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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



?*Iav 1, 190D. 



Wheat flour, which 'is the chief article of food 

 imported into the Leeward Islands, and probably into 

 the other colonies as well,- possesses advantages peculiar 

 to itself, and it is hardly likely that it will ever be 

 displaced, although the more extensive production of 

 home-grown feeding stufw might lead to a considerable 

 substitution. Corn meal is afood which offers a good 

 field foi'home productio'^'i'although it would be difficult 

 to do without the imported article altogether. It is 

 apparent, too, that with the (development of more 

 extensive sources of home-grown food stuff?, there 

 would come into existence a more or less regular supply 

 of offal — surplus and daqiaged uiaterial — which would 

 render it possible to raise much larger numbers of pigs 

 than is now the case, so that part of the large amount 

 which i§ now spent on imported pork might be applied 

 to home production. 



Part, if not all, of tiie rice purchased from abroad, 

 might with advantage be substituted by locally 

 produced grains and meals, and there should certainly 

 be no need in any of the West Indian islands to 

 import beans and peas, as all the supply required could 

 be grown locally. 



Peas and beans are seldom grown in the West 

 Indies on any extensive Scale as field crops, except in 

 cases where a green-dressing crop is required. This is 

 unfortunate in view of the fact that all pulse or legu- 

 minous products are rich in albuminous matter, a con- 

 stituent in which most food stufls grown in the West 

 Indies are deficient. It would be well if peas and 

 laeans formed a more prominent article in the dietary 

 of the labouring classes of these colonics, and this is 

 a matter which deserves special attention in any effort 

 to extend the local production of articles of food. 



Although the conditions as regards the relative 

 proportions of imported and home-grown foods have 

 not undergone much alteration in the West Indian 

 islands during the past tep years, yet a notable instance 

 of the rapid development of a local food-produeing 

 industry, which has been attended with much increased 

 prosperity to the labouring classes, exists in the neigh- 

 bouring colony of British Guiana. While in 1899-1900 

 the quantity of rice imported into British (jiuiana was 

 11,813 tons, the imports have gradually fallen off with 

 increasing home production, and in l90()-7, when the 

 local-grown rice crop reached 40,472 tons, the rice 

 brought into the colony was no more than just over 

 •2,751 tons. 



The chief crops suitc^Jale for human food, which are 

 cultivated in the West Indies, are sweet potatos, yams, 



tannias, eddos, cassiava, maize, guinea corn, bananas, 

 and small quantities of rice. Of these crops, sweet 

 potatos are probably more extensively cultivated than 

 any other, and during the months of the year w'hen 

 these are most plentiful, they form a large part of the 

 diet of the labpuring classes. Yams are grown ou 

 a smaller scale, bpt possess the advantage that they will 

 keep for a longer period than sweet potatos. There is 

 no doubt that cassava might with advantage be pro- 

 duced and utilized in the manufacture of bread to 

 a much greater degree than is at present the case. 



Surveying the whole situation, it would seem that 

 the main reasons which account for the relatively large 

 proportion of imported food stuffs consumed in these 

 islands, as compared with locally raised produce, are 

 that, under present conditions, the supply of home-grown 

 food stuffs is not regular and uniform — which, in its 

 turn, is due to the fact that the crops previously enu- 

 merated possess but poor keeping qualities — and that 

 the means of distribution are very poor. The food 

 crops produced in a given district are diiectly consumed 

 by the iidiabitants of that district, and deficiencies are 

 made up by iu^ported food stuffs, the supply of which 

 is regular and reliable. It is evident that any attempt 

 to promote the more extensive cultivation of West 

 Indian food products for local consumption, if it is to 

 be successful, minst be accompanied by an effort to 

 establish a general system of distribution, by means of 

 which a deficiency in the supply of local produce in 

 one district may be made up by importation from neio-h- 

 bouring districts where there may exist an excessive 

 supply. 



Another important matter that demands considera- 

 tion in this connexion is the possibility of initiatinn^ 

 and developing some niethed 6f treatment by means of 

 which the keepiiig qualities of West Indian food stuffs 

 could be increased. It would seem that this could best 

 be accomplished by converting such raw products as 

 sweet potatos, yams, cassava, bananas, etc., into 

 a powdered and desiccated form, so that an excessive 

 supply at one tihie of the year might be utilized to 

 meet a deficiency at some other period. 



Wood of Silk Cotton Tree. The woixi 

 ot the silk-cotton or ceiba trtt.', mi \m11 known in the 

 West Indies, is .soft and subject to attack by insects, wliich 

 make ■ it un.suitable for most industrial uses. In liis 

 l)apcr 'Timbers of .Jamaica,' appearinj: in the West Ini/i<m 

 /ill/fit ill, Vol. I.X, No. 4, Mr. W. Hanis, F.L.vS., states tliat, 

 if steeped in strong lime water, the wood of this tree will la.st 

 for several years, when made into boards and shingles. 



