BARBADOS-ANTIGUA EXPEDITION 147 
side and form avenues that are more than ordinarily pleasing 
to the northern eye. The tamarind tree is wide spreading and. 
affords a grateful shade in the parks, while the mango gives per- 
haps the deepest shade of all. The mahogany tree is also 
largely used for this purpose. Some fine baobab trees are seen, 
a superb specimen being in Queen’s Park. Its curious com- 
pound trunk is some twelve feet in diameter. A noble silk-cot- 
ton tree may be found near St. John’s Church. The grounds of 
Government House are like a large and beautiful park well 
laid out and well kept. Queen’s Park is perhaps the most popu- 
lar, while the grounds of the Imperial Department of Agricul- 
ture are well worth a visit. 
This latter institution, under the direction of Sir Francis 
Watts, has charge of all of the Imperial Department of Agri- 
eulture of the British West Indies, including the Bahamas 
and Jamaica on the western extremity of that great chain of 
islands. There are a number of botanical gardens connected 
with these stations, and we visited those at St. Kitts, Antigua, 
Dominica, St. Lucia, and Barbados, and found them most at- 
tractive places. The department is mainly interested, however, 
in economic problems such as the sugar industry and the war- 
fare against insect pests of various sorts. It is to these islands 
what our excellent Department of Agriculture is to the United 
States; it is well manned by trained scientists, often from the 
Kew Gardens, and it seemed evident to me that it is really the 
center of most of the progressive and modern scientific work in 
the West Indies. 
It publishes the ‘‘ Agricultural News,’’ a fortnightly review 
of its activities. As an indication of its scope, I take the liberty 
of giving the table of contents of the last issue that has come te 
hand, dated October 5, 1918: Agriculture as a Business Propo- 
sition, Agriculture in Barbados, Production of Alcohol from 
Wood Waste, Book Shelf, British Cotton Growing Association, 
Buchu Cultivation in South Africa, Copra and Coco-nut Oil, 
Curing Meat in Hot Weather, Department News, Intermittent 
Bearing of Fruit Trees, Gleanings, Influence of Records in De- 
velopment, Insect Notes, Items of Local Interest, Market Re- 
ports, Notes and Comments, Plant Diseases, Rice Cultivation in 
? 
