Vol. XVIII. No. 445. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



U7 



crops. The damage which caterpillars inriict upon 

 such crops as sweet potatoes, Bengal and velveti beans, 

 woolly pyrol, cowpeas, are all cases in point. So also 

 are the attacks of caterpillars on garden plants, such 

 as are familiar in the ciise of the amaryllids, 

 known as lilies in the West Indies, the leaves ot which 

 are often eaten completely down by the larvae of a 

 moth (Euthisanotia amaryllidis), and of the 

 fiaugipani trees {Plwmi.tria spp.; which are regularly 

 denuded of their leaves in some localities by the hand- 

 some caterpillai's of a large hawk moth (Pseiulosphinx 

 tetrio). It is probable also that attacks ol the corn ear 

 ■<Koxm {Laphygma frugiperda), and of the cotton boll 

 vform (Heiiothig ohsoleta) a,re independent of the con- 

 ditions of health of attacked plants. Other instances 

 might also be cited. 



Not long ago the attitude of planters and investi- 

 gators towards plant pests and diseases was that the 

 insect causing the damage, or the fungus causing the 

 disease, was the main thing to be investigated, as is 

 shown in fact to be the case in the instances mentioned 

 above. Now observers, whether planters or tichnical 

 workers, are being forced to the conciusioa that the 

 health and vigour of the attacked crop or plant is fre- 

 quently the determining factor in regard both to the 

 attack and its remedy; consequently, plant pests and 

 diseases assume a wider significance. It is therefore 

 recognized that it is difSficult, in many cases impossible, 

 for a single individual to handle some of these problems 

 as an expert in all the questions concerned. In many 

 cases there is required the united knowledge of a number 

 of men, including trained planters and technical special- 

 ists, having knowledge of many aspects of biology and 

 agriculture. This is where a properly organized 

 Department of Agriculttare fills a very important 

 function. It provides with regard to- the problems of 

 plant sanitation a group of .specialists, who, working in 

 intimate association, are able to present to the planter 

 the sum of their combined knowledge, which may be 

 applied by him to practical agriculture in conjunction 

 with his own experience. 



There are fashions in things agricultural and scien- 

 tific, as well as in other matters, and there may be 

 a danger lest it may become the fashion to talk only of 

 plants' vigour, and cognate matters when dealing with 

 plant troubles. It is the purport of this article to point 

 out that there are instances where the insect or fungus 

 causing the trouble does not appear to be deterred or 

 limited in its attacks by the vigour of the host plant, 

 but that there are, on the contrary, n^any ca.ses where 

 the attacking pa«asit«, whether insect or fungus, has 

 to be dealt with as the primary trouble. 



PINE-APPLES AND TOMATOES IN THE 



BAHAMAS 



In giving evidence before the Commission appoiDCed by 

 the Governor of the Bahamas, to enquire what measure* 

 should be taken f<)r rendering assistance to discharged 

 soldiers returning to the colony, several planters gave 

 interesting details ab"Ut the chief agricultural industries, 

 among which the cultivation of pine-apples and tomatoea. 

 appear to be leading ones. 



One planter, who has been growing these crops for many 

 year.s at Eleuthera, speaks of the soil of that island as 

 being for the most part very fertile, and well suited co these- 

 fruit crops. Pine apples will not grow on any land; but 

 what is known as the ' red soil ' of Eleuthera needs only 

 a small amount of fertilization for pineapple culture. Pine- 

 apples are usually pl.inted about 2,200 dozen plants per 

 acre, and good cultivation occasionally yields a crop from 

 about 80 per cent, of the plants, though, on an average, 

 the yield is not from more than 50 per cent. 



The prices of pine-apples vary ; at present they are 

 fetching 2s. per dozen, though the usual price was hitherto- 

 1.?. 6rf. per dozen. There was formerly a much larger area 

 of land under pineapples in the island of Eleuthera, as is 

 shown by the fact that a crop of no less than 500,000- 

 dozen pineapples was tirown there in the year 1892, while 

 at present it is estimated that a total of not more than -50,000- 

 dozen forms the crop People gave up planting them, 

 because it did not pay when they used to get only 

 \s. Qd. per dozen. Now, however, that the price 

 has risen to 2s. per dozen, they are anxious to plant 

 again, but it is difficult to obtain plants. The planter- 

 referred to states that on his cultivation of -tO acres 

 this year the expense ha.s so far been £500, but he hoped to- 

 reap from 15,000 to -'0,000 dozen pine-apples this season. 

 On an average market, the clear profit ought to be from £-tO- 

 to £50 per acre, and for some years there has been nothing 

 which has paid better than pine-apples. In conjunction with 

 his cultivation, this planter conducts a large canning factory 

 in which he employs 500 people daily. 



With reference to tomato growing, this is considered' 

 to be rather more risky, because of the need of rain at 

 particular seasons for the success of the crop. Sometimes 

 tomatoes are raised in the same fields that have been 

 planted with pine-apple cuttings between them. For 

 the last three years, the planter from whose evidence we are 

 quoting, has been growing tomatoes along with pine-apples. 

 From planting tomatoea among 900 dozen pine-apple slips 

 he obtained a yield of 509 crates of tomatoes. It apptears 

 that the tomato crop of the whole district was estimated at 

 about 100,000 crates from 500 acres of land, though it is- 

 considered that if there had been better transportation 

 facilities, this crop could have been more than doubled, iia the 

 tomatoes from the Bahamas seem to possess a good reputa- 

 tion in the New York market. 



The tomato industry is a most important and profitable 

 one, but it is essential that individual packers should care- 

 fully grade their produce for packing in separate crates, in> 

 order that the purchaser may know with certainty what .sized 

 fruit each crate contains. An exporter who packs his 

 produce in a reliable manner will obtain nearly twice as much 

 for his crop than is obtained by other exporters who do not 

 take the same care. Even a partially improper packing 

 gives a bad name to the whole of a consignment. 



