March j;, 1898] 



NATURE 



465 



able industries to the now seriously depressed sugar 

 trade. More than a third of the population is composed 

 of coolies from India, and this explains the importation of 

 50,000,000 lb. of rice annually ; but as the conditions are 

 favourable to the cultivation of rice on the spot, it is sur- 

 prising that no steps have been taken to establish rice 

 fields, if only for purposes of home consumption. The 

 United States import bananas to the value of two millions 

 sterling annually, but British Guiana makes no attempt 

 to place any fruit on the market, although one shipping 

 company offered to take 10,000 bunches of bananas every 

 fortnight. Coffee, cacao, cocoa-nuts, cattle rearing, and 

 other paying industries are recommended, and also the 

 utilisation of the extensive forests for the production of 

 valuable timber, guttapercha, indiarubber, &c. At 

 present the forest lands bring in a revenue of 48,000/. in 

 " acre money," nearly all of which is swallowed up in the 

 cost of collection. Under competent management these 

 forests could be made to contribute largely to the wealth 

 of the Colony. 



But there is evidently a stubborn determination on the 

 part of a large proportion of the colonists in the West 

 Indies to ridicule every proposal for the introduction of 

 new industries, and notwithstanding the ruinous experi- 

 ence of recent years, they insist upon regarding sugar, and 

 sugar only, as the sole means of salvation. Any person 

 with an open mind who attends meetings in London at 

 which the sugar planters or their representatives dis- 

 cuss West Indian affairs, cannot help being struck by 

 the general desire to leave out of consideration questions 

 relating to subsidiary industries. Still, in spite of this 

 unwillingness to have other things to fall back upon, sub- 

 sidiary industries are making some headway, and the 

 out-and-out supporters of sugar growing cannot but 

 admit that this is so. At the meeting of the Royal 

 Colonial Institute on March 8, the lecturer stated that in 

 the four essentially English islands of Barbados, Antigua, 

 St. Kitts and Nevis, sugar is the sole possible staple; 

 while in the five islands, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 

 Grenada and Tobago, occupied by people differing from 

 those in the other four in language and customs, the 

 cultivation of sugar has given place to cacao, coffee, 

 spices, and other products. Grenada, which sixty years 

 ago contained 119 sugar estates, is now quite independent 

 of sugar. Colonel Duncan has established on the island 

 the largest and most valuable nutmeg plantation in any 

 part of the New World. Are the misfortunes of the 

 sugar-growing islands to be attributed to the " essentially 

 English " character of their inhabitants ? 



Jamaica supplies us with a good illustration of the 

 wisdom of selecting suitable marketable commodities for 

 cultivation, in addition to the staple industry. As in 

 other islands sugar was here once the one great object of 

 cultivation, and in the year 1805 the exports were 150,352 

 hogsheads of sugar and over 5,000,000 gallons of rum. 

 Even within recent years sugar, rum, and molasses 

 formed the bulk of the trade, for in 1881-82 out of the 

 total exports, valued at 1,178,594/., the sugar products 

 amounted to 910,027/.; but by 1895-96, when the total 

 exports had increased to nearly 1,900,000/., the sugar 

 products had declined to little more than 360,000/. The 

 serious depression in Jamaica dates back many years, 

 and when it was hinted to the colonists that it would be 

 well to introduce other cultural industries to assist in 

 warding off the threatened crash, the idea was received 

 with scorn and contempt. Thirty years ago Captain 

 Bush, an American trader, began to encourage fruit 

 growing, but for some years the venture made very slow 

 progress, for by 1879 the fruit exports did not amount to 

 23,000/. It was realised, however, that the time had arrived 

 to do something to save the island, and as there were no 

 indications of an improved sugar trade, fruit had to come 

 to the front, and by 1889 the exports had risen to 320,323/., 



NO. 1 48 1, VOL. 57] 



and by 1895-96 to 536,811/., three-fifths of this trade 

 being in bananas. From this it will be gathered that the 

 fruit trade of the island is already far more valuable than 

 that of sugar. One of the defects of the new industry is 

 that there is not sufficient attention given to the manner 

 in which the various fruits should be packed for the 

 markets, an art in which our foreign comj>etitors excel. 

 In addition to sugar and fruit Jamaica has under cultiva- 

 tion coffee, cacao, allspice, ginger, fustic, &c., so that the 

 entire failure of sugar would not now be anything 

 like so disastrous as it would have been a quarter of a 

 century ago. 



All through this excellent and comprehensive report on 

 a very difficult question, it is to be observed that the 

 author does not propose anything with the object of 

 hastening the end of the great sugar industry, but he 

 recognises the necessity for supplementing, not supplant- 

 ing, the staple trade by the introduction of a variety of 

 cultural industries which would increase the wealth of the 

 Colonies to an appreciable extent. In an appendix Dr. 

 Morris propounds, at the request of the Chairman of the 

 Commission, a scheme for the establishment of a Depart-' 

 ment of Economic Botany, and for agricultural instruc- 

 tion for developing the resources of the Leeward and 

 Windward Islands and Tobago, and for affording assist- 

 ance to the experimental cane cultivation to be carried 

 on, in continuance of present efforts, in British Guiana, 

 Barbados, and Antigua, at an estimated annual cost of 

 27,000/., a scheme which, it is hoped, will be foundjto.be 

 accepted by the Government when Mr. Chamberlain 

 brings the proposal for assistance before the House of 

 Commons shortly. 



H. H. 



ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE 

 GREY SEAL. 



THE grey seal {Halichcerus grypus) is to be met with 

 on many parts of the British coasts, from Orkney 

 and Shetland, throughout the Hebrides, on the north 

 and west coasts of Ireland, and occasionally on the 

 south and east, on the coast of Wales, in the Wash, 

 more rarely in the Solent, and as far south as Jersey 

 {Zoologist, 1884, p. 337) ; hence greater opportunities 

 for observing it, and learning something of its habits, 

 have occurred than has been the case with the ringed, 

 bearded, and hooded seals. Moreover, several observers 

 have contributed information on its breeding habits and 

 on the conditition of the young soon after birth. The 

 following may be cited. So long ago as 1837, Mr. J. 

 Wilson, writing on the habits of Scottish seals [Mag, 

 Zool. and Boi., i. p. 539), states that the young of the 

 grey seal is " born above high-water mark in the end of 

 September or beginning of October, and is at first 

 covered with white hair, which is retained for many 

 weeks, but shed before it takes to the water." His ob- 

 servations are confirmed by Edmondston, who, in his. 

 account of the seals of Shetland (" Zetland Isles," vol. ii. 

 p. 294), remarks of the grey seal that the young are 

 brought forth in September, October, or November. 

 Nilsson and some other writers who have followed him 

 have expressed the opinion that the breeding season of 

 this species is in February ; and Bell, in an attempt to- 

 e.xplain this discrepancy (" Brit. Quad.," 2nd edition, p. 

 267), has suggested that the milder climate of Britain 

 permits of pairing taking place much earlier than in 

 Scandinavia. From the united testimony, however, of 

 other observers, there can be no doubt that this is a 

 mistake, and that the breeding season is in the autumn. 

 Prof. Collett, of Christiania, who some years since con- 

 tributed an excellent paper on the grey seal to the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1881, pp. 380-87), 



