Vol. XV. No. 359. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



3.5 



VIRGIN ISLANDS: REPORT ON THE AGRI- 

 CULTURAL DEPARTMENT AND EXPERIMENT 

 STATION, FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH SI, 

 1915. 



Useful work has been continued in the nurseries, and 

 during the year under review the distribution of economic 

 plants increased considerably, totalling 144,793. These 

 included onion slips 115,800, sweet potato cuttings 7,300, 

 coco-nuts 2,769, limes 2,344, and sugar-cane 4,332. In 

 order to meet the demand for plants, the nurseries were 

 extended, a piece of land south of the Curator's quarters 

 being converted into coco-nut, lime, and onion plots. 



In the Experiment Station much attention has been 

 given to cotton with a view to establishing a local seed 

 supply. Following up the work conmienced last year on 

 the .systematic selection of cotton plants with a view to 

 obtaining a strain of cotton suited to local conditions, pro- 

 ducing lint of good quality combined with high yields, the 

 various selections made last year were submitted to careful 

 trials in the Experiment Station. The method ado[)ted 

 was: the selection in the field of individual trees showing 

 desirable characteristics, the seed-cotton from which is reaped 

 and the lint submitted to a rigorous examination. From 

 the selected strains of seed raised on the progeny plots an 

 adequate supply has been obtained for planting a considerable 

 area, and as the result of recommendations by Dr. Tempany, 

 Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, 

 arrangements have been made for the establishment of 

 a cotton seed farm at the Experiment Station, from which 

 reliable strains of seed for planting in the Virgin Islands will 

 be obtained — thus obviating the necessity of importing seed 

 for planting. With favourable weather conditions it is 

 believed this seed farm should supply all the seed required 

 for planting in the Presidency. Owing to the importance of 

 the cotton industry in the Virgin Islands it was deemed 

 desirable also to institute manurial experiments to ascertain 

 the re<juirements of the cotton plant under the conditions of 

 soil and climate which exist in Toitola. Experiments were 

 therefore laid out with Sea Lsland cotton, but owing to 

 adver.se weather conditions very low yields were obtained; 

 the effect of the manures, however, was distinctly marked. 

 In regard to the experiments conducted with Sakellarides, 

 Southern Cross, and Caravonica types of cotton, the results 

 obtained were much below the ordinary returns from Sea 

 Island strains, and again showed that these types of cotton 

 are not .suitable to conditions in the Virgin Islands. Hence 

 it is thought undesirable to continue further experiments 

 with them. 



The coco-nut demonstration plots constitute an impor- 

 tant feature of the work of the Station. The area umler 

 this cultivation has been exteiideil, no fewer than 2,769 

 plants having been distributed during the year. At the 

 Experiment Station, the operations of digging out roots and 

 clearing up an additional 7 aiTes of land for coco-nut.s; were 

 carried out, and the plot jHanted. ( )wing to the dry \veather 



experienced in August and September, .several supplies were- 

 found necessary; but with the advent of good rains in April 

 following, the plants commenced to make such marked pro- 

 gress that the successful establishment of the plot is regarded 

 as ensured. The policy of planting catch crops of sugar-cane 

 and cotton through the young coco-nut trees on part of the- 

 plot has been followed up: while on the remainder, the plants 

 are kept circle-weeded, the intervening bush being periodically 

 cutlassed back. As a result of one year's growth the trees 

 have attained a height of 9 feet, thus demonstrating th& 

 correctness of the view that these lands are well adapted to 

 coco-nut cultivation. As regards this cultivation in the 

 Presidency generally, the localities planted in coco-nuts are 

 situated in the Eastern, North Western, and Western district.? 

 of Tortola: some few acres are also established at Virgin 

 f4orda Valley, and at Jlosquito Island. In all these districts 

 the soil seems suitable for the crop, and the progress made by 

 the young coco-nut fields during the year is striking. 

 Thousands of acres of land are lying waste which could be- 

 converted into paying coco-nut plantations, and it is hoped that 

 the continuation of the present interest in coco-nut growing 

 may lead to considerable future developments. 



A considerable amount of activity was displayed in con- 

 nexion with the onion industry during the year. The raising 

 of seedlings was again carried on at the Station and 115,800 

 plants were distributed, showing, when compared with the 

 figures for the previous year, that the interest in onion 

 growing in the Virgin Islands is increa.sing. An attempt was 

 made during the year to organize small shipments on a 

 co-operative basis among growers, and 43 crates containing: 

 2,399B). were .shipped to New York, Barbados, and St. Thomas,, 

 the .shipment realizing a sum of nearly £15. It is hoped 

 that co-operative methods of marketing the crop May be 

 satisfactorily developed under the auspices of the Onion 

 Growers Association, which has now been formed, and which 

 should lend stability to the industry. 



Experiments with other economic crops were continued,, 

 and satisfaction must be expressed with the energetic and 

 efficient manner in which the acting Curator (Mr. G. A. 

 Gomez) discharged the duties of his Office during the year 

 under review 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left 

 Barbados on Thiiisday, January 27, 1916, by the 

 C.R.M.S. 'Chaieur', with the object of paying an official 

 visit to Antigua. Dr. Watts is expected to return by 

 the 'Chaudiere' on February 9. 



It is stated in the Proceedings of the Institute of Chem- 

 istry uf Great Britain and Ireland, .July to October 1915, 

 that the demand for the services of professional chemists 

 in many matters connected with the war, has steadily 

 increased. Chemists were attached to General Botha's Army 

 in the South-west African campaign, and in France they have 

 been employed in connexion with the necessary retaliation 

 in the matter of employing asphyxiating gases against the 

 enemy. The chief use of chemists, however, has been irL 

 connexion with the manufacture of munitions, and in the 

 revival of the dye and glass industries in Great Britain. 



