s?« 



THE AGRICULTURAL !rEWB. 



OrroBER 19, 191 S. 



EDITORIAL 



a«Ai) Orn-K 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter tor publication, as well as all 

 -specimens lor naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agricnlture, 

 "Barbado*. 



Ail .ipplications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 News' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 addressed xo the Asjents. and not to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 .page 4 of the cover. 



Imptyial Commitsioner of Six Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., 



Agrk^dtHrt i<n the West Ituiiit D.Sc.. F.l.C, F.C.S. 

 3CIK*TiriC STAFF. 



Seieniijic Ai:iu)taii.t ci-.'i t W. R. Danlop.* 



Aantaut BdiUtr ' \R«v. C. H. Branch, E.A. 

 ft»fom</l<.9)j< H. A. Ball :.u,;M.Sc. 



My«,l<^iit W. 5JoweU. D.l.C. 



AiiistaHi i»r C-ittor. Reaeurch S. C. Hailand, B.Sc* 



Chief CUrk 

 Cteric'tl Aif'-ttniitt 



3LEKJCAL 5TAIT. 



A. G. Howell. 

 /L. A. Curbin 



P. Tavlcr.* 



Ik. r.'c. Fust ft. 



MisB B. Robins'^n. 



Mise W. Ellis. 



A. B. Price. Fell. Joum. Inst. 



Tvj»»t 



AsiUtaid Tuyist 



*.S»C'/»id<d for yiilitarii Seixtcc. 



'r Provided by the ImpfrM l^'juirVrv-i.t of ."»';ie».f'n'' and 

 litd'utrtal Bistarch. 



^gricultura! ^IriuH 



^oL. XVII S.MUKDAY, Ut/T< 'LEK 19, i91b. No. 430. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



•Contents of Present Iseue. 



The editorial in this number exposes some 

 fallacies which are commonly believed on the snbiect of 

 geii' rai edu?atiori. 



I'nder Insect Notes, on page 330 wili be 

 found an article on insects damaging cotton in 

 Arizona. 



Castor Seed. 



India practically has the monopoly ol the world's 

 export tnide in castor seed. A large 'juantity of oil is 

 made for home consumption, and n surplus exported. 

 These exports, according to the Tropiral A'jricuUtirist 

 lor June 191M, are gradually (hvinilling tlown. owing to 

 the crude method.s adopted for » \pres.sing the oil, and 

 the wholesale adulteration practised by the small ileal- 

 ers. Besides this, the mineral oils are ousting castor 

 oil as a lubricant. 



The cake is exported ehietly to Ceylon as a 

 manure for tea. etc. ' In India it is one of bhe uioso 

 valuable of oil cakes as a manure, especially for crops 

 of potato and sugar-cane. The cake has been used in 

 India also as fuel for stationary •ngines. and gns has 

 also been obtained from the cake for lighting railway 

 stations. It is stated, however, ;us being unable to 

 compete with cheap coal for fuel. 



The oil, apart trorn its use in medicine, is chieHy 

 employed as a lubricant on the Indian railways; it is 

 also used for dressing leather, and in the pnx;ess of 

 turkey-red dyeing. 



Manufacture of Orange Wine in the West 

 Indies. 



Owing to iincertamty and high cost of procuring 

 Madeira and French wines, the manufacture of orange 

 wine prouiises to become ijuite an industry in some 

 of the West Indian colonies. This beverage ha.s been 

 manufactured Jn small quantities for local consumption 

 for a nmnber of years both in .lamaica and Trinidad, 

 but for the reason above staled, its manufacture is now 

 being considerably e.Mended, in quantities large 

 enough to meet the increased local demands. 



A correspon<ient in the ('omnicrciid Rficii'iv of British 

 (iiiiana, September liUS, referring to the matter claims 

 this proiluct to be on a fair level, both in taste and 

 bouquet with oniiuary Madeira nr French wine.^i of its 

 age; in colour it approaches that ol a sherry, but 

 manufacturers state that it can be made to assume a 

 rich deep port colour without the use of injurious 

 chemicals. This appears ti> bf an industry that mig'hb 

 well be encouraged in all colonies in the West Indies 

 where large crops of oranges are grown, but where only 

 a comparatively small proportion of the fruit is 

 e.xported to foreign markets, in vi( w of e.\if.t,ing high 



In connexion with the interest being taken in 

 cultivation of the castor oil plant, a disease affecting 

 this planr in .some parts of the Ignited States is des 

 <;ribf-d udIt Plant I (ise-ases page 334. 



( In jjdge 327 will be found a notice of the scientific 

 expedition trom the Iowa State University to Barbados 

 ,and Ar/jg'ia in the varlier part of this year, 



prices, and the dithculty in obtaining imports in ii.sual 

 qUHntities under prevailing circumstances. 



Pigs and Soil Grubs. 



In the July number of Rn-inta 'Ik Ayrictdtura 

 Ooine.ixic y Tr-'ilxijo. the otticial organ of hhe Depart- 

 ment of Agriciiliun- of Cuba, rh<To is nn interesting 

 account of the life-history <.fone of the beetles, the 

 grubs of which atUck the roots of sugar-oane.s, 



Cognate specits, if not identical, ate among the 

 recognized insect pests of many ot the West Indian 

 islands, and one of them has proved a serious menace 

 to the siigaj-cane industry in .Mauritius The grub 

 described hop^k ic bf causniL' lIne;1:-lln•^^i in yorne dis- 



