Ui 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWa. 



Mvv 4, 191J. 



PLANT DISEASES. 



INFECTION OF ORANGE FRUIT 



THROUGH BUG PUNCTURES. 



Tlie sweet orange lias to be aclJed to the list ot fruits 

 serving as hosts for the fungi associated with the internal boll 

 tlisease of cotton bolls. i'art of an orange purchased in 

 Barbados, and rcimted to have come from Grenada, was 

 handed over to the writer by the Acting Scientific Assistant 

 a? iiaving a peculiar tlavour. Most of the segments were 

 intact, and in each of I hem there were in the pulp near the 

 surface of the fruit one or more regions in which about 

 a dozen juice cells were collapsed and slightly browned. In 

 each of these spots was found -i prolific culture of .Vt'wu- 

 tospina sp., the species 1) of the writer's papers on inteioal 

 boll disease. The rind of the orange had been thrown away, 

 but there can be little doubt, from analogy with other fruits, 

 and from the absence of any visible lesion other than a slight 

 scar on the surface of the segments, that the infection had 

 been introduced by ilie punctures of some plant-feeding 

 bug. 



WX. 



AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF 

 JAMAICA. 



In an article dealing with the economical development 

 of the i.~land, which appeared in the Jamaica Gltaiur. 

 March .^, 191?*, the writer seems to be very hopeful of the 

 future. Portions of the article are reproduced below. 



'The session of the Legislative Council, and the meeting 

 of the island's representatives to discuss and decide on some 

 definite programme tor developing, let us hope, not only 

 sugar, but the other economic resources of this island, is 

 apparently a healthy sign that the old policy of laissez 

 fain, is now about to give place to the doctrine of 

 preparedness. 



'Apart from the unrest that has manifested itselt 

 during the past years, there aie many reasons why the 

 period of tettling down to peace conditions should be 

 a difficult one. ( )n the top of the dislocation of industrial 

 life, will come the necessity for increased productiipn, which 

 must be achieved by improved organization and methods, 

 rather than by adding to the strain r.f the workers. The 

 outl'iok causes anxiety to most thinking peo[)le, lest the 

 end of the war should find the old relations between cmployei> 

 and employed still existing. All suggested .solutions come 

 back to a complete understanding and harmonious co-operation 

 between capital and labour. Soiuething more will be 

 required than simply good- will -there must be definite 

 scheme-, which will enable employers to take labour into 

 their confidence, and improve their social and finan<i:d 

 positions, iv8 capital and labour must work hand in hand 

 and be in symjiathy one with the other. 



'Assuming, therefore, that employers and employed will 

 adjust all their diflferences, and reasonable, substantial 

 inducenients be ottered to the workers to retain their services 

 at home, and thus stem the present tide of immigration to 

 alien countries to earn wages on which thry can with some 

 conifort exist; then, the presence here of Sir Francis \\ atts, 

 the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, may be advan- 

 tageous in settling, once and for all, whether the Govern- 

 ment are going to give financial help in .'-tarting sugar 



centrals, in such districts where cane can be successfully 

 grown. 



'I think that the views of the Kight Honourable the 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies in a recent despatch to 

 His Excellency the Govenor, are those that should be care- 

 fully considered; inter alia, he writes: — • 



"It is most desirable that any scheme of central factory 

 develoiiment should be co-operative. ... I should 

 prefer lo see at le;ist a part of the capital required for the 

 factory provided by the planters: the larger their stake in 

 the success (if the factory, the better. . . If the Govern- 

 ment finds practically the whole of the capital, or guarantees 

 a loan, I tail to see any convincing reasons for limiting its 

 interests in the factory for a term of years, and handing it 

 over to the planters at the end of that term." 



'Hut. is sugar the only product to be develo[)ed? Surely 

 we should also turn our attention to a variety of other 

 products, minor as well as major. \Vhy not start factories 

 for manufacturing banana fiouv, kilns for drying corn, and the 

 necessary machinery for grinding the .'^ame, both important 

 factors of food supply — then sisal and henequen plantations 

 may be started under the same auspices: similarly the 

 cultivation of rice could be materially extended: the best 

 varieties of the breadfruit and avocado pear should be grown 

 by the Government, and seedlings distributed broadcast 

 through the country gratis to every landowner, large or 

 small. Factories also for curing .salt beef and pork should 

 command serious attention, and there is no reason why 

 condensed milk could not also be manufactured here. 



'And last, though not least, the technical staff of our 

 agricultural department should be considerably strengthened 

 and better paid, and should have added to it a mining 

 geologist, and an expert on forestry, and an experimental 

 station specially organized for study and research. 



'These are the days of science; rule of thumb methods 

 are the fetish of the ignorant, and as .Vdam Smith in his 

 'Wealth of Nations says, "Science is the great antidote for 

 the poison of superstition. ' 



'Let us therefore be firm at this juncture, and ipsist 

 that all our economic resources capable of development be 

 exploited as a whole, and not any particular one of them to 

 the detriment of the others.' 



AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN 

 CANADA. 



Under the above title there lia> been published, by direc- 

 tion of the Canadian .Minister of Agriculture, a review of the 

 work performed by the ditl'orent provinces of Canada with the 

 moneys granted under the Agricultural Instruction Act 

 during the four-year period 1 III -"1 7. 



I'nder this Act, passed by the Parliament of Canada in 

 l'.)i;!, the .sum of .Sl(i,(HiO,(.iO(i was set apart for expenditure 

 by the provinces on agricultural instruction and demonstration 

 during the ten years ending .March .'il . l!l'_'3. Four years of 

 the period have now elap.'^ed, and .'?3,40(t,00(i has been 

 distributed among the provinces for the benefit of agriculture. 

 With the year I'.ilTlMthe grants to the provinces (which 

 have have been made on a gradually ascending .scale) reached 

 the maximum, there to remain until the completion of the 

 peri(sd. A summary of the work accomplished hitherto is 

 therefore now published. 



The [iUrpose of the Agricultural Instruction Act is, in 

 brief, to assist the provinces by grants of money to carry on 

 educational and instntctional ^work for tlie benefit and 



