24 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 17, 1914. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 -specimens for namiiie, 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 

 ■fche Department. 



Local Agents: Advocate Co., Ltd., Broad St., 

 Bridgetown. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau & Co., 

 ■37, Soho Square, W.; West India Committee, Seeth- 

 ing Lane, E.C. The complete list of Agents will be 

 found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural News : Price \d. per number, 

 post free 2ti Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 ~22s. d. Post free, 4s. 4d. 



gigricultitntl J^eius 



YoL. XIII. SATU1!I)AY, .JANUARY 17, 1914. No. 306. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



■Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number deals with inter- 

 national spirit in tropical agriculture. The subject 

 has several points of interest at the present time 

 owing to the forthcoming International Conferences to 

 be held in London early this year. 



The subject of manuring coco-nuts is discussed 

 on page 20. Reference is made to the utilization^of 

 seaweed and fish. 



The question of the application of electricity to 

 agriculture is dealt with at considerable length on 

 page 21, where experiments with soil, plants and 

 animals will be found concisely described. 



In this issue, Agricultural Engineering'^' Notes 

 appear on p.'ige 22. 



Live Stock Notes will be found on page 23. 



As is the usual custom at this time of year, 

 summaries of entomological and mycological infor- 

 mation presented in this journal during the previous 

 twelve months have been prepared. These will be 

 found on pages 26 and 30, respectively. 



An interesting article dealing with the use of 

 •dynamite on rubber estates will be found on page 31. 



The External Work of the Imperial Department 



of Agriculture. 



Compared with many other departments, the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies is somewhat peculiarly situated inasmuch as 

 Its influence extends almost entirely to places separated 

 from it by the sea.. This has, in certain cases, led to 

 the impression r.hat the work is principally of a bureau- 

 cratic nature: whereas the fact is, a considerable amount 

 of time and energy is expended in keeping up a close 

 personal contact with the various experiment stations 

 in islands other than Barbados under the advisory 

 influence of the Head Office. 



An example of this side of the department's 

 activity is afforded by the recent tour of the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture to St. Vincent and Antigua, and 

 by the one now being made to Jamaica. Such visits 

 afford opportunities for addressing the various organi- 

 zations and societies, and of pointing out matters which, 

 though they may appear strikingly to the visitor, may 

 pass unnoticed to the resident. 



In the last issue of this journal an account was 

 given of Dr. Watts's address before the Antigua Onion 

 Growers' Association. At the time of this visit the 

 Commissioner also had the pleasure of addressing 

 a general meeting of the Agricultural and Commercial 

 Society, and of ranging over the principal industries 

 and pointing out any special features which appeared 

 to him to call for attention. Amongst the points dealt 

 with in this address >vere the effect of drought upon the 

 composition of sugar-cane and the consequent inlluence 

 upon milling results; reference was made also to the 

 syrup versus muscovado question, as well as to matters 

 connected with the selection and sanitary control of the 

 cotton plant. 



In St. Vincent an opportunity offered itself for 

 addressing a meeting on the subject of agricul- 

 tural education, and although the greater part of the 

 audience were juveniles, the address was, according to 

 the St. Vincent Sentrij, instructive and weighty, and 

 left the hearers both old and young greatly indebted. 

 It is hardly necessary to point out that similar 

 visits made by the Entomologist, Mycologist and Veter- 

 inary Officer have in their more restricted, yet equally 

 important ways, similar good influences upon general 

 agricultural progress. Careful inspections are made of 

 estates; societies are addressed, and technical advice given 

 to planters who are desirous of receiving it. At the 

 same time from the purely scientific aspect such 

 intermittent contact with the actual field of investigation 

 is not conducive to the carrying on of systematic study 

 along a single line; hence it is found that one of the 

 main objects of the travelling officers is to inspect, advise 

 and, if practicable, to direct local experiments with the 

 object of rendering more complete the investigation of 

 the cause of any disease, in the laboratories of the 

 Head Office. The great value of this sort of collabora- 

 tion cannot be over-estimated. Field problems cannot 

 be tackled in the laboratory alone, any more than 

 economic and commercial affairs that necessitate live 

 discussion can be carried to a successful conclusion by 

 the mere stroke of the administrative pen. 



