328 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 8, 1904. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 'Agri- 

 cultural News' should be addressed to the 

 Agents, and not to the Department. A com- 

 plete list of the London and Local agents will 

 be found at foot of page 319 of this volume. 



The 'Agricultural News': Price Id. per 

 number, post free IVad. Annual subscription 

 payable to Agents 2s. 2d. Post free, 3s. 3d. 



I^griciiltiiral Jjeiufi 



Vol. III. SATURDAY, OCTOr.l'l! 



I'.ioi. X. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial of thi.s issue deals with the sisiil 

 hemp industry. Tliere lias been marked progress in 

 this industry in the Bahamas and the Caicos Islands 

 daring recent years. 



On p. o'22 we publish information relating to the 

 Trinidad cane-iiirming industry. The account of 

 e.xperimenls with varieties of the sugar-cane in 

 Mauritius is also of interest. 



Our cotton notes include a brief re\iew of the 

 prospects of the cotton industry in .St. ^'incent, and 

 a note on the Sea Island cotton crop of the United 

 States. The summai'y of conclusions as to manurial 

 experiments with cotton in Kgypt is likely to be of 

 interest as .serving as a basis for similar experiments in 

 the West Indies. 



An article on the cultivation of Manila hemp in 

 the Philippines is published on p. 327. 



In our 'Insect Notes' a warning with reference to 

 the cotton worm is inserted, to which we de.'^ire to 

 draw the attention of all cotton growers. 



From the extracts from the report of the Inspector 

 of Schools at St. Lucia, it will be seen that considerable 

 progress is being made in agricidtural education, more 

 especially in connexion with school ganlens. 



Under the heading 'Department Reports' on 

 p. 232, will be found short reviews of two reports 

 recently published by this Department. With the 

 issue of these two reports the publication of the 

 annual reports on the Botanic Stations in the West 

 Indies is completed. 



Shipment of Bananas from Barbados. 



At a meeting of the Barbados Agricultural Societ\', 

 held on September 30, a discussion took place on the 

 subject of the shipment of bananas. On the motion of 

 the Hon. F. M. Alhiyne, the following resolution was 

 passed : — 



'That the Hall .system of cold storage having been 

 instituted on the "Trent" and " Tagus," and having 

 so far proved entirely satisfactory for the safe carriage 

 of bananas, the PJarbados Agricultural Society trust 

 that the Eo3"al Mail Steam Packet Company will see 

 their way to establish the same system of cold storage 

 <in their other ships.' 



In the course of the discussion it was mentioned 

 that, while hardly a single bunch had been lost when 

 shipments had been made by the ships in which the 

 system had been installed, shipments by the other 

 steamers of the company had not proved satisfactory 

 during the recent hot sea.son. It was understooil that 

 the company had fitted up the steamers mentioned by 

 wa}' of experiment and that the system %voidd be 

 extended to the other shi[)s as soon as it had proved 

 successful. The society therefore desired to urge the 

 compan}' to do tliis with as little delay as possible. 



Cotton Growing in Jamaica. 



From newspapers to hand by last mail it is 

 apparent that in Jamaica considerable interest is being 

 taken in cotton growing. The Board of Agriculture 

 and the Agricultural Society are giving every 

 encouragement and much assistance. Several meet- 

 ings have recentl}' been held at which useful addresses 

 on cotton growing have been given. 



Special encouragement is being given to this 

 cultivation in the dry district of Vere. Here several 

 planters have conducted experiments with such 

 a measure of success that they have decided to carry 

 on the cultivation upon a fairly large scale. At one of 

 the meetings referred to the Hon. H. T. Ronaldson 

 gave his experiences in a 1-acre experiment plot. 

 The result was eminently satisfactory : he sold the 

 seed-cotton for £7 and succeeded in netting £.5 from 

 the acre within six months. 



In another dry district of the island, where new 

 crops to take the place, to some extent, of cane were 

 urgently required, viz., St. James. Mv. Shore, a member 

 of the Board of Agriculture, has, it is reported, 

 succeeded in obtaining 400 lb. of lint cotton from /5j acre. 



Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., anxious to do all 

 in their power to make cotton growing a success, have 

 agreed to carry cotton freight-free until further notice. 

 The Hon. T. H. Sharp has announced that he will 

 purchase, locally, ginned or unginned cotton, while 

 Mr. J. H. Levy is prepared to deal similarly with 

 cotton grown in St. Ann, and Mr. C. G. Farquharson 

 will buy cotton at Black River. 



The Jamaica Daily Telef/raph closes a leading 

 article en the subject of cotton growing with the 

 following remarks : 'The conditions are all ftivourable 

 and it would be a pity if this splenili(l opportunity 

 were lost.' 



