10* 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 6, 1918. 



fiDITORIAL 



Head Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 Specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 ^ews' 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., 

 AaricvUweforthe Westlniies D.Sc. F.I.C., F.C.S. 



Coco-nut Prices and Coco-nut Butter in 

 Dominica. 



liy a Troclamation published in the Dominica 

 Omcial Gazette, March 4. 1918. the exportation from 

 that island of coco-nuts, coco-nut plants, copra, or any 

 product of the coco-nut is prohibited except under 

 certain conditions. 



By a notice published in the Gazette of March 0, 

 the local retail market prices for mature coco-nuts have 

 been fixed at 1 hd. for one, or 1*. 'M. for a dozen small 

 coco-nuts, and 2d. for one, or Is. [M. for a dozen large \ 

 coco-nuts. The price per 100 is fixed at 10s , and per 

 1,000 at £.5 I'ls. 6d. lor small nuts, and at 14s. per 100. 

 and £6 os. per 1,000 for large ones. 



Mr. Joseph Jones, the Curator of the Botanic 

 Gardens. Dominica, in a letter dated March 16, 1918, 

 states that coco-nut butter is being used in increasing 

 quantities. la the country districts the parish priests 

 are teaching the people how to make coco-nut butter 

 on the lines of the recipe wnich was published in the 

 Aqriculturol Neivs of October (i, 1917. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Seitntific Assisiant and 

 Assistant Editor 



Xntomoloaisis 



f W. R. Dunlop.* 

 ' \Kev. C. H. Branch, B.A. 

 ( H. A. Ballou, M.Sc.t 

 (J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D. 



Mycologist W. Kowell, D.I.C. 



Assittaut for (Jottoti Etsiorci, ' S. C. Harlaiul. B.Se.++ 



CLEniCiL STAFF. 



Chief Cleri: A. G. Howell. 



fL. A. Corbin. 

 Clerical Assistanti \ P. Taylor.* 



Ik. R. C. Foster. 

 Typist Miss B. Robinson. 



Asiistant Typist ' Miss W. Ellis. 



Atsistant for Publicatioits A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst. 



*8econd(d for MilHanj Service. 

 f Seconded for Lv.ty in £y'fpt. 



1\Provided by the Imperial JMpartment of Kcientiff and 

 Industrial Jieseareh.' 



31 qri cult lira I Mnu!i 



C/A' 



Vol. XVn. S.\TURDAY, APKIL G, 1918. No. 4in. 



NOTES AND COMIVIENTS. 



Contents ot Present Issue. 



Experiment Stations,,, and their function iii agri- 

 cultural science form the subject of the editorial in 

 t,his number. 



The life-habits of the West Indian mole cricket 

 are described under Ins«-t Notes on page 10(i. 



Under Plant Diseases will be found noticos of 

 & new bacterial disease of Citrus trees, and a new and 

 serious disease affecting sugar-(;ano in l^)rto llico. 



Committee on the Development of the Economic 



Recources of St. Lucia. 



The Administrator of 8t. Lucia has recently appoint- 

 ed a Committee to consider what steps can be taken by 

 the Govemment further to develop existing resources of 

 economic value, and to encourage the cultivation of 

 products which will be of \alue to agriculture and to 

 the revenue of the colony. 



In a letter to the Chairman of the Committee, 

 reproduced in the \''oice of St. Lac ia, March 2, 1918, 

 the Administrator, after referring to the steps taken 

 by the Go%eriunent with regard to the lime industry 

 and the drying of corn, and to the proposed establish- 

 ment of a factory on co-operative lines for the extraction 

 of coco-nut oil, goes on to say that limes, coin, and 

 coco-nnt.s do not exhaust the list of economic products 

 either already cultivated oi- capable of being developed, 

 whether for local consumption or for export, either as 

 raw material or in a manufactured state He remarks 

 in conclusion that the only sound policy is to attach 

 the peasant to the land by providing the means 

 whereby he can translate the fruit of his labour into 

 money. If it is made worth his while he will stick to 

 the land. 



Some notes on eastor-oil plants in the West 

 Indies appear on page 1 00 



Sweet Potato Starch. 



A letter to the Joxtrnal of tin Jamaica Ar/ri' 

 lidtural Society, January liU-S. points out that the 

 sweet potato makes a splendid starch which can be 

 used for pretty nearly the same purposes as cassava and 

 other starches. It makes very nice cakes, biscuits, and 

 even bread, when mixed with wheat Hour or corn 

 meal. Tlic wi'iter gives tJic foll<iwing as the process 

 of manufacture: 



'SeU'Ct ripe, sound, potaloe,-- and wash them clean, 

 there being no need to scrape or peel them: grali- them 

 in the same way as arrowroot or cassava is treated. 

 Wash the grated stuff thn)i\n-h a clean soft strainer in 



