THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



January 9, 1909. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 Barbados. 



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Sigrirulturat |^inu![ 



Vol. Vlll, SATURDAY. .JANUARY !l, 1909. No. 17.5. 



^NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



Till- Will k of Sir- D.uiiel Jlorris, K.C.JI(i.. during 

 his tenure of the office of Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agiiculiure iorthe West Indies (189«S-1!)0S), is reviewed 

 111 the editorial ot the present issue. A picture of the 

 ex-Commissioner is given as a loose supplement with 

 this number. 



A new variety of orange, known as the ' King,' is 

 reported from Florida, as yielding fruit of exceptional 

 quality. An excellent display of West Indian produce 

 was on view at the recent Colonial Fruiii Show in 

 LondiMi (page 4). 



A summary of the chief residts obtained in the 

 Barbados sugar-cane experiments during the season 

 1906-S will be found on pasre 5. 



Cotton picking, and the pr(.'p:n:iti(in for a secend 

 crop are briefly discusseii on page (J. 'I'lie market prices 

 for Sea Island cotton contintie low. 



An aiticle containing particulars of the varicnis 

 'bre:ii| fruits' of the tropics is given on pp. (i :!nd 7. 



.\n ac(;ount with illustrations of the insect respon- 

 sible lor tlu' Houir-buil dropping of cotton at Antigua 

 appeals under Insects Note (page 10). 



Ceara lubbi-r has givi-n very promising results in 

 Hawaii (page 1 1 ). 



Notes on the establishment of agricultural banks 

 will be found on page 13; while some recent views on 

 insurance against hurricane damage in the West Indies 

 are summarized in a lengthy article on page 1.5. 



Agricultural News. 



Seven volumes of the Agricultural News have now 

 Ix-en comnleled, and the present issue forms the first 

 iMimber <jf \'i.lnme VIII. 



The inde.\ and title-pige nf Volume VII are in 

 active preparation, and will be i.ssued m.s soon as possible. 



Raphia Fibre and Wax. 



Kaphia fibre, produced trom riie f-avi^s of the palm 

 Rapliia Rufti((, has in p,-ist years tigin-' d as a valuable 

 Item in the exports from Madag.-car. The latest; 

 export letiun-s of that island, however, show a ci_)nsider- 

 abie decline in the shipments of the fibre. While in 

 1905, the shipments were worth £95,113, in 1907 they 

 had fallen to a value of £64,430. This is owino- to 

 lower [)rices obtained on the English market. 



Raphia fibre consists of Hat, straw-culoured strips 

 from 3 to 4 feet long. In Madagascar it is used in the 

 mannfactuie of hats, mats, and as a material for wrap- 

 ping up goods. In England it has been woven into 

 superioi- matting and used instead of tapestry foi- cover- 

 ing walls. 



The leaves of the Raphia palm also contain a wax 

 (see Agricidtural News, Vol. V, p. 373) of which 

 samples have been prepared and put on the market. 

 It fetched a price of only l.s'. per tti , however, and since 

 this was not regarded as a remunerative figure no 

 shipments have been made on a commercial scale. 



St. Lucia Agricultural School. 



It IS intended to make .i eou-'-uli-rable t-xtension of 

 the area under cultivation at the St. Lucia Agri- 

 cultural School, with the special object of planting 

 more cacao and other permanent crops, and good 

 progress was made with this work in 1907-8. 



Three Sections of land are being dealt with, of 

 areas 8 acres, 10 acres, and 27 acres, respectively. These 

 have been clearid of trees and undeigiowth, enclosed 

 with barbed-uiie teiicing, and the two smaller sections 

 forked, drained, and prepared ior cultivation. Tempor- 

 ary crops, such as btinanas, provision crops, corn, cotton, 

 jiigeon peas, etc., have first been grown, but it is 

 intended ultimately to convert the land into a cacao 

 plantation, and young cacao has already been planted 

 over the greater portion of these two smaller sections. 

 Provision crops will be cultivated between the rows of 

 cicao for a few years, and bananas have been planted 

 for the jiurpose of pnividing sh.ide for the young trees. 

 The third section of land will be iitilizeil tor pa.-turage 

 purposes. 



This scheme was started with the-object of estab- 

 lishing plantations of permanent crops, the returns from 

 which will supply the revenue for the upkeep of the 

 School, formerly jji-ovided by the Grant-in-.\id trom Im- 

 perial funds which is ikjw gi.idu.ally diminishing, ami 

 will, it is ho[)ed, be as successful ;is it deserves. This 

 extended area of cultivation also provides a wider field 

 of practical training for the pu|)ils, and for future experi- 

 ment work. 



