3H 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NKWb. 



N0Y£iICER 3, 1917. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Office 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 Barbados. 



All applicaiions 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 4 of 

 the cover. 



Imperial Commissioner of Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., 



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

 SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Scientific Assistant and ( \V. R. Dunlop.* 



Assistant Editor \Rev. C. H. Brancli, B.A. 



T, , , ■ , ( H. A. Ballou, M.Sct 



Entomologists ( J. C. Hutson, B.A., Ph.D. 



.Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C. 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



Chief Clerk A. G. Howell. 



(li. A. Corbin. 

 Clerical Assistants ■ P. Taylor. * 



Uv. R. C. Foster. 

 Typist Miss B. Robinson. 



Assistant Typist Miss W. Ellis. 



Assistant for Publications A. B. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst. 



•■ *Secoiidfd for Militarij Service. 

 ^Seconded for Duty in Egypt. 



^^griciiUiirat ^tm 



"VoiT^VL'^ATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1917.1^^105. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



The editorial deals with reasons for inftrlility of 

 soil around certain trees. 



Insect Notes on page 346 deal with the pink i)oll 

 worm of cotton, and on page 347 there is a note on 

 trapping the black weevil borer of bananas. 



An article on salads and spinach on page 349 

 aflbrds mattf r of local interest to West Indian^;. 



Vnder Plant, Diseases, page 3.50, the Mycologist's 

 report on a fungus disease of lime trees in Ddininica 

 is concluded. 



Correction. 



In a recent issue of this .Journal, p. 310, the state- 

 ment is made that last season 10 tons of cane were 

 taken at Moteland factory in Jamaica to make 1 ton 

 of sugar; this is erroneous: the correct figure for this 

 period is 937.5 tons. The figure formerly given relates 

 to Amitv Hall factory, which is adjacent. 



The Production of Rubber in Germany from 



Indigenous Weeds. 



Reports have been frequently heard that synthetic 

 rubber is being manufactured in Germany, but nothing 

 tangible has as yet been really produced. The Ger- 

 man scientist, Scheermesser, has devoted much atten- 

 tion to some indigenous plants, especially to members 

 of the Euphorbiaceae, from the milk of which a certain 

 percentage of rubber substance may be obtained. The 

 results are considered sufficiently satisfactory to 

 encourage further research, especially with regard to 

 TUhymalus Pepluf:, a common garden weed in Ger- 

 many. It is estimated that, if cultivated, the crop on 

 one hectare (about Si acres) will- produce 43 kilos, 

 of rubber and 120 kilos, of fatty substance. Another 

 weed, also common, which promises even better 

 results, is Euphorbia Cyparissias, which is estim- 

 ated to produce on the same area .50 kilos of rubber 

 and 140 kilos, of fat. The fat obtained, however, 

 would be poisonotis, as both these plants are poison- 

 ous, and therefore it would not be fit for human 

 consumption, but, perhaps it might be utilized in 

 soap making, or for the production of glycerine 

 The German expectations in this direction, says the 

 India Rubber Jour nai for July 28, 1917, based on even 

 so slender a founiation, are so sanguine, that they hope 

 to be able to render themselves independent of the 

 tropical rubber trei^s. 



Bats as Guardians of Cotton. 



A correspondent from Bahia, Brazil, Mr. George M. 

 Chard, commenting on the pamphlet 'Gotten Culti- 

 vation in the West Indies', No. 74, issued by this 

 Department, says: 'Most of the pests and diseases you 

 desci ibe are common here. As regards boll worms, cut 

 worms and other products of night-flying moths, I 

 have found prevention better than cure, and that the 

 surest means of dealing with these pests is the 

 establishment of colonies of insectivorous bats. A 

 dark shanty, with a few cross poles near the roof, 

 makes them an attractive domicile, and it is not long 

 before a colony is attracted thereto.' 



In the Agricultural News,'Vo\. XIII.No. 311 , p. 106, 

 there w-as an article giving an account of how colonies 

 of bats had been established at San Antonio, Texas, 

 for the purpose ot combating mosquitoes and at the 

 same time for producing guano. In cotton districts 

 in these islands it might be worth while trying 

 a similar experiment. It must be remembered, how- 

 ever, that the larger fruit-eating bats, which are perhaps 

 even more common with us than the smaller insec- 

 tivorous kinds, would be of no use m this direction. 

 So experimenteis must carefully select their colonist-s, 

 and not er.coura':;e undesirable alien^-^. 



