

A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XV. No. 378. 



BARBADOS, OCTOBEK 21, 1916. 



Price \d. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Antigua and St. Kitt.s, 



Weather Conditions and 



Sugai'-cane Prospects 



in, :«9 



Antigua Onion Growers' 

 Asaociation, 1915-lG, 



Report of the 340 



Aaximones and Bacterized 



Peat 349 



Bay Rum Industry of 



the Danish West Indies 349 

 Chinese Vinegar as a Co- 

 agulant 342 



Cotton Notes: — 

 Sea Island Cotton Market 342 

 Departmental Reports ... 343 

 Dominica, Manurial Ex- 

 periments with Lime 



Trees in, 341 



Flour, West Indian Sub- 

 stitutes for, 337 



Gleanings 348 



Green Manures and Ger- 

 mination .S49 



Hurricane in the Virgin 

 Islands and St. Thomas 345 



Page. 



Insecte Notes: — 



A Scale Insect Pest of 

 Citrusand Its Control 

 Items nf Local Interest 

 Lime Juice froiu Trinidad 



in 1915, Exports of 

 Leeward Islands, Agricul- 

 tural Administrationand 

 Research in the 

 Market Reports . . . 

 Notes and Comments 

 Phili])pines, Blight-proof 



Cott'ee in the 

 Seeds, Projjhesying the 



Life Duration of 



St. Lu«ia, Restrictions on 



Plant Importations into 

 Sugar Production in Cuba 

 Sugar-cane, Methods of 



Measuring Growth in 



the 



Sugar-cane Crop in Bar- 



batlos 



Tortola Onion Growers' 



Association 



Turks and Caicos Islands, 



Trade and Industries of, 



I'.llo 344 



34G 

 347 



.349 



345 

 352 

 344 



346 



;i51 



341 

 344 



:!5(l 



351 



340 



West Indian Substitutes for Flour. 



UPORTS have recently reached the West 

 |IndiePto the offect thit this vpar's wh^at 

 ,crop in the I'f^nited States is relatively the 

 lowest on record in relation to the demand; that this 

 will seriously dimmish the amount available for export, 

 and that consequentlj', the prices of flour, already well 

 above the normal, may be expected to rise to a point 

 that will restrict the consumption of the usual quan- 

 tities in these islands. The situation is further 

 aggravated by an alleged shortage in Canada where, in 

 the North- West, the prevalence of a disease known as 

 ■rust' has occasioned considerable losses in this year's 



crop. While there will undoubtedly be a shortage ia 

 the amount of North American flour available for 

 export at reasonable prices, the recent fall in the price 

 of wheat in England, and the attendant facts of the 

 case indicate that the price of wheat is beino- 

 influenced by market manipulations and not merely by 

 a shortage in supply; and it would appear unwise to 

 view the situation, which by market adjustments may 

 right itself, with too much alarm. The fact remains, 

 however, that North America is the only source of 

 flour for the West Indies, and the circumstances 

 that have lately arisen in connexion with submarine 

 warfare off the east coast of the United States will 

 not tend to lessen the cost of flour or indeed of any- 

 other article shipped to these islands from North 

 America. Already insurance rates are stated to have 

 risen. 



The whole situation, therefore, while not definitely 

 alarming, does call for a certain amount of preparedness. 

 The lines along which action should be taken have 

 been outlined in communications sent from this 

 Department to the respective Governments in the 

 Windward and Leeward Islands, as well as in circular 

 letters to the Agricultural Officers in the different 

 islands. It has been suggested that attention should 

 be directed to the cultivation in larger quantities 

 of certam crops which can be partially substituted 

 for flour. The principal ones enumerated are Indian 

 corn (maize), Guinea corn, cassava, and sweet potato. 



In regard to Indian oorn, atteution may be called 

 to an editorial in this Journal* on Indian corn as 

 a crop in the West Indies, where it was urged that more 

 corn should be grown to take the place of the large 

 amount which is at present imported. From the pointi 



♦Vol. XII (1913), No. 292, p. 209. 



