A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THK 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRi* 



NEW V 



BOTA^ 



Vol. IX. No. 216. 



BARBADOS, AUGUST 6, 1910. 



Prick \d. 



CONTENTS. 



Agricultiii-al Exjjeiiinciit 



Stntiiins, Tlie Value of 

 Agricultural ScIk lols, H alf - 



Yearly E.xaniiiiation of 

 Agriculture in Elenieiitacy 



Scliools, Barbados ... 

 Brazil, Bcononiic Plant 



Study in 



British Guiana and tlie 



Canadian Exhibitions 



Broom Corn in Antigua 



Calcium Cyanauiide and 

 Nitrate of Lime ... 



Cocoa-nuts for Planting, 

 Selection of 



Coffees, WestAfrican, Com- 

 parative Values of ... 



Cotton Notes : — 



Indian Cotton in tlie 

 I'nitud States 



West Indian Cotton ... 

 Department News 



Page. 



241 



245 



255 



255 



251 

 251 



249 



244 



248 



Page. 



24G 

 246 

 253 



Diastases in Rulil.er Latex 24'.l 

 Forests, Iiiflueuce of, on 



Clima'e and Floods, 248 

 Fungus Notes :— 

 IlecentWork on Diseases 



of Cocoa-nut Palms ... 254 



Gleanings ... 252 



(iuava in Mexico, The ... 24!) 

 Insect Notes : — 



The Acarina or Mites, 



Part IV 250 



Maize, Methods of Sowing 24ft 



Market Reports 256 



Notes and Comments ... 248 

 Pajier, Manufacture of 



from .Megass 247 



Pine-Ajiple Industry of 



Formr.>a ' 249 



Students' Corner 253 



Sugar Industry : — 



Sugar-cam- in Porto 



Rico 243 



Ticks ot Jamaica 247 



The Value of Agricultural 

 Experiment Stations. 



ATTENTION has been drawn recently * to 

 J the fact that the properly conducted agri- 

 tcultural experiment station derives its 

 value chiefly in two ways : from its use in providing 

 assistance of more immediate moment to the practi- 

 cal agriculturist, and from the general results that are 

 obtained, by its means, through the carrying on of 



*AgriciiUural Nens, Vol. IX, Nos. -jm and 210. " 



research. The true nature and extent of this value are 

 often imperfectly realized, or indeed ignored, and it is 

 the purpose of the present article to indicate, to some 

 extent at least, wherein the existence of this value lies. 



The broad aim of the experiment station is to pro- 

 vide assistance by means of discovery and acquisition. 

 The discovery, or the thing .acquired, may be of a con- 

 crete or an abstract nature. That is to say, the work that 

 is carried on may lead to the recognition of useful 

 principles in relation to its problems, or to the produc- 

 tion of actual agricultural apparatus, strains of plants, 

 etc., which will be beneficial to those whom its labours are 

 intended to serve. As regards the methods of acquisi- 

 tion, the knowledge of what is being done at other 

 stations may have advantage taken of it by the appli- 

 cation of principles that have been formulated at thesei 

 or the acquirement from them of actual things that 

 will be of use in the district for which its efforts are 

 made, such as, again, valuable mechanical aids in agricul- 

 ture, and new plants. Without an experiment station 

 the worth of results obtained by others cannot receive 

 proper consideration, in reference to the conditions 

 which obtain in a particular locality, and those who are 

 resident there have no one to advise them when atten- 

 tion is being given to proposals to introduce new plants, 

 machinery, or other substantive means of assistance. 



Several ways exist in which the work carried on 

 at an experiment station may give rise to discoveries 

 that may or may not be of direct use, but every one of 

 which has its value sooner or later. The most general 

 way in which these discoveries are made is as the 

 result of direct search; they sometimes occur in an 

 accidental way, while this search is being made. In 

 other cases, they arise from the reconsideration of old 



