200 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 18, 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 'Agricul- 

 tural News' should be addressed to the Agents, 

 and not to the Department. A complete list of 

 the London and Local agents will be found at 

 foot of page 1 75 of this volume. 



The 'Agricultural News': Price Id. per 

 number, post free I'^id. Annual subscription 

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



^gnciiltiir;il Deiufj 



Vol. IIL SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1904. Xo. -57. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



A.s announced in the last issue our sugar notes 

 this time include a return, published b}- the British 

 Guiana Board of Agriculture, showing the area under 

 varieties of cane, other than Bourbon, in that colony. 

 It will be noticed that the greatest acreage is occupied 

 by D. 109, followed by the White Transparent and 

 B. 147. 



Cotton notes include a circular letter recently 

 issued by the Superintendent of Agriculture for the 

 Leeward Islands on the supply of Paris green. There 

 is also an account of the cotton ginnery- at Hartlands, 

 Jamaica, and an abstract of Professor Dunstan'.s recent 

 report on cotton cultivation in the British Empire. 



Lectures on Cotton Cultivation. 



In farther reference to the lectures on cotton 

 growing which are to be given shortly throughout 

 the West Indies, it might bj mentioned that seven 

 .sets of lantern .slides, each consisting of thirty- 

 seven slides, illustrating the various stages of the 

 cultivation and treatment of cotton, have been prepared. 

 A set of these will be sent to each of those islands in 

 which a large area is being devoted to cotton, the 

 remaining sets being intended for circulation among the 

 .smaller islands. 



E.xtra copies of the new pamphlet entitled : ' A. B.C. 

 of Cotton Planting,' will be available for distribution 

 in connexion with these lectures. 



A letter from Messrs. Pink & Sons dealing with 

 the suitable crating of bananas is published on p. 19(J. 



On p. 199 an account is given of a fungus that 

 does great damage to the different varieties of citrus 

 trees in several wa\s. On the same page a wilt 

 disease of tobacco and a root disease of English potato 

 will be found described. The treatment of wounds on 

 cacao trees is dealt with on p. 195. 



The Insect Notes include extracts from 

 Mr. Ballou's report on a recent visit to St. Vincent and 

 an article on onion thrips. Under Bee Keeping, we 

 publish an article on the production of worker comb. 



Mr. J. Kussell Murray's report on West Indian 

 products in Canada, during April, is on p. 20(3. 



An article on the cultivation of the castor oil plant 

 and the expression of the oil is to be found on ji. 20.S. 



New Department Publications. 



Two new pamphlets (Xos. ']0 and.31) have been 

 prepared. The former, entitled: 'Manurial Experi- 

 ments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands', is 

 issued to-day. This consists of the summary of conclu- 

 sions contained in Part II of the large official report 

 recently issued on the sugar-cane experiments 

 conducted in the Leeward Islands in the season 1902-3, 

 under the auspices of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies. These results have 

 alread)' been reviewed in the Agrivulttnv.l AVics 

 (see Vol. Ill, pp. 1.S.S and 14.5-(J). 



Pamphlet No. 31 ('A. B. C of Cotton Planting') 

 contains, as was mentioned in our last issue, useful 

 information on cotton cultivation, arranged in the 

 form of a catechism, for peasant i)ropuetors and small 

 settlers. 



These pamphlets will be on sale by all Agents of 

 the Department (price 4(^. each, post free 5d.) 



The Value of a Demonstration Farm. 



Dr. S. A. Knapp, in Bulletin No. 51, Part II, of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry (United States Dejiart- 

 ment of Agriculture) gives the results of the working 

 of a demonstration farm started by the citizens of 

 Terrell. Texas. The object of the farm was to test the 

 benefits to be derived from the rotation of crops, 

 thorough cultivation, proper manuring, etc. 



A fluid was subscribed by the citizens, and a com- 

 mittee of eight practical men was elected to see the 

 work piojjerl}- carried out. A capable farmer was 

 chosen to conduct the demonstrations on his own farm 

 and was to be I'c-imbursed for an}' financial loss he 

 might sustain. The whole was under the direction of 

 Dr. Knajjp, the representative of the Department of 

 Agriculture. The experiments were carried out with 

 cotton and Indian corn, the i^idiiiary crops of the 

 localit}'. 



The result of this experiment, on 70 acres of land, 

 was that the farm manager stated that ' he had cleared 

 S700 more than would have been made under the 

 ordinary methods (jf farming employed in that section.' 

 He also stated that he intends to woik his entire farm, 

 about 800 acres, next year, on the basis of the cultural 

 methods employed in the experiments, and many other 

 large owners of land have expressed similar intention.s. 



