1.36 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 1, 1909. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letteis and matter for publication, as well as all 

 ejteciiiieris for naming, siiouNi be addiessed 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 Ayevtf: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge- 

 town, Barbados. Lovdon Ayents : Jlessrs. Dulan & 

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

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

 Agents will be found on'jjage .3 of the cover 



The Ayrieultural iNewn: Price Id. per number, 

 (post free 2d. Aimual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2«. 2d. Post free, 4:S. M. 



3iqn cultural M^m 



Vol. VllL SATURDAY!, MAY 1, 1909. No. 183. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial article of this issue deals with the 

 relative ])roportions of iniported and locally produced 

 food stuffs consumed in the West Iiulies, and discusses 

 the possibility of increasing the latter at the expesise 

 of the former. 



Trials that have been made at Antigua indicate 

 that .somethujg might be done to establish a hay- 

 producing industry in parts of the West Indies (page 

 131). 



Efforts are being uiEjde to encourage lime planting 

 at Tortola (page 132). An article on page 133 deals 

 with the requirements of the British banana and 

 orange market. 



A good deal of West Indian cotton has lately been 

 sold in England. On April 8 last^ Dr. Watts gave an 

 address at Antigua on cotton cultivation (page 134). 

 — « 



Some notes on superphosphate will be found on 

 page 135. 



— — nl'i 



An informative article on the subject of eel worms, 

 •or nematodes, appears on i page 13(S. The.se pests have 

 been found on various crops in many of the West 

 Indian Island.s. 



The committee of the Tiirudad Agricultural 

 •Society appointed last year to consider the question 

 of stock-breeding in that colony hiis lately issued its 

 report (page 139). 



A considerable amortnt of data in relation to the 

 yield of Para rubber trees will be found on page 143, 



Hint to Poultry Keepers. 



Altlii)ugh poultry keeping in the AVest Indies, as 

 in oiher parts of the world, yjossesses potentialities of 

 profit,, yet the average householder who has a nuuiber 

 of hens ruMiiint: around his holding would piohablv be 

 di.ssHtisfied withthe returns obtained, if regular records 

 were kept. 'I'his is probably due to the fact that the 

 flock is formed oi hens of constitutionally poor laying 

 capacity, or thatithe birds are kept until long past the 

 period when they are at their besi as layers. The 

 profit from an individual hen is, of course, small at the 

 b"st, and this tends to prevent poultry- keeiiers from 

 being over critical as t" the achievi ments of their birds. 

 It is only the owiiep who <;oii>idei>. the capacity of the 

 individual birds separately, lioui-\er, who is likely to 

 get the verj' best returns. 'I'lu-se are obtained (a) by 

 careful selection of gr)od l.-i\iiig strains, and {b) by 

 weeding out unprofitable birds. 

 _e^ 



West Indian Bulletin. 



The ninth volume of the lIV.x^ Indian Ballctin, 

 has lately been completed bv tlie i.-sue of Part 4. 

 This contains twjfiB lengthy and useful an ides on the 

 Timbers of Jamaica, and the 'J'imbers of Dominica, 

 re.spectively, the former b}- Mr. W. Harris, F.L.S., 

 while the latter i,s based on the list compiled by the 

 l.ate Dr. Iiuray. which has been revised with the assist- 

 ance of several writers. Mr. Harris gives details of the 

 various uses for which the timber of over 100 Jamaica 

 trees are suited, while in the case o) Dominica, the 

 information extends to 176 trees. The third article, 

 which is illustrated, is by Mr. C. C. Gowdey. B.Sc, and 

 deals with the Aievrodidae (white Hies) of Barbados. 

 The various fuiiguri di.«eases of cocoa-nuts in the West 

 Indies are discussed by Mr. F. A. Stockdale. B.A., F.L.S., 

 and the final article has for its subject ' Millions and 

 Malaiia': this is by Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc., and is also 

 illustrated. Part 4 i;ontaiiis the title-page, contents, 

 and index of Vol. IX. 



Exportation of Fruit. 



Two or threO' years ago legislation came into force 

 throughout the Gommonwealth of Australia, which laid 

 down the conditions under which certain agricultural 

 couimiidities wei'fe to be exported from the country. 

 The W<ist Ind'uf' dmimlttcr Circidar recently drew 

 attention to these Australian regulations, and urged 

 that something uhould be done to create a similar 

 system of control" in the West Indian islands from 

 which oranges, bananas, limes, and other fruits are 

 exported. As the result of legislation such as that to 

 which referencti has been made, inspectors are 

 appointed, whose <luty it is to examine the nature and 

 ijuality of the fruit, and the method of packing, and to 

 see that a properde.scription of the contents is affixed 

 to the outside of^eiKrh case. Such regulations undoubt- 

 edly strengthen'a produce-exporting industry : they 

 form a strong incentive U^ the producer to do his best, 

 and also tend to give confidence to the buyer in the 

 foreign market. 



