216 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



July 4, 1914. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

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 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 "News' should be addressed to the Agents^ and not to 

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 post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 ■2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. id. 



gigri cultural ^tm 



Vol. XIII. SATUP.DAY, .JULY 4, 1914. No. 318. 



"NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Tropical Products Eihibition. 



The West India Goiumittce Circular (June 16, 

 1914) publishes a short account, from the West Indian 

 standpoint, of the programme for the International 

 Exhibition and Congress which opened on June 24. 

 The exhibits from these colonies are being displayed 

 under the special superintendence of the West India 

 Committee. 



The papers from the West Indies, that are being 

 laid before the Congress, include the following: Agri- 

 cultuial Education and its Adjustment to the Needs 

 of the Students, by Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G.: Some 

 Considerations affecting the Fertility of Soils in 

 Tropics, the Cotton Industry in the Leeward Islands 

 and Some Minor Industries in the Leeward Islands, 

 by Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc; The Production of Fine 

 Sea Island Cotton in the West Indies, with special 

 reference to St. Vincent, by Mr. W. N. Sands, F.L.S.; 

 The methods of Tapping cultivated Castiiloa Trees 

 and yields of Rubber therefrom, and Notes on some 

 Experimental Results in Cacao Cultivation, by Professor 

 Carmody; Sugar-cane Insects in British Guiana, by ilr. 

 (A E. Bodkin, B.A : Publications dealing with Troyiical 

 Agriculture, by Mr. W. R. Dunlop. 



An account of the proceedings and a summary of 

 the papers will be published in the Agricidtiiral Neivs 

 in due course, as soon as the detailed information has 

 been received. 



Oontents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number deals with the func- 

 tions of scientific and agricultural libraries, and endeav- 

 ours to show the necessity for careful storage and 

 circulation of literature under an organized system. 



Under the heading Sugar Industry, on page 211, 

 is an article on the manuring of the sugar-cane with 

 special reference to potash. 



The subject of manurial experiments receives 

 further attention on page 212, where the trials carried 

 •out with cacao for the last ten years in Dominica 

 are described 



Cotton Notes, on page 214, embrace important 

 information. The report on the sale of West Indian 

 ■cotton should be given .special attention, and the 

 article which follows, on the relation between cotton 

 growing and cotton buying should be of iJarticuiar 

 interest in the West Indies where the economic 

 obstacles referred to in the article as occurring in 

 the Unitrd States do not exist in connexion with 

 the cotton industry in these islands. 



The notes and comments on the opposite page of 

 this issue deal with several topics of considerable 

 interest, including the question of meat scarcity and 

 the demand for alcohol as a motor fuel. 



Insect Notes, on page 218, review a recent report 

 on entomological pests prevalent on cultivated crops in 

 British Guiana. 



Alcohol as a Fuel in the Colonies. 



We are indebted to Mr. C. Watts, of Coventry 

 ^England) for forwarding some interesting observations 

 on the fuel question with particular relation to alcohol, 

 recently published in the lAgJU Car (April 8, 1914). 

 Readers of the Agriculttoral News will remember that 

 an editorial , on the production of alcohol appeared in 

 this journal for March 14, 1914, advocating the con- 

 version of by-products on sugar, cacao, banana and 

 coco-nut estates into this spirit with a view to its local 

 utilization for fuel purposes. The observations now 

 to hand are interesting in continuation of the idea, and 

 show that as regards the export of alcohol, the British 

 sur-tax is the chief difficulty from the colonial jDro- 

 ducer's point of view. Ajjparently denatured alcohol 

 can be satisfactorily employed for motor engines with 

 ordinary carburettors, the only difficulties being the 

 regulation of a proper air mixture and uniformity of 

 the spirit, wnich tends to vary in its water content. 



Since tariff arrangements only constitute the 

 principal hindrance to the employment of alcohol for 

 fuel, it might be suggested that an effort be made to 

 use alcohol locally for motor engines in those colonies 

 where the spirit could be made from estate products. 

 This would save the importation of a large quantity of 

 petrol and would in every way be to the colonial 

 interests. There would seem to be no serious reason 

 why in places like Trinidad and British Guiana the 

 Government should not take the matter up and by 

 legislation and perhaps by financial encouragement 



