A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW library 



OF THE NEWYOR 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. TJoS." 



Vol. V. No. 116. 



BARBADOS, OCTOBER 6, 1906. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Banana Industry 305 



Banana Industry, Surinam 308 



Basella alba 317 



Britisli Guiana, Minor 



Industries in 315 



Cacao in the Gtild Coas-t 308 



Candle-nut Oil 317 



Cedar from Grenada 319 



Cocoa-nuts in Seychelles... 309 

 Coffee, Notes on Pruning... 315 

 Conference on Haidiness 



and Acclimatization... 317 

 Cotton Notes : — 



Cotton in the West Indies 310 

 Cotton Picking and 



School Children ... 313 

 Grenada, Cotton in ... 310 

 St. Vincent, Prospects in 310 

 West Indian Cotton ... 310 

 Date Palm, Propagation of 311 

 Departmental Reports : — 

 Fiji : Agriculture in ... 318 

 Grenada : Botanic Sta- 

 tion, etc 318 



Department News 319 



Fiji, Agricultural Indus- 

 tries in 313 



Gleanings 316 



Insect Notes : — 



Caterpillars on Sweet 



Potatos 314 



Cotton Stainers 314 



Lady-birds 314 



r'AGE. 



Lemons in Dominica ... 315 



Market Reports 320 



Notes and Comments ... 312 



Orange Industry of 



Seville ..." 308 



Panama Hat Industry ... 312 

 Phaseolus INlungo for 



Green Manuring ... 317 



Rubber in Porto Rico ,..318 

 Rubber in the Malay 



States 318 



Rublier of Colombia, 



Virgen 311 



Rubber Planting in tlie 



Gold Coa.st ... ... 313 



Sugar Industr}' : — 



Ecuador 307 



Molasses as a Feeding 



Stuff 307 



Seedlings in Java ... 312 

 Seedlings in Louisiana 307 

 Seedlings in Mauritius 306 

 Sugar-canes in Louisiana, 



Arrowing of 312 



Tobacco Industry of Cuba 309 



Vanilla in Seychelles ... 313 

 West Indian Agricultur.T,! 



Conference 310 



West Indian Products ... 319 



The Banana Indnstrv. 



OR some time efforts have been made in 

 Surinam to establish a banana industry'. 



Cn p. 308 of this issue of the Agricultural 



Neu'S the details are published of a contract entered 

 into by the Government of Dutch Guiana and the 



United Fruit Company in regard to the purchase and 

 delivery of bananas. 



By this contract the planters of the colony bind 

 themselves to plant 2,470 acres in bananas and to 

 increase the productive area within three years to 

 a minimum of 7,410 acres. On the other hand, the 

 com.pany agrees, for a minimum of 20,000 bunches, to 

 send a boat to Dutch Guiana to buy and transport the 

 same. At first the service will be a fortnightly one ; 

 later on, as the supjDly of fruit increases, boats will call 

 weekly. The contract sets out in detail the prices to 

 be paid for the different grades of fruit during the 

 different months of the year. The highest prices will 

 be paid during the months of March, April, May, June, 

 November, and December. No doubt, every effort will 

 be made by the planters, by the careful pruning of 

 suckers, to get the majority of the bunches to mature 

 during these six months. 



In view of the possible establishment of a regular 

 banana industry in British Guiana, the Demerara 

 Argosy, in publishing the terms of the Surinam 

 contract, publishes also useful information in con- 

 nexion with the prospects of banana cultivation, obtained 

 from a Jamaica banana grower who has been engaged 

 in the trade for a number of years. 



This authority places the cost of preparing 

 and cultivating an acre in bananas at about S40. 

 This estimate would appear to be rather low. The 

 Hon. William Fawcett, in a paper on the banana 

 industry in Jamaica, read before the West Indian 

 Agricultural Conference of 1902 (see West Indian 

 Bulletin, Vol. Ill, pp. 153 et seq.), places the cost at 



