A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



\ XIV. No. 337. 



BARBADOS, MARCH 27, 1915. 



Peii k Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 Banana, Ripening, t !ha igi - 



.. ... ue 



<)i.l Peas, Composi- 

 tion of 105 



Cacao Manuria] Experi- 



nts, Trinidad 99 



Cotton Expert > Tour in the 



West Indies 104 



Notes 

 ml (rdinauce, Mont- 



it 



W est Indian Cotton 



1 1 i uient News 



Notes: 

 I'i Efficiency of Fun- 

 Parasites of Scale 



Insects 



gleanings 



(] Nuts, W est Indian 103 

 Index to I he ' Agricultural 



News - 104 



I ('..in 

 i Meal Bread Inn 



Page. 



Indian Corn (Qontd.): 



Industrial l T ses 101 



K ili i >i \ hill in St. Vin- 

 i - in ... 100 



Insect Notes: 



\ Fruit Fly Attacking 

 Papaw Fruits 10C 



Itemsof Local Interest ... 107 



Lime Seeds, Feeding and 

 Manuria] Value of ... 103 



Market Reports 1 12 



Notes md ' lomments ... 104 

 Origin of West Indian 

 Economic Plants and 



Animals, 1 '.'7 



110 Potash Deposits in Spain... 105 



lOt " ash, German 105 



Radium and Plant < Irowth 1 1 1 

 Soils, Recent Work on 



Physical Analysis of ... 109 



Students' Corner 109 



We-l Indian Bulletin'... I". 



102 

 102 

 102 



Origin of West Indian Economic Plants 

 and Animals. 



[. 



T is difficult to find anything uiote'character- 



lly West Indian than the circumsl n 



|that nothing is indigenous. By considering 



■ ji:i cultivated and even wild plants, of 



animals, and even man himself with his 



Ktendanl culture, we readily discover thai the greal 



by of forms were i -e or less recently introduced 



ibroad. In i thercountrj issucha pronounc d 



condition of affairs to be witnessed, and to designate 

 bhe Lesser Antilles a 'land oi exol ics' would in no sense 

 appear to be an exaggerat ion. 



The information in this article has been selected 

 principally to show the exotic origin ofsomeofour most 



rtant crops, domestic animals, and pests. A con- 



sideration of the sources from, and agencies through 

 which they have been obtained will form the subject 

 of a later article. 



Taking first the case of plants, we naturallj com- 

 mence by considering the origin of the sugar-cane. 

 This plant is so classically a West Indian culti- 

 vation that many persons unconsciously regard it 

 as indigenous. Botanic-ally, this planf is a native of 

 India or Southern Asia, that is to say, it has been found 

 there growing wild. In the middle ages ii was nun. 

 duced by the Arabs into Egypt and Spain. Thence 

 it was taken to the Canariesand .Madeira whence it 

 was introduced into Brazil in the sixteenth century. 

 From Brazil it was brought to the West Indie-, about 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, and limn thai 

 time onwards has been the staple cultivation. 



The economic plant in the West Indies which 

 ranks next in importance after the sugar-cane is cacao. 

 This plant, though a native of the New World, i- not 

 indigenous to the West Indie.-,, though it is said to grow 

 wild in Trinidad. Its original home is in the forestsof 



Amazon and Orinoco. This refers to the common 

 is Theobroma Cacao. The other species are 



enous to various other parts oftropical America. 



( lonsiderable romance, in the West Indies, attaches 



bo the ii.- ■ of Captain Bligh. This navigator was 



responsible fot bhe introduction of the familiar bread- 

 fruit tie.-. Commissioned al Mauritius (to which the 



