A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XIV. No. 344. 



BARBADOS, JULY 3, 1915. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Acid Soils 



Agricultural Affairs in 



British Guiana 



Agricultural Pupil-. Train 



Lng of HI Dominica ... 



Alcohol as Fuel in the 

 Tropic- 



Ami ica, and Agricultural 

 Engineering in tin 

 Tropics 



i !i i] ii ( Ir.adi s, Fedei'al 



Cotton Notes: 



West [ndian ( iotton 

 Mutation in Egyptian 

 Cotton ... .' 



Department News 



Depart mental Reports 



I idsl uti'-. Tropical, and 

 their Valuation 



Fungus Notes 

 The [nterna] I disease i if 

 Cotton Bolls 



Page. 



. 217 Gleanings 



. 211 

 221 

 200 



Pace. 

 ... 220 



216 

 213 



214 



214 

 221 

 214 



219 



222 



Cnsecl Notes: 



Pests of Peas and Beans 

 Italian Tomato Trade 

 Items of Local Interest... 



Maize in Rhodesia. 



Market Reports 



Notes and Comment s 

 Papaw and Papain 



Report on the Depart 

 men! of Agriculture, 

 Trinidad and Tobago... 



Students' Corner 



Sug ii cane Variet ies in 

 Different Countries 



Tick Eradication in 

 Antigua 



Ti anspirat ion i if a Partial 

 Parasite, and of Shaded 

 Tobacco 



'West [ndian Bulletin' ... 



218 

 222 

 223 

 212 

 221 

 216 

 212 



216 



221 



210 

 219 



217 



J\-. 



Alcohol as Fuel in the Tropics. 



l';' ( KHSISTKNT agitation, during the past 

 ?two years, in favour of alcohol as ,-i source 

 if power in the tropics, does not appear to 

 have resulted so far in the achievement of anything 

 Several well-known authorities on sugar 

 manufacture have advocated the utilization of molasses 

 in this direction, and have shown thai the proposition 

 is ;i practical one: other writers have called attention 

 tii tin- value of the by-prn(lncts oi banana, cacao and 

 coco-nut estates; while in sub-tropical countries the 

 cultivation of corn and starch-producing crops has been 

 mentioned as another source from which alcohol mierhl 

 be produced. 



In this journal (No. 310 of March 14, 1914,) the 

 whole question of alcohol production in the tropics was 

 reviewed, and authorities were quoted to the effect 

 that the supply of petrol is diminishing, and that even 

 engineers and oil specialists were viewing with 

 concern the neglect on the pari of the agriculturist 

 to begin producing a substitute. This journal further- 

 more published information to show that with very 

 little modification, the ordinary oil engine can be 

 satisfactorily run on alcohol, and it was concluded that 

 sugar-producing countries, at least, should manufacture 

 enough alcohol as a source of power for local consump- 

 tion. In making this suggestion ii was pointed out that 

 theie is nothing essentialbj new or novel in the employ- 

 ment of alcohol. As i- well known, the whole of the 

 Prussian State Railways are lighted by alcohol, and 

 as lung ago as 1901 a not inconsiderable business had 

 developed in Mauritius in connexion with public 



lighting, and domestic lighting and ( king with 



alcohol. It is only going one step farther to use this 

 spirit in place of petrol for- transport. 



Noel Deerr's views on the economic side of the 

 subject were reproduced in this journal last April 

 (Vol. XIV, No. 333). Tins authority calculates that 

 from the present Cuban sugar crop, 100,000,000 

 gallons of molasses are produced, from which under 

 modern methods of fermentation and distillation 

 40,000,000 gallons of alcohol might be obtained, worth 

 23 cents per gallon. Peck, in Hawaii, has strongly advo- 

 cated alcohol production in thai territory, ami he has 

 calculated that 100 tons of cane will yield 1,058 n . of 

 absolute alcohol. The cosl of production is mentioned 

 as being negligible since, according to Peck, the value 

 of the residue as a fertilizer leaves the alcohol as 

 a by-product free of cost. Referring to a recent report 

 by the Committee on the Utilization of Megasse and 



