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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



- LIMl 

 •OTa 



Vol. XVI. No. 398. 



BARBADOS, .JULY 28, 1917. 



Price li. 



CONTENTS. 



Pack. 



Agriculture in Barljados 2'ii} 

 Agriculture in Nigeria ... 239 

 Agricultur.al Instruction 

 in Trinidad Elementary- 

 Schools 232 



Antigua Cotton Growers' 



Association 2.30 



Antigua, Land Settlement 



in 231 



Department News 229 



'E.xtension Notes' 233 



Fruit, Grading •and Pack- 

 ing 225 



Gleanings 23G 



Grenada, Education in... 2.32 

 Ground Nuts in the I'nited 



States 227 



India Rubber Industrj, 



The 238 



Indian Runner Ducks ... 23.5 

 Insect Notes: — 



Blood-Sucking Flies in 

 Grenada 235 



Page. 



Insect Notes (Oont'd.): — 

 White Gruns Injurious 

 to Sugar-cane in 



Porto Rico 234 



Items of Local Interest... 228 

 Madagascar Bean, Fur- 

 ther Note on 231 



Market Reports 240 



Milk, Pure, Supply of ... 237 

 Molasses, Exportaticii i.f, 



from the West Indies 227 

 Notes and Comments ... 232 

 Packing, Practical Hintii 



for 227 



Pellagra. Transmissibility 



of 2:« 



Prize Holdings Competi- 

 tions in Grenada and 



Carriacou 2;W 



Rats and Sparrows ... 233 

 Sea Islar.d Cotton Market 230 

 Virgin Islands of the 

 United States 2.35 



Grading and Packing Fruit. 



(ROM the Dominica Chronicle of May 23, 

 '1917, it appears that the question of the 

 ) shipping of inferior fruit and ways and means 

 to combat the evil was being discussed, and that the 

 local Government had offered its co-operation. The 

 subject, which is of vital importance to the fruit 

 industry of any colony, has often been considered in 

 the West Indies, but effective measures have, unfortu- 

 nately, never^as yet been taken. 



Whatever may have been the success, in the past 

 in producing large yields and good qualities, no opera- 

 tions having an important bearing upon the commer- 

 cial results of the lime industry have been so generally 

 ignored as grading and packing. Some of the larger 

 producers have awakened to the necessity for improving 

 their methods, but the majority of the small growers 

 still cling tenaciously to the old evil ways. The whole 

 matter is so simple and appeals so directly to common- 

 sense that it is difficult to understand this too preva- 

 lent neglect of their own interests. There may be 

 other obstacles in the road to financial success in the 

 e.xportation of green limes, but want of care in pack- 

 ing is entirely the creation of the producer. 



In gathering limes for exportation the grower has 

 to consider that they have to be packed to travel in 

 ?!ose holds for many 'lays, and it is obvious that those 

 that are overripe at starting are likely to be almost 

 unuseable on arrival at their destination. Again, if 

 limes of different sizes are shipped, they should be 

 shipped in separate packages under a different mark 

 and not be allowed to detract from the market value 

 of the other grades. 



It is especially to the interest of the small lime 

 growers that attention should be aroused as to the 

 importance of accurate grading and careful packing, 

 for they are more seriously affected thereby than those 

 who produce on a large scale and have other ways open 

 to dispose of their fruit. In small shipments only the 

 best prices can leave a margin for profit, and only the 

 best produce, well sorted and judiciously and honestly 

 packed, will bring the leading prices After a time, 

 small growers will find by bitter experience that it is 



