o^o 



THE AGKICULTUI'iAL NEWS. 



XOVKMCKR 



190i 



INSECT NOTES. 



Spraying Sv/eet Potatos. 



The varieties of sweet potato, grown as ]iart of an 

 (•xjierinient by the Department at Watoi-fonl estate, 

 Barbados, were found to be suffering fiMiu the attack 

 <if a caterpillar which webs uj) the leaf and then eats 

 it. The vines were considerably damaged and the 

 condition of the plants was unsatisfactory. Tile field 

 was sprayed with a mixture of 



Paris green ... ... 1 tb. 



Lime ... ... ... 5 lb. 



Mola,sses ]() tb. 



Water 200 gallon.?. 



This is the usual Paris green mixture with the 

 addition of molasses to enable the ])oison to adhere to 

 the plants and resist the action of rain. Two machines 

 were used, the ' Knap.sack' and the ' Fruitall,' and the 

 work was completed in a little over a half-day, including 

 all preliminaries. The spraying was done on Septem- 

 ber 19. Live caterjiillars were not to be found the 

 week after, and the field has remained healthy for 

 a month after the treatment. The residt has thus 

 been verj' successful. 



Spraying such as this should be carried out on 

 every field of sweet potatos in which insect pests 

 appear. The cost, under fifty cents pn- acre, is so small 

 compared with the value of the crop that, in the 

 majority of cases, the increased yield is far more than 

 enough to pay ibr the treatment even when the 

 attack is only mild. In bad cases of red spider, potato 

 worm, or other pests, there is often the' risk of entire 

 loss of the crop. 



ANTHRAX AT ST. VINCENT. 



The following 'important Notice' has been issued 

 by the (Josernment of St. ^'incent : — 



A disease among cattle has appeiU'e<l in St. Vincent 

 ♦lui'iiig the rainy sca.son tni' soiiie years past, more particularly 

 in the neiglibourliood of Mc.sopotamia ^'alley, C.'alder, 

 Jiiigliton, etc., fimii whii-ji many jioad of stock have 

 jicrisjicd. 



Tills year the <Usea.so has been ratlier wider spread 

 tliaii usual, and has been extended to the Island of Mustiipic, 

 in eoiise(|uenee of cattle tVom St. \"iiiccnt having been 

 removed there. 



The disea.se in ipicstion is known a.s Anthrax or Splenic 

 Fever, and in addition to its being very fatal to cattle it 

 is also highly dangeroii.s to human beings who can contract 

 it by liandling the dead animals. Several cases of Anthrax 

 have already been treated at the Colonial Hosiiital. 



Animals which arc snsiiected to liavc died of this 

 di.sease slioidd on no account bo skinned or cut open in any 

 way, but the body, in its skin, slionld, whenever iiossible, 

 be carted at once to the sea, or if that is not po.ssible, buried 



ihcp in the least frecjuented part of the jia.sturc and away 

 from any water or dwelling house, and lime should be 

 thrown on tlie bod}\ 



The Hesh of .sncli animals should never on any account 

 be eaten. 



All dung or droiipings from suspected sick animals, or 

 animals which have died, .should be carefully gathered up 

 and destroyed by fire at .some |ilace where other animals do 

 not have aeces.s. 



Where an animal is scon to be sick with the symptoms 

 of Anthrax, it should be at once separated from the rest 

 of the herd and idlowed to die. It should not lie cut or 

 bled in any way. The other animals should be moved away 

 at once to another pasture and kept .separate, and carefully 

 watched for ten days, ^^■hen, if they show no signs of sickness, 

 tliey may lie considered health}'. 



Ad sheds, stables and buildings where a diseased animal 

 has ilicd or has been keiit, should be cleansed and disinfected 

 as follows : — 



Fresh lime should be thoroughlj- .sprinkled about the 

 jilaee, which should then be swejit, and all dung, 

 tra.sh, and anything else the animal has been in 

 contact with, .should lie etlectually removed. 



The place should then be limewashed, a pint of carbolic 

 acid being used to each gallon of limewash. 



Owners of stock are urgently requested to give attention 

 to these precautions. 



In consecjnencc of the outbreak of this dangerous 

 disease, telegratns were sent from St. ^'incent to the 

 Governors of Barbados, Trinidad, and the Leeward 

 Islands, and to the Administrator of St. Lucia, notif\ing 

 the occurrence of the disease and advising the prohibi- 

 tion of all importation of stock fi'om St. A'incent for the 

 present. 



RICE PRODUCTION IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



In the Ai/riiulttiad Xcir.s (p. 220) attention Wius 

 called to tlie steadily decreasing (pumtity of rice im]ioi-t- 

 ed into British (Juiana conseipient on the increased 

 (pumtity grown locally. Thv Comptroller of Customs, in 

 his report recently published, referring to rice writes: — 



The fidling off last year amounted to 5,1S6,;?80 lb. 

 In the last twenty years the decrease in the i|Uantity of rice 

 imported has amounted to 65 per cent. Many persons are 

 greatly exercised about the large loss to the revenue from 

 import duty wducli this decrea.se represents, but surely there 

 is no need for anxiety on this score. It is not that the 

 inhabitants have ceased to use rice, but that they are 

 supiilying their wants from locally grown rice. They 

 are obtaining the article more economically, and they 

 are thereby enabled to supply iitlier needs more readily 

 than hitherto, which fact will, in time, tell in the 

 right direction on the volume of imjiorts. The chancas of 

 jiroducing more rice than is necessary by our local needs, and 

 the con.seipient establishing of an export trade go up year by 

 year. This consiunniation is to be devoutly wished for and 

 stoutly aimed at. 



This is distinctly encouraging, and it is hoped 

 that the peojile of the neighbouring West Indian island.s 

 will endeavour to emulate the jieople of Dt'merara in 

 the effort to supply their wants from jimducts grown 

 locally. We have before pointed out that there are 

 many articles of food imported in large ipiantitics by 

 some of these islands which should be grown locally. 



I 



