360 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 17, 1906. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well 

 as aU 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 News: Price \cl. per number, 

 post free 2rf. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4rf. 



giijricultural |]inufj 



Vol. V. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1906. No. 119. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



Some of the arrangements which it is proposed to 

 make in conne.xion with the West Indian Agi'icultural 

 Conference to be held in Jamaica in January 1907 are 

 referred to in the editorial in this issue. 



There are indications of progress being made in 

 the sugar industry of Jamaica. (See p. 355.) Sugar 

 planters are also likely to be interested in the note on 

 the economical working of molasses. 



Devices are de.scribed on }>. 357 which have been 

 found useful in India in dealing with ornamental seeds. 

 An industry of some importance has been established 

 in Bombay, in whicli these seeds are utilized in the 

 manufacture of various ornamental articles. 



Notes on the prospects of the cotton crop in 

 St. Vincent and Antigua appear on p. 358. The 

 attention of cotton planters is drawn to the seasonable 

 notes dealing with cotton picking; reference should also 

 be made to the article on p. 362 on the use of Paris 

 green, in which planters are advised how to apply this 

 insecticide in the most economical and, at the same time, 

 most effective manner. 



Specimens of blood-sucking flies are required at 

 the British Museum (Natural History) in connexion 

 with investigations as to the importance of these insects 

 as possible disseminators of disease-causing organisms. 

 <See p. 363.) 



Agriculture in St. Lucia. 



Under the heading 'Agricultural Improvements 

 and Progress,' the St. Lucia Blue Book for 1905 has 

 the following: 'Many thousands of plants of improved 

 varieties of sugar-cane have been introduced for trial 

 on the large sugar estates. Cacao plantations are 

 being gradually extended, and better methods of 

 cultivation are being adopted with good results. The 

 cultivation of limes is being gradually extended. 

 Cotton growing has continued in the experimental 

 stage.' 



The principal products of the island are sugar and 

 cacao. Of the former there were exported, during 1905, 

 3,721 tuns of usine, 792 tons of muscovado, and 803 

 casks of melhado, of a total value of £45,163. The 

 exports of molasses were worth £848, those of rum 

 £424. Of cacao 16,907 cwt. were exported, represent- 

 ing a value of £38,041. 



(_)f minor products the following items of exports 

 are of interest : 89,000 mangos, to Bai-bados and 

 St. Vincent, of a value of £349 : 204 cases of honey, 

 £253 10s.; hides, £615; musk seed, £113; and 15,263 

 pimento sticks (at 8s. per dozen), £508. 



The first portion of the summary of a paper on the 

 economic uses of the palms is published on p. 366. 



Improvement of West Indian Fruits. 



Readers of the Agrlcidtwral News will probably 

 be familiar, in a general way, with the good work 

 that has been accomplished by Luther Burbank 

 in connexion with plant breeding, as it has formed the 

 subject of a number of popular articles in the British 

 and American magazines. 



This work is brought home to the West Indian 

 planter in an interesting article in the Cuba Review, 

 in which Professor C. F. Baker sets himself the task of 

 answering the question : ' What would Burbank do 

 with the fruits of Cuba?' 



Every horticulturist in the West Indies is struck 

 with the enormous amount of work that might he done 

 in improving the native fruits, in reference either to 

 their eating or to their shipping qualities. 



As Professor !Baker says, 'in all this work Burbank 

 has used no magic hand other than hard work and the 

 persistent application of laws long known to govern 

 plant breeding.' He understood the advantages of 

 intelligent seed selection, the tendency of cultivated 

 plants to variation, and also the possibilities of com- 

 bining by crossing the good qualities of several older 

 varieties. It is along these lines, probably, that 

 Burbank would set to work on Cuban fruits. 



Systematic search would be made among the 

 many seedling varieties for the trees that produce the 

 'gilt-edged fruit,' to serve as sources for the propagation 

 of uniform orchards of all the valuable sorts. ' This 

 \\ ould refer, amongst others, to grape fruit and oranges. 



He would set about the improvement of native 

 fruits by the introduction of new blood, budding and 

 grafting the latter on to native stocks. 



Among the fruits referred to as worthy of 

 scientific attention are mango, citrus fruits, the various 

 anonas (sour sop, sugar ajjples, custard apples), sapo- 

 dillas, etc. 



