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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



NOVKMBEB 29, 191 S. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 jpecimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies oi the 'Agricultural 

 News' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department, 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 page 4 of the cover. 



Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., 



AgriciUtureforthe West Indies D.Sc, F.I.C.. F.C.S. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 

 Scientific Assistant an^ 



Assistant Editor 

 Entomologist 

 Mycologist 

 Assistaid for C'dton Etsenrch 



W. R. Dunlop. 



H. A. Ballou, M.Sc. 



W. Nowell. D.I.C. 



S. C. Hailand, B.Sc.+ 



Chief Clerk 

 OUrical Assistants 



CLERTCAL STAFF. 



A. G. HoweU. 

 ("L. A. Corbin. 



Typist 

 Assistant Typist 



Assistant for Publications 



■ P. Taylor. 

 Ik. R. C. Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 Miss W. Ellis. 



A. B. Price, Fell. Joum. Inst. 

 ^Provided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research. 



^firinitturat Mtm 



i' 



v^. 



Vol. XVIII SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1919. No. 1.59. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial ia the present number consists of 

 a review of the recent address of Sir Daniol Morris, 

 K.C.M.G., to the Botanical Secti(jn of the IJiitish 

 As-socialion for the Advancement of .Science, 1919. 



On page '^12 will be found a review of the Report 

 on Sugar-cane E.\p(;rinients in the Leeward Islands 

 for 191f;-17 and 1917-IS. 



Two interesting articles on onion cultivation in 

 Grtnada, and on the storage of onion seed in the 

 tropics, appear at pages 374 and 37.5. 



Insect Notes in this issue deal with the West 

 Indian toad. Reference was made to the same snb- 

 ject in the last issue of this Journal. 



Rubber Seed Oil. 



It is stated \\\Xhe India Rubber IfoWrf for October 

 1, 1919, thaC'for most purposes rubber seed oil isavery 

 good substitute for linseed oil.' This statement is not 

 correct, according to the Agricultural Bulletin of the 

 Federated Malay States, for March-April 1919. In 

 this it is stated that on examination in England 'the 

 oil was found to be inferior to linseed oil for paint 

 manufacture, but good enough to mix with linseed oil 

 for this purpose.' 



In regard to the high cost, of shipping rubber seed 

 from the Federated Malay .States it is pointed out 

 in the Agricultural Bulletin that it would be 

 (juite impracticable to do this, unless a special use 

 for rubber seed oil could be definitely found. It is 

 suggested that rubber oil might prove more useful 

 for paint mixing in warm climates than linseed oil. 

 which is said to dry too quickly under hot condition.s| 



Imperial Department Publications. 



The annual reports on the Agricultural Depart- 

 ments of the Windward and Leeward Islands for the 

 year ended March :il, 1918, have now all been i.ssucd. 

 In addition to these, the report on Sugar-cane E.xperi- 

 nients in the Leeward Islands, and the llV'.sf Indian 

 Bullttiv, Vol. XVII, No. 4, have also been issued and 

 awe now in course of distribution. The delav in pass- 

 ing these publications through the press is wholly 

 attributable to printing ditticulties, but this in no way 

 detracts from their value. There have also been 

 issued recently, the Reports on the Agricultural 

 Departments of Dominica and the British Virgin 

 Islands for 1918-19, and the Reports for St. Lncia, 

 Antigua and St. Vincent are now in the press 



From the reviews that have appeared in this 

 .Tourna] nf thp Dopnrfmr-ntal Roport*, it will be 

 apparent that 1917-18 was a period of no less 

 activity and progress than previous j'ears. In 

 another column of this number is presented a 

 comprehensive summary of the report on sugar-cane 

 experiments in the I-eeward Islands. 



The number of the West Indian Bulb tin, which 

 completes Volume X\'II, is a very interesting one. 

 The first paper, on the red ring or 'root' disease of coco- 

 nut palms, is a very full description by Mr. W. Nowell, 

 Mycologist ot the Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 i)f a disease which is responsibli- for the lossof/jiany 

 coco- nut palms in Trinidad, Tobago, and Grenada. 

 This is well illustrated by plates showing infest- 

 ed material. The .second paper is by Dr. N'. A. Cobb, 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, .and 

 tiescribes a newly discovered nematode {Aphelcnchas 

 cocophilu'^, n. sp.), which causes the above disease, 

 Mr- .Xovell haxing discovered the association. Dr. Co'jb's 

 paper is illustrated by lietailcii drawings uf the neiiia. 

 In the third paper, Mr. .S. G. Harland, Assistant 

 for (Jotton Research ou the staff of this Department, 

 gives a second contribution on the improvemeni of the 

 yield of Sea Isl.ind cotton in the West Indies, by the 

 isolation of pure strains. Thi' fourth and last paper 



J 



