40 



THE AGllICULTURAL NEWS. 



Fkbkuary 6, 1909. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for yjublication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for Copies of the ' Agricultural 

 News ' should be addressed to the Agents, and not to 

 the Department. 



Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge- 

 town, Barbados. London Agents : Messrs. Dulau & 

 Co., 37, Soho Square, W., and The West India Com- 

 mittee, 15, Seething Lane, E.G. A complete list of 

 Agents will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural News: Price \d. per number, 

 post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2s. -Id. Post free, 4*i. 4fZ. 



^griciittiiral |]ciuh 



ToL VIII SATURDAY, FEHUUAKY (i, 1909. No. 177 



£ : '_ _ 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



An account of Mendel's theory of heredity is 

 given in the editorial. A further article on the sub- 

 ject will appear in the ne.Kt issue. 



The general condition of the sugar industry at 

 Barbados is satisfactory. A sliding scale of payment 

 for farmers, cane, based on the price of susrar in New- 

 York, has been adopted at Trinidad (page 3.5). 



A brief article on the cultivation of the date palm 

 -will be found on page 3(). 



Some account of the work of Dr. Francis Watts, 

 C.M.G, while Government Chemist and Superintend- 

 ent of Agriculture in the Leeward Islands appears on 

 j.age 37. 



Cotton Notes (page 38) include reports on markft 

 -prices, together with a short article dealing with the 

 remarkable developments of the cotton industry in the 

 Yirgin Islands. 



Interesting reports on the quality and value of 

 Dominica lime juice have lately been received (page 

 41). Valuable experimmts with 'green dressings' 

 <;rops were carried out at Antigua last season (page 43). 



Manures for Sugar-cane at Jamaica. 



The great \alue of pericjdicrd sniall dressings of 

 lime on many nf the sugar lands of Janwviea is one of 

 the chief points brought out a< the result of the 

 manurial trials cai'rled out at the Sugar Experiment 

 Station of the island. The af)pliealion of about .V-ton 

 of lime per acre has frequently given snr)»risingly good 

 results both with plant canes and ratoons. In the 

 tropics, it is pointed out, lime should be applied on the 

 principle of a little and often, rather than in larger 

 dressings at irregular intervals. Heavy applications of 

 lime, too, bring about a temporary paralysis of the 

 activities of the soil bacteria. The experiments also 

 show that nitrogen is the most generally profitable 

 manurial constituent for application to canes in Jamaica, 

 while potash and jihosphorie acid are only occasionally 

 required. Basic slag has proved itself the most suitable 

 phosphatie manure, especially on the heavy clay soils 

 of Trelawney. 



— ^^•-♦^^ 



Ration for Dairy Cows. 



In connexion with the question of feeding live 

 stock, to which reference was made in the editorial of 

 the last issue, it may be worth while to note the kind 

 of ration which has b^en most serviceable for milking 

 cows at the Trinidad Govennnent Farm. These animals, 

 in addiiion to being grazed on the pasture area of the 

 Farm, are given mixed rations of artificial foods, of 

 which the following is a good example: 1 lb. cotton 

 seed meal, •?. tti. cocoa-nut meal, 2 lb. pollard, 1 lb. 

 crushed Indian corn,. and 1 lb. dried ale grains. The 

 tor.al cost of this daily feed amounts to no more than 

 8 75c. This is a very nutritious mixture and one lich 

 in nitrogenous constituents. When fed in conjunction 

 with a good proportion of pastin-e grass, or other bulky 

 fo'lder, consisting largely of carliohydrates, fibre, etc., 

 the whole forms a diet well suited for sustaining a good 

 How of milk. The cows were also given 1 tb. of molasses 

 per head [)er day, and 1 oz. of salt was added to the 

 daily ration of each animal. 



Attention is drawn to the articles entitled ' Some 

 Beneficial Insects ' and ' Fermentation of Pen Manure,' 

 •which appear respectively on' pp. 42 and 47. 



Prize Awards at Asfricultural Schools. 



On another jiage of this issue will be found the 

 reports on the usual half-yearly examinations of the 

 Agricultural Schools at St. Vincent, Dominica, ,-ind 

 St. Lucia. 



It will be remembered that prizes of books are 

 awarded each half-year on the result of these examina- 

 tions. Only one senior prize is ortV'red, and this isawartled 

 to the boy who gets x\w highe^t number of marks in 

 the senior classes of all the three schools. 'J'hree junior 

 prizes are given — one to the boy who does best in the 

 junior class at each of the three schools. 



.As the result of the December examinations, the 

 senior prize was a.varded to J. Samuel of St. Vincent. 

 It may be mentioned that this is the fourth time in 

 succession that the senior prize has been won by 

 a pupil of the St. Vincent Agricultural School. The 

 junior prizes were awarded respectively to L. Wallace 

 of St. Vincent, L C. Douglas of Dominica, and 

 11. Auguste of St, Lucia. 



