408 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Decembek 27, 1919. 



EDITORIAL 



Hkad Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter tor publication, as well as all 

 jpccimens tor naming, should be addressed to the 

 'jomniissiuner. Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All :'pplications for copies oi the 'Agricultural 

 News' and other Departmentyl publications, should be 

 addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 page -i of the cover. 



Imunrial Covimissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G.. 



Agri.">dtnre for the. West Indies D.Sc, F.I.C., F.C.S. 



W. R. Dunlop. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 

 Scien tifir A ssistant and 



Assistant Editor 

 Entumulogist H. A. Ballou, M.Sc. 



Myooloqist W. Nowell, D.I.C. 



Assi'ta'd for Cotton Resenrch S. C. Hai'land, B..Sc.+ 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



Chief Clerk A. G. Howell. 



{L. A. Corbin. 

 P. Taylor. 

 K. R. C. Foster. 

 Typist Miss B. Robinson. 



Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis. 



Assistant for Pubiicatioiis A. B. Price. Fell. Jonrn. Inst. 



^Provided by the Imperial Deparlmeid of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research. 



^griciittural Jjmufj 



Vol. XVIIL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1919. No. 461. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The <iisiiiiction between piiie and applied .science, 

 and the relation of these two branches of knowledge 

 to one another, is the subject of the editorial in this 

 issue. 



Under In.sect .Notes, page 410, will be dmnd i in 

 conciuoion of a summary of entomological inf<irmation 

 in 1019. 



Observations on the .-acao canker fungn.s as a 

 cause of coco nut bud rot will be found un<ler Plant 

 Diseases, page +14.. 



On page 411 will be found an interesting article 

 on a system of manure making in Mauritius. 



Local Agricultural Show. 



In Barbados, under the auspices of the Liral j 

 Department of Agriculture, peasants' shows have I 

 been held from tmie to time in different paits of ' 

 the island. This year, at Blowers estate in the 

 p.irish of St. .James, on December :{, passiblv in some 

 respects the most successful of these shows took 

 jilaee. The exhibits of fruit and vegetables, both 

 from the gardens of elementarv schools and fr.im 

 the holdings of the peasants, were very satisfac- 

 tory. The products were well grown and well ' 

 selected. After the distribution of the prizes bv His ] 

 i;.\celleDcy the (iovernor, ilr .J. H. Bovell, Director | 

 of Agriculture, in a speech to the peasants, teachers, 

 and children who had sent exhibits, uttered well deS( ;v- ' 

 ed words of couunendation on the progress thev had 

 made. Very noticeable im{irovement was shown in 

 the products exhibited from eleHieniary school gardens. 

 .■\gaiti this year prizes were ottered for boys of elemen- ' 

 t^ry schools for work in digging cane holes, forking ' 

 land, etc., and some really good work was performed. 

 For the fir.st time similar prizes were offered to girls of 

 elementary schools, and they too did \ery creditable 

 work. Another interesting feature of the show was an 

 exhibition of collections of insects, made bv pupils of 

 elementary schools, which were neatly and inteliigentlv 

 arranged. It is to be regretted, however, that the ! 

 number of cxhiliils of live stuck, large and small, was ' 

 nor, as large as might have been expected, though the ' 

 individual specioiens were good. 



These local exhibitions must tend to the general 

 improvement of agriculture, and the stimulation of I 

 interest in their work among the labouring class 



The Fisherman Fish. 



In the Aijr'ii'uUaral Ncirfi. Septembr^r 20, l!tl!), 

 an article was published drawing attention to papers j 

 contributed to the Avvrirnv Kafaralii<thy J >r. E. \V. 

 (judger, on the use of living sucking-fish for catchinf 

 large fish and tmtles In the November-December. 

 1919, number of the .Journal referred to, Dr. Ci.dger ' 

 concludes his studies. PoTibts have been expressed 

 whether the old accoiinis, which Dr. Gudger referred ' 

 to in previous papers, were credible. In this conclud- 

 ing paper he proves hy recent and personal experiment : 

 that all the evidence sustains and confirms the stories i 

 of these living fish-hooks fioni the time of Coluuibus j 

 to the present day. Foi- instance, the author states ' 

 that in 1914 he pulled on the tail of a sucking-fish , 

 stuck fast to the glass wall ofan .niuaritim, so hard that - 

 he had to desist for fear of pulling the tail off. A^'ain i 

 on another occ:ision he caught a 27 2") inch Kcheneis, 

 liaAing a sucking disk (i inches long by 2I.S inches . 

 wide. He pulled on this fish, when stuck to the wet 

 deck, so hard that he feari^l he would tear it in two 

 but it resisted all efforts to pull it off backwards — a 

 pidl of possibly .")0 Ih. On pulling upwards on it, it 

 h«ld fast until th*' disk began to tear loose from the 

 head. 



Another corohoration of the credibilitj- of the 

 stpries concerning the employment of the sucking tish 

 is afforded by the fact thai m:iny accurate records exist 



