^0^^^^ 







liiL^ 



JiLj. 





A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 





Vol. XV. No. 357. 



BARBADOS, .TANTAP.Y 1, 191G. 



Peice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



At a Distance 



Book Shelf 



('iicao, German and Pur 

 tuf^uese 



Cotton Notes: — 



British Cotton Growing 



Associati( m 



West Indian Cotton ... 



Departuient News 



Departmental Report.s ... 



Exhil)ition, Barbados 

 Annual 



Gleanings 



Grenada Land Settlements 



Hawaii, Trade and Com- 

 merce of 



Hevea Brasiliensis, Phy- 

 sir>loi;ical Efl'ects on. 

 Produced liy Tapping. 



k; 



Page. 



Insect Notes: — 



Mediterranean Fruit 



Fly Ki 



Items of Local Interest... \i 

 Kap<jl< Tree, Domestir 



Value of ".t 



Market Reports HI 



Notes and Connnents ... ^ 



Plant Diseases: — 



A New Disease of iSugar 

 Cane in BarbaiUis .. J 4 

 Revolution and Distress '.I 

 Rul)l)er,. New Invention in S 

 St. Vincent, An Address 



to ... 11 



.Soil .\nalysis by Plantat ioii 



Managers I"> 



\'ani)bi, Curini,' of 4 



At a Distance. 



lOCATED away from iln iniiucdiatr .sphere 

 ^of influence, the Imperial Department ef 

 J Agriculture tor the West Indies, in spite of 

 all the many disadvantages attendant on such a 

 pos-ition, is at least able to regaid the internal afi'airs 

 of the different colonics in true perspective. Its 

 position is somewhat like that of an experienced 

 person who has been requested to attend and criticize 

 the rehearsals of a play. He sees at a diff(nent angle 

 from the individual actors, no matter how great their 

 ability, and although his suggestii>ns may not always 



seem acceptable, they should not be ignored, because 

 of his experience and point of view. To continue the 

 metaphor, it may be reasonably added that the ultimate 

 credit in the eyes of the public will fall upon the 

 players, so that the director's work ends with the 

 success of his actors, or, in other words, is epiphytic 

 on failure. 



Looking at the islands trom a distance, one can 

 see at the present time a number of performances in 

 progress, the majority of them very serious, though 

 a k'w are not without a touch of corned}'. In Barbados 

 and the Leeward Islands we have the annual repetitions 

 of the sugar-cane experiments, which, in spite of a cer- 

 tain inevitable sameness of presentation, are well appre- 

 ciated b}- certain sections of the public. New varie- 

 ties are introduced each year, and in course of time 

 these are made use of by the planter. In certain direc- 

 tions, particularly in Barbados, it would seem that 

 some re-arrangement of tho programme might be 

 an advantage, especially in regard to the manurial 

 experiments; but the actual effecting of this change 

 rests, of course, with the local authorities. 



Of recent years each island has tended more and 

 more to produce its own selected .seed for cotton 

 planting. This performance, like that with sugar-cane, 

 is repeated annually, and also, like the last mentioned, 

 continuous repetition is its most important feature. 

 Cotton growers fully appreciate the value of this work: 

 for one thing it must tend to secure uniformity in 

 each colony's cotton, which is what the users most 

 desire. Such a performance, therefore, may be 

 calcidated to have a long run. 



