A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST iNDIES. 



■'-"■1 



Vol. XVIII. No. 455. 



BASBADOS, OCTOBER 4, 1919. 



Peici Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Pagb. 



Rats TrouVjlesainc in 



Trinidad 315 



Cane Sugar Industry, The 



Rise and Progi-ess of . . . 313 

 Cane wrs US Beet Sugar... 312 

 Cooo-uut Oil Siiipping in 



Bulk 309 



>3oiv Fil)i'e, Mechanical 



Properties of 311 



Colonial Credit Societies, 



Position of ... ... 318 



Cotton, Conuiiunity Pro- 

 duction of ... ... 310 



Cuba Association, A Big .306 

 Cultivating, Value of 317 

 Denierara Lime Juice and 



Rice Factory 310 



Gleanings... 316 



Hevea Rubber Trees, 



Effect of Lightning on 309 

 Insect Notes : — 



Control of the Onion 

 Thrips 315 



Proteciion against Wee- 

 . ■ vilin Corn 314 



Items of Local Interest ... 308 



Market Reports 320 



Milk Adulteration Penal- 

 ties ■ 301» 



Moon and Crops, The ... 309 

 Notes and Comments ... 312 

 Pen Manure, New Facts 

 concerning ... ... 307 



Physiology, Recent Work 



in 311 



Pine-aople Culture in 



Cuba — 311 



Port of Bridgetowji " ' ■ 313 



Rubber Seed Oil 309 



St. Lucia Prize Holdijigs 



Competition, 1918-19 .. 319 

 Sponges from the British 

 Virgin Islands... ... 313 



Sweet Potato Experi- 

 ment."! 305 



Trinidad Exports ... 315 



Venereal and Other 

 Diseases ... ... 317 



Volcano, A Great, Model of 312 

 Weather in St. Croix ... 317 



Sweet Potato Experiments. 



.N the West Indies, a large amount of work 

 has been done with the object of intro- 

 ducing into general cultivation improved 

 varieties or strains of sweet potato. The interest 

 shown by growers— both large and small— in this 

 work has not been as great as it deserves. In the 

 West Indies, the sweet potato is the staple vegetable. 

 The poorer classes are largely dependent upon it for 

 tkeir food supply. It is therefore. eeonomiCdUy, a 

 Tery important crop, quite as important, iti an 



economic sense, as sugar-cane or cotton, even though 

 these last-named crops yield at present greater 

 financial piofits. 



In some islands like Barbados and MontiseiTati 

 uhere is, or used to be, an export trade in sweet 

 potatoes to neighbouring colonies. But the high price 

 of sugar and cotton has tended to attract growers to 

 the cultivation of these crops, with the result thai the 

 cultivation of provision crops has suffered. 



One exception is to be noticed in ihe British 

 Virgin Islands, where during the last few years aR 

 important export trade in sweet potatoes has grown 

 up, due to the increased demand for this vegetable 

 in the neighbouring American islands. 



In any case it is always desirable, and indeed 

 necessary for every island to produce a large pro- 

 portion of its sweet potato requirements, and greater 

 attention should be paid to what the Agricultural 

 Departments have done, and are continuing to do, with 

 the object of making sweet potato growing more 

 profitable. 



For many years plot experiments with different 

 varieties or strains have been carried out in Antigua 

 Montserrat, St. Kitts and Tortola. Some varieties 

 like ' Spooner,' ' Red Bourbon', and ' Hen and Chick- 

 ens ' have given consistently good yields: others, of 

 which '■ Gent's Table ' is an example, have given per- 

 sistently poor yields. Others again, like ■ Blue Bell ', 

 are noted for their drought-resisting capabilities others 

 for their quality ns a food for the table. 



