A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Von. XVII. No. 425, 



BARBADOS, AUGUST 10. 191S, 



Peicb Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Agriculture in Barliados... 



Britisli (liuana Goveni- 

 laent Lime Factory 



<'lu':lf <tuiii Industry 



Co-operative Credit Socie- 

 ties in Mauritius 



Ci'tt'-'u Notes: — 



Cotton Kxports from the 



West Indies 



Sea Island Cotton Mar- 

 ket 



Department News 



Electric Power Supply ... 



Gleanings 



Grenada, Native Fi'od 

 Crops Campaign in I918 



(iuayule. Successful Culti- 

 sation of 



Hurricane .Season, The ... 



Insect Notes: — 



Feeding HaV)its of 

 the Parasites of Hard- 

 back Grul>s 



Items of Local Interest .. 



Manures. Mixing and Pre- 

 servation of 



Page 

 251 



245 

 24! I 



24 .i 



240 

 24(i 



24:? 

 25."> 

 252 



245 



25::! 

 24(i 



250 

 251 



249 



Page. 



.. 25(i 



Market Reports 



New Products from South 



Africa 249 



Notes and Comments ... 24H 



Plant Diseases: — 



A Market Disea.se of 



Citrus Fruits 254 



Powilerv Mildew of 



Roses 2.">4 



Seed Treatment an<i 



Argular Leaf-?pot ... 254 



Pusa Wheats 24.S 



Research in Tropical Agri- 

 culture, Needf.r ... 241 



Sugar Industry: — 



fcugar Cvoji of British 

 Guiana 



Sugar Factory Results 

 in Mauritius ... 

 The Possilnlity of In- 

 creased Production of 



Sugar in India 



Water Containing Zinc, 



W'holesomeness of ... 



West Indian Products ... 



24.S 



244 



244 



248 

 255 



Need for Research in Tropical Agriculture. 



'T a meeting of the Royal Society of Art", 

 May 'S, 1918, a most interesting papr-r on the 



S relation of biological science to the rubber 

 industry was read by Dr. J. B. Farmer, Professor of 

 Botany, Imperial College of Science and Technology. 

 Much of this paper is so apposite to the relations of 

 scientific research to tropical agricultural industries in 

 general that in the following columns we quote chiefly 

 from it. 



Agriculture i.s fundamentally a scientific industry. 

 It depends upon the utilization of natural knowleilge, 

 which after all is natural science, though it may not 

 in all cases be recognized by the schools. The know- 

 ledge may be largely empirical, it may be very imperfect, 

 but it must be there in some degree to ensure any 

 measure of sacce,ss. In tropical agricultun- thi.s truth 

 is even more evident than in that of temperate climates, 

 where for many generations a wide experience of crops 

 has been accumulated. A new industry, such as uiosb 

 crops cultivated in tropical regions, relatively speaking, 

 represent, demands the study of new conditions for 

 the accumulation of the necessarj knowledge 



It is here that research comes in. Foralthouo-h the 

 empirical method of trial and mistake can lead to the 

 slow acciunulation of knowledge, it takes a long time, 

 and is expensive. It is the chief business of science to 

 strive to detect for practical use the relationship of 

 cause and effect. P>ut in nature we hardly ever encoun- 

 ter a simple problem. Kach resohes itself usiuilly into 

 a number of what seem more elementary ones, not, 

 unfortunately, always easy to solve. The immediate 

 problem has to be disentangled or analysed into its 

 simpler components, each of which has to be unrav- 

 elled more or less fully. In this process much is learnt 

 which is perhaps not directly convertible into cash, 

 but which may lead to such improvement of actual 

 practice that later on a substantial financial benefit 

 may be obtained. 



It wouM be wrong to say that no research haa 

 been undertaken with regard to tropical agricultural 

 industries. On the contrary, much useful work haa 

 been carried out by .igncuUural departments in various 



