A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. I. No. 6. 



BARBADOS, JULY 5, 1902. 



Price Is/. 



CONTENTS. 



P 

 Answers to CDrrespimdonts 

 Cacao drying at Dominica 

 Cassava, C(jnii)ositiun of... 



Counuercial 



Cowpeas, disease-resisting 



varieties 



Department News 



Department Publications... 



Department Reports : — • 



Britisli Guiiina, Botanic 



Gardens 



Shade in Coftee culture 



Educational : — 



Cambridge local CAamin- 



ation 



Jamaica College 



Trinidad 



Fruit :— 



Banana disease in Egypt 



Grafting Nutmegs 



Packing Oranges 



Garden Notes 



Insect Notes : — 



Centipedes 



Sapodilla maggot 



Trinidad mot lis 



White Aiits, renietly for 



ACE. 



04 ! 

 8.-. 



!»;>. I 



1)5 



85 

 !)2 



m 



Pa. 



88 

 88 

 88 

 01 



02 

 05 



Jamaica, Exports 1001 

 Market Reports 

 Notes and Connnents 



Our Book Slielf :— 



Text Book of elementary 

 Botany .".01 



Poultry :- 



Agricultural School, 



Dominica 00 



Curing an egg-eating dog 80 



To catch a fowl 90 



Preserving Steel and Iron 



work 00 



Rubber planting in Ceylon 0.'! 



Sugar Industry : — 



Cane Farming in Biitish 



(iuiana 82 



Sugar Beet 82 



Vanilla, cultivation in the 

 Seychelles (euHfimi'il) 83 



Virgin Islands, Agricul- 

 tural eflorts ... ^.. ... 02 

 Volcanic Dust, analyses 



and reports 88 



Volcanic Eruptions 81 



West Indies : — 



Iland-Books of general 

 informatir>n 04 



Volcanic Eruptions. 



URIXCi the last two rnonth.s the West 

 Indies Iiave been prominently before the 

 world in conne.xion with the terrible 

 volcanic eruptions at Martinique and St. Vincent. The 



news that has been comunicated to the newspapers in 

 Europe and America has not exaggerated, in the least, 

 the appalling lo.ss of life that lias <»ceurred in the two 

 islands named, especially at Martinique. 



Already three Scientific Commi.ssions, appointed 

 by the French, the United Stat(,'.s and the British 

 (lovernments, are ensfacred in a careful investigation of 

 the \oleanie phenomena that have accompanied hese 

 eruptions. We shall probably learn, before long, a good 

 ileal ;is to the course of events before and durin? the 

 eruptions and possibly, also, how far it may be possible 

 in the future to ])revent such an overwhelming calam- 

 ity as that which .so suddenly overtook the inhabitants 

 of St. Pierre. 



At Martini(pu' the last previous erujitioii of 

 Mont Pelee occurred in 1851. Since then it is recorded 

 (according to Mr. J. Milne in JVattire) that in an 

 interval of twenty-si.x years, omitting mere tremors, 

 14S distinct earthquake disturbances have been credi- 

 ted to the island. As volcanic outbursts are usually, 

 t)ut not always, preceded by earthquake shocks it is 

 possible, if due notice had been taken of the latter, 

 with close observation of the changes taking })lace at 

 the crater itself, that the people of St. Pierre might 

 have been warnixl to flee before the final catastrophe. 



It is stated, on good authority, that Professor 

 Gaston Landes of the Lycee and Director of the 

 Botanic Gai"dens had fully realised the danger and had 

 issued warnings to the inhabitants, long before the 

 eruption actually took place. On this point, as well as 

 on the exact nature of the terrific tornado, accompanied 

 by red-hot ashes and boiling mud, that destroyed the 



