Vol. V. No. 98. 



THE AGKICULTUEAL NEWS. 



31 



VALUE OF INSECT FOOD. 



There is nothing so wholesome for the chicks as 

 insect food. Dried ants and ants' eggs are often used 

 by those who rear pheasants and Guinea fowls, but in 

 many districts, especially where the soil is sandy, 

 there are ant-hills in the fields. In such farms it is only 

 necessary to place the coop in which they are kept near an 

 ant-hill and the clucks will feed greedily on the insects and 

 their eggs. It is worth while to have a light coop with 

 a wire bottom made and tlie hen and ciiicks can be placed in 

 this and laid over an ant-hill which has previously been 

 stirred up and levelled with a spade. 



Young Guinea fowls are naturally insectivorous, and 

 when hatched out in the woods and fields they live very 

 largely on flies, grasshoppers, moths, and grubs of all kinds. 

 These being their natural foods, the more of them that can 

 be given to the chicks in a state of domestication the 

 healthier they will be. It is therefore advisable that when 

 a few weeks old the chicks should be given a free run with 

 the old hen, and the best kind of range for them is an over- 

 grown, weed covered garden, orchard, or shrubber}'. In such 

 a place they can find as much insect food as they need to 

 keep them in health ; but if the run is small, or if too many 

 birds are kept on it, it becomes necessary to feed Guinea 

 chicks with a small quantity of meat in their mash. One of 

 the prepared meat foods or finely chopped fresh meat and 

 fresh bone may be used. 



For table use Guinea fowls are but little inferior to the 

 pheasant. The flesh is somewhat dark, but has a decided 

 gamey flavour, and is appreciated when game is out of 

 season. 



AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS. 



The Annual Report on Barbados for the year 

 1904-5, dated August 31, 1905, deals with the agri- 

 culture of the colory as follows: — ■ 



The customs returns show that 63,G04 hogsheads of 

 sugar and 4.5,061 puncheons of molasses were exported 

 during 1901, the value of the crop being estimated at 

 £584,403 — a considerable improvement on the years 1902 

 and 1903. 



The cotton and banana industries, which owe their 

 existence to the initiative of the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, have continued to thrive under the guidance 

 of that Department. It is estimated that some 300,000 Bb. 

 of cotton will this year be shipped from the 1,647 acres 

 which are under cultivation. The price obtained for the 

 cotton continues to be favourable, and the industry may now 

 be considered to be established here with a fair promise of 

 success. The data obtained from ten estates, each having an 

 average of 9 J acres under cotton cultivation, show that 

 during 1904 the average net return per acre was £10 8.s. -Id. 



It is now proposed to hand over the cotton factory, 

 which has hitherto been worked under the combined 

 management of the Agricultural Society and the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture with funds advanced from the 

 colonial treasury, to a local company, and the Government 

 has agreed to transfer to the company its interest in the 

 factory in return for £600, first mortgage debenture bonds, 

 bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent, per annum. The 

 new company will work the factory on co-operative lines, 

 and the maximum charge for ginning and baling will be Id. 

 per lb. 



The banana industry has grown from eighteen bunches 

 shipped in 1902 to 15,326 bunches shipped in 1904, and it 



is estimated that at the present time there are about 100 

 acres of land planted in bananas and that 40,000 bunches 

 will be shipped during 1905. The ditticulties in connexion 

 with the package and carriage of the fruit appear to have 

 been successfully overcome, and it has been estimated that 

 the industry should give a net return of £20 an acre per 

 annum. The Cavendish or dwarf banana is the variety 

 which can be shiiiped with the best results. 



The exhibit of fruit and vegetables from this and two 

 other AVest Indian Colonies obtained a certificate and gold 

 medal at the Koyal Horticultural Society's exhibition held 

 in December last. By the kindness of the West India 

 Committee, who made all arrangements in connexion with 

 the exhibit, this colony was presented with a duplicate of 

 the medal. 



A sum of £400 was voted by the Legislature to meet 

 the ex[]enses of sending an exhibit from the colony to the 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, held this year at the Crystal 

 Palace. A very creditable collection of articles was made, 

 and, thanks to the kind assistance rendered in the matter 

 by the West India Committee, it is hoped that considerable 

 material advantage may result to the colony from this 

 exhibit of its resources. 



RAT VIRUS. 



The following is extracted from an article in the 

 December issue of the Journal of the Javiaica 

 Agricultural Society : — 



There are no greater enemies to agricultural operations 

 than rats. They eat the seed when planted in the ground ; 

 they eat the crops of grain when it is ripe ; they eat cacao 

 pods and coffee berries ; they follow the crops into the store- 

 room and eat the corn there ; they are a pest in the house as 

 well as out of the house ; they are omnivorous, eating 

 everything and anything. For every one chicken eaten by 

 niungoose a hundred are taken by rats ; they go into the 

 nests of birds and eat the eggs and, but for the mungoose, 

 would increase to a dangerous extent. Before the introduc- 

 tion of the mungoose sugar estates spent hundreds of pounds 

 annually on rat catching. Thousands of pounds have been 

 lost in the island by the devastation of rats on cacao pods 

 and coffee berries, more especially the former. To use poison 

 is always dangerous, for domestic stock may get at the 

 poisoned bait or eat the poisoned rats, and in buildings the 

 smell of dead rats is not only obnoxious but unhealthy. 

 The introduction of a rat virus, which is only fatal to rats and 

 mice and does no harm to human beings or domestic stock 

 in any way, is of great value to us. It is natural that people 

 may not adopt the use of this virus freely at once until it has 

 been proved effective. A reference to the advertisements in 

 this journal will show that some cacao planters have found it 

 most useful and most effective in destroying the rats that did 

 damage in their cacao walks. 



After referring to the successful use of rat viriis in 

 Dominica, as reported in the Agricultural Neius 

 (Vol. IV, p. 319), the article continues: — 



There have been some failures with this virus due to the 

 fact, probably, that it had lost its vitality. It will not stand 

 heat, and so is imported on ice and should be used at once, 

 as it cannot be kept except in a cool place. We have used 

 this virus with good effect in this office, and we advise all 

 planters who are growing corn to use it when they are 

 planting their corn, and three to four months later again 

 when the corn is ripening in the field. 



