296 



THE AGEICDLTUBAX NEWS. 



September 21, 191&. 



EDITORIAL 



HsAD Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados, 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial I>ej>;utment 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 Commissimier of Sir Francis Watts. K.C.M.G., 



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



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



5evf».<i7i'.- Assistant a»t'i 



Assistant Editor 

 8ntof)iologist 

 Mycologist 

 Asiisf'ird for Cotton liesearcli 



fW. R. Dunlop.* 

 ■(.Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A. 

 H. A. BalIau,;M.Sc. 

 W. Nowell, D.I.C. 

 S. C. Harl:»nd, B.Sc.t 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



CKttf a.erk 



Clerical Assistanti 



A. G. Howell . 

 ("L. A. Corbiii. 

 -^P. Taylor.* 

 [K. R. C. Foster. 

 Typist Miss B. Robinson. 



Atiistunl Typist Miss W. EUi.s. 



Astittantlfo)- Fublicatiou^ A. B. Price, Fell. Joum. Inst. 



*Stcondtd for Military Service. 



iProvided by the Imperial Jitpitrtment of Scieiilifi'-. and 

 Industrial lusearch. 



^gricultiirai |]niiH 



Vol. XVII. SATURDAY, SKPTEMBER 21, 1918. No. 428. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number gives proniinencf to 

 the fjuestion of seedling .sugar-canes as dealt with in the 

 Presidential Address of Professor Harrison, C.M.G., to 

 the Koyal Agricultur.al and Commercial Society of 

 British (Juianii. 



Insect Notes, on page 2'M, indicate the spread ot 

 the Mexican cotton boll weevil in the United States. 



A further note on the coco-nut bud-rot, dealt with 

 in the previous number of this .Journal, will be found 

 under Plant Diseases, on page '<02. 



Observations in referenct to two West Indian 

 cyclones on August 22, tf*lS, are g^ven on this page. 



Expansion of the United Kingdom Margarine 

 Industry. 



According to The Board of Trat.le Journal, June 

 i;;, lOls, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of 

 Food (the Right Hon. J. K. Clynes, M.P.>, speaking' iu 

 the House of Commons on .Tune !■, stated that the con- 

 trol of oils and fats has become one of the most impor- 

 tant and intricate of thf duties of the -Ministry of Food, 

 and of its trade operations. All important oil seeds, 

 nuts, kernels, vegetable and animal oils and fats, are 

 either purchased by the Ministry abroad, or they are 

 requisitioned on arrival in the United Kingdom. Be- 

 t^\een twentj- and thirty different raw materials are- 

 involved under the head of oils and fats, and of marga- 

 rine. The most important finished product is, of course,, 

 margarine. As many as twelve different branches of 

 industry are affected in one way or another, and each 

 has its representative association or committee to assist 

 the Ministry in the allocation and distribution of the 

 raw materials, and of the stmi-nianufactured articles. 

 It is really a striking development of the Ministry's 

 activities that the increase in margarine manufacture- 

 in this country has been so considerable. Tht- pro- 

 ductive capacity of the margarine industry has increased 

 fourfold during the War, and this country is now 

 entirely independent of foreign imports. Imports from 

 the Netherlands supplied more than half the con- 

 sumption of the country in pre-war days, and in the 

 last two months these imports ha\e entirely ceased, 

 because the country no longer needed them. 



Cyclones of August 22, 1918 



On August 22, the weather condition.'j ihroughout 

 the whole West Indian region trom Antigua to Bar- 

 bados were so disturbed as to cause .some uneasiness, 

 and about midday the wind blew with such force in 

 Barbados as to occasion a considerable amount of 

 damage to small and fragile cottages, and iu some 

 instances trees of considerable size were damaged or 

 even uprooted. 



An examination of the information obtained through 

 the courtesy of the West Indian and Panama Telegraph 

 Company, and from reports subsequently received from- 

 the several islands, makes it clear that there were 

 simultaneously two centres of disturbance. The ont 

 most noticeable in its effects was that which appeared 

 to form near to and to the south-east of Barbados, the 

 centre of which passed on the south side of that island 

 soon alter 11 a.m. of the day in question. It appears to 

 ha% e passed over the north end of St. Vincent about 

 4 p.m., where the wind blew with some considerable 

 force, but not with hurricane \ iolence, and no serious 

 damage is reported. 



At present there is no information to hand to show 

 what the subsequent course of this cyclone was. 



The second of the cyclonic centres referred to, 

 appears to have been central at 4 p.m. over some point 

 between Antigua and Dominica. This cyclone had not 

 then developed as much violence as the one passing 

 near Barbados and St. Vincent. In this case t'X?, no 



