LI3RAR1 



NEW YOB 

 BOTANIC/ 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. QARoe^ 



A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



Vol. X. No. 2 J 



BARBADOS, JANUARY 



1911. 



Pbicb Id. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 



Agricultural Conference, 



1911. Postiionement of 8 



Agricultural Shows, Forth- 

 coming 5 



Agricultural Shows, Recent 11 



Arrowroot (New Market 

 Fund) Ordinance, 

 St. Vincent 9 



Barbados Goat Society ... 9 



Citrus Plants, ISud Muta- 

 tion and the Deteriora- 

 tion of 4 



Cocoa-nut Bud-Rot Disease 



in Jamaica 8 



Cotton Notes : — 



A Method for Cotton 

 Selection Throughout 



the Season ... 



West Indian Cotton ... 6 



Dominica, Trials with Green 



Dressings in 7 



Fungus Notes : — 



The Bu<l-Rot Disease of 

 Palms in India, Part I 14 



Gleanings 12 



Page. 



Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, Continu- 

 ance of the Work of 



Iiuplenieiital Tillage in 



China 



Insect Notes : — 



A Cecidomyiid on Man- 

 go Leaves 



Black Scale Parasites, to 

 Increase 



Market Repoi-ts 



Notes and Connnents 



Rice in British Guiana ... 



St. Vincent Agricultural 

 and Commercial Society 



St. Vincent ' Agricultur.al 

 Credit Society 



Students' Corner 



Sugar Industry : — 



The Antigua Sugar Fac- 

 tory 



West Indian Products ... 



Wind-lireak.s, U.se of 



Verba Mate or Paraguaj- 

 Tea .■" ... 



11 



. 10 



10 



16 



8 



5 



15 



15 

 1 



The Use of Wind-breaks. 



'N most parts of the West Indies, cons])icLious 

 examples can be easily fimnd, of the gi-eat 



(degree to which the growth of plants is 

 retarded by exposure to constant winds. The larger 

 trees, as regards the tips of the upper branches, are 

 shaped to slope upwards from the windward to the 

 leeward side, showing that the wind has had an action 

 similar to that of pruning, on one side of the branches, 

 only: while the herbage around them is scaritv, and 

 seems to be barely permitted to exist. .Such are the 



conditions that obtain in regard to the ordinary, hardy 

 plants. There is small wonder, then, that the agricul- 

 turist, when he is raising varieties of a delicate nature, 

 and possibly of exotic origin, finds it necessary to provide 

 protection for them, against the wind. It is these 

 circumstances that have given an origin to the impor- 

 tant subject of the planting of wind-breaks. 



Wind-breaks, or shelter belts, as they are often 

 termed, may be either permanent or temporary-, accord- 

 ing to the nature of the crop that the}- are designed to 

 protect. For perennial crops, such as limes or cacao, 

 plants that will form large trees are required. Annual 

 crops, such as cotton and most kinds of ground provi- 

 sions, do not necessarily demand large or long-lived 

 plants, for purposes of i)rotection. 



The permanent wind-break, planted at the same 

 time as the crop which it is intended to protect, grows 

 up with this, generally at a quicker rate, so that when 

 the plants of the latter have attained maturity, the 

 wind-break is available for their protection. Among 

 the plants more commonly used in the West Indies in 

 this connexion are pois dotix (Inga laurina), Madurai 

 or Nicaragua shade tree(Gliricidia'maciilata) — aquick- 

 ly growing plant, galba {Calopliylhi'in Calaha) — which 

 withstands sea-blasts well; savonnette (Lonchocarpus 

 violaccus), white cedar {Teamia leuco.rylon) — used 

 more jjarticularly in Montserrat, while bamboos have 

 also been emjiloyed for the purpose, although their 

 great drying action on the soil forms an objection to 

 their extended employment. 



The temporary wind-breaks most commonly used 

 are /-Guinea corn and jjigeon peas. In cotton cultiva- 

 tion, one or the other of these may be planted at the 

 head of the rows, on the windward side, if the best 

 results are to be obtained. As in the case of the perman- 



