A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 





Vol, XVII. No. 421. 



BARBADOS. JUNE 15. 1918. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



Agiitultuie in Barbados 180 

 Beny Pdisonous to Fowls 187 

 Butter Substitutes in 



Trinidad 



Butter Substitutes. Xu 



triti\*e Vakie of 



Coti'ees. Imitation 



Cnttun Industry, Some 



Applications of Re- 

 search to The 



Cotton Notes: — 



.\ Ijength-Sorting Ma- 

 chine for Cotton 



Fibres 



British Cotton Grow- 

 ing Associatii-n 

 Cotton Cultivation in 



Barb.ados .. 

 Sea Island Cotton 



Market 



Cowpea. Kew Strain of... 

 'Cunas' or Chinese (iani 

 bier. Increased Cse of liS.M 



Department News 181 



Departmental Reports ... IX'.i 



Drainage. Efficient ... 184 

 Kn/,ymes of Some Trn]ii- 



cal Plants .. IST 



18.-. 



185 

 19(1 



177 



18l' 



182 



18.S 



182 

 18.-. 



Page. 



Food. False ami True 

 Economy in l.sj 



(Jenetic Investigation in 

 the Tropics, Material 



for LSI 



Gleanings 188 



Grass Trees, Eci moniic 

 Value of 17'.t 



Insect Notes: — 



.'^cimo Insect Pests in 



Cuba ISi; 



Items of L(ic-al Interest bsn 



Market Reports 



Meiiileliau Terms. E\- 

 pkiiiation i>f Some 



Notes and Comments 



Plant Diseases: — 



Algal Disease (Ked 

 kust) of Cacao 



'.Stiitiim Agronomiipie de 

 la Gu.ndeloupe' isi 



Sudan (rrass. Dying < 'ut 

 of Clumps of' ... ... LSI 



\'aiiilla Crop in tlie 

 French West Indies ... 1,S.") 



West Indian RrcHluct.- ... IIH 



1!)L' 



is: I 

 1S4 



I'.tii 



Some Applications of Research to the 

 Cotton Industry. 



;T a meeting of the Itoyal Society of Arts. 

 held on April 10, reported in the Society's 

 Journal of May :l, 19 hS, a most interesting 

 paper on the above subject was read by Dr. \V. L Balls, 

 who is a well-known authority on the application 

 of science tothe production of cotton. 



Dr. Balls begins by what might appear to many 

 people as a somewhat startling assertion, the truth of 

 which, however, is evident on reflection. He says that 

 the whole technicpie of cotton manufacture is based 

 upon the properties of single, unicellular seed hairs. 

 The knowledge of the properties of these hairs, 

 the manner in which they are formed, and their 

 behaviour in the process of spinning is necessary- that 

 the grower and the user of cotton ma}- work together 

 in order to produce the best results from the raw 

 material. This raw material is not so much the cotton 

 hair itself, but is rather the sex cell of the cotton 

 plant and the embryo arising therefrom. 



When the magnitude of the Lancashire cotton 

 industry, and the ingenuity and organization involved 

 in it are considered, that which lies behind it in the 

 shape of agriculttu-e is apt to be forgotten. 



The study of the cotton crop is naturally divided 

 into two halves of ecjual importance These are (1) the 

 plant itself, and (2) the environment in which it lives. 



Any particular plant has certain constitutional 

 capabilities which have been transmitted to it by hered- 

 itj', and are definitely fixed at the moment of fertiliz- 

 ation. Such constitutional potentialities are developed 

 by the interaction which takes place between the 

 organism and its environment. 



^fany mistakes have been made in agriculture 

 from missing the distinction between the potentialities 

 of a plant, and the effect of its environment. On the 

 one hand, the attempt has been made to grow unsuit- 

 able seed in suitable places, and on the other, to plant 

 suitable seed in unsuitable localities. 



Cotton research has led in the first place to the 

 study of the preparation, propagation, and cultivation 



