392 



THE AGKICULTUEAL NEWS. 



December 15. 1917. 



EDITORIAL 



NOTICES. 



ARBADOS. 



Head Office ^^'<S^k-''iS — ^■ 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens lor 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 will be found on 

 ;pa'ge 4 of ihe cover. 



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



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



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Scientific Assistant ani 

 Assistant Editor 



Entomologists 



Mycologist 



fW. R. Dui)lop.+ 



(Rev. C. H. Branch, B.A. 



( H. A. BaUou, M.Sc.t 



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



W. Kowell, D.I.C. 



■Cxief Clerk 

 (jlerical Assistatits 



CLERICAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 

 fh. A. Corbin, 



T'ypist 



Assistant Typist 



A ssistant for Publications 



, P. Taylor.* 



Ik. R. C. Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 Miss W. Ellis. 

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



*Sec<jnd(d fur Militarij Serrice. 

 f Seconded for JJiity in Eyiipt. 



^griciiHuriit HeiuH 



Vol. XVI. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1.5, 1917. No. 408. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this issue is a continuation of the 

 series of articles in reference to education. It deals 

 with the question of technical education in agriculture 

 of pupil.s from secondary schools. 



On page -iSH will be found an article on the pro- 

 posed settlement scheme for East Indians in other 

 1 parts of the Empire. 



The melon t\\ in Hawaii is the subject of Insect 

 Xutes on page :>94. 



On page -idH will be found an article on dasheens, 

 tannias, and eddoes, and their uses. 



Agricultural Colleges for the Tropics. 



In the debate on the Colonial < jftice vote in the 

 House of Commons, commented on in J" ropical Life, 

 September 1917, Lord Henry Bentinck is reported to 

 have said: 'I would put to my Eight Honourable friend 

 the Colonial .Secretary, the nece.ssity of the Royal Com- 

 mission's eni|uir3' into whether the capacity of our 

 dependencies to produce could not be enormously 

 increased by futher provision for research. I do not for 

 a moment deny that, very good work is being done both 

 in East Africa and West Africa, and also in the West 

 Indies, by their Agricultural Departments, but it would 

 be of enormous benefit to our Colonial Empire if we 

 were to spend more money on research. We want two 

 agric\iltural colleges — one in the West and one in the 

 East — first of all for the stimulation of research: second- 

 ly to train young men to go out to our Crown Colonies 

 and to settle down as producers themselves; and 

 thirdly to train a staff of young men who could act as 

 agricultural instructors, and educate the natives. I do 

 most strongly urge that research is the b:isis of all 

 progress in agriculture. . . . . . . If we are going to 



develop our resources properly, the first thing we 

 should do is to spend money upon research. I have 

 already given proof of the wonderful increase of pro- 

 d^tction that has been brought about in India by this 

 means, and I suggest that a similar increase could be 

 brought about in Africa and the West Indies by the 

 same means.' 



With reference to the above speech, there appears 

 in the same number of Trop leal Life a, very e.xcellent 

 cartoon which sums up the situation very fairly. 



Cotton Production in California. 



Every season of' scarcity and high prices brings 

 renewed enquiries regarding the possibility of extend- 

 ing the production of cotton into new regions. The 

 industrial uses of cotton are being increased more 

 rapidly than facilities of production. There is the need 

 of developing larger and more regular supplies, especial- 

 ly of the better classes of cotton fibre. Accordingly 

 Bulletin 'i-JJ of tlie I'nited .States Department of 

 Agriculture deals with the possibility of the develop- 

 ment of cotton production in California, and comes to 

 the conclusion that the present possibilities of cotton 

 culture in that State lie in the direction of producing 

 Egyptian or other special types of long stapled cotton. 

 The writer, O. F. Cook, of the Bureau of Plant Industrj', 

 thinks that the wider introduction of cotton growing 

 into California is but a question of tiine, and that in 

 many respects it will serve to improve the agricul- 

 tural prosperity of the State. The demand for cotton 

 of the Egyptian type is increasing rapidly, and is not 

 likely to be met by large increased production in 

 Egypt. Mr. Cook warns farmers, however, that although 

 favourable natural conditions may e.xist, it is not 

 advisable to grow cotton on a commercial scale except 

 to such an extent as to warrant the erection of ginning 

 establishments and oil mills. A fiirther warning is given 

 against the importation of cotton seed either 'froal'the 



