Vol. XV. No. 361. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



79 



AN ADDRESS TO ANTIGUA. 



At a general meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and 

 ^Jommercial Society, held on February -t, 1916, at which were 

 present His Excellency the acting Governor, the Honour- 

 able the acting Colonial Secretary and most of the island's 

 representative planters, Dr. Francis AV'atts, CM (J., Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, gave an 

 address on subjects of current interest to local agriculturists. 



Keferring first to the subject of sugar, Dr. Watts stated 

 that the industry was now in a good condition, and the 

 prospects for the coming crop now being reaped were 

 e.xceedingly good. After the war. Dr. Watts believed that 

 the British Colonies as a whole would be in a better position 

 in regard to the sugar industry than they had been. The 

 factory problem was a solved one, though tliere had been 

 many debates in the Antigua Society many years ago 

 concerning the advantages of a factory like (Junthorpes, which 

 has since proved itself a financial and economic success. 

 The efficiency of central factories couM be seen from the fact 

 that it takes but little over 9 tons of cane in the Antigua 

 Factory to produce 1 ton of sugar, ("oming to the question 

 of pest'j and diseases of the sugar-cane. Dr. Watts referred to 

 the recently established result that the rind or red rot 

 disease of sugar-cane can be caused by more than one fungus. 

 The matter was referred to in order to allay any apprehen- 

 sion which might arise because a new fungus had been 

 di3covered. The disease, whatever its cause, requires the 

 same measures of treatment and control, and the newly men- 

 tioned fungus has probably long e.xisted in canes in these 

 islands, though it has not been previously identified with the 



Coming to cotton. Dr. Watts referred to this as a very 

 uncertain crop: even when it is reaped and packed in bales 

 one is not sure of one's crop: only when it is sold is one 

 certain. This necessitates the employment of very careful 

 methods of production and sale. Dr. Watts referred to the 

 decline of the American Sea Island cotton industry caused 

 principally by inter-crossing and the spread of the cotton 

 boll weevil. The Commissioner called attention to the im- 

 portance of maintaining a good type —in fact a pure strain of 

 cotton in each island by the home production of seed for plant- 

 ing in each particular island. He referred to the mistake which 

 Egypt had made in not having taken the advice of experts 

 in regard to the maintenance of pure strains in that country. 

 This neglect, however, was advantageous to the West Indies, 

 because under present conditions in Egypt it is doubtful 

 that they will ever produce a fine enough type to enter into 

 direct competition with the best Sea Island. In connexion 

 ■with these matters Dr. Watts referred to a meeting of 

 those interested in Sea Island cotton which was to take 

 place in St. Kitts early in March. The Commissioner was sorry 

 that a representative of the buyers would not be there, but 

 he hoped at the next general West Indian Conference to 

 liave one. 



The growing of corn was the next subject dealt with. 

 Now that the Government had established a corn drier, the 

 planters should do their .share and put a larger area under this 

 crop. As things were at present, l<i.<. to 14.-:. a bag had to 



be paid for imported corn; much of this might be growa 

 locally and so prevent money from going out of the island. 

 There had been some complaints about corn pests. Most 

 of these could be dealt with by methods known to planters. 

 As regards soil grubs corn might be planted as a trap crop to 

 attract the grubs, when the corn and the grubs could be des- 

 troyed at the same time. 



Dr. Watts did not think that Antigua as well as other 

 islands were doing justice to the bean crop The bean 

 known in Antigua as Barbuda bean (Phaseolux lunatus) 

 would sell well if it could be developed into a crop. These 

 beans sold from 4c. to 4|c. per ft), in Canada. Besides 

 the above-mentioned one, there are many beans and peas 

 suited for field cultivation as a human food or fodder crop, 

 and in this connexion the horse bean was mentioned. 



For some time past the speaker had been calling atten- 

 tion to the possibilities befctfe the production of pork and 

 bacon in the AVest Indies. . While the war prevented 

 capitalists from investing in such a new industry, small 

 experiments were being made which, if they proved success- 

 ful, might tend to lead to the establishment of small central 

 bacon factories. The speaker asked that a committee be 

 formed from the Society to consider his views on the produc- 

 tion of pork and bacon. 



ACID SECRETION OF THE GRAM PLANT. 



The Monthly Bulletin of Agricultural Intelli- 

 gence and Plant Diseases for May 191.5, contains the 

 following interesting note: — 



The gram {C'icer arittinum) secretes and deposits all 

 over its surface an acid liquid which is used fairly extensively 

 in medicine in Western India. It was known to contain 

 malic, oxalic and a small quantity of acetic acid. The 

 writer proposed studying this liquid more closely, and for 

 this purpose material was collected by washing the plants 

 with water. Some other material was also bought in the 

 bazaar. The examination confirmed the presence of oxalic 

 and malic acids, and of about 0'2 per cent, of volatile acids. 

 The maximum amount of acid was found when the pods were 

 fully developed and before they had begun to dry. From the 

 tenth week onwards, the proportion between the malic and 

 oxalic acids was very constant, and was as 94 :6 respectively. 

 Pruning the plants increased the amount of acids to a 

 maximum of 30 per cent, of the dry matter, probably owing 

 to the increase in the number of pods caused by the pruning. 

 Washing the plants, unless repeated too frequently, stimu- 

 lated the production of acids, an interval of six days 

 between the washing proving the most favourable. The 

 acid appeared to be produced in the glandular hairs which 

 are found on all parts of the plant, and especially on the 

 pods. 



The usual method of collecting the acid in India (where 

 gram is the most widely grown pulse), consists in tying 

 a piece of clean cloth to a stick and drawing it over the 

 gram plants till sufficiently wet, when the liquid thus 

 absorbed is wrung into an earthen vessel. The total amount 

 of malic acid that can thus be collected is about 2,700 grams 

 per acre The removal of this acid secretion has no injuriou* 

 effect on the crop 



