A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



^.:w V 

 botan 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XI. No. 277. 



BARBADOS. DECEMBER 7, 1912. 



Pbiob Id, 



CONTENTS. 



Paok 



Agriculture in Fiji, 1911 391 1 

 Antigua Agiiculiuial and 



Commercial Society... 395 



Camphor Industry in For- 

 mosa, 1911 389 



Castilloa Elastica on the 



Ivory Coast .'i89 



Cherimoyer, The .388 



Cotton in China, 1911, ... 397 



Cotton Not«8 : — 



British Cotton Growing 



Association 390 



West Indian Cotton ... 390 



Department News ... 

 Dodder in St. Lucia 



Exports from Dominica ... 



Fibre of Gomphocarpus 



Semilunatus 



Fodder Plant, A New ... 



Fungus Notes : — 



Coco-nut Diseases in 

 Tobago 



399 

 392 



.399 



387 

 391 



.398 

 396 



Gleanings 



Hurricane Insurance for 



Coco-nut Plantations 399 



Paok 



Insect Notes : — 



A Method of Treatment 



for Borers in Trees... 



A New Pest of Ficus ... 



Ticks, Part I 



Market Reports 



Museums, Educational 

 Work of 



Nature ( )i>ject- Lessons and 

 Agriculture in St. Vin- 

 cent 



Notes and Comments ... 



Paper-making from Bam- 

 V)oos ... 



Radium and Plants ... 



Rice Husks, Important 

 Constituent of ... 



Rice in Corea, 1911 



Rubber of Hevea Confusa 



from British Guiana 393 



Students' Corner .397 



Sugar Industry: — 



The Production of White 

 Sugar Directly from 

 .Sugar-cane 387 



Virgin Islands, Recent 



Rainfall in 395 



Wooden Poles, Preserva- 

 tion of 395 



394 

 394 

 394 

 400 



385 



392 



392 



393 

 399 



393 

 .393 



The Educational Work of Museums. 



>HE PLANNING OF A MUSEUM should be 

 .made to relate as closely as possible to the pur- 

 [ poses that it is intended to serve, and in the 

 West Indies, where the chief interests of the different 

 islands are so very well defined, it is a comparatively 

 easy matter to decide the scope of the subjects to be 

 dealt with directly, and to determine the extent to 

 which attention shall be given to interests that belong 

 specially to other parts of the world. There are, at the 

 same time, several general principles to be observed in 

 the collection and arrangement of material for 



a museum, whose early recognition will lead to an 

 increased efficiency of the work and the saving of 

 trouble and expenditure in later rectifying mistakes. 



It is possible in most of the larger countries of the 

 world to provide museums of two kinds: those on 

 a great scale serving alike the interests of the general 

 public and the specialist, and those maintained 

 generally on a smaller scale for the uses of the 

 specialist alone This cannot usually be done in the 

 West Indies, where the only 'museum' of the second 

 kind is likely to be found in the laboratories of the 

 various scientific departments; these are of course 

 accessible to any one who wishes seriously to consult 

 their contents, but are not public in the common sense 

 of the word. It seems that the best museum for the 

 West Indies is the most popular kind, possessing with 

 its popular attributes material that will serve to guide 

 the specialist in his quest for the local aspects of his 

 further researches. 



The construction of a building for a museum 

 should be carried out in a way that such addi- 

 tions as may be required can be made without inter- 

 fering with the consistent nature of the original 

 architectural plan. Even in cases where the lack of 

 funds prevents new building, and necessitates the use of 

 buildings that exist already, this matter must be kept 

 in sight in making a choice. A similar principle is to 

 be observed in setting out the collections: room for 

 expansion must be left, so that the housing of fresh 

 accessions may not necessitate a large moving of 

 material already in place. Additional and unnecessary 

 trouble and expense will thus be avoided, as well as 

 the confusion arising from the bodily removal to new 

 situations of definite sections, that carelessness in this 

 matter would entail. 



