276 Jounuil of A'^nciiUiirc. [8 May, 1908.. 



will grow enough shade to protect themselves, and that the planting of 

 shade trees causes the many diseases that attack them. One of the most: 

 serious diseases is canker, which attacks the main stem ; starting as a 

 diseased postule under the bark, it spreads all round, and if not cut away 

 and treated with a dressing of fish oil and tar, it will very soon kill the 

 tree. Black rot attacks the growing pods, and if they are not cut off it 

 spreads into the stem wood and kills the flower bearing wood. Thrips 

 first appear among the foliage, and then spread down into the growing 

 pods. When numerous thev damage the skin and cause the pods to become 

 aborted and the beans inside to perish. The rats also damage a good 

 many pods, and the woodpeckers often bore holes into them and suck out 

 the beans. In Trinidad the leaf cutting ant often does some damage, 

 and two beetles {Steirastoma dcpressa and S. histronica) lay their eggs in- 

 the bark which the larvae damage considerably. In addition to rats., 

 squirrels and rat opossums, damage the pods. 



The cacao industry in the West Indies was valued in 1905-6 at 

 ^1,500,000. It is the sole crop of Grenada; in Trinidad it is worth 

 double the sugar output ; and it is a large industry in Jamaica, St. Lucia. 

 Dominica and St. Vincent. The average yield in Grenada is 784 lbs. to 

 the acre. Mr. Calder is also planting out a considerable amount of rubber 

 trees, but none of them are of commercial value up to the present. I also> 

 visited the sugar mill where about 500 tons of sugar are turned out ever\ 

 vear, but nearly all the mills in Jamaica make their profits out of the rum 

 thev distil, while the sugar pays their working expenses. 



Next morning I came down by train to Spanish Town, and from there- 

 took a trap to Hartlands Estate, where Mr. A. Wigens, managing partner, 

 took me all over the citrus orchard of 190 acres. This estate was first 

 planted with bananas, but k was found that they would not do' in the heav\ 

 black soil, and citrus fruits were substituted. The greater part consists of 

 grape fruit, with sorae royal oranges (a mandarin with a very coarse skin), 

 navel and other oranges. The whole place is irrigated by gravitation. 

 Here, as in Cuba, melanose is very bad, while white louse {Cliiotiaspis 

 citri) and round scale {Asfidiotus ficus) are very abundant, often covering 

 the fruit. Canker somewhat similar to collar rot with us, and probabh 

 due very often to the same cause, want of drainage, is very common, but 

 is kept under with cutting away the diseased tissue and treating with a 

 mixture of fish oil an3 tar. Spraying with Paris green and lime, salt 

 and sulphur, is regularly carried on in this orchard. Mr. Wigens ships 

 a good deal of his fruit direct to England. 



On New Year's Day I left Hartlands at 10 o'clock and reached Mon- 

 ligo Bay at 6 p.m. This is another banana district, and there are a good 

 many small sugar mills in the district. A very large flat bright ^ed man- 

 darin is grown about Manderville on the road from Hartlands; the skin, 

 however, is verv loose, and I was told it would not travel well. This is 

 the only place where I came across this distinct variety. On the follow- 

 ing day I left Montigo Bay for Kingston, reaching there that evening, and 

 packed up my luggage to start next morning for Barbados, but my boat 

 did not leave till early on the 4th. After calling at Colon (Panama), 

 Savanilla (Colombia), La Guayra, and Trinidad, we arrived at Bar- 

 bados on the evening of the 14th. On board the R.M.S.P. La Plata, I 

 met the delegates to the Imperial Department Agricultural Conference of 

 West Indies. Messrs. Faucett, Williams, and Savage, and also later on 

 tiiose from Trinidad, Messrs. Hart, Collins, Tripp, and Clarke, who, when 

 we met the Reception Committee, introduced me to Sir Daniel Morris. The- 



