72 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS 



Maech 10, 1917. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 ■specimens lor naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 l^ews' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents, and the subscription 

 and advertisement rates, will be found on page 3 of 

 the cover. 



Imperial Commis$ioner of Sir Francis Watts. K.C.M.G., 



Agriculture for the West Indies D.Sc, F.I.C., F.C.S. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



J8eie)iti/ic AssistaiU and 

 Assistant Editor 



-EiUoviologisIs 



. Mycologist 



W. R. Dunlop. 



I H. A. Ballou, M.Sc. 



IJ. C. Hutson. B.A., Ph.D. 



W. Nowell, D.I.C. 



Chi*f Clerk 

 •Clerical Assista^its 



'Typist 



.Assistant Tiipi-it 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 

 Ih. A. Corbin. 

 • P. Taylor. 

 Ik. K. C Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 Miss W. Ellis. 



.Assistant for Piibtications 



A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst. 



Agricultural lleiuji 



yoL. XVI. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1917. No. 388. 



Farm Machinery now Classed as 'Munitions' in 



Great Britain. 



In connexion with the increased production of 

 home-grown food, the British Government is taking 

 very definite and active steps. The following announce- 

 ment appears in the Times ibr January 10: — 



'The Ministry of Munitions announces that an. 

 Agricultural ^lachinery Branch has been set up in 

 conjunction with the Board if Agriculture and the 

 Food Controller to deal with the control of the manu- 

 facture of agricultural machinery and implements. It 

 is intended to class the manufacture of all such 

 machinery and implements as munitions work. 



'Jlr. S. F. Edge has lent his services to the Ministry 

 of Munitions as Director of this Branch, and Mr. E. Guy 

 Ridpath is Deputy Director. 



'An Advisory Committee of representatives of the 

 agricultural machinery trade generally to advise the 

 Branch has been established.' 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The e<litorial in this issue reviews in a general 

 way the development and present activities of the 

 smaller West Indian Departments of Agriculture. 



An interesting article on the supposed deteri- 

 oration of vegetable seeds in the tropics appears on 

 page 6S. 



Under Plant Diseases, three important notes will 

 be found, concerning a disease of pigeon peas, citrus 

 canker, and poisoning of a cuco-nut palm, respectively. 



The present importance of food crops lends special 

 interest to Insect Notes in this issue, which deal with 

 the scarabec and other pests of the sweet potato, on 

 page 74. 



What is a Luxury? 



The restriction in the imports of certain materials 

 into Great Britain on account ot the shortage of freight 

 may affect the West Indies. The restrictions will 

 concern principally the so-called lu.xuries. These 

 include first of all, many of those commodities that are 

 used in the confectionery and perfumery trades — 

 sugar, cacao, essential oils and spices — possibly also 

 alcohol and tobacco. In fact, restrictions will be put oa 

 the shipment of all classes of commodities which are 

 not essential to the conduct of the war. if conditions 

 make doing so necessary or even desirable. 



As to what constitutes a lu.xury, is not easy to 

 decide in times of peace: but under present war condi- 

 tions, a luxury is a thing which is not necessary for the 

 maintenance of national efficiency or for the successful 

 conduct of the war. 



The Perfumtry and Essfntial oil Record for 

 January maintains that perfumery is not a luxury. The 

 chief object of the article published therein is to 

 try and protect the trade. Reference is justly made 

 to the medicinal value of Eau de Cologne, and to 

 certain essential oils or their products, which are 

 useful in the treatment of wounds. But we cannot 

 agree that the use of perfume is essential to national 

 efficiency or even to comfort. The statements that 'In 

 some ports, such as Colombo and Singapore, the white 

 man can hardly sUep or take a meal in some hotels 

 unless he or .someone else uses perfumery", and that 

 ■travellers in ( 'entral and South America would often 

 rather miss the menu than their perfume' cannot be 

 taken seriously. Most travellers in the West Indies and 

 South America would sooner miss the menu than 

 stand the perfume. At the same time one has to look 

 at the matter from a trade point of view, and remember 

 the large amount of capital invested in the perfumery 

 business. The e.xport trade alone from Great Eritaia 

 is very great: even a small place like Barbados imports 

 perfumery to thi' value of some .£3. .500 annually, 

 though it is true that more than half of this comes 

 from the United States and the 1 )anish West Indies. 



