

THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March 13, 1915. 



INDIAN CORN. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 

 Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 i- follows, under date February23, with reference 

 to the sales of West [ndian Sea bland cotton: 



Since our Lt-t report the sales of West Indian Sea 

 Island cotton have been confined to about ">(• bales of medium 

 quality Nevis at 12tf. There is some enquiry at about this 

 price, but no demand for the better grades at. the moment. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 S Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ended February 13, is us follows: — 



The demand has continued for the limited offerings oi 



odd bags, classing Fine and Fully Fine, which the Factors 



would consent to sell at our quotations, but much the 



portion of the unsold stock is held fur an advance of 



2c., the Factors here thinking they should be able to 



sell on a parity with the prices now ruling in Savannah. 



There ha- also been some demand for the crop lots, but 

 at prices generally 2c. to 3c. below the views of the planters. 



We quote, viz: — 



Extra Fine 23c. = 14tf., c.i.f. & 5 per cent. 



Fully Fine 22c. = 13£d., „ „ „ .. 



20c. = 12£d., „ „ ,. .. 



Fine off in colour I8c. = ll|d., ,, ,, ,, „ 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton from the United States to Liverpool. 

 Manchester, and Havre, up to Februarj 13, 1915, wen 

 L03, 1,233, and nil bales, respectively. 



Bulletin No. 121 of the United States Department ol 



him . deals with spinning tests of Upland long staple 



It discusses soil types represented, variation in 



and -tables, lengths, invisible lustre, card waste, 



i n of grade to waste, comparison at the comber, comber 



tests, value of waste differences, machine work, factors 



influencing waste, tests of breaking strength, and cultural 



characteristics; compares early and late picked cotton, and 

 gives data on tests made at the Ww Bedford Textile School. 



This publication should lie of special interest in the West 

 Indies, in view of an endeavour which is being made to 



establish a system of commercial standardization of West 

 I The Bulletin is reviewed in the Experiment 



Sta Rt ' "'. Vol. \ \ \ I, No. 7. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Messrs. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc, Entomologisi and 

 W. Now. lb D.I.C., .Mycologist, mi tin staff of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture returned to 

 Barbados b\ the C.R.M.S. 'Chignecto' from an official 

 v isit to ' Irenada on March H> 1915. 



CORN MEAL AS A FOOD, AND WAYS OF 

 USING IT. 



Under the title given above, the United States Depart- 

 ment ol Agriculture issued Farmers' Bulletin No. 565, 

 in January 1914. This bulletin was prepared by ('. T. 

 Langworthy, Ph.D., DjSc, Chief oi Nutrition Investigations, 

 in collaboration with Caroline I.. Hunt, B.A., Expert in 

 Nutrition, and has been largel) drawn upon in the prepara- 

 tion ol these notes. All the recipes given below are quoted 

 from it. except that for cous-cous, as prepared in Barbados. 



At the present time when the prospects are that high 



prices ami possibly shortage ot supplies will soon prevail in 



respecl oi wheat and all other imported f Istuffs, it should 



be of interest to consider the methods of using locally pro- 

 duced f IstuH's to the best advani _ 



Indian corn is not new to residents in the American 

 tropics, nor indeed to those of almost any part of the world, 

 but perhaps there is no locality where this cereal furnishes 



the same variety in the foods of the people oi all classes as in 

 the United States. 



In former days all com meal consisted of the entire com 

 grain- ground or crushed into a meal of varying degrees of 

 fineness. Later, the process of preparation was improved so 

 that the skiii or enveloping membrane of the grains was 

 removed, thus reducing the amount of crude fibre or bran in 

 the meal. Still more recently the process has been further 

 improved by the removal of the germ oi the seed, which con- 

 tains nearly all the fat or oil. This improvement has resulted 

 in the production of a corn meal which possesses much 

 better keeping qualities, since the fat has a tendency to 

 undergo chemical changes which cause the meal to become 

 rancid. The meal in which all or nearly all the bran and oil 

 are present is called old-process meal, and that from which 

 a large part of the bran and oil has been removed is known 

 as new-process meal. 



Probably all the corn meal imported into the West Indies 

 is new process meal, while thai ground locally from locally 

 grown com is of the old process type, which is fully equal to 

 the imported meal when freshly ground from good corn, but 



which, as is well known, does not keep fo anj length of time 

 without becoming rancid. 



Everyone in the Wesl Indie- is familiar with the 



ordinary COUS-COUS or fuiigee. The early settlers in America 

 Used corn in much the same way iii the preparation of their 

 corn meal mush or hasty pudding In Italy, polenta; in 

 Jamaica, 'Stamp and go': and in America, scrapple; are 



similar dishes, with the additi >f fats and proteids which 



make ration- with a better balanced nutritive ratio. 



When cum meal isused to form a huge proportion of the 



food "t a people it is generally combined with other things to 



increase the amount of protein and fat. In the ordinary 

 course however, the use of corn might belargelj increased in 

 the West Indie- without in anj way upsetting the balance of 

 the nutritive ratio, since nearly all classes of the population 



able toprovide themselves with the necessary amounts 

 proteids and fats to satisfy physiological requirements. The 

 foods which supply relatively large amounts of proteids are 



meat- of all kind-, eggs, milk, and leguminous s Is such as 



pea - Fats are supplied in butter, lard, oil, pork, 



and i' a considerable extent also, in good milk. 



in cooking com meal in the mush or cous-cous form it 

 has i thai the best results are obtained by using 



