198 



THE AGKICULTUR]^L NEWS. 



October 11, 1902. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters aiui matter for publication, as well as all 

 sjieciiiiens for naming sliould be addresseil to the Commis- 

 sioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



It is partie-ularly rc(Hieste(l tliat no letters be addressed 

 to any iiiendjer of the .staff by name Such a course may 

 entail dela}-. 



Communications should always be written on one side 

 of the l>ai>er oidy. It should be understood that no contri- 

 butions or specimens 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 cumplete list ni tlie Ldudnn 



and Local agents will be found on page liOS uf this 

 nundier. 



Correspondents sending ncwspa|)ers should be careful to 

 mark the paragraj)hs they wish to bring under notice. 



^(jricultural Dmufi 



Vol. L SATURD.VY, OJTOBER 11, 1902. No. 1.?. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Bourbon versus Other Varieties of Cane. 



It is not inl'rc(|Ui'nt to licar tln' newer varieties et' 

 .siigar-cano contrasteil unfavourably with the Bourbon. 

 In this connexion the data recently put before the 

 Barbados Agriciiltural Society by Mr. J. R. Bovell are 

 of great interest (see p. 194) It would appear that the 

 average yield of sugar of the newer varieties is 

 very little different from that of the Bourbon before it 

 was overcome by disease. The figui'es ivferred to 

 a]>ply of coiu'se sole!}' to Barbados, and it would be 

 interesting if a similar, exact comparison were made in 

 Antigua aiul St. Kitt's, the other islands in which the 

 replacemi'nt of the Bourbon by (jfher varietiis has 

 been most complete. 



Seedling Canes D.74 and D.95. 



The two Deiiierara seedling canes, known as D. 74 

 and D. 9.5, have done extremely w'eil in some parts of 

 the West Indies. Their success has not been confined 

 to these Colonies, for the h.aixin ii(( I'diutcr of 

 September, (i .says; ■ 'I'hese canes show high sucrose, 

 large tonnage, are ihniight proof, extraonlinary stoolers, 

 vigorous growers and fine stubblers.' 



Cotton Growing in the West Indies. 



Samples iif four varieties of cotton gmwn in 

 Antigua doling the ])ast season, part of the experi- 

 Tiient work of the I )eiiartnient, were, as reconU'd on page 

 Kii), sent to England for report. The detailed valuation 

 is given in this numbt'r (p. 195) As in the case of 



the Montserrat samples, the Sea Island cotton has 

 proved by far the most valuable. 



Through the kindness of a correspondent we 

 have received an original account sale of some 

 cotton sent from Barbados in \HM and the ditterence 

 in the market value of cotton now, and less than 

 forty years ago is interesting. Three bales contain- 

 ing 8 net. 1 (/;■. 7 Ih. of cotton, fetched in the jiublic 

 market £128 0.x. 3*/., the .sale jirice being no less 

 than '2s. [)d. per lb. After payment of all charges 

 for freight, etc., the grower received £117 ICv. 8f/. 

 To-day he would receive ])erhaps £2.5, and yet even 

 at this comparatively low rate, the cultivation of cotton 

 in the West Indies would yield a profit of £1 to .£2 per 

 acre in all jirobabilitv. It must be borne in mind that 

 cotton seed is no hjngcr the 'waste j)roduct' it was 

 formerl}' regarded. 



In addition to the experiments of tlie Department 

 in Antigua, ]\[ontserrat, and St. Lucia, two planters 

 in Barbados ha\e already obtained seed, and intend 

 to give cotton a trial. 



^^m-»--v^^ 



Precautions against Surra Disease. 



At a meeting of the Agricultural Society of 

 Trinidad on September 9, the warning issued by the 

 Imperial 1 )ep.iitment of Agriculture with reference to 

 the possible impoitation of Surra disease was discus.sed. 

 The Government Veterinary Surgeon pointed out the 

 serious nature of the disease and recommended that 

 steps shoidd be taken to j)revent the introduction of 

 American animals into the eohjny. From the remarks 

 of Ml-. Meaden, Slan.iger (d' the (Jovernment Farm, it 

 would appear that in Trinidad there is no legislation 

 ati'ording protection against any animal disease except 

 glanders. A committee was finally ajipointed to bring 

 the matter before the local Government. 



Tlie Colonial Secretary of the Leeward Islands 

 ha siiiformed the Department that 'necessary action 

 has been taken to guard against the introduction into 

 tills cohinvofthe disease.' 



Manuring Cacao. 



'I'he conclusions stated en page 19(i with reference 

 to the manuring of cacao are worthy of the attention 

 of ])lanters of this crop. They embody results arrived 

 at, in jiart on estates in St. Lucia, and in jiart on 

 experiment ))lots of the Department in that island, 

 and also in (Jrenada. 



The Value of Good Packing. 



In our last number we (juoted a FKnini-K Jhtllcfin 

 of the United States l)e])artment of Agriculture, with 

 regard to the necessity of carefully packing produce for 

 exjiort. Two jirincipal vaiietit\s of pot;itos are put 

 \ipon the American market :' Southern Sweets' and 

 ' Jersev Sweets.' These names are not now indicative 

 of tlu' localities where the potatos are grown. As was 

 explained on Jiage LS2, the ' Jer.sey Sweets' originally 

 came into high npute on account of the care taken in 

 jnitting them on the market. ' Tho.se who ship 

 Southern Sweets from whatever section give little or 



