A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. "'I'oL' 



dl' THE 



Vol. XIII. Xo. 307. 



BARBADOS, JANUARY 31. VjH. 



Price la'. 



CONTENTS. 



Pa<:E 



AL'i'icuItiuul Civdit I\Iove- 



Mient in Trinidad 40 



Agriculture in West Africa 41 

 B;tn;inas, Protitalile AJaniir- 



in^'of 36 



P.fioliab Tree. Couiposicion 



of 43 



Bcrdeaux Mixture. How to 



INlake Adho.-ive 46 



Caoan Estate Valuatiim ... 41 

 Coco. nuts. Variation in the 



Size ..f 36; 



Cotton Notes; — 



West Indian Cotton ... 38 



Department Kews 39 



De] »rtniental Reports ... 39 

 D.vuamite in Dciiiinica, 



l^xperiments -.vitli ... 41 



Fungus Notes : — 



Summary of Information 

 Respecting Plant Diseases 



inl'.JlS, II. 46 



Gleanings 44 



Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture, Pulilications of 40 



Paof,. 



Indian Cattle, I'seful Refer- 

 ences Concerning .SS 



Insect Notes :— 

 Sunniiary of Enlomoloci- 

 cal Information in the 

 Year 1913. II 42 



Maize, Phospho- Constituent 

 of 43 



Market Reports 48 



Nitrate Production, Endea- 

 vours to Cheapen 4.3 



Notes ami Counnents ... 40 



Perfumery, Essential Oils 

 T'sed in 35 



Philosojihy of Sampling... 33 



Practical A^ricullure. Exam- 

 inations in 45 



Rhodesia, Steam Tiactor 

 Ploughing in 43 



Rubber Industrj': — 



Rep<irt of the Standardi- 

 zati<pn Counuittee 37 



Rural Transport, Wheel for 43 



Sugar Industry: — 



Denatured Sugar .'17 



West Indian Products ... 47 



The Philosophy of Sampling. 



'S^'h E. LEATHER has just published un impar- 

 jf tant paper on the experimental error in 

 sampling sugar-cane,* a contribution which 

 the critical spectator of agricultural science will at 

 once appreciate, because it marks a forward movement 

 in the methods of investigation work with tropical 

 crops. The paper under consideration does not open 



* Meiuuiii uf the Department of AgriciiUure in India 

 (Chemical Series) Vol. Ill, No. 4. 



up a new question, but rather helps to answer an old 

 one. It is the question of the extent to which the 

 sample truly represents the bulk. Apart from its 

 bearing upon the sugar-cane industry, the subject, 

 it can be seen, is of very great significance in agricul- 

 ture as a whole, underlying, in fact, many of the disabi- 

 lities with which rural industries are at present 

 afflicted. In the present article, it is not intended to 

 put forward a summary of Dr. Leather's paper. A state- 

 ment of the actual results obtained will appear else- 

 where. In the present discussion, simply the idea 

 involved will be considered, and its general application 

 in agriculture enlarged upon. 



In proceeding to do this, it may be well to 

 begin by pointing out that agricultural produce 

 and manufactured articles generally are not homo- 

 geneous, and for this reason one portion is never 

 exactly like another portion. This is rendered very 

 obvious by considering one or two examples. 

 Thus if we select, even from a carefully graded 

 bulk of rubber, limes or sugar-canes, what we 

 think to be identical samples and subject them to 

 accurate analysis, we shall not find in the rubber 

 samples the same percentage of caoutchouc, nor in the 

 limes the same percentage of citric acid, nor in the 

 sugar-canes the same percentage of sucrose. No two 

 samples will be exactly alike. So that then amonsr sam- 

 pies of agricultural produce there is always an error. The 

 sample is taken to represent the whole; no two samples 

 are alike; and hence it is clear that since there is 

 a divergence between the samples, no such sample can 

 truly represent the whole. The difference between 

 the quality of the sample and that of the whole is the 

 error attaching to the sample. 



