2R-1 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Aiv;i-T 24, 1918. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Officr 



Letters and matter tL>r publication, as well as all 

 epecimens tor naming, should be addressed to the 

 ■Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 IN'ews' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 »»ddressed to the Agents, and not to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 page 4 of the ^over 



Imperial Commissioiur of SirFrancis Watts, K.C.M.G., 



Ap-iruUuyeforthe West Indies D.Sc. F.I.C.. F.C.S. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Cotton in Aft'ica. 



In an address given before the Itoyal ( ieofrraphical 

 vSocietj-. June 10, 101<S, on 'The Backbone of Africa", 

 Sir Alfred Shaipe, a former (Governor of I^vasaland. 

 foreshadowed a new source of supply for Lancashire 

 cotton manufacturers. It was quite certain, he said 

 that sooner or later America would be unable to supph 

 the demand of British manufacturers, but there was 

 110 reason why Africa should not step into the breach 

 in the matter of the supply of raw cotton. The plains 

 of the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara only 

 required irrigation on a large scale to uiake the country 

 one of the largest producers in the world of cotton, 

 grain, and other tropical and sub-tropical products. 



NOTICES. 



— BARBiDOS. 



^.eienti/ic Assistant ani 



Assistant Editcy 

 Entomologist 

 Mycologist 

 Jissiatant for Cutton Reaeorch 



fW. R. Dunlop.* 

 \Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A. 

 H. A. Balbu, M.Sc. 

 W. Nowell, D.I.C. 

 S. C. Hailaml, B.Sc.t 



Chief Qerk 

 Clerical Assistant- 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 



(h. A. Corbin. 



]P. Taylor.* 



t,K. R. C. Foster. 

 7ypiat Miss B. Robinson. 



Asiistant Typist Miss W. Ellis. 



A stistant'Jor Publications A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst. 



*Secondid for Military Service. 



f Provided by Jit Imperial Department of fscietitifi-- and 

 Indv.stnal liesearch. 



^qricutturat llmufi 



Vol. .WII SATUUDAY, AUGUST 24, 1918. No. 426. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial points <jut how beneficial it would 

 be to these islands, if a larger supply of food was 

 obtained from the seas around them, by improvement 

 in meth()ds of r-apturiiig and curing fish. 



Attention is drawn under Insect Notes, on page 

 •ijtjtj. to the considerable amount of success in control 

 cf the cotton stainer, which has been obtained in 

 St. Vincent by systematic destruction of the wild 

 liost-plants of the in.sect. 



The importance of producing strains of plants 

 rebistant to disease is pointed out in the article under 

 plant Diseases, on page 270. 



The American Bureau of Standards and Sugar 



The International Sugar Journal, .luly li'18,. 

 gives prominence to the fact that fiscal Bills lately 

 before the American Congress for the year 1918-19, 

 provide for the appropriation of £4,000 for the use of 

 thi' Bureau of Standards, to be utilized for tfce standard- 

 izing of sugar-testing apparatus, and the developing of 

 technical specifications for the various grades of sugars, 

 with particular reference to urgent problems made 

 pressing by war conditions, especially involving the 

 standardization and manufacture of sugar. The purpose 

 of the Bureau, in short, is to make a strictly scientific- 

 classification of the different grades of sugar, and place 

 the technical standardization of the sugar industry in^^ 

 general on a proper scientific basis, as well as to solve 

 the problems incidental to the collection of revenue 

 on sugar. 



Besides the above appropriation, there is one ol 

 £2,000 to be used in the development and improve- 

 ment of American strains of sugar-beet sied, and foi 

 the establishment of a permanent beet seed industry 

 in the United States. 



It is also interesting to note that the agricultural 

 e.xperiment stations in Hawaii and Porto Rico have 

 each been voted C!),000 for maintenance expenses,- 

 while a new station projected for the Virgin Isli.nds 

 (formerly the ])anish West Indies) receives a grant of 

 ea.OOO for the year. 



West Indian Dye-Woods. 



The following note taken from the Demerara 

 Daily Argosy, August 5, 1918, is of interest in con- 

 nexion with West Indian industries. 



There is every indication of a grc^at development 

 in connexion with the dye-piodncing woods of British 

 (iuiana and the We.^t Indian islands, cunseijuent on 

 the requirements of American uianiifactuiers. 



It is stated that the American Government wants 

 particularly great ijuantities of woods that give a yel- 

 low dye which is nnieh in demand for khaki, and these 

 woods are not ;i\ailable in sufHcieut i|uantity in the 

 I'nitcd States. 



Among the \\oods that are producing this yellow 

 dye is fustic, which abounds in the West Indies and in 

 British fJuiana 



