground, 207.
—, preserving by drying, 278, 279.
Swietenia macrophylla (Honduras ma-
hogany), 283, 285.
mahagoni (mahogany), 283.
Swine fever or hog cholera in Trinidad,
156.
, Tats as carriers of,
— production, 380.
—
Sword bean or horse bean (Cazava/za | —
ensiformis) a8 a cover crop in rubber
cultivation, 23.
Syrup, simple and wholesome, 227.
feels
Tagasaste (Cytisus proliferus), 21%.
Tamarinds on the London market, 21,
95, 127, 239, 255, 287, 367.
' Tannias in the Philippines, experiments
with, 87.
Tanning possibilities in the West Indies,
31.
Tapioca starch from Rhodesia, 57.
Tea cultivation in Ceylon, experiments
377.
— industry in Nyasaland, 140.
Teak (Tectona grandis), 233. .
Tetramnus uncinatus (burn mouth’ or
‘wis’), 411.
Thespesia’ populnea (‘John Bull’, ‘mahoe’,
or ‘gamboge’), 37, 393.
Thymol, a possible new source of, 117.
and ajowan seed, 411. aie
—, yield of wild thyme, investigation
of, 154.
Tickbird or ani (Crofophaga ant), 107.
Til (Hibiscus cannabinus), 393.
Timber industry of British Guiana, 547.
Tobago bread-nut tree (Pachira “aqua-
tica), 328. F
—, mongoose not in: a correction, 392,
Tomato and asparagus enltivation in
Guadeloupe, 41.
— breeding in St. Vincent, 4.
—, waste seeds and skins, utilization
of, 280,
in,
Tomatoes, best method of growing, 204. | —
, preserving by drying. 278, 279.
Tortola sponge fishery, 143.
Touchardia Jatifolia (olona), 340.
Toxic substance in the cotton seed, 54,
Tracbylobium verrucosum
5D.
etc.
{gum copal), | —
Urena tomentosa, 250. r
Utilization of waste seeds and skins of
tomato, 280. :
Tractor, farm, post-war, 167.
—, Ford, a new, 45.
Tractors in Hawaiian cane fields, 357.
Trade with Canada, West Indian, open-|
ings for, 360.
Tree, a possibly useful, 223.
Tree wounds, effect of light in healing,
105.
Trees, grass, economic value of, 179.
Trichechus inunguis (manatee), 115.
latirostris (manatee), 115,
senegalensis (manatee), 115.
Trinidad, agricultural and _ industrial
exhibition in, 153.
Vie é
Vanilla crop in the French West Indies,
185.
of Guadeloupe, 405.
Vegetable garden, 222,
oil, 123.
—, a’new source of, 302.
products factory in British Guiana,
— —
—, — _ tractors in, 377. 167. :
—, butter substitutes in, 185, Vegetables, cheap fertilizer for growing,
—, fish supply of, 60. 300.
forestry in, 233.
fruit cultivation in
mat industry in, 60.
oil industry in 1916, 56.
— of, 191.
rubber cultivation in, 22.
sugar-cane experiments in 1915-16,
drying on a large scale, 15.
—, preservation of, by fermentation and’
salting, 125.
Velvet beans, feeding to pigs, 325,
| Venezuela, exports of coffee from, 268,
| Venezuelan production of balata, 323.
Victoria regia (water-lily), 230.
| Vigna Catjang (black-eye pea), 185.
99
waa.
b)
’
’
3.
—, swine fever or hog cholera in, — unguiculata (cowpea), 185,
156. { Virgin Islands, items of local interest,
—, yam and cassava cultivation in,} 36, 84, 101, 135, 165, 180, 251, 277,
197. ‘ 331, 359, 389.
Trinidad’s food supply, 169.
Tripbasia aurantiola (sweet lime), 29.
Tropaeolum majus |
minus
tuberosum |
W.
-Nasturtiums, 111.
es Wales, food production campaign in
Tropical soils, 147, results of, 199,
Tule plant (Scrpus lacustris), 127. Wallaba (Zperua falcata), 347.
Turpentine tree or gommier rouge (Azr-| War bread, 18.
sera gummifera), 207. Warfare, modern, value of forests in,
Turtle trade of the Cayman Islands,’ 283.
300, Water containing zinc, wholesomeness of,
Toru palm (Ocnocarpus bacaba), 263. 248.
Tyrannus (dominicensis (tain bird or ;|— hyacinths as a fertilizer, value of,.
pitirre), 107. 141.
in a oow’s ration, the role of, 342,
Jemon, or bell apple (Passifora
laurifolia), 221.
Uba cane, origin of, 23. Water-lilies in St. Vincent, 230.
Ultra-violet rays, effects of, on plants, Water-lily, (Wymphaea ampla), 230,
U~,
237. i— — —, ( — Aybrida), 231.
Uncearia Gawwbier, 183. i— —, ( — Lotus), 230.
United Kingdom margarine industry,'— —, ( —— _ twuéerosa), 230.
expansion of, 296, — —, ( — sanzibarensts), 230, 231.
’
ion into,|—- —, (Victoria regia), 230.
| Watering of plants, capillary, 121.
Watts, Sir Francis, 101, 134, 149, 181,
211.
Wax gourd (enincasa cerifera), 108.
Weather, unusual, in Dominica, 232
rice production in, 60, Weeds in sugar-cane fields, method af
sugar imports and exports,| killing, 300.
i \* West Indian Bulletin,’ Vol.XVI., No. 4,
152.
United States, copra importat
364,
= dyestuti industry of, 60.
—, embargo on importation of
green limes into, 159.
peanut crop in, 136.
’
’
381.
, sweet potato and yam quar-
antine in, 69.
—,. use of horse meat in,
University empire study, 308,
Wolo XVID No: lie 232:
—) Vol, XVID) Now2, 306:
dye-woods, 264,
140.
{
430
I
West Indian trade with Canada, openings | Wild tamarind (Zeucaent glauca), 191, Xanthosoma-spp., 87,
if tfor, 360. lean, 27.1, |
West Ludies, castor-oil in, notes on, 100.;— thyme, investigation of thymol
— —, cotton exports from, 87, 166.! yieli of, ‘154. ve
246, 390. / Wine, crange, manufacture of, in the) .
— —, food of the, 50, 68. | West Indies, 328, 358. | Yam, ‘boiled, mixed with flour for bread
— —, honey industry in, develop-|Wood, light, demand for, 206. making, 220.
} ment of, 188. }— or candle nut oil, 27, 137. — cultivation in Trinidad, 197,
— -—, manufacture of orange wine ir,;— waste, alcohol production from, 313.|— (Dvyoscorea batutas), 346,
328, 358. Woolly pyrel (Phaseolus mungo radi-/— quarantine in the United States, 69,
— —, marine’bidlogy of, 156. | atus), 255. Yerba maté (//ex paraguayensis), 121,
— —, tavning possibilities in, 31. |‘ Worm weed’, ““brinvillie, or ‘ water,
— — _ visit of American Zoologists | weed’ (Sprgelia anthelmia), 411,
‘to, “200. Zz.
Wheat growing, »esearch in, 281, |
Wheats, Pusa, 248. X. Zapupe fibre plant( Agazte Daweyana), 8.
White maize, 59. i \Zea mays, var. everta (pop corn), 413..
la
Wild ‘pimento, 412. Xanthorihea spp,, 179, | Zizy;lus,jujuba (jujube), 139
OMG &
Te
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
FOR SALE.
A COTTON GINNING PLANT
Complete with 8 Gins, 1 Lintergin, Boiler, WEST INDIAN BULLETIN,
Vol. XVII, No. 2.
JUST ISSUED.
Engine with up-to-date Machine-shop, etc. |
ALL IN GOOD WORKING ORDER. —
The Building is of Pitch Pine covered — CORDAINENGS papers ons a ae
with galvanized iron, and could be easily | =. pac. a. ohcecui cc, Heme ee
rland, B.Se-; Some Observations on the Relation of Lint
removed. | Length to Rainfall, by R. E, Kelsick; Report on the
For further particulars apply to Prevalence of some Pests and Diseases in the West Indies
during 1917, (Compiled from the Reports of the Principal
} Agricultural Officers); and the Shrinkage of Soils.
0. H. SCHMIEGELOW,
Price 6p, Post FREE 3p
Christiansted,
St. Croix, V.IULS.A.
(439)
SPACE AVAILABLE FOR ADVERTISEMENT.
Vor. XVII. No. 43: THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS December 28, 1918,
A WORD TO PLANTERS
In consequence of the continued official prohibition of Guano exports from England,
we much regret that busiaess with our West Indian friends is, for the time being
interrupted,
Directly shipment of our well-known (orisinal) DISSOLVED GUANO
AND RAW PERUVIAN GUANO FOR SUGAR AND OTHER
CULTIVATIONS can be resumed, we shall be glad of orders and shall do our
utmost to meet all requirements.
The Anglo-Continental Guano
Works, Ltd.
DOCK HOUSE, BILLITER STREET, LONDON, E.C. 3.
Works: Victoria Docks, E.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Ltd., Bridgetown.
THE BARBADOS
CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY, LIMITED.
WE HAVE BEEN BUYING
West Indian Cotton Seed
during the past eight years, and we are prepared to continue purchasing same at
HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRICES IN THE FUTURE.
Our methods of doing this business are too well known to our friends to need any further
comment. Our large plantation yee) business places us ina position to continue to
execute any orders entrusted to us to the best advantage.
THE INTERESTS OF OUR WEST INDIAN FRIENDS ARE OURS
AT ALL TIMES. |
PEEASEH CALL Gays.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE
COTTON FACTORY, LTD.,
_ BARBADOS. _
Printed at Offica of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street? Bridgetown, Barbados,
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