

A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LiBR/ 

 NEW V 



botan 



OAKO 



Vol. VII. No. 157 



BARBADOS, MAY 2, 1908. 



Pkice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Fage. 

 Agricultiujil TnstiiietiDU in 



Elenientai'y Schools ... 141 

 Artificial Manures, Increas- 

 ed use of ill Egypt ... 138 

 Bahamas and C'aicos Islands, 



Botany of 137 



Bananas, Indian : Prospec- 

 tive Export to England 132 

 Blood-sucking Flies and 



Ticks ., 129 



British Guiana, Cattle 



Trade of 136 



British Honduras, Timbers 



of 143 



Cabbage Growing in St. 



Lucia ... 133 



Cam|i!ior, Propagation of 137 

 Canadian Exhibitions, 1908 139 

 Ca-stilloa Rubber Seed ... 138 

 Citrus Fruits in New South 



Wales 132 



Cotton in the Sea Islands 134 

 Cotton Seed Selectitm at 



Barbados 134 



Department News 141 



Deparlment Publications .. 136 



Gleaninirs 140 



Green Colour in Plants. 



Preservation of 136 



Ground Xut, Value of ... 133 

 Indigo Production in Indi.i 1.37 



Page 

 In.sect Notes : — 



The Ilemiptera or True 



Bugs 



Jamaica, Cotton Growing 



in 



Jamaica Earthquake 



Market Reports 



Nitrate of Soda. Output in 



South America 



Nitrogen, \tmospheric, 



and its Fixation by 



Electrical Mt.thods... 

 Notes and Comments ... 

 Papaws, Shipments of ... 



Paia Ruliber Seed 



Para Rubber Seed Oil ... 

 Plant Food in the Soil ... 

 Potash as a I'lant Food... 

 Rice Production in L'nited 



States 



Soils, Physical Condition 



of 



Sugar and Cotton in St. 



Kitts-Nevis 



Sugar Industry: — 

 C'uban Sugar Crop 

 Stripping .Sugar-canes... 

 United States, Sugar 



Consumption in 

 West Indian C'i>tton on 



the Liverpool Market 



138 



134 

 139 

 144 



137 



13.5 

 136 

 1.32 

 133 

 137 

 142 

 135 



143 



142 



131 



131 

 131 



130 



1 34 



Blood-Sacking' Flies and Ticks. 



^^^O ALLOWING on the discoveries of the past 

 few years in regard to the part played by 



Mt'^^^) many insects in the transmission of disease, 

 ^considerable interest has been aroused, and great effort.? 

 '"are being made by medical men, Government officials, 

 .,__and entomologists to increase, as far as possible, the 

 ^iimount of knowledge bearing on this subject. 

 •^ With this object in view, the Colonial Office has 



during the past year or more, sent out requests for 

 collections of certain kinds of insects, together with 

 directions prepared by the British Museum (Natural 

 History Department) for collecting, ])reserving and 

 forwarding these insects. 



The insects most actively concerned in the trans- 

 mission of disease belong to the order Diptera or true 

 Hies. These insects have only two wings and possess 

 mouthparts for sucking. In addition to the flies the 

 ticks are very serious pests. Although they are not, 

 strictl}' speaking, insects, they are closely related, and 

 are similar in their manner of transmitting certain 

 diseases. 



Among the Diptera mny be metitioned the 

 mosquitos, and of these, the yellow fever mosquito 

 {Ste(j<imyia), the malarial mosquito {Anojyheh's), and 

 the filarial mosquito (Cule.r) are the most important. 

 ()ther insects of this order which carry disease from 

 the infected to the healthy are the Tse-tse flies of 

 South Africa, one of which conveys the Nagana disease 

 which is fatal to animals, and another the sleeping 

 sickness, equally fatal to man. 



In all ciieso cases, the disease is the result of an 

 organism which must have been taken from an infected 

 individual by an insect and, after the lapse of a suffi- 

 cient time for the parasitic organism to undergo certain 

 developmental changes, transmitted, in the process of 

 biting, to a healthy individual. In the case of mosquitos 

 it is only the female that is able to pierce the skin and 

 suck blood. In the Tse-tse fly both se.xes are able to bite 

 and both are able to transmit the disease. In the case of 

 filaria the parasite is a worm, in malaria a protozoon, 

 and though in yellow fever the organism has not been 

 definitely determined, it has been found that aStegomyia 

 mosquito, after biting an infected person cannot 



