296 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 22, 1906, 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well 

 as all specimens for naming, should be addressed 

 to the Commissioner, Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agri- 

 cultural News' should be addressed to the 

 Agents, and not to the Department. 



Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge- 

 town, Barbados. London Agents : Messrs. Dulau & 

 Co., 37, Soho Square, W., and The West India Com- 

 mittee, 15, Seething Lane, E.C. A complete list of 

 Agents will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural JVe^rs : Price Id. per number, 

 post free lid. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2s. 2d Post free, 3s. Sd. 



gigrimiltiiral lleiufi 



Vol. V. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1906. No. 115. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this issue consists of a review of 

 the address of the President of the Chemical Section of 

 the British Association, dealing with the relationship 

 between science and the development of Great Britain's 

 colonial possessions. 



Notes on the sugar industry (p. 291) deal with the 

 1906 cane farmers' ci'op in Trinidad and the cultivation 

 of the sugar-cane in Queensland and Louisiana. 



The rice industry has made great progress in 

 Louisiana and Texas; in 1905 thei-e were estimated to 

 be 432,286 acres under this cultivation in the two 

 states. So far, the bulk of the production is consumed 

 within the United States. 



Notes will be found on p. 294-5 dealing with the 

 prospects of the cotton crops in Nevis, Antigua, and 

 Montserrat ; also interesting statistics relating to the 

 Sea Island cotton crop in the United States. 



An illustrated note on the nutmeg tree will be 

 found on p. 299 ; this is followed by instructions as to 

 planting camphor trees. 



Two recently' issued reports of this Department are 

 reviewed on p. 302, viz., on the Experiment Station 

 in the Virgin Island and on the Botanic Station, 

 Agricultural School, and Experiment Plots in Dominica. 



Fruit growers are likely to be interested in the 

 account of a cheap canning outfit (p. 303), which 

 indicates that many fruits may bo profitably preserved 

 in this manner at a very small initial outlay. 



Selection of Cotton Seed. 



Me.s.sr.s. \V'. W. Gordon & Co., Cotton Factors, 

 of Savannah, Georgia, have issued, in circular form, 

 a reprint of the editorial in the Agricultural News 

 (Vol. V, no. 112) entitled 'Improvement of Cotton by 

 Seed Selection,' with the following note : — 



'We distribute this information as being of general 

 interest to those engaged in planting and spinning 

 Sea Island cotton. Sea Island cotton produced by 

 planters in the West India Islands will eventually 

 displace cotton grown in the United States, unless the 

 planters in this country exerci.se equal care and dis- 

 crimination in the selection of their seed for planting 

 pur).ioses.' 



Orange Planting in Dominica. 



Some idea of the extent to which orange trees are 

 being planted in Dominica may be obtained from the 

 fact that, during the year ended March 31 last, 1,831 

 budded orange plants and 402 sour orange plants for 

 stocks were distributed from the mu'series at the 

 Botanic Station. Since the work of budding oranges 

 was undertaken at the station 6,000 budded orange 

 plants have been sent out. This number is sutScient 

 to plant, at a distance of 20 feet, 60 acres. The actual 

 area planted is, however, considerably greater than this, 

 as growers have themselves imported budded orange 

 plants from Jamaica. Nearly all the plants sent out 

 have been Washington Navels. 



'It is hoped,' says the Curator in his Annual Report, 

 ' that the planting of budded standard varieties will 

 continue. These kinds command a higher price than 

 ordinary seedling oranges, and the fact that budded 

 plants produce a crop in half the time that seedling 

 plants take is alone sufficient recommendation for the 

 former.' 



Instruction in Budding and Grafting. 



A large proportion of the time allotted to field work 



at the Dominica and St. Lucia Agricultural Schools 

 is devoted to the operations of budding and grafting. 



Instruction of this character is an important 

 feature of the work of these agricultural schools and is 

 of considei-able value. Boys who are capable ofbuddino- 

 successfully fruit and other trees, are likely to experi- 

 ence little difficulty in obtaining employment on estates, 

 as the advantage of budded and grafted plants over 

 seedlings is becoming more and more appreciated by 

 fruit growers in the West Indies. 



Most of the boys at the Dominica Agricultural 

 School are now proficient budders ; 692 plants were 

 successfully budded by them during the last year. The 

 Officer-in-charge keeps a book in which ho enters, in 

 one column, the number of buds inserted by each boy, 

 and, in another column, the number of successful buds. 

 In this manner it is possible to ascertain, at the end of 

 the season, each boy's percentage of successful buds. 

 At the same school thirty plants of the ' Julio ' mango 

 have been grafted, while mango stocks have been raised 

 in beds and bamboo pots for future work. 



At the St. Lucia Agricultural School 550 budded 

 orange plants were raised last year by the boys. 



