A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XVII. No. 422. 



BAKBADOS, JUNE 29, 1918. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Aiiicriwiii Ziiologi.-ts, Vi.sit 



of t(i tlie We.st Indies 2(Ml j 

 C;me .Seeillings, New, 



Te.sting in North India 201 j 



CuttoiiNof.es:-- i 



Local Prices of St. Vin- | 



cent Cotton, 191C.-17 !'■>» 

 Prospects of Cotton 



Production in South ' 



Africa 1!I8 



Sea Island Cotton 



Market 106 



Courses of Heading and 1 



Examinations iuPracti- , 



cal Agriculture ... 199 : 



Ucpartnient Xews 190 



Food Cauijiaign in Eng- 

 land ami Wales, Re- 

 sults of 199 



Oiirden I 'oujjiotitions. 



Value of 2(io 



Gleanings 204 



Insect Notes: — 



The South American 

 Locust in British 



Guiana 202 



Items of Local Interest 205 1 



Page. 



.laiii.iicalmperi.il As>ocia- 



tiim. Work of 2oo 



Light Wood, Demand for 2O0 

 Lime Industry in Domin- 

 ica, Situation of 200 



Market Reports 2iis 



Notes and Oommeuts ... -joii 

 Plant Breeding. ProgivsN 



in " ... lit:; 



Plant Diseases: — 



Eel-worm Disease ( Bhu I;- 

 head) of liananas ... 'Joc. 

 Power- Alcohol, Proposal 

 Production of in Aus- 

 tralia... -.'O:' 



Prickly Pear Sap in Ar- 

 senical Sprays. Use of 19.") 



Sugar as a Meat Preserv- 

 ative 2ol 



Sugar-Cane, Studies in 

 Inheritance in 190 



Sweet Potatoes, Behav- 

 iour of in the (irouud 207 



Yam and Cassava Cultiva- 

 vatiou in Trinidad, Ex- 

 periments in ... ... 197 



Progress in Plant Breeding. 



S,liE fact that plants, like animals, are capable 

 »ot being improved bj' careful breeding, lius 

 ),only been thoroughly recognized during the 

 last century. Only a few scientific horticulturists at 

 the beginning of the nineteenth cei.tuTy had begun to 

 realize the importance of this process in agricultural 

 matters. During the century, chiefly owing to the 

 promulgation in the latter part of it of Mendel's 



researches, the knowledge of the factors involved in 

 plant breeding has gradually increased, and been widely 

 disseminated. Keccnt developments in this direction 

 have forcibly called attention to the great improve- 

 ments which skill and patience under scientific control 

 may achieve in this field, and it may be said that 

 interest in plant breeding has been stimulated enor- 

 mously in the last few years. 



With regard to West Indian agriculture and 

 horticulture, it must be remembered that almost all 

 the plants cultivated throughout these islands, either 

 in the field or in the garden, with very few exceptions, 

 have been introduced from other parts of the world. In 

 the early days of colonization each expedition brought 

 seeds and plants to use in starting agricultural indus- 

 tries; and subsequent importations of new varieties 

 continued to be made. The early settlers probably 

 practised a system of what might be almost called 

 automatic selection in growing these plants, and in 

 testing experimentally the possibility of their succeed- 

 ing under the different conditions under which they ' 

 were being grown. This selection, which must cer- 

 tainly have been exercised to a greater or less extent 

 throughout the history of these islands, probably did 

 not have any definite improvement or change in view 

 other than to secure the b?st and most vigorous seed. 



To-day, however, the careful and complex methods 

 of modern plant breeding and selection have placed 

 a different aspect upon the introduction of new varie- 

 ties. These are still being introduced, but chiefly for 

 a different purpose. Not entirely with the idea that 

 they may become commercially important themselves 

 are such introductions now made, but that select 

 seedlings from them, and hybrids between them and 



