Vol. XIII. No. 326. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



345 



MONTSERRAT: REPORT ON THE BOTANIC 

 AND EXFERUIENT STATION, 191S-14- 



In this report under the heailing of the work ilone in 

 the garden.s and the observation.s made ou plants several 

 iKiint.s of interest appear. It is mentioned that the twelve 

 jjeaeh trees, planted in 1912, have made fair growth, and were 

 in flower in the early part of 1914. Work in the nurseries 

 lias increased in importance owing to the greater attention 

 I'ixen in the i.sland to the cultivation of the Bay tree, 3,270 

 plants of this tree having been distributed during the year. 

 In addition there have been 16,880 lime plants, 211 papaws, 

 and r>00 cacao plants sent out, besides many others of interest 

 and \alue. Two species of fodder grass, namely, Khoiles grass 

 (C/doris 'jayami), and Sudan grass <a variety of Sorghum 

 /I'llc/'ense) have been introduced for oliservation. 



The section of the report dealing with i-ottfm experi- 

 ments .shows that much interesting work is being done with 

 regard to cotton selection, the e.vamination of the characters 

 of each variety being carried out with great care. Generally 

 sficaking, the usefulness of this cotton selection has been fully 

 demonstrated and the work will be continued, so that further 

 data may be accumulated. As to manurial experiments on 

 cotton, it has been decided to discontinue them on present 

 lines. Work also with cotton hylirids, having jiroved of 

 \ery doubtful value, will for the future be greatly reduced. 

 Ha'\ing given a trial to Sakellaridcs cotton for three year.s, 

 the t'urator does not recommend its general cultivation in 

 Montserrat. An Ordinance passed Ijy the J.egislative Council 

 and apjiroved by His Excellency the (lovernor in May 1914, 

 which aims at the suppression of insect pests by enforcing the 

 destruction of old cotton plants by the last day in February 

 in each year is noticed. 



Coming to the section on lime trees, we note that tliey 

 uie nuich tioubled in Montserrat liy scale insects, especially the 

 puri>le scale [Lepidosap/ies heckli). It is also suspected that 

 the grub of the 'hard back' {Exopht/ialmus esuriens) is respon- 

 silile for coiisidei-able damage to the roots of the trees. Various 

 insecticiile wa.shes have been experimented with to control the 

 purple scale, but upparently ineffectually. In February 1914, 

 however, during a visit to the island of Mr. H. A. 

 Ballon, M.Sc, the Entomologist of the Imperial Department, 

 sfiraying experiments were conducted under his supervision, 

 a new insecticide being particularly tested. This is 'Scalo', 

 a modification of Mr." Cousins's Taranaph'— a mixture of 

 wliale-oil soap, kerosene and naphthalene, devised by 

 Mr. .1. C. Moore, Agricultural Superintendent at St. Lucia. 

 It is too early to state what the ultimate result of these 

 ajiplications will be. 



The experimental work on 15ay trees is very 

 owing to the interest that is being developed in their cultiva- 

 tion.'^ The trees, which are planted 9 feet by 6 feet, are not 

 allowed to exceed 6 or 7 feet in height, in order to facilitate 

 the gathering of the leaves. Only a few shoots are removed 

 from" any one tree at a time and nothing in the nature of 

 stripi)ing the tree is resorted to. It' is estimated that one 

 man win-king with a pair of ordinary garden secateurs, with 

 two women to strip the leaves from the cut shoots, ought to 

 collect 300 Ih. of leaves a <lay, whei-e trees are grown in bush 



valuable. 



form, and when there is a considerable number of trees. 

 Experiments with a view to ascertaining whether there is 

 a ditierence in quantity and quality of yield at various 

 periods of the year ha\e shown that the middle months o£ 

 the j'ear give the best results, owing, probably, to the absence 

 of immature leaves on the plants at that season. 



As the sweet potato is the chief food crop in Montserrat, 

 attention has been gi\-en to the question of varieties in the 

 work of the Experiment Station for the last six years. 

 A list is given of the twenty heaviest cropping varieties, 

 experimented with, together with the average yield. This 

 ranges from 15,9-50 tti. to 9,984 ft. Some of these are 

 recommended for trial on account of their large yields, and. 

 some others on account of their clean attractive appearance and 

 good cooking qualities. Experiments are also carried out to 

 decide as to which are early and which late maturing varieties. 

 Half of the row of each variety under trial was reaped at five 

 months from planting and half at six months. Some of 

 them show no gain in weight by remaining in the ground for 

 more than five months, while others show a considerable 

 increase. An interesting experiment as to the relative value 

 of cuttings raised frtini potato tubers and cuttings taken from 

 the ground is hardly exhaustive, but seems to point to the 

 crmclusion that cuttings raised from the tubers tend to 

 increased yield. The section ends with a table of figures, 

 which seem to sh'iw that the best yield is obtained by plant- 

 ing in the later months of the year. 



Trials with newer varieties of ground nuts were carried 

 out with fairly satisfactory results, although the season had 

 been unfavouraVile. It is noted that, as a rotation crop on 

 cotton lands, the ground nut is worth a trial. 



In the section on work connected with the control of 

 insect and fungoid pests, it is interesting to note that during 

 a visit paid to "Montserrat in June 1913, Mr. H. A. Tempauy, 

 B.Sc, the Superintendent of Agricidture for the Leeward 

 Islands, discovered that the cotton stainer was parasitized by 

 a small Arachnid, which fastens itself under the wings of the 

 insect. It has not however been decided whether it is very 

 destructive to its host. 



Slugs ( Veronica occidentaHs) have been responsilile for 

 a good deal of damage to the potato crops in some parts of 

 ]klontserrat. Persistent collection and destruction of them is 

 recommended as the best method of combating their attacks. 

 In addition to being possibly the source of some damage 

 to lime trees, the gruli of Exophtha'mus eiuriens seems to be 

 responsible for injury to Bay trees also. 



A di.sease of the bolls appeared rather prevalent in the 

 cotton fields during this season. Specimens of diseased bolls 

 have been submitted to the Mycologist of the Department 

 for examination. 



The growth of the cotton industry in Montserrat during 

 the last ten years is sliown Ijy figures given. In 1904 there 

 were 600 acres under cotton cultivation, in 1914 there ara 

 2,200. In 1904, 70,723 lb. of lint was the quantity shipped, 

 ill 1914 it was 293,627 9>. On the contrary, the lime industry, 

 in which Monsterrat was the poineer West Indian island, 

 has considerably fallen oft'. Attempts have been made, 

 however, in recent years to plant new areas in this crop. 



Among minor industries, the cultivation of the papaw, 

 for the preparation of papain, seems to be well maintained; 

 and the planting of Bay trees is very much on the increase. 

 The interest in the cultivation of pine-apples has been some- 

 what revived: His Excellency the Governor of the Lee- 

 ward Islands in July 1913 gave a lecture to a represerita- 

 tive bofly of planters on the advantages of the cultivation 

 of this ci-op, describing the methods of growing and packing 

 the fruit. The \-a)-iety grown in Montserrat, though of 

 excellent Havour, is however rather small in size. 



