Vol. XIII. No. 321. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



261 



LAND SETTLEMENT. 



ST. LUCIA GOVERNMENT SMALL 



HOLDINGS SCHEME. 



In Dei-fiiiber l;i>t, regulation.s wt-re iiuule liy the (Jovenior- 

 in-C'nuiuil for the sale of certain portiuns of the Reunion 

 Estate, for tlie purpose of establisliing a peasant settlement 

 in the Choisenl district, where the Ijulk of the land is owned 

 by larger proprietors. 



The land selected tor this purjjose consist.s of about 16-"> 

 acres of undulating land, suitable for tlie cultivation of such 

 crops as sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, Indian corn, pine-apples, 

 bananas, vanilla, ground-nuts, cassava, arrowroot, jjcas and 

 ground provisi(jns. All these crops art- eminently suited to 

 peasant metluKls of cultivation, and, being annual, bring in 

 a ready return. 



Fortj'-seveu lots, ranging from two to five acres, liave 

 been surveyed and roads made throughout providing each 

 allotment with a right of way for moving produce. 



The settlement being witliin a ijuarter of a mile ot the 

 local market and shii)ping point, oti'crs greater inducement 

 than would have been the case had the prodiice to be 

 conveyed from tlie interior. 



By referring to the Hegulation.-- which will appear in the 

 Rejiorton the Agricultural Department St. Lucia for liJK^-l-l, 

 it will be seen that no restrictions of any kind have been 

 placed upon the allottees so far as the actual working of the 

 land is concerned. 



.\ wise clause has however been inserted to protect the 

 peasant from allowing his holding to fall into the hands of 

 money-lenders for at least a period of ten year.s, and it is 

 e.xpected that by the end of this ]>eriod he will be sntlicicntly 

 self-reliant to prevent this happening. 



The lots were valued individually and adveilised for 

 .sale in .June at prices varying from £•"> to £7 10s. per acre. 

 The purchase money is payalile in ten annual instalments 

 free -.if interest and is lielow the normal annual rental. 



Allotment commenced in .June, and up t'p -IhIv .'U . 

 thirteen lots had been sold and others applied for. 



The following table shows the progress made to date: — 



No. of lots Total area. Instalments Total value, 



sold. paid. 



a. r. p. £ >. i>. f ~. ]■. 



l:J 47 -2 .') 40 1 1) ;J42 7 



Work has connnenced and sugar-caue, cotton, cassava 

 coco-nuts, (lotatos and [jeas are lieing rapidly planted. Some 

 of the allottees have already commenced to erect houses iju 

 their holdings to enable them to develop the land iplieker, 

 and others are erecting cattle shelters and preparing pastures. 



.\dvantage is being taken of the clo.se proximity of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, and advice is freely sought 

 from the Resident Agricultural Officer. 



Now that a good start has been made it is hopeil that it 

 may be possible in the near future to olitain the assistance of 

 the Imperial Department of .Vgriiulture in initiating the 

 formation of an .\gricultural Credit Society such as wa.s 

 founded by the Imperial Connnissioner of .\gricnlture recently 

 in the Soufriere district. 



Such a scheme would enable the peasants to ol)lain >mall 

 sums at a reasonable rate of iutere-^t for the purchase of 

 manures and seed etc. and would assist them i o overcome any 

 temporary financial difficulty while their holding.^ were being 

 developed, and would tend to stimulaTe a spirit of cn-operation. 



VIRGIN ISLANDS; REPORT ON THE EXPERI- 

 MENT STATION, TORTOLA, FOR THE QUARTER 

 ENDED JUNE -JO. ]Ul.'t. 



During the period with which this report deals, consider- 

 al)le attention was given to the extension and improveuKmt of 

 the decorative border.s in the Experiment Station, and to the 

 propagation of ornamental plants in the nur.sery. Rut the 

 greater part of the activity at the station was directed to the 

 preparation of the various experimental plots. 



In describing tha condition and progress of the plots in 

 gcTieral, it i.s stated first, that in the ca.se of the lime plots, 

 the .sea.son'.s results indicate some falling oft' in yield. The 

 experimental area reserved for the trial of sweet potato varie- 

 ties now contain forty-five ditt'erent kinds, thirty of which 

 were recently i-eceived from .Vutigua. So important is the 

 sweet potato as a food crop to the peasantry that the intro- 

 ilnction of a heavier yielding variety would seem tr) be justified 

 from this point of view alone. 



In regard to the experimental work with cotton, interest- 

 ing experiments have lieen started to prove the difference in 

 the yield obtained from planting imported and locally produced 

 .seed, respectively. The imported .seed consists of St. Kitta 

 and St. Vincent .seed. L'p to the time of writing, St. Vincent 

 local has made most growth. 



In referring to the cotton industry, the Curator .states that 

 the purchase of cotton at the Government factory is now nearly 

 over, and that there is a small decrease compared with last year's 

 crop owing to the very unfavourable weather experienced during 

 the early jjart of last year: but recent climatic conditions 

 have been favourable, and at the time of writing, many cotton 

 fields are well estal>lished. The cotton industry in the 

 \'iri'in Islands is an important feature of the agriculture of 

 thel^residency, and in the ne<ir future there is every possibility 

 of a gieat improvement in the quality of the lint exported, on 

 account of the extensive cotton selection experiments which 

 have been instituted by the Government in order to ensure 

 the planting by the peasants of uniform well-graded .seed. 



Stimulating ettbrts are being made at the Experiment 

 Station to encourage the cultivation of minor crops like 

 papaws and pine-apples: but the most important line of 

 activity, and one along which most material success has so far 

 been achieved, is the extension of coco-nut cultivation. 



The coco-niits in the demonstration plot that was started 

 last year have made excellent growth and the plants are now 

 well' established. Further areas of land are being prepared 

 for the establishment of more coco-nuts, and from the fact 

 that rbiring the quarter 03.5 germinating nuts were distributed 

 for ]jlanting .,n private properties, it will be seen that a large 

 amount of attention is being given to a crop which is a paying 

 one well suiteil to the <-onditions obtaining in the Virgin 

 Mau.l>. 



