A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



or THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 





Vol. I\. No. 201. 



BARBADOS, JANUARY 8, 1910. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Agiicultunil Shows 



Ailii>r Day in Antigua .., 

 Bl'iMini Corn in Antigua 

 Cottun Growingin Ceylnn ... 

 Cotton Notes : — 

 Cotton Industry of 



Uganila, The 



West Indian Cotton ... 



Deiiartnient News 



EH'ects of Carbonates upon 



Nitrification, The 



Foiestry in Trinidad and 



Tobag 



Fungus Notes : — 



.Some Fungoid Diseases 



of Garden Plants ... 



Gleanings 



Gfound Nut Exjjeriments 



in MontseiTat 



luiplouiental Tillage for 



St. Vincent 



Insect Notes : — • 



In.sect Pasts in 1909 ... 



Page 



Jequie llubber, Exi)loita- 

 tion of !■ 



Live Stock, Mutual Insur- 

 ance of 



Market Reports 



Medicinal Extracts from 

 Plants 



New Velvet Bejin, A 



Nitrification in Soils and in 

 Solutions 



Notes and Comments ... 



Poultry Notes : — 



Breeding and Care 



Fowls 



Rice in British Guiana ... 

 Rubber Trees and Green 



Manuring 13 



Students' Comer 13 



Sugar-cane, Root Dise;ise 



of 5 



Sugar Industry in China ... 9 

 West Iniliau Products ... 1.5 



of 



1 

 10 



8 

 9 



4 



7 



15 



The Mutual insuranec of 

 Live Stock. 



^N several European countries, especially in 

 Holland, the insurance of live stock among 



J small proprietors, on a mutual basis, has 

 attained a great importance. This is not only the case 

 in those countries whose products are mainly agricul- 

 tural, for the system is widely adopted in a manufac- 

 turing country such as England, in some parts of which, 

 it has been in existence for many years. Evidence of 

 this is given in a recently issued Leaflet (No. 221) of 

 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, which states 

 that, in 1905, the number of pig clubs, alone, in 

 England was at least 1,021; it also shows that clubs 

 for the mutual insurance of live stock have existed 

 in that country since the year 1807, though it is 



tolerably certain that unregistered societies had already 

 been formed for some time. As has just been mentioned, 

 Holland, of European countries, is the one in which the 

 system has been most largely adopted; it has also 

 attained large proportions in Denmark, Norway and 

 France (see Agricultural X'tnrs, Vol. VII, pp. 302, 38.3). 

 At the present time, efforts are being made to introduce 

 it into South Africa. 



It would appear that there is room for the intro- 

 duction of such a system into some of the West Indian 

 Islands, such as Barbados, with its large peasant 

 population, and St. Vincent, where the Land Settle- 

 ment Scheme is fostering the increase in the number 

 of small proprietors. These are merely taken as special 

 cases. There is little doubt that various causes are 

 contributing toward the increase in numbers of the 

 peasant proprietor in several West Indian Islands, one 

 of them being the adoption of central factory methods 

 of sugar-making. In view of these facts, it may not 

 be out of place to give an account of the system, and to 

 make suggestions in connexion with it, using as a basis 

 the information contained in the Leaflet mentioned 

 above. 



The establishment of a society for the insurance of 

 live stock may be brought about by mutual agreement^ 

 without registration, but this, in England, may be effect- 

 ed, if it is desired, through the Friendly Societies Act, 

 1896. The fact that such a society has been registered 

 in this way does not form a guarantee of its solvency; the 

 circumstance that it has to frame certain rules, in order 

 to comply with the provisions of the Act, assists, 

 however, in its good management, and provides a certain 

 amount of useful control over its operations. 



In drafting rules for the conduct of such a society, 

 careful consideration of the following points is required: 

 liability of the members, the extent of its working area, 

 the amounts of compensation, the case of compensation 



