A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



UBRAR 



NEW Yol 

 BOTANIC, 



O.A|0()|-;> 



Vol. IX. No. 208. 



BARBADOS, Al'RIL 16, 1910. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



.. 120 

 127 



Page. 



Aifncultural ScUomIs, 



Prizes Awurded at ... 

 Articles Used mi Estates, 



Care of, 



Birds, Intnjduction of 



Useful 



Book .Shelf 



Cotton Notes ; — 



Cotton Grcij) in Antigua 

 Cotton Exports from the 



West Indies ... 

 West Indian Cotton ... 

 Dominica, Kainfall in 

 Experimental Gardens in 



Ceylon 



Fungus Notes : — 



The Chief Groups of 

 Fungi, Part IV .. 

 Garlic Shrul), The .. 



Gleanings 



Insect Notes ■ — 



The Flower-Bud Maggut 



of Cotton 122 



The Screw Worm 122 



113 

 123 



118' 



lis! 



118 

 121 



115 



126 

 120 

 124 



Kafir Bread 12."> 



Leeward Islands, .\nnual 

 Colnnial Report on. 

 IttOS-it 121 



Mangos, Mctlioils of Caus- 

 ing Early Fruiting in 117 



Market Reports 128 



Notes and Connnents ... 120 

 Paper, Manufacture of, 



fnini tlie Bamlioo ... 121 

 Propagation of the Avoc^ido 



Pear 116 



Rice in British (Juiauit ... 125 



Ruhljer. A New 120 



Rul ilier Trees, ComiX)siti(m 



of Latex ll!t 



Students' Corner 12.") 



Sugar-Cane, New Machine 



for Cultivatnig 117 



Sugar Production in the 



United States, Cost of 115 



Toggenl)urg ( iojit in Barba- 

 dos, Th.! 117 



Tlie Introduction of Useful Birds. 



; O account is required of the reasons why it 

 ■|is deemed expedient, in manj' cases, to effect 

 J the introduction of birds into agricultural 

 countries or districts. Certain birds have become 

 notable on account of their insectivorous habits, 

 and the desire has arisen to introduce them into 

 countries where they do not already exist. Great 

 care is required in deciding whether the presence 

 of such birds in a new country will eventually 

 be of advantage to it, and the question naturally 

 opens up the subject of the protection of the useful 

 birds that are native to that country. This protection 



may be extended to certain birds on account of the 

 desire to conserve rare and interesting species, or 

 because of reasons of sentiment, or, as is more usually 

 the case, in order that the destruction of useful birds 

 may be checked. The last form of protection is more 

 necessary now, than it has ever been in the past, because 

 of the continual increase in the area of land that is 

 being taken up for cultivation, in most agricultural 

 countries, and the consequent lessening of the number 

 of places where the birds can find their natural homes. 



The subject of the protection of the birds already 

 existent in a country deserves further consideration, as 

 it fitly brings up that of the introduction of birds. It 

 must be remembered that the provision of such protec- 

 tion acts in two wa^s: it not only conserves the birds 

 in favour of which it is effected, but it leads to the 

 greater destruction of the unprotected ones. Among 

 the latter, there maybe species that are useful, from the 

 point of view of their insectivorous qualities, but which 

 are destructive in other ways, as for example, the chicken 

 hawk, in the West Indies. It would seem advisable, 

 therefore, in the case of such birds, not to offer boun- 

 ties for their destruction, but to trust to the fact that 

 they are not protected, to keep their numbers within 

 reasonable bounds. Among small birds, too, care is 

 required in making exceptions to the provisions of 

 a protection ordinance, for valuable ones may be con- 

 tinually destroyed and the fact not be discovered, 

 owing to the small difference that exists, to the 

 uneducated observer, between these and certain of the 

 harmful kinds. 



Enough has been said, in a general way, to 

 indicate the importance that the protection of native 

 birds bears, when any scheme for the introduction 

 of foreign species is being considered. There is, 



