A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES 



Vol. XIII. No. 318. 



BARBADOS, JULY 4, 1914. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Agiiculturo in the Priinai-y 

 Schoolfj 1 f St. Lucia ... 221 



Alcohol as a Fuel in the 

 Colonies 216 



Bacterial Action auH Organic 

 Mattel- in the Soils of the 

 Leeward Islands 213 



Cacao, Dominica Alanurial 



Experiments with ... 212 

 Circulation and Sti^rage of 



Facts 209 



Coco-nut and Palm Oil 



Trade, Effect on 217 



Oomposition of the Natural 



Soil Solution 213 



Cotton Notes: — 



The Relation of Cotton 

 Bu)io<,' to Cotton Grow- 

 ing ... 214 



West Indian Cotton ... 214 



Fungus Notes: — 



Coco-nut Rot in Mexico 222 

 Decay of Pine-apples ... 222 



Gleanings 22U 



Page. 



Hibiscus in Hawaii 217 



Insect Notes: — 



Insect Pests in British 



Guiana 218 



Market Reports 224 



Meat Scarcity 217 



New Veterinary Diploma 217 

 Notes and Connnents ... 216 

 Oils, Essential, Commercial 



Notes on 215 



Prickly Pears, Feeding of. 



The Circulation and Storage of Facts. 



>E often talk of research as if the advance- 

 i^-^^inent of science depended only upon the 

 ?>i26^i^:^ elucidation of new facts arid ideas and ended 

 there. This may have held good in the early days of 

 pioneer research in chemistry and physics, but during 

 the present century getting out results is one thing 

 and publishing them properly another. Potential 

 knowledge, knowledge not in motion, cannot, perhaps, 

 be described as useless; but it is ineffective. A good 



example of this was afforded by the narrow range of 

 publicity given to Mendel's original papers, and it is 

 safe to say that had there been in existence at that 

 time one-half of the journalistic channels that carry 

 knowledge round the world to-day, Mendel's discovery 

 would not have rested ineffective until twenty years 

 after. The number of technical and scientific journals 

 that absorb the results, ofcen no more than ths gisb 

 of the results of modern research, is very very large. 

 Some of them are of high standing and some of low, 

 but they may all be regarded as conveyances for 

 bringing new facts into the central warehouses of 

 knowledge, known better under the more formal terna 

 of libraries. 



It has now become well recognized that there is 

 often grave danger unless due prominence before the 

 right kind of person is given to new facts during their 

 journey to the libraries, that they may be put on the 

 shelf and forgotten. The proper publicity is obtained 

 by publishing results only in well recognized period- 

 icals many of which have a special circulation and 

 status. But in the rush to get results 'out' which 

 characterizes modern research, there is not always 

 time to await editorial convenience, and consequently 

 quite good and original work will occasionally appear 

 in quite poor and unoriginal journals. In this way 

 fresh facts may pass along possibly gaining but the brief- 

 est reference (to show they exist) in the summarizing 

 publications at the clearing houses, and then pass 

 unnoticed into the files at the libraries. Even in- 

 formation which has been given ample publicity in 

 the right quarters may run some risk of being locked 

 up. But a library and particularly a scientific or an 

 agricultural library, is more than a store for facts. It 

 is a reservoir which should be in active communication 

 with the various fields of research. 



