A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW -'"^^^^ 



NEW YORK 



botanicai 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. oakuen. 



Vol. VIII. No. IV 



i;.\i!i'..\DOS, l■■l<:l!l;^Al;^■ (i, i!)Oi» 



['kick Id. 



CONTENTS. 



]'A 



Agricultunil Sclimils. I'rize 

 Awiinls at 



Agricultural Sclnxils, 



Rf])orts iiu 



British Guiana, .Vgricultural 

 Eximrts fr<iui 



Broom Ciirn Cultivatinu at 

 .\iitigua 



C'itru.s Fruit, packing (jf ... 



<-!(itt()ii Notc-s: — 



C'ntton Industry in the 



Virgin Islands 



Cotton in tlie Sea Islands 

 West Indian Cotton 



Dairy Cows, Ration for ... 



UatJ Palm, The 



Depai'lnient News 



Dominica Lime Juice 



Drinking Waters, Steriliza- 

 tion of 



Oleanings 



<Jreen Dressing Cro|is at 



.\ntigua 



Honey Production in 



England 



Insect Notes : — 



Some Beneficial Insects 



liE. 



40 



4(; 



4(i, 



:iS 

 :i8 

 :;8 

 4(t 



■m;\ 



41 j 

 44 



4:^ 



41 



42 



P.\GE. 



Market Reports 48 



Mauritius, I'.otanic Stations 



ni 



Mendelism, Part I ... . 



Notes and Conniu'nts 



< )il (irasses at Antigua ., 



Para Rulilur Seeds 



Pen Manure, Fermenta- 

 tion of 



Protitahle Cotton (irowin 



Rice in Brit isli (iuiaiia .. 



St. Vincent Agricullur.d 

 and Conuuercial 

 Society 



Soil Ca|)ill.irity 



Students' Corner 



Sugar-cane, Manines for 

 at Jjiuiaica... 



Sugar Industry : — 



At Barbados 



\t 'I'riniilad 



Tillage Fx|)eriments in 

 Sugar-cane Cultivation 



Talijiot Palm, The 



Watts, Dr. Francis, CM (i. 

 an<l his Work in the 

 Leeward l.slands 



41 



4(1 

 41 

 47 



47 

 41 

 45 



45 

 43 



45 



... 40 



... -.'.r, 

 ... ■.',:> 



3!» 



^feiidelism 



PAR'I' I. 



O' ^^ [?Si^' ^^ qtiestion of lireeding plants ;uk1 animals 

 q; W^ jr W so as to improve the t\pe, and perma- 



#% nently to fix desirable characteristics has 

 P^always been a matter of great interest to agriculturists, 

 ^ yet practically nothing was known as to the principles 



whirh iiiiilcilie and determine the restilts of hybiidiza- 

 tioii iti any ^iven case until (iregor ^[endei, an Austrian 

 monk, c-irried utit his work about fifty years ago. This 

 work firsD plaei'd the subject of inheritance on a definite 

 basis. 



jrendel gave his child' .tltentioii to the hybriiliza- 

 tion (if varieties of peas, and froiri th(^ residts id' his 

 ob.^ervations as to the maimer in which certain definite 

 characteristics were transmitted to sticceeding genera- 

 tions, he w.is al)le to enunciate a theory of heredity 

 which — alt.liougli neglected Un a nutnber of years — has- 

 lately lucn applied with eiicouragiiig success to the 

 building itp of improved varieties of agricidtural plants. 

 Tlie trtiih id' .Mendel's theoiy has al.so l)cen repeatedly 

 demonstrated in coiine.xion with the breeding of poultry,, 

 rabbits, etc. 



An idea as to the tiatnre of the knowledge gainedi 

 frotn Mendel's observations may l)est be given by 

 instancing two illtistrative examples relaiiiig to the 

 inheritance of simple chaiacteristics. There are two 

 strains of the ordinary garden pea grown in England 

 (Plsum sativuvb), one ot which possesses coloured 

 fiowers, and the other white fiowers. When these two- 

 kinds are crossed, the restdting hybrids all have 

 coloured flowers similar to those of the parent with 

 coloured blooms. On Itrecding those hybrids together, 

 plants are jirodticed in the ne.\t generation, some of 

 which bear colotired blcssoms, while others possess 

 white Howcrs only : the two kinds of plants are pres- 

 ent in the [jroportion of three with coloured l)looms to 

 one with white. Those pea plants with whiter Mowers 

 henceforward breed true when self-fertilized, no coloured 

 fiowers appearing in the next generation produced 

 from them. The plants with coloured blooms may be 

 shown, however, to be of two kinds :(1) those which, in 



