A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRAI 

 WEW YO 

 BOTANIC 



Vol. IX. No. 20t. 



BARBADOS, FKIililAllV I'J 1910. 



Prick Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Page. 



Co-operation Between the Planter 

 and his Advisers. 



I^^WO causes have operated chieHy in bringing 

 'about the existence of agricultural depart- 

 [ ments : they may be described as the 

 ameliorative and the protective. The first has its 

 origin in the recognition of the possibility of effecting 

 changes in the soil and in the plant that would result 

 in the production of greater yields, either because these 

 had become small on account of the exhaustion of the 

 soil, or because circumstances arose which necessitated 



a greater output from a given area of it, if the 

 particular cultivation was to continue to be profitable. 

 The second has arisen in a more sudden, and often 

 a more tragic, way. A pest has appeared, has 

 not been observed until it has become well estab- 

 lished, and its depredations have brought about 

 serious loss, and then the trained specialist has 

 been called in to devise methods to combat it: in other 

 words, to cure the patient after the symptoms have 

 become so alarming as to threaten his speedy decease. 

 This aspect of affairs, by now, should have become 

 a thing of the past, and it is the purpose of the present 

 article to indicate the way in which such a desirable 

 condition can be brought into existence. 



The broad uses of an agricultural department are 

 sufficiently shown by the two considerations that have 

 just been brought forward. Its functions are essentially 

 advisory, in the light of experimentation and the right 

 application of the knowleilge of the way in which 

 natural occurrences have their existence. It must 

 possess the means of making accurate observations, 

 and of amplifying the results of academic research in 

 such a way as to render them of practical utility. For 

 these objects, any means by which its field of view can 

 be extended, and through which the results of its work 

 can be more efficiently recorded, is of the greatest value. 

 It is evident that the best means to this end is supplied 

 by the intelligent co-operation of those whom its work 

 most nearly concerns — the members of the planting 

 body. 



The directions in which the energies of an agri- 

 cultural department are expended are influenced by 

 both external and internal stimuli. Of these, the 

 former are the most important, for they bring about 

 a reaction to surrounding conditions which cannot have 

 any other result than to put into train work that is of 



