

A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THK 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBP 



Vol. XII. No. 303. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBER 6, 1913. 



PEIf E Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Agricultural Progi oss in 

 Cura(;!io and its Depeiuleu- 

 cies 393 



Brazil, European Animals 

 in 391 



Cevlon Compared with 

 Hrazil 39? 



Citrus Trees from Cluna, 

 New 388 



Cotton Notes: — 



British Cotton Growing 



Association 390 



West Indian Cotton ... 390 



Department News 397 



Departmental Reports ... 387 



Dominica Planter.s' A.ssocia- 

 tion 397 



Fungus Notes : — 

 Mycoloaical Investigatiims 

 in'Florida 398 



Gleanings 396 



Grevv Zebra as a Domestic 

 Animal 391 



Page. 



India and .\i,'iicultural 

 Research \ 392 



Insect Notes :— 



Insect Pests at St Croix 394 



Law of Diminishing Re- 

 turn .385 



Lime Cultivation in the 

 West Indies 392 



Market Reports 400 



Notes and Comments ... 392 

 Oil Palm for the West 



Indies 398 



Papaw, Grafted .as an An- 

 nual Fruit Tree 388 



Plant Assimilation and Diti- 

 erent Light Intensities, 388 



Rubber Industry 395 



Students' Corner .397 



Su'^ar Industry: — 



Sugar-ciine Pjxperiments 

 ill Barbados. 19U-13... 389 



We^t Indian Products ... 399 



The Law of Diminishing Return. 



JXDOUBTEDLY onr of the inosb formidable 

 forces that promoters of agricultural develop- 



; ment have to contend with is the law of 

 diminishing return. A concomitant of society even in 

 its most primitive stages, this irrepressible economic 

 tendency was the cause of Abrahams parting with Lot, 

 of the invasion of Gaul, of the whole Western 'move- 

 ment, exemplified in i|uite re<'ent times by emigniiioii 

 to Canada and by the intro'luction of intensive pystems 

 of agriculture into the western T'nited .States. 



In its widest application to agriculture this law 

 lays down that the returns from the production of any 

 particular produce shall diminish in proportion to the 

 extension of area. In other words, the cost of 

 production increases. The principle involved is that 

 a certain crop can be grown in some places with a less 

 expenditure of capital and labour than in others, and 

 that the quantity of this favourable land is limited. 

 Whence it follows that growers will first have recourse 

 to the most fertile land, and afterwards to that which 

 is less fertile.* A present day example of this is 

 afforded by the extension of the area under plantation 

 rubber, and to some extent by the results of efforts to 

 extend cotton growing. 



It is not always recognized that one of the 

 principal aims of natural science at the present time is, 

 so to speak, to hold in check this law of diminishing 

 return by effecting improvements in the art of pro- 

 duction. The raising of drought-resistant varieties, 

 for instance, enables the cultivator of the less fertile 

 land to overcome what is perhaps one of his main 

 opposing factors; the immunization of domestic animals 

 to trypanasome diseases assists the breeder in the 

 Tropics to compete with the farmer in a cold coimtry; 

 whilst the introduction of labour-saving machinery 

 allows of the remunerative investment of capital in 

 land where previously it would have been prohibitive. 



* It sliould be pointed out that fertility in the economic 

 sense is a ri^lative term and really lepresents a chain of (actors. 

 When land is taken up in a new country for a new cultivation 

 those who are in a hurry, reject the chain which has one or two 

 weak links however strong the rest may be and select a lighter 

 one that has no Haw. But if tliere is heavy work to be done, 

 and they have time and the necessary knowlcd;;t' and skill to 

 make repairs, they will set the larger chain in order and then 

 it will be stronger than the other. Lands whicli are first 

 <liosen do not <'/ir<(i/s come to be regarded ultimately as the 

 most fertile. 



