178 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 4, 1904. 



He \voul<], however, iiupiess upon them tliat, if they 

 wished to meet with success in these e.\])erimeiits, 

 they must plant suitable land, manure and cultivate 

 highly, and keep a keen lookout for the worm and 

 other pests — in fact, the preparation of the land and 

 the attention devoted to cotton must be just as good 

 as that given to cane. With regard to the cotton 

 worm, he would mention that two firms in the island 

 were pledged to keep on hand i ton of Paris green 

 and to sell it at 18c. per lb. 



One of the great advantages of this industiy was 

 that they could obtain in eight months from cotton 

 a return that woidd recjuire sixteen months from cane. 

 But the greatest advantage of all was that in Sea 

 Island cotton this and other islands could have an 

 industry specially their own. This was the reason 

 why the Department was advising j^lanters in the 

 West Indies to go in only for Sea Island cotton. It 

 was a maritime jilant that would thrive only near 

 the sea. If they were to grow Upland or short-staple 

 cotton, they would soon come into competition with 

 Brazil, Peru, Africa, and other countries, which were 

 capable of enormous development in grow ing short-staj)le 

 cotton. 



In the case of bananas, again, they had what 

 might be considered a special industiy, and one, 

 which migiit be regarded as fairly well established. 

 The requirements of the banana, viz., fairly strong soil 

 and a sheltered position, limited somewhat the area 

 that could be devoted to its cultivation : yet it 

 was estimated that there were over 5.000 acres of land 

 in Barbados suitable for this crop. So far the indus- 

 try had been carried on by the Department, which 

 shipped the fruit, arranged for its disposal in 

 England, and disti'ibuted the proceeds. The results 

 had been very .satisfactory: during the period fi-om 

 January to April last they had shipped NOft large 

 bunches (of which only 2i percent, failed to arrive in 

 a perfectly sound condition ), and 378 bunches in double 

 crates. The average i)rice paid to the growers for the 

 former worked iiut at 4.s. IhL per bunch: for the 

 smaller bunches 'As. 5},d. was the average jirice paid. 



Sir Daniel Morris then read a letter he had 

 received from Messrs. Pink and Sons, in which was 

 emphasized the need for uniformity in the size of the 

 packages and of using crates of the exact size of the 

 bunch. We propose to publish this letter in a future 

 issue. 



Another intbistry that appeared to be full of 

 promise was the onion industry. Their c.\i)eriments 



last season had not, perhaps, been as successful as they 

 might have wished, but that was to be attribiited 

 mainly to a somewhat unfavourable seascjn. The 

 Department had again imported the best obtainable 

 seed from Teneritfe, and, in the case of Barbados, it 

 was proposed to plant about .50 acres. 



A further matter mentioned was the raising of good 

 crops of English potatos. The best variety for the 

 West Indies was the Bliss Triumph and seed potatos of 

 this would be obtainable early in September next. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



Grenada. 



At a meeting of the Grenada Agricultural and 

 Commercial Society, hcM on Fri<lay, M:\y 13, (the 

 Governor, Sir Robert B. Llewelyn, presiding), the 

 Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture gave an address 

 of which the following is a brief summary : — 



He expressed pleasure in being present at what he 

 understood was the first meeting of the newly constituted 

 Agricultural and Coniniercial Society and wished the Society 

 every success. 



The cacao industry, lie observed, was of the annual 

 exi)ort value of ^SOOl'OOO ; spices, £.S0,000 : fruit, i;700 ; 

 kola, £2.J0 ; sugar, j£270 ; making a total of £:i31,-2L'0. 



Owing to the very considerable demand on his time in 

 other islands, not so fortunately placed as Grenada, he liad 

 not visited them often during the past year. His interest, 

 liowever, had not slackened, and now that the local Agri- 

 cultural Depirtment was likely to be re-organized, his visits 

 would be more frequent. 



As far as the Imperial Department of Agriculture was 

 concerned, it was his desire to maintain and extend its 

 usefulness by eveiy possible means in Grenada. 



The experiment cacao and other jilots started bj' the 

 Deiiartmcnt and worked under its direction by the travelling 

 .Vgricultuial Instructor, had been maintained for four years 

 and lie was satisfied that they had lU'oved of considerable 

 value both to large and small cultivators. It was now 

 pro[)osed to start a new series of .such plots and carry them 

 on in co-operation with an Agricultural Experiments 

 Gomniittee to be appointed by that Society. 



Sir Daniel regretted that no .\gricultural Show had been 

 held at Grenada since February 11)02 and tliat the grant 

 otiered by the Department had been allowed to lajise. He 

 suggested that district committees might be ajipciinted to 

 undertake arrangements for a Show to be held early ia 190-5. 



In regard to cotton, he congratulated the island on the 

 opening of Mr. L. R. Mitchell's cotton ginnery at St. George 

 on the previous day. In the southern districts of the island 

 cotton was likely to do well, and it was also possible to 

 develop very considerably the interesting cotton industry 

 carried on for so many years by settlers at Carriacou. 



In conclusion he jwinted out the desirability of stivrting 

 an Agricultural School to atibrd a thoroughly practical 

 training in agriculture to the youtli of Grenada ; and he 

 sjiecially urged the imiwrtance of successfully carrying on the 

 school gardens already attached to some of tlu elementary 

 schools ill the colony. 



