bG 



THE aguicultu];al news. 



July 



1902. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for ]ml»liration, as well as all 

 specimens for naming slioulil bo addiesseil to the Commissioner, 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture, Head Office, Barbados. 



It is iiurticulaily reijuested that no letters be addressed 

 to any mendior of the statJ' by name Such a course may 

 entail delay. 



Communications should always be written on one side 

 of the pajier oidy. It shouki be understood that no contri- 

 butions or specinuMis will, in any case, be returned. 



All application for copies of the Agricultural News should be 

 addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department. .\ i-nmiiltte 

 list ot the London and Local agents will be foundon tlic last 

 page of this number. 



Corre.spondents sending newspapers should be careful to 

 mark the paragraphs they wish to bring under notice. 



Cast's f<ir holding the luniibjrs of tlie A-jrlrnUiir il Neir.i, 

 with gilt lettered, leather backs, may be obtained from the 

 'Advocate' (>lti,-e, liridgetowii, Barbados. Price 2.s. Post free 

 25. 4,1. 



^nricultiiral Mnu: 



Vol. L SATURDAY, .JULY r>, I'JOJ. No. G. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Honour to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. 



Tile (lenium Emperor has, with the consent uf the 

 British Ciovermnent, appointed .Sir Jo.seph Dalton 

 Hooker, tJ.C.S.I., C.B., late Director of the Royal 

 Botanic (iarden.s at Kew, a foreign Knight of t'le 

 Order Pour le Aleritc for S-jience and Arts. It has 

 been official!}' decided that the n'gid.itiiins leoarding 

 foreign decoiationH do not apply to this order. 



Manurial Value of the Volcanic Dust. 



It is t'vident from the numerous i-hemical anal\si.>s 

 that have now been made of the volcanic (hist tliat'fell 

 at Barba(h)S, that it was of little or no manurial vahie. 

 'I'his fully bears out the opinion alrea<l\' expressed in 

 the ])ages of the A()riciiJtur<ii ^Vc^r'.s. I'rofcssoi- 

 Harri.son in connnenting on the figures jiublishecl on 

 J). .S!) a'Ids: 'these conclusively show that the volcanic 

 dust was ipiite vahudess as a manure — the value of the 

 soluble constituents being about three cents.' Owing to 

 the copious rains tliat fell immediately after t!ie dust, 

 causing a sudden bursting of leaf and flowei- on 

 ]il.ints that had prexiously been parched by drought, a 

 jiopular idea has arisen that the <lust was, more oi- less, 

 (d' a fertilizing charactei-. It is believed, probably on 

 good grounds, that it was useful in destroying the 

 small black ants common at Barbados, and in drviiic 

 up the egg-clusters cd' the nn)th borer then on" the 

 leaves of the sugar-cani'. 



Scientific Commission at St. Vincent. 



The meiidjers of the Scientific Commission for the 

 studv (d' the recent Volcanic j)henoinena in the West 

 In<lil-s, Dr. T. Smith Flett, D.Sr., F.H.S.E., and 

 Dr. Tempest Anderson. BSc, F.CJ.S. arrived at Barbados 

 in K M.S. 'Trent' on Sunday 8th. ultimo. Tliey were 

 received by Dr. Morris who afterwards arranged for a 

 meeting between them and Dr. Jaggir, a m 'tub :!■ of 

 the United States 'Geological Survey, w-ho had lieen 

 one of the first to ascend the St. Vincent So ifiiere 

 after the eruption. Drs. Flett aid Ander.son arrived 

 at St. Vincent on the morning of the 1 )th. ultini ) and 

 were conlialiy received by the Uovernor and principal 

 residents. We learn that Sea View House was jjjaced 

 at their disposal hy- Mr. James E. Richards, and from 

 this commanding position a fine view of the Soufriere 

 and the coast as far as Jlorne Ronde was obtained. 

 On the 18tli. they i)roceeded in a Ijoat anil examined 

 the coast, and the next morning with difficulty they 

 ascended the Soufricre, to the' edge of the crater, at an 

 altitude of 2,700 feet. In spite of heavy rain they had 

 a glimpse into the cauldron beneath, which appeared to 

 have thi'ee distinct lakes at the bottom, on:- still 

 emitting steam and jets of niu<l. T.ie Cjmuii.ssion- 

 ers returned to Kingstown on the 20th. ultim ) and then 

 left for Georgfetown with the intention of ascjiidinjj the 

 Soufriere from the Carib country. Tlie CoiiiJiiissioners 

 express their indebtedness, especially to ilr. T. ]\I. 

 MacDonald and Mr. H. Powell, the Curator ^>i the 

 Iiotanic Station, for valuable assistance afi'orded to 

 them. 



Arbor Day in the West Indies. 



We are glad to finfi that the suggesticjii ottered in 

 these columns t) ajipoint an Arb )r Day fir the West 

 Indies has been well received and is likely t) be 

 generally adopted. Owing to the p isti)oneuient 

 of the Corotiatioii Ceremony the official ])l;Uiting ot' 

 numerous tfees, already arranged for, had to be 

 unavoidably <lrferred. In the me.-m time we desire 

 to thank those who h.ive taken so th'ei) an interest in 

 the matter, and we reconnui'nd that arrangements be 

 made to k(!e[) the plants in good order and put thi-m 

 out at the first opportunity. The Aiynsi/ of British 

 (Juiana had a symp.ithetic articlo on the subject. It. 

 ])'>inti'd out that the movement in favour of tree-pl.mt- 

 ing is being widel}- a.dojited in other countries and in 

 such distant parts of the Emi)ire as .\ustralia and 

 South Africa. At Hloemfontein, in our mwest C'olony, 

 it had been officially annonneeil th.-it .lune 2() 

 was to be kejd. as an Arbor Day. W'l' liojn- to i-eeur to 

 the subject later. 



Jamaica Honey and Grape-Fruit in England. 



.Sir Alfred Jones has been making great efforts to 

 ])opularize Jainai(!a honey and graije-fruit in England. 

 Recently he obtained 500 jars of honey from the 

 .■igeiiey in London of the Jamaica Bee-keepers' As.so- 

 ciation and he forwardeil .samples of both honey and 



