A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



L18RA1 

 NEW Y< 



botank 



(iAHOfc 



Vol. VIII. No. IS.',. 



BARBADOS, MAY 1, 1909. 



Pkice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Food Supply of the Wei^t Indies. 



N considering the annual trade returns of 

 the Vv est Indies it must strike the observer 

 that the quantities of food stuffs imported 



each year are very large for countries whose industries 



are almost purely agricultural. 



To take the Leeward Islands as an instance. In 

 1906-7, the total value of all the imports into the 

 colony was £407,2-51, which included articles of food to 

 the value of £151,200. Among the chief items in this 



j.itier class are wheat Hour, £40,7.51 : corn meal, 

 £13,593 ; salt pork, hams and bacon, £12,657 : brccid- 

 stutfs, £9,127 : rice, £8,537 : and peas and beans, £991. 



To a eel tain extent it may be truly urged that it 

 is economically sound and more generally profitable for 

 these islands to grow tor export such staple products 

 as sugar, cacao, cotton, limes, bananas, etc., and to 

 import foreign-grown foods. But, under existing 

 conditions, there are numbers of men in many of 

 the West Indian islands who find little or no employ- 

 ment, and in most of the colonies there are more or less 

 considerable tracts of uncultivated land. It would be 

 highly beneficial, therefore, ,if these now unused 

 resources could be employed in the production of food 

 stuff's for local consumption. In such a case, large sums 

 of money at pre.-etit paid out for imported i'oods would 

 be spent at home, and the value would remain in the 

 colony to be again employed in raising other useful 

 products. ;' 



The matter of the more extended cultivation of 

 food crops in the West Indies is especially worthy of 

 consideration just now in connexion with the question 

 of cotton planting. 



It has been demonstrated that, under ordinary 

 estate circumstances, it is not advisable to attempt to 

 grow cotton continuously year after year on the same 

 land, even in districts where this crop has been most 

 successful, and it would seem that in the majority 

 of cases, the most suitable rotation to adopt is that in 

 which some provision or grain crop alternates with 

 cotton. This method will afford the opportunity of 

 giving the land the change of cultivation that is 

 necessary, and the produce from the crops mentioned 

 will generally find a satisfactory and comparatively 

 steady market. 



