»v//- 



A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



•«TAMi«AL 



Vol. XV. No. 370. 



BARBADOS, JULY 1, 1916. 



Price Id, 



CONTENTS. 



Page. Page. 



... 221'Itciiis iif Lciwil Interest ... --'iS 

 ••■ -^' M:iikct Reports 224 



\IiH.- ill tlio Ti'(ii»in« ( 'nni- 



21(i 



Btiuk 8helf 



British Siii^iir .Supply 

 C;i.c;i<) in Ceylon, Mannr 



ing of 



(!;u;:ui Thrijjs and Die-bad 



in St. Vincent 



Cotton Conference: — 



Fourth Day's Proceed 



ings (C'rtic/iirfed) 



Dfjiartnient Mews 



Fruit Juices, Studies on ... 213 



Gleanings 220: 



Hurricane Warning.s 210i 



Insect Notes:— 'Sea Island Cotton Market 215 



Native Food Plants Sugar. Reasons for High 

 and Feedinu; Habits of Prices of ol7 



222 



214 

 210 



])osition of 



Molasses. New MotorSpirit 

 from 



Notes and Comments ... 



Pigeon Peas from St. Vin- 

 cent. Kxijort of 



Pigs. 'I'lie Shortage of ... 

 Porto Rico, Birds of 



210 

 211) 



213 

 20'. t 

 210 



the Cotton Stainer in 

 St. Vincent 218 



Susar-cane. Manuring 



of 210 



The Shortage of Pigs, 



fX common with tlu price of other food 

 • products, that of pork and bacon is at the 

 'present time at a high level, and has been for 

 the last two years. In the English market Canadian 

 and American hams and bacon are over 10s. per cwt. 

 more expensive than the}' were three years ago, and 

 there is a tendency for the mat ket to rise still higher. 

 Locally, in Barbados, fresh pork, that is, pork from 

 pigs grown and slaughtered in the island, is a penny 

 a pound more e.xpensive: lard shows a still greater 

 increase; while imported hams and bacon of very 



questionable ijuality are exceptional!}- dear. This 

 condition holds good more or less throughout the' 

 West Indies, and in fact it may be said that at the 

 present time there is a general shortage of pig pro- 

 ducts all over the world. 



In the current issue of the West Indian Bvlletin 

 there appears an article which describes a co-operative 

 bacon factory working in Bedford, in England; this 

 article has been published in continuation of a previous 

 one of a more general character that urged the more ex- 

 tensive production of pigs in the West Indian islands on 

 co-operative lines, utilizing the by-products of the crops 

 at present grown, the pigs being ultimately converted 

 into bacon and hams in a factory somewhat similar to 

 that referred to above. Owing to the unsettled state 

 of affairs that has existed, efforts to invoke the atten- 

 tion of capitalists have not, so far, proved successful. 

 It would seem, in, spite of the shortage of pigs and 

 consequent high prices, that it is not possible to 

 attempt to meet the demand at present on a large 

 scale. The only thing that remains^ therefore, is to 

 urge that a start shoidd be made at the other end: 

 that the individual planter and peasant should raise as 

 many pigs as possible and send them either to the 

 local market to be sold as pork, or else make aa 

 attempt on a small domestic scale to manufacture 

 pork, hams and bacon. 



Pig raising in the West Indies ma\ take two 

 forms. It may be conducted as it usuallj- is, on a 

 small scale, two or three animals being kept in sties 

 more or less for tlomestic purposes: or it may be 

 conducted on a larger scale, where a herd of swine is 

 maintained. Carried out on this larger scale, pig 



