344 



THE AGRICULTURAL TSEWS. 



OiTOBEK ■25, 1913. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 'Barbados. 



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^igriciiltural ^xm 



Vol. XII. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2.^.. 1913. No. 300. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



■Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number deals with the supply 

 of corn for the West Indies. The article is intended 

 to show that production and consumption of Indian 

 corn in the I'nited States are quickly becoming equal- 

 ized, which will necessitate, in the near future, an 

 improvement of methods, and an extension of the area 

 under this cultivation in the West Indies. 



New Steamship Service between Canada and 

 the West Indies. 



The ]Yef!t India Committee Circular (October 7, 

 1913) gives imi)ortant information concerning the 

 itinerary of the new .service of steamers, the first one of 

 which will leave Halifa.x for the West Indies on 

 December ."), 191.3. 



There will be four steamers, and they will start 

 from the port of St. .John (New Brunswick), and from 

 there to Malifa.x (Nova Scotia) and thence to George- 

 town (British CJuiana) every fourteen day.s, following 

 alternately the undermentioned itineraries: — 



(a) Bermuda, So. Kitts, Antigua, Montserrat, 

 Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, fjarbados, Grenada, 

 and Trinidad, and returning from (Georgetown to 

 St. John, calling at Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados, 

 Antigua, St. Kitts and Bermuda. 



(b) Bermuda, St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbados, 

 ( Jrenada and Trinidad, and returning from George- 

 town, calling at the following islands: Trinidad, 

 Barbados, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, Jlontserrat, 

 Antigua, St. Kitts and Bermuda. 



From the point of \ iew of Barbados and Antigua 

 it may be observed that there will thus be a direct) 

 run from either one place to the other every fortnight. 

 This is a local aspect of the communication of consid- 

 erable importance. 



It may be added that the steamers are to be 

 .3,000 tons cargo capacity and fitted with all modern 

 conveniences. They will steam eleven knots an hour. 

 The time the voyage will take is not stated. 



On page 33S will be found an account of the 

 recently concluded sugar-cane experiments in Antigua. 



The breeding of animals in Jamaica for dairy 

 purposes is dealt with on page 341. 



An account is given on page 34-'? of how to drain 

 land in order to free it from salt. 



Insect Note.s, on page 34(i, comprise an article 

 ■describing a recent entomological visit to the United 

 .States. 



Keviewed on page 347, will br found two new and 

 important works dealing with white sugar manufacture 

 and agricultural chemistry, respei'tively 



A disease in India Jtnown as the tobacco wilb 

 •disease is dealt with on page 350, 



A Twenty-Years' Retrospect. 



In his Presidential address delivered before the Agri- 

 cultural Section at the Birmingham (191-'i) Meeting of 

 the British Association for the Advancement of SciencBj 

 Professor T. B. Wood, M.A., spoke of the tendencies 

 and achievements in agricultural research during the 

 last quarter of a century. Particular reference was 

 made to what has been the jirevailing custom in regard 

 to manurial and variety trials, namely, the employ- 

 ment of the one-plot methoil. 'The single-plot method, 

 which suffices to demonstrate lesults as .striking as 

 those given by phosphates on some kinds of pasture 

 land, signally fails when the subject of investigation is 

 concerned with differences of ten per cent, or there- 

 abouts.' In cases of this kind it is necessary, if 

 accuracy is to be ensured, to take at least ten plots in 

 five pairs, in order to reduce the probable error to one 

 per cent. 



An extension in this w;iy necessarily involves 

 much trouble and some extra expense; but it must be 

 worth while if only in view of the fact that the best — 

 perhaps the only — way of obtaining the confidence and 

 of arousing the interest of practical agriculturists is by 

 providing them with absolutely reliable results of 

 fairly wide application. 



'Agricultural science has now reached that stage 

 of development at which the obvious facts which can be 

 demonstrated without considerable eflbrt have been 

 demonstrated, and further knowledge can only bo 



