A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 





Vol. XV. No. 367 



BARBADOS, MAY 20, 1916. 



Peice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Antigua, A CnttniiGiuwcr^' 

 .Associatinu in 



Bookshelf 



British Guiana Imbistrial 

 Scliool 



Corn Meal, Degcnninatud 



Cotton Conference: — 

 Third- Day's Proceedings 



C!ottou Cultivation in 

 Nevis, Encouragement of 



Cotton in Brazil 



Ensilage Tanks 



Gleanings 



Insect Notes: — 



Insects Attacking Onions 



The Corn Ear Worm, and 



The Paris (ireen Starch 



Mixture 



lo5 

 170 



169 

 171 



1(;g 



1G5 

 l(i9 

 !(;<» 

 172 



170 



171 



Page. 



... 1(14 

 ... 17»i 



108 

 108 



Items of Local Interest .. 



Market Reports 



Montscrrat, Clo.se Seaso: 



( h'dinance in 



Notes and Comments .. 



Plant Diseases: — 



Pine-apjile Wilt 17-t 



Purk and Baci>n Inve.stiga- 



ti<ins ... lO't 



Progress and Changes ... 101 



Sea Island Cotton 



Market 107 



Virgin Islands, Agricultural 



Activities in 173 



'West Indian Bulletin', 



A-ol. XV, No. :! 108 



West Indian Products ... 175 



Progress and Changes. 



[hen the West Jndiau Royal Coitimission 

 .visited these colonies in 1897, the sugar 

 I industry of many of the islands involved the 

 production of muscovado sugar. In British Guiana it 

 is true that this form of industry had passed away 

 and that it was passing in Trinidad, while in St. Lucia 

 a relatively large proportion of the .sugar turned out 

 was made in vacuum pans. But in Barbados, Antigua, 

 St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat, sugar meant musco- 

 vado sugar, and when men spoke, as they did hourly, 

 of the price of sugar, they implied, without qualifica- 

 tion, the price of mu.scovado sugar, of 8!) polariscopic 

 test. To-day there is no market ijuotation for this class 



of sugar, and recent eni|uiry in Barbados, where there 

 is an active local market far sugar, showed that the 

 price for 89^ muscovado sugar could onl}- be arrived 

 at by appro.ximate calculation. The price of sugar, 

 the matter of vital concern, now means instinctively 

 the price of refiners' grey crystals of 96^ polariscopic 

 test. 



This implies a I'ar-reaching change and, while 

 facts are fresh in men's minds, it may be well to make 

 a retrospect so as to see what changes have taken 

 place, and perhaps to look forward in anticipation of 

 coming e\ents. 



It had long been recognized that the mu.scovado 

 system of sugar manufacture was wasteful, and that the 

 commodity produced possessed many disadvantages 

 affecting the various operations through which it had to 

 pass in storing, shipping and refining. It came to be 

 recognized, too, that the profitable carrying on of the 

 industry depended to a very great extent upon the 

 read)" sale at a remunerative price of the molasses 

 produced as an integral part of the process. The 

 demand for sugar was increasing but that for molasses 

 w^as not keeping pace, so that while certain special,' 

 though limited, markets for it existed, there was little 

 certainty as tu the future of the demand. 



West Indian sugar producers had long recognized 

 these facts, and had si-cn that to ensure the stability of 

 their industry they must give consideration to questions 

 of improved method.s of manufacture, implying the 

 production of vacuum-pan sugars: but it at once 

 became evident that these changes implied the intro- 

 duction of specialized and costly machinery, the expense' 

 of which could n.ot be borne by small i)lantations, 



