A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



--JBRARY 

 1EW YORK 

 BOTANICAL 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. ^^^^^n. 



Vol. V. No. 98. 



BARBADOS, JANUARY 20, 1906. 



Pkice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Anthrax, Inoculation for ... 23 



Bahamas, Agriculture in ... 25 

 Banana, Fungoid Disease 



of 21 



Bananas, Fruiting of ... 21 

 Barbados, Agriculture in 31 

 Bermuda, Prcjduce Inspec- 

 tion at 25 



Britisli Guiana, Minor In- 

 dustries in 2G 



'Carriacou Cottagers' Show 24 

 Co-ojjeration in Agricul- 

 ture 18 



Cotton Notes : — 



Buying Cotton 22 



Cotton in St. Kitt's ... 22 



Sea Island Cotton 22 



Dejiartment News 23 



Gleanings 28 



■Grenada, Agricultural In- 

 dustries of 21 



■Guinea Fowl 30 



Insect Notes ; — 



Cott<jn Insects in Cuba 26 



Paris Green and Lime ... 29 



Page. 



Lemon Grass 27 



Lemons in Jamaica 25 



Market Reports 32 



Mosquito-catching Plant ... 20 

 Notes and Ci.imments ... 24 

 Ointments for the Tropics 21 



Oranges, Budded 20 



Raising Pedigree Sugar- 

 canes ]7, 10 



Rat Virus 31 



St. Kitt's Agricultural and 



Commercial Society ... 23 

 Sugar Industry : — 



Molascuit 19 



Sugar-cane Experiments in 

 the Leeward Islands... 19 

 Tobacco, Shade-grown in 



St. Kitt's 26 



Tomato Gr( iwing in Jamaica 27 

 Trinidad, Exports of ... 25 

 West Indian Products : — 



Canada 29 



London Drug and Spice 

 Market 29 



Raisiusr Pedio-ree Susjar-canes. 



PIE first announcement respecting the 



possibility of raising seedling sugar-canes 



in the West Indies was made at various 



times in Barbados between 1859 and 1888. A similar 



announcement was made in Java in 1887. Since that 



time seedling varieties have been raised which are 



capable of resisting the attacks of disease which 

 destroyed the older forms, as well as inci'easing the 

 yield of sugar. Several experiment plots were main- 

 tained in the West Indies from 1888 to 1898, 

 and the success of the results thus obtained must 

 be very gratifying to those who were engaged in 

 the work, for the seedling canes raised b}' Mr. Bovell 

 and Professor Harrison in Barbados, by Mr. Jenman 

 and Professor Harrison in British Guiana, and by 

 Mr. Hart in Trinidad are now well known in most of 

 the sugar-producing countries of the world. 



The earlier method adopted for producing 

 improved seedling canes was by means of a careful 

 selection of casually jjroduced seedlings. The identity 

 of seedlings was derived from the seed-bearing parent 

 only. A further step was raising seedlings from canes 

 planted in alternate rows so that the pollen-bearing 

 parent might be identified as well as the seed- 

 bearing parent. Experiments in this direction were 

 carefully carried on in Java, Barbados, and British 

 Guiana. 



By means of a system of rigorous selection 

 both in the field and in the laboratory several 

 good varieties have been i-aised, but a large percentage, 

 of the seedlings produced, as was to be expected, have 

 proved to be worthless. In any case, it took several 

 years before a seedling cane was sufficiently tested 

 under varying conditions to deserve to be recommended 

 to planters, and even then it was left to the planter 

 himself to make a final selection of those which were 

 likely to be suitable for his purposes, as a seedling 



