A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol, XVI. No. 389. 



BARBADOS, MARCH 24, 1917. 



Price Id 



CONTENTS. 



Indies. New 81 



Food Values 9.'^ 



Glasgow School of Sug.-ir 



Manufacture ... ... 88 



Gleanings 92 



Ticks in the West In<Iies. 



Control of 



t'nited States Rulilier 



S"I'pl.V 



AA est Indian PriKluct-.. 



95 



89 



9r. 



New Food Plants for the West Indies. 



JT tlie present time attention is bein^ given 

 .in most of the West Indian islands to the 

 {question of increased food production. The 

 extension of the area under provision crops is being 

 advocated, and interesting results have already been 

 obtained in regard to the use of substitutes for 

 imported wheat flour. 



Speaking generally the production of provision 

 crops like sweet potatoes and yanjs offers no special 

 difficulties from an agricultural stand-point: the only 



trouble is to persuade cultivators to plant these crops 

 rather than the seeminglj^ more profitable crops for 

 export like sugar or cotton. But when we come to 

 food-crops characterized by their high nitrogen content, 

 or by other special characters of dietetic importance, 

 there appear to be certain difficulties in regard to actual 

 production. Thus, in a general way, the cultivation of 

 peas and beans is attended with insect troubles: while 

 wheat will not grow at all in the tropics at ordinary 

 elevations. Neither are the conditions in the smaller 

 islands suited to rice: and even Indian corn, though 

 it can be readily grown, cannot be stored without 

 special treatment. 



As regards beans and peas, the above remark 

 concerning insect pests refers more particularly to 

 tlio.se species specially favoured as vegetables. 



There are other species, however, which though 

 grown principally as green dressings could also be 

 made to yield food for consumption without the attend- 

 ing difficulties of susceptibilitj- to the attack of in.sects. 

 The Canavalias — the Sword bean and the Horse bean — ■ 

 deserve special consideration in this regard, and the 

 attention of the reader is directed to a note on these 

 beans <as food -crops on another page of this issue. It is 

 commonly supposed that the Canavalias are poisonous 

 or unwholesome, or at least unpalatable. The more the 

 matter is enquired into the more the evidence 

 found to dispel such a notion. Actual trial has shown 

 the Sword bean {V.fjludiata) to be entirely wholesome 

 and palatable. In regard to the Horse bean (C.ensifor- 

 mis), a recently issued Philippine publication* says the 

 beans 'in a tender, immature state, may be eaten like 

 string beans. Used dry like beans, the beans should 



*The Phil Ipphf Aancullural lieview (Vol IX, No. 3)— 

 'The Food Plants of the Philippines', l>y P. I. Wester. 



