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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



JvsE 29, 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, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 News' 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 Commissityiier of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., 



Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc. F.LC. F.C.8. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Sdtntific Assistant and 

 Assistant Editor 



Entomologists 



Mycologist 



Assistant for Cotton Research 



;\V. R. Dunlop.* 



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



JH. A. Ballou, M.Sc.t 



\J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D. 



W. NoweU, D.I.C. 



S. C. Hailaiul, B.Sc.tt 



Chief Clerk 

 Clerical Assistants 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



A. G. HoweU. 

 L. A. Corbin. 

 P. Taylor.* 

 K. R. C. Foster. 

 Typist Miss B. Robinson. 



Astistant Typist Miss W. Ellis. 



Assistant for Publications A. B. Price, Fell. Joum. Inst. 



*Secondtd for Military Service. 

 iSeconded for Duty in Egypt. 



liProvided try the Imperial JJeparlmeut of Scientifi,'- and 

 Industrial Research. 



Agricultural ^tm 



V..,,. WII SATTItDAV, Jl'XE 29, 191s, X,,. 422. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



In the editorial, attention is drawn to the progress 

 rnaile in recent years in breeding new varieties of plants, 

 and to some of the problems connected therewith. 



Under Insect Notes, page 202, will he found a 

 description of the South Atncrican locust, which has 

 recently be<'n causing considfr.ible damage in British 

 Cluiana. 



Visit of American Zoologists to the West Indies. 



The party of zoologists irom the State University 

 of Iowa, under the direction of Professor 0. C. Nutting,, 

 whose visit to Barbados was noted in the Agricultural 

 Xeii-s for May is, 1!)1.S, left that island on June 17 

 with the intention of staying a few weeks in Antigua, 

 where they will continue their biological studies on the 

 fauna of these seas. 



On their departure Professor Nutting wrote to the 

 Barbados papers, e.xpressing the appreciation by the 

 party of the hospitality received by them during their 

 stay in Barbados, and of the assistance rendered to 

 them b\ the local Cioxernment. 



Work of the Jamaica Imperial Association. 



The recently formed Jamaica Imperial Association, 

 to which attention was drawn in the Agricultural 

 News, June L 1918, is putting forth energetic etforts, 

 as is shown by the report of a special meeting of the 

 Association's Council published in the Jamaica Gleaner, 

 May 18, 1918, to induce the larger land-owners in that 

 island to engage in more extended cultivation of food- 

 stuffs. From the speeches made it is evident that the 

 aim of the Association in regard to the question of 

 food supply is two-foM: it is Impi-rial as well as local. 

 It desires that Jamaica should produce locally a con- 

 siderable increase of foodstuffs, in order that the 

 mother country may benefit by the saving made in 

 the colony in the consumption of imported food. Id 

 also aims at securing .lamaica against actual want of 

 food, and at protecting the population from exorbitant 

 prices, which naturally would result from great scarcity. 



At the meeting referred to, it was resolved to 

 obtain from proprietors of 40 acres and over personal 

 guarantees that they will put land under cultivation 

 in foodstuffs, and establish the crops. 



The form of agreement which was decided upon 

 reads as follows: 'We, the undersigned, in view of the 

 urgent necessity for increasing the food supply of the 

 island, hereby undertake to put under cultivation in 

 foodstuffs on the property undermentioned, the number 

 of acres mentioned opposite the name of such property, 

 apart from any tenants' cultivation.' 



The Chairman, Mr. A. \V. Fari|uharson, estimated 

 that, as a beginning, it would be necessary to cultivate 

 some S'SfiOO additional acres. Furthermore, if Jamaica 

 was to succeed in supplying herself with substitutes 

 for the cereals imported during l!tI6-17, it would be 

 necessary to cultivate twice or three times as many 

 additional acres. He did not think that the serious- 

 ness of the situation had been fully realized. 



An eel-worm disease of bananas, which has been 

 found in (Jrenada, is describrMl under Plant Diseases 

 on page 2011. 



On ihe same page will be found some notes on 

 certain corky woods of the West Indies. 



The Situation of the Lime Industry in 



Dominica 



Attention was drawn in the Agricultural Xewti, 

 May 18, 1918, to the serious effect likely to be produced 

 on the lime industry of Dominica by the embargo 

 placed on the importation of green limes into the United 

 .States. The following note as to the present situation 



