A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. I. No. 16. 



BARBADOS, NOVEMBER 22, ]f>02. 



Price \d. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 B.in:vna3, C jltiva.tion of ... 244 



Coffee and Civoao 243 



Cotton Seed Oil Industry 245 



Department News 251 



Dejiartnient Publications 255 

 Department Report : — 



Trade of Pari for 1!>01 250 



Educational : — 



School Gardens at St. 

 Lucia 253 



Fungoid Siieoiniens, Col- 

 lecting and Forward- 

 ins of 243 



Garden Notes : — 



The Eucharis Lily ... 248 



Gleanings 252 



Grenada, Crops in 245 



Insect Notes : — 



Sjiraying for Insect 

 Pests in En^'land ... 248 



Page. 



... 254 

 ... 246 

 ... 244 



Market Reports 



Notes and Comments 



Oranges, Packing of 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Bee-keeping in Jamaica 251 

 Martini<jueand St. Vin- 

 cent, Eruptions in... 251 

 Plain facts as to Trusts 

 and Tariff 251 



Poultry 250 



Reptiles of Barbados ... 248 



Sugar Industry : — 



The Sugar-cane crops 

 of the world 242 



The growth of a new 



Industry 241 



Trinidad crops 245 



West Indian Exports 



1900-'01 253 



The Growth of a New Industrv 



</Zrl hK* N the article on the ' Utilization of Home 

 Products' in tlie last number of this 

 Journal, we pointed out that one of the 

 methods of remedying the present non-economical state 

 of affair.s in the West Indies was by the local production 

 of articles now imported. A review of the jirogress 



maile by one industry, which has been steadily advancing 

 during the last few years, will serve to show that the 

 advice given is n<3t merely theoretical but is capable 

 of practical application. 



Some twelve years ago there were probably no 

 onions, to speak of, grown in the West Indies. Large 

 supplies were consumed, and for these the colonies 

 were dependent on importations. The profits arising 

 from the cultivation of these onions went, not to 

 West Indian agriculturists but to the onion growers of 

 the Canary Islands, Bermuda, etc. 



In about 1890 an old Bermuda grower, resi- 

 dent in Antigua, put his jjractical knowledge to 

 account and made an experiment in onion cultivation. 

 The attempt was successful, and by 1806 he had 

 ten acres under onion cultivation in the island. (See 

 iresi Indlii a BtdU'ti.n, Vol. II., p. I(i3). The question 

 had meanwhile been vigorously taken up by the 

 Botanic Station, and in 1895 to '96, onion cultivation 

 may be said to have attained the rank of a minor 

 industry in Antigua. It has thriven year by year, and 

 its jjresent position may be gauged by the fact that last 

 year, in adilition to the large quantities consumed 

 locally, Antigua was able to export over 27,000 lb. of 

 onions to the intercolonial and New York markets. 



The industry has also been attempted in other 

 islands, where with the advantage of the valuable 

 experience gained at Antigua, progress has naturally 

 been more rapid. In Dominica experiments in growing 

 onions from sets, imported by the Botanic Station, were 

 made in 1899. The results proved that the conditions 



