Vol. XIV. No. .ill. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 





171 



The difficulties of controlling the importation of plant 

 peats is sufficiently illustrated by I ing. They may 



arrive by many avenues, such as freight, parcels, ordinary 

 post, and baggage of all sorts. I m by a start' of 



trained entomologists is desirable, but this involves much 

 expense, which is out of proportion to the means of small 

 communities, and even the bi tion cannot be relied 



upon to give absolutely perfect results, [fumigation also, 

 while the best treatment available, falls shorl oi perfection in 

 results. It is possible that fumigation in partial vacuum 

 (see Agricultural News for May 8) may increase the efficiency 



bis treatment. 



So far as is known, no new | ts have been introduced 



into these islands since the | 'l,i ni quarantine laws have been in 

 operation, except that leaf-blister mite ol cotton made its 

 appearance in Barbados in the early pari of 1912. This 

 may be considered as a fairly satisfactory state of affairs, 



and as an indication that the presenl system, while not 



perfect, is worth persisting inso long as it gives a maximum 



of protection with a minimum of interference with the condi 



tions of trade and travel. 



British West [ndies, and for British Guiana and 5 

 America. British Guiana tranships and re-exports supplies 

 to Dutch Guiana and French Guiana, while Bat 

 re-exports considerable quantities oi , , the Wind 



and Leeward Islands. 



The fact that Trinidad, British Guiana and British 

 Honduras occupy geographical positions oi sue] 



importance com rciaDy that they are distributing centres 



for adjoining foreign countries, is of Importance to Ci 

 because by having first-class steamship communication with 

 these colonies it is quite probable that Canada may < :ure 

 a considerable share of the trade ol those foreign countries. 



It is interesting to note that the people of the colonies 

 that joined in the < lanada West Indies preferential agrei tent, 

 spent on imported articles for home consumption the year 

 following the last census, about L.'7'.l") per head of population, 

 while Jamaica and the Bahamas, which have no joined in 

 the preferential agreement, spent about $17 - 82 per head of 

 population. 



CANADA-WEST INDIES PREFERENTIAL 

 TRADE AGREEMENT. 



The Canada West India. Magazine for April 1915 

 publishes what purports to be a first report by Mr. Watson 

 Griffen on the Canada-West Indies preferential trade agrei 

 ment. One result of the contract made between the 

 Canadian Government and the Royal Mail Steam Packet 

 Company, has been that exporters of Canadian food products 

 and manufactured goods now have easy access to all the 

 colonies that joined the Canada West Indies preferential trade 

 agreement. As to the value of the trade between Canada 

 and the West Indies, the figures for 1912 are taken as more 

 representative of ordinary conditions in the British West 

 than those of 1 9 1 3, for the following reasons. The 



1 91 2 was the last complete year before the preference 



went into effect, and as the preference began in June L913, 



only part of that year was under the preference, hence it is 



_ irded as a suitable year for comparison: and the figures 



for 1914, the first complete year under the preference, will 



not be available for some months. Taking then the figures 



for 191:.', it is shown that in that year the total imports of 



merchandise of the colonies that are now giving Canada 



a preference amounted to - 4 I 1,237,839, while the imports for 



consumption in these colonies amounted to $30,365,063, 



is the similar figures for the non-preference colonies 



were $19,858,1 II and 816,013,109, respectively. 



Prominence is given to the importance of Trinidad, in 



d to which there is noted a remarkable difference between 

 the total imports of that Colony and the imports of merchan- 

 dise for home consumption, the latter being little more than 

 half of the total imports in 1912. An explanation of this 

 tnd in a statement made by Mr. E. EL McCarthy, 

 formerly Collector of Customs of Trinidad, which is quoted 

 in the report, and in which it is pointed nit, inter 



that throughout the year trade is carried on by 



innumerable small craft propelled by sails or pi 

 some of which occupy months on the journey to Boli- 

 var. For the whole of tie of Venezuela, 

 Trinidad is inevitably the marl I where European and 

 American goods are bought, and cacao, coffee, cattle, maize 

 and vegetables are sold. Considerable quantities of goods 

 are also transhipped at Trinidad lor other islands of the 



THE CULTIVATION OP ONIONS. 



The following are the conclusions drawn from 

 six years' experiments with onions in Illinois, dealing 

 particularly with the question of thinning and gro 

 from sets. The information is taken from Bulletin 

 No. 175 of the University of Illinois Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station: — 



thinning. The chief objection to thinning onions is 

 the expense. On the other hand, if onions are not thinned, 

 there is likely to be a large percentage of undersized bulbs, 

 and even those that are of marketable size (that is, more than 

 IJ inches in diameter) are likely to be much smaller than 

 those that have been thinned. The tendency of the market 

 at the present time is to give preference to large-sized onions, 

 so that although the accepted minimum standard size for 

 market onions is 1 \ inches in diameter, unless most of the 

 onions in a given lot are considerably above the minimum it 

 is difficult to sell them on some markets, even at a reduced 

 price. Therefore if onions are to lie grown without thinning, 

 great care must be taken in sowing the seed to secure a "inn 

 and uniform stand. This involves testing the seed for 

 germinative power, and adjusting the seed drill with extreme 

 precision. 



growing onions krom sets, tin the whole, it appears 

 that although the cos' of growing onions from sets is con- 

 siderably greater than growing the crop from seed, these' are 

 more certain than the seed to produce a paying crop, especially 

 under unfavourable weather conditions; the crop is likely 

 to be larger; it ripens earlier, and can usually be disposed >f 

 promptly at harvest time. The chief objection to the 

 growing of onions from sets is the enormous amount of 

 labour involved in planting them. However, this is usually 

 offset by the saving of expense in weeding, thinning, 

 and tillage. The excess cost of sets over seed, md 

 the increased labour of harvesting the larger crop from the 

 sets are usually more than balanced bj the great. 

 the crop: thus, undei present conditions, the growing >f 

 onions from sets for local market in Qlinois towns ippears 

 to offer greater ipportuuity lor large profits from small treas 

 than growing onions from seed. The growing of ripe onions 

 from sets may well form part of a general market-gardening 

 business, provided the quantity -low miu a. given locality 

 does not exceed the capacity ol the available markets. 



