May 9, 1 901] 



NA TURE 



mice and the cats and the vicissitudes of the climate, it 

 seems remarkable that such a percentage of good seed 

 should ever be obtained. 



What seedsmen mean by the "genuineness" is 

 another matter, but one of extreme importance. It would 

 be quite impossible even for an expert to recognise seed 

 of a particular stock or breed, say of broccoli or turnip. 

 There are good stocks and bad " stocks " of these, but 

 they cannot be distinguished by their seeds. A mere 

 seed-testing station, private or official, could render no 

 assistance in such cases. The only way to test the 

 genuineness of a stock is to grow it and watch it through- 

 out the season. Obviously the purchaser could not wait 

 for that, he must trust to the good faith and reputation 

 of the seedsman. 



Considering, then, the vast scale on which seed-testing 

 and seed-trials are now made by the leading firms and 

 the limited scale on which seeds can be tested at a seed- 

 testing station, and, further, bearing in mind that the 

 ordinary seed-trials give no indication of " genuineness," 

 we do not see that the farmer for his immediate practical 

 purposes would be materially benefited by a seed-testing 

 station. It would answer his purpose very much better 

 to devote a little care to testing the seeds for himself 

 from a sample procured some weeks before he required 

 to sow for a crop. The seedsman, in his turn, should 

 give a guarantee that the bulk should be equal, or 

 closely approximate, to the sample. We say closely 

 approximate because so numerous and so varied are 

 the vicissitudes to which the seed is, or may be, exposed 

 that some latitude, say to 5 or even 10 per cent., would 

 only be reasonable. 



Farmers in general sow much too thickly, so that a 

 lower percentage than is theoretically desirable might 

 well be condoned in practice if the seed were good of its 

 kind. 



While saying so much we are far from wishing to 

 imdervalue the importance of research-stations wherein 

 the phenomena of germination as well as other physio- 

 logical and pathological processes might be studied 

 from the point of view of research. Associated with a 

 small trial-ground, such stations would be very valuable 

 for the investigation of the properties and mode of life, 

 not only of old well-known crops, but also of new intro- 

 ductions. It is just here that the value of the "crank of 

 a scientific man " would show itself One of the 

 witnesses objected to placing such a man at the head of 

 a (lOvernment seed-testing station because " they get so 

 infallible and then they take notions in their heads." 



It is as well to see ourselves as others see us. We 

 should have thought infallibility in this connection was a 

 sign of nescience rather than of science. 



M.WWELL T. M.ASTER.S. 



THE MARINE RESOURCES OF THE 

 BRITISH WEST INDIES. 



THE above is the title of a paper by Dr. J. E. Duerden, 

 which, with a series of appendices, has lately been 

 issued as an extra number of the West Indian BulUti/i — 

 the official journal of the Imperial Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the West Indies. As read, it formed the leadmg 

 feature of a recent Congress at Barbados, held under 

 the auspices of the aforenamed Department, at which 

 representatives of all the West Indian Islands were 

 present, and it sets forth in a concise and connected 

 form the essence of all that has transpired in the utilisa- 

 tion for economic purposes of the rich resources of the 

 West Indian seas. In the first part of the paper the 

 fisheries of Jamaica, the Barbados, Bahamas, Leeward 

 Islands, Trinidad, St. X'incent, British (luiana and 

 Honduras are each dealt with in turn, mainly from the 

 statistical standpoint ; and then, in descending zoological 

 order, there are treated the principal marine resources 



XO. 1645, VOL. 64J 



from the Mammals to the Sponges. The history of a 

 movement of recent years to establish in the West Indies 

 a marine biological station is next fully sketched, and 

 its defence strengthened by a plea based on a com- 

 parison of the work achieved by institutions of the desired 

 order existing elsewhere. 



The paper shows that, in their utilisation, the marine 

 resources of the West Indian Islands have long played a 

 too limited part in the maintenance of the Colony itself, 

 and that they fall short through being nowhere under the 

 control of an organised plan. The yearly value of the 

 fish caught is estimated at 30,000/., against that of fish 

 imported at 147,000/., which is thus nearly five times the 

 greater, while attention is directed to a diminution in the 

 supply of the West Indian turtle and a decadence in mote 

 especially the "sea egg" industry, due to the effects of 

 over-fishing and lack of scientific treatment, and, in the 

 case of the turtle, due also to the "ceaseless capture of 

 adults." Dr. Duerden, in discussing the remedies for 

 these shortcomings, shows conclusively that they lie in a 

 restocking process to be based on a practical knowledge 

 of the life-history of the species rather than the establish- 

 ment of closed seasons. I'erusal of his paper shows 

 that the importance of these two industries to the traders 

 and inhabitants of the islands is so great that, under the 

 present circumstances, immediate action should be insti- 

 tuted on their behalf 



Concerning the question offish-capture. Dr. Duerden 

 refers at some length to an unsuccessful attempt made in 

 i8q8 to gauge the trawling capacity of certain of the 

 West Indian seas. He gives in full a copy of the log of the 

 vessel employed, and in discussing the alleged failure he 

 expresses the conviction that the venture (which was a 

 private one) was too early suspended, and shows reason 

 to conclude that the further introduction of northern 

 methods without reference to tropical conditions is not 

 likely to be successful. Claiming satisfaction for line- 

 fishing at 200 fathoms, he is led to advocate the stake- 

 net method lately introduced from America as specially 

 fitted for use in bays and lagoons, if rrot among the coral 

 reefs themselves. His paper shows that he has thoroughly 

 mastered all branches of his subject, and proves beyond 

 previous experience that the West Indian seas contain a 

 rich fauna, which, systematically handled on scientific 

 lines, ought materially to increase the resources of the 

 islands, and thereby to aid in raising them from their 

 present unsatisfactory condition. 



Dr. Duerden institutes comparisons between the re- 

 sults obtained at the West Indies and those begotten of 

 trained supervision and the establishment of a fisheries 

 bureau, with its necessary plant and equipment, at the 

 Cape and elsewhere, and he with much naivety dwells 

 upon the facts as calculated to affect, by competition, the 

 Sponge industry of the Bahamas, financially the most 

 important industry the Colony can boast. He points 

 with justifiable emphasis to the need in the West Indies 

 of a fisheries establishment, regarding it as a pressing 

 necessity to enable the colonists to keep pace with the 

 times and fully to maintain their position in competition 

 and advancement beside the rest of the world. 



Conspicuous among the marine biological establish- 

 ments to which he points as exemplary, are those which 

 have arisen in relation to the agricultural departments 

 of localities at which they are placed ; and the suggestion 

 arises that a similar extension should be granted the 

 Agricultural Department of the West Indies, now wholly 

 botanical. Of the success which has attended the work 

 in economic botany which Dr. D. Morris, the indefatig- 

 able director of this Department, has achieved in the 

 short period which has elapsed since its foundation, our 

 readers are aware ; and we are informed by a local 

 authority that he is eminently desirous of the extension 

 of his sphere of influence in the direction of economic 

 zoology. In Dr. Duerden he has at hand the one man 



