YoL. r. No. 2. 



THE AGEICULTUKAL NEWS. 



25 



tlio.se foniii.lable grub like insects found in ponds and streams. 

 Tlie grub is no whit less forinilable than the dragon-Hy, 

 feeding voraciously on all the living cre;itures it can catch 

 in the water, till it arrives at maturity and leaves the water 

 to complete its life in the air. 



AaRrOULTURA.L EFFORTS AT ST. LUCIA. 



The following no!;es have been contributed by Mr. 

 <j}30rge S. Hudsa.i, Agricultural Instructor. The notes 

 under ' cacao' anl 'groun I jH-ovisions' are intended to apply 

 to operations during the month of .May : — 



COTTON INDUSTRY. 



The ciittou ginning machinery importod jointly l)y the St. 

 Lucia Agricultural S',)jiuty and tlie Imperial Dijpartment of 

 Agriculture is now working three days j)er week, anil the small 

 ])roijrietors have imiuidiately recognized the vahie of its institu- 

 tion. The machine is a Dobson and Barlow double action 

 Macarthy gin, driven by horse gear, and turns out about 40 lb. 

 of clean lint per hour. Ninety per cent, of the sjed, only, is 

 retained by the giuner to cover cost of ginning. Prizes are 

 being annually o^'ered for the be.st patches of cotton, and 

 e.-cperimants are being conducted at Riviei'o Doree fJxperiment 

 Station to determine the v.iriety of cotton bast suitad for this 

 district. His Honour Sir Harry Thom[>son has keenly interest- 

 ed himself in the success of this m)vemeut, and by occasional 

 visits to Choiseul has dime much to dissij)ate the habitual 

 distrust of peasant i)roprietors, when they feel unusual interest 

 is being taken in their welfare. The successful working of the 

 machine has now put the result of the exj>eriment beyond 

 doubt, and there is every prospect that in future cotton will be 

 an established cultivation here. 



Cotton should be planted as soon as the soil is moist 

 enough t> allow of working : the ground should first be 

 thoroughly forked, if heavy crops are w.mted, and then drawn 

 up with a hoe int.) beds 2h feet wide and ab nit (i inches above 

 the furrow, which should be a foot wide. Insert not less than 

 six se'.di to a hole in the mi Idle of eich bjd, and make holes 4 

 feet apart. The furrows between each bed will act as drains 

 a'.id should empty into cro.i.s drains at .50 feet a])art to carry the 

 w.iter away. Do not allow more than two or three plants to 

 grow in each hole. 



CACAO. 

 Every effort should be made to get all plantations thorough- 

 ly clean before the rains which nriy be e.\pected towards the 

 end of this month ; one wee ling in tire dry weather is worth 

 two in rainy minths. May is the m;)nth to plant cuttings of 

 ' innnortelles' for shade («• boundaries, and other live posts, such 

 as hog plum, for fences ; in this month these trees naturally 

 renew their foliage, and c inse(|uently they are more likely to 

 grow as cuttings. Iinmortjlle seed are also now obtainable and 

 should be gathered to supplement a limited sujiply of cuttings. 

 Insufficient shade and slielter is one of the greatest wants 

 in St. Lucia cacao cultivation, and this is the best time 

 to take steps to remedy it. Pruning operations on cacao 

 shi>uld be now suspended on all but the unhealthiest and 

 alm.ist barren plantations, as flowers are now a])i)earing freely 

 on all branches. 'I he same remarks would a|)i)ly to fork- 

 ing, except where m inure h being a])])lie I to a hard surface, 

 when very light forking would be permissible as soon as the 

 rains cume. 



(IROUND PROVISIONS. 



Those having vacant land suitable for plantains, taunias 

 and yams would do well to plant them up in May or June, as 

 there seems every possibility of sc.ircity and high ])rice of these 

 products a year hence, as the aumunt of forest land cleared this 

 year has been small. Do not [daut maize later than June if 

 you want a - sucdtssf nl crop. The present high ]irice of sweet 

 potatos and manioc is likely to induce nuich i)lanting of these 

 foods with a conseipient glut in ()ct<jber and November: it 

 Would be better to ])lant about August. 



AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS AT DOMINICA. 



The follcjwing i.s taken from tho ivcent addi-cs.s of 

 t'lo Administratji- of Djminica to the Legisiutivc 

 Council : — 



No reference to the progress of our economic products 

 would be adecpiite without a cordial recognition of the 

 excellent re-sults that hive already been brouglit about by 

 the a.s.si.stance of the Imperial Department of Agriculture. 

 Not only can Dominica boast of Botanic Gardens wdiicli arc 

 among the most beautiful in the We.st Indies, but the 

 distributing station in Ro.seau is doing work the value of 

 wh'ch can hardly bj over estimated. No less than 5S,000 

 sjedling trees were distributed locally during 1901. Of 

 these, 36,000 were lime i)lants and 12,000 were cacao 

 .seedlings. Budded orange trees of the best varieties, rubber- 

 yielding trees, pine-aiiple suckers, and vanilla cuttings have 

 also l>een largely distributed, and the enormous demand for 

 .spelling plants of all kinds is evidence of the e.xtent to which 

 new lands are baing brought into cultivation. The advantages 

 t > any one cndiarking in agriculture of being able to procure 

 frjni the Botanic .Station large (piantities of carefully selected 

 and well grown seedling trees at a rate considerably under 

 c )st of jiroduction arc jilainly ajiiiarent, and this island thus 

 offers special inducements to intending settlers. 



A model equipn'.ent for the artificial drying of cacao ha.s 

 been erected in ths Botanic Gardens, and i>lanters now 

 have an opiwrtunity of adapting the process to their own 

 reiiuiremonts w ithout running the danger of having to buy 

 their experience. 



The .Vgricultural School is also proving itself an institu- 

 tion of gre;it value, and the sound i)ractical instruction which 

 is being imparted there to specially .selected .sons of peasants 

 cannot but have excellent results in the future. A small 

 .stock-farm has been established in connexion with the school, 

 and breeding-animals specially suited to this island have 

 been ini]iorted. 



Scale-Insects on young plants. At the Domin- 

 ica Botanic Station large nundicrs of citrus plants are raised 

 from seed and the young plants are liable to scale insect 

 attack. Mr. Jones, the Curator, hit on the method of 

 jiainting a ring of whale-oil .soap round the base of the stem 

 of each plant. Should scale-insects occur among the young 

 jilants and be overlooked, they would be unable to spread, 

 iis tlie ring of soaj) would prevent the young insects crawling 

 M\i the stems of neighbouring plants. A similar method has 

 been used on bearing lime trees at Dominica. It was found 

 that the orange snow-scale sprKid \\\i the back of the stem 

 from the base, and to check this, a ring of tar was painted 

 on each tree near the base. The s])read of the scale from 

 tree to tree is stopped, the tar forming a barrier to the young 

 insects. 



The Cacao flower. Cacao pods are develoi)ed fi-oiii 

 minute flowers which are borne on the main stem and 

 branches of the cacao tree. Before however a Hower can give 

 rise to a j)otl, it must first be fertilized or set. The maimer 

 in which the pollen is transferred from the anther to the 

 stigma of the cacao flower does not seem to have been 

 thoroughly worked out in the West Indies. Perlia|>s someone 

 who has the oi)i)ortunity and time for this study will inves- 

 tigate the subject. The knowledge thus gained might be of 

 practical value to cacao planters as a whole, at any i-ate it 

 would be of interest. 



