A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW m^^". 



OF THE SWTAr-'' 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. *^- 



Vol. XV. No. 382. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBEtt 16, 1916. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Agricultural Statistics of 

 British India 



Agriculture in Nevis ... 



Barbados Sugar-cane Ex- 

 periments, 1914-10 ... 



Book Shelf 



Botany in the Tiopics ... 



Canadian Foodstufts 



Department News 



Departmental Reports ... 



Dominica, Revenue of ... 



Electricity and Plant 

 Growth 



Gleanings 



Ground Nut Oil, Extrac- 

 tion of 



Hog-raising in Cuba ... 



Incense Trees in the West 

 Indies 



Insect Notes: — 



Pests of Sugar-cane in 

 British Guiana 



Page. Page. 



Market Reports 41« 



Matte Tea' Production in 



Southern Brazil 40'.l 



Notes and Comments ... 40iS 



Photographic Illustrations 



in Agricultural Science 4M'.l 

 Phmt Diseases: — 



Att'ectii'ns of Lime Seed- 

 lings 414 



Plants, Preservation of 



Natural Cohmr in 40! i 



Plantation Rul)ber, The 



Rise of 411 



ltul)ber. New Results 



in the Investigati(pn of 41."« 

 Sea Island Cotton Market 40(1 



4( 18 

 411 



405 , 



41.-? 



4(14 



408 



41.-1 



40.-; 



407 



413 

 412 



4UG 



404 



407 



410 



407 



Sponge Cultivation 



.'^ugar-cane, Tlie Rusli t 

 Plant 



I'nited Empire 



Tnited States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture r... 411 



401 

 40! ( 



The Rush to Plant Sugar-cane. 



•T will be admitted everywhere that the 

 West Indies have experienced an extraor- 



(dinary stroke of good fortune in that favour- 

 able growing seasons and high prices for sugar have 

 prevailed for the last two years since the beginning of 

 the war. It is only to be expected that such con- 

 ditions should render cane cultivation an attrac- 

 tive proposition and should 'tend to obocure the 

 minds of those interested in this crop as to other 

 aspects of the agricultural situation. 



In considering the cases of those islands with 

 which we are more intimately associated, a strong 

 tendency to plant up all available land in sugar-cane 

 has been and continues to be in existence. In Barbados, 

 the area. under sugar-cane reaped in 1P1(> was abotit 

 •'^(),000 acres or an increase of about 2,000 acres. Most 

 of this increased acreage was previously under cotton. 

 In Barbados there has also been a tendency for the 

 peasant to plant his land in sugar-cane at the expense 

 of Indian corn and ground provisions. These extensions 

 have taken i^lace in an island where normally agricul- 

 tural conditions are thoroughh- established. 



In less developed islands the changes might be 

 expected to be more pronounced. This is so in St. 

 Vincent, where the area now being planted in sugar-cane 

 is actually threefold what it was two years ago. Exten- 

 sions have also been made in smaller islands like Mont- 

 serrat and Xevis, where, since the war, old muscovado 

 plants have been opened up again and the necessary 

 area of sugar-cane planted to supply them. 



The increased interest that is being taken in sugar- 

 cane is well reflected by the distribution of plants from 

 the various Botanic Stations. It will perhaps serve 

 a useful purpose to quote a few figures. In St. Vincent 

 in 1913-14, the number of cuttings distributed was 

 8,.500: in 191-t-l.'). this jumped to 17, .5.50; while in 

 1915-16 the high distribution was fairly well maintain- 

 ed at 14,900 In St. Lucia, during 191.5-1«, 8,000 cane 

 cuttings were distributed to Crown land purchasers 

 against nil the previous year. In Antigua, in 1915-16, 

 the number of cuttings distributed was 2.54,617, which 

 is about double the normal distribution. The case of 

 Montserrat is even more striking. In 1913-14 there 

 were 2,332 cane cuttings distributed; in 1914-15, 

 11.900; and in 1915-16, 17,676. 



