A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XV. No. 380. 



BARBADOS, NOVEMBER 18, 1916. 



Price Id, 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Agricultural Develninueiit 



in the Fedeiated Mala}' 



States 377 



Barbados, Crop Conditions 



ill .371 



Bombaj', Experimental 



Work in 379 



Botanic-Gardens. A Useful 



Function of 375 



British Cotton Growing 



Association 374 



Deijartiiient News 373 



Dominica, Record Shijiinent 



of Lime Jaice Products 



from 375 



Gleanings 380 



Insect Notes:— 



Methods of Controlling 

 WhiteGrubs in Amer- 

 ica 37H 



Items of Local Interest ... 382 



Lime Juice, CoiiRf^iit:rt'"g 



bj' Freezing .379 



Mangrove Wood 381 



Market Reports 384 



Motor Cultivation, Stimu- 

 lation of by the War ... 369 



Page. 



371! 



Notes and Comments .. 



Pigs, Breeding and Feed 

 ilig of ... ■" 383 



Plant Disease*:— '.JS^ 



liosellinia Root Dfs- -^-j 



eases in the Lesser ^"' 



Antilles 382 



<,)ueensla»id. The Sugar- 

 cane in 371 



Rliodesia. Crop Experi- 

 ments in 383 



Rhodesia, Development of 378 



St. Vincent, The Govern- „st;33 

 ment Granary 381 



St. Vincent, Working of 

 tlie Ander.son Oil Expel- 

 ler 381 



Scientific Researcli. Impor- 

 tance of to the Industries .37 (i 



Sea Island Cotton Market 374 



Seeds, fltfect of Light on 

 the (Termination of ... 377 



West Indian Food Supply: — 



Cassava Flour 373 



(Tiuiiea Corn as Human 



Food 372 



The Price of Flour ... 372 



West Indian Products . 383 



The Stimulation of Motor Cultivation by 

 the War. 



ilTH the growing scarcity of labour in 

 , European countries, there has arisen the 

 i>:5Mi^*^ necessity to make the most effective use 

 of all available labour-saving iniplementsand uaachines 

 in agricultural operations. One result has been the 

 giving of greater attention to motor ploughing, — on 

 one side by the farmers, on the other by the manu- 

 fecturers, boili sides being anxious for national 

 as well as for commercial reasons, that mechanical 



power be utilized on the land to the greatest possible 

 extent. 



A movement, stimulated by such urgent circum- 

 stances, is not likely to be barren in its results. The 

 war has demonstrated in numberless ways the truth 

 of the statement that necessitj lead;-, to invention; and 

 it would seem well worth while for West Indian 

 planters to take cognizasice of what is being effected, 

 and what will be effected in regard to the substitution 

 of mechanically produced power for human and animal 

 power on the land, m Great Britain and other Euro- 

 pean countries. 



From information published by the English Board 

 of Agriculture* it is evident that agricultural societies 

 and institutions are closely investigating the subject 

 in different parts of the country. The Royal Ao-ricul- 

 tural Society has issued estimates of the cost of motor 

 ploughing based upon figures supplied by farmers who 

 are actually using the machines and have had satisfactory 

 results. There are two principal types of machine in use: 

 the motor tractor, and the motor plough. In the motor 

 tractor, as the name implies, the engine is separate from 

 the plough it draws; in the motor plough the two are 

 united to form one machine. The advantage of the 

 tractor is that it can be used for work other than 

 ploughing, for instance, haulage on roads and for 

 driving threshing maehines. It has a disadvantage 

 not possessed by the motor plough, in that it requires 

 more than one man to operate it. The motor tractor 

 appears also to be more expensive to run, the total cost 

 per acre for the tractor on light land being about 6s. 

 compared with approximately .5s. in the case of the 

 motor plough. In considering these figures it must be 



*Journal of the Board cf Agriculture (England and Wales) 

 Vol. XXXIII, Nos. 3 and (i. " 



