S4 



THE AGRICULTURAL NE^YS. 



March 17, 1906^. 



AGRICULTURE IN TRINIDAD. 



There is much of interest to be fonnil in the 

 reports of tlie Wardens of the several districts, or 

 ward unions, into which the island of Trinidad is 

 divided. The following resume of these reports, so far 

 as they refer to agriculture, is taken from Council 

 Pajier No. 135 of 1905, which was laid before the 



Council 



Trinidad on December 18, 



it is stated that lectures and 

 tliroughout the district by the 



Legislative 

 1905 :— 



Taking Arima fir.-t, 

 demonstrations were given 

 Agricultural Instructors. 



In the Cedros ward, the Warden reports favourably on 

 the progress made in cultivation and general importance. 

 He states, also, that an experimental ground was laid out on 

 the lands of St. ]Marie plantation under tlie direction of the 

 Botanical Department, with every promise of its being 

 a success. 



The Warden of MayarO does not speak in favourable 

 tenns of the cacao cultivation in that ward union. The 

 planting of it extends each year, but not on any well-ordered 

 basis. Mr. Eccles adds : ' Nearlj' every one is a jiroprietor, 

 and instead of labouring for his neighbour, wants labour 

 liimself. It is certainly a ca.se of expanding without 

 developing. Cacao plantations are certainly established in 

 some way in the long run, but with no sound .system of 

 cultivation amongst the peasant proprietors. Thorough 

 drainage is the principal factor in which they fail. They 

 just depend on nature and help it as little as possible, 

 which eventual!}' results in [iroducing a yield not a quarter 

 of what shoidd be produced.' 



Following on this comes the announcement that the oil 

 wells at Guayaguayare have been shut down for a long time. 

 This is only temporar}', it is hoped, for the development of 

 this industry, in the opinion of the Warden, would make 

 Mayaro an imiiortant locality. 



ilr. Robert Johnstone, the Warden of Naparima, does 

 not write in enthusiastic terms of the methods of cane 

 cultivation practised by the farmers. He foresees disaster 

 unless there is a cessation of the continued re-cropping with- 

 out giving the soil i-est, with more manuring, better drainage, 

 and proper tillage. The farmers, he says, also plant their 

 canes too far from the factories to grow them at a profit, 

 considering that charges for tran.sportation have to be paid. 

 In some instances, canes are grown as far as 15 miles from 

 the nearest factor^-. 



Of rice, a better crop was raised this year than last, and 

 were the Debe-Lagoon rice district drained in a serious and 

 businesslike manner, the production, it is stated, would be 

 prodigious, and capable of satisfying the requirements of the 

 whole island. Both the corn and peas crops exceeded by 

 far those of any previous year. 



Of the Oropuche and La Brea ward union, the 

 Warden rejiorts that the fertile lands of the Coora Valley have 

 attracted a laige iiundjer of proprietors from other parts of 

 the island to tlie district of Sijiaria, which, were the railwaj- 

 extended, would be one of the finest parts of the colony. 



The pitch luke, with its inexhaustible supply of asphalt, 

 is too well known to need comment here. 



' On the south coast,' says Jlr. Potter, ' is to be found 

 in several jilaces a hard sandstone which might make grind- 



stones, or whetstones, and could be used in road making or 

 jieihaps as a building stone. The asphaltic sandstone at 

 Guapo seems to be a natural sort of paving material and 

 might be largely u.sed as such, as it exists in almost inex- 

 haustible quantities in the vicinity of the oil siirings, and 

 the porcellanite of La Brea Point is a recognized substance 

 for road making.' 



There are 8,500 acres under cacao cultivation, or 50O- 

 acres more than last year. Even with East Indian settle- 

 ments, rice cultivation is giving way to cacao, where there 

 is a possibility of draining off the water. 



The cultivation of cocoa-nuts has not increased in the 

 ward union, although the industry is remunerative. 



With regard to cotton, its cultivation has been 

 seriously retarded by the appearance of the boll disease. 



The Warden hints at a possibility of establfshing, in the 

 near future, fruit farms in the district, its lands being 

 eminent]}- adapted for the purpose. Oranges, limes, bananas^ 

 and pine-ap[iles are easily grown, and yield crops without 

 anything like proper cultivation. 



Jlr. H. C. Warner, the Warden of tlie Savana Grande- 

 district, writes as follows under the head of Agricultural 

 Stations : 'I am .still of opinion that there .should be at least 

 two sub-stations of the Agricultural Department in the agri- 

 cultural districts of the colony as important object-lessons to 

 peasantry, and from whence valuable economic [ilants could 

 be distributed and sold with far greater facility than at 

 present. These substations sliould be under the charge of 

 the Agricultural Instructors (assrsted by a local or district 

 Agricultural Board) and should be the starting point from 

 which these gentlemen should proceed on their visits of 

 inspection to school gardens, etc' 



Concerning the Botanical Station in TobagO, Mr. Rous- 

 seau the Warden, writes that the facilities it offers are 

 much apjireciated and taken advantage of by the people. 

 ' The farm,' he says, ' has suffered greatly from drought. 

 The stock are, however, in fine condition, and eflbrts are lieing 

 made to induce the people to take more advantage of the 

 opportunity afforded them of improving the breed of .stock, 

 in the island.' 



The cacao industry has been disappointing, owing to 

 the failure of the crop at the end of last year, in which. 

 Trinidad also suffered. He concludes his report with the 

 following remarks: 'The general condition of the island 

 continues to improve. There is more money in circulation, 

 fresh lands are being cultivated, and a better class of 

 houses being erected liy the peasantry. 



' On several abandoned sugar estates cultivation is 

 being renewed. That of cacao and rubber is being extended, 

 and eflbrts are being made to introduce the cultivation oS 

 Sea Island cotton for which the lands in the southern jiortion 

 of the island are particularly suited.' 



Reports of Parish Inspectors of Trees. Among, 

 the documents presented to the House of Assembly and 

 published in the Official G'rr.ttte of Barbados for February 

 i'(), 1906, are the Reports of the Inspectors of Trees for the 

 parishes of St. John, St. Michael, St. Peter, and St Josepb.. 

 The first-named parish has 156 acres planted in trees of the 

 fiillowiiig varieties : mahogany, white-wood, grape, bearded 

 fig, fiddle-wood, and manchineel. In St. Michael's i^arisb, 

 the trees growing on Welches, Kingston, the Lodge planta 

 tion, Warren.s, and Waterford cover, in all, an area of 34 

 acres : and include, among others, the cordia, cassuarina, 

 Spanish ash, ebony, sand-box, and some fruit trees. St. 

 Peter's parish has 92 acres, and St Josei^h's parish 77 acres 

 under tree cultivation. 



