A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. V. No. 107. 



LIB RAW 

 NEW YOt 



IsyTANIC, 



BARBADOS, JUNE 2, 1906. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 Burning Cacao Leaves ... 1G9 



Canadian Exhibi- 

 tions, 1!)0(5 175 



Conference of Cotton 



Growers at Barbados 164 



Awards of Medals ... ]65 



Cut Worm 107 



Distance to plant Cotton ICG 

 Dusting with Paris 



Green 1C6 



Manuring Cotton ... 167 



Picking Cotton 167 



Prospects of Sea Island 



Cotton 164 



Prospects of the Indus- 

 try 164 



Preparation of Land for 



Cotton Growing ... 165 

 Requirements of the 



Industry 164 



Rotation of Crops ... 167 

 Time to jjant Cotton 166 

 Treatment t>f the Cotton 



Worm 105 



Cotton Growers, Notes 



for 169 



Page. 



Cotton Seed and CV)tton- 

 cake-meal, T^se of, on 

 West Indian Planta- 

 tions 170 



Department News 173 



Gleanings 174 



Imperial Dej)artment of 

 Agricultui-e and 



St. Vincent 16.") 



Market Reports 176 



Notes and Comments ... 168 



Oranges, Curious 169 



Pamphlet No. 42 168 



Permanent E.xhiljition 



Conuiiittees 168 



Prospects for Rubber 

 Planting in the West 



Indies 161 



Rubber in French West 



Africa 169 



Sugar Industry : — 

 Cultivation of the Sugar 



Beet in England ... 163 

 Raising Seedling Sugar- 

 canes in C alia 162 



Tuber, A new 173 



West Indian Trade ... 173 



Prospects for Rubber Planting in 

 the West Indies. 



^^Tj> or some time past the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture has been advocating the 



planting of rubber trees in suitable 

 5 localities in certain of the West India Islands. In view 



of the numberless new uses to which rubber is being 

 put, and the consequent steady increase in its value, it 

 is probable that rubber planting would prove a profit- 

 able industry in some parts of the West Indies. The 

 Castilloa or Central American rubber tree (Castilloa 

 elastica) is the tree which is most likely to suit the 

 conditions existing in these islands. 



An interesting discussion took place at the last 

 West Indian Agricultural Conference as a result of 

 the reading of a paper, prepared by Captain M. Short, 

 on Castilloa Rubber in Tobago. A particular feature 

 of this discussion was the suggestion that the Castilloa 

 might be usefully employed as a shade tree in cacao 

 plantations. Captain Short stated : ' There is little 

 doubt that the return per acre would be greater from 

 a plantation of cacao and Castilloa than from cacao 

 shaded by Bois Immortel.' Prominence has been given 

 in the Ar/ricuUural News to this aspect of the 

 question. On page 219 of the last volume an article was 

 published describing cacao cultivation in Venezuela, 

 in which special attention was drawn to the possibility 

 of carrying on rubber planting as an adjunct to cacao 

 cultivation by using Castilloa trees for shading the 

 cacao. Reference was made to an experiment carried out 

 by General Fonseca in the Ocumare Valley, which 

 ' is specially remarkable, as it shows that the Castilloa 

 can be grown among cacao trees without in any way 

 harming their production. Indeed, at Ocumare they 

 have noticed no diminution in the number of pods 

 carried by the trees shaded by Castilloa, nor any change 

 in the quality of the bean.' The experience of a planter 

 in Ceylon also ' supports the contention that these two 

 products may be grown together,' 



