Vol. IV. No. 77. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



91 



AGRICULTURE IN ST. LUCIA. 



The following is a suinmaiy of an address 

 delivered by the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture 

 before the St. Lucia Agricultural Society on February 

 22 last, for a report of which we are indebted to the 

 Voice of St. Lucia: — 



Sir Daniel said that it was time that St. Lucia roused 

 herself to a consciousness of her agricultural necessities. Her 

 planters must organize, as these of other colonies had done, 

 to promote the cultivation of the various products for which 

 her soil was suited. He was always willing to give as nuich 

 of his time and attention to St. Lucia as to any other colony, 

 and the Lnperial Department had been as generous to the 

 island as, if not more so than, to her neighbours. But he 

 could not say that the response was encouraging. Com- 

 mittees for special purposes had been formed ; experiments 

 for definite objects had been started : but the results 

 had not come up to expectation. But he was not 

 deterred by setbacks, and he would propose to the 

 Agricultural Society of St. Lucia to name a Committee 

 representative of the agricultural industries of the island, as 

 had been done in other colonies, who would command the 

 confidence of planters and of the population generally, and 

 who could confer with him, whenever he visited the island, on 

 agricultural matters. Sir Daniel instanced the Cotton 

 and Banana Committees of Barbados, the Committee of the 

 Agricultural Society of Grenada, and the Committee in 

 Antigua of leading planters which was always in touch with 

 Dr. Watts, and, through him, with the Lnperial Department, 

 He would like such a Committee appointed at St. Lucia. 



Mr. ^McHugh moved that the Hon. E. DuBoulay, the 

 Hon. G. Graf, the Hon. G. Ponsonby, Messrs. Hugh Hunter, 

 C. R. Kennaway, George Barnard, K. G. ]McHugh, 

 E. G. Bennett, S. D. Melville, with the Agricultural 

 Superintendent and the Agricultural Listructor, be invited to 

 form a Committee to meet and discuss with the Couunissioner 

 ■of Agriculture on all subjects of agricultural interest to the 

 people of St. Lucia, and that the Secretary of the Agricultural 

 Society be asked to act as Secretary to the Ciammittee. 



Sir Daniel said he thought that it was most desirable 

 that sugar-cane experimental plots should be established in 

 St. Lucia, as had been done in .some of the neighbouring 

 islands, and that cane farming should be promoted in 

 connexion with the Central Sugar Factories ; the canes to 

 be paid for on a sliding scale regulated by the price of sugar 

 on the New York and London markets. 



Though the cultivation of cotton had not been taken up 

 with enthusiasm in St. Lucia, Sir Daniel thought that the 

 ■experiments at the Agricultural School demonstrated that, 

 under favourable conditions, this industry could be taken up 

 with every prospect of success. There Sea Island cotton 

 planted in .lune last was now being picked and was yielding 

 at the rate of 300 Bj. of lint to the acre. Another lot planted 

 in September was expe'cted to do well but not to give as high 

 a yield. That plot at Union could not be the only i)lace in the 

 island favourable for the growth of Sea Island cotton. But 

 the plants required high cultivation, constant looking after, 

 and took kindly to manure. The actual condition of the 

 ■cotton market justified his repeated assurance to the West 

 Indies that, whatever the fluctuations in the price of Upland 

 cotton. Sea Island would not be seriously affected. The 

 price of the former had gone down to id. per R., while 

 ■Sea Island was quoted at Is. lh:I. per lb., and the first 

 shipments from Barbados had realized Is. ihd. per lb., 

 netting, on the best lands, about £17 an acre. 



Then there was fruit, in which several of the islands 



were building up a trade. From Barbados they were shipping 

 2,300 bunches of bananas to England every fiu'tnight. The 

 fruit was arriving in fairly good condition, and was 

 establishing a reputation. The banana was the Chinese 

 variety, a small tree that bore large bunches. The best 

 time to cut them was just when the fingers began to round, 

 not while they were angular. In Barbados the best results 

 were obtained by packing single bunches in crates, with 

 cotton-wool and pajier. The crates, wool, and paper cost 

 about Is. 2d. The freight was Is. to ■2.«. a bunch by the 

 ocean steamer; say, an average of Is. Qd. per crate. Take the 

 value of the bunch at lOrf. in the colony, this, with the 

 charges, would work out at Ss. 6d in England, where, 

 if it arrived in good condition, the bunch would sell at 

 5s. to 7s., according to the market. A country which 

 was growing cacao on an expanding scale was very 

 advantageously situated for starting the banana business. 

 Bananas had to be planted for the protection of the young 

 plants. ^Vhy not grow a quality of banana wdiich was sure 

 of a good market instead of planting inferior qualities which 

 could obtain only a lesser price I He was convinced that 

 if the Chinese banana were grown in St. Lucia in 

 quantities to supply, say, .5,000 bunches a month, it 

 would be worth while for steamers, properly fitted with 

 cool chambers, to call at Castries to take them. He was not 

 free to make any definite pronuse, but he had no hesitation in 

 saying that, if the fruit were forthconung, the means of 

 carriage would be found, so there need be no fear of not 

 finding the means of conveying the fruit to market. 



To make a start. Sir Daniel said he was prepared, 

 later on, if the matter were taken up, to arrange to ship by 

 each Royal Mail steamer, 20 bunches of Chinese bananas, 

 delivered in Castries, cut at the right stage, and of not less 

 tliHu 8 hands to the bunch. 



Sir Daniel Morris mentioned that there were plants of 

 the Chinese banana growing at the Botanic Station and 

 at the Agricultural School at Union, and, probably, more 

 or less all over the country. 



!Mr. McHugh suggested that the Agricultural Society 

 might procure a supply of suckers of the Chinese banana for 

 sale to cultivators throughout the island. 



A BACTERIAL ROT OF ONIONS. 



The following note by Mr. A. J. Brooks, of the 

 Agricultural School, Dominica, is likely to be of 

 interest to onion growers. Mention has been made of 

 the Bacterial Rot of Onions in the Agricultural News 

 (Vol. Ill, p. 245), a fuller account being published in 

 the West Indian Bulletin (Vol. V, pp. 134-9) :— 



The results of experiment.? in connexion with onion 

 growing at Dominica tend to prove that the bacterial rot 

 is largely due to excessive moisture at the ripening stage. 



Last season the crop germinated and grew well, and 

 splendid bulbs were formed. Rains, however, set in during 

 the ripening sea.son (December and .lanuary) with the result 

 that nearly the whole of the crop was lost by this disease. 



This season another trial was made. The crop was 

 grown on the same plot of land and received the same 

 cultivationas on the former occasion. In this instance, however, 

 the ripening period was characterized by splendid dry 

 weather with the result that absolutely no loss was 

 experienced from the ' rot.' 



The yield was an excellent one, viz., 4,000 lb. to the 

 acre. The bulbs found a ready sale locally, realizing a net 

 profit of ■^164-24 to the acre. 



