182 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 27, 1902. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming slionkl lie addressed to the Comniis- 



sioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



It is (larticularly re(|Uested tliat no letters be addressed 

 to any member of the stall' by name Such a course maj' 

 entail delay. 



Communications should always be written 0}i one side 

 of the i)aper only. It should be understood that no contri- 

 butions or s|)ecimcns 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. A complete list ot the London 

 and Local agents will be found on ]iage 11)1 of this 

 number. 



Correspondents sending new'spapers should be careful to 

 mark tjie iiaragrajihs they wi.sh to bring under notice. 



found I'lsewhiTO in the West Indies. It appeai-s to be 

 known ])oj)ulaiiy as the 'Biting Stable fly.' The 

 introduction of one di.sea.sed horse ur nude into any of 

 the.se ishinds would therefore be sufficient to serve as 

 a centre for the spread of this fatal disease. 



The Selection of Canes for Replanting. 



The attention of sugar plantcis is directed to the 

 note of warning given in connexion with White Trans- 

 j)arent cjine on p. 179 of thi.s number. ]\Ir. J. R. Bovell 

 there ])oints out that in the past season's e.xpsrinients 

 at Haibados, White Transparent contained more rotten 

 canes than any of the other varieties alongside which 

 it was grown. The amount of disease may not be 

 serious at present, but ])lanters should be extremely 

 careful to rejilant only from healthy, ^■igorous cjines, 

 which show no signs of fungoid disease. 



gigricultiirat |]inufi 



Vol. L SATURDAY, SEl'TE.MP.EK 27, l'J02. Xo. 12. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Surra Disease in Horses. 



A summary of tlie ciiaracter (.)f this disease and its 

 accomjjanying symjitoms has already appeared on 

 ]}. 147 of this Journal. Tin; attention of the West 

 Indian ( iovernnu^nts and stock owners is directed to 

 the following extract quoted by Xdlnir, tiie leading 

 Englisii scientific weekly Journal : — 



Surra, a disease affecting hor.ses ami otlur animals, 

 and due to a ju'otozoan parasite, the Ti\i/jtiin(isiiin<i. 

 EvanHi, has been found to be very jirevalent in the 

 Pliilip|iiiu's, causing the deatli of no less than 2,000 

 of the army transport and cavalry iiorses in a ])eriod of 

 si.x months. This disease, met with al.so in India and 

 Biu'ma, is jioif iwjdrdecl as ixleiificdl intli ii(ii/(iu((. ur 

 ike Udxc-tiy (li><e(ise of Africa. In India, the exact 

 mode of transference of the disease from one animal to 

 another has not l)('<ii discoveivd, tlicuigh cei'taiii 

 'horse flies' iuive been surmised to be the interme- 

 ♦liaries. In the Piiilipiiiues, Curiy states tiiat tht' 

 intermediary is a lly, Sttim-ij'yx culcit ninx. 'Vhv tly 

 lays its eggs in the excrement of liorses and catti^■, 

 in which its larvae and ))U])ae thrive, and as the disease 

 is almost always fatal, piophylactic measures must be 

 <'mployed, es]>ecially the destruction of the larvae and 

 ])upae in the excrements by troatuicut with limo or 

 jietioleum (..-I //w;-. Mcil. July 1!)). 



Tlic ravages of the tsetse-fly disease in Afiica ,ire 

 unfoitunately only too well know-n. Tile importance of 

 this note to the West Indies will be a)>parent when we 

 state that the Hy (StniiKKri/s mlritni us) which is 

 .stated to be the intermediary in the I'iiili])pir.es, is 

 known to occur in St. Vincent, and in all probaliility is 



Sugar-cane experiments in Barbados. 



In the Course of a review of the sugar-cane 

 experiments at Barbados, tlie Lie isla riti Plmitcr of 

 August 28, says : — 



While the work thus so effectively carried out in 

 Barbados does not exactly comply with our climatic 

 and other Louisiana conditions, the whole subject i.s 

 one of great interest to us, as we have many points in 

 cane culture in common, and the careful study of 

 scientific investigation of the cane plant and of sugar 

 manufacture in the English West Indies will always be 

 a matter of great moment to us, and we sincerely wish 

 the gentlemen pi-omoting it the highest degree of 

 success. 



Packing Sweet Potatos. 



A Fiinair's liuUriiii of the U.S. l>ept. of .\gi-icul- 

 ture issued last year gives a gooil illustration of the 

 necessity of carefully packing produce which has to bo 

 sent any consi<leral)le distance. 



• Souie enterprising growers of sweet potatos in 

 New Jer.sey took the lead in adopting standartis of 

 ajipi'arance and (piality, in grading uniforudv, and 

 ])acking carefully, in giving their produce a distinctive 

 uauu' and ]iutting it on the nuirket in the best possible 

 condition with tiie grower's name or initials on each 

 package. . . Buyers understood that "Jersey Swei'ts", 

 on which the grower has put his name are uniform 

 throughout the barrel with the single exception that a 

 layer of selected tubers is jilaced on the bott(jm of the 

 barrel in packing, which apjiears on the toj) when the 

 barrel is opened." 



The care and extra labour entailed has ju-oved to 

 be well re-]iaid financially, and shippers (d' ' Barbado.s 

 jiotatos' would be well advi.sed in endeavouring to 

 attain a .similar standard, so that their produce may 

 secure the confidence of the market. Directions for 

 ]iacking sweet potatos for export will be finind on 

 p. 1X1 of this number. 



