Vol. XIV. No. 345. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 





jii Laboratory at Buiten irg, and since I ss ~> 

 until the present day L50 I - have made use of 



it. 



In the British colonies the Governments have 

 achieved a great deal by means of Departments; but 

 official establishments possess disadvantages as well as 

 advantages. Full developmenl socially and economi- 

 cally, demands unh ersity inflin 



'Onion Cultivation'. 



The above is the I n le ol a new Pamphlel on 

 onion cultivation, prepared by Mr. T. Jackson, Curator, 

 Antigua, and recently issued by this Department. In 

 this a brief history of the cultivation of the Bermuda 

 variety of onion in the West Indies; together with 

 useful information as to the type of soil and rainfall 

 requisite for the successful production of onions possess- 

 ing g I marketable qualities is given. Other mat- 

 dealt with are seed and varieties, manuring, 

 propagation, seed beds, transplanting and establishing 

 ofcrop, plantingvn situ, planting by means of sets, 

 watering, tools, harvesting, yield, insect pests, etc., 

 curing, curing house, grading, stringing and plaiting, 

 packing, shipping, crates and markets. 



Onion cultivation lias undergone considerable 

 extension in Antigua during the past two years. This 

 is more or less directly due to the formation, at the end 

 ofl913 of an Onion Growers' Association, consequent 

 on whose instrumentality then his been an increasad 

 production of this crop for export, as is shown by the 

 fact that 6,557 crates were exported in 1914 as againsl 

 4.4(>i'p in L913. It might also be mentioned thai 

 a movement is now on fool for the formation oi 

 a similar Association in Montserrat, where the industry 

 has also been taken up and there have been successful 

 shipments recently of crates of onions to Canada. 



Tie information given in tins pamphlet should be 

 found especially useful to onion growers in the 

 Leeward Islands. 



Dipterocarp Forests. 



An important memoir on the * Dipterocarp forests 

 of the Philippines^ has recently been published as 

 No. 5 of Section A, Vol. [X, of the Philippine Journal 

 of Science. The forest is a tall tropical, lowland forest 

 characteristic of the inter Malayan regions, usually 

 occupyingthe localities most favourable to tree growth. 

 It receives its name from the 1 :1 that species of the 

 family Dipterocarpaceae are the dominant trees. The 

 forests ma\ be composed almost wholly of one diptero- 

 carp species, as in some of the f n sts of Shorea robusta 

 of Northern India, and of Dipferocarpus tuberculatum 

 of Burma, [n other cases two or more different species 

 may predominat e. 



The importance of the dipterocarp family as 



nee of timber supply of thi Philippine Islands is 



very great. One hundred and foi 3 four out of a total 



oi 200 billion fei I ol -• nding timber in the Philippines 

 is estimated to be dipterocarp. The large size of the 

 individual trees, thi density of the stand, and the 

 readiness with which the markel receives the tmber 

 for construction and finishing work of all kinds 1 

 the forest an extremely important one and capital 

 has already been invested in the commercial 

 ment of this forest to •■v\ considerable extent. 



1 1 is stated that certain grades of diptei ■■ irp 

 timber can be used in place of woods like walnut 

 and mahogany, while other grades furnish excellent 

 constructive timber; these two uses make the exploita- 

 tion of the forests on a large scale almost a certainty. 



Lectures at the Imperial Institute. 



Mention was made in an editorial in tins Journal 

 some months ago of the tact thai arrangements had 

 been made for lectures to be delivered in the Colonial 

 Galleries at the Imperial Institute. In this connexion 

 1 he following paragraph, taken from the current issue of 

 the West India Committee Circular, will beofinterest. 



'Dr. Gray, the whilom head of Bradford College, 

 who has been recently appointed lecturer at the 

 Imperial Institute, delivered his lecture on the West, 

 Indies and British Guiana at that Institution on 

 Wednesday last. The audience, which was limited to 

 tilt\ and amounted to twenty-eight, was very enthusi- 

 astic in their interest in the matter of the lecture. \o 

 doubt the lecturer will follow up his lecture by a visit 

 to the West Indies, which should, in the circumstances, 

 be of especial interest to him.' 



It may be pointed out that while Dr. Gray may 

 not have yet visited the West Indies, he has travelled 

 extensively, it is understood, in South America. The 

 institution of these lectures is calculated as likely to 

 do much good in the way of enlivening the Galleries, 

 and their great educational value in the matter of 

 teaehing commercial geography is certain to be felt. 



Jamaica as a Centre of Botanical Research. 



A lengthy article m- Naturt for June 17. L915, 

 calls attention to the splendid facilities and accessible 

 nature of Jamaica as a centre of botanical research. 

 Special advantages are provided by the circumstance 

 that the Jamaican (mvernment has leased the so-called 

 Cinchona Station to a committee of the British Associ 

 torthe advancement of Science. This Station, 

 known also as Hill Gardens, was at one time the head- 

 quarters of the local botanical department, but is now 

 the least important, economically, of the agricultural 

 and botanical stations maintained bj the Government. 



The article in question gives a g I general 



account of the flora around Cinchona, and shows that 

 it is very rich in botanical interest. The come 

 referred to rents a bungalow at the Station, and 

 botanists desiring to make use of it should apply ( with 

 suitable credentials) to Professor Bower, University, 

 ( llasgow. 



