Vol. IV. No. 84. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



197 



ROSES IN ST. KITT'S. 



The follcwing notes on giowmg Roses in St. Kitt's 

 iKive been forwarded by Mr. John Belling, B.Sc, Agri- 

 cultiirrtl and Science Master, St. Kitt's: — ■ 



The tea, montlily, or ever-blooming Roses grow and 

 tlower well in the West Indies. They are evergreen and 

 truly eve,r-bloonung here, though at Christmas the flower.s 

 of some varieties become smaller and less double. 



Roses are growa altogether for cut flowers. These 

 should be cut in the open bud before the inner petals have 

 turned back ; otherwise the hot sun will (in many varieties) 

 curl up the petals and spoil the outline of the full-blown 

 tlower. 



The tea rose is the only florist's flower extensively 

 grown in the West Indies. It should be kept in mind that 

 for hundreds of years it has been tended l:>y gardeners, and 

 that such attention has now become indispensable to it, and 

 that its roots cannot compete with those of the many sturdy 

 semi-wild plants cultivated in West Indian gardens, which 

 still retain much of their native vigour. Hence the part of 

 the garden for a rose bed should be chosen as far as possible 

 from all other trees or shrubs ; for, if on digging up the 

 ground for the roses, roots of adjacent trees are found there, 

 it is certain that they will grow in again and starve out any 

 roses [ilanted there. 



Also a site should be chosen where there is free sunlight 

 ;dl day and all the year round; for, if shade comes on the rose 

 bed throughout the winter, as will happen if it is situated to 

 the north of a house or wtill, the rose trees will be starved 

 and attacked in their weakened state by mildew and scale, 

 which will prevent them from flourishing next summer. 



Rose plants can be obtained from American florists for 

 about 10c. each. The best and cheapest I have seen are 

 from the Good & Reese Co., iSpringfield, Ohio, at sixteen for 

 $1'00, with choice of varieties. I have brought them in 

 a well-ventilated basket without losing a leaf after nine 

 days at sea ; but if they are packed in nearly air-tight 

 boxes, the leaves usually become rotten. But so long as 

 one joint of the .stem is still green, the plant may be .saved 

 by cutting oft" all rotten parts, washing, and potting in 

 sandy soil, putting it in a fairly sunny spot, and not watering 

 too much. 



When the rose is G inches high it may be planted out. 

 For each rose a hole may be dug 4 feet square and 2 

 feet deep. This should be filled up with the top soil mixed 

 with pen manure and the ashes from the kitchen. A hole 

 the size of the flower pot is made in the middle. The rose 

 in the pot is well watered, and the earth turned out 

 into the bed and pressed around with the feet. A thick 

 mulch of pen manure or old megass is put on the surface 

 and renewed as it gradually decays. 



It is better to soak the soil thoroughly once or twice 

 a week than to water slightly every day. 



The chief pruning required is to cut all the flowers and 

 to cut them with long stems. The best roses come on the 

 green suckers from below, so that when sufticient of these 

 have grown the old stems may be cut out. Thin, wiry stems 

 should also be removed. After a year or two most varieties 

 do not give such an abundance of fine flowers as at first. 

 They should then be removed, the soil re-dug and re-manured, 

 and new cuttings planted. Florists who grow for flowers 

 treat the tea rose as an annual. 



Rose cuttings grow readily if cut long, and plunged in 

 fresh, clean sand which is kept moist and in the sun. The 

 following varieties, out of many, grow well in St. Kitt's : — 



White, Cornelia Cook. Tinged, Golden Gate (scented 

 and floriforous), White Maman Cochet. Kaiserin Augusta 

 Victoria. FAdld Pink, Maman Cochet. (Souvenir de Mal- 

 maison). Peac/i, La France (scented). Dark Pink, Balduiii 

 (a rapid grower). Crimson, American Beauty (scented). 

 Yet/oil', Perle des .Tardins (scented), Mareclial Niel. 



BARBADOS. 



Cotton and Banana Industries. 



The following is an extract from an address 

 delivered by Mr. J. W. C. Catford on the occasion of 

 his election as member for the city of Bridgetown in 

 the House of Assembly, Barbados, on June 26 : — 



There was also another pleasurable feature in the case, 

 and that was that through the assistance of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture they had two more strings to 

 their bow than they formerly had, which he believed would 

 be ot very great advantage to the island. The first of 

 these was cotton. They could grow in the West Indies 

 a class of cotton which could not be grown all over the 

 world. That was the Sea Island cotton, which was the best 

 grown and commanded the highest price. Some people said 

 that, although they got a fairly good price for cotton at 

 present, in a few years more it would not pay. The Barba- 

 dian [ilanter was as a rule conservative where any new industry 

 was concerned, but he was at the same time a very level- 

 headed fellow, and when he had succeeded in putting in two 

 or three successful crops of cotton at remunerative prices, he 

 would believe in it just as he now did in sugar. He did 

 not believe there was any fear for the future of the new 

 industry, because Sea Island cotton which was in very great 

 demand could onl}- be grown in limited areas — he believed the 

 only pilaces were the Sea Islands ott' the coast of South Carolina 

 and a few miles inland in Florida and Georgia. He thought 

 those planters who had land suitable for the purpose should 

 extend their cotton cultivation and in a short time they would 

 find that it was to their advantage to do so. There was another 

 very strong reason why he advocated the extension of cotton 

 growing. There could bo no doubt that, at the present time, 

 sugar was of little inqiortance to England, and therefore 

 the colonies producing it were not thought very much of as 

 sugar was being grown all over the world. But if they 

 could suppily the manufacturers of Lancashire with cotton, 

 they would be of great importance in the ej'es of the 

 English people. Trade, as they knew, was the backbone of 

 England, and if the British colonies produced cotton for the 

 English market, great influences would be enlisted in behalf 

 of these colonies and their interests would be brought a great 

 deal more into prominence than at present. 



The second string which they had to their bow was the 

 banana industry. He looked upon that industry as one 

 capable of being made a very valuable addition to the indus- 

 tries of the colony, but it seemed that it had not been taken 

 up to the extent that it might have been. They found the 

 consignee in England continually saying that lie had got 

 engagements far beyond the supply received and urging the 

 planters to send more fruit. That should not be. So 

 long as the industry was paying, he thought the agricultural 

 gentlemen of the island should make every eftbrt to meet the 

 market and extend the growing of bananas so as to have 

 some means of keeping their heads above water whenever the 

 prices of sugar became unremunerative. 



