152 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 19, 1917. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Office 





NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter tor publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 .Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 News' 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 Commissioner of 

 Agrictilture for the West Indies 



Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., 

 D.Sc.,F.I.C.,F.C.S. 



SCIEXTIFIC STAFF. 



Scientific Assistant and 

 Assistant Editor 



Entomologists 



Mycologist 



CLI 

 ■Chief Clerk 



Clericrd Assistants 



Typist 



Asiislanl Typist 

 Assistant for Pnhlications 



W. R. Dunlop. 



|H. A. Ballou, M.Sc. 



\J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D. 



W. Nowell, D.I.C. 



:al staff. 



A. G. Howell. 

 fL. A. Corbin. 

 • P. Taylor. 

 [K. R. C. Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 Mi.<s W. Ellis. 



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



Vol. XVL SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1917. No. 393. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



In the editorial to this issue tropical crops are 

 considered in two groups — those whose produce is in 

 the nature of fruit: and those whose produce is derived 

 from vegetative growth. 



Un page 14.S will be found an interesting article on 

 seed selection in the cultivation of Hevea rubber. 



The precarious state of the world's supply of cereals 

 and its distribution is brought out in an article on page 

 150. 



Insect Notes, on page 1.54, deal with insect pests 

 in Barbados in 191-5- KJ, also 'with the pink boll worm 

 in Brazil. Plant Diseases consist of two short articles 

 concerning diseases of the >ugar-cane in the West Indie.s. 



'Curare' or 'Ourali' Poison. 



Particular interest centres around the vegetable 

 poison known as 'Curare' on account of recent attempts 

 to poison the British Prime Minister by means of it. 

 'Curare", which is only one of its many native synonyms, 

 is an extract from the bark of Strychnos toxifera, 

 Schomb. (X. O. Loganiaceae) mi.xed with other, 

 possibly inert, substances. It is prepared as an 

 arrow poison by tribes of Indians in British Guiana, 

 French Guiana, Venezuela, northern Brazil — in fact 

 throughout the whole ot north of South America, and 

 is most powerfully to.xic in its effects. According to 

 the British PharmaceiUical Codex, the constituents 

 and strength ol the drug vary in different specimens. 

 The chief poisonous principle is the alkaloid cura- 

 rine, Ci,,H.jf|N.jO, which has been obtained as a yellow- 

 ish-brown powder with a bitter taste. Its action 

 in the human system is to paralyse the motor nerve- 

 endings in striped (or voluntary) muscle, death occur- 

 ring from respiratory failure. In larger doses it also 

 paralyses the nerve cells. Curare is almost inert 

 when taken by the mouth, probably owing to its rapid 

 excretion and to the destructive action of the gastric 

 juice. It is used medicinally, by hypodermic injection, 

 in the treatment of tetanus, hycrophobia, and strychnine 

 poisoning, but the dose is never pushed to the stage of 

 motor paralysis. 



Some interesting details regarding the poison and 

 its manufacture are given in the West India Committee 

 Circular (March 8, 1917). Before it is ready for use, the 

 concoction, which is usually of a jelly-like consistency, 

 is left in the open for a few days. As to its effective- 

 ness, a fowl slightly pricked with a dart on which the 

 poison had been smeared ceased to live (for that is the 

 only way to ili-scribe the apparent symptoms of the 

 poison) in about six minutes. 



Berseem or Egyptian Clover. 



The crops grown in Egypt are very various, but 

 the three kinils which constitute the basis of Egyptian 

 agriculture are clover, corn and cotton. Corn constitutes 

 the food of the people, and consists of both maize and 

 wheat. Although in the outside world cotton is the 

 best-known Egyptian crop, it is nevertheless a side 

 issue — the surplus crop made possible by a fertile soil, 

 and one which is sold out of the country thus constitut- 

 ing the princij)al source of national income. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Law rence Balls, the primary source of wealth 

 in Egypt is clover. This crop is grown to increase the 

 nitrogen and humus content of the soil, and to serve as 

 a green fodder for animals. In Egypt it is known as 

 Berseem. <^)uite recently it has been suggested that 

 this Egyptian clover, which is peculiar to Egypt, might 

 succeed in the West Indies. While the suggestion 

 possesses points of interest, it would not seem that the 

 introduction of Egyptian clover, even if it proved suc- 

 cessful, is really required, on account of the large variety 

 of green dressing and fodder crops already under cul- 

 tivation in the.se islands. However, the fact that, ,iii 



