56 



THK AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 7, 1902. 



WEST INDIAN FISHERIES 



Tarpon or CufFam at Barbados. 



The iiilormiilion iilrcaiiy piibli.shud in the Ajjri- 

 ftdtanii Xcirft (pj). (S and 24) on tlie 'I'aijjun an<l its 

 habits, indicate that tliis fish is known in Barbados 

 as the Cnti'iun, and (bund not only on the iniiiT shoals 

 and fishing banks of the sea, but inland in certain 

 swamps. The swamp at Graeme Hall, for instance, 

 contaii.s large numbers of Cufliim amongst other 

 varieties of fish. 'I'he heavy rainfall (huing the hurri- 

 cane of 18!(S caused the swamj) to oveiHow and many 

 of the laigcr fish an' supposed to have escaped to the 

 sea, yet Cutfuni is still there. I^irge fish measuring 

 from 4 to 5 feet in length have been landed from this 

 swam]). ('a])ture is princi])ally effected by the use of 

 tiawling ni'ts. Fish of similar size have, however, been 

 ca])tuiiMl with hooks 2 to 2i inches long on stout line, 

 while smaller fish have been landed with the rod. 

 The cuffiim bites readily at live bait of any descrij)tion, 

 but seems to prefer what is known locally as 'mud fish,' 

 so named, a])])arently from its colour, and its habits of 

 lying on and sometimes hiding itself beneath the 

 mud. 



As an edible fish, the cuffum is not likc(l l)y the 

 majority of ])eople owing to its bony nature but it 

 always affoids <xcellent sport. 



Sparrows. The West Indies are fortnii;ite in not 

 having the Knglisli spunow as part of the liird lite. Other 

 sparrows arc not niiconiinon, and especially the little brown 

 sparrow found near houscj.s. These l)ii-ds play a cnrions part 

 in natuie, in that they destroy the seed.s of many weeds and 

 grasses and so tend to check tlie increase of the latter. Heing 

 small, they are scarcely worth trapping or shooting and so 

 aic tamer than many other birds. It re(|nires little to 

 jiersuade them to come indoors, a few crnndis regularly 

 jilaced on a window-sill soon enticing them. .\s weed destroy- 

 ers they deserve encouragement, and will come to yards and 

 carriage drives in search of the weeds whosj seeds form their 

 staple fare. 



The 'Blue Page' Moth. During ihc gale that 



reached liarbados and St. Vincent on .\ngnst :^(i, 1!)0I, luini 

 bers of a large moth were found in Harhados, of a kind not 

 known to breed there, 'i'hey had evidently lieen hi'onglit by 

 the high Southwest wind. Some were caught and identilied U'i 

 Uranid S/oaiifi, the 'blue page' of Trinidad, and tliev had 

 apparently come from the mainland or, more probably, from 

 Trinidad itself. They were found as far north as Dominica, 

 and one was caught on the I!. .M.S. ' Eden' midway between 

 St. Lucia iUtd Barbados. This is an excellent instance nf bow 

 insects spread from island to island, and had these moths 

 found snitabh; conditions in IJarhados, they might have 

 l)ecome established there ami formed an addition to the 

 jierniiiTient fauna. The direct distance from Trinidad to 

 liarbados is about IGO miles, and to Dominica is some 

 100 miles more. 



THE VALUE OF CONDIMENTS IN STOCK 

 FEED. 



The ([uestion of the value of spices and other condimen- 

 tal foods such as locust bean and molas.ses, which are often 

 advocated as an addition to the feeding materials given to 

 stock, lias recently been investigated l>y the IJoyal Agi icul- 

 tiual Society of Engl.md at the Wobnrn Experiment Station. 

 Sixteen short horn bullocks, divided into four lots of four 

 bullocks each, were used for the experiment. Lot I received 

 the ordinary or ' standard' feeding, consisting of linseed and 

 cotton cake, maize meal, ha}', chat!' and roots. In L'jt II, the 

 maize meal was half replaced by locust bean meal. In Lot III, 

 the ' standard" feeding was sjiiced, while in Lot IV, a little 

 sugar-cane mola.sses (|-tt) per head per day) Wivs jioured over 

 the cliati". The results are summarised in the following 

 table : — 



Total carc;i.ss | 

 weight of foni' . 

 bnllcicks. J 



Price realized 

 at 4 4 V-* stone. 



Less c<i.stiiffiMid. 



Lot I 

 (ordinary 

 feeding). 



St. lb. 

 384 4 



£. S. D. 



83. 6. 2. 



29. 13. 0. 



Lot II 



(lociistbsan 



ineal). 



Lot III I Lot IV 

 (spice) Ymolassesy 



St. It). St. 111. ' .St. ill. 



3C8 1 \ 301 7 380 7 



£'. s. D.! £. s. i>. £. s. D. 



79. 15. 2.' 78. 8. 2. 82. 10. (>. 



28. 



9.: ^0. 4. 0. 28. 15. 0. 



Dift'erence. £53. 13. 2. 



.\ver. gain in live 

 weight ]ierday. 



1'95 lb 



£51.12. 5. £52. 4. 2. £53 15. 6. 



l-()7 tb 1-84 lb 



1-85 lb 



The result of this exi)eriment shows that no case can Ijc 

 made out from it for any of the virtues supposeil to belong 

 to si>ice and condimental foods, Init that bullocks will fatten 

 just as well and as econonncally on a well chos-.'n mixture of 

 onlinary foods. It was observe<l that when molasses wi.s 

 used, there was a tendency t) 'looseness' in the animals 

 when more than one ijuarter of a iiound jier head per day 

 was given. 



PRESERVATIVES AND COLOURING 

 MATTER IN FOOD. 



Evi'ry year large c|uaiitities of jireserved food- 

 stuffs are imported into the West Indies in which 

 various ' presi'i'vatives' are no doubt used. As some of 

 the substances em])loyed to imjn-ove the kei']ping (juali- 

 ties of foods are injurious to health, a Depart nn'ntal 

 C^ommittee was a])j)ointed by the Local (<o\ernment 

 IJoai'd in IS!)!) to 'inquire into the use of pre.ser-vative.s 

 and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring 

 of food, ami to rejtort (I) whether the u.se of such 

 materials, or any of them, for the preservation and 

 colouring of f(»od, in certain (|uantities, is injuriou.s to 

 health, and, if .so, in wh.-it jiroportions does their u.s«i 

 become injurious; (2) to what extent, and in what 

 anunints, are they so u.sod at the present time V 



The (Jiunmittee ha\e now jiresented their Report 

 and miiHites of evidence, the whole forming a Blue- 

 book of nearly oOO pages. 



The antiseptic agents employed in the pre.serva- 

 tion of food are boric or boraci<' acid and borates; 

 so-called ' boron pre.ser\atives ;' sulphurou.s acid, and 

 sulphites, fluorides, salicylic acid, benzoic acid or 



