y/L. 



A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XV. No. 369. 



BARBADOS, .JUNE 17, 191fi. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Aviculture, Ecouoiuic ... 

 Bay Tree as a f'r(if> Plant 

 Cacao Thrips ami Die-liack 



in St. Vincent 



Colombia, Agriculture in.. 

 Concerning Cotton Seed 



and Its Products 



Cotton Conference: — 



Fourth Da.y'.s Proceetl- 

 ings 



l)e}iartmeiit News 



Dominica, I)evelo])ment 'if 



Experiment Station Work 



in Florida 



.Fish, Poisonou.s Species of 

 Gleanings 



.AGE. 



1!»7 

 1!»5 



2ii(i 

 2ti:! 



L'<)7 



AGE. 



20.T 



[ndian Sugar Indu.stry 

 lln.sect Notes: — 



Native Food Plants and 

 Feeding Hal)its of the 

 Cotton Stainer in .St. 



Vincent 202 



Market Reports 208 



Jlciisturc and Pressure in 



Soils 200 



Notes and Comments ... 200 

 Onions, Hints for Raising 201 

 Pigs. Fish Meal as Food for 201 

 Science for Protection .and 



I Progress 193 



201:Sponges, Cultivation of ... 205 

 2ll,"> Soui-cc nf Nitrogen in Leg- 

 204 iiiiu's ' .". 200 



198 



104: 



Science for Protection and Progress. 



•HE present war has shown that science, like 

 tire, is a gooil friend but ;i bad enemy. British 

 [subjects especially are learning to realize from 

 the harm it can do, its eipial po.^sibilities for good 

 — applied either to productive purposes or for oppos- 

 ing its application for puiposes of destruction. The 

 sting of the burn has resulted in an awakening to the 

 fact that we have underestimated the power of science, 

 and consequent!}' have neglecttil to use it as others 

 have done. 



Agriculture is often referred tc) as a peaceful 

 occupation. In itself it is not really so, but one of con- 



tinual uonfiict which will become accentuated as 

 systems become more intensive. The planter has 

 many enemies both .mimate and inanimate. The 

 more he tries to pit his way of doing things against 

 Nature, to adopt intensive methods?, to grow things 

 where Nature never intended them to grow, the hard- 

 er will be the attainment of success unless he calls in 

 I he aid of science. He must study his enemy's tactics 

 and learn to circumvent them, and even in some cases 

 to take the offensive. None will deny that the help of 

 science is keenly sought by the most apathetic in times 

 of adversity; su:;h situations could often be avoided if 

 science were employed systematically. The importance 

 therefore of science in agriculture is that it counter- 

 balances Nature's opposition to man's control of 

 vegetation; and .secondly, that it enables him to 

 increase production and modify plants and animals 

 to suit his special requirements. If the planter thinks 

 of science as a means of getting his own wa}-, just as 

 the engineer thinks of it in this light, he will more 

 readily appreciate its value. 



Outstanding instances where a nation h,as had 

 to call in science in defence of its agricultural industries 

 are to be found in the United States of America. It 

 has had to be done in the case of the cotton boll 

 weevil, for e.xample. American cotton is one of the 

 most valuable crops, if not the most valuable cash 

 crop, in the world. If it had not been for vigorous 

 scientific action, its production to anything like the 

 present extent would have been impossible. In the 

 United States, also, we see a strenuous conflict takintr 

 place in connexion with the Chestnut diseases, and in 



