A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



new 

 eoT.Ai 

 (1 



Vol. XIII. No. .3-M. 



BARBADOS, SKPTEMBEK l>6, 1914. 



Pkice \d. 



CONTENTS. 



Book Shflf 



I'A.;!:. 

 .. .■;i:i 



fottiin ill Xortli Ciiroliiwi, 

 Mainirial Expfriiiients 

 with ;{0!l 



Cotton Notfs: 



Britisli Cotton (ii-owiiig 



Association .SOU 



Rivfis' TvpL' of Sea Islan<l 



Cotton 



West Indian Cotton 



3(I.S 



:v\7 



Department News ... 

 Dejiaitniental Kepoit^ 

 Fungus Notes: — 



Soigliuni Smut 31(5 



Gleanings .'iM 



Insect Notes: 



Insects ami I'ain 'M2 



Items of Local Interest ... 'Aiti 

 Market Reiioits ... 318 



r.u;F.. 



Notes and Conniients ... ."UK 

 Oranges. Ctilization of 



Waste .■'■ICi 



Pliospliate Fertilizers, Lock- 

 ing u|> of .'50!) 



l'ine-.ip|)le Vinegar IjOo 



Radium and Plant (irowtli 310 

 Schocjl (iardens in the Lee- 

 ward Islands 311 



Seed-control Stations ... :i(j:i 

 Sesiiminu, Cultivation and 



Selection of ;i]7 



Soil Fertility, Stuily of ... 311 



•Students' Corner 31."i 



Sugar Inilustry: — 



I'tiliziitiou <<{ Bv-l>ro- 



ducts ' ... 30(; 



Thinking Hand, The ... 311 

 Trinidad Horticultural 



Clul. ... ;;io 



Seed-control Stations. 



f.N view of the interest wliieh lias feeciitly 

 liieii .shown in Great Britain, in tlie (|uestion 

 ot seed testing, the Board of Agriculture of 

 EnglancI felt that it would serve a useful purpose if 

 an enquiiv were made into the working of seed-control 

 stations in certain European countries. An officer 

 of the Board was therefore instructed to visit nine 

 (if the more colebrati'd and rejjresentative stations. 



viz.. at Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Breslau, Munich, 

 Budapest, Vienna, Ziirich, and Wageningen. The 

 result of this tour is the ptdilication by the Board of 

 a verv interesting supplement bearing the title that 

 has been given to this article. The public:ition is well 

 illustnited with photographs of tfie difierent institu- 

 tions and their laboratories, and contains full details as 

 to mithods. financial expenditure antl receipts. 



It has on .several occasions been painted out in the 

 Agririilfund Aew" that a characteristic feature of 

 tropical agriculture, in contradistinction to the agricul- 

 tine of temperate countries, is that reproduction 

 by x'egetative means is very widely employed. Tiiis 

 observation, howbeit true, has not been made with the 

 idea of underestimating the importance of seed as plant- 

 ing mati-rial in the Tropics. In the case of certain 

 ciojjs like rice, tea, coffee, cacao, coco-nuts and cotton, 

 till- (piistion of seed is a ver^' important one, though it 

 will lie admitted that in the case of cacao the impor- 

 tanci- of seed will possibly become less as the practice 

 i>( liudiling and grafting becomes greater, as it i.'^ 

 likily to do ill the near future. 



In the case of most ci(jps where seed is .sown for the 

 dir<ct production of field or orchard cultivations, it should 

 be remembered that the general practice at present is 

 for each planter to rely upon his own supph' or at least 

 upon that of the local agricultural station. Hence^ 

 altitough it cannot be claimed that tropical countries 

 ha\ e the same need for Government seed control, as 

 a form of public protection, as in temperate countries 

 where large businesses, extensive commercial transac- 

 tions are carried on in regard to seed, it is nevertheless 

 a matter for consideration whether there is not some 

 necessity for the standardization of seed in the Tropics 



