Vol. XIII. No. 32;^. 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



293 



iiiid gi-afting, ivs|)LXtivuly, are disciissftl in detuil. Tliis 

 jMit of the reprn-l lia.s Iit'i-n coiisiiltTL-d of .sufKcieiit interest 

 to ju^-tifv it.s iv|)rorhu,'tion in tlie W'c-J. Jii'Ikih /luHrftn, 

 Vol. XIV, N^o. 3. \vl)icli ifi shortly to lie issue 1. It i-- there- 

 fore iinnece.ssary to inaUe further retireneeto it in tlir presi-nt 

 review. 



It is always a satisfactory feature of the Doniir.iea 

 Animal Keports llial one of the smallest sections is that deal- 

 ing with in.seet and fungus pe.sts. Dominica cro[)s are 

 reniarkalily free from the attack.s of ])arasite.s, and last year 

 the only matter ft any moment was the revival of the pest 

 attacking oranges. It seems that this can l>e kept under 

 control by the employment of ar.senate of lead. 



Since lime < ultivation is the principal industry in 

 jlominica, it is to he expected that the section dealing with 

 [jrogress in the chief industries should be coinpo.sed jirinci- 

 l)ally of information dealing with the production of lime. juice 

 proilucts. The lime crop for the past five years has continued 

 t'.' increa.se .steadily, and it is also to be observed that the 

 e.\])orts have also grow n. During the year there was a con- 

 siderable falling off in the exp:irt of raw lime juice owing 

 to the fact that a decreased dcncuid e.visted in Canada. 

 IJeference is made in a reix>rt to the alleged adulteration 

 f)f West Indian lime juice in the Dominion liy the addition 

 of water and of dye. It is unnecessary to add that this 

 adulteration was practised outside Dominica. Some con- 

 sideration is given next to the keeping (pialities of lime juice 

 and it is shown that tinder equal condition.s a weaker juice 

 will deteriorate at a more rapid rate than a stronger one. 

 Compared with 1!)1"_' there was a consideralile increase in the 

 ont|)Ut of citrate of lime, but the i)roditction is still below 

 that of the years 1 9 10 and 1911. Tlic trade in fresh limes 

 crmtinues to expand. As regards otto of limes, jjrices have 

 continued to range at a high level, though the market rates 

 for distilled oil of lime ruled low. The following talile will 

 be of interest, showing the exjiorts of lime pri^lncts from 

 ])onnnica during 191."?: — 



Total 



£142,66:i 



The increase in values over t^ie cmp nf l',)12 amnunted 

 to ,£45,9S9. 



Amongst the nuimr industries tlir future before coconut 

 cultivation appears to be sati.sfactnry; a large amount of 

 ])lanting is in progress and the fact that there has been 

 a slight falling off in the exports of nuts show;? that a large 

 luimber are lieing used for jilanting up estates locally. Con- 

 siderable (piantities of oranges, orange oil, bay leaves, bay oil, 

 .starches, coffee and hardwood were shipjied during the year. 



The appendix, which was referred to earlier in this article 

 is divided into three parts, dealing with manurial experi- 

 ments with limes, cacao, and agi-icultural education, respec- 

 tively. The lime manurial exjieriments have only just lieen 

 instituted. The erection of an experiment statifin devoted to 

 the study of problems connected with limes is of great 

 interest, for knowledge concerning limes and lime products is 



scanty and it is exjjected that the experiment station will 

 have the efi'ect of adding considerably to the information 

 available as the work connected with cacao at the Botanic 

 Station has already done. In the cacao manurial experiments, 

 although there has been some general falling oti' in yield, 

 there is i-ontinued evidence of the great superiority of mulch- 

 ing. In 1913-14 additicmal manurial experiments with cacao 

 were laid out. Fiir an interesting review of the work 

 connected with the manuring of cacao the reader should re'er 

 to the West Indian /hi'/etin, Vol. XlV, pp. 81-119. 



The system of agricultural education in Dominica will, 

 by reference to the report, be seen to be now in a condition 

 of great efficiency, serving the reijuirements of all the various 

 sections of the agricultural community. .\t the Botanic 

 Station there is a system of training puijils, and the account 

 of the field work done during the year, which will be found 

 on i)ages 32 and 33 of the report, shows the highly useful 

 instructiiiu that these pupils are rec:eiving. There is, accom- 

 panying this practical work, theoretical instruction in the 

 class room, and every year the pupils are examined externally 

 liy officers on the Staff of the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 cidture. Another system at the station is the cadet .system, 

 already described on previous occasions in the publications 

 of this Department. Outside the Botanic Station, but 

 an important part of Dejjartmental work, is the prize 

 holdings competition for the small holdings. So suc- 

 cessful have those competitions proved that the Assistant 

 Curator is able to state: 'the stage has been reached in this 

 district similar to that in La I'laine where it is not necessary 

 again to offer inoia-y prizes. Annual visits by an agricultural 

 officer whom they now welcome, will, I am of opinion, be 

 sufficient to keep the people, whether former competitors or 

 not, on snund agricultural lines.' Overseers and others on 

 the |)lantations are akso catered for as regards education by 

 means of the coiu'.ses of reading and exanunatious in practical 

 knowledge arianged by the Imperial Department of Agricul- 

 ture and carried into effect by the A.ssistant Curator. As 

 well as these, another section f)f the agricultural crimnmnit}-, 

 composed of the Grannnar School boys, is provided with 

 instruction in that institution in practical chemistry and 

 liotany, and it is expected that in the near future an agricultu- 

 ral class will l)e arranged wliich will enable the boys to take 

 agricultural science as a section in the Cambri Ige Local 

 Examinations. Those who have done this are exemjjted from 

 taking the Preliminary examination in the Reading Courses 

 mentioned above. Hence it will be .seen that the various 

 systems of agricultural education in Dominica, whilst serving 

 different .sections of the comnuinity bear a relation.ship to one 

 another, and as a whole may be considered to constitute one 

 of the most efficient and least expensive educational arrange- 

 ments now existing in the Tropics. 



A note on the red clay soil of Porto Kico appear* in the 

 Monthly Bulletin of A<iyic>dtural Intel! iijence and I'lant 

 Diseases for June 1914. This soil is widely distributed in 

 the island and is characterized by the high percentage of 

 iron and alumniium, the ali.sence of carbonates and its a -idity, 

 and dehcierjcy in organic matter. These soils respond to man- 

 uring, particularly with lime; Ijut certain areas, which have 

 been continuuusly under sugar-cane are in a sick condition 

 and resi)ond t'< neither manuring nor liming. The reason for 

 this is unknown, although an exanunation of the organic 

 matter of these .soils has been carried out by the United 

 States I)e2»rtment of Agriculture. 



