"V.M. Vlll No. 175 



THE AGRICULTURAL NKWS. 



guinerl under tlio Commissioner has iiad much to do with 

 the success they have achieved after leavina; tiie Depart- 

 ment for wider fields, and that their training has been 

 a service of more than West Indian bearing. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture under 

 Sir Daniel Morris will probably be more especially 

 associated with two important agricultural achieve- 

 ments. The first is the inauguration and holding: of 

 annual or biennial Conferences, and the second is the 

 re-establishment of the Cotton Industry, which had 

 been almost extinct in the West Indies for about one 

 hundred years. 



The West Indian Agricultural Conferences have 

 been held at Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica, and have 

 served to bring together the scieiititic officers of all the 

 West Indian Colonies, as well as representatives of the 

 Agricultural Societies and of the Education Depart- 

 ments. It would be difficult to overestimate the effect 

 of these interchanges of views. On the one hand, they 

 have served to bring home to the scientific worker the 

 needs of the- practical agriculturist,- and on the other 

 they have inspired the practical worker with confidence 

 in his scientific advisers. The Presidential Addresses 

 ■of Sir Daniel Morris, which cover the whole ranee of 

 West Indian agriculture, and the discussions which 

 have followed, form a valuable part of the proceedings. 



Owing to the dearth of the supplies of raw cotton 

 in England, Sir Daniel Morris in 1902 took up the 

 subject of cotton growing. After preliminary investi- 

 gations, he paid a visit to the Sea Islands and there 

 carefully studied the methods of Seed selection, cultiva- 

 tion, and treatment of insect pests of cotton, as well as 

 cotton ginning and other subjects connected with the 

 manufacture. He clinched the matter by purchasing 

 a large quantity of the best Sea Island cotton seed, a step 

 the wisdom of which became apparent when it was 

 afterwards ascertained that further supplies of seed 

 could not be obtained from the Sea Islands. This seed, 

 so obtained, has formed the nucleus from which all the 

 best seed of the West Indies has been subsequently 

 derived. Sir Daniel Morris, with a.ssistance rendered 

 by the British Cotton-growing Association, in co-opera- 

 tion with officers connected with the Department, 

 organized the establishment of ginneries in various 

 islands, and compiled and published the well-know^n 

 pamphlet entitled the 'ABC of Cotton Planting ; ' and 

 since then the Department has been unremitting in 

 its work on the selection and cultivation of cotton, in 

 the study of insect and fungoid diseases, and in the 

 information and assistance afforded by the staff to 

 cotton planters. 



In LS98, when Sir Daniel Morris came to the West 

 Indies, these islands were a source of great anxiety. 

 To-day there is everywhere encouraging evidence of pro- 

 gress and security, and such islands as St. Vincent, Toba- 

 go, Montserrat, and even -areas of larger islands that 

 seemed likely to run to waste, are now under a prosper- 

 ous cultivation. Many factors have certainly been at 

 work, amongst which, very imjtortant, was the abolition 

 of sugar-bounties. But among the factors that have 

 been at work to improve agriculture and increase the 

 prosperity of these islands, there has been none more 

 important than the unremitting efforts of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture under the late Lommissioner. 

 Sir Daniel Morris brought to the West Indies unbound- 

 ed confidence in the future, and in the resources of 

 these islands, a wide experience of Agriculture, and 

 unflagging effort not to be discouraged by the difficul- 

 ties of the task. All will bear testimony to the results 

 which he has achieved. 



Although the immediate connexion of Sir Daniel 

 Morris with the West Indies has been severed, there is 

 reason to hope that his mature experience and wise 

 counsel will still remain at the disposal of the empire. 

 It is the wish of his colleagues, as well as of the West 

 Indies, that he may long enjoy the measure of rest to 

 which his lengthy and unremitting labours entitle him. 



ARBOR DAY AT ANTIGUA. 



Under the auspices of a strong Central Committee 

 (of which Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G., is Chairman), and 

 w-ith sub-Committees in the several parishes, the 

 seventh annual celebration of Arbor Day took place at 

 Antigua on November 9 last. 



At St. John's the ])roceedings commenced with aa 

 inspection of the local forces by his Excellency the Governor 

 of the Leeward Islands (Sir Hickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G.). 

 The objects of Arbor Day movement and the scope of the 

 work at Antigua were brietty explained by Dr. Watts, and 

 after a short speech from the Governor, a tree was planted 

 by his Excellency at the north-east corner of Country Road. 

 Five Royal Palms were also planted along the Country Road 

 by the St. John's City Commissioners. 



Children from the elementary schools planted twenty- 

 four mahogany trees in the road leading to the hospital, thus 

 completing the elementary schools' avenue begun in 1902. 



Trees were also planted Ijy the nursing statf at the Hos- 

 pital, representatives of the Tiiils' High School, and students 

 of Spring Gardens Training College, and the Buxton Grove 

 Seminary. 



Arbor Day was similarly observed in a number of other 

 parishes of the island, the total number of trees planted at 

 Antigua on November 9 being 222. The trees were in niaia 

 part, mahogany and palms of various kinds (chiefly date and 

 royal palms), together with smaller numbers of whitewood,, 

 Saman, etc. 



The expenses i-ncurred on the occasion amounted alto- 

 gether to £4 12.S. Ud. 



