THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 13, 1911 



which may entail unpleasant consequences in the near 

 future. It may reasonably be urged that the (juestion 

 is one which mainly concerns the large cultivators and 

 estate owners: that it is a general economic one bearing 

 ■on the welfare of the community, and on that of the 

 labourers on whom the successful working of the estates 

 depends. It would appear that it would be prudent for 

 estate proprietors to give careful thought to the matter, 

 and to ensure the presence of a good food supply, each 

 in proportion to his stake in the country. Such a course 

 may necessitate the surrendering of a certain amount 

 of apparent profit from staple crops; but the problems 

 •confronting these islands now are not those of merely 

 making estates pay, as was the case in the early period 

 referred to at the beginning of this article, but concern 

 vital matters of food to eat, and the maintaining of 

 workers of all classes in a condition in which they may 

 adequately carry on the production of money-making 

 staple crops. 



The obvious course is the production of reasonable 

 quantities of quickly grown foods, such as sweet potatoes, 

 Indian corn, Guinea corn, beans and peas, and other quick- 

 growing crops. Other crops which take longer to produce 

 should also have consideration, each in the circum- 

 stances where it may be grown to advantage: different 

 islands present very different conditions when regarded 

 from the point of view of the suitability of producing 

 certain cro|)S. In this connexion attention will be cen- 

 tred upon such crops as yams, eddoes, bananas, plantains. 



The raising of pigs, as a readily available means of 

 increasing the supply of food in these islamls, not to 

 speak of the importance of the matter from the point 

 of view of exports, has not received the attention 'vhich 

 the subject appears to warrant. There is a limited 

 industry based upon the raising of pigs confined in 

 pens, but it would seem that there is wide scope for 

 the raising of pigs upon pastures, or penneil upon 

 ■ cultivated ground, and that there are large areas in many 

 islands where work of this kind coul<l be c.irriec! m 

 to advantage. 



Amongst the ob.stacles that stand in the way of 

 -adequate production of West Indian food supplies are 

 the difficulties incidental to storage and to distrib-itiou. 

 Certain food crops, such as sweet potatoes, bananas, 

 breadfruit and the like, will not keep long and have, 

 in existing circumstances, to be disposed of i[uickly; at 

 the same time the facilities for distribution are defec- 

 tive, consequently waste may ensue and the cultivators' 

 efforts be discouraged. Again, locally grown grains 

 are difficult to store on account nf their liability to 

 become mouldy and to be attacked by in.sects— re^il 

 difficulties which deter pioneers. 



The question of storing grain has been actively 

 dealt with by two West Indian Governments, Antigua 

 and St. Vincent, which have erected Hess Corn Driers 

 and arranged for their use in various ways, either by 

 placing the machines at the disposal of the growers of 

 grain, whereby their crops may be dried for storage at 

 moderate rates, or by buying, drying and storing grain 

 on co-operative lines*. Progress in this connexion is 

 necessarily slow, but there is reason for thinking that 

 the establishment of these driers will prove of consid- 

 erable .service and lead to many useful developments. 

 In the case of many vegetables the question of 

 keeping may be overcome by converting them into meal. 

 Much attention was given to this question some years 

 ago, and some progress was made in ascertaining what 

 may be done, particularly in the case of sweet potatoes. 

 Useful work has also been done in connexion with the 

 prepaiation of banana meal. The preparation of corn 

 meal is well understood, and the limitations of home- 

 made, whole corn meal realized. Guinea corn meal 

 is also a recognized article of food, but practically in 

 Barbados only. 



At this juncture the problem of meal-making 

 deserves to have special consideration. It is recognized 

 that the first essential is to have the means of drying 

 the material. There are many forms of drying machines 

 on the market, several of which may prove suitable. 

 Experiments have already been made with some degree 

 of success in the drying of material for the production 

 of meal by means of the Hess Corn Drier. Work 

 already done in this direction by Mr. W. N. Sands, 

 Agricultural Superintendent at St. Vincent, is quite 

 encouraging and will have further attention in these 

 pages. 



Some ditficulty is experienced in inducing people 

 to eat new forms of food: the suggestion to use sweet 

 potato meal or banana meal has not found very ready 

 response, so that, except under pressure of necessity, 

 it would appear that a campaign of educating and of 

 advertising is necessary to ensure the adecjuate 

 introduction of new meals into common use. 

 (3ne form of vise which is easy and economical, and 

 which forcibly appeals at the present moment, is to mix 

 certain meals with wiieat flour in the making of bread. 

 This idea is not a new one: indeed it is extremely old, 

 and one of which the legislation of various countries 

 has taken cognizance. Kxperiments which have recently 

 been made at Antigua are referred to on another page 

 of this issue (p. -4-). From these it is evident that there 

 is considerable scope for the local use of various meals, 



* Agrlcnltural News (Antigua), Vols. XIV, pp. 5.% 75 jiiid 

 100; XV, p. 202: (St. Vincent), Vols. XIV, p.lOOi XV, p. 3»1. 



