A FORTNIGHTLY ?!EV!EW 



O? THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 





Vol. XVII. No. 433. 



BARBADOS. NOVRVIBER 30, 1918. 



Peice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Agricultural Tractors in 



Trinidad .'^TT 



Agriculture in Barbados... 373 

 Alcohol Fuel Committee 383 

 Alcohol Production ... 382 



Cotton Deterioration ... 369 



Department News 373 



Exotio, Intluence of on 



Native Flora 377 



Gleanings 380 



Insect Notes: — ■ 



Insect Pests in the West 



Indies in 1017 378 



Items of Local Interest 372 



Market Reports 384 



Mowjuito Control . ,.. 374 

 Notes and Comments ... 376 



Page. 



Pink Boll Worm at Bar- 

 bados 37(' 



Plant Diseases: — 



\ New Coffee Disease in 

 Surinam 382 



Rainfall, Ftelation of Lint 

 Length to 371 



St. Vincent, Manurial 

 Experiments with Sea 

 Island Cotton in 1^75 



Sugar III! I lorts and Export s. 

 United States 381 



Sugar, Prices of .381 



Tea Cultivatioji, Experi- 

 ments in 377 



The 'West Indian Bulletin', 

 Vol. XVII, No. 2 ... 376 



West Indian Products ... 383 



Cotton Deterioration. 



-■yV'-'J^ TELEGUAM has been received by the 

 ' ^>^, Barbados Government; froui the Secre- 

 ^ taiy of State for the Colonies directing 

 attention to a serious mixing of low grade native 

 cotton with fine quality of Sea Island. Mention is 

 made of the fact that West Indian Sea Island cotton is 

 intended for use in connexion with the war, and that 

 great harm might be done if these inferior admixtures 

 \ were spun and woven into cloth. 



The telegram, as published, is as follows : — 

 12th October. War Office states very serious 

 mixing D.F. indigenous cotton has Ifcen found in lot 

 !' Vauxhall ex 'Golonial". Bales numbers 84, 90, 91 were 



quite useless for War t»ffice purposes and consisted 

 almost entirely of indigenous cotton, and there were 

 traces of such indigenous cotton throughout whole lot. 

 War Office cannot emphasize too strongly seriousness 

 of admixture not only renders valueless cotton so mixed 

 but ma} if undiscovered cause much damage to cloth. 

 Immediate steps must be taken to prevent recurrence.' 



This telegram, it will be seen, refers only to 

 Barbados cotton. The only other complaint of a 

 simil.ar nature of which we have information was with 

 regard to two bales of cotton shipped from St. Kitts, 

 but smce found to ha\ e been produced in the Dutch 

 Colony of St. Martin. 



On the publication of the telegram and the cover- 

 ing letter from His Excellency the Governor, several 

 references to this affair were made in the local press 

 in some of which direct and deliberate fraud wa.s 

 suggested. 



If this matter is regarded impartially, it will be 

 seen that the probability that deliberate fraud had 

 been practised in the mixing of low grade cotton with 

 fine sorts is not very great. 



In order fur such trauduient practice to be possi- 

 ble on a large scale, it would be necessary that consid- 

 erable Quantities of low grade cotton should be pro- 

 duced in the island. 



This however can hardly be said to be the case in 

 Barbados, where the bulk of the cotton grown is pro- 

 duced from Sea Island cotton seed. There is, however, 

 * certain amount of cotton produced in Barbados which 



