216 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



July 1-2, 1919. 



EDITORIAL jfj^^ 



Bk\d Ofkick 



NOTICES. 



Bakbados. 



Food Requirements of Man 



The Food (War) Committee of the Royal Society 

 of London has recently issued a report 

 reqiureiiienl 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 Bpecimeiis lor naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All .ipplicationa for copies oi the 'Agricultural 

 Kowb' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 ^%ge i of the cover. 



Ivifi'rial Commhsioner of 

 Agricultnrf fur Ihf West Indies 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF 



Sir Francis Watts, K.O.M.G. 

 D.Sc.F.LC, F.C.S. 



,£ci-ntifie Assistant ««■' 



Jfsiitant Ediior 

 J^' I iii'ih'tiisl 



AsxUtaiA for C'lttou Rtsenrch 



W. R. Dunlop. 



n. A. Balliu, M.Sc. 



W. Nowell, D.I C. 



S. C. Harland, B.Sc.t 



CLBRrOAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 



{L. A. Corbin. 

 P. Taylor.* 

 K. R. C. Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 MiHB W. Ellis. 



A. B. Price, Fell. Juarn. Inst. 



iProrvi'.d by the Imprruil Uepart/ment of ScieiUific and 



Judiisti till Kesi-orrh. 

 *Stcund'd for MUittry Surnce. 



Chief CUrk 

 Clerii-.al A-tnistnutt 



_Aiitst'iii,t Typist 

 A'.n*t(i-iit fur Puhlicatioim 



Agricultural |]eiufi 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



on the food 



of man, ind their variationi ;...Cviuiiig to 



flrro cpx,«!r<e, ;iri.l c^""!. !):ition. Th'.:- r " ' '::■-. : ;>•—■{ 



in Natura for April 24, and several pumts oi interest 

 are brouglit out. 'l"he food reciuitcnionts of a ir.;ilo 

 have been found to vaiy from 2,7.50 calories for a tailor, 

 to 5 500 for a wood-cutter. The intiuenco of ex:..r;ul 

 temperature has not yet receiveil adequate iuvestiga- 

 tion, so that it is not possible to apply results lor 

 diH'eront seasons of the year, nor for ditf'.rcnt climates. 

 The energy requirements of women hcvc been found 

 to range i'rom l,7.s;> t-alories for a seam:.;tress, to ^^,281 

 for a luundrcs?, the tood requirements cf the average 

 working woman being placed at 2,G.50 culoiicis per 

 diem. It may be explained that a caloric is i/iie unit 

 of beat, and means the amount of heat required to 

 raise 1 cubic centimetre of water 1 degree iu 

 temperature. 



Value of certain Foods. 



A noie on the dietetic value of cprtain foods 

 appears in PhysioliHiical Al'strdct.^ tor A]irl 1019. Iu 

 regard to the diishoeii. it is .stated that this vegetable 

 contains 50 per cent, uioie protein and 50 p^-r cent, 

 more starch and sugars than the potato. Again, in 

 regard to Sudan grass hay as a looti for live slock, 

 digestion experiments have .shown that 04 9 pt r cent, 

 of the dry matter is digestible. The aualy.'^es of the 

 hay show that the iat and protein u.cnase in the 

 early stages ot ripening aud then decrease, while the 

 changes in nitrogen-free extracts and ash are in the 

 opposite direction. Lastly, there is a n.'te of interest 

 on sea-weed as fodder. It is stfit- d that reernt 

 experiments in Norway, France and (J. rmaiy show 

 that certain sea-weeds may well be given to animals 

 and leave no trace ol smell in either nient or eggs of 

 animals e,sperimente(l on. It seems most »dvi.=>able 

 to give the sea-weed in the ground dry state as a 

 supplementary tood, pspecially to cattle and pigs, but 

 its nutritive value must not be over-rated. 



Vol. XVIII. SATURDAY, .JULY 12, 1919. No. 449. 



Insect Notes in this issue deal with the sugar-cane 

 and hardback grubs ii. Antigu-i. 



Undi r Plant l>isease9 will be found the concluding 

 .portion of a report on the investigation of the froghopper 

 jiest ai.d direase of sugar-cane, 



•Contents of Present Issue 



The editorial in this issue deals with a subject of 

 land settlement for d« mobilized officers and men of 

 equal standing in the West Indie's. 



An interesting article describing another species of 

 avocado will be found on page 219. 



Water-cress. 



The common water-cress lynt^turthim officinale) 

 is one of the cosmopolitan plants cultivated as a 

 <^alad plant. It grows readily in the West Indies, 

 although it docs not fruit here, but it is so easily 

 propagated by small pieces of the stem that its 

 cultivation presents no ditficulty In a note on the 

 subj'Ct, Mr. \y. \. Sands, the Agricultui'al Superin- 

 teiiderit, .St Vincent, stales that small stretches of 

 water rills, cleared of weeds and drained at the outlet, 

 are very easily stocked with cuttings of cress or 

 small pieces of the stem with roots attached. They 

 quickly take root, .-wid in ashort lime the surface of the 

 pool is coveri'd with the shoots of the wa'er-cress, 

 which atVoiils a perennial supply of sui;eulent salad. 



In the drier West Indian islands, where rivulets 

 are not trecpiently be to seen, water-cress is grown in 



