A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRARY 

 NEW YORK 

 BOTANICAL 



QARDEN. 



Vol. VIII. No. 199. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBER 11, 1909. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Alcohol fiYim Sawdust, 



Miinufacture of 393 



Alfalfa Glowing for Seed 



Production 389 



Arrowroot in St. Vincent 397 



Book Shelf 398 



Cofl'ce, Selection for Impro 



Page. 



Manure, A New 3.S,S 



Market Reports 40O 



Method for Coagulating 



Rubber, A 393 



Montserrat's Gift to the 



Queen 393 



Notes and Comments ... 392 

 Nutrition of Animals, The 395 

 Pi'actical Agriculture, 



Reading Courses and 



Examinations in ... .385 



Reajjer, Inventor of 399 



Rice in British Guiana ... 399 

 Silk Cotton, A Use for 393 



Sorrel Red, The 38,S 



Soy Bean, The 391 



Students' Comer 397 



Sugar Industry : — 



Sucrose Content of Storm- 

 broken Cane, The ... .387 



Weevil Borer of the Sug.ar- 



cane .393 



West Indian Products ... 399 



Reading Courses and Examina 



tions in Practical 



Agriculture. 



^cIIE Reading Courses and E.xaminations in 

 !0^ Practical Agriculture, initiated and carried 

 s5fe§^out by this Department, have now shown 

 themselves to be worthy of permanent adoption, and 

 has reached a stage at which two preliminary, and one 

 intermediate, examinations have been held. Sufficient 

 progress has, therefore, now been made to warrant our 

 taking a retrospective view of the situation, and of 

 giving some indication of the way in which the scheme 

 will be planned to take effect, in future. Any 

 further advance must be made in the light of past 



experience, and the knowledge that has been gained 

 will have its effect on future developments. 



It will be remembered that the first suggestion 

 for such a project was made by Dr. Francis Watts, 

 C.M.G. (now Imperial (,'ommissioner of Agriculture for 

 the West Indies), at the West Indian Agricultural 

 Conference held in Barbados in January 1908. In 

 July of that year, the suggestion was taken up by the 

 Department in a practical manner, and a scheme of 

 reading courses in practical and scientific agriculture, 

 together with a syllabus of examinations for certificates 

 of competency, was prepared and embodied in a leaflet 

 issued by the Department, the principal contents of 

 which appear in the West Indian Halletin, Vol. IX, 

 pp. 293-6. 



This leaflet was designed to be of special use to 

 candidates for the examinations. It contains a detailed 

 syllabus of the subjects that are required to be taken 

 up for each part, together with hints as to what books 

 should be read in connexion with them. In addition, 

 the names of these books are brought together in a list 

 (see also Agricultural Neus, Vol. VII, p. 267), which 

 gives the price and publisher of each. Particular 

 attention is drawn to the leaflet, because it is an indis- 

 pensable reference guide for candidates. 



For the purpose of assisting students in reading 

 and in making the practical observations without 

 which scientific agricultural reading is useless, 

 a small space has been reserved in each issue of the 

 Agricultural N'ews since October 31, 1908, under the 

 heading of Students' Corner. Its scope is indicated in 

 the words of the introductory article: ' In this space 

 there will be put forward hints and suggestions con- 

 cerning the various objects of study and observation 

 together with questions which students should 

 endeavour to answer. Notes on seasonable events of 



