392 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 23, 1905. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 to the Commissioner, Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, Barbados. 



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 cultural News' should be addressed to the 

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glgrirulturat |]inu'i 



Vol. IV. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 190-5. No. 96. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



A system of cotton seed selection, based generally 

 on the lines of that in practice in the Sea Islands, is 

 being adopted in the West Indies. This matter is 

 discussed in detail in the editorial in this issue. 



Information is published on pp. 38(J-7 in regard to 

 the results that have been obtained at Barbados with 

 seedling canes B. 147 and B. 208. 



A brief report ajjpears on p. 389 of the sixth 

 annual local agricultural exhibition and show of stock, 

 held at Bushy Park, Barbados, by the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture on December o last. 



Cotton growers will read with interest the extract 

 which is published on pp. 390-1 from the Annual 

 Report of the British Cotton-growing Association. 

 dealing with the progress made in establishing the 

 cotton industry in the West Indies. 



Manurial Experiments with Cacao at Dominica. 



The lust issue of the West ladlan Bulletin 

 (Vol. VI, no. 3) contains a i)aper on manurial 

 experiments carried out with cacao at Dominica by the 

 Hon. Francis Watts, C.M.G., and ]\lr. Joseph Jones, 

 Curator of the Botanic Station. These experiments, 

 which were commenced in 1900, have already yielded 

 some valuable results. 



Five plots were treated as follows: (1) no manure: 

 (2) basic phosphate and sulphate of potash; (3) dried 

 blood; (4) basic phosphate, sulphate of potash, and 

 dried blood ; (-5) mulched with grass and leaves. All 

 the manures used proved beneficial. In 1905 the 

 no-manure plot yielded 19^ lb. of wet cacao per tree ; 

 the addition of phosphate and piitash resulted in an 

 increase of 2 j lb. per tree. With dried blood the yield 

 was 24^ lb., while the combination of dried blood with 

 phosphate and potash brought the yield to 284 lb. per 

 tree, being a gain of 9 ft), over the no-manure j^lot. 

 This jioints to the necessity for general manuring in 

 cacao cultivation. 



Notes will be found on p. 394 in reference to 

 insects affecting tobacco in Cuba and the occurrence of 

 black blitdit in Grenada. 



Recommendations with regard to the treatment of 

 orchard soils in the tropics are discussed on p. 39.5. 



An interesting account of what is being accom- 

 plished at Antigua in connexion with agricultural 

 education appears on p. 397. 



On the same page information is published in 

 regard to exhibitions to be held in Canada in 1906. 



Sea Island Cotton in the West Indies. 



In the U. S. Muntldi/ Coih'<iilui' Reports, p. 209, 

 for the month of September last, there appears the 

 f(jllowing : — 



' Consul Clare of Barbados writes that the efforts 

 to grow Sea Island cotton in the West Indies are not 

 as propiising as the cotton world had been led to 

 believe by those who thought that cotton that was 

 indigenous to the West Indies would surely thrive in 

 those parts.' 



Following this are extracts from a report by 

 Mr. Henry A. Ballou, B.Sc, Entomologist on the staff 

 of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, which, it is 

 assumed, justifies the conclusions arrived at in the 

 statement (pioted above. 



Mr. Ballou's report appears on p. 202 of the 

 current volume of the Agricidturcd Kcics, and may 

 be easily referred to. It was one of a series that dealt 

 exclusively with the undesirabilit}" of ratooning cotton. 

 It expressed no opinicm whatever on the general 

 prospects of cotton growing in these colonies. 



We would point out that the Consul's statement, 

 which has been quoted and commented upon in several 

 English and West Indian newspapers and accepted as 

 correct, has taken us by surprise. As a proof that it is 

 erroneous, we cannot do better than refer our readers 

 to the exti'act from the Annual Report of the British 

 Cotton-growing Association published on pp. 390-1. 

 This shows that the cotton industr}" in the West 

 Indies is steadily extending and there is no doubt as 

 to its ultimate success wherever the conditions of the 

 Soil and climate and the labour supply are favourable. 

 The industiT is practically only three years old. The 

 exports during the nine months ended September 31 

 last amounted to 1,024,283 ft), of the estimated 

 value of £42,545. With continued good prices the 

 value of the exports for next year (190G) should not 

 fall far short of £100,000. 



