Vol,. XT I. Xo. 389. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS, 



■nature. It is believed that approximately 3.000 new cane .seed- 

 lings will be raised. In regard to sta})le crops, it is stated that 

 Gunthorpes and a number of muscovado factories commenced 

 grinding during the month. At the time of writing the onion 

 crop vva.-) being rapidly harvested. The p'anting of a sisal 

 p!a!;t;\tion hss been commenced in the windward district of 

 Antiyua. It is estimated that sutBcient material can be 

 obtained during the next si.x to eight months by the 

 Agricultural Department to plant from 30 to 50 acres of this 

 crop Onions were attacked by thrips: these insects are said 

 to be hastening the maturing of the crop. Unions shipped 

 during the month amounied to 460 crates, and approximately 

 1,200 are in the onion house ready for shipment. The 

 rainfall for the month was 2 33 inches: for the year, 4 56 

 inches. Itain is badly required at the present moment. 



ST. KiTTS. In his report for the month of February the 

 Atricultural Siiperintendent states that in the Kxperiment 

 Station the picking of cotton from the experiment plots wa.s 

 completed and the cotton bushes were being pulled up, 

 while in the Botanic Gardens routine work was carried on. 

 much watering having to be done in consequence of 

 dry weather. Plant distribution included 2 300 cane 

 cuttings, and 1,090 tb. selected cotton seed and 393 Bb. yam 

 sold. In connexion with the staple crops, Mr. Shepherd 

 states that the reaping of the cane crop was proceeding 

 rapidly, the canes ripening up with the high winds and dry 

 weather. There have been many large cane fires in the Valley 

 district which will mean some loss, as it was impossible to 

 cut all the burnt canes befoie they began to spoil. The 

 young cane crop is being supplied, but the canes are 

 very backward owing to bad germination from the dry 

 weather of December and January, (grasshoppers are 

 making their appearance and doing some damage. The old 

 cotton crop is all oli": sales have been received from England 

 at 3s. 2(1, and much co'ton has been sold locally at 2a 9<f. 

 The demand for best selected seed is very great, and all 

 avnilable from No. 342 has been bought up. The rainfall 

 for the month was 2 82 inches; for the year 4-55 inches. 



Appended to this report is a summary of work conducted 

 at the Government Laboratory during February: this included 

 analyses of ten samples of milk received from the Inspector 

 of Police; sweet potato meal (feeding value): velvet beans 

 (feeding value); white bean meal (feeding value); sheep 

 manure, basic slag, sulphate of ammonia, slaked lime, vanilla 

 pods, and soils. 



ONION GROWING IN ANTIGUA. 



Oniuii growing in Antigua is a well establi.slied 

 industry, and a co-operative system of marketing has 

 been in operation for several years.. One looks to 

 Antigua therefore for information on the subject of 

 this cultivation in the West Indies. The following 

 notes appear in the Report on the Antigua Agricul- 

 tiu-al Department for 191 0-1 6. In connexion with the 

 interesting remarks concerning seed, the possibility of 

 storing onion seed over calcium chloride occurs to us 

 as being worthy of consideration: — 



The area under this crop amounted to approximately 

 80 acres. From this area 6,913 crates of onions were 

 exported. In addition to these, fairly ' large quantities were 

 sold and consumed locally. 



The season, as a whole, was too wet for this crop. Fairly 



large quantities of seedlings were lost in the seed-beds, and 



the extremely wet weather experienced during the latter end 



■ of the year caused large quantities of onions to rot in the soil. 



The loss in the seed-beds was due to 'damping-ofP 

 fungus. The following measures, which may help to prevent 

 a repetition of the trouble, ought to be adopted by planters: — ■ 



1. Beds should be of good soil and well drained. 



2. The subsoil from the drains should not be put on 

 the beds. 



3. Seeds should not be sown thickly. This point i.s 

 of great importance. 



4. Water should be applied thoroughly, and only whe n 

 required. 



The following figures may be of interest; they show the 

 number of crates of onions shipped during the past ten years:— 



1906-7, 2,221: 1907-8, 1,934: 190S-9, 661: 1909-10, 3,149; 

 1910-11, 2,749: 191112, 4,337: 1912-13, 4,406: 1913-14, 

 6,557: 1914-15,6,571; 1915-16,6,913. 



EFFECT OF THEIPS AND HEAVY RAINS. 



During the year a ,Vacre plot was planted with onions. 

 These grew well and looked promising until early in tha 

 month of February. Soon after it became apparent that 

 very little produce would be reaped from the plot. 



Examination of the plants revealed that the young bulbs 

 were deeply set in the ground and a large proportion of the 

 roots had decayed. The weakened condition of the plants 

 left them easy victims of an attack of thrips 



The soil on which these were grown was of a clayey 

 nature, and the conclusion arrived at was that the particularly 

 heavy rains experienced in December and early .January 

 buried the bulbs and roots of the plant so C eply that their 

 normal functions were restricted. To prove wiether this 

 conclusion was correct or not, the soil was removm from the 

 necks and tops of the bulbs of some plants which ivere not so 

 advanced as those attacked; these matured normaSly. The 

 point of importance in connexion with the foregollig is that 

 the cause of the trouble was probablj' not directly due to 

 thrips, but to the circumstances described. 



SEED RAISING, ETC. 



It is well known to West Indian onion growers that 

 excellent prices can be obtained in practically all markets 

 for onions produced in January, February, and early March. 

 It had however not been possible for the Antigua grower to 

 get a large proportion of his crop into the early markets, on 

 account of the seed from which it is raised not arriving before 

 August. 



Attempts were made to get over this difficulty in the 

 year 1913, by saving seeds from one season to plant early 

 during the next, and experirafints were laid out to test the 

 keeping qualities of onion seed. These proved that „eeds 

 could be kept in the tropics with a fair amount of success for 

 about six months, after which they rapidly deteriorated. 

 This was not sufficiently long to be of practical value. 



Duiing the year attempts were again made to get over 

 the difficulty. In the first place a number of onions were 

 kept for two months in an airy room and then planted to sea 

 if seeds would be borne. This was a failure, for each bulb 

 instead of forming seeds divided and formed from five to 

 eight medium-sized bulbs. Although failure to raise seed 

 by this method must be recorded, yet the results of tha 

 experiment are significant, and it may be that eirly onions 

 can be obtained in Antigua by the simple method of saving 

 for two or three montiis large onion bulbs, and then plantini."" 

 them Further trials of a similar nature will be conducr.cd 

 next season and fully reported on. 



An attempt was made to grow an early crop from sets 

 kept in a cool hoii.se until April: this however proved 

 a failure. 



