A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XVI. No. 401. 



BARBADOS. SEPTEMBER 8, 1917. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Page. 



Aeroplane Cloths 



Agxicultural Conditions in 

 Porto Rico 



Agi'icultural Credit Socie- 

 tie.'< in .St. Lucia 



Agriculture in Barbados... 



Annual Reports of the 

 Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry 



Book Shelf 



Cacao, The Horse Bean 

 as a Green Dressing for 



Careers in Tropical Agri- 

 culture ... . 



Corn, Breeding of 



Exhiliition of Local Food- 

 stuffs in St. Vincent ... 



Fertilizers in South Africa, 

 Regulation of the Sale 

 of 



Fertilizers, Loss of, 

 Leacliing 



Gleanings 



Grenada, Experiment 

 Storing Seed-Corn 



Honey in War Time ... 



Insect Notes: — 



Destruction of Host 

 Plants of the Cotton 

 Stainer 



I'.y 



in 



278 



277 



279 

 280 



281 

 285 



276 



281 

 277 



277 



2W 



281 



284 



276 

 280 



283 



280 



27".» 



288 

 280 



Insect Notes Cmt'tt: — 

 Some Insect Pests in 

 Jamaica 282 



Insecticidal Plants from 

 the Tropics 281 



Iodine Content of Foods 280 



Items of Local Interest ... 278 



Japan, Progress of Science 

 in 



Lime Products, Improve- 

 ment in the Manufac- 

 ture of 



Market Reports ... ... 



Notes and Comments ... 



Plant Diseases: — 



A Serious New Cane 

 Disease in Porto Ricti 286 

 Rubber Industry, British 283 

 Scientific Research, The 



Value of 273 



Sea Island Cotton Crop of 



1916-17 278 



Sea Island Cotton Market 278 

 Sugar-cane, The After- 

 Ripening of 275 



Sugar Estate Economy ... 275 

 Vocational Education in 



the United States ... 285 

 West Indian Products ... 287 



The Value of Scientific Research. 



tN the last issue of this Journal the editorial 

 • dealt with the relations between science and 

 Jmodem industry, emphasizing the point that 

 industry owts so much to science that it is essential 

 that science should be not only encouraged but ade- 

 quately provided for. 



One supposes that hardly anyone, with any real 

 knowledge of affairs in the West Indies, would now- 

 adays dispute the fact that the brighter outlooii 



in these islands is very largely due to science applied 

 to agricultural matters. The improvement in the 

 manufacture of sugar, the chief industry in so many of 

 them, may be instanced. Science has taught, after 

 many experiments, that the way to extract the highest 

 percentage of sugar from the canes is by using power- 

 ful crushing mills combined with maceration of the 

 crushed canes. Again, it is to researches of science 

 that the sugar manufacturer owes the knowledge that 

 the best way to produce a fine quality of sugar is to boil 

 it in vacuo; also, that in order to economise fuel 

 recourse must be had to multiple ertect evaporators. 

 All these and many similar applications are the 

 outcome of abstract scientific research subsequently 

 adapted to practical ends. 



To take another important industry of the Wesi 

 Indies; every cotton grower knows that in the earlier 

 days of the industry it seemed at times as if it would 

 have to be discontinued on account of the serious 

 attacks of pests and diseases. By the assistance of 

 science these enemies are being met, and methods of 

 keeping pests in control, and of avoiding disease are 

 being utilized, so as to put the cultivation of cotton on 

 a secure basis. 



Scientific research in plant breeding has also been 

 of great value with regard to both these crops. With 

 regard to canes, there is coatinual progress in the propa- 

 gation of varieties with greater sugar content and more 

 resistant to disease: with regard to Sea Island cotton 

 science is enabling the cultivator to maintain the 

 quality of the crop without deterioration, and even to 

 improve it. 



But difficulty lies in the fact that the majority of 

 mankind do not look, in this matter as in many others, 



