Vol. XVII, No, 4;j: 



THE AQRIGQLTtJRAE ifEWS, 



3r.5- 



not reduced the malarial rate, except where prophy- 

 lactic measures have been taken. The disea.se is well 

 understood and treated by physicians. The Jact that 

 malaria continues, then, in certain localities, is due, not 

 to lack of treatment of the disease, but to the lack of 

 control of the mosquitoes that convey it. It has been 

 proved that where areas of land have been drained and 

 bfoug-ht under cultivation, malaria has decreased in 

 proportion to decrease in collections of surface water in 

 which the larvae of malarial mo.=quitoes thrive. Drain- 

 Age is, then, one great prophylactic; liud another is so 

 to cover or screen the surface of standing water, either 

 by a film of kerosene or by mosqiiito-proof wire net- 

 ting that the female insects are prevented from ob- 

 taining acces.s to their breeding places, or that the 

 larvae are smothered. Some suggestions on this point 

 were given under Insect Notes in the Agricidiii.ral 

 iV'ettJs of July 27,1918. It must be emphasized that 

 these prophylactic meaisures are too variable to be stan- 

 dardized, and as Dr. Samuel T. Garling, ('hief of the 

 Laboratory of the Board of Health of the Panama 

 ( 'anal Zone, stated in 1914, 'each region and each 

 locality must be studied by itself, even though the 

 region contains Anopheles, the bionohjics of which for 

 other regions are well known.' 



Among West Ii'dian island.'* Barbados enjoys the 

 reputation of being free from malaria, there being no 

 species of Anopheles found in that island. This has 

 been conjectured to be due to the presence of sm.-.ll 

 insectivorous fish ((iirunlinus pofci/nideK) — ^locally 

 known as 'millions' — in ill ii>ilural collections of 

 standing water. In regard to the influence of this 

 f-actor, it may be noticed that, in his investigations 

 already referred to, Mr. -.van Dine found that in 

 open collections of water of 'a'penttftlnent character, 

 having margins free from vegetation' or trash, the in in 

 rows and the predaceous aquatic insects were very 

 effective in controlling the larvae of Anopheles. Wheii- 

 ever, on the other hand, the margins were grass-grown- 

 or the water shallow enough to support ac^uatic vege- 

 tation, or when trash, stumps, bi:ush-wood, or other 

 debris w^is allowed to accumulate on tht; surface, the 

 larvae were found to thrive in the presence of even 

 numerous lish. The absence of Anopheles from 

 Barbados cannot be adequately explained on these 

 line<. 



To sum up. Seeing that malaria is responsible to 

 a large extent for the tlepreciation of working power 

 in mosquito-infested lands such as are most of the 

 West Indies, and that man-power is more than evei 

 needed for the well-being of the .whole world, espe- 



cially in agriculture, it i.s a'rnatter of necessity that 

 every effort be made to control and eradicate the 

 carriers of. this enfeebling and enervating disease. 



With regard t<. ankylostomiasis, the Rockefeller 

 Foundation has been doing splendid work towards its 

 e,-adication^-.lamaioa, St. Vincent and St. Lucia being 

 among the fields where the officers of this philanthropic 

 institution are at work. The inhabitants of the West 

 Indies, however, must combine to spread the knowledge 

 of hygienic principles among all clas.'ses, and to put these 

 principles into practice, so that a disease so easily 

 eradicated by cleanly habits may disappear from our 

 midst, to the enhancement of man-power and energv^ 

 The greatest obstacle to improvement is the general 

 and somewhat fatalistic acquiescence of the population 

 ill things as they have been and are. 



AU-RIOULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 

 IN JAMAICA. 



■J'he .lamaica correapond-nt of TAe 'J'/mes TnuU' Suppk. 

 wait, (Jctober 1918, write.s, with regard to agriculfirHl 

 devolopraent in that Colony and in British Hondura.s, that 

 banana growers in the eastern section of .Jamaica are turning 

 their attenlioti to cane cultivation. A public meeting was 

 held recently in one of the eastern townships, when it was 

 decided that the Oovernnient should take up the question of 

 a State-aided sugar factory in that area for the development 

 of the cane industry. 



The doctrine of cooperation is being preached in every 

 Hritish possession in this (juarter of the globe. The .famaica 

 Imperial Association and the Agricultural .Society are 

 doing all they can to briog ail sections ■ of the people 

 in Jamaica together for the advancemeiit of the coun- 

 try, and societies in the other colonies are working on 

 similar line.s. It is safe to say that the future of 

 tliese possessions of the Crown depends on the develop- 

 ment of the soil. Want of cohesion has been a serious diffi- 

 culty in the past, but it now appears thtt West Indians in 

 general are on tile thre.shold of a new era. In British 

 Himduras an a.ssociation has ja.st been formed for the follow- 

 ing objects:' (1) to grow ground provisions,- grains and 

 other f'oodstutl's: (i) t'^ approach landowners of whom 

 cultivati^rs are t;enants, asking for a reduction of existins; 

 rents; should tbis reqnest he refused, to secure Crown land's 

 for the planting of staj/le <rops, like cicio, coco nuts, coffee, 

 oranges, and other .-itrus and tropical fruits: (:V, to give 

 mutual assistance tfi one another in preparing the land amf 

 planting same: (4) to rai.se stock. 



Ttu; Dem<rara . ^:„ -m, Octo'Oer l-i, iiUS, stiu.> thtt 

 the Governor of the Colony has advised the fJovernluentsL of 

 Trinidad, Barbadi's, and other islands which His Excellencv 

 h-ad agreed to supply with rice, that owing to the dronghr 

 now prevailing in the colony, and which is likely to continue 

 tfiere will be a shortage in the rice crop, arid as a result it 

 will not be possible for him to allow any furthf^r i-xpoi-r ot 

 the commodity. 



