5.-0 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



Septoibkr 7, 19Ife. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Offici 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter tor publication, as well as all 

 specimens ior naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperml Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of 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., 



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

 SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Scientific Assistant avi f V\". R. Dunlop.* 



^*>ij(anf E<1ito- "I Rev. C. H. Branch. B.A. 



Mntomologisr H. A Ballon. M.Sc. 



MyeoUxrist ^^". Nowell. D.I.C. 



As-'^stntit for f'otlon He.ttarth S. C. Harlfinfl, B.Sc.t 



OLFRICAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell 

 (h. A. Corbin. 

 \ P. Tavlor.* 

 I.K. R.'C. Foster. 

 Typti! Miss B. Robinson. 



Assistant Typt.il Miss \V. Ellis. 



A i*i3tant'Jof PiMicalioii.^ A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Insl. 



*SecoHdni for Militui y Service. 



tPfOvuled h\i the Imperud Depfirtment of Scitntifif and 

 Indt'slnal lo'ftarrli. 

 , -■ 



,^!jncultiiral llinufi 



Vol. XVII SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. 1918. No. 427. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number deal.s with the opening 

 ut a Comiriercial Museum in ('•ttawa by the Canadian 

 Dep<irtment of Trade and Commerce, in'which a West 

 Indian .section ha8 been instituted. 



€^itf Clerk 

 Cleriroi Assistant. 



insect .Niite.-<. on page "iH'J, reviews the section on 

 Insect Pests contained in the Annual Heport of the 

 Aoricullnral l)epartnient of St. l.ucia. recently issued. 



Inlbrmation obtained so far in the investigation of 

 coco-nut disrases in .lamaica foim.-i the subject of Plant 

 iJisea.^e.'j on pace 'iNli. 



• Ml page 27ii thert i.s a review ol two .sugar 

 factories in the I.*eward Islands for the season just 

 ended, which will be found interesting anrl \aluable for 

 its statistical comparisons 



Utilization of Waste Tomato Seeds and Skins.. 



A review of work already done in foreign countries^ 

 on the utilization of tomato waste, an investigation of' 

 the annual output of tomato refuse in the t^nited 

 States, a compari.son of methods of separating the 

 ingredients of the waste, and chemical analyses and 

 value of the most important ingredients, are included 

 in the United States Depart me-nt of Agrici'ltarr 

 Bulletin t;.!?. It is. estimated that the annual (lr\ 

 waste frciTii the tomato industries in the United States 

 is about 1,.'»0{» tons of seeds, and 1,800 tons of skins.. 

 From the seeds can be extracted an oil averaging by 

 the continuous extraction process 22 per cent, of the 

 dry seeds. 



The refined oil is similar in constituents to cotton 

 seed, soy bean, sesame, and corn oils. Digestibilit\ 

 experiments by the t>ftice of Home l-Iconomics show a 

 coefficient of digestibility oi '••7, comparing favourably 

 with the common edible oils. It possesses a certain- 

 value as a paint or varnish oil. and makes a soap- 

 of good texture. The residue after extraction of the 

 oil compares favourably vith other .seed meals used for 

 stock feed, analysis showing moisture, 7 1."); ash, 4(i4:.. 

 protein, ."7; nitrogen free extract, 291: and fibre, 2211 

 per cent. Hy incorporating the dried skins with the- 

 meal, the annual amount available as feed stuff would- 

 be about M.OOO tons. 



The author of the bulletin suggests that the 

 reduction of waste material to oil and meal could best 

 be handled by establishing a reducing plant at some 

 central point in each of the sections in which the 

 accumulation of tomato residue principally occurs. In 

 view of the threatened shortage of fatty oils, it is sug- 

 gested as an economic measure of both agricultural and' 

 industrial importance, that the utilization of this- 

 material be considered. 



Thick Versus Thin Canes for Planting. 



In\'olume .\\T of the I ntfinatinid Sujur Jnu rmd 

 (1014, p. o61 >, and under the above title, the author, 

 Mr .Vrthur H. Rosenfeld, ex-I >ir(Ctor of the Agriciil- 

 tur.il Kxperiinent .Station, Tiicuman. Argentina, pub- 

 lished the results of a series of experiments ma<le in 

 Tiicuman Experiment Station during the years 1911 

 and HM 2, to determine whether the fact that a cane 

 was thin indicated hereditary tendency to that tvpe 

 of growth or degeneration, or was simply the physical 

 result .of its location on the inside of a stool, lor instance, 

 or of unfavourable conditions of growth during the 

 year. The results of the first experiments — consisting 

 of crops of plant canes and of first ye.ir stubble (or 

 ratoons) from the same planting indicated piaeti- 

 eally no diflerencc in the yields or analyses of the cane 

 from the thin canes and the normalsiztd canes, there 

 being, in fact, a slight difference in yield, in favour 

 of the cane from the thin parents, but a difference so 

 small that it may easily be attributed to be within the 

 limits of experimental errors. 



A second .series of experiments, having the same 

 object in view, was undertaken and carried out during 

 the v.irs PM2-1;: to l!tl.")-I<;. The results of these 



