,270 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Arr.isT 23, 1919. 



ST. KITTS - NEVIS : REPORT ON THE 

 AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, rgir-iS. 



Mr. F. R. Shepherd-'.s report for 191 7-1 S on the 

 Agricultural Department, St. Kitts-Nevis, though unly just 

 issued, contaiD.s a large amount of new and interesting 

 information. At the Experiment Station a large amount 

 of work was done in the matter of plant distribution, large 

 vj'iant'ities of cuttings of the following plants having been 

 'Jistributed during the year : sweet potatoes, cassava, and 

 .iugar-cane. There was also distributed over ,'^,000 lb. of 

 specially .selected cotton seed, together with a considerable 

 quantity of beans, peanuts, and guinea corn. In regard to 

 experiments at the station, the report refers to those 

 conducted with provision crops. Altogether the yields were 

 ra'her poor, owing to unfavourable weather. 



The most important experiments were conducted with 

 cotton. The manurial experiments started thirteen years 

 ago were carried on, and these continued to indicate the 

 greiU value of general manuring. In order to get further 

 information concerning the flowering and boiling of the 

 plants, an effort was made during the seaso<i under review 

 to conduct experiments in a somewhat more detailed form 

 than bad hitherto been attempted. The average percentage 

 of bolls to flowers produced was found to be 6-3. This 

 shows that a great many more flowers are produced than 

 give rise to productive bolls. The report contains 

 instructive diagrams showing the flowering and boiling 

 curves for five of the experimental plots. The two chief 

 causes for the loss of 40 per cent, of the bolls were water short- 

 age and sudden changes in the atmospheric temperature. An 

 attempt is made to show this graphically by putting back 

 the boiling curves fifty days. This period has been found 

 \At be the average maturation period of Sea Island cotton. 

 On exaoiination, these curves show that shedding was at 

 its maximum during August and early September. Thi.s is 

 not suriirising, when it is remembered that during August 

 *'"7 per cent, of the total flowers were produeed, that for the 

 month there was only .'i inclie.s of rain, and that out of 

 thirty-one days there were fifteen on whicii no rain fell at all. 

 Changes in the temperature of the atmosphere were respon- 

 sible for thedding of young bolls. Many young bolls were 

 found shed in the phjts on ni.j.iii.igs after hot days which had 

 been followed by cool nights. As regards seed selection, 

 as in previous years, seed fiom the individual selected plants 

 No,'.. 20;-,, -Jdfi, 20«, 325, 312 and 416 were planted out in 

 ■\ field from which ratoon canes had been reaped. Figures 

 ire given to show that there has been a falling oil" in the lint 

 length of the .^elected cottons as compared" with previous 

 years, and this appears to be the re.iult of the low rainfall of 

 the.f.ason under review, especially at the critical period of 

 the life I f the boll. The yield of cotton from these selected 

 plots was good, especially in the case of Nos. .'.42 and ?2.5, 

 which each gave at the rats of 1,.')00 lb. of seed cotton per 

 acre. 



Concerning progress in the chief indostries, the export 

 of sugar from the Presidency during I'.'IV was 15,04S tons, 

 of which 11, t< 7 9 were crystals, and 3, 1 GO muscovado. This 

 is 1,0")8 tons below that of the previous year, and the 

 falling off was due to the dry weather at the latter part of 

 the season, which specially affected the late latoon.s. The 

 work with seedling canes has been continued by the depart- 

 ment on different estates and special attntion is called to 

 the very satisfactory results obtained by priva'e enterprise 

 at Brighton estate. From the sixty selected canes obtained 

 on that estate last year six have again been planted out 

 after careful field selection and juice examination. The 

 cotton industry owing to the war made great advances. _^ 

 The high prices ruling caused a considerable increase 

 in acreage both in St. Kitts and Nevis. The season 

 on the whole, was favourable. The great portion of the 

 St. Kitts' crop was purchased locally for spot cash by Mr. 

 H. F. Wildy, the agent for the Fine Spinners. On the 

 decision of the Government to purchase all the Sea Island 

 cotton for Admiralty purposes at an advance price of is. 6d. 

 per B). for clean cotton and l.(, for stains, the ba'ance to be 

 piid after the cotton was graded in England, Mr Wildy 

 handed over the cotton bought by him to the Government. 

 The payment of spot cash again thi.s season by the agent oi 

 the Fine Spinners was much appreciated by cotton growera 

 in the Presidency. It is estimated that the average yield per 

 acre of lint was 1-50 ft), which is low. 



An interesting section of the report under review is that 

 by Mr. Kelsick dealing with work in the chemical laboratory. 

 One of the principal matters dealt with was the island's milk 

 supply, over 1S6 samples obtained by the police having beea 

 examined of which thirty-one were returned as adulterated. 

 This is 167 per cent, and remains the same as in the previo»s 

 year. The water added ranged from 6 to 50 per cent. In- 

 vestigations were continued in regard to the lime require- 

 ments of soils and partial sterilization by the application of 

 lime. In the majority of cases the St. Kitts soils show a 

 high requirement for lime. In regard to partial sterilization 

 experiments were conducted with tomatoes and tobacco. 

 The results were interesting and it was found tbat nearly 

 twice as much weight of tomatoe.s and nearly twice as much 

 tobacco were obtained from the partially sterilized soil thaa 

 from the untreated. Another useful line of investigatioa 

 was the work done on the curing of vanilla beans ( I''. />!a/ii- 

 /"(?//Vi), vanilla being an important minor crop in Nevis. The 

 process generally followed in curing beans of this variety 

 consists of immersion in hot water, sweating, and drying at 

 moderate temperature. Experiments were made to ascertain 

 various facts concerning this proce.^s. In general the experi- 

 ments showed that treatment in hot water is necessary for 

 the curing of vanilla beans. Successful curing also depends 

 on the temperature of the water in which the beans are 

 immersed before sweating. The optiinuiii temperature for the 

 water would appear to be 80 C After being dipped ia 

 hot water the beans should be thoroughly sweated at 50 C 

 After sweating the beans should be allowed to dry slowly at 

 room temi)erature. This takes abiut two weeks. In curing, 

 the boans lose from 70 to 80 per cent, in weight. 



Mr. Howell's report on the experiment station at Nevis 

 shows that the routine work in regird to plant (listri'.iution 

 and i)lot experiments was c.riied out in a sitisfaetory 

 minner. A ver}' large (piantity of seeds and cutting.! was 

 distributed t'l growers. It ia recorded that during the year 

 nearly 210,000 cuttings of sweet potatoes were sent out to 

 growers in the island. There was also distrib ited over 

 3,000 tt). of selected cotton seed and 7,700 onion seedlings. 

 In regard to the sugar industry experiments with twenty-foutf; 



