Vol. XIII. No. 329. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



387 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF 

 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE. 



At a uieeting of the Antigua Agricultural and Coiiimt- r- 

 cial Society held on November 13, 191-t, an •intere.'-ting 

 address was delivered by Dr. H. A. Tenipany, D.Sc, 

 Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Island.s, 

 giving an account of (1) the International Congress of 

 Tropical Agriculture: (2) of the Tropical Products E.xhibition, 

 both of which were held in London in .June last, and at which 

 Dr. Tenipany represented the Colony in an official capacity; 

 and (3) some remarks on the Sea Island cotton industry 

 based on information he obtained in England. An ab.stract 

 of this address will be of interest to the readers of the 

 Ai/riniltural N'ews. There has been much attention paid to 

 both these events throughout the West Indies, and as 

 Dr. Tenipany was present as an official, representing, so to 

 speak, the agricultural science of these islands, his remarks 

 carry particular weight. 



The first part of Dr. Tenipany s address deals with the 

 International Congress of Tropical Agriculture. The meeting 

 held in London in June was the third of such gatherings, 

 and was attended by a larger number of delegates than 

 either of the two former ones. The origin of the.se Congresses 

 is owing to the International Association of Tropical Agricul- 

 ture, which was founded in 1905, to study all questions of 

 tropical agriculture. 



Delegates were present in -Tune from almost every 

 region of the Tropics, representing practically every nation 

 which owns tropical colonies. The value of such a gathering 

 •with the opportunities it afforded to agriculturists from all 

 parts of the Tropics to exchange views, not only in prepared 

 papers, but also in informal discussions, is very great. 



The range of subjects dealt with covered a wide field: 

 from technical education, sanitation, and hygiene in the 

 Tropics, to jiractical discussions as to the best methods of 

 raising tropical crops. More than two hundred papers were 

 put down for consideration, so that the week of its meeting 

 from .June 23 to 30 was a well-filled one. Dr. Tenipany 

 only notices certain sections of the Congress which dealt 

 ■with matters of particular interest to the West Indies. 



In the section devoted to questions relating to sugar, 

 presided over by Sir Hesketh Bell, the Governor of the 

 Leeward Islands, two of the chief pajjers were communicated 

 by Dr. C. A. Barber, formerly Superintendent of Agriculture 

 for the Leeward Islands, who is now Sugar-cane E.xpert to 

 the Imperial Government of India. Dr. Barber dealt with the 

 extensive work that is now being done in India with a view 

 to the improvement of sugar-cane varieties. Many of the 

 parent plants of the seedlings under trial have been raised 

 from cane imported from the experiment stations in the West 

 Indies, the Imperial Department of Agriculture having 

 evolved a satisfactory method of sending sugar-cane cuttings 

 to long distances by parcels post. The importance of this 

 work of cane improvement, which will doubtless have effect 

 in a few years, can be estimated, when it is remembered that 

 something like three million acres of land are annually under 

 sugar-cane in India, while the amount of sugar produced is 

 still insufficient to supply the local demand. 



Another paper dealt with the classification of the varie- 

 ties of the sugar-cane, by attentive study of each variety, 

 so that in time there may be a plainer path towards the 

 breeding of reliable new canes. 



In the sections of the congress dealing with cotton there 

 were many papers of interest. There were a series of accounts 

 of the conditions under which cotton is cultivated in various 

 tropical regions, to which Mr. Sands, the Agricultural 



Superintendent of St. Vincent, contributed a paper on the 

 industry as carried on in that island, and Dr. Tenipany one 

 on the cotton industry in the Leeward Islands. An interest- 

 ing paper by Professor .John A. Todd, of the University 

 College, Nottingham, dealt with the cost of labour as affecting 

 the cotton crop, especially in the United States. He pointed 

 out that the possibilities of increasing the production of 

 cotton so as to meet the increasing demand, was limited in 

 different countries by different conditions. In Egypt the 

 water-supply is the limiting factor. In East and West Africa 

 the heavy cost of transport, and in the Soudan the lack of 

 labour, will probably for some years hinder any great exten- 

 sion of cotton cultivation. In the LTnited States at present, 

 the cost of labour, and the actual impo.ssibihty of obtain- 

 ing sufficient labour have reduced the profit on growing 

 cotton to so small an amount that it would scarcely be 

 sufficient to tempt to any great increase of area devoted 

 to cotton growing. Cotton has always been regarded as 

 essentially a crop needing cheap labour. Perhaps the solu- 

 tion of the difficulty will co!ue from the invention of mechan- 

 ical appliances, such as pickers. If the Sea Island cotton 

 production of North Carolirn becomes affected by these causes, 

 which the Professor alleges affect the increased production 

 of the short-staple cotton, tiie opportunity may be presented 

 to the West Indies, with their still, relatively speaking, 

 cheap labour, to establish themselves as the principal source 

 of supply of the long-staple cotton. 



Another paper in this section by Mr. J. W. McConnel, 

 who visited these islands in 1912, was on commerce and 

 science in cotton growing. He pointed out that success in 

 cotton growing can only be obtained by the application of 

 scientific principles. The two questions for consideration by 

 cotton growers are: how can cotton be improved so as to 

 be worth more money, and how can it be made more prolific so 

 as to t-ost less to produce. As tending to attain these results, 

 Mr. McConnel emphasized the importance of seed selection, 

 and the necessity for uniformity in product. Mr. McConnel 

 in discussing these questions with Dr. Tenipany promised 

 definite facilities in testing small samples of cotton, even 

 single bolls from the West Indies, so that, by means of 

 carefully directed breeding experiments, it may be possible 

 to produce types of cotton calculated to meet the require- 

 ments of the spinners with greater exactness than can be 

 done at present. 



In the section of the Congress dealing with cereals, an 

 interesting paper on the production of maize was communi- 

 cated by Mr. .Joseph Burt Davy. He pointed out that the 

 world's consumption of maize was now about 3,929,000,000 

 bushels, actually 447,000,000 bushels more than its consump- 

 tion of wheat, and that maize yields about twice as much 

 per acre compared with wheat, and is therefore the much 

 cheaper crop to produce. Not only is the grain u.sed as food 

 for man and beast, but it is employed as a source of supply for 

 many commercial products, new uses being constantly found 

 for maize products, and the demand rapidly increasing. The 

 great source of supply of maize hitherto has been the United 

 States, but this year (1914) the United States have begun to 

 import maize from Argentina to meet their own requirements. 

 Mr. Burt Davy looks to South Africa as a probable source of 

 supply in the future. Dr. Tempany points out that this 

 paper has a special , message for the West Indies. As in 

 South Africa, so here, there is the possibility of great 

 extension in maize growing. At the present time we are 

 importing into these islands via New York maize grown in 

 Argentina, when we could certainly grow a good deal ourselves. 



It is intended to give abstracts of the concluding portions, 

 of Dr. Teinpany's address in following numbers of thft. 

 Agricultural News. 



