A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



VuL, XVII. No. 419. 



BARBADOS, MA\ Is. 1918. 



Prick Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



Ayi'iculture in Barbados 1,")" 

 Aiitigaa Central Sugar 



Facturv l.~il 



Australia, Fanning in, 



fcr Discharged Soldiei's 147 

 Beniiiida, Food Situation 



in ].">,H 



Cacao, rniforniity in the 



Production of. ... 145 

 Cotton Notes: — 



British Cotton (jrrow- 



ing Association ... 151 

 Sea Island Cotton 



Market J50 



Supply of Fine Cotton 150 

 Deiiaitment News ... 140 

 Fiictorie.s, Sugar, Chemical 



Contiol in 149 



Fruit and Vegetal iles. 

 Siuiple Methods of 



Keeping Fresh 1")5 



(rleanings 1.">G 



tiossypiuMi, Does Muta- 

 tion ( >ccur in ... . . 148 

 Granaries in Janxaiea ... 152 

 Insect Notes: — 



The Value of- Zoology 



to Human Welfare 154 i 



Page. 



Items of Local Interest 157 

 Limes. Kmhargo on the 



Im|iort,aiion of (ireeii. 



into I he I'nited .States ].^i.'; 



Market Reports Kid 



Notes and Comments ... l.-i'J 

 < )il. Castor, Demand for 15."i 

 Paper from Megass, Manu- 

 facture of lofl 



Pepper, Black. P.rilish 



Production of 15;t 



Plant Diseases: — 



Sugar-cane Diseases in 

 tlie West Indies ... 15j< 

 .St. Croi.x, E.xperinients in 



Sugar-Cane Cultivation 



in 14'.i 



.Sisal Cultivation in 



Antigua I."):! 



.Soils, Tropical 147 



.Sorgluiius in <,>ueen.-land 147 

 Thyme, Wild, Investiga- 



t'iou of Thy 1 Yield of 154 



Trinid.ul, .\gricultural and 



Industrial K\hiliiti(.n in l."'"' 

 'West Indian Bulletin'. 



Vol. XIV. No. 4 152 



West Indian Products Ib'.i 



Uniformity in the Production of Uacao, 



>N the editorial of the last issue of this 

 .lournal it was pointed out that if cacao 

 'growers desire to obtain the highest possibli' 

 price for their product, the chief thing to aim at i-* 

 uniformity in the tjuality of the beans, as that is what 

 the' manufacturers most require. 



An instance of this is tlie reputation that (niava- 

 'luil cacao bears on the Er.cjiish market. Froin 

 information received from tlir [mnerial Institute k 



ajipears that the production of such a grade of cacao 

 within the P>ritish Empire is much desiretl, the cacao 

 manufacturers having stated that they are prepared 

 to support any effort made in this direction by 

 continued orders for a definite quantity. From this 

 information, and from the description of the cacao 

 cultivation in Ecuador by Dr. van Hall in his book 

 CociHi, it appears that the cacao plantations in Ecuador 

 are tlistinguished by the uniformity of the types grown 

 in different districts, as compared with the mixture to be 

 found in West Indian plantations even in the same field. 



Cacao beans of various types exhibit varying 

 characters of 'body', fiavour, and aroma, and these 

 various qualities are made use of by manufacturers in 

 producing blends which are usually put on the market 

 under the names of the different makers. One can 

 e:isily understand, therefore, that manufacturers are 

 desiroiis of being able to obtain uniform lots of the, 

 qualities they require, so as to enable them to make 

 theic blends with accuracy. 



There ha\e been several plans suggested for the 

 attainment by any given estate or district of a standard 

 product of cacao, which might be definitely relied on as 

 of uniform (|uality. The simplest of these is the plan 

 snsrgested in Sin'inam, to which attention was drawn 

 in the Aiiricaltural Kcn's for December 29, lfll7. 



This plan is to carefully examine and label the 

 trees on a plantation, and then gradually to eliminate 

 those which are proved to be undesirable, replacing 

 them with others of the type required. With the 

 pro-ent almost universal custom of raising cacao 

 trees from seed a ilitticulty arises here. With the 

 existing mixed typi-- of trees on cacao pkntations it is. 



