152 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 18, 1918. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 apecimens for naming, .should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 J^arbados. 



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., 



Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc. F.I.C., F.C.S. 

 SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Scientific Assistant and 

 Assistant Editor 



Xntomologiits 



Mycologist 



Assistant for Cotton Research 



fW. R. Dunlop.* 



\Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A. 



j H. A. Ballou, M.Sct 



tJ. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D. 



W. Nowell, D.I.C. 



S. C. Harland, B.Sc.tt 



Ow«/ Clerk 

 Clerical Assistants 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 



(h. A. Corbin. 

 -^P. Taylor.* 



Ik. R. C. Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 Miss W. Ellis. 

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



Typist 



Assistant Typist 

 Assistant for Publications 



*Seconded for Military iSerni'ce. 

 iSeco')ided for Duty in Egypt. 



IfProvided by the Imperial Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial liesearch. 



gigriciiltural ^xm 



Vol. XVII. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1918. No. 419. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



Th<- editorial discusses the methods of obtaining 

 uniformity of product from cacao plantations. 



Under Insect Notes, on page 154, will be found 

 an article dealing with the <juestion of the value of 

 zoology, especially entomolog}', with regard to humfin 

 welfare. 



The 'West Indian Bulletin', Vol. XIV, No 4 



This number of the West Indian Bulletin, com- 

 pleting Volume XVI, has just been issued. The first 

 paper, on the diseases of sugar-cane in tropical and 

 subtropical America, especially the West Indies, is a 

 very comprehensive description by Mr. .1. K Johnston 

 Pathologist of the Central Experiment Station, Cuba, 

 of the various diseases affecting the sugar-cane in 

 these regions, along with notes on the same subject 

 contributed by the Mycologist of the Imperial Depari- 

 ment of Agriculture, ^nd other West Indian investiga- 

 tors of plant pathology. It is well illustrated by 

 distinct drawings of various fungi. The second paper 

 is the report on some pests and diseases affect- 

 ing various crops in the West Indies during 

 1916, compiled from the reports of the principal 

 local agricultural officers. In the third paper. Sir 

 Francis Watts, the Imperial Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture for the West Indies, deals with the important 

 subject of the liming of soils, especially under West 

 Indian conditions, and in relation to some of the 

 principal West Indian crops. Mr. Joseph Jones, 

 Curator of the Botanic Garden and Experiment Station,. 

 Dominica, contributes the fourth paper on manurial 

 experiments with cacao in Dominica. This is a review 

 of a continued series of experiments for the last ten 

 years, and therefore affords very reliable conclusions. 

 The last paper in this number is the continuation of 

 the studies on the genetics of crinkled dwarf rogues in 

 Sea Island cotton, by Mr. S. C. Harland, Scientific 

 Assistant for Cotton Research, attached to the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Sugar-cane diseases in the West Indies is the 

 subject of the note under Plant Diseases on page I.5.S. 



The question of the occin-rence of mutations in 

 cotton, and th': scientific meaning of the term is dealt 

 with on page 148. 



Granaries in Jamaica. 



Information has been received from the Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies that 

 the Government of Jamaica has ordered machinery 

 for two granaries of the St. Vincent type, and when 

 these are erected, which it is hoped will be (juite soon, 

 the Government will undertake the buying of corn on 

 profit-sharing lines in two or probably three districts. 

 Active steps are being taken to encourage the culti- 

 vation of as great a variety as possible of food crops 

 on the part of both large and small owners. In the 

 first instance it is thought that it will be best to 

 begin co-operative work in buying, storing, and 

 distributing of food crops by dealing with corn; later 

 on other crops may have attention, but most of these 

 can be dealt with without drying; it is only the 

 surplus in these cases that needs drying, and at present 

 there is no great surplus. 



'I'he Jamaica Gleaner, April !!•, 19 IN, reports 

 a speech on this subject made by Sir Francis Watts at 

 a meeting of the lioard of Management of the .Jamaica 

 Agricultural Society. ' Sir Francis pointed out that 

 the granaries proposed to be erected would be able to 

 deal with 400 bushels of corn a day, and he lielieved 

 that by the end of the second year it would be 

 necessary to increase the number of granaries. 



