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A FORMNIGHTEY REVIEW
OR) rik
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
MOLUME VIII. LIBRARY
NEW YORK
BOTANICAL
JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1909. GARDEN.
ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Barbados: Mussres. Bown & Sons, Brrpcerowy.
London: Messrs, Dunau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. Tue West Inpra Commrirree, 15, Seething Lane, K.C.
ERRATA IN VOLUME VIII.
Page 93, column 2, for Anastrephas read ‘Anustrepuw.
138, * » line 7, for Vol. IV, read ‘ Vol. VI’:
alles} , paragraphs + and 5, for Gliricida read ‘ Gliricidiw.
299, a , last paragraph, for Vol. II, p. 32, read ‘ Vol. IT, p. 232’.
.. x Fr rs for Vol. X, p. 42, read ‘ Vol. V, p. 42’.
405 . for Mimusons Shimperi, read ‘ Mimusops Schimperv.
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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| the Standard of Purity required by, and made in
conformity with, the requirements of
THE AGRICULTURAL DS&PARTMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The only sure and effective insecticide and destroyer of the cotton worm, caterpillars, and other pests.
Guaranteed to be absolutely pure by the manufacturers. Used extensively throughout the British West Indies, and sold
by all high-class merchants and dealers. Consumers are cautioned against worthless substitutes, and should always see
that the packages bear the name of the manufacturers :—
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POTASH =FOR CITRUS FRUITS.
SRS ee Losey othe ecae a Oa. va
TREE WELL CULTIVATED TREE PARTLY CULTIVATED
AND FERTILIZED. AND NOY FERTILIZED.
An orange grove must be fertilized and cultivated, no matter where it is located. Wild trees may produce without
potash, but a juicy fine flavoured fruit of good shipping quality cannot be produced without a liberal application of
this manure. An ayerage formula for manure for bearing trees is 3// Nitrogen, 6°, Phosphosie Acid and 10% Potash.
For free literature and special information on tropical agriculture apply to
GERMAN KALI WORKS
30° Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba. |
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Sir Daniel Morris, H.C. M.G.,
HLA. ASc, 7.7.
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ii
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW Li
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. VIII. No. 175
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Asricultural Banks ... +.. 13} Gleanings) ... ss. .... :-. 12
Agricultural Banks in Grenada Board of Eduea-
Bengalauecss cee so 1S tion and Agricultural
Agricultural Co-operation, Instructionis, «s.) se.) Li
Encouragement of in
Luis ULT1e; > sur: 2e of
Great Britain... ... 13, Hticane Insurance o
Ne riculteale Nowe ous ce Crops and Buildings... 15
Antigua Agricultural and Insect Notes:
Commercial Society ... 14 Flower-bud Dropping of
Arbor Day at Antigua... 3 Cotton Son) onda esd AY
Barbados Industrial Exhibi- Scale Insects at Dominica LO
tion So ld aeiaiatocen eats tant Ol paren 1
Bath Springsab Nevisnme 119. King Orange, The ... ... 4
3sread-truits in the Tropics 6 Lime Honey from
British Guiana, East Indian Wominievy sce. 2-2 se, Lo,
Immigrants in... ... 14) Market Reports Aon. deo ts
Colonial Fruit Show ... ... 4) Millions and Mosquitos ... 9
Cotton Notes :— Morris, Sir Daniel,
Cotton Growers, Notes IRECuMaG fies bees tose
fOTee cea aes Gs2 «es 16) Notesiand: Comments Seapets!
West Indian Cotton ... 6} Raphia Fibre and Wax ... 8
Cotton Plant, Analysis of... 9 Rubber, Ceara, in Hawaii 11
Department News... .... 7) St. Lucia Agricultural
Dominica Agricultural Stel Notes) Maball! Goo. tooo 2s
School ... 9) Sugar Industry :
Sugar-cane Experiments
9 | Aun lowydopatss- | Gah Poko ee)
Foote, The Late Hon. T. D.,
OUAMUGU ce. 2s
Sir Daniel Morris, IC C.M G.
eT] ; : 2 : ;
XS IR Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G., retired from
>i the office of Commissioner of the Imperial
AB «Department of Agriculture for the West
Indies on November 30 of Jast year, after occupying
that post for a period of ten years. The announcement
{7
tp
of his resignation has been received with the greatest
regret both by the entire agricultural population of the
West Indies, and by the. staff which have had the
privilege of working under his direction
After a distinguished career as Assistant Director
< of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, from 1877 to
BARBADOS, JANUARY 9, 1909.
Price ld.
1879 ; as Director of Public Gardens at Jamaica from
1879 to 1886, Dr. Morris was appointed, in the latter
vear, Assistant Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew.
Amongst the many important official missions under-
taken by him in various parts of the empire during
that period, there is none more important than that
‘ which he filled in relation to the West Indian Royal
Commission of 1897, to which he was appointed Scien-
tific Adviser: and of the many important publications
contributed by him, to which we are here unable even to
allude, there is none of greater importance than Appendix
A of the Royal Commission Report, which deals at con-
siderable length with the agricultural resources and re-
quirements of British Guiana and the West India islands.
That contribution was one of the most valuable
parts of the report, and was recognized at once as the
most authoritative synopsis of the subject with which
it dealt.
One of the reconimendations of the Royal Com-
mission was the of the West Indian
Imperial Department of Agriculture for the Windward
and Leeward Islands, and Barbados. This reeommenda-
tion was carried into effect in 1898, and in September
of that year Dr. Morris returned to the West Indies as
With characteristic
establishment
Commissioner of the Department.
energy he proceeded at once, in consultation with the
Governments of the Windward and Leeward Islands,
and Barbados, to organize the new department, and in
the short space of a single year 1 was found possible to
summon the first Conference of the officers of the Depart-
ment at Barbados, and to secure the attendance, not only
of scientific representatives from Jamaica, British
Guiana, and Trinidad, but also representatives from
the Agricultural Societies and Education Departments
of all the West Indian Colonies. From that time on-
wards, the record ef the Department has been one of
2 THE AGRICULTURAL
t
NEWS. January 9, 1908.
unbroken activity, and that activity has spread itself
in every direction in which the welfare of agriculture in
the West Indies might be directly or indirectly affected.
The first task while utilizing existing
Botanic Departments and their staffs, vo remould them
in a more agricultural form, and to institute agricul-
tural experiment stations where every tropical product
was,
with any promise of valne might be subjected to care-
ful trial cultivation. and is still, the
mainstay of a large part of the West Indies, and the
Commissioner accordingly great attention
to the reorganization of the sugar-cane experiments,
which for many years had been carried on at Barbados
and Antigua.
Qi)
Sugar was,
devoted
Large grants were made for the provis-
ion of adequate statfs and expenses, and extensive series
of experiments were begun for the raising and testing
of seedling varieties, and for testing the effect of
various manures and methods of tillage upon the
growth and yield of the sugar-cane. A number of other
matters bearing upon the same subject were carefully
investigated, and in recent, years the. production of
hybrids of known parentage, and the investigation of
nybridization of the sugar-cane on Mendelian lines
have formed part of the work of the Department. As
a result of ten years’ work, while such valuable varie-
ties as B. 147, B. 208, and b. 376 have been brought
into prominence and thoroughly tested, some 30,000
new varicties of cane have been raised in Barbados
as seedlings, and are being tested agriculturally
and chemically; and there is good reason to hope
that some of them will prove a material advance on the
older varieties, not only in their yields of cane and sugar,
but also in other valuable properties, especially in their
power of resisting the various diseases that in the past
have caused so much loss to the industry.
The revival of the cotton industry will be alluded
to later, but the large number of tropical products and
subjects connected with them, which have received
attention and investigation at the hands of the Com-
missioner of Agriculture and his staff, will be realized
by a perusal of the list of ‘Pamphlets’ published dur-
ing the past ten years. These pamphlets, each of which is
a multum in parvo on the subject of which it treats,
amount to some fifty-four in number, and include
pamphlets on Sugar-cane Experiments, Treatment of
Insect Pests,‘ Plain Talk to Small Owners,’ Treatment of
Fungoid Pests, Onion Cultivation, Ground Nuts,
Diseases of the Sugar-cane, Moth Borer in Sugar-cane,
Manurial Experiments, Bee-keeping, Oranges, Tobacco,
‘ Hints to Settlers in Tobago,’ Lime Cultivation, Fungus
Diseases of Cacao, Millions and Mosquitos, ‘A BC of
Cotton Cultivation,’ and other subjects.
Agricultural Education received attention from
the first.
cultural Science, and for the provision of exhibitions at
Harrison College, Barbados, and at the
School, Antigua. Courses of lectures were given to
Grants were made for instruction in Agri-
Grammar
primary school teachers in various islands, grants were
made to assist in providing agricultural instruction in
the primary schools, and Industrial. Agricultural
schools were founded at St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and
Dominica, where the sons of small proprietors are
provided free with education, board, lodging and cloth-
ing,and receive a three- or four-years’ course of instruc-
tion in the theory and practice of Agriculture, adapted
to the needs of the overseer and small proprietor.
The peasant proprietor and small plantation-tenant
shows, inaugurated by Sir Daniel Morris and regularly
held every year by the Department, must also rank as
among his important educational efforts.
Reengnizing that un efficient means of circulating
the information gathered by the Department was all
Important, great attention was devoted to publications.
The first of the West Indian Bulletin,
a scientific ot the work of the Depart-
ment, appeared in July 1899, and has since been issued
at quarterly intervals. The large reports of the Sugar-
Barbados, and the Leeward
Islands, as well as the annual pamphlets which give
nu mber
review
cane experiments at
a popular summary of the same work, and the annual
reports of the Botanic and Agricultural Stations and
Agricultural Schools of the various islands, are well
known. Then there is the long pamphlet series on
various subjects already alluded to. Last and not least,
there is the News, a popular fort-
nightly review of the work of the Imperial Department
of Agriculture, which first appeared in April 1902, and
has enjoyed a steady and rapidly increasing circulation
ever since.
Agricultural
The broad view that was taken by Sir Daniel
Morris, who received the honour of knighthood in
1908, as to the scope of his work for the West Indies,
is nowhere more clearly shown than in his efforts to
improve the trade relations between the West Indies
and Canada, resulted in a Conference of
Representatives in 1908, and the appointment by the
Dominion of a special Trade Commissioner. The full
fruit of this movement has yet to be gathered.
which
While Sir Daniel brought together and co-ordina-
ted the work of the scientific officers already existing
in the West Indies, he also introduced and_ trained
a number of young University science graduates in the
Department, It is safe to say that the experience they
Wor, VII. No. 175.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
3
gained under the Commissioner has had much to do with
the success they have achieved after leaving the Depart-
ment for wider fields, and that their training has been
a service of more than West Indian bearing.
The Imperial Department of Agriculture under
Sir Daniel Morris will probably be more especially
associated with two important agricultural achieve-
The first is the inauguration and holding of
annual or biennial Conferences, and the second is the
re-establishment of the Cotton Industry, which had
been almost extinct in the West Indies for about one
ments.
hundred years.
The West Indian Agricultural Conferences have
been held at Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica, and have
served to bring together the scientific officers of all the
West Indian Colonies, as well as representatives of the
Agricultural Societies and of the Education Depart-
ments. It would be difticult to overestimate the effect
of these interchanges of views. On the one hand, they
have served to bring home to the scientific worker the
needs of the practical agriculturist,-and on the other
they have inspired the practical worker with confidence
in his scientific advisers. The Presidential Addresses
of Sir Daniel Morris, which cover the whole range of
West Indian agriculture, and the discussions which
have followed, form a valuable part of the proceedings.
Owing to the dearth of the supplies of raw cotton
in England, Sir Daniel Morris in 1902 took up the
subject of cotton growing. After preliminary investi-
gations, he paid a visit to the Sea Islands and there
carefully studied the methods of seed selection, cultiva-
tion, and treatment of insect pests of cotton, as well as
cotton ginning and other subjects connected with the
He clinched the matter by purchasing
a large quantity of the best Sea Island cotton seed, a step
the wisdom of which became apparent when it was
afterwards ascertained that further supplies of seed
could not be obtained from the Sea Islands. This seed,
so obtained, has formed the nucleus from which all the
best seed of the West Indies has been subsequently
derived. Sir Daniel Morris, with assistance rendered
by the British Cotton-growing Association, in co-opera-
tion with officers connected with the Department,
organized the establishment of ginneries in various
islands, and compiled and published the well-known
pamphlet entitled the ‘A BC of Cotton Planting ;’ and
since then the Department has been unremitting in
its work on the selection and cultivation of cotton, in
the study of insect and fungoid diseases, and in the
information and assistance afforded by the statt to
cotton planters.
manufacture.
In 1898, when Sir Daniel Morris came to the West
Indies, these islands were a source of great anxiety.
To-day there is everywhere encouraging evidence of pro-
gress and security, and such islands as St. Vincent, Toba-
go, Montserrat, and even-areas of larger islands that
seemed likely to run to waste, are now under a prosper-
ous cultivation, Many tactors have certainly been at.
work, amongst which, very important, was the abolition
of sugar-bounties. But among: the factors that have
been at work to improve agriculture and increase the
prosperity of these islands, there has been none more
important than the unremitting efforts of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture under the late Commissioner.
Sir Daniel Morris brought to the West Indies unbound-
ed confidence in the future, and in the resources of
these islands, a wide experience of Agriculture, and
unflagging effort not to be discouraged by the difficul-
ties of the task. All will bear testimony to the results
which he has achieved.
Although the immediate connexion of Sir Daniel
Morris with the West Indies has been severed, there is
reason to hope that his mature experience and wise
counsel will still remain at the disposal of the empire.
It is the wish of his colleagues, as well as of the West
Indies, that he may long enjoy the measure of rest to
which his lengthy and unremitting labours entitle him.
ARBOR DAY AT ANTIGUA.
Under the auspices of a strong Central Committee
(of which Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G., is Chairman), and
with sub-Committees in the several parishes, the
seventh annual celebration of Arbor Day took place at
Antigua on November 9 last.
At St. John’s the proceedings commenced with an
inspection of the local forces by his Excellency the Governor
of the Leeward Islands (Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G.).
The objects of Arbor Day movement and the scope of the
work at Antigua were briefly explained by Dr. Watts, and
after a short speech from the Governor, a tree was planted
by his Excellency at the north-east corner of Country Road.
Five Royal Palms were also planted along the Country Road
by the St. John’s City Commissioners.
Children from the elementary schools planted twenty-
four mahogany trees in the road leading to the hospital, thus
completing the elementary schools’ avenue begun in 1902.
Trees were also planted by the nursing staff at the Hos-
pital, representatives of the Girls’ High School, and students
of Spring Gardens Training College, and the Buxton Grove
Seminary.
Arbor Day was similarly observed in a number of other
parishes of the island, the total number of trees planted at
Antigua on November 9 being 222. The trees were in main
part, mahogany’and palms of various kinds (chiefly date and.
royal palms),together with smaller numbers of whitewood,
Saman, etc.
The expenses incurred on the occasion amounted alto-
gether to £4 12s. 11d.
t THE AGRICULTURAT, NEWS.
January 9, 1909.
<=)
~ gy -
WEST INDIAN FRUIT.
THE ‘KING’ ORANGE.
An orange of superior quality, known as the
‘King’ variety, the first plants of which were imported
directly from Cochin China some twenty-eight years
ago, has lately attracted attention in the citras fruit
districts of the United States, and an account of its
characteristics, ete. (with illustrations), is given in the
course of an article entitled ‘Promising New Fruits,’
which appears in the latest Yearbook of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
It is mentioned that this orange (which is also known
by the name of ‘ King of Siam’) is the first citrus fruit of high
quality which has reached the United States by direct impor-
tation from Eastern Asia, the usual course being a slow
migration through Western Asia, and the orange-growing
districts of the Mediterranean.
The ‘ King’ orange was at first classed with the manda:
rins and tangerines, but further experience with the variety
has shown that it is so distinct in the character of the tree,
the fruit, and the time of ripening that it appears worthy of
recognition as a distinct horticultural group, if not a sub-
Species.
Specimens of the fruit of this orange were first obtained
from Eastern Asia by a Dr. 8. R. Magee, of Riverside, Cah-
fornia, in 1880, through the efforts of the United States
Minister at Tokio. From the seeds of these fruits Dr. Magee
raised a number of young plants, and in the following year
twenty-five plants of the variety were imported direct from
Cochin China. Budded trees appear to have been produced
both from the seedlings and the imported plants, and this
probably accounts for the rather wide range in habit of
growth, thorniness of wood, and quality of fruit found on
trees of the ‘ King’ variety at the present time.
The ‘King’ orange first fruited in the United States in
1885, and specimens were received by the Department of
Agriculture for the first time in 1887. The variety has been
disseminated both in California and Florida, and in this
propagation work consistent efforts have been made, by care-
ful bud selection, to reduce the original thorniness of the
variety.
This variety of orange has up to the present done much
better in Florida than in California. In-certain: localities. of
the latter State it has attained high perfection, and when
well grown, the fruit, placed on the market late in spring,
has brought higher prices in the northern market than any
other variety of orange grown in Florida. The first box of
fruit of this kind placed on the New York market is reported
to have sold for 87-00.
The ‘ King’ g
large in size, dark reddish-orange in colour, the rind moder-
ately thick, rather soft, and possessing ,a distinctive and
agreeable aroma and flavour, flesh loose and soft in texture,
juice abundant, and with a peculiarly rich, sweet flavour.
The general quality of the fruit is reported to be very good ;
in fact, it is stated that it ranks with the very finest kinds,
and therefore is worthy of the attention of growers for
special markets which will pay for fruit of extra quality.
This fruit appears to be-mure suited for tropical than for
sub-tropical cultivation, since it is mentioned that it is more
sensitive to climatic changes than most varieties of oranges.
orange is described as being medium to
COLONIAL FRUIT SHOW.
The twelfth show of colonial fruit and preserves held
under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society took
place in London from November 26 to 30 last. Excellent
displays of West Indian produce were on view, those from
Dominica and Trinidad being — especially noteworthy.
Jamaica, Montserrat, and Antigua also participated.
Some idea of the display made by the several colonies
may be gained from the interesting illustrations of the show,
which appeared in the West India Committee Circular of
December 8 last. The same journal mentions that the
honours of the exhibition undoubtedly fell to Dominica.
The fruit from that island was in nice condition, of good
colour, and also free from any signs of blight. ‘The advance
in quality made by Dominica fruit, as compared with the
collections sent over some four years ago, is alluded to, since
it indicates that much more attention is paid now than
formerly to the essential matters of selection, grading, and
packing. The excellence of individual exhibits is indicated
by the fact that Dominica was awarded no fewer than five
medals. ‘The exhibit from Trinidad
might have been expected, taking into account the resources
of the island. A case of fruiting pine-apples, in fine condi-
tion, attracted a considerable amount of attention, however.
The bottled ‘fruits from all the colonies were good and
showed great improvement on those of past years.
The following may be mentioned among the awards for
fruits ; Silver gilt Knightian medals to Dominica Botanic
Station for citrus fruits: and~to Hon. A- Alford’Nicholls,
C.M.G., for limes and lime products; silver Knightian medals
to Hon. J. Cox Fillan and Mr. A. R. C. Lockhart, both of
Dominica, for limes ; and silver Banksian medals to the
Permanent Exhibition Committee of ‘Trinidad for their
general exhibit of citrus fruit, bananas, papaws, growing pine-
apples, etc., and to the Agricultural School, Dominica.
Was not so ood as
be
Vou. VIIL. No. 175. THE
AGRICULTURAL * NEWS.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Sugar-cane Experiments at. Barbados.
At a meeting of the Barbados Agricultural Society
held on December 11 Jast, Protessor d’ Albuquerque and
Mr. John R. Bovell presented a sammary of the chief
results obtained in connexion with the sugar cane
seedling and manurial experiments, carried on at
Barbados under the direction of the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture, during the crop season 1906-5.
These experiments have now been in progress for a long
period, and during the past ten years no less than 33,000
varieties of cane have been raised from seed, and their
qualities studied before planting out in the field, and in
many cases, in the chemical laboratory also, for the purpose
of selecting and propagating the kinds that possess the most
desirable agricultural and chemical characters. An account
of the methods followed in raising new seedling canes was
given by Professor d’Albuquerque, who also referred to the
introduction of the process of artificial hybridization into the
work, by the help of which it is hoped to obtain more certain
results in a shorter time than if the work was carried on
solely with varieties of cane, the parentage of which was
not completely controlled.
Selected varieties of seedling canes were, in the crop
season 1906-8, grown on twelve black-soil estates and three
red-soil estates, which represent every variety of soil and
climate in sugar cultivation in the island. he plots of land
on which the selected varieties were grown were in every case
cultivated in the same manner as the rest of the canes on the
estate.
The weather conditions, on the whole, were not favour-
able, the season being very dry, so that the growth made was
poor, and root disease was more prevalent than usual.
Of the selected varieties grown in comparison with the
White Transparent on black-soil estates at Barbados, Sealy
Seedling, B. 3,412, B. 208, B. 3,747, and B. 147. did best,
coming in the order given. While White Transparent
yielded 4,809 Ib. of muscavado sugar per acre, B. 208 gave
5,410 tb., or an increased value of $10°88 per acre compared
with the standard variety. B. 3,412 yielded 5,780 Ib., and
Sealy Seedling 6,184 tb. these being increased values of
$17-57 and $24:89 per acre respectively, compared with the
return from White ‘lransparent under similar circumstances.
The superior returns given by the seedling varieties are
still more apparent when the figures for the red-soil estates
are considered. Taking first the results for plant canes only,
the list is headed by cane B. 1,521, which gave 7,446 tb. of
muscovado sugar per acre, as compared with 4,710 Ib. yielded
by White Transparent, the increased value of the return from
the seedling being $49°50 per acre. A number of other canes
also gave excellent results on red soils in comparison with
the standard variety. The chief of these are: B. 3,405,
yielding 7,165 Ib. of museovado sugar per acre, with a value
of €44°44 per acre in excess of that given by the White
Transparent ; B. 3,390, yielding 6,920 tb. of sugar per acre,
and an increased value of $40 ; B. 1,386, yielding 6,888 Ib.
of sugar, with an increased value of $39°42 ; B. 1,566, yield-
iny 6,608 Ib. of sugar, with an increased value of 534°35 ;
and B. 3,412, which gave 6,570 Ib. of muscovado sugar per
acre, and a value of $33°67 over and above that yielded by
the White Transparent cane. B. 376, B. 1,753, and D. 95
grown as plant canes on red soils also gave returns valued. at
$29°57, $25°61, and $21:25 per acre respectively, in excess
of the crop yielded by White Transparent.
Taking next the average returns from a crop of plant
canes anda crop. of first ratoons grown on red-soil estates
(plant canes reaped in. 1907 and ratoons in 1908), it is seen
that cane B. 1;386 comes out first, with a total yield of
13,944 tb. of muscovado sugar for the two crops. This
represents a value of $73°27 per acre in excess of the return
(9,896 lb.) given by White Transparent during the two seasons.
Canes B. 3,390 and B. 3,405 gave returns valued at $65:45
and $59°86 per acre respectively (for the two reapings) over
and above the value of the sugar crop from White Trans-
parent, while the yields from B. 376, B. 1,566, and B. 3,412
were only slightly less in value. Following these, come
D. 95, and B. 208, with crop yields for the two years of
11,977 th. and 10,890 tb respectively, of muscovado sugar.
These yields were worth $37°65 and $17-99 per acre more
than the yields from White Transparent under similar cireum-
stances.
Considering now the results obtained every year since
1900, it is seen that six seedlings have, on the average of the
seasons, done better than White Transparent as plant canes
on black soils. B. 3,696 comes first among these, with an
average return, for the nine years, of 6,112 tb. of muscovado
sugar peracre. The average yield given by White Trans-
parent was 5,211 tb. per acre, the value of this return being
$1631 less than the seedling. B. 1,529 takes second place,
with an average return of 5,762 1b., the value of which is
$9-97 per acre better than the crop from White Transparent.
B. 208 and B. 147 are third and fourth as plant canes on
black soils, their average crop yields since 1900 being
5,697 tb and 5,627 tb. of muscovado sugar per acre with
increased values of $8°80 and $7:53, respectively, compared
with White Trensparent.
Coming next to the red-soil estates, the superior crop-
yielding powers of many of the seedlings, compared with
White Transparent, is as evident over the whole period
1900-8, as in the season 1906-8 alone. Taking the results from
plant canes alone, White Transparent has given an average
return of 4,515 tb. of muscovado sugar per acre during the
nine years. This yield has been exceeded by nine seedlings, of
which B. 3,405 comes first, with an average annual return of
7,802 tb. of muscovado sugar, valued at $59°50, in excess of
the yield from White Transparent. B. 3,412 is second on the
list, with an average return of 7,467 Ib., worth $53°43 per acre
more than the crop from the standard cane. The other
seedlings which surpassed White Transparent in yield as
plant canes on red soils are : B. 3,390, average return 7,388 Ib.
of muscovado sugar per acre; B. 1,566, average return 6,894 bb. ;
B. 1,529, average return 5,470 Ib.; B. 376, average return
5,457 tb.; B. 1,521, average return 5,446 tb.; B. 208, average
return 5,353 Ib.; and D, 95, average return 5,116 tb. per acre.
Taking the average results both for plant canes and
ratoons on red soils during the past nine years, the returns
from White Transparent have been excelled by those from
four seedlings. The average yield for two crops (plant canes
and Ist ratoons) from White Transparent has been 9,012 tb.
Under the same circumstances, B. 208 gave an average
(two-year) crop of 9,724 Ib. of sugar per acre ; D. 95 yielded
10,403 Ib.; the average (two-year) crop from B. 376 was
10,778 tb.;, while B. 1,566 did best of all, giving an average
yield, over the two years, of 12,244 tb., worth 358-50 per
acre more than the return from White Transparent.
Some notes on new seedlings and on the manurial
experiments with sugar-cane in progress ab different
stations in the island will be given in the next issue,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JaNuARY 9, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland. of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date December 22, with reter-
ence to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report only 40 bales of West Indian Sea
Islands have been sold ; of these about 20 bales were Grenada
at 94d., 10 St. Kitt’s at 143d., a few bales of superfine
Barbados at 17d., the remainder being stains at 43d.
Holders of Carolina Sea Islands are more eager to sell,
fine quality cotton being quoted at 12}, and fully fine at
134d: The stock of superfine planters’ crop lots in that
market is very considerable (about 6,000 bales), and lots
which were held for 19d. to 20d., two or tbree months since,
are now offering at 14d. without finding buyers.
Spinners of Sea Islands cannot sell the finer qualities of
yarn, and are therefore spinning Georgias and Floridas,
which are selling at 10d. to 1ld. per tb. ; the outlook is
therefore not very encouraging.
NOTES FOR COTTON GROWERS.
Cotton picking has been in active progress for
some time on most estates where the crop is grown.
In many the first picking has already been
completed, and in Barbados and other islands, where
the leaf blister-nute does not exist, planters will shortly
be turning their attention to preparation for the second
crop.
In view of the frequent and heavy showers of rain that
have been experienced in one or two of the islands of late, it
should be generally understood that it is not wise to pick the
cotton until it has had a chance of drying thoroughly. For
the same reason picking should not be started in the morn-
ing until the sun has been up_ sufticiently long to dry up the
dew that has fallen in the night.
The advantage of a picking bag which enables stained
cotton to be separated from the clean product at the time of
gathering has been pointed out on more than one oceasion
in the Ayricultural News. A bag about 2 feet deep by 18
inches wide, with a pocket on the outside, halt the size of
the bag (1 foot deep and 18 inches wide), is very convenient.
The pocket is for the reception of the stained cotton.
In sorting or grading seed-cotton, light,
trays, of about 30 inches in diameter, have been found useful
on many cotton From St. Vincent it has been
reported that a tray the centre of Which is composed of
a meshwork of fine woven cane, with a diameter of wood,
has been adopted in some cases. ‘These trays are made
locally at a small price. The tray is held on the knee, and on
it the seed-cotton, as it comes from the field, is thrown and
cases
round
estates.
spread out.
undesirable cotton.
It has already been mentioned that cotton should not be
In this way it is easy to separate all stained and
picked when damp This is because it is impossible to
properly gin seed-cotton which is not thoroughly dry, and
naturally the price obtained for the resulting lint is not so
high as would have been the case if ginning had been properly
carried out. The advisability of thoroughly sunning the
cotton before sending to the ginnery is therefore at once
apparent.
The provision of due space between the cotton plants is
always an inportant matter, but it may be pointed out that wide
spacing and plenty of room are more important when a second
crop of cotton is expected than when only one crop is to be
gathered. At the time of the first yield, the plant is i:or-
mally erect, with short lateral branches given off from the
primary shoot on which the cotton bolls are borne ; after this
first crop has been gathered, large, spreading, lateral branches
grow out from the bottom of the primary stem, and these
must have plenty of room to develop if a good secondary yield
is to be expected. On no account, therefore, should the plants
be crowded. There should be of from 5 to 6 feet
between the rows, and if the plants are too crowded in the
rows, so that the secondary branches interfere with each other,
occasional plants should be pulled out.
The growth for the second picking has to take place in
the months of January, February. and March, which are
usually very dry. Since the plants need as much moisture as
they can get, in order to give the best results, it is important
that the land be kept in such a condition that the supply of
soil moisture is conserved as much as possible. Frequent
hoeings should therefore be given, in order to prevent the
upper layer from caking, and to provide a mulch of loose soil
a Space
e surtace.
BREAD-FRUITS OF THE TROPICS.
Under the above title the Tropical Agriculturist
of November last contains an article which deals with
the bread-frnit (Artocarpus incisa) so well known in
the West Indies, and other species of Artocarpus,
the fruits of which are used for food in different parts
of the world. Reference is also made toa number of
other tropical plants, to the produce (fruits, stems, and
tubers) of which the term ‘ bread’ has been applied by
the inhabitants of the country in which they grow.
Among these plants ure Treeulia africana, found in
Trepieal Afriea (and which belongs to the same natural
order—the Urticaceae—as the genus Artocarpus),
Pandanus Ne ran, a species of screw-pine with huge,
globular, pendant fruits, found in the Nicobar Is!ands,
Vou. VIII. No. 175. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
“4
and the ‘ bread-fruits’ of Northern Australia (Gardenia
edulis), together with several others. Undoubtedly
the most valuable kind ofall is the
Malaya and the South Sea Islands, which fourishes so
well in the West Indies. The following extracts deal-
ing with the species of Artocarpus are taken from the
article in question :—
Artocarpus incisa, the bread fruit proper, known also as
the ‘Tahiti bread-fruit,’ is, in regard to foliage, one of the
handsomest of tropical trees. Growing to a height of 40 to
50 feet, it bears very large shining leaves, which are deeply
cut into lobes. The fruit is oval or round in shape, and
about the size of a musk-melon. The fruit of the best
varieties contains no seed, the whole interior consisting of a
solid mass of fleshy pulp. This, when sliced and roasted,
somewhat resembles the crumb of a new loaf. It is much
esteemed in Ceylon as a vegetable for curries, and may also
be prepared and used in various other ways. It can there-
fore be understood why it forms the principal diet of the
natives of the South Sea Islands. The fruit should be
picked for use when it is full-grown and has not commenced
to ripen, the latter state being indicated by a softness of the
pulp. The green colour of the fruit is constant. The tree
thrives up to 1,500 feet in the moist, hot districts of Ceylon,
more especially in proximity to the sea. It is propagated by
suckers from the roots, and also by layering.
Artocarpus integrifolia, or the jack-fruit, is a common
but useful tree, and the produce is a standard article of food
with the working classes in the Eastern tropics. Though
met within a naturalized state in Ceylon, it is not indigenous,
having been originally brought from Southern India. That
it has now been introduced and established in almost all
tropical countries is only what is to be expected. The enor-
mous fruit, which may weigh anything up to 112 tb., is
borne on the trunk and older branches, sometimes at the base
of the trunk, or even under the ground surface. it is usually
oblong and irregular in shape, though sometimes almost
perfectly round or oval. The jack-fruit is a familiar object in
the moist low country of Ceylon. The pulp forms an important
article of food with the natives, whilst Europeans also relish
it when cooked in curries. When ripe, the whole fruit has an
overpowering odour, and, unfortunately, the stronger the
smell the better the quality of the fruit. To those who relish
the latter, however, the odour is not objectionable. The
edible pulp which fills the interior consists of a solid mass of
white or cream-coloured flaky substance, which is cooked and
prepared in various ways, and sometimes eaten raw. It is
sold in pieces at a few cents each. The seeds, which are of
the size and form of dates, are roasted and utilized in the
preparation of curries, etc. They are both tasty and nutri-
tious. There are numerous varieties of jack-tree, differing
chiefly in the shape and flavour of the fruit.
Artocarpus Lakoocha, known in India as the ‘ Monkey-
jack,’ is an erect tree with oblong, entire dark-green leaves,
which are about 8 inches long and 4 inches broad. It is
a native of Bengal, and though not a staple article of diet,
its fruit is said to be sometimes eaten and relished. The
fruit is roundish or oblong in shape, of the size of an orange.
The tree flourishes at Peradeniya, and in Southern India up
to 4,000 feet.
Artocarpus nolilis. —This is the indigenous bread-fruit
of Ceylon. it is a handsome tree, usually growing toa height
of about 50 feet, but sometimes to a much greater height.
It has a spreading habit, with a round head, and bears large
leathery leaves which are wavy at the margin. The fruit
is like a thick cone, 6 to 8 inches long; it is commonly
‘bread-fruit? of
eaten by the natives, being cooked and used as a vegetable
for curries, ete. It contains several round white seeds, of the
form of large peas, which are roasted and eaten. The tree
is confined to Ceylon, and grows in the moist low country up
to 2,000 feet. It is readily propagated by seed, and is well
worth cultivating as a handsome shade or timber tree.
BARBADOS INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION.
The annual Agricultural and Industrial Exhibi-
tion was held at Barbados on December 22 last. The
heavy showers of rain which fell at periodic intervals
throughout the day prevented the attendance from
being so large as usual, but it is estimated that the
number of persons visiting the show was about 1,400.
In view of the prolonged drought experienced at
Barbados during 1908, the exhibits of agricultural produce
were remarkably good. An excellent collection of plant and
ratoon canes was on view, the first prize for plant canes
being taken by a stool of B. 376 from Turner’s Hall estate.
The second prize in this class was awarded to a clump of
Bb. 208 trom Welches, St. Thomas. For ratoon canes,
Turner’s Hall estate again won first prize, with B. 208.
The fruit and vegetable sections were filled with a good
display of produce, and the prize-winning shaddocks, grape-
fruit and bananas were of fine quality. The good effect of
the recent showers of rain were evident in the excellent
collection of vegetables—bonavist and other beans, peas,
cabbages, tomatos, cucumbers, etc.
Although one or two fine animals were noticeable at the
Exhibition, the show of stock was, on the whole, poor as
compared with many previous years. In the horse class,
a gelding ‘Ivan,’ shown by Mr. 8. S. Robinson, gained a prize
of $6. A similar prize was awarded to Mr. Robert Arthur
for a bay horse, aged 32 months.
‘There were ouly five or six cattle on view, and the goats
also were below the usual standard. Among the sheep, how-
ever, there was one animal, shown by Mr. Eyare King, of
very good quality.
In the poultry class there were some really fine birds,
and a pen of Plymouth Rocks, which gained a first prize of
$2°50, may be especially mentioned. The best birds among
the Wyandottes and Leghorns were also of very good type.
Ducks were well represented, and there was an excellent
collection of pigeons.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Hon. Francis Watts, C.M.G., D.Sc., Analytical
and Agricultural Chemist, and Superintendent of Agri-
culture for the Leeward Islands, has been appointed
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West
Indies, in succession to Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G,
Dr. Watts assumed the duties of the post on January 6.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Se., Entomologist on the staff
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, left Barba-
dos on January 5 by the R. M.S. ‘Esk, for Antigua,
to make investigations in connexion with the attack of
the flower-bud maggot of cotton, recently experienced
in some parts of that island.
Mr. Joseph Jones, Curator of the Botanic Station,
Dominica, returned from England by the R. M.S.
‘Tagus’ on December 22 last, after five months’ leave
of absence,
(04)
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JANUARY 9, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
= — - ——
Sp, ye ey | \ c
Agricultural slew:
—— — = — __—- =
Vou. VII! SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909. No. 175.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The work of Sir Daniel Morris, K-C.MLG.. during
his tenure of the office of Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies (1898-1908), is reviewed
in the editorial ot the present issue. A picture of the
ex-Commissioner is given as a loose supplement with
this number.
A new variety of orange, known as the ‘King,’ is
reported from Florida as yielding fruit. of exceptional
qnality. An excellent display of West Indian produce
was on view at the recent Colonial Fruit Show in
London (page 4).
A summary of the chief results obtained in the
Barbados sngar-cane experiments during the season
1906-8 will be found on page 5.
Cotton picking, and the preparation for a second
crop are briefly discussed on page 6. The market prices
for Sea Island cotton continue low,
An article containing particulars of the various
‘bread: fruits’ of the tropics is given on pp. 6 and 7,
An account with illustrations of the insect respon-
sible for the fower-bud dropping of cotton at Antigua
appeus under Insects Note (page 10).
Ceara iubber has given very promising results in
Hawani (page 11).
Notes on the establishment of agricultural banks
will be found on page 13; while some recent views on
insurance against hurricane damage in the West Indies
are summarized in a iengthy article on page 15.
Agricultural News.
Seven volumes of the Agricultural News have now
been cotmpieted, and the present issue forms the first
number of Volume VILL.
_ The index and title-page of Volume VII are in
active preparation, and will be issued «4s soon as possible,
Da
Raphia Fibre and Wax.
Raphia fibre, produced trom the leaves of the palm
Raphia Rufia, has in past years figur das a valuable
item in the exports from Madagi-car. The latest
export returns of that island, however, show a consider-
able decline in the shipments of the fibre. While in
1905, the shipments were worth £95,113, in 1907 they
had fallen to a value of £64,430. This is owing to
lower prices obtained on the English market, 3
Raphia fibre consists of flat, straw-coluured Strips
from 3 to 4 feet long. In Madagascar it is used in the
manufacture of hats, mats, and as a material for Wrap-
ping up goods. In- England it has been woven into
superior matting and used instead of tapestry for cover-
ing walls. ;
The leaves of the Raphia palm also contain a wax
(see Agricultural News, Vol. V, p. 373) of which
samples have been prepared and put on the market.
It fetched a price of only 1s. per th, however, and since
this was not regarded as a remunerative fivure, no
shipments have been made on a commercial scale,
EO OO
St. Lucia Agricultural School.
It is intended to make a considerable extension of
the area under cultivation at the St. Lucia Agri-
enltural School, with the special object of planting
more cacao and other permanent crops, and good
progress was made with this work in 1907-8.
Three sections of land are being dealt with, of
areas 8 acres, 10 acres, and 27 acres, respectively. These
have been cleared of trees and undergrowth, ‘enclosed
with barbed-wire fencing, and the two smaller sections
forked, drained, and prepared for cultivation. Tempor-
avy Crops, such as bananas, provision Crops, corn, Cotton,
pigeon etc., have first been grown, but it is
intended ultimately to convert the land into a cacao
plantation, and young cacao has already been planted
over the greater portion of these two smaller sections.
Provision crops will be cultivated between the rows of
evan for a few years, and bananas have been planted
for the purpose of providing shade for the young trees.
The third section of land will be utilized for pasturage
purposes. ;
This scheme was started with the-object of estab-
lishing plantations of permanent crops, the returns from
which will supply the revenue for the upkeep of the
School, formerly provided by the Grant-in-Aid from Im-
perial funds which is now gradually diminishing, and
will, it is hoped, be as successful as it deserves. This
extended area of cultivation also provides a wider field
of practical training for the pupils, and for future experi-
ment work.
peas,
Vor. Vill INox 175:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 9
The late Hon. T. D. Foote, of Antigua.
The Hon. T. D. Foote, who for many years has
been recognized as the senior planting Attorney in
Antigua, died on December 9 last, at the age of
$5 years. He had been connected with the ‘Tudway ’
estates for sixty-nine yearsand last July completed
fifty years as their attorney.
Mr. Foote during his life-time occupied many
prominent positions with conspicuous ability and credit.
He was a member of the Federal Conncils of the Lee-
ward Islands and of Antigua. and was formerly
President both of the Anrigna and the Federal Legisla-
tive Councils. He was also President of the Antigua
Agricultural and Commercial Society from its forma-
tion up to the time of his death. 3
$$
Dominica Agricultural School.
Prizes are awarded annually at the Dominica
Agricultural School to the boy who is adjudged to have
had the best kept private garden during the year, aud
to the boy who has done best in the field work im the
same period. These awards are a stimulus to the boys,
and promote a spirit of healthy rivalry, which undoubt-
edly has good results on the quality of the work.
Mr. A. J. Brooks the Master-in-charge of the school,
reports that in the past year the marks gained by
each individual boy were much higher than on former
occasions. ‘The competition was so keen in the field
work that it was ditheult to allot the prize. The boy
(George de Lachevotierre) to whom it was awarded,
gained the whole 100 per cent. of the possible marks,
while the four boys next in order of merit gained 99°8
per cent. of the total. In the competition for the
private garden prize, F. Francis came first with 98°6 per
cent. of the total marks possible.
SS—_—_—
Bath Springs at Nevis.
Au analytical report on a sample of water from
the Bath Springs, Nevis, supplied by Dr. John C.
Thresh to Messrs. Gillespie, Bros. & Co., appeared in
the West India Committee Circular of December
8 iast. Dr. Thresh states that the water closely resem-
bles that from the Wildbad thermal springs of
Wurtembury, which are extensively used for chronic
rhenmatism and gout. There is no constituent present
which would render the water deleterious for drinking
purposes, It is flee from any signs of pollution. As
the result of physical examination, it is mentioned that
the water is clear and bright, and free from odour of
any sort, A slight sediment of sand was deposited on
standing. The total solids dissolved in the water
amount to 637 parts per 100,000. These include
a number ot valuable saline constituents.
As pointed out by the Circular, these mineral
springs are a valuable asset, and, if better known in
Europe and America, should prove an additional
source of attraction for invalids and their friends to the
healthy and interesting island in which they exist.
Millions and Mosquitos.
The good work done by the small Barbados fish
known as ‘millions’ in feeding upon mosquito larvae, as
well as on the eggs and pupae of those insects, has
frequently been referred to in the Agricultural News
(see Vol. VI, page 138), and shipments of these fish
have been made by the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture to several other of the West Indian islands,
and also to more distant parts of the world.
While the two species of mosquito, Culer
fatigans and Stegomyiu fusciuta are well known in
Barbados, the Anopheles species, which are responsible
for the transmission of malaria, are not found in the
island, and the theory has been put forward that their
absence is due to the presence of the * millions ’ in the
shallow streams and pools where these mosquitos
would naturally breed. The Culew and Stegomyia
mosquitos breed in small temporary collections of
water such as those found on house-tops, and in rain-
water tubs, ete.
In view of the interesting nature of this subject,
a pamphlet entitled * Milhons and Mosquitos’ has
lately been prepared by Mr. H. A. Ballou, M. Se,
Entomologist on the statf of the Imperial Department
of Agriculture, and issued by the Department. ‘This
pamphlet gives a brief account of these fish, their
habits, their relation to the mosquitos, and a de-erip-
tion of the manner in which they have been suecess-
fully transported. The price is 3d, post free for 35d.
Analysis of Cotton Plant.
A sample cotton plant from which the cotton had
already been removed, was lately submitted for analysis
to the Government Laboratory, Barbados, by a planter
of the island.
From Professor d’Albuquerque’s statement of
analysis, 1b appears that the total weight of the plants
grown on an acre (1.556 holes) amounted to 6,224 th.,
containing 4,207 tb. (67'6 per cent.) of organic or humus-
forming material. The actual quantity of mitrogen in
this weight of plants amounted to 1139 th.—of phos-
phoric anhydride 2671 th, and of potash 510 tb.
When the qnantities of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and
potash contained in the cotton seed are taken into
consideration, 16 will be seen that the cotton crop
makes fairly extensive demands on the fertility of
the soil, the amount of nitrogen withdrawn being
especially noteworthy, in comparison with many crops.
It will be seen that the old cotton plants contain
a very large proportion of organic matter, and although
this is chiefly in the form of hard wood which takes
some time to decay, the plants are undoubtedly well
utilized if apphed to the land for manurial purposes.
When turned into the ground the incorporation of such
a large bulk of material of this nature loosens the soil,
and probably results at first in the loss of a certain
amount of soil moisture, but decay rapidly proceeds,
and the humus thus formed ultimately increases the
water-holding capacity of the land.
10 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
January 9, 1909.
INSECT NOTES.
Flower-bud dropping of cotton.
The insect peat of cotton known as the flower-bud
maggot (Contariiia yossypii) has again made its
appearance at Antigua, bat ne dete uls are yet to hand
as to the severity of the present attac +k. It will be
remembered by readers of the Agricultural News
that the Entomologist on the staff of the Imperial
Department of Agriculture visited) Antigua during
me tac and March 1908 in connexion with the first
outbreak of this insect. His report, which was pub-
lished in the Agricultural News (see Vol. VII, p. 154),
gave an account of the insect and its manner of attack
on the cotton plant.
The following brief summary and the accompany-
ing illustrations ail serve to present the principal
known facts in regard to this pest :—
The insect to which the name Contarinia gossypii las
been given is a minute fly, the adult female being about
1 mm. (2 inch) in length. The antennae are about twice
as long as the body, and the spread of wings is about 3- mm.
(2 inch).
Fic. 1. Contarinia female fly (enlarged).
The injury to the cotton is caused by the larva, a yellowish
maggot, whic chis found in the flower bud. ‘The female fly
inserts her eggs into the tissues of the cotton flower bud and
the maggots which hateh from the eggs feed inside the bud
and cause it to fall to the ground.
JOSSYprr 5
End of
Fie. 2.
body of female fly, showing thread-like
ovipositor (enlarged).
Buds which have fallen to the ground very rarely have
maggots in them. This is because the maggots leave the
buds to go into the ground for the purpose of pupating and
developing into the adult winged insect.
Infested cotton flower buds can generally be recognized
on the plant, because the bracts surrounding the bud always
‘flare,’ that is, instead of retaining their normal position
close around the bud, they are turned back so as to fully
expose the bud.
The attack in 1907-8 was very
parts of Antigua suffered severely. Wild cotton was found
to be infested, but whether this is the natural food plant
from which the flower-bud maggot has spread to the culti-
vated cotton is not yet known. The maggot in the bud
is attacked by parasitic insects which probably exert a great
influence in checking the outbreak of this pest.
severe. Cotton in all
Figs93:
It was noticed that the first attack of this pest appeared
in December 1907, that early planted cotton escaped
with much less injury than the late planted, and that the
loss was greater also on the heavy damp soils, and in fields
where there was a tendency to a rapid growth of weeds.
No remedial measures have given any definite results.
The attack subsided naturally during March and April.
Contarinia gossypie :
larva or maggot (enlarged).
Scale Insects at Dominica.
Ata meeting of the Dominica Agricultural
Commercial Society, held on November 30. last,
the presidency of Dr. H. A. Alford Nicholls, C.M.G., an
address was given by Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Se., Ento-
mologist on “the staff of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture, on the subject of scale insects attacking
lime and other citrus fruit trees at Dominica.
and
under
Mr. Ballou referred to the severe attack of scale insect
‘blight’ which the lime growers of the island had experienced
in 1902-3 (see Agricultural News, Vol. I, 232), and
mentioned that the two scale insects which were chiefly
responsible for the damage were the Mussel Shell or Purple
scale (Mytilaspis eztricola), and the Orange Snow scale
(Chionaspis citr’). Two other scales, very much alike, which
were also found on the fruit trees, were the Green Shield
scale (Lecanium viride) and the soft shield scale (Lecantum
hesperidum). These two insects were soft greenish scales,
most usually found on the undersides of the leaves and on
the young twigs. They are dangerous pests, and every
effort should be made by planters to get rid of them,
Particulars were given as to the manner in which these
insects are hatched, and distributed from place to place, and
also as to their manner of life and the way in which they
feed.
The so-called ‘ black blight ’ was usually evident on
trees infested with seale insects. This of itself does little
harm to the tree, as the fungus lives on the excretion of the
scales, and not on the juices of the leaves. All trees showing
the presence of black blight should be sprayed with one of
the various washes recommended by the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture. The dry season was the best time for
carrying out spraying operations.
Vou. VIIT. No. 175
THE AGRICULTURAL
CEARA RUBBER IN HAWAII.
The characteristics of the Ceara rubber tree
(Manihot Glaziovii), the best methods of cultivation
and tapping, the preparation of the produce, and the
results so fur achieved in Hawaii, are discussed in
Bulletin 16, issued by the Hawaiian Agricultural
Experiment Station, The natural home of this rubber
tree is in the dry districts of Brazil. It has been intro-
duced into Jamaica, Trinidad and other West Indian
islands, as well as into British Gaiana, but is regarded
as a much less valuable kind than the Para and
Castilloa varieties. In Hawau, however, it is reported
to grow even better thau in its native Braziliau habitat,
and to have shown remarkably good results. About
360,000 trees of this species had been planted in the
Hawaiian Islands up to a year ago.
In the experiments described, the young Ceara plants
were raised in a nursery bed, situated in a dry and sunny
district. Dealing with this stage of the work, it is mentioned
that seeds of Manihot Glaziouii from six to eighteen months
old usually germinate better than seeds fresh from the tree.
The seeds usually retain their vitality from two to three
years. In consequence of the thickuess of the seed-coat, it
is advisable, in order to hasten germination, to file the edges
of the coat.
The seedlings are transferred to pots about a week after
germination. Later on, the young plants are set out in the
fields in holes about 2 feet across, and as deep as practicable.
A good time of transplanting to the fields is at the beginning
of the rainy season, Close planting is recommended,
10 feet by 10 feet, or 12 feet by 12 feet.
Rubber has so far been planted without admixture with
any other crop in Hawaii. It is believed, however, that such
crops as pine-apples, tobacco, soy beans, cassava, and garden
vegetables might profitably be grown between the rubber trees
for the first two or three years. In this way an early return
will be obtained from the Jand, and the rubber trees will
benefit from the cultivation given to the under The
mulching of rubber trees with leaves, grass, weeds, etc., is
also highly recommended.
such as
crops.
The Ceara tree frequently sheds its bark and rapidly
forms a new growth. It is recommended that the entire
outer bark be removed without injuring the living bark
beneath, before beginning to tap the tree. The ‘ vertical
cut ’ system has been found to be the best method of tapping
Ceara rubber. In this, from one to six vertical cuts, with or
without oblique laterals, are made. The Hawaiian officials
state that a number of vertical cuts, from 3 to 6 inches
apart, without oblique laterals except at the base, gives the
heaviest yield of rubber and the least waste. The cuts
should be very shallow, so as to avoid injury to the young
bark It is believed that daily tappings for a period of two
to four weeks or more will yield much better results than
tapping on alternate days, or at longer intervals over a period
of several months. The recovery of the tree, too, is more
rapid under the former conditions.
The best time for tapping appears to be in the night, or
very early in the morning. Ceara latex coagulates very
rapidly under ordinary circumstances, and as a result the flow
of latex tends to stop within a very short time after tapping.
By trickling a stream of water, made alkaline with ammonia,
over the wound, the flow may be continued for so long as
from thirty to forty minutes. This is effected by fastening
a cloth bag containing water to the tree, just above the cuts
made in tapping. Coagulation is brought about by the
NEWS. il
addition of
a boiling concentrated solution of ammonium
sulphate. The temperature of the liquid, however, should
not be allowed to go above 170° F., or the elasticity of
the rubber will be injured. Washing and drying follow, and
after this the rubber is ready for shipment.
As already mentioned, the Ceara rubber tree flourishes
very well in| Hawaii, and many trees are reported to show
a growth of from 10 to 15 feet in a single season, with
girth measurements in proportion. The results so far
achieved indicate that the first returns of rubber may be
obtained at the end of five years.
GRENADA BOARD OF EDUCATION AND
AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION.
At a meeting of the Grenada Board of Education,
held in) November last, the Board expressed its
sympithy with the scheme of reading courses, and
examinations in theoretical and practical agriculture
lately estabhshed by the Imperial Department of
Agriculture _ aud the aa of Schools for the colony
was directed to consider in what way the Board could
assist in furthering the aims and views of the Depart-
ment in this matter. The Inspector of Bente has
lately issued a circular letter to school managers and
teachers in Grenada, in which he suggests that the
examinations im agriculture at present held in the
elementary schools of the colony be replaced by the
Preliminary Examination in the syllabus of the Imper-
ial Department of Agriculture, which may in some
cases be taken by pupils before leaving school.
In view of this suggestion, which the Inspector of
Schools has recommended shall be adopted by the
Board of Education, it is seen that the scheme may
probably in future be of considerable value in the
educational system of the colony. The following
extracts dealing with the examinations are taken from
the circular letter above-mentioned :—
It is intended by the Imperial Department of Agriculture
to exact a high standard of proficiency, especially on the
practical side ; and as it is most desirable for the older boys
who think of taking up agriculture as a profession on leaving
school, to have ‘ites benefits and objects of the scheme put
before them early, a great deal of methodical work which
cannot fail to be remunerative, can thus be conveniently
achieved by the teaching body.
It is my intention to recommend to the Board of Eduea-
tion that in place of the examination in Agriculture hitherto
conducted by the Inspectors at the annual examinations of
schools, those now proposed to be held for the issue of
certificates of proficiency should be substituted. One very
great advantage of this proposal is that Primary School
pupils who propose sitting for the Imperial Department’s
certificates would have, in addition to the teaching received
at school, the benefit of such lectures, advice and demonstra-
tions, as might from time to time be given and carried out
in the several districts by the Department’s officers. The
payment of a fixed Inmp sum to teachers for every certificate
gained at the respective examinations would, I feel sure, be
sutticient incentive to them to devote their best services to
the furtherance of this scheme which has been designed for
no particular class, but with the object of benefiting the
entire community.
12 THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS:
JaANuARY 9, 1909.
GLEANINGS,
A manager is required for the Antigua Cotton Factory.
Applications should be addressed to the Secretary.
The cane-reaping season in Java was lately completed,
and the sugar crop for the past year is estimated at 1,180,000
tons, as compared with 1,156,477 tons in 1907.
The Ayshire bull ‘ Duke of Truro,’ lately advertized
for sale from the Stock Farm, Agricultural School, St. Vin-
cent, has been sold to a purchaser in that island.
The number of rice mills in British Guiana increased
from forty-four in 1906-7 to fifty-six in 1907-8. Many of
these mills, however, are smal! and reported to be but poorly
equipped.
The output of coffee is largely on the increase in Mexico.
While the crop of last season was 33,000,' 00 Ib., that for
1908-9 is estimated at 81,000,000 th. (Board of Trade
Journal.)
A resolution has been passed by the Trinidad Chamber
of Agriculture inviting the agriculturists of the island to
plant all their waste land with timber trees in view of the
rapid destruction of forest land and the growing scarcity of
lumber.
The past December has been a remarkably rainy month
at Barbados, heavy showers having fallen on practically
every day during the fortnight previons te Christmas. A total
of & inches of rain was registered at Hastings from December
14 to 24.
At a meeting of shareholders of the Barbados Cotton
Factory, held on December 18 last, a resolution ‘ that the
capital of the company be increased from £9,000 to £10,906
10s. by the creation of 3,813 new shares of 10s. each ’ was
carried by a large majority.
The present season’s cotton crop in the Virgin Islands is
reported to be a very good one, and will, it is thought, be
three times as valuable as the crop of 1907-8. On Decem
ber 1) and 12 last, seed-cotton to the value of 3860 was
shipped from Tortola, (Lighthourn's Mail Notes.)
Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co. report that the wet
weather experienced during the fortnight before Christmas
seriously hampered rice milling operations in British Guiana.
Shipments of rice to the West India islands in the fortnight
December 24 amounted to about 1,500 bags. Prices
1 steady.
ended
In connexion with the offer of the Trinidad Board of
Agriculture to pay $100 for each 100 moths of the ‘ cane
sucker’ (Castnia licus) sent in by school children (see last
issue of Ayricultural News, p. 409), it may be mentioned
that for the three weeks ending December 16 last, a total of
3,082 moths, collected on the Caroni estate, were received.
The agent of Messrs. Henry Head & Co., insurance
brokers, in a letter to the Dominica Guardian, states that
while the value of the property in Dominica insured against
damage by hurricanes and earthquakes was a little over
£16,000 in 1907, it had advanced to about £33,000 at the
end of 1908.
In accordance with the resolution lately adopted by the
British Guiana Court of Policy (see Agricultural Ne MS tOl
November 28 last, p. 383), his Excellency the Governor,
Sir Frederic Hodgson, K.C.M.G., has appointed a Com-
mission, of which the Hon. B, Howell Jones is Chairman,
to enquire into, and report upon the question of establish-
ing an Agricultural School in the colony.
A total of S646 was awarded in prizes at the Savannah
Grande peasant show held under the auspices of the Trinidad
Agricultural Society at Princes’ Town on December 22 last.
Of this amount, 3279 were granted by the Society and $367
collected locally. There were 147 entries from cane farmers
in the Savannah Grande district, and the sum of $220 was
awarded as prizes in the class for cane cultivations.
Following the example of Great Britain, Germany has,
in recent years, made efforts to establish a cotton-growing
industry in her colonial dependencies. The cotton exports
from Togoland were 857 bales in 1905-6, and 1,200 bales in
1906-7. The cultivation of the crop has also been promoted
in German East Africa, and the Cameroons. (U.S. Consular
Reports.)
The Straits Times refers to the excellent quality of some
specimens of banana fibre exhibited at a recent agricultural
show at Agri, Federated Malay States. Fibre has on many
occasions, it is said, been extracted and prepared from
banana and plantain stems in the Malay States. This fibre
is sufticiently strong for rope-making purposes, and may also
be utilized in the manufacture of carpets, rugs, and window
sereens.
Reports from British Guiana state that the American
syndicate which has purchased land in West Coast, Berbice,
for rice growing, intend for the present, to limit their opera-
tions to 200 acres. The latest mechanical processes that are
in use in the Southern States of America will be adopted in
British Guiana, and it is stated that the necessary machinery
has now been ordered, and experienced hands are being
engaged to introduce the American system of cultivation.
A note appeared in the last issue of the Ayrieultural News
(p. 408) dealing with experiments in molasses feeding.
A quantity of 10 Ib. of molasses per day was mentioned as
the maximum amount given daily to horses in Germany. It
may be noted, however, that the editor of the Louiscana
Planter (October 17 last) mentions 15 Tb. of molasses as_ the
average quantity usually given per mule in Louisiana.
A complete ration for a mule consists of 15 Ib. molasses,
15 tb. chatfed hay, and 2 Ib. cotton-seed meal, well mixed
together.
‘Vor. VIII. No.
175.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 13
AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION.
Encouragement of Movement in Great Britain.
With the object of promoting the principles of
co-operation amodug small holders in) England and
Wales, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has
lately made a grant of £1,200 per annum, for a period
of three years, to the Agricultural Organization Society,
which exists for the purpose of encouraging and assist-
ing the practice of co-operation among agriculturists.
The chief conditions under which
is made, are :—
(1) That the work of the Society shall be confined to
organization and auditing only. By the term ‘organization ’
is understood : the advocacy of the adoption of co-operative
methods by the agricultural classes for their benefit, the
giving of advice and instruction as to the application of the
principles of co-operation to industries for the benefit of the
rural population, and the giving of advice and assistance to
co-operative societies in the conduct of their affairs.
(2) The Society shall appoint at least three organizers
for the promotion of co-operation in connexion with the
-cultivation of small holdings and allotments, of whom one
shall be conversant with the organization of co-operative
societies for the production and sale of poultry and eggs.
this, grant
AGRICULTURAL BANKS.
The great assistance that the peasant agricultural
-classof these colonies might derive from the institution of
agricultural banks in the several islands has frequently
been urged by a number of advocates, although little
has so far been done to demonstrate in a practical way,
by the establishment of such banks, the actual value of
these institutious. The subject has on several occasions
of late been brought forward in Trinidad, and not long
ago the Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution,
asking the Government seriously to consider the ques-
tion of the establishment of an agricultural bank in the
colony, for the benefit of the peasant proprietor class.
The Port-of-Spain Gazette strongly supports this propo-
sal, and points to the fact that the number of peasant
proprietors in the colony is on the increase, and with the
encouragement afforded by an agricultural bank, would tend
to be a still more valuable asset in the prosperity of the
island. It is mentioned that several estate proprietors in
Trinidad, recognizing the fact that a peasant proprietary class
~ensures the existence of a steady and regular supply of labour
in the district in which they have their holdings, have them-
selves been in the habit of making money advances to small
holders, on the security of the crops cultivated by the latter.
The article in the Gazette concludes as’ follows :—
What is really required is that there should be estab-
lished—in the form of a Government guarantee at least, and
possibly at first even as a Government, institution—a means
whereby the*small pfopriétor can secure at a reasonable rate
of interest, and without fear of risking his small property by
seeking advances from money lenders, the comparatively
-small advances he needs for his cultivation, and whereby at
the same time there may be no practical risk of loss of the
money to the corporation by whom it is lent. Whether here
in Trinidad, as in some other countries, such an institution
ought to be a purely Government scheme, the profits from
which. go to the State, or whether it should be merely the
busmess of State to provide all the needful encouragements
and sategnards to induce a private corporation to take
up the movement is, no doubt, a matter for consideration :
but we think it cannot be denied that sucha bank is
urgently wanted in this colony.
now
There are a number of systems under which
agricultural banks or credit societies have been estab-
lished in different countries of the world. Probably the
most successful, however, especially among small holders
and peasant proprietors, as opposed to agriculturists on
a larger scale, is the ‘ Raitteisen’ system.
The main features of banks of the Raiffeisen type are
(1) that no shares are issued, the necessary capital for making
advances being raised by means of entrance fees, subscriptions
and deposits, and loans bearing a fixed rate of interest ; (2)
that the hability of the members is unlimited, every meinber
being jointly and severally responsible for any losses that may
be incurred by the society ; and (3) that the loans advanced
are for reproductive purposes only, i.e., that the object to
which the money is applied is one that affords a reasonable
security for the loan.
Under the encouragement of the Department of Agri-
culture and Technical Instruction, banks of the above class
have been established in all parts of Ireland, and in 1907
there were no Jess than 246 in existence in that country.
With similar encouragement and assistance at the start, there
is no apparent reason why such societies may not
established with success in Trinidad.
be
It will be remembered that a pamphlet (No. 35)
entitled * Information in regard to Agricultural Banks,
containing papers on the subject by Mr. Wim, Fawcett,
late Director of Public Gardens at Jamaica, and others,
has been issued by the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture. ‘The price of this pamphlet is 4/.: post free
5d.
AGRICULTURAL BANKS IN BENGAL.
The progress of the Agricultural credit movement
and the increase in the number of small agricultural
banks among small holders of land in Bengal are report-
ed to be most encouraging.
In 1907, according to the Quarterly Journal of the
Bengal Department of Agriculture, there were in existence in
the province 165 registered rural societies with a membership
of 6,903. The loans issued by these societies during 1906-7,
amounted to 90,085 rupees (over £6,000). A year later
(June 30, 1908) the number of rural societies had more than
doubled, no less than 333 being then registered.
The greater number of these societies are of the
Raiffeisen type, and experience shows that this kind of co-
operation is peculiarly suited to a poor agricultural popula-
tion, like that of India. The agricultural banks are not only
of valuable service by advancing cheap loans, but by their
methods of organization, they serve as a means of teaching
thrifty and business-like habits.
What is known as ‘ grain banks’ also exist in Bengal.
These advance supplies of seed to small holders, which are
afterwards returned in kind, with a small extra amount added
as interest for the accommodation.
14 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
January 9, 1909:
AGRICULTURAL AND
COMMERCIAL SOCIETY.
At a meeting of the above society held on
November 20 last, Mr. H. A. Tempany, B. Se., (acting
Hon. Secretary), read a paper briefly outlining the
results achieved during the past year in the work of
cotton seed selection in Antigua.
At the same meeting the Hon. Dr. F. Watts, C.M.G.,
drew attention to the prevalance of eelworms attacking crops
in the Presidency, and pointed out that attacks of this pest
on sugar-cane roots were by no means unknown. He further
stated that, in the case of the sugar-cane, the diagnosis of the
pest from external characters would probably be a matter of
some difticulty, since it would appear likely that the swellings
characteristic of its presence when attacking dicotyledonous
plants would not be developed on the sugar-cane.
Microscopic preparations were exhibited showing the appear-
ance of the pest when attacking okras (//thiscus esculentus).
A meeting of the Society was also held on
December 18 last, under the presidency of Dr. Francis
Watts, C.M.G.
A resolution, proposed by Mr. A. P. Cowley, and seconded
by Mr. J. D. Harper, was carried unanimously, by which the
Society placed on record its deep sense of regret at the death
of the Hon. T. D. Foote, senior planting attorney of the
island, and Chairman of the Antigua Agricultural and
Commercial Society since its inception.
A second resolution, proposed by Mr. A. G. Spooner,
seconded by. Mr. 8. L. Cranstoun, and also carried unani-
mously, was in regard to the retirement of Sir Daniel Morris,
4K.C.M.G. In this resolution the Society expressed its appre-
ciation of the energy and ability of the Commissioner, and
the valuable work carried out by lim in the West
Indies during the past ten years.
Several members spoke in support of the above resolu-
tion, among them being Mr. A. P. Cowley. Mr. Cowley
mentioned that he was a delegate to the second West Indian
Agricultural Conference held at Barbados in 1900, at which
he was requested to advocate the appointment of a Science
Master for the Antigua Grammar School. Thanks to the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, a Science Master had
been provided. Another matter he might mention in which
Antigua had benefited through the Department was that
a regular supply of good onion seed had been obtained for
the island, and Antigua now produced splendid crops of onions.
On putting the matter before the Society, it was decided
to hold an Agricultural Show towards the end of 1909. The
Secretary was instructed to apply for the usual financial help
for this purpose from the Colonial Secretary at Antigua, and
from the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
Dr. Francis Watts brought before the notice of the
meeting the fact that the ‘flower-bud maggot’ (see Agrveyl-
tural News, Vol. VII, page 154), which was responsible tor
considerable destruction on some cotton estates at Antigua
last year, had again made its appearance. Dr, Watts pointed
out that while in the case of early planted cotton, which had
already set its bolls, little apprehension need be entertained,
in the case of late planted cotton, the flowers of which were
but then forming, the consequence of the attack might be
very serious indeed,
EAST INDIAN IMMIGRANTS IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
Some interesting particulars in relation to the
immigration of East Indians into British Guiana, and
the canditions of labour in that colony are contained in
the report for 1907-8 of the Immigration Agent General
at Georgetown.
During the year ended March 31, 1908, a total of
1,855 immigrants from Caleutta arrived in the*colony. Of
these, seventy-two had previously resided in British Guiana,
and four in other colonies.
The total East Indian population of British Guiana.
is returned as 132,850. Of these, 69,149 are resident on
estates, 9,784 being indentured.
The following notes are quoted from the report :—
Work generally has been plentiful during the period
under review, and the rates of payment have been very fair.
It is satisfactory to note that in view of the increasing incli-
nation of the labourer to cultivate rice on his own account,
and of the fact that the crop time for rice and for sugar-cane
takes. place at the same time, planters ‘are endeavouring. to
obviate the difficulty by re-arranging their times of grinding,
and trying to avail themselves of that part of the year now
known as the ‘slack season.’ In this way it is hoped to
make the employment of labour more even throughout the
year.
The District Immigration Agent at Berbice [whose
report is similar in substance to those of agents in several
other districts] states that in his area there has been plenty
of work, and no complaints have been made to him of
inability to obtain employment. The rates paid for the
different kinds of work appear to have been fair throughout
the district. Soine of the estate managers experienced great
difficulty in obtaining labour during the grinding season.
This may be attributed to the fact that the harvesting and
milling of the rice takes place during the same months as the
cane grinding operations are in progress, and unless a change
of the seasons can be brought about, the present state of
affairs is almost sure to continue. The immigrants resident
in the villages prefer working in the rice fields, as they allege
that they can earn higher wages in this way than when
employed on sugar estates.
Dealing with the characteristics of the coolie immi-
grants, and their value as settlers in the colony, the
Agent General writes :—
Originally introduced to satisfy the requirements of
the planting body, these immigrants and their descendants
have gradually spread themselves over the country, reelaim-
ing places formerly lying waste, and opening up new tracts
of land on the creeks and rivers from the Corentyne to the
North-West District. With their thrifty, industrious habits
and unflagging perseverance in the face of loss by drought
and flood, they form the very ideal of settlers for a tropical
country such as British Guiana. In view of this, it seems a
pity that the proportion of the immigrants who return to-
India should continue to be so large. Ido not think it too
much to say that with some slight encouragement, greater
numbers might easily be induced to settle down in the
colony. This seems the more probable, seeing that during
the past twelve months, no less than 101 individuals voluntari-
ly gave up their right to the return passage to India, which
appears to indicate that they do not now value the privilege of
repatriation so highly as they once did.
Wor; VII Nov 175: THE
AGRICULTURAL
+t
NEWS. il
INSURANCE OF CROPS AND _ BUILD-
INGS AGAINST HURRICANE DAMAGE.
The system of insurance started a few years ago
for the purpose of providing West Indian planters with
a means of safe-guarding their cultivated crops, and also
their buildings against damage by hurricane, lately
formed the subject of a lengthy article im the London
Times (see Agricultural News, Nov. 14 last, page 357).
The question has been further followed up by Mr. E. A.
Agar, of Dominica, wno contributed a letter to the
Times on October 30 last, dealing with this matter of
ansurance from the point of view of the planter.
Mr. Agar points out that, although there can be no
-doubt as to the value of this kind of insurance, yet the
system has not so far been the success it deserves to be in the
West Indies, owing to the fact that the scope of insurance is
too narrow, and especially that the rates are too high.
Carefully collected statistics show that the actual
-damage suffered in Dominica during the last century as the
result of hurricanes was about one-sixtieth of ] per cent. per
annum. Yet the annnal premium of insurance asked tor
-cacao and limes is 2 per cent. If the adoption of insurance
became general, however, the receipts would be largely
increased, in proportion to the cost of administration, and
premiums would probably be placed at a lower figure.
The difficulty of properly assessing the actual damage
-done to permanent cultivations such as cacao by a hurricane,
when the chief effects noticeable are twisted branches, broken
bark, etc., partial destruction of a wind-break, is referred to,
and the need of a systematic basis on which a workable
system of insurance may properly be established is pointed
out.
Mr. Agar juts forward the suggestion that since the
-actual path of a hurricane is known exactly, and is afterwards
-charted by the United States Weather Bureau, the chart thus
issued should serve as the basis for deciding the amounts
that should be paid for damage. On this system it is proposed
that estates which lie within 15 miles of the line followed by
the centre of the hurricane be paid 100 percent. of the vaine
-of their crops, estates outside 15 miles but within 25 miles,
SO per cent.; within 40 miles, 50 per cent. ; within 60 miles,
20 per cent.; while nothing be paid in the case of estates
lying outside a radius of 60 miles.
In the case of limes, the greater proportion (about 80
per cent.) is gathered during the six months from July to
December, viz., 15 per cent. of the crop in July, 50 per cent.
in August, 30 per cent. in September, 7 per cent. in October,
6 per cent. in November, and 12 per cent. in December. If
-a hurricane occurred at any time during this period, the
portion of the lime crop that had been already gathered
would in justice be first eliminated from the claim, 1. e.,
should the hurricane be experienced in July, damage would
be claimed (on the system suggested above) over the whole
~erop ; but if in August, over only 85 per cent. (15 per cent.
of the fruit having been already reaped), in September 55
per cent., and so on. According to these proposals, a hme
crop insured for £1,000, would be entitled to receive, if
the estate were situated 40 miles distant from the
-of 50 per cent. of the amount of the policy, or £275.
With cacao the whole of the Christmas crop would be
affected by a hurricane, and claims would be based merely on
the distance of estates from the centre of the storm.
' In further reference to this question, the following
brief article, dealing with the extension of the move-
line»
followed by a hurricane occurring in September, 55 per cent.
ment for insurance against hurricane damage in the
West Indies, which appeared in the West India Com-
mittee Circular of November 24 last, should also be of
interest to planters :—
During the course of the present year a largely increased
business in hurricane insurance has been transacted. This
has been particularly noticeable in the case of Barbados, where
the demand for this form of insurance during the hurricane
season was so great that Messrs. Henry Head & Co. were at
some difficulty in placing the risks, owing to the fact that
underwriters at Lloyd’s still look upon the business as some-
what experimental. Steps, however, have been taken to give
Messrs. Lynch & Co., their local representatives, to whose
energy the increase of business is very largely due, greatly
increased authority for next year. There has also been a steady,
though not so marked, increase of business in the other islands,
and especially in Porto Rico, where several of the large
modern equipped sugar factories have been covered. Messrs.
Henry Head & Co. have had claims for damage to about
50 acres of cotton in Nevis, and some 15 acres in Montserrat
from the blow on September 25 last. This would only be
described as a raild hurricane, but it was sufficient to do
a considerable amount of damage to the growing cotton.
The premium paid amounted to 3s. per acre with a return
of 6d. per acre in the event of no claim being made
at the end of the season, and the owners have been paid
£3 10s. for each acre damaged to such an extent as to require
re-planting. Had, however, the damage been done in October,
they would have received compensation at the rate of £6 per
acre. This somewhat arbitrary scale of compensation does
not seem entirely satisfactory, and itis suggested that in
future it be somewhat elaborated. For instance, there seems
no reason why the scale of compensation should not be
increased for each fortnight of the season. The question of
the insurance of canes has been receiving the careful atten-
tion of this same firm, but although they have obtained
a considerable amount of further information, they have not
yet been able to devise a satisfactory method of assessing the
damage. They state that they would welcome any suggestions
from practical planters. The position is this : that while the
insurers are ready to indemnify planters for the actual loss
they have suffered, they wish particularly to avoid paying
more than this loss, as if they do so, it will inevitably mean
that the premium will have to be a high one, and that the
honest planter will in consequence have to suffer. On the
whole, it is felt that probably the best scheme would be
a somewhat similar one to that of the cotton insurance, 1.e.,
a fixed scale of compensation varying in accordance with
the period at which the hurricane occurs and the different
classes of canes.
Lime Honey from Dominica. In mentioning
that the Dominica Agricultural School was awarded a silver
Banksian medal at the recent Colonial Fruit Show for
oranges and lime honey, the West India Committee Circular
refers to the novelty of the latter product. Messrs. Travers
& Sons, Ltd., reported upon the honey, and stated that it is
very suitable for the English market. Honey is generally
sent over to England from the West Indies in casks contain-
ing about 3 ewt., and shipped both in the set and liquid
condition. As near as could be judged, West Indian lime
honey would at present be worth about 25s. to 25s. delivered
in London. Shipments of honey from Jamaica to England
commence each year about March, and continue until late in
the autumn,
THE - AGRICULTURAL’ NEWS.
JANUARY 9, 1909..
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—December 22, 1908, THe Wusr Inpta Com-
MITTEE CrrcuLar: Messrs. KEarron Preer & Co.,
December 22, 1908.
Arrowroor—No quotations.
Barata—Sheet, 2/1 to 2/5; block, 1/75 to 1/8 per th.
Bres’-wax—&£7 5s. to £7 12s. 6d. for fair to good.
Cvcao—Trinidad, 57/- to 70/- per ewt.; Grenada, 50/- to
59/- per cwt.
CorreE—Santos, 263. 74d.per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Corra—West Indian, £18 10s. to £19 per ton.
Corron—St. Vincent, no quotations; Barbados Super-
fine, 17¢.: West Indian Sea Island, good medium to
medium tine, 123d. to 135d.
Frouit—
Bananas—Jamaicea, 4,6 to 6/- per bunch.
Limes-—Not wanted.
Prxg-appLes—St. Michael, 3,- to 6,-.
GRrapr Frurr—5/- to 8/- per box.
Orances——Jamaica, 4/- to 7/- per box.
Fustic—£3 to £4 per ton,
GINGER—Steady, but quiet.
Honry— 21s. to 31s. for darkish to palish.
Istxanass—West India lump, 1/10 to 2/- per Ib.
Tine Jvurr—Raw, ld. to 12 per gallon; concentrated,
£16 5s. per cask of LO8 gallons ; distilled oil, 18 te 1/9
per Th.; hand-pressed, 5/- to 5/6 per lh.
Locwoop—£3 to £4 5s. per ton; roots, £9 to £3 per fon.
Macr—Quiet.
Nurmeas—Quict.
Pimenro—(Quiet.
Reupper—— Para, tine hard, 5s. 1d. per Th. on the spot.
Rum—Jamaica, 3.3; Demerara. 16 to 1/8, proot.
Svear—Crystals, 14/9 to 16- per ewt.; Muscovado, no
quotations ; Syrup, 14 6 ; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,—December 11, 1908.—Messrs. GILLesrie,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 124c¢. to 14c. ; Grenada, 1c. to 12he. ;
Trinidad, 123c. to L3e. ; Jamaica, 9ke. to 11l$c. per Ib.
Cocoa-NutTs—Jamaiea, select, 822-00 to $23°00; culls, 13-00
to S$14-00; Trinidad, 821-00 to $23-00 ; culls, $12°00 to
S1S-00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, ordinary, Tc. to The.;
She.; washed, 9c. to Ise. pel inewyt
GINGER—9bc. 3c. per Ib.
Goat Skins—Jamaiean, d4e.; Antigua and Barbados, from
19e. to 50c. ; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c.
to 48e. pel Ib., dry tint.
Grare Frem—Florida, 32°50 te $350 per barrel.
Lines—No quotations. Market overstocked,
Macr—2%e. to 38c. per Th.
Nurmpus—110's, LOje. to 10$e. per Th.
OraNnces—Jamaiea, 82°00 to $3-GO per barrel; $100. to
sb50 per hox.
Pimenro—4e. per th.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, B°86ce. ; Muscovados, 89°, 3°36c. ;
Molasses, 89°, 8:L1c. per Tb., duty paid,
FW vl ordinary,
Barbados,- —Messrs. Jas. A. Lyncn W Con December 28
British Guiana,— Messrs.
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Thsh.
1908 ; Messrs. T. 8S. Garraway & Co., January 4;
1909.
ArRowroot—St. Vincent, $4:00 to $4°50 per 100 th.
Cacao—Dominica and St. Lucia, $1000 per 100 th.
Cocoa-NuTS—S$13-00 for unhusked nuts.
CorreeE—Jaimaica and ordinary Rio, $8°50 to $10°50 per
100 th.
Hay—S81°25 per 100 th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, 862-00 to $65°00; Ohlendorft’s
dissolved guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao
manure, $42°00 to $48-00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72°00
to $75:00; Sulphate of potash, 867-00 per ton,
Mo rasses—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, 82°00: loose, $1°20 per 100 th.
Poratros—Nova Scotia, $1°30 to $1°60 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, $6°75 per bag of 210 th.; Canada, $3-40
per bag of 120 Th.
Ric—e—Ballam, 85°75 (180 tb.); Patna, $3°50 ; Rangoon,
+10 per 100 th.
SuGar—No quotations.
Wretine & Rronrer, December
26, 1908; Messrs. Sanppacw, Parker & Co.,
December 26, 1908.
Arrowrkoot—St. Vincent, 89°00 per 200 th.
Barara—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48e. per th.
Cacao—Native, 16c. to 18e. per th.
Cassava—60e.
Cassava SparcH—S5'00 to 56°00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-nuts—S12°00 to SL6-00 per M.
CorrEE—Creole, 12c. to 15e. ; Jamaica, Ile. to 12c. per tb.,
slow.
Duat—$4°75 per bag of 168 tb.
Eppos—S$1°56 per barrel.
Monasses—No quotations
Ontons—Madeira, 2}. to 25e. per tb.
PLANTAINS—R8e. to 24ce. per bunch, plentiful.
Poratros—Novya Scotia, 82°50 per LOO tb.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, $1°68 per bag.
Rice— Ballam, 85°80 ; Creole, $4°50 to $4°60 ; Seeta, S6-00.
Spriir PEas—$6°40 to 86°50 per bag (210 Th.); Marseilles,
$450 to S500.
Tanntas—S1°92 per bag.
Yams—White, $2°88 ; Buck, 2°16 per bag.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2°20 to $2°35; Yellow, $2°60.to
$3°10; White, $3°60 to $3°80 ; Molasses, $2°00 to $2°10
per LOO Th. (vetail).
Timber Greenheart, 82c. to 55e. per eubie foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3°75 to $5°75 per M.
Corpwoop—S2'40 to $2°64 per ton.
Trinidad,—-December 26, 1908.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant
& Co.
Cacao— Venezuelan
SLL°5O to S12°25.
Cocoa-Nuts— No quotations.
Cocoa-Nuv Ort—63e. per Inperial gallon, cask included,
Correr—Venezuelan, 8$c. to 9$e. per th.
Corra—S3-00 to $3°10 per LOO th.
Duar —$4°60.to 84°75 per 2-bushel bag.
Ox1ons—$2°00 to $2°25 per 100 th. (retail).
Poratos— English, 90c. to SL*L0 per L100 Tb.
Rick—Yellow, $5°40 to $560; White, $4°50 to $4°80 per bag
Srrir Peas—$5°75 to 86°00 per bag.
Suvcar-—American crushed, $5:00 to $5°10 per L00 tb.
$11°75 to $12°50 per fanega ; Trinidad,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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THE WEST INDIES.
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Volume I. No. 1 out of print.
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Agricultural Conference, 1905, (Vols. V and VI).
Papers on general subjects :
Volume Vill. Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Sugar-cane by Selection and Hybridization ; ete., ete.
VIII. Nos. 1, 2 and 3. West Indian Agricultural Conference, 1907; abstract of Proceedings and Reprint
No. 4. Agricultural Conference, 1908 ; Presidential Address and Abstract of Proceedings.
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PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
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They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The following list gives particulars
of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
(3) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1900. Price 2d.
(5) General Treatment of Insect Pests, 2nd. Edition Revised.
Price 4d.
(7) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part I.
(9) Bee Keeping in the West Indies. Price 4d.
(12) Seedling and other Canes in the Leewatd Islands, 1900-1.
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(18) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1901.
(14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
(15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
(16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. Price 2d.
(17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
(18) Recipes for cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
(19) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1902. Price 4d.
(20) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1901-2.
Price 2d.
(22) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part II. Price 4d.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies Price 2d.
(26) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1993. Price 4d.
27) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1902-3.
Price 2d.
(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
(30) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1902-5. — Price 4d.
(31) A. LB. C. of Cotton Planting. Price 4d.
(32) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1904 — Price 4d.
(33) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1903-4.
Price 4d.
(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies.
(35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks.
Price 4d.
Price 4d.
Price 2d.
Price 4d.
(36) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1903-4. Price 4d. ;
(37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
(38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
(39) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1904-5.
Price 4d.
(40) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
1903-5. Price 6d.
(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
(42) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1904-5. Price 4d.
(43) The Use of Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal as a Feeding
Stuff on West Indian Plantations. Price 2d.
(44) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
1904-6. Price 6d.
(45) A. B. C. ef Cotton Planting.
Price 6d.
(46) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1905-6.
Price 4.
(47) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1905-6. Price 4d.
(49) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados
1905-7. Price 6d.
(50) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward fslands, 1906-7,
Price 4d.
(51 Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1906-7. Price 4d.
(53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
(54) Fungus Diseases of Cacao. Price 4d.
(55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 31.
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The ‘Agricultural News’ contains
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS,’
extracts
A Fortnightly Review.
from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughous the West Indies.
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Lane, London, E. C.—#arbados: Messrs. Bown
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Bridgetown.— Jamaica: THe EpucationaL SupPLy
Messrs. Murr-
Marsnaty & Co.,- Port-of-Spain.-—Tobago » Mr. -C. L. Puacemann, Scarborough.—Grenada: Messrs. F. Marrast & Co,
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Wor, WANE” INS Wyisy THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. JaNuaRy 9, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
ee eS Sa
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorfi’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO :—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORF#’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
Z ee ae See
—— =
THE
NATURE TEACHING. WEST INDIA COMMITTEE CIRCULAR
(Second and Enlarged Edition.)
A Text-book based upon the General Principles of (Published fortnightly).
Agriculture, specially prepared for general use in the THE OFFICIAL ORGAN
Secondary Schools of the West Indies and as a guide for
Teachers in Elementary Schools in preparing and arrang- OF
ing lessons on the Elements of Agriculture.
Payeel iy be Pkancts wars, care, exe | |THE WEST INDIA COMMITTEE.
Published by the Imperial Department of Rs oad 1760. Incorporated by Royal Charter
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————— Edited by ALGERNON E. ASPINALL.
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(Vol. IX, No. 3). 8 COTTO SEED
Containing papers read at the West Tndian Agvicultu- a tet specially selected. from Cotton grown at ‘Stirling
val Conference, 1908, on the Cotton, Rubber, and Rice 2 Meg ;
cts, viz on Cultivation at Barbados, in
Industrie mu f the West panies Fea British Guiana, and on | THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY
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No ; Rae vacalchla sigan (Cenicaen is limited.
Ri 4 F “P os ice Ane cal eae TES se ON The following extract is taken from Messrs. Wolsten-
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holme & Holland’s Report on the cotton :
; pst ‘ f ‘We have formed a very high opinion of this lot, as it
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AND FERTILIZED. AND NOT FERTILIZED.
An orange grove must be fertilized and cultivated, no matter where it is located. Wild trees may produce without
potash, but a juicy fine flavoured fruit of good shipping quality cannot be produced without a liberal application’ of
this manure. An average formula for manure for bearing trees is 3/, Nitrogen, 6°4 Phosphosie Acid and 10% Potash.
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IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WeST INDIES.
Vou. VIII. No. 176
BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE:
Mechanical Tillage and
Agricultural Banks in
Sugar-cane Machinery
Western Australia... 25
Antigua, Hedges at ... ... 25! in British Guiana . 26
Antigua Sugar and Cotton | Milk Adulteration in
LINER POON a eect. lee 22 Trinidad 23
Assam Rubber, Method of | Notes and Comments 24
Tapping... .-- .-- 27) Pipe Calabash at Grenada 21
3ordeaux Mixture ... 29; Poultry :—
Cacao Industry, Organiza- British Ege-laying
tion in the . 25 Competition... ... 30
Cotton Notes :— | Prickly Pear as a Forage
Cotton Growing in CHHO}S) Bdoos nop lidso) copcul
Uganda... ... ... ... 22) Rice Crop in British
West Indian Cotton ... 22 Guiana bdo: oda. cod taal)
Departmental Reports :— Rice in British Honduras 24
Antigua : Botanic Station, ; Rum Manufacture in
Cuca a 0s} caged Oao) wes eat British Guiana ... ... 30
British Honduras : | Students’ Corner obo. eae)
Botanic Station, 1907... 27! Soil Survey Work 21
Foot-and-Mouth Disease ... 24) Sugar Industry :—
French Colonial School... 25) Sugar-cane Experiments
Gleanings sac aee8o 28) at Barbados 5 als)
Immature Citrus Fruit, Tobaeco Growing in
Shipment of... 20 sritish Guiana... ... 25
Insect Notes :-— | Tropical Fruits, Ripening
Mites and Lice on Poultry 26 Olas scan mee enee . 20
Live Stock in the West | West African Rams... ... 23
Italy Gaon oudie cope aces 17 | West Indian Products ... 31
Market Reports ... 32) Woodlands and Rainfall... 24
Live Stock in the West Indies.
QESOAD
iN 9)
a country generally form a sure indication
of the degree to which agricultural progress
has advanced in the community, since among the first
points recognized by those anxious to improve the
conditions of agriculture are the importance of intro-
ducing or developing the most valuable qualities in the
various kinds of stock kept, and of breeding only from
the best,
JANUARY 23, 1909
MY HE nature and quality of the live stock of
Price ld.
The West Indies can scarcely be regarded as
a stock-raising country, since agricultural pursuits form
the chief industry. Yet, as animals are required in
fairly large numbers for (1) labour, (2) meat. and (3).
milk, the matter of their breeding and rearing is an
important consideration, and should receive every
attention compatible with the possibilities of these
colonies in that direction. The large number of animals
imported every year indicate that there is abundant
scope for home production, and the raising of stock
should certainly form a more considerable feature in
the economy of many estates than it does at present.
A secondary reason which may be mentioned in favour
of this policy is the value of the pen mannre produced.
It is obvious that a good deal more yet remains to
be done in levelling up the general character of West
Indian stock, and further that, under present condi-
tions, the full returns that might be possible from meat
and milk production are now realized in a few cases
only. Among the chief reasons for this state of affairs
are: (1) want of care in selection and breeding, by
which is meant not only the use of male animals of
inferior character, but also that, in many cas
cient attention has been given to the selection of those
particular breeds which are best adapted to West Indian
conditions: (2) imperfect realization of the fact, in
the case of cattle, that the various breeds may be
Ss, insufti-
regarded as specially adapted either for beef produc-
tion, or for milk production, but that it is useless
to expect both qualities in a high degree in the
same breed ; and (3) the inadequate nature of the food
supply on many estates, which frequently is insufficient
for keeping any number of live stock throughout the
year, There is a distinct need in most of the islands
18 ; THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. January 23, 1909.
for the improvement of existing pastures, ‘and for more
attention to be paid to the provision of drought-
resisting fodder crops in greater quantity and variety.
In this connexion, it is satisfactory to note that
a number of experiments in the growth of fodder crops
of various kinds have, during the past few years, been
carried out at Dominica, Antigua, St. Vincent, and
Grenada.
Guinea grass, sorghum, imphee, teosinte, reana, Para
grass, cowpeas, etc.
Crops of special value in this direction are
In many of the West Indian islands, the small-
holdings class form a prominent section of the agri-
cultural community, and the prosperity of these people
would undoubtedly be much enhanced if each possessed
one or more cows, goats, sheep, or pigs, 1n proportion to
the extent of their holdings, and understood how to
manage the animals to the best advantage, and to feed
them properly. In some of the islands, Barbados for
instance, it cannot. be asserted that the peasantry
wilfully neglect the keeping of small stock. Almost
every holder has his cow, sheep, goat, or pig: unfortunate-
ly, however, in too many cases, the inferior character of
these animals, and the fact that they are insufficiently
fed are only too obvious. Further, it may be pointed out,
that the method of very commonly
adopted with cows is not one likely to induce the
maximum of milk. Only too often these
animals eke out their existence, tethered by a short
rope, on a bare pasture, unprotected from sun or the
attacks of flies, and with an insufficient supply of water.
management
return
Small holders, however, have not the knowledge
nor the means for stock improvement, and cannot be
expected to take any initiative in the matter. In
England, the improvement of the various breeds has
been largely brought about by private enterprise,
such as that of big landowners, with the encourage-
ment of Agricultural Societies ; and these efforts have
made English live stock famous for their excellence all
As regards the West Indies, the
responsibility of introducing improvements must be
with
Societies.
over the world.
Departments of Agriculture and Agricultural
Under the conditions which exist in these
colonies, little can be expected from private enterprise,
although the result of efforts made by individual estate
owners, both towards breeding superior animals, and in
the culture of forage crops, are, in a way, a lesson to
all in the neighbourhood.
It may fairly be claimed that much good work
has been done in this direction by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture during the past ten years.
Male animals of superior type—stallion horses and
donkeys, bulls, rams (sheep and goats), and boars, all of
improved breeds—have been purchased for the West
Indies, and these animals have been stationed in
various islands and moved about from place to place as
occasion required. Their services have in all cases been
available to small holders at very low fees. Previous
to the establishment of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture, a Government Stock Farm was already
in existence at Skerrett’s, Antigua, and this served
a very useful purpose in that colony. At Trinidad, too
the Government Farm isa valuable institution, since is
not only sets a standard of quality for stock owners,
but is the means through which new blood is intro-
duced into the colony, and also provides facilities for
the purchase, by private estate owners, of animals of
various breeds, and The Barbados
Agricultural Society has lately taken a step in the
same direction. As already mentioned in the Agri-
cultural News, the Society has recently imported
a Catalonian jack
superior type.
donkey of superior character,
for the purpose of encouraging mule breeding in the
island.
As practical demonstrations of the possibilities
of stock improvement are thus brought before the
general agricultural public, there should be an increased
tendency for more care to be exercised in breeding, and
the progress made will, in all probability, be more rapid
and noticeable.
It is probable that few agriculturists without
considerable practical experience in rearing animals
realize how profoundly the character of a given breed
may be modified, even in the course ofa few generations,
if the work is carried out with care and skill. In order
to attain the best results, it is important that too much
is not attempted at once. In the case of cattle, since
some breeds are adapted for Jaying on flesh, and others
for milk production, or, it may be, of special value for
of labour, it is useless to attempt to
develop two of these qualities to a high degree in
If the highest success in breeding is
to be reached, the stock
purposes
the same breed.
decide which
characteristic he desires to encourage, select the breed
raiser must
which seems best adapted for his purpose, and con-
skill on
primary quality alone.
centrate his the development of their
General purpose animals are
seldom very satisfactory. If milk is required, such
breeds as the Hereford should be avoided, and full
advantage taken of the natural quaiities of the Jersey,
Guernsey, and Ayrshire, while if stock raising for the
butcher is the primary motive, an opposite policy in
the choice of breeds will naturally be followed.
Vor. VIII. | No: 176.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. lg:
SUGAR
INDUSTRY,
Sugar-cane Experiments at Barbados.
Some further details of the experiments with
seedling and other canes, as well as of manurial experi-
ments with sugar-cane, carried out at Barbados in the
season 1906-8, under the direction of the Imperial
Department of Agriculture, are given below, in order
to complete the particulars contained in the last issue
of the Agricultural News :—
In addition to the smaller plots, on which the seedling
canes are first tested, the plan has been adopted, with the
co-operation of estate owners, of growing some of the more
promising varieties, on areas of from }-acre upwards, under
ordinary estate conditions. In this way a number of different
varieties can be raised in the same field, and the plots are
large enough for the canes produced to be separately crushed
at the estate mill, the juice being measured and analysed.
Data is thus available for ascertaining the sugar yield and
other qualities of a given cane, when grown under practical
conditions.
In the year 1907-8, opportunities have been afforded on
a number of estates, of comparing the yields of some of the
best known seedling varieties with the White Transparent on
areas varying in extent from }-acre to 7 acres. The average
results in the case of some of these varieties have been as
follows :—
| Yield of muscovado | Increase in value per
Cane. sugar in pounds acre compared with
| per acre. White Transparent.
White |
| Transparent 4,519 aoe
fo Ib, ETA) Ty 4,456 $ 2-48
Bal i53e 4,563 4-49
B.208 | 4,637 5-76
B. 376 4,946 Mde3 5
B. 147 5,256 16°96
|
The returns given by B. 208 and B. 576 are especially
satisfactory, and account for the increasing popularity of
these seedlings at Barbados.
In that portion of the report on these experiments
dealing with the production of new seedlings, it is mentioned
that of the 219 seedling canes planted for the first time in
1906, twenty-two passed the standard as regards their field
characters and the richness and purity of the juice. They were
replanted in 1907, and will also be again grown and tested
in the present season.
At the end of 1907, no less than 6,690 new seedlings
were obtained, of which twelve were the result of artificial
hybridization. About two-thirds of the above seedlings were
transplanted in the field, and will be tested in the reaping
season of 1909.
In 1902, fourteen seedlings were obtained from B.208
and D.95, planted in chess-board fashion. On. the crop
returns of the past two seasons from the small experiment
plots, the yields given by five of these (B. 8,660, B. 8,600,
B. $8,651, B. 8,520, and B. 8,609, in the order mentioned)
have exceeded the return from White Transparent.
Manurial experiments with sugar-cane were carried
out during the season at Dodds Botanic Station, and on
five sugar estates situated in different parts of the
island. With one exception—Hopewell—all the
estates are in the black-soil districts. At Dodds
plantation the mannrial trials have been in progress
for eight successive years in Lower Bay Tree field, and
for seven, successive years in Summervale field, and
during each season, the same manure in kind and
amount, has been applied to each plot. From the
results obtained in the manurial experiments, over
a period of thirteen seasons, the following general
conclusions have been drawn, as regards the effect of
manuring on the yield of sugar from plant canes, under
the conditions of soil, rainfall, and agricultural treat-
ment existing at Dodds :—
1. The application of nitrogen in the form either of
sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, or dried blood leads to
large and profitable increases of yield.
2. Sulphate of ammonia is superior to nitrate of soda.
3. Under some circumstances (a very heavy clay soil ?)
organic forms of nitrogen, like dried blood, persistently
applied, may equal sulphate of ammonia.
4. The most favourable application of nitrogen is 40 to
60 tb., equal to about 200 to 300 Ib. of sulphate of ammonia.
In some cases this may best be applied all in June, in others
it had best be applied partly in January and partly in June.
5. Application of superphosphate appears to diminish
the yield of sugar. It is possible that this may be due to
a premature ripening of the cane whereby the period of
growth is diminished. Or it may be due to a prejudicial effect
upon the nitrogenous materials of the farmyard manure,
caused indirectly through the organisms of nitrification and
denitrification. The latter effect might be removed by
applying the phosphate at a different time.
6. The increase of yield in two recent seasons produced
by the application of superphosphate requires further experi-
ment. It may be due to the beginning of exhaustion of
phosphate in the no-phosphate plot. It may, however, be acci-
dental and due to causes not connected with the applica-
tion of phosphate.
7. Where basic slag has produced increase of yield, it
appears probable that it may be due rather to the presence
of the lime in the slag than to the presence of phos-
phate, in which case it might be replaced by an application
of slaked lime.
8. The application of potash leads to profitable increase
of yield, and 60 tb. of potash (contained in 120 tb. of
sulphate of potash) applied all in January, or partly in
January and partly in June, give the best results.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr.. Alleyne G. Howell, Chief Clerk at the Head
Office of the Imperial. Department of Agriculture,
Barbados, returned from. England by the R.MS. ‘ Nile, ,
on January 18 last, after six months’ leave of absence,
20 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JANUARY 23, 1909,
SHIPMENT OF IMMATURE CITRUS
FRUIT.
To no agriculturist does the temptation to occasion-
ally ship green or immature produce present itself
more strongly than to the grower of citrus fruit. This
is on account of the varying rate of market prices, the
perishable nature of the produce, and the natural
anxiety of the grower to dispose of as much of his crop
return as possible when the supply is lowest. and prices
are at a favourable figure. The unwise and_ short-
sighted nature of such a policy, from the point of view
of Jamaica orange growers, was lately referred to in
the West India Committee Circular, and in the Porto
Rico Horticultural News (November 1908) the same
question is briefly but forcibly discussed.
New York fruit salesmen have frequently had occasion
to complain of the receipt of inferior and unripe oranges and
grapefruit from Cuba, and now, it is asserted, a considerable
quantity of immature fruit is also being sent forward from
Porto Rico.
The bad effects that result on the industry at large, and
more particularly on the demand for produce from the
particular district, are clearly set forth in the article to which
reference has been made.
When green and immature oranges are placed on the
market, they have to be ripened with artificial heat, or in
many cases artficially coloured before a sale can be effected.
Such produce is not likely to be of first-rate flavour, and
instead of tending to increase consumption and extend the
market of that fruit, is more likely to result in transferring
the demand to some other kind of fruit.
It is obvious, too, that the shipper who sends poor fruit
is sacrificing a long future for a short present. Good prices
are obtained at first, because the small supply—assuming, as
is generally the case, that the poor fruit is sent in early in the
season, in order to get first place on the market—leaves the
buyer no choice. With increased supplies, however, the
shipper of inferior fruit isdeserted. Furthermore, it has been
noticed that even when he sends good produce he has trouble
in obtaining adequate prices, since buyers are chary of him,
and judge his fruit by past experience.
The result of personal experience is brought forward as
evidence of ihe injury in reputation done to the fruit of
a particular locality in consequence of one or two shipments
of poor quality, and the need for properly grading the fruit,
and packing it in‘an attractive manner. The writer mentions
that being in New York last year, ata time when ‘Porto Rico
oranges were shipped in large quantity to that market, he
visited retail fruit shops to ascertain the prices obtained for
produce from the island.in which he interested. In
numbers of however, Porto Rico fruit was not on
sale ; and when enquiry was made as to the reason for this,
one of the following replies was always forthcoming : ‘ The
fruit was not up to thestandard ;° ‘ It was poorly graded; ”
‘The grades were not uniform or reliable;’ ‘ It was not
attractively or well packed; or ‘It did not keep well.’
Was
she ps,
RIPENING OF TROPICAL FRUITS.
Some interesting investigations, by Mr. H. C,
Prinsen Geerligs, dealing with the chemical changes
that take place during the ripening of some tropical
fruits of Java, are reported upon in a paper lately
published in the International Sugar Journal. The
fruits dealt with included the banana, mango, tamarind,
and sapodilla.
Bunches of bananas, as is well known, are generally cut
from the tree in an immature state, and when the fruit
is hard, tasteless, and unfit for food. After a few days the
edible matter becomes tender, sweet, and well flavoured, but
again a few days later the fruit is unpalatable, owing to over-
ripeness and decay, Some of the changes that go on in
these stages were investigated by Mr. Geerligs.
A notable feature was the loss of weight that takes place
during ripening. Twenty green bananas, kept in a cool place,
were found to have lost an average weight of 8 grammes each
at the end of seven days. In another case, ten green bananas of
a smaller variety, weighing originally 502°5 grammes, lost
15°5 grammes in four days, and by suitable means it was
shown that of this loss, 2°5 grammes were given off as carbon
dioxide.
From a bunch of bananas, cut in the immature state,
a single fruit was analysed daily for a week, so that the
changes in progress might be observed. At the end of the
week the remaining bananas were in a stage of over-ripeness.
The most prominent feature of the ripening process in
the case of the banana was the rapid
transformation of
starch into sucrose or cane-sugar.
At the first analysis of
the unripe fruit, the percentage of starch in the banana pulp
was 30°98, and of sucrose 0°86_per cent. Two days later,
the starch had decreased to 24°98 per cent. while the sucrose
present was 4°43 percent. On the fifth day from the first
analysis, the banana (almost ripe) contained 13°89 per cent.
of starch, and 10:5 of sucrose, while on the following day there
were present in the fully ripe fruit only 9°59 per cent. of starch,
but 13°68 per cent. of sucrose. The percentages of glucose and
fructose also increase during ripening, and in the fully ripe fruit
Vou. VIIL. No. 176. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 21
In the over-ripe bananas, the proportion of sucrose shows
a falling off (10°36 per cent.), which is explained-by the fact
that inversion of the sucrose into glucose and fructose takes
place. The latter two products also undergo further breaking
up, Which probably accounts in part for the large amount of
carbon dioxide formed in after-ripening.
Mangos also are usually picked when unripe. At that
time they are hard, acid, and flavourless, but the after-ripen-
ing process renders them tender and full-flavoured in a few
days.
The chief features of the ripening process with the
mango are changes in the proportions of starch, sucrose, and
citric acid, together with a loss in weight. Five mangos,
which originally weighed 1,139°3 grammes, lost 18 grammes
in weight, when kept for three days in a cool place. Of this
loss, 4.558 grammes consisted of carbon dioxide. As in the
case of the bananas, a mango fruit from a_ parcel having
practically the same initial maturity was daily analysed.
As a result, it was observed that the proportion of starch
present declined from 8°53 in the unripe mangos to nil in the
ripe fruit, while on the other hand, during the same period,
the sucrose increased from 2°57 to 12°27 per cent. Later on
the sucrose becomes hydrolysed and split up into glucose
and fructose. Citric acid, which is the only acid found
present in the mango, diminished from 1°31 per cent. in the
unripe stage, to 0°10 in the ripe fruit. The acid is not
neutralized in any way during the ripening process, but is
destroyed as the result of the respiratory process, and given
off chietly as carbon dioxide.
Tamarinds were also dealt with, and the composition of
the pulp of these fruits, in several stages of ripeness, extend-
ing over a period of more than two months, is given by
Mr. Geerligs. Starch was present in green tamarinds to the
extent of 3°33 per cent., but five weeks later all the starch
had been transformed—not into sucrose—but into a mixture
of glucose and fructose. During the ripening process, the
proportion of these two sugars present increased from 0°40
and 0°33 per cent. to 20-4 "and 11:6 per cent. respectively.
The acid of the tamarind is tartaric acid; of this, the total
proportion present in the green fruit is 4°85 per cent., and in
the ripe fruit, 16°4 per cent. In ripening, too, a large amount
of water is evaporated, causing the fruit to shrink consider-
ably within the pod. A good deal of acid is consumed by
respiration after the tamarind has reached the stage of
ripeness.
Another tropical fruit, the ripening of which was inves-
tigated, is the sapodilla. Sapodillas are plucked tree ripe, in
which state they are green and hard, and contain gutta-percha
and tannin dissolved in the sap, which render the fruit unfit
for eating. After keeping for a short while, however, the
gutta-percha and tannin become insoluble, and the fruit
becomes full-flavoured and palatable. In the ripe sapodilla,
the coagulated gutta- percha may be seen as a series of white
threads, while the tannin is deposited as insoluble matter in
certain cells.
These changes constitute the whole phenomena of ripen-
ing in the case of the sapodilla. There is no. transformation
of starch into sugar, since no starch whatever exists in the
fruit at any stage of the ripening process. Further the
amount of sugar present before and after full ripening is the
same.
It may be added that from the result of experiments
described in detail, Mr. Geerligs comes to the conclusion that,
in the case of the banana and the mango, the rapid trans-
formation of starch into sugar is one of the vital processes
of these fruits, and not a consequence of the action of some
enzyme or soluble ferment.
PIPE CALABASH AT GRENADA.
In reference to the note on the Pipe Calabash at
St. Lucia, which was given in the Agricultural News
of December 12 last (page 389), Mr. R. D. Anstead,
Agricultural Superintendent of Grenada, writes as
follows, under date of December 28 last :—
It will be of interest to you to know that the seed of
Lagenaria vulgaris received here at the end of June last
from St. Lucia grew readily, and that a number of plants
were raised from it. These fruited freely, and the fruits are
now ripening off.
The plants were allowed to climb, so that none of the
fruits developed curved necks naturally. Experiments were,
however, conducted with a view of producing the curve by
making the fruits press against fixed supports, stakes, ete.
Some success was obtained, and the experience gained will,
I think, enable us to obtain gourds of the required shape
from the next crop.
SOIL SURVEY WORK.
A work of great value to agriculturists in the
United States, mure especially to those who propose to
enter upon the cultivation of land in new districts, has
been carried on by the Soil Survey of the Bureau of
Soils during the last ten years. The character of
a good deal of the land surveyed is unknown, and the
work aims at showing the suitability and capacity of
this land for new crops and industries, the information
thus provided supplying in great part the local experi-
ence of agriculturists which is available in older
countries.
Soils are examined to determine (1) their texture, or the
relative amounts of coarse and fine particles of which they
consist ; (2) their structure, or the relationship of these
particles ; (3) the proportion of organic matter present, and
(4) their natural drainage and topography. Soils which are
closely similar in all these respects are said to belong to tbe
same soil type, and under similar climatic conditions the
type is capable of producing similar crops. At present nearly
five hundred types of soil are recognized. Several soil types
in a given region differ only in texture, and are similar in
other respects. Such a group of soils is called a series.
In the reports of the Soil Survey officials, the charac-
teristic appearances of the various soil types, together with
the uses to which they are put, and the agricultural methods
adopted, are described in detail. The value of these
reports is increased, since they contain, in every case, an
account of the crops raised in other areas where the same
type of soil has been met with, and suggestions are made as
to pew crops or new methods.
From these reports the individual farmer may learn the
relationship of the soil upon his own holding, not only to the
other soils in the immediate neighbourhood, but also to soils
of the same character in widely separated regions. He may
thus observe the results obtained by other farmers upon such
soils, and apply their experience to his conditions.
According to the Yearbook of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the area surveyed and mapped in 1906-7 was
13,158,400 acres, and there have been completed to June 30,
1907, surveys covering a total of 89,118,080 acres. The
work has been so distributed as to include every large repre-
sentative district in the United States, and has given
a knowledge of the soil resources of the colony far beyond
what was ever conceived of before.
tS
tw
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
q{anusary 23, 1909.
yaa
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool, .
writing under date of January 4 last, report as follows
on the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton +—
West Indian Sea Island cotton has been neglected since
our last report, only 15 bales from St. Nitt’s having been
sold, at 14d. per Ib.
The pressure to sell Carolina Sea Islands still continues,
and to-day’s quotations are : 114d. per Tb. for * fine’ quality,
123d. for ‘fully fine,’ and 13}d. for ‘extra fine,’ but buyers
are not disposed to purchase. In the meanwhile there are
several thousand bales in Charleston.
COTTON GROWING IN UGANDA.
AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTOR WANTED,
In connexion with the developing cotton-growing
industry of Uganda, the services of a junior Agricultural
Instructor are now required in the Protectorate. The
engagement is to be for three years with passage
paid both ways, and the salary attached to the appoint-
ment is from £250 to £300 per annum, depending on
age and qualifications. A good knowledge of, and
practical experience in cotton growing is essential.
Applications to be sent to the Imperial Commissioner
of Agriculture, Barbados.
According to the report of the British Cotton-growing
Association for 1907, the prospects of the cotton industry in
Uganda are most promising. While in 1906 the shipments
of lint were 800 bales of 400 Ib. each, in 1907 no less than
3,000 bales were exported.
The cotton grown in Uganda consists of Upland varieties,
and the better grades are worth 2d. per tb. over ‘middling’
American lint.
The following is quoted from the Annual Report
referred to :—
Unfortunately there has been no expert to superintend
and advise on the work, and a large proportion of the
Uganda cotton is most inferior. Several varieties of seed
have been given out indiscriminately, with the result that the
cotton is much mixed. A great deal of the lint is also badly
stained, which is probably due to careless cultivation.
In this connexion it should be noted that it is extremely
difficult to find agricultural experts with the necessary
scientific training, and suflicient knowledge of cotton to direct
and control tie establishment of the industry in a new
country. The Council of the Association have strongly urged
the Government to inaugurate Agricultural Scholarships, to
enable young men who have had a practical_and_ scientitic
aoe ay
\COTTON NOTES./
yp (D
training at home to spend two or three years in studying the
cultivation of cotton and other tropical products in the West
Indies, Ceylon, ov Egypt.
ANTIGUA SUGAR AND COTTON IN
LIVERPOOL.
Reports on the samples of sugar and cotton from
Antigna that were sent to the late Colonial Products
Exhibition an Liverpool were published in the Wesé
India Committee Circular of December 22. last.
Messrs. Bushby, Son & Beazley, of Liverpool, to whom
the Antigna sugar exhibits were submitted, wrote as
follows -—
The sugars are excellent in quality and eminently suit-
able for manufacture, refining, or direct consumption, accord-
ing to grade, ‘Taking the samples according to number, the
muscovado sugar from various estates range from dark to
light brown, evidently of good strength, and would be used
chiefly by refiners, who would more particularly monopolize
the darker shades, the light colour qualities finding their
way to the Baltic, where there js often a ready sale for
moderate quantities Samples Nos. 9 to 15, good, brown,
refining centrifugals, ranging through several shades, and
from various factories, are carefully made, and would find
a ready market in any quantity, and at all times with our
refiners Samples 16 to 18 are grey-white crystals, which in
their present state might be expected to go directly into con-
sumption through the grocers ; and the same remarks apply
in a still greater degree to Nos. 19, 20, and 21, since sugars
of such bright complexion meet with « very ready market
and good prices from grocers here. The samples of molasses
are of good quality, and useful for feeding and distilling
purposes.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland. of Liverpool,
report on the Antigua cotton as follows :—
We have carefully examined samples of Antigua exhibit.
No, 56 is sound, and worth £6 15s. to £7 per ton.
Samples 52, 93, and 54—ginned cotton—are all rather soft
and slightly stained, value 13d to 134d, sample 53 being
the best, and worth the latter price. No, 55
seed
seed-cotton —
is rather stained, but fair staple, value about 13d. when
cinned, All these cottons are rather too soft in staple, and
not equal to previous crops from Antigua. We should
recommend planting a seed from another island, producing
a more robust fibre, for there is no doubt that the Antigua
crop has sutfered either from bad weather or insect pests
during last season, and we are rather afraid that the seed,
though quite sound from a erushing point of view, may have
suffered with the lint.
Vor, VAdiie No: “L7G: YHE
WEST AFRICAN RAMS.
The accompanying pictures of three of the four
West African rams imported from Lag s by the
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture in September
1907, will give an idea uf the size and character of
these animals.
The rams in question are of a type which receivel high
commendation at an Agricultural Show held at Ligos early
in 1907, and the introduction of such animals into the West
Indies appeared to be the best means of improving the breed
of woolless sheep, also probably of African origin, which are
so common in these colonies.
Fie. 4.
Of the four rams, two still remain the property of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, and two have been sold
to estate owners. The two retained by the Department are
‘White Chief’ (Fig. 4), and ‘Egba.’? White Chief is sta-
tioned at the Lunatic Asylum Farm, Barbados, while Egba
WHITE CHIEF.
Fie. 5. Anakt.
has been sent to the Stock Farm at the Agricultural School,
St. Lucia. The fee for service in the case of each animal is
2s. It may be mentionéd that Egba weighs about 140 b.,
and stands 33 inches high at the shoulder.
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 23
The ram ‘-Alaki’ (Fig. 5) has lately been sold to a stock
owner at .Barbados, while ‘ Yourba’ (Fig. 6) was early in
1908 purchased for breeding purposes at St . Vincent.
Fre. 6:
YORUBA.
As already mentioned in the Agriewtural News
(Vol. VII, pp. 73 and 408), the lambs resulting from a cross
between these rams and the woolless sheep of the West
Indies show superior characteristics, and the male lambs
have been in frequent demand by stock raisers in several of
the islands.
MILK ADULTERATION IN TRINIDAD.
Milk adulteration has been on the increase of late
in Trinidad, and the Board of Health of the colony
recently appointed a Committee of its members to
consider what further steps could be taken to secure to
the public a purer supply of milk.
Milk vendors in Trinidad have to take out a licence, and
also to wear a distinctive badge. The fact that these licences
have sometimes been taken away from retailers who have been
convicted on several occasions of watering their milk, has
apparently not been successful in stopping adulteration, since
the dishonest vendor is usually able to induce someone else
tu take out a licence for him in another name, and thus the
law is evaded. This point is one of the chief matters to be
discussed by the Committee.
The present system of surveillance, and the punishment
meted out to offendors do not appear to be sufficiently
stringent, and stronger measures are advocated by the
Port-of Spain Gazette. Itis suggested that there should be
gradually instituted a system of requiring all milk not sold
at fixed shops or stands to be subjected to examination of
some kind before being offered for public sale, and further,
that the penalty for milk adulteration (which is now 2s. per
part of added water for the first offence, and double that for
the second) should be increased to a minimum of 5s. for the
first offence, and £10 for the second, with peremptory
imprisonment for further infringement of the law.
24 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JANUARY . 23,’ 1909:
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d, Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Jews
a =
Vou. VIIL SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1909. No. 176.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The general conditions associated with the breed-
ing and rearing of live stock in the West Indies,
together with the possibilities of improvement in this
direction, are discussed in the editorial.
Notes on experiments with seedling and other
canes, as well as manurial experiments, carried out at
Barbados in the season 1906-8, will be foand on page
19.
Interesting investigations on the chemical changes
which go on during the ripening of some tropical fruits
have lately been made in Java, The
summarized on page 20.
results are
Expert reports on samples of sugar and cotton
from Antigua that were recently exhibited in Liver-
wool are given on page 22. Photographs and notes
on West African rams in the West Indies appear on
the following page.
The question of mechanical tillage and improved
sugar-cane machinery is attracting increased attention
in British Guiana. (page 26.)
The reports, for the year 1907-8, on the Botanic
Stations at Antigua and in British Honduras are
reviewed on page 27.
Investigations carried out in England have shown
that the cost of preparing the well-known Bordeanx
mixture may be reduced by three-fifths, without
diminishing its effectiveness (page 29).
Rice in British Honduras.
Rice is grown on small areas in British Hon-
duras, and the Superintendent of the Botanie Station
makes one or two references to this crop in his latest
Annual Report Abour L acre of rice was grown at
the new Station in 1907, the seed being dibbled into
the ground in rows in the month of June. A fairly good
crop was produced. An area of 30 acres was also
planted with the cereal at Boltons Bank estate, and
made excellent growth, The variety grown is a large
full-grained kind, and if produced in greater quantity
should find a good market. A smell rice-hulling
machine was introduced into the colony for the first
time in 1907, by a private firm at Belize, and a fairly
large quantity of rice was prepared by its means during
the year. In view of the large areas of suitable land
that exist, the enterprising rice grower would find
abundant scope in British Honduras.
Woodlands and Rainfall.
The growing scarcity and increasing price of the
best kinds of timber are now frequently urged as
strong reasons for preserving. and. wherever possible,
extending wooded areas. Another reason for tree
planting which should commend itself to agriculturists
in countries that not infrequently suffer from drought,
is the beneficial influence of woodlands upon rainfall
and the flow of springs. This question is discussed at
considerable length in the Jndian Forester (1908,
No. 2), and from the data brought forward the con-
clusion is drawn that the moisture content and the
chances of rainfall are much greater in districts where
forests or plantations of considerable area exist than
over bare lands. Observations made in different
localities, it is stated, have shown that woodlands
increase the rainfall from 8 to 15 per cent. above the
normal. Their neighbourhood also exerts a beneficial
influence in maintaiming a more uniform flow of springs.
Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
Foot-and-mouth disease is an excessively contagi-
ous malady, chiefly affecting cattle, sheep. goats, and
swine. Horses, dogs, cats, and even poultry have also
been victims of infection, the last three classes bemg
particularly dangerous as carriers of infection. The
death rate from this disease is low, but since, in
practically all cases of attack, it runs through the whole
herd. numbers of animals are seriously damaged.
Cattle are the chief sutterers. The disease is character-
ized by the eruption of blisters about the mouth and
feet, this being accompanied by constitutional disturb-
ance. The appetite is lost, and,.in the case of cows,
the milk tlow stops.
In a letter on this subject from the Burean of
Animal Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, to
the Cuba Review, attention is drawn to the fact that
foot-and-mouth disease has been known to ocenr in
tropical countries, having caused the loss of 10,400
eattle in Madras Province in 1894-5. Subtropical
lands have also suffered severely at different times.
Vou. VIII. No. 176.
THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 25
French Colonial School.
Further details relating to the French colonial
school at Havre. recently mentioned in this journal (see
Agricultural News of Dee 26 last, p. 402), have
lately come to hand, from which’ it appears that its
establishment (by the French Cotton-growing Associa-
tion) is one of the results of the efforts now being
made to develop cotton growing in French colonies,
the main object of the school being to give a practi-
cal training to young men seeking employment on
colonial cotton plantations.
The institution has been equipped with modern
machinery suthicient to ensure adequate instruction in
cotton ginning and baling, and oil-crushing methods.
It has been arranged that pupils shall go through
a ten-months’ course of study, which will include
instruction in the methods of cultivating and handling
cotton and other colonial products, and the preparation
of these articles for export.
The establishment of this school is, at the least, an
interesting experiment, and may have far-reaching
results on the development of cotton growing in French
colonies.
Agricultural Banks in Western Australia.
Among the many systems of agricultural banks
which have of late years been established in various
countries, none appear to be more beneficial to the
small settler than the system lately adopted in Western
Australia. The Agricultural Banks of that colony are
Government institutions, but are self-supporting, and
have been in existence bnt a few years. Advances are
made on the security of the land for clearing, fencing,
draining, and stock breeding, and that these institutions
are for small cultivators only is indicated by the fact
that loans to any one person must not exceed a certain
sum. he terms on which money is loaned are
extremely reasonable : during the first five years, interest
at 5 per cent. per annura ts charged, and after that the
principal is repayable by instalments over a period of
twenty-five years, with interest on the portion still
owing. These banks are already recognized as one
of the greatest factors in the agricultural develop-
ment of Western Australia.
r+ rr
Organization in the Cacao Industry.
The very considerable fluctuations that have
taken place in the price of cacao in the past few years
have led toa desire among producers to form an organi-
zation for the purpose of controlling the price of the
product, and soarranging the supply that its market
value shall not fall to an unduly low figure.
The United States Consul at Rio de Janeiro states
that steps have already been taken in Ecuador, San
Thomé, San Domingo, and Trinidad to form such an
organization as that suggested, and the success of the
movement must depend ultimately upon the line
adopted in Brazil, which is the largest: cacao-producing
country in the world. A. large proportion of the
Brazilian cacao growers, however, are producers on
only a small scale, somewhat similar to those of
Grenada, and could not afford, without outside assistance,
to hold their crops for any length of time, as may be
required by the organization.
The promoters of this organization claim that
their purpose is not one of specalation, but that their
object is to resist the efforts of the speculators, who,
they assert, have been responsible for the late violent
fluctuations in the price of cacao,
It may be mentioned that while the total world’s
production of cacao is placed at about 340,000,000 th.
per annum, Brazil is at present responsible for an out-
put of abont 54,000,000 tb. per year,
D> a
Tobacco Growing in British Guiana.
The proposal was brought forward at the late
annual meeting of the British Guiana Board of Agri-
culture that an effort should be made to develop
tobacco growing in suitable districts, in the hope that
it might later form one_of the minor industries of the
colony. Certain small areas on the West Coast of
Berbice have, in the past, been devoted to this culture,
and, it is stated, that leaves of a very satisfactory quality
have been produced. It was mentioned at the meeting
that Virginian tobacco grew very luxuriantly in the
colony, but was subject to attack from a large number of
insects. The matter was referred to a committee for
consideration.
Tobacco could no doubt be grown satisfactorily in
British Guiana, as in many of the West India islands,
but the experience of the past in Trinidad, St. Kitt’s
and St. Vincent shows that unless an expert is imported,
a good deal of investigation work as to methods of
curing and fermentation is necessary before an article
can be produced on a commercial scale, which will yield
a remunerative return.
ee
Hedges at Antigua.
Considerable pains have been taken to develop
serviceable hedges around the Experiment Station
at Skerrett’s, Antigua, and the efforts made have met
with such success that the hedges now established are
an object-lesson to estate owners in the island, where,
as a matter of fact, very few hedves are in existence,
The bread-and-cheese plant —(Pithecolobiwm
Unguis-Cati) makes a very ornamental fence. It has
been found at Antigua that the easiest way to establish
a bread-and-cheese hedye is by sowing seeds in situ.
The Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) is a tast
grower and makes a serviceable hedge. It is mention-
ed that a fence of cherry plants is best established by
sowing seed in a nursery, and transplanting the seed-
lings when 5 inches to | foot high.
~ The logwood (Haematorylon campechianwin) 1s
the most impenetrable of all the hedges, and thus the
most serviceable. Like the bread-and-cheese fence,
this is best established by sowing seed at the place
where the hedge is to be grown.
26 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JANUARY 23, 1909.
INSECT NOTES.
Combating Mites and Lice on Poultry.
The accompanying notes, dealing with lice and
mites on poultry and in poultry-houses, supplement
the information given on this subject in a recent
number of the Agricultural News (November 14 last,
p. 862). These notes, with others, have lately been
issued in Jeaflet form by the United States Department
of Agriculture :—
There are several varieties of lice that attack poultry.
They subsist mainly on the feathers, and perhaps on the
epidermal scales. They are found largely on the head and
neck, under the wings and about the vent, and when present
in large numbers they cause the fowls much discomfort.
Pyrethrum, or Persian insect powder, powdered sulphur, and
some of the various preparations on the market, su¢h as the
louse powders, are g¢ vod in combating these pests. The hens
can be dusted with one of these powders after they have gone
to roost. Have the powder in a box with a perforated cover,
grasp the fowl by the legs, and shake the powder well
among the feathers. Dust at least three times, at intervals
of about a week, in order to catch the lice which hatch out
after the first dusting. ‘lhe mites subsist on the blood of
the fowls, and are not usually found on the bodies of the
bird, except when at roost or on the nest. During the day
they inhabit cracks and crevices of the walls, roosts, and
nests. Sitting hens are often so annoyed that they are
compelled to leave the nest in order to relieve themselves of
these parasites. The free use of kerosene about the nests
and perches is useful in fighting the mites. The walls of
the house may be sprayed with kerosene, the operation being
repeated every three or four days for two weeks. Insect
powders are of little avail.
The following method has proved excellent in ridding
houses of mites and lice when the weather conditions are
such as to permit the birds being kept outside the house for
five or six hours: Close all the doors and windows, and see
that there are no cracks or other openings to admit air. | Get
an iron vessel and set it on gravel or sand near the centre of
the house; place a handful of shavings in the vessel,
saturate this with kerosene oil, and then sprinkle on the top
of the shavings a quantity of sulphur, estimated at the
rate of 1 Ik. to every 90 or 100 square feet of floor
Instead of using the shavings and kerosene, the
sulphur can be saturated with wood alcohol. When every-
thing else is in readiness, light the material and hastily
leave the house. There is very little danger of fire when
proper precautions have been taken to have plenty of soil
beneath the vessel. Allow the house to remain closed for
three or four hours, at the end of which time one can safely
conclude that there are no living beings inside. Now throw
all the doors and windows wide open, so as to drive out the
sulphur fumes thoroughly, and then the fowls may be allowed
to enter. Let them in one by one, and as each enters catch
it and dust it well with insect powder, which will destroy the
pests on the birds.
space,
rana.
Tobacco dust is also good to use instead of insect powder.
The birds and house will have been freed from vermin
for a time, but the eggs of the insects have not been
destroyed, and in a week another swarm will be hatched out.
Therefore, it will be necessary to repeat the operation once or
twice before the pests are exterminated. After this, care
should be taken to see that no strange fowl be admitted to
the house or yard without having been thoroughly rid of lice,
as one affected hen will contaminate all the rest.
MECHANICAL TILLAGE AND SUGAR-
CAN#H MACHINERY IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
Owing to the prevailing scarcity of labour, the
question of the economical introduction of mechanical
tillage has naturally attracted more attention in British
Guiana than in islands such as Barbados, where an
abundant labour supply is available. In the course of
its summary of agricultural conditions in the colony
during 1908, the Demerara Argosy of January 2 last,
refers to this subject, and mentions the chief difticul-
ties in the way of a more extended adoption of
mechanical implements and up-to-date machinery for
dealing with the suyar-cane crop. ‘The following 1s
quoted from the article in question :—
Some further extension of mechanical tillage has taken
place in connexion with cane growing, but in view of numer-
ous failures attending efforts in this direction during past
years, planters are chary of incurring large expenditure on
implements, mules, and motors, until thorough experiment
demonstrates the adaptability of improved methods of
mechanical tillage to the conditions prevailing in this colony.
The heavy rainfall experienced and the stiff nature of much
of the soil under cultivation render the tillage problem
a difficult one, especially in view of the open system of drain-
age that has to be adopted. It may be said, however, that
the lighter and more porous soils can be efficiently tilled by
means of light implements, similar to those in use in Louisi-
The greatest demand for labour occurs during the
reaping seasons, more particularly in connexion with cane
cutting, and it is improbable that a machine will be designed
capable of reaping canes. A large number of labourers have
to be found employment when reaping is not in progress,
that is during about thirty-six weeks each year, so that they
may be on the spot ready to assist with harvest operations.
In Louisiana the harvest hands required are drawn from the
neighbouring cotton States and given employment during
about three months of the year. The reaping of the cotton
crop is finished before the Louisiana cane harvest begins.
It is fully recognized that cane unloaders for feeding
canes to mills are of considerable value as labour-saving
appliances, and although their installation is costly, every
owner of a large plantation has their erection in view as
suitable opportunity offers. Crushers to prepare canes for
mills, now that large quantities of seedling canes have to be
milled, are a necessary adjunct toa crushing plant, and they
are being largely adopted. The majority of the crushing
plants in this colony can be improved upon. ‘The possibility
that the Nandet process might prove successful and render
it unnecessary to improve and add to the crushing power of
mills, had some effect in delaying outlay in this direction. It
does not seem likely however, that the Naudet process will
ever supersede heavy crushing plants. As regards boilers,
evaporators, etc., the majority of the factories in this colony
are fairly well equipped.
Vou.. VIII. No.. 176. THE
ANTIGUA : BOTANIC STATION, EXPERIMENT
PLOTS, AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION, 1907-8.
During the year 1907-8 the total expenditure on the
Antigua Botanic Station and Experiment Plots amounted to
£514 lds. 9d. while a sum of £106 is. 73d. was realized
from the services of animals, sale of plants, seeds, ete.
The increase in the number of economic plants distri-
buted from the Station has been very marked. While in
1906-7 only 2,880 plants were sent out, the number
advanced to 14,522 in 1907-8. These include 8,800 lime
plants. ; 5
Trial cultivations of fodder and other crops were made
on the experiment plots attached to the Station. The
results of experiments in the distillation of essential oils
from lemon grass and citronella are included in the report.
Useful experimental work with different crops have been
continued at Skerrett’s and Scott’s Hill. This work includes
trials of different varieties of cassava, sweet potatos, yams,
onions, ground nuts, citrus fruits, ete., as well as some
important experiments with cotton. Increasing attention has
been given to the growth of green dressing crops. As the
result of the continuous care given to the hedges around
‘Skerrett’s Station, they have now developed into very strong
and ornamental fences.
The rainfall at the Botanic Station for the year under
review was 50°95 inches. This is 7°79 inches less than the
fall experienced in 1906-7, but 3°21 inches in excess of the
average of the past five years.
The cotton area of Antigua in 1907-8 was 2,508 acres,
being an increase of 683 acres on the area planted in 1906-7.
Attacks from insect pests were unusually prevalent during the
year, and, in many cases, occasioned serious loss to cotton
planters. From the above area, a total of 189,318 Ib. of cotton
was shipped up to March 31, 1908.
As in past years, the work of the Agricultural and
Scienc2 Master comprised a course of instruction in chemistry,
agriculture, and animal physiology at the Girls’ High School,
and lectures to students at the Female Training College.
The work in the school garden continues to be generally
satisfactory. The number of boys receiving instruction has
been seventeen, including seven agricultural scholars.
BRITISH HONDULAS : REPORT ON BOTANIC
STATION, 1907. By E. J. F. Campbell, F.R.H.S., Super-
intendent.
As mentioned in last year’s report, a new Botanic Station
for British Honduras, covering an area of abort 20 acres,
is being prepared on a suitable site near Belize. During
1907, the work of clearing the land, providing for drainage,
preparing roads, and getting the soil into condition for
cultivation, has naturally demanded first attention from the
staff. This work has been pushed forward as far as possible,
but a good deal yet remains to be done.
‘A considerable number of useful crops, including potatos,
yams, cassava, beans, peas, rice, corn, cotton, plantains, pine-
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 27
apples, etc., have been grown on the area already cleared, to
test the nature and capacity of the soil. Practically all these
crops gave very good returns. Small plantings of fruit trees,
e.g., mango, mangosteen, loquat plum, and of Para rubber
plants have also been made.
About 4 acres of the cleared land have been laid out as
an ornamental and recreation ground attached to the
Station. A number of beds were prepared, in which have
been set out about 1,400 ornamental plants, including
crotons, bougainvillaeas, ixoras, hibiscus, Jagerstroemias,
etc. All these plants are reported to have grown well.
Practically all the shrubs, plants, and nursery stock
have now been removed from the Belize Garden—which
was formerly the chief Botanic Station of the colony —to the
new Station.
Subsidiary nurseries exist at Stann Creek and Corosal.
Para rubber, cacao, nutmegs, and vanilla have all done well
at the former Station in the year under review. Congo
coffee trees (Coffea robusta) also gave an excellent crop.
The plants at Corosal suffered much from drought.
It is mentioned that there is but a small demand for
econoinic plants in the colony. Planters give their chief atten-
tion to bananas, sugar-cane, and maize. The total number of
plants distributed in 1907 was 8,061. Of these, no less than
7,600 were logwood plants.
The receipts for the year were 5192°14.
METHOD OF TAPPING ASSAM
RUBBER.
The Experiment Station Record (No. 11, 1908)
furnishes the following account of an improved method
of tapping Assam rubber (Ficus elastica), together
with the results of some tapping experiments carried
out in India, in which this method was used :—
The tapping instrument consists of an ordinary carpen-
ter’s chisel from $-inch to {-inch wide. This is driven into the
bark vertically in a series of cuts, each the width of the
chisel, across the direction of the trunk or branch being tap-
ped, and with at least }-inch space between each incision,
The rows of incisions are made about 6 inches apart on the
stems and branches of the tree. Thin strips of lead are
secured to the stem underneath each row, by which the latex
is conducted into eups. Ky this method of tapping about
two-thirds of the latex is said to find its way into the cups,
while one-third coagulates on the cuts.
In 1905, eight trees planted in 1882, were tapped in
this manner, and gave an average return of 6 tb. of rubber
per tree. The same trees were again tapped in 1906, and
the yield for individual trees varied from 23 th. to 10 tb. Four
trees, planted in 1889 and 1890, were tapped in a similar
manner during the same years. In 1905-6 the estimated
yield per tree was about 2 tb. of rubber, and in 1906-7 the
yield per individual tree varied from 1} tb. to 54 tb. With this
method of tapping, the cuts made in the previous year
appeared to heal well and to be hardly noticeable, and it is
thought probable that the Assam rubber trees may be tapped
more frequently than by the older methods of tapping in
which the bark is seriously injured.
Yhe Jatex coagulating on the cuts is said to require
no further treatment. That gathered from the cups is
mixed with a 2-per cent. solution of formalin, poured into
clean bamboo troughs and covered from the direct rays of
the sun. The coagulation is said to be complete within
a day’s time. After the strips of rubber have dried they are
rolled into balls.
28 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. January 23, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
Coftee and merchants in Porto Rico have
combined to request the United States Government to impose
an import duty of 6c. per tb. on foreign coffee.
gre ywers
The sugar exports from Demerara in 1908 amounted to
110,657 tons, as against 99.207 tons in 1907, Rum was
shipped last year to the extent of 2,188,336 gallons, com-
pared with 2,107,129 gallons in 1907.
Increasing areas of Crown lands in Trinidad and Tobago
were taken up in 1907-8. While in 1906-7, the total grants
issued were 991, amounting to 8,004 acres ; in the following
year, grants to the number of 1,157 were made, the total
area taken up being 9,494 acres. (A nnual Report.)
It will be seen from the advertisement which appears on
the last page of the cover of this issue, that the English
thorough-bred stallion ‘ Bean LI,’ now stationed at St. Vincent,
is offered for sale. The price of the animal is £80, or next
best offer.
The Jamaica Agricultural Society have come to the
conclusion that the results obtained in cotton growing in
that island have not yet justified the appointment of an
expert as Instructor, but they recommend that experiments be
carried out under the supervision of the present Instructors.
From the latest Annual Report on Barbados, it is seen
that in the year 1907-8, the total exports from the island to
Canada increased by 31 per cent., compared with the previous
year, while the exports to the United States decreased by
66} per cent. in the same period.
The Secretary of the British Guiana Board of Agri-
culture is inviting orders for the purchase of 25,000 Para
rubber plants (/Zevea brasiliensis) at present in the nursery
of the Botanic Gardens. The plants will be ready for deliy-
ery from February 1 next. (Demerara Argosy.)
Cassava is mentioned by the Superintendent of the
British Honduras Botanie Station as a crop which might
profitably be cultivated on a fairly large scale in the colony.
The tuber forms the chief food of the Caribs in the Stan
Creek districts, while cassava starch is sold at from 12c. to
15c. per quart in Belize.
Reports from Jamaica state that cane reaping com-
menced in the earliest districts towards the end of November,
and in the beginning of December. The sugar industry
appears to be in a very satisfactory condition at present ;
a good crop is anticipated on all hands, and in the past year
a good deal of money has been spent on improvements,
especially in the purchase of better machinery.
In the last five years the importation of molasses into
Great Britain has increased by 164 per cent., reaching 84,000
tons in 1908. The greater portion of this quantity is used
for distillation, but the demand for molasses as a cattle food
in England has also shown a large increase in recent years.
Banana and plantain flours appear to be increasingly
utilized in the preparation of various food-stuffs in England.
It may be mentioned that Messrs. Huntley & Palmer, the well-
known biscuit makers of Reading, are now including ‘ banana
biscuits > (prepared from dried and powdered bananas) in
their list of products.
Bee keeping is very generally carried on in the country
districts of Cuba, although the hiving and other arrangements
are of a very primitive character. The Italian bees thrive
especially well in the island. In 1906, there were exported
from Cuba no less than 6,712,533 tb. of honey, together with
1,383,464 tb. of bee’s-wax. Of this, about 50 per cent. was
shipped to Germany. (Louisiana Planter.)
The Permanent Exhibition Committee of Dominica is
continuing its efforts to popularize West Indian limes in
England. Every mail a crate of the fruit is sent to the
Secretary of the West India Committee for free distribution,
and many hundreds of boxes have been given away, together
with suitable literature. The awards that have regularly been
made to Dominica limes at the Colonial Fruit Shows should
also go far to make the merits of the fruit known in Great
Britain.
The rubber industry attracted a good deal of attention
in Madagascar a few years ago, but owing to the late fall in
prices, little or no planting is now being done, according to
the latest British Consular Report. In 1906, the export of
rubber from Madagascar was valued at £301,518, but in
1907 it fell to £209,705. Plantations of from 700,000 to
800,000 trees in the northern part of the island have practi-
cally been abandoned.
An experiment in the culture of maize was started at
the Antigua Botanic Station in 1907-8, with the object of
improving the grade of corn grown in the island. A return
of 112 Ib. of unshelled corn was obtained from a_ plot
z) acre in area. From this, seed selection, on the
lines laid down by the U. 8. Department of Agriculture, will
be carried on, and it is hoped a higher grade of corn will be
evolved,
The varieties of cotton grown last year at the Botanic
Station, British Honduras, comprised Sea Island, King’s
Improved, Russell Big Boll, and Peterkin. Owing to
lack of labour, it was found difticult to give full attention to
the cultivation, and the Curator mentions that of the four
varieties, Sea Island cotton suffered most from want ot
attention. King’s Improved and Russell Big Boll appeared
to be more hardy, and yielded a good crop.
White ants are proving such a pest in the Federated
Malay States, that the States Government and the Malay
Planters’ Association have joined to offer a reward of £5,000
to any person who can devise ‘a simple method of extermina-
tion.’ It has also been arranged that the Government
Entomologist shall give special attention for several years
to the question of white ants and various methods for their
destruction.
‘Wou. VIII. No. 176. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 29
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes.
JANUARY.
Ist Fortnicur.
Planters will now be replacing cuttings that have failed
to grow in the fields of young canes, with, so far as possible,
top plants. Note the difference in growth of top plants and
pieces of cane at this period, as compared with the time
when first planted. Planters will be putting finishing touches
to fields in which young canes are growing. In the: heavier
fields drains will be made to allow the water to run off when
the rains come. The later made farmyard manure will also
be applied.
As fast as the cotton ripens it will have to be picked,
-eare being taken to keep the various qualities separate, and
any cotton that is at all damp should be sunned and sutti-
ciently dried before being sent to the factory. Damp cotton,
ginned.in that condition, usually causes what is known in
the trade as ‘ gin-cut cotton.’
The bulk of the lime crop has now been harvested, and
attention must be paid to the condition of the soil. Now
is the time to apply pen manure so as to strengthen the trees
for the flowering period.
Observe methods of gathering cacao. What are the
reasons for burying cacao-shells !- Study changes which take
place during fermentation of beans, and note difference be-
tween cacao fermented for several days, and that washed and
dried at once, the latter being the practice adopted by the
peasantry.
2nd Forrnicur.
On sugar-cane estates, similar work to that carried out
in the first fortnight of the month will still be in’ progress.
Early cane manure will be appplied towards the end of the
month. Where planters have field trash to spare, they will,
in many instances, use it to mulch thinner portions of the
fields.
Branches of cotton plants that have been attacked by
the red maggot should be cut off and destroyed. Those
planters who have already gathered their first picking of
cotton will prune off any dead wood on the plants.
Tn the case of lime trees, note date of appearance of first
blossoms. Observe the time taken from opening of flower to
falling of fruit. Commence to remove dead wood.
Students on cacao estates should make themselves
thoroughly acquainted with the construction and working of
artificial driers, both ‘hot houses,’ and the Gordon cacao
drier.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY
(1) What are the principal elements of plant food, and
how does the plant obtain them ?
(2) What are the principal troublesome weeds in the
fields in your neighbourhood 4 How do weeds injure crops ?
(3) Have you observed any connexion between the kinds
of soil, and the kinds of weeds which grow on them?! Give
some facts.
QUESTIONS,
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Describe the principal manures useful as providing
potash.
(2) What manures are used for plant canes and ratoon
canes respectively ? How are they applied ?
(3) Describe the curing of cacao, and discuss the value
-of fermentation in producing a well-cured sample.
BORDEAUX MIXTURE.
The eighth report on the work of the Woburn
Experiment Fruit Farm, England, deals entirely with
insecticides and fungicides, their preparation and uses.
Among the investigations carried out at the Station,
the results of enquiry into the chemistry of the well-
known fungicide Bordeaux mixture has shown how the
cost of that substance may be reduced by three-fiiths
withont in any way diminishing its effectiveness. The
following is an extract from the report dealing with
this subject :—
The investigation into the nature of the compounds
formed by the action of lime on copper sulphate has shown
that as many as six different substances may be present in
Bordeaux mixture. The substance which is present when
the mixture is made in the ordinary way, by adding excess
of lime in the form of milk to copper sulphate, is a double
basic sulphate of copper and calcium. The carbonic acid of
the air acts on this, forming carbonates and sulphates of the
metals, and it is owing to the gradual re-formation of sulphate
of copper in this way that the mixture possesses fungicidal
properties. But the basic sulphate of calcium present is
first decomposed before the basic sulphate of copper 1s
attacked, so that a certain time always elapses before the
mixture begins to behave as a fungicide. This is a great
disadvantage, but can be obviated by using only just sufi-
cient lime to precipitate all the copper in the first instance,
for, in that case, a precipitate is formed which contains none
of the basic calcium sulphate. There is, further, a great
advantage in thus reducing the lime used, for the basic«
copper sulphate precipitated is a less basic compound than
that in ordinary Bordeaux mixture, and it liberates two and
a half times as much copper sulphate by the subsequent
action of the air; so that a mixture as efficient as the ordi-
nary one may be obtained, with the use of only two-fifths of
the quantity of copper sulphate,
To make this mixture, clear lime-water instead of milk
of lime, must be used ; 61b. 64 0z. of copper sulphate are
dissolved in water in a wooden pail, and into another large
tub of water 2 or 3 Ib. of fresh lime are put. After being
stirred several times, and allowed to settle, 86 gallons of the
clear lime-water are tapped off, and mixed with the copper
sulphate, the whole being made up to 100 gallons by the
addition of soft water.
The mixture must always be tested to make sure
that all the copper has been precipitated, and if this is
not so, alittle more lime-water must be added, and the
tesking repeated. If the liquid gives no red colour with
potassium ferrocyanide it isin a proper condition for use.
The stain produced on a steel knife is often recommended as
a test for unprecipitated copper, but it is neither delicate nor
safe. Any excess of lime added above the minimum required
for the complete precipitation of the copper weakens the
mixture, and represents a direct loss of money. The scorch-
ing of foliage sometimes noticed after the application of Bor-
deaux mixture may be caused by the same substance (the
copper sulphate liberated) as that which gives it its fungicidal
properties, and if so, such scorching is inevitable; it is
certainly a fallacy to suppose that it can be avoided by
using excess of lime : indeed, it is very probable that the
scorching often observed is due to the large excess of lime
used, |
‘The mixture made with lime-water as above does not
scorch foliage any more than the ordinary mixture, probably
less, and has been in constant use in Italy for many years.
30 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
January 23, 1909:
GUIANA.
The fortnightly report, dated January 9, of
Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the
RICE CROP IN BRITISH
present conditions of the rice industry in British
Guiana, contains the following notes :—
The weather for the past fortnight has been drier, but
we have had several good showers, which should benefit the
young crop. Milling has been pretty general, and cleaned
rice has come to hand in larger quantities.
Prices continue firm, and some millers are holding tor
higher prices. Shipments to the West India islands, and to
French and Dutch Guiana during the past fortnight amount
to only 512 bags.
RUM MANUFACTURE IN
GUIANA.
The latest Hxcise Report of the
Customs of British Guiana indicates
recently been a considerable decline in the amount of
rum manufactured in the colony. There has also been
a falling off in the number of distilleries at work.
The total number of licensed distilleries in British
Guiana during 1907-8 was forty-two, while forty-eight were
in existence in 1906-7. The districts in which the reductions
have taken place are South Essequibo (2), Essequibo River
(2), Georgetown (1), West Coast, Berbice (1).
The quantity of rum manufactured at the distilleries
last year amounted altogether to 1,996,623 bulk gallons and
2,966,401 proof gallons, this being 559,723 bulk gallons and
809,821 proof gallons less than the quantity made in 1906-7.
As compared with the average quantity manufactured in
the preceding four years, last year’s figures are less by
457,978 bulk gallons and 656,303 proof gallons.
BRITISH
Comptroller of
that there has
The decrease in the output of rum has been spread over
all the twelve Fiscal Districts, with the exception of North
Essequibo, which alone showed an advance in the quantity
manufactured.
During the four years from 1903-4 to 1906-7 inclusive,
the largest quantity of ram was manufactured in the East
Coast of Demerara, where 697,823 proof gallons were turned
out in 1906-7. In 1907-8, however, the output in the East
Coast District fell to 491,542 proof gallons, and the West
Coast District of Demerara took the leading place, with
a total of 574,872 proof gallons. The smallest
rium is made in the Essequibo River District.
The relative outputs of rum in the three counties of the
colony in the’past'two years have been as follows: Demerara,
2,538,473 proof gallons in 1906-7, and 1,987,646 proof
gallons in 1907-8 ; Berbice, 873,130 proof gallons in‘ 1906-7,
and 649,463 proof gallons in 1907-8; Essequibo, 364,618
proof gallons in 1906-7, and 329,292 proof gatlons in 1907-8.
There has also naturally been a decline in the quintity
of rum exported from British Guiana in the past few years.
While the amount shipped abroad in 1905-6 was 3,536,784
proof gallons, valued at $584,300, the export in 1907-8 had
fallen to 2,640,988 proof gallons, worth $464,928. Compared
with the average of the previous four yeans,.the rum exports
of 1907-8 show a decrease of 734,299 proof gallons in
quantity, and of $8,859 in value.
amount of
British Egg-laying Competition.
An egg-laying competition, organized by the
Utility Poultry Club, on somewhat similar lines to the
one carried out in Australia in 1907-8, the results of
which were reported in the Agricultural News of
November 14 last (page 362) was lately completed in
England. It must be said, however, that, taking the
average returns, the Australian birds far surpassed in lay-
ing power those taking part in the British competition.
The awards were made, not on the basis of results from
individual birds, but on the value of the eggs laid by pens of
six young birds of the same breed. Each pen had a separate
house, together with an area of grass land on which they
could take necessary exercise.
In feeding the birds, no attempt was made to obtain
high egg averages by forcing, and only such food was given
as every poultry-keeper is able to obtain. By conducting the
competition in this way, its value is increased, since the
ordinary poultry-keeper is furnished with an object-lesson as
to the laying capacity of the different breeds under conditions
such as he can arrange on his own holding. The competition
extended over a year, and it may be mentioned that two
meals only were given during the summer weather. The
morning food consisted of biscuit meal, granulated meat,
barley meal, and pea and bean meal. It will be seen that
this is a very nutritious, but not too fattening a ration. In
the evening wheat or oats were fed. But little maize was
given, and this only in cold weather. On account of its
fattening properties maize, if given in any but small quantity,
tends to diminish the yield of eggs. Flint grit and oyster
shell were always available.
As already mentioned, the prizes were awarded on the
basis of the value of eggs laid. By this means only was it
possible to ensure that the most profitable, and therefore the
most useful pen would win. Eggs under 2 oz. in weight
were treated as second grade produce, and their value
reduced by 10 per cent.
In the results, the White Wyandotte breed easily
distanced all other competing breeds, pens of this variety
gaining the first five places, together with the eighth, tenth
and eleventh. The winning pen laid 994 eggs in the year,
valued at £4 19s. 9¢., while the second pen was very little
behind, with 991 eggs, worth £4 18s. 4d. In pen No. 3,
946 eggs were laid, value £4 11s. 1d., and the fourth set
of birds laid 922 eggs, also worth £4 11s. 1d.
Other breeds which gave good evidence of their laying
power in this competition were Plymouth Rocks and
White Leghorns.
Ifa laying competition similar to the above were
organized by the Agricultural Societies of the several
islands, interesting and useful results as to the egg-
laying capacities of the different breeds under West
Indian conditions would probably be elicited. It should
throw some light, too, on the influence of West Indian
feeding stuffs on the rate of egg production.
Vor. Ville; No: 176:
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 31
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S.,-has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
during the month of November :—
The depression in trade that has been so general
throughout the year shows little or no sign of improve-
ment, but, on the contrary, with the seriously falling
revenue, the close of the year seems to have become
chronically gloomy. In the early weeks of December,
the provision markets are mostly somewhat more busy
than usual and the spice markets are naturally affected.
In the following notes it will be seen that the dealings
in West Indian produce were nothing more than
normal, though the supplies were, in most cases, good.
GINGER.
At the first spice auction on the 4th of the month, the
offerings of Jamaica amounted to 214 bags, but 7 only
were sold at 53s. 6d. for good common. Over £400 packages
of Cochin and Calicut were brought forward, and bought in
at the following rates: 52s. to 53s. tor small and medium
native cut ; 40s. for good brown Calicut ; and 35s. tor.56s. for
fair washed Cochin. On the 11th, the demand continued very
slow. There was no Jamaica offered, and the bulk of the Cochin
and Calicut offered, amounting to about 580 packages, was
bought in at similar rates to those of the previous week.
On the 18th of the month, there was still no demand, though
Jamaica was offered to the extent of some 80 packages.
The whole was bought in at 52s. to 54s. for good common,
and 46s. for ordinary common. There was no Cochin or
Calicut offered. At the last auction on the 25th, though
some 400 packages of Cochin and Calicut were offered, only
very small sales were effected, the bulk being bought in at
the following prices : Bold selected cut, 80s. to S5s., and
washed rough Cochin, 36s.
NUTMEGS, MACE AND‘ PIMENTO.
The market in nutmegs has been a steady one through-
out the month, without change in price. Mace has also
been in slow demand. At the spice auction on the 11th of
the month, a few cases of Java were sold, realizing 1s. 9d.
for thin pale curly. About 30 cases of Penang were
bought in at from 1s. 6d. to 1s. Sd. per tb. On the i8th,
63 packages of West Indian were offered, and for the
most part disposed of at 1s. Sd. for fair pale ; 1s. 5d. to
1s. 6d. for palish ; 1s. 4d. for fair red, and Is. Id. for
broken. Of Pimento, at the first sale on the 4th, fair qual-
ity was disposed of at 2;'¢d., a few bags only being sold out
of 90 offered. A week later, 186 bags were brought
forward, and bought in “at 24d. On the 1lSth, 510 bags
were offered, and bought in at 24d. to 24d. ; and at the last
auction on the 25th, 260 bags were offered and again bought
in at 22d. ‘
ARROW ROOT.
There have been good supplies during the month of this
article, but comparatively little demand. At the first auction
on the 4th, 140 barrels of St. Vincent were offered, the
whole of which was bought in at from 2}d. to 24d. per Ib.
for fair manufacturing. On the 18th, at auction, 20
bags of Natal were offered and sold at 33d. per Ib. No sales
of St. Vincent were effected at auction, but it was reported
that several hundred barrels had changed hands privately at
2d. per tb. At the last sale on the 25th, all the offerings,
consisting of 196 barrels of St. Vincent, were bought in at
the following prices : for good to fine manufacturing, 24d. to
34d.; and for fair, 23d. per hb. '
SARSAPARILLA,
At the first drug auction on November 5, the offerings
consisted of 19 bales of Lima-Jamaica, and 16. bales
of native Jamaica, all of which were disposed of—the
first at from 1s. ld. to Is. 3d. per Ib. for mixed, partly
chumpy, and coarse to fair rolls; the latter at from ls. to
_1s.' 1d. for dull to fair red. At the second auction on the
19th, a dearer tone prevailed ; only 12 bales of Lima were
brought forward, and all sold at 1s. 3d. per Ib. Three bales
of Honduras character realized 1s. 3d. per tb., and 1s. per Ib.
was paid for 1 bale of pale red native Jamaica.
KOLA, LIME JUICE, AND OIL OF LIME.
At the first sale of the month, 26 packages of West
Indian kola were offered and disposed of at from 1d.
to 13d. per tb. for medium to bold dried, part bright. On
the 19th, some packages of fair dried West Indian were sold
without reserve at ld. per tb., and 3 other packages of
dried West Indian realized from 1d. to 13d. per ib. A week
later, at the spice sales, 7 bags of dried West Indian
fetched from 13d. to 1}d. per tb. At the first spice sale on
the 4th, 2 pipes and 4. casks of raw St. Lucia lime
juice were sold, fair palish brown realizing 1s. per gallon.
The arrivals were said to include 269 packages from Dominica.
A consignment of some 52> packages of oi] of limes was
announced from Dominica in the middle of the month, Is. 8d.
to 2s. per Ib. according to quality being the prices quoted.
PRICKLY PEAR AS A FORAGE CROP.
A number of species of prickly pear (Opuntia) are
undoubtedly worthy of consideration as possible forage
crops in districts of deficient rainfall. Bulletin 124
of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. 8. Department. of
Agriculture, gives an account of experiments in the
cultivation of this crop in dry districts of Vexas, where
the average annual rainfall for the past eighteen years
has been but 28-4 inches.
As the result of these experiments it is estimated that
the prickly pear under cultivation will produce 25 tons of
rough fodder per acre. The increased yield given in response
to cultivation was very good, eight times as much prickly
pear having been produced on cultivated, as compared with
uncultivated land. Under the conditions, cultivated prickly
pear yielded six times as much rough fodder as sorghum.
At least twenty spineless varieties are under cultivation,
of which Opuntia Lindhetmert is mentioned as one of the
best.
It is believed that the cost of establishing a plantation of
spineless prickly pear would not be more than 56-00 or 57:00
per acre, and an area once planted furnishes a supply of
fodder for an indefinite period. In the experiments the plants
grew well from single-joint cuttings placed 2 teet from each
other, in rows 6 feet apart, and slightly covered with earth
Frequent: shallow cultivation is needed to prevent weed
erowth, and excessive baking of the soil. A first harvest of
forage can be taken about twenty months after setting out
the plants. ~
The albuminoid ratio, ie., the ratio of nitrogenous
constituents to carbohydrates is very low, and the addition
of small quantities of such a food as bean, or cotton-seed
meal, is therefore necessary when the fodder is given to
stock. Such a mixture increases the digestibility as well as the
feeding value of the prickly pear,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JANUARY 23, 1909-
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—January 5, 1909, Tae West Inpra Com-
MITTEE CrrcuLARr; Messrs. Kearton Pirer & Co.,
January 5, 1909; Messrs. E. A, pE Pass & Co.,
December 24, 1908.
Arrowroot—No quotations.
Batata—Sheet, 2/1 to 2/4 ; block, no quotations,
Brrs’-wax—No sales reported.
Cacao—Trinidad, 57/- to 70/- per ewt.; Grenada, 50/- to
59/- per ewt.
CorreE—NSantos, 26s. 74d.per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Conn est Indian, £18 10s. per ton.
Corron—St. Katt’s, 14d. ; Barbados, no quotations ; Carolina
Sea Islands, extra fine, 135d.
Froir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 6/- per bunch.
Lswes-——Not wanted.
PINE-APPLES—St. Michael, 2/6 to 5/6,
Grape Frurr—/- to 8/- per box.
Orances—Jamaica, 4/- to 7/- per box.
Fustic—£3 to £4 per ton,
Gincer—No quotations.
Honty—No quotations.
Tstnciass—W est India lump, 1/10 to 2/- per Tb.
Live Jurce—Raw, 11d. to 1/2 per gallon; concentrated,
£16 10s. per cask of 108 gallons; cistilled oil, 19 to 1/10
per th.; hand-pressed, 5/6 to 9/9 per th. 4
Locwoon—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Macr—Steady.
Nurmecs—Slow.
Pimento—()wiet.
Rupper—Para, fine hard, 5s. 2d. per th., on the spot.
2uM—Jamaica, no quotations; Demerara, 16 to 1/8, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, no quotations ; Muscovado, no quota-
tions ; Syrup, 14/6; Molasses, no quotations.
January 5, 1909,—Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co,
Cacao—Caracas, 12}c. to 21c. ; Grenada, 11#c. to 12c. ;
Trinidad, 124c. to 13¢c. ; Jamaica, 9$e. to LL bc. per Th.
Cocoa-NuTS—Jamaica, select, $22-00 to $23:00 ; culls, ve 00
to $15°00 ; Trimidad, $21°00 to $22-00 ; culls, $13-00 to
$15-00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, ee Tic. to 8}e.; good ordinary,
94e.; washed, 10}c. to Ile. per Tb.
Gincer—9e. to 12}c. per Tb.
Goat Sxixs—Jamaica, 53c.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49e. to 50e. ; St. tsiacal St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c,
to 48c. per Tb., dry flint.
Grave Freir—Florida, 81°50 to $3-00 per box.
Lines—No quotations. Market overstocked.
Mace—28e. to 32e. per tb.
Nurmecs—110’s, 108c. to 104e. per Ih.
Orances—Jamaica, $3°00 to $3°50 per barrel; 81:00 to
$1°50 per box.
Pimento— 3c. per Ib.
SuGcar—Centrifugals, 96°, 5°G7e. ; Muscovados, 89°, 3°17c.;
Molasses, 89°, 2°92c. per Tb., duty paid,
Barbados,- —Messrs.
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Leacock & Co., January 18, 1909 =
Messrs. T, S. GARRAWAY «& Co., Jannary 18, 1909.
Arrowkoot—St. Vincent, $4°00 to $4°50 per LOO th.
Cacao— Dominica and St. Lucia, SL0-00 per 100 th.
Cocoa-NuTS—$13-00 for ee ee nuts.
C 58°50 to $11°50 per
100 th.
Hay—81-20 to $1°25 per 100 th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $62°00 to 865-00: Ohlendorft’s-
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao
manure, $42°00 to $4800; Sulphate of ammonia, S79 “00>
to $7500; Sulphate of potash, $67-00 per ton.
Motasses—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, $2°00 ; loose, $1°20 per 100 th.
Potaros—Novya Scotia, 31°30 to $1°60 per 160 th.
Pras—Split, $640 per bag of 210 th.; Canada, $3-40
per bag of 120 th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°30 (180 tb.); Patna, $3°80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per 100 Tb.
Sucar—No quotations.
es
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerine & Rronrer, January 9,
1909; Messrs. SanDBACH, Parker & Co., January 9
1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, 89-00 per 200 th.
Barata— Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c. per tb.
Cacao—Native, 16c. to 18c. per th.
Cassava—b60e.
Cassava StarcH—8d'00 to 36°00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-NuTS—S12°00 to S16°00 per M.
CorrrE—Creole, 12c. to 13c. ; Jamaica, lle. to 12e. per tb...
slow.
Duai—$4°75 per bag of 168 th.
$156 per barrel.
Morasses—No quotations
Owntons—Madeira, 3c. per th.
PLANTAINS—8e. to 24e. per bunch, plentiful.
Poraros—Nova-Seotia, $2°50 per LOO th.
PoratTos—Sw eet, Barbados, $1°68 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $580 ; Creole, $4°60 to $4°75 ; Seeta, S6-00.
Sprit PEas—S$6°25 fea S6°40 per bag (210 th.); Marseilles,
4°25 to $4°50.
Tanntas—$1°92 per bag.
Yams—White, $1°92 ; Buck, $2°16 per bag.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2:20; Yellow, $2°60 to $3-10;
White, $3°60 to $3-80 ; Molasses; $2-00 to $2°10 per
100 th. (retail. )
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 55e. per cubie foot,
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3°75 to $5°75 per M.
— Corpwoop—82'40 to $2°64 per ton.
Trinidad,—January 9, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant
& Co,
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12°25 to $12°50 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11°50 to $1200.
Cocoa-Nuts—No quotations.
Cocoa-Nuv Orn—ble. PEG Imperi
Correre— Venezuelan, B8}e. to 33
Corpra—S8300 to S3°10 per 100 th.
Duar —S4°50 to S460 epee 2-bushel bag.
Ox1ons—S82:00 to $2°25 per 100 th. (retail).
Poraros—English, 90c. to SL*LO per LOO tb.
Rick—Y ellow, $5:°40 to $560; White, $4°50 to $4°80 per bag.
Spruit Peas 75 to 86-00 per bag.
Sucar—Amenean crushed, $5:00 to $5°10 per 100 tb.
] gallon, cask included.
per tb.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR .THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN.’ A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1 out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price ls. each. Post free, 1s. 2d
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Price 6d. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES. é
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. . They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work:
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The following list gives particulars
of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :-—
Volume
following.
(3) Seedling and other Canes-at Barbados, in 1900. Price 2d.
(©) General Treatment of Insect Pests, 2nd. Edition Revised.
Price 4d.
(7) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part I.
(9) Bee Keeping in the West Indies. Price 4d.
(12) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1900-1.
Price 2d.
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Vou. VIII. No. 176. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. JANUARY 23, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
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The English THOROUGH-BRED STALLION (Published fortnightly).
‘BEAU IT’ now stationed at the Stock Farm, Agricultural =
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—— : —— Edited by ALGERNON E. ASPINALL.
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(Vol. IX, No. 3). SELECTED COTTON SEED
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An orange grove must be fertilized and cultivated, no matter where it is located. Wild-trees may produce without
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OF
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURC FOR THE WceST INDIES.
Olea Vln w NO tii: BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
48
eAGies
Avricultural Schools, Prize
Awards at
Market Reports Hao) heide
Mauritius, Botanic Stations
Agricultural Schools, NGS Soak common Hl
Reportson ... ... .:. 46) Mendelism, Mart I... ... 33
British Guiana, Agricultural Notes and Comments 40)
Exports from ... OF Oil Grasses at Antigua... 41
Broom Corn Cultivation at Para Rubber Seeds ... A.
Antigua . .. .-. 46) Pen Manure, Fermenta-
Citrus Fruit, Packing of ... 36 CLOT OL. PUREE ein uae Te
Cotton Notes: Profitable Cotton Growing 41
Cotton Industry in the Rice in British Guiana ... 45
Virgin Islands... ... 38) St. Vincent Agricultural
Cotton in the Sea Islands 38 and Commercial
West Indian Cotton a0, Che) Society coh paces Pore
Dairy Cows, Ration for . 40) Soil Capillarity... ... ... 43
Date Palm, The... ... ... 36) Students’ Corner aad
Department News... .... 39) Sugar-cane, Manures for
Dominica Lime Juice... ... 41 at Jamiaica... . 40
Drinking Waters, Steriliza- Sugar Industry :
TOME OLR sta waschiech elt ts schioo At Barbados ... BD
Gleanings sae sane . 44 At Trinidad ... 35
Green Dressing Crops at Tillage Experiments in
Nate gee OBE 5 23} Sugar-cane Cultivation 35
Honey Production in Talipot alm; The ...... 39
England . 41) Watts, Dr. Francis, C.M.G.,
Insect Notes :— and his Work in the
Some Beneficial Insects 42 Leeward Islands a oy/
Mendelism .
PART I.
HE question of breeding plants and animals
so as to improve the type, and ‘perma-
nently to fix desirable characteristics has
© always been a matier of great interest to agriculturists,
yet practically nothing was known as to the principles
FEBRUARY 6,
1909 Price ld.
which underhe and determine the results of hybridiza-
tion in any given case until Gregor Mendel, an Austrian
monk, carried out his work about fifty years ago. This
work first placed the subject of inheritance on a definite
basis.
Mendel gave his chief attention to the hybridiza-
tion of varieties of peas, and from the results of his
observations as to the manner in which certain definite
characteristics were transmitted to succeeding genera-
tions, he was able to ennneciate a theory of heredity
which—although neglected for a number of years—has
lately been applied with encouraging success to the
building up of improved varieties of agricultural plants.
The truth of Mendel’s theory has also been repeatedly
demonstrated in connexion with the breeding of poultry,
rabbits, ete.
An idea as to the nature of the knowledge gained
D
from Mendel’s observations may best be given by
instancing two illustrative examples relating to the
inheritance of simple characteristics. There are two
strains of the ordinary garden pea grown in England
coloured
When these two
have
(Pisum sativum), one of which
flowers, and the other white flowers.
hybrids all
kinds crossed, the resulting
coloured flowers similar to those of the parent with
are
coloured blooms. On breeding those hybrids together,
plants are produced in the next generation, some of
which bear coloured blossoms, while others possess
white flowers only; the two kinds of plants are pres-
ent in the proportion of three with coloured blooms to
one with white. Those pea plants with white flowers
henceforward breed true when self-fertilized, no coloured
flowers appearing in the next generation produced
from them. The plants with coloured blooms may be
shown, however, to be of two kinds :(1) those which, in
34 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. FEBRUARY 6, 1909.
the next generation, give plants with coloured flowers
only, and (2) those which, on breeding among them-
selves, behave like the original hybrids, and produce
plants, some of which have coloured flowers and others
white, the two kinds being present at the rate of three
of the former to one of the latter.
Now to turn tor a moment to the second case, which
is somewhat similar, but relates to animals instead
of plants. Rose-combed bantam fowls are of two
kinds, black and white. On crossing a pure-bred
black bird with a pure white, the offspring are all
black, similar to the black parent. In the second
generation, bred from these hybrids, both black and
white birds are present, the former being three times
as numerous as the latter, The case here is exactly
similar to that of the peas already mentioned. The
white birds breed true, while the blacks are of two
classes: (1) those which breed true, and (2) those which
resemble the original hybrids, in that, when mated
together, they give blacks and whites in the ratio of
three to one.
Qualities which have been shown by experiment
to be transmissible in the manner described, as colour
and whiteness in the flowers of the pea, and blackness
and whiteness of plumage in the case of rose-combed
known characters. That
quality or characteristic which alone is apparent in the
first generation produced from crossing the original
parents, e.g., colour in the pea flowers, and blackness
in the plumage of the bantams, is known as the ‘ domi-
nant ’
bantams, are as Mendelian
characteristic,
which disappears in the first generation, but again
reappears in a stable form in a definite proportion of
the individuals
character, while the alternative
comprising the second generation,
1e., whiteness of the pea flowers, or whiteness of
plumage in the bantams, is referred to as the
“recessive ’ quality
next
step is to find a theory which shall satisfactorily account
The above facts having been observed, the
for them and for similar phenomena. Mendel was able
to put forward a simple explanation, which has since
been proved many times over. The formation of a new
individual (animal or plant) is the result of the union
of two germ-cells, the spermatazoon or pollen grain in
the case of the male, and the ovum or egg-cell from the
female. In these single cells are necessarily contained
the characteristics contributed to the offspring by the
male and female parents, respectively. Now in the
examples already given, we are dealing with the
inheritance of alternative characters, ie., colour or
whiteness in the pea flower, and blackness or whiteness
of plumage in the bantam fowls. The central idea of the
Mendelian theory,is that any given germ-cell can contain
only one of these*lternative characteristics, or ‘ unit
characters ’ as théy are termed. To return to the case of
the garden peas :,a germ-cell contributed by a plant of
pure strain with coloured flowers will contain the
character of ‘colour’ only, while germ-cells from
a similarly pure plant with white blooms will contain
the quality of‘ whiteness’ only. When in the process of
crossing a ‘coloured’ germ meets a ‘coloured’ germ,
the result is a coloured flower. Similarly, when two
‘white’ germs meet, a white-flowered plant necessarily
results.
If now a ‘coloured’ germ meets a ‘ white’ germ, as
in the hybridization experiments referred to, the
resulting plant bears coloured flowers, because colour is
dominant to whiteness in this case. Such a plant
possesses both alternative characters, but cannot trans-
mit them in a blended form, and in the germ cells
formed by this plant the ‘unit characters’ ea
out. Half the germ cells of each sex will possess the
quality of colour, and the remaining halves, a, of
whiteness. When the resulting hybrids are bred among
themselves, therefore, the two sets of germ-cells come
together, and, according to a simple mathematical law,
this can only lead to the production of a number of
plants, one quarter of which result from the union of
two ‘coloured’ cells, one quarter from two ‘ white ’ cells,
and two quarters by the union of a ‘coloured’
a ‘white.’
and
The first and second classes are in each
case pure bred plants, breeding true to type, and yield-
ing respectively coloured and white flowers only. But
the remaining two quarters are similar to the hybrid
plants, possessing the qualities of both colour and
whiteness, but appearing with coloured flowers because
will
similar manner to the
‘colour’ is dominant to whiteness. These
necessarily breed in an exactly
parent hybrids.
Such is Mendel’s explanation of the manner in
unit characters ’ are said to be inherit-
ed. During the
which simple ‘
been
demonstrated to be true for such varied morphological
past few years this has
and physiological characters as structure, size, shape,
fertility
a number of qualities in animals.
colour, and among plants, as well as for
For example, it has
been shown that tallness and dwarfness are Mendelian
characters in sweet peas, the former being dominant;
and that in horses, brown colour is Aaininsne
to chestnut.
bay or
(A concluding Pare dealing with the same Breve t will
forni the editorial in the next issue.)
EVOra Ville NGOS Wii.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 35
INDUSTRY.
SUGAR
Sugar Industry at Barbados.
Although the cane crop reaped at Barbados in
“1908 was but a small one (yielding 29,416 tons of
sugar, and 50,112 puncheons of inolasses), largely owing
to the irregular rainfall, yet. it is apparent that estate
owners and others in the island have decided confi-
dence in the prospects of the sugar industry in the
near future. This is evidenced by the ready sale at
good prices of a number of estates that came into the
market during the past year, and by the expenditure that
is being made on many estates in improving machinery.
ete. The Barbados Agricultural Reporter lately referred
to these points, and after enumerating the estates
that have changed hands in the past year, it gives the
following particulars as to Improvements on various
plantations —
Perhaps a stronger evidence of revived confidence in the
sugar industry of Barbados than the purchase of estates
is the active steps taken during the year to improve
machinery. A five-roller mill was added to the fine
plant at Bulkeley, in time for the crop of the year.
At Carrington the ‘triple’ was used for the first time,
extensive improvements having been made at the begin-
ning of the year. Immediately after the close of the crop,
arrangements were made at Kendal for re inodelling the boil-
ing honse and for laying down a new Stirling boiler. The
work is now being pushed so that the alterations may be
ready for the coming erop. Stirling boilers have been put in
at the Pine, Brighton, Applewhaites, and Easy Hall. The
advantages obtained by the use of the centrifugal process
are so evident, that in several places where the windmill is
still used for crushing, oil engines are being set up this season
for operating centrifugals. Mount Gay and Fisher Pond are
estates where this improvement is being made.
The trend of opinion seems to have set more towards
centralization in the manufacture of sugar than at any former
period. At Foursquare, Bulkeley, Carrington, and Bruce Vale,
a very considerable amount of work was done on the central
system. Applewhaites also purchased canes from the small
growers around. A Committee of the Legislature has been
appointed to consider the question of establishing a Central
Factory on co-operative principles ; but its proceedings are not
yet available to the public.
Tillage Experiments in Sugar-cane Cultivation.
In the report, recently issued by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture, dealing with the work of
the Agricultural and: Botanical Departments of Barba-
dos since 1898, there appears a “ak containing par-
ticulars of some tillage experiments carried out in the
cultivation of sugar-cane on Hampton plantation.
In these experiments a very level field, 64 acres in area
was first cut out into ten large strips. Five different pro-
cesses of tillage were practised on the first five strips, and
these were repeated on the second series of five strips.
Plots Nos. 1 and 6 were first subsoiled close, They
were lined at distances of 6 feet by 6 feet, and cane holes
dug. These two strips were cultivated in the usual estate
manner, and gave a return at the rate of 15°75 tons of cane
per acre, which was the highe-t yield obtained in the experi-
ments.
The strips Nos. 2.and 7 gave the second highest return,
viz., 15°59 tons of cane per acre. These two plots were
ploughed flat with a dise plough, turning under farmyard
manure 8 mches deep. Cane holes were dug, and the Jand
cultivated by ordinary estate methods.
Strips Nos. 3 and 8 were first subsoiled close. Furrows
were then opened with a mould-board plough 6 feet apart.
Manure was spread on the banks, and canes planted in the
furrows 6 feet apart. The average return was at the rate of
14°94 tons of cane per acre.
On strips Nos. 5 and 10, subsoiling was first opened in
one direction. Between the cane holes, however, the land
was left forked. Cultivation was carried on in the usual
estate manner. The crop of canes obtained was at the rate
of 14°2 tons per acre.
The smallest return (at the rate of 13°2 tons of cane per
acre) was obtained on strips 4 and 9. These plots were
first ridged with the dise plough, pen manure being turned
under 8 inches deep. ‘The canes were then planted in rows
at the hetion of the furrow. The land was cultivated with
the Diamond eultivator, and trashed as usual.
It will be observed that an extreme difference of 24 tons
of canes per acre occurred between the most favourable and
the most unfavourable plots.
Sugar Industry in Trinidad.
Asaresult of the excellent rains experienced in
December, and the frequent showers that fell in the
early part of January, fields of young cane in Trinidad
have lately presented a much more promising appear-
ance than was the case previous to the rainfall.
Planters are now busy applying pen manure and
artificials to the crop. Cane re: iping is now in progress
on a few estates, the Usine St. Madeleine in Naparima
having started crushing about the third w eek in
January.
An interesting meeting of planters and cane farmers was
held at Prince’s Town on January 12 last, under the presi-
dency of the Warden of Savanna Grande, in order to discuss.
the prices which should be paid by estate owners for farmer-
grown canes in the coming season, One of the chief speakers
on the subject was Mr. H. E, Murray, attorney to the estates
of the New Colonial Company. Mr. Murray stated that
when sugar fetched 3c. per Ib. in New York, factory owners
received only 31°95 per 100 tb., so that at this figure they
could only give 8s. 6d. per ton for farmers’ canes. After
discussion, the following seale of payment, based on the price
of sugar on the New York market, was adopted :—
Price of sugar Price of Farmers’
per Ib. cane per ton.
3c. or under 8s. 6d.
31 2¢. to 4e. 9s. Od.
4tee. to 4c. 9s. 3d.
4hce. to 475. 9s. 6d.
4h. to 44he. 10s. Od.
4c. to 4c. 10s. 6d.
5e. and over 1s. Od.
On behalf of the farmers present, the Secretary of the
Cane Farmers’ Association expressed satisfaction with the
terms of this scale.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fresruary 6, 1909.
WEST INDIAN FRUIG-
PACKING OF CITRUS FRUIT.
In reporting to the Permanent Exhibition Com-
mittee of Dominica on the exhibits of produce sent
from that island to the Colonial Fruit Show held in
Tondon at the end of November last, Mr. A. E. Aspinall,
Secretary of the West india the
following reference to the packing of the citrus fruit
sent over :—
Committee, makes
The fruit was very well packed, but there is still room
for improvement in the style of packages adopted, which
lacked Thus, should be shipped in
standard Florida boxes, measuring 2 feet 34 inches, by 124
I z 5 .
uniformity. oranges
inches by 12 inches, instead of in the slatted crates now used.
On this point the fruit trade is quite unanimons. With regard
to limes, there is no question that the cases measuring 1 cubic
foot, and containing from 200 to 220 fruits are the most
marketable, while, as I have so often pointed out, those limes
wrapped in stout brown paper last far longer than those
protected by thin tissue paper only.
THE DATE PALM.
Although the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is not
» of the West
a natty
made to cultivate it in these islands have been chiefly of an
experimental character, yet it has been shown that the tree
can be successfully grown in suitable situations, and at the
Botanie Stations of Jamaica, Trinidad and Dominica, fruit
of good quality has been produced of recent years. Since
well-suited for
best Ina very
hot climate with little rainfall, but must be grown only in
the tree is of a handsome character, it is
planting t
r ornamental purposes. It flourishes
situations where its roots are in contact with a good supply
of wate)
\ late number of the Aew Bulletin (No. 7, 1908) con
tains an article of some interest on the cultivation of the
date palm in Mesopotamia, vhere it is grown ona very large
scale It is pointed ont that though the tree can be raised
from seed, it is preferable to plant ‘ offshoots, ’ which are
suckers nally borne at the base of palms of from. six to
sixteen years of age. Sine the date palin is ‘ dicecious, ’ 1.e.,
having the male and female flowers on
trees constitute
different trees, male
about 50 per cent. of the young plants
raised from seed. But one male tree will usually suffice for
the pollination of about 100 females, so that only a very small
proportion of the former are required. The sexes cannot be
distinguished until the trees flower, which does not usually
Inclies, its natural home being in the
dry, hot regions of Northern Africa, and the attempts so far
occur until they are about six years of that if
a plantation is raised from seed, an undue proportion of the
area will be occupied by useless trees. The advantage of
growing from suckers is therefore apparent, as not only can
the sex be assured, but the quality of the fruit is generally
superior to that from seedling palms.
age, SO
than
from the
When cut
for transplanting they appear as rootless stumps from which
the larger removed. They should be
planted in holes about 3 feet deep, and of the same diameter,
the holes being afterwards filled with loose earth mixed with
pen manure. The shoots are planted from 10 to 15 feet
Date palms love abundance of sunshine, and grow
situations. If the soil is not naturally
provided with a cood supply of water the young shoots need
watering daily for at least six months.
It is mentioned that in Mesopotamia, under suitable
conditions, the date palms develop rapidly, and bear fruit
within four or five years from the date of planting. One
variety of date, the Khadramee, the fruit of which is | urgely
exported to Europe and America, frequently bears fruit at
the end of three Two other kinds, Hallawee and
Sayer, the former of which is mentioned as the best kind
Where
with more favour
They should usually be removed
parent tree when from three to six years of age.
Larger offshoots are regarded
smaller ones.
leaves have been
apart,
slowly im shady
years.
grown at Basra, begin to bear in four or five years
water is scarce and the ground hard, from seven to eight
years elapse before any fruit is produced.
The male date palm is bigger and stouter than the
and the male
spathes. In Mesopot
The flowers on both the male
trees are enclosed in sheaths o1
female tree.
unia
the female flower opens about the end of March ; at the same
time a blossom from 2 male tree is secured, the sheath
surrounding it artificially opened, and some pollen shaken on
to the female flowers. If the process of fertilization is not
out by hand, pollen from the male flowers i
wind, but it is
carriec naturally
-
distributed by th atlirmed that the resulting
fruit is never so ¢
ficial pollination
vod as that which is produce from arti-
Ihe date fruits form about one month after pollination,
but are not ripe and ready to gather till four months later.
The clusters are then cnt down carefully.
A large number of different varieties of dates are men-
tioned as being grown in Mesopotamia. In addition to the
kinds already referred to, the fruits of the ‘Zahdee’ and
‘Deree’ varieties are exported in quantity. Arrack is also
distilled from the
especially suitabl
‘ Zahdee ’ dates, which are considered to be
The fruit of the many
Wh is consumed at home.
for this purpose.
other varieties 21
Vou. VIL. No...177. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.’ " 37
DR. FRANCIS WATTS, C.M.G, AND
HIS WORK IN THE LEEWARD
ISLANDS.
The departure of Dr. Francis. Watts, C.M.G., from
Antigua, in order to take up the work of, Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, has
been the occasion of a number of resolutions of a
complimentary nature from Agricultural bodies in the
Leeward Islands.
At a meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and Commer-
cial Society, held on January 15 last, it was resolved by the
members present ‘ That this Society tenders to Dr. Watts its
heartiest congratulations on his well deserved promotion to
the important and responsible post of Imperial Commissioner.’
The resolution went on to express the regret of the Society
at the departure of Dr. Watts from the colony in which he
had worked for the past twenty years with great benefit to the
community at large, as well as its satisfaction that in his new
position the Commissioner would still be able to give to
Antigua, in common with other West Indian Islands, the
benetit of his experience and advice in agricultural matters.
This resolution was proposed by Mr. A. P. Cowley and
seconded by Mr. A. Spooner, both of whom referred in the
highest terms to the value of Dr. Watts’ services to the
Leeward Islands during the past twenty years.
After Mr. J. D. Hacper and the Hon. D. McDonald had
spoken in support of the resolution, his Excellency Sir
Bickhain Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G., Governor of the Leeward
Islands, who presided at the meeting, made a brief speech.
He wished to express his entire agreement with all that had
been said by the preceding speakers. The services which
Dr. Watts had given to Antigua had been of the highest
value. They all regretted his departure, but hoped that the
new Commissioner would be able to make frequent visits to
Antigua, where his old friends would always be glad to see
him. The resolution was then carried unanimously.
In reply, Dr. Watts thanked the members present for all
the good things they had said about him, and he then refer-
red to the work which he had been able to do at Antigua.
His labours in the Leeward Islands had been attended with
success, but he could not lay claim to more than a_ partial
share in that success, inasmuch as it had been so largely
brought about by the co-operation and assistance given by
planters and others. He had realized that in order to
advance agriculture it was necessary for him to associate
with the planters, and to work with them. He trusted his
successor would do the same.
Dr. Watts referred to the advances that had been made
in the Leeward Islands during recent years. In addition to
sugar—which was still the special produet—they now had
another important crop in cotton. Proper attention must be
given to this crop and every effort made, by employing all up-
to-date methods, to reduce the cost of production. In this
avay prosperity would be made more permanent.
On Thursday evening, January 21, the members of the
Agricultural and Commercial Society gave a dinner to
Dr. Watts at the Globe Hotel, St. John’s, prior to his depart-
ure. About sixty members were present, his Excellency
Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G., his Honour the Chief
Justice (J. 8. Udal, Esq.), and the Hon. E. St. John
Branch, Colonial Secretary of the Leeward Islands, being
among the guests.
In this connexion, reference may also be made to an article
which appeared in the Antigua Sun of Jannary 21 last, which
placed on record the chief points in the work to which
Dr. Watts has given his attention since he first came to the
West Indies. Exactly twenty years ago, i.e., in January 1889,
Dr. Watts was first appointed Chemist to the Government of
Antigua. After serving nine years in this position, he was ap-
pointed Analyst and Agricultural Chemist to the Government
of Jamaica, but returned one year later (in 1899) to take up the
post of Analytical and Agricultural Chemist in the Leeward
Islands under the then newly appointed Imperial Department
of Agriculture. Four years later the duties of Superin-
tendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands were added
to this post.
The work connected with experiments with sugar-canes,
begun in Antigua in 1891, and later greatly extended under
the auspices of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has
occupied a considerable part of the time of Dr. Watts and
his colleagues, and has been productive of very useful results.
The conclusions arrived at.from this work showed the
benefit that would be likely to accrue through the introduction
of the Central Factory system, and it was largely due to
this that it was made possible to establish the Antigua
Central Factory in 1903.
Among other important matters which have claimed
attention may be mentioned the cotton industry in Antigua,
Montserrat, St. Kitt’s-Nevis, and the Virgin Islands; the ime
and cacao industries at Dominica and Montserrat, together
with much work relating to minor industries.
Dr. Watts has always been closely associated with
educational matters: first in Antigua and later in the
Leeward Islands generally. He has done much to promote
science teaching in connexion with secondary education, and
to develop the systematic teaching of agriculture on broad lines,
A large number of papers dealing chiefly with the lines
of work referred to, have been contributed in recent years to-
the West Indian Bulletin by Dr. Watts.
AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS FROM
BRITISH GUIANA.
The volume of agricultural produce exported fronmy
british Guiana in 1908 indicates that the year was.
a prosperous one for the colony. Sugar, rum, balata,
and rice form the chief agricultural exports, and all
these show increases in the quantities shipped abroad
last year.
The total quantity of sugar exported was 110,657 tons.
Of this, Canada took no less than 68,752 tons, or consider-
ably more than half ; 23,921 tons were shipped to the United
Kingdom, and nearly 18,000 tons to the United States.
Rum distilleries in British Guiana were very active in
1908, and the exports show an increase of 75,000 gallons as
compared with the previous year. Probably this accounts for
the fact that the shipments of another sugar produet—
molascuit—declined from 10,378 tons in 1907 to 7,932 tons
in 1908.
The yield of balata collected in the colony during 1908,
viz., 1,124,955 tb., was also a record quantity. In 1907-8,
the output was 973,269 Ib. valued at $368,538, and
634,242 tb., valued at $240,510, in 1906-7.
The progress of the rice industry of British Guiana is
so frequently referred to in this journal that it is scarcely
necessary to state that the exports of this product again
showed a large increase in 1908. In 1907-8 the shipments
were 6,977,877 tb., but for the year ending December 31,
1908, they reached 9,573,585 Ib. This, too, is in spite of
the fact that the yield of rice per acre was somewhat below
the average.
38 THE AGRICULTURAL
Sa: =
rn” SS
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date of January 18, with refer-
ence to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton -—
Since our last report about 100 bales of West Indian
Sea Islands have been sold, consisting of about 50 Barbados
at 133d. to 1l4d., 20 St. Kitt’s at 13$d., and 25 St. Vincent
at 144d. to 15d.
Holders of American Sea Islands have been reducing
their prices and selling very freely of late, fearing competi-
tion with the West Indian, and a considerable number of
crop lots have been sokd at 124d, to 133d. In consequence,
buyers are basing their offers on these purchases, and having
supplied their immediate wants for some time, it has placed
them in a very independent position. We are of the opinion,
however, that prices will not go any lower, and it will be
a wise policy for West Indian holders not to force sales.
COTTON IN THE SEA ISLANDS.
The market prices for cotton from the Sea Islands
still remain very low as compared with those which
prevailed a year ago. The demand, however, is stated
to be good, and it 1s possible that prices may improve
somewhat. In their Sea [sland cotton report, dated
January 9 last, Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., of
Charleston write : —
There was an active demand throughout the week,
resulting in the sale of a total of 1,900 bales of cotton from
Charleston, and 3,144 bales from Savannah. [These sales of
course include cotton of grade from Florida and
Georgia, as well as the finer quality lint from Carolina.]
‘The prevailing prices for Islands cotton are as follows:
“extra fine’ quality, 13d. per tb.; ‘fully fine,’ 124d. to 124d.;
‘fine’, lljd; tinged cotton, 9}d.; and stains, Td. to 8d.
per lb. The buying was general for England, France, and the
Northerr wills.
sold, we are now dependent on future receipts for graded
cotton. No sales of ‘ planters crops’ cotton have been made,
since factors are unwilling to accept current prices.
The total amount of American Sea Island cotton ginned
up to January | of the present year has been 86,016. bales,
as compared with 73,425 bales ginned to same date last year.
The present year’s crop (American) is estimated at 100,000
bales.
On January 16, Messrs. Frost write :—
Coarse!
As the entire stock of odd bags has been
There has again been an active demand throughout the
week for all the offerings of odd bags of all grades, and also
for all the crop lots of ‘fully fine’ quality, which could be
NEWS. Fepruary 6, 1909.
purchased up to 13d., leaving the market swept of all offer-
ings excepting crop lots held at 133d. anl upwards ln view
of reduced stock, factors are now disposed to hold these with
more confidence, as the receipts from now on are expected to
be small.
INDUSTRY IN
ISLANDS.
Cotton cultivation has proved an excellent source
of prosperity in the Virgin Islands, and its development
since 1906, despite the low prices obtained for the lint,
has been renvurkable.
In 1903-< the exports of cotton from those islands
were va.ued at 10 more than £35. Two years later they
were worth 4265. For the year 1906-7, the shipments
amounted 10,177 Ib. of lint, valued at £620 ; while for the
year ended March 31, 1908, they reached no less than
32,500 tb. of tint, worth about £1,800.
Cotton seed has been distributed free of charge by the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, the amount given out
in 1907 being 2,500 tb. Small holders of land form the
main class in the Virgin Islands, and it is chiefly by these
people that cotton is grown. The seed-cotton is also purchased
an | dealt with by the Department of Agriculture, and noting
the amount of the shipments in 1907-8 (32,500 tb.), it will be
seen that 13 lb. of lint were received at the factory connected
with the Experiment Station, Tortola, for every | lb. of cotton
seed distributed.
The advances made to small growers under the ‘ Cotton
Loans Act’ have been of great assistance, and have undoubt-
edly proved one of the chief means of developing the industry.
In 1907-8, loans were made to twenty-seven growers, the
total amount advanced being £102 12s. Od The whole of
this was repaid at the end of the season. Leaf blister-mite
has, so far, proved the most serious pest of cotton in the
Virgin Islands; the cotton worm has been responsible for
comparatively little damage, but cotton stainers have been
troublesome in some cases.
In his report for the months of November and Decem-
ber last, Mr. W. C. Fishlock, Agricultural Instructor for the
Virgin Islands, refers to the position of the cotton industry
in the islands under his charge during the present season
(1908-9). It is satisfactory to note that the progress of past
years has been continuous, and there is no sign of falling off in
the development of the industry. The increase again shown in
the exports is remarkably good. From the beginning of the
cotton picking season up to December 31, 1908, there was
purchased at the Experiment Station, ‘Tortola, 74,989 Ib. of
cotton, valued at £777 11s. Sd., as against 16,738 tb. of
cotton, worth £241 12s. 2d., which was purchased to the
same date in 1907. In other words, the amount of cotton
COTTON THE VIRGIN
Vou. VHT. No. 177.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 39
purchased has increased four-fold, and the money paid out in
1908 showed a three-fold increase as compared with the
figures for the corresponding period of 1907,
The Agricultural Instructor, writing on January 5,
reported that-there was cotton equal to wbout 94 bales (each
of 200 tb.) still in store at the Station, about 25 bales having
been ginned up to that time. The indications at present are
that the total crop for the season will amount to 300 bales
(60,000 th.).
Cotton is purchased from the growers each week-end
(Fridays and Saturdays). A good deal of-labour is occasioned
at the Station in consequence of the small quantities in which
the cotton is usually sent in. It is mentioned that on the
four days December 11-12 and 18-19, no less than 1,447
separate parcels of cotton were received, weighed, and the
purchase money paid out.
THE TALIPOT PALM.
The accompanying illustration (Fig. 7) represents
two specimens of the Talipot- paim (Corypha wmbra-
culifera) which are growing at the Dominicr Botanic
Station.
This palm is a native of Ceylon, where its leaves are
commonly used by the natives as umbrellas, and also for
thatching. Specimens of the Talipot have been introduced
STATION.
Dominica Boranre
TaLipor PALM At
into various parts of the tropical world, and trees exist in
several of the West Indian Islands, as well as in British
Guiana.
_ The Talipot palm fruits but once during its life, and
this fruiting process terminates its existencé. A note appeared
in the Agricultural News, Vol. I, *p. 44, on the flowering
Mes HG
and fruiting of one of these trees in Georgetown, British
Guiana. At the time, the palm was about twenty-eight years
old, it possessed a stem from 50 to 60 feet high, and was
crowned with a panicle 10 to 12 feet long, bearing an
enormous crop of fruit.
A Talipot palm at the Dominica Botanic Station flow-
ered in the early part of 1904 being then about thirty years
old. It has since died.
These palms, when they fruit, bear a very large number
of seeds, which have been utilized for the manufacture of
buttons. As the seeds are very hard, the buttons in their
prepared state resemble vegetable ivory,
STERILIZATION OF DRINKING WATERS.
The results of experiments in the use of small
quantities of calcium hypochlorite (an inexpensive
chemical costing from 2d. to 24d. per tb.) for sterilizing
drinking waters which coutain pathogenic bacteria
were recently described by a writer in the Lancet.
To the water wmder test, the organisms Bacillus typhosus
and B. coli (the causative agents of typhoid fever and of
certain disorders of the alimentary tract respectively) were
added. It was found that exceedingly minute quantities of
the chemical sufficed for sterilization, in most cases 3 parts of
hypochlorite per 1,000,000 of water being sufficient. The
action takes place in a very few minutes, and the chlorine
remaining can be removed by the addition of a little sodium
bisulphite, as the result of which the palatability of the water
remains unimpaired.
The 30 tb. of hypochlorite required for treatment of
1,000,000 gallons would cost abont 5s. Td, or at the rate of
Id. per 15,000 gallons of water. So far, it is stated, the inves-
stiga tors have not met with a natural water which required
more than 6 parts of hypochlorite per 1,000,000 to effect steri-
lization. The amount of chemicals added is so small that it
does not affect in any way the character of the water, and
the chlorine and hardness are only increased by a minute
fraction of a grain per gallon.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G., the newly appointed:
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, having assumed
the duties of the office at Antigua on January 6,
proceeded to Barbados by the R.MLS. * Esk,’ which left
Antigua on Jannary 23, and arrived at Barbados
on January 26.
Mr. F. A. Stockdale, B.A., F.L.S., who has held
the post of Mycologist and Lecturer in Agricultural
Science on the staff of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture since August 1905, left for British
Guiana by the R.M.S. ‘Esk’ on February 2 Jast, in
order to take up the duties of his appointment as
Assi:tant Direetor of Agriculture and Government
Botanist in the latter colony. Mr. Stockdale takes
with him the best wishes of his colleagues, and many
other friends in the West Indies.
"Mr, R. D. Anstead, B.A., Agricultural Superin-
tendent of Grenada, has been appointed to a post in
the Indian Agricultural Service, and will shortly be
leaving the West Indies.
AO THE AGRICULTU
xAL NEWS.
Frsruary 6, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens fur naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados,
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
€o., 87, 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 1d. per number,
poet free 2d, Annual subscription payable to Agents,
. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural News
VIIL SATURDAY,
Vou FEBRUARY 6, 1909.
NOTES AND COMM ENTS.
No.
WIT
Contents of Present Issue.
An account of Mendel’s theory of heredity is
given in the editorial, A further article on the sub-
ject will appear in the next issue.
The general condition of the sugar industry a
Barbados is satisfactory. A sliding scale of payne
for farmers, cane, based on ae price of sugar in New
York, has been adopted at Trinidad (page 35).
A brief article on the cultivation of the date palm
will be found on page 36.
Some account of the work of Dr. Francis Watts,
€M.G, while Government Chemist and Superintend-
ent of Agriculture in the Leeward Islands appears on
page 37.
Cotton Notes (page 38) include reports on market
prices, together with a short article dealing with the
remarkable developments of the cotton industry in the
Virgin Islands.
Interesting reports on the quality and value of
Dominica lime juice have lately been received (page
41). Valuable experiments with “green dressings ’
crops were carried out at Anmgaa i last season (page 43),
Attention is drawn to the articles entitled ‘ Some
Beneficial Insects ’ and‘ Fermentation of Pen Manure,’
which appear respectively on! pp. 42 and 47,
Manures for Sugar-cane at Jamaica.
The great value of periodical small dressings of
lime on many of the sugar lands of Jammica is one of
the chief points brought ont as the result of the
mannrial trials carried ont at the Sagar Experiment
Station of the island. The applic ation of about 4-ton
of lime per acre has frequently given surprisingly ‘good
results both with plant canes and ratoons. In the
tropics, it is pointed out, lime should be applied on the
principle of a little and often, rather than in larger
dressings at irregular intervals. Heavy applications of
lime, too, bring. about a temporary paralysis of the
activities of the soil bacteria. The experiments also
show that nitrogen is. the most generally profitable
manurial constituent for application to canes in Jamaica,
while potash and phosphorie acid are only oc: ‘asionally
required. Basic slag has proved itself the most suitable
phosphatic manure, , especially on the heavy clay soils
of Trelawney.
ED oe
Ration for Dairy Cows.
In connexion with the question of feeding live
stock, to which reference was made in the editor ial of
the last issue. it may be worth while to note the kind
of ration which has been most serviceable for milking
cows at the Trinidad Government Farm. These animals,
in addition to being grazed on the pasture area of the
Farm, are given mixed rations of artificial foods, of
which the following is a good example: 1 tb. cotton
seed meal, 2 th. cocoa-nut meal, 2 th. pollard, 1 tb.
crushed Indian corn,and 1 tb. dried ale grains. The
total cost of this daily feed amounts to no more than
875c. This is a very nutritious mixture and one rich
in nitrogenous constituents. When fed in conjunction
with a good proportion of pasture grass, or other bulky
fodder, consisting largely ofc arbohydrates, fibre, ete.,
the whole forms a diet well suited for sustaining a good
flow of milk. The cows were also given 1 th. of molasses
per head per day, and 1 oz. of salt was added to the
daily ration of eacit animal.
> a _____—
Prize Awards at Agricultural Schools.
On another page of this issue will be found the
reports on the usual half-yearly examinations of the
Agricultural Schools at St. Vincent, Dominica, and
St. Lucia.
It will be remembered that prizes of books are
awarded each half-year on the result of these examina-
tions. Only one senior prize is offered, and this is awarded
to the boy who gets the highest number
the senior classes of all the three schools. Three junior
prizes are given—one to the boy who does best in the
junior class at each of the three schools.
As the result of the December examinations, the
senior prize was awarded to J. Samuel of St. Vincent.
It may be mentioned that this is the fourth time in
snecession that the senior prize has been won by
a pupil of the St. Vincent Agricultural School. The
junior prizes were awarded respectively to L. Wallace
of St. Vincent, L. C. Douglas of Dominica, and
H. Auguste of St. Lucia.
of marks in
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 4T
Vou. VIII. No. 177.
Honey Production in England. -
Comparatively few persons appear to realize the
possibilities of bee-keeping as a minor agricultural
industry, and yet, under suitable conditions, the pursuit
as one which affords returns of a yery satisfactory
nature, while making but small demands in the way of
‘time and attention.
Recent agricultural reports from England mention
that increased attention is being given to honey
production in many parts of that country. This
movement was started in Cornwall, which was the first
eounty to engage the services of an expert on the
subject for the purpose of giving advice and instruc-
tion to bee-keepers. The year 1908 is reported as
having been a record one as regards the yield of
honey, and many small holders are stated to be making
as much as £100 per year from their bees. It is
evident that a minor industry of considerable value
has been built up ina comparatively short time.
C$
Botanic Stations in Mauritius.
Three Botanic Stations exist in Mauritius, and
inasmuch as they are all situated at different altitudes,
they each have a special value. These Stations,
besides being centres of acclimatization of large
numbers of plants, also contain nurseries of valuable
kinds of forest trees.
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Pamplemousses
form the chief Botanic Station. In connexion with it
a system of free exchange of plants with foreign
correspondents has resulted in many valuable acquisi-
tions to the colony. Altogether, 323,470 plants were
sent out from the Station last year.
The Curepipe Nursery Gardens are 564 acres in
extent, and are situated at an altitude of 1,800 feet.
These are chiefly used for forest nurseries. At the
Réduit Gardens, valuable old timber trees exist which
‘supply seeds of camphor, sandal-wood, eucalyptus, ete.
for other nurseries.
A system of training gardening apprentices is in
Operation in connexion with these Botanic Stations.
Profitable Cotton Growing.
The officers at the Tuskegee Experiment Station,
Alabama, have devoted attention to the best methods
of cultivation for cotton, so as to seeure the most
remunerative results. Although the varieties of cotton
dealt with did not include Sea Island, the system of
suil preparation recommended is likely to give good
results in the West Indies. The best returns were
obtained from a plot ploughed to a depth of 9 inches,
and thoroughly pulverized by repeated ploughing and
harrowing until the soil is fine and mellow to that
depth. he cotton plants grown on land so treated
showed splendid root development, and bore an
excellent crop.
The advantages consequent upon the maintenance
ofa dust mulch by shallow surface cultivation through-
out the growing period of the plants were also demon-
strated. Cultivation to a depth of 2 inches showed
much better results than when the soil was stirred to
a depth of 4, 5, or 6 inches,
Oil Grasses at Antigua.
Several experiments in the distillation of essential
oils, especially that of the West Indian lemon grass
(Cymbopogon citratus), were carried out at the
Antigua Botanic Station in 1907-8. A few trials were
also made with Cochin lemon grass (C. fleauwosus) and
citronella grass (C. nardus).
A total of 4,589 th. of West Indian lemon grass
was distilled ; this gave 1844 fluid ounces of oil, or at
the rate of 4 oz. of oil per 100 th.of grass. It is estima-
ted that the yield of oil would be about 25 fb. per acre,
atfording at present prices (which are low) a monetary
return of from £4 10s. to £5 per acre per yeur.
Experiment appeared to indicate that the grass should
be distilled immediately on cutting in order to obtain
the maximum yield of oil. ‘The Cochin lemon grass
(C. flecuosus) appears somewhat more promising than
West Indian grass, inasmuch as itis completely soluble
in alcohol, and shows a higher citral content than
C. citratus. If the prices of the essential oils
improve, the cultivation of these grasses may be worthy
of more attention in the West Indies.
Lemon grass oil is chiefly valued for the citral
which it contains, this being used as the starting
point in the manufacture of the essential constituent
of artificial violet perfume.
oon ee
Dominica Lime Juice.
Samples of Dominica lime juice were lately intro-
duced, through the medium of the British-cotton
Growing Association, to the notice of manufacturers at
Manchester, who hitherto have been in the habit of
purchasing Sicilian lemon juice for trade purposes.
The reports received on the samples of juice (two of
which were raw and one concentrated) are interesting.
The best time for selling the raw jnice, for which
there is a considerable demand in the preparation of
cordials and essences, 1s in the spring or early summer.
The samples sent were valued at from 10d. to 1s. per
gallon.
The manufacturers were naturally most interested
in the specimen of concentrated juice, which they
report on as being practically identical in quality with
the material imported from Messina. Messina lemon
juice (concentrated) usually contains about 64 oz. of
citric acid per gallon, and at current prices, is worth
about £21 per pipe of 108 gallons. without export duty.
The average quality of West Indian concentrated lime
juice imported into England, estimated on the basis of
64 oz. of citric acid per gallon, is worth about £3 per
pipe less than the Messina product.
As already mentioned, the specimen of concentra-
ted lime juice referred to was equal in quality to
Messina juice, and at a strength of 1134 0z. per gallon,
was worth £37 4s, 2d. per pipe of 108 gallons, estimat-
ing it on the basis of Sicilian prices.
It may here be remarked that under the new law
lately established in Italy, a duty equivalent to £5 per
pipe of 108 gallons will in future be levied upon lime
juice exported from the country, so that the price will
‘be £26 per pipe, in place of £21 as in the past.
INSECT NOTES.*
Some Beneficial Insects.
Beneficial insects may be classed. uider three
headings : (7) those which form products useful to man,
of which the honey bee (Apis mellifica) and the silk
worm (Bombyx mori) are the best-known examples ;
() insects which play such an important part in the cross
pollination of plants, as the bees and the hawk moths:
and (c) those which, while themselves harmless, destroy
other insects that are harmtul to cultivated crops. [t
is this last class of insects to which these notes refer.
They live in a variety of ditf-rent ways: some are
predatory, either, like the lady-birds (Coccinellidae),
feeding in all stages on other insects, or, like the
predatory wasps, storing their nests with larvae and
spiders, to furnish a supply of food for their own larvae :
others are parasitic, laying their eggs in or on some
other insect, and the resulting larvae from these eggs
pass through their whole metamorphosis at the expense
of this insect host.
The most important of these parasites are found in the
two orders Hymenoptera or the wasp-like insects, and the
Diptera or true flies. There are also some among the Coleop-
tera or beetles.
In the Hymenoptera the following parasitic families are
found: the Proctotrypidae, Chalcidae, Ichneumonidae, and
Braconidae. These are the four most important families,
though there are other smaller ones with parasitic habits.
Among the Diptera, the chief parasites are the 'lachinid
flies.
The Proctotrypidae are completely parasitic in the eggs
of other insects or spiders. They are very small and include
what is thought to be the smallest existing insect, viz.,
Alaptus excisus, Westwood, the length of which is given as
4 mm., or about 515 inch. Sometimes half a dozen of these
minute insects will find sutlicient food for their development
in a single egg.
The Chaleidae are also very small; nearly 5,000
species are known, and there are doubtless. still a great
number of unknown species. They attack scale insects,
plant lice, bees, and Lepidopterous insects.
The Ichneumonidae contain larger forms of insect life ;
there are upwards of 6,000 species known, most of which
live in Lepidopterous larvae.
The Braconidae are another large
parasitic on Lepidopterous larvae.
The Diptera inciude many families which contain
among them a few parasitic forms but, as stated above, the
Tachinidae are the most important.
The Tachinidae are medium to large flies, but they vary
a great deal in size and details of structure. They are much
like the common house-fly in. general appearance. They are
parasitic on insects belonging to the Orthoptera, Hymenop-
tera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera, particularly on the last
mentioned.
In the order Coleoptera, the Stylopidae are important
parasites on Hymenoptera, and on Hemiptera or bugs.
An attacked caterpillar continues to live and feed even
though it is being gradually devoured by the invading
* ‘The Insect’ Notes on this page have been contributed by
Mr. C. W. Jemmett, lately appointed Government Entomolo-
zist to Southern Nigeria, and. who has for the past few months
Jeen connected with the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
family, and are
Fesruary 6, 1909.
parasite. This is because the latter leaves the vital organs
of its so-called ‘ host ’ untouched until it is ready to pupate.
If the larva dies too.soon, the parasites must necessarily die also.
The important part which these several parasitic families.
play in keeping in check the many pests of our crops can
searcely be overestimated. Any unusually severe attack of
a pest is invariably followed by a corresponding increase in.
its particular parasite, owing to the abundance of the food
supply. of the latter ; and the planter or whoever the person
interested may be, is surprised to find that the pest disap-
pears as quickly and as suddenly as it had arrived, often not
realizing to what he owes its disappearance. An example in
point is instanced in Dr. Howard’s ‘ Insect Book’ where the:
author mentions that in a certain year, in the cotton fields of
Northern Florida, 95 per cent. of the eggs from which would
have hatched the voracious cotton caterpillar were killed by
the minute Chaleid parasite 7'richoyramma pretiosa. It is
only in cases where a pest has long been established in
a country that the influence of these parasites is noticed.
Each species of parasite has its own particular host species,
or at most only afew. In consequence, it frequently happens.
that where a pest has been recently introduced into a country,
a parasite which preyed upon it in the country from which it.
came is not introduced at the same time, and so the pest
multiplies for a while, unchecked by its natural enemy, until
either the parasite is introduced, or some indigenous species.
alters its habits and becomes parasitic upon it. Tt is owing
to the recognition of these facts that, in the United States and
elsewhere when some imported pest has become established, so-
much trouble is taken to discover, if possible, its original home,
in order that its natural parasites may he looked for, and if
feasible, may be introduced. Unfortunately, the etfects of
this satisfactory state of things are modified by the existence-
of other members of the families, which themselves prey,
not on the pests, but on the parasites of the pests. Thus we.
have what are known as_ primary, secondary, and even
tertiary parasites. For instance, we may have a bad attack
of a particular pest on some crop. As it becomes more-
abundant, so does its primary parasite increase, and at last
gaming the upper hand, practically demolishes the pest.
Next season there are numbers of the parasite but there are-
few of the pest. hen the secondary parasite has its turn,
and finding its prey (the primary parasite) preseut in large-
numbers, increases aud destroys it, thus giving the original
pest another chance of asserting itself, and as stated above,
in some cases there may be a tertiary parasite which destroys.
the secondary parasite, thus giving the primary parasite again
the upper hand. ;
In the West Indies, where the scale insects—Coccidae-—
are so ubundant, one may frequently notice many of the
seales with a large hole in them. It is through this hole
that the parasite, having killed the scale insect and com-
pleted its own development, has escaped.
Nearly ali Lepidopterous larvae also are preyed upon by
parasites. In the cotton field one can often find dead cotton
worm pupae with asmall round barrel-shaped cocoon lying
in or on it. This is either a Tachinid or Sarcophagid cocoon
as the case may be, and on emerging, the fly hastens away to.
lay its eggs on other larvae, and thus quite a number are
destroyed.
Mr. Ballou mentions in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vol. VII, No. 1, that Hvania laevigata, Orphion bilineatum,
Chaleis annulatus, and Trichogramma pretiosa—the last of
which was referred to earlier in. these notes—-are all of
frequent occurrence in the West Indies. There are doubtless.
many others present, the life-histories of which will sooner
or later be worked out.
Vors Vili Noel i7.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. AS
GREEN DRESSING CROPS AT ANT:GUA.
The value of green dressing crops, more especially
those belonging to the leguminous family, such as cow-
peas and woolly pyrol, grown in connexion with sugar-
cane cultivation, 1s being more recognized every year
in the West Indies. Increased attention has been given
an recent years to such crops at Antigua, and the
latest report on the Botanic Station in. that island
gives an account of a number of experiments carried
-out at Skerrett’s in the past year.
The total number of crops under experiment as green
dressings were fourteen, including four varieties of cowpeas,
The time of planting of these crops was generally in March,
and the period from planting to reaping varied from two
months in the case of white mustard (Brassica alla) and
the Soy bean (Glycine hispida), to nearly eight months in the
-case of the ‘Barbuda’ bean. The cowpeas, however, required
no more than three months to come to maturity.
The weight of produce yielded per acre was extremely
satisfactory in the case of a number of these crops. The
leading place was taken by the Barbuda bean, which yielded
20,000 tb. of green bush per acre. Woolly pyrol gave a return
-of 14,850 Ib. of green bush, and bonavist 3,200 lb. The
four varieties of cowpeas grown were the ‘ White,’ the ‘ Black
Eye,’ the ‘Clay,’ and the ‘Red.’ These gave returns
in the order named : the ‘ White’ cowpea yielded 10,570 tb.
-of green bush, the ‘Black Eye’ 9,440 tb., the ‘Clay’ 8,440 Ib.,
and the ‘ Red’ cowpea 8,250 Tb.
Some distance below these from the point of view of
return come the Pigeon pea (Cajanus ¢ndicus) (4,950 tb. per
acre), buckwheat (4,922 Ib.), the Babricou bean (Canavalia
sp.) (3,520 tb.), and the white mustard (3,000 Ib. per acre).
The three remaining crops—the Soy bean, the Sand vetch
and Japan clover gave poor returns and the yield was not
weighed in either case. The Barbuda bean proved a most
promising green dressing. ‘This plant is a rapid grower, and
soon covers the land with vegetation, so that weeding
-operations are greatly minimised. The plot remained perfect-
ly free from insect attacks, and it is mentioned in the report
that this bean can be recommended with confidence for
green dressing purposes at Antigua. Woolly pyrol has been
more largely grown in such islands as Barbados than at
Antigua. The report on the experiments, however, states
that it is a crop which can distinctly be recommended,
although it issomewhat liable to attack by caterpillars and
red spider. If woolly pyrol is grown for the purpose of
obtaining a crop of seed, it should be planted during the
period from October to February.
The bonavist bean gave a satisfactory return, and it
would certainly seem that this plant is worthy of trial on
a large scale as a green dressing. This bean, too, was quite
free from attack by caterpillars. Cowpeas have been fairly
-extensively growr in Antigna of recent years, with the object
-of supplying humus to the soil. They grow quickly and
-cover the ground, lut it is mentioned that the great draw-
back to this crop is its susceptibility to caterpillar attack.
Further, when insecticides have been applied in the hope of
controlling this pest, the foliage of the plant is very readily
damaged.
Pigeon peas, though less liable to attack from insects
than cowpeas do not cover the ground so well, nor give the
same amount of produce per acre. The greater number of
plants mentioned are members of the Leguminosae and
therefore of special value in increasing the amount of nitro-
gen in the soil. Buckwheat, however, belongs to the
Polygonaceae, and therefore does not possess this special
advantage. A small plot of this was grown ; the produce
was particularly free from insect attack, but the weight of
green bush per acre was not great.
The Babricou bean shows itself a very hardy plant. It
was cut about four months after planting at a time when
it had not yet reached maturity. This bean recom
mended for planting on land that is to remain fallow some
time before the permanent crop is planted.
The results given by the mustard were not sufticiently
good to warrant the experimenters in recommending that it
should be grown on estates for green dressing purposes.
can be
SOIL CAPILLARITY.
Water in the soil is drawn to the surface by what
is known as capillary action. An example of the
working of this capillary force can be observed when
open tubes, having a very small bore, are placed in
a vessel of water or other liquid. It will be seen that
the level of the liquid in the tube has risen higher
than the general surfave in the vessel. Similarly, if
a piece of loaf sugar is placed in a saucer containing
a small quantity of water, so that only a fraction of
the sugar is immersed, the liquid will be observed to
mount rapidly through the substance of the sugar,
until the whole piece is saturated. This ascent of the
water is also due to the working of capillary force, and
water in the soil rises to the surface in the same way.
The following notes are extracted from an article om
this subject. which is one of great importance to the
practical cultivator, that lately appeared in the Ameri-
can Journal of Agriculture : —
Water deep down in the soil is attracted and drawn to
the surface of the soil grains there, the soil particles above
them attract and draw the water to their surfaces, so in turn
the different layers of soil particles draw the water to them-
selves and up till it reaches the surface. Once at the surface,
the air claims the water and it is taken away from the soil
by evaporation.
Soil particles not only have the power of drawing water
to themselves, but of holding it as well. By a simple mathe-
matical law, the smaller the particle the greater proportional
surface it has, hence the finer the particles are, the more water
a given soil is capable of holding. Also, the closer together
the soil grains are, the more retentive is the soil of moisture.
For this last reason deep ploughing for breaking up large
masses into fine grains, and heavy packing to bring these
grains into close contact, are employed in dry-farming opeva-
tions, and may be adopted in any region, in dry times, to make
deep soil hold large amounts of water.
The prastical application of the principles of soil capil-
larity consists in first loosening the soil to as great depths as
possible for creating large surfaces for exposure, allowing the
soil to catch and imbibe as much water as possible, if it be
not already saturated, and then stirring the surface frequently
to break capillary action at the surface to prevent loss
from above. The farmer who understands fully the laws of
capillary action and so handles his soil as to receive and
retain large amounts of moisture has mastered one of the
greatest points of successful farming,
Ad THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Fepruary 6, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
It is reported from Jamaica that the Belle Isle
Estates Company are erecting a central sugar factory in that
island at a cost of £30,000.
At alate meeting of the Trinidad Board of Agriculture,
it was decided to appoint Mr. F. W. Urich as E ntomologist,
for a term of two years, at a salary of £400 per annum.
Dr. W. A. Murrill, Assistant Director of the New York
Botanical Garden, accompanied by Mis. Murrill, is now on
a visit to Jamaica, for the purpose of collecting and studying
specimens of the fungus flora of that island.
In a late report of the Trimidad Government Stock
Farm, the manager speaks very highly of cocoa-nut meal as
a nutritious food for all kinds of animals exe ept young calves.
In regard to cotton-seed meal as a food for mature stock,
it is recommended that it be fed in connexion with molasses.
As an instance of increasing interest in the utilization
of economic plants in Mauritius, it is mentioned in the latest
Annual Report (1907-8) on the colony, that some beautiful
fibres pre pared from the ‘Traveller's Palm’ (Ravenala mada-
gascar vensis) were shown at the last Horticultural Exhibition
held in the island.
The stock on service at the Agricultural School, Union,
Lucia, inelude the Ayrshire 1 mall ‘ Gipsy Star of Bellevue, ’
a 2s. ; the African woolless ram sheep ‘ Egba,’ tee 1s. (or
less to peasant proprietors at the discretion of the Agri-
cultural Superintendent ) ; and the Berkshire boar ‘ Home-
stead Hero, ’ fee tor
service Ls.
As in past years, an experimental plot of onions was
grown at the Antigua Botanic Station in 1907-8. The seeds
were first sown ina nursery and then transplanted to the beds,
Planting took place on October 8, and the last of the crop
was gathered in on February 17. The yield of
obtained was at the rate of 1,450 Ib. per acre.
onions
Two Agricultural Inspectors are being appointed under
the Board of Agriculture for Trinidad. The chief work of
these officers, who are to be men with practical experience in
cacao cultivation, will be to inspect estates, report on plant
diseases, etc., together with any other duties which the Board
may direct.
A lecture on the subject of * Ticks’ was given at the Jamaica
Institute, Kingston, on January 13 last, by Professor New
stead of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who is
at present on a visit to Jamaiea for the purpose of investiga
tiny the clisease-bearing
Telegraph.)
insects of the colony. (Jamaica
Exports of preserved pine-apples from the Bahamas show
a considerable decline from 1906-7 to 1907-8. In the former
year, they were 117,196 cases, valued at £19,090, but in
1907-8 they fell to 68,349 cases of value £13,579. This
decrease is attributed to drought, and it is stated that later
prospects are more encouraging. (Annual Report, 1907-8.)
In a recent letter to the Zimes, Mr. A. D. Hall, M.A...
Director of the Rothamsted Experiment Station, England,
points out that experiments, carried out at the Station, in
the inoculation of the soil with nitrogen-fixing bacteria,
preparatory to the cultivation of leguminous have
so far not proved satisfactory. They have, only
been in progress for two years.
ere | IS,
however,
There are a few vacant scholarships for pupils at the
St. Lucia Agricultural School. Candidates must be healthy,
strong, and intelligent boys of about sixteen years of age. The
boys geclected will receive free board, lodging, and an agri-
eultural tr: ning for three years.
be obtained from Mr. J. C. Moore,
ent, St. Lucia.
Further particulars may
Agricultural Superintend-
The output of cane sugar in Queensland has made:
considerable advances in recent years. In 1903-4, the total
yield was 91,825 tons,.but in 1904-5 it increased to 147,688
tons, and to 152,722 tons in 1905-6. For the season 1906-7
the output was 184,377 tons, and in 1907-8 it had reached
188,307 tons. The yield of sugar (94° test) has been, on.
the average, 10°09 per cent. of the weight of the cane.
Cowpeas are largely grown for green dressing purposes
at Antigua, but a great disadvantage connected with this
crop is ‘the suse eptibility of the plants to attack by cater-
pillars. Experiments have been carried out in dusting the
affected plants with Paris green and lime, the proportions-
varying from 10 to 35 parts of lime to one of Paris green =:
but in all cases the leaves of the cowpeas were scorched by
the application of the insecticide.
latest Annual Report on Trinidad’
and Tobago that the total value of the exports from the
colony during 1907-8 amounted to £3,907,503,
pared with £2,872,325 in the previous year,
items responsible for this advance of trade are
cacao, which shows an: increase’ of £984,300 :
cacao, an increase of £157,800: and sugar, an
It is seen from the
as com-
The chief
Trinidad
Venezuelan
increase of
£90,900,
At a recent meeting of the Trinidad Board of Agri-
culture, it was announced that samples of cacao pods
damaged by thrips, together with specimens of the insects in
question, had lately been received from Tobago. This is
believed to be the first time that an attack of cacao by
thrips has been reported from that island. An article * Thrips
on Cacao, by Mr. H. A. Ballon, M.Se., which contains
information as to methods of treatment, ‘appeared in the
West Indian Bulletin, Vol. VIII, p. 143.
A note in the Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural
Society mentions that the rubber trees planted in Jamaica are
chiefly grown on big cacao and banana plantations, and with
the hope that the rubber trees will form a suitable shade for
the cacao. The Journal advises small holders not to plant
rubber trees on their land. Their cacao and coffee are already,
as a general rule, more than sutticiently shaded, and, grown
on a small scale, rubber is not likely to be a profitable
cultivation,
Wor. VIII. No. 177. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 45
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes.
FEBRUARY. \*!
Ist FortNicHr.
Take note of the young canes now growing from
the planted ‘ ron Compare the é top,’ and its buds
with the seed and its embryo. Note how the young
roots arise, and the course they take. See if the root
tips in any case» are attacked by root disease
(Marasimius).
Examine the young cane shoots for ‘ dead hearts ’
and see how these are ‘caused by boring caterpillars.
Study the life-history of this moth borer.
In cacao-growing localities read up the facts
relating to grafting cacao: understand what is aimed
at, and what has been done. Make experiments in
grafting.
Make notes as to the best lots of seed to save
from cotton fields for next year’s planting. Examine
carefully and systematically any samples of cotton
passing through your hands,
In many places the cotton plants will be shedding
their leaves. Learn what changes take place in a leaf
as it ripens and prepares to fall.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY
(1) What gases in the atmosphere play a part in
plant life? In-what manner are they taken in by the plant ?
(2) Describe, with sketches, the germination of a cacao
QUESTIONS.
seed.
(3) Describe a plough, and its action on the soil. What
eonstitutes good ploughing ?
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) What causes the so-called ‘dead hearts’ in young
cane sprouts, and what steps should be taken in connexion
with them %
(2) What are the advantages of grafting fruit trees,
cacao, etc., as against raising from seed ?
(5) What precautions are necessary in picking cotton !
RICH IN BRITISH GUIANA.
Weather conditions continue favourable for rice
growers in British Guiana. A good deal of produce is
now being placed on the market, and prices are steady.
Messrs. Sandl yach, Parker & Con of Georgetown, report
as follows on January 22 last :—
The weather for the past fortnight has been favourable,
only two rainy days being experienced, which did not
seriously interfere with millmg operations, and fairly large
quantities of rice are now being received in town,
The market keeps firm, and in fact prices have advanced
slightly, small offerings being eagerly bought for local
consumption. Two sales for export have been reported, but
we do not think that there will be much offered in the West
India islands, except at an increase on previous sales.
Shipments to the West India islands during the fort-
night amount to about 1,800 bags.
The price of good export rice, f.o.b, Demerara, is, at
date of writing, 19s, 3d, to 19s, 6d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross.
‘held at the Courts House, Sé Vincent, on
ST. VINCENT AGRICULTURAL AND
COMMERCIAL SOCIETY.
An interesting meeting of the above Society was
January 13
last, under the presidency of Mr. Alexander Smith.
A resolution of thanks to the British Cotton-growing
ee for the kindness shown to the delegates from
Vincent to the Cotton Conference held in England in
fee last, was carried unanimously, as was also a second.
vote of thanks to the Royal Mail Company for carrying the
‘delegates at reduced rates.
The question of mechanical tillage at St. Vincent was
then brought up for discussion by Mr. G. R. Corea.
Mr. Corea mentioned that he thought the time had come
when it was necessary for planters to go into this matter, in
view of the serious shortage of labour at present existing on
estates. He understood that at Antigua certain implements
had been imported from the Southern States of Ame rica, and
were reported on very favourably. They were, it appeared,
eminently suited for cane and cotton cultivation. He had
also heard that the cost of production of crops was reduced,
better work was done, and a good deal of labour saved. He
suggested that the S ciety should ¢o into the matter with
a view to obtaining full information as to whether such
implements were lik: ly to be of service in this island. He
would give his support in every way possible, and snegested
that the question be laid before Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G,
Mr. Sands gave a general idea of what had been done at
Antigua. He pointed out that there was a good area, probably
half of the arable land of St. Vineent which could be worked by
machinery, but that in the first place skilled instruction was
necessary. The implements imported from Louisiana into
Antigua were well suited for cotton and cane cultivation and
all the different cultural operations could be carried out by
them.
Other speakers referred to the shortage of labour on
many estates, and since the introduction of implements might
help towards production at a minimum figure, it was
decided to obtain more information on the subject. Since
mechanical tillage had been tried at Antigua, the Secretary
was instructed to write to Dr. Francis Watts, Imper-
ial Commissioner of Agriculture, asking for his views
on the subject, together with tull data as to the cost of imple-
ments, the cost of working, and the amount of saving effected
per acre in the production of sugar-cane and cotton. If the
adoption of implemental tillage was likely to be suitable on
St. Vincent lands, and to reduce the cost of production,
every effort should be made to introduce it into the island.
The question was next raised by the Hon. C. J. Simmons
as to whether there was, at present, a sufticient supply of
labour in the island, or whether owners would not be advised
to co-operate for the introduction of indentured labour.
While it was generally agreed that the present deficiency
of reliable labourers increased the difficulty of remunerative
cotton production, some of the present believed
that the introduction of indentured labour would prove
expensive just now. Further discussion on the matter
deferred.
members
too
was
The last item of business on the agenda was a resolution
expressing regret at the retirement of Sir Daniel Morris,
K.C.M.G., from the office of Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies, together with appreciation
of the services rendered to the West Indies by the
missioner. This resolution was carried unanimously,
ex-Com-
4G THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Frespruary 6, 1909>
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS.
The usual half-yearly examinations of the agri-
cultural schools at St. Vincent, Dominica, and St. Lucia
were held in December last. Below are given those
portions of the reports of the examiner, Mr. F. A.
Stockdale, B.A., F.L.S., which are of general interest :—
ST. VINCENT.
Fifteen boys sat for the examination, Three took the
papers set for the senior class, ten those for the junior class,
-and two were new boys. The average percentages of marks
-obtained by the three classes were as follows: Seniors, 75:5 ;
juniors, 66°0 ; and new boys, 61:0. These percentages show
considerable improvement over those obtained in the last
examination, and indicate that the examination results of the
school have greatly improved.
Agriculture has shown improvement, and many of the
papers were highly satisfactory. Marked progress has been
made in Chemistry. It is hoped that continued attention
will be given to this latter subject in order that the improve-
ment may be maintained.
Arithmetic was the weakest of the more important
subjects, and should receive attention before the next
examination, In fact, it might be advised that extra time
be allotted to this subject during the coming half-year,
as it was inclined to be weak at the examination conducted
last June. Geography has improved and the Composition
papers may be considered to be fairly satisfactory.
Considering the papers as a whole, this examination
indicates that the pupils at this school have been receiving
very careful attention, and that they have a creditable
elementary knowledge of the scientific principles underlying
agricultural practice. With good practical grounding, these
pupils should not fail to be of value to the agriculture of the
colony.
DOMINICA.
Seventeen boys sent in papers for examination. Two
took the papers set for the senior class, thirteen those for
the juniors, and there were two new boys. The average
"percentages of marks obtained were as follows :
72:3; juniors, 57°1; and the new
a distinct falling off amongst the
when it is considered that
proportion of marks.
The papers sent in by the two senior boys were, on the
whole, satisfactory, with the exception of Agriculture—
a subject that should receive further careful attention.
the junior still very poor. The
science subjects have made practically no progress during the
the past half-year, and as they were unfavourably reported
upon at the last examination, if is necessary that every effort
should be made to give this class particularly close attention.
Out of thirty-nine papers on science subjects submitted by
this class for examination, only fourteen obtained more than
half marks. Nota single paper in Agriculture was worthy
of over half marks.
The general school subjects have again
improvement. Arithmetic very satisfactory and
further improvement has made in’ Geography,
attention should still be given to the latter subject.
The new fair papers. Their Arithmetic
was very good. The Geography marks of these pupils have
been withheld, pending an investigation.
Seniors,
mn :
There is
partienlarly
re rduced a large
>
boys 62°).
junior
Arithmetic
class,
The work of class is
shown some
Was some
been but
boys sent in
|
i
ST. LUCIA.
Twenty-three pupils sent in papers for examination.
Eight took those set for the senior class, twelve those for the-
Juniors, and there were three new boys. The average per-
centages ofrinarks of the three classes were as follows : Seniors,
62°3 ; juniors, 44°0 ; and new boys, 53-7. These percent-
ages show improvements the last examination,
especially in the senior class.
The work of the senior class was, on the whole, fairly
satisfactory. Considerable improvement has been made in
Agriculture, and some good answers were submitted in this-
subject. Chemistry and Botany have slightly improved but
the pupils should still receive careful attention in these
subjects.
The Arithmetic of this class has made but little progress
since the last examination, and must receive close attention.
Some improvement has been made in Geography, but the
pupils should be given further careful instruction in this
subject.
The work of the junior class is not yet satisfactory.
Only three boys obtained over 50 per cent. of the total’
marks. Two of these have only been admitted to the school
since the last examination and’ have made: marked progress.
Some improvement has been made in the science subjects,
especially in Agriculture and Botany, but the pupils require-
further very careful instruction in these subjects.
The Arithmetic has made practically no progress since
the last examination, and it is necessary that extra time
should be given to this subject during the next half-year, in
order that improvement may be shown at the
nation. Geography and Composition should
attention.
since
next exami-
also receive-
BROOM CORN CULTIVATION AT
ANTIGUA.
The Curator of the Antigua Botanic Station in his-
latest report gives particulars of experiments carried
out with broom corn at Skerrett’s in the past season.
Two plots, each one-tenth of an acre in area, were
planted with the crop. The following details are taken
from the report :—
One of, the plots of broom corn was planted on June 22,
1907, the seeds being sown 3 feet apart on 4-feet finished
banks. Reaping commenced on October 1 and finished om
October 31. The weight from this plot was 74 Ib. of dried
broom corn.
The second plot was planted on June 28; reaping
commenced on September 2 and finished on October 4. The
seed was sown 6 inches apart, on rows 18 inches apart. The
weight from this plot was 774 Ib, of dried broom corn.
The difference in the results from these two methods of
planting was 34 Ib. in favour of the 18 inch x 6 inch planting.
his j is not great, but the corn produced on the more closely
planted plot was somewhat finer than that on the other plot.
This is a point of some importance, as it has been reported
that broom corn grown in Antigua is somewhat too long and
coarse. Later experiments point to larger yields than above
recorded from close planting.
Broom corn experiments have been carried on in Antigua
for a number of years, the object: being to obtain a remunera-
tive crop which may prove useful in a rotation of crops, and
for which a fair and large market is open. The want of
a broom corn cleaner has handicapped the growing of this
crop in the past, but as a cleaning machine has been imported
during the year, this difficulty will not be felt in the future
Wor. VILE. No. 177. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. AT
FERMENTATION OF PEN MANURE.
An article already referred to in the Ag7i-
-eultural News (see Vol. VII, p. 169) lately appear-
ed in the Journal of the British, Board of Agri-
culture and Fisheries (Vol. XV, Na 1), which dealt in
an exhaustive way with the composition and storage of
farmyard manure, the fermentation and accompanying
changes in composition undergone’ by the manure
during storage and after application to the land, the
loss of nitrogen (in the form of ammonia gas) from the
manure, that readily takes place if the greatest care is
not exercised to prevent it, and also the chief methods
of preventing this escape of ammonia, i
The proportion of nitrogen that is lost under average
conditions of storage would by most persons be regarded as
surprisingly large. From experiments referred to, which
were carried out in Germany about ten years ago, it is seen
that even with the most careful management, 13 per cent.
This loss
of the nitrogen was lost from the dung. . increases
very rapidly if conditions be less favourable, and if the
manure is merely allowed to accumulate in a loose heap, as
much as 30 or 40 per cent. of the nitrogen may escape. The
minimun loss takes place if the manure is trampled under
the animals in a deep bed or pit.
The account that is given of the bacterial and
other changes occurring in farmyard manure should be
of interest to planters, since, in the main, they apply
also to the pen manure of the West Indies. Some of
the facts conveyed should also be of value, as they may
indicate points in which the preparation and methods
of application of pen manure on estates may be modi-
fied with a resulting saving in nitrogen. The following
notes form a summary of portions of the article
mentioned :—
Pen maaure, which is originally a mixture of solid
excrement, urine, and litter, soon undergoes changes in com-
position that in the main are brought about by bacteria.
One of the most important of these changes is the conver-
sion of the urea of the urine into carbonate of ammonia.
This conversion into ammonium carbonate is exceedingly
rapid ; in the liquid draining from a yard or a manure heap,
little or no urea can be detected, so complete has been the
change to ammonia. If loss of nitrogen is to be prevented,
the liquid containing the carbonate of ammonia must be
protected from evaporation. Otherwise, the higher the
temperature, and the more extensive the surface exposed to
the air, the greater will be the loss of ammonia passing off
in a gaseous condition. This volatilization of ammonia causes
most of the loss of nitrogen that takes place in making
pen manure. In addition, however, there are always present
various bacteria which oxidize the ammonia of ammonium
carbonate to free nitrogen gas and water. Loss of nitrogen
in this way is always increased when the manure heap is in
a loose condition.
The so-called ‘putrefactive’ bacteria are also abundant
in fresh manure, and their function is to convert the insolu-
ble nitrogenous bodies (proteids) of the straw into soluble
bodies, ammonia being the final substance formed. It may
be mentioned, too, that the reverse action to this is also in
progress at the same time; the multiplying bacteria seize
upon the soluble forms of nitrogen, and convert them into
insoluble proteins in their body tissue. Owing to this fact,
in long-stored manure, most of the ammonia has returned to
a proteid form,
The most characteristic change that takes place in pen
manure is the destruction of the trash, and its conversion
into ‘humus.’ Trash and other carbonaceous matter, when
spread out thin and exposed to the air, are subject. to ‘attack
from a number of organisms, which completely convert the
material into carbon dioxide, water, and inorganic ash. The
importance of keeping the manure heap compact and protec-
ted is therefore apparent from this fact alone. Anaerobic
bacteria, i.e., those capable of acting in the absence of oxygen,
and whose activities therefore are not accompanied by
oxidation processes, are chiefly responsible for the conversion
of trash and other similar material into the indefinite brown,
acid substance known as ‘ humus. ’
Tt will be seen that the changes occurring in the making
and storage of pen manure are very complex. In the early
stages bacterial action is most rapid, and it is concerned
chiefly with the soluble nitrogenous compounds like urea. As
soon as the first violent reactions are over, the rate of change
slows down considerably ; and it now consists mainly in the
attack of the anaerobic bacteria upon the carbohydrate
material of the trash. During this second change but little
loss is experienced by the nitrogenous compounds if the
mass be kept tightly pressed and moist, so as to exchide air ;
there will = no loss of fe rtilizing constituents, only a gradual
decline in weight as some of the carbon compounds are
converted into gases.
One other change sometimes takes place when the
manure is allowed to get loose and dry ; instead of bacteria,
fungi begin to develop very rapidly, and the whole mass
becomes permeated with the mycelium. Tt is generally
agreed that manure in this state is seriously deteriorated,
but no analyses of such material are available.
At the close of the article, the best methods of prevent-
ing the loss of nitrogen are discussed. A well-known German
investigator found that the only practical means of reducing
the loss of ammonia was to place a layer of old well-rotted
manure as a basis for the new heap This had a distinctly
beneficial effect, which was possibly owing to the fact that
the carbonic acid, of which there is a constant evolution,
combined with the free ammonia, fixing it as carbonate of
ammonia, and so preventing its escape in the gaseous form.
PARA RUBBER SEEDS.
It should be a matter of interest to those who
have planted, contemplate planting, Para rubber
trees (Hevea brasiliensis) to know that the seeds of
these trees, which are usually produced in abundance,
are likely in the future, when available in sufficient
quantity, to prove of some value as a commercial
product. In reference to the extending | rubber
industry of the British colonies, the latest report
of the Imperial Institute contains the following
note :—
In connexion with the present extensive planting of
Para rubber trees, the fact that the abundant seeds of this
tree can be utilized as the source of a valuable oil may
become a matter of commercial importance in the near future,
when the seeds will be available in quantities far in excess
of those required for planting. The investigations conducted
at the Imperial Institute have proved that this oil, which
resembles linseed oil, will probably command about the same
price as the latter commodity, whilst the residue of the
seeds from which the oil has been expressed may prove to be
serviceable locally as a feeding stuff for cattle. It is there-
tore possible that a valuable subsidiary industry may arise im
connexion with rubber planting.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fresruary 6, 1909:
New York,—January 5&5, 1909.
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—January 19, 1909, Tue Wusr Inpra Com-
MITTEE CircuLAR ; Messrs. KEARTON Piper & Co.,
January 5, 1909 ; Messrs. E. A. DE Pass & Co.,
December 24, 1908.
Arrowroot—Quiet; 24d. to 2¢d. for fair to good manu-
facturing.
Batata—Sheet, 2 1 to 2.4; block, no quotations.
BEpS’-WAX—No sales reported.
Cacao—Trinidad, 56,/- to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 48/6 to
57 /- per ewt.
CorreE—Santos, 30 - per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Corra—West Indian, £19 per ton.
Corron—St. :Kitt’s, 13}d.; Barbados, 133d. to 14d.;
St. Vincent, 14hd. to lid.
Frouir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 46 to 6/- per bunch.
Limes-—Not wanted.
PINE-APPLES—St. Michael, 2/6 to 5/6.
GRAPE FRuIt—5/- to 8/- per box.
ANGES—Jamaica, 4/- to 7/- per box.
Foustic—£3 to £4 per ton.
GiInceR—Quiet.
Honty—No quotations.
TstneLass—West India limp, 1/10 to 2/- per Tb.
Time Jurce—Raw, 1/2 to 1/5 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2/9 per th.;
hand-pressed, 7/- per th.
Locwoop—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Macre—Steady.
Nurmecs—Steady.
Pimenro—2d. per tb.; slow.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 5s. 2d. per th., on the spot.
Rum—Jamaica, no quotations; Demerara, 1/6 to 1/7, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 to 17/-; Muscovado, no quotations ;
Syrup, 12,/- to 14,- ; Molasses, no quotations.
Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 12}¢. to 21e. ; Grenada, IL fe. to 12c. ;
Trinidad, 123c. to 13}c. ; Jamaica, DSc. to L1Se. per Th.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $22°00 to $23°00;: culls, $13°00
to $15-00 ; Trinidad, 821-00 to $22°00 ; culls, 813-00 to
$1500 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, ordinary, Tjc. to 8}c.; good ordinary,
9sc.; washed, L0fe. to Ile. per Th.
GINGER—9c. to L24c. per Ih.
Goat Skins—Jamaica, 53c.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49e. to 50c. ; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c,
to 48c. per lb., dry flint.
Grave Fror—Florida, $1°50 to $3:00 per box,
Limes—No quotations. Market overstocked,
Mace—28e. to 32¢. per th.
Nurmecs—110’s, 10gc. to 103e. per Th.
s—Jamaica, $3°00 to $3°50 per barrel ;
$100 to
na) per box.
Pimenro—3<£e. per Ib.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3:67¢. ; Muscovados, 89°, 3:17c.;
Molasses, 89°, 2°92c,. per lb., duty paid,
Trinidad,
INTER-COLONIAL MARKBETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., January 30, 1909 ;_
Messrs. T,S. Garraway & Co., February 1, 1909.
Akrowroor—St. Vincent, $4:00 per LOO th.
Cacao—Dominicaand St. Lucia, $9-00 per 100 th.
Cocoa-NutTs—$13°00 for unhusked nuts.
CorrrE—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $8°50 to $11°50 per
100 th.
Hay—81-20 per 100 th.
Manvres—Nitrate of soda, $62-00 to $65-00; Ohlendortf’s
dissolved guano, ‘00 ; Cotton manure, $42-00; Cacao
manure, $42°00 to $48-00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72-00-
to $75°00; Sulphate of potash, $67-00 per ton.
Morasses—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, $2°00 ; loose, $1:20 per 100 tb.
Poraros—Nova Seotia, $1°30 to SL-60 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, $625 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $3-30-
per bag of 120 th.
Rice—Ballam, $5:30 (180 tb.); Patna, $3°80 ; Rangoon
$3-00 per 100 tb. au
Sucar—No quotations.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerme & Ricurer, Janu-
ary 23, 1909; Messrs. SanpBacu, Parker & Co.,.
January 23, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $9-00 per 200 th.
Barata—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48e. per tb.
Cacao—Native, 16c. to 18¢. per tb.
Cassava—60e.
Cassava Starcu—$5‘00 to $6-00 per barrel of 196 tbh.
Cocoa-NutTS—$12°00 to $16-00 per M.
Corrre—Creole, 12c. to 13e. ; Jamaica, 11e. to 12c. per tb.,.
slow.
DxHat—S$4°60 to $4°75 per bag of 168 tb.
Eppos—S1°44 per barrel.
Motasses—No quotations
OntoNs—Madeira, 4e. per th.
Piantarys—12e. to 28c. per bunch, plentiful.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $2°50 per 100 tb.
Poratros—Sweet, Barbados, $1°68 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $6:00 to $625; Creole, $4°65 to $4-75:
Seeta, $6-00.
Sprrr Peas—86-00 to $6°25 per bag (210 Tb.); Marseilles,
$4°25 to 84°50.
Tannras—$1-92 per bag.
Yamus—White, $2-00 ; Buck,
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2:20; Yellow, $2°60 to $3:10;
White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $2°10 to $2-20 per
100 tb. (vetail.)
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 55e. per cubic foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3'75 to $5°75 per M.
Corpwoop—S2'40 to $2°64 per ton.
$2:00 per bag.
January 25, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpon, GranF
& Co.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12°25 to $12°50 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11°50 to $12-00.
Cocoa-Nuts—$22°00 per M., f.o.b., for selected peeled in
bags of 100 th.
Cocoa-Nuv O1n—68e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Corrre—Venezuelan, 8$c. to 9c. per tb.
Corra—S3'10 per LOO Tb.
Duat—S4°50 to $4°60 per 2-bushel bag.
ONtONS—S2°00 to $2°25 per 100 th. (retail).
Poraros— English, 90c. to $110 per 100 th.
Ricr— Yellow, $5°40 to $5°60 ; White, $4°50 to $4°90 per bag-
Sprit Peas—S5°75 to $6-00 per bag.
Sucar—Amencean crushed, $5°00 to $5°L0 per 100 th.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN.’ A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1 out of print.
Uae. (Oe Sa } 107 pe re ag lag ] f
Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price Ls. each. Post free, 1s. 2¢
Volumes IT, ILI, IV, V and VI. Papers on subjects of general interest to West Indian agriculturists. Report of
Agricultural Conference, 1905, (Vols. V and V1).
‘ on general
Sugar-cane by Selection and Hybridization ; ete., ete.
Volume VII. Nos. 1,,2, 3 jand 4. Papers
Price 6d. per number. Post free, 8d.
subjects : Citrate of Lime; Improvement of the
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Price 6d. each number. Post free, Sd.
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Volume IX. Nos. 1 and 2. Reprint of Papers read at Agricultural Conference, 1908, with summaries of discussions
following. Price 6d. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES.
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They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The following list gives particulars
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Price 4d.
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(18) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1901.
(14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
(15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
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(19) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1902. Price 4d.
(20) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1901-2.
Price 2d.
(22) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part II.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies _ Price 2d.
(26) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1903. Price 4d.
(27) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1902-3.
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(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
(30) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(31) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting. Price 4d.
(32) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1904. Price 4d.
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Price 4d.
Price 4d.
(36) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(39) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1904-5,
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(40) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
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(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
(42) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(43) The Use of Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal as a Feeding
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(44) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
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(45) A. B. C. cf Cotton Planting.
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(51 Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
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New and Enlarged Edition.
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The above will be supplied post free for an additionai charge of }d. for the pamphlets marked 2d., 1d. for those
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS. A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence and from
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughouc the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 4s. 4d. per annum. Owing to certain numbers being out of print, only Vols. IV and V can
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progress and
Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Depantment :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. City Agents: Tae West Inpr1a Commirres, 15, Seething
Lane, London, E. C.—Barbados: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown.—Jamaica: Tue EpucationaL Suppiy
Company, 16, King St., Kingston.— British Guiana: ‘Daily Chronicle’ Office, Georgetown.—T'rwudad : Messrs. Motr-
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— Dominica: Messrs. C. F. Duverney & Co, Market St., Roseau.—Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Matong, St. John’s, —=
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Vor. VII. No 177. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Fesruary 6, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
a= GATE Se
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—Ffor Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohiendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorfi’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Clag and all other high-class Fertilizers,
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO :—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFFS) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.Q.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
SS Ee
Fi ££ THE
IMEN v ii.
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUR WEST
GHAR” INDIA. COMMITTEE CIRCULAR
The English THOROUGH-BRED STALLION | (Published fortnightly).
‘BEAU IZ’ now stationed at the Stock Farm, Agricultural ss
School, St. Vincent is offered for sale. THE OFFICIAL ORGAN
‘Beau IL’ isa dark bay with black points, standing
16 hands, 2nd rising 10 years old. Isa docile animal, sound, OF
and a sure foal-getter, and considered one of the best intro-
ductions of recent years. He is by Orville out of Flirt, TH E WEST IN DIA Ci Mi iITTEE
through Ormonde, Trappist, Bend’or, Hermit, ete. e
Price, £80 f.0.b. St. Vincent, or next best offer. Address
all communications to W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superin-
tendent, St. Vincent, up to February 15 next.
(Estab: circa 1760. Incorporated by Royal Charter
Aug. 4, 1904.)
ETRE Edited by ALGERNON E. ASPINALL,
WEST ANDIAN BULLETIN SELECTED COTTON SEED
Containing papers read at the West Indian Agricultu-
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Industries of the West Indies and British Guiana, and on 4j THR BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FAGTORY
Seed specially selected from Cotton grown at ‘Stirling
? Plantation’ to be obtained from
General subjects, viz :—Cotton Cultivation at Barbados, in
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Improve nt 2 Gouton. by Seed Saas Treatment of Price 12 cents per pound.
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Notes on Jéssential Oils ; Vegetable Ivory ; Geological H = a ae , <
HGR Racbadoswetc. : ’ > | Lhe follow ing extract is taken from Messrs. Wolsten-
j holme & Holland Report on the cotton :
5 = i Wel f t hig] ini f this |
Ee é H “We have formed a very high opmion of this lot, as it
» be obt cents for the sale of the Department's | [: : very ee ’
_To be obtained of all Agents for the sale of the Department's | | is the most serviceable elass of cotton we have seen produced
publications, Price 62. each number ; post free, 8d. in the West Indies.”
SS
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RWM.S.P. “ARAGUAWA, 19.5°7 Tons.
OFFICES: ' Or ) PA
BARBADOS. TRINIDAD. COLON. 264, Reconcu'st2, 3', PR. ces Cap: Ili: tas, 4, Rue Halevy,
JAMAICA. ST. THOMAS. RIO DE JANEIRO. B. AYRES. LISEON. PARIS. |
| Ss ue i ee Ee
[180
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. _ j2-
{ *
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POTASH FOR CITRUS FRUITS.
TREE WELL CULTIVATED TREE PARTLY CULTIVATED
AND FERTILIZED. AND NOT FERTILIZED.
An orange grove must be fertilized and cultivated, no matter where it is located. Wild trees may produce without
os 5 . . . . u . . . =
potash, but a juicy fine flavoured fruit of good shipping quality cannot. be produced without a liberal application of
this manure. An average formula for manure for bearing trees is 3/ Riou, 6°4 Phosphosie Acid and 10% Potash.
For free literature and special information on tropical agriculture apply to
GERMAN KALI WORKS
30 Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
a nn ee
AR 18 1909
SOO oH
3 KAS
eS
~\
N
se
SNe
At FORIGNIGH BEY REVIRE W
OF
THE
IMPERIAL’ DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES,
Note valiie Nor las: BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Sunana Production ... ... 52) Jamaica, Visit of Scientists
Barbados Monkeys 2.2)... 57 tO... 1 eas . 56
‘Buco’ Hand Cultivator ... 55) Market Reports she ope OF
Cane Trash and Soil | Mendelism : Part IT... . 49
Moisture Ata! (6G ae USS, 1 56
aire . . N aS) t =) wee OX
Cotee-hulling Machine, an Obes, andi Uroments is
Inproved
Cotton Notes :
3| Resin Otl as a Dressing for
Cuts on Cacao Trees... 61
Cotton at Barbados 54| Rubber in Tobago ... ... 57
Sea Islands, Cotton “C ‘5 7
ae = Sis: » » Bahamas ¢
Wacken 54 isal Hemp inthe Bahamas 61
Southern Nigeria, Agri-
Seasonable Cotton Notes 54 :
culture in...
DREN we oe Spraying Weed Destrue- be
rete ra = ION Recess: ceethsss 00
Eucalyptus Trees sees DG Grea ontaiOhenne 61
Evergreen Irees at Barba-
bados, Disease of — ... 62) Sugar Industry :
VWibre-extracting Machine, Antigua Sugar Factory,
a New ono) noe re Ih COeieeeee ss e.g sce OL
Ginger from Sierra Leone... 56, Timbers of Cuba Stel gece,
Gleanings... ... ... ... 60) Trinidad, East Indian
Gouat-keepers, Hints to... 53 Immigrants in ... 62
Tropical Fruit Production
in Queensland ... ... 52
AxOLtS wIMGIAN eee cee) Gee DO:
Inoculation of Leguminous
Cropsee. | se 62) Virgin Islands, Agriculture
Insect Notes : IN. QUEER | cot tess OF
Flower-bud Dropping of | West Indian Products on
Cotton at Antigua... 58 the London Market... 63
Mendelism:
PART II.
N the editorial of the last issue the system
according to which it has been shown that
simple ‘unit characters’ in plants and
animals are transmitted from one generation to the
next was described.
The cases of crossing dealt with in the previous
article were of the most simple nature only, :.e., those
Price ld.
FEBRUARY 20, 1909.
in which the individuals concerned differed from each
other in respect to but a single pair of characters.
More frequently, however, it will be found that the
original parents vary in a number ‘of qualities, so that
the question becomes one of greater complexity. But
it has been shown that in stich cases, each pair of
characters in which the parent plants (or animals):
ditfer is transmitted according to simple Mendelian.
rule, and often independently of any other pair.
To take an example: Tallness and dwarfness are
Mendelian characters in ordinary garden pea plants,
the former being dominant. Similarly, m the same
plant, as already mentioned, coloured flowers are domi-
nant to white flowers. We have here an example of
two pairs of unit qualities in the individuals to be
If now a tall pea plant having white flowers-
is crossed with a dwarf plant possessing coloured
crossed 5
blossoms, the plants of the next generation will all!
be tall, and all bear coloured flowers. In the
ottspring of these hybrids, however, according to:
Mendelian rule, both tall short plants will
appear, the former being three times as numerous
as the latter. Out of every sixteen plants of the second
will
and
generation, therefore, twelve will be tall and four dwarf,
The characters of colour and of whiteness in the flowers
are transmitted in a similar way, but quite independ-
ently of those of tallness and shortness, and distributed
equally among both the tall and the short plants, so that
with
white among the ‘talls, and similarly three with
there will be three with coloured blooms to one
coloured blooms to one with white among the ‘ dwarfs.
It will be seen that, as the result of crossing,
a combination of characters has been brought about,
and two new kinds of peas now exist, viz., coloured
talls In
a certain definite proportion of each of the four classes
and white dwarts. this generation, too,
50
‘THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fepruary 20, 1909.
have become fixed, and by picking out such plants the
new varieties may be established.
The economic importance of the knowledge that
has now been demonstrated as to the simple and
systematic manner in which unit qualities are inherited
is apparent to everyone, and its effects on the work of
improvement of agricultural crops will, undoubtedly,
be far-reaching in the future.
has had to be
and frequently
In the past this work
carried forward by the long-continued,
unsatisfactory method of selection, but
unit
now, given a knowledge of the Mendelian or
average annual loss to the world’s wheat crop, as the
result of rust “ittack, has
£100,000,000.
been placed at over
=
In Evypt, experiments of the same nature were
established some years ago with a number of native
varieties of cotton, and have now been continued for
several years. Probably the most valuable point that
has so far been demonstrated in these trials is that
long lint and short lint form a pair of Mendelian
junit characters, the former being dominant. Other
pairs of qualities inherited in the same way are: large
characters of the varieties of plant under considera;jseed and small seed, fuzzy seeds and seeds with small
tion, crosses can be made witha complete fore-know=
ledge of the results, and the whole subject of inheri-
‘tance has been placed on a definite basis. Having
seiected, from all the varieties at hand, the qualities
needed, the breeder will be able to combine these quali-
ties according to his will, and by suitable crossing, to
build up a plant or animal possessing the desired
characteristics.
From this it will be seen that the first step
necessary is to determine what are the Mendelian
characters of a given species of plant oranimal. It is
here that the chief difficulties of the work lie, for the
complete analysis of the qualities of the individual to
be dealt’ with is a very lengthy and tedious process.
Judicious crossing, with intelligent
interpretation of the results, is, of course, the only
method by which to approach the task, and this line of
investigation carried out for a few generations will
usually reveal some pairs of characteristics that are
transmitted in the way described.
and repeated
Interesting work in the breeding of plants on
Mendelian lines, and which promises to lead to valuable
results, is in progress at the Agricultural Department
of the University of Cambridge under the direction of
Professor R. H. Biffen, and among the economic plants
under trial, chief attention has been given to the
wheat plant. The numerous crossing tests that have
been made have now at least laid the foundations of
an accurate knowledge of the various unit characters
that Among the qualities of this
crop which experiment has shown to be transmissible
occur in wheat.
as pairs of Mendelian characters are red grain and
white grain, early and late ripening, heavy as opposed
to poor cropping capacity, glutenous grain and starchy
grain, and—probably most important of all—immunity
to rust disease and liability to this pest. The
possibilities that may arise from the now ascertained
fact that resistance to rust is a Mendelian ‘ unit
character’ will be evident when it is mentioned that the
quantities of fuzz, yellow flower and
flower, ete.
cream-white
- From the examples that have been quoted, it will
be seen that a desirable characteristic which the
breeder would wish to combine with other qualities of
similar economic value, and permanently fix in
an improved plant, may be either ‘ dominant ’
or ‘recessive.’ In the majority of cases so far
instanced, the desirable characteristic has been the
‘dominant’ unit of the pair, but immunity to rust in
wheat is a ‘recessive’ character, to which liability to
the disease is the corresponding ‘dominant. It eer
be puinted ont that the work of the investigator 3
made easier when the quality it is desired to fix proves
to be a simple recessive. ‘his is on account of the
fact that plants showing the recessive character breed
true from the moment of their first appearance in the
second generation from the original parent plants,
while only one-third of those individuals which in the
second generation show the ‘dominant’ quality will
breed true, and a further generation has to be raised
before the pure dominants can be picked out.
The terms ‘dominant’ and ‘recessive’ as applied
to a pair of Mendelian characters may at first appear
to imply that the latter is inferior to the former in
some way. It should be borne in mind, however, that
this is not the case, and that the terms relate only to
the first generation of hybrids produced from the origi-
nal parents, where the fact that one characteristic (as
whiteness in the pea flowers first referred to) disappears
for the time being, accounts for the term ‘recessive,’
while the opposing quality of colour, which is apparent
in ali the individuals of this generation, is referred to
as the ‘dominant’ character. The quality of ‘ white-
ness, however, as it appears in the flowers of a propor-
tion of the plants of the second generation, is pure,
fixed, and permanent, despite the fact that these plants
are the offspring of hybrid pea plants bearing
coloured flowers,
Vou. VIII No. 178,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 5L
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
The Antigua Sugar Factory.
The development of the Antigua Sugar Factory
was fostered by the Government with the object of
obtaining reliable information concerning the working
of factories of moderate size, and as to the desirability
of substituting such factories for the muscovado
methods of manufacture.
An account of the origin of the factory, the con-
stitution of the company, and the working arrange-
ments was given ina paper contributed to the West
Tadian Bulletin (Vol. VI. p. 60): and an editorial article
containing information on this subject, together with
a summary of the report on the working for the 1907
season appeared in the Agricultural News for March 21
last (Vol. VII, p. 81).
The fourth Annual Report of the Directors (for
the season 1908) has now been issued, and the follow-
ing extracts should be of interest :—
The weather during the past season was not unfavour-
able. The supply of canes, however, fell off somewhat from
most of the estates, but the deficiency was more than made
up from the additional estates brought into connexion with
the factory through the extensions of the railway. The
figures were as follows : —
Contracting planters: 26,912 tons against 28,046 tons in
1907.
Outside
1907.
Peasants ; 3,245 tons against 4,047 tons in 1907.
Total: 43,060 tons against 40,782 tons in 1907.
estates ; 12,905 tons against 8,689 tons in
The various improvements and additions mace to the
plant, with the careful control maintained at the factory,
have brought the yield of sugar up to 10°90 per. cent. of the
canes crushed, as against 10°37 per cent. in 1907. The total
production of sugar for the year has been 4,695 tons, as
against 4,230 tons last year. The sugar market has ruled
at a higher level, the average price realized being £11 15s. 9d.
per ton as against £9 16s, last year.
The extensions of the factory and railways, referred to
in the last report, have now been completed, and as_ they
represent solid and permanent additions, their cost has been
carried into the balance sheet as additional capital expendi-
ture, to be gradually written down by the action of the
sinking and reserve funds.
After charging revenue as usual with £2,000 for sink-
ing fund, and £1,000 for reserve fund, and crediting the
“contracting planters’ with £7,081, lls. 3d. (equal to an
addition of about 5s. 2d. per ton to the payment on account
for canes supplied by them), there remains a similar amount
to be credited to the ‘A’ Shareholders, making a total to
their credit of £10,483 17s. 7d. Out of this it is proposed
to declare a dividend of 5s. per share, amounting to
£3,125, carrying forward, for the present, the balance of
iad Se his. wid.
The amount paid to the original contracting proprietors
for cane was lds. Ild. per ton, in addition to which there
is their proportionate interest in the factory, of which
they become part-owners on the extinction of the debentures.
In addition to the facts mentioned in the above
extracts from the Directors’ report, the following details,
in reference to the working of the factory will be of
interest :—
Canes crushed, tons 43,060
Sugar made, tons 4,695
Tons of cane per ton of sugar Oli
‘Indicated ’ sucrose in mixed juice (tons) 5,284
Recovery on ‘indicated? sugar 88°9 per cent.
Per cent. of water in megass 46°47
5 a My SUCEOSE! sues 6:05
a a ,, fibre Pee ey 45°06
Normal juice lost in megass 7146
per LOO of fibre
Average composition of first mill juice :—
per cent. tb. per gallon.
Total solids 20°60 2-228
Sucrose 18°75 2-029
Purity 91-00 e
Glucose 0-64 “069
Glucose ratio 3°40
Average composition of total juice, including macera-
tion water :—
per cent. Ib. per gallon,
Total solids 17-04 1316
Sucrose 14°74 L571
Purity 86°50 nae
Glucose O65 0-67
Glucose ratio 4°30 Se
True juice, gallons 6,147,062
5 5 per ton canes 142°8
5 | a3 L000) tb: Kcanes:
: BS-85
(crushing) OSHA
Sucrose in cane
Fibre in cane
Maceration (water per 100 juice)
Molasses, gallons
sper ton of sugar, gallons
Fuel used, cords wood
Coal for locomotives and workshop
14:31 per cent.
15°24
20-90
” ”
While the expenses for repairs and maintenance, both
under factory charges and railway and transport expenses,
as shown in the profit and loss account in the Directors’
report, appear comparatively high, it may be pointed out that
these charges include extension work both in the factory and
the railway, and are not exclusively for repairs and main-
tenance.
The foregoing figures bring out in a striking manner the
value of the determination of the juice lost in the megass per
100 of fibre West Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX, p. $5).
From this it is seen that the work done by the mills is very
good, while a mere consideration of the percentage of juice
expressed from the canes might be misleading.
It is interesting to note that these returns give an account
of the composition of the megass —a most important point in
modern factory work.
It is also to be noted that the average fibre and average
sucrose content of the cave are also given. These very
important points are often absent from the reports of sugar
factories. It is now recognized that a knowledge of the fibre
content of a cane is practically as important as the knowledge
of the amount of sugar present. It will be observed that the
fibre is extremely high in the canes dealt with at Antigua,
(see
52 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fresruary 20, 1909.
BANANA PRODUCTION.
The banana industry of the West Indies is now of
such valne that all literature on the subject is likely to
create interest. Some information on the conditions of
banana cultivation in these islands, and the tactors
which control the profitable production of the crop are
brought together in two articles which appear respect-
ively in the issues of Tropical Life for November, and
December last. The three factors npon which banana
growing as a commercial industry depends are soil,
-climate, and transportation.
The ideal banana soil is one containing an abundance of
moisture, without being subject to periodical droughts, and
a good supply of humus and plant food. The land must also
be well drained. Bananas are largely grown in the Annatto
Bay and Port Antonio districts of Jamaica on rather heavy
clay soil, but the most profitable plantations are on soil of
If the Jand is allowed to deteriorate
in character, smaller bunches of bananas are produced, and
the size of the individual fruit also decreases.
a loamy consistency.
A good supply of water is undoubtedly essential to
successful banana culture, and the trees succeed well under
irrigation. It is mentioned that, early in 1908, there weie
$8,300 aeres of bananas under irrigation in Jamaica, for which
11,576 cubie yards of water per hour were being used.
Strong winds are destructive to the leaves of the banana,
and asa result, vitality is lost and growth checked. The
nature of the leaf, being all in one piece, and soft and pleas-
ant to the touch, indicates that the plant will grow best in
fairly moist conditions, and where the air is still.
Bananas remove a great deal of plant food from the soil,
and if production is to be carried out on a commercial basis,
fertilizers must be judiciously apphed. The quantity of
potash removed is remarkably large, and has been estimated
at 272 tb. per acre per year. Although phosphoric acid is
not utilized to anything like the same extent, yet experiment
Under favour-
able soil conditions in the West Indies, it is recommended that
a suitable mixed fertilizer for application is: 200 Ib. sul
phate of potash, 250 Ib, sulphate of ammonia, and 450 Ib.
superphosphate, per acre,
The physical condition of the soil
attention.
has shown that a mixed manure is necessary.
must also receive
As already mentioned, drainage must be ensured,
lime must be applied if the land is sour, and deep cultivation
10. feet
apart each way, but to haye a chance of developing to the
is also valuable. Banana plants are grown about
best advantage, their feeding roots should extend throughout
the whole area of soil. This cannot be the
soil is lightened by deep tillage.
The provision of humus is ensured by burying all dead
leaves and trash. Sometimes, too, as in parts of Cuba, it is
possible to grow a crop of cowpeas or the like, between the
rows of banana plants. These when dug into the soil are of
great value.
case unless the
TROPICAL FRUIT PRODUCTION IN
QUEENSLAND.
The good progress that has been made in agri-
cnltnral industries in Queensland is evident from the
particulars given in the report for the year 1907-8 of
the Department of Agriculture and Live Stock of that
colony. Owing to the enormous extent of Queensland,
the vegetable products naturally show great diversity,
ranging from such tropical crops aS Sugar-cane, cacao,
and bananas in the north, to the crops of temperate
climates iu the extreme south. Bananas, pine-apples,
oranges, and mangos are cultivated over 1
areas,
Increasing
In 1905 there were 6,198 acres nnder bananas in Queens
land, but the occurrence of a cyclone in 1906 caused great
havoe in the plantations, This has resulted in the temporary
reduction of the acreage, although the crop has
from 1906 to 1,502,636
1907. ‘The average return for the whole
bunches per acre,
increased
1,545,035 bunches in bunches in
State was 502
In the past nine years the pine-apple industry has under-
gone good development, the area under cultivation having
increased three-fold.
L907 was 2,230 acres.
The land planted with pine-apples in
rom this area 618,473 dozen fruits
Pine-apples now form an important item
among the fruit exports of Queensland, the the
fresh fruit shipped in 1907 being £33,881, while canned
pine-apples to the value of £16,090 were also exported.
were produced.
value ot
The total orange area of the colony amounted to 3,168
acres. Of this, however, only 2.019 acres are yet in bearing,
from which 514,751 bushels of fruit were gathered in 1907
,
266,600 bushels gathered from the bearing
as against
acreage of 1906,
Mangos have also been planted in Queensland over 386
acres, the crop from the area that
(308 acres) being 201,741
consumed locally, or
has reached the
1907.
of the mangos are manufacture |
while smalt quantities find a
Southern States of Australia.
fruiting
some
stage
bushels in
into
the
preserve, market in
Von. VILL No; 17s: THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 53
INDIAN GOATS. _
As Indian (or Punjab) goats are remarkable for
their size and milking properties, an abtem pb: was mule
in 1905 by the Imperial Department of Agricniture
to obtain rams of this variety direct from India,
for introduction into the West Indies, where it was
thought they would be likely to prove of much valne
in improving the local breeds of goats, Unfortunately
the first attempt failed, since two animals purchased
died on the voyage ; but in June 1906, two other rams
of the Punjab‘ breed were successfully landed at Barba-
dos and proved to be fine animals. These are shown
in the accompanying illustration (Fig, 8).
The Indian goats are quiet and gentle, and when at
HINTS TO GOAT-KEEPERS.
The economic valne of goat-keeping to holders of
small areas of land is fairly generally recognized in the
West Indies, yet with further knowledge and care on
the part of the owners of these animals much more
might be done than is at ‘present the case. The
more general distribution of superior varieties—such as
the Toggenburg the Anglo-Nubian, and the Punjab—
which is being slowly effected, will be a great help’
towards the desired end. _—
In response to request, an article dealing with the
system of breeding, feeding, and management of goats
that should be adopted by small holders in Jamaica was
given in the October(1908) number of the Journal of the
Jamaica Agricultural Society.
InpDIAN Goats AT
Hire. 8:
Barbados, their services were in considerable demand by
goat-keepers. Numbers of their progeny can now be seen
about the island, and are valuable additions to existing stock.
The kids of any ordinary Barbados goat are, in general,
worth from 10s. to £1, but those resulting from a cross with
the Punjab rams have a higher value.
One of the rams died towards the end of 1907, but the
second—‘S Rajah ’— is. still the property of the Department,
and is at present stationed at St. Kitt’s.
Progeny of these Indian goats, more especially male
animals, have in several cases been shipped from Barbados to
the neighbouring islands.
A competitive examination for two Government Scholar-
ships, tenable at the Dominica Grammar School, will be held
at the School on April 5 and 6 next. The Scholarships are
open to boys in the island under fourteen years of age. One
scholarship will be reserved for candidates whose parents live
at least 3 miles from Roseau, and will be of the annual
value of £16, together with books and stationery ; in the
case of boys residing in Roseau, the value of the second
scholarship will be £6, together with books and stationery.
Intending competitors must send in names, dates of birth, ete.,
to the Head-master of the school before March 27 next.
3ARBADOS.
This contains some useful advice.
Poor feeding is bad economy
with all animals, and with goats no
less than other kinds. If goats are
fed well, they grow quickly, and
mature in about half the time than
if tied out on bush land or poor
pasture, and shifted only once or
twice a day.
The best feeding for goats is
a mixture of bush and grass, and
in addition they will utilize profit-
ably such waste products from the
kitchen as yam and potato peelings,
mango and banana skins, pea pods,
ete. Frequently these materials are
given to pigs, but the food necess-
ary for one pig will, it is affirmed,
suffice for several goats, and the
latter animals will be ready for the
market earlier than the pig. Goats
require little water, but a supply
should always be within their
reach.
Under ordinary circumstances it is of course necessary
that these animals should be tethered at pasture, but they
should be moved at least three times a day. Goats do not
like rain, and it is important that they are not exposed to
continuous wet weather for any time. In regions where
heavy rainfall is experienced, therefore, it is important that
a small shed of simple construction be erected, to which the
animals can retreat when necessary.
When a number of goats are kept, and bush or other
such material is available, this may well be utilized for
bedding purposes in the pen or shed allotted to the animals
at night. By this means the liquid as well as the solid
excreta will be absorbed.
Goats not inirequently suffer from lice, more especially
when kept in dirty pens at night. In this case they should
be washed with carbolic soap and water, the solution being
well rubbed in by means of a stiff brush.
The need of care in breeding, as well as in feeding and
housing has already been referred to. It is mentioned that
one of the most frequent causes of deterioration among goats
is the early age at which these animals are frequently allowed
to breed. Nannies should not be mated till they are at least
eight months old, and only the best billies should be used for
breeding.
54 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Fepruary 20, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows on February 1, with reference to the
sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report there has been rather more enquiry
for West Indian Sea Islands, and about 300 bags have been
sold, including Montserrat, 123d. to 134d.; St. Kitt’s, 134d.;
Barbados, 133d. to 14d.; Nevis, 124d. to 1533d., and a few bags
from St. Vincent at 153d. The sales also include about 60
bags of ‘stains’ from various islands at 6d. to Tdd.
~ American Sea Island crop lots are still pressed for sale
at 13d. to 14d., which prevents any improvement in the
market.
COTTON MARKET IN THE SEA
ISLANDS.
There appears to be little change in the conditions
of the market for cotton from the Sea Islands.
A steady demand for odd bags at practically the same
prices as were reported a fortnight ago, is the chief
feature. Planters’ crop lots, it is reported, are being
held for higher prices. For the fortnight ended
January 23, sales amounting to 750 bales were
reported from Charleston. In their fortnightly report,
dated January 30 last, Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co.
write : —
The receipts for the past fortnight consisted largely of
portions of crop lots. Receipts of odd bags have been very
light, since cotton of this kind has nearly all been marketed.
There continues an active demand for the small daily receipts
of this kind, at prices of from 14e. per Ib. for ‘stains, ? up to
23c. per tb. for ‘ fully fine’ quality. The stock in hand
consists of planters’ crop lots, which are held for prices of
24c. and upwards,
COTTON AT BARBADOS.
A memorandum has. been received from the
Superintendent of Agriculture at Barbados (Mr. John R,
Bovell, 1.8.0.) showing the area of Sea Island cotton
grown in the island during the year 1908 (January to
December). The total area planted with the crop was
5,768} acres. Of this, 5,162} acres was new cotton, 1.e.,
cotton planted during the year, while 6163 acres con-
sisted of ratoon cotton.
Some cotton was grown in ail the parishes of the island,
St. Philip and Christ Church having the largest areas,
with 2,023) and 1,534 acres respectively. In St. Andrew’s
parish only 264 acres were planted.
It will be observed that ratoon cotton was again grown
to a fairly considerable extent at Barbados last year, appar-
ently with the object of supplementing the short yields of
the previous season. This subject has been discussed in past
numbers of the Agricultural News, and taking into considera-
tion the quality of the lint produced, and its effect on the
price of the consignment in which it is included, planters
have been strongly urged not to ratoon their cotton.
Mr. C. M. Wolstenholme, of Liverpool, in a letter written to
Sir Daniel Morris in 1905, condemned the practice of ratoon-
ing cotton plants, and pointed out its bad effects on the
produce.
Samples of ratoon cotton lint were some time ago
examined at this Department, and the truth of Mr. Wolsten-
holme’s statements were very apparent, since the fibres were
poor in quality, and especially lacking in strength.
In the Ayricultural News of September 9, 1905
(Vol. IV, p. 278), Mr. Bovell suggested a suitable
rotation of crops for land on which cotton was grown at
Barbados, by the adoption of which it was pointed out that
ratooning of the cotton crop would be avoided. This rotation
was as follows :—sugar-cane, sweet potatos, cotton, and Indian
corn, and then sugar-canes again commencing the rotation
anew. ‘The cotton planted after the sweet potatos have been
removed, should, it is pointed out, remain in the ground until
about the end of May, when the plants should be pulled up
and Indian corn sown. In this way, as has been so frequently
demonstrated, all cotton plants affected with scale insects and
other pests would be destroyed before the planting season
again comes on, thus preventing any likelihood of the young
cotton becoming infected from the old crop.
SEASONABLE COTTON NOTSS.
The wet weather that was generally experienced
in many of the West Indian islands during December
was not favourable to the first pickings of cotton, and
the lint proved to be more or less damaged in some
Rain, however, was badly needed, and the
supply of moisture thus afforded, followed by the fine
weather of January and February, has encouraged the
development of a good second crop, and the pickings
that have lately been made are stated to be very satis-
factory in character, From Montserrat the report
comes thati, despite the cyclone experienced in October
last, which did considerable damage at the time to
trees and cultivated crops, the cotton yield for this
season 18 expected to prove a record one.
cases.
In view of the present low price for cotton, planters
should see that special care is exercised in ginning and
grading operations, so that the lint may he placed on the
market in the most advantageous condition. Cotton that
is at all damp should be sunned and dried before being sent
Vou. VIII. No. 178. THE
to the factory. If it is ginned in a damp condition, the
fibres are in danger of being broken, the resulting cotton
being known as ‘ gin-cut cotton.’ This is sometimes a promi-
nent source of loss to the cotton spinner, and diminishes
the returns obtained by the grower.
Another kind of cotton which reduces the value of
a consignment, when included with the general crop, is that
obtained from bolls on old plants that have been pulled up,
or on the tops of plants which have been pruned off to
encourage secondary growth. The bolls frequently open soon
after removal of the plants, branches, ete,, but the lint con-
tained is of inferior quality, much of it being very week.
Dusting with Paris green and lime should still be
continued in all fields where the cotton worm is apparent so
long as any cotton yet remains to be gathered. During the
development of the bolls a large supply of food material is
being drawn to these parts, and if the leaves are removed,
the food supply is likely to run short, and the bolls, with
their contents, will not develop fully.
Now that the end of the crop season is in sight, plant-
ers should consider the advisability of clearing all old cotton
plants off their estates at least a month before planting
operations begin for the next season’s crop. In this way
a closed season for cotton would be, eusured, which, if
generally adop:ed, would undoubtedly be of great benefit in
assisting to reduce the prevalence of insect pests aid fingeid
diseases The wisdom of the step advocated is more apparent
every yew.
‘BUCO’ HAND CULTIVATORS.
Some months ago a sample shipment of > Buco’
hand cultivators was forwarded to the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture for trial in the West Indies, since
it was thought that this tool should prove especially
useful in cotton cultivation in these islands. A uumber
of cotton planters at Barbados were afforded an oppor-
tunity of testing the implement on their estates, and in
most cases were pleased with the results. Favourable
reports were also received from St. Vincent, Antigua,
and St. Kitt’s, where specimen tools were sent for trial.
The ‘Bueo’ cultivator has five tines of spring steel,
which can be adjusted to the width desired. One or more of
the tines can be removed, if necessary, for special work. They
can also be replaced by new tines when worn.
Mr. W. H. Patterson, Acting Agricultural Superinten-
dent of St. Vincent, at the time of writing (September 29 last),
reported that the tool proved well adapted for breaking up
the surface soil after heavy rain, in order to let in air, and to
form a surface mulch of loose earth. In addition, it could also
be utilized for stirring weeds that have been left on the surface,
and which readily root again during showery weather ; and
tor dragging from the soil weeds of the type of ‘devil’ or
‘Bahama’ grass after the land has first been broken up with
forks.
Mr. T. Jackson, Curator of the Antigua Botanic
Station, in reporting upon the implements, writes as
follows :—
The ‘ Buco’ hand cultivators have been recently tried
at Antigua in cotton cultivation. It would seem from these
trials that the implements in question would be of value on
light, fairly clean land. At least twice as much work can
be done with them on such Jand, after a little practice, as
with the ordinary agricultural hoe used in the West Indies.
The cultivators are light and are worked in a somewhat
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
or
oO
similar manner to the common ‘draw hoe ; thus, when work-
ing in cotton fields there is little danger of the bolls being
injured,
On heavy or weedy land they will be of little value, as
they are apt to clog and become unworkable.
The ‘Buco’ cultivators are obtainable from the
Barbados Co-operative Cotton Factory, at a price of 5s. each.
SPRAYING FOR WEED DESTRUCTION.
Spraying with various chemicals has in many
cases been found to be the best means of destroying
certain pestilent weeds. ‘This method of destruction
is especially worthy of adoption when the weed in
question occurs over extensive areas, is of vigorous
growth, and reproduces itself readily by vegetative
means. Cheapness of the chemical employed is an
essential factor in the economic success of the method.
In England and other European countries, spraying
with a soluuon of copper sulphate is frequently adopted for
the destruction of *charlock,’ a pestilent and vigorous weed
which occurs largely in fields of wheat, oats, and barley, at
an early stage of the development of these crops, and tends
to choke out their growth. This method, which was. first
adopted whout ten years ago, has proved both successful and
economical. ‘The ‘charlock,’ which possesses broad, rough
leaves, and is aliled to the mustard plant (Brassica alba),
is destroyed, while the growing corn suffers little or no
injury.
Another example of the application of spraying methods
to weed destruction comes from the Malay States. In that
country large areas of land are covered with what is known
as ‘lalang’ grass (Jimperata arundinacea). This is a creep-
ing weed, with underground stems, which rapidly propagates
itself by vegetative means as well as by seed, and quickly
covers the ground with its thick, coarse growth. Slow-
growing crops are checked out, and cattle refuse to eat the
dry, coarse lalang. Digging out the weed proved to be
a costly and unsatisfactory method, but experiment has
lately shown that the lalang can be got rid of by spraying with
a solution of arsenite of soda. The leaves are all killed
within a comparatively short time, and are either turned
into the ground, or allowed to rot on the surface. In the
latter case, the dead vegetation acts as a mulch, and prevents
evaporation of moisture. Not only lalang, but also other
weeds, more especially those presenting a large and_ flat
surface to the spray, were found to be readily destroyed by
the solution,
The price of the chemical is the chief item in the cost of
the spraying work. This price amounts to about 6d. per bb.,
including freight. The solution can be applied by means of
any of the ordinary sprayers on the market.
In the Malay States the arsenite solution was used on
land monopolized by the lalang grass and not applied to
the weed growing among cultivated crops. The object was
to clear the land in a cheap and efficient manner before
bringing it under cultivation, and the maximum cost for
freeing. from weeds is mentioned as about 2s. per acre,
while usually it does not reach half this figure. It will
therefore be seen that this method might best be adopted in
clearing waste land.
Since the soda arsenite is. so destructive in its action, it
is probable that it would not be advisable to use it in spray-
ing weeds occurring in a cultivated crop, as it appears more
than likely that the latter would also be injured. In any
case, experiments should first be made on a small scale
56 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS Frespruary 20, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
€o., 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Sews
‘ 7 ast =
Vou. VIII SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. No. 178.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
A concluding article on Mendel’s theory of heredity
forms the editorial of the present issue.
On page 51 are given some interesting particulars
in regard to the working of the Antigua Sugar Factory
during 1908.
The conditions of banana cultivation in the West
Indies are discussed on page 52, where also a few notes
on tropical fruit production in Queensland will be
found.
Market prices of Sea Island cotton are reported on
page 54. A note on cotton at Barbados in 1908,
together with scasonable hints to growers, etc., appear
on the same page.
Attention is drawn to Mr. Ballou’s report (pp. 58-9)
on the insect responsible for flower-bud dropping of
cotton at Antigua.
Exports of agricultural produce from Southern
Nigeria have of late shown remarkable increase (page
59). Resin oil has given very good results at Grenada as
a dressing for cuts on cacao trees (page 61),
Experiments in the inoculation of leguminous
crops with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, carried out England,
have not given favourable results (page 62).
Visit of Scientists to Jamaica.
As already mentioned in this journal, two scien-
tists from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine,
Professor R. Newstead and Dr. William Prout, C.M.G.,
are at present inJamaica, on a visit (which has already
extended over about three months) of investigation in
regard to certain insect pests of the island, more
especially those of a disease-bearing character. Pro-
fessor Newstead is giving particular attention to cattle
ticks, as well as those scale insects which are at present
threatening citrus, cacao, and cocoa-nut caltivations in
Jamaica, white Dr, Prout is enquiring into the presence
of filarial and malarial diseases, in the hope of being
able to suggest improved methods of prevention. This
visit should result in increised knowledge in regard to
many of the numerous insect pests of the West Indies,
from which agriculturists in particular may derive
considerable advantage.
a
Eucalyptus ‘l'rees.
Eucalyptus trees grow readily on almost all kinds
of soils and are very suitable for planting as wind-
breaks. ‘heir timber is also valuable for a number of
purposes. These trees are native to Australia, but
have now been introduced into a number of other
countries, and in California they have met with special
favonr in view of their rapidity of growth and general
usefuiness. Few eucalyptus trees are found in the
West Indies, and the Journal of the Jamaica Agri-
cultural Society recommends that plantings might
with advantage be made. The wood is excellent for
fuel, and is hard, strong and tough, so that it can be
used for vehicle construction, for wooden parts of agri-
cultural implements, for wharf piles, and for railwa
sleepers. ‘he trees grow well on all kinds of soils but
those of a swampy nature. Two of the most valuable
kinds of eucalyptus are the blue gum (Hucalyptus
globulus) and the red gum (Hucalyptus rostrata).
Ginger from Sierra Leone.
The great possibilities of West Africa for the
production of tropical agricultural crops are attracting
more attention every year, and among the mivuor
products worthy of note, ginger will probably take an
Important place in the near future, since it is being
grown in increasing amount in Sierra Leone, and
improved methods of preparation have lately been
introduced, as the result of advice and assistance
obtained from the Imperial Institute. London, although
this improved process is yet far from being generally
adopted by the cultivators of the colony.
In 1906, ginger was shipped from Sierra Leone to
the extent of G1S tons, valued at £11,578, while in the
following year, the exports showed an increase of
39 tons, and an increased value of £699.
Samples of ginger were forwarded to London in
1907, some of which had been prepared by the old
native method, and others by the improved methods
lately introduced. The better prepared specimens
realized 64s. to 66s, per ewt., as against 82s. 6d. paid
for the product prepared in the ordinary way.
Vou. VIII. No. 178.
Timbers of Cuba.
Cuba, in common with a number of other West
Indian islands possesses large tracts of country which
are well adapted for the production of many valuable
kinds of hardwood timber. To this, the flourishing
condition of the scattered woodlands still remaining in
the island bears evidence, although these are almost
entirely neglected. The Cuba Review of January last
refers to this question and enumerates the chief
economic trees of the island. Prominent among these
are the logwood—valuable for its use in the manu-
facture of dyes—cedar, and mahogany. Lignum-vitae,
so valuable where extreme hardness and toughness are
required, is also fairly abundant. Other important trees
which grow readily, are ebony (Brya Ebenus), mastic
(Bursera simaruba), and the Jack Fruit (Artocarpus
integrifolia).
_———_—_—_———— a
Rubber in Tobago.
Landowners in Tobago who have planted rubber
on their estates in the past now regard the result as
very promising, according to the correspondent of the
West India Committee Circular in the island.
The first rubber trees (Castilloa) were planted on
Richmond estate about twenty years ago, and they
are now fine specimens, ranging up to a girth of
7 feet. Planting has also been carried out on ‘ Louis
D’Or’ estate, where tapping operations are now in
progress on a commercial scale. Fine rubber is being
turned out, which should fetch the highest price on the
London inarket. Large tracts of land suitable for this
cultivation are available, and on many estates small
plantings are being made, chiefly with the object of
providing shade for cacao. Hevea is being planted in
small quantity, but Castilloa does best. Trees can be
seen which at three years old are 25 feet in height,
and have a girth of 12 inches. These reports are very
satisfactory.
Cane Trash and Soil Moisture.
An improved system of cultivation in the growth
of ratoon canes, which is recommended from the Cuban
Experiment Station was lately described in the Agri-
cultural News (Vol. VIII, p. 355). The main
features of this system are that the ‘ middles’ are
alternately double-trashed and planted with such
a crop as cowpeas, the cowpea vegetation being later
ploughed into the land. In the following year (assum-
ing ratoons are again grown) this treatment is reversed ;
the ‘ middles ’ that were double-trashed in the previous
season being now planted with a green crop, and vice
versa.
In this connexion a letter has been received from
a correspondent who raises the point as to whether
rain, falling in moderate showers, is not to a large
extent lost on land covered with trash—more especially
if double-trashed,—being dissipated by sun and wind
before reaching the soil. Where the rainfall is
deficient, this might possibly be a drawback of some
moment and should receive consideration. On the
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 57
other hand, taking the year through, it is probable
that the good etfect of the trash in preventing evapora-
tion would more than balance losses of moisture
brought about in the way suggested. The subject
should form an interesting one for discussion by Agri-
cultural Societies in the West Indies.
Agriculture in the Virgin Islands.
The peasantry of the Virgin Islands are sea-faring
rather than agricultural in their habits, yet a perusal
of the latest report (1907-8) from the Experiment
Station at Tortola shows that increasing interest 1s
being taken in the cultivation of a number of crops,
and that with an improved condition of agriculture
the material prosperity of the people has lately
advanced.
The rapid expansion of the cotton industry of
those islands was described in the last issue of this
journal; as mentioned then, the cotton exports
increased from a value of £35 in 1904 to £1,800 in
1908.
Attention has also been directed to the possi-
bilities of other industries which may prove profitable
ina minor degree It has been shown that cacao wall
grow in certain carefully selected spots, and some good
trees have now come into bearing, the produce of which
has been valued at a very satisfactory price on the
London market. There is evidence, too, that the
efforts of the Agricultural Department to establish
a local lime industry will be attended with at any rate
a modicum of success.
Barbados Monkeys.
That the few monkeys now found wild in certain
parts of Barbados and St. Kitt’s are not of native
origin, but are descendants of African monkeys,
probably introduced by slave ships in the seventeenth
century, has long been generally recognized (see Agri-
cultural News, Vol. VI, pp. 201, 238). These
animals proved very troublesome pests te planters, in
breaking or rooting up sugar-canes, yains, ete., and in
1680 a law was passed at Barbados offering 2 reward
of 5s. for every wild monkey destroyed in the island.
The Barbados monkey has lately been identified
at the London Zoological Gardens as a West African
species, Cercopithecus subwus. Sir Daniel Morris was
recently able to present the skin of one of these animals
to the Zoological Gardens, and in acknowledging its
receipt, Mr. R. I. Pocock, the Superintendent, writes:
‘It isan interesting fact that the monkey does not seein
to have become modified in any way since its introdue-
tion into the West Indies. The skin might indeed
have come from Sierra Leone, the natural home of this
species.
‘T amafraid there are no records telling how many
specimens were originally taken across the Atlantie,
or if they were introduced upon more than one occasion.
If it were known that only a few pairs were turned
loose, it might throw some interesting light upon the
vexed question of in-breeding.’
58 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Frepruary 20, 1909-
INSECT NOTES.
Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton at Antigua.
It will be remembered that the insect responsible
for flower-bud dropping of cotton at Antigua has again
made its appearance in the present season. Some
account of the insect, with illustrations, appeared in the
Agricultural News of Jannary 9 last, and in the same
issue it was mentioned that Mr. Ballou, Entomologist
to this Department, had gone to Antigua for the
purpose of making investigations in connexion with the
attack of this pest.
The following is Mr. Ballon’s report on his visit :—
One object of the work of investigation was to discover
if possible the plant or plants other than cotton (wild or
cultivated) in which the flower-bud maggot may live and
breed. In the report on my visit to Antigua in November,
it was stated that both Mr. Jemmett and myself had made
careful search for this insect, but did not succeed in finding
it, though Sea Island cotton was examined in several fields,
and the wild cotton at Judges (Blizzards).
On my arrival at Antigua, one of the first things I did
was to pay a visit of examination to the wild cotton mentioned
above, and the flower-bud waggot was at once found, and in
considerable quantity.
Examination of other plants then in blossom in the
immediate vicinity led to the discovery of a Cecidomyiid
larva in the flower-buds of the Privet or ‘ Wild Coffee’
(Clerodendron aculeatunt). LT was not able to determine
whether this was the same as the flower-bud maggot of the
cotton by comparing the maggots, so I collected a large
quantity of flowers and buds of the plant from the hedge
surrounding the Botanic Station. These were placed in
breeding jars at the laboratory, and from them I reared two
(or three) different Cecidomyiid flies, one of which is
apparently identical with the fly which is the adult of the
flower-bud maggot of the cotton.
In order to obtain further proof as to the identity of this
insect, experiments have been started at the Botanic Station,
with the object of producing an attack of flower-bud maggot
on cotton directly from the insect in the flowers and buds of
the Privet. This experiment is not finished,
In connexion with this portion of my work the flowers
and flower-buds (in some cases two or three lots) of some
eighty-four different plants have been examined. [am
indebted to Mr. Jackson for having most of these collected
by persons connected with the Botanic Station,
The experiments started during my visit to Antigua
last year gave no definite results, perhaps because the attack
of the flower-bud maggot was on the decrease at the time the
experiments were started, and perhaps because of the drought
which set in soon after,and stopped the flowering of the plants.
Similar trials have been started again and are at present in
progress. These may give results later which will suggest
dirert remedial measures.
The experiments are established in two places. There
are five plots in the field of cotton at the Old Hospital, each
about 4); acre, which received the following applications of
manure ; No. 1, sulphate of ammonia ; No. 2, sulphate of
potash ; No. 3, Vaporite ; No. 4, nitrate of soda ; No. 5,
Vi-phosphate. These plots were established with the consent
of Mr. Fishre, who detailed Officer Maynard to assist in
éarrying out the work. At McKinnons there are seven
plots established ‘ with the consent and co-operation of
Mr. J. Roden, and the active assistance of Mr. Halpike:
These plots are about j4, acre, and received applications of
manure as follows :— No. 1, sulphate of potash ; No 2,.
sulphate of ammonia ; No. 3, nitrate of soda ; No. 4, super-
phosphate ; No. 5, Vaporite ; No. 6, Vi-phosphate ; No. 7,.
salt. In both these series the applications consisted of 20 Tb.
of each substance, except in the case of No, 7 at Me Kinnons,,
where only 10 tb. of salt were applied.
Previous to my arrival in Antigua, Dr. Watts had given:
Mr. Robert Goodwin 100 Ib, of Vaporite for use at Greys,
where the flower-bud maggot had made serious attack. This
was applied to 1 acre of cotton, and at the time of my visit
to this estate (Feb. 2), the cotton field treated with Vaporite
showed a greater proportion of flowers than any other field
on that estate, and it was decided that it would be wortly
while to make more extended trial of this material. With
this end in view, Mr. Tempany, Acting Superintendent of
Agriculture, sent out a circular letter to a limited number of
representative planters asking if they wished to make a trial
of Vaporite and offering 10U 1b. of this material to each one,,
with directions for applying it.
In combating insects closely related to the flower-bud
maggot it has been found that applications of mineral ferti-
lizers have had a decidedly beneticial effect, not only from
their usefulness as manures, but from the effect of the mineral
salts in solution in the soil. How much effect these may
have on the flower-bud maggot is very problematical, but
they are considered worth the trial.
T noticed that the parasitic Hymenoptera which were
abundant in February and March 1908, were much. less-
numerous during January 1909.
In nearly all the cotton fields I visited, I noticed that
the youngest bolls then existing on many of the plants must
have been formed about the middle of December. That is to-
say, the attack of the flower-bud maggot must have become
sufficiently severe about that time to prevent the later
development of flowers and bolls, and for the most
part there had been no bolls developed from that time
up to the first week in February. In most cotton fields
I noticed that the fallen flower-buds were not so numerous
as the small bolls or ‘forms,’ which appeared to have:
dropped within two or three days of the opening of the flower
and the shedding of the corolla. I do not feel sure that
I should be quite correct to lay all that to the charge of the
flower- bud The shedding of the corolla is a
perfectly normal circumstance, but the dropping of bolls is
abnormal. Whether: these bolls were dropped because they
were unfertilized IT cannot say, but I believe that this was
the reason in many eases. Further, I cannot say whether
they were unfertilized because the flower-buds from which
the bolls were being developed suffered attacks from
the flower-bud maggot, but this was probably the reason in
most cases.
maggot.
As already stated, very few bolls were developed from the
middle of December to the first week of February, and as
a consequence the top of the plants for some 12 to 18 inches,
with the developing laterals from this amount of growth, was
quite unproductive of bolls, and I believe that most of this
was due to the flower-bud maggot.
In past years the dropping of these very small bolls has
been ascribed to the weather, and in a sense this may be
correct, for there seems to be a definite relation between
certain weather conditions and the attacks of the flower-bud
Vou. VIII. No. 178. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 59
maggot. For instance, the flower-bud maggot appears to year. Southern Nigeria undoubtedly possesses enormous
begin its attack with the advent of cold nights or nights with resources, but the development of these resources is at
heavy dew, or during any period when the chill winds are
from an unusual quarter, and the severity of the attack seems
to vary with changes in the weather within a very short time.
During my stay at Antigua I visited cotton fields in the
north of the island, at High Windward, and in the Valley
district.
With the exception of Cade’s Bay and Orange Valley
estates the cotton in all fields presented the same general
features, but in the fields of the two estates just mentioned
there was an abundance of flowers and young bolls, and
almost a total absence of the flower-bud maggot. At Cade’s
Bay I found maggots in one bud and saw a few that I judged
to be attacked, but when I reached Orange Valley I could
ot find the maggot though I found many buds that I should
have said were infested. Mr. Pateson told me that that had
been his experience for the entire season. He had frequently
found buds which appeared to be infested, but he had not
found the maggot.
After coming to the conclusion that the flower-bud
maggot of cotton infests the flowers and buds of Privet,
T was constantly observing the wild plant growth, trying to
-get as good an idea as possible of the distribution of this
plant. In most parts of the island, I should say that Privet
is more widely distributed and more abundant than almost
any other woody plant, either tree or shrub, except that in
the Valley district from Jolly Hill to Cade’s Bay it seems to
be much less abundant. This may be connected with the
comparative freedom of flower-bud maggot at Cade’s Bay and
‘Orange Valley.
In the matter of remedial measures, and measures of
prevention, I am of opinion that it is essential to remove all
wild cotton from the vicinity of cotton fields at the time of
planting, and that at the beginning of an attack of flower-
bud maggot, much may be accomplished by hand-picking
the infested buds, which are indicated by the ‘flared’ bracts.
When the attack becomes general this may not be profitable
-and it may be found best to discontinue hand-picking of
infested buds. The planter should, however, be able to judge
as to this.
If it is proved later that the infestation can be conveyed
directly from the Privet to the cotton it will probably pay to
cut and burn all Privet near the fields to be planted.
The experiments now in progress at Antigua may give
results that will suggest other lines of action against the
attacks of the flower-bud maggot, but the foregoing recom-
mendations are all that can be made just at present.
AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA.
Southern Nigeria is one of the chief among the
West African colonies which must, in the future, be
notable as the source of a large number of tropical
agricultural products. Its possibilities have undergone
very considerable development of recent years, more
especially since 1905. The total value of the exports,
practically all of which were agricultural products,
amounted in 1906 to £2,951,000, and in the course
of the following year advanced to no less than
£3.863.000.
Palm oil and kernels form the most valuable among the
products of the colony, and the phenomenal increase in the
value of the exports during 1906-7 is chiefly attributed to
‘the exceptionally good crop yielded by the oil palm in that
present in a very elementary stage. wo factors mentioned
in the latest Annual Report on the colony, which are essential
to primary advancement, are improved means of communica-
tion, and the material development of agriculture.
In addition to palm oil and kernels, the other valuable
articles of export are rubber, cotton, timber, cacao, and maize.
Palm oil was shipped in 1907 to the extent of over
18,000,000 gallons, valued at £1,313,960, while, in addition,
133,650 tons of palm kernels of the value of £1,658,292
were also exported. These figures are the highest on record
for any year in connexion with the palm oil industry of
Southern Nigeria. Valuable as the palm oil industry is at
the present time, it is mentioned that with improved methods
of transport, it would rapidly undergo very great develop-
ment, more especially in the Central and Eastern Provinces.
Rubber also forms an important item in the colony’s
exports. In 1907 this product was exported to the value of
£244,989. These figures show a decline on those of the
previous year, but this is due to the fact that unskilful
tapping has been prohibited in some of the principal rubber
districts. The Forestry Department of the colony — is
endeavouring to encourage the natives to plant rubber trees,
and also giving instruction as to the best means of tapping and
preparing rubber. There are large tracts of land, eminently
suited to this product, and plantations of both Para and
Funtumia trees, started in recent years, are said to be doing
well. All the rubber at present exported is forest produce.
It is satisfactory to note that the efforts of the British
Cotton-growing Association, aided materially by the Govern-
ment, are having excellent results in Southern Nigeria. This
work was started in 1903, when the cottcn exports were
worth only £375 per annum. In 1906, the shipments of
lint and seed were valued at £51,906, and in 1907 had
advanced to £107,891. Cotton is produced at a very low
cost in the colony, and a price of only 33d. per tb. at Liver-
pool allows a profit to the grower. Points which will have
to be considered in relation to the development of the cotton
industry are: careful seed selection work, with proper atten-
tion to the improvement of indigenous varieties ; suitable
rotation of crops, involving the cultivation of a second
product which will improve the soil, and also yield some
return that can be exported—ground nuts for example-—and
the more extended introduction of ploughs and other labour-
saving implements.
A good deal of timber—chiefly West African mahogany—
is obtained from Southern Nigeria, the exports in 1907 being
valued at £69,241. It is evident, too, that the colony is one
which, like the Gold Coast, possesses great possibilities in
the way of cacao production. Excellent land well suited to
this cultivation exists over extensive areas, and it is
mentioned that the industry is ina most flourishing condition.
At present faulty fermentation and lack of proper atten-
tion to pruning are said to diminish the value of Southern
Nigeria cacao from 10 to 15 per cent. on the European
market. The exports in 1907 were valued at £47,840 as
compared with £27,054 in 1906.
Maize is another agricultural crop which is largely
grown in the protectorate, more especially in the Western
Province. The annual exports are worth about £30,000.
Three Botanic Stations exist in Southern Nigeria, one
in each province. Large numbers of plants and seeds are
distributed to holders of land in all parts of the colony.
Instruction as to the best methods of cultivation are als@
given.
60 THE AGRICULTURAL
GLEANINGS.
An account of the work of Sir Daniel Morris in the
West Indies, together with a portrait of the ex-Commissioner,
appeared in the Gardeners’ Chronicle of January 2 last.
Mango trees have been planted on a small scale. in
Florida, and the fruit is‘ growing in popularity im the United
States. Among the varieties’erown, two East Indian kinds—
the ‘ Muleoba’ and ‘Sundusha’ mangos—are referred to in
high terms. (Porto Rico Horticultural Ne ws.)
Mr. J. B. Carruthers, Director of Agriculture in the
Federated Malay States, and formerly Government Mycologist
aud Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon,
has been appointed Assistant Director of Agriculture at
Trinidad.
The cacao crop of the Brazilian State of Bahia for
1908-9. promises to be the most abundant on record. In
1907-8 it was 25,182 metric tons, but in the present season
it is expected to exceed this by more than 2,000 metric tons.
(British Consular Report.)
Devil grass or Bahama grass (Cynodon Dactylon), which
is now found almost all over the tropical and temperate
regions of the world, is a native of the Kast Indies. On
cultivated land it is a troublesome weed. This’ grass
withstands drought well and thrives even on poor soils. It
forms a fine turf when given good attention.
Four samples of Shea nuts, the seeds of the West Afri-
can tree Butyrospermum Parkii, and sample of fat
(known as ‘Shea butter’) extracted from these seeds, were
lately sent to the Imperial Institute, London, from Southern
Nigeria for examination and report. The fat was valued at
327 5s. to £27 10s per ton.
one
Reports from Cuba, where cane reaping and grinding
operations are inactive progress, state that 135 centrals are
working, as compared with 122 in operation last year, and
the quality of the juice is said to be good. Shipments of
sugar from the island for the fortnight ending January 22
amounted to 21,000 tons, as compared with 18,600 tons for
the corresponding fortnight of the previous year.
The question is frequently raised whether it is better for
a bee keeper to raise his own queen bees, or to purchase from
professional queen raisers. In a recent issue of Gleanings in
Lice Culture in which the point is discussed, the author
concludes that in most cases, ordinary bee keepers will do
well to rely upon professionals, and that if certain queen bees
in the private apiary should develop particularly desirable
ajualities, they may be sent toa breeder for the purpose of
producing other queens with similar characteristics.
NEWS. Frsruary 20, 1909.
The cane reaping season at Barbados is expected to be
late this year. No general start has yet been made, but
small lots of syrup have been placed on the market, the price
obtained being 18c. per gallon.
Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co., of Georgetown, report
that the weather for the fortnight ending February 5 was wet
and unfavourable for rice milling, though suitable for the
growing crop, and for planting, which is now being carried on
in some districts. Shipments of rice to the West Indian
islands during the fortnight amount to about 2,500 bags.
Prices are unchanged.
A sample of cotton (variety unstated) from the British
Honduras Botanic Station was lately reported upon by the
Imperial Institute, London. The lint was described as of
good quality, and similar to ‘improved’ American Upland
cotton. It was soft, lustrous, and of good colour, yielding
33 per cent. of lint-on ginning. The length of fibre was-
from 1 to 14 inches, and the cotton was valued at 54¢
(Governie nt Gazett A)
7, per tb,
The latest market report of Messrs. Gillespie Bros,
& Co., state that uhe New York market is flooded with fruit
from Florida and Porto Rico. Present prices for ordinary
grape-fruit are from $1°50 to $2°50 per box, and for oranges
from $1°75 to 32°25 per box. <A limited demand exists for
West Indian limes of good quality. The latest shipment
from Dominica sold/at from $5°75 to 6°50 per barrel.
Great interest has of late been taken in fruit raising in
the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and in the past six years the
industry has undergone steady expansion. Cultivators and
merchants have now. built up a trade of considerable value.
It is claimed that, owing to its more profitable nature, fruit
culture will largely supersede coffee growing in the State.
(British Consular Report.) :
The proposal to have a
‘close time’ for cotton each year
at St. Croix (the
month of June has been suggested) is under
discussion. During this close time no cotton, either young
or old, would be allowed in the island. This proposal has
been brought forward on account of the losses suffered from
insect pests, chiefly. the leaf-blister mite and the cotton
worm.
Cotton growing is receiving encouragement in the
Portuguese territory of Angola, West Africa. The Govern-
ment has established a station for instructing the natives in
planting, ginning, and oil extraction. A Portuguese transla-
He of the ‘A BC of Cotton Planting ’
Rubber exports from
low prices.
has also been issued.
Angola have lately fallen off owing to
In connexion with the list of books recommended for
estate overseers and other candidates entering upon the courses
of reading and examination in practical agriculture lately
established by this Department, it should be mentioned that
the price of Fream’s ‘ Elements of Agriculture’ is 3s. 6d. and
not 2s. 6d., as stated in the Agricultural News, Vol. VII,
p. 267. Further, a revised and enlarged edition of ‘The
Soil,’ by A. D. Hall, has lately been issued, and the Wake
of this book has been increased to 5s.
Wor. VILI.- No. 178: THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 61
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes.
FEBRUARY.
2nd Forrnicur.
Preparations will now be made for beginning to
reap the cane crop. Students should note the indica-
tions of ripening in the different varieties of cane.
“Some kinds—such as B. 147—ripen slowly and late:
-others, as B. 208, come early to maturity. The process
of manufacture should be studied, and the correet. use
-of such instruments as the hydrometer (or saccha-
rometer) should be understood. Where larger factories
exist, the use of the polariscope will claim attention.
Cotton picking will be general. The principles
underlying the work of seed selection at the Experi-
ment Stations and on the estates should be enquired
‘into and studied.
Cacao picked early in the month will now be
completely cured. Study as many samples of cacao as
possible at various stages, and learn to recognize well-
cured cacao by its ‘ break,’ etc., and note the effects of
fermentation, drying, and trampling. Observe the
methods of bagging and shipping.
Pruning of lime trees should be continued, and all
dead wood, etc., removed, should be burned. ar over
all cut surfaces to prevent disease from entering.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY
(1) What are the ditterences
between a clay soil and a sandy soil?
(2) Describe how pen manure is prepared and stored.
What constituents of plant food does it convey to the soil?
(3) What do you mean by green dressings! What
erops would you use for this purpose !
QUESTIONS.
in physical properties
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Diseuss the use of lime as a means of improving
-soil. How would you apply lime, and how much would you
use !
(2) Why should cacao pod stems be buried after cacao
picking !
(3) Describe the symptoms of root disease (.Varasmius)
of sugar-cane. What precautions should be taken to control
this disease ?
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left
Barbados by the R.MLS. ‘Eden’ on Tuesday, February 16,
for a short visit to Grenada. Dr. Watts will return on
February 23.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Se., Entomologist to the
Imperial Department of Agricultnre, returned to
Barbados from Antigua by the R.M.S. ‘Eden’ on
Tuesday, February 9.
Consequent on the promotion of Dr. Francis
Watts, C.M.G., Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc., F.LC., is
acting provisionally as Government. and Analytical
Chemist and Superintendent of Agriculture for the
Leeward Islands.
SISAL HEMP IN THE BAHAMAS.
The latest Annual Report (1907-8) on the
Bahamas contains the following note on the. sisal
industry :-—
The raising of sisal hemp is the most important industry
in the colony, and the area under cultivation with this crop
is considerably over 25,000 acres. In 1906-7 the sisal
exports from the Bahamas were valued at £40,140, while in
1907-8 they had advanced to the value of £46,669.
The Curator of the Botanic Station reports that a good
demand was experienced for fibre from the beginning of the
year up to October, and that good prices were obtainable.
At the end of October, as the result of the financial crisis in
America, to which country the greater quantity of the fibre
is exported, prices fell away considerably.
Complaints of the gathering of immature anl badly
cleaned fibre still continue.
RESIN OIL AS A DRESSING FOR
CUTS ON CACAO TREES.
Resin oil has lately been tried as an «antiseptic
dressing for cuts and wounds on cacao trees at Grenada,
and is reported on very favourably by estate owners
and managers, and by the Agricultural Superintendent
of the island.
Coal tar was formerly the chief dressing used for wounds
caused by pruning or as the result of an accident, but it
is stated that resin oil is superior for the purpose. The
Agricultural Superintendent of Grenada (Mr. R. D. Anstead,
B.A.) reporting on the matter, mentions that the oil can be
apphed easily and in a cleanly manner, and it is noticed that
the bark of the tree does not shrink away at the edges of the
wounds as much as when tar is used ; further, the new bark
starts into growth more quickly than when tar is the anti-
septic dressing applied.
On cacao estates in Grenada it is the custom for a boy
to follow close behind the pruners, and to dress all the
wounds made on the trees. It has been found that the best
means of applying these dressings is by the use of a paint
brush, and in most cases brushes of two or three different
sizes ave carried, so that all the holes and crevices may be
readily reached. In this way the dressing is neatly and
quickly placed on the wound and there is less likelihood of
any being smeared on the surrounding bark. This was
a point to be borne in mind when tar was the material in use,
since it frequently burned and damaged the bark ; but no
harmful etfects have been observed from the use of resin oil.
The only objection which has so far been raised against
the oilis that it is not easy to recognize, without careful
examination, which wounds have been dressed, and whieh
have not yet received an application. This difficulty has
been got over, however, by mixing | part of tar to 4 parts
of oil. This mixture naturally possesses the advantages of
the oil dressing, and, owing to the presence of the tar, wounds
which have been treated can be recognized at a glance.
Mr. Anstead states that resin oil, or the mixture of oil
and tar mentioned, is rapidly coming into use on the large
estates at Grenada in place of coal tar, and has also been
adopted at the Botanic Station, Experiment Station, and on
the Experiment Plots.
At Grenada the oil is purchased in cases containing
8} gallons at £1 5s. per case. It is stated that, when properly
applied, 1 gallon of oil will go as far as 2 gallons of tar, so
that the former material is cheaper in the end.
62 THE’ AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Fepruary 20, 1909,
DISEASE OF EVERGREENS AT
BARBADOS.
Frequenters of the Garrison Savannah of Barbados
will have noticed that many of the fine evergreen trees
(Ficus nitida) have died during the past few years.
Several fine specimens can now be noticed to be dying,
as for example in front of the buildings now occupied
by the Savannah Club.
Careful observation of these dying trees will show that
in many places the bark of the branches and trunks is being
pushed off, and a blackish incrustation is making its appear-
ance. These black patches are the fructifications of a fungus,
Eutype crumpens, that may account for the unhealthy appear-
ance of these trees. The mycelium of the fungus spreads in
the internal tissues and bark of the trees, and at the fruiting
period, fructifications make their appearance under the bark,
eventually pushing it off.
This fungus is extremely common amongst the ever-
green trees of Barbados, and has been particularly noticeable
during the last two years. Several very large trees have
died in many different parts of the island, for the fungus is
not confined to those evergreens around the Savannah. The
mode of spread of the parasite has not yet been ascertained,
nor have remedial measures yet been given a satisfactory
trial.
This note is here published for the purpose of directing
the attention of people at Barbados particularly to this
disease, with a view to obtaining information as to what
measures will check its spread. All affected limbs should
certainly be cut off and burned and all dead trees removed
and destroyed.
This same fungus has been recorded on nutmegs in
Trinidad, and on a number of plants in some other of the
West Indian islands, and it is possible that investigations
may prove that it is of economic importance in some
colonies agriculturally.
INOCULATION OF LEGUMINOUS CROPS.
In view of the fact that the cultivation of legum-
inous crops under suitable conditions offers a means of
enriching the soil with nitrogen, and that this power of
assimilating atmospheric nitrogen is due to the presence
and action of nodule-forming bacteria on the roots of
these plants, it would seem, at first sight, a compara-
tively easy matter to ensure the presence of the
bacteria, and the consequent production of crops of
greater value, by inoculating the soil with the organ-
isms in question. A considerable amount of experi-
mental work on this subject has been carried out in
the United States, in Germany, Canada, aud—quite
recently—in England, but the results attained, speak-
ing generally, have not, so far, been by any means of
so promising a nature as was at one time anticipated.
Some trials, it may be mentioned too, have lately been
made at Antigua and Grenada, under the direction of
this Department, and it is hoped shortly to publish
2 note on the results.
Cultures of bacteria for inoculation purposes have at differ-
rent times been prepared and sent out in a number of different
forms, one of the latest being 1hat known as ‘ Nitro-Bacterine,’
devised by Professor. Bottom ey of King’s College, London.
Experiments with this material were carried out by the Royal
Horticultural Society at the Wisley Gardens, England, during
the summer of 1908, the soil of these Gardens being of the
kind where inoculation might be expected to have a good
effect. An exhaustive report on this experimental work is:
contributed by Mr. F. J. Chittenden, F.L.S., to the Journal
of the Society for November last (Volume XXXIV, Part ID),
from which it appears that from no point of view did
inoculation prove to have a beneficial effect.
The following summary of the results is given at
the end of Mr. Chittenden’s report :—
A trial of the effect of inoculation of peas with ‘ Nitro--
Bacterine ’ was conducted at Wisley in 1908.
The soil of the Wisley Gardens is one more likely to
respond to such inoculation than the majority of garden soils.
The experimental area was divided into “twenty-four
equal plots, twelve being on well-worked soil, and twelve on
soil that had been fallowed in 1907.
Kach pair of plots on the cultivated ground received
different soil treatment, and the corresponding pairs on the
fallowed land received the same treatment.
One of each pair of plots had seed which had been
inoculated sown upon it ; the other, seed which had not been
inoculated. One vow of each of fuur varieties was sown upon
each plot, the same varieties being used throughout.
It is shown that the Wisley soil is lacking in none of the
chemical elements necessary for the successful growth and
development of nodule-forming bacteria.
Seven out of the twelve plots on which inoculated seed
was sown, gave smaller crops than the corresponding uninocu-
lated crops, and one gave an equal crop.
There was, under no soil treatment, a consistent increase
in the crop due to inoculation.
The total weight of the crop from the whole of the
plots receiving inoculated seed was 450 Ib., while the total
from the plots in which uninoculated seed was sown, was
515 Ib. The uningeulated seed therefore gave, in the aggre-
gate, a crop 14 percent. heavier than the inoculated. :
The crop from the inoculated seed was not better in
any way than that from the inoculated, nor did it reach
maturity earlier.
There was a remarkable difference in the yield from the
well-cultivated land and the fallowed land, greatly in favour
of the former.
It is concluded that the inoculation of leguminous crops
with ‘ Nitro-Bacterine ’
in ordinary garden soils is not
likely to prove beneficial.
FAST INDIAN IMMIGRANTS IN
TRINIDAD.
The Annual Report for 1907-8 on Trinidad and
i : J : ‘ :
Tobago contains the following note in reference to East
Indian immigrants in the colony :—
The number of East Indians brought .to the colony
under indenture in 1907-8 was 1,860, whilst the number who
returned to India was 752. The amount deposited by the
latter in the Colonial Treasury for transmission to India was
£13,578 Ils. 104¢,, and in addition they consigned £306 to
the care of the Surgeon-Superintendent in charge of the ship
in which they sailed. The amount of remittances to India by
immigrants, exclusive of the money taken back by immigrants
returning to India, was £3,227 Os. 2d. The amount deposi-
ted by East Indians in the Government Savings Bank during
the year 1907 was £74,822 8s. Td., and the total balance to
their credit on December 31, 1907, was £111,675 6s. 114d,
the total number of East Indian depositors for the year having
been 6,361,
Won, Vill. Noi 78s.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 63
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.LS.,. has forwarded the
foliowing report on the London drug and spice markets
during the month of December » —
Throughout the month of December the markets in
spices and drugs have been quite of a character that usually
prevails in the two or three wecks before Christmas. In the
first’ two weeks of the month there was .a firmer and more
steady undertone in drug dealings than is common at that
period of the year, but as the Christmas holidays approached
and stoeck-taking time was in view, business began to flag,
and at the end of the month the news of the terrible earth-
quake at Messina paralysed buiness generally, and at once
caused a serious rise in the products of the afflicted country,
such as the essential oils of lemon and bergamot, which at
time of writing had risen 50 per cent. in price, with the
probability that owing to stocks of bergamot oil im London
being nearly exhausted there «vould be a further rise
immediately in this product. The dealings in West Indian
produce were without special interest, as the following items
will show. ~p
I GINGER. -
At the second spice sale on December 9, Jamaica
ginger sold at steady rates. Of the 216 packages offered,
-146 were sold, good ordinary small fetching from 48s. to 50s. ;
slightly inferior realized 46s. Gd. to 47s. Gd., and ratoon 39s.
Cochin and Calicut were offered to the extent of 600 packages,
all of which were bought in, rough Cochin at 36s, On the
16th there was no Jamaica offered, but 297 bags of Cochin
were Lrought ferward, all of which were bought in at 37s. per
ewt. for fair washed. After this date theré were no further
quotations.
NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO,
Of nutimegs, at the spice sale on the 9th, 307 packages
of West Indian were offered, and nearly all sol Lat steady to
rather advanced prices. At the auction on the 15th, 26
. packages of West Indian were offered and disposed of at the
-tollowing rates: 70’s to 74s at 7d., 99's at 43d., and 121’s
at 34d. No further offerings were made during the rest of
the month.
Mace was steady at auction at the first spice sale
on. the 2nd, when 13 packages of West Indian were
offered and disposed of at ls. 4d. to 1s. 5d. for ordinary to
fair, and 10d. to 11d. for broken. A week later 58 packages
of West Indian were sold at 1d. to 2d. advance on previous
rates, viz., ls. 6d. to ls. 7d. for fair to good ; 4d. to
ls. 5d. for fair pale and reddish, and Is. 2d. to 1s. 4d. for
fair to good red. Of pimento at the first sale on the 2nd,
100 vags were offered and bought in at the following rates :
Greyish to fair 2d. to 24d., and siftings at 14d. to 14d. per Ib.
On the 9th, when 567 bags were offered, 44 only were
disposed of at from 2d. to 21d, for fair; at later auctions
there was but little demand and no change in price.
SARSAPARILLA,
The market in this drug remains firm with little or no
alteration. At the first drug auction on the 3rd; grey
Jamaica was represented by 45 bales, Lima-Jamaica by i
nace and native Jamaica by 6 bales. The first fetched
ls. 4a. to ls. 6d. per Ib. for fair to good, and 1s. 3d. for
coarse. For Lima-Jamaica, is. 1d. to 1s. 2d. per tb. was
paid, and 1ld. to ls. 1d. per tb. for the 6 bales of native
Jamaica. No business of any importance has been done since
CASSIA FISTULA, OTL OF’ LIMR, LIME JUICE.
Three bags of good bold fresh Cassia Fistula from the
West Indies were disposed of at 22s. per ewt. At the same
sale a case of hand-pressed oil of lime from Dominica fetched
5s. per Ib. One case of ordinary, distilled was sold at 1s.
9d., and 5 other cases were disposed of at from 1s. 7d. to
Is. 8. per Ib. Ten cases of West Indian lime juice were
also brought forward at this auction, and 5 sold at 1s. per
gallon.
1
IMPROVED COFFEE-HULLING
MACHINE.
In view of the enormous output of coffee from
Brazil it is not surprising to Jearn that a good deal of
etfort is being made to improve the machinery now in
use for preparing the product. These efturts ave receiv-
ing assistance from the Government, and some have
met with a fair measure of success,
in the United States’ Consular Reports for November
last, it is mentioned that a new machine for hulling coffee
has lately been installed on a plantation in the State of Sao
Paulo, which is a considerable advance on those formerly
operated. This machine is about 16 feet high, occupies
about 3 square yards of space, and is worked by an engine
of G-horse power. In ten hours it hulled 400 arrobas
(12,953 Ib.) of cotfee, separating the beans into three grades.
This is cousidered a notable success.
NEW FIBRE-EXTRACTING MACHINE.
Althongh the cultivation of fibre- yielding plants
cannot be melded in the list of “agricultural induigtnies
which exist in the more important of the West Iudian
islands, yet sisal hemp fibre is largely produced in the
Caicos Islands, and in the Bahamas, too, the industry
is a valuable one. Some efforts, it may be mentioned,
have also been made to introduce the cultivation of
the sisal plant into Jamaica
Fibre-yielding plants are not usually expensive crops to
grow, but the provision of a.iachine for extracting and
preparing the fibres is necessarily a comparatively costly
feature of the industry. For this reason the announcement
that a new machine, for which many advantages are claimed,
has lately been invented and put on the market in Mauritius,
should be noted with interest by those concerned. The
chief fibre plant of Mauritius, and one which is cultivated on
a fairly extensive scale in that island is Pureraca giyanted.
It is claimed for the machine in question that all the
fibres of the plant dealt with are extracted in their full
length, and in clean condition ; there is no waste whatever of
the fibre. The machine, it is. stated, works automatically,
and when a regular supply of leaves is provided, all the
processes of defibration are carried out without human assist-
ance. In an average day’s work (10 hours) it is said to be
capable of turning out 1 ton of dried Fureraea fibre, the force
required being about 10-horse power
In Mauritius the price of this machine is about £500.
Tt is stated that its cost might be reduced in certain other
countries.
The inventor is M. Maingard, and the machine is
known as ‘ Maingard’s Automatic Defibrating Machine.’
It is affirmed that in addition to Furcraea, the machine is
equally capable of dealing effectively with leaves of sisal
hemp, Manila hemp, Phormium, ete.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Frepruary 20, 1909-
New York,
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—February 2, 1909, THe Wesr Inpra Com-
MITTEE CrrcouLak; Messrs. KEARTON Piper & Co.,
February 2, 1909; Messrs. E. A. DE Pass & Co.,
January 8, 1909.
Arrowroor—Quiet; 1fd. to 2,4d. for common to good
manufacturing.
Bavatra—Sheet, 2/2 to 2/4 ; block, no quotations.
Bees’-wax—No sales reported.
Cacao—Trinidad, 56/- to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 48/- to
57/6 per ewt.
CorrEE—NSantos, 29/- per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—West Indian, £18 10s. to £19 10s. per ton.
Corron—St. Kitt’s, 183d.; Barbados, 13}d. to 14d;
St. Vincent, 155d.
Frouir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 6/- per bunch.
Limes-—Not wanted.
Prne-areLes—St. Michael, 3/6 to 6/.
Grave Frurr—5/- te 8/- per box.
Orances—Jamaica, 5/- to 9/- per box.
Fustic—£3 to £4 per ton,
GinceR— Very quiet.
Honey—No sales reported.
Istycrass—West India lump, 1/10 toe 2/- per tb.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1- to 1/4 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2/9 per tb.;
hand-pressed, 7 - per th.
Locwoon—£3 to £4 5 5. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Mace—Steady.
Nurmres—Steady.
Pimentro— (Quiet.
Rureer—Para, tine hard, 5s. per th., on the spot.
Rom—Jamaica, 3/3 to 3/4; Demerara. 1/6 to 1/7, proof.
Suear—Crystals, 14.5 to 17.-; Museovado, no quotat ions ;
Syrup, no quotations ; Molasses, no quotations.
Jannary 22, 1909,—Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to 18e. ; Grenada, 11}¢
Trinidad, 11 fc. to 12}¢. ; Jamaica, 9$e. to ll se. per th.
Cocoa-NutTS—Jamaiea, select, $24°00 to $25-00; culls, $13-00
to $15-00; Trinidad, $22°00 to 823-00 ; = culls, $ $13-00 to
SL5-00 per M.
CorrEr—Jamaica, ending Tje. to S8he.; good ordinary,
94e.; washed, 11sec. per Ib.
Gincer—Ye. to 12 ‘per Ib.
Goat SKINS appa. 53c.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49e. to 5O0c. 3 Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c.
to 48c. per ih. Sit Hint.
Grave From—Florida, 81°50 to $2°50 per box.
Limes—Doiminiea, a limited demand at 85°75 to $6°50) per
barrel.
Macre—25c. to Sle. per Ib.
Nurmecs—110’s, 9fc. per Th.
ORANGES Florida, $1°75 to $2°25 per box.
Pimento—3 fc. per th.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 8°67¢e. to S3-71; Muscovados,
89°. 3:'17c. to $3'21 ; Molasses, 89°, 2°92c. to $2°96
per Th., duty paid
> 60. 11#c. ;
INTER-COLONIAL MARKRTS.
Barbados,— Messrs. Leacock & Co., February 13, 1909 =
Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., February 15, 1909.
ARROWRC St. Vincent, $4°00 per 100 th.
Cacao—Dominiea and St. Lucia, $10°00 per 100 th.
Cocoa-NutTs—$13-00 for unhusked nuts.
CorreeE—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9750 to $11:00 per
100. th. ee
Hayv—S1°25 per 100 th.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $62°00 to 865-00; Ohlendorff’s-
dissolved guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao
manure, $42-00 to S48° 00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72-00-
to $75°00; Sulphate of potash, S67-00 per ton.
Mo .ass :—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, $2°00 ; loose, no quotations.
Poratros—Novya Scotia, 32°00 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, $625 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $3-30-
per bag of 120 th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°30 (180 th.); Patna, $3-80 ; Rangoon,
$300 per 100 th.
Sucar—No quotations.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wretinc & Ricurer, Febru-
ary 6, 1909; Messrs. SanpBacH, Par KEE BE & Co.
February 5, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $9°00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Barata—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c. per tb.
Cacao—Native, l6c. to 18e. per th.
Cassava—7 2c.
Cassava StarcH—$6'00 to 87-00 per barrel of 196 tb.
Cocoa-NuTS—S$16°00 per M.
CorrEE—Creole, 12c. to 13c. ; Jamaica, lle. to 12e. per tb.,
slow.
Duat—S$5°00 to $5°25 per bag of 168 tb.
Eppos—S$1°32 per barrel.
Motasses—No quotations
Owntons— Madeira, 4c. to 5c. per th.
PLaNntains—l6e. to 36c. per bunch, plentiful.
Poraros—Nova Scotia, $2°50 per 100 th.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, 81°08 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $5°80;.Creole, $4°60 to $4°75; SeetayS6-00,
Sprit Peas—$5°90 to $6-00 per bag (210 tb.); Marseilles,
$4°25 to $4°75.
Tannras—$1°80 per bag.
Yams—White, 00; Buck, 81°80 per bag.
Sucar—Dark erystals, $2°20; Yellow, $3:°10 to $3°25;
White, $3°60 to $3:80 ; Molasses. $2°10 to $2-20 per
100 th. (retail. )
Timber—Greenheart, 32
WALLABA SHINGLES
Corpwoop
ce. to 5d5e. per cubic foot.
3°50 to $550 per M.
2°40 to $2°64 per ton.
Trinidad,—February 6, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpox, Grane
Ww Co,
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12°00 to $12°50 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11°50 to $12°00.
Cocoa-NuTS— $2200 per M., f.o.b., for selected peeled im
bags of LOO th.
Cocoa-NuvT Ore—76e. a impeni: al gallon, cask included.
Correr—Venezuelan, 8$c. to 9c. per tb.
Corra—S3'15 per 100 th.
DuHat—S$4°65 to $4°70 per 2-bushel bag.
On1oNs—S4-0 to $5°00-per LOO TH. (retail).
Poraros—Enelish, 90e. to $1°10 per LOO th.
Ric Yellow, 40 tos 60; White, 54°50 to $4°D0 per bag.
Sprrrv Peas—$5:75 to $6-00 per bag.
Sucar—Amewean erushed, $5°00 to S5°L0 per 100 th.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
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(17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
(18) Recipes for cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
(19) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1902. Price 4d.
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(22) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part II. Price 4d.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies _ Price 2d.
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(27) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1902-3.
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(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
(30) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(31) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting. Price 4d.
(32) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1904. Price 4d.
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(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(33) Information in regard to Agricultural, Banks. Price 4d,
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Islands, 1905-4.
(37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
(38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobaceo. Price 4d.
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(40) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
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(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
(42) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(43) The Use of Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal as a Feeding
Stuff on West Indian Plantations. Price 2d.
(44) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
1904-6. Price 61.
(45) A. B. C. ef Cotton Planting.
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(46) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1905-6.
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(47) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(49) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados
1905-7. Price 6d.
(50) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1906-7,
Price 4d.
(651 Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1906-7. Price 4d.
(53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
(54) Fungus Diseases of Cacao. Price 4d.
(55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 3d.
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The ‘Agricultural News’ contains
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS. A _ Fortnightly Review.
extracts
from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughouc the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d.
Owing to certain numbers being out of print, only Vols. IV and V can
2s. 2d. per half-vear, or 4s. 4d. per annum.
The subscription price, including postage, is
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tions Jor copics are to be addressed to the Agents, not to the Department.
Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. City Agents: Tae West Inpra Commirres, 15, Seething
Lane, London, E. C.—Barbados: Messrs, Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown.—Jamaica: THe EpucationaL Supply
Company, 16, King St., Kingston.—Zritish Guiana: ‘ Daily Chronicle’ Office, Georgetown.—Trinidad - Messrs. Muir-
MarsnaLt & Co., Port-of-Spain.— Tobago: Mr. C. L. Phacemann, Scarborough.—G'renada: Messrs. F. Marrast & Cc.,
‘The Stores,’ St. George. — St. Vincent: Mr. Stantey Topp, Agricultural School.—St. Lucia - Mr, E. Buckreg, Botanic Station.
—Dominica: Messrs. C. F, Duverney & Co, Market St., Roseau.n—Antigua: Mr. 8. D. Manone, St. John’s.—
St, Kitts: Tue Brste anp Bock Suppiy Acency, Basseterre—Mevis: Mr. 8. D. Matong, Charlestown.
VoL. VILE Non 18: THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Frepruary 20, 1909.
AR Ee
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Clag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO :—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
— = ee sper Ss
"THE |
IMPERIAL DEPARSWENT OF AGRIGULTURE. | |WEST INDIA COMMITTEE CIRCULAR
NOTICE. (Published fortnightly).
. Sa SE Oe eae awa RnR hE © Ril Cc ti AL ORGAN
School, St. Vincent is offered for sale. ays
‘Peau IL’ isa dark bay with black points, standing
16 hands, and vising 10 years old. Isa docile animal, <ounde
and a sure foal-geuter, and considered one of the best intro- THE WEST iN DIA COMMITTEE.
ductions of recent years. He is by Orville out of Flirt,
through Ormonde, Tra ip pi ist, Bend’or, Hermit, ete. (Estab: cirea 1760. Incorporated by Royal Charter
Price, £ 80 £. o.b. St. Vincent, or next best offer. Address Aug. 4, 1904.)
tendent, St. Vincent, up to February 15 next.
all communications to W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superin- Edited by ALGERNON BE. ASPINALL.
(Vol. Ix, A 3).
Containing papers read an ie West Indian Agricultu-
ral Conference, 1908, on the Cotton, Rubber, and Rice
Industries of the West Indies and British Guiana, and on
General subjects, viv Cotton Cultivation at Barbados, in
the Leeward Islands, at St. Vincent, and in British Guiana ;
Improvement of Cotton by Séed Selection ; Treatment of
Cotton Pests ; Rarhados Cotton Factory ; Rice E xperiments
at British Guiana ; Rubber at Trimidad and British Guiana ;
THE as CULTIVATOR.
This machine does the work of hoe, fork and rake. For
Notes on Pssential Oils ; Vegetable Ivory ; Geological weeding, ete., it iis no equal. It is being used by the largest
Formation of Barbados, etc. estate owners in Barbados in their cotton fields.
# Prices, ete., on application to
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON FACTORY,
Sole Agents. Bridgetown, — Barbados.
RR
To be obtained of all Agents for the sale of the Department's
publications. Price 6:/. each number; post free, 8-7.
WEST INDIAN BULLETIN
Printed at Office of Agrienina Bloor 4, High Street, BrHeweeewn, Barbados.
WEEKLY
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Paris Green! Paris Green!
Warranted and Guaranteed Strictly Pure, and to be of
the Standard of Purity required by, and made in
conformity with, the requirements of
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The only sure and effective insecticide and destroyer of the cotton worm, caterpillars, and other pests.
Guaranteed to be absolutely pure by the manufacturers. Used extensively throughout the British West Indies, and sold
by all high-class merchants and dealers. Consumers are cautioned against worthless substitutes, and should always see
that the packages bear the name of the manufacturers :—
MORRIS HERRMANN & CO.,,
NEW YORK, U.S.A.
|
Makers of
PARIS GREEN
ARSENATE OF LEAD
| “BORDEAUX MIXTURE.
WORKS ;
Newark, N.J., U.S.A.
[178.] | |
POTASH FOR CITRUS FRUITS.
TREE WELL CULTIVATED TREE PARTLY CULTIVATED
| AND FERTILIZED. AND NOT FERTILIZED.
An orange grove must. be fertilized and cultivated, no matter where it is located. Wild trees may produce without
potash, but a juicy fine flavoured fruit of good shipping quality cannot be produced without a liberal application of
this manure. An average formula for manure for bearing trees is 37, Nitrogen, 6°4 Phosphosie Acid and 107 Potash.
For free literature and special information on tropical agriculture apply to
GERMAN KALI WORKS
30 Empedrado,
Sox 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
IMPERIAL DEPARTMEN
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW"
OF
T OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE West
Vos Vill Now 19!
BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. Pace.
Cacao, Artificial Drying of 73| Mango, Budding the . 70
,, Cultivation in Cuba... 71) Market Reports —... ... 80
Calcium Cyanamide, Notes
| Nevis, Agricultural Show
ON sds ese Haste ees EATERS © con) Jone ooo 78
Chickens, ‘ Gapes’ in... . 78) Notes and Comments 72
Corns on Horses’ Feet . 73) Onion Crop at Antigua 69
ONO NOUEs: . .o| Para Rubber Trees, Good
West Indian Cotton . 68 | Growthiof 79
Cotton at St. Vincent ... 68) p } j a *
‘ : : -o| Pen Manure 69
Cotton in the Sea Islands 68) Boog a
ST ATeaiadnoe att Reattorestation ... 72
Be aes eR NE | Rice in British Guiana 77
CottonSs=sin eee OS)
Cotton Plants, Destruction Students’ Corner rare
of at Montserrat 73| Sugar Industry :
Department News ... T1| Seedling Canes at Antigua
Departments of Agriculture and St. Kitt’s 67
and their Functions ... 65) Sweet Potatos, Starch
Fruit Drying 73 Manufacture from 73
Gleanings ... ... ... ... 76| Talipot Palm, the :
Tndia, Agricultural Work in 79 a Correction ae Rete 4
Tnsect Notes :—
Fertilizers as Insecticides 7
Some Parasites of the
Cotton Worm ee
Lime, Influence of on Plant
Food in Soil
Tobago, Agriculture and
Live Stock in b08
Trinidad, Rice Cultivation
in ee HS
Velvet Bean Crop ies
Whitewash, Recipe for...
ee LE =
Departments of Agriculture and
Their
ALK)
COL
Functions.
therefore, from
time to time, to
QED £ p ‘ ee
Shy HE functions of Departments of Agriculture
are numerous and varied; it is desirable,
review
MARCH 6, 1909.
[them in order to ensure that all are properly exercised.
oS
Ps Some of the chief functions of a Department of
> Agriculture are to collect the results of experimental
SAS i
a-work that is in progress at the stations under its
2-gontrol, to keep in touch with investigations carried on
<I
Price ld.
elsewhere, and to include in its organization suitable
means for diffusing the knowledge thus accumulated.
The last named point is most important in agri-
cultural work, and more especially in regard to tropical
agriculture.
and the fact that a good deal of knowledge has beem
The great diversity of the whole subject,
placed on record which, however, is nct yet accessible in
text-book form, but is scattered in different Journals and
other publications, together with the further fact that
the fund of information is constantly being added to,
ditfusion of
results a very prominent part of the work of an Agri-
all combine to make the collection and
cultural Department. It is not enough that the knowl-
edge exists; it must be made available to those whom
it most concerns, and every effort made to adapt it to
local conditions. The men most interested—planters
and farmers—are frequently too busy or unable to hunt
up required information from out-of-the-way sources,
hence the value of a central agricultural office, with
its organized sub-stations and statf of officers, which
recognizes as a chief part of its duty the necessity to
indicate where facts needed are to be found, and to
make them easy of access to all.
A planter working alone encounters many difticul-
ties and stumbles upon many problems interesting or
perplexing; he may expend mnch time, thought and
energy upon these ; he may even experiment and alter
his methods of working as the result of these efforts,
All this is time-consuming and the results are uncer-
tain. If he is in touch with a well-equipped Depart-
ment, he can it the outset explain his dithculties or
views; he can then learn whether these points have
already received attention, either in lis own neighbour-
hood or elsewhere, and his line of action can be
directed by the information thus made available
Lit
NEV
THE Behe
INDIES. GAR
66 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Marcu 6, 1909.
Should his difficulties or views be new, he can have
laid before him the general principles underlying the
questions at issue, and his thonghts, experiments, and
work ean be directed in right channels.
ideas will be eliminated and sound ones encouraged,
Erroneous
and thus the departmental assistance may make for
continuous progress with the minimum waste of energy.
The usefulness of agricultural experiment work
cannot be lightly estimated, since by its means the
stock of definite knowledgesis increased; but :t may
safely be stated that much'of the value of this work
would be lost, were it not for the continned existence
of central Agricultural Departments and the organized
Staff of officers at the outlying stations, whose duties
keep them in touch with the work of planters all the
year round. It is not enough to issue periodical
reports on the results of experimental work. Planters
seldom assimilate all that» appears in the reports
brought before their notice, even when these deal with
their own subject; they may, it is true, read such
publications carefully, but the points picked up in this
reading appeal to the mind according to the particular
work in hand at the time, or the bent of the mind at
the moment. Asa result, much valuable information
that is contained in reports and occasional papers is
often passed over and forgotten, simply because it is
not immediately applicable.
The facts would be noted as being useful if read
at a seasonable time, or when the snbject in question
was occupying the mind of the reader ; but under other
éircumstances no impression is made, and the results of
the experimental work are in danger of being lost.
Tt is, however, the function of an Agricultural
Department, not only to carry out experiments bnt to
use every effort to see that the results are applied by
the planters concerned. The points elucidated there-
from, are again brought to the notice of the planter
by officers of the Department, and emphasized at the
time when the work in question is calculated to be of
value, or its application appears opportune. Indeed,
planters themselves rely on, the departmental officers
to point out the application of the latest experimental
results, and to be ready to give specific information if
asked for it, and progress is probably largely deter-
mined by the readiness with which this exchange of
thought takes place.
An up-to-date A gricultural Department, therefore,
whose operations ramify in different directions, and
whose officers are in touch with each other so that
there is a continuous interchange of ideas, finds one of
its most valuable functions as a collector and distribu-
tor of information.
minds of
Knowledge which may exist in the
and which would
otherwise have but a limited use, is brought out and
made available for'the service of all.
isolated individuals,
From this point
of view the existence of the central and sub-central
officers and stations must be regarded as being most
valuable, and even necessary, since it ensures that the
results of research are not lost, that they are put to the
test and modifiedj.to snit local conditions, and thas
they are continually being kept before the notice of
those whom they immediately concern.
It may be pointed ont that this work of taking
existing knowledge and making it available for general
use is one which may perhaps be regarded as being
more valuable, and more practically remunerative to
the general body of mankind even than the creation of
knowledge itself. Much useful knowledge may lie
stored up and unused for lack of an intelligent guide
to its existence and usefulness, while its proper diffusion
may change the current of thought of a community or
class of workers and immediately prove remunerative
and of tangible value. What better instance can be
cited than that of Mendel whose discovery lay hidden
in The Proceedings of the Natural History Society of
Briin for nearly forty years’ As soon as his work was
brought to light and adequately made known, it was
immediately fruitful of great results, the full impor-
tance of which is probably yet unrealized. *
It is important that those in administrative charge
of affairs should recognize the value of organization for
the purpose of diffusing knowledge—agricultural and
otherwise. They are often prone to think that if useful
facts have once been placed on record that is sufficient,
and that in the usual course of things they will be
discovered and applied by those locally interested ; but
this is seldom the dase.
Progress in any given line of
work is immensely hastened and rendered both easier
and more certain by the existence of organizations
whose duty it is to collect, co-ordinate, classify and
diffuse knowledge. In agricultnrd work this implies
agencies of many kinds, reaching out on the one hand
into the fields and into close touch with the daily work
therein, and culniinating in a central organization
capable of the duties ontlined above. Such a system
is well exemplified in the agricultural organizations of
varions countries,’ but perhaps nowhere to greater
advantage than in the magnificent system of the
Department of Agriculture of the United States,
which is proving of incalculable value to that progress-
ive country.
*See Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, pp. 33-4 and 49-50.
Vou. VIIT. Ne. 179:
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 67
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Seedling Canes at Antigua and St. Kitt’s.
The pamphlet report (No. 56 in the Series issued
by the Imperial Department of Agriculture) on the
experiments with seedling and other canes carried out
at Antigua and St. Kitt’s m the season 1907-8 has just
been issued by this Department, and the information
supplied in regard to the relative returns given by the
different varieties is of considerable inserest. The
experiments were carried on at eight estates at Antigua
and eight at St. Kitt’s, so that the results placed on
record were obtained under a thoroughly represent-
ative range of soil and climatic conditions.
In the plant cane trials at Antigua made during 1907-8
six seedlings gave returns superior to that yielded Ly White
Transparent ; these include Sealy Seedling, B. 208, B. 156,
and B. 306. which were also among the seedlings heading the
list in last year’s results, and so are to be commended as
useful canes. The four seedlings mentioned gave returns in
1908 of 5,730, 5,640, 5,460, and 5,170 tb. of sucrose per
acre respectively, as compared with 5,100 tb. of sucrose yielded
by White Transparent. we
It should be pointed out that the general yield from plant
canes at Antigua in 1907-8 was decidedly below the average
of the previous six years.
With the object of ascertaining which canes are above
the average in merit and may safely be planted over
a wide range of conditions, it is customary every year to
note those which come among the first seven on the list at
each station. Inthe past year in the plant cane trials at
Antigua, Sealy Seedling, and B. 376 were among the first
seven at six out of the eight stations, while B. 208 and B. 156
came within the first seven at five stations,
The mean results obtained over the past seven years in
these plant cane experiments are also tabulated, and on the
basis of these returns it is seen that eight seedlings have
done better than the White Transparent. Chief among
these are: B. 208 (average yield 7,560 tb. of sucrose),
B. 156 (7,360 tb.), Sealy Seedling (7.350 hb.), B. 306
(6,950 tb.), and B. 109 (6,680 tb.). White Transparent yielded
6,090 tb. of sucrose per acre.
Judging from their merits as plant eanes, the following
seedlings are recommended for planting at Antigua : Sealy
Seedling, B. 208, B. 156, B. 306, and possibly Bb. 376 and
B. 109. The good results given by VD. 625 in 1906-7 have
not been maintained in 1907-8, and therefore the planting of
this seedling on any considerable scale is not recommended.
The plots from which the plant canes in these experi-
ments are reaped are afterwards cultivated as first ratoons,
since the vigour with which a cane ratoons is an important
factor in judging its usefulness.
Ratoon experiments were carried out at seven stations at
Antigua in 1907-8. On the basis of the mean returns from
all the stations the canes which gave the best yields as
ratoons were : D. 109 (4,370 Tb. of sucrose), Sealy Seedling
(4,360, tb.), B. 306 (4,210 tb.), and Be 147 (4,140 lb.) :
B. 208 gave 3,920 tb. of sucrose per acre and White
Transparent 3,850 Ib. The cane Sealy Seedling came within
the first seven at six stations, while B. 506, B. 109, and
D. 109 were within the first seven canes at five stations. It
will be noticed that seyeral of the canes which are promising
as plant canes also possess merit as ratoons, notably D. 109,
Sealy Seedling, B. 306, and B. 376. Nelatively better results
were given by B. 147 as ratoons than as plant canes.
Combining the information available with regard both
to plants and ratoons, the canes which appear to be best
worth planting at Antigua are : Sealy Seedling for heavy
soils in indifferent tilth ; B. 208 for the best soils in first-
class order; also B. 156, B. 306, and possibly D. 109. In
some districts, principally those with a light well-drained soil,
B. 147 finds favour with planters.
In the season under review, a number of new varieties
of seedling canes which have not yet been introduced into
the general experiments were cultivated at two of. the
Antigua stations. Although it is undesirable at present to
say much regarding the probable usefulness of these canes,
the collection undoubtedly contains some very promising
varieties. The plots will shortly be reaped for the 1909 crop,
and planters are advised to give careful attention to the
results.
When the experiments carried out at St Kitt’s in
1907-8 are considered, it is observed that the yield given by
the plant canes was well up to the average of previous years,
This is interesting in contrast with the case at Antigua.
Taking the mean returns of 1908 alone into considera-
tion, the varieties which did best in the plant cane experi
ments are: B. 254 (8,570 tb. of sucrose per acre), B. 208
(8,430 tb.), D. 109 (7,840 ib.), and D. 116 (7,240 B.).
B. 254 has come within the first seven canes at seven stations,
B, 208 at six stations, while B. 306, D. 109, B. 1,753 and
D. 116 were among the first seven at five stations. It will
be seen that B. 254 has once more sprung into remarkable
prominence among the plant canes as it did in 1905-6. In
1906-7, however, it fell back very considerably, and this
erratic behaviour should cause it to be treated with caution.
It may be mentioned that a new cane—B. 1,753—oceupies
a good position (fifth) on the list, with a yield of 7,180 I.
of sucrose. Tbe return given by White Transparent was
6,360 Ib. of sucrose per acre.
The mean returns obtained in these experiments during
the past eight years testify to the merits of B, 208, D. 116,
D. 74, B. 306, and B. 376 as plant canes. Mont Blane
also shows a good average (7,370 tb. of sucrose) over the
period.
The weather conditions which prevailed at St. Kitt’s in
1907-8 did not appear to be favourable to the growth of
ratoons. Only the hardiest canes ratooned well, and promis-
ing varieties, such as B. 208 and D. 109, occupy quite a low
position on the list On the average returns for the past
seven years, B. 208 (5,840 th. of sucrose), D. 74 (5,800 tb.),
B. 306 (5,680 tb.), D. 95 (5,660 tb.), and D. 116 (5,560 tb.)
have proved most profitable as ratoon canes at St. Kitt’s.
The pamphlet report contains an app2-ndix which shows,
in tabular form, the area occupied by the different varieties of
cane at Antigua and St. Kitt’s. The White Transparent is
still by far the chief cane planted at Antigua, and, for the
plantings to be reaped in 1909, occupies 7,067# acres out of
a total of 9,555? acres. B. 147 comes second on the list——
but far below —-with an area of 699 acres ; then come Sealy
Seedling (575 acres), B. 208 (3342 acres), D. 95 (293 acres),
3ourbon (1074 aeres), B. 306 (76 acres), and D. 109 (59
acres). The areas under B. 147, Sealy Seedling, D. 109,
B. 109, and D. 625 have all been increased since last year.
At St. Kitt’s the position is quite different, seedling canes
occupying nearly two-thirds of the area devoted to the sugar
crop. B. 147 is the seedling chiefly favoured, and this is
planted over 3,276 acres as compared with 2,708 in 1908 E
B. 208 covers 2,074 acres, or 27 acres less than in 1908,
while White Transparent occupies 1,577 acres, as against
2,171 in 1908. B. 109 covers 131 acres; and 123 acres
have-been planted with the seedling D. 116.
68 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 6, 1909.
Lh
iS
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date of February 15, with
reference to the West Indian Sea Island
cotton :—
sales of
A moderate business has been done in West Indian Sea
Island cotton since our Jast report, and prices are steady.
The sales include St. Kitt’s and St. Croix at 13d. to
131d, Barbados at 153d., and St. Vincent at 154d. We are
inclined to the opinion that the pressure of American Sea
Tslands is less urgent, and although, owing to spinners’ large
stocks, we do not expect any active markets for some time
to come, we are inclined to think that prices will remain
steady.
COTTON AT ST. VINCENT.
Mr. W. N Sands, Agricultural Superintendent. of
St. Vincent, has recently made a tour of the island, for
the purpose of inspecting the condition of cotton and
other cultivations. The following are the chief points
in his report :—
It is apparent that the heavy rainfall experienced in
December has done a considerable amount of damage to the
late planted cotton. But, apart from this cause, it is evident
that the yield for this season would have been, on the whole,
a fairly low one. This is due to the facts that a good deal
of impoverisbed land has been planted, and that the labour
supply was, in many cases, deficient.
On one or two estates where the Jand had well
worked and returns of cotton have been
obtained. The December rains have stimulated growth, too,
and the plants give promise of a good second picking.
Crushed cotton-seed was applied as a manure for the
crop On one estate, and has proved satisfactory. On another
plantation the beneficial effects of an extra weeding and
cultivation after the greater part of the first crop of lint had
been gathered, was apparent.
been
manured, good
Planters were already destroying old cotton plants on
some estates, with the object of checking the spread of insect
pests affecting the crop. In most cases the plants were being
disposed of by burning in the fields, as recommended by the
Department of Agriculture, and this is undoubtedly the most
thorough manner of carrying out the work. In one or two
instances, however, the estate owners were using the old
cotton stalks, ete., asa mulch for cacao plantations, being
unwilling to destroy the organic matter by burning. This is
a plan of very doubtful advantage if the plants are much
infested with scale insects, ete.
A method which is certainly not to be recommended has
been observed on one or tiyo estates at St. Vincent. In
these cases the stalks of the plants are taken away to serve as
firewood, while the small branches are left scattered about
the field, and if affected with insect pests, serve asa ready
source of infection for the next crop.
COTTON IN THE SEA
Reports from Charleston indicate little or no
change in the prices of American Sea Island cotton.
For the week ended February 6 last, Messrs. Henry W.
Frost & Co. report sales of 450 bales at Charleston and
637 bales at Savannah. The Charleston
included several plauters’ crop lots of ‘fully fine’ to
‘extra fine’ quahrty. The ‘extra fine’ cotton sold at
from 2Ge. to 30c., and the ‘ fully fine’ at from 25c. to 24e.
On February 13 Messrs. Frost reported :—
ISLANDS.
sales at
Receipts for the past week have been mostly of planters’
crop lots. ‘The sales have been entirely of crop lots of ‘fine?
to ‘extra fine’ quality at 23c. per Ib. and upwards. There
has been considerable enquiry for crop lots of all grades, but
generally at prices below the views of factors who are show-
ing firmness in holding their stock for increased prices.
SEA ISLAND AND EGYPTIAN COTTONS.
A delegation of cotton growers froin Florida lately
waited upon the United States Government to «ask
that an import duty shall be placed on Egyptian cotton
brought into vhe country, as a protection to American
growers of Sea Island cotton, since it 1s asserted that
the native long staple cotton is in danger of being
displaced in certain kinds of manufactures by the
Egyptian variety, The question is discussed at
considerable length in the Cotton Trade Jowrnal,
which, however, does not support the proposal, as
it is unable to see any evidence that there is any
competition between the two kinds of cotton, for which
it claims there are separate and distinct uses.
In the United Kingdom at any rate, where both
cottons have tree entry, each supplies a want which can-—
not be met by the other variety, and it has never been
stated that the Egyptian cottons are being utilized for
purposes of manufacture in which Sea Island cotton
was formerly alone employed. In any case, it may be
pointed out, the matter would not appear to concern
growers in the West Indies, since the type of Sea
Tsland cotton with which the Egyptian lint is stated
to compete is the coarser cottons of Florida and Georgia,
and not the finer, longer staples of the Sea Islands and
the West Indies.
Vou. VIII. No. 179
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 69
ONION CROP AT ANTIGUA.
The following details in regard to plantings of
onions that have been made at Antigua in the present
season have been received from Mr. Thomas Jackson,
Curator of the Botanic Station in that island : —
The area of the present season’s (1908-9) onion crop in
Antigua is about 50 acres ; this area is slightly less than
that planted last year, when 52 acres were grown.
As already reported, onions are grown in this island
mostly as a catch crop previous to planting sugar-cane.
The seed is sown in nursery beds, the soil of which is
well pulverized, and raised from & to 12 inches, the seed
being sown in drills which are from 4 to 8 inches apart.
From these beds the seedlings are transplanted into their
permanent position, which, in most cases, is a cane field in
good tilth.
During the year under review, this crop has suffered very
little from insect attacks. When the seeds were first planted,
some loss was caused by the depredations of ants. It was
found, however, that if a little kerosene oil was, on the first
two or three occasions, added to the water to be applied to
the plants—a wineglass full of kerosene being put to each
gallon of water and thoroughly stirred —these insects kept
away from the seed bed.
As in previous years, the greater part of the seed for
this crop was imported from Teneriffe, through the Imperial
Department of Agriculture. The germination of the seed
was good.
PEN MANURE.
The continuous provision of a suitable supply of
humus is one of the chief problems of tropical agri-
cultnre, since in consequence of the rapidity with
which nitrification proceeds under the prevailing
climatic conditions, the quantity present in the soil at
any given time tends quickly to disappear. The capacity
of a soil to retain moisture depends largely upon the
proportion of humus contained: decaying vegetable
matter, too, lightens heavy soils and imparts cohesion
to sandy soils. Its presence also is a condition without
which bacterial life will not flourish. On most estates
in the West Indies, the supply of pen manure seldom
reaches the quantity which could be utilized with
advantage, and consequently it is a matter of the
utmost importance that the amount available should
be managed in such a way that the most is made out
of it. The fermentation of pen manure and the losses
of fertilizing constituents that frequently oceur from
mismanagement were discussed in a recent number of
this journal (Agricultural News, February 6 last,
p. 47). The following notes, which are taken from
an article on pen mannre lately published in the Porto
Rico Horticultural News are given here, as supple-
menting the information contained in the previous
article :—
The term ‘farm manure’ includes dung from domestic
animals as well as waste materials from the farm. As the
average plantation keeps but few animals, the manure from
this source is of no great importance. But considering that
most soils in the West Indies are greatly benefited by pen
manure, it becomes an important question how to make the
most out of the small amount at hand.
Dung is undigested food, and its content depends largely
on the kind of food consumed by the animal. The manure
from pasture-fed cows is of little more value, as far as the
plant foods, potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen are concerned,
than the guinea grass in the pasture. If cows or horses are
stall-fed, the dung will be more valuable because of the more
concentrated feed, The average composition of such dung in
the West Indies will probably be about 10 th. nitrogen, 5 th.
potash, and 5 tb. of phosphoric acid per ton, which compared
with the market price of plant foods in commercial fertilizers
would be worth $3 to $5. This, however, is not a fair
estimate, because such manure is worth much more than the
actual plant food it contains when applied on the average
soil in the West Indies.
Stable manure is valuable for the humus it contains as
well as for the bacteria it supplies... The cultivated soils lose
humus rapidly in this climate, and with the humus the
bacterial life disappears, which renders the soii inert and
unprofitable for cultivation.
It seems to be well established that there is less loss
when the manure is gathered up every morning, spread over
the land immediately and covered up, than if kept for
some length of time. This, however, is not practical when
there is but a small amount, and it is usually best to keep it
under conditions where it is least exposed to deterioration.
The chief sources of loss are : fermentation, draining,
and leaching. Drainage can best be overcome by ‘using
sufficient bedding in the stalls or the yard to absorb all the
liquids. This bedding may be any absorbent material that
can be obtained cheaply, such as dry grass or leaves.
Leaching cannot well be avoided except the yard is
covered. This it seldom is in the West Indies, but considering
the value of manure and the comfort that it would afford the
animals, it would undoubtedly pay to cover the barn yard.
On large sugar states in some of the West Indian islands
where hundreds of work-oxen are kept, and often fed for
long periods with cane tops and molasses, the manure is
usually left exposed to the sun and rain until it is of very
little value. Ina covered yard where plenty of bedding is
used, the manure should be gathered up every twenty-four
hours and added to the manure heap, which may conveniently
be placed at one end of the yard under cover.
This method eliminates the two sources of loss, but the
third one, fermentation, is still to be guarded against. If
manure contains enough bedding to absorb all the liquids it
will be too dry in the pile, and dry fermentation will take
place. This can be avoided by frequently moistening the
heap with water and packing it down as firm as possible. If
the heap is large enough, it is well to let a few animals in to
tramp it down. In moistening the heap it is almost impossible
to avoid leaching, and it is well to have a tank in the ground
to catch the liquids running off and leaching through the heap,
which can again be returned at the next watering.
Lime should never be used in the manure heap as it
hastens decomposition and liberates nitrogen too fast. Sulphate
of lime or gypsum is very good because it absorbs ammonia.
Snperphosphate is also good, and kainit is an exceptionally
good absorbent. It is therefore a good plan to add about
75 tb. of kainit and superphosphate to each ton of manure
in the heap, which not alone helps to preserve the nitrogen,
but also increases the value of the manure to the extent of
the potash and phosphoric acid content in the ingredients
added, thereby making a mixture much more suited to the
requirements of the average crop,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Marcu 6, 1909.
RF
iy
BUDDING ,THE MANGO.
Seedling mangos, as is well known, can seldom be
relied upon for the production of fruit, as the produce
is almost sure to be of inferior quality. Even if the
parent tree be of a superior variety, seedlings are likely
to revert to the original species. Resort must there-
fore be had to propagation by veyetative means if the
best mangos are to be perpetnated.
In the West Indies the method known as ‘ grafting by
approach ’ is practically the only method that has so far been
adopted for multiplying superior kinds of the fruit. This
method, however, is not so satisfactory as it night be, more
especially when a large number of young trees are required,
since it is slow and elaborate, and involves the erection of an
unsightly structure, laden with pots, around the tree from
which the graftings are to be made.
In Queensland and also in the United States,
‘budding’ or ‘ bud-grafting’ has of late years been
adopted with great success in the propagation of the
mango. This system is much more rapid than that of
grafting by approach. It has already been deseribed in
an early number of the Agricultural News (Vol. III,
No. 62), but in view of recent enquiries, and of the
fact that the number in question is out of print, it has
been thought desirable to again refer to the subject.
The method is described in Bulletin No. 46 otf the
Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agri-
culture, from which the following details have been
abstracted :—
Seedlings of two or three years old, and which have stems
at least an inch in thickness, may most suitably be used as
stocks on which to bud the mango In young trees at this
stage of growth, both wood and bark are thoroughly ripe,
and union of the scion with the stock will easily be accom-
plished if insertion of the buds is performed carefully.
A method of budding which has proved most satisfactory is
shown in Fig. 9; this consists in removing a rectangular
piece of bark from the stock, and inserting another piece —
taken from a branch of a desirable variety of mango. This
latter piece of bark will be similar in shape to that removed,
but a trifle larger in size, and will have a bud in the centre.
As the results of experiments carried out in the United
States, it has been found that branches of very young growth
(less than a year old) are unsatisfactory for providing bud-
wood, This should be selected from wood old enough to
have lost its which means that bud-wood will
frequently be over two years old. The use of bark of this
foliage,
INDIAN. FRUIT.
age, and even older, ensures suecess in budding the mango,
as it unites rapidly with bark uf a similar age on seedling
stocks or on branches of trees. Precision in removing the
section of bark from the stock, and also from the variety to
be propagated, are factors upon which success depends to
a certain extent.
When the section of bark from the bud-wood has been
4
LECTANGULAR
blk lsr
BubDING THE
Parco Merruop or
BGs Os a
MANGo.
properly fitted in place, a small quantity of grafting wax
should be smeared over the edges of contact, and the bark
then tied firmly with thick strands of bast as shown at
C. (Fig. 9). After this, the ent surfaces, and all but the bud,
should be covered with strips of cloth dipped in melted
paraffin, as a further preventive agvinst the admission of air
and moisture between the cut surfaces of stock and scion.
If there is undue exposure to the sun, shade should be
provided by means of strips of paper tied over the bud, and
extending down over it. ;
At the end of a fortnight from budding, the stock may
be examined to ascertain the progress that has been made.
The cloth wrappings may be removed, and the raftia loosened
if there is danger of its cutting into the bark. When a sufti-
cient time has elapsed to make certain that union has taken
place, part of the top of the stock should be removed, in
order to encourage the bud to start. This it will do with
very little coaxing.
Budding may be performed at any time during the
crowing season, bet with every plant there are certain periods
when the operation will be more successful than at others.
Vou VLLE No: 179: THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 71
These periods are indicated by the growths or ‘flushes ’ being
about half developed. At these times the bark peels from
the wood more readily than when the growths are of firmer
texture.
Another method of attaching the bud, known as ‘shield
budding,’ and which varies slightly in the details from the
Hiss ee
Fic, 10. Mrrnop or MANGO USED IN
BUDDING
THE
FLORIDA.
process described above, has been practised for some years in
Florida with encouraging success. This method is shown in
Fig. 10. The bud section differs from the rectangular-shaped
piece of bark in that one end of it is pointed instead of being
cut straight across, which makes it possible to push the bark
of the scion down tight against the bark of the stock; the
top part is then cut off square with the transverse ent in
the bark of the stock, and is pressed firmly into position,
previous to tying and waxing in the usual way.
It is desirable that these methods shonld be
experimented with freely in the West Indies in order
to ascertain what conditions determine success. It
will be remembered that the budding of oranges, now
a routine operation at many Botanic Stations in the
West Indies, was thought at one time to be an opera-
tion of extraordinary difficulty in these parts, and one
of doubtful utility.
INFLUENCE OF LIME ON PLANT FOOD
IN TH# SOIL.
Attempts to investigate the effect of applications
of lime upon the availability of plant food constituents
in the soil have lately been made both in New South
Wales and in the Hawanan Islands. The results of
the experiments are summarized in the Kerperiment
Station Record for October last.
Trials were carried out in triplicate—on light sandy soil,
on garden loam, and on very stiff clay respectively. The
amounts of phosphoric acid and potash in these soils which
were soluble in water, and also the amounts soluble in 1-per
cent, citric acid were first determined. The nitrates and
nitrites present were also estimated. The soils were then
treated with moderate applications of freshly slaked lime,
and one month later, the determinations of available phos-
phoric acid and potash were again made in the same way.
As a result, it was seen that the water-soluble phosphoric
acid decreased during the experiment in all three soils, and
on the clay soil the amount of potash present also showed
a decline after liming. The total amount of water-soluble plant
food, however, was larger in the limed than in the unlimed
soils, but only in sandy soil did liming increase the propor-
tion of water-soluble phosphoric acid and potash over that
originally present in the soil. There was little change in
the amounts of phosphoric acid and potash soluble in 1-per
cent. citric acid one month after liming as compared with
the quantities soluble before lime was applied.
The examination of the soils after a period of eight
months with reference to the changes in the nitrogen content
showed a large increase in the proportion of nitrites in the
soil that had been limed. The total nitrogen—as nitrite and
nitrate—increased in all cases, although the nitrate nitrogen
remained almost stationary except in the clay soil. The fact
that there was no loss of the very soluble nitrates and nitrites
is taken to indicate that the decrease of water-soluble potash
and phosphoric acid, after the application of lime, was not
due to percolation through the walls of the pots in which the
experiments were carried out, so much as to conversion into
less soluble forms.
CACAO CULTIVATION IN CUBA.
A statement on the subject of cacao cultivation in
Cuba was published in the West India Committee
Circular of January 5 last, this having been prepared
by His Majesty’s Minister in the island (Mr. A. C.
Grant Duff) at the request of the Grenada Agricultural
and Commercial Society, through the Foreign Office.
It appears that cacao cultivation increased considerably
in Cuba during 1907-8. In this latter year there were 1,137
cacao plantations with 1,960,246 trees, as compared with
745 plantations with 1,860,506 trees in 1906-7. Owing to
drought, however, the output diminished from 9,380,900 Tb,
of cacao in 1906-7 to 6,023,700 tb. in 1907-8.
Cacao is cultivated in the provinces of Santa Clara,
Camaguey, and Oriente. Out of the total of 745 plantations
existing in 1906-7, no less than 714 were established in
Oriente province, these containing 1,829,566 trees out of the
above-mentioned total.
During the last six months of 1907, cacao was exported
from Cuba to the extent of 3,286,730 tb. worth £95,520.
Over half of this quantity went to the United States ; France
took 983,759 tb., Spain 277,346 th., and Germany 241,206 hb.
None appears to have been shipped to Great Britain.
The exports of cacao to the United Kingdom from Cuba have
in fact steadily diminished, the amount having been 269,808 Ib.
in 1903,,. 207,427 tb. in 1904, 119,735 tb. in 1905, and
81,097 tb. in 1906.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture returned
to Barbados from Grenada by the R.M.S. ‘Esk’ on
February 23 last.
Mr. R. D. Anstead, B.A., who has held the post of
Superintendent of Agriculture at Grenada since
May 1905, proceeded to England by the R.MS. ‘ Nile”
on February 28 last, preparatory to taking up the duties
ot his new appointment in the Indian Agricultural
Service.
~
bo
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS Marcu 6, 1909
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Agents, and not to
the Department.
Locul 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
Qs. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Hews
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY, MARCH 6,
190955 Nowe lend:
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The functions of Departments of Agriculture are
discussed in the editorial.
A summary of the results of experiments with
seedling and other varieties of sugar-cane carried out at
Antigua and St. Kitt’s during 1907-8 will be found on
page 67.
Speaking generally, the cotton yield of St. Vincent
for this season is expected to be somewhat low (page
68). Useful notes on the value and management of
pen-manure appear on page 69.
The method of‘ bud-grafting ’ is now recognized
as the most up-to-date and rapid means of propagating
the mango. This method is described, with illustra-
tions, on page 70,
Machines for drying cacao by artificial means
appear to be growing in popularity in the West Indies
{page 73).
Attention is drawn to the interesting report
‘Some Parasites of the Cotton Worm’ which appears
on pages 74-5.
Agricultural exports from Tobago reached a record
figure in 1907-8 (page 77). A successful Agricultural
Show was lately held at Nevis (page 78).
The Talipot Palm: A Correction.
An illustration showing two specimens of the
interesting Talipot palm at Dominica was given in the
Agricultural News of February 6 last, and, through an
error, it was stated that the trees in question. were to
be seen at the Botanic Station of the island. It is
desired to puint out, however, that the palms shown in
the picture are growing at the St. Aroment estate of
Dr. H. A. Alford Nicholls, and it may be added that
the photograph from which the block was prepared
was taken by Mr. Skinner, Head-master of the Dominica
Grammar School.
Several fine specimens of the Talipot palm exist
at the Dominica Botanic Station, but none have yet
flowered, and are not expected to do so for several
years.
> eee
Velvet Bean Crop.
Very favourable reports on the results of cultivating
the velvet bean (Mucuna utilis) for green dressing
purposes, and as a forage crop for cattle, come from
South Africa, more particularly from Rhodesia. In the
South African colomes the crup is stated to have been
grown with yreab success fur Some years past: it has
given good results even on dry lands, and does not
appear to suffer much trom drought. A light sandy
soil is best suited to the velvet bean, and on this it
grows so thickly, and forms such a large mass of vegeta-
tion, that all weeds are choked out. Being a leguminous
crop, this plant is naturally of high value for improv-
ing the soil. In experiments carried vut at Barbados
in 1900, the velvet bean came second out of thirty
varieties of leguminous plants tested for the weight of
produce yielded. In from two to three months a crop
of vines was produced, the weight of which amounted
to 12,343 tb. per acre. The velvet bean is largely
grown as a cover crop in orange orchards in Florida.
——EED eee
Reafforestation.
Although the increasing shortage of timber has
been apparent in the United Kingdom, as in other
countries, for many years past, the matter has attracted
but little attention, A noteworthy report on the subject
however, has just been issued by the late Royal Com-
mission on Coast Erosion and Afforestation. The
Commissioners point out that in the United Kingdom
there are about 9,000,000 acres suitable for atforesta-
tion, and they suggest that about 150,000 acres should
be planted up annually. The return obtained in course
of time would be sufficient ty repay both capital and
accumulated interest.
The West India Committee Circular expresses
a hope that the above report may !vad to consideration
of the subject of forestry in the West Indies, and that
the planting of hatélivood timbers on an increased scale
may result. In common with many other countries,
the forest resources.ef these islands have been exploited
too recklessly in the past, but tnis is additional reason
why continuous effort should be made to repair the
damage and prevent further destruction. The several
colonies would benefit not only from a pecuniary, but
also from a climatie point of view.
DVou. VEE Nom 179:
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 73
Starch Manufacture from Sweet Potatos.
The South Carolina Experiment Station has
issued a pamphlet (Bulletin 176) describing investiga-
tions undertaken to determine how much starch could
be recovered commercially from sweet potatos, and to
‘test the quality of the product for the different uses to
which starch is put. The discussion includes an
account of the method of culture, analysis of sweet
potatos, and the system of manufacturing starch from
the tubers, together with other data, Investigations
that have been in progress during the past two years
in manufacturing starch from sweet potatos are des-
«cribed, and also the tests that have been made to
-determine the suitability of the starch for utilization
on a commercial scale in laundry work and the cotton
textile industries. These appear to be very satisfactory
cand the starch produced is undoubtedly of a high grade.
ae
Rice Cultivation in Trinidad.
Rice growing appears to be on the increase in
"Trinidad, and it may possibly happen in the future that
the home production will suffice for the needs of the
colony. The chief Ward Unions in which the cultivation
is carried on are those of Naparima, and of Tacarigua
and Blanchisseuse. Rice production in Naparima has
-shown large increase in the past three years: 5.400
barrels (each of 160 tb.) were produced in 1905-6, 9,120
barrels in 1906 7, and in the year 1907-8 an area of
2,600 acres was planted with the crop, which yielded
13,000 barrels. of an estimated value of £8,666.
In the Tacarigua and Blanchisseuse Ward Union,
it is estimated by the Warden that the quantity of rice
grown may be placed at 1,235,400 tb., of the value of
£7,721 5s., and there is every probability of a consider-
-able extension of the area under cultivation.
Rice is also grown in smaller quantities in nearly
-all parts of the island.
OEE eee
Fruit Drying.
Increasing attention is being devoted in South
Australia to fruit production, and to the best methods
of placing the products on the market both in a fresh
and ina dried state. The Journal of Agriculture
published in the colony recently contained an article in
which the system of fruit drying practised in California,
where this practice has developed to.a high degree of
perfection, was described at some length. ‘The fresh
fruit is first fumigated by means of sulphur, then
spread on trays and exposed to the sun till dry. As
the weather conditions may become unfavourable,
however, the larger drying grounds are also provided
with elaborate drying plant, so arranged that the fruit
shall be exposed to a gradually increasing temperature.
The tray of fruit is placed ina gently sloping tunnel,
upon which a stream of hot air from a furnace passes,
and is gradually pushed downwards nearer the source
of heat, as fresh trays are being put on behind. This
slow drying is found to give much better results, and
ito yield a finer product than more rapid drying would do.
Destruction of Old Cotton at Montserrat.
In the course of the discussion that has lately
taken place at St. Croix as to the proposed establish-
ment of a ‘closed’ season for cotton, when no plants
either old or young would be found in the island,
the step that has been taken at Montserrat was
instanced and referred to on more than one occasion.
No legislation has been passed in the latter island for
the purpose of compelling planters to destroy their old
cotton by a certain date, although in view of the damage
caused by the leaf-blister mite and the cotton worm,
a large and representative meeting of cotton growers
passed a strong resolution about the time of the
planting season in 1907, urging the Government
to adopt such a measure, and suggesting that the
date of destruction should be fixed at a meeting of
cotton growers held in March of each year,
No definite official action resulted, however,
and growers realizing the importance of the question,
and working together with the officers of the Depart-
ment of Agricuiture, arranged «matters for themseives.
At the conclusion of the second picking, both estate
owners and peasant holders destroy, by burning, all
the cotton plants on their land. As a result of
this system of working, the highest average return of
cotton yielded in any portion of the West Indies
during the 1907-8 season was obtained at Montserrat.
rT
Artificial Drying of Cacao.
Cacao drying by artificial means, in preference io
exposing it to the sun, is being gradually adopted in
parts of the West Indies, notably in Trinidad and
Grenada, Gordon drying machines are reported to
have become very popular at Grenada; there are now
eight in the island, and the Agricultural Superin-
tendent mentions that five more are on order.
The Gordon machine consists primarily of a large
cylinder, arranged to revolve, and divided by plates
extending the whole length of the cylinder, parallel to
the axis, and at right angles to each other, into four
sectional compartments. Each compartment has a sepa-
rate door for filling and emptying. By means of
a fan anda heating apparatus, a current of hot air is
driven through the cylinder, which contains pipes
perforated with holes, by means of which hot air is led
through the cacao as the machine revolves. ‘The air,
laden with moisture, escapes through perforations in
the casing of the cylinder.
These machines are made in six sizes, and take
charges of from 500 tb. to 10,000 tb. of moist cacao.
A fourth part of the cacao to be dried is placed in each
compartment of the cylinder. The smallest machine
(capacity 500 tb.) is suitable for small estates, and can
be worked by hand, while the larger sizes must be
operated by animal or steam power. When steam
power is used, the exhaust steam can be utilized for
heating purposes.
It will be seen that the great advantage of these
machines is that by their use planters are rendered
independent of weather conditions in the cacao-drying
season.
74 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 6, 1909-
SE
=i
/ AWN
Hf) Ni
INSECT NOTES.
Fertilizers as Insecticides.
In the Insect Notes in the last number of the
Agricultural News (Vol. VIII, No. 178), mention was
made of the experiments started at Antigua by the
Entomologist on the statf ot the Imperial Department
of Agriculture to devise means of control for the
flower-bud maggot of cotton.
These experiments include the use of commercial manures,
and it is stated that ‘in combating insects closely related
to the flower-bud maggot it has been found that applications
of mineral fertilizers have had a decidedly beneficial effect,
not only from their usefulness as manures, but from the etfect
of the mineral salts in solution in the soil.’
It will, perhaps, be remembered by readers of the
Agricultural News that this flower-bud maggot of cotton
leaves the flower buds, either before they fall or immediately
after, and enters the soil, where the period of pupation is
passed, This is the only time in the whole life cycle of this
insect when it exposes itself to remedial measures.
The adult insect cannot be dealt with ; the ege and
the larval stages are passed inside the plant tissue, and so
the pupal period of ten to fourteen days offers the only
opportunity for reaching the insect with insecticides.
Vaporite is employed in the hope that the fumes or gases
given off in the soil may be sufficient to cause the death
of the insect while in the condition of a pupa. In like
manner commercial manures such as nitrate of soda, sulphate
of ammonia, sulphate of potash, superphosphate, Vi-phosphate,
and salt are used in the hope that the solution of these
various substances may kill by contact the pupating insect.
Some Parasites of the Cotton Worm.
Mr. Thornton, A.R.C.S., of Old Grange, Tobago,
who was lately connected with the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture for the West Indies, recently sent to
the Head Oftice of the Department two boxes contain-
ing insects which he had noticed to be parasitic on the
cotton worm. These insects were studied and reported
upon by Mr. Jemmett, and the following account is
based on his report.
The boxes, on being opened, were found to contain,
besides the larvae and pupae of the cotton worm, a number
of flies belonging to the Sarcophagidae (flesh flies), and two
species of Hymenoptera, of which one was identified as
Chalets ovata, Say, and the other as a species of the genus
Spirochalcis. Most of the unhatched cotton worm pupae had
Sarcophagid cocoons lying against them. These cocoons are
quite conspicuous, being small, brown, barrel-shaped objects.
The Hymenopterous parasites had pupated inside the cotton
worm and of course could not be observed. Chaleds ovata
has long been known to be a parasite of the cotton worm,
It is a small, black insect, marked with yellow. It has four
wings, with one conspicuous vein in each of the front wings ;
in length the insect varies from 3 to 6 mm. (4 to j-inch). Its
chief character, however, is found in the hind femora which
are enormously swollen. The femora are tipped with yellow,
the tibiae are yellow at each end, and the tegulae—two small
cup-like scales at the base of front wings—are also yellow.
These insects were kept in a breeding cage with larvae
and pupae of the cotton worm, and they were soon to be seen
crawling about the cotton leaves, seeking for the host in
Fie. 11. Chaleis ovata (greatly enlarged). From Cireular
No. 97 ; Bureau of Entomology, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
which to lay their eggs. They were never observed to attack
larvae, but could be seen attacking some of the pupae, crawling
on them, and sharply inserting their ovipositors into the vic-
tims, in spite of the struggles of the latter. All the cottom
worm pupae which were put into the cage emerged in a few
days as moths. The younger pupae, Le., those formed
by the larvae which had pupated in the cage, were all para-
sitized, and from these, twelve days later, emerged, not moths,
but the Chalcidae. From this it appears that it is only the
young pupae which are attacked by the parasite.
This insect has been observed in cotton fields at Barba-
dos ; most likely, it is present in all the cotton-growing West
Indian islands, and probably exerts a considerable influence
in lessening the numbers of this pest.
No record could be found of the other Hymenopterous
insect which is referred to in these notes asa Sprrochalcis.
This insect is of slighter build than the last mentioned one ;
it is yellow in colour, and has a shining or polished appear-
ance. The abdomen, which is small and pointed, is attached
to the thorax by a distinct stalk. The hind femora are
swollen, as is the case with Chaleis ovata, and the wings and
venation are also similar.
These insects were placed in a cage with cotton worm
larvae and pupae, but they took no notice of these latter,
remaining on the sides of the cage. A few days later, how-
ever, one was observed emerging from one of the Sarcophagid
cocoons previously mentioned, and later several more of these
cocoons were found to have Spirochaleis inside them. This
insect then is shown to be a parasite on the Sarcophagid
flies; that is to say, it isan example of the secondary parasites”
which were discussed in the Agricultural News, Vol. VIIT,
No. 177, under the heading ‘Some Beneficial Insects.” The
Sarcophagidae are generally recognized as being parasitic in
habit, though it is still not quite settled as to whether they
will attack healthy pupae, or only those which have already
been damaged in some way. In order to find out the habit of
these insects, some Sarcophagid flies were put into a third
Vou, VIE Nox: THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 7
ou
t
age with some healthy cotton worm larvae and pupae, and
into the same cage were put specimens of Spirochalcis, with
the idea that if the Sarcophagidae attacked the cotton worm
pupae, the Sprrochalcis would, in turn, attack the Sarcopha-
As the Sarecophagid flies did not attack the
cotton wornis, there were no positive results from the experi-
ments. This trial, however, seems to strengthen the belief
that the Sarcophagid flies only attack pupae which are
already damaged. On the other hand, it is difficult to under-
stand how it happens that so many pupae get damaged, as to
account for the large number of Sarcophagid cocoons which
are found on them.
gid cocouns.
Experiments with a Sarcophagid fly (Sarcophaya trivit-
tata) were made at the laboratory of the Imperial
Department of Agriculture some time ago, as follows :
Pupae of the cotton worm were collected in the field and put
Fie. 12.
A SarcopHacrp Fry.
(Sarcophaga saraceiia.)
Actual length indicated by hair line. Redrawn, after Wash-
bum, from Williston’s Manual of N. A. Diptera, p. 348.
into a box covered with muslin. Four days later there were
136 moths in the box. These were put into a large glass jar,
which was also covered with muslin. Thirteen days after the
moths were put into the jar, five flies (Sarcophaga trivittata)
also appeared in the jar. The eggs from which these flies
developed must have been deposited on or in the larvae or
pupae of the cotton worm in the field, and these latter were
not sufficiently injured to prevent their completing their life
cycle and emerging as moths. It seems more likely that, in
this case, the parent flies attacked the healthy cotton worm
larvae or pupae, and that in spite of the effect of this attack,
the latter were able to complete their development.
Further information in regard to the parasites of
the cotton worm and other pests attacking agricultural
crops is most desirable. Readers of the Agricultural
News are asked to be on the look out for parasitic and
predaceous insects of all kinds. The Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture will always be glad to have
observations and specimens from anyone who will send
them in. Directions for collecting and forwarding
specimens of this sort will appear in the Agricultural
News in the near future.
RECIPE FOR WHITEWASH.
The Journal ofthe Jamaica Agricultural Society
gives the following recipe for preparing a whitewash,
which it describes as ‘one that will not rub off’:—
A first-class whitewash is made by dissolving 2 tb. of
ordinary glue in 7 pints of water and when all is dissolved,
adding 6 oz. of bichromate of potassium, dissolved in
a pint of hot water. Stir the mixture up well, and then add
sufficient whiting to make it up to the usual consistency, and
apply with a brush in the ordinary manner as quickly as
possible. This dries in a very short time, and by the action
of light becomes converted into a perfectly insoluble water-
proof substance which does not wash off even with hot water,
and at the same time does not give rise to mould growth, as
whitewash made up with size often does. It may be coloured
to any desirable shade hy the use of a trace of any aniline
dye or powdered colouring, while by the addition of a small
proportion of calcium sulphite, its antiseptic power is much
increased,
SOME NOTES ON CALCIUM CYANAMIDE.
The method of manufacturing calclum cyanamide,
a new nitrogenous manure, the nitrogen of which
is derived directly from the air, was described in the
Agricultural News of December 12 last (page 398).
Tn this connexion it is interesting to note some experi-
mental work lately carried out by two French investi-
gators with this manure, and reported on in the
Annales de VInstitut Nationale Agronomique.
Before calcium cyanamide can be utilized by plants, it
is first transformed into ammonia, and then into nitrate of
soda. These changes, wider favourable circumstances, are
fairly rapidly effected by means of soil bacteria. Nitrifica-
tion is especially rapid when the manure is applied only in
small quantities at once. Very large quantities of the
cyanamide applied at one time, appear to paralyse the activi-
ties of the nitrifying bacteria, with the result that trans-
formation into nitrate of soda is considerably delayed.
Experiments carried out by the French investigators men-
tioned, showed that the retarding action was due to the influ-
ence of the cyanainide itself rather than to the caustic lime
which accompanies it, and further, that although the manure
should always be used with prudence, yet soils rich in organic
matter can advantageously take up more of the manure than
soils deficient in this constituent. The toxic effect which the
manure undoubtedly exercises on the living organisms of the
soil when used in large amount is reduced to a negligible
quantity when employed in moderate doses.
Nitrogen does not appear to be readily lost from
cyanamide on storage. When kept in sacks, and stored in
a dry place, there was scarcely any loss. When the cyana-
mide was mixed with kainit, there was no loss even after
forty-two days. With superphosphate it was otherwise, and
a loss of 5 per cent. was discovered. It would therefore seem
necessary to avoid making a mixture with this manure.
The paper in question contains details of a large number
of manurial experiments carried out with various crops, such
as wheat, oats, maize, pasture grass, vines, etc. From the
results of these trials, the conclusion is drawn that calcium
cyanamide is similar in effect to an equivalent amount of
sulphate of ammonia. A normal quantity of the manure to
apply per acre would be about 200 tb. This may be given
either before, or at the time of sowing.
THE
or)
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 6, 1909.
Jt should be mentioned that the samples of Dominica
lime juice, of which a report on the quality and value was
summarized in the Agricu/tural News of February 6 last
{p. 41), were forwarded to England from St. Aroment
estate, the property of Dr. H. A. Alford Nicholls.
The Canadian Trade and Commerce returns show that
the imports made from Barbados by the Dominion increased
in value from $980,190 in 1904 to $1,552,428 in 1907.
During the same period the value of the exports from Canada
to Barbados increased from $335,313 to $496,122.
The Board of Agriculture and the Agricultural Society
of Jamaica, acting in accordance with suggestions from
the Government, have appointed a committee to consider the
question as to what steps (if any) should be taken to
encourage cotton growing in the island, more especially
among small settlers,
With the object of improving the efticiency of the
agricultural teaching given to boys’ classes at Trinidad, it
has been arranged that Mr. H. A. Nurse, one of the Agri-
cultural Instructors, shall in future be solely engaged in
giving agricultural instruction in the various schools of the
colony.
Cane reaping operations were commenced in the Carib
Country of St. Vincent during the last week in January.
The land in question, which includes many fertile estates,
has been practically abandoned since the volcanic eruptions
of 1902, and this is the first sugar crop that has been
obtained for seven years past, (St. Vincent Times.)
A note in the Agreu/tural Bulletin of the Federated
Malay States suggests that a profitable use may possibly be
found for cocoanut shells by exporting them to Europe for
button manufacture. It is mentioned that natives in the
Malay States make buttons from the shells, and these
command a good sale locally.
Lately issued statistics place the total production of
sulphate of ammonia for the whole world in 1907 at 845,000
metric tons [1 metric ton = 2,200 bb. ], valued at $50,700,000.
Of this, England produced 361,000 tons, and the United
States 36,000 tons. The production in Germany has
increased from 55,000 tons in 1896, to 287,000 tons in 1907,
In the latest report of the Woburn Experimental Fruit
Farm, England, it is stated that arsenate of lead has proved
a very satisfactory insecticide on fruit trees, though scorching
of the leaves occurred in some cases unless great care was
exercised in spraying. Calcium arsenate was also tried, and
gave results almost as good as those etfected by the lead salt,
and at smaller expense.
A great decrease in the number of sugar factories In
France has been noticeable for many years past. Thirty
years ago there were 535 factories in working ; these have
successively declined to 375 in 1888, 292 in 1906, and 255
in 1907, the lowest total for fifty years. The decrease is
attributable in a great measure to the transformation of
refineries into distilleries, the production of alcohol being
more remunerative than that of sugar. (London Standard.)
An entomologist (Mr. Muir), sent to the Malay States
by the Hawaiian : Agricultural Experiment Station has-
discovered predaceous beetles feeding on sugar-cane borers in.
those States. These have been successfully shipped through:
the half-way station established at Hong Kong, and received
at Honolulu in good condition. Certain of the beetles have-
been liberated in districts of Hawaii where cane borers are-
abundant. (Annawel Report, 1907-8.)
The fluctuations in the price of rubber that occurred
during the year 1908 are described by the India Rubber
Journal as having constituted a record. In January 1908,
the market price of fine hard Para rubber was 3s. 2d. per Ib.,
but declined in February to 2s. 9d. per tb., the lowest figure-
reached in the year. The highest price of the year—5s, 44d.
per lb. for fine hard Para was reached in November, and at
the close of the year the price stood at 5s. 2d. per tb,
Probably the smallest sheep in the world are those of
a breed which is found in the Cameroon region of West
Africa. A specimen lately sent to the Natural History
Department of the British Museum is described as being only
19 inches high, though an adult ram. . It had stout horns-
about 14 inches long, and the coat consisted of coarse hair
about 1 inch long, with no trace of wool.
of the animal was chestnut-red.
The general colour
In connexion with the note on cane farming in Trinidad,
and the price of farmers’ canes that appeared in the
Agricultural News of February 6 last (page 35), it may be
mentioned that estate owners in the south of the island have
agreed to pay a mmimum price of 9s. per ton for all farmer-
grown canes purchased. This step, if adhered to, is expected
to have a stimulating effect on the cane-farming industry.
(Port of Spain Gaz tte.)
The latest report of the Warden, Naparima Union,
Trinidad, makes reference to rubber planting on Sir Edward
Tennant’s estate in the Pointe-a-Pierre district. The area
planted with rubber contains 18,000 Castilloa trees, and
experimental plantings of Hevea and Funtumia trees are also
being made. About forty trees, of seven years old, were
tapped in August last, and yielded 4 tb. of dried rubber, or
an average of about 1} oz. per tree, which is considered a fair
result.
In reference tothe value of stirring the surface of the
soil in dry weather to provide a dust mulch, the American
experimenter, King, states that he found that 6°24 tons of
water a day were evaporated from | acre of unstirred soil,
while when the surface was raked or harrowed to a depth of
0-8 inch, only 4°52 tons of water were evaporated. Again,
it was observed that a mulch of dry clay loam spread on the
surface to a depth of O°8 inch, saved nearly 4 tons of water
per day.
Vor, Vil Nor 179!
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 17
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes.
Marcu.
Ist Forrnicnr.
Students should make a study of the questions
raised in the last issue of the Agricultural News
~¢p. 57) in regard to mulching land with cane trash,
and its effect on soil moisture. The subject should be
carefully considered in its various aspects, and might
with advantage be discussed with experienced planters
or in the local Agricultural Society. Observations
should also be made in the field and experiments carried
out.
Cotton picking will soon cease in most places. The
reasons for advocating a close season for cotton should
be carefully considered and discussed. It will be
interestiug to search tor parasites on caterpillars and
pupae, and upon the black scale before the crop 1s
destroyed.
Students in cacao-growing districts should make
an effort to find out the reasons for fermenting cacao:
learn also to ascertain when cacao is properly fermented.
Pruning of lime trees may still be carried on.
Dead wood, together with all suckers growing in the
middle of the trees should be removed and carefully
barned. Now is the time to thoroughly mulch the
soil with green manure, or with grass, leaves, bush, ete.
A useful purpose would be served by making a list
of the varieties of sweet potatos grown in any given
- district with notes as to characters and quality.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS,
(1) What advantages are to be gained by mulching,
and what kind of mulches can be used ?
(2) Write a short story of the manner in which
a Plant obtains its nitrogen. What changes do the nitro-
senous constituents of pen manure, sulphate of ammonia, and
nitrate of soda undergo before the plant can absorb them ?
(3) What becomes of the water which a plant absorbs
by its roots !
INTERMEDIATE
(1) What is the best method of dealing with the trash
- on a field of young ratoon canes ?
(2) Describe the insects known as (a) ‘ lady-birds ’
and (4) ‘ lace-wing flies.” What useful purpose do they
serve /
(3) How is the cacao bean fermented and dried ? What
is the object of the various operations /
QUESTIONS,
(N.B. In No 2 of the * Intermediate Questions ’
issue for * cacao pod stems ” read * cacao pod shells. ’)
of last
The scheme of reading courses and examinations in
agriculture lately established by the Imperial Department. of
Agriculture has now been adopted in the Leeward and
Windward Islands, and at Barbados. The first’ Preliminary
- examination was recently held in the Leeward Islands,
but in the other colonies no examination will take place
~ until about September next.
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
Messrs. Sanbach, Parker & Co., of Georgetown,
issued the following report as to the conditions of the
rice industry in British Guiana during the fortnight
ended February 19 last :—
The weather during the fortnight has been too wet for
milling, but suitable for planting and growing rice crop.
Three or four days of heavy rains have been experienced, and
several light showers daily. Very small quantities of cleaned
rice have been received in town, and the market is almost
bare of stock.
Prices have increased slightly, owing ‘to the increased
demand both locally and from the West India islands.
Several small sales have been made for export, and enquiries
continue to come in from all sides. Unless the weather is
very much drier during the next few weeks higher prices are
sure to prevail, as it is impossible for the small millers to
clean their paddy under present weather conditions, and only
very small quantities of rice will be received in town.
Shipments to the West Indian islands during the fort-
night amount to about 3,000 bags, the bulk of it going to
Trinidad.
Rice of good export quality may be quoted at 19s. 6d.
to 19s. 9d. per bag of 183 ib. gross, f.0.b. Demerara.
en ee ee —
AGRICULTURE AND LIVE STOCK AT
TOBAGO.
The past year was unusually dry, especially in the
southern portiou of the island, the rainfall at the Botanie
Station being a trifle under 63 inches and that at the Stock
Farm 52. In the northern portion it exceeded 100 inches.
As will be seen, however, from the following return of
produce exported, it was also a record year, the value of the
exports amounting to £43,227 9s. 1d., an increase of nearly
£15,000 over the previous year. A portion of this increase
was no doubt due to the high price of cacao, but there was
also a marked increase in the quantity of produce shipped—
3,857 bags of cacao against 2,642 in 1906-7 ; nearly 100 tons
of copra against 25 ; 12,000 gallons of cocoa-nut oil against
10,746 ; 210 tons of sugar against 170; 1,636 tb. of rubber
against 1,180; 3,867 Ib. tobacco against 2,714; and 450
tons of vegetables, including fruit, corm, and peas, against 380.
There was a slight decrease in cotton, but now that the
gin has been established, and a larger area planted under
cultivation, an equal increase in quantity may be expected,
Both the Botanic Station and the Stock Farm are doing
good work — the former in the sale and distribution of plants
and in its experiment plots, while the grounds, being in
excellent order, form a favourite place of resort, especially on
Sunday afternoons ; and the latter in improving the breed of
stock, there being a steady increase in the number of applica-
tions for service from the donkey, bulls, and boar. The
stallion, which died the previous year, was replaced in August
by an imported hackney pony which ought to give a good
type of horse for the island, and there is also a fair set of
poultry. What scope there is for improving the breed of
stock is shown by the returns, for during the year there
were exported 528 cattle, 119 sheep, 2,074 pigs, 1,051
goats, 109 horses, in addition to 1,426 dozen fowls, and
2,332 dozen eggs,
“7
io
AGRICULTURAL SHOW AT NEVIS.
The Agricultural Show held at St. Kitt’s on
January 28 last was a fairly successful one, and although
in some classes the exhibits were not so numerous as
in previous years, the quality ou all hands showed
distinct improvement. The total number of exhibits
ou show was 468, of which no less than 132 were in
Class I (Live Stock).
After a few introductory remarks by the Hon. C. A.
Shand, Chairman of the Nevi8 Agricultural and Commercial
Society, the Show was opened by his Honour the Administra-
tor of St. Kitt’s-Nevis, who gave an interesting address,
Mr. Roxburgh referred to thé high quality of many of the
exhibits. The live stock showed much improvement in
comparison with past years, and there were some really fine
animals present. His Honour also mentioned that the vege-
tables, fruit, and preserves were, in quite a number of
instances, remarkable for their excellence. In conclusion he
expressed the thanks of all to Mr. Shand, who had expended
so much time and energy to make the Show a success.
The best classes at the Show were those for Live Stock
and for Vegetables. The former class included no less than
thirteen foals, the progeny of the stud horse ‘ Norman,’ and
six young mules the offspring of the Jack donkey * Bismarck ’
both the property of the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture, and which were in thé past located at Nevis. These
animals, in all cases, were a credit to their respective sires.
The prize for the best animal at the Show was awarded to
a mare three years old, the property of 8S. D. Malone, Esq.
In the vegetable class, there were 90 entries. A prize
given by Lady Sweet-Escott for the best collection of produce
was won by a peasant proprietor whose assortment included
nearly twenty different vegetables, some of excellent quality.
The School exhibits wére distinctly good, and were
a special feature of the Show. St. George’s School, Ginger-
land, took first prize for a collection of plants, second prize
for vegetables, and second prize for pot plants.
‘GAPES’ IN YOUNG CHICKENS.
What is known as gapes’ is a disease liable to
atfect chickens in all parts of the world, and the follow-
ing notes as to the cause of the disorder, and methods
of prevention and treatment, are worthy of attention by
poultry keepers in the West Indies. They are taken
from Bulletin S?7 of the Pennsylvania Agri-
cultural Experiment Station, entitled ‘Some Poultry
Experiments ’:—
‘Gapes’ is a parasitic disease caused by the presence of
worms in the windpipe of young chickens. A small, reddish,
forked worm is attached to the mucous lining of the wind-
pipe. Where these worms exist in large numbers the chickens
die from suffocation. The dan
chicks from one to four weeks old
Chickens often cough up these worms. A female worm
may contain several thousand eggs, and is consequently
Healthy chickens may eat
most gerous to
disease is
a dangerous source of infection,
the worms coughed up by sick ones, and may swallow the.
eggs in food or drink. The urgent necessity of separating
attected birds from the remainder of the flock is therefore at
once apparent,
The most desirable method of combating the disease is to
rear the young chicks on a new piece of land where no other
chicks have been kept. After the chicks have become well-
grown there is less danger of the trouble, as they are
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Marcu 6, 1909:
stronger and more able to throw the worms out of the wind-
pipe, should any get lodged in the lining.
All coops and runs should be disinfected with a 2-per
cent. solution of sulphuric acid in water, or a solution of
creolin, two tablespoonfuls in each gallon of water, ‘The
bodies of all chicks that die should at once be burned.
A small piece of ‘sulphate of iron placed in the drinking.
water is said to prevent infection. :
SMBhe worms may be extracted from the chicken’s wind-
pipe by a loop of horse hair, stripped feather tip, etc. This-
is a tedious operatiéi and requires careful manipulation in
order not to kill the bird. Dip the extractor in a solution
of creolin (one tablespoonful to one pint of water) before-
inserting it in the windpipe, being careful not to have any
quantity of the liqnid on the instrument, or it may cause
death. Insert the extractor gently into the windpipe, and
withdraw with a slightly twisting motion. This will bring
out most of the worms. What remain will be killed by the-
creolin solution. ,
CORNS ON HORSES’ FEET.
A corn on the foot or a horse or a mule necessarily
results in a certain degree of temporary lameness. If
the proper method of treatment is adopted, however,
the trouble can usually be got rid of in a comparatively
short time, but it is important to remember that
unskilful or ignorant treatment may readily increase-
the trouble so as to result in more serious lameness.
The following sensible note on this subject is extracted
from Huntiny’s ‘ Art of Horse-shoeing :—
A corn, be it remembered, is not a tumour or a growth =.
it is merely a bruise of the sensitive foot under the horn of
the sole. It shows ‘ttself by staining the horn red, just as
a bruise of the human body shows a staining of the skin
above it. To ‘cut out a corn’ with the idea of removing it
is simply an ignorant proceeding.
if a corn be slight, all that is necessary is to take off the
pressure of the shoe, ‘and this is assisted by removing a thin
slice or two of horn at the part. When the injury is very
great, matter may be formed under the horn, aad, of course,
must be let out by removal of the horn over it. Provided
there is no reason! to believe that matter has formed,
a corn—i.e., the bruised and discoloured horn—should not be
dug out in the ruthless manner so commonly adopted. Cutting
away all the horn of the sole at the heels leaves the wall
without any support. When the shoe rests upon the wall it
is unable to sustain the weight without yielding, and thus an
additional cause of irritation and soreness is manufactured.
The excessive paring of corns is the chief reason of the
difficulty of getting permanently rid of them.
The simplest device for taking all pressure off a corn is
to cut off an inch and a half of the inner heel of the shoe.
With the three-quarter shoe a horse will soon go sound, and
his foot will then resume its healthy state. The saying
‘once a corn, always acorn’ is not true ; but it is true that
a bruised heel is tender and liable to bruise again, from very
slight unevenness of pressure. for at least three months. All
that is necessary isiteare in fitting, and abstention from
removal of too much horn at the part. Of course, when the
degree of lameness issuch as to suggest that matter is formed,
the horn must be cuticaway so as to afford an exit for it ; but
the majority of corns are detected long before the stage of
suppuration has resulted from a bruise. m
Wor WG Bos Wh
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 7%
GOOD GROWTH OF PARA RUBBER
TREES.
A note in the Agricultural Bulletin of the
Federated Malay States (Vol. VII, No. 7) refers to the
surprisingly good growth made by some Para rubber
trees under circumstances which would usually be
regarded as unfavourable.
Some Para rubber seedlings were planted in 1894 in
a wood situated on the steep slope of a hill at the back of the
Botanie Gardens. The tree growth arouid was very thick,
providing considerable shade, and there was, in addition,
a good deal of undergrowth. The soil was a stiff clay.
For ten years the rubber trees were forgotten, but when
discovered in 1904, they had made surprisingly rapid develop-
ment although crowded up with other trees. On the slope
the trees lessen in girth in proportion to the steepness of the
hill, the slopes of which show signs of much washing in
swainy weather.
In 1904 the trees so situated varied in cireamference from
24 to 38} inches at 3 feet from the ground. The finest trees,
however, were found on the top of the hill where the land
was more flat. Here three trees measured 53}, 604, and
62% inches respectively, in girth at 3 feet from the ground.
The second tree was 100 feet in height, although but four-
teen vears of age. This is stated to be a record for Hevea
Arasiliensis.
Im the past four years the trees have continued to
-develop, and the three at the top of the hill measured 60,
72, and 79 inches in circumference respectively, in 1908. ‘This
shows a respective increase in girth of 2°06, 2°87, and 406
inches per annum over the four years. The average growth
in circumference of big Para rubber trees is usually about
-2 inches per year. Younger trees grow faster.
The above facts were thought werthy of publication,
inasmuch as the trees in question are fully twice as large as
trees of the same age grown in the open, under what are
generally considered good plantation conditions, in which the
surrounding trees have been carefully felled, and the under-
growth cleared away.
_ The trees have been tapped and have given good returns
of rubber.
AGRICULTURAL WORK IN _ INDIA.
A number of interesting subjects relating to
agricultural progress, and the most suitable means of
bringing it about, were discussed at a meeting of the
Indian Board of Agriculture, which was held early in
last year, and attended by representatives from all the
provinces of India. :
One of the most important among the practical ques-
tions dealt with was as to the best means of bringing the
work of the Agricultural Department home to small cultiva-
tors. This isa point of great importance in all countries in
which Agricultural Departments are carrying on work ef
investigation and demonstration for the benefit of planters
and small cultivators. The poor state of primary edueation
in India makes it especially difficult for the Department to
reach the mass of the people in that country, and therefore
the attempt.is being made to work from the top down-
wards, and to bring about a gradual improvement of the
agricultural industry through the medinm of the bigger
landholders, who are in a better position to receive instrne-
tion. It is evident that for this attempt to succeed, there
must be mutual confidence between the three bodies concerned
—the Agricultural Department, the larger landholders, and
the small cultivators.
Although the conditions existing in the Indian provinces
necessarily vary considerably from those which obtain in the
West Indies, yet the methods which have been found to
encourage interest in the work of the Department among
the people concerned are worthy of mention.
Chief among these methods is the formation of local
associations among various classes, with the stated object
of introducing agricultural improvements. These
tions are likely to be of most value when officers of
the Department and the more prominent agriculturists of the
district can maintain a close personal touch with the mass of
the cultivators.
The small village associations are particularly useful to
the members. In districts where these associations have been
the means of introducing improvements of obvious value,
their usefuluess is naturally well recognized.
In view of the fact that the Indian Agricultural Depart-
nent is still young, it has not yet been possible to provide
definite demonstrations of proved value to agriculturists in
all parts of the country, and difficulty is likely to be experi-
enced in some parts in recommending the work of the Depart-
ment to the people. So many variable factors arise in agri-
cultural practice that progress must necessarily be slow. It
is mentioned that the introduction of a new crop or variety,
or of a manurial practice, though fully tested at an experi-
ment farm, may fail unless the farm is thoroughly representa-
tive of the district. The cost has to be very carefully
calculated, or a new method may be beyond the reach of
a small cultivator. It must be borne in mind, too, that
agricultural changes follow economic changes, instead of
leading up to them, As an example of this, it is mentioned
that the extended cultivation of cassava on poor hill soils
was brought about in Travancore as the result of a rise in
the price of grain, which drove the poorer classes to find
a substitute. Unless grain had risen in price it is probable
that it would have been useless to urge the small landholders
to cultivate the poor hillside land.
associa-
Speaking broadly, then, the two things on which the
snecess of agricultural associations in bringing about direct
improvement depend, would appear to be confidence in the
advisers, leading to their advice being carefully followed, and
the provision only of carefully considered and tested improve-
ments for demonstration, with arrangement for efficient
management,
Farms have been established in many districts, and on
these demonstration work, similar to that of the Agricultural
Association but more under Department control, is in
progress. A useful branch of activity which these farms can
carry out is in the provision of good seed.
Village agencies have also been established by the Indian
Agricultural Department for the sale or hire of improved
implements. An especially useful feature of this work is
that repairs can be arranged for by workmen employed by
the Department.
Other means of disseminating: agricultural information
and of bringing about improvements are through the medium
of agricultural publications, both in English and the vernacu-
lar, by the establishnu.ent of local Agricultural Shows, and by
the provision of travelling agricultural instructors.
Seme work has been done directly with small cultivators.
Short courses of instruction for these people have been given
on the Bombay Farm, dealing with special matters, such as
cotton seed selection. The sons of cultivators are also taken
for instruction for longer periods on these farms.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marca 6, 1908-
New York,—February 5, 1909.
MARKET. REPORTS.
London,—February 16, 1909, THe Wexsr Inpra Com-
MITTEE CirncuLar: Messrs. KEarron Piper & Co.,
February 16, 1909 ; Messrs. E. A. DE Pass & Co.,
January 22, 1909.
Arrowroot—Quiet; Lid. to 3}d. for fair to fine manu-
facturing.
Batata—Sheet, 2/1 to 2/5 ; block, 1/8 to 1/9.
Bers’-wax—£7 10s. to £7 12s. 6d. for dark to pale.
Cacao—Trinidad, 53/6 to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 49/- to
57/6 per ewt.
CorrEeE—Santos, 29 - per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—West Indian, £18 to £19 per ton.
Corron—St. Kitt’s, 13d. to 13}d.; Barbados, 13}d.;
St. Vincent, 15}.
Froir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4,6 to 6/- per bunch.
Limes-—Not wanted.
Prne-apeLes—St. Michael, 1/3 to 3/6.
Graver Frurr—11/- to 12/- per box.
Oranges —Jamaica, 8/- to 8/6 per box.
Fostic—£3 to £4 per ton.
GINGER—5Ds. to 60s,
Honey—Steady.
IstncLass—West India lunp, 2/- to 2/6 per Tb.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/4 per gallon; concentrated, £18 per
cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2/9 per Th.: hand-
pressed, 7 - per th.
Locwoon—£3 to £4 5s. per ton; roots, £2 to £3 per ton.
Mace—Steady.
Nurmecs—(Quiet.
PrmMENTO— Slow.
Rupeer—Para, fine hard, ds. 2d. per th.,
Rum—Jamaica, 3/3 to 3/4; Demerara. 1/6 to 1/7, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 to 16/9; Muscovado, no quotations ;
Syrup, 13s. 9d. to 14s. Thd. ; Molasses, no quotations.
Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 11 fc. to 144. ; Grenada, 11jec. to 11 fe. ;
Trinidad, 11 4c. to 125¢. ; Jamaica, 10c. to Le. per Th,
Cocoa-NuTS—Jamaica, select, $25°00 to $26-00; culls, $14°00
to $16-00 ; Trinidad, 523-00 to $2400 ; culls, $15-00 to
5-00 per M.
Corrre
Jamaica, ordinary, Te. to S$e.; good ordinary,
¢ ; washed, 11}c. per Tb.
GING 9e. to 13c. per Ih.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 53c.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49c. to 50c. ; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c.
to 48c. per Ih., dry tlint.
Grave Fruir—Jamaica, S150 to $2°50 per box.
Loies—Dominica, a limited demand at $5°75 to S700 per
barrel.
Mace 29c. to 32c. per lh,
Nurmecs—1 10's, 9}c. per Th,
ORANGES—Jamaica, $1°50 to $2°00 per box,
Pimento—4e. to 4c. pel th.
Suear—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°64c.; Muscovados, 89°, 3-L4c ;
Molasses, 89°, 2°84e. per Tb., duty paid
INTER-COLONIAL MARKBTS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., March 1, 1909 =
Messrs. T. S. -Garraway & Co.,-March 3, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent. £4°00 per 100 th.
Cacao—Dominicaand St. Lucia, $11-00 per 100 th.
Cocoa-Nuts—S15°00 for unhusked nuts.
Correre—Jaimaica and ordinary Rio, $10°00 per 100 th.
Hay—S$1-25 per 100 th.
Manvres—Nitrate of soda, $52-00 to $65:00; Ohlendor ffs
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao
manure, 542°00 to $48-00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72-OD
to S75-00; Sulphate of potash, S67°00 per ton.
Motasses—Fancy at 6c. per gallon; Grocery, 15c. per
gallon.
Oxtons—Strings, $2°00 ; loose, no quotations.
Potatos—Nova Scotia, 32-00 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, 56°00 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $3°50 pex
bag of 120 Th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°30 (180 tb.); Patna, $3°80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per LOO th. :
Sucar—No quotations.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrwrmc & Ricnrer, Febra-
ary 6, 1909; Messrs. SanpBacu, Parker & Co.,
February 19, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $9-00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Batata—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 4Sc. te
50c. per th.
Cacao—Native, 13c. per tb.
Cassava—72ce.
Cassava StarcH—S$6'00 to $7-00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-Nuvs—S16°00 per M. i
CorrEE—Creole, 12¢. to 13c. ; Jamaica, lle. to 12e. per Db.
slow. 4
Duat—$5°25 per bag of 168 th.
Eppos—S1°32 per barrel.
Morasses—No quotations
Oxtoxs—Lisbon, 5e. per th.
Piaytatss—l6e. to 36e. per bunch, plentiful.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $240 per 100 th.
Poratos—Sweet, Barbados, 31:08 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $5°80; Creole, 84°50 to $4:70; Seeta, S603.
Sprit Peas—S$5°90 to $6°00 per bag (210 th.); Marseitles,
$4-25 to $4-75. a
Tannras—S1°80 per bag.
Yams— White, $2°00; Buck, $1°80 per bag.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2°20; Yellow, $3:1) to $3-23-
White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $2°10 to $2-20 per
100 tbh. (vetail.)
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 5de. per cubic foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3°50 to $5°50 per M.
CorpWwoop—S2°40 to $2°64 per ton.
Trinidad,—lebruary 20, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grawr
& Co.
Cacao— Venezuelan, $12°25 to $12°75 per fanega; Trinidal,
$11°75 to $12-50.
Cocoa-nuts—No quotations.
Cocoa-Nuv Or —76e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
CorreE—Venezuelan, 8he. to 9c. per tb.
Corra—S3°10 to $320 per 100 tb.
DyHat—S4°65 to 84-70 per 2-bushel bag.
Ontons—S83°00 to $400 per LOO Th. (retail).
Poraros— English, 90e. to S1°10 per 100 th.
Rick— Yellow, $5°40 to $560; White, $4°50 to S4 ‘90 per bag
Serre Peas—S5°75 to $6°00 per bag. ei
Sucar—Amencan crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100 tb,
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Company, 16, King St., Kingston.—British Guiana: ‘Daily Chronicle’ Office, Georgetown.—Trinidad: Messrs. Muir
MarsHatt & Co., Port-of-Spain.—Tobago: Mr. C. L. Puacemann, Scarborough.—Grenada: Messrs. F. Marrast & Co.,,
“The Stores,’ St. George.—St. Vincent: Mr.Stantey Topp, Agricultural School.—s¢. Lucia: Mr. E. Buckmire, Botanic Station.
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AD FORENIGHILY, REVIEW
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BOTANIC
GARDEN.
INDIES.
Vou. VIII. No. 180. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE, PAGE.
Agricultural Bank at Pen Manure and Allied
St. Vincent... ... ... 89 Manures... 4
Agricultural Training for Rice, Limes, and Sisal Hemp
British Guiana Boys ... 91 in British Guiana... 95
Balata Output in British Rubber at Grenada... ... 86
(quivatiiwes, coo. beer do ketll ya San :
Cocoa-nut Planting at Sie ou s, Agricultural
eee =) a4 INO EH © ooo Ooch oe tyes
mes Rose Raaacey eth Students’ Corer :
Cocoa-nut Planting in | : , Mie Ve : C
Haan © 4 Agricultural Examinations 90
| Sugar-cane Inportation
and Introduction of
Plant Diseases ... ... 91
Sugar Industry :
sourbon Cane, the Decay
Cover Crops versiis Clean
Weeding in Permanent
(OTM ADKOIM, Goo cba aoontelll
Department Publications ... 88
Department News... ... 87
=, 5 Of). RE ee se OO
Eeanda Root Rubber... ... 89 . ‘ a5
Giennine 99 New Cane Harvester ... 85
rick gS eee wee ae « ~ . »*
: 5 Sugar Production in Cuba 83
Grenada, Agricultural
. red 4 re TOC
Progress a Pie EG Sweet Potatos, Good
= Varieties of Sia) see Oo
Insect Notes : . 2 Togesenberg Goat *‘ Bruce’ S7
Fruit Fly at Bermuda ... 93 eo =
Seale Insects at Jamaica 93) U.S. Department of
Miia senses sedi use) eee oD Agriculture Ae eats
Mangosteen at Domimiea ... 8B) Virgin Islands, Minor
Market Reports... ... ... 96 Cropshiigeesss) 2-5, sas0o
Notes and Comments... ... 88] West Indian Cotton... . 86
West Indian Products on
Panama, Encouragement
the London Market ... 95
for Agriculture im . 89}
The United States Department
of Agriculture.
N the editorial of the last issue, reference
was made to the excellent organization
and magnificent work of the United States
Department of Agriculture. The following particulars
may be of interest to readers of the Agricultural News
as forming a general account of that Department, in
reference to its organization, and some of the lines of
work which it carries out.
The the Secretary, of
report of Agriculture
MARCH 20, 1909.
Price ld.
occupies 138 pages of the Yeur-book of the United
States Department for 1907, and from thut report the
following statements are chiefly taken.
The total number of persons in the employ of the
United States Department of Agriculture at the close
of the fiscal year (June 30) 1907, was about 9,000, of
which number nearly 2,000 were in the District of
Columbia (i.e., Washington), while the remaining 7,000
were stationed at other points.
The appropriations of money for the work of the
Department in 1907 were $10,118,451—without count-
ing the Weather Bureau, which received $1,439,240:
1908 grant allotted for Agriculture
increased to $12,210,156, in addition
Weather Bureau received $1,413,540, making a total
for 1907 of $11,557,691, and for 1908 of $13,623,696:
The Secretary of Agriculture is at the head of the
divided
while in the
to which the
Department, which 1s into Bureaus and
Divisions, each with its own chief and staff of workers.
Each Bureau has charge of the investigations of
correlated problems, or routine work connected with
The Secretary of
Agriculture is a Cabinet officer, and ‘ exercises personal
technical or practical agriculture.
supervision over the public business relating to the
agricultural industry.’
The Bureaus and Divisions of which this great
Department is composed number fifteen, each with its
own definite line of investigation, and within the limits
of each of these the more special problems are assigned
to officers particularly qualified for their duty.
It will be that limits of
a brief article, it will be possible only to mention in the
briefest way afew of the sub-divisions of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture and to indicate one or two of its
realized within the
main lines of work.
Lo
A
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
M,+rcu 20, 1909.
Bureau include
issue of storm
of the Weather
of weather conditions ;
The functions
forecasts
warnings ; the display of weather and flood signals for
the
the benefit of agriculture, commerce, navigation, ete., ete.
The Bureau of Animal Industry has charge of the
work of the Department relating to the live stock indus-
try. The Bureau of Plant Industry studies plant life in
all its relations to agriculture. The Forest Service has
charge of the administration of the National Forests, ete.
The Bureau of Chemistry -investigates the methods
proposed for the analysis of plants, fertilizers, and agri-
cultural products, and makes such analyses as pertain
in general to the interests of agriculture. ‘To
Bureau of Soils is entrusted the investigation, survey,
the
and mapping of soils, ete. The Bureau of Entomology
obtains and disseminates information regarding insects
injurious to agricultural crops: studies insects in rela-
tion to the diseases of man and other animals, and as
animal parasites : carries out experiments in connexion
with the introduction of beneficial insects, etc., ete. The
Bureau of Biological Survey studies the geographical
distribution of animals and plants, and maps out the
natural life zones of the country, ete.
As a the amount of
printed matter—reports, bulletins, ete. issued by the
Department, a Division of Publications has naturally
been established, whose fanctions comprise the pnbhiea-
tion, printing, indexing, and illustrating of the results
of the work of the Department.
consequence of large
The Office of Experiment Stations represents the
Department in its relation to Experiment Stations,
which are now in operation in all the States and
‘Territories, and directly manages the Experiment
Stations of Alaska, Porto Rico, and Hawai. It seeks to
promote the interests of agricultural education and
investigation throughout the United States. It
collects and dissensinates general information regarding
Agricultural Schools, Colleges, and Stations,
publishes accounts of agricultural investigations at
home and abroad.
and
The foregoing represents about one half of the
lines of activity. that United States
Department of Agriculture. ‘ Fundamentally, the
work of the Department is concerned with the produe-
tion of wealth,
yield per- acre,
preservation of
engage the
as for example by increasing a crop
as the result of. plant breeding : the
wealth, as by suppressing insect and
fungous pests; and with enabling farmers to make
a fair sale of their products, as by promoting co-opera-
tive selling, or by giving to the public information of
the size of a crop in order that demand :nay be fairly
adjusted to supply.’
Under the heading ‘Chief Crops’ in the Secre-
tary’s report, corn and hay are. given first and second
places respectively, as the main agricultural prodnets
of the United States on the bases of farm value, while
cotton comes third, and wheat fourth.
The work of the Bureau of Piant Industry which
is likely to be of special interest to readers of the
Agricultural News is indicated below. Among other
points mentioned. it is stated that a mango industry
is being developed, as a result of the investigation by
this Bureau of certain fine-flavoured varieties of East
Indian mangos, and that local nurserymen are ready
to sell, in quantity, several of these new varieties.
The Experiment Stations of Porto Rico and Hawaii
frnit, and the
plantations are planting out orchards of these newly
are taking this owners of private
Mnproved varieties.
Cowpeas have received much attention and
extensive investigations have been carried out with
the object of producing betrer and cheaper seed, and
seed which will retain its vitality for more than one
The soil
improver and as a sonree of stock and human food is
year. importance of the cowpea as a
fully recognized. Three varieties of Soy beans have been
successfully introduced into the rice-growing districts of
Texas and Louisiana to be used in rotation with riee. It
is hoped thus to place in the hands of the rice grower
a plant which will answer the same purpose that clover,
alfalfa, and cowpeas do in other localities.
A large amount of work has been done in’ breed-
ing Indian corn with thé object of improving the
yields, and the quality of the fodder and the grain.
In the work of improving cotton by means of seed
selection, practical methods have been introduced tor
getting rid of light, inferior seed. The breeding of
special strains of cotton to prevent injury by the cotton
boll weevil is a problem of the greatest interest. One
of the chief recommendations made by the Bureau of
Entomology in the matter of boll weevil control is
early planting and early harvesting of the cotton. The
Burean of Plant Industry is assisting the planters to
carry out this line of prevention by attempting to
breed resistant and early maturing varieties.
Satisfactory restilts have also been achieved in the
breeding of tobacco fur the improvement of yields and
the qnality of the leaf.
(70 be concluded.)
Meu. VIlI. Nos 180. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS, $3
Sugar Production in Cuba.
The sugar-cane industry of Cuba is a matter of
very considerable interest and importance, in view of
the enormous capacity of the island tor sugar produc-
tion, and the rapid developments that have been made
in recent years.
The record year, as regards the output of sugar in Cuba
was 1907, when 1,441,687 tons were produced ; in 198,
however, owing to unfavourable climatic conditions, the crop
fell to 961,958 tons. Conditions have now largely improved
again, and prospeets for a high return in the’ present reaping
season are regarded as very promising.
The United States Consul at Havana reports that the
area under cane cultivation avain shuws an increase, and also
states that a number of the larger central factories of the
island have increased their grinding capacity ; cases in point
are in connexion with the estates of the Cuban-American
Sugar Company and the United Fruit Company. Factories
financed by Americans, and worked under American manage-
ment are i prominent feature of the industry. In 1907,
about 30 per cent. of the total output of suzar was produced
by these American mills ; and in 1909 the proportion thus
manufactured is expected to reach 40 per cent.
The methods adopted in cultivating the land for sugar-
cane in Cuba, until quite recently, have been of a somewhat
prunitive character, and it would appear that it was only the
great natural advantages possessed by the island as a sngar-
producing country, that enabled the industry to be continued
on a remtnerative The teaching of the Experiment
Station is, however, now beginning to be felt, and the
introduetion of superior methods of — tillage, improved
implements, green dressing crops, ete., has largely tended to
raise the condition of the industry.
basis.
The Decay of the Bourbon Cane.
At a meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and
Commercial Society held on February 12 last, Mr. H. A.
Tempany, B.Sc., F.LC., read a paper dealing with the
history of the Bourbon cane at Antigua, and its decay
as the result of the severe attack of rind fungus
(Trichosphaeria succhari).. This disease began to
be felt in its most destructive form about 1894. At
the end of his paper, Mr. Tempany recapitulated the
information brought forward, of which the following
forms a general summary -—
In the yield of cane per acre the Bourbon did not differ
greatly from the varieties grown at the present time.
The effect of rind fungus is shown by the amount of
rotten cane found in the field.
The juice of the Bourbon gave about 1-9 Ib. of sugar to
the gallon, and was somewhat less rich than that commonly
met with at present. ;
The effect of the disease on the juice was seen in the
ditninution of sucrose and rise in the glucose ratio.
severely felt in the process of manufacture.
This was
The Bourbon was a very juicy cane, containing less
fibre aud giving better milling results than those grown at
the present time.
No form of manurial treatment appeared to make the
cane lore resistant.
The break-down of the Bourbon was in the end relatively
very sudden, It was not only the native Beurbon cane that
showed liability to rind fungus: other related varicties and
imported uninfected Bourbon stock showed equal lability to
it when grown in Antigua.
It is probable that Vrichosphaeria sacchari was origin-
ally saprophytic and has subsequently developed parasitic
tendencies. It has probably existed in the West Indies for
many years.
The bourbon cane being less fibrous than the White
Transparent probably possessed cell walls more easily
penetrated. Consequently it is suggested that the sudden
break-down of the Bourbon was due to an increase in viru-.
lence of the fungus, which enabled the hyphae to pass from
cell to cell with relative ease in this cane, while the White
Transparent being more fibrous offered more resistence.
Most canes grown at the present time in Antigua will;
on keeping, develop the typical spores of Zriehosphaeria.
The most generally accepted theory regarding the spread
of the «disease is that of pre-existing wounds infected by
mcans of wind-borne spores. The theory of infection by
means of planting infected material has, however, much in
its favour ; and would serve as a means admirably suited for
the intensificacion of the parasitic habit of the fungus.
New Cane Harvester.
Although the problem of devising & cane-cut ting
machine has attracted a vood deal of attention. from
Inventors. little practicial has so far been
achieved ia this direction. The Pesson eane harvester,
of which particulars were given in the Agricultural
News of July 11 last (page 211) underwent a number
of tris in Louisiana in the last reaping season,
and it evidently possesses some promising features. In
uumber of the Queensland Agricultural
Journal, another cane-reaping machine, invented by
a Mr. W. J. Howeroft, of Brisbane, is described. ‘This
harvester has been patented in - most sugar-growing
coMmMtries.
SUCCeSS
a Tate
Like an ordinary corn reaper the Howeroft machine
runs outside the standing crop, and the motor power sets in
action a series of blades which are termed ‘ feelers’ or
‘fingers,’ and which, when not in use, can be raised to
a height of 18 inches above the ground. When working,
the ‘fingers’ are lowered, and° seize the canes for the
purpose of holding them steady against the action of the
knives, which are arranged immediately below, and rotate
on a lever at a speed of some 400 revolutions per minute.
Tt is claimed on behalf of the machine that by its means the
canes can be cnt an inch or more below the surface of the
ground, a most important point as every cane-grower knows.
As soon as the canes are reaped by this machine, they
pass on to a moveable platform, where they are automatically
arranged, and come under the action of a second series of
knives. by which the tops of the canes are removed.
The machine-is worked by two small oil motors and, it
is asserted, is capable of cutting 150 tons of cane per day,
which means that an area of 50 acres, with 20 tons of cane
to the acre, would be reaped in seven days. Such an achieve-
ment would be of infinite benefit to the sugar industry of
Queensland, a colony in which the labour difficulty is at
present severely felt.
84 THE - AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 20, 1909.
WaES
COCOA-IIUT PLANTING IN HAWAII.
It is evident from: the following notes, extracted
from the fourth Annual Report of the Commissioners
of Agriculture and Forestry of the Hawauan Islands, that
efforts are being made to exploit the possibilities of
cocoa-nut planting in that Territory :—
The manufacture and shipment of a considerable
quantity of copra from the island of Kauai, the organization
of a company to start a cocoa-nut plantation on the windward
side of Oahu, and the planting of numerous small groves on
the other islands, all point to the development of a cocoa-nut
industry.
The Hawaiian Islands lie just at the northern edge of
the zone in which the cocoa-nut will thrive, but the demand
for cocoa-nut products—cocoa-nut oil, copra, and coir—is so
great that the outlook is full of promise. In Hawaii it
takes from seven to ten years for a cocoa-nut grove to come
into bearing, but as this group of islands is free from the
severe storms that at intervals do’so much damage in the
South Seas, Hawaii is able to compete snecessfully with
regions more favourably located for cocoa-nut growing.
COCOA-NUT PLANTING AT ANTIGUA.
Mr. T. Jackson, Curator of the Antigua Botanic
Station, has forwarded the following interesting note on
cocoa-nut planting in the island :—
The growing of cocoanuts at Antigua is limited to
a great extent by the numerous droughts experienced, and in
a great measure by the unfavourable condition of the land.
Within the last eighteen months, however, fron: 90 to 100
acres have been planted in the lighter soils in the southern
part of the island, ard it appears probable that another
40 or 50 acres will he planted in the near future. The
rainfall in those districts is. somewhat greater than in’ other
parts, being about 52 inches per annum.
Where these cocoa-nuts have been planted, the soil
appears to be suitable, being deep and of a sandy nature.
The seedlings were raised at the Botanic Station ; cocoa-nuts
were planted in beds, in whieh trenches h
hac been made about
i foot deep, care being taken when planting that the points
of the nuts were slightly raised.
Apart from the area mentioned above. little or
has been previously planted on a commercial scale.
trees which are in the island either form avenues or
scattered.
no Jand
The few
are very
In point of fact. the pre duction of ececoa-nuts at
INDIAN FRUIT.
Antigua is not sutticient to meet the lecal demand It would
be interesting to ascertain if possible, the exact number of
nuts annually imported into the island.
As already stated, the cultivation of this palm can only
be carried on to a limited extent at Antigua, and the
subsequent growth of these new plantations will be watched
with interest. There are cocoa-nut trees already growing in
the vicinity of the new plantings, and-although the plants
are attacked tos’some extent by scale insects, they bear
annually a fair crop. The new plantations are, it is
considered, growing on a more suitable soil, and thus there
is hope that they will prove more successful.
In view of the revival of interest that appears to
be taken in cocoa-nunt planting in parts of the West
Indies, e.g., at Antigua and at Nevis, 1t may not be out
of place in this connexion to point ont that cocoa-nut
plantations are not costly to estabjish or maintain : the
trees require little attention, and can frequently be
grown on land that is not suitable for other economic
crops. The varied uses of the dirferent parts of the
palm and of its prodnets are also worthy of attention.
The food value-of the nuts constitutes the most obvious
reason for growing the palm. In some of the South Sea
Islands the kernels form the chiet food of the natives. The
flesh of the nuts, dried in the sun, forms the copra of
commerce, and is exported to Europe and America in great
quantity from various tropical countries. Copra is used in
confectionery to a small extent, but this product is chietly
valued on account of the large proportion of oil it contains,
and which is used for cooking purposes, and in the manu-
facture of soap and candles. When the oil has been extracted
from the copra, the residne forms a fairly nutritious cattle
food.
Coir forms another very useful product from the cocoa-
This is the fibre obtained from the husks, and is valued
at fron £10 to £30 per ton, according to quality. Coir
nut.
is used in the manufacture of ropes, cordage, mats, brooms,
brushes, ete.
The trunk of the cocoa-nut palm is hard and durable,
and is naturally utilized for a variety of purposes, such as
honse-building, ete. The outer wood of the trunk is known
in England as ‘porcupine wood,’ and is esteemed for its
fine grain.
* Toddy’ and ‘ atrack ° are alcoholic drinks manufactured
in Ceylon from the eut Hower-stalks of the palm, while the
outer shells are used as drinking vessels, ete., and latterly for
making buttons.
Vou. VIII. No. 180. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 85
MANGOSTEEN AT DOMINICA.
So many notes on the characteristics and quality
of the mangosteen fruit have appeared in past issues of
the Agricultural News that little can be added to
the information already given in regard to this interest-
ing product.
Plants of the mangosteen (Garc/nia Mangostana) exist
in many of the West Indian islands, and the accompanying
illustration (Fig. 14) represents a fine, healthy tree growing at
St. Aroment, Dominica, the estate of the Hon. H. A. Alford
Nicholls, C.M.G. In the 1907-8 season this tree was laden
DoMINICA.
Fie. 13. MANGOSTEEN TREE AT ST. AROMENT,
with fruit, and it was estimated that about 400 fruits came
to maturity. It may be mentioned, too, that a mangosteen
tree, planted in 1890 at the Botanic Station, St. Vincent,
fruited for the first time towards the close of 1907.
Usually, however, the tree fruits at a much earlier age
than this, and has been known to bear in the fifth year from
planting out. At this age it has generally attained a height
of 10 feet, and a basal girth of 1 foot. With advancing years
the mangosteen fruits borne increase in number (although
yielded at irregular intervals), while the quality and flavour
improve.
The mangosteen is a native of the Malay Peninsula. It
grows well in Ceylon, but is not so successful in India.
A number of plants have been raised at the Botanic Gardens
of Trinidad and Jamaica, and these have fruited well. In
general, however, the attempts that have been made to
naturalize this tree in foreign countries have not been so
successful as might be wished.
The mangosteen does best on a loamy soil, in districts
where the rainfall reaches from 100 t6 150 inches. The fruit
of Garcinia Mangostana is about the size of a small apple ;
it possesses a thick tough rind, and when ripe, is of a reddish-
brown colour. The edible portion of the fruit, which is of
delicious flavour, is the white pulp (or aril) surrounding the
dark-brown seeds,
The photograph from which the block for the accompany-
ing illustration was prepared, was taken by Mr. W. Skinner,
M.A., Head-master of the Dominica Grammar School.
LIMA BEANS.
The Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) is cultivated
in most of the warmer parts of the earth, and is widely
grown in the West Indies. The species is one which
shows considerable variation in the beans (seeds)
produced, but the various kinds are divided roughly
into two classes, the ‘ red’ and the ‘ white.’ Beans of
the Jatter class somewhat resemble haricot beans, and
are frequently cooked and eaten as human food.
In Mauritius, Lima beans are cultivated on a large scale,
and turned into the soil as a green manure. The plant is one
which contains a cyanogenetic glucoside, i.e., a chemical
compound which, under certain conditions, is capable of
yielding prussic acid. These plants are, therefore, dangerous
as a stock food, and many cases are reported from Mauritius
and other countries of animals having been poisoned as the
result of eating the green vegetation. Fatal results to
stock, too, have not infrequently followed the consumption
of raw seed (beans) in Mauritius and Java, and cases of
poisoning among cattle in Great Britain have been traced to
the use of beans of Phaseolus /unatus, imported from the
above two countries. The beans on analysis have been
shown to contain varying quantities of prussie acid.
Beans of Phaseolus /unatus (both red and white) are also
imported in large quantities into Great Britain from Burma,
the particular variety being known as ‘Rangoon’ beans.
Although they have been fed to cattle on an extensive scale
for some time past, no ill effects have so far followed their
use. The beans from Burma contain prussic acid, but in much
smaller quantity than those from Mauritius and Java.
Burmese beans are also used as human food in many parts of
Europe.
Attention is called to the poisonous properties of the
beans in question in a lengthy article appearing in the Journal
of the Board of Agriculture of Great Britain (Vol. XIV,
p. 722), where the results of analysis of a large number of
specimens from different sources are tabulated.
It has been stated that by cooking the beans the
glucoside which yields the prussic acid is removed. This
does not appear to be always the case, however, and
investigations made at the Imperial Institute lead to the
conclusion that no change is effected in the quantity of
glucoside present even after boiling. The enzyme or ferment
which liberates the prussic acid from the glucoside is
destroyed, however, and as a result, no poison is formed when
the beans are ground and mixed with water.
In view of the wide interests involved, the authors of
the paper mentioned express the opinion that it is desirable
that an extended investigation be made, to determine finally
the suitability or otherwise of Lima beans as a food material
for human beings and live stock.
86 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 20, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows on March 1, in reference to the sales of
West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last fortnightly report, about 200 bales of
West indian Sea Island cotton have been sold at fairly steady
prices. The sales include about 80 bales from Nevis and
St. Kitt’s at 124d. and 134d., and 10 bales from St. Vincent
at 15d. : 2
Seeing that the Sea Island cotton sold this year to date
at Charleston amounts to 16,000 bales against 8,000 last year,
spinners will not be eager buyers, havi ing supplied their
wants freely before the arrival of the bulk of the West Indian
crop. At the same time, we do not think that consumers
desire to see lower prices for the cotton, and if planters
exercise patience, it is not likely there will be much difficulty
in disposing of the crop at about the present range of prices.
If, however, cotton is forced for immediate sale, it is only
natural that buyers would expect to get very considerable
concessions.
AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS AT
GRENADA.
Some introductory notes to the latest report of the
Agricultural Superintendent at Grenada summarizes
the progress made in connexion with the agricultural
industries of the island during 1907-8. The year
reviewed has, it is stated, been one of marked activity
along many lines of improvement,
Many of the larger estates in the island have established
cacao experiment stations under the direct control of the
Agricultural Department, and two new ones were started last
year. As the result of the teaching given by the officers of
the Department, unsatisfactory methods of cultivation and
management are gradually being abandoned by cacao
growers. As an example, the method of applying lime to the
soil may be instanced. Lime has a very beneficial influence
on the heavy clay soils of Grenada, but in the past it was
customary merely to heap it round the cacao trees, where it
rapidly caked, and did little good. The right method, i.e.,
spreading the lime broadcast and lightly covering it with
surface soil, is now being generally adopted.
The value of mulching the soil is now realized by nearly
all planters, and wherever material is available, large areas
are annually mulched.
More attention has lately been paid to clean cultivation,
pruning, and general sanitation of orchards. The
burial of cacao shells, so as to assist in preventing the spread
of Diplodia and other fungus diseases has also become more
general. Resin oil is rapidly displacing tar as a dressing for
euts on cacao trees.
Gordon cacao drying machines (see last number of Ayr7-
cultural News, page 73) have become very popular at Grenada ;
tive were erected in 1907-8, and five more are on order.
Two Prize-holdings’ competitions—in St. John’s and
St. David's parishes—were held during the year, and it is
Cacao
hoped before long to hold a competition in each parish every
year. This movement has been attended with very valuable
results in encouraging better tillage among peasant proprietors
in the island.
A popular feature of the work of the Department has
been the agricultural meetings which have been held at
various in the island for the discussion of such
matters as are of special interest to planters and peasants.
These meetings were, in all cases, well attended.
The cacao experiment stations on estates,
worked by co-operation of the estate owners with ofticers of
the Department have already been referred to. The manner
in which the work is conducted ensures the interest of those
most concerned, and when it has been continued for several
seasons, so as to secure cumulative and reliable results, should
prove most valuable. Cacao experiment plots, both at the
station and in country districts, are also carried on under the
supervision of the Department. These plots serve a useful
purpose as points at which the Agricultural Instructor can
centres
which are
meet the peasants and give addresses, with practical
demonstrations.
Some progress has of late been made in checking
‘black blight’ at Grenada. General co-operation and
combined effort will be necessary, however, before the
‘blight ° is brought under anything approaching control.
It has been demonstrated that Sea Island cotton will
grow successfully-and give good returns on light sandy soils
near the coast.
RUBBER AT GRENADA.
Small areas of land have annually been planted
with rubber at Grenada for some years past, and there
is 2 large acreage in the mountains and on various
ridges which would probably be utilized in a profit-
able manner by planting up with Hevea or Castilloa
trees. The following notes on rubber growing in the
island appear in the report for 1907-8 of the Agri-
cultural Superintendent :—
Continued interest has been taken in rubber planting all
over the island, and the majority of planters have now
decided to plant Hevea brasiliensis rather than Castilloa
elastica. The former grows quickly and well,and is not
subject, as is Castilloa, to attack by scale insects. A large
consignment of seed received from Ceylon, owing to an
unfortunate delay in transit, showed very poor germinating
power, but all the seed which could be supplied by the
Gardens was eagerly sought for and germinated well.
A large order has been again sent to Ceylon,
The trees at present in existence in the island are
making rapid growth and appear in every way healthy and
satisfactory.
At Tuilieries estate especially,
rubber, consisting of //evea brasiliensis, Castilloa elastica,
and Funtumia elastica has been planted, all the plants are
doing extremely well and making remarkably rapid growth.
Some Hevea plants, barely three years old, are already 20 feet
high.
At the Botanie Station during the year, three plots of
rubber have been planted out on the slope near the section
devoted to timber trees, consisting respectively of Castilloa,
Hevea, and Funtumia. The plants have made satisfactory
progress, and it is hoped that these plots may be of use for
experimental purposes when the trees now being planted on
the estates ave ready for tapping.
where a large acreage of
Vou. VIII. No. 180.
TOGGENBERG GOAT ‘BRUCE.’
The accompanying picture (Fig. 14) represents
the pure-bred Toggenberg ram goat ‘Bruce,’ which
was imported from England by the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture—through the British Goat
Society—in 1903.
‘Bruce’ was a handsome (hornless) well-grown animal,
two years old at time of importation, and of excellent
pedigree. A female goat of the same breed, ‘ Pauline,’ was
brought to the West Indies at the same time. Togyenberg
goats are famous all over the world for their high milk-yield-
ing capacity, and ‘Pauline’ fully sustained the reputation of
the breed from this point of view. On one occasion, after the
birth of three kids, she gave a yield of 7 pints of milk daily
for some time.
Bigs eli4e
‘ Bruce ’ was kept at Halton estate, Barbados, for a con-
siderable time, and his services were much in requisition by
owners of goats in the neighbourhood. Numbers of
his progeny are still to be seen in the island. In 1905,
‘ Bruce’ was transferred to Antigua, where he died in the
following year. A son of his, ‘ Paul, was transferred to
St. Vincent for some time. The female goat ‘ Pauline’ had
two kids when she arrived, and gave birth to five more at
Barbados before she died in 1905. Two or three of these
have been sent to other isiands.
TOGGENBERG Goat ‘BRUCE.’
COVER CROPS VZRSUS CLEAN WEEDING
IN PERMANENT CULTIVATIONS.
Rubber planting is comparatively a new industry
in the Malay States and Ceylon.and the methods of culti-
vation adopted have been, so far, necessarily experi-
mental. In general, it has been the custom for planters
to carry out the practice of clean weeding between the
trees in preference to growing cover crops of any
description.
In an article contributed to the Agricultural
Bulletin of the Federated Malay States for September
last, Mr. J. B. Carruthers discusses the conditions of
the case, and brings forward. for the consideration of
planters, the advantages of allowing the soil, in orchard
cultivation of such permanent crops as rnbber, to be
occupied by cover crops instead of being clean weeded.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 87
This question was briefly dealt with in the Agri-
cultural News of December 26 last (page 407).
The practice of clean weeding, as applied to the culture
of tropical crops, was, in the case of early planters, the result
of experience gained in England and Scotland, where turnips,
wheat, cabbages, etc. are grown under the conditions of
a temperate chmate. Clean weeding is undoubtedly suitable
to the conditions which prevail in Great Britain, and is
recognized as being an essential part of good farming.
The principle of keeping the land free from weed growth,
however, is frequently adopted by planters in the tropics who
do not consider whether the practice is suited for all cultiva-
tions in all climates.
In temperate climates little damage can be done by
exposing the surface soil, but in the tropics a good deal of
harm may result from allowing soil in good condition to be
open to the alternate effects of baking sun, and heavy down-
pours of rain. Further, owing to the rapidity with which
plant growth takes place under tropical conditions, the
amount of labour entailed in keeping the land clean is far
greater than in temperate climates.
Although clean weeding promotes quick growth of the
young rubber trees, it carries with it heavy disadvantages ;
as the result of exposure to the sun, moisture is evaporated
in large quantity ; bacteria also, which are largely responsible
for the vontinuous supply of plant food, cannot exist in the
sun-baked soil. Further the top soil, more especially on
sloping land, is being continuously washed away during heavy
rain, and this entails great loss of plant food.
Weeds and other green plants undoubtedly take
a certain amount of plant food from the soil, and by their
agency transpiration of moisture also goes on. Under the
conditions which prevail in rubber plantations, however,
such losses are more than repaid. by the protection given to
the soil, and the supply of organic matter provided, when the
plants are turned into the land. When leguminous plants
such as Crotolaria, Mimosa, Desmodium, ete., are sown or
planted beneath the trees, these are of additional value, as
being the means of adding nitrogen to the soil.
{t should be pointed out that the above principles also
hold good in relation to cacao cultivation in the West Indies.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left
Barbados by the R M.S. ‘ Esk’ on March 16, for a short
official visit to St. Lucia. Dr. Watts is expected to
return on March 23.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc, Entomologist to the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, also left Barbados
on the ‘Esk’ for the purpose of paying a brief visit
to Montserrat; and with the further object of calling
at Grenada, St. Vincent, and St Lucia en route, in
order to arrange the preliminary steps to be taken in
carrying out a systematic investigation of scale insects
and their parasites in the several islands.
Mr. C. W. Jemmett, Entomologist to the Govern-
ment of Southern Nigeria who has for the past six
months been attached to the scientific staff of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, proceeded to
England by the R.M.S. ‘Clyde’ on March 9 last,.
preparatory to taking up his duties in Nigeria.
Oo
(2)
THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 20, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agenis: 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual-subscription payable to Agents,
2s, 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Vor VIII.
SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1909. No. 180.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The organization and some of the lines of work
of the United States Department of Agriculture are
briefly described in the editorial. A concluding
article on the same subject will appear in the next issue.
The notes under ‘Sugar Industry’ (page 83)
relate to sugar production in Cuba, the history of the
decay of the Bourbon cane at Antigua, and a new
cane-reaping machine lately invented in Queensland.
Increased interest has lately been shown in cocoa-
nut planting at Antigua (page 84): on page 85 are
one or two notes on the mangosteen in the West
Indies, accompanied by an illustration ofa fine mangos-
teen tree at Dominica.
Considerable agricultural progress was made at
Grenada in the year 1907-8. The chief lines along
which improvement is apparent are indicated in the
articles on page 86.
The case for cover crops as against clean weeding
in permanent cultivations, such as cacao, rubber, ete.,
is briefly stated on page 87.
The report on the first Preliminary Examination
in Agriculture held in the Leeward Islands by this
Department appears on page 90: the pass list of
candidates and the questions set are included.
The risk of introducing new plant diseases
through the agency of imported sugar-canes has
attracted the attention of the British Guiana Board
of Agriculture ; some interesting recommendations
made by the Board on the subject are reprinted on
page 91.
Department Publications.
The index and title-page of Volume VII of the
Agricultural News are published as a supplement to
the present issue, so that readers can now have their
numbers bound up.
The whole series of reports, for the year 1907-8,
on the various Botanic Stations of the West Indies
have now been issued, and are on sale by all the Agents
of the Department. In the cases of St. Vincent,
Dominica, Antigua, and St. Kitt’s-Nevis the reports
on the Botanic Station, Agricultural Experiments, ete.,
are published at 6d. each number, while the reports
relating to Grenada, St. Lucia, Montserrat, and the
Virgin Islands are issued at a price of 3d. each. As
usual, the above reports contain a good deal of
interesting and valuable information.
Four additions have recently been made to the
Pamphlet Series of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture: these comprise pamphlet reports on the
Seedling and Mannrial Experiments with Sugar-cane
at Antigua and St. Kitt’s, 1907-8 (Nos. 56 and 57,
Price 4d. each): Insect Pests of Cacao (No. 58, Price
4d.), and Sugar-cane Experiments at Barbados, 1907-8
(No. 59, Price 6:/.).
n> ae
Minor Crops in the Virgin Islands.
Attention is drawn in the 1907-8 report of the
Agricultural Instructor at Tortola to the possibilities
that exist of cultivating a number of minor crops in the
Virgin Islands; among these are cacao. cotfee, onions,
English potatos, limes, cocua-nuts, and cassava.
Cacao grows well in certain districts at Tortola,
and it should be possible to develop a small but profit-
able cultivation. About 200 cacao trees were distributed
from the Experiment Station in 1907-8. Both
Arabian and Liberian coffees succeed in different
localities of the island. All the coftee required could be
produced locally.
A plot of land at the Station was sown with onion
seed in November ; the seedlings were planted out, and
five months later a crop of 600 tb. of onions was
obtained. It was found that by careful stringing and
hanging up in a cool airy place, the onions can be kept
in good condition-for at least six months. It is pointed
out that by making two sowings—one early and one
late—and stringing the produce as suggested, onions
grown locally coald be available all the year round, and
thus there would be no further need for imported
produce. English potatos planted at the Experiment
Station, which is at sea-level, did not succeed, but this
crop can be profitably grown in the hills at about
1,000 feet elevation. The best varieties of
under cultivation at the Station gave returns
at from £6 to £7 per acre.
cassava
valued
Some slight progress has been made in lime
planting, and the Agricultural Instructor mentions
that there are plenty of places in Tortola where. lime
trees can be successfully grown, and that it isa crop
well worthy of the attention of peasant proprietors in
the island,
Vor. VIII. No. 180.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 89
Agricultural Bank at St. Vincent.
Some notes in the St. Vincent press contain
particulars of arrangements that have been made to
start an Agricultural Credit and Loans’ Bank in that
island.
The capital of the bank will consist of $5,000,
which will be raised by the sale of 5,000 shares. It will
be seen, therefore, that there can be -but few among
those who will probably benefit from the establishment
of the bank, who cannot afford to become shareholders.
The promotors of the enterprise state in their pros-
pectus that the management of the bank will be
entrusted to a Board of Directors, who shall be elected
by ballot every year, and any shareholder possessing
not less than ten shares shall be eligible for election.
A Chairman elected by the Board will act as adminis-
trative head of the bank. Rules as to government of
the bank will be made by the first Board of Directors.
The bank should prove a useful institution to
small holders in St. Vincent, and its working will be
watched with interest from other islands as well.
Balata Output in British Guiana.
Balata, as is generally known, is a product which
more nearly resembles gutta-percha than india-rubber,
and is exported from British, French, and Dutch
Guianas. It is obtained from the bullet-wood tree
(Mimusops globosa), the wood of which forms a very
useful timber. This tree is indigenous to South
America and to Trinidad.
The balata output from British Guiana has shown
steady and very satisfactory advance of recent years.
In 1904-5 the export was 501,509 tb.; the shipments
increased to 634,242 tb. in 1906-7, to 973,269 Tb. in
1907-8, and to no less than 1,124,958 th. during the
calendar year 1908.
In the past, licences to collect balata in British
Guiana conferred this right for only one, two, or three
years; licence-holders have lately obtained a more
fixed tenure, however, by the extension of the period to
fifteen years. This concession has been made in the
hope of attracting more capital to the industry.
Labour difficulties at present form the chief obstacle to
further development.
> ee ——
Ecanda Root Rubber.
A small supply of the seed of an interesting rubber-
yielding plant—Raphionacme utilis—or ‘ Ecanda
rubber, the home of which is in Portuguese West
Africa, was lately received from Kew, and has been
distributed to several of the West. Indian Botanic
Stations. The plant in question (which belongs to the
order Asclepiadaceae) differs from other sources of
rubber in that it does not develop into a tree, but
is merely a dwarf herbaceous plant, and the rubber
latex is obtained not from the stem, but from the fairly
large and tuberous root. Plants of R. utilis are
reported to exist in large quantity over the ‘treeless,
sandy, and alluvial tracts’ that occur at altitudes of
from 4.000 to 5,500 feet in certain districts of West
Africa.
The particulars at present known of this ‘ Ecanda’
plant are sunimarized in the Kew Bulletin (No. 5,
1908), from which it is seen that rubber, containing as
much as 926 per cent. of caoutchouc has been
prepared from the latex of the roots. Reports on the
development of the young plants at the Botanic Stations,
and the age at which the tubers may be expected to
yield a supply of latex will be awaited with interest.
EE EE
Good Varieties of Sweet Potatos.
Since the sweet potato is such a prominent article
of diet in the West Indies, it is natural that a large
number of experiments should have been carried out
in different islands to determine the varieties which
give the best yield. Perhaps the most conclusive
trials of this kind have been those conducted at
St. Kitt’s and Antigua.
At St. Kitt’s, on the average of from four to seven
experiments, eight varieties have given yields ranging
from 11,000 to 16,500 tb. per acre: the best of these
are ‘Spooner, ‘Blue Bell, ‘Caroline Lee, ‘ White
Gilkes” and ‘ Hug-me-tight.’ The potatos were planted
in June on 3-feet banks, and at distances of 2 feet
apart on the banks: the crop was gathered in the
following March.
In the results obtained at Antigua, the varieties
‘Caroline Lee’ and ‘Spooner’ are again well to the
front with yields of 15,040 tb., and 12,320 tb. respect-
ively. ‘ Hen-and-Chickens, however, did best of all
with a return of 19,200 Ib. per acre; this kind was not
so successful at St. Kitt’s. Other varieties which were
very satisfactory at Antigua are ‘T. 4, (12,640 tb.),
“T. 1? (12,160 tb.), and ‘ Barbados Barrel, (11,040 tb.).
Encourazement for Agriculture in Panama.
The National Assembly of the republic of Panama
lately voted the expenditure of a considerable sam of
money with the object of encouraging agricultural devel-
opment in that country. Labour being one of the chief
needs, £2,000 are to be allotted for the purpose of assist-
ing in the establishment of small foreign labouring
colonies in districts that can most readily be opened up,
and Spanish immigrants are to be specially encouraged
to settle there. A further sum of £800 is assigned for
the purchase and free distribution among the poorer
agriculturists of light labour-saving machinery, such as
light ploughs, cultivators, seed-sowing machines, corn-
shelling mills, and agricultural implements in general.
With the object of introducing superior varieties of
grain and grasses, seeds to the value of £100 have been
imported and distributed, and a further £50 has been
allotted for the purchase of ‘foreign agricultural
journals of recognized utility, which will aiso be
distributed among agriculturists in the country.
The republic of Panama possesses considerable agri-
cultural resources, large districts being suited to the
production of rubber, cacao, bananas, cocoa-nuts,
sarsaparilla, vanilla, ete.
90 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
AGRICULTURAL EXAMINATIONS.
The first Preliminary examination in connexion
with the scheme of Reading Courses lately established
by the Imperial Department of Agriculture was held
at Antigua on February 15 and St. Kitt’s on February
13, 1909.
Eleven candidates presented themselves for exam-
ination at Antigua and three at St. Kitt’s. Of a total
of fourteen, five failed to satisfy the examiners.
Of the St. Kitt’s candidates two passed in the first
class and one in the second, while at Antigua there
were three second and three third class candidates.
The names of the successful candidates are as
follows :—
AT ANTIGUA.
First Class :
AT IST. KTS:
First Class:
W. J. Howell
H. H. Walwyn
Second Class :
C. G. Goodall.
Second Class :
L. W. D. H.a Court
J. Hamilton
W. A. Hewlett
Third Class :
W. F. Gore
C. J. A. Hallpike
C. O. A. Sheppard
QUESTIONS.
For the written portion of the examination fifteen
questions were set, and of these not more than ten
were to be attempted by any candidate.
The questions were as follows :—
1. What is the atmosphere and of what is it composed ?
Give a brief account of its relations to animal and vegetable
life.
2. What do you understand by the following terms in
relation to soils :—Sand, Sandy Loam, Loam, Heavy Loam,
Clay.
3. What is plant food ? Name the principal plant foods
and explain carefully how they are absorbed by the plant.
4. Is it necessary to drain all soils ? If not, why not ? On
what does the necessity or otherwise for drainage depend ?
5. What is the object of (7) Ploughing, (6) Harrowing ?
Describe the construction of some simple form of plough.
6. What is farmyard manure? What are its manurial
constituents 7 In what respects does it differ from a complete
artificial manure /
7. Explain with short notes the following terms :
Vegetable compost, green dressing, bare fallow, subsoiling,
mulch, cambial layer, denitrification, balanced ration.
8. What is Carbon / What do you understand by * Carbon
assimilation ’ in relation to plants and how is it effected /
9. Describe (a) the flower, (b) the root, of any common
plant.
10. What do you understand by fertilization of a flower ?
What is the difference between self-fertilization and cross-fertili-
zation ? Deseribe the manner in which fertilization is effected in
the case of some common plant.
11. In what essential particulars does
cuttings differ from propagation by seed ?
12. What are leguminous crops and what is their special
significance in practical agriculture /
13. What is a rumimant animal’? Describe carefully the
structure of the stomach of some ruminant animal with which
you are acquainted,
propagation by
Marcu 20, 1909-
14. Write a short account of the circulation of the blood
of an animal.
15. Give a short account of the general principles under-
lying the proper feeding of stock.
In addition to the writing of papers in answer to
the set questions, the candidates were examined orally
by the examiners, who, taking each candidate in turn,
examined all on the same topics. The examinations at
Antigua, both Written and oral, were conducted by
Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc, F.LC., F.C.S., and
Mr. A. H. Kirby, B.A.
At St. Kitt’s, Mr. G. G. Auchinleck, B.Se , Science
Master at the Grammar School, Mr. BA. Hardtman,
and Mr. F.R Shepherd, Agricultural Superintendent,
conducted the oral or viva voce examination, the
written examination being supervised by Mr. W. H,
Mitchell, M. A., Head-master of the Grammar School.
This first examination is naturally of great interest. It
reveals some of the difficulties which candidates labour under,
as shown by their written papers and the answers given to
the viva voce questions, The excellent arrangement of the
subject matter for both parts of the examination in Antigua
and St. Kitt’s will a useful basis for future
examinations.
serve as
Selections from the questions on which the viva voce
examination was based will be published in the Students’
Corner from time to time, with the references for reading,
in order to assist candidates in becoming familiar with the
topics which are considered to come within the scope of the
Preliminary Examinations.
In order that the duties of the examiners who conducted
the oral part of the examination should be thoroughly
and carefully performed, they were at pains to prepare
beforehand a systematic plan upon which the work of
examination was based. It is interesting to quote from the
report from St. Kitt’s some details of the line of action which
was adopted there.
Some time previous to the examination, a series of
questions was drawn up by the examiners, similar in form
and subject to those which candidates would later be required
to answer. These questions (for this first examination) related
to four topics, viz. (1) Capillarity, (2) Plant foods, (3) The
roots of plants, (4) The stems of plants. The manner in
which these topics were treated in certain passages of the
books that have been recommended to the students was fully
considered by the examiners, so that they would be able to-
judge how far candidates had benefited from their reading.
This plan of grouping the questions under general topics
was for the convenience of the examiners, and it was found to be:
of considerable advantage, since it enabled them consistently
to approach the several subjects in the same way with every
candidate, and to lead from one point to another without any
breaks in the continuity.
It was not thought desirable to ask specific questions
demanding lengthy answers, but rather to use each question
as a nucleus around which to introduce discussion, the
examiners endeavouring to draw out the candidates’ knowledge
step by step.
The examiners were at liberty to ask pertinent questions
and obtain explanations of any points not clearly stated by the
candidates. In this way much of the natural nervousness of
the candidates was overcome and a good estimate of their
knowledge arrived at.
Vou. VIII. No. 180.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 91
The following is quoted from the report of the
examiners at Antigua :—
‘(a) The general character of the knowledge displayed
emphasizes the necessity for personal guidance and instruc-
tion for the candidates, and it would be advantageous, in our
opinion, if it could be found possible to extend the amount
of guidance now given, at any rate in the case of Preliminary
candidates. :
‘(b) We are of opinion that in dealing with candidates
of this class the oral examination is very necessary in order
to arrive at a true idea of their attainments, since in a written
paper candidates often do not possess sufticient general
education to give due and full expression to the facts with
which they are acquainted.’
The results of the examinations may be taken as
very encouraging. A good proportion of the candidates
have passed, and they are well distributed in the first,
second, and third classes. All who have in any way
assisted in carrying out the Reading Courses and
the Examinations have a much better knowledge of
the general points concerning which candidates are
liable to be weak or strong, and the candidates them-
selves are much better fitted for the next examinations,
whether it be Preliminary for those who failed this
time, or Intermediate for those who have been successful.
It is expected that Preliminary and Intermediate
examinations will be held throughout the West Indies
some six or seven months from now, and of these due
notice will be given
AGRICULTURAL TRAINING FOR BRITISH
GUIANA BOYS.
A circular lately issued by the Education Depart-
ment of British Guiana contains particulars of a scheme
for training a limited number of boys in the theory
and practice of agriculture under the supervision of the
Director of Science and Agriculture.
In accordance with the terms of this scheme, three
candidates will be selected for apprenticeship at the Botanic
Gardens in Jannary 1910. These candidates must be over
fourteen and under sixteen years of age, of good character,
be able to give evidence of a fair general education, and must
have received practical instruction in Nature Study ina School
‘Garden for at least the last two years of their school career.
A probation period of three months is required before
the boys are finally apprenticed ; if this is satisfactorily
passed they are to be indentured for three years to the
Director of Science and Agriculture.
One of the main provisions of the scheme specifies that
during the apprenticeship period, the boys will be employed
for half the time in the experimental fields and for the other
half in the Botanic Gardens, in alternate periods at the two
places. They will also attend at least one course of lectures
to Student Teachers at Queen’s College during the second or
third year of apprenticeship.
Further opportunities for the aequirement of agri-
cultural knowledge by these apprentices will also be provided,
and they will be paid for the work done by them at the
following rates :—
Not less than 16c. per day during the first year ; not
less than 2Oc. per day during the second year ; and not less
than 24c. per day during the third year.
SUGAR-CANE IMPORTATION AND INTRO-
DUCTION OF PLANT DISEASES.
a Z
RECOMMENDATIONS IN BRITISH GUIANA,
The suggested importation by a firm in British
Guiana of sugar-canes from Java has drawn the atten-
tion of the Board of Agriculture of the colony to the
desirability of taking steps to ensure that no plant
diseases shall be introduced by such means. This
matter was discussed at a recent meeting of the Board
of Agriculture, when Professor Harrison pointed out
the advisability of imposing restrictions on the importa-
tion of sugar-canes and cuttings from Java, Australia,
Fiji, Brazil, and the West Indian islands, on account
of the prevalence of certain insect pests and fungoid
diseases in the countries specified, which up to the
present did not exist in British Guiana. The follow-
ing resolution in reference to the subject was carried
unanimously :—
The Board of Agriculture recommend, under section 2
of the ‘Importation of Plant Diseases Prevention Ordi-
nance, 1903,’ to the Governor-in-Council that the importation
of all sugar-canes, and cuttings thereof, from Java, Australia,
Fiji, Brazil, and the West Indian islands, shall not be
allowed to be imported into British Guiana in any description
of earth or soil.
(2) All sugar-canes, or cuttings thereof, from the above-
mentioned places to be inspected by the Government Botanist
before being removed from the wharf or stelling at which
they are landed, and not to be removed from that place unless
permitted by the Government Botanist in writing.
(3) Tf, on such inspection, the sugar-canes, or cuttings
thereof, be found to be not free from pests or diseases of any
sort already known to occur in the colony, the sugar-canes or
cuttings to be treated as the Government Botanist may
direct, before removal from the wharf. If they are found to
be infected with any pest or disease not commonly known in
this colony, the sugar-canes or cuttings to be destroyed under
the supervision of the Government Botanist, or an ofticer of
the Department of Science and Agriculture delegated for the
purpose.
(4) If their removal is authorized by the Government
Botanist, the sugar-canes, or cuttings thereof, to be planted in
a nursery apart from the general cultivation, and separate
from other varieties of canes, and to be subject from time to
time, during twelve months from the date of importation, to
inspection by an ofticer of the Department of Science and
Agriculture. If the canes are found, on any inspection, to be
suffering from any pests or diseases already known in the
colony, they shall be treated as directed by the Government
Botanist, and if suffering from any pests or diseases not
commonly known in the colony, they shall be rooted out and
destroyed under the immediate supervision of the inspecting
officer.
The wisdom of precautions’such as are indicated
in the above resolution must be apparent to all who
have im any way considered the matter Neglect to
take steps snch as those recommended has not. infre-
quently resulted in severe and long-continued loss to
agriculturists in different countries.
92 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 20, 1909-
GLEANINGS,
The cacao crop of Grenada for 1907-8 reached 64,397
bags, which is the largest return obtained since 1904, clan
the record crop for the island —67,225 bags—was gathered.
Mr. F. A Stockdale, Government Botanist of British
Guiana, has been appointed Deputy-Chairman of the Board
of Agriculture of the colony.
The Barbados sugar market opened on March 12, when
muscovado sugar sold at 81°75 per 100 tb. Fancy and choice
molasses are selling at 15c. and 16c. per gallon.
Nine selected dairy cows were recently purchased at
Barbados by the Demerara Dairy Company, and shipped to
Georgetown. The prices paid for these animals varied from
$50 to $70.
A largely signed petition has been forwarded to the
Governor of the Leeward Islands from the inhabitants of
Montserrat, praying for the removal of the duty on cotton
exported from the island.
It is estimated by the Warden that about 70,000 rubber
trees have now been planted in the Savana Gri ande Ward
Union, Trinidad. From 8,000 to 10,000 of these were
tapped in 1907-8, and 3,000 tb. of rubber obtained, which
fetched, on an average, 3s. 4d. per Ib.
The Demerara Argosy reports that a company (styled
the Balata and Rubber Corporation) has lately been formed
in England, with a nominal capital of £160,000, for the
primary object of exploiting the balata and rubber resources
of British Guiana,
The Agricultural Instructor of the Virgin — Islands
mentions in his latest report that the coffee required locally
could all be produced at Tortola without difficulty. Many
Liberian Sie trees are in bearing at the Botanic Station,
and the Arabian variety does well in the more hilly districts.
The apiaries existing in Cuba numbered 4,137 in 1907,
and the total number of hives was 120,250. Honey
produced to the extent of 468,459 gallons, and realized an
average selling price of 1s. 3d. per gallon. Wax commanded
a price of 1s. per Ib. (British Consular Report.)
Was
The shipments of cacao from Trinidad in February last
amounted to 6,390,202 Ib. Of this quantity, 3,748,195 Ib.
went to France, 1,293,450 lb. to the United States,
to the United Kingdom, and 142,450 Ib. to Canada. The
total exports from January 1 to February 28, 1909, have
been 14, 841, 342 bb. (2 roceedings of Trinidad Agricultural
Society.)
863,577 bb.
The Vanilla beans grown at Hope Gardens, Jamaica, are
not exported as gathered, but are dealt with locally, essence
of vanilla being prepared from them. This product sells at
20s. per gallon, which is egual to 10s. 6d. per tb. of cured
beans. (Journal of Jamaica Agricultural Society.)
One ton of sugar, and 2,816 puncheons of molasses, the
produce of the present season’s crop, had been shipped from
Barbados up to Mareh 11, as compared with 3a tons of
sugar and 3,461 puncheons of molasses exported to the same
date in 1908.
Farmer-grown canes to the extent of 56,537 tons, valued
at $121,615, were produced in the Naparima Ward Union,
Trinidad, in 1907-8. Large areas in this Ward Union are
being planted with cacao by purchasers of Crown lands,
and it is estimated that about 4,000 acres are now under the
latter crop. (Warden's Annual Report.)
A recent British Consular Report states that the average
agricultural wages paid in Cuba are as follows : 1
about £7 12s. 8d. per month ;
more or less skilled), about ae 6d. per day, and for an
ordinary ‘farm hand,’ about 2s. lld. per day. The cost of
board for a labourer is placed at aed: 9s. per week.
For a foreman,
for a labourer (presumably
In recommending that eucalyptus trees be more exten-
sively planted on sugar estates in the West Indies, the Journal
of the Jamaica Agricultural Society mentions that the leaves
possess a property which makes them useful for cleaning
purposes. Ifa quantity of leaves is placed in a boiler and
boiled, the resulting decoction will soften any incrustation of
lime that may have formed, so that it can easily be removed.
Manurial experiments with rice, carried out in Hawaii,
indicate that nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia is
especially suitable ‘for this crop. Fish guano also gave good
results. Next to these two substances superphosphate seem-
ed to be most available to the plant. The best combination
of manures for the rice crop was sulphate of ammonia and
superphosphate.
The Government of Martinique are making praiseworthy
efforts for the encouragement of agriculture in the island.
Three experiment stations have been established, from which
economic plants are distributed free of charge to reside mts of
the colony. In 1906-7, plants to the number of 8 35,000 were
sent out, and for the year ended June 50, 1908, no less than
103,000 were supplied.
The ‘mealy bug’ scale insect (Dactylopius citri) was
reported to have increased very considerably on cacao trees at
Grenada towards the end of 1908. This is possibly due to
the drought that has been experienced in the island. The
attack is chiefly on the and also to some extent on
the cacao pods and pod stems. Spraying with kerosene
emulsion, whenever possible, is recommended for this pest.
leaves,
Experiments with the new nitrogenous manure, calcium
cyanamide, reported upon in the Journal of the Board of Agri-
culture (Great Britain) lead to the conclusion that ‘ this
manure, as now manufactured, stored for a reason-
able time, under ordinary conditions, without loss of its
fertilizing properties, and that the calcium cyanamide can
also be mixed with superphosphate, without difficulty or
resulting loss.’
can be
Vou. VIII. No. 180.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 93
Fruit Fly at Bermuda.
The accompanying accunut of the ravages of the
fruit fly at Bermuda, and of the measures that have
been adopted for the extermination of the pest, has been
received from Mr. T. J. Harris, Superintendent of the
Botanical Department in that colony :—
The Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata, Weid.)
- Shas been at work at Bermuda since about the year 1864, and
is supposed to have been introduced into the islands through
the medium of some peaches brought from Madeira. Up to
that time, all the fruits of both the temperate and tropic
zones of the Fast and West grew and yielded in abundant
profusion, while the unique climatic conditions of Bermuda
imparted to them a distinctive flavour, and developed
iGe 15:
a, adult tly ; ¢. larva ; both enlarged.
CERATITIS CAPITATA,
(Reproduced from Year-book of U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture, 1897, page 557).
unusually large and luscious fruits. Peaches were the first
fruits to be attacked, but the fly soon began to attack other
kinds of fruit, and so have the ravages of this
insect become that quite 90 per cent. of the trees have been
cut down and destroyed
When the Fruit Fly Destruction Act was passed in
March 1907, these flies were so numerous that they could be
seen In great numbers crawling over the fruits then in
season—loquats, citrus fruits, sweet peppers, cherimoyas,
Surinam cherries (Hugenia Michel’), Barbados gooseberry
(Pereskia aculeata), guavas, sapodillas, papaws, and young
peaches.
A study of the life-history of the insect disclosed the
fact that it cannot reproduce itself without the aid of
a growing fruit, and that the female deposits her eggs——by
means of a strong, horny ovipositor—within the flesh of
a fruit, injecting at the same time a poison (formic acid? ),
serious
——— es
which kills the adjacent tissues, and commences the rotting
which accompanies the hatching of the eggs into maggots.
It would appear that most of the food eaten by the fruit fly
is consumed while the insect is in the larval stage, for the
adult flies are never seen except when busy ovipositing, or
sheltering from heavy rain under the leaves.
The policy at first pursued at Bermuda was to collect all
ripening fruits, to sink these in bags in the sea,
continuing to collect until the existing flies had deposited all
their eggs. It would not do to have suddenly deprived the
flies of all fruit, for in one place where this was done they
and
immediately began to lay eggs in the bananas which
previously had been exempt from attack.
An Inspector was appointed for each parish, with several
labourers, under the direction of the Botanical Department, to
do all the work of collecting, and pruning back, to prevent the
trees fruiting for some time, recording where fruit trees were
found, what they were, and making a diary of work done at
each place. The work was at first very difficult, but all soon
fell into line, until at the time of writing we find the flies
reduced from millions to a dozen or so. We have now changed
our tactics and are endeavouring to give these few their final
quietus by depriving them of all the kinds of fruits now
known to be affected ; and as they habitually remain about
where they are bred, they will die without having found fruit
in which to deposit their eggs.
In an article which lately appeared in the Agricultural
Vews, the use of kerosene in small flat trays is mentioned’
We tried this, even put some on the inside of the breeding
cage, first on one side and then on the other. The flies very
carefully avoided it and flew to the other side. Some trays
of oil placed in the trees failed to catch a greater proportion
than of moths and other flies. The high humidity of the
climate may have interfered with the diffusion of the oil vapour.
About a year ago some guavas from Dominica were
seized at the port of Hamilton, and found to contain fruit
fly maggots. These were bred out and forwarded to
Dr. Howard of the U. S. Department of Agriculture
for identification. They proved to be Anastrephas acidusa,
Weid., a much larger fly than Ceratitis capitata, very much
like Zrypeta ludens in regard to the thorax and head, but
with a less abnormal abdomen. I have found maggots in
mangos at Jamaica on several occasions, and have the
impression that the later finds were the worst, though I did
not attach very much importance to it at the time. I sincerely
trust that no ether colony will be allowed to suffer from the
fruit fly pest to the extent that Bermuda has done during
the past forty years.
Lecture on Scale Insects at Jamaica. Pro-
fessor R. Newstead, of the Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine, in the course of his recent visit to Jamaica,
delivered an interesting lecture on the subject of ‘Scale
Insects’ to members of the Jamaica Institute. The lecturer
gave a brief history of the research work carried on in the
past which has led up to our present knowledge of this group
of insects ; investigators have been busy in the United States,
France, Italy, England, ete., but the first monograph on the
scale insects was published so recently as 1877. The study
of the West Indian forms of these sects was commenced by
Mr. T. H. D. Cockerell, a former curator of the Jamaica
Institute. Although much good work relating to the
economic side of the question is now in progress in many
parts of the world, all countries were largely indevted to the
Bureau of Entomology of the U.S. Departinent of Agriculture
for the elaborate and extensive experiments which the
Bureau have established.
94 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Marcu 20, 1909:
AGRICULTURAL SHOW AT ST. KITTS.
A very interesting and successful Agricultural
Show was held in the grounds of the Grammar School,
St. Kitt’s, on February 11 last, under the joint auspices
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, and the
St. Kitt’s Agricultural and Commercial Society. The
Show was opened by his Honour T, L. Roxburgh,
Administrator of St. Kitt’s-Nevis.
In welcoming the Administrator, the Hon. S. L.
Horsford, President of the Agricultural Society, referred to
the large number of exhibits on view at the show, which was
a most satisfactory and encouraging feature. Whereas at
the show of 1908, there were only about 400 entries, this
year the number reached nearly 800. Special prizes had been
offered for competition by his Excellency Sir Bickham Sweet-
Escott, K.C.M.G., Lady Sweet-Escott, Colonel the Hon. R. 8.
Cotton (owner of Stapleton’s estate), and by Mr. A. M. Lee
(owner of Stone Fort and Ottley’s). Mr. Horsford added
that the success of the show was largely due to the zeal and
energy of the Honorary Secretary, Mr. F. R. Shepherd.
Mr. Roxburgh, in the course of his speech, alluded to the
adinirable arrangements that were evident in everything
connected with the show, and extended a weleome to the
large number of visitors present, not only from St. Witt’s,
but also from Nevis. The value of such competitions was
apparent to all. Planters and cultivators from different parts
were afforded an opportunity of comparing varieties of agri-
cwltnval produce obtained under different methods of treat-
ment, and of discussing the results of these methods.
Unsuccessful competitors were stimulated by the results
obtained by their successful neighbour to improve their own
produce, while the prize-winning exhibitor should not be
content next year merely to repeat what he had achieved on
the present occasion, but should endeavour each year to
adyance, until the highest standard was reached. This was
the third annual show held at St. NKitt’s, and there were
already distinct signs that the exhibitions of the past two
years were beginning to exercise an influence on the
thoroughness with which agricultural products were being
prepared.
The total number of exhibits on view (including those
not for competition) was 786. These were made up as
follows : 99 exhibits in horses, mules, asses, and cattle ; 38 in
small stock, such as sheep, goats, and pigs ; and 35 in
feathered and rabbits; 40 in sugar-cane and its
products ; 60 in fruits ; 149 in vegetables ; 111 in preserves ;
47 in meals and starches ; 72 in industrial and miscellaneous :
26 in plants and Howers ;4 im school exhibits ; 26 exhibits
in painting and drawing, and 20 not for competition.
The animal section is mentioned as being especially
good, and formed the largest collection of live stock yet seen
at a show in the Presidency. Mr. J. R. Yearwood’s native
Zebu bull was easily first in its class, and was awarded the
Champion prize. In the horse class two fine animals, the
property of Mr. A. S. Davis, were prominent. Some very
ereditable mules from Pondsand other estates were entered
for competition, and the donkey stallion ‘ Bismarck,’ the
property of the Lnperial Department of Agriculture, was on
view. The Indian goat ‘Rajah’, also the property of the
Department, was included among the live stock, although
not entered for competition.
The first prize for cotton lint was awarded to Conn
Phipp’s estate, and the first prize for seed-cotton to Buckley’s
estate.
lt is estimated that over 1,200 people visited the show
during the day.
stock
PEN MANURE AND ALLIED MANURES.
In one of the reports on the Sugar-cane Experi-
ments in the Leeward Islands (1905-6, Part II), there
occurs an appendix, under the above heading, which is
of very,general interest, and to which the attention of
planters may well ‘be drawn.’ It deals not‘only “with
pen manure, but with the preparation of compost
heaps, and the economical utilization for manurial
purposes of all available vegetable matter that can be
accumulated on estates. A table is also given, showing
the results of analysis of a large number of these
substances, from which the quantities of organic matter,
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash added to the soik
by average samples of pen manure, rotted megass,
vegetable compost, sea-weed, cane tops, cotton seed,
ete, can be seen at a glance. ‘his subject is the more
deserving of consideration, since the mannrial experi-
ments carried on at Antigua and St. Kitt’s have
emphasized the importance of pen manure, etc., ia the
cultivation of plant canes.
The view is sometimes held among a few older planters,
that pen manure contains‘more plant‘food material than the
food stuffs and bedding from which it is derived. This,
however, is obviously a fallacy, since the animal retains
some portion ofthe food supplied in building up the
tissues of its body.
This being so, it holds good that the same quantity, or
more, of fertilizing material is conveyed to the soil by burying
the grass, cane tops, etc., without first feeding them to the
animal. It should be pointed out, however, that as the result
of the modifications in the character of the feeding stuffs
brought about in passing through the alimentary tract, the
orgamie material becomes more readily combined with the
soil, and is available for plant food in a much shorter space
of time. The liquid and solid excreta voided by the animals
kept in enclosed pens, and also the bacteria from the intest-
inal tract are further means by which the rapid decay of
accumulations of litter is hastened.
The following notes are quoted directly from the
appendix referred to :—
The practice of keeping animals for the purpose of
making manure is sound in principle, in that a certain
number of animals are desirable for bringing the manure inte
good condition without loss of time ; but it may be carried to
excess. A limited number of animals can be made to hasten the
decay of much more material than they eat, and thus may be
employed to prepare large quantities of manure. One point
has to be guarded against in practice. The attendants are
disposed to give to the animals only as much as will serve as
food, whereas every effort should be made to give the animals
a large excess of food material, part to be eaten and the
remainder to be rotted.
In procuring manure for estates the greatest care should
be taken to accuniniate all available grass, bush, cane tops,
and vegetable matter of all descriptions, which should be
piled into compost heaps. In the absence of animals, this
material in process of time will rot down and form useful
manure, equal in value to pen manure. It is advantageous
to spread layers of earth at intervals through the heaps, for
the earth absorbs valuable constituents which might otherwise
be lost, and at the same time it promotes decay.
Tf animals are available, the best results are obtained by
combining the method of the compost heap with the feeding
of animals.
Vou. VIII. No. 180.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 95
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.LS., has forwarded the
following report on the London spice and drug markets
during the month of January :—
The hoped-for improvement in the ding and spice
markets at the commencement of the year has now been
fully realized, but it must be borne in mind that the exten-
sion of the Christmas holidays, or rather the after-ettect,
is felt for at least a fortnight after the season itself. Indeed,
the first ding sale of the New Year was held on
January 14— a period of six weeks having elapsed since the
previous sale. Though the supply of drugs at this anction
was large and well assorted, the demand was only up to
a fair average. The articles that attracted the most attention
during the month have been those atfected by the terrible
earthquake in Sicily, and notably the essences of lemon and
‘ergamot. West Indian products have not commanded any
special attention, as will be seen by the following notes :—
GINGER,
At the spice auction on January 6, the offerings
amounted only to 160 bags of Japan, 2s. 6d. per ewt. being
paid for slightly wormy and limed. No Jamaica or Cochin
avas brought forward, but private sales of washed Cochin
were said to have taken place at 55s. A week later, Jamaica
was offered to the extent of 246 barrels, 65 of which sold
without reserve at» from 48s. to 49s. for fair bright Cochin,
“Calicut ginger was represented by some 500 packages,
all of which were bought in at the following prices : 52s. 6d.
for unsorted native cut, 42s. for bold brown Calient rough, and
35s. to 36s. for washed rough Cochin. Nothing was otiered
at the later auctions.
NUTMEGS, MACK, AND) PEMEN'CO.
Little attention has been given to either of these spices
during the month, and for nutmegs and mace there were
practically no quotations Pimento, at the first sale, was
-oftered to the extent of 203 bags, all of which were bought
in at from 254d. to 24d. per tbh. On the 13th, out of 300
bags brought forward, 115 were sold at 2d. per db. for fair ;
and again a week later, 120 bags of the same quality found
buyers at the same price.
ARROWROOT.
The dealings in this article have maintained a quiet
fone throughout the month, the quotations for St. Vincent
evanging from 24d. to 3£d. per Ib., according to quality.
SARSAPARILLA.
At the first drug auction on January 14, 16 bales
-of genuine grey Jamaica were offered, and all disposed of at
prices ranging from Is. 4d. to Is. 6d. per Tb. for ordinary
good grey. Eleven bales of Lima-Jamaica were offered, and
all sold at from 1s. 2d. to 1s. 3d. Nineteen bales of native
red were also brought forward, 13 of which were sold
at 10d. to 1s. per Ib, for dull to fair red, and 9d. for sea- and
water-damaged. At the last’ sale on the 28th, 44 bales of
grey Jamaica were offered, 42 of which found buyers at
1s. 5d. for good, and 1s. 3d. to 1s. 4d. for slightly coarse and
-dark. Thirteen bales of native Jamaica were offered, and all
sold at from 10d. to Js.-for dull: yellowish to good red. OF
Lima, 14 bales were offered, and 7 sold at from ls. ld. to
1s, 2d. per tb.
KOLA, LIME JUICE, OIL OF LIME, ETC.
Of Kola, 3 bags of fair Jamaica were offered in the
middle of the month and sold at 1s. 4d. per tb., and another
5 bags of good quality realized 2s. 4d. per Ib. Eight bags
of Ceylon, ranging from fair to sea-damaged, fetched trom
1d. to 13d. per tb. At the close of the menth 2 barrels of
mouldy dark Jamaica were offered and sold at fd. per Ib.
On the 13th, 4 puncheons and 6 hogsheads of West Indian
lime juice were disposed of from at is. to 1s. 2d. per gallon,
and a week later, fair pale raw West Indian was offered at
Is. 3d. per gallon. It was announced that 46 hogsheads
had arrived from Dominica. In the early part of the month
oil of lime was reported to be in good demand, realizing from
2s. Sd. to 3s. per tb. for West Indian. A week later, 4 cases
of fair distilled West Indian sold at 2s. 9d. per Ib., and for
another 3 cases, with slightly rusty tins, 2s. 1d. was paid.
At the last auction, oil of lime was still in steady demand,
4 cases and 14 bottles of West Indian distilled finding buyers
at 2s. 9d. per Ib. On the 13th, 6 barrels of sweet West
Indian orange oil were offered, and all were bought in at
15s. per tb., an offer of 13s. being refused. Nineteen bales of
Canella alba were offered on the 14th, 3 only being sold at
50s, per ewt. for fair pale.
RICE, LIMES, AND SISAL HEMP IN
BRITISH GUIANA.
Returns lately placed before the British Guiana
Board of Agriculture by the Director of Science and
Agriculture show that the area planted with rice in the
colony for the crop of 1908 amounted to 37,851 acres,
as compared with 29,700 acres in the previous year.
The total yield of paddy was returned as 962,679 bags
of 120 tb. each, or au average crop of 25-4 bags per
acre, 5 }
There are naturally considerable differences in the yields
per acre obtained in different districts ; the figures vary from
17 bags on the Abary Creek to 30 bags on the East Bank of
the Demerara river. In some cases two crops were obtained
in the course of the year, and then the total yield was
considerably higher; in North Essequebo, for instance, the
yield was 57 bags, or 54 bags from the first crop and 23
from the later; in South Essequebo the total retnin from
two crops was 39 bags.
A regular trade in British Guiana rice may now be said
to be established with the West Indian islands. The
Governor of British Guiana in a recent address to the Court
of Policy pointed out the importance of maintaining a high
standard in regard to the exported grain, and suggested that
it may become necessary at no distant date to fix a standard,
and to appoint an inspector for the purpose of preventing
injury to the trade by the shipment of rice of inferior
quality. It is estimated that the imports of rice into the
colony, which have gradually fallen from 15,290,000 tb. in
1904-5, to 2,126,560 Ib. in 1907-8, will in the present year
probably not exceed 990,000 tb.
The enltivation of both limes and sisal hemp has also
been started in British Guiana, and the future development.
of these industries will be watched with interest. An area,
of land at Agatash was sold to the Demerara Development.
Company for purposes of lime growing, and of this, 200
acres have already been planted up. A scheme for growing
» this fruit on a large scale has also been started in Berbice,
where at present about 70 acres are under the crop.
Sisal hemp cultivation may possibly prove to be
a remunerative industry on lands not suited to other economie
crops. A large area (7,000 acres) in the neighbourhood of
Kalacoon, Essequebo, has been leased to the Bartica Agri-
cultural Estates Company for planting sisal.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Maron 20. 1909.
MARIE I REPORTS:
London,—March 2, 1909, THe Wesr Inpra Com-
mittee Crcutar; Messrs. Kearnron Piper & Co.,
March 2, 1909.
Arrowroot—Quiet; 1d. for fair to fine manufacturing.
Batata—Sheet, 2/2 to 2/4; block, no quotations. (/)
Bees’-wax—£7 12s. for dark to pale.
Cacao—Trinidad, 57/- to 70/- per ewt.; Grenada, 51/- to
59 6 per ewt.
Corren—Santos, 32/9 per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—West Indian, £19 per ton.
Corron—Nevis and St. Kitt’s, 124d. to 134d. ; Barbados,
no quotations ; St. Vincent, Lad.
Frvuit—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
Lies-—Not wanted.
Prine-appLes—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-
Grape Frurr—5/6 to 9/- per box
Orancrs—Jamaica, 6/- to 9/- per box.
Fosric—£3 to £4 per ton.
FINGER—DDs. to BOs.
Honey—24s. to 26s. per cwt.
Istyciuass—West India lump, 2/2 to 2/6 per Tb.
Live Jurce—Raw, 1/- to 1/2 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 7s. 6d. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2/5
per tb. hand-pressed, 7/- per Th.
Locwoov—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Mace—Firm.
Nurmecs—Steady.
Pimenro—Quiet.
Rurser—Para, tine hard, 5s. 2d. to 5s. 24d. per th.
tum—Jamaica, no quotations; Demerara. 1/6 to 1/7, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/3 to 16/9; Muscovado, 12s.; Syrup,
14s. ; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,— March 5, 1909.—Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to 13c. ; Grenada, 11{c. to 121¢.;
Trinidad, 12sec. to 13%c. ; Jamaica, Ope. to Li de. per th.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $26-00 to S27" 00: culls, S16-00
to $17:00; Trinidad, select, $26-00 to $27 “00; culls,
$16-00 to $1700 per M,
Corree—Jamaica, ordinary, 8c. to 8Se.; good ordinary,
91e.; washed, up to 12c. per Ih.
Gincer—8jc. to 12hc. per Tb.
Goar Sxixs—Jamaieca, 55e.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49c. to 50c. ; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c,
to 48c. per Ib., dry flint.
Grare Preve—Jamnaica, $2°00 to $2°50 per box, $4°25 to
s5-00 per th.
Limes No quot: ibions.
Mace—29c. to 33c. per Ih.
Nurmecs—110's, to 10c. per Ih.
Orances—Jaimaica, $2°75 to $ ¢ 3°25 per barrel.
Pimento No quotations.
Sucar—Centritugals, 96°, 3°73he.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°234c.;
Molasses, 89, 2°985c. per tb., duty paid, .
.
Ve
INTER-COLONIAL MARKBTS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., March 15, 1909.
Messrs. I’. 8. Garraway & Co., March 15, 19092
Arrowrkoot—St. Vincent, $2°90 to $4:00 per 100 th.
Cacao—Dominieca and St. Lucia, $10°00 to S$11-00 per L100 th.
Cocoa-Nuts—S$13-00 for unhusked nuts.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $950 to $10-00 per
100 th.
Hay—$1°20 to 81°50 per 100 th.
~ Manures—Nitrate of soda, $62°00 to $65°00; Ohlendorft’s
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42:00; Cees
manure, $42: O00 to S48 00: ; Sulphate of ammonia, S75 2-00
to $75°00; Sulphate of potash, S67-00 per ton.
Monas: No quotations.
OntoNs—Strings, $2°25 to 83-00 per LOO tb.: loose, no
quotations.
Poraros—Nova Scotia, 32-00 to $2°75 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, 36°00 per bag of 210 Ib.; Canada, $3°30 per
hag of 120 Th.
Ric—e—Ballam, $5°40 to $5°45 (180 th.); Patna, $3°80 ;
Rangoon, $3:00 per 100 th.
SuGar—No quotations.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerinc & RicnrEr, March 6,
1909 ; Messrs.
March 5, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, 39°00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Batara—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c. to
50c. per Tb.
Cacao—Native, 13c. to 14c. per th.
Cassava—60e.
Cassava StarcH—S7°00 per barrel of 196 tb.
Cocoa-Nuts—$12-00 to $16-00 per M.
CorrrE—Creole, 12c. to 13c.; Jamaica, 123
slow. :
Dxrar—$5°00 per bag of 168 Tb.
Eppos—S1°68 per barrel.
Mo nasses—No quotations
Ontons—Madeira, 5c. to 6e. per th.
Piantains—20c. to 44e. per bunch, plentiful.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, S240 per LOO th.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, $1°20 per bag.
Rice— Ballam, 50 to $5°60; Creole, $4°70 to $4°80.
Sprit Peas—$5°50 to $5°60 per bag (210 th.); Marseilles,
S400
TAanNIAs— 82-64 er bag.
Yams—White, $2°16 per bag; Buck, no quotations.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2°25 to $2°50; Yellow, $3:10 to
$3°20 ; White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $2°30 to $2°40
per 100 th. (retail).
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 55e. per cubic foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3°79 to $5-75 per M.
Corpwoop—S2'40 to $2°64 per ton.
SANDBACH, Parker & Co.
. to 13c. per tb.,
Trinidad,—March 6, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant
& Co.
Cacao— Venezuelan, $12°30 to $12°75 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$12:00 to $12°75
Cocoa-Nuts —$ 00 per M. f.o.b. for selected pealed in
bags of LOO Th.
Cocoa-Nut Or—72e. per Inperial gallon, cask included.
Corree—Venezuelan, 8c. to dhe. per th.
Copra—S$3°10 to $3°20 per LOO ih
Duat—S$4'65 to $4°70 per 2-bushel bag.
Oxtons—83°00 te 84:00 per LOO Th. (retail).
Poraros— English, 90e. to S110 per 100 th.
Rick— Yellow, $5°00 to 25; White, $4°50 to $4°90 per bag.
Sprrr Pras—S5°75 to $6-00 per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20
per 100 tb.’
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS. A Fortnightly Review.
extracts
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains
from official correspondence and from progress and
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Agricultural matters throughous the West Indies.
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oe VIII. No. 180. THE AGRICULTURAL NE¥S. Manrcn 20, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
2A Ee
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure 4
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
_ ee
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Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO :—
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London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
— ee
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JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE TROPICALE. |
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CONTENTS special work of the Bureau of Chemistry, and the
Bureau of Sails.
Pater PACK The Burean of Chemistry has been busily occupied
meric alta al Bank at Lemons in the United recently in investigations relating to foods, its energies
BI, a B ee ae: iG Se tape I Dt aie : "Es dike 04 being largely directed to the problem of securing whole-
dlac ight at Grenada. 5) Lime and Cacao vorts ae C é : ae E iS
Chinese Vegetable Tallow 107 from Dominica... ... 103 some fuod supplies. ‘The lines of investigation have
Cocoa-nut Cultivation... 100| Market Reports... ... 112 been extremely numerous.
Colonial Fruit Show in Milk, Transmission of :
London Se eS 8 See NOS Disease by bode. coor A0r) : : :
orton Notes: Notes ani@ommente: 0 104 An immense amount of work has been done in
Cotton Cultivation by Our Bookshelf : organizing a system of food inspection, and of investi-
Peasant Proprictors... 102 Suggestions for School 2 share ; 4 Z
Catton Growing At Gide 0.0 gating and detailing :nethods of examination tor the
Jamaica... ... 102) Papaw, Flower and Fruit detection of adulterated or unwholesome foods, the
West Indian C otton oe) LOY Structure in-... ... 107 on ° Sins . .
Moon aeal Selechien Phan, Rulteealinees great activity in this direction being rendered necessary
Experiments... ... 105 Tapping of — . . 107 by the introduction of new and far-reaching legislation
Cows and Their Milk Pine-apple Culture in the Rees Enicspee i ;
Waoldia aylie=t TR IMET a0 Hawaiian Islands ... 100 0 the subject.
de “WS 0608 ntsi@ormenrns 52. «.. LOD : : : = : 2
Department News» -::... 106 meuden: te aaa : All this has involved the examination of 2 vast
Foot-and-Mouth Disease... 111) SUS*! “neustry ip umber of food substances of the mos raried kind
Hriiiilireseehoblantimenot Manurial Experiments number of food substances o he most varied kind.
Gleani ere aa resulting in information valuable not only to the
mleanings ... le JCC W ATC slanads, fs Z =
Guanom ie feel 190720 . 99 Bureau in question but to the world at large.
Horses and. Mules in the Tobago, Live Stock ite it fs ; :
Oiathieyal Sinise co) Lalit inches Shit This Bureau has, amongst. many other lines of
Insect Notes : WS: Department of work, investigated the effect on the human system of
Millions and Malaria 106 Agricultur OF 2
1 MIS = NLiALlar le eee ) e eee see 4 » > 7
AMiyes (Cloferoral ANSEL Vian Vanes Supports for 105 Varlous substances used as preservatives of foods.
a Paras asite of... _--_ 106) Yams, Good Varieties of 105 During the year 1907 attention in this connexion was
largely centred on the question of the use of sulphur
The United States Department as a bleaching agent in the preparation of foods. and
of sulphurous acid and sulphites as preservative agents
of Agriculture. With regard to sulphurous acid and sulphites, experi-
inents carried out on twelve young men by this Bureau,
a show unmistakably the injurious effect of these
ROM the summarized account which was preservatives, especially in reducing the number of red
given in the editorial of the last issue, corpuscles in the blood.
some idea will have’ been gained of the The Bureau of Soils is an offshoot of the Bureau
& general organization and’ extent of the operations of — of Chemistry, the enormous extent and importance of
ee the United States Department of Agriculture. It will the work relating to soils justifying the creation of
now be interesting to consider in fuller detail the a separate Bureau, which now has in hand some of the
93 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Arr 3, 1909.
most important questions ever dealt with by investiga-
tors.
The growth of the population of the United States
demands that new land shall be available for agri-
cultural development, and one of the most important
duties of this Bureau, therefore. has been the organiza-
tion of a soil survey which shall indicate the character
and potentialities of large areas, including both land
already ocenpied and that yet awaiting development.
In this way up to June 1907, there had been surveyed
139,247 $9,118,080
resulted in a knowledge of the soil resources of the
square miles or acres. This has
country far beyond what was ever conceived of before.
Soil maps and reports are prepared for each section
of country examined and these are finding application
in the most varied manner: the War Department, the
Post Office Department, Life Insuraace companies, as
well as farmers. nursery men, seeds-men, and agricultural
implement makers find in them valuable stores of
Information,
The thus acquired has been of
immediate and direct benefit to many agricultural
industries. The production of fine-textured tobacco
wrapper leaf in the Connecticut Valley has been
rendered an assured possibility. In Texasand Alabama,
it is now found that fine cigar tobacco of the Cuban
type can be grown, while the tobacco industry of the
States of New York, Ohio, and Virginia has been
markedly improved by the
available.
knowledge
knowledge rendered
The development of the dry lands of the West,
the possibilities of irrigation schemes, the introduction
of new crops, all depend largely on the work of the
Bureau of Soils, and, proceeding with assurance as to
the knowledge supplied, are adding rapidly to the
wealth of the country.
Special investigations relating to viticulture, to
rice growing, to apple growing, to fruit and truck farm-
ing, to the reclamation of swamp land, to timber rais-
ing, are all resulting in striking additions to knowledge—
additions which mean development and increase of
wealth, and an avoidance of waste which must—and
indeed is—exerting a most important influence on the
country at large.
In order that the knowledge so acquired may be
brought home to the people interested, oftieers of the
Department have organized a system of educational
tours: over 100 meetings have been held in the
different States, so that these tours with their
mee igs have made immediately available much
information which might have taken a considerable
time to diffuse by means of publications alone. In
addition to this, special otticers are detailed to advise
farmers with regard to their crops and the best
methods of dealing with their lands.
In certain districts, areas which were formerly
under arable crops are reverting to less valuable
pasture, or are being abandoned. ‘The reasons for these
changes, the capabilities of the land, and the possibilities
of using land to good advantage are being carefully
studied so that much waste will be avoided.
Much time and work have been expended in
investigating problems relating to soil fertility, and
soine striking theories have been put forward. It is
claimed that the infertility of soils is very frequently
due to the presence of bodies deleterious to plant
growth, and that these bodies may arise as excreta
from the roots of growing plants, or from the decay of
organic matterin the soil. It is claimed that these
deleterious bodies may be removed or rendered harm-
less by such operations as tillage, draining, and
manuring, and that ina large measure the beneficial
etfects of these operations are dependent upon their
relation to bodies.
these deleterious
Only passing
reference can be made here to the interesting line of
investigations thus opened up, the ultimate outcome
of which it is not vet possible to forecast.
In new countries, one of the greatest dangers con-
fronting the farmer is the loss of his land by erosion,
When the forest is cleared, or the surface conditions
altered in a manner necessary to bring the land under
cultivation, 1f not uncommonly happens that storm
water, or even the water of moderate rains forms
channels and gullies whereby the soil is carried away
to an alarming and dangerous extent. It may indeed
be claimed that practically all arable land is under-
going more or less erosion, but in new countries this
erosion often takes on unexpected forms and threatens
to ruin otherwise promising areas. Problems incident
to this phase of agriculture are receiving the carefnk
attention of the Bureau of Soils, and as a result, sound
advice and explicit instructions are given to the farmers
throughout the country, while special attention and
help are afforded in aggravated cases. Here again is
the possibility of avoiding enormous waste.
Few problems in Agriculture escape the activi-
ties of the Bureau of Soils, which stands—with the
other similar organizations of the Department of”
Agriculture—as a striking example of the application
of scientific methods of research to industrial needs.
Vou. VIIT. No. 181.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 99
INDUSTRY.
SUGAR
Manurial acne rimenee) with Sugar-cane
in the Leeward Islands, 1907-8.
The imanurial experiments conducted with sugar-
cane in the Leeward Islanas have already demonstrated,
so far as plant canes are concerned, that artificial
manures are not remunerative, provided that adequate
supplies of pen manure or manures of a similar nature
are obtainable. Manunial experiments with plant canes
have, therefore, been «discontinued, and such trials
ure now conducted only with ratoon canes. Pamph-
fet No. 57, in the series issued by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture, entitled ‘ Manurial Experi-
ments with Sugar- -cane in the Leeward Islands, 1907-8,
has just been published, and gives in a brief form
the results of the experiments conducted with the crop
which was reaped last year. This work consists of the
thirteen-fuld repetition of the thirty-three experiments
adopted since 1900 for use at the Experiment Stations
in Antigua and Sr. Kitt’s. The investigations relate to
ratoon canes only, the plant canes whic oh preceded the
ratoons not having received any artificial manures,
since the object of “the experiments was to ascertain
what artificial manures, if any, will prove remunerative
with ratoon canes under the conditions obtaining in
ordinary agricultural practice in the two islands in
question, The work was conducted at four stations in
‘Antigua and three in St. Kitv’s, and in every instance,
except one, the experiments were carried on in dupli-
cate. There were thus about 400 experiment plots.
The results obtained on each of these 400 plots will
shortly be published in the full report on these experiments
that is about to be issued. The present pamphlet simply
adleals with the average results obtained on the plots as
a whole.
The experiments comprise control plots receiving no
manure, plots receiving pen manure, and plots receiving
nitrogen, potash, and phosphates in various combinations.
The results are given in the form of both tables and diagrams,
and show the weight of cane obtained in each of the thirty-
three plots, the increment due to the use of manure, the cost of
the manure, the value of the increment, and the consequent
profit or loss. It is to be noted that in every instance during
the season 1907-8 the use of manure has inereased the yield
«of cane, but not always to a profitable extent. As the profit
depends upon the value of the cane, the profit or loss is
calculated on two assumed values for canes, viz., 10s. 10d.
per ton, a value formerly adopted for the purpose of compari-
son in these experiments ; and 15s. 10d. per ton, a value
approximating to that paid by the Antigua sugar factory
for canes during the reaping season 1908.
For the details of the-experiments the reader is referred
to the pamphlet, but it may be-here stated that, on the whole,
nitrogenous manures in a quick-acting form, such as sulphate
of ammonia or nitrate of soda, are necessary for the growth
of ratoon canes, but that several factors control the question
of profit. These factors are rainfall, cultivation, and disease ;
and upon these the successful use of manure is dependent,
At St. Kitt’s the soil is friable and easily kept in order,
while root disease is not prevalent. The growth is therefore
largely determined by the rainfall, and inay be also largely
influenced by manuring. At Antigua in many places the
soil is stiff, and requires much effort to keep it in eood tilth,
while root disease is wide-spread. These factors, as well as
an irregular rainfall, exert a profound influence on the yield
of canes, and may entirely mask the effect of manure.
The experiments support the view, which is in accord
with the experience of planters, that under average condi-
tions of soil and rainfall, it is desirable, in order to ensure
profitable returns, to manure ratoon canes with either
sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda. When circumstances
are sueh as are likely to result in moderate growth of the
canes, it will be sufticient to use about 2 ewt. of sulphate of
ammonia or 24 ewt. of nitrate of soda ; but when there is
a prospect of considerable growth, the quantity may be
increased to 3 ewt. in the case of sulphate of ammonia, or
34 ewt. of nitrate of soda,
The growth of the ratoon canes is largely dependent on
the thorough preparation of the soil and its manuring with
pen manure when the plant canes are being planted.
After discussing the results derived from the experi-
ments, brief reference is made to the growth of the canes at
the seven individual stations, and it is seen that these seven
stations present marked differences, and corresponding
differences are observable in the effect of the manures. In
order to study these, reference must be made to the full
report alluded to above, the issue of which may be expected
shortly.
The experiments reported upon during the year under
review amply support the view that nitrogenous manutes
are both remunerative and necessary. It is desirabie to
emphasize this, because previous results obtained in this
three years afforded information which threw
considerable doubt on the value of manures for ratoon canes.
series for
When reporting on the results of these three years it
was observed that the yields were seriously influenced by
drought, and this circumstance, there is no doubt, give rise
to the apparent want of valne exhibited by the manures
under trial. It is satisfactory to observe, that the experimen-
tal work now reported upon shows clearly that, in average
seasons, manwes are of considerable use and value. All these
experiments are therefore closely in accord with the practical
experience of the planters, who are well aware tiat in bad
seasons manures produce but little influence on ratoon canes,
while in good seasons they are eminently beneficial.
In addition to the report on the infinence of
manures, the writers raise some pertinent questions
relating to the effect of the operations of tillage
commonly given to ratoon canes: these will be referred
to in the next issue.
From statistics lately published im the Official Gazette
of British Guiana, it is seen that the areas under rice
cultivation, and the average returns per acre in the three
counties are as follows :—Berbice : area under rice, 16,097
acres ; average return, 23:1 bags per acre; Demerara: area
under rice, 13,202 acres ; average return, 21:2 bags per acre ;
Essequibo : area under rice, 8,552 acres ; average return,
36°5 bags per acre. The higher average return obtained in
Essequibo is due to the fact that two crops of rice were
grown during the year over an area of about 4,000 acres in
that county.
100
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 3, 1909.
Wie S*
INDIAN FRUI®:
COCOA-NUT CULTIVATION.
Cocoa-nut cultivation as a commercial industry
can hardly be said to exist im the West Indian
islands. apart from Trinidad and Jamaica—a matter
which is somewhat surprising. in view of the good
returns that are frequently obtained from coeoa-nut
groves with the expenditure of very little outlay,
The cultivation of this erop im Porto Rico was lately
discussed by Dr. D. W. May, Director of the Experi-
ment Station of the island, in an article appearmg
in the Porto Rico Horticultural News. Although
cocoa-nut planting is not carried out on a systematic
or extensive scale in Porto Rico at present, many good
groves are in existence, and Dr. May appears to regard
the industry as one of the most promising in the island,
The following details have been abstracted from his
article:
In planting cocoa-nuts it is important to select only fine,
ripe seed nuts, the produce of healthy, well developed trees,
of good bearing capacity. The ripe nnts are first set out at
distances of 1 foot from each other in holes 2 feet deep, and
with about 2 inches of the surface of the nut exposed. It is
important that this seed bed should be kept moist but not
wet. After a period of from four to six months, the young
seedlings will have reached a size at which they can be trans
planted to the ground in which the trees are to grow. — The
seedlings should be set ont at distances of 30 feet each way,
[t isa good plan to keep the soil around the youne trees
mulehed with leaves and trash, as this has a helpful effect on
the growth of the palms.
The cocoanut palm responds well to cnltivation and
applications of manure. The practice of green manuring is
frequently recommended for cocoanut groves, and it is
found that by growing crops of heans between the trees, and
digging the vegetation into the ground, growth of the palms
is considerably hastened.
Cocoanut palms bear transplanting. well, and it is
recommended that if the young trees do not appear to be
Hourishing, they may be taken up, some manure and trash
worked into the hole, and the trees replanted.
The period at which the cocoanut palm. begins: to bear
fruit varies from five to. ten years, depending largely upon
the location and the care given to it.
The fact that cocoanut palms are so commonly scen
growing along indicates that
the trees will do well in sandy soils. Probably, however, they
flourish best of all on deep alltyial lands, such as those
coast-lines and ‘sea-beaches
found near the mouths of rivers. <A clay soil is very
unsuitable for this crop. Since the saline surroundings of the
sea-coast 1s so congenial to the palms, it is customary in
many countries whemthe trees are planted inland. to plac
several pounds of salt’ in the holes in which the acne
set, with the object of making up for the want of saline
constituents.
A good cocoanut tree should yield an average of 100
nuts per year, and under favourable conditions, 200 have
been obtained. Taking the whole island of Port Rico,
however, a return of sixty-five nuts per tree is probably about
the average figure obtained, and no doubt conditions are
very similar in’ the British West Indian islands. This
low return indicates the general want of care and attentiom
from which the industry is suffering.
The cocoanut palm will continue in bearing for se
long as seventy or eighty years. During the early years
of its growth, catch erops of various kinds, as provision
crops, ete, may be planted between the tree or, better still,
leguminous plants, as cowpeas or velvet beans.
PINE-APPLH CULTURE IN THE
HAWATIAN ISLANDS.
Pine-apple cultivation has been found to be
highly profitable im the ,Hawaiian Islands, and at
present some 3,000 to 4,000 acres are under the crop.
The area is expected to increase, and Mr. Jared G.
Smith, the Officer-in-charge of the Hawaiian Experi-
ment Station, anticipates that there will be at least
10,000 acres planted with pine-apples in the next five
years. Some of the frnit is consumed loeally, a good
proportion canned and exported, while the remainder is
shipped in the fresh state to San Franciseo, and other
markets on the Pacific coast of America. In a paper
entitled ‘ Agriculture in the Hawaiian Islands,’ recently
published by Mr. Smith, the accompanying details are
given as to the methods of pine-apple cultivation
followed in Hawaii ;—
Clean cultivation.is practised by growers of pine-apples
in these-islands, The land, if virgin soil, is ploughed, cross-
ploughed, and harrowed, and is planted with suckers or tops.
The plants are set out-at the rate of from 1,000 to 10,000
per acre. Three methods of planting are in vogue. Where
the object is to grow fresh fruit for shipment, the plants are
set out in rows 6 feet apart, and at distances of from 20 te
24 inches in the row, or at the rate of about 3,600 plants per
Morn. ViitieeNo. 18. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
101
acre. This distance between the rows permits the cultivation
of the crop with horse or mule labour and machinery, and
Jeads to the production of large attractive fruits. Plants set
out at this rate of spacing often produce fruits averaging from
6 to 9 Ib. each.
For canning purposes, smaller fruits are more desirable,
and smaller size is toa certain extent ensured by closer
planting. The plants are therefore set out in rows 4 feet
apart, and at distances of about 2 feet from plant to plant,
which requires about 6,000 plants per acre ; or, at distances
of 21 feet by 2 feet, when 10,000 plants per acre are required.
If there isa good stand, and the plants are ina healthy
condition, abont 90 per cent. may be counted on to bear
fruit in from eighteen to twenty-four months after planting.
When an acre of land is planted with 6,000 pines, the
first crop will average about 10 tons. The second, or ratoon
evop, will be somewhat higher, because many of the plants
produce two suckers, both of which bear fruit. The yield
of the ratoon crop of pines has run as high as 20 tons per
acre under exceptionally favourable conditions.
The cultivation consists in keeping the soil between the
rows in good condition and free from weeds. The pine-app!e
is a crop that gives best results with perfectly clean cultiva-
tion. Where the plants are set in rows 4 feet apart, all of
the cultivation for the first twelve or fifteen months may be
done with horse or mule labour. When the plants flower, and
as they begin to ripen their fruits, the leaves of the plant
spread out, so that it is no longer possible to take machinery
between the rows, and after that time hand labour is
necessary. The cost of production in the Hawaiian Islands
varies from $10 to $15 per ton of pineapples, and at the
canneries, prices of from $20 to $27 per ton are paid for the
fruit. If the fruit is shipped fresh to the Pacific or Eastern
markets, prices as high as from $200 to $240 per ton may
be realized.
The chief variety of pine-apple cultivated in
Hawaii is the Smooth Cayenne, which is the kind
grown in the Azores, and the one which commands the
highest price in the London market. This variety does
not do well in the West Indies, where the Red Spanish
is the most popular and satisfactory kind to grow. The
Red Spanish is also grown toa, small extent in the
Hawaiian Islands. It may be added that the experiments
in shipping pine-apples, conducted by the Hawaiian
Experiment Station, have shown that this fruit, if
carefully handled and packed, can be shipped success-
fully to distances of at least 5,000 miles.
THE PLANTING OF FRUIT TREES.
Although it might seem that the results of experi-
ments as to methods of cultivation conducted under
English conditions can have little bearing on the
problems presented by tropical agriculture, vet the
experimental work carried out at the Woburn Fruit
Farm of the Duke of Bedford, in England, includes
investigations, which have more than a local interest,
and are indeed, in some cases, of universal importance.
Such an investigation is one lately described in the
ninth annual report of the Woburn Fruit Farm. This
deals with the methods of planting fruit trees, and it
is notable that the results of the work point to
conclusions that are in direct opposition to principles
which have long been accepted without question by
fruit growers in many countries. The following particu-
lars have been abstracted froma review of the experi-
ments in question which appeared in Nature of
February 25 last :—
Freit growers in England and other countries have long
held the belief, which, however, does not appear to be based
on any experimental investigation of the matter, that fruit
trees mst be planted in a somewhat elaborate manner, and
according to certain fixed principles if suecess is to be
attained. The soil is thoroughly prepared ; a wide, but not
deep hole is made in which the roots are spread out in all
directions, and arranged near the surface, with a slight up-
ward bearing at the ends. It has always been customary,
too, to observe many precautions in filling in the soil. Small
quantities of finer earth are first worked in among the roots,
hollow places caused by archings in the stouter roots are
filled up, and then the rest of the soil is put in, trodden care-
fully down, and the whole left to the compacting influence of
rain.
The investigations made at the Woburn Fruit Farm,
and in one or two other districts, by the same experimentors,
point to the conclusion, however, that all the elaborate
precautions mentioned above, are not only useless, but
actually detrimental to the best development of the young
tree, and especially of its root system. The experiments,
which seem convincing enough, indicate that the proper way
to plant a fruit tree is to double the roots up anyhow, and
stick the tree in, throw in the soil, and ram it down as if
one were fixing a gate-post.
According to the figures given in relation to the
experiments, the results in the case of 59 per cent. of the
trees were in favour of ramming down the soil, 27 per cent.
showed no difference (i.e., all the elaborate detail of the
ordinary way of planting was simply a waste of time), and in
only 14 per cent. of the cases were the results unfavourable
to ramming.
Examination of the trees shows that ramming has led
to a copious development of fibrous roots. Direct experi-
ments showed that the fibrous and small roots produced in
the nursery before lifting play no great part as roots during
the subsequent life of the tree; the important point is to
induce fresh root formation, and the ramming does this more
rapidly than the orthodox method of planting. No harm
was done, and sometimes even good resulted, when the old
roots were deliberately damaged before planting.
These results of the Woburn work have, of course,
not been received altogether favourably by fruit growers
in England, but their publication will undoubtedly lead
to further investigation on the subject. The points
elicited are commended to tke notice of persons who
are planting or about to plant fruit trees in the West
Indies.
Curators of Botanic Stations especially, would be
well advised to make experiments, if only on a small
scale, similar to those described. In order to test the
application of the Woburn results to the planting of
oranges, limes, mangos, cacao, ete., in these islands, it
would be sufticient to set out a short row of each kind
of tree, alternate trees in the rows being planted
according to the old and the new methods, respectively.
Where space is not limited, these trees need not be
regarded as part of the permanent crop, but may be
dug up later, in order to compare the effects of the two
methods of planting upor the development of the roots,
102
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
Aprit 3, 1909.
ae
<>
—
irae
I . \COT TON
@ ©) AG
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date of March 15 last, in reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
During the past fortnight a good business has been
done in West Indian Sea Island catton, and prices are steady.
The sales include Anguilla and St. Croix at 12}. and
13d; Barbados, 123d. and 13%d.; Virgin Islands, 13d.;
St. Kitt’s and Nevis, 13d. and l4d.; and St. Vincent, 14d.
and 164d. The total sales amount to about 560 bales, of
which quite a half were St. Vincent.
Although the Charleston stock is now reduced to about
1,000 bales, the large quantities sold have simply been trans-
ferred into spinners’ hands for stocking purposes. We there-
fore think that prices, although not likely to go lower, will
probably not advance materially this season. Unless trade
improves considerably, consumers can afford to be indifferent
about the market for sume time to come.
COTTON CULTIVATION BY PEASANT
PROPRIETORS.
Praiseworthy efforts are being made by the Nevis
Agricultural and Commercial Society to encourage the
peasant holders of the island to cultivate their cotton °
plots according to the most approved methods.
For this purpose, in the past season a special competition
was arranged among the peasant proprietors, and money prizes
of 30s., 20s. and 10s. respectively, were offered for the three
best cultivated cotton plots. Over twenty entries were made
in this competition, the prizes for which were awarded at the
Agricultural Show held at Nevis on January 28 last.
The Agricultural Instructor at Nevis (Mr. John O.
Maloney) supervised the laying-out and planting of the
cotton plots, and the final judging to determine the prize
cultivations was made by Mr. Maloney and Mr. Mills, an
experienced planter.
The judges stated that the competition lad a stimulat-
ing effect on the amount of care and attention given to their
plots by the small holders. Every effort was made to adopt
and carry out the most rational methods of cultivation, and
the results were so generally satisfactory that it was dithcult
to discriminate between the several claims for the prizes.
Finally, it was decided to divide the second prize into two
equal parts, so that one prize of 30s. was awarded, together
with three prizes of 10s. each, The prize-winners were :
Ist prize, Henry Scarborough ; 2nd prize, divided between
John Hanley and James Brown; 3rd prize, John Stanley.
It is hoped that the effects of this competition
eas
OTES.
may not be confined only to the past season, but that,
since the peasant proprietors have had an object-lesson
in the good results of careful methods of cultivation,
they may be induced to continue these methods in the
coming year,
COTTON GROWING AT JAMAICA.
The evidence elicited by the Committee on Cotton
Growing lately appointed at Jamaica is unfavourable to
the proposition that any encouragement should be given
by the Government to stimulate the industry. The
unsuitability of the climatic conditions which prevail
in many parts of the island where cotton growing has
been tried, the lack of knowledge on the part of the
peasantry as to the best methods of cultivation and
treatment, the prevalence of insect pests, and the fact
that the land might, in preference, be ntilized for crops
which demand less attention and give more profit-
able returns, were all brought forward as arguments
against any effort being made to encourage cotton
growing in the colony.
The conditions at Jamaica are not altogether comparable
with those that exist in some of the smaller West Indian
islands, and agriculturists in the former island possess the
advantage that they have a larger choice of crops at command
than planters and small holders at Antigua, St. Vincent,
Barbados, ete. Not only sugar-cane, but bananas, oranges,
cocoa-nuts, cacao, coffee, cassava (for starch manufacture),
ginger, pimento, ete., are grown on a coinmercial scale, and
since they all offer a more or less profitable return to the
planter and peasant holder, they are preferred to a new
cultivation like cotton. It is apparent, too, that in districts
of the island where it was at first hoped to establish cotton
growing on an extended scale Vere—the weather
conditions lately have been peculiarly unsuitable for the crop.
It was pointed out that the peasant settlers of Jamaica
frequently eultivate plots of land situated some distance
from their homes, and often do not visit their holdings
more than week. This fact made them unwilling
to grow cotton, a crop which needed a good deal of attention,
and which demanded.more frequent visits, and necessitated
greater care than they were in the habit of giving to their
plots.
Stress was also Jaid upon the fact that settlers and
others who took up cotton growing in the past had suffered
from lack of instruction, and that if any steps were taken
to encourage the industry, one of the first things necessary
would be to provide facilities for giving teaching and
demonstration as to the best methods of cultivation and
treatment,
as in
once a
Nore Vili sNo; 181° THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 103
At a meeting of the Board of Management of the ideutical with those existing in the natural product, and
Jamaica Agricultural Society held on-January 28 last, the which, as already indicated, give a peculiar value to the best
above evidence was considered, and although its discouraging
nature was recognized, it was decided to expend a sum of
£10, in the coming financial year, on experiments in
cotton growing carried out on peasants’ plots, under the
guidance of the Agricultural Instructors, in suitable parts of
the island.
Although present conditions in regard to this
matter inay hot now appear promising at Wananica. yet,
undoubtedly, no pains should be spared, and every
effort made to ascertain the possibilities of Sea Island
votton cultivation in the island, before deciding to
abandon all attempts to establish so einable: an
industry.
GUANO.
The varying prices at which guano may be
purchased on the market indicate the varying quality
of the material, and this form of manure is one which
should only be purchased on the resn!ts of analysis.
Guano—as is generally known—is the more or less dried
excrement of sea birds, and the largest deposits of this
valuable fertilizing agent are found on the coasts of Peru and
of the adjacent islands. Guanos are also found on certain
islands off the south-west coast of Africa. The manure ‘in
question is peculiarly useful, in that the best grades supply not
only phosphates to the soil, but also nitrogen and a small
proportion of potash. The original deposits always contained
a fairly rich percentage of nitrogen. If the guano was
deposited in the dry, rainless districts of Peru, the nitrogenous
matter remains indefinitely in the excrement, but in rainy
regions, this is decomposed and washed away in course of
time, and the resuiting material is, of course, insoluble, and
valued almost solely for the phosphate content.
In passing, it may be said that the best Peruvian
deposits of guano have been exhausted, and as a consequence,
the grades now exported are inferior to those shipped twenty
and thirty years ago. As already indicated, the composition
of the manure varies greatly ; and present imports from
Peru may contain from 2 to 10 per cent of nitrogen, 10 to 30
per cent of phosphoric acid, and from 0-2 to 3-4 per cent of
potash. Such material as sand may exist in the manure to
from about 8 to as much as 30 per cent.
In a nitrogenous guano, the nitrogen present exists in
a number of forms, e.g. urie acid, and the ammonium salts of
oxalic, uric, sulphuric, phosphoric, and carbonic acids, ete., as
well as in compounds of organic nature. Asa result of this
complexity of composition, it follows that while some of the
contained nitrogen is immediately available as plant food,
other compounds will have to undergo bacterial changes in
he soil before becoming available for this purpose. This
peculiarity renders nitrogenous guano a manure especially
well suited for application to a crop for which it is desirable
to provide a supply of nitrogen that will gradually become
available as the growing plants require it.
What is known as ‘ equalized’ or ‘rectified’ guano repre-
sents an attempt on the part of manufacturers to bring up
the composition of guanos of lower grade, more especially
those from which the soluble nitrogenous constituents have
been washed out by rain, to that of the richer grades deposited
in dry districts, by the addition of nitrogen compounds such
as sulphate of ammonia. Such manures, while containing
nitregen in good forms, cannot entirely substitute the original
guanos, owing to the impossibility of adding forms of nitrogen
guano, by their gradual availability.
The phosphates i in this manure are chiefly pres nt
phosphates of calcium. In nitrogenous guanos, ho vever,
a proportion exists as ammonium phosphate, which is a salt
readily soluble in water,
Since the great proportion of the calcium phosphate
present is the insoluble, tribasic form, guanos are frequently
treated with small quantities of sulphuric acid. In the
‘dissolved guano’ which results, the phosphate is changed
into the soluble form, similar to that which exists in super-
phosphate. ‘The nitrogen, too, has become fixed as sulphate
of ammonia, and is in no danger of being lost by passing oft
as a gas.
Commercial Peruvian guano should be ina dry, finely-
divided state, and if squeezed in the hand should not cling
tagether in a sticky mass. The colour’ should be rather light,
and the smell not very pungent, for if so, a loss of ammonia
is taking place.
as
LIME AND CACAO EXPORTS FROM
DOMINICA.
In the course of the address given by the Adminis-
trator of Dominica (Hon. Douglas Young, C.M.G.) to the
Legislative Council of the island on March 18 last, it
was menuoned that the vear 1909 had been a prosper-
ous one for Dominica, and that there were abundant
signs of the steady development of the island’s fertile
resources. ‘The total trade had increased from £252,893
in 1907 to £265,127 in 1908. There had been an
advance in value of £19,621 in the imports for local
consumption, while the exports of local produce showed
a falling off of £26,462 compared with the previous
year. This decline in value of the export shipments is
explained in the following extracts from the address -—
Of the exports from Dominica in 1908, lime products
represented £50,954, and cacao, £30,362. The reduction
from £77,407 in the previous year in the value of the lime
products shipped is not due to a less yield in 1908, but to
the reduced market prices obtained during that year compared
with 1907, when the price of lime juice was exceptionally
high. The average figure realized for concentrated juice in
1907 was about £22 per hegshead, while in 1908 it fell to
about £15 per hogshead.
The lime crop of Dominica for 1908 reached about
310,000 barrels, an increase of 38,000 barrels on the previous
year. To no small extent may this increase be attributed to
the yield of increased areas under cultivation. As in previous
years the value of the shipments has been computed at the
time of export on the net estimated value of the produce, but
if the price realized in the overseas market be taken, the lime
products of Dominica for the past year may be valued at
£80,000. The citrate of “lime industry shows a small
advancement on the previons year. During 1908, 2,520 ewt.,
valued at £8,164, were shipped abroad.
The amount of cacao exported from Dominica in 1908
was 9,820 ewt., compared with 11,628 ewt. in the previous
year. The Administrator was not prepared to say that the
shortage thus shown is entirely due to a short crop for the
year. The crop was not so full.as that of 1907, but it is
thought that the lateness of the ‘Christmas’ crop is
partly responsible for the shrinkage, and that in consequence
a part of the 1908 crop will be included in the export of the
present year.
104
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Arrit 3, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
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, H.C. A complete list of
Agents will be found on page 8 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s, 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
1909: No. 181.
SATURDAY, APRIL . 3,
Contents of Present Issue.
The chief lines of work, and the most important
problems that are receiving the attention of the Bureau
of Chemistry and Bureau of Soils of the United
States Department of Agriculture are briefly discussed
in the editorial.
On page 99 will be found a review of the results
of manurial-experiments carried out with ratoon canes
at Antigua and St. Kitt’s in 1907-8.
Cocoa-nut cultivation, and the methods adopted
in pine-apple growing in the Hawaiian Islands, are
dealt with on page 100. Some interesting experiments
on the planting of fruit trees are reported on page 101.
A competition among peasant cotton growers at
Nevis is expected to have useful results. At) Jamaica
cotton growing is nut at present regarded with much
favour(page 102).
'
Useful information as to the composition and
character of guano appears on page 103. Under ‘Insect
Notes’ (page 106) it will be seen that a new theory is
brought forward to explain the absence of the Anopheles
mosquito from Barbados.
Attention is drawn to the «articles dealing with
transmission of disease by milk, and ‘ foot-and-mouth’
disease, that appear on pp. 109 and 111, respectively.
Agricultural Bank at St. Vincent.
The new Agriéultural Bank at St. Vincent, to
which reference was made in the last number of this
journal, was started-6n March 3 last. It would appear,
however, that but a comparatively small number of the
5,000 shares which it is proposed to issue has so far
been taken up.
The number of shares in the Bank which a single
individual may hold has been limited to 100, and the
management will be ‘entrusted to a Board of Directors,
consisting of seven persons, who will be elected yearly
by the shareholders. Any shareholder possessing not
less than ten shares: will be eligible for election as
a Director.
It is hoped that this new enterprise will prove
a suecess, since such an institution may undoubtedly
prove to be of great benefit to the small holdings class
of the island.
ee
Lemons in the United States.
West Indian lime growers and others interested in
the possibilities of the industry, should receive
encouragement from the figures showing the annual
imports of lemons into the United States, since if 1s
admitted on all hands that the lime is, at the least,
equal to the lemon for all purposes for which the fruit
can be utilized. ‘The United States now import each
year about 150,000,000 tb. of lemons, most of which
come from Sicily. Lemon production has, however,
undergone considerable development in California
of recent years, and latest estimates place the annual
output from that State at about 100,000,000 Ib. The frnit
is stated to be of high quality, and to be in great demand
in the States in preference to the Sicilian product. An
article dealing with various phases of Jemon culture in
California, and the methods of picking, washing. colour-
ing, curing, and storing the fruit was published in the
Year-book of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for
1907.
rr +
Colonial Fruit Show in London.
The Colonial Fruit Shows held in London by the
Royal Horticultural Society have done much to make
West Indian products better known in Great Britain.
Last year three shows were held, but only one exhibi-
tion has been arranged for 1909, which will take place
in December next. In this connexion the West India
Committee Circular, of March 2 last, says : “The dates
of the show—December 1 and 2—should suit the
West Indies extremély well, as there is a Royal Mail
Steamer due to arrive at Southampton on the previous
Monday, November 29. It is hoped, therefore, that
several of the West Indian colonies will decide to take
part in the exhibition, and thas the Permanent
Exhibition Committees will communicate with the
Secretary of the West Indix« Committee,. who will be
glad to make the necessary arrangements on their
behalf ‘here is no charge whatever for space. On
the first day of the show, Professor Robert Newstead,
who recently visited Jamaica, is fo read a paper on
“Some West Indian Insect Pests.”
Vou. VIL. No. 181.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
105
‘Supports for Yam Vines.
The practice of ‘staking yams,) 1.e.,
stakes or other supports on which yam vines may
climb, is commonly followed in islands where the
existence of abundant woodlands renders the stakes
easily obtainable. It is evident that ‘staking’ is
especially instrumental in increasing the yield on
retentive soils, and where the rainfall is heavy. When
supports are provided for the vines, closer planting can
be adopted, and the land eeconomized in this we vy. An
experiment bearing on this point was carried out last
year at the Su. omens Agricultural School. ‘Two kinds
of yams— Lisbon’ and ‘ Bottle-neck Lisbon ’—were
grown both staked and MURS The ‘Lisbon’ vam
yielded at the rate of 3:2 toms per acre when urstaked,
and 67 tons when staked. ‘The staked plot of ‘ Bottle-
neck Lisbon’ gave at the rate uf 43 tons per acre, and
the unstaked plot only 24 tons. The deficient yield
from the unstaked plants is due to the fact that, when
planted at ordinary distances, the yam vines are
produced in such profusion that it is impossible for
light and wir to have proper access, and hence full
development cannot take place,
of providing
Good Varieties of Yams.
Experiments with a number of varieties of yams
have been carried ov annually iy many years past
both at Antigua and St. Kitt’s, and as a result, several
kinds have now definitely proved themselves to possess
a crop-ylelding capacity above the average. Among
these are ‘Light Red, ‘Sealed Top, ‘ Bottle-neck
Lisbon, ‘ Bugle Horn,’ and ‘Cush Cush,’
At Antigua the yields have been as follows, on the
average of the past five years: ‘ Light Red, 10,780 Ib.
per acre; ‘ Sealed Top, 7,700 tb. : ‘ Bottle-neck Lisbon,’
7,326 th.: ‘Cush Cush, 6,314 1b., and ‘Bugle Horn,
6,182 lb. It shonld be mentioned that these results
are in every case, the average from two plots, one of
which was manured, while the other was unmanured.
On the whole, however, there was little increase in the
crop consequent upon manuring.
The order of merit of the different varieties has
been very similar at St. Kitt’s to that at Antigua, but
higher yields have been obtained in many cases, ‘hus,
‘Light Red’ gave a return at the rate of 14,626 Ib.
of yams per acre, ‘Sealed Top, 13,849 Ib. per acre,
and ‘Cush Cush,’ 8.7 781 1b. per acre.
‘Cotton Seed Selection Experiment.
An experiment in sced selection,
which should be of interest to cotton growers, is
described in the last annual report of the Curator of
the Montserrat Botanic Station.
It is known that clean, black cotton seeds invariably
bear a jint which is poor and wasty in character.
Further, it has been observed that the character of the
seed in the ease of any given Sea Island cotton plant
is uniform, 1e., clean, black seeds and ‘ fuzzy’ seeds
are not found on the same plant. It was desired to
ascertain, therefore, whether the clean black, and the
* fuzzy’ seeds reproduced themselves true to type or
the results of
not. Two plots were prepared, and one was. sown
with clean, blac - cotton seeds, while the second was
planted with sceds having an average amount of ‘ fuzz.’
The results were that, on ‘the first plot, out «f 170
cotton plants. 120 bore seeds which were of a clean black
character, and similar to those sown; forty-five plants had
seeds with aslight amount of fuzz.and five plants with
a fair amount of fuzz. On the second plot (sown with
fuzzy seeds), out of 150 plants, 184 bore seeds similar
to those planted, in that they had an average amount
of fuzz The remaining sixteen plants yielded seed
having little or no fuzz.
This experiment shows the advisability of remov-
ing all clean, black cotton seeds before planting, as in
this way only a small percentage of such seed may be
expected from the resulting plants.
EE
‘Black Blight’ at Grenada.
‘Black blight’ is probably in more general
evidence on numbers of different trees and plants at
Grenada than in any other of the West Indian islands,
The so-called ‘blight’ itself, it will be remembered,
is rather a symptom than a cause of damage to plants on
which it is noticed, since the fungus is found in associa-
tion with scale insects, on the excreta or ‘honey-dew’ of
which it feeds, doing no direct harm to the trees.
The eae Superintendent at Grenada
reports that much has lately been done by individuals
in the island in the way of clearing their estates of
blight. Useless trees attacked with it have been
destroyed, others have been lopped and white-washed,
while in a few instances some spraying has been done.
The great difficulty experienced—as in all matters of
this sort—is to command any co-operation in attacking
the pest, and work done on certain estates is often
spoiled by neighbours who will do nothing.
Cows and Their Milk Yield.
Experimental work carried out in many parts of
the world have now thoroughly established the fact
that the milk-yielding capacity of a cow is practically
pre-determined by the breed and strain of the animal,
and that while the milk yield may vary in quantity or
quality within narrow limits as the result of different
systems of feeding, yet food is a factor of secondary
importance in this connexion. The most plentiful and
well-balanced rations will not enable a Holstein cow to
sive the rich milk ofa Jersey, and, on the other hand,
if Guernsey or Jersey cows are fed on a poor diet,
although their milk may decrease in quantity, yet the
amount given is still mich in butter-fat. Food has
a greater influence upon the quantity than the quality
of milk yielded. Every cow has a certain maximum
capacity which, as «ready mentioned, is dependent on
its strain and natural character. Under proper condi-
tions, and with suitable feeding, this maximum is
reached, and beyond that, food has no influence. ‘This
indicates the importance of good breed: and strain im
milking cows.
106
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Apri 3, 1909:
INSECT NOTES.
A Parasite of the Cotton Worm.
The letter which is published herewith from
Mrs. Patterson, of St. Vincent, is a response to a recent
article in the Agricultural News. The specimen
referred to in the letter has proved to be the same as
that discussed in the.article mentioned.
It would be very useful if other readers would
make careful observations on the habits of insect pests
and their natural enemies, and communicate their
observations to the Head Office of the Imperial
Department of Agriculture. The following is Mrs. Pat-
terson’s letter :—
The article ‘Some Parasites of the Cotton Worm’ on
page 74 of Vol. VIII, No. 179, of the Agricultural Nevs,
reminds me that in the season 1906 some parasites were
hatched here, which, from the specimen sent,
were Chalets ovata, Say.
As far as my observation went, the method of
was somewhat different from that described by Mr. Jemmett.
Certain larvae of the cotton ‘ worm’ at the end of the larval
period were seen to be of a red purple colour, and it was
these which after pupating yielded the Chalevs imago.
T hope to verify this during the coming season.
you will see
attack
Millions and Malaria.
The following notes which have been communica-
ted by Dr. C. W. Branch, M.B.,C M, of St. Vincent, may
be of interest to the readers of the Agricultural News.
Dr. Branch refers to the theory which has been
advanced that the millions, on account of their habit of
feeding on mosquito larvae, are wholly Cees for
the absence of the malarial mosquito from Barbados.
It will be seen by reference to the Agricultural
News, Vol IV, pp. 127 and.138, that this theory was
strongly advocated by a correspondent in 1904-5. As
a result, considerable interest has since been excited
in connexion with the part played by millions as_ the
natural enemies of mosquitos,
This Department was called upon for information
with regard to the habits of millions, and the possibility
of tr: ansporting them to other colonies and other coun-
tries, and the booklet referred to by Dr. Branch
(Pamphlet Series, No. 55, Imperial Department of
Agriculture) was prepared in answer to this demand
for information, and not in support of any theory. The
statement is made that millions are very efficient
natural enemics of mosquitos, and that they will
probably be found useful in reducing the numbers of
mosqnitos wherever they can, be established.
The Department of Agriculture has ately issued
a booklet on ‘ Milhlons and Mosquitos,’ which seems to have
had its origin in the suggestion that the ‘millions’ are to
be credited with the absence of ancpheline
consequently of malaria, from Barbados.
mosquitos, and
This idea has perhaps been somewhat hastily
without full consideration of the
concerned, and a dangerous
accepted
bionomics of the animals
security may be
engendered, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall.’ Notwithstanding free immigration, Mauritius was
free of malaria till the year 1866, when the population was
afflicted with an epidemic which, it has estimated,
killee one-fifth of the population. It is presumed that
anophelines must have been introduced just before that year:
Millions undoubtedly devour all mosquito larvae
(anophelines included) that they can get, and are therefore
useful for stocking all permanent -collections of water which
cannot be screened—ponds, artificial basins, uncovered
reservoirs, etc. In Barbados such waters will breed Culex
sense of
been
fatigans, which in spite of millions is too common, and does
intermediate host for Filaria
fever-and-ague’ and ‘ Barbados
fasciata will not usually breed in
large collections of ‘water, but, as is recognized,
bottles, tins, and holes in rocks and trees.
considerable harm as an
hancrofti, the parasite of ‘
leg.’ Stegomyia such
prefers
The malaria
bearer of these parts, Ced/ia | Anopheles]
argyrotars 7s,
breeds in small puddles of dirty water with
green algac, such for instance as occur on the margins of
streams in dry weather, in the beds of occasional water-
courses, and in swampy ground; in fact, in places where
millions do not naturally occur, and in which they cannot
conveniently be put. Mr. W. Patterson of the Agricultural
Department in this island [St. Vincent], has actually found
Cellia in a puddle 4 inches wide and 2 inches deep.
In countries where the malaria bearers breed in suitable
water, millions no doubt will limit the prevalence of malaria,
but they will not do so in the West Indies.
The absence of Cel/ia from Barbados must be ascribed
to some other cause: than the millions. Possibly
voracious aquatic insect is particularly abundant in the
puddles which suit Ce//ia. But it must be feared that such
alone cannot absolutely exterminate a species of mosquito.
The doubt the the
Antillean Barbados on the coastal plateau has
been often completely submerged and only slowly
some
truth no lies in oscillations of
cuntinent.
regains
a fauna. By luck, the Ce//za has not been introduced since
the last submergence. The fauna and flora of Barbados are
limited in comparison with those of the neighbouring lofty
islands which have never been completely submerged.
It is ‘up to’ the Barbadians to see that Cel/ia is not
accidentally introduced by means of imported cases of plants.
The fumigation demanded by the Department of Agriculture
is their protection.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture returned
to Barbados from St. Lucia on March 23 last, by the
R.M.S. ‘Esk.’ Mr. Ballou also returned from Montserrat
by the same vessel.
The Commissioner left Barbados on March 30, by -
the R.M.S. ‘Eden, for a visit to Dominica. He wiil
leave the latter island on April 5, and proceed to
Antigua by the C.L.S. ‘Ocamo. Dr. Watts is not-
expected to return to the Head Office until April 20.
Vous VINE Nos 18l: owt Has
AGRICULTULAL
NEWS. 107
FLOWER AND FRUIT STRUCTURE IN
THER PAPAW:
Among the papers summarized inthe Laxperiment
Station Record ot November last?is one which was
published in the Bulletin of the Lorrey Botanical
Club (No. 3, 1908), and deals with a study that has
been made of the papaw (Carica papaya) to determine
whether the development and structure of the fruit
might be correlated with the structure of the Hower.
In this study notes were taken in relation to a number
of flowers on the same tree. In this connexion it may be
mentioned that the papaw plant is normally dioecions, i.e.,
male flowers only are produced on some trees, and female
flowers only on others ; in rare cases, however, perfect or
bisexual flowers are produced on either male or female trees.
There was found to be a distinct correlation between the
formation and size of the fruit and flower characters. Where
the ovary was small and slender, with rays in the stigma
nearly aborted, the fruits grew comparatively small, eylindri-
eal, almost solid, with exceedingly small seed cavity, contain-
ing few seeds; while where the pistil was normal or nearly
so, the fruit grew large, wore or less angular, with the apical
end distended, and the cavity containing a large number of
seeds.
The author thinks that--looking at the matter from the
commercial point of view-—the form of papaw flower with
small, slender ovaries is to be preferred, since it yields a fruit
that is more easily packed. Under the usual methods of
propagation, a large production of seedlings is not considered
profitable, and an attempt to originate a distinct variety of
papaw would probably necessitate hand pollination, inbreed-
ing, and rigid selection for several generations.
CHINESE VEGETABLE TALLOW.
An interesting tree, which is native to China and
Japan, but which has been introduced into many other
parts of the world, as India, Cochin-China, South
Carolina, the Soudan, ete., is Sapium sebiferum. It
will be remembered that one or two species of the
Sapium genus are indigenous to British Guiana, rini-
dad, ete, (eg. S. Jenmuni, S. aucuparium), and are
valuable on account of their rubber-yielding properties.
S. sebiferum also has an economic value, this being
due to the fatty matter surrounding the seeds, which
is utilized for a number of purposes. The following
interesting information is taken from an article which
appeared in a former number of the Zidian <Agri-
cultural Ledger :—
The Chinese tallow tree is from 24 to 30 feet high,
with a whitish-grey bark. The tree is ornamental in
appearance ; the leaves are dark-green, which redden before
they fall. Flowers are borne in red terminal spikes, and
seeds are produced about November and December.
S. sebiferum is readily propagated by cuttings, and is
cultivated on a large scale in China, where the leaves are
reported to be used in the preparation of a black dye.
The fatty or waxy matter obtained trom the layer
surrounding the seeds of WS. schifermm is used in China in
place of animal tallow for the manufacture of candles, soap,
and in cloth-dressing. The candles made from this vegetable
fat with a small admixture of insect wax are reported to be
white in colour, and to burn with a clear, inodorous flame,
without smoke. , This vegetable tallow melts at a tempera-
ture of about 40°C. It is hard, brittle, and almost colourless,
and does not leave a grease spot on paper.
In addition to the solid fat surrounding the seeds,
a brownish-yellow oil is obtained from the endosperm or ker-
nel, which is usedas a burning oil, and also in the preparation
of varnishes, on account of its drying properties. This oil is
extracted by heating after the outside tallow has been
removed ; it is light and strong-smelling, and turns a yellow-
ish colour on standing.
The mixture of the two fats—the outside tallow and
the oil from the kernel—has a melting point of from 26° to
32° C., and is stated to be a good substitute for lard for
industrial purposes.
Vegetable tallow is exported from China in hard, white
cakes, weighing about 1 ewt. These shipments have shown
a large increase of late years, having advanced from 48,735
piculs [1 picul=133} Ib.] in 1905, to 127,296 piculs (valued
at £187,220) in 1907. Of this latter quantity, about half
went to the United Kingdom.
It may be added that the vegetable tallow tree
has been’ intreduced into Cuba, Porto Rico, and
Martinique, and numerous specimens are to be seen in
those islands. It is hoped to obtain cuttings or seeds
of this interesting tree for propagation in the Botanic
Gardens of the British West Indies.
TAPPING PARA RUBBER TREES.
Considerable difference of opinion still exists as to
the most suitable method by which the tapping of
Hevea rubber trees should be regulated. What is
required, of course, is a simple and practical method
which will reduce to a minimum the time required for
recovery of the tree, and at the same time assure
a large yield and low cost of manipulation.
This matter was discussed some time ago in the
Journal @Agriculture Tropicale, where the opinions
of different authorities on the subject were quoted.
Mr. J.C. Willis, of Ceylon, states that tapping should not
take place until the tree measures 18 inches in girth at 3 feet
from the ground, and should then only be done lightly.
Mr. Herbert Wright, however, would have the minimum
circumference at the time of tapping, to be 2 feet or more:
Various observations have been made also as to the time
for the full recovery of the bark after tapping. ‘lhis is
placed at from two to four years by different authorities.
Tapping every other day is generally regarded as being better
than daily tapping. No definite conclusions appear to have
been arrived at as to the possible advantages of allowing still
longer intervals to elapse between tappings. There is need of
experiment work also to settle the question. as to whether the
frequency of tapping would best be varied in the wet and dry
seasons respectively, or should take place at regular intervals
throughout.
The different systems under which the cuts are made
for drawing off the latex (herring-bone, half-spiral, spiral, and
V cuts, ete.) are described. It does not appear that any
decision is arrived at with regard to the respective merits of
tiiese different methods, but it is pointed out that the full
spiral is most likely to affect the vitality of the trees.
In all cases of tapping for rubber, the point to be
guarded against is damage to:the cambinm. This is far more
pren(dicial to the trees than the mere removal of latex.
108
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 3, 1909.-
Sweet potatos have lately been selling at.as low as
1s. 3d. per 100 tb. on the Barbados market. It is suggested
that this is in consequence of restricted exportation due to
quarantine.
It may be of interest to mention that Mr. Smith of
Yorks estate, Antigua, has for disposal a cotton gin, baling-
press, and horse gear for two horses, none of which have
been used so far.
The receipts from the sale of plants, seeds, frnit, ete.,
at the Grenada Botanic Station during 1907-8 amounted to
£54 2s. 35d. A total of 1,154 economic plants were
distributed loeally, consisting chiefly of cacao and rubber.
Ten or twelve pine-apple canning factories are in opera-
ation in the Hawaiian Islands and others are in course of
erection, The demand for Hawaiian pines in the United
States is stated to be at present greater than the supply,
owing to the superior quality of the fruit.
The latest figures available in relation to sisal hemp
cultivation im the Bahamas show that the industry is
continuing to expand. In 1908, the bales of sisal hemp
exported from those islands numbered 12,8534, as compared
avith 10,080 bales in 1907, and 3,467 bales in 1906.
The United States Consul at Santiago reports that the
orange crop of Cuba this year will be the largest in’ the
history of the island, and will reach 500,000 boxes. It is
believed that in another year the industry will have progressed
sutticiently to be able to supply the local demand for the fruit.
From the commencement of cane reaping at Barbados
up to March 26 last, 82 tons of sugar and 6,158 puncheons
of molasses have been exported from the island, compared
with 865 tons of sugar and 6,296 puncheons of molasses
shipped during the corresponding period last year.
The Trinidad Agricultural Society has passed a resolu-
tion calling upon the Government to again take steps to
reduce the number of mungoose in the island by the payment
of 60c. per head for each mungoose destroyed.
The St. Lucia Agricultural Society are taking steps to
obtain a supply of mungoose for that island, since snakes have
been observed to be increasing in number in one or two
districts. imported into
St. Lucia from Barbados, and it is proposed to get an
additional supply of 100 from. Barbados or Vrinidad, and to
distribute them in the island
Sixty mungoose were recently
Some plants of jipptjappa (Carludoviea Jamaicensis),
the leaves otf which are utilized in Jamaica for making the
well-known ‘ jippi-jappa’ hats were in 19U7 obtained for the
Grenada Botanic Station. These plants are now reported to
have become well established, and one clump flowered in 1908.
The export of sugar from British Guiana to Canada
increased from 51,217 tons in 1906-7 to 87,708 tons in 1907-8.
On the other hand, no sugar at ali was sent from British
Guiana to the United States in 1907-8, although the latter
country imported 58,522 tons from the colony in 1906-7.
In the fiscal year 1908, the United States imported cane
sugar to the value of $135,000,000. Of the total quantity,
the proportion contributed by Cuba was valued at $58,000,000,
the imports from the Hawaiian Islands at $40,000,000,
those from Porto Rico at $19,000,000, and those from the
Dutch Kast Indies at $11,000,000, (Cuban Review.)
Some trial shipments of oranges have lately been made
to England from South Africa, and it would appear that the
trade is likely to increase.
over
A shipment of navel oranges sent
‘the finest that had
been seen at Covent Garden market during the season.’ The
fruits comprising this lot reaiized 29s. 23d. per 100, or about
did. each.
last November, was deseribed as
A new process of sterilizing milk has lately been patented
by a Danish inventor, Dr. Budde. This process depends on
the existence in the milk of an enzyme ‘catalase,’ which
decomposes hydrogen peroxide, with the liberation of oxygen.
The milk is heated to 120° F., and a small quantity of
hydrogen peroxide added. As a result of the reaction which
takes place, the pathogenic organisms are destroyed after
a short time. The milk is then run into sterilized bottles,
fitted with air-tight stoppers.
The fact that every available plot of land at Grenada
is planted with cacao by the holders results in a general
scarcity of locally grown food-stutts. This is referred to in
the latest report of the Agricultural Superintendent, who
suggests that it would tend to more general prosperity among
peasant. holders in the island, if cacao were less exclusively
grown, and more attention given to the cultivation of fodder
and provision crops.
A Commission has Jately been appointed in British Guiana
for the purpose of considering and reporting upon labour
conditions in the colony. The Commission is to enquire
whether or not the existing labour supply is insufticient for
the development of the resources of the colony, and for the
maintenance of established industries; and, if it be insufticient,
to suggest in what way the supply can best be augmented.
The Hon. Robert Dutt, Immigration Agent-General is to be
Chairman of the Commission.
Quite a number of goats of good pedigree were recently
purchased in Barbados by the manager of a British Guiana
plantation, The animals bought included a son of the
‘Toggenberg billy ‘ Bruce ’ (see last issue of Agricultural News,
page 87) and three ewes of the same pedigree; also an Indian
ram goat, the son of ‘ Rajah —imported some years ago by
this Department; a ewe, and four kids of the same family.
The Toggenberg ram thus taken away from Barbados was the
animal which was awarded first prize at the Agricultural Show
held. at Mount, St. George, in December last.
Vor. VIII No. 181. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
10%
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes.
APRIL.
Ist FORTNIGHT.
Cane reaping will now be in progress. Note the
varieties which ripen early, and those w hich mature:
late. As the canes are carted to the mill observe which
varieties show good powers of resistance to root fungus,
and rind fungus, and which kinds are badly attacked:
Search fields of young cane for ‘dead hearts.’
Examine them, and keep some of the caterpillars and
pupae of the moth borer in a box (ventilated) in order
to observe their metamorphosis.
Cotton picking is now almost over, and in many
eases the fields are being cleared. What is the best way
to dispose of the old plants? Discuss the merits of
(1) burying the plants in the so:l, with the object of
increasing the humus in the land, and (2) barning the
plants. In islands where leat-blister mite exists,
observe to what extent the operations of ‘ picking,’ and
dusting the leaves with sulphur and lime have kept this
pest in check,
‘Discuss the question of providing shade in cacao
orchards. What are the points to be chietly considered
in regard to this matter? Discuss the subject of wind-
breaks, and their influence on the development and
vield of a cacao plantation. What is the best method
of treating wounds on cacao trees, which may either be
the result of accident, or caused by pruning /
Lime nurseries should now be receiving attention.
Lime trees in nursery beds are likely to be suffering
from drought in some districts. These seedlings can be
greatly assisted by keeping up a mulch of fine loose
soil on the surface. Be careful to get a clear knowledge
why it is that this operation prevents, to a considerable
extent, the evaporation of soil moisture. Consider the
possibility of using Bordeaux mixture, in cases where
there is any liability to loss from ‘ damping-otf.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY ()UESTIONS.
(1) What are the
germination of seeds!
(2) How does colour aftect the capacity of the soil for
absorbing heat !
(3) State the natural and artificial manures useful for
adding nitrogen to the soil. How are the artificial nitrogen-
ous manures obtained, and in what quantities. are they
usnally applied to crops grown in the West Indies?
INTERMEDIATE ()UESTIONS.
(1) What is the meaning of the term ‘ rotation of
erops, ’ and what are the advantages connected with rotation,
as opposed to growing one crop continuously ! Mention
a rotation suitable for the district in which you live.
(2) What is meant by ‘inversion’ of cane sugar !
Compare the inversion in (1) the muscovado, (2) the
vacuum pan, and (3) the triple effect processes. How may
the amount of inversion be minimized in the muscovado
process /
(3) What action has green manure or humus upon
4a) a clay soil, and (4) a sandy soil !
conditions necessary for proper
TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE BY MILK.
Milk has long been recognized as an agent by
which the bacteria of certain diseases may be carried
from one person or animal to another. This is largely
due to the highly nutritié@s nature of the fluid, which
renders it eminently suitable asa medium in which
bacteria may propagate with great rapidity: Hence,
if but‘a few of those organisms which are the causative
agents of typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever,
tuberculosis, ete., obtain ateess to milk, they rapidly
multiply uf the conditions of temperature are favourable,
and the liquid at once becomes a source of danger. The
milk is infected with the bacteria either from some per-
son managing the cows, or handling the milk, or they
may come from the body of the cows, or be introduced by
means of the water used in washing the dairy utensils,
or by insects. The whole question of bacteria in milk,
the various kinds, and their action either in bringing
about changes in the milk, or in causing disease, Is
discussed in an article appearing in the Vear-hook for
1907 of the United States Department of Agriculture.
As a result of the fact that certain diseases are sometimes
disseminated through nulk, an epidemic may appear suddenly
and last for a comparatively short time, or the infection may
be continued tor a long period, and the development of the
disease be so slow and obscure that the source is unknown.
Cows sutfer from tuberculosis of the lungs, and a good
deal of evidence exists in support of the view that the tuber-
culosis of cattle and that of human beings are one and the
same disease. Although all investigators are not disposed to
accept this conclusion, the tendency is, among those who are
studying the question, to regard milk as a serious source of
danger.
A number of epidemics of scarlet fever and diphtheria
have been traced to the milk supply. In such cases the milk
is infected either by someone suffering from the disease, or
by someone who has been in contact with the patient.
Typhoid fever is a disease that is usually considered te
be transmitted through the drinking water, which may be
contaminated by sewage, but occasionally it is disseminated
through the food. Milk may infected with the
organisms causing this disease in various ways. Contamin-
ated well or spring water may find its way into the milk
through milk pails, cans, or bottles which were not thoroughly
scalded after rinsing with cold water ; the cans or bottles may
be left to cool in contaminated water, and become inoculated
by the accidental addition of even a few drops of water ; the
cows may wade in water or mud containing the typhoid
bacillus, and the small drops of muddy water which dry on
the animal’s flank may carry the organisms to the milk, or
flies may pass directly from the sick room to the milk or milk
utensils.
It is well known, too, that uncleanly, contaminated milk
is the cause of intestinal troubles suffered by very young
children, and which help to swell the death rate of infants,
more especially in crowded cities.
If milk is heated to a suitable temperature, the dangerous
bacteria are destroyed. For ordinary purposes, it will be
sufficient to heat to 150° F., keeping the liquid at that
temperature for twenty-five minutes. This may well be
effected by setting the bottle of milk in a vessel containing
water, and heating the water until the milk reaches about
150° F. It may then be removed from the stove, and allowed
to stand from twenty to twenty-five minutes, after which it
should at once be chilled, and kept cold until required for use,
become
110
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 3, 1909.
SUGGESTIONS
Williams, M.A.
Printing Office.
FOR SCHOOL GARDENS. By
Hy Jaen Jamaica: Issued
at the Government
Mr. Williams is Inspector of Schools at Jamaica, and in
the discharge of his duties he is well known to have taken
a great deal of interest in the starting and development of the
School Garden and Nature Study movement in the island ;
he is, therefore, perfectly familiar with the conditions under
which such work can best be carried out at Jamaica.
The book issued by Mr. Williams comprises 148 pages,
and was prepared at the request of the Jamaica Board of
Agriculture, a body which recognized the great assistance
that might be afforded to teachers by a small hand-book of
practical information and suggestions on the subject of
School Gardens. The above volume abundantly fulfils the
required object, being thoroughly practical in conception and
in its treatment of the subject-matter, well arranged, and,
written in a clear and interesting manner. In every section,
the purely horticultural information is supplemented with
helpful hints that indicate a personal acquaintance with the
difficulties that are likely to arise.
The book may be regarded as being divided into two
parts. In the first part (62 pages) are discussed the various
phases of school garden work as it presents itself to the
teacher from the commencement. The choice of tools, their
cost, uses, and methods of handling receive due attention.
It is mentioned that a sum of about 50s. should provide
sufficient equipment for a good-sized school during the first
year, anda small annual expenditure for supplying losses, ete.
is all that will be required later. Methods of clearing the
ground and erecting fences are also described, with an
eye to the fact that the children should themselves carry out
as much of this work as possible. It is pointed out that as soon
as the boundaries of the plot have been fixed it will be found
most visefnl and instructive to draw a plan of the garden show-
Ing the arrangements of beds, crops, paths, etc., this plan to be
hnng in the schoolroom for reference. Three diagrams showing
possible arrangements for school garden plots are included in
the book. The important matter of laying out the garden
is next discussed, and instructions are given as to lining out
the different beds, formation of paths, digging drainage
trenches, ete. Tillage methods, drainage, mulching, and the
uses of mannres are all considered as means whereby the soil
is bronght into the best condition for plant rearing. Refer-
ence is made to the importance of compost heaps in School
Cardens.
Further sections of the book deal with the care of seeds,
preparation of seed beds, raising of seedlings in boxes as well
as in beds, treatment of seedlings, methods of transplanting,
care of plants (1.e., by watering, weeding, pruning, ete.) ; the
propagation of plants by budding, and grafting, as well as by
raising from seed, and the rotation of crops.
Ai especially interesting section is that entitled ‘The
A riends and Enemies of the Garden.’ In this, reference is made
to the work of earthworms, ants, etc. in aerating and lighten-
ing the soil, that of lizards in destroying numbers of insect
pests, and above all to the assistance rendered to the gardener
by birds which destroy vermin and small forms of animal
life that do damage to the crops. An appeal is made to the
teacher to lead the children to recognize the- help thus
afforded, and also the duty of protecting those friends of the
garden. Many insect pests are also described, together with
suitable methods for holding them in check.
The second part of the book (pp. 63-148). consists of
a number of appendices which deal in considerable fulness
with the cultivation and preparation of the chief West Indian
agricultural crops that may be grown ip more or less
quantity in the school garden, e.g., provisions, green vege-
tables, cacao, coffee, bananas, ginger, pine-apples, oranges,
cotton, vanilla, ete. The information thus provided has been
drawn from a number of reliable sources.
Mr. Williams’ book was written as a companion.
volume to Dr. Watts’ ‘ Nature Teaching, ’ the generaliza-
tions of which it is intended to expand, and it excellently
fulfils its purpose. The manner in which it is written
reveals an intimate acquaintance with the problems and
requirements of elementary school life in Jamaica, and,
incidentally, of most West Indian colonies. The style
in which the facts are presented should be most
helpful to teachers, while its occasional references to the
ethical aspeet of agricultural work and teaching indicate how
important a place this work may be made to occupy in efforts
to mould the characters of children. Paragraphs 129-30:
from which the following quotations are made, illustrate
this : ‘ You should never lose sight of the opportunity for
mental, manual and moral training that School Garden
work offers. The opportunity is worth what you make of it,
like other opportunities. Not only may it add to the
childrens’ knowledge—their direct first-hand knowledge—
of the things that surround their daily life, in the easiest and
most interesting way, by observation and through incidental
teaching, and i the way by which knowledge is most
permanently acquired, but practice in doing things will
certainly increase the ability to do things, and the monotony
of the children’s school work is certain to be relieved when
it takes the form of using a line, or working a saw, of
measuring and weighing their own products, of calculating:
what they cost, and kow much they are worth.
‘Tt is not a natural Science that you are called upon
to teach, nor even Agriculture, but rather Nature Study, and
the observation and understanding of surroundings, and
the intelligent use of small opportunities. And although
scientific training is a pretentious name to give to this, yet
it is the training that science atfords, to be made to observe
accurately as well as readily, to report correctly, to learn te
draw principles from observation, and to trace the relation
of causes and effects, of success and failure, the
humblest matters of ordinary life.’
even in
The book fulfils admirably the purpose for which it is
written, and should be found in every elementary and
secondary school in the West Indies where any effort is being
made to introduce sound teaching by means of Nature
Study.
Several pupils at the St. Lucia Agricultural School whe
will have completed a three years’ course of training in May
next desire situations as junior overseers or assistants on
estates, Istate owners and managers who may. contemplate
offering employment to these pupils should write to Mr: J, Cy
Moore, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Lucia.
“Vou. VIII. No. 181.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
111
LIVE STOCK RAISING AT TOBAGO.
In the year 1907-8 live stock to the value of
£7,723 were exported from Tobago. Cattle formed the
most important class of animals shipped, the exports
being worth £3;168, while pigs (£1,555), and horses
(£1,326) came second and third on the list.
The Tobago correspondent of the West India Committee
Vircular reters to the advantages possessed by Tobago, which
make it especially well suited for live stock rearing. Guinea
grass (the cultivation of which is an expensive matter in
Trinidad) grows wild in the island, and thousands of acres of
Jand could be utilized which are now lying waste and of little
value. Cacao, rubber, and cotton planters should find in
stock raising a useful auxiliary industry, as apart from the
direct financial return, the manure provided by the animals
would be of great value. Trinidad offers a convenient market
for cattle, sheep, ete. reared in Tobago.
‘FOOT-AND-MOUTH’. DISEASE.
Attention has been called, by the public telegrams,
to the outbreak of a disorder, which was at. first
thought to be foot-and-mouth disease, among cattle in
St. Mary's parish, Jamaica. Although subsequent
reports have indicated that the trouble is, happily, less
serious than was originally feared, the following
details relating to foot-and-mouth disease may not
‘be without interest to stock owners. They have been
abstracted from the hand-book ‘ Diseases of Cattle,
issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry, US.
Department of Agriculture :—
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious fever, of
a specific nature, characterized by the eruption of vesicles
or blisters in the mouth, around the coronets of the feet, and
between the toes.
A peculiarity of foot-and-mouth disease, which is liable
to occur both in temperate and tropical climates, is the
Jarge number of species attacked. Cattle are the chief
sufferers, then come hogs ; while sheep and goats are also
attacked in large number. Horses, dogs, cats, and poultry
‘are not infrequently sufferers, and even human beings are not
exempt from infection. The mortality from this disease
is not great, being generally about 1 to 3 per cent., but in
severe outbreaks may reach 5 per cent. The more fatal cases
are among young animals that have been fed on infected
milk, and death is directly caused in the majority of these
cases by gastrc-enteritis. Although the proportion of
deaths is so low, yet when the disease exists over extensive
areas, serious loss often results to the stock-raising interest,
since the milk yield of dairy cows is largely diminished, and
“the animals rapidly lose condition. Such Joss is especially
felt in districts where cattle are being fattened for the
butcher. An English veterinary surgeon of high repute has
stated as his opinion, that a loss of about £4 is sustained
“by the owner in the case of every milking cow or
fattening bullock which has been attacked, but recovered
fromthe disease. It was estintated ‘that an attack of foot-
and-mouth disease which occurred in England in 1883 cost
the stock-owners of the country about £1,000,000.
Foot and-mouth disease is not a difficult disorder for
a stock-owner to recognize. ‘The disease makes its appearance
‘m from three to six days after exposure of an animal to
imfection. A chill first sets in, which is followed by high
fever, the temperature frequently rising as high as 106° F.
This is accompanied by vesicular intlammation of the mouth,
which gives rise to pain when the animal attempts to eat ;
loss of appetite ; a hot, painful, swollen condition of the feet,
and in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours numerous small
vesicles, varying in size froma pea to a hazel-nut appear on
the udder and feet, and in the mouth.
The infection of foot-and-mouth disease is spread by
a number of means, which aceounts for the rapid manner in
which the disorder frequently oceurs on neighbouring hold-
Animals may be infected by direct individnal contact,
or by means of solid and liquid exereta, saliva, by infected
hay, hitter, and drinking vessels. Human beings can also
carry infection on their clothes and transmit it to animals
when milking. Milk in an unboiled state, when fed to
animals, may also be the means of transmitting the disease.
ings.
Should an outbreak occur, a stock-owner would, of
course, call in a good veterinary surgeon, and follow his
advice in regard to methods of treatment, at the same time
giving his personal co-operation to the matter of preventing
the spread of infection. Every effort should be made to
keep other animals, more especially dogs, cats, and poultry,
from coming in contact with infected stock. Persons from
other farms should also be prevented from visiting the cow-
houses. Animals that have died or been slaughtered must
always be deeply buried with lime, or their bodies burnt.
The cow-houses should be disinfected and covered with a coat
of limewash containing 4 0z. of formalin per gallon of lime-
wash, and all the utensils and fittings cleaned by the
application of a sclution containing 6 oz. of crude carbolic
acid per gallon of water.
Although no disorder of cattle closely resembles foot-
and-mouth disease, yet the similarity of one or more symp-
toms with other troubles may lead to a mistake in the
diagnosis. In mycotic stomatitis, the entire lining of the
mouth is inflamed and peels off in a few days, while inflamma-
tion of the thin skin between the toes may also be present.
Ergotism, and ‘foul foot’ or “ground itch’ have also been
temporarily mistaken for foot-and-mouth disease.
HORSES AND MULES
UNITED STATES.
A publication has lately been issued by the
Burean of Statistics of the United States Department
of Agriculture, which contains the latest available data
as to the number and value of farm animals in the
United States.
From this it is seen that the estimated number of farm
horses existing in the country on January 1 of the present
year, was 2,064,000—an increase of 608,000, or 3:2 per cent.,
as compared with the figures for the previous year. It is
interesting to note that the value per individual horse has
increased considerably of recent years.
IN THE
The average value
“per head over the whole of the United States on January 1,
1909, is placed at $95°64 each, as against $93°31 a year ago,
and $60°25 per head in 1898.
The figures relating to mules also show an increase in
number. It is estimated that the total number of mules in
the United States now reaches 4,053,000, as against
3,869,000 early in 1908, thus indicating an increase of 4:8
percent. The average value of a mule is placed at 3107-84,
which is practically identical with the figure of a year ago.
In 1898, however, the average value of inules in the United
States was but $72°30 per head.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. _ Apri 3, 1909-
’
New York,— March
MARKET HEPORTS.
London,—March 16, 1909, THe Wesr Inpra Com-
MITTEE CrrcuLaRr; Messrs. Kearron Piper & Co.,
March 16, 1909.
Arrowroor—Quiet; 1 fd. to 34d. according to ee
3aLatTa—Sheet, 2/2 to 2/4.; block, no quotations. (?)
Bres’-wax—£7 12s. for dark to pale.
Cacao—Trinidad, 57/- to 70/- per ewt.; Grenada, 51/- to
5) - per ewt.
CorrEE—Santos, 32/3 per ewt.; Jamaica, no quote itions.
Corpra—West Indian, £18 to £19 per ton.
Corrox—Nevis and St. Kitt’s, 13d. to 14d.; Barbados,
123d. to 133d.; St. Vincent, 1434. to 163d.
Fervuir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
Limes-—Not wanted.
Prye-apeLes—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-.
Grare Fruir—/6 to 9/- per box
OrancEs—Jamaica, 6/- to 9/- per box.
Fusric—£3 > to £4 per ton,
GINGER . to 60s. Quiet.
HoxEY—24s. to 26s. per ew.
Istycuass—West India lump, 2/2 te 2/6 per tb.
Tame Jurce—Raw, 1/3 per gallon; concentrated, £18 per
cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2.2 per tbh.: hand-
pressed, 9 6 per th.
Loewoov—£3 to £4 5s. per ton; roots, no quot: itions.
Mace—Firm.
Nurmecs—()uiet.
Pimenro—()uret.
Rurper—Para, fine hard, 5s. Lid. per Th.
Rum—Jamaica, 3.1 to 3.3; Demerara, 16 to 1/7, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14.5 to 169; Muscovado, no quotations :
Syrup, Is. 8d. to las. ; Molasses, no quotations.
19, 1909.—Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co.
‘Cacao—Caracas, 12e. to Ldfe. ; Grenada, Lic. to 12%e. 5
Trinidad, le. to 13c.; Jamaica, 10}e. to 11gc. per Tb.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $26°00 to $27 00 ; culls, $16°00
to $1700; Trinidad, select, $26°00 to $27-00; culls,
$1600 to S17-00 per M.
Corres—Jamaica, ordinary, 7c. to 8fe.; good ordinary,
fe.; washed, up to 12e. per Th.
Gincer— fe. to Le. per Tb.
Goar Skixs—Jamaicea, 55c.: Antigua and Barbados, from
49e. to 50c. : St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c,
to 48c. per Tb., dry flint.
Grave Frere—Florida, $150 to S225 per box.
Limes— No quotations.
Macr No quotations,
Nutmecs—110’s, 12c. per Ih
Ornances— Florida, $1°50 to $2°00 per box,
PIMENTO dic. per Ih. ,
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3 92¢.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°42e.;
Molasses, 89, 3-17c. per Ib., duty paid
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co.,
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
March 30, 1909;
Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., March 30, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $3°90 to $400 per 100 th.
Cacao—Dominica and St. Lucia, $10-00 to 310-50 per 100 th.
Cocoa-NuTS—S$13-00 for unhusked nuts.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, S950 to $11-00 per
100 th.
Hay—S$1°50 per 100 Th.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, 862-00 to 365-00; Ohlend orff’s
dissolved guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Carers
manure, $42°00 to $48° 00: Sulphate of ammonia, $72 “00
to $7500; Sulphate of potash, S67°00 per ton.
Mo nasses— Fancy, l6ec.; Grocery, 6c. per gallon.
Ontons—Strings, $2°25 to $3-00 per 100° th.; locze, ne
quotations.
Poraros—Nova Scotia, $2°60 to $2°75 per 160 th.
Pras—Split, $600 per bag of 210 Th.; Canada, $3°40 per
hag of 120 Tb.
Ricre—Ballam, $5°45 (180 th.); Patna, $3°80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per LOO Tb. :
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° $2°15; Muscovado, 89° $1-75.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wierine & Ricurer, March 6,
1909 ; Messrs. SANDBACH,
March 19, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, S9°00 to $950 per 200 th.
Banatra—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c¢. te
50c. per Ib.
Cacao—Native, 13c. per th.
Cassava—b60e.
Cassava Starcu—87-00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-Nuts—$16°00 per M.
CorreE—Creole, 12¢. to 13c.; Jamaica, le. te 13hc. per tb.,
slow. ?
Drait—$4°90 per bag of 168 Th.
Eppos—S1°68 per barrel.
Morasses—No quotations
Owntons— Lisbon, 5e. per Th.
Prantatss—20e. to 44e. per bunch, plentifal.
Poratros—Nova Scotia, $2°50 per LOO th.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, $1°20 per bag
Rice—Ballam, $5°80; Creole, $4°50 to $4°7
Sprir PEas—$5°50 ia) $5°60 per bag (210 ib.) ); Marseilles,
S4-00
Tanntas—S$2°64 per bag.
Yams—White, $2°16 per bag ; Buck, no quotations.
Svucar—Dark crystals, $2°25 to 52°50; Yellow, $3°10 te
$3:-20; White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $2°30 to $2-40
per 100 th. (retail).
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 5de. _per cubie foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3'75 to $5°75 per M.
———Corpwoon—82'40 to $2°64 per ton.
PaRKEZ & Co,
Trinidad,—March 20, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpon, Granr
& Co.
Cacao— Venezuelan, $12°75 to $1500 per fanega ; Trinidad,
S$12°75 to $13-00.
Cocoa-NUTS— #2200 per M. f.o.b. for selected pealed im
bags of LOO Th.
Cocoa-Nut Orn—7O0e. per Lnperial gallon, cask included.
Correre —Venezuelan, 8c. to 8he. per tb.
Corra—33°20 per 100 tb.
Duat—S$4°65 to $4°75 per 2- bushel bag.
On1ons—$2°50 to $3°00 per LOO th. (retail).
Poratos— English, $1°30 to S140 per LOO th.
Rick— Yellow, $5°00 to $5°25 ; White, $4°50 to $4 “00 per bag,
Sprit PEas—S$5°75 to $6 0Op er bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per LOO Th,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS..-
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
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Volume I. No. 1 out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price 1s. each. Post free, 1s. 22
2 Post free 2s. 8d :
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PAMPHLET SERIES.
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following.
of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
(3) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1900. Price 2d.
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(18) Recipes for cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d. _
(19) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1902. Price 4d.
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(22) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part II. Price 4d.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. . Price 2d. _
(26) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1903. Price 4d.
(27) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1902-3.
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(28) Barbados and Porto Rieo Molasses. Price 3d.
(30) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1902-3. Price 4d.
(31) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting. Price 4d.
(32) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1904. Price 4d.
(33) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1903-4.
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(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks. Price 4d.
(36) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
(38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
Price 4d.
9
(39) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1904-5.
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(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
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1904-6. Price 6d.
(45) A. B. C. ef Cotton Planting.
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(51 Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
(54) Fungus Diseases of Cacao. Price 4d.
(55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 31.
(55) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1997-8.
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(57) Manurial Experiments with Sagar-cane
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(58) Inseet Pests of Cacao. Price 47.
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New and Enlarged Edition.
(30)
in the Leey
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The ‘Agricultural News’ contains
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS. A Fortnightly Review.
extracts
from official correspondence .and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughouc the West Indies.
The ‘ Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d. 1 ripti I g
Owing to certain numbers heing out of ¥yimt, only Vols. IV and V can
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Vou. VIII. No. 181. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. APRIL
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. [MPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. “cseocs,
Von. VIII. No. 182.
CONTENTS.
PAGE. Paci
Agricultural Shows, Educa- Maize Cultivation ... ... 117
tional Exhibits at’ ... 123); Market Reports Ane om to)
Notes and Comments ... 120
119) Our Bookshelf :
Arrowroot Production m
Queensland
Cacao Fermentation... ... 117 | Agriculture for Southern
CACROMMCIUVD Kex cee cee LLG Schools Be gos 126
Castor Oil Plant Cultiva- Insect Pests of Cacao ... 126
tion ese tS) Pioeongieasmercen ee nel ear
Cotton at Montserrat... 120) Poultry Keeping in Porto
Cotton Experiments i Rico eedbr acd when il
Hawaiian Islands... 121} Queen of Flowers ... ... 120
Demerara Sugar-cane Seed- Students’ Corner 125
lings in Louisiana... 121) Sugar Industry :
Demonstration Farms in Ratoon Canes, Cultivation
the United States ... 119 of S60! HOM Nasi y wepome a it)
Department News ... ... 117) Tetanus or * Lockjaw’ ... 119
Fowl] Cholera and its Cause Thrips, Spray Mixture for 120
Ginger, Preserved, from Tropical Agriculture, Tm-
China ... 121 perial Department of 125
Gleanings: ies Yate) ee Tuberculosis in Cows and
Insect Notes :— in Human Beings ... 121
Natural Enemies of Scale | U.S. Department of Agri-
Insects goo ete boo IAB culture, Bureau of
Leeward Islands, Agricul- Entomology
ture and Trade in’... 122) West Indian Cotton
Litchi, The . 116) West Indian Products ... 127
Bureau of Entomology, U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
me bal} : ;
UG N recent editorials in the Agricultural
News the work ef the United States Depart-
several of its Bureaus, has been considered.
The Bureau of Entomology deals with all problems
arising from the attacks of insects on agricultural érops,
BARBADOS,
SS ment of Agriculture, as a whole,and of
APRIL 17, 1909. Price ld.
on forests, on domestic and other animals, and even on
man himself.
One of the most destructive insects which has ever
appeared as an enemy to agricultural crops is the
Cotton Bolt Weevil.
United States from Mexico in 1894, and for most of the
This insect made its way into the
years since that time the Bureau of Entomology has
earried on investigations as to the best methods of
of the faet that
out,
this work
that
trained Entomologists have been engaged in it, the
In spite
eontrolling it.
has been most carefully carmed and
Boll Weevil has steadily progressed across the cotton-
In 1908, it was
found to have crossed the Mississippi River, ana it iS
growing area of the United States.
not likely that any thing can be done to prevent, its
spread to the Atlantic sea-board, thereby infesting the
entire cotton belt.
possible to stop the spread of this insect, cultural
But althongh it has not been found
methods have been worked ont, by means of which good
crops of cotton may be grown even within the limits of
the infested territory. Early planting, the growing of
early flowering varieties, and the complete destruction
of all the cotton stalks in the early fall, together with
the collection and destruction of the infested bolls after
they have fallen, have resulted in considerable profits to
the farmer. Much also has been done in the study of
the parasites and other natural enemies of this insect,
until now practical application can be made of the
knowledge thus gained.
In connexion with the work on the Gipsy Moth
and the Brown Tail Moth in United
States, the Bureau of Entomology has been instrumen-
the Eastern
tal in importing beneficial (parasitic or predatory)
insects from Europe, the native home of these two
114
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
destructive moths, Altogether thirty-five species of
these beneficial insects have been imported, and it is
believed that many of them have become established,
and will ina short time exert a considerable influence
in the control of the two moths.
Another very serious pest is the small dipterous
insect known as the Hessian fly. This insect, which
attacks wheat and other cereals in many parts of the
United States, is closely related to the Flower-bnd
Maggot, and the Red Maggot of cotton. In dealing
with this insect also, the Burean of Entomology has
devised cultural methods for its control, and it has
found that it is possible to use, in a practical way,
certain parasites of the tly. The Hessian Hy is one of
the most destructive in the United States, the losses
to the farmers sometimes amounting to as much as
$10,000,000 per annum. Any results which effect
a saving of a fair proportion of this loss will easily be
seen to be of great benefit to the country. The intro-
duction of these parasites into districts where they had
not previously been found was followed by markedly
good results.
The White fly, which attacks citrus fruits in Florida
has also been under investigation. A special agent
with ample assistance was located in Florida, and life-
history studies of the pest were made. Experiments
were carried out in the introduction of parasitic insects,
and in the encouragement of fungus diseases which
affect the white fly, as well as in the use of insecticides
and gases, and much information of distinct value has
been gained.
The insects affecting tobacco, those damaging
deciduous fruit trees, and others injurious to vegetable
crops have all been the subject of special investigations
during the past year. Bee culture, especially the
problems connected with the prevention and cure of
bee diseases, and silk culture have also been studied
by experts in these particular branches.
In connexion with
inseéts injurious to forests,
information of practical value has been acquired and
disseminated amongst those most interested.
The insects which carry diseases to man and
domestic animals have been the subject of special
investigations. In
recent years, since the relation
between insects and the: spread \ of certain diseases-has ©
come to be better understood, mosquitos and flies have
been of greatly increased interest, and consequently
have come infor more thorough study than ever before.
The Bureau of Entomology is stated to have nearly
Aprin li, 1909-
finished a complete account of the mosquitos of North
America.
The life-histor~of the Texas cattle tick has been
continned in co-operation with State Entomologists,
and many important points having a direct bearing on
the methods of conttél of the tick and of Texas fever
have been obtained. A parasite of one of the ticks has
been found, which offers hope that natural methods of
decreasing the abundance of ticks may yet be learned.
It will be seen from what has already been said
that the Bureau of ‘Entomology interests itself in al®
lines of investigation and research where insects are
concerned,
The Bureau of Biological Survey, among other
interesting lines of investigation, has carried on impor-
tant researches as to the value of birds in their relation
to agricniture. It has been found, in this connexion,
that birds generally*are of considerable value to the
agriculturist. It is only rarely, and in the case of certain
species, that birds'do more damage to‘ruit and other
growing crops than is compensated for by the numbers
of injurious insects that they destroy. Not only are
the larger insects destroyed, but it has been found
that there are some ‘fifty-seven species of birds in the
United States which feed upon scale insects.
Other subjects which come under the range of
investigations of this Bureau inelide the traftic in cage
birds, the study of rats, rabbits, field mice, wolves, ete.
and the protection and introduction of game.
The Bureau of, Biological Survey also makes
a study of the geographic distribution of the fauna and
flora of the country, and life zones and crop zones have
been mapped, each characterized by certain conditions
of temperature, and by the presence of particular
species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and plants.
Carriacou. The figures given in the Annual Report
of the Commissioner of Carriacon show that the value of the
exports in 1908 (excluding shipments of produce marketed im
Grenada), was £16,447, or an increase of over £5,000 com-
pared with the returns for 1907. he chief items were cotton
(Marie Galante and Sea Island varieties), £11,571; cotton seed,
£2,896 ; goats and sheep, £690 ; and poultry, £564. The
greater value of the experts compared with the previous year
is stated to be chietly due to the increased output of Sea
Island cotton.
Reference is made by the Commissioner to the very
satisfactory growth made by ‘lime trees at the Experiment>
Station. Some of these trees, which are no more than four
and three-quarter years old, are from 20 to 25 feet high,
and have already borne fruit for two years. On one estate
at Carriacou (that of Mr. Tom Archer), about 50,000 lime
trees have been planted out and are well established,
Won. VIII. No. 182.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
11>
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Cultivation of Ratoon Canes.
The tillage operations given ‘to ratoon cane crops
in the West Indies appear to vary considerably from
island to island, and the amount and.character of cultiva-
tion which may be carried ont with advantage depend
possibly upon the. nature of the land on which the
ratoons are growing. This matter is discussed in the
pamphlet report on Manurial Experiments with Sugar-
cane in the Leeward Islands, 1907-8, lately issued by
this Department, and also received attention at a late
meeting of the Barbados Agricultural Society, when
Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G., gave a brief address on the
subject.
In the Leeward Islands, it would seem that tillage
operations in connexion with the growth of ratoon canes are
much more generally carried on than at Barbados, where, on
the majority of estates in the ratooning districts, the land is
simply trashed after removal of the plant cane crop, but
little or no cultivation is done. At Antigua and St. Kitt’s,
on the other hand, it is a common practice to break up the
soil between the young ratoon stools to a considerable depth,
when the cane shoots are ina stage of vigorous growth, and
have reached a height of 2 or 3 feet, with the object of
bringing the land into good tilth. Hither the plough or the
fork is used for these operations. ‘The cultivation thus given
is more thana mere surface tillage to provide a dust mulch ; it
involves deep tillage, and the soil is tutned over and broken up.
Planters who cultivate their ratoons in the manner
mentioned, state as a reason for these operations, that they are
necessary on account of the degree in which the soil has
consolidated and hardened, but if the land was thoroughly
tilled and prepared previous to setting out the plant cane
crop, it should seldom require the treatment referred to on
the removal of the first crop. “On heavy classes of land,
where two or three crops of ratoons are grown, some amount
of tillage may he advantageous for the purpose of lightening
and aerating the soil, but these operations would best be
carried out as soon as possible after the previous crop has
been reaped. If deferred until an extensive growth of shoots
and roots has taken place, the injury to the young roots may
entail considerable damage, and further, the loss of moisture
which is involved by inverting the soil is more harmful than
at an earlier stage of growth, although, of course, always to
be avoided, if possible. Loss of moisture during the period
of vigorous growth is a very serious matter, and may entail
a check on the young ratoons, from which they will not
easily recover. an
Before the work of tillage between the rows of ratoons
is proceeded with, planters would do well carefully to
examine their fields by actually digging across the banks
which they propose to fork or plough, in order to satisfy
themselves that the soil is in as great a need of tillage as they
imagine, and to assure themselves also that the operations
which they perform improve the sdil‘as much as they think.
On turning over the beds of trash underlying a young cro)
of ratoon canes of satisfactory appearance, the soil below will
usually be found in a condition suitable to promote good
growth.
The following notes on this matter are quoted
from the pamphlet on Manurial Experiments with
Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands, already referred to.
It is mentioned in the report that the notes are
submitted for consideration and discussion, rather
than as direct recommendations :—
It would appear that the soil when well covered by the
trash from the recently cut plant canes is frequently in fair
tilth, and not unduly compact. If kept covered, it retains
both its tilth and its moisture. If the trash is removed, and
the soil is turned up to a considerable depth, and afterwards
exposed tothe sun, it loses moisture, and sets back into
a harder condition than before. If, however, the tilth is
imperfect, and cultivation is regarded as essential, the soil
should be stirred as soon.ag possible after the plant canes are
ent, and before the ratoons begin to grow to any appreciable
extent. Following this, the rough soil should be harrowed
at once to break any lumps, and should then be covered with
trash, or should be constantly stirred toa depth of about 2
inches in order to form a dust mulch.
When, after the cutting of the plant canes the soil is in
fair tilth, good results may often follow from spreading the
trash evenly on the banks, and leaving the soil unstirred.
The amount of trash so spread should be sufficient to keep
down weeds. If the trash in a field is insufficient to keep
down weeds, it should be distributed over a portion of the
field only, say on alternaté banks, but in such thickness as
is necessary to effect the desired object. The remaining
clear portion, i.e, the barks which alternate with those
that have been trashed, should be stirred frequently
to adepth of about 2 inches in order to create and main-
tain a dust mulch, which will go far to supply the effect of
trashing in conserving moisture in the soil.
Much of the cultivation now given to ratoon canes is
possibly injurious.
It is repeated that these remarks are intended to draw
attention to the problems to which they refer, and are not
here given as rules for practice. It is hoped that planters
will discuss them, and that next season a number of co-oper-
ative experiments will be laid out in order to demonstrate
the soundness or unsoundness of the suggestions made.
Experiments of the kind required are easily arranged,
and it is hoped that when the crop of 1909 is being reaped,
planters and officers of the Department of Agriculture will
consult together, and plan several useful series.
As already mentioned, this subject was brought
forward at a recent meeting of the Barbados Agri-
cultnral Society, when an interesting discussion took
place.
Dr. Watts referred to his observations made at Antigua.
No hard and fast rule on the matter could be laid down, and
it was important that the planters should make experiments
for themselves on their own estates. The real facts in this
case, as in every other line of agricultural work, could only
be learnt by daily observation, The loss of soil moisture
was a very serious matter, and he had investigated this point
at Antigua in connexion with the cultivation of ratoon canes.
He had invited planters to-have a part of the trash turned
up where the soil had been cultivated a few days previously,
and in every case it was seen that the breaking up of the
land had caused the loss of, moisture, which would not have
been lost had the soil been left undisturbed.
In conclusion, the Commissioner urged planters who
grew ratoons to carry out expériments on the matter discussed.
They might arrange to set apart certain sections of their
fields, and treat these by other methods than those commonly
adopted. The results would certainly be useful to themselves,
and if they were communicated to the Imperial Department
of Agriculture, they might be made useful to a wider
community,
116
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Aprrit 17, 1909.
THE LITCHI.
It is noticed that among the plants lately imtro-
duced into the United States from foreign countries,
by the Department of Agriculture, are included speci-
mens of the litch, bronght from China. The litehi
(Nepheliwimn Litehi) is an important fruit tree belong-
ing to the natural order Sapindaceae, which grows wild
in Southern. China and Malaya, and is also largely
cultivated both in those countries and in British India.
Specimens are to be found in a few of the West Indian
Islands, notably in the French islands of Guadeloupe
and Martinique, and at the Botanic Gardens of Jamaica,
Trinidad, and Dominica. It was introduced into the
last-named island from Guadeloupe in 1898. The fruit
of the Litchi consists of a nut, containing one seed,
surrounded by a fleshy aril.
The Litchi tree is a handsome evergreen,
propagated by layering or circumposition. It flourishes best
in a moist alluvial soil. In the East this tree yields large
crops of fruit annually, but the few specimens under observa-
tion do not appear so satisfactory in this respect in the West
Indies. A Litchi at Dominica flowered and fruited in
1905-6 and again in 1906-7, however, and in this connexion,
Mr. Jones wrote: ‘ The difficulty with this tree in the West
Indies is to get it to fruit annually. On one of the small
litchi trees, where a number of branches were being propaga-
ted by circumposition, it was noticed that nearly every shoot
so treated produced flowers. This seems to afford a hint
that if branches of the trees had a ring of bark removed
about October or November, the check given might probably
cause the trees to flower and fruit early in the following
year. :
The litchi has been long established at Guadeloupe, and
specimens are to be seen in many parts of the island.
According to Duss’s ‘ Flore des Antilles francaises, ’ the
trees flower in January or February. ;
Reports on the growth and productiveness of the litechi
in the East refer to it as a most hardy and fruitful tree.
A point insisted upon in connexion’ with its growth is the
need of a good water supply, a8 the
suffer from drought.
According to Watt’s ‘ Dictionary of
Products of India,’ this fruit is grown and consumed in
large quantity in Bengal. It is stated that ‘ when fresh, the
great bunches of litchis look like bright, pinkish strawberies,
but they rapidly lose their bloom, and
browns
which is
trees are apt to
the Economie
assume a dirty,
cowour.’ The fruit is nearly round, and about
INDIAN FRUIE
14 inches in diameter. The edible portion is the bittersweet,
jelly-like pulp or aril which covers the seed, and the whole is
enclosed in a thin reddjsh, or brownish, brittle shell. The
fresh frnit has a very pleasant, acid flavour.
Litehi fruit are dried in China and Cochin-China, from
whence they are exported to the United States, and England.
Dried litchis bear no resemblance to the fresh fruit, but are
by no means unpalatable. In appearance and taste they
are not unlike raisins.
If this tree could'be well established in the West
Indies, and got to fruit regularly, it would prove
a desirable addition té our list of fruits.
CACAO IN JAVA.
In response to enquiries from various quarters,
the United States Consular Department lately publish-
ed a report on the methods of cacao cultivation adopted
in Java.
As in the West Indies, some attention has, of late, been
paid to propagating caéao by grafting and budding, and
these efforts, it is stated, have been fairly successful. The
soil in Java on which this crop does best is a rich, sandy
loam, situated at an altitude of from 1,600 to 1,800 feet
above sea-level. In some districts however, the trees
well on light sandy soil.
Permanent shade trees are planted among the cacao ;
the soil is kept free from weeds, and one or two cultivations
given annually, around the cacao trees. A first crop is
usually obtained in from three to five years after planting.
The time for harvesting cacao in Java varies according
to altitude. At higher Iévels picking commences about May,
and lasts until July or Atigust Plantations nearer the sea-
level frequently yield two crops, the first being gathered
about March, and the second in October. The annual crop
yield appears to vary trom about 44 to 9 ewt. of cacao per
acre. The pods are opened in the plantations, the husks
buried beneath the trees, and the beans taken to the factory
for fermentation--~a proeess forty-
eight to sixty hours. During fermentation the beans are
turned every twelve hours or so. Washing and drying follow.
Drying by artificial
the sun.
The cacao is shipped in sacks of about 100 Ib. In 1907,
the prices obtained for Java cacao varied from 8/889 te
$25:22 per 136 Ib,
thrive
which occupies from
means is preferred to exposure to
Vov. VIII. No. 182.
THE “AGRICULTURAL : NEWS,
11?
CACAO FERMENTATION.
A German scientist, A. Schulte, lately published
a bulletin giving an account of studies and experi-
ments conducted in Cameroon, ifi Germany, and in
St. Thomé. The pamphlet contains directions for
harvesting, fermenting, drying, and shipping cacao, and
also includes a ner ot suggestions relative to the
practical application, on a commercial scale, of
processes similar to those used by the author in his
experiments. Herr Schulte’s booklet was reviewed in
the Kaperiment Station Record for January last,
from which the following summary of the investigations
relating to cacao fermentation are extracted : —
Asa result of these investigations, cacao fermentation
is divided into two stages: (1) the alchohol and acetie acid
fermentation, and (2) oxidation. The author the
production of good caeao upon the correct execution of both
stages. During the alcohol and acetic acid fermentation, the
seeds are freed from the pulp, and the shells softened, thus
favouring oxidation. The oxidation of the astringent sub-
stances is the important feature of cacao fermentation. An
oxidation temperature of from 40° IF. to 45° F. appears to be
most favourable for the quality of the product,and a moisture
content of 15 per cent. was found to be most favourable to
oxidation, and at the same time unfavourable to butyrie acid
fermentation and the formation of mould.
When the oxidation process is conducted satisfactorily,
a delicate white efflorescence forms on the beans, and the
appearance of this may be taken as an indication that the
eacao has been properly oxidized. Oxidation should be
continued only until the majority of the beans have taken on
a brown colour, as if the process is continued until all the
beans are brown, the flavour and aroma are weakened.
The proper length of time for oxidation can only be
determined by experience, and may vary in different
districts, and with different kinds of cacao, as well as with
different harvesting methods.
bases
cacao
MAIZE CULTIVATION.
In the West Indies, maize eannot be considered
asa crop of first-rate im portane e, and is usually grown
as a ‘catch crop, previous to planting sugar-eane.
Regarded from this point of view, the cultivation and
manuring given to fields planted with corn are generally
insufficient to result in the production of a full return,
and instead of crops of from 25 to 70 bushels such as
are commonly reaped in the United States under
superior conditions of till: ige and manuring, the planter
in these islands usually obtains yields much smaller in
quantity.
In view of the large quantities of maize annually
imported into these colonies, and the extent to which
this cereal is used as a constituent of foods both for
human beings and for animals, it 1s a matter worthy of
consideration whether a larger supply could not be
profitably produced in the West Indies. either by
extending the acreage, or—through the introduction of
improved varieties, and superior tillage—by increasing
the yield per acre.
The varieties of maize are extremely numerous, many
hundreds having been recorded. The differences between
the varieties are great, so that there is abundant scope for
the exercise of judgement in selecting and adapting the kind
best suited to a given locality and soil.
The best soil suited for this crop is a deep sandy loam ;
it should contain a good supply of humus, and be retentive
of moisture, although satisfyctory drainage is essential. Stiff
clays are not well adapted for maize culture. The depth of
the soil and the content of humus are important factors, as
determining the feeding-area of the Jong roots of the plant,
and influencing the supply of moisture, of which this crop
requires a liberal quantity.
In order to ensure good growth, seed selection is very
necessary in maize cultivation. ‘This operation is very
generally practised among maize growers in the Southern
United States, and the manner in which it is performed
considerably influences the yield obtained in the next crop.
Only the best cobs of the best stalks are used for seed
purposes, these being selected in the field ; and all cobs that
are at all poor in size, shape, or fulness are passed over and
rejected. :
The land should be ploughed deeply, and afterwards
cultivated to a fine tilth preparatory to planting maize ; these
operations undonbtedly result in bringing about a better crop.
Seeds are planted in rows—either by hand labour, or by
means of an implement such as the ‘ Planet Junior’ cultivators.
The rows are from 3 to 4 feet apart, and two or three seeds
planted at distances of 3 to 54 feet from each
other in the rows ; the more fertile the land, and the greater
the supply of moisture, the more closely can the plants be
allowed to grow. It will, of course, be borne in mind that
if the stalks stand thickly in the rows, the crop is more likely
to suffer from drought than when planting is done more thinly.
are
Cultivation between the rows—in order to keep down
weeds, and to provide a dust mulch for the conservation of
moisture in the soil— should be started early, and maintained
throughout the growing period of the crop. Weakly plants
are thinned out, and the soil is earthed up around the growing
plants at an early stage.
Maize demands a good.supply of plant food, and. gives
profitable returns as the result of thorough manuring. It
has been calculated that a crop of 50 bushels of shelled corn
per acre, with the accompanying stalks removes from the
soil, on the average, 80 tb. of nitrogen, 29 1b. of phosphoric
acid, and 55 Ib. of potash. This is a far greater quantity: of
fertilizing constituents than is withdrawn when a crop of
Sea Island cotton is grown. The smaller corn crops. of the
West Indies remove, of course, only a proportionate quantity,
but the above figures show the need of manuring when
maize is grown. Phosphate may be given, partly as super-
phosphate and partly as bone meal, while nitrogen may use-
fully be supplied in the organic form, as cotton-seed meal, ete.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Secretary of State for the Colonies has
approved of the appointment of Mr. F. W. South, B A.,
Honours in Natural Sciences, in Part I and Part II of
the 'Tripos, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to be
Mycologist and Lecturer in Agricultural Science on the
staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the
West Indies, in succession to Mr. F.A. Stockdale, B.A,,
F.L.S. Mr. South arrived at Barbados on April 12 by
the R.M.S. ‘ Orinoco.’
118
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprin 17, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTION.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows nnder date of Mareh 29, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton -
Since our last report, a fair business has been done in
West indian Sea Island cotton, and steady.
About 3800 bags have been sold, nearly half of which
St. Vincent at 15d. to 16d., the remainder being composed
of Barbados at 134d. to 14dd.; Nevis at 13d. to 14d.;
Montserrat at 15d. to 13dd.; St. Kitt’s at 12d. to 14d.; and
St. Croix at 13d.
There has recently been a recount in Charleston of
cotton in stock and on shipboard, with the result that 1,394
bales have been added for correction. Most of this has been
sold, and only about 700 bales remain ; but the buyers, we are
afraid, have put it into stock for a long period, which will
make them more or less independent.
prices remain
are
CASTOR OIL PLANT CULTIVATION.
Some enquiries have lately been received at the
Head Office of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
as to the cultivation of the-castor oil plant, and the
value of the produce.
It would appear that towards the end of the eighteenth
century, castor oil was exported from Jamaica to England
in fairly considerable quantity. ‘To-day, however, prac tically
all the oil required is obtained from India and the East
Indian Islands where, it is stated, 330,000 acres were
devoted to the cultivation in 4890. Castor oil plants are
grown more or less extensively in many parts of the United
States, and latterly some attention has been given to the
crop in South Africa.
A leatlet issued from the Royal Botanie Gardens,
Ceylon, describes the method of cultivation adopted in
Madras. There, after rain, the land is ploughed or dug over
twice, and the seeds are dropped into the furrow, or into
holes, and covered. A month later, when the young plants
are about 1 foot high, the space between the rows (which may
suitably be about 4 feet apart) is again ploughed.
A somewhat different’ system of cultivation is followed
in Hawaii, according to Press Bulletin No. 2, issued by the
Agricultural Experiment Statiof. According to the Hawaiian
method, the land is well prepared, and the seeds are planted
at the extreme distances of 15 feet apart, in rows that are 20
feet from each other. ‘This allows only 150 plants per acre.
When the plants are about 2 feet high, the terminal buds
are pinched off to encourage branching, and the lateral
shoots thrown off are in turn ‘topped.’ These operations
result in bringing about a short, bushy plant, with a good
number of bearing shoots. The plant begins to flower when
from eight to nine months old, and the seed matures in about
ten months. It is important that the crop should be kept
cultivated during the growing period.
It would not appear that the profits from the cultivation
of castor oil plants are very great. The yield of seeds varies
very much, and, in ths, United States, from 12 to 20 bushels
per acre appear to represent the general crop return. The
beans are worth froma 75c. to Sl per bushel. In Madras,
the crop gathered is usually very small in quantity, but in
the Hawaiian Islands, return of as much as from 2,500 to
3,000 tb. of beans per aere is frequently obtained. The gross
value of such a crop is’ stated to be about $75 to $80. per
In the West Indies, it is believed that from 10 to 15
ewt. per acre would represent an average return of beans.
Since the easter oil plant demands good soil, it will be
seen that, in the majority of cases, the planter will be able to
select more profitable gultivations. Castor oil beans from the
West Indies have frequently been submitted to brokers in
London for valuation and report, and it would appear that
the market price for such beans varies from about 7s. to 14s.
per cwt. A sample of beans grown at the Grenada Botanic
Station last year was valued in England at £12 per ton. It
has been suggested that the crop might be useful as shade
for young cacao.
acre,
It may be pointed out that a good deal of valuable
organic and iineral matter is returned to the soil in the form
of stalks, leaves, pods, ete., when a castor crop is grown, If
the existence of an oil mail i in the neighbourhood sives facili-
ties for expressing the oil locally, the resulting * press: cake’
will also be available for manurial purposes ; and since only
the oil has been removed, in this way matters would be so
arranged that no fertilizing constituents are taken from the
soil, but a consider rable addition is made to the organic matter
in the land.
From an analysis lately made at the Barbados Government
Laboratory, it is scen that an acre of castor oil plants,
utilized as green manure, conveyed 2,323 Ib. of organic
matter to the land. “In addition, this quantity of plants
contained 33°3 1b. of phosphoric acid, and 53:2 Ib. of potash.
which hal, of course, been previously withdrawn from the soil.
= —=+
‘FOWL CHOLERA’ AND ITS CAUSE.
A discovery of considerable importance to poultry
fanciers in the East is recorded in the Agricultural
Journal of India for October last, by the Inspector
General of the Indian Civil Veterinary Department.
The discovery in question relates to ‘fow] cholera,’ one
of the most destructive diseases found in India. While
engaged in microscopie investigation relating to the ‘surra’
disease in camels, an official of the Department had the
curiosity to examinelthe blood of some ducks which were
dying off rapidly trom the malady known as ‘cholera.’ In
all cases it was found that the Was Swarming with
a specific organism of minute size and spiral thread-like
structure, which was responsible for the death of the fowls.
I ylood
Further investigation revealed the fact that the agent of
the disease was spread from bird to bird by means ‘of the
common fowl tick (Argas persicus) which is very dificult to
destroy. The best method of dealing with the tick is to
destroy old hen-roosts and nests, but scraping the walls. of
the fowl houses, painting them with hot coal tar, and
brushing the feathers of the birds with parattin have all been
found efficacious. Now that the disease has been traced to
this parasite, the field of attack has been narrowed
considerably, and no doubt suitable methods of control will
soon be devised.
Vou, VIIL No. 182
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
119
TETANUS OR ‘LOCKJAW.’
The Central Agricultural Station of Cuba
recently issned a small pamphlet. (Circular No. 31),
written by two officials of the De, yartment of Animal
Industry in the island. which deals with the disease of
tetanus or ‘lockjaw, as ib is popularly termed.
It is stated that tetanus (the bacillus or causative
organism of which is wide-spread, and found in
temperate as well as tropical climates) is a very
cominon disease in Cuba, and causes serious losses of
horses and mules. The cause, manner of infection,
period of Tcubaiietes symptoms, and methods of treat-
ment of the disorder are all discussed in simple language
in the above-mentioned pamplilet. The Fillewiig
sumiuary of information on the sudject appears at
end :—
has
the
Tetanus or ‘ lockjaw ’ is a germ disease that is common
in horses and mules. It also attacks man.
'The disease is usually caused by”"the germs getting in
a wound. The soil about stables and corrals that is eontam-
inated with animal excretions is liable to contain the
of tetanus.
The symptoms of tetanus are contractions of the muscles
that makes movement difficult or impossible.
Tetanus can usually be prevented by injecting a bottle
(30 grammes) of veterinary antitetanic serum as soon as the
wound is discovered, or before a surgical operation.
Many cases of tetanus can be cured by injecting 50
grammes of veterinary antitetanic serum. This should be
folk owed in twelve honrs with another dose, and then one dose
every twenty-four hours until the animal i improves. In the
absence of antitetanic serum, or in conjunction with it, inject
hypodermically, 5 grammes every six hours for the first two
days, of a solution of 25 grammes,,pure carbolic acid, 25
grammes glycerine, and 50 grammes distilled water. After
the first two days inject 5 grammes every twelve hours.
Clean the woand twice daily and apply thoroughly
a solution of 5 grammes of pure carbolic acid dissolved in
100 grammes of water. Give the animal soft laxative food and
all the fresh water it can drink. Keep the animal quiet in
a clean place and do not give medicines by the mouth or nose.
YOPMIS
germ
ARROWRIOT PRODUCTION IN
QU: ENSLAND.
About 200 acres are given over to arrowroot
cultivation in Queensland, from which about 600,600 th.
of arrowroot are produced annually, the yield varying
from 15 to 30 ewt. per acre. “Vhe. plant thus grown
for its starch product is not the West Indian and
Bernmndaarrowroot plant Marante arundinaecae), but
that known in the West Indies as ‘ Tous-les-mois —
Canna edulis—from which arrowroot is also produced
in some of these islands.
The Queensland Agricultural Journal for January last,
in the course of an article on this subject, mentions that
the price of the product has increased from about £10 to
£20 per ton (in the Queensland market) during the past two
years. This is because the arrowroot is becoming more
largely used as starch for laundry purposes, and is replacing
the higher-priced imported starch for use in this way. ‘The
demand for the product is expected to largely increase.
Yhe West Indian arrowroot plant is also cultivated on
a small scale in Queensland, where it is known as ‘ white
arrowroot ’ to distinguish it from the
edulis, which is referred to as ‘ purple The
Maranta plant is popular among growers, however,
because the crop yield givemis: considerably less than that of
Canna, while no higher priée can be obtained in Queensland
for the product. é
Chemical analysis chews but little difference in composi-
tion between West Indian and°Queensland arrowroots. The
percentage of starch——which is the important ingredient-—
is much the same in both There is a little more
moisture in the Canna arrowroot, and more fibre in that from
Maranta. Yet, on the London market, the best Bermuda
arrowroot commands a price of 2s. 6d. per tb., while the
Queensland or Canna product will fetch no more than 3d.
per lb.
Rhizomes of Canna edulis are planted out in Queensland
during the period from September to December. They are
set in rows, which are about 6 feet apart, and with a distance
of 4 feet from plant to plant in the row. ‘The crop takes
from six to eight months to come to maturity.
The mature Lulbs are dug up, carted to the mill, washed,
and grated to pulp inva orinder or perforated revolving
wooden drum. ‘This pulp is then transferred mechanically
to a sieve of perforated metal, and washed with a stream of
cold water. The farine is carried through while the fibre
and other impurities remain behind. Other similar devices
are adopted for further purification, and finally the arrow-
product of Canna
arrowroot. °
less
cases,
root is dried on calico cloths in the sun. ‘he whole process,
from the digging of the rhizomes to drying the prepared
arrowrovt, eecupies about twenty-four hours.
It will be seen that-a chief essential for arrowroot
production is an abundant supply of good, clean water.
DEMONSTRATION FARMS IN THE
UNITED STATES.
An interesting feature of the educational work
organized by the United States Department of Agri-
culture is that which is carried on by means of the
‘demonstration firms’ of the Department.
These farms were started with the object of showing by
numercus practical examples over a large area the advantages
of improved methods of agriculture. The depredations “of
the Mexican cotton boil weevil, which threatened the entire
destruction of the cotton crop in many districts, was one of
the chief reasons whieh led to the starting of this work.
Since 1904, a grant of £15,500 has been made annually
by Congress, and this was supplemented in 1907 by a grant
from the General Education Board of £13,800 ; so that, togeth-
er with some local contributions, a sum of about £33,500 was
available in 1907-8. Agents have been appointed throughout
Texas, southern Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and a portion
of Mississippi, and the work is also being carried on to a more
limited extent in Alabama, Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia.
Altogether, 145 agents are employed, and with this force
about 12,000 demonstration farms had been established,
and, in addition, 20,000 farmers had agreed to co-operate and
mi ke reports on results.
The term ‘demonstration farm’ is used to designate
a portion of land on a farm that is worked strictly according
to instructions. This is visited by an agent once a month
to see that these instructions are carried out, and to give
further advice if necessary. The farmers who co-operate and
give reports on results also agree to cultivate their crops
according to instructions, but are not visited regularly by
the agents.
120
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprrin 17, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Avents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulan &
Co., 37, Suho Square, W., and 'The West India Com-
mittee, 15, Seething Lane,4&.C. A complete. list of
Agents will be found on page 8 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural sews
SATURDAY, APRIL Ms 1909.
Vor. VILE No. 182.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
Some of the chief problems and limes of investi-
gation that have occupied the attention of the Burean
of Entomology, U.S. Department of Agriculture, are
discussed in the editorial. :
An interesting article dealing with the question
of cultivating ratvon canes will be found on page 115.
Specimen trees of the litchi exist in many of the
West Indian islands. Some -particulars in relation to
this fruit are given on page 116. A brief article on
maize cultivation appears on the following page.
Castor oil plants may sometimes form a_ useful
crop in these islands (page 118). About 600,000. Th.
of arrowroot are produced annually in Queensland from
Canna cdulis (p. 119).
Rosin wash has proved) an_ especially useful
spraying mixture for thrips on cacao trees at St. Lucia
{page 120). :
An article dealing with the parasitic and pre-
daceous enemies of scale insects which oceur in the
West Indies will be found on»page 122.
Agriculture and trade in the Leeward Islands
have shown great improvement in the past five years
(page 123).
A resolution in favour of the establishment of an
Imperial Department of Tropical Agriculture was
lately carried unanimously by the Associated Chambers
of Commerce of Great Britain (p. 125).
Queen of Flowers:!
A number of specimens of the ‘Queen of Flowers’
(Lagerstroemia Flas-Reyinue) are included among
the collection at the Dominica Botanic Station, and
abont sixty young plants of this beautiful and showy
flowering tree were distributed in 1907-8.
Referring to thisin his last annual report, the
Curator of the Botanic Station mentions that the seeds
ot this tree require special treatment, or are not likely
to germinate satisfactorily. If collected when the
fruit capsules show signs of bursting, and sown in boxes
filled with river sand instead of soil, a very fair
percentage of the seeds will be found to germinate.
When the seedlings,are large enough to handle, they
should be potted in bamboo or other puts with good soil.
a oe
Cotton at Montserrat.
Latest reports from Montserrat state that the
frequent rains of January were very harmful to the
second picking of cotton, and a good deal was lost.
This second crop was somewhat disappointing, but in
one or two cases the flower-bud maggot was the chief
cause of the luss experienced.
The planters of the island having realized the
necessity of clearing off their old cotton before planting
the young crop, in’ order to combat the leaf-blister
mite, are generally favourable to the establishment of
a detinite ‘closed season,’ when no cotton,
young, would be found on estates.
Mr. Robson in his report draws attention to
a point which again emphasizes the importance of seed
selection in cotton planting. A shipment of cotton
from a field oa Dagenham estate, planted with selected
seed from Grove Station, was very favourably reported
on from England, and commanded a price higher by
a penny per pound than any other cotton shipped from
this estate, "
old or
eee
Spray Mixture for Thrips.
Owing to complaints of the occurrence of thrips
on young cacao trees at St. Lucia, the Agricultural
Superintendent of that island was in September last,
advised to try the effects of four spraying washes on
these insect pests. ‘The washing mixtures in question
were—(1) rosin wash, (2) kerosene emulsion, (8)
kerosene emulsion with whale oil soap, and (4) rosin
and whale oil soap compound. Directions for the
preparation of all these washes are given in the West
Tadian Bulletin, Vol. IX, p. 191, and are also ineluded
in Mr. Ballou’s pamphlet, ‘Insect Pests of Cacao, just
issued by the Department, a review of which will be
found on page 126 of this issue.
Mr. Moore lately reported on the trials made by
him, and states that while all the mixtures were more
or less effective in destroying the thrips, the rosin wash
appeared to do the best work. On account of its
sticky nature, this mixture adhered well to the cacao
leaves, and on trees so treated dead thrips were
observed in greater number than when other washes
were used, i
Owing to the eaustie properties of the rosin wash
(it contains caustic soda) it should be handled carefully.
Von. VIII. No. 182.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
121
Cotton Experiments in the Hawaiian Islands.
The energy and intelligence that are being dis-
played in connexion with agricultire in the Hawaiian
Islands are indicated by the rapid progress that has of
late been made. Old-established industries are being
developed, and a number of new cultivations started or
at least tried. the
A report from the islands now states that
experiments are being made in ‘cotton’ cultivation,
the variemes under trial being the Sea Island. Caravon-
ica, and Evyptian cottons. Breeding work has been
started over an area of 5 acres, and 10 acres have been
laid ont for mannurial trials with cotton. It is stated
that planters are showing marked amerest in cotton
planting, and it is probable that the crop will be grown
over an extensive area next season, since Jarge numbers
of applications for selected Sea Island and Caravonica
cotton see have been received at the Experiment
Station.
a re
Preserved Ginger from China.
Although West Indian ginger is justly fanions for
its qnelity, the finest kinds of the spice are probably
grown in China, from which country. preserved
ginger is chiefly obtained. ‘The United States Consul
at Canton, ina recent report describes the method
adopted by the Chinese in preserying the ginger. ‘The
roots are first thoroughly cleaned in water, and then
boiled in earthenware pans for two or three hours. After-
wards they are transferred to copper pans, sufficient
water being added to cover the roots, and also a quantity
of white sugar, at a rate of 5 Ib. of sugar to 10 th. of
ginger. ‘This mixture is then boiled for two hours. At
the end of that time the ginger is put into large jars,
and allowed to stand for seven days, when it is again
boiled in sugar and water in the same quantities. After
it has become cold it is packed in jars or tins for export.
The Chinese season for preserving ginger is from July
to October.
—uK“mZE +
Poultry Keeping in Porto Rico.
Increasing attention is being given by small land-
holders in Porto Rico to the possibilities of poultry
keeping in the island, and since the local breeds of
fowl are small in size, a number of imported breeds
have been tried.
Hi
On the whole; it would seeiw that the Leghorn
varieties, especially the white and buff kinds, appear
to be most suitable to the prevailing conditions, which
are, of course, not dissimilar to those of the British
West Indian islands. The Black Minorea fowl also
does very well in Porto Rico. This variety lays large,
white eggs, is a non-sitter,and being somewhat heavier
than the Leghorn, is more valuable for table purposes.
The several varieties of Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes,
Rhode Island Reds, ete.. are reported to be too heavily
feathered, and too addicted to sitting, to be profitable
under the circumstances.
No reference. is. made to the Indian Game and
Buff Orpington breeds, which are deservedly popular
In Jamaica,
Demerara Seedlings in Louisiana.
A writer in the Louisiuna Planter lately discuss-
ed at considerab:e length the merits of the Demerara
seedling canes D. 74 aud D. 95, as compared with the
varieties that have been exelusively cultivated in
Louisiana for sixty or seventy years past. An impor-
tant point in favour of cane D. 95 is its storm-resisting
power. It remained erect and undamaged after severe
wind storms, when the ‘home’ or native canes were laid
flat, and D. 74 was considerably injured by breakage
of tops, ete. D. 95 sutters more trom: drought than from
excess of rainfall and gives good results on reclaimed
marsh and swamp lands.
D. 74 has proved satisfactory in giving a good
return of sucrose, and further, is a cane which requires
a shorter period than either the Louisiana cane or
D.95 before coming to maturity. A disadvantage
connected with D. 74, however, is that it is particularly
susceptible to attack by cane borers. On the other
hand, D. 95 appears to be very resistant to attacks of
this pest, although possessing a somewhat soft fibre.
It is mentioned that D. 95 usually gives
of cane about 20 per cent. greater, on the average,
than that obtained from D. 74; but the superior
richness of the juice of seedling D. 74 is generally
almost sufficient to make up for this discrepancy.
It is evident that canes D. 74 and D. 95 are
proving valuable additions to the varieties at the
disposal of Louisiana planters.
a return
a
Tuberculosis in Cows and in Human Beings.
The relationship between tuberculosis of cattle and
that of huinan beings has been the subject of much dis-
cussion in the past, and the Royal Commission appoint-
ed by the British Government to report upon the disease
has given a good deal of attention to this phase of the
matter. The second interim report of the Commission
was reviewed in the Agricultural News, Vol. VI,
p. 217, and in this the Commissioners expressed strongly
the opinion, that in numbers of cases, tuberculosis of
the human subject, especially of children, was the
direct result of the introduction of the bacillus of
bovine tuberculosis into the system, milk from diseased
cows being the chief medium of infection.
A third report lately issued by the Commission
deals further with experiments and observations as to
the infectious nature of milk, and also of the
excreta. of cows affected with tuberculosis. In the
great bulk of cases, the location of the disease was in
the lungs, and no affection of the udder could be
observed, yet the milk of the cows contained bacilli of
the disease. The baciili were also present in more or
less quantity in the fieces of the animals. Since dirt of
various kinds from the cow-house is almost always
present in milk, as it reaches the consumer, the conclu-
sions arrived at by the Commissioners, after exhaus-
tive enquiry, are further evidence in support of
the necessity for a pure milk supply. Cows in the
West Indies seldom suffer from tuberculosis, but im
any case, the precaution of sterilizing the milk, by
boiling it just previons to use. is a very wise one.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 17, 1909,
INSECT NOTES.
Natural Enemies of Scale Insects.
Insects may be beneficial in several different ways :
as producing valuable products ;
other insects which are pests attacking crops, domestic
animals, household materials, or even man himself: or
they may merely be scavengers and be beneficial on
account of their habit of feeding on decaying organic
matter.
In these notes, however, if is intended to discuss
only one of these groups of beneficial insects, viz.,natural
enemies of other insects, especially of scales.
Readers of the Agricultural News may have noted
in the ‘Department News’ that the [utomologist ou
the staff of this Department'had been on a visit to
Montserrat in connexion with an extended study of
scale insects and their natural enemies.
The natural enemies of
parasitic and predaceous ; both of these
found in the West Indies. Among the predaceons insects
which attack scales are the lady-birds, and the lace-wing fly.
There are many kinds of lady-birds in the West Indies. Two
or three which are large enough to be easily seen are well
known, but these are not, perhaps, more useful than certain
others which are very small in’size, and very plain and
inconspicuous in their colouring. They are not generally
known, and the planter does not often realize how much
good is continually being done Ly these small creatures.
The parasitic insects are even more important than those
which are predaceous in nature, and while it is very likely
that there are many species whicli live at the expense of the
seale insects, very little is actually known of the parasites
which attack scale insects in the West Indies.
It is probable that all, or nearly all, of the 120 species of
seale insects known to occur in the Antilles are
attacked by parvsites to a greater or less extent, and thus
somewhat kept in check.
There are recorded trom the island of St, Vincent alone as
many as eighty-six species Of parasitic Hymenoptera, of which
many are probably parasites on scale insects, and many others
also aye probably parasites on other parasites. ‘The Jatter kind
are known as ‘secondary parasites,” and it will readily be
seen that, although parasitic in habit, they cannot be counted
as beneficial insects.
Scale insects which are abundantly attacked by parasites
car easily be distinguished, for many of them will be scen to
have a little round hole in the back. This hole is the aperture
through whieh the adult parasite las escaped, having spent the
larval portion of its existence and the pupal stage under the
protective scale of the host insect. The feeding of the
parasite larva causes the death of the insect on which it feeds,
and so well is the relationship adjusted between the parasite
and its host, that the food material lasts the parasite larva
until it is full-grown. If the food material were exhausted
hetfove the larval growth of the parasite was completed, the
parasite would naturally die.
kinds :
are to be
scale insects are of two
Lesser
as natural enemies of
There can be no doubt that in all the islands of the
Lesser Antilles, the natural enemies of scale insects are always
abundantly and actively, engaged in doing their part toward
maintaining the equiltbrium, otherwise the scale insects
would multiply in perhaps one year, or at the most in two
years, to a point where their numbers would be so great that
none of the plants on which they feed would be able to live.
Scale insects become unusually abundant when for
reason or another they‘increase greatly beyond the nambers
of their parasites and other natural enemies. On the other
hand, when for reason the natural enemies become
unusually abundant, scale insects are less numerous and the
effect of their attacks on plants are not so easily to be seen.
One of the first indications of the presence of certain species
of scale is the appearance on the leaves of the
unsightly soot fungus commonly known throughout the West
Indies as ‘ Black Blight.’
one
any
insects
It is rather remarkable that the habits of parasitic
insects are generally associated with certain definite struc-
tures, and that closely related insects have similar habits.
For instance, certain groups of parasitic Hymenoptera are
known to be egg parasites. The specialist, on examining an
insect of one of these groups for the first time, would be able
to say that it probably was an egg parasite, because of its
relationship as evidenced by its structure. An exception to
this, however, was recently found in the parasite of the Black
Scale which attacks cotton. This parasite was sent from
this Department to the; Bureau of Entomology at Washington
for identification, where it was named Zulophothrix mirum.
Dr. Howard, Chief of the Bureau, wrote to the Commissioner
of Agriculture to enquire whether there might be any
mnistake in the records, because, as he said, it ought from its
atHnities to be an egg parasite, and not a parasite of seale
Insects. Specimens of the scale insect containing parasites
were sent on to Washington, however, which proved that
this insect was an exception to the general
was really a parasite of the scale.
\:
In the editorial of the present number of the Aqri-
cultural News, mention is made of the work that is being
done by the United States Department. of Agriculture, in
importing from Kuropesand establishing in Eastern Massaehu-
setts certain beneticial insects. Much has been done in other
States and in other parts of the world in this line. Insect
pests transported from the countries in which they are native,
are often transported ‘at the same time away from their
natural enemies, so that it frequently happens that many
pests are much more troublesome in new localities thin they
were in their native land.
a1
The Luperial Department of Agriculture hopes to get
a considerable amount .ef knowledge of the natural enemies
of the scale sects of ithe Lesser Antilles, with the object
finally of endeavouring to utilize these parasites in the control
of seale insects. It may be added that in addition to parasitic
insects, there are certain fungi which are parasitic on seale
insects. In Mlorida, and perhaps in other places, much has
already been accomplished in the control of scale insects and
white flies (A/eyrodes) by means of parasitic fungi. It is hoped
that all readers of the Ayrieultuval Vews in the.West Indies
will take an interest in this work, and will forward specimens
whenever they notice anything of interest, which scems to
them likely to be in any way connected with this study of
natural encmies Anyy,such specimens may be sent to the
local Agricultural Officer, who will forward them to the Head
Oftice of the Department,
rule, and
Vors WITT No: 182:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 123
AGRICULTURE AND TRADE IN THE
LEEWARD ISLANDS.
In his address to. the general Legislative Council
of the Leeward Islands on February 22° last, his
Excellency Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G.,
referred to the marked improvement which had taken
place in the trade of each Presidency in the colony
during the past five vears. ‘This. improvement is in
Jarge measure due to the development and extension of
the agricultural industries of the several islands.
Referring in the first place to Antigua, the Governor
pointed ont the beneficial influence “which the two central
sugar factories at Gunthorpe’s and Bendal’s had exercised
upon the trade of the island since they were started. Another
important factor, of course, was the cultivation and export of
cotton. ‘The value of the cotton shipped from Antigua
increased from £1,508 in 1904 to £17,479 in 1907. In
1908, notwithstanding a short crop and reduced prices, the
cotton exported was valued at £12,983.
The financial conditions of St. Kitt’sNevis were also in
a satisfactory state, and this must. be in large measure
attributed to the increased output of sugar from St. Kitt’s,
and the development of the cotton industry in the islands of
St. Kitt’s’-Nevis ne Anguilla. The revenue of Anguilla
in 1905-6 was £575 12s. 7d., but in 1907-8 it had increased
to £1,001.
Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott then alluded to the great
development of the lime and cacao iidustries at Dominica
which have been the principal cause of increased revenue in
that island. The total value of the Dominica trade had
inereased by no less than £111,023 in the past five years.
Montserrat had also experienced increased prosperity of
recent years, although it had not the resources of some other
islands in the Leeward group. The value of the cotton
exports from Montserrat had advance el from £2,072 in 1904
to £28,370 in 1908.
Cotton, too, had been an important souree of prosperity
to the Virgin Islands, and the shipments of lint from that
Presidency in 1908 were valued at £1,992. A hope was
expressed that the development of the lime industry might
prove to be equally profitable to those islands in the future.
Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott then referred to the unfortu-
nate experience of cotton growers in the past two seasons
owing to low yields and reduced prices. In those islands of
the Presidency where a heavy yield per acre could be expect-
ed with confidence, there was no doubt that this crop would
vive a remunerative return ; but since the results of the past
two seasons had not been so profitable as those obtained when
the industry was first started, he expressed a hope that plant-
ers would not lose sight of the possibilities of other crops,
which, if included in their cultivations, might give lucrative
returns.
At the conclusion of that part of lis address which
related to agricultural industries, the Governor referred again
to the central factory question. He alluded to the profitable
results that had been obtained at Antigua, and suggested
that if a central factory were established at St. Kitt’s and
were managed with the same efticiency as the factory at
Antigua, even better results might be obtained than in the
latter island. He should be very gna to see the inhabitants
of St. Kitt’s participating in the advantages which Antigua
now derived from the existence of the two central factories
in that island.
EDUCATIONAL
EXHIBITS AT AGRIi-
CULTURAL SHOWS.
The stimulating inflnenece and cdueational value
of properly conducted Agricultural Shows are too
obvious to need much comment. At these functions
every competitor and visitor has a chance of comparing
the results obtained by the prize-winners with those
achieved on their own holdings, and of ascertaining
the imethods by which..these results were brought
about. In this way the influence of intelligent care
and attention and superior methods of cultivation
upon the nature of the return is amply demonstrated
tor the benefit of all.
Apart from the competitive side of these meetings, it is
interesting to note that increasing attention has of late been
given at many of the prominent Agricultural Shows in Great
Britain and other countries, to the display of certain classes
of exhibits which have for their aim a purely educational
function. Such exhibits include specimens of agricultural
plants showing signs of various diseases, or of attack by
insects, mounted specimens of insects responsible for damage
to crops, collections of fungicides, insecticides, spraying and
dusting apparatus, samples of various kinds of artificial
manures, prepared feeding stutts, specimens of plants which it
is proposed to introduce into local enltivations, or improved
varieties of crops already generally cultivated. "Such collee-
tions are, of course, usually prepared and arranged under the
direction of Agnicultaral Departments, Colleges, or
Experiment Stations. Diagrams illustrating in a graphic way
points to which it is desired to draw special attention are
frequently found very useful in connexion with these educa-
tional sections, and an officer from the Department cr Station
is generally in attendance to explain points that give rise to
enquiry.
At the Agricultural Show held at Port-of-Spain, Trini-
dad, in January last, a very interesting collection of
exhibits, such as those to which reference has been made, was on
view. The total nuinber of separate exhibits reached about 140.
Among these were included twenty-eight samples of different
fungicides and insecticides—-both liquid and solid, with four
kinds of spraying machines; there were also twenty-eight speci-
mens of various plant diseases affecting the principal crops of
the colony —eacao, sugar, fruit trees, ete.; parasites, such as
the ‘love vine,’ were also represented. In addition, visitors to
the Show had opportunities. of .examining the various life
stages of the chief insect pests affecting cacao, cocoa-nuts,
sugar-cane, oranges, ete., in Trinidad. The final class in the
section consisted of twenty-six exhibits illustrating various
natural and artificial sources of plant food, and comprised
a number of leguminous plants, such as ‘Immortel’ (Erythrina),
velvet bean, pigeon peas, ‘sensitive plant’ (Mimosa pucica),
ete., carefully removed from the soil, and showing the nodules
formed on the roots by the nitrogen-fixing bacteria which are
associated with plants of this order, together with many
specimens of artificial manures.
The exhibit thus organized by the Department
created a fair amount of interest, which should be an
encouragement for maintaining the ‘educational section”
at subsequent Shows.
724 THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 17, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
Sugar planters in British Guiana have arranged for the
importation of 2.525 indentured tabourers during the coming
year. (Demerara Argosy.)
'
Onion growing would appear to be regarded with in-
creasing favonr at Montserrat, simee 130 Tb. of sced have been
ordered from Teneriffe for this season’s planting, as compared
with 110 1b. ordered last year.
Rats are reported to be giving trouble from time to
time in cotton fields at Montserrat. These pests are apt to
damage the return by dragging the cotton from the bolls for
the sake of the seed.
Mr. A. D. Hall, M.A., Director of the Rothamsted
Experiment Station, England, has been elected a Fellow of
the Royal Society, in recognition of his valuable investigations
in Agricultural Science.
It has recently been enacted at Grenada, by an Order in
Council, that substances or preparations intended for use in
agriculture as insecticides or fungicides, and for no other
purpose, shall be imported into the island duty free.
The Agricultural Instructor at Nevis reports that onions
are doing remarkably well in that island, and that a large crop
will be reaped this season. With a more extended market,
it seems that onion growing would be the most profitable of
the minor industries of Nevis.
A note in the St. Lucia Oficial Gazette draws attention
to the fact that the price of grafted mango plants at the
Botanic Station has been reduced to 2s. each, on condition
that they are purchased for planting only in the island.
A few plants are now ready for distribution.
The Cohune palm (Attalea Cohunc), which oceurs in
British Honduras in enormous numbers, bears heavy crops of
nuts which yield a useful oil. The Belize Colonial Guardian
refers to the profitable industry that might be created, if
proper machinery for extracting this oil were established in
the colony.
It was stated at a meeting of the St. Lucia Agricultural
Society that, apart from the cotton grown by Messrs. Mac-
farlane, Junior & Co., at Balembouche, only some 2,000 tb,
of seed-cotton had been offered for purchase at the ginnery
in the past season. The peasantry of the island were shy of
a new industry.” The Agricultural Society decided to import
100 lb. of cotton seed from St. Vincent for distribution,
Owing to the small crop that has resulted from the
drought of last year, many of the smaller mills at Barbados
will not be worked this season, but the canes will be ground
at some larger neighbotring mill. Peasant-grown canes are
being purchased at 10s. 6d. per ton by one or two of the
larger factories in the island,
The Ceylon Gamboge tree (Garcinia Morella), the resin
of which forms gamboge, flowered and fruited in the Dominica
Botanic Gardens during the year 1907-8. It is hoped to
raise seedling plants of this strong-growing Garcinia, with
the object of utilizing them as stocks on which to graft the
delicate mangosteen.
The Curator of the Montserrat Botanic Station reports
that about 100 sweet potato plants have lately been
raised from seed, and are now growing in the nursery at the
station. In this connexion it may be mentioned that the
well-known and heavy-eropping ‘ Hen-and-Chickens,’ and
‘Spooner’ sweet potatos are seedling varieties.
A recent number of the Zrdian Trade Journal mentions
that ground nut cultivation has, of late, increased rapidly in
Burma. For the yearnding June 30, 1908, the total area
planted with this crop reached 142,051 aeres, compared with
78,745 acres in the previous season. In order to foster the
industry, the Government are distributing seed nuts, which
are repaid at harvest time.
According to the London 7s, the well known English
firms of Messrs. Cadbury, Messrs. Fry, and Messrs. Rowntree,
have decided, after.careful investigation of the matter, not to
make any more purchases of cacao from the Portuguese islands
of St. Thomeé and Principe, on account of the slave-like
labour conditions in those islands. West Indian cacao should
therefore find a more extensive market in Great Britain.
Tobacco is grownefairly extensively in Italy, and in
1906-7 the value of the home-grown product shipped from
the country was £107,924. This was exported chiefly for
the use of Italian communities in other lands, Buenos Ayres
taking by far the largest quantity, viz., tobacco to the value
of £95,004. In 1906, asum of £7,720 was expended on
the Experiment Station for the growth and manufacture of
tobacco at Salerno. (British Consular Report.)
Divi-divi pods (the produce of Caesalpinia Coriaria),
forwarded to the Imperial Institute, from trees planted by
the Botanical Department, Gold Coast, West Africa, were
found to contain 33°10 per cent. of tannin, as compared with
45 per cent. in the ordinary divi-divi of commerce. The
sample was not well prepared, and was valued at £5 per ton,
as against a current value of £9 to £11 for West Indian and
South American divi-divi.
A note in Nature draws attention to the fact that the
Research Defence Society, of 70, Harley St., London, which
has for its object the dissemination of trustworthy information
on the aims and achievements of research in medicine and
physiology, has lately prepared material for a series of
illustrated lectures on such diseases as malaria, yellow fever,
Malta fever, sleeping sickness, etc. The materials, together
with lantern slides, eté!, can be obtained on loan from the
Society by accredited persons.
A
‘Vor. VILL No.. 182. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 125
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
I
Seasonal Notes.
APRIL.
2nd Forrnicnr.
Students should note the ettect of the moth borer
<{Diatraeae, saccharalis) on the growth of the sugar-cane,
and observe the habits of this pest. Read: article on
moth borer in West Indian Bulletin (Vol. I, pp. 827-
51). Eggs of this insect may berfound on the young
leaves of the canes at this time of the year. Collect
some of these egg clusters, which may be kept in
a wide-mouthed bottle, the opening of which is closed
with muslin, Observe the young caterpillars as they
emerge. Note also the eggs which have been parasit-
ized, and observe the minute Hymenopterons insect
which emerges from the latter. Shut up some freshly
laid eggs of moth borer with parasites and observe the
result.
On estates where cotton is grown, students should
note the difference, if any. in ae. quality of the cotton,
the quantity of the nep, ete, from the first picking
-and that from the second picking. Note also the
relative quantity and quality of the lint obtained from
ratooned cotton, 1.e., cotton plants that are allowed to
remain en into the second vear from planting. Students
-should further make a point of observing the difference,
if any, between the yields from plants that have been
pruned, and those which have not been so treated.
The gathering of the ‘ Easter’ cacao crop will be
in progress. Compare the different varieties : Criolio,
Forastero, and Calabacillo, in regard to their vigour
of growth, yield of pods, and number of beans in the
individual pods. Discuss the rela*ive advantages and
-disadvantages of the three varieties. Search for and
poison the nests of wood ants in cacao plantations ;
also regularly lay poison to keep down the plague of
“rats.
Lime seedlings in nursery beds need attention.
Keep surface soil loose in thesé beds, or seedlings will
“quail.” Green dressings are most useful for improv-
ing the texture of soil in lime plantations, but should
not be planted after the end of April. Why is this 7
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Describe how budding is dowé, and name the prin-
-<ipal West Indian plants that are propagated by budding.
(2) What is meant by the ‘ germinating power’ of seed?
How would you test the vitality of a sample of cotton seed ?
(3) What advantages are derived from the use of
Jeguminous green dressings? State what non-leguminous
plants are sometimes used for green dressings in the West
Indies, and explain why crops of the former class are more
useful than those of the latter for this purpose.
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Explain clearly the ditference between available
plant food, and tota/ plant food constituents in the soil.
(2) What causes a ‘plough pan,’ and how ean this be
rectified ? Does this interfere with soil capillarity
(3) How does adequate drainage benefit soil and plants !
=|
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF TROPICAL
AGRICULTURE.
At the annnal meeting of the Associated
Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom, held
ans in March, a resolution, proposed by. INTireredien (Ors
Atkins, of. Oldham, carried unanimously, which
strongly urged upon theaoyernment the importance
of establishing an Imperial Department of Tropical
Agriculture. The falter forms a summary of
Mr. Atkins’ speech on the subject :—
Was
A large part of the British Empire lay within the tropics
and contained extensive tracts of the most fertile land in the
world, which was largely undeveloped. These lands were
capable of producing immense quantities of food stufts and .
raw materials, which would bring prosperity to the inhabi-~
tants, and thus by increasing their purchasing power, also
benefit the mother country. The natives could be helped to
grow more of the products they now cultivated, and also
new ones suitable to the varions climates could be intro-
duced. But, in order that this might be done properly, and
to avoid useless expenditure, a thorough knowledge of the
climatic conditions, the rainfall, the quality of the soil, labour
supply, and transport facilities, ete., were necessary. That
could only be done satisfactorily by a Government Depart-
ment. In India and Ceylon, and in parts of South Africa,
much good was being done by the Agricultural Departn ents,
but there was no relationship between those different bodies,
and there must be some central authority if the best results
were te be obtained, so that the information and experience
gathered might be available for the whole Empire. To
ensure unity of purpose in the carrying on of such a Depart-
ment, it must be on an Tmper ial basis. From his connexion
with the British Cotton-growing Association, he knew the
great difficulties which had to” be contended with in the
initial stages from want of information as to the climate,
soil, and ‘also of technical knowledge, and many mistakes
were made and money lost. The same remark applied to
many other products. The history of the British Cotton-
growing Association and _ its results, proved what could be
done in developing the colonies, if proper methods were
employed. It was only about seven. years since the idea of
growing cotton within the Empire was started. Now it’ had
been proved that cotton of every variety can be grown under
the British flag, and the industry had been firmly established.
What had been done in cotton could surely be done in
other commodities. Rubber, for instance, was beng grown
in many parts of the Empire, but much of it was of infer-
ior quality owing to lack of knowledge. The natural resources
of our Empire were enormous, and, if only properly
developed, would bring prosperity to all. In order that this
might be brought about it would be necessary to have
agricultural Berecirencs in all the colonies, anil a centrak
department i in London, where all the information and experi-
ence that have been collected will be gathered together, and.
experts will be able to advise, assist, and direct on all matters
in connexion with tropical agriculture.
The work should be concentrated in one department
whose sole object would be to develop the agricultural
resources of our tropical possessions, acting in conjuaction
with departments in the colemies, formed on lines similar to
that in the West Indies. The cost of the central department
would be borne by the Imperial Government, and that of the
branches principally by the colonies themselves.
126 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 17, 1909.
AGRICULTURE
FOR SOUTHERN SCHOOLS
Director of the Alatama Agricultural
New York: The Macmillan Company.
iby de Duggar,
Experiment Station.
“PP. 355,
Numbers of elementary text-books have been published
in England and the United States which deal with the
prine iples and practices of agriculture as it exists in countries
of temperate climate. The present volume is particularly
noticeable, however, in that, while treating of the general
principles of the subject, the crops whose methods of cultiva-
tion are discussed for purposes of study and illustration are
chiefly those grown exclusively in the Southern (and there-
fore sub-tropical) States of America.
The subject-matter is arranged on the plan which
experience has shown to be best in developing the teaching
of agriculture in elementary and secondary schools. Begin-
ning ‘with a consideration of the parts of a flower, pr ocess of
pollination, the growth of plants, and the manner in which
they obtain food and moisture, this is followed by chapters
on the properties, methods of. tillage and improvement of
soils ; manures, their uses, and adaptation to particular soils
and crops ; farm crops, and the principle of rotations ; and
the cultivation of flowers and fruit trees, etc. In the section
dealing with farm crops, the sugar-cane, cotton, maize, ground
nuts, cowpeas, ete., all receive attention, so that teachers in
West Indian schools where elementary instruction in agri-
culture is given will find-much matter of interest in the book.
Considerable space is devoted to diseases in plants, and
their causes, insect life, the insect enemies of the crop grower,
‘and methods of preventing their ravages. The closing chapters
deal with the various kinds of farm live stock, their rearing,
feeding, and management, dairy work, and farm implements
and machinery.
_ An attractive feature of the book is the abundance and
interest of the illustrations. Altogether, there are no less
than 220 figures, which illustrate every phase of the matter
disenssed.
At the close of every chapter a few practical exercises
bearing on the subject of the preceding lessons are suggested
for the pupils. This is followed by hints for the
indicating special points that thay be emphasized,
further information, etc.
teacher,
sources of
The spirit of
ewhich. is
enquiry by both teacher and scholar,
inculeated by Mr. book is especially
striking. The teacher is recommended to step down from
the desk. and to become a comrade with the pupils.. The
following is quoted from the preface, in which the author
teacher : ‘ Be a leader in raising questions
which you need not be ashamed to own that you cannot
answer. If you arouse the interest that will make your
pupils desire an answer, you arouse in them for the years to
the spirit of enquiry by means of which,
Duggar’s
addresses the
come as men and
women, they will educate themselves. In teaching agri-
culture, humility is the teacher's proper attitude, and to
show it will not forfeit the respect of either pupils or-
patrons. ’
Not only will this book prove useful in connexion with
school work, but from@ts sound practical character, it may
be cordially recommended to those who are about 16 enter,
or who thave already entered upon practical agricultural life.
It may be studied to advantage by those, for example, who are
preparing for the Preliminary or Inter mediate Examinations
of this Department of Agriculture. In brief, the book may be
described as interesting, sound, and useful.
INSECT PESES OF CACAO. By H. A. Ballou,
M.Sc. Jsswed by the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
Price 4d.
The above bookle#; written by the Entomologist on the
staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, ‘and which
forms one of the latest additions (No. 58) to the Pamphlet
Series of the Department, contains within the limits of
twenty-six pages, a cansiderable amount of useful informa-
tion on the subject of the principal insect pests which
attack cacao trees in the West Indies, and the measures which
experience has shown to be most useful in keeping these
pests in check. F
Regular readers. sof the publications issued by this
Department will note that much of the material of the
pamphlet in gestion has already appeared at different times.
in the form of articles or notes contributed by Mr. Ballou to
the West Indian Bulletin or the Agricultural News, At the
same time it will be -kecognized that .a distinct purpose is
served, by bringing together, and including with other
matter, within the compass of a small booklet, the informa-
tion formerly scattered.throngh a number of periodicals.
Cacao thrips and ,the cacao beetle are the pests chiefly
found in West Indian cacao orchards. In aaition there
are several kinds of inseets, mealy bugs, ete., which occasion-
ally give trouble. ‘Thése are all described, and the remedies
recommended are In every case clearly stated. Stress js laid
throughout the pamphlet on the néed for careful cultural
methods to be adoptetPin cacao cultivation. Experience has
shown at Grenada that this is a most important factor in deal-
ing with attacks of insect pests.
The pamphlet is’ suitably illustrated, and an appendix
gives an interesting account of the measures recommended
in combating attacks of the cacao beetle.
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
In their fortnightly report dated April 2 last,
Messrs. Sandbach, Par ker & C 1o., of Georgetown, give
the following particulars respecting the condition of
the rice industry of British Guiana : —
The weather during the past fortnight has been much
brighter, and most of the small mills have taken advantage
of vt-to clean some of the paddy they
result that deliveries to town of cleaned rice have been
considerably larger than during the past two months.
A short crop is also now being reaped in some districts, and
small quantities of new paddy have changed hands. Prepsra-
tions for the October-December crop are going on, and
planting will soon be commenced in real earnest.
Shipments to the West India islands during the fort-
night amount to about,2,800 bags, the greater part being for
Trinidad. ,
We quote to- pat, f.o.b.
quality, per bag of ,180 tb.
and per bag of 164 tb:, 17s.
had on hand, with the
Demerara,
gre SS, 1 9s.
if dd. to 18s.
for good export
43d, to 20s; 41d.:
Tid, ges
Vou. VIII. No. 182.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
12%
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R_ Jackson, A.L.S.. has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
during the month of February : —
jdic
No change in the condition of trade in spices and
drugs in Mincing Lane since our last communication can be
recorded. The month of February, indeed, has been one of
almost remarkable dulness. It was not until the middle of
the month that the supplies of new and old drugs assumed
even a normal position, and at the last spice and drug auctions
on the 24th and 25th respectively, very small supplies were
brought forward, with a correspoading limited demand.
With regard to West Indian products, the following are the
details :—
GINGER,
At the first spice sale on February 3, 82 barrels
of Jamaica were offered and disposed of at 60s. to 63s.
for fair to good bright, and 55s. to 60s. for good
middling. Cochin was represented by 125 bags, all of
which were bought in at 40s. per ewt. for fair to washed
rough. It was reported that several hundred bags of washed
Cochin had been sold privately at 35s. per ewt. At the
succeeding sale, no. Jamaica was” offered} and only a. small
supply of Calicut, which was bought in. On the 17th, the
offerings consisted of 27 bags Jamaica ratoon, which
were bought in at 45s.; 107 Wags of washed rough
Cochin, and 20 cases of good small native cut Calicut,
all of which were bought in, the first at 38s. per ewt., and
the second at 55s. No further quotations were made in this
-article during the remainder of the month.
NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO.
Very little attention has been given to nutmegs during
the month. At the spice sale on the 10th, large nuts were
quoted at an advance of 4d. to 1d. per tb. over previous
prices. At the same sale West Indian mace was in good
demand, 35 packages being offered and sold at the follow-
ing rates’: fine, Js. 1ld.to 2s. ld. ; good pale, 1s. 8d. to
ls. 9d. ; fair, 1s. 6d. to 1s. 7d.; and ordinary, ls. 4d. to
1s. 5d.
Of pimento, the market opened on the 3rd with a few
bags of fair, which realized 2d. per Ib. out of a total offermg
of 75 bags. On the 10th, some 250 bags were bought
in at 24d. per th. On the 17th, 164 bags were offered,
-of which 10 were sold at 2d. per Ib. for fair. At the last
sale on the 24th, all the offerings, amounting to 136 bags,
were bought in at 2d. to 24d. per bb.
ARROWROOT. E
Of this article, there is very little to report. Thirty
bales of St. Vincent were offered on the 17th, all of which
‘were bought in. On the 24th, some 20 barrels of good
Natal were offered and bought in at 43d. per tb.
SARSAPARIBELA.
Tn the early part of the month, grey Jamaica was scarce,
but at the last drug auction on the 25th, 9 bales. of
genuine grey Jamaica realized from 1s. to ls. 5d. per tb.
The details of the last drug ‘auctions of the month are as
follows : On the 11th, there was no grey Jamaica or Lima-
Jamaica offered. Vive bales of dull red native Jamaica were
brought forward and bought in at [sper Ib. Some 40 bales
-of Honduras and Guatemala mixed, were also offered and
retained at 1s. 3d., 11d. being the highest bid.
On the 25th, the offerings and sales were as. follows :
Grey Jamaica,.30 bales.; Lima-Jamaica, 36 bales; native,
7 bales. All these were disposed of at the following
rates: Grey, fair to good, Is. 4d. to 1s. 5d.; roughish,
ls. to ls. 1d.; fair to good Lima-Jamaiza, from 1s. ld. to
1s. 2d., and common dark chumpy, 1s. For good, red, native
Jamaica, ls. to 1s. 1d. was’ paid ; for fair red, 11d. to 114. ;
and for ordinary yellow, ltd. At the same auction, 22
bales of Honduras were also offered, and 11 sold with-
out reserve at ls. 3d. to 1s. 4d. per Th.
KOLA, LIME JUICE, OIL OF LIME, TAMARINDS, ETC.
In the middle of the month, 6 bags of dark, slightly
mouldy, West Indian kola found buyers at 13d. per hh, ;
4 hogsheads of palish raw Jamaica lime juice were also
sold at ls. ld. per gallon. At the end of the month, 6
cases of fair West Indian distilled oil of lime were offered
and bought in at 2s. 3d. At the same auction a ease of
West Indian oil of bitter orange was sold at 5s. per lb ; 10
other cases, about the quality of which there was some doubt,
were withdrawn. 'Tamarinds were represented by 13 bar-
rels of rather dark Barbados, which were held at lls. in
bond, an offer of 10s. 6d. being refused. Twenty casks of
fair black Calcutta were also offered and bought in at 14s,
PIGEON. PEAS.
The pigeon pea (Cajanus indicus), whieh 1s grow
on a fairly extensive scale in the West Indtes sor food
and green-dressing purposes, is known in the Kast
Indies as ‘dhall,’ and the methods of cultivation and
uses of the crop form the subject of a leaflet lately
issued by the Ceylon Agricultural Society.
The pigeon pea plant—as is generally known—grows to
a height of 6 feet or more, the mature pods being from 3 to
5 inches long, and containing from three to five seeds. Pigeow
peas resist drought to a remarkable degree, and form a very
useful crop for restorative purposes on worn-out soils. Ti
India it is estimated that there are no less than 700,000 acvee
under this cultivation ; the pulse, either split or ground inte
flour, forms, in combination with rice, the staple diet of
millions in that country.
Pigeon peas do best on alluvial soils, or medium clay
loams, containing a fair proportion of lime. In India it ix
frequently grown asa mixed crop with sorghum, or evem
rice. Generally, however, the best returns are obtained,
and the soil is most benefited, when the crop is grown alone.
Pigeon pea plants do not usually yield their produce nati?
about six months after sowing ; if the land is not immedi-
ately required, successive crops of pods may be obtained?
from the plants.
When pigeon peas are grown alone, and on fairly good
soil, the yield «f pulse may be as high as 2,000 tb. per acre,
and 500 tbh. per acre is a very ordinary return. When the
peas are used for human food, it is found best to free them
from the husks or outer skin before cooking. These husks
may, of course, be given to cattle or goats; the foliage of
the plants is suitable for fodder, or, with the stalks, may be
buried in the soil as a green manure, thus forming a usefud
supply of humus.
The pigeon pea is hardy, and does not suffer much frovm
insect or fungoid attack’: At St. Kitt’s. however, some
plantings are reported to have heen damaged ly the net-wing-
bug. As green dressing, although it supplies a large weight—
of vegetable matter, it does not cover ‘he ground so wel
as cowpeas, woolly pyrol, velvet beans, Bengal beans, ete.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aprit 17, 1909.
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—March 30,:1909, THe Wwsr Inpra_ Com-
MITTEE CircuLAR; Messrs. KEarton Piper & Co.,
March 16, 1909; Messrs. E. A. de Pass & Co.,
March 12, 1909.
Arrowroot—Quict ; 14d. to 2,,d. according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/2 to 2/4; block, no quotations.
BrEEs’-wax—£7 12s. 6d. for dark to pale.
Cacao--Trinidad, 56/6 to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 51/6 to
59/- per ewt.
CorreE—Santos, 33/- per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—West Indian, £18 to £19 per ton.
Corron—Nevis and St., Kitt’s, 13d. to 14d. , Barbados,
123d. to 14d.; St. Vincent, Lod. to Lo.
FrRvir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
Loves-—Not wanted.
PINgE-APpLes—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-.
GRAPE Fruit 6 to 9/- per box. :
Orances—Jamaica, 6/- to-9/- per box.
Fusric—£3 to 4 per ton.
GINGER—5Ds. to 63s. Quiet.
Honry—25s. 6d to 29s. per ewt.
Tsryatass— West India bape, 2/2 to 2/6 per Tb.
Lime Jt —Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon ; concentrated, £18
to £18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2)-
to 2/3 per tb.; hand- pressed, 5 5/6 per tb.
Locwoop—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Mace—Dearer.
Nurmecs—Steady.
Pivento—(Quiet.
Rvusser—Para, fine hard, 5s. 13d. per th.
Rum—Jamaica, 3/1 to 3.4; Demerara. 1/65 to 1/7, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/3 to 16/9; Muscovado, scarce : about
lds. to 15s. 6d. ; Syrup, 15s. to 15s. 6d. ; Molasses, no
quotations.
New York,— April 2, 19, 1909.—Messrs. GiLLesprr,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 13c. to 13hc. ; Grenada, 13}c. to 13%e. ;
Trinidad, 13}c. to 14c. ; Jamaica, 12c. to 13sec. per th.
Cocoa-Nuts—Jamaica, selech! $23-00 to $24°00; culls, $14-00
to $15°00; Trinidad, select, $25-00 to $24-00 ; culls,
$14-00 to $15°00 per M.
Corrrr—Jamaica, ordinary, 7je. to 8he.; good ordinary,
9}e.; washed, up to 12c. per Ib.
Gincer—%e. to L3c. per. Tb.
Goat Skins—Jamaica, 55e.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49c. to 50c. ; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c,
to 48c. per lb., dry flint.
Grape Frurve—Jamaica, $3°00 to $3°75 per barrel.
LIMgEs No quotations.
Mace—30c. to 35c. per th.
Nurmnas—110's, thee. per Tb.
ORANGES— vitals 1, $1°50 to. $2°00 per box.
PIMeENTO per tb,
Sucar—C ontrifugols, 96 , 3 98he.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°48hc.;
“Molasses, 89°, 3°234c. per Th., duty paid,
Barbados,— Messrs. Leacock & Co.,
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
April +10; 1909-2
Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., April 12, 1909.
ARrRoWROOT—St. Vineent, $3°90 to $4:00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—Dominica and St. Lucia, $10°00 per 100 th.
-NuTS—$13-00 for unhusked nuts.
ordinary Rio,
‘E 59°50 to 11-00 pez
100 th.
Havy—S1°50 per 100 th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $62-00 to $65°00; Ohlend orff’s—
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42-00: ue pear
manure, $42-00 to S48- 00: ; Sulphate of ammonia, $72°00
5°00; Sulphate ae potash, S67-00 per ton.
seES—Faney, 16c.; Grocery, 16c. per gallon.
Ontons—Strings, 92°25 to $300 per 100 th.; locse, ne
quotations.
Potatos—Nova Scotia, $2°60 to $2-75 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, $6:00 per bag of 210 th.; Canada, $3°50 pez
bag of 120 Th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°60 (180 th.); Patna, $5-80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per 100 Tb. ,
Sucar—Durk Crystals, 96° $2°30; Muscovado, 89° $1-80.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrertve & Ricnrex, April 3,.
1909 ; Messrs.
April 2, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $9°00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Barara—Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48e. per tb.
Cacao—Native, 14¢. per th.
Cassava—b60e. to S4e.
Cassava 36°00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-NutTsS—S12°00 to SL6-00 per M.
CorrrE—Creole, 12¢. to13c.; Jamaica, 13c. to 13}2 . per bb.,.
slow.
Duat—$4-75 to $4°80 per bag of 168 Tb.
Eppos—81°68 per barrel.
Motasses—No quotations
Ontons—Lisbon, 5e. to 6c. per th.
PLaNtTArNs—24e. to 48e. ape bunch.
Poratos—Novya Scotia, $240 to $2°50 per 100 tb.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, 84c. per bag.
Rrce—Ballam, $5°50; Creole, $4°50 to $4°60.
Srrir PeEas—S5°60 to $5°80 per bag (210 tb.); Marseilles,
$400
Tanntas—S$1-44 per bag.
Yams—White, $2°00 oa bag ; Buck, $1°80.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2 23d to $240; Yellow, $3-10 to
$3°25 ; White, $3°60 to $3-80; Molasses, $2°30 to $2-40
per 100 tb. (retail).
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 55c. per cubic foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3°75 to $5°75 per M.
— _ Corpwoopr—$2'40 to $2°64 per ton.
SANDBACH, ParKEZ & Co.,
Trinidad,— April 3, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co.
Cacao— Venezuelan, $12°80 to $15°50 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$13°25.
Cocoa-NutTs—$22'00 per M. f.o.b. for selected pealed in.
bags of LOO th.
Cocoa-Nuv Or,—70e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Correr—Venezuelan, 8c. to Shc. per tb.
Corra—$3°20 per 100 th.
DxHat—$4'65 to $4-75 per 2-bushel bag.
SD r 100 th. (retail).
Poraros—English, $1°25 to $1°50 per 100 tb.
Rrcr—Yellow, $5:00 to $525 ; White, $4°50 to $4-90 per bag.
Serir PeEas—S5-25 to $550 per bag.
Sugar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100 Tb.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SSS
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL . NEWS. A _ Fortnightly Review.
extracts
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains
from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughous the West Indies.
The ‘Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly,
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Owing to certain numbers being out of print, only Vols. IV and V can
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The following have been appointed Agents for aie cate of the publications of the Department :— 5
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Vou. VIII. No. 182. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
eS TAS Ewe
APRIL 1s 1909.
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—Fe Su:
ar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
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Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
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A Monthly Journal, containing articles on Tropical
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in, or interested in the Tropies.
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IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. GARDE
Vou, VII. No. 183. BARBADOS, MAY 1, 1909. Price ld.
CONTENTS. latter class are wheat flour, £46,751; corn meal,
£13,593 ; salt pork, hams and bacon, £12,657; bread-
stutts, £9,127 : rice, £8,537 ; and peas and beans, £991.
PacE : PAGE. To a certain extent it may be truly urged that it
Avocado Pear, The ... . 132) Insect Notes :— d C
Eel Worms or Nematodes 138
37 Insects in Stored Grain,
3arbados, West African
Sheep at
Cacao, Floral Cushion Destruction of... ... 137
ieee ee eee eee eo t35)|) ime Growino/at Tortola’ 1132
Castilloa Rubber, Planting Live Stock, Insurance of 139
GLIBAN VAgchen man eg ses . 143) Market Reports . 144
Cattle Breeding in Notes and Comments ... 136
Trinidad. .-- ..- 139) Our Bookshelf :-
Cohune Palm in British Les Balais de Sorciere
Hondurasiees) 0 ee Lon du Cacaoyer 142
Copra... BAS, cos 135 Notes on Dominica 142
Cotton Notes :— Para Rubber Trees,
Cotton Cultivation ... 134 Yield of 1435
| Parasitic Diseases in
Be le Plants, Treatment of 1
West Indian Cotton... 134) Poultry Keepers, Hint to 1
Department News oe Rice in British Guiana ... 1
Dominica, Heavy Rainfall | Silk Cotton Tree, Wood of 130
isa
1
Cotton Growing
South Africa
Ahsemenecicete oesek tee Students’ Corner
Food Supply of the West | Superphosphate
Indies... ... «:. 129} Tobacco Cultivation in
Fruit, Exportation of ... 136} @ubarsepeec ts: 141
Fruit Export to England 133) West Indian Bulletin 136
Gleanings ... ... ... .-. 140} West Indian Hay Indus-
Ground Nuts and Ground try, Possible Develop-
. 137 | Soleil
Nut Oil in France
Food Supply of the West Indies,
ment of
N considering the annual trade returns of
the West Indies it must strike the observer
- that the quantities of food stuffs imported
each year are very large for countries whose industries
are almost purely agricultural.
To take the Leeward Islands as an instance, In
1906-7, the total value of all the imports into the
colony was £407,251, which included articles of food to
the value of £151,260. Among the chief items in this
is economically sound and more generally profitable for
these islands to grow for export such staple products
as sugar, cacao, cotton, limes, bananas, ete., and to
import foreign-grown foods. But, under existing
conditions, there are numbers of men in many of
the West Indian islands who find little or no employ-
ment, and in most of the colonies there are more or Jess
It would be
unused
considerable tracts of uncultivated land.
highly beneficial, therefore, if these now
resources couid be employed in the production of food
stuffs for local consumption. In such a case, large sums
of money at present paid ont for imported foods would
be spent at home, and the value would remain in the
colony to be again employed in raising other useful
products.
The matter of the more extended cultivation of
food crops in the West Indies is especially worthy of
consideration just now in connexion with the question
of cotton planting.
It has been demonstrated that, under ordinary
estate circumstances, it is not advisable to attempt to
grow cotton continuously year after year on the same
land, even in districts where this crop has been most
successful, and it would seem that in the majority
of cases, the most suitable rotation to adopt is that in
which some provision or grain crop alternates with
This method will afford the opportunity of
giving the land the change of cultivation that is
necessary, and the produce from the crops mentioned
will generally find a satisfactory and comparatively
steady market.
cotton.
130
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. May I, 1909.
Wheat flour, which ‘is the chief article of food
imported into the Leeward Islands, and probably into
the other colonies as well, possesses advantages peculiar
to itself, and it is hardly likely that it will ever be
displaced, although the more extensive production of
home-grown feeding stufis might lead to a considerable
substitution. Corn meal is a food which offers a good
field for home productiot,/although it would be difficult
to do without the imported article altogether. It is
apparent, too, that with the jdevelopment of more
extensive sources of home-grown food stuffs, there
would come into existence a more or less regular supply
of offal—surplus and damaged material—which would
render it possible to raisé: much larger numbers of pigs
than is now the case, so that part of the large amount
which is now spent on imported pork might be applied
to home production.
Part, if not all, of the rice purchased from abroad,
might with advantage be substituted by locally
produced grains and meals, and there should certainly
be no need in any of the West Indian islands to
import beans and peas, as all the supply required could
be grown locally.
Peas and beans are seldom grown in the West
Indies on any extensive Scale as field crops, except in
This is
unfortunate in view of the fact that all pulse or legu-
minous products are rich in albuminous matter, a con-
stituent in which most food stuffs grown in the West
Indies are deficient. It would be well if peas and
beans formed a more prominent article in the dietary
of the labouring classes of these colonies, and this is
a matter which deserves special attention in any effort
to extend the local production of articles of food.
cases where a green-dressing crop 1s required.
Although the conditions as regards the relative
proportions of imported and home-grown foods have
not undergone much alteration in the West Indian
islands during the past ten years, yet a notable instance
of the rapid development of a local food-producing
industry, which has been ‘attended with much increased
prosperity to the labouring classes, exists in the neigh-
bouring colony of British Guiana. While in 1899-1900
the quantity of rice imported into British Guiana was
11,313 tons, the imports have gradually fallen off with
increasing home production, and in 1906-7, when the
local-grown rice crop reached 40,472 tons, the rice
brought into the colony was no more than just over
2,751 tons.
The chief crops suitable for human food, which are
cultivated in the West Indies, are sweet potatos, yams,
could be increased.
tannias, eddos, cassava, maize,
and small quantities of rice.
guinea corn, bananas,
Of these crops, sweet
potatos are probably more extensively cultivated than
any other, and during the months of the year when
these are most plentiful, they form a large part of the
diet of the labouring classes. Yams are grown on
a smaller scale, but possess the advantage that they will
keep for a longer period than sweet potatos. There is
no doubt that cassava might with advantage be pro-
duced and utilized in the manufacture of bread to
a much greater degree than is at present the case.
Surveying the whole situation, it would seem that
the main reasons which account for the relatively large
proportion of imported food stuffs consumed in these
islands, as compared with locally raised produce, are
that, under present conditions, the supply of home-grown
food stuffs is not regular and uniform—which, in its
turn. is due to the fact that the crops previously enu-
merated possess but poor keeping qualities—and that
the means of distribution very poor. The food
crops produced ina given district are directly consumed
by the inhabitants of that district, and deficiencies are
made up by imported food stutis, the supply of which
is regular and reliable. It is evident that any attempt
to promote the ‘more extensive cultivation of West
Indian food products for local consumption, if it is te
be successful, must be accompanied by an effort to
establish a general system of distribution, by means of
which a deficiency in the supply of local produce in
one district may be made up by importation from neigh-
bouring districts where there may exist an excessive
supply.
are
Another important matter that demands considera-
tion in this connexion is the possibility of initiating
and developing some methed of treatment by means of
which the keeping qualities of West Indian food stufts
It would seem that this could best
be accomplished, by converting such raw products as
sweet potatos, “yams, bananas, ete., into
a powdered and desiccated form, so that an excessive
supply at one time of the year might be utilized to
meet a deficiency at some other period,
Cassava,
Wood of Silk Cotton Tree. The wood
of the silk-ecotten or ceiba tree, so well known in’ the
West Indies, is soft and subject to attack by insects, which
make: it unsuitable. for most industrial uses. In his
paper ‘Timbers of. Jamaica,’ appearing in the West Indian
Bulletin, Vol. 1X, No. 4, Mr: W. Harris, F.L.S8,, states that,
if steeped in strong lime water, the wood of this tree will last
for several years, when made into boards and shingles,
Vou. VIII. No. 183.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
THE POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT
OF A WEST INDIAN. HAY
INDUSTRY.
Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc., F.I.C.{ Acting Superin-
tendent of Agriculture and Government Chemist for
the Leeward Islands, has sent in the following inter-
esting notes on the possibilities of developing a hay
industr y in parts of the West Indian islands :—
In certain West Indian islands, notably Dominica and
Barbados, there is at the present time a “not inconsiderable
importation of hay during the dry months of the year, when
green fodder is scarce. This demand is at present met by
supplies from America.
In Antigua there are considerable areas of flat pasture
covered by the known locally as ‘hay grass’
(Andropogon caricosus), which, when cutzat the right time,
makes excellent hay.
The Victoria Park on the eastern side of St. John’s is
taken up by this grass, and the purchasé by the St. John’s
City Commissioners of a mowing machiie suitable for the
cutting of long grass, offered a ftavourable;opportunity for an
experiment to decide whether it would be; possible to supply
some of the existing demand for hay in other islands with
grass reaped from Antigua pastures.
Accordingly, in November 1908, a tvial bale of hay was
made from this pasture and shipped ,to Dominica by
Dr. Watts, acting in conjunction with Mr. W. J. Abbott,
Clerk to the City Commissioners.
The bale was exhibited at the Botani@Station, Dominica,
and attracted favourable comment from {persons interested
locally. As a result, a trial order for a commercial shipment
of 5 bales was sent to Antigua. This order was executed
in due course and the 5 bales were sold at rates which left
a considerable margin of profit for the shipper, and at the
same time enabled them to,be disposed of,more. cheaply than
American hay.
This preliminary experiment indicates: ‘that there, is
a field for the development of a profitable tPade in he iy between
islands ‘possessing flat pastures occupied: by hay grass, and
other islands, where, at certain seasons, fodder is scarce.
grass
A
The initial cost of a suitable mowing machine is compara-
tively small. That used in the above experiments cost £11,
landed in Antigua. The cost of reapihg and baling the
grass is trifling, and, under average conditions, two er even
three cuttings of grass should be obtained, each year.
Further, it must be remembered ,that in addition to
forming a possible valuable export, the hay should have
considerable use locally as a fodder. By systematic reaping
much fodder would be’ saved which at present is wasted by
the dying-back of. the shoots after seeding. Also, if the
pasture is kept clear of grazing stock, the growth of grass
would be more vigorous, since its development would not be
hindered by the trampling of the animals} ‘and the’ premature
feeding down of succulent growing shoates
Hay grass (Andropogon caricosus) is an East Indian
grass, and in the West Indies at present is only found i in
Antigua.
is readily established, and; once this is done, takes pos-
session of the land to the exclusion of other grasses... This
is a valuable feature when deciding the correct time for
cutting, since in fields containing mixtures ofigrasses it 1s not
always easy to select the best time for. taking off the crop,
as different species ripen at different tintes. After cutting,
hay grass pastures are greatly Ears by a light seratehing
with a cultivator,
The history of its introduction‘is-obscure.~’ It’
The proper time at which to cut the grass is important.
This is when the pollen has fallen from the flower, but before
the seeds have swollen. If seeditig has taken place the grass
is valueless as fodder, since the constituents possessing food
value have been, by then, transferred to the seed.
Too little attention is paidjat the present time to the
care of pastures in the West Indies, and to the possible de-
velopment of a dry fodder industry locally. It is suggested
that serious consideration should \be given to the above facts,
that efforts shonld be made to establish an industryjon these
lines from existing pastures, and that suitable areas elsewhere
should be established in this grass for the purpose. If this
were done, it is believed that éonsiderable benefits would
result in the future. 1
In addition to the preparation of hay for export, it is
beheved that much advantage would be derived, were the
owners of estates to give attention to their pastures, to put
them into fair order, and to exit! the grass at regular intervals.
This grass might be made into hay and stored to meet the
requirements of a dry season, or it might be fed to the
animals of the estate in stables or pens. The amount of
fodder obtained from a given pasture would probably be
greatly increased if this method of cutting were adopted,
instead of the over-grazing of which one sees so much at
present. A limited amount of grazing might be found ’-per-
missible, but the chief attention should be given to cutting.
With a light mowing machine and a small baling press
(such as is commonly used for cotton), the work of making
and storing hay becomes a very stmple inatter, and one which
should engage the attention of estate owners, particularly in
Antigua, where the conditions for this kind of work are very
favourable.
HEAVY RAINFALL AT DOMINICA.
Mr. Joseph Jones)» Curator” of the Dominica
Botanic Station, reports as follows on the unusual
weather conditions that were-experienced in the island
in the early part of April...Mr. Jones writes :—
Very heavy rains fell in Dominica on April.7 and 8, no
less than 5°42 inches of rain being registered at the Botanic
Station during a period of thirty hours. © Very high winds
were also experienced, which caused some damage to the lime
crop of the island. 3
It is very unusual for heavy rains to fall in Dominica
during April. The records at the Botanic Station which go
back for sixteen years show nothing during April approaching
the rainfall of the 7th and &th,inst.. April is the driest month
of the vear, and the mean rainfall for this month at the Gar-
dens over a period of sixteen-yéars, 1883 to 1908, is 1°96
inches. Probably the heavy rainfall will considerably ad-
vance the lime crop. The weather still continues showery.
~
-Papaw trees are usually dicecious (having male and
female flowers on separate trees).. A paper in Sezence, by an
ofticer connected with the Porto Rico Experiment Station,
reports a change of sex observed in some papaw trees in
Porto Rico, brought about apparently by removing the
terminal bud. A tree which had previously borne staminate
(male) flowers only, had its terminal bud injured, and shortly
afterwards was noticed to bear pistillate (female) flowers also.
These flowers set and yielded fruit, and this was repeated
inthe second year. Further data-are being collected on the
subject. :
TBE... AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 1, 1909.
INDIAN FRUIT.
THE AVOCADO PEAR.
The very wholesome character and peculiarly
attractive flavour of the avocado pear have caused it to
be regarded with increasing favour in all countries
where it is known, and the cultivation of this plant has
now extended to practically all the tropical and many
sub-tropical parts of the world.
In the West Indies avocado pears are produced in suffi-
cient quantity to supply the local demand, but it is unfortu-
nate that the great susceptibility of the fruit to damage by
bruising should be a great obstacle in the way of building up
an export trade, otherwise a remunerative industry might
already have been established in this direction. ‘The avocado
is undoubtedly one of the most delicate of West Indian fruits,
and it is necessary to use the greatest care in gathering and
handling it. The slightest bruise is sufficient to cause the
pear to rot in a very short time ; indeed, it is often much
bruised by its own seed if carelessly shaken.
Notwithstanding this, however, it has been amply
demonstrated that it is possible successfully to ship avocados
for very considerable distances, if due care is exercised in
gathering, packing, etc. West Indian pears have been
exported in small quantity to New York and to England, and
experimental shipments from the Hawaiian Islands to the
Pacific coast of the United States (reported on in the Agri-
cultural News, Vol. VI, p. 404) gave very satisfactory results.
Under the system of packing which seemed most suitable,
the pears arrived at their destination (Portland, Oregon) with
a loss of only 2°9 per cent. It is generally recommended
that the cases in which avocados are packed for transport
should be small in size and contain but few fruits. The
crate found most satisfactory in the Hawaiian experiments
(with medium-sized fruits) waS of the following dimensions,
inside measurement: 13 x 14 x 3} inches. This erate con-
tained about one dozen fruits, necessarily in a single layer,
the fruits being merely wrapped in a single paper cover.
There isa good market for avocados in the United
States, and the crop is being increasingly cultivated in
Florida, where efforts are being made, by selection and
breeding, to produce improved varieties. It is stated in the
Yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1905) that
West Indian avocados were exported to New York so long
ago as 1887, when one firm handled from 300. to 500 fruits
per week from these colonies during the months from June
to November. It would seem that the West Indian avocado
trade did not survive competition with the Florida product.
Avocado trees are
usnably produced from seed, but as
with most other fruits, the vegetative method of propaga-
tion is to be recommended in preference. sudding has
proved very successful with this tree, the simplest form of
the operation—that known as shield budding—being the
best to employ with the avocado.
LIME GROWING AT TORTOLA.
Efforts are being made to encourage lime planting
at Tortola, since one or two preliminary attempts im
tlis direction have given promise of success. The first
three hogsheads of concentrated lime juice prepared in
the island, were shipped to London in March last, and
were valued at £45. ‘The juice was prepared at the
Experiment Station. With the object of bringing the
question of the possible establishment of a lime indus-
try before the general population, a meeting was held
at Tortola on March 25 last, under the presidency of
his Honour the’ Commissioner, when Mr. W. GC. Fish-
lock, Agricultural -Instructor of the Virgin Islands,
gave an address dn'the matter. About seventy peasant
proprietors were in attendance.
Mr. Fishlock drew attention to the importance of mak-
ing every effort to develop the agricultural resources of the
Virgin Islands, and referred to the increased prosperity of
the Presidency since the establishment of the cotton industry.
Tortola was not adapted for sugar production on
a commercial scale, ‘ind, therefore, attention must be given te
other industries, among which lime growing appeared well
suited to the local conditions. It had already been demon-
strated that limes would grow well on the rich slopes of the
north side of the island, and in the sheltered valleys of the
south side.
An advantage in favour of this crop was that it was per-
manent in character, and when once established, required little
attention, compared with such crops as sugar-cane, cotton, ete.
It was pointed).out that no large outlay on machinery
would be necessary to start an industry in the preparation of
concentrated lime juice. The limes could be crushed in
existing sugar mills, and the juice boiled in the batteries.
Small holders might note that the skins of the fruits, after
crushing, make a-useful addition to cattle food:
One small holder present at the meeting stated that he
had already several hundred lime trees: in bearing on his
holding.
Vou, VIIL No 183.
THE AGRICULTURAL:
vo
‘NEWS: 15
FRUIT EXPORT TO BNGLAND.
With the development of the agricultural possibili-
ties of Queensland, efforts are being made by that
colony to find regular and satistactony, markets-for its
produce in foreign countries. In Se of this: object,
a frit expert to the Department of Agriculture and
Stock was last year--commissioned. to visit Great
Britain to report on the state of the frnit market as it
concerned Queensland fruits. Some of his remarks,
contained in an official report lately; published, are of
general interest to producers of oranges and bananas,
and are summarized here.
Thorough enquiries were made in England as to the
qualities of “fruit reqiired, the price likely to be obtained,
and the best methods of packing. For the guidance of
Queensland orange growers it was stated, that the best months
to export citrus fruits to England were in Angust and Septeim-
ber, although there is a good market for high-class Navel
oranges and mandarins during June and July as well.
stress was laid on the fact that only “first-class frnit was
wanted. It was stated that the oranges.gent should be clean
and bright with fine, thin skins. Jamaica oranges
referred to as the best fruit of the kind then on the market
(in September}. These were described as being about 2
inches in diameter, of light yellow colour, and with thin
skins. The writer of the report pointed out that fruit
similar in appearance and quality to the Jamaica oranges
were grown in several districts in Queensland. It was added
that navel oranges, such as were grown ina certain district
in Queensland could be relied upon to fetch excellent prices
on theEnglish market. The Jamaica fruitiwas then command-
ing a price of 14s. per ease, containing About 112 oranges.
The section of the report relating tovthe orange trade
concludes with this passage: ‘The trade is very emphatic
as to our sending nothing but the very best. fruit, and. from
what I can see of the market I quite agree with them. No
fruit must be exported to England from “Qieensland unless up
to standard quality. If inferior goods are sent it will simply
ruin thé market. The whole world is catering for the
market of Great Britain, and buy ers want the best that the
world can produce.’
In reference to packing fruit for expen it was pointed
out that the fruits should in all cases be, wrapped separately
in glazed or thin wax paper. Oranges should he thoroughly
sweated before being put up, and packed,so firmly that they
will not roll about in the case. The sizer shape of the case
is immaterial, so that the grower can adopt whatever seems
to him most convenient.
Great
were
Trial shipments of mandarins and other kinds of oranges
from South Africa have lately been placed on the English
market, and these are referred to in the report in question.
They are described as being of the scarlet type, of medium
size, good colonr, and with fairly tight skins. Exporters
have adopted the plan of packing these in fancy trays which
hold only one layer of fruit, and then binding five of the trays
together in one package. This method of packing appears
to be a new one but is giving satisfactory’ results,
It was mentioned that the British market was well
stocked with bananas from the West Indies and Canary
Islands. In sending bananas from, the Canary [slands every
bunch of fruit is packed in a separate crate, and great care is
taken in putting up the fruit. The bunch has first a thin
layer of cotton wool round it. Jt is then wrapped in paper,
and. outside the paper is placedis a thick layer\ of straw or
dry banana leaves. This method is illustrated in fig. 16.
Fie. 16.
Meruop or Packinc Canary BANANAS.
The fruit arrives in England in the green state, and is ripen-
ed by artificial heat. These bananas usually sell in. the
English market at ls. a dozen. .The Jamaica bananas, which
are of larger size and more showy, are not equal to the
Canary Is lands banana in flavour, and fetch only about half
the price on the English market.
Referring to the prospects of Queensland bananas in
England, it is stated that the fruit from the Canary Islands
is larger and better filled than the North Queensland product,
althoweh in the Buderim mountains (Queensland), bananas
are produced which are certainly Superior in appearance and
quality to those grown in the Canary Islands,
These particulars indicate that producers in other
countries possessing great possibilities of development
are anxious to secure their share of the English market,
and therefore emphasize the need on the part of
growers to produce only the best, and to use every
care in packing. so that fruit exported may appear as
attractive as possible in the market of destination.
The Dhak tree of India (Sutea frondosa) is now well
established at the Dominica Botanic Station. The Dhak
belongs to the Leguminosae, and its bright orange-red blos-
.soms make it one of the most’ handsome of trees when im
flower.
preparation of a dye.
In India the flowers ,are..sometimes utilized in the
THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 1, 1909:
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme *& Holland, of Liverpcol,
writing on April 7 last, report as follows on the market
conditions and prospects for West Indian Sea Island
cotton :—
Since our last report ai good business has been done in
West Indian Sea Island cotton, and about 400 bales have
been sold, including Barbados at 124d. to 144d., Nevis and
Montserrat, 124d. to 133d. ; St. Kitt’s, 123d. to 132d. ;
Antigua, 13hd.; St. Croix} 12d.; and Anguilla, 123d. to
13d. : also some miscellaneous stains at 6)d.
Prices are steady, but there is ne prospect of any
immediate improvement, as when prices are advanced,
spinners withdraw from the market. The Charleston and
Savannah markets are rather’ quieter, and ‘ fully fine’ Islands
cotton is offering on this market at 133d. to 14d. This
competes with the West Indian product.
In view of the fact ‘that planters are finding present
prices unprofitable, we should not recommend any increased
cultivation, until the accumulated crops of the last two years
have been consumed. ‘This remark only applies if the
Florida and Georgia crops. progress satisfactorily. Any
damage to these would alter the whole situation for all
descriptions of Sea Island cotton.
COTTON CULTIVATION.
At a meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and
Commercial Society held on April 8 last, the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture gave a brief address on
the subject of cotton cultivation, with especial reference
to the condition of affairs at Antigua.
Dr. Watts reviewed the situation and went over the
chief points in the history. of the Sea Island cotton industry
in the Leeward Islands. This was illustrated by means of
a diagram prepared for the occasion, which showed in a graphic
way the rapid rise in the cotton exports each season for
some years after the start of the industry, and the sudden
<lrop ‘that of late had taken place at Antigua consequent on
reduced prices and bad seasons.
The Commissioner’s address was of an encouraging
nature, although he fully recognized the difficulties with
which cotton planters recently had to contend. In the first
place the market was depressed by artificial causes originat-
ing in America, and also in England, which resulted in
a diminished demand for cotton as well as for many. other
products. Further there had been an unusually large output
from the Sea Islands, Florida, and Georgia last season, so
that an increased supply ocetrred when the demand was low,
which again depressed prices,
There was né doubt, too, that the seasons 1907 and
1908 had been especially unfavourable for cotton throughout
the West Indies, although it would seem that Antigua had
suffered more than other islands. As a result of the long
drought, it had not been possible to plant cotton at the right
time, and the dry weather had also prevented the plants from
making good growth, and insect and fungoid pests had been
very prevalent. With such a conjunction of unfavourable condi-
tions, the results were bound to be unsatisfactory, but there
was no reason to believe that all the depressing causes would
continue to be in operation at the same time.
Dr. Watts urged the planters to stick to the cotton
crop, and to exercise every care in its cultivation. Despite
the ditliculties of the past two seasons, an industry which had
reached an export, value of £17,000 in a few years—which
had been the case with cotton in the Leeward Islands—was
obviously one which was worth a strong effort to keep alive.
On estates where cotton was not regarded as a main crop,
it was very valuable as a rotation crop with sugar-cane, since
it afforded an opportunity of giving the land a change in
cultivation. The periodical growing of a crop of cotton was
one of the best mefsures to adopt on land where sugar-cane
suffered from root \disease, since cotton plants were not
attacked by the Warasmius fungus, and the cultivation of
the crop necessarily entailed a good cleaning of the land.
COTTON GROWING IN SOUTH AFRICA.
With the assistance of the British Cotton Growing
Association, efforts are being made to establish a cotton
industry in suitable districts of British South Africa. So
tar the most satisfactory results appear to have been obtained
in the Transvaal, where native labour is plentiful and cheap.
Sea Island cotton does not do wellin the Transvaal, and
American Upland varieties are more promising than Egyptian
cotton. The seasonal conditions are said to be satisfactory
for cotton growing, and the crop can be planted so as to be
ready for gathering in the dry season. From Upland cottons,
yields of lint from ‘200 Ib. to 400 tb. per acre have been ob-
tained. Picking is done by native women at a wage of 6d.
per day. The picking capacity of a native woman is placed
at 40 Ib. per day.
Owing to the fact that there is at present only one gin-
nery in the colony, little advances have so far been made. With
the extension of railways, the erection of additional ginneries
at various centres, and the establishment of a mill. for
extracting oil fromthe cotton-seed, it is thought the industry
might spread. A few sample shipments of cotton have
already been made to the Liverpool market.
Vor: Vill. No. 183:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
COPRA.
There appears to be great variation in the quality of
copra placedon the market, despite the. fact that a good
quality product 1 is always in ‘satisfac tory demand. The copra
produced in Ceylon and in the islands off the Pacific, where
large European soap- making and other figms have extensive
interests, is always of high quality, and ‘commands the. best
price. Copra from the Malay States, liwever, sells at a
secondary price, and is reported to have. fiequently been pre-
pared in an unsatisfactory manner. W Tale the best copra
at Singapore sells for about $7°50 per picul (1333 tb.), the
market price of lower qualities is often 51°00 per picul below
this. These lower grades are usually prepared on estates
owned and managed by Malays and Chinese. Although
West Indian copra does not fetch the high returns of two
years ago, it is satisfactory to note that “prices have lately
shown signs of advance, and the latest quotation is about
£19 per ton.
THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF
THE FLORAL GUSHION ‘IN CACAO.
Ina pamphlet on the ‘Witch broom ’ disease of
Cacao, Dr. C. J. J. van Hall and A. W. Drost have
given a full account of the origin of the cushion in
cacao, For this purpose they studied the development
of the lateral buds in Theobromu bicolor, a tree nearly
allied to the cacao.
The buds are borne on fairly young branches (4 in the
accompanying diagram) in the angle between the leaf and the
ELLA ee
ye
resents
branch. In the flowering season the bud grows out in
a central shoot a, and is terminated by, a flower borne on
a short fower-stalk ¢; from the sides of the central shoot
secondary branches 4 arise, each of which i is terminated by
a flower also borne on a short stalk, d. &
In this way ten or twelve flowers may be borne on a floral
branch. The flowers eventually give rise to fruit.
In Theobroma cacao, the cacao proper, practically the
same thing occurs, with this difference : that i in this case the
flowers and fruit arise only on those parts of the tree that
have lost their leaves and become woody, such as. the main
trunk and older branches. f
‘The bud from which the flowers: aise was originally
horne, as in Theobroma bicolor, in the axil-of a leaf, but. it
remained dormant until the leaves had all fallen and the
ark had grown up round it.
After the flowers have fallen,
Cacao BRrancu wirt FLoWeERs.
the central axis of the
original bud thickens up and becomes the cushion. Only
a few of the flowers form fruit, so that usually each cushion
bears only three or four fruits. “Fhe fruit when ripe falls off,
leaving the central axis or cushion to again bear flowers and
fruit in the following years.
To summarize, the cushion {S$ the remains of the central
axis of a bud, originally borne infthe angle between a leaf
ce a young branch, but which @oes not develop until the
branch on which itsis borne Tass Jost its leaves and becomes
hard and woody.
SUPERPHOSPHATE.
Superphosphate, as is generally known, is made by
the action of sulphuric acid on mineral phosphates,
steamed bone, or bone ash. Raw bone is seldom used
for the purpose, since the..erganic matter interferes
with the action of the acid and the after-usefulness of
the manure.
Mineral phosphates, as coprolites, are by far the chief
source of superphosphate. In these minerals the phosphoric
acid is present in the form of tribasic phosphate of lime, being
combined with the maximum quantity of lime required for its
complete neutralization (three proportions of lime to one of
phosphoric acid). In this state it is insoluble in water. The
sulphuric acid is added in quantity sufficient to combine with
two proportions of the lime contained in the mineral, gypsum
or caletum sulphate being formed as a result. Monocalcie
phosphate is also formed, and in this, one proportion. of
wien shoric acid is combined with-one proportion of lime, the
compound being soluble in watery It will be seen, therefore,
that superphosphate consists chiefly of a mixture of calcium
sulphate and soluble monocaleic phosphate. In addition,
there is always some tribasic phosphate present which has
not been rendered soluble: this is usually from 4 to 6 per
cent. In amount. df
The price of superphosphate is naturally based on the
proportion of soluble phosphate it contains. This is usually
expressed in the guarantee accompanying the manure as the
amount of tribasic phosphate made soluble. When a super-
phosphate is described as a 30-per cent. super., it means that
a contained weight of tribasic phosphate, equal to 30 per
cent. of the whole mixture, has been rendered soluble. As
a matter of fact, however, the actual quantity of monocalecic
phosphate, or superphosphate of lime, is considerably less—
23:6 per cent.
Jn fixing the price of the manure, the insoluble
phosphate and gypsum are not taken into consideration.
They have, however, a slight manurial value. It should be
pointed ont, too, that the phosphoric acid in the 35-per
cent. superphosphate is not worth any more per unit than
that in the 26-per cent. manure, but in making the former,
more expensive material of figher quality is required.
When carriage has to be paid on the manure over a long
distance, the higher grade superphosphate will often prove the
more economical, since a greater quantity of phosphate is
obtained for each ton of carriage paid.
It may be added that in addition to the monocaleie
phosphate, insoluble phosphate, and gypsum, a superphos-
phate also contains proportions of sandy matter, water, and
small quantities of oxide of iron and alumina. hose mineral
phosphates which contain the smallest quantities of iron and
alumina are the most desirable for making superphosphate.
The monocalcic phosphate has an affinity for these
compounds, and will recombing.,with them, thus giving rise
to what is known as reverted phosphate, which is insoluble.
‘
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. May 1, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Coumissioner, Imperial’ Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the * Agricultural
News’ shonld be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department. ib
Local Ayents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulan &
Co., 37, Soho Square, Wi, and The West India Com-
mittee, 15, Seething Liane, E.C. A complete list of
Agents will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post. free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural: slews
Vou. VIII.
MEALS 5% 1'909:
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial article of this issue deals with the
relative proportions of imported and locaily produced
food stuffs consumed in the West Indies, and discusses
‘the possibility of increasing the jatter at the expense
cof the former. fs
SATURDAY, No.
Trials that have been made at Antigua indicate
that something might be doue to establish a hay-
producing industry im parts of the West Indies (page
131).
Efforts are being made to encourage lime planting
at Tortola (page 132). “An article on page 133 deals
with the requirements of the British banana and
orange market.
ay |e
A good deal of West Indian cotton has lately been
sold in England. On April 8 last, Dr. Watts gave an
address at Antigua on cotton cultivation (page 134).
t=
Some notes on superphosphate will be found on
‘page 135.
An informative article on the subject of eel worms,
-or nematodes, appears on; page 138. These pests have
been found on various ¢ropsin many of the West
Indian Islands.
The committee of the Trinidad Agricultural
Society appointed last year to consider the question
of stock-breeding in that colony has lately issued its
report (page 139).
A considerable amorint of data in relation to the
yield of Para rubber trees will be found on page 143.
Hint to Poultry Keepers.
Although poultry keeping in the West Indies, as
in other parts of the world, possesses potentialities of
profit, vet the average householder who has a number
of hens running around his holding would probably be
dissatisfied withithe returns obtained, if regular records
were kept. Thisis probably due to the fact that the
flock is formed of hens of constitutionally poor laying
capacity, or thatrthe birds are kept until long past the
period when they are at their best as layers. The
profit from an individual hen is, of course, small at the
best, and this tends to prevent poultry keepers from
being over. critical as te the achievements of their birds.
It is only the owner who considers the capacity of the
individual birds separately, however, who is likely to
get the very best returns. Tliese are obtained (a) by
caretul selection of good laying strains, and (b) by
weeding out unprofitable birds,
a a
West Indian Bulletin.
The ninth volume of the West Indian Bulletin
has lately been; completed by the issue of Part 4.
This contains two lengthy and useful articles on the
Timbers of Jamaica, and the Timbers of Dominica,
respectively, the former by Mr. W. Harris, F.LS.,
while the latter js, based on the list compiled by the
late Dr. Imray. which has been revised with the assist-
auce of several writers. Mr. Harris gives details of the
various uses for which the timber of over 100 Jamaica
trees are suited,, while in the case of Dominica, the
information extends to 176 trees. The third article,
which is illustrated, is by Mr. C. C. Gowdey. B.Se., and
deals with the, Aleyredidae (white flies) of Barbados,
The various fungus diseases of cocoa-nuts in the West
Indies are discussed by Mr. F. A. Stockdale, B.A., F.LS.,
and the final article has for its subject ‘Millions and
Malaria’; this is by Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc., and is also
illustrated. Part 4 contains the title-page, contents,
and index of Vol. IX.
We
Exportation of Fruit.
Two or threéeyears ago legislation came into force
thronghout the Commonwealth of Australia, which laid
down the conditions under which certain agricultural
commodities weré'to be exported from the country.
The West Indica Committee Circular recently drew
attention to these! Australian regulations, and urged
that something’ should be done to create a similar
system of control in the West Indian islands from
which oranges, bananas, limes, and other fruits are
exported. As the result of legislation such as that to
which referencé has been wade, inspectors are
appointed, whose duty it is to’examiime the nature and
quality of the fruit, and the method of packing, and to
see that a proper‘description of the contents 1s affixed
to the outside ofeach case. Such regulations undoubt-
edly’ strengthen©a produce-exporting industry ; they
form a Stroug inéentive to the producer to do his best,
and also tend to yive confidence to the “buyer in the
foreign market.
‘Vou: VIII. No. 183. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
137
Destruction of Insects in Stored Grain.
Stored corn, guinea corn, pigeon :peas. and provi-
‘sion crops are liable to be attcked by weevils and other
insect pests which do considerable damage in a short
time.
‘destroying these pests is by fumigation with carbon
bisulphide, and this should be undertaken on the first
signs of attack. The compartment or bin in which the
grain is stored should first be rendered air-tight by
-effectually closing all openings, and the contents then
-exposed for twenty-four hours to the fumes of the
bisulphide. At the end of that time most, if not all the
‘insects will be killed. The quautity of bisulphide
required wil be at the rate of 1 drachm percubic foot.
In the West Indies, the price of carbon bisulphide
“is about 2s. Gd. per th.
De ____—
“West African Sheep at Barbados.
It has previously been mentioned that numbers
-of young sheep, the offspring of a cross between the
West African rams imported by the Conimissioner of
Agriculture. and the local woolless sheep, are now to
be observed at Barbados, and that the results of the
-erossing have been very satisfactory. ' In view of the
-enquiries on the subject that not infrequently come to
band, it may further be added that two of the African
rams were 1n 1908 loaned to Chancery’ Lane plantation
‘by the Department. As a result of the crosses that
‘have been made; Mr. Graham Yearwood, the proprietor,
now has a considerable number of promising young
‘sheep and lambs, which in their marking and size
:show distinctly the characteristics of the male parent.
Although the season has been very dry, the progress
made by the voung animals has been ‘very satisfactory.
Persons interested in the matter hav€a good opportu-
nity of seeing several of these improved sheep at
“Chancery Lane plantation.
‘Ground Nuts and Ground Nut Oilzin France.
Marseilles is notable as being the port to which
the greater part of the ground nuts shipped to Europe
are consigned, and the town is regarded as the head-
-quarters of the ground nut oil trade, During 1908,
over 190,000 tons of ground nuts were imported into
Marseilles. In recent reports from the sonth of
France, Bombay ground nuts are quoted at $593 per
-220 th., Coromandel nuts at $6°22,jand Mozambique
nuts at $733. All these are imported without their
‘shells. For Cayor’ and ‘ Gambia.’,nuts from West
Africa, imported with their: shells, present prices are
-about $457. per 220 tb. The ground nuts yield from
-88 vo 50 per cent. of their weight in oil. About 16 to
18 per cent. of the oil is used for culinary purposes,
and the remainder is put to industrial uses. The
‘edible ground nut oil is worth from3$13:50 to $15°50
per 220 tb., while the lower grades of oil, used for soap-
“making are valued at about $12 ner 220 tb. The
-cake left after expressing the oil is sold at about $3°30
{per 220 Ib. for cattle feeding.
It may be pointed ont that the best means of
Cohune Palm in British Honduras.
The Cohune palm (Attalea Cohune) of which
specimens are to be seen at the Botanic Stations of
the different West Indian islinds, and which is culti-
vated at Jamaica, is native to British Honduras, where
it €XistS in enormous quantity. This tree soniewhat
resembles the cocoa-nut palm, but does not, grow to so
great a height, and has nuchJarger Jeaves and a thicker
trunk. The Cohune palm is of economic interest,
Inasmuch as it may later become the basis of a profit-
able industry, on account of the oil contained in the
kernels of the nuts which forwy the fruit of the tree.
The nuts are about as large as a hen’s egg, and are
enclosed in a hard shell. ‘Chere are at present two
machines in British Honduras for cracking the nuts
and extracting the kernels, which are then exported.
It is mentioned, however, that at least 50 per cent. of
the kernels are injured in the yrocess of cracking, and,
as a result, the contained oil becomes rancid while
under export.
Although the oil is stated to be more valuable
than cocoa-nut oil, yet under. present conditions,
millions of bunches ot nuts are wasted annually in
British Honduras. What is wanted is the establish-
ment of machinery in the colony, so that the oil could
be expressed locally. This would undoubtedly be more
remunerative than the present system.
Treatment of Parasitic Diseases in Plants.
It is well known in connexion with the life-history
of bacteria, that the products of their activity, if allowed
to accumulate, have an injurious, and finally a fatal
effect upon these organisms themselves. Thus, to take
a case 1n point, the souring and coagulation of milk are
due to the conversion of milk sugar into lactic acid by
bacteria. The maximum percentage of lactic acid in
sour milk, however, is no more-than from 0°8 to 1:0 per
cent., since this degree of concentration of the acid is
sufficient to paralyse the activities of the bacteria
responsible for its production
An interesting paper by Professor Potter, of
Neweastle-on-Tyne, which appears in the Journal of
Agricultural Science (Vol. III, part 1), suggests
a method of treating certain parasitic diseases of plants
based on the above principle. A bacterial parasite,
Pseudomanas destructans, responsible for a disease in
turnips, was grown in a culture medium, and when the
organism had exhausted the nutrient content of this
preparation, the residne, containing the waste products
of the activity of the bacteria, were collected and the
solutions concentrated. When this solution was inject-
ed into turnips suffering from the disease caused by
P. destructans, microscopic investigation showed that
it had a paralysing effect upon the bacteria, and it was
observed that further progress of the disease was
prevented. i
Further experiments showed that the principle
was also applicable in the case of the fungous disease of
oranges caused by Penecilliwmitalicum. This method
is interesting, and may possibly-prove of some practical
value in dealing with plant diseases.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 1, 190%
INSECT NOTES.
Eel Worms or Nematodes.
At the present time a considerable interest is being
shown in the nodules that may frequently be observed
on the roots of plants. ;Much work has been done in
connexion with the assimilation of nitrogen by means
of certain bacterial organisms, which cause the ‘develop-
ment of characteristic ‘root nodules, in which these
bacteria live. anit
The bacteria inhabit.the roots of the Leguminosae—that
group of plants in which the fruit is a pod. Among the
Teguminous plants are the peas, beans, acacias, cassias, and
many other similar plants. Recently, however, a theory has
been advanced that plants of other groups may also be able to
assimilate free nitrogen by means of bacteria and root
nodules, and many plants ‘otber than legumes have been
examined with the ‘object of determining whether or not root
nodules are present.
Asa result of this interest, root swellings have been
found on many plants and several enquiries haye been
received at the Head Office of this Department with regard
to them. It may safely be, stated that in the West Tene!
nitrogen bacteria have up ‘to the present been found only in
the char acteristic root nodules of leguminous plants.
Ze] worms are the cause of many deformities and swell-
ings in the roots of a great variety of plants. These swellings
are usually quite distinct from the leguminous root monies
The eel worms belong to that group of animals known
as nematode worms, many of which are harmless, living in
Vie. 18. Roors or Conrus ‘
= Fre. 19. Roor or Cowpra
PLANT, SHOWING SWELL- af ‘
: 5 with NIrRoGEN-GATHER
INGS CAUSED Een :
* ING NODULES,
WORMS.
damp situations, often in decaying organic matter. At least
one species, however, is parasitic in man, and is known as
the filarial worm (/ilaria bancroft/) which nnisGes the
disease that is known as filariasis,
elephantiasis.
Barbados leg, or
The species (/eterodera radicola) which attacks the
roots of plants is the one which is commonly known as the eel
worm or nematode worm. It is so small as to be almost
invisible to the unaided eye, but the adult female can be
distinguished by the use of a hand lens. It is known to
occur in the United States?*Mexico, and most of the islands
of the West Indies, and in fact is widely distributed in many
parts of the world, It seems likely that when more is knowm
about the prevalence of eel worms in these islands, it will
be found that they are responsible for greater injuries to-
growing plants than is suspected. by planters at the
present time.
In previous numbers of the Agrren/tural News (see Vol.
Ill, p. 283, andVol. IV, 123) mention has been made of
eel worms. This pest has been found at Antigua on ochros, at
St. Lucia on lettuce, at St. Vincent on yams, Pugl at Barbados.
on coleus and other garden plants. In Mexico, eel worms
attack coffee, and are : also known to damage cotton, tobacco,.
and many other plants.
The attack of eel worms on the tender tissues results
in the production of a gall or distortion of the root, due to-
the irritating effect of the presence of the pest. These galls
are not merely swellings due to the development of extra
cells, This development occurs in many instances, but it
also happens in addition that the ducts which convey plant
food and moisture to the leaves are eaten into, and become-
disorganized and unable to perform their normal functions.
Plants that are badly attacked wilt and die.
As already mentioned, itis probable that a great deal
of damage to growing crops in the West Indies is caused by
eel worms, although this damage is at present ascribed to other
causes. Examination of the roots of plants which are plainly
seen to be suffering from some unknown cause will serve to-
fix the blame for the injury when conspicuous galls are found.
But sometimes the swellings are small, and not greatly dif-
ferent from the root nodules of the leguminous plants, and
it has been suggested that in the roots of sugar-cane, maize,
and other graminéous plants, the nematodes might be present
without forming ‘galls, but at the same time cause a consid
erable amount of injury.
It will easily be seen that injuries to the roots of plants,
such as those resulting from attacks of eel worms, would
afford a ready entrance for fungoid and bacterial plant
diseases. It seem$’Very probable that many diseases of plants
are greatly assisted i in their attacks by the injuries caused by
eel worms.
This suggestion indicates a line of observation which
planters would do well to bear in mind. The Imperial
Department of Agriculture would be glad to be informed of
any cases of serious injury caused by ecl worms, In cases of”
attack by these minute pests, material supposed to be infest-
ed may be sent for examination to the local ofticers of the
Department or to the Head Office.
Kel worms are likely to become more numerous in the
tropics than in tefiperate regions, where they have to undergo
the effects of a cold winter.
The remedial measures to be employed would be of two-
kinds: The use of ¢hemicals or insecticides, and the adoption
of suitable cultural’ methods. The use of insecticides presents
many dithculties and chances for failure. The eel worms and
their eggs are insitle the plant tissues, and consequently very
difficult to reach with poisons or chemicals.
In Mexico, where the coffee trees are seriously attacked
by eel worms, giisoline, benzene, sulphate of iron, carbon
bisulphide, and fi feiuin carbide have been used with good
effect (see Agri¢ultural News, Vol. VI, p. 123). lt eel
worms become & pest in field cultivations in the West
Indies, it will be necessary to carry out experiments to ascer-
tain the best remedial measures. The use of lime in heavy
applications, rotat¥on of crops, and the cultivation—as catch
crops—of plants that are especially attractive to the pest,
and which should be destroyed as soon as they are thoroughly
infested by the worms, ‘should be tried. Vaporite may
perhaps prove of value in this connexion.
Vou. VIII. No. 183. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 139
CATTLE BREEDING IN TRINIDAD.
A select Committee of the Agricultural Society of
‘Trinidad and Tobago was appointed-in July last to
consider and report upon the question of cattle
breeding in the colony, with special reference to
securing the full benefit of stock at the Government
Farm for breeding for beef, milk, and draft. The
report of this Committee was published in the
Proceedings of the Society tor February last.
The average annual vi alue of the cattle imported into
“Trinidad during the past five years has been £45,000, and
the number 7,000. It will be seen, therefore, that there is
abundant reason for making every possible effort to encourage
cattle breeding in the colony, and provided the most suitable
breeds are selected, the industry should be made to prove
rvemunerative. ;
The Committee discuss in separate sections the raising
of cattle for beef, for milking purposes, and for draft
respectively. In breeding for beef, it is, stated that the
most suitable crosses hitherto obtained in Trinidad appear to
have been those of the Hereford and half-bred Zebu, and the
Red Polled and half-bred Zebu. The Red Polled has shown
itself to be a satisfactory butcher’s beast; it requires less
éattening than many other breeds, and has the further advan-
tage of being a good. milker... There does not appear to have
been much experience in Trinidad with the Hereford, which
is the primary beef breed of cattle in England. A number
wf Hereford bulls have been imported, but these have all
died shortly after importation—a fact which leads to the
suggestion that all bulls should be imported as calves, and
not as full-grown beasts. This breed has a great reputation
in amc and has done well in Tobaee The animals
fatten readily, and give beef of very good guality.
Opinion in Tr inidad is divided as_ to the breeds of cows
which are likely to be most successful for dairy purposes in
the colony. The Committee, in their report, draw attention
to the well-known and excellent milk-yjelding qualities of
the Jersey and Guernsey breeds. Cows of these breeds
have proved very satisfactory in the West Indies and
fully kept up their high reputation. No mention is
iwnade of the Ayrshire, which is recognized all over Great
Britain as a most economical and satisfactory cow for the
4lairyman. The Holstein or Dutch breed is another variety
which in England as well as in many continental countries
has earned a well-established reputation for yielding a large
and profitable return of milk. The butter- fat content of this
milk, however, is usually slightly below the average. Dutch
cows have done well in Trinidad, and one practical cattle
breeder recommended a cross between ee breed and the
Zebu, the result of which, in the opinion of the gentleman
referred to, ‘should make an invaluable dairy cow, combining
the temper and milk-giving qualities of the Holstein with the
hardy and healthy constitution of the Zebu,” The Red Polled
and the Shorthorn breeds have also given satisfactory results
as dairy cattle in Trinidad.
For draft purposes, it is evident that the Zebu breed
of cattle is pre-eminently suitable. The further fact that
they are so useful for crossing with other breeds renders this
variety the most valuable yet introduced into the colony.
Apart from the pure-bred Zebu, the animals resulting of
a cross between this breed and the Hereford are ‘also
especially useful as draft cattle. a
The Committee recommend that bulls of the breeds
referred to, together with pure-bred cows,, be imported, and
that an effort be made to establish and maintain three
separate classes of cattle especially suitable for beef, milk
production, and draft respectively.
INSURANCE. OF LIVE STOCK.
A system of mutual live stock insurance, similar
in principle to those described in late numbers of the
Agricultural News (Vol. VIL, pp. 302, 383), but on
amuch smaller scale, has recently been adopted by
a section of the live stock owners of Cyprus. As
a result of this co-operative action, any loss suffered by
an individual member of the assoc iation, through death
or disablement of working stock, is wholly or partially
compensated out of the common fund,
It appears from the particulars given in the
Cyprus Journal that at present the society deals
with cattle only, and the maximum sum for which an
animal can be insured’ has been fixed at £15. The
premiums payable are at the rate of 3 per cent. per
annuum of this value, and “in case of accident, the
society pays up to 60 percent. of the sum insured.
Certain precautions are, of course, laid down, such that
in case of epidemics, stock owners must have their
animals vaccinated or imocniated, and that no
compensation will be paid in the case of animals
running Joose in the field. At the start of this useful
Society, sixty-four animals were insured.
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The fortnightly report jof Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., dated April 16 last, contains the follow-
ing information on the rice crop in British Guiana:—
With the exception of two very wet days, the weather
during the fortnight has been bright, and all mills have
taken the opportunity to clean paddy, and deliveries to town
have been large. The short crop’ is being reaped, and the
price of paddy is somewhat easier than during the last six
months. The crop to be reaped from. October to December
next is now being planted, and there seems every prospect
that the rice area of this year will be langer than that of
1908.
Prices have declined slightly, owing to the extremely
low prices which continue to be quoted for East Indian rice
in the West Indies.
Shipments to the West Indian islands during the past
fortnight amount to about 1,600 bags, mostly for Trinidad.
Present prices for good export quality rice, f.o.b,
Demerara, are: 19s. to 20s. per bag of 180 tb. gross, and
17s. 3d. to 18s. 3d. per bag of 164 Ib.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Commissioner of Agriculture returned to
Barbados from Antigua on Tuesday, April 20, by the
R.MLS. ‘ Esk.’
While calling at St. Lucia on the return journey
from Antigua, Dr. Watts paida visit to the Agri-
cultural School on Monday, April 19, in order to
meet the teachers from the Elementary Schools who
are receiving a course of instruction from the Superim-
tendent of Agriculture, Mr. J.C. Moore. The Commis-
sioner briefly addressed the teachers on the subject of
the educational value of Nature Teaching in Elemen-
tary Schools.
140 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
He ears
In the season 1907-8, the exports of citrate of lime from
Sicily and Calabria were22,500 pipes of 108 gallons each.
The production for the present season will probably be about
the same figure.
eee
The syndicate of planters which lately imported a
donkey sire of superior breed into Barbados has now decided
to import nine large jennie donkeys, from 13 to 14 hands
high, for different: members of the syndicate.
Very welcome showers of rain have been experienced at
Barbados during the past fortnight. These should be espe-
cially useful in promoting the growth of grass and other
fodder crops, of which there has lately been a scarcity.
A sample of papairt’prepared in Ceylon from papaws
grown in that island was some time ago examined at the
Imperial Institute, London. It was stated to be of fair
quality, and valued at 5s. per Ib.
Mr. J. R. Johnston,‘of the Bureau of Plant Industry,
U. S. Department of Algriculture, lately paid a visit of
several months’ duration t&the district of Baracoa, Cuba, in
order to study the bud-rot disease of cocoa-nut trees in that
island.
A correspondent of the Demerara Chronicle points out
that rice, especially the lower grades, is of late being used in
increasing quantity for stock food. He states that in parts
of British Guiana, paddy has to a large extent taken the place
of maize as a food for poultry.
The exports of camphbr from Japan have of late shown
a remarkable decline in value. This is stated to be due to
competition caused by the introduction of German chemically
manufactured camphor, and by an increasing output from
China.
A small red Spanish ofion is grown on an extensive scale
in Egypt, both for local consumption (which is large) and for
export. In the first nine months of 1908, these onions were
shipped abroad to the value of $975,680. They are chiefly
exported to England and Austria, and used. in the prepara-
tion of pickles. (U.S. Consular Reports.)
Mention was made in the Agricultural News about a
year ago (Vol. VII, p. 156) of the scheme for starting sisal
hemp cultivation in British Guiana. An area of 7,000 acres
was granted by the Government of the colony, and it is
ated m a recent issue of the Demerara Chronicle that about
$00 acres have now beencleared, and 40,000 sisal plants
set out. :
May 1, 1909
A creeping plant, A/somitra sarcophylla, is referred to by
the Agricultural Superintendent, Grenada, in a recent report,
as being eminently suitable for covering a fence or wall.
This creeper possesses fleshy leaves, and bears numerous:
long, hanging panicles of creamy, white flowers.
In the report for 1908 of the Entomologist (Dr. L. O:
Howard) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it is men-
tioned that the ‘parasitic enemies of the cotton-boll’ “weevil
t : So edged :
are year by year*becoming more effective in controlling the-
During 1£08, the:
ravages of the pest in the United States.
average parasitisifi is shown to have doubled in Texas and.
trebled in Louisiana.
According. téthe fourth annual report of the British
Cotton Growing Association, there would seem to be an un-
limited market for cassava starch in Lancashire for sizing
and finishg purposes. It is feared, however, that the pro-
bable market price—about £9 per ton—would not be high
enough to bring about the establishment of a West Indian.
industry in this product on a commercial scale.
t
At a meeting of the St. Lucia Agricultural Society, held
during the recentivisit of the Imperial Commissioner of Agri-
culture to that island;-it was mentioned, as evidence of the-
fertility of the land; that in the valleys of Cul-de-Sac and
Roseau, it was the general practice to grow ratoon crops of
sugar-canes for five or six years before replanting. In oneé
or two fields of, remarkable fertility, ratooning had been
practised for so long as twenty yéars before replanting.
In the year» 1907, copra was exported from Ceylon to-
Europe to the quantity of 336,907 ewt., while in the fol-
lowing. year the .shipments ‘reached 690,250 ewt. It is
not expected, hgweyer, that the output from Ceylon will
be maintained in the present year, and hence prices for
copra are considgrably higher than they were six and nine
months ago.
‘Collecting Eungi in Jamaica’ is the title of an interest-
ing and illustrated article contributed to the /owrnal of the
New York Botanie Gardens by Dr. W. A. Murrill. Dr.
Murrill spent about six weeks in Jamaica collecting fungus-
specimens during the past winter. Among the edible fungi
mentioned as being found in the island ave Holetus granulatus
and Pluteus cervinus.
In the list of plants imported from foreign countries into
the United Statesby the Department of Agriculture is men-
tioned a mango which, judging by the description given,
must be a remarkably good acquisition. The variety is known
as the ‘White Alphonso; it was obtained from Calcutta, and
it is stated that an individual fruit weighed very nearly 24 bb...
although the contained stone was but small in size.
A delicious sweetmeat is prepared from bananas in San
Domingo in the following way: Large, thoroughly ripe
bananas are skinned, and the fruit is cut into thin slices about
}-inch in thickness. These pieces are sprinkled with fine or
powdered sugar, tind placed in the sun on boards or trays.
As the fruit driés, it is turned over several times, and each
time dusted with sugar. In a few days it is sufficiently dry,
and forms a crystallized conserve of delightful taste. (U7. S.
Consular Report.)
Vou. VIII. No. 183. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes.
May.
Ist Forrnicur.
The effects of mulching young canes with trash
is a subject that deserves careful attention. Students
should observe these effects, and note the difference
between young canes that have been trashed, and those
which have not been so treated. The ettect of mulching
the more advanced canes, should any trashing be done
later in the season, is also a matter for observation.
~The question of the amount of tillage that may with
_advantage be given to ratoon canes is an important one.
Students should discuss this matter, and wherever
possible, make a point of comparing the relative effects
of surface tillage, carried out to produce a dust mulch
4. or 2 inches deep, and deep cultivation of the soil,
undertaken after the young canes have started to grow.
Students on cotton estates should take the oppor-
tunity, when ginning is in progress, to get to understand
-clearly the structure and working of the gin. Observe
how it is set, and the chief points that must receive
attention if the machine is to be keptin good working
-order. At the end of the season, the quantity of lint
that has been gathered per acre from the different
fields shohld be noted, and an effort’ made to ascertain
the causes which have resulted in differences of yield.
Now that the Easter cacao crop has been nearly
-all gathered, many points in connexion with the sanita-
tion of the plantations need attention. Dead branches
-will have to be cut out, pruning done where required,
-and suckers removed. All wounds’must be treated
with the tar and resin oil mixture. Note under what
conditions it is advisable to prune lightly, and when
more heavy pruning is advantageous to the trees.
Keep a sharp look-out for scale insects and other
ests on lime trees. In this connexion look up
Pamphlet No. 5 1n the series issued by this Depart-
~ament. :
Fields planted in corn in November or December
fast will now have been reaped. A look-out should be
kept for weevils in stored corn. Ascertain the yield
of grain reaped, and see how this compares with the
return obtained in other countries.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) What is meant by ‘assimilation’ of plant food ?
. . a AL end . . .
(2) Enumerate the principal characteristics of a fertile
- soil.
(3) What is grafting, and why is if possible to graft
dicotyledonous, and not monocotyledonous plants? Indicate
briefly the chief differences between these two groups of plants.
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1). How can root disease (Marasmius) be detected in
ratoon canes, and what are the remedies,,snggested !
(2) Which variety of cane do you consider best suited
to your district, and why ?, Describe. briefly its. characters.
(3) Discuss the various. shade trees for cacao, and state
for what localities you recommend them.
ADD
IN CUBA.
The methods of raising tobacco, and the prices
paid for labour on tobacco estates in Cuba, have been
investigated by the United-States Consul at Havana,
and are reported upon in deta! in the Consular and
Trade Reports for February last, issued from
Washington.
The chief tobacco-growing districts of Cuba are in the
provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio, and it is here that
the best quality leaf is grown. Of late years the cost of
production has largely increased, owing to the greater demand.
for labour in connexion with other industries.
The Consul takes as the basis of his estimate an area
equal to an English acre, and gives the details of expenditure
necessary to produce the tobacco from the young plant to the
leaf in bale, both when sun-grown, and when raised under
shade provided by cheese cloth. By far the greater part of
the Cuban tobacco is raised in the open without shade of any
kind. Generally speaking, the shade-grown tobacco is for
wrappers of cigars, and that raised in the open (the less
expensive process) serves for filler purposes,
The following statement of expense is given for produc-
ing an acre of tobacco in the open :—
Sun-grown (open) Tobacco,
Ploughing, 20 days’ wages at $1°20 ... o» 24:00
Planting, 10 .,, eer -- cae seem D250)
Supplying, 3. ,, ae we so 3°60
Hoeing (3 times) 21 days’ ,,_,, 4 25°20
Other cultivation expenses (estimated), such as
topping, pulling off suckers, ete. ... 15-00
Gathering crop, 15 days’ wages at 41°20 18:00
Labour in curing house (perhaps 2 days’ wages) 3°00
Packing labour (unskilled) 8 bales at $6°00 ... 48-00
e-- S148'80
ee $129°40
Total, Spanish currency ...
Total, American currency
In order to reduce the Spanish figures to their equiva~
lent in American currency, it is necessary to make a deduction
of about 13 per cent. It will be seen, therefore, that the
average price given for labour on the Cuban tobacco planta-
tions amounts to about 41°05 per day. This labour must be
regarded as more or less skilled. The sum of $24:00 (Spanish)
for ploughing an acre of land may seem an expensive item,
but it should be pointed out that under this heading are
really included all the operations.ef cultivation, and it may
really involve several ploughings of the land, which is tho-
roughly prepared before planting.
The expenses of growing the crop under shade are far
greater, and are placed at an average of 5328-20 per acre.
When shade is provided, a somewhat higher yield is usually
obtained—about 10 bales per acre, and the value of the
product is, of course, considerably greater. The figures which
have been quoted do not represent the total cost of production,
In addition to the items enumerated, the cost of supervision,
depreciation of plant and implements, etc., must be taken into
account. It is mentioned that the total time occupied in the
production of tobacco from seed to bale is about six months.
The average price realized per) bale (150 tb.) of Cuban
tobacco is not far from $60, and the best qualities command
prices of from $70 to nearly 4100, per bale. On the whole,
therefore, the industry would appear to be highly profitable:
142
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. ;
LT al us
f | 5 uu : a= ae
— =
LES BALAIS DE"SORCIERE DU CACAOYER
PROVOQUES PAR COELETOTRICHUM LUXIFICUM.
Parle Dr. C. J. J. van Halland A. W. Drost. Reprinted
from the Recueil des Travéun botaniques, Neerlandats.
Although the ‘Witch Broom’ disease of the cacao
has till recently been corifined to the mainland of South
America, yet of late, reportschave been circulated that it has
reached the islands of Cuba‘and San Domingo. This makes
it of considerable importance that all cacao planters should
have a sound knowledge of the principal symptoms of the
disease and the methods of treatment, so that they may be
in a position to take the-hecessary steps, should their own
plantations be attacked.
A yaluable and complete account. of
disease has recently been published by Dr. van Hall and
A.W. Drost, of the Department of Agriculture of Dutch
Guiana, under the above title. According to these authors,
the losses that the.cacao industry of Surinam has’ sutfered
from this trouble have been most serious. Asa result, the
exports of cacao from the colony declined. gradually from
38,600 bags (each of 100 kilograms) in 1599 to 8,540 bags
in 1904. In 1905 and 1906 the shipments were 16,818
and 14,806 bags respectively.
As will. be seen, 1904 was the. worst. year for the
disease, which has becompless severe of late, though the
authors-of the paper in question cannot hold out any hopes
of its complete disappearance. They suggest rather, that a
condition will be reached im which the damage caused by the
disease will. become approximately constant for each year.
The symptoms of the disease are threefold: First, there
4s the appearance of the so-called ‘witch brooms.’ These are
young branches which become swollen and remain green,
producing many lateral branches of erect habit, and bearing
2 few small leaves whose: stipules do not fall. off. These
‘witch brooms’ quickly dry up and fall off, leaving scars which
do not heal well, and so afford a good means of. entry for
other parasitic fungi, which may ultimately kill the trees.
Secondly, there i is the ‘ hardening’ of the fruit somewhat
similar to ‘ Black Pod,’ butalistinguished from it by the fact
that the whole of the fruit hardens, and further the stalk
often becomes swollen.
The third symptom is the ‘radiating inflorescence’ con-
sisting of very numerous flowers on the same cushion stand-
‘witch broom’
ing erect and sometimes, interspersed with vegetative
branches. These flowers rarely if ever bear fruit.
Lhe fungus
Colletotrichum,
causing the disease is a new species. of
to which the name Colletotrichum luxtvticum
has been given. It attacks the young buds as soon as they
degin to grow. Its mycelium and spores ay sometimes be
found, more especially atithe end of the wet season, at the
base of the ‘witch brooms,’ and onthe hardened fruits. It
is stated that it does not attack any of the species of trees
commonly used in cacao plantations for shade purposes.
The authors found, as the result of numerous experiments,
that conditions of soil, such as its chemical nature and water
May-1, 1909:
content, were entinely without effect on the disease ; and also
that the presence or absence of shade was almost or entirely
unimportant im combating the disease. As this is so, it
was found impossible to assist the trees to recover
by improved drainage or artificial manures. Spraying
was also found to be of very: little value since the density of
the foliage prevented the solution from reaching the whole 6f
the leaves-and buds. Consequently the only course left was
to remove all the diseased parts.
The. measures recommended appear extremely drastic,
but they have met with complete success in the experimental
work that has so far been done. All the vegetative parts of
the trees affected were removed, leaving only the trunk and
main branches standing. This was done while the tree was
passing through a resting period, which, in Surinam, was in
the month of September, about the end of the dry season.
Care was taken to leave the trees as symmetrical as possible,
and all the wounds. were tarred over. All the diseased parts
were collected and burnt. After this, the trunks were
thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, followed a week
or so Jater by a further spraying with copper sulphate solution.
Six months later the trees had reformed new, healthy crowns,
and at the end of eighteen months were bearing again, It was
expected that at the end of two seasons the trees would once
more give an average crop, and would have compleiely
recovered from the effects of the disease.
When reappearance of the trouble took place, the dis-
eased part was cut out, a smal] portion of the mother branch
being removed at; the same time, and the wound carefully
tarred. By thesemeans the authors have been able to keep-
the disease well ingheck, especially as infection spreads very
slowly, and does not appear to. be affected by the direction
of the. prevailing winds.
NOTES ON. DOMINICA AND
INTENDING SEITLERS. Price 6d.
With the object of attracting attention to the undev elop-
ed agricultural y@yources of Dominica, and giving reliable
information to intending settlers, a pamphlet under the above
title was prepared, in 1905 by Mr. (now Sir) H. Hesketh
Bell, then Administrator of the'island. As this has been for
some time out of print, it was decided to issue a new and up-
to-date edition. . ‘The task of revision and enlargement was
undertaken by the,Hon. Douglas Young, C.M.G.,-the present
Administrator of-Dominica, who, as the title-page states has
received the assistance of the Agricultural and Commercial
Society, and the-Rianters’ Association, of Dominica, and of
the Officers of the-Imperial Department of Agriculture. . The-
result of this collaboration is an attractively got up and well
illustrated pamphlet, comprising in ali rather more than
fifty pages. Tae
This contains full particulars as to present conditions im
Dominiea—climatig¢, industrial, agricultural and social—and
gives adequate information on all points of interest to persons
who may be thinking of settling in the island. The various
agr icultural erops, stich as cacao, limes; oranges, and spices, that
are grown in the island are dise usted, and a detailed estimate
is given as to the cost of taking up an estate of Crown lands,
clearing, planting, building a house and necessary -out-
buildings, and the! expense of living before a return can be
expected. British, settlers who propose to take up and
develop land in Dominica should possess a capital of abowt
£3,000.
The final twenty pages of the pamphlet
details in regard to the various timbers of
the uses for which they are suitable,
ETN) AG:
give valuable
Dominica and
‘Vou. VIII. No. 183. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 143
YIELD OF PARA RUBBER TREES.
The yields that may be expected from rubber
trees at given ages or sizes have been the subject of
much discussion, and figures that have,-been placed on
record from numbers of sources show. ‘wide difference.
Wild rubber trees (Hevew brasiliensis) in the Brazilian
forests. are reported to show returns varying from 1 tb.
to a maximum of as much as 10 Tb. per annum. The
average return obtained under those @onditions, how-
ever, is believed to lie between 2:2 th. and 33 tb. per
tree yearly. This question is discussed in a recent
number of the India-Rubber World, and a large mass
of figures are given showing the quantities of rubber
yielded on numbers of planted estates in the East
Indies.
Tt is pointed out that the yields of produce obtained are
influenced by a number of factors, i.e., the character of the
soil, altitude, or climatic conditions, the closeness or width of
planting, the frequency of tapping, the method of tapping,
amd the care with which the latex is handled. It is added
that the age at which tapping may be commenced is deter-
mined more by the size than by the age of the tree ; trees
with short trunks of large girth may be’ more productive
than taller ones of less girth.
A large amount of additional data is‘still required before
¥eliable statements can be made as to’yields that may
definitely be expected from rubber trees under certain condi-
tions. Towards this end, records are needed from numbers
of well-managed plantations, showing the returns obtained
from a definite number of rubber trees, of uniform size and
age, tapped the same number of times, by the same system,
and with the same method of treating the latex.
The latest edition of Mr. Herbert Wright’s book ‘ Hevea
Brasiliensis’ contains a quantity of data relating to yields
on rubber estates, although no effort is\made to connect
average yield with age.. One table in the book shows the
returns from twenty-three estates, on Which, in one year,
166,740 Para trees gave 215,933 Ib. of rubber, or an average
of 1:235 tb. per tree. The estate with the lowest average
showed a mean return of 0°52 tb. per tree; the highest aver-
age on any estate was 5°) tb. per tree. Six estates showed
average yields of 2, 2°2, 3:2, 3°25, 3°5, and 5:5 tb. per tree
respectively. Figures relating to another list of estates
described by Mr. Wright indicate a mean return of 2°52 Tb. of
rubber per tree.
The report of the Anglo-Malay Rubber Company, Ltd.,
for 1907, contains some interesting items. On one estate,
a plantation of Para trees, aged 7 to 8 years, yielded a mean
return of 3°76 tb. of rubber per tree ; on a second estate,
however, trees from 9 to 10 years old gave an average yield of
only 2°95 bh. Again, on a third estate, where the greater
number of trees were from 6 to 7 years old—but a few were
‘aged 9 to 10 years—an average of 3°32 tb; of rubber was given.
The following data—given in the India-Rubber
World—relate to the number and age of trees tapped,
‘and to the returns obtained, on the Malay estates of
the Bukit. Rajah Rubber Co., Ltd., and have been
compiled from the reports of the company :—
Year ending March 31, 1906.—Trees tapped, 34,457 ;
yield, 33,203 tb.; average age of trees at*end of period, 6°25
years ; average yield of tree, 0°97 tb.
2 Year ending March 31, 1907.—Trees tapped, 88,341 ;
yield, 118,982 tb.; average age of trees, 5-94 years; average
yield, 1°345 tb.
Year ended March 31, 1908.—Trees tapped, 89,295 ;
yield, 163,521 Ib.; average age of trees, 7-27 years ; average
yield, lg 83 Ib. of rubber. ‘
Some definite information is Given in the report of the
Highlands and Lowlands Para Rubber Company, Ltd., for
1906. It is stated that on “one. block of 16 acres, 807
Hevea trees, planted 30 by 25- feet, were tapped, during
three periods of the year weutioned) with the results ; 2.500 Ib.
of rubber at the first, 1,469 Tb, atethe second, and 1,773 Ib.
at the third tapping, or a total of5,742 Tb.—an average of
7-O1 tb. per tree for the year.
During the business year 1906-7, the insta Malay
States Rubber Company, Ltd., colfeeted 32,175 tb. of rubber
from 12,535 trees, or an average return of 2° 60 Tb. of rubber
per tree. These trees were planted.at fairly wide distances.
From all the data given in the article it would
appear safe to estimate a return of not less than 2 tb.
per tree annually, from trees. about 8 years old, with
reason to expect a larger yield with increased age.
PLANTING CASTILLOA RUBBER.
Castilloa rubber has received some attention in
a number of the West Indian islands, and, on the whole,
the trees have made good growth, although it would seem
that this variety is not ‘likely to give so satisfactory
a yield as the Hevea or Para rubber. ‘The following note,
referring to the distance apart at which Castilloa trees
may best be planted, and the culture of catch crops
between the rows, is extracted from an article on the
subject contributed to Tropical Life of September last
by Mr. William Fawcett, B.Se., late. Director of Public
Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica :—
The distance at which Castilloa trees should be planted
at first depends upon whether they are to be grown with
bananas or other catch crop, or alone. If the soil is suitable
for bananas, and the locality one where it will pay to grow
them, no other catch crop is anything like as good. The
bananas should be planted in March at distances of 15 feet
apart, and the Castilloa seedlings may be put out about
September, each seedling in the centre of four banana plants,
or, if the cultivator or plough is ttsed to keep down weeds,
the Castilloa must be planted in the banana rows between
the bananas. The bananas may be grown for three or four
years, and then they should be gradually thinned out as the
Castilloa trees spread their branches. If bananas are not
suitable, corn (maize) and pigeon peas (Cajanus indicus) may
be used as catch crops and temporary shade. The fields
should be lined out in March, and stakes put in to mark
where the Castilloa plants are to be put out. Then the
pigeon peas should be sown so as to leave a clear space of
4 feet round the stakes, and the corn not nearer than 7 feet
The pigeon peas will not last more than two or three years,
but by that time the young Castilloa plants will not require
any more nursing. The corn will not interfere with the
Castilloa if kept at a safe distance, and if there is a market
for it, the returns will help to pay expenses. Even if there
is not a market for the pigeon peas, they will increase the
nitrogen content of the soil, besides forming a slight shade
for the rubber. The cultivation of the soil will be of the
greatest benefit to the growing rubber plants. If no catch
crops are to be-grown, the distance for the rubber plants may
be 6 feet at first, to be thinea out eventually to 18 feet
‘apart,
London,
144 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 1, 1909,
MARKET REPORTS.
April 13, 1909. Tae West Inpra Com-
MITTEE CrrcuLar ; Messrs. KEARTON Prirer & Co.,
March 16, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, 12d. to 23d. according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/2 to 2/4 ; block, no quotations.
BrgEs’-wax—£7 12s. 6¢2 for dark to pale.
Cacao—Trinidad, 58/- to 70/- per ewt.; Grenada, 51/- to
59/6 per cwt.
CorrrE—NSantos, 33/9 per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Corra—West Indian, £18 10s. to £19 10s. per ton.
Corron—Nevis and St. Kitt’s, 123d. to 13$d. ; Barbados,
124d. to 14¢d.; Anguilla, 15d. to 16d.
Frouir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
Limss-—Not wanted.
Prnz-aPPpLes—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-.
Grave Fruit—5/6 to 9/- per box.
Orances—Jamaica, 6/- to 9/- per box.
Fustic—£3 to £4 per ton.
GincER—62s. to 65s. for medium washed.
Honry—25s. 6d to 29s. per cwt.
IstncLass—West India lump, 2/2 to 2/6 per th.
Live Jurce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon ; concentrated, £18
per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2/- to 2/5 per th.;
hand-pressed, 5/6 per Tb.
Loewoop—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Mace—Firm.
Nurmecs—Steady.
Piven tro—Quiet.
Rupser—Para, fine hard, 5s. 13d. per th.
Rum—Jamaica, 3/1 to 3/4; Demerara, 1/6, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 15/3 to 15/6; Muscovado, scarce: about
15s. 9d. ; Syrup, steady ; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,— April 2, 19, 1909.—Messrs, GitLEsPrE,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 13c. to 13$c. ; Grenada, 13}c. to 133c. ;
Trinidad, 13}c. to 14e. ; Jamaica, 12c. to 13$c. per th.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $23-00 to $24:00; culls, $14-00
to $15°00; Trinidad, select, $23°00 to $24°-00; culls,
$14°00 to $15°00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, ordinary, 7jc. to 84c.; good ordinary,
94e.; washed, up to 12c. per Ib.
GingeR—%e. to 13c. per th.
Goat Skruss—Jamaica, 55c.; Antigua and Barbados, from
49c. to 50c. ; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 46c,
to 48c. per th., dry flint.
Grave Frure—Jamaica, $3°00 to $3°75 per barrel.
Limrs—No quotations.
Mace—30c. to 35c. per th.
Nourmecs—110’s, 114¢. per tb.
Orances—Jamaica, $1°50 to $2°00 per box,
Pimento—4se. per tb.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3-98hc.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°48hc, ;
Molasses, 89°, 3°234c, per Ib., duty paid,
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., April 26, 1909;
Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., April 26, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $3°90 to $4°00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—Dominiea and St. Lucia, $10°00 per 100 th.
Cocoa-Nuts—$13°00 for unhusked nuts.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $10°00 to $11:00 per
100 th.
Hayv—$1°15 per 100 th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $62°00 to $65:°00; Ohlendorff s
Ey Al
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao
manure, $42°00 to $48°00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72°0D
to $75°00; Sulphate of potash, 67-00 per ton.
Motasses—Fancy, 17e.; Grocery, 20c. per gallon.
Ontons—Strings, $3°50 to $4:00 per 100 tb.; locse, ne
quotations.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $1°60 to $1-75 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, $6°00 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $3-40 per
bag of 120 Th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°40 (180 tb.); Patna, $3°80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per 100 th.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° $2°30; Muscovado, 89° $1°80.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerrne & Ricnres, April 17,
1909 ; Messrs. SanpBacH, ParkEz & Co.,
April 16, 1909.
Arrowroot—st. Vincent, $9°00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Batata— Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c. per th.
Cacao—Native, 14e. per th.
Cassava—b60Ue. to &4e.
Cassava StarcH—$6-00 per barrel of 196 tb.
Cocoa-NuTS—S12°00 to $16-00 per M.
CorrEE—Creole, 12c. to13c.; Jamaica, 13}¢. pertb., slow.
Duat—$4°80 to $490 per bag of 168 tb.
Eppos—$1°20 to $1°68 per barrel.
Morasses—No quotations.
Ontons—Lisbon, 5e. to 6e. per th.
PiLantarys—24e. to 48e. per bunch.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $2°50 to $2°75 per LOO tb.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, $1-00 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $5°50; Creole, $4°50 to $4°60.
Sprir Pras—S6-00 per bag (210 ib.); Marseilles, $4:00
Tannras—$3°00 per bag.
Yams—White, $2°16 per bag; Buck, $1-92.
Sucar—Dark erystals, $2°35 to $2°50; Yellow, $3°10 t
$3:25 ; White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $2°30 to $2°40
per 100 th. (retail).
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 55c. per cubic foot.
W ALLABA SHINGLES 75 to $575 per M.
Corpwoop—$2'00 to $2°40 per ton.
Trinidad,—April 17, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co,
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12:00 to $12°25 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11°80 to $12°50.
Cocoa-nuts—$22°00 per M. f.o.b. for selected pealed ia
bags of 100 th.
Cocoa-Nut Or.—70e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
CorreE—Venezuelan, 8c. to 8he. per tb.
Corra—$3°20 per 100 tb.
Duat—$4'65 to $4:75 per 2-bushel bag.
Ox1ons—$3-00 to $5°00 per 100 tb. (retail).
Poraros—English, $1°25 to $1°30 per 100 tb.
Rick— Yellow, $5-00 to $525 ; White, $4°50 to $490 per bag,
Sprit Peas—$5°25 to $5°50 per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100. Ib,
THE AGRICULTURAL * NEWS.
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Vou. VIII, No. 183. THE AGRICULTURAL NE Maw, 15 1909:
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
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Paris Green! Paris Green!
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[178.]
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its |
available plant food. | } a
The solution. to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing. ses
Potash, I hosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pays when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
GERMAN KALI WORKS
7
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Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
ed
JUN 8 - 1909
OF
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vout. VIII. No. 184.
CONTENTS.
PaGE. PAGE.
Antigua, Rainfall Returns Irrigation on Jamaica
at... Oe Pe ollays} Sugar Estates ... a jkOO
Avenga saccharifera ... 159 Leguminous Crops, Inocu-
Butter Making ... . 152] lation of in West
Cassava, Experiments with | M: fore Vi a in
Wersianiag 1c ier 152 | ee eo E ia eae a.
Ceylon, Agriculture and lisse Bath SIDE SIC ieoe 15 }
) aenderny 1b Notes and Comments 152
‘ so ceo race =
Citrus Fruit Gultivation... 148] Elant Names, Book on... 1
Cows and their Milk Yields 157 | "'°TE* “7S0N6s “Shen 150
Cultivation and Fertility... 151 | Soil Tnoaeieen: q 4p
Fibre Congress and Students’ Corner... 0... 167
Exhibition ... 158) Students’ Meetings at
Gleanings )--2 pee) ase) - 2.) LOG Antigua... ..- . 15%
Hedges and Hedge Plants | Sugar in Porto Rice 154
at Antigua... ... ... 158} Toggenburg Goats in
Hen Breeding and Ege | West Indies 155
Production... 153) Trinidad, Trade of... ... 153
Home-grown and West Indian Cotton Deel ()
Imported Seed ... 147) West Indian Orchids 153
Insect Notes :— | West Indian Products ... 159
3enyal Bean, Use of in Woodlands and Water
Lime Cultiyations 154 Supply 149
of
numbers of papers and
literature has late
GRICULTURAL
years included
reports on the subject of ‘soil inoculation.’
This term is applied to the various attempts that have
been made to increase the crop-yielding power of soils
by the introduction of bacteria which are known to be
the cause of the nodules frequently observed on the
roots of leguminous plants, and which are capable of
assimilating free nitrogen from the atmosphere, that
BARBADOS,
THE
MAY 15, 1909. Price ld.
can be utilized as food by the plants in whose roots
the bueteria live.
Practical agriculturists have for generations past
been well aware of the fact that the growth of
i leguminous crop such as peas, beans, alfalfa, etce.,
results In an increase in the crop-yielding capacity of
the laud cultivated, although it is only within com-
paratively recent years that a satisfactory explanation
of the matter was brought forward. One of the early
observe's mm respect to this subject was a Frenchman,
Boussinganlt, who, as the result of weighing and
analysing the crops grown on his own farm throughout
six separate courses of rotation, was able to state
definitely that from one-third to one-half more nitrogen
was renoved in the produce than was supplied in the
manure. He observed, too, that the gain of nitrogen
was particularly large when clover or other crops of
the same family were grown.
Investigation work in relation to the manner in
which leguminous plants obtained the supply of
nitrogen was undertaken by a number of experimentors,
but the credit of carrying out the researches which
ultimately cleared up the whole matter belongs to two-
German scientists, Messrs. Hellriegel and Wilfarth,
who published their results in 1886. These results
demonstrated conclusively, that leguminous plants were-
capable, under certain conditions, of obtaining and.
utilizing nitrogen from the atmosphere. It was further
shown that this nitrogen assimilation was dependent
upon the production of nodules on the roots of the
plants. In later research work it was found that the
root nodules were full of bacteria, which were the
evident agents by which the free nitrogen was appro-
priated, and to these the name Pseudomonas racdicicola
was given. Other observers have since confirmed the
NEW Ye
BOTANI
GARDE
iv
146
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 15, 1909..
results obtained by Messrs. Hellriegel and Wilfarth.
Although these have been fully established, it may be
added that the exact details of the whole process by
which the nitrogen of the ;atmosphere is first assimi-
lated by the bacteria and afterwards taken over and
utilized by the plant are not yet clearly understood.
The importance of the whole question is indicated
by the large quantities of nitrogen which a leguminous
crop is frequently enabled to withdraw from the air,
even in the course of a single season, through the
agency of the bacteria obtained in the nodules on its
roots. As examples, it may be mentioned that in
experiments carried out at the New Jersey Experiment
Station, a crop of crimson clover was found to have
added over 200 tb. of nitrogen per acre to the land in
one year, while trials with velvet beans have shown
nitrogen gains amounting to 213 tb. per acre in
Alabama, 172 tb. in Louisiana, and 141 tb. in Florida.
In the light of the knowledge thus accumulated
on the subject, the question naturally suggested itself
to investigators as to whether the co-operation of
leguininous crops and nitrogen-gathering bacteria
might not be more extensively utilized in enriching
the soil and increasing its crop-yielding capacity. With
this object, therefore, a number of preparations for
inoculating the soil, all containing the bacteria
Pseudomonas radicicola, have, at different times been
piaced on the market, and a good deal of experimental
work been carried out in the United States,
Germany, Canada, and in England. The value of
inoculation under certain circumstances has undoubt-
edly been indicated, but, speaking generally, the results
have so far—tor different reasons—been distinctly less
promising than was at one time anticipated.
has
So long ago as 1887, some inoculation trials were
undertaken in Germany. In this case. the land under
experiment—reclaimed moor-land—was dressed with
soil from a field which had previously borne flourishing
legume crops. The results were successful, and
eminently encouraging, and the example thus set was
speedily followed in many districts. In view of the
expense of carting soil over long distances, and of the
danger of introducing weeds or plant diseases, this
method was, however, soon substituted by the introduc-
tion of pure cultures of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria,
put up in a convenient form for inoculating either
a quantity of soil, or of the seed about to be sown.
The first preparation of the kind introduced cn
a commercial scale was placed on the market about
1895 by a German experimentor, Nobbe. It was
known as ‘ Nitragin, and consisted of pure cultivations
of the Pseudomonas organism on a gelatine medium.
‘Nitragin’ was extensively tested both in Europe and
America, but the results, on the whole, were not at all
satisfactory. This failure was generally believed to be
due to the unsnitable nature of the medium (gelatine)
on which the bacteria were grown, and when this was
changed a greater degree of success was attained-
Another scientist (Hiltner) brought forward a method
of cultivating the bacteria on agar jelly, while Moore
introduced the still greater change of sending out the
bacteria contained in cotton wool, which had been
soaked in liquid eultures and afterwards dried. This
preparation is added to a large bulk of water, with
which the seed to be inoculated is treated before
sowing. Moore's preparation was used in a very
extensive series of experiments carried out by the
United States Department of Agriculture in 1904
The results were ,very conflicting, but, on the whole,
were unfavourable, although slight increases of crop
were noticeable in. many cases as‘the result of inocuja-
tion. Probably many of the failures-noticed were due
to lack of skill in preparing, handling, and employing
the cultures. Culture preparations are still sent out
by the United States Department of Agriculture, but
they are now put up in liquid form, enclosed in
hermetically sealed bottles.
In 1907, Professor Bottomley, of London, brought
forward a new preparation of nitrogen-fixing bacteria
for inoculation purposes, to which the name of ‘ Nitro-
bacterine’ was given. This was tried in numbers of
experiments, but its introduction into the soil appeared
to have little influence on the yields of the various
leguminous crops “treated. Sample cultures were ob-
tained by this Department and by one or two estate
owners for trials with various crops in the West
Indies (including sugar-cane, since Professor Bottomley
devised special preparations, which he hoped would be
useful not only with legumes, but with plants of other
orders as well). The experiments made are reported
upon on page 151 6f this issue. It will be seen that
had no influence on the returns
obtained with cowpeas at Antigua, the crop yields of
woolly pyrol showert, mm the case of one estate at jeast,
considerable increase as the result of treatment. The
results at Grenada also show one or two points of
interest. Inoculation of sugar-cane at Antigua and
Barbados had no effect whatever.
while inoculation
There are undoubtedly certain conditions under
which inoculation of the soil with) nitrogen-fixing
Vot. VIII. No. 184.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
147
bacteria may prove to be of very considerable value, but
on the majority of cultivated lands, which have already
borne leguminous crops, inoculation is likely to prove
beneficial only if the bacteria introduced belong to a more
vigorous race of nitrogen-gatherers than those normally
present in the soil, or are specificaly adapted to the
peculiar crop to be grown. In this‘connexion it may
be mentioned that it has not .yet been fully decided
whether nitrogen-fixation is carried’ on by more than
one species of soil bacteria, or whether the bacteria
which are associated with the various leguminous crops
all belong to the species Pseudomonas radicicola,
Points of similarity and slight points of difference are
observed in organisms from different plants, and it
would appear that if all are of the same species, there
are a number of varieties of this species in existence.
Evidence has been brought forward in support of the
belief, held by many investigators, that the bacteria,
when grown continuously in association with one kind
of leguminous crop only, become in time so modified
as to be capable of giving the best results with that
crop alone. At any rate, a greater degree of success
has in many cases been obtained when each species of
legume is directly infected with bacteria from nodules
taken from other plants of the same species.
The most notable instances of success in soil inoeu-
lation that have so far been recorded have naturally
been obtained on lands which have not previously
borne a leguminous crop, more especially on virgin soil
newly broken up, or on heath or bog land lately
reclaimed. ‘The presence of suitable quantities of lime
and mineral manures are necessary for success, and
must be provided, if normally deficient in the soil.
In East Prussia very large areas of barren sandy heath
land have been and made valuable for
agricultural purposes by working on this principle.
Dressings of basic slag and kainit were applied to the
soil, and after preliminary inoculation, crops of lupins
have been repeatedly grown, and ;ploughed in. As
a result, the nitrogen content of the first 8 inches of
land has been raised from 0:027 to 0-177 per cent. in
the course of twenty-five years, while it has also
become proportionately richer in the mineral con-
-Stituents of fertility.
reclaimed
LS:
Book on Plant Names. A handy little book
entitled ‘Pronunciation of Plant Names’ has lately been
issued from the oftice of the Gardeners’ Chronicle. The
book contains a list of over 4,000 generic plant names,
accented to indicate the proper method of pronunciation.
It was prepared by the Rev. C. Butler, M.A., and should
prove useful to workers in horticultufe, as Curators and
assistants at Botanic Stations.
HOMEGROWN AND IMPORTED SEED.
In raising crops from seed, a review of all the
evidence available on the subject strengthens the
opinion that the seed likely to give the best results in
any locality is that which has been wisely selected and
carefully bred under the conditions peculiar to that
locality. The seed should be good, selected, home-
grown seed, in fact. and this is likely to be more relia-
ble than high-priced, high-bred seed breught from
a distance. F
This subject is discussed in a Bulletin issued sometime
ago from the Nebraska Experiment Station, which reports
a series of experiments with corn carried on at the Station.
The following is quoted from the report :—
When corn grown in one section of the country for
a number of years is moved to another section where soil and
climate are different, the plant always undergoes more or less
change during the first two or three years before it becomes
‘adapted ’ to its new conditions.
Several trials made at the Nebraska Experiment Station
show the effect of climate in modifying the characteristics of
the corn plant. Seed of two varieties of corn, ‘Snowflake
White ’, and ‘Towa Gold Mine’, obtained from lowa, were
grown for two years in Nebraska. In the third year seed was
taken from this and a further supply obtained from the same
original source in Iowa. These were all grown on adjacent
plots at the Experiment Station, but marked differences were
observable throughout between the plants resulting from the
Iowa and Nebraska seed. With the ‘Snowflake White’
corn, the stalk from the seed that had grown in central
Nebraska for two years had,.decreased almost 1 foot in
height, the ear was 8°8 inches lower down, and the ear shank
2 inches shorter, while the leaves on these plants were, on an
average, 1-2 per plant Jess than on those from Iowa seed.
The weight of both stalk and ear was found to be
heavier in the corn grown from the freshly-imported Iowa
seed, but the proportion of ear to stalk was higher in the
acclimatized corn. The diminished leaf area of the corn
from the Nebraska seed was what might be expected from
plants grown in a dry climate. The yield of grain was in
favour of the home-grown seed.
Experiments were also organized by the Nebraska
Experiment Station, in which twenty-two different varieties of
corn were tried by farmers in different parts of the State. Of
these varieties, thirteen had long been adapted to Nebraska
conditions, and nine were native to other States. It is
significant that not one of the-nine kinds of corn, of which
the seed was imported, have, in’any season, ever taken first or
even second place in the average results for the State. . This
is attributed to the fact that these varieties have not yet
become acclimatized in Nebraska. .
The lesson to be learned from the above trials is that
to get the best results in cori growing, the seed must be
home-grown, and grown not only in the same country, but
the same locality. The results of the variety tests referred
to, indicate that seed grown in eastern Nebraska will not do:
as well in western Nebraska as locak varieties, and wice versa.
Seed growing and seed selection should be carefully done in
every district.
These results form another notable addition to the
large mass of evidence which has of late years been
accumulated by Experiment Station work that locally
grown seed is the most reliable, and that planters and
farmers should give increased attention to the work of
raising and selecting their own seed
THE AGNICULTULKAL NEWS.
May 15, 1909.
CITRUS FRUIT
A paper which contains a Jarge amount of useful
information on the methods of citrus fruit cultivation
which have been shown to be most suited to Dominica
—and ineidentally for other parts of the West
Indies—was prepared by Mr. A. J. brooks, Officer-in-
charge of the Dominica Agricultural School, to be read
at the Colonial Fruit Show held in London at the end
‘of November Jast, under the auspices of the Royal
Horticultural Socety. This paper is reprinted in the
Journal of the Society for March Jast (Vol. XXXIV,
Part 3):
The figures showing the citrus fruits exports from the
West Indian islands would appear to indicate that Jamaica
practically monopolizes the industry. Thus, the total value ot
the citrus fruit shipped abroadim 1907-8 was £98,410 17s. 6d..
-of which Jamaica contributed no less than £96,697 4s.
Trinidad and Tobago, £1,047 :and Dominica, £666*. Increas-
ing attention is being given to the industry, however, in
several of the smaller West Indian islands, and in Dominica
alone, over 16,000 citrus trees, occupying an area of about
150 acres, have been planted out during the past seven or
-elght years.
The most snitable altitudes for orange groves is from
800 to 1,200 feet above sea-level. The fruit will thrive,
however, up to 2,500 feet. It is important that the grove
be sheltered, either naturally or by artificial wind-breaks.
Orange trees prefer an open, well-drained soil, which is rich
in plant food, and which retains a good supply of moisture
without producing stagnation.’ Very dry soils are especially
undesirable. A high rainfall is necessary for the trees to do
their best. A fall of 100 to 200 inches per annum is required.
With the exception of the lime, all citrus fruit trees
(oranges, grape-fruit, shaddock, lemon, etc.) are best propa-
gated by budding, in preferenze to raising from seed or from
cuttings. Budded trees bear earlier, yield superior fruit,
-and also bear more true to théoriginal variety than seedling
trees.
The sour orange, the Seville orange, and the rough
lemon are best suited tor stocks on which oranges, etc., are
to be budded. The first two kinds are stated to be immune
to root rot, while the third stiffers but slightly. The sour
-orange is an especially hardy stock, and thrives well on good
retentive soils, such as are found in the interior lands of
Dominica. Both the Washington navel orange and the
*The term ‘citrus fruits,’ as used in Mr. Brooks’ paper,
does not appear to include /imes, although this i
s not expressly
stated by the author.
CULTIVATION.
grape-fruit are said to do better on this stock than on any
other, and it is therefore used very extensively in the West
Indies. The Seville orange stock does best at low altitudes,
while the rough lemon fiourishes on high, dry soils,
but is not suited for moist ground at lower levels. The
growth of trees on. the rough lemon stock is much more
rapid than on the sour or Seville orange. The grape-fruit
does exceedingly well on this stock. Shaddock seedlings may
also be used as stocks for budding purposes.. Rodot rot ean
be kept in perfect check if care be taken to see that there
is effective drainage, and that sunlight is allowed free
eutrance to the base,of the stems.
In order to raise seedling stocks, seeds are sown in
nursery beds about the month of October. The soil in the
nursery will, of course, have to be well prepared, and tilled to
a depth of 2 feet. It is important that the seed beds be
~beltered from the direct rays of the sun. Small drills about
| inch deep and 6 inches apart will be made in the beds in
which the seed willbe sown, at distances of 2 inches from
ecd to seed.
time.
About five or six months after sowing, the young
seedlings will probably be ready for transplanting. It is
advisable to soak the soil thoroughly with water, previous to
pulling up the seedlings. Before replanting is done, the
young roots should be pruned, the main or tap-root being cut
back, and the longer. side roots slightly lopped. This stiiu-
lates the production of a surface-feeding root system, and
prevents the breaking of the roots when being transplanted.
At the same time the beads of the young seedlings may also
be cut back about half their length, the leaves being clipped.
‘The young seedlings will then be re-planted in the beds
at distances of from 12 to 18 inches in the rows, which are
about 3 feet apart. An important point to
remember at this stage is that the seedlings are not planted
‘leeper than they stood before transplanting.
In the following October, 1e., a year after sowing, the
seedling stocks should be cut back to about 3 inches above
the soil. Shoots aré thrown out, the’ strongest of which is
ultimately selected for*budding. The shoot is ready for this
purpose when from sl2 to 18 inches in height, and of the
thickness of a lead pencil.
These beds will need weeding from time to
hemselves
Mr. Brooks gives a detailed description of the process of
budding, and of the points which need attention in carrying
out the operation, and afterwards. The budwood used should
be of the last season’s growth, and preferably not too angular
not too round. The stock should be budded at a height of
nor less than 10 or 12 inches above the soil.
Vor Ville sNo:
—THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS
149
Before carrying out budding operatiéhs on an extended
scale, the planter will, of course, be ad¢ised to study the
characteristics of the different varieties of oranges and other
citrus fruits, and also ascertain the re®uirements of the
market for which he proposes to cater. ~
In regard to oranges, the ‘ Waghington navel’ is
recommended as an excellent variety to citltivate, and if the
grower desires to confine himself to thekeultivation of one
good all-round variety, this is undoubtedly the kind for him
to grow. What is known as the ‘common sweet orange’
is also.a very marketable kind of fruit. Good early fruiting
varieties are ‘ Parson Brown’ and ‘ Boone’s Early.’ ‘ Valencia
Late’ is an excellent late-ripening kind. The ‘Satsuma ’
mandarin oranges, and the ‘ King’ tangerme are also referred
to in high terms. Varieties of grapefruit which, it is
remarked, are difficult to surpass for general health and
prolificness, are the ‘ Triumph’ and ‘ Jamaica.’
At the end of six to nine months after budding, when
two strong shoots have been made, the young citrus trees
should be ready to transplant to the grove: The heads must
first be cut back, and it is not well to move the trees when
the ground is hard and dry. The best time for transplanting
is at the first sign of growth, as one is then’sure that the sap
is active.. Before re-planting is done, all bruised and broken
roots should be pruned back. Since it is advisable to allow
plenty of space for development, a distance of 25 feet each
way from tree to tree should be allowed in citrus fruit
plantations. The soil should be thoroughly forked to a depth
of 1} feet, and cleared of stumps, ete. Great care must be
taken to see that the young trees are not planted too deeply,
a fault which in orange and other citrus fruit groves is often
attended with fatal results. The highest-erown root should
not be lower than an inch below the surtace of the soil.
Each young citrus tree is usually set out in a cireular
bed. These beds will have to be carefully hand-weeded, and
the weeds, with other vegetation, may, with advantage, be
utilized to form a mulch around the roots of the young trees.
The cireles should be widened from time to time by forking,
in order to enable the root system to develop with the head
of the plant. Tt is well to keep a sharp look-out for suckers,
“which may spring from the stock below the point of budding.
These, of course, should be immediately removed. In the first
few years pruning will consist in removing dead wood, and
branches too near the ground. The object to be kept in
view in pruning a citrus fruit tree is the removal of all
interior branches which would prevent the free circulation of
air and light.
The chief points to. be observed in gathering, ‘ quailing,’
grading, and packing oranges, grape-fruit, shaddocks, ete., are
discussed by Mr. Brooks. The process of ‘ quailing,’ which
consists of the evaporation of the surplus moisture from the
rind, is accomplished by laying out the frit in single layers
in drying trays in a cool, airy shed, for two or three days.
After quailing has been completed, each orange is wrapped in
a separate piece of tissue paper before packing. In despatch-
ing the fruit, it is important that each grade be kept separate,
and the work of grading may be facilitated by the use of
a simple machine, of which many examples are on the market.
The most suitable box in which to ship oranges, grape-
fruit, and lemons is described as being 27 by 123 by 123
inches, with a centre partition 1 inch if~ thickness. Such
a box will accommodate 96 to 252 oranges, according to grade ;
48 to 80 grape-fruit, and from 252 to 300 lemons. Itcis
mentioned that the most desirable sizes for oranges are from
152 to 176 per box.
WOODLANDS AND WATER SUPPLY.
The popular idea that extensive woodlands have
a beneficial effect upon theavater supply of a locality
has its basis in established: fact, though the actual
reason for this intluence does not appear to be gener-
ally understuod. A note on the conclusions arrived at
in this connexion at Forest, Experiment Stations of
Germany, Austria, and France. may. therefore be
interesting. )
Brietly, it may be stated that the real effect of wood-
lands in this direction, as opposed to deforested areas, does
not so much consist in bringing about an increase in the
actual amount of rainfall experienced, as in economising the
normal supply, and in modifying the agencies which tend to
allow the rainfall to waste by evaporation or percolation.
It is true that if very extensive areas were planted up, some
small increase in precipitation might, after a time, be noticed,
which would be due to the reduction of temperature associa-
ted with forests, and to the greater absolute and relative
humidity of the air within the wooded area. Tree-planting
on the most favourable scale that might be adopted in the
West Indian islands, however, could hardly be expected to
have any appreciable influence in this direction..
It appears more reasonable to conclude that, in the
majority of cases, the amount of rain that reaches the ground
is—generally slightly, but sometimes more appreciably—
diminished over thickly wooded areas as compared with the
open country. This is due to the thick canopy of leaves
which intercepts a proportion of the rainfall, that is after-
wards rapidly evaporated. In this connexion, however, much
depends on the nature of the rainfall. Ina district enjoying
a high annual precipitation, the proportion thus intercepted
is smaller than in localities where the rainfall is light. The’
same is true of heavy and long-continued rain as contrasted
with gentle showers. In the latter'case, indeed, little of ‘the
moisture reaches the ground at all.
Observations have clearly shown, that although less
rain reaches the surface of the soil in woodlands: than in
open country, yet this small quantity is better conserved.
Forest soils are generally found to contain a large amount of
moisture (in comparison with field soils in the neighbour-
hood). There are several reasons which account for this, the
chief of which are the reduction of evaporation—owing to’
the exclusion of the sun’s rays by the foliage, partly to the air
in a forest being more humid—as a result of which evapora-
tion is again checked, and partly to the absorbent and retentive
character of the decaying vegetable matter that covers the
ground of a dense and well-managed wood. It may be pointed
out too, that the rapid surface-flow of water which oceurs on
sloping land in the open after heavy rain is checked in wood-
lands by the frequently occurring tree roots.
Another agency which assists in increasing the moisture-
retaining properties of forest lands is the lightening and
opening influence exercised by tree roots on the soil. These
penetrate to a considerable depth, and when they die they
leave large holes through which water readily percolates
from the surface. This percolation of moisture into the
ground is facilitated by the loose and friable condition of the
surface soil beneath the trees, as compared with the denser
and more compact character of land in the open. The
consequence is that streams in a wooded country are not so,
subject to rapid rises and falls, the flow being maintained
more equably throughout the year.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date of April 26 last. with
reference to the sales of West Indian Sea Island
cotton :—
A moderate business has been done in West Indian Sea
Island cotton since our last report.
The sales, which amount to 350 bales, include Anguilla
at 123d, Barbados at 13d. to 14d., St. Croix at 12}d. to
i3d., St. Kitt’s at 124d. to 134d., Virgin Islands at 13d.,
and a few bags of St. Vincent at 17d. to 183d.
Prices remain quite steady, and there is a prospect of
a little improvement in values if patience is exercised.
BATH SPRINGS AT NEVIS.
The therapeutic value of the ‘ Bath Springs ’ water
at Nevis has long been recognized. These springs occur
on an estate which is the property of Messrs. Gillespie
Bros., and are at a distance of about {-mile from
Charlestown. The water is of a high temperature as it
issues from the earth. Samples have been analysed on
several occasions, and pronounced to be free from
impurities or deleterious substances. In its physical
and chemical properties, the water is stated by
a well-known London chemist to be similar to
that from the Wilsbad Thermal Springs at Wur-
temburg, Germany, which are extensively used for
rheumatism and gout. There is no reason why the
water should not be employed for cooking purposes.
If used in steam boilers it would be necessary to add
a little caustic soda, to prevent the deposition of scale
or ‘fur’ within the boiler. Messrs. Guilespie are now
having the Bath House (a hotel near the springs)
repaired, and made habitable for the use of visitors.
AGRICULTURE IN SIERRA LEONE.
The total exports from Sierra Leone increased
from £716,623 in 1906-7 to £831,259 in 1907-8.
Agricultural products naturally form the chief articles
of shipment, most prominent among these being kernels
of the oil palm (£447,801 ) palm oil (£51,154), kola nuts
(£113,674), rubber (£22,480), ginger (£11,578), and
rice (£5,635). With the exception of rubber, all of the
above articles were exported in greater quantity in
1907-8 than in the previons year. The rubber shipped
in 1906-7 was worth £30,170.
Palm kernels realized a very satisfactory price in 1907-8
in consequence of a short supply of animal fats, and the
greater demand for vegetable oils. For the past five years,
ahe shipments of palm kernels‘and oil from Sierra Leone have
shown a steady inerease, The bulk of the palm kernels
shipped—26,693 tons out of a total of 34,942 tons—were
exported to Germany.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 15, 1909.
j
It is interesting’to note that although no less than 1,374
tons of kola nuts were exported from Sierra Leone in 1907-8,
none of this went to Europe, but the whole found a market in
other parts of Africa, as Gambia and Senegal. Kola nuts are
largely consumed by ‘the natives as a tonic stimulant. It is
affirmed that one ‘kola nut, well masticated, will sustain
a man for a whole day. European traders in Sierra Leone
have lately begun to take an interest in this product, and in
view of the valuable medicinal effects and sustaining qualities
of the nuts, the market should soon be considerably extended..
Ginger was produced in the colony in 1907-8 to the
extent of 618 tons, worth £11,571 as already mentioned.
This is an advance on previous years, and a good deal of
attention has been paid by some of the small planters to the
better cultivation and preparation of the product for the
market.
It is believed that the decline in the export of rubber is
due to the steps that have lately been taken to check the
reckless and wasteful system of tapping the trees that was
formerly prevalent.
IRRIGATION ON JAMAICA SUGAR
ESTATES.
A note on an interesting irrigation enterprise that
is being carried through by the proprietors of some
valuable sugar estates in the Vere district of southern
Jamaica appears in the current number of the Wesé
India Committee Circular.
The soil of the district around Vere is of great natural
fertility in seasons when an average rainfall is experienced.
Of late years, however, crop returns have largely fallen off,
owing to the long spells of dry weather that have occurred.
Notwithstanding the tendency of the land in question to
suffer from drought it was known that there existed within
a few feet of the surface an excellent and practically in-
exhaustible supply of water, and efforts, the results of which
have so far been very successful, have been made to tap and
utilize for crop producing purposes this underground reservoir.
It may be mentioned that a few years ago a system of
irrigation was startedkon the Vere Estates at a cost of £50,000.
In this case, however, the irrigation water was brought
to the sugar estates from the Milk River by a number of
canals, and in the ‘great drought of 1907 the system broke
down in consequence of the river itself running dry.
The irrigation pperations that have lately been initiated
are due to the enterprise of the Amity Hall Factory Co, Ltd.,
and the Vere Estates Co., Ltd. When the first well was
sunk on Perrins Estate, a fine flow of water was struck at
a depth of about 15 feet. Thereupon the Vere Estates
Company proceeded to excavate on Moreland estate, and
from a well which, yyas carried down toa depth of 40 feet
they are now obtaifing a continuous flow of 100,000 gallons
per hour, this flow being maintained without reducing the
surface of the water,below 3 feet of the bottom of the well.
Gas engines are being imported which will work pumps
capable of raising 168,000 gallons per hour. It is thought
that further excavation will lead to an increased supply of
water. Further wells will probably be sunk in other sections of
the estates, and, if the success so far obtained continues, the
danger from drought in the Vere district will be largely
obviated in the future.
Vou. VIII. No. 184.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 151
INOCULATION OF LEGUMINOUS CROPS
IN THE WEST INDIES.
During the year 1908, the effect of inoculating
the soil, or in some cases the seed, to be sown, with
prepared cultures of nitrogen-gatheying bacteria was
tried at Antigua and Grenada, with the object of
-ascertaining whether such a procedure would stimulate
the growth, and increase the crop returns of various
leguminous crops. At Antigua, where cowpeas, woolly
pyrol, and alfalfa were the crops under experiment
-at the instance of Messrs. Henckell,.Du Buisson & Co.,
Professor W. B. Bottomley’s.‘ Nitro-bacterine ’ was the
‘inoculating material used, but at Grenada, a culture
preparation sent out from the United States Depart-
went of Agriculture was employed. «It may be added
‘that experiments in which a small number of sugar-cane
plants were inoculated with a special culture prepared
by Professor Bottomley, in the hop¢ that it might be
beneficial in increasing the yield, were also carried out
at Antigua and Barbados.
At Antigua inoculation experiments were conducted at
the Experiment Station, and also “at Fitches’ Creek,
“Gambles, and Cassada Garden, ;
Seed of the different crops sown was inoculated at the
Laboratory, and part of the culture solution was used in
inoculating the soil, and later on the growing crops. Where
crop and soil inoculation was carried on, two applications of
the solution were made, at an interval of a fortnight.
No effect of inoculation could be traced in the case of
the cowpeas grown. Practically no differences were observ-
able between the treated and the untreated plots. It is
therefore to be presumed that the soils in the experiment
plots were well stocked with the bacteria responsible for
nodule formation on this crop, or that they were well supplied
with available nitrogen. é
With woolly pyrol the results of indéulation were, in the
‘case of one estate, more definite and satisfactory. The
experiment plots were each {-acre in area, and from the plot
sown with seed that had not been inoculated 330 tb. of green
bush was gathered. A second plot also with
uninoculated seed, but which was ‘ watered’ with the culture
fluid, yielded 700 tb. of green bush ;a third plot that had
been sown with inoculated seed gave 970 tb. of bush, while
from the fourth plot, sown with inoculated seed, 1,015 tb. of
bush was reaped. It will be seen that in the cases indicated,
inoculation seems to have been distinctly beneficial for woolly
pyrol. At two of the stations, however, all the plants on the
-experiment plots were destroyed by caterpillars. No report
has yet been received on the trials with alfalfa.
The Grenada experiments were designed to ascertain (1)
whether any benefit is to be derived {from inoculation of
leguminous crops on Grenada soils, and (2) whether, by
inoculation, leguminous green dressings, such as cowpeas, can
be grown under the shade produced by full-grown cacao.
The trials were made at the Experiment Station, and on six
different estates in the island, where the crop under treatment
was cowpeas, wh'ch were inoculated with a material prepared
-especially for this plant. :
At the Botanie Station and two of the estates, the
results obtained showed no difference Whatever in favour of
inoculation. At two other estates, the returns from the
inoculated plots were slightly superior to those which had not
been treated. Finally, on the two'remaining estates—
Dougaldston and Diamond—it is reportéd that the inoculated
sown
i
plots gave yields very considerably higher than the untreated
plots, although no actual figures are stated.
Inoculation, however, had no effect in influencing the
growth of cowpeas planted beneath the shade of cacao trees,
and these failed completely in all cases. The results of the
experiments, therefore, give a negative reply to the second
question suggested above. ;
It may be added that the inoculation of sugar-cane
plants with Professor Bottomley’s culture preparation could
not be observed to have any effect whatever, either at Antigua
or Barbados.
CULTIVATION AND FERTILITY.
Thorough and judicious cultivation is essential for a soil
to give its best results as a crop-producing medium. Provid-
ing a soil is well-drained, the more deeply it is cultivated,
the more extensive is the area through which the plants can
forage in search of food, and thus it is that improvement in
tillage methods which result in deepening the soil and
promoting nitrification, tend to have the same effect as
applications of manure. ;
The advantages of a deep soil, as compared with
a shallow soil, are obvious, and—expressed concisely—these
may be said to consist in the fact that when land is ploughed
to a depth of no more than 3 inches, the plants growing
thereon have 3 inches of food, while when the land is ploughed
6 inches deep the land has access to 6 inches of food, and so
on. The lower portions of the soil are not so rich in avail-
able plant food as the upper portions, but this may be
remedied to a large extent by suitable cultivation, which
results in admitting air, moisture, and heat, the necessary
conditions under which fertility is developed.
It need hardly be pointed out, however, that any deliberate
attempt to lower the line of division between the soil and sub-
soil by deeper ploughing should be carried out gradually and
with caution, and the most judicious plan is to extend the opera-
tion over several years, 1.e., to plough just a little deeper each
season than was done in the previous year. Many instances
are on record in which the fertility of land remarkable for
its crop-producing capacity has suffered enormously as the
result of lowering the depth of ploughing 2 or 3 inches
below the normal level in one season. This is because the
surface soil containing the organisms which are responsible
for the breaking down of plant food, has been buried, and
a heavy, raw, infertile subsoil brought to the top.
Another important point in connexion with the capacity
ot a soil to return large crops is its ability to retain moisture.
This power is greatest when the Jand contains a good propor-
tion of humus, is well tilled, thoroughly pulverised, the sub-
soil firm, and the soil kept in the form of a loose mulch at
the surface. F
As the result of all these conditions, absorption of rain
water takes place readily, and this is retained instead of
rapidly draining away. Water in a cultivated soil is held in
the form of thin surface films enclosing each separate particle.
It is obvious, therefore, that the more thoroughly the land is
pulverised by cultivation, the greater will be the number of
soil particles, and the greater the capacity of the land
to retain moisture. The presence of humus increases this
storage capacity, and reduces evaporation. It has been
estimated by agricultural physicists that a ton of humus will
store over seven times as much moisture as a ton of sand,
and further, that sand loses its water by evaporation from
three to four times as rapidly as the humus. Clay soils
store only about one-fourth as- much moisture as humus, and
lose it by evaporation about twice as rapidly.
May 15, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2c. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural stews
Vou. VIII.
SATURDAY, ‘MAY ‘15, 1909. No. 184.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The work that has been done on the subject of
soil inoculation, with the object of increasing the
assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by leguminous
crops, is reviewed in the editorial. Some further notes
on inoculation experiments, carried out last year in
some of the West Indian islands, will be found on
page 151.
Experimental work has shown that it is more
advisable to raise crops from home-grown than from
imported seed (page 147). The relations between
woodlands and water supply are brietly discussed on
page 149.
Useful and interesting information on citrus fruit
cultivation in the West Indies, with especial reference
to Dominica, is given in the article appearing on
pp: 148-9.
It has been observed that when bengal bean
plants were allowed to climb over lime trees at Mont-
serrat, the attacks of scale insects on the
diminished (page 154).
lime trees
An interesting article dealing with Toggenburg
goats, more especially in the West Indies, appears on
page 155.
Attention is drawn to the article ‘Hedges snd
Hedge Plants at Antigna, that will be found on page
458. This deals with the characteristics of various
plants useful for establishing hedges (for ornament or
otherwise) in the West Indies.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Experiments with Varieties of Cassava.
The importance of cassava as a source of food
supply in the West Indies is indicated by the fact that
experiments involving the trial of a large number of
varieties of this erep, both native and foreign, were
carried out in 1907-8 at the Experiment Stations at
Antigua, Montserrat, St. Kitt’s-Nevis, and the Virgin
Islands. ‘The varieties ‘ White Greenaway’ and ‘ Red
Greenaway,’ did; especially well at Antigua and
St. Kitt’s, giving yields at the rate of from 13,000 to
14,000 tb. per acre, At St. Kitt’s, however, the ‘ Small
Leaf’ variety did best ofall, returning 14,262 tb. per acre.
‘French No. 3’ ,and ‘ Blue Top’ appear also to be
promising varieties of cassava. These gave crops at
the rate of from¢10,000 to 13,000 th per acre. At
Montserrat the *Bloody Mind’ cassava gave the
highest return (15,456 tb. per acre). Jamaica cassavas
tried at Antigua that did especially well are ‘ Blue
Bud Black, and *Shuana Sweet. ’
Several varieties imported from Colombia were
tried in the different islands. These grew less vigor-
ously and gave much smaller returns than the native
kinds. The Colombian cassavas are sweet, however, and
well adapted for culinary purposes.
Butter Making.
Butter of high quality is not often met with in the
West Indies, although there is no doubt that with due
attention to the feeding rations given to cows, cleanli-
ness in milking, skill in ripening the cream, and churn-
ing and washing the butter, etc., a better article might
often be turned out. In the tropics there is no doubt
that it is better to use a small separator than to wait
for the cream tu rise to the top and then to skim it off.
Two good separating machines are the ‘ Alpha-Laval’
and the ‘ Melotte, both of which are manufactured in
a number of sizes or capacities, the smaller grades of
which can be worked by one boy. A larger quantity
of butter of superior flavour is obtained from ‘ripe’ or
acid cream than from the same volume when fresh, and
therefore the cream should always be allowed to stand
until acid. ‘Starters, i.e., skim milk or whey, contain-
ing lactic acid bacteria are frequently used to accelerate
the ripening of the cream, and these form a valuable
means of influencing the favour of the resulting butter,
which appears to be largely determined by the particu-
lar strain of lactic bacteria responsible for maturing
the cream. For this reason it is always advisable that
the ‘starter, at the outset, be obtained from a farm or
estate where butter of good quality is known to be
regularly manufactured. A quantity of starter suth-
cient to bring about the required acidity by the time
churning is to takerplace, is added to the cream after
separating. This is then covered with a muslin cloth
and placed aside. ©When the butter has been churned’
a portion of the buttermilk is drawn off and used as
‘starter’ for the next occasion. It is important to
wash the butter thoroughly with several lots of water
on completion of churning, as in this way particles of
curd are eliminatedsy which have a bad influence on the
keeping qualities of the butter.
Vou. VIII. No. 184. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
153
Trade of Trinidad.
The report for 1907-8 on the Blue Book of Trini-
dad and Tobago has just been issued,*from which it 1s
seen that the year under review was 4 very prosperous
one for the colony. ‘The total trade shows an advance
from £5,993,042 in 1906-7, to 7.282.527 in 1907-8,
while, in the same period, the exports advanced from
£2,872,325 to £3,907,503. Of this inérease, £1,056,757
was in respect of the produce of the colony. The
particular items responsible for the chief increase were :
Trinidad cacao, £984,300: Venezuelan cacao, £157,800 :
sugar, £90,900; and asphalt, £25,500. During the
year the total quantity of Trinidad cacao exported was
49,730,576 th., valued at £1,786,386, while the corre-
sponding figures for 1906-7 were 27,570,928 tb. of
eacao, of value £802,073. The sugar exported in 1907-8
was 46,270 tons, as against 45,004 tons in 1906-7.
Sr Or
Rainfall Returns at Antigua.
Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc., has, forwarded a table
showing the rainfall returns from seventy-two stations
at Antigua during 1908. The mean rainfall for the year
from all the stations was 43:79 inches. As in 1907,
the station at which the highest fall (6567 inches) is
recorded, is Wallings (Dam). Yorks station comes
second with 61:69 inches, and Wallings (Hill) third with
60°86 inches. The least rainfall experienced at any
station was 25°58 inches, recorded at Mannings. Two
other stations at which very small rainfalls occurred
were Cocoa-nut Hall (which last year came at the
bottom of the list with 26:20 inches) 2926 inches, and
Collins, 29°89 inches. December was the month in
which the greatest amount of rain fell at Antigua,
10°64 inches being recorded as the mean of all the
stations in that month. November came _ second,
although a long way below, with 4°85 inches of rain.
The driest month was February, when the mean
precipitation was 0°84 inches. The average rainfall for
the past thirty-five years is 45°41 inches, so that the
rainfall for 1908 was 1°62 inches below the average,
Agriculture and Trade in Ceylon.
The report of the Planters’ Assoeiation of Ceylon,
for the year ended December 31, 1908, has been issued,
and contains particulars of the condition of the chief
agricultural industries of the island.
Tea continues a profitable cultivation, and the
area planted with this crop is still on the increase. The
1909 crop is estimated at 182,000,000: Tb.
Cacao in Ceylon has lately sutfered from a very
severe drought, as the result of whieh the yield fell
from 92,511 ewt. in 1907 to 62,186 ewt.in 1908. Rains
that fell some months ago have improved matters how-
ever, and the crop of this year is expected to reach
75,000 ewt. i
Consequent on the fall in prices; a much smaller
acreage was planted with rubber in 1908 than in the
four previous years. The areas alreaDy planted, how-
ever, are receiving every care and attention, and
promise to be distinctly profitable, even at present
prices.
Cardamoms were not a success in 1908, the yield
being irregular, and the fruits small. The crop of 1909
is estimated at 750,000 th. Camphor has fallen in
price from 400s. to 135s. per ewt., which has discour-
aged further planting of the trees yielding this product.
Cocoa-nuts to the number of 20,609,864 were
exported from Ceylon in 1908, this being by far the
greatest quantity shipped since 1898. Copra exports
also advanced from 347,970 ewt. in 1907 to 729,140 ewt.
in 1908, and the shipments of cocoa-nut oil from
460,683 ewt. in 1907, to 629,122 ewt. in 1908.
West Indian Orchids.
Mr. William Fawcett, BiSc., late Director of the
Botanical Department, Jamaica, and Dr. A. B. Rendle,
Keeper of the Botanical Department, British Museum,
have in preparation a book describing the orchids of
Jamaica, which will be published by the Trustees of
the British Museum. This work will be written some-
what in the style of the Colonial Floras prepared at
Kew. It will include thirty-two pictorial plates, show-
ing the mode of growth of most of the genera, with
enlarged drawings of flowers to illustrate their structure.
The plates are prepared from drawings made in Jamaica
from living plants, under thedirection of Mr. Fawcett.
Notes will be given of the occurrence of these
orchids in the other West Indian islands and British
Guiana, and it is hoped that the work will prove useful
throughout this region to all) who take an interest in
the subject.
Specimens of orchids from any district in the
West Indies will be gratefully received by Messrs.
Fawcett and Rendle at the British Museum (Natural
History), Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London,
S.W.
Hen Breeding and Egg Production.
The influence of selection and breeding with the
object of developing or eliminating any given character-
istic is soon evident among hens. An illustration in
point, showing the relationship of breeding to egg
production is seen in a report lately issued from Read-
ing University College, England. Three lots of
Leghorn fowls, one lot being Danish, the second
American, and the third English, were kept under
comparable conditions for twelve months, and the
numbers of eggs laid were carefully recorded. Denmark
is famous for its dairy and small stock industries, and
Danish poultry are selected and bred with the object of
developing their egg-laying capacity. The English
birds competing had, however, been bred for exhibition
purposes. From the table of results it is seen that the
Danish birds proved most profitable, laying an average
of 153°7 eggs per hen (of an average weight of 2:12 oz.)
in the twelve months. The American birds came
second with 142 eggs (average weight 2°34 oz.), and
the English Leghorns last, with only 76 eggs (average
weight 2°05 02).
154 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
? Gr a
¥
INSECT NOTES.
The Use of the Bengal Bean in Lime
Cultivations.
The Bengal bean (Mucuna pruriens, var.) which
has often been referred to in the publications of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture on account of its
value as a green dressing, is closely related to the
velvet bean and the weed known as ‘cow itch,” which
are perhaps known to some of the readers of the Agri-
cultural News, who are not familiar with the Bengal
bean. It is a strong, vigorous-growing species, capable
of making a dense covering on the land and even over
May 15, 1909.
Jassed near the ground, and any portion of the vines that
hang free from the trees is ent off, but the mass of vines on
top of the tree is pot disturbed. No attempt is made to
remove It.
Up to the present time this has been tried only on limes
that were badly Mmfested with scales before the beans
were planted, and it*has been found that many of the scales —
perhaps most of them—were dead when the beans were
eutlassed. In addition to this, it has been observed that the
limes have made pirticularly vigorous growth immediately
after the beans have'been cutlassed. It often happens that
none of the lime shaots show above the mat of bean vines
at the time they are cut, but within a few weeks strong
vigorous shoots, 6 or 8 feet long, may be seen, which
have penetrated the dead bean vines. So far as observa-
tion goes, this growth is healthy, and the improvement in
the trees is fairly permanent. One field which received this
treatment some seven years ago, and has had no spraying or
other treatment of similar kind sizce, is remarkably healthy
and free from seales.. One drawback to this method is that
the covered-in limes give a short yield for that year.
Although it is known what results follow when Bengal
beans areallowed to climb upon lime trees, the exact reasou why
these results come about is not known. It
seems likely that the covering of beans main-
tains a more moist condition beneath it, and
in this way encourages the growth of those
fungi which attack and kill scale insects.
It is likely also that the conditions under
this canopy of bean foliage are favourable
to the insect parasites of scales, and enables
these to multiply more rapidly than when
the trees are exposed to the strong winds
which, during a large part of the year,
blow across the island of Montserrat.
Fungus parasites and insect parasites
of the scales, or in other words, the natural
erémies of the scale insects, are present
and are encouraged. by. the covering
of Bengal beans. It would seem, however,
that there must also be some other ageney
in operation favourable to the lime trees,
for the killing off of the scales could hardly
account for the remarkable vigour of the
new growth of the limes, which follows
immediately after the cutlassing of the
Fic. 20. Lime TrEEs Coverep BY BENGAL Brans. beans. Possibly the rest, or partial rest,
other plants. The accompanying illustration (Fig. 20)
shows a field of limes in Montserrat thoroughly covered
over by Bengal beans.
The Bengal bean was at first used at Montserrat purely
as a green dressing on account of the large amount of organic
matter which it returns to the land, and because of its ability,
in conimon with other leguihinous plants, to gather atmos-
phere nitrogen. It was discovered by chance that certain trees.
which had been in a dying State for some time past as the
result of attack by scale insects, showed themselves much
improved in general vigour and freedom from scales after the
Bengal bean plants had climbed over them and covered their
branches for a year or two. Since then, extended trials have
been made with Bengal beans, and it is reported that good
results alway's follow, and,that the results are better the
more completely the beans, cover in all the trees. The
practice it Montserrat is to plant four or five beans around
each treé at the time of the first rains in May or June, and
to allow them to grow until‘the beans are ripe in the follow-
ing March or April. The stems of the beans are then cut-
that the trees have had, while covered, would account in
some measure for this vigour. :
Sugar in Porto Rico. It is reported that the sugar
crop for 1909 in Porto Rico is estimated at from 205,000 to
255,000 tons, which indicates that very great advances have
been made in the output during the past seven or eight years.
The probable limit) of sugar production in the island is
generally placed at about 500,000 tons. It is assumed,
however, that the latter figure will be reached less by increas-
ing the area now:{planted with sugarcane than by the
introduetion of iniprovements in machinery and existing
plants. An association of sugar growers, with an Experiment
Station is to be formed, and preparatory work on an
extensive system of! irrigation, involving several thousand
acres of land, has been started. There are now three central
factories in Porto “Rieo which use twelve-roller mills, and
another is in course/of erection.
Vou. VIII. No. 184.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
TOGGENBURG GOATS IN THE
WEST INDIES.
The Toggenburg goats that are to be found in the
West Indies, and which are in most cases the descend-
ants of the pure-bred stock maeporteg by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture in 1998, are attracting
Increasing interest ‘from -stock-owners, and it is becom:
ing generally recognized that by crossing a good class
of West Indian goat with the Toggenburg, a hardy and
serviceable animal is obtained, and one which possesses
superior milking qualities. Y
Many enquiries are being received for young Toggen-
burg stock, both at this Department, and by private stock-
owners who have had experience of this class of goat in
the West Indies during the past five years. This increasing
demand has naturally “led to a rise in value. The general
prices for the animals of this breed range from £3 to £4
each, but as much as £5 has been paid _ “for good half-bred
rams.
At Grenada nineteen Toggenburg goats have been
imported, and in ok instances, these. have proved highly
successful. As a result, there exists a very considerable
demand in that island for further animals of this kind,
In Dominica, the pure-bred ram ‘ Wallace,’ a son of
‘Bruce’ and ‘Pauline,’ the two Toggenburgs originally
imported by the Department in 1963, has been very successful
in propagating the breed, as there now exist about fifty young
half-bred Toggenburg goats in various parts of the island.
Tt does not appear, however, that the value of these animals
is fully recognized at Dominica, as little attention has there
been given to goats as milk producers—the point in which the
Toggenbur gs exhibit merit,
The following extracts taken from Bulletin No. 68
of the United States Department of Agriculture may
prove of interest in this connexion :—
The Toggenburg breed is called the aristocrat of the milch
goat family. ‘There are some breeds that are more hardy per-
haps,some that are more prolific, some that will show occasional
individuals of greater milk-producing iyactey, and several
that present a more robust appearance ;’but the Toggenburg
seems to combine in itself more of these characteristics in
a high degree than any other breed.
This breed is-from the Toggenbure Valley, a district
forming a considerable portion of the Canton St. Gallen, in
the north-east seetion of Switzerland, and about 70 to 100
miles from Berne. Here they have bee bred for centuries.
In discussing this breed Hook points out an important
feature which is applicable to all breeds, namely, that the high
position occupied by the Toggenburgs as milk producers has
been attained by the careful selection of individuals for breed-
ing, and from their offspring preserving those only for breed-
ing which have proved themselves to, be good milkers. This
practice cannot fail to lead to definite;results if fhe selec-
tions are made intelligently. The Toggenburgs are especially
noted for their great milking qualities, and in this particular
they probably excel most other breeds. In Switzerland there
area goodly number of the more intelligent breeders of these
goats who are breeding only-the best amikers. These goats
give from 4 to 5 quarts a day as-a-aule while the best pro-
oe from 5 to 6 quarts, and, in extraordinary cases, as much
7 quarts per day. Their pester in giving milk is
A pane eres characteristic.
The udder of the Toggenburg wher! distended is carried
high between the legs. The teats are usually very large and
Jong. ;
=
oO
ot
The Toggenburg is generally called a hornless breed, but
instances are not uncommon where horns are developed.
Notwithstanding the lanky ‘and lean appearance of these
animals, the does are quite attractive. The bucks have
a harsh and most serious expression, owing principally to the
shape of the head, and the large coarse beard. They are not
given to fighting, however, and are free to a large extent
from the odour that is gener rally so objectionable in males
among most other breeds ‘of goats.
Mr. Bryan Hook, author.of‘ Milch Goats and their
Management, ’’ makes the folfowing observations on the
Toggenburg goat in England: a
The Toggenburg goat is, in my opinion, by far the most
valuable, and the best suited tojour climate of all the pure
breeds that have been introduced into this country, and—
having now become fairly common and well established with
us—is the breed I should unhesitatingly commend to the
attention of goat-keepers.
There is no doubt that im England the Toggen-
burg is now recognized as the most economical and
profitable of all the breeds of:goat that may be kept
for milk-producing purposes. The average value of
a good milker was.recently placed at from £7 to £8,
but prices of £12 have been realized for superior
animals. A mature Toggenberg should give about
2 quarts per day, or slightly more for three months
after kidding. An exceptionally good. specimen of
this breed that was’ on view at the London Dairy
Show some five or six years ago, was yielding over
a quart ef milk per day, although it was more than
eighteen months since it had kidded.
It is important that goats imported into the West
Indies receive every care and attention, and this 1s all
the more desirable if the animal possesses high
economic qualities. It must be borne in mind that
even though a goat may belong to a good dairy breed,
and come from the best milk-yielding strain, she will
not continue to yield large quantities of milk unless
she is well fed and receives the best attention.
It is not judicious or economical to feed a goat con-
tinuously on one kind of food alone, since if this is done,
the animal will never satisfy its requirements. In the
West Indies, in most cases, goats have to be tethered at
pasture, and it should be remembered that it is well to
move them two or three timés daily. The goat is very
fanciful in its tastes, so that it will be necessary to see
that all food and drink are’clean, as well as the pan,
bucket, or other utensil used in feeding the animals.
In conclusion, it is important to point out the
necessity of care in selection _and breeding, if Toggen-
burg goats are to maintain in the West Indies the
excellent milk- -yielding quality which distinguishes the
breed in Switzerland. Unless this care is duly exer-
cised, and indiscriminate breeding prevented, deteriora-
tion is certain to result.
In connexion with this question of improved stock,
it may be mentioned that the Imperial Department of
Agriculture has under consideration a scheme by which
it is proposed to grant bonuses to persons importing
goats and other animals of good economic quality into
the West Indies. The conditions under which these
bonuses are to be given will be announced later.
156
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 15, 1909:
Areas of Crown land in, Dominica, which after clearing
would be well suited for the establishment of orange groves,
can be obtained at a price of 12s. 6d. net per acre.
An Agricultural and Commercial Society was started
at Montserrat in March last. About thirty-five members
have joined, and a representative Committee of Management
has been appointed,
The quantity of balata exported from British Guiana in
1907-8 was 973,269 tb., this being an increase of 544,680 b.,
as compared with the previous year. Rubber was shipped
from the colony in 1907-8 tothe amount of 6,873 tb.
trants of Crown lands to the number of 1,157, and
comprising 9,494 acres were issued in Trinidad during
1907-8. In 1906-7, the number of grants issued was 991,
and the total area alienated, 8,004 acres. (Annual Report.)
A notice in the Trinidad Royal Gazette draws attention
to the fact that the advice’ and assistance of the two In-
spectors lately appointed by.the Board of Agriculture of the
colony, are available for all \planters and small holders, free
of charge.
From the commencement of the cane-reaping season
up to May 6, there were exported from Barbados 2,081
tons of sugar, and 26,469 puncheons of molasses, as com-
pared with 12,379 tons of sugar, and 23,215 puncheons
of molasses shipped to the same date last year.
The sugar exports from, Trinidad to Canada during
1907-8 increased by £46,665,.in comparison with the figures
for the previous year, while the shipments of cacao to the
Dominion from the same colony showed an increase in
value of £10,560. (Annual Report.)
According to one of the Jamaica correspondents of the
West India Commuattee Cireular, an excellent sugar crop) is
expected in Westmoreland parish this season. Cane farming
is extending in the neighbourhood, and about 1,000 acres
of land has been planted in, this way, the holders selling
their produce to the big estates.
Twelve pupils from the St. Kitt’s Grammar School
entered for the Cambridge ;Local Examination held last
December, and all were successful. Among the candidates
were four from the agricultural side of the school, two of
whom entered for the Preliminary Examination, and the
remaining two for the Senior. One agricultural candidate
(4%. Du Porte) obtained Second-class Honours in the Senior
Examination, with distinction in Agricultural Science.
In some yam-xperiments conducted at the Botanic
Station, Grenada, twelve varieties were tested as to their
cropping power. ‘The kinds which did best were ‘ St. Kitt’s
White Flesh’ (233 tb. for 25 holes), ‘ White Lisbon’
(196 th. for 25 holes), and ‘ Red Lisbon ’ (193 tb. for 25 holes).
The yams were planted at distances of 5 feet by 5 feet.
It may be mentioned, for the information of stock-
owners in Barbados who are interested, that the pure-bred
Toggenburg ram ‘ Wallace,’ will be returned from Dominica
to Barbados, by.;the R.M.S ‘Esk,’ due on May 18.
‘Wallace’ will be retained at Barbados, and will be
available for service,
A movement iseon foot in Trinidad, supported by the
Department of Agriculture, to secure the importation inte
the colony free of duty, of all materials used for agricultura}
purposes, more especially fungicides and insecticides. This
matter was discussed at a recent meeting of the Board of
Agriculture, and referred by the Governor to the Advisory
Committee.
In reference ton article headed ‘Chinese Vegetable
Tallow, which latély-appeared in the Agricultural News
(Vol. VIII, p. 107); Mr. Joseph Jones writes to say that the
tree Saprum which yields this product, was
introduced to Dominica years ago, and that specimens may
be seen at the Botanic Gardens, one of them being 30 feet
high. Mr. Jones adds that the tree does not thrive particalarly
well in Dominics,‘and is very subject to the attacks of
a ‘white blight.’
sehiferum,
The tenth report of the Woburn Fruit Farm (England)
deals with the treatment of trees for imsect pests. Experi-
mental work in this direction showed that nursery stock
could be entirely freed from woolly aphis by immersion for
ten minutes in water heated to 115 “F., at which temperature
the plants did not suffer. Treatment with petrol was equally
effective so far as the destruction of aphis was concerned, but
might be likely to cause more damage to the plants.
The Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society recom-
mends to planters in- the island that they sow cowpeas
between the rows of. bananas in March and April, cutting
the vegetation about, two to. three months later, and spreading
it over the ground to act asa surface mulch beneath the
banana trees during the dry months of July and August. The
decaying vegetation could, with advantage, be dug into the
soil when the rainy season comes on.
As was generally expected, the sugar crop on the ma-
jority of Barbados estates is proving to be very small this
year. In the coast districts it is reported that the crop is no
more than 33 per cent. of an average return, on the whole.
Black soils further ihland are ‘expected to yield 55 per cent.
of their average crop, while on the red soils prospects are
not so depressing, alttfough no more than 75 per cent. of an
ordinary yield is antieipated.
Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co., of Georgetown, state
that weather were favourable for rice farmers
in British Guiana daring the fortnight ended April 30, and
large quantities of cleaned rice were brought to town. Ship-
ments to the West Indian islands in the two weeks amounted
to about 1,500 bags, principally for Trinidad. The price
quoted is 18s, 9d. to 19s. 9d. per bag of LSO tb. gross.
conditions
Vou. VIII. No. 184. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
157
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
Seasonal Notes. |
MAY. (
2nd Forrnicsr.
The reaping and milling of sugar-canes will continue to
be in progress during this fortnight. Careful outlook should
be- kept for diseased and rotten canes; the. cause of the
-disease should be ascertained, and the variéties most suscep-
tible, and those which are more immune,;‘noted. Roat disease
(Marasmius) should be especially looked for in ratoém canes.
Learn to recognize the symptoms which indicate its presence.
An attempt should be made to Jearn the distinguishing
-characteristics of the chief kinds of canes: Note, wherever
possible, the yield of cane obtained per acre, and the quantity
-of cane required to give one ton of sugar.!
Fields in which cotton was planted last year should
now be cleared of old cotton plants. The various insects,
tungi, ete., affecting the old bushes, and the attacks of which
have prevented their full development, may now be observed.
Tf scale insects are present note whether any of them are
parasitized or not. Observe the fact that the scale insects
-easily spread from the cotton to neighbouring vegetation.
Land which has borne cotton for two years in succession will
now be planted with green dressings, such as woolly pyrol,
~etc. I
Cacao pruning will still be in progress. Study the
different methods and tools, and note the merits and demerits
of each. Observe carefully those cacao trees in the planta-
tion which appear especially vigorous and productive, and
-endeavour to ascertain the causes.
Look through the lime plantations; remove all
-dead branches, dressing the wounds with tar and_ resin
-oil. Remove any mistletoe that may be seen growing, as
well as epiphytes which occur in wet districts. When ‘black
blight’ is seen on the lime trees, endeavour to ascertain
what scale insects are associated with it.
Preparation of the land, and planting with yams will be
-done about this time. Observe the amounts of manure given
to this crop per acre. Experiments with different varieties
of yams have been carried out in many of the islands.
Ascertain which kinds have done best in those trials, and
compare the returns given with those obtained on estates in
your neighbourhood. Note that some varieties of yam are
planted on banks and others in the furrow. Ascertain the
reason for this. f
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Give an account of the chief changes brought about
in a soil as the result of drainage and tillage. ;
(2) Under what conditions could a‘soil contain a good
supply of plant food constituents, and yet fail to yield
satisfactory crops ! ;
(3) What change must sulphate of ammonia undergo in
the soil before it is available as plant food !
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Write a short account of the method of extracting
starch from the roots of arrowroot (or cassava) on a commer-
.-elal scale. )
(2) State the composition of an average sample of cow’s
Why is milk an especially nutritious food ?
(3) Discuss the circumstances under which soils lose
respectively the greatest amounts, and smallest amounts, of
water by evaporation.
milk.
STUDENTS’ MEETINGS AT ANTIGUA.
With the object of affording assistance to candi-
dates at Antigua who proposeyto enter for the Prelimi-
nary and Intermediate Bxanfinations in Agriculture
of this Department to be held/in September or October
next, monthly meetings are being held in the island,
at which the chief -points in ‘fhe ‘syllabus of work are"
discussed with the students. +
Meetings for Preliminary sthdents, at. which elementary
theoretical points are considered; Are held on the first Monday
in each month. The various subjects dealt with are discussed
in such a way as to be useful al8o to intending candidates
for the Intermediate Examination. These meetings are
under the charge of Mr. A. H. Kirby, B.A.
Since the Intermediate Examination is concerned with
the more practical side of Agriculture, efforts are made to
assist students in this direction ‘at the meetings which are
held on the third Monday in each month for Intermediate
candidates. For instance, the students were met at the Cotton
Factory, St. John’s, on April 19, when the construction, set-
ting, and working of gins, and the ginning and baling of cot-
ton were dealt with by Mr. J. Dew. Later Mr. H. A.°*
Tempany and Mr. T. Jackson discussed seed selection and
disinfection, and the judging of. cotton lint, ete., with the
students. Meetings will also be held at the Antigua Sugar .
Factory, Botanic Station, Skerrett’s Experiment Station, ana
other centres, for the consideration of various practical points.
COWS AND THEIR MILK YIELDS.
The enormous extent of the dairy industry justifies
the attention that has for years past been given im
many parts of the world to the question of breeding
cows that shall give a maximum return of milk. This
is not only a matter of great practical importance,
but also one of distinct scientific interest.
The results of numerous experiments have established?
the fact that when a deep-milking cow is mated with a bull,
the dam of which was also a deep milker, it is found that
the female offspring yield large quantities of milk, while the
males will beget deep milkers. It will be recognized there-
fore, that the milk records of a herd of cows form data of
considerable value to a stock-owner who is anxious to bree®
and rear animals of special value for dairy purposes.
The North British Agriculturist lately contained some
statistical particulars in relation:to this subject, which show
the great variation in the milk-yielding power of different cows.
On a farm referred to, a group of ‘Ayrshire cows has been bred,
which, with their latest calves, ‘gave the very high average
of 1,144 gallons of milk, containing 3°6 per cent. of fat.
Acting on the belief that like produces like, a gronp of young:
cattle is being carefully. raised, the dams of which averaged
1,232 gallons of milk per year, Gontaining 3°8 per cent. of fat.
In relation to the same question; Bulletin No. 15 of the
Edinburgh and East of Scotland Agricultural College shows
the kind of variation in milk-yielling capacity which is found
in an ordinary herd of Shorthorn cows. For the year ended
July 1906, the highest yield given by an individual cow im
a certain herd was 1,505 gallons in forty-seven weeks, while
the lowest return from a single cow in the herd was’ 47%
gallons ‘in thirty-nine weeks.‘ With the same herd, the
highest and lowest ~yields forthe year ended July 1908,
were 1,224 gallons in fifty-two weeks, and 438 gallons im
twenty-six weeks, ‘
158
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. i
May 15, 1909-.
HEDGES AND HEDGE PLANTS AT
ANTIGUA.
Very few hedges are in existence in Antigua, and
with the purpose of giving an object-lesson to planters
in this direction, successful efforts have been made to
develop growing fences round the Experiment Station
at Skerrett’s. The plants mentioned which appear to
be especially satisfactory for the purpose of the
establishment of hedges are the bread-and-cheese
(Pithecolobium Unguisteati), the Barbados cherry
(Malpighia glabra), and-the logwood (Haematorylon
campechianum). Since the hedges at Skerrett’s have
attracted considerable attention at Antigua a number of
enquiries have been received by the Curator (Mr. T.
Jackson), and it would appear that many people in the
island are intending to foll.w the example thus started
and to plant hedges on their own properties. Mr, Jack-
son recently forwarded to ‘his Department some notes
on hedge plants and hecize planting, which may be of
general interest outside Antigua,
In addition to the three:plants already named, Mr. Jack-
son mentions the hibiscus, the pomegranate (Punica
granatum), Agave Americana, Agave vinipara, wild cottee
(Clerodendion aculeatum), and several species of bamboo, all
of which would be useful in the establishment of fences.
Apart from the use ofthese plants for larger hedges,
trials made at the Antigua Botanic Station have shown that
at least one or two of them can be utilized for the formation
of low ornamental borders after the manner in which low
‘box’ hedges are frequently employed in England. These
borders, when well cared forpform an attractive feature in an
English garden, and in addition to their ornamental value,
serve a very useful purpose in defining boundaries, and keep-
ing up the sides of walkes. Mr, Jackson points out that the
bread-and-cheese plant, whén kept well trimmed, forms
a useful substitute for the’‘box-edging’ referred to, and
there is no doubt that such dwarf boundaries (kept about 8
or 9 inches high) could be introduced into West Indian
gardens with striking effect.
The ‘ bread-and-cheese’ hedge is established by sowing
seeds on a border about 18 inches wide, the seeds being
planted in drills from 3 to 4 inches deep. Ifa thick, rather
wide hedge is desired, two rows of seeds can be planted, the
rows being about 6 inches apart. When the young plants
are about 8 inches high they should be trimmed. The first
trimming should consist only of taking off the points of the
young plants so as to force them to grow from the bottom
and form a shrubby undergrowth. If wet weather ensues, the
next pruning should be performed a few weeks after the first.
Subsequent trimmings will be at the diseretion of the
grower.
As alveady mentioned, in addition to their ornamental
valne as a dwarf hedge, thege plants are capable of forming
a useful boundary fence. The foliage is somewhat liible to
be attacked by leaf-mining ‘caterpillars, which disfigure it.
When so attacked, it shotild be sprayed with kerosene
emulsion.
Another plant which can also be grown to form a dwarf
ledge is the logwood. It is not so satisfactory for this
purpose, however, as the bread-and-cheese, on account
of the fact that its shoots dre so much stiffer and stronger
growing. The best dwarf hedges of logwood are grown on
very poor soil. On the other hand, if it is required to estab-
lish a fence for the purpose of keeping out stock, no plant is
more useful than th{é logwood, since it forms a thick service-
able hedge, which is almost impenetrable on account of the-
thorny growth. Planted around cultivated lands it would
certainly prove a formidable barrier against praedial larceny-
Like the bread-and-cheese, the logwood plants are best
established by sowing seed at the place where the hedge is to. -
be grown.
Two other useful plants for stock-resisting fences are
the Barbados cherry and the pomegranate. The bright green
foliage of the former makes its appearance very handsome..
The seeds of these plants should be sown in a nursery and
transplanted when the young plants are about 6 inches high.
The pomegranate makes a fine fence which can be-
established either by sowing seeds or planting cuttings.
Persons who are intending to plant hedges, which would
at once be useful and ornamental, might well utilize the
strong-growing hibiscus for the purpose. The best method
to establish a fence of this would be to transplant rooted
cuttings. A further advantage in favour of this plant is
that the numerous. varieties which exist offer the grower
some scope for a colour scheme.
The Bougainvillaea, it is well known, forms a fence of
highly ornamental appearance. Plants of this must be propa-
gated by cuttings or layers. In starting a hedge of this
description the best plan would be first to establish a light
trellis work, which «vould serve as a support for the young
plants. Later on when the trellis decays, the plants would
be able to support themselves. It is advisable that the
quick-growing shoots should be tied in, and that pruning
should be done freely.
A plant which has given very satisfactory results in
Barbados and other islands for hedge purposes is the sweet
lime (Zriphasia Aurantiola). This, if kept well trimmed,
forms a thick, bushy growth, which is ornamental, highly
useful, and also quite capable of keeping out stock and serving
as a general protection to the enclosed area, The only
drawback to the more’general use of this plant for the purpose
mentioned, is that its growth is very slow.
FIBRE CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION.
Arrangements have been made to hold a Fibre
Congress and Exhibition at Sourabaya, Java, in October
of next year, under the auspices of the Dutch East
Indies Agricultural Syndicate, which has received
a substantial Government grant, and contributions
from private business firms in assistance.
_ The Congress that is to be held will discuss the ecultiva-
tion of fibre plants, and the extraction and preparation of
the fibre, on a commercial scale. A prominent place in the-
programme will be given to the consideration of fibre plants
that are most suitable for cultivation on a large scale in the
tropics, e.g., Sisal hemp (Ayave viyida, var. sisalana), which
is especially adapted for growth in dry countries, and Manila
hemp (JZusa tevtilis), which produces a profitable crop in)
the more moist distriéts of tropical countries.
There will -be oi view at the same time an Exhibition of
fibre-producing plants) of the fibres manufactured thereform,
and of the machinery used in preparation of the same. Various
medals, diplomas, and prizes will be offered for machinery
used in connexion with the fibre industry. The machines
sent in for compétition will be required to work for
a suflicient time before the Committee to show their capacity.
Special attention will be paid to this testing of machines,
both as regards the extraction and preparation of the fibre.
‘Wor. VIII. No. 184.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
159
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the Lohdon Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice markets
during the month of March -—
But very little change can be reported in the condition
of the spice and drug markets since our February report.
‘In some articles March has seen a slight improvement, and
among such may be mentioned West Indian mace and
nutmegs. The general tone, however, remains dull, which
condition is attributed to current and prospective disturb-
-ances, such as the Balkan difticulty, the changes in the
American taviff, and the inevitable British budget.
The following details will showsthe position held
‘by West Indian products :— i
GINGER. 3
At the first spice sale on the 3rd of thé month no Jamaica
was offered, but some 350 bags of new erop Cochin were
bought in at from 38s. to 40s. for fair to good washed rough.
Some Japan was offered and also bought in at 32s. per ewt.
A fortnight later, Cochin and C Calicut; were represented by
500 packages, all of which were bought i in at the following
prices: Bold and medium native cut at 75s.; medium and
-small from 53s. to 55s.; brown rough and washed Cochin,
at 40s:° On the 24th, no Cochin or C ‘alieut was offered, but
Jamaica was represented by 97 packagés, for which there
was a good demand at advanced rates, rariging from 1s. to 2s.
per ewt., the prices realized being as follows: Fair bright,
61s. 6d. to 63s.; middling to good middling, 59s. to 61s.,
and good ordinary small, 55s. to 57s, per ewt. Japanese
was quoted at this auction at 32s. 6d, .On the last day of
the month a still firmer tone prevailedy although no sales
were effected. Fifty-one packages of good dullish washed
Jamaica were offered and bought in at 62s. to 70s. per ewt.;
washed Cochin was also held at 40s., and, Japanese at 32s. 6d.
NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO.
The offerings of nutmegs at the first.auction on the 5rd
were unimportant. On the 17th, however, some 210 packages
of West Indian were disposed of, at an aélvance of 4d. per tb.
over previous prices, while some 33 packages of Singapore
were offered without reserve at cheaper rates. A week later,
prices again advanced generally, 19 packages of West Indian
being offered and disposed of at 54d. for 85's, 54d. for 87’s
to 88’s, and 43d. for 92’s Singapore: was fepresented by
66 boxes, all of a hich were bought in at 74d. to 8d. for 78’s
to 79’s. At the last spice sale on March 31, Gtlie market stood
thus : 5{d. for 80’s, 53d. for 85’s, 5d. ae 89’s, 43d. to 5d.
for 107’s, and 4d. for 108’s. Fifty-seven boxes of Singapore
were offered at this auction, 45 of which were sold without
reserve at 4d. to 5d. for 110’s. :
Mace, a the first auction on thej 3rd, realized from
is. 6d. to ls. Td. per tb. for fair pale, and 1s. for broken,
8 packages of West Indian selling at these rates. On the
17th, prices had risen 1d. to 2d. per t., 18 packages of West
Indian realizing for good palish 1s. Sibi to ls. 9d., for fair
red ls. 6d., and for broken Is. 3d. per tb. A week later
prices had again advanced. Twenty-six cases of Java were
offered and ‘disposed of, fair pale fetching 2s. 1ld., and good
pale and reddish 1s. 10d. At the last auction on the 31st,
West Indian fair sold at ls. 8d., and broken at 1s. 3d. Good:
Hat, red Java fetched 1s. 10d. per Ib., 5 cases out of 23 offered
being sold at this rate. Pimento at the beginning of the
month was quoted at 2d. per tb., at whith price all the otter-
ings, consisting of 100 bags, were disposed of at the auction
sugar.
on the 10th. A week later 275; bags of ordinary fair were
offered and bought in at 24d. per tb., which price remained
steady to the end of the month: ~
SARSAPARILLA.
On the 25th, some 15 bales“of grey Jamaica sarsaparilla.
were offered and sold steadily at from Is. 4d. to 1s, 5d. per tb.
for roughish to fair, and 1s. 3d. for damp and country
damaged. Seven bales of fair Lima-Jamaica realized 1s. 1d.
to ls. 2d., anda more chumpy quality fetched ls. Twelve
bales of native Jamaica were offered, 7 of which were sold
at ls. ld. to 1s. 2d. for fair to good red, 1s. for palish red,
and 11d. for ordinary dull red, and yellow mixed.
KOLA, LIME JUICE, TAMARINDS, ETC.
Of kola, in the early part of the month, 2 bales of fair
dried Jamaica halves sold at 1d. per Ib. At the same period,
8 hogsheads of Montserrat lime juice, good pale raw, were
ottered and disposed of at. ls. 3d. per gallon, a price which
held fora similar quantity at a later period of the month.
On the 10th, the offerings of-tamarinds amounted to 95
paekages, 10 only of which found purchasers at 7s. 6d. per
ewt. in bond, for ordinary dry palish Antigua. At the auction
on the 17th, 97 barrels of Barbados were offered and bought
in at 12s. per ewt., in bond. Inv chillies there has been firm
demand, Sierra Leone being quoted at 50s. for good, and 55s.
for fair Nyassaland. Malta strip orange peel, at the end of
the month, was offered and bought in at 10d. per tb., while
at the same auction 5 cases of ;dull strip were disposed of
without reserve at 4d. per Ib.
ARENGA SACCHARIFERA.
:
Several palms are cultivated for their sugar-yielding
properties, of which the most important is the wild date
(Phoenix sylvestris). Another palm valuable for the same
reason, and which is largely grown in Malay and other parts
of the East Indies, is Arenya saecharifera. This species has
been introduced into Jamaica, and Bulletin 142 of the
Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
mentions it as being among the plants introduced into the
United States last year by the Department. The specimens
were imported from Java.
Sugar is obtained from the palm by evaporation of the
sap that flows from wounds made in the young inflorescence.
This palm isa kind that needs much room and light, a faet
which prevents the establishment: of closely planted groves of
the palms that otherwise might be very prefitable. About
100 trees form the maximum that could develop per acre of
land.
The tree
1,800 feet. A sugar
flourishes best in Java at an altitude of about
yield cannot be obtained from it until
it has reached it least its tyvelfth year, and its term of
production lasts from three to five years, During this
period a single tree may return as much as 450. Ib. of
At this rate, an acre bearing 100 trees would. yield
about 20 tons, which works out at rather more than 1 ton
of sugar per acre per annum. Catch crops may be grown
beneath the young palms for the first few years, but at the
end of the sugar-producing period the land must be
and prepared for a fresh planting.
cleared
Arenga saccharifer® is sometimes referred to as the
sago palin, since the heart of the,stem contains large quantities
of farinaceous matter. A variety. of sago is obtained by
washing and granulating this pith.
THE AGRICULTU
London,— Apri
New York,— April 16,
MARKET REPORTS.
27, 1909. Tae Wrst Inpra Com-
DE Pass & Co.,
MITTEE Crrcunar; Messrs. E. A.
April 16, 1909.
Arrowroot—st. Vincent, lid. to bid. according to quality.
Barata—Sheet, 2/4 ; block, 1/83.
Bees -wax—£7 17s. 6d. for dark to pale.
Csacao—Trinidad, 57/6 to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
57,6 per ewt.
CoFFrEE—Santos, 33/5 per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—West Indian, £19 17s. 6d. per ton.
Corron—Nevis and St. Kitt’s, 125d. to 154d. ; Barbados,
13d. to 14d.; Anguilla, 12d.
Favir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
Lres-—Not wanted.
PINE-APPLES—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-.
Grape Fruit—5/6 to 9/- per box.
Orances—Jamaica, 6/- to 9/- per box.
Fustic—£3 to £4 per ton.
GINGER—66s. 6d. to 69s. for good middling to fair bright.
Honey—23s. 6d to 34s. 6d. per ewt.
Isrycitass—West India lump, 2/2 to 2/6 per th.
Lime Juice—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon ; concentrated, £18
per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 2/- per th.; hand-
pressed, 5/6 per tb.
Loewoop—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
MacE—Quiet.
Nurmecs—NSteady.
Pimentro—()uiet.
RvupBeR—Para, fine hard, 5s. 13d. per th.
Rom—Jamaica, 3/4 to 7/; Demerara, 1/6 to 1/64, proof.
Suear—Crystals, 15 43 to 16, -5 Muscovado, 15s. to 16s. =
Syrup, steady ; Molasses, no quotations.
1909.—Messrs. GILLESPIE,
Bros. & Co.
Cacao—-Caracas, 12fc. tio 20c. ; Grenada, 13}c. to 138c. ;
Trinidad, 13c. to 13fe. ; Jamaica, 11e. to 124¢. per Th.
Cocoa-NutTs—Jamaica, select, $23°00 tors $2400; culls, $14-00
to $15°00; Trmidad, select, $22°00 to $23-00; culls,
$13-00 to $1400 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, ordinary, Tic. to 8}
9e. to De.
GincEer—9ec. to 1c. per th.
Goat SxKins—Jamaica, 50e. to 55c.; Antigua and Barbados,
from 45c. to 50c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 45c,
to 48e. per Ib., dry flint.
Grare Fruie—Jamaica, $4°00 to $4°25 per barrel.
Limes— Dominic: 25 to $5°75 per barrel.
Mace—33c. to 37. per th.
Nurmecs—110's, 9#c. per Th.
OrANGES—Jamaica, $1°50 to $2°00 per box, $2°50 to $3-50
per barrel.
Pimento—4$e. per th.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°92c.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°42c.:
Molasses, 89°, 3-17¢. per ib. duty paid
¢.; good ordinary,
RAL NEWS.
May 15, 1909.
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., May 8, 1909;
Messrs. TE S. Garraway & Co., May 10, 1909;
Anrrowroot—Sét. Vincent, $3°90 to $4:00 per 100 th.
Cacao—Dominiea and St. Lucia, $11°50 to $12°00 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-NuTS—S13‘00 for unhusked nuts.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, 310-00 to $11-00 per
100 th.
Hay—$1°15 per 100 th.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $6200 to $6500; Ohlend orff s-
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao
manure, $42°00 to $48°00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72°00
“OO; Sulphate ws potash, S67-00 per ton.
is—Faney, l7c.; Grocery, 20c. per gallon.
Ontons—_String 9s, §3°D0 to $4-00 per 100 th.; locse, no
quote itions.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $1°60 to $1-75 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, 56°00 per bag of 210 th.; Canada, $3-40 per
bag of 120, tb.
Rick—Ballam, $5:00 to $5°10 (180 tb.); Patna, $3°80 ;
Rangoon, $3-00 per 100 th.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° $2°30; Muscovado, 89° $1-80;
Centrifugals, $2°20 to $2-40.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerrsc & Ricnrex, May 1,
1909 ; Messrs. SANDBACH,
April 30, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $9:00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Batara— Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c.
to 50e. per tb.
Cacao—Native, 14c. per tb.
Cassava—b60ce. to B0c.
Cassava StarcH—$6°00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-NutTs—$16°00 per M.
CorrEE—Creole, 12e. to 13c.; Jamaica, 13$c. per tb., slow.
DxHat—$4-90 to $5°00 per bag of 168 tb.
Eppos—$1°20 to $1°44 per barrel.
Motassets—No quotations.
ParKEz & Co,
Prantarys—20c. to 36c. per bunch.
Poraros—Nova Scotia, $2°50 to $3°25 per 100 tb.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, $1-08 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $5°50; Creole, $4°40 to $4°50.
Sprit Peas—$6-00 per bag (210 ib.); Marseilles, $3°50
to $3° 75.
Tannras—$2 04 to $2°40 per bag.
Yams—White, $2°16 per bag ; Buck, 52-64.
Su GAR— Dark crystals, $2°55 to $2°55 ; Yellow, $3°10 to
3°25 ; White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $ $2°35 to $2°4@
per 100 th. (retail).
Timber—Greenheart, 32c. to 5dc. _per cubie foot.
WaLLABA SHINGLES—$3°75 to $5°T5 per M.
Corpwoop—82'00 to $2°40 per ton.
Trinidad,—May 1, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $12:00 to $12°25 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11°25 to $12-00.
Cocoa-Nnuts—$22°00 per M. f.o.b. for large selected peale&
in bags of LOO tb.
Cocoa-Nut Ou.—68e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Corrre—Venezuelan, 8c. to 8$c. per th
Copra—S$3°20 per 100 th.
Drat—S$4°65 to at 75 per 2-bushel bag.
Ontons—S$2°50 to $5 ‘00 per LOO th. (retail).
Poraros—English, $1°25 to $1°30 per 100 th.
Rick— Yellow, $5" 0 to § $5°25 ; White, $4°50 to $4-90 per bag
Serre PeEas—$5°25 to $550 per bag.
Svucar—Ameritan crushed $5°10 to $5-20 per 100 fb,
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a
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JUN 11 1909
WZaY
At
OD WY)
mL
CXS
<p, Br
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. dAkD
Vou. Vili: No: 185: BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Antigua, Tree Planting at 174; Grenada, Prize-holdings
Calcium Cyanamide or Competition at sag 13
* Nitrolim’... . 169 Insect Notes :
Cotton Notes : Mosyuitos at St. Vincent 170
Cotton at Montserrat ... 166 Warble Flies... . . 170
Cotton Growing at Jamaica, Proposed Farm
Tortola Senet) Urees L6G, School at ... 171
Pulling Old Cotton Plants 166 Kerry Cows... ... ... 165
West Indian Cotton . 166 Lime Growing at Nevis... 164
Cowpeas in Austraha 173 Lime Industry in Virgin
Cows, Protection of from Islands 164
hes fee ee ees LF) Market Reports 176
Dominica Agricultural and Milking a Goat 171
D vpn oe Bie eyicse: LES Nicaraguan Shade Tree... 168
owaier, Prize-hoidings ae + ee eeeee
Scheme at... ... ... 167 Nit rogensuxing Bacteria, 2O
Kieuador, Agricultural = Free eS eg ee
Shope ; 175 Notes and Comments 168
Hucalyptus Culture in Rice in British Guiana ... 175
California .. 2. 169) Rubber Coagulation by
Forests and Soil Tempera- Leaf Infusions... 169
ture ae ee eT (pS budentsy Corner 173
Fruit Trees on Grass Land 169] Sugar Industry :
72) Sugar-cane Cultivation
INGNAta ee cee! oe, LOS
Gileanimes ee. erage. 2.8.
Gold Coast, Agricultural
Work : ove Soc nee 169 Timber Production... 161
Grafting Wax, Prepara- Trinidad Cacao Exports... 167
tion of... 164 Water in the Soil 165
Timber Production.
=a
ie N mose countries the question of the world’s
2x! supply of timber, and its relation to the
we increasing demand, has received attention
of late years. In earlier times the virgin forests that
existed in many parts of the world, even in Europe,
proved an adequate source of supply of all the timber
required. Rapid increase of population, however, has
demanded largely extended areas for food-producing
purposes, and as a result the primitive forest lands are
being increasingly depleted, and applied to agricultural
MAY 29: 1909. Price ld.
uses. Further, the advance in population has naturally
brought about a greater demand tor timber of al kinds,
to be used in house construction, and in the manufac-
ture of furniture, and many other necessities of modern
life. The manufacture of paper pulp is another industry
which of late years has- drawn enormously upon the
sources of timber supply.
The question of a cheap timber supply is a most
important one, but of late years there has been a con-
stant tendency towards increase in price, and in most
European countries warnings have frequently been
given that the planting up of woodlands will have to be
undertaken on a much more extended seale if produc-
tion is to keep pace with demand. Unfortunately for
the general consumer, however, the question of time is
the most important factor in raising marketable tim-
ber,and a number of years must necessarily elapse before
the relationship between supply and demand can be
placed on a more satisfactory footing.
In Great Britain the total value of the wood and
timber imported each year amounts to over £27,000,000.
Of this enormous quantity, the great bulk consists of
pine, larch, spruce, etc., from Russia, Scandinavia, and
Canada. Smaller quantities of more valuable woods,
such as mahogany, teak, ebony, etc., are imported from
tropical countries.
Since there exists over 20,000,000 acres of waste
the United
repeatedly been urged that portions of this enormous
area might well be utilized in the production of a good
Three
land in Kingdom, the question has
proportion of the timber now imported. Royal
Commissions have within comparatively recent years
sat to consider this matter, and the third has but
lately issued its report. In this the Commissioners
162
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
May 29, 1909.
state that they have come to the conclusion that of the
waste land existing in the United Kingdom, about
9,000,000 acres are suitable for afforestation, and they
suggest that about 150,000 acres should be planted up
annually. The return obtained in course of time would
be sufficient to repay both capital and interest.
In countries where the natural woodlands have
been exploited for timber purposes, and adequate re-
planting has not been done, it 1s easy to recognize the
importance of taking measures that shall ensure an
increasing supply of home-grown timber, and lessen
dependence on declining foreign sources. Eut when
matters have been allowed to‘drift for a long period of
years, there frequently exist peculiar difficuities in the
way of the establishment of systematic timber planting
operations. Probably the chief difficulty depends upon
the great extent to which the time element enters into
the question of the monetary return that may be
expected. Re-afforestation is a question of national
importance in numbers of countries, but it is also an
economic question. The great bulk of the waste lands
of Great Britain belong to private Jand-owners, who
in the present depressed condition of agriculture, may
well argue that they cannot afford to enter upon an
undertaking which will involve great outlay, and from
which no return can be expected for from twenty to
eighty years or more, and the benefit of which will be
reaped by another generation.
These considerations, however, should not weigh
with the State, the hfe of which is continuous, and it
is the obvious duty of every Government to see that
all the waste lands in its possession which are not
adapted to give an adequate return if utilized for agri-
cultural purposes, but which are fitted for growing
certain kinds of timber, should be planted up with
useful species of trees. Such plantations should serve
as an object lesson to private estate owners, and be also
useful as Forest Experiment Stations, at which
valuable data in regard to the cost of establishing and
managing woodlands on the
could be accumulated.
most economical basis
It should be remembered, too, that a poor soil is,
in time, vastly improved by bearing a forest crop, if
the trees are maintained in a proper condition as
regards density, for the spreading roots permeate the
subsoil, draw upon its sources of nutrition, and gradu-
ally convert it into soil proper. The fall of the leaves
too, and their decay, impart a large amount of humus
to the soil, keeping it moist. and improving its fertility.
The relationship between woodlands and water supply
was discussed in the last issue of this journal.
Among Enropean countries Germany has long
taken the lead in regard to forestry matters. No less
than 26 per cent. of the whole area of that country, or
35,000,000 acres, are under woodland, and the average
timber return obtained has been estimated at about
40 cubic feet per acre per annum. By means of
University Departments and Forest Academies the
German Government has provided excellent facilities
for obtaining instruction in the subject. Much the
same state of affairs, though on a lesser scale, exists in
France. In the Scandinavian countries, forestry is at
once an art, and awery paying business. In all those
countries, the State forests are making very handsome
returns on the capital outlay.
But in no country has the subject of forestry
increased so much in importance, or received so much
attention, as in the United States during the past ten
years. It is stated in the Yearbook of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, that since 1897 the National Forests
have increased from 39,000,000 acres, practically unused
and unprotected, to 165,000,000 acres, used, guarded,
and improved in productiveness and_ accessibility.
Though the Government forests have not been under
expert control for more than a few years, they are al-
ready self-supporting, and will no doubt become highly
remunerative with the lapse of time. The faewities
for forest education have also largely increased, and
regular, systematic courses of instruction, extending
over two, three, or four years, are given at seven uni-
Ad-
vantage is being taken of these facilities, and the
number of graduates from the American. forest schools
increased from three in 1899 to sixty-six in 1907, And
versities, and a large number of forest schools.
yet the article to which allusion has been made calls for
more vigorous action in connexion with the national
supply of timber, and points out that in the United
States as much timber is now being used in one year
as can be grown in three.
In the West Indies this matter of re-afforestation
has attracted some small amount of attention of late
years, although little has been done so far. Large
numbers of trees suitable for timber exist in the various
islands, and a good deal of useful information in this
connexion is contained in two papers entitled respec-
tively, ‘The Timbers of Jamaica, and the ‘ Timbers of
Dominica, which appeared in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vol. IX, No. 4, just issned. Useful efforts might be
made in the direction of increasing the supply of home-
grown timber available for employment in these islands,
but the ability to establish an export trade would appear
to be limited to particular eases in special islands.
Von. VIII. No. 185.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 163
INDUSTRY.
SUGAR
Sugar-cane Cultivation in Natal.
Cane cultivation is prospering in many parts of
Natali, and there appears to be little doubt that sugar
production will soon develop into an important addition
to South African industries. While in 1905-6, the
output of cane sugar in Natal was 26,603 tons. it
increased to 34,000 tons in 1906-7, and in 1907-8
reached 40,000 tons. The entire coast district of the
colony isstated to be suited to cane culture, as the soil is
fertile, and the rainfall sufticient. An article on the
subject of cane cultivation appeared in the Natal Aqri-
cultural Journal of Deceniber last. It should be
stated that the ‘ Uba’ cane to which reference is made
below, has been extensively tried in some of the West
Indian islands, and fonnd to be undesirable.
Many varieties of cane have at different times been
grown in Natal. These include’ the Bourbon cane, and
several kinds from Mauritius, and Queensland. At present,
however, a variety known as the ‘ Uba,’ which is supposed
to have originally come from India, is grown almost exelu-
sively.
The ‘ Uba ’ has been described as a deep-rooted, green,
woody cane of great vitality. From a milling point of view
this cane is undesirable ; it is thin, tough, wiry, and fibrous.
Mill managers say that from 10 to 30 per cent. more power
is required in crushing this cane than for any other variety,
But planters like it, since it is hardy, bears drought well,
and ratoons readily.
Some years ago a few seedling varieties of cane were
introduced into Natal from the West Indies and British
Guiana. These included canes B.109, D.95, and B15.
From the comparative results of analysis quoted, however,
the seedlings do not appear to give so satisfactory a percentage
of saccharose as the standard ‘Uba. While the latter
showed an average percentage of saccharose equal to 18-61,
the percentage shown by the seedlings ranged only from 12:68
to 15°83. The * Uba’ contained a greater proportion of fibre,
however, and it is further added that the seedling canes
were gathered somewhat unseasonably. Trials are still in
progress, and it is possible that West Indian seedling canes
may yet come to be extensively cultivated in Natal.
Sugar-cane appears to be grown on a variety of soils,
ranging from light sand to clay, the chief kind being a red,
sandy loam, light in texture, and easy to work when broken
up. When first cleared of bush this class of Jand is very
fertile, and has been known in good seasons to give yields of
{ to 5 tons of sugar crystals per acre from plant canes.
The cultivation given on cane lands in Natal is very.
thorough. Dise ploughs are more commonly used than
mould-board ploughs. The land is ploughed, cross ploughed,
and then harrowed. Very little mantre—apart from mill
refuse—appears to be used on the eane estates.
The cane rows are. planted from. 5 to 6 feet apart.
Frequently a ‘ drill plough ’ working 9 or 10 inches deep, is
used for opening a furrow in which to plant the cllttings or
tops. Sometimes’ whole canes are: planted ; in’ other cases
long cuttings are used, and placed two, three, or four together
in the drills or holes. When first set out, only 1 or 2 inches
of soil are placed over the planted cuttings, but as the
young shoots grow up, the covering of soil is increased until
the hole is filled. The general time for planting is in August
or September, but it may be done so late as December or
January. Weeding operations are regularly performed until
the canes have grown sufficiently to cover the ground. at
a later period the crops are frequently trashed, although many
planters neglect this practice.
The cane crop in Natal takes so long as from twenty to
twenty-four months from planting before it arrives at maturity.
This not only applies to plant canes, but to ratoons (of which
several crops are frequently grown) as well. Cutting generally
begins in August, and continues on until January. The
question of shortening the period which elapses between
planting and harvesting is an important one from the eeonomic
point of view, and with increased settlement, and higher
land values, this question will demand consideration. It is
possible that something might be done by the introduction of
more early ripening varieties.
An average cane crop in Natal is about 20 tons to the
acre ; 30 tons are considered a first-class crop. Trash is some-
times burned in order to destroy grubs. It is not regarded
as being of so much value as in the West Indies, since an
abundance of bush can be obtained to replenish the stores of
humus in the land. In other cases the trash is raked on to
alternate rows, leaving the remaining alternate rows clear ;
these latter are then left free for the cultivation of some quick-
growing crop. In the next season the treatment is reversed -
the crops that were previously cultivated are now trashed,
and vice versa.
The Natal sugar estates are usually large in area, and
practically all the cane lands are under European manage-
ment. There are no small native plantings of any conse-
quence. Many large and up-to-date central factories have
been erected, although the capacity of these plants has been
taxed in recent years as the result of the rate at which the
industry is developing. Practically all the work on the
sugar plantations is done by indentured Indians.
From the particulars given, it would appear that the
biggest central sugar factories are capable of handling 260 tons
of cane per diem of twelve hours. ‘The cane is bought from
outside estates at a fixed price per ton, but if the expressed
juice falls below an arbitrarily fixed Beanmé standard,
a reduction in the price is made. The larger factories are
usually up-to-date, so far as the machinery and processes are
concerned, and in most cases the mills are double, consisting
of the first three rollers, an intermediate carrier for macera-
tion, and the second three rollers. It is calculated that
65 per cent. of juice is obtained from the ‘ Uba’ cane, and
from 70 to 75 per cent. from softer cane,
It is stated that it takes variously from 12 to 20 tons
of Uba cane to yield 1 ton of crystals. A first-class factory
has been known to obtain 1 ton of crystals from 12! tons of
Uba cane as a season’s average, that is to say, every 106:
tons of cane yielded 8 tons of erystals. It will be seen
from these figures that a good deal of sugar is lost, and it is
estimated that for every 100 tons of canes milled, over 3
tons of sugar pass away in the megass and are burnt. This is
a serious loss of profit to the industry, and the writer of the
article in the Vatal Agricultural Journal points out that the
best means of preventing this loss is by the introduction and
adoption of the diffusion process of extracting the cane juice.
The above particulars are interesting, as applying
to a country with a developing cane sugar industry, but
it will be noted that some of the findings are not in
agreement with West Indian experience.
164
TBE AGRICUL!
TURAL NEWS.
May 29;, 1909:
LIME GROWING AT NEVIS.
The interest that is being shown in many parts of
the West Indies in efforts to increase the variety of
crops grown is an encouraging sign. An instance 1n
point is reported from Nevis, where—as at Tortola
efforts are being made to bring about the existence of
a lime industry. In his report for the month of April
Jast, Mr. J. O. Maloney, Agricultural Instructor,
writes :-—
At present some attention is being paid to growing
limes on a small scale at Nevis. Many thousands of seedlings
were distributed from the Experiment Station in 1907, most
of which are now growing well. I might also mention that
some other spots were planted in 1905, but have not thriven
well, on account of the fact that they have not received
proper attention.
Orders received at the Station for
70,000 lime seedlings, of which 2,000 have already been
delivered, and it is hoped that a large supply will soon be
ready for distribution.
hay (S just heen
It is quite evident that with a certain amount of care,
limes can be successfully grown at Nevis, although the rain-
fall is somewhat small.
LIME INDUSTRY IN VIRGIN ISLANDS.
Allusion was recently made in this journal to the
fact that the prespects for the development of a small,
but remunerative lime industry in the Virgin Islands
appear promising. A short report has lately been
received from Mr. W.C. Fishlock, Agricultural In-
strnetor for the Presidency,” giving particulars of the
work done in this direction during 1908-9.
Limes were purchased at the Experiment Station
throughout the year. and up to the middle of March
of this year, Mr. Fishlock had bought 40.273 ib. of
fruits, or about barrels,
this quantity was £34 11s. 9d.
Lime juice was prepared from the purchased fruits,
and at first the plan was tried of exporting this juice
in the raw state.
The sum paid» out for
About 200 gallons were shipped,
but it found, however, that the cost of
freight, ete., was too large to allow this methed to be
remunerative.
Was casks,
The raw juice has been boiled down to
the concentrated condition, ‘and later shipments have
In March last about
consisted of concentrated juiee.
150 gallons were exported to London, and this quantity
was valued at about £45. This plan is likely to prove
more profitable than that of shipping the raw juice.
With further experience, and as the industry
develops, the cost'ef preparation may possibly be
somewhat reduced, and by-products, such as the
essential oil, may be saved.
PREPARATION OF GRAFTING WAX.
A useful recipe for the preparation of grafting wax
was lately given i the American Journal of Agri-
culture. It is as follows :—
The best grafting wax is made from 4 parts of resin,
2 parts of bees’-wax, and ] part of tallow, ali by weight. An
iron vessel of some kind should be used for melting the
components of the mixture, which should be done over a slow
fire. The resin is melted first, then the bees-wax is added,
and finally the tallow. ‘The three ingredients are gently
stirred so as to bring about a thorough mixture.
The melting process will take from twenty minutes te
half an hour, and care must be taken to avoid burning the
melted mixture. When properly mixed, a small portion
is poured into a bucket of cold water, and in a short ume it
will be cooled sutticiently to be lifted out with the hand and
worked in any way desired. During this process, the hands
must be kept moderately greased with tallow to prevent
sticking.
When the the wax mixture has
become pale yellow, if’ has been worked sufficiently, and may
colour of crafting
be made into rolls of convenient size
about 1 inch in diameter
cold water to harden.
More of the melted mixture is now poured into the cold
water and treated as before, and this process is repeated
until the whole lot The rolls of
harden, and can be put away until required in crafting.
3 or 4 inches long, by
and pleced in another vessel of
is worked up. Wax soon
This wax when applied to the trees will not
melt and run down in warm weather. If, however,
the weather is very warm at the time grafting is
done, it is well to allow the wax to lie in cold water for
a time before using in order that it may be of the proper
consistency.
in applying the
is adv isable
@ the wax around grafts it should be
closely. 4 It that the hands
should be rubbed with a very little tallow before starting the
This, however, must be done with judg-
ment, since if the hauifds are so greasy as to affect the wax, it
will not stick properly to the eut surfaces of the grafts.
pressed very also
grafting process.
Vor: ' VEEI.- No. 185.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
165
WATER IN THE SOIL.
The important bearing which the supply of
moisture in the soi! exercises upon the fertility of the
Jand has naturally been the cause af much investigation,
which has had for its object to ascertain the movements
that water undergoes in the soil, how the moisture is
retained, the relative proportions of water held by
different kinds of soils, and the methods of cultivation
which are best adapted to economise and utilise to the
best advantage the small supply of moisture which
results from a low rainfall. A great amount of knowl-
edge has now been placed on record in regard to these
points, the application of which is proving most valuable
to the practical agriculturist. The following notes in
this connexion are taken from an article which appeared
in the Philippine Agricultural Review for June
last :—
The water that plants use is that.which remains in the
soil after drainage, andis, held in the form ofa film of
moisture around cach particle,of earth.
Good agricultural soils hold capillary water equal to:
about 30 per cent. of their weight. Plants are not able to
use this water after it has dried out to about 12 per cent., so
that when the soil is in the best condition for plant growth,
only about 60 per cent. of the total moisture is available to
the plant. During the dry season Joss of water takes place
by evaporation at the surface of the ground as well as through
the leaves of the plant. Fortunately for the roots of the
plant, this water tends to maintain an even balance ; that is
to say, when a portion of the soil dries out, this water moves
toward the dry place from the point of greatest moisture.
An example of this is when the surface dries, and water from
below comes up to take the place of that lost by evaporation.
When water has been taken out of the soil by the roots of
plants, other water moves towards this spot, and, of course,
carries with it soluble plant food, provided there is any in
the soil.
The rapidity of movement of capillary water depends
upon the size of the soil particles and the proportion of fine
and coarse particles. Water will move more rapidly through
coarse sand than through clay, but as the water is held in
the soil in the form of a thin film around the soil grains—and
there being more surface of the soil grains ina cubie foot of
fine clay than in the same quantity of sand—there will be
more water moved in the clay soil in a given time than in
the sand, although the water moves more slowly in the clay
than in the sand. Hence clay soils do not suffer from
drought as much as sandy soils.
Most agricultural soils, when composed of the proper
mixture of sand and clay, have a tendency, under normal
conditions, to form small clusters of soil particles, just as
smal] particles of sand tend to cling to larger ones, thus
bringing about the best mechanical condition. This mechani-
cal condition is destroyed when the soil is stirred while wet.
This is called ‘puddling.’ Soil so handled, when exposed to
the direct rays.of the sun, becomes very hard. This econdi-
tion is known as ‘bakiyg,’ and simply means that the
granular structure has been destroyed, and the soil particles
cemented together by drying. Soils allowed to bake in this
manner are very difficult to put in good condition again.
The mechanical condition may be improved by the use of
shade crops, such as velvet beans, etc. The shade allows the
slow action of capillary water to restore this cluster condition.
Working when the land is in proper condition will also tend
to improve the soil.
A controlling factor in soils, so far as moisture is
concerned, is hnmus. Humus is partially decayed leaves,
grass roots, or other organic matter in soils, which on account
of the great number of cells, has a high water-holding
capacity. The presence of humus makes the soil dark or
black in colour, so that in most countries a dark soil is
regarded as a rich soil, but such is not always the ‘case.
All soils in tropical climates are more or less devoid of
humus unless they have been recently cleared of their virgin
forest, or ave formed of the washings from surrounding
hills. The main cause of this absence of humus, however,
is the fact that decomposition goes on constantly, and the
excessive rainfall washes out the soluble matter.
The presence of humus not only adds fertility to the
soil, but makes it more porous and open, thus increasing the
water-holding capacity, which is an important factor during
the dry season.
The character of the subsoil has considerable infinence
on the amount of moisture: that will be available for the use
ot plants. As mentioned above, the supply of capillary
moisture is the governing factor in plant growth. Also only
a limited arount of moisture is held in the soil, hence the
storehouse below the surface must be large, so that the
capillary water may be drawn up from 6 or & feet below the
surface. A thin layer of soil wnderlaid with gravel will
suffer much from drought, while, on the other hand, a deep
layer of clay insures a good supply of moisture during the
dry season, but provides poor drainage in the rainy season,
when good drainage is essential except for rice and few grass
crops.
DOMINICA AGRICULTURAL AND
COMMERCIAL SOCIETY.
A meeting of the Dominica Agricultural and Commercial
Society, at which a variety of matters were dealt with, was
held at Roseau on March 20 last.
It was announced that a satisfactory arrangement had
been entered into with the Royal Mail Company relative te
retaining the coasting steamer ‘ Yare’ at Dominica. A con-
tract for five years had been made, in virtue of which the
Government were to pay the Royal Mail Company £2,000
a year for three years, and £1,500 for the balance of the
period, and the Company was to have the option of with-
drawing the steamer at the end of three years.
The President said that the Secretary of the West India
Committee had been good enough to make full enquiries in
London concerning the packing of oranges for shipment, and
had reported as follows: ‘T have made enquiries at Covent
Garden, and from the information which I have obtained,
have no hesitation in saying that the standard Florida bex
is by far the most suitable package for Washington navel
and other fine varieties of oranges. It was pointed out to
me by one dealer that if it is too costly to import these boxes,
or the material for their manufacture, it would be desirable
to imitate them from local woods, or imported woods, as
closely as possible. On the other hand, one important firm
told me that it would pay shippers to import the American
boxes, as the buyers take the packing very much into account.
Given oranges of the same variety packed in slatted crates,
and standard Florida boxes, the fruit in the latter would
undoubtedly command the higher price.
A communication from Martinique was brought forward
at the meeting, asking if seeds of the Para rubber tree
(Hevea brasiliensis) could be purchased in Dominica. It
was pointed ont that the trees now in the island were not yet
mature enough to yield seed, and that planters in Martinique
must be recommended to obtain a supply from Ceylon
166
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 29, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date of May 10, in reference to
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report a good. business has taken place in
West Indian Sea Island cotton, and prices are very firm.
Upwards of 700 bales have been sold, including Antigua
13d. to 14d., Barbados Ildd. to 14d, Barbuda 12d.,
Montserrat, 12d. to 14d., Nevis, 13d. to 13%d., St. Croix
10d. to 134d., St. Kitt’s 11d. to 133d., St. Vincent 16d.,
Virgin Islands 13d., and Tobago 17d.
COTTON GROWING AT TORTOLA.
The continuous advance in the output of cotton
from Tortola would indicate that the small holders who
form the main agricultural class in that colony find the
crop a remunerative one, in spite of the low prices of
the past two seasons.
Cotton planting at Tortola practically commenced in
1903, and the exports for the year 1905-4 were valued at no
more than £35. The shipments of lint increased rapidly
each year, however, and in 1907-8 reached 32,500 tb., worth
about £1,800. For the year ended March 31, 1909, the
cotton exports were 240 bales of 200 tb. each (48,000 Ib.).
Cotton seed is distributed free to the peasants from the Agri-
cultural Department. In his report on agricultural work in
the Virgin Islands for the month of April last, Mr. Fishlock
reports that cotton picking for the season will soon be
completed, and that the last day for purchasing cotton at
the Experiment Station will be May 29.
Arrangements are made to hold meetings of
peasant holders in different parts of the Presidency, at which
the Agricultural Instructor will give addresses on the chief
points to be observed in connexion with cotton growing, and
will urge upon the people the advisability of destroying all
old cotton plants some time previous to planting the new erop.
being
COTTON AT MONTS#HRRAT.
Mr. W. Robson’s report on agricultural work at
Montserrat for the month of April last, contains the
following notes in reference to the cotton industry :—
The rains of April greatly facilitated the preparation of
cotton lands, which, on the larger estates, is well in advance.
There does not seem, at present, to be much activity amongst
the small growers ia getting their lands ready. This apphes
especially to the south district. In the north a good deal of
fresh land is cleared up, and interest in cotton in that part
of the island is still overy keen. The number of peasants
planting cotton in the past season was 800, representing am
area of about 520 acres. The amount of cotton purchased
locally from them was 200,719 Ib., having a value of £1,672.
On many large estates visited by me during the month
almost all cotton plants were destroyed, and the larger portion
of those on holdings belonging to small planters. The latter
are very willing to have their old cotton destroyed, and I
should say that by the end of May very few plants will
be left.
The great scarcity of vegetables in the past season has
been much felt by the labouring classes, and it seems likely
that many of them will again turn their attention to food
crops instead of cotton, in the coming season.
A quantity of cotton seeds have been imported from
St. Kitt’s for sale to small planters.
Nine of the ‘ Buco’ hand cultivators have been imported
for trial in cotton fields.
PULLING OLD COTTON PLANTS.
The Agricultural Instructor at St. Vincent reports
that during the month of April he devoted the greater
part of his time to work in connexion with the destruc-
tion of cotton stalks both on cotton estates, and on the
lands of small growers. The movement for the early
destruction of old cotton plants is making progress,
but, for various causes, it is still difheult to get many
growers to act on the advice given. /
At Argyle estate 4 very good method of destroying the
cotton stalks is practised, Every alternate six rows of plants.
are first pulled up and Jeft on the ground to dry. A few
days later the rows that remain are pulled, and the dry and
the green stems are burnt together.
It is observed that it would frequently be of advantage
if the cotton plants were pulled immediately cotton picking
is finished, instead of being allowed to remain on the land
for many weeks afterwards. The Agricultural Superintendent
states that experiments made at St. Vincent have shown that
if the land was cleared early, and pigeon peas or some
other leguminous crop, plinted on the cotton banks and
in the furrows, there would in many cases be as much as
10 tons of green dressing material available for turning into
the soil when it is being prepared for replanting in cotton.
Under present conditions when the plants remain a con-
siderable time in the field after picking has been finished,
the bush and green,material that grow up are generally
collected and with the valuable
organic material is in this way wasted.
burnt cotton stalks, and
‘Vox. VIII. No. 185. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
167
PRIZE-HOLDINGS SCHEME AT
DOMINICA.
A cacao growing competition and prize-holdings
-scheme, that has been attended with very satisfactory
and encouraging results, was held in the La Plaine
and mae Bay districts of Dominica in the year ended
March 31 last. Mr, Joseph Jones, Curator of the
Botanic une who visited the districts in question,
and inspected the holdings entered for competition,
has lately sent in a report on the working of the
-scheme, and its influence in stimulating the. peasants
to improve their methods of cultivation.
There were two classes..in which
centered for competition, viz :—
(1) For holdings not over 4 acres,
] acre of cacao in bearing ; and
(2) Holdings under 1] acre, but containing not less than
100 trees of cacao in bearing, these trees to be at proper
-distances apart.
In the Grand Bay district, ten plots entered in Class T,
and six plots in Class TI, while in La Plaine district there
were seven entries, all of them being in Class IT. In each
district, a planter undertook the duties of local instructor,
and gave advice and help to holders entering for the competi-
tion.
holdings could be
and not less than
Mr. Jones’ report bears testimony to the satis-
factory results that have followed the establishment
of this scheme. The following paragraphs may be
quoted as showing the manner in which competitions
of this nature are likely to influence the cultivation of
peasant cacao :—
‘The competing plots presented a good appearance in
comparison with other cacao areas in the neighbourhood not
entered for the competion.
‘On the advice of the instructors, the bush had been cut
-down and the plots weeded ; suckers had been removed and
the thinning of the upper branches ‘carefully carried out.
The pruning in nearly all cases was very well done, and the
wounds in ‘several instances were tarred over. The pods
were being cut from the trees when ripe, and not——as is
usually the case—torn or twisted off the trunk. In many of
the plots inspected the natural drainage was good, but where
drainage was necessary, very fair attempts had been made in
this direction on the advice of the instructors.
‘All the plots had a good mulch of leaves and
the value of manure appears to be well understood,
especially in the La Plaine district. It was pleasing to
-observe that the majority of the plots were properly provided
with wind belts. The type of cacao grown is the Forastero,
which is a very suitable variety for the conditions prevailing
in Dominica. Very little disease was noticed in the cultiva-
tions. In one instance the brown rot disease of cacao pods
was observed, and the chiet cause—that of leaving broken
cacao shells lying on the ground under the cacao trees—was
pointed out.
From the description contained in the report as to the
character of the cacao on peasant-¢grown holdings in the
La Plaine district, it appears that the advice and assistance
of an Agricultural Instructor should prove very useful to
these small cultivators during the early stages of development
ef their cacao orchards. The cacao trees at La Plaine were
planted very closely, were ot thinned, and have been allowed
to sucker freely. As a result, the plots consist, in
cases, of tall trees, with very little lateral development, and
such trees give very small return. There are very consider-
able areas of cacao in the above state, and it is important that
most
some etfort should be made to improve matters. Mr. Jones
advises experimental treatment on the following lines :
The plots should in the first instance be thinned ; any strong
suckers growing from the base of the trees should then be
selected at distances apart that will allow of the side branches
becoming well developed. If these could be got to branch
in the usual way when about 5 or 6 feet in height, their
lateral development should be encouraged. As these develop,
the old stems of cacao should be gradually removed, This
should result in more profitable returns being obtained, pro-
vided regular care is given, and suckers are kept down.
The cacao cultivations in the Grand Bay districts are
generally in better condition, the greater part being from
ten to twelve years old. ‘The area under peasant cacao im this
district is-estimated to amount to as much as 400 aeres.
Although, as mentioned, the plots in this district now appear
satisfactory, yet there are already signs that the trees must be
carefully thinned, all suckers kept down, and attention given
to the development of side branches, if the plots are to be pre-
vented from passing into the condition of those at La Plaine.
The peasantry, both at La Plaine and Grand Bay,
appear to regard the inclusion of one or more breadfruit or
breadnut trees in their small plots as necessary to cacao
cultivation. The breadnut is preferred by many, probably
on account of the fact that the fruit of the first-named tree,
on falling, damages the branches of the cacao trees, while
the breadnut fruit is softer, and no injury results if it strikes
a cacao branch in falling. The value of these trees is
probably due to their influence on the stiff soil, which they
break up, aerate, and assist in draining, so that conditions
are made more favourable for the cacao plant.
The cost of the prize-holdings competition last year for
the two districts was £53 10s. The names of the prize-
winners are as follows :—
Granp Bay.
Class I.
First prize (£4) :
John Thomas. Second prizes (£1 5s.
each) : Augustine Darroux and Jean Lewis. Third prizes
(10s. each): John Lewis Angol, and Benjamin John Lewis.
Class IT.
Jerimie Remi.
Third prize (15s.) :
First prize (£2) :
Second prize (£1 5s.) :
Ovan Henderon.
Veney Douglas.
La 7PLAINE.
Class IT.
First prize (£2): Alfred Lawrence. Second prize
(£1 5s.): Emile Lawrence. Third prize (15s.) : Sadoe
Larende.
In view of the enc ouraging. and helpful results
that have attended the scheme in the past year, and
the interest that was aroused among small holders, the
competition is to be repeated this year (1909. 10) both
at La Plaine and Grand Bay, and it promises to attract
even wider and keener interest among peasant
proprietors than was the case in 1908-9.
168
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 29, 1909
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Comuuissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Avents, 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agriculteral slows
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY,
MAW +29, 1909. “No. 185:
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial deals briefly with the question of
afforestation, which has of late attracted a considerable
amount of attention in a number of countries.
The chief points in connexion with the developing
cane sugar industry of Natal (which last year turned
out 4,000 tons of sugar) are summarized on page 163.
Ktforts are being made to extend lime planting
both at Nevis and Tortola (page 164). On the same
page is given a useful receipe for the preparation of
grafting wax.
The question of water in the soil, and the impor-
tant influence of soil moisture upon fertility, are dis-
cussed on page 165.
‘Cotton Notes ’ include reports on market prices,
and notes on points connected with the industry at
Tortola, Montserrat, and St. Vincent (page 166).
A very interesting and successful cacao growing
competition and prize-holdings scheme, held at
Dominica in 1908-9, is reported upon on page 167.
Under ‘ Insect: Notes” (page 170) appear two short
articles dealing respectively with Warble Flies, and
Mosquitos at St. Vincent.
An article containing interesting information on
the subject of tree planting at Antigua, with notes on
the species of trees suitable for timber that may be
grown in the island wall, be found on pp. 174-5.
Kerry Cows.
It is probable that the small settler in the West
Indies would find in the Kerry cow a very useful breed
of animal. The native home of the Kerry isin Ireland,
of which country it is the only distinct breed of cattle.
Kerry cows are small in size, an average cow weighing
no more than 700 1b. while the average weight of
a Jersey is about 850 tbh., of an Ayrshire, 1,100 tb., and
of a Shorthorn, 1,350 tb. The usual colour of the Kerry
is black, with white streaks along the belly and udder,
but they are sometimes black and white. This breed
possesses short, thick, wiry hair, and long horns, set
somewhat widely apart.
The great point in favour of the Kerry cow is that
it is hardy and able to exist on the scantiest and
roughest fare, and is nevertheless capable of giving
excellent yields of milk. In Ireland and parts of
England this breed is known as ‘the poor man’s cow,’
Free Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria.
In addition to the bacteria which live in the root
nodules of leguminous plants, there are others living
in a free state in the soil, which are capable of fixing
free nitrogen from the air, and thus increasing the
fertility of the land. , Of these by far the most effective
is a large organism to which the name Azotobacter
chroococcum has been given. This bacterium, with its
kindred forms, is very widely distributed in soils in all
parts of the world. It is aerobic, and needs a sufticient
supply of carbohydrate in the soil, since by the combus-
tion of this material it obtains the energy requisite for
nitrogen fixation. The fertility of such rich virgin
soils as the Russian steppes and the wheat lands of
Manitoba must be in large part attributed to the work
of Azotobacter chroocoecum and related bacteria. These
organisms have been found to be present in West
Indian soils, and possibly play a greater part in the
fertility of these soils than has been supposed.
EE ee
Nicaraguan Shade Tree.
The ‘ Nicaraguan Shade Tree’ (Gliricida macu-
lata) is frequently grown in cacao plantations for shade
purposes. ‘his tree is usually raised from seed, but
a correspondent ofthe Bulletin of Agricultural
Information, issued by the Trinidad Department of
Agriculture, states that, as the result of experiment, he
has found that Glirjeida maculata grows much more
quickly from cuttings than from seeds. Over 95 per
cent. of cuttings, set out 12 feet apart, have grown
successfully, and the plants flower and bear. pods at
the end of a few months.
By setting out. cuttings in the way indicated,
a suitable amount ofshade for a young cacao plantation
can soon be established. The tree needs topping to:
make it spread properly. Whenever the top branches
of the shade trees reach the cacao, they can be cut
back, and material is thus obtained which is useful
for mulching purposes. The flowers of | Gliricida
maculata, analysed. at the Trinidad Government
Laboratory, were found to contain from 2-4 to 3°36.
per cent. of nitrogen.
Vou. VIII. No. 185. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Eucalyptus Culture in California.
Bulletin 196 of the Calitornia Experiment Station
gives the results of extensive observations on eucalyp-
tus cultivation in that State. Thevimportance of the
different species of eucalyptus for timber, fuel, and oil
production is discussed, together with the soil
requirements, methods of treatment, and financial
return that may be expected. Over sixty-five different
species of encalyptus are growing on the University of
California Forestry Station grounds, of which eighteen
are considered to be particularly useful from the
commercial point of view. ‘nese receive special
attention in the bulletin. Since several varieties of
this tree have been planted in the®West Indies, and
one or two kinds have made very good growth, the data
on the subject contained in this pamphlet may prove
useful to those interested.
Se ae
Fruit Trees on Grass Land.
When fruit trees are to be planted on grass land it
is now generally recognized that care should be taken
for the first few years, at least, to keep a ring around
the young trees free from grass, and well cultivated or
mulched. Otherwise the fruit trees make very slow
growth during the early stages. This is due to the
fact that a compact growth of grass makes very exten-
sive demands on the supply of soil moisture, and hence
young fruit trees, which, at the time of planting, are
but indifferently supplied with water-collecting roots,
are usually unable to obtain ail the water they need if
they have to compete with the extensive mass of
fibrous roots possessed by the grass. Few crops so
effectually dry the surface soil as grass does, and hence
any plant growing in pasture land is likely to suffer so
long as the two sets of roots are in the same layer,
After the lapse of two or three years, when the root
system of the trees has gained a more extensive range,
the trees are not likely to suffer from the presence
of grass.
Rubber Coagulation by Leaf Infusions.
Many chemical agents have been used for the
coagulation of rnbber latex, but it is worthy of note
that two samples of Funtumia rubber which had been
coagulated by adding an infusion of the leaves of
a leguminous plant—Buuhinia reticulata—and which
were sometime ago forwarded to the Imperial Institute,
London, by the Agricultural Department of the Gold
Coast, were reported upon as being very satisfactory in
character, and valued at from 4s. to 4s, 3d. per Ib.
when fine, hard Para was worth 4s. 7i/. per th.
The infusion of the Bauhinia leaves is acid, and
contains a considerable amount of tannin. It is believed
that this tannin is the active coagulating agent, since
other astringent materials are found to have a similar
effect. This suggests that many other products might
well be tried by rubber growers in the coagulation of
latex. The pods of Acacia arabica have been found
to answer the same purpose as the Bauhinia’ leaves.
This method of coagulation obviates the necessity of
applying heat directly to the latex.
Calcium Cyanamide or ‘ Nitrolim.’
The new nitrogenous fertilizer calcium cyanamide,
or lime nitrogen, which is. prepared from the atmosphere
by the aid of a powerful electric furnace, has now been
placed on the market under the name ‘ Nitrolim.’ This
manure is manufactured in different parts of the world
by a number of companies, and the total outpnt is at
present estimated at abont 150,000 tons per year.
‘
Nitrolim’ is guaranteed to contain 20 per cent.
of nitrogen—equal to 24} per cent. of ammonia—
together with a proportion of lime ranging to40 percent.,
about 18 per cent. of which is in the form of quicklime.
The presence of the lime naturally adds considerably
to the value of the manure on soils which are ‘leficient
in that element. ‘ Nitrolim’ will be sold on the basis
of the content of nitrogen, but in view of the source
from which the nitrogen. is derived, and the com-
paratively low cost of production, it is believed that it
will be possible to sell the manure ata lower unit
value than in the case of nitrate of soda or sulphate of
ammonia, ie. about £11 per ton—in England.
A small quantity of ‘Nitrolim”’ has lately been
purchased by this Department for trial in the sugar-
cane experiments in the Leeward Islands and at
Barbados.
oN
Agricultural Work at the Gold Coast.
The latest report on the Botanical and Agri-
cultural Department of the Gold Coast has recently
come tohand, and shows that much useful work is
being done in that colony in introducing new kinds of
cultivated plants, improved varieties of crops previously
grown, and in the distribution of superior seed.
Four experiment stations now exist in the Gold
Coast Colony, viz., the Aburi Botanic Gardens, and the
Agricultural Stations at Tarkwa, Coomassie, and
Asuantsi. The last was established in 1907.
Large quantities of seeds and plants were dis-
tributed from Aburi and Tarkwa in 1907, and in
future years will be sent out from the other two
stations as well. Plants and seeds of cacao and rubber
are those which are in chief demand. Over 10,000
plants and 210,000 seeds of Forastero cacao were
distributed from Aburi during the year, and 3,743
plants from Tarkwa. Of Funtumia rubber, 34,000
plants, and nearly 22 million seeds were distributed,
together with about 16,000 plants and 6,000 seeds of
Hevea rubber.
Specimens of Funtumia rubber from the Gold
Coast, prepared by ditferent means, were favourably
reported on at the Imperial Institute, London, and
valued at prices varying from 4s. to 4s, 6d. per th., at
a time when fine, hard Para rubber was worth 4s. 7d.
per tb. The value of ‘biscuits’ of rubber from
Landolphia owariensis was placed at from 3s. to 3s. 3d.
with fine, hard Para at 3s. 53d. per tb. Other rubber
trees under trial are the Ceara, Manihot, and Castilloa.
Propagation of cacao by grafting has been under-
taken, and in 1907 over 100 stocks of Forastero were
grafted with scions from T/eohroma pentagona.
170
INSECT NOTES.
Warble Flies.
The Agricultural Superintendent at St. Lucia
recently forwarded to the Head Office insects taken
from the backs and flanks of the Ayrshire cows at the
Agricultural School at Union. In the letter forwarded
at the same time Mr. Moore states: ‘I am of opinion
that they are maggots of the Warble Fly. The cows
arrived here from Canada last August, and the maggots
are maturing now, so I conclude, as they are found only
on the imported animals, that the eggs were in the cows
on arrival. August to September is, I think, the egg
season for this fly, and April is the season for the
maturing of the maggots. We are trying to capture
all the maggots by squeezing them out as soon as ripe
enough. Each puncture is then dressed with a disin-
fectant to keep off the screw worm fly.’
Mr. Moore was correct in supposing the insects to be
the warble fly, and that the cows were infected before their
arrival in the colony. The ox warble flies belong to two very
elosely related species, Hypoderma bovis and Hypoderiia
lineata. Both species are widely distributed, and as they
are alike in the general points of life-history, method of
attack, and damage done, and as similar remedies may be
used for their control, they can be dealt with in this paper
under the common term of warble flies.
The female warble flies deposit their eggs on the hair of
the shoulders, neck, and groins of cattle. The eggs or the newly
hatched larvae are licked off and swallowed by the animal,
and from the alimentary canal the maggots make their way
to the subcutaneous tissue along the back.
Several months elapse from the time when the animal
swallows the insect before the latter arrives at its destination
in the back of its host.
Here development. is rapid, and after some weeks the
larvae make their way out through the skin of the animal,
and fall to the ground. The larvae seek a suitable place,
and enter the ground, where they pupate at a depth of from
1 to 2 inches below the surface. About a month later the
adult fies emerge and mate, and the females immediately set
about the business of egg-laying.
The usual time for the appearance of the adult warble
flies in America is during the summer months, when the
eggs are deposited, and the young larvae are taken into the
mouth of the cattle not later than October. In January
small swellings begin to appear along the back, and by April
or May the swellings are large, and the full grown larvae are
ready to leave the animals and. enter the ground to pupate.
PREVENTION AND REMEDIES.
When the warble flies are very abundant they may be
prevented from laying eggs on the cattle, by coating the
necks and backs of the animals each week during the egg-
laying period with a repellant mixture. The following is
recommended ;—
Sulphur, 4 oz.
Spirits of tar, 1 gill.
Whale oil, 1 quart.
It is stated that the warble flies will not tly over water,
nor follow cattle into deep shade for the purpose of egg-lay-
ing, so that the attacks of these pests are liable to be less
‘where cattle have access to deep-shade, and ponds of water
in which they can wade,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. May 1295719095
When the swellings on the backs of the animals are first
seen, as in January, a very Jight rubbing with kerosene will
kill the grubs. This is due to the fact that the kerosene
enters the small holes in the skin of the cattle through which
the insect breathes. “Later in the year, March or April, any
larvae which are still to be found in the back of the animals
should be squeezed out and destroyed.
Mosquitos at St. Vincent.
Mr. W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent of
St. Vincent, has sent in the accompanying notes in
reference to the various species of mosquitos that are
found in the island :—
The following. mosqnitos are known to oceur in
St. Vincent, and Dr. C. W. Branch, M.B., C.M., who is
making a systematic study of them, has kindly supplied me
with their names :
1, The common malaria-carrying
(Anopheles) aryyrotarsis.
mosquito—Cellie
2. Wild pine mosquito, Wyeomyra sp.
3. Yellow fevér mosquito, Stegomyia calopus (fasciata).
4. Steel-blue bush mosquito, Haemagogus sp.
5, Filaria mosquito, Culer fatigans.
6. Crab-hole mosquito, Deinocerstes sp.
A study of the habits of the two first mentioned has
brought to light the one or two interesting points I now
wish to record.
For some time past a small, and nearly black mosquito
had been commonly observed at the Botanic Gardens, where
it attacked us most persistently, and it was also seen feeding
on domestic animals. After searching likely places without
result, I examined various plants which were so modified as
to hold water, and at last found larvae in abundance m
water which had collected at the bases of the leaves of the
so-called ‘ Wild Pines.’ These epiphytic bromeliads oceur m
large numbers on various trees, and belong to various species
of Piteatrnia, Aechmea, and Tillandsia. Nearly every plant
with water that I examined contained larvae—-even those
brought down from a height of 30 to 40 feet.
Only this one species of mosquito has so far been found in
these ‘ Wild Pines.’ Although it is not known as a carrier of
disease, still it might.be, and it is obvious that to avoid
annoyance it is desirable to destroy the plants in which they
breed. This is now being done in Kingstown, the Botanie
Gardens, and other places.
The Entomologist has supplied the following note
for addition to thé above :—
In addition to the species given by Dr. Branch there
are several other mosqnitos listed in Theobald’s Monograph
on the Culicidae of the World as occurring in St. Vincent.
Theobald’s list is as,follows :—
Megarhinus-portoricensts Culex scolasticus
Aedes perturbans Deinocerites Cancer
Cellia argyrotarsis
Cellia albipes
Culex palus
Haemogogus Cyanens
Steyomyia taseiata
Vranotarnia Lowti
From a comparison of these lists it will be seen that
there are apparently six species known in addition to the six
given in Dr. Branch’s list. With so many kinds of mosquitos
existing in a small island it is certainly worth while to take
all possible précaution against them. Only a few are known
to be carriers of disease, but they are all pretty sure to be
annoying, and some of them may later be proved to have
a relation to the spréad of disease not at present suspected.
Von. VIII. No. 185.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 171
MILKING A GOAT.
The accompanying notes dealing with points to be
observed in connexion with the operation of milking
goats, appeared in Farm Life of April 17 last :—
Milking a goat is not a difficult operation hy any means,
although it is much easier in the case of some animals than
of others. It is easiest with those goats that have nicely
pointed teats of a size readily grasped by the hand.
There is a certain knack in the process which is soon
gained after a few days’ practice. It, consists in causing
pressure on the teat by each of the fingers alternately from
the first to the little finger, but im such rapid succession
that the pressure is almost simultaneous. At the same time
the hand draws down the teat, pushing the latter again up
towards the udder as the stream is reduced, in order to
encourage a fresh flow. Both hands should be used, each
working alternately.
The great point is to draw off all the milk contained
in the udder at each ‘meal,’ asit is termed, because if any
is left behind, the yield tends to fall off, and a Jess quantity
is drawn on the following occasion. This being repeated
often, the animal soon goes dry.
To ensure a thorough extraction of all the milk in the
udder, the latter should, when the flow ceases, be worked
about in the hand, and the teat pushed rather violently up
into it, in imitation of the action of the head of the kid,
when it does not find enough milk present. This often
results in adding another quarter-pint, or even half-pint, to
the pail.
PROTECTION OF COWS FROM FLIES.
Flies are frequently a source of great annoyance
to cattle, including milking cows, and the opinion is
generally held that in such cases the worry entailed
on the animals results in a loss of weight, or—in the
case of cows—in a diminution of the milk yield. In
the United States and Canada during the hot seasons
various contrivances have been adopted with the object
of protecting the animals from attack by flies, and the
best means of doing this is to wash over the coats of
the cattle with a mixture containing some material
which is repellant to the worrying insects.
At the Kansas Experiment Station several mixtures
have been tried for this purpose, the best results being given
by a preparation consisting of 15 Ib. of resin, 2 cakes of
laundry soap, $-pint of fish oil, and enough water to make
the whole up to 5 gallons. This mixture was. either
applied with a brush or sprayed over the animal. In the
latter case }-pint of kerosene oil may beadded with the other
ingredients. The cost of the mixture is not more than Te. or
Se. per gallon, and }-pint is considered enough for a single
application to each cow. It was found that at first two or
three applications per week were necessary, but later on
treatment need not be given so often, since the tips of hair
become coated with resin.
At the Missouri Experiment Station a patent prepara-
tion for protecting cows from the worrying attacks of flies
was tried for some time. It is reported that the chief
observed result was that the cows stood more quietly during
milking. one
Observations made at the Virginian Experiment Station
indicated that during the season when flies were most
prevalent, the milk yields of the cows fell off by as much as from
25 to 50 per cent. Various mixtures for repelling the flies
were tried without avail, but suecess was obtained when an
emulsion of kerosene oil was employed. The emulsion
sisted of }-tb. yellow soap, 1 gallon soft water, and 2 gallons
kerosene oil, to which was finally added a second gallon of
water. This formed the stock solution, which was diluted
just before using by adding 1 part to 5 parts of water. The
mixture was applied to the animals daily, by means of
aspray pump. It was found.that 15 gallons of the diluted
solution was sufticient for one treatment of 100 cattle.
con-
PROPOSED FARM SCHOOL AT
JAMAICA.
Distinct advances in the provision of facilities for
agricultural instruction have been made in the British
West Indies of recent years, and practically every
colony has benefited thereby. At Jamaica up to the
present there have been three distinct agencies for
giving instruction in different branches of agricultural
work to young men in the island. hese are the
Industrial School, the scheme of apprenticeship at
the Botanic Gardens, and an agricultural course at the
Government Laboratory. It has been thought, how-
ever, that the present condition of affairs can be
improved upon, and in his speech at the opening of
the Legislative Council in March last, the Governor of
Jamaica -brought forward a scheme under which the
disconnected efforts at present in operation shall be
abolished, and a Farm School established.
The object of this proposed Farm School will be to give
young men, and youths over fifteen years of age, a sound
knowledge of the elementary principles of agricultural science,
and as complete a training as possible in all branches of
practical tropical. agriculture, the management of live stock,
dairying, farriery, carpentry, veterinary work, ete.
To quote from the Governor’s speech: ‘It is not
intended to give an elaborate scientific course, but to aim at
the training of a body of young men competent to take up
practical work and supervision on small or large cultivations,
with some sound foundation of general knowledge and
practical training. It is not proposed to offer free
scholarships, but to make a uniform charge of £15 per year
for each pupil, to cover the cost of board and lodging at the
Farm School.’
The capital outlay required for starting the school has
been estimated at £2,000. It is also caleulated that the cost
of upkeep each year will amount to £1,473 16s. Against
this latter sum, however, can be set off £1,038, which
represents savings that will be effected by the abolition of
present establishments, together with students’ fees, sales of
produce, and rents. The net annual cost of the school
proposed by Sir Sydney Olivier, therefore, would be only
£390 in excess of the appropriations at present made for the
existing establishments.
In view of the scope and variety of the agri-
cultural industries of Jamaica, and the advantages that
would accrue from having a good: number of young
men trained in up-to-date methods of cultivation, and
preparation of produce for export, the establishment of
a school such as that suggested should be a real. boon
to the island.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 29, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
The Tobago correspondent of the West India Coniniittec
Circular draws attention to the facet that a more plentiful
and better supply of latex is* yielded by Castilloa rubber
trees in periods of dry weather than during the rainy season.
During the month of April last, 100 tb. of Barbuda
beans, 50 tb. of woolly pyrol, 15 tb. of broom corn, and 11
packets of miscellaneous sent out from the
Antigua Botanic Station.
seeds were
Arrangements have been made at Nevis by the Agri-
cultural Department to supply cotton growers in the island
with the best locally raised cotton
disinfected, at 1d. per tb.
seed selected and
With the object of encouraging the production of fruit
of better quality for market purposes, the Trinidad Depart-
ment of Agriculture is offering grafted mango plants for sale
at 25c. each. Plants are only sold at this low figure,
however, for cultivation within the colony.
Mr. Robson, Curator of the Montserrat Botanic Station,
reports that planters in the island are tending to grow green
dressing crops on an inereased scale. At present Bengal
beans are in great demand, and on one estate several acres
of growing limes have been planted through with horse beans,
The seeds and plants distributed from the Montserrat
Botanic Station for the quarter ending March 31 last, include
550 cacao plants, 583 sugar-ecane cuttings, 125 Longfoot
cabbage, 115 bay plants, 900 ornamental cuttings and plants,
12 Tb. cowpeas, and 4 Ib. horse beans.
The cultivation of cocoa-nuts is evidently attracting
Increasing attention in British Guiana. While the area under
this crop in 1907-8 was 6,828 acres, it reached 8,315 acres
in 1908-9. The cacao area has also increased from 1,832 to
2,181 acres, and that under coffee from 1,097 to 1,431 aeres.
As many as thirty-six varieties of cassava are under
cultivation at the Experiment Station, Tortola. Mr. Fishlock
reports that some 200 pods were recently gathered from the
cacao trees at the station, and that the trees are in fair
condition.
The exports of rice from British Guiana from January 1
to April 28 last were 2,789,352 1b., as compared with
3,642,279 Ib. shipped in the corresponding period Jast year.
The distribution this year has been as follows : British West
Indies, 2,689,342 Ib.; French 56,550 Ib. :
Germany, 45,460 Ib.
Guiana, and
Ecuador exports a considerable quantity of vegetable
ivory nuis—the product of the palm Phytelephas macrocarpa.
The average annual production is about 48,000,000 tb., all
of which is exported. The used as
a substitute for the more costly genuine article in the mann-
facture of buttons, ete. (U.S. Consular Report.)
vegetable 1vory is
‘Gum disease’ is very common in plantations of citrus
fruits in California. A pamphlet (Lulletin No. 200) has
lately been issued by the Experiment Station, Berkeley,
which deals in a thorough manner with the causes and
methods of control of this disease. The pamphlet is well
illustrated.
The report for 1907-8 of the Forest Officer for Trinidad
has lately been issued. It is stated that good progress has
been made with the demarcation of forest reserves during the
year, an additional 364 miles having been marked off. The
receipts from the sale of -timber and other forest produce in
1907-8 were £1,472, or an increase of £66 on the average
of the past fifteen years.
The Agricultural Instructor at Nevis reports that fairly
good returns are being obtained this season from the sugar-
cane crop in the island. In most districts the average yield
of sugar is abont 13 tons per acre, some areas giving slightly
These results are due to the favourable rains which
oceurred from November to February last. The canes were
planted late, and growth had not stopped when the rains
came on.
more.
Bulletin 344 of the Bureau of Entomology, U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture, deals—from the farmer's standpoint
—with the cotton boll weevil, which does so much damage
in the United States each year. The loss caused by the
weevil, since it invaded the United States, is estimated at
$125,000,000. It isa matter for congratulation that this
pest has not appeared in the West Indies.
Shea butter nuts, the produce of utyrospermum
Parkii, grow very extensively in many parts of Northern
Nigeria, and with the development of better facilities for
transport a flourishing trade in this article is likely to grow
up. The percentage of fat in the nuts varies from 40 to 55.
This fat is suitable for candle and soap manufacture, and at
the Imperial Institute it has been valued at £27 to £27 10s.
per ton, or about the same as soft palm oil.
Report, 1907-8.)
(Annual
An article in the Wrrror, published at Port-of-Spain,
vives particulars as to the extent of the operations carried op
at the Usine St. Madeleine, Trinidad. The factory mills the
canes from seven estates, and the area covered by the crop
for the present year, which began in January, was about
6,000 acres. About 1,800 tons of canes can be crushed per
day, and this year it has needed about 13 tons of cane to
yield a ton of sugar. From this it will be seen that the
factory turns out approximately 1,000 tons of sugar per
week. The estimated output from estate-grown cane this’
year is expected to reach 14,000 tons of sugar. Peasant-
grown canes are also bonght in large amount, the quantity
purchased last year being 31,900 tons.
Wor. VLE No: 185: THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 17:
ae
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
JUNE
1st
Seasonal Notes.
When sugar-canes are being reaped,
note the etfect of the iady-bird
and how the fibrous cocoons are formed. So far as possible
the life-history of this insect should be studied. Search
should also be made for the root borer (Diaprepes ablicoiatus).
On the leaves of the young canes, too, inay be seen the cane
fly (Delphar saccharivora). Students should search for the
insect enemies of all the above pests.
Note in detail the various operations connected with the
manufacture of sugar. In the factory and boiling house
observations should be made of the quality of the juice, and
where possible its analytical composition should be studied.
The milling qualities of the different varieties of cane form
FortNicHr.
students should
borer (Sp nophorus sericeus),
a point that should be noted by the student, and the
characteristics of the juice yielded by the different kinds, as
regards its saccharine richness, and sugar-making qualities,
should also be known.
Fields to be planted in cotton in the coming season will
now be ploughed or forked, and insmany districts cotton will
be planted with the first rains in May or June. Make
-a point of visiting different estates, and inspecting the
methods adopted in preparing land for planting. Note how
different manures are applied, and how green dressing plants
are dealt with.
In cacao districts students will note the manner of
dealing with the land under cacao trees. The months of
April, May, and June form a suitable period for manuring
-eacao. Mulches of pen manure, bush, and fallen leaves
should be distributed around the trees to keep the ground
-cool in the dry season, while special manures should be
applied when the first light rains come on.
Look out for lime trees with yellow leaves, and try to
-aseertain the cause. Observe if any insects are present, and
if so, what kinds. Note the condition of the subsoil, and
ascertain if the roots are healthy.
In Montserrat, and any other districts where bay trees
are grown, distillation of bay oil will be in progress, or be
completed by now. The dry months are preferred for this
work.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) What is sulphate of ammonia / What is nitrate of
soda! Of what use are these as manures /
(2) Describe the structure («) of « bean seed and (+) of
a grain of maize.
(3) How do you ascertain the germinating power of
seeds! What percentage of germination do you expect
a good sample of cotton seed to show !
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Write a brief account of the life-history of the moth
borer. How does this pest damage the canes, and what
means should the planter employ to keep it in check /
(2) Draw a diagram shewing the principal bones in the
hind leg of a horse, together with the principal muscles and
their attachments. Brietly explain the mechanism of the
movements of the limb.
(3) Ascertain as far as possible the relative proportions
of water lost by evaporation from soils lying fallow, and
‘from those bearing the chief agricultural crops.
PRIZE-HOLDINGS COMPETITION AT
GRENADA.
The Acting Agricultural Superintendent at Grenada,
reports that adjudications haye lately been made in the prize-
holdings competition held in the past year in the parishes of
St. Patrick and St. David. Meetings were held in each
parish at which the prizes were distributed, and Mr. Branch
gave short addresses on agricultural matters. A competition
among small holders is also in progress in the parish of
St. John.
Mr. Branch, in his latest report, comments on the
improvement that took place during the season on the hold-
ings entered for the competition. This was particularly
noticeable in the parish of St. David's, where the competing
holdings were in especially good condition.
At the last meeting of the Grenada Agricultural Society
it was proposed to approach the Government with a request
to give a grant sutticient to cover the amount required for
the purpose of arranging a prize-holdings competition in all
the parishes of the island simultaneously.
COWPEAS IN AUSTRALIA.
Cowpeas have been under experimental trial im
the Australian colony of Victoria, and the Victorian
Journal of Agriculture lately contained a report
on the results achieved. For green manure and for
fodder purposes, it is stated that the crop has proved
itself of great value. The cowpeas are drought-resist-
ing, and did fairly well in the dry season “that was
experienced in 1907-8. When irrigation water was
supplied an excellent crop was produced.
The four varieties of cowpeas under cultivation were
‘New Era,’ ‘ Iron,’ ‘ Wonderful,’ and ‘ Whip-poor-Will.
There were two kinds of seed of the ‘ Iron’ variety, one
being white and the other red. These two kinds were sown
separately.
All the peas were sown on October 18, and they
produced ripened seed in periods ranging from 106 to 159
days. The plants raised from the white seeds of the ‘ Iron’
variety were the first to yield ripened seed, which was
produced at the end of 106 days. Then followed in order
‘ New Era ’ (112 days), ‘Red Iron ’ (115 days), *‘ Wonderful ”
(115 days), and * Whip-Poor-Will’ (159 days). The
heaviest gatherings of pods were obtained during the third
and fourth weeks in March, and the first week in April.
The plants were ploughed into the soil about the middle of
April.
The ‘ White Iron’ and ‘ Red Tron ’ varieties are similar
in growth and yield, the plants are about 20 inches high, the
seeds ripen early, and pods are borne in successicn for three
months or so. The pods are about 7 inches long.
‘New Era,’ the second earliest variety, is a low-growing
slender bush with delicate foliage. The pods and seeds are
somewhat smaller than in the case of the ‘ Iron’ cowpea.
‘Wonderful’ is a cowpea of vigorous and robust growth,
possessing strong branches and large leaves. The plants are
about 14 inches high, and cover the ground quickly. The
pods.are some 8 inches in length, and contain frora twelve
to eighteen medium-sized peas.
‘Whip-Poor-Will’ was the variety which ripened latest
in these experiments. his is a plant strong in growth, with
an abundance of large foliage. The plants § grew to a height
of 18 inches, with numerous and spreading branches. The
pods are fleshy, about 9 inches long, and contain a good
number of large peas.
174
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
May 29, 1909,
TREE PLANTING AT ANTIGUA.
Compared with many other of the West Indian
islands, Antigua is singularly destitute of woodland, or
even of small groves of trees. lais lack of suitable
vegetation tends to vive the hillsides and waste places
a somewhat barren appearance, and the lack of shelter
that would be provided by extensive wooded areas increa-
ses the tendency of the island to sutter from dronght.
Tree planting on a large scale would not only improve
the appearance of the landscape, and provide a source
of timber and fuel, bus would also be of advantage in
providing shelter belts of woodland, and have a certain
amount of influence in modifying the dryness of the
atmospheric conditions, and economising the water
supply by reducing evaporation.
Some efforts in this direction have been made by the
Agriculttwal Department, and two attorestation plots have
been started in the neighbourhood of the Botanic Station.
One is situated to the north of the Station, and is about
14 acres in extent. The second plot is to the east of the
station, and about }-mile distant. It is some 25 acres in
area.
The plots were established in 1902 ; the soil is poor in
both, and they are fully exposed to the prevailing trade
winds. They had received very little cultivation at the
time of planting, and are similar in character to the bare
hillsides in the island, so that from the progress which the
trees have made, some deductions can be drawn as to the
results which would probably foilow tree planting on other
waste spots.
The plot situated to the north of the Botanic Station
has made the best growth, and the shelter that it at present
affords to the Station has had a markedly beneficial effect.
Tn the year 1907-8, the growth of the trees in the plot to
the east of the Botanic Station showed marked improvement.
Tt would appear, however, that it is advisable, in planting
trees on land where the soil is poor and the situation
exposed, to give a greater amount of cultivation during the
first years of their growth than was given to the two plots
attached to the Botanic Station, ‘lhe results so far attained
also indicate that expenditure, within reasonable limits, on
starting woodlands in bare districts of these islands will, in
course of time, be amply repaid, in view of the advantages
to be derived from their establishment.
In 1905, two wind-breaks of forest trees were planted
to the north-east and south-east of the Antigua Botanic
Station. These have made good growth, and now afford
considerable shelter to the gardens,
The efforts that have been made on Arbor Day in each
year to encourage an interest in planting out young trees, on
the part of all classes of the community have also had good
effect. In this way large numbers of young trees have been
planted in the Victoria Park, and at other spots in and around
the town,
The example which has thus been set would
appear to have encouraged a considerable amount of
interest in tree planting at Antigua, and numerous
enquiries are received at the Botanic Station on the
subject. Mr. Thomas Jackson, Curator of the Station,
has lately sent in some interesting and useful notes on
the matter, the points of which are here reproduced :—
It is likely that the planting of trees suitable for timber
purposes will receive more ‘attention at Antigua in the future
than it has done in the past. ‘There is naturally, a good
local demand for-‘timber, and the construction of 18
miles of railway, involving the utilization of a large quantity
of timber for sleeper purposes, will naturally increase this
demand. At present the amount of timber grown at Antigua
is very small, but efforts are already in progress which
indicate that the home supply will in time tend to increase.
In the West Indies, as in other countries, the great draw-
back to any scheme of afforestation is the length of time that
must elapse before any return can be obtained. This difti-
culty is inevitable at the start, however, and a certain
number of years must necessarily elapse before an area of
newly planted woodland returns the outlay that has been.
expended upon it, and becomes self-supporting.
In view of this fact, it becomes a matter of chief impor-
tance, when any scheme of tree planting is to be carried out,
to choose those species for planting which are likely to give
an early return, and to be in good demand for special
purposes.
In his paper, Mr. Jackson enumerates a list of trees
which might be expected to do well at Antigua. Special
reference is made to. the species Hucalyptus rostrata, or ‘Red
Gun.’ This grows satisfactorily even under somewhat
unfavourable conditions At the Botanic Station there is
asample of this species, which, although no more than
seven or eight years old, and growing in poor, shallow soil has
a height of 35 feet, and a circumference of 3 feet 8 inches at
10 feet from the ground. Although the trunk of this
specimen divides into four at about 12 feet from the ground,
each stem possesses serviceable timber. Hucalypius rostrata
is well known as a particularly hardy species, and thrives
well under a fairly wide range of conditions. It stands drought
well. ‘Lhe wood of the tree is durable both in the air, and
when buried in the soil. Pieces of ‘Red Gum’ timber which
have been under the soil for two years at the Antigua Botanic
Station are still im an excellent state of preservation. In
colour the wood varies from light red to very dark red. Tf
rapid growth and good quality of timber are required,
E. vostrata can be recommended.
Other species of Euealyptus, which are suitable for
planting in parts of the tropics, and yield useful timber,’ are
E. citriodova, EF. corymbosa, E.
E. crebia, and /. microtheca.
At the Antigua Botanic Station there exist, in addition
to E. rostrata, specimens of /. citriodora and EB. cornuta.
Both of these have anverect growth. The wood of the former
makes a useful timber ;it has a close grain and splits readily.
HE. cornuta stands drought well. (
and elastic.
terctecornis, By. cornuta,
Its wood is tough, hard,
Ic
Estate owners and others who may think of
planting up waste lands, or at least of Increasing the
number of trees on their estates, may usefully make
selections from the following list of timber trees :—
Lignum-vitae (Guaracunm officinale). A slow-growing
tree yielding wood which is exceedingly dense, hard, heavy,
and tough. This is extremely useful for a variety of turnery
purposes. i ;
Galba (Calophyllum Calaba). A tail and somewhat
quick-growing tree, which reaches a diameter of 4 or 5. feet.
The wood is durable, and is suitable for mill rollers, frames,
and for shingles, ete. It bears exposure well.
Maminee apple( Manica americana). This tree reaches
40 to 60 feet high, and yields durable timber that is adapted
for use in exposed situations. The mammee apple tree is
not common at Antigua, and it is probable that it would not
grow well in the drieryparts of the island.
Vou. VIIT. No. 185. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 175
The ‘red mangrove’ (Rh/‘zophora Mangle) and the RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
“black mangrove (Avicennia nitida) both grow in swamps, Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co's. fortnightly
and the wood in each case is valuable for piles, posts, ete.
White cedar (7ecoma leucorylon). This tree is common
at Antigua. The wood is used largely in house-building, and
is valuable for piles, posts, and in making shingles.
Logwood (Haematorylon campechianum). This tree,
which seldom reaches more than 20 feet high, is also common
at Antigua. A very serviceable hedge is formed by setting
out the young plants closely in rows. The wood is hard and
suitable for posts, and cabinet work. It is also of consider-
able value as a dye-wood.
Cashaw (Prosopis juliflora). The cashaw grows to as
much as 30 feet in height, but its diameter is seldom more
than | foot. The timber is very strong and durable, suitable
for railway sleepers, fence posts, ete... The pods of the
eashaw, when dry, form a good article of fodder, and are
greedily eaten by stock of all kinds. The wood also makes
excellent fuel.
Bastard mahogany, walnut or angelin (Andina inerns).
A large and handsome tree, somewhat common in the south-
ern part of Antigua. It is of erect growth, and with
a trunk from 1 to 2 feet in diameter. The~ wood is strong
and hard, lasts well in water, and is suitable for turnery
purposes.
Woman's tongue (A/bizzia Lebbel). The wood of this
tree is fairly durable, and polishes well. It is used in
making furniture, boat building, and for general purposes.
Red cedar (Cedrela odorata). On good soil this tree
frequently attains a height of from 40 to 60 feet, with
a trunk diameter of from 3 to 4 feet. It is quick-growing,
the wood being open-grained, but soft and porous. Cedar
wood is in request for furniture making, especially ward-
robes, shingles, interior house-work, ete. >The drier parts of
Antigua would perhaps be unsuitable for this tree.
Casuarina equisetifolia, The Casuarina is a straight
and quick-growing tree, which yields good timber, that is
found especially useful in making cattle yokes.
Locust (Hymenaca Courbaril), his tree has a trunk
which reaches up to 5 feet in diameter. The wood is tough
and somewhat resembles mahogany, but is harder. Jt is
used for cabinet and furniture work. It is hable to rot in
the ground,
White-wood (Verninalia Buceras). The White-wood
is a large tree that yields timber which is useful for a variety
of purposes. This is one of the best woods for shingles. It
is very durable in water.
Other trees suitable for planting in Antigua, and
which yield wood of value, are the following :—
Mahogany (Swietenia Mahagon/), Sapodilla (Achras
Star apple (Chrysophyllum Cainito), Almond
(Lerminalia Catappa), Torch wood (Tecoma stans), and the
sea-side grape (Coccoloba uvitera), which grows on indifferent
lands near the sea-shore.
It may also be added that the wood of the mango and
acacia makes excellent fuel.
Supota),
Forests and Soil Temperature. Reference was
made in the last issue of this Journal to the relationship
between woodlands and water supply. It may also be
pointed out that forests exercise a considerable influence
on soil temperature. The observations of a number of
‘European forest stations show that woods of various
species and ages depressed the mean annual temperature at
the surface of the ground by about 2°6°F.
report, dated May 14 last, gives the following informa-
tiom in regard to present conditions and outlook of the
British Guiana rice industry :—
The weather during the past fortnight has continued
favourable for milling, and deliveries to town have been
large. Several holders have displayed anxiety to sell, with
the result that the market has weakened, and sales are being
effected at from 54:30 to S440 per bag of 180 Ib. net.
Stocks are not very large, however, and we fully expect to
see better prices later on in the year. he importation of
cheap grades of ‘Nagra’ and ‘Saigon’ [East Indian] rice into
the markets of the West Indian islands has undoubtedly
atfected the sales of the Demerara product, and is largely
responsible for the present decline in price.
Shipments to the West Indian islands during the fort-
night amount to about 3,000 bags, principally for Barbados
and Trinidad.
Prices for Demerara rice of good export quality, at date
of report, are—per bag of 180 tb, l7s:,. LOS@:, to
18s, 104d.; and per bag of 164 tb, gross, 16s. 44d. to 17s. 44d.
gre SS,
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF
ECUADOR.
The United States Consul at Guayaquil lately
reported as follows on the agricultural products of
Ecuador :—
Cacao, which is the principal product of Ecuador, is
harvested or gathered during the months of February, Mareh,
Apmil,and May. A small amount of cacao is gathered and
brought to market during every month of the year, but it is
safe to say that at least three-fourths of this crop is gathered
during the months mentioned, and by the end of June or
July has already been placed on the market. During the
year 1907, 43,348,369 Th. of . cacao were exported from
Ecuador, of which 7,653,756 tb, were sent to the United
States.
The rice crop is principally harvested during the month
of May, and is generally placed on the market during the
months of June and July. The estimated annual production
is 40,000,000 tb., which is not quite sufficient to supply the
home demand. A small quantity is imported every year
from various countries.
The growing of sugar-cane is of considerable importance
in this country. The cane is ent and taken to the piantation
mill during the months of July, August, September, October
and November. Some plantations work up to the middle of
December to finish gathering the crop. Approximately, the
various plantations in Ecuador produce 160,000 bags (of
100 tb.) of sugar annually, which is about equal to the home
consumption, although a small amount. of sugar is importesd
and exported every year.
The crop of coffee raised in this country is almost
completely gathered during the months of August and
September, and as soon as possible is placed upon the market.
No statistics are to be had showing the annual production,
but it is estimated to be about 7,000,000 Tk. During the
year 1907, 2,515,368 tb. of coffee were exported from
Ecuador, of which only 72,989 tb. were sent tothe United
States.
Rubber is gathered and brought to market during all
the months of the year. The amount of rnbber exported
from Ecuador in 1907 was 1,031,510 tb., of which 816,684 th.
were sent to the United States.
176 THE AGRICULTU tAL NEWS. May’ 29) 19092
MARKET REPORTS. INTER-COLONIAL MARKBTS.
Barbados,—Messrs.. Leacock & Co., May 22, 1909;
Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., May 25, 1909:
Arrowrnoot—St, Vincent, $4°00 per 100 th.
Cac: $1200 per 100 tb , in demand.
Cocoa-NuTs—$12-00 for unhusked nuts.
London,—May 11, 1909. THe Wusr Inpia Com- Corrre—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, 39°50 to 511-00 per
mirter Crrcunar; Messrs. E. A. pe Pass & Co., 100 th.
April 30, 1909. Hay—81-15 to $1°25 per 100 th. © 3 Obs
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $62:00 to $65°00 ; Ohlendorft’s-
dissolved guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00 ; Cacao
manure, $42°00 to 848-00; Sulphate of ammonia, $72°00'
to $75°00; Sulphate of poneny $67-00 per ton.
Morasses—Fancy, Iec.; Grocery, 18c. per gallon.
ONTONS— Strings, $3°00) per 100. th.; Bennuday S150.
Poratos—$2°60 to $2°75 per 160 th.
Peas—Split, $5°75 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $3°40 per
bag of 120 th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°00 to $5°20 (180 tb.); Patna, $3-80 ;
Rangoon. $3°00 per 100 tb.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° $2°15; Muscovado, 89° $1°85 3.
Centrifugals, €2°L0 to $2°30.
Arrowrootr—St. Vincent, 12d. to 33d. according to quality.
Bavata—Sheet, 2/4 ; block, ‘1/83.
Bres’-wax—£7 10s. to £7 12s. Gu. for dark to pale.
Cacao—Trinidad, 56/6 to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
a6/- per ewt.
CorrEE—Nantos, 32/4) aper ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Copra—West Indian, £19 10s. per ton.
Corron—Nevis, 13d. to 13%d.; Barbados, 114d. to 14d
St. Vincent, 16d.; and Antigua, 134. to 14d.
Fruir—
Bananas—Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
Lines-—Not wanted.
Prne-appLes—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-.
Grape Fruir—5/6 to 9/- per box.
___Oxanars—Jamaica, 6/2t019/- per box. British Guiana,—Messrs. Wierinc & Ricnren, May 15,.
Rustic — 2s to 04 per ton ; 1909; Messrs. SanpeacH, ParKez & Co.,.
Grincer—d8s. 6d. to 5%s. for middling bright. TEA 90! ’ >
Honry—23s. to 33s. Uv. per ewt. May 14, 1909.
IstnGLass—West Ind’: Inmp, 2/2 to 2/6 per th.
Lime Juice—Raw, | - -0 1/3 per gallou ; concentrated, £18
per cask of 10. gallons; distilled oil, 1/10 to 1/11 EibOey Gente
per Tb.; hand- pressed, 5/- to 5/6 per tb. on c
: Cacao—Native, 13c. to 14c. per th.
Locwoov—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations. (GIeeict ae io GN. E
Macre—Firm.
Wiens. Steady CASSAVA SUA Cte ae 00 per barrel of 196 tb.
tere nr 5) ver |
Pimento—Quiet. et Correr—Creole, 12e. Lee Jamaica, 134c. pertb., slow.
Rvuspber—Para, fine hard, 5s. 3d. per th. Dee SAO HORSE ON on bicof 1GRilbee se
Rum—Jamaica, 3/- to 7/6; Demerara, 1/6 to 1/65, proof. mane ee S108 per eccal: = -
Sucar—Crystals, 15/6 ww 16/-, Muscovado, 15/- to 16/-; Moraséns—Vellamemooe. to de:
Syrup, Trinidad, 11/- ; Molasses, no quotations. Onroxs—Teneriffe, 4e. por tb.
Pianvains—l16e. to 36c. per bunch.
Poraros—Nova Scotia, $3°00 per 100 Tb.
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, 6c. per bag.
Rice— -Ballam,$d°50; Creole, $4°40 to'S4°50.
Spiir Pea s—$6-00 per bag (210 1b.); Marseilles, $3°50>
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $9°00 to $9°50 per 200 th.
Banara— Venezuela block, 32c. ; Demerara sheet, 48c..
TANNIAS- ne 68 per bag.
R a] 8 Yanus—White, $2°16 per bag ; Buck, $300.
New York,— eet Sucak— Dark L$ $215 to $2°55; Yellow, $3:10 to
Bros. &.Co. $3-25 . White, 83°60 to $3°80; Molasses, no quotations.
Timber—Greenheart, 52c. to 5dc. _per cubic foot.
WaLLABA SHINGLES—$3'75 to $5°75 per M.
3 — Corpwoop—$2'00 to $240 per ton.
ssrs. GILLESPIE,
Cacao—Caracas, 12}c. to 14c.; Grenada, 13c. to 13ke.
Trinidad, 13c. to 13sec. ; Jamaica, L05c. to 12c. per th.
Cocoa-NutTs—Jamaica, select, $22°00 to $24-00 ; culls, $14°00
to $15°00; Trinidad, select, $21-00 to $23: O00; culls,
$13-00 to $14-00 per M. Trinidad,— May 15, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co
CorrEr—Jamaica, ordinary, Tice. to 8te.; good ordinary,
She. to 9e. Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°40 to $1160 per fanega ; Trinidad,
Gincer—9bhe. to LOfe. per th. $11°25 to $11:75.
Goat SKiums—Jamaica, no quotations; Antigua and Cocoa-Nu 22-00 per M., f.o.b., for large selected peeled
Barbados, 50c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. MKitt’s, in bags of 100 th.
45c. to 48c. per th., dry flint. Cocoa-NuT Om—70e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Grare Frurr—Jamaica, $4°00 to 85°00 per barrel. Corrre—Venezuelan, 8c. to 8}c. per tb.
Limes—Dominica, 85°00 to $6°00 per barrel. Copra—$3°20 per 100 tb.
Mace—3dc. to 40c. per th. Dua ey -40 to $4°50 per 2-bushel bag.
Nurmecs—110’s, 10c. per Th. Ontons—S$2°30 to $300 per 100 th. (retail).
Orances—Jamaica, $1°75 to $2°25 per box, 82-75 to $400 Poraros—English, $1°25.to 31:30 per. 100 tb.
per barrel. Rick—Yellow, $475 to $4°80; White, $4°50 to $4:90-
Pimento—4}e. per tb. per bay.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°02c.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°42c.; Sprit Peas—$5-25 to $5°50 per bag.
Molasses, 89°, 3:17c. per lh., all duty paid Sucar—American crushed $5°10 to $5-20 per 100 fb.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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Vou. VIII. No. 185. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. May 29, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
= AR E:-
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR WLIRECT TO :—
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SS
“JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE TROPICALE. | “Us? zssvep.
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164, rue Jeanne d’Arc prolongee, Containing papers on the Timbers of Jamaica, Timbers }
PARIS. of Dominica, the Aleyrodidae (white flies) of Barbados,
Fungus Diseases of Coeoa-nuts in the West Indies, and},
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Vol. VIII. No. 186.]
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ae
INTA
i.) a Ue oid
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pays when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
| GERMAN KALI WORKS
50 Empedrado, |
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
.
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30) 190°
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Ye, hen
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A EORTNIGHTLY REVIEW @
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vout. VIII. No. 186. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Cacao Exports from Rice in British Guiana ... 187
Trinidad . 178) Rubber Cultivation in
Cacao Production in | British Guiana... ... 181
Bahia, Brazil, . 182), Sansevieria . 189
Science Notes :
The Production of more
than one Seedling
from a single Seed of
Cacao Spraying Experi-
ments at Trinidad ay}
Departinent News... ... 181
Funtumia Tree, Fungus
Disease of ... . 185} Orange or Mango ... L187
Gleanings ... ... . 188) St. Lucia, Agricultura]
Growth of Palus Sep ifs) Instruction at... . 185
© Hints to Cotton Growers’ 184) Soils, Treatment of in
Insect Notes : ‘Orchard’ Cultivation
Scale Insects and Fungi 186 in West Indies Baa) UT
Irrigation at Barbados . 185) Soy Beans in Manchuria 185
Lemon Industry in Sicily 180) Steamed Bone Meal . 185
Lignum Vitae, A Substi- Steam Cultivation at
tute for F . 186 Jamaica 3:2 18D
Market Reports ... .. 192] Students’ Corner . 189
Milk, Sale of at Trinidad 190) Sugar Industry :
*Mulgoba’ Mango and Central Sugar Factories
‘Trapp’ Avocado . 180 at Vere, Jamaica . 182
Notes and Comments . 184) Sugar in Cuba F a Ae)
Oil of Lemon, Manufacture Useful Data for Sugai
ObMESICilys- ae) ss4 ee LOL Planters Hap ess, Lae.
Pasture Grass, An Interest- Tropical Products on the
ing, at St. Lucia . 184 Hamburg Market ... 190
Peruvian Guano ... 182, West Indian Cotton sa LOZ
Pracdial Larceny atJamaica 190) West Indian Products ... 191
Treatment of Soils in *‘ Orchard ’
Cultivation in the
West Indies.
URING the past ten years the question as
to the best method of treatment of soils
planted with permanent crops as. cacao,
limes, rubber, etc., has received considerable attention,
the West Indies
colonies, as Ceylon and the Malay States, with the
both in and in Eastern tropical
JUNE 12, 1909. Price ld.
result that older ideas on the subject have been a good
deal revised.
In starting cultivations in the tropics, the earlier
planters were naturally much influenced by the methods
of agriculture practised in such countries as England,
where clean weeding was a primary article of faith,
The fact that
the conditions of climate which prevail in the two parts
and good evidence of careful farming.
of the world differ so widely as to render it unlikely
that methods applicable in northern countries could be
without the
tropics was evidently not taken into sufficient considera-
tion.
adopted considerable modification in
Over and above this there are the important
differences which arise from the methods employed in
arable cultivations, and those adopted in orchard work.
The older (Kuropean) ideas of agriculturists were largely
based on arable work, and with pioneering effort there
was a tendency to carry these ideas into the tropics
with insufficient modifications.
The result was that the practice of keeping land
between the rows of crop plants free from weeds, when
once started, became an established custom, and came
to be regarded as a necessary part of tropical cultivation
At the Agricultural Conference of 1901,
brought
this
matter was forward for discussion by
Dr. Francis Watts, in a paper entitled ‘The Treatment
of Soils in “ Orchard ” Cultivation in the Tropics’ (see
West Indian Bulletin, Vol. II, p- 96).
the economy of efforts made to keep the soil beneath
In this paper,
such permanent crops as limes, cacao, oranges, etc.,
free from weeds was questioned, and the good eftect on
the tilth of the land which is brought about as the
result of allowing the weeds to grow to a certain height,
then cutlassing them down, and spreading them as
178
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JUNE 12, 1909.
amulch upon the surface of the soil, was pointed
out. thought not to
allow the vegetation to grow close up to the trees,
but by occasional hoeing and forking, to keep a circle
the
The good results following this practice had already
been noticed in one or two lime orchards at Dominica
and elsewhere, where the weeds had been allowed to
grow for some time before being cut down,
It is frequently advisable
immediately around trunks clear of weeds.
Under this
system the soil, though quite untilled by implements,
remains ina good state of tilth, and the roots of the
weeds that have been cut down decay and leave air
spaces, which reach to a considerable depth in the soil.
The weeds. spread over the surface, form an excellent
mulch, conserving moisture and adding steadily to the
store of humus. ‘They increase, it is true. the evapora-
tion of moisture from the soil, but all plant food
removed is returned when the weeds are ent down and
undergo decay. These conditions approach very closely
to those which prevail on natural forest land where
fertile virgin soil is in’ process of formation. Another
advantage in favour of this system is the saving of
labour effected, as compared with estates on which
continuous weeding is carried on.
On the other hand, everyone who has considered
the subject must realize that great harm is necessarily
done to the soil, and to the crops growing thereon, by
exposure of the land to the alternate influences of
a baking tropical sun, and heavy downpours of rain,
Where
the rainfall is heavy, and on steeply sloping land, an
uncovered state of the ground offers the conditions
under which the lighter surface soil is most readily
washed is further the of the
large supply of humus that would be provided to
the soil if a crop of wild vegetation were grown
upon it, and afterwards mulched on the
or dug into the land. Under such conditions
the crops suffer, not only because such a goil has
a small water-retaining capacity, but because the
bacteria that are responsible for the chemical changes
which result in the production of a continuous supply
of plant food cannot exist in a dry, baked soil, and the
roots themselves cannot therefore find
a living.
both of which have a very injurious influence.
away. There loss
surface
means for
The suggestions brought forward by Dr. Watts in
1901 were somewhat critically received at the time,
although they found support in one or two quarters.
These principles have, however, since been applied in
a number of lime and cacao plantations, with bene-
ficial results.
Reports and other agricultural publications from
Ceylon and the Federated Malay States show, that in
those parts of the world also, the utility of the jrac-
tice of clean weeding in permanent cultivations has
been very much questioned during recent years, and
encouragement given to the judicious growth of certain
weed plants under tree crops. This is particularly the
case in connexion with rubber cultivation, as on estates
where this crop is largely planted the cost of keeping
down the weeds was found to reach an enormous figure.
In the 1907 report of Mr. J. &. Carruthers, lately
Director of Agriculture in the Federated Malay States,
and now appointed to Trinidad, this point is dealt with,
and he recommends that rubber planters should give
a trial to three quick-growing Jeguminous weed plants,
Le., Crotolaria striata, Mimosa pudica, and Desio-
dium triflorum, which rapidly cover the soil, keep
down weeds, and increase the fertility of the land by
their nitrogen-assimilating properties. No doubt the
practice might also be beneficially applied in connexion
with coftee cultivation, which in the Malay States is
carried on over an area of about 11,000 acres.
Similar recommendations to those of Mr. Car-
ruthers are being urged upon the attention of planters
in Ceylon, A recent issne of the Tropical Agriculturist
(October 1908) discussed this question in a leading
article. It was pointed out that where machinery was
available, on rubber and other estates the practice of
clean weeding was cheap and efficient, not on account
of the removal of the weeds, but because the process
necessarily involved a certain amount of surface culti-
vation, which resulted in the provision of a mulch of
loose soil that retarded evaporation of moisture. In
other cases, it was probably better to grow selected.
weeds, more particularly certain species of Leguminosae.
The question is one which demands a considerable
amount of investigation by means of well planned
experiments. The conditions of soil and climate in
relation to the use of weeds have all to be investigated
on the spot. Doubtless there must be a wide range of
method in practice, and the correct method for any
particular place mast be determined experimentally.
The point is, that the modern agriculturist is not
satisfied that the best is being done in a rubber, eacao,
lime, or other orchard simply because there may be an
absence of weeds.
Trinidad Cacao Exports. The amount of Trini-
dad cacao exported during the three months ended March 31
last, was 21,472,378 Ib., which was 1,504,672 tb. in excess
of the quantity shipped in the corresponding period of
1908, anda record for the first quarter of the year, with
the exception of that of 1904, when 22,000,000 tb. were
exported. It is interesting to note that 9,500 tb. of cacam
were shipped to Australia. (Official Returns.)
Vot. VIII. No. 186.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 179
Sugar in Cuba.
The fortnightly Produce Market Report of Messrs.
Gillespie Bros., dated May 14 last, contains the follow-
ing in regard to the Cuban sugar crop of the present
season : —
Heavy rains commenced to fall on May 10, with the
result that the number of centrals still grinding fell from 119
last week to seventy-five at the present time. This number, how-
ever, is still much larger than during the previous two years, as
there were only twenty-three grinding in 1900, and twenty-
eight in 1907. The total output of the island to date is
1,260,000 tons as compared with 851,000 tons last year, and
1,290,000 tons in 1907. During the latter year, 157,000
tons were produced at a later date than this, the total out-
put—1,427,673 tons—being a record crop. With the large
number of centrals still grinding this year, it is to be
expected that the output will be a large one and the final
figure should be very close to the record crop of 1907. The
average prices for sugar during the present season have been
considerably better than in 1907, and the Cuban planters have
had a good year, The total stock of sugar now held in these
ports is estimated at 337,000 tons, against 160,000 tons last
year, and 414,000 tons in 1907.
Useful Data fer Sugar Planters.
Ata meeting of the Barbados Agricultural Society,
held on Friday, May 28 last, the Imperial Commissioner
ot Agriculture read a paper on the subject of Central
Sugar Factories. In order to make clear his arguments,
Dr. Watts brought forward a good deal of useful
data. The following notes; formulae, tables, ete., having
reference to the relationship that exists between the
percentage of fibre in canes, and the yields of juice and
sugar that may be expected under different manufac-
turing conditions, are here reproduced from the paper,
as being of general’ interest and value to sugar
planters :—
Our ideas concerning the composition of canes and the
amount of juice which it is possible to obtain from them may
be rendered much clearer by a very simple formula, which,
although not perfectly accurate, affords approximations that
are sutliciently near for our purpose. The quantity of juice
contained in a cane may be calenlated approximately thus :—
From 100 deduct one and one-third times the percentage of
fibre in the cane. On this assumption we obtain the
following :—
10 percent. of fibre = 86-7 per cent. of juice,
ila ” ” 9 =85°3 m9 ” ”
12 ” ” 390.9 Saar ast SEO xs ” ” ”
13 ” ” yO =82°7 » Oo” ” ”
14 ” ” abe 29) =81:3 ee) ” ”
15 ” ” 99 = 80:0 Mm ” ”
16 ” ” 93) 399 =78°7 yo” ” ”
17 ” ” me =17'3 9-99 ” ”»
A number of experiments have demonstrated that the
ordinary three-roller mill leaves in the megiss from 159 to
180 parts of juice per LOO of fibre, or even more if very poor
work is being done. The megass from a single mill with
a cane splitter contains about 120 to 130. That coming
from a train of iills consisting of a Krajewski cane crusher
and two three-roller mills, in which maceration is effected,
contains from 65 to 70; while the megass coming from
a train of mills consisting of a Krajewski cane crusher and
three three-roller mills employing maceration may be reduced
to a content of 25 to 50.
If we tabulate the results which may be obtained from
various systems of milling as effected on canes of different
fibre contents, we obtain interesting figures :—
| Juice |Juice per LOO of cane
Type of Milling Plant. | pee when fibre content
of tibre of cane 1s :—
in Megass. 10 712 Z 14 Zld 16
z ee
Bad single mill — = 200 16-7 60-0 53-3 50-0/46°7 5
Tah aa 180 |68-7 62-4 56-1 53-0 /49-9
Good ,, Sea 150 171-7 66:0 60-3 57°77 (54-7
Cane splitter and single |
mill — 130 7 \68°4 63:1 |60°5 57-9 |
Krajewskiand two 3-roller | |
mills with maceration — | 70 79° 75°6 71-5 |69°5 67°7 |
Krajewski and three 3
roller mills with iwace- |
Tation, — = | a0 83:7 '80°4177:°1 1753 |73°9
Krajewski and three 3- | |
roller mills with maces | | |
ration, best work =| 25 84°2 81-0 |\77°8 |76°2 |74-7
Total juice in cane =| 0 86°7 84:0 '81°3 [80:0 78 °7 |
— SS
Such a table enables us to realize at once the enormous
influence exerted by the fibre of the cane upon the quantity
of juice which is obtaimable. Thus, a good single mill will
obtain from 71°7 to 54:7 per cent. of juice according as_ the
cane contains from 10 to 16 per cent. of fibre. The table also
enables us to see at a glance the influence, on the crushing, of
the perfection or imperfection of the mills employed.
In order to show the influence of the fibre in the canes,
and the influence of the mill on the number of tons of cane
required to make a ton of sugar, the following table has
been prepared :—
Table showing the tons of cane required to make
1 ton of sugar from canes of different fibre contents
under different milling conditions, assuming juice to
contuin 195 tb. of sucrose per gallon.
Kind of Mill.
Fibre in Canes.
Muscovado. 147 157 16%
Bad single mill — 15:7 14:6 15°6
Hair ,; i 15:0 13°7 14:6
Good ,, i 121 12°6 13°3
Factory (Crystals).
Double crushing
and Krajewski 8:8 wall 9°3
All these figures justify the general conclusion that
under conditions where 135 tons of canes are required to
make a ton of muscovado sugar, a ton of crystals can be
made in a modern factory from 9 tons of canes. If the canes
dealt with are of such a quality that more or less is required
in one case, a corresponding amount more or less will be
required in the other.
JunE 12, 1909.
WEST INDIAN FRUIT.
‘MULGOBA” MANGO AND ‘TRAPP’
AVOCADO.
An interesting communication relating to the
‘“Mulgoba’ mango and the ‘Trapp’ avocado, both of
which are regarded with great favour in Florida, has
been received from Mr. John Belling, B.Se., of the
Agricultural Experiment Station, Gainsville, Fla.
The ‘ Mulgoba *
the East Indian grafted mangos, and extensive groves of it
are being planted in Florida and. Porto Nico. Fruits of the
‘Mulgoba’® variety ship remarkably well, and it is stated
that individual mangos have been sold in New York at as
much as 25c. each, wholesale price.
Budded ‘ Mulgoba ;
be obtained in Florida at
is undoubtedly one of the verv best of
trees, packed in wooden crates, can
s2 each. Inarehed plants are also
Tea ap }
obtainable. tally preferred to those that have
budded, and sell at a somewhat higher price. The
mango region of Florida is confined to the southern portion
of the State.
Of the many excellent varieties of avocado pear grown
These are
been
in Florida, the ‘ Trapp’ is regarded as the choicest. Fruits
of the * Trapp’ avocado are greatly superior to those common-
ly pr xluced in the West Indies. They are shipped to New
York, where prices ranging up to 50c. per pear are
Budded “
large quantities at 51°:
1}: }
reanzed,
rapp’ avocado trees are sold in Florida in
0 each, or 5125 per 100.
LEMON INDUSTRY: OF SICILY.
An interesting and detailed account of the lemon
cultivation industry of Sicily, the harvesting of the
fruit, the preparation of lemon juice, and the manufac-
ture of citrate of lime was prepared by the United
States Consul at Messina just’ previous to the earth-
quake of December last (in which the Consul perished).
This report has lately been published, and the following
notes form an abstract of the chief points :—
The principal lemon-growing districts of Sicily are on
and at
character of the soil hasa great influence
the northern and eastern coasts, chiefly at sea-level
low altitudes. The
upon the maturing and keeping qualities of the fruit, while
adequate manuring, steady irrigation, and proper drainage of
the orchards are all essential factors in the production of
suitable for Fruit
sandy soil is smaller, of a lighter colow,
a good crop. Cl Ly soil is most lemons.
grown on light,
cannot
ripens earlier, be left so long on the trees without
deteri rating, and, in general, does not possess such good
keeping qualities as that grown on a clay soil.
What is known as ‘ Verdelli* lemons are produced early
in the season as the result of peculiar treatinent of the tree.
e lemons command an especially good price.
The trees
yielding them are allowed partially to dry up during the
sumer, water being withheld, and a portion of the root
system laid bare. In September the roots are covered with
a liberal supply of earth and fertilizer, and the trees plenti-
fully ‘ produced in profusion in
October and November, the fruit from which matures in the
] August, when the supply on the market is low,
returns obtained per adult tree vary considerably.
From 500 to 1,200 fruits per annum may be regarded as the
usual yields, but a good deal depends on whether irrigation
can be practised or not. i
rated. Blossoms are
Under the most favourable cireum-
‘es, well developed and vigorous lemon trees in Sicily
wave yleldedas high as i,700 to 2,000 lemons and even
1908 there
pipes of citrate of lime in Sicily
year were produced about 23,000
About 100,000 lemons are
required to make 1 pipe (672 Ib.) of citrate, and it is esti-
that about one-third of the total crop is used in the
of citrate of lime.
lemons has more than doubled
manuriacture
The total prodnetion of
in the past ten years. In
1897-5 there were manufactured 9,500 pipes of citrate of lime
-d with 23,000 pipes in 1907-8. The chief reasons
ts compare
th ccount for this extension of the industry are the im-
proved facilities that have been introduced for irrigation of
1e groves, and for transport of the fruit.
For the first ten years after setting out a plantation, the
spaces between the fruit trees are utilized for the production
Duritt® this period the average profit from
the lemons does not exéeed 518 per acre per annum.
ol minor crops.
There
ywever, a natural increase in the returns from the first
year to the tenth. When a plantation has arrived at maturity,
ind is in full bearing, the average annual expenses per acre
may be taken.as somewhere about 356, and the average
returns at $198, leaving an annual profit of $142. These
figures, however, do no more than illustrate an
average
result, and it would appear that the returns obtained, v ary
very considerably. 3
The lemon trees frequently bear at one time not only
but smaller fruits in all stages of development, and
The lemons are all hand-picked and eare-
ead upon beds of straw, where the stems are removed
eliminary sorting: of the fruit into different grades is
carried out. It is estimated that a crop of 70,000 lemons
cathered at a cost of 7c. per 1,000,
ripe fruit,
ulso blossoms.
fully spr
mda pr
ean be
Vou, Vill. No. 186.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 181
The final grading of the lemons is done at the store-
houses. They are sorted into three classes, the first. compris-
ing naturally the largest and finest fruits, the second contain-
ing the healthy but smaller and Jess fine fruits, while in the
third class are placed the small, deformed, and blemished
fruit. The great bulk of Sicilian lemons are exported to
European countries, i.e., Russia, Germaiy, the United King-
dom, ete.
jt is not necessary to carry out the processes of selection
and grading in the case of lemons used-in the preparation of
juice, citric acid, or citrate of lime. All grades of fruit are
available for these purposes. a
Before the juice is expressed, the lemons are split and
the pulp is scooped out from the peel, the latter being treated
for the extraction of the essential oil it contains. The fruits
are crushed by means of toothed cylinders, the juice being
caught and led off to a vat. About 11 gallons of raw juice
is an average return from 1,000 lemons. A number of
efforts made in the past to preserve the lemon juice without
fermentation have failed, on account of the contained sugar,
but very recently an English firm has established a finely
equipped factory near Messina for putting up, by a special
patented process, pure unaltered lemon juice for the trade.
Formerly large quantities of concentrated lemon juice
were exported from Sicily, but in recent years almost all of
this product is used in the manufacture of citrate of lime.
The manufacture of citrate of lime commenced in Sicily
about fifteen years ago, increasing every year, and in 1907-8,
95 per cent. of the production was exported in this form, and
only 5 per cent. as concentrated juice. The cost of making
citrate is about $7:75 per pipe less than for the same quantity
of juice. Further, a pipe of citrate is produced in two hours,
whereas it takes three days to boil a pipe of juice. The
boiling process carried on for three days causes a considerable
loss in acidity. It is mentioned that it takes ‘120,000 lemons
to make 1 pipe of concentrated juice, while only 100,000
are required to make a pipe of citrate.
Details of the method employed in the mannufac-
ture of citrate of lime in Sicily were supplied to this
Department some two years ago by the British Consul
at Palermo, through the Foreign Office. These were
published in the Agricultural News, Vol. VI, p. 83.
RUBBER CULTIVATION IN BRITISH
GUIANA.
The progress that has of late been madean rnbber
cultivation in British Gniana was summarized by
Professor J. B. Harrison, C.M.G., at a recent meeting
of the Board of Agriculture of the colony.
At the Botanic Gardens, Georgetown, the rubber trees
that have been planted are doing fairly well. These include
Hevea brasiliensis, Castilloa elastica, Sapiun Jenmani,
Manihot Glaziovii, and Manihot piauhyensis.
In the Gardens, as well as at the Issoruru Experiment
Station in the North West, and at the Christianburg Station,
the Department is making special experiments to settle the
question as to whether it is advisable to keep the Jand clean,
or whether it is better to allow the weeds to grow, and to
cut them down at certain intervals. The general opinion
formed by the Department so far is that perfectly clean
weeding is not conducive to the healthy growth of the
species of rubber trees mentioned, and, so far as experiments
have gone, that the trees grow best when the soil is pro-
tected from the direct rays of. the sun, and from heavy rain
by the undergrowth of grass, ete. It is of course advisable
to keep an area immediately around the young trees clear of
all weeds. Special experiments are in progress with the
object of thoroughly investigating this matter. Probably
the growth of certain species of leguminous plants beneath
the rubber trees would be most advantageous.
The North West Rubber Station at Issoruru is being
gradually extended. The two kinds Sapium Jenmani and
Hevea brasiliensis are chiefly grown at Issoruru, but
Castilloa elastica, Funtuinia edastica, and two varieties of
Manihot lately received from Kew are also being tried.
Altogether about 5,000 rubber trees cf various kinds are
planted at this station.
Some useful information has already been obtained in
regard to the modes of growth of Sapium Jenmani and
Hevea brasiliensis, and the proper treatment that should be
given them when under cultivation, as the result of the experi-
mental work that has been done. Land on which these two
kinds of rubber are planted should be fairly well drained,
and they will not grow on land subject to flooding. Another
important point to be borne in mind is that planting under
forest shade is absolutely fatal to the growth of both the
Sapium and the Hevea.
Near the Issoruru Station are the very extensive rubber
plantations of Mr. David Young, and of Messrs. Farnum and
Smyth. From 30,000 to 40,000 rubber trees (Heves and
Sapium) have been planted by Mr. Young, while on the other
plantation from 16,000 to 18,090 trees are growing. In
both cases the rubber trees are doing remarkably weil, and
offer a useful object lesson to persons who may think of
starting rubber planting.
‘The total area under- rubber cultivation in the North
West Territory is about 418 acres. The services of the
otiicers of the Agricultural Department are taken full
advantage of by those who have made a start in the industry.
Another rubber experiment station, about 20 acres in
extent, exists at Bonasica. This contains some sixty trees of
Sapium Jenmani, of different ages and sizes, the larger
being from 6 to 7 feet in circumference. Experiments in
tapping, collecting the Jatex, and preparing the rubber, are
carried on at Bonasica, and specimens of the Sapium product
here prepared have been valued in London as equal in
quality to the best Hevea rubber from Ceylon.
At Christianburg on the Demerara river 15 acres were
cleared in 1908, and of this area, 10 acres have been planted
experimentally with rubber trees under the direction of the
Department of Agriculture. Trees of Hevea brasiliensis
formed the chief kind planted.
In addition to the cultivations mentioned, about 550
acres of rubber have been planted in Demerara during the
past few years.
Between 70,000 and 80;000 plants of Hevea brasiliensis
have been sold from the Botanic Gardens in the past two
years. In 1908 the value of the young rubber plants raised
was about $15,000.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left
Barbados by the R.M.S. ‘ Esk’ on June 8, for an official
visit to St. Lucia. Dr. Watts is expected to return to
the Head Office on Tuesday, June 15.
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JUNE 12; 19092
WEST IN
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland, of Liverpool,
writing under date of May 24 last, report as follows on
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : —
Since Jast mail from 300 to 350 bags ef West Indian
Sea Island cotton have been sold at firm prices. The sales
include Anguilla, 14d. ; Antigna, 134d. and 14d. ; Mont-
serrat, 124d. and 134d. ; Nevis and St. Kitt’s, 13d. and
133d. ; St. Martin, 133d. and 14d.; Virgin Islands, 13d. ;
and St. Vincent, 16d.
Although there has been rather too much rain in the
Carolina district, there is plenty of time for the crop to
recover, and we expect the acreage will be a fair average
one.
PERUVIAN GUANO.
In reference to the article entitled ‘ Guano
appearing in the Agricultural News of April 3 last
(page 105), a correspondent draws attention to the
remark contained therein : ‘In passing, it may be said
that the best Peruvian guano deposits have been
exhausted.’ his is strictly correct, having in mind
the old Chincas deposits, but our correspondent sug-
gests that the sentence is partially misleading, in that
it leaves the reader to infer that there are no longer
any high-grade guano deposits, whereas stocks of
Peruvian guano are now obtainable on the market,
which analyse 12 per cent. and over of ammonia.
CENTRAL SUGAR FACTORY AT VERE,
JAMAICA.
A new series of the Bulletin of the Jamaica Depart-
ment of Agriculture has just been started under the
editorship of Mr. HH. Cousins, M.A., Director of
Agriculture. Part 1 of Vol. I has just come to hand,
and contains the following brief, but interesting
account of the Central Sagar Factory at Morelands,
the property of the Vere Estates, Ltd. :—
The largest sugar enterprise that has been launched in
Jamaica since the Brussels Convention put fresh courage
into the hearts of the West Indian sugar planters is that of
Vere Estates, Ltd. Hillside and Raymonds estates, together
with Morelands, formed the initial basis of the combination,
with 1,000 aeres of cane in cultivation.
A total area of 9,560. acres of land, and wharf acecommo-
dation at Salt River represent the scope of the concern, and
already a large extent of new lands has been planted in canes.
The railway system connects all the fields with the
factory, and this again with the, wharf on the Salt River,
from which the produce is despatched by boat.
The upper waters of the Salt River are fresh, and
evidently result from the. overflow of an enormous subter-
ranean catchment in the limestone hill, to the north of the
plains. The possibilities of utilizing this water for the
irrigation of the Vere lands are now receiving the attention
of the leading proprietors, and there is no doubt at all that
the project is feasible and bound to succeed, if the necessary
capital were forthcoming.
The results obtained by Mr. T. H. Sharp at Angels
estate, in lifting water for irigation by an American
centrifugal pump show that pumping is far less costly than
had been anticipated by experts in Jamaica, and that there
are great possibilities for the development of our arid plains
by suitable systems of pumping the underflow for purposes
of irrigation.
The factory at Morelands is the most complete and
efficient yet established in Jamaica. The machinery was
made by the Harvey Engineering Company, and the neatness
and compactness of the installation reflect great credit on
the engineer,
A distillery has been erected which is a model of cleanli-
ness and convenience. An enormous output of clean rum
with a light, aromatic flavour can be relied on here with
good management. The price of rum being now so favour-
able, it is very wise to devote great attention to the distillery,
and this department should greaily strengthen the industrial
position of the factory.
CACAO PRODUCTION IN BAHIA, BRAZIL.
The Brazilian State of Bahia possesses extensive
areas of some of the most fertile lands in the republic,
and it would appear that on those lands the Bahian
planters are finding cacao cultivation a very profitable
industry. The British Consul at Bahia lately furnished
the following particulars :—
Tt is estimated that about 40,000 acres are under cacao
cultivation in the State, and that some 10,000,000 trees are
in bearing. In 19078 the total output of cacao reached
25,000 metric tons. About 250 trees are planted per acre,
and the average yield per tree may be taken as abont 5:5 Ib.
of dried beans. With the exercise of more intelligent care
and attention there is little doubt that this average could be
largely increased, since the product of one well known and
carefully cultivated plantation averages over 13 Ib. per tree
per season,
During the past few years some attempts have been
made to replace the older method of drying the cacao beans
in the sun by a system in which artificial heat is used.
These efforts have béon satisfactory in that the cacao dried
by artificial means is superior and more regular in colour,
and also fetches a higher price on the market. The introdue-
tion of the system is, however, expensive, and so far it has
been adopted only by*a few wealthy planters.
Brazil, as’ a whole, furnishes at the present time some-
thing over one-fifth of the world’s supply of cacao, Of that
proportion, the State of Bahia contributes over SO per cent. ;
hence it will be seen that this State occupies a position of
considerable importance in the cacao markets of the world.
The output from Bahia has increased from 14,000 metric
tons in 1901-2, to 25,182 tons in 1907-8, and to 27,000
tons (estimated) in 1908-9. This cacao is largely exported
to the United States, Germany, and France. The United
Kingdom also takes a proportion.
The advance it the Bahian output of cacao has been
especially marked in the past three years, and the Consul
Vor. VIILT. No: 186.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
expresses it as his opinion that the' rate of increase will be
maintained in the future. The area of land in the State
suitable for the cultivation of cacao is practically unlimited
in extent, and the conditions are highly favourable for good
growth.
A great drawback to the development of the industry
at present is the lack of facilities for transport. No railway
exists in any part of the cacao area of Bahia, and the roads
throughout the district are very poor. As a result, transport
of cacao and other produce is a very costly affair. Many
planters pay as much as 4s. for the carriage of every bag
(132 1b.) of cacao from the plantation to the port of shipment.
Moreover, the exposure and rough handling to which the
cacao 1s subjected en route have the effect of ‘depreciating the
quality of the article to an extent which seriously lessens its
market value.
SUGGESTED CACAO SPRAYING
EXPERIMENTS AT TRINIDAD.
Jn order to obtain accurate results upon which to
base recommendations for the use of fungicides in
cacao cultivation, the Mycologist to the Sniniel id Board
of Agriculture (Mr. J. Birch Rorer) has drawn up
a scheme of cacao sprayig experiments, which was
recently submitted to the Board for approval. This
scheme includes experiments in which insecticides are
also to be used, both alone, and combination with
the fungicides
For the work which it is proposed to undertake, a block
of 800 cacao trees in good bearing, located in i a district where
diseases are prevalent, will be require sd. The trees should be
in good condition so far as pruning and culture are concerned,
and should be in fertile soil, so that they will be able to
mature a good crop of pods.
For purposes of experiment, the 800 cacao trees will be
divided into forty plots, each containing twenty trees. Thirty-
six plots will be sprayed, and the remaining four will be left
unsprayed as control plots.
The thirty-six plots to be sprayed are divided into six
classes (each class containing six plots), and each class is to
be treated with a different spraying mixture. Thus the first
six plots are to be treated with Bordeanx mixture, the second
lot with Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead, the third
with self-boiled lime and sulphur, the fourth with commercial
lime and sulphur, the fifth with arsenate of lead and lime,
and the sixth class with contact insecticides.
In addition to the question of the relative value of the
different spraying mixtures, the experiment is also designed
to investigate, in the case of all the mixtures, the influence’ of
the frequeney with which spraying is carried out. The six
plots in every class are to. be treated with the same
mixture, but the frequency with which the six plots are
sprayed will vary from two to eight weeks.
The amount of cacao gathered from each plot through-
out the year will be recorded, and an accurate account of the
cost of spraying will be kept. The beneficial or injurious
effect of the mixtures upon pods, trees and flowers will be
noted. No results of the experimental work are to be
published for at least one year.
In these experiments the Board of Agriculture will
furnish all spraying apparatus, mixing plant, and materials
for the work, but the Jabour required for the spraying
operations would be supplied by the owner of the estate on
which the work was done.
GROWTH OF PALMS.
The rate of growth of palms forms the subject. of
an interesting article in the March number of the
Indian Forester.
It is observed that in the ease of all palms, whether betel,
date, palmyra, etc., a fresh leaf-bud was formed every month,
so that the development of twelve leaves every year appeared
to be constant. Reckoned on this basis, a palmyra palm would
attain a height of about 28 feet in a century, and would not
reach maturity for 300 years. i
Palms develop the full thickness of the stem Lelow
ground before they throw up the aerial shoot; the time
required for the palmyra appears to vary from about four
to twenty years.
It is suggested that increase in thickness, being caused
by the expansion of the soft central tissue, continues so long
as the vascular tissue of the leaf-sheaths can extend, and
this varies with the nature of the soil.
AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN
PRIMARY SCHOOLS AT ST. LUCIA.
Agriculture was taught as a special subject at
nineteen out of the fifty-one primary schools which
were in existence at St. Lucia at the close of 1908,
Last year, for the first time, it was arranged that the
annual examinations in this subject, together with the
inspection of school gardens should be conducted by
an otticer of the Agricultural Department, and accord-
ingly, Mr. VT. Worm, Agricultural Instructor, carried
out the work. The report on agricultural instruction
in the island is included in the Annual Report (1908)
of the Education Department of St. Lucia.
While evidently being done at a few
schools, the report suggests that one or two modifications
might be made which might tend to increase the utility of
the teaching given. It is pointed out that the scheme of
teaching followed varied considerably in nature and scope,
and that the adoption of a more uniform scheme would be
advantageous.
Most of the schools at which agricultural teaching is
viven possess g garden plots, but these” are wanting in other
instances. Reference is made to the useful object-lessons
that can be carried out by the aid of boxes and pots, where
no garden plots are available.
good work is
Ina few instances the school gardens at St. Lucia are
being put to good es but the Agric ultural Superintendent
of the island (Mr. ', Moore) points out that for the plots
to be of the gre eatest: use in alding the children to comprehend
the lessons given in the school-room, it is important that
they should “be exclusively devoted to the production and
cultivation of plants for some definite purpose in connexion
with the illustration of such lessons. Merely to fill the
gardens with a collectionof plants, or to grow one er two
edible products 1s not sufticient.
o
coe
The schools which did best in agriculture were Forestiere
(100 per cent. of total marks), Castries Anglican Juvenile
(93°3 per cent. of total marks), and Laborie Boys, (80 per
cent. of total marks). Then follow Dennery Boys’ La Grace
(Laborie), Saltibus Juvenile, and Riviere Dorée Anglican.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June‘ 12, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, 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 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agni cultural.
Vou. VIII.
stews
1909. Nee
SATURDAY,
JUNE 12,
186.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial discusses the question of the proper
treatment of soils under ‘ orchard ’ cultivation, Le., the
growth of limes, cacao, rubber, ete.
Some useful data for sugar planters, having refer-
ence to the relationship that exists between the
percentage of fibre in canes, and the yields of juice and
sugar that may be expected under different manufac-
turing conditions, are given on page 179.
An article giving particulars of the lemon industry
of Sicily appears on page 180.
Rubber cultivation is progressing satisfactorily in
British Guiana (page 181).
The Brazilian State of Bahia possesses an extensive
cacao industry. It is proposed to start a useful series
of cacao spraying experiments at ‘Trinidad (pp. 182-3).
A brief, but interesting article on the subject of
the fungous parasites of scale insects will be found on
page 186.
Some investigations on
orange and mango, «
on page 187,
the
re reviewed
polye Eee in
earried out in Florida, :
‘Hints to Cotton Growers.’
A helpful little leaflet, prepared by Mr. W. C.
Fishlock, and entitled ‘Hints to Cottou Growers in
the Virgin Islands,’ has just been issued by this
Department. It is written in very simple language,
being specially angeied to the peasant cultivators of
Tortola, although it refers to several points of interest
to cotton growers im general.
The best districts fur cotton growing at Tortola
are in the south ofthe island, and the most suitable
time for planting isin the months of June and July;
asa rule no cotton should be planted after the end of
August. Attention is drawn to the evil results which
follow the practice of planting a few cotton seeds at any
time of the year when a plot of Jand is available. By
this means the spread of insect and fungus pests is
greatly encouraged.
The methods of cotton cultivation are described,
and emphasis is laid upon the 1 importance of keeping the
plots clean weeded, and of maint: uning a surface mainen
of loose soil during dry weather. Other sections of the
leaflet deal with picking, grading, and drying of cotton.
Growers are advised to apply to the Experiment
Station for advice and help immediately any symptoms
of attack from insects or fungus diseases show
themselves.
SS
Interesting Pasture Grass at St. Lucia.
Some time ago specimens of an unrecognized
species of grass were forwarded to this Department,
with a request for identification, by the Hon. E.
Du Boulay, of St. Lucia. Mr. Du Boulay had obtained
plants of the grass in question from Guadeloupe, where
1b 18 supposed to have been propagated by means of
seeds contained in a consignment of hay from America.
It proved to be an excellent fodder, and Mr. Da Boulay
Was anxious to ascertain the name in order that a good
supply of seed might be obtained from the country or
district in which it natur: uly oecurs.
The specimens sent could not be recognized as
belonging to any species of grass previously found in
the West Indies. Fresh s sample s were therefore obtained
and forwarded to Kew, where the grass was identified
as Andropogon CMa ue: iby a grass W hose ni atural
habitat ranges from northern tropical Africa to China
and Australia. According to Duthie’s ‘ Fodder Grasses
of Northern India, Andropogon annulatus is con-
sidered as a fairly good fodder, and is largely utilized
in the north of Hindustan.
The would therefore appear to be worth
cultiv: ating on a fairly extensive scale, and probably it
could be ‘extensively: propagated from the supply. of
plants already existing at St. Lneia and Guadeloupe.
It will be noted that Andropogon cvinulatus is
nearly allied to the Antigua hay grass (A.
and Barbados ‘sour grass’ (A. pertusus).
are extremely useful fodder plants. The hay grass was
originally introduced into these parts from the East
Indies, and in Antigua has spread rapidly, displacing
other grasses.
gr ass
cCaricosus),
Both these
Vou. VIII. No. 186.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
185
Steamed Bone Meal.
Steamed bone meal is an excellent phosphatic
manure, containing a high percentage of phosphate of
lime (about 60 per cent.) and a small quantity of
nitrogen (about 1°6 per cent.). The phosphate is, how-
ever, ‘alli in an insoluble condition, and—hke most other
manures—it must be used with due consideration of
the land and the crops, if its effect'is to be profitable.
It is hardly to be recommended on heavy land, except
for such permanent crops as grass or fruit trees. All
manures decay slowly—and all insoluble manures work
slowly—on heavy soils, so that the gradual effect pro-
duced by bone weal on these soils is frequently not
appreciable to the ordinary cultivator. On sandy soils
or light loams requiring phosph: utes, steamed bone meal
works well, but an improvement in the crop is more
often seen when a dressing of potash is also applied
at the same time. Phosphates do not appear to be
necessary for the sugar-cane crop, but frequently give
good results with fruit trees.
a —
Steam Cultivation at Jamaica.
Steam cultivation has been Introduced into Jamaica
on the property of the Vere Estates Company, the
plant having been supplied by Messrs. Fowler & Co.,
of Leeds, England, A note on this subject, together
with illustration, appears in the Bulletin of the Jamaica
Department of Agriculture, Vol. I, No. 1 (New Series).
The introduction of steam cultivation on land for
the first time is a matter which always demands a good
deal of previous consideration as to whether the soil
is of a nature to benefit by this method of treatment.
In many cases great harm has been done as the result
of ploughing too deeply and burying the normal soil
beneath sour, infertile subsoil, which is brought to the
top. But it is believed that the fine stretches of deep
alluvial land at Vere are eminently adapted for cultiva-
tion by steam power.
As was found to be the case at Antigua, where
steam tillage is employed on one or two estates, some
ditticulty is being experienced with the trash on the
surface, which it is at present found necessary to burn
before the implements will work properly. This is
a serious matter in connexion with the fertility of cane
lands. Some progress has been made at Antigua in
this connexion, and it is hoped that at Jamaica it may
be possible to modify the implements in such a way as
to render them cap: able of dealing with heavy surface
dressings of trash.
DO ee
Soy Fean in Manchuria.
Reports on the agriculture of Manchuria show that
the two chief crops grown are millet (Sorghum vulgare),
and the soy (or soja) bean (Glycine hispida). The
latter is acrop that has been grown in Eastern Asia
from very early times, and has of late years spread
westward. Soy beans form a prominent article of diet
among the Manchurians, large quantities are exported
(in fact this article heads the list of exports in point
of value), and the green bush is an important fodder
plant. The beans contain an oil which, when expressed,
is used for household purposes in China. The residual
bean cake.is exported to Japan, where it is employed
as a fertilizer. In the year 1907, sov beans and bean
cake were exported from China to the value of
39,860,790.
The soy bean is grown in the cotton belt of the
United States with considerable suecess. It is under-
stood that this plant is also under investigation at
Antigua, in order to ascertain the suitability of the
beans as an article of food, its usefulness as a green
dressing crop, and for improving the soil under West
Indian conditions. The bean plants are small but erect,
and give a good weight of green bush when grown
under suitable conditions.
$$
Fungus Disease of Funtumia Tree.
A new ‘canker’ disease, affecting the rubber tree
Funtumia elastica has been observed in Uganda, and
is described in the Avew Bulletin (No 3, 1909). The
primary cause of injury is found to be a species of
Nectria. The trees are attacked in the trunk, at
a point from 4 to 6 feet above the ground, and the
diseased area may spread to a considerable extent. As
the disease progresses, the bark increases very much in
thickness, and becomes much cracked and rugged, pre-
senting the appearance of large wounds caused by the
disease known as ‘Slime Flux.’
This disease somewhat resembles the cacao
canker’ of Ceylon, also caused by a species of Nectria.
It causes little injury to the rubber tree, but no latex
is obtained from the portions of the tree which are
attacked. Spread of the disease would probably be
prevented by cutting out the affected areas, and coating
over the wounds with tar.
TT
Irrigation at Barbados.
In referring to the question of irrigation on
Jamaica sugar-cane estates, the Agricultural Reporter,
published at Bridgetown, recently mentioned an
Instance in which an attempt in this direction at
Barbados has been attended with beneficial results.
This is on Sandy Lane estate, the property of Messrs.
Thorne & Son, in the parish of St. James. The crop-
yielding capacity of the estate has been greatly
improved in the past few vears by the irrigation of the
fields with water pumped from a well situated about
S-mile from the shore. By means of a force-pump
driven by a suction gas engine, the water is driven
up toa height of about 40 feet above the pumping
station, and from thence it is distributed over all the
lower fields of the estate by means of pipes and gutters
of various descriptions.
The vigorous condition of the crops at Sandy
Lane—even in very dry weather—should be an incentive
to other estate owners in certain districts of the island,
to consider whether it would not be possible to organize
a similar system of irrigation on their own property.
186
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 12, 1909.
Edy)
ws.
INSECT NOTES.
Scale Insects ots and Fungi.
Limes and other citrus fruits in the West Indies
are persistently attacked by scale insects ; and at times,
nnd in certain localities, the citrus white fly also
appears
While it is true that on certain estates the trees are
sprayed and other remedial measures carried out, it is also
true, on many estates, that no efforts are made by the manage-
ment for the control of scale insects. Yet these insects occur
year after year without becoming sutticiently abundant to kall
the trees. The reason for this is, that the natural enemies of
the scales keep them in check. Knowing this, it remains for
us to consider which are the most useful of the natural
enemies of the scales, and what are the most favourable
conditions for the best development of these natural enemies.
The natural enemies of scale insects are of two general
kinds: parasitic insects, and parasitic fungi. While some of
the insect parasites of scales in the West Indies are known,
no method has yet been devised by means of which an exten-
sive use can be made of them ina practical way. With the
fungoid parasites, however, it is somewhat different. Our
knowledge concerning the West Indian forms is at present
somewhat scanty, but a systematic study of the question is
now in progress. A useful amount of work has been done in
other countries, and, thanks to the efforts of the officials of the
Experiment Station in Florida, the lines are known along
which experiments may be tried with a likelihood of success.
It is generally recognized that fungi asa rule require
moisture for their development, and this is true of the fungi
parasitic on scales. When limes are covered with Bengal
beans Agricultural News, Vol. VIL, p. 154), the air
contained under the canopy of bean vines is kept moist.
This would be of the greatest importance in the growth of
fungi in dry localities where, under the ordinary conditions,
they would not be able to make rapid development, and
it appears highly probable that the usefulness of the covering
of Bengal beans is largely dependent on this fact.
In Florida several fungi are known as parasites of the
scale and white fly, and they are being used in a_ practical
way. In the West Indies there are probably quite as many,
Int they are not all known, Lavestigations in this direction
are however in progress.
The red-headed fungus (Spherostilbe coccophila) which
attacks the purple scale (Mytilaspis citricola) and the orange
and a grayish fungus which
(see
snow scale (Chionaspis citr?),
was attacking scales on, limes, were reported from
Dominica in 1903 (see Agricultural News, Vol. 11, p. 232).
These and other similar species of fungi are known to occur
in several islands, and exist perhaps in all. In addition, it
is likely that there are several fungous not yet
recognized, which attack scale insects, and which will quickly
Bn so the attention of the planter
is directed to this kind of useful organisin.
The red-headed fungus is abnndant in Dominiea, and it
probably occurs in the other islands of the West Indies, more
moisture under
also
parasites
become SOOM as
or Jess in proportion to the conditions of
which the trees grow.
This fungus attacks the purple or mussel scale princi-
ally, and the orange snow scale slightly. It can often be
” _ =! = 7
seen growing on and among the scales on the trunk and
limbs of the trees, although it is frequently present and
accomplishing a considerable amount of good when it cannot
be seen.
When seen, however, it appears in the form of irregular
pustules, reddish in colow and ranging from very small
points up to the size of a pin’s head. ‘hey are not
ditticult to distinguish. A small reddish mite is of frequent
occurrence among these scales, and may be mistaken for the
fungus ; but by careful observation one may quickly learn to
distinguish the one from the other.
The green shield scale (Lecantum viride),
shield scale (Lecantum hemisphericum), and similar scales
are often attacked by a whitish fungus, which may be
detected by the fact that these scales often leave a whitish
mark on leaf or bark when they are removed. This whitish
appearance is often due to the presence of a fungus, which is
parasitic on the scale.
When it is desired to locate the parasitic fungi on scale
insects, one should first visit localities where the scales have
been abundant for some time without having become destrue-
tive, or where serious outbreaks of scales have checked their
rapid development without apparent cause, and have subsided.
The probability is that the natural enemies of the scales
have been at work. in these places and that they can be
found there. It is desirable to locate these places as sources
from which these beneficial parasites can be obtained for
study or experiment.
the brown
It is proposed in the next number of the Agri-
cultural News to suggest ways iu which the value of
ieee natural enemies may tried ona practical scale.
SUBSTITUTE FOR LIGNUM VITAE.
The New Bulletin (No 9. 3, 1909) summarizes an
account which appeared in a late number of the
Indian Forester of a substitute for the Lignum vitae
(Guaidcum officinale) of the West Indies. The new
called ‘Mancono’ (Nunthustemon Verdugo-
and is found in considerable abundance in
uorth-eastern Mandanao, Philippine Islands.
wood 1s
NIANUS),
The wood is said to be so heavy and hard that it is most
difficult to cut, and the splitting of a log is almost impossible.
According to Mr. Dunlap of the Bureau of Forestry for the
P hilippine Islands, it, grows along steep slopes beaches,
where it can be shipped by water transportation, and as it is
only required for use in short lengths, the work can all be
clone in the forests. The wood of the ‘ Mancono’ tree, even
in the tropics, is practically indestructible, and is not attacked
by white ants. Many of the Filipinos of the Southern
islands use the logs for posts and ground timbers
The heartwood of the tree 1s uniformly reddish-black,
but aftera number of years of seasoning it turns a_ black
walnut colour. Like all Philippine woods, it takes a fine
polish.
The wood is of such density that it sinks in water, so
that the logs have to be rafted between native boats to keep
them on the surface of the water when being taken to the
steamer,
This wood has been used as a substitute for Lignum
vitae at the UnitedStates Naval Station, Cavite, Philippine
Islands, and has been pronounced a success after a ‘year’s
trial. Iv has also been satisfactorily tested in the shipyard
of the Bureau of Navigation, Manila.
near
Vor. VIII. No. 186.
.THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 187
SCIENCE NOTES.
‘On the Production of more than one Seedling
from a Single Seed of the Orange or Mango.
In the Report of the Florida Experiment Station
for 1908, Mr. J. Belling. B.Sc, gives an interesting
account of some new work conducted by him on the
henomenon known as polyembryony in the case of
) youy
certain varieties of orange aud mango, more particu-
larly of mango.
Briefly, the facts implied by this “term are as follows.
When the seeds of such varieties of mango and orange are
planted, it is found that more than one seedling will develop
from each seed, as many as nine being sometimes formed.
Moreover, there is a further fact of considerable interest in
connexion with the young plants so obtained. Where the
seed has been produced by crossing two varieties of orange,
it is often found that only one seedling shows any characters
In common with the paternal parent, while all the others
resemble the mother plant only. Or it may even happen
that all the seedlings resemble the maternal parent only.
Thus one true hybrid alone can be formed. As will be
explained liter, this has an important bearing on the produc-
tion of plants of good varieties from seed rather than by
budding.
For a complete understanding of the question, a slight
knowledge of the general structure of the ovule or unfertil-
ized seed is necessary.
The young seed before fertilization consists of a small
more or less egg-shaped lump of tissue, known as the nucellus,
which is borne on a short stalk, and by which it is attached
to the ovary wall, and completely surrounded by two coats,
known as the inner and outer énteguiments respectively. » The
integuments almost entirely cover the nucellus leaving only
a stuall hole at the end opposite the stalk. This hole is
known as the micropyle, and through it the long pollen tube,
which grows out from the pollen grain, is able to enter the
ovuie for purposes of fertilization.
In the centre of the nucellus isa large cell or
known as the embryo-sae, which contains the female
ovum.
The whole is enclosed in a capsule of soft green tissue
known as the ovary, which may contain one or many seeds.
The pollen tube already referred to, grows out from the pollen
grain, passes down the style of the female flower through the
wall as the ovary, and into the micropyle. Finally it grows
through the tissue of the nucellus and enters the embryo-sac.
The male cell passes downthis tube and fuses with the egg
cell or ovum inside the embryo-sac. ™
The effects of this fusion are twofold.
the fertilized female cell to ee and grow, so that it forms
the embryo, and eventually the young plant : ; and secondly, it
gives a general stimulus to the ovary and ovule, causing them
he le Ww
cell or
First, if causes
to develop into the fruit and seed. This is the course of
events in the normal case.
In the abnormal case considered in this article, as
presented by the orange and mango, the additional or adven-
titious embryos develop from certain cells of the nucellus
bordering on the embryo-sac near the micropylav end. They
appear to develop as a resnlt of the stimulus of fertilization
in most cases, but the male generative cell takes no part
whatever in their formation. They simply arise by the
growth of one cell of the mother plant and are comparable
with any other method of vegetative reproduction, such as
the formation of suckers or the growth of cuttings, or buds.
The male parent has absolutely no direct part in their
growth. Consequently one. would expect that such seedlings
formed from the nucellus of the female parent would breed
true to that parent and carry on its characters with the
minimum of variation. In other words, such adventitious
seedlings should behave exactly like buds or grafts, and, in
gardening parlance, ‘ breed true.’
Curators of Botanic Stations and others interested in
general questions of agriculture might find it of interest to
investigate what West Indian varieties of mango and orange
will produce adventitious embryos and which will not. This
could easily be done by sowing some 50 or 100 seeds of each
of several varieties. and observing if any seed gave more than
one seedling ; and if so, how many more. The seeds must of
course be sown separately.
For those interested in more advanced work, one or two
other points present themselves.
It would be of interest to determine if the adventitious
embryos can always be relied upon to breed true. This might
be determined by planting some twenty-five seeds of a known
variety of orange or mango and taking careful notes of the num-
ber of seedlings arising from each seed and the general appear-
ance of the young plants, and comparing them with the
parent. The plants might be kept until the fruit formed, and
this might also be compared with the parent. It must always
be borne in mind, however, that one seedling is normal in any
group arising from one seed, and consequently will not ‘ breed
true.” If only one seedling is produced from each seed it will
be the normal one, and it is useless to proceed with the
experiment on such a variety.
Having determined that the seedlings of a given variety
breed true, further experiments might be undertaken to
determine if it is cheaper to rear such a variety from seed or
by budding.
It would also be of interest to determine by emaseula-
tion, if any varieties of mango, such as No. 11, as suggested
by Mr. Belling, will produce adventitious embryos, without
being fertilized at all, or if the stimulus of fertilization is
necessary to incite their growth. This is suggested by the
fact that in certain varieties adventitious embryos alone are
formed, the hybmd failing to appear altogether when the
seeds germinate.
RICK IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The fortnightly rice report, dated May 28 last, of
Messrs. Sandbach, Parker, & Co. of Georgetown,
contains the following :—
The weather during the fortnight has not been very
favourable for milling, though sufticiently dry to allow of
a moderate quantity of rice being cleaned and shipped to
town. Several days ef heavy rain were experienced during
this and last week. These were needed to allow of the
October to December rice crop being planted, and to establish
young cultivations, and labourers are busy in all districts,
getting plants into the fields that have been already ploughed.
Prices ave the same as last advised, viz., 34°30 to 54-40
per bag of 180 Ib. gross.
Stocks are not very large, and we expect tu see better
prices shortly, as with the wet season now on, and the
consequent smal] deliveries to town during the next few
months, there should be a better local demand.
Shipments to the West Indian islands during the fort-
night ameunt to about 2,800 bags, principally for Barbados
and Trinidad.
188 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JUNE 12, 1909.
ee
ZN aa =
Se _——~ Le
GLEANINGS.
During the year ended March 31 Jast, 14,277,300
bunches of bananas were exported-from Jamaica, as compared
with 13,950,767 bunches in 1907-8.
A letter from Mr. J. Maginley appeared in the Colonizer
for May last, in which attention is drawn to the opportunity
that exists at Antigua for the establishment of one or two
central sugar factories.
The Governor of the Gold Coast has reported to the
Colonial Office that the cacao crop of the colony for 1908
amounted to 28,545,910 Ib., as compared with 21,744,000 lb.
in 1907. (Loard of Trade Journal.)
The British Cotton Growing Association recently made
a donation of £15 to the Jamaica Agricultural Society in
order to supplement the grant of £10 lately allotted by the
Soziety for cotton experiments this yew.
The Acting Agricultural Superintendent, Grenada,
reports that four Para rubber trees (/fevea brasiliensis) at
the Botanic Station are likely to yield a fair quantity of seed
in the near future. There is a good demand for this seed
at Grenada.
From the commencement of the season up to June 4,
there have been shipped from Barbados 5,258 tons of sugar,
and 42,242 puncheons of molasses, as against 16,492 tons of
sugar, and 32,040 puncheons of molasses exported to the
same date last year.
The Leeward Islands’ Gazette of May 29 last contained
a notice to the effect that up to June 30 next, a sum of Id.
would be paid for the dead body of each male mungoose, and
3d. for the body of cach female mungoose, delivered at the
Police Station, Antigua.
The sugar returns from Java show a considerable increase
in the output. In 1908, there were produced 1,338,455 tons
of si 1907, and
the past year, some 176
(U. S. Consular Reports.)
igar, as compared with 1,282,705 tons in
525 tons in 1906. During
sugar mills have been in operation.
The report for 1908 on the Sugar Experiment Station
at Audubon Park, that a number of
cane loaders of which public trials were made in past years
at the Station have for the past two seasons been actively
employed in the cane fields of the State. ‘Chey have been
of great assistance, and have effected considerable economy.
Louisiana, mentions
Messrs. Rose & Co., of Dominica, are now offering 3s.
per barrel for limes and 53d. per gallon for raw lime juice.
A shipment of close upon 4,000 barrels of green limes was
despatched from Roseau for New York on May 28 last, by
the Quebec liner ‘ Korona.’ (Dominica Guardian.)
The total sum realized at the annual sale of live stock
held by the British Guiana Board of Agriculture in February
last was $972°50, the expenses being $97°85. A pure-bred
Shorthorn bull, two years old, was lately imported from the
United States by the Board. This promises to be a very
satisfactory animal. Its total cost (including importation
expenses) was $303°19.
According toa paper recently read before the Society
of Arts by Mr. John T’erguson, the cacao area of Ceylon has
increased from 300 acres in 1878 to some 29,000 acres at
the present time. The districts in which the cacao is grown
are chiefly around and north of Kandy. The area under
spices (chiefly cardamoms), which was 1,200 acres in 1880,
was now 8,500 acres.
A new record in butter-fat production lately
created by the achievement at the Cornell T'niversity
Experiment Station of a Holstein cow ‘2nd’s Homstead.’
This animal gave a yield of 28-44 Ib. of butter-fat, equal to-
35°55 Ib. of commercial butter, in seven days. The milk of
Holstein cows does not contain a large percentage of fat, so
that this represents a very high milk-yielding capacity.
Was
A writer in arm Life deprecates the general use of
tonics and for poultry. When the birds are
moulting, or at other times when a tonic is needed, a little
iron is the best thing to give. This should be prepared by
adding 3-lb. of sulphate of iron and three drops of sulphuric
acid to a quart of water. The mixture should be kept in
a glass or wooden vessel, and about a tablespoonful given in
each quart of drinking*water.
spices
Reports from Jamaica state that American capitalists are
interesting themselves in the project of extending the cassava
starch industry in the island. Investigations and enquiries
have lately been made in two parishes at Jamaica with
a view to establishing factories for the treatment of the cassava
roots, and it is suggested that a considerable proportion of
the starch required in the textile industries of the United
States may ultimately be imported from Jamaica.
Attention is drawn by the, United States Consul at
Port-au-Prince to the great capacity of extensive areas of
land in Haiti for the production of such crops as fruit,
coffee, sugar, and cacao. An average Haitian cotfee crop is
about 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 tb., and the product is of
high quality. It is stated that this yield could be greatly
augmented if proper attention were given to the transplanting
and care of the trees.
An article in the Avimcultural Bulletin of the Federated
Malay States (April 1909) brietly discusses the question of
clean weeding versus the growth of weeds under permanent
crops such as rubber, cacao and limes. A plant which is
stated to have been found suitable for growing under rubber
is Lephrosia purpurea. This belongs to the Leguminosae.
When full-grown this plant is from 5 to 6 feet high, and of
a spreading habit. Many species of
Jamaica and other West Indian islands.
Ti phivosia oceur in
Vou. VIII. No. 186. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
189
STUDENTS CORNER.
JUNE.
Mippie Pertop.
Seasonal Notes.
During the manufacture of sugar, students should note
carefully how much lime is needed per LOO gallons to effect
the proper clarification of the juice, and in what condition—
slightly acid, slightly alkaline, or neutral—the juice is
concentrated.
The importance of cleanliness in boiling-house operations
should be fully appreciated, since by care in this direction
the risk of deterioration of sugar and molasses on storage, in
consequence of bacterial or fungoid infection, is greatly
minimised.
The simple methods used in chemical control of sugar
houses, such as the use of the hydrometer, and the simple use
of the polarimeter as a means of ineasuring the saccharine
content of juices, sugars, and syrups may be studied with
advantage.
The planting of various green dressing crops, that will
be turned into the land previous to planting the next cane
crop, will now be in progress. Note those that are particularly
susceptible to insect attack, and those which escape such
attacks.
Note how lands are being prepared for cotton, and
-ascertain the most suitable distances that should be allowed
between the plants, and from row to row, Students should
study closely the methods adopted in the selection and
disinfection of cotton seed for planting purposes.
The cacao crop has come to an end, and the trees will
now be getting bare of leaves. The fallen leaves should be
collected, together with other waste vegetable matter, and
applied as a mulch to the soil around the trees. Students
should practise carefully the methods of budding and grafting
cacav.
Where nutmegs are dropping, note that it is advisable to
bed the land under the trees with dead leaves and other rub-
‘ish, in order to prevent the loss of nuts.
In lime plantations, this will be the season to carry out
mulching operations, and to apply manures. Drainage work
will sometimes be also in progress at this time of the year.
Students should note the details of the work, and learn to
recognize what are the conditions of the trees that indicate
imperfect drainage of the soil.
Observe the overhauling that is done, and the repairs
that are made in connexion with batteries, boilers, engines,
and storage vats, in order that everything niay be in
readiness for the year’s lime crop.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY
(1) Why does a plant, during its life,
times its own weight of water !
(2) What effect would the continuous absence of light
have upon the growth of plants /
(3) What part of its food does a‘plant obtain by its
roots !
QUESTIONS.
take im many
INTERMEDIATE
(1) What is meant by t///ayc,
objects ! ‘
(2), Write a brief account of the objects and methods
of seed seleetion in Sea Island cotton cultivation.
QUESTIONS.
and what are its chief
(3) How would you deal with a field of recently cut
«anes with a view to starting the stools into quick growth ¢
SANSEVIERIA.
Many species of Sansevieria are known, of which
the chief may be regarded as Sansevieria guinecnsis,
the kind common in Barbados and other West Indian
islands, and S. longiflora.
S. guincensis is native to Western and Central Africa,
where some efforts have lately been made to start an indus-
try in its cultivation, and in the preparation of its fibre.
Although the fibres of certain species of Sansevieria
undoubtedly possess very considerable utility, and are fitted
for certain economic uses, yet it does not appear that at
present any appreciable quantity of this fibre is placed on
the market. A grower bringing forward this product would
probably find difficulty at first in persuading dealers to
purchase, and the Sansevieria would have to displace other
fibres,
The best fibres are, of course, obtained from the longest
leaves, and in order to encourage a profuse growth of large
Sansevieria leaves, it is necessary to provide a certain amount
of shade. It will be observed that plants growing in the
open yield short, small leaves, as compared with those that
are provided with congenial shade. On the Zambesi in Africa,
it grows abundantly, but always does best when ‘keeping to
the shade of woods, ’ and in moist situations. Hence it would
appear that in an island like Barbados, ill supplied with trees
and bush, the conditions are not favourable to the produe-
tion of leaves of the best qnality.
Owing to the fact that the produce of these plants does
not occur largely in commerce, there exist little reliable
data as to returns that may be expected. The first cuttings
of leaves would not be obtained, however, until at the expiry
of some three years from planting. In Jamaica, according
to an estimate made by Sir Daniel Morris, so much as 1 tons
of dry fibre per acre per annum might be expected under
favourable conditions, after the period when cutting has
begun. Since the leaves yield only about 3 per cent. of fibre,
this would represent a crop of 50 tons of leaves per acre per
year to be dealt with.
When once established, the
permanent.
Sansevieria fibres are soft, silky, elastic and strong, and
possibly, when better known, they may come to oecupy a more
Sansevieria plants are
prominent place in the market. In his lectures on ‘ Fibres
and Fibre Plants,’ however, Sir D. Moriis gives it as his
opinion that ‘in competition with Manila and Sisal hemps,
the fibre of Sansevieria has possibly little future before it.’
The fibre from S. gueneens/s somewhat resembles the valuable
Manila hemp (from J/usa terti/is), and is used for cordage
purposes.
The most varied figures have been quoted by dealers,
and at the Imperial Institute, London, as representing the
value of different samples of fibre from Sansevierta quineensis.
These have ranged from £20'to as much as £60 per ton.
Most of the valuations that have been made, however, have
been of a nominal character. A good deal depends upon the
length and uniformity of the staple, and the care with which
the fibre has been prepared and cleaned. A good length of
staple is about 3 feet 9 inches long.
The sample of fibre for which the valuation of £60 per
ton was quoted, was received. at the Imperial Institute about
a year ago from the Gold Coast, West Africa. This was
described as ‘ consisting of soft, clean, white, well-prepared
tibre, which was fine, of good Justre, of fairly even diameter,
and of good strength. The product was about 3 feet 9 inches
long, and was of excellent quality, suitable for use with the
finest Manila hemp.’
190
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JUNE 12, 190%.
TROPICAL PROBPUCTS ON THE
HAMBURG MARKET.
Inarecent report the United States Consul at
Hamburg describes that town as being the most
important market in the world for many classes of
tropical products, such as come from Central and South
America and the West Indies. The following extracts
from the report, relating to cocoa-nuts, hardwoods, and
tortoise shells, may be of some interest :—
All cocoa-nuts are sold by public auction in Hamburg.
Such as arrive from Colombia, West Indies, and Africa are
handled on consignment. Ceylon nuts are the best, and
command the highest prices. ‘Trinidad nuts stand next in
rank. Colombian nuts are not much in favour, as they are
poorly assorted, and the bags are of unequal weight.
Colombian nuts when sold at auction are usually disposed of
at the following prices: Extra large, 100 nuts weighing
175 tb., 13 marks (33°09) ; large nuts, 100 weighing 162 tb.,
($2°86; medium nuts, 100 weighing 144 tb., 82°38; small nuts,
100 weighing 112 tb., 51-90.
Nuts are counted after being sold, and only good nuts
are accepted. It is test to ship cocoa-nuts before the fresh
fruit season comes on. Thereafter the demand closes entirely.
The timber market seems at present to be depressed.
The last shipments of mahogany and cedar from Colombia
have been of such poor quality that buyers are discouraged.
There seems to be a Jocal over-stock of mabogany of all
kinds. Lignum vite ix but little known on this market.
Ebony can be used i. « small way, but prices are low.
Present approximate values per ton for hardwoods are :
mahogany, $19°46 to $29°15 ; lignum vitw, 57°29 to 312716 ;
ebony, $7°29 to $12°16.
Tortoise shells from Central America and the West
Indies are all known as ‘ West Indies shells.’ These goods
are only accepted on consignment, as shippers do not assort
them according to quality. One tortoise, for example, may
supply two, three, or even more different grades of shell.
The market is now quiet, and prices run from 53°57 to
$5:95 per } kilogram (1:1tb.). There is a demand for light
yellow, and light red-black pieces of shell, and these
command good prices.
PRAEDIAL LARCENY AT JAMAICA.
Praedial larceny isa danger from which all the
West Indian islands suffer in yarying degree. It appears
to be particularly prevalent at Jamaica, and a letter
on the subject submitted to a late meeting of the
Agricultural Society of the island dealt with a notable
instance of the degree to which it is not infrequently
carried, and indicated the effect which the practice
may tend to have in preventing progress in certain
directions.
A religious body from America not long since purchased
an area of 507 acres of land at Riversdale, where they estab-
lished a training school for youths and girls of the lower
classes, not only from Jamaica, but from other West Indian
islands as well. Each pupil was obliged, as a part of his or
her training, to do a certain amount of field work. A large
number of pupils entered the school, and in order to make
the institution self-supporting, a considerable area of land
was placed under provision crops.
Such a school as that at Riversdale should prove a valu-
able addition to the educative agencies in operation at
Jamaica, and deserves every encouragement. It is unfor-
tunate, however, that the institution has suffered considerably
from the depredations of praedial thieves, and it would
appear from a letter submitted by the Principal of the
Riversdale School to the Secretary of the Jamaica Agricul
cultural Seeiety that if the practice is continued the
authorities may probably be obliged to close the school, and
cease their work.
The following is quoted from the letter referred
to
s In all our schools throughout the world each
student is required to spend a portion of every day at labour
as a portion of his education. For this labour the student
is not paid, but poor students are allowed to labour more
than the allotted time, in order to lessen their expenses.
‘We have only been on the place about eighteen months,
but we are already confronted with a very serious situation.
We find in the West Indies many worthy young people who
need the practical training given by our schools, but who are
unable to pay for it. We have now, in addition to those,
some thirty young people (about one-third women) who work
their entire way. Naturally we planted largely with provisions,
not to sell, but to produce feod for our school family. But
before we considered our yams fit to use, thieves entered the
field, and took halfa ton. This has continued until we have
Jost about a ton of yams, despite the fact that we have kept
two young men watching our field at night for several weeks.
Before our ground coeoes were more than half-grown, thieves
took over 2 cwt. at their first visit. It is not so easy to tell
what the loss of other crops has been. Fowls have also.
been stolen.
‘T spent over five years in school work in Australia, and
about ten years in America, but have never previously con-
fronted such a condition of affairs.’ -
A copy of this letter was sent to the Government
by the Avricultural Society.
SALE OF; MILK. AT TRINIDAD,
A Public Health Ordinance lately issued at
Trinidad, contains a section designed with the object of
ensuring the provision of a pure milk supply for the
city of Port-of-Spain. Under this Ordinance the local
authority is atithorised to make bye-laws in connexion
with the sale of mik for the following purposes :—
(1) The fegistration of all cow-keepers and dairymen,.
and all places where cows are kept.
(2) The inspection of all dairies, pastures, and other
places where cows are kept ; and the enforcement of such
conditions as to cleanliness, drainage, etc., as may be
found necessaty.
(5) The prescribing of places for milking of cows, and
the means for preventing contanlination of the milk, or
vessels used for milking ; and
(4) The licensing of all cow-keepers and dairymen ; and
the issue of badges to be worn by all milk vendors or
deliverymen.
In view of the degree to which consumers in
Port-of-Spain have in the past. suffered: from milk
adulteration, this section of Ordinance should meet
with public approval.
Vou. VIII. No. 186.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
191
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice markets
for the month of April :—
The condition of the drug and spice markets throughout
the month of April remained much as it has done for some
time past. As usual at this period of the year, two forces
are at work which go far to disorganize the ordinary routine
of business, namely, the Easter Holidays, and the anticipa-
tion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget proposals.
The latter have been this year so Jong delayed, being made
known only on the last day of April, that at the time of
writing little or nothing can be said of their effect on colonial
produce.
The following are the principal items of West Indian
produce which have occupied attention in the London
markets curing the month :-—
GINGER.
At auction little or no attention was given to ginger in
the earlier part of the month. Private sales, however, were
effected at increased rates of from 2s. to 3s., medium Jamaica
fetching from 60s. to 65s, per ewt. At the auction on
the 2lst, some 117 packages of Jamaica were sold at
the following rates: Fair to good con.mon 54s. to 57s.,
smail washed 58s. to 60s.; fair to good washed realized
Sis. to 69s. At the same auction, as many as 896 bags of
Cochin and Calicut were offered and bought in at the follow-
Ing prices: [Fair to good washed rough 40s. to 45s., fair
brown Calicut 45s., and rough and fair cuttings 40s. Some
fair limed, slightly mouldy Japan was also bought in at 35s.
On the 28th of the month, Jamaica was again in fair demand,
312 packages being offered and 120 sold at 67s. for good
bright, 62s. to 64s. for fair washed, and 55s. for good
ordinary. A small quantity of Calicut sold at 51s. 6d. for
small native cut, 46s. 6d. for cut tips, and 37s. 6d. for brown
tips. Unsorted native cut brought in a price of 56s. to 60s.,
while 42s, 6d. was paid for washed rough Cochin.
NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO,
No special quotations have been made during the month
In the case of nutmegs. Mace has remained firm. At the
auction on the 21st, 27 packages of West Indian found
buyers at the following rates: Fine pale 2s. ; good pale
Is. Qd. to 1s. 10d. ; and fair 1s. 7dj to 1s. 8d, Ordinary
fetched 1s. 6d., and broken 1s. 3d. to 1s. 4d. per tb. A week
Tater the sales amounted to 15 packages of West Indian, at
7
prices slightly lower than in the previous week. Pimento
throughout the month was in very quwet demand. At the
sale on the 21st, 123 bags were offered and bought in at 24d.
per tb., and a week later 157 bags were brought forward and
all bought in at the same rate. On the 6th of the month,
4 eases of West Indian distilled oil of pimento were put
forward and disposed of without reserve at 2s. 9d. to
3s. 3d. per th.
ARROW ROOT,
But little attention has been given to this article during
the month. On the 21st, 238 barrels of St. Vincent were
offered and the whole bought in at 2d. to 23d. for medium
to good manufacturing. Bermuda was represented by 20
kegs, 12 of which found buyers at 2s. Id. per hb.
SARSAPARILLA,
At the drug auction on the 7th, grey Jamaica was
represented by 8 bales, 4 of which sold at 1s. 4d. per tb. for
fair, the remaining lots of better quality being bought in at
ls. 5d. per tb. Fourteen bales of native Jamaica were
disposed of, out of 18 offered, at Lidd. to 1s. per tb. for dull
palish to good red. Nineteen bales of Lima-Jamaica were
offered and 13 disposed of at 1s. Id. per tb. for fair to rather
roughish and chumpy, while 1s. 9d. per tb. was the reserve
price at which 4 bales of Honduras were held. On the
22nd, there was no grey Jamaica offered. Lima-Jamaica was,
however, represented by 4 bales, all of which were sold at
ls. 5d., being an advance of 1d. per Ib. over previous prices.
The same advance was paid for 13 bales of native Jamaica—
all that was offered—fair to good red realizing 1s. to 1s. 1d.,
and dull pale red 103d. to 11d.
LIME JUICE, LEMON JUICE, OIL OF LIME, ETC.
On the 6th of the month, West Indian lime juice was
represented at the auction by about 40 puncheons, Is. to
1s. 2. per gallon being paid for very pulpy to pale. Good
pale raw was firmly held at ls. 3d. per gallon. On the
28th, the prices stood thus: Best pale West Indian
ls. 4d, fair 1s. 3d, and good 1s. 2d. per gallon. At the
auction on the 21st, a single puncheon of brown Jamaica
lemon juice was disposed of at 11d. per gallon. At the same
auction 10 cases of West Indian distilled oil of lime were
otfered, 5 cases of which realized 1s. 9d. per tb., and 6 cases
from Is. 10d. to 1s. 11d. per Ib.
MANUFACTURE OF OIL OF LEMON
AT SICILY.
The United States Consul at Messina lately
furnished the following report on the method of prepar-
ing essential oil of Jemon which is adopted in Sicily :—
In order to prepare the essential oil, the peels are first
soaked in water for some four or five minutes for the purpose
of softening the envelopes of the oil vesicles, and rendering
easicr the expression of the oil. The peels are then carried
to the expressing room, which is usually darkened, and kept
as cool as possible, to guard against any changes in the
character of the delicate and unstable oil.
In the expressing room each workman is seated on
a low stool, and has before hima glazed earthenware bowl,
across which, and resting in depressions in the rim, is
a wooden rod run through a good-sized sponge. In his left
hand the workman holds another sponge, often cup-shaped,
against which he presses the outside of the peel, giving this
a circular twisting motion. By this means the walls of the
oil cells are broken, and the oil is squeezed ont into the sponge
to drip into the bowl. In this the oil rises to the top of the
water, and can be decanted.off The oil is filtered into large
copper containers, in which it is’ stored to await sale.
Various machines have been tried for expressing the oi
but so far without success. The amount of oil obtained wilh
vary largely according to the district and the season, but will
average from 0-7 tb. per 1,000 lemon peels to 1 tb., and, in
rare cases, to as much as 1} hb.
A later report of the U.S. Consul refers to the fact
that the effect of the earthquake at. Messina has been
largely to inerease the price of the essential oils of orange
and lemon. He expresses the opinion, however, that the
disaster has been utilized by speculators to some extent to
bring about an artificial value in these produets, and that
prices may soon be expected to reach their normal level.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JuNnE 12, 1909.
London,—May 25,
MARKET REPORTS.
1909. THe West
MITTEK CrrcuLaR; Messrs. EK. A.
May 14, 1909.
Ixnpia Com-
DE Pass & Co.,
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, 1{d. to 34d. according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2 /43 ; ; block, 1/9 ro 1/98.
BrEEs’-wax—£7 10s. to £7 17s. 6d. for dull to good bright,
and £7 for dark.
Cac so prnidad, 56/- to 70/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 49/- to
- per cwt.
Sie Santos, 30/10$ to 32 - per cwt.; Jamaica, no
quotations.
: West Indian, £19 10s. to £19 15s per ton.
Corron—Nevis and St. Kitt’s, 13d. to 135d. : St. Vincent,
léd.; Antigua, 133d. to 140’.; Anguilla, 14d.; Mont-
serrat, 1240. to 135d. , and Virgin Islands, 13d.
Fruit— '
Ban Jamaica, 4/6 to 9/- per bunch.
LiMes- ot wanted.
PINE-APPLES—St. Michael, 1/6 to 4/-
Grare Fruit—/6 to 9/- per box.
ORANGES—Jamaica, no quotations.
Fustic—£3 to £4 per ton.
Gincer—Ratoon 48/- to
51/- to 69/-.
Honety—22s. to 33s. Gd. per ewt.
IstncLass— West Thain lump, 2/2 to 2/6 per Tb.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 1/10 to
1/11 per th.; hand-pressed, 5/- to 5/6 per tb.
Locwoop—£3 to £4 5s. per ton ; roots, no quotations.
Mace—Steady.
Nurmecs—Quiet.
Pimento—Quiet, and easier.
Rvuepper—Para, fine hard, 5s. 5fd. to 5s. 64d. per th.
Rum—Jamaieca, 3/- to 7/-; Demerara. 1/6 to 1/65, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 15/- to 16/-, Muscovado, 15/3 to 16/-;
Syrup, Trinidad, 11/83 to 15/9; Demerara, 15/-:
Molasses, no quotations.
50/-; low middling to tine,
New York,—May 14, 1909.—Messrs. Gintespre, Bros.
& Co.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to 13c.; Grenada, 12$c. to 13c.;
Trinidad, 12c. to 124¢. ; Jamaica, 10c. to L1e. per th.
Cocoa-nutTs—Jamaica, select, $2200 to $2400; culls, $14-00
to $15-00; Trinidad, . select, $21-00 to $2: 300; culls,
$13-00 to $14-00 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, ordinary, Tie. to Ste.
She. to 9e.; and washed up to Le.
Gincer—9bhe. to 11 fc. per tb.
Goat SKriINS—Jamaica, no
Thomas, St. Croix, St.
dry flint.
Grare Frouir
; good ordinary,
Barbados, St.
to 48c. per th.,
quotations ;
Kitt’s, 45c.
Jamaica, $4°00 to $500 per barrel,
Lames Dominic a, 34°75 to $6-00 per barrel.
Mace—27 he. to 36$c. per th.
Nourmecs—110's, 9c. per Th.
ORANGES
per barrel.
Pimento—4}e. per th.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°; 3°92¢. ;
Molasses, 8%, 8:l7c. per Ih., all duty paid
Jamaica, $200 to $2°50 per box, $400 to $5-00.
Muscovadk S, 89°, 3°42¢, sf
i
Barbados, —Messrs.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wierinc
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Leacock & Co.,
S. Garraway & Co.,
June 7 1909;
Messrs. 'T. June 7, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $3°90 to
Cacao—$11°75 to $12:00 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-nuts-$10°00 for husked nuts.
Correk— Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
100 th., scarce.
Hay—$1°-15 to $1-25 per LOO th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $65:00; Ohlendorff’s dissolved
guano, $59°00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao manure,
$42- 00 to $48- 00; Sulphate of ammonia, $75-00-
Sulphate of potash, $67-00 per ton.
Mo.asses—Fancy, 17¢.; Grocery, 18c. per gallon.
Onrtons—Strings, $3:00 per 100 Tb.; Bermuda,
Poraros—$2°00 to $2°60 per 160 th.
Pras—Split, $5°75 to $6°00 per bag of 210 tb.;
3°25 to $3°40 per bag of 120 th.
Rree—Ballam, $4: 80 to S5-10 (180 tb.) ; Patna,
Rangoon, $3°00 per 100_ tb.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° $2°25 ;
Centrifugals, $2°10 to $2°30.
34-00 per 100 th.
$2-02.
Canada,
$380 +
Muscoyvado, 89° $1°85 =
& Ricurex, May 29,
1909; Messrs. SanpBach, Parkez é& Co,
May 28, 1909.
ArRowRooT—St. Vincent, $9:°00 to $9°25 per 200 tb., no-
demand.
Batata— Venezuela block, 32c.
to 50c. per tb.
Cacao—Native, 13c. to 14c. per th.
CAssava me Je.
CASSAVA $5-00 per barrel of 196 tb.
Cocoa-Nu 1s $12 2°00 to $16°00 per M.
; Demerara sheet,
48c.
CorrEE—Creole, 12c. to 13c.; Jamaica and Rio, 13b¢. 5:
_ Liberian, 7c. to 8c. per tb. fi
Duai—$4-50 to $460 per bag of 168 th., weak; Green
Dhal, 85 50.
Eppos—¥#1‘08 per barrel.
Morasses— Yellow, 23c. to 24e.
Ontons—Teneriffe, 3c. to 3$c. ; Bermuda, 2c.
Piantains—12e. to 32e. per’ bunok*
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $2°75 ‘pee 100 th.
Potratos—Sweet, Barbados, 72c. to 96ce. per bag.
Rice—- Ball: By 3 DO to $560; Creole, $4°40.
Spur PE AS—$5°90 to $6°00 per bag (210 tb.); Marseilles,.
33°50 to a a 7D.
Teens —$1°44 to $1°56 per bag.
Yams—White, $2°40 per bag, ; Buck, $3°12 to S3-24.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2 15 to $2°55; Yellow, $3:00 to
$3°20 ; White, $3°60 to $3: 80; - Molasse 2s, $2° OO te $2-30.
Timber—Greenhe: art, 32c. . per cubic foot. f
Wattaba SHINGLES—$3°75 to $575 per M.
Corpwoop—S$2-00 to $2°40 per ton.
to dc. per th.
Trinidad,— May 29, 1909.—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°25 to $11°50 per fanega ;
S1L-00 to S11°50.
Cocoa-Nnuts—S$22°00) per M.,
in bags of 100 th.
Cocoa-Nuv Or—70e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Trinidad,
f.o.b., for large
peeled,
Correr—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per th.
Corra—$3°25 per 100 tb.
Duat—$4°40 to $4°50 per 2-bushel bag. ane
Ontons—$2°30 to $3:00 per 100 th. (retail) ; good demand.
Poratos—English, $125 to $1°30 per 100 tb.
_Rick—Yellow, $4°75.to $480; White, $4°50 to $4:90-
per bag.
Spirit Peas—S$d-25 to $b°50 per: -bag.
SuGar-—American, crushed, $5:10- to. $5:20. per
Yellow. crystals, $2;50 to $2:60; Bright
$2-25 to $2-50,
100 th.;
Molasses,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
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PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The following list gives particu-
lars of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
(3) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1900. Price 2d.
(5) General Treatment of Insect Pests, 2nd. Edition Revised.
Price 4d.
(7) Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part I.
(9) Bee Keeping in the West Indies. Price 4d.
(12) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1900-1.
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(18) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1901. Price 4d.
(14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
(15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
(16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. Price 2d.
(17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests.
(18) Recipes for cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
(19) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1902. Price 4d.
(20) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1901-2.
Price 2d.
(22) Seale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part IL.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies Price 2d.
(26) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1993. Price 4d.
(27) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1902-5.
Price 2d.
(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. “Price 3d.
(30) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1902-3. Price 4d.
(81) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting. Price 4d.
(32) Seedling and other Canes at Barbados, in 1904. Price 4d.
(33) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1903-4.
Price 4d.
(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks. Price 4d.
(36) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1903-4. Price 4d.
Price 4d.
Price 4d.
Price 4d.
(59) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1904-5.
Price 4d.
(40) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
1903-5. Price 6d.
(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
(42) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1904-5. Price 4d.
(43) The Use of Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal as a Feeding
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(44) Seedlmg Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
1904-6. Price 6d.
(45) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting.
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(46) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1905-6.
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(47) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(49) Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados.
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(50) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1906-7.
Price 4d.
(91) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
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(53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
(54) Fungus Diseases of Cacao. Price 4d.
(59) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 3d. ~
(96) Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, 1907-8.
Price + te
(97) Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward
Islands, 1907-8. Price 4d.
Pe Price 4d.
ies and Manurial Experiments at Bar
New and Enlarged Hdition.
(58) Insect sts of Cacao.
(59) Se thine @ bados
7
(87) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d. 1906-8. Price 6d.
(88) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
The above will be supplied post tree for an additional charge of 3d. for’ the pamphlets marked 2d., id. for those
marked 4d., and 14d. for Nos. 40, 41, 44, £5, and 49.
The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS.’ A. Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains
extracts
from official correspondence and from -progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 4s. 4d. per annum. Owing to certain numbers being out of print, only Vols. IV and V can
be supplied complete, with title page and mdex as issued. Price 4s. Post free, 5s. Only a few copies available. Add applica-
tions for copies are to be addressed to the Agents, not to the Department.
Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. City Agents: Taz West Iypra Commirrex, 15, Seething
Lane, London, E. C.—Zarvados: Messrs. Bowrn & Sons, Bridgetown.—Jamaica: THe EpucatioNaL SUPPLY
Company, 16, King St., Kingston.—British Guiana: ‘ Daily Chronicle’ Office, Georgetown.—T7'rinidad - Messrs. Muir-
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‘The Stores,’ St.George.— St. Vincent: Mr. StanLey Topp, Agricultural School.—St. Lucia - Mr. E. Buck ree, Botanic Station.
—Dominica: Messrs. C. F. Duverney & Co., Market St., Roseau.—Antigua: Mr. S. D. Matonz, St. John’s.—
St. Avtt’s: Toe Bist—E anp Book Suppry AcENncy, Basseterre.—Mevis: Mr. S. D. Matone, Charlestown.’
Vor. VIII. No. 186. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. June 12, Le
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
= BASES sen
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO:—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
a
eS Cm Bar Sr aE
JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE TROPICALE. | “UST zssvzp.
A Monthly Illustrated Review, published in French, WEST INDIA BULLETIN
dealing with all matters connected with Tropical Agriculture. (WokRx= No: 1):
164. rue Jeanne d’Are prolongee Containing papers on ten Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton,
: PARIS Composition « va Anti maand St. Kitt’s’ Wiainke es, Bourbon
Cane, Soils of Nevis, Cotton Selection in He Leeward
Islands, and the Growth of Leguminous erops and Soil
[noculation.
Subscription price: 20 francs per annum.
Agents: London, W. Dawson & Sons, Ltd. Bream’s
Buildings, E.C. ; New York, G. E. Srecherk 9, East 16th.
Street; Zrinidad, D .A. Majani; Cuba, Solloso; Haytz,
Louis Coicou, Port-au-Prince.
TROPIGAL LIFE. _—«THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON
vebei ee ant te FACTORY, LIMITED.
ee, Senne a ee BRIDEETOW!,
or interestedin the Tropics.
Edited by H. HAMEL SMITH. ('() silk ON Slt KD.
Single copies,
To be obtained from all agents for the
sale of the Department’s publications. Price
6d.; post free, 8/.
SS
price 1s.; annual subseription, st We are prep red to purchase best quality
free. Cotton seed at prices equivalent to the current
ea h erste pe ofthe Liverpool market. Terms : Cash on
Published by :
Magers. 3 on delivery of Seed.
Messrs. Bale, Son & Michiels § Ltd, | N.B.—All seed must be fresh and in sound
83-91, Great Titchfield ae t, eonaion Second quality seed must be shipped
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The only sure and effective insecticide and destroyer of the cotton worm, caterpillars, and other pests.
Guaranteed to be absolutely pure by the manufacturers. Used extensively throughout the British West Indies, and sold
by all high-class merchants and dealers. Consumers are cautioned against worthless substitutes, and should always see
that the packages bear the name of the manufacturers :—
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Makers of
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[178.]
MAINTAIN THE YIEED
The problem in Cane Culture is how to ma‘ntain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its |
available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
GERMAN KALI WORKS.
30. Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
gine eee
~ t
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. cnc...
Vou. VIII. No. 187.
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Agricultural Notes, Lemon Industry in United
St. Kitt’s-Nevis 205 States tread. “epee
Canadian Exhibitions, Maize in Southern Nigeria 197
1909 ... 193} Mangos in Jamaica... ... 197
Coca Leaves vs eee eee 200) Market Reports sc AUS}
Cocoanut Cultivation . 196} Notes and Comments . 200
Cotton Notes :— Ploughs, Dise and
Cotton Cultivation in Mould-board . 201
the Sea Islands... . 198) Prize-holdings Competi-
Cotton Seed, Disin- | tions at Grenada lO?
fection of ... ... ... 199| Prize-holdings Competi-
West Indian Cotton ... 198 | tions at Jamaica . 201
Department News ... 197) Report on Sugar-cane
Forest Insects, Depreda- Experiments in Lee-
tIONSIDYs cea ess en 20M ward Islands . 200
Forest Products, Consump- | Rice in British Guiana ... 201
tion of in America ... 207) Sago Palm... ... ... 197
Fruit Inspection at Seed corn, Protection of 194
Jamaica . 200} Soils of Nevis... .. 199
Gleanings ... ... ... ... 204| Students’ Corner ... ... 205
Ground Nuts in the West Sugar Industry :—
Indies... . 206| In Hawaiian Islands ... 195
Insect Notes : Sugar-cane varieties in
Insects and Disease . 202 British Guiana... welD
. 202° West indian Bulletin . 201
Parasitic Fungi
Canadian Exhibitions, 1909.
Sa
—— o>}
US HE efforts that have been made in the
AY aa
Os ))
past few years to secure the representa-
tion of the West Indies and British Guiana
at the annual Exhibitions held in the Dominion of
Canada, and thereby effectually to bring the resources
of these colonies under the notice of the people in
BARBADOS, JUNE 26, 1909.
Canada, haviny proved so successful, it is now
ee)!
generally recognized that it is very essential that the
good work thus initiated should be continued, and that
the interest which West Indian
products should be stimulated as much as possible.
has been aroused in
With this end
secure space at the
n view, steps.have been taken to
{xhibitions that will be held this
year, and the Permanent Exhibition Comunittees in
each colony have been asked to collect exhibits to be
forwarded.
The date of the National Exhibition at Toronto
has been fixed for August 30 to September 13; while
the Exhibition at Ottawa will open on September 10.
As the two Exhibitions will be in progress at about
the same time, the difficulty of placing the exhibits on
show at both Exhibitionsis considerably increased. It
has been suggested, however, that Messrs. Pickford
& Black, who have again promised to convey the
exhibits from the West Indies to Canada free of charge,
and to undertake their arrangement at the Exhibi-
tions, by working on Saturday night and Sunday,
might be able to arrange for the transfer of the
exhibits from Toronto to Ottawa in time for the open-
ing of the Exhibition at the latter city. It is very
doubtful whether this can be managed, but it is hoped
that all of the colonies will agree to provide the
additional funds required to make it possible to take
advantage of the suggestion, in case Messrs. Pickford
& Black find themselves ina position to carry it out,
The appointment of a Royal Commission to con-
sider the question of the trade relations between the
West Indies and Canada, the members of which will
194
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. JUNE 26, 1909.
probably be visiting Ottawa during the summer, would
appear to render the adoption of this suggestion particn-
larly desirable this year, and there is little doubt that
the additional funds required to carry it into effect will
be forthcoming. But, as already stated, it will entirely
depend on whether Messrs. Pickford & Black can make
the necessary arrangements. The appointment of the
Commission is evidence of the interest taken by Great
Britain in the welfare of her West Indian colonies, and
should stimulate these colonies to join in collecting
and forwarding as attractive and interesting a set of
exhibits as they possibly can, with the object of
showing that they are endeavouring to do their share
in extending trade relations with Canada.
The Permanent Exhibition Committees having
now had considerable experience in getting together
exhibits, it is unnecessary to repeat the advice which
has been given in previous years in regard to the nature
of the specimens to be obtained, and the manner in
which they should be packed and forwarded. Those
who may wish to refresh their memories on this point
might refer to the suggestions contained in an article
published in the Agricultural News last year (Vol. VII,
pp. 129-30).
The following are approximately the dates on
which the exhibits should be ready for shipment from
the several colonies: Barbados, August 3; St. Vincent,
August 4; St. Lucia, August 4; Dominica, August 5 ;
Montserrat, August 6 ; St. Kitt’s,
August 8. As the Canadian Line steamers do not call
at Grenada, exhibits from that island should be sent
to Barbados in time for shipment on August 3, or to
Trinidad on July 31, as may be most convenient.
Exhibits from the Virgin Islands should be sent to
St. Kitt’s some time before August 8. The usual
supply of decorative raaterial such as bamboo stems,
Antigua, August 7 ;
dried leaves of the cocoa-nut’ palm, bunches of cocoa-
nuts (strongly wired together), fresh sugar-canes, ete.
should be shipped at the same time as the exhibits,
and would arrive at St. John’s or Halifax on August
165
Fresh fruit and other perishable commodities
might be forwarded by the following steamer, which
would arrive at St. John’s or Halifax about Augnst 27,
three days before the opening of the Toronto Exhibi-
tion.
made by the steamer due at Halifax on September 7.
This would be available for use at the Ottawa Exhibi-
tion opening on September, 10, in the event of its
being found possible to transfer the exhibits to Ottawa
in time,
A second shipment of fresh fruit, ete. might be
Glass jars and bottles should be carefully inspect-
ed after being filled, to detect any leakage beture
shipment. Owing. to the amount of knocking about
which they are likely to receive in transit, great care
should be taken to pack each bottle separately in straw,
shavings, or sawdust.
Attention is also drawn to the desirability of
placing fresh fruit, ete., to be displayed in giass bottles,
in a 4-per cent. solution of formaldehyde.
In 1907 a small illustrated Handbook entitled
‘The West Indies in Canada’ was issued by the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, and copies of it
were distributed at the Exhibitions. As this Handbook
contained a considerable amount of interesting and
useful information in regard to the West Indies, it is
proposed to revise and amplify it, and to distribute
copies at the forthcoming Exhibitions. In order to
make it more attractive, a set of illustrations will again
be inserted, which will, it is hoped, enable people in
Canada to forma clearer idea of the conditions and
circumstances that exist in the West Indies.
Such a Handbook will, it is thought, be more likely
to be retained by persons visiting the Exhibitions than
the detached leaflets which are usually issued by each
colony; but in the event of its being considered desir-
able, leaflets might also be printed by individual colo-
nies for distribution,
A collection of photographs from each colony
would be likely to prove an interesting addition to
the exhibits.
with these
Messrs. Pickford
All correspondence in cunnexion
Exhibitions should be addressed to
& Black, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Protection of Seed Corn. The Kansas State
Experiment Station in a recent circular have discussed the
treatment of seed corn to protect it from burrowing animals.
Mice are the pests most concerned and several treatments
have been found useful. The use of poisoned baits three or
four days before planting, the use of poisoned seed, and coat-
ing the seed with offensive smelling substances have all been
tried with success.
The loss of seed from mice in the field in the West
Indies would seem to be small, but the loss due to black
birds is often considerable. It would not be a wise practice
to poison the blackbirds because they are very useful insect
eaters, but the use of coal tar, as suggested, would be likely to
prove of value. For each peck (one-fourth bushel) of corn
use a teaspoonful of tar. The corn should be slightly wet
with warm water before stirring in the tar. Stir thoroughly
till each grain of corn is covered with tar, and dry before
planting. This might be tried in the West Indies for Guinea
corn and imphee.
Wor. VIII. No. 187. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 195
following are the yields in question :—
acipnpemones |
Variety. No. of estates.| Yield per acre.
i} es = —— — = = |
D. 625 me 24 2°04 tons.
D. 145 v 10 201 ,, |
Varieties of Sugar-cane in British Guiana. H ve sa . | Epa » |
At a meeting of the Board of Agriculture of Ronthon ‘ on | “ao”
British Guiana held in May last, Professor Harrison D. 109 wa D4 herr wilee
brought forward particulars of the acreages under White Transparent ...| 4 ecie
cultivation with different crops in the colony. The
total area planted with economic crops for the season
1908-9 was 69,619 acres, as against 56,327 acres in
1907-8. Sugar-cane occupied 38,972 acres on January 1
of the present year. The following table shows the
number of estates on which the chief kinds of cane
were planted, and the acreage occupied in every
case :—
| |
Variety. No.of estates. | Acreage. |
D. 625 na 39 13,540 |
3. 208 oon 28 Taessy ||
‘D. 109 ae 37 6,896 |
D. 145 soci 30 3,710
B. 147 she 20 1,108
White Transparent ... 12 572
Tn addition to the above, which form the chief kinds of
cane grown in british Guiana, there were in 1908-9 about
fifty-six other varieties planted over areas of from 400 acres
downwards.
A second return brought forward showed the
average crop yield given in the past season on a number
of estates by the canes mentioned above, together with
some others also planted fairly extensively, This
return is as follows :—
Variety. No. of estates. | Yield of sugar per acre.
3. B76 4 2°37 tons.
D. 625 32 TOES ey
D. 145 22 90-55
B. 208 16 ESS;
3. 147 Obit We 1:84 _,,
Bourbon S60} 32 MiG) 5
Sealy Seedling ee 5 HCG) ais
|D. 116 re 4 1:60. §,
iD. 109 ae 28 ES On es
D. 95 sis 4 47 0,
White Transparent ... 12 eS ime
B. 109 ial 4 Se) ee
In connexion with this table, Professor Harrison pointed
out that when the yields given by the Bourbon cane were
considered for a number of years back, it was found that
these yields were almost always about 1{ tons per acre,
although they might vary somewhat more or less.
A third return laid before the meeting showed
the average yields given by a number of canes
cultivated on estates over areas of not less than 40
acres, In making an estimate on this basis, the very
high or very low results often obtained with small plot
experiments are not taken into consideration. The
Sugar Industry in the Hawaiian Islands.
Some statistical particulars relating to | the
condition and progress of the Hawaiian sugar industry
are included in the report of the Commissioners of
Agriculture and Forestry for the Territory, for the
year ended December 31, 1908.
From the data given it is seen that the output of sugar
from the four islands increased from 282,807 short tons in
1899, to 521,123 short tons in 1908. At present, therefore,
the Hawaiian sugar crop is rather more than twice as great
as that of the British West Indies and British Guiana.
There has been a continuous advance throughout the period
mentioned, but the record increase made in any one year
was that which took place in the year 1907-8. In 1907 the
erop return was 440,017 short tons, so that the 1908 output
showed an advance of over 80,000 tons upon this.
The total area of the Hawaiian Islands is 4,127,360
Of this amount, 200,000 acres are under cultivation
in sugar, of which about 105,000 acres are irrigated, and
95,000 acres unirrigated,
The average yield of sugar for all the plantations in
1906 was as high as 8,945 tb. per acre, or about 44 short
tons, The average return from the irrigated plantations
was 11,526 tb., or 5? short tons, and the average of the
unirrigated plantations was 6,140 Ib.. or a trifle over 3 short
tons per acre.
It must be borne in mind that in the Hawaiian Islands
a period of from eighteen to thirty months elapses between
planting the sugar-canes and reaping the crop. As a result of
this, it will be noted that the number of acres cultivated for
the crop of any particular year does not represent the total
area planted. In 1906, for instance, 96,228 were
cultivated and produced 430,568 tons.
A little over $2,000,000 is expended every year for
manures for the cane crop. This represents an average of
about 54°65 for each ton of sugar produced, and $22°20 per
acre for the crop.
On the irrigated plantations about 10,000 gallons of
water are applied per day to every acre of land. A vast
amount of money has been spent on irrigation works in the
Hawaiian Islands, the cost of the irrigation systems of the
several plantations having reached $14,069,804 up to
December 1906.
acres.
acres
A Recent Number of the Louisiana Planter and
Sugar Manufacturer contains a note to the effect that a large
sugar factory is about to be erected in Florida. The canes for
this factory will be grown on land brought in cultivation for
this purpose—a further extension of the cane-growing area in
the United States,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
June 26, 1909.
WEST INDIAN FRUiIg:
COCOA-NUT CULTIVATION.
HINTS ON
In a paper entitled ‘Cocoa-nut Culture,’ included
in the Queensland Ayricultural Journal, Mr. A. H.
Benson, Instructor in Fruit Culture to the Department
of Agriculture of Queensland, brings forward some
useful suggestions.
As the result of personal observation and enquiry made
in many cocoa-nut-growing countries, Mr. Benson mentions
that he has been struck with the general want of care shown
in the selection of seed nuts for planting. No attempts
whatever seein to be made to improve the strain of cocoa-nuts
in the East, and probably much could be done in that
direction throughout the whole of the cocoa-nut-growing
region of the world. It seems probable that in time
varieties could be produced possessing all the characters
most desired, viz, a large nut with little coir, containing
a thick flesh, which will yield a good percentage of copra.
As is well known, cocoa-nut trees prefer a light sandy
soil, and can stand the presence of a large amount of saline
constituents in the soil. Consequently they grow best along
the coast-line just above high-tide-mark, where also they are
exposed to all the sea-breezes
another factor favouring their
development.
While the access of freely moving water,
either salt or fresh, has been found of great use to the trees
it is necessary that the soil on which they are growing should
be well drained, since stagnant water is very injurious.
The general cultivation of the soil in a cocoanut. planta-
tion is a simple matter. The chief object is to keep the
surface of the land in a state of good tilth, and free from
weeds. This method of - treatment will enable
the soil to much moisture as possible—an
important point when dealing with light sandy soils.
is such as
retain as
Cocoa-nut palms require fairly large supplies of nitrogen
and potash. Phosphates are demanded to a smaller extent,
but lime is also essential. In the case of sandy beaches,
however, a sufficient supply of this will be naturally present,
in the form of ground-up shells. Nitrogen may often be cheaply
applied by growing some leguminous erop beneath the trees,
and ploughing the green vegetation into the soil. By this
means the land is kept in a state of good tilth, and the
supply of humus is maintained—a point which is of great
importance in connexion with the water-holding capacity of
the soil. It does not appear to be necessary to give an
application of potash until the trees come into bearing, but
after this time its use will probably be found to have a very
distinct influence, on the yield of nuts produced.
Animal manure is also highly valuable, but is frequently
difficult to obtain in districts where cocoa-nut cultivation is
carried on. Speaking generally, it would appear that the
judicious manuring of cocoa-nut groves is a matter whieh
receives insufficient attention in most countries where the
crop 1s grown.
Seed nuts to be used in raising a”crop are usually first
planted in a nursery. A practice generally adopted is te
keep the nuts in heaps, to moisten them in dry weather, and
co set them out as soon as they show signs of sprouting.
The nursery should be partially shaded.
When about 18 inches to 2 feet high, the young seedlings
may be planted out where they are to grow permanently.
Holes are dug at distances of 30 by 20 feet apart,
and should be 2 to 3 feet square and 2 feet deep. At the
bottom of the holes are placed a few spadefuls of a mixture
of top soil and cow manure. The young plant is put in and
the roots are covered by a small quantity of fine earth, the hole
remaining open, as it will eventually be filled by the trunk
of the tree.
While the young trees are growing, subsidiary crops
may be planted between the rows.
make too heavy a demand on the soil. Pine-apples, peanuts,
cotton or sweet potatos are useful for this purpose. The
subsidiary crops should alternate with leguminous green
dressings so that the supply of nitrogen in the soil may be
maintained,
Such crops should not
The cecoa-nuts should be gathered when fully ripe, and
not allowed to fall to the ground, more especially when they
are to be used for seed purposes.
When the nuts are utilized for the manufacture of copra,
the husk is first removed, and the husked nut is then split in
half to allow of the removal of the flesh. Drying in the sun
for a short time facilitates this removal, which is effected by
means of a short curved knife.
The most up-to-date method of drying the copra is by
means of a fruit evaporator. In many countries, however,
the practice still exists of drying it in the sun, or over
a somewhat primitive kiln. The former method requires some
three days, whereas kiln drying only takes about twenty-four
hours.
While suggesting that fairly extensive cocao-nut plant-
could) probably be made remunerative in Northern
Queensland, Mr. Benson is of opinion, that in order to make
the industry a success, it would be necessary for the
individual planter, or a combination of planters, to erect up-
to-date machinery ‘for the preparation and drying of the
copra, and also, probably, for extracting the oil from the
same,
ing
Vor. VEE. Nos U8ive
THE AGRICULTURAL . NEWS.
197
MANGOS IN JAMAICA.
An article that is accompanied by a number of
interesting illustrations, and deals with the different
varieties of mango cultivated in Janiaica, the methods
of propagating this fruit tree by budding, and’ the
possibilities of developing an export trade in the fruit
is included in the Bulletin of the Jamaica Department
of Agriculture (Vol. I, No. 1).
In September last, a stock uf 105 grafted mangos of the
choicest Indian varieties was obtained from the Caleutta
Botanic Gardens, and planted out in Jamaica. These
kinds included the ‘ Alphonse,’ ‘Bombay,’ ‘Singapur,’ and
many other fine mangos.
The first experiments carried out at Jamaica in budding
mangos were undertaken by Mr. T. J. Harris in 1904.
A fairly large ‘yam’ mango of good age formed the stock,
and the buds used were from the * Bombay’ and ‘ Alphonse’
varieties. The operation was followed by rapid growth, and
fruit was borne for the first time when the buds were three
years of age ; and at the end of four years from budding, the
tree had made quite respectable growth.
As a result of this success, and witha view to testing
the practical aspect of the case, the idea of purchasing
1,000 seedling trees growing on Hope estate on which
further budding operations might, be carried out is under
consideration. in this way, a good trial would be obtained
of the possibilities of growing high-class Indian mangos on
ordinary wild trees.
The possibilities that may exist in connexion with the
development of an export mange trade are exemplified by
the success lately achieved by Mr. A. W. Gardner, of
Kingston. Mr. Gardner, during the past year, shipped
a supply of mangos, the produce of some grafted trees of
choice kinds possessed by him, to London, and as a result he
has received no less than £70 for the produce of one tree.
The prices varied from Is, 6d. to 2s. 6d. per fruit.
At ‘present the variety ‘Peter's . Bombay’ is recom-
mended as the most suitable kind to propagate, and the most
promising variety for cultivation for the export trade. The
* Alphonse’ mango is atso very, highly esteemed in India.
MAIZE GROWING IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA
A remarkable increase in the exports of West African
maize is reported from Southern Nigeria, the returns for the
twelve months ended December 31, 1908, being 15,528 tons,
of a value of £51,696, as against 9,891 tons, valued at
£28,521, for 1907. It has been the same in the case of
Dahomey (Irench), and Togo (German), the former having
exported 14,111 tons, and the latter 29,773—an increase of
10,000 tons over the shipments for 1907. Thus maize to
the value of £200,000 was exported from West Africa last
year.
The whole of the maize shipped, was grown by the native
cultivators on their holdings, and it is only within the past
few years that these growers have been able to find a market
for their product.
It is believed that the maize-growing industry of Southern
Nigeria is capable of very considerable development and
extension, provided the natives are given market facilities,
and technical advice in the selection of seed, and the
preparation and harvesting of the product.
The future of the Nigerian maize industry is regarded
by the authorities as being so very important that the
Commercial Intelligence Officer was recently sent on a special
mission to Togo to report upon the methods adopted by the
German officials to encourage its development in that colony.
THE SAGO PALM.
In the course of an article on the subject of some
East Indian economic plants, and their uses, which
appears in the Journal of the New York Botanical
Garden, the following particulars concerning the sago
palm (Metroeylon Sagu), and the method adopted in
the Malay States of producing starch from it, are
given :—
Sago, a kind of starch, is a product of several species of
palms and palm-like plants, the bulk of which is probably
derived from the trunk of Metrorylon Sayu, the true sago
palm, native of many of the islands of the Malay Archi-
pelago and vicinity, This species of palm, which prefers
damp places, sometimes attains a height of 40 feet, and has
a large comparatively smooth trunk, bearing at the summit
a crown of pinnate leaves. In the preparation of sago a full-
grown plant is selected, the palm is felled close to the ground,
cut into sections 3 or 4 feet in length, and soaked in water
for several days, after which the outer fibrous portion is
removed, Each section is then ground into sawdust by
a coarse grater.
The sawdust is then thrown into a large receptacle made
of coarse sacking, and propped up on poles several feet from
the ground. Into this receptacle a native enters, and tramps
up and down, while an abundance of water is being added.
As a result of this treatment, the starch sinks and flows out
through a small bamboo trough into a vessel below, leaving
the woody portion floating behind. After several days the
water is drained off, and the sago meal dried, when it is put
into bags and shipped away for refinement.
PRIZE-HOLDINGS COMPETITIONS AT
GRENADA.
At a meeting of the Grenada Agricultural Society
held on March 26 last, it was decided to recommend :—
(1) That £150 be granted for Prize-holdings competi-
tions in each parish this year.
(2) That £25 be granted for the payment of an
honorarium of £2 2s. each to the judges of each competition,
as it is important—for the purposes of comparison—that the
same persons should do the judging in every parish.
(3) That a sum of £12 10s. be granted for the
payment of prizes for the best vegetables, etc. offered for
sale in the market, every alternate month.
(4) That the Government be asked to authorize the
expenditure of £150 for the Prize-holdings competitions, so
that early notice may be given, with a view to ensuring that
the judging shall be done in the month of September next,
as recommended by the judges of past competitions.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture
returned to Barbados from St. Lucia on Jane 15, and
left by the R.MLS. ‘Eden’ on June 22 for an official visit
to St. Vincent. Dr. Watts is expected to return to
Barbadvus on June 29.
Mr. W. Biffen, B.Sc., Scientific Assistant on the staff
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture accompanied
the Commissioner to St. Vincent and will return on
June 29.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
JUNE 26, 1909.
\COTTON NOTES./
Qa anh
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland of Liverpool,
writing under date of June 7 last, report as follows on
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Holidays in the spinning districts have rather interfered
with business in all classes of cotton during the last fortnight.
The sales of West Indian Sea Island during that period
amount to about 260 bales, of which about half were stains
at 5id. to 8d. The balance consists of St. Kitt’s 124d. to
141d., Nevis 14d., Barbados 144d. to 15d., Antigua 13d.,
Montserrat 13d. to 133d., St. Martin 133d. to 14d, and
St. Vincent 17d. to 20d. Prrices still remain firm.
COTTON CULTIVATION IN THE
SEA ISLANDS.
The Director of Agriculture of the Nyasaland
Protectorate (Mr. J. Stewart McCall) sometime ago
paid a visit to the United States, in order to study the
methods of cotton cultivation practised in that country,
and the information gathered as the result of his visit
is published in vw small bulletin (No. 1 of 1909) recently
issued by the Nyasaland Agricultural Department.
‘The following 1otes are an abstract of the section of
the pamphlet which deals with the cultivation of fine
staple cotton in the Sea Islands :—
The amount of Sea Island cotton grown in the United
States forms less than 1 per cent. of the whole American
cotton crop, but it is of great importance owing to its high
quality. It is grown to the highest perfection on James and
Kdistow Islands, which lie to the west and
Charleston, in the State of South Carolina.
Sea Island cotton is most sensitive in regard to changes
of soil and climate. It does best on light sand and gravel
alluvia, not too rich in humus, with free drainage, and
a fairly humid atmosphere.
On the best plantations in the Sea Islands, about 75 per
cent. of the whole known as ‘cotton Jand,’ and the
other 25 per cent. is devoted to, the growth of truck crops.
Cotton is not grown coutinuously on the same land,
however, but only in alternate years. Land which has borne
votton in one year is either planted with some leguminous
south-west of
area 18
crop, such as cowpeas or velvet beans, in: the following
season, or simply left unploughed.. When
grown they are fed to animals on the land.
The cotton is planted in March and April, at distances
of 22 inches from plant to plant, and 5 feet from row to row.
About the end of August the first pickings begin, and the
harvest continues until
green crops are
December.
Much of the finest cotton grown in the Sea Islands never
enters the open market at all, being sold privately to French
lace manufacturers at a high price.
The cotton grown on the Islands is much superior to the
Sea Island cotton produced on the mainland. The inferiority
of the Jatter, which consists in shorter staple and lack of
lustre, is partly due to the large amount of hybridization
which takes place ‘with the Upland cotton grown in the
neighbourhood, and partly to the lack of humidity in the
atmosphere. On the mainland the best cotton is said to be
produced by a crop raised from island-grown seed.
Cotton growers in the Sea Islands are firm .believers in
seed selection, which they practise regularly. Mr. MeCall
reports that each of the island plantations visited by him
had its own breeding and selection plot, and there can be
little doubt that the high quality of the cotton produced is
to a large extent the result of prolonged selection. Great
intelligence is exercised by the island planters in growing
and harvesting their cotton. Manuring of the land is
frequently commenced as early as November, when if pen
manure is available, it is applied at the rate of 20 tons per
acre on the surface between the old ridges. Otherwise,
a dressing of cotton seed, at the rate of about }-ton per acre
is given early in February, when the first ploughings are
made. This seed is covered by splitting the old ridges with
the plough, and the great bulk of it undergoes decay. Any
seeds which germinate are destroyed by subsequent plough-
ings. It is found that late applications, on a large scale, of
slow-acting organic manures interfere with germination of
the cotton seed, and retard the ripening of the crop.
The tillage operations practised frequently include two
or three ploughings, of which the first is deep (12 inches
when possible). Subsequent ploughings are more shallow.
The first ploughing provides conditions suitable for deep
rooting, and enables the plants to be drought resistant. The
shallow cultivations which follow, result in the production of
a fine surface tilth, which is so necessary for germination
and rapid early growth during the weak stages before the
plant puts on the rough leaf.
When the land is ready to be ridged up for planting,
a manure 600 tb. of Peruvian guano, and 50 tb. of
potassium sulphate is applied per acre, and after germination
5O Ib. of nitrate of soda is added,
such as
Cotton grown.in the Sea Islands is marketed in bags,
73 feet long by 24 feet in diameter, containing approximately
350 Ib. of lint. ‘This cotton is not compressed in bales, since
many of the planters consider the practice detrimental to the
fibre. Practically al the Islands’ crop is,sold at Charleston,
and forms 35 per cent. of the cotton, marketed at that port.
Sea Island cotton from the mainland ‘is/ “principally marketed
and shipped from Savannah,
Vou. VIII. No. 187. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
THE SOILS OF NEVIS.
The study of the soils of the Leeward Islands
group has been carried on from the Government Labora-
tory, Antigua, as time and opportunity have permitted.
A Report on the Soils of Dominica was published in
1902, and the svils of Montserrat formed the subject
ofa paper which appeared in the West Indian Bulletin
some two years ago (Vol. VI, p. 2638). A paper on
the soils of Nevis, by Dr. Watts and Mr. Tempany,
appeared in the latest number of the Wes! Indian
Bulletin (Vol. X, p. 60). The following are among
the chief points brought out as the result of the
investigations :—
The uniformly high percentage of available potash, and
the very low percentage of available phosphate are remark-
able, and would appear to be characteristic of Nevis soils.
It is probable that under some conditions, applications
of phosphatic manures to the majority of soils in the island
would prove markedly beneficial. Nevertheless, the demands
of certain tropical crops in this respect, notably cotton and
sugar-cane, are, in our experience, so peculiar that caution in
the use of manures of this class should be observed.
Phosphatie manures would appear likely to be of marked
benefit in the case of permanent crops such as cacao and
limes, and may probably be useful in the case of cotton and
sugar ; this latter is, however, a matter for local experiment.
In common with a!l the volcanic soils in these islands,
the soils of Nevis are invariably markedly deficient in
carbonate of lime. Jt is likely that, in all cases, moderate
dressings of lime, when combined with the liberal use of
organic manures would prove of marked benefit, and we
recommend its use at the rate of 2 to 8 ewt. per acre. It
must, however, be borne in mind that lime by itself is not
a manure, and unless accompanied by an ample supply of
manurial constituents, particularly organie matter, is lable
to result in ultimate impoverishment of soils,
The majority of Nevis soils are remarkable for the con-
siderable number of large stones and boulders that are
distributed over their surfaces, and this general distribution
constitutes an important determining factor in the agricultural
manipulation of these : oils. It is probably not too much to say,
that in many instances their presence is sufficient to remove
from the possibility of cultivation 30 per cent. of the arable
Jand of the fields in which they occur. From their large size
it is impossible to give expression to the effect they exert in
the results of analysis quoted. Nevertheless, in reviewing
the Nevis soils, it is impossible to give an adequate descrip-
tion of their characters without taking full account of this
characteristic and peculiar feature.
Finally, attention must again be directed to the need
for the free use of organic manures, such as pen manures
and compost, and the growth of green dressings as an
essential feature in the maintenance of tilth in these, in
common with other tropical soils. In tropical agriculture
all the world over, the main problem to be contended with
is the rapid decay of humus which takes place, and the
corresponding rapid decay of tilth that is hkely to ensue in
consequence. The combating of this tendency, combined
with the conservation of soil moisture, must, we are convinced,
always be the chief end and object of cultivation in the
tropies. ;
Jo sum up, the soils of Nevis are: fertile, and well
adapted to the growth of all ordinary tropical crops, such as
sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco.
DISINFECTION OF COTTON SEED.
Now that the time is at hand for planting cotton
for the coming crop, it might be well to consider again
the advantages to be derived from the disinfection of
cotton secd, and the methods to be employed.
Corrosive sublimate is a poisonous substance and a germi-
cide. If eaten by insects, animals or persons, it is a poison:
in the ordinary sense, and a very powerful poison at that.
Asa germicide it kills bacteria, fungus spores, and similar
organisms by coming in contact with them. It is used in
a water solution, at a strength of 1 part of corrosive sublimate
to 1,000 parts of water. To make this strength, use 1 oz. of
corrosive sublimate and 7 gallons of water or 1 Ib. to 100
gallons. The poison may be dissolved in a small amount of
hot water, and then poured slowly into the full amount of
water. It is essential that the poison should be thoroughly
dissolved in the water before the solution is used.
There are two points that must be borne in mind—one
is, that the wooden tub or cask in which the cotton seed is
usually soaked will probably absorb a certain amount of the-
corrosive sublimate, thus weakening the solution; and the
other is that the see.l must be thoroughly wetted, but must
not stay in the solution too long. In dealing with the first
of these points, the tub or cask may be prepared some time
before it is proposed to disinfect the seed After it has
been thoroughly washed, the tub should be filled with
a solution of corrosive sublimate, 1-1,000, and left to stand
a few hours. By this time the reaction between the wood
and the solution will have been completed. he solution
may then be thrown away, and the tub is ready for use in
disinfecting cotton seed.
In order that the seed’ may be thoroughly wetted it is
only necessary to stir it in the solution for a few minutes, when
it is first put in, so that the solution may come in contact with
all parts of the surface. Ten to twenty minutes should be
quite long enough for thorough disinfection.
It is estimated that the cost of disinfection amounts to
about one cent for 12 Tb. of seed, 1 gallon of the solution
being sufficient satisfactorily to disinfect 12 tb., and the planter
should. always bear this in mind. The solution is weakened
by the loss of corrosive sublimate, which is absorbed by the
testa or hard outer covering of the seed.
When the seed has become thoroughly wetted it should be
taken out and, if it is desired, may be planted at once, with-
out drying ; but if it is not to be planted at once it should be
thoroughly dried before being put in bags for storing.
There are no disadvantages to the disinfection of seed’
except the cost and the labour required, each of which is only
a small item. The advantages to be expected are several,
Seed often germinates better as a result of disinfection : it
is reported that fields of cotton planted with disinfected seed
suffered less from leat-blister . mite than the adjoining
fields, the seed for which was not disinfected : the spores of
fungus discases are often transported with the cotton seed,
and disinfection is the best means known of killing such:
spores and thus warding off subsequent attacks.
One of the most troublesome of the fungus diseases
liable to be transported with the secd is anthracnose. This
fungus causes the damping off which often kills the young
cotton seedlings when only a few days above ground.
When this attack is serious, a large proportion of the
seedlings may be killed. Later in the life of the cotton this
fungus causes the well-known anthracnose of the boll. If the
process of disinfection is carefully carried out, and the direc-
tions given herewith are observed, there ought to be no ill
effects from it, but rather well marked benefits ought to be
realized,
200
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 26, 1909.
EDITORIAL, NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Avents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 8 of the cover.
The Agricultural News:
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Agricultural Jews
Vou. VIII.
SATURDAY, JUNE 26,
1909. No.
187,
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial deals with the Canadian Exhibitions,
giving the dates at which exhibits should be forwarded,
and directions are also given for packing, shipping, ete,
The notes on the Sugar Industry refer to the
growing of varieties of sugar-cane in British Guiana.
*.
Hints on Cocoa-nut Cultivation, and a short account
of Mangos in Jamaica are to be found on pp. 196-7.
The disinfection of cotton seed forms the subject
of an article on p. 198. This is especially appropriate
just now, when the planting season for cotton is about
to begin.
The Insect Notes on p. 202 give directions for
distributing beneficial fungi on lime and other culti-
vations, and an article also : appears dealing with insects
and disease.
The Lemon Industry in the United States is the
subject of an interesting article on p. 203.
An interesting account of the trials of ground nuts
in the West Indies is given on p. 206.
Two articles relating to forests and forest products
are to be found on p. 207.
juiceless, and improperly packed feuit :
The Leeward Islands Report on Sugar-cane
Experiments.
The second part of this report is now issued,
dealing with the eXperiments on the manuring of ratoon
canes during the season 1907-8. It has previously
been shown nih at under the prevailing conditions in the
Leeward Islands it is sound policy to. use pen manure
for plant canes, and that when this is done they do not
require artificial manures.
The recent experiments have had to do with
ratoons foliowing plant canes, The results continue to
show that nitrogenous manures such as sulphate of
ammonia and nitrate of soda are necessary and
remunerative, and that phosphate and potash do not
appear to be necessary. The results in this report were
presented in brief and popular form in Pamphlet
No. 57, published by this Department.
Fruit Inspection at Jamaica.
In connexion, with the citrus fruit industry of
Jamaica, it is satisfactory to note that steps are being
taken in the direction of establishing 1 proper system
of inspection for all fruit exported from the island.
A special Committee of the Board of Agriculture,
appointed to investigate the matter, lately made its
report, in which the members recommended : («) That
it is desirable to prohibit the export of immature,
(b) that inspec-,
tion is the only feasible way of checking, if not entirely,
preventing this ; (¢) that inspection should be made
either at (1) the packing house, (2) in transit, or (3) at
the shipping port, wherever an inspector could carry
it through with least delay and most effect, the princi-
ple being to establish a wholesome uncertainty as to
where an inspector might appear: and (7) that as the’
preservation of the orange industry is for the public
weal, the expenses of inspection should be met by:
general revenue.
Coca Leaves.
A report furnished by the Imperial Institute,
London, on a sample of coca leaves (from Lrythroxylon
Coca) forwarded from Perak, Malay States, attords
the occasion for a brief article on the coca plant, and
the prospects connected with its cultivation for economic
purposes, ina late number of the Agricultural Bulletin
of the Federated Malay States. The coca plant is
a small, bushy shrub, native to Peru and other parts of
South America. IJt is easily propagated and cultivated,
and has an economic value since the leaves furnish the
drug cocaine.
The leaves sent from the Malay States to the
Imperial Institute contained 0°64 per cent. of alkaloids,
and were valued at from 73/. to Sd. per tb. on the
London market. .At this price the culture of coca
would be fairly remunerative. The production at
present, however, is in the hands of but few growers,
chiefly in South ‘America, who produce just enough to
meet the limited sdemand. If further planting were
undertaken, there would be a risk of overstocking the
market, and prices would fall at once. 4
Vor. VIE. No. 187.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
201
West Indian Bulletin.
Part 1 of Volume X of the West Indian Bulletin
has lately been issued. The first. paper by Mr.
H. A. Ballon, M.Se, deals with the fower-bud
maggot of cotton that has been the cause of so much
trouble to cotton growers at Antigua in the past two
seasons. An account is given of the investigation
work that has been carried out with this insect.
The ‘Composition of Antigua and St. Kitt’s
Molasses’ is discussed by Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G.,
and Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc. Antigua molasses is in
greater demand than that produced at St. Kitt’s,
This is attributed to the difference in the composition
of the two products. The molasses from St. Kitt’s
contains less sucrose than that produced at Antigua.
In the paper ‘The Passing of the Bourbon Cane at
Antigua,’ Mr. Tempany, gives an account of this cane,
and shows the ‘causes that have led to its aban-
donment.. Mr. J. R. Bovell, LS.O., contributes an
article in which a comparison 1s made of the Bourbon
sugar-cine with the White Transparent and other
varieties at Barbados.
Two other useful papers by Dr. Watts and Mr.
Tempany are also contained in this number, The
first is on the soils of Nevis, while the second contains
a detailed account of the work in cotton selection that
was done in the Leeward Islands during 1907-8.
The final article is by Mr. Walter Biffen, B.Sc.,
on the subject of soil inoculation in connexion with
the growth of leguminous crops. In
work that has been done in the past is described, and
the conclusions arrived at are indicated.
Prize-holdings Competitions at Jamaica.
The reports on the prize-holdings competitions
held last year in the parishes of St. Elizabeth and
‘Clarendon, Jamaica, are published in the Journal of
the Jamaica Agricultural Society for April, and indi-
cate that the competitions aroused very considerable:
interest among the peasant cultivators. [forty-three
entries were received in St. Elizabeth and fifty-seven
in Clarendon—a fairly good number, although not equal
to what was expected, In both parishes, it is stated
that the influence of the competition was apparent on
all hands in the improvements that were being carried
out on the holdings. On many holdings that were
entered, much useful work had been doue, contributing
to the permanent good of the property. It was
satisfactory to note the efforts made in many cases to
provide storage for water. In Clarendon numbers of
small holders had erected fences around their holdings.
For this purpose the judges recommended in general
the use of walls, boards, barbed wire, ete., in preference
to live hedges, which often provide too much shade.
In Clarendon the cultivations were clean and neat, but
all the competitors need to give more attention to
drainage, trenching, and deep cultivation.
this the chief
Disc Ploughs and Mould-board Ploughs.
The relative advantages of dise and mould-board
ploughs is attracting the attention of many farnicrs
and planters. The mould-board plough may be con-
sidered most suitable on moist or irrigated land, while
the disc plough is to be preferred when the soil is dry
and hard. Indeed, a special advantage connected with
the disc implement, is that it may frequently be used
for ploughing land that has become too dry and hard
for the mould-board. This is often of much value,
as 16 18 not so necessary to wait for rain, and the
seed can be planted at the proper time. On the
other hand, where the land is in a fit condition for
ploughing, and is not too dry, the mould-board plough
pulverizes and turns the’ soil more satisfactorily.
The dise plough is lighter in draught, does not Eau ;
sharpening so often, cuts through “eels better, and does
not clog so easily, A 24-inch dise is best for general
purposes.
oT ——E—EEe
Rice Production and Consumption in British
Guiana.
In a report lately issued, Messrs. Wieting &
Nichter mention that the area that has been planted
for reaping from October to December next is believed +
to be somewhat larger than that of last season, but
that it is too early as yet to calculate on any mi terial
increase in the yield.
It is interesting to note that with the extensive‘
increase in the cultivation of rice that has taken !
place of late years, there has been a large advance ©
in the quantity consumed locally. The local con--
sumption now reaches 360,000 bags per annum. In,
the West Indian islands the high quality of British,
Guiana rice, as compared with that imported from -
Calcutta, is now gener: ally recognized, and the exports
to those islands since the beginning of the year now*
amounted to 15,000 bags. In 1907, 29,715 acres
yielded 27,150 tons of rice : in 1908 the area increased
to 37,851 acres, with a yield of 30,770 tons. d
i
ae
Cacao Production in San Domingo.
Cacao production forms the premier agricultural’
industry of San Domingo, and in 1907 the quantity
shipped was 9,983 tons. During 1908 there was’
a considerable increase in the output, no less than
7,409 tons having been exported from Puerto Plata,
alone. San Domingo possesses extensive areas admir-
ably adapted in every way for cacao cultivation, and,
according to the latest British Consular report,
continuous efforts are being made by both native and.
foreign planters to develop the industry, and it is
anticipated that these efforts will soon place the
republic in the second or third rank of the cacao-
producing countries of the world.
The average yield of cacao per tree in San
Domingo is placed at somewhat over 3 tb., and on
some plantations the average reaches 4 tbh. These
returns compare favourably with those obtained in
many other countries w here more advanced methods of
culture are practised.
202
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 26, 1909.
Parasitic Fungi.
In the last number of the Agricultural News,
a short account was given of the valuable assistance
rendered to planters by the natural enemies of the
scale insects which occur as blights on limes, oranges,
and many other economic plants.
In Florida, more extensive trials have been made perhaps
than anywhere else, in the use of fungi for the control of
scale insects, and the whole subject has been given careful
study, with the result that several species of fung1 are now
recognized as being parasitic on scale insects.
“Methods have been devised for distributing these
fungi throughout scale-infested orchards. One of these
is known as the spore-spraying method. The parasitized
scale insects are collected on leaves, twigs, or bark, and
are carefully scraped off into clean, fresh water. The
water mixture shonld be thoroughly stirred to separate
as far as possible the fungus from the coarser part of the
scale insects, and then poured through coarse iuslin to
remove any particles that might clog the spray nozzle
This water mixture would contain the spores and broken
particles of the fungus, which under favourable conditions
would grow. It should ve immediately applied to scale-
infested trees from a new sprayer, or syringe; or even
sprinkled on by means of a brush or wisp of bush. No
sprayer should ever be chosen for this purpose which has been
sused for applying Bordeaux or similar mixtures, and it
would be better not to use the sprayers with which the
ordinary scale insect spraying mixtures have been applied.
The spraying should be very light, the greatest care
being taken that the leaves and branches are thoroughly
<lamped ; but there should be no dripping from the leaves.
Another method is the. leaf-tying method. Leaves,
twigs, or strips of bark covered with scales that are known
to be parasitized, or that have been taken from trees where
the parasitic fungi are knewn to be abundant, are distributed
throughout trees infested with the same kinds of scales, in
such a way that the spores of the fungi may easily find scale
insects on which to grow. ‘The parasitized scales should be
placed fairly high in the trees, and in contact as far as
possible with the healthy scales, This may be done by
tying or pinning the collected material on to a leaf ot branch
of the trees.
These trials are, of course, best made at the beginning of
the rainy season, so that the fungi may have the benefit of
the moist conditions which are favourable to their growth.
[f a dry spell should follow inunediately after the application
of the fungi, it would be useful to spray with clean water, in
order that they might not be dried up.
It is also likely that in those orchards where the fungi
ave known to be present, but where scale insects are not being
held well in check, a few sprayings with clean fresh water
during the dry season would prove very useful. It is in the
dry season that scale insects make their most rapid develop
ment, und at that time the fungi grow slowly—if at all—so
that the provision of a small amount of moisture might prove-
of great benefit.
This method of control is worthy of careful trial on the
part of lime growers and others. Trees that are very badly
attacked by scale igsects might perhaps be sprayed with
contact «insecticides during the dry season to reduce the-
numbers somewhat, and then at the beginning of the rainy
season the systematic distribution of parasitic fungi would
probably result in keeping the scales in check through the
year.
All who are interested in the subject of scale insects
would do well to become familiar with their parasitic fungi.
The local agricultural officers will give all information
in their power, and will forward specimens to the Head Office,
where they will be examined and reported upon.
The Loss Occasioned by Insects that Carry
Disease.
The United States Departinent of Agriculture has.
recently issued Bulletin No. 78 of the Bureau of
Entomology, entitled Leonomic Loss to the People of
the United States through Insects that Carry Disease.
This bulletin is written by Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of
the Bureau of Entomology.
The introduction to Bulletin No. 78 is given here-
with :—
It has been definitely proven, and is now generally
accepted, that malaria in its different forms is disseminated
among the individuals of the human species by the mosquitos
of the genus Anopheles, and that the malarial organism gains
entrance to the human system, so far as is known, only by
the bite of mosquitos of this genus. It has been proven with
equal definiteness, and has also become generally accepted,
that yellow fever is disseminated by the bite of a mosquito
known as Steyomyia calopus (possibly by the bites of other
mosquitos of the same genus), and, so far as has been
discovered, this disease is disseminated only in this way.
Further, it has been scientifically demonstrated that the
common house-fly is an active agent in the dissemination of
typhoid fever, Asiatic cholera, and other intestinal diseases,
by carrying the causative organisms of these diseases from
the excreta of patients to the food supply of healthy indi-
viduals ; and that certain species of fleas are the active
agents in the conveyance of bubonic plague. Moreover, the
tropical disease known as filariasis is transmitted by a species
of mosquito. Furthermore, it is known that the so-called
‘ spotted fever’ of the northern Rocky Mountain region is
carried by aspecies of tick, and it has been demonstrated
that certain blood diseases may be carried by several species
of biting insects. The purulent opthalmia of the Nile basin
is carried by the house-tly. A sinlar disease on the Fiji
Islands is conveyed by the same insect. Pink eye in the
southern United States is carried by minute flies of the genus
Hippelates. The house-fly has been shown to bea minor
factor in the spread of tuberculosis. The bed bug has been -
connected with the dissemination of several diseases. Certain
biting flies carry the sleeping sickness in Africa. A number
of dangerous diseases of domestic animals are conveyed by
insects. The literature of the whole subject has. grown
enormously during the past few years, and the economic loss
to the human species through these imsects is tremendous.
At the same time, this Joss is entirely unnecessary ; the
diseases in question can be controlled, and the suppression
of the conveying insects, so absoiutely vital with certain of
these diseases, and so important in the others, can be brought
about.
Vou. VIII. No. 187.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
903
LEMON INDUSTRY IN THE
UNITED STATES.
Mr. G. Harold Powell, Pomologist in charge of
‘Fruit Tr: anspor tation and Storage Investigations, of the
Bureau of Plant Industry of lie United States, has
published an interesting article on this subject in the
Yearbook: of the Department of Agriculture, under the
‘title ‘The Status of the American Lemon Industry, ’
‘from which the following remarks are taken :-—
The industry commenced from a commercial point of
view about twenty-five years ago, but owing to difficulties in
preserving the fruit, and want of knowledge in general agri-
-cultural methods it became so depressed that ten years ago
many of the groves were grafted to oranges. Now, however,
owing to ereased knowledge in menuring and pruning, to
the extreme care practised in handling and packing, and to
-co-operative methods in shipping ana selling, the industry has
greatly revived and supphes from one-third to two-fifths of
the total number of Jemons consumed in the United States.
The remainder are supplied mainly from Sicily, with
some from Cuba, and the West Indies. The demand for
lemons is steadily increasing all over Ainerica, and at present
the nurserymen in California are unable to supply young
lemon trees fast enough to meet the increased demand.
The following figures show the position of the import
trade in lemons compared with that of the home supply.
The numbers are expressed in terms of the standard Califor-
nia box of 84 tb,, 312 boxes making a car load :—
| Foreign Imported. Home Supply.
Year. | |
Carloads. Pounds. = |C anieaaa | Pounds. |
fae pe te |
1899-1900) 6,112 | 160,198,056 | 1,447 | 87,922,976 |
1902-3 5,799 | 152,004,312 | 2,649 | 69,424,999 |
1904-5 | 5,306 | 139,084,321 | 4,274 112, 012,992 |
1906-7 6,023 | 157,859,906 | 3,507 | 91,911,456
The fruit ripens in America during the Jate autumn,
winter, and spring, though fruit ready for picking is to be
found on the trees all the year round.
The greatest demand occurs from May to September,
‘so that the fruit must be kept in good condition and slowly
ripened to meet the demand, and further it is the aim of all
growers to have as heavy a harvest as possible in the
summer,
The fruit is usually forwarded to the markets under
ventilation from November to March, and under ice during
the rest of the year. By this means, and by using great care
in the ventilation of the curing sheds, the loss by ‘blue mould’
is almost entirely avoided, if the fruit has been carefully
handled in picking. :
The groves occur mostly in Southern California in the
foot hills of the Sierra Madre mountains. They vary con-
siderably in size, the average being from‘20 to 30 acres. The
growers prefer a deep, loamy, well drained, high piece of land
protected from high winds, and with the soil free from hard
pan. ..The groves are ir rigated once a month from April to
“October, sometimes less frequently. The tillage is intensive
7
from spring to late summer, when a leguminous cover croys
is drilled or sown in between the trees to supply nitrogen.
The land is then furrowed out in case irrigation is neccesary
in the autumn or winter. The cover plot is ploughed in
not later than March 1.
Fertilizers are appled to the tree at the rate of 1 bb.
per tree for each year it has been planted. Twe
applications are generally made, one in the autumn and one
in the spring. Young trees are supplied with considerable
quantities of nitrogen, but as they grow older the potash and
phosphorus are increased. Large quantities of stable manure
are also used.
The trees are pruned in such a manner that a short
bushy growth is formed. The bottom branches are kept
clear of the ground, as this prevents infection by the deadly
‘brown rot’ fungus, which is further prevented by the use
of the cover crop, as described above, since the fungus grows
in the soil.
In case of frost in the winter, the growers are supplied
with lines of brazers between the trees in which erude oil,
briquets of shavings and asphaltum are burned, and in
this way the temperatnre of the grove may be raised from
3° to 5°. When trees bave been frozen, subsequent damage
by rapid thawing is often prevented by making a thick
smoke over the grove.
Careful spraying and fumigating to prevent insect and
fungus troubles are also employed regularly. And * brown
rot’ is further guarded against by using copper sulphate or
potassium permanganate in the water in which the fruit is
washed.
In picking the fruit a ring 2°; inches is used. All fruit
which will just pass through the ring is cut from the tree with
shears and put into a canvas bag with which each picker is
supplied. Smaller fruit which has ripened is also picked,
together with the larger fruits which will not pass through
the ring.
The fruit is then cleaned from dust and ‘ black mould”
by passing it between two cylindrical brushes in a tank full
of water. It then comes on to a canvas or moving belt table
where it is sorted by hand into three grades, dark-green or
unripe, silver, green or partially mature, and yellow or tree,
ripened. Great care is exercised in handling the fruit. T he
tree-ripened Jemons are shipped at once, but the others are
packed carefully in standard boxes and stored in special
curing-houses. Here the degree of moisture and temperature
is most carefully regulated by covering the boxes with tents
that ean be lowered and raised in suc haw ay that there is as
little change as possible. Great care and judgement are
necessary here to prevent the fruit from withering, and to
enable it to ripen well.
The storage or curing-houses are generally owned by
a co-operation of growers, or an association of such
co-operations.
When in the curing house the fruit is carefully looked
over and all fruit showing any sign of ‘brown rot’ or ‘ blue
mould’ are removed.
When ready for market, the fruit is carefully packed in
cars, either under ventilation or under ice as mentioned above.
In conclusion, the following figures of expenditure and
returns may be quoted. They are t taken from a grove where
very special care is exercised. The grove contains 20 acres
and the total working expenses amounted to $7,417°47 or
$370-87 per acre. The average returns for the last four years
have been $900 per car load, and this estate gave about 21
car loads; that; is the return was about $18,900 or a net
profit of $11,482°53.
204
THE AGRICULTURAL .NEWS.
JuNE 26, 1909.
African
The West ram sheep ‘White Chief,’ the
property of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has
lately been transferred from Barbados to Montserrat, and his
‘services will be available in the latter island fora very
small fee.
There are about 75,000 acres under coffee in Costa Rica,
and this area remains stationary from year to year. The
average production of dry coffee per acre is from 5 to 6 cwt.
_ During 1907, the total export was 17,525 tons, of a value:of
about $3,300,000.
In connexion with the introduction of exotic cottons
into new countries, the experience of the Bureau of Plant
Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that
a newly introduced exotic seldom attains its normal cropping
capacity until it 1s acclimatized, and on an average, five years
are necessary for acclimatization.
The Bulletin of Agricultural Information, Trinidad,
reports that about 1,200 seedling canes of different varieties
have been obtained from British Guiana by the Department
of Agriculture. These have been planted in the best part of
the St. Clair Station, and after testing, the most suitable will
be distributed to planters in the island.
The damage to the cocoa-nut crop in Portuguese East
Africa last year (1908) from the ravages of locusts amounted
to $360,000. On a big sugar plantation along the Zambesi
River more than 14 tons of locust eggs have been dug from
the soil of the cane fields on an area of 2,000 hectares (about
4,900 acres). (Letter from Govt. Entomologist, P. E. A., in
Kutomological News, Vol. XX, ily ASitig))
With the object of extending the amount of knowledge
now generally available in connexion with the matter of
cacao fermentation, Z'ropreal Life las arranged to ofter
a prize of £50 for the best essay on the subject. The exsay
in question should take the form of a popular. scientific
treatise. Preliminary particulars of this competition are given
in the May number of Tropical Life, but full details will be
given in the June or July number.
The Queenslind Acclimatization Society has for some
years past been engaged in the work of raising new varieties
of sugarcane from seed. About 450 seedlings are reported
as the result of last year’s work. These will naturally undergo
a process of examination and selection. One particular cane,
(). 116, raised some few seasons ago. seems to be the most
_promising. No experiments in artificial eross-fertilization
have yet been attempted in Queensland.
A note in the Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural
Society for May refers to the possibility of orange wine
manufacture in Jamaica. The preparation of orange wine
has often been tried in the past, but without snecess. It is
suggested that if attention were given to the matter at the
Government Laboratory, some progress might be made in the
direction of turning out a
fermented orange juice.
refreshing drink made from
According to a recent number of the Cula Review,
The Cuba Mill and Furniture Co. has been organized for the
purpose of manufacturing, in Cuba, building material,
including shingles and doors, and also crate and cigar box
material, axe and pick handles, waggons, bull carts, and
a very high grade of furniture. ‘lhe company has valuable
timber contracts including many of the valuable hardwoods
to be found in that island.
Praedial larceny is very prevalent at St. Vincent, and
cotton growers have suffered considerable Joss from this.
cause. ‘The following remedies for checking the theft of, and
illicit dealing in, cotton have been proposed to the Executive :
To prohibit the selling of, and dealing in cotton locally, to
appoint cotton inspectors on the same lines as at Barbados,
to compel all cotton growers to furnish accurate returns of
cotton planted, and to ask the Government to make
arrangements for the purchase of cotton belonging to small
growers, at the Central Cotton Factory, at current rates.
It will be seen from the Agricultural Notes —‘ St. Kitt’s-
Nevis ’—on p. 205, that black blight is conspicuous on limes in
certain districts in that Presidency. Although the same
citrus crops are grown toa greater or less extent in all the
West Indian islands, the prevalence of scale insects and
black blight varies greatly. This variation is probably due in
large part at least to the natural enemies of the scales.
The Trinidad Bulletin of Agricultural Information for
January and April 1909 mentions. that. the frog hopper of the
sugar-cane ha been identified by specialists at~ Washington
as Tomaspis Postica. Green moulds found growing on these
insects were determined to be QOospora destructor, and
Penicillium Anisothae, commonly known as the green
muscardine disease,
Copies of the prospectus of Macdonald College, Quebec,
which is incorporated with MeGill University, have lately
been received. his College contains a well-equipped Agri-
cultural Department, at which courses of instruction ranging
from two weeks to four years can be taken. The fee for
instruction for students whose home is outside of Canada is
0 per session. Board and lodging costs approximately
$3°50 per week.
At the regular meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and
Commercial Society, June 4, Mr. Tempany the Acting
Superintendent of Agriculture brought up the matter of
pedigree cotton seed, and read a.paper on Antigua molasses.
Experiments carried out 1906 in- the selection. of
cotton have resulted in the production of a strain of Sea
Island cotton which seems to be well adapted to the local
conditions, and a quantity of this seed was offered for sale at
Rooms estate. Mr. Tempany advised the planters to procure
this seed for planting. Mr. Tempany also read a paper on
the manufacture and treatment of molasses, and pointed out
the need of the great care and greater cleanliness in
handling the molasses, if the standard of Antigua molasses
is to be kept up.
since
“Wot. VIII. No. 187. THE
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
JUNE.
Last Prrrop.
~ Seasonal Notes.
Now that the plant canes are mostly reaped, attention
turns to the fields to be kept for ratoons, and the questions
-of the cultivation and manuring of these fields come up for
-econsideration. What tillage should such fields have and
what manures, in what form, and when and how applied !
A careful comparison of the condition of the soil under
trash, and that exposed to the sun and entirely undis-
turbed will suggest to the mind the course to be followed. Is
the soil moist and friable, or dry and hard? If in addition,
a small area, say about four rows wide and ten holes long, is
taken for an experiment as follows, new ideas may arise :
Thoroughly pulverize the surface soil on this plot to a depth
of 3 inches, not more, and work as close to the old stumps
as you can conveniently. Repeat this tillage twice at intervals
of a week each time, and then compare the /ower depths of
soil with the conditions found under the trash and in the
open field where the soil had not been tilled since the canes
were cut.
Consider carefully and try to explain the reasons for
these conditions, and from your eonclusions decide how
ratoons should be tilled. How do these methods compare
with the practice of deep forking, and deep plowing ¢
With the advent of favourable rains cotton planting will
shortly be in progress. The process of the disinfection of
seed should be well understood, as well as the reasons why
this should be done even when the seed is to be planted on
the same estate where it was grown.
Students should learn what is the action of corrosive
sublimate, and why it is used for this purpose. What strength
solution is used, and what amounts of material are used to
make the required strength. It should also be noted that in
general, the most successful cotton growers destroy all old
cotton plants in the fields and wild cotton near the fields,
before beginning to plant the new crop. Why is this done !
In lime cultivations, careful observations should be
made on scale insects, and their natural enemies, especially
the beneficial fungi, accounts of which have appeared in recent
numbers of the Agricultural News, and in this present one
(p. 202).
Careful consideration should be given to the soil condi-
tions favourable to cacao and nutmegs. Do these crops both
make their best developments under similar soil conditions |
Tf not, what differences are there in the adaptability of these
plants to the soil in which they are grown !
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY
QUESTIONS.
(1) Why is the eration of the soil neccesary to good
plant growth ! State how drainage aids ration.
(2) What is meant by ecross-fertilization, and what is
the object of the operation !
(3) What are the benefits to be derived from burning
or burying the old cotton plants when the c1op is over, and
what are the risks if this is not done
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Areany parasites known to attack the moth borer
of the sugar-cane in the West Indies / If so, what are they,
and how do they act !
(2) How does farmyard manure benefit the soil /
(3) Are stones of any value toa soil ? If so, in what
way are they valuable !
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
205
It is proposed to hold an examination about
October next, in connexion with the Reading courses
for overseers. Candidates are advised to bear this in
mind, Notice as to the exact date will appear later.
AGRICULTURAL NOTES.
St. Kitt’s-Nevis.
In connexion with his visits to St. Kitt’s and
Nevis, Mr. Tempany, Acting Superintendent of Agri-
culture for the Leeward Islands, in a letter to the
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, makes some
observations of general interest on agricultural condi-
tions in the islands, from which the following notes
are taken :—
The Indian ram goat Rajah, which belongs to the Depart-
ment, was then at the experiment station. Its condition and
general health were excellent.
The past cotton crop in Nevis was a poor one, as was
the case in other West Indian islands, though the position
was better than was at first anticipated. The yield all round
was expected to be about 100 tb. of lint to the acre. Accord-
ing to Mr. Maloney’s estimate, the total area in Nevis under
cotton for the coming crop will be about 1,000 acres.
The cacao on all the estates visited seemed to be in
a healthy and satisfactory condition, and at Maddens in Nevis
many of the older trees were blossoming well.
The vanilla, both at Maddens estate, Nevis, and
Molineux estate, St. Kitt’s, was doing well. It was planted
along the sides of the cacao areas, the young vines being
trained on posts wrapped in banana trash.
The lime cultivation in Nevis was very satisfactory,
especially cn the lower grounds, where the trees were doing
well with but moderate attention. In St. Kitt’s, however,
one estate in particular showed trees of an unhealthy
appearance ; they were attacked by scale insects and
black blight. Black blight was also conspicuous on man-
gos and other trees in Nevis. The cocoa-nut cultivation
at Pinneys estate was making satisfactory progress, and the
older trees presented a promising appearance.
A small area of sugar-canes at Molineux estate had
been cultivated with implements according to the Louisiana
system, as it is called. A field of B. 208 cultivated in this
way presented a very healthy appearance, in contrast to the
surrounding fields planted according to the method usually
employed in St. Kitt’s. The plants, although put in some
weeks later than the neighbouring estate canes, had made
far better growth, were considerably higher, showed a better
stand, and withstood the dry weather better. The effect was
most. striking, and was visible from a considerable distance.
The broom corn machine was in Nevis, but had not
been worked, as apparently its method for working was not
quite clear. Mr. Tempany explained the working of the
machine, and it was expected that no further difficulties
would arise.
At Maddens a considerable area on the mountains
side was planted in Guinea~ grass, which was making
good growth despite the dry weatber, and was expected
to give satisfactory returns in a comparatively short time,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
JUNE 26, 1909..
GROUND NUT TRIALS IN THE
WEST INDIES.
Recognizing that ground nuts might possibly
become a valuable source of profit to small holders,’
and others in the West Indies, the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture has made several efforts to
encourage their cultivation on a more extended scale
in many of the islands. ‘These efforts have included
the introduction and trial of a number of new varieties
of nuts from the United States.
In 1907-8, seed nuts of two new varieties, ‘ Dixie Giant ’
(a nut remarkable for its large size), and ‘Tennessee Red, ’
both of which appeared to be promising for West Indian
conditions, were imported, and trial plantings were made at
the Botanic or Experiment Stations in St. Vincent, St.
Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, and St. Kitt’s-Nevis.
Unfortunately, however, the results—speaking generally-—
were not so good as were hoped for.
In the trials made at St. Vincent in 1907, ‘Dixie
Giant’ gave a return at the rate of no more than 5 ewt. per
acre, although sown in rich well-manured land. The plants
were slightly attacked by a rust fungus. The few seeds of,
‘Tennessee Red’ that were available germinated badly and
cied out.
At St. Lucia, in the same year, a trial was made with
the ‘ Dixie Giant’ ground nut, and 4( pints of nuts were
obtained from 3% pints of seed. The nuts were harvested
in December, but many of them germinated before they were
ripe. This indicates that planting should be done at a time
to throw the ripening peried into the dry season—between
‘February and May.
At Dominica, where large areas of soil suitable for the
cultivation of this crop exist, the two varieties under trial
in 1907 gave somewhat better results than in some of the
other islands. The ‘ Dixie Giant’ nuts, which were planted
early in September, took seventeen weeks to mature, and
65 Ib. of cured nuts were obtained from 2 Ib. of seed. In
the case of ‘Tennessee Red,’ 3 oz. of seed yielded 1 Ib. 3 oz.
of nuts. Neither variety was attacked by any pest or
disease.
At Montserrat, in the case of ‘ Dixie Giant,’ only 4 Ib.
of nuts were obtained from 24 tb. of seed. Moreover, many
of the nuts contained shrivelled kernels. ‘Tennessee Red’
did somewhat better.
Fair results were obtained at Antigua with both the
imported kinds in 1907. It is beheved, however, that the
dand was unsuitable, being too heavy for the crop. The
foliage of the plants was much attacked by caterpillars.
At St. Kitt’s, the ground nut plants grew well, and
developed a large amount of foliage. Unsatisfactory weather,
however, interfered with the proper maturing of the produce.
The experiments with ground nuts were continued
in 1908 at the same centres. In addition to the
‘Dixie Giant’ and ‘Tennessee Red, two other kinds,
viz., ‘Spanish’ and ‘ Carolina Running,’ both imported
from the United States, were included in the trials.
The ‘Spanish’ is a very small nut, but one that
in the United States is very popular, both among
growers, and on the market. It grows well on poor
soil, and takes but a comparatively short time to
mature its produce. ‘he plants are of an erect habit.
‘Carolina Running ’ is reported to be a prolific bearer
in the States, and yields nuts of a fairly large size.
At St. Lucia the four kinds of nuts were planted in
October 1908, but the results proved disappointing. ‘ Caro-
lina Running ’ was the only variety which germinated well
and produced a crop which was harvested on February 11,
1909. The yield was at the rate of 504 tb. per acre.
The report on the trials made at Dominica states that.
the soil on which the ground nuts were grown, was carefully
prepared beforehand. With the exception of the plot on
which the ‘ Dixie Giant’ nuts were planted, the soil was
very light and fine in texture, which offers the most favour-
able conditions for this crop. The land planted with ‘ Dixie
Giant ’ nuts was of a comparatively heavy nature, and this,
no doubt, had a detrimental effect upon the yield of nuts
obtained. i
All the four kinds of nuts were sown in July. The
‘Spanish,’ * Carolina Running, ’ and ‘ Tennessee Red’ varie-
ties were reaped towards the end of November, while the
‘Dixie Giant’ nuts did not mature till about a fortnight.
later. The ‘Spanish’ variety did best, showing a yield at
the rate of 1,940 Ib, per acre. ‘This was followed, in the
order named, by ‘Carolina Running’ (1,137 tb. per acre),
‘Tennessee Red’ (459 tb. per acre), and ‘Dixie Grant”
(335 Tb.). It is mentioned that the small nuts of the Spanish’
variety sell in Dominica much more readily than those ot
larger kinds.
At Montserrat the four kinds of nuts were planted on
June 26 and reaped in the last week of October, so that only
four months were occupied in coming to maturity. This was
probably owing to the dry weather that was experienced:
during the season. The yields were poor, ‘Carolina Running’
giving the highest return, which was at the rate of 889 Ib.
per acre, ‘Tennessee Red’ yielded at the rate of 400 tb.,
and ‘Spanish’ at the rate of 364 Ib. per acre. ‘ Dixie Giant’
failed to germinate at all.
At Antigua, plots were planted with each of the four
varieties. ‘Dixie Giant’ gave the best return—at the
rate of 960 Ib. per aere. ‘Carolina Running’ yielded at
the rate of 640 Ib., ‘Spanish’ 440 Ib., and ‘Tennessee Red”
400 tb. per acre. It is mentioned that in these experiments,
the plants of the ‘Carolina Running’ variety covered the
ground much better than any of the others.
Mr. Shepherd has sent in a report on the ground nut
trials made at St. Kitt’s in 1908. The same four kinds of
nuts were planted as in the other islands to which reference
has already been made. It is unfortunate, however, that the
varieties, ‘Spanish,’ and ‘Tennessee Red’ were severely
attacked by a fungus, and as a result only a poor crop of
nuts was harvested, the yield being at the rate of about
300 Ib. per acre. In the case of ‘ Dixie Giant,’ the nuts
planted showed very poor germination, and rotted in the
ground as if attacked by a fungous disease, although they
appeared to be sound at the time of planting. Much better
results were obtained with the ‘Carolina Running’ variety.
The seed nuts showed good germinating power, and the
ground was soon well covered by the vines. The nuts took fron
five to six months to mature, and gavea_ yield of nearly
1,500 Ib. per acre. <A local variety of ground nut planted
for purposes of comparison, showed a crop return at the rate
of about 2,000 Ib. per aere.
Mr. Shepherd points out that in the experiments made
at St. Kitt’s, none of the imported varieties have yielded
areturn superior to that given by the local nut, but adds
that some of the new kinds evidently possess certain very
desirable characteristics not found in the local variety. It is
‘Vou. VIII. No. 18
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
207
apparent that there is room for selection work in this
connexion, with the object of bringing about increased resist-
ance to disease. Further experiments are to be carried out
-at St. Kitt’s this year.
The four kinds of ground nuts in question were also
tried at Nevis last year. ‘Carolina Running’ and ‘Spanish’
did best, giving yields respectively, of 1,400 tb. and 810 Ib.
per acre. Both these varieties matured in slightly less than
four months. ‘Tennessee Red’ germinated fairly well,
matured early, and yielded a crop at the rate of 360-Tb. per
acre. The ‘ Dixie Giant’ variety failed to do well, many of
the nuts rotting before coming to maturity. The total
return obtained was at the rate of no more than 120 Ib. per
acre. <A local variety, grown under similar conditions, gave
a yield at the rate of 570 tb. per acre.
DEPREDATIONS BY FOREST INSECTS.
In the Vear-book of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for 1907, an interesting and instructive
article appears, entitled ‘Notable Depredations by
Forest Insects, by Dr. A. D. Hopkins, of the Bureau of
Entomology, who is in charge of forest insect inves-
tigations.
The bulk of the paper is made up of accounts of
-different species of insects in Europe and North
America, and the extent of their depredations on the
forests of those continents.
The introductory and the concluding remarks of
the article are likely ‘to be of interest to the readers of
the Agricultural News, and they are given herewith.
In a review of the principal recorded depredations by
“forest insects in Europe and North America during the past
400 years, one is forcibly impressed with the idea that
insects have exerted a most important influence on the
history and modification of the forests, and thus indirectly
on that of the countries themselves.
Among the natural destructive influences which have
Drought about changed conditions, storms, insects, and
diseases have doubtless been primarily concerned in causing
radical changes in local conditions, such as the successive
disappearance of generations of matured trees, the disappear-
ance of one or more tree species to be replaced by other
species, or the total destruction of the forest cover.
The insects primarily concerned in depredations on
living trees, and in the killing of the timber over large areas
fall, according to their food and breeding habits, into two
groups. One includes those species of bark-beetles and bark-
boring grubs which bore in the living bark and excavate
burrows and galleries through the vital cambium on the
main stem or trunk, thus serving to girdle and kill the tree.
~The other includes those species which feed on the leaves and
occur in such numbers as completely to defoliate the trees
during two or more successive seasons, thus preventing the
performance of the necessary vital functions of the foliage to
such an extent as to cause the death of the trees.
A striking feature of nearly all of thegreat invasions by
forest insects in Europe and this country [America] has been
their more or less periodical nature, and the more or less sudden
~check of the outbreak after a large percentage of the timber
had been killed, and within two or three years after the
insect had become so abundant as to threaten the total
destruction of the kind of trees attacked by them. This is
~ to be explained by various natural causes, which, however,
‘is only seven billion feet.
‘reached a
‘standing
operate only after the greatest damage has been done, and
often the invasion is far beyond human control. ‘Therefore
the object in future management of forests should be to
utilize the authentic technical information relating to the
species involved, and the vital features in their seasonal
history and habits, with a view to preventing destructive out-
breaks, or promptly adopting the proper measures for their
control as soon as the first evidence of the insects’ presence
in destructive numbers is noted. In fact, the first evidence
of an outbreak of adestructive insect should receive the
Same prompt attention as that required in preventing the
spread of an incipient forest fire. Fortunately, most of the
bark-beetles can be kept under complete control, with little
or no expense, by proper adjustments in forest management
and lumbering operations.
The history of efforts toward the control of forest insect
depredations in Europe, as well as in this country [America]
shows that one of the greatest obstacles has been the failure to
realize the importance of expert entomological information.
This has resulted in the waste of time, energy, and large
sums of money in absolutely worthless and often detrimental
efforts before proper measures have been adopted and applied.
CONSUMPTION OF FOREST
IN AMERICA.
The accompanying article which appeared in
Science for May 28, 1909, is likely to be of interest to
readers of the Agricultural News, and should be
considered in connexion with the editorial which
appeared in a recent number (see Vol. VIII, No. 185,
May 29 last) and the note on ‘ Depredations by Forest
Insects’ on this page.
It has been estimated that the amount of wood annually
consumed in the United States at the present time is
twenty-three billion cubic feet, while the growth of the forest
In other words, Americans all
over the country are using more than three times as much
wood as the forests are producing. The figures are based
upon a large number of state and local reports collected by
the government, and upon actual measurements. The State
Forester of Connecticut, in a recent report, has supplied figures
on growth and use for New Haven County, which give more
details than are generally to be obtained, and illustrate how
the forest is being reduced by over-cutting. In this county
a very careful study was made on each township of the
amount of forest, the rate of growth, and the amount of
timber used. For the year 1907 the timber used
PRODUCTS
was
_120,000 cords, in the form of cordwood, lumber, ties, poles,
and piles. The annual growth on all types of forest land,
including the trees standing on abandoned fields, for the year,
total of 70,000 cords. Thus the amount cut
yearly exceeds the growth by 50,000 cords. The amount of
timber considered as merchantable and available
for cutting within the next few years was found to be
1,200,000 cords. Each year the annnal growth increases the
supply on hand by 70,000 cords, while the use decreases it
by 120,000. The net reduction is therefore 50,000 cords
a year. Ifthe cut and the growth remain at the present
figures, the supply of merchantable timber will be exhansted
in about twenty years. At the end of that time there will
.be a large amount of forest standing in the country, but it
will be in tracts under forty years of age, containing wood
below the most profitable size for cutting. Cordwood could
still be cut, but supplies of the most profitable products, like
ties and lumber, would be practically exhausted.
THE AGRICULTUR
AL NEWS.
JUNE 26, 1909.
MARKET “REPORTS.
London,—Txe West Inpra CommitrrEe CrecuLar,
June 8, 1909; Messrs. E. A. pz Pass & Co.,
J
May 28, 1909.
ARROWROOT—St. SEIS 1Zd. to 33d., according to quality.
Barata—Sheet, 2/5 ; block, 1/10.
Bres’-wax—£7 10s. to £7 15s. for fair to darkish.
Cacao—Trinidad, 57/6 to 68/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 49/- to
57/- per ewt ; Jamaica, 49/- to 56).
Correre—Santos, 30/9 to 32/- per ewt.; Jamaica, 38/6
to 49/-.
Corra—West Indian, £20 per ton.
Corron—Nevis, 14d.; St. Kitt’s, ae to 143d. ; Ste
Vincent, 17d. to 20d.; Antigua, 13d.; ; Montserrat, 13d.
to 133d.; Barbados, 143d. to 152.
Frurr—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
GincGeR—Common to good common, 50/- to 53/-; low
middling to middling, 54/- to 59/-; good bright to fine,
60/- to 69/-.
Honty—23s. to 32s. per cwt.
IstncLass—No quot: vtions,
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons ; distilled oil, 1/10 to
1/11 per th.
Locwoop—No quotations.
Macre—Steady.
Nourmecs—Firmer.
Prvento—Quiet.
Rupper—Para, fine hard, 5s. 10d. to 5s. 11d. per th.
Rum—Jamaiea, 3/- to 3.3; Demerara, 1/65, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 two 17/-, Muscovado, 15/9 to 16-;
Syrup, San Salvador, 16/-; Molasses, no quotations.
Wew York,—Messrs. Grutespre, Bros.& Co., May 14,
1909.
Cacao—Car: er 12c. to 13c.; Grenada, 124c. to 13c. ;
Trinidad, 12c. to 124e. ; Jamaica, 10c. to 11e. per tb.
Cocoa-Nu ieesyamnd aica, select, $22-00 to $2400; ; culls, $14°00
to $1500; Trinidad, select, $21-00 to $23-00 ; culls,
$13-00 to $14°00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, ordinary, Tjc. to 8}c.; good ordinary,
8c. to 9e.; and washed up to Le.
Grincer—9he. to 11 fe. per Tb.
Goat Skrxs—Jama ee no quotations; Barbados, St.
Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 45c. to 48e. per tb.,
dry flint.
Grave Frurr—Jamaica, $4°00 to $5°-00 per barrel.
Limes— Dominica, $4°75 to $6°00 per barrel.
Macre—27 hc. to 36}c
NutrmEcs—110’s, §
ORANGES— Jamaica, “$2: 00 to $2°50 per box, $4°00 to 35-00
per barrel.
Pimenro—4}c. per lb.
Svucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°92c.; Muscovados, 89°, 3°42c.;
Molasses, 89°, 3:17c. per Ih., all duty paid,
British Guiana,—Me:
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., June 21, 19095.
2
Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., June 21, 1909:
Argowroot—St. Vincent, $4:00 per 100 th., good quality._ .
Cacao—$12°00 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-Nuts—$10-00 for husked nuts.
Corrre—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
100 tb., scarce.
"25 per 100 Th.
Macnee Nitrate of soda, 865-00; Ohlendorff’s dissolvea@_
guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42-00; Cacao manure,
$42°00 to $48°00; Sulphate of ammonia, 375-00 =.
Sulphate of potash, $67-00 per ton.
Motasses—Fancy, 17c.; Grocery, 18c. per gallon.
Onrons—Strings, $300 per 100 tb.; Bermuda, $1°75.
Peas—Split, $6:00 per bag of 210 th.; Canada, $3-40 per
hag of 120 Th.
Poratros —82°60 per 160 th.
Rice—Jallam, $5°60 (188 tb.); Patna, $3-80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per 100 th.
Suear —Dark Crystals, 96° $:
Centrifugals, $2°10 to $2°30.
; Muscovado, 89° $1-85 - =
. Wirrinc & Ricwrex, June 12
ms aa
SanDbBACH, ParkKEz & Oo.
1909 ; Messrs.
June 1], 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $9:00 per 200 Tb., no demand.
Batata — Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48e_
to 50e. per th.
Cacao—Native, 13c. to 14e. per tb.
Cassava—-60e.
Cassava StarncH—§$5‘00 per barrel of 196 th.
Cocoa-Nuts—$12°00 to $16-00 per M.
Corrrr—Crcole, 12c. to 18c.; Jamaica and Rio, 134¢.;-
Liberian, Te. to 8c. per tb. X
Duat—$4°30 to $4°50 per bag of 168 Th., weak; Green.
Dhal, $5°50.
Eppos—$1°20 to $144 per barrel.
Mo asses—Yellow, 23c. to 24c.
Ontons—Teneritie, 3c.; Bermuda, 2 $c. to 3e. per th.
PLantarys—l6c. to 40c. per bunch.
Poratos—Novya Scotia, $2°75 per 100 tb.
Peas—Spuir $590 to $6°00 per bag (210 ib.); Marseilles.
$3-00, over stock. ;
Poraros—Sweet, Barbados, $1°44 per bag.
Rice—-Ballam, $5°50 to $5°60; Creole, $4°40.
Tannras—$1°90 per bag.
Yams—White, $140 to $1°92 per bag; Buck, $3-5@
to S400.
Suen Dare crystals, $2-20 to $2:27 Yellow, $3:00 to
20; W. hite, $ $3°60 to $3°80; Molese. $2:00 to $2°30
Timber— Greate wt, 32c. to dde. per cubic foot.
WaALLABA SHINGLE aig: 7
ris) as $5°75 per M.
Corpwoopv—S82:'00 to $ 2-40 per ton.
Trinidad,— Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co. June 12, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°10 to $11°30 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11-00 to $11°50. ;
Cocoa-NutTs—No quotations.
Cocoa-Nuv Orm—7Zde. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
CorreE Terisaeland 8c. to Ye. per tb.
Corra—$3"25 per 100 tb.
Duar—$4'40 to $4°50 per 2-bushel bag.
Ontons—$1°50 to $2-00 per 100 th., fair demand.
Pras—Sprit $5°25 to $5°50 per bag.
Poratros—English, $1°25 to $1:40 per 100 th.
Ricr—Yellow, $460 to $475; White, $5:00 to $5:25.
per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100 tb;
Yellow crystals, $2°50 to $2-°60; Bright molasses,
$2°25 to $2
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN. A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price 1s. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
Volumes II, III, 1V, V, VI, VIL, and VIII:—Price 2s. each ; Post free 2s. 8d.
Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Reprint of Papers read at Agricultural Conference, 1908, relating to Sugar, Cacao,
Fruit, Rice, and Rubber Industries. Also papers dealing with general subjects. No. 4, Timbers of
Jamaica, Timbers of Dominica, Fungus Diseases of Cocoa-nuts, Aleyrodidae of Barbados, Millions and
Mosquitos. Price 6d. each number. Post free, 8d.
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton, Bonrbon Cane in Antigua, Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
in Barbados, Soils of Nevis, Cotton Selection in the Leeward Islands, Leguminous Crops and Soil
Inoculation. Price 6d. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The following list gives particu-
lars of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
Sucar Txpustry. (9) Bee Keeping in the West Indies. Price 4d.
Seedling and other Canes at Barbados; in 1900. No, 3, price 2d.; (14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
in 1901, No. 13, price 4d.; in 1902, No. 19, price 4¢.;im (15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
1902, No. 26, price 4d.; in 1904, No. 32, Price 4d. (16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. Price 2d.
Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados, in (17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
1903-5, No. 40, Price 6d.; in 1904-6, No. 44, price 6d.; in (18) Recipes for cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
1905-7, No. 49, price 6d. (25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. Price 2d.
‘Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, in 1900-1, (28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
No. 12, price 2d.; in 1901-2, No. 20 price 2d.; in 1902-3, (84) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2d.
No. 27, price 2d.; in 1903-4, No. 33 price 4d.; in 1904-5, (35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks. Price 5d.
No. 39, price 4d.;in 1905-6, No. 46, price 4d.; in 1906-7, (37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
No. 50, price 4d.; in 1907-8, No. 56, price 4d. (38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands, (41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
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BAIN Pat Tee YIEED.
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield.
available plant food.
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Vou, VILL No. 188, i a BARBADOS, JULY 10, 1909. a Piiog 1d.
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Agriculture in South | Market Reports ... 224
Manchester, Jamaica 219 | Notes and Comments 216
Agricultural Production, Paper Manufacture from
S Phases of Sootts een Zl, Wood Products . 216
Bahamas, Fruit Production | Reading Courses and
TABI, nob chee ecoaneneeie ean Examinations... ...
Birds and Agriculture 215} Rice in British Guiana... 223
g
F ‘y-tapping Me 212
Gatalncciorasoils pits | euPber ee aact hod 21
Colonial Exhibition ... 213 B: 7 Z lo ° 17
Colouran Soils. <1 +-. 216 Stud de ace oe 391
Construction of Buildings = ees Tes oeee Ta
mn © Sugar Industry :—
in Karthquake eee om Se eye
ze ae oir | Sugar Crop of British
Countries . 217 = 6
(Garfianl ISiAiOe India... ats 211
Se NOUS ea eeaa The Bourbon Cane 211
Cotton Cultivation in | iinet ae :
= 5 Water Needed fox
Ceylon nes, dees) ewer DLE i
ari . a Development of
Cotton Hybrids, Sup- Suen 11
pressed and Intensified Ry ate : Pete
faa oy oy5. Superphosphate, and Lime
Charactersim «.. ... 215] a theweeal 215
West Indian Cotton . 214 The Late Dr. Ghat ie
Cowpea, History of... . 213 | a TP aie
= | Branch 217
CWowpeaSmmecs! perce cessive (219. The Soy isean 299
Department News see 213 | Tobacco Culture in South
Forestry in Hawaii... ... 216} A Sri Comments Wces\ cee LG:
Gleanings... ... 220] West African Oil Palm... 221
Hurricanes : 209 | West Indian Products ... 225
Insect Notes :—
The House-fly ... ... 218
The Larger Moth Borer 218
Wild Tpecacuanha,
Poisonous Effect of
on Cattle. | ss) s.0 222
Hurricanes.
N: 5 5 the hurricane season is approaching, a few
, — 3
3)
ee peculiar storms may be of interest to the
readers of the Agricultural News.
1otes with regard to the nature of these
A hurricane isa storm in which there is a great
rush of air towards and around the centre, the whole
mass moving slowly along. These storms originate
near the equator and generally travel in a westerly or
north-westerly direction, in the lower latitudes: reeurve
at about the latitude of the Bahamas, and take a north-
easterly direction across the Atlantic. During the so-
called hurricane season, storms originate at from 10 to
11 degrees north of the equator, in mid-ocean.
It will what has been said, that
Trinidad and Grenada, and even some of the islands of
the Grenadines, are not at all likely to encounter one
be seen from
of these storms. St. Vincent and Barbados, however,
and all the islands to the north lie in the storm track.
The origin of these storms may be explained in the
following manner.
If a mass of air, practically at rest, becomes very
highly heated, a strong upward cnrrent is induced, and
this creates a rush of air from all directions towards
the point at which this upward current leaves the
earth’s surface. It was discovered by Ferrel on purely
mathematical grounds, that on account of the rotation
of the earth on its axis, all moving bodies to the north
of the equator swerve slightly to the right. This, it will
be seen, would cause the rotating movement of the
cyclonic storm. The rotation is thus from right to left,
or in a direction opposite to the movements of the
hands of a watch. South of the equator, moving bodies
swerve to the left, and the rotation of the hurricane
is from left to right.
In considering hurricanes it is necessary to dis-
tinguish clearly between the two distinct movements of
the storm, which are known as rotation and translation,
The rotation of the storm is the movement of the
currents of air around the centre, and the translation
is the forward progression ofthe whole storm along the
storm track.
The rate at which the storm travels along the
storm track (the translation) is not very great, ranging
from about 10 to 17 miles an hour in these lower lati-
tudes, but the velocity of the wind (in rotation) often
becomes very great. It is not known what the limit of
this velocity may be; but it has been recorded up to
120 miles an hour, with an air pressure of over 70 tb.
per square inch. At the centre of the storm there is an
upward rush of air, which produces the effect of a calm
in the midst of the storm.
Reference to the accompanying diagram will help
to make clear what has already been said about the
rotating movement of the wind and the forward
progression of the storm, the larger arrows indicating
the latter. The smali letters accompanying the small
arrows indicate the direction from which the wind is
blowing with reference to the storm centre.
The following premonitory indications are largely
taken from the United States’ Pilot Chart. Before a
hurricane the barometer is somewhat higher than usual,
with cool, very clear, pleasant weather; there is a long
low swell from the direction of the distant storm : the
sky is covered with a quantity of light feathery cirrus
clouds (mare’s tails) radiating from a point on the
horizon, where a whitish are indicates the bearing of
the centre. If the cirrus plumes are faint and opales-
cent in tint, fading gradually behind a slowly thicken- :
ing haze or veil, the approaching storm is an old one,
of large area. IPf of snowy whiteness, projected against
a clear blue sky, it isa young cyclone of small area, but
great intensity. Great activity of movement of the
upper clouds while the storm is still distant indicates
that the hurricane is of great violence.
As the storm approaches, the following unmistak-
able signs display the falls
rapidly: halos are seen around the sun and moon: the
ocean swell increases :
themselves: barometer
the weather becomes hot, moist
and oppressive, with light variable winds: deep-red and
violet tints appear at dawn and sunset, tints which
assume a coppery glare of ominous aspect: a heavy
mountainous cloudbank on the distant horizon indicates
the position of the approa¢hing storm: the barometer
falls more rapidly, and, finally, if the observations are
made on or near the storm track in the West Indies,
the wind begins to blow in a direction between the
north-east and north-west, soon rising to hurricane
force, increasing till the central calm passes, then
breaking out with violence from the south to south-
east.
In the diagram, the northern portion of the storm
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Jury 10, 1909.
is marked the dangerous semi-circle, because in this
semi-circle the wind all the time is from an easterly
direction, and all such winds blow to the front of the
storm. The southern-half of the storm is considered
the navigable semi-circle, because the wind in this
portion of the storm is always from a westerly quarter,
and blows toward the rear of the storm. It may be
added that, owing to the usual track of these storms in
these latitudes being about south-east to north-
west, it follows that as soon as the word south
can be used in describing the direction of the wind,
the centre of the storm may be known to have passed,
and the worst may be considered to be over.
IN HIGH LATITUDES:
Velocity along track o
20 to 30 miles per hour *
{N;MIDOLE LATITUDES ;
Th Uy Sa STORM RECURYING:
Lf j Velocity along track
Soll Va 5 to 10 miles per how.
te.
AN VSN NoTE._Hnrricane: about
ew XX } NOTE.— 2 8 recurve tT
OS “of I; \s8 the following latitudes :
it Soe ] June and Oct., lat. 20°to 29 N
= July and Sept., lat. 27°to 29° N =
Is August lat. 30°to 35 N.
“IN LOW LATITUDES:
5 Velocity along track,
‘about 17 miles pez hour
ag
It is useful for an observer on land to have a clear
understanding of the manner of ascertaining the
progress of the storm along its track from observations
on the direction in which the wind blows, and the
changes which the direction undergoes.
It is clear from what has been said, that if the
observer faces the direction from which the wind is
Vou. VIII. No. 188. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 211
blowing, the centre of the storm lies on his right
hand. Ifhe is directly on the storm track, the wind
constant in direction, with increasing
violence and rapidly falling barometer until the centre
arrives ; then there will be a short period of calm, after
which the wind will suddenly begin to blow from the
direction opposite to that previously experienced, and
the violence will slowly abate as the centre passes away.
It is essential to be on the look-out for this recurrence
of wind of great violence after the passing of the central
calm.
will remain
If the centre of the storm passes on the north side
of the observer, the wind will steadily shift from north
to north-west tu west, and die away somewhere in the
neighbourhood of sonth-west.
If, on the other hand, the centre passes on the
south, the wind will steadily shift from norcth-north-
east to east, and die away some where in the south-east.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Sugar Crop of British India.
An official estimate of the sugar-cane crop of
British India, for the year 1908-9, has lately been
issued, which contains a few points worthy of notice.
The total area under sugar-cane in the seven provinces
of British India is reported to be 2,184,000 acres, which
represents a net decrease of 455,200 acres, or 17 per cent.,
as compared with last year.
The total yield from this large area was no more than
1,841,800 tons of unrefined sugar, or considerably less than
1 ton per acre. This yield, however, shows a decrease of
10 per cent. on the total return given in 1907-8—a decline
which is chiefly attributed to drought.
It is in the United Provinces that the chief sugar-grow-
ing districts of British India are situated, and here over
50 per cent. of the total sugar crop of the country is produced.
In the past season, however, there was a decline of 24 per
cent. in the acreage planted with cane In these provinces,
the area falling from 1,481,700 acres in 1907-8, to 1,119,400
acres in 1¢08-9. Similarly, the total yield of raw sugar
decreased from 916,700 tons to 843,700 tons. The crop
suffered very considerable damage both from drought and
insects in the past year.
In Bengal, which usually produces about 19 per cent.
of the total sugar crop of the country, the area planted in
1908-9 is estimated at 375,000 acres, as compared with
436,200 acres in the previous year. The yield obtained
shows a very large decline, having fallen from 407,800 tons
in 1907-8, to 255,800 tons in 1908-9. Drenght was the
cause of this decrease.
About 12 per cent. of the Indian sugar crop is produced
in the Punjab, and in 1908 this province was fortunate in
having favourable rains. Asa_ result, the output showed an
increase of about 11 per cent. on the crop of 1907-8.
Eastern Bengal, Assam, and Madras also suffered from
drought, and showed diminished crops of sugar in the past
season.
Amount of Water Needed for the Maximum
Development of the Sugar-cane Plant.
Bulletin No. 17, of the H’stucion Central Agro-
nomica de Cuba, on Irrigation, by J ‘T. Crawley,
Director, is reviewed in the June number of the
American Sugar Industry and Beet Sugar Gazette,
from which the following notes are taken :—
The Hawaiian sugar planters have probably done more
and better work in irrigating sugar-canes than any other
people, and therefore the experience acquired in Hawaii as to
the amount of water required for the maximum development
of the cane will be of interest in all sugar-growing countries.
In Hawaii, it is not known just what amount of water
is used per acre, but a good approximate estimate may be
arrived at from the-known capacity of the pump, and of the
streams supplying water for irrigation.
Where the annul rainfall is 50 inches or less, it is
estimated that 5,000,000 eallons are sufticient and this is
equal to 184 inches of rainfall per annum. The 50 inches of
actual rainfall and the 184 inches supptied by irrigation
give a total of 254 inches.
The greater part of the rainfall in Hawaii comes during
the winter, when the rate of growth of the cane is not rapid,
and the evaporation from the soil is comparatively slow.
In Cuba, on the other hand, the larger part of the rain
falls in the summer, a season of great heat and rapid growth
and rapid evaporation, and consequently at a season when it
does the greatest amount of good to the cultivations, with
the result that 50 inches of rainfall in Cuba is generally of
greater value to the crops than the same amount would be in
Hawaii, and consequently the need of irrigation’ will not be
as great in the former as in the latter place.
Cane is a crop that needs for its best development
a large amount of water. It is given as the opinion of the
writer of the bulletin that 100 inches of water, if applied at
regular intervals and in quantities proportional to the needs
of the cane, would probably be sufficient, but that with the
loss experienced in the surface run-off and seepage, at least
125 inches are necessary for the full development.
Some modifications of these figures would however result
if the nature of the soil were taken into consideration, since
the power of absorption, retention of the water by the soil,
and the nature of the subsoil are factors that would some-
what alter the local conditions.
The Bourbon Cane.
In the last number of the Ayricu/tural News, see page
201, mention was made of the papers by Mr. Tempany and
Mr. Bovell on the Bourbon cane, which appeared in the
West Indian Bulletin, Vol. X, No. I.
It must be remembered that these papers deal with
actual experience, and the statements made with regard to
recent trials do not demonstrate that the Bourbon cane has
entirely ‘passed,’ but they show that on account of the
abundance of fungoid diseases, and the susceptibility of the
Bourbon cane to them, this variety cannot be grown
profitably in Barbados, Antigua, or St. Kitt’s.
Perhaps the Bourbon may still be a profitable cane to
grow in other places where the conditions are less favour-
able to the fungus.
The articles referred to that the chief
superiority of the Bourbon was in tlie softness, low fibre content
and consequent easy milling qualities, not in larger yields of
cane nor of sugar, nor yet in ier sucrose content of the
juice.
also show
219
ails
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. f
JuLy +10,’ 1909;
WEST
FRUIT PRODUCTION IN THE BAHAMAS.
Fruit production is a valuable industry in the
Bahamas, but it is capable of considerable further
development. Some interesting notes in this connexion
are contained in the report, for 1908, of the Curator of
the Botanic Station, Nassau.
Pine-apples form the chief fruit shipped abroad, the
value of the shipments in 1908 being £17,181. This, how-
ever, shows a great decline as compared with 1907, when
exports of this fruit were made to the value of £30,614.
The falling off is chiefly due to drought experienced in 1906
and 1907. Reports as to the prospects of the crop for 1909
seem to be more encouraging.
With the help of increased grants from the Legislature,
the Board of Agriculture last year imported and distributed
180,000 slips of the Red Spanish variety of pine-apple.
These were in most cases given to growers, on the condition
that half the increase of stock for three years be handed over
to the Board for further distribution. The J. 5. Johnson
Pine-apple Canning Company also imported 20,000 slips of
Red Spanish pine-apples, which were distributed free to local
growers. It is satisfactory to note that the prices obtained by
growers of pineapples in the Bahamas in 1908 were
appreciably higher than in the preceding year, both at the
factories, and in the United States.
Manurial experiments with pine-apples have been in
progress for the past two years, the Legislature having made
a special grant of £100 for this purpose. Various combina-
tions of fertilizers are being tried, and though the experiments
are not yet concluded, some satisfactory and profitable results
have already been obtained in certain cases. It would appear
that when nitrogen is to be applied to the crop, better results
are obtained when it is given in the organic form, e.g., as
dried blood, than as sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate. A good
supply of potash is essential for the proper development and
fruiting of the pine-apple crop, and for this purpose sulphate
of potash is preferable to kainit. On the red lands, where
pine-apples are largely grown in the Bahamas, the following
is recommended as a good mixed manure: dried blood,
744 lb.; raw ground bone, 432 b.; and low grade sulphate
of potash, 904 Ib. per acre. The experiments have already
demoustrated that if the best results are to be obtained,
a manure for pine-apples must be a complete fertilizer, ie., it
must contain nitrogen, potash, and phosphates.
Grape-fruit and oranges were exported from the Bahamas
in 1908 to the value of £6,177, this being an increase of
INDIAN FRUI®.
£3,557 on the exportsof 1907. Oranges show a greater
increase than grape-fruit. Both these kinds of fruit are
produced in excellent quality in the Bahamas. The im-
portance of supervision to ensure that only mature fruit is
shipped, and that grading and packing are properly carried
out, is referred to in the report.
There is a citrus nursery at the Agricultural Experi-
ment Station for the purpose of supplying the best market-
able varieties of grapefruit and oranges to growers at
a low price. Stocks of sour orange and rough lemon to the
number of 800 were planted in 1906, and budded early in
1908 with buds of ‘Marsh Seedless’, Jatfa, Washington
Navel, ‘ King’, and other varieties of orange.
Strong and
healthy trees are now being sold at ld. each.
Another point to.which reference is made is the fact that
enormous quantities of various fruits, such as mangos, guavas,
cocoa-plum, hog plum, sorrel, ete., are annually wasted in
the colony, whereas if these products were properly treated,
a continuous supply of preserves would be available not only
for local consumption, but also for export. These considera-
tions apply not only to the Bahamas, but to several of the
West Indian islands, and to British Guiana as well.
The establishment of a small factory in certain of the
colonies would be all that is required, and this might be the
means of starting a useful and remunerative industry,
Rubber-tapping Method.
The Tropical Agriculturist for May 15, 1909,
contains a review of a report by Professor Fitting after
a visit to the tropical garden at Beitenzorg to study
the physiology of the bark of the rubber trees in its
relation to the various methods of tapping.
His conclusions were based on the fact that sap ascends
the tree through the sap wood and the elaborated food sup-
ply descends through the bast or minor wood,
If the bark is cut through to the wood, and horizontally
around the tree, the supply of elaborated food may be cut off
entirely from the root, with the result that the tree may be
kilied outright.in a few years.
Professor Fitting concludes that the best results will be
obtained, in the long run, by those methods which leave the
widest possible area of free bark unblocked in a vertical
direction, and therefore advocates such a system as the
herring-bone or;the half herring-bone, in which only
a quarter of the ‘circumference of a tree is tapped at a_ time.
Vou. VII. No; 188,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 21
we
THE HISTORY OF THE COWPEA.
An interesting account of the Cowpea with its
history from earliest times, and an account of its
introduction into the New World was published by the
Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States
Department of Agriculture in Bulletin No. 102, part
VI, from which the following notes are taken.
It is very difficult to discover the origin of the cowpea
(Vigna unguiculata), owing to its great similarity to other
leguminous plants, and the inadequate way in which these
plants were described by the ancient authors. It is, how-
ever, certain that bean-like plants were cultivated in southern
fKurope before the discovery of America, and it would seem
that at least one of these plants resembled closely the common
or kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), Authors writing during
the century after the discovery of America tried to identity
the beans grown at that time with those described by Theo-
phrastus and Mioscorides. De Candolle,yin the Origin of
Cultivated Plants doubts any such identity. It is known,
however, from early accounts of discovery in America, that the
natives of the New Wovrid used leguininous plants extensively.
Hariot, 1558, mentions two kinds of beans : (1) Okind-
guer (which was either a large form of kidney bean, or the
Lima bean), (2) Wickonzour. John Smith, 1612, mentions
* pease ’ called ‘ Assentamene,’ which were the same known
in Italy as Fagiolh. This is probably a species of Lathyrus
or Vicia, and this bean, he wentions as being the same the
Turks called Garnanseo, and which was probably a vetch
resembling the chick-pea. Josselyn, 1675, describes four
kinds of beans or peas : French. beans, or rather American
beans ; Bonavis, Calavances, and the kidney bean that is
proper to ‘ Roanoke, which may be the Lima bean. Bonavis
is derived trom the Italian Buono vista, and was first used
in America |New World] by Richard Ligon, 1657. (A true
and exact History of the [sland of Barbados: ‘Maies and Bona-
vists planted between the boughs, the trees lying along upon
the ground ; so far short was the ground then of being c'eared.’
Romens, in his natural history of East and West Florida,
1775, gives the first unmistakable reference to Vigna ungui-
culata as having appeared on the mainland of America. His
discussion indicates that although grown for several years in
the southern colonies, in Virginia they were not cultivated,
or only to a small extent, at so early a date.
Washington was accustomed to grow seeds of new plants
from England and other countries that might prove of ayri-
cultural value. ‘There is reference in M. D. Conways ‘ George
Washington and Mount Vernon’ to his plantiag Indian corn
and potatos in intermediate rows, but no reference anywhere
to the cultivation of peas or beans with corn, His first
reference to cow peas is in a letter dated February 27, 1797.
Dr. James Greenway, in an article on Cassia chamaecrista,
1793, as a soil renovator, refers to the common corn-field
pea as being preferable to anything tried for this purpose.
The pea vines left on the ground quickly moulder and fall to
pieces, forming a covering for the ground, which mingles
readily with it.
Phaseolus vulgaris appears to have reached central
Europe about 1536. Certainly a plant resembling the dwarf
form of Phaseolus vulgaris was cultivated in Southern
Europe, in the Mediterranean region, before the discovery of
America.
The Vigna unguiculata tirst became known to central
and northern European botanists by its being grown at
Prague. These seeds were probably brought overland direct
from Persia or India, and not from Italy, as it was known at
Prague before Vienna.
The figure in the Vienna Dioscorides Codex, supposed to
be the phasiolus of Dioscorides corresponds closely with the
description of Dolichos lubia. Koernicke believes this species
to have originated in central Africa, as it grows wild there.
This, however, so frequently happens with plants imported
into the tropics, that it cannot be taken as conclusive evidence.
Indian works refer to the ancient cultivation of luliya
in India, and Reede describes nine ditferent preparations of
the seed of the Vigna catjany which were used in medicine.
The cultivation of V. wnguieulata extended to China at
a very early date ; and at the beginning of the Christian era
to Arabia, Asia Minor, and some of the European Mediterra-
nean countries; but dit not become known in central
Europe until the middle of the sixteenth century.
COLONIAL EXHIBITION.
The next Fruit and Vegetable show under the
auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society will be
held at the Society’s Hall, Vincent Square, Westminster,
December 1 to 4, 1909. The attention of the perma-
nent Exhibition Committees, and of. fruit growers
generally, is called to this opportunity of exhibiting
West Indian grown fruit and vegetables, both fresh and
preserved, in competition with similar products from
all other parts of the empire,
All entries must be in, not later than November
17, but the Secretary hopes that as many as possible °
will be in previous to that date.
It shonld be borne in mind that the exhibits are carried
freight free, there is no entrance fee, no charges for space,
and tabling is provided free. If desired by the exhibitor the
Committee is prepared to unpack and stage the exhibits but
cannot undertake to repack and return any exhibits. The
Society will receive any exhibits and store in their cellars
which are cool, but not cold. Mr. A. E. Aspinall, Seere-
tary of the West India Committee, in a letter to the Imperial
Commissioner of Agriculture, forwards the printed circulars
of the Royal Horticultural Society, which have been issued
by the Secretary. These circulars give all necessary inform-
ation in regard to the conditions under which tne exhibition
is to be conducted and an entry form to be filled in by the
exhibitor. Mr. Aspinall states that his Committee will be
pleased to receive and stage any exhibits if so requested.
This would seem to be an excellent opportunity for
West Indian fruit to be exhibited under the most favourable
conditions, at a very low cost.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture return-
ed to Barbados from St. Vincent on June 29 by the
RMS.‘ Esk.’ Mr. Biffen also returned to Barbados
by the same boat.
With the approval of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture
will proceed to England on duty leave by the RMS.
‘ Magdalena ’ on July 13. During the absence of
Dr. Watt’s, Mr. J. R. Bovell, 1S.0., F.LC., F.C.S. will
sign for the Commissioner.
Mr. J. Chisnall Moore, Agricultural Superinten-
dent of St. Lucia, has been granted six months’ leaye
of absence, and has sailed for Kngland.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Jury 10, 1909.
aa,
wey
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date June 21, with reference to
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our Jast report about 150 bales of West Indian
Sea Island cotton have been sold, chiefly Barbados at 134d.
to 14d., with a few St. Vincent at 164d. to 17 3d., the remain-
der being ‘Stains’ at 5d. to 9d. The spinning trade is still
unprofitable, and consumers are not prepared to add to their
stocks at anything over present quotations.
Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., in their report on Sea
Island cotton in the Southern States for the week ending
June 19, discuss the situation as follows :—
The unsold stock of Islands now consists of planters’
crop lots held here (Charleston, $.C.), or on plantations,
aggregating 457 bales. The factors are still refusing to
sell any of them under 30 c. and the larger proportion are
held, under instructions from planters, at 35 c.
COTTON SELECTION.
As a result of careful selection of the best seed from
the best plants in Antigua, Dr. Watts and Mr. Tempany
came to the conclusion that external conditions of soil and
climate had, in the experiments reported on, more effect on
the general quality of cotton lint than selection,
As aresult it is evident that in order to improve the
stock in any given locality, the best plants grown in that
locality should be selected for seed ; and further, the fact
that a certain strain of cotton is known to give very good
results in any given neighbourhood, is no guarantee that it
will continue to do so in another, where the conditions of
moisture and the nature of the soil may be very different.
Tt has been found in America that imported cottons may
take three or four years to become completely acclimatized, and
will not give their best results until this period has elapsed.
Consequently it is better to work steadily to improve a strain
that is already partially acclimatized, than to import con-
tinually new strains beeause they are known to have given
better results in a different locality.
The authors also found in selecting seed, that the seed
with lint of about 1? to 12 inches gave the best results, as the
plants produced from seed with longer lint often ¢
that was so weak as to be practically useless. Extreme length
of lint combined with evenness and strength, appears to be
greatly affected by external conditions even when the best
seed alone is used for planting. It seems possible, however,
that a naturai improvement in these qualities would be likely
to take place, as a strain becomes more and more thoroughly
acclimatized, provided a careful selection is practised in choos
ing plants for seed.
cave a lint
‘ a) ~ : My
.. COTTON NOTES./,
)unernr __ra(()
PROSPECTIVE COTTON CULTIVATION
IN CEYLON.
The question of the extension of cotton cultivation
in Ceylon is discussed in a Circular (Vol. IV, No. 19)
recently issued by the Royal Botanic Gardens of that
colony.
Cotton was one of the crops grown in Ceylon as early
as 1858, although it was never cultivated on an extensive
scale. Several leading authorities state, however, that the
plant is indigenous to the island.
In 1903, an Experiment Station was opened at Maha-
iluppalama, for the purpose of carrying out cotton experi
ments. One object of these trials was to determine whether
eotton of long staple, such as is required for the Lancashire
market can be grown, with or without irrigation, in the dry
regions of Ceylon,
It has already been demonstrated that Egyptian, Sea
Island, and Upland cottons will grow in the North Central
Province of the island, but that the Egyptian variety is the
most profitable. The writer of the Circular recommends,
therefore, the advisability of fostering the cultivation of this
class of cotton. Upland cotton does not command a suft-
ciently high price to be profitable, while the smaller yield
given by the Sea Island variety, and the limited demand
which exists for the finest qualities of lint, are points which
lead to the conclusion that this kind would not be profitable
to grow in Ceylon.
It would appear that the cultivation of Egyptian cotton
under suitable conditions should be distinctly remunerative,
since there is an increasing demand for this class of staple,
and the variety cannot be grown in the Southern States of
America, as the sammer is too short to mature the crop.
As a result of the experiments which have already been
conducted at Maha-iluppalama, a supply of Egyptian ‘cotton
seed, of a strain which has been grown in the colony for
three is now available. Another result lies in the
demonstration which has been made that cotton of good
quality and staple, worth about 9d. per tb., can be produced
in certain districts. It is believed that with careful enltiva-
tion, at least 300 tb. of lint per acre should be obtained.
years
It is recognized that in order to develop and establish
the industry, a good deal of selection work will have to be
done. Egyptian cotton has a special quality, viz., colour—en
even brown cotton always bringing the highest price. This
quality is difficult to maintain out of Egypt, but most of the
difficulties connected with the establishment of a fixed type
can be overcome by selection, x
Vox. VIII. No. 168.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 215
SUPPRESSED AND INTENSIFIED
CHARACTERS IN - COTTON
HYBRIDS.
The following are some of the conclusions arrived
at by Mr. O. F. Cook, Bionomist of the Bureau of Plant
Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, in
a pamphlet with the above title :—
When the different characters of cotton hybrids are
compared with those of the parent plants, some of them are
observed to be intensified, while cthers are suppressed. The
character may be weakened or even suppressed in one series
of hybrids, and intensified in another series, as is shown by
the reduction of the bractlets and lint when the Kekchi is
crossed with Upland cotton, and the intensification of these
characters when Kekchiis crossed with the Egyptian plant.
In the first generation of Egyptian and Kekchi hybrids
the intensification of the characters which give superiority to
the lint is so regular that it may be possible to utilize it in
the commercial production of high-grade fibre.
Unfortunately this intensification, as also in the case of
other characters, tends to disappear in later generations, so
that hybrids with permanently intensified characters have not
been obtained. But if hybrid seed can be obtained in
sufficient quantities, this fact should not stand in the way of
the commercial production of cotton from first generation
hybrids.
It is also possible that the superior value of the lint and
the increased crop to be obtained from these hybrids would
justify the expense of special methods of breeding and
cultivation.
BIRDS AND AGRICULTURE.
In an article entitled ‘Does it Pay the Farmer to
Protect Birds, in the Veurbook of the United States
Department of Agriculture, a considerable amount of
information as to the usefulness of birds of different
kinds is given, and mention is made of the many ways
in which they may be encouraged and protected.
The following brief notes are abstracted :—
Birds as a general rule are insect eaters, and they are so
persistent in pursuit of insects that they are important insect
enemies, and as such should receive all consideration and
protection from farmers. Insects are so numerous that the
amount of green vegetation necessary for their subsistence
is very great. If it were not for the birds, agriculturists
would suffer much more than they do at present from these
pests. Birds are particularly useful during an insect invasion,
as, the more numerous the insects, the more do the birds seem
capable of eating, and they devour not only the adult insects,
but the larvae also. At the same time, birds are not wholly
beneficial ; their good qualities however, generally ontweigh
their bad, and, on the whole, they must be considered as the
friend rather than the enemy of the farmer. Blackbirds, for
instance, destroy grain ; but, on the other hand, they consume
insects in such a wholesale way that the balance is strongly
in their favour.
Sparrows, unlike most birds, are not insect feeders.
Their chief qualification lies in the fact that they are diligent
seekers for, and devourers of seeds of weeds, and their utility
depends largely on the amount of weeds and wild land in the
vicinity. Unfortunately they do not confine their attention
to seeds of weeds only, but often do much damage to grain
crops.
There are many ways of attracting birds to the farm
and about the farm house, one of the most efficient being
a convenient drinking and bathing place near the house.
Cats are responsible for a large number of deaths among the
birds, and the farmer who rightly counts birds among his
friends should see to the destruction of stray cats, and the
adequate feeding of his house pets, and a reasonable restraint
on their raids on nests.
For protecting crops from birds, the old methods of
a scarecrow, a dead bird hnng on a pole, a white cord
stretched around a field, the drilling-in of seed, and the tarring
of seed corn may be adopted. None of these should be em-
ployed exclusively or for too long a time in the same locality,
or they become ineffective. ruit trees may be protected hy
netting, or wild trees grown for the protection of orchards.
The gun should be the last method employed. Hawks,
crows, and even robins are often serious pests, the hawks
attacking poultry. Crows and robins, in addition to their fruit
and seed-eating habits, attack the nests and young of other
birds. After all other means have been tried without
success, it sometimes happens that one particular aggressor
in a locality can be identified, and its destruction, or that of
the principal offenders, may be enough to protect the poultry
yard or crop. It undoubtedly benefits the farmer to
protect birds, as it gives him an increased profit on his crops,
and increased pleasure of living.
The Barbados blackbird is so useful that attempts have
been made to introduce it into various places. The Marti-
nique blackbird, or Tick bird, is also very useful.
MANURING WITH SUPERPHOSPHATE,
AND THE PRESENCE OF LIME IN
THE SOIL.
The presence of a sufficient quantity of lime in
a soil to which superphosphate is applied is an impor-
tant factor, since upon this depends, to a large extent,
the manner in which the superphosphate is held in the
soil, and the degree to which itis available for the
growing crop. In his book ‘The Soil’ (2nd edition,
page 220); Mr. A. D. Hall, F.R.S., Director of the
Rothamsted Experiment Station, thus refers to this
matter :-—
In an ordinary soil containing a sufficiency of calcium
carbonate, the application of soluble phosphoric acid, like
superphosphate, will chiefly result in the precipitation of
di-calcium or ‘reverted’ phosphate, wherever the solution
meets with a particle of calcium carbonate. This di-caleium
phosphate is a compound easily soluble in weak organic acids,
or in water containing carbonic acid : hence the great value of
applications of superphosphate on soils rich in lime, for thus
a readily available phosphate is very quickly disseminated
throughout the ground in a state of fine division.
On soils poor in calcium carbonate, the precipitation
will be chiefly effected by the hydrated iron and aluminium
compounds, and the resulting. phosphates are practically
insoluble in water containing carbonic acid, and but little in
saline solutions, or in weak organic acids. Hence applications
of superphosphate to such soils become much less available
to the crop, and should be preceded by a thorough liming of
the land. Even a subsequent liming on soils containing
phosphates of iron or alumina will help to bring them into
a more available form, because a double decomposition will
take place, resulting in the production of calcium phosphate
and hydrate of iron. This reaction will proceed to an extent
dependent en the proportion of lime present in the medium.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Jury 10, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados,
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s, 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
_agriultival stews
1909.
Vou. VIIL SATURDAY, JULY 10, No. 188.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in the present issue is a timely
article on hurricanes,. explaining how these storms are
made up and how their progress and position may be
determined. The accompanying diagram is very useful
in this connexion,
An interesting note on the amount of water
needed for the maximum development of the sugar-
cane appears on page 210.
The history of the cowpea on page 213, and the
article dealing with the development of new varieties
on page 219, together make an interesting account of
this valuable plant.
The soy bean, whichis another plant useful in
certain localities for green dressing, is the subject. of
an article on page 222.
Attention is drawn to the article on page 222
dealing with the possible poisonous effect of the wild
ipecacuanha on cattle. This plant is very wide-spread
in its distribution, and it would be useful to know the
experience of planters.
The insect notes in this issue include short
articles on the house-fly and the larger moth borer of
the sugar cane (page 218).
On page 219 will be found a report by a Committee
of the Jamaica Board of Agriculture, on the agri-
cultural conditions at South Manchester, Jamaica.
Colour in Soils.
The colour of soils may vary from the almost
pure white of the chalk or limestone, to the black of
peat lands, The chief agents upon which this coloura-
tion depends, areshumus and hydrated ferric oxide.
Humus accounts for the black colonration of soils, while
all the red, yellow, and brown shades are caused by the
iron oxide. The blue or green colour of deep-seated
clays is due to the presence of various ferrous silicates,
or other salts of iron, which on being brought to the
surface oxidize to brown ferric oxide.
Voleanie sands, and soils of voleanic origin are
often very dark-coloured though they contain but little
humus. Other things being equal, a fine soil requires
more of the colouring constituents to produce a certain
shade than a coarser one. Dark-coloured soils absorb
more heat than light ones.
a
Forestry in Hawaii.
The importance of the establishment of wooded
areas 1s generally recognized in Hawaii, and has led to
a strong public sentiment in favour of forestry. This
finds expression in a Territorial Forest Service, charged
with the creation and administration of forest reserves,
and with the prosecution of other forest work, During
the past five years a definite policy has been followed
in this connexion, and sixteen forest reserves have been
set apart, with an aggregate total area of 444,116
acres. Of this, 273,912 acres, or 61 per cent., is land
belonging to the Territorial Government. ‘Che other
39 per cent. is in private ownership, but for the most
part the owners of the lands, fully aware of the
benefits of forest protection, co-operate actively with
the Territorial Government in the management of the
forest reserves.
Paper Manufacture from Wood Products.
The following note may be of interest in connex-
ion with the brief articles which have appeared in
recent numbers of the Agricultural News dealing with
the consumption of forest products :—
It is stated that a large New York daily news-
paper uses for each day’s issue 150 tons of paper. To
make one ton of paper 13 cords of wood are required or
225 cords per day tor that newspaper. If the average
yield of spruce, suitable for the purpose, is taken as 5
cords per acre, it will be seen that one day’s issue of one
p2per consumes the product of 45 acres. The forest
cut for this purpose may be taken as representing
trom twenty to thirty years’ growth.
This emphasizes in a striking manner the rapid
rate of consumption of forest products for paper manu-
facturing alone, and ougkt to encourage to further effort
those who are experimenting in the production of paper
from other material.
In the tropics bamboo, banana, cotton, and other
plants have been experimented with, and the results
have given a certain amount of encouragement that
paper may be made ona commercial scale from these
materials, provided they can be obtained in sutticient
quantity in any locality where a factory might be
established.
Vot. VIII. No. 188.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
217
Rum Manufacture at Barbados.
From the particulars set out in the report on the
Excise branch of the Customs Department at Barbados,
it is seen that tour rum stills were worked in the island
during 1908, viz., the West India Rum Refinery, Ltd.
the Premier, Carrington in St. Philip, and Mount Gay in
St. Lucy.
Altogether, 228,513 gallons of rum were manu-
factured during the vear, as compared with an output
of 210.612 gallons in 1907. Of this quantity, by far
the greater proportion was made by the West India
Rum Refinery, Ltd. which turned out 164,923 gallons,
or 78 per cent. of the whole; 28,149 gallons were made
at the Premier, 19,301 gallons at Mount Gay, and
16,140 gallons at Carrington. With the exception of
4,414 gallons sent out of the island, or issued as ‘ships’
stores,’ all the ram manufactured was consumed locally.
—__es—@
‘Tobacco Culture in South Africa.
Considerable attention has during recent years
been given to tobacco cultivation in the South African
coionies, since 1t has been demonstrated that leaf of good
quality, suitable for local consumption and for export
can be produced in several districts. In the Orange
River colony a small tobacco experiment station was
established in 1907 on the Vaal river, in the centre of
the largest tobacco-growing district of the colony, and
about twenty imported varieties of the plant are being
tested. A small curing and fermenting shed has also
been erected for treating the produce in an up-to-date
manner. ‘lhe seeds of the varieties of tobacco that
have given the best results are being distributed to
farmers in the locality.
In 1906, the value of the tobacco imported into
South Africa reached £246,229, but as the result of
increasing local production, the imports fell to a value
of £160,238 in 1907. The exports of tobacco in the
corresponding period increased from £2,403 to £4,574.
EE
Construction of Buildings in ‘ Earthquake’
Countries.
The question of the most suitable method of
constructing buildings in countries liable to earth-
quake is one that is periodically discussed in technical
journals. Buildings of masonry or brickwork are
distinctly out of place, and it would appear that
only the. lightest woodwork should be used, as in parts
of Japan ; or, where a more permanent type of erection
is needed, some method of monolithic construction
should be adopted. This was recently discussed in
an article in Concrete und Constructional Engi-
neering, Where the claims of reinforced concrete as
a suitable material for building purposes in countries
known to be subject to earthquake were strongly
advocated. The writer states it as his opinion, that
the use of reinforced concrete in its simplest forms
possesses advantages superior to those which result
from the employment of steel frames covered by con-
crete—a method largely adopted at San Francisco.
The points brought forward should be of interest
to those who are rebuilding at Kingston, Jamaica, at
the present time.
The late Dr. Christian Branch, of St. Vincent.
The community of St, Vincent have suffered
a severe loss through the recent death of Dr. Christian
W. Branch, M.B., C.M. (Edin.), Medical Officer of Health
for the Kingstown district of the island. Dr. Branch,
who was but thirty-nine years of age at the time
of his death, had held official medical appointments in
a number of the West Indian islands, including the
Virgin Islands, St. Kitt’s-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. V imcent,
and the Bahamas. At St. Vincent, in addition to the
official post already mentioned, he acted as surgeon to
the hospital, and Medical Officer to the gaol. Only
last year he took the course of work relating to tropi-
cal diseases given at the London School of * Tropical
Medicine.
Dr. Branch was a devoted worker, and took a keen
interest in the many branches of scientific study bear-
ing upor his profession. He was especially interested
in bacteriology and parasitology in general. In 1902,
when he first went to St. Vincent, he drew attention
to the existence and spread of anthrax in the colony,
and in the same year was employed by the Govern-
ment to draw up a report on the disease, which
included recommendations as to the most approved
methods for stamping it out. Dr. Branch also prepared
a paper ‘ Anthrax at St. Vincent,’ for the Agricultural
Conference held at ‘Trinidad in 1905, which was
reprinted inthe West Indian Bulletin, Vol. Vi, p. 161.
Phases of Agricultural Production.
The editor of the Experiment Station Record in
reviewing the report of the United States Secretary
of Agriculture mentions in one place the phases which
agricultural production passes through. He says that
the United States ‘is passing through historical phases
of agricultural production. First comes the exploita-
tion of virgin land by the soil robber, a proceeding
that is justified by the poverty of the settler or his
lack of capital; next is the diminished production per
acre, which surprises the farmer, and for which he is
unable to account; next js the receipt of information
from the scientist as to the means of improving the
productivity of the land, with slow, response; in the
course of time, especialiy when the next or perhaps the
third generation takes the farm, important advances
are made, at first irregularly and mostly on the farms
of the leading farmers, and subsequently with increasing
diffusion and accelerated speed.’
This is of interest to the agriculturist in the West
Indies, where the various phases mentioned above can
all be seen, There are the islands where the virgin
land is being exploited, there are the islands or the
localities where the diminished returns are being
obtained, and there are the planters who, listening to
the advice of the scientific agriculturist, are experi-
encing the slow betterment of ‘estate conditions.
218
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Juty 10, 1909.
ea
INSECT NOTES.
The House-fly, or Typhoid Fly.
The following note on the house fly or typhoid
fly, asit is being more commonly called, is from the
editorial page of the June number of the Jowrnal of
Keonomic Entomology, and will serve to show how
seriously the sitnation is being taken by the sanitary
authorities in cities and Jocalitics where typhoid fever
is likely to appear in epidemic form :—
An extraordinary campaign against the typhoid or
house-fly is now in progress. Magazines, weeklies, and dailies
are cheerfully giving much space to exposing the true
character of the insect. Satire, denouncement, and exhorta-
tion are all Leing employed. Municipalities here and there
are adopting muchmeeded sanitary regulations designed to
reduce the numbers of this nefarious fly. The Merchants’
Association of New York City, and some other associations,
as well as numerous individuals, are giving much time and
effort to this most commendable work. The control of this
insect is an entomological problem, since etticient repressive
work must be based upon adequate knowledge of the habits
of the fly, and the way these may be taken advantage of to
reduce the uumbers of the pest in the most economical
immanner. The sanitarian and the medical man are both in
position to give cogent. reasons.for the suppression of this
long tolerated menave and nuisance. Special pains should
be taken to encourage every good feature of the movement,
and at the same time care exercised to avoid everything
which may appear like an over-statement of This
campaign, if it is to be snecessful, must be conducted along
common-sense lines, and the necessity of attending closely to
details emphasized most strongly. Otherwise there may be
a disappointing reaction, which may result in a_ serious set-
back to home sanitation, not to mention the continuance of
needless suffering and loss of health and life.
facts.
The Larger Moth Borer, or Cane Sucker.
In October 1904, Mr. G. N.
Plantation Enmore, British
Imperial
a larger Lepidopterous insect, which has since been
identified as Castiiu licus. Mr, Bethune stated that,
at that time, this insect was a severe pest, since on
account, of its enormous numbers and its great size, ib
was doing great damage tothe sugar-cane on that
plantation.
Guiana, sent to the
The larvae attain a size of about 25 inches in length
about } inch in diameter, The tunnels which they
excavate in the canes and in the underground parts of the
stool ave of great injury, not only resulting in the loss of
much sugar, but also causing the death of the stools and
preventing a ratoon growth. Reference is made to the notes
published in the Agricultural News (see Vol. 5, p. 426, and
Vol. 4, p. 26), and to the paper read by the Entomologist on
the staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture at the Agri-
cultural Conference at Trinidad in January 1905, which was
and
Bethune, manager of
Department of Agriculture, specimens of
published in the Wsst Indian Bulletin, Vol. 6, p. 41. The Hon.
B. Howell Jones sent specimens to the Bureau of Entomology
of the United States Department of Agriculture, from which
notes and drawings were made, which appeared in Bulletin 54,
p- 72 of the Bureau of Entomology. Castnia licus has
received the common names of the larger moth borer, in the
publications of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, and
the giant sugar-cane borer by the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture. |
The bulletin of Agricultural Information for January to:
April 1909, issued by the Department of Agriculture,
Trinidad, contains notes and drawings of this pest, to
which the common name cane sucker is given. It is stated:
that although long known to occur in that island, it is now
recorded as a pest for the first time. It is known to attack
sugar-cane and banana, and it is believed to feed also on the
soft internal portion of several palms. Castnia licus was
originally reported as having been bred from Ochidearum,
and it is of common occurrence throughout the northern
parts of South America and in Central America.
The remedies are the catching of the adults, and
plugging the holes in the cane stumps immediately the canes
are cut, with mould or clay to prevent the emergence of the
adult. It is stated that in one district in Trinidad 25,000 moths
were caught from November 1908 to February 1909.
The cutting and grinding of attacked canes will cause
the death of a large proportion of the larvae. Carbon
bisulphide is found useful injected into the burrow.
CATALASE OF SOILS.
Messrs. D.W. May and P. L. Gile, of the Porto Rico
Agricultural Experiment Station, have been conducting
experiments on the power possessed by soils of giving
off oxygen from hydrogen peroxide solntions. his
power is due to an enzyme of vegetable origin known
as catalase. They found that the amount of catalase
depended on the amount of humus and of bacteria and
mould fungi present in the soil. Consequently a measure
of the amount of catalase in any given soil is also
a measure of the dead and living organic material it
contains.
The amount of the catalase present is determined by
measuring the time taken by 5 grammes of the soil in evolving
100 cubic centimetres of oxygen from 60 c. ¢. of neutral
92 per cent. peroxide at a constant ten:perature, and witl
constant shaking of the flask in which the reaction is pro-
gressing. This was found to be the only method of obtaining
reliable results, as the time required was found to be affected
by the temperature, the volume and concentration of the
hydrogen peroxide andthe amount of shaking the flask
received, as well as by the alkalinity or acidity of the
hydrogen peroxide solution, The usual method of estima-
ting catalase by measuring the amount of oxygen evolved by
a given weight of soil from a definite amount of hydrogen
peroxide is valueless, as a small amount of catalase will
decompcse as much peroxide as a larger amount within
certain limits, though the rate is slower. The method of
comparison based on measuring the volume of oxygen evolved
in a given time was also found unreliable.
Artificial are without effect on the catalase
content of the But carbon bisulphide and high tem-
peratures can destroy part of the catalase.
The power of evolving oxygen is also possessed by certain
forms of iron and aluminum found in some soils, but this has
very little effect on catalase determinations.
manures
soil.
Vox. VIII.
No. 188. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 219
AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH MANCHESTER, COWPEAS.
JAMAICA. In the Yearbook of the United States Depart-
Rn a p sittote deaaenthe 2 ment of Agriculture for 1907, there is an article
age ot pee ge yg? Tp aero hich entitled ‘Some New Work of the Bureau of Plant
the district of South Manchester, Jamaica, suffers,
agricultural conditions in that region are in an unsatis-
factory state, and this was lately made the object of
enquiry by a Committee of the Jamaica Board of
Agriculture, in the hope that some means might be
found of improving existing conditions. The report
of this Committee was submitted to the Board of
Agriculture at a recent meeting.
It is suggested in the report that the small settlers of
South Manchester might make greater efforts to obviate the
effects of drought in certain seasons by increased attention
to quick-growing and drought-resisting grain crops, like
varieties of peas, beans, and corn—especially Guinea corn —all
of which can be stored for a considerable time, as is done in
the dry districts of Trelawny. Cassava would also be
a useful crop to grow, since it could be stored as farine.
The Committee consider that every endeavour should be
made to encourage the people to make the most of the crops
now growing there (a) by improving their methods of culti-
vation, and ways of harvesting and marketing their crops ;
(4) by keeping live stock suitable to their means and con-
ditions, i.e., cows, goats, sheep, or rabbits; and (c) by the
careful use of manure saved from such stock by penning and
feeding.
Cotfee is the staple crop of South Manchester, and the
Committee recommend that this cultivation should be
encouraged, and every effort made by the Agricultural
Instructors to introduce improved methods of cultivation,
pruning, mulching, and manuring, and also to bring about co-
operation for the sale of the produce.
The drought-resisting character of cassava, its usefulness
as an article of food, and the fact that it can be exported in
a manufactured form, make it a desirable crop to be encour-
aged in South Manchester, and if its cultivation could be
established on a large scale, it would, in a great measure,
provide a solution of the difficulty of finding a good ready-
money crop for the dry districts.
Since a good water supply is of the greatest importance
on holdings—both for agricultural and household purposes—
it is recommended that more and larger tanks should be
advocated and encouraged.
It was also recommended that demonstrations or experi-
ments be carried out on cultivators’ own holdings under the
Agricultural Instructor for the district, and that a sum of
money for this purpose might be asked from the Government,
to provide necessary expenses. A sum of £25 might enable
ten such plots to be taken up in different parts of the
district for one year. Longer experiments and more plots—
involving the expenditure of a larger sum of money—would
be still more effective.
While the Committee recognized that it does not always
pay to take oranges to distant markets from South Manches-
ter after the middle of October, it points out, in the report,
that since orange trees are already established all over the
district, experiments might, with advantage be directed
towards inducing the trees to fruit at an earlier period, when
there is a good demand and a larger price, on the same lines
as are successfully carried through on several private groves.
No expense would be involved in such experiments, bué only
a small outlay of time and etfort on the part of the owners of
the orange trees.
Industry,’ from which the following notes on the
production of new varieties of cowpeas are copied :—
The cowpea is one of our most important crops,
especially for the Southern States, and is coming to be
looked upon as the clover of the South. Although there are
numerous varieties of this important crop, nearly all of them
fail in some important particular to give satisfactory results.
Either the vines produced are too long and they are conse-
quently difficult to harvest, or the leaves drop off early, or else
they fail to set seed properly. Again, it is found that many
of the varieties are subject to diseases of various kinds, both
the parts above and the parts underground being affected.
It seems very desirable, therefore, to secure two or three new
types of cowpeas which may be planted generally throughout
the Southern States and which under varied conditions of
soil and climate will mature a good crop of seed in such
a way that it may be readily harvested by machinery, if
necessary, and also will have characteristics of growth that
will enable the farmer readily to harvest a crop of hay if hay
is desired ; types, furthermore, that shall be resistant to the
various root diseases, will hold their leaves well, and will
produce seeds which are able to maintain their vitality for
a considerable time.
The ideal cowpea is one which is disease-resistant, early
fruiting, has an abundance of seed, and is strictly upright, or
bush iu habit. ‘Lo obtain the desired characteristics many of
the most promising varieties have been flowered, crossed, and
fruited, in the greenhouse during the late winter and spring
months. In this way it is possible to get two crops annually,
thus reducing by one-half the time when the work will
approach completion. The second, and especially the third
generation plants in the open field in several instances have
shown very satisfactory progress toward ideal forms. Some
of the crosses between the Indian variety and the Iron cow-
pea and between the former and the Unknown variety show
some surprising results. The last-named cross made vines
mach larger than either parent, and larger than any of the
numerous established varieties in the same field. The major
portion of the plants was too Jate in coming into fruit.
About 10 per cent. of these seedlings came into bearing early,
however. This habit of early bearing of the plants is
accompanied by an upright habit of growth, with scarcely
any long trailing shoots. The fourth generation of these
hybrids will be tested the coming season.
A peculiar feature in our cowpea hybrids is that many
of them do not change the colour of the seeds in the first,
second, and third generations. Others again, such as the
Whippoorwill-Iron and Red Ripper-Iron crosses, split up
during the third generation into as many as twelve very dis-
similar sets of peas. The Whippoorwill and Iron crosses are
in every way satisfactory, in so far as earliness and abundance
of pods are concerned. Only a very small proportion of the
third generation plants come near our ideal of a bush plant,
however.
In conclusion, it may be said that while this work is
progressing satisfactorily, and while results of interest have
been secured, the Department is not ready to distribute seeds
or plauts that have been developed. It is believed that some
of these things may be safely sent out at an early day, how-
ever, and when they are ready, special descriptive circulars
will be prepared, and the plan of distribution properly
announced,
220 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Jury 10, 1909.
GLEANINGS,
A sum of $7,000 has been appropriated in Cuba, by the
Government, for expenses in connexion with the campaign
against bud-rot disease in the cocoa-nut groves of the island.
The Dominica Agricultural and Commercial Society has
made a grant of £5 to the trustees of the Public Library at
Roseau to assist in defraying the cost of purchasing standard
works on general and tropical agriculture.
Mr. H. H. Cousins, M.A., Director of Agriculture for
Jamaica, has proceeded to England on leave, and during his
absence Mr. W. Harris, F.L.S., Superintendent of Public
Gardens, will act as Director of Agriculture.
It is mentioned in the latest annual report of the
Dominica Agricultural and Commercial ,Society that an
additional eleven members were elected during 1908, and
that at the end of the year the membership stood at 117, as
compared with 106 in 1907.
As a result of the unfavourable conditions which have
prevailed in connexion with the Antigua cotton industry in
the last two seasons, the Agricultural Society of the island
recently passed a resolution praying the Governor to reduce
the taxon land under cotton cultivation to 1s. per acre.
There have been 186 sugar factories in operation in
Cuba during the past season.. Of these, seventy-two are of
Cuban ownership, thirty-six of American, seventy-six English,
French, and Spanish ownership. The average area of canes
associated with each factory is about 4,500 acres, and the
average output of sugar about 8,100 tons. The sugar acreage
of Cuba has doubled within the past ten years.
In reference to the prize of £50 to be offered by
Tropical Life for the best essay on the subject of the changes
undergone by cacao during fermentation (see last issue of
Agricultural News, page 204) the editor of that journal has
written to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, stating
that this sum of £50 has been raised by subscription, and
that the whole amount has now been guaranteed.
Soy beans were tried last year in some experiments
carried ont by the Department of Agriculture of the Orange
River Colony. The plants are reported to stand drought
well, and they grew to a height of about 2 feet. Over
480 Ib. of seed per acre was gathered, and it is stated that
this plant gives promise of value both as a forage erop, and
for green manuring.
The weekly shipments of bananas from Dutch Guiana
amount at present to from 12,000 to 13,000 bunches. During
the first five months of 1909, there were shipped altogether
229,526 bunches, as against 219,663 bunches during the
cerresponding period of the previous year. (Demerara Aryosy.)
Cassava is grown on a considerable scale in the Philip-
pine Islands, and the roots are utilized in the manufacture of
starch. About 11 tons of roots constitute an average return
per acre, and from these a yield of about 54 per cent. of
starch is obtained, i.e., about 8,000 to 10,000 Ib. of starch
per acre.
Sellers of fertilizers and feeding stuffs in Trinidad are
required by an Ordinance recently enacted to take out an
annual licence. This licence is granted only to residents in
the colony, but is issued without charge. It may be
cancelled if the holder has been twice convicted of adul-
terating the produce in which he deals.
A Berkshire boar which was imported from the Royal
Farms, Windsor, England, in 1904, by tbe Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture, and which is now to be seen at the
Botanic Station, Grenada, is offered for sale. Applications to
be made to Mr. George I’. Branch, Acting Agricultural Super-
intendent, Grenada.
Mr. A. Davenport, a Dominica planter, advertises that
he is offering for sale 5,000 budded orange plants, of the
‘Washington Navel® variety, and 500 budded grape-fruit
plants of the ‘Triumph’ variety, al! well matured. These
plants are offered at 6d. each, delivered in Roseau, and
ls. each, f.o.b., for deliveries abroad.
Of ihe total sugar area of the Hawaiian Islands, 105,000
acres (about 50 per cent.) have been reclaimed from practi-
cally arid Jand, entirely through private enterprise, and by
means of irrigation, magnificent crops are now produced.
The cost of reclamation, with the provision of irrigation plant,
was about 3140 per acre.
Experiments in rice cultivation have been carried out in
parts of Queensland, and these are reported to have shown
that grain of excellent quality can be produced under the
conditions which prevail there. Labour is more expensive in
Queensland than in most other rice-producing countries
notably China and India, but it is stated that this difficulty
has been largely overcome by the introduction of special self-
binding rice harvesters.
At the meeting of the Committee of Management of the
Grenada Agricultural and Commercial Society held on
April 23 last, the report was received of the Judges on the
Prize Holdings Competitions in the parish of St. John’s. There
were 20 entries, divided between the classes as follows : 4 in
Class I, 2 in Class II, and 14 in Class ITI, all in the Grand
Noy-Concord District. The Judges state: ‘We have much
pleasure in being able to testify to the really excellent work
that is being done on the small holdings that were entered
in this competition. Sixteen out of nineteen competitors
obtained 40 marks and over ; 45 being full marks.’
Vou. VIII. No. 188. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
lo
bo
=
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
UAE
First PErRiop.
Seasonal Notes.
All fields on which cotton is to be grown and which are
not planted by the end of June should be planted as soon as
possible, and students would do well to note the difference in
yield, on the average, of fields of cotton planted at an early
date and those planted late in the season. A sharp look-out
should be kept for the attacks of the cotton caterpillar, and
students should try and learn something of its life-history,
and the time it takes to mature after the egg is hatched, and
not accept the statement made by some of those who have
failed to be on the look-out for the first attack of this pest,
that ‘they came during the night,’ or that ‘they were
brought by the lightning.’ As soon as the caterpillar is
observed on the cotton plants, they should be dusted with
a mixture of Paris green and lime at the rate of 1 tb. of
Paris green to 6 Ib. of lime. Students should carefully
observe the growth of the cotton plants in the fields, and
healthy and vigorous plants which are free from either
fungoid or insect pests, growing among cotton that 1s
attacked, should be marked, and if when the bolls are mature
the lint is of good quality, the seed from these plants should
be kept for planting.
In Antigua, keep a specially careful watch for the flower-
bud maggot. Note if the picking of the flaring bracts and
the application of manurial fertilizers keep this pest in check.
Land is being prepared for onions ; note the methods of
enltivation. Wheu first planted, ants will carry away the
seed; see whether a wineglassful of kerosene to 3 gallons of
water sprinkled on the seed-bed during the first two or three
days after planting will keep these pests away.
Young lime plants will be planted. These are not
always planted the same distance apart ; why should this be !
Why should land that is being prepared for eddos be cross-
holed. Note the quantity of manure given to this crop, the
subsequent growth and yield.
At the beginning of the quarter, Indian corn will in some
instances be planted, and students should observe the ease
with which blackbirds pull up the young corn when the soil
has not been well pressed down at the time of planting, and
their ineffectual attempts to pull up corn on which sufticient
pressure was putat that time. Students should also be on
the look-out for individual plants of Indian corn bearing more
than one, long, well-filled ear, and when the corn is ripe the
ears from these should be kept for seed. This is a matter of
some importance, as it has been found in the United
States of America that the selection of seed has added
considerably to the yield. Note should also be taken
of any individual plants that have not been attacked by the
caterpillar, which does so much injury to Indian corn at that
time of the year, when the remainder of the field has to a great
extent been denuded of its leaves, and the seed from these
saved.
Students should also note the difference in yield between
sweet potatos grown from cuttings obtained from potatos
planted for the purpose, and those grown from cuttings that
had been taken from other potatos grown from cuttings for
some time. They should note whether in fields attacked by
the scarabee there are any varieties immune, and in that case,
they should be careful when replanting to take cuttings from
the varieties found to be free from the insect attacks,
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Why is there less risk of loss by drainage with
sulphate of ammonia than with nitrate of soda ?
(2) What is meant by propagation by ‘ cireumposition?
Which class of plant cannot be propagated by this method 4
(3) What are the functions of leaves, and the action
of hght upon them !
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) To what is the plasticity of clay due? Does this
resume its plastic character if moistened after burning !
(2) Why is pasture land frequently burnt ? What effect
has this on the grasses growing thereon /
(3) Name the principal insect pests of the sugar-cane,
and their treatment.
READING COURSES EXAMINATIONS.
It is proposed to hold examinations in connexion
with the Reading Courses for Overseers in October and
November as follows :—
Preliminary Examinations will be held on October
11, and on November 2.
All students who have been taking the reading
courses and have registered according to the regula-
tions issued last year, are cautioned that if they wish
to sit in either of the coming examinations they
must notify the Agricultural Officer in the island in
which they reside, stating clearly which examination
they wish to take, or if it is desired to take both, this
fact should be stated.
It must be remembered that no candidate will be
allowed to sit in the Intermediate examination who
has not passed the Preliminary.
The Diploma of Harrison College, Barbados, in
Agricultural Science, or a certificate showing that
the candidate has successfully passed the Cam-
bridge Local Examinations in Agriculture, will be
accepted as the equivalent of the Preliminary examina-
tion.
Candidates who may pass the Preliminary examin-
tion on October 11, will be allowed to sit for the Inter-
mediate on November 2, provided that they have
previously notified the examiners of their intention to
do so. It must be borne in mind that candidates for
the Intermediate examination must take two crop
subjects, and these must be notified when they signify
their intention to sit for the examination.
WEST AFRICAN OIL PALM.
The Kew Bulletin (No. 4,.1909) contains an article on
the economic aspects of the oil palm cultivation industry in
West Africa, the information having been supplied by
officers in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and the Gold
Coast. It is mentioned that ‘the chief factors affecting the
habitat of the palm are a rainfall of more than 70 inches, and
a soil rich in humus, but well drained. Regular planta-
tions of the palms are only occasionally met with, as among
the Krobos of the Gold Coast, but there is no difficulty in
raising young plants. The method of tapping the palms for
‘ wine, ’ which tends to the destruction of numbers of plants,
is described. At the present time, and until transport
facilities are improved, the sources of supply are stated to be
more than adequate.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Juty 10, 1909._
THE SOY BEAN.
The Acting Government Chemist and Superin-
tendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, has
sent in the accompanying article on the soy bean, its
characteristics, and methods of cultivation, which has
been prepared by Mr.G. A. Jones, Acting Science
Master at the Antigua Grammar School.
The soy bean, which is probably a native of China, is
the most important legume of China and Japan, and its
cultivation is rapidly spreading to other tropical and sub-
tropical countries.
Its remarkable high percentage of protein and fat, its
heavy yield both of bush and seed, and its capacity for resist-
ing drought, while it is not easily injured by excess of
moisture, are some of its outstanding features.
‘This bean has been cultivated in China and Japan from
the earliest times. Later, it was introduced to India and
Europe where for a time at least it excited considerable
interest. It has been cultivated in the United States for
many years, and during the last sixteen years has been grown
extensively for experimental purposes, and its great value as
a crop clearly brought out.
The soy bean, which is often, but incorrectly called the
*sojah bean,’ is described as being an erect annua! plant with
hairy stems; trifoliate, hairy leaves ; inconspicuous flowers,
pale lilac or violet in colour ; self pollinated (an advantage
when a new plant is introduced into a district, since the
yield is thus made independent of insects). The pods are
broad and hairy, containing two to five seeds, the colour of
which varies from white and yellowish to green and _ black.
Under favourable conditions the plant may grow to a height
of 4 feet.
There are a number of varieties of this bean, differing
mainly in the time of ripening and the colour of the seed.
The soy bean grows best on medium soils well supplied
with phosphoric acid, potash, and lime. Poor soils in several
cases have, however, produced quite fair crops. Experiments
in both America and Europe show it to possess excellent
drought-resisting powers, enduring dry weather much better
than other beans and peas. Further experiments show that
the soy bean is also able to survive a period of excess of
moisture better than other leguminous crops. grown on
adjacent land.
The soil must be well cultivated, and the surface soil
worked into a fine tilth before sowing. The seed may be
sown in drills, or broadcast.
The yield from the soy bean, both in seed and bush,
varies according to conditions, and between 9 and 12 tons
It is a prolific seed
| per acre being about
of bush seems to be the average.
producer, from 25 to 30 bushels of seec
the average.
The chemical analysis of the soy bean shows it to contain
30 per cent. of proteid, and 17 per cent. of fat. This compares
most favourably with other leguminous seeds, e.g., cowpeas,
which contain 21 per cent. of proteid and 1-4 per cent. of fat.
The quantity of proteid is not greatly less than that found in
cotton seed meal, and the quantity of fat is very considerably
higher. These figures show its great value as a fodder. The
seed is best fed when ground to a meal and mixed with some
other feeding stuff rich in stareh.
When used as a green fodder it gives excellent results.
Fcr this purpose it should be cut between the period of early -
bloom and early seed. It is most suitable for milk pro--
duction, considerably increasing the quantity of the milk.
As a soil renewer, the soy bean, like all other leguminous
crops, has the power of being able “to assimilate for its own
use, a supply of nitrogen from the air, through the agency of”
the tubercle-forming bacteria that dwell in the roots of the
plants. The manurial value of a crop of soy beans compares.
very favourably with that of other leguminous crops growm
as green dressings.
When the soy’bean, or any other bean or pea, is intro--
duced for the first time into a locality, it does not always form,
root tubercules owing to the absence of the tubercule organism,
from the soil. The beans should be grown several times on
the same land until these tubercules appear. After this there-
should be no difficulty in establishing the crop wherever-
desired, for the infected soil could be used for inoculating
fresh land. No doubt this will account for the small ercwth
of bush which this crop is recorded to have produced at the-
Botanie Station and several estates in Antigua and other-
West Indian islands.
Tt is hoped that every effort will’ be made to ensure that
this plant, which has proved such a valuable crop in many-
other countries, may be established in the West Indies.
The Possible Poiscnous’ Effect
Ipecacuanha on Cattle.
A question has lately been raised as to the poisonous
effect on cattle of the wild Ipecacuanha (Asclepias ewrassavica),
or as it is variously known, bloodflower, wild ipecac, Johanna,
and redhead. Several cattle in St. Kitt’s have died after-
grazing on land where the plant was known to be growing,
and individual plants showed signs of having been eaten by
the cattle.
of Wild
In an article entitled * Poisonous weeds in the Springsure
District,’ by Mr. J. I. Bailey, Assistant Government Bota-
nist, published in the Queensland Agricdltural Journal for
19UU, mention is made of the possible poisonous effect of
this plant on cattle. The plant, among others, is reported as
having been grazed on during the passage of some 300,000.
head of cattle through the district, and several of the cattle.
subsequently died. The evidence, however, is incomplete,
as most of the effect is attributed to a local eyead (Maero-
zanua Moortt), whose leaves are very hard and sharp.
The question is of consideralle importance, in view of
the wide-spread occurrence of this plant in the West Indies.
Up tothe present, no other instance is on record of its.
causing harm to cattle, and any information on the subject
would be of interest. :
The plant has been carefully removed from the land in
St. Nitt’s, and it is stated that the number of deaths among
the cattle shows a corresponding Taken in con-
nexion with the fact that the juice of the Asclepiadaceae
is generally considered to be poisonous, this seems to be
fairly evidence in support of the idea that the
[pecacuanha is responsible for the death of the stock,
decrease.
strong
It would be useful if planters and others would bring
forward any suggestions or observations which they may
have to make on this subject by communicating with the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, with the object of
arriving at some more definite conclusion.
“Vou. VIII. No. 188.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 2235
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S.,-has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of May :—
_ Business in spices and drugs has shown some general
‘improveihent during the month of May, in spite of the fact
that the effects of the long anticipated and delayed budget
began to be felt in many directions, notably in the, drug
trade, affecting as it does such articles as chloroform,’ ether,
fluid extracts, tinctures, fruit juices, ete., by the extra duty
-of 3s. 9d. imposed on proof spirit. Directly, however, no
‘interference has been made with any raw product of the
West Indies coming under recognition in these notes.
GINGER,
A good supply of Jamaican, amounting to 815 packages,
was brought forward at the first spice sale on the 5th of the
month, 104 packages of which were sold at prices ranging
from 2s. to 3s. below those obtained at previous auctions.
The quotations were as follows: 58s. to 59s. for fair
washed, and 50s. for small dull. Cochin and Calicut were
represented by 300 packages, all of which were bought in at
the following prices: 50s. for unsorted native cut, and
small medium ; 42s. 6d. for brown rough Calicut, and 40s.
for washed roughed Cochin. Some limed Japan was also
offered and bought in at 23s. per ewt.
At an auction on the 12th, only 250 bags of good
washed rough Cochin were offered, all of which were bought
in at 42s. per ewt. West Indian green, ginger, of which
4 barrels were brought forward, realized 25s. per ewt. In the
following week as many as 1,098 barrels and 235 bags of
Jamaica were brought forward, but only 180 packages were
sold. Good bold fetched from 65s. to 68s., fair washed
59s. 6d. to 64s., bold 61s., and dull washed from 55s. to 58s.
The rest was bought in at the following prices: Small cut
Calicut 55s., unsorted native cut from 55s. to 57s., medium
cut 60s., rough washed Cochin 40s., limed Japan 32s., and
Bengal 30s.
At the last auction on the 26th, Jamaica was repre-
sented by 112 barrels and 75 bags ; the sales, however, were
limited. Middling to good bright was sold at 61s. to 67s., and
ordinary to good ordinary at 5ls. to 52s. 6d. Common
ratoon realized 47s. to 49s., while Calicut was bought in as
follows: fair washed at 42s., and brown rough at 41s.
Washed Cochin was also offered and bought in at 42s. per ewt.
NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO.
The dealings in nutmegs have been quiet throughout
the month, calling for no special remarks. The same may
be said with regard to mace, as far as the early part of the
month is concerned ; but at the spice auction held on the
26th, some 50 packages of West Indian were disposed of at
the following prices: good, 1s. 9d.; pale and reddish, 1s. 7d.
to ls. 8d.; and fair red 1s. 6d. to 1s. Td. per Ib.
The demand for pimento was quiet throughout the
month. At the auction on the 19th, out of 150 bags offered,
40 bags were sold at 2s. per Ib. for fair. A week later
5 bags only were offered, and all sold at the same price.
ARROWROOT.
One hundred and twenty barrels of St. Vincent were
brought forward at the auction on the 19th, and disposed of
at 2d. per Ib. A week later some 50 barrels were offered,
10 of which were sold at 14d. for ordinary manufacturing,
SARSAPARILLA.
At the first drug sale on the 6th, sarsaparilla from alk
sources was put forward in great bulk, as many as 152
packages being offered. Thirty-two bales of genuine grey
Jamaica were all sold at the following rates: Fair, good,
slightly rough, ls. 4d. to 1s. 5d.; very ordinary rough, and
common rough dark, ls. ld. per Ib.; while 71 bales of
Lima-Jamaica found purchasers at Is. to 1s, 1d. for ordinary
part rough to fair, andat 1lld. to 113d. for dark rough.
“Twelve bales of native Jamaica were offered, and 11 sold at
1s. ld. to 1s. 2d. for good red, and 11d. for yellow.
The prices realized were considered very good, especially
in view of the fact that some of the grey and Lima-Jamaica
showed signs of having been packed while in a damp condi-
tion.
Twenty-one bales of Guatemala and 16 of Honduras
were also offered at this auction, and were bought in.
On the 19th, again there was a good supply of grey
Jamaica, native Jamaica, and Lima. Out of 41 bales of the
first named, 38 were sold at Is. 4d. to 1s, 5d. for fair to good ;
part slightly rough, and coarse rough realized Is. 2d. to
ls. 3d. Only 14 out of the 31 bales of native Jamaica
were sold, fair red fetching 1s. 2¢., and dull red and yellow
mixed 10d. to 1s. Six bales of Lima-Jamaica were offered
and bought in at 1s. 2d. per tb., and 5 bales of Mexican
were disposed of at 43d. per tb.
CASSIA FISTULA, KOLA, AND OIL OF LIME.
At the first sale in the month, 11 bags of Dominican
Cassia Fistula were offered and disposed of at 17s. 6d. per
ewt., part of which were good bold pods, and part dark.and
mouldy. On the 20th, 21 bags of Dominican of a similar
character were again offered, and sold at a lower rate, viz.,
16s. 6d. per ewt.
At the first sale some 20 packages of small dried
Jamaica kola were offered and held at 2s. per Ib., and at the
same sale 5 cases of distilled Dominican oil of lime were
offered, and 3 sold at ls. Sd. to 1s. 11d.
Thirty packages of West Indian tamarinds were brought
forward on the 19th, 12 of which, of good pale juicy
Barbados, were held at 12s. 6d., while 18 packages of rather
dark Antigua were disposed of at 8s. in bond,
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The latest report issued by Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated June 25 last, contains the
following notes :—
The weather during the past fortnight has been very
wet and unfavourable for milling, and no cleaned rice has
been received from the small mills in the country.
The area that has been planted with rice in the colony
is somewhat greater than last year, but we fear that the
heavy and continuous rains that are being experienced are
injuring the young plants, and there are already complaints
from a few districts that several acres have been lost through
flooding.
Shipments to the West Indian islands during the fort-
night amount to about 3,000 bags, principally for Trinidad
and Barbados.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export
quality 17s. 104d. to 18s, 103d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross,
and 16s.°44d. to 17s. 44d. per bag of 164 Ib. gross.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Juty 10, 1909
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—Tue Wrst Iypia Commirrre CIRCULAR,
June 22, 1909; Messrs. E. A. pe Pass & Co.,
June 11, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, 1gd. to 3fd., according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/44 ; block, 1/93.
Bers’-wax—No quotations
Cacso—Trinidad, 54/- to 65/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
56/- per ewt ; Jamaica, 49/- to 56/.
Corrre—NSantos 30/10} to 32/- per ewt.; Jamaica, 41/-
to 94/6.
Corra—West Indian, £20 per ton.
Corron—St. Vincent, 16}d. to 174d.; Barbados, 134d.
to 14d.
Frouir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations
GinceR—Common to good common, 48/- to 51/-; low
middling to middling, 52/- to 58/-; good bright to tine,
60/- to 67/-.
Honey—No quotations.
IstncLass—No quotations.
Lime Jutce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 1/11
per tb., nomial.
Loewoo tations.
Mace , anu in good demand,
Nurmecs—Steady.
Pimenro— Firm.
Rvupser—Para, fine hard, 6/14-; tine soft, 6/- per th.
Rum—Jamaica, 3/- to 3/5; Demerara, 1/65, proof.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/9 to 16/9-; Muscovado, 12/- to 16/-;
Syrup, Trinidad, 10/6; St. Lucia, 12/3 to 12,6;
Surinam, 12/6 to 12/9; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,—Messrs. Gittespre, Bros. & Co., June 11,
1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to 13}c. ; Grenada, 12hc. to 13c. ;
Trinidad, 12c. to 124¢.; Jamaica, 10c. to Le. per Ib.
Cocoa- nuts—Jamaica, se slect, § $2400 to $25°00; sculls, $15-00;
Trinidad, select, $22°00 to $23" 00 ; culls, $15°00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, ordinary, Tic. to 8}e.; good ordinary,
8he. to 9e.; and washed up to Le.
GINGE 9kc. to 12c. per th.
Goar Sxixs—Jamaica, no quotations ; Barbados, 65c.; St.
Thomas, St. Croix, St. IMitt’s, 45c. to 48c. per Ib.,
dry flint ; ; Antigua, 50c. to 52e.
Grave Fruir—Jamaica, $5°00 to $6°00 per barrel.
Lives—Dominica, $4°00 to $5°00 per barrel.
Mace—28ce. to 35c. per th.
Nurmrcs—110's, Sie. per Th.
Orances—Jamaica, $1°50 to $1°75 per box.
Pimento—4ée. per Ib.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°92c., Muscovados, 89°, 3°42c.;
Molasses, 89°, 3°17c. per tb., all duty paid,
Barbados, —Messrs
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Leacock & Co., July 3, 1909;
Messrs. T./S. Garraway & Co., July 5, 1909.
$3:80 to $4:00 per 100 th.
Cac ietsiis 2| to $12-00 ‘per 100 th.
Cocoa-Nuts—$10-00 for husked nuts.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to 11°00 per
100 Tb., according to quality—scarce.
$1-25 per 100 Th.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $65°00; Ohlendorfl’s dissolved
guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao manure,
$48°00; Sulphate of ammonia, $75°00; Sulphate of
potash, $67-00 per ton,
Motasses—No quotations.
Strings, $1°80 to $2°50 per 100 Ib.; Bermuda,
S1-L0.
Peas—Split, 86:00 per bag of 210 th.;
$3°50 per bag of 120 tb.
Poraros —$3°50 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, $5°50 (188 th.); Patna, $3°80 ; Rangoon,
$3-00 per 100 tbh.; Demerara Ballam, $4°70 to $300
per 180 Ib.
SuGar—Dark Crystals, 96 ee 224; Muscovado, 89° $1°75
Centrifugals, $2°20 to $2°30.
Canada, $3°40 to
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerinc & Ricnrex, June 26,.
1909 ; Messrs. SANDBACH,
June 25, 1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $9-00 per 200 1b., no demand.
Banara— Venezuela block, 52c.; Demerara sheet, 48e.
to 50c. per Ib.
Cacao—Native, 18e. to 14c. per th.
Cassava—b0e.
Cassava SrarcH—S$6'00 per barrel of 196 tb.
Cocoa-NutTs—$ ) to $1600 per M.
Correre— Creole 8c. to 13c.; Jamaica and Rio, 13$c.;
Liberian, 7e. to 8c. per tb.
Duar—$4'40 to $4°50 per bag of 168 tb., weak; Green
Dhal, $5°50.
E $1:44 per barrel.
Mo.asské s—Yellow, zie. to 22c
Onrtoxs—Teneriffe, 25c. to 3sc.; Bermuda, 25e. to 3e. per tb.
Pras—Spuit $5:90 to $6-00 per bag (210 1b.); Marseilles,
$3°00, over stock.
Pranrats—l6e. to 36e. per bunch.
Poratos—Novya Scotia, $2°40 to $2-75 per 100 tb.
Poratos—Sweet, Barbados, 31°44 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $5°50 to $5°60; Creole, $4°25 to $440.
Tannras—$144 per bag.
Yams—Whuite, $2740 per bag; Buck, $2-64.
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2°25 to $2-273; enOGae $3-00 to
$3-10 ; White, $3°60 to $3°80; Mola asses, $2°00 to $2: 30.
Timeer—Greenheart, 32c. to 5dc. per cubic foot.
Wallaba Shingles—$3°75 to $5°75 per M.
Cordwood—$2-00 to $2°40 per ton.
ParKER & Co.,
Trinidad,— Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., June 26, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°15 to $11°30 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11-00 to $11°50.
Cocoa-Nuts—No quotations.
Cocoa-Nut Or.—76e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
CorreeE—Venezuelan, 8c. to Ye. per Th.
Copra—$3°25 per 100 th.
Duat—$4°30 per 2-bushel bag.
Onrons—$1:25 per 100 tb., fair demand.
Pras—Spuir $525 to $550 per bag.
Poraros—English, $1:25 to 51°40 per 100 tb.
Rick—Yellow, $450; White, $5-00 to $5:25 per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5- 10 to 85°20 per 100 tb.
Yellow crystals, no quotations ; Bright. molasses, no
quotations,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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[178.]
MAINTAIN THE YIELD:
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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 9 tra
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES,
Vor. VIL. No. 189. i BARBADOS, JULY 24, 1909, | a
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Agricultural Education in Lime-crushing Mills, Oil
~ United States P Enoine for ... ... 228
Bahamas, Agriculture in... : Mango, Normal and Ab-
Bananas in Nicaragua 229 | normal Seedlings of
Canadian Exhibitions, Market Reports
Barbados at... «... 283} Notes and Comments
Copper as an Algicide ... 238] Orange Thrips... 8
orton Nene % | Paper-making Industries 231
Cotton Export from Philinvineaesuopested
the Virgin Islands ... 230} E ld & Peron ais 922
A sapaass : : ield Staff for... ... 233
Hybridizing of Indian Bee 6- coolant ia seas 299
Cotton oot 230 =)
West Indian Cotton ... 280} Rice in British Guiana... 238
Department News ... ... 229} Sponge Fisheries in the
Dominica, Rainfall in... 233 Philippines... ... 239
Essential Oils, Distillation Students#Corner <2. ... 237
for ... «.. «. «. 202] Sugar Industry :—
Fibre Industry in Brazil... 235| New Companies in
Fish and Mosquitos... 231 JAMAICA Ee wee face 220
Fruits, New... ... «.. 232] Seedling Sugar-canes in
Gleaninests-wue.--see ses ZOO Woursianayey ese) 0 cae 220
Green Dressings and Their | Scale Insects, Spraying
Application ~ 225)| for eeepc: ss zoo
Tnsect Notes :— ‘Tropical Life’ Prize
Hymenoptera . 234 Hssiiyiecy Ges wer een LOO
233 | West Indian Products ... 239
Application.
I. THE EFFECT ON THE BURIED PLANTS.
HE practice of the application of green
dressings to soils is one which has existed
in fact, the first
= records of any rules which have been made for the
from the earliest times;
2 3 : 5
~~ regulation of agricultural operations show unmistak-
cs ably that the value of burying green plants in the soil
> for the benefit of future crops was fully recognized
=I
many centuries ago. That this conclusion, reached
empirically though it was, is not at fault, has been
proved again and again by the most rigid methods of
Thus a feeling of
modern scientific
security in the following of the practice has resulted
investigation.
and, in many cases, where no account has been taken
of local conditions, actual serious harm has accrued
from it. Like all other agricultural operations, that of
the application of green dressings is one which is
governed by complex, rather than simple, considerations,
It is evident that the results of such a method of
manuring, as far as subsequent crops are concerned,
depend on two factors: (1) the effect on the buried
plants, (2) the effect on the soil. As a matter of
convenience, the subject will be dealt with in relation
to these two factors. It is not within the scope of an
like the
examples, so that reference is made to the chapter on
Green Manuring in Professor J. G. Lipman’s * Bacteria
in Relation to Country Life, pp. 287-63, where
a very complete account of the practice may be found.
article present one to give illustrative
That the plants used in green dressings must
undergo great changes before they can be of any use to
the crops which they ave intended to benefit is a matter
of common knowledge. These changes take place
through the action of bacteria, and, owing to adverse
conditions, they may be delayed, or even affected in
such a way as to render the action of the manure
This is the case in light, as well
the fact that
such soils are liable to quick drying may, in the event
positively harmful.
as in heavy, soils. In the first instance,
of this taking place, so interfere with the normal
bacterial action as to cause the buried material, when
the soil becomes wet again, to lose its most valuable
* The Macmillan Company, New York, 1908.
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
Juny 24, 1909.
constitnent-—nitrogen—instead of undergoing those
changes which would render that element more avail-
able. In the
insufficient drainage, will induce a formation of acia
second case, an excessive rainfall, or
substances which wilt act as a preservative against that
decay upon which the material absolutely depends for
its effectiveness.
For reasons which are closely connected w:th what
has just been stated, green dressings should uever be
buried deeply. The depth of cover may be greater in
light soils than in those which are heavy.
considerations
The same
govern the procedure when it is
a question of applying the dressing when fresh, or after
it has been dried. A soil with a large water-holding
capacity is more likely to induce Leneficial changes in
the dried, than in the green, material, while, on the
other hand, a light, well-drained, sandy soil will show
the Nevertheless, some
crops, and under the best conditions, fresh green dress-
opposite tendency. with
ings and dry green dressinys show an equal efficiency
as providers of nitrogen.
Setting aside other considerations, as far as the
crop which is intended to provide the green dressing
is concerned, the vest time to apply the latter is when it
just reaches n.aturity : that is to say, at fruiting time,
when about half of the leaves have turned yellow, for
at this period the plant has
production for that season.
reached the
An additional reason for
not allowing the manuring crop to stand too long is
that the water-content of the soil may be reduced to
such an extent as to decrease the number of beneficial
bacteria to a degree which will inhibit its proper
action when it is eventually ploughed in.
Suen a consideration, however, namely that of the
age which the manurial dressing should reach before it is
applied to the land, is governed by another important
factor. In soils in the tropics, where bacterial action
takes place very quickly, there is a danger that the
food which has been rendered available to plants and
which, consequently, has become all the more soluble,
may be largely washed out of the soil before the crop
which is intended to benefit by tt has reached the
stage when it is capable of taking it in. Thus it is
unmistakably indicated that, under the climatic condi-
tions of the West Indies, land which has been treated
with green dressings must be put to use soon after
their application, in order that loss due to wastage may
be avoided as far as_ possible.
limit of
Dependence is often placed merely upon one or
two kinds of plants for the provision of green dressings.
This should not be so, especially where where are
fucilities for raising, and experimenting wita, a number
of different sorts. ‘he diseases and pests to which
various plants are liable have very distinct limitations
in respect to each kind of plant. and it is reasonable to
conclude that several different kinds of plants, raised on
a given area, are likely to give a much better yield
than one or two varieties. In the matter of leguminous
plants, the consideration is further advanced. A refer-
ence to the article on ‘Soil Inoculation’ in the Agri-
cultural News, Vol. VIII, No. 184, of May 15, 1909,
will make it plain that ditferent leguminous plants
require different varieties of bacteria for the purpose
of nitrogen-fixation, and that, therefore, the raising of
as many kinds of those plants as is possible in a given
area of soil will result in the largest employment of the
bacteria which are present for that purpose.
It requires little consideration to reach the conclu-
sion that, as buried plants are dependent upon the
action of certain bacteria for the production of useful
plant food from them, any means of increasing the
will make the
etticiency of such buried plants all the greater. This
theoretical consideration receives practical support from
experiments which plainly show that the admixture of
pen manare with the dressings before ploughing in,
even in proportions too small for the manure to have
any action, of itself, in increasing the yield, has hastened
and directed the decay of the green crop in such a way
as to cause the maximum benefit to be derived by the
number of those bacteria in the soil
one which succeeded it.
The action of bacteria, then, is the chief determin-
ing factor in the changes, eventually beneficial or other-
wise, which are undergone by green dressings. That
this action is of paramount importance in the matter
under review will be rendered all the more evident in
the next article which, as has been stated, will deal
with the effect of the buried plants on the soil.
An interesting tropical parallel to the well-known
‘clover-sickness’ of soils in England is instanced in the
Aniual Report of the Experimental Work of the Dharwar
Ayricultural Station, 1907 (Department of Agriculture,
Bombay). This was furnished by the ground nut, whieh, of
course, like clover, isa leguminous plant. It was found that
the cultivation of that crop on the same land in two
successive years has a decidedly injmious effect on the yield
in the second year, for the same varieties sown on a piece
of land which had not been under the ground nut in the
preceding year gave much higher returns.
Vou. VIIT. No. 189.
THE AGRICULTURAI.
NEWS.
bo
ho
hag
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Secclling Sugar-canes in Louisiana
An article by Mr. W.R. Dodson. Dean of the
College of Agriculture and Director of the Experiment
Station of the Louisiana State University, is published
under the above title in the report of the American
Breeders’ Association, from which the following facts
are taken :—
The sugar-cane season in Louisiana only lasts for about
nine months in the year, and consequently, the main object of
the planters is to obtain a cane which will grow rapidly and
mature early, while possessing at the same time a high sugar-
content, and giving a good yield of cane per acre. Attempts
were first made to improve the sugar-content of the canes by
selecting for planting only canes which showed a high per-
centage of sugar when a portion of each of them was analysed.
These experiments, however, gave no results.
When, however, seedling canes had been obtained in the
West Indies, some of the new varieties were imported,
and found to give much more satisfactory results than the
canes usually grown, D. 95 and D. 74 being found particu-
larly well adapted to the subtropical conditions in Louisiana.
The climatic conditions are such that it is impossible to
obtain arrows from the canes in the field in Louisiana, a~c
all attempts to grow canes for this purpose under glass were
completely without success.
Attempts were next made to germinate imported seeds
on the spot, so that they might be acclimatized from the
beginning. These trials were unsuccessfu! until 1907, when
Mr. A. E. Weller succeeded in producing canes from seed, as
a result of very careful methods of planting and growing.
These seedlings were obtained from seed coming from almost
all parts of the world. The secdling canes themselves are small
and of very little value, but the results appear when these
canes are planted, the second generation canes being well-
grown and of good <ugar-content. They cannot, however, be
tested on a large scale until the third year, so that no field
results are vet forthcoming, though -several of the canes
produced from the seedlings gave great promise when analysed
individually.
Last year Mr. Weller obtained numerous seedlings,
chiefly from seed produced in Trinidad, Barbados, Hawaii,
and Demerara. These experiments give very fair promise
that the stock of canes in Louisiana can be considerably
improved,
New Companies in Jamaica.
The information contained in the tollowing article
has been taken from a newspaper account which
appeared ina recent issue of the Burbados Advocute :—
Two new schemes for the agricultural development of
Jamaica have been recently brought forward, each of which
seems at present to have every prospect of success. The
first deals with sugar production only. It originally arose
out of the renewed activity among those interested in sugar
in Jamaica, which resulted from the signing of the Brussels
Convention. The first intention was to erect a sugar factory
in St. James, but this project was interfered with by the
disturbance caused in commercial circles by the earthquake
of January 1907. Since then, the scheme has been revived,
and the capital for it, a sum of £20,000, has been subscribed
already. The situation of the factory will be to the south-
east of Montego Bay, and within 2 miles of that place.
The company will be responsible for an adyance to culti-
vators of £5 for every acre of cane-land guaranteed,
and for a payment of 12s. per ton of cane sent to the
factory. ‘The growing of canes by the company itself
is conditional ; it will be undertaken only in the event of
there being a deficiency in the supply from the cultivators.
who have coime in under the scheme.
The seeond company has a much wider scope than the
one which has just been described. It will not confine its
attention to sugar alone, but will have additional interests in
rum, logwood, fustic, mahogany, bananas, pimento, cacr,
cassava, Guinev grass, and Para grass, so that there wil! Ue an
unusual diversity in its operacions. It has bees. form:d
under the name of the Jamaica Estates and Pivber Plar‘a-
tions Company, Limited, with a capital -: £300,000, nalf
of which has heen subscribed already by a syndicate of
French banking houses.
The area over which the company will extend its
operations is 29,971 acres, and includes fourteen estates.
Mr. Charles Mc. Neil ©.Sc., of the firm of John Mc. Neil & Co.,
Engineers, Govan, nas made a visit to Jamaica for the special
purpose of gaining the information necessary to erable him
to report ou the sites and equipments of the sugar factories,
to be e-nstructed under the scheme. He advises the erection
of several small, rather than a few large, cential factories,
tne number of them to be six, each capable of dealing with
20,000 to 25,000 tons of canes, at a total ect of £80,000.
According to the report of Mr. W. Fawcett, recently Direc-
tor of the Botanic Clardens, Jamaica, the ~verage yield of
cane from each acre of Jand in that island is 22 tons. It is
estimated by Mr. Me.Neil that at least 4 ton of 96° crys-
tals and 112 gallons of 1um will be obt-inable from 18 tons
of canes. It is also estimated that the “ost of production of
1 ton of sugar and a puncheon of ram will be £10 16s.
Aceording to the prospectns, the D rectors have concluded
that, with sugar at £11 jer tonard rumat £11 13s. 4d.
per cask, the profit for every ]3 tons of canes grown,
should be £11 17s. 4d.
The transference of those 2s ates which are to be taken
over will take place in time for the company to be in full
control for the 1909-10 crops. When this is complete and the-
central factories are all in operation, the area of land under
cane cultivation will be 5,000 acres, leaving over 24,000 acres.
for rubber and other products
The directorate includes Sir Henry A. Blake, G.C.M.G.,.
Sir Edwin Cornwall, M.P., Lord Osborne Beauclerk, the
At. Hon. Lord Teynham, D.L. J.P., and Mr. Joseph Nolan,
M.P.
A correspondent writes from Antigua: ‘I note that, on
page 131 of the Agricultural News of May 1, 1909 (Vol.
VIII, No. 183), reference is made to experiments which are
being conducted at the Porto Rico Experiment Station in
connexion with the inducement of a change from staminate
to pistillate flowers, in the case of the papaw, Ly the removal
of the terminal bud.
It may be pointed out, in that connexion, that this is
a common practice in Antigna, the removal of the terminal
bud being effected by the rough method of cutting horizon-
tally through the trunk of the tree at a distance of . few feet
above the ground. Afterwards, a flat stone is placed on the
wound, presumably in order to prevent injury.
A possible explanation of the fact is that, as [male
organs in plants, are often, in the presence of a large supply
of food, produced to the partial or entire exclusion of ume
ones, the plant food which has been stored in the stem
affords the stimulus which leads to the change.’
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Jury 24, 1909.
WEST INDIAN’ FRUI®
THE NORMAL AND ABNORMAL
SEEDLINGS OF THE MANGO.
In connexion with the article on ‘The production
of more than one Seedling from a Single Seed of the
Orange and Mango’, published in the current volume
of the Agricultural News on p. 187, the following
remarks may be of interest.
In the article referred to it was shown that the
abnormal seedlings were of the nature of vegetative
buds formed trom the nucellus of the seed, and conse-
quently, would breed true to the parent plant, while
the normal seedling was the product of cross-fertiliza-
tion and could not therefore be expected to come true.
Mr. Jones, Curator of the Botanic Station, Dominica,
has furnished the following interesting information in con-
nexion with this point. He says :-—
‘T have raised a large number of mango seedlings for
stocks at various times, and I have noticed that the majority
of varieties in Dominica are normal. Occasionally adventi-
tious seedlings are formed.
‘One point in connexion with this is worth noting.
When several seedlings are produced from one seed, one
seedling, evidently the normal one, is stronger than the rest.
It has usually twice the size and much greater vigour than
the others, which are probably adventitious. Should this
prove correct, it means that the adventitious seedlings which
may probably breed true, can be selected when in the seed
This would be very important. It also explains why
there is hardly a case on record where good varieties, which
produce both normal and adventitious embryos, breed true ;
for it is certain that the weak seedlings, probably adventi-
tious, are discarded for the strong seedlings, probably normal’,
beds.
This point should be tested by growing the weak seed-
lings of such varieties until they bear fruit, when it can be
seen whether they have come true to the original stock or not.
with the
would not be expected to breed true.
The same could be done strong see llings which
In order to shorten the time necessary for these experi
ments, the following method, for inducing
while still very young, might be adopted. This suggestion
is also due to Mr. Jones. He finds that the caused
by grafting and heading back will in some cases cause the
stock to bear fruit when only twenty months old. Others have
found that twisting the top of the stem or damaging it in
any similar way will also produce the same result. In
this way the seedlings may be tested while still very young
the trees to bear
shock
Mr. Jones further suggests that ‘it would be of
interest to know if varieties such as Pére Louis and No. 1]
which breed true, produce adventitious seedlings in clusters
of equal strength, the strong normal seedling being absent’.
These seedlings might also be tested to determine if they
were all adventitious, or if a normal seedling is really present
though exactly resembling the others. : ‘
Should it prove to be the case that no normal seedling
is present, it would point to the fact that in such varieties,
which breed true, normal fertilization does not take place,
and consequently, all.the embryos are formed by budding
trom the nucellus. .
In the mango, the increase in size of the fruit is attended
ly a decrease in size of the stone, and consequently of the
reserve food material that the embryo has to draw on. This
suggests that the better varieties with larger fruits are less
likely to produce adventitious embryos than those with
poorer fruits. This point, also, might easily be investigated,
and the results would prove of interest as indicating whether
attempts to grow improved varieties from seed were likely
to meet with success or not.
THE OIL ENGINE FOR LIME-CRUSHING
MILLS.
The following information on the advantages of
the oil engine in producing power for lime-crushing is
obtained from notes which were received from Mr. G.
Downing, Lisdara, Dominica, through the Curator of
the Botanic Station in that Island. These advantages
are stated to arise both in the simplicity of the structure
and working of the engine itself, and in the matter of
the attention and fuel required for that purpose, as the
following excerpts from the notes show :—
The construction of the engine (a 5-horse power horizontal
Hornsby) is simpie ; it is not likely to get out of order Teahe
is compact, and is economical to work, burning, as it does,
a low grade rock oil. The fuel ¢ mnsumption is very small -
it makes little noise ; is easily handled, and, once started,
requires little or no looking after, for the oil is automatically
fed into the vaporizer by the engine itself when running.
When starting, it takes about ten minutes to ihe
vaporizer, and then the engine is ready for use.
The engine economizes space, time, labour, and trouble -
its price is reasonable, and the workmanship excellent.
heat
As is pointed out, such an engine should be
specially useful in places where the supply of water is
limited.
Vou. VIII. No. 189.
THE AGRICULTURAL
229
NEWS,
THE ORANGE THRIPS.
The Experiment Station Record for May 1909,
reviews part 7 of Bulletin 12, Technical | Series,
Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of
Agriculture, entitled The Orange Thrips, by D. Moulton.
The author presents a description of Luthiips citri,
a species new to science, which has become a very important
orange pest in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California.
Curled and thickened leaves and scab-like markings on the
oranges have been known for from ten to fifteen years, but
these injuries have only recently been attributed to the thrips.
While the quality of the fruit does not appear to be atiected,
yet, as oranges are graded and sold largely on appearance,
many thousands of dollars have been Jost annually.
There are apparently two broods of JZ. citr?. ‘ Adult
of the first brood appear just befere the blossoms in
February, March and April, and a second brood appears in
July, August, September and October, Adults and lar-
vae of the first brood feed on the small oranges just as the
petals are being thrown off, the larvae usually under the
protection of the sepals, and on the first growths of the
foliage. The second brood feeds on the nearly mature
oranges, and on the third and fourth growths of the foliage.
All varieties of oranges and lemons are attacked, but the very
noticeable scabbing on fruit is common only on the navel
orange ; it is less conspicuous onthe Valencia’. That the
thrips are not so prevalent on trees planted in sedimentary
or loam soils as where the soils are of a clayey or adobe
texture is explained in the protection afforded by the latter
soil to the larval, pupal and early adult stages, which are
presumably passed in the soil.
A strong tobacco extract and the cheaper soap washes
are suggested as remedies.
PRE-COOLING.
In the Agricultural News, Vol. VII, No. 161,
p. 200, mention was made of a process known as pre-
cooling, the purpose of which is to keep fruits in as
good a condition as possible during transit. The
following additional information on the subject is
afforded in a report, by the British Consul at Chicago,
on the method as it is used by the Southern Pacific
Railway in California :—
The process consists in rapidly refrigerating fruit, vege-
tables and other perishable goods at the point of shipment in
the cars in which they are to be transported. The chief of
the advantages of this process is that the product so pre-
cooled is allowed to become thoroughly ripe before shipment ;
and the transportation of any fruit or vegetable, however
delicate it may be, for a long distance, becomes feasible and
practicable ; so much so, that its condition at its destination
is practically the same as that when it was shipped. As is
well known, fruit is ordinarily carried over long distances in
ice-cooled cars. The objection to this method has always
been that, during the two or three days that it took the car
to cool, the fruit was undergoing additional ripening, and
this had to be allowed for by shipping it before it was quite
ripe. Pre-cooling entirely obviates the necessity for this
premature packing, and allows the fruit to reach the consignee
in practically the same condition as it had been when freshly
picked.
The characteristie difference between pre-cooling and
other methods of refrigeration appears to be that, in the
former, the warm air of the car is withdrawn intermittently
and its place is supplied by the admission of purer, cold air
which, by suitable means, is made to pass through the
packages of fruit. The process is rendered all the more
efficient by the production of a partial vacuum in the car
before the colder air is admitted.
The first air which is driven from the car is allowed to
escape, but that which has been employed in cooling is
returned through a coil of cooled pipes, with the result that
moisture and vapours given off by the fruit are separated.
The upshot, then, is that the fruit is not only quickly cooled
at first, but that it travels in an atmosphere of fairly dry,
clean air which has been partly sterilized by refrigeration.
BANANAS IN NICARAGUA.
Phe monthly Consular and Trade Report of the
United States, for June, states that attempts are
being made to develop the banana trade in western
Nicaragua along the Pacific coast.
A company has obtained a concession of 225,000 acres
of land, with the privilege of constructing all necessary rail-
ways and docks, the free importation of all machinery,
materia! and supplies necessary, and the exclusive right of
exporting bananas from all districts bordering on the Pacific
Ocean in Nicaragua. The concession is to last for thirty
years.
The firm undertakes to run a special line of steamers and
to pay 30c. gold coinage, for every bunch of bananas
delivered alongside its vessels. It further assumes the
responsibility for any fruit that may be lost through its
failure to provide adequate transport. It is stipulated that
the steamers shall begin to run within one year of the date
of approval of the concession by Congress. The firm also
agrees to cultivate one-half of the lands allotted to it during
the first ten years of the concession, or in default to pay
$50,000 American gold.
The results of the enterprise, however, are uncertain, as
the district is usually considered to be too dry for the
suecessful growing of bananas.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture pro-
ceeded to England, on duty leave, by the R.M.S,
‘Magdalena’, on July 13.
Mr. W. Bitfen, B.Sc., Scientific Assistant on the
staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, who
has obtained leave of absence owing to ill-health, pro-
ceeded to Canada by the SS. ‘Ocamo’ on the 7th
instant.
Mr. A. H. Kirby, B.A., Agricultural and Science
Master, Antigua, arrived in Barbados on July 13, in
order to take up the duties of Mr. W. Biffen, B.Se.,
while the latter is on leave in Canadu.
Mr. G. A. Jones, Acting Agricultural and Science
Master, Antigua, had been. appointed to the post of
Assistant Curator at the Botanic Station, Dominica,
and will probably leave Antigua, to take up his duties
there, on July 31,
bo
eo
=)
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Jury 24, 1909,
Qi —— an
Sri =
N\
ie
THQI
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland of Liverpool
write as follows, under date July 2, with reference to
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
An extensive business has been done in West Indian
Sea Island cotton since our last report, at firm prices.
Spinners are not disposed to pay more than 14d. for anything,
except a few small ‘ extra fine’ lots.
The sales amount to about 800 bales, including Anguilla
131d. to 14d., Antigua 13d. to 14$d., Barbados 133d. to 15d.,
Montserrat 123d. to 13d., Nevis 122d. to 13d., St. Kitts
14d., St. Croix 124d. to 14dd., St. Vincent 11d. tu 17d., and
‘stains’ 64d. to 10d.
The report of Messrs. Henry W, Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
week ending June 26, is as follows :—
The unsold stock of Islands now consists entirely of
planters’ crop lots, held here or on plantation, aggregating 457
bales. The factors are still refusing to sell any of them
under 30c., and the larger proportion are held under
instructions from the planters at 35c.
The position in this market thus remains
unchanged.
EXPERIMENTS IN HYBRIDIZING
INDIAN COTTON.
Mr. P. F. Fyson, B.A., F.L.S., Professor of Botany
at the Presidency College, Madras, has published an
article on the above subject, in Vol. II, No. 6, of the
Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India.
He worked mainly with two hearly related varieties of
Indian cotton, the Jowari and Jari, the first a variety of
Gossypium herbaceum of Gammie, the second a variety of G.
neglectum. Numbers of plants were grown, and the behaviour
of any pair of characters was studied through five generations.
a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the two
pairs of characters observed, namely the neglectum or her-
baceum shape of the leaf, and the yellow or white flowers,
segregate on Mendelian lines, the neglectum Jeaf shape and
yellow flowers being dominant.
The experiments on the round and pointed shape of the
boll failed owing to the damage caused by insects, and
experiments on the ‘fuzziness’ and nakedness of the seed
gave rather indefinite results, but the author thinks that
this may be due to outside influences and rather incomplete
dominance. In this he is supported by Mr. F. Fletcher, of the
. \COTTON NOTES./
@ yn — Or Zena (Op
sombay Agricultural Department, who finds that fuzziness
is influenced by irrigation. Other workers in India and
igypt have found that fuzziness is dominant to nakedness,
but these experiments were only for two generations.
Mr. Fyson also finds that, for two generations, length
and fineness of lint are dominant to the short and rough
woolly nature, and the widely opening boll dominant to that
opening only a little.
If further work reveals that these characters will segre-
gate through several generations, that is, that they will really
follow the Mendelian law, it will be possible to breed plants in
India, containing any desired characters, in a very short
space of time.
The author also found that the hybrids, at any rate in
the second generation and usually in the first, showed con-
siderable increase in vigour—a result which agrees with those
of most other workers. He also expresses the opinion that
cross-fertilization is much more common in cotton than was
at one time believed. Recent work by Mr. H. M. Leake
supports this view.
COTTON EXPORT FROM THE VIRGIN
ISLANDS.
The amount of cotton exported from the Virgin
Islands during the quarter ending June 30, 1909, was
85 bales, weighing 18,854 th. and having an estimated
value of £707. This quantity was made up of 38 bales
of Sea Island cotton having a weight of 8.370 tb. and
an estimated value of £444 18s., and 47 bales of native
cotton with weight and value, similarly, of 10,484 tb.
and £262 2s, This is more than the quantity shipped
during the whole of 1907, which was only 51. bales.
On comparing these figures with those of the similar
period last year, it is found that, during that time,
99 bales, of the estimated value of £1,202 17s. 8d., and
consisting of 66 bales of Sea Island (estimated value
£993 9s.), and 29 ‘bales of native (estimated value
£209 8s. Sd.) were exported.
In connexion with the editorial on the subject of
Hurricanes, which appeared in No. 188 of Vol. VIII of
the Agricultural News, it is interesting to note that
aset of rules for the general guidance of those who
are likely to suffer from them has been drawn up by
Mr. F. H. Watkins, I1.S.0., Commissioner of the Turks
and Caicos Islands.
Vou. VIII. No. 189.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
31
bo
POSSIBILITIES OF PAPER-MAKING
INDUSTRIES.
In THE PHILIPPINES.
In the Seventh Annual Report of the Director of
the Bureau of Science, Manila, tor the year ended
August 1, 1908, attention is drawn to the experimental
work which is being carried out with a view to testing
the suitability for paper making, of certain fibres
and fibrous substances in the Philippines, and the
advisability of installing a small plant with the object
of making practical investigations of the pulping quali-
ties of various materials is strongly brought forward.
There seems to be no doubt, to judge from the numerous
inquiries, that ultimately, a great paper industry will be
established in the Islands. The large supplies of the different
classes of bamboos, grasses and other fibre-producing materials,
and the diminution of the available supply in other parts of
the world, will render this necessary.
It is further mentioned that, as a result of investigations
at Manila, and of those of the British in Burmah, it is
certain that there are a number of raw materials in the
Philippines which are entirely suitable for paper-pulp manu-
facturing. Attention has been called to the possibilities of
the industry, but the alleged reason why no development has
as yet resulted, is that capitalists desire particulars of actual
commercial practice, and not because the world’s markets
feel that the existing available supply is a permanent one,
The report also makes reference to the recent legislative
attempts to regulate the wood-pulp tariff in the United
States, which were undertaken because of the decreasing
supply of raw material and the increased cost of wood-pulp.
In CEYLON.
In connexion with the exhaustion of the wood
supply for paper-making purposes, to which attention
has been called above, as well as in recent numbers of
the Agriculturul News, the following extracts from
a letter from Mr. W. Raitt (a chemical engineer and
paper fibre expert of Bangalore, South India), to the
Tropical Agriculturist for May, will perhaps prove of
interest.
After pointing out that pulp must be produced
very cheaply, and from plants which grow without
cultivation, he continues :-—
Bamboo alone is capable. of supplying tens of millions of
tons (of pulp) annually without injury to its permanence or
reproduction. By what is known as the acid process, it
yields an excellent pulp for news- or cheap book-paper, and
at a cost considerably below that of wood. . . . . .
My own investigations indicate that, in average bamboo
jungle, a well-regulated system of cropping will yield 5 tons
per acre annually, or 24 tons of pulp, worth £7 to £8 per
ton, f.o.b.; and an area of 8 square miles would suttice
to keep a mill making 10,000 tons per annum supplied
an perpetuum.
Besides bamboo, there are several species of annual
grass, such as Ischoemum angustifolium of Central
India. These are capable of being treated by the
alkaline method, which involves considerably less
capital outlay than the acid process, and may be worked
profitably on a much smaller scale. The pulp produced
is equal to that of Esparto, and suitable for high class
printing and writing papers, and is worth about £9 to
£10 per ton, f.o.b.
In recent numbers of the Agricultural News brief
articles have appeared dealing with the consumption
of forest products in paper manufacture, and these were
published with a view to encouraging to further effort
those who are experimenting in the production of paper
from other materials. The present time would seem
opportune for the people in the Philippines to take
steps in the direction of the commercial utilization of
their fibres.
FISH AND MOSQUITOS.
The following notes, in connexion with the use of
millions for the destruction of mosquito larvae, are
taken from the Builetin of the Societé Belge d’ Etudes
Coloniales for June 1909 :— i
It is known that millions are not the only fish which
are responsible for the destruction of mosquito larvae. Ter-
burgh states that the mosquito larvae disappeared from
a ditch as soon as acertain fish, of the genus Galus, was
introduced. The ‘Tropical Institute of Hamburgh has
known for several years that small accumulations of water
could be kept free of all larvae by fish of several species.
Similar measures have been proposed for Togo, Africa, by
Dr. Otto.
At Togo, experiments were made with sixteen kinds of
fish from the lagoon of Anicho, all 15 centimetres long. The
results were the same with all of them. In a short time
after they were placed in the water all larvae were swallowed.
For further proof, six small fish, about 3 centimetres long,
were put into a vessel containing 100 to 150 larvae. In two
minutes, half the number was swallowed, and in half an hour
there were no more larvae. This experiment was repeated three
times with the same results. The little, semi-transparent fish
had swelled, and one could easily verify that the stomach
was completely filled. The six fish had then destroyed up-
wards of 400 larvae in about three hours.
These fish are all known to the natives, who are a fish-
ing people, and who have names for them. Those particularly
selected for their qualities of small size and great resistance
are : (1) Sinkokpoloevi, 4 centimetres [12 inches] long, which
lives well in captivity, even in foul water; (2) Boevi,
20 centimetres [8 inches] long ; (3) Akpavi, 40 centimetres
[16 inches] long.
The Sinkokpoloevi is suitable for small puddles, the
other two for average sized ones. All three are of the same
value for large pieces of water.
At Anicho, the fight against mosquitos has been greatly
hindered by the numerous boats out of service on the beach.
The water in the bottoms of these boats forms an excellent
breeding place for mosquitos. For a long time the natives
have followed the plan of putting small fish in the bottoms
of the boats.
The results in general, are much the same as those
experienced in the West Indies when millions have
been used for reducing the numbers of mosquito
larvae. In the article which recently appeared in the
West Indian Bulletin entitled ‘Millions and Mos-
quitos’ it was mentioned that mosquito-eating fish
were known in Africa.
It may be added that a consignment of millions
(Girardinus poeciloides) has been taken from
Barbados to Southern Nigeria, and it will be interesting
to know later what results are obtained from the
introduction of this small fish into the waters of
Western Africa.
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Juty 24, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
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. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural dlews
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1909. No. 189.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In this number, the editorial treats of the subject
of the application of green dressings from the point of
view of the effect on the plants used in the practice.
The consideration of the etfect on the soil will be the
subject of the editorial in the next number.
In connexion with the article on page 187 of
Vol. VIII, No. 186, dealing with the production of
more than one plant from each seed, in the case of the
orange and mango, there will be found, on page 228,
an interesting account of some observations made by
Mr. J. Jones, Curator of the Botanic Station, Dominica,
in relation to the mango.
Two new companies have been floated for the
purpose of the agricultural development of Jamaica.
Information respecting these will be found on page
22.
In continuation of the series of articles that have
appeared from time to time on the natural orders of
insects, an account of the Hymenoptera, among which
are the ants, bees and wasps, is given on page 234,
The conditions and scope of the essay, for the
Tropical Life competition, on the fermentation and
drying of cocoa are set out on page 237,
A method for the preservation of fruit, while it is
in transit, known as pre-cooling, is described on page
29
ma.
Acknowledgement.
In connexion: with the editorial dealing with
hurricanes in the last issue of the Agricultural News,
it should have been stated that the block used in
illustrating that article was originally kindly supplied
by the United States Weather Bureau.
Distillation for Essential Oils.
For obtaining essential oils from grass or leaves at
the Botanic Station, Antigua, both of the forms of
apparatus described and illustrated in the West Indian
Bulletin, Vol. IX, No. 3, pp. 276-7, have been
employed and, with due precautions to prevent the
escape of heat from the drum of the still, have satis-
factorily extracted the oil from the raw material.
Some difficulties in working have, however, been
experienced. Among these are: in re-adjusting the
bottom of the drum after a charge has been withdrawn,
it is difficult, owing to its position, to make the joint
tight again; time and fuel are wasted (in the first-
mentioned type) on account of the fact that a fresh
lot of water has to be introduced, and brought to
boiling-point for every new charge of material.
Mr. T. Jackson, Curator of the Botanic Station,
Antigua, suggests that these difficulties may be
obviated, in the case of the first type, by placing the
drum in a horizontal position over the furnace, instead
of in a vertical one, and making the alterations in the
positions of the perforated plate and supply and discharge
pipes, etc., that would be rendered necessary by the
change.
Sa
New Fruits.
Under the title ‘Promising New Fruits’, an
interesting article appears in the Vear-book of the
United States Department of Agriculture for 1907.
Among the fruits mentioned is the mango known as
the ‘ Sandersha’, which was introduced into the United
States by the Department of Agriculture in 1901.
Two inarched trees of this variety were received from
Bangalore in July of that year and established at the
Subtropical Laboratory of the Department at Miami,
Florida. Fruit had been obtained for two seasons
from these two trees, which have proved very productive,
the fruit being of ‘exceptionally large size, fine dessert
quality, and very late ripening season, all of which
points are apparently in its favour as a commercial
sort.’
A second lot of inarched trees received under the
name ‘Sundershah’ are supposed to be the same
variety, but they have not yet fruited. The Sander-
sha is described as being long, compressed, and
rather slender in form, averaging about 20 oz. in
weight, occasionally attaining a weight of 2 tb. The
seed is said to be small in proportion to the size of the
fruit and the thickness of the flesh. It is considered
well worthy of being tested in the mango districts of
Florida, Port Rico, and Hawaii.
Vor. VIDE. No: 189:
Cotton in Jamaica.
It is still hoped that a successful cotton industry
may be established in Jamaica. The disappointing
results of the last two years may be entirely attributed
to the abnormal weather and attendant drought.
This year, however, the weather appears to be return-
ing to its more normal condition, and some satisfactory
yields have already been obtained which may possibly
encourage the extension of the industry, since the crop
possesses many advantages which make it suitable to
conditions in Jamaica.
Rainfall in Dominica.
The mean rainfall in Dominica for the year 1908,
‘based on the returns from thirty-three stations, was
106-21 inches ; this is 2:30 inches less than that of 1907.
As in that year, the highest rainfall was at Lancashire
and Glean Manice, but the positions have been reversed,
Gleau Manioe receiving 23618 inches and Lancashire
226-11 inches. Ofall the stations, Batalie has continued
to receive the least quantity of rain, and this is less than
that of last year by 3°39 inches. July, August,
September and December were the wettest months,
the rainfall being greatest in December. It was during
this month, too, that the greatest rainfall at any one
station took place, namely at Castle Bruce, where it
was 45:02 inches. February was the driest month ;
then January. It is interesting to note that, since the
great decrease (20 inches) after 1906, the rainfall has
remained steady,
OED + ae
Agriculture in the Bahamas.
The Report of the Board of Agriculture of the
Bahamas for 1908 is especially interesting as showing
the speedy commencement of a revival of agricultural
prosperity after a severe crisis brought about by
‘unfavourable natural conditions. Following a long
drought in 1907, there were two severe hurricanes in
September and October 1908, which caused wide-spread
destruction to crops and other property. The distribu-
tion of sweet potato and cassava cuttings for the
immediate needs of the people and the re-planting of
the old, and opening-up of new areas of land by the
planters were the first efforts made to bring about
a return of prosperity.
The most important export during the year was
that of sisal fibre, the total value of this being
£46,669: pine-apples come next with £17,821; then
grape fruit and oranges, value £6,177. But the most
encouraging feature of the export trade of the colony
is the increased trade, notwithstanding the adverse
conditions recently experienced, in various minor
products, such as tomatoes and cocoa-nuts.
According to the report, the outlook for the sisal
industry is good, as the demand for the product has
been growing more rapidly than that for the competing
fibres, and the state of the fibre markets of the world
indicates that this demand is bound to increase.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
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Suggested Field Staff for the Philippines.
The sugar industry is considered to be of such
great importance to the Philippine Archipelago that,
in the Seventh Annual Report (August 1908) of
the Director of the Bureaw of Science at Manila,
the advisability is suggested of providing te for at
least two years, to pla vce in the field, a regular Jabora-
tory staff of at least three chemists with a man who
has made sugar chemistry a life study at the head.
Such a man, it is thought, could be obtained for
a limited period, although work of this kind is in great
demand in other sugar-producing countries.
a
Spraying for Scale Insects.
It is pointed out, in the Journal of the Jamaica
Agricultural Society, that, although the methods of
making the different washes for this purpose and those
of applying them may be known and employed correctly,
it is of equal importance, if the work is to be effective,
to have a knowledge of the best time to use them. As
the scale insect on the plant matures, its waxy shield
becomes more and more impervious, and its power to
protect the insect beneath it therefore increases.
This consideration affords an explanation of the
irregularity of the measures of success, with the same
wash, which are obtained at different times.
The obvious way, then, in which to ensure the
best results in attempting to reduce the numbers of
any given kind of scale insect, is to spray or wash just
after the eggs of a new brood have hatched.
rr >
Barbados and the Canadian Exhibitions.
An exhibit has been prepared by the Barbados
Permanent Exhibition Committee for the ‘Toronte
Exhibition (1909) and will go forward by the
S.S. ‘Oruro’ in August. It includes samples of the
principal commercial products of the island, the chief
of these being white, yellow, and dark crystal sugars,
oscillated and muscovado sugars, molasses and fancy
syrups, rums and falernums, and Sea Island cotton.
In addition, there are manjak, green tar, and infusorial
earth, and, among minor products, bitters, aloes, and
ornamental seeds. The exhibit, which is quite up to
the standard of former years, has been on view at the
office of the Superintendent of Agriculture.
The Handbook of Barbados, which has been
prepared in previous years to be distributed at these
exhibitions, has not been continued this year, but the
inatter relating to Barbados has been included in the
booklet The West Indies in Canada in 1909, which 1s
being issued by the Imperial Department of
Agriculture.
It may be mentioned that The West Indies in
Canada in 1909 is much enlarged over the issues of
previous years.
The list of books relating to the West Indies has
been added to, and a certain amount of advertising
matter has been included,
234
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Jury 24, 1909.
INSECT NOTES.
Hymenoptera.
Several of the natural orders of insects have been
briefly discussed in recent numbers of the Agricultural
News. The Hymenoptera is the last of these to be
dealt with in this series of articles.
The insects which belong to the Hymenoptera are for
the most part easily recognized and distinguished from those
of other orders. The ants, bees, and wasps comprise one
division of the order, while the other is composed largely of
parasitic insects, which are often so very small that they
would never be seen except by those who are interested in
‘them and are making a distinct effort to find them.
The Hymenoptera may safely be called the order of
beneficial insects. There are, of course, injurious insects in
this order, but these are a very small proportion of the whole,
and in the West Indies they are very seldom seen.
The honey bee, which provides’ honey and wax, is
perhaps the only member of this order which furnishes
a product directly useful to man; but the other members of
the same group, the wasps, which in some cases feed their
young with insects, and in others store their nests with
spiders and caterpillars, are beneficial. The ants are useful
as scavengers. They are a great nuisance, especially in the
tropics, but are more often beneficial than directly injurious.
The parasitic Hymenoptera are extremely useful on
account of their habit of depositing their eggs in or on the
bodies of other insects. The parasite is developed at the
expense of the host. No insects are too large, and it might
almost be said that none are too small, to be hosts for some
parasites. The enormous benefit arising from the parasitic
habit can scarcely be realized. It might be much greater,
however, were it not for the fact that in choosing their
host, many parasitic insects attack other parasites.
The adult Hymenoptera have two pairs of membranous
wings similar in structure and appearance, the first pair
being slightly larger than the second. The head, thorax, and
abdomen are easily distinguished, the latter, in the case of
the mason bee, being attached by a very long, slender pedicel.
The metamorphosis of the insects of this order is com-
plete, the four stages—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—being
distinct and well defined.
The Hymenoptera are the only insects which take care
of their young during the helpless and inactive portion of
their lives. The ants, bees, and wasps, all care for their young,
feeding them, often moving them from place to place, and
even sealing up- the cells when the larvae are ready to
pupate. There are in the West Indies but few species
of bees. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is of course to be
found both wild and domesticated. The wood-boring bee
(Xylocopa fimbriata) is the largest of our bees. It lives in
stumps, posts, rails, and dead branches of trees, boring ont
a deep tunnel in which the eggs are laid. The main portion
of the tunnel is vertical and divided into several compart-
ments, one above another. An egg is laid at the bottom of
the tunnel, a supply of food is provided for the sustenance
of the larva, and a cross-wall built. This process of storing
food and laying an egg is repeated until the aa is all
divided up into chambers or cells. The curious fact is, that
the insect developing from the first laid egg at the Bette
is the last one to get out of the tunnel. The male of this
bee is of a pale rust-red colour, while the female, which is the
more often seen, is shining black. A smaller form of wood-
boring bee (Xy/ocopa aeneipennis) is sometimes found in the
West Indies.
The leaf-eutting bees (Meyachile spp.) often seriously
injure roses and other garden plants, and even completely
defoliate such large trees as the silk cotton. They cut out
circular pieces of leaf, of which they build their cylindrical
nests.
The wasps are very interesting. They include the wild
bee, cow bee, and Jack Spaniard, of the social wasps, and
a long list of interesting, often brilliantly coloured solitary
wasps. The social wasps are well known and readily recog-
nized, They have a most powerful and painful sting, but their
habits are very distinctly beneficial. The nests are built of
paper, which the adult’ insects make by chewing up fibres
collected from wood or bark. The eggs are laid singly in
open ceils, and the larvae develop in them. The adults bring
food, generally insects, and feed the young till they are ready
to pupate. The solitary wasps are able to sting spiders and
insects in such away as to paralyse them without ‘killing them.
These paralysed spiders and insects are used for storing the
nests, so that the larvae, which develop later, may have living
food. Some of the largest forms of Hy menoptet a are found
among the solitary wasps, as well as some of the most
brightly coloured.
The ants are probably known to every dweller in the
tropics. They are most often noticed on account of their
attacks on foodstuffs and household supplies ; sometimes they
are remembered on “dccount of their disagreeable stings.
They build their nests in garden and lawn, ‘and foster scale
insects and mealy-bugs and plant lice, and, in the case of the
parasol ant, the damage. resulting from their leaf-cutting
depredations is often very great.
The parasitic Hymenoptera are perhaps the most useful
of all the insects in the West Indies. Almost every injurious
species of insect has its parasite, often more than one ; and
without these useful forms of life the practice of agriculture
would present far greater difficulties than at present.
The eggs of the moth borer of the sugar-cane are
attacked by 7vichoyramma pretiosa, which attacks the eggs
of many other lepidopterous insects, including the cotton
worm and the arrowreot worm. The larva and pupa of the
cotton worm are attacked by Chalcis annulata, which
probably attacks also many other caterpillars.
A very useful hymenopterous parasite is that which
attacks the black scale of cotton (Lecan‘um nigrum). This.
insect, which has been named Zalophothrix mirum, is
widely distributed throughout the Lesser Antilles.
There are many other parasites of scale insects in the
West Indies. Many of these are now being collected for
study, and it is expected that our knowledge of this useful
class of insects will be considerably increased.
An example of assecondary parasite is to be found in the
ease recorded by Mr. C. W. Jemmett (see Agricultural News,.
Vol. VIL, p. 74). Parasites of the cotton worm were sent
from Tobago (Chalcis annulata) and a Sarcophagid fly was
found to be parasitic on the cotton worm, but a third
parasitic insect (Sprlochalcis) was present, and was found to
attack the fly. It was a parasite on a parasite.
A very curious insect sometimes seen in houses, especially
walking on the window panes, is Hvania laevigata. This
insect has long slender legs, and a very small abdomen,
attached high up on the thorax by a slender pedicel. As it
walks, it moves this little abdomen up and down with
abrupt jerks. This is said to be a parasite on the
eggs of the cockroach, and in turn it is parasitized by
a smaller one.
Vou. VIII., No. 189:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 235
FIBRE INDUSTRY IN BRAZIL.
The following information is taken from the reports
of the American Consul-General at Rio de Janeiro, and
the Consnl at Bahia, published in the United Stutes
Consular Report for June last :—
PERINI FIBRE. The fibre obtained from this plant is
equal to the Italian linen fibre in price, and the jute possesses
the qualities of linen and hemp, with some advantages in
printing and dyeing. ‘The industry is in the hands of a
Brazilian Company, that has planted an area of 680,000
square yards with the perini plant, and has contracts with
planters for 1,650,000 square yards, making a total area of
2,330,000 square yards.
The rate of production of finished fibre is 5,194 Ib. per
acre per planting, including fibre of all grades, and there are
under present conditions, two crops a year from one planting.
The fibre consists of about 1,300 tb. of fine, and 1,900 tb.
of coarser quality.
The prices at recent sales have been at the rate of 16-4e.
per lb. of the first grade, 87c. per tb..for second grade, and
per lb. for the third grade, making an average of 10e.
At this rate the earnings
Bide.
per Ib. for all the fibre grown.
amount to about $320 per acre.
The plant was at first expected to give three or four
crops per planting, but under the present, somewhat
primitive methods of agriculture which prevail, it will only
yield two crops per planting. Further, the cost of planting
and cutting the crop, the transportation and other operations,
has been great. ‘Vhere has, however, been practically no
cost for land, as this was mostly granted by the Government,
who originally also subsidized the industry.
Moreover, the methods employed for macerating the
plants have been on the Italian and French systems, and have
been mostly carried out by hand and without modern tools.
The chief machine employed is limited) in capacity and
requires twenty-seven men to operate it. Consequently the
expenses of labour and tankage in macerating have been
heavier than was anticipated.
It is, however, expected that matters will soon show
cousiderable improvement. Motor ploughs from the United
States are being introduced for preparing the land, and a new
macerating machine, with twice the output of the present one,
and requiring only six men to work it, is being in:ported from
the same country, This would mean a considerable increase
in the production per acre, and with improved methods of
maceration, considerable increase in the profits obtained.
PIASSAVA FIBRE. The Piassava (Attalea funifera) is
a species of wild and trunkless palm, which yields a fibre
suitable for brooms and brushes as well as the coquilho nut,
used in the manufacture of beads, buttons, cigar and cigar-
tte holders, ete.
]t grows wild in many coastal portions of Bahia, more
especially in the southern part. It prefers a very sandy soil,
and consequently, the Jand on which it grows is very poor
and almost devoid of vegetation, with the exception of sage-
brush and cactus ; if, however, these are. burnt off the ground,
the piassava is said to come up of itself.
The bark is soaked in water till the useless tissues
have rotted out, when the fibre is dried, cleaned, eut into
specified lengths, and sorted according to quality. It is then
ready for export.
The labourers are usually paid a fixed price per arroba
(32 tb.) of fibre cut, “usually from 60 to.90c., accord-
ing to the distance the fibre has to be conveyed after cutting,
since this wage includes its delivery at a seaport or railway
station,
The methods employed for cutting and macerating are
very primitive, though the British firm that owns a large
portion of the private plantations uses manufactured
combs for combing out the fibre, and machine-made,
but hand-operated, steel cleavers for cutting it into lengths.
Improved machinery would probably greatly decrease the
expenses of manufacturing.
The trees need no cultivation, and if carefully handled
will continue to yield fibre annually for a period of thirty years.
‘Ley average from ten to seventy-five per acre. For the pur-
pose of growing this and other plants, large tracts of land may
be obtained from the State at from $1 to $2 per acre.
The average exports for the last few years have been
about 1,318 metric tons of fibre and 429 tons of coquilho nuts.
There is an export duty of 21 per cent. on fibre and 8 per
cent. on nuts, ona valuation arbitrarily fixed by State ap-
praisers. The average export duties have amounted to
$1890 per ton on piassava, and $2-40 per ton on coquilho
nuts. The fibre, cut to size and ready for manufacture, sells
at $200 to $325 per ton, according to quality ; and the nuts
at $40 to $65 per ton, according to size.
As the lands on which the piassava grows in Bahia
often contain several other forms of fibre plants also of con-
siderable value, this industry, especially with improved
methods of cutting and preparation, seems to offer consider-
able prospect of realizing large profits to any one interested
in fibre production.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE
UNITED STATES.
The following will serve to give an idea of the
growth of Agricultural Education in the United States
(Lxperiment Station Record, February 1909).
The total income of the Agricultural Colleges was
$5,000,000 in 1897, $15,000,000 in 1908 ; the value of their
property was $51,000,000 in the former year and $96,000,000
in 1907. The students in 1897 numbered 4,000 ; in 1908,
10,000.
One agricultural high school existed in 1897, and there
are now, 55. Not one normal school taught agriculture in
1897, but now 115 do so, besides many privately endowed
schools. About half of the Agricultural Colleges now give
training courses for teachers in agriculture ; 44 States and
Territories give some instructions in elementary principles of
Agriculture in the lower schools. The Graduate School of
Agriculture for instruction of investigators and for discus-
sion of advanced problems of research in agriculture was
organized in 1902, and is now doing work under the Associa-
tion of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment
Stations. A strong movement for the systematic organiza-
tion of all agencies in agricultural extension work has been
started within a few years, and the National Educational
association has added a department of rural and agricultural
education.
Outside of schools which are for the education of youth
and teachers in agriculture, the farmers have received
a greatly increased degree of education by means of demon-
stration work and advice given orally and by letter, by
countless official and private publications, by corn and live-
stock judging contests, and by farmers’ institutes. The
number of sessions of the Jast named held in 1908 was
14,000, with an attendance of about 2,000,000 persons, an
enormous increase over the attendance twelve years ago.
About 1,200 trained lecturers are now employed in farmers’
institute work in all States and Territories.
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Jury 24, 1909.
GLEANINGS,
The Grenada Searchlight announces that the cultivation
of tobacco will shertly be established on commercial Imes in
that Colony.
Though accurate information is not yet to hand, it is
expected that about 300 acres of Sea Island cotton will be
planted this year, in Antigua.
A demand for consignments of limes, pine-apples and
bananas from the West Indies is announced on the part of
Thomas Nash, 72, Octagon, Plymouth.
A proposal has been made for the establishment of
a Professorship of Agricultural Science at Melbourne
University, at a salary of £1,000 a year.
‘The first step in conserving moisture is to put the
soil in such a condition that it will permit the rain to enter
freely, and into a good, deep reservoir’. (Zransvaal Agri-
ewtural Journal.)
A mosquito exterminator consisting of a powder for
fumigation made from local vegetable products, chiefly Mar-
gosa leaves, is being tried in malarious districts in Ceylon.
Tt is said not to contain any deleterious ingredients.
The Medical Report for St. Nitts-Nevis and Anguilla, for
the year 1908, states : ‘A most useful and necessary Ordinance
to make provision for the destruction of mosquitos was
passed during the year, giving the District Boards of Health
full power to deal with the scourge ’
Messrs. Sandbach, Tinne & Co., (Liverpool) and Sand-
bach, Parker & Co., (Demerara) announce that the address of
the Montreal agency recently opened by them under the
name of the West India Company, Limited, is: St. Nicholas
Building, St. Nicholas Street, Montreal.
The Louisituna Planter states that the weather conditions
in the upper portions of that State are quite satisfactory for
the growth of sugar-cane, but that the middle and lower
portions are suffering from excess of rain, which is preventing
the work of laying by the crop. A few days of warm dry
weather would, however, speedily rectify this and render the
general prospects quite promising.
In a paper by Professor Bernthsen, on the fixation of
atmospheric nitrogen, read before the Seventh international
Congress of Applied Chemistry, it is stated that considerable
quantities of ‘air saltpetre’ will shortly be put on the
market and that, probably, within a few years, the annual
output will reach 100,000 tons.
The Curator of the Botanic Station, Antigua, reports
that, during the month of June 1909, there have been
distributed from that Station the following plants and seeds.
Plants: lime, 650 ; decorative, 175 ; mahogany, 46 ;
rina equisetifolia, 11.° Seeds : Barbuda bean, 100 tb.; broom
corn, 12 lb.; miscellaneous, 13 tb.
Casut-
The June shipments brought the total export of
Trinidad cacao for the half-year to the record quantity of
34,472,394 tb., being 4,747,032 tb. more than at the same
date last year, and 1,580,570 Ib. over the previous record in
1904, when the shipments to June 30 were, 32,891,824 tb.
(Proceedinas of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and
Tobayo, June 1909.)
In Feysmannia (an agricultural publication of Java)
information is given in connexion with a little-known variety
of coffee which grows in Uganda. It is stated that this
appears to be very productive, of quick growth, and little
liable to be attacked by disease. The opinion is further given
that this variety is quite up to the standard of Coffva robusta,
and is probably superior to it on clayey soils.
In relation to manurial experiments with cacao, it is
noted in the Cvreulan and Agricultural Journal of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, Vol. IV, No. 15, that, at the
Experiment Station, Peradeniya, it has been found much
more satisfactory to take the yield from July 1 of one year
to June 30 of the next, instead of that from January to
December. In this way, the results obtained by the use of
the different manures are more accurately indicated.
According to the U.S. Daily Trade
Reports, Ne. 3,354, the agricultural interests of Panama are
seriously menaced by a plague of locusts, large areas in
certain districts having been denuded of foliage, and plants
and crops almost totally destroyed. The most general method
of extermination is to dig trenches with perpendicular sides,
into which the locusts are driven by beating the grass and
trees with switches... The insects are then destroyed by
means of soap-suds, and the trench filled in to allay the
odour,
Consular and
According to the xperiment Station Record of the
United States Departinent of Agriculture, Vol. XX, No, 9,
instead of a grant of a lump sum being made for the
carrying on of the work of the Bureau of Entomology, as
has been the case heretofore, anew law has been passed
whereby the grant is now divided in such a Way as to
restrict the expenditure under different sub-heads, a pro-
vision being added that, under unforeseen conditions, 10
per cent. of the appropriation for miscellaneous expenses
under any one head may be used in addition.
Vou. VIII. No. 189. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
JULY.
Mippie Perron.
Seasonal Notes.
The young cotton plants. which, under favourable
conditions, will have begun to make a good stand by this
time, should be frequently hoed, in order to keep weeds
down, until the plants have attained at least half their final
height. Continued careful examination should be made of
the plants and, if tbey are found to be suffering from attacks
of plant-lice, to which they are prone, they should be sprayed
with weak kerosene emulsion.
As dry weather has followed the planting of canes in
many cases, a note should be made, if possible, of the relation
between the number of plants surviving and the kind of soil
in which they are growing. This, if the canes are all of the
same kind, will give a hint as to the comparative water-
holding capacities of the different kinds of soils. Where
there is little variation in the type of soil, and different varie-
ties of canes have been planted, observations should be made
on their relative powers of becoming established under
adverse conditions of water-supply.. Is it beneficial, or other-
wise, for canes to come up under wet conditions, and then to
be subjected to dry weather ?
Where green dressings are being raised, each kind
should be examined with a view to its future identification.
Note should also be made of those which give the best
cover, and which are least subject to the attacks of
insects. The importance of the consideration of the condition
of a soil, as regards its water-content, in places which are
liable to suffer from drought, should be recognized. A crop
which is being raised in order to serve as a green dressing
later on may, in the drier soils, decrease the amount of water
to such an extent as to prevent the succeeding crop from
being capable of benefiting from it.
In the next few months, as land will be in preparation
for cane planting, ploughing will be in progress, and a good
opportunity will be afforded for making observations on the
different characters of the various soils ploughed up in different
districts. Careful note should be made of the working of the
plough : pay attention to the action of the mould-board on the
furrow slice, and try to get an idea of the way in which such
action helps to break up (pulverize) the soil. Time may be
profitably speat in paying attention to fields that have been
ploughed, from day to day, and noticing the rates at which
different kinds of soils ‘ moulter down’. Where implemental
tillage is employed, examine the various implements so as
to gain a knowledge of the ways in which the different parts
are employed ; then, when they are in use, familiarize your-
self with the various operations which they are intended to
perform, and with the reasons for those operations.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Explain why some leguminous plants will not thrive
on certain soils.
(2) Why should plants be cut back when they are being
transplanted ¢
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Indicate briefly the chief sources of gain to a soil,
(2) Give some account of the relationship of lime to the
action vf manures on crops.
237
‘TROPICAL LIFE’ PRIZE ESSAY.
In reference to the announcement in the Agri-
cultural News, Vol. VIII, Nos. 187, p. 204. and 188,
p. 220, that Tropical Life has arranged to offer a prize
of £50 for the best essay on the fermentation and drying
of the cacao bean, the following rough draft (which
need not be followed too closely) for the guidance of
candidates, which appeared in the June number of that
paper, 1s now given :—
The essay should record precisely and in full detail the
changes resulting from the processes of fermentation and
drying that take place in the bean from maturity in the pod
to the time of putting the cured beans into bags for market.
Biological as well as chemical changes should be noted. The
action of maximum, minimum and optimum temperatures,
and of checks producing differences of times in the fermenta~
tion and drying processes, should be noted for every stage.
The differences due to such variations on the resultant cured
bean should be clearly traced. The possibility should be
discussed of producing at will by such variations, and inde-
pendently of the natural character of the bean, varieties of
taste and of colour, both internal and external, so as to
simulate the different kinds of cocoa known on the market.
Alterations that might be made in ordinary methods, so as to
improve the quality of the cocoa, should be explained. Waste
products should be considered, and their potential value
indicated.
The experiments on which results are based should deal
with the beans in marketable quantities, and samples should
be submitted in illustration of statements made.
The terms on which all candidates enter the competition
are as follows :-~
(1) The copyright of all essays sent in becomes the
property of the publishers of Zropical Life absolutely,
whether successful in winning the prize or not.
(2) The publishers of Z'ropical Lite have the sole right
of publishing the essays, and the copyright of such publica-
tion to be vested in them. Permission to publish in any lan-
guage must be obtained from the publishers of Zropical Life.
(3) Every candidate or competitor agrees to accept as
final and to abide by the award of the Editor of Zropical
Life, whose decision in the matter must be taken as binding.
No correspondence can be entered into respecting the awards.
(4) An English translation must accompany all essays
not written in that language, so that the onus and risk as to
correct translation will rest with the competitor.
(5) Essays must be written on one side of the paper
only ; wher possible the essay should be typewritten. In any
case the writing must be clear and distinct. Corrections
causing doubt or difficulty to decipher must be avoided.
(6) All essays must be sent to the Editor of Tropical
Life at his City Office, 112, Fenchurch Street, London, E.C.,
to reach him on or before January 31, 1911. No essay
arriving after that date will be eligible for competition.
Every essay will be acknowledged on receipt.
(7) Every essay sent in must have attached to the head
of the first page the competitor's full name and_ postal
address, In submitting the essays to the Judges, the name,
however, will not be made known until after the prize
is awarded.
(8) After the prize has been awarded, any balance left
over will be devoted to publishing those essays which, in the
opinion of the publishers, are considered of sufficient merit.
(9) Competitors must fill in and attach a coupon,
presented with Tropical Life, to their essay.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Juny 24, 1909.
COPPER AS AN ALGICIDE.
The group of water plants known as Algae includes
the seaweeds and a great variety of fresh-water forms,
which occur as scums and slimes, which give the water
peculiar greenish and bluish-green colours, and often
impart to it an offerisive odour and occasionall ly even
render it highly unhealthy.
Water in the West Indies, in ponds, pools, tanks
and reservoirs often supports vigorous growths of aleee
and it may be of interest to the readers of the Aqri-
cultural News to know that by the use of copper
sulphate such growths may be prevented, or the plants
-already developed may be entirely destroyed.
Bulletin 76 of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the
United States Department of Agriculture, entitled
Copper as an Algicide and Disinfectant in Water
Supplies, gives results of a large number of trials, and
the amounts of copper sulphate that may be present in
the water without in any way injuring it as a drinking
water.
The following statements taken from the conclu-
sions and summ-~:v of the bulletin already referred to
may be of intern = .—
Experience }..s demonstrated the practical value of
copper sulphate as an agent for the purification of contam-
inated water, and it is believed that most of the important
conditions likely to obtain have been encountered and success-
fully dealt with. Unsuspected features may arise, however,
and more complete information on the influence of the
chemical constitution and temperature of the water, and on
the recurrence of polluting organisms is very much to be
desired. It is therefore urged that water engineers, sanitary
engineers, and others who may be interested keep accurate
records of treatments made, and report any unusual cases
that may present themselves.
From the results of over fifty reservoirs suecessfully
treated for the removal of algae, the following facts have
been developed :—
Much less copper is required to eradicate algae from
reservoirs than would be necessary to destroy algae under
laboratory conditions.
' The effect of this metal upon
importance and requires more study.
The physical and chemical constitution of a water are
factors to be considered in determining the quantity of cop-
per sulphate to use in a water-supply.
The elimination of polluting forms sometimes m2kes
possible the development of other species, but so far these
species have never been the cause of complaint.
As a result of the sudden destruction of great numbers
of polluting algae, for a few days immediately af.<r treatment
of a water-supply there is sometimes an increase in odour and
taste.
The use of copper is an efficient emergency method for
sterilizing water contaminated with the nacillus of typhoid
fever.
Metallic copper offers a convenient and efficient means
of sterilizing small ariounts of water.
Copper may be useful in the proper disposal of sewage.
fish is of considerable
Copper is of great value as a supplement to filtration in
case of accident or mismanagement.
Under certain conditions copper may be used to great
advantage in connexion with filtration.
There is no authentic record of fatal copper poisoning,
and many of the best authorities do not consider copper
a true poison ; they hold that it is a natural constituent of
the body and in minute quantities has no effect upon man.
The suggested medicinal use of copper in cholera,
typhoid, and related diseases seems important.
A very useful, and at the same time, simple
method for the application of copper sulphate is as
follows :—
The necessary amount of copper sulphate is put into
a bag of coarse mesh and slow! y dragged through the water.
By a process of gradual solution ‘the water will become
impregnated with the-copper sulphate. In large ponds or
reservoirs this may be carried out by tying the bag of
sulphate behind a boat and quietly rowing about; in smaller
ponds or canals thesbag fixed to a pole can be dragged
through the water by a man walking along the bank.
The amount of copper sulphate required to completely:
destroy fresh water algae is very small, but it must be
mentioned that more is required in warm countries than in
cool.
When a sufficient amount of copper suiphate was used
to give a strength of 1 part in from 4,000,000 <0 10,000,000,
or say 1 pound of copper sulphate dissolv2d in 1,000,000
gallons of water, it was found sufficient to destroy nearly all
forms of green algae, and in most instances did not injure the
fish in the ponds.
The proportion in tanks and small receptacles could
easily be worked out and experimzn.s might be tried as to
the smallest amount that would rarify any given body of
stagnant water.
RICE iN BRITISH GUIANA.
The last report of Messrs. Sandbach, Parker & Co.,
of Georgetown, or tne rice industry of British Guiana,
dated July 9, 1945, gives information as follows :—
The weather has continued very wet during the past
fortnight, and very little milling has been done by small mills
in the country. The larger factcries that have driers installed
have been vusy milling for shipment to the West India
islands, and stocks of paddy are getting low.
Authough the area planted this year is somewhat larger
than last, the unfavourable weather experienced during the
pest few weeks has been responsible for the flooding of
several hundred acres, where the returns will at least be poor
if any crop is obtained. The planting has been late this year,
and the bulk of the October-December crop will not be
reaped until late in November.
Local demand has somewhat improved, and prices would
be better but for the fact that a quantity of inferior rice of
various grades is being offered at low rates.
Shipments to the West India islands dzring the fort-
night amount to 2,800 bags, being principally to Trinidad
and Barbados.
The exports to date are now about the same as they
were at this time last “year.
We quote to-day, f.o.b,
quality :—
17s. 103d. to 18s. 103d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross.
16s. 44d. to 17s. did, ye re lee ity
Demerara, for good export
”
Vor. Vili No: 189: THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 238
L
oo
=)
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
The following report on the London drug and
spice markets for the month of June has been furnished
by Mr. J. R. Jackson, ALLS. :—
‘The general conditions of the spice and drug markets
during the month of June, show a decided improvement,
which commenced with the month and was fairly maintained
to the end. In no one particular product, however, was
there anything calling for special note as will be seen from
the following items. =
GINGER.
As there were no auctions held in the first week of the
month in consequence of the Whitsuntide holidays, it was not
till the 9th that the first sale took place, at which Jamaica
ginger was offered to the extent of 1,650 packages ; and
300 were disposed of at the following rates : 60s. to 62s. for
fair bright, 56s. to 59s. 6d. for middling to good middling, and
50s. to 55s. for ordinary to good ordinary. At the same
auction, all other kinds offered were bought in at the follow-
ing prices: unsorted native Calicut, 56s. to 60s.; brown
rough Calicut, 40s.; rough, 37s., and Japanese limed, 32s.
Aw rece later, the market was exceedingly quiet, the whole of
the offerings of Jamaica, consisting of 384 packages, were
bought in, and of 585 packages of Cochin and Calicut brought
for work, only 36 were sold, washed rough ('ochin fetching
41s. Brown rough Calicut was bought in at 40s. Again on
the 25rd, the same quiet tone prev. ailed, only 40 pac kages of
Jamaica, out of 500 offered, found buyers at from 59s. to 64s.
for middling to good middling, and 52s. for good ordinary
small. Seventy bags of Japan were brought forward at this
sale, 20 of which sold at 27s. 6d. for limed wor my. On the last
day of the month ginger of all kinds was represented in the
catalogues, some of which, however, were not brought for-
ward, amongst them being ‘6d packages of Jamaica. It was
stated that private sales had been effected for good fine, at
from 58s. to 62s., Cochin fetching 39s. to 41s. for washed
rough.
MACE AND PIMENTO.
On June 9 there was a steady demand for West
indian mace, the prices ranging from 1s. 6d. to 1s. 7d.
for ordinary to fair, and ls. 3d. to 1s. 5d. for broken. A
few cases of good Java were bought in at 2s. A week later,
out of an offering of 28 packages of West Indian, 25 were
sold, fair pale realizing 1s. 9d., pale and reddish 1s. 7d. to
ls. 8d., and fair to good red 1s. 6d. to 1s. 8d. On the 23rd,
16 packages of West Indian were offered, and disposed
of at similar rates. At the auction on the 16th, pimento
was represented by 117 bags, 55 of which were gipoed of
at 24d. for fair, and 22d. for ordinary mixed, On the 23rd,
the offerings amounted to only 16 bags, which were all bought
in at 22d. for small. At the last auction on the 30th, 68
bags were catalogued, but none were offered.
ARROWROOT,
There has been a very quiet market in this article. At
the auction on the 30th, 120 barrels of fair manufacturing
St. Vincent were brought forward, and bought in at 2d.
per hb.
SARSAPARILLA.
At the drug auction on the 17th, sarsaparilla was repre-
sented by 41 packages of native Jamaica, 10 of Lima-Jamaica,
21 of Mexican, and 13 of Honduras, but there was no grey
Jamaica. The whole of the 10 bags of Lima-Jamaica was
sold, fair fetching ls. 1d., and rather lumpy Is. Fair red
native Jamaica realized 1s. to 1s. 1d., while 10d. to 11d. was
paid for ordinary greyish to dull-red and yellow mixed, and
Id. to 93d. for common dull-red. None of the Mexican nor
Honduras found buyers.
KOLA, TAMARINDS, CASSIA FISTULA, ETC.
In the middle of the month, 2 bags of dull Jamaica
kola, part wormy, was sold at 1}d. per Ib, Eighteen bags of
ordinary dark Ceylon fetched 14d. per Ib., and for 6 bags of
dull mouldy Ceylon 21d. per Db. was paid. At the last sale
on the 30th, 1 bag of green, part mouldy Jamaica realized
24d. per tb., and 1 of fair dried Jamaica fetched 12d. per tb.
At this same sale, ont of 24 packages of Cassia Fistula
offered, 13 were sold at from 16s. to 17s. per ewt. for fair
Dominican. On the 16th, 5 packages of fair West Indian
tamarinds in bond were sold at from 8s. to 9s. 6d. per ewt.
Fair East Indian black were bought in at 12s. 6d. per ewt.
On the 30th, 52 packages of dry Antigua in bond were
offered, 42 of which sold at 10s. per ewt.
SPONGE FISHERIES IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
We gather from the latest Annual Report
(August 1908) of the Director of the Bien of
Science, Manila, that sponge fisheries which will
prove to be of considerable value commercially have
been located during the past year, The first shipment
from the Sitkani sponge bank arrived in Zamboanga on
June 3, and will be shipped to Singapore. These
sponges are said to be of fine, soft texture, very tough
and elastic. They compare very favourably with the
best grade of the Florida ‘sheep’s wool sponge’, and
doubtless a good price will be realized for them.
Twenty thousand sponges have been taken at Sitkanti.
The following information in connexion with the
curing of sponges and the laws proposed for the
regulation of sponge fisheries may be of interest :—
When in the water the commercial sponge is black and
slimy, growing in a depth of from 30 centimetres to 30
metres, or more. The sponge is taken up either with the
hands, or with a hook on the end of a pole. It is then placed
on shore or on a platform in the sun for a day or two, until
dead. Afterwards it is placed in an enclosure built on the
edge of the salt water and allowed to remain for eight or ten
days, a man going over the sponges each day, or as often as
is necessary, squeezing them out and beating out pieces of
shell or coral. They are then threaded on strings, and
allowed to dry. This is the usual bleaching process. They
may also be bleached by dipping them in soap-suds two or
three times and placing them in the sun. Chemicals are also
used, but they cause more or less damage to the fibre.
On account of the custom of taking even the very
youngest sponges, prompt regulation of the sponge fisheries
is urgently needed. A law should be enacted prohibiting the
taking of sponges which measure less than 10 centimetres
through their least diameter at the centre. If all inshore
sponge grounds were declared Government property, which
may be leased for a long period, it would cause every collector
to take care of the ground rented by him, and to allow the
sponges to grow to full size, so that he may gain a profit
compatible with his holdi ng the ground under a long lease.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Jury 24, 1909.
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—Tue Wesr Inpia CommitTrE CrRrcuLar,
July 6, 1909; Messrs. E. A. pg Pass & Co.,
June 1], 1909.
Arrowkoor—St. Vincent, 1d. to 3}d., according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/5 to 2/6 ; ‘block, 1/93.
Begs’-wax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 53/- to 65/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
56/- per ewt; Jamaica, no quotations.
Corree—Santos 30/- to 31/- per cwt.; Jamaica, 41/-
to 94/6.
Corra—West Indian, £21 per ton.
Corron—St. Vincent, lld. to 17d.; Barbados, 134d. to
1dd.; Anguilla, 133d. to I4d.; Antigua, 15d. = 144¢.;
Montserrat, 123d. to 13d.; Nevis, 123d. to L Bd;
St. Kitts, 14a.
Frourr—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gixcer—Common to good common, 48/- to 51/-; low
middling to middling, 52/- to 58/-; good bright to fine,
60/- to 67/-.
Honey—No quotations.
Tstnciass—No « 1otations.
Lime Jurce—Raw. 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 1/10
to 1/11 per 1b., good quality firm.
Locwoop—No quotations.
Macre—Steady.
Nutmpcs—()uiet.
Pimento—Firm.
Rupser—Para, fine hard, 6/3} to 6/4; fine soft, 6/2 per tb.
Rum—Jamaica, 3/- to 3/3; Demerara, no quotations.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/9 to 16/9 ; Muscovado, no quotations ;
Syrup, no quotations ; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,—Messrs. Ginresprz, Bros. & Co., June 15,
1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to 13¥c. ; Grenada, 12c. to 12he. ;
Trinidad, 12c. to 12}¢. ; Jamaica, 10c. to L1e. per th.
Cocoa-NuTS—Jamaica, select, $22°00 to $23°00; culls, $13°00
to $15°00; Trinidad, select, $21°00 to $22-00; culls,
$13-00 to $14°00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, ordinary, 7c. to 8c.;
; and washed up to Lle.
Gincer—9e. to 12c. per Tb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, no quotations ; Barbados, 55c.; St.
Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitt’s, 45c. to 48c. per Ib.,
dry flint ; Antigua, 50c. to 52e.
Grave Frvir tue uica, $4°50 to $6°00 per barrel.
Lives—Dominica, $3°50 to $4°25 per barrel.
Mace—28c. to 3B per tb.
Nurmecs—110’s, 8he. per Th.
OrancEes—Jamaica, no quotations.
Pimenro—4te. to 5c. per Ib.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°92c., Muscovados, 89°, 3°42c.;
Molasses, 89°, 3:17c. per tb., all duty paid,
good ordinary,
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., July 17, 1909;
Messrs. T. 8S. Garraway & Co., July 19, 1909.
ArRrowroot—St. Vincent, $3°75 to $4:00 per 100 tb.
Cacao—S$11°21 to $12-00 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-NutTs—$18:00 for husked nuts.
CorreE—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
100 th., according to quality—scarce.
Hay—$1°20 to $1°25 per LOO Th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $65°00; Ohlendorff’s dissolved:
guano, $55-00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao manure,
$48°00; Sulphate of ammonia, $75°00; Sulphate of
potash, $67°00 per ton.
Ontons—Strings, $2°25 to $2°50 per 100 tb.; Bermuda,
$1-80.
Peas—Split, $6°00 per bag of 210 th.; Canada, $3°75 to
$3-90 per bag of 120 tb.
Poratos—8$3°50 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, Caleutta, no quotations; Patna, $3:
Rangoon, $3:00 per 100 tb.; Demerara Ballam, §
to $5-00 per 180 tb.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° no quotations; Muscovado,
89° $1°70 ; Centrifugals, no quotations.
80 ;
470
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrerinc & Ricurex, July 10,
1909 ; Messrs.
June 25, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $8°50 to $9-00 per 200 th., de-
mand limited.
Batara— Venezuela block, 32c.; Demerara sheet, 48c.
per Ib.
Cacao—Native, 14c. per tb.
Cassava—7 2c.
Cassava SrarcH—$5:00 per barrel of 196 Tb.
Cocoa-NuTs—$12°00 to $16-00 per M.
Correr—Creole, 8c. to 183c.; Jamaica and Rio, 13hc.;
Liberian, 8c. per tb.
Duat—$4'50 to $4°60 per bag of 168 Tb., weak; Green
Dhal, $5°50.
Eppos—$1°08 to $1'44 per barrel.
Mo asses— Yellow, 21c. to 22ce.
Ontons—Teneritte, 2khe. to 3$e.; 3ermuda, Zhe. to 3e. per th.
Pras—Sprir $6-00 to $6°20 per bag (210 tb.); Marseilles,
$3°00, over stock.
Piantarns—24e. to 60c. per bunch.
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $2°60 to $3-00 per 100 tb., Ber-
muda, 83°75.
Potatos—Sweet, Barbados, 96c. to $1°32 per bag.
Rice—Ballam, $5°50 to $5°60; Creole, $4°40, good demand.
Tannias—$1°20 to $1°68 ae bag.
Yams—White, $2°16 to $2°40 per bag
$2-64.
Sucar—Dark cree $2274 to $2:-45; Yellow, $3:00 to
$3°-10 : White, $3°60 to $3°80; Molasses, $2-00.
Tinmper—Greenheart, 32c. to 55c. per cubic foot.
Wallaba Shingles—$3°75 to $5°75 per M.
Cordwood—$1°'80 to $2°00 per ton.
SANDBACH, ParKER & Co.,
Buck, $ $2°40 to
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., July 10, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $1125 to $11°30 per fanega ; Trinidad,
S11°10 to $11°50.
Cocoa-Nuts—No quotations.
Cocoa-Nut Ou.—78e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
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The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
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IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES, ances.
Vou, VIIL. No. 190. hit | BARBADOS, AUGUST 7, 1909. ‘ PRICE la.
CONTENTS. Under favourable conditions, the burial of plants
of any kind will add humus to the soil, thus improving
the tilth, with the well-known additional benefit, in
eh nl ) hr . . .
PAGE. ; : PaGE. the case of legumes, of the increase of its nitrogenous
Barbados, Produce of |... 255) Green Dressings and é A e
Bana She enon T|| Their Application ... 241 content. There are instances, however, where the
Cacao, Mechanical Polisher Ground Nuts, Selection of 249 — special circumstances surrounding the raising of the
for wee eee ee vee 244! Hawaii, The Cocoa-nut in 244 Saas z ,
@utile. Selection of for Tnsect Noteen crop prevent the acquisition of these benefits. In
Milking Capacity —... 250) New Species of Ceci- a light, open soil having a small water-holding
Ceylon, Agricultural domylidae... .. 250
Education in .., ... 249 Jute, Possible Substitute capacity and liable to suffer from drought, the lowering
Ceylon, Copra Exports for sss ++ 255 of the water-content may act so disastrously on the
from ... ... ... ... 248| Katanga, Agriculture in 253 BICCECUIn mR CRGTEAGLito, ALOR tm noe nlon tommionen
Citrus Fruits, Cultivation | Maize, Diplodia Disease of 242 eps Oy ta °P ae i : poss 1t
Of... 41. a. a... 248) Market Reports... ... 256 attain a condition in which it may benefit by the
Jor Germinati Test | itos, Si Tr: ae =
ore ae ition Test ie: Bfoaduitos Simple Trap o4g presence of the additional plant food which has been
Cotton Notes :— Notes and Comments... 248 provided for it. Then, too, repeated raising and
By-products of . . 246) Para Rubber Trees I : : =
5 pb ateh sie nae ¥ oughing-in of gr manur I same soil
Exports from Trinidad, Abnormalities in... 248 P ughi > ore Pn ; 28), 0R the e So
Grenada and British Porto Rico, Sugar in ... 249 the sole attempt to keep it in condition, will lead to
Ne DARE nadine! Gamelan one : : : :
Guiana... -+. ++, 246) Seedling Canes, Varia , the temporary exhaustion of its mineral constituents,
West Indian Cotton ... 246 tion’ WOW ces ae) 249 : Y j
Disease-resisting Plants, Students’ Corner... ... 258 as will be explained later. Thus must the general
_ Selection of —... ... 249] Sugar Industry :— history of a soil be considered first, when the question
Dominica, Land Develop- Sugar Growing and ; ; 5 s
mentiin sc. vel evs 247 “Manukacteronn of the application of green dressings is under debate
Fruits, Packing and ~| q. Northern India... 243 and, in the event of a favourable conclusion being
Shipping of ... ... 245! Timber, Preservation of 249 ; ,
UMC ueyN Ges 251| Tree-growing Experiment 247 arrived at, what follows here is then, and only then,
o EM eee, ee-growing Exper 247 om
Gleanings ....-. +--+. 262{ Trinidad, Forestryin... 243 a matter that can have relation to that particular soil.
Green Dressings and Their Turning, now, to the effects of the buried plants on
the soil, the subject may be viewed conveniently from
Application. the aspect of the uses of such plants when they are
applied in this way. These uses may be grouped under
two heads: that of the prevention of the loss of plant-
Il. THE EFFECT ON THE SOIL. food already present, and that of the provision of
; : _ additional plant food.
N cases where the plants which are intend- P
ed to provide green dressings are to be In the first connexion, it may be remarked that
turned into the soil on which they are the very important effect of green dressings in prevent-
raised, as is the common practice, the first effect which ing the loss of useful soil constituents is very often
has to be considered is that arising from the circum- given much less recognition than it deserves. It is well
stance that they have been grown on that soil. known that nitrates, owing to their solubility, are very
242
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avueusr 7, 1909.
likely to be lost in drainage water and that the preven-
tion of such loss is a matter of supreme importance to
-agriculturists. Green manures are especially efficacious
in this direction, for they take up those bodies and
form stable combinations with them, which are
‘subsequently rendered available by bacteria in the
‘ordinary way. A similar action takes place in regard
to other food-constituents, such as phosphoric acid,
potash and lime; not, however, because, like nitrates,
they are liable to be lost in the wash-water, but
because the green dressing unites with them in such
4 way as to render them more directly availible.
These maintenance effects follow the use of any kind
of green dressing, but they are augmented, in the case
-of leguminous plants, by the fact that the presence of
the latter helps to lessen the number of those
organisms which cause soils to lose nitrogen.
The second use of the practice which is under
‘consideration, that of the provision of plant food in
addition to what is alreadly existent in the soil, is one
which, so far as has been satisfactorily denionstrated
‘up to the present, is solely connected to the ability of
leguminous crops to add nitrogen to the soil. It is
not the purpose of this article to deal with this aspect
of the subject ; if further information is required, atten-
tion is directed to the recent one on Soil Inoculation,
Agricultural News, Vol. VIIL, No. 184, of May 15,
1909, to which reference has already been made. It
will not be out of place, however, to draw attention, at
this stage, to the influence of former leguminous crops
on the later ones. The fact that a soil has already had
the benefit of nodule nitrification hastens succeeding
-efforts in this direction, for the reason that such a soil
already contains an amount of nitrogen sufficient to
fact that
module bacteria have already been raised in it hastens
stimulate plant-growth, and because the
the infection of the later legumes with those useful
organisms,
The kind of soil to which green dressings are
applied must, naturally, be an important factor in
The action
in light, open soils must be very different from the one
regard to the results of such application.
which will take place in those which are heavy. Their
-effectiveness 1s generally far greater in the former case
than in the latter. The lack of plant food in sandy
soils, their openness, their small capacity for holding
contribute to the
great change for the good which often follows the
-application of plant-material. There is certainly the
fear that, in well-watered soils of this kind, acidity may
result from the practice; but this tendency may be
water and their lack of humus. all
controlled by judicious action in the matter and by the
use of lime as a corrective. It is quite another matter
in the case of heavy soils. These do not require applica-
tions of green dressings as often as they are demanded
by the lighter ones. They hold water well, the activity
of the bacteria which cause decay is smaller, they
retain nitrates toa much greater degree, and, under
good conditions of drainage, are much less likely to
suffer a loss of nitrogen from the action of bacteria.
None the less, such applications are eminently desirable
from time tu time, because they have the effect of
quickly freeing otherwise slowly accessible stores of
potash and phosphoric acid, and because of their
improvement of the condition of the soil.
Sufficient has already been said to indicate that
care must be exercised in the use of green dressings.
Damage to the soil will obviously cause harm to the
plants which such dressings were intended ultimately
to benefit. By what criteria shall we chiefly judge in
particular instances, whether benefit or harm will
accrue? The answer is, as has been stated differentiy
already: By those in which the first consideration is
given to the conditions regulating the bacterial life,
both in the buried plants and in the soil.
DIPLODIA DISEASE OF MAIZE.
This is the title of an article, in the current
number of Science, written by Dr. E. F. Smith and
Florence Hedges.
These investigators made observations on this disease of
which is becoming serious in some parts of
America, in order to determine its method of infection.
A careful examination of some cobs seemed to indicate that
the mycelium spread to the seed from inside the stem, and
that it was not a. case of local attack as was previously
believed.
eorn, now
‘lo prove this conclusively, plants were grown in pots
with the soil previously inoculated with pure cultures of’
Diplodia. In nearly every case the fructifications of Diplodia
appeared on the roots or at the collar of the plant, while the
mycelium was traceable well up the stem and in the roots.
In one case, the fructifications appeared in the stem on the
first four internodes and were especially abundant at the
nodes. It was fully determined that the mycelium in the
roots and stem was that of Diplodia, as the pure cultures of
the fungus were obtained from material inoculated with it.
This makes it almost certain that the fungus attacks the’
roots first from the soil and finally spreads to the cob, so that
the same ground, when once infected, should never be used
for planting two crops of corn consecutively. It is also
suggested that the fungus may be the cause of the cornstalk
disease of cattle in the west of America, as well as of the
pellagra disease of human beings which results from the
consumption of mouldy corn,
Vou. VIII. No. 190.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 243.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Sugar Growing and Manufacture in Northern
India.
The following article, from the Agricultural
Journal of Northern India, Vol. IV, Part 2, gives
some facts in connexion with the sugar industry in
Northern India : —
Several attempts have been made in recent years to
manufacture white sugar direct from sngar-cane as is done in
the West Indies, Egypt, Mauritius, and other sugar-growing
countries. Considerable capital has been invested in these
undertakings, the best up-to-date machinery imported from
furope, and skitled Europeans with expert knowledge,
commercial, technical and scientific, have been employed.
In spite, however, of what would appear to be most favour-
able auspices, careful supervision, and a very large demand
for the manufactured article, none of these undertakings
have so far achieved more than a very moderate success, and
most have had to face serious pecuniary loss.
At first sight, no country in the world would appear to
offer a better field for the cane and sugar industry than
India. The consumption of sugar by the inhabitants of this
country is enormous, and upwards of half a million tons of
sugar are imported into India annually. Why then has the
sugar-making industry not made better progress ? Various
causes have contributed to handicap these pioneer efforts.
Although sugar-cane has been grown throughout Northern
India for some 2,000 years, the quality of the crop has never
been as high as in other cane-growing countries, either as
regards the weight of cane grown per acre, or the sugar
content per 100 of canes.
The Indian cultivator at his best is hard to beat,
although his methods and implements may appear primitive
to western agriculturists. He is quick to adopt improve-
ments in cultivation and seed if he is satisfied that they will
increase his profits ; but in the growing of sugar-cane, he is
faced with two serious problems. The soil has been exhansted
by many centuries of continnous cropping, and the supply
of suitable manures at a moderate cost is very limited.
A greater difficulty still is the climate. The annual rainfall,
though usually sufticient in quantity, is badly distributed
throughout the year, being concentrated into a few months,
followed by many months of extreme dryness. ‘hese two
causes, however, would not alone be sufticient to account for
the indifferent success of large central cane factories ; fresh
sources of manure can be discovered, and the short period of
growth, due to the concentration of the rainfall, can be
mitigated by carefully thought-out schemes of irrigation.
The Indian cane factory has against them, on the credit
side, the saving in manufacturing losses by a continuous
process, and the economy in freight and transit charges by
having a ready market at the door. ‘lhe greatest difticulty,
however, with which a central cane factory has to contend
is the nature of Indian land tenure, by which the country is
split wp into a multiplicity of small holdings, and this seems
to be an insuperable one. The effect of this system of cultiva-
tion in innumerable small farms is that concentration of crop
round the factory is. in most instances, impossible. The cane
is grown in small isolated patches, and in order to feed
a large factory, it has to be collected from a very large
area radiating many miles from the factory, with all the
consequent heavy cost of handling and currying entailed in
dealing with a commodity so heavy and bulky as raw sugar-
cane ; this, combined with the inevitable deterioration and
loss of sugar by inversion during the period of transit from
the fields to the mill, more than counterbalances the benefit
gained by the cortinuous process. It would seem, therefore,
that central sugar factories can only be profitably worked, if
at all, in canal colonies or large zamindaries where a con-
centrated area is available under the personal control of the
owner or planter.
If the sugar industry in India is to hold its own agains®
the foreign importer, development will have to be along the
line of intense cultivation by the grower, to increase the out-
turn of sucrose per acre, and improvements in the making of
raw jaggery or Gu/ by the villager, preventing the heavy
losses by inversion and adulteration entailed by the crude
methois zt present employed. If this can be done, the
Indian refiner will have nothing to fear from foreign competi-
tion in India, and may even in time be able to export to.
other markets, if not barred by prohibitive protective duties.
FORESTRY IN TRINIDAD.
It will be remembered that, in the issue of the
Agricultural News dated May 29, 1909, the editorial
dealt with the subject of timber production. Special
reference was made, in the last paragraph of that
article, to the work in Jamaica and Dominica in this
connexion.
Since then, through the courtesy of Mr. C. S.
Rogers, Forest Officer, Trinidad, information has been
received concerning the forest work in Trinidad and
Tobago. This information is comprised in the Annual
Xeports of the Forest Officer for the years 1901-8,
in a Report (1900) by Mr. F. Lodge, LFS. on
Forest Conservation in Trinidad and Tobago, and in
the Crown Land Forest Produce Rules for those
islands. The following account which has its origin in
the above sources, will serve to indicate, in some
measure, the work that is being done :—
Theannnal vote on the estimates for forestry in Trinidad
for the last eight years has been £1,000, and, although this
annual sum is not large, the work has been steadily continued
during the whole of that period. The chief object of conserva-
tion is the protection of the watersupply. Subordinate to
this, nevertheless of great importance, are those of the
conservation of areas required for the present or future
supply of fuel to towns and villages, and the regulation of
the rate of removal of timber and other forest products. In
furtherance of these objects, the chief work that is being
done includes the following: the demareation of forest
reserves and the subsequent improvement of them; the
issuing of leases and licenses for the cutting and disposal of
timber, ete., and the enforcement of the rules under which
these operations may be performed ; the preparation of plans
and boundary records of the reserves ; the inspection of the
boundaries of the reserves.
The revenue from timber and other forest produce for
the year 1906-7 was £2,147 against £1,872 the year before;
showing an increase of £275 over that year, and £1,037 over
the average for fourteen years. That in the period 1907-8
showed a decrease of £775 from the one in 1906-7. The
decrease is due to the less work being done on roads, and the
large areas of land sold, from which the timber was disposed
of at lower rates than those fixed for timber from Crown lands,
244
THE AGRICULTURAL, NEWS.
Avucusr 7, 1909.
GS
‘<)
THE COCOA-NUT IN HAWAII.
In view of the increased interest in the cocoa-nut
palm and its products which is being taken in several
parts of the West Indies, the following information
from the Philippine Agricultural Review, Vol. I,
No. 6, may be found useful. Hints on cocoa-nut cultiva-
tion have already been given in the Agricultural
News, Vol. VIII, Nos. 181 and 187: what follows here
deals more particularly with the uses of the chief
products of the plant, aud with its habitat :—
While the cocoagnut is one of the few species of palms
native of Hawaii, being widely but somewhat sparsely
scattered along all the coast lines of the group, its cultiva-
tion on an extended scale does not date before 19U4 or.1905.
Renewed interest in the cultivation of this extremely useful
tree is due ina large measure to the rapid increase in the
demand for the oil and fibre. The value of cocoa-nut oil has
long been recognized for soap-making and as an illuminant.
Cocoanut oil is the basis of a number of patented food
compounds and butter substitutes, finding for this latter
purpose an enormous sale within the tropics, because the
melting point of the so-called ‘butter’ manufactured from
it is higher than that of either pure bntter, or any of the oleo-
margarine compounds manufactured from animal fat. Not
only is there a more or less Jegitimate field for the sale of
artificial butter made from the cocoa-nut oil in hot countries,
but its use as an adulterant is said to he practised on an
enormous scate in Denmark and other European eowntries,
where dairying is an important industry.
Cocoa-nut oil is being rapidly displaced as an illuminant
by the cheaper petroleum, <A characteristic of the oil is that
it burns without smoking.
The value of the by-products, after the extraction of the
oil from the copra is also rapidly increasing. Cocoa-nut meal
is becoming recognized as a concentrated feed of high value,
and as an organic fertilizer equal to cotton seed meal.
Coir, the fibre of the husk of the cocoa-nut, is in itself
a valuable product. ‘This fibre is used in the manufacture of
ropes and cordage, and is weven into matting and bagging.
The stiff, harsher fibres obtained from the leaf stalk and
from the mid-rib are used in the manufacture of all classes
of brushes. In oriental lands the leaves provide materials
for thatch, and the trunks for house and bridge construction.
Another product of the cocoa-nut, not as yet utilized in
Hawaii, is obtained in the manufacture of a liquor or alcoholic
beverage by fermentation of the sap obtained by bleeding
the inflorescence. Elsewhere in the tropics the cultivation
INDIAN
PR UIeE.
of the cocoa-nut for this
hundreds of thousands
utilizes
alone
of acres in extent.
formerly made from this sap in large quantities, and even
now the natives of many outlying tropical districts obtain
purpose groves
Sugar was
the family sugar supply from this source.
The cocoa-nut tree demands above all things good drain-
It thrives neither in swamps nor on rocks. The roots
are thick, fleshy fibres, there being no taproot, and they
seem to be especially adapted for the storage of considerable
qnantities of water, but wherever they reach the level of
permanent standing water, or wherever stagnant waters rise
above the level of roots already formed, these rot, and the
tree sends out new and shorter roots only as far as the
perfectly drained and well-aérated soil extends. The tree
is a heavy feeder, requiring cultivation and fertilization,
giving best results where these can be augmented by irriga-
tion or abundant rainfall.
Another factor is that the tree grows best in windy
locations, Specimen trees in sheltered valleys, where the
wind never strikes them, are more liable to be spindling
and unhealthy, The requirements of the cocoa-nut may be
summed up in having light and room in windy locations,
where the soil is rich and well drained, and there is abundant
artificial or natural irrigation.
age.
A MECHANICAL POLISHER FOR
CACAO.
The following information respecting a mechanical
polisher for cacao, invented by Mr. George Barnard of
St. Lucia, and known as ‘ Barnard’s Patent Cacao
Polisher’, has been received through the Acting Agri-
cultural Superintendent in that island :—
This cacao polisher consists of a hollow cylinder, made
of wood or iron, through which runs a shaft on to which are
keyed a number of ‘eccentrics’. Attached to the lower or
under side of these eccentrics are feet or ‘pedals’ which are
jointed, like the human ankle, in order to give a rocking
motion as the eccentrics rise and fall. Hard rubber pads are
attached to the bottom of these pedals which give under
pressure to prevent the beans from being crushed ; an
additional safeguard against crushing is that the pedals de
not come within 2 inches of the cylinder, and are spaced
sufficiently far apart on the shaft to allow the cacao to stir
about freely and become thoroughly mixed as the pedals rise
and fall alternately.
The cylinder and shaft are run in opposite directions, so
as to complete the stirring of the beans, in order that each
Vou. VIII. No. 190.
bean shall get an equal amount of polish. The cylinder is
driven at the rate of ten revolutions per minute, and the
shaft at sixty to eighty. At this rate of work, the machine
in operation at Park estate, which is a fourpedal machine,
polishes one bag of cacao of 200 th. in ten to twelve minutes.
‘This is a record unattainable by the present method, in which
the polishing is done by means of the human foot. The
machine may be had in various sizes, from those which
may be worked by hand to those which are engine-
-driven. The beans are fed into the polisher and damped
(just as at present) before starting and, on removal, are
placed either in the sun on trays or direct into the drier.
Thus it will be seen that with a polisher anda drier the
cacao planter is now enabled to hold his own against the
uncertainty of the weather, tie excessive rainfall in some
-districts at the reaping season, or the indolence of the
labourer.
PACKING AND SHIPPING FRUITS.
The following is taken from an article in the
Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist, Vol. V, No. 5.
It deals with the packing and shipping of five fruits :
the avocado pear, the mango, the papaw, the banana
and the pine-apple :—
The picking of the avocado pear should be done within
as short a time as possible previous to the sailing of the
steamer, for this fruit begins to soften quickly, and should
therefore be placed in cold storage as soon as possible. Even
if there are facilities for keeping this fruit at a low temper-
ature fora time until the steamer arrives, the change of
temperature consequent on its removal is likely to do serious
harm. In picking, the stalk should be cut at a distance
-of } or } inch from the fruit, and great care should
be exercised so that the fruit may not be bruised. For
packing, crates large enough to hold one dozen, or at the
most two dozen fruits, are most convenient, and each of these
erates should be only one tier deep. All fruit should be
wrapped in rather thin, but strong paper; packing paper
between the fruits is inadvisable, as it interferes with
refrigeration and ventilation. The time during which this
fruit will keep in good condition in cold storage is at least
three weeks, and, probably, the best temperature is between
45 and 50 degrees Centigrade. The first signs of deterioration
ander conditions of refrigeration are the darkening of the
flesh near the seed and the presence of a rancid smell.
The treatment of the mango is much the same as that
for the avocado pear, with the following exceptions, namely :
though the crates should be small, there is no need for them
to be as small as those for the avocado pear, and they may
be made with two or three tiers; the mango can be kept
longer in cold storage, for six weeks’ exposure to such con-
ditions will not harm the fruits.
The papaw should be picked as scon as the faintest
signs of yellow appear, and as in the case of the avocado,
just before the time of despatch. About 1 inch or 14
inches of the stalk should be left on the fruit, which
must be handled with great care. The wrapping should be
done with rather heavy paper, preferably glazed, in order to
prevent the free passage of moisture, to the sound fruits,
from any of those which may have begun to decay or get
soft. While the fruit is in transit, ventilation alone is
insuflicient to keep it in condition ; it must travel at a reduc-
ed temperature.
Bananas for export should be cut before they become
too ‘full’, that is before the ridges on them disappear ;
naturally, the exact stage at which to cut will depend on the
time which must elapse between their despatch and_ their
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 245
arrival in the market. Asa wrapper, grass has been used,
but this is lable to absorb and hold moisture ; banana leaves
are much preferable, as they will keep dry. In some places,
this fruit is being exported in drums made of cardboard or
thin wood, large enough to containa single bunch. The
chief feature of the drums is that the top hoop holds a strong
piece of paper in place, to which the bunch is tied by its
stalk, so that the weight is supported by the latter. The
practicability of such a method of shipping, in the case of
any particular place, would depend on local conditions.
Bananas cannot be carried at a very low temperature, as
they turn black without ripening’; the temperature may be
lowered, but only sufficiently to delay the ripening process
a little. The Jamaica is superior to the Chinese variety as
it is not subject to the disease known as ‘ripe rot’, and
because the individual fruits do not show so great a tendency
to drop from the bunch.
As regards pine-apples, those cut with long stalks arrive
at their destination in much better condition than those
which have been cut off short. The crates for packing
should not be too large, and are made preferably with round-
ed corners in order to prevent damage by the splitting-off of
staves. The packing material may be grass or any other
suitable vegetable material so long as it is quite dry. As in
the case of the papaw, the wrapping should be of heavy
paper and preferably glazed; it should be large enough to
cover the whole fruit with the exception of the crown.
Finally, fruits should be packed solid in order to prevent
damage from being shaken against one another.
SELECTION OF GROUND NUTS.
The following factors, which should be taken into
consideration when varieties of ground nuts are being
examined for selection, are given in the Annwal Report
on the Experimental Work of the Agricultural
Station, Surat, 1907-8. This information, together
with that recently published in the Agricultural News,
Vol. VIII, No. 187, pp. 206-7, should be of assistance to
those who are making experiments with different kinds
of ground nuts. The factors which are given are :—
(1) The suitability of the variety to the existing
climatic conditions.
(2) The percentage of seeds on the weight of unshelled
With different varieties, this varies considerably.
(5) The percentage of the oil on the weight of seed
from which it is extracted. This is important when the nut
is being chosen for oil-extraction rather than for edible
purposes. A value of over 50 per cent., in this respect,
indicates a valuable commercial ground nut.
(4) The yield per acre, which, when considered in con- °
junction with the foregoing factors, determines the real value
of the variety.
(5) If the uncrushed nuts are to be sold for oil-extrae-
tion, the thickness of the shell is important in deciding if the
variety can be economically crushed for this purpose.
pods.
In the same report, figures are given from which
some idea can be gained as to the varietal ditterences
in the percentage of seed on unshelled pod. he lowest
percentage was 71°78 and the highest 82:06, giving
a difference of over 10 per cent. Information is also
given as to the variation, in a similar manner, of the
percentage of oil on seed. his was one of about 8
per cent., between the highest at 53°50 and the lowest
at 45°69. With inferior kinds of ground nuts, these
percentages would not, of course, be as high.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avcust 7, 1909
Z
mY FSS =
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland of Liverpool
write as follows under date, July 19, with reference to
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
West Indian Sea Islands have been in moderate reouest
since our last report. The sales amount to 400 to 500 bales
and comprise Anguilla, Montserrat, Barbados, St. Kitts,
St. Croix, Antigua, Virgin Islands, Barbuda and Jamaica,
chiefly at 13d. to 143d., with a few St. Vincent at 15d. to 16d.
The market remains firm and prices in Charleston and
Savannah are advancing, owing to the local American
demand, but we understand that the American Sea Island
erop is progressing favourably.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the
weeks ending July 3 and July 10, is as follows :—
The unsold stock of Islands now consists entirely of
planters’ crop lots, held here or on plantations, aggregating
457 bales. he factors are still refusing to sell any of them
under 30c., and the larger proportion are held under instruc-
tions from the planters at 35c.
The position in this market, up to July 10, thus
still remained unchanged.
COTTON EXPORTS FROM TRINIDAD,
GRENADA AND BRITISH GUIANA.
The returns of the cotton which was grown in and
exported from the colonies of Trinidad and Tobago,
Grenada and British Guiana during the quarter ended
July 80,1909, are to hand. From these it appears
that the kinds of cotton.exported from the two first-
mentioned colonies were Sea Island and Marie Galante.
The amounts of these kinds exported from ‘Trinidad
and Tobago were respectively 5 bales, weighing
1,125 th., and 10 bales, weighing 4,000 Ib. ; no estimated
value is given. In the case of Grenada the quantities
were, similarly, 31 bales, weighing 8.678 Ib. having an
estimated value of £469 19s., and 827} bales weighing
248,455 Ib, and of an estimated value of £6,884 5s. 6d.
The destination of all this cotton was the United
Kingdom.
No cotton of any kind was exported from British
Guiana. It may be mentioned that returns, for the
same period, from the Virgin Islands were given in the
Jast number (189) of the Agricultural News,
THE BY-PRODUCTS OF THE COTTON
INDUSTRY.
The following interesting information in regard to
the by-products of the cotton industry is contained in
an article in the Transvaal Agricultural Journal,
Vol. VII, No. 2%:—
Tor a hundred years, in the Southern States of America,
cotton seed used to be regarded of so little use and such
a nuisance, that ginneries were built near co, and even over,
streams, in order that the seed could be washed away, as the
accumulating heaps of decomposing and rotten seed on the
land had proved aserious menace to health. Times have
now altered, and, the seed is worth practically one-fifth of the
value of the cotton crop. At first, the seed was allowed to
partially decay, and was then returned to the land to supply
plant food for future crops. Now, after the seed has been
subjected to varied treatments, and valuable oil, ete., ex-
tracted, the residue is made into cattle food, and after it has
heen fed there is still available three-fourths of the original
fertilizing value in the manure from the animals.
A ton of 2,000 Tk. of szed-cotton usually averages 665 tb.
of lint and 1,335 Ib. of seed ; 18 tb. of lint or short fibre still
remains on the seed after ginning. From the seed can be
manufactured or prepared 490 tb. of meal and 186 Ib. of oil
561 Tb. consist of hulls (also used for feeding), and the balance
of 80 tb. is waste material, such as dust, sand, ete.
3y the practice of feeding cotton seed or its equivalent
in meal, the feeding value is got out of it, and it can after-
wards be returned to the soil in the form of manure, which
is rapidly available as plant food for the forthcoming crop.
It is stated that 100 tb. of ground cotton seed equals in
feeding value 116 lb. of maize, and 100 tb. of cotton seed
meal equals 175 lb. of maize. There is still much to learn
as to the best way to combine cotton seed meal with other
foods in order to secure the very highest feeding value
possible, and it is within the range of possibility that human
food also will be produced from it, as cottonseed meal
contains all the elements necessary for wholesome, nutritious
food.
Failure to return the cotton seed to the soil in some
form or other Jeads to depletion and poor crops. From
a fertilizing standpoint, the oil contained in cotton seed is
more objectionable than serviceable. For feeding to live stock
it is unfavourable to digestion, and the oil is of no use to the
soil, nor is it a source of food for the plant. Consequently,
it is to the farmer’s bencfit to have the oil extracted from his
seed, so that the latter may become of more value to him as
a feed or a fertilizer. In artificial manures, nitrogen is the
most costly element of plant food that is purchased, and for
this reason its production by means of home-made manures
Vot. VIII. No. 190.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 247
must be very carefully taken into consideration. The decay
of cotton seed meal in the ground is rapid although its
effects are lasting. Nitrate of soda is more rapidly available
as plant food, but soon becomes exhausted.
A ton of cotton seed yields something like 40 gallons of
erude oil, therefore the oil obtained from many tons of seed
can be transported leng distances to a central refinery in
a small bulk space, thus showing the advantage of having
-small oil mills situated in the centre of each cotton-producing
district. Two products are obtained from the erude oil, the
crude oil proper and the settlings ; the first is barrelled for
shipment and the latter is used as soap stock. Nefined oil
is largely used in the manufacture of butter compounds, and
the higher grades are used for oil fur cooking, salad dressing,
ete. Cottolene, a substitute for lard, is also. manufactured
from refined oil, after bleaching, and is a very popular
product.
LAND DEVELOPMENT IN DOMINICA.
A company called ‘The Dominica Lumber and
Land Development Company, Limited’ has recently
been formed. The information given below as to its
objects and interests is taken from the Prospectus,
dated July 9, 1909.
This company has been formed with the object (among
others) of eae the benefit of a valuable Concession
dated September 29, 1908, granted by the Administrator of
the Island of Dominica, with the approval of the Colonial
Office, for the construction of a light railway from a point on
the leeward shore of the island of Dominica, B.W.I., south
of the Layou River, to a point in the interior near Basinville,
in order to render available the enormous quantities of hard-
wood and other timber with which the interior of the island
is covered, and to facilitate planting up and developing the
rich lands in the district and the transport of produce.
The inaccessibility of the interior has hitherto prevented
its development, but in the year 1906 a syndicate was formed
of leading planters and others in the island, under whose
auspices a complete survey of the route of the proposed line
Was made and plans and estimates prepared, and by whom
the favourable terms of the Concession have been negotiated.
By the terms of the Concession very important rights of
way through Crown lands and other valuable rights and
‘franchises necessary for the success of the enterprise have
been secured by the syndicate, including the right to a free
‘grant of 100 acres of land for each mile of railway not
exceeding 12, and an option to purchase 5,000 acres of
land at 10s. per acre, subject to the reasonable conditions of
construction and working, cultivation of cleared land and
other conditions laid down in the Concession.
The scheme has received the cordial support of all the
planters whose estates are on the route of the proposed line.
The company will, on complying with the conditions
of the Concession, have a tract of 6,200 acres of standing
forest, of which 1,200 will be free Government Grant and
5,000 will be purchased. Lumber rights have already been
secured over most of the estates adjoining the railway, while
negotiations are in progress to secure them over the
remainder. The additional area involved is some 2,700 acres,
of which at least 1,000 acres will be available for immediate
felling.
The line will be in heavy timber by the time the first
8 miles have been constructed, when large profits should
accrue, and it is probable that not long after the construction
has been commenced a small trade in hardwood, fuel, and
staves will be done.
The survey shows that the gradient will nowhere be
greater than 1 in 25, which is suitable for a light locomotive
hauling 10 tons up hill, while the load that can be taken
down will be limited only by the number of trucks put on.
It also shows that no heavy bridges or tunnels will be
necessary, or other serious engineering difficulties encoun-
tered. The line will be a single line, with a 2-foot gauge,
and will be constructed so as to earry all probable future
trattic. It will be properly ballasted, and the earthworks,
drains and culverts will be designed to minimize any p: sssible
damage from tropical rains or hurricanes, against the con-
tingency of which, moreover, insurance to a large extent can
now be effected at moderate rates. ~ The curves will be wide,
and so laid out as to admit of a fair rate of speed over the
whole length of the line, and the carriage of long baulks of
timber. A belt 150 feet wide on either side of the line will
be cleared to prevent any danger from trees falling across it.
For immediate purposes, a length of 134 miles of line
(including a branch line) has been survey ed. An extension
of some 2 miles will be necessary to enter the Crown lands
reserved for the company, and this extension will be eon-
structed as soon as required.
The lumber trade which the railway will develop in the
first instance seems capable of producing large profits. The
interior of Dominica is covered with virgin forest, containing
a large proportion of heavy timber, the quantity of hardwood
timber and fine cabinet woods immediately available being
very great. The botanical and descriptive list of Dominica
timbers prepared by the late Dr. Imray, and lately reprinted
in ‘Notes on Dominica and Hints to Intending Sett'ers’
revised in 1909 by W. Douglas Young, Esq.,
Administrator of the island, shows that no less than 176
different timber trees grow in this island, many of them
being of great value and likely to find a ready market, while
none are of so poor a quality as to be worthless.
’
CMG.
Additional interests of the company will include
the planting of cacao, limes, oranges, rubber, ete.,
on such of the land which it possesses as has been
cleared by it, and the working of the sawmill plant
to be acquired from the syndicate mentioned in the
prospectus. The list of timbers mentioned above
appears in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX, p. 329.
Tree-growing Experiment.
Pacific Coast will soon be the scene of an interesting
tree-growing experiment. The United States Forest Service
is planning to introduce a number of the more important
eastern hardwoods into California, and will this year experi-
ment with chestnut, hickory, basswood, red oak, and yellow
poplar or tulip trees. Small patches of these trees will be
planted near the forest rangers’ cabins or the national forests,
and if these do well, larger plantations on a commercial scale
will soon be established on wider areas. There are over 125
different species of trees in California, a number of which
produce some of the most valuable varieties of lumber in the
country. Although considerably over one-half of the species
are hardwood or broad-leaved trees, yet, with the exception
of the exotic eucalyptus, there is not a single species of
hardwood here ranking in commercial importance with the
leading eastern hardwoods. Climatic conditions in many
parts of California are favourable for the growth of a number
of the valuable hardwoods and the absence of these trees is
due mostly to unfavourable factors of seed distribution.
(Setence, June 11, 1909.)
The
to
roe
a
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avucust 7, 1909:
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed _ to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayvents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 38 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural stews
Vou. VIII. eeu
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
AUGUST 7, 1909. No. 190.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in this number continues the subject
of green dressings and their application, the chief
matter under consideration being the effect on the soil.
In the Insect Notes, on page 250, there will be
found an account of some new species of Cecidomyiidue,
that is, flies related to the flower-bud maggot of cotton.
Oo
The first of a short series of articles on the life-
history of the fungi appears on page 251.
The account of a quick and thorough germination
test for corn, on page 255, should be of interest to those
who raise this product in any quantity, especially as
this test affords an indication as to the ears which
should be used for providing seed for the next crop.
An interesting account of the chief by-products of
the cotton industry is given on page 246.
A Company has recently been formed for the
purpose of land development in Dominica. Particulars
as to its objects will be found on page 247.
Attention is drawn to the reviews, on page 254,
of three pamphlets which have been recently issued by
the Department.
Useful hints in connexion with the selection of
ground nuts are given on page 245.
Copra Exports from Ceylon.
Information concerning the trade of Ceylon during:
1908 was given in the Agricultural News, Vol. VIII,
p- 153. Following on this, it is stated that the advance
in the export of copra is still maintained, being
114,373 cwt. during the first quarter of 1909, an
advance, on that of the corresponding quarter of 1908,
of 31,500 ewt.
TT
The Cultivation of Citrus Fruits.
In the Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, No. 184,
there recently appeared detailed information in regard
to this subject. An account of the treatment to which
citrus trees are subjected in Eastern Spain, after they
have become established, which appears in the issue of
the Agricultural Journal of Victoria for January
1909, should form an interesting addition to that
information. This treatment has for its object the
combating of the diseases known as ‘collar-rot’ and
‘mal-di-gomma’, which have been prevalent in that
part of Spain in the past. It consists in digging a hole
underneath the tree, when it is about three or four
years old, and completely sawing off the tap-root. The
hole left after the operation is about a foot in width
and depth ; it is not filled in, but rather kept purposely
open. The trees do not appear to suffer in any way
through the treatment: on the contrary, they are
reported to be very healthy, and to bear fruit well.
Abnormalities in Para Rubber Trees.
According to the publication Circular and Agri-
cultural Journal of the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Ceylon, Vol. IV, No. 18, it is a common occurrence for
Para rubber trees there to possess lumps of woody
growth, on their trunks, which interfere somewhat with
tapping. There are two types of these swellings or
‘burrs’, one of which depends entirely for its origin om
the wounding to which the tree has been subjected in
tapping, while the other is not caused by that process,
but may be stimulated to growth through it.
The first of these is caused by the action of the
cambium layer, which, after healing the wound made
by the collector's knife, continues its activity and thus
forms a swelling over the site of the wound. It does
not offer a serious obstacle to tapping.
In the case of the secord type, tapping is seriously
interfered with, as the swellings project abruptly from
the stem in a rounded form, and so prevent the cut
from being made across them, Examination of these
swellings reveals the fact that each possesses a core of
wood, with a cambium of its own which is neither con-
nected with that of any of the other swellings nor with
the cambium of the tree itself. It is, of course, by
means of this disconnected cambium that the swellings
are formed. Similar bodies are found in the cortex of
apple, pear and beech trees. The cause of this forma-
tion is not known at present; it is certainly not due to
insect or fungus injury, nor to dormant buds. The
swellings may be got rid of by slicing off part of the
outer layer and shelling out the woody core.
Vou. VIII. No. 190.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 249
Sugar in Porto Rico.
In connexion with the report of the estimate of
sugar production in Porto Rico, for the crop to be
reaped in 1909, which was given in the issue of the
Agricultural News for May 15, 1909, it is of interest
to note that, according to the Porto Rico Horticultural
News, this estimate has been exceeded ; that the actual
production of sugar for that period was 281,399 tons as
against 250,095 tons for the season ending 1908. Of the
amount of sugar made, 5,700 tons was muscovado, and it
is likely that there will be a moderate manufacture of
this product in that island for some time to come, in
view of the high prices that are obtained for choice
Porto Rico molasses.
EEE
A Simple Trap for Mosquitos.
The Indian Planters’ Gazette of January 9, 1909,
describes a simple and cheap mosquito trap, which has
been devised by Mr. H. Maxwell-Lefroy, M.A., F.Z.S.,
F.ES., late Entomologist to this Department and now
of the Indian Entomological Department. A smal] box,
12 inches by 9 inches, which is fitted with a hinged lid,
is provided with a small opening which can be closed
by means of a piece of wood made to slide over it.
The floor of the box is made of tinned iron and it is
lined with green baize. The trap depends for its
effectiveness on the well-known fact that mosquitos,
during the day, hide from the sunlight in the shadiest
part of the room, so that, when the box is placed there,
those entering in the morning fly into it. After
a while, the lid is shut, about a teaspoonful of benzene
is poured through the small opening provided for the
purpose, and the slide drawn over it. In a trial of the
apparatus, 2,300 mosquitos were trapped in a month,
so that it would appear to be effective in reducing the
number of those insects.
EEE ee —
Variation in Seedling Canes.
In the West India Committee Circular of July 6,
1909, particulars are given in regard to experiments
conducted under the direction of Prof, J. B. Harrison,
at the Experiment Station in Georgetown, to deter-
mine the variations that may possibly take place in the
appearance of the cane B. 208. Those which have been
demonstrated show marked departures from the nor-
mal type, in which the colour is greenish-yellow, while
there is a prominent characteristic swelling just above
the internode. Fourteen modifications of the original
type were obtained by growing the cane under different
conditions of soil and sunlight. In many of these, the
swelling no longer exists. Great changes, too, have
taken place in colour; in some, crimson blotches are
present ; in others, there may be found crimson, green-
ish or purplish stripings in addition to the original
yellow colour. Continuous cultivation in a heavy clay
soil has given rise also to a peculiar reddish modifica-
tion. All this serves to illustrate the fact that the
characteristics of seedling canes are not constant under
differing conditions of environment.
Selection of Disease-resistant Plants.
In selecting disease-resistant varieties of a plant,
all those obtainable should be grown on_ infected
ground in order to obtain a knowledge of their relative
resistance to disease. Experiments conducted in this w ay
may bring forward some variety which is exceedingly
resistant to the disease in question, and further work
will be unnecessary except to keep the variety pure.
Usually, however, all obtainable varieties will be more
or less susceptible and, if this is the case, the least
susceptible of these varieties must be subjected to
further observation, and then selection must take place
according to the method just described. In short, the
most promising varieties must be chosen, and then
individual selection must be practised with these.
The Preservation of Timber.
For this purpose a method of treatment known as
the ‘ Powell Wood Process’, appears to have met with
success. It consists in impregnating wood with an
antiseptic substance in order to render it immune
from the attacks of wood ants and other insects, and to
prevent it from rotting. The introduction of the
preserving material into the substance of the wood is
said to make no alteration in its appearance in most
cases, and, where this does take place, an improvement
is the result. Various severe tests of the value of the
process have been made, notably in India, and others
are in train. ‘These mostly consist in subjecting pieces
of untreated wood and of ‘powellized’ wood to the
same unfavourable conditions and, so far, the latter has
passed the tests successfully.
The method is reported to be cheap, and capable
of being applied onan extensive scale.
> ie
Agricultural Education in Ceylon.
The Report of the Director of the Royal Botanie
Gardens, Ceylon, for 1908, states that the number of
schools broughtunder theschemefor school gardens there
is 180. A special committee, which was appointed to
enquire into, and report on, the work of school gardens
and the subject of agricultural education generally,
made recommendations to the effect that the number of
school gardens be increased and the work encouraged
by means of prizes; that a special course of lectures to
teachers on Nature Study be arranged for; that
a Manual of Nature Study Lessons and an Agricultural
Reader suitable for Ceylon should be prepared ; that, in
specially selected schools, definite agricultural teaching
be provided and illustrated by practical experiments ;
that the curriculum of teachers under training at the
Government College be made to include instruction in
Nature Study, and a special teacher to take charge of
the work be appointed as soon as available ; lastly, that
a school of agriculture be started at Peradeniya for
training agricultural instructors, and that a shorter
vernacular course be provided for the benefit of
candidates nominated for village headships.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Aveust 7, 1909.
INSECT NOTES.
New Species of Cecidomyiidae.
The flower-bud maggot of cotton (Contarinia
gossyptt), which has twice appeared at Antigua as
a serious pest, and which has also occurred at Mont-
serrat, has formed the subject of several articles in the
Agricultural News (see Vol. VIL p. 155, Vol. VIII,
pp. 10, 58), and ofa paper in the West Indian Bulletin
(Vol. X, p. 1) by the Entomologist on the starf of the
Imperial Department of Agriculture.
The flower-bud maggot was first described and given
a name by Dr. E. P. Felt, New York State Entomologist. _
During the investigations which were carried out in
Antigua in January of the present year, in connexion with
the attack of flower-bud maggot, several additional species
of closely related flies were obtained. A collection of this
material has heen studied by Dr. Felt, who has given names
to three species new to science.
The following notes may be of interest to the readers of
the Agricultural News. Only one species of flower-bud
maggot has been obtained from the cotton, although the buds
and flowers of both the wild cotton and Sea Island cotton
have been collected and flies reared from them. Caravonica
cotton is also attacked, probably by the same species, but
the adult flies have not been studied.
INFESTED FLOWER-BUDS OF COTTON SHOWING CHARACTIER-
ISTIC FLARING OF THE BRACTS OF THE SMALL BUDS
OWING TO THE ATTACK OF THE FLOWER-BUD
MAGGOT.
The Privet or Wild Coffee (Clerodendrum aculeatum)
is attacked by, or at least harbours in its inflorescence, some
three or four species of Cecidomyiid flies. One of these is the
same as that which attacks cotton, one is stated to be another
species of Contarinia, one a species of Prodiplosis, and there
is anotber which, from its relation, wight be called the
privet maggot. This species Dr, Felt has named Asphondylia
attenuata.
Another insect belonging to this family may often be
seen in Antigua about the lights, or more accurately, may be
seen on the sides of the lamps where they have been killed
by coming in contact with the film of oil generally to be seen
on the outside of kerosene lamps. This species has been
named Lobodiplosis spinosa. Another new species of this
family has been recorded from Barbados, the maggot living
under the bark of the twigs of Mango (Mangifera nace
Grafted mangos seem to be the more often attacked, and
these when young areoften seriously injured and sometimes
killed by the attacks of the msggot. This insect has been
named Asynapta mangiferae.
Previous to the appearance of the flower-bud maggot in
Antigua in the season of 1907-8, only a few species of
C ‘ecidomyiid fly had been recorded from the Lesser Antilles,
and none of these were known as pests. This was the maggot
of cotton (Porricondyla gossypii) which made its appearance
asa pest of cotton in Barbados in 1904. It has since been
seen in Montserrat. The maggot of this species lives under
the bark of the stems of the cotton plant and often causes
the death of all the plant above the point of attack.
The family to which these insects belong is called the
Gall-midge family, but none of the West Indian species of
which the life-history is known forms any gall or conspicuous
swelling, and the adult insects are so small that they would
not be likely to be seen or known at all, if it were not for
the damage they do.
SELECTION OF CATTLE FOR MILKING
CAPACITY.
The following is taken from a notice. in the Indian
Agricultural Journal, of a paper read
before the Farmers’ Club by an Essex
dairy farmer :—
The method followed depended upon making
the milking capacity of the cow the chief factor in
selection for breeding purposes, and remarkable
figures were given to illustrate the results
obtained, in the matter of the output of milk
for each cow, by the adoption of such a scheme.
The information which was required for guid-
ance in selection was obtained by carefully
measuring and recording the milk given by
every individual cow on a certain day in each
week. This practice was not only useful in
affording the owner the means of estimating,
with a near approach to accuracy, the profit
and loss on each cow, but it possessed a greater
value in that it was a guide to indicate
those cows’ which should be employed for the
rearing of calves. Thus, on one side, the chief
criterion in selection was the possession of
a good milk pedigree. On the side of the sires,
a similar consideration obtained, which was that the
tulls should also have come of good milking stock, that
is one in which the same, or similar, records have been kept.
A pedigree bull froma herd bred simply for beef was not
necessarily of any value ; what is required is one of a stock
whose cows possess milking capacity superior to that of the
preceding generation.
The writer of the, paper had, by the adoption of such
methods, obtained heifers after the first calf, which, at the
age of two and a half years, gave 14 quarts of milk a day, as
against 11 quarts for the same class a few years ago.
The methods set forth are not new, but are
suggestive, and indicate that if their adoption results
in improvement of the more highly selected English
stock, much more, then, would it do so in the case
of ordinary West Indian cattle.
Vor. VIII. No. 190.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 251
FUNGUS NOTES.
Tn continuation of the information contained in an
article in Vol. II, No. 22, pages 61-2 of the Agricultu-
val News, it is intended to publish, in this and the next
two numbers, a short article giving an account of the
principal points of interest in the life-history of the
fungi, and to indicate their connexion with practical
agriculture. The present number contains the first of
these.
PART:
Spores. Turin FoRMATICN AND PURPOSE.
All publications on the subject of plant diseases caused
by fungi include some reference to the spores produced by
the parasites, and indicate that it is by means of these spores
that a fungus is able to spread. Consequently, the prevalent
idea is that the spore isa form of seed, though very small.
This idea is to a certain extent correct, but in one or two points
there is a fundamental difference between the two, as will
appear later.
The simplest type of spore formation is as follows.
A single thread, or hypha, as it is called, of the fun-
gus swells slightly at the end and becomes very full
of protoplasm ; it then becomes constricted just below the
tip, and this constriction proceeds until the tip is completely
cut off in the form of a round or oval spore (see Fig. 1). The
spore contains a nucleus and dense protoplasm, and is usually
ie
1an(e aa
surrounded by a firm, smooth wall or coat. Such a spore is
nothing more or less than a small portion of the original
fungus plant, and is really more properly compared to the
bud of a plant than to a seed.
It is true that the seed and the spore have certain
points in common. Both serve the purpose of reproducing
their kind and, also, both are adapted for dispersal, so as
to prevent competition with the parent. Again some
forms of spores, and most seeds, are capable of existing
under very adverse circumstances such as extreme drought,
or excessive cold, which will kill the parent plant, and the
continuation of the species is by this means made certain ;
for this purpose they both contain supplies of reserve food-
material. Here the similarity ceases. The fundamental
difference is that the seed of a flowering plant always
contains a small complete plant, or embryo, while a spore
never does, but usually consists of one cell which can produce
a new plant. Besides this, owing to cross-fertilization, it is by
no means necessary that the young embryo in the seed will,
when full-grown, exhibit the same characters as the mother
plant on which it was borne, while the spore, being usually
merely a piece of the original individual, is bound to be
exactly like that individual. Even when spores are produced
sexually as is sometimes the case, the sexual processes are
between two parts, often closcly related parts, of the same
individual ; this might be compared broadly to self-fertiliza-
tion in flowering plants, and consequently, the resulting
plants are very like the parent.
Thus there are usually two forms of spore produced by
a fungus. The method of production of the first has already
been described for the simplest case. These spores
carried by the wind or insects to a suitable place, as for
example, some definite host plant, where they germinate at
once, thus ensuring the increase in numbers of that species
of fungus. But as circumstances often become unfavourable,
owing, usually, to the exhaustion of the food supply on
which the fungus is growing, or to adverse conditions of
weather, another form of spore may be produced. The forma-
tion of these spores often entails a very simple form of sexual
union. To illustrate what is meant, the process exemplified
by the Mucors, or mould fungi, may be described. Two
hyphae from the same plant, lying near one another, become
swollen at the ends. These ends grow towards one another,
touch and finally fuse together, the wall between them
being absorbed. The nuclei then unite and the fused tips
are cut off by cross walls in the hyphae. Next, the outside
of the spore thus formed becomes hard and warty and, in
this way, a spore is produced with dense contents, some
reserve food, and a thick coat, which is capable of existing
under adverse circumstances, and which will not begin to
grow again till several weeks or months have elapsed, and
circumstances are again favourable. Such resting-spores are
often coloured owing to the presence of coloured oils, or to
the colour of the thick coat.
are
HuiGenae
Other methods by which such spores are produced are
mainly modifications of that by which the quick-growing form
arises, only that for resting-spores the contents are denser, and
the coat is always hard, and often ridged or warty on the out-
side, as has been stated. A similar kind of spore is that pro-
duced by the fungus causing rind disease of the sugar-cane,
Colletotrichum faleatum. Under adverse circumstances, the
walls of any cells of a hypha of this fungus, inside the host
plant, can become covered with a hard coat, and so form
resting-spores. An example of this is shown in Fig. 2. The
cells shown with thick walls are resting-spores, which have
germinated to form the kind of spores first described.
It is clear, then, that the first or quick-growing kind cf
spore is directly responsible for all epidemics, and is hard to
deal with, once it has gained a hold, owing to the immense
numbers in which it is produced. But the second form,
which is often much less numerous, is really more important,
as it is responsible for the continuation of the fungus from
year to year, and it is the presence of this form of spore in
particular which makes the destruction of all diseased
material, especially at the end of a crop, a matter of such
vital importance to the planter.
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THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Aveusr 7, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
According to the Progress Report of the Ceylon Agricul-
tnral Society, No. XLIV, the Yampee or Kush-Kush yam of
the West Indies has proved too delicate for the comparatively
damp climate of the Western Province of Ceylon, as the
vines at the Government Stock Garden have all died ont, in
spite of attention given.
It is considered by many authorities in the United
States that there is very little possibility of extending the
Sea Island cotton industry of that country. The principal
reasons for this conclusion are that the cost of labour is very
high, and that the crop gives but small returns there, unless
it is planted under the best conditions,
=
According to No. 4,191 of the Diplomatic and Consular
Reports, Annual Series (which deals with the trade of
Newchwang, China, during the year 1903), experimental
farms are in operation in the north of Manchuria, for the
purpose of testing the possibility of establishing a beet-sugar
industry in that country.
The value of the chief staple products exported from
Barbados during the year 1908 was as follows: muscovado
sugar, £279,536 ; molasses and syrups, £217,712 ; cotton,
£61,579 ; sugars other than muscovado, £8,900. It is
a matter of special interest at the present time that the value
of imports from Canada was £151,671 as against £101,943
for the year 1907.
The Board of Trade Journal, June 3, 1909, reports that
the number of bales of cotton’ imported into the United
Kingdom during the week ended May 27, 1909, was 56,745,
including +3 bales British West Indian and 290 bales British
West African. The number imported during the twenty-one
weeks ended May, 27, 1909, was 2,130,963, including
4,080 British West Indian, 5,711 British West African,
3,381 British East African, and 282 bales foreign East
African.
No. 600 of the Annnal Colonial Reports gives the
following information relative to the Protectorate of Uganda.
The revenue collected during the year 1907-8 was £111,883,
which was £27,000 over the estimate, and far exceeded the
collections of any previous year. The increase, as compared
with 1906-7, was over £15,000 ; this increase was contributed
to under all heads except those of Customs, land sales, and
sales of old Government property.
The Natal Agricultural Journal states that, at the end
of the year 1908, the total acreage of farms in Zululand, held
under lease from the Natal Government, was 68,565, of which
5,524 acres were in cane. The amount of cane cut and
delivered for sugar-making during the season just ended was
41,200 tons. This was taken from 1,466 acres, making the
average yield of cane, per acre, 28 tons.
The Report of the Seeretary of Agriculture for Southern
Rhodesia for the year 1908, states: ‘No properly organized
Forestry Division has yet been formed, though the enormous
destruction of native timber which is annually taking place,
for supplying the mines with fuel, demands that some scheme
of systematic afforestation on a large scale should be under-
taken by the Administration without delay, to avoid the
disaster which is bound to follow the denudation of the
country of timber which is taking place’.
An Ordinance has been proposed for the purpose of pre-
venting the importation and growing of the water hyacinth
(Eichornea erassipes) 11 Ceylon. Its object is to prevent
the dissemination there of that plant, as it is feared that it
may make its way into the inland waters of the island and,
being of rapid growth, impede the navigation of them.
Power is also taken to extend by proclamation the provisions
of this Ordinance, prohibiting importation to any noxious
weed or plant to be specified in such proclamation.
At a fair held at Wilmingham, U.S.A., an exhibit was
shown for the purpose of demonstrating that bees do not
injure sound fruit. It consisted of a three-storey glass hive
in which the bees were working in the two lower storeys,
while the upper one contained ripe fruit. Although the bees
moved freely among and over the sound fruits, they did not
injure them in the least, though they quickly made use of
the contents of one ofthe grapes in the exhibit which burst
on the second day. (Gleanings in Bee Culture, Vol.
XXXVII, No. 4.)
The Bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment Statior,
University of Wisconsin, No. 170, illustrates the beneficial
effect of the inspection of commercial feeding stufts. In
1902, nearly 60 per cent. of the samples of ground corn
and oats analysed in that State exhibited either unmistakable
or suspicious signs of adulteration. Later, in the years
1906-8, the policy of inspection which had been e2rried on in
the meantime resulted in the disappearance of unmistakable
signs of adulteration, while the number of examples suspected
of it never exceeded 14 per cent. of the total number
analysed, finally reaching the lowest proportion, namely
7 per cent., in 1908.
The Cocoa and Nutmegs Ordinances of Grenada, dated
1896 and 1906, for the regulation of the sale of those products
in that island, have been amended by the Cocoa and Nutmegs
Ordinance (Amendment) Ordinance, 1909, so as to include
cotton lint and cotton seed. In addition, the rules under which
licenses to sell the above products are issued have been
revised, Certificates valid for one year are to be granted by
a magistrate at special sessions to be held for the purpose,
and the Treasurer may or may not, at his discretion in any
particular case, issue a license on the production of such
certificate. Should the Treasurer refuse a license under such
conditions, he must report his grounds of refusal to the
Covernor in Council, who may confirm or reverse his action.
Wo. VIII. No. 190. THE
AGRICULTURAL -: NEWS. 253
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
AUGUST.
First PERrIop.
Seasonal Notes.
By this time, the sugar crop for the season 1908-9 will
have been brought to a close, and chemical manures will, as
a rule, be applied to the land as soon as possible. Students
should make a plan and prepare a memorandum with the
object of placing on record, for their own use, the scheme
according to which the different artificial manures have been
applied on different parts of an estate. This will enable
them to make continuous notes on the visible effect of the
various manures, and on the quantity required to produce the
maximum profitable returns in the various districts. Although
it is extremely important, it is not sufficient merely to note
the effect of a manure just as the crop is about to be reaped.
Where different kinds of manure are being applied to one
kind of soil for the benefit of a particular plant, try, during
the growth of that plant to see if it gives any indications as
to the presence or absence of quickly ‘acting manures. Note
should be made of the methods employed for the application
-of artificial manures to the soil. It is especially important,
during this stage, to make observations on the effects of the
-different manurial constituents on the sugar-cane, more
particularly with a view to comparing the growth, where
potash has been applied in conjunction with nitrogen, with
that where canes have been treated with nitrogen alone.
‘The effect, if any, of the application of the various forms of
phosphate should also be carefully observed, as experiments
which have extended now over many years, and which have
been performed in several colonies, show, when all the
-circumstances are considered, that it is doubtful if the applica-
tion of this constituent is profitable.
With favourable conditions as regards rainfall, the
planting of limes will have begun. For this purpose, on
estates near the coast, holes should be prepared some time
before the plants ave placed out. Holes made in stiff soil in
wet districts hold water for some time after rain has fallen,
and the plants which are put in them become sickly and die,
chiefly because they are deprived of oxygen through the
displacement of a great deal of the air, which was in the
spaces in the soil, by the flowing in of water. A good way
to prevent this from happening is to fork within a circle
about 3 feet in diameter at the place where the tree is to
grow and, by throwing the soil toward the centre, to make
a mound on which the lime is planted. Great care should be
-exercised in lifting young lime plants from the nursery beds.
They should always be topped in order to remove the young
shoots and tender leaves, for this, in addition to lessening
the amount of transpiration, diminishes the chance of attack
by fungi. If these instructions are followed, together with
those in The A BC of Lime Cultivation (Pamphlet No. 53
of this Department), there should be little loss... The distan-
‘ces apart at which to place the transplanted plants require to
be carefully considered ; district, position and elevation are
the chief factors to be taken account of in determining these.
In planting fields of cacao, the lining and holing should
be done with due regard to the requirements, when they
shall be full-grown, of each of the plants that are being put
in. Great care must be exercised in placing out young cacao
plants growing in bamboo pots, and the soil should be
pressed firmly round the roots. Wind-breaks will already be
in existence where they are required ; find out what trees
serve this purpose best. For shade, such plants as tannias
and bananas should have been planted some time previously.
In this connexion, consider carefully why shelter from the
direct sun and wind is necessary to some plants when they
are young.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) What is carbon assimilation, with regard to plants,
and how is it effected !
(2) Why are artificial manures usually in the state of
powder ? What special significance has the fineness of this
powder in the case of basic slag ?
(3) Give reasons why cotton seed germinates badly in
very wet weather, and also when the soil has been badly
prepared.
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) What is meant by surface tension, in connexion
with soil-moisture /
(2) Name the principal fungoid diseases of the sugar-
cane, and give an account of the best methods of combating
them.
(3) Compare the chief source of the energy of a growing
green plant with (w) that of a germinating seed, (4) that of
a fungus.
AGRICULTURE IN KATANGA, CENTRAL
AFRICA.
The following information regarding the commerce
and agriculture (apart from the mining industry, for
which it is best known) of the Katanga district, which
1s situated north of Rhodesia, is taken from the Bourd
of Trade Journal for June 3, 1909 :-—
Although favoured with a larger and more regular rain-
fall than South Africa, the Katanga will not, probably, be
able to compete with that country in producing cereals.
Lying as it does almost entirely within the fly belt, it does
not at present offer any facilities for cattle-breeding except
in the extreme south-west. But it offers enormous oppor-
tunities for intensive cultivation, for the produce of which
the mining centres will presumably afford a market. Owing
to its geographical position, the Katanga enjoys many of the
advantages of both South and West Africa. Its fertility is
astounding, and practically anything can be grown, as may
be instanced from native cultivation, which includes, in
addition to the staple foods, cassava, maize, etc., rice, ground
nuts, tobacco, coffee, sugar, cotton. Saltpans are numerous
throughout the territory. In exportable produce the chief
items at present are rubber and ivory. The amount of
rubber exported cannot be regarded as an exact indication of
the quantity which the county contains or might be made to
produce, because of the lack of administrative control and the
poor price paid. This applies in an equal degree to other
products of the soil.
The native races of the Katanga are very amenable.
Labour is cheap, and rubber, cotton and ground nuts might
be cultivated and made to pay. In the neighbourhood of the
mines, market gardening, and fruit and poultry farming should
prove profitable undertakings.
tI
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THE GRAFTING OF CACAO: By Joseph Jones, Curator,
Botanic Station, Dominica.
‘The Grafting of Cacao’ is the title of No. 61 of the
Pamphlet Series of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
which has just been issued. This pamphlet, which contains
twenty-four pages and twelve illustrations, will be found to
be both interesting and useful. Brief mention is made of
earlier attempts to bud and graft cacao, but the remainder of
the pamphlet deals with the practices and experiences of, and
the results obtained by, Mr. Jones during the past four
years at the Dominica Botanic Station
During this time, over 1,200 grafted cacao trees have
deen produced, and some 800 distributed to planters in the
island for trial. Grafted trees do not make great progress
the first year in the field, but in the second and third they
make good arene They develop a low branching form of
tree, and, so far, the indications are that these trees will
prove very prolific.
Directions are given for grafting by approach, and
estimates are made for grafting cacao on a large scale.
COTTON GINS, HOW-TO ERECT AND WORK
THEM.
A pamphlet with the above title, which is now being
issued, is No. 60 of the series published by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture.
The pamphlet has been compiled from notes by
Mr. E. Y. Connel of St. Kitts, whose long experience of work
of this nature should render all that he has to say of great
interest to everyone connected with cotton gins. In editing
the bampiet e creat care has been taken to avoid the use of
technical terms, and it is hoped that all that it contains will
be readily understood by any one approaching the subject for
the first time.
Valuable information is given on the methods of
adjusting gins, so that the driving and driven shafts are level
and parallel, and the pulleys consequently parallel and in the
same plane. This ensures that the belts shall run true, and
not tend to work to one side or other of the pulleys.
Directions are also given for setting and repairing the
knives and the roller, with methods for preventing the lint
from being carried round and causing the knives to ‘
dash’.
Part IL of the pamphlet gives directions for mounting
and fastening belts, with instructions for making a simple
form of clamp to draw the belt to the required degree of
tightness. Detailed information will also be found on
lacing and cleaning belts, and advice on the best measures
to take for preventing slipping.
In the appendix are directions for making gauges, so
that all parts of the gin may be readily adjusted and elabor-
back-
ate calculations avoided.
The pamphlet is well illustrated throughout with
diagrams by the author, and contains a preface by the
Inperial Commissioner of Agriculture.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avaust 7, 1909.
THE WEST INDIES IN CANADA LN 1909, issued ©
by the Imperial Department of Agriculture, is a revised and
enlarged edition of the Handbook which has been distributed
at the Canadian Exhibitions in previous years. As in
previous years, this Handbook is printed in the size and style
of the West Indian Bulletin. The facts and figures relating
to imports and exports have been revised and brought up to
date as far as possible. The matter descriptive of each island
or colony has been revised also, while the portion relating to
West Indian products has been enlarged, and several new
illustrations have been inserted. ‘The list of books is a new
feature ; it includes titles and authors of publications
relating to Agciculture, Natural History and Commerce in the
West Indies, as well as those of historical works and fiction.
The pamphlet contains fifty-nine pages, and sixteen
pages of advertisements ; a sketch map of the West Indies
and eighteen illustrations of tropical plants, crops, ete., are
also included.
These books are prepared for free distribution at the
Exhibitions, and should do much to increase knowledge of
the West Indies in Canada. y
SYNOPSIS OF THE BRITISH BASIDIOMYCETES-
By W. G.: Smith, F.LS.
Trustees of the British
& Sons, Limited, 1908.
This book has been compiled from the manuscript
descriptions by Mr. W. G. Smith, F.L.S., attached to the
series of coloured drawings of British Fungi which are
exhibited in the Public Gallery of the Department of Botany
of the British Museum. IJt contains a full account of all the
species native to Great Britain, together with those that
have become naturalized in the open.
Keys are provided to all the orders and gencra, and there
are numerous careful outline drawings. The derivation and
meaning of the Latin names ot the species are also inserted,
and this should prove of value in enabling students to
remember the characters of the different species of any given
genus.
Printed hy order of the
William
Museum, by Clowes
THE OFFICIAL REPORT
AND OTHER, PESTS, IN
1907-8.
ON FRUIT FLY
VALIOUS COUNTRIES,
This is the report prepared by Mr. W. W. Froggatt,
dealing with his trip round the world for the purpose of
studying the fruit’ fly and other pests of fruit, and of other
crops, and the methods employed for combating them, and
especially those methods which include the use of
enemies in the form of parasitic or predaceous insects.
It will be remembered by the Ayri-
cultural News that Mr. Barbados in
January 1908, in time Indian Agri-
cultural Conference, of which he made an Honorary
Member, and that he addressed the Conference on some
phases of insect control, stating interesting work that he
had seen in progress during his trip. -
The report under review includes a complete account of
Mr. Froggatt’s visits and his notes on the injurious and
beneficial insects which he saw ; it is very well illustrated.
Mr. Froggatt concludes that, while great help in the
control of insect pests is to be expected from their natural
enemies, these latter can not be depended upon to protect
thoroughly the fruit trees and that for Australia, at
least, it will be necessary to continue spraying and fumigating
for the control of scale insects, and to contine the use of
recogn:zed remedies for other pests.
natural
the readers of
Frogeatt arrived in
to attend the West
was
crops =
‘Vou. VIII. No. 190.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
ot
Lo
ol
A QUICK AND THOROUGH. GERMINA-
TION TEST FOR CORN.
From time to time, articles have appeared in the
Agricultural News dealing with the subject of seed
testing. Among these, attention may be drawn
specially to those in Vol. IV, No. 28, p. 153, and Vol.
VII, No. 172, p. 569. The importance of this subject
is often not fully recognized, and, as no steps are taken
to ascertain the germinating power of the seed used
for sowing crops, the failure of these to make a good
stand, and the consequent serious loss, are ascribed to
untoward conditions in regard to soil or climate, or the
presence of pests, when, as a matter of fact, they are
veally due to the low vitality of the seed employed. In
such cases, even if a second sowing is made where it is
needed, the stand is still imperfect because the seed,
being the saine as that used at first, is itself imperfect ;
and, of course, there is the added loss in expenditure on
the extra seed and labour required.
A good illustration of the loss attendant on the use of
seed with inferior germinating power is given in Farmers’
Bulletin, No. 253, of the United States Department of
Agriculture, entitled ‘The Germination of Seed-corm’. As
the title implies, the case especially dealt with is that of
Indian corn (maize). Here it is shown that many planters
in the United States have been satisfied with seed which
possessed a germinating power of 60 to 85 per cent., when
such seed can easily be selected to obtain a germination
of 95 per cent. Accounts are given, further, of experiments
which proved that tests, made in the way to be described
below, increased the stand by 13:7 per cent., which, calculated
on the average yield and price of corn in the United States
for the years 1896 to 1906, would mean an increased annual
crop of about 298 million bushels, with a value of over 100
billion dollars.
A quick method of thoroughly testing and selecting
good seed from a large quantity of seed-corn is given in the
Bulletin referred to above. The usual method, namely that
of taking at random one or more lots, each containing one
bundred seeds, and finding the number in each lot that will
germinate, is satisfactory so far as it goes, but it does not give
any indication as to the way in which the best seed may be
found in the heap, nor does it supply information as to the
strength of the plant that the seed is capable of producing.
Both of these points can be elucidated by the method
described in the Bulletin, which is as follows.
The best ears of seed-corn are selected to a number
greater than that which will be required to provide seed for
planting. From each ear, six grains are chosen and placed
in a germinator in the ordinary way, carebeing taken that
each lot of six can be identified subsequently with the ear of
corn from which it was removed. These are allowed to
remain in the germinator until the sprouts are about 1
inches long. At the end of that time, every lot is examined,
and, in cases where any of the six grains have failed to
germinate, or where the seedlings have grown badly, the
corresponding ear is rejected as far as sowing purposes are
concerned. On the other hand, ears which have yielded lots
of six grains which have successfully passed the test may be
relied upon to provide good seed, and consequently good
plants.
It is evident that this method depends upon an
important fact, namely, that if a few grains from an
ear of corn are all capable of furnishing good, healthy
seedlings, practically all the grains on that ear will be
capable of doing so, This fact has been proved by
careful experiment, and the recognition of it has
afforded a means of obtaining» a speedy and thorough
test of seed-corn for planting purposes.
A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR JUTE.
It has long been known that the fibre yielded by
an Indian plant known as Sida is of considerable
merit, and the Indian Textile» Journal for November
1908, discusses at length the possibility of its becoming
a substitute for jute.
Several varieties of Sida are found in India, the common-
est being Sida rhombifolia and S. carpinfolia ; others are
9. veronieaefolia and S. cordifolia. Of these, S. rhombifolia
and WS. cordifolia are said to yield the best fibre. The
efforts which have been made to extend the cultivation of
this plant have not been successful for several reasons, the
chief of which were certain difticulties connected with its
cultivation, and the stable position in the market of jute.
The chief of the difficulties of cultivation are the possession
of a hard seed, which will not germinate unless the coat has
previously been softened, and the tendency of the plant to
form branches, the latter of which, of course, is a serious
handicap in any attempt to gain iis recognition as a fibre
plant. These dilticulties, however, are not insuperable.
The first can be overcome by placing the seeds in
sulphuric acid for a time, or by passing them through
a machine of the kind that is used in the same connexion for
those of Java indigo, but as these methods are not of general
application, investigations have been made for the purpose
of findimg one which can be adopted by everybody. As
a result, it has been discovered that germination can be
increased by soaking the seed in hot water for a time—a very
simple process. It is also suggested that a solution of the
problem may be possibly afforded in another way, namely
by careful cultivation and selection.
It has been proposed to try to overcome the second
difficulty, that of a tendency to form branches, in a similar
manner, that is by careful cultivation and selection. A sim-
pler way of dealing with it has been found, however, in the
discovery, in Burma, of a straight-growing variety.
The cellulose-content, and therefore the durability, of
some samples of Sida have been found to be superior to that
of jute, for it reaches a value of 83 per cent., placing this
fibre on a level with /¢hea and flax. More generally, how-
ever, this value is nearer to that of jute, but it is possible
that the finer texture would lead to its replacing the better
kinds as well as to its being used for special purposes,
An offset to the fact that samples of Sida have been
valued more highly than jute is afforded by the circumstance
that the cost of its cultivation is greater. There is no reason,
nevertheless, to suppose that the yield per acre cannot be
improved upon ; and, if this is so, it may be possible, in the
near future, definitely to place Sida on the market as a fibre
plant.
The amount of produce exported from Barbados during
the present year, up to July 29, is 10,032 tons of sugar and
63,693 puncheons of molasses and syrup. The quantities of
these which were produced in, and sent out of, the island
during the corresponding period of last year were 29,177 tons
and 48,076 puncheons, respectively,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
AucustT hs 1909-
MARKET SRE PORTS:
Taondon,—Tus Wesr Inpra CommMirrre CrRcULAR,
July 20, 1909; Messrs. E. A. pE Pass & Co.,
June 9, 1909.
Arrowroor—st. Vincent, 1d. to 34d., according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/45 to 2/6; block, 1/105.
Brrs’-wax—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 53/- to 65/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
55/- per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
Corrrr—Nantos 30/75 to 31/10} per ewt.; Jamaica, no
quotations.
Corra—West Indian, £22 10s. per ton.
Corron—St. Vincent, 15d. to 16d.; Anguilla Montserrat,
Barbados. St. Kitts, St. Croix, Antigua, Virgin
Islands, Barbuda and Jamaica, 13d. to 144d.
Fruit—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gixcer—Common to good common, 45/- to 50/-; low
middling to middling, 52/- to 56/-; good bright to fine,
58/- to 64/-.
Honey—25/- to 33/6.
IstnGLass—No quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 1/10
per tb., Otte of lines 6/.
Locwoop—No quotations.
Macr—Steady, but quiet.
Nurmecs—Steady to rather dearer.
Pimento—(uiet.
Rvupper—Para, fine hard, 7/3; fine soft, 6/10 per Tb.
Rum—Jainaica, 3/- to 3/3; Demerara, no quotations.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/3 to 15/3, Muscovado, 11/6 to 13/6 ;
Syrup, 13/6; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,—Messrs. Gittesriz, Bros. & Co., July 9,
909:
Cacao—Caracas, 12c. to 12$c. ; Grenada, 12c. to 12$¢. ;
Trinidad, 12c. to 12hce.; Jamaica, 9}e. to 1c. per th.;
Dominica, Ile. to 114e.
Cocoa-Nuts—Jamaica, select, $22°00 to $23°00 ; culls, $13°50
to $15°00; Trinidad, select, $21°00 to $22-00; culls,
$13°00 to $1400 per M.
CorrrE—Jamaica, ordinary, 7fe. to 8e.; good ordinary,
8he.; and washed up to Le.
Grincer—%e. to 12c. per tb.
Goat Sxrxss—Jamaica, no quotations ; Barbados, 53c._ to
55c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 27c. to 50c. per
tbh., dry flint ; Antigua, 50c. to 52e.
Grape Fruir—Jamaica, $2°25 to $4°75 per barrel.
Lames—Dominica, $4°00 to $5°25 per box.
Mace—2%e. to 35e. per th.
Nurmecs—110’s, 84c. to 8fc. per Th.
Orances—Jamaica, $2.50 to $3°00 per barrel.
Pimento—4tc. to 4}c. per Tb.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°92c., Muscovados, 89°, 3°42c.;
Molasses, 89°, 3°17c. per tb., all duty paid.
INTER-COLONIAL MARKEBTS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., July 30, 1909;
Messrs. T. S. Garraway & Co., August 2, 1909.
ooTtT—st. Vincent, 53°75 to $4:00 per 100 tb.
11-21 te $1200 per 100 Ib.
Cocosa-NuUTS—318:00 for husked nuts.
Corrree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
100 Th., according to quality—searce.
Hay—81°20 to $1°25 per 100 th.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $65°00; Ohlendorff’s dissolved
guano, $99°00 ; Cotton manure, 542°00; Cacao manure,
$4800; Sulphate of ammonia, §75°00; Sulphate of
potash, $67-00 per ton.
Ontons—Strings, $2°00 to $2°50 per 100 Tb.
Peas—Split, $6°00 to $6°20 per bag of 210 th.; Canada,
$3°75 to $4:00 per bag of 120 th.
Potatos —$2°50 to $3°-25 per 160 th.
RiceE—Ballam, Calcutta, no quotations; Patna, $3°80 ;
Rangoon, $3-00 per 100 th.; Demerara Ballam, $4°90
to $5°25 per 180 Th.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96° no quotations ; Muscovado,
o @4 7) Litt : 3
89° $1-70 ; Centrifugals, no quotations.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wietinc & Ricurex, July 24,.
1909* ; Messrs. SanpBacH, Parker & Co.,
July 25, 1909.+
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $8°50 to $9-00 per 200 th., de-
mand limited.*+
Bauata— Venezuela block, 32c.*, Prohibitedt ; Demerara
sheet, 48c. per Tb.* ; 48c. to 50c. per tb.t.
Cacao—Native, 14c. per tb.* ; 12c. per tb.t
Cassava—60c. to 72c.*
Cassava StarcH—$6°00 per barrel of 196 tb.*
Cocoa-Nuts—$12°00 to $16-00 per M.*
Correr—Creole, 8c. to 138¢.*, 12c. to 15e. per tb.+ ; Jamaica
and Rio, 13$c.*+; Liberian, 7c..+; 8c. per tbh.*
Drart—$4'40 to $4°50 per bag of 168 th.* ; $4°50 to $4°60°
per bag ;+t Green Dhal, $5°50.*
Eppos—S1'44 per barrel.*
Monasses—Yellow, 21c. to 22c.*
Oxtons—Teneriffe, 24c.+; Madeira, 2c. to 3c. per tb.*; 3$c. +
Pras—Spurr $620 to $6°25 per bag (210 1b.),* $6°25t ;
Marseilles, $3°00, over stock. *+
PrantTarys—20c. to 40c. per bunch.*
Poraros—Novya Scotia, $3°25 to $3°50 per 100 th.*, $325
per barrelt; Bermuda, 54°50.*
Poratos—Sweet, Barbados, 96c. per bag.*
Rrce—Ballam, $4°50,* $4°75 to to $5°00;+ Creole, $4°40,*
$4°00 to $4°40.t
Tanntas—$1°80 per bag.*
Yams—White, $2°00 per bag; Buck, $2:00.*
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2°20 to $2°40 ;* Yellow, $2-90 to
$3-00,* $3:00 .+ White, $3°60 to $3°80;*+ Molasses,
$1-90 to $2°20,* $2-00 to $2°50.+
TreneR—Greenheart, 32c. to 55c. per cubie foot.*t
Wallaba Shingles—$3°75 to $5-75 per M,* $350"
to $5°50 per M.+
Cordwood—S$1°80 to $2-00 per ton.*
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co., July 24, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°30 per fanega; Trinidad, $11°10
to SL1L-50.
Cocoa-Nut Or.—80e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
CorreE—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per Th.
Corpra—$3"25 per 100 th.
Duat—S$4°25 per 2-bushel bag.
Ontons—$1°50 to $1°S0 per 100 th., light demand.
Pras—Sprir $5°50 to $5°75 per bag.
Poraros—English, $1°25 to $175 per 100 tb.
Rick—Yellow, $4°50 to $460; White, $5°00 to $3°25
per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5:20 per 100 fh
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR
THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN.’ A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price Is. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
Volumes IT, IIT, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII:—Price 2s. each ; Post free 2s. 8d.
Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2,’and 3.
Fruit, Rice, and Rubber Industries.
teprint of Papers read at Agricultural Conference, 1908, relating to Sugar, Cacao,
Also papers dealing with general subjects.
No. 4, Timbers of
Jamaica, Timbers of Dominica, Fungus Diseases of Cocoanuts, Aleyrodidae of Barbados, Millions and
Mosquitos. Price 6d. each number.
Post free, 8d.
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton, Bonrbon Cane in Antigua, Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
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Inoculation. Price 6d. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIBS.
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present time is fifty-nine.
numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
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in 1900. No, 3, price 2d.;in 1901, No. 13, price 4d.;
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‘Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
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“Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands,
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im 1904-5, No. 42, price 4d.; in 1905-6, No. 47, price 4d.;
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25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies.
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS. A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts
from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘Agricultural News’
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 4s. 4d. per annum,
—Price 4s. each.— Post free, 5s.
v7
is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d.
The subscription price, including postage, is
Volumes IV, V, VI, and VII complete, with title page and index, as issued
Some numbers of the early volumes are out of print and therefore these volumes can no
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applications for copies are to be addressed. to the Agents, not to the Department.
Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutav & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
Barbados : Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown.
Jamaica: Tae EpucationaL Suppty Company, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana: Tur ‘Datry Curonreie’ OFFice, Georgetown.
Trinidad : Messrs. Murr-MarsHat & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C. L. Puacemann, Scarborough.
“Grenada: ‘Tue Srores,’ (Grenada) Limited, St. George.
St. Vincent: Mr. L. S. Mosetny, Agricultural School.
St. Lucia: Mr. M. A. LAwreNcE, Botanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Roseau,
Montserrat: Mr. W. Ronson, Botanic Station.
Antiqua: Mr. S. D. Matone, St. John’s.
St. Aitt’s: THe Brsie anp Book Suppry AGENcy, Basseterre.
Nevis: Mr. 8. D. Matong, Charlestown.’
Vou. VIII. No. 190. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. AuGustT ee 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
se PASE UEEa ees
Ohlendorfi’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure |
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO:—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE TROPICALE, | 7US? JSSUzD. |
A Monthly Illustrated Review, published in French, WEST INDIAN BULLETIN.
dealing with all matters connected with Tropical Agriculture. (Vol. X, No. 1.)
a {
164, rue Jeanne d’Arc prolongee, _ Containing papers on the Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton, 1
PARIS Composition of Antigua and St. Kitt’s Molasses, Bourbon })
nr i Cane, Soils of Nevis, Cotton Selection in the Leeward
Aan : s, and the Growth of Leguminous Cro So
Subscription price : 20 francs per annum. dale ands, an i us Crops and! Soil
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Agents: London, W. Dawson & Sons, Ltd., Bream’s 4 |
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TROPIGAL LIFE. THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON||
A Monthly Journal, containing articles on Tropical FACTORY, LIMITED.
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or interestedin the Tropics.
patted by HAMEL SMITE COTTON SEED.
Single copies, price 1s.; annual subscription, 10s. post We are prepared t to pi purchase best quality |!
free. Cotton seed at prices equivalent to the current
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ee — —— ~ rr _—
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street,” B ridgetown, Barbados.
Vol. VIII. No. 191.]
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WORKS :
Newark, N.J., U.S.A.
[178.]
eT ED
MAINTAIN THE YIERD.
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
GERMAN KALI WORKS.
30 Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
[NS eat
WS yy | if : bs se vw
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW ce
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. VIL No. 191. BARBADOS, AUGUST 21, 1909. ae
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Absorption of Salts by Market Reports a
Soils Z a6a. peo Molasses, lt; Wormaticn
Agricultural Schools, and Storage ... ... 257
~ Examination of... ... 259) Notesand Comments ... 264
Agricultural Teaching in Pine-apples in India . 260
St. Lucia ... ... ... 265| Rice in British Guiana... 271
American Sugar Market... 271) Ripening of Cacao, Time
Broom Corn, Preparation of 270 of EEE ses on 200
Cacao, ‘Pink Disease’ of 260 Rubber Trees, Injury by
Cacao, Varieties of ... ... 260 Tapping aco) 05d A083
Cottee in Java, A New 261 School Gardens in the
Cotton Growing in Ceylon 264 Philippines ... 265
Cotton Notes :— Shipping Rings . 264
Cotton in Egypt ... ... 262| Students’ Corner .-- 269
Sea Island Cotton in the Sugar in St. Lucia . 264
United States . 262) Sugar Industry:
West Indian Cotton ... 262) International Congress
Cultivation and Increased of Apphed Chemistry 266
Yields... . 265, Seedling Canes in Barba-
Fungus Notes moe PAO dos, The First... . 266
Gleanings . 268) United States Weather
Forecasts... 267
Insect Notes :— osaras
Value of Plant Collections 269
Mosquitos andSanitation 270
Leguminous Plants, New
Manure, Weed Seeds in 263
The Formation and Storage
Molasses.
URING the past sugar season the musco-
vado molasses of Antigua and Barbados,
<2 and toa lesser extent, that of other West
Indian Islands has obtained a remarkably high market
price, the value of sucrose in muscovado molasses
having been, during the greater part of the season,
nearly one and a half times as great as its value in
muscovado sugar. This occurrence forms a good instance
PricE ld,
of a point which has often been illustrated in other
industries, namely the attainment on the part of
a by-product of a value considerably in excess of that
of the substance which it was the original purpose of the
industry to produce. That such a state of affairs should
arise is, of course, mainly a question of supply and
demand, and in this instance it has arisen mainly from
the wants of fishermen and lumbermen on the North
American continent. For a number of years past the
price of this article has been good, though it has not
attained so high a value as during the past season, and
therefore it appears that there is a fair amount of
stability in the demand: moreover, the hi-+h price of
the muscovado product has served to raise the market
value of the exhausted
Antigua Central Factory for which ordinarily little or no
demand exists: on this account the conditions govern-
vacuum-pan molas-es of the
ing the formation, composition and keeping power of
molasses assume considerable importance.
Molasses may be defined as the viscous solution
containing sugar and various impurities left after sugar
has been crystallized from evaporated juice or from
a sugar solution. It is possible to obtain further sugar
from this product, which is known as first molasses, by
re-boiling, but eventually a syrupy liquid remains which
will not give any more sugar on being evaporated.
This is termed exhausted molasses; it aiways contains
sugar that cannot be recovered, by reason of the pre-
sence of other constituents, which render the rem:iming
sugar uncrystallizable. In any process of sugar-making,
unless everything but cane-sugar and water could be
removed from the juice, molasses must always be formed.
Having defined molasses, and considered it in
relation to the possibility of the extraction of sucrose,
it will be convenient to deal with the question of the
258 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avucust 21, 1909.
modes of formation of this product. The oldest explana-
tion of the matter is that which is known as the
mechanical theory, and consists in the statement that
the viscosity of the solution prevents the extremely
small particles of cane-sugar from coming together to
form crystals, At the present time the mechanical
theory is almost entirely abandoned, having given
place to theories attributing the retention of sugar in
solution to the chemical action of impurities. The
earliest of these chemical theories was that the forma-
tion of molasses was entirely due to the presence of
glucose, which formed uncrystallizable compounds with
the sucrose present. This, however, is now largely
discredited in the light of modern investigation, and has
been succeeded by the more generally accepted glucose-
ash theory of Hertzfeld, and more especially Prinsen
Geerligs. In this, the chief responsibility is placed
upon the mineral matter which the juice originally
contained, and upon that which has been added in the
process of ‘liming ’. Cane-sugar forms very soluble com-
pounds with part of this ash material, which are
practically impossible to crystallize, and the difficulty
of recovering it from the molasses is accounted for in
this way. In the case of the molasses of the beet
sugar factory which contains practically no glucose,
this theory, which was originated by Hertzfeld,sufticient-
ly accounts for all the observed facts.
hand, cane-sugar
On the other
molasses, containing as it does
glucose in varying but relatively large proportions,
evinces features not completely accounted for by the
theory outlined above. For the elaboration of this
theory to fit the facts in relation to cane-sugar
molasses, we are indebted to Prinsen Geerligs.
He has pointed out that cane-sugar forms soluble
compounds with the ash constituents less readily than
glucose does under similar conditions ; hence it follows
that the greater the proportion of the latter which is
present, the less is the likelihood ‘of the cane-sugar
forming compounds with the ash from which it is
unerystallizable, and that, therefore, the greater the
glucose content of the molasses is, the larger will be
the possible recovery of cane-sugar. Prinsen Geerligs
has adduced, in support of this view, a large number of
analyses of molasses from the cane-sugar factories of
Java, and has shown that, within limits, the greater
the ratio which the glucose content bears to the ash
content, the lower will be the ratio which the sucrose
bears to the water. Peck, in Hawaii has drawn
attention to another cause which may prevent the
growth of sugar-crystals in a massecuite ; that is the
presence of gummy matter. He has shown that
removal of gum from molasses promotes the further
recovery of sugar crystals, and he is inclined to attribute
this to mechanical action, and to return to the older
mechanical theory of molasses formation. The sugges-
tion has however been put forward that the real action
of the gum is, under certain conditions, to coat the
small crystals as they are formed and thus to stop their
increase in bulk from the sugar which is in solution.
Experience at the central factories in Antigua
furnishes support to this explanation, for it has been
found that continued stirring of second massecuites,
after the first crystals have been formed, decreases the
recovery of sugar; better results are obtained if they
are allowed to stand undisturbed for some time before
curing, when considerable quantities of gum rise to the
surface. It is suggested that the foregoing may form
an explanation in harmony with the accepted theories
of Hertzfeld and Geerligs, and also with the observed
facts in relation to gums.
It is well known that molasses, on storage, generally
undergoes very evident changes; these are usually
broadly referred to as fermentation, and include ‘ froth-
ing’ and ‘souring’. The former of these occasions
direct loss owing to the overflowing of the liquid con-
sequent on effervescence; it does not appear, how-
ever, that there are any consequent deep-seated altera-
tions in its more valuable contents. Careful experi-
ments have gone to show that it is not of the nature of
a true fermentation ; that is one in which organisms are
thriving at the expense of these contents, but that it
really has its origin in the breaking up of easily decom-
posable guminy products. Thus no internal loss may
be apprehended in the presence of this phenomenon.
The latter change, that of ‘souring’, though less
evident in its natural outward manifestations, is far
more serious both as regards the sugar content and the
palatability—and therefore the market value—of the
molasses. It is due entirely to the presence of living
organisms and, as this is so, if infection of the molasses
by such organisms is guarded against, it can be entirely
prevented. At the present time it is feared that, in
the case of the majority of muscovado boiling houses
and molasses storehouses in the West Indies, little
is done to secure that cleanliness which is the essential
feature in preyenting infection, Attention may be
directed to the report of the Committee of the Barba-
dos Agricultural Society appointed to enquire into the
reasons underlying the souring of molasses in that
island, and to the excellent list of suggestions for the
prevention of its occurrence appended thereto. These,
if thoroughly carried into effect, should go far towards
minimizing this. The report was published in pamphlet
form by the Barbados Agricultural Society and was
Vou. VIII. No. 191.
reproduced in the Agricultural News, Vol. VII, p. 67.
In conclusion, a word may be said regarding con-
ditions which influence favourably colour and flavour
in molasses. Of these, by far the most important are
care and attention to the tempering of the juice by the
addition of lime to the clarifier. If it is desired to
obtain a product of good colour, excess of lime must be
rigorously avoided ; above all, it is essential that ime
should never be added in the tayches,
has left the clarifier. Other factors which appear to
influence the character of the molasses to a certain
extent, are the variety of cane used, soil and climatic
conditions under which the crop was produced, and the
once the juice
boiliag of the juice in tayche over an open
fire. The last one appears to slight but
appreciable effect on both the colour and flavour of the
resulting product.
a copper
have a
In the foregoing have been indicated a few of the
more
molasses and its subsequent storage. If is suggested
that these are worthy of careful attention by sugar
producers, especially in view of the present high market
prices which obtain for the product.
The following comparative table will serve to illustrate
what has been said above, and at the same time indicates
the composition of various grades of molasses : —
Muscovado
Molasses
Centrifugalled
First Molasses.
Centrifugalled
Second Molasses
(Antigua). (Exhausted).
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Cane-sugar dO to 55 40 to 60 20 to 40
Glucose #5... By ap, als) Oop 3D) 5 ,, 40
INOn=SUpAI Osun S sae oat
ING eng) aco! Gap Ogg, oD diy 6 Bi a5 1)
Water 4 aN on 0) 25°, 28 Bly BR
HALF-YEARLY EXAMINATION OF
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS.
The following are the general reports of the
examiner (Mr. F. W. South, B.A.) on the recent half-
yearly examinations of the pupils at the Agricultural
Schools in Dominica, St. Vincent and St. Lucia :—
DOMINICA AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL,
Nineteen boys sat for the examination. Of these ten
took the papers set for the junior class and nine were new boys.
The average percentages of marks obtained by the two classes
were as follows : juniors, 78 ; new boys, 72, Of the juniors,
Paul, Roper, Lewisand Marie sent in good papers, and might
be allowed to proceed to the senior course ; of the new boys,
Antoine and Defoe showed good work. The standard
throughout the school is satisfactory, any special weaknesses
have been indicated in the detailed reports.
Agriculture and Chemistry were good, and Arithmetic
and Botany satisfactory, though there is some room for
‘
THE AGRICULTURAL
salient points in relation to the formation of
NEWS, 259
improvement, especially in the drawing of diagrams. The
Geography of the juniors should receive attention, and
Writing, English Grammar and Spelling throughout should
receive great care ; there is considerable difference between
the juniors and new boys in this respect, but occasionally the
answers of the new boys were scarcely intelligible. Atten-
tion might also be paid to details such as the careful subdivi-
sion of subject-matter, and, in Arithmetic, to the careful
indication in every case of what any given set of figures
represents.
Considering the examination as a whole, the results
indicate considerable improvement, which can however be
increased if attention is paid to the points already mentioned.
ST. VINCENT AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.
Seventeen boys sat for this examination,
four were seniors, ten juniors and three new
Of these
boys. The
average percentages of marks obtained were as follows : new
boys 68; juniors 79; seniors 85. These averages show
considerable improvement on last year’s and indicate a very
high standard of excellence for the seniors. Both <Arrindell
and J. Samuel showed some very satisfactory papers, among
the seniors, and of the juniors Learmond, Jarvis, Simmons
and Derrick obtained a very high average of marks.
Learmond and Jarvis, at any rate, might be allowed to
proceed with the work prescribed for the senior class.
Randolph Quashie was extremely weak throughout and needs
very careful attention if he is to make any progress.
The subjects in general were very satisfactory ; reference
to any special weakness will be found in the detailed reports.
With very few exceptions, the English, Spelling, Writing and
general neatness were good throughout. Arithmetic shows
considerable improvement but still needs attention. Composi-
tion and Agriculture were good ; Chemistry and Geography
need attention among the juniors, and the Botany of the
seniors leaves some room for improvement.
The papers, as a whole, indicate that the pupils are
receiving very careful attention and shonld possess a sound
knowledge of elementary scientific principles.
ST. LUCIA AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.
Seventeen boys sat for the examination. One took the
senior papers, ten the junior, and there were five candidates
and one new boy. The average percentages of marks
obtained by the three classes, including the new boy with the
candidates, were as follows: senior 73 ; junior 74 ; candidates
and new boy 64. These results were quite satisfactory.
Auguste and Monrose, of the juniors, did very creditably, and
the former might be permitted to take the work prescribed
for the senior course. Angier and Marshall are the most
promising of the candidates. ;
The writing was satisfactory and the papers were neat,
but attention should be paid to the drawing of diagrams and
maps. Arithmetic and Composition were good and the
Agriculture of the senior and junior pupils very fair, though
the candidates were weak in this subject. Chemistry, Botany
and Geography need attention, especialiy Geography ; great
attention should be paid to English Grammar and Spelling
which were often very weak, though this is no doubt mainly
due to the prevalent conditions in tne island.
Considering the papers as a whole, the results are satis-
factory and show that the pupils are receiving careful atten-
tion but there is room for improvement in several subjects, as
has already been indicated.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avcust 21, 1909,
‘PINK DISEASE’ OF CACAO IN
ST. LUCIA.
In January of the present year, several plots of
eacao in St. Lucia were found to be seriously atfected
by this disease. The plants were, in consequence,
treated according to the advice given in Pamphlet
No. 54 of the Department, entitled Fungus Diseases
of Cacao and Sanitation of Cacao Orchards. Success
has followed the adoption of the measures there
suggested, as will be seen from the following account,
which should be supplemented by reference to the
above-mentioned pamphlet :—
The disease is caused by a fungus (Corticium Lilaco-
fuseum). he chief symptoms are the occurrence of pink
incrustations on the woody branches ; these generally cover
the younger ones, while in the case of those which are fairly
old, it is usually limited to the damper and more shaded
sides. The final effect is to cause splitting of the bark, which
ultimately peels off. The fungus spreads actively during the
wet season and in damp, shaded situations. The harm caused
by if is not always direct, but as it provides openings in the
tissue for the entrance of spores of very harmful fungi such
as Nectria, Diplodia, etc,, it is very important that it should
be kept in check.
The remedial measures consist in washing the affected
branches with a lime-sulphur wash, which is prepared as
follows: A mixture consisting of 73 Tb. of slaked lime and
21 Th. of flowers of sulphur is boiled in 10 gallons of water
until it becomes orange in colour. This, when cold, is well
rubbed on the affected branches wherever the fungus is seen
to be present. In addition, all the younger branches that
have been killed should be cut off and burned ; it may also
be advisable to remove the more badly affected of the
older ones.
The successful adoption of these measures in the case
mentioned above was reported by the Agricultural Instructor
in St. Lucia, after examination of the attacked plants during
one of his visits to the district in which they were growing.
PINE-APPLE INDUSTRY IN INDIA.
The following information appears in the Agri-
cultural Journal of India for April 1909 :—
In recent years, the demand for Indian-grown pine-
apples has so greatly increased that an effort should be made
to establish this industry on a commercial scale.
The pine-apple is grown extensively in many parts of
India and Burma. On the Malabar Coast, in Northern
Bengal, in Assam and in Burma, it produces fruit of very
good quality. On the Khasi Hills in Assam, it grows
excellently and yields a fine fruit. There has been no
particular effort made to develop the cultivation of the fruit
on a commercial basis. Therefore, pineapples from the
Straits Settlements, Ceylon and Mauritius, find a ready sale
in India at remunerative prices.
A warm, moist atmosphere, a fairly high rainfall,
a friable soil and a porous subsoil appear to be best suitable
for pine-apples in India. They thrive well on soils which have
been improved, in forests, by partial clearing and by the
natural addition through rainfall of leaf mould. A friable
moist soil with a fairly high proportion of organic manure is
apparently essential for successful cultivation.
In Bengal, the season for planting out pine-apples is
August. The plant there flowers in February and March,
and its fruit ripens in July or August. In September and
October, it makes its perfect growth.
The leaves yield a good fibre. In the London market
it fetches about £30 per ton. In the Rangpur District of
Eastern Bengal and Assam, the fibre is largely used by the
shoe-makers as string; in the Southern Mahratha country
and Goa, it is used for necklaces. The Fibre Expert to the
Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam is, however, of
opinion that the extraction of fibre from pine-apple plants is
not likely to be an extensive enterprise in any part of India
VARIETIES OF CACAO.
In the West India Committee Circuler for July
20, 1909, there appears the first of a series of articles
by Mr. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., on Cacao. In. this, the
characteristics of the different varieties of Theobroma
Cucao and T. pentagone are set forth in a useful table,
from which they may be summarized as follows :—
7. pentagona, or alligator cacao, is mainly distinguished
from 7’. Cacao by the fact that the fruit is covered with
many warty excrescences, while it possesses five distinctly
raised ribs. Of 7’. Cacao, there are three well-marked
classes ; the Criollo (‘native’), Forastero (‘ foreign ), and
Calabacillo (‘ calabash-shaped ’) ; the first of these has light-
coloured ‘beans,’ in the second they vary in colour, and are
contained ina rough, ridged pod, in the last they are dark-
coloured, in a smooth oval pod.
The kinds of Criollo are three: Trinidad Criollo, Vene-
znelan Criollo, and Nicaraguan Criollo; the fruit of the first
is thin-skinned and bottle-necked, and those of the last two
thick-skinned and high-shouldered, a mark of distinction
between these being that the former is sometimes pointed,
while the latter is not. Each of these kinds is divided inte
Vou. VIII. No. 191.
two varieties, Amarillo and Colorado, the difference being
that the colour of the fruit of the former is yellow, while in
the latter it is red. Of Forastero, also, three kinds are dis-
tinguished by fruit characters Cundeamor veraguso,
Ordinary or Typical, and Amelonado ; the first and the third
are separated from one another by the fact that the former
is warted and the latter melon-shaped. Each of these, again,
has two varieties: Amarillo (yellow) and Colorado (ved).
A secondary division into kinds does not, obtain in Cala-
bacillo, as all the fruits are small, smooth, thin- or thick-
skinned, with flat beans ; it is immediately separated into two
varieties, which, like those of the kinds mentioned above, are
named Amarillo and Colorado, and for the same reason.
Of the classes of 7’. Cacao, Criollo yields produce of a high
value, but it is not as vigorous asthe others. Forastero in
the West Indies is variable, but, typically, a strong grower,
bearing rough, ridged pods. Calabacillo is inferior to these ;
it isa strongly-growing tree, however, which flourishes on
lands where the others refuse to thrive; this property, com-
bined with the fact that it can do with less shade, recommends
it as a stock for grafting selected varieties.
In the classification given there are thus fourteen types,
arranged under three classes. It must be understood, how-
ever, that these are not separated from one another by
a definite margin, and that intermediate forms will be found
on estates, showing every conceivable form of variation. This
tendency to vary, in the absence of control, is harmful, as it
results in the production of inferior kinds, and therefore in
gradual deterioration—a process which is aided by the
continual propagation of the plant from seed.
WILD IPECACUANHA AND ITS EFFECT
ON CATTLE.
It will be remembered that, in the Agricultural
News of July 10, 1909, information is given as to the
possible poisonous action of this plant when eaten by
cattle, and that a request was made that planters and
others should send any suggestions or observations
which they may have to make in connexion with the
matter to the Imperial Department of Agriculture.
Since then, a note by Dr. W. J. Branch on the subject
has been forwarded es the Agricultural Superintendent
of St. Kitts, from which the following information is
taken :—
The generic portion of the name of this plant is the
Greek form of the Latin Esculapius, the god of medicine.
The name of this particular species—curassavica—indicates
the belief that it came originally from the Island of Curacao.
It is now to be found in abundance in nearly all tropical
countries. The plant spreads with great rapidity, owing to
the coma on the seeds, by means of which they float on the
wind. The young plant will take root and'thrive in any soil.
Grisebach considers Aselepias curassavica. as indigenous to
the West Indies, as its specific name indicates. Among the
different names for it are: Indian root, wild ipecacuan,
Curacao swallow root, red head, and bastard ipecacuan. Most
of the vernacular names of this plant refer, like the names of
the Genus and of the Natural Order to which it belongs, to
its indubitably powerful medicinal properties. Grisebach
says it is a diaphoretic medicine.
The Genus Aselepias belongs to the Natural Order of
the Asclepiadeae. Nearly all the plants of this Order have
a milky juice, which is generally more or less poisonous, and
in some, it is exceedingly virulent. (onolobus macrophyllus
has a juice that is used to poison arrows ;° Periploca graeca
kills wolves. On the other hand, valuable medicines can be
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
26h
got from some of the Asclepiads. From Calotropis gigantea
is got ithe famous Mudar, much esteemed in India as a cure
for dysentery ; Pylophora asthmatica is also relied on in that
country in the treatment of dysentery. | Asclepius
a West Indian plant, is used by the negroes, according to
Loudon, as a medicine. Asclepias decumbens is much valued
in Virginia in the treatment of pleurisy ; it induces profuse
sweating without raising the temperature. /Zemidesmus
indicus, the synonym of which is Aselepias pseudo-sarsa,
makes a slightly sudorific syrup, and is largely used in big
doses as a flavouring and colouring ingredient in many mix-
tures prescribed by modern physicians. Some of the
Asclepiads also furnish fodder for cattle and food for men.
Oxrystelma esculentum, a synonym of which is Asclepias vosec,
is used in the East Indies as fodder for cattle. The people
in the French part of Canada eat the shoots of Asclepias
syriaca. Pergularia edulis has a root like a yam and as_ big
as a man’s head ; this is eaten by the Hottentots. But the
most notable of this class is Gymnenu lactifera, the Cow-tree
of Ceylon. It isa pity that this has not been introduced
into the West Indies, for its copious milky juice is an admir-
able substitute for milk, for the use of human beings.
It does not seem probable that the recent scare in
St. Kitts about the poisonous effect of Asclepias curassavica
on stock is quite justifiable. It is not impossible that some
animals may get diarrhoea and loss of appetite from eating
it in any quantity, if they can be induced to do so. But it’
is curious that only now, and in St. Kitts, has its virulent
nature been discovered, though the plant is most abundantly
distributed through tne West Indies and in other tropical
countries. Its properties, moreover, have been diligently
studied by the natives of the countries where it grows, and
it has been freely administered as medicine to men, women,
and children. If it was destructive to stock, the fact ought
to have been found out and published long ago. At the
same time, this plant is perhaps unw holesome as food for
stock, if the animals really eat it, and if so, its presence in
abundance on pasture lands must detract from the value of
such lands as feeding-grounds for stock. The plant does not
secm to the writer of these notes to be nearly as common in
St. Kitts as in Barbados. As an illustration, it is note-
worthy that a very common buttertly in the latter island is
Archippus, the caterpillar of which feeds on Asclepias
curassavica, While this insect is very rarely seen in St. Kitts,
NLVEM,
‘Coffea robusta’ in Java.
In the Monthly Trade and Consular Repor ts of
the United States for July 1909, an account is given of
the results of theintroduction of Coffeu robustainto Java.
This species was discovered growing wild in the Congo,
but attempts to cultivate it there were not productive “of
useful results. Plants were sent to the Jardin Botanique at
Brussels, and thence to Java, in 1902. It is stated to have
met with wonderful success in its cultivation there, so much
so in some instances as to save old estates from ruin. It
thrives on ground where Coffea arabica and C. lilerica have
ceased to yield any profit, and at the same time is prolific,
giving about 850 pounds per acre after three years. At five
years, under good cultivation, it has produced twice as much
as this.
The trees are planted about 6 feet apart, and topped at
about 53 feet high ; when young they require shade. The
bean is very smal], and for the. first two crops lacks the
characteristic aroma of coffee ; later crops improve in taste
and aroma. The output for the year 1908 is given as
217,600 Ib., valued at approximately £6,750.
262 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Avcustr 21, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland of Liverpool,
write as follows under date July 29, with reference to
the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :-—
A good business has been done in West Indian Sea
Island cotton since our last report. About 450 bales have
been sold, including Barbados 13}. to 15d., Antigua,
St. Martin and St. Croix 13d. to 133d., St. Lucia 15d., and
; Tince 3d. to 19d. Stains from various islands
St. Vincent 13d.
realized 7d. to 8hd.
Prices remain firm, and the unsold stock does not
amount to more than 100 bales.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending July 31, is as follows :—
The unsold stock of Islands now consists entirely of
planters’ crop lots, held here or on plantation, aggregating
457 bales. The factors are still refusing to sell any of them
under 30c., and the larger proportion are held under instrue-
tions from the planters at 35c.
There has thus been no change in this market
since the report for the week ending June 19,
SEA ISLAND COTTON IN THE
UNITED STATES.
Information concerning the present position of
the Sea Island cotton industry in the United States
are given in a report by Messrs. W. W. Gordon & Co.,
Savannah, Georgia :—
In some of the countries in the south west of Georgia,
where the Sea Island acreage was fairly large a few years
ago, the planting of Sea Island cotton has been practically
abandoned. In Florida, the acreage is practically unchanged.
An effort has been made to plant selected seed as far as
possible and, in some cases, fresh seed has been imported for
the purpose from the Islands.
So far, the crop is clean, but recent rains have caused
grass to appear in some parts. A continuation of these rains
will prove detrimental to the crop. The reports of its condi-
tion throughout the area, compared with that of last year,
vary trom ‘worse’ to ‘much better’; that in the north is
the best at present.
The prospect of the yield is fair in some places and good
in others ; in only one county is it bad. The crop will prob-
ably be a late one. While some early cotton will make its
Appearance during the first fifteen days of September, the
new crop will not begin to move freely until October 1. It
is estimated to be one of 70,000 to 110,000 bales, but this
does not include some places where it is considered to be too
early as yet for prediction. All the estimates stipulate for
a long, open end to the season, if a full crop is to be
produced.
The Carolina Island acreage is reported to have been
reduced 5 per cent. The weather is favourable and the
prospects are good,
COTTON IN EGYPT.
The following facts in connexion with cotton-
growing in Egypt are taken from the issue of Nuture
for July 15, 1909. The reference to the depreciation
of the Egyptian varieties through the concurrent culti-
vation of the less valuable Upland cotton is of special
interest in relation to proposals that have been made
in various quarters from time to time that the latter
should be grown extensively in the West Indies :
The prosperity of Egypt depends largely on the success-
ful cultivation of the particular types of cotton known as
‘Egyptian’. During the last twelve years, however, the
yield of cotton has steadily and appreciably diminished, the
loss amounting, at current rates, to about £5 per feddan
(1109 acres). Many causes have been suggested as contri-
buting to this result, and in ‘Cotton Investigations in 1908’
(Cairo Seventific Journal, February 1909), Mr. W. Lawrence
Balls puts forward the view, for which there is some direct
evidence, that a rise in the water table in Egypt has been an
important factor. . Owing to improvements in irrigation, the
supply of water in Egypt is greater than formerly, whilst the
natural remains more or constant. Artificial
drainage is lacking, and in his view Egypt is in danger of
becoming water-logged, in which condition the soil is ren-
dered impervious to the roots of most plants. The remedy
advocated is extension of the drainage system, an expensive
proceeding, but justifiable if the reduced yield is due to the
rise in level of stagnant water. Another important matter
dwelt on in Mr. Balls’s paper is the depreciation of cottons
grown in Egypt, ewing to the hybridizing of the Egyptian
varieties by the less valuable ‘American Upland’ races,
cultivated because of their heavy yield. To combat this, be
proposes the breeding of a cotton bearing flowers in which
the stigma is buried deeply aniong the stamens, thus reducing
toa minimum the risk of natural crossing. The report is
accompanied by a photograph of a section of such a synthe-
Hower. Egypt is leading the way in the practical
application of Mendel’s discoveries, for 1909 has seen the
the Khedivial Agricultural Society, of
a Mendelian Experiment Station.
loss less
sised
establishment, by
Vou. VIII. No. 191.
THE. AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 963
INJURY TO RUBBER TREES BY TAPPING.
The results of an investigation conducted by
Professor Fitting, of the University of Tiibingen, at
the Botanic Gardens of Buitenzorg, into the physio-
logical principles which underlie the ways in which the
best methods of rubber-tapping may be found, is given
in a supplementary number of V'ropenpflanzer for
February 1909. These were briefly indicated in the
Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, p. 212. A more detailed
account may be given as follows :—
Attention is drawn to the fact that the part of a rubber
tree which is commonly called the bark is not only the place
where latex is formed and stored, but that it serves a more
important purpose from the point of view of the life of the
plant. The food which is elaborated in the leaves would be
useless unless there was some means by which it could be
carried to those parts where it is required, such as the
regions of vegetative growth, the chief of these being the
Jeaf-buds, the cambium and the root ends, and of reproductive
growth, that is where flowers, fruits and seeds are being
formed. The transference is effected through tubes in the
bast, or what is usually known as the inner part of the
bark. In these tubes, as long as the plant is actively growing,
there is a current of food passing along the branches to the
main stem, and down the stem to the roots.
In considering the effects of tapping, there has been
a tendency in the past to forget that injury may be done to
this important food-conducting system of the tree. ‘The
greatest attention has been given to the cambium layer, as it
was well recognized that any extensive injury to that part of
the tissue would result in retardation of the growth of the
tree, or even in its death, either from direct causes or owing
to the admission of fungi. Perhaps the reason why so much
attention was given to this tissue was that there was a full
recognition of its importance as the actively growing part of
the stem, and it is for the same cause that, in considering the
value of different methods of tapping, attention was not given
only to their efficiency in producing the greatest quantity of
latex with the least amount of lzbour, but’also to the likeli-
hood of their causing damage to the cambium layer. This
consideration is, of course, important, but the one in which
account is taken of the method of the transportation of
elaborated food, which is explained above, is equally so. If
the tree is to attain its best growth it must be well supplied
with roots. If roots are to grow, they in their turn must be
well supplied with food. They cannot thrive directly on the
mineral plant food which they absorb; they must be fed
freely and easily from the food which has ‘been prepared in
the leaves, therefore there must be nothing to interfere
seriously with the carriage of this food from the place where
it is made to that where it is required.) This is why, if
a fairly wide strip of bark has been removed from all round
a tree, as deep as the cambium, the plant eventually dies.
In the methods of tapping which are commonly employed,
a sloping cut is made which, although it does not reach the
eambium, goes far to check the downward current ; this is
especially so if the pricker is used as well’ as the knife. It
follows naturally that the amount of obstruction varies
directly with the width of the area operated on. The prac-
tical application of this consideration is simple. It will lead
to the adoption of those methods which involve the cutting
of the bark in such a way that the longest effective cut is
made with the least severing of the bast tubes in their vertical
course through the stem. This condition is fulfilled by the
herring-bone and half herring-bone systems, as these only affect
a quarter of the circumference of the tree in any one tapping.
VITALITY OF WEED SEEDS IN MANURE.
The following information, obtained from the
Maryland Station Bulletin, No. 128, appears in Far-
mers Bulletin, No. 334, of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture :—
It is well known that there is considerable risk of intro-
ducing new weeds by the purchase of manure, hay, and
other feeding stuffs. At the Maryland Station more definite
information on this point was obtained, especially as regards
dissemination through manure, by studying the effect of the
fermentation of manure handled in different ways, and of
passing through the digestive systems of animals, on the
vitality of various weed seeds, including seeds of about fifty
of the worst weeds found in Maryland.
In experiments in which the manure remained (1) for
six months in a barnyard heap, and (2) for a short while in
piles as when shipped in carload lots from cities, it was found
that in the first case there was no danger, and in the second
case little danger, of distributing live weed seeds. In the
experiments in which the weed seeds were fed to yearling
steers, and the manure handled in various ways, it was found
that :—
(1) Where the manure was hauled directly from the
stable as a top dressing, an average of only 12°8 per cent. of
the seeds fed to animals germinated.
(2) Where manure was hauled directly from the stable
upon the land and ploughed under, 2°3 per cent. of the seeds
fed to animals came. up.
(3) Where the droppings remained in the pasture fields
unadulterated as they fell, an average of only 3:1 per cent.
of the seeds fed to animals germinated.
The results indicate that, in general, it is safe to
assume that the vitality of weed seeds is destroyed in
well-rotted manure, but that many pass unharmed
through the digestive tracts of animals, and may be
carried to the land if the manure is not well rotted
before use.
TIME OF GROWTH AND RIPENING
OF CACAO PODS.
The account of the following observations on the
time of growth and ripening of a cacao pod, which
were made in Trinidad, appears in the Bulletin of
Agricultural Information of the Department of
Agriculture in that island :—
The first appearance of the fruit was made on July 17,
when it was about as large as the head of a pin. In twenty-
nine and forty-five days, respectively, it was 12 inches long
and 3 inches long, while in sixty-one days the length was
inches and the largest circumference 5 inches. Three
more measurements, made in seventy-six, ninety-four, and
107 days from the commencement, gave 54 inches,
7 inches and 8 inches for the length, and 7. inches,
9? inches and 13 inches for the circumference. No growth
was observed after the 107th day, and the fruit took thirty-
five days more to ripen, making 142 days in all for its full
development.
As is pointed out, during this period of about two-
fifths of a year, while the cacao pod is arriving at
maturity, if 1s exposed to insect and fungus attacks, so
that the necessity for good sanitation on cacao estates
is made very evident.
: EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Jews
ee ————C_——="—|]
Vou. VIII SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1909. No. 191.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In this number, the editorial deals with the
subject of the formation and storage of molasses.
Special stress is laid on the means by which a good
product with a reliable keeping quality may be
obtained.
A report of the successful treatment of the ‘ pink
disease ’ of cacao is given on page 260,
On page 261 wiil be found some interesting facts
in connexion with wild ipecacuanha (Asclepias
CUPASSAVICH).
The present prospects of the Sea Island cotton
industry in the United States are dealt with on page
262.
Much difference of opinion exists as to the best
methods of tapping rabber. On page 263 an account
is given of anattempt to arrive ata conclusion from
a consideration of the structure of the plants operated
on.
An interesting photograph of the first seedling
canes raised in Barbados is reproduced on page 266,
The second of the short series of articles on fungi,
which was commenced in the last issue, appears on
page 267. It deals with the mycelium, or vegetative
part of a fungus.
Page 271 contains particulars as to the treatment
which broom corn recéives preparatory to being
manufactured into brooms.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aucust 21, 1909.
Cotton-growing Prospects in Ceylon. ‘
According to its report for 1908-9, the efforts of
the Ceylon Agricultural Society to introduce cotton-
growing on a large scale have not met with encouraging
results. There is a general desire to take up the
cultivation, but the chief drawback has been uncertainty
with regard to the best area, the proper season and the
best variety to grow in that country.
Sugar Industry in St. Lucia.
The Annual Report of the Agricultural Instructor
in St. Lucia for 1908-9 states that the sugar industry
of the island is, though comparatively small, on a good
footing, the number of factories being four. Of the
canes grown, the Bourbon has held out longer than
is the case in any of the other islands, but it has been
decided to give up its cultivation this year because of
the frequency with which it is attacked by pests com-
pared with that of other canes. The cane best suited
to conditions in the island seems to be B. 208, which
gives an average yield of 36 tons of cane per acre.
B. 147 is not planted as extensively as B. 268, but
gives fairly good results and ratvons well. White
Transparent does well both as plant canes and ratoons.
The report also states that several varieties of cane
have been distributed from the Experiment Station
during the year and that one of the sugar companies
working in the island has imported several hundred
plants of B. 376, which were planted in November 1908,
and are doing well.
n> ae
Shipping Rings.
The Report of the Royal Commission appointed in
1906 to consider the subject of shipping rings has just
been issued. In it are considered the effects of the
operations of such rings in limiting competition in
carrying goods on certain routes by ‘ pooling’ freights
or by fixing regular rates of freight and dates and
ports of sailing. Competition outside the ring is met
by six-monthly reductions of 10 per cent. in the freight
bill at the end of a year, for all those who have sent no
goods, except by lines in the ring, for that period.
The conclusion arrived at in the report is that the
system has both advantages and disadvantages, but
that it is liable to be abused. Among the disadvantages
quoted are the diversion of orders from England to
other countries and the existence of arbitrary and high
rates. Nevertheless the majority did not feel warrant-
ed in proposing that the deferred rebates should be
made illegal, as effective legislation in this direction
‘must prohibit all combinations and all agreements
tending to create a monopoly in oversea trades’. The
minority holds that the majority overrates the advan-
tages of the system and inadequately states its dangers.
The proposals of the majority are: that associa-
tions of traders, under the partial control of the Board
of Trade, should be formed for the purpose of discuss-
ing rates and other matters, and that further rebate
agreements should be notified in confidence to the
Government and tariffs should be published. The
minority proposals are for publicity in Parliament and
more direct supervision of the conferences,
Vor, VEE Nos-191-.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
Lo
fer)
(Sit
Rate at which Weathering Takes Place.
From the point of view of soil formation, the rate
at which the rocks of the earth are broken down by
atmospheric agencies into particles small enough to be
classed as soil, that is by weathering, is an important
consideration. Observations recently ;made on the
continent of Europe go towards giving an answer to
this question. In Austria it was found that in certain
ruins, during 500 to 600 years, there had formed from
limestone a layer of soil 4 inches thick and containing
44 per cent. of humus, while the surrounding natural
soil, also resting on limestone, was about 16 inches
thick and contained 7:7 per cent. of humus. If this was
formed at the same rate as that on the ruins, 2,400 years
must have been required for the purpose. Similarly
on a fortress wall built of limestone, in the Crimea, the
soil accumulation in 600 years was found to be 4 inches
thick, while the depth of that on the adjoining land
measured 26 inches, so that on the same basis, it should
have required 3,900 years for its formation.
a
Increased Yields by Additional Cultivation.
The Agricultural Jowrnal of the Cape of Good
Hope gives interesting particulars of experiments which
were conducted during 1907 and 1908, for the purpose
of finding the effect ofan increased number of ploughings
or cultivations on the fertility of the soil. In the former
year, four plots were all manured in the same way, and
then ploughed in such a manner that each received one
more ploughing than the previous one ; that is, the first
received one, the second two, and so on; they were then
sown with oats, for hay. In every case, the yield in-
creased with the number of ploughings, culminating in
the fourth plot, which gave a profit (allowing for extra
expense of ploughing) of £2 18s. 3d. per acre. In the
latter year, the four plots were manured as before, and
all were ploughed, cultivated and harrowed. This time,
however, a difference was made in the number of culti-
vations, the second plot receiving one additional
cultivation, the third two, and the fourth three. The
crops raised were barley and wheat, and the net profits
per acre were successively 2s.,17s., and £1 ls. for
barley, and 9d., 4s. 3d., and 11s. 9d. for wheat.
In all cases the yields were far below normal owing
to the attacks of ladybirds, but this did not interfere
with the experiment, as each crop was affected in like
degree throughout. Additional cultivations were found
superior to additional ploughings, both in point of time
and expense.
EE
School Gardens in the Philippines.
A report on this subject appears in the Philippine
Agricultural Review. It states that the work was
chiefly done on Saturdays and holidays, and that will-
ingness for this was shown on the part of all the pupils.
Each owns his own plot as well as the products
raised from it ; seeds and manure were provided by the
pupils, the former being purchased by means of con-
tributions from the schools. The only restrictions were
that each pupil should prepare the soil, cultivate the
plants and save seeds according to instructions. The
teaching chiefly included the giving of information on
the use of manures, cultivation of plants, use of
products and saving of seeds, and it was found that for
such teaching to be effective, hard work and close
supervision on the part of the teacher were the chief
requirements,
It is believed that the gardens have been a success,
especially in the matter of the inculeation of indus-
trious habits and that of the introduction of new food
plants. In the latter connexion, the interesting state-
ment is made that such vegetables as radishes, lettuce,
beets, endive, carrots, rutabaga, kohlrabi, and turnips,
which were unknown as food plants in some districts
before the establishment of school gardens, are now
planted at the homes of the pupils.
OWE
Absorption of Mineral Salts by Soils.
The Botanical Gazette contains an account of
experiments that were made for the purpose of
investigating the power of the soil to absorb phos-
phates, chlorides and nitrates, the salts used being
ordinary sodium phosphate, potassium chloride and
sodium nitrate. The fact that absorption of the phos-
phate and chloride took place was indicated in four ways:
(1) by chemical analysis of soil which had been placed
in solutions of the salts; (2) by growing wheat seed-
lings in solutions of the salts of different strengths,
and showing that they would thrive in a solution that
was too strong for this under ordinary conditions if
soil was added to the solution ; (3) that this tolerance
was not shown in the case of nitrates, which, it is well
known, are not observed to any extent by soils; (4) that
the effect of the addition on the tolerance of the seed-
lings for the phosphate or chloride in the solution was
least in the case of quartz, greater in that of
unmanured soil, and greatest when manured soil was
used.
Dr
Agriculture in Primary Schools, St. Lucia.
The Annual Report of the St. Lucia Education
Department contains a report on this subject by the
Agricultural Superintendent in that island. According
to this, the Governor in Council has approved of the
suggestion, in connexion with the new scheme of
a Grant-in-aid to primary schools for the teaching of
Agriculture, that the inspection of the school gardens
shall be undertaken by the Agricultural Instructor, and
arrangements have been made accordingly for that
officer to make such inspection, and to report the results
to the Agricultural Superintendent. As a result, the
need for the adoption of a more uniform scheme of work
in the different schools, and the advisability of the
introduction of box and pot culture into the curriculum
of those schools which do not possess school gardens,
have been manifested. In the first inspection under
this scheme, out of the twenty schools examined, two
gained over 90 per cent. (excellent) of the marks
awarded for agricultural teaching and school gardens,
two 75 to 90 per cent. (good), seven 50 to 75 per cent,
(fair), six 25 to 50 per cent. (insufficient), and two under
25 per cent. (weak and insufticient), while at one school
no agriculture was taught.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Seventh International Congress of
Applied Chemistry.
The Seventh International Congress of Applied
Chemistry was held in London from May 27 to June 2,
1909. It included sections dealing with practically
every aspect of
the application
of chemistry to
industry, but of
the subjects
discussed, those
dealing with
the chemistry
of sugar and
sugar produc-
tion will be of
more particu/ar
interest to
dwellers in the
West Indies.
The questions
dealt with under
this head were
many and varied.
Among them was
that of the use
of — temperature
corrections, in
the polarization
of raw sugars
and other pro
ducts, upon
quartz wedge sac-
charimeters. This
question has been
discussed at some length at cne time and another in the
West Indian Bulletin (papers on the Polarimetric Deter-
mination of Sucrose, Vols. VI, VII, VIII, and IX). In
a paper having the above title, Dr. C. A. Browne, Director of
the Sugar Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry, United
States Department of Agriculture, discusses certain points in
relation to the subject, and maintains that, with certain raw
sugars and molasses, the application of a correction for the
influence of temperature on the specific rotation of sucrose
and on the quartz wedge of the saccharimeter is unnecessary,
since in low grade products it is more than counterbalanced
by the opposite effect on the specific rotation of invert sugar
contained in them.
THE
FIRST SEEDLING
Mr. L. K. Boseley dealt with the requirements of the
confectionery and preserving industries in respect of sugar
and glucose products intended for use therein. In this case,
the ability of sugars to retain their colour on heating, and
the crystallizing power, appear to be the most essential
features, and a number of tests are suggested for judging
sugar required for these purposes.
Mr. Lewis Eynon adduced some results of experiments
in connexion with the influence of clarification with basic
lead acetate solution on the valuation of sugar products,
tending to confirm the views of Prinsen Geerligs and others
that, while basic lead acetate is incapable of precipitating
levulose from pure solutions of invert sugar, nevertheless,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aveust 21, 1909.
when precipitable non-sugar compounds are present, removal
of levulose from solution can, and does, take place on clarifi-
cation with this reagent. Incidentally, the accuracy of the
Clerget process for the determination of sucrose is brought
out.
Messrs. Ling and Maclaren brought forward some results
of analyses of cane-sugar and molasses, wherein the sucrose
was determined both by the copper-reducing power and by
the Clerget in-
version process.
Other — subjects
included papers,
by Mr. H. Main
and Mr. D. L.
Davell, jr,
respectively, on
the estimation
of ash in sugars
and syrups by
the determina-
tion of the elec-
trical — condue-
tivity, and on
the analysis of
bagasse ; in the
latter, compari-
sons are made
of the alcoholic
and aqueous ex-
traction methods
for the determi-
nation of sugar
and fibre, with
the object of
gaining informa-
tion as to which
is the better one.
CANES IN BARBADOS.
The First Seedling Canes in Barbados.
The photograph which is reproduced on this page
has been received trom Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G.
The following note in connexion with it is kindly sup-
plied by Mr. J. R. Bovell, I.S.0:—
The photograph was taken by Mr. R. V. Sherring, F.L.S.,
in 1890, and gives an illustration of. the firstseedling canes
that were raised in Barbados. These comprised the twenty-
three varieties mentioned below, which were selected for
cultivation from sixty-nine self-sown seedlings that had been
found in 1888 near a field in which variety experiments
were being conducted. Their names. were as_ follows :—
Morris Jemmotte Governor Lees
Professor Harrison Edwards Murray
Burke Parris Hutson
Callender Wiltshire Hart
Clarke Fawcett Yearwood
President Jenman Phillips
Shepherd Watts Armstrong
Governor Robinson Connell
Since then, other seedlings have been grown which have
given better results than this batch, consequently all but one
have been discarded. This variety, the Burke, is now
cultivated to a small extent on one or two estates in_ the
island, where it is found suitable.
Vou. VIII. No. 191.
“THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 267
FUNGUS NOTES,
The following article is in continuation of a short
series giving an account of the principal points of
interest in the life-history of the fungi, and indicating
their connexion with practical agriculture. The first
of these appears in the last number of the Agricultural
News, p. 251.
RAR IT:
THe Mycetrum.
The vegetative portion of a fungus is made up of long,
narrow tubes or hyphae, which may or may not be divided
up by cross walls. The tubes branch frequently, and often
join together, spreading in all directions throughout the
substance on which the fungus lives. The hyphae may be
either coloured or colourless, and frequently contain large
oildrops. Some, of which JMJarasmius is an example, are
encrusted with crystals of calcium oxalate.
Unlike most other plants, the fungi cannot obtain their
carbon from the carbon dioxide in the air, since they have
none of the green colouring matter which is necessary for
this. Consequently, they have to make use of food sub-
stances which already contain a large amount of carbon,
prepared by other plants, or by animals. These plants or
animals on which thev live may be either living or dead.
When the food substance is dead the fungus is said to be
a saprophyte ; but when it obtains its nourishment from
a living host, the fungus is called a parasite. Saprophytic
fungi are very numerous, and usually quite harmless. To
this class belong the moulds found on damp bread, jam,
damp leather, ripe fruit, and many other substances. Other
saprophytes live on decaying tree stumps, dead leaves, and
all kinds of decaying refuse ; examples are the large toadstools
often seen on tree stumps.
Parasitic fungi live on plants and animals. If the fungus
grows very rapidly it takes up too much food from the host,
which consequently dies, andin many cases the fungus can
continue to live on the dead host as a saprophyte. These
fungi, more especially such as live on plants, are often
very destructive, and cause planters and farmers much trouble
and loss of money; but some, chiefly those that live on
insects, are distinctly useful. For instance, one form of
fungus will kill caterpillars, another house-flies, while several
species are known which destroy the white flyand the various
forms of scale insects found so frequently in the tropics.
Some fungi are only very weakly parasitic, as for
example, that causing root disease of the sugar-cane, JJaras-
mius sacchart. It lives mostly on the dead cane leaves or
trash, and on similar substances in the soil; but when the
host plant is somewhat weakened by drought or the attacks
of insects, the fungus can obtain a hold as 2 parasite on the
young roots which the plant puts out, and thus the plant
suffers more and more from want of moisture, and eventually
dies. Others are capable of living on many host plants,
either on the leaves, stem, roots or flowers. In the case of
the root they usually enter those which are young, from the
ground, and spread by means of their mycelium, or vegeta-
tive part into the older roots; in some cases eventually
attacking the stem also. Fungi that attack the stem only,
usually do so by means of wounds in the bark or rind, where
there is a surface of dead cells on which they can begin to
grow. Fungi may enter leaves either through their breath-
ing pores (or stomata), or directly by boring through the skin,
or epidermis, as it is usually called. In order to be able to
bore through a ce!l wall the fungus is believed to secrete an
enzyme from the tip of the hypha in contact with the wall,
and on entering the cell it may secrete other enzymes which
kill the cell, and enable the fungus;to feed on the remains.
In opposition to this, the cell also secretes other substances
which may destroy the hyphae of the fungus. Large plants
have also another method of repelling fungi; that is by
cutting off the water-supply completely from a diseased
portion by forming a ring of cork tissue inside it and so kill-
ing the fungus. In either case, if the host plant is in good
health it may win, if not and the fungus has a good start it
will lose, and be possibly completely killed. Thus all
methods of cultivation, manuring and drainage which
strengthen the plant, help it considerably to overcome its
enemy. Want of attention, on the other hand, will frequently
weaken the plant and materially assist the attack of the
fungus.
Many fungi, notably the rusts of grasses, spend one part
of their life on one host plant, and another part on a different
host. If either of the hosts occurs in the neighbourhood of
the other, the fungus can spread during the year from one to
the other, and vice versa, and the presence of one carrying
disease will usually mean that the other will become infected.
Some fungi can only attack one particular form of host
plant, and if this host is not grown for some time the
fungus dies out. In the case of such fungi, the degree of
parasitism is very advanced. [t is thought probable that
this limited selection is due to the presence in the host of
some particular substance which attracts the germ tube of
the fungus when it first grows out from the spore; the
fungus is unable to attack other allied species or even varie-
ties owing to the absence of this chemical substance. In
other cases, the immune species may possess some substance
which repels the hyphae, while those subject to attack do not
to any useful extent.
Species which are immune, through either of these
reasons, to the attacks of any given fungus are of the great-
est value to the practical planter. A fair estimate can also
be formed from what has been said above of the value and
importance of rotation of crops, and good cultivation when
attempts are being made to combat any given plant disease.
WEATHER FORECASTS IN THE
UNITED STATES.
The field of daily telegraphic meteorological observations
for forecast purposes, which in 1896 was limited to the
United States and Canada, has been extended by the Depart-
ment to embrace at the present time the whole northern
hemisphere. Forecasts which formerly were limited to
a period of twenty-four to forty-eight hours in advance are
now frequently made from four days to a week in advance.
In 1896, forecasts were telegraphed daily at Government
expense to 1,896 distribution stations, from which points
they were distributed by mail, telephone, railway train
service, and railway telegraph service to 51,694 addresses
without expense. On June 30, 1908, the daily forecasts
were being telegraphed at Government expense to 2,334
distributing centres, from which points they were distributed
gratuitously to 76,154 addresses by mail, 58,008 by rural
delivery, 2,139 by railway telegraph, 852 by railway train,
and 3,553,067 by telephone, making a grand total of
3,690,220 addresses, of record, receiving the daily weather
forecasts without expense, except for the initial cost of
telegraphing the information from the forecast district
centres. The storm-warning display, stations have been
increased from 253 to 321. There has been an addition of
seventy-eight stations where daily meteorological observations
are taken and telegraphed. (Annual Report of the United
States Department of Agriculture, 1908.)
268
GLEANINGS.
According to official sources, the production of sugar in
Java for the crop of 1908 was 1,241,885 tons. The
percentage of sugar manufactured, on the weight of cane
ground, was 10-04.
The annual report of the United States Department of
Agriculture on the sugar-beet crop of that country states
that this reached 3,416,000 tons during 1908.
The average
sucrose content of the crop was 15°75 per cent.
The imports of rice into the United States for the eleven
months ending May 51 were 86,600 tons, valued at 4 million
dollars. This includes rice, rice flour, rice meal and broken
rice. (Louisiana Planter, July 24, 1909.)
According to the London Globe, an attempt to form
a syndicate of Russian sugar producers and sugar refiners
has definitely failed, owing to the refusal to join of M.
Brodsky, the leader of Russian. sugar producers.
The Meport of the Chief of the Bureru of Plant Industry
of the United States Department of Agriculture, states that
the fruit industry of that country represents an area of 5
million acres, with an annual income of 150 million dollars.
Several trials, in ditferent years, with ground nuts at the
Experiment Station attached to the Agricultural School in
St. Lucia have shown that this crop should be sown at
a time which will ensure the ripening of the nuts in dry
weather.
The statement is made, in the Philippine Agricultural
Review for February 1909, that the present yearly rubber
production of the world is approximately 70,000 tons. Most
of the rubber comes from the forests of Brazil, which pro-
duced 41,000 tons in 1907.
It is stated in the Louisiana Planter for July 31, 1909,
that weather suited to the growth of sugarcane throughout
the Louisiana district has recently prevailed. The tempera-
ture has been comparatively high, and there have been
frequent showers, so that good growth is being made.
A Bill to encourage the destruction of rats in Barbados
has been recently passed in the House of Assembly without
opposition, A penny will be paid for the head and_ tail of
every rat delivered to the Parochial Treasurer of each parish,
or to any person nominated for the purpose.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Aucust 2], 1909.
The quantity of bananas exported from Jamaica during
the first five months of the current year shows an increase of
654,780 bunches on that fora similar period in 1908. In
the same way, the shipments of tobacco and cigars have
increased by nearly 3,000 tb. and cigarettes by 1,700 bb.,
while those of cacao and rum have nearly doubled.
The following plants, etc., were sent out from the
Botanic Stations in Montserrat during the quarter ending
June 30, 1909. Plants: cacao 49, bay 140, lime 2,000,
yams 20 fb., tannias 631 ; cuttings: sugar-cane 370, cassava
1,020, sweet potatos 1,087; seeds: pedigree cotton 80 hb.,
beans 16 Ib, horse beans 13 tb., cowpeas 4 Ib.
The annual report on the working of Co-operative
Credit Societies,in the Bombay Presidency (including Sind)
for the year July 1, 1907 to June 30, 1908, states that the
number of members of urban societies rose from 1,930 to
3,327, and that of rural societies from 5,405 to 8,477, during
the period,
The amount of cotton exported from Barbados during
the quarter ending June 30, 1909, was 237,799 tb., of an
estimated value of £11,889 19s. Of this 227,721 hb.
(value £11,386 1s.) was shipped to the United Kingdom,
and 10,078 tb. (value £503 18s.) to the United States
ef America,
According to the Zransvaal Agricultural Journal No.
XXVIII, Phyllovera vastatrix (the insect that caused a serious
set-back to the French wine-growing industry for several
years after 1865) has appeared in the vineyards of the
Transvaal, and is expected to doa considerable amount of
damage.
From a paper by Mr. A. D. Gibson, Imperial Forest
Economist (India), 1t appears that excellent wood pulp has
been made on a small scale from the silver fir and spruce of
the Himalayas. There seems to be a likelihood that a factory
will be erected in the Punjab or the United Provinces to find
out if chemical. if not mechanical, pulp can be made in India
ona commercial basis.
A remedy for sore eyes in cattle and sheep is given in
the Jowrnal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, June 1909,
and is as follows: Wash the eye out two or three times
a day with a solution composed of 1 oz. of boracie acid
dissolved in 1° quart of warm water. After three days,
apply an ointment made of | part of iodoform in 11 parts of
pure vaseline, the iodoform being thoroughly mixed with the
vaseline until the particles are absorbed in it.
As is well known, the rainfall over large areas in the
west of the United States is insuflicient for crops to be grown
in the ordinary way. As an illustration, there is the State of
Wyoming in which the average annual precipitation, accord-
ing to the Monthly Weather Review of the Weather Bureau
of the United States Department of Agriculture, for the
seventeen years 1892-1908, has been 13°68 inches. In such
areas, the method of plant cultivation known as ‘ dry farm-
ing’ is practised. This depends upon the principle of
employing methods for the conservation of soil moisture, the
selection of seeds whick require a small amount of moisture,
for germination, and the growing of one crop only, in the
time that two or three would be raised under ordinary
conditions,
Vou. VIII. No. 191.
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
AUGUST.
Last Perron.
Seasonal Notes.
Tn cases where artificial manures are employed for limes
or cacao, notes should be made as to the_kinds that are
generally used in this connexion, and the reasons, in any
special instance, for their employment. What manurial con-
stituent has the greatest importance in the matter of fruit
formation / Lime and other citrus plants should be specially
watched after a good fall of rain in order to find out if there
is an increase of the fungoid parasites of scale insects. At
the same time a look out should be kept for small holes in
the covering of scale insects ; in this way, the presence or
absence of other insects which are parasitic on them will be
indicated. Where lime trees have been recently pruned,
determine whether this has been carried out carelessly or not,
and find out if there have been any harmful results from
careless pruning or by omission to cover the wounds with tar.
By careful examination evidence may be obtained that care-
Jessness in removing branches has provided places for the
entrance of the lime tree borer. Where Bengal beans were
used as a cover crop last year, notice if there is any increased
growth consequent on their use ; also closely observe the state
of trees which have become covered with this plant. A close
watch must also be kept, throughout the plantation, for the
return of injurious insects and the growth of love-vine
{dodder). Branches infested with this must be carefully cnt
out and burnt, as it is not only readily propagated by seed,
but also by means of small pieces of the stem.
When cacao is badly attacked by thrips, the effect of
this pest on the leaves and pods, and on the trees themselves,
should be noted. Examine the leaves : the surface on the under
side, together with part of the interior has been eaten away.
The pods also show the effects of the pest chiefly on the under
side. When they are first attacked, small areas which have
a deep brown colour are seen; these subsequently grow
larger, and the whole pod becomes deep brown, so that such
immature fruits are frequently gathered as ripe ones,
A study should be made of the methods which are adopted
to control the pest. Find out, if possible, which of the
washes that are recommended for the purpose is the best,
and what results from the application of lime on soils where
there is a large proportion of organic matter, present. Infor-
mation regarding thrips will be found in the Agricultural
News, Vol. V, No. 120; in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vols. II, pp. 175-90, and IX, p. 190 ; and Pamphlet No. 58,
Insects Pests of Cacao.
In going through a cotton field it will,often be noticed
that the plants have failed to grow evenly ; some appear to
be making a healthy growth, while others are dwarfed, and
may even be showing very evident signs of disease. Attempts
should be made to find in each case the reason, or reasons,
for this. Among these are, speaking generally, the presence
of too much moisture, a physical condition of the soil which
is unsatisfactory as regards germination, attacks of anthrac-
nose on the sprouting seed, and planting too deeply. What
are the reasons for the lack of development of the plant from
seeds that are planted deeply? The young cotton plants will
now have reached the stage at which theymay be thinned
out. It will form a good exercise to omit, this thinning in
the case of a few plants, and to perform the operation roughly
in that of others ; then to compare the growth of the plants
thus treated with that which has resulted from the careful
THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
269
thinning out that the others have normally received. What
do you learn about root growth and absorption from this
experiment ¢
In those parts where there has recently been a good
supply of rain, attention will be drawn te the subject of
drainage. That on sugar estates forms a specially useful
object-lesson. The various distances) at which drains are
made for carrying away surplus water from different kinds
of soil, and from fields on the flat and on different slopes
should be noted. What special arrangements in draining
have to be made (1) where there are small springs, (2) where,
during heavy rainfall, the smaller particles of soil are carried
away! Study the connexion between drainage and the
position of the water table, with special reference to the
growth of roots.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) A field, in which the soil is in good condition, is left
under grass. Does the soil gain in nitrogen content
(2) What is meant by secondary thickening of stems ?
Describe the structure of the stem of (a) the hibiscus, (b) the
cocoa-nut palm,
(3) What changes take place when a sample of soil is
heated strongly ?
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) A field of heavy non-caleareous clay, which had been
green-dressed with pigeon peas, was found to give a very poor
growth of cane. What was the reason for this?
(2) What is meant by the term ‘bud variation’! Does
this ever occur in the sugar-cane !
(3) What effects has the food of animals upon the
resulting manure !
EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC VALUE
OF PLANT COLLECTIONS.
By means of a prize-scheme to operate in schools,
the Director of Agriculture in Rhodesia is attempting
to supplement the usual methods of gaining informa-
tion with regard to the possible economic importance
of such plants as are not under general cultivation,
whether as products of commercial value, or because of
the dangerous or objectionable properties which they
may possess.
To this end, prizes to the value of £15 are offered for
competition among school children, who will forward collec-
tions not exceeding 100 dried specimens. These are ta
be accompanied by the following’ particulars, as far as
possible: English and native name, date of collection,
habitat and geographical position, appearance, uses and
properties of the part utilized. Adults are invited to assist
in the work either by contributing to collections, or by
forwarding specimens direct to the Department of Agri-
culture, whose property all such material will become. In
judging the collections, regard will 5e had to the skill shown
in selection, completeness of the specimens, fullness of their
history, and to the manner of preservation of the specimens,
It seems that the adoption: of such a scheme in
other countries, where wild plants are put to many
uses by the natives, would be useful both from an
economic and an educational point of view.
270 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Avcust 21, 1909:
INSECT NOTES
The Mosquito and Sanitation in the West Indies.
On July 8, a lecture on‘ Health Progress in the
West Indies’ was delivered by Sir Kubert Boy ce, F.R.S.
under the auspices of the West India Commitee: in the
Commercial Salerooms, Mincing Lane. ‘The following
is a summary of the chief points of the lecture :—
The lecturer first instanced several places, such as
Havana, Rio de Janeiro and Santos, where measures taken
for mosquito prophylaxis had resulted in an almost incredible
improvement in the health of the population, with the
consequent lowering of the death rate. He then stated that
he had made personal examination of the health-conditions
of parts of the West Indies in tke light of his experience in
other parts of the world, such as West Africa, British
Honduras, and some of the Central American Republics.
This examination had included St. een, Grenada,
St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and British Guiana. There
avas no need to spend time in giving an account of the signs
of the medical progress that was taking place in the West
Indies, a progress which was evidenced by the presence of
magnificent colonial hospitals and hospitals for special
diseases, as’ well as by that of well-organized charities.
What was more important to consider was the advance that
has been made, on the lines of modern sanitary reform,
in the West Indian group. This meant the share which the
West Indies are taking in the now universal campaign
against the mosquito. The term universal was rightly
applied to the campaign, for every civilized State throughout
the world was engaged on it, and not before this had become
necessary, for it had been truly said that if the loss of life in
all the great military campaigns that were best known to
history was computed, it could not compare with the total
number of deaths caused by the mosquito. This was illustra-
ted by the great loss of life that had been caused by yellow
fever alone, in the past, especially in Boston, Baltimore, and
Philadelphia, in some of the Southern States of America, and
in the Peninsula. Now, yellow fellow has disappeared from
most of these places simply on account of the adoption of
sanitary reforms which made for the destruction of the
mosquito,
To return to the West Indies.
common knowledge that, among those
It was a matter of
races, the Spaniards,
Portuguese and French, who first carried conquest from
Europe to the West, the mortality from yellow fever
was very high. Later, the same experience was undergone
by the English, who were accustomed to lose more than half
of their troops in the West Indies, owing to that disease
alone. Then came the implication of the Stegomyia mosquito
with the disease. This was the outcome of a mere suspicion
at first, notably on the part of Beauperthuy, Surgeon General
Blair and Professor Harrison, the last of whom suggested, in
addition, that yellow fever could not be directly communi-
cated from one human being to another, but required to pass
a period of time outside of the human body. This suggestion
was simultaneously made by Drs. Findlay and Carter in
Cuba, and it finally remained to Drs. Carroll, Agramonte
and Lazear to prove conclusively that the carriage of malarial
fever by the Anopheles mosquito, which had been unmistak-
ably demonstrated by Dr. Ross, had a parallel in the trans-
mission of yellow fever by Stegomyia. The result of this
discovery was the immediate declaration of war on the last-
named mosquito.
This war was waged by measures for the reduction of
its numbers. These were first adopted in Havana, the
Isthmian Canal, Zone, New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro.
Now, active measures are in operation throughout the
greater part of the West Indies, not only for the
destruction of the yellow fever bearing mosyuito, but also for
the one responsible for the transmission of malaria. In the
majority of the West Indian colonies it is now a punishable
offence to harbour mosquito larvae on household premises, and
many hundreds of summonses have been issued. School-
masters, sanitary inspectors and policemen are now being
trained in this special form of hygiene, and the seaports are
becoming gradually as secure as any town in Europe.
PREPARATION OF BROOM CORN FOR
MAKING INTO BROOMS.
The following interesting account of the processes
to which broom corn is subjected before it is manu-
factured into brooms is taken froma United States
trade publication :—
The first brooms manufactured in this country were
made in 1798 in Schenectady county, New York. These
were somewhat crude affairs, laboriously put together by
hand, but they marked the beginning of a great industry
It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that
the first practical broom-making machine was devised, and it
is curious that sinee that time, apart from the minor improve-
ments made in the machine, the general principle is the same
to-day it was then. From this small beginning the
industry has grown until there are manufactured annually
in the United States to-day $15,000,000 worth of brooms.
Placed end to end, the broom handles alone of the United
States would reach one and a half times round the globe. If all
the brooms manufactured in the United States were made into
one big one, the'smallest tree from which the handle might
be cut would have to be more than a mile in circumference.
Although the broom is one of the commonest articles
in the world’s household, not everyone is acquainted with the
details of its manufacture.
From the great fields of Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois,
the corn is shipped to the factories. It is dry and yellow, ana
must go through another process before it is ready to be made
into brooms. The big bundles are untied, and the corn shaken
out, and at about four o’clock in the afternoon the ‘ wetting
down’ process begins. The stalks of corn are first dipped into
a huge vat containing an aniline dye of a bluish green colour.
It is allowed to soak in this for some time, when it is trans-
ferred to clear water, thus, at the same time, giving the
corn the well-known greenish yellow tinge familiar to all
users of brcoms and imparting to it sufticient moisture to
allow it to be worked. From the ‘wetting down’ process
the corn is taken to a large asbestos-lined room, where it is
loosely piled, being spread over as large an area as the room
will permit. From the centre of the room is hung an iron
pot, in which is placed a quantity of sulphur, The sulphur
is set on fire at about six o’clock and burns until about mid-
night of the same night. The fumes fill the room and
bleach the corn to a certain extent, at the same time remov-
ing the surplus dye. On the following day it is removed
from the room and is ready to be worked into brooms. :
as
Vou. VIII. No. 191
The corn is gathered into pilés and first taken to
a‘sizing machine. This consists of a trough-like arrangement
about 12 to 15 feet long, on the top of one edge of which
runs an endless belt. On the other edge there are six or
seven endless belts of different lengths. The corn is fed in
at one end,a sharp knife trims off the bottom of the stalk
and it passes on to the belt. Underneath the belts are
receptacles for the various-sized spears. Each spear travels
to the end of the belt which is the particular length of that
spear from the main carrying belt, and having reached the
end of the belt, drops into the receptacle below. Thus the
short spears are dropped into the receptacle nearest the knife
and the longer ones travel out further along the belts.
After the corn had been thus sorted it is taken to another
portion of the factory, where it is again separated into
different grades for the different parts of the broom.
The first process to which each spear of corn is subjected
is separating the finer from the coarser pieces. This is done
by what is known as a hurl cutter. It consists of two sets
of cog wheels, the larger toothed wheels being superimposed
above the finer toothed ones. A revolving knife clips off the
butt end of the tassel and the coarser pieces are cut by the
lower wheel and thrown into a lower receptacle. This hurl
cutter is usually operated by a boy who can prepare enough
hurl for 150 to 200 dozen brooms per day. The corn is
then piled and taken to the broom-making machines.
The export trade in brooms during the past five years
has nearly doubled, while during the last two or three years
there has been a remarkable gain in the exports of broom
corn. Both Mexico and Canada are taking a large number
of American brooms, while South America is a big buyer in
this country of both brooms and broom corn. Cuba, Porto
Rico, Mexico, South Africa, and Australia purchase large
quantities of broom corn in this country and their trade is
advancing by leaps and bounds.
NEW LEGUMINOUS PLANTS FOR GREEN
MANURING.
In the Rhodesian Agricultural Journal for June
1909, there is an account of a leguminous plant named
Sesbania punctata, which grows there as a weed, but
which gives indications that it will become useful as
a green dressing. This is important in view of the
interest which is being taken at present in the practical
application of the property of leguminous plants, in
conjunction with certain bacteria, of fixing the nitrogen
of the air.
A discovery of much possible value and great interest
has been made at Westacre in the Matopos. Recently there
were forwarded to the Department of Agriculture specimens
of a leguminous plant bearing large quantities of nitrogen-
forming nodules on its roots. It had been observed that at
Westacre, land on which this herb, originally regarded as
a weed, had grown, supported much better crops of lucerne
and oats than elsewhere. A specimen has been identified at
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as Sesania punctata, This
is interesting, in that recently in India a nearly related plant,
Seshania aculeata, ‘Dainchu’, has attracted attention, and
is there recommended as a green manure for paddy fields, on
account of its recognized fertilizing properties. The plant
found at Westacre appears to be widely distributed in
Rhodesia, and another form, possibly new to science, has been
found to occur plentifully in the Zambesi Valley near the
Victoria Falls. The indigenous occurrence and free growth
‘sufficiently prove its suitability to the country. By growing
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 271
a $$ $$$ $$$ __<_<£________K_____<$RPO
this plant as a crop and ploughing it in while in flower and
before it seeds, the ground will be provided with nitrogen,
the most costly of all plant food, for future crops, and
a supply of organisms provided to inoculate any other legu-
minous crop, stich as lucerne and beans, that may be sown.
Whether in this respect it is superior to cowpeas, lupins, or
velvet beans, experiment can alone show, but from reports
received this seems quite likely to be the case.
The Indian plant mentioned above, Seshania
aculeata, occurs in many islands in the West Indies,
often along roadsides. It is an under shrub with
a prickly, cylindrical stem and with leaves having
many leaflets. The flowers are about 4 inch long
and yellow in colour, the largest petal being dotted
with purple. The pod is flattened, sharply beaked and
reaches a length of about 10 inches. It would be
useful if observations could be made on this plant and
communicated to the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture.
The American Sugar Market.
In the report of Messrs. Czarnikow, Macdougall
& Co, New York, for June 25, the important state-
ment is made that, at present, European sugar prices
are practically of no effect in ‘fixing values in the
American market.
It must be admitted that price movements have not
followed the usual course of gradually hardening as the end
of the Cuban crop came in sight. To-day the market is on
the same level of 2°62c. ¢.f., for Cubas for second half July
shipment as it was two months ago for sugars for April
shipment, although in the interval the number of centrals at
work in Cuba has declined from 169 to six. It is to be noted,
too, that the price for July Cuba is :23c. below the parity of
beet just as it was for April Cubas. If European prices had
any active bearing on this market we should have been
tending towards their parity, but asa matter of fact our
prices show that European markets are practically of no ettect
in fixing values here. Later, when Cuban supplies are over
and refiners have to draw upon Javas, the value of European
beets may have some influence in determining prices, but ta
what extent it is impossible to forecast.
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated July 23, 1909, gives information
as follows :—
The continuous rains have flooded several districts, and,
notwithstanding the larger area under cultivation, we expect
that the crop will be smaller than last. The weather continued
wet during the past fortnight, hut a few bright days have
been experienced this week and were very welcome.
There has been little cleaned rice received in town this
fortnight, and stocks are low. Local demand continues to
improve, and the market is now firm at an increase of about
6d. over last quotations.
Shipments to the West India Islands during the fort-
night amount to about 2,300 bags. Exports to date are now
about 250,000 tb. more than at same time last year.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export
quality :—
18s. 3d. to 19s. 3d. per bag of 180 Tb. gross.
16s), (9ds tor lits. 9d.) 555 ee 64: 5,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Aucusr 21, 1909.
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—THe Wesr Inpia ComMitrre CIRCULAR,
August 3, 1909; Messrs. E. A. pe Pass & Co.,
July 23, 1909.
ArRowRoot—St. Vincent, lid. to 3fd., according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/44 to 2/7 ; block, 1/103 to 1/11.
Bees’-wax—No quoti vtions.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 63/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 49/6 to
54/6 per ewt.; Jamaica, no quotations.
CorrEE—NSantos I | 9 to 29/74 per ewt., depressed; Ja-
maica, no quotations:
Copra—West Indian, £22 to £22 10s. per ton.
Corrox—St. Vincent, 13d. to 19d.; Barbados, 135d. to 15d.;
Antigua, St. Martin and St. Croix, 133d. to 13}d.;
St. Lucia, 15d.; stains from various islands, 7d. to Ska.
Frouir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gincer—Common to good common, 45/- to 50/-; low
middling to middling, 52/- to 55/-; good bright to fine,
57/- to 65/-.
Honey—24/- to 51/6.
IstyeLass—No quotations.
Lime Juice—Raw, 1/1 to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil, 1/9
to 1/10 per tb.; Otto of limes 6/- nominal.
Locwoop—No quotations.
Mace—(uiet.
Nurmecs—Steady.
Prvenro— (Quiet.
Rupeer—Para, fine hard, 8/5 to 7/10; plantation sheets,
8/5 to 8/6 per Tb.
Roum—Jaiaica, no quotations ; Demerara, no quotations.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/10to 15/6 , Muscoyado, no quotations ;
Syrup, no quotations ; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,—Messrs. Gruuespiz, Bros. & Co., July 23,
1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 13c. to 13$c.; Grenada, 12c. to 12kc. ;
Trinidad, 12c. to 12$c. ; Jamaica, 9#e.. to 11e. per tb.;
Dominica, lle. to 11 he.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $23°00 to $24:00; culls,
$1500; Trinidad, select, $21:00 to $22-00; culls,
$13°50 to $14°50 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, ordinary, Tc. to 8c.; good ordinary,
8he.; and washed up to Ie.
Gincrr—9e. to 12c. per Tb.
Goat Sxkrys—Jamaica, no quotations; Barbados, 53c. to
5de.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 47e¢. to 59e. per
th., dry flint ; Antigua, 50c. to 52e.
Grare Frerr—No quotations.
Lnres—Dominica, $450 to $6°50.
Mace—27he. to 5c. per th.
Nurmec s110's, 9e. per Tb.
Orances—No quotations,
Pimenro—4te. per Tb.
Svucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 3°95c., Muscovados, 89°, 3'45c.;
Molasses, 89°, 3°20c. per Ib., all duty paid,
INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., August 16, ee
Messrs, T. 8. Garraway & Co., August 16, 1909.
ArRowkoor—St. Vincent, 53°75 to $400 per 100 th.
Cacao—S11°21 to $1200 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-NuTs—$15 ‘67.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
100 tb., according to quality—scarce.
Hay—$1°10 to $1°25 per 100 th.
Manvres—Nitrate of soda, $65-00; Ohlendorff’s dissolved
guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42-00; Cacao manure,
$48°00; Sulphate of ammonia, $75 00; Sulphate of
potash, $67-00 per ton.
Ontons—Strings, $2°50 per 100 th.
Pras—Split, $6° 00 to $6°20 per bag of 210 Th.; Canada,
$4:00 per bag of 12 20 Ib.
Potatos—S$2-50 to $325 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, Caleutta, no quotations; Patna, $3-80 :
Rangoon. $3:00 per 100 tb.; Demerara, Ballam, $458
to $5°25 per 180 th.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96°, no quotations ; Muscoyado,
89° $1-7U ; Centrifugals, no quotations.
British Guiana,—Messrs. Wrermse & Ricnrex, August
7, 1909* ; Messrs. SANDBACH, Parker & Co.,
August 6, 1909.7
ARRowWhooT—St. Vincent, $8: 50 to $9-00 per
Batata— Venezuela block 32¢.*, Prohibitedt ; Demerara
sheet, 48c. per tb.* ; 48c. to Bide. per tb.+
Cacao—Native, 14e. per tb.* ; 12c. per tb.+
Cassava—b6le. to 72c.*
Cassava Srancu—s86'00 per barrel of 196 tb.*
Cocoa-NuTS—12°00 to $16°00 per M;* $16 per M peeled
and selected. t
Correr—Creole, 8c. to 13¢.*, 12c. to 15e. per tb. + ; Jamaica.
and Rio, 13$¢.*t+; Liberian, 7c. per 1b. +; 8c:*
Duat—$4-20 to $4- 25 per bag of 168 th.*; $4°50 per
bag ;+ Green Dhal, $5°50.*
Eppos—$1'44 per barrel.*
Motasses— Yellow, 21c. to 22c.*
Ostons—Teneriffe, 25c.+; Madeira, 23c. per tb.*t+
Preas—Spuiir $6°28 to $6 30 per bag (210 ib.),* $6-40+;
Marseilles, $3°00, over stock.*+
Pranvatss—20c. to 48e. per bunch.*
Poratos—Noya Scotia, no hae itions,* $3°75 per barrelt;
Lisbon, $2°00,* $2°25 per 100 th.+
Poraros—Sweet ; Barbados, $120 _per bag.*
Rirce—Ballam, St: 50,* $479 to $5:00;+ Creole, $4°40,*
$4°00 to $4°40.+
Tannras—$2'64 per bag.*
Yams—White, $3°50 per bag; Buck, $3°12.*
Sucar—Dark crystals, $2° 175 to $2°40 ;* Yellow, $2:90 to
$3:00,* 33-00 ;+ White, $3°60 to $3°80;*+ Molasses,
$1:90 to $2:00,* $2-00 to $2°50.+
Timper—Greenheart, 32c. to 55c. per cubie foot.*t
Wallaba Shingles—$3'75 to $5°75 per M,* $3:50.
to $550 per M.t
Cordwood—$1°'80 to $2-00 per ton.*
200 tbh.*+
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpon, Gray & Co., August 7, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°30 per fanega; Trinidad, $11°15.
to $11°50.
Cocoa-nuv Orr—$1:09 per Imperial gallon, cask included.
CorrrE— Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per tb.
Corra—$3°50 per 100 th.
Drat—$4°15 io $4°25 per 2-bushel bag,
Ontons—$z'00 to $2°50 per 100 th.
Pras—Speurr $5°50 to $575 per bag.
Poraros—English, $1°75 per 100 tb.
Rick—Yellow, $450 to $460; White, $5:00 per i
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100
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Vou. VIII. No. 191. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Avcust 21, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
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IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES, cano:
Vou. VILL. No. 192. q ie i eae 1d.
BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. Pace.
Alfalfa, Best Conditions | Eel Worms, Control of ... 280
for Growing ... ... 281 ere
Bermuda, Agricultura Beg sot So ous
Conditionsin ... ... 281) punous Ne ne ons
Bordeaux Mixture for BOSS eames cs tr aa
Spraying ... .-- 286| Garden Notes :—
Butter, Deterioration of... 280) Ferns, Cultivation of ... 279
Cacao Thrips, Washes for 281) Gleanings... 284
Calcium Cyanamide, Insect Notes :—
Effects of on Soils 275| Sweet Potato Weevil ... 282
Canadian National Exhibi- Market Reports ... 288
1 Cyt PRA
Cen ea ZED Plantain, Uses for the ... 279
Germination of... ... 281 | School Gardening,
Cocoa-nut Palm, Bud-rot of 276 | Objects of ees OO
Cotton, Animal Pests of... 273) Silk Cotton Tree in
Cotton Notes :— Java, The poo!) pag Cat)
British Cotton Growing Soils, Action of Heat and
Association ne ooo) Ali Antiseptics on... .., 281
Caravonica Cotton in | Students’ Corner 28)
Mexico ... ... ... 278] Sugar Industry :—
West Indian Cotton ... 278) Sugar in Java 275
Departmental Reports :— | Sugar Production in
St. Lucia, Botanic | India... 280
|
Station, ete. ... ... 277| West Indian Products ... 287
Animal Pests of Cotton.
T the present time, when the cotton crop
eo,
\
}2% conditions must be favourable if healthy
plants capable of bearing a good product are to be
obtained, it is extremely important that a careful watch
should be kept for the appearance of those enemies
which are able seriously to weaken, if not to kill the
plant, with a view to applying promptly such remedial
has begun to make a good stand, and when
_measures as will minimize the harm as far as_ possible.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1909.
Much should have been done already in the matter of
preventive measures which, after all, are more impor-
tant than those remedial. These would
have included the burning of old cotton plants, careful
cultivation of the soil and disinfection of the seed, the
last of which is, of course, important in connexion with
which are
the control of plant, rather than animal, pests.
The kind of growth which the cotton plant is
making at present is vegetative; this includes the
extension in length and breadth of those parts which
form means of support and communication, such as the
stem with its branches, and the leaf-stalks: and the
formation of new areas for absorption by the develop-
ment of fresh leaves and rootlets. All such growth is
taking place preparatory to the production of the
reproductive organs and the subsequent bearing of
fruit, and for it to do so successfully, it entails the
active formation of plant food and the quick transfer-
ence of it from the parts where this is made (the leaves)
to those where it is required for the formation of new
tissues, It is the presence of this food and the fact
that young, succulent tissues are being continually
formed, which render the plant so likely to be attacked
by animal pests, especially insects, at this time. As all
this has to do simply with vegetative growth, not with
that which is reproductive, it will be convenient to con-
fine the attention, at present, to those pests which
attack the growing plant.
A division of these pests into two kinds may be
made: those that actually disturb or consume the
tissue in order to obtain food, and those that
merely pierce it for the same purpose. This division
is important, as it often affords a guide in selecting
a method for the destruction of a given pest, The
chief of those included in the first kind are : the cotton
274
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1909
worm, the leaf-blister mite, cut worms, the red maggot
and grasshoppers ; the second comprises scale insects,
plant lice and cotton stainers. Detailed information con-
cerning the appearance, life-history, and modes of doing
harm of these, as well as remedies for them, can be
found in the Agricultural News, Vol. VI, No. 141, and
in the articles which frequently appear under the head-
ing ‘Insect Notes’: in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vols. IV, p. 268; VI, p. 123; IX, p. 235; and in
Pamphlet No. 45 of the Department Series, entitled
‘ABC of Cotton Planting’, to all of which special
reference is made.
All the pests included in the first kind, with the
exception of the leaf-blister mite and the red maggot,
can be best controlled by stomach poisons, the most
useful of which has been found to be Paris green;
therefore there should be a stock of this substance on
hand at the beginning of the cotton-growing season in
ordec that it may be made use of as soon as ib is
required, For caterpillars and grasshoppers, the mix-
ture of it made with lime is dusted on to the leaves,
but in the case of the latter insect, if it attacks the
plants when they are very young, poisoned baits
composed of youny grass on which the insecticide has
been sprinkled should be provided. Such a bait is
also useful in the case of cut worms, which eat
through the stems of the very young plants: a more
attractive one, consisting of bran and Paris green
mixed to a mash with molasses and water, is however
generally used. The leaf-blister mite and the red maggot,
the latter of which seems to have reached its chief
importiunce, as a pest, in Barbados, cannot be controlled
by stomach poisons. They are best kept in check by
preventive measures, these being, respectively, the
destruction of old cotton, and the exercise of care,
especially during cultivation, that the plants are not
wounded in any way. As a remedial measure for the
former, dusting with lime and sulphur has been found
successful; the latter may be kept in check by the
removal of atfected branches and of dead and dying
plants.
Of the second kind, namely, those which pierce the
tissues of the plant in order to obtain food, and which,
therefore, are not controllable by stomach poisons, the
scale insects are generally the most likely to interfere
with its growth. These, together with the plant louse,
are best kept in check by the use of contact poisons,
such as kerosene emulsion and whale oil soap ina spray.
The preventive method, that of burning old cotton, is
by far the most satisfactory, however, for the former.
The cotton stainer may be shaken off the plants into
atin containing water covered with a little kepogene,
or traps of heaps of cotton seed may be laid for it, which,
when they have collected a sufficient!y large number of
the insects, are soaked with kerosene and burnt.
The cotton worm, grasshopper, and leaf-blister mite
interfere with the nutrition of the plant, the first two
by eating the leaves, either wholly or partially, the last
by causing such distortion of them, especially when
they are young, as to cause a serious loss of their power
of making plant food. Scale insects, plant lice and
cotton stainers suck the juices from the plant, and thus
rob it of food which is necessary to growth. The last,
at any rate 1» the West Indies, does not cause much
damage in this way; it is chiefly objectionable because
it stains the cotton in the boll with its excrement, or
may cause similar damage by being crushed during
ginning. The red maggot, which is really the larva
belonging to a fly of the family of the gall gnats, gets
beneath the bark by means of wounds, and feeds on the
cambium layer. As this is composed of thin-walled,
quickly growing cells, on the formation of which the
thickening of the stem depends, any attack in which
this is severely implicated will speedily lead to the
death of the whole plant. Tinally, the damage done
by cut worms is irreparable, as far as the attacked
plants are concerned; but as this attack occurs only
when the plants are very young, the evil may often
be remedied by supplying dead holes.
It must not be forgotten that all these pests have
their own enemies which keep them in check, and
that it is only when the rate of survival of them is
increased by the provision of an unnaturally large
amount of the plant on which they feed, that the
balance of nature is upset and the parasites are not
produced sutticiently quickly to deprive the pests of their
abnormal advantage. In time, however, if there are
no untoward circumstances to prevent it, the very
fact of the increase of a pest will lead to a similar
increase in the numbers of its parasites, and the balance
will be restored. The best known of the insects that
are useful to cotton growers in the West Indies, in this
way, two } very small hymenopterous insects
(Lrichogramma pretiosa and Chalcis annulatus)
which respectively prey on the eggs and larvae of the
cotton worm, the ‘Jack Spaniard’ (wild bee, of Barba-
dos) which is also inimicai to this pest, and the lady-
birds and lace-wing fly, or aphis lion, which are the
enemies of the plant louse. All these should, of course,
be encouraged and never destroyed‘when it is possible
to avoid doing so.
are
Enough has been said to indicate the serious
damage that can be etfected by these pests, the necess-
Vou. VIII. No. 192.
THE AGRICULTURAL
275
NEWS,
ity of a constant and careful watch for their appearance,
and the remedies that are useful for the purpose of
coping with them. In the last connexion, it has only
been possible to give a general outline in an article
like the present one. For particulars, reference is
made to the publications of the Department that have
already been cited.
SUGAR INDUSTRY,
Sugar in Java.
The annual report of the experiment station for
the Java sugar industry for 1908 (Jaarverslag van
het Proefstation voor de Java-Surkerindestrie, 1908)
has been received. ‘he following notes are taken
from an abstract of it kindly supplied by Mr. J. Lely,
Chemist at the Antigua Sugar Factory.
Mention is made of the sudden dying-out of sugar cane
in several cases, and the phenomenon is attributed, in most
instances, to the high concentration of salts in the soil water,
ammonium sulphate, even, showing an abnormally high per-
centage. In connexion with soil conditions also, a warning
is given to the effect that phosphatic manures should not be
us:d for sugar-cane unless chemical analysis has shown that
its employment is necessary, for actual harm may result
from this and expense is incurred in purchasing a useless
manure. [This is interesting in view of the results that have
been obtained with phosphates in manurial experiments with
sugarcane in the West Indies.] For the same reason,
manuring with filter press cake is not recommended on most
soils. The use of potash manures is always advised against,
on account of the fact that it is an exceptional circumstance
to find too little of this constituent present for the plant’s
needs.
The question of the advisability of removing the trash
from canes is considered. It has been found expedient to
strip the lower, dead leaves, as their preSence on the cane
interferes with the production of roots when it is earthed up.
Trashing high up has never been found to be of any advan-
tage, except in the matter of helping to prevent the spread-
ing of cane fires. As regards the methods of planting
canes, it has been found, on certain estates, that grow-
ing them in rows + feet apart gives a greatly increased
yield.
A description is given of anew method for the extrac-
tion of soils for the purpose of chemical analysis which has
been brought forward by Professor Mitscherlich. In this,
a solution of carbon dioxide in water is used, and special
apparatus is required in the process. Experiments on the
hygroscopic properties of sugars have shown that, in the case
of the higher grades, a saturation of the atmosphere of 80
does not cause any change. Above this, they absorb water ;
below it, they become drier.
Other subjects of experiment that are dealt with are
investigations into the use of ‘blankit’ as compared with
that of sulphur dioxide for decolourizing purposes, and the
heating value of the megass from different varieties of cane.
With regard to the first, it was found that the results from
careful sulphuring are as good as those from the employment
of blankit, with the additional advantages of lower cost and
no loss of sugar. Observations on the behaviour of megass
in the furnace went to show that that from some varieties of
canes possessed a greater heating power than other kinds,
chiefly on account of its higher fibre content, This was often
conjoined with the fact that the jnice from the cane supplying
that megass required less heat per ton of cane to evaporate
it, thus leading to an increased economy.
The report concludes with a short biography of H. C.
Prinsen Geerligs, who has finally left. Java after seventeen
years of most successful work. Special emphasis is laid upon
his efforts toward the improvement of central factory methods,
and the good value of the many publications from his hands.
His great work has been to bring his superior intelligence
and practical insight to bear npon the sugar industry, and
thus to place it on a rational basis.
EFFECTS OF APPLICATIONS OF CALCIUM
CYANAMIDE TO SOILS.
The following note on a widely published paper,
by A. Miintz and ‘P. Nottin, on the effects of applica-
tions of calcium cyanamide to soils is taken from an
abstract in the Marperiment Station Record of the
United States Department of Agriculture for June
1909 :—
Comparative tests of the rate of nitrification of calcium
cynamide, ammonium sulphate, blood, and roasted leather are
reported, showing that, taking the rate of nitrification of
sulphate of ammonia during five months as 100, that of
calcium cyanamide was 88, dried blood 66, and roasted
leather 26. When, as in these experiments, the cyanamide
was employed in amounts 10 to 20 times greater than those
ordinarily used in practice, the nitrifying organisms were
paralysed at first and even a small amount of dentrification
occurred, but in a short time the organisms apparently
adapted themselves to the medium and normal nitrification
was restored. This retardation is due to the cyanamide and
not to the excess of caustic lime present. Amounts of the
material furnishing 35°7 tb. of nitrogen per acre may be
applied without any retardation of nitrification. Very large
amounts may be applied to humus soils in a very active state
of nitrification without retarding this proceess, and_ still
larger amounts may be used (sixty times that employed in
intensive culture) if added in successive applications extend-
ing over a considerable period (four months),
Comparative field tests on different kinds of soil confirm
in general the laboratory results. In only one case were
unfavourable results obtained in the application of the
cyanamide at the time of planting. Nevertheless, as
a precautionary measure, it is advised to apply the material
shortly in advance of planting. The cyanamide was applied
in amounts furnishing 35°70 Ib. of nitrogen per acre in March
and April on wheat and oats, and in amounts furnishing
41-95 tb. of nitrogen per acre on grapes and natural grass
lands. In damp weather there was no injury from such
application. In dry weather the grain and grass were
slightly burned, but soon recovered from the bad effects, and
the final yield was not reduced. The authors advise,
however, that the cyanamide should not be applied as a top-
dressing except in wet weather.
The general conclusion from these investigations is that
calcium cyanamide is substantially analogous 1 to sulphate of
ammonia as a fertilizer.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SerremBer 4, 1909.
WEST INDIAN FRUIT.
THE BUD-ROT OF COCOA-NUT PALMS.
The bud-rot (fever) of cocoa-nut palms has already
been treated of in several publications of the Depart-
ment, including the Agricultural News, Vol. IV, pp.
299, 369, and Vol. VI, p. 75, and the West Indian
Bulletin, Vol. VI, pp. 807-21, Vol. IX, pp. 379-81. In
the former volume of the Bulletin a very complete
account of the literature on the subject is given. In
Circular No. 36 of the Bureau of Plant Industry,
United States Department of Agriculture, entitled
The Bud-rot of the Cocoa-nut Palm, and issued
July 9, 1909, the present position in regard to the
disease is reviewed, and assistance toward the study of
the disease is asked for.
Notes in regard to the bud-rot of cocoa-nut palms have
appeared in various publications in recent years, but it may
not be generally known that, apparently, this same disease
destroyed many cocoa-nut groves in the Provinces of Matan-
zas and Havana, Cuba, as early as 1886. <A long report on
the disease was published at Havana in 1882. Its occurrence
was reported in Baracoa, on the eastern end of the island, in
1888, and according to the natives, it was present at least ten
years before that time. In 1834 a similar disease was
reported from the Cayman Islands, and in 1876 from British
Guiana. To-day, what apparently is one and the same
disease, the bud-rot, occurs in nearly all the cocoa-nut growing
regions of tropical America.
From time to time serious diseases of the cocoa-nut
palm have been reported from different parts of the world and
have been variously attributed to soil or atmospheric condi-
tions, to insects, fungi, etc., and it is not at all improb-
able that various environments and organisms may bring
about diseased conditions in the palm. It is quite certain,
however, that in many cases these diseases, supposedly
distinct, are all alike in that they exhibit a putrid condition
of the crown, though this condition has been attributed to
divers causes. It is now generally admitted that the rot of
the crown in the district of Baracoa is caused by bacteria,
A published description of a disease said to be of fungous
origin in the Havana district corresponds exactly to the
Baracoa disease. In the island of Trinidad many of the
trees said to be primarily diseased by a root-rot have all the
symptoms of the bud-rot. It can not be stated positively
that there is not a distinct root-rot or a fungous disease, but
the writer believes that the most destructive of the cocoa-nut
troubles of tropical America is of the type found in Baracoa,
Cuba. Personal examination of trees in Cuba, Jamaica,
Trinidad and British Guiana has offered convincing evidence
of this.
The problem of identifyiug the disease is of increasing
interest from the fact that for some years a serious disease
of cocoa-nut palms has been reported from eastern countries.
Of recent years these reports have described the disease as
similar to that occurring in Cuba. Many of the reports,
however, have claimed that it is caused by fungi, and have
made no comparison with the Cuban form.
In Ceylon and in the Philippines, the disease has been
likened to the bud-rot. In India thousands of cocoanut
trees have been lost, but, according to reports, owing to
fungous attacks. The description of the disease, however,
corresponds in every way to the bud-rot. Descriptions of
the destruction of palms in German East Africa, and in
Portuguese East Africa also coincide with reports of similar
ravages of the bud-rot.
As yet there is no satisfactory means of controlling this
disease. Should the so-called bud-rot be found to oceur in
Africa, India, and the Philippines, as well as in’ tropical
America, it will then put the investigators on a more satis-
factory basis for their work.
If the diseases bacterial, it may be that soil conditions
or climatic changes are important factors in its spread in
a virulent form. If these conditions be determiined, it may
possibly be found that the only solution of the problem of
identifying the disease is to obtain some variety either better
adapted to local conditions or perhaps actually resistant to
the bacterial attacks. It would be a long step toward this
to ascertain definitely what countries are free from, and what
countries are afflicted with, a rot of the crown of the palm,
whatever may be thought to be the cause. If the investi-
gators at the different stations will bear this in mind, it will
aid in solving the problem of controlling one of the most
baffling and destructive of tropical diseases.
The writer has in preparation a full account of his
investigations of the disease throughout the West Indies, and
will be glad to receive for comparison
photographs or
alcoholic material.
It might be well to mention the symptoms of the
disease. These are: the turning yellow of the outer
leaves, which ultimately hang straight down; the fact
that the youngest leaves do not unfold properly, but
stand upright, becoming first yellow and then brown in
colour; the presence in the softer, inner parts of the
bud, of rotten, evil-smelling tissues.
Vou. VIII. No. 192.
: ANNUAL KEPORTS ON THE
STATION, AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL,
Sam
BOTANIC
AND EXPERIMENT PLOTS, 1908-9.
LUCIA
The total expenditure in connexion with the St. Lucia
Botanic Station during 1908-9 was £784 3s, 7d., which is
greater than the sum expended last year by £150 5s. 3d.,
and less than that of 1906-7 by £25 10s. 27. An amount
of £71 6s. was realized from the sale of plants, flowers, etc.,
and is the highest on record. It was made up of £56 11s. 5d.,
for plants, seeds, ete., and £14 14s. 7d. for flowers.
The total number of plants distributed was 43,492, of
-which 33,135 were raised in, and distributed from, the
Agricultural School nurseries. The latter consisted of 23,610
limes, 9,405 cane, and 120 orange plants, besides 450 potato
cuttings, 16 cuttings of cacao shade trees, and 1 gallon of
seed corn. In addition to all these, quantities of seeds of
vegetable and other economic plants, and of ornamental
plants, as well as cuttings of the last, were sent out from the
Botanie Station.
Among the seeds received from the Commissioner of
Agriculture were some of the Jiquié Manicoba (Manihot
dichotoma), and of the Remanso Manicoba (Manthot piahy-
ensis). These were sown soon after arrival, and a few seedlings
of each kind have been obtained. It was decided by the
Agricultural Society to distribute free the seeds of Para
rubber that were obtained through the Imperial Department
-of Agriculture in 1907, in order to encourage the planting
of Hevea brasiliensis in the island. In addition to this, the
price of grafted mango plants has been reduced from 4s. to
2s., with an increased demand as the result.
Several of the Castilloa elastica trees at the Botanic
‘Station were tapped in order to obtain rubber to be prepared
and exhibited at the International Rubber Exhibition held at
Olympia in September 1908. Reports on this rubber have
been made by Messrs. Lewis and Peat, and by the Imperial
Institute. The gist of these is that the biseuit rubber from
St. Lucia was good in quality, strong, clean, and well pre-
pared, though rather too thick, and containing a little higher
percentage of resin than it should—a detect that may possibly
disappear as the trees grow older. The scrap rubber was in
good condition, but slightly barky.
As a result of a suggestion by the Commissioner of
Agriculture that Vature Teaching should be used as a basis
for future agricultural work in the elementary schools, the
Agricultural Superintendent, after conferring with the
Inspector of Schools, was asked to draw up a syllabus of
lessons selected from that text-book, with the object of
securing uniformity of work throughout the schools, and for
the guidance of teachers. This has been done, and the
syllabus is now in operation. A new scheme by which grants
are made to elementary schools for agricultural teaching has
been drawn up by the Government, and, in connexion with
this, arrangements have been made by which such work in
schools is inspected by the Agricultural Instructor, who
makes his report to the Agricultural Superintendent.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 277
The expenditure at the Agricultural School and Experi-
ment Station was £911 10s. There is a monetary return, to
be deducted from this, of £195 18s. 9d., which was derived
from produce sold and that raised at the Station and used as
food in the School. The report indicates that the progress,
conduct, and health of the pupils have been satisfactory.
Details are given of the work in the Experiment Plots
attached to the School. An interesting table at the end of
the report discloses the fact that up to December 31, 1908,
of the sixty pupils who had been admitted since the School
was opened, twenty-three had completed the course of
instruction, and the same number remained in residence. Of
the former, thirteen were employed in the island (eleven as
overseers) and ten had left St. Lucia.
The report of the Agricultural Instructor contains an
interesting account of the attempts that have been made to
establish the Sea Island cotton industry in St. Lucia. Advice
has been given, for the guidance of those who are taking
this up, by means of lantern lectures and visits by the
Instructor to the cotton-growing districts. For the further-
ance of the object, free grants of manure and seeds have
been made to all having land prepared, the former by the
Commissioner of Agriculture and the latter by the Agri-
cultural Society. To deal with the produce, a cotton factory
has been erected in Castries by Messrs. Macfarlane, Junior
& Co. The rest of the report deals with cacao and limes,
sugar, and agriculture in the primary schools, and contains
a detailed account of the progress made with school gardens.
A SUGGESTED FOOD FOR STOCK.
A food to which the name of ‘ sugar meal ’ has been
given, and which consists chiefly of rice bran and inferior
sugar to which a certain amount of crushed cotton seed is
added has been fed for some time to stock by Mr. N. Forte,
of Bennetts, Barbados, and it is stated that the animals have
thriven on it and have remained in good condition during
its use. An analysis of the food conducted at the Govern-
ment Laboratory, Barbados, gave the following results :—
Moisture 10-70 per cent.
Oil nis aoe nic iSem Gs
Albuminoids* =e aoe ERS A
Mucilage, starch, ete. D023 Su wees
Indigestible fibre 710) eean ese
Asht OSD es
*Containing nitrogen en Oh
T phosphoric anhydride 1°01
il e potash Aa O74
it “A insoluble siliceous matter 5°22
Expressing the food-material in terms of carbohydrates,
the value in units is 88; in a similar way, the value of
cotton seed meal alone is 162 units. The albuminoid ratio
of the food, that is the ratio of the albuminoids present to
the oil, mucilage and starch. expressed as starch, is actually
higher than that which is required for working animals,
being 1 to 4°6.
It may be mentioned that rice bran consists of the out-
side of the grain together with part of the germ. When
100 tb. of rough rice are manufactured into clean rice, about
18} bb. of rice bran is obtained.
It would appear that, where there is likely to be a fair
quantity of waste sugar on hand, and where rice bran can be
easily obtained, these materials, together with a certain
amount of crushed cotton seed, can be combined to form
a cheap and palatable food for stock,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SerpTemMBer 4, 1909.
Keo CM
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WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date August 16, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
A small business has been done in West Indian Sea
Tsland cotton since our last report, and prices are firm.
The sales comprise a few St. Vincent at 16d., and odd
lots from other islands at 10d. to 152.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co. on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending August 7, is as follows :—
The sales consisted of the Jos. T. Dill crop of 30 bales,
sold for France on private terms, and being delivered from
plantation, they composed the receipts.
The usual stock consists entirely of planters’ crop lots
held bere or on plantation, aggregating now 427 bales.
Factors are refusing to sell any of them under 35c.,
held under instructions from the owners for this price.
being
Thus the position in this market still remains
virtually unchanged.
THE BRITISH COTTON GROWING
ASSOCIATION.
The fourth Annual Report of the British Cotton Grow-
ing Association states that the serious drought which occurred
throughout the whole of West Africa in 1907 was the first
important check which has yet been experienced by it. This,
however, was not serious, as such droughts, though not
unprecedented, are of rare eecurrence, as over thirty years
have elapsed since the last failure of rains. Another set-back
had been the depression in trade, following the financial crisis
in the United States ; this, and the one arising from the dis-
pute in the Lancashire Cotton Industry, had had a serious ef-
fect on the transactions of the Association during 1908. The
last untoward circumstances may check the development of
new cotton fields.
improvement in trade, and it was to be hoped that, conse-
quently, the demand for cotton may improve.
There were, however, distinct signs of
Reference is made to the Conference held in July,
in Manchester and Liverpool with representatives of the
West Indian cotton-growing industry, and it is stated that
most valuable results are expected from that meeting.
The work of the Association has greatly increased,
chiefly in connexion with the givins
the supply of baling materials anc
of engineering advice,
other and the
J
stores,
insurance of cotton and seed. In order to increase the
efficiency of the first, a competent engineer has been added
to the Head Office Staff, and now expert advice can be given
to planters and others when machinery is being ordered, and
plans and detailed estimates can be drawn up for them. The
exceptional buying powers of the Association enable it to
supply planters with stores on the lowest terms. The
insurance of cotton and seed is effected at moderate rates, and
policies are granted whereby cotton is covered against all
risks, fire and marine, from the time that it reaches the
planter’s store until it is delivered at the warehouse in
Liverpool.
Important experiments have been carried out by the
Association in order to determine the efticiency of cotton
seed for producing gas for gas engines, and two experimental
plants have been despatched, one to Lagos, and the other to
Mombasa. If the trials indicate that success will be obtained
along these lines, the results will be most important, especially
in regard to such places as Northern Nigeria, Uganda, the
Sudan, and Nyassaland, where the price of coal is very high
and the seed is at present of little value, as the latter will
be the most economical fuel for providing power for almost
every purpose except that of transport.
Other interests which are immediately before the Asso-
ciation are the provision of trained agricultural experts with
a knowledge of cotton and other tropical products, the
suggestion to establish agricultural scholarships in connexion
with the cotton-growing industry, and the proposal for the
formation of a Bureau for Tropical Agriculture for the collec-
tion and collation of information and the direction of agri-
culture in the British tropical possessions.
CARAVONICA COTTON IN MEXICO.
From time to time, mention has been made in the
Agricultural News of this kind of cotton. It has not
shown itself, so far, suitable to West Indian conditions,
and the lint, though longer in staple than that of
Upland, has been pronounced to be far inferior to that
of Sea Island cotton. (See Agricultural News, Vol. VI,
p- 55). The following facts in connexion with trials
which have been made with it in Mexico are taken
from the United States Monthly Consular and Trade
Reports, July 1909 :—
Much has been written in the last few years in regard
to the raising of Caravonica cotton in Australia and Mexico.
As yet, everything has been in the nature of experiments, and
Caravenica cotton has not reached the commercial stage, but
in the limited sections in which it can be grown, there seems
to be a prospect of good profits from its cultivation.
Vou. VIII. No. 192.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 279
Neen eee ee eee ee en een nn eee LEE IEnE nn
Caravonica is a tree cotton, and was produced by the
erossing of a fine, long-stapled Mexican cotton with a coarse,
long-stapled Peruvian cotton. This hybridization was
-earried out in Queensland some ten years ago by an Italian
-scientist—Dr. David Thomatis—and since then, seed from
the resulting plants has been tried in all parts of the world,
Tt is now being experimented with in Mexico, India, Egypt,
¥rench New Caledonia, and the Congo. Experiments in
upper Mexico and the United States have proved failures,
‘but in lower Mexico the plant grows well. It has been
demonstrated that the plant will grow only in a hot climate
with not too much rainfall. The seeds were introduced into
Mexico in June 1906, by Dr. Pehr Olssen-Seffer, who
planted them at La Zacualpa Botanical Station on the
Pacific Coast, and who, finding that climate suitable, has
‘since planted 75 hectares (185 acres) and expects largely to
increase this area later.
This tree cotton has been found to be very healthy and
highly resistant to pests of all kinds.
THE SILK COTTON TREE IN JAVA.
The Silk Cotton Tree (HLriodendron anfractuosum) 1s
‘cultivated in Java for the sake of the ‘silk cotton’, well
known in the West Indies and used for stuffing cushions,
pillows, ete. In Java, however, this ‘kapok’, as it is called,
is grown and exported on a commercial scale, many hundreds
of bales being sent to Europe for ihe use of upholsterers.
The best situation for the plant is found to be on sandy soil
at a fair elevation near the sea. The plant is propagated
both from cuttings and seeds, but those raised from the
former are not as vigorous and take longer to bear than
those from seed. The seeds are sown during the rainy
season, in rows about 12 inches apart, and when the young
seedlings appear, they are exposed to the sun as much as
possible and are kept well watered, after having been
thinned out until they are 1 foot apart. After eight months’
growth in the nursery, they are set out at the rate of about
140 to the acre, that is if no other crops are to be grown on
the land. In transplanting, the leaves are stripped off and
the plant is severely cut back. The yield of silk cotton
commences in two or three years and is at its best in the
fifth ; it amounts to about 450 tb. of the clean product per
annum from each acre, when the trees are planted in the way
described above. The fibre should not be allowed to get wet
before it is gathered, as water damages it. The seeds are
separated by beating with sticks, or by means of a primitive
form of gin in which they are removed by coming into
contact with rows of pegs on a revolving cylinder. The silk
cotton is exported in 80 bb. bales which must not be pressed
too tightly, or the fibre loses much of its value. The seeds
are utilized for the production of oil, and the residue from
them is a aseful nitrogenous manure.
Uses for the Plantain. Plantain meal is prepared
by the natives of Central Africa for storing and sale. They
simply slice the fruit, dry it in the sun and grind or pound
it to powder. In Mexico, according to Colonel Colquhoun,
the frnits are exposed to the sun, and when they begin to
wrinkle they are peeled. If the skin is not removed, a bad
taste is imparted to the fruit. They are kept for some time
until an efflorescence of sugar appears on their surface, and
ave then pressed in masses of about 25 Tb. each, and placed in
boxes, or wrapped in dry banana leaves. (Sthodesian Ayrt-
cultural Journal, June 1909.)
GARDEN NOTES.
THE CULTIVATION OF FERNS.
The following hints on this subject appear in the
Agricultural Bulletin of the Federated Malay
States :—
The nature of a fern generally suggests whether it should
be grown in a pot, on a tree stem, or in a basket. Those
kinds with creeping rhizomes do best in baskets, as a rule,
whilst those which form crowns and fibrous roots are most
suitable for pot culture. One of the most effective ways
of growing many ferns is on the stems of trees, palms, ete.
Although it frequently happens that the conditions
under which plants grow spontaneously cannot be artificially
produced, the knowledge of the positions in which they grow
naturally aids materially in their successful cultivation. It
may be sately stated that the majority of ferns require shade
and moisture. Most gardens possess one or more spots of
this nature, under trees generally, and in those situations
ferns luxuriate if reasonable care be taken in their cultivation.
Ferns grown in pots require fresh potting more or less
frequently according to their rate of growth ; but it is advis-
able to avoid over potting. Those plants generally grow
best whose roots are in contact with the inside of the pots.
Care must be given to watering, as ferns resent over watering
as quickly as any other plant if the soil is in any way water-
logged or sour; on the other hand, care must also be taken
that the roots do not become too dry. In the tropics, ferns
may be repotted almost at any time without ill results.
Pots should be clean and dry when used, and new pots
should be thoroughly soaked in water and then dried
before using. The question of drainage is an important
one, especially where the rainfall is so heavy. When
potting ferns, it should be borne in mind that the major-
ity of them grow na-urally in partly decayed vegetable
matter, usually of a soft nature ; they should therefore
be made firm in their pots, but on no account potted hard.
A compost of an open sandy nature through which the
water will pass readily should be used ; a mixture of two
parts of sandy loam with one part of leaf mould, one
part of fibrous material, and one part of coarse sand will be
found to suit most ferns.
Basket ferns should be planted in fibrous material mixed
with lumps of peat and pieces of sandstone and charcoal.
These composts may be given as_ possessing all the qualities
required by the majority of ferns usually cultivated in gar-
dens. Many of the more delicate ferns, such as some Adian-
tums, resent too much water over head. A position under
a shady verandah suits these best. It is only by experience
and constant observation that the best position can be found
for the more fastidious ferns. Very often a move of only
a few yards makes all the ditference between a good and
a bad specimen. Windy positions should be avoided and
eare taken that no manure enters into the potting compost.
An occasional application of liquid or artificial manure is
beneficial when growth and root action are vigorous, but
heavy manuring of maidenhairs should be avoided.
Pans of broken brick and coral rock are very suitable
for raising fern spores. ‘The pans should be kept damp,
and if moss or the minute algae which appear on damp
spots are growing on the rock, so much the better. The
fruiting fronds should be taken before the spores are blown
away, about the time that the sori become brown, and shaken
or left lying on the pan, which is then covered with a glass
plate.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados,
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural stews
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1909. No. 192.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial in the present number has for its
subject the animal pests of cotton, from the points of
view of the damage that they do and of the remedies
for them. Init, references to the literature on the
subject published by the department will be found.
A review of the report on the Botanic Station,
etc., St. Lucia, for 1908-9, which has just been issued,
will be found on page 277.
Page 277 also contains a suggestion for the use
of waste sugar and rice bran in making a food for stock.
Some useful hints on the cultivation of ferns are
as 7 279
given on p. 279.
An interesting, illustrated account of the sweet
potato weevil, known in Barbados as ‘ Scarabee’ and in
Antigua as ‘Jacobs’, will be found on page 282.
The last of the short series of articles on fungi
appears on page 253. The three articles taken
together forma simple general account of the life-
history of the fungi and of their importance in practical
agriculture.
The ways in which Trinidad, Antigua and St.
Kitts are represented at the Canadian National
Exhibition are detailed on page 285.
Recent work on Bordeaux mixture is noticed on
: 9°eR
ve
page 2506.
Sugar Production in British India.
A reliable estimate of the quantity of sugar
produced in British India makes this the largest
sugar-producing country in the world. It is placed at
about 4 million tons. Of this large amount, practically
none is exported to other countries; on the contrary,
it is consumed at home, in addition toa considerable
amount that is imported.
ED
Deterioration of Butter in Cold Storage.
It is well known that butter frequently undergoes.
marked changes even when it is stored at very low
temperatures. During the past three years, the Dairy
Division of the Burean of Animal Industry, United
States Department of Agriculture, has been making
investigations for the purpose of discovering the canse
of this, and of finding remedies for it. During these,
it was found that the acidity of the butter increased
with that of the cream from which it was made, but no-
bacteria were present, either in the cream or the butter,
which would account for the deterioration of the latter
when it had a high acid content. In addition, heating
the ripened cream before it was made into butter did
not check the changes in the latter, showing that these
were not due to enzymes. Marked undesirable changes
of a progressive nature, however, took place in butter
produced from pasteurized cream which had been treated
with various acids.
The results indicate that the acid developed nor-
mally in the cream, by the action of the lactic acid
bacteria, subsequently assists in bringing about a slow
decomposition of one or more of the substances of which
the butter is largely composed, thus causing its deterio-
ration. As a remedy, it 1s suggested that butter should
be made from sweet, pasteurized cream, without the
addition of a starter—a process which was found quite
feasible on a commercial basis. Such butter has too
mild a flavour to suit the average dealer, but can be
sold, after storage, as high grade butter.
Methods of Control for Eel Worms.
Information has been given in several numbers of
the Agricultural News (Vols. III, p. 283, VI, p. 123,
VIII, p. 138) in connexion with the nematode worms
commonly called eel worms, and remedies for the pest
have been suggested. It will be remembered that these
parasites are capable of doing much damage to growing
crops, and that itis very difficult to eradicate them,
A leaflet has been issued by the Board of Agriculture,
England, containing particulars as to methods of pre-
vention rather than remedies, and these should be
applicable to conditions in the West Indies, They
include: (1) the rotation of crops, so that as long an
interval as possible will clapse between two successive
growings of the susceptible plant; (2) the destruction,
as far as possible, of the refuse of intected crops, which
can be effected most economically by composting with
lime; (3) deep ploughing, with the use of a skim
coulter (this is also useful against other insects); (4)
suitable manuring and cultivation, so as to produce
vigorous plants,
Vou. VIII. No. 192.
The Action of Heat and Antiseptics on Soils.
Experiments that have been conducted by the
Imperial Department of Agriculture have indicated
that the treatment of soils with carbon disulphide has
a tendency to cause an increase in the growth of plants
that are subsequently raised in them—an increase that
cannot, of course, be accounted for on the supposition
that the carbon disulphide directly adds plant food
to the soil. Light appears to be thrown on the subject
by some experiments that have been undertaken at the
Rothamsted Experiment Station, the purpose of which
was to compare the effect of moist heat, and of various
antiseptics, such as carbon disulphide, chloroform,
benzene, ether and kerosene on the productiveness of
soils. It was found that when soils are treated with
such antiseptics, chemical changes take place and
the amount of soluble organic matter in them is
increased, just as is the case when’ they are heated.
Like heated soils, too, they have the effect of prevent-
ing germination of seeds in them, to a certain extent,
This effect is due to the presence of some definite sub-
stance which is probably the same in all cases, and also
the same as that formed by heat. The amount of
change caused by antiseptics is equivalent to that
obtained by heating the soil to about 60°C. or 75°C.
and this may be sutticient to account for the increased
growth of plants in soils which have been treated with
them. When such soils are kept for a few weeks at
a summer temperature, some of the organic matter
that has been rendered soluble becomes insoluble, and
their action in preventing germination is reduced.
Heated soils showed a similar decrease in the amount
of soluble organic matter, especially when they were
repeatedly watered; on the other hand, in ordinary
soils its amount is increased.
tc
Agricultural Conditions in Bermuda.
It is stated that the importance of Bermuda as
a producer of early vegetables, etc., is decreasing and
that it is rapidly attaining increased importance as
a tourist resort. The chief reasons for the decline are
said to be connected with the depletion of the soil, the
increase of fungus diseases, and the changed conditions
of competition in the United States. In regard to the
last, the area on which crops such as the ‘potato and
onion are raised in the latter country is so large, and
the transport of the produce so quick, that the small
area of arable land in the former cannot hope to
continue to compete. An additional disturbing factor
is that the system of reporting shipments from Hamil-
ton a week in advance causes the produce to arrive on
a falling market instead of on a rising one, as was
for merly the case.
On the other hand, the increasing recognition of
Bermuda as a resort for the winter months has led to
a corresponding increase in the number of tourists
arriving there ; so much so, that this was nearly four
times as great in 1908 asin 1907. This is leading to
the erection of new hotels, as well as to the enlarge-
ment of those which exist already, and the chief effect
on agriculture will be that crops will be raised for
home consumption rather than for export,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Lo
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—
Washes for Cacao Thrips.
The annual report on the Experiment Plots, St.
Lucia, for 1968-9, describes experiments with different
washes for the purpose of determining their efficiency
in controlling thrips on cacao trees. "The trials were
conducted with those described in the West Indian
Bulletin, Vol. IX, pp. 191-2, which are (1) resin wash,
(2) kerosene emulsion, (3) emulsion with whale-oil soap,
(4) resin and whale- al soap compound, It is stated
that each of these was more or less effective in
destroying thrips, but that the resin wash appeared to
do the best work, on account of its property of sticking
firmly to any surface with which it may come into
contact. ‘More of this mixture adhered to the leaves
than in the case of the other washes, and dead thrips
were observed in greater numbers on trees treated
with it.’
Some care is necessary, however, in applying this
wash, as the trees treated with it dropped their leaves
within a few weeks of being sprayed. This circumstance
was probably due to the fact that it contains caustic
soda.
oe
The Best Conditions for Growing Alfalfa.
The New York State Agricultural Experiment
Station has recently carried ont more than 100 experi-
ments, 1n co-operation with farmers, for the purpose
of finding out what effect the operations of liming and
inoculating Jand on which alfalfa is to be grown has on
the chances of raising a successful crop. The results
show that the chances of raising a good crop are as
foliows : one in five, where neither liming nor inocu-
lation is employed ; two in five where lime is applied
at the rate of 134 cwt. to the acre; three in five,
where naturally inoculated soil is added at the rate of
about 2 cwt. to the acre; four in five, where both
liming and inoculation are employed. The trials
were made on land poor in nodule-forming organisms,
and which was in the receipt of the usual cultural
operations.
ED —————____
Germination of Ceara Rubber Seeds.
A rapid method of germinating Ceara rubber seeds
is in use at La Zucualpa Botanical isn Mexico. It
consists in placing a layer of fresh horse manure in
a box, to the thickness of about 6 inches, spreading
the seeds on the surface, and covering with about 1 inch
of the same material mixed with a small quantity of
sand. The soil should be slightly packed, and the box
covered with glass. If put ina warm place or in the
sun, germination will take place very quickly. The
seedlings should be planted as soon as ‘they are an inch
or wor high, and some manure added to the soil.
After such treatment the seedlings will grow very
rapidly. In planting at stakes the holes Sehoule be
made as large as possible, or at least 4 feet square. The
soil should be well we atered, and if too sour, some
lime should be added before planting.
to
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INSECT NOTES.
THE SWEET POTATO WEEVIL.
Reference to the weevil (Cryptorhynchus batatae)
which attacks the sweet potato in the field have
frequently been made in
the Agricultural News
and the other publica-
tions of the Imperial Uae
Department of Agri- is
m.: Y
culture. This small SES je
insect, which is known
in Barbados as the
Scarabee, and in the
Leeward Islands as_ the
Jacobs, is shown four
times the natural size
at Fig. 26: the larva,
which is a small white
grub, is represented, also
magnified four times, at
Fig. 27; and Fig. 28
shows the pupa, enlarged
to the same extent.
Fie. 26.
Fic. 26.
Hires 21.
The attacks of this Fic. 28.
pest have been very se-
vere, in Barbados, for the
past four or five years,
according to the state-
ments of experienced
planters the most severe
they have ever known.
Barbados has had several
years of short rainfall, and
the extreme severity of
the scarabee attacks is
said to be due to this, in
large part at least.
The life cycle of the
weevil occupies about
thirty days, as follows :
from the laying of the egg to the time of hatching, five days ;
the larval period of twenty days, during which the damage to
the potato is caused, and during which also practically all
the feeding and growing is done by the insect ; and the
pupal stage of five days, during which the weevil transforms
from the grub tothe adult, winged insect. Under favour-
able conditions, the process of egg-laying probably begins
very shortly after the emergence of .the adults, but it
is likely that the adults are capable of surviving long
periods of time when the conditions are not favourable, and
then laying their eggs.
Fia. 29.
The usual practice in Barbados is to plant potatoes in
rotation with cane, cotton or other that the
first attack is by beetles which come from outside of the
field. The eggs are laid in the first instance in the swollen
part of the stem near the base, or in potatos which are
exposed. The resulting brood of insects spreads throughout
the field, penetrates deeper into the infested potatos, and
attacks others which may be completely covered by the soil.
One may often find potatos in the field, especially when the
crops have been allowed to remain for some time in the ground
after becoming ripe, which show two or three distinct attacks
crops, SO
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
ScARABEE (Cryptorhynchus batatae).
LARVA (GRUB) OF THE SCARABEE.
Fic.
Pups (CHRYSALIS) OF SCARABEE.
Kies 29: a
Sweer Potato ATrAcKED BY SCARABEE.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1909.
in this way.
Very dry weather favours the growth and develop-
ment of the scarabee in two ways at least : the dry soil allows
air to penetrate more freely to the potatos, and it also
allows the adult insect to prosecute the search for the deeply
buried potatos more easily.
The practice of keep-
ing potatos in the ground
after they are ripe for
digging is very favour-
able for the development
of the scarabee, and it
is likely that if, for two
or three seasons, all pota-
tos could be dug as soon
as they are ready, the
numbers of the pest
would be greatly reduced.
Several experiments
have been carried out in
Barbados during the past
year with the object of
devising measures of con-
trol for the scarabee, but
no very definite results
were obtained. In two
instances there were no
attacks in the field in
which the experimental
plots were laid out, in
two others the owners or
managers dug the potatos
as soon as scarabee ap-
peared, and in the re-
mainder the plots were
all attacked—the control
plot and the treated plot
alike. ‘These experiments
indicate, however, that
the practice of growing
slips, for planting, in
nursery instead of
taking them from the
ordinary field is worthy
of adoption. Such a nursery can easily be established
away from the potato fields, by planting ‘pickings
(small bits of roots), which may be collected after
a crop of potatos has been harvested. This practice gives
strong plants, and there is no chance of transporting the
pest to the newly-planted field with the slips if eare is
taken that the nursery is not infested. Except at times
when the scarabee is very abundant, the potatos are not
attacked until fairly well grown, and the plants in a nursery
would not be kept long enough to attract the weevils in any
numbers.
The attack of the scarabee results in the complete loss of
every potato in which the grubs of the weevil have lived.
Not only do they destroy all the tissues surrounding their
tunnels, but they impart such a disagreeable taste and odour
to the remainder, even when it appears quite sound, that no
use can be made of it, all estate animals refusing to eat such
portions. The appearance of an attacked potato is shown in
Fig. 29.
The scarabee is quite different from the sweet potato
weevil which is a pest in Jamaica and the Southern part of
the United States. This insect is Cylas formicarius,
Vor, Wills Noy 192.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 283
FUNGUS NOTES.
The following article is the last of a short series
giving an account of the principal points of interest in
the life-history ot the fungi, and indicating their con-
nexion with practical agriculture. The first two of
these appeared in the two most recent numbers of the
Agricultural News, p. 251 and p. 267.
PART III.
Tue Frurr Bony?
The simplest form of asexual fructification in the fungi
is the contdium, or simple spore cut off from the tip of
a hypha, as described in the first article of this series. In
the mould fungi the spores are borne in a receptacle, called
a sporangium, which forms a swollen knob at the end of an
erect hypha ; some of these have a mechanism by means of
which the sporangia can be driven to a considerable distance
from the plant which forms them. The sporangial wall is
sticky, and consequently adheres to any substance it may
hit ; the gummy substance on the outside then hardens, and
keeps it firmly attached to whatever it comes in contact
with.
In the next higher group of fungi the spores are borne
in an elongated sack-like sporangium known as an ascus.
Mach ascus contains a definite number of spores, usually
eight. The asci themselves may be borne in a closed box
built up of closely-woven hyphae, or onthe upper surface
of a more or less flat structure formed, like the box, of closely-
woven hyphae. The asci are always borne closely packed
together, and frequently large swollen why phal hairs occur
between them.
In the forms with a flat, plate-like fruit-body, the asci
open at the top by means of a pore, or a cap-like portion is
removed, and the spores are forcibly ejected to some distance,
owing to the mutual pressure of the asci on one another. In
those forms in which the asci are enclosed, a small opening
is formed in the top of the box, and as its contents swell up
when the spores are ripe, the latter are extruded through the
hole. In some cases the fruit-body remains closed, and the
spores are only liberated when it decays. These boxes may
occur separately on the surface of the food substance, in
which case they are often very minute ; or many of them may
be borne sunk in a firm, hard tissue built up by the hyphae
of the fungus, and known asa stroma. This stroma often
forms first a simple kind of free abstricted spore from surface
hyphae, and then from more internal tissue produces the
more elaborate boxes containing the asci.
All these forms of fruit ‘bo dy may be coloured ; red,
yellow, white or black are the most usual colours. Hard
black patches are often found growing on trees ; these are
the stromata of a fungus. The fungus causing canker of
cacao forms red fruiting bodies, and one of the forms
parasitic on seale insects is greyish white and built up of
a number of nearly spherical lumps, or boxes. The rind
disease of the sugar-cane usually appears as a number of
small black dots, often extruding a black ribbon consisting
of millions of spores held together by mucilage.
The group of fungi mentioned above are known as the
Ascomycetes on account of the presence of the usually eight-
spored ascus.
Another group of fungi known as the Rusts or Uredineae
form four kinds of spores. Two of these are produced in
pustules or sori. The pustules originate under the skin of
the leaves and the stems of the host plant, for all these fungi
are parasites, and eventually break through, forming short
rusty or blackish streaks on the leaves. Another form of
spore is borne in small round cups often surrounded by the
torn skin of the host plant, for like the other spore-forms the
cups originate under the skin.
The fructifications of the next group of fungi are almost
too well known to need much description ; these are the toad-
stools, puff balls and bracket fungi, all of which are included
in the group known as the Basidiomycetes. Here there are
usually four, sometimes two, spores borne at the end of small
knobs which project from a swollen cell known as the
basidium. In the toadstool these swollen cells are arranged
in a row along the sharp edge of the gills, and the spores
hang downwards. In the puff-balls all the internal structure
breaks down as the fructification ripens, and finally there is
only a case left filled with a fine powder of ripe spores.
There is also a very large number of fungi in which only
one stage in the life-history is known. These are grouped
together as imperfect forms, and include : the cotton anthrac-
nose, the brown rot fungus of cacao pods, the Lasiodiplodia
disease of cacao, and many other forms. In some of these
fungi, the spores are borne, as in the Ascomycetes, in
a closed box, often black, sometimes red or yellow, and it
is believed that they are usually stages in the life-history of
an Ascomycete. In other forms, the spores are cut off from
hyphae which are massed together into a pustule, often
slightly coloured. Such pustules occur in the shrunken and
discoloured patches on cotton bolls attacked by Anthracnose.
Some forms cause leaf spots ; and some are only known as
a loose, white mould on leaves, fruit, or decaying matter.
Besides their characteristic fruiting bodies, the parasitic
fungi often produce some typical appearance in the host
plant, by which their presence may be recognized. Root
diseases always cause yellowing and drooping of the leaves
of the host—symptoms similar to those shown when the host
is suffering from drought and due to the same cause, namely
want of water. On stems and branches, canker areas are often
produced, as for example, the canker of cacao ; other fungi
cause swellings or the appearance known as ‘ Witches’ Brooms’, ;
that is an excessive number of small twigs borne from about
the same point on a branch. In some cases, when a diseased
stem is cut down, the wood is discoloured, looking grey-
ish or brown, or it may appear soft and rotten. Green
stems show discoloured and, frequently, sunken and hardened
patches which often spread in all directions round the stem,
and eventually the -host plant is killed. Fruits show similar
symptoms, or they may become soft and rotten instead of
hard ; usually the fructifications of the fungus do not appear
until the fruit is nearly killed, and the same is true of other
parts of the host plant. A few fungi are known which never
produce anything but mycelium.
Leaves, when attacked by a parasite, usually become
discoloured in spots which vary in shape but are often
characteristic of the disease ; a good example is the angular
leaf spot of cotton caused by a bacterium. Sometimes holes
are formed in the leaf, or the leaf is rusted, or covered with
a white mould. In short, the manifestations of disease in all
parts of the host are varied and numerous, but frequently
characteristic.
It is hoped that what has been said in these
articles will prove useful to any one on the lookout
for disease in his crops, and will enable him, with the
assistance of the information given in the various
publications of the Department, to form some idea of
the method of treatment likely to be successful in any
given case, and of the reasons for that treatment,
i)
(oa)
_
THE
GLEANINGS.
An Ordinance for the purpose of lessening the prevalence
of the disease known as ankylostomiasis, or miners’ anaemia,
is to be introduced into the Legislative Council of Trinidad.
The number of cotton mills proposed to be built or
actually under construction in the United States during the
first six months of the present year was 100. Most
of these will be situated in the cotton-growing areas.
Experience at the Botanic Station, Montserrat, has
shown that in planting a logwood hedge, an application of
fine manure to the seeds has greatly increased the number
that germinated successfully.
The recently formed Agricultural Board in Grenada has
decided to continue all the prize-holding competitions in that
island during this year, and peasant proprietors have been
notified to this effect.
The amounts of sugar apd molasses manufactured in
Barbados and exported during the present year, to August 26,
are 12,327 tons and 67,278 puncheons, respectively. Last
year, the quantities for a similar period were 31,631 tons
of sugar and 53,125 puncheons of molasses.
The area under cotton cultivation this year in the
Russian Provinces of Central Asia is stated to be about
500,000 acres, which is an increase of 30,000 acres over the
area under cotton last season. There are indications that
the crop will be a good one.
Experiments carried out in Cape Colony have shown
that the use of poisoned bait composed of sugar and arsenate
of lead dissolved in water is almost completely successful in
controlling a fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), which has caused
much damage there in the past.
The idea has largely prevailed that sisal plants yield
the best fibre when they are grown in uncultivated
places. The Hawatian Sisal Company is making trial of
a method of growing them on cultivated land, and the
results of the experiment are awaited with much interest.
During the months of June and July of the present year,
there were exported from Demerara 7,883 and 8,194 tons of
sugar, respectively. The amount for July 1908 was 4,762
tons. The total export of sugar for the present year, until
the end of July, was 48,961 tons, as against 40,584 tons for
the corresponding period of last year.
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SEPTEMBER 4, 1909.
The Grenada Agricultural Society has given instructions
that the informatiom concerning ‘ black blight’, which has
been collected by that Society generally and by its Agri-
cultural Experiments Committee, shall be collated and for-
warded to the Board of Agriculture of that colony with
a view to some definite action being taken to arrest the
spread of the disease.
The exports of sunn hemp (the fibre of Crotalaria juncea)
and sisal hemp from Madras for the year 1908 were respec-
tively 30,407 ewt. and 6,919 ewt., compared with 38,599 ewt.
and 30,182 ewt., similarly, in 1907. The decrease is due to
the fact that the lower prices prevailing in 1908 rendered
the fibre from Madras incapable of competing in the European
market owing to the fact that it is mostly prepared by hand.
Wornis in fowls, though they do not often cause death,
tend to produce exhaustion and to reduce the supply of eggs.
Farm Life gives the following treatment for them : Give
10 to 15 drops of turpentine in a tablespoonful of sweet oil,
night and morning for three days. Another remedy is
7’; 0z. powdered areca nut, given every third morning
before feeding, followed by a tablespoonful of sweet oil two
hours afterwards.
An article by the late Commissioner of the Virgin
Islands, in the West India Committee Circular for August 3,
1909, states, in connexion with the cotton industry there :
‘If no further fall in prices occur, and if the enthusiastic
peasantry can be taught the importance of keeping the usual
pests under control and of taking due care of the crops,
cotton will probably for years to come be one of the chief
exports of these islands’,
A report from Thomas Nash, fruit importer, Plymouth,
states that there should be a ready sale for limes in England
during this mouth and the next if the weather is hot. Satis-
factory prices for oranges will be obtained until January,
when the market is depressed by the arrival of Spanish
produce. Consignments of pine-apples and bananas are
recommended immediately ; the latter are now selling at 14s.
to 15s. per ewt., green.
The importance of the Argentine Republic as a stock
raising country is illustrated by a recent census which
discloses the fact that there were in that State, at the time
at which it was taken, over 7 million horses, 750 thous-
and mules and asses, nearly 30 million cattle and 67
willion small stock (chiefly sheep, then goats and pigs).
The returns, when compared with those of 1905, show an
increase in the number of cattle and horses and a decrease in
that of sheep. é
A reward of £5,000 has been offered by the Government
of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay Straits,
together with the Planters’ Association of Malaya for
a scheme for the extermination of white ants. The scheme
must have especial reference to the destruction of 7'ermes
Gestrot in rubber plantations, and should not be a mere
poison (such as arsenic, corrosive sublimate, or nicotine), which
will destroy any insects which may happen to be touched by
it. The sole difficulty in exterminating this species of white
ant is the fact that the nest is hidden underground, and
therefore the method must be one which will lead to a solu-
tion of this.
Vou. VIII. No. 192:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 285
PSs
CORNER.
SEPTEMBER.
First Prrtop.
Seasonal Notes.
The young cotton crop has now reached the stage at
which it is well established, and regular weeding should be
done in order to relieve it from the competition of other
plants, to prevent undue loss of water from the soil by trans-
piration from them, and to form a dust mulch which will
conserve the soil moisture. The two last considerations are
especially important in places where the rainfall is small.
A careful watch should be kept for signs that pests are
present, especially in regard to the cotton worm, the leaf-
blister mite and, in some places, grasshoppers ; these are the
ones that are most likely to be present at this time. Read
the editorial in the current issue of the Agricultural News,
and look up the references made in it, as far as possible, with
the special object of gaining information as to the damage
done by each pest, and the remedial measures to be employed
for it. Keep a close lookout for flaring bracts and dropped
flower-buds, and examine buds from time to time for the
grub of the flower-bud maggot. If signs of its presence are
found, the matter should be immediately reported to one of
the local officers of the Department.
Continue to make observations on plants which are being
grown for green dressings. Nete should be made of any
pests attacking them, and the nature and extent of the
damage done. If caterpillars are troublesome, try experiments
on small areas with Paris green and lime, in the proportion
of 1 part of the poison to 20 parts of the lime, paying atten-
tion to the effect on the leaves. Why is such a mixture used
against caterpillars or grasshoppers, but not against scale
insects and cotton stainers !
Where onions are grown the seed-avill now be sown.
This will be best done in nurseries, containing well manured
soil in order that vigorous plants may be obtained Ants
are likely to carry away the seed; to prevent this, add
two or three teaspoonfuls of kerosene to a watering
ean nearly full of water, keep the mixture well shaken,
and sprinkle the plot with it. If this is done every
time that ants appear in any number, few seeds will be
lost. The seedlings may be planted out when they have
three or four leaves, in holes about 6 inches apart ; a time of
wet weather should be chosen for this, if possible ; otherwise,
unless the soil is already moist, artificial watering will be
necessary if anything like a good stand is to be obtained.
Onions thrive best in fairly light soils containing some clay,
and manured with natural nitrogenous manures.
Where heavy rains have fallen cacao and lime plants
will show a tendency to form ‘suckers’; that is young, sappy
branches on the older parts of the stem. As the growth of
these entails a serious strain on the vitality of the plant,
they should be systematically removed as soon as they appear.
On cacao trees the parasite mistletoe (‘Captain Bois’ of some
islands) will be likely to appear. Search for this, prior to
removal, has to be conducted carefully on account of the
fact that the trees are very leafy at this time of the year.
The moist atmosphere which obtains at present is very
favourable to the growth of fungi. These are most generally
found on the pods, and, in some cases where serious damage
is being done, are often an indication of adverse soil
conditions.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Does a vegetable mulch, or surface cultivation,
better conserve soil moisture ?
(2) What measures would you adopt to deal with an
outbreak of (a) leaf-blister mite, (b) black scale ?
(3) In what ways may a soil which has become exhausted
be restored to fertility !
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Give a short account of a method of curing cacao.
(2) What cultivation should be given to ratoon canes ?
State at what stages of growth the operation should be
performed, and how deep in the soil the tools should
penetrate.
(3) What is Paris green? What qualities should it
possess, and how is it prepared for use with cotton ? Compare
Paris green with London purple.
TRINIDAD, ANTIGUA AND ST. KITTS
AT THE CANADIAN NATIONAL
EXHIBITION, 1909.
Information has been received as to the nature of
the exhibits that have been sent from ‘Trinidad,
Antigua, and St. Kitts to the Canadian National
Exhibition, Toronto, to be held from August 30 to
September 13,1909. Particulars of those sent from
Barbados were given in No. 189 of the current volume
of the Agricultural News, p. 233.
The exhibits from Trinidad include samples in the raw
(where possible), and manufactured, of the following :—
cacao and cacao products ; sugar and molasses ; rum, bitters,
and liqueurs ; cocoa-nuts and cocoa-nut products ; rubber and
gums ; coffee ; native woods ; fibres and fibre products (in-
cluding bamboo, cocoa-nut, sisal, and megass); native pottery ;
preserves, condiments, spices, ete.; apiary products ; miscella-
neous agricultural products ; miscellaneous manufactured
products ; mineral products ;-fruit and vegetables ; press
exhibits ; advertising exhibits ; guide books ; maps, ete. In
addition, a pamphlet containing particulars of the exhibits
and descriptions of the photographs sent has been furnished
by the Permanent Exhibition Committee for distribution.
The Acting Chairman of the Permanent Exhibition
Committee Antigua (Mr. H. A. Tempany, B. Sc.), states
that 125 exhibits, all commercial in character, together with
a quantity of decorative material, were sent forward on
August 4. This was followed on August 17, by a further
shipment consisting of perishable produce and additional
decorative material. ‘The exhibits were accompanied by
a pamphlet for distribution, prepared and printed in Antigna
and containing a description of that island and of its resources.
In regard to the products sent from St. Kitts, the
Honorary Secretary of the Permanent Exhibition Com-
mittee in that island (Mr. F. R. Shepherd) states that the total
number of exhibits is 100. These comprise samples of sugar,
molasses, rum, cotton lint, seed-cotton, cotton seed, cotton
seed cake, cotton seed meal, cotton seed oil, starches, meals,
ground nuts, and native preserves of various kinds. Views of
the island and decorative material were also sent. The latter
included a sugar-cane plant, and a pine-apple plant in fruit
each growing in a tub,
BORDEAUX MIXTURE FOR SPRAYING.
At the Agricultural Experiment Station of the
University of Illhnois, an exhaustive enquiry into the
properties of Bordeaux mixture has been carried
out. The results of this are published in Bulletin
No. 135 of that Station, issued in May 1909, and the
chief conclusions that are reached are given below.
They are interesting apart from their connexion with
the use of this fungicide for spraying alone :—
1. Injury to foliage of trees following applications of
3ordeaux mixture is of common occurrence. Much of the
injury reported or observed is preventable. The principal
sources of injury as determined by observations are :
(a) Use of impure or improper materials.
(4) Carelessness in making the mixture.
(c) Improper and ineffective application.
But when all precautions heve been taken, injury some-
times results. These non-preventable injuries are associated
with unfortunate weather conditions, and particularly with
the action of rain and dew.
2. The chemical changes occurring in making Bordeaux
mixture are still involved in some obscurity. That the
copper is deposited in the form of copper hydroxide, as has
been. generally accepted, is denied by Professor Pickering,
Director of the Woburn Experiment Station.
3. The adhesiveness of Bordeaux mixture depends very
much upon the manner of making, and upon the character
of, the lime used. With lime of good quality, a close approxi-
mation of equal parts of copper sulphate and lime gives
greatest adhesiveness.
4. No definite experiments regarding the accumulation
of copper in the soil under sprayed trees have been conducted,
but from results reported of experiments by others it does
not appear that there is danger from this source.
5, Leaf injuries are common and most serious in neg-
lected orchards. Much of the injury following spraying is
attributable to abrasions of the epidermis made by insects,
and to infection by fungi preceding spraying.
6. The ideal spray compound that is perfectly effective
and at the same time perfectly harmless on all occasions and
under all conditions has not yet been discovered. Bordeaux
mixture most nearly approximates to the ideal, but its harm-
lessness can not be absolutely depended upon.
7. Injuries to foliage do sometimes follow applications
of Pordeaux mixture and appear to be unavoidable. The
carbon dioxide contained in the air and in rain-water is
accepted as an active agent in rendering soluble the copper
of Bordeaux mixture, and it is believed that the ammonium
compounds brought down by rain may also exert a solvent
action on the copper.
8. Laboratory experiments gave results showing that
the copper of Bordeaux mixture remained insoluble for long
periods. Field experiments, however, directly contradict
the laboratory results and show conelusively that, under
orchard conditions, copper, in small quantity, becomes
soluble very soon after deposition, and continues to appear
as long as any of the mixture remains upon the leaves.
The presence of lime in excess does not prevent solution of
the copper.
9, No evidence has been obtained in support of the
suggestions of authors that solution of copper oceurs through
the agency of germinating spores, or through secretions
trom leaf surfaces.
10. Actual demonstration of the presence of copper in
dead leaf cells has not been made, but the theory of penetra-
tion, and of death of cell protoplasm, by dirct contact with
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
SEPTEMBER 4, 1909.
copper is regardedovas more probable than the theory of
transmission of toxi¢ effect without penetration, as advanced
by Rumm.
11. The value of Bordeaux mixture as a fungicide depends
upon the contained copper. The action is preventive and not
curative.
12. Spores of different fungi resist the action of copper
in varying degrees.
13. The experiments made do not establish any direct
and positive connexion. between spraying with well-made
Bordeaux mixture-and yellowing of leaves, but do show that
improperly made “mixtures may cause yellowing, and that
yellowing results from use of simple solutions of copper
sulphate.
14. Healthy bark of apple trees is impermeable to
Bordeaux mixture and solutions of copper sulphate. Copper
sulphate solutions are absorbed through wounds and promptly
kill the leaves, which then become brown.
15, The importance of rain and dew as agents causing.
brown-spotting of foliage following applications of Bordeaux
mixture is well attested by the uniform results obtained from
experiments with covered and uncoyered trees.
16. Milk of lime does not cause brown spots even when
applied in large quantity, but burning quickly follows appli-
cations of copper sulphate solutions even when the solutions
are very dilute. It is therefore concluded that copper in
solution is the active agent responsible for the burning of
foliage.
17. From comparisons between leaves sprayed with
Bordeaux mixture and milk of lime, with Bordeaux inixture
only, with milk of lime only, and leaves that had not been
sprayed, it was found that all leaves on which lime had been
used were distinctly larger than those receiving no milk of
lime. This suggests a stimulating action on the part of the
lime—whether by direct action on the leaves or by reason of
the protective covering afforded has not been determined.
18. Jordeaux mixture has a decided influence upon the
colour of leaves. Leaves coated with lime become in some
degree darker in colour than untreated leaves, but the shade
is not so deep as is assumed uncer a coating of Bordeaux
mixture.
19. There appears to he no correlation between the
character of a storm and che rate of the solubility or the
amount of copper found in solution in the waters collected
from sprayed trees. Neither is there any evidence that
electrical storms increase the amounts of copper in solution,
THE OBJECTS OF SCHOOL GARDENING.
A circular for teachers, containing information in
connexion with school gardens, has been recently issued
by the Superintendent of School Gardens in Ceylon.
This information iicludes particulars of the objects of
school gardens, which are given below as they should
be of general interest :—
(1) To brighten the surroundings of the school, and
make it what it ought to be, namely, a pleasant resort for the
boys and not a bare and unattractive building.
(2) To lighten the routine of class work by varying it
with outdoor work of a recreative nature.
(3) To exemplify order, form, neatness and good taste
in the laying out of the premises.
(4) To furnish a field for nature study, ie., the study
of natural objects in their natural surroundings.
(5) To serve as object-essons in horticulture, ie., the
cultivation of useful and ornamental plants.
Vout. VIII. No. 192.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 287
(6) To give a practical turn to school life, and provide
a training in elementary agricultural science.
(7) To serve as centres for the dissemination of seeds
and plants, and of information concerning them.
(8) To be mediums of communication, between the
agencies that aim at the improvement of agriculture and the
cultivating classes.
(9) To induce the cultivator, directly or through the
schoolboys, to take up new and improved products, and to
adopt better methods of cultivation.
(10) To awaken in school children a new interest in the
cultivation of plants, and to instil into them a love of nature,
and so reconcile them to a country life and to agricultural
pursuits.
(11) To encourage school children to establish gardens
at their homes.
(12) To make schoolboys take an honest pride in
manual labour, and to indnce a healthy competition among
them as well as between one school and another.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.LS., has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of July :—
The month of July has been an unsatisfactory one for
many reasons—first on account of the continued unseason-
able conditions of the weather, by the prevalence of low
temperatures and much rain, which have had the effect of
reducing the demand for such articles as are usually in
request in hot weather, and secondly the intervention of the
usual stocktaking and holiday seasons, which always have
2 quietening effect upon the markets. Besides these the
unusual length of time occupied in the discussion of the
budget in the House of Commons continues to have
a deterrent effect on business generally, nevertheless our
report, for the month, on West Indian products, will be
found to be of a normal character.
GINGER.
This article has excited but comparatively little interest,
as the following details will show. At the first spice sale on
the 7th. of the month some 175 packages of Jamaica were
offered, 54 barrels and 7 bags only being disposed of,
good middling realizing from 58s. to 58s. 6d. and small dull
52s. Private sales were reported to have been made with
washed rough Cochin, at 3Ys. to 41s., and a large quantity
-of fair limed Japan at from 32s. to 32s. 6d. perewt, A week
later, fifty cases of small and medium cut Cochin were
disposed of at 55s. per ewt. Washed rough Cochin, and brown
rough Calicut, was all bought in, the former at 42s. and the
latter at 40s. to 41s. There was no Jamaica offered at this
sale. On the 21st, Jamaica, Cochin and Japan were all
offered, but there was no demand and all were bought in,
Cochin and Japan at slightly advanced rates. At the last
auction on the 27th., unsorted native cut Calicut was bought
in at 54s. to 57s. 6d. and brown rough at 42s. to 45s,
Small washed rough Cochin was also bought in at 42s. No
Jamaica was offered,
NUTMEGS, MACE AND PIMENTO.
At the first auction on the 7th. of the month, about 280
packages of West Indian nutmegs were offered, all of which
were sold at in advance of }d. to dd. per tb. over previous
rates. On the 21st. there was a good demand at the auction
for West Indian, the smaller sizes declining }d. per tb. and
the larger sizes advancing. For mace there was a fair
demand during the month. At the first auction on the 7th.
62 packages of West Indian were sold at the follow-
ing rates: good pale ls. 9¢., pale and reddish 1s. 7d. to
ls. 8d., fair to good red 1s. 5d. to ls. 7d., dark red and broken
Is. to ls, dd. On the 21st. a good supply of West Indian
was offered and disposed of at slightly varying rates, ls. 10d.
to 2s. being paid for fair to good pale, 1s 7d. to ls. 9d. for
palish, Is. 4d. to 1s. 6d. for fair, to good red, and 1s. to 1s. 2d.
for broken, At the last auction on the 27th. only 16
packages of West Indian were sold, 1s. 9d. being paid for
fair pale, Is. 6d. to ls. 7d. for ordinary, and 1s. 3d. for low
red and broken.
At the first auction there were no offerings of Pimento
but 2;;¢. to 23d. per tb. were the prices quoted. On the
2Ist., out of 80 bags offered only 12 were sold, bold greyish
fetching 22d. per Ib.
There has been but little demand for arrowroot during
the month : 100 barrels of manufacturing St. Vincent were
offered on the 14th. and bought in at 2d. per Ib.
SARSPARILLA,
At the drug auction on July 1, 54 bales of
genuine grey Jamaica were offered, all of which were sold.
with a brisk demand, Is. 4c. per lb. being paid for fair and
1s. 3d. for dark roughish, and part mouldy. Ten bales of
native Jamaica were offered and sold : good red, and dull
red mixed realized 1s. per tb. and common greyish and yellow
lld. Two bales of deep red fetched 1s 1d. per Ib. and 10
bales of Lima Jamaica—all that was offered—sold at !s. ld.
per lb. for fair and Is. for ordinary rough. <A fortnight later,
namely on the 14th. the offerings consisted of 50 packages
of Lima Jamaica, and 12 of native Jamaica, but no grey
Jamaica, there were also 5 packages of Honduras offered
but none sold. Of the 50 packages of Lima Jamaica
13 were sold at 1s. per tb. for slightly rough and dark -
to fair and 11d. for sea damaged. Of native Jamaica, good red
fetched 1s. 1d. per tb. and dull red and yellow mixed 11d.
At the last drug auction on the 29th. there were heavy
offerings of grey Jamaica consisting of 61 packages,
besides 29 of native Jamaica and 3 of Guatemala. In
consequence of the very large consignment of grey Jamaica,
no business was done in this article ; ls. 2d. was offered for
fair grey, which was not accepted, buyers anticipating lower
rates at a future auction or by private sale. Fifteen bales
of the 29 offered of native Jamaica, found buyers at ls. Id.
for good red, 1s. for fair red, and 10d. to 11d. for dull red
and yellow. The 3 bales of Guatemala which was rough
and slightly chumpy were disposed of at 84d. per tb.
LIME JUICE, TAMARINDS, CASSIA FISTULA,
Good pale, raw West Indian lime juice was offered on
the 21st., but met with very little interest. It was held at
ls. 3d. to 1s. 4d. In the middle of the month a single cask
of fair pale St. Lucia tamarinds was sold at 14s. per ewt.
and at the last auction on the 28th. 19 packages of Antigua.
realized 9s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. per cwt. in bond. Cassia
Fistula, of which a single bag of ordinary Dominica was
offered at the last sale, realized 18s,
288 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1909.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., August 30; Messrs.
T. 8S. Garraway & Co., August 30, 1909.
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—Tue Wesr Inpra Commirree CrrcuLar, Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $3°75 to $4:00 per 100 th.
Ausust 3: Messrs E. A FP Acs eh nO Cacao—$11-00 to $12°00 per 100 th.
August 3; Messrs. KH. A. DE Ass & 0., GocomenuTs we Siien!
August 6, 1909. Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11:00 per
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, 1#d. to 3}d., according to quality. 100 th., according to quality—scarce ; Venezuelan,
$11-00.
Hay—81°20 to $1°25 per 100 Th.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $65:00; Ohlendorff’s dissolved
guano, $55°00 ; Cotton manure, $42°00; Cacao manure,
$48°00 ; Sulph ute of ammonia, $75:00.
Oxrons—String ss, $2°75 to $3-00 per 100 Tb.
Bartata—Sheet, 2/5; block, 1/10.
Brees’ -wax—£7 15s for fair to good.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 63/- per ewt.
54/6 per ewt.; Jamaica, 48/6 to 53.
CorrreE—Depressed ; Jamaica, 40/- to 111/.
Corpra—West Indian, £22 10s. per ton.
; Grenada, 49/6 to
Trinidad,— Messrs.
Corron—St. Vincent, 16d.; odd lots from other islands, Pe As—Split, $6°00 to $620 per bag of 210 th.; Canad: a,
at 10d. to 13d. $4-00 per bag of 120 th.
Fruir—No quotations. Poratos—S2°50 to $3°25 per 160 tb.
Festic—No quotations. Rice—Dallam, C Rei. no quotations ; Patna, $3:80 ;
Gincer—Common to good common, 45/- to 50/-; low Rangoon, $3°00 per 100 th.; Demerara, Ballam, $4°38
middling to middling, 52/- to 55/-; good bright to fine,
57/- to 65/-.
Honty—23/6 to 32/6.
IsrycLass—No quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/1 to 1/3 per gallon ;
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; distilled oil,
to 1/9 per tb.; Otto of limes 6/- nominal.
Loe woop—No quotations.
Mace—Steady.
Nourmecs—(Quiet.
PimentTo— Quiet.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 6/2 to 8/3 per tb.
Roum—Jamaica, 2/11 to 6/ ; Demerara, no quotations.
Sue ar—Crystals, 14/9 to 17/; Muscovado, no quotations ;
Syrup, 10/5 to 13/9; Molasses, no quotations.
concentrated,
1/8
New York,—Messrs. Gittesriz, Bros. & Co., August 6,
1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 11#c. to 124c. ; Grenada, 11 fc. to 12}e. ;
Trinidad, 12c. to 1c. 5 ; Jamaica, 9#c. to llc. per th.;
Dominica, lle. to 114e
Cocoa-NutTs—Jamaica, Saget. $23:00 to $24-00; culls,
$15:00; Trinidad, select, $21°00 to $22°00; culls,
$13°50 to $14°50 per M.
Corree—Jamaica, ordinary, Te.
8ke.; and washed up to 10fc.
CrncER—9e. to 12c. per tb.
Goat Sxrys—Jamaica, no quotations; Barbados, 53c. to
55e.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 47c. to 50c. per
ths dry flint ; Antigua, 50c. to 52e.
Grave Frurr—8250 tr $3°10 per box.
Lores—Dominica, $5°50 to $6°50 per barrel.
Macr—27e. to 35c. per th.
Nurmecs—110’s, 9c. per th.
OrancEs—$1°30 to $2°25 per box,
Pimento—43c. per lb.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 4°05c. to 4:08c. per Ib. Musco-
vados, 89°, 3°55c. to 8°58c.; Molasses, 89°, 3°30c. to
3°38e. per Ib., all duty paid.
to 8c.; good ordinary,
Gorpoy, Grant & Co., August
21, 1909.
Cacao— Venezuelan,
to SLL50.
Cocoa-Nev Or—$1°20 per Imperial gallon,
Corrre—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9e. per tb.
Copra 375 per 100 th.
Drar—$4°25 per 2-bushel bag.
Ontons—$2°15 to $225 per 100 th.
PEAS—SPL hs 35°60 to $5°75 per bag.
Poraros— English, $1°80 to $1°90 per 100 th. i
Ricr—Yellow, $4°70 to $4°80; White, $5:00 to $5°25
per bag.
Sucar—Ameriean tb.
$11°40 per fanega; Trinidad, $11°25
cask included.
$5°10 to $5:20 per 100
erushed,
to $
89° S170;
25 per 180 th.
Sucar—Dark Crystals,
96°, no quotat
ions ; Muscoyado,
Centrifugals, no quotations.
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wretine & Ricurer, August 7
Messrs.
1909,
SANDBACH,
PARKER &
Co., August 20,
ARTICLES.
fae WIETING
& RIcHTER.
ArRowroot—St. Vincent
Banara—Venezuelafblock
Demerara sheet
Cacao—Native
CASSAVA
Cassava STARCH—
Cocoa-NuTS—
Correr—Creole {
Jamaica and Rio
Liberian
Drat—
Green Dhal
Eppos
Mo asses
ONIONS
Yellow
Teneriffe
Madeira
Peas—Split
Marseilles |
PLANTAINS
Poraros— Nova Scotia
Lisbon
Poratos--Sweet, Barbados)
Rice— Ballam
Creole
TANNIAS~
Yams-—White
Buck
Dark crystals
Yellow
White
Molasses
Timber —Greenheart
SUGAR
Wallaba Shingles,
Cordwood
88°50 to $9-00
per 200 tb.
32c, per tb.
48c. per th.
14e. per th.
60c. to 72e.
86-00 per haere
of 196 Th.
$12 to S16 per M
8c. to 13¢_ per th.
133c. per Th.
7c. per tb.
$4:20 to $4:25 per!
bag of 168 th.
$5-50
$1:44 per barrel
Z1c. to 22c.
per Tt.
2c
86-00 to S6°30 per |
bag (210 th.)
$3-00, over stock
20c, to 48e. per
buneh
No quotation
$2-00 per 100 Th,
S120 per bag
84°50
12 per bag
74 > to $2 “40
~ to $3:-00
to S3-
to $2°
to 5de. per
foot
$3°60
$1-90
B2e.
cub.
$3°75 to $d:-75
per M
SLl-8v to $2-00
per ton
Messrs. SANp-
BACH, PARKER
& Co.
$8°50 to $9.00
per 200. 1b.
Prohibited.
48c. to 50c. per th.
12c. per th.
$16 per M, peeled
and selected.
12¢ to 13e. per th.
13c. per th.
Te. per tb.
$4 25 to $440
per bag.
Qhe, per th.
3e. per th.
$6°40 per bag.
(200 th.)
IS$3:00, over stock.
75 per barrel.
\F2 25 per 100 Th.
S47 7D
$4-00 to 84°50
00 to $2°30
to 5c. per
cub. foot
| $3°50 to $5°50
| per M.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
—
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN.’ A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume T. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price 1s. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
Volumes II, III, IV, V, VI, VI, and VIII:—Price 2s. each ; Post free 2s. 8d.
Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Reprint of Papers read at Agricultural Conference, 1908, relating to Sugar, Cacao,
Fruit, Rice, and Rubber Industries. Also papers dealing with general subjects. No. 4, Timbers of
Jamaica, Timbers of Dominica, Fungus Diseases of Cocoamuts, Aleyrodidae of Barbados, Millions and
Mosquitos. Price 6d. each number. Post free, 8d.
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton, Bourbon Cane in Antigua, Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
in Barbados, Soils of “Nevis, Cotton Selection in the Leeward Islands, Leguminous Crops and Soil
Inoculation. Price 6d. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation, The number issued up to the
present time is fifty-nine. The following list gives particulars of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing
numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
Sucar Inpusrry. (14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
Seedling and other Canes at Barbados (15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
in 1900. No, 3, price 2d.;in 1901, No. 13, price 4d.; (16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. Price 2d.
in 1902, No. 19, price 4d.;in 1902, No. 26, price 4d.; (17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
in 1904, No. 32, price 4d. (18) Recipes for Cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados, (20) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. Price 2d.
in 1903-5, No. 40, price 6d.; in 1904-6, No, 44, price 6d.; (28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d. ¢
in 1905-7, No. 49, price 6d.; in 1906-8, No. 59, price 6d. (34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2a.
Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, (35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks. Price 5d.
in 1900-1, No. 12, price 2d.; in 1901-2;-No. 20 price 2d.; (37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
in 1902-3, No. 27, price 2d.; in 1903-4, No. 33 price 4d.; (38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
in 1904-5, No. 39, price 4d.; in 1905-6, No. 46, price 4d.; | (41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d. f
in 1906-7, No. 50, price 4d.;in 1907-8, No. 56, price 4d. (48) Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal on West Indian Planta-.
‘Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands, tions. Price 2d. : a Poe
in 1902-3, No. 30. price 4d.; in 1903-4, No. 36, price 4d.; (45) A. B. C. cf Cotton Planting. New and Enlarged Edition. !
in 1904-5, No. 42, price 4d.; in 1905-6, No. 47, price 4d.; Price 6d. : 1 : 3
in 1906-7, No. 51, price 4d.:in 1907-8, No. 57, price 4d. (52) Hints for School Gardens, Reyised Edition. Price 4d.
Scare Insects. (53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d. 7 : :
Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part I. No. 7, price 4d.; (84) Fungus Diseases of Cacao and Sanitation of Cacao Orchards. !
Part II., No. 22, price 4d. __. Price 4d. ; 4 \
GENERAL. (55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 3d. ;
(5) General Treatment of Insect Pests, 2nd. Edition (Revised), (98) Insect Pests of Cacao. Price 4d. _ : '
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(9) Bee Keeping in the West Indies. Price 4d. (61) The Grafting of Cacao. Price 4d. ’
The above will be supplied postifree for an additional charge of 3d. for the pamphlets marked 2d., 1d. for those ;
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS.’ A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from .official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies. :
The “Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 4s, 4d. perannum. Volumes IV, V, VI, and VII complete, with title page and index, as issued
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Agents. ,
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. St. Vineent: Mr. L. 8. Mosevey, Agricultural’School.
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Vou. VIII. No. 192. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. SepremBer 4, 1909.
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The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
available plant food.
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Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
Antigua Agricultural Fungus Notes :—
Society ... ... ... 302| Parasitic Fungi of Scale
Blights of Cotton, The ... 289} Insects .. 299
British Guiana, Report of |Gleanings ... ... .. 800
Sugar-cane Experi- |Green Manuring . 296
ments 29a :
Brazilian Cacao of occ PY nsec Noten
Cacao Pods, Black Rot of 292 Transportation of aie
Cision, SIRS ae _ 299 Millions od: eee Ze
Coffee, A Diseaséof ... 292 Marasmins, How Spread... 291
Colour of Soils Pee AS Vf Market Reports Sere 304
Copra, Preservation of ... 297 Mosq uitos,avNew Parasite Oar
Cornand Oats for Horses... 302 oD seers nee oo 2D
Cotton and Linseed Cakes, Notes and Comments 296
Feeding Value of ... 295) Oil Palm as a Shade Tree,
Cotton Notes :-— The son” Jodo BOS
Cotton Exports from Overhead Transport... ... 295
the West Indies . 294) Points of a good Sow... 291
| Rice in British Guiana ... 308
United States ... ... 294) Stored Sugar, Effects of
West Indian Cotton . 294. Moistureon ... ... 301
Egg Production of Fowls... 296 | Students’ Corner... ... 301
Fibre Machine, A New ... 293 | Sugar Industry :—
Forestry in France and | Effect of Soluble Manures
the United States . 295 on thelsoulkea Sas 0 291
The Bights of Cot
H\\ HE editorial in the last issue of the Agri-
with the
which the cotton plant is likely to suffer
It was shown that
Cotton Seed in the
tO:
cultural News dealt ways in
from the attacks of animal pests.
these are especially likely to be in evidence during the
time that the plant is in a state of active growth, that
is when liberal supplies of food are at hand, and when
the tissues have not attained the hardness which
is generally a concomitant of maturity. It is well
known that attacks of this kind are not made by
animals alone, but also by other pests, which are
BARBADOS, SEPTEMBER 18, 1909.
Price ld.
generally termed ‘ blights’: ithe consideration of these
has been reserved for the present article.
These blights are really forms of plant life which
have not the power of absorbing energy from the sun’s
rays in order to build up food bodies from simple
forms of matter provided by the air and the soil. They
are therefore dependent on food that has already been
formed by life-processes, and, consequently, must obtain
this either from living plants or animals, or from their
dead remains. In the latter case, if they belong to
such forms as can only feed on dead matter, their work
is beneficial, and really amounts to a kind of slow com-
bustion, by which waste organic material is prevented
from accumulating on the surface of the earth to an
indefinite extent. There are, however, forms which can
continue to exist on dead matter during the intervals
in which their host is not present, only to attack it
when it appears once more. With these, the process
of the combustion of the dead matter must be carried
out by artificial means in such a way that the blight
will be destroyed with the organic substances on which
it is feeding temporarily. This is one of the reasons
why special emphasis is laid on the advisability of
burning old cotton plants at the end of the crop.
Bhights may be broadly divided into two kinds :
those which are fungous, and those which are bacterial
in character. Much more is known about the diseased
conditions that are caused in plants by the former than
those which are due to the latter, partly because the
fungi are larger, and also because it is easier to trace
the connexion between their presence and the exact
nature of the damage, if any, that they are effecting.
Attention is drawn to the articles that have appeared
on fungi in the last three numbers of the Agricultural
News ; the perusal of these should give a broad view of
290
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1909.
this division of plants, and will go far to explain why it
is that the members of it are able to attack plants in
such diverse ways. Little need be said in regard to
bacteria, save that they are very similar to fungi, in
that most of them require the more complex organic
compounds as food: they are readily reproduced
vegetatively—are, in fact, rarely reproduced by any other
means: and they have the power of forming resistant
spores to enable the different species to survive during
a period of unfavourable conditions.
In the West Indies, the commonest blights of
cotton are those which attack the leaves and those
which damage the bolls. Up to the present, the
species which may affect adversely the roots and stems
have not shown themselves to any great extent. This
is not the case in many other parts of the world, where
experienced through the
Considering first the leaf-
great losses have been
ravages of such parasites.
parasites, there are four which most commonly do
damage in these islands: rust, mildew, round spot, and
angular spot: of these, the first three are due to fungi
and the fourth is bacterial in origin. None of them
have done any extensive damage, so far: as a matter
of fact, the first and second are generally only found on
old leaves which have nearly completed their functions.
Nevertheless, it is easy to understand that a careful
watch is required in order to prevent them from
increasing beyond control (as they have actually done
in some cotton-growing countries), that for
their increase must not be provided by permitting old
cotton plants to remain in the ground, and that, even
if their presence ona plant does not result in much
damage to it, the fact that they are interfering to
means
a certain extent with its nutritive functions can only
handicap it in any struggle which it may be making
against other pests or untoward conditions.
The blights which damage the bolls are known as
pink spot, or anthracnose, and black boll, or boll rot;
each is due to a different fungus. In the first case the
lint is only attacked if the boll is young ; in the second
its contents are completely destroyed and it fails to
open. In anthracnose the attack begins from the out-
side, and the sunken black spots with pink edges are
an unmistakable sign of the presence of the disease.
In black boll, the disease starts inside the boll, often
near the base, and its contents are gradually changed
into a dark-coloured, slimy mass of swollen, partially
germinated seeds, or the boll may dry up on the plant
and open slightly. Notwithstanding this far-reaching
internal change, the exterior of the boll is of a healthy
colour, the only external signs of the presence of the
disease being that the boll becomes spherical, instead
of oval, and tapers quickly to a sharp point, while it is
more resistant to pressure than a healthy one. Black
boll only affects the fruits, while anthracnose may be
communicated from old plants to young ones, attacking
the cotyledons and stems of these, and to other old ones
where it is found on the dying leaves and injured parts
of the stem. Preventive measures are the best for
these diseases. They include: the destruction of old
cottun, the selection of seed from healthy plants, and
the disinfection of this seed before planting.
The shedding of bolls has not been shown to be due
to the attack of any blight or blights. It is caused by
a physiological condition of the plant, in which an effort
is made to throw otf bolls which have no chance of
becoming mature, in order that the remainder may be
given the best opportunity of doing so. This state
may arise from injury to the plant, such as root-cutting
by deep cultivation; unfavourable environment, as for
instance, a caked or weedy soil, exposure, overcrowding,
or an excessive stimulus toward vegetative growth ; and
sudden climatic changes, due either to drought or
excessive rainfall, Good drainage and improved cultiva-
tion are the only remedies for this.
The careful cotton planter will keep a constant
watch for the appearance and spread of these fungous
and bacterial diseases, so that, in the event of their
assuming serious proportions, he will he ready to
combat them, At the end of the crop he will recognize
the importance of the destruction of the plants which
are no longer a source of profit but rather of danger
to him, as well as to others. Finally, in any scheme of
selection of seeds, he will see that these are chosen from
plants that are healthy and disease-resisting, in order
that this property may be handed on in the strain of
cotton that he is trying to evolve.
Reference is made, in conclusion, to the publica-
tions of the Department that should be consulted in
this connexion, namely: the A BC of Cotton Planting,
(Pamphlet No. 45), the West Indian Bulletin,
Volta ps Wolk Vi, py LSE e Vole Velo alilie
Vol. IX, p. 216, and to articles on the subject that
255%
have appeared from time to time in the Agricultural
News. Observations on the plants in the field should
be accompanied by a perusal of these; in this way, the
ability speedily to discover and identify any of the
diseases will be gained. Not only this, but, in the
event of a serious spread of them the cultivator will be
already in possession of a knowledge which will enable
him to deal with it, and no time will be lost in search-
ing for remedies.
Vor. VIII. No. 193.
THE AGRICULTURAL
\
- 6 , = Q
INDUSTRY,
The Effect of Soluble Manures on
Sugar-cane Soils.
From the Experiment Station, Honolulu, there
has recently been issued Bulletin No. 29 of the
Division of Agriculture and Chemistry, Hawaiian
Sugar Planters’ Association. It contains an account
of work which has been taken up in order to gain
a knowledge of the action of soluble manures on soils
that are used for growing canes, and the following
conclusions, arrived at by the author after twelve years’
experience, are given here :—
(1) The profit resulting from the application of fertili-
zers or manures will depend largely upon other factors than
the chemical composition of the soil. Providing certain
plant-food deficiencies represent the chief depressive influence
on crop yields, the response to appropriate fertilization will
be commensurate with the difference between the limitations
exerted upon crop production through lack of available
plant nutrients and the limitations exercised by the next
restraining factor in order of importance after the material
has been applied. This latter factor may be physical,
biological, or climatic in character.
(2) The relative effects of different combinations of
fertilizer materials on the growth of sugar-cane when these
materials are added to a given soil will be determined chiefly
by :—
(a) The extent to which their several ingredients
directly or indirectly lessen the deficiencies of available plant
nutrients ;
(b) The extent to which they cause the bacterial flora
to approach an optimum balance for the regular production
of sufficient nitrates or assimilable nitrogen compounds, and
(c) The degrees and manner in which they produce
physical changes in the soil.
(8) Owing to the fact that a definite relationship exists
between the efficiency of a fertilizer mixture and the
quantities and proportions in which its ingredients are
associated, due to biological, chemical, and physical effects
which its component parts have in a given soil, variations in
the composition of the mixture beyond certain limits may
materially influence crop yields.
(4) A more definite knowledge concerning the amounts
and proportions of fertilizer salts to use in a mixture for best
results would on some soils yield pronounced profits, while
a lack of such knowledge may in some cases result in a loss,
especially when soluble salts are employed.
(5) The greatest loss from the use of improper mixtures
of fertilizers is apt to occur on acid soils, and in such cases
considerable risk is involved from the continued application
of mixtures containing ammonium sulphate, sulphate of
potash, and acid phosphate, when lime dressings are not
previously made.
(6) While the chemical and physical analysis of a soil
will usually prove of value in indicating the best cultural
methods to follow in maintaining or improving its fertility,
and may also indicate in a general way certain of the plant
food deficiences in given cases, it cannot afford definite
information as to the amounts or proportions of ingredients
in fertilizer mixtures which will give maximum returns,
NEWS. 291
(7) It is possible that the data from more extended field
experiments with a large variety of soils, when reviewed in
connexion with the comparative analysis of the soils, using
both weak and strong acids as solvents, may indicate a some-
what definite relationship between the analytical figures and
the order of importance which phosphoric acid and potash
should assume in cane fertilizers in given cases.
(8) It would appear that analyses of soils, with more
special reference to their physical qualities, reaction and
content of organic matter, nitrogen, and more readily soluble
lime, may, with due consideration of the water supply and
climatic conditions, be relied upon to indicate such manurial
treatment as will result ina profit, although they will not
afford definite information as to the weights and proportions
of the ingredients in fertilizer mixtures which will result in
maximum efticiency.
(9) Nitrogen is the most important element to be con-
sidered in the fertilization of the sugar-cane in the Hawaiian
Islands, and when applied in mixed fertilizers some risk of
reduced efficiency is entailed if either the potash or phos-
phoric acid (in the form of soluble salts) is made to exceed
the weight of this element.
(10) Unless through past local experience or carefully
conducted field tests it has been definitely determined that
a modified formula may be expected to give greater yields,
it is safer, when applying nitrogen, potash and phosphoric
acid in the form of soluble salts, to have the mixed fertilizer
contain even quantities of these elements, which are not to
exceed 60 Ib. per acre in the case of each element.
(11) Field tests with fertilizers whose ingredients are
mixed in varying proportions will, if such experiments are
accurately and scientifically conducted through a sufficient
period give the most reliable information as to the best
manurial practice. Such experiments should be laid out in
very long, narrow, parallel, and contiguous plots or strips,
with the untreated control areas lying immediately adjacent
to the fertilized cane.
(12) The great importation of ‘ resting’ fields in rotation
on Hawaiian plantations, and growing upon them legumi-
nous crops is very clearly indicated. This applies more
particularly to the irrigated plantations, where the supplies
of organic matter are, in the majority of cases, becoming
greatly reduced through successive tillage operations in
a comparatively arid climate, and by the favourable con-
ditions created for bacterial activity through regular irriga-
tions under uniformly high temperatures.
Points of a Good Sow.
The body of a good sow is long, deep and comparatively
narrow. It should be remembered that the digestive organs
of the brood sow play, perhaps, the most important part in
her career. They are called upon to do more work at certain
times than the digestive organs of any other animal, and the
success of her litters is largely determined by the amount of
food which those organs can make ready for conversion into
milk, Hence it is, that length and depth in the body are exceed-
ingly important features in a sow for breeding purposes.
The next thing to look for is a well-formed udder, free from
badly developed patches or calloused parts. he phlegmatic,
sleepy sow is to be avoided. Good mothers are generally
somewhat nervous, like dairy cows. Milk secretion has been
proved to be largely a nervous function, and the dull, som-
nolent cow is seldom a mother of a high order. A good
backline is a useful point. Hollowed backs are not safe ;
they should at least be level, and, if slightly arched, so much
the better. (Journal of Agriculture, Western Australia.)
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SepremBer 18, 1909.
A COFFEE DISEASE IN DOMINICA.
Some berries of the Arabian coftee (Coffea wrabica)
which had been attacked by a fungus, Sfilbella
jlavida, were lately received from Dominica. This
fungus causes brown, hardened and sunken areas on
the berries, which are slightly greyish in the centre,
and bear small, yellow, transparent pin-shaped fructifi-
cations scattered over their surface. The fungus also
attacks the leaves and twigs.
Serious damage has been caused in Mexico and_ several
of the South American States by this fungus, and it is also
reported from Trinidad and Jamaica.
The following preventive measures have been found
useful in keeping the disease in check :~—
(1) Removal of all infected portions of the cotfee plants,
and subsequently burning them, or burying them with lime.
(2) Spraying the plants thoroughly with moderately
strong Bordeaux mixture, as the fungus is a superficial
parasite.
(3) Careful attention to tillage, clean weeding, and
manuring with lime from time to time, in addition to the
usual manures, as well as care that the attack of the fungus
is not aided by the provision of too much shade.
Further, a careful examination of all the plants in the
neighbourhood is necessary, as the fungus can attack many
other kinds of plants, including grasses, shrubs and _ trees.
All infected plants of this nature should be cut down and
burnt, after which their ashes may be used as manure.
SOILS FOR CACAO.
Information in regard to the best soils for cacao is
given in the third of a series of articles on cacao by
Mr. J. H. Hart, F.LS.; which are appearing in the
West India Committee Circular. Reference to these
articles has already been made in the Agricultural
News, Vol. VIII, p. 260.
The should be one, as Wright puts it,
‘having good physical and chemical properties ’, and he agrees
with Jumelle in pointing out that ‘the best cacao soils are
those which have been uncultivated for many years or not at
all, and that abundance of humus, | to 2 per cent. of lime,
0°25 per cent. of phosphoric acid, as well as abundant supplies
of other ingredients, are necessary before one can hope to
obtain the best results’. A shallow soil resting upon hard
bed-rock is totally unsuitable, while a moderately shallow
soil resting upon a friable rock is often found to grow cacao
soil chosen
WEST INDIAN, FRUGE:
to perfection. It i8 generally considered among Trinidad
planters that a loose clay, or clay with an admixture of
a fair proportion of sand and lime is favourable to the
growth of cacao. If the soil is covered with a vegetable
deposit, humus, which has accumulated from the falling
leaves and branches of the original forest, so much the
better. If land can be found on the banks of a stream or
river where there is considerable depth of alluvial deposit,
such a position, if capable of being well drained, is a sure
source of wealth to the cacao planter. Hard, dry, rocky
soils, stiff clays, mountain sides where great detrition
frequently takes place, shallow sands and boggy ground
should be carefully avoided. The aspect of the land should
always be carefully considered. A site exposed to trade or
prevailing winds, orto strong sea-breezes, should not on any
account be chosen for a cacao plantation. Land which has
been previously cultivated with other crops may be chosen
when it has good depth, is easily drained, and is capable of
being improved by the application of suitable manures, but
‘thrown out’, ‘ruinate’, or abandoned lands should be taken
up with the greatest caution. Worn out sugar lands are
dangerous investments tor the intending cacao planter as
a rule, but an intelligent choice even here, by men who are
acquainted with the local character of the soil and the cacao
tree and its requirements, will often result in the develop-
ment of a productive plantation. Salt is inimical to the
growth of the cacao tree, and lands Hable to be inundated
with tidal waters should never be purchased.
The Black Rot of Cacao Pods.
This disease, which is due to a fungus, Phytophthora
omnivora, is dealt with in Pamphlet No. 54 of the Depart-
ment, entitled Fungus Diseases of Cacao and Sanitation of
Cacao Orchards, pp. 34-6. According to the Bulletin dela
Socicté Royale de Botanique de Belgique, Vol. XLV, Fase. 2,
this fungus has recently been found to attack the fruits of
pear trees in Belgium.
The attacked pears show a rounded, brown spot, on the
part which is most exposed to the light. This spot increases
in size until it soon covers the greater part of the fruit,
which then falls. Such fruits after some time become full of
spores, by means of which the fungus is disseminated. The
damage was serious ; half of the fruits of the tree on which
it was found were destroyed, especially those on the lower
branches. Nevertheless, pears which had been bagged did
not suffer at all.
The remedies suggested are the destruction of diseased
fruits and preventive treatment, by means of Bordeaux
mixture, in the spring.
Vot. VIII. No. 193.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 293
REPORT OF EX PERI-
THE SUGAR-CANE
MENTS COMMITTEE, BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
BRITISH GUIANA, 1908.
This deals with the results of the cultivation of varieties
of canes on sugar plantations in British Guiana during the
two crops of the year ended December 1908. The informa-
tion included in the report is obtained from the results
placed at the disposal of the Board by thirty-plantations on
which variety trials were being made. It has reference to
the yields of commercial sugar from the different varieties of
cane ; the distribution of the varieties between the estates
whose results were available, together with a comparison of
their yields ; the differences in yields resulting from those
in soil and meteorological conditions ; a comparison of the
yields in the earlier and later months of the year ; details of
the data of results obtained on areas of not less than 20 acres
on any estate ; similar information to that which has been
detailed, for the years 1901 to 1908; opinions as to the
milling qualities and the fuel value of the megass of the
different varieties ; and information in regard to the suit-
ability of different varieties to different soils, as well as to the
signs of deterioration that are becoming evident in some
cases.
Tn regard to the results from the thirty-five plantations,
it is shown that the Bourbon cane occupies by far the greater
acreage, followed by D.625, D.109, and B.208. The returns
showing the true average yield: of cominercial sugar in tons
per acre for each variety place B.376 at the head, followed
by Green Transparent (Selangor), D.625 and B.208. D.625,
Bourbon and D.109 lead easily in the matter of the number
of plantations from which reports are made concerning them,
and of these D.625 has shown the largest number of
instances of highest and second yields. On the different
estates, as regards the yields of tons of commercial sugar per
acre, D.625 is always among the first three, D.145 among
the first five, and D.109, B.147, B.208 and Bourbon among
the first six, varieties. D.625 showed least variation in yield
under wet and dry conditions, closely followed by D.109.
It is pointed out that the variety D.109, which
appears to be rapidly falling off in its general yields, gave
the highest one for the year as regards areas of over 20 acres ;
this was from plant canes. In the same connexion, B.208
(ratoons) and D.625 (ratoons) came next, while the lowest
minima were scored by the former of these and by Bourbon
(plants). In the details that are given of the means of the
figures obtained in the juice analysis of each variety in
regard to which report of five or more trials were received,
P.147 shows the juice with the highest sucrose content and
purity, for plants, and B.208, similarly, for ratoons.
Turning now to the results for the period 1904-8, the
largest yields of commercial sugar per acre for that time have
been given by D.625, D.145 and 6.208 in this order.
Similarly, for the period 1901-8, D.625, D.145 and D.109
head the list for plants and for ratoons. Opinions of the plant-
ers as to milling qualities and the fuel value of the megass
vary greatly as usual, but Bourbon, Green Transparent,
B.376 and D.4,399 appear to be best as regards the former,
and the first and last mentioned canes, together with B.41,
best in respect to the latter, quality. The highest sucrose
content and quotient of purity of the juice, for the years 1904-8,
have been shown by B.208, D.74 (four years only) and D.95.
The following statements are made toward the conclusion
of the report : ‘The experiments indicate that many varieties
of sugai-cane can be relied upon in British Guiana to give
yields of sugar in quantities equal to or greater than those
obtained from the Bourbon, and that several varieties possess
well-marked ratooning qualities. D.625 and D.145 can be
safely recommended for trial on relatively heavy lands, B.208
is especially suited for lighter soils, and B. 376 and D.4,399
appear to be worthy of more extended trials. Certain
varieties —the White Transparent and its seedling progeny,
D.74, D.95, D.109, D.115, D116 and D.117—show
marked signs of falling off in their yields, especially where
grown as ratoon canes, aud the Committee feel that their
cultivation should not be continued except on lands which
have proved very suitable to their growth. D.109 showed
on many plantations signs of falling off in its yields, especially
where grown as 2nd and as older ratoons, although on some
it gave very satisfactory results as plant canes. The falling
off in the yields of certain of the varieties noticed in this
colony is similar to experience reported from elsewhere with
varieties of sugar-cane which have been raised from seed.
The Committee recognize that it isa very important factor,
and it is receiving their close attention.’
A NEW FIBRE MACHINE.
A description of a new machine for decorticating
and scutching is given in the Nata’ Agricultural
Journal for June 1909. It has been named the
‘ World’s Decorticator ’, and is said to be capable of
dealing with Agave (dagger) Sansevieria (bow-string
hemp), pine-apple, banana, Phormium tenax (New
Zealand flax), and other fibres, while it is said that
satisfactory trials have been made with ramie and
jute.
According to the prospectus, it is a combined crushing
and combing machine, and is so simple in its action that
any one can attend to, and work it, without previous
knowledge of the operation of decorticating. By this
system, the leaves and stems have their fibres extracted in
one operation, and the combs are automatically and continu-
ously cleaned during tne time the machine is working. Up
to the present time, a beating action has been employed in
nearly all the machines used for separating the fibrous parts
of leaves and stems from the pulpy and woody matter in
which they are embedded. In carrying out this beating
action, blades are employed which have to be set very
accurately to work against a plate or cushion, and owing to
the fact that this great accuracy is required, it is necessary
to have a skilled workman to set and attend to the working
of the machine in order to avoid waste, for if the blades are
set too closely the fibre is chipped and destroyed, while if
the blades are set too far apart, the work of cleaning the
fibre is not properly done. Furthermore, it is necessary to
have considerable power to drive the machines now on the
market, some requiring as much as 60 horsepower. With
the hand-power ‘ World’s ’ machine, it is said, ‘ two ordinary
native labourers can produce upwards of 80 tb. to 100 Ib. of
clean fibre per day, whereas by the usual hand-beating
a native can do only about 3 tb. perday ’. The machine is
sold by the World’s Fibres Machinery Corporation, Ltd.,
16, Finsbury Circus, London, E.C.
294
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1909,
x WW ot
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date August 30, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report only a small business has been
passing in West Indian Sea Island cotton and prices continue
firm.
The sales consist principally of stains, 64%. to 8$d. with
a few bales of Barbados about 144d.
Latest accounts from America state the Sea Island crop
is making satisfactory progress and there is every prospect
of a good yield.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co. on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending August 21, 1s as follows : —
There have been no receipts or sales for the past fort-
night, consequently no change in the market.
The unsold stock of 427 bales, composed entirely of
planters’ crop lots held here and on plantations, is still being
held under instructions from the owners at 35c.
COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE WEST
INDIES.
The amounts of cotton exported from the British
Islands of the Lesser Antilles during the quarter end-
ing June 30, 1909, were as follows :-—
Estimated value.
Number of Weight,
Origin.
bales. tb. £ Se) ode
Antigua 158 34,460 1,866 11 8
Barbados 183 237,799 11,889 19 0
Grenada S583 257,13 {ears cles
Montserrat 201 MSs: Bsl32) On 10:
St. Kitts ay. real ae 746: 2) al
Nevis fe. 65 ’ $35 16 11
Anguilla 138 27,600 1495 0 0
St. Vincent 294 SORTA ss iseay ii ily! 6
4 a} €
Te | 15 5,125 (none given)
Virgin Islands 85 18,854 107 0.0
2,408}
782,182 (34,599 1 8)
Total
All this cotton was sent to the United Kingdom, with
the exception of 20 ales (10,078 tb.) of an estimated value
of £503 18s, which was* shipped from Barbados to the
United States. The cotton exported was Sea Island in all
cases save the following (which are included in the figures
given in the above table): & ? bales (248,455 tb.) Marie
Galante from Grenada; 19 bales (4,000 tb.) Marie Galante
from Trinidad and Tobago; 47 bales (10,484 tb.) Native
from the Virgin Islands. A certain amount of cotton, not
included in the above table, was also sent from St. Lucia.
COTTON SEED IN THE UNITED STATES.
In 1907, there was produced in the United States
5,912,646 tons of cotton seed, of which 3,943,981 tons was
crushed. The amounts of oil and meal that were obtained
from this crushed seed were 175,724,840 gallons and
1,785,804 tons, respectively. The quantity of oil that was
exported was 40,8€0,504 gallons, the remainder being used
for home consumption. Similarly, 670,484 tons of cotton
seed meal and cake were shipped, chietly to Europe, Denmark
taking 277,124 tons, Germany 224,064 tons, and Great
Britain 90,539 tons. The amounts taken by Denmark and
Germany are rapidly increasing, while that consumed by
Great Britain shows a considerable falling off, the reason for
the latter circumstance being that this country is obtaining
greater quantities every year from Egypt and other countries.
In Denmark, these products are chiefly used in the dairy
industry, while in Germany and England they are employed
both as food and for manurial purposes.
It has been found that draft horses will do well on
a ration which includes 2 tb. of cotton seed meal. Over
half a million cattle, as well as large numbers of sheep, are
fattened every year at the oil factories of the Southern
States. The method employed is to make the ration for
cattle include, at first, 3 or 4 tb. of the meal, which is gradu-
ally increased to 6 or 8 tb, oreven 10 Ib. per head, the length
of the feeding period being from 90 to 12U days. It is found
that the fat of such animals has a higher melting point than
that obtained from those fed on corn. ‘Trials made at many
of the experiment stations show that the inclusion of eotton
seed meal in the food of dairy cows increases the How of
milk, the most satisfactory amounts being 5 or 6 Ib. daily for
short, and 3 or 4 Ib. daily for long, periods. The effect on
the butter produced from the milk of animals fed in this
way is to raise thé melting-point and to lighten the colour,
while excessive amounts of the mealin the ration give a
butter of poor flavour and low value.
Cotton seed hulls were formerly used entirely for fuel
at the factories. They have now, however, been recognized
as a useful adjunct to the ordinary cattle food, especially in
the neighbourhood of the factories. As is well known, the
feeding of the seed to calves and pigs generally brings about
a fatal result if persisted in. In such cases it has been found
that, alchough the oil pressed from the seed has no poisonous
properties, the seed has caused intense inflammation to arise
in the digestive tract.
Vor. VIII. No. 193.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 295
OVERHEAD TRANSPORT FOR
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
It has been sngvested in Tropical Life that the
system of carrying agricultural produce in the tropics
by means of overhead ropeways should be more gene-
rally adopted. At the same time, an account of the
working of these in Jamaica and Ceylon was given :—
An endless rope 1s supported on wooden trestles, and is
provided with carriers, which are firmly fixed to it, and which
therefore move with it. For comparatively light loads,
such as bunches of bananas, the rope need not be more than
j-inch in diameter. The carriers are usually in the form of
a cradle, and are provided with a catch, so that when this is
released, they discharge their contents ; loading and unloading
can be done while the rope is in motion. For the purpose
of tightening the rope, which naturally sags after use, a long
screw and a powerful steel spring in compression are
provided.
A ropeway which has been erected in Jamaica deals
with 100 bunches of bananas per hour, the weight of each
of these being, on an average, 90 1b. The rope travels at the
rate of about 2 miles an hour and is driyen by means of
a 3 horse-power oil engine. The length of the line is a little
under a mile, and it includes a number of very steep gradients.
It would seem that such a system might be
adopted for the transport of agricultural products
which would entail the carrying of greater weights
than those which have to be dealt with in the carriage
of tea and bananas, and that it would be specially use-
ful in meeting the difficulty of taking such produce
over steep gradients.
FORESTRY IN FRANCE AND THE SOUTH-
ERN UNITED STATES.
From her State forests France derives an annual income
of approximately one million pounds sterling, or 7s. per acre.
Eighteen per cent. of the entire area of the country, or
23,500,000 acres is forest land. Approximately 6 million
acres are managed by the state, ‘the annual cost of manage-
ment being about 4s. per acre. The great achievement of
France in forestry has been the establishment of protective
forests where much destruction has been caused by floods.
Toward the close of the eighteenth century about 2,500,000
acres comprised in the Department of the Landes was little
more than shifting sand dunes and disease-breeding marshes.
This section is now one of the richest, most productive and
healthful in France. This change has been brought about by
the intelligent cultivation of pine forests. Immense forests
now cover the country, the sand dunes and marshes have
long since disappeared, and the wood, charcoal, turpentine,
rosin and kindred industries have brought prosperity to the
Department which was formerly the most harren and
miasmatic in France. The climate is now mild and balmy,
the great change being wrought by the forests. The thin
layer of clay beneath the sandy surface, formerly impervious
to water, has been so pierced by the roots of the pine that
there isnow thorough drainage to the spongy earth below.
The manufacture of rosin, tar, turpentine, pitch, pyroligneous
acid and wood vinegar is conducted in much the same way
as in Georgia and the Carolinas. The trees destined for
‘short life’ are bled as soon as they are big enough to
stand bleeding, when they have a circumference of 1 foot
or 15 inches, the sapping of young trees being the only
production of a new forest for a time, and when the ‘ thinning
out’ time comes they are ‘bled to death’ ,and the timber is used
largely for pit props, the English demand guaranteeing
a steady and profitable market. The ‘standing trees’ —those
giving promise of most vigour—are never tapped until they
are about 3 feet in circumference. When these have reached
the age of fifty or sixty years they are cut down, and utilized
for telegraph poles and railway ties. To prevent the spread of
forest fires, wide trenches are dug about limited areas, and
the space kept clear.
The Southern United States, with 27 per cent. of
the total area of that country, contains about 42
per cent. of its total forest area. The forest area by States is
as follows : Alabama, 20 million acres ; Arkansas, 24 million;
Florida, 20 million; Georgia, 22,300,000; Kentucky,
10 million ; Louisiana, 16,500,000 ; 9 Maryland 2,200,000. ;
Mississippi, 17,500,000 ; North Carolina, 19,600,000 ; South
Carolina, 12 million; ‘Tennessee, 15 million; Texas,
30 million; Virginia, 14 million, and West Virginia,
9,100,000. The south, it will be seen, has still much of the
virgin forest of the country. This forest must be used, of
course, in order to meet the steadily expanding wants of
this section. It must be used in such a manner, however,
that the very most may be made from its annual cut, while
at the same time, this cut is being replaced by new growth.
In this way its timber will remain a source of perpetual
wealth. The importance of forest conservaton to southern
interests is clearly understood by the people of the south.
The future of the south is more nearly bound up in the
plan of forest preservation, with its accompanying protection
to water-sheds, power-streams, and wood-working industries,
than is anything now before the people of this part of the
country. Not only is the protection of the watersheds,
which will some day furnish the power to run all manufac-
turing establishments in the entire south, an important
matter to the south, but the industries depending upon the
forest products will also be benefited by tbe protection
thrown about the remaining timber area, (Sezence, July 30 :
August 20; 1909.)
FEEDING VALUES OF COTTON
AND LINSEED CAKES.
The following experiment was recently carried out,
under the direction of the College of Agriculture at
Bangor, for the purpose of comparing the feeding value
of these two products, from the point of view of
economy :—
Each of two evenly matched lots of bullocks received per
day 3 th. maize meal, 70 tb. swedes, and 74 Ib. hay and straw,
the one lot getting in addition 3 Ib. decorticated cotton cake,
and the other lot 3 tb. of a mixture of linseed and undecorti-
cated cotton cake in equal parts, the allowances being
increased slightly as the fattening process progressed. The
results, from an economical point of view, were in favour of
the decorticated cotton cake. The lot of bullocks receiving
it throve exceedingly well, gaining in weight an average of
16 tb. more than the lot getting the mixture of linseed and
undecorticated cotton cake. After making allowance for the
difference in the cost of the food, this gain represents 1s. 9d.
for each bullock, and is equal to 14s. 6d. per ton of the cake
used. Another consideration in favour of the cotton cake is
that its residual manuria: value is greater than that of linseed
cake. It is reported that similar results were obtained in
experiments on the same lines with sheep. In this case the
gain from decorticated cotton cake over the gain from the
mixture of linseed and undecorticated cotton cake repre-
sented ls. 5d. per head, equal to 11s. 9d. per ton of cake
consumed.
296
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SEPTEMBER 18, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayvents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s, 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Slews
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1909. No. 193.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In the editorial, the subject of the enemies of
cotton, which was begun in the iast number, has been
followed up by an article on the chief blights which
attack that plant in the West Indies.
The conclusions as to the effect of soluble manures
on sugar-cane soils which have been reached at the
Hawaii Experiment Station are of interest. They are
given on page 291.
Information is given on page 292 in connexion
with a coffee disease which has appeared in Dominica,
and remedies for it are suggested.
A review of the report for 1908 of the Sugar-cane
Experiments Committee, Board of Agriculture, British
Guiana, will be found on page 293.
Statistics in connexion with the export of cotton
from the West Indies are given on page 294.
‘The Insect Notes, on page 298, appear in the form
of an illustrated article on the transportation of
‘millions’.
Interesting and useful information appears in
the Fungus Notes on page 299, It deals with the
parasitic fungi of scale insects in the West Indies.
An article on page 303 gives an account of the
ways in which a_ plant of great commercial value (the
West African oil palm) may be used as a shade tree,
especially, under certain conditions, for cacao.
Breeds of Fiowls and Egg Production.
Experience in the United States of America has
shown that greatly increased egg production in the
larger breeds of fowls, such as barred and white
Plymouth Rocks, is accompanied by a decrease in the
percentage of fertility in the eggs. At the same time,
the number of chickens that fail to hatch properly in-
creases. With the smaller breeds, such as brown
Leghorns and black Minorcas, this is not the case,
while white Wyandottes are intermediate in this
respect.
rr ore
A New Parasite on Mosquitos.
It has been observed by Dr. Allhusen that a fly
which is common in Hong Kong feeds on the larvae of
mosquitos. This insect probably belongs to the family
Dolichopodidae, or long legged flies, the members of
which are of small or medium size and generally bright
metallic green in colour, The larvae are long, slender
and round, and live in earth or decomposing matter.
It is the perfect insect, or imago, that is said to be
useful in the connexion named, however. ‘This is pre-
daceous and hunts for small soft-bodied insects, being
generally found in damp places covered with rank
vegetation, on the leaves of aquatic plants, or on water,
over the surface of which it is able to run. It is thus
very likely that-some of the last-mentioned forms are
able to attack mosquito larvae which have risen to the
surface of the water to breathe, and, if this is so, the
existence of such a fly should have an important bearing
on the prophylaxis of tropical disease.
ae
Green Manuring.
This subject, it will, be remembered, was discussed
in the editorials of Nos. 189 and 190 of the Agricul-
tural News. In these, the effect of raising the piants
for green dressings in a soil badly supplied with water
was mentioned, and attention was drawn to the fact
that the removal from sucha soil of the water required
for the growth of the green dressing plants may cause
it to become so dry as to render inoperative any benefit
that may have accrued to subsequent crops by the
turning in of the green manure. Consideration of the
matter naturally leads to the question of the advisa-
bility, in such a case, of using fresh, green plants that
have been grown elsewhere for the purpose. An
attempt has been made at the Rome Experiment
Station, to arrive at a decision in a_ practical Way.
A large number of experiments was devised to this
end, and the conclusions have been arrived at: that
the green manure grown elsewhere is more effective
than that grown on the field itself: that this greater
effectiveness varies with climatic conditions, with the
nature of the soil and the kinds of plants used; and
that it is due to the fact that the water taken off by
the green dressing while growing is saved for the soil
which is manured. ‘The importance of these conclu-
sions in dry regions, or in periods of drought, is evident.
Vor. VALE. No: 193: THE
The Preservation of Copra.
Experiments have been conducted at the Paris
Colonial Gardens for the purpose of investigating the
value of sulphur dioxide for the preservation of copra.
Samples treated with the gas in 1905 still show no
signs of detericration. Another tria] has recently been
made on a large scale with a consignment of 5,000
cocoa-nuts received from the Malay Archipelago. In
the process, the nuts are cut in two and then exposed
to the action of the sulphur dioxide, and it has been
found that its influence is to preserve the copra in its
original condition. Other methods for the attainment
of the same end have been found successful at the
Chemical and Physical Laboratories, Little Ilford,
Essex. The former of these consists in impregnating
the copra and the packages containing it with oil of
thyme, which is applied in a fine spray, abont half
a Huid ounce of the oil being used for each hundred-
weight of copra. The second consists in washing,
soaking or spraying the copra well with a warm,
saturated solution of boric acid, sun-drying the product
before it is packed and then dusting the top layers
with a little of the finely-powdered acid. This applica-
tion has the merit of being cdourless.-
+o
Bacteria and Soil Nitrification.
Recent experiments conducted in Germany have
shown that the nitrifying bacteria are most abundant
in the top soil toa depth of 4 inches, but the absence
of humus and oxygen causes them to be rare at a depth
of 20 inches. The addition of atmospheric nitrogen to
soils throngh the agency of bacteria (nitrification) takes
place best at temperatures about 25° to 27°C. (77° to
81°F). Nitrification is not delayed by the presence of
small amounts of soluble organic substances; it is
probably accelerated by this, as it has been found that
the addition of 1 per cent. of certain sugars increases
the activity of the bacteria. If, however, they are
present in greaterguantity, the rate of nitrification
decreases greatly.
The upper layers of the soil also contain denitrify-
ing bacteria in large numbers. These occur irregularly
in the lower layers but are often found abundantly
at a depth of 3 feet. The temperatures at which
these bacteria grow best are alinost the same as those
for the nitrifying bacteria. ;
$$ +
Tron Content and Colour of Soils.
A paper read at the fortieth general meeting of
the American Chemical Society states that a chemical
examination of twenty typical red and_ yellow soils
showed that their inorganic colouring matter consisted
chiefly of iron oxide; manganese compounds were
present in amounts too small to have an effect on the
colour. It is argued that the comparatively small
difference in soil temperature in any two localities
where the tints are different is insnfticient to uphold
the explanation that variations in colouration are due
to the presence of iron oxide in various states of hy-
dration. The different shades are, on the contrary,
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
297
held to be due to the extent.to which the film of oxide
has been deposited on the soil particles ; thin films give
yellow, and thicker ones red, soils. Experiments in
which films of iron oxide were precipitated on sands
and grains of quartz flour of different sizes, the per-
centage of iron being kept constant so that deposits
of ditferent thicknesses were obtained, afforded con-
firmation of this view.
How ‘ Marasmius’ is Spread.
The ways in which the root disease of sugar-cane
(Marasmius sacchari) may be disseminated are con-
sidered in Bulletin No. 6 of the Experiment Station of
the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, entitled
Fungus Maladies of the Sugar-cane. It is stated
that it appears to spread largely through the agency of
the mycelium. Its spores do not appear to be long
lived, nor to have any special. means for their distribu-
tion. They are not taken up by insects and at one stroke,
as it were, spread far and wide over the plantation. It
is doubtful whether air currents play any very impor-
tant part in the distribution of the spores of Marasmius,
Trrigation and rain-water undoubtedly are most effi-
cient means for their distribution. So are the various
agencies ased in the culture and harvesting of cane,
Machinery, men and animals ‘at work in the cane fields
are no doubt often agencies in the spread of both the
spores and the mycelium,
In the case of Lthyphallus, Clathrus, and Dicty-
ophora, which are found in Hawaiian cane fields,
insects have been proved to be instrumental in spread-
ing the first two, and from the fact that the odour and
appearance of Dictyophora are similar to those of fungi
whose spores are carried by insects, it is concluded that
this is also disseminated by them.
———E ee
Brazilian Cacao in the United Kingdom.
The Monthly Trade and Consular Reports for
August 1908 states that the decision of the largest
importers of cacao in the United Kingdom to employ
no more of the product from San Thomé, Portuguese
West Africa, will extend the industry in Brazil.
As the United States takes a large part of the
exports of Brazilian cacao, the matter of possibly large
inereases of the British imports thereof is of interest.
TnSS~7 and 1908 the value of the exportg of: cacad
from Brazil was £2,036,128 and £2,008,322 respe@tively,
of which £607,576 and £486,265 worth wént’to tha,
United States.
In 1908 the exports of cacao from Brazil and
San Thomé amounted to 31,068 metric tons and 28,765
metric tons, respectively. Althongh the cacao industry
in Brazil consists of little more than gathering
the beans from the wild trees, instead of being a
developed one, it is becoming one of the dependable
resources of the country in its export trade. The
production of cacao is inereasing at the rate of
2,000,000 tb. per annum, andit might be added to
almost without limit.
5
to
Lio}
(oa)
INSECT
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
NOTES.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1909.
TRANSPORTATION OF MILLIONS.
Great interest is being taken in this fish in many
parts of the world, in consequence of the fact that it
feeds on, and thus destroys, mosquito larvae. In order
to facilitate its distribution, a consignment. of the fish
has been sent by the Commissioner of Agriculture to
the Zoological Gardens, London, and the following
hints in regard to its transport have been embodied in
a leaflet by Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc., Entomologist to
the Department :—
Millions (Gvrardinus poect-
loides, De Filippi) have been
sent from Barbados to other
West Indian Islands and to
such distant points as Guaya-
quil and British Guiana,
Jamaica, Bolivar, England
and West Africa, with good
success. A consignment has
also been sent forward for
the lederated Malay States,
‘but no report has been re-
ceived as to the condition \
in which these fish arrived at
their destination.
It has been found that
kerosene tins are very suit- {
able containers for millions ) ti
‘during transportation. Each
tin 1s fixed in a wooden case,
which allows for 2 inches of
sawdust on all sides and at
the bottom. This will prevent
sudden changes of tempera-
ture in the water. The open
top is protected by a cover,
in the event of cold weather
being experienced. A piece
of mesh wire (about 8 or 10
mesh) is fixed inside the tin
above the water in such
a way as to prevent the fish
from being thrown out if the
water splashes when the tins
are being handled, or if the
ship rolls violently.
Millions are very general
feeders ; they will attack mos-
quito larvae, small crusta-
ceans and many other forms
of minute aquatic life. They
will eat, in captivity, plant lice, bits of meat, bread, biscuit,
cornmeal, and o: hard-boiled eggs.
Millions in captivity are fairly hardy, and do not sutfer
so much from lack of attention as do many other kinds of
fish. They thrive so much better with good care, however,
that it pays to keep the water clean and fresh, and free, as
far as possible, from bits of food 2nd other organic matter
which will decay and foul the water. While in transit,
a careful cleaning of the tins once a week should be sufticient.
Each tin of 5 gallons capacity should contain not over
3 gallons of water, which should be sufficient for from 200 to
300 fish. In cleaning the tins, about 1 gallon of water should
Fic. 30.
(U.S. Department of Agriculture.)
Fic. 31. ‘Grrarpinus
Eacs anp LARVAE OF Mosaquiro.
PORCILOIDES’,
(About twice natural size.)
be taken out with a siphon, and at the same time all sedi-
ment should be removed, and any dead fish as well. Fresh
water should be added to make up for that removed,
and this should be at the same temperature as that in
the tin. If the water to be added is suspected of being
exceptionally hard or alkaline, it will be best to test it
before putting it into the tins. A few fish should be taken
from one of the tins‘and kept for a few hours in the water
under trial. It can soon be seen whether the water is suit-
able for the purpose.
The tins containing the
fish should be placed in some
convenient, sheltered spot on
deck in charge of some one
™~on board. It should be
remembered that low tem-
peratures are fatal to these
fish, and that if cold nights
are experienced, the tins
should be screened with the
cover provided,and if necess-
ary, should be moved to
warmer quarters. The fish
should be fed on very finely-
chopped raw beef, or hard-
boiled egg similarly treated,
varied with a small amount
of cornmea} or bread crumbs.
About half a teaspoonful at
each time will be sufficient
and no more should be given.
The fish should be fed only
once in two days. It will
not be necessary to remove
the wire for the purpose of
feeding them.
A consignment of millions
recently taken from Barbados
in March last, intended for
use in Southern Nigeria, is
reported to have suffered
severely from the cold on
approaching England. Many
of them, it is also reported,
died as a consequence of the
jarring and shaking which
they experienced on the rail-
way journey from Southamp-
ton to London, where the
survivors were cared for at
the Zoological Gardens, ard
again on the return from London to the point of embarka-
tion for West Africa. The rough handling which the
containers received in the surf boats at Lagos caused the
death of the remainder, and none were landed alive.
On arrival at their destination, millions should at once
be placed in a good-sized tank with fresh water, and they
should be fed with.all they will eat for a few days. The action
of green algae and water weed in the tank in aerating and
purifying the water is very beneficial.
It may be added that a fish called ‘ toddo-birre’
(G. Guppii), which is closely related to millions, is being
used for mosquito destruction in Suriname.
De Finiprt.
Won. VIlT, No: 193;
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
299
THE PARASITIC FUNGI OF SCALE
INSECTS IN THE WEST INDIES.
The foliowing is a short acconnt of the parasitic
fungi which have been found on scale insects in the
West Indies up to the present time. The presence of
some of these torms has been recognized for several
years, but the careful work of the Staff at the Florida
State Agricultural Experiment Station has recently
brought their economic importance into considerable
prominence and has stimulated investigations on the
subject in several countries.
As at present known, there are fowr species of fungi
parasitic on seale insects in these islands, namely, the red
headed, the white headed, and the black fungi, with a species
on shield scales. Reference has been made to these from
time to time in the Agricultural News, but it is thought that
a short summary of the subject, with a description of the
superficial appearance of these fungi, an account of their
distribution and the methods that can be employed to spread
them, may not be out of place.
THE RED HEADED FUNGUS (Sphaerostilbe
phila). This fungus has long been known as a_ parasite
on many forms of scale insects, and on white fly. Its
delicate white mycelium attacks and kills the insect,
leaving it dry in appearance and, usually, easily detach-
able ‘from the leaf or stem on which it was growing.
The fungus then forms a very small red outgrowth from one
end of the insect ; the outgrowth is usually more or less
elongated and bears on its upper surface numerous sickle-
shaped, hyaline, quadricellular spores. This is the conidial
stage of the fungus. Later, it becomes darker in colour and
produces on a red stroma numerous small hemispherical
boxes or perithecia in which the ascospores are borne. The
ascospores are oval, hyaline and bicellular.
The fungus has up-to the present been found in Domi-
niea, St. Lucia and Grenada on the white snow scale
(Chionaspis citri), on limes; on the black line scale
(Ischnaspis jiliformis), on Fieus sp.; and on the purple scale
(Vytilaspis citricola), on limes. It is stated that in Florida
this fungus can do a large amount of damage to scale insects
without being visible to the naked eye, and it seems probable
that the same is the case in these islands.
THE WHITE HEADED FUNGUS (Ophionectria coccicola).
This fungus forms a_ white, knobbed outgrowth from
the dead scale, and bears on the surface of the knob
very numerous quadricellular spores, three of which
are usually united together at the base on a conimon
stalk cell. The later stage consists of numerous, slightly
brownish boxes of perthecia, similar in shape to those
of the red headed fungus, borne on a brownish stroma and
containing the multicellular -ascospores. It has so far only
been found in Dominica on the purple scale on the leaves
of a citrus plant. It is, however, found frequently in Florida
and its distribution is probably more general in the West Indies:
THE GLACK FUNGUS (Myriangiuwm Duriae?), This
fungus forms black crusts on branches of trees, more
especially lime trees infested with tbe white snow scale
and the purple scale, and has been found in St. Lucia
and Barbados. The black crust, or stroma, grows out
from the scale and contains in its substance softer areas
of colourless cells in which the asci are sunk. These are
more or less spherical and contain eight multicellular brown
spores. The fungus must not be confused with black
blight, from which it is easily distinguished by its limited
extent, and thicker, more definite appearance.
THE SHIELD SCALE FUNGUS. This forms a slightly buff-
cocco-
coloured fringe round several species of shield scales (Leca-
niwne), including the brown shield scale (L. hemiésphericum),
the mango shield scale (LZ. mangiferae), the soft shield scale
(L. hesperidum), the green scale (LZ. viride). ‘The scales
become dry and papery, and are eventually covered with
a bufEcoloured growth of this fungus and its spores, in
addition to the fringe that spreads out all round the scale,
from underneath it. ‘The appearance is characteristic, and
when once seen, not easily mistaken. It has so far been
found in Barbados, St. Vincent and Grenada.
These are the main species found up to the present ; but
it seems probable that further investigations will reveal the
presence of one or two more forms, as wellas the more
general distribution of those already observed. Most
of them, with the possible exception of the last, prefer
fairly moist conditions, and it is probable that the
growing of Bengal beans as a shade for limes in Mont-
serrat has favoured the development of the red headed
fungus. (See Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, p. 154.) Where
these useful parasites are known to exist, an occasional
spraying with clean water, of the tree on which they are
growing, would help them to tide over a dry season and
enable them to establish themselves more vigorously on
the scale insects as the number of these increases. The
fungi may be spread very simply. If a tree is known
to contain them, branches showing the fungi may be
cut off and tied into the upper branches of those which it is
desired to infect ; the spores will then be carried by rain,
wind or insects to the scales on neighbouring branches and,
when once established under satisfactory conditions, the
fungus will keep the seale well in check.
For the purpose of aiding in distribution, also, experi-
ments are in progress at the Head Office of the Department
for the purpose of obtaining cultures of these fungi on
various nutrient media, for distribution to the Botanic
Stations. The fungi can be washed off the medium into
about a quart of water, and the spores and portions of
mycelium sprayed on to the trees infected with scale insects
by means of a clean sprayer. When once established, the
fungi can be further spread by means of the tying method
already described.
From what has been said, it will be evident that the
fungi are doing much useful work in keeping these insect
parasites in check, and it is hoped that they may be turned
to even better account in the future. In connexion with
this, another result of some importance which might be
expected to follow the reduction of the numbers of scale
insects is a perceptible diminution in the amount of black
blight. This fungus (Capnodiwm sp.) follows the scale insects
and, according to the generally accepted account, lives on the
‘honey dew’ secreted by them. (See Agricultural Nes,
Velsvilip: Gi)
Any information with regard to the distribution and
hosts of any of the species of furgi described above, or the
possible presence of new species would be acceptable, and
should be communicated to the local officers of the Depart-
ment. In the Agricultural News, Vol. II, p.32, there is a report
of the presence of the red headed fungus and an unidentified
form, probably Sporotrichum, in Dominica, on the white snow
and purple scales; and on p. 216, of what is probably
Sporotrichum on the brown and mango shield scales in
Antigua. Vol. X, p. 42, of the same publication contains
a reference to the presence of red headed fungus, and
probably Sporotrichuwm, on white snow and purple scales in
Dominica. In Vol. VITI, pp. 186 and 202, several details
and a complete account of the methods of spreading the
fungi are given.
300
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. SEPTEMBER 18, 1909
GLEANINGS.
The loss in weight of an ordinary fowl by bleeding and
plucking amounts to about 125 per cent. of the live weight.
In Japan (not including Formosa) the cane crop for
1908 was nearly 495,000 tons. From this, about 45,000
tons of sugar was obtained, which gives a yield of 9°5 per
cent.
The Queensland sugar crop for 1908 was 151,098 tons,
which is the smallest yield:for four years. The number of
sugar factories in the State is fifty-three, of which forty-
eight produce raw sugar.
For the cotton crop of 1908 in the Virgin Islands,
3,600 Ib. of selected Sea Island cotton seed was distributed.
Most of this was given out free, and a small portion was sold
at 24d. per Ib.
It has been found at the St. Lucia Botanic Station that
the percentage germination of seeds of the Manigoba rubbers
(Manihot dichotoma and M. piauhyensis) may be increased
by slightly filing them at the end nearest the radicle.
A plot of improved Indian corn is kept at the Grenada
Botanie Station, and from it a good type of twelve-week
corn has been obtained by constant selection. The seed of
this is regularly distributed to peasants in the island.
A company called the Sugar Beet Syndicate has been
formed in England recently. In connexion with its opera-
tions, a site for a beet sugar factory, which will be capable
of dealing with the produce from 3,000 acres of beet, has
been chosen.
The Vord-Australische Zeitung states that wild wheat
from which the cultivated varieties have been probably
derived, has been found growing in Upper Galilee, in the
mountains of Naphthali. It is said to thrive in a shallow
soil, on stony ground.
The area of land in Hawaii now occupied by forest
reserves is 545,764 acres, of which 357,180 is government
land. The principle on which the land is chosen for these
is to reserve that which is not to be put to direct use, and to
employ what is suitable among it for forest.
Experience at the Botanic Station, Antigua, has shown
that the yield of broom corn depends to a great extent on
the supply of water during the first month or six weeks after
sowing the seed. At this period, the growth is comparatively
slow, anda fair ramfall during it generally leads to good
returns,
The report by the British Vice-Consul at Zanzibar on
the trade of that Protectorate in 1908 states that, from the
planting of young Ceara rubber trees in the Government
plantations and the distribution of seed to native cultivators
by the Agricultural Department, there should be a total of
400,000 young trees now growing in Zanzibar and Pemba.
The quantity of cacao shipped from Trinidad from the
beginning of the present year to the end of last month was
39,907,499 Ib., as compared with 34,763,102 tb. for a similar
period last year. Of this, 2,057,666 tb. was exported during
August, as follows: to the United States, 1,005,249 tb.;: to
the United Kingdom 245,124 tb.; to other countries,
807,293 tb.
The value of the exports from the Protectorate of
Uganda for the two months ending May 31, 1909, were :
food, drink and tobacco, £1,735 ; raw materials, £18,256 ;
manufactured material, £106 ; making a total of £20,097,
as compared with £27,109 for a similar period in 1908. Of
the value of the raw material exported in the former period,
£6,017 was that of ginned and unginned cotton.
An account was given in the Agricultural News,
Vol. VIII, p. 107, of the Chinese tallow tree (Sapium
sebiferum), and it was stated that it was hoped to obtain
cuttings or seeds of it for propagation in the Botanic
Gardens of the British West Indies. Seeds of the plant
have recently been obtained from Kew by the Commissioner
of Agriculture, and are being distributed among the Botanic
Stations in the Windward and Leeward Islands.
The revised figures of the cotton crop of the United
were produced, This is nearly one million bales larger than
the average crop of the last five years. In spite of this yield,
the demand for cotton in that country is increasing faster
than the supply, and there are indications that, before many
years have passed, there will be no raw cotton for export
from the United States. (/awatian Planters’ Monthly,
July 1909.)
Experiments that have been conducted at the Florida
Agricultural Experiment Station show that the juice of the
guava contains more than 90 per cent. of water, together
with a small percentage of pectin, acid and colouring matters.
The pure jelly usually consists of about 75 per cent. of
sugars and 20 per cent. of water, the rest being made up of
pectin, acid, etc. - As the result of trials it is suggested that,
in order to obtain a uniform product, the same proportions
of water and sugar to juice should always be taken, and the
mixture should always be boiled to 235° F.
Vou, VIII. No. 193.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 301
SEPTEMBER.
Second PeERrop.
Seasonal Notes.
3y this time the sugar-cane will have reached a stage at
which its growth will give indications of the soil conditions
beneath it. The first of these is always that which has rela-
tion to the supply of water, as plants are more quickly and
seciously affected by a lack of this than ‘of any of the other
substances which they take in. If the weather has been
somewhat dry, a good opportunity will be afforded to take
note of the difference between canes which have been mulched
either with a dust mulch or with vegetable matter (trash)
and those growing in soil which has not been mulched at all.
Why is it that water does not rise througha mulch to any
great extent ? What effects on soils, beside that of assisting to
conserve water in them, are due tv the presence of a vegetable
mulch ! Where some fields of cane have been green dressed
with leguminous plants, while others have had a dressing
which is non-leguminons, note if there is any difference in
the appearance of the plants in the two cases. If there is,
to what may the difference be due !
Under the wet conditions of this time of the year, fungi
will be prone to increase, especially on those plants which are
most susceptible to their attacks, that is cultivated plants.
A consideration of the question why plants which are raised
in any quantity, and with a view to obtaining a product
which is superior to the forms of it found in nature, are
most likely to be damaged by pests should lead to some use-
ful conclusicns. Itead the editorial in the present issue of
the Agricultural News, and look up the references there
cited, as far as possible. Although it deals more particu-
larly with cotton blights, much that is said in it is of
general application. Remember that the control of fungus and
bacterial pests (as well as of many insect pests) is far more
a matter of prevention than of remedies after the disease has
appeared to a dangerous extent. This is important, for
there are generally several measures which will help greatly
in the matter of prevention, while there are only one or twa
remedies (which are none the less important when disease
has been allowed to break out severely) that can be applied
economically, and even then, not always with perfect confi-
dence in their effectiveness. In relation to preventive
measures we may consider separately the soil and the plant.
With regard to the former, good cultural operations will
make it of less use in harbouring pests until a host plant is
provided, and will produce a condition which will lead to the
growth in it of good, healthy plants that are well able to
resist disease ; while rotation of crops will starve such pests
out. As far as the plant is concerned, it will be greatly
aided by the provision of good, healthy propagating material
(such as seeds and cuttings), which has been raised if possible
from disease-resistant varieties. Care in this respect is
especially necessary if the material is being introduced from
another island, as the bringing of a pest to a place where its
natural parasites are either absent or in partial abeyance is
bound, in the end, to lead to serious damage,
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS,
(1) What are the benefits to be derived by the soil
from (a) surface cultivation, (b) thorough cultivation ¢
When should these processes be performed 4
(2) What is the function of the root-hairs of plants, and
the connexion between them and the ‘film-water’ of the soil 4
(3) What are the chief systems of bones in the legs of
a horse! The metacarpus of draft horses has a carrying
strength that is more than 31 per cent. greater than that of
the same bone in carriage horses. Why is this ?
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) What is a fungus’ Give a general account of the
characters and life-history of a fungus.
(2) Give general information in regard to soil and
cultivation in the case of maize.
(3) Briefly discuss the effects of soil on climate, and of
climate on plants.
The Effect of Moisture on Stored Sugar.
The following information regarding the deteriora-
tion of sugars is given in Bulletin 9, Division of
Physiology and Plant Pathology, Hawai :—
In a bulletin published by the Division of Agriculture
and Chemistry about a year ago on the deterioration of
sugars on storage, an experiment was described which was
undertaken ‘ to determine the percentage of water which it
is safe to leave in sugars ’°. Separate portions of a sample of
moist Sugar containing fermenting organisms were dried in
a vacuum so as to contain decreasing amounts of moisture
from 1°86 to 0°29 per cent.
The samples were polarized and put into tightly
stoppered bottles. At the end of one and two months they
were polarized again, and it was found that, in those samples
containing more than 1 per cent. of moisture, the polarizations
were lower than originally.
These samples have been recently polarized again after
standing twelve months, and the results further confirm the
original conclusion that raw sugars containing 1 per cent.
or more moisture are liable to deteriorate on storage. The
original table with the further polarizations added is given
below :—
Polarization.
Moisture Initial, Atter After After
Per cent. 1 month. 2 months. 2 months,
0°29 96°8 96°7 96:7 96°5
0-40 96°6 96-6 96°6 96°5
OAT 96°8 96°6 96°6 96:2
0°59 96°3 96-6 96°7 96-4
0°65 96-4 96-4 96°6 96:2
0-74 96-4 96-4 96°5 96:2
0:96 96-1 96-0 96-0 95:7
1-04 96-0 95°9 95:7 95:1
1:18 96:0 95-2 95:2 94°6
128 95°8 95-0 95:0 94°2
1°36 95°8 95-0 94-7 94:4
151 95°5 94-7 94°5 93°8
1:67 95°6 94:2 94-1 93°4
1°80 95°3 93°8 94:0 92°7
1:86 95°15 94°4 94-0 93:1
Notwithstanding that the bottles were closed with
rubber stoppers, the sugar was so hygroscopic that the
samples had nearly all increased slightly in moisture during
the year, which accounts for the lower polarizations of those
containing Jess than 1 per cent. of moisture.
302
COMPARISON OF CORN AND OATS
AS A FOOD FOR HORSES.
An account of experiments which have been
conducted for the purpose of making a comparison of
corn and oats as food for horses engaged in farm work
is given in Bulletin No. 25 of the Ohio Experiment
Station. The horses used in the trials were similar to
those engaged in ordinary farm work in that State.
The following are the conclusions given in the bulletin
to which reference is made :—
While the work reported in this bulletin has not been
conducted for a sufficient length of time nor with enough
animals to justify any very comprehensive statements, yet it
seems that some facts have been pretty well established.
The work is being continued and it is hoped that the enmula-
tive effects, if any result, of the long continued use of grain
rations made up exclusively of corn and of oats may be deter-
mined, The following statements, based upon the work done
thus far, seem to be warranted by the data presented hereto-
fore. It must be understood that the horses were mature
geldings, and that mixed clover and timothy hay were fed.
The corn-fed horses endured hard work during hot
weather, as well as did the oats-fed horses.
The use of corn to the exclusion of other grain for
a period of forty-eight weeks was not detrimental to the
health of work horses.
The use of corn for work horses did not induce laziness
and lack of endurance. Neither did theuse of oats induce
increased spirit and endurance.
When mixed (clover and timothy) hay was fed to
mature geldings at general farm work, ear-corn was practi-
cally as efficient, pound for pound, as oats.
On the basis of the results of this experiment and
statistical records of farm values of grain, corn has, since
1866, been cheaper than oats as a grain feed for work
horses.
The drop in weight of the corn-fed horses, coincident
with the beginning of the use of shelled corn, indicates that
ear-corn is to be preferred above shelled corn for work
horses.
Farm animals should be fed according to their needs.
Their needs depend, of course, upon the product that they
yield. Work horses are kept for applying energy and should
be supplied with food that will furnish the required energy
at the least possible cost, all things considered,
There is a wide difference in the efticieney of horses in
utilizing food. This is well illustrated by the record of
a horse used in this experiment. There is an individuality in
work horses as well as in other farm animals. Horses that
are notably hard to keep in good condition should be
replaced by ones that may be maintained at less cost.
The data presented do not prove that, for use with
pure timothy hay, ear-corn is as efficient, pound for pound,
as oats. Neither is any evidence at hand to indicate that
a grain ration made up exclusively of corn is suitable for
brood mares with foal or in milk, or for young, growing
horses. See a
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1909.
When the weights of the horses for the year previous to-
the experiment are compared with the weights secured
during the experiment, it is seen that the exclusive use of
either corn or oats has not had any bad effect upon the
horses. There is no positive proof, however, that a mixed
ration would not’»be more efficient than one made up
exclusively of corn or of oats. ‘This experiment does show,
nevertheless, that corn is a valuable feed for work horses and
should be given a large place in their rations, whenever
market conditions warrant its use.
It is obvious that feeds for work horses should be
palatable, efficient and economical. As far as palatability is
concerned, corn seems, in the experience of this station, to
have a slight advantage over oats, although this will depend
to a considerable extent upon the individual appetite. The
results obtained thus far in the experiment reported in the
bulletin indicate that corn is an efficient food for work
horses. The bulk of an amount of ear-corn equal in feeding
value to the usual amount of oats is small—so small that
a casual observation might lead one to kelieve that too little
corn was being used. As regards economy, ear-corn is
usually cheaper per pound than oats, while this experiment
indicates that ear-corn and oats are worth approximately the
same per pound for feeding under the conditions stated
previously.
Further work along this line, with additional horses, is
now under way, and will be reported later.
ANTIGUA AGRICULTURAL AND
COMMERCIAL SOCIETY.
A general meeting of this Society was held on
August 6. The chief subjects for discussion were the
improvement of stock in the island, and the adoption
of a system for the interchange of material for planting,
especially cane-cuttings.
The report of the Stock Committee on the question of
the introduction into Antigua of pedigree animals was read
and unanimously adopted. Its chief recommendations were :
that, as regards large stock, the pedigree animals most
urgently required in Antigua were for the improvement of
horses, donkeys, and cattle, and in that order; that enquiries
should be made, in connexion with the last, as to the capa-
bilities, suitability, etc., of Gujerat cattle and the Water
buffalo ; that, as regards the smaller stock (goats, sheep, and
pigs), means of improvement were required ; that the granting
of bonuses to importers would encourage the purchase of
pedigree stock, and that these should be a high percentage
of the value of the animal, in view of the consequent en-
couragement to get the best animals; and, finally, that the
receiver of such a bonus shall not charge more than a certain
definite amount in respect of services by the imported animal,
and that he should not be compelled to grant more than
a reasonable number of services for that price.
In respect to the subject of the distribution of planting
material, the following motion was brought before the Society
and, after favourable discussion, carried unanimously :—
‘That, in the opinion of the Society, it is very desirable
that the practice of exchanging cane-cuttings for planting be
encouraged among estate owners and managers.
‘That, in order to facilitate this, a notice board be kept
in the Society’s room, on which members should have the
privilege of posting notices with regard to the exchange, sale
or purchase of cane-cuttings, seeds, ete.’
Wor. VIII. No. 193.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
305
THE WEST AFRICAN OIL PALM AS
A SHADE TREE.
Information in connexion with the West African oil
palm (Haeis guineensis) has been given from time to time in
‘the Agricultural News (Vol. V, p. 366; Vol. VI, p. 206;
Vol. VII, p. 373). In addition to the uses there mentioned,
it is stated in the Journal @ Agriculture Tropicale, Nos.
23 and 46 (from which some of the following facts are taken)
that it is employed in some parts of West Africa as a shade
tree for cacao, and that it has been suggested in the same
sonnexion for vanilla. In addition, it is sometimes used
there to provide shade for leguminous plants, and in the
nursery and kitchen garden.
Among the chief requisites of a shade tree are that it
should be of quick growth and yet not capable of attaining
such a height as to be no longer of use in intercepting the
ways of the sun. It should not draw extensively on the
plant food in the soil, and should be able to flourish under
very different conditions of this. The shade provided by it
must not be so deep as to prevent the plants beneath it from
getting sufficient light. As it will most probably have to
resist the force of high winds, the fibres in the stem must
not be brittle. In special cases, too, the leaves must persist
-during dry seasons and the plant must be of a kind which
will not suffer by the removal of branches or leaves for the
purpose of regulating artificially the amount of shade,
Finally, it is an advantage if such a tree is capable of yield-
ing a product of commercial value.
The oil palm has been found in West Africa to fulfil
-all these conditions, although as regards the first, some
inconvenience is caused by the fact that it takes three years
for the bunch of leaves that it forms near the level of the
‘ground to leave a clear space of 6 feet above it. Its height
does not often exceed 36 feet. As far as soil conditions
are concerned, it is not exacting, growing almost equally well
in dry or wet land, and in rich alluvial or poor soils ; in
addition, it does not injure that which is occupied by neigh-
bouring plants. The large leaves, which are 12 feet and
more in length, stretch out in every direction and at all angles,
forming a shifting shade that is never too dense. The
resistance which it offers to the wind is due both to the
density of its root system and to the ease with which it bends,
and is said to be only equalled by that of the cocoa-nut palm.
No injury to the sheltered plants is to be apprehended from
the falling leaves, for, like those of all palms, they are
persistent at the base, so that if they are broken by the wind
or withered by age, they hang vertically as they dry up and
then, when they finally part from the tree, slide gently to the
ground, close to the trunk. An additional advantage is
-derived from the fact that, as the part which provides the
shade is borne at the top of the stem, at a distance from the
ground, the air is allowed to circulate freely among the
plants beneath it.
The conditions are also fulfilled by this palm, as a shade
tree, in the special cases where continual shelter from the
sun is required, and where the amount of this must be
capable of being regulated. Owing to its very nature, it
-always possesses leaves, whether the seasonis wet or dry,
From the same cause, too, it has no woody branches which
have to be removed when it is desired to lessen the amount
of shade, so there is no risk of injury in doing this. On the
-contrary, it is only a matter of the reduction of the
number of leaves—a process which is at once easy and safe.
Then, when the time of year arrives at which more shade is
required, the spaces are speedily filled up by the quick
_ growth of new leaves.
The utilization of the oil palm as a shade tree for cacao
is simple where, as in many parts of West Africa, this plant
is already present in large numbers—to such an extent,
indeed, that 1t is often necessary to reduce them by thinning
out, before it can be employed for the purpose. In such cases,
the cacao can be raised directly under the shade already pro-
vided for it. It is a different matter when the palms have
to be raised for the special purpose. The chief ditticulty
arises from the fact that, for about three years from the time
of planting the seed of the palm, it would not be possible to
place the cacao where it was required to grow. There are
two reasons for this. In the first year, the few rudimentary
leaves do not supply sufticient shade; in the second and the
third, the large leaves that would be produced would stretch
out near the ground, providing little shade, and injuring
many young plants near them. In this way, time is lost.
It may, however, be possible to effect a saving of this by
utilizing the time that elapses before the cacao is planted ont,
in growing the palm where it would be required ; but this is
a matter for practical trial under the special conditions of
any given country.
In making new plantations of the palm in countries
where it grews in a wild state, the young plants are simply
taken from where they have sprung up near the old ones.
Where it does not grow in any quantity, it is necessary to
raise them in nurseries and then to plant them out. The
best time for transplantation is at least one year from the
sowing of the seed. At this period, if it is set out during
wet weather, the young plant easily survives any injury that
it may have received, and has the best chance of attaining
the required development by the end of the third year,
Neference to the articles in the Agricultural News that
have already been cited will show that this plant amply
fulfils the condition where it is desired to employ a shade
tree that yields a product of commercial value. In countries,
however, where it grows in large numbers, it is not only
esteemed for the valuable oil that is obtained from the fruit.
By various methods of bleeding the trunk, a fermentable
liquid is obtained from it, and, like the cocoa-nut palm, it is
made to provide fences, food, shelter, clothing and fuel.
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated September 4, 1909, gives
information as follows :—
The weather during the past fortnight has been favour-
able on the whole, though high winds accompanied by heavy
showers of rain have done some little damage to tbe ripening
rice. Although the weather was favourable for milling, very
little has been done, as there is no paddy in millers’ hands,
stocks being about exhausted.
The local demand continues brisk, and prices have been
well maintained, several small lots having changed hands at
the equivalent of 18s. 9d. per bag of 180 1b., f.0.b.
The large millers are endeavouring to complete deliveries
on account of contracts made some time ago, and all stocks
will, we expect, be cleared before the end of this month. New
crop rice may be expected on the market about mid-October,
but the bulk of the crop will rot be reaped until end of
October or carly November.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export
quality :—
18s. 9d. to 19s. 9d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross,
Eiseod-towlss: 3d.” ,, me Lod 7, =
We have, however, no stock to offer for export,
304 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. SEPTEMBER 18, 1909.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co.,
Messrs. T. 8S. Garraway & Co.,
Mie
September 13 ;
September
MARKET (REPORTS.
London,—Tue West Inpvia Commirreke CircuLar, 1909.
August 31; Messrs. E. A. pr Pass & Co., Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $3°75 to $4-00 per 100 tb.
August 20, 1909. Cacao—S11:00 to $1200 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-Nuts—S14°00.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary
100 th.,
SLL-‘00.
Hay—$1°20 per 100 tb.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $65-00 ;
Sulphate of ammonia, $75:00.
Ontoxs—Strings, $3°00 per 100 Tb.
Peas—Split, § Sb: 2 per bag of 210 Th.;
bag of 120 th.
Poratos—$2'50 to $3°25 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, GMleutta, no quotations ;
Anrowroot—St. Vincent, 1 fd. to 3fd., according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/5; block, 1/11.
Brss’-wax—£7 15s. to £8 for fair to good.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 63/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 49/6 to
54/6 per ewt.; Jamaica, 48/- to 53.
CorrEE—Depressed ; Jamaica, 40/6 to 100/.
Corra—West Indian, £22 10s. per ton.
Corron—Barbados, 144d.; stains, 64d. to S}d.
Frurir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gixcer—Common to good common, 45/- to 50/-; low
middling to middling, 51/- to 55/-; good bright to fine,
tio, $9°50 to $11:00 per
according to quality—searce ; Venezuelan,
Cacao manure, $48-00;.
Canada, $4°10 per
Patna, $3:80 ;
57/- to 65/- Rangoon, $3:00 per 100 tb.; Demerara, Ballam, $4: 73
Howey os 6 to 30/ to $5°25 per 180 th.
Tone NS quotations Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96°, no quotations ; Muscoyado,
89°, no quotations ; Centrifugals, no quotations.
Lime Juice—Raw, 1/1 to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 to £18 15s. per casi of 108 gallons; Otto of
limes 5/6, nominal.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—1/3 to 1/9.
Nurmecs—Steady.
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wiertve & RicuTEr, August 7;
Messrs. SANDBACH, Parker & Co., September 3 ;
>
C 5 : 909
Piventro—Common, 2d. per tb.; fair, 24d.; good, 2311. 1909.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 8/2} per tb., tine soft, 7/1; time — — ss r
= | = Wisess =
Peru, 8/2; Negroheads, Manaos 4/ 104d; Islands, 3/2); sli be Messrs. Wrerinc | Messrs. Sanp
Cameta, 3/7}; Peruvian, 4/4 ARTICLES. eaRrGrinR | BACH, PARKER
YE Opts: 5 5 - ; oR. 3
amaica, 2 11 to 7/- ; Demerara, no quotations. & Co.
15/- = a. lMasteatae ae ae
ARRowroot—St. Vincent, $850 to $9-00 $850 to S900
| per 200 th. per 200 th.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 to 17/-; Muscovado, 12/- to
per ewt.; Syrup, 13/6; Molasses, no quotations.
Barata—Venezuelablock — 52c. per Th. Prohibited.
w York srs. September Demerara sheet, 45c. per th. 48c. to 50e. per th.
Ne Mee v Cacao—Native 14c. per th. 12c. per th.
3, 1909. Cassava— | 60c. to 72c. —
Cacao—Caracas, 11}c. to 124c. ; Grenada, 11jc. to 12kc.
| $6-00 per barrel a
Trinidad, Ile. to 12c.; Jamaica, 9}c. to Le. per lh.;
of 196 Th.
; Cassava StarcH—
Dominica, Ile. to 115e.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $28:00;
Trinidad, select, $27°00 to $28- 00;
to $1800 per M.
CorreE—Jamaica, ordinary,
8c. to 8te.; and washed 9
$18-00 ;
$17-00
culls,
culls,
The. to Tfe.; good ordinary,
Ihe. to 10e. per ib.
Cocoa-NuTS—
CorreE—Creole
Jamaica and Rio
Liberian
Duat—
$12 to S16 per M
, 8c. to 13c per th.
13$c. per th.
7c. per th.
$4°20 to 54°25 per
‘S16 per M, peeled
and selected.
12¢ to 13c. per th.
133c. per tb.
Te. per tb.
$4°20 to $4°40
GincER—9c. to 12c. per th. bag of 168 tb. per bag.
Goat Skrys—Jamaica, no quotations; Barbados, 50c. to Green Dhal $5-50 | ae
53c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 47. to 50e. per = Eppos $1°44 per barrel ——
th., dry flint ; Antigua, 48ce. to 50c. per th.; Caburettas © Morasses—Yellow 2lc. to 22c. ——
from 3dc. to 40e. per skin. Onrons—Teneritte No quotation
23c. per ib. Zee
86-00 to 86°30 per'$
bag (210 th.)
$3:00, over stock
20ce. to 48e. per
bunch
No quotation
$2-00 per 100 th.
$120 per bag
Grape Fruir—$2 75 to per box. Madeira
Limes—Dominica, $4°75 to $5°50 per barrel, Preas—Split
Macre—28ce. to 34c. per th. |
Nurmgecs—110’s, 9$e. per Th. Marseilles |
Orances—Porto Rico, $1°05 to $1°50 per box, PLANTAINS—
Pimenro—4%ec. to 44ce. per th.
Suc ar—Centrifugals, 96°, 4 ST.
3:67¢.; Molasses, 89°,
ic. todc. per th.
6°40 toS6°55 per
bag ( 200 tb.)
$3:00, over stock.
Nova Scotia
Lisbon
Poratos--Sweet, Barbados,
per lb. Muscovados, 89°, = Poraros
$3°25 per barrel.
“42c. per Tb., all duty paid.
No quotation
ive, ; Rice—Ballam 54:50 | $4:75
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co., September Creole | S440 $4-00 to $4°50
1, 1909. TANNIAS $2-64 per bag 23
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°50 per fanega; Trinidad, $11°25 \ ia me % 5 a pa | ——
to $11°50. uc . = per bag |
: ue . 5 SUGAR arl crvets $9-171 to S9- | =
Cocoa-Nut Or1—$1:00 per Imperial gallon, cask included. SUGAR ate crystals pedis to Bis =
Corrre—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per th. ellow RAEN SII 53.00
Corra—$3'75 per 100 tb White 33°60 to $3°80 60 to $3°80
Du: ws $400 per 2 -bushel bag. Molasses $190 to $2-00 ‘00 to S2-30
$2°25 to $2°50 per 100 Tb. Tiveer —-Greenheart 32c. to 5dc. per 32c. to d5c. per
Pras Sorc $530 to 35" 79 per bag. “cub. foot __ cub. foot
Poratos—English, $1°2 53°79 to S575 $3°50 to $5°50
5 to SL50 per 100 tb, Wallaba Snesle
Seve $4°7' $4°80 ; >, $d » &5-95 per M. | per M.
see ae a White, $5°00 to $0°25 s, Cordwood, S1'8u to $2-00 | =
Svucark—American crushed, 35°10 to 35°20 per 100 tb. s 2 | pense =
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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Wor, VALE No. 193; THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. SepremBer 18, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
oo AE a= —
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By PUBLIC AUCTION at Antigua B.W.1., on Mon-f28¥ the first day of November 1909, at 12 o'clock noon,
= Ser SAT Glen) a oe keee aed > premises, a valuable sugar plantation known
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BROORE SS, SKEREETT S and THE GRANGE OSBORNEISUEESEURES conthininguelel anes
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Aa 31)
IMPERIAL
Voravluls Nos lot:
CONTENTS.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
BARBADOS, OCTOBER 2, 1909. Rea ey ie
PaGE. PAGE.
Animals. Breeding of ... 305| Mango, the ‘Peters’ ... 312
Book Shelf . 518) Mangrove, Economic
Cotton Notes :-— Importance of ... ... 809
Hgyptian Cotton in the | Market Reports .. ... 320
United States ...
Export of Cotton from
Jamaica
West Tadian’ Cotton
... 310} Millions for
. 310}
i 312) plants, How Infeeted hy
. 310) Melons and Other Fruits
in Egypt .. 308
States oe
| Notes and Comments... 512
ealcil Bacteria pesos, oUt
RF Canads aie Rats, to Destroy... ... 513
cus Notes :— . : were <= 2
eee Nuts, Disease of 315) Rice in British Guiana ... 319
Sugar Cane, Diseases of 315) Soils, Lime and Phos-
Gleanmicgie ss) ce) <-9 6) phatesiaapees.... +. Old
Horses, When to Water 317| Stock and Scion, Interac-
Ice, Carelessness in | GION’ Olemeeencss 315
Handling ... 311 | Students’ Corner 317
Insect Notes :— Sugar Industry :—
Cotton Worm, Enemies Effects of Bacteria on
Git ptt Nocey. thd 1d bee Sucarsigeeemees Reese) OUT
Jamaica, Seedling Canes in 313) Weed-killing plants .. ... 312
Lime Juice Tests . 319 | West Indian Bulletin... ... 313
Lime-sulphur Wash...
aS 311 | West Indian Products ... 319
Selection in the Breeding of
Estate Animals.
GX. T the present time, much is being written
AS about the beneficial results of careful selection
j45% in the production of better strains of plants,
such as corn, cotton, fruits and sugar-cane. The general
principles of selection are fundamental, and may be
applied with success to the breeding of animals, such as
cattle for beef, for milk production and for draught,
horses for draught or for speed. Donkeys, mules, sheep,
goats, rabbits and poultry may all be improved by
careful selection of the parents, by the use of good
judgement in fixing upon the desirable characters, and
in rejecting, as far as possible, all others. Selection as
Price ld.
a process for the improvement of plants is beginning to
be understood in a general way in the West Indies, and
it might be well if certain points were brought forward
for consideration in connexion with tlie improvement
of estate animals by this means.
On most estates in the smaller islands, cattle are
maintained only for purposes of draught, and the milk
and butter needed such cows as
The animals used for beef are
generally imported, or are estate animals which have
not been raised as beef anima‘s. ©n other estates,
a point is made of the production of milk for sale. For
each of these lines of work, different points would have
to be selected, and it would b+ necessary, before starting
out, to fix a definite system, and always to select with
a view to the continuation of the same desirable points
from generation to generation.
are obtained from
happen to be in milk.
In the first place, whatever line 1s decided upon,
the parents must be good animals of their kina. It
hardly needs to be stated that poor, scrubby, under-
sized, weak animals are not suitable for breeding
purposes. On many West Indian estates it would be
They
should be well fed, and kept in good condition. Estates
possible to maintain cows for breeding only.
which buy, on the average, ten working cattle every
year might well keep ten or twelve selected cows as
breeders. Most estates would keep a bull for breeding
only. If these cows ani the bull possessed the qualities
which were most to be desired in the offspring, it will
easily be seen that the estate would produce its own
supply of cattle of the type desired. All the offspring,
male and female, could be trained for draught except
a few of the best of the females, which should from time
to time be selected for breeders. The males which
have been bred in the herd should not be used as sires
Bots
Wat’
306
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OcrcBEeR 2, 1909.
in the same herd, nor should the same sire stand at
the head of a herd for more than three or four years at
a time, except for the strengthening of certain especially
desirable characters, and then care should be exercised
not to weaken the animals in some other particular,
The strength of the herd should be kept up by the
periodical introduction of strong young males from
other herds, whose animals possess in a marked degree
the desired qualities. For general estate purposes,
the Indian breeds of cattle,the Zebu and the Mysore, are
especially adapted, since they are capable of making
their greatest development, and of maintaining good
health and vigour under the peculiar conditions of
a tropical climate. They also provide the necessary
size and weight for draught animals, and often develop
good milking qualities.
It is well known that certain breeds are well
established as beef, and others as dairy, animals.
Under conditions of intensive agriculture, these two
types are kept separate, for it has been found that the
best beef animals are not often profitable for dairy
purposes and that the best dairy animals are not
usually snitable for beef production. Many of these
breeds have been introduced during past years, and
cows possessing some of their characters ina marked
degree may be easily recognized.
Dairymen find that, in addition to maintaining
the desired breed characters, it is also necessary always
to select for individual characteristics. The production
of milk and butter is often an individual character, that
is to say the variation in these points is often greater
between individuals of the same breed than between
individuals of different breeds. The ability to produce
large quantities of milk, or milk containing a high
percentage of butter fat, is a characteristic which
has relation to breed.
The amount of milk produced by any individual
cow may be greatly varied by the quantity and quality
of the food: but the quality of the milk, that is to say
the percentage of butter fat, cannot be changed. It is
a characteristic of the individual. The amount of butter
produced by a cow may be increased by care and good
feeding, but the increase in butter is a result of an in-
ereased flow of milk, and not of a change in the quality
of the milk.
be an indication of her milk-producing abilities, in the
same way as the appearance of others would indicate
their suitability for draught and beef animals.
The appearance of the dairy cow should
A dairy cow should be able to convert food into milk
and butter to the best possible advantage, while the
beef animal should produce tender flesh, and the draught
animal bone and muscle, It is obviously unwise to
expect that the machinery—if the digestive and secre-
tory organs of the cow may be so designated—which
has for its object the conversion of food into milk
should be expected to manufacture beef or muscle to
the best advantage.
With regard to the qualities required on any given
estate in the animals maintained for draught, the
peculiar conditions on the estate should govern the
selection. The size will naturally vary with the nature
of the hauls; long pulls in which short, steep hills occur
often are much better managed by comparatively
small, wiry, nervous cattle, while long pulls on level
ground and rough roads are often better done by heavier
cattle with less nervous development. These are all
points that should engage the attention of the estate
owner, manager, or attorney.
More attention has been paid to selection in the
breeding of horses than in that of cattle. Animals are
chosen, becanse of their qualities, to produce offspring
which should have all the desirable ones of the parents,
possibly with some of them improved upon, or intensified.
The production of mules in the West Indies has
not been accompanied by any systematic process of
selection. Excellent sires have been imported, and
when the limited number of mares available for this
purpose is considered, it would seem that this is all
that can be done. Much might be accomplished by
selection in the matter of obtaining a better class of
estate donkeys.
During the last few years a very considerable
improvement in the local animals has resulted from
the introduction of good sheep and goats. Many of
these pure-bred and half-bred animals are not on
estates, but it is within the province of the estate to
make the most of the improved strains, and by weed-
ing out undesirable animals and allowing those to
reproduce in which desired characters are evident, to
maintain a steady improvement. Rabbits, hares, and
poultry all may be improved by similar means.
It is evident that much remains to be done in the
maiter of definite control of the breeding of animals for
the production of improved kinds, and of obtaining
carefully separated strains for definite purposes. The
efforts made in this direction should not be confined
to the importation of pedigree animals, but a definite
and continuous selection of the dams, with certain ends
in view, should be made, with the result that indi-
viduals will be obtained whose character has an intimate
and useful connexion with the purpose for which they
are used. In this way, a greater intensive efticiency
of both the large and smaller animals will be gained.
Vou. VIII. No. 194.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
307
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Bacteria and the Deterioration of Sugars.
The subject of the deterioration of sugars through the
action of bacteria is dealt with in an excellent manner in
sulletin No. 9 of the Division of Pathology and Physiology
of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, entitled Zhe
Bacterial Flora of Hawatian Sugars, by L. Lewton-Brain
(sometime Mycologist to this Department) and Noel Deerr.
The results of experiments showing the influence of moisture
and of the time of storage in respect to the fall in polariza-
tion of sugars, which are also dealt with in this Bulletin,
were given on page 301 of the last issue of the Agricultural
News. The following facts are taken from that part of the
publication which treats more particularly ot the character-
istics of the bacteria which are instrumental in causing the
change.
The need for the enquiry arose from the fact that sugars
in storage, and especially in transit from Honolulu to New
York round Cape Horn, showed by test a lower percentage
of sucrose after time had elapsed while they were in store or
on the voyage. An investigation as to the cause of this was
made, and it was found to be due to the action of the bacteria
where a minimum of 1 per cent. of water was present.
(Bulletin No. 24 of the Division of Agriculture and Chemis-
try of the above Association.) The connexion of micro-
organisms with such loss has already been indicated by
Shorey and Grieg Smith, and the subject is advanced much
further in the present publication.
Five forms of bacteria were isolated from the sugars
with which experiments were made, and exhaustive investiga-
tions of the behaviour of these on various solid culture media,
in liquid media containing a known percentage of sugar and
on commercial sugars, completed, together with the necessary
control experiments. The chief changes due to the action
of the bacteria that were demonstrated in the case of the
liquid media were the destruction of sucrose, the formation
of invert sugar and the production of gums. The first
two of these were also shown to take place in the case
of the sugars; undoubtedly the third occurs as well,
but, in the light of the second series of experiments, there
was no need to take special measures to elucidate this
fact. Two of the bacteria (or, more correctly, bacilli) caused
a very small amount of gum formation, and at the same time,
the destruction of sucrose by them was smaller than that
effected by the other three. ‘The destruction of sucrose and
formation of invert sugar was greatest in the case of these
three bacteria, thus it appears ‘that a faculty of rapidly in-
verting sugar is associated in liquid cultures with the formation
of gums’. In one of these three types, the total of gums and
reducing sugars formed was approximately equal to the
original amount of cane-sugar present; in the other two, it
was less, showing that other compounds beside invert sugar
and gums were formed.
Where inversion took place to any great extent, it was
invariably rapid, and in the case of two of the bacterial forms,
had always reached its limit by the fifth day. As the liquid
media became acid while the inversion proceeded, there was
a probability that this was the cause that prevented further
action of the bacteria, especially on account of the fact that
neutral or alkaline sugars are usually regarded as having
a better keeping quality than those which are acid. In order
to obtain definite information on this point, the experiments
were repeated with one of the more active of the bacteria,
using an alkaline instead of a neutral liquid culture medium,
with the usual controls. In the result, it was found ‘ that it
is not the acids produced that inhibit the activity of the bac-
teria, but probably some of the other by-products ’.
The experiments with the sugars are specially interesting.
Here it was found that one sterilization of thirty minutes, at
100° C., of the material both for control and inoculation, was
sutlicient for the purposes of the investigation; heating tor
longer periods caused caking of the sugars through the
condensed steam that ran down inside the flasks. The
cultures of the bacteria under examination were intro-
duced into the flasks containing sugar for inoculation
in the form of a liquid spray, driven under the same
pressure and for the same time in each case. Before this, the
controls had been treated in exactly the same way, with the
substitution of sterilized water for the cultures. In this way,
the condition as regards infection in the several inoculated
flasks, and as regards moisture in all instances, were made as
nearly alike as possible. The results obtained agree with
those given by the liquid cultures containing sugar: the
three gum-forming bacteria effected the largest destruction of
cane-sugar and the greatest formation of reducing sugar.
In agreement with the results obtained by keeping
sugars containing different percentages of water and deter-
mining the polarization from time to time (see the table
reproduced from this bulletin on page 301 of the last issue of
the Agricultural News), it was found that the amount of
deterioration became greater with the percentage of water
that was present, up to 5 per cent., the destruction of total
sugars calculated on dry weight increasing with the greatness
of the moisture content. At incubator temperature (30° C.)
the process was much more rapid than at room temperature
(25° C.). At 17° C., the growth of colonies of the bacteria
was very slow, and it is probable that this would be the same
with deterioration.
Preliminary work has been done in the direction of
determining at what part of the process the introduction of
bacteria takes place and the ways in which this may be
avoided as far as possible. In a factory representing the
older type of sugar-house design, it was found that a small
part of the bacteria in the original juice survived its passage
through the heaters, and that those which did so were also
unaffected by the passage through the evaporators and pans,
and appeared in the syrups and massecuites. A large
infection took place at the centrifugals, through the water
(though this was only a very small quantity) which was used
mainly to wash down the spouts of the pug mills and the
spindles of the centrifugals. Reinfection also took place
through the reintroduction of low sugars, and the surface
layers of the molasses and imassecuite tanks always contained
bacteria in large numbers.
The conclusions are finally reached that all means to
prevent deterioration of sugars while in transit or in storage
are only palliative at the best, and that the best remedies for
it are the keeping of the factory in as aseptic condition as
possible, the avoidance of the use of unclean water in or
about the centrifugals, and the disinfection of the factory
during the off season.
To Hastenthe Germination of Hard Seeds.
The seeds are placed in a small sieve, or pocket, of wire gauze
a few at a time, which is plunged into boiling water for
a period of 10 to 20 seconds, depending on the hardness of the
seed. In the case of small seeds, the sieve is plunged into cold
water immediately after being taken out of the boiling water.
The object of dealing with a few seeds only, at a time, is to
ensure that the boiling water shall have the full effect. By this
means, hard seeds were made to sprout in 10 days.
(Le Jardin, Vol. XXII, No. 155.)
308
TBE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroser 2, 1909.
WEST INDIAN FRUT®.
MELONS AND OTHER RELATED
BPRUIZS= INe AG YET.
Melons, cucumbers, vegetable marrows, pumpkins,
vegetable sponges and the fruits of the calabash gourd
are all grown to a great extent in Egypt, and their
production and marketing are a source of industry to
a large proportion of the inhabitants. ‘The cultivation
of these under the peculiar conditions of agriculture in
Egypt is an interesting subject, and is treated of in the
Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, July 1909,
from which the following is an abstract :—
The kind of sweet melon most commonly grown is known
in Arabic as ‘Shammam’ (Cucumis Dudarm aegyptiaca).
The best varieties of this plant require a fairly heavy soil and
to be protected from the direct rays of the sun; it bears
a fruit with a greenish-white, melting and sweet flesh. Of
the varieties belonging to Cucumis Melo, the best known is
the ‘quaoon santaony ’, which comes into the market later
than the ‘Shammam’. It is small, globular and strongly
scented, and the yellow skin is somewhat deeply furrowed,
with a close network of raised lines ; the flesh is thin, light-
orange coloured and very juicy. ‘Vhis variety is grown in
the Delta, while a similar one is produced in Upper Egypt.
In the last-mentioned region, there is also grown a smooth
skinned lemon, globular in form and without furrows ; the
flesh of this is white, thick and very sweet, in a fruit having
an ayerage weight of about Slb. Apart from these, the
most remarkable fruit of the kind in Egypt is the one known
as fagour’ (C. Melo Chate), which is oval but tapers to
a point at each end, the Jength being about 10 inches. The
skin is reddish-brown and covered with a close network of
raised lines; the thin orange-coloured, juicy flesh is eaten
with sugar, as it is not sweet, and coming at a time when
other market fruits are very scarce, is much appreciated
among the natives. Several other kinds of melons, which
are, however, inferior to these, are also produced.
In Egypt, melons are grown largely on the light loam
found on the islands and the banks of the Nile when the river
is low. The following is the system of cultivation practised.
Trenches running in a transverse direction to the prevailing
wind are dug in the silt bordering the water. The trenches
are made 8 inches wide, 1 foot deep and 3 feet apart. A layer
of decayed pigeon manure is placed in the bottom of the
trenches, which are then refilled with soil. Iarmyard man-
ure is used where pigeon dung is not available, but does not
give such good results. The seed is soaked in water and
germinated before sowing. It is then sown in holes about 16
inches apart, and a row of maize-stalks is fixed in the soil by
the side of each trench, in such a manner that the maize
leans over the young plants and protects them from the wind,
while leaving them exposed to the sun. Where there is
a danger of the plants being covered with drifting sand, low
barriers are constructed around the plots. Four or five seeds
are sown in each hole, but when the seedlings have attained
three or four leaves they are thinned so as to leave one
plant only. During the growth of the crop, the soil is hoed
to keep it moist and loose. When the fruit begins to appear,
the maize-stalks are removed anda second trench is often
dug parallel with, and close to, that in which the plants are
growing. This is filled with manure and soil in the same way
as the first, and forms an additional supply of food for the
plants. The best fruit on each plant is allowed to remain,
the others being removed when small. These small fruits
are in the case of the ‘Shamman ’ known as ‘ sirt’ andin the
case of the ‘agour’ they are called ‘hersh’. They are
eaten in the same way as cucumbers, but are in much greater
demand and bring better prices than the latter. The
‘Shammam’ is grown almost always as a river crop. As
the roots descend 2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches into the soil, the
water-level is sufliciently near the surface to enable the
plants to grow without irrigation. The ‘quaoon santaouy ’,
on the other hand, is cultivated chiefly on the high sandy
lands on the edge of the desert, in which situations it is, of
course, necessary to water the plants. The preparation of
the ground, however, is the same. The ‘agour’ requires
a more compact soil than those just mentioned, and is there-
fore grown chiefly on basin lands which have been flooded
during the previous autumn. In this case the seed is sown
on the edge of a shallow furrow, and the manure applied
when the seedlings have feur or five leaves. Water melons
are cultivated in the same way as sweet melons. They can,
however, be much poorer ground than the
‘Shammam’, and in situations where the sand is too loose
for the ‘Santaouy’.
The water melon is a very important crop, and is sown
in large areas, both-on the river banks and inland. The
number of varieties of red-fleshed water melons is large, but
many of them are«not well defined, intermediate forms
making classification difficult. An attempt to do some-
thing in this respeet- was made last year by the Horticultural
Society, by collecting and comparing fruits from various
perts of the country. It was, however, found that it would
be necessary to cultivate all the varieties together on the
same soil for one or more years, in order to arrive at definite
conclusions.
The cucumbers are also of importance in Egypt; the
chief ones are the ordinary variety (Cucumis sativus), the
snake cucumber (C. flexuosus), and the hairy cucumber
grown on
Vou. VIII. No. 194.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
309
(C. pubescens). The fruits of the first are always gathered
when small, and in this state are crisp and of excellent
flavour. ‘Those of the snake cucwnber are cylindrical,
twisted, about 20 inches long, light green with dark blotches,
and covered with soft, woolly hairs. The last has cylindrical,
generally straight fruits, which are about 10 inches long.
The skin is white, or in various shades of green, and mottle d:
it is covered with short hairs and shows depressed lines. All
these are eaten as salads. Of the vegetable marrows, there
are five chief kinds, three of which belong to Cucurbita Pepo,
and two to C. The larger pumpkins (C.
are grown to a very small extent in Egypt.
As has been stated, the article also mentions the
domestic sponge and the calabash gourd.
course, well known in the W est Indies, though the
sponge in Egypt is provided from Lujfa uegyptiaca,
and not from L. acutangula, as is the case here. It
will be remembered that the calabash gourd (Lagei-
aria vulgaris) is used for the bowls of the Secor ceeas
calabash pipes. This is found native in the West Indies,
and seeds of the plant have been obtained from South
moschata WALI)
Africa by the Department and distributed among
several of the Botanic Stations. (See Agricultural
News, Vols. V, p. 399 ;
p. 124: VIII, p. 21.)
VI, pp. 123, 298 and 415: VII,
THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE
MANGROVE.
This subject is dealt with, from the point of view
of the exploitation of the mangrove in the Philippine
Islands, in the Philippine Journal of Science for May,
1909. The following extracts from the article should
be of interest :-—
In the United States, and in other countries where large
amouiuts of leather are manufactured, the forests yielding
native tanning materials have been so far exhausted that
these nations must look to other countries for their source of
supply. At the present time very large quantities of tan
barks and cutch are imported into the United States from
Borneo, Dutch East Africa, Brazil and other tropical
countries, and the use of mangrove tanning materials is con-
stantly increasing. The most abundant source of tanning
substances in the Philippines is the mangrove swamps of the
islands. At the present time there is no mangrove hark ex-
ported from the Philippines, and as yet the area of these
swamps is not known. They occur as narrow fringes along
the coast, or in considerable azeas at the months of large
rivers, especially at the head of bays. Some limited areas
have been mapped and measured by the Forestry Burean.
There are three large cutch factories in Borneo using tan
barks from the same species of mangrove as those found in
the Philippines. These factories regard the process of manu-
facturing cutch as a trade secret, but we cannot believe that
‘these so-called trade secrets are of a very formidable nature,
as we have succeeded in preparing very good grades of cutch,
without any complicated processes.
The following was the method used to prepare the eutch:
The finely ground bark was leached with cold water, and this
solution evaporated to dryness in vacuo. Hot water extracts
too much of the colouring matter, and no more tannin than
cold water. The evaporation, at least the latter stages, must
always be made 7n vacuo to avoid burning the eutch. It is
sufficiently obvious that the extraction on a large seale would
‘be carried out in such a manner that strong solutions would
be employed to leach fresh barks, while weak ones would
These are, of
be used. to extract the last percentages of the tannin from the
partly exhausted bark. All the parts of the factory, except
the vacuum driers, could be built on the ground, and it is
evident that the fuel for the boilers and for the driers would
cost very little, so that it would appear that, if the cutch
manufacture were taken up in connexion with the lumbering
or firewood industry, it would be exceedingly profitable.
The Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture,
Jamaica, 1907-8, gives information as to determinations
of the tannin content of several Jamaica mangroves,
which were made by the Island and Agricultural
Chemist. From this, it would appear that the Jamaica
of tannin, with the
the above-mentioned
mangroves compare well, as a source
plants that are dealt with in
publication.
WAYS IN WHICH BACTERIA
PLANTS.
Bulletin No. 23 of the Division of Biology of the
New Zealand Department of Agriculture, entitled
Bacterial Diseases of Plants, deals “with ways in which
bacteria infect plants, thus suggesting methods which
may be employed to prevent, or minimize, the chances
of such infection :—
INFECT
The study of the various ways in which infection of the
host plants is secured is especially valuable in devising means
for the control of disease. In the case of bacterial diseases,
wound-infection is very general, and in this process, insects
play a very large part. In inoculation experiments, the
bacteria are introduced into the tissues of the host by means
of minute needle-pricks, and this constitutes typical wound-
infection. In nature, infection may be divided into two classes :
that which takes p lace on those portions of the host that are
below the surface of the soil, and that which takes place on
those portions of the host above ground. To the former
category belong such diseases as the wet-rots of potatos and
other tubers, and to the latter, bacteriosis of potato, black-
rot of cabbage, wilt of cucumbers, pear-blight, etc.
With regard to underground infection, wounds are in
nearly all classes directly responsible for the entrance of the
disease-germ, but the physical condition and water-content of
the soil play an important part, for it is in badly aerated,
sour, water-logged soils that these wet-rot producing bacteria
are chiefly to be found. The action of those insects and
animals causing wounds on the underground portions of
plants will greatly aid the spread of such bacteria through
potato and other root crops.
In aerial infection the action of insects is most marked.
In. pear-blight, bees and other insects, in collecting from
diseased flower-clusters, will rapidly spread the disease to all
the healthy flowers they may visit. This method of infection
is also analogous to wound-infection, inasmuch as the stigma
on which the bacteria may lodge represents to all intents and
pirposes a wounded surface. It has been definitely proved
that the potato bacteriosis (Sacidlus solanacearum) is trans-
mitted from plant to plant by leaf-eating beetles, and in
consequence, if this disease is to be checked, these beetles
must be kept well under control.
The same remarks apply to the black-rot of cabbage
(Pseudomonas campestris) ; but in this case infection can also
take place through the water-pores that are situated on the
edges of the leaves. The wilt of cucumbers (Bacillus trach-
eiphitus) is likewise transmitted by leaf-eating beetles, so
that in greenhouses it should be a simple matter to keep
these in check, and at the same time avoid the danger of
infection.
310
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OcropEr 2, 1909-
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date September 13, with
reference to the sales of West Indian Sea Island
cotton :—
A fair business has been done in West Indian Sea
Island cotton during the past fortnight, at firm rates.
The sales amount to about 250 bales, and include
St. Croix, Antigua, Barbuda, ete., from 123d. 10 13$d., with
a few bales at 14d, and about 50 bales stains 64d. to Sd.
A parcel of Guadaloupe cotton, lying on the Continent,
has recently been sold here at 133d.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending September 11, 1s as follows : —
Only one bag of the new crop of Sea Island has been
received, but it has not been sampled and will not be offered
until there is some accumulation of stock, sufficient to open
the market, which may not be until early in October.
CHANGES IN EGYPTIAN COTTON WHEN
GROWN IN THE UNITED STATES.
In Bulletin No. 156 of the Bureau of Plant
Industry, United States Department of Agriculture,
the following conclusions are arrived at in connexion
with the diversity which arises in Egyptian cotton
when it is introduced into that country :—
The diversity found in the Egyptian cotton in Arizona
appears to be of four different kinds, evidently arising from
different physiological factors. Precautions which may tend
to avoid one kind of diversity will not be fully effective
unless other factors are taken into account at the same time.
Methods of acclimatization, breeding, and culture have all to
be adapted to the special needs of the case, if the full possi-
bilities of the new crops are to be definitely ascertained.
The first and most striking of diversity is due to hybridiza-
tion. The cross-fertilizing insects are much more abundant
in the south-western States than in any other cotton-growing
region thus far investigated. This will render it impossible
to maintain a culture of pure Egyptian or other high grade
cotton, unless all other kinds of cotton are excluded from the
localities in which superior stocks are planted. Though the
lint of the hybrid plants is often superior to that of the pure
Egyptian plants, it is sufficiently different to interfere with
the commercial uniformity of the product.
The second kind of diversity that affects the Egyptian
cotton is evidently due to incomplete acclimatization. As-
with other types of cotton, transfer to new conditions induces
great variation, not only in the habits of growth and other
vegetative characters of the plants, but also in fertility, and
in the abundance and length of the lint. This form of di-
versity is to be eliminated by the selection, each year, of the
plants that approach most nearly to the normal form of the
variety, are the most fertile, and have the best lint.
The third kind of diversity is more directly connected
with differences in the physical environment which cause, or
call forth, differences in the individual plants. It is shown
most strikingly in comparing the behaviour of the plants in
the different localities, but includes also some of the differ-
ences that occur in the same locality or in different parts of
the same field. This form of diversity is familiar in all
branches of agriculture but is greater with a newly i:tro-
duced variety, and may be expected to decrease as a better
adjustment to the new conditions is attained. The second
kind of diversity represents incomplete acclimatization, while
the third kind is more closely connected with the phenomen-
on of accommodation.
The fourth kind of diversity is shown in the different
parts of the same plant, and is often very pronounced,
especially in the characters of the lint. If the plants become
too luxuriant, fruiting is deferred until late in the season,
or the early bolls remain poorly developed and produce
a very weak fibre. To avoid this form of diversity, a proper
relation has to be established between the habits of growth
of the plants and the methods of culture and irrigation.
Sudden changes in the rate of growth are particularly to be
avoided, as tending to produce fluctuations in the fertility of
the plants and in the commercial quality of the lint.
The principal reason why diversity has such serious
effects upon the yield of lint is found in the habit of the
cotton plant to produce two types of branches, which are
quite distinct in form and function. Slight differences of
external conditions which might have very little direct effect
upon the size and vigour of the plant are able to induce
relatively great differences in the yield by inducing
a preponderance of the sterile, vegetative form of branches.
over the fertile form.
Export of Cotton from Jamaica.—The amount of
cotton exported from Jamaica during the quarter ending June
30 was 71 bales, weighing 15,360 th. The estimated value
of this was £510 16s., and it was all sent to the United
Kingdom. Information as to the exports from other parts
of the West Indies for the same period was given on page 294
of the last number of the Agricultural News.
Vor. VIE. No: 194:
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 31E
HOW LIME-SULPHUR WASH MAY BE
MADE FOR STORAGE.
Lime-sulphur wash has been recommended by
this Department for several diseases, especially for the
‘ pink-disease ’ and ‘ thread blight of cacao (Pamphlet
No. 54, Fungus Diseases of Cacao.and Sanitation of
Cacao Orchurds; West Indian Bulletin, Vols. VI,
yore) & 1X, pp. 179-80) and for‘ black heart’ or ‘ core
rot’ of pine-apples (Vol. VIII, p.. 163.) In addition,
an account is given, in the West Indian Bulletin,
Vol. III, p. 77, of trials of its efficacy against the ‘ pine-
apple disease (due to Uhiclaviopsis ethaceticus) of
sngar-cane cuttings, while, in the same publication,
Vol. I, p. 314, itis stated that this mixture (with salt
added) is recommended in Queensland for the general
treatment of fungoid pests. In Bulletin No. 92 of the
Pennsylvania State College and Agricultural Experi-
ment Station, entitled Concentruted Lime-sulphur. Its
Properties, Preparation and Use, an account is given
of experiments which were undertaken for the purpose
of discovering a way in which the wash may be made
so that it would not undergo deterioration during
storage. ‘The main facts that were elucidated are as
follows : —
The present lime-sulphur wash is generally recognized
as one of our most important spray materials, both as a con-
tact insecticide and fungicide. It is also recognized as one of
the most inconvenient and disagreeable. The advantages of
the wash are cheapness and wide availability of imaterials :
safety to the trees; simplicity of preparation ; and sub-
stantial effectiveness, if carefully made and thoroughly
applied. Of all the important sprays, therefore, this one has
appeared to be in the most urgent need of study and revision.
Its main shortcomings are: extreme causticity and
corrosion to flesh and machinery ; large amounts of sediment
of uncertain value: demand for immediate application ;
inability to be stored, thus requiring extra labour at times
when men are already busy, and often involving loss of
materials ; need for heating excessive amounts of water ; lack
of ‘creeping ability’; and absence of a sure and convenient
test for reliability of the finished spray. These imperfections
have unquestionably greatly limited the use of this wash,
and we are informed that, in one of the regions where it has
been longest known, the present home-boiled material is no
longer made, having been driven out by the less troublesome
commercial preparations,
These facts, together with a report of the successful
preparation and use of a stock solution lime-sulphur, led the
writer to undertake a careful study of lime-sulphur ‘washes
with a view to reducing some of the present ditticulties of
their use, and if possible, to determine. ‘the essential features
involved in. the preparation of storable, concentrated solu-
tions, and. to render their preparation available to. fruit
growers. Present experimental and commercial results indicate
that concentrated solutions are fully as effective as the home-
made dilute lime-sulphur, and are much more convenient in
their preparation and use. ——
‘~The materials that are required for making 55 gallons of
concentrated lime-sulphur are: 50 tb. best stone lime (not
over 5 per cent. impurities); 100 1b. sulphur (flowers) ;
50-55 gallons of water, at finish, The method is as follows :-—
Put 10 gallons of water in a tayche or other suitable
vessel and start the fire. Place the lime in the tayche.
‘After slaking is well started, add the dry sulphur and mix
thoroughly, adding enough water to maintain: a thin paste ;
this will be about 5 gallons. After the slaking and mixing
are completed, add water to the height of 50 gallons on the
measuring stick, bring to a boil and stir until the sulphury
scum practically disappears. Then add water (preferably,
but not necessarily, hot) to the 65-gallon height and boil
again to 55 gallons, if storage space is limited. If it is not
limited, a little more water should be added the third time,
and boiling stopped at about 60 gallons. The material
should be kept well stirred. especially during the early
stages of the process, and any lumps of sulphur or lime
should be thoroughly broken up.
The total time of actual boiling should be about an hour,
though a ten-minute variation either way is not objection-
able, providing the sulphur is evidently dissolved. This fact
is best determined by dipping out, and slowly pouring, some
of thé material. The amounts of water indicated above are
ample for one hour’s fairly vigorous boiling, with the finishing
volumes as indicated. If itis not at the desired height at
the close, it may be made so by more water or more boiling,
and either the amount of water in the third addition or the
vigour of boiling can be so modified in later trials as to enable
the total to be brought to the desired height approximately
at the end of the hour.
The finished product may be immediately poured ‘or
strained into a barrel or settling tank, or into the spray tank.
The straining is merely a safeguard to prevent any possible
clogging because of imperfect materials, or failure to break
lumps inthe sulphur. When it is properly made, the amount
of sediment left in the strainer is insignificant, being less than
1 per cent., and may be thrown away. ‘lo avoid any consider-
able loss of materials, however, the sediment in the strainer
can be washed with part of the’ water used in making the
next lot, simply pouring the water through the strainer into
the tayche, and any lumps of sulphur discovered may be
broken up and used again.
If the straining is not done, the whole product may be
put into a settling tank or barrel, and the clear liquid drawn
off later as required. This process, however, is likely to cause
the loss of efticient liquid in the sludge, as well as the fine
sludge itself, which may be of value in several ways, and is
of no apparent hindrance in the. spraying.
The crust which forms on the finished material is
prevented by immediately covering the solution with a layer
of oil about 2 inch thick, and avoiding unnecessary exposure
to air in the transfer from tayche to storage tank. An ordin-
ary kerosene oil was very satisfactory in our work, but there
is reason to believe that any other oil, not injurious to trees
nor likely to take fire at Loiling temperatures, may be used
with equal success.
The crust may also be prevented by immediate storage
in tight, closed vessels, filling them completely. But
partially filled vessels are likely to develop some crust, upon
continued exposure.
The concentrated solution can be diluted to any required
density with the aid of a hydrometer. For most purposes, it
is effective with a dilution of ten or twelve times.
Carelessness in Handling Ice Scarcely another
article of liuman consumption receives so much ‘direct
handling just before its use as ice does. Milk and water, and
tea and coffee are poured. Bread, meat and butter are cut.
Bread has a hard erust, which offers a rather unfavourable
lodging place for germ life. Ice, on the contrary, washes
the hands of every person who handles it, and affords an ever
ready liquid medium for the immediate absorption of the
hosts of bacteria which hands may carry. (The Hawaiian
Planters’ Monthly, July 1909.)
312
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 1909.
OcToBER 2,
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Avents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 87, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural dlews
—— : ae
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1909. No. 194.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial of the present number deals with
the subject of Selection in the Breeding of Estate
Animals. ‘Che question is discussed with especial
reference to conditions in the West Indies.
The deterioration that is undergone by imperfect-
Jy dried sugars while they are in storage or transit is
an especially important subject in countries where
that commodity is produced in quantity. An article
on page 307 gives an account of work that has been
recently done in Hawaii in connexion with the matter.
On page 309, the mangrove as a source of tannin
is dealt with. The production of this substance from
this and similar plants will probably, in view of the
reduction in forest area that has been taking place in
large timber producing countries, become of greater
importance.
A way in which lime-sulphur wash may be made
so that it can be stored is described on page 311.
Useful instructions in regard to making a simple
contrivance by which the amount of parasitism of the
cotton worm may be observed, and of one by means of
which advantage of this parasitism may be taken, are
given on page 314.
The Fungus Notes (page 315) of this number
give information in connexion with the fungus diseases
of the sugar-cane in Hawaii, and describe, with an
account of remedies for a similar disease in Ceylon,
a disease of ground nuts in Dominica. In connexion
with the latter, it is suggested that careful observations
as to the relative immunity of different varieties of
ground nuts would be useful.
Weed-killing Plants.
In the Straits Settlements, one of the greatest
enemies of rubber trees is a weed known as ‘Lalang ’
(Linpu rata arundinacea). It been found that
this can be rendered Jess injurious by growing Passi-
flora foetida or Oominelinu nudi flora over it, the
latter being more effective in this respect than the
former. Passiflora foetida is common in the West
Indies, where it is‘known in some parts as ‘ Love-in-
a-mist’: 1t is closely related botanicully to the bell-
apple aud the granadilla. Similarly, Commelina
nudiflora has a near relation to ‘French weed’
(Commelina cayennensis) of these islands.
a
Destruction of Old Cotton Plants.
The necessity tor the destruction of cotton plants
at the end of a crop, if anything approaching freedom
from disease in the succeeding one is to be obtained,
has been continually insisted upon in the publications
of the Department. As an illustration of the principle
involved, the Curator of tle Botanic Station, Mont-
serrat, reports an interesting example which has been
afforded by his own experience. Within oue week,
there were discovered by him no less than seven
instances where the recent development of leaf-blister
mite was directly traceable to the neglect to destroy
old plants. An additional feature of interest was that,
in two of the instances, there were no old plants to be
found in the vicinity of the attacked cotton when the
visit was made, but they had been destroyed
immediately befure the present crop was planted in the
same land. ‘This indicates that the old cotton plants
should be burnt some time before the new ones are
planted.
has
The ‘ Peters’ Mango.
On page 282 of the present volume of the Agri-
cultural News, an account, based on information given
in the Yearbook for 1907 of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, was given of a promising Indian
Mango, called the‘ Sandersha’. In this year’s issue
of the same publication, particulars of a variety of the
same fruit from Trinidad, called the ‘ Peters ’ mango
is given. It states that this is reputed by Mr. J. H.
Hart to be the finest flavoured of all the mangos, and he
gives the following description : ‘ green skinned, rosy
purple blush, and mottled with small yellow dots.
Skin thick, flesh pulpy, juicy, high-flavoured. Ripens
best in dry climate of Jamaica ; good and regular crop-
per; tree medium size, healthy grower: weight of
fruit, 12 to 16 ounces ; size, 34 by 3 inches. ’
Mr. Hart states that it was introduced into both
Jamaica and Trinidad, about 1868 or 1869, and that it
is probably closely related to the varieties ‘ Peach ’
and ‘ Malda’. Thése are now being grafted in thous-
ands both by the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad,
and by private growers. He also observes that it does
well in the dry districts in the West Indies ; but in
damp, tropical situations, the fruit is often subject to
an undentified disease, which prevents it from ripening
properly
This mango is known in Jamaica under the name
‘Bombay.’ (See Agricultural News, Vol. V, p. 148.)
Von. VIIL No. 194. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
313
Lime and Phosphates in Soils...
Experimerts that have been conducted for several
years in Russia appear to demonstrate that, in soils
containing a small amount of lime, the absorbtion of
phosphoric acid by the plant takes place to such an
extent as to interfere with its growth, because of the
presence of an excessive amount of the acid. As the
amount of caleium carbonate is increased in the svii
by applications of lime, the absorbtion of phosphoric
acid decreases, and evertually the stage is reached at
which this takes place to so small an extent as to cause
the plants growing in sucha soil to exhibit all the
symptoms of a lack of phosphorus, even in the presence
of a good supply of that element.
—<$——— ee
A Method for Destroying Rats.
In the Journal dAgricucture Tropicale for
July 1909, a method is described for destroying rats
which has been found effective against them in rice
stores in Java. In applying it, the holes that are being
used by the rats must first be found. This is done by
stopping all the holes with clay; those that are found
open on the next day are the places of entrance and
exit of the rats. Into these, about half a teaspoonful
of carbon bisulphide is poured and then, after a few
seconds, a light is brought near the holes; there is
a slight explosion of the mixture of the vapour and
air, and the rats are killed by the poisonous products
of combustion. f
The usual precaution not to bring a light near the
liquid in quantity must, of course, be observed, and the
room should be left open for a time after treatment, so
that the poisonous vapour may escape.
the method is small, as one hundred holes only require
about 7 ounces of the bisulphide.
qa ae
Seedling Canes in Jamaica.
The Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture,
Jamaica, for July, 1909, gives interesting information
in connexion with results that have been obtained with
the seedling canes B.208 and B.147 at Sevens Estate
in Clarendon. In conducting the experiments, a fair
average for the estate, and for places similarly situated
in the island, was obtained by selecting canes for the
experiment from three fields in different parts of the
estate, which are not in receipt of manure, but which
give large yields, owing to the fact that they are flooded
during heavy rains, and thus receive sediment from the
rich soil of other portions of the estate. This flooding
does no harm, as the fields are well drained.
B.208 and the estate cane (White Transparent)
had been planted together in the first field cut, and had
reached the stage of first ratoons, there being 2,500
stools-to the acre. The method adopted was to cut and
weigh carefuily one hundred stools of each, when it was
found that B,208 gave 35:1 tons, and the estate cane 21
tons, per acre—a gain by B.208 of 66 per cent. The
second field contained third ratoons, the varieties being
B.208, the estate cane, and 6.147. In this case
a similar experiment gave: B.208, 50:09 ; the estate cane,
34-8 ; and B.147, 30:3, tons per acre, so that the yield
from B,208 was 46 per cent. greater than that from the
The cost of
estate cane, while B.147 was inferior to both of them,
In the third field, B.208 gave 47°5 tons, and the estate
cane 25°2 tous, per acre, as first ratoons—a gain by
B.208 of slightly over 100 per cent.
a
Interaction of Stock and Scion.
In a number of the Comptes Rendus de l Acade-
mie des Sciences (Paris), published during the present
year, there is an account of a large number of experi-
ments which were undertaken for the purpose of
finding out what effects take place when perennial plants
are grafted on to annuals. The plants that are more
especially considered in this paper are the potato on
the tomato, and rhizome-bearing plants belonging to
the sunflower genus (Helianthus) on that plant. It.
was discovered that, under certain abnormal conditions,
the stock and scion react upon one-another. The
scion formed aerial tubers on account of the fact that
it was unable to store its reserve materials in the stock.
It does, however, succeed in transferring a portion of
those materials to the stock, which utilizes part of this
additional nutriment-in forming woody tissue that:
it does not contain normally, thus cansing it to take
on a resemblance to a woody perennial. This product-
ion of tubers on the scion, and of wood in the stock,
constantly took place when the sunflower was used as
a stock for tuber-bearing plants of the same genus, such
as the artichoke: but this was only occasional when
the potato was grafted on the tomato,
ED
The ‘ West Indian Bulletin’.
The second number of Vol. X of the West Indian
Bulletin is now being issued. In it, the sugar industry
receives attention in the following papers: ‘ Central
Factories’, by Dr. F. Watts, C.M.G.: ‘The Underground
System of the sugar-cane’, by G. G. Auchinleck, B.Sc.;
‘Observations on Molasses’, by H. A. Tempany, B.Sc.;
‘The Packing for Transportation of Sugar-canes for
Planting’, by J. R. Bovell, 1S.0.; ‘The Estimation of
Water in Molasses’, by R. R. Hall, B.A. In connexion
with the cotton industry, two papers appear, entitled
respectively : ‘Observations on the Effects of Storage
on Cotton Seed’, by H. A. Tempany, B.Sc.; and ‘The
Cotton Industry in the West Indies ’.
Among the other papers, there is one entitled
‘Eucalyptus in the West Indies’, which deals with the
distribution of the species belonging to this genus that
have been introduced into the Botanic and Experiment
Stations in these islands. These stations are also dealt
with, in connexion with their function as distributing
centres, in a paper entitled ‘ Distribution of Economic
Plants from West Indian Botanic Stations ’. The subject
‘The Treatment of Soils in Orchard Cultivation in the
West Indies’, which has also received attention in
Vols.. Il, p96); Va p: 287 3 Vi ph2585 VI, ps 20%
VIII, p. 131: and IX, p. 138 of the West Indian
Bulletin, is reviewed and brought up to date.
The number closes with a paper on ‘The Scarabee
of the Sweet Potato’, by. H. A. Ballou, M.Se. This, as
well as ‘The Underground System of the Sugar-cane’,
and ‘The Packing for Transportation of Sugar-canes
for Planting ’, is accompanied by illustrations.
/
314
INSECT NOTES.
ENEMIES OF THE COTTON WORM.
Several articles have appeared in the Agricultural News
dealing with parasitic insects and the beneficial effects of
their attacks on the pests of various crops.
There are several well recognized pests of the cotton
plant, some of which are attacked by parasites, while others
are immune from such attacks, so far as is known, With
regard to predaceous insects, also, certain pests are much
more liable to attack than others. The cotton stainers for
instance, which occur in all theislands where cotton is grown,
are not attacked by parasites and are rarely attacked by
predaceous insects. The cotton worm, on the other hand, is
attacked by several parasitic and predaceous insects,
The small egg parasite, Zrichograimma pretiosa, is record-
ed as a parasite of the eggs of the cotton worm; Chalecis
ovata (see Ayricultural News, Vol. VILI, p. 74) attacks
the larvae and pupae; a fly, Sarcophaga trivittata, attacks
larvae and pupae, also,
The ordinary practice of killing the cotton worm by
means of Paris green or other arsenical poison kills at the same
time any parasites that may be living in the tissues of the
caterpillar. It is suggested that the planter should ascertain
whether these parasites are abundant in his cotton fields, and
if they are, that he should adopt measures to increase their
numbers.
Fig. 52 shows an observation box intended for use in
this connexion. In its construction, it isa small, deal box
with an opening in the top; over, or under, the opening is
a wire mesh too small for the cotton worm to get through,
and large enough to let parasites escape. If the ordinary
house fly could pass through it would be sufilciently coarse.
Over the opening a glass is inverted.
ror PARASITES.
OBSERVATION Box
1dseeoree
The method of use is this : Full-grown cotton worms and
pupae are collected and confined in the box. If any para-
sites are present they will escape in the course of a few days,
and come up into the glass. If 100 pupae are put into the
box the percentage of infestation can easily be calculated.
Planters might have several of these boxes, and by use of
them ascertain in which cotton fields the parasites are most
abundant. If the percentage of parasitized pupae is fairly
high, it would be good policy to have boxes made for use in
the field, so that tne parasites could escape and return at once
to the attack of other cotton worms. This might be called
the field box, and it should be made with openings, covered
with the wire mesh, at two ends, so that the rain may not
get in too freely, and the parasites would be able to escape.
No glass would be required, of course, in this case. 3
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Octoper 2, 1909,
The use of the observation box will very quickly show
how long a time is necessary for the emergence of all the
parasites. When that time has elapsed, the moths, dead
pupae, ete., should be thrown out, and fresh pupae collected.
In this way the planter will be able to do a great deal to
help in the control of the cotton worm by means of natural
enemies.
It should be borne in mind, however, that the
observation box should be used first, for it is evident that if
there were no parasites present that it would not pay to
collect on a large scale. If, on the other hand, they are
fairly numerous, it would be worth doing.
In arecent article entitled ‘Some Parasites of the Cotton
Worm’ (see Agricultural News, Vol. VIIL, p- 74) three insects
are mentioned, and figures are given which show the appear-
ance of two of these parasites. ‘The third of those mentioned,
Spirvochaleis, is a pirasite on the Sarcophagid fly, and is
consequently harmful, and should be killed if possible.
The predaceous’ insects which attack the cotton worm
have often been mentioned in the Agricultural News. Among
the most important of these are the wasps or Jack Spaniards,
In Barbados, the two most common are the wild bee (Polistes
annularis) and the cow bee (Polistes bellicosus). In St.
Vincent, Polistes annilaris is kuown as the Jack Spaniard ;
it probably occurs in all the other islands, but the term Jace
Spaniard is also given to another species, Polistes fuscatus-
instabilis. These are all much alike in form, the last being
slightly smaller than the other two, but they vary in colour
and markinces. j
7%
9)
Fiery Grounp Bretie. (U. 8. Department of
Agriculture.) a, Larva ; 4," BEETLE.
Fig. 33 shows the fiery ground beetle (Cal’soma calidunt),
which has been 1eported at Barbuda (see Agricultural News,
Vol. V, p. 10) and “at St. Vincent (see Agricultural News,
Vol VI, p. 250) as attacking the cotton worm. This beetle
is known in the United States as an active enemy of cater-
pillars, and in any locality where it is abundant it would
probably prove of great value as an enemy of the cotton
worm.
MILLIONS FOR THE MALAY STATES,
The consignment of millions for the Federated Malay
States, mentioned in the last number of the Agricultural
News (see p. 298) has reached its destination.
The Acting Director of Agriculture for that Colony, in
a letter dated July;28, 1909, writes to the Imperial Com-
missioner of Agriculture: ‘I wish to thank you for the
consignment of millions, which arrived last week in good
order. I shall let you know later how they progress
here.’ k
These fish were shipped from Barbados, on May 18, to
the Zoological Gardens London, whence they were later
reshipped tor the remainder of the journey. From this it will
be seen that only about 8 or 9-weeks were occupied in transit!
Won. VIL. No. 194.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
315
FUNGUS NOTES.
FUNGUS DISEASES OF
SUGAR-CANE.
The following notes are for the most part taken from
Bulletin No. 6 of the Division of Pathology and Physiology
of the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’
Association, entitled Mungus Maladies of the Suyar-cane, by
Dr. N. A. Cobb.
A neat method of disinfecting cane cuttings, applicable
to plantations of the size usual in the West Indies, is described
by the author as follows: A series of wooden tanks two
and a half feet in every direction is set up and filled with
Bordeaux mixture. Stiff wire baskets are provided, into
which the canes are put, and the baskets are then lowered
into the wooden tanks. The baskets are made of copper
wire, }-inch to 4-inch mesh wire, mounted on a stiff frame,
and are provided with two strong handles. ‘The baskets
must be firm so that they will uot bulge and cause difficulties
in their removal by rubbing against the side of the tank;
and the mesh must be small enough to prevent the cuttings
from projecting and causing the same difficulty. It is
possible that baskets, somewhat similar to those employed
for making fish pots, ete., but with a smaller mesh and
provided with strong handles, could be manufactured in the
West Indies, which would serve the purpose equally well, and
thus a considerable amount of the initial expense might be
saved. Two men can work these baskets, and the series of
tanks is of such a length that by the time the last has been
THE
filled with the disinfectant and the cuttings, the first basket
of canes has been in the liquid for a sufficient time, and is
ready for removal. It is merely lifted out on toa cart and
taken to the field where it is to be used. The tank is then
refilled, and the second basket treated in the same way. By
this means no time is lost, and the cuttings usually arrive
with the fungicide sufficiently dried upon them.
Attention is called by the author to the facts that no
diseased canes should ever b2 used for cuttings, and that
great care should be taken not to shatter the ends when
cutting cane for planting. All cane that shows red or
brown discolouration of the fibres or pith at the cut ends
should be rejected for planting purposes, as disinfecting
a cane that is already diseased internally is only a waste of
time and money. Cuttings should never be allowed to
become so dry that the ends split before they are planted.
There are at least five fungi causing root disease in
Hawaii: two species of Marasmius, M. sacchari and
M. Hawaiiensis, two belonging to the Phalloideae, Ithyphallus
coralloides and Clathrus trilobatus, and one whose mycelium,
only, is known. The spores of the Phalloids are disseminated
by strongly flying flies, and their mycelia are capable of living
on several other plants besides cane, especially Lantana in
the case of /thyphallus, so that these fungi are more difticult
to eradicate than Marasmius, which, in the writer’s opinion,
is only found in Hawaii on sugar-cane.
On the other hand, there is a considerable probability
that one at least of the two or more species of Marasmius
responsible for the root disease in the West Indies is capable
of living on host plants other than the sugar-cane, though
this point has not yet been established. (Agricultural News,
Vol. VII, p. 155.)
In Hawaii, however, Dr. Cobb is of opinion that Maras-
mius may be entirely starved out of any field by ceasing to
plant cane, and either allowing the soil to lie fallow or
planting a rotation crop. The time necessary to ensure the
complete starvation of the fungus is that required for the
complete decay of any dead or living portions of cane in the
soil. This takes from one to three years, according to the
amount of cultivation the land receives. Occasional plough-
ing and careful tillage, either in the presence or absence of
a rotation crop, will encourage saphrophytic fungi and bae-
teria, and hasten the breaking down of the dead cane, and
the consequent disappearance of Marasmius On the whole,
the planting of alternate crops seems preferable to letting
the land lie fallow; but, in view of recent observations in the
West Indies, it seems probable that these crops will have to
be chosen with considerable care, when the main object is the
elimination of JWarasmius from the field.
As Marasmius has no special means of distribution of
its spores (see Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, p. 297), it seems
probable that re-infection of a field once freed from the fungus
can only be brought about by the conveyance of infected
earth, trash, or cane cuttings from other fields, on implements,
the labourers’ feet, carts, etc. Thus, once a field has been
freed, it might be kept free by careful attention to cleanli-
ness, or, if the disease did return, a careful watch would
reveal the fact, and immediate applications of lime to the
infected area, together with trenching, would probably prevent
the disease from spreading to any extent.
DISEASE OF GROUND NUTS IN
DOMINICA.
A fungoid disease has recently been found to cause con-
siderable damage to the leaves and stems of ground nuts in
Dominica. The disease attacked the Spanish variety first, and
then spread to a plot of the Carolina Running variety, which
was next to the original plot. A plot of Dixie Giant, on the
other side of the Spanish and another of Tennessee Red
which adjoined the Carolina Running were unaffected when
the information was received.
The disease appears in the form of numerous, definite,
black circular spots, which are somewhat raised, on the
underside of the jeaf, and which cause a corresponding slight
depression on the upper surface. On the black spots, small
brown velvety pustules are formed, arranged in concentric
circles. These pustules occur mainly on the lower surface of
the leaf, more rarely on the upper ; they are possibly due to
a fungus known as Septogloeuwm arachidis, which is mentioned
as similarly affecting ground nuts in the whole of the Eastern
Hemisphere. In addition to the black spots, smaller brown
spots, due to the Uredo condition of one of the rust fungi,
were also found, on the leaves only. This fungus has been
reported as attacking the leaves of ground nuts in Mont-
serrat. It does not appear to cause any serious damage in
Dominica. The attack is probably largely due to the dampness
of the season, the rainfall in Dominica having amounted to
over 35 inches since June 11 of this year.
Attempts are being made to check these fungi by means
of Bordeaux mixture, but the results have not been reported;
this treatment should prove effective.
It would also be advisable to burn, or bury with lime,
all diseased leaves and plants, and to avoid planting ground
nuts on the same land for at least a year, as infection may
be disseminated by spores on old leaves in the soil. The
Septoglocum fungus spreads most rapidly after the plants
are a month old.
The Mycologist of the Ceylon Department of Agri-
culture is of the opinion that infection of land previously
free from the Septogloewm disease may be prevented by
careful disinfection of the seed before planting; the
method employed by him was to soak the pod in a 2 per
cent. solution of formalin for several hours. (Ceylon Ad-
ministration Report, 1905.)
316
GLEANINGS.
The sugar production of Cuba for this year is estimated
at about 1,450,000 tons. Under the reciprocity treaty with
the United States of America, this amount doubtless will
increase year by year for some time.
The export of erude rubber from Mexizo for the period
June 30, 1907 to June 30, 1908 was 12,372,241 b.
During a similar period in 1906-7, it was 10,321,248 hb.
For the last six months of 1908, the export was 6,121,863 Ib.
During the present year, to August 19, there were
imported into the United Kingdom 2,579,175, bales of
cotton. Of this, 5,949 bales were British West Indian cotton.
The amount imported during the week ended August 19, was
31,082 bales.
According to the PBulletin of the Imperial Institute,
Vol VII, No. 2, discoveries of graphite have recently been
made in several British African colonies. Those in Nyassa-
lant and Rhodesia, only, appear at present to be likely to
become of any commercial value in England.
The imports and exports of Jamaica for 1907-8 were
valued at £2,€54,042 and £2,360,702, respectively. For the
period 1906-7, they were similarly £2,261,469 and
£1,992,007. Of the exports in 1907-8, fruit had a value of
£1,193,784, rum £174,955 and sugar 109,775.
Tn the Philippine Islands, cassava is grown on a_ large
scale fer the production of starch. The average yield of
roots per acre is about 11 tons, and as these give about 34
per cent. of starch, the amount of this product that is
obtained from each acre is approximately 9,000 Ib.
During the past season, over 5,000 crates of tomatos
have been shipped from the Bahamas by the Canadian Fruit
Company to Canada. This company expects to ship 50,000
crates of the fruit during the coming season. (Weekly
Report, Department of Trade and Commerce, Canada,
August 30, 1909.)
From statistics given in the Circulars and Agricultural
Journal of the Royal Botanie Gard-ns, Ceylon, it appears
that the area in India from which crops were obtained during
the period 1906-7 was 228,950,050 acres, which is an increase
of 22,332,494 acres over that of 1897-8. In the first-
mentioned period, the total area from which food grains
were raised was 208,241,529 acres; in 1897-8, this was
191,852,026 acres.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Ocrover 2, 1909-
Gauze covers for the protection of food from flies are
being offered for sale by Messrs. R. Sumner & Co., Ltd.,
50 a, Lord Street, Liverpool. They are made in three sizes
and cost from 4s. to 8s. 8d. per dozen. As they can be
washed, and are weighted at the corners to prevent them from
being blown over, they are especially useful.
A Danish inventor has recently patented a new process
for sterilizing milk, which is dependent on the existence of
an enzyme, ‘catalase’ (see also Agricultural News, Vol.
VIII, p. 218), in that product. The milk is heated to 120° F..
and hydrogen peroxide is added. The action of the catalase
on the hydrogen peroxide is to liberate oxygen from it,
which destroys the bacteria.
The great earthquake in Messina, causing dislocation of
trade in Sicily, created a demand for essential oil of orange
from some other source, and enhanced the price. Quick
advantage was taken of this in Jamaica, and good trade has
been done in all the large orange producing parishes,
especially St. Ann and Manchester. (Journal of the Jamaica
Agricultural Society, August 1909.)
Experiments with the castor oil plant, in which the
total weight of crop obtained per acre (from 1,210 plants)
was 6,655 tb., showed that 34°91 per cent. of this was organic
matter. ‘he nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid that
would be added to the soil from such a quantity would be
33°3 Tb., 53°2 tb. and 21:3 tb., respectively. (Qucensland
Agricultural Journal, August 1909.)
The red spider (Tetrarhynchus brmaculatus) caused
considerable injury in Florida, diving the spring of 1901, to
vegetable and general crops, and to citrus trees. The Journal
of Economic Bntomology reports experunents for the control
of the pest by means of lime-sulphur wash, lye sulphur,
sulphur, and kerosene emulsion, and states that it can be
kept in check by any of these insecticides.
The Annual Report of the Bureau of Sugar Leperiment
Stations, Queensland, 1908-9 states: ‘B. 208 has a strong
record in the West Indies as a sugar producer, and it is also
very highly spoken of on the Herbert River, where it is fast
becoming the leading cane. On the Mackay Station,
however, it does not present a healthy appearance, and
develops a rind rot at many of the joints.’
The United Fruit Company has entered into a contract
with the Government-of Costa Rica by which it agrees to pay
an export tax on bananas. As a result, the export of bananas
from Costa Rica, which is at present slightly over | million
bunches a month, is expected to increase rapidly, owing to
the security afforded to the industry by the new law. (The
Board of Trade Journal, August 12, 1909.)
The 1908 sugar crop of Madeira was again a record one,
the quantity being estimated at 50,000 tons with a value of
£185,000. About 24,000 tons of cane was used for sugar
manufacture, the remainder having been utilized for cane
brandy and alcohol. Some 700 tons were exported to
Portugal and the balance consumed locally. The coming
crop promises to be larger than ever, and it is estimated that
its value will be well over £200,000. (Jnternational Sugar
Journal, Augnst 2 1909.) .
Vox. VIII. No. 194. THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 317
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
OCTOBER.
First PERIOD.
Seasonal Notes.
Now that corn is being reaped, the selection of seed for
the next crop should be carried out. The preliminary work
in connexion with this may be done in three ways: (1) by
going into the field before the crop is harvested and selecting
good ears on good plants bearing at least two of these, (2) by
selecting from the ears that have been already brought in, (3)
by choosing the best grains.- Of these the first is far
preferable to the others, If it is adopted, the ears from the
marked plants are kept separate and are placed side by side
‘on board or benches for the purpose of examination. As the
principal object in view is the greatest production of good,
deep, similarly-shaped grains on each ear, those characters
which tend toward this are given the greatest weight in the
selection. To this end, the shape ot the ears should be
cylindrical, with a circumference which is about three-
quarters of the length. The grains should fill the ear weil
up tothe tip and butt, in which regions they should be
as nearly as possible of the same shape as the other grains
on the ear, The rows of grains should be close together and
straight, and the grains well fixed to the ear; the latter
characteristic is most conveniently tested for by taking each
ear well in the hands, trying to twist the ends in opposite
directions, and rejecting those ears in which the rows ‘ give’
to any great extent. The ears are weighed, and the grains
shelled from those which have passed these tests most
successfully, the weight of each lot of seed from the different
ears being then weighed also; the grains should weigh about
nine-tenths of the weight of the ear before shelling. In
comparing the shapes of the grains from different ears, those
should be chosen which are wedge-shaped with straight edges.
The process of selection will be completed by germination
tests with six grains from each ear, as described on page 255
of the present volume of the Agricultural News. Finally,
grains for sowing will be such as grew in the region between
the tips of the selected ears, and the grains from the ears will
be sown in alternate rows, as the first step toward the
encouragement of cross-pollination.
A thorough examination of both plant and ratoon canes,
especially the latter, for root disease (M/arasiius) should
now be made. ‘The first sign of attack by this is that the
cane appears to be in want of water, for first the tips and
edges, and then the whole of the leaves, roll up and finally
wither and dry up. Another easily recognized sign is that
the lower leaves are matted together by means of a white
mycelium, while the whole of the attacked part has a musty
smell. Examination of the rootlets would show that their
growth is not taking place properly ; they are short and have
red tips. In rainy weather, in the early morning, a search
should be made for the spore-bearing part of this fungus. It
appears asa small, white, delicate stgucture which may be
attached to the roots or to the sheaths of the leaves.
Information concerning this disease (which is closely related
to another which attacks bananas) may be found in the
Agricultural News, Vols. 1, p. 3, 259; II, pp. 162, 258 ;
TU, pp. 23, 77; VIL, pp: 65, 155; VILL, p. 297; the -Wes¢
Indian Bulletin, Vols. VI, p. 34; Vill, pp. 42, 350 ; 1X, pp.
41,103; and in the following pamphlets published by the
Department ; No. 17, p. 14; No, 29, p. 32,
In applying green dressings to the soil, an interesting
experiment may be performed. This consists in allowing
part of the material to dry before turning it in, and making
a careful note of the position of the area on which this has
been done. When the following crop is growing, a com-
parison of its development where the dressing was buried
geeen and where it was turnedin after being dried, may lead
ta useful conclusions. Reference to pages 226 and 296 of
the present volume of the Agricultural News will give
information on this subject.
The method of applying pen manure that is common in
Barbados consists in burying it in the soil in the cane holes.
As this is generally done when-the soil is wet, there is a great
likelihood that the action of bacteria will be to cause the
manure to give off nitrogen rather than to change it to a state
of combination in which it will be more available to plants.
It is suggested that experiments might be made to try the
effect of burying and of broadcasting manure on the succeeding
crop. Such trials would probably lead to useful practical
results.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Describe, giving examples, the uses of cotyledons
(seed-leaves) to plants.
(2) What are the principal phosphatic manures? Give
an account of each.
(3) What are the uses of the veins of leaves! Describe
the ways in which these are arranged in some of the commoner
plants.
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Give an account of the chief sources of loss from the
soil.
(2) What purposes are served by the breaking up of the
soil in cultivation ¢
(3) Describe how you would lay out, and carry to
a conclusion, the experiment suggested in the last paragraph
but one of this fortnight’s Seasonal Notes.
WHEN TO WATER HORSES
The following hints on this subject are taken from
an article which appears in the Hawaiian Planters’
Monthly, July 1909 :—
A horse should be watered before feeding, and never
given a large quantity of water after a meal, for the simple
reason that the water will wash the food out of the stomach
before stomach-digestion has taken place, and the food will
not be well prepared for absorption; and besides, it is some-
times the cause of colic.
There is a popzlar idea that a warm horse should not be
allowed to drink, and unlike a great many other popular
ideas, there is a little truth in it. If you water a warm horse
in the ordinary way, letting him drink all that he will, you
are likely to have a foundered horse on your hands. This is
especially so if, at the time, the horse is fatigued. Never-
theless, it is always safe to allow him from six to ten swallows,
no matter how warm he is. If this be given on going into
the stable, and he be allowed to stand and eat hay for an
hour and is then offered water, he will not drink nearly so
much as he would, had none been given him before.
The danger is not in the first swallow, as we often hear
it asserted, but in the excessive quantities that he will drink
if not restrained. The most dangerous time to give a horse
a full draught is when he has. cooled down from fatiguing
work and has partaken of a meal,
318 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
OcToBER 2, 1909
eS 7.3 Si ge!
ah pa :
AGRICULTURE
IN THE TROPICS; AN ELE-
MENTALKY TREATISE, By J. C. Wituts, M.A., Sc. D.
Cambridge Biological Series.
This book is not in any way a ‘Tropical Agricultnre’ in
the technical or text-book sense. No attempt has been made
in writing it to produce a work that shall be primarily of use
in field or factory work, neither is the information in it of such
form or character as to make it a mere school-book. All such
aims are disclaimed in the preface, and the reader is asked to
regard it as a pioneer work, in which the subject is discussed
in a general manner, before it shall be approached in a more
technical and academic way. It is intended to be ‘helpful
and thought-stimulating for the student, the administrator,
or the traveller’—a purpose which it appears to fulfil
admirably.
The general scheme which is followed deals first of all
with the things that must be brought under consideration
before any definite conclusion can be reached as to the agri-
cultural methods which will be suitable for any given country,
and shows how those that are already existent in different
parts of the world are the outcome of the conditions of soil,
climate, topography of the country, state of the population,
land tenure, tradition, and the influence of the more civilized
races. In Chapters III and VIII the relation between
population and the provision of labour, and the gradual
change that has taken place in agriculture in the tropics since
primitive times, are dealt with briefly and clearly. In natural
sequence, this part of the subject is followed by an account
of the principal plants cultivated in the tropics. Each of
these only occupies a brief space, well proportioned to its
relative importance, but withal, is considered very completely
in a broad and general way, so that the reader easily gains
an idea of its mode of growth and cultivation, its economic
position, and the ways in which products of commercial value
sire obtained from it, without being distracted by a mass of
detail that could only be of interest to a specialist.
In continuation, the third part of the work deals with
ways in which agriculture is, and should be, conducted in the
tropics, especially with reference to the position of the
peasant and the capitalist grower in regard to finance ; modes
of agricultural practice and the means to be taken for their
improvement, the use of education to this end being con-
sidered particularly ; and the agricultural needs of both
peasant and capitalist enterprise. Chapters II] and TV, which
are devoted to the two first mentioned subjects, are notably
aiseful, and as the broad concise method already referred to
has been followed, they allow them to be grasped in an easy
manner. Finally, in Part IV, consideration is given to agri-
cultural organization and policy, and the work of agricultural
departments, especially in relation to the administrative
functions of the forms of Government in connexion with
which they will operate.
As may be expected, there is a tendency for the subject
to be dealt with more especially in relation to Ceylon,
where, of course, the author’s interests are greatest, but this
is never permitted to oust the claims to consideration of other
tropical countries. Apparently, the conditions which haye
caused the rise, fall, revival or survival of certain agricultural
industries in different parts of the world are given fairly:
though, in this connexion, it would have been more satisfac-
tory if aie statement of the effect of the continental bounty
system in reducing tlie’ pros} verity of those engaged in the
sugar industry in the West Indies had not been de ferred
from page 54 to page 187. A certain amount of repetition
is noticeable in reading the book, but this is not objec tionable,
being nec essary in a work of the kind, and expedient in that
it serves to give a clearer presentation of the subject. Among
minor details there may be noted the fact that the description
of green manuving which is given would lead to tle idea that
leguminons plants, only, are useful in that connexion ; that
returns for the last. few years are sometimes omitted from
the statistics given in the introduction; and that the index
though good as a rule, often fails in the matter of references to
native names of plants and products.
A prevailing note of the book is that of the nec essity
for the exercise of caution, especially in dealing with native
races engaged in agriculture, who have carried this on
for centuries in much the same way. It is well brou: cht
forward that hasty and ill-conceived action will end in
putting off the commencement of progress for a long
pericd ; that respect should be had to native prejudices ; that
the correct preliminary to the introduction of innovations is
to find out what the peasant already knows and how this ean
be used in the process of leading up to the adoption of
modern methods; that gradual improvement of native
implements is preferable to the attempt to enforce the employ-
ment of modern kinds, which the native will find hard tu use
and impossible to repair: and that, before introducing new
plants or different agricultural methods either in cultivation,
or manuring, it is well to be convinced of the usefulness and:
efficacy of these by means of careful experiment.
Unencumbered by detail and characterized throughout by
clearness, this readable book is almost indespensable to the
person ignorant of the conditions of tropical agriculture
who wishes to gain a knowledge of them, as well as to the
one who seeks ‘general information outside that of his own
experience. Over twenty-five good half-tone illustrations add to
its interest, and it is, needless to say, produced in excellent style.
Dominica Exhibits at the Canadian National
Exhibition.
According to the Dominica Official Gazette, 78
exhibits were sent, under the auspices of the Permanent
Exhibition Committee, on August 16, 1909, to the
Canadian National Exhibition at Toronto.
Of these, the samples from estates were as follows :—
raw lime juice (seven estates) ; concentrated lime juice (four
estates) ; distilled lime oil (five estates); hand pressed lime
oil (three estates); green limes (six estates); cacao (four
estates) ; nutmegs with mace (two estates); nutmegs (three
estates) ; and the following, each from one estate: Liberian
coffee, bay oil, otto of limes, essential oil of limes, mace, and
Roseau plumes for decorative purposes.
From the Botanic Station there were sent: bush
coffee (Coffea stenophylla), Congo coffee (Coffea robusta),
Liberian coffee (Coffea Liberica), cacao, cola nuts, lime juice,
bilimbi fruits, nutmeg fruits and limes.
Other exhibitors were the Dominica Starch Factory,
Ltd., the Dominica Fruit Growers’ Association, and the Per-
manent Exhibition Committee. Of these, the first exhibited
‘Dominax ’ (a food for stock) and cassava starch ; the second,
green limes in a barrel and crates; and the last, Carib baskets.
Vou. VIII.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. L. Jackson, A.LS., has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
‘for the month of August :—
The normal conditions of the Drug and Spice Markets
in the month of August is that of extreme quietness. It is
the month in the whole year when everybody is, or is expec-
ted to be taking a holiday. No improvement on the general
dulness of the markets that has prevailed throughout the
past few months was therefore to be looked for especially
to the uncertainty of the results of the Budget. Notwith-
standing all this, there'is a feeling among business men that
there is a prospect of improvement as the autnmn advances.
In the matter of West Indian produce the following are the
chief items of interest.
No. 194.
GINGER
At aspice auction on the 11th of the month, though
the offerings were large there was a very quiet demand. Of
Jamaica, 340 packages were brought forward and 64 disposed
of at the following rates: 47s. 6d. to 50s. for fair to good
ordinary, and 46s. to 46s. 6d. for common. Some small
sales were also effected at 62s. for fair bright, and 54s. to 55s,
for low middling. Of Cochin and Calicut, some 856 pack-
ages were offered, and only 87 sold, smal cut fetching 47s.
and tips 45s. A week later the offerings at auction amounted
to 238 packages of Jamaica, 120 of which were sold, 50s. to
51s. being given for small washed and 47s. to 49s. for
common mixed ratoon. 100 packages of brown rough
Calicut were offered at this sale, and all bought in at 41s.
At the last sale on the 25th there was no Jamaica offered,
and only moderate supplies of Cochin and Calicut, for
which there was but a slow demand.
NUTMEGS, MACE AND PIMENTO.
Of nutmegs at auction on the 18th, some 112 packages
ef West Indian were offered, and disposed of atan advance
over previous rates. Again on the 25th, 360 packages of
West Indian were brought forward, nearly all of which sold
at steady to higher rates. Of mace there has been a steady
demand, on the 11th thirteen packages of West Indian were
offered, the whole of which found buyers at 1s. 7d. for fair
pale and reddish, ls. 5d. to 1s. 6d. for fair red, and 1s. for
broken.
In the following week, namely on the 18th, prices had
somewhat advanced, West Indian fetching ls. 9¢. for fair
pale and reddish, 1s. 5d. to 1s. 7d. for fair to good red, and
Js. to 1s. 3d. for broken. Java at the same sale realized
1s. 10d. for fair pale, and 1s. 8d. for fair red Wild Bombay
was offered, but bought in at 5d. per lb. At the last sale on
the 25th mace declined 1d. per tb. West Indian was repre-
sented by 104 packages, all of which were disposed of at the
following rates: good pale, Is. 8d. to 1s. 9d.; fair, 1s. 5d. to
ls. 7d.; red and ordinary, ls. 3d. to 1s. 4d. per tb. Pimento,
at the auction on the 11th, was in small demand, some sales
being effected at 2}d. per tb., which price has ruled for the
remainder of the month. 434
ARROWROOT,
A quiet tone has prevailed in this article throughout the
month. On the 11th small sales of St. Vincent were effected
at lid. per Ib. for fair.
SARSPARILLA.
At the drug auction on the 12th, sarsparilla was repre-
sented by 42 bales of Grey Jamaica, 11 of Lima Jamaica, 28
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
3199
of Native Jamaica, 6 of Honduras, and 10 of Mexican. Ten
bales, only, of grey Jamaica were disposed of at 1s. 3d., and
slightly coarse at 1s. 2d. per ib. Two bales of ordinary Lima
Jamaica sold at ls. per tb., and one bale of sea damaged at
10d. per tb. Three bales only of Native Jamaica found buyers
at ls. for fair red and 10d. for dull. Two bales of coarse
Mexican fetched 437. per tb., and Honduras was all bought
inat 1s, 8d. per tb. No further sales of importance have been
made during the remainder of the month.
KOLA, LIME JUICE, CASSIA FISTULA.
In the second week of the month, nineteen bags of West
Indian kola, good dried halves were disposed of at 24d. to
2d. per tb., and at the last auction a single bag of dried small
and medium Jamaica was sold at 24d. per tb. On the 11th of
the month, common brown raw Antigua lime juice was
brought in at ls. ld. and good pale Montserrat at 1s. 3d.
On the 25th, ten puncheons of fair pale raw Dominican
were offered and bought in at 1s. 3d. per gallon. Oil of
lime was brought forward at auction on the 11th, six cases
being offered two of which sold at 5s. 6d. for good expressed
Dominican, 1s 9d. being paid for distilled. On the 12th,
two bags of good bright Cassia Fistula sold at 18s. per ewt.,
and on the 26th. four cases of fair St Lucia were offered and
bought in at 20s. In the early part of the month some
private sales were reported to have been made in Antigua
tamarinds at 10s. per cwt., in bond. j
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated September 17, 1909, gives
information as follows : —
The weather during the fortnight has been very hot,
and paddy is ripening fast. Some of the new crop will be
ready forreaping at the end of this month. The old crop
paddy is now about all milled, and there will be very little
rice in the market for the next fortnight.
The local demand has fallen off somewhat; dealers
were buying from hand to mouth in anticipation of being
able to secure new crop rice at somewhat lower prices than
at present prevail.
The new rice crop will not be in the market in any
quantity before the end of October, though small lots may be
offered early in the coming month.
Shipments to the West India Islands during the fort-
night amounted to about 3,500 bags.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara,
quality : —
Nominally 18s. 9d. to 19s. 9d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross.
We vis’ 3a. to: TSsHod.ene eee LOASth:
We have, however, no stock to offer for export.
for good export
”
Lime Juice Tests in Dominica.
The Demerara Official Gazette contains an announce-
ment that arrangements have been made to test samples of
lime juice at the Botanic Station.
Determinations will be undertaken for both raw and con-
centrated juice. For a test giving the total solids, citric acid,
and solids not citric acid in ounces per gallon, and the purity
and specific gravity, a fee of 2s. for each sample of concen-
trated juice, and one of Is. 6d. for each sample of raw juice,
will be charged. If the test is to include the determination
of citric acid, only, the charges will be respectively 1s. 6d-
and 1s’, for each sample,
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. °: ' Ocroper 2, 1909
MARKET REPORTS.
London,—Tse Wersr Inpra Commirree CrrcuLar,
September 14; Messrs. E. A. pr Pass & Co.,
August 20, 1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, 1 fd. to 3fd., according to quality.
Batata—Sheet, 2/6 ; block, 1/104.
BrgEs’-wax—£7 15s. to £8 Por fair to ¢ good.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 62/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 49/6 to
54/ per ewt.; Jamaica, 48/- to 53.
Corrre—Depressed ; Jamaica, 40/6 to 100/.
Copra—West Indian, £22 per ton.
Corron—St. Croix, Antigua, Barbuda, 123d. to 13fd.;
stains, 65d. to 8d.
Fruir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gincer—Common to good common, 45/- to 50/-; low
middling to middling, 51/- to 55/-; good bright to fine,
57/- to 65/-.
Honry—23/6 to 30/.
IstncGLass—No quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/2 to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons ; Otto of limes 5/6 to 6
Locwoop—No quotations.
Mace—Fimn.
Nurmecs—Quiet.
Prrenxro—Common, 2}d. per tb.; fair, 24d.; good, Qed.
Rvuseer—Para, fine hard, 8/2} per tb., tine soft, 7/5; fne
Peru, 8/1; Negroheads, Manaos 4/11d; Islands, 3/3;
Cameta, 3/7 ; Peruvian, 4/4.
Rum—Jainaica, 2/11 to 7/- ; Demerara, no quotations.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 to 16/-; Muscovado, 12/- to 15/-
per ewt.; Syrup, 13/6; Molasses, no quotations.
New York,—WMessrs. Gruuesrin, Bros. & Co., September
3, 1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 11#c. to 12kc. ; Grenada, 11#c. to 123c. ;
Trinidad, lle. to 12c.; Jamaica, 9c. to Llc. per th.;
Dominica, lle. to 11de
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $28°00; culls, $1800;
Trinidad, select, $27°00 to $28° 00 ; culls, $17-00
to $18-00 per M.
Correr—Jamaica, ordinary, 7}e. to 7}c.; good ordinary,
8c. to 8te.; and washed Oe. to 10c. per ib.
GINGER 96: to 12c. per Ib.
Goat Sxrss—Jamaica, no quotations; Barbados, 50c. to
58c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 47c. to 50c. per
Tb., dry flint ; Antigua, 48c. to 50c. per Tb.; Caburettas
from 35c. to 40c. per skin.
Grave Fruir—$2°75 to $3°25 per box.
Lames—Dominica, $4°75 to $5°50 per barrel.
Mace—28c. to 34c. per th.
s—110’s, 9$c. per th.
ORAN us—Porto Rico, $1°05 to S1°50 per box,
Pimento—4ée. to 4$c. per tb.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 4°17c. per Ib. Muscovados, 89°,
3°67c,; Molasses, 89°, 3°42c. per lb., all duty paid,
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co., September
18, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°50 to $11°75 per fanega ; Trinidad,
$11°40 to $11°75.
Cocoa-Nuvt Or1—68e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Corree—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9e. per th.
Copra—$3°75 per 100 tb.
Duart—$4°00 per 2-bushel bag.
OntONS—$2 OV to $2°60 ) per 100 th.
Pras—Spuir $5°60 to $5°75 per bag.
Poraros—English, $1°60 to $1°90 sper 100 th.
Rick—Yellow, $470 to $480; White, $5°00 to $325
per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100 fb.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co.; September 2
Messrs. T. 8S. Garraway & Co., September 2
1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, $3°75 per 100 tb.
Cacao—$11-00 to $1200 per 100 tbh.
Cocoa-NuTs—$14 00.
CorrrE—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11:00 per
100 th., according to quality—scarce ; Venezuelan,
$1100.
Hay—S1:00 per 100 th.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $65-00; Cacao manure, $4800:
Sulphate of ammonia, $7500.
Ontons—Strings, $3-00 per 100 th.
Peas—Split, $6" 00 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $4-00 per
bag of 120 Th.
Potaros—82°10 to $2°50 per 160 th.
Ricr—Ballam, Caleutta, no quotations; Patna, $3°S0 ;
R: angoon, $300 per 100 th.; Demerara, Ballam, .$4° G2
to $5°25 per 180 th.
Sucar—Dark Crystals, 96°, no quotations; Muscovado,
89°, no quotations ; Centrifugals, no quotations.
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wretinc & Ricutrer; Messrs,
SanpBacn, Parker & Co., September 17; 1909.
_| Messrs. Sanp-
TAT Ra Messrs. W1etTinG
ARTICLES. ‘© eee “| Bacu, PARKER
? re & ‘Co.
ArRowroor—St. Vincent $8:50 to $9 00
| ay)
per 200 tb.
Barata— Venezuela block Prohibited.
: Demerara sheet 48c. to 50c. per tb.
Cacao—Native 12c. per th.
Cassava— ——
Cassava STaARCH— ee
Cocoa-NutTS— S16 per M, peeled
Corree—Creole ae Ta ee
Jamaica and Rio 133c. per tb.
Liberian oe _ ve. per th.
Duat— m $420 to $440
: : = per bag.
Green Dhal = ——
Eppos— ——
Mo tasses— Yellow a ——
Ontons—Teneriffe = No quotation
A Madeira 2D 2fc. per tb:
FAR LIC Z, ; (fc. to ode.
Pras—Split | S 86°40 to$6°50 per
, eS |__bag (200 Tb.)
Marseilles = Nominal $5, none
PLANTAINS— s | —
rF |
Poraros—Nova Scotia > $3°25 per barrels
Lisbon | No quotation
Poraros-Sweet, Bz achades| = ——
Ricr—Ballam A $4°75
Creole $4°25 to $4°60
TANNIAS— |
Yams-—White ==
Buck | —
Suaar—Dark crystal $225
Yellow YW) $3.00
White
Molasses |
Timber --Greenheart 32c. to 55e. per
Dame p ;
cub. 00
Wallaba shingles $3°50 to $5°50
per M.
5, Cordwood ——
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’. A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price ls. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
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Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Price 6d. each number. Post free, 8d. ?
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton ; Bourbon Cane in Antigua ; Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
in Barbados ; Soils of Nevis ; Cotton Selection in the Leeward Islands ; Leguminous Crops and Soil
Inoculation. No. 2. Central Factories; The Underground System of the Sugar-cane; The Cotton
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in the West Indies ; The Scarabee of the Sweet Potato. Price 6d. each. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the iniormation contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation, The number issued up to the
present time is fiftymine. The following list gives particulars of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing
numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
Sucar Lypustry. (14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
‘Seedling and other Canes at Barbados (15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
in 1900. No, 3, price 2d.;in 1901, No. 13, price 4d.; (16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. _ Price 2d. ‘
in 1902, No. 19, price 4d.; in 1902, No. 26, price 4d.; (17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
in 1904, No. 32, price 4d. (18) Recipes for Cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
‘Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados, (25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. Price 2d.
in 1903-5, No. 40, price 6d.; in 1904-6, No. 44, price 6d.; (28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d. t
in 1905-7, No. 49, price 6d.; in 1906-8, No. 59, price 6d. (34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2d,
Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands, (35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks. Price 5d.
in 1900-1, No. 12, price 2d.;in 1901-2, No. 20 price 2d.; (37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
in 1902-3, No. 27, price 2d.; in 1903-4, No. 33 price 4d.; (38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
in 1904-5, No. 39, price 4d.; in 1905-6, No. 46, price 4d.; (41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d. :
in 1906-7, No. 50, price 4d.; in 1907-8, No. 56, price 4d. (48) Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal on West Indian Planta-
Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands, __ tions. Price 2d. ; ox
in 1902-3, No. 30 price 4d.; in 1903-4, No. 36, price 4d.; (45) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting. New and Enlarged Edition.
in 1904-5, No. 42, price 4d.; in 1905-6, No. 47, price 4d.; Price igh ; a :
in 1906-7, No. 51, price 4d.: in 1907-8, No. 57, price 4d. (52) Hints for School Gardens, Revised Edition. Price 4d.
Scare Lysrcrs. (53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
Scale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part I. No. 7, price 4d.; (54) Fungus Diseases of Cacao and Sanitation of Cacao Orchards.
Part IL., No. 22, price 4d. __. Price 4d. ‘ }
GENERAL. (55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 3d.
(5) General Treatment of Insect Pests, 2nd. Edition(Revised), (98) Insect Pests of Cacao. Price 4d. _ :
price 4d. (60) Cott m Gins, How to Erect and Work Them. Price 4d.
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The above will be supplied post free for an additional charge of 4d. for the pamphlets marked 2d., 1d. for those
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’. A Fortniguuy seview.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The “Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d. The subscription price, including postage, is
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 4s. 4d. perannum, Volumes IV, V, VI, and VII complete, with title page and index, as issued
—Price 4s. each.—Post free, 5s. Some numbers of the early volumes are out of print and therefore these volumes can no
longer be supplied complete. The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents AdL
applications for copies are to be addressed to the Agents, not to the Department.
c Agents.
The following have been appointed vents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. St. Vinceat: Mr. L. 8. Mosrney, Agricultural School.
Barbados : Messrs. Bowrn & Sons, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. M. A. Lawrence, Botanic Station,
Jamaica: Toe Epucationan Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Brincewarer, Roseau,
Street, Kingston. Montserrat : Mr. W. Rozson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tue ‘Dairy Curonicie’ OFFice, Georgetown, Antiqua: Mr. S. D. Matonz, St. John’s.
Trinidad : Messrs. Murr-Marsnaty & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Toe Braue AND Boox Suppry AGENCcy, Basseterre.
Tobago: Mr. C. L. Puacremann, Scarborough.
Nevis: Mr. S. D. Matone, Charlestown.
Grenada; ‘TuE Srorss, ’ (Grenada) Limited, St. George.
Vou. VIII. No. 194.
THE see eee NEWS.
OcTOoBER Re 1909
THE BEST MAN IURES FOR COLONIAL USE
De pe ol el oe
Ohlendorf’s Dissolved
Ohlendorfi’s Specia
Ohlendorfi’s Special C
Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
| Sugar-cane Manure
Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag ard all other high-class Fertilizers,
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR
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THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency:
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Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
FOR SALE.
TRIUMPH Steam Dryer (NEW) made by Bart-
lett & Snow Company, Cleveland, O., suitable for
drying Starch, Molascuit, Pressed Tankage, Clays,
Rubber, ete.
COST £125. Will ship F.O.B. for £100.
Further information apply to :—
H, A. FRAMPTON,
L. ROSE & CO., LTD:.
Bath Estate,
Dominica
FOR SALE.
By PUBLIC AUCTION at Antigua B.W.I., on Mon-
day the 15th day of November, 1909, at 12 o’clock noon, on
the premises, the valuable Plantations known as COLB-
BROOKE'S, SKERRETT'S and THE GRANGE,
containing 690 acres, with first class Cotton Ginnery, Dwelling
Houses, Stores and numerous other buildings.
are suitable for Cane,
One 7
Properties
Cotton, and Lime cultivation.
Further particulars on application to :—
Messrs. McDONALD & DOUGLASS,
43, Church Street,
St. John’s, Antigua, B.W.1I.
(Solicitors having carriage of the sale.)
— — —
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON].
FACTORY, LIMITED.
BRIDGETOWN.
COTTON SEED.
We are prepared t to o purchase best quality
Cotton seed at prices equivalent to the current
rates of the Liverpool market. Terms : Cash on
delivery of Seed.
N.B.—All seed must be fresh and in sound}.
condition. Second quality seed must be shipped
separately.
AUCTION at Antigua, B.W.L., on Mon-f:
day the first day of November 1909, at 12 o’clock noon,
on the premises, a valuable sugar plantation known as},
SANDERSON’S ESTATE, together with the estate}.
By PUBLIC
called UPPER FREEMAN’S, and lands called
OSBORNE’S PASTURES containing 512 acres, of
which 211 are in cultivation. Usual estate buildings and},
works, together with 48 head of live stock and other things
accessary thereto. #pdefeasible Title.
Further pay “culars on application to : —
Messrs. McDO::\ALD & DOUGLASS,
43, Church Street,
St. Johns, aie B.W.I.
(Solicitors having carriage of the sale.
d
‘Ss sent
on Application
[One penny.
an
Ceylon
ia, New
i
Illustrated
Pamphlet.
Cruises de
Luxe to
NORWAY
during
Season
Short Tours
Calle del Arenal 16,
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ustral
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Tasman
A
OCTOBER 16, 1909.
OFFICES :
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r)
ary islands
and Madeira
(ROYAL CHARTER, dated 1839)
a
THE ROYAL MAIL
STEAM PACKET COMPANY
t
I
10,537 Tons,
VWEOFOCEOD
(via Gibra
Can
264 Reconquista,
EGULAR
Ports
B. AYRES.
SATURDAY,
RIO DE JANEIRO.
re
ay
2)
a
fea
6
fy
=
el
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~~
19)
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6
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2
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feat
Central America
Pacific
and New York
ire)
a
Spanish Main
OFFICES:
TRINIDAD.
ST. THOMAS.
E.c,
nter
E
duringWi
BARBADOS
Vol. VIII. No. 195.]
Spain and
Brazil & the
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Portugal
via
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INDIES |
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Paris Green! Paris Green!
Warranted and Guaranteed Strictly Pure, and to be of
the Standard of Purity required by, and made in
conformity with, the requirements of
THE AGRICULTURAL D®PARTMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The only sure and effective insecticide and destroyer of the cotton worm, caterpillars, and other pests.
Guaranteed to be absolutely pure by the manufacturers. Used extensively throughout the British West Indies, and sold
by all high-class merchants and dealers. Consumers are cautioned against worthless substitutes, and should always see
that the packages bear the name of the manufacturers :-—
MORRIS HERRMANN & CO,,
NEW YORK, U.S.A.
Makers o
" PARIS. GREEN
ARSENATE OF LEAD
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[178.]
MAINTAIN
Tee ee
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper, proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
GERMAN KALI WORKS.
30 Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
4 J IIU9
ULI
OF THE
IMPERIAL | DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST
INDIES,
BARBADOS,
Vou. VIII. No. 195.
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
British Cotton Growing
Association... ... ... 330
Camphor, Experiments
with in Jamaica ... 328
Tnsect Notes :—
Cotton Stainers ... ... 330
Lemon Oil, Manufacture of 324
| Market Reports. 336
Correction.. ... 028] New Pl: ints in the U aite d
Cotton in Rhodesia . poor ts) States.2. - 4 By)
Nitrate of Times M: anutac:
ture of.
: C sg; | Notes and Comments et t
> U od States £
the United States ... 526 Pine: apple, Soil Require-
CN ™
ee Cotton from a6 7 crits Ghee en 904
Fe ate” “* S5-| Poultry Notes :—
x 1 39, Veena :
W. St Indian Cotton ++ B26 Determination of Cause
Departmental Reports : of Death in Fowls ... 355
Cotton Notes :—
Breeding of Cotton in
: eee
PSUR | Lesa ares Sk eo, | Prize-holdings Competi-
EG a Gey SV ERE See tions in Grenada 329
Grenada, Botanic: Sta- es, | Rice in British Guiana ... 335
E BSD CEE Bas ; B07 Rubber in Nigeria... ... 335
el-worms, How spread .. =") Rubber, Residual in T: ap-
Fungus Notes :— ped Trees... . 327
Minute Forms of Life in Soils, Transference of Salts
the=Soil, <3. -. pool: in. ok 55) enossory)
Gleanings ... . 332 Students’ Gomer cd p eee Ooo.
Sugar-cane, U nderground
Stemi \Gitteeette.. 2.0 329
Sugar Industry :—
Green Manure and Fibre
PAs e sso) ear ool:
Grenada, Science in the
Primary Schools... 328] Cane Variety Experi-
Imperial Institute, The ... 321 ments in Antigua ... 323
other possessions of England, and the
recognition of their importance as sources
of commodities which could not be produced in that
country have made a great difference in the way in
which those possessions are regarded by the Mother
Country. This change of attitude has taken place
most quickly during the last twenty years, and the
erection of the Imperial Institute at South Kensing-
ton, as the National Memorial of the Jubilee of Queen
Victoria, was its direct outcome. Opened in May 1893,
OCTOBER 16, 1909. Price 1d.
an institution has quickly increased in iuponeanes
and usefulness until the present time.
An appreciation of the intimate connexion between
the work of the Imperial Institute and the progress of
the English possessions will be gained when its object
is considered. This is stated in the Report of the
Work of the Imperial Institute, 1908*, to be ‘to
promote the utilization of the commercial and indus-
trial resources of the Empire by arranging comprehen-
sive Exhibitions of natural products, especially of the
Colonies and India, and providing for their investiga-
tion and for the collection and dissemination of
scientific, technical and commercial information relat-
ing to them’. Thus provision of the best,
unbiased scientific research and advice is made, for the
special purpose of the advancement of commerce.
the
This work must naturally be passive as well as
active. That is to say there must be the provision of
both literary and examplary records, as well as of advice
and the results of investigations which are designed for
a direct commercial application. The former of these
exists in the valuable Colonial and Indian Collections,
by which raw materials and primary manufactures are
displayed for public examination; and in the Reference
Library, which provides works of reference relating to
the Colonies and India, with such periodicals and
newspapers as are likely to be required by those using
it. The latter is provided in the Scientific and
Technical Department, which includes a special staff
the Bulletin of the
Imperial Institute, which is described in the report
already referred to as ‘a gh ay publication contain-
ing a record of the of the Imperial Institute,
in its various branches, as well as special articles
on subjects connected with the industrial utilization of
” * Colonial Reports—Annual, No: 601.
and research laboratories; in
work
ae
qo
bo
Lo
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocrospsr 16, 1909.
mineral and vegetable products’; and ina Centre Stand
in connexion with the public exhibition galleries, where
personal attention is given to enquirers, and publica-
tions are distributed.
The Colonial and Indian collections are open free
to the These are compre-
hensive, arranged geographical
system, convenient for reference.
Reading give facilities for
to standard and current seientific and
publications ; they are available for Life Fellows of the
Imperial Institute, as well as for others who have
obtained » proper introduction.
public daily. very
and, being on a
The Library and
both
commercial
XYooms access
The Scientific and Technical Department was
established for the purpose of making expert enquiry
into the possible uses
unexploited natural products from the Colonies and
India, and of giving trustworthy scientific advice on
matters connected with industries that are already well
established in those parts of the world.
properties and of new or
This work
is by no means of the nature of a merely academic type
of investigation. It is technical, and is directed with
the chief aim of becoming useful commercially. Its
scope cannot be indicated better than by quoting from
the Report already cited: ‘Materials are first i:vesti-
gated in the research laboratories of the department, and
are afterwards submitted to further technical trials by
manufacturers and other experts, and finally are com-
mercially valued.’ This work is chiefly initiated by the
Home and Colonial Governments and the Government
of India. it may also be undertaken for British repre-
sentatives abroad, through the medium of the Foreign
Office. Investigations on behalf of private individuals
are only made under special circumstances. Other
means for increasing the effectiveness of this department
are the maintenance of asample room by it, where
samples of the products which have been dealt with up
to the present are kept; co-operative work with the Agri-
cultural and Mines Departments in the Colonies; mineral
surveys under the supervision of the Director; and
arrangements by which the operations of the Agri-
cultural Departments in West Africa are correlated with
the work of the Imperial Institute.
The Bulletin of the Imperial Institute is, as has
been stated, published quarterly. Its scope may be
indicated by reference to the contents of a recent
number (Vol. VII, No. 2). These included: Recent
investigations in regard to food grains, cotton, fibres,
rubber, and graphite; general notices regarding the
occurrence, use and development of economic products
such as tungsten ores, peppermint oil, silk from the
Tussore silkworm, and cacao ; general notes in connexion
with various publications and with samples that have
been submitted for examination; summaries of recent
reports and other publications received at the Imperial
Institute from Agricultural and Technical Departments
in the Colonies and India, as well as of general Colonial
and Indian publications; notices of recent scientific
literature ; and a list of recent additions to the Library.
This widl serve to show the wide range of subjects
dealt with in the ‘Bulletin. The Centre Stand for the
facilitation of the distribution of literature and the
provision of personal attention and advice contains
a supply of pamphlets, circulars, hand-books ete., which
are intended to be of use chiefly to the scientfic
or commercial enquirer, and to the intending emigrant.
From a less general point of view, other interests
that are served by the Imperial Institute are those
of the administrative departments in East and West
Africa, and of representatives from the Colonies or
India who may require room for meetings or receptions
in London. In regard to the first, special courses in
tropical hygiene, law, accounting and tropical resources
are provided for candidates who have been selected
for administrative appointments in East and West
Africa, instruction being given in the last subject by
members of the Scientific Statf of the Institute.
Until the end of 1902, the Imperial Institute was
managed by a Governing Body and an Executive
Council, on the latter of which the Indian Empire and
all the British Colonies and Dependencies were
represented, After this, its management was trans-
ferred by Act of Parliament to the Board of Trade,
by an Advisory Committee. This Com-
mittee includes representatives of the Colonies and
India, and of the Colonial and India Offices, the
Board of Agriculture and the Board of Trade. During
last year, great progress was made in improving the
Colonial and Indian Collections. This was effected
by reorganization and the receipt of fresh exhibits, the
arrival in London of exhibits from all parts of the
British Empire for display at the Franco-British
Exhibition at Shepherd’s Bush affording an especially
good opportunity for replenishment.
assisted
Special recognition of the assistance given by the
Imperial Institute has been shown during the past
year in the action of the Transvaal Government in
considerably increasing its previous subscription, and in
that of the Government of the Australian Common-
wealth in announcing its intention of contributing
toward its funds. Gratifying as these incidents are,
no better testimony as to the value of this institution
is required than that which is afforded by the recogni-
tion of the scope and tkoroughness of its work.
Vou. VIII. No. 195.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
iss)
Lo
vo
Cane Variety Experiments in Antigua.
At a meeting of the Agricultural and Commer-
cial Society, Antigua, held on September 10, 1909,
Mr. H. A. Tempany gave an acccount of the trials with
varieties of sugar-cane that were conducted in that
island, during the season 1908-9, by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture.
Mr. Tempany put before the meeting a short summary
of the results of the sugar-cane experiments conducted by
the Imperial Department of Agriculture during the last
season. 7
The experiments had been laid out under the direction
of Dr. Watts, but the work in connexion with the reaping
had devolved on him.
The method of planting and the treatment of the canes
during growth had been the same as in previous years; the
canes under experimental cultivation had received the same
care and treatment as the ordinary canes on the estates, and
thus the results of the experiments could be directly compared
with crop results. The following estates had been used as
experiment stations: Cassada Garden, Bendals, Friars Hall,
Tomlinsons, Blubber Valley, The Diamond, Ffryes, Big
Duers and Thibous,
The rainfall during the year had been deficient and
badly distributed, and as a result the erop had suffered
considerably, the total output of sugar for the island being
about 8,600 tons. The quantity of syrup and molasses
exported was somewhat greater than usual, and it was
interesting to note that the quantity of grey crystals
exceeded the amount of muscovado sugar produced.
With regard tothe experiments themselves, in: tead of there
being twenty-one varieties of cane in duplicate plots on the
various stations, forty-two varieties had been planted in single
plots, the total number of plots being the same as in previous
years, but the number of different varieties being doubled.
Taking plant canes first, the following fourteen canes
had given the best results: —
Plants. Sucrose per gallon, Sucrose per acre,
in pounds. in pounds.
1. B4,596 1:87 5,800
2. D.625 1:85 5,540
3. Sealy Seedling 1:97 5,410
4. D.848 201 5,140
-5. B.3,696 1-86 4,670
6. B.576 2:06 4,590
7. B.1,753 181 4,460
8. D.1,452 1:82 4,410
9. B.156 1°88 4,390
10. D.116 1°84 4,190
11. B.1,355 2-06 4,120
12. D.109 1:93 4,030
13. B.1,528 1-95 3,980
14. B.1,03 2:03 3,840
The results were poor, and considerably below the
average for the past eight years. It should be noted that
eight out of the first fourteen canes are newly introduced
varieties, and that six out of these eight gave exceptionally
good results during the season 1907-8 .
Sealy Seedling, an old favourite, had again given good
returns, while B.208 had dropped down to seventeenth on
the list, as it did not appear to be able to withstand drought.
Of the first fourteen, six were canes which had been
grown during at least four seasons, and all these had
proved their value except D.625. B.4,596 had shown
itself to be the best cane of the year, and was recommended
as being worthy of careful and extended trial by planters.
Taking the results on each estate, a method of com-
parison introduced by Dr. Watts, it is found that :—
E stands among the first 14 canes on 9 estates.
;
B.1,753
B.109 ” ” ” ” 14 ” ” 8 ”
ayaa stand a ee gy es igi sp
D.625 — :
Sealy Seedling i ” ” ” ” 14 ” ” 6 ”
B.376 )
‘ FOQT ” ” ” ” 14 ” ” 5 ”
B.1,528 |
D.848
Eee | ” ” ” ” 14 ” ” 4 ”
3.156
Bak355 stands ,, 1 ee Les ee ee es
B.1,030 a Mea ts 2
’ ” >] ” ”
The yields from ratoon canesihad been especially low lest
season, D.109 had taken first place, and seemed to bear
out its reputation asa good ratooning and drought-resisting
cane. 6.306 and Sealy Seedling followed next in order,
3.208 had dropped to the tenth place, and had again shown
inability to withstand drought. White ‘l'ransparent, it may
be noted, had taken a very low place.
Ratoons. Sucrose per gallon, Sucrose per acre,
in pounds. in pounds.
ee DE09 2-07 3,500
2. B:306 2:17 3,230
3. Sealy Seedling 1:96 3,040
4. D.95 2-19 2,950
5. B47 2-06 2,940
6. B.109 2-04 2.940
7. B.376 2°11 2,790
The same method of comparison as for plant canes gives
the following results :—
Sealy Seedling stands among the first 7 canes on 7 estates,
B.306 x " mon 0 epee opp 2)
B 156 -
D116 \ stand ” ” ” N35 ” 4 ”
D.95
B.109 ¢ ep sy 39 TI a) ls, UO ay
p.109|
Burke | 9
D.74 J ” ” ” ” 4 5 » = 99
With regard to the newly introduced canes, B.4,596
had again come out first, followed by B 1,528, B.3,696 and
B.1,753, an order which corresponded closely with that
observed in the case of plant canes.
New Yaricties, Sucrose per gallon, Sucrose per acre,
Ratoons. in pounds, in pounds.
1..B.4,596 2-00 4,780
2. B.1,525 2-02 De
3. B.3,696 1°88
4, B.1,753 1°82
5. D.790 191
6..Dal32 1°82
eal DS IeArty) 1°82
Mr. Tempany concluded his remarks by thanking the
planters and estate owners, who had been of great assistance
to the Department in enabling it to carry out the sugar-cane
experiments for the last year to a successful issue.
324
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroper 16, 1909.
WL
VW
WES
3 << Gi
NS
! WES
THE SOIL REQUIREMENTS OF THE
PINE-APPLE.
The reason why the pine-apple’will flourish on
some soils, while it isa complete failure ou others, 1s
not fully understood. The following notes, which are
taken from Bulletin No. 8 of the Porto Rico Ex cperiment
Station, contain interesting information i the matter,
and indicate that there is uo reason why the cultivation
of this plant should not be tried on widely varying
types of soil, provided that especilly careful attention
is given to the matter of drainage :—
In Florida most of the pine- apple soils consist of over
99°5 per cent. of insoluble silica or sand of rather coarse
texture. The mechanical analysis shows very smal] amounts
of organic matter, very fine sand, silt and clay. Soil of this
character is not very often found in Porto Nico, or, as
a matter of fact, in the West Indies. It was therefore
a question for the pioneer planters of Porto Rico as to what
soil to choose for pine-apples. True enough, they were
found growing wild in many sections, and had been
cultivated in limited quantity near Lajas for a great
many years, but nothing was known beyond the fact
that pineapples would thrive there in a certain restricted
locality, and it was believed that they would not thrive on
soils more than half a mile distant.. The practice of the last
few years has shown beyond question that pines can be
produced on soils of widely different character; although the
best quality of fruit is »raised on soils somewhat resem-
bling those of Florida.
The three requirements of the pine-apple plant are that
the roots must have a limited amount of water, the necessary
supply of plant food, and an unlimited amount of air. It
will be understood that a well-drained sandy soil, in which
the individual soil particles are coarse, fills some of the
requirements. It will need frequent stirring of the top soil
until the plants become large enough to shade and protect it
from evaporation, The plant food, of course, will have to be sup-
plied. Jn clay soil and in loam and eyen in fine sand the condi-
tions are not so readily controlled. A heavy rain will pack
the surface, excluding the ;air from the roots, and unless the
land is bedded, the water fis likely to remain in the soil long
enough to cause serious injury to the roots.
Aeration is really the underlying principle of pine-apple
cultivation. The pine-apple plant is not averse to water,
but the water, when filling up the soil, excludes the air. We
have grown plants in jars of water for months, and found
the root development to; be vigorous and healthy, and the
increase in the weight of the plant equal to that of plants
grown in soil. We have also grown plants in tubes filled
INDIAN PRUE.
with eres previously washed with hydrochloric acid and
distilled water, and in similar tubes which were perfectly
empty, and we found that by watering every day with a very
dilute plant-food ‘solution, roots were developed and the
plants increased in weight, not alone in the tubes containing
gravel, but also in those which were en ipty and that served
only to support the plant and protect the roots from light.
‘These methods are not recommended asbeing practical, but they
serve to illustrate, the nature and the requirements of the
pine-apple plant. Methods quite similar are followed on the
Florida Keys, where pine-apples are often planted in a few
inches of leaf mould on the top of the bare coral rock, and
whenever the amount of soil is insufticient to support the
plant a few pieces of stone are used to hold it in place.
Under such conditions, pine-apples will grow and produce
fruit until the leaf mould is all exhausted. The reason for
not growing for a longer time is not so much the lack of
soil for root formation as the exhaustion of plant food.
This is further illustrated in the pineapple regions in
Florida, where the soil only serves as a support tor the
plant and all the necessary plant food must be added. ‘Lhese
are some of the things known, but in applying this knowledge
locally it is often found that there are other conditions
which we are not yet able to explain. For instance, one
soil may to all appearances be physically suited and yet be
a, failure, while another may seem to be anything but
a pineapple soil and yet produce a satisfactory growth of
plants and yield of fruit. It is therefore never safe to say
that a field will or will not produce pine-apples before
making a practical test. The amount of preparation needed
and the methods'to be followed will depend entirely upon
the class of soil selected.
THE MANUFACTURE OF LEMON OIL.
A perusal of the following paragraph will show
that the method for the extraction of oil from the rind
of the lemon that is used in Sicily is. similar in
some respects to the ‘ écuelle’ methed that is employed
for a similar process with the lime in Montserrat and
other West Indian Islands :—
In a recent report, the United States Consul at Messina
refers to the lemon oil manufacturing industry of Sicily, and
gives some interesting particulars of the method in vogue
there in the manufacture of the oil. In order to prepare the
essential oil, he states, the peels are first soaked in water for
some four or five minutes for the purpose of softening the
envelopes of the oil vesicles, and rendering easier the
expression of the oil. The peels are then carried to the
‘Von. VIII. No. 195.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 32
wt
expressing room which is usually darkered, and kept as cool
as possible, to guard against any changes in the character of
the delicate and unstable oil. In the expressing room each
workman is seated on a low stool, and has. before him
a glazed earthenware bowl], across which, and resting in
depressions in the rim, is a wooden rod run through a good-
sized sponge. In his left hand the workman holds another
sponge, often cup-shaped, against which he presses tbe
outside of the peel, giving this a circular twisting motion.
By this means the walls of the oil cells are broken, and the
oil is squeezed out into the sponge to drip into the bowl.
In this, the oil rises to the top of the water, and can be
decanted off, The oil is filtered into large copper containers,
in which it is stored to await sale. Various machines have
been tried for expressing the oil, but so far without success.
The amount of oil obtained will vary largely, according to the
district and the season, but will average from 0°7 tb. per
1,000 lemon peels to 1 lb., and, in rare cases, to as much as
$b. (Natal Agricultural Journal, July 1909.)
THE MANUFACTURE OF NITRATE OF
LIME.
The following is abstracted from a paper on this
subject by Herr Sam Eyde of Christiania, which
appeared in the Journal of the Royal Society of
Arts :—
In order to explain the Birkeland-Eyde method, it is
necessary first to describe the flames, consisting of ares of
light, which are used in the electric furnaces. The forma-
tion of the flame occurs through an are of the electric flame
being formed between the points of the electrodes, which are
‘close to each other. By this, an easily movable and_ flexible
current is established which, with the arrangements made,
will be found in a highly magnetized field. The electric are
that has been formed moves, on account of this magnetic field
with great velocity perpendicularly to the lines of force, and
the electric are’s foot draws back from the points of the
-electrodes. When the length of the electric are increases,
the electric resistance becomes greater and the tension
increases, until it becomes so great that a new electric arc
starts from the points of the electrodes.
To regulate the current, an inductive resistance is used
in series with the fame. With an alternating current, all
these ares are formed in opposite directions and appear to the
-eye to be circular dises. It appears that we have discovered
in this flame a powerful technical means for the oxidation of
the nitrogen of air. The flame in our furnaces burns with
a steadiness that is really astonishing.
On electrodes of 1°5 em. thick copper tubing, through
which water passes for cooling them, one can take up over
1,500 horse-power, with a flame of 1°8 m. in diameter. The
chamber in which the flame burns is circular, of only a few
-centimetres width, and about 2 m. in diameter. After
the oxide of nitrogen is formed in the furnace, it is converted
in the oxidation tank into peroxide of nitrogen, and in the
absorption towers into nitric acid.
The flame chamber of the furnace is formed of fire-clay
brick; through the walls of this the air is conveyed to the
flame. The nitrous gases formed in the flame escape
through a channel made along the casing of the furnace,
which, like the flame chamber, is furnished with fireproof
dining.
With this furnace we have achieved such steady working
that it burns for weeks without any regulation worth
mentioning. It may further be stated that the maintenance
of the furnace and its repairs are simple to a degree, as the
most exposed portions, the electrodes, only require to be
changed every third or fourth week, and the fireproof masonry
every fourth to sixth month.
The temperature in our flames exceeds 3,000, or perhaps
3,500, degrees Centigrade. The temperature of the escaping
gases may vary between 800° and 1,000° ©. during ordinary
working. The furnaces are made of east steel and iron, the
middle of the furnace being built out toa circular flame-
chamber. By aid of centrifugal fans, the air is brought into
each furnace through tubes from the basement.
When the air in the fame-chamber has been treated by
the electric flames, the nitrous gases formed pass out through
a channel built along the casing of the furnace, and thence
out through the lower part of the furnace to two fireproof-
lined gas-collecting pipes, about 2m. in diameter, which
convey the gas through the basement out to the steam boiler
house. In the boiler house the gas passes through four steam
boilers, in which the temperature, which was, as mentioned,
1,000 degrees Centigrade, is reduced. The heat given off by
the gas is used for concentrating the products, and in the
winter time for warming the factory buildings.
The steam produced in the. boilers is utilized in the
further treatment of the products. In the boiler house there
are also two large and two small air-compressors, which
supply compressed air for pumping acids and lye in the
factory’s various chemical departments.
The gases pass on from the steam boilers through an
iron pipe into the cooling house, with the object of completing
the cooling commenced in the steam boilers. This cooling is
necessary in order to obtain a suitable absorption. Each
cooler consists of a great number of aluminium tubes, over
which cold water runs, while the hot gases pass through them.
The temperature of the gas is considerably reduced. From
the cooling chambers, the gases go on to the oxidation tanks.
These oxidation tanks are vertical iron cylinders, lined
with acid-proof stone. The object is to give the cooled gases
a suflicient period of repose, in which the oxidation of the
oxide of nitrogen may have time to take place The necessary
amount of oxygen is present in ample quantity in the air
which accompanies the gases from the furnaces. From
the oxidation tanks the gases are led into the absorption
towers. All the towers are filled with broken quartz, which
is neither affected by nitrous gases, nor by nitric acid. To
assist the passage of the gases on their way from the
furnaces, there are centrifugal fans, constructed of aluminium,
on each row of towers.
The gases enter at the base of the first tower, go up
through the quartz packing and thence, by a large earthen-
ware pipe, enter the top of another tower, through which
they pass downwards through the quartz at the bottom of
the third tower, and so on, until the air, relieved of all
nitrous gases, leaves the last tower. Water trickles through
the granite tower, and this is gradually converted into weak
nitric acid, while the liquid used in the wooden towers is
a solution of soda, The absorbing liquid enters the top of
the tower and is distributed in jets by a series of earthen-
ware pipes, so that the permeating gases come into
immediate contact with the absorbing liquid. In the granite
towers nitric acid is thus formed, iand in the wooden towers
a solution of nitrate of soda.
The final stage of the process is the neutralization of
the nitric acid thus obtained, by means of limestone.
From the liquid formed, solid ‘nitrate of lime’
(calcium nitrate) is separated by heating it in vacuune »
evaporators,
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Ocroser 16, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date September 27, with
reference to the sales of West Indian Sea Island
cotton :—
Since our last report, abont 100 bales of West Indian
Sea Islands have been sold, at rather hardening rates.
The sales are chiefly comprised of Barbados cotton at
14d, to 16d.
The Savannah market .has opened at 1227. for the best
Georgias and 133d. for the best Floridas, and the market is
steady to firm.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending September 18, is as follows :—
There have been no receipts of new crop Sea Island
cotton during the weck, and it may be a fortnight yet before
sufficient cotton is marketed to admit of factors offering any-
thing for sale. Recent rains have retarded the harvesting
and delayed the movement.
THE BREEDING OF COTTON IN THE
UNITED STATES.
The breeding of types of Sea Island cotton immune to
various diseases, the securing of types of nitrogen-gathering
plants to use in rotation with such kinds of cotton, and
improvement of the fibre of other kinds of cotton and of its
productivity, are among the achieverments of plant breeders.
Hybridization and seed selection in the case of existing
crops have been performed scientifically to produce varieties
to meet new conditions, to produce larger yields, to resist
cold, drought, and disease. With the advent of the cotton
boll weevil the breeding of cottons fitted to escape weevil
injury, to produce longer staple and heavier yields, and to
resist wilt, root-rot, and other diseases, was undertaken with
gratifying results.
Several entirely new cotton hybrids
developed, which possess great improvement over former
varieties. This Department’s newly-bred, heavy-yielding,
long-staple Upland cotton, the Columbia, received a gold
medal at the Jamestown Exposition. ;
The wilt-infested cotton soils of the South-east have
been outwitted by the breeder of wilt-resistant varieties of
hoth Sea Island and Upland cotton. The breeder has hastened
the maturing of cotton to ensure the safety of the crop upon
the arrival of the boll weevil. Varieties of Guatemala cottons
have been
\COTTON NOTES. = SSS: C=
\y © yi acan aa —— Fie (( y
have been introduced and acclimatized because they have
characteristics that’ enable them to resist the boll weevil.
The United States imports about $15,000,0C0 worth of
Egyptian cotton annually for the manufacture of special
fabrics. The growing, grading and handling of this crop
have been so perfected that the product is exceedingly
uniform, and the fibre being of a very high quality, fancy
prices are always received for it. :
For a number of years the Department has been
endeavouring to establish this crop in the United States.
Several years ago, some work was undertaken in the South-
west, notably at Yuma, in cooperation with the Reclamation
Service, on one of their projects. This work has already
progressed sufficiently to warrant us in saying that there
is great promise’ of establishing an important cotton
industry in the region mentioned.
During the past year, a total of about 40 acres was
planted in Egyptian cotton at various localities in South
Arizona, seed of the acclimatized strain that has been grown
for six years in the South-west being used. The indications
point to an average yield of ] to 1} bales per acre wherever
the planting was done:in good season and the cotton received
reasonable care. A good commercial fibre was obtained,
satisfactory in strength and fineness, but not in the matter
of length and colour.
It is planned ‘to sell the product at the highest price
obtainable, in order to ascertain approximately what profit
can reasonably be expecied by growers of Egyptian cotton
in the South-west. The marked interest in these experi-
ments evinced by a number of American manufacturers of
Egyptian cotton makes it reasonable to expect that the
Arizona-grown fibre can be marketed advantageously.
The peculiar climatic and soil conditions in this region
have developed a number of unexpected problems, whick will
necessitate careful laboratory and field work for settlement.
It is found, for example, that, for reasons not yet fully
explained, cottons hybridize naturally. In view of the fact
that one of the essentials in establishing this industry is the
securing of a uniform product, there is some careful work
ahead in the matter of determining the causes of the variations
noted, and fixing by practical methods the types which the
market demands, and for which it is ready to pay the highest
price. (Yearbook, 1908, of the United States Dopartinent
of Agriculture.)
Export of Cotton from Antigua.—The amount
of cotton exported from Antigua dwing the quarter ending
September 30 was 32 bales, weighing 7,100 tb., and of an
estimated value of £384 11s. 8d. This was all Sea Island
cotton, and was sent to the United Kingdom.
Vor. VIII. No. 195.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
THE RESIDUAL RUBBERIN TAPPEDTREBS.
The milky juice (latex) which yields the rubber of
commerce is a waste product, as far asthe plant which
secretes it 1s concerned ; that is to sayy it can no longer
be converted into products useful in ‘nutrition or the
provision of energy. In any method of tapping,
a certain amount of this latex must remain behind in
the tissues of the plant. An explanation of what
becomes of this is given in the following abstract,
which is taken from the Tropical Agriculturist for
October 1909 :—
It is generally believed that all the rubber which is
formed in the stem of a tree accumulates in the latex-bearing
tissue until the planter chooses to tap it ; that if he does not
tap until the tree is eight years old, he will obtain all the
rubber which was in the tree when it was, say, six vears
old, plus the amount which has formed in the additional two
years. From a botanical standpoint this is improbable. After
the stem has passed its green stages, it acquires the normal
secondary cortex with a dead corky layer on, the outside; and
as it grows older, this corky layer increases jn thickness. But
the corky layer is formed from the latex-bearing Jayers. This
is readily seen when a tree is pared; the exposed latex-bearing
tissue is then rapidly covered by a new corky layer, which is
obviously formed from it. Further, if a tree is tapped by the
full spiral method, with spirals 1 foot apart,and the tapping
is stopped after a breadth of 6 inches has been cut away
along each spiral, the original bark left between the spirals
will, in some cases, scale off in flakes down to the'level of the
renewed bark. I have taken off scales of | brown bark 16
inches long, which were formed between two spirals. Now,
the brown, corky layers, and the scales just referred to, were
originally laticiferous, and the current belief assumes tbat
this latex was transferred inwards to the inner bark when the
ecrky layer was formed. But if the brown scales of corky
bark are pounded up ina mortar, and then extracted with
carbon bisulphide, it is found that they contain an appre-
ciable quantity of rubber. Just as in the case of the leaves,
therefore, rubber 1s discarded with the brown bark, and thus
the current belief is shown to be incorrect. When latex-
bearing bark is converted into corky bark, the latex which
it contains dries up, and the rubber is left in the dead iayer.
Some of the rubber which was in the tree at the age of six
is undoubtedly rendered unavailable before the tree is eight
years old. The amount might be estimated if the rate of
growth of bark were known; it cannot be a yery considerable
quantity when the tree is young. |
It appears, therefore, that the tree is always discarding
rubber as well as manufacturing it, the balance being, of
course, in favour of the latter process. This obviously con-
tradicts the idea that the rubber from a six-year old tree is
itself six years old, or that rubber extracted) from an eight-
year old tree is necessarily older than that extracted from
a six-year old tree. However, this contradiction is superfluous,
for it is evident that in any tree most of the latex is derived
from near the cambium in the present systems of tapping, and
that that latex is the most recently formed.
This is not intended to serve as an argument in favour
of early tapping. That interpretation of the experiment
would involve the confusion of two distinct theories, viz., (1)
that all the rubber formed is stored in the laticiferous tissue,
and so ‘ matures’ there, and (2) that the rubber formed at the
age of six is as ‘strong’ as that formed at the age of
eight. The experiment proves that the first of these is, at
least in part, incorrect ; it gives no information whatever
with regard to the second.
327
HOW EEL WORMS. ARE SPREAD.
As eel worms are capable of doing much damage to
plants and are difficult to eradicate from soil which is infest-
ed by them, it is important to know how they may be
prevented from spreading to soil which is comparatively free
from them. This subject is dealt with in Bulletin No, 6 of
the Division of Pathology and Physiology, Hawaii, from
which the following extracts are taken. Other information
in connexion with these pests will be found in the Agri-
cultural Vols. IIT, p. 283; VI, p. 123; VILL. pp.
138, 280.
Ne Ws,
The disease will usually spread from a centre of infec-
tion at the rate of a few rods see year. In such cases its
progress is through the soil, and may be marked by its
effects on roots. But the infection does not always occur in
this manner. During a spell of dry weather, the eggs and
dried up larvae exposed on the surface of cultivated ground
may be whirled aloft by the wind and scattered for miles
over adjacent territory. ‘The disease may thus, unseen,
spread by leaps, making itself felt however in the new locali-
ties only after some years have elapsed, and when the worms
have become abundant by natural increase from the few
eggs or larvae deposited by the wind. These facts indicate
sutticiently the rate at which root-gall may be spread by the
wind. The facts are much the same as for Tylenchus
devastatvix, anematodefortunately so far unknown in Hawaii.
The different means by which the disease may pass
from one piece of land to another deserve careful considera-
tion, for upon them may be based a number of useful
precautions. The migrations due to the worm’s own muscu-
lar powers are not rapid or great, in fact they are so slight
that it may be questionable whether they would account for
anything but the very slowest spread of the disease. Even
when the worms pass from plant to plant in the same field,
it is questionable whether the movement is not due to
transportation by some of the numerous agencies constantly
at work in their neighbourhood. , Almost everything that
moves either in or upon the soil may transport the minute
eggs and larvae of eel worms. Air, water, animals, are all
agents in disseminating the disease. The gencral lay of the
land determines largely the nature and direction of the
watescurrents in the soil. These doubtless have something
to do with the spread of the disease. Here very little can
be suggested beyond a proper system of drainage.
One set of agencies in the spread of root gall, and
a most important one, too, has not yet received attention.
Insects, earthworms, birds, domestic animals, man him-
self, are all factors in the life-history of the eel worm.
The insect that burrows in the ground and brings to the
surface subterranean material is active in aiding the eel
worm in finding new victims. The egg or larva leaves the
mandibles of the insect only to be caught up by the wind, or
to be pressed with other matter mto some crevice in boot or
hoof, and thus, it may be, travel miles before being again set
down. This is no fancy sketch: every statement rests on the
most unimpeachable observation. Even the hands when soiled
from field work may carry enough material to start a thriving
colony of eel worms. It only needs to be washed off, and
thrown with the water around the roots of some favourite
plant to form a nucleus for a new infected area, But enough
has been said to put those interested on their guard. The
thorough cleansing of boots and hoofs before passing from
infested land to uninfested land is too obvious a precaution to
need mentioning.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroser 16, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial, Department of Agriculture,
Barbados,
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Avents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d, Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Aqriculinral Glows |
; ul =A Z a
Vou. VIII. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1909. No, 195.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In this number, the editorial has for its subject
the Imperial Institute. Especial reference is made to
the aim and scope of the work of this institution,
On page 323, the results of the sugar-cane variety
experiments in Antigua, for the season 1908-9, are
summarized.
An interesting account of the way in which nitrate
of lime is manufactured appears on page 325.
Page 327 contains information which deals with
the question as to what becomes of the rubber that is
left in trees that have been tapped, and with the ways
in which eel-worms are conveyed to soil which has
previously been free from them.
In Insect Notes (page 330) an interesting article,
which is illustrated, has for its subject Cotton Stainers.
In the Students’ Corner, on page 333, a useful
diagram, which will serve asa guide in mixing manures,
is given.
The Annnal Reports of the Botanic Stations, ete.,
in Antigua and Grenada, are noticed on page 334.
Cases of sudden death among fowls are often
difficult to diagnose without a post mortem examina-
tion. On page 335 hints are given which should
enable such an examination to be conducted in
a simple, but useful, manner. Information is also
given, on the same page, with regard to the progress
of the rubber industry in Nigeria.
A Correction.
The second word in the last paragraph but one on
page 319 of the last issue (No. 194) of the Agricultural
News should be ‘ Dominica ’.
i
Cotton in Rhodesia.
According to the Wmpire Review for September
1909, satisfactory, reports are being received which
show that short; and medium stapled cotton of an
excellent quality can be succesfully grown in both
North-eastern and North-western Rhodesia. Samples
from’ an experimental plantation of about 50 acres,
grown from Egyptian and American seed, were sent to
the British Cotton Growing Association for inspection,
and were reported to be of good colour and of long and
strong staple, the value being 7d. to Sd. per tb.
Further samples of Abassi and Upland from another
plantation were highly commended by the British
Cotton Growing Association, and were valued at 8d.
to 84d. per tb., with Middling American at 665d. per Ib.
Cotton has, for some years, been shipped from North-
eastern Rhodesia to Liverpeol, but the progress of the
industry has been slow, and it has been conducted on
more or less experimental lines. Awakening interest,.
however, gives hépe of its speedy development.
rr?
Experiments with Camphor in Jamaica.
An account, of experiments with camphor, which
were carricd out at the Government Laboratory,
Jamaica, is given in the Report of the Department of
Agriculture for that island for the year 1908. Weighed
quantities of different parts of the stem, which were
obtained from trees growing at Knockalva Pen, were
subjected to steam distillation, and the distillate suit-
ably treated in order to separate oil and camphor, the
latter then being heated over quicklime for the purpose
of getting the pure sublimate. The highest yield of
camphor was obtained from the tips of the shoots. The
amounts of camphor oil and camphor that were obtained,
on an average, from the whole stem were respectively
0:23 per cent. and 0°28 per cent., making a total of
0°51 per cent.
The West Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX, pp. 275-6,
gives an account of somewhat similar experiments that
have been carried ont at the Government Laboratory
and Botanic Station in Antigua. In these, oil only was
obtained, and it was found that the wood gave O-4 per
cent. of this, while the amount that was obtained from
the leaves and twigs was 1-2 per cent. Thus in both
cases the observation was made that the younger parts
of the plant give the largest yields.
EE
Science in the Primary Schools, Grenada.
A Rule has recently been made by the Board of
Education, Grenada, whereby an old Rule of the
Primary Education Ordinance, 1907, which defines
various conditions under which bonuses may be given to
head teachers from any special sums voted from public
revenue for such purposes, is amended in the following
way. Special bonuses will be paid to head teachers of
combined schools for efticient instruction in (a) Practi-
Vou. VIII. No. 195.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
329
cal Agriculture, (b) Sanitation and Hygiene. With
regard to the first, bonuses will be granted to a head
teacher in respect of each pupil teacher or examin-
able male pupil in standard VI or VII who, having
been taught by him, gains a certificate from the
Imperial Department of Agriculture for a pass in its
Preliminary Examination in Agriculture. In the case
of Sanitation and Hygiene, similar grants will be made
in respect of classes composed of pupils belonging to
Standards V, VI and VII, who show a competent
knowledge of these subjects at the annual examination,
> A ee
New Plants in the United States.
The Yearbook of the United States Department
of Agriculture for 1908 gives an account of explora-
tions that have been undertaken in various countries
by that Department for the purpose, of securing new
crops and establishing new agricultural industries.
Among the discoveries is a new forage plant, in the
shape of a promising clover, called ‘Shaftal’, from the
valleys of the Himalayas. This is stated to have
produced exceedingly good crops in the hottest part of
the south-western States, and it is expected to prove
valuable in rotations in that part of the country,
especially with the advent of Egyptian cotton
cultivation.
According to the same publication, an unusual
number of East Indian varieties of the mango have
fruited during the year, and advantage will be taken
of the fact to extend the area on which this plant is
grown, especially in Florida. The staternent is also
made that the discovery that the bamboo can be grown
successfully in the Gulf States and California has led
to the importation of several thousand plants from
Japan, with a view to its production for extended use
in the country.
Transference of Salts in Soils.
An account is given, in the Hxperiment Station
Record of the United States Department of Agri-
culture, of experiments which were made with soils
from some of the Russian steppes for the purpose of
gaining information as to the rate at which alkali soils
are formed in those regions. The salts which cause
the alkalinity are, of course, carried up in the capillary
water of the soil. The rate at which this water rises
was found to be greatest at first where the soil particles
are largest, but it becomes smaller in the course of time,
more quickly with coarse: soils than with fine soils.
When the layers of soil of different degrees of coarse-
ness were placed in tubes in the order in which they
occurred naturally, the rise of water appeared to depend
entirely on the capillary state of the lowest layer, that
is the one-in contact with the water-supply.
Determinations of the salt content-of the samples
of soil at different levels disclosed the fact that complete
transfer of the salt from the lowest to the highest layers
took place in about four months.
The interesting observation was, also made that
water travelled as far in an hour, in a horizontal
direction, in the soil experimented on, as it did in
a month in a vertical direction.
Prize-holdings Competitions in Grenada.
During the year 1908-9, three prize-holdings
competitions were held in Grenada. ‘lwo of these
were in the parishes of St. David and St. John, and
had been initiated in the period 1907-8; the third took
place in St. Patrick’s parish for the first time. In the
first, there were forty-three entries and nineteen
prizes were awarded. It was not intended, originally,
to award this number of prizes, but it was subsequent-
ly found advisable, in view of the high percentages of
marks gained, to divide some of them. In St. John’s
parish, the number of entries was twenty-nine, and
fifteen prizes were awarded ;; here the high standard
attained by the recipients of the lowest prizes necessita-
ted an addition to their value. In the third-men-
tioned parish, notwithstanding the existence of
a certain amount of suspicion on the part of the
peasants, on the introduction of the competition,
there were twenty-four entries; twenty competitors
worked for prizes under the scheme, and eleven prizes
were awarded. In all cases, the Judges recommended
the continuation of the scheme.
In consequence of the success of the competitions,
it has been decided to continue them, and to extend
them to every parish in the island.
Sec A
Underground Stem of the Sugar-cane.
In the last number of the Agricultural News,
an account of the contents of Vol. X, No. 2 of the West
Indian Bulletin, which has just been issued, was
given. Among these is a paper by G. G. Auchin-
fleck, B.Se., Science Master at the St. Kitts Grammar
School, which is specially interesting as it shows that
the sugar-cane possesses a true rhizome, or under-
ground stem, the existence of which does not appear to
have been suspected hitherto. Leading from the
observation that a clump of well-grown canes which has
been removed from the ground shows a connexion
between its parts and a rigidity that do not seem to be
sufficiently explained by a supposition that they are
due to an entanglement of roots, the writer goes on to
demonstrate that, by suitable removal of these organs,
it becomes apparent that the means of the connexion
and the cause of the rigidity are supplied by a true
rhizome, that is a horizontal underground stem.
A description of the appearance and mode of growth of
this structure foliows, and from the latter the way in
which the sugar-cane is enabled to ratoon continuously
and the fact that a clump of canes can arise from the
growth of one eye of a cuttimg are demonstrated and
accounted for 1a a plain and satisfactory manner. At
the end of the paper, the practical applications of the
facts disclosed are considered. « These are, briefly, two:
care must be taken not to injure the stools during
cultivation, for the loss of a rhizome means the loss of
next year’s stalks; tillage of ratoons, if it is necessary,
should take place as soon after reaping as possible, so
that the cutting of the roots may be avoided, for the
ratoon quickly becomes independent of the plant, and
the latter is sure to die after it has flowered.
The paper is illustrated by a useful diagram, and
its interest will repay perusal. ;
330
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Octoper 16, 1909.
INSECT NOTES.
COTTON STAINERS.
Cotton stainers have been diseussed at some length in
the publications of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
during the past few years. In the West Indian Bulletin (see
Vol. VII, p. 65) an article on this subject gives an account
of the characters of the genus, the distribution of the
American species, and descriptions of three new species. In
the ABC of Cotton Planting, and in various articles in the
Agricultural News, ave given the remedies to be employed
against these insects when they become abundant.
It will be remembered by readers of the Agricultural
News that the cotton stainer of the Northern Islands and
that of the Southern Islands are different from one another
and from the species which are most abundant in Trinidad
and in the South-eastern States of America.
The accompanying illustrations, which are three times
the natural size of the insects, will serve to give a good idea
of the appearance of these three cotton stainers. They have
been prepared from drawings made by Mr. John Belling,
B.Se., late Science Master at, the St. Kitts Grammar School,
while he was temporarily attached to the Staff at the Head
Office of this Department.
Dysprercus
Fie. 34. ANDREAE,
Dysdercus andreae (Fig. 34) oceurs in the Virgin Islands,
St. Kitts-Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, and Guadeloupe. The
parts dotted in the figure are bright yellowish-red, the black
parts are black and reddish-black, in nature; the St. Andrew's
cross is whitest. Dysdercus delauneyi (Fig. 35) has been
recorded from Montserrat and Guadeloupe, and is the cotton
stainer of the islands south as far as Grenada. In this
island, there also occurs D. fernaldi. The parts dotted
in the figure are pinkish-red in the natural insect, those
in black are black or reddigh-black, and those left white
are whitish or white. Dysdéreus howard: (Fig. 36) occurs
in Trinidad and Tobago, together with D. howardi, var,
minor, in the former island.! The parts left black in the
figure are black in the insect, those dotted are pinkish-red or
ferruginous, and the cross-shaded parts are brownish-yellow.
Cotton stainers will feed on other, closely related plants,
in addition to cotton plants. The seed of the silk cotton
tree, all parts of the ochro and musk-ochro, and the fruit of
the orange are attacked by these insects, and it is likely that,
in places where such plants are not abundant, the cotton
stainers have other food-plants.
It will always be well to destroy, as far as possible, the
wild or native food-plants of these insects, and their breeding-
places. Waste cotton and cotton seed scattered about the
ginneries and store-houses are responsible, in many instances,
for the carrying over of enormous numbers of this trouble-
some pest from one season to another; thus means for the
early infestation of the neighbouring cotton fields are provided.
Fic, 35, DyspERcUS DELAUNEYI.
Many planters in the West Indies do not find the cotton
stainers a serious pest, but on the other hand, these insects
have been the cause of serious loss in many instances. The
following extract from the letter of a correspondent in
Tobago shows what one planter’s experience has been :—
‘Cotton stainers in the West Indies, Tobago in particular,
do a great deal more harm to the cotton crop than has
been assigned to them. They puncture the very young bolls,
causing them to drop off. The first-planted cotton does not
suffer much, but any later-planted, which is producing
flowers and young bolls when the stainers become more
numerous, suffers toa great extent. Last year, I lost a lot
from this cause. I did not know how much labour I should
be able to command for picking, so I planted over a very
long period, with the result that the last planted cotton gave
me very little fibre indeed. This season, I have begun to
catch the stainers at once, and hope to be able to control
Fic.
36. DysbERCcUS
HOWARDI,
them. When the. first crop has been picked, I shall cut
down the plants close to the ground, burn the tops, and
while the new growthis coming on, trap all the insects I can.’
Vou. VIII. . No. 195.
THE AGRICULTURAL | NEWS. 331
FUNGUS NOTES.
MINUTE FORMS OF LIFE IN THE
SOIL.
As the knowledge of the minute organisms which live in
the soil increases, the tendency grows which places them in
a position of greater importance every day. The recognition
of this importance is enhanced all the more as the fact is
grasped that the higher plants are mainly affected favourably
or adversely by soil conditions in an indirect manner. Such
plants depend chiefly upon the changes that are caused by
the life-processes of the microscopic organisms in the soil for
the origin and continuation of a state of that medium which
will enable them to flourish. The herbivorous animal is
dependent upon the existence of suitable conditions in the
soil before it can feed indirectly upon the substances which
it eventualy gains from it, and from the air, through the
medium of the plants which it takes into its system.
Similarly, those plants themselves are largely dependent
upon favourable conditions for the existence of still lower
organisms for the unlocking of the store of food, which is
present, but not available for them, in the soil.
The chief forms of minute life that work beneath the
surface of the ground are the bacteria, true fungi, moulds
and yeasts. The magnitude of this work, both beneficial
and destructive as sar as the higher plants are concerned, is
hardly realized — This is, perhaps, because the minuteness of
the individuals is well recognized, the limitations as to effect
being gauged, in the case of bacteria for instance, by the
fact that the measure of their diameter is only about
one-twenty-five thousandth of an inch. >When it is re-
flected, however, that a cubic inch of soil can contain
about 10 billions of these before there is undue competi-
tion in the matter of food supply;sthe capacity of
such organisms for effecting rapid and deep-seated changes
can be more fairly appreciated. Bacteria are most abundant
to a depth of 1 foot beneath the surface. Below this, they
decrease quickly in numbers, though it was found by
Fraenckel in Berlin that that they were still present in
considerable numbers at a depth of 9 feet below the pave-
ments.
It is well known that the effects of various bacteria on
the media in. which they live are very ‘diiferent. Some
decrease the amount of nitrogen; others, when supplied
with air, increase it. Some reduce compounds of sulphur,
such as hydrated sulphate of caleium (gypsum) and set free
hydrogen sulphide; others make use of this hydrogen sul-
phide, employing the sulphur which they liberate from it as
part of their food. Some require organic matter in order
that they may continue an active existence, while others
can live on an inorganic medium, and soon. he favourable
or unfavourable conditions of the soil in regard to each will
determine whether or not that kind will flourish. ‘This is
partly why the same soil, under different conditions, will
exhibit such varying properties in regard to. its capacity for
supporting crops. Again, if such a soil is subjected to treat-
ment suchas draining, ploughing, or cultivation for the
purpose of ameliorating its state, it is not long before the
evidences of response are at hand. As bacteria bring about
in a large degree the causes of the changes that supply those
evidences, and as each kind of bacterium has its own definite
effect, it must be a fact that these organisms have the power
of changing the balance of numbers of the different species
in a comparatively short time. It is easy to account for this
fact when it is remembered that each individual lives abont
thirty-five minutes, and at the end of that time, if conditions
are favourable, forms two new individuals by division, so
that, at the end of twelve hours, in the event of the survival
of the whole of its offspring, its descendants would number
four millions For every state of the soil there is a bacterial
balance, as each kind will reflect the favourableness of its
environment in the magnitude of its numbers, the chief
factors being temperature, amount of moisture, supply of
food, presence or absence of air, effect of the excretory
products of other bacteria, and the rate at which removal
of its own waste products takes place. In a change of
environment, that is in the soil, those forms which are
not suited to the new conditions suffer a check which
is sufficient to reduce their rate of propagation, and therefore
to lessen their numbers. At the same time, such as are
favoured by the new state of affairs will, as has been seen,
increase ata sufficient rate to produce an entirely new bac-
terial balance, with most of the new phenomena due to its
influence, in a very short space of time.
The soil, then, is not the rigidly constituted, slowly
changeable medium that was pictured so long in the minds
of the earlier investigators. It is not a collection of matter
which is merely undergoing comparatively slow chemical and
physical changes. It is alive, in the truest sense of the word.
A GREEN MANURE AND FIBRE PLANT.
On page 271 of the present volume of the Agricultural
News, a description is given of a plant, Seshania aculeata,
which is attracting attention in India as a green manure and
fibre plant. In Progress Report, No. XL V, of the Ceylon
Agricultural Society, an analysis.of the material obtained,
when a crop of this plant is cut and allowed to dry naturally,
is detailed. This is given belowy and for the purposes of
comparison, similar information, in regard to naturally dried
weeds and leaves, from the Botanid Station, Dominica, which
is taken from the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. VIII, p. 49,
is also tabulated :—
‘
Sesbania aculéata.
Per cent.
Weeds, leaves, ete.
Per cent.
Water 13-5 12-6
Organic matter 80:3, CUS
Ash 62 95
Nitrogen 2°80 2°12
Potash 0-97 0-64
Phosphoric acid 0:43 0-16
In making comparisons by means of the data which
appear in the above table, it must be remembered that the
grass, leaves, ete., which were obtained from the Dominica
Botanic Station, contained pods and other débris of leguminous
plants. This accounts for the fact that this material has
a nitrogen content which is uot very far below that of the
leguminous plant Seshania aculeata.,
The amounts of water and organic matter that are present
are very similar in the two cases. It must be taken into
account, however, that the grass, leaves, ete, probably lost
more water in drying than the Sesbania, which is an ander-
shrub, so that the organic matter in the former before drying
will, as would be expected, bear a lower proportion to the
weight of the undried plants than is the case with the latter.
A similar explanation would appear to account for the
apparently high ash content of tie weeds, etc. It is notice-
able that the ash of the leguminous ‘plat is richer in potash
and phosphoric acid than that of the vegetable débris.
332
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Octoser 16, 1909,
— eh
He
‘
GLEANINGS.
In 1908, the Anglo-Ceylon sugar estates in Mauritius
obtained 13,360 tons of sugar from 120,400 tons of cane,
a yield of 11 per cent. of sugar on the weight of cane ground.
The quantity of raw sugar that was imported into the
United Kingdom for the present year, up to the end of June,
was 400,985 tons. For a similar period in 1908, the amount
was 363,225 tons.
The Curator of the Botanic Station, Montserrat, states
that the area planted in cotton in that island during the
present season is about 1,800 acres. He further states that,
on the whole, there is promise of a good crop.
The exports of cacao from the German Cameroons have
shown a steady increase. In 1904, they amounted to 209
ewt., valued at £436 16s.;,in 1907, the amount was 1,028
ewt., worth £2,496 9s.
From an account of the scale insects of India, given in
the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture— Entomological
Series, Vol. I, No. 7, it appears that there is no indication at
present that these and similar insects will ever become as
serious a pest in India as they have in several other coun-
tries.
It is reported in the Mew York Experiment Station
Bulletin, No. 306, that an efficient means has been found for
controlling the apple leaf-blister mite, which is spreading in
the Eastern States. The remedy consists in the application
of lime-sulphur wash while the leaf-buds are growing, followed
by sprayings with Bordeaux mixture.
The Annual Report of the Collector of Customs, Trini-
dad, for 1908-9, shows that, from the period 1876-80 to the
period 1906-9, the average annual value of the cacao exported
from that island has increased from £306,973 to £1,246,915.
In the case of sugar, there has been a decrease, similarly,
from £800,621 tu £471,084.
——
The Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society states
that a grant of £10 has been made by that Society, and one
of £15 by the British Cotton Growing Association, for the
purpose of conducting experiments in cotton growing on the
land belonging to small settlers along the dry seaboard of
St. Elizabeth, St. Ann, Trelawny, and St. James. These
experiments will be under the direction of the Agricultural
Instructors in those districts.
It is announced that a Universal Exhibition will be
held in Brussels in September 1910. At the same time,
there will be an International Congress of Agricultural
Associations and Rural Demography in that city, to which
all societies having for their object the improvement of agri-
culture, in its widest meaning, are invited to send delegates,
At the Botanic Station, Tortola, it has been found that
a modification of the Dutch, or scuttle, hoe is useful for
keeping the soil stirred round lime trees. This consists of
an old spade fixed on a straight handle, with which the
cultivation can be performed without risk of damage either
to the labourer or to the trees.
In Bulletin No. 78 of the Bureau of Entomology of the
United States Department of Agriculture, it is stated that
the development of the State of New Jersey has been hindered
by the mosquito plague of that part of ihe country. It is
estimated that the annual cost of screening houses against
mosquitos and the house fly exceeds £2,000,000.
At the St. Kitts Grammar School, eleven candidates
offered science subjects in the Cambridge Local /xamina-
tions held in 1908, and of these eight passed. Of two who
entered for Agricultural Science, and passed, one obtained
the mark of distinction in that subject. This is the first
time that such a success has been gained in the Leeward
Islands.
In the Journal of Economie Entomology, potassium
cyanide is suggested us a remedy forants. A solution of this
salt, containing loz. to a gallon of water, when poured into
the burrows made by these insects, was found to destroy
them to the depth of 14 feet below the surface. The cost of
such a solution was about Id. per gallon. It is, however,
injurious to plant life.
Experiments- at the Rome Agricultural Experiment
Station have shown that an increase in the supply of
phosphates to a plant did not cause any variation in the
nitrogen content of the seed produced by it. The amount of
that element in the nitrogenous food bodies in the seed was
increased slightly, however, while there was a corresponding
decrease in the non-proteid nitrogen,
During the month of August in the presant year, the
plants and seeds) distributed from the Antigua Botanie
Station consisted of : screw pine 1,475, lime 760, cacao 56,
saman (rain tree) 53, mahogany 26, casuarina 22, grafted
mango 1, miscellaneous economic plants 16, broom corn
seed 142 lb., cotton seed 117 tb., Canavalia seed 16 tb. In
addition, 322} lb. of onion seed was distributed among
Antigua, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat and the Virgin Islands.
The Agricultural Instructor at Grenada states that the
palm Corypha elata (a native of India) is flowering at present ;
it is about 40 feet in height. He also states that one of the
trees of Spathodea campanulata (which is indigenous to
tropical Africa) at the Station has set viable seed during the
year-—the first time that this has occurred, although the trees
have flowered for several years. It would be interesting to
know if the specimens of the plant at other Botanic Stations
in the West Indies have produced seeds,
Vor. VIII. No. 195, THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
333
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
OCTOBER.
SECOND PERIOD.
gcennal Note
Seasonal Notes.
In the event of there being fields of cotton on an estate
in which the plants are not making sati&factory growth and
where the bolls are not developing in suftitient number, it will
be well to enquire as to the origin of the seed that was sown,
if this is not already known. Th ‘ifcumstances may be
caused by the use of seed that has not beén carefully selected,
or of that which has been selected in, and imported from, an
island where conditions are quite different from those in the
place in which it has been planted. <Where selected and
ordinary seed have both been sown, arrangements should be
made at picking time to ascertain the yiélds from each kind,
in order that these may be compared. Ia going through the
fields for the purpose of choosing plants that will yield seed
for selection, notice that there is great variation in the
number of bolls that are borne on the different plants; also
observe that many of the plants show) greater or smaller
departures from type. Mark ina suitable manner several
very young flower-buds and make obseryations with a view
to gaining information about the following points: (1) when
the flower usually opens, (2) how long it remains open, (5)
the ‘time that elapses before the corolla falls off and the
style and stamens begin to wither. Surround some of the
unopened flower-buds with paper bags until the corolla falls,
and ascertain later on if seed has been set‘where this has been
-done. ‘
Ny
Superphosphate
Lime_p*
~, Basic Slag
Sulphate of
Anion ia
Tue Mrxinc of MANURES.
Hie. 37.
When the sugar-cane begins to arrow, note to what
extent this takes place in the case of the different varieties
that you are enabled to observe. What are the chief difficul-
ties that are met with in obtaining seedling canes, and why
is it that this work is continued, and regarded as being of
great importance? What would you expect to find, on
comparing different seedlings, in the matters of mode of
growth and sugar content? The ratoons of a variety often
occupy a similar place to the plants of that variety, in regard
to the amount of sugar that theyg yield. What circumstance
in the life-history of the sugar-c&ne would appear to account
for this?
Ife, TS convenient to mix manures
them to the soil, but when this is done, due regard
ve had to the nature of the manures which it is
A manner of &iving information as to’ the
manures is shown in Fig. 37, which is adapted
sometimes before
proposed to mix.
Poa
F
mixing _o
from a reproduction of a diagram which appears in the
Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, Vol.
XV, No. 2, and which was criginally prepared by
Dr. Gechen, in Germany. The substances whose names
are connected by thick lines should never be mixed; those
whose names are joined by double lines should only be
mixed immediately before use, while the thin lines run between
the names of substances which my be mixed with impunity.
Thus neither lime nor basic slag should be added either to
sulphate of ammonia or farmyard manure, for a loss of am-
monia, and therefore of nitrogen, would be the result. Loss of
nitrogen will likewise take place if superphosphate is allowed
to remain in contact with nitrate of soda for any length of
time before use. On the other hand, as is indicated by the thin
lines, no harm will result trom making and keeping mixtures
which may contain sulphate of ammonia, superphosphate,
pen manure, guano, potash salts,’ nitrate of soda, and kainite.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Make asketch of a flower and name the parts.
What is the chief difference between the flower of the
pumpkin or cocoa-nut palm and that of cotton or the tomato?
(2) Describe, giving examples, a ‘runner’, a ‘rhizome’,
and an ‘ offset’.
(3) How can stones and rocks in soils be regarded as
sources of plant food ?
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Describe the root system of (a) maize, (b) alfalfa,
(ce) the Irish potato. What is;the practical importance of
the ditferences in these systems !
(2) Explain as fully as you can why recently cleared
forest land is more fertile than land which has been long
cultivated,
(3) State what varieties of sugar-cane are snited best to
your neighbourhood.
THE BRITISH COTTON GROWING
ASSOCIATION.
Advantage of the presence of the Imperial Commissioner
of Agriculture in England has been taken by the British
Cotton Growing Association to confer with Dr. Watts as to
the position and prospects of the cotton-growing industry ie
the West Indies z
To this end, a meeting of the Association was held at
its offices in Manchester on Tuesday, September 14. At this,
Dr. Watts discussed with the Association the conditions as
regards cotton growing which obtain in the West Indies, and
other matters of interest. Advantage was also taken of the
presence of the Imperial Commissioner in Manchester for
him to confer with the British Cotton Growing Association
and others interested in cotton, such as Messrs. C. M. Wol-
stenholme, E. L. Oliver, and A. H. Dixon, on matters of
importance affecting the West Indian cotton industry.
In the evening of the same, day, Dr. Watts was enter-~
tained at a dinner given in his honour by the Association,
3354
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Ocroper 16, 1909.
[ey Lite 4 ch TeiEND AL, STORES,
ANTIGUA: ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE
BOTANIC SYVATION, EXPENIMENT PLOTS, AND
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION, 1908-9.
At the Antigua Botanic Station, the total expenditure
during the year 1908-9 was £753 17s. dd.; of this
£392 12s. 1d. was from Imperial, and £507 5s, 2d. from
local, funds ; while £54 Os. 1d. was spent on special services.
A sum of £103 3s. Gd. was received for produce sold,
including £56 15s. 9d. for plants and seeds.
The total number of plants distributed was 78,256, of
which cane plants formed the largest proportion, namely,
71,000. Next in number to. these were limes and cocoa-nuts,
with 3,650 and 1,975, respectively. A large distribution of
seeds and cuttings was also made; this plo’ 15,239
potato cuttings, 594 tb. of yams, and 5834 tb. of seeds of
leguminous plants which were mostly suitable for the pro-
vision of green dressings.
Among the industries that are subsidiary to that of sugar
in the island, there are specially mentioned those of the pro-
duction of cotton, cocoa-nuts, and onions. ‘The first of these
has received a severe check, chiefly through the damage done
by the flower-bud maggot. For the second, there is a limited
area of land that is suitable, and though the extension of the
growing of cocoa outs is still in its infancy, there are indi-
cations that the new plantations will prove more successful
than che old ones. The area planted in onions is about 50
acres, and does not vary much from year to year.
The variety and manurial experiments in connexion with
sugar-cane have been continued on ten stations. They
included 1,100 plots with varieties, and 256 plots with
manures, and will form the subject of a separate report.
The experiments at the stations at Scott’s Hill and
Skerrett’s have included trials with cassava, sweet potatos,
yams, cotton, broom corn, eddos and tannias, ground nuts,
sesamum, fruits, lemon grass, castor oil plant, forage plants,
and plants for green dressings. As regards cassava, the
variety that was most suited to the conditions at the station
was ‘Brown Stick’, received from St. Kitts. The best of the
Jamaica and Montserrat varieties came next, while those from
Columbia were a comparative failure. The number of varie-
ties of sweet potatos under test was sixteen. The advisability
of planting cuttings or roots was also tried. Kleven varieties
of yams were under trial, and for these, as well as for sweet
potatos, the results for a period of nine years are given. The
experiments with cotton included the continuation of the
improvement of seed by selection, and observations on the
cffeets of close and wide planting, as well as a trial with the
Stirling variety from Barbados. The number of different
plants that are being tried as green dressings is sixteen, Of
these, cowpeas, the Barbuda bean, and the sword bean have
given the best results during the year, notwithstanding the
susceptibility of the first to\msect attacks,
The arrangement has been continued by which a limited
number of boys who have taken up agricultural science at
the Grammar School can ‘spend some of their time during
the day at the Botanic Station, where they fill the position of
cadet. This recognition of .the educational side of the work
at the Botanic Station is continued in the employment of it
as a means of training the juniors, so that they may be
capable of filling the post of Assistant for Agricultural
Experiments, in the event of their being required to do so.
In this way, they should become fitted to take up work on
estates.
GRENADA? ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE
BOTANIC STATION, AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCT-
ION, AND EXPERIMENT PLOTS, 1908-9.
Among the economic plants that have been disposed of
during the year, the chief demand has been for Sisal and
Castilloa. In addition, 2,100 plants of seedling cane D.95-
and 4 tb. of Castilloa seed were sent out from the Station.
The receipts for the sale of plants, seeds, fruits, ete., amounted
to £40 17s. 11d.
The experiment stations for cacao have been kept up,
and several new ones have been started. Where these have
been carried on for three years, useful information in connex-
ion with the mahuring of cacao has been gained. The
experiment plots in country districts are planted in cotton
and cacao. In connexion with these, it may be stated that,
in accordance with a recommendation of the Peasant
Proprietary Commission, a new plot has been started at the
head of the Concord Valley, showing that they have a well-
recognized usefulnéss, The cotton experiments have been
successful, and indicate that this crop may attain to some
importance in certain parts of Grenada.
The rainfall for 1908 at the Richmond Hill Station, at
the Government Observatory, was 68°44 inches, which is
7°99 inches-below the average for the last eighteen years.
The average precipitation at the eleven stations in the island,
from April 1908 to March 1909, was 96:92 inches. The
distribution of the rainfall throughout this period has been
abnormal, as was the case in the two previous years, and not
altogether favourable to cacao. The fairly normal conditions
of the earlier part of the year were succeeded by a reduced
fall in August, September and November, the last of which
was exceptionally dry, causing the crop to be late. The end
of December, and January and February were very wet,
however, and this will have probably restored the yield of
cacao to the average.
The interest in the cultivation of rubber-yielding plants
still continues to be shown, although, owing to untoward
circumstances in connexion with the supplying of seed, little
was added to the acreage covered by those plants. The
plants that have been est ablished have ‘made good growth.
Among the crops cultivated in the island, fruits and
ground provisions make an insutlicient showing owing to the
greater interest. that is taken in cacao and nutmegs by the
peasantry. Efforts are being made, ae on the part of the
Agricultural Department and of the / Agricultural Society, to
encourage progress in this direction.
The lectures in country districts have continued to be
given, and the interest in them has been such as to warrant
an attempt to hold'them more frequently. Similar success
has been gained in the matter of the Prize-holdings Competi-
tions, and these have been extended so as to include a third
parish. By these two means and by the work in connexion
with the experiment plots in country districts, the Officers of
the Departinent are’ brought into specially close touch with
the peasantry. The Scheme of Reading Courses for Over-
seers and Examinations in Practical Agriculture was intro-
duced by the Imperial Department during the year, and has
met with the approval of the Agricultural Society and the
Board of Education.
Vou. VIET. No. 195.
NOTES.
DETERMINATION OF CAUSE OF
DEATH IN FOWLS.
The following useful hints for the conduct of
a post mortem examination of fowls that have died
suddenly, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of
death where this is unknown, are taken from the
Rhodesian Agricultural Journal, August 1909 :—
First it is advisable to examine the outside of the speci-
men for wounds, bruises, skin diseases or brokeu limbs. The
appearance of the comb, face and plumage should be noted.
The mouth and throat must be examined, and any abnormal
conditions, such as a purplish colour, growths of a cheesy
nature or accumulations of saliva be observed. The fowl
may then be laid on its» back upon a table, its feet towards
the operator, and the wings held down on either side, well
spread away from the body. Pluck a few, of the feathers
from each side of the breast and abdomen, and while this is
being done, note the appearance of the skin, or whether the
fowl] is thin or fat, or in an apparently healthy condition. If
there is scarcely any flesh upon the keel bone, liver disease
may be suspected, and the feathers being matted and dirty
about the vent often indicates enteritis or i:.flammation of the
bowels, particularly if the excrement is of a white or yellow-
ish-green colour. Now make a cross cut in the skin of the
abdomen immediately behind the breast bone, taking care
not to touch the bowels. Run the scissors down each side
to the back, and then make a lateral cut through the ribs on
both sides. The whole of the breast may then be lifted up
and forced back ‘towards the bird’s head, exposing the
gizzard, liver and heart. The remaining skin on the
abdomen may be cut on either side and drawn away towards
the stern, showing the entrails, and, if the. bird isa _ hen,
the egg organs between them and the back. The liver may
be examined first, as it will be the first organ to strike the
eye. It should be firm, not unnaturally large, and of
a healthy chocolate-red colour, It should not have a yellow-
brown tint, nor should it show specks of any, kind.
If an incision is made through the thin diaphragm-
atic membrane between the liver and the walls of the
chest, the lungs will be seen on either side at the back
of the heart. These organs, if healthy,,; should be of
a bright salmon-pink colour, and a piece of one put in water
should float. They are frequently affected by tuberculosis,
which shows itself in little yellowish growths or nodules,
which also not infrequently spread and attack the heart.
The latter organ should be of a deep red colour, and
although it may have a marbling of fat round its base, this
should not be excessive, and any specks of fat that may
appear should not be mistaken for the tuberculosis nodules
already mentioned. The heart should be evenly shaped and
not distended with blood on the one side, and;shrunken and
-empty on the other. If it is so, and it is known that the
fowl dropped down dead suddenly, the cause of death may
without hesitation be put down to syncope, or heart failure.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
33D
The throat, crop and gizzard may next be looked at, the
‘canal’ being laid open right alongs for any obstruction that
may have taken place—an accident that would be more
likely to occur between the crop and the proventricle than
anywhere else. In the case of a hen, the cause of death may
often be found in the egg organs. There may be some
contents of a broken egg in the oviduct, or there may have
been an escape of some of those contents into the abdominal
cavity, where acute inflammation would immediately be set
up, peritonitis bringing about speedy death. The gizzard
may be cut open and the contents examined. The intestines
should be of a greyish-white colour, and the kidneys, which
are fixed to the spine, a reddish brown. If the symptoms
before death are observed, it will seldom be necessary to go
through all the various organs of the body in search of the
affected parts. For instance, a dejected look, a yellow hue
of face and comb, variable appetite and loss of flesh will
denote tuberculosis or some liver affection. Diarrhoea will
usually indicate some intestinal irritation. An apoplectie
seizure and delirinm will point to an effusion of blood upon
the brain, and, as already pointed out, a fainting fit,
followed by death, directs one to look at the heart for
confirmation.
RICE IN BRITISH! GUIANA.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach?
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated October 1, 1909, gives information
as follows :—
The weather during the past fortnight has been very
hot, and reaping has commenced in’ some districts, but will
not be general until the middle of the month.
The local demand is still dull, dealers holding off in
anticipation of reduced prices for new rice.
The new rice crop will not be in the market in any
quantity before the end of the present month, although small
lots are now being offered.
Shipments to the West India Islands during the fort-
night amounted to 3,600 bags.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export
quality :—
Nominally 18s. 9d. to 19s. 9d. per bag of 180 tb. gross.
WiissSc. to 18s. 30. 0a nests pe G4 Toes
We have, however, no stock to offer for export at present.
Rubber in Nigeria.
According to the African World, the desire of Sir
Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., to further the Para rubber afforesta-
tion of the Eastern Province of Southérn Nigeria, by carrying
distributed plants in his steamers, “freight free, is already
acting as a stimulus, particularly to native chiefs and traders
possessing farm lands. Promptly following the free delivery
of 2,000 Hevea plants, 5,000 havé been applied for by
another important native chief, and similarly large orders
are expected from enterprising nativés. The Forest Officer
of the Eastern Province has over 30,000 plants to distribute
this year, and assuming that 90 per cent. of them grow,
there will be next year over 50,000 Hevea trees in the
province, growing vigorously in different suitable localities.
(The Jndia-Rubber Journal, August 23, 1902.)
336 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Ocroser 16, 1909
MARKET REPORTS. INTER-COLONIAL MARKETS.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., October 11, 1909 ;
Messrs. T. 8. Garraway & Co., October 11,
1909.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent, 33°50 to $3°75 per 100 th.
Cacao—311°00 to $15°50 per 100 fb.
London,—Tse Wesr Inpra Commirree Crrcunar, Cocoa-NuTs—S14:00.
September 28, 1909 ; Messrs. E. A. pg Pass & Co., Conte pen aica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
August 20, 1909. Hay—S1-00 per 100 th.
Manvres—Nitrate of soda, $65°00; Cacao manure, $48-00;
Arrowroot—1 2d. to 33d. Sulphate of ammonia, $75 00: Sulphate of potash,
Batata—Sheet, 2/5 ; block, 1/10. $6700 per ton.
Bres-wax—&7 15s. to £8 for fair to good. Mo.asses—No quotations.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 62/- per ewt ; Grenada, 49/6 to Ontons—Strings, $3-00 per 100 tb.
54/6 per cwt.:; Jamaica, 48/- to 53/-. Peas—Split, $6°00 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada, $4:20 per
Correr—Quiet ; Jamaica, 40/6 to 100/-. bag of 120 tb.
Corra—West Indian, £21 10s. per ton. Poratos—Nova Scotia, $2-20 to $2°50 per 160 tb.
Corron—St. Croix, Barbuda, Antigua, no quotations ; Rice—Ballam, $4°85 to 85°20 (180 tb.); Patna, $3-80 ;
Barbados, 14d. to 16d. Rangoon, $3:00 per 100 th.
Froit—No quotations. Sucar—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
GinceR—Quiet ; common to good common, 45/- to 50/- per ose
ewt.; low middling to middling, 51/- to 55/-; good
bright to fine, 57/- to 65/-.
Honzy—23/6 to 30/-. British Guiana.—Messrs. Sanppacn, Parker & Co.,
IstyeLass—No quotations. October 1, 1909,
Lime Jutce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£17 5s. to £18 15s. per cask of 108 gallons; Otto of Akrowkroot—St. Vincent, $900 per 200 th.
limes, 5/6 to 6/-. Batata—Venezuela block, prohibited ; Demerara sheet
Loewoop—No quotations. 50c. per Tb. "
Mace—Firm. Cacao—Native, 12c. per tb.
Nurmeacs—Steady ; 35d. to 54d. Cassava—60e.
Piventro—Common, “Ohad. per Ib.; fair, 2}d.; good, 22d. Cassava SrarcH—No quotation.
Para, fine hard, 8/10 per tb., tine sé soft, 8/4; fine Cocoa-NutTS—S$16-00 per M.
Peru, 8/8. CorreE—CrYeole, 12c. to 13c.; Liberian, 7e.; imported 1: 3he.
Roum—Jainaica, 2/11 to 7/-. Duat—S4 20 to $4°40 per bag of 168 th.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 to 15/9; Muscovado, 12/- to 15/-: Eppos—No quotation.
Syrup, 13/6; Molasses, no quotations. Mo .asses—No GaerOn:
Ontons—Madeira, 23e. to 2}c. per tb.
Prantains—No quotation.
Poraros—$3°25 per barrel.
Poratos—Sweet, Barbados, no quotation.
Rice—Ballam, $4°75 ; Creole, $4 25 to $4.60.
Sprit Peas—$6 40 per bag (210 th.); Marseilles, $5-00.
Tanntas—No quotation.
Yams—No quotation
Sucar—Dark crystals, 82°35 ; Yellow, $3:00 ; White, $3-60
to $3°80; Molasses, $2°00 to $2°30 per 100 tb.
New York,—Messrs. Gitiesrre Bros. & Co., September (retail).
17, 1909. Timper—Greenheart, S2c. to 55c. per cubic foot.
WALLABA SHINGLES—$3'50 to 85°50 per M.
Cacao—Caracas, 11j}c. to 124c. ; Grenada, 11 fc. to 12c. ;
Trinidad, Life. to 12}¢.; Js amaica, 93e. to le. per th.
Cocoa-Nu 73— Jamaica, select, $28°00 a) $30°00 ; culls,
$17-09 to $1800: Trinidad, select, $28°00 to $30-00 ;
culls, $17:00 to’ $18:00 per M. Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpoy, Grant & Co., September
Corrre—Jamaica, ordinary, Thc. to 8c.; good ordinary, 18, 1909.
up to 8hc.; and washed, up to 10he.. ‘per ib.
Gixcrr—9c. to 12c. per tb. Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°50 to S11°75 per fanega; Trinidad,
Goat Skins—Jamaica, 58c.; Barbados, from 50c. to 5de. $11°40 to $11°75.
St. Thomas, St. ‘Croix, St. Kitts, 47¢. to 50c. per i : Cocoa-Nut Or1—68e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Antigua, 48c. to 50c., dry flint. CorrEE—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per tb.
Grave Frorr—$4 50 to 6° 50. per box, Corra—$3°75 per 100 th.
Limes—Dominica, $5:00 to. $6-00 per barrel. Duat—$4-00 per 2-bushel bag,
Macr—28e. to 34e. per th. Ontons—$2°50 to $2°60 per 100 tb.
—110's, 8$e. "to 9c. per Th. Pras—Sprit $5'50 to $5'75 per bag.
ica, 4°50 to $500 per barrel, Potratos—English, $1°60 to $190 per 100 th.
Punento—3fe. per th. Rick—Y ellow, $470 to $4°80; White, $5°00 to $5-25
Sucan—Centrifugals,,96°, 4°21c. per Ib.; Muscovados, 89°, per bag.
3°T1c.; Molasses, 89°, 3°46c. per tb., all duty paid. Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5°20 per 100 tbh
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’. A Fortnightly Review.
The ‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts from official correspondence and from progress and
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Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
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Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W. St. Vincent: Mr. L. 8. Mosetny, Agricultural School.
Sarbados : Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. M. A. LAWRENCE, Botanic Station.
Jamaica: THE EpucationaL SuppLy Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Roseau.
Street, Kingston. Montserrat : Mr. W. Rowson, Botanic Station.
British Guiana: Tax ‘Datty Curonicie’Orrice, Georgetown, Antigua: Mr. S. D. Matong, St. John’s.
Trinidad : Messrs. Murr-MarsHau & Co., Port-of-Spain. St. Kitts: Toe Breue AND Book Suppity AGENCY, Basseterre.
Tobago: Mr. C, L. Puacemann, Scarborough. Nevis: Mr. S. D. Matonz, Charlestown.
‘Grenada: ‘THE Stores’, (Grenada) Limited, St. George.
Vou. VIII. No. 195. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Ocroper 16, 1909,
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLOKk we USE
- AE eee
Abs Peers ss) ' A ee Pe fi on. ae -
hiendorfi’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—Fc* Sugar-cane and general use
ee ee Pe tt or en ee MW .
as re 2} Nt
Ohler > 4 €Cl RB & 5° -¢ ne de CU LS LA C
a" cane ~ = ae
ia a om SF % Ahr 4 Se el 3
iGL2UUL at > BO cial V0C0a Leanure
] fared) f . las or Py
Ohlendorff’s Speci a1 Cotton Manure
BUVEEULUAZ LL DO 8D I wWwity WYUVUUIL EISMUS S
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO:—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, H.C.
Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
FOR SALE THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON
FACTORY, LIMITED.
One TRIUMPH Steam Dryer (NEW) made by Bart- BRIDGETOWN,
lett & Snow Company, Cleveland, O., suitable for ——-
drying Starch, Molascuit, Pressed Tankage, Clays, COTTON SEED.
Rubber, ete.
COST £125. Will ship F.0.B, for £100. We are prepared to purchase best quality
: : Cotton seed at prices equivalent to the current
Further information apply to :— rates of the Liverpool market. Terms : Cash on
H. A. FRAMPTON, delivery of Seed.
L. ROSE & CO., LTD.. N.B.—AIl seed must be fresh and in sound
Bath Estate, condition. Second quality seed must be Sep ogce:
Dominica |separately.
FOR SALE. w FOR SALE.
By PUBLIC AUCTION at Antigua, B.W.I., cn Mon-/
By PUBLIC AUCTION at Antigua B.W.L, on Mon- day the first day of November 1909, at 12 o’clock noon,
: Eth d eae Guest Oe ST Ae er » premises, a valuable sugar plantation known as
day the 15th day of November, 1909, at 12 o’clock noon, on |" the premises, foe Ina ae c i
the premises, the valuable. Plantations known as COLE- SANDERSON'S ESTATE, together with the estate
BROOKE'S, SKERRETT’S and THE GRANGE, called UPPER PREEMAN S, and _lands calted
containing 690 acres, with first class Cotton Ginnery, Dwelling OSBORNE ) PASTURES containing 512 acres, of}
Houses, Stores and numerous other buildings. Properties which 211 are in cultivation. Usual estate buildings and}
are suitable for Cane, Cotton, and Lime cultivation. works, together with 48 head of live stock and other “things.
; : accessary ‘thereto. Indefeasible’ Title.
Further particulars on application to :— Further particulars on application to ;—
Messrs. McDONALD & DOUGLASS, Messrs. EOE & DOUGLASS,
43, Church Street, 2, Church Street,
St. John’s, Antigua, B.W.I. St. John’s, Antigua, B.W.I.
(Solicitors having carriage of the sale.) (Solicitors having carriage of the sale.)
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados.
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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MAINTAIN THE YIELD:
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
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Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
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ia “FORTNIGHTLY REVI EW
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LIBRARY
OF THE NEW YORK
A @ BOTANICAL
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURC FOR THE West INDIES, Peps eet:
Vou. VIII. No. 196. BARBADOS, OCTOBER 30, 1909. Price ld.
CONTENTS. arrange their Customs Tariff, with a view to giving
a preference to the goods set out (in the schedule hereto
PAGE. Pace, annexed) when such goods are the growth, produce, or
Agricultural Examinations 341/Fungus Notes :— manufacture of any part of the British Empire. The
: P Des 2 e S 347 . de : 1
Alcohol from Bananas... 244 Diseases of Ground Nuts Beal purpose of this resolution was to enable each colony
Bacteria in Jamaica Soils, Gleanings ... .. Se rose ks} a. aS 3
Useful) “225 c=. 343/Good Milking Cow, ‘Quali- to take up a definite position in regard to the
as Tree’ of Sierra ae ties of... +. ++ 34L 0 matter by assenting to, or dissenting from, the
ueone ... . 55. ben OE) : ae Be " : : :
Cacao, Manuring of ... t... 340 ingect Notes Prot nsects, principle involved. By this and other resolutions
A - Natura Sto Oo sec ¢ :
Canadian Trade Commis- ane Part] .. .. .. ... 346 It was shown that the Conference was in favour
sion ain ese eee eee OOS 1 . -
Copper Sulphate, Impuri- Jamaica Rum i... 2343 of an arrangement for mutual concessions between
ties in we ee eee 339/Market Reports ss 392 Canada and the West Indies.
Cotton Notes :— Mistletoes of West Indies 34d
Exports from West Nitrification and Soil Condi- x boy
ISOS doo goa cha one tions ... ... 345 In August of the present year, a Royal Commission
Ginning and Selection — Notes and Comments... 344 Was appointed to enqnire into trade relations between
in St. Vincent ... ... 342 Oil Tractor for Implemen- zi 3 : ae : 5
WCatela dant Cotton sede tal Tillage ... 338 Canada and the West Indies. The members of this
Departmental Reports :— ftom ation of Eucalypti 345 Commission are the Right Honourable Lord Balfour of
Jamaica, Deparhmeny of Rubber in Federated
Agriculture ... -.. ag ail) M: lay States)... 349
St. Kitts, Botanic Science in Primary Sihoule
Station, ete. 350 in Leeward Islands ... 339
Destruction of W eds by iStudents’ Corner ... ... 349
Insects aoe . 344|West Indian Products... 851
g West Tadies ie Canada was held in Bar-
bados in January, 1908. On this occasion, meetings were
heid between delegates from all parts of the West Indies
and the Canadian Representatives, Mr. W. G. Parmalee,
IS.0., and Mr. A. E. Jones; Mr. E. H.S. Flood, the
newly appointed Canadian Trade Commissioner, was
also present. Among the resolutions that were finally
adopted at the Conference was the following: ‘That in
the opinion of this Conference, the Governments of the
various West Indian Colonies, including British Guiana,
should, with the least possible delay, proceed to re-
Burleigh, K.T., the Honourable William Stevens
Fielding, Minister of Finance, and the Honourable
William Paterson, Minister of Customs, in the Dominion
of Canada; Sir John Poynder pd sop Boyds
D.S.0.,,M.P., and Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G., D:C.L.,
D.Sc. In addition, Mr. H. R. Cowell, of the Colonial
Office, has been appointed Secretary to the Commission,
and Mr. R. H. McCarthy has been
technical adviser.
selected as its
The English members of the Commission left
Liverpool for Canada on September 11, and arrived at
Ottawa on September 20, where they were met by the
Canadian members. The session was opened at Ottawa
on September 22, by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, and the
Commission afterwards proceeded to Toronto, Montreal
Halifax and St. John.
In opening the session at Ottawa, Lord Balfour of
Burleigh said that he could conceive nothing which
would be more protective of the good of the Empire
338
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Ocroser 30, 1909.
than the closest interchange of trade between its con-
stituent parts, and that the Commission would be clad
to receive suggestions, from any source, for the improve-
ment of transportation facilities, cheaper communication,
and the promotion of better trade relations generaily
At Halifax, the first session was held on October 1.
In opening this, the President of the Board of
Trade extended a welcome to the Commissioners on
behalf of that Board, and referred to the long period
that had elapsed, during which trade had been carried
on between Halifax and the West Indies. The Com-
mission was also welcomed by the Mayor, on behalf
of the City. In reply, Lord Balfour of Burleigh made
acknowledgement, on behalf of his
colleagues, for all the care and trouble that had been
taken for the purpose uf making their visit a success.
He also read the exact terms of the instructions that
had been given to the Commissioners, which were as
himself and
follows :
and future prospects of trade between Canada and Our
West Indian Colonies, and to suggest measures for
promoting closer trade relations between them, includ-
ing not only the special matters referred to in the
minutes of the Privy Council of Canada, but also such
matters as the improvement of transportation and
a cheaper and more efficient telegraph system, together
with all other matters that appear to you to be best
calculated to strengthen and extend commerce -and
communication between Canada and the West Indies. ’
‘To make inguiry into the present condition
At Ottawa, it was explained by the Deputy
Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. O'Hara) that
Canada paid $65,700 yearly for a twelve-day steamship
service from Halifax to the West Indies, and
stated by him, as well as by others, that an improved
service was required. Further, Mr. McDougall, Com-
missioner of Customs, submitted a report showing that
the exports from the Dominion to the West Indies
were of the value of $2,847,381 in 1906, and of
$3,090,468 in 1908. He stated that there was evidence
that preference promoted trade between Canada and
the West Indies.
it was
The Commissioners met again at Toronto on
September 27, when the evidence showed once more
that the present transport facilities are insufficient,
and a fast line of steamers from Canadian ports was
advocated.
At the Halifax sessions, there was again unanimity
in the demand for efficient means of communication
between Canada and the West Indies. In addition,
some of the witnesses advocated the provision of
vessels fitted with refrigerating apparatus, which
would carry meat to the West Indies and would return
with fruit, and that such vessels should be adapted as
far as possible to pass over the bars at those ports
where these were present, in order that distant anchor-
age should be avoided, with the consequent saving in
time and money with regard to lighterage. It was
also suggested that there should be a direct steamship
service toand from Montreal in the summer, with
a change to St. John in the winter. Evidence was
forthcoming to show that the route by way of the
United States had no advantages over the direct
Canadian one.
Other subjects that were dealt with were the
advisability of increasing the scope of the Canadian
banking concerns in the West Indies, the concessions
to Canadian refiners contained in the last budget, the
granting of a preference tariff for British- grown sugar,
and the necessity for better cable communication.: In
connexion with the first, it was agreed that the
expense incident on the upkeep of branch banks
in the West Indies was severe, and that trade on
a preferential basis would make commercial conditions
easier. The opinions as to the present state of the
relations between the Canadian refiner and the West
Indian sugar producer were conflicting. The general
consensus of opinion, in a broad way, was however,
that the trade between the two countries would improve
if mutual concessions were made.
It is expected that the Commission will meet
again in the West Indies in the month of February,
1910.
AN OIL TRACTOR FOR IMPLE-
MENTAL TILLAGE.
The Agricultural Journal of India gives an
account of an engine for implemental tillage and other
agricultural operations, which is known as Marshall’s
30 horse-power Oil Tractor.
This oil tractor is manufactured by Messrs. Marshall,
Sons & Co., Ltd., of Gainsborough, England, with the
object of supplying a cheap mechanical power for agri-
cultural purposes, which may possibly be useful in India.
The tractor is fitted with a two-cylinder engine and has
three speeds, 2, 4, and 6 miles per hour. The engine can be
run on petrol, kerosene, benzine, gasoline, ete. With tanks
filled with kerosene, it can be run for ten hours continuously.
The engine is fitted with wide travelling wheels to
travel over sandy ground. In working order, it weighs
approximately 43 tons and carries 25 gallons of fuel and 75
gallons of water ; it is fitted with a water cooler and a patent
pump for circulating water through the cylinder jacket.
The engine can be used for ploughing, harrowing, cultiva-
ting, sowing, reaping and hauling ; it can also be used for
driving any fixed machinery such as threshing and winnow-
ing machines, corn and cake-grinding mills, chaff-cutters, ete.,
without any addition or alteration. This engine drives a full
Vor WLS Nos (96:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
os
ee)
ie}
sized Marshall’s Threshing Machine fitted with a chaff fan,
Bhoosa rollers and Bhoosa shifters continuously for five
hours with a consumption of 13 gallons of kerosene per
hour. One man is required to operare it.
Experiments in India show that it can plough 14 acres
of land that has been previously broken, per hour, with
a consumption of Jess than 2 gallons of ‘Chester Brand’
kerosene oil, and uncultivated land at the rate of 1 acre
per hour with the same consumption of oil.
The cost is £533. The Deputy Director of Agri-
culture, Bengal, saw the machine at work at Semapore and
reported thus: ‘We were only able to test the ploughing,
as there was nothing to thresh and no pumps or ordinary
machinery to be worked. Soil tested by ploughing was
sandy loam. Two four-furrow ploughs were attached to the
back of the tractor, and eight furrows, 6 inches deep and 9}
inches wide, were ploughed at one and the same time.
‘Plough: —Cockshutt’s (Canada) Four Furrow Plough,
cost £20.
© Work done :—9 acres in seven hours. Cost of fuel per
acre :—ls, 7d. Area ploughed per day of ten hours:—13 acres,
The oil tractor will not suit small holdings or paddy
cultivation, but where large holdings of high land cultivation
are concerned, and where Jabour is scarce and dear, the oil
tractor is an economical motive power for ploughing.’
SCIENCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE
LEBWARD ISLANDS.
The following abstracts are taken from the Annual
Report of the Inspector of Schools for the Leeward
Islands, for 1908-9. This was drawn up by Mr. W.
Skinner, M.A., then Acting Inspector of Schools for
that colony :—
There are not so many schools as formerly where the
complaint has to be made that the lessons in Elementary
Science are mere parrot work, or a catechism after the style
of ‘ Lessons in Common Things’, and ‘ Mangnall’s Questions ’.
In some few schools, teachers have not got beyond this, but
only in a few; most of the schools are provided with object-
lesson sheets with pictures of the animals which are the
subjects of the lessons. Wherever pictures were not found,
the matter was brought to the notice of the managers, and
doubtless before the next examination the desired sheets will
Le provided. So many publishers nowadays issue well
executed drawings, in colours, of the domestic and other
avimals which are prescribed by the code as subjects of the
lessons, and the prices are so moderate, that there ought to be
no difficulty in every school possessing some of these sheets,
and yet I regret to say there were some schools where there
were no object-lesson sheets, and the teacher was obliged to
use the very small woodcuts of animals found in the Tropical
Readers. The lessons, as a natural consequence, afforded no
satisfactory training for the children’s powers of observation,
and a badly equipped school became also an inefficient oe.
In the Middle Division, most of the teachers had stndied
the Hints to Teachers for teaching science in the Middle
Division, and the work was fairly creditable; only in a few
instances did I find that lists of terms, meaningless to the
children, had been committed to memory. In the Upper
Division, in a general way, the lessons on plant life, and on
the structure and functions of the different parts of a plant,
were well given, and the subject was fairly understood ; there
were faults, however, in the logical treatment of the subject,
and the order of the questions asked. I did not find so great
a tendency to make use of difficult scientific words as on
former occasions.
There are in the colony thirty-six recognized schooi
gardens, as follows :---Antigua, 12; St. Kitts, 8; Nevis, § ;
Dominica, 4; Montserrat, 6. In nearly all the gardens the
children now take a keen interest, and good results in the
growing of the vegetables have been obtained in most cases.
During the year new tools were supplied to six schools.
T did not find that the record of work done was kept
very systematically at any of the schools examined vy me.
For the purposes of the grants for school gardens, these
records should be kept carefully written up to date. All
schools where there are school gardens have now received
record books, in which entries should be made every day on
which work is done. These books should be submitted to
the Inspector of Schools at the Annual Examination, if
a grant is desired by the teacher.
Grants have been awarded for this work as follows :—
Antigua, to 10 schools ; St. Kitts, to 4 schools; Nevis, to
5 schools ; Dominica, to 4 schools ; Montserrat, to 6 schools.
IMPURITIES IN SULPHATE OF
COPPER.
The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for the United
Kingdom has on several occasions drawn attention to the
importance of using pure sulphate of copper when making
3ordeaux mixture, or when using it either for the destruction
of charlock, for dressing wheat, or for the cure of foot-rot in
sheep. In purchasing it, care should be taken to demand
a product of 93 per cent. purity, while the article offered as
‘agricultural ’ sulphate of copper should be scrupulously
avoided. The usual adulterant is sulphate of iron, which is
much cheaper. An easy test for the presence of iron in
sulphate of copper is to dissolve a little in water and add
ammonia, constantly stirring until a deep blue liquid is
formed. Any quantity of brown flocks floating about in
this blue liquid indicates the presence of so much iron that
the sulphate of copper should be subjected to a proper
analysis before use.
During the past year, the Board has had evidence that
impure sulphate of copper continues to be sold in consider-
able quantities. arly in 1908, the Crown Agents for the
Colonies stated that certain wholesale chemists, in executing
an order for sulphate of copper for the Agricultural Depart-
ment of one of the Crown Colonies, sent sulphate of iron
containing about 10 per cent. copper sulphate; and that in
reply to the representations of the Crown Agents, they stated
that this was the usual article supplied under the designation
of sulphate of copper for agricultural purposes.
In consequence, eighteen samples were purchased by
Inspectors of the Board from chemists in different parts of the
country. Of these, twelve were commercially pure blue vitriol,
or sulphate of copper. In two cases the description sulphate
of copper, or blue vitriol, was applied to articles containing
51°5 and 39°2 per cent. respectively, of sulphate of iron. In
these cases the Board directed enquiry to be made with
a view to prosecutions under the Merchandise Marks Acts.
One sample, described as powdered vitriol, contained 78°6
per cent. of sulphate of iron, and was coloured with Prussian
blue. Another sample, described as vitriolized wheat dressing,
contained 66 per cent. of sulphate of iron, and two other
samples, sold under a fancy name, contained 76 per cent. and
56 per cent., respectively, of sulphate of iron.
It is evident, therefore, that farmers should exercise
considerable caution in purchasing sulphate of copper. (The
Journal of the Board of Agriculture, September 1909.)
340
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Ocroper 30, 1909.
WEST INDIAN FRUIT.
THE MANURING OF CACAO.
The following is taken from the seventh of a series
of articles by J. H. Hart, F.LS., on Cacao, which
are appearing in the West India Committee Circular.
Reference to these articles has been made already on
pages 260 and 292 of the present volume of the Agri-
cultural News :—
The application of manure is a subject upon which
chemists and vegetable physiologists differ in many respects.
The chemist is apt to insist upon the manure being buried
beneath the soil, or, he says, much of its value will be lost
owing to the dispersion of its volatile properties by moving
air; but the cultivator may easily ascertain the best method
of applying manures of all kinds, if he studies the life-history
and character of the plant, and the nature and morphology
of its organs of assimilation; and moreover, the frequent
showers of the tropics prevent any great waste of the volatile
constituents, unless they come so heavy as to wash them away.
The destruction of roots which the operation of burying
manure occasions, would, in most instances, completely nullify
the action of the manure applied, as the broken roots would
not have the power, or the same amount of surface for
absorbing food, as when uninjured; and the inanure applied,
through its coming into direct contact with injured tissue,
would tend to destroy the roots by its caustic character,
rather than to be absorbed by them. That beneficial results
follow the application of manure when buried beneath the
surface, is, of course, patent to the novice, but in the case of
surface-feeding plants, it is only after the roots have recovered
from the injuries done by the digging, that they are able to
take up any manure which has been applied when these
organs are again in a condition to perform their proper
functions. Even granting that no special harm is done to the
trees, there is inevitable delay in the economy of growth, the
hazard of losing a flowering season, and consequent loss of
crop.
With deep-rooting plants the burial of manure is the
most economical method of application, as there can then be
no loss of volatile constituents:
If we think over for a while the course which Nature
hag pursued for ages in supplying plants with their food, we
shal]. find that the method adopted is purely surface manuring,
and’this method, with not afew modifications, is generally
being adopted in what are called Orchard Cultures. Even
the ground the plant grows on, has been almost entirely
formed, by additions to its surface, by detritus from surround-
ing lands, by deposits made by flood waters, or by decay
induced by the flow of water over its surface carrying with it
solvents which are able to disintegrate the materials of which
it is composed. For tree cultivation, surface manuring is the
only method in which the manure can be fully utilized, and
we can easily take steps to guard against evaporation or
dispersion of volatile principles, by covering the manure with
material which will act as an absorbent and thus retain the
constituents likely to escape.
In practice, the covering of the ground with fresh or
decaying vegetable material is known as ‘mulching’, and it
has been proved that for cacao the practice is of the greatest
value. :
Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G., Imperial Commissioner of
Agriculture for the West Indies, in reporting on experiments
in Dominica, has the following, with reference to five experi
ment plots of cacao: ‘The most interesting plot is the one
mulched with grass and leaves, the sweepings of the lawn
at the Botanic Station. In the first period, this plot, though
giviug a greater yield than the no-manure plot, fell far behind
the plot receiving dried blood, or the plot receiving complete
manure, viz. dried blood, phosphate and potash (2 A) and
that receiving dried blood with phosphate and potash (4 KE).
The yield was practically identical with that from the plot
receiving dried blood alone (3 B). In the third year, this
plot far surpassed all the others, giving yields 66 per cent.
greater than that obtained from the no-manure plot.’
In the Botanical Department, Trinidad, for many past
years, mniching has been taught as a valuable method for
orchard culture of cacao and other products, and in Vol. V,
Botanical Bulletin, Trinidad, 1902-3, the following beneficial
effects are recorded, viz., that mulching :—
(1) Keeps down weeds.
(2) Prevents evaporation, and keeps ground mois¢.
(3) Furnishes suitable manure in gradual supplies.
(4) Attracts earth worms to the surface, and causes them
to cut numerous burrows, which aerate and cultivate the soil ;
in fact the worms actually manure it by carrying down into
the tunnels the decomposed organic matter.
By the use of ‘mulching,’ it is certain that cacao can be
grown successfully on lands that could not produce it otherwise;
and on some of the Jarge estates the practice is being adopted,
especially on those fields which sutfer during the dry season.
The cacao tree, although it likes a deep, rich soil, is also
a surface-feeding plant, and the ground round the trees
cannot be dug or forked with impunity, for, although the
tree will stand considerable hardship, it is nevertheless
materially injured when the roots are mutilated. There are
conditions, however, such as when the surface soil has been
thoroughly baked by drought, when it would be beneficial
to lightly prick it up with a fork, taking care not to break
the roots (vertical forking). A slight forking is, however,
permissible at times, previous to applying farmyard manure
Vou. VIII. No. 196.
upon the surface, having due regard, of course, to what has
been said in the foregoing remarks on the injury caused by the
injudicious use of fork and spade. Mannre applied to the
surface should be covered, if possible, with a thin layer of
earth ; but if applied in the form of compost, this is not. so
necessary an operation, as the volatile constituents of the
manure are then in a great measure held fast.
In applying chemical manures of a caustic character, it
is always well to mix them with a suitable proportion of
absorbent earth, and to cover again with a coating of the
same material. The primary object in applying manure is
to maintain a due proportion of plant food when land has
become exhausted of its natural constituents, or to supply
something in which the land is deficient. It is of course
patent that, with the continued production of annual crops,
a large quantity of material is removed from the soil, and
this must be replaced, whether by Nature or artificially, or the
crop will fall short. Farmyard manure takes a foremost
position for this purpose among all others, and long-continued
practice shows that, when properly applied, it is of the greatest
value to the land, not only for its imanurial properties, but
also for its mechanical action upon the soil; and moreover, it
‘ean never be as dangerous to use as chemical manures,
which are admitted to be decidedly hazardous when applied
by unskilled labour.
QUALITIES OF A GOOD MILKING COW.
Useful information as to the characters of a good
cow of the dairy type is given in Bulletin No. 20 of the
Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station, U.S.A. From
this the following extracts are taken :—
DIGESTIVE ORGANS.—Milk is a manufactured article,
produced by the cow from the food which she consumes.
‘The capacity of a cow for producing milk depends largely
upon her capacity for digesting food and assimilating it into
her tissues. For the accommodation of a large and efficient
-digestive apparatus, a good dairy cow should have a long,
deep and wide barrel with well sprung ribs. This form of
middle piece gives ample room for the storage of food, and
for an apparatus capable of disposing of large quantities of
the coarse, bulky fodder which the cow consumes.
HEART AND LUNGS.—The chest should be deep, pro-
viding room for generous-sized heart and lungs. These
organs, vital in every animal, are required to do more
than ordinary work in the dairy cow. The digestion
-of a large amount of food and its conversion into milk
require an expenditure of energy and vitality equal to
that spent in the performance of hard work. Therefore,
there should be a vigorous circulation of blood and ample
provision for its purification, and for a large supply of
oxygen.
Collier estimates that a cow, giving an average quantity
of milk produces, on an average, 135,210,000 fat globules per
second during each twenty-four hours. This, and the secretion
of the other constituents of the milk, illustrate the amount of
activity in the milk organs alone, and suggests the need of
a highly developed nerve system. The more pronounced of
the outward signs that indicate this nerve development are
a bright, lively, and prominent eye, this prominence causing
a dished face ;a wide forehead ; a wide junction of the skull
-and spinal column, indicating a large brain ; a large prominent
backbone, giving room for a well developed spinal cord ;
a long slim tail; and considerable energy and vigour and
style of action.
MILK ORGANS.—The milk organs are quite intimately
-concerned in the productive capacity of the cow, as it is in
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 341
these that the milk and butter-fat are finally elaborated from
the food. It is not altogether clearly understood how the
milk is made in the gland, but it seems quite probable
that it is produced by the epithelial cells within the udder.
So far as is known, the quantity of milk that can be
produced depends in a large part upon the number and
activity of these cells. The number of such cells is limited
by the size of the udder and the amount of fatty tissue
it contains. The dairy cow should havea large udder
capacity, the larger the better, but the size of the udder
should not be due to any large amount of fat or flesh.
There should be an elasticity of the tissue, with a shrinkage
of the udder when empty. The udder should have con-
siderable surface, extending far forward and well up
behind. It should be well balanced and symmetrical
in shape, indicating good development in all quarters ; for
the more perfectly developed the organ is, the larger the
amount of milk it will be likely to yield. It should be
spread considerably from side to side also, while the teats
should be even, and squarely placed. To make room for
such a capacious, well developed udder, the hind legs of the
cow should be wide apart, the thighs should be thin, and the
flanks high arched.
The milk veins should be large and elastic, should
extend well to the front, and should enter the abdomen
through large or numerous orifices, thus permitting a strong
flow of blood through them, with a minimum of resistance
as it returns to the heart. Besides these veins, there is a net-
work of them in the four quarters of the udder, and still
others pass upward behind, which, when large, indicate
considerable productive capacity.
Many generations of selection and breeding by man
have prolonged the period of activity of these organs in the
dairy cow, but the beginning is always a function of repro-
duction, which must occur with considerable regularity in
profitable cows. In order that this may happen with the least
tax upon the general vigour and activity of the cow, she
should have broad hips and a high pelvic arch.
AGRICULTURAL EXAMINATIONS.
The second Preliminary Examination, in connexion with
the scheme of Reading Courses established by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture, was held on October 11, in
Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia,
and St. Vincent. Twenty candidates, altogether, presented
themselves for examination: five in Antigua, four in Barbados,
two in Dominica, three in Grenada, one in St. Kitts, three in
St. Lucia and two in St. Vincent. Of the whole number,
five failed to satisfy the examiners.
The names of the successful candidates are as follows :—
FIRST CLASS, SECOND CLASS.
G. W. B. McDonald (Antigua) J. H. Roden (Antigua)
J. H. Field (Barbados) C. H. Shepherd _,,
A. E. Owen (St. Kitts) E. M. Peterkin (Barbados)
R. W. Niles (St. Lucia) G. de Lachevotier (Dominica)
D. Derrick (St. Vincent) W. M. Arrindell (St. Lucia)
THIRD CLASS.
J. G. Kirton (Barbados)
J. T. Gairy (Grenada)
J. Maricheau ,,
C. W. Mathurin (St. Lucia)
G. A. Robertson (St. Vincent)
Of those in the First Class, G. W. B. McDonald
(Antigua) and R. W. Niles (St. Lucia) obtained special
mention.
Further particulars concerning this examination will be
given in the next number of the Agricultural News.
i)
re
w
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Ocroser 30, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. -Wolstenholme-:and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date October 11, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report, about 200 bales West Indian Sea
Islands have been sold ; they chiefly consist of the remainders
of crops, and include Barbados, 12d. to 15$d.; St. Croix,
124d. tol43d.; St. Vincent, 1lldd. to 153d.; Tobago, 15d.;
Antigua, 134d. to 154d.; Jamaica, 13d.; St. Kitts, 114d. to
134d.; St. Lucia, 15d.;and Nevis, 133d., the remainder being
stains at 74d.
Prices of all Sea Island descriptions are hardening, and
quotations of Georgias and Floridas are raised 1}d. per bb.,
this being the advance obtained for new crop. Carolinas and
West Indians are raised 1/7. per tb. in sympathy. So far, the
quality of the Georgia and Florida Sea Island is the best we
have seen for several years.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending October 9, is as follows :—
The Sea Island receipts during the week were 297 bales,
making the total receipts of new crop cotton so far 325 bales.
The factors have not sampled or offered for sale any of these
receipts as yet, having agreed to delay opening the market
until the movement is larger. However, they express
a willingness to contract to sell ahead 300 to 400 bales on
a basis of Fully Fine, 30c.-16$¢. There has been no
demand on this basis.
COTTON GINNING AND SELECTION
ST. VINCENT.
The following abstracts are taken from the report
for the crop season 1908-9 (September 1, 1908, to
August 31, 1909) on the work of the Central (Govern-
ment) Cotton Ginnery in St. Vincent. The quantities
of seed-cotton dealt with do not, of course, include that
which was sent to private ginneries in the island :-—
IN
The ginnery continued to be worked under the super-
vision of the Agricultural Superintendent. The © staff
consisted of a manager, overseer and engine driver. When
in full work about twelve men and boys, and sixteen women
were also employed. Eight gins were worked successfully. No
breakdown occurred in connexion with any part of the
machinery. The ginnery was opened for the receipt of seed-
cotton on October 26. Ginning was started on November 12,
and carried on as found necessary until May 29, 1909. The
actual number of ginning days was fifty-eight, as against
eighty-four during the previous season,
Island seed-cotton sent in
amounted to 747,506 tb. This was 220,894 Ib. less than
that received last season. ‘The yield of lint was 205,688 ib.
or 27°5 per cent. of the total weight of seed-cotton received.
This percentage is 1:3 less than the record of . the previous
year, and is in no small measure due to the fact that one or
two large estates grew a fine variety which only gave a low
percentage of lint—often below 25 per cent. The weight of
stained Sea Island lint equal to 94 per cent:
of the whole. Twelve thousand and nineteen pounds of
Marie Galante seed-cotton were also received. ‘This gave
2,781 th. of lint, equal to 23-1 per cent. of the weight of
seed-cotton.
The percentage weight lost in ginning the total amount
of Sea Island and Marie Galante seed-cotton sent in, was 13:
Six hundred and sixty-two bales were made during the
season, most of which contained 360 tb., net, of lint.
For the purpose of meeting the loca! and export demand
for cotton seed, 11,032 Ib. of Ottley Hall were
purchased at ld. per tb. The lint from this seed fetched
18id. per tb., as against 16d. per Ib. for ordinary lots, and
the yieid was good. After selection, the total quantity of
seed obtained for sale was 8,313 lb., or about 75 per cent.
The price charged locally for the seed was 2}d. per b.; for
export 3d. per tb. From April 28 to August 27, 1909,
5,458 lb. of treated seed, were sold to local growers. Besides
this, 2,356 tb. of planters’ own seed was dealt with for them,
making a total of 7,814 1b., or a quantity sufficient to plant
1,302 acres. To other colonies 2,855 tb. was sent.
The total weight of Sea
Was
seed
EXPORTS OF COTTON FROM THE WEST
INDIES.
The returns that have been received so far show that
the amounts of cotton exported from the following places
during the quarter ending September 30, 1909, were:
Barbados, 320 bales (155,103 tb.), of an estimated value of
£7,755 3s.; of this cotton, which was all Sea Island, 302
bales (146,357 Ib., value £7,317 17s.) was sent to the United
Kingdom, and 18 bales (8,746 tb., value £437 6s.) to the
United States. St. Vineent, 46) bales (14,912 Ib.), of an
estimated value of £780 18s. 4d.; all this was exported to
the United Kingdom, and was made up of 28 bales (9,732 b.,
value £608 5s.) of Sea Island, and 18! bales (5,180 tb., value
£172 13s. 4d.) of Marie Galante. Trinidad and Tobago, 13
bales (2,011 Ib.) ; this all went to the United Kiugdom, and
was made up of Sea Island, 3 bales (511 tb.), and Marie
Galante, 10 bales (1,500 Ib.). No cotton was exported
either from British Guiana or Montserrat during the stated
period.
Vou. VIIT.. No. 196.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 343
USEFUL BACTERIA IN JAMAICA SOILS.
The bacteria which possess importance in connex-
ion with their relation to the nitrogen in the soil are,
broadly speaking, of five kinds: those which change
ammonium salts into nitrites ; those which convert the
nitrites thus formed into nitrates; those which take
nitrogen from the air and actually enrich the soil with
that element by adding it in a fixed condition; those
which live in the nodules of leguminous plants and
supply them with nitrogen from the air; and finally
those which break down nitrogen compounds in the
soil and return the nitrogen that they contained to the
air. ‘The first two are called nitrifying organisms ; they
do not add nitrogen to the but render more
available that which it already contains. ‘The third
are termed nitrogen-fixing bicteria; the reason for
this is evident from what fas been stated. Of the last
two, little need be said here except that the former
are, of course, beneficial, while the latter are responsible
for the loss of nitrogen from badly kept soils.
soil,
In the Bulletin of the Departinent of “Agric ulture,
Jamaica, Vol. I, No. 2, the results of an investigation
of the mitrifying and nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the
soils of Jamaica, which was carried ont at the Govern-
ment Laboratory there, are given. The following are
extracts from the paper :—
The preceding issue of the Bulletin contained an article
describing broadly the relations between the biochemical
activity of the more important soil bacteria and the fertility of
the land. Special attention was drawn to the ‘nitrifying’ and
the ‘nitrogen-fixing ’ bacteria. The writer has recently
examined some Jamaican soils for the presence of those two
groups of organisms. To test for the ‘nitrifying’ bacteria
two mineral solutions were employed, one containing sulphate
-of ammonia, nutritive salts and carbonate of lime, and the
other nitrite of sodium together with nutritive salts.
To prove the presence of ‘ nitrogen-fixing’ bacteria,
a solution of sugar (or the closely allied mannite) was used,
together with nutritive salts and carbonate of lime, but no
combined nitrogen in any form. These liquids were rendered
sterile by heating in steam. The moist samples of the
different soils were partly dried, broken down into a fine
condition, well mixed, and 1 gramme (about 15 grains) of each
introduced into the cares culture solutions, which were then
put in a dark place at air temperature.
The three soils tested were :—
1. A soil at Hope Gardens cleared of bush during the
last year and planted with Guinea grass.
2. A rather stiff soil from a citrus fruit plantation at
Hartlands.
3. A Westmoreland
a range of limestone hills.
These soils had all a neutral reaction to litmus. The
Hope soil set up ‘nitrification’ of the ammonia and the
nitrite, only after a long interval, and the characteristic
‘nitrogen-fixing’ Azotohacter appeared in the sugar solution
also at a late date.
The phenomena were brought about by the Hartlands
soil much sooner, while the Westmoreland soil acted still
more promptly.
The earlier ‘nitrification’ and ‘ nitrogen-fixation ’ begin,
the more numerous and the more active are the respective
bacteria in the soil. In the Hope scil, the bacteria were
scanty in numbers and sluggish: in action, whereas in the
sugar-cane soil at the foot of
other two soils they were numerous and active, espec ially im
the Westmoreland soil. The differences shown stand in clear
connexion with the amount of calcium carbonate present in
the respective soils. The Hope soil was very deficient in the
base carbonate of lime, whereas the rel: utively small amount
present in the Hartl: ands soils was enough to secure a healthy
multiplication and activity of both groups of bacteria.
Chemical analysis of the Azotobacter cultures from the
Hartlands and Westmoreland soils, after the sugar had all
been oxidized by the bacterium, Shona in both. cases that
9 parts of nitrogen had been gathered from the air for
every 1,000 parts of sugar destroyed. Some of the sugar
solutions (containing glucose) inoculated with the Hope soil
yielded no Azotobacter, but gave rise to a long continued
butyric fermentation due to spores forming spec ies of
Clostridia, Analyses of these showed that only 2-part of
nitrogen had been gathered trom the air for every 1 000 parts
of sugar decomposed. Where, therefore, soil conditions are
unfavourable for the abundant growth of the Azotobacter,
owing to the deficiency of c: urbonate of lime, the nitrogen-
gathering power of the soil is greatly weakened, since the
Clostridia are only one-third as efficient workers as the
Azotobacter.
JAMAICA RUM.
A pxper in the International Sugar Journal,
Vol. II, No. 129, gives the results of an investic gation of
Jamaica rum which was conducted by Dr. Karl Micko,
Director of the Public Research Institute for Food-
stutfs, Graz. The conclusions reached are as follows :—
1. Jamaica rum contains an aromatic constituent
peculiar to it alone, which is the basis of its characteristic
flavour. This constituent is found neither in high class
E garebesn spirits nor in artificial rum.
This typical flavouring body of Jamaica rum is a col-
Ree not difficultly volatile, ‘fluid of a delicate aromatic smell,
and its boiling point lies higher than that of ethyl alcohol.
3. This typical body belongs neither to the esters,
ketones, or aldehydes. It has the general characteristics of
an ethereal oil, and it is not improbable that it stands in
nearer relation to the terpenes.
4. The typical flavouring body does not dissolve in
caustic soda; but on prolonged contact with it, it assumes
an aromatic, but more resinous, smell.
5. In Jamaica rum, as in other high class spirits, is
a body possessing a terpene-like aroma which is entirely
absent from artificial ram. But it is less characteristically
a proof of Jamaica rum, as in other high class spirits similar
bodies, rich in terpenes, are found.
6. In Jamaica rum, there occurs in the last distillation
fraction an aromatic-smelling, resinous substance, which
dissolves in caustic soda and is precipitated by the addition
of acids. It is questionable whether this substance is
a primary fermentation product, for we can produce such
Seis atses easily from aldehydes.
The analyst with sensitive nose and palate can easily
diseases artificial, from Jamaica, rum. He is also in the
position to be able to detect mixtures of Jamaica with
artificial rum.
8. From chemical analysis alone, however, no thorough
conclusion is possible, but when used in conjunction with the
smelling test, it is extre mely valuable. The ester number is
of especial value for determining whether the given sample is
of a concentrated or a diluted rum.
344
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
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., 837, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Jlews
VoL.
: S : Za
VIII. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1909. No. 196.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The editorial of this number has for its subject
the Royal Commission that has been appointed to
enquire into the trade relations between Canada and
the West Indies.
On page 339, there is an interesting note on
the impurities that are sometimes to be found in
sulphate of copper (bluestone).
Extracts from an article on the manuring of cacao
are given on page 340,
Useful information as to the qualities that should
be shown by a good milking cow appears on page 341.
The same page contains the results of the recent
Preliminary Examination held in connexion with the
Reading Courses of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture.
The results of investigations in connexion with
some of the bacteria in Jamaica soils appear on page
343
343.
In the Insect Notes of this issue (page 346), there
appears the first of a series of articles on the Natural
History of Insects. In this, Figs. 88, 39 and 42 are
from blocks supplied by the United States Department
of Agriculture. Figs. 40 and 41 are redrawn from
illustrations in Comstock’s ‘Manual for the study of
Insects’.
Part of the information in the Fungus Notes
(p. 347), which deals mostly with diseases of the ground
nut, should be of use to those who are interested in
flower gardens.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. OcrosEr 30, 1909.
The Destruction of Weeds by Insects.
An interesting account of the introduction of
insects into a country for the purpose of destroying
a noxious weed is givenin the Hawaiian Forester and
Aariculturist for August last. In 1858, a plant known
as Lantana, which belongs to the same genus as one of
the wild sages of the West Indies (Lanlunc: Camara),
was introduced into the Hawaiian Islands from Mexico
as anornamental plant. ‘This escaped from cultivation,
and, owing to the absence of its natural enemies, and
the dissemination of the seeds by a bird which had
actually been introduced for the destruction of cater-
pillars, it became a serious weed in pasture and in sugar
lands. In 1900, the Entomologist in the islands conceived
the idea of introducing some of the insect pests of the
plant from its native country, Mexico. This he did,
ana insects have been acclimatized which attack the
branches, leaves, Howers, fruits, and seeds of the Lan-
tana, with the result that it is quickly being brought
under control.
A grave danger exists, however, in the employment
of such a method of dealing with weeds. The insects
that are introduced must only be of such kinds as have
very specialized habits and food plants, in order that
there may be no chance of their adapting themselves
in such a way as to obtain shelter or sustenance from
valuable plants that already exist in the country to
which they have been brought.
B pees ee
Alcohol from Bananas.
In a recent number of the Journal d’ Agriculture
Tropicale, an article appears which deals with the
manufacture of aleohol from bananas. The subject is
introduced by a consideration of the fact that, in
countries that produce bananas for export, a large
quantity of the fruit is rejected as being unfit for ship-
ment, and is consequently often wasted completely.
Information furnished by the Agricultural Society in
Jamaica, and by growers in Guatemala, shows that the
loss from such fruit is about 20 per cent. of the crop;
this, in the case of Jamaica, is equivalent to 2 million
bunches a year, In view of this, various means have
been tried for the purpose of utilizing the waste
material. Among these have been the drying and
preservation of the fruits, and the production of banana
flour from it. None of them have, however, sufticed to
deal with the quantity of unexportable fruits that have
been produced, and it has become necessary to seek for
other methods for the disposal of it.
Experiments conducted at the Central Laboratory
of Guatemala, in association with the director of a
distillery at Puerto Barralos, Guatemala, led to the pro-
duction of a very good spirit, which is said to be
something like whisky, from bananas which were about
to be thrown away. Samples of this spirit were reported
at the St. Louis Exhibition to be of superior qnality,
and, after analysis in the Laboratories of the United
States Department of Agriculture, the manufacturers
were awarded a gold medal.
The yield of spirit is estimated at 45 litres (about
1 gallon) from each bunch of bananas. As regards the
cost of manufacture, this is said to be much less than
Vou. VIII. No. 196. THE
that of whisky, and two years’ working of a plant for
the production of the spirit showed that the manufacture
cin be carried on profitably.
E>
Nitrification and Soil Conditions.
According to an abstract ofa paper which is given
in the Journal of the Chemical Society, it has been
found that nitrification, both in unsterilized soil and in
sterilized sand or soil, is accelerated in the presence of
small amounts ofa sugar such as dextrose. In the
case of unsterilized soil, the greatest effect is produced
in the second and third week; the effect diminishes
afterwards, while denitrification increases. Other
sugars such as cane-sugar and milk-sugar (as well as
glycerine) also seem to have a favourable effect. Other
substances, such as calcium butyrate, calcium acetate,
peptone and urea, either have no effect, or retard.
nitrification.
The effect of water was such that nitrification
alone was most active when 16 per cent. of that liquid
was present. It was reduced when the amount of
water decreased to 10 per cent., or increased to 26 per
cent. Dextrose has an injurious, rather than a bene-
ficial, action if an excess of water is present.
The Propagation of the Kucalypti.
Information has been received from the Curator
of the Antigua Botanic Station to the effect that
experience seems to point out that the propagation of
Eucalypti there is, if special methods are not adopted,
a somewhat difficult process. Recently, there has
sprung into existence a demand for these trees, and
efforts have been made to raise them in fairly Jarge
numbers.
At first, the usual method of raising seedlings was
adopted ; the seeds were sown in boxes, and the young
plants potted when about 2 inches high. With this
method, the mortality was very great, not more than
2 to 3 per cent. of the plants being saved.
In consequence of repeated failures to raise
plants by what could, perhaps, be called the orthodox
method, different ways were tried, the soil used in each
being a somewhat open loam. The greatest success was
obtained when the seeds were sown in small pots, the
diameter of which was from 2 to 24 inches. Two to
four fertile seeds were placed in each; the first seed
that germinated was left, and as the others grew they
were pulled up and destroyed. Whenever water was
required during the time that the seeds and young
plants were in these pots, they were placed in a bucket
containing it to the depth of their own mm. No water
was given overhead ; protection from heavy rains was
provided. As soon as’ two leaves other than the
cotyledons were formed, the plants were carefully
transferred to pots having a diameter of about 6 inches.
Afterwards, the first watering was performed as
described above, the snbsequent ones being done with
a watering pot from overhead. Little or no shade was
given to the seedlings. To protect the seeds from ants,
which do a great deal of damage if no precautions are
taken, the soil surrounding the seedlings was well
soaked with water containing a little kerosene.
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
345
The Mistletoes of the West Indies.
At least three genera of plants are included under
the name ‘rnistletoe’ in the West Indies (‘ Captain
Bois’ in Grenada). These are all semi-parasites, that
is they supplement the food produced in the leaves by
a certain amount which is obtained by them, with the
aid of special organs for the purpose, from the plants
to which they are attached. These organs are called
haustoria; they are not true roots, for they do not
possess root hairs and they have the power of secreting
a ferment which dissolves a path for the haustorium
which produces it through the tissues of the host
plant. They have another function also: it is by them
that the plant food which is destined for use in the
cambium layer is transferred to the parasite—an action
that may take place to such an extent as to weaken or
destroy the host plant. Of economic plants in the West
Indies, cacao seems to be the one which is most likely
to be damaged in this way, and it is at the present
time of the year that the parasite is most active. Tke
only remedy is removal by cutting the mistletoe out of
the affected branch or branches. It must be clearly
understood, however, that. the mere removal of the
parasitic plant alone is useless, as the haustoria left in
the branch will most probably produce new shoots of it.
In cutting it out, therefore, a fairly large portion of the
branch should be removed as well; in the case of badly
affected plants, whole branches, or even the whole
plant may have to be removed.
Such measures should result in complete control,
as these plants are disseminated comparatively slowly,
mostly by the accidental conveyance of the seed by
birds.
—_—_——"a +
The ‘ Butter Tree’ of Sierra Leone.
The Curator of the Dominica Botanic Station
states that, in July 1897, that Station received from
Kew six plants of Pentadesma butyracea, the butter
tree of Sierra Leone. According to the Treasury of
Botany, this is a large tree, which yields in several
parts, especially in the fruit when cut, a yellow, greasy
juice, whence is derived its popular name. ‘he leaves
are opposite, leathery, and elegantly marked with
numerous parallel veins; the flowers large and handsome,
solitary and terminal. ‘The fruits are said to be edible.
Of the plants received, several were placed out in the
gardens, but all failed to grow, owing, probably, to the
dry climate. One plant was presented to the Pointe
Mulatre estate, where it was planted in a valley in which
the rainfall is over 100 inches per annum. In the
course of twelve years, it has developed into a large,
handsome, spreading tree. During this year, it flowered
and fruited. Fruits have been sent to the Botanic
Gardens, where seedlings are being grown. Another
attempt will be made to establish this interesting
species in the gardens, and later a few plants may be
available for distribution. It would be interesting to
learn if this tree has fruited in other parts of the West
Indies.
' When established, the tree occasionally produces
suckers from the surface roots, Its propagation may,
therefore, be carried on both by suckers and by seedlings,
346
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
OctosER 30, 1909.
$$$
INSECT NOTES.
NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS.
Parr I.
The animal kingdom is divided into sever.l great groups,
or sub-kingdoms, in each of which the members have some
points in common. The members of different groups have
more points of difference than of likeness.
One of these groups has been given the
poda which means ‘ jointed feet ’, or perhaps, better, ‘jointed
limbs ’.
The arthropods are all alike in having jointed limbs, and
they also have other points of likeness. They have bodies
that are jointed, or at least that are easily separable into
regions or sections, such as head, thorax (the middle body)
and abdomen ; or head and hind-body ; or cephalothorax, head
and thorax fused together, and abdomen. Arthropods have
an exoskeleton of a hard, firm substance, known as chitin, to
which muscles are attached on the inside, and which protects
all the soft and delicate organs,
The arthropods in their turn are divided into four classes
as follows : —
Class I. Crustacea—Crabs, Lobsters, ete.
II. Araneida—Spiders, Mites, Scorpions, ete.
name Arthro-
” IIT. Myriapoda—Centipedes, Millipedes, ete.
5 LV. Hexapoda—Insects.
Among the Crustacea are to be included crabs, lobsters,
shrimps, barnacles, etc., many of which are familiar objects in
most parts of the West Indies. Fig. 38 represents the wood-
louse, or sow-bug, one of the crustaceans. The crustaceans
are mostly aquatic; a
damp soil or decaying
few live in damp situations such as
vegetable matter.
They breathe by
R a
Fig. 39. Rep Spiper.
Tig. 38. Woop-Louse,
means of gills, the head is provided with two pairs of
antennae, the abdomen has appendages which are used in
locomotion, and the eyes are usually compound, sometimes
stalked. The body is divided into two regions, the cephalo-
thorax and the abdomen. The cephalothorax is composed of
the head and the thorax fused together, and is often protected
by a hard shell, the carapace. ‘The exoskeleton of chitin is
often impregnated with large quantities of lime.
The Class Araneida includes the spiders, mites, ticks
and scorpions. Fig. 39 shows one of the red spiders, a mite
of this class which is sometimes injurious to plants.
These animals breathe by means of air tubes (tracheae),
or air sacs, Certain species, mites especially, have the
entire surface of the body adapted for respiration. In
the case of most members of this group, the head
INTRODUCTION .
and thorax are fused to form a cephalothorax, and the eyes
are simple.
__ The Myriapoda, Class ITT, include the centipedes and the
millipedes (igs. 40 and 41). These are elongate animals
with segmented bodies and jointed limbs and appendages,
Fig. 41.
The head is distinct from the rest of the body, but the
thorax and the abdomen do not differ in structure. The
hind body is generally provided with legs its entire length
one or two pairs to each segment. ul
MILLIPEDE.
Fig. 42. Stnver Fisu.
Class IV are the Hexapoda, or true insects. The
name Hexapoda means having six legs, and this expresses
one of the most distinguishing characters of the insect.
In addition to being arthropods having six legs, insects
are to be distinguished from others of the group by the
following features. The insect body is readily separable
into three definite regions—head, thorax and abdomen, and’
the adult is usually winged. The normal number of wings
is two pairs, but it sometimes happens that one, or even
both, pairs of wings are wanting, as in the silver fish
(Fig. 42).
Vor. VIII. No. 196,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 347
FUNGUS NOTES.
DISEASES OF GROUND NUTS.
During the last few years, attempts have been made to
introduce into the West Indies new varieties of ground nuts
from the United States noted for the large size of their nuts
and their heavy yield. The somewhat disappointing results
so far obtained have been reported from time to time in the
Agricultural News. (See Vols. VII, p. 117 ; VIII, p. 206.)
These results are in part due to the severe attacks of fungous
parasites, some of which have already been mentioned, and
others still remain to be identified.
A species of Uromyces, one of the rust fungi, is reported
as occurring on the leaves of ground nuts in St. Vincent during
1908. he attack, however, was not of a serious nature.
In the year 1907, another, or possibly the same fungus,
described as Uredo sp., was reported from Montserrat, and
the attack was thought to be sutliciently severe to have
caused shrivelling of the nuts. The same fungus has been
found this year in Dominica on the Spanish and Carolina
Running varieties, though up to that time, no fungus had
appeared and the trials were promising. This fungus
occurred in Dominica in connexion with another, which may
prove to be Septoyloeum arachidis, causing a black spot on the
leaf. An account of this appears in the current volume of
the Agricultural News, No. 194, page 315,
Spraying with Bordeaux mixture was tried, but did not
prove effective. A mixture of equal parts of sulphur and
lime, dusted on to the leaves, had some effect in checking the
disease, though it was not entirely successful. To save the
remains of the crop, the nuts were harvested and all the rest
of the plants burnt. It would be advisable not to plant
ground nuts again in the same soil for at least a year.
To give some idea of the damage wrought by the disease,
probably the ‘ black spot’ fungus more particularly, it may
be stated that the yield of nuts from one plot was only 35 tb.,
as against 106 tb. from the same plot last year.
A root disease was also found on ground nuts in the
same island, which is due to a fungus as yet unidentified. It
causes the leaves of plants attacked to wilt, and about two
days later the plants die. The roots, pods, and probably
the nuts, are attacked, and in advanced cases the lower
parts of the stem, above the collar, The diseased portions
exhibit a fine, web-like, white mycelium, which, in its older
portions, is covered with straight, rod-like crystals. This
produces small white tufts which grow somewhat, become
yellow, and finally brown. They are about 4 inch in diameter
when fully grown, and roughly spherical in shape.
In section, they show two or three layers of firm, brown
hyphae, forming an outer covering, which encloses a mass of
swollen, colourless hyphae, completely undifferentiated. They
are probably of the nature of sclerotia, No other fruiting
bodies have yet been found.
A similar disease, probably due to the same fungus,
attacks tomatos and egg-plants, and other garden crops in
Dominica, and has also been found on Antirrhinum, some
aroids, and other plartsin Barbados. It seems distinctly
probable that the root disease mentioned in the St. Kitts
report for the year 1908-9 as attacking the Spanish and
Tennessee Red varieties, was due to the same fungus, though
this is not yet known definitely.
When the disease appears in a flower bed, or a plot of
ground nuts, all the plants attacked should be. immediately
dug up, together with the earth round them, and buried with
lime ina deep pit; the holes from which they have been
taken should also be dressed with lime. Should this treat-
ment not be effective, it would be advisable to remove all the
plants from the bed, or all the crop, as soon as possible, bury
them with lime or burn them, and dress the whole of the bed
or plot with lime, at the rate of about 4-Th. to the square
foot. I+ should then be allowed to lie fallow for one or
two months, and be subsequently planted with different
flowers, or a different crop.
In all probability, the wet weather is largely responsible
for the increased incidence of the diseases mentioned, and it
has a further ill effect by causing the ground nuts to germinate
too soon, or to rot in the soil. It has been found necessary
in St. Lucia to plant the seed so that the ripening period
may fall between Februaryand May. In Bengal, if any rain
falls at the ripening period, the ryots endeavour to save as
mach of the crop as possible by ploughing up the land at
once and exposing the pods. (Handbook of Commercial
Products, No. 24, Imperial Institute Series.)
{n the case of the Dixie Giant variety of the ground
nut, it has been found that the seeds frequently rot in the
ground, even when the soil is fairly light and has been care-
fully prepared. This was noted particularly in St. Kitts and
Nevis. It is possible that the trouble might be overcome by
carefully disinfecting the seeds with a solution of corrosive
sublimate of the same strength as is used in the case of
cotton seed. It is hoped that it will soon be possible to
undertake experiments at the Head Office, with a view to
finding out if disinfection can be effectively carried out with-
out injuring the germinating power of the seed. If this
treatment should be found not to be injurious, it would
probably be of assistance in combating other diseases besides
the rotting of the seed.
Although the results have been so far rather unsatisfac-
tory, yet it has been noticed in several of the islands that the
Carolina Running variety gives fairly good results, and
appears more resistant to disease than the other imported
forms. Moreover, it is possible that the latter in particular,
and all the varieties in general, may improve considerably as
they become more acclimatized, so long as they are planted
in a fairly light soii. This gradual acclimatization, both
local and general, is a factor which must always be taken
into account when dealing with newly imported varieties
of plants. r
Another method by which improved results may eventu-
ally be obtained is by crossing one of the more promising
imported varieties with a local hardy form, and subsequently
separating out, on Mendelian lines, a variety which combines
the good cropping powers of the imported form with the
disease-resisting power of the local variety.
It seems probable, then, that before long it will be
possible to obtain, by a combination of the methods mention-
ed, a variety of ground nut giving good and reliable returns,
and thoroughly suited to the conditions in the West Indies.
Such a plant would undoubtedly form a valuable addition to
the agricultural products of these islands.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture return-
ed from England to Barbados by the R.MLS. ‘ Atrato’
on October 26.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc., Entomologist on the staff
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, left by the
R.M.S. ‘Berbice’ for St. Lucia, on October 26, for the
purpose of making investigations in connexion with the
cotton industry in that island.
348
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Octrosper 30, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
A communication from Santo Domingo states that an
effort is to be made to increase the area in cultivation of
Sansevieria in that Republic.
During this year, the staff of the Cadastral Survey of
Egypt has verified the whole area of cotton planted in that
country. It was found to be 1,466,530 feddans, or
1,522,258 acres.
During the cotton spinning season just closed, the
number of mills working in the Southern States of America
has increased by ten. At the same time, the increase in the
consumption of cotton has been 339,129 bales.
It is estimated that the rice crop of the present year 19
Japan will reach 54,300,000 * koku ’, which is equivalent to
about 95 million bags of 180 Ib. ‘This will be an increase of
171 per cent. over the average year’s crop.
The most important manufacture in Brazil is probably
cotton spinning and weaving. The number of mills at
present working in and near Rio de Janeiro is 119. The
total production per annum is nearly 235 million yards of
cloth.
In 1894, the plant which yields sisal hemp (Agave rigida,
var. sisalana) was introduced into Egypt. So far, it has
succeeded well, and the results obtained at an experimental
factory appear to indicate that a flourishing sisal hemp
industry could be established in that country.
On September 15, Messrs. Workman, Clark & Co., of
Belfast, launched a new steamer for the Tropical Fruit Steam-
ship Company. This vessel will be engaged in the West Indian
fruit-carrying trade, and will have accommodation for a large
number of passengers.
The 1908, of the Comptroller of
Customs for Barbados shows that the net receipts were
£109,072, as compared with £117,995 in 1907. The
exports amounted to £608,004—a decrease of £5,735. Of
these, the value of sugar increased by £28,026, while that of
cotton decreased by £21,783.
Annual Report,
The total revenue of British Honduras for the year
ended March 31, 1909, amounted to $353,641, and the total
ordinary expenditure was $322,388. It is a significant fact
that the receipts from the sale of Crown lands were, during
the same period, $7,068, as compared with 51,915 for the
year ended March 31, 1908.
In the Philippine Journal of Setence, en account is
given of Parameria philippensis, which is a woody, climbing
vine containing arubber-like gum. This is present in the
bark to about 5 per cent. and, when extracted with carbon
disulphide it is yellow, but turns black on exposure to the
air and becomes ‘ tacky ’.
The Sulletin of the Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine, of which the first number has just been issued,
states that the expense of the anti-malaria measures on the
Suez Canal had averaged 18,000 francs per annum. In 1903,
malaria cost the Suez Canal Company 38,200 franes ; last
year, the cost was 16,800 francs.
A new rubber pest has been announced from Ceylon by
the Government Entomologist. It is described asa slug
about 1) inches in length. It damages the young plants by
eating the opening leaf-buds at night. The remedy suggested
is to keep a bare space of earth around each tree, and occa-
sionally to sprinkle this with lime.
The legislature of North Dakota has passed a compre-
hensive seed law, which is intended to regulate the sale of
agricultural and garden seeds, providing for the proper
labelling of such seeds and for the establishment of a seed
laboratory, at the North Dakota Agricultural College, in
connexion with the Department of Botany.
According to the Report of the Curator of the Botanie
Station, Antigua, for last month, the distribution of plants
from that Station was as follows: hay grass (Andropogon
caricosus), 7 bags of roots (490 plants) ; Casuarina, 91 plants;
cacao, 86 plants; mahogany, 64 plants; walnut (Andiva
inernvis), 12 plants; red cedar, 5 plants; 1 palm; castor
seed, 30 tb.
The planting of rubber trees in German New Guinea
during the past six or seven years has proceeded on such
a scale that there are at present about 500,000 trees, growing
on an area of approximately 3,000 acres. So far, the plants
which have flonrished best have been those of Castil/oa
elastica, Ficus etastica, and Hevea brasiliensis. (The Frank-
furter Zeitung.)
The Annual Report of the Protector of Immigrants for
Trinidad for 1908-9, shows that, during that period, 2,392
East Indian immigrants arrived in that colony, and 726
returned to Caleutta. The savings of the latter amounted to
£17,712, besides jewellery, while £3,491 was remitted to
India during the year. In the same period, 4,802 acres of
Crown lands were purchased by immigrants. At the end of
1908, £115,224 stood to the credit of East Indian immigrants
in the Government Savings Bank.
A Committee has been appointed by the Secretary of
State for the Colonies to carry out investigations in economic
entomology, with special reference to Africa. Its work will
be to discover the relations which exist between insects and
disease in man, animals and economic plants. Trained
entomologists are to be sent to East and West Africa for the
purpose of encouraging the collection and observation of
noxious insects, and to give instructions in the use of scientific
methods. Collections will also be made on behalf of the Com-
‘mittee, and the results will be published from time to time
Vou. VIII. No. 196. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
349
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
OCTOBER.
Seconp PErRrop.
Seasonal Notes.
During this month, preparation should be made in the
Northern Islands for grafting cacao. The method to be
followed is given full description and explanation in Pamphlet
No. 61 of the Department, entitled Zhe Grafting of Cacao.
For the purpose, the Calabacillo variety has been found most
suitable as a stock, though there is no reason why some
other variety should not prove to be superior. The plant
providing the scions will, of course, have been selected on
account of the possession by it of desirable characters which
it is required to perpetuate. During the time in which the
union of the stock and scion is taking place, the stocks must
be kept well supplied with water and the soil in the pots
containing them should be mulched. The union may be
completed in thirty days, but the average time for this is
about six weeks, in the growing season. The whole time
occupied from the commencement of the growth of the stock
from the seed to the attainment of sufficient growth for the
grafted plant to be sold or planted out should not be more
than fifteen months, and it may be less if healthy stocks are
used. The cacao for the Christmas crop will have begun to
ripen early in this month. The work during the present
quarter will consist chiefly in gathering the crop, fermenting
and preparing the beans for market, keeping down suckers,
and preventing drains from becoming filled. Where cacao is
being established, care should be taken to thin the shade-
plants in order that the young cacao plants may obtain
sufficient sunlight for their development to take place
properly.
The gathering of limes is now in full swing, and will
continue to the end of the year. The ripe fruits should be
collected as soon as possible after they fall to the ground, in
order to prevent the decay of the skin, which quickly arises
where it is in contact with the ground. At this time of the
year, beside the harvesting of the crop, little can be done
except cutlassing the weeds and keeping the drains open.
The student should gain as much information as he can in
connexion with the following subjects: the gathering of the
crop, the crushing of the fruits, the care of mills, tayches,
and stills, the preparation of raw and concentrated juice for
export, the preparation of hand-pressed and distilled lime oils
for export, the manufacture of citrate of lime. Where there
is an opportunity, observe the method of obtaining the essen-
tial oil by means of the ‘écuelle’, and note the way in which
the manipulation of the lime causes the oil glands in the skin
to burst. How is the oil that is obtained in this way enabled
to compete with that which is yielded by distillation ?
Make observations on the yield of lime trees and the
state of their health, and note that a heavy crop on a tree is
accompanied by the production of small fruits. Isolated
trees often show freedom from pests. Why is this? Cut
a lime into two pieces, making the cut halfway between the
point of attachment of the stalk and the opposite end of the
fruit. What do you notice in connexion with the structure
of the fruit and the way in which the seeds are borne in it.
Compare such a fruit with the pod of the bean and the fruit
of the mango, with the object of determining the essential
differences between them.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) What are the conditions (a) of the soil, (b) of the
air, (c) of the structure of the leaf, which regulate the amount
of evaporation from this organ / i
(2) Why does an animal not thrive if it is fed entirely
on grass ¢
(3) Describe any parasitic plant that you have examined.
What measures would you adopt to get rid of it?
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Compare the mode of growth in length of a stem
with that of a root. What is the chief significance of the
differences between them ?
(2) Give an account of the arrangements that should be
made in connexion with the picking of a crop of cotton.
(3) What is Paris green, and what test affords some
indication as to the purity of a sample !
a ae
RUBBER IN THE FEDERATED MALAY
STATES.
The information which is given below appears in
the Annual Report for 1908 of the Resident General
of the Federated Malay States : —
According to the Report of the Director of Agriculture,
Mr. J. B. Carruthers, for 1908, the agricultural acreage of
the Federated Malay States, excluding padi lands and
horticulture, was planted with staple products as follows : —
Cocoa-nuts 118,697 acres
Rubber 168,048 _,,
Coffee 8,431 ,,
Other forms of cultivation,
chiefly tapioca 24,546 ,,
Total 319,722 acres
The lands under rubber in the several states were : —
Perak 56,706 acres
Selangor 82,246 ,,
Negri Sembilan PN iah0 15):
Pahang EO es
Total 168,048 acres
A feature of rubber cultivation is the extent to which
Para rubber holds the field to the almost entire exclusion of
rambong (Lisews elastica), which, as being indigenous, as grow-
ing freely, and as yielding a rubber of excellent quality, was
regarded with favour by many a few years ago.
The yield of rubber trees is, of course, a matter of the
first importance, and in this connexion the Director gives
some interesting figures. The average yield for 1908 over
the whole Peninsula, the Director puts at 1b. 15} oz.—an
increase of 11 per cent., as compared with the preceding
year. This, he considers to be a satisfactory yield, having
regard to the fact that most of the trees that were tapped
were in the first year. In Negri Sembilan the average was
3 ib. 2402. and as this is the average yield of nearly
a million trees, he regards it as extraordinarily high. Negri
Sembilan trees show a higher average than other trees because
of their greater age, but the figure in question is satisfactory
as showing what may be expected in respect of trees that
have been tapped for two or three years. (Malay Mail, July
10, 1909.)
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
OcroBEer 30, 1909,
ST KITTS: REPORTS ON THE BOTANIC
STATION, ECONOMIC EXPERIMENTS AND
AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION; ALSO ON AGRI-
CULTURAL EDUCATION, 1908-9.
The total expenditure during the perio? 1908-9 was
£1,142 15s. 8d.; of this £721 6s, 1lld. was from the
Imperial Grant-in-aid, and £421 Ss. 9d. from local funds.
The receipts from the sale of plants, etc., were £201 13s. 4d.
In St. Kitts, the number of plants distributed was 876.
These consisted of cacao, Castilloa, and trees for wind-breaks
and ornamental purposes. In addition, many thousand
young hedge-plants and seeds were sent out, as well as
34,000 cuttings, 5,600 plants and about 50 Ib. of seeds from
La Guerite Experiment Station. Those distributed in Nevis
included 8,766 plants and 10,893 tb. of seeds and cuttings.
Among economic plants, success has been obtained both
in St. Kitts and Nevis in growing onions. The raising of
these would prove to be a promising minor industry, but for
the fact that difficulty is met with in finding a market for them.
As regards cacao, the attempts which were begun in St. Kitts
five years ago to introduce the cultivation of this plant, on
a commercial scale, into the island are meeting with success.
In Nevis, neglected plants already exist which only require
proper attention and eare to bring them into profitable bear-
ing. In both islands, especially in Nevis, an increasing
interest is being shown in the cultivation of limes.
The rainfall at the Botanic Stations in St. Kitts and
Nevis for the year 1908 was 44°62 inches and 50°50 inches,
respectively. In both cases this was higher than that for
1907; by 8:21 inches in the former and 7:05 inches in the
Jatter. In these islands, heavy rains were experienced
toward the end of the year, which did a certain amount of
damage to the maturing cotton.
At the Stations, economic experiments were carried out
with yams, cassava, ground nuts, limes, cotton and broom
corn. In St. Kitts, there were, in addition, experiments with
sweet potatos, velvet beans, tobacco, sesamum and woolly
pyrol ; and in Nevis with eddos, Indian corn, Guinea wheat,
cowpeas and onions. The manurial experiments with cotton
in St. Kitts have shown, so far, that the application of
manures to this crop is unremunerative, and this experience
has been repeated in Nevis ; but trials have only been made
for one year in the latter island. Experiments in St. Kitts
still continue to show that cotton planted 4 feet by 2 feet gives
a better return than when the plants are farther ap: rt than this.
As regards the cotton industry, the Report shows that
the total area planted in this crop in the islands of St. Kitts,
Nevis and Anguilla was approximately 4,000 acres, the areas
being 1,500, 1,200 and about 1,300 acres, in that order. Of
the amount in St. Kitts, 1,200 acres were planted as an
intermediate crop with cane, and 300 acres as an independent
crop. The returns of lint per acre over the whole area were
140 lb. in St. Kitts and 100 lb. in Nevis, though these have,
of course, been much exceeded in some individual instances.
¥n Anguilla, the weather was very unfavourable, so that
a return of only 60 Ib. of lint per acre was obtained,
The number of plots in which sugar-cane experiments
were conducted in St. Kitts during the season was 532 ; of
these, 340 were devoted to experiments with varieties, plants
and ratoons, and 192 to manurial experiments with ratoons.
The results of these are published in the Official Reports on
Sugar-cane Experiments in the Leeward Islands, 1907-8,
Parts and IT, issued by the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture, and in Pamphlets Nos. 56 and 57. ‘The interest
that is taken, in the island, in the new varieties of sugar cane
is shown by the fact that, of a total area of 7,493 acres,
5,900 are in the newer varieties. Of these, B. 147 and
B. 208 occupy the greatest area, with 3,726 and 2,074 acres,
respectively.
At the Grammar School, there were eleven agricultural
pupils holding scholarships from the Department during 9
months of the year, and ten during the other 3. The
science teaching is conducted along the lines of previous
years, being arranged to cover the requirements of the
Cambridge Local Examinations. Of eleven pupils who took
science subjects in those examinations, eight passed, one
obtaining the mark of distinction in Senior Agricultural
Science.
JAMAICA: REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE, 1908-9.
At the time of writing the Report, it was a year since
the Department of Public Gardens and Plantations, the
Experiment Station, and the Government Laboratory had
been amalgamated to form a Department of Agriculture.
One consequence of this change has been that the expenses of
administration of the gardens have been decreased; while
their utility has been increased by a rearrangement, to
a certain extent, of their contents; so that they have been
brought into line with the policy of paying strict attention
to the development of the agricultural interests of the colony.
The number of plants distributed from the Hope
Gardens was 225,040, of which 210,208 were economic, and
214,832 ornamental, plants. Free grants of 60,837 plants
were made, of which 26,133 were cane tops. Of the economic
plants that were sold, the chief were tobacco, cacao, sisal
and rubber. From Castleton Gardens, 28,586 plants were
distributed, of which 5,018 were sold, 14,072 were cacao
plants granted free of charge to small settlers, and 9,496
were sent to Hope Nursery.
The chief crops which figure in the agricultural experi-
ments are sugar-cane, coffee, pananas, citrus fruits, mangos,
pine-apples, cacao, cassava and tobacco. Among the cane
seedlings, B.208, B.147 and D.625 have been in demand
The first of these is gaining increased favour among planters,
while B.147 seems to be specially suited to certain soils,
and D.625 appears to be useful in wet situations. None of
the varieties of coffee and bananas that have been tried have
shown themselves superior to the ordinary ones under
cultivation in Jamaica. The drought of the past two years
has caused serious damage to the citrus trees of Jamaica
from the attacks of the white scale, but a recovery is hoped
for on the return of more favourable conditions. Trial ship-
ments of mangos to America have shown that the best
variety to grow for export is the ‘Bombay’. (This is the
same as the ‘ Peters’ mango of Trinidad ; see Agricultural
News, Vols. II, pp. 22, 276; III, pp. 132, 204; V, p. 148;
VII, p. 388 ; VIII, p. 312.) Only one of the seedling pines
obtained by the cross-fertilization of selected varieties has
been found to be of any use; this is a cross between the
‘Queen’ and ‘Smooth Cayenne’ varieties. As regards
cacao, the production of this is increasing in Jamaica, and it
is suggested that its cultivation should be extended to
Vor VITE No. 196: THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
es
7
se
districts which at present raise little that is of any export
value. Cassava is attaining an. increased commercial impor-
tance, and there has been a good demand for cuttings of the
best kinds. Experiments with tobacco have shown that this
is not a crop for the large planter in Jamaica, as the local
market is readily glutted.
The work of the Agricultural Instructors has been
continued. At the Government Laboratory four students
have attained the higher course of training in agricultural
science. In the future, agricultural education will cease to
be carried on at the Laboratory, but will be continued at the
Farm School which it is proposed to establish, The usual
work has been done at the training colleges, and for the
primary school teachers.
The total number of analyses that were conducted at the
Government Laboratory during the year was 306, of which
121 were official, 75 agricultural, and 110 general. The
number carried out at the Sugar Experiment Station was
656, and there were 120 bacteriological examinations. The
last have shown that the water-supply of Kingston has rarely
been contaminated by polluting bacteria. On the other hand,
all the samples of fresh milk examined showed the presence
of objectionable bacteria and dust.
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
Drugs and Spices on the London Market.
Mr. J. L. Jackson, A.L.S. has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of September :—
As was anticip2ted, the first month of Autumn, namely
September, started with a marked improvement in the drug
trade—an improvement that was not only maintained, but
gradually increased throughout the month. Beginning as it
did on a Wednesday and ending on a Thursday, September
practically covered a period of five weeks to report upon, the
spice auctions being held weekly on Wednesdays, and the
drug auctions on alsernate Thursdays.
In most of the articles which come under our review
there were good supplies, and a_ fairly brisk demand.
GINGER,
There were no quotations for ginger at the spice sale on
the Ist; but on the 8th, some 400 packages of Jamaica were
offered, and sales were effected for about 150, at prices of Is.
to 2s. decline on previous rates, bold Jean fetching 60s., good
common 52s., good ordinary smale 50s., and ordinary mixed
ratoon 46s. to 46s. 6d. per ewt. On the 15th, no Jamaica
was brought forward, but good supplies of Calicut and
Cochin were offered, and bought in at the following rates:—
85s. for good bold cut, 55s. for unsorted native cut, 43s. for
washed rough Cochin, 42s. for bright brown rough Calicut,
and 40s. for slightly wormy. At the last auction on the
29th, the offerings amounted to 165 barrels of Jamaica, of
which 100 were sold, dull to fair bright washed fetching
52s. 6d. to 56s., and common ratoon 42s. to 43s. Five cases
of Calicut were sold, out of a total of 55 offered, at 78s., and
50 bags out of 668 offered, realized 41s. 6d. per ewt. for
rough mixed small.
NUTMEGS, MACE AND PIMENTO.
At the auction on the first of the month, West Indian
nutmegs were in steady demand ; 347 packages were offered,
and 130 sold at about previous rates. No further quotations
occurred during the month. At the same auction, mace met
with but little attention; 9 packages of West Indian were
disposed of at the following rates : fair palish 1s. 6d. to 1s. 7d,
fair red ls. 4d. to ls. 5d., and pickings Ils. to ls. 2d. Java
and Macassar were bought in at 1s. 1d. per Ib. On the 15th,
West Indian was represented by 72 packages, which were
sold at slightly varying prices, namely ls. 9%. for good,
1s. 7d. to 1s. 8d. for fair, 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. for ordinary, and
11d. to 1s. 3d. for broken, ‘There was again a steady sale on
the 29th at similar rates to the above. At this auction, some
fine bold flat Java was offered, and bought in at 2s. per tb.
Pimento did not appear at the first sale, but on the Sth, 24d.
per tb. was realized for fair. On the 22nd, some 226, bags
were brought forward, and 50 bags disposed of, at 24d.
per Ib. At the last sale. on the 29th, the offerings were
bought in at 274d. to 22d.
ARROW ROOT.
The unsatisfactory position of the arrowroot production
in St. Vincent has recently attracted some attention in
commercial circles, owing toa statement in the West India
Committee Circular that over production has resulted in the
low prices now prevailing in the market, and that at 2d.
per tb. the arrowroot plant scarcely pays for growing. It
will be seen from the following prices, ruling during the
month, that this figure has but rarely been attained at any of
the auctions. On September 1, 67 barrels of St. Vincent
were brought forward, and the whole bought in at 3:7. per Ib.
A week later, the quantity offered had increased to 277
barrels, but no sales were effected, even at the lower figure
of 2d., at which price the entire quantity was bought in.
At the third sale, namely on the 15th, the offerings amounted
to 307 barrels and were sold without reserve, 102 barrels
fetching 12d. per lb., and the remaining 205 from 13d. to 14d.
per tb. On the 22nd, 536 barrels were brought forward,
only 47 of which found buyers at 12d. to 2d., for good
manufacturing. For fine, 5$d. was the price wanted, but no
sales were effected. At the last auction, on the 29th, 134
barrels, all that was offered, were bought in at 1{d. to 2d.
for fair manufacturing.
SARSAPARILLA,
At the auction on September 9, large consignments of
this drug were brought forward. Of grey Jamaica, there were
32 bales, which were disposed of at the following rates:
ls. 1d. to 1s. 2d. for fair, and 1s. 1d. for ordinary rough and
part dark; of 23 bales of native Jamaica, 1 bale, only, was
disposed of, at 1s. for fair red, while 13 bales out of 19 brought
forward, of Lima-Jamaica, sold at ls. per Ib. Two bales of
Honduras were bought in at 1s. 8d. per tb. On the 23rd,
native Jamaica was represented by 26 bales, and 14 were
sold at 10d. to 113d. for dull red, and yellowish to fair red.
There was no grey Jamaica offered. At this auction, for a large
consignment, consisting of 125 bales of fair rolled Guatemala
character, which had arrived via Havre, 63d. per Ib. was
offered, and as the limit was 9¢., no sales were made.
KOLA, LIME JUISE, AND TAMARIND.
On the 8th, 13 bags of good dried Jamaica kola,
realized 34d. per tb. The same price was paid for 37 bags
of Ceylon. On the 22nd, 46 packages of good bold, bright,
dried Jamaica were offered and all sold, at from 33d. to 4d.
Three packages of small African quarters fetched 3}d. per Ib.
Raw West Indian lime juice was brought forward on the 15th,
realizing ls. 3d. for fine pale, and 1s. 2d. yer gallon for fair
pale. On the 29th, the quotation for West Indian concen-
trated lime juice was £17 5s., and a fair business is said to
have been done, though the price was considerably high.
Of tamarinds, on the 8th, 17 packages of fair, rather
dark, Barbados were offered; !4s. in bond was the price
asked.
Gondon,—Tse Wrst Inpra
New York,—Messrs.
Trinidad,— Messrs.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
MARKET REPORTS.
CoMMITTEE CIRCULAR,
1909; Messrs. E. A. DE Pass & Co.,
1%, 1909!
ArrowrooTt—1ed. to did.
Batata—Shect, 2/6; block, 1/11.
Bres-wax—£7 12s. 6d. to £7 17s. 6d. for fair to good.
Cac Boe ea 52/- to 62/- per cwt. ; Grenada, 49/6 to
54/6 per ewt., Jamaica, 47/6 to 52/-.
CorrEE—Quiet ; Piacaaices 38/- to 120/-.
Corra—West Indian, £23 per ton.
Corron—St. Croix, 12}d. to 14d ; Antigua, 13}d. to 154d.;
Barbados, 125d. to 154 sd.
Fruir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Grincer—Quiet ; common to good common, 45/- to 49/- per
ewt.; low middling to middling, 50/- to 54/-; good
bri cht to fine, 57/- ‘to 65/-.
Hoxry—2 3/6 to 28/6.
IstncLass—No quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 1/- to 1/3 per gallon; concentrated,
£15 5s. to £17 10s. per cask of “108 gallons ; Otto of
limes, 5/9.
Loewoop—No quotations.
Mace—Steady.
Nourmecs—Quiet.
PmieNto—Common, 23. per tb.;
Russer—Para, fine hard, 8/10. per tb.,
Peru, 8/8.
Rum—Jamaica, 2/9 to 7/-.
Sucar—Crystals, 14/6 to 17/9, Muscovado, 12/- to 15/-;
Syrup, 10/9 to 11/6; ; Molasses, no quotations.
October 12,
September
fair, 2}d.; good, 22d.
fine soft, 8/6; hne
Giuutesere Bros. & Co., October
1909.
Caracas, 11}c. to 12he. ;
1,
Grenada, 11#c. to 12c. ;
Trinidad, 114c. to 12c.; Jamaica, 95c. to 1le. per tb.
Cocoa-Nuts—Jamaica, select, $30°00 to $32" 00; culls,
$17-00; Trinidad, select, $30°00 to $52 00: g culls,
$16:00 to $17°00 per M.
CorrrE—Jamaica, ordinary, T$c. to 8c.;
8hc.; and washed. up to 10}c. per ib.
GixcEr—9%c. to 12c. per tb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 58c.; Barbados, from 53c. to 55c.;
St. Thomas, St. Croix, "St. Kitts, 47c. to 50c. per tb.;
Antigua, 48c. to 50c., dry flint.
Grare Frvit—$3 00 to $4°50 per box.
Limes—Dominica, $450 to $500 per barrel.
Macre—32e. to 35c. per th.
Nurmecs—110’s, Ble per Tb.
OrancEs—Jamaica, no quotations,
Pimento—4}c. per th.
Sudar— Centrifugals, 96°,
3°73kc. ; Molasses, 89°,
good ordinary,
4°23hc. per Ib. ; Muscovados, 89°,
3 48he. per tb. , all duty paid.
Gorpon, Grant & Co., October
16; 11909:
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°60 per fanega; Trinidad, $11°50
to (11:75.
Cocoa-Nuv Om—72e. per Imperial gallon,
Corree—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per tb.
Corpra—$3°75 per 100 tb.
Duat—$4° 00 per 2-bushel: bag.
Onrons—$2°50 to $3° 00 ) per 100 tb.
PE sas Sprit $5°50 to $5°75 per bag.
Poraros—English, $1°40 to 51°60 per L100 tb.
Ric :—Yellow, $4:60 to $4°80; White, $5°00 to $5°25
per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, 100 tt.
cask included.
$5°10 to $5°20 per
Ocrosper 30, 1909
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., October 23, 1909 ;
Messrs. T. 8S. Garraway & Co., October 25,
1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent,
$12:00 to $13°50 per 100 tb.
Cacao—
Cocoa-NutTs—S$14 00.
CorrEE—Jamaica and ordinary
100 th.
Hay—$1°00 per 100 tb.,
Manures—Nitrate of
Sulphate of ammonia,
No quotations. —
to $3-00 per 100 Th.
Mo .asses—
OnrIoNS—Strings, 32°
unsaleable.
soda, $65°0U ;
50
Peas—Split, $600 per bag of 210 Ib.;
bag of 120 Th.
Poratos —Nova Scotia, $2°20 to
$485 to $5°00 (180 Tb.);
RickE—LDallam,
Rangoon. $3-00 per 100 th.
Sucar—No quotations.
British Guiana.— Messrs.
16; Messrs.
5, 1909.
SANDBACH,
WIETING &
$3-60 to $3-7
PARKER
5 per 100 tb.
tio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
Cacao manure, $4800;
$75°00 per ton.
Canada, $4°20 per
$2°50 per 160 th.
Patna,
$3°80 ;
{ICHTER, October
& Co., October
ARTICLES.
Messrs. WIETING
& RIcHTER.
Messrs. SAND-
BACH, PARKER
& Co.
3
ARrRowrooT—St. Vincent,
|
Barara—Venezuelablock,
Demerara sheet
Cacao—Native
Cassava—
Cassava STARCH—
Cocoa-NuUTS—
CorreE—Creole |
Jamaica and Rio
Liberian
Drat—
|
Green Dhal
Eppos
Motasses— Yellow |
Onrons—Teneritte
Madeira
Pras—Split
Marseilles |
PrLanrarns—
Poratros—Nova Scotia
Lisbon {
Poraros Sweet, Barbados}
Rice—Ballam
Creole
TANNIAS—
Yams-—White
Buck
Suear—Dark crystals
Yellow
White
Molasses
Timber -- Greenheart
Wallaba shingles
5, Cordwood
\11e. to 12c.
| $600 per
$8°50 to 89°00
per 200 tb.
32c. per th.
48e. per Ib.
to 72c.
barrel
of 196 Th.
$12 to $16 per M
60e.
| 12c. to 18e per tb.
13h¢c. per Tb.
10c. per th.
| $4°10 to S$4:15 per
bag of 168 tb.
$5°25
per barrel
to 22c.
$1-08
21c.
ac ELO: 2c.
oo per
(210 tb.)
$4: a0 over stock
12c. to 40c. per
bunch
$2°25 to $2°40
32°00 per 100 th.
$108 per bag
$4°50
$450 to S460
$1 92 per bag
$2°- 16 per bag
bag
to $3:00
to S3°s0
to S190
+. to 55c. per
foot
$1-80
32¢
cub.
$1-8u to $2-00
per ton
per tb.
per tb.|23
$9.00 per 200 tb.
Prohibited.
50c. per th.
12c. per tb.
No quotation
No quotation
$16 per M, peeled
and selected.
12¢ to 13e. per tb.
133c. per tb.
7c. per tb.
r/$4°25 to $4°40 per
bag of 168 Th.
No quotation
Se. to2fe. per tb.
| 36-40 per bag
(210 Tb.)
$4°S5 to 85:00
83°25 per barrel.
| No quotation
$475
$425 to $450
$3 60 hos $3°80
$2: OO to $2°30
32c. to 55c. per
cub. foot
$3°50 to $5°50
per M.
No quotation
oe
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
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FOR THE
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Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton ; Bourbon Cane in Antigua ; Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
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Tnoculation.
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No. 2. Central Factories; The Underground System of the Sugar-cane; The Cotton
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present time is fifty-nine.
numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
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‘Seedling and other Canes at Barbados
in 1900. No, 3, price 2d.; in 1901, No. 18, price 4d.;
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‘Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
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‘Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands,
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The following list gives particulars of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing
(14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
(15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
(16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. Price 2d.
(17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
(18) Recipes for Cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks. Price 5d.
(37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
(38) Cultivation and Curing of Tobacco. Price 4d.
(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
(43) Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-meal on West Indian Planta-
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(45) A. B. C. of Cotton Planting.
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(55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 3d.
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The ‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’. A Fortnightly Review.
The
‘Agricultural News’ contains. extracts
from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
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Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
Barbados : Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown.
Jamaica; THe EpucationaL Suppty Company, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana: Tue ‘Datty Curonice’ Orrice, Georgetown.
Trinidad : Messrs. Murr-MarsHaty & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C. L. Pracemann, Scarborough.
‘Grenada: ‘Tue Stores’ ,(Grenada) Limited, St. George.
St. Vincent: Mr. L. 8. Mosetrey, Agricultural School.
St. Lucia: Mr. M. A. LAwreEnce, Botanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripcewater, Roseau,
Montserrat : Mr. W. Rosson, Botanic Station.
Antiqua: Mr. S. D. Matong, St. John’s.
St. Kitts: THE Brsie AND Book Suppty AGENCY, Basseterre.
Nevis: Mr. S. D. Matong, Charlestown.
Sue VLE Now 96: t THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. Ocroser 30, 1909-
THE BEST MANURES FOR CO LONIAL USE
ee ee
Ohlendorfi’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorfi’s Speci:l Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocca Manure
Ohlendorff’s Specie! Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammcaia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO:—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
FO R SALE iITHE BARBADOS GO-OPERATIVE COTTON
5 FACTORY, LIMITED.
One TRIUMPH Steam Dryer (NEW) made by Bart- BRIDGETOWN,
lett & Snow Company, Cleveland, O., suitable for —_—.
drying Starch, Molascuit, Pressed Tankage, Clays, COTTON SEKD:
Rubber, etc. =
COST £125. Will ship F.O.B, for £100. We are prepared to purchase best quality
: : Cotton seed at prices equivalent to the current})
Further information apply to :— rates of the Liverpool market. Terms : Cash on
H. A. FRAMPTON, delivery of Seed.
L. ROSE & CO., LTD.. N.B.—All seed must be fresh and in sound
Bath Estate, condition. Second quality seed must be shipped
Dominica, |separately.
FOR SALE. JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE TROPICALE,
By PUBLIC AUCTION at Antigua B.W.I., on Mon- Fer, ; ;
day el 15th day of November, 1909, at 12 o’eloc k noon, on A Monthly Illustrated Review, published in French,
the premises, the valuable Pidntaneneubnownlins COLE- dealing with all matters connected with Tropical Agriculture.
BROOKE'S, SKERRETT’S and THE GRANGH,
’
containing 690 acres, with first class Cotton Ginnery, Dwelling 164, rue Jeanne d’Arc prolongee,
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are suitable for Cane, Cotton, and Lime cultivation.
Further particulars on application to :—
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Direrirehiw be cts Buildings, E.C. ; New York, G.E. Stechert, 9, East 16th.
St. John’s, Antigua, B.W.L.|gtrect; Trinidad, D .A. Majani; Cuba, Solloso; Hayti,
(Solicitors having carriage of the sale.) Louis Coicou, Port-au-Prince.
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Guaranteed to be absolutely pure by the manufacturers. Used extensively throughout the British West Indies, and sold
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" PARIS. GREEN
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{178.]
MAINTAIN T
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
GERMAN KALI WORKS.
30 Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
—"
NUV 4 ¢ Uy
Vor. VILE No» 19/7. BARBADOS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. Pace.
Agriculture at the British Tnsect Notes :—
~ Association . a. O04 Natural History of
Agricultural Instruction in Insects, Part II 362
~ California ... ... 361) Manuring, Relationship to
Air, Manufacture of Meat Production 361
Nitrates from ... . 361; Market Reports 368
Books, Preserving in the Notes and Comments 36.)
Tropics... ... ... 367) Rice in British. Guiana ... 367
Cacao, Manurial Experi- Rubber Trees, Times for
ments in Grenada ... 356 Tapping dda. eho Oke!
Ceara Rubber Seeds, Ger- Spathodea campannulata,
MIM AON! Of ce.) =a.) e+ 359 Seeding of ... ...
Cotton Notes :— Spices of the Tropics
Aveaof Cotton in Antigua 359 | Students’ Corner
Cotton Exports from the | Sugar Industry :—
West. Indies . 398) Fermentation of
Cotton in Barkados . 309 | Hawaiian Molasses ... 395
West Indian Cotton ... 358/ Sugar Manufacture in
World’s Cotton Supply 358 St. Croix Me a OD
Department News ... ... 307 | Sugar Scums, Extraction of
Departmental Reports :-— Wax from... ... .-. 300
St. Vincent, Botanic Tillage, Implemental, in
Station; etc: 2. ... 366 Kgypt Fe hip se 1 300
Tortola, Botanic Sta- Timber, Relation of Saw-
tions etc esis) 222. OOO ingand Use of to Rots 3807
Exhibits, West Indian, im Wild ITpecacuanha and
Canada .. o61 Stoel ee OS
Gleanings ... ... ... ... 364) Workers in Science and the
Gypsum, Manurial Value of 360 Practical Farner 359
OF THE
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURC FOR THE WEST
Avriculture at the Recent British
Association Meeting.
TAs! the recent meeting of the British Associa-
say fa
as
rt
ANS) tion for the Advanc
‘ment of Science, held
LA at Winnipeg, the opening address in the
sub-section
given by the Chairman, Major P.
This was commenced by a presentation of the
FSS.
Agriculture of Section K, Botany, was
G. Craigie, C.B.,
claims of Agricultural Science to the grant of a division
to itself among the sections of the Association, instead
NOVEMBER 13, 1909. Price ld,
of its being, as is the case at present, included under
Botany as a sub-section. The chief points in the
address form the subject-matter of what follows.
Although agriculturists may have been tardy in
taking advantage of the teachings of men of science,
they are in earnest now in their applications for
instruction, Again, the appeals which agriculture
makes to other sciences for aid in the solution of
its problems are so many and varied, that it cannot
be classed as a subsidiary section of any one of
them. The mathematician and physicist can formu-
late rules which must be followed, if successful results
are to be obtained; and can supply meteorological
the
The aids which are given by
information which will be a guide to future
condnret of operations.
the chemist are manifold, and not the least among
that of atfording the
them is information as to
different methods for the treatment of soils, in
order that these may be made to give their
best yields, both in quality and gqnantity. The
geologist is called upon to give the benefit of his
knowledge of the contents and capacities of the soil
itself. Both the production and care of those animals
which are useful, and the methods for the destruction
of such of them as are inimical come under the
attention of the zoologist. Those who have studied
geography, in its widest serse, will be approached by
the agriculturist when he wishes to know about the
distribution of crops which already exist and the
regions which are awaiting agricultural development.
be
used to prevent over-production and, for the same
purpose, to enable new The
tendency for the engineer to be called in to aid the
The economist can give information which may
markets to be found.
agriculturist has become rapidly greater, not only for
INDIES, a
LIBR
354 THE
AGNICULLURAL NEWS.
NOVEMBER 13, 1909.
the production of crops, but for the proper preparation
of the saleable part of the latier for the market. In the
province of the anthropologist, there is the study of
different races of mankind in relation to their needs
and the resources of different parts of the globe. The
physiologist can throw light on the life-processes in
both plants and animais which have important bear-
ings on agriculture, and the botanist has such an
intimate connexion with that subject that no explana-
Finally, those
who have « special interest in educational methods are
being called upon more and more to benefit agriculture
by their knowledge, so that the methods of
instruction shall be available for those who practise it,
in order that they may become capable of appreciat-
tion of his relation to it is required.
best
ing and applying in the night manner the informa-
tion which is placed at their disposal by the
agricultural investigator.
In considering, in the broadest way, what are the
chief circumstances that govern the changes in the
industry of agriculture throughout the world, the
greatest attention must be undoubtedly given to
population. The growth and rapidly varying distribu-
tion of this, and its changing and diversified needs, both
have a close bearing upon the kind and extent of new
agricultural introductions, as well as on the continued
local existence and extension of the kinds of production
that have been already undertaken. Crops are raised
for man, in the first instance, either directly or
indirectly, and whether what they produce is required
for food, clothing, shelter, the provision of requirements
in connexion with quick transport, articles of luxury or
drugs for the practice of the healing art, it is the
distribution of man and the circumstances of his needs
that will determine how they shall be provided, and
when and where that provision shall take place.
Until a comparatively recent period, man has lived
in small communities, each of which obtained what it
required from the soil on and near which it existed.
Up to a hundred years ago, even, the nations drew
their supplies largely from their own territories, and
there are still large areas where production is limited
by local needs.
changing rapidly, the chief factors in the causa-
tion being increase of population, the provision of
rapid and cheap means of transport, and the more varied
This will all change, however, and is
desires and wants which have arisen from the. latter «
circumstance. The very methods which have been
devised for the purpose of bringing necessary articles to
the consumer’s door have themselves served to intro-
duce others, which, at first luxuries, have now become
indispensable to him. ‘The stream of agricultural
products from almost every part of the world has,
during the last half century, been chiefly directed
towards Europe; but even the Asiatic or African agricul-
turist will not continue indefinitely to find the first
necessaries of life close at hand, so that new possibilities,
even as to the provision of these, will undoubtedly arise.
The original impulse was for man to move into
new regions in order to find the food that those
which he was inhabiting could no longer give him.
Later, when the great industrial centres arose, large
communities were formed, which had to draw the
materials of their food, and often for their handicraft,
from distant parts of the world. The former would
appear to be the healthier condition and, indeed, it
seems that a tendency is arising to return to it, toa
certain extent, at any rate. The economic state of
a country like Canada, for instance, will surely be better
if it is enabled to achieve, over its wide area, a steady
settlement by a population which will exist by means
of a diversified farming, rather than if that population
simply continues to produce grain for export. It would
not be true to say, however, that no effort has been
made to provide the food required for an increased
population from long-settled countries. Thus the wheat
acreage of Hungary has increased from over seven
million to more than nine million acres in twenty
years, to 1906: France has in recent years, raised the
average of her production, so that she now turns out
more of that cereal from a smaller surface: while
a similar state of affairs exists in Germany, with
a fairly constant wheat area,
The consideration of the ultimate effects, in relation
to the supply of food, of the large increase of the popu-
lation of the world that is taking place, has led, since
the question was raised by Sir William Crookes in
1898, toa fear onthe part of some that the available
foodstuffs would eventually become insufticient for the
needs of man. It was prophesied then, by the same
authority, that means of rendering the nitrogen of the
air available for plants on a commercial scale would soon
be found, and this has, of course, been done. It is not
to this alone, however, that recourse is being had for the
purpose of averting such a catastrophe. Far greater in
importance are the methods that are being discovered
and employed, by the investigator and by the practical
agriculturist, in the direction of the conservation and
improvement of the fertility of the soil, and in the pro-
duction of more prolific, more disease-resistant varieties
of plants, as well as of varieties which will be specially
adapted to the climatic conditions under which they
are required to grow.
Vor Ville Now 19in.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 355
The Fermentazion of Hawaiian Molasses.
Bulletin 28 of the Division of Agriculture and
Chemistry of the Hawaiian Sagar Planters’ Association
gives the results of work that has been undert cen in
a general way for the purpose of gaining information in
reyard to the possibilities of Hawanan niolasses as
a source of alcohol. The following are the conclusions
reached, and in considering them. regard must be hail
to the fact that the product in Hawait contams much
less fermentable matter than molasses from most other
countries : —
(1) The average content of sugers of twenty-five
Hawaiian molasses for the crop of 1933 was 51°68 per
cent.
(2) Of the sngars, 83 per cent. can be converted by
fermentation into alcohol.
(Bye alin unfermentable body, which has the same redue-
ing power on copper solutions as glucose, is present to the
extent of 6°13 per cent. of the suzars, or 3:17 per cent. of the
nolasses.
(4) The United States revenue regnlation governing
molasses distilleries is based on an estimated yield of from
80 to 95 per cent. of proof spirit from the molasses. The
yields of Hawaiian molasses vary from 62 to 95 per cent., the
averages being 77 per cent. A modification of the regula-
tion would be necessary before a molasses-distilling enterprise
could be profitably installed in these islands.
(|) Molasses contains a sutticiency of nutrients for the
development and action of yeast.
(6) Mineral stimulants give no apparent increase in the
yield.
(7) The molasses contain no non-sugars which have
a deleterious action on the fermentation.
(8) Aeration shortens the time of fermentation, without
any inerease in alcohol yield.
(9) Attenuation is not as great in molasses of Hawaii as
in those of most countries where molasses is fermented, on
account of the smaller quantities of sugars therein.
(10) Fermentation under pure culture increased the
yield in alcohol 22 per cent. over that when working under
the usual factory conditions with adventitious fermentation.
(11) The lecs or residue from fermentation gives
a fertilizer containing potash, nitrogen, and a small quantity
of phosphoric acid.
(12) Molasses as a source of alcohol and fertilizer has
a value of about 83e. per gallon, exclusive of freight
and interest.
(13) Of the yeasts from various countries where the
molasses is fermented, - most are budding yeasts of the type
Saccharomyces Vordermannii; that from Peru, however, is
a fission yeast.
(14) Most of the yeasts worked well in sugar concentra-
tions up to 14°6 grams per 100 c.c., the fermented wash
containing up to 7°85 per cent. alcohol by volume.
(15) A Monilia was isolated from the yeast from Natal
. which gives an aroma resembling that-of the best Jamaica
rum,
Sugar Manufacture in St. Croix.
The island of St. Croix. D.W.T., has a total area of
51,000 acres, only 16,479 of which are in cultivation.
‘The sngar-cane lias been grown in this island for many years,
in fact it is one of the principal West Indian islands which
grow cane. When the Jatter was introduced into Louisiana,
the supply came from this islaid and Santo Domingo.
The islandis divided up into plantations of about 300
acres each, and up toa few years ago each place had its own
set of museovado works, and grounl its own eine. At the
present time, only seven of these places are still in existence;
all the other plantations deliver their cane to a central
factory.
Lower Love factory has a capacity of 600 tons of cane
per day. Its grinding plant is composed of a Krajewski
crusher and two 3-roller mills (size of miils, 28 inches by 66
inches, and 30 inches by 66 inches), It turns ont about
4,000 tons of sugar yearly. his factory is one of the few
suvar factories in existence today that burns no other fuel
than megass ; this fact is contributed to by the fine steaming
qualities of the Babeock and Wilcox boilers, also to the green
megass furnaces designed by Capt. A. F. Blackwood and his
chief engineer, L. I’. Hansen.
Bethlehem factory has a capacity of 500 tons of cane
per day. Its grinding plant is made up of three 3-roller
mills (size of mills, 30 inches by 60 inches). Jt has an
output of about 3,500 tons of sugar annually.
Central factory has a capacity of 6CO tons of cane per
day. It has two grinding sets, one being a 9-roller mill and
erusker (size, 24 inches by 48 inches), and the other three
3-roller mills and crusher (size of mills, 30 inches by 60
inches). It turns out about 3,000 tons of sugar per year. °
La Grange factory handles about 250 tons of cane per
day. Its grinding plant is composed of three 2-roller mills
and crusher (size of mills, 26 inches by 42 inches’. Its out-
put is about 1,200 tons of sugar per year.
These factories are up-to-date in every sense of the word,
and are doing just 1s good work as any other factory in the
world.
The island of St. Croix has passed through a period of
seven years’ dry weather, and, together with the high duties
and low price of sugar, it has been a trying time for the
planters.
The ontlook for the coming year is very promising as
there have been fine rains for the month of August, aad
everything points toa large crop. (The orto Rico Horti-
cultural News )
The Seeding of Spathodea campanulata.—
The statement is made, on page 332 of the current volume of
the Ayricultural News, that one of the trees of Spathodea
campanulata at the Botanic Station, Grenada, has, during
this year, set viable seed for the first time, although the
plants have flowered for several years, and the question is
asked as to whether specimeus of the plant at other Botanic
Stations in the West Indies have produced seeds. In reply
to this, the Curator of the Botanic Station, Dominica, writes
that the trees of this species which are established at that
Station produce good seed annually. It is interesting to
note, in connexion with this, that Dr. H. Trimen, F.R.S.,
late Director of the Royal Botanic Staticn, Ceylon, states in
his Handbook to the Flora of Cey?sn (1895) that this plant
has been much employed in that island as an ornamental quick-
growing tree, and that he had known it to fruit once only, in
1892, in Kandy. This function would thus appear to be
dependent on climatic conditions,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. November 13, 1909.
MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH CACAO
IN GRENADA.
Interesting details of experiments in connexion
with the manuring of cacao that have been conducted
by Mr. W. M. Malins-Smith at Diamond estate,
St. Mark’s, Grenada, have been received from him.
The results are given here for the benefit of readers
of the Agricultural News. While this is done, the
Department does not hold itself responsible for the
statements which are made with respect to any
proprietary chemical manure.
The manurial treatment (according to the table
supplied by Mr. Malins-Smith) on the different sections
was as follows:—
Section 1: 1907.—Basic slag, 8 ewt. (April); sul-
phate of potash, 2 cwt. (May); sulphate of ammonia,
2 ewt. (September).
Section 2: 1907.—Swift’s tropical
ewt. (June).
Section 38: 1907.—Sheep manure, 2} tons (April).
Section 4: 1907.—Wood ashes, 4 hogsheads
(April); sulphate of ammonia, 2 ewt. (September).
Section 5: contro]; no manure.
Section 6: 1907.—Lime, 1} hogsheads (April).
1908.—Pen manure, 20 tons (May).
Section 7: 1907.—Lime, 1} hogsheads (April);
sulphate of ammonia, 14 ewt. (September), 1908.—
Basic slag, 4 ewt. (May).
Section 8: 1907.— 'T.S.G.
(June).
These experiments in manuring were begun in 1907 for
the purpose of testing the relative value of several complete
manures and combinations of fertilizers on large areas of
excellent bearing cacao whieh had not been manured or
forked for several years, and which at the time was giving
a yield of 5 bags of 180 Ib. each per acre.
manure, 10
cacao manure, 10 ewt.
In March-April 1907, the plots were carefully forked
and all dead leaves, weedings, ete. were buried. The manure
was then applied broadcast on the surface, evenly distributed
throughout the plots. The trees were then carefully, but
lightly, pruned, the prunings being left on the ground to
serve as a mulch over the manure. In June, the plots were
weeded and all dead leaves and prunings were carefully
buried near the surface of the soil. From June to September,
INDIAN FRUIT.
all suckers were removed from the trees and the drains in
the field cleaned out. In 1908, the manurial treatment was
not repeated, and the only manure applied that year was
that used in completing the combinations in sections 6 and 7.
Cultural work done in 1908 comprised the burying or ‘ bed-
ding ’ of all weedings, dead leaves and prunings in the month
of June; light pruning; removing suckers; cleaning drains;
weeding, etc. These plots were established on a basis of
equality in cost of manures and area.
fully measured to one acre; they are all adjacent to one
another. A sum of £5 was spent in manures on sections
|e oandss:
Each plot was care-
The wood ashes applied to section 4, being a by-product
of the estate, cost nothing. The same inay be said of the
pen manure applied to section 6, except that it cost £2 for
application, The cost of applying manure to the other
sections was only 2s. to 2s. Gd. per acre. In section 7, only
£3 15s. was spent on manures. The same amount was spent
on every section for cultural work, ie., £8 10s. for the period
from April 1907 to August 1909. he figures given in the
table of results are for the period of 2 years’ crop—September
1907 to August 1909, inclusive.
It will be observed that the yield of the control section
increased by 14 bags in the first year over the previous average
yield of the field. ‘This, presumably, was due to the forking
and bedding. With the exception of Nos. 1 and 7, all the
sections dropped 1 bag in the second year.
These experiments tend to prove the great advantage
which accrues from manuring even good, bearing cacao, and
that an average yield per acre of 5 bags of 180 lb. each, which
most planters agree is excellent, can be easily increased by
50 per cent., leaving a big increase in profits to the planter.
‘Chey also prove the superiority of T. S. G. cacao manure, and
show that it is the most profitable complete manure that can
be used for cacao.
RESULTS.
Yield in bags
‘ - Cost of * Increased Profit (on
Section. Cost, oF in: Saya yield, in " manure).
Sy manure. _ Ist 2nd m - (At £4 per
vation. : Total. bags.
ear. year, bag.)
1 £5 £8 10s. 5} 5} 11 i £6 bs. 8a.
2 £5 © Caer +£ 7 0s. 0d.
i £5 5 7 15 +£ 913s. 4d.
4 £112s 74 6} 14 +£9 13. 4d.
5 — 6) ’ 113
G6 £4 ds 34 7 153 +4) 4£12 8s. 4d.
7 £3 15s 5 Sf bz 114 +i —-£ 53. Is. 8d.
8 £5 i ei eahy +53 +£17 13s. 4a.
Vox. VIII. No. 197.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 357
USE OF TIMBER TO ROTS.
The following extracts are taken from Bulletin
No. 6 of the Division of Pathology and Physiology of
the Hawaiian Planters’ Association. They show how
the tendency of wood to be attacked by fungi has
a relation to its power of absorbing water, and how this
property depends on the way in which it is cut.
Investigations were made in connexion with the travel
of the water in three directions: (1) along the grain
(longitudinally), (2) along a line extending from the
centre to the circumference (radially), (3) in a direction
at right angles to this (tangentially).
The relative action of the timber rots on a piece of
timber is partly a function of the internal moisture of the
timber; and the advent and residence of moisture in the
timber, are functions of the structure. A few examples will
illustrate this.
It will be noticed that shingles sawn radially, or nearly
-so, last longer than those that are sawn tangentially. ‘The
reason for this is apparently that these shingles dry out more
evenly and quickly, so that they are less liable to warp and
crack. The tangential shingles keep the moisture underneath
from evaporating, so that while their upper surface is nearly
dry, and hence shrunken, the lower surface is still wet and
expanded or swollen. On the other hand, in a shower of
short duration, the tops of tangential shingles become wet and
expand, while the lower - surfaces are still comparatively dry,
so that here, again, they warp or curl. In the course of time,
this mechanical action works changes in the wood, and it
will be found that such shingles crack and rot away fastest.
On the other hand, shingles sawn radially get wet and dry
evenly and quickly, with least tendency to crack, This
cracking is a matter that is largely mechanical, and, of course,
must not be confounded with the direct action of fungi.
Later on, however, the fungi take advantage of the
eracks due to the mechanical action of the moisture. In the
cracks that have been established. by the warping and uneven
evaporation, the spores of rots find a protected place in which
to germinate.
The position in which a timber should be placed is also
complicated by the fact that what is called sap wood, that is
to say, wood composed of the outside and youngest layers of
the tree’s growth, is more susceptible to the action of timber-
rotting fungi than are the layers of what is called the heart
wood, The younger the wood, the more likely it is to rot.
This materially modifies the way that timber should be placed,
in all cases where such susceptible parts are present. For
instance, in the case of a square piece of timber, of which two
sides are tangential and two sides are radial, the outer tan-
gential side is more likely to be sapwood, and hence more
susceptible than the inner. Thus, in a case where a timber
is so placed in a structure that one of its sides cannot be
painted, the unpainted side will probably be subject to fungus
attack; for instance, in the case of the lower rail of a fence,
there is a choice in the way it should be placed.
It is easy to see that these mechanical features of the
weathering of timber have much to do with the facility with
which timber rots obtain an entrance, and secure protection
while doing their destructive work. In this connexion, the
following experiments are interesting and instructive,
Blocks about 15 mm. across were prepared, all of
the same shape and size. In one, the grain was longi-
tudinal, in a second, the same dimension was tangential, and
in the third it was radial. These three blocks were placed
simultaneously in absolute alcohol 1 mm, deep. The
object was to see at what relative rates the alcohol would
penetrate the wood along these three lines. Previous to
immersion in the alcohol, all the faces of the blocks, except
the lower and upper, were covered with wax, so that the fluid
should not creep round the ends of the ‘grain’ in the case of
the two latter specimens. -With the grain, the alcohol tra-
versed the block in four and a half seconds. Tangentially,
the “alcohol penetrated 2 mm. in three hours. Radially,
the alcohol had made little, if any, progress in three hours.
Water in pieces of the same length moved longitudinally
much more slowly. It traversed the length of the piece, with
the grain, in from five to ten minutes. Adjacent layers of
summer wood showed marked differences in the rate of
progress. Radial and tangential directions not tried.
Two square pieces of wood, 1 mm. thick, were prepared
with the aid of sharp planes, one piece tangential, the other
radial. One of these pieces therefore presented the edge of
the grain, the other its face. The object of the experiment
was to test the relative rapidity of water percolation through
these two pieces,
To this end, all four of the edges of each piece were
sealed with hot paraftin. Ordinary watch glasses were now
sealed to these pieces of wood with the aid of hot wax.
Under each watch glass was a small piece of sponge saturated
with water. To counteract the warping of the wood, the
watch glass and the wood were bound about with thread.
The watch glasses were accurately paired, and the paraftin
was prevented from entering beyond the required limits by
previously ringing the pieces of wood with hot paraffin on
a turntable.
The diameter of the circle of wood exposed to the action
of the water inside the watch glass was 36 mm. or an area of
about 113°2 sq. mm., being the same in each ease.
The percolation took place at a temperature of 50° to
55° F, in a rather dry air. The results after eighteen hours
were as follows :—
Percolation through wood in radial direction, 0:335
grams.
Percolation through wood in tangential direction, 1:005
grams.
From this it will be seen that the amount which passed
through the wood in the tangential direction (through the
wood when the edge of the grain was presented)
was about three times as great as through the wood in
a radial direction, that is through the wood when the face of
the grain was presented. These relative rates of percolation
were maintained for several days. It will be noted that these
results are in accord with the rate of penetration of alcohol.
The facts brought out by these experiments are highly
suggestive, and have an intimate relation to the sawing and
use of timber in general.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc. Entomologist on the staff
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, returned
from St. Lucia to Barbados by the R.M.S. ‘ Berbice’
on November 2.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NoveMBerR 13, 1909.
>)
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date October 25, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report, no business is reported in West
Indian Sea Island cotton, owing to the absence of stock.
American Sea Island cotton of all descriptions continues
to harden gradually. For ‘Fine’ Island they are asking
163d. and ‘ Fully Fine’ 173d., but no business is passing at
these rates, buyers’ ideas being rather lower. The best
Floridas are worth 153d. to 14d.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Sonthern States, for the week
ending October 23, is as follows :—
The market has been quiet throughout the week, without
any sales being reported. There was some demand at the prices
at which the opening sales were made, viz: Fine 28e., Fully
Fine 30c., and Extra Fine 32e., which if factors had con-
sented to accept would have resulted in fairly large sales; but
factors advanced their prices 2c., which buyers refused to
pay. Should the market remain quiet, with no demand at
the advance asked, with the accumulation of stock, factors
may in time have to recede from their advanced views.
COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE
WEST INDIES.
The amounts of cotton exported from Grenada, St. Kitts,
Nevis and Anguilla, during the quarter ending September 30,
1909, were as follows:
Origin. Number of Weight. Estimated value.
bales. tb. & S. d.
Grenada
Sea Island 243 7,366 429 13 &
M. Galante 6014 18,198 561 2, l
St. Kitts 3° 600 32 10 0
Nevis 13 3,070 166 3) 16
Anguilla l 200 10. 16 8
All this cotton was sent to the United Kingdom; that
from the three last-mentioned places was all Sea Island.
The export of cotton from Antigua for the same period
is given on page 326, and those from Barbados, St. Vincent,
Trinidad, Tobago, Montserrat and British Guiana will be
found, similarly, on page 342, of the present volume of the
Agricultural News.
\ COTTON NOTES./ 2
Wr __srarn OM (( (QD)
THE WORLD'S COTTON SUPPLY.
An article in the London Daily Mail on the world’s
cotton supply, written by Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G.,
has formed the material for a pamphlet entitled ‘Our
Greatest Industry’, which has just been issued. <As
this contains interesting statistical information in
connexion with the supply of, and demand for, cotton,
the following excerpts from it are given here:—
The estimated number of spindles in work in Great
Britain for 1908 was 534 millions, and taking the value of
each spindle at 30s., we get a cost of nearly £80,000,000 for
spinning mills alone, and to this must be added the cost of
looms, printing, dyeing, and bleaching works, which are
worth as much again. A spindle requires from 30 lb. to 35 bb.
of cotton per annum, which gives a total of about 34 million
bales of 500 lb. weight, nearly 3 million bales of which are
American cotton,
The United States of America during the last few years
have produced from 10 to 13 million bales of cotton,
and, to the man in the street, the 3 million bales required
by Great Britain would seem easy to obtain, but we must not
forget that America has some 28 million spindles, which
number is increasing rapidly, and she requires over 4},million
bales for her own consumption, for, although «the spindles
are fewer in number, more cotton is used, the counts being
coarser. In England, finer counts are spun, consequently
less cotton is used, but more labour is put into the manufac-
ture of the goods.
In addition to Great Britain and America, Germany
wants 1} million bales, Russia, France, Austria, and Italy
over half a million each, and other countries a million between
them. Thus we have accounted for about 12 million bales
of American cotton. India million
bales, the bulk of which is used by Japan, Germany, France,
Russia and India. Egypt also produces three-quarters of
a million, half of which is used by Great Britain. In
addition, some 1} million bales are produced in Russia,
Brazil, and Japan, where the cotton is chiefly used.
We _ have that a crop of about 12 to 13
million bales of American cotton is required to satisfy these
demands, and if the crop falls short, England suffers from
a shortage of the raw material, The result is short time, and
consequent distress. In 1904, when Lancashire mills were on
short time, it is estimated that capital and labour in the cotton
trade alone lost some £150,000 a week, to say nothing of
the losses in other trades directly connected with the
industry. Some 10 million people are dependent, either
directly or indirectly, on the cotton industry of Lancashire,
which is a trade dependent on a single foreign country for
its supplies of raw material, and is at the mercy of the
climate and the speculator.
produces about 3
seen
Vou: VIII. No. 197.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 359
Already in the West Indies, sufficient Sea Island cotton
has been grown to prevent the ‘cornering’ of this quality
of cotton. Moreover, the cotton grown is superior to the
American variety, and some bales have been sold to America.
Something like £200,000 sterling has been spent in wages to
the natives. Some of the islands whose administration
formerly required grants from the Imperial Treasury are now
able to support themselves, and, indeed, have a surplus.
In West Africa the quantity of cotton grown has rapidly
risen from 500 to 12,000 bales, of a value of £120,000. All
this cotton has been grown by the natives, and their spend-
ing power has been increased by this amount. They are
consequently able to buy imported goods from this country, so
that the work of the Association is two-fold—that of growing
the raw material, and that of finding new outlets for the
manufactures of this country.
The Government benefits through the duty levied on
these goods and the railway freight paid on cotton and
cotton seed. In fact, the Colony of Southern Nigeria will
benefit by some £30,000 from the 12,000 bales this year.
To open up the African cotton fields, several million pounds
are being spent on railways, and here again, of course, the
jronfounders and engineers will benefit.
Cotton in Barbados, 190@-9.—The area of
cotton in Barbados during the season 1908-9 was 5,768 acres.
From this there have been exported 1,713 bales, weighing
838,749 lb., and of the estimated value of £41,957. During
the season, the yield per acre has been at the rate of 145 tb,
of lint, as compared with 137 tb. for the season 1907-8,
and 170 tb. for that of 1906-7.
Area of Cotton in Antigua.—The area that has
‘been planted in cotton in Antigua during the present season
is 2524 acres. All this was reported to be in a promising and
healthy condition at the middle of last month, but
rain was beginning to be required in the southern and
western districts.
THE GERMINATION OF CEARA RUBBER
SEEDS.
The following hints ona method of germinating
the seeds of the Ceara rubber plant (Manihot Glaziovit)
are given in the Philippine Agricultural Review.
The method should be applicable to the seeds of the
Jequié Manicoba and Kemanso Manigoba (Manihot
dichotoma and M. piauhyensis), as well. The deserip-
tion of the procedure applies to the conditions where
planting out takes place almost immediately after the
seeds have sprouted; but it seems to be capable of
modification to suit those of the nursery :—
Select a moist, but not too wet, spot in the field where
the rubber seeds are to be planted; dig a hole about 3 or 4
feet in diameter and about 2 feet deep: take out all the dirt
and make the bottom smooth; then scatter about 1 inch of
dirt evenly over the bottom. Take tiie rubber seeds and scatter
them thickly all over the loose dirt in the hole, then take
a basket, or a box with a perforated bottom, and place it
over the seeds, bottom upward; take an empty sack and place
this over the basket or box, whichever the case may be; when
this has been done, cover the basket or box with the dirt that
was taken out of the hole, so that there is about 12
inches of dirt all over and around the basket. The seeds
must be filed, and it is a good plan to soak them in water for
about twenty-four hours before sowing them in the hole.
After three days, uncover the basket or box, being
careful to remove all dirt before taking it away. You
will find that a large percentage of the seeds has sprouted;
that is, the sprouts are just coming through the seeds; some
of them may have already taken root. You can then pick
out all those that have sptouted, and plant them in their
permanent place in the field; the ants will not harm them
after they have reached this stage. The seeds that have not
sprouted must be covered up again, and after twenty-four
hours repeat the operation, and so on until all the seeds have
been planted. The field should be previously prepared, the
hole should be dug, that is, the soil should be loosened up
3 or 4 inches deep, and a stick placed at each hole where the
seeds are to be planted. The planting of the sprouted seeds
is very simple. Make a hole about 1 inch deep in the
loosened earth, put the sced in with the sprout down, cover
lightly, being careful not to step on or press down on the
newly planted seed with your hand; the first rain will do that
much better, and without injury to the sprout. If the above-
described method of sprouting and planting the seeds is
followed, three or four men can plant a large field in a day,
and every seed will grow.
WORKERS IN SCIENCE AND THE
PRACTICAL FARMER.
During the absence of the Commissioner of Agri-
culture in England, an address was given by him before
the Buckinghamshire Chamber of Agriculture, on the
relationship that exists between workers in science and
the practical farmer.
Dr. Watts first drew attention to the keen competition
that exists between different countries in relation to the
supply of agricultural products, and to the fact that, if the
English farmer is to hold lis own, he must be supplied with
what he is already demanding—that is, advice and education
in agricultural matters. He thea gave an outline of the work
that is being conducted in the West Indies by the Imperial
Department of Agriculture, with special reference to its
relation to the planters and to agricultural education, showing
how many of the matters of his experience had their parallel
in English conditions. The chief efforts of scientific advisers
were directed into two channels: that of the presentation of
facts of interest in a form to attract and appeal to the older
men, andthe direction of agricultural education of such
a kind as to gain the attention of those who are younger. In
the first, the observations of the farmer were of the greatest
value, and it was the business of the scientist to classify
these and collate them with his own experience and knowl-
edge in sucha way as to identify himself with all that is
best and most advanced ; he should not content himself with
merely elementary matters and trivialities. After reviewing
the problems that would have to be attacked in consequence
of the adoption of this attitude, Dr. Watts went on to show
how its natural corollary would be the formation of research
and cooperative experiment stations, a central advisory
department and agricultural societies, and the appointment
of agricultural inspectors.
Finally, in dealing with the second direction in which
the efforts of the scientist would be made, Dr. Watts showed
how agricultural education for the younger men should
accompany the other work, but should not be confused with
it. It would entail the arrangement of knowledge in an
orderly form, the maintenance of classes for the purpose of
imparting it, and the holding of examinations for indicating
the rate at which progress was being made.
360
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NOVEMBER 13, 1909.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Avents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs, Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 8 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
23, 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural sews
Vou. VII. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1909. No. 197.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In this number, the editorial deals with the address
of the Chairman at the opening of the sub-section
Agriculture at the British Association meeting at
Winnipeg.
Interesting general results of work that has been
recently undertaken for the purpose of finding out what
possibilities as a producer of .alcohol are shown by
Hawaiian molasses appear on page 355
Page 356 contains particulars of manurial experi-
ments with cacao that have been carried out on
a private estate in Grenada.
An abstract of an article which deals with the way
in which timber should be sawn and used in order to
lessen the chance of its being attacked by fungi is given
on page 857. At the same time, it is suggested that
a little powdered copper sulphate, placed in or near the
joints of timber where it is likely to become wet, would
often delay, if it did not prevent, rotting.
Notes of a lecture on the relationship of the
scientific worker to the practical agriculturist, which
was given by the Commissioner of Agriculture while
in England recently, will be found on page 359,
The Insect Notes (page 362) of this number con-
tain the continuation, as Part II, of the series of
articles on the Natural History of Insects, under the
heading ‘Structure and Growth.’
In the Students’ Corner, on page 365, will be found
a critical review of the answers given to the questions
set im the recent Preliminary Examination, in con-
nexion with the Reading Courses Scheme.
The Manurial Value of Gypsum.
In Bulletin No. 5 (1908) of the Colorado Agri-
cultural Experiment Station are given the results of
pot experiments in whieh observations were made on
the effects of gypsum in use with other manures. It
was found, generally, that gypsum decreased the yield
when used with acid manures, and increased it with
alkaline mauures. It therefore appears that gypsum
would give good-results with a manure such as sodium
nitrate, but that it would decrease the yield with
superphosphate and-ammonium sulphate. ‘lhe experi-
ments also showed that gypsum lessens the injurious
effect on plants of an excess of magnesia in the soil.
+
Implemental Tillage in Egypt.
The Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Annual
Series, No. 4,324, states that the use of steam ploughs
is extending in Egypt, over 150 sets of one British
make having been imported in the last six years. The
larger engines and agricultural implements are only
being used at present on the big estates. The difficulty
of transport and of finding skilled mechanics for the
machines, together wrth the high price of fuel, causes
progress to be slow, though the last circumstance may
be ameliorated if it turns out that the recent discoveries
of oil springs on the shore of the Red Sea give the
means of providing cheap fuel.
In Upper Egypt, associations are being formed,
for the purpose of purchasing agricultural machinery,
among the smaller agriculturists, in order to enable the
smaller cultivators to hire such implements.
EE OS
Extraction of Wax from Sugar Scums.
Much interest is being taken at the present time
in the utilization of the waste products from the sugar-
cane industry. Many of the ways of doing this are, of
course, familiar. In a recent issue of the Journal des
Fabricants de Sucre, an account is given of an article
in Die Deutche Zuckerindustrie, which deals with
a recent thesis on the wax of sugar-cane and its techni-
cal extraction. From this it appears that the scums
resulting from the defecation of the juice of the cane
contain at least 10 or 12 per cent. ef wax, reckoned on
the solid matter. When such scums are exposed to the
action of the air for some time, changes take place in
them by which the greasy matters are destroyed, and
the extraction of the wax is facilitated. This is per-
formed inthe following way. The scums are allowed
to remain in heaps until the changes which have just
been indicated have taken place. ‘They are then dried,
either artificially or in sunlight, broken into small
pieces, aud the wax is extracted with benzene.
From estimates given, it is shown that this wax
can compete profitably with carnauba wax, which is
obtained in commercial quantities from the leaves of
a palm (Cope rnicia cerifera) in Brazil. (See Agricul-
tural News Vol. VII, p. 261.) The removal of the
wax from the scum cake would not, of course, affect its
manurial value.
Vou. VIII. No. 197.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
361.
The Manufacture of Nitrates from Air.
The British Consul-General at Berlin states that
the manufacture of nitrates from air in Germany is
still in its first stages. The principal German works
can produce about 21,500 tons of mitrate of lime per
annum ; but this quantity will be increased to over
40,000 tons when the new works that have been
projected are in operation. A factory has also been
built in the Tyrol, which is capable of producing about
7,000 tons of nitrate of lime.
At the rate at which nitrate of lime is being sold
in Germany, the sales for the whole year will amount
to over 7,500 tons; this is about 1} per cent. of the
total quantity of nitrate of soda‘annually consumed in
that country.
rn + re
Agricultural Instruction in California.
A new departure has been made in the direction
of agricultural instruction in California during 1908.
In this, a special train, supplied witbout charge by the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company, made a tour of the
northern part of the State, carrying a body of horti-
cultural and agricultural instructors for the purpose of
giving information to farmers on agricultural subjects.
The University of California and the State Horti-
cultural Commission equipped a car with exhibits,
which was attached to the train carrying the instruc-
tors to serve as an illustration of the results that could
be obtained by the adoption of scientific methods.
In the event of the experiment proving successful,
the train will make visits to all parts of the State, and
these will be repeated at intervals.
rE
Times for Tapping Rubber Trees.
Information that has been supplied to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture of the Federated Malay States
shows that, in some cases, the continuous tapping of
rubber trees causes the amount of latex that is obtained
from each tree to decrease to such an extent that it
becomes of less value than the cost of tapping, while in
other cases the amount obtained only varies slightly,
never steadily decreasing. The variation in the latter
case is caused by climatic conditions, chiefly rainfall.
Some planters cease tapping when the trees are
leafless. Experiments have been carried on for
eighteen months by the Department, on seventeen-
year old trees, which show that there isa slight decrease
of yield during the leafless period. There is also
a sinsilar decrease during the fruiting period, but this
is not sufficient to increase seriously the cost of tapping.
As a matter of fact, the cutting of the bark which takes
place when a tree of 20 inches or more in girth is
tapped causes so slight an injury as to be negligible.
The same Department suggests a simple way of
deciding how long tapping should be continued. his
consists in keeping a record of the amount of latex
from each tree, from 1,000 trees, or from a field. If no
serious and continuous decline 1s shown by the figures,
there is no need to stop tapping. If, however, after
a series of tappings, say forty or fifty, there is a marked
constant decrease in the amount of latex obtained, it is
then advisable to let the trees rest for a month at least,
and not to begin to tap them again until it is found by
trial that the rate of flow has been restored.
West Indian Exhibits in Canada.
The Morning Chronicle, of Halifax, N.S., states
that the West Indian exhibit at the Provincial Exhibi-
tion was among the most interesting and instructive of
the displays there, and that it has excited much favour-
able comment. It states further: the collection was
an extensive one, occupying aspace 45 feet by 28 feet
in area, and arranged in such a manner as to allow
a thorough inspection of each article: besides being
a great attraction, the exhibit gave the thousands of
visitors to the Exhibition a fairly thorough idea of the
resources of the various British West Indian islands;
the arrangement of the exhibit is one of neatness and
utility ; most of the exhibits are in glass, and all are
plainly labelled.
Particulars of the exhibits from the various West
Indian islands have already been given in the Agri-
cultural News. (Vol. VIII, pp. 233, 285 and 318.)
The Relationship of Manuring to Meat Produc-
tion.
A paper on this subject was read by Professor
Somerville before the agricultural sub-section of the
British Association this year. It presented results
of experiments which have been conducted over
a period of nine years. They show that the manuring
of pastures with lime does not lead to profitable increase
in the amount of meat produced. When lime and
superphospbate were used there was a small profit.
By the use of basic slag, in the first year only, a large
gain was obtained, and even at the end of nine years,
the effects of the manure were not exhausted. This
result has been obtained in other, duplicate, experiments;
it shows that it is better to stimulate the growth of the
best plants in a mixed pasture by a large initial applica-
tion of phosphate than to apply it year after year.
With superphosphate, the annual profit was reduced.
No monetary gain resulted from the employment of
potash and phosphate.
Nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia
increased the yield of hay, but actually reduced the
annual production of meat, This result shows that the
weighing of the produce ofa pasture as a method of
determining its value for feeding purposes is not
reliable,
Further trials with basic slag show that as good
results were obtained from an application when the
herbage is growing vigorously as from an application
given several months before the growing period.
It seems to be indicated by the experiments that
no crops offer better opportunities for the employment
of artificial manures that those on poor, worn-out
pasture.
362
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
NovemBer 13, 1909.
INSECT
NOTES.
NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS.
Parr IT,
As has been already stated, insects are animals which, in the
adult condition, have never more than six Jegs,and generally,
two pairs of wings (which may be wanting but are never more),
and a body made up of three distinct parts, head, thorax and
Fig. 43. Cockroacu. (U. 8. Department of Agriculture.)
abdomen. The legs are
attached to the thorax,
one pair to each segment;
the fore and hind wings
are attached to the second
and third segments, res-
pectively. The head and
abdomen have no organs
of locomotion. To the
head are attached the
mouth parts, and the
antennae which are sen-
sory organs. The abdomen
also sometimeshas sensory
organs. Fig. 43 shows _-(f
the cockroach and the
attachments of wings and
legs.
In the case of most
insects, the adult deposits
eggs from which the young
are hatched. There are
instances, however, among
these animals, in which
the young are already
hatched from the egg at the time when they are born, That is to
say, they are active and free-moving, having accomplished one
stage of their existence within the body of the parent.
After the birth of an insect, or the hatching from the
Fig. 44. Bean Lear Rowver.
STRUCTURE AND GRowrTH.
egg, it goes through changes and developments-before reaching
the fully developed or adult condition. This change and
development is called the metamorphosis. Metamorphosis
may be either complete or incomplete. This does not mean
that development stops short of the perfect insect, in the case
of insects which have incomplete metamorphosis, but rather
expresses a general difference between these two kinds of
development.
Insects which have an incomplete metamorphosis
are something like the adult when they are first
hatched from the egg. (Fig. 43, young (c) and adult
(a and 4) cockroaches.) They are, of course, much
smaller, and without wings, but in general form they give
an idea of what they will be like when they are full-grown.
Insects which have a complete metamorphosis are very dif-
ferent, when first hatched, . from the adult form into which
they finally develop. Such insects have four distinct stages,
or periods, in their lives. These are, the egg, the larva, the
pupa andthe imago. The egg is the first stage in the
development of a generation, and the larva is the next. The
larvae of the butterflies and moths are called caterpillars; of
beetles, grubs; and of flies, maggots, This is the portion of
an insect’s life when all growth in size takes place. The
pupa is the state during which the change takes place, in
which the larva is transformed into the final and adult
condition of the insect’s life; the wings are formed and the
reproductive organs become complete. The pupa of a butter-
fly is called a chrysalis; that of a moth is often enclosed in
a cocoon. Fig. 44 shows the bean leaf-roller (Hudamus
proteus) with larva (b and ec), pupa (d), and adult (a).
In the case of insects which have an incomplete metamor-
phosis, there is not the same distinction between the larva and
pupa, as in the case of
those having a complete
one. There is no quiescent
stage during which the
insect transforms, as in the
chrysalis of the butterfly.
The growth of insects is
accompanied by a series
of moults. The chitinous
exoskeleton, once formed
and hardened, not
capable of growth, and it
natural that it should
be shed at intervals, when
the limbs and organs have
increased in size as much
as they can. Before the old
skin is cast off, there is
formed under it another,
which is soft, pliant and
elastic. As soon as the old
one is shed, the new skin
is stretched out by the
pressure from within, and
it then hardens. ‘The
exoskeleton, as it now becomes, is fixed, and docs not grow
any more. The size of the insect is stationary until the next
moult, except that the flexible connective tissues between the
segments are capable of stretching a little.
is
(U.S. Department of Agriculture.)
Won. VIII. No. 197.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 363
THE SPICES OF THE TROPICS.
The following abstracts are taken from a paper
which appeared in the Tropical Agriculturist for
September, 1909 :—
From remote ages the spices of the tropics have attracted
traders from distant lands, and formed a lure for adventurous
explorers. More especially can this be said of the spices of
Southern Asia, as the cinnamon of Ceylon; nutmegs and
cloves of the Moluccas; cardamoms, ginger and pepper of
Southern India. Some of the ancient cities of Europe are
said to have been indebted for a large share of their wealth
to the trade in tropical spices during the time of the Romans.
Cinnamon, which has long made the name of Ceylon famous,
was from the earliest times perhaps the most coveted of all
spices. It is mentioned in the Song of Solomon and in the
Book of Proverbs ; the Arabians supplied it to the Greeks
and Romans, but jealousy shrouded in mystery the sources of
its origin and the manner of obtaining it. It is supposed
that the spice, being first brought from: Ceylon to the Western
coast of India, was carried to Arabia and Egypt by African
and Arabian traders, finally reaching Europe after a journey
of very many months. Cinnamon was, for a long period,
a State monopoly in Ceylon, and its cultivation was not
declared free until 1833. At one time, it is said, cinnamon
was sold for £8 per lb., pepper at 10s. per tb., while other
spices commanded similar fabulous prices. As recently as
1880, cardamoms were sold for over 9s. per Ib. In 1826, the
English import duty alone on pepper was 2s. 6d. per tb., on
nutmegs and mace 3s. 6d. per Ib. each, on ‘cloves 5s, 7 Ad,
while vanilla was taxed to the extent of nearly 17s. per tb.
For a long period, the uncultivated or wild trees of the
forests furnished the world’s supply of spices, which were
consequently confined to the natural habitats of the plants.
Subsequently, the spread and cultivation of spice-producing
plants was, for a long time, retarded by the system of Stite
monopoly established by the Dutch in the principal spice-
producing countries. So severe, for instance, was the Dutch
censorship in regard to cinnamon in Ceylon that an infringe-
ment was, it is said, punishable even by death. The _ history
of cloves, nutmegs and pepper at the hands of the Dutch in
the Malay Archipelago might be told in similar language, the
plants being either deliberately destroyed, or their cultivation
enforced, to suit the circumstances. An amusing story, told
in this connexion, is that the Home Dutch Government once
despatched orders to their Colonial Governor requesting him
to reduce the number of nutmeg trees but to increase the
cultivation of mace trees, being of course ignorant of the fact
that both spices were produced from the same tree. But this
is an error which is not OUND even nowadays. Sir
Hugh Clifford informs us how the clove tree became extinct
in the islands of Tidor and Ternate by being deliberately
destroyed by the Dutch, in their endeavour to secure their
monopoly of the spice by confining the tree to Amboyna,
Notwithstanding the severe restrictions of the Dutch, however,
the escape of the precious spice plants to other countries
gradually took place, both by smuggling and by the agency
of migrating birds. Of the latter, the principal culprit was
a kind of pigeon, which extracted the nutmeg from its pulpy
covering, digested the mace, and voided the seed uninjured.
The French succeeded, in 1770, in introducing the clove tree
into Mauritius and Réunion, from whence it soon reached
Zanzibar, ete. <A striking result of this is that the world’s
greatest supply of cloves now comes from these islands, and
not from the native home of the tree, the Moluccas. Similarly,
Jamaica obtained ginger from India, and has long practically
commanded the supply of that product ; and the same may
be said of Réunion and the Seychelles in regard to the
production of vanilla, whose native home is South America.
Now, with the free interchange of plants from one country
to another, followed by systematic methods of cultivation,
the supply of spices has increased many fold; prices have
been reduced so as to bring the articles within the reach of
all communities, while the consumption and demand have
enhanced in proportion.
Spices form one of the most important classes of vege-
table products. Not only do they contain valuable medicinal
properties, but their presence renders agreeable articles of
tood which are otherwise unpalatable. When used judiciously
in cooking, they aid the digestion by their effect in increasing
the secretion of the gastric fluids; to the confectioner they are
particularly essential, and are largely used for his purpose,
more especially on the Continent of Europe; while in the
preparation of superior beverages, they are also important.
In medicine, certain spices, especially ginger, cardamoms, and
cloves, hold a very important place, and doctors also find
them ‘indispensable in disguising nauseous decoctions. The
antiseptic properties of spices, especially cloves, due to! i their
volatile oils, is well known, and for preservative purposes both
in domestic and scientific uses, they are often unsurpassed.
The appropriateness of spices to sacred uses has long been
recognized, as they were always a favourite ingredient for
burning in incense, while in certain social customs of oriental
countries spices are to this day used as an emblem of happi-
ness. It is recorded, I believe, that spices were used in the
funeral piles of the Egyptian Kings and that the extravagant
Nero burnt, at the obsequies of his wife, ‘a quantity of
cinnamon and cassia exceeding in amount the whole importa-
tion into Rome for one year’, Finally, not the least virtue of
certain spices is their effect in sweetening the breath of
persons who are addicted to masticating habits, popularly
known as betel-chewing. For this purpose, cardamoms especi-
ally are esteemed in India and Ceylon, star-anise in China,
while the disguising effect of cloves is well known in other
climes. Certain authorities consider that the presence of
spices has a beneficial effect on climate, their volatile oils
acting as a preventive against mosquitos and other germ-
carrying insects.
WILD IPECACUANHA AND STOCK.
Information Bi to the possible poisonous effect of
wild ipecacuanha ( Asclepias curassuvica) on cattle has
already been given in the Agricultural News (Vol.
VIII, pp, 222 and 261), and a request has been made
for information in regard to the matter. In response
to this, Mr. E. J. F. Campbell, Superintendent of the
Botanic Station, Belize, British Honduras, has supplied
the following facts :—
About two years ago, one of the large landowners in
British Honduras lost, quite suddenly, several animals (mules
and horses) that he bad in a pasture where there was a large
amount of wild ipecacuanha growing. At the time of the
occurrence, a post mortem examination was made by the
Colonial Surgeon in the district, and this weed was found in
the animal’s stomach. Mr. Campbel] further states that
specimens taken from the examined animal were identified
by himas Aselepias curassavica, and that he is therefore
certain that this plant is a poisonous weed, and ought to be
killed out of stock pastures. He also says that the cater-
pillar of Archippus (see Agricultural News, Vol. VIII,
p. 261) uses it as a food plant in Honduras.
364
THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NovemMBer 13, 1909.
GLEANINGS.
A demand for Jamaica bananas has recently arisen in
Finland, and it is expected that the trade in this fruit will
rapidly increase.
By instruction of his Honour the Administrator of
Grenada, the Morne Rouge Swamp has been stocked with
millions, which were supplied from the Botanic Station tank,
In Mexico, during the season November 1908 to April
1209, the coffee crop was expected to reach a quantity of 81
million, as against 33 million pounds for the preceding season.
The value of the exports from the Seychelles in 1908,
exclusive of specie, was £99,275. In the same year, the
value of vanilla exported was £17,632; this isa large decrease
from that of 1907, which was about £66,000.
Sir Alfred Jones has offered to give £25,000 to the
funds of the British Cotton Growing Association, on condi-
tion that the Lancashire Cotton Spinners collect subscriptions
to the amount of £150,000 within. the next half-year.
The area in cocoa-nuts in the native Malay States at
the end of 1908 was 118,697 acres; this is an increase of
over 6,000, or 5 per cent., since the same cate in’ 1907,
when the area was 112,550 acres.
the Federated Malay States, Vol. VIII, No. 9.)
The Chabarra Central Factory in Cuba holds the record
for the largest amount of sugar made during the past season.
This was 68,292 tons. The weight of cane ground was
702,000 tons, so that, on the average, 217 tb. of sugar was
obtained from each ton of cane.
In the Manchester Guardian of September 29, 1909, the
statement is made that the demand for cotton and other
textile goods inthe West Indies shows signs of a revival,
after along depression, although the trade in some of the
smaller islands is still in a somewhat unsatisfactory condition.
According to the Allahabad Pioneer Mail, an Agri-
culture Association is being formed in Poona, with the object
of aiding the progress of agriculture in the Deccan. Its
work will chiefly include the holding of an annua! show in
one of the districts of the Deccan; the publication of agri-
cultural information, chiefly in the vernacular; the encourage-
ment of cattle breeding; and the extension of agricultural
education in the vernacular schools.
(Agricultural Bulletin of
The grants awarded by the Board of Agriculture and
Fisheries in aid of agricultural education in England and
Wales amounted to £12,100 in the year ending March
31, 1908; while in addition, special grants amounting to
£380 were made for experiment and research,
In the Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society,
Vol. XIII, No. 7, zine sulphate is suggested as a remedy for
brittle hoofs. A solution containing 1 oz. of the zine sulphate
to 1 quart of clean water should be applied immediately after
shoeing, and once every other day for a week or two
afterwards.
In the recent storm which passed over Louisiana, the
cane which seems to have suffered most severely was D.74.
In view, however, of the value of this cane, and of the com-
paratively small amount of damage done, it has been decided
by the Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station to advocate its
adoption even more strongly than heretofore.
The formation of an Italian National League against
malaria has recently taken place, and the first meeting has
been held at Milan. At this, papers relating to the present
state of knowledge in regard to malaria, the prophylaxis and
pathology of malaria, its treatment, and little known forms of
the disease have been read.
P According to the Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No.
4,312, Annual Series, extensive experiments were made by
the Zanzibar Government in cotton-growing during 1907-8.
The results have been entirely negative, not a single success
having been recorded, and the Director of Agriculture is of
opinion that the soil and climatic conditions are such as to
preclude any hope of its successful introduction.
In the report on forest administration in Southern Nigeria
for 1907, there is an account of the tour which was made
through the West Provinces by the Conservator of Forests.
During this, mahogany trees were found which had a cirenm-
ference of more than 10 feet. This, and observations made
on trees planted in the Botanical Gardens, make it likely that
mahogany trees show three or four ‘annual’ rings of growth
each year, depending on the season.
Where there is an objection to concrete floors in horse
stables, this may be easily overcome by putting false wooden
floors in the stalls where the horses stand. ‘hese may be
made of slats 2 inches wide, set 1 inch apart. They are
hooked to the sill in front, in order to hold them in place, so
that they may be raised up from behind when desired, or
even unhooked and removed altugether, for the purpose of
cleaning the floor. (The Watal Agriculture Journal, Vol.
XIII, No. 2.)
The recent United States Tariff Bill allows the free
introduction of 300,000 tons of sugar from the Philippines
during each fiscal year. The provision is made, however,
that preference in the right of free entry of sugar into the
United States from the Philippine Islands shall be given
first to the producers of less than 500 tons in any fiscal “year,
then to producers of the lowest output in excess of 500 tons
in any fiscal year. This will make it impossible for the large
producers to prevent the small producer from getting the
benefit of free introduction.
Vor, VLE, Nos 19\7-
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
365
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
AGRICULTURAL EXAMINATIONS.
In accordance with the statement in the last number of
the Agricultural News, further particulars are given in this
issue in regard to the recent Preliminary Examination, in
connexion with the scheme of Reading Courses established
by the Imperial Department of Agriculture, which was held
on October 11 in Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada,
St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent. The results of the exam-
ination were given in the number of the Agricultural News
to which reference has been made already.
The number of questions set in the written part of the
-examination was thirteen, and of these not more than nine were
to be attempted by the candidates. They were as follows :—
1. Describe the structure of a bean and a grain of corn
(maize).
2. Give an account of the germination of two of the
following seeds : —Corn (maize), Pigeon Pea, Bonavist bean,
‘Onion, Guinea Corn, Castor, Cotton. When sowing seeds
such as beans, corn or onions, should you press the earth
firmly round the seeds, or leave it loose. Give the reasons
for your answer.
3. Mention three crops grown from seed and three from
cuttings. What particular advantages result from the use
-of cuttings ?
4, Describe carefully how you would bud or graft one
of the following plants:—Orange, Mango, Cacao. What is
the object of budding or crafting !
5. What results are sought in (a) deep ploughing,
4b) surface tillage? When should these operations be per-
formed in connexion with such a crop as corn (maize)
6. What is farmyard or pen manure 4 What precautions
should be taken in preserving this material before it is used ?
7. Mention two artificial (or chemical) manures, and
give their origin or mode of preparation. State whether they
are used for crops in your neighbourhood, and if so, why !
8. In what ways are weeds harmful to field crops !
9. Describe the functions of a leaf.
10. Describe the means (or structure) by which certain
plants are protected from excessive loss of weter. Mention
as examples at least two cases, and not more than three
11. What do you understand by rotation of crops, and
what are the advantages from this practice 4
12. Describe the difference between the stomach of the
horse and that of the ox. What bearing has this on the
feeding of these animals !
13. State what element contained in the air is always
necessary to animals, and describe the process by means of
which they are able to procure and make use of it.
Generally speaking, the questions were answered fairly
well, with the exception of numbers 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13.
“Taking them in order, the first question brought forward
some good answers, but illustrative diagrams were weak or,
most generally, absent; in fact, this remark may be made in
connexion with all the questions in which such illustrations
would have been useful. Several good answers to the second
and third questions were given, but, in regard to the former
of these, there seemed to be a good deal of uncertainty as to
the question of pressing carth upon sown seeds, and in the
latter, in connexion with the particular advantages that result
from the use of cuttings. It should be remembered that the
latter, in addition to their giving a plant which is true to
type, in most cases, often yield plants which reach maturity
comparatively early, and that they sometimes form the only
-eonyenient means of propagation. Weakness was often
shown in the latter parts of the sixth and seventh questions;
some candidates paid attention to the loss of plant food
substances from manure by their being given off into the air,
and did not remember that they may be washed ont of the
manure, while others paid attention to this circumstance and
took no notice of the other.
In dealing with the question of the manures used in the
candidate’s district, the fact of the employment of these was
generally known, but this was not the case in regard to the
reasons why such manures are used. When making observa-
tions as to different facts, do not forget to provide yourself
with answers to the question ‘why?, or at least to the
question ‘how ?. ‘The eighth question involves, in addi-
tion to the consideration of the interference of weeds
with the supplies of air, light, water and food to culti-
vated plants, that of their eect in forming cover, and
possibly food, for pests. Leaves (question 9) often have
special functions, in addition to the three chief and most
general ones. Examine as many leaves, leafy structures,
and structures borne where you would expect to find leaves,
as you can, with a view to discovering any special use or
uses in each case. In question 10, the various means by
which certain plants are protected from excessive loss of
water were not generally known, and the descriptions of
stomata given were feeble. ‘The rotation of crops (question
11) was sometimes confused with the employment of catch
crops; the more obvious advantages of rotation were appre-
ciated fairly generally, but those which consist in the facts
that such a method entails the raising of plants with different
root systems and that it causes the soil to gain the benefit of
several different kinds of cultivation, as well as the circum-
stance that it often simplifies the matter of employment of
labour, were generally ignored. Question 12 provided
a good opportunity for neat sketches, but advantage of this
was not usually taken. The fact that the lining of the
horse’s stomach is divided into two very distinct portions, of
which the one on the left is merely an extension of the lining
of the gullet, while the one on the right differs from the former
by the fact that it is capable of secreting digestive juices,
did not appear to be known. In answering the second part
of question 13, most of the candidates did not realize that
they should have included a general description of the
circulatory system; for the provision of oxygen to the blood
is only one of the stages in the transfer of that element from
the air to the tissues.
The ‘Students’ Corner’ has now appeared in the Ayre-
cultural News, without intermission, for a year; that is since
the issue of October 31, 1908 (Vol. VII, No. 170). It there-
fore now contains, in its complete form, hints connected with
every stage in the growth of the plants which yield the chief
crops of the West Indies, and will thus be found to be full
of useful and suggestive matter for those who may wish at
any time to undertake a revision of the work, as well as for
those who are passing through the preliminary stage of
the Reading Courses. It is not intended, however, to
cease to devote part of every issue of the Agricultural News
to the more immediate interests of agricultural students, and
the ‘Students’ Corner’ will therefore continue to appear in
every number. ‘I'he continuation will, of course, entail
a certain amount of repetition, but this will not be a disad-
vantage, as most agricultural matters are capable of treatment
from several different standpoints, and an opportunity will
be afforded for giving more attention (while still keeping the
interests of the Preliminary Student in mind) to the require-
ments of those who are preparing for the Intermediate and
Final Examinations.
366
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. November 13, 1909.
ST. EPORT ON THE BOTANIC
STATION, AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL, STOCK FARM
AND LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEME, AND OF THE
VETERINARY SURGEHON, 1908-9.
The ordinary expenditure (not including that on the
Agricultural School), which was entirely met from local
funds, was £665 12s. 2d. In addition, the sum of £54 3s. &d.,
from the unexpended balance on March 51, 1908, of the
Imperial Grant-in-aid of the Agricultural Department was
devoted to special services. ‘lhe receipts for the sale of
plants, seeds and produce amounted to £21 16s. 6d.
The total number of plants distributed was 6,660 (exclu-
sive of various cuttings). They included 5,489 economic
plants and 1,171 plants for shade and decorative purposes.
An interesting table is given which shows how this distribu-
tion has decreased, owing to lessened demand, with the
increase in the area of cotton cultivation. ‘Thus, in the
period 1904-5, when the area in the island that was planted
with cotton was small, the number of economic plants
distributed was 26,256; while, in the year under review, the
latter number has become a little more than one-fifth of the
value just mentioned, in correspondence with an increase of
the area under cotton to 3,000 acres.
The total estimated value of the cotton, arrowroot, cacao
and sugar-cane products that were exported was £67,314,
those of cotton and arrowroot being the highest, with £29,878
and £29,517, respectively. ‘The Sea Island cotton industry
has made satisfactory progress; although, owing to the receipt
of lower prices for the lint in 1907, a somewhat smaller area
was planted. The prices obtained for white cotton during
the past year varied from 15d. to 21d. per lb. The Marie
Galante type is still cultivated in Union, Canouan and
Mayreau, of the St. Vincent Grenadines, and obtains a price
ranging from 6d. to 8d. per Ib. Of the other islets, Bequia,
Mustique, Battowia and Balliceanx, cultivate the Sea Island
variety successfully. The total export of cotton has, since
1903-4, become more than ten times as great as it was during
that period, namely 459,305 Ib. The average yield of lint
per acre during the last four years has been 152 Ib; it is
hoped to increase this by means of improved methods of
cultivation, notably by the introduction of implemental
tillage.
Of the other main industries, namely the production of
arrowroot and cacao, the former has received a set-back owing
to the low prices which resulted from increased production,
and it is hoped to increase the outlet for this product by
finding additional markets for it. Cacao is raised, for the
greater part, in scattered plots throughout the island, with
the result that the product from these is poor. The efforts
of the Agricultural Instructor are being directed toward the
improvement of the methods of production on the small
cultivations.
The expenditure at the Agricultural School and Stock
Farm, exclusive of that on the upkeep of live stock, was
£540 Os. 2d. The receipts from the sale of cotton, plants
and seeds were £26 13s. 6d. Twenty-four names of boys
VINCENT: RK
were on the books on March 31, 19038. Four completed
their full course of training during the year. The halt-
yearly reports on the examinations beld in June and Decem-
ber indicate satisfactory progress. ‘The prize awarded to the
best boy among the senior pupils of the three Agricultural
Schools, namely Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, was
again won by a St. Vincent boy Of the stock kept at tke
School, the thoroughbred stallion and the Ayrshire bull were
disposed of, the former on condition of its being retained for
service in St. Vincent for a definite period. The receipts for
sales of animels and of milk, and for services, amounted to
£139. he number of cane cuttings distributed was 31,000,
while 5,000 cuttings of Madura (Gliricidia maculata) were
sent out to be grown as shade for cacao.
The report of the Agricultural Instructor gives pai ticulars
of the work that has been done in connexion with the land
settlement scheme. Improvement is indicated in the matters
of the provision of wind-breaks for cacao, the use of
leguminous green dressings, the mulching of cacao and
general cultural methods. A fairly large proportion of the
arrowroot plants that were grown were disposed of, as plant-
ing material, to the neighbouring estates. A good return
yas not obtained from cotton, owing to heavy rains in
December.
‘The report of the Government Veterinary Surgeon shows
that the amount spent in connexion with measures of precan-
tion against anthrax was £597 4s. 3d. Examinations of 499
ears of animals and 145 blood smears were made, and 3,433
head of stock were vaccinated with anthrax vaccine. Hight
tables are given, showing the number cf deaths from anthrax
(in relation to districts, annual periods, the same period in
different years, the different months of the year, and the
total mortality), the numbers and destinations of animals
exported, and the numbers of different animals vaccinated.
TORTOLA : REPORT ON
STATION, 1908-9.
VHE EXPERIMENT
The expenditure on the Station proper during the period
was £499 4s. 5d. The receipts from sales of produce, ete.,
amounted to £44 6s. 10d. Several useful additions and
repairs to buildings have been made.
The experiment plots were employed for investigations
in connexion with cotton, cacao, coffee, pineapples, limes,
seedling canes, Sweet potatos, cassava, arrowroot and tous-les-
mois (Canna edulis). The experiments with cotton showed
the value of early planting; those with seedling canes indicate
that B.147 should do well on low-lying land in Tortola.
In regard to industries, that of the production of cotton
shows very satisfactory growth. The estimated total crop for
the season was 265 bales of 200 Ib. each, as against an actual
yield of 162 bales of the same weight for last year. The
amount paid to peasant growers for raw cotton during the
season closed was £1,902. During the years 1904 to 1909,
108,282 Ib. of lint, having a value of £5,365, has been
shipped. In May 1908, the Department began to buy limes,
similarly, from the peasantry, and purchased 40,273 lb. for
making juice; part of this was shipped raw, and part after
being concentrated. A favourable report on the product was
received from the Brokers in Londor, and it is hoped to
establish a flourishing lime industry in Tortola. At the small
muscovado sugar works at the Station, where sugar is
made from cane raised there, and from that grown by
neighbouring peasantry, about 50 barrels of sugar was made.
The rainfall registered at the Experiment Station
during the period was 55°41 inches, which is 2°23 inches
above the average for the eight years 1901-8.
Worley Nos 197
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
367
PRESERVING BOOKS
Mr. H. Maxwell-Lefroy, M.A., F.E.S., F.Z.S., Ento-
IN THE TROPICS.
mologist to the Government of India (sometime
Entomologist tu this Department), vives, in The astern
Printers Yearbook, several precautions against the
destruction of books and papers by insects in the tropics.
As some of these are comparatively new, the following
extracts are taken from his article :—
The most destructive insect to books is the book beetle
(Sitodrepa panicea). This is a small brown beetle, which is
only one stage of this insect’s life, the greater part of the
destruction being caused by the small white grub, which is
one of the earlier stages. The grub eats tunnels in the
books, feeding upon the paper or binding, eating straight
ahead through the pages, but always keeping inside; naturally
it can feed undisturbed only in a book which is not in use,
and it isin books that are left neglected on the shelf that
this insect is found. The grub is white, with the head brown,
and the body is clothed with short, “brown hairs. It
hatches from eggs laid by the beetle, and after some weeks of
active life, transforms into the dormant chrysalis, from
which, after a little time, comes the beetle. It is the beetle
that starts the mischief, by eating into the book and laying
eggs there, the grubs then continuing it. The insect is
probably an introduced one, having been brought most likely
in books or merchandise from Europe: it is common practi-
eally all over the world, and feeds not only in books, paper,
cardboard, and similar materials, Lut in dry wood, in the
cane that furniture is made of, and in dried foodstuffs.
Where books or papers are constantly in use, or being
moved, the insect is not generally found; when it is found,
there is only one radical cure, which is to go over all the
books or stocks of papers and search out the insects: in bad
cases of attack, where this is not possible, it is necessary to
clear out ail infested articles, clean the room thoroughly, and
putting the articles in a tight box or cupboard, put sufficient
carbon bisulphide or benzine in to thoroughly impregnate
everything with the fumes, and kill the insects. At least
one pirt of the fluid used must be put into every 200 cubic
feet of space, and it is necessary to keep the infested articles
exposed for twenty-four hours, and to take precautions that
no light is brought near while the fumes can be smelt.
The above procedure is necessary only with very bad
eases; as a rule, it is sufficient to deal with each attacked
book separately. Prevention is of course better than cure
and the general precautions suggested below are the best for
this insect, as for others.
Another injurious insect is the common cockroach ; the
commonest cockroach in Indian houses is Periplaneta
australasiae, the big brown cockroach; but there are several
other household species. These have a fondness for the
colouring matter of cloth bindings, especially of certain reds
and other tints ; they feed at night and nibble off the surface
of the binding, greatly disfiguring the books. The prepara-
tion given below is a certain preventive of damage ; where
cockroaches are, however, very plentiful, a liberal application
of borax, or the provision of plenty of a mixture of borax
(one part) and syrup (two parts), smeared thickly on pieces
of card or tin and put under furniture and in dark corners,
isa great check on their numbers. Borax is a specific poison
to cockroaches and should be used freely.
We know of only one other class of insect injurious to
paper and books ; these are the curious shiny insects known
as ‘silver fish’ which are so common in cupboards and in
dark, dusty places. They cannot injure books or papers
except by destroying the glaze, which they nibble, spoiling
the surface of the better classes of glazed papers ; they are
also fond of starch and eat the starch used in binding books
or papers where they can reach it. Against these insects, the
following general precautions ‘are desirable :—
(1) Add a little blue stone (sulphate of copper) to all
starch paste; about half an, ounce to a pound of paste is
sufficient. It makes the starch distasteful to silver fish and
to beetles.
(2) If possible, keep books and papers in clean cases,
with plenty of flake naphthalene or naphthalene balls. We
use flake naphthalene liberally with all valuable papers and
drawings, and it is aiways put in book shelves and cupboards.
(3) Where paper cannot de stored in cases, it should be
in good, tight packages, to which insects cannot get access.
(4) If possible, take down every book on a shelf at least
once in three months, dust and wipe it, open it, and if there
are no beetles, replace it.
(5) All books should be painted yearly with one of the
solutions given below: it is best to do this before the rainy
season begins. Every part that can be reached when the
book is tightly closed should be painted, the back especially,
as well as the inside of the covers.
A. Spirits of wine (methylated spirit)
Carbolic acid 1 ounce.
Corrosive sublimate 1 ounce.
This mixture is very poisonous and should be applied
with a long-handled brush. It is the best, as it also checks
mould; but if used, the room in which the books are, must be
thoroughly aired once daily in hot weather as the sublimate
is volatile, and poisons the air. (See also Agricultural
News, Vols. 1, p. 140; II, p..42; VI, p. 346.)
B. Kerosene, best white
Naphthalene
Rub on lightly with a cloth, or brush.
1 quart.
1 pint.
2 ounces.
C. Spirits 1 quart.
Camphor 1 ounce.
Surmt alum 2 ounce.
Corrosive sublimate 1 ounce.
This mixture is used in the Pusa Library. It is as
poisonous as A.
RICE IN BRITISH GUIANA.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated October 28, 1909, gives informa-
tion as follows :—
‘The weather during the fortnight has continued fairly
dry and suitable for harvesting and milling. Reaping is
going on all over the colony and quality of paddy is good.
Rice is coming into town freely, and a few shipments
have been made to West indian Islands during the fortnight,
amounting to 600 bags all told.
We quote to-day, f.o.b, Demerara, for good export
quality +—
Nominally 18s, 9d. to 19s. 9d. per bag of 180 tb. gross.
17s. 3d. to 18s. 3d. » 164 tb,
” ” ”»
568 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
November 13, 1909,
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., November 5, 1909 ;
London,—Tae Wrsr_ Inpia
New York,—Messrs. Gittesrie Bros. & Co.,
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co.,
MARKET REPORTS.
ComMITTEE CIRCULAR,
October 26, 1909; Messrs. E. A. px Pass & Co.,
October 15, 1909.
ARROW roor—1jd. to 3d.
Baxata—Sheet, 2/6; block, 1/11.
Bres-wax—£7 153: to £8 for fair to good.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 62/- per ew. ; Grenada, 49/6 to
55/- per ewt., Jamaica, 47/- to 52/6.
CorreE—Quiet ; » Jamaica, 37/6 to 53/-.
Corra—West Indian, £23 10s. per ton.
Corron—No quotations.
Fruir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gincer—Quiet ; common to good common, 43/- to 45/- per
ewt.; low middling to middling, 49/- to 54/-; good
bright to fine, 5/- to 65/-.
Honey—24/6 to 31/6.
IstvcLass—No quotations.
Lime JUICE 11d. to 1/1 per gallon; concentrated,
£15 5s. to £16 per cask of 108 gallons; Otto of
limes, 5/9.
Locwoon—No quotations.
Macr—(Quiet,
Nurmeas—Steady.
Porentro—Common, 23d. per tb.; fair, 22d.; good, 24d.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 8/9 per ae Hee soft, 8/-; fine
Peru, 8/8.
Rum—Jamaica, 2/9 to 7
Sucar—Crystals, 14/9 i 15/9; Muscovado, 12/- to 15/-;
Syrup, 11/6 to 15/-; Molasses, no quotations.
October
5 Ve A9O9F
Cacao—Caracas, 11}c. to 12c. ; Grenada, 11gc. to 12{e. ;
Trinidad, 1ige. a6 12¢. ; Jamaica, 9tc. to 10$c. per th.
Cocoa- wors—_Jamaica, sélect, $3500 ; culls, $19°00 ; Trini-
dad, select, $32°00; culls, $1900 per M.
Correr Jamaica, ordinary, 8c. to 85e.; good ordinary,
9e.; and washed, up to lle. per ib.
Gincer—Ie. to 12c. per Th.
Goat Sxrss—Jamaica, no quotations ; Barbados, from 53c.
to 5dc.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 47c. to 50c.
per lb.; Antigua, 48c. to 50c., dry flint.
Grape Frurr—$187} to $2°624 per box.
Limes—Dominica, $4:00 to $5-00 per barrel.
Macr—32c. to 35c. per tb.
Nurmecs—110's, 95c. to 9c. per Th.
Orances—Jamaica, $1°7 5 to $ $2°50 per box
Pimento—4se. per th.
Suc ar—Centrifugals, 96°, 4:27c. to 4°30c. per Ib. ; Musco-
vados, 89°, 3:77c. to 3°80c.; Molasses, 89°, 3
3°d5dc. per ib., all duty paid,
October
30, 1909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°65 per fanega;
to $11°75.
Cocoa-Nuv Or—77e. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Correr—Venezuel: wn, 8c. to 9c. per th.
Corra—$3°75 per 100 Tb.
Duat—$3'8d per 2- Buebet bag.
On1ons—$3°00 to $ & ‘DO per 100 th.
Pras—Spuit $5°75 5 $6°00 per bag.
Poraros—English, $1:25 to $1°60 per 100 th.
Rick—Y ellow, $4'60 to $5:00; White, $5:00 to. $3°25
per bag.
Svcar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5:20 per 100 tb.
Trinidad, $11°50
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wietine & Rieurr
Messrs. T.S. Garraway & Co.,
1909.
ArrowRroot—St. Vincent, 33°69 to 55°70 per 100 th.
Cacao—$11-00 to $1200 per 100 th.
Cocoa-NuTs—$14 00.
Correr—Jamaica and ordinary Rio,
100 1b., scarce.
November 8,.
$9°50 to $11:00 per
, unsaleable.
Manvures—Nitrate of soda, $65°00 ; Cacao manure, $48-00;
Sulphate of ammonia, $70°0U per ton.
Morasses—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, $2°50 to $3°00 per 100 Tb.
Peas—Split, Sb° 00 per nee of 210 tb.; Canada, $340 per
bag of 120 th.
Potatos—Nova Scotia, $2°25 to $2°75 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, $4°85 to $5°20 (150 tb.); Patna, $3-80 ;
Rangoon, $3:00 per LOO tb.
Sucar—No quotations.
k, October
30; Messrs. Sanpbacn, Parker & Co.; October
15, 1909.
Messrs. SAND-
BACH, PARKER
& Co.
| é
| Messrs. WIETING
ARTICLES. & RicutTer.
|
ARRowkRooT—St. Vincent}
Barara—Venezuelablock) 32c. per tb.
Cacao—Native
Cassava— 96e
Cassava STARCH—
Cocoa-NUTS—
DHaL—
Poraros—Novya Scotia
$825 to $850 |$9 00 per 200 th.
| per 200 Tb.
Prohibited.
50c. per th.
12ce. per tb.
No quotation
No quotation
Demerara sheet) 48c. per th.
lle. to 12c. per Tb.
$6-00 to $6:50 per
barrel of 196 th.
$12 to S16 per M |S16 per M, peeled
| and selected.
CorrrE—Creole 12c. to 18c_ per th.|12e to 13c. per tb.
Jamaica and Rio}
133c. per Tb. 13sec. per tb.
Liberian c
1c. per tb. 7c. per Ib.
| $4°10 to S4°15 per |$4°25 to $4-40 per
bag of 168 th. | bag of 168 Th.
$5°25 to $d°50. =
Green Dhal
Eppos— | $144 per barrel | —
Motasses— Yellow 22c. to 25c. ==
Ontons—Tenerifte No quotation
Madeira |23c. to 23e, per th.|23c. to2#c. per th.
Pras—Split | $6°35 per hag ' §6:40 per bag
(210 tb.) (210 tb.)
Marseilles $4-00, over stock | $4°85 to $5-00
PLANTAINS— 24ce. to 0c. per =
| bunch
$2°40 to $2:50 |$3-25 per barrel.
Lisbon
Poraros-Sweet, Barbados
Rice—Ballam
No quotation
$100 per bag
S4- 50 to $5 95
No quotation
$4:75
Creole dto $440 $425 to $4°50
TANNIAS— | “44 per bag ===
Yams-—White | 40 per bag —
suck “40 per bag ——
SuGcar—Dark crystals
Yellow ‘ to $3°00 $3.00
White $3:70 to $3:80 | $3-60 to $3-80
Molasses $180 to S190 $2-00 to $2°30
Timber —Greenheart
32e. to 5dc. per
cub. foot
$3:'75 to Sd°75
| 32c. to 55c. per
cub. foot
Wallaba shingles} | $3°50 to $5°50
| per M. per M.
5, Cordwood| $180 to $2:00 | No quotation
per ton |
oo
Van
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS,
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’. A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price 1s. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
Volumes II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII:—Price 2s. each ; Post free 2s. 8d.
Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Price 6d. each number.
Post free, 8d.
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton ; Bourbon Cane in Antigua ; Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
in Barbados ;
Inoculation.
Soils of Nevis ;
Cotton Selection in the Leeward Islands ; Leguminous Crops and Soil
No. 2. Central Factories; The Underground System of the Sugar-cane; The Cotton
Industry in the West Indies ; Observations on Molasses ; The Treatment of Orchard Soils in Cultivation
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THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
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CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Book Shelf GO) 000» “O0U
Brocw Corn Market in the
383 | Fungus Notes :—
How Fungicides should
PaGE.
United States See atsill be Employed 379
Cocoa-nut Palms, Care of 373/ Gleanings ... 380
Colonial Fruit Show in
December ... :
Cotton, Experimental
Breeding in India ...
Cotton Notes :—
Selection of Cotton
Grass Oils in
376 ence
| Insect Notes :—
Natural History of
Indo-China ¢
. 802|Ground Nut, The ... ... é
hnperial Malaria Confer-
Varieties for Unifor- Insects PASO TIT 78
MOLY is vee loss, -Fevewt se 374 | yr 5 Ty aE ey
Test. tae Ree oo, Market Reports 384
D hile: pes ces ve ait | Notes and Comments ... 376
nd Ae tacoma *°!Perini Fibre Plant, The 375
Departmental Reports :—
Montserrat, Botanic Sta- | Rice in British Guiana ... 383
tion, ete. .. ... ... 882) Rubber Tree, The Tonkin 377
British Honduras, Bot- Rubber Trees, Manurial
anie Station wns (GOL Experiments with ... 376
Fibres, Hand-stripped and Selection and Breeding,
Machine-stripped 376 Aid in 377
Field Experiments, Value Students’ Corner 381
of Results .. ... 3869) Sugar Industry :—
Fruit Trade, Sicilian, in Sugar Factory Results in
aK} oo oad aed 377 Java, sa x71
The Value ot the Results of Field
Exper:ments.
a >
Qx ATaS Tis a well recognized fact that, in experi-
3
Hh .
So ments which
have to be made in the field
’
A 9) :
IZ 25 there is a large number of sources of error
which arise directly from the conduct of such experi-
ments ona scale which precludes the possibility of
complete control]. The duty, therefore, of the investigator
is to devise ways by which such errors may be minimized,
as far as possible, and by which he may ascertain their
magnitude, and so put himself 1: a position to make
allowance for them when ceducing results. An able
paper dealing with this subject, by A. D. Hall, M.A.,,
F.RS., Director of the Rothamsted Experimental
Station, appears in the Journal of the Board of
Agricuiture, August 1909, in which the following are
the main points that are brought forward.
No one who does work which entails the measure-
ment of quantities, whether dimensional cr in relation
to weight, expects to obtain absolute accuracy. A joiner
or carpenter is satisfied if his measurements are wivhin
an eighth or a sixteenth of an inch; the mechanical
engineer requires accuracy within one-thousandth of
an inch, while the scientist, who makes observations
with the aid of a microscope, must possess certainty
within the simpler fractions of one twenty-five
thousandth of an inch. For all these, there isa method
available for increasing the accuracy of their work; that
is, not to rely on the result of one observation, but to
repeat it several times, and to take the average as being
sufficiently correct for their purpose. They can do
more than this. By a suitable mathematical process,
they can determine, from the direct measurements,
what the error in the final result is likely to be, and
thus the means of allowing for it in
will have
subsequent work.
An illustration of this may be useful, for the better
apprehension of the principle. If, for example, the area
of a piece of land is found, by several measurements, to
be near 1840, 1843, 183°5, 1846 and 1833 square
yards, the average, 184 square yards, which is easily
deducible in the ordinary way, may be tuken as the true
result. Further, the ‘ probable error’ of this result, that
is the limiting quantity by which it is probably incor-
LIBRARY
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370
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
NOVEMBER 27, 1909.
rect, on both sides of the true value, is given when we
take the total range (1846 —183°3=1°3) and divide it
by the number of observations (5); it is 0°26, so that
the probable error of the average result is a quarter of
a square yard, either way. In other words, for ordinary
purposes, the piece of land measures 184 square yards,
though it may be anything down to 183{, or up to
1844, square yards in area, as a matter of fact; and we
must not use this result (184) in connexion with any
observations that are of such a delicacy that they
would be affected by a difference of a quarter of
a square yard in the area,
The author of the paper which forms the basis of
this discussion also gives an illustration from a series
of agricultural experiments which were carried out at
Rothamsted. In this, the results given, in two simt-
Jarly treated plots, over a period of fifty years, are con-
sidered. Theoretically, these should have given exactly
similar yields, but it is demonstrated that, at the end
of the time mentioned, one showed an increased super-
iority over the other of 10 per cent. A calculation of
the probable error gives this as 2 per cent., so that,
from the fifty years’ results, it may be concluded that
this superiority is certainly more than 8, but less
than 12 per way, the
error of a single year’s result is 10 per cent. The
author states that, as the general result of the
examination of many series of experiments, it has been
found that the mean error attached to the yield of
a single plot is about 10 per cent. above or below.
This is, of course, a figure obtained from a consideration
of the Rothamsted results only,and does not necessarily
apply to other soils under different conditions. The
important fact to remember is that differences of treat-
ment which can only cause variations of yield within the
limits of the mean error are worthless in the matter of
making deductions from the results.
cent. In a_ similar mean
As to the question of the size of experimental
plots, increased accuracy is not obtained by making
this large. It is very likely that the effect would
be, on the contrary, to increase the magnitude of
such errors as exist already, and to introduce others.
No minimizing of this inaccuracy of the large plot can
be obtained, either, by selecting and weighing the
produce from small areas within it, for this, in the
words of the author, ‘ introduces the most fatal error of
all, a selection by the preconceived opinion of the
experimenter’. Another mistake that is likely to be
made when large plots are employed is to count the
number of holes and to calculate what the yield ought
to have been, had a plant been obtained in every
one of them. ‘Most manures affect the texture of the
soil, and therefore the number of plants which establish
themselves is one of the factors in the result that is
directly affected by the manure,’
Vhese and other considerations, such as those of
variations in its properties in different parts of a given
area of soil, convenience in working, similar treatment
of the plants at simultaneous periods in their develop-
ment, all point, then, to the superiority of the small
plot for agricultural experiments. It is best that this
should be at least ;5-acre in area. By the utilization
of such plots, the only certain guide to accuracy,
namely the multiplication of the number of experi-
ments by their repetition in space or time, or in both,
can be most conveniently employed.
a matter of necessity if accurate
It is, in fact,
results are to be
obtained in places where only small areas of land are
available for experimental purposes. Reference to
publications of the Department, such as the Report on
Sugar-cane Experiments in the Leeward Islands,
1905-6, Part II, p. 1; 1906-7, Part II, pp. 1 and 2;
Report on Agricultural Experiments in Barbados,
1898-1900, p. 1387, will make it clear that this policy
has been adopted by it for exactly the same reasons as
are enunciated above.
In expressing the results from small plots in terms
of a yield per acre, care must be taken to avoid an
error, or better, a pretended accuracy, by including
fractional parts of the expressions obtained as a result
of the necessary multiplication, which are only the
product of experimental error and the factor which is
employed to get the return per acre. An appreciation
of the importance of this will lead to the employment
of the expression, 14S tons, instead of the false state-
ment, say, 14 tons 16 ewt. 48 Ib. The latter would be
recorded by the experimenter, of course, but the former
would appear in his report.
In any set of experiments, then, the investigator
must know the extent of the probable error involved.
Without this knowledge, he cannot rightly interpret his
results,and he will probably waste time in attempting to
explain apparent discrepancies which really arise from
the attribution of results.to differences of treatment,
while they are actually caused by unavoidable errors
in experiment. With this knowledge, and the avoidance
of a factitious accuracy, he will present results that have
the self-recommendation of concordance; and, what is
almost as important, a knowledge on the part of his
readers, of the facts that have just been dealt with,
will enable them to profit by the power of discrimina-
into which it gives them,
Vou. VIII. No. 198.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS, 371
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
SUGAR FACTORY RESULTS IN JAVA.
The tenth Annual Report on the statistics of
a Jarge number of sugar estates in Java, which has
been prepared by H. C. Prinsen Geerligs, is abstracted
in the Znternational Sugar Journal, Vol. X1, No. 127,
and from this the following information is taken. An
interesting comparison of mill-work and the fibre-
content ef canes in Java with those in the West Indies
can be made by referring to an abstract of a paper by
the Commissioner of Agriculture which appears on
page 179 of the current volume of the Agricultural
News.
The general averages of a great many figures are set
forth in the table given below, which allows us to get a good
idea of the results in the different years, and also shows the
steady progress in the output of sugar from the raw
material.
Dy ay ae
Quotent of telation be
Sucrose Fibieoa! pani “of Available tween sugar
Year. on 100 100 F ae sugar on available
cane. the raw
cane. -- 100 cane, and actually
SS ee received.
1899" 13:99 -- 88°66 11-98 96-4
1900 12°26 10°65 84:18 10-21 96°5
1901 12°68 10°95 84°66 10°61 98-2
1902 13°43 10°91 84:65 11°33 —
1903 12°40 11°21 84:00 10°26 98-0
1904 13-04 11-29 84°69 11-06 98°6
1905 12°66 11-61 83°30 10°62 98°8
1906 12°38 11-78 83-04 10°34 97-7
1907 13°11 12-00 8461 11-09 98-4
1908 12°30 12-01 83°74 10°30 99
The content of sucrose in cane has not varied very much
during the last ten years. This seems rather strange when
we consider what pains have been taken to increase the
sugar content of the cane coming to the mills. Much atten-
tion has been paid to the raising of canes having a higher
sucrose content, both by chemical selection and by the propa-
gation of highly promising seedling cane varieties. Then, the
tops used for planting material were carefully selected in
order to ensure a sound seed, which was afterwards disin-
fected to keep off parasites and germs of disease, very
cautiously planted and cultivated, and protected against
damage. Further, on most estates, the canes from the
different fields are constantly sampled and analysed, starting
from a couple of months before the grinding season and con-
tinuing during same; all this with a view to ascertaining the
exact period of maturity of each of the cane-fields, and so to
harvesting the cane always at its highest sucrose content.
Finally the transport of the cut cane is considerably accelera-
ted, and good care is taken to grind every day all the cane
which has been cut the previous day, thereby preventing
any lying over of cut cane, and its deterioration and conse-
quent loss of sucrose.
Notwithstanding all these precautions, it appears that
the sucrose content of the cane crushed inthe majority of
the sugar mills has practically remained the same, although
the tonnage per acre has very considerably increased. It is
evident that the care and attention bestowed on the raw
material hay2 benefited its quantity more ‘than its quality.
The fibre content of the cane has considerably increased
in the last ten years, and doubtless amounts to 1 per cent.
on the cane more than before. This is not due to a change
in climate, nor in cultivation, but exclusively to the fact that
the Black Java or Cheribon cane, which was, some ten years
ago, wellnigh the universal variety in cultivation, has since
that time gradually been supplanted by the descendants of
seedling canes, of which one of the most valuable is distin-
guished by a very high fibre content.
The high fibre content of the seedling canes now in
vogue in Java has often induced planters to consider
this property as a special characteristic of seedling canes, but
we see at once that this is not the case. As a consequence of
the choice of parents, a couple of the most popular varieties
of seedling canes happen to be remarkable for their high
fibre content, and this has been the reason why the average
fibre content of the crushed cane increased when these
varieties were more extensively planted; but the reverse
might very easily have occurred. If by accident a couple of
varieties of the No. 100 type had been obtained, which
possessed the other favourable properties of No, 247 cane,
the propagation of seedlings would, on the contrary, have
given rise toa decrease in the fibre content instead of an
increase. But as matters stand now, we are in the happy
possession of a cane which contains about 10 per cent. more
fibre than previously, and yet the same amount of sucrose,
which means an increase in the fuel supply of 10 per cent.,
or a very appreciable profit.
The quotient of purity of the juice stands in some
relation to the sucrose content of the cane, inasmuch as a low
saccharine content of the cane is usually accompanied by
a low quotient of purity, and vice versa. A low quotient is
unfavourable to the manufacturer for two reasons. Firstly,
juices having a low purity already contain but little sucrose,
and next, less of this is obtained as marketable sugar owing to
the large amount of molasses which is the consequence of the
many impurities.
We notice a gradual drop in the purity simultaneous
with the decrease in saccharine content. It is perhaps not
superfluous to mention here that we could not expect any
strict agreement, since the purity of the juice observed is that
of the juice which was extracted, and not of the juice
as it was present in the cane. We know that the greater
the power of the mill which extracted the juice, the
lower will be its purity, and since the pressure of the
mills has become more efficient of late years, a much less
pure juice will nowadays be extracted from the very same
cane than would have been the case ten years before.
Generally speaking, the statistics reviewed here give
every reason for satisfaction. Although neither the sucrose
content of the cane nor the purity of the raw juice shows any
improvement, indeed the latter has actually diminished, yet
we have succeeded in Java in obtaining from that raw
material not only a better sugar but also a better return of
that improved product. This happy result is obtained both
on extraction of the juice and on working it up into sugar,
so that it is due as well to an improved mechanical mode of
working as to a better and more rational and careful clarifi-
cation and further treatment of the juice. This improve-
ment is steadily going on, and there is nothing in the
statistics to. suggest that we have now come to a standstill,
It is therefore quite possible that statistics published ten
years hence will furnish us figures with which those now
given (which appear to us as very satisfactory) will again
contrast unfavourably,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NoveMBER 27, 1909,
LH GRCuUxsD MULT
Attention :s cGrawnto Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 356,
of the Uuaited States' Department of Agriculture,
which gives a very useful acconat of the ground nut.
Some of the information ‘iat is contained in the
Bulletin is abstracted lhere:—
The value of tLe com:rercial ground nut crop of the
United States for the year 1908 was estimated at
$12.900,y00. During revent years, the area of production
of ground nuts has greatly increased, especially throughout
the warmer parts of te country. The value of the ground
nut, both’as amoncy crop and for feeding on the farm,
renders it especial!y desirable as a part of the rotation,
wherever conditions suitable to its development exist.
The soil best suited to the ground nut is one of a sandy,
loamy nature, preferably light or grayish in colour, rather
than dark. Soils that are dark, and those carrying a consi-
derable percentage of iron or other mineral, are likely to stain
the shells of the ground nuts, thus rendering them less
desirable for the trade. Tor agricultural purposes, however,
the staining of the shells is of little consequence, as it does
not materially injure them for stock-feeding. Jn fact, soils
that contain considerable clay and lime, or which are Joamy
in character, produce heavier nuts, and sometimes greater
yields, than do lighter soils. Asarale, the ground nut does
best on a sandy loam, with a well-drained clay subsoil, but
the crop may be grown under a wide range of soil conditions.
Soils that become hard or compact are not adapted to ground
nut growing, owing to the inability of the pod stems to
penetrate the surface. Those that are poorly drained or sour
are not snited to the ground nut. The ideal soil corsists of
a sandy loam, containing a reasonable amount of humus, or
vegetable matter, together with an abundance of lime. A soil
having a suitable mechanical consistency is the first essential.
Soils Jacking in fertility can be improved by a proper cropping
system, or hy the judicious use of manures.
The climatic requirements of the ground nut are a long
season without frost, a comparatively light rainfall during the
growing period, abundant sunshine, and a high temperature.
The Spanish ground nut will mature in ninety days under
the most favourable conditions, but 11U to 120 days
should be allowed. he large-podded varieties require
a longer period for best results.
Ground nuts should be grown in rotation with other
crops, rather than as a specialty. The cropping system will
depend somewhat upon the area of other crops grown, but
the arrangement should be such that the land will be planted
in ground nuts one year in each three or four. Stable or
barnyard manure should not'be used as a fertilizer the same
year that the land is planted in ground nuts. The use of
manure has a tendency to cause the plants to produce abnor-
mal tops and a large percentage of poorly filled pods. The
proper time for applying stable manure is with the crop
grown during the previous season, thus giving it time to
become incorporated with the soil and reduced to the proper
condition for the ground nut erop.
In order to cnsure the proper filling and ripening of the
pods, ground nuts require an abundance of lime in the soil.
Where the soil is of a calcareous nature, containing lime-
stone, shells, or lime in its more active form, it may not be
necessary to make a regular application, but on soils that
are deficient in lime, or inclined to be in the least sour. from
1,000 tb. to 2,000 Ib. of freshly burned lime should be applied
to an acre every four or five years. The ground nut plant,
in common with other leguminous plants, has. the power
(with the aid of certain bacteria) of collecting the
free nitrogen of the atmosphere and storing it in little
nodules upon its roots, For this reason, it is one of the
more desirable of our soilrenovating and soil-improving
plants. It should be borne in mind, however, that in order
to benefit the soil, the nitrogen so gathered should not be
removed, but that the main portion of the roots should be
left in the soil.
The seed should not only be selected from plants that
are mature, but from those producing a large number of
mature pods, as well. By doubling the number of well-filled
pods on each plant, the yield for each acre will also be
doubled, In planting the large-podded varieties it is desirable
for several reasons that the seed be shelled. For planting,
a common <listance between rows is 36 inches, but this
varies somewhat according to the soil and variety. For the
Virginia Runner variety, .on good soil, the distance between
rows should be at least 36 inches, and 12 inches between the
plants in the rows. Virginia Bunch ground nuts may be in
rows as close together as 30 inches, and 7 to 9 inches apart
in the The Spanish and Tennessee Red varieties are
planted in rows ‘from 28 to 36 inches apart, and 7 to 9
inches apart in the rows, according to the fertility of the soil.
On rich soils, where the spread of vines will be great, the
maximum dist@ee between rows as well as between plants in
the row should he allowed. Cultivation of the ground nut
crop should begin'as soon as the rows can be followed, and
should continue until the vines begin to occupy the ground.
The work of cultivation should be pursued very much as
for corn, beans, and all similar crops. Frequent shallow
cultivation that will keep the soil loose, and prevent the loss
of moisture, is essential, Shortly after rains, the surface
soil should be stirred, and during dry weather, a dust mulch
maintained. After the first cultivation, it will be desirable
to-work the soil toward the rows to provide a bed of loose
rows.
Vo. VIII. No. 198.
THE AGRICULTURAL. NEWS,.
373
earth in which the pods may form. After the ground nuts
begin to form pods, they should not be disturbed, or given
further cultivation.
The standard of excellence in the ground nut markets is
always based upon hand-picked stock. Ground nuts that are
picked by hand now bring a higher price than those picked
by machinery, but with the present scarcity of labour, and
rapid improvement in ground-nut-picking machinery, the
time will soon come when a uniform price will be paid for
a given quality of seed, regardless of how the picking is
done. At no time after the curing process should the
groundnut pods be exposed to water, or even dampness, as
the shells invariably become darkened and discoloured by the
addition of moisture. When properly cured, the shells will
be covered with a fine, dry dust, and where this dust becomes
moistened it adheres and forms a brownish spot. If the
ground nuts show the least trace of dampness after their
removal from the vines, they should be spread on a floor, or
stored in a well ventilated building, until thoroughly dry.
Many of the larger growers have provided narrow cribs,
similar to those employed for the storage of corn, and the
ground nuts are kept in bulk until sold. When the pods are
thoroughly dry, they may be put into bags as they come
from the machine, and either hauled direct to the cleaning
factory or stored in small lots.
The following is a description of American
varieties : —
Virginia Bunch.—Large-podded variety, plant rather
dwarf, stems upright, foliage rather light; pods clustered
about the base of plant; usually two, sometimes three, seeds
in a pod; pod bright and clean; colour of seeds light brown;
pods adhere well to plant in digging. The customary weight
per bushel of this variety is 22 Ib.
Virginia Runner.—Large-podded variety, strong grower,
stems creeping, foliage heavy; pods scattered along procum-
bent stems; pods and seeds very similar to those of the
Virginia Bunch; pods do not adhere well in digging. The
customary weight per bushel of this variety is 22 bb,
North Carolina.—Similar to Virginia Runner, except that
the plant is not so large or vigorous, and the pods and seeds are
both smaller. This variety contains a high percentage of oil.
Spanish.—Small-podded variety, strong grower, stems
upright, foliage abundant and heavy; pods clustered about
base of plant; usually two seeds in a pod, entirely filling it;
pods rough and inclined to be darkened in colour;
colour of seeds light brown; pods adhere well to plant in
digging. This variety frequently yields 60 bushels of
marketable seeds, and 2 tons of hay, to the acre. Its seeds
are rich in oil content. The weight per bushel of Spanish
ground nuts is 28 Ib.
Tennesse Red.—Small-podded variety, similar to Spanish,
except that the pods are longer, sometimes containing five or
six seeds crowded together; seeds dull red in colour. It is well
adapted to stock feeding, but does not sell upon the market
owing to the colour and the quality of the seeds.
Dixie Giant.—The variety known as Dixie Giant is so
called owing to the great size of its pods. It is distinctly
a novelty; does not yield well, and requires a long season for
the pods to mature. Recommended only for southern part of
the Gulf Coast States. The seeds are very large, and are
desirable for the manufacture of fancy blanched nuts.
Among the more important uses of the ground nut for
human food are the following : It is eaten from the shell, as
salted shelled seeds, as blanched seeds, in the so-called
‘pea nut candies’ and ‘brittle’, in combination with pop
corn and puffed rice, in the form of ground nut butter, and
as an ingredient of ground nut and vegetable meats, ground
nut meal, and salad oils.
The oil of the ground nutbétongs commercially to the
same class as do cotton seed and olive oils. Ground nut oil
is of a higher grade than cotton seed oil, and of somewhat
lower value than first-class olive oil. The quantity of it
that may be obtained from the ground nut will depend upon
the variety, the maturity of the seeds, and the apparatus
with which the extraction is made. The Spanish meats,
when shelled and thoroughly cleaned, frequently contain as
much as £5 per cent. of oil, as shown by chemical analysis,
although not more than 34 per cent. can be expressed by
the best of present methods, and perhaps about 28 per cent.
by ordinary machinery. The greater portion of the ground
nut oil of commerce is manufactured at Marseilles, from
ground nuts that are bought very cheaply along the coast
regions of Africa, and transported by ships as return cargo.
The African-grown ground nuts are very rich in oil, often
containing as much as 50 per cent.’ With a coming shortage
of cotton seed from which to manufacture oil in this country,
there is 2, great possibility of building up a ground nut oil
industry throughout the cotton belt of the Southern States,
The process of expression is very similar to that for cotton seed
oil, and the greater portion of the machinery of the present
oil mills is adapted to the manufacture of ground nut oil. It
would be necessary, however, to add special appliances for
shelling, cleaning and macerating the meats of the ground nut.
The tops of the ground nut plant, when eut and cured
in the same manner as other legumes, will produce a hay
that is almost equal in feeding value to the best clover hay.
By planting the Spanish ground nut in rows from 24 to
30 inches apart, and quite closely in the row, and by giving
the crop about two cultivations, it is possible to produce
from one to two tons of hay to the acre. The ground nut
vines and seeds, when chopped or ground together, form
almost a balanced ration for a dairy cow,
THE CARE OF COCOA-NUT PALMS.
The first item to be considered by those who have cocoa-
nut trees is that the drainage is good, and that any trees that
are standing in poor soil get a dose of good manue to
stimulate them. We have in mind a number of cocoa-nut
trees, every one of which was apparently about to die out;
the leaves yellowed, and dropped so much that there was
only a tuft left at the top. As the soil was gravelly and the
drought severe, it was evident that there was no lack of
drainage. The cabbage, too, had not gone wrong. As the
trees were worth saving, the grass was clean weeded around
them and cows tethered to each tree as the most convenient
way of conserving manure and moisture. Of course, all the
trees were not dealt with at one time, and this method could
not be so easily carried through on a very large estate,
The cattle were hand-fed, and after being a week at each
tree the ground was loosened and mulched. The effects
were marvellous; there was soon no sign of disease about the
trees; they put out fresh leaves and soon bore, and Lore well
all the time. Even though the cabbage may rot, the trouble
may not always be the bud-rot disease. ‘The true bud-rot is
a very serious trouble, and one prominent cocoa-nut grower
thought so seriously of it, that he asked the Jamaica Agri-
cultural Society to recommend to the Government the
compulsory burning of all dead cocoa-nut trees. All cocoa-
nut growers in their own interests, should never allow
a dead cocoa-nut tree to stand rotting, as these trees soon
become the home of cocoa-nut pests of various kinds. (The
Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, September,
1909.)
374
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
4
NovemMBerR 27, 1909.
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date November 8, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report, American Sea Island cotton has
continued to advance, and they are now asking 194d. for
Fully Fine Island and 163d. for the best Floridas, but buyers
are holding off, thinking the advance has been too rapid.
During this period, about 30 bales Barbados have been
sold at 16d. to 174d., as promptly as it arrived.
The report of, Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending November 6, is as follows :—
The market has been firm and dearer throughout the
week, and factors sueceeded in securing their asking prices
for the larger proportion of the sales, showing an advance of
3c. per Ib. over the prices last quoted.
The buying has been for England and the northern
mills.
The market opened with sales of Fully Fine 35c. to 34e.,
Extra Fine 36c. to 37c., and closed firm at the following
quotations, viz: Fine 33c., Fully Fine 35c., Extra Fine 37e.
There is no accumulation of odd bags, classing as above, the
receipts to date having been sold, so that the factors continue
firm in their views.
SELECTION OF COTTON VARIETIES FOR
UNIFORMITY.
Tt is a well-known fact that the introduction of
a good variety of cotton into a locality often leads to
the exhibition of a large amount of diversity among
the plants, and that, in addition, they may appear to
possess very different characteristics from those present-
ed by them in their old surroundings. This effect has
been shown, in Bulletin No. 159 of the Bureau of Plant
Industry of the United States Department of Agricul-
ture, to be different from other types of variation, such
as the ordinary fluctuating differences, changes due to
accommodation, direct. effects of environment, and
diversity due to hybridization, and is there termed
a ‘new-place eftect ’. The remedy suggested is selection
for ‘local adjustment’, that is selection for uniformity
by rejecting all lines of descent in which changes from
the best type occur; 1t is a natural concomitant of
selection for improvement, and it seems that any
properly organized scheme for this would automatically
include it; thus its consideration only forms another
argument for the continuous practice of selection. As
many of the conclusions reached in the above-mentioned
bulletin are applicable to West Indian conditions, they
are given here :—
The growing of a variety of cotton ina new locality is
likely to bring about a distinct reduction in the yield, as well
as in the quality, of the fibre. This deterioration has been
found to be connected with an increase of diversity among
the individual plants. Even when a carefully selected, uniform
stock is used for the experiment, a much greater amount of
diversity may appear in a new place than when the same stock
is grown under the accustomed conditions of the previous
locality, where the variety was improved by selection.
The diversity that reappears in the first season, when
a variety of cotton is grown in a new place, can be greatly
reduced in later seasons by selecting seeds from the plants
whose characteristics have been least disturbed by the
transfer to the new place—those that are the most fertile and
have the best lint. This process of selection to restore the
uniformity of a variety in a new place is called local adjust-
ment.
Selection for local adjustment is distinct in objects and
methods from breeding for improvement or for originating
new varieties. The object of local adjustment is to preserve
varieties already existing and to guard them against recurrence
of diversity. Practical. advantages can be secured by simple
selection for local adjustment without the separate testing
of individual lines of descent, as is required in breeding for
improvement of a variety, or when new breeds are to be
developed.
The phenomena of local adjustment are of general scien-
tific interest as illustrating one of the influences of external
conditions upon the expression of characters in organisms.
The recurrence of diversity in a previously uniform variety
serves with other facts to show that ancestral diversities
continue to be inherited, even when their expression is
avoided by efficient selection. That changes of conditions can
induce a return to diversity shows that the environment is
able to influence the expression of characters, and that its
influence is not limited to characters that vary directly and
regularly with changes of environment.
Apart from the effects of conditions which limit or
inhibit the growth of the plants, two kinds of changes are
found to follow ‘transfer to new places: (1) Changes of
accommodation to°different conditions and (2) diversification,
or loss of uniformity. Changes of accommodation do not
directly increase diversity, for they are shared by all the
individuals, but changes of accommodation are often accom
panied by changes of other characters which render the
individual plants much more unlike than before
Vout. VIII. No. 198.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
375
It is not necessary to believe that the diverse character-
istics that appear in the new place come into the plants from
the external environment, or that they represent direct effects
of the environment upon the plants. It is more reasonable
to suppose that new conditions induce diversity in an indirect
manner by disturbing the processes of heredity, and thus
allowing ancestral characters that had been transmitted in
latent form to return to expression, or characters previously
expressed to become latent. Recurrence of diversity may be
quite independent of hybridization, although some of the
results are very similar.
The phenomenon of local adjustment only strengthens
the many other evidencies that the uniformity of a variety
of cultivated plants can be maintained only by persistent and
vigilant selection. The decrease in the agricultural value of
a variety that results froma return to diversity is as real
and important as the agricultural improvement that is made
when diversity is reduced by selection.
The facts of local adjustment go far to explain the
apparently capricious behaviour of cotton varieties in com-
parative tests, the same varieties often standing in entirely
different relations to one another in different seasons. It
becomes evident that the adaptation of a variety to a new
place cannot be fairly tested in a single season. Not until
a new stock has passed through the process of local adjust-
ment and returned to a rormal degree of uniformity can
the extent of its adaptation to the new place be definitely
ascertained.
The facts of local adjustment indicate that our superior
varieties may be found adapted to much wider regions than
they now occupy. Varieties of real value should have their
range extended through local adjustment, instead of being
discarded because they fail to show their superiority in the
first season. The wider extension of a few superior types of
cotton would make it possible to abandon many local varieties,
and would constitute an important step in the progress of the
cotton industry. Greater uniformity in the crop over large
areas would increase its commercial value, and simplify com-
mercial problems of grading and marketing.
THE PERINI FIBRE PLANT.
In the Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, p. 235, an
account of the industrial importance of the Perini fibre
plant appeared. The Kew Bulletin, No. 8 (1907)
p- 338, gives the following information concerning the
plant, under the name ‘ Canhamo Braziliensis Perini’.
(Hibiscus radiatus, Sims) :—
CANHAMO BRAZILIENSIS PERINI.—The Board of Trade
Journal for September 7, 1905, records the receipt by the
Board of a pamphlet describing, under this name, a Brazilian
fibre plant, together with a sample of its fibre, forwarded by
H. B. M. Consul at Rio de Janeiro. Subsequently Messrs.
Knight, Harrison & Co., of Rio de Janeiro kindly forwarded
to Kew copies of this pamphlet, which was written by
Dr. V. A. de Perini for the Brazilian Review in 1905, and
is entitled ‘ Canhamo Braziliensis Perini or Brazilian Linen’:
with these were sent samples of the fibre and of cloth woven
from it in Italy.
The pamphlet states that the plant was discovered by
Dr. de Perini in the northern part of the province of Minas
Geraes at about 1,000 feet above sea-level. The writer
of the pamphlet claims that the plant possesses the qualities
of European hemp or flax; that it is quite hardy both in the
dry and in the rainy season; that it thrives alike in dry and
in wet soil; and that it dees not suffer from insect attacks or
from mildew. No care or special cultivation is needed; a crop
can be gathered three months after sowing; and three crops
can be harvested in one year. The fibre possesses the
desirable qualities of strength, fineness, flexibility, and
adaptability for bleaching or dyeing. From it a fabrie can
be prepared which is equal to European linen; this so far has
not been possible in America.
Froin the illustrations given in the pamphlet referred to
and from a comparison of the fibre with the material in the
museum at Kew, it was clear that the plant under discussion
is a Hibiscus (Malvaceae), nearly allied to H. cannabinus,
Linn., which is widely grown in most warm countries, and is
best known as the source of Deccan or Ambari Hemp, the
fibre of which has been exported to England from India for
over acentury. The differences, however, were such as to
indicate that the Brazilian plant is probably not exactly
Hf. cannabinus.
In April, 1907, specimens of the dried plant and of its
seeds were received from the Board of Trade. Plants have
been raised from the seeds, and from these it has been
possible to ascertain that the species is //ibiseus radiatus,
Sims, not of Benth., doubtfully of Cav.
The Kew Bulletin also gives an abstract from the
Board of Trade Journal, February 28, 1907, which
shows that the Brazilian Government has subsidized
the industry of the preparation of fibre from this plant,
and that Dr. Perini was forming a limited liability
company for its exploitation.
Seeds of the Perini fibre plant have been received
from Kew by the Imperial Department of Agriculture,
and are being distributed for trial among the Botanic
Stations.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left
Barbados on Tuesday, November 23, by the R.M.S.
‘Berbice’, on an official visit to Grenada. Dr Watts
will probably return to Barbados by the R.M.S, ‘Esk’
on the 30th instant.
Mr. W. Biffen, B.Sec., Scientific Assistant on the
staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, left
Barbados for England, by the R.M.S. ‘Thames’, on
Tuesday, November 16, on leave of absence owing to
ill health.
Mr. J. C. Moore, Agricultural Superintendent at
St. Lucia, returned from England by the R.M.S. ‘Oruba’
on November 22 last, after six months’ leave of
absence.
Mr. Gilbert Graham Auchinleck, B.Sc., of Me Gill
University, Agricultural and Science Master, St. Kitts,
has been appointed by the Secretary of State for the
Colomies to the post of Agricultural Superintendent
in the colony of Grenada.
On the recommendation of the Imperial Commis-
sioner of Agriculture, Mr. C. R. Kirton, Manager of
Halton estate, Barbados, has been appointed to act as
Agricultural Instructor, on the staff of the Local
Department of Agriculture, St. Lucia, for a period of
six months,
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
specimens for naming, should be addressed | to the
Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural» News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s, 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Jlews
s SS
Vout. VIII. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1909. No. 198.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
The subject of the editorial in this number is The
Value of the Results of Field Experiments. It deals
chiefly with the limitation of deductions from such
experiments, the knowledge that is necessary for their
clear interpretation, and the methods of eliminating
sources of error and making corrections for them.
An interesting account of the sugar factory work
in Java during the last ten years is abstracted on
nage 371.
L£ f=)
Very useful information for those who are inter-
ested in ground nuts will be found on pages 372 and
318.
The attention of those whom it specially concerns
is directed to the article on the Perini Fibre Plant, on
page 375.
QF
In the Insect Notes (page 878) of this number,
the series of articles on the Natural History of Insects
is continued. The subject of Growth is concluded, and
those of Senses and Circulation are discussed.
The Fungus Notes, on page 379, contain important
information showing that thoroughness and care are
required in spraying experiments and treatment.
The Students’ Corner will be found on page 381.
It contains the results (with the exception of those for
St. Lucia) of the recent Intermediate Examinations in
connexion with the Reading Courses Scheme, as well
as information in regard to the scope of the’ papers
that were set at that examination.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NovEMBER 27, 1909.
Experiemntal Breeding of Cotton in India.
In a second paper by Mr. H. M. Leake, published
in the Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal (Vol.'V, No. 1), the author records the con-
stancy of the fact that certain Indian cotton plants
regularly produce the accessory bud to the right, others
to the left, of the main bud, but that this character does
not follow Mendelian laws. In the same way, the branches
of the main stem continually arise behind the growing
point, but the branching ot the branches thus formed
may take place in this way, or the terminal bud may
cease to grow and the new branches may arise lower
down; of these two forms of branching the latter is
dominant. Further, it is shown that early flowering
isa feature of this latter type of branching, so that
importance is given to a classification of Indian cottons
according to their way of forming branches.
Hand-stripped and Machine-stripped Fibres.
An account of experiments, which were undertaken
to determine whether the hand-stripped or the machine-
stripped fibre from Manila hemp is the stronger, is
given in the Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. LV,
No. 2. They show that the latter is very considerably
stronger than the hand-stripped variety. It is not easy
to give a reason for this difference; microscopic examin-
ations showed that both kinds of fibre were quite clean,
and revealed no differences between them. It is probable
that the difference is due to the fact that, in the machine,
the pull on the fibre is a steady one, while in stripping
by hand it is intermittent, so that a loss of tensile
strength takes place. This theory is confirmed by the
fact that hand-stripped hemp shows a large number of
broken fibres, so that a bundle of it consists of a series
of shorter and longer fibres, while that from a machine
has practically no broken fibres, and they are all of the
same length.
TT Or
Manurial Experiments with Young Rubber
Trees.
The Tropical Agriculturist for September 1909
gives an account of experiments which have been
carried out for the purpose of ascertaining the manurial
requirements of young rubber trees.. Before manures
were applied, the trees were well weeded for 3. feet
around the base of each, and the soil was lightly hoed.
In each case, the manures were sprinkled in a shallow
tvench 3 inches deep, and surrounding the tree at a dis-
tance of 2 feet from the trunk; the earth taken out of the
trench was subsequently put back to cover the manure.
It was found that the employment of a complete
manure increased the girth of each tree by 1 inch more,
ina year, than that of a manure containing nitrogen
and phosphorus, but no potash. The effect of the
application of nitrogen, only, was very small, so that it
is doubtful if this is profitable, especially in view of the
fact that the use of this element alone would tend to
retard growth later on, owing to the consequent
exhaustion of the other plant food constituents. In the.
upshot, complete manures are advised in this connexion,
and further similar experiments are promised.
Vou. VIII. No. 198.
An Aid in Selection and Breeding.
In the American Naturalist, July 1909, the difti-
culties that are met with by breeders. of plants and
animals are discussed, with a view to suggesting
methods for minimizing them as far as possible.
Among these, the proposal is made to adopt a system
of ‘selection index numbers’, for use when it is desired
to improve more than one characteristic of the plant
or animal under experiment. In such index numbers,
the values of a series of important characteristics
would be combined, and they would not only prove of
value to breeders, but to judges of stock, as well.
‘The Imperial Malaria Conference.
The Imperial Malaria Conference, which has just
finished its sittings at Simla, has made its chief con-
clusions and recommendations under the following
heads:—(1) the appointment by the Government of
India of a Scientific Investigation Committee, which
-will work together with special organizatione i ach
province, in investigations relating to (a) the distribution
of malaria in India, (b) the ways in which it originates
and spreads in different districts, and (c) the effects of
quinine and other remedies; (2) practical measures,
including (a) the discovery of a cheap and effective
means of destroying Anopheles, (b) minor drainage
operations, (c) the restriction of cultivations, such as
that of rice, in towns where these give rise to Anopheles,
(d) the use of fish against mosquitos, (ec) the use of oil
for small collections of water in places that can not be
filled up; (3) (a) that means be taken to spread knowl-
edge among the people regarding malaria, and the
measures which it is possible to employ against 16,
(b) that the subject be twught in schools; (4) that local
governments should be invited to assign funds annually
for the matters of the investigation and prevention of
malaria.
———————— en — 0 ——
The Tonkin Rubber Tree.
A paper appears in the Comptes Rendus
del Académie des Sciences, Paris, which gives an account
ofa rubber tree which is found in Tonlan called Teonon
(Bleckrodea tonkinensis). Vhe latex of this plant
contains a high percentage of arubber which is not very
inferior to Para rubber. It grows well on soils which
do not contain much water, but on which rain falls after
prolonged drought. This ability to stand dry conditions
for some time arises from the fact that the roots are
swollen and store water, and that there are external
mineral incrustations on the leaves, which prevent
excessive transpiration.
The swellings on the roots vary in size, being
largest in calcareous soils. They grow along the length
of the root, and from them smaller roots are given off.
Though they are round and smooth when young, their
form changes as they become older, and a layer of cork
forms on the outside of them, ‘This is cracked through
as the swelling increases in size, and its place is finally
taken by another, which remains when growth inside
is complete.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 377
The mineral deposit on the leaves consists of
calcium carbonate; it develops in the outer skin, and
remains on the surface in the form of clusters.
Lemon Grass and Citronella Oils in Indo-China.
A report by the Director of Agriculture on the
experiments conducted in Indo-China in 1908 gives an
account of investigations with the oils of lemon grass
(Cymbopogon citratus) and citronella grass (Cynebopo-
gon Nardus). In regard to the former, distillations
were made, following the same manner of operation, in
the dry and wet seasons. Plants dried by exposure to
the air, and not containing more than 13 to 18 per cent.
of water for the dry season crop, and 20 to 25 per cent.
of water for that of the wet season, were distilled. The
average of the distillations gave a yield of 7:9 to 8°5 of
oil per thousand leaves in the dry season, and from 6 to
7 per cent. in the wet season.. On the other hand, the
oil obtained from the dry season crop appeared to
contain a larger proportion of citral; that is, 78 to 80
per cent., instead of 70 to 72 per cent.
In the case of the citronella grass, the leaves were
obtained froma plantation made in 1904, which had
flourished without any care on a soil impregnated with
salts, and unfit for the cultivation of rice. The plants
cut in the period of vegetable growth, before the appear-
ance of the first flowers, produced an average yield of
16 per cent. from the dried leaves, while the plants
which had flowered only gave a yield of 5 to 6 percent.
The flowering stalks themselves only contained 4 per
cent. of essential oil. The fact of the partial disap-
pearance of the oil from the leaves during the flowering
period has been noticed as well in France, in the case
of several different essential-oil-yielding plants,
a
The Sicilian Green Fruit Trade in 1908.
In 1907-8, a large and rapid fall in the price of
green fruit took place, with the result that speculators
found themselves burdened with large stocks which
they had bought at absurd prices, a dead market and
an oversupply of fruit coming in. The result was that
they stated that a crisis had arisen in the trade and
demanded Government assistance, in spite of the fact
that the Messinese importers pointed out that prices
had already been lower before, when there was no talk
of a crisis. Ultimately the Government passed a law
by which a ‘Compulsory Association’, centralized in
in a Green Fruit Chamber, was to be constituted.
The exporters had to sell all citrate of lime to this
chamber, and also certificates of analysis had to be
obtained from analytical chemists employed by it,
exportation by individuals being made prohibitive by
a tax based on the percentage of free and. combined
citric acid in the product. The exporters strongly
objected to this, as they held that the trade of the
island was being crippled, and their livelihood imperilled,
for the sake of a few influential speculators.. The
effect was that the more oppressive clauses of the law
were somewhat modified, and the constitution of the
chamber altered. Notwithstanding this, it is expected
that harm will still be done to the industry, and that
the law will not long remain in force.
378
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NovemMBer 27, 1909.’
INSECT NOTES.
NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS.
Part III.
The body of a caterpillar, which may be considered
a typical insect in the larval condition, is composed of
thirteen segments, as follows :—the head, which appears as
one; the thorax, three; and the abdomen, nine. The segments
of the thorax and abdomen are chitinous rings, joined
together by means of a flexible connective tissue, which
allows for great freedom of movement, and, as uready stated,
for a certain amount of growth in size. In most adult
insects, it is not easy to distinguish the segments which go
to make up the thorax and abdomen, because these are often
much modified in accordance with the habits or structure of
the insect. The growth of insects always takes place during
the larval portion of the life-cycle. Caterpillars, for instance,
moult, or shed their skin, four or five times during their
growth, from hatching to pupation, Adult insects do not grow
in size. Once the wings baye been developed, the insect is full
grown. Small flies do not grow into big flies, small moths do
not grow into large ones, nor small beetles into large beetles.
It should be remembered that butterflies and moths,
beetles, flies, bees and wasps all develop from a larval stage
which is very different in appearance from the adult form,
and that the change in appearance is brought about in the
period of pupation.
On the other hand,
such insects as
grasshoppers, cock-
Bs
‘€as.~ The arrangement of the circulatory,
GROWTH (CONCLUDED), SENSES, CIRCULATION,
greater part of the entire surface of the head, and the number
of elements or ‘facets’ which go to make up one of these
compound eyes often runs to many thousands, although some-
times it is small.
It is not likely that insects have power of vision over
long range, or that they see distinctly. They are all conscious-
of light and darkness, and some of them distinguish certain
colours; many of them distinguish moving bodies, and others,
perhaps, recognize at greater or less distances those insects on
which they prey, or insects or birds to which they are likely
to fall a prey.
CIRCULATION,
digestive and
nervous systems in insects is a typical characteristic. The
alimentary canal is central in position; the organ of circulation
is dorsal, and on account of its position, has received the
name of dorsal vessel; the nervous system is ventral. The
diagram (Fig. 45) represents a median longitudinal section
through the body of a caterpillar. The dorsal vessel is repre-
sented by the dark line, the digestive section (A L) by the
cross-shaded portion, and the nervous system by the dotted
lines. The blood of insects is not confined in veins, arteries and
capillaries, as is
the case in the
roaches and cotton
stainers, which
have an incomplete
metamorphosis, are
somewhat like the
adult in general
form, but without a
wings or with 45.
developing wings. In the case of any insect, however, the
winged individual is the adult.
SENSES.
Insects have well developed senses of taste, smell,
hearing and sight. They have also well developed digestive,
nervous, circulatory, and respiratory systems.
It next to impossible to determine exactly the
functions of certain sense organs in insects. The organs for
seeing, hearing and for producing sound can be recognized
by their structures, and by experiment, but there are others
of which it is not so easy to determine the function
The sense of taste is probably located in the small
appendages of the mouth parts, the senses of smell and hear-
ing are, in some insects at least, in the antennae, which are
often the most conspicuous appendages of the head. Special
organs of hearing are sometimes (in certain Orthoptera) to
be found on the abdomen and legs. The sense of sight
depends on the eyes, which are of two kinds, simple and
compound. The compound eyes are often made up of many
facets and are located at the sides of the head, while the
simple eyes, or ocelli, are situated between them, either on the
top or the front of the head.
The simple eyes of insects are not always present, but
when they occur, they are two or three in number. The
compound eyes are perhaps the most complex and delicate
structure in the insect world.
In many instances, the compound eyes occupy by far the
ff Uff Uy YY:
Fic.
is
LonGiruDINAL SECTION THROUGH CATERPILLAR,
fie higher animals;
a it fills the body-
YY yyy pe cavity and
YY / Ui bathes all the
Uy YY organs, even
SO SSISETOS Sel Sesloaleig Sescine ca Saceee ON penetrating into
the legs and
wings. It is
usually colour-
less, butis some-
times inted yellowish, green, and even red, but does not
get its red colour from red corpuscles, and it is not
red blood in the same way as is the blood of the higher
animals.
The organ of circulation is the heart or dorsal vessel. It is,
as has been said, called the dorsal vessel because of its position
in the body, lying as it does along the median line of the back,
just under the body wall. The heart is a straight, unbranched,
tubular organ provided with muscles extending from the
hind end of the body to the head; it is generally closed at the
posterior end and open at the anterior one. The portion lying
within the abdomen is constricted at intervals, and at each
constriction there is a valve. These valves divide the dorsal
vessel into compartments or chambers. By means of
a rythmic contraction and expansion of the walls of the
dorsal vessel, accompanied by a regular opening and closing
of the valves, the blood is forced from the rear toward
the head, to the long aorta-like portion of the dorsal
vessel lying within the thorax. The chambers are provided
with small openings which communicate directly with the
body cavity, and through which the blood in the body cavity
is taken into the heart and put into circulation. ;
The pulsations of the dorsal vessel and the movement of
the blood in the body cavity can easily be observed in certain
caterpillars The arrowroot worm, or canna leaf roller
(Calpodes ethlius), is the best of our common West Indian
insects for the purpose.
Vou. VIII.’ No. 198:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
FUNGUS NOTES.
u
HOW FUNGICIDES SHOULD BE
EMPLOYED.
The substance of the following article is taken
from Bulletin No. 155 of the Bureau of Plant Industry
of the United States Department of Agricalture
entitled Ze Control of Black Rot of the Grape, by
©. L. Shear, G. F. Miles, and L. A. Hawkins.
The disease is caused by a fungus, Guignardia Bidwellii,
which produces dirty white spots on the grapes; these spread
until the whole berry is shrivelled and becomes covered with
minute black pustules which are the spore-bearing organs of
the fungus. When the grapes are attacked in the early
stages, they turn black and soon drop off. The disease also
attacks the leaves and young shoots. The fungus can produce
itself in two ways. During the summer small black pycnidia
are formed under the skin of the diseased portions. These
are more or less spherical, with a small beak-shaped opening,
and in them white unicellular spores are produced, borne on
the end of fine thread-lke stalks. During the winter, an
ascigerous form of fructification is produced.
One of the obvious methods to be employed for the
control of this disease is the removal of all the fallen
pieces of vine, leaves branches or fruits, during the winter,
either by raking them up and burying them, or ploughing
them in with a deep plough. The other is to keep the vines
covered with a fine layer of fungicide until the grapes have
reached maturity; that is to spray them well at suitable
intervals.
Experiments were undertaken, in Pennsylvania, from 1906
to 1908, New York and Michigan, 1907 and 1908, and in New
Jersey in 1908. The object of the experiments was to deter-
mine the best fungicide to employ under.any given set of
conditions, and the minimum number of applications that
would keep the vineyards more or less entirely free from
black rot. In addition to this, a careful account was kept
of the increased profits obtained on sprayed plots, as com-
pared with those obtained from unsprayed plots, and of the
total cost of the spraying, in material and labour. By
subtracting the cost of spraying from the gross additional
profits, the net increase in profit derived from the sprayed
plot was obtained.
Various strengths of Bordeaux mixture were tried, from
a mixture containing 6 Ib. of copper sulphate and 3 bb. of lime
to every 50 gallons of water, to one containing 3 tb. of copper
sulphate and 2 Ib. of lime to the same quantity of water. In
addition, rosin and whale-oil soap compound was added in
some cases, in order to determine if the extra adhesive
quality which it gave to the weaker mixtures was sufficiently
effective to justify the additional trouble and expense. Various
modifications of Bordeaux mixture made with sodium car-
bonate, and a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium
benzoate, instead of lime, were also tried, as well as other
insecticides, such as various forms of lime-sulphur wash.
The percentage of rot present was determined by actually
counting the number of diseased grapes in 1,000 average
bunches from each of the plots under observation, and com-
paring this number with the average number of berries
usually produced upon the same number of bunches.
On some of the plots, eight applications of fungicide
were made, and on others five. Where eight were made, the
first spraying was carried out when the vines were quite
dormant, and continued at intervals of about ten days to
a fortnight, until the grapes were nearly full grown. When
there were only five applications, the first was made when the
shoots were about 8 inches long, and the fungicide for the
first application, was not quite so strong as that used when
the vines were dormant. In all cases, a weaker Bordeaux
mixture, ora non-staining fungicide such as neutral copper
acetate solution, was used in the final spraying, to avoid
injury to the grapes.
The following were some of the conclusions arrived at,
as aresult of these experiments. The Bordeaux mixture
prepared with 4 Ib. of copper sulphate and 3 tb. of lime to
50 gallons of water was quite as effective in preventing this
disease as mixtures contain larger proportions of copper
sulphate and lime. It was also found that when fresh stone
lime is used, 3 Ib. of lime is ample to. more than neutralize
4 tb. of copper sulphate, and this quantity is preferable; as,
according to recent investigations, excess of lime is likely to
prove a disadvantage. None of the other mixtures tried
were as successful as Bordeaux mixture, though neutral
copper acetate and ammoniacal solution of copper carbonate
were valuable as non-staining fungicides for final spraying.
The first of these is made by dissolving 1 tb. of neutral
copper acetate in 50 gallons of water, and the second by
mixing 5 oz. of copper carbonate and 3 pints of ammonia
solution with 50 gallons of water. The addition of rosin
and whale-oil soap compound to weaker Bordeaux mixtures
was not of sufficient advantage to justify the extra: expense.
Lime-sulphur washes in the proportions generally employed
were not as effective as Bordeaux mixture, and were found
to cause severe scorching of the foliage.
Five applications of fungicide were sufficient, beginning
after the shoots were about 8 inches long. . There was no
additional advantage to be derived from an earlier applica-
tion.
Where unsprayed grapes werea total loss in 1907, the
rot on sprayed plots was reduced to 28:3 per cent. In the:
next season, when the rot was equally bad on unsprayed vine-
yards, the rot on sprayed plots was reduced to much less
than | per cent. This indicates the cumulative effect of the
spraying. The net profits, after deducting the expenses of
labour and materials, showed an increase of $10°60 to $62°30
per acre over unsprayed plots, and this does not take into
account the very considerable improvement in the general
health of the vines which would become more manifest im
succeeding seasons.
In carrying out such experiments, the materials must be
thoroughly and carefully mixed, the best method being to.
well mix the lime, and to completely dissolve the copper
sulphate before adding them to one another.
Another very important point is the necessity of
thoroughly covering the plants sprayed with a thin film of
the fungicide. This necessitates careful application, and
when the plants are leafy, a movable nozzle on the end of
a hose pipe must be employed, so that it can be manipulated
by hand and directed on to all parts of the plant. It is only
by very careful attention to these points that reliable results
can be obtained.
The chief conclusion to be drawn from the above
experiments is that, if spraying is to be successful,
definite knowledge is necessary on the following points:
(1) the best fungicide to employ, (2) the best propor-
tions in which its ingredients should be mixed, and (3)
the minimum number ef applications that can be
profitably made. . These points can only be determined
by carefully organized field-work,
380 THE AGRICULTURAL
The number of bales of cotton imported into the United
Kingdom during the present year, to September 23, was
24,867. This included 6,158 bales of British West Indian
cotton.
During the year ending March 31, 1909, 91 packages
of seeds, bulbs, cuttings, etc., as well as 12 bags of Sea Island
cotton seed were fumigated at the St. Lucia Botanic
Station.
An International Agricultural Exhibition is advertised
to be held at Buenos Aires in June and July, i910. Com-
munications relating. to this should be addressed to the
Secretary, 316 Florida, Buenos Aires,
The cultivation of Sea Island cotton has been intro-
duced into the French possessions in the Society Islands.
It is now proposed to grow a certain amount of Egyptian
cotton, as well. The amount of the former kind produced
in these islands last year was 300 bales of 400 Ib, each,
According to a recent Colonial Office Report on the
Trade of Sierra Leone, it has been shown by experiment
that the ochro plant, if cultivated on a large enough scale
will yield a fibre which will fetch a higher price than jute.
Plants which are cut at the end of two-thirds of their
natural life give a fibre which is worth £20 a ton.
At the Botanic Gardens, St. Vincent, live posts of the
Madura (Gliricidia maculata) have been substituted for the
plants of the physic nut (Jatropha Curcas) in consequence
of the deceased condition of the latter, which was used as
a support of the vanilla. The growth of the vanilla has
improved in consequence.
The West India Committee Circular states that the
Burma Sugar Refiring Company has been incorporated at
Rangoon, under Government encouragement, with a capital
of $324,400; it will acquire land for plantations, and erect
a sugar refinery. In 1908, 13,452 acres were planted in
sugar-cane in Burma, the average yield being 30,000 Ib. of
cane per acre. The cost of cultivation is estimated at $11
per acre, of which one half is for seed cane.
The present forest area of the United States of America
consists of about 550 million acres. Of this, 200 million
acres are mature forests, 250 million partly cut or
burned over, and 100 million more severely cut and
burned over. The annual growth of the forest, taken as
a whole, does not exceed 12 cubic feet per acre; this is
a total of less than 7 billion cubic feet. (The Doard of
Trade Journal, September 9, 1809.)
“estimated at 10,600,000 tb.
NEWS. NoveMBER 27, 1909, /
The world’s consumption of camphor in _ 1907. was
About 70 pet cent. of this was
used in the manufacture of celluloid; 15 per cent. in the
preparation of disinfectants; 13 per cent. in medicinal and
pharmaceutical preparations; and the remaining 2 per cent.
in the manufacture of explosives. To this amount Formosa
contributed 5,388,918 tb.; the remainder came from other
Japanese islands and from China. (Agricultural Bulletin of
the Federated Malay States, Vol. VIII, No. 8.) :
According to the results of analysis which are given im
the Natal Agricultural Jownal, Vol. XIII, No. 2, the
edible portion of the avocado pear has_ the following percent-
age composition : water 82°i, protein, 1:2, fat 8°7, sugar
2°9, celiulose and undetermined matter 4°6, ash 0°5. Starch
and tannin are not present. It is stated that the fat is
a green, aromatic oil, with an odour like that of laurel oil,
and that it solidifies at 15° C. A reducing sugar was found
in the fruit; that which exists in the seed is not of the same
kind.
In the Sio-chemical Journal, Liverpool, a note is
published by Dr. A. C. Hof on the action of iodo-eosin as
a test for free alkalis in dried plant tissues. To obtain the
substance required, an alkaline solution of iodo-eosin is
treated with an excess of acid, and the resulting dye-acid is
dissolved in ether. This indicator gives a red colour in
vegetable tissues containing free alkali, and preparations in
which it has been employed may be mounted in neutrah
Canada balsam. It is suggested that it may be found useful
in investigations of the alkalinity of the tissues of sugar-cane
grown in calcareous soils.
In Ceylon, a great deal of damage is being done to tea
plants by a beetle known as the shot-hole borer. An attempt
is to be made to reduce the numbers of this by the intro-
duction of a predacious beetle (Clerus formicardus), which
has been well proved in the United States to be an enemy of
such insects. It is not certain, however, that the experiment
will be successful, as Clerus formicarius belongs to the
temperate zone, and there is some doubt as to whether it will
thrive in the tropics. An insect similar to the shot-hole
borer is also reported to attack camphor plants in Ceylon.
(The Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. XXXII, No. 3.)
The death is announced of Professor John Scott, om
October 11, 1909, aged 63 years. Professor Scott was well
known as a Consulting Agriculturist and an Agricultural
Engineer. In 1882, he resigned the Professorship of Agri-
culture and Rural Economy at Cirencester, and accepted
a commission to proceed to the Western States of America
to report on the large area of grazing land there. Several
useful agricultural hand-books were published by Professor
Scott, and for some time he edited the Farmer's Gazette
(Dublin), the Scottish Agricultural Gazette and the Farming
World, the two latter being now merged in the Scottish
firmer. He was one of the pioneers of implemental tillage,
using motors, in England, and held several patents in
connexion with this.
Vou. VIII. No. 198.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
381
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
INTERMEDIATE AGRICULTURAL
EXAMINATION.
The examination was held on November 1 and 2; at
some centres, it was found convenient toxtake part of it on
a day after this. The results, which are complete, with
the exception of those from St. Lucia, are as follows:—
Name. Centre. Satisfactory Special
Subjects.
‘J. L. Cozier Barbados § Sugar
Cotton
C. A. O. Phillips Grenada Cacao
Provision crops
FIRST JW. I. Howell St. Kitts © Sugar
CLASS: Cotton
Provision crops
H. H. Walwyn 5 Cane cultivation
| Cotton
be J. A. Hallpike Antigua Cane cultivation
Cotton
SECOND | LL. W. D. H..a Court rs Cane cultivation
CLASS. Provision crops
J. T. Gairy Grenada Cacao
Mus’vadomethod
(W. F. Gore Antigua Cane cultivation
THIRD | Cotton
ciass. | EZ. O. Malone sa Cane cultivation
Cotton
The number of candidates who sat for the examination
was eleven. Of the two whose names do not appear in the
above list, one is required to pass a satisfactory examination
in one additional crop subject, and the other must do the
same for General Agriculture and one crop subject, before
being granted a certificate.
It is to be clearly understood that the different classes,
in which candidates have passed, refer alone to the state of
their general knowledge; the classes are not intended in any
way to designate their standing in regard to any special crop.
The examinations at the different centres were conduc-
ted by:—
Hon. A. St. G. Spooner
Mr. R. 8. D. Goodwin
» H. A. Tempany Antigua
,. T. Jackson
‘Mr. J. R. Bovell Barbados
Dr. Longfield Smith
Hon. W. G. Lang Gr ;
fe) renada
Mr. G. F. Branch
C. i. Todd
t. A. Hardtman
x. G. Auchinleck
, E.R. Shepherd i
In St. Lucia, owing to changes that have taken place
recently in the personnel of the Agricultural Department, the
oral examination has not yet been held. | Now, however,
that Mr. J. C. Moore, the Agricultural Superintendent,
has returned, arrangements will be made for it. At the
written examination, Mr. T. L. Marshall, Acting Agricultural
Superintendent, and Mr. 8. Moffat, owner and manager of
Morne Lazare cocoa estate, Choiseul, presided; while
Mr. H. A. Ballou, Entomologist to the Department, was
present at its opening.
Hon. I. J. Clarke |
J
\
j
\
St. Kitts
The paper on General Agricultural Science contained
twelve questions, of which not more than eight had to be
attempted, including either quéstion: eleven or question
twelve; both of these related to insects. Broadly speak-
ing, this paper dealt with the following subjects: the
preparation or uses of certain manures; the feeding of stock,
cultivation of the soil; drainage of soils; the hoof and shoeing
of the horse; the life-history of fungi and insects.
In the Special Crop Subjects, there were five divisions:
Sugar Industry, Cacao, Limes, Cotton and Provision Crops.
Eight questions were set in each “(all or any of which might
be attempted), with the exception of Sugar Industry. This
subject was divided into three parts: General, Muscovado
Method and Vacuum Pan Method. In each of these parts,
there were four questions, making twelve altogether, eight of
which, however, had to be answered. This was in eon-
sequence of the arrangement by which candidates had to
choose questions either on the Muscovado Method, or on the
Vacuuin Pan Method; in no case-could both be taken.
Considering the questions in Sugar Industry alone, these
included: cane planting; cane varieties; manuring; root
disease; and cane cultivation. In the muscovado method,
they dealt with tempering; qualities of the juice; boiling; and
general definitions. following was
A knowledge of the
required for the paper on the Vacuum Pan Method: the
construction and work of the triple effect; maccration; the
relation between the fibre content of the cane and the
extracted sucrose: the outline of the manufacture of 96°
dark crystals; and general definitions.
In the papers on Cacao and Limes, information relating
to the following subjects was asked for, in the case of one or
both of these crops: manuring; treatment of the trees; the
treatment and disposal of the product; diseases and insect
pests; the picking or collection of the fruit. That on Cotton
included: seed selection and disinfection; insect and fungoid
pests; the prevention of the spread of disease; the uses of
cotton seed; the preparation of land for planting, and the
care of the plants until such time as they become established;
and the actual examination of the lint for quality. The
paper on Provision Crops contained questions on most of the
plants that are mentioned in this part of the syllabus, and
they were concerned with: varieties; seed selection; prepara-
tion and cultivation of land for crops; plant products, their
origin and preparation; insect and fungoid pests; and the
broad relationships of plant groups.
Tn all cases, the questions were of such a nature as to
give the candidate scope for showing his knowledge of the
theoretical considerations underlying the facts, and his ability
to benefit in practice by the possession of such knowledge.
They could not be answered satisfactorily by the mere acquirer
of information.
The price of Broom Corn in the United States.
The trade papers of the United States and Canada
announce that the crop of broom corn is short in many
of the States from which the supply is secured by
broom makers in both countries. It is stated that,
whereas the western crop was expected to be 40,000 to
45,000 tons, it may actually reach about 10,000 to
15,000. Buyers are thus alarmed, and prices have
gone up from $85 to $200, and may even reach $400,
per ton. This suggests that those who are interested
in- broom corn in the West Indies might quickly put
in a crop, and take advantage of the high prices, before
another can be raised in the United States.
382
BOTANIC
MONTSERRAT: REPORT ON THE
AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS, 1908-9,
The expenditure for the year was £552 11s. 6d., of
which £541 4s. 9d. was from Imperial, and £11 6s. 9d. from
local, funds.
The number of plants and cuttings distributed was 9,521
and 117,067, respectively; besides these, a large quantity of
seeds was sent out. Chief among the plants were limes and
the papaw, and among the cuttings, sweet potato and
cassava; the seeds were, for by far the greater part, those of
leguminous plants, such as white pigeon peas and cowpeas,
horse beans and sesbania.
In the cotton seed selection experiments, trials were
made with Rivers, Stirling and Gilbert's seed. A report
by Mr. Wolstenholme on the lint from the selected plants
showed that the best was from the Stirling variety, which
was lustrous, fine and strong, and of fair length; the second
best from this variety was said to have a staple wanting in
fineness and rather brittle. The best lint from the Rivers
type was reported to be strong and of good length, while
that from the Gilbert’s type had the longest staple, but had
a tendency to weakness. The produce from all these has
been used to form nurseries in the next year,
The trials with American varieties of ground nuts were
not satisfactory; they will be continued, however, as better
results are expected after acclimatization. Experiments were
made with two kinds of lemon grass-— West Indian (Cymlopo-
gon citratus) and Cochin (C. fleruosus)—and good yields were
obtained from most of the plots. The general result of two
years’ investigations with the local and Columbian varieties
of cassava has been that better yields have been obtained
with the former than with the latter.
At the Harris’s Station, two years’ trials with Porto Rico,
Dominica and local varieties of eddos have shown that these
give very similar yields of tubers per head, though ‘Rolliza,’
from among the Porto Rico kinds, and ‘Barbados’, of those
from Dominica, show a superiority to all the others.
The plots on which bananas have been grown since 1906,
without the introduction of fresh suckers, have demonstrated
the effect of pen manure in producing an improved yield.
The was an unfavourable one for the cotton
industry, chiefly owing to the weather conditions; the total
export of lint amounted to 238,959 Ib., of a value of
£12,000. The prices received ranged’ from Is. Old. to
ls. 2d.; that they were not higher was due to the depressed
state of the market. The crop raised by peasants was
represented by 200,719 lb. of seed-cotton.
An experiment is being conducted in one of the lime
fields of the Montserrat Lime Juice Company for the purpose
of gaining information as to the best method of cultivation
for this plant. It is ‘only in its initial state, as one
crop of limes has, so far; been reaped. Up to the present,
the favour of cultivation as against
cutlassing alone, forking twice a year and cutlassing, forking
twice a year and ordinary cultivation, and ordinary cultiva
tion alone,
season
results are in clean
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. NoveMBER 27, 1909.
The effects of Paris green and lime, and lead arsenate, in
relation to their use as insecticides for caterpillars and to
their employment: on leguminous plants, were tried. Both
were successful in destroying caterpillars, but even the
weaker mixtures of the former with lime caused more or less
‘scorching’ of the leaves, while damage from lead arsenate
only occurred when it was used in an unmixed state, and
then was only slight.
BRITISH HONDURAS: REPORT
BOVANIC STAFION, 1908.
The number of plants distributed during the year was
6,157; more than half of these were of logwood. Para
rubber seeds to the number of 12,000 were imported from
Singapore, in response to a special order. These were sown
in the nursery, as well as 2,000 cocoanuts from selected
trees, for subsequent distribution of the plants. The demand
for plants, chiefly those which are ornamental, has fallen off,
probably as a result of the recent removal of the Station to
a new site.
In spite of the fact that the last two years have been
exceptionally dry, good results have been obtained, among
minor crops, with pigeon peas (received from the Commiss-
loner of Agriculture for the West Indies), yams, arrowroot,
cotton and velvet beans. The Superintendent of the Botanic
Station made several visits to estates for the purpose of
giving advice, more especially in connexion with cacao,
rubber and cocoa-nuts.
The report states that the old logwood industry of
British Honduras has now fallen to a very low place in the
list of the Colony’s agricultural exports, and that careful
consideration is required in the matter of finding something
to take its place. In the northern districts, the cutting of
logwcod used to be the chief occupation, and the trees grew
wild and plentifully at one time, but are now scarce. This
scareity is simply due to the facts that nothing was done
toward raising new plants and that no protection was pro-
vided for the self-sown seedlings; thus the trees died out in
many places.
The report further states that good land is readily
available, high up the Belize river, for the raising of such
plants as bananas, cacao and rubber, but that, in spite of the
fact that produce can be carried cheaply and easily by motor
boat from this district to Belize, there are as yet, no impor-
tant plantations on the river. Cocoa-nuts have been in good
demand, in the American market, for some time, but little
has been done to increase the supply, and some of the
plantations have suffered from drought.
ON THE
Colonial Fruit Show in December.
The date of the Royal Horticultural Society’s coming
Colonial Show is December 1 to 4. The schedule contains
many improvements on those in previous years, as a result
of the Society’s continuous experience in the special require-
ments of Colonial fruit exhibitions. The chief Glasses are as
follows:-—-
(1) Collection of fruit and vegetables, fresh and dried.
(2) Collection of fresh fruits and vegetables.
(3) Collection of dried fruits and vegetables:
(4) Collection of nuts, spices, and such-like.
The medals of the Society will be awarded at the dis:
cretion of the Council.
Another section of the schedule provides for exhibits of
preserved fruits, ete,
A- lecture will be given at 3 p.m. on the first day
(December 1) by Mr. Robert Newstead, A.L.S., FES. on
‘West Indian Insect Pests’. (Z’ropical Life,. October, 1909.) -
Vou. VIII. No. 198.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
383
fi el SIGE Sie :
CANE-SUGAR AND ITS MANUP®ACTURE, By
H. C. Prinsen Geerligs, Vorman Rodger, Altrincham.
The opening sentences of the preface of this book define
its scope completely and succinctly. They are: ‘ The aim of
the present work is to compile in one book everything that is
known about the chemistry and the technology of the sugar-
cane and cane-sugar manufacture.’ It is due to the author
to say, at once, that he has fulfilled that aim admirably—in
a way, in fact, for which there can be nothing but praise.
Part of his success is due to the climination of details of
a technical nature relating to machinery; thus the clearness
of his treatment of the subject is not lessened by the inclus-
ion of a part of it which has been amply dealt with in other
works. This is a small consideration, however, in compari-
son with the extent to which the value of the book is enhanced
as a result of the long experience and the thoroughness
of the work of the author himself.
Tn its general plan, the book is divided into two parts,
the first of which deals with the sugar-cane itself, and the
second with the manufacture of sugar from its juice. As
would be expected, the length of the former of these is the
smaller; it contains two chapters, one on the constituents of
the sugar-cane, and the other on the proportion and distribu-
tion of these in the plant. Im the second part, there are
five chapters, the first four of which may be said to deal with
the history of the juice in the factory, while the fifth is
concerned with a side issue—that of molasses. Turning
again to the first part, the first chapter naturally consists of
statements of facts, with little discussion; and the particular-
ized aspects of these facts are presented in well tabulated
form. ‘Chere is more room for theoretical considerations in
the second, and it is here that illustrative tables reach their
greatest number in relation to the textual matter of the book.
In relation to tables, it may be conveniently said at this
stage that these are excellent throughout; their scope is wide,
their arrangement handy; they contain few errors, and the
publication of them alone would have given a valuable book
of reference.
As has been indicated already, the first chapter of the
second part commences the history of the juice in the process
of the manufacture of sugar; it is therefore concerned with
mills, diffusion, and the composition and uses of megass. The
second chapter presents the matters relating to clarification
and decolourization of juices in a very clear and useful
manner, and a strikingly thorough résume is given of the
many methods of effecting these, with the theoretical aspect,
and advantages and disadvantages of each. The concentra-
tion of the clarified juice for the removal of the sugar forms
the subject-matter of the third chapter, and the calculations
to which this part of the process necessarily gives rise are
made simply and clearly. The curing of sugar and its
preservation during storage and transport (Chapter IV) are
presented in the spirit of thoroughness that characterizes the
ook, and there does not appear to be any problem which
may arise in connexion with this. troublesome part of the
process that does not receive due and proper consideration.
The same remarks apply to Chapter V, which, as has been
stated, is devoted to molasses, the theories in regard to the
formation of which, as would be expected from the author’s
illuminating work on the subject, are presented in a particu-
larly clear and interesting manner.
Readers might, perhaps, have been grateful to the
author had he included a few more chemical formulae and
equations in the introductory parts dealing with the
chemistry of sugar and associated bodies; but throughout the
book, the business requirements of the manufacturer have
been rather in view, so that there is little ground for
complaint. What strikes the reader at every turn is the
highly scientific character of the work, coupled with a sound,
practical, rational manner of discussing manufacturing pro-
cesses; the recommendations concerning methods eliminate
all those of doubtful utility, leaving the reader in possession
of an array of carefully considered suggestions for practical
guidance, such as he is unlikely to find elsewhere in so
compact and handy a form.
Although the work will find application principally in
those countries where sugar is made in large factories (and
these embrace by far the greater part of those producing
sugar), still there is much that will prove of interest and
value to those who are engaged in the manufacture of mus-
covado sugarin the West Indies, | Particularly would we
recommend to such readers the study of the effect of lime on
the juice, on the sugar, and on the resulting molasses
(Part II, Chapter 2), as tending to afford a clear insight
into matters of importance, and explanations of some phe-
nomena hitherto obscure. Those who are interested in
muscovado sugar will also find instructive reading in con-
nexion with fermentative and other changes of sugar and
molasses, and also useful information concerning the puzzling
froth fermentation which has recently engaged attention in
these islands.
To term this excellent work merely a book of reference
would be to do scant justice to its author. It is so essentially
readable, so essentially the lucid exposition of the results of
the life-work of its authoritative writer, coupled with his
discriminating appreciation of the work of others, that no
one who is seriously interested in the subject with which it
deals can afford to be without it. In such circumstances, it
is gratifying to be able to say that the manner in which it is
published is clear, useful and attractive, and one which is
worthy of its admirable contents.
Rice in British Guiana.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated November 12, 1909, gives
information as follows :—
The weather during the fortnight has continued dry,
and suitable for reaping and milling.
Rice is coming to town freely, and shipments to West
India islands amounted to 1,950 bags during the fortnight.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara for good export
quality :—
Nominally 18s. 3d. to 19s. 3d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross.
16s. 9d. to 17s. 9d. AVI, on
” ”
London,—THz
New York,—Messrs.
Trinidad,— Messrs.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Novemeber 27, 1909.
MARKED. REPORTS.
ComMITrEE CIRCULAR,
E. A. pg Pass & Co.,
Wust Inpra
November 9, 1909 ; Messrs.
October 29, 1909.
Arrowroot—l id. to 5id.
Batata—She set, 2/6 ; block, 1/11} per tb.
Bres-wax—&7 15s. for fair.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 62/- per ewt. ;
55/- per ewt.; Jamaica, 47/- to 52/-.
Corren—Jamaica, 4()/- to 116/6.
Copra—West Indian, £23 10s. to £23 15s. per ton.
Corrox—No quotations.
Frouir—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gincer—Quiet ; common to good common, 42/- to 48/- per
ewt.; low middling to middling, 48/- to 53/-; good
bright to fine, 54/- to 65/-.
Honty—25/- to 32/6.
Istnctass—No quotations.
Lime Juice—Raw, 1/0} to 1/1 per gallon; concentrated,
no quotations; Otto of limes, 5/9.
Loc woop—No quotations.
Mace—(Quiet.
Grenada, 50/- to
Pimento—Common, 2kd.;
Rugeer—Para, fine hard,
8/3 per Tb.
Rum—Jannaica, 2/8 to 6/-.
Sucar—Crystals, 15/- to 16/6; Muscovado, 12/3 to 15/-;
Syrup, 14/6 to 14/9; Molasses, no quotations.
fair, 24d.; good, 22d. per th.
8/4, fine soft, 7/2; tne Peru,
Gittesrre Bros. & Co., October
29, 1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 11}c. to 12c. ; Grenada, 11}c. to 11fc. ;
Trinidad, 115c. to 12¢. ; Jamaica, 9ke. to 104c. per Ib.
ica, select, $35 00 ‘to $36°00; culls,
$20-00; Trinidad, select, $33-00 to 34:00 : culls,
$1900 per M.
aica, ordinary, 8}c. to 85e.; good ordinary,
8ic. to 9c.; and washed, up to lle. per th.
Gincer—9c. to 12c. per th.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, 58c. per tb.; Barbados, 53c. to 55c.;
St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, 48ce. to 50c. per tb.;
Antigua, 50c. to 52c., dry flint.
Grave Fruir—$1'75 to $2: pl per box.
Limes—Dominica, $4°00 to $5 O00 per barrel.
Mace—36c. to 40c. per th.
Nurmecs—110’s, 9c. to 9c. per Th.
ORANG alea, no quot itions.
Pimento—4zc. per th.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 4°30c.
89°, 3°80c.; Molasses, 89°,
paid,
per 1b.; Muscovados,
3°Dde. per tb., all duty
Gorpon, Grant & Co,, November
1S 909.
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°50 per fanega;
to S11°60.
Cocoa-Nut O11—90e. per Imperial gallon,
‘FEE—Venezuelan, 8c. to 9c. per tb.
75 per 100 Wb.
per 2-bushel bag.
50 to $3°7d per 100 th.
Beater _SpLit $600 to $6°25 per pag
Poratos—English, $125 to $1°50 per 100 tb.
Rick—Yellow, $5:00 to $«:2i White, $5:00 to $3:25
per bag.
Sucgan—American crushed,
Trinidad, $11-25
cask meluded,
$5°10 to $o:20 per 100 tb,
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock
& Co., November 22, 1909 ;
T. S. Garraway & Co.,
Messrs.
1909.
ArRowrooT—St. Vincent, $3°60 to $
Cacao—$11-00 to $12-00 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-NuTs—S14 ‘00.
Corree—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11:00 per
100 thee scarce.
Hay—81-00 per 100 th., unsaleable.
Manures—Nitrate of soda, $65°00; Cacao manure, $4800;
Sulphate of ammonia, $75 00 per ton.
Mo.asses—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, $2°75 to $3°25 per 100 Th.
Pras—Split, 56:00 per bag of 210 Tb.; Canada, $3°40 per
bag of 120 Tb.
Potratros—Nova Scotia, $2:00 to $2-75
Ricse—Ballam, $4°85 to 85:00 (180
Rangoon, $3:00 per 100 tb.
Sucar—No quotations.
November 22,
33°75 per 100 th.
5 per 160 th.
0 tb.); Patna, $3
3°80 ;
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wietine & Ricnrer, November
13; Messrs. SANDBACH, PARKER
12, 1909.
& Co., November
ARROWROOT—
| ae Tron, | wlessrs. SAND=
ARTICLES. | Risers Meus BACH, PARKER
" c 7 & Co.
St. Vincent] $3:25 to $8°50
$9:00 per 200 th.,
per 200 th. mar'et dull
Batata—Venezuelablock) 32c. per tb. Prohibited.
Demerara sheet) — 48ce. per tb. o0c. per tb.
Cacao—Native [Eze to 12c. per Tb.) 12e. per tb.
Cassava— | J6e. No quotation
Cassava STARCH—
Cocoa-NuTS—
CorrreE—Creole
| $6-00 to $6°50 per
barrel of 196 th. |
Sales—scarce. |
$12 to $16 per M
No quotation
- $16 per M., peeled
and sclected.
12c. to 18e. per th. 12c. to 13c. per th.
Jamaica and Rio} — 13$c. per Ib. 133 $c. tol de. perth.
Liberian 10e. per tb. 7c. per tb.
Duat— | $4°15 to $4°20 per $4-25 per bag of
bag of 168 ib. 168 th.
Green Dhal 5°25 to $5°50 | ==
Eppos— $1-32 per parrel | —
Motasses— Yellow 22c. to 25dc. ——
Ontons—Teneritie —— No quotation
Madeira 2ic. to 3c. per Ib. 3c. per tb.
Peas—Split $640 per bag | $640 per bag
(210 tt.) ( 210 tb.)
Marseilles | $4:00, over stock Sts 85
PLANTAINS— 24¢. to 50c. per
bunch
Potaros—Noya Scotia $2°50 $2°40 per barrel
Lisbon No quotation No quotation
Poratos—S weet, Barbados
Rice—Bal!am
TANNIAS—
Yams-—Wh:te
$1:20 per bag
$4°50 to $5-25
$4°25 to $4:40
ea per bag |
2°40 per bag
$4:75
$4-00 to $450
Creole |
Puck = 40 per bag —
Suesr—Dark crystals to $2°50 $245
Yellow to $300 | $2-80 to
White to $380 $3°60 to
Molasses to $2°30 | $2°00 ts
Timber —Greenheart | 32c. to 55e. per | 32c. to 55e. per
| cub. foot cub. foot
Wallaba shingles) $3°50 to $d-75 $3°50 t. $5°50
| per M. per M.
3, Cordwood) $1°80 to $2°00 | Nowxovation
per ton \
$<
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‘Agricultural News’ contains extracts
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Vou. VIII. No. 198.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. November 27, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
NOON Weal el =
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR
DIRECT TO :—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street,
London, E.C.
Barbados Agents: James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
A Monthly Journal, containing articles on Tropical
Agriculture, and other matters of interest to those living in,
or interested in, the Tropics.
Edited by H. HAMEL SMITH.
Single copies, price 1s.; annual subscription, 10s, post from the Islands.
free.
Published by :
Messrs. Bale, Son & Danielsson Ltd.,
83-91, Great Titchfield Street,
London, W.lexecuted.
FOR SALE.
On account of death, there is offered for Sale,
Vad Ald A ut y INT ir
A COTTON GINNING PLANT,
Consisting of 3 Asa Lees Single Action Macarthy
Gins, Spiral Seed Conductor, 50 feet long, and One
Crossley Brothers’ Oil Engine, 74 B.H. Power, besides
Gin spares, all only very little used; at a low figure,
For particulars apply to
Executors of the Estate of THomas Hrwrrr, Deed.
Christiansted, St. Croix, ).W.I.
THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON
FACTORY, LIMITED.
BRIDGETOWN,
COTTON SEED.
Purchased at highest current Prices, locally and
TERMS, Cash on delivery of
Seed. Consignments made us will have prompt
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SULPHATE OF COPPER.—We stock this}
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ade FES
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The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
| available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to :
GERMAN KALI WORKS.
30 Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
WUT
VYLV AL
SK 2 KOS
Pie mY
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
7 A :
iy j
ball \s
OF THE
= i
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Vou. VIII. No. 199. BARBADOS, DECEMBER 11, 1909, Price ld.
= an experience, and the knowledge that has been gained
CONTENTS. ‘! : in g g
will have its effect on future developments.
E. Pace. é ‘
( EAS z pie It will be remembered that the first suggestion
Alcohol from Sawdust, |Manure, A New ... ... 388 5 3 go lMe
Manufacture of ... ... 393| Market Reports ... 400 for sucha project was made by Dr. Francis Watts,
Alfalfa Growing for Seed Method for Coagulating C.M.G. (now Im perial Commissioner of Agriculture for
Production ... ... ae OOD Rubber; Ages... -.. 393 : ; ; S Be bie :
rrOnTOO on MATE Vancent S07 Mon tserrate (Cato tolthie the West Indies), at the West Indian Agricultural
Bovk Shelf ... ... ... ... 308) Queen ... ... ... ... 393 Conference held in Barbados in January 1908. In
Coffee, Selection for _Improy- Notes and Comments... 392 el zis :
ment of ... .. ... +. 392 Nutrition of Animals, The 395 July of that year, the suggestion was taken up by the
Cotton in German East Practical Agriculture, Department in a practical manner, and a scheme of
Atiricayeaiy cee ns - 392 Reading Courses and
Cotton Notes :— Examinations in :
West Indian Cotton ... 390) Reaper, Inventor of ... ...
West Indian Cotton Rice in British Guiana ... :
Growing ... ... ... 390|Silk Cotton, A Use for 3
Fungus Notes :— Sorrel) Red, The... ... 388
Coffee Disease of the Soy: Bean Theme... -...091
New World ... -.. 395|Students’ Corner ... ... 397
Gileaninosycss-asar cee mere OOO. | Sugar Industry -—
Tnsect Notes :— Sucrose Content of Storm-
Natural History of broken Cane, The ... 387
Insects, Part IV . 394) Weevil Borer of the Sugar-
Leguminous Plants, cane... 1393
Observations on ... ... 391} West Indian Products ... 399
tions in Practical
Agriculture.
M\ aa : § oye : :
DJ) Practical Agriculture, initiated and carried
themselves to be worthy of permanent adoption, and
has reached a stage at which two preliminary, and one
Sufficient
progress has, therefore, now been made to warrant our
intermediate, examinations have been held.
taking a retrospective view of the situation, and of
giving some indication of the way in which the scheme
will be planned to take effect. in future. Any
further advance must be made in the light of past
reading courses in practical and scientific agriculture,
together with a syllabus of examinations for certificates
of competency, was prepared and embodied in a leaflet
issued by the Department, the principal contents of
which appear in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX,
pp. 295-6.
This leatlet was designed to be of special use to
candidates for the examinations. It ecntains a detailed
syllabus of the subjects that are required to be taken
up for each part, together with hints as to what books
should be read in connexion with them. In addition,
the names of these books are brought together in a list
(see also Agricultural News, Vol. VII, p. 267), which
gives the price and publisher of each. Particular
attention is drawn to the leaflet, because it is an indis-
pensable reference guide for candidates.
For the purpose of assisting students in reading
and in making the without
scientific useless,
a small space has been reserved in each issue of the
Agricultural News since October 31, 1908, under the
heading of Students’ Corner. Its scope is indicated in
the words of the introductory article: ‘ In this space
there will be put forward hints and suggestions con-
practical observations
which agricultural reading 1s
cerning the various objects of study and observation
with students should
Notes on seasonable events of
together questions which
endeavour to answer,
LIBRARY
NEW YORK
BOTANICAI
GARDED
386
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DecemBER 11, 1909.
agricultural importance in the different colomies will
also be a frequent feature in this column.’
It was evident that this was the limit of the
extent to which the pnt forth
efforts for the direct assistance of the students. Cir-
cumstances do not admit of the preparation by it of
manuscript articles on special subjects, the correction
Department could
of test papers, or the provision of model answers to
questions. The suggestion was therefore made that
students should find, at the various centres in the
different colonies, persons who would give them assist-
ance in reading and in answering questions. It was
also recommended that, in any case, students residing
in a particular district should meet together for the
purpose of comparing views and experiences of agri-
cultural matters, and of affording mutual aid.
As the scheme was new, and as there seemed to
be a need of assistance at its commencement, the
Officers of the local Department of Agriculture in some
of the islands organized series of meetings, for the
benefit of students, at which the proceedings were of
the nature of discussions of agricultural subjects,
rather than of formal lectures on them. At the same
time, students were encouraged to attempt the ques-
tions appearing in the Agricultural News, and were
provided with model answers to those in which the
greatest weakness was shown. Much good and useful
work has been done in this way by Officers of the
Department, assisted willingly by others who are
interested in agricultural matters, but, although
this voluntary aid has been accepted with gratitude,
it is hoped that students, while exercising their
claim to obtain help in connexion with any particu-
lar agricultural subject from the Officers in the place
where they reside, will realize the desirability of
arranging their own lines of definite study.
The first preliminary examination was held in Antigua
and St. Kitts,on February 15 and 13, respectively, of this
year. Altogether, fourteen candidates presented them-
selves, and, of these, nine were successful in passing
the examination (see Agricultural News, Vol. VII,
p- 90). The figures, similarly, for the second prelimi-
nary examination, held in Antigua, Barbados, Domin-
ica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Vincent on
October 11, 1909, were twenty and fifteen. (Agricul-
tural News, Vol. VIII, p. 341.) The series of Inter-
mediate Examinations was initiated by one which was
held during the first few days of last month. Candi-
dates were presented at five centres—Antigua
Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts and St. Lucia; the total
number was eleven. The results, with the exception
of those from St. Lucia, where the oral examination
has not vet been held, are given on page 381 of the
current volume of the Agricultural News.
From the information that has just been given,
it is manifest that an increasing interest in the scheme
is being taken, and that it has shown itself to be
useful and valuable. Many of the papers sent up by
the candidates at the examinations are of a very
encouraging nature, and show that, in their case at
least, there was only needed the inducement that hag
been given by the Department for them to put them-
selves in the way of gaining an orderly and methodi-
eal view of the ideas and principles underlying their
work.
The essentially practical nature which has been
given to the intermediate examination arises from the
desire to make it a useful index of the efficiency of
the candidate in the position which he holds, whether
on an estate or under an agricultural department. This
would not have been possible to such an extent as is
the case if the examiners had been none other than
the Officers of the Department. It has been made so
by the willing co-operatian and aid of some of the
planters themselves in the different islands, who have
consented to act as examiners and have given the
examination a value which is derived from the fact
of their practical experience. useful
check to any tendency to a too academic treatment
of the scheme has been provided, and the sympathy of
the planter has been gained in an effectual manner.
In this way, a
As has been shown already, the interest in the
scheme has quickly increased, so that from a_prelimi-
nary examination that was held in two islands, only,
progress has been made to one which has included
most of those which are of importance in the Lesser
Antilles; and yet, only two of these examinations have
been held. There are indications that the same, or
a similar, scheme will be adopted in some of the
larger islands in the West Indies, and this fact should
help to encourage those who have already been
brought into intimate connexion with it to continue
their efforts. One of the strongest arguments on its
behalf, for the planter, should be that it is a means of
adding to the efticiency of the intermediary that he
employs to act between himself and the labour of
which he makes use. On the part of those who are
responsible for its organization, it seems, certainly,
worthy of continuation, and their past experience has
been useful in suggesting several future modifications
which will bring it into still closer correspondence
with the needs that it is designed to serve.
Vou. VIII. No. 199.
SUGAR INDUSTRY,
—
THE SUCROSE CONTENT OF STORM-
BROKEN CANE.
In the last number but one of the Agricultural
News, (No. 197), reference was made to the behaviour
of the cane D. 74 in the storm which passed over
Louisiana in September. Further information with
regard to the effect of breakage on the sucrose
content of the growing cane is given in a report. which
was made on the subject by the Assistant Director of
the Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, This report
appears in a recent number of the Sugar Planters
Journal, and from it the following abstracts are
taken :—
At the time of the severe storm of September 20,
there were wild rumours of great disaster tc the cane-crop,
It is now realized that the damage done was far less than was at
first thought. Ina report from the Sagar Experiment Sta-
tion on October 2, based upon actual counts of broken cane
in several sections of the sugar Delt, it was estimated that
the damage to the cane-crop as a whole was slightly less than
3 per cent. Practically ail of this 3 per cent. damage
occurred in those fields which were planted in the D.74
cane. There were presented, in the same report, data from
actual plantation conditions, which showed this seedling to be
a vastly super-or variety to the Louisiana Purple. Calenla-
tions indicaced that, even in spite of the hurricane, fields that
were tk:s year in D. 74 would give better yields of sugar to
the acre than those planted in the home varieties, In
making these calculations, where data were available, only
thoroughly reliable figures were used. It was necessary,
however, to base certain parts of the report on estimates, and
in doing this, an effort was made to be as conservative as
possible. For instance, the question arose as to what would
be the ultimate sucrose content of those stalks which had
been broken off by the wind. Some predicted that there
would be a significant deterioration in the sugar content
held by these canes at the time they were snapped. No
figures from past experiences were obtainable on this point;
nevertheless, it was thought safe to assume that whereas
there might be no increase in sugar, there would be no
appreciable diminution of that which was already held.
Consequently, these broken stalks were estimated as having
50 per cent. of the value of unbroken ones.
Now, however, it is possible to give data on what has
taken place, as regards sugar content, in the canes that were
broken. Immediately after the storm, it was decided to
conduct a series of laboratory tests which would indicate,
from week to week, the increase or decrease of sucrose in
juice of the damaged stalks. The results were as follows :—
Date. Sept. 22. Sept. 25. Oct. 6. Oct. 13. Oct. 20. Oct. 26.
BROKEN PLANT CANES,
Brix 12°88 12°15 12:97 13:43 12: 12°50
Glucose 3°22 301 DD, 2°51 Dive 2°34
Sucrose 860 8°63 9°19 9°85 D-; 9-00
Purity 66°6 71:0 70°'8 73:3 72°: 250
SOUND PLANT CANES,
Brix 12°48 W215 11:54 13°35" 193. 14:50
Glucose 3°33 Bee 2°66 PASTE PA iss 2:02
Sucrose 8:05 8:28 8°88 964 1068 10:80
‘Purity 64°5 68°1 77:0 72°9 759 74:5
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 387
and
Date. Sept. 22. Sept. 25. Oct. 6. Oct. 13. Oct. 20. Oct. 26.
BROKEN RATOON CANES.
Brix 13°35 2°89 13:66 13:93 14:03 13°30
Glucose 2°53 AIG) 2°19 1:98 2-08 1:90
Sucrose 9:26 9°24 10:06 10:79 10°53 9-9
Purity 67:1 718 736 77:4 75-0 744
SOUND RATOON CANES.
Brix 12°35 1404 14:04 14:50 15:63 13°80
Glucose 2°89 255 2°29 2:19 1°86 208
Sucrose 8:31 10°59 10°37 11-33 11-73 10°80
Purity 67:3 76:1 73°9 18: 73:0 78:2
The cnly practical way of getting these data was to obtain
them from small samples of cane taken from the field at inter-
vais. The juice from five representative stalks furnished the
material for each sample. Every chemist realizes the variation
in sucrose content of individual stalks, and is aware that
a small number of stalks only approximately represents the
conditions of a field. But even with this to detract from the
value of the results, the figures presented give a fair guide to
what has taken place. In inspecting the sucrose column
under broken canes in the table, it is seen that there was
a steady increase up to October 13, twenty-one dzys after
the storm, but that after this there was a decline. There
has also been a slight decline in the purity coeflicient. It. is
a significant fact that this decrease in purity has not been pro-
portional to the falling off in sucrose: and that the glucose has
also dropped off. ‘This indicates that there has been no
great deterioration in the juice of the broken cane.
The increase in sugar with the subsequent decrease may
be thus explained. Shortly after the stalks had been broken
there was a period of cool weather which checked the germina-
tion of the eyes, and promoted the ripening of the cane,
With the warm weather which followed, these eyes sent out
shoots which derived their fooc-supply from the juice of the
stalk. Both sucrose and glucose have lessened in about
proportional quantities. There has been but little increase in
solids not sugars. The decrease in degrees Brix may be
partially attributed to the dilution of the juice from heavy
rains, and partially to a certain amount. of solid matter
having been utilized by the sprouting eyes,
The data obtained on ratoon cane substantiate in
a general way the results obtained on plant cane, and serve to
bear out the deductions made.
There are one or two discrepancies which occur in the
data on ratoons. For instance, from October 20 to
October 26, there is a decline in sucrose in the undamaged
canes and at the same time a decline in total solids (Brix).
This may be attributable to the rainfall of a little over 2
inches about the twentieth of the month. This would have
likewise affected the plant cane, and the fact that a similar
decrease is not noted in the plant canes is possibly due to this
cane having ripened sutfliciently to offset the dilution of
juice by water taken from the soil.
No importance should be attached to the slight increase
in Brix and glucose on broken ratoons between October 13
October 20 which occurs simultaneously with
a decrease in sucrose, as this discrepancy is certainly within
the limits of the accuracy of sainpling.
To summarize, there has been a decrease in sucrose in
the broken canes since. October 13, up to which time there
was an increase. Up to October 26, thirty-four days after the
storm, this deterioration had not offset the accumulation of
sucrose which had taken place up to October 13.
Not only should the data prove of practical benefit, but
they should present an_ interesting study for the plant
physiologist to ascertain just what chemical changes occur in
these crippled canes in their efforts to survive.
388 THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. DecemBer 11, 1909,
WEST INDIAN FRUIT.
THE RED SORREL.
The Queensland Agricultural Journal, Septem-
ber, 1909, gives the following interesting information
concerning the cultivation of the red sorrel, roselle, or
rosella (Hibiscus Sabdarifta). A note on this plant
may also be foundin the Ayricultural News, Vol. VII,
p. 244.
The rosella (//ibiseus Sabdariffa) is one of our most
valuable fruits, and, from the standpoint of the thrifty house-
keeper, few edibles in the range of domestic cookery lend
themseives more usefully to the stocking of a housewife’s
eupbsard. In growing the plants which produce this fruit,
the most important matter to attend to, in the first instance,
is to procure sound, fertile seed. ;
Any moderately good soil will grow rosellas well. Land
with a clay subsoil, if the latter be near the surface, had
better be avoided if cultivating on a large scale; but for
a garden, where only a few trees are grown, the plant, with
an average amount of attention, can be cultivated well
enough to give returns sufficient to fill the cupboard for
family needs, though perhaps not on so lavish a scale as if
grown under more favourable conditions. te
The shrub being hardy and, as a rule, fairly ornamental,
given fair treatment, is calculated to adorn, and prove useful
in, the kitchen garden no less than in the field.
For the ordinary kitchen garden, it will suffice to mark
out a plot a few feet square and lightly cover the seeds, well
watering them and keeping the plot free of weeds until the
plants are about 6 inches high, and then to set them out in
rows about 6 feet apart. If the grower is not disposed to
start his seed from beds, the latter can be sown where the
bushes are to remain, and thus the trouble of transplanting
is saved; but the precaution must be taken to have a few
spare plants to meet the contingency of having some destroy-
ed by grubs or other causes, so that the vacant spaces can be
filled up.
In the ordinary course of garden work, the transplant-
ing is usually performed by the simple removal of the plants
from the seed bed, without unduly tearing the tender root.
A small hand fork for loosening the soil, so that the plant
ean be lifted in good order, is all that is needful. he plants
having been raised, set them out in regular rows, and in
good, fertile soil, giving due heed to the equal extension of
the root fibres; this not only helps to hold the plant firm
ayainst strong winds, which often seriously affect the shrub
when it is in vigorous growth, as it acquires a head consider-
ably out of proportion to its foothold, but it also enables
the roots to find more plant food for the sustenance and early
development of the bush—all of which, though apparently
trivial precautions, have a very important bearing on the
cultivation ef this fruit. The propagation of the plant by
cuttings is not commonly adopted, and indeed is not as
satisfactory as from seedling plants: still there are times
when the system will prove worthy of a trial. It may be
that from failure of the seed to germinate there are not
enough plants t» fill the area or to supply the spaces in the
rows transplanted. As it is, however, imperative to replace
them, propagation from cuttings, or, more properly, branches,
will be expedient. When the shrubs are 1 foot or 18 inches
high, select from your most vigorous and bushy shrub a couple
of the ,ower branches. Do not cut them, but, with a gentle
snatch, break off the wood close to the main stem of the
shrab. It will break off very easily, and on examination of
tae branch you will observe the edging of the break will
indicate a strong rim of bark which will, on transplanting,
quickly callous and soon provide a good roothold for the
shrub,
Most housewives are familiar with the various uses of
the rosella. For jam-making it is well adapted, forming
a palatable, easily kept product, if put up in earthenware or
glass. Unfortunately, rosellas contain an acid principle
which precludes putting up this class of fruit in ordinary
tin ware, and hence some failures have been experienced in
this respect. [or pickles the fruit is well adapted, and it
makes an excellent condiment. It is not commonly known
that in tke utilization of the chocho, now fast becoming
a popular vegetable, that very pleasant tarts can be made by
using that fruit (Sechiwn edule) in conjunction with the
rosella. It is well known that many object to what they
term the excessive tartness of the rosella. Using it in
conjunction with the chocho, this tartness is modified, and
tends to make both these fruits more appetising. In fact,
rosellas are specially adapted for blending with less sour
fruit, as they give a flavour to many fruits and vegetables
which otherwise would not be so acceptable for table use.
A New Manure.—H. C. Prinsen Geerligs, in the
Indische Mercuur, Vol. XXXII, No. 14, gives an account of
a new manure which is made in Java, and whose production
gives a means of disposing of factory molasses and the ash
from the fuel... It consists of a mixture of molasses, furnace
ash, filter press mud, and well dried pen manure, An analysis,
which is given, shows that this mixture contains: nitrogen
0°42 per cent., phosphoric acid 0-98 per cent., and potash
1°12 per cent. For purposes of comparison, similar figures
fora fair sample of pen manure may be given. They are:
nitrogen 0°68, phosphoric acid 0°22, and potash 0°51 per cent.
Vou. VIII. No. 199.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 389
ALFALFA GROWING. FOR SEED
PRODUCTION. ;
Circular No. 24 of the Bureau of Plant Industry of
the United States Department of Agriculture deals
with the raising of alfalfa in cultivated rows for seed
production in semi-arid regions. As part of the informa-
tion is interesting in connexion with West Indian
conditions, it is given here :—
In Bulletin 118 of this Bureau, attention was directed
to the fact that cultivated alfafa is not a homogeneous
species, but is composed of numerous races, strains, varieties,
and even sub-species. These vary greatly in many charac-
ters, and especially in their seed-producing capacity, no pure
varieties of known high value comparable with those we have
of corn, wheat and other crops having as yet been establish-
ed. It has also been noted that the individuals constituting
these diverse races, elementary species, or whatever they may
be called, exhibit great variation among themselves. It has
often been observed that, as a rule, isolated alfalfa plants set
seed far more profusely than those in all but the thinnest
stands.
Why the isolation of plants increases the production of
seed has not been fully determined, but it is apparent that
one of the factors involved is the increased amount of sun-
light available to the plant. It has often been observed that
trees grown on the banks of irrigation ditches in alfalfa fields,
or along the margin of fields, always interfere with normal
seed production as far as the influence of their shade extends.
In the course of an experiment on the seed setting of alfalfa,
it was found that partial shading materially reduced the
quantity of seed produced by plants not already receiving
more than the optimum amount of sunlight. When alfalfa
plants have sufficient space for full development, they have
approximately equal illumination on all sides.
In addition to the injurious influence of shade, the crowd-
ing of plants interferes with seed production by depriving
them of sufficient moisture to enable them to mature
their seed properly. This, of course, is true only in areas
where the rainfall is light. On the other hand, in sections
where irrigation is practised, thick stands, by checking
evaporation, bring about such moist surroundings in fields as
to promote unfavourable conditions, and so to prevent
maximum yields of seed.
The lower shoots, which usually appear when the plant
begins to bloom, are developed at the expense of the seed
crop. The energy that should be devoted solely to the
maturing of the seed is diverted by this new growth. Per-
haps the most important factor influencing the development
of these lower shoots, which are to form the succeeding crop,
is the water content of the soil. If the moisture supply be
ample, the lower shoots commence their growth about the
time the plant comes into bloom. This is disastrous to the
seed-crop, and for this reason it is necessary that there be
a sufficient shortage of moisture at this time to retard, or
prevent altogether, the development of these shoots. In the
seed-producing sections of the more humid parts of the Great
Plains area, profitable crops of alfalfa seed are usnally obtained
only in the occasional seasons of drought which is so extreme
that the yield of other crops is greatly reduced.
Drought is used here in a qualified sense. There must,
of course, be enough moisture in the soil to enable the seed
to mature fully; otherwise it will be deficient in germinating
power. On the other hand, the soil must not contain enough
moisture to force into growth the crown buds that produce
the succeeding crop.
Insect visits are essential to the proper pollination of
the alfalfa flower. If fertile seed is to be produced in any
quantity, it is necessary that a certain explosive mechanism
within the flower be released. By the explosion of an alfalfa
flower is meant the snapping out of the stamens and _pistil
from the wings and keel, which had hitherto enveloped them,
to a new position against the standard. This takes place
when certain insect visitors insert their nectar-gathering
organs into the flower. The impact of the stigma and
stamens against the body of the insect appears to have at
least three immediate and important results: (1) the
wounding of the stigmatic surface of the pistil, making it
more susceptible to fertilization; (2) the contact of the
sensitive surface with pollen borne on the insect’s body from
previously visited flowers; and (3) the dusting of new pollen
on the insect, which will function in pollinating flowers
subsequently visited. Experiments and observations both by
the writers and by other investigators indicate that prac-
tically no seed is produced if the flowers are not exploded.
It is quite well known that the explosion of alfalfa
flowers may be accomplished by other means than insect
visitation. The insertion of a more or less pointed
instrument into the throat of the corolla has often been
resorted to in studying the exploding mechanism of
individual flowers. Roberts and Freeman describe a method
of exploding flowers in large numbers by rolling the head
carefully, but firmly, between the thumb and the first and
second fingers. This explodes the flowers then at the proper
stage of maturity. Exploding on a still more wholesale
scale may be done by grasping the entire plant between the
hands at successive intervals. In this case, it is best to
work from the bottom toward the top of the plant, exerting
the required pressure at the proper spaces. It has been
found that flowers exploded by any form of manipulation
set seed readily, while other flowers left unexploded, and
from which insects are excluded, rarely set seed.
As only a slight pressure on the keel is necessary to
explode the flower, artificial methods may he resorted to as
a means of supplementing the natural process as accomplished
by insects. In an experiment at the Arlington Experi-
mental Farm, in which the method mentioned of exerting
pressure successively over the whole plant was used, the yield
of pods was increased 25} per cent. over that of adjoining
rows not thus treated. At Chico, California, an increase
of 129 per cent. in the number of pods resulted. Although
greater seed yields also result, two experiments at least
indicate that the increase in the number of seeds is not in as
high proportion as is the increase in the number of pods.
Further experiments, and more exact observations under
varying conditions in different sections, will be necessary to
determine just when sufficiently increased yields of seed may
be expected to justify the expense of the undertaking. Any
alfalfa seed producer may test this method experimentally on
a small scale.
It is recommended that the selection of desirable plants
sommence as soon as the preliminary sowing has developed
plants large enough to show their value. The field should
be inspected row by row, and seed of the selected plants
should be gathered in advance of the regular harvest. The
relatively small quantity of seed secured in this way should
be sown with great care, to make it cover the greatest possible
area of ground. The plot of alfalfa, thus secured, will produce
seed of much greater value than that obtained from unselected
plants. If this method is carried out, materially increased
crops of seed may be secured without detracting from the
hay value of the strain. Indeed, both the hay and the seed-;
producing capacity may be increased by the process.
390 THE
AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. DeEcEMBER 11, 1909.
.. COTTON NOTES./
' ee we)
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool,
write as follows, under date November 22, with reference
to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton :—
Since our last report, American Sea Island cotton has
eased a little in price, and probably Fully Fine. Island
could be purchased at 185d., and the best Floridas at 16d.;
but buyers are not anxious to add to their stocks, even at
these figures.
A small lot of St. Croix West Indian has been
at 174d.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending November 20, is as follows:—
The market has been very quiet throughout the week,
with apparently no demand. The sales were limited to
a small crop of Extra Extra, viz: 10 bales Ideal, at 75c., on
account of a French spinner. The receipts were 1,152 bales,
consequently the stock for sale is increasing, yet notwith-
standing this, the factors are refusing to make any concession
from their asking prices, viz: Extra Fine 37c,, Fully Fine 35c.,
Fine 33c. However, with orders in hand for quantity, we
think we could buy at some decline.
sold
WEST INDIAN COTTON GROWING.
A special session of the Council of the British Cotton
Growing Association was held on September 14, 1909, for
the purpose of meeting the Imperial Commissioner of Agri-
culture for the West Indies. Since then, an account of the
proceedings that took place at that meeting has been issued
in the form of a pamphlet (No. 35, October 1909) by the
British Cotton Growing Association.
Dr. Watts, after introduction by the Chairman, Sir
Alfred L. Jones, K.C.M.G., proceeded to review the position
of affairs in the West Indies, stating that the high prices
which had ruled for Sea Island cotton two or three years ago
had caused a number of planters to take up the industry
under conditions which had been shown to be unfavourable,
and not conducive to success. Prices had been low during
the past season, and he hoped that they were below normal,
so that a chance of their being higher in the future would be
given. Another untoward circumstance had been that, during
the past two seasons, the crop had been planted late perforce,
on account of the lack of rain during the period July to
October. Notwithstanding these vicissitudes, he was of
opinion that cotton growing in the West Indies is an
established industry.
Particulars of the position of affairs in regard to cotton
in each island were then given by Dr. Watts. These showed
that the industry was in-the. most flourishing condition, and
the outlook most hopeful, in St. Vincent, St. Kitts, and the
Virgin Islands. The prospects were also good in Montserrat,
if the fluctuation in progress, resulting from the rapid growth
of the industry, could be avoided; and in Antigua, Barbados,
Nevis and Anguilla, if the seasons were favourable. The
present conditions in Antigua and Rarbados were somewhat
similar; these, with a better knowledge of the means of com-
bating insect pests, in the former island, and with an
increased recognition of the value of cotton as a crop for
ridding sugar lands from certain diseases, in the latter,
should improve. The unfortunate experience of planters in
Nevis had not led to their final discouragement, and it was
hoped that, with the attempt to revive the sugar industry,
the two crops would become mutually helpful. With regard
to Anguilla, a debt was due to the Association for the assis-
tance rendered by it to this island—assistance which had
caused it to become practically self-supporting, and to attain
a position that it had not occupied for the last fifty years.
In the Virgin Islands, the special conditions consequent on
land being in the hands of the peasants had caused interest-
ing developments to take place. The lack of persons of
substance who could aid the peasant in placing his cotton on
the market had caused the Government, through the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, to take the unusual course of buying,
grading, pooling, ginning, and exporting the small lots that
are brought in week by week by the peasants—a policy that
had proved itself worthy of adoption. L
After drawing attention to the importance of the
establishment of sound relations between producer and
buyer, and to the good work that had been done by the Associa-
tion in this direction, Dr. Watts proceeded to consider
three phases of the work in connexion with cotton produe-
tion. In the first instance, the planter himself required
advice as to the kind of cotton that he should grow, the way
in which he will be likely to sell it to the best advantage, and
what demand there is for the product. The Department of
Agriculture, secondly, had to answer these questions us far as
possible, to supply seed, if necessary, and, generally, to help
the planter to overcome any agricultural difficulties. In the
third place, the work of the British Cotton Growing Associa-
tion had especial reference to furnishing the Department
with certain portions of the information whieh the planter
may require, and to securing the sale of cotton under the
most favourable conditions. In reviewing these phases of
the work, Dr.’ Watts made reference to the valuable aid
given by the Association, specially mentioning the names of
Messrs. Wolstenholme and Oliver, and spoke highly of the
way in which the Department is assisted in the experimental
work by planters.
After a discussion, in which the chief points raised were
the levying of export taxes on cotton shipped from where it
was grown, the advisability of the introduction of ‘new
Vout. VIII. No. 199.
varieties, measures to be taken against pests, the importance
of the continuation of the aid given by the British Cotton
Growing Association, and the manner in which cotton should
be shipped, the meeting closed, with a hearty vote of thanks
to Dr. Watts for his most valuable and interesting address.
OBSERVATIONS ON WILD LEGUM-
INOUS PLANTS.
Some interesting facts are brought forward, in
Circular No. 31 of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the
United States Department of Agriculture, with regard
to the way in which virgin soils have gained their
high nitrogen content. The following is abstracted
from the circular to which reference is made : —
Many hypotheses have been formed to account for the
large stores of nitrogen in virgin soils, but none of these
have been entirely satisfactory. It seems to be a well estab-
lished fact that small quantities of ammonia are collected
from the air by rain and added to the soil; also, that more
or less nitrie acid is formed by electrical discharges and
added to the supply. Some investigators have attributed
the fixation of nitrogen entirely to the latter cause. Recently
a number of efforts have been made to show that nonsym-
biotic, or independent, bacteria are the chief agents in fixing
this element. While it seems certain that some nitrogen is
added to the soil by each of these methods, it appears to
the writer that there is not sufficient evidence to warrant
a conclusion that any one of them has been the most
important factor in this work. They do not furnish a satis-
factory explanation of the presence of such large quantities
of nitrogen in the soil.
Several experimenters have suggested that wild legumes
may have played some part in this work; they have not
generally been considered as important factors. The studies
reported in this circular indicate that this subject deserves
more thorough investigation than it has yet received, and
that native legumes have been of much more: importance in
this rdle than has been thought.
Several years ago, the writer raised the question as to
whether the native legumes of the prairies were sufliciently
numerous to have fixed the amount of nitrogen present.
A search for published data on the subject was made, but
none were found. Accordingly, in the spring of 1908 a series
of investigations was begun, a preliminary report of which is
here given.
The writer had long been familiar with the flora of this
region but was not at all prepared for such results as were
found. The average numbers of wild leguminous plants
per square yard, that were found, were: ordinary ground 17,
high plains 3°6, and sandhills 84. After, the grasses
(including sedges) and possibly the composites, legumes form
a larger part of our flora than does any other group of plants.
If these figures are representative, or anywhere near it, it is
evident that our farm lands from time immemorial have been
growing a full stand of legumes. Seventeen plants to the
square yard are enough to fill all the soil with their roots.
Most of these plants, such as Amorpha, Kuhnistera and
Psoralea, have enormous root systems (and. these genera
represent the large majority of the prairie legumes).
A single plant is often sufficient to fill the soil with its roots
for a radius of several feet, as any farmer who has ploughed .
up Amorpha is ready to testify. The smallest root systems
are probably those of Vicia and Lotus, and yet seventeen of ,
these to the square yard would seem to be sufficient to
gather a large supply of nitrogen.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
391
Many examinations were made to ascertain the preva-
lence of nodules upon different species. Large numbers of
tubercles were found on every species examined, and on
nearly every individual except mature Kuhnistera. Nodules
are especially plentiful on Psoralea, Astragalus, Acuan,
Meibomia, and Lotus. On Lotus the nodules are often
almost massed together on the tap-root. Some difficulty was
experienced at first in finding tubercles on Kuhnistera, but
they are always in evidence on seedlings. On the old plants
there is a doubt whether typical nodules are produced, or
whether the bacteria are in the small, thickened roots which
occur in extraordinary numbers, almost in fascicles, especially
on roots of the previous year’s growth. During the coming
season an effort will be made to determine this point. The
efficiency of these legumes as nitrogen gatherers does not
seem open to question, however, if the universal inoculation
of the seedling plants is considered.
It does not seem that most of these legumes choose the
poorer soils, for, in fact, many of them grow much Letter on
rich soil; but when the soil becomes rich in nitrogen and
humus, other plants which do not thrive on poor soil are able
to crowd out the legumes. There is good reason to believe
that Jands that are now richest formerly supported the
leguminous growths, except, perhaps, where the
plant food has been washed down from higher levels.
Western farmers have been slow to learn their lessons
from Nature. Nature on her farm has kept up the produc-
tion of grasses and other nitrogen robbers by the constant
growth of legumes. If this fact had been recognized sooner,
perhaps there would not have been such reckless exploitation
of the rich soils of the Mississippi basin. For forty years
farmers have lost sight of this and have taken off grain crops
(all grasses) continuously, and doubted if this practice would
ever exhaust their soils, because they were still productive
after the removal of twenty, thirty, or forty crops. But now
the effect is evident; farmers must learn from the prairies
round them one of the first principles of permanent agricul-
ture, and introduce leguminous crops into the farm rotation.
densest
THE SOY BEAN.
An account of the soy bean was recently given in
the Agricultural News (Vol. VIII, p- 222). An
interesting addition to the information contained there
is to be found in the October number of the Journal
of the Jamaica Agricultural Society.
An enormous quantity of soy bean cake is now being
imported into Great Britain from Manchuria. This cake
has already won a high reputation as a food for milch cows.
The soy bean cake is sold at about £6 15s. to £7 a ton.
Some recent trials have been carried through in the United
Kingdom with soy bean cake as against cotton seed cake:
the resuits were fairly equal, with a slight advantage in
favour of soy bean cake.
The following analysis has been made:—
Decorticated Soy cake,
cotton cake, per cent.
per cent.
Soy beans,
per cent.
Moisture 10°89 TSS 10°23
Oil 13°18 6-00 15°62
Albuminoids 40°18 44°37 37°54
Carbohydrates 24°22 25-04 27-27
Woody fibre 4°13 3°90 5:02
Ash 740 7°38 4°32
Nitrogen 6°39 7-10 6-01
Sand None 1°20 None
392
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
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specimens for naming, should be addressed to the
Gcniniasibnes Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados,
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
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. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Agricultural Hews
ee
Vor. VIII. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1909. No. 199.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Contents of Present Issue.
In this number, the subject of the Reading
Courses and Examinations in Practical Agriculture is
dealt with as an editorial.
Interesting information in connexion with the
changes that the juice in the sugar-cane undergoes,
after breakage of the latter by storm, appears on page
387.
An abstract of a useful article that has recently
appeared, on the red sorrel, is given on page 388.
The article on page 389, entitled Alfalfa Growing
Seed Production, should be of service to those who
practically interested in the raising of this crop.
for
are
An account of an address recently given by the
Commissioner of Agriculture before the British Cotton
Growing Association is presented on page 390.
In the Insect Notes (page 394) of this number,
the series of articles on the Natural History of Insects
is continved. In| this instalment, the respiratory and
nervous systems of insects are described.
The Fungus Notes, on page 395, give an account
of a coffee disease in the New World and of the reme-
dies that are recommended for it.
On the same page, interesting conclusions as to
the part that is played by inorganic phosphorus in the
nutrition of animals, are brought forward.
THE AGRICULTURAL. NEWS.
DeEcEMBER 11, 1909.
Selection for the Improvement of Coffee.
Experiments are being undertaken by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture of the Dutch East Indies, with
a view to obtaining improved varieties of coffee by
selection. After several years’ trials, it has been found
that the ordinary methods of selection which are appli-
cable in the case of annual plants, such as that depending
on the actual weight of the seed or on its specific
gravity, do not give appreciable results with coffee ; on
the contrary, great differences were found between the
descendants of different seed-trees. In the experiments,
the seeds of each tree were sown and cultivated sepa-
rately. The growth and production of the different
lots were compared among themselves, and the tree
which gave the most vigorous and productive descend-
ants was chosen to provide seed for the future.
A report on the experiments states that the study
of the variability of species is intimately connected with
the methods of selection employed. ‘The characters of
the seed-trees have been studied in detail, and the
average values of the variable characters have been
calculated according to the methods of Galton and
Quetelet. In many cases, it has been possible to
separate a large number of varieties, which have been
proved constant by sowing, from the typical species;
thus, under Coffea arabica, no less than fourteen
such varieties have been described.
A
Cotton in German East Africa.
The Monthly Consular and Trade Reports for
September, 1909, contains interesting information in
connexion with the growth of the cotton-growing
industry in German East Africa. The increased acre-
age in cotton plantations along the Daressalaam-Moro-
goro Railway has necessitated additional cotton-ginning
facilities in Daressalaam, In order to dispose of last
years crop, the Colomial Agricultural Committee
(KXolonial-Wirtschaftliches Komitee), by an arrange-
ment with a local firm, has temporarily installed
two gins, and is now ina position to work up all the
incoming product. Negotiations are pending to
establish these gins permanently.
One of the larger companies, whose activities
extend throughout German East Africa, has for some
time been operating two gins at Tanga; but the
increase in production has been so large in that
district that they are no longer able to meet the
demands. At the instigation of the Colonial Agri-
cultural Committee, the firm has undertaken to erect
two additional gins at Tanga. The antiquated Spindel
press will also be replaced by a modern hydraulic steam
press. A recently installed gin in the Moshi district
may also shortly prove inadequate to take care of the
increasing production there.
There are in addition, some seven or eight gins on
the various plantations throughout German East Africa,
to all of which additions are contemplated in the near
future. The planters in the Tanga district have
requested the Colonial Agricultural Committee to
Von. VIII. . No. 199.
instal and operate a number of gins. The means at
the disposal of the Committee, however, seem to pre-
clude the possibility of such a step. It has been
suggested that the Committee instal these gins, but
that their operation be left to the planters on a sort of
commonweal plan.
Montserrat’s Gift to the Queen.
Her Majesty Queen Alexandra has been pleased
to accept from the people of Montserrat a number of
presents, which include fancy work and preserves. The
former was made under the supervision of Mrs. David-
-son Houston, the wife of the Commissioner of Montse-
rrat, who is attempting to build up an industry in drawn
thread work. For many years, this kind of fancy work
has been produced in the island, but the workers
lacked opportunities for putting the results of their
labours on the market under satisfactory conditions.
Owing to the efforts of Mrs. Davidson-Houston, these
opportunities have been provided, and there are indica-
tions that the making of drawn thread work will
‘become a profitable handicraft. The preserves were
prepared under the direction of Miss Tull. Both
these and the fancy work were on exhibit at the Court
House, Montserrat, for a short time before being
despatched to England.
The success that has attended these efforts should
encourage others to do what they can toward assisting
the development of minor industries in the West
Indies, for it is only too evident that very little
advantage is being taken of the opportunities that are
afforded in these islands for making use of this import-
ant and effective aid to the well-being of their
inhabitants.
4
The Weevil Borer of the Sugar-cane.
The Hawaiian Planters’ Monthly for September
1909, contains a report on the weevil borer of the sugar-
cane in the Moluccas (Sphenophorus obscurus). In
many of the islands, this insect does much damage to
the sugar-cane and various palms, whereas in others its
numbers are kept down by its natural enemies. The
chief of these are two predaceous beetles, a Histerid
and an Elaterid, and a Tachinid fly. The former of
the beetles feeds on the larva of the borer, both as
a larva itself and as a perfect insect; it is active in both
stages, hardy, and can remain for some time without
food. In the case of the Elaterid, only the larval
stage feeds on the borer, but both the larvae and the
pupae are attacked; like the former, it is hardy and can
stand long fasts. Both of them are slow breeders, or
their value would be greater. The young of the
Tachinid fly enter the larva of the borer and kill it just
before it pupates. On an average, there are three
parasites in each larva, but there may be as many as
eight.
The sugar-cane weevil borer of the West Indies is
Sphenophorus sericeus. It will be remembered as the
one which makes the cocoon of cane fibres in which
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
393
to pass its pupal stage. (See Agricultural News,
Vol. I, pp: 168 and 258; and Lectures to Sugar Planters,
pp. 127-32.)
ee - —
The Manufacture of Alcohol from Sawdust.
In the American Sugar Industry and Beet Sugar
Gazette, May 27, 1909, particulars are given of what is
known as the Classen Patent for making alcohol from
sawdust. It consists in heating the sawdust, with
sulphur dioxide, in lead-lined digesters, to a tempera-
ture of 250° to 300° F. for an hour. The effect is to
oxidize the cellulose in the sawdust, so that a portion
of it is turned into glucose. The glucose is washed and
then fermented in the ordinary way, any excess of acid
being neutralized by means of chalk. It is estimated
that by this process 250,000 gallons of wood spirit will
be manufactured during the next twelve months, but
it is expected that this output will be quickly increased.
It is hoped that there will be produced from 1 ton of
sawdust, 243 gallons of alcohol, about 6 gallons of acetic
acid, and 1,700 tb, of cake for feeding stock.
+>
A Use for Silk Cotton.
In the current volume of the Agricultural News,
p. 279, an account was given of silk cotton, or ‘ Kapok’,
in Java. From information contained in the Journal
of the Royal Society of Arts, October 15, 1909, it
appears that trials have been made with this substance
as a substitute for cork in life-belts, by the Royal
National Life-Boat Institution, since July 1905. The
reports on the belts were so favourable that, in July
1906, the Committee of Management adopted the kapok
life-belt for all future supplies, and at present there
are not many cork belts in use. The chief advantages
of the former are (1) its weight, which is somewhat
over one-half of that of a cork belt; (2) its resulting
extra buoyancy ; (3) its flexibility; (4) its strength ;
(5) its durability and non-liability to injury.
rr
A Method for Coagulating Rubber.
An account ofa method for coagulating rubber,
which is used by the natives of the Ivory Coast, is
described in the Journal d’ Agriculture Tropicale, No.
98. The latex, which is obtained from Funtumia
elastica, 1s mixed with the juice of a plant which is
common in the forests of the Ivory Coast—Strophan-
thus Barteri—and the whole is stirred rapidly for five
to ten minutes. One part of this juice, which is
a yellowish-green, sticky liquid, is required for the
coagulation of 30 parts of the latex. When they have
been formed, the clots of rubber are thrown into a basin
and washed with plenty of water, as their surface is
covered with a thin yellowish layer, which is apparently
produced by the juice of the Strophanthus; this sub-
stance is exuded from the surface for several days, The
rubber thus obtained is as elastic as that recovered by
boiling, but its appearance is not as good.
Strophanthus Barter: is found in Africa and Asia,
chiefly in virgin forests. It isa liane, which attains
the thickness of the arm, and a length of 50 to 60 feet.
394
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DercEMBER 11, 1909.
INSECT NOTES,
NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS.
Part IV.
RESPIRATION.
Insects breathe by means of air-tubes (tracheae) which
begin at openings in the body wall, and extend throughout
all parts of the insect structure. The openings, which are
called spiracles, or stigmata, are valvular, and are capable of
being opened and closed. On the outside, they are also
generally protected by hairs. There are usually ten stigmata
on each side of the insect body, but there are sometimes less,
and they also vary in their position, according to the life-
habits of the insect. They may be distinctly seen with the
naked eye in many insects. In certain large caterpillars,
they are surrounded by fine lines, or are enclosed in spots of
colour, which make
them prominent. In
the grasshopper, they
may be easily seen:
two on the sides of
the thorax, and eight
on the abdomen. The
tracheae are composed
of chitin, and are con-
tinuous with the body
wall. The smaller air-
tubes are simple
tubular — structures,
but the larger are
strengthened on the
inside by ridges,
arranged spirally.
The tracheae from
the stigmata connect
with main lines, which
extend the length of
the body, and from
which the branches
and smaller tubes
communicate with all
parts. In Fig. 46, the
cross-shaded portions
are the tracheae, and
the very fine cross-
lines represent the
thickenings mention- Frc, 46. TRACHEAL SysTEM,
ed above.
In large insects which fly long distances, such as pond-
flies, butterflies and moths, some beetles, flies, bees, etc.,
there often occur large distensions of certain tracheae to form
air sacs, which probably are of use to the insect in making
the body more buoyant, and in increasing the rapidity of
breathing.
All insects are air breathers; those which live in the
water must come to the surface from time to time for a sup-
ply of air, and in many cases the habit of living in water,
in decaying organic matter, in plant tissues, or as animal
parasites, necessitates some modification, or special adaptation,
in the manner of obtaining the necessary air.
Mosquito larvae (Fig. 47) breathe by means of a special
organ at the posterior end of the body, which is brought
into contact with the air. Maggots of flies which live in
plant or animal tissues often have spiracles at the
posterior end of the body which communicate with the air,
RESPIRATORY
AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS.
Water beetles come to the surface and carry down, when
they dive again, a film of air held by the fine hairs of the
body, while certain insects are provided with tracheal gills in
the aquatic larval stage.
Fic. 47. Mosqurro Larva.
The aeration of the blood is accomplished in a manner
exactly opposite to that in higher animals. The air penetrates
to all parts of the body by means of the tracheae which are
bathed by the blood, and comes into intimate contact with
the food-substance by means of the minute branches of the
tracheae which envelop the alimentary canal.
NERVOUS SYSTEM.
The relative positions of the vital systems are also
opposite in insects to those in higher animals. In insects
the circulatory system is dorsal, and the nervous is ventral,
while in vertebrate animals the nervous system is dorsal and
the circulatory one ventral.
In insects, the nervous system is not concentrated into
a large brain, but is divided among a series of nerve centres,
or ganglia, arranged in pairs. The dotted lines in Fig. 45,
(see Part IIT of this paper) show the position of these
ganglia and their connecting nerve cords, and Fig. 48 shows
the ventral nervous system, with small nerve-branches.
Fic, 48.
Nervous System or INsEcts,
The double mass shown at the extreme end, and the next
portion connected by the heavy iines, together form the brain.
The former portion is above the oesophagus or gullet, and
the latter below, and the heavy lines referred to are nerve
cords which connect the two parts, the gullet running
through the opening thus made. The first portion of the
nervous system ‘is the supra-oesophageal ganglia, the second
the sub-oesophageal ganglia; these are connected by the
oesophageal nerve collar. Next follow three thoracic and seven
abdominal ganglia, all connected by a central nerve cord.
The nervous system varies according to general struc-
ture, usually by fusion of ganglia, but, with the exception
of the supra-oesophageal ganglia, it is always ventral in
position. Nerves extend to all the organs and muscles, and’
permit the insect to respond to a stimulus of any sort.
The nerve-endings in certain insect structures, such as
antennae, palpi, etc., are very delicate, and enable the insect
to be conscious of very slight stimuli.
Vor.) VIII. | No. 199
FUNGUS NOTES.
A COFFEE DISEASE OF THE NEW WORLD.
In No. 8 of the current volume of the Kew Bulletin
there is an article by Mr. Massee on a disease of coffee
due toa fungus known as Sphucrostilbe flavida, and
it is largely from this article that the following account
is taken. A short description of the same disease has
already appeared on page 292 of the current volume of
the Agricultural News:—
The fungus in question attacks the young leaves, stems,
and fruits of the coffee, forming circular whitish patches
on the leaves about j}-inch in diameter. When the
attack is severe, the leaves may all fall within a month
of the first appearance of the disease. The bushes then
appear heavily loaded with fruit, but without leaves. On
the stem the patches are elongated, and eventually the cortex
flakes off, and leaves the brown wood exposed. On the berries
the spots are nearly circular in outline. Asa rule, only two
spots occur on each berry. On these spots the first fruiting
form of the fungus appears. It takes the shape of minute,
yellow, transparent, pin-shaped bodies. ‘These consist of
a long stalk of hyphae, whose terminal cells are swollen, and
together form the pin’s head. From each of these swollen
cells spring several slender- simply, or but little-branched
conidiophores, each of which bears a single conidium at its
apex. This form of fruit was formerly known as Sti/bum, or
Stilbella flavida, Later on, an ascigerous form of the fungus
appears. This consists of light-red, ovate perithecia crowded
together on a stroma. The perithecia more or less resemble
those of species of WVectria which causes the canker disease of
cacao. In fact, the genus Sphaerostilbe is closely allied to
Neetria.
It was found, from careful experiments, that the conidia
produced in the first form of fructification were totally unable
to infect the leaves of coffee plants, even when the latter were
wounded, but similar experiments with the ascospores caused
infection after thirteen days. Apparently, the ascigerous
form of the fruit is not produced on the leaves, probably
owing to insufficient nutrition, and is only formed on the
stems and fruit.
The conidia would not germinate when placed in various
nutrient media, and this fact, in connexion with their inabil-
ity to infect the leaf, would seem to indicate that they have
become effete. Consequently, the fungus can only spread by
means of the ascospores, or through pieces of diseased
material coming into contact with healthy plants.
As remedial measures, therefore, the following should be
adopted :—
(1) All diseased branches should be removed and burned.
(2) All diseased fruit and leaves, whether fallen or on
the tree, should be collected and burned, or buried with lime.
The difficulty of collecting the fallen portions can be con-
siderably reduced if the lower shoots of the bushes are
always removed. This practice further benefits the plants
by permitting proper aeration of the soil.
The fungus also occurs on numerous other plants besides
coffee, and a careful watch should be kept for its appearance
on bushes or trees in the neighbourhood of the coftee planta-
tion. Any such plants showing signs of the disease should
be immediately destroyed.
The disease has caused very serious damage in several
of the States of South America, and is reported from a few of
the West Indian islands. The ascigerous condition of this
fungus has only recently been discovered by Mr. Massee, and
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
395
the account contained in the Aew Budletin is the first one
that has been published, though the conidial form has long
been known.
The disease is, as yet, of very little importance in these
islands, though from what has been said, it will be readily
apparent that a careful watch should be maintained in all
places where coffee is grown to any considerable extent.
THE NUTRITION OF ANIMALS.
The first of a series of research bulletins issued by
the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment
Station has recently been received. It is entitled The
Role of Inorganic Phosphorus in. the Nutrition of
Animals, and gives an account of experiments which
have led to the following conclusions:—
(1) On a ration extremely low in phosphorus, pigs
made as large gains, up to 75 or 100 tb., when starting at
weights of from 40 to 50 Ib., as animals receiving an
abundance of this element. . After reaching this point, loss of
weight began, followed by collapse.
(2) When such low phosphorus rations as induced the
above symptoms were supplemented with calcium phosphates,
no untoward results appeared. Animals fed on a low phos-
phorus ration, supplemented with inorganic phosphates, made
as vigorous a development as others receiving their phosphorus
supply wholly in organic form.
(3) Precipitated calcium phosphates—a mixture of
di- and tri-calcium phosphates gave no better results than did
floats, a crude tri-caleium phosphate.
(4) Phytin as the supply of phosphorus gave no_ better
results than the inorganic phosphates.
(5) A young animal of 40 Ib. weight receiving inorganic
phosphates, together with other salts as supplementary to
a ration very low in mineral constituents, grew to be an
animal of 280 tb. weight, bore a litter of fairly vigorous pigs,
which, on the same ration, completed the cycle back to 80 b.,
while animals on the same ration, less the inorganic phos-
phates, collapsed in three months with loss of weight accom-
panied by a loss of the use of their limbs.
(6) Determinations of calcium and phosphorus in the
principal organs and tissues of the animals on the low
phosphorus ration showed that they maintained the propor-
tion of these elements constant and comparable to that of
normally fed pigs.
(7) The percentage of ash in the skeleton of pigs on the
depleted phosphorus ration was reducéd to nearly one-half
that of pigs receiving a normal ration, or a phosphorus-poor
ration supplemented by an inorganic phosphate.
(8) The marked reduction in the quantity of ash of the
bones of the animal receiving an insufficient supply of calcium
phosphates, together with the ability of the animal to build
up a skeleton very rich in calcium phosphate when an abun-
dance of the latter is supplied in inorganic forms, strongly
points to the possession of a synthetic power by the animal,
which enables it to convert inorganic forms of phosphorus
into the organic forms demanded by its body.
(9) When the animals were starving for phosphorus,
they drew this element from the skeleton, but removed
calcium and phosphorus in the proportions found in tri-
calcium phosphate.
(10) The daily phosphorus supply for a 50-Ib. growing
pig should be at least 3 grams. <A supply of 4 to 5 grams
is probably a safer quantity.
(11) The data furnish no positive evidence of the synthe-
sis of nucleo-proteids or other organic phosphorus-bearing
complexes from inorganic phosphates in the animal body,
396
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. DeceMBER 11, 1909,
GLEANINGS.
The amount of cacao shipped from Trinidad during the
present year, up to the end of October, was 41,367,387 bb.;
Jast year, similarly, it was 37,020,821 tb. The amount
shipped during last month was 565,542 Ib.
The exports of fruit from Trinidad are steadily increas-
ing. The value in 1899 was £338; it is now £16,081. The
principal export is bananas, which go to the United Kingdom
and France. Of the others, oranges are sent principally to
the United Kingdom, and limes to the United States.
In Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 374, of the United States
Department of Agriculture, Citrus trzfolvata is recommended
as a stock to be used in Southern Texas for all citrus trees.
This is because it seems to impart some of its hardiness to
the scions, and promotes early bearing.
A report on experiments in tobacco growing which
have been carried on at the Agricultural Experiment Station of
the University of Wisconsin states that the use of manures
free from chlorine was found not to exert any detrimental
effect on the burning quality of the leaf.
According to the Weekly Report of the Department of
Trade and Commerce, Canada, for August 2, 1909, the total
value of the imports of cattle, sheep and pigs into the
3ritish West Indies for last year was £57,109. Of this
amount, Trinidad has a share of £43,366.
Asa means for keeping ants away from plants in pots
and boxes, water containing a little kerosene has often been
recommended by the Department. As an alternative to this,
a solution made by dissolving a piece of camphor about the
size of a filbert nut in 2 quarts of warm (not boiling) water,
and applied when cold, may be used,
Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture,
Vol. IV, No. 3, states that the Sea Island cotton
industry of those islands, which was ruined by the hurricane
of last year, is likely to be taken up on a much larger scale
during the coming year, and that the people are convinced as
to the value of cotton production as an industry.
The
Bahamas,
In relation to the United Kingdom, the total exports
and imports of Canada during the year ending March 31,
1909, were respectively, $133,745,375 and $70,556,738 in
value. Of the exports, the chief were wheat, value
$51,350,511, and cheese, value $20,272,471. (Report of the
Department of Trade and Commerce, Canada, 1909, Part IT.)
In the Chemische Zeitung, XXXIIL (1909), No. 29,.
p. 264, the results of the examinations of samples of calcium
cyanamide received directly from factories in Norway and
other places are given. These showed that considerable
amounts of calcium carbide were present, and. that the
average percentage of nitrogen in the material was 19°39.
The quantity of rubber exported from the Gold Coast
was 1,773,248 tb. in 1908, as compared with 3,549,548 Ib.
in 1907; the decrease was chiefly due to the low prices of last
year. There was also a drop in the amount of rubber
exported from Sierra Leone during 1908; this was 41 tons
(value £9,372) in 1908, as against 73 tons (value £22,480)
in 1907.
In a recent series of Cantor Lectures on Modern Methods
of Illumination, delivered before the Royal Society of Arts,
it is pointed out that the illuminating power of the oil in
petroleum lamps may be improved by as much as 20 per
cent., if the reservoir is kept continually well filled. Attention
is also drawn to the usefulness of cheap alcohol as a source of
light in agricultural districts.
An Agricultural, Industrial and Horticultural Exhibition
will be held at. ‘Telescope’, in the parish of Saint Andrew,
Grenada, on Thursday, February 10, 1910. About £117
will be given in prizes, in the following sections: (1) horses,
mules and asses; (2) cattle, sheep and pigs; (3) poultry,
rabbits and dogs; (4) minor products, including vegetables
and cotton ; (5) fruits, fresh and preserved ; (6) native indus-
trial exhibits.
An Agricultural and Industrial show will be held in
St. Kitts, under the auspices of the Imperial Department of
Agriculture and the Agricultural and Commercial Society, on.
February 17, 1910. Prizes will be offered for exhibits of
large and smail stock and poultry, exhibits of sugar-cane and
its products, cotton, vegetables, fruit, preserves, minor indus-
tries, plants and flowers. Prizes will be also given for
driving and riding competitions in the ring.
The adverse effect of black rot (Phytophthora omnivora):
on the yield of cacao is illustrated by the following experiment,
which is recorded by Mr. J. H. Hart. In this, diseased and
healthy beans were fermented and cured in a similar manner
and at the same time. It was found that, while 432 beans
from healthy weighed 11b., with diseased pods,
565 beans were required to make up the same weight. This
corresponds to a loss of about 25 per cent. with, of course,
a lower quality of product.
pods
Fifty years ago, Sea Island cotton was grown in the
Hawaiian Islands, but the industry was allowed to lapse.
The Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station has been
making trials with Sea Island and Caravonieca cottons, with
striking results. The yield is high, the fibre of good length,
strength and lustre, and the percentage of lint ranges from
30 to 40. All varieties of cotton thus far tested grow as
perennials in these islands, and the shape of the trees and
the time of maturing the bolls may be controlled by pruning.
(Annual Report of the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment
Station, 1908.)
Von. VILLE. No. 199. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
)
STUDENTS CORNER,
DECEMBER.
First Prrrop.
Seasonal Notes.
The sugar-cane will now have reached such a stage in
its growth as to give useful indications in relation to the
effect of the manurial treatment which has been given to the
soil on which it is growing. Reference should therefore be
made to the notes that were taken earlier in the season, when
manure was being applied, and they should be completed by
an account of the different conditions of the cane which
apparently arise from the employment of the different
manures. In the case of pen manure, where this has been
applied in different ways (such as by broadcasting, burying it
in the cane holes, covering it with mould from the banks),
-ascertain as far as possible what effect the various methods
of application have had on the growth of the cane. Similar
observations should be made, where this is feasible, as to the
effect of the state of the pen manure, when it was applied
‘(whether well-rotted or undergoing fermentation), as well
-as of the quantities used on the subsequent growth.
A careful account of the tillage operations that have
been completed in different parts of the estate, or
estates, should have been written with a view to its giving
sassistance in future observations on the effects of the
several kinds of tillage employed, on those of deep and
shallow ploughing, and on those of ploughing early and late.
In what ways may deep ploughing do harm and good,
respectively! Speaking broadly, what has happened in well-
rotted farmyard manure? In relation to what kind of soils
must care be taken in the matter of using ammonium
sulphate as a manure? Gain what information you can in
regard to the manures ‘nitrate of lime’ (calcium nitrate)
and ‘lime-nitrogen’ (calcium cyanamide). What important
circumstance in their manufacture do these two manures
possess in common?
Now is the time to make observations in the field, which
have for their object the selection of cotton plants which are
to provide seed for future crops. The first stage in the process
is to look out for plants which are of such a shape that lines
roughly drawn to touch the ends of the branches, beginning
at the lowest ones, would tend to meet above the plant; in
other words, the plants are pyramidal. The lateral branches
should be numerous, and with short internodes. Of the
plants which fulfil these conditions, a further choice should
be made, in which preference is given to those which produce
the largest number of bolls. At the same time, any of those
still remaining among the chosen lot, which appear to show
a susceptibility to the attacks of insect pests, diseases caused
by fungi, or the dropping of bolls, should be rejected. The
position in the field of the finally selected ‘plants may be
marked by means of a long pole firmly stuck into the ground
near them, and a coloured band of cloth or ribbon should be
wrapped round the stem of each, in order that they may be
distinguished from the other surrounding plants near the
pole. The cotton from these plants should be picked sepa-
rately from that in the rest of the field, and the yield from
each must be kept by itself, and distinguished from the
rest by a definite mark, letter, or number. It is evident that
this process of selection is sufficiently important to deserve
careful personal supervision at the time at which the cotton
is picked; any carelessness or lack of attention at this stage
will render useless all the work that has already been done,
cand will cause time to be wasted in raising plants from seed
which is no better than that which might as well have been
selected at random in the first instance.
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS,
(1). A crop removes soil water into the air. State how
this process takes place, and describe) those parts of the
plant which are directiy concerned in it.
(2) Distinguish between the pollination and the
fertilization of flowers. What changes generally result from
fertilization?
(3) Write an account of the way in which seed-cotton
should be prepared to be sent to the ginnery.
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Give a description of a cotton fibre. What is
meant by ‘ twist’ and ‘ nep’ ?
(2) Describe suitable methods for improving a pasture
by manuring, and state which method you consider the best
and most economical.
(3) Write an account of a means by which the citric
acid content of a sample of lime juice may be roughly deter-
mined.
ARROWROOT IN ST. VINCENT.
The low prices that have been obtained in the market
for St. Vincent arrowroot have recently led growers to
endeavour to find a means of making its production more
remunerative, especially as the state of the market has been
such as to threaten the extinction of the industry. With
the object of gaining information as to the best and most
appropriate means to this end, a meeting has been held at the
Court House, Kingstown, to consider (1) the question of the
more extensive advertisement of St. Vincent arrowroot,
(2) that of finding additional markets for the product.
His Honour the Administrator, who presided, opened
the meeting with an address in which he gave a_ brief
historical review of the arrowroot industry. His Honour
drew attention to statistics which showed that, even when
sugar was the main product of the colony, arrowroot was
grown, and that, as sugar declined, the area in arrowroot
increased. At different periods, since 1880, the position of
this product, among the exports, had fluctuated until 1908,
when its value had been £27,713; in 1900 with an abnormal
crop, this had reached £74,000. In 1900 and 1901, prices
had been so low that planters had met together and had
resolved not to sell arrowroot at less than 2d. per tb., and to
limit the output, so that this was not the first occasion when
the necessity for concerted action had been recognized. Now,
however, a different remedy was proposed—not that of the
limitation of production, but the expansion of markets, so
that the area in the crop should be utilized to its fullest
extent. For this purpose, his Honour gave an outline of
a scheme under which an Association called the St. Vincent
Arrowroot Growing Association would be formed, with
a Board of Directors who would control the business of
advertising, correspondence, etc. The funds necessary for
the work of the Association would be raised by a small
charge (about 4d. to 6d.) on each barrel of arrowroot
exported.
After the details of the scheme had been given, and
a discussion had taken place, it was resolved unanimously
that the meeting was in agreement that a small tax of 4d. to
6d. per barrel should be imposed at the time of shipment, to
be applicable to all arrowroot exported, to wherever exported.
The provisional committee that had already been formed
agreed to continue to act until such time as other arrange-
ments had been made.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
December 11, 1909.
TEXT BOOK OF EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE,
Vol. I. Edited by G. P. Foaden, B.Sc., and F. Fletcher,
MA., B.Se. Published by the Ministry of Education, Egypt.
In writing this book, the plan has been to make each of
several writers responsible for a certain part of it. The effect
has been to render its position authoritative, and to add to its
value, but a certain amount of confusion is caused during its
perusal by the difference of manner of treatment in the
various parts, and there is a degree of repetition which it
would have been better to avoid.
The volume includes eight chapters. Of these, the
first three deal with the atmosphere and the soil in relation
to agriculture, and with cnltivation. Chapter IV has for its
subject farm implements of cultivation and harvesting, while
Chapters Vand VI are devoted to irrigation and drainage
and the farm implements of irrigation. Land reclamation is
treated of in an interesting manner in Chapter VII. Finally,
Chapter VIIT has special reference to the important topic
of manures.
At the beginning of this volume, the contents of
Volume II are tabulated. These will be chiefly concerned
with the cultivation of crops and their diseases and insect
pests, and with the management of farm animals, and
dairying.
Dealing with the chapters of the published volume, in
order, it is necessary to confess that the perusal of the first
three commences with a bewilderment which only increases
as progress through them is continued. Fact after fact is
presented to the mind ina breathless manner, which can
only serve to confuse the student of agriculture, even
though be may not be a beginner in that subject.
There is little quarrel to be had with the value of the facts
themselves, but it would seem that the presentation of a few
well-illustrated principles would have been preferable to that
of a large number of, often disjointed, actualities. Among
minor imperfections may be mentioned the reference, on
page 17, to an Appendix which cannot be found; the doubt
of the correctness of the explanation concerning plants that
have been ‘laid’, on p. 19; the absence of description or
definition in the case of several things for which Egyptian
names, alone, are given; a looseness of style and expression
which occurs continually.. At the same time, it must be said
that these chapters are illustrated effectively by well chosen
and arranged tables, and that several points receive good
treatment, for example: available plant food (page 37); the
movements of water in soil (pp. 44-58).
Chapter {V deals with its subject in a thorough manner,
and ‘is well illustrated. In Chapter V, the illustrative
statistics are especially useful, and a very good idea is given
ofthe special problems of irrigation and drainage in Egypt;
it deals with the various problems, in connexion with its own
particular application, in an effective way. Similarly, as
may be expected, in ‘Chapters VI and VII,-the writer shows
a thorough grasp of his subject, and an excellent knewiedge
of the special conditions with which he deals. In fact, these
three Chapters (V, VI, and VII) are well worth perusal by
everyone who is interested in the different eonditions under
which agricultiral operations are conducted in different parts
of the world, for they, more than all the others, incidentally
give a very good insight into agricultural conditions in Egypt.
Like the other chapters that are of a similar nature,
Chapter VIII contains useful information, well presented in
tables for the purpose cf illustrating the principles that are
there described. Attention is specially drawn to the com-
mencement, where a good account is given of the relation.
between manuring and the supply of water, where irrigation
is practised. With reference to the way in which the soil is
regarded, on page 216, may not the question beasked: ‘Is
not the soil, rather than the farmer’s warehouse, merely, the
manufactory, from the raw material, of substances which are
required in the elaboration of the articles that are finally
produced /”
In the preface of the book it is stated ‘it is hoped that
it may prove of interest to others (than those in Egypt)
engaged in tropical agriculture’. From what has been said
above, it is evident that this interest does actually exist in
the work. Its perusal by such readers would have been
simplified, however, had more explanations been given of
native terms, and if the botanical, as well as the common,
names of plants had been included. It is hoped that this will
be done in the case of the second volume, and that there
will be more uniformity in the spelling of native names.
Many of the illustrations are not as effective as they
might be, owing to the fact that they have been produced on
a paper which is inferior to that for which the blocks were
intended. This might be remedied by publishing them as
plates, on thick paper, either at the end, or in the body, of
the book. In other respects, the latter is well produced in
an easily readable form, and its contents should form a use-
ful accessory to classes and lectures in agricultural science in
Keypt.
HANDBOOK OF BRITISH GUIANA. Published
under the Authority of the Permanent Exhibitions Com-
mittee. Dulau and Company, London.
The contents of this rather bulky ‘ handbook ’ may be
broadly summarized in order as follows : geography, history
and climatology; population and races; political history and
constitution; education; description of centres of population
and the adminstration of laws in them; flora and fauna;
finance and resources; Government departments; consular
representation; ecclesiastical and legal interests; customs and
shipping; posts and means of communication; torring facili-
ties; planting and financial interests; medica! service; agri-
cultural and mining administration; and general statistics.
This list will serve to show the completesess with which the
inclusion of the various interests has been made. A perusal
of the book, or reference to it. will demonstrate how
thoroughly the details of these -nterests have been treated.
This work is not of such a nature that its parts may
be separately considered in a specific manner, neither is
space available for suza a method of treatment. It is proper
to say, however, that the way in which it is published is
useful, and at tne same time, attractive. The type is good,
the plates 2ze well chosen and well reproduced, and there is
avery goodmap. Taking it all together, it should form an
excelent example for other colonies where there is a desire
t> publish a handbook of this nature, and it seems probable
that its promoters and users will soon feel the need of an
abbreviated, condensed edition that will serve for momentary
reference, and at the same time add to the usefulness of the
larger book.
‘Vor. ViITT, No: 199:
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
399
WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS.
DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON
MARKET.
Mr. J. L. Jackson, A.LS., has forwarded the
following report on the London drug and spice market
for the month of October :—
A perfectly normal condition may be reported as that
which has ruled in Mincing Lane, with regard to drugs and
spices, during the month of October. In no one article has
there been any special interest evinced. <A fair supply of all
articles coming within our special notice has been brought
forward, and the demand has also been on a similar scale;
the prices realized being also, for the most part, satisfactory;
as will be seen from the following details.
GINGER.
In the early part of the month, ginger was but very
little in evidence, and even at the two concluding auctions on
the 20th and 27th, the demand was very slow and the sales
uninteresting; no Jamaica was offered, and there was a very
Iimited demand for other kinds. Of Cochin and Calicut, on
the 20th, some 280 packages were offered, and 110 disposed
of, at the following rates: brown rough Calicut 41s, 6d., new
crop washed Cochin 42s. 6d., and old crop medium and
small 41s. 6d. At 55s. to 56s. native cnt, unsorted, was
bought in. At auction on the 27th, some 196 bags of fair
bright, rather wormy and rough Calicut, were sold, without
reserve, at 39s. 6d. to 40s. per ewt.
NUTMEGS, MACE AND PIMENTO,
At auction on the 15th, there were large supplies of
West Indian nutmegs, and sales were effected of 459
packages, 1s. 2d. to Is. 5d. being paid) for 63’s and 58's,
and 3i{d. to 43d. for 145’s and 120’s. But little attention has
been given to mace during the month; on the 27th sixteen
packages of West Indian were sold, fair to good palish,
realizing ls, 8d. to 1s. 9d.; good reddish Is, 7d.; fair red
ls. 4d. to 1s. 5d.; and broken 1s. ld. At the first auction
on the 6th, some 197 bags of pimento were offered and
bought in at 24d. per tb. A firmer tone prevailed at the
auction on the 13th, but all the offerings were bought in. At
the last spice auction on the 27th, no pimento was offered
but it was stated that fair quality was to be obtained at 24d.
per tb.
ARROWROOT,
At the first spice auction on the 6th, 587 barrels of
good manufacturing St. Vincent were offered, and all bought
in at 2d. to 24d. per tb. No further quotations have
occurred, but the position of the St. Vincent growers has
been discussed with reference to the unsatisfactory condition
of the arrowroot market.
SARSAPARILLA,
At the first drug sale on the 7th, the following offerings
were brought forward: grey Jamaica 25 packages Lima-
Jamaica 4, native Jamaica 32, Honduras 10, Guayaquil 5.
Of these, the whole 25 bales of grey Jamaica were disposed
of at ls. 2d. per tb. for fair grey, and 10d. to 1s. 1d. for
rough to slightly dark and roughish; the 4 bales of Lima-
Jamaica were also sold at from 11d. to 1s. for rough to fair,
while the 32 bales of native Jamaica were all bought. in at
from 10d. to 1s., according to quality. The whole of the
5 bales of the Guayaquil sold at 1ld., but not one of the
10 bales of Honduras was disposed of, 1s. 5d. being the
price at which they were held. A fortnight later, namely on
the 21st, 14 bales of grey Jamaica were oftered and sold,
fair fetching Is. 2d., and slightly coarse 1s. 1d. per bb.; 9
bales of Lima-Jamaica were also offered, and the whole sold
at Is. for fair, and 11d. for roughish. Fourteen packages
of native Jamaica were offered, and 5 sold at from 10d. to
lld. for fair red. There were also brought forward at this
auction 37 bales of Guatemala, 16 of Mexican, and 10 of
Honduras, for which there was no demand and the whole
was bought in.
KOLA, OIL OF LIME, LIME JUICE, ETC,
At the first auction kola was represented by 31 pack-
ages, 5 only of which sold, 24d. per tb. being paid for 2
packages of Ceylon halves and quarters, of inferior mouldy
character; 1d. per tb. was paid for 3 packages of small
mouldy Grenada; 4d. was the price asked for good
halves, On the 20th, the offerings amounted to 38 packages,
of which 25 were sold, 53d. being paid for good bright
halves and 34d. for fair. A single bag of fair small Trinidad
was disposed of at 24d. per Ib. Nineteen packages of oil of
lime were brought forward on the 6th, and 5 cases sold
at ls. 6d. Good West Indian distilled was held at 1s. 8d.,
an offer of 1s. 7d. being refused. A week later some 26
packages were brought forward, but all was bought in at
ls. 8d. per tb., at which figure the article remained at the
end of the month. Some small sales were said to have been
effected at 5s. 9d. per lb. for West Indian hand-pressed oil.
At the auction of the 20th, it was stated that some 400
packages of raw West Indian lime juice had arrived, but
there was no demand, Fair palish was bought in at auction
at ls, 2d. per tb.
Rice in British Guiana.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated November 26, 1909, gives
information as follows :—
The weather during the fortnight has been fairly dry,
and suitable for reaping and milling.
Milling is general throughout the colony, and shipments
to West Indian islands amounted to 3,800 bags during the
fortnight.
Yield of paddy in some districts is reported to be very
poor, and shortage on last year’s crop is anticipated.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export
quality :-—
Nominally 17s. 6d. to 18s. 6d. per bag of 180 tb. gross.
Gs. (3d. tows odsm., Yee. liG4aibam’,,
The Inventor of the Reaper.
A communication from the Editor of the Pratrie Farmer
states that celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Cyrus Hall McCormick, the inventor of grain-
harvesting machinery, will be teld on December 15, 1909,
at the College of Agriculture, in the University of Illinois.
McCormick was born in Virginia in 1809. His father
was a farmer, who had made attempts to invent a grain-
cutting machine, but had failed. In 1854, the son obtained
a patent for a successful machine of the kind, and, four years
later, established a large manufactory in Chicago. His
invention was brought to English notice at the ‘ World’s
Fair’ of 1851, and later, it gained the Exhibition Medal of
the Royal Society. Little more need be said for this inventor
than that his efforts have rendered possible the cheap pro-
duction of the staple food of millions.
London,—Txe
New York,
Trinidad,—Mess:s.
460
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. Decemeber 11, 1909.
MARKET REPORTS.
West Inp1A ComMITTEE CIRCULAR,
November 23, 1909 ; Messrs. E. A. pr Pass & Co.,
November 12, 1909.
Arrowroot—1 4d. to 2d.
Batata—Sheet, 2/6 ; block, 2/- per th.
BrEEs-wax—£7 17s. 6d. to £8 2s. Gd.; darkish, £7 15s.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to’ 62/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
‘6 per ewt.; Jamaica, 47/- to 52/6.
CorreE—Jamaica, 37/- to 56/6,
Corra—West Indian, £24 per ton.
Corron—Fully Fine, 183d.; Floridas, 16d.; St. Croix West
Indian, 1730.
Frvuir—No quotations.
Fusric—No quotations.
Gincer—Quiet ; common to good common, 42/- to 48/- per
ewt.; low middling to middling, 49/- to 53/-; good
bright to fine, 54/- to 65/-.
Honty—30/-.
Isrnciass—No quotations.
Lime Jurce—Raw, 11d. to 1/- per gallon; ecncentrated,
£17; Otto of limes, 5/9 to 6/..
Logwoop—No quotations.
Mace—Steady.
Nurmecs—Quiet.
Purento—Common, 2,%,d.; fair, 2,5,d.; good, 2d. per tb.
Russer—Para, fine hard, 8/13, tine soft, 7/-; fine Peru,
8/1 per Ib.
Rum—Jainaica, 2/8 to 5/-.
Sucar—Crystals, 15/3 to_16/-; Muscovado, 12/6 to 15/-;
Syrup, 12/9 to 14/9; Molasses, no quotations.
Messrs. GILLESPIE Bros. & Co., November
1A OE
Cacao—Caracas, Ile. to 12c. ; Grenada, 1ljc. to I11fe. ;
Trinidad, 11}c. to 12c.; Jamaica, 95c. to 105c. per Th.
Cocoa-nuts—Jamaica, select, $32°00 to $33-00; culls,
$19-00 to $20°00; Trinidad, select, $32°00 to $33-00 ;
culls, $19°00 per M.
CorreE—Jamaica, ordinary, Ste. to 8$e.; good ordinary,
8%c. to 9c.; and washed, from 10c. to lic. per th.
GincER—9e. to 12c. per th.
Goat Sxkrys—Jamaica, no quotation; Parbados, 53c. to
55c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. witts, 48c. to 50c.
per tb.; Antigua, 50c. to 52c., dry flint.
Grave Fruir—$2'50 to $4:00 per Lox.
Laimes—Dominica, $5°00 to $6°50 per barrel.
Macre—3s4c. to 38e. per th.
Nurmecs—110’s, 9}c. per Th.
G s—Jamaica, $1°50 te $2°00 per box.
Pimento—4te.
Sucar—Centrif gals, 96°, 4°45c. per 1b.; Muscovados,
89°. 3:°95c.; Molasses, 89°, 3°70c. per tb., all duty
paid,
Gorpon, Grant & Co., November
Zit MISS.
Cacao—V=nezuelan, $11°30 per
to $11°39.
Cocoa-NutT Czt—95c. per Imperial gallon, cask included.
Corr —Venezuelan, LOke. per tb.
Corvri—$4'00 per 100 tb.
Duat—$4'25 per 2-bust.el bag.
Ox1ons—$4°00 per 106 th.
Pras—Sprit $6:00 to $6°28 per pag
Poraros—Enelish, $1°60 to $1°80 per 100 tb.
Rick—Yellow, $5'20' to’ $e:25- White, $5:00 to $5:25
per bag.
Sucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5:20 per
anega; Trinidad, $11°10
100 tb.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., December 4, 1909 ;
Messrs.
1909.
Arrowroor—St. Vincent, $3°60 to $3-75 per 100 Ib.
Cacao—$11-00 to $1200 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-Nuts—$14 00.
Correr—Jamaica and ordinary Rio, $9°50 to $11-00 per
100. tb., scarce.
Hay—$1°20 per 100 tb., unsaleable.
Manures— Nitrate of soda, $65-00; Cacao manure, $48-00;
Sulphate of ammonia, $75°00 p-r ton.
Mo zasses—No quotations.
Ontons—Strings, $2°75 to $3-00 per 100 tb.
Preas—Split, $600 per bag of 2.0 tb.; Canada, $3-40 per
bag of 120 tb.
Potatos—Nova Scotia, $1°75 to $2:75 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, $4°85 to £5-00 (180 tb.); Patna, $3-80 ;
p Rangoon, $3:00 per 140 tb.
Sucar—No quotations.
T. S. Garraway & Co., December 6,
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wietrne & Ricurer, November
27; Messrs. SANDBACH, Parker & Co., November
26, 1979.
ARRoWwROOT—St. Vincent
Bite
Cacao—Native
Cassava—
Cassava STaARCH—
Cocoa-NuTs—
CorreE—Creole
Daat—
Epp
Mczas
Oxtons—Tenerifte
PEA
Pra
Por
TAN
Ste
Messrs. SAND-
EACH, PARKER
& Co.
ARTIOLES. Messrs. WIETING |
& Ricurer. |
|
oJ $900 per 200 tb.,
market dull
Prohibited.
a0e. per th.
12c. per tb.
No quotation
No quotation
$8-25 to S
per 200 ib.
ATA—Venezuelablock; 32¢. pez Ib.
Demerara sheet} 48c. yer Th. |
|1lc. to 12c. per Ib.
36e. |
| $6:00 to $6°50 per
parrel of 196 Tb. |
| Sales—scarce.
$12 to $16 per M.|$16 per M.,peeled
| | and selected.
| 12c. to 18e per tb. 12c. to 13e. per tb.
13$c. per th. 13%c. per tb.
10c. perth. | 10e. per tb.
$4°05 to 54:10 per |$4-25 per bag of
bag of 168 tb. 168 Tb.
| $5°50,
$1°32 per narrel |
22c. to 2dc.
Jamaica and Rio
Liberian
Green Dhal
os —
—Yellow
—— No quotation
4c. per th. 3c. per tb.
$6°50 to $6°60 per| $640 to $6-50 per
| bag (210%t.) bag (210 tb.)
Madeira |
s—Split
Marseilles | None $5-00
NTAINS— | 24e. to 60e. per | —
buneh |
$2-50 | $2°40 to $2°50
No quotation No quotation
aTos—Noya Scotia
Lishen
Poraros-weet, Barbados) $1:44 per bag
Rice—Pal'am | No quotatiOn $475
Creole $425 to $4°30 $4:00 to $4°30
NIAS— $2-40 per bag | —
Yams—White | None ——
Buck $240 per bag
in—Dark crystals 32°45 to $2°55 $2-45
Yellow 90 to S3-00 $2-80 to $3:00
White $3°70 to S3°80 $3°60 to $3°80
Molasses $2-00 | $2-00 to $2-30
Trneer -- Greenheart
J2c. to 5dc. per | 32e. to de. per
cub. foot cub. s0t
Wallaba shingles} $3750 to 35-75 $3°50 t. $5°50
|
per M. per M.
3, Cordwood §$1°80 to $2:00
| No quotation
| per ton
—<— $$
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’,
A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price 1s. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
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Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Price 6d. each number.
Post free, 8d.
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton ; Bourbon Cane in Antigua ; Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
in Barbados ;
Inoculation.
Soils of Nevis ; Cotton Selection in the Leeward Islands ;
No. 2. Central Factories; The Underground System of the Sugar-cane; The Cotton
Leguminous Crops and Soil
Industry in the West Indies ; Observations on Molasses ; The Treatment of Orchard Soils in Cultivation
in the West Indies ; The Scarabee of the Sweet Potato.
Price 6d. each. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The number issued up to the
present time is fifty-nine.
numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
Sucar Inpustry.
Seedling and other Canes at Barbados
in 1900. No, 3, price 2d.; in 1901, No., 13, price 4d.;
in 1902, No. 19, price 4d.;in 1903, No. 26, price 4d.;
in 1904, No. 32, price 4d.
‘Seedling Canes and Manurial Experiments at Barbados,
in 1903-5, No. 40, price 6d.; in 1904-6, No. 44, price 6d.;
in 1905-7, No. 49, price 6d.; in 1906-8, No. 59, price 6d. ;
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‘Seedling and other Canes in the Leeward Islands,
in 1900-1, No. 12, price 2d.;in 1901-2, No. 20 price 2d.;
in 1902-3, No. 27, price 2d.; in 1903-4, No. 33 price 4d.;
in 1904-5, No. 39, price 4d.; in 1905-6, No. 46, price 4d.;
in 1906-7, No. 50, price 4d.; in 1907-8, No. 56, price 4d.
Manurial Experiments with Sugar-cane in the Leeward Islands,
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in 1906-7, No. 51, price 4d.;in 1907-8, No. 57, price 4d.
ScaLe [yseEcts.
‘Seale Insects of the Lesser Antilles, Part I. No. 7, price 4d.;
Part II., No. 22, price 4d.
GENERAL.
(5) General Treatment of Insect Pests, 2nd. Edition (Revised),
price 4d.
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The following list gives particulars of all the pamphlets which are still available. The missing
(14) Screw Worm in Cattle at St. Lucia. Price 2d.
(15) Plain Talk to Small Owners. Price 2d.
(16) Hints on Onion Cultivation. Price 2d.
(17) General Treatment of Fungoid Pests. Price 4d.
(18) Recipes for Cooking West Indian Yams. Price 2d.
(25) Ground Nuts in the West Indies. Price 2d.
(28) Barbados and Porto Rico Molasses. Price 3d.
(34) Notes on Rabbit Keeping in the West Indies.
(35) Information in regard to Agricultural Banks.
(37) Cultivation of Oranges in Dominica. Price 4d.
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(41) Tobago, Hints to Settlers. Price 6d.
(43) Cotton Seed and Cotton-cake-mea on West Indian Planta-
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(45) A. B. C. ef Cotton Planting.
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(53) A. B. C. of Lime Cultivation. Price 4d.
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Price 4d.
(55) Millions and Mosquitos. Price 3d.
(58) Insect Pests of Cacao. Price 4d.
(60) Cotton Gins, How to Erect and Work Them.
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Price 2d.
Price 5d.
New and Enlarged Edition.
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Price 4d.
The above will be supplied post free for an additional charge of 4d. for the pamphlets marked 2d., 1d. for those
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The
The ‘Agricultural News’
‘AGRICULTURAL NEWS’. A Fortnightly Review.
contains extracts
from official correspondence and from progress and
other reports; and, in fact, any information indicating what is going on in each colony, and the progress made in
Agricultural matters throughout the West Indies.
The ‘Agricultural News’ is printed in time to be distributed, regularly, by each mail, and is on sale by the
S I b) y y ) y
local agents of the Department at one penny per number, post free, 2d.
2s. 2d. per half-year, or 4s. 4d. per annum,
—Price 4s. each.— Post free, 5s.
longer be supplied complete.
The subscription price, including postage, is
Volumes IV, V, VI, and VIL. complete, with title page and index, as issued
Some numbers of the early volumes are out of print and therefore these volumes can no
The scale of charges for ADVERTISEMENTS may be obtained on application to the Agents
applications for copies are to be addressed to the Agents, not to the Department.
All
o a5
Agents.
The following have been appointed Agents for the sale of the publications of the Department :—
London: Messrs. Dutau & Co., 37, Soho Square, W.
Barbados : Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown,
Jamaica: THE Epucationan Suppry Company, 16, King
Street, Kingston.
British Guiana: Tur ‘Datty Curontcie’ Orrice, Georgetown,
Trinidad; Messrs. Murr-Marsway & Co., Port-of-Spain.
Tobago: Mr. C. L. PuacEmann, Scarborough.
“Grenada : ‘Tue Stores’ ,(Grenada) Limited, St. George.
St. Vincent: Mr. L. 8. Mosetey, Agricultural School.
St. Lucia: Mr. M. A. Lawrence, Botanic Station.
Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. BripGewarer, Roseau,
Montserrat ; Mr. W. Rogsson, Botanic Station.
Antigua: Mr. S. D. Matonz, St. John’s.
St. Kitts: Tor Brsue AND Book Suprty AGENCY, Basseterra,
Nevis: Mr. S. D. Matoneg, Charlestown.
Vou. VIII. No. 199. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. December 11, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
we AE
Vhlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorff’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO:—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
——_————————————— eee EF TN I A A DLID ATTY
1909. (MISCELLANEOUS) D. NO. 4.\THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON
In the Supreme Court of the Leeward Islands, FACTORY, LIMITED.
PRESIDENCY OF ANTIGUA.
IN THE MATTER OF ‘the Title by Registration Acts BRIDGETOWN.
1886-1906’, AND IN THE MATTER OF lands of Richard
Henry Kortright Dyett, as Trustee known as ‘ MORRIS CO’ RY iP One SE KR D.
LOOBY ’s’ or ‘WILLOUGHBY B AY’ ESTATE and ‘ BODKINS’
ESTATE. AND IN THE MATTER of a mortgage of the said Purchased at highest current Prices, locally and
land in favour of Felix Thornely Cobbold and Herbert rom the Islands. TERMS, Cash on delivery of
St. George Cobbold. Seed. Consignments made us will have pe
THIS IS TO GIVE NOTICE that there will be sold inattention. sary TERM
one lot lot by PUBLIC AUCTION on Monday the 7th day =. eR
of February, 1910, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, at the SULPHATE OF " COPE BR.—We stock this
Registry of the Supreme Court in the City of St. John in rticle, and all orders received will be promptly
the Island of Antigua ALL THOSE valuable Sugar Planta- SxECULCG.:. 3.7, gummi weet ab sees ee
tions or Estates known respectively as ‘ MORRIS LOOBY’S’ \
or ‘WILLOUGHBY BAY? and ‘BODKINS? situate in FOR SALE.
the Parish of St. Paul in the said Island, all as the same are
delineated and described in the plans annexed to the Certifi-
cates of Title of the same respectively dated the 9th day of |g ut leath, the ig l Sal
Fane, 1909, Register Book F. folios 28 and 29 of the Regist. On account of death, there is offered for Sale,
er of Titles of the said Island in favour of Richard Henry A COTTON GINNING PL ANT, i
Kortright Dyett as Trustee, Registered Proprietor thereof,
and also all things accessory to the said lands which are set Consisting of 3 Asa Lees Single Action Macarthy
down in the Inventory annexed to the Act of Seizure. Gins, Spir: al Seed Conductor, 50 feet long, and One
Dated this 11th day of November, 1909. Crossley Brothers’ Oil Engine, 7} B.H. Power, besides
(Sgd.) KR. H. KORTRIGHT a ETT Gin spares, all only very little used; at a low figure,
vegistrar.
Messrs. MCDONALD & DOUGLASS, - For particulars apply to
43, Church Street, = = a
St. John’s, Antigua, B,W.L. Executors of the Estate of Tuomas Hewitt, Decd.
(Solicitors having carriage of the sale.) | Christiansted, St. Croix, D.W.I.
SS A LS STS AAA AAO
—_—_—_———————__—
Printed at Office of Agriewltwral Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados.
WA ANe*
‘ od A LZ /,
; [One penny.
Vol. VII. No. 200.] _
THE ROYAL MAIL
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Paris Green! Paris Green!
Warranted and Guaranteed Strictly Pure, and to be of
the Standard of Purity required by, and made in
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THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The only sure and effective insecticide and destroyer of the cotton worm, caterpillars, and other pests.
Guaranteed to be absolutely pure by the manufacturers. Used extensively threughout the British West Indies, and sold
by all high-class merchants and dealers. Consumers are cautioned against worthless substitutes, and should always see
that the packages bear the name of the manufacturers :—
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NEW YORK, U.S.A.
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PARIS GREEN
ARSENATE OF LEAD
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WORKS :
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[178.]
MAINTAINS TEE} YIBED:
The problem in Cane Culture is how to maintain the yield. Continued cropping exhausts the soil of all its
available plant food.
The solution to the problem is proper tillage and rational fertilizing.
Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen in proper proportion always pay when applied to well tilled soil.
For free literature and special information on Tropical Agriculture address to:
GERMAN KALI WORKS.
30 Empedrado,
Box 1,007, Havana, Cuba.
_——$————————— sss
JAN 6 = 1910
Avi
tnd? ST WAL : ae
A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW
IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES.
Price ld.
Vou. VIII. No. 200.
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE,
Cotton Notes :— | Lumber Trade of the West
Cottons Grown in the Indies 000. "600," 000 40)
United States ... . 406 Market Reports ... 416
West Indian Cotton ... 406) New Mexican Fibre, A... 409
Cattle Breeding, Danish Notes and Comments” ... 408
System of... ... ... 403) Oil Seeds in British India 409
Department News ... ... 403) Onions, Manurial Experi-
Departmental Reports ... 414 ments with ... -.. ... 415
Distillation, Useful Aid in 404) Ornamental Flowering
Fungus Notes :— Plants in Dominica... 405
Summary of Recent In- | Publications of the Tmper-
formation ... coo CL lal Department of
Gleanings/egie=. so «9 412 Agriculture... ... 401
Ground Nut Experiments | Rice m British Guiana ... 407
in Jominica and Science in Elementary
St atts) sea -. 404)| Schools, St. Lucia ... 413
Guayule Rubber, Manufac- | Sir Alfred Jones, the Late 408
GUTOR Ofmtaes sere ee 409 | Students’ Corner . 413
Ueber Preservation of ... 408
Trinidad and the Colonial
Insect Notes :—
Natural History of In-
Sects. Partai v0) 3410 Er uit Slo waereneesci ce: 404
Lime Seedlings in Nur- Wild Ipecacuanha and
series 408 Stuck ... . 415
The Publications of the Imperial
Department of Agriculture.
he Wt the present number of the Agricultural
eA News forms the two hundredth issue, this
J 2% paper having been sent out continuously
since April 25, 1902, a suitable opportunity is given
for a consideration of the position of the periodical
publications of the Imperial Department of Agri-
culture. These consis%, in addition to the paper just
mentioned, of the West Indian Bulletin, the Pamphlet
Series of the Department, the Annual Reports, and
various leaflets. The Agricultural News is issued
fortnightly, the West Indian Bulletin quarterly, or as
nearly so as circumstances permit, and the pamphlets
when the occasion occurs.
BARBADOS, DECEMBER 24, 1909.
Commencing with the
attention is drawn to the editorial of the first number,
A statement appears in that article to the effect that
this paper laid no claim, when it was first issued, to
public recognition beyond an earnest desire, on the part
of the Imperial Department of Agriculture,‘ to instruct
and assist all classes of the community, and to promote
the agricultural interests of these colonies. This
claim may now be extended, in view of the work which
has been done through the medium of this paper,
in serving the interests of West Indian agriculture.
In regard to its scope, it is evident that, although any
one issue of the paper cannot have direct application
as a whole to some particular interest, yet it always
contains articles that have a general agricultural
It is not only meant to give information, but
News,
Agricultural
bearing.
to have a use in making suggestions, chiefly in regard
to the adoption of new methods and means of carrying
on agricultural operations, and the improvement of
those methods and means that exist already: to the intro-
duction, where this is advisable, of new crops or varieties
of plants; to the presentation, in a broad manner,
of new or modified theories connected with agricultural
practice; and in relation to plans for continuing experi-
ments that haye already been commenced, as well as to
schemes for initiating and carrying out those which
are new.
Though it is well to keep in mind this broad
aspect of the purpose of the Agricultural News,
attention is due to the fact that it is intended to have
a particularized usefulness in regard to the special
agricultural interests in the West Indies. There are
indications that this side of its utility is often in-
sufficiently appreciated. One of the this
publication is to give information and statistics which
will be helpful, not only to the agriculturist, but to
those whose work is of a more directly commercial
aims in
LIBRARY
NEW yor
BOTANICA
GARDEN
402
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DecempBer 24, 1909.
nature. As commerce in the West Indies is so inti-
mately bound up with the interests of agricultural pro-
duction, it behoves those who are engaged in it to keep
themselves closely in touch with the
different phases of that productien.
suggested that systematic abstraction or indexing of
such parts of this and other publications as relate to
any special interest will often afford information that
is being sought by those engaged in that interest, and
at the same time, may prove valuable in the matter of
originating new ideas.
inmeans and
Hence it is
To fulfil its intended purpose, the Agricultural
News must be in intimate sympathy with all that
pertains to agriculture in the West Indies. If it is to
accomplish this, the stimulus must not only come from
within—that is from those who are more directly
connected with its publication—but from without, as
well. This is to say, those for whom it is intended can
add to its interest and usefulness by giving opportun-
ities for their personal and practical experience to be
employed in the elucidation of many of the subjects
with which it continually deals. This will aid those
who are responsible for its production, and will give
additional value to the result of their efforts.
The West Indian Bulletin is often described, in
the announcements concerning it, as the (Quarterly
Scientific Journal of the Imperial Department of Agri-
West Indies. In asing this title for
that publication, there is no desire to intimate that its
contents
investigator
eulture for the
have relation to the work of the scientific
of agricultural The
purpose of the publication is to deal with agricultural
problems, alone.
subjects in a more particularized manner, and thus at
greater length than is expedient, or indeed possible, in
the Agricultural News, and to afford an opportunity
for placing on record the methods and results of scien-
tific
Department.
researches that have been undertaken by the
Its pages contain matter that is of use
both to the scientist and to the members of the plant-
ing community, and although many of the articles that
have appeared may not, when taken asa whole, have
a direct bearing on the work of any one member of
that community, yet he will find in useful
statistics and information that will have a special refer-
them
ence to his particular interests, and to make note of these
when they appear will probably save him future trouble
in the matter of supplying himself with that informa-
tion.
ber of this publication contains, in its hundred odd
pages, matters of knowledge that are important to
everyone who is engaged in agriculture in the West
The chief point to remember is that each num-
Indies, and in a smaller degree to those who are
situated in other tropical parts of the world. It may
be claimed that the West Indian Bulletin is indis-
pensable to every progressive planter in these colonies
and that he will be benefited by availing himself of the
information that is so plainly and conveniently placed
before him. ‘The first number was issued on July i
1899, and it has now reached nine complete volumes
and two numbers of the tenth; the third of these is at
present in course of preparation.
The pamphlets are intended for the purpose of
putting one widely considered phase of any special
subject before those who are likely to require such
a presentation, in order that the information which
will be useful to them may be available in a compact
form. It would not be expedient to enumerate here
the many subjects with which they have dealt; refer=
ence to the advertisements of the publications of the
Department will give a full idea of these. So far,
sixty-two of these pamphlets have been issued, and in
bringing them out, occasion is employed to publish
revised and enlarged editions of some of those that
have already appeared, in order to take advantage of
any additional information that has become available
since that One of the most valuable
uses of this form of publication is that afforded by the
opportunity which it gives for presenting in a concise
appearance,
form, the results of the sugar-cane experiments that are
annually conducted in Barbados and the Leeward
Islands. The pamphlets are issued at a low price, and
are attaining a constantly increasing usefulness in
relation to the particular subject with which each of
them deals.
The work of each of the local departments in the
Windward and Leeward Islands and Barbados, under
the Innperial Department of Agriculture, is summarized
yearly in a report which is issued by this Department;
in the Leeward Islands and Barbadus, the magnitude
of the sugar experiments has justified the publication
as well, of special annual reports dealing with these.
The information in the reports naturally has rela-
tion, in each case, to the Botanic and Experiment
Stations, and where this has been conducted, to the
work of the Agricultural School, of the Agricultural
Instructor and of Land Settlement and Prize-holdings
Schemes. In St. Vincent, owing to the presence of
anthrax in that islard, an additional feature is the
annual report of the Government Veterinary Surgeon.
Little or no attempt is usually made, in this form of
publication, to discuss the results of the experiments,
General statements as to them appear, and these are
well supported by useful tables. The information
which these reports contain often relates to a stage in
Vor VEL. No; 200;
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 403
the progress which is being made toward the solution
of a certain agricultural problem, and they serve as
a useful means for making public snch results as are
being obtained where the experiment is in course of
completion. Their value is naturally more particularly
local, but they also have an interest which includes all
countries where tropical agriculture is carried on.
Leatlets dealing with certain subjects are issued
from time to time by the Department. Each of these
has its own special use, and, besides being of rather
temporary concern, is usually a reprint of matter that
appears in one or more of the other publications. There
is therefore no need for particular consideration of them.
It is hoped that the facts that have been adduced
above, as to the scope and use of the periodical publica-
tions of the Department, will be of utility to those
who regularly take advantage of their contents, as well
as to those who have not completely realized, as yet,
how they may be employed as an aid in pursuing their
own particular interests.
THE DANISH SYSTEM OF CATTLE
BREEDING.
The following is taken from an abstract of a paper
read before the Agricultural Sub-section of the British
Association at Winnipeg, 1909, which appears in the
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts:—
Denmark, mainly an agricultural country, which for-
merly grew corn for export, and raised very few cattle, began
to turn its attention to dairy farming after the middle of last
century. With the introduction of the centrifugal cream-
separator and the building of co-operative dairy factories all
over the country in the eighties, the system of dairy farming
spread to even the smallest farms. The question of improving
the two national milking breeds—the black and white Jutland
and the red Danish dairy cattle—became important, and of
interest to almost all farmers.
The work of improving cattle breeding in Denmark
being, as explained, of fairly recent date, has been gradually
developed in two quite distinct directions. Some features of
the work aim at encouraging prominent breeders to develop
herds capable of transmitting the most valuable qualities of
the breed, and inducing other breeders to take up this work,
while other features aim at the better utilization of the
breeding animals from these superior herds for the improve-
ment of the cattle breeding in general.
Already, about the year 1870, the classes for single cows
were discontinued, and prizes offered instead for collections
of cows bred by the exhibitor—a feature which is still consi-
dered very important, the idea being to draw attention to
the best herds, which can more safely be done when a col-
lection and not a single individual is shown. In 1887, the
State caused special shows to be held for bulls over three
years old, for the purpose of encouraging farmers to keep the
good bulls for a longer time. The resnlt has been striking,
the number of old bulls shown having increased from 371 to
over 1,200. A special Danish feature has been introduced
with these shows, namely, judging the bulls through their
offspring, inasmuch as no prize is awarded for bulls over five
years old unless their offspring, which must be judged before
the show, has been found satisfactory. This entails a good
deal of work, but has been found very useful.
The judges at shows take into consideration not only
the points of the exhibited animal, but also, in the case of
bulls, the pedigree, including information on the milk produc-
tion of the dam, and, in the case of cows, the milk production
(quantity and quality).
The Cattle breeders’ Association has for its principal aim
the purchase of a good bull. The first Association was formed
in 1883. From the beginning, these associations also
paid attention to the cows and to the health of the herds : they
also required accounts to be kept of the feeding and the yield
of the individual cows. From 1887 the State gave a yearly
grant, which helped the movement on. There are now 1,300
Cattle Breeders’ Associations, with 1,500 bulls, the State
giving £8 per annum per bull, on condition that the bulls
have taken prizes, that the committee select the best cows of
the members to be served by the bull, and that the committee
at least once a year inspect the herds on the farms as to the
state of health.
While the other objects of the Cattle Breeders’ Associa-
tions have been attained, it was different with the required
accounts of the feeding and yield of the individual cows.
The members could not manage these, and when, in the
beginning of the nineties, information of the percentage of
fat in the milk was included in the requirements, it was found
necessary to take the whole matter up in a different way.
This led to the formation of the Control Union of Cow
Testing Associations, The object of these is to strike
a balance-sheet for each individual cow, for the guidance of
the daily feeding, for the weeding out of those cows which
it does not pay to keep, and for the selection of cows for
breeding. Farmers ina district appoint jointly a ‘controlling
assistant’, who, once every fourteen or twenty days, visits
each herd, weighs the milk of each cow, estimates the per-
centage of fat, weighs the food given daily to each cow, and
keeps account of it all.
The information with regard to the yield and quality of
milk of the individual cows collected by the Control Union
is taken into account in awarding the prizes at the shows, and
is also made use of in selecting the cows to be served by the
bulls of the Cattle Breeders’ Associations.
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Se., Assistant Government
Chemist for the Leeward Islands, has been appointed
provisionally for one year by the Secretary of State for
the Colonies to the post of Government Chemist and
Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands,
Mr. G. G. Auchinleck, B.Se., arrived in Grenada
on the 22nd instant, by the R.M.S. ‘Berbice’, in order
to take up the duties of the post of Agricultural Super-
intendent in that colony. While in transit, Mr,
Auchinleck spent a week at the Head Office, engaged
in work connected with the post in Grenada.
With reference to the announcement in the issue
of the 27th ultimo. relative to the appointment of
Mr. C. R. Kirton to act as Agricultural Instructor in
St. Lucia for a period of six months, it should be stated
that Mr. Kirton, on his arrival in that colony, found
himself unable to take up the duties of the post, and
returned to Barbados by the R.M.S. ‘Berbice’, on
November 30.
404
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DecEMBER 24, 1909,
WEST INDIAN FRU:
GROUND NUT EXPERIMENTS
DOMINICA AND ST. KITTS.
The chief purpose of these experiments was to deter-
mine the effect, in relation to the yield, of liming the land on
which grcund nuts were grown. The particulars of the trials
were as follows :—
IN
In Dominica, at the Agricultural School, a piece of land
1,176 feet square was selected and divided into two plots
of equal size, which were labelled A and B. The soil,
which had previously grown bananas, is light, open and
rich in humus. Previous to the experiment, it was broken
up thoroughly and carefully levelled. The amount of seed
sown in each plot was }-lb. The table below gives details
of the manurial treatment and results.
Plot. Manure. Yield; tb. of
cured nuts.
A None 9
B { Slaked lime, e
a
(132 ewt. per acre.
The plants in part of plot B did not grow well, and, in
both plots, they were more or less severely attacked by
a fungus. Though the experiment was not quite satisfactory,
owing to the causes just stated, it seems to indicate that
liming would be beneficial in growing ground nuts in the soil
on which it was conducted.
The experiments at the Botanic Station, St. Kitts, were
in continuation of others that have been conducted in former
years. They include observations of the response to liming
of different varieties, the latter being Spanish, Tennessee Red,
Carolina Running and the local] variety. An area of .),-acre
of each was planted; one-half of this was limed in each ease
while the other half was left untreated. The plants grew well
and no signs of disease showed themselves until they were
fully developed, when the same fungus as attacked the plants
last year appeared ina few holes. Bordeaux mixture was
at once applied as a spray, with the result that no spread of
the fungus took place. The results in the case of every
variety except the local one, which had not been reaped when
the report was made, are given in the table below. The
weights of the freshly reaped nuts were taken; the loss in
drying is not less than 33 per cent.
Variety.
Unlimed plot. Limed plot.
Ib. tb.
Spanish 124 116
Tennessee Red 120 119
Carolina Running 65 83
These differences are not sufficiently great to give any
definite information as to the effect of liming on the yield.
The experiments are more encouraging than has been the
case before, and should be the means of introducing these
new varieties of ground nuts, which have the advantage of
attaining maturity more quickly, and being easier to reap,
than the local one. In St. Kitts the Spanish variety is in
most general favour.
It would seem desirable to make efforts, at the
different Botanic Stations, to raise acclimatized varieties
of ground nuts for local cultivation.
Trinidad and the Colonial Fruit Show.
A catalogue of the exhibits sent from Trinidad to the
recent Colonial Fruit Show of the Royal Horticultural Socicty
(see Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, p. 382), has been lately
received. It was prepared under the direction of the
Permanent Exhibition Committee, Trinidad, and is accom-
panied by a useful leaflet, also drawn up by the Committee.
which contains concise information, such as would be useful
to tourists visiting the island.
The catalogue gives details of the exhibits, which have
been sent up in the following classes: fresh fruits; fresh
vegetables; nuts and spices; preserves; jellies; crystallized
fruits and marmalades; fruit syrups; condiments; miscellaneous
products and preparations, including cacao beans and chocolate,
various seeds, lime juice, oil of limes, cassava cakes, cocoa-nut
farine, maize, sugar-cane and rice. In addition to these,
there have been forwarded fifty-six exhibits, consisting of
specimens of fruits, spices, vegetables, etc., preserved in
formalin, among which are represented the lime, mango,
sapodilla, guava, bananas, nutmeg and mace, peppers, egg-
plant, ochro, christophine, cacao and vanilla.
A Useful Aid in Distillation.—Mr. H. A.
Tempany, B.Sc., Superintendent of Agriculture for the
Leeward Islands, has recently sent particulars of a useful
apparatus for simplifying the operation of taking the
exhausted material from the still after the removal of essential
oil from it by distillation. This apparatus was first suggested
by Mr. E. A. Agar, of Dominica, and consists of wire baskets
made of ordinary wire mesh, supported on a frame formed of
s-inch iron band. In practice, it has been found convenient
to use two baskets, instead of one, each having a height
of rather less than one-half of that of the still. In the case
of a full charge of material, both of these are filled, and
placed in the still one above the other. Mr, Tempany states
that he has found them, on trial, to be very satisfactory, and
to give a method of discharging the still which is much
quicker and more conyenient than any of the ordinary ones
that have been tried by him.
Vou. VIII. No. 200.
A USEFUL LEGUMINOUS PLANT.
In L’ Agronomic Tropicale for September 1909,
there is an account of a Jeguminons plant, Tephrosia
purpurea, which deals with its suitability for the
purpose of keeping down weeds, in rubber and coffee
cultivation.
For some time, the investigations of physiologists and
agriculturists have called attention to the disadvantages of
weeding (in rubber and similar cultivations), but changes of
method in this direction have not been adopted by many
planters; few experiments have been undertaken in connexion
with it in the truly practical sense.
Interest has, however, been awakened, and experiments
with leguminous and other plants have been made to a certain
extent everywhere. There have been attempts in many
regions, to introduce a plant which, while capable of keeping
down others which are harmful, enriches the soil and does
not do any harm to such trees as rubber. According to
a planter in the Federated Malay States, Tephrosia purpurea
fulfils this purpose admirably. This 7'ephrosia grows slowly
at first, but toward the end of four months, it attains the
dimensions of a small bush; it then commences to show
superiority over other plants. When fully grown, itis 9 to 11
feet high. In plantations, it forms hedges across which no
other plant can pass, and the necessary weeding near the
plants, costs little. The hedges are sutticiently distant to
allow the air to circulate between the trees, and the soil is
always well shaded and kept in good physical condition. As
for the protected trees, these appear to make as good growth
as they do on soil that is completely and regularly free from
weeds.
By growing the plants of Tephrosia in hedges, a better
circulation around the roots is assured and the inspection of
the protected plants is facilitated; other methods of cultivation
have their advantages, however, as for example, that in which
each rubber tree is surrounded by 7ephrosia.
The plants attain a certain height, and should be cut
once or twice a year; but this development gives them an
advantage in combating lalang and other tall weeds, and as
they do not climb, they may be planted without inconvenience
near rubber and coffee trees. In addition, Tephrosca purpu-
vea is a plant which enriches the soil, has few natural
enemies, is very hardy and propagates itself when it is once
-established.
The account goes on to show how a great saving
in the expense of weeding follows the adoption of this
plant in rubber cultivations. It may be remarked that
several species of Tephrosia are common in the West
Indies; among these are ‘ goat rue’ (7. cinerea) and
«Surinam poison’ (7. tonicaria). Of these, the former
is a loosely spreading undershrub, which tends to run
along the ground; stem 1 to 1} feet long; leaflets }-inch
to 1 inch long; flowers about 4-inch long, red, appear-
ing in February to June: pods spreading, with 5 to 10
seeds; found in open spaces, thickets and on the sea-
shore. J. toxicaria is an upright, larger plant, with
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 405
an erect stem about + to 5 feet high; leaflets 14 to 2
inches long; flowers 3-inch long and dyer, blue; pods
about 2 inches long.
ORNAMENTAL FLOWERING PLANTS IN
DOMINICA.
In October 1901, seeds of Mimusops Shimpert, the
‘Persea’ of ancient writers, were received at the Dominica
Botanic Station, from Kew. From these, two specimens of
the plant were raised, and the Curator has recently reported
that one of them has flowered. The plant itself is a native
of tropical Africa, and bears handsome, long-stalked, elonga-
ted flowers, which give place to an elliptical, one-seeded
fruit. It is, of course, related to the bullet tree (J/inuwsops
globosa) of British Guiana, which yields balata.
The Curator of this Station also reports that a specimen
of Baikiaea insignis, which had been received in the first
instance from Kew, flowered there for the first time in March
1908. Inthe Annual Report on the Botanic Station, etc.,
Dominica, 1908-9, which is just being issued, the following
reference is made to this plant: ‘The young plant of Barkiaea
insignis, a West African tree mentioned in last year’s
progress report, continues in good health. For several
months during the year it-produced daily from one to four of
its large and beautiful flowers The flowers usually open in
the afternoon, and fade away about the middle of the follow-
ing day. They are in full beanty during the evening and
early morning. The plant, which is growing near to the
main carriage road, has attracted a good deal of attention
from visitors. No secd has yet been ripened. This is
probably the finest flowering tree brought to the West Indies
since the introduction, many years ago, of Amherstia nobilis.’
The Kew Bulletin, No. 8, 1909, gives information
concerning this plant as foilows :—
The flowers are 10 inches across when fully expanded
and are remarkable as being the largest produced by any
member of the Leguminosae (pod-bearing plants). The tree
is of erect habit, evergreen, with large, abruptly pinnate,
coriaceous leaves from 1 to 2 feet long; pinnae slightly
oblique, elliptic, 6 inches to a foot long, and sometimes as
much as 4 inches in diameter. ‘The flowers are borne in
loose clusters on the tips, or in the axils of the upper leaves
of the ripened wood of the current year. The calyx is + to
5 inches long and divides on opening into four linear
segments, the three upper sepals reflex and curl round the
stalk of the flower, the two lower remain united and form
an erect, boat-shaped support, upon which rests the large,
somewhat fleshy lip. The corolla is erect on first expanding,
but the petals gradually reflex at the tips, and the whole
flower is then about 10 inches in diameter. The petals are
snow-white, spathalate, 6 to 64 inches long, and 3 inches
broad, with undulating margins. The lower petal or lip is
boat-shaped, lemon-yellow in colour, and somewhat more
fleshy in character than the other members of the corolla.
The ten stamens are in two series, the five longest being equal
in length to the petals, the other five an inch shorter. ‘The
filaments are slender, villose on the lower half, nine being
connate at the base. Anthers linear, versatile, #-inch long,
primrose-yellow in colour. Ovary a slender legume 2 inches
long, style slender, slightly shorter than the petals; stigma
capitate, small.
406
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. DEcEMBER 24, 1909-
s
Pics Oar
OTTON
WEST INDIAN COTTON.
The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on
Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week
ending December 4, 1s as follows:—
The market remains very quiet, with apparently no
demand. The sales consist of only one crop lot of 35 bales
W. G. Hinson-Midway on private terms for France. In the
absence of an inquiry, the factors continue to hold, viz:
Extra Fine at 37c., Fully Fine at 35c., Fine at 33c. Our
impression is that with orders in hand, especially for quan-
tity, we could succeed in buying at some decline.
On November 27, Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co.,
reported as follows :—
Although the figures of the amount ginned this year
point toa much larger crop than the last, factors and interior
merchants still think it will be smaller, the falling off being
chiefly in Florida; that the plant has ceased bearing, the
crop ‘has all been picked and a larger portion of it ginned
than in previous years, and they continue to hold to their
estimates of 90,000 to 95,000 bales. It would require, how-
ever, a great falling off in the ginning from now on to warrant
these estimates.
(Owing to the fact that this number of the Agricultural
News went to press earlier, on account of the Christmas
Holidays, Messrs. \Wolstenholme and Holland’s report is
unavoidably held over.)
THE COTTONS GROWN IN THE
UNITED STATES.
A report entitled Agricultural Tinpressions of the
American Cotton Crop, prepared by the Director of
Agriculture. Nyasaland, has recently been issued. It
contains an interesting account of the present position
of the various cottons that are grown in the United
States, from which the following extracts are taken:—
SEA ISLAND corron. This isa small high quality crop
forming less than | per cent. of the American cotton crop,
but of greac importance owing to its high quality. It is
grown to the highest degree of perfection on James and
Zdistow Islands, which lie to the west and south-west of
Charlestown, in the State of South Carolina. The largest
part of this crop is grown on the coast line of South
Carolina, the interior of Georgia and the north centre of
Florida, the countries of Georgia and Florida
producing little cotton owing to the inferior character of the
soil and the absence of necessary labour. With’'this crop,
planting is very wide and in most cases 5 feet is left between
the rows and 22 inches between the plants, planting
commencing in March and harvesting in the latter part-of
August and continuing till December. The island-grown
coast
SET, FR
NOTES.
cotton is much superior to the mainland crop, which is-
always inferior owing to the large amount of hybridization
with Upland cotton, which is grown in close proximity with
the mainland crop, as well as to the lack of humidity in the
atmosphere. The inland cultivators of Sea Island cotton say
that their Sea Island crop is superior to their Upland crop
when the season is warm with much rain, and vice versa
when there is drought. The inland-grown crop is shorter of
staple and lacking in lustre, the best results always being
obtained by growing the inland crop from Island-grown seed.
During the present year the Island cultivators have formed
a union to prevent the sale of Island seed, as they say the
increase of mainland Sea Island is affecting their prices.
It has been predicted by several that there is very
little possibility of extending the Sea [sland cotton industry
in America under’ the existing conditions. The principal
reason is that the cost of labour is very high, and the
crop gives such small returns when planted outside of its
ideal conditions. It is more profitable to grow ordinary
Upland in most districts, as it is a far surer cropper, especially
in drought seasons, which frequently occur in the States of
Carolina and Georgia, which have the most suitable situations.
for this crop.
The mainland Sea Island cotton is classified according
to length into ‘East Floridas’, 1? to 2 inches, ‘Floridas’, 12 to
1} inches, ‘Georgias’, 12 inches; and further classified accord-
ing to strength, cleanness and evenness of staple into fancy,
extra choice, choice, extra fine, fine, and ‘dogs’— the average
mainland Sea Island selling from I7e. to 25c. pec Ib.
UPLAND corron (Short Stap.e). Upland cotton is the
principal cotton of commerce, and is very extensively
cultivated in every State of the American cotton belt. The
principal Upland cotton States are South Carolina, Georgia
and Alabama on the east side of the Mississippi, and the
eastern half of the immense State of Texas on the west side
of the Mississippi. It considered that Georgia and
Alabama grow the best short staple Upland, and the best
variety I saw in this country was ‘Cook’s improved’. The
soil of Georgia and Alabama is red and rich in iron, much of
it being light and specially suitable for fruit-growing, which
is an important industry in those two States.
During my tour through the States of Georgia and
Alabama I saw few crops which would yield 400 Ib. of lint
per acre, and many crops which would give under 125 Ib.
This is a great contrast to conditions in the delta of Egypt
where 500 Ib. of lint or 5 cantars of seed-cotton is considered
an average crop. ‘Texas cotton is inferior to Georgia and
Alabama cotton, and especially that which is produced in
South-west Texas, which is distinctly inferior to north and
central Texas cotton.
The system of handling Upland cotton in America is
disgraceftil; the bale coverings are of the cheapest materials,
and quite inadequate to protect the fibre or hold it together;
is
Vou. VIII. No. 200.
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 407
Egypt has nothing to learn from America as to the best
methods of handling cotton. The amount of loss in transit
from the farm to the spinner must in many cases exceed 3
per cent. of the original weight of the bale. The compress
sheds, docks and railway sheds are simply littered with
cotton, and I was informed that many of the cotton factors
pay their office expenses from the samples they draw, and
the cotton collected from the floors of their compress sheds,
and docks. The farmers are largely responsible for this loss,
as they refuse to pay for a better class covering, which can
be obtained at a higher price.
At the present time, cotton seed is in great demand
and finds a ready market at the ginneries, which are
principally worked by oil millers. Many of the farmers
exchange their cotton seed for cotton meal, as the meal is
more available as a manure. The usual exchange in the
south is 2,000 tb. (American ton) of seed for 1,200 Ib. of
meal; others sell the seed at an average of $15 the American
ton. Cattle are scarce in the cotton belt on the East of the
Mississippi, but plentiful in Texas and the West, where large
areas are still devoted to cattle ranching. The cotton farmer
never thinks of fattening cattle, but many of the oil and
ginning firms are fully alive to the profit in cattle fattening,
and it is a common sight in the West to see the mills
surrounded with yards where cattle are fattened exclusively
on a mixture of cotton meal and hulls. Hulls are sometimes
purchased as horse foods at $5 a ton; most of the meal is
exported with the oil to Europe, where it is made into cattle
cakes, etc.
The cotton belt would yield a much larger cotton crop
if there was more mixed farming, for undoubtedly the best
‘results in cotton growing are always obtained when the crop
has some form of organic manure as a basis for its food
requirements: fine physical soil conditions are never obtained
by the exclusive use of artificial manures, or insufficient
tillage with no manure, as is the practice throughout the
greater part of the American cotton belt.
UPLAND corron (Long Staple). It is only within
the last few years that long staple Upland cottons have been
cultivated. The crop is almost exclusively grown in the
valley of the Mississippi, on the rich river bottom lands. This
cotton is more delicate than ordinary Upland, and is a much
lighter cropper although the fibre is distinctly superior in
length, being over 1 inch.
Small quantities of long staple Upland are grown in
South Carolina and Georgia, but the area is decreasing in
those States, in fact throughout the cotton belt the tendency
is to give up the cultivation of long staple Upland; and even
in the Mississippi valley it is estimated that the present crop
is about one-fifth of last year’s crop in area. The cause of
this decrease in long staple Upland cultivation principally
lies in the fact that the supply has exceeded the present
demand for this staple, and the present premium of 2c.
per tb. is not sufficient to compensate for the smaller crop
produced by this variety, when compared with ordinary
Upland. Two years ago the premium was as high as 7c.,
and it is considered that when the premium is under 4e.
a pound, it does not pay to cultivate this class of cottcn.
There is litile prospect of long staple cottons increasing
in the States as they mature late, and this is becoming the
most important factor in American cotton cultivation, as all
late cotton in affected areas is destroyed by the cotton
weevil. It is the general opinion of American cotton experts
that all varieties of long staple Upland cottons are allied, or
derived from, ‘ Allen’s Long Staple,’ two of the best varieties
‘being ‘ Griffin’ and ‘Queen’. In America, long staple
Upland cottons are spoken of as ‘Florodora Cottons’,
EGYPTIAN COTTON. During the past two years, America
has imported, on an average, 54,000,000 tb. of this staple
yearly from Egypt; and in 1907 the value of the cotton
imported from Egypt exceeded all previous records, amount-
ing to over 516,000,000. The average price in the Boston
market was 21°9c. per Ib., or double the price of ordinary
Upland.
In view of the considerable value of this import, the
Department of Agriculture has been endeavouring to produce
Egyptian cotton in the United States to supply their home
market. The standard Egyptian varieties have been
experimented with, but the experiments have been a_ total
failure throughout the main cotton belt, extending from
Carolina to Texas. The chief cause of failure is insufticient
heat to mature the plants before the frost sets in. Experi-
ments have met with more success in the south-west, and
especially in the Colorado River region of Arizona; where the
deep alluvial soils, irrigation anda longer and warmer summer
approach more closely the ideal conditions of the Egyptian
delta. In 1902, all experiments in the main cotton belt were
abandoned; experiments at Yuma, Ariz, and Calixico,
California, were commenced, Yuma being the chief centre
of experiment.
During the first three years, these experiments were
practically a failure, but after five years’ acclimatization and
selection great improvement was attained, and now the
Department hopes to produce Egyptian cotton for its own use,
although it will never produce it in large quantities. I was
unable to visit Yuma, as the distance was too great, but
discussed the problem with Mr. Kearney at the Department
of Agriculture, Washington, who has charge of those
experiments. I examined some of the fibre produced in Ari-
zona, and consider it wanting in colour, gloss and evenness
of staple, but of good length and strength. The Department
has had great difticulty in keeping it pure, as it readily crosses
with Gossypium hirsutum, and they discourage the growth of
Upland cottons in the locality of the experiments. I am of
opinion that American-grown Egyptian will never compete
with Egyptian proper, as the loss of lustre and colour makes
it of less value for mercerizing, which is the chief quality of
Egyptian cottons. The American experiments are interesting,
as they clearly demonstrate the value of acclimatization, and
show that poor results at first do not necessarily mean
that a variety is hopelessly unsuitable for introduction.
Rice in British Guiana.
The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach,
Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of
British Guiana, dated December 10, 1909, gives
information as follows :—
The weather during the fortnight under review has
been showery, which is not unusual at this time of the year.
Should the coming fortnight be a.wet one, milling on factories
not equipped with a drier will have to be suspended, . and as
a result, the price of the cleaned article may improve.
Milling continues general throughout the colony; 2,391]
bags have been shipped to the West Indian islands for the
fortnight—a decrease of 1,400 bags, as compared with the
previous one.
We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export
quality :+-—
s. 6d. per bag of 180 Ib. gross.
Nominally 16s. 6:/. to 17
16s, 6d. » 164 Th,
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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
EDITORIAL NOTICES.
Letters and matter for publication, as well as all
= esa for naming, should be addressed to the
ommissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture,
Barbados.
All applications for Copies of the ‘ Agricultural
News’ should be addressed to the Ayents, and not to
the Department.
Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge-
town, Barbados. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau &
Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents
will be found on page 3 of the cover.
The Agricultural News: Price 1d. per number,
post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents,
2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d.
Contents of Present Issue.
In the editorial, the uses and scope of the peri-
odical publications of the Imperial Department. of
Agriculture are discussed.
A description of interesting experiments with
ground nuts, which have been undertaken in Dominica
and St. Kitts, is given on page 404,
In relation to Dominica also, an account of notable
flowering plants that are at present growing in the
Garden will be found on page 405.
An abstract of a useful report on the cottons at
present being grown in the United States is presented
on page 406,
The Insect Notes of this number, on page 410,
form the conclusion of the series of articles on the
Natural History of Insects. In this one, the functions
of digestion and reproduction are treated.
A useful summary of such of the more recent
mycological work of the Department as has been
described to readers of the Agricultural News is
contained on page 411.
A further, interesting contribution to the state
of knowledge in regard to the supposed poisonous
properties of wild ipecacuanha (Asclepias curassavica)
appears on page 415,
DercemBER 24, 1909.
The Late Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G.
Telegraphic news was. received on December 14.
that Sir Alfred Jones had died of heart failure, follow-
ing a chill, on the 13th instant.
Sir Alfred was born at Carmarthen in 1846, and
early showed an aptitude for commercial affairs. It
was this aptitude that led to his becoming the senior
partner of the firm of Elder, Dempster & Co., the
noted shipowners. He was one of the first to recognize
the value of the undeveloped resources of the Empire,
and the results of his work in assisting in the expansion
of trade in West Africa and Jamaica remain as
a testimonial to his ability.
Among his other positions, Sir Alfred was an Hon-
orary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford; President of the
Liverpooi Chamber of Commerce; Chairman of the
Bank of West Africa, Limited: and Fornder of the
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine It is hardly
necessary to say that his death has caused almost
as great a loss to colonial interests generally, as to the
more particular commercial concerns which he chiefly
directed.
Lime-Seedlings in Nurseries.
Useful information in connexion with the raising
- of lime-seedlings in nurseries is given in the annual
report on the Experiment Station, St. Lucia, which has
recently been issued. It appears that the lime-seedlings
raised in August 1908, were seriously affected, while
quite young, by heavy rains and flood water, and in
consi quence daroped otf in thousands. As soon as the
damage was observed, the seedlings were sprayed with
Bordeaux mixture, with a repetition of the treatment
after twelve days. The opinion is given that this
doubtless prevented the total loss of the scedlings,
Observations would appear to show that the disease
commenced at one end of the seed plots: when it was
noticed first it had taken possession of three quarters
of tne area of the plot, and was advancing rapidly,
showing a very distinct boundary between the healthy
and diseased areas. After spraying, the line of this
boundary remained fixed and conspicuous, proving that
the fungicide had effectually arrested the course of the
disease.
ET Oe
The Preservation of Timber.
On page 249 of the current volume of the Agri-
cultural News, a note was given on the Powell Wood
Process. Further particulars relating to this process
appear in a recent number of the Journal of the Royal
Society of Arts (October 22, 1909.) The process
consists of boiling timber in a saccharine solution, and
then drying it in specially constructed chambers. The
inventor of the process obtained his idea through
observing that the timber used for flooring or wall
plates in sugar refineries never appears to be affected
by dry rot. From anumber of experiments, be was
led to conclude that wood which had been boiled in
a mixture of molasses and water, and carefully dried in
a kiln, could be seasoned rapidly without splitting or
cracking. In. its developed state the process includes
the addition of other ingredients which also give
immunity to the action of white ants and teredo,
Vou. VIII. No. 200.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
409
A New Mexican Fibre.
In L’ Agriculture Pratique des Pays Chauds for
September 1909, an account is given of a new Mexican
fibre, the information concerning which was furnished
by the American Consul at Manzanillo. It is obtained
from the plant Centaurea salmantica, which is known
locally as ‘escoba’. This is a kind of shrub which
attains a height of 1S inches to 5 feet. Its name, which
means ‘broom’, is derived from the fact that the
natives cut it every year, and, after having dried it,
make small bundles of it, which they use for brooms.
In those parts where it is abundant, large ropes
are made from it in the following manner. After cut-
ting it, the natives sink the shrub ina slowly running
stream for about two days. after which treatu.ent, the
bark is easily removed. When it has been stripped
and washed, it yields along, delicate and silky fibre,
which is very strong and of which the ropes are made.
The plant grows abundantly in open places, and
when it is cnt at the end of the season it makes
a second growth which is sufticiently large for a fresh
crop to be obtained from it after the following rainy
season. It does not require any cultivation or replant-
ing, and grows very vigorously. On account of the
strength and darability of the fibre and the abundance
of the plant, a large industry will probably be estab-
lished, as much for the manufacture of ropes as for that
of the sacks which are used in every part of Mexico for
carrying burdens on the backs of animals.
er
Oil Seeds in British India.
According to the Monthly Consular and Trade
Reports for October 1909, practically all the cotton-
seed exports from Bombay go to England, two-thirds
of the sesamum seed from Bombay to France, and
nearly all the ground nuts from Madras to France. The
largest export of ground nuts from Bombay took place
in the fiscal year 1895, when 78,488 tons were des-
pitched to foreign ports from Bombay alone. Since
then, the figures have rapidly fallen to 2,890 tons
during 1903, and at present this once important export
trade may be considered as practically extinct, as far
as Bombay is concerned, the decline being attributed
to disease and exhaustion of the soil, to the restricted
areas and reduced out-tiurn consequent upon unfavour-
able seasons, and to the large use of the nuts in the
mannfacture of oil for local consumption.
Very little, if any, cotton seed is pressed for oil in
India. Interest is just beginning to be taken in the
possibilities of an indigenous industry for the production
of edible cotton-seed oil. It is estimated that the
cotton seed available for snch a purpose is 1,500,000
tons a year, India being next to the United States as
the greatest producer of raw cotton.
The exports of ground nut oil to foreign countries
are not of sufficient importance to be given a separate
heading in the Government trade returns. In the fiscal
year 1907, only 17,000 gallons was exported. There
is, however, an enormous trade in this article between
the port of Madras and Burma. Madras is the centre
of both the ground nut and ground nut oil trade.
Ground nuts seem destined in the near future, however,
to excite much more interest than in the past. for the
Government is making every effort to improve the seed
by the introduction of a new and better quality from
Mozainbique and Senegambia. In the Madras Presi-
dency, where it has hitherto been raised on a system-
atized scale in a very circumscribed area on the
Coromandel coast, it has been introduced with the most
encouraging results, and on the Malabar coast it is now
grown as dry land crop, where it has proved far more
profitable than the dry land crops that are usually
grown. The bulk of the Indian manufacture of ground-
nut oil is in the hands of ordinary native pestle-and-
mortar pattern rotary mills.
The quantity of sesuamum oil exported in the fiscal
year 1908 was 161,581 gallons, valued at $105,123; and
in 1909, 174,210 gallons, valued at $105,254. Almost
all of this goes from Bombay, and the chief markets
are Mauritius, Arabia, Aden and Ceylon.
————————__—
The Lumber Trade of the West Indies.
Information concerning this trade is given in the
Weekly Report of the Department of Trade and
Commerce, Canada, No, 289. From this it appears
that the lumber trade of the British West Indies,
British Guiana and Bermuda amounted during the
year ending March 1909, to £561,624; of this sum,
£421,922 was the value of imports, and £139,702 that
of exports. Of spruce, white pine and hemlock, the
amount from Canada was £41,931 and from the United
States £29,142, showing a difference in favour of
Canada of £12,789.
In unclassified lumber, the imports from the United
States were £37,273 and from Canada £9,900. Of the
wood imported, pitch pine had the greatest proportion,
its value being £114,375; all this came from the Sonth-
ern States of America. In the export of wood from
the above parts of the West Indies, Jamaica, British
Guiana, Trinidad and the Bahamas led with £90,277,
£27,370, £7,882 and £6,178, respectively.
The Manufacture of Guayule Rubber.
In the Journal of Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry for April 1909, an account is given of the
extraction and manufacture of Guayule rubber. It is
shown that the shrub, when perfectly dry, contains
9 per cent. of pure rubber. The extraction of the rubber
by such solvents as carbon disulphide and benzene has
ceased to be employed in Mexico; in only one case is
this effected by boiling for six hours, with a solution
containing 6 per cent. of caustic soda. Mechanical
processes for extraction are almost exclusively employed
now in this industry.
The rubber obtained is black, of a pitch-like
consistency, and contains 20 per cent. of resin. Inves-
tigations have shown that the wood of the stem does
not contain any caoutchouc; the. largest amount is
yielded by the bark of the stem and the root. Of
these, the former contains 214, and the latter 19°5 per
cent. The rubber content of the branches and leaves
is 9.7 per cent.
410
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DeEcEMBER 24, 1909.
INSECT NOTES,
NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS.
Part V. DicEstTion
DIGESTION.
The digestive system in insects, in its simplest form,
consists of a cylindrical tube, extending in a direct course from
the mouth to the anus. In the more specialized insects, the
alimentary canal is very modified, being folded and doubled
on itself in such a way as to give it a length considerably in
excess of the total length of the body. The organs which
are concerned with feeding and digestion occupy a very large
proportionate part of the entire body cavity, Fig. 45 (see
Agricultural News, Vol. VII, p. 378) will give an idea of
this. The cross shaded portion is the alimentary canal. Food
taken in at the mouth passes by means of the oesophagus, or
gullet, to the stomach. Sometimes a crop and gizzard are
developed, the crop for storing a portion of food, the gizzard
with strong muscles and chitinous ridges and hooks, by means
of which the food is reduced to a finer condition before entering
the stomach. In certain insects, at least, a larger part of the
actual digestive process is carried on im the crop, and in these
insects also, the gizzard serves as a strainer through which
the finer portions of the food with digestive fluids are carried
to the stomach, in which absorption takes place. The stomach
is a large digestive region (Fig. 45; AL) from which the food
passes to the intestine, colon, rectum, and to the anus, where
waste and undigested food is voided. The food canal is
composed of three sections, the fore-gut, mid-gut and hind-gut.
The manner of taking food also varies greatly among
insects. Certain insects such as grasshoppers eat vegetable
food, with biting mouth parts, in both larval and adult stages
of their development. Others, such as plant lice and cotton
stainers, take plant food by means of sucking mouth parts
also during the whole of the larval and adult life. Others, still,
feed with biting mouth parts in the larval stage, and in the
adult one either do not feed at all, or get their food by sucking
the juices of plants and flowers. Many butterflies and
moths are examples of this. Other examples of the variety
of ways of feeding are to be seen in the mosquito, the larva
of which is a scavenger or predator in stagnant water, while
the adult male sucks the juice of fruits and flowers, and the
adult female sucks the blood of animals. Another example
is to be found in many bees and wasps, where the same
individual possesses mouth parts developed for both biting
and sucking.
The manner of feeding has a great influence on the
development of the food canal. Larvae, with biting mouth
parts, which feed on vegetable matter have very large
alimentary systems, while predaceous insects have smaller
ones and those which suck the juices of flowers and plants, and
the blood of animals, even less. Certain insects which suck
their food such as Lepidoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera, have
a development of the gullet which acts as a sucking-pump,
by means of whlch the food is taken up and forced back into
the stomach. In bees and ants, the region of the gizzard is
occupied by the honey-stomach, into which the nectar can be
taken and kept separate from the actual food of the insect.
The nectar or honey can be disgorged at will.
Attached to, or communicating with, the alimentary canal,
there are two or three different kinds of glands, each kind in
pairs or a number of paixs. The salivary glands open into the
mouth, and in addition to possessing the function of moisten-
ing foods, they are often developed for quite different purposes.
For instance, the silk glands of the silk-worm and many other
caterpillars, the poison glands of mosquitos and of certain
AND REPRODUCTION
Hemiptera are salivary glands, or portions of the salivary
glands specially developed for the purpose. Other poison
glands, scent glands, and glands for many special purposes
occur in insects, but quite apart from the digestive system.
The kidney tubes, or ‘malpighian’ tubes, of insects communi-
cate with the food canal, at the juncture of the mid-gut with
the hind-gut, that is where the stomach and small intestine
join. These are often very numerous, and their function is
excretory, similar to that of the kidneys in other animals. The
waste products are passed into the intestine, and thence
voided through the anus with the undigested food and other
waste matter.
REPRODUCTION.
Reproduction in insects is sexual, as a general rule, the
organs of the two sexes being borne in separate individuals.
Hermaphroditism (the two sexes in one individual) does not
occur normally, and it is not known that hermaphrodite
insects ever reproduce. The sexual organs are well devel-
oped, the testes of the male producing the spermatic fluid,
and the ovaries of the female, the eggs. In the female of
many species, the ovipositor is developed with special refer-
ence to the situation in which the eggs are to be laid.
Certain grasshoppers are able to force the abdomen into the
hard ground; some crickets, thrips, and many other insects
have saw-like ovipositors, with which cuts are made in the
surface of plant tissue; piercing ovipositors, of which the
stings of the bees, ants, and wasps are good examples,
puncture the tissue in which the eggs are to be laid.
Asexual reproduction occurs in plant lice, during
a portion of the year, and in a few other insects. This
parthenogenesis, as it is called, is a normal feature in the
life-cycle, and the offspring consists of females. ‘The queen
of the honey-bee is able to lay, at will, fertilized eegs
which produce female, and unfertilized eggs which produce
male, insects. Another kind of asexual reproduction some
times occurs in insects, known as paedogenesis. he larvae of
certain Cecidomyiidae are capable of giving birth to young,
and in another group of small flies the pupa deposits
unfertilized eggs which are capable of hatching.
The papers on the Natural History of Insects are con-
cluded with the present article. The five parts, taken together,
give a comprehensive view of the vital processes of the
insects, and also show the differences and likenesses between
the insects and the nearest relatives, the Crustacea, the
Myriapoda aud the Araneida, The structure, growth, senses
and circulation, the nervous respiratory and digestive systems
and the reproduction of insects have all been treated briefly,
but in such a way, it is hoped, as to give the readers of the
Ayricultural News a general knowledge of insects. The
illustrations, eleven in number, will be found to aid in
understanding many of the points. If these articles are taken
in conjuuction with those relating to the orders of insects,
which appeared a short time ago, and for which the following
references may be consulted, a general outline of West Indian
entomology may be had. These references are as_ follows: —
Grasshoppers, Vol. VI, p. 218; crickets, Vol. VI, p. 106;
pond-flies, Vol. VI, p 266; Hemiptera, Vol. VII, p. 138;
Lepidoptera, Vol. VII, p. 234; Coleoptera, Vol. VII, pp. 250,
266; Diptera, Vol. VII, pp. 314, 330, 346; Siphonaptera,
Vol. VII, p. 346; Hymenoptera, Vol. VIII, p. 234.
Vot. VIII. No. 200.
FUNGUS
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. 411
NOTES.
SUMMARY OF RECENT INFORMATION.
The following is a short summary of information con-
cerning the plant diseases that have come under the notice
of the Mycologist to the Department, since April of this year,
and of which mention has already been made in the dyrv-
cultural News.
ON corFEE. A disease of leaves, stems and berries due
to Sphaerostilbe flavidum, Massee, reported from Dominica.
Agricultural News, Vol. VILL, pp. 292 and 395. The illustration
on this page (Fig. 50) shows the fungus causing this disease,
and its effect on a coffee leaf. A complete account of the
fungus is given on page 395 of the current volume of the
Agricultural New.
ON GROUND Nuts. Domi-
nica, Two fungi are report-
ed as causing disease of the
leaves: Uredo arachidis,
forming minute brown pus-
tules scattered over the
blades and petioles; and
Cercospora personata, form-
ing rather larger _ black
circular spots on the leaves;
on these spots the fructifica-
tions appear as brown
pustules. Vredo arachidis has
also been reported from
Montserrat.
A root disease due to
an unidentified fungus also
occurred in Dominica and
St. Kitts; the fungus was
found on various other
plants in Dominica and
Barbados.
Remedial measures ap-
plied to the leaf diseases
met with partial success.
(Agricultural News, Vol.
VIII, pp. 315 and 347.)
ON SCALE INSECTS. The
red-headed fungus, Sphaero-
stile coccophila, has been
foundin Dominica, St. Lucia,
Grenada and St. Vincent,
on various scale insects, mainly however, on Mytilaspis
eitricola. Recently a different form of red conidial fructifica-
tion, either due to the moist conditions or that of a variety,
has been found in the interior of Dominica.
The white-headed fungus, Ophionectria coccicola has
recently been recorded to be widely spread in moist situa-
tions in Dominica on Mytilaspis crtricola and Chionaspis
eitr?, on which it proved a most effective parasite. Both the
conidial and ascigerous conditions were found.
Myriangium Duriaec has been recorded from Dominica,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Barbados, mainly on Mytilaspis
eitricola and Chionaspis citr?. It appears to occur more
generally on those insects living on twigs or stems, rather
than on those living on leaves.
The Shield Scale fungus has been found in Antigua,
Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and Barbados. The scales
attacked were Lecaniwm viride, L. hesperidum, L. nigrum,
LL. oleae, L. hemisphericum. It is most effective in moist
Fic. 49. SpHAmROSTILBE FLAVIDUM, Massee.
(Kindly lent by H.M. Stationery Office.)
situations, but has also been recorded by Mrs. Patterson on
a guava in St. Vincent, growing in a somewhat windy
situation; though under these circumstances its effect was
considerably diminished. The same observer has recorded the
occurrence of the same, or a very similar fungus, on aphids.
It is interesting to note that the red- and white-headed
fungi and the shield scale fungus have been found growing
on scale insects in Dominica on a plantation of limes, in the
forest, which was at some distance from any other limes.
This would seem to indicate that these fungi may have spread
to the insects on the limes from others on the forest trees,
and that the fungi are very possibly native to Dominica.
Further observations in
connexion with this idea
would be useful. (Agrv-
cultural News, Vol. VIII,
pp. 154, 186, 202, 299.)
In addition to what has
been said, it may be stated
that a disease of lime roots
occurring in Antigua and
Dominica, and a minor
disease of cotton bolls from
Montserrat are under inves-
tigation, and it is hoped
that some account of these
diseases will be published
shortly. Investigations are
also being made into preva-
lence of species of Lasiodi-
plodia, one of which attacks
cacao, and as to the possible
identity of some of these
fungi with that on cacao,
It is becoming apparent that
the latter genus and some
of its allies are very wide-
spread and probably of con-
siderable importance in these
islands.
To illustrate this, it is only
necessary shortly to summa-
rize the species already known
in the West Indies. Diplodia
cacaoicola occurs on cacao, causing ‘Brown Pod’, and ‘Die
back’, and also is found on sugar-cane. Lasidiplodia sp. attacks
the roots and stems of cacao, and has been known to occur
on the pods, There is evidence to indicate that these two
fungi are identical. Diplodia epicocos ts reported as oceurr-
ing, in conjunction with Pestalozzia palmarum, on cocoa-nut
palm leaves, and Botryodiplodia sp. causes a root disease of the
same tree. Botryodiplodia diplocarpa has been found
attacking orange trees. Other species, not as yet definitely
identified, have lately been found on different host plants in
the islands. The identification of some of these with species
already recorded might lead to interesting and important
results with regard to the infection of healthy cultivated
plants, such as cacao or limes, from diseased plants, or from
decaying stumps in the forest; it would probably also
provide information on the question of the infection of one
kind of crop from another of a different kind, when the two
crops are growing in ciose proximity,
pie
GLEANINGS.
Statistics show that the most valnable export from
Zanzibar is cloves. The value of this in 1908 was £264,960.
The amount of arrowroot starch exported from
St. Vincent during 1908-9 was 5,194,727 tb. In 1907-8 and
1906-7 the amounts were, respectively, 4,501,637 tb. and
4,643,124 hb.
The exports from the Bahamas with the greatest value
during 1908 were sponges and sisal, which amounted to
£94,238 and £42,627, respectively. Next in value came
fresh and preserved pine-apples with £22,853.
The world’s production of phosphates in 1908 was about
4,690,000 tons, and the consumption 4,590,000 tons. It is
estimated that the productiou in 1909 will be about 5,000,000
tons. (Bngrar, XXIV, 1909, No. 12.)
The French Association Cotonniere Coloniale reports
that the cotton crop of Dahomey for the last season has been
very satisfactory, the total production being estimated at
rather more than 100 tons of lint (Deépéche Coloniale,
September 30, 1909.)
An interesting indication of the increased importance
which is being attached to the subject of Trpical Hygiene is
afforded by the fact that a suggestion has veen placed before
the Indian Tea Association to the effect that this Association
should undertake the organization of a department to advise
generally on medical and sanitary measures.
The Acting Vice-Consul for
year 190€ has been a prosperous one. The export of copra
amounted to 10,000 and of cacao to 200 tons. The
production of the latter is steadily increasing, so that in
a few years’ time the annual yield may reach 2,000 to 3,000
tons. “The quality of Samoan cacao is stated to be very
superior.
Samoa reports that the
tons
In accordance with the proposal of the Departmental
Professor of Agriculture, and others interested in
the development of agriculture in that island, experiments in
cotton-growirg have been undertaken in recent years, At
first, the results were not satisfactory, but those obtained in
1908 were more encouraging, and showed that, at least from
a botanical point. of view, cotton ‘can be grown in Corsica.
The varieties tried were Egyptian and Upland.
Corsica,
THE AGRICULTURAL
NEWS. DECEMBER 24, 1909.
The Curator of the Botanic Station, Montserrat, states
that specimens of the Agave found growing in quantity near
the coast between O’Garas and Roaches have been recently
sent to Dr. Trelease of the St. Louis Botanie Gardens, U.S.A.,
who states that the plant seems to show a specific, or at
least a very strong varietal, difference from the typical
Agave NKaratto.
A report recently issued by the Economic Department
of the Indian Government states that the South African fibre
known variously as ‘aramina’, ‘guaxima’, and ‘naxyma’, the
product of Urena lobata, is not very different from jute, though
somewhat harsher, with a staple of 4 to 6 feet in length.
The plant is widely distributed in India, being practically
a jungle weed in Assam, Burma and Chittagong.
A report from H.M. Legation at Buenos Ayres states
that a Government project has been agreed upon for turning
to account vast districts of Argentina, which are unpro-
ductive at present, by the adoption of systems of irrigation
in them. The scheme is being undertaken in conjunction
with the railway companies, and the sum of £50,000 has
been voted for preliminary surveys.
The raw sugar industry in Formosa has been developing
very rapidly during the last few years. The yearly produc-
tion, which was about 60,000 tons in 1905, has risen this
year to 120,000 tons, and promises shortly to reach 180,000
tors. It is expected that the output will, at no distant date,
supply the greater part of the Japanese demand. (The Board
of Trade Journal, October 14, 1909.)
It has been decided to hold a Congress ard Exhibition
in connexion with the cultivation and preparation of fibres,
under the auspices of the Netherlands Indian Agricultural
Association, at Sourebaya, Java, on July 3 to 8, 1911. The
Congress will attach particular interest to such fibres as
Sisal, Manila hemp, jute, and its substitutes, kapok, and
pine-apple fibre. Toward the end of the Exhibition, tests
will be made of various types of machinery employed in the
preparation of fibres.
The production of peppermint oil has been introduced as
a new industry in North Formosa, and appears to be
attended with success, although the project is in the experi-
mental stage. During 1908 (the first year) 6,500 tb. of leat
were obtained from three crops on 1 acre. This produced
about 105 tb. of peppermint oil which, valued at 6s. per bb.,
gives £31 10s. per acre. The cost of production was about
£20 per acre, so that the net profit was about £11 or £12
per acre. The oil is steam-distilled, and is
very good quality. (Diplomatic
No. 4,240 Annual Series.)
said to be of
and Consular Reports,
The latest practice in the shipment of bananas is repre-
sented in the 8.8, ‘Tortuguero’, which was built on the Clyde
by Messrs. Alexander Stephen & Sons. ‘This vessel is of
5,000 tons gross, and has insulated space of 220,000 eubie
feet, 175,000 cubic feet of this being occupied by fruit bins,
in which the cork for insulation has a thickness of 7 to, 8
inches. The bins are so constructed that the fruit is pre-
vented from touching any metal surface during transit..; The
air is cooled to 55° I’. by means of a Hall’s carbon dioxide
refrigerating plant. While on the voyage the fruits are not
stored with a covering of any kind.
Vot. VIII. No. 200. THE
AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
413
J
STUDENTS’ CORNER.
DECEMBER.
Second PeErtop.
Seasonal Notes.
Reference has been recently made several times to green
dressings, in the Agricultural News, and much information
in connexion with them has been given. Make notes of this,
and consult in the same way other publications which deal
with the subject; details of useful experiments with these
plants will be found in some of the annual reports on the
Botanic Stations and Experiment Plots that have been issued
for 1908-9, as well as in those of former years. In making
the notes, leave room for recording the results of observa-
tions, and suggestions for future experiments. Take these
notes into the - field, where green dressing crops are raised, and
verify, as far as possible, the information which they contain,
adding any facts that may be the outcome of your own
scrutiny, and placing on record any ideas for future experi-
ments that may occur to you. Remember that leguminous
plants are not the only ones that are employed for the pur-
pose of furnishing green dressings; other plants which do not
increase the food value of the soil by simple addition are
used as well. If such plants have no effect on the total
amount of plant food that is in the soil, why are they used ?
What effect has buried vegetation on part of the plant food
that is already in the soil?
When green dressings are being turned in, note which
of them become incorporated with the soil most quickly.
With what kinds of soils does this incorporation take place
most rapidly! In comparing the growth of various green
dressings, the amount of head growth provided should not
only be considered, but also the mass of decaying matter
below. The Bengal bean and the purple bonavist bean have
much more of the former than either the pigeon pea or the
horse bean. What special use has been recently suggested
for the Bengal bean, in relation to lime cultivation ? Give any
explanation that you can of its action in this connexion. In
comparing the growing plants of various kinds of green
dressings in the field, it will be noticed that some are not
attacked by insects to any extent. Give a simple explana-
tion of this. Nurseries for the purpose of providing
seed for planting next year’s crop of green dressings should
be prepared.
Make careful observations on the beans of fermenting
cacao, with the object of ascertaining the more obvious
changes that take place. Note how the cacao is dried,
and record any precautions that are of special importance
in this connexion. A good opportunity will have been
recently provided for making thorough inspection of the
trees in the cacao plantations, with a view to gaining
information as to the diseases and pests by which it is
chiefly attacked, Refer to the publications of the Depart-
ment for the purpose of identifying these, and in order
to obtain information as to the best ways for preventing
them from attacking the trees, and as to remedies for them.
What are the chief ways in which fungi, when they are
deprived of the food that is contained in the tissues of living
plants, are enabied to survive until the food supply is
restored !
Where limes are grown, conduct a similar examination to
that which has just been described for cacao, giving special
attention to scale insects. In what ways do these pests cause
damage to the trees which they infest ? What class of poisons is
employed for the purpose of reducing their numbers ? Consult
the publications of the Department with a view to gaining
information as to the way in which these and other insecti-
cides are made. Why is the practice sometimes adopted of
tying branches, on which scale insects or their remains are
present, into trees that are already infected by them?
Questions for Candidates.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS.
(1) Explain what is meant by a well balanced ration
for stock.
(2) In selecting cotton plants which will provide seed
for a future crop, to what.points would you pay particular
attention /
(5) State what you know of any process in which the
nitrogen of the air is used for making manures.
INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS.
(1) Why is it preferable to apply fresh manure to light
soils than to use it for heavy soils 4
(2) Describe a method of preparing a West Indian
starch on a commercial scale.
(3) How is the nitrogen in sulphate of ammonia ren-
dered available for plants ?
SCIENCE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS,
ST. LUCIA.
The Code of Rules for the Government of Elementary
Schools, which has recently (September 3, 1909) been issued
in St. Lucia, shows that Blachie’s Tropical Reader, Parts
Land II, and Nature Teaching are chiefly used as aids in
teaching science in those schools. Assistance is also afforded,
at most of the schools, through the possession of school
gardens (see Annual Report on the Botanic Station, ete.,
St. Lucia, 1908-9). Instruction is also given in the rules of
tropical hygiene. In order to help teachers in the courses of
nature study, the following scheme for employing Nature
Teaching is given as part of ‘the Code, and as it may be useful
to others, it is reproduced here. The numbers refer to pages;
those on the left relate to the purely instructional parts of
the book, while those on the right give the pages where the
corresponding practical or observational work appears.
The seed: parts of a seed . AR Lettre -3
Plantetoodsmiscedse.. ..cmeenswnese Lemna cD)
Raising seedlings Son, “hom, . cab. BER
Germination ; ee peas, guinea corn,
castor 5-13
Germination of bean, corn cree maar, Rete 21-23
The root; root- hairs : ; root-caps 27-28 ; 34-35
Roots, including growth... 29-31; 35-36
MRiensten USesmofi Stems: sen Neetmece nema deals 56-58
Stems ; structure and uses 47-50 ; 58-59
The leaf eres) 88-90
Leaves, Strnetnrel anh uses 75-81 ; 91-97
The soit VO5-107 + V6-117
Water in soils.. a ... 107-109
Vegetable mntren in ail. STI: s EZ S=125
Plant food and manures. ee AeL280) IBS3=E36
Flowers and fruits ... .-- 146-150; 164-165
Parts of a flower SOD OS DT = 6D =1Gi
Weeds fe Helio sltD
Insects ; life- history of'a caterpillar... ..179-181 ; 187-190
The schedule states that pupils of Standard IV, or
under, will only be examined in the subject-matter in italics,
while those in}Standards V and VI must take the whole
course, a more thorough knowledge of the whole subject being
required of those in Standard VI. It is interesting to note
that the collection and preservation of plant specimens is
encouraged, and that arrangements for the inspection of these
have been made,
414
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
December 24, 1909;
AND E X-
STATION, AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL
PERIMENT PLOTS, 1908-9,
The expenditure for the year was £705 Os. 6d.: of this,
£358 4s. 11d. was spent on the upkeep of the Botanic
Garden, including the ornamental grounds, experimental
area, and nurseries. The sum received from the sale of
plants, cured cacao, fruit and seeds was £346 15s. 7d. The
expenses of the Prize-holdings Competitions were met by
a vote under the head of Special Services, allowed by the
Imperial Department of Agriculture, amounting to £33 10s.
Particulars are given of the chief flowering and economic
plants that are grown in the ornamental part of the Garden
The nimber of plants distributed during the year from the
nursery at the Garden, was 67,596; by far the greatest
number of these were limes, both ordinary and spineless, the
total number being 55,648; the number of cacao plants
was 5,613. A large number of seeds was also sent out,
including those of cacao, species of rubber, green dressings,
shade trees, various coffees, the spineless lime, and vegetables.
The economic plants in the Garden include twenty
different kinds of rubber-yielding plants. Of these, Para
rubber (//evea brasiliensis) has shown itself to be the best;
Central American rubber (Caséi//oa elastica) stands next in
order. Samples of rubber from both of these kinds, which
were sent to the Imperial Institute for examination, received
favourable reports. After these, Rambong (Assam) rubber
(Ficus elastica), and Sapium (Sapium Jenmani and Sapium
aucuparium) appear, so far, to be best suited for cultivation
in Dominica. The grafting of cacao is being continued; 246
grafted plants were distributed during the year, and some
were planted at the Station. Marked success has been
obtained in the experiment of grafting plants of the alli-
gator cacao (Theobroma pentagona) on to Forastero stocks;
at the time of reporting, there were 200 of these grafted
plants at the gardens, and 400 had been distributed
to estates for experimental cultivation. Attention is
drawn to the fact that, although the Station will be able
to aid planters in obtaining grafted plants, the demand
for these prevents a large number from being allotted to any
one applicant. The collection of mangos is making good
progress, and there is now a steady demand for grafted
plants in Dominica. The other plants, of which particulars
are given are coffee and spineless limes.
During the year, exhibits were sent, by the Permanent
Exhibition Committee, to four exhibitions, of which three
were held in London and one in Canada. At all these, the
eapability of Dominica to produce good fruit was successfully
demonstrated. The popularization of green limes was one of
the chief objects of the Committee in forwarding material to
these exhibitions, and to this end, free distributions of the
fruit were made through suitable channels. In addition,
supplies of limes for free distribution were sent by each mail,
from August 9 to December 13.
Prize-holdings competitions were successfully held in
the La Plaine and Grand Bay districts, and the results show
that the efforts of those who kindly consented to act as local
instructors for them had led to an improvement in cultural
methods on the part of the competitors.
Interesting details of the lime and cacao industries are
given. These show that, with respect to lime products,
there was an increase in quantities shipped, over those of
1907, the total value being £55,612. The amount of cacao
exported suffered a decrease, being 9,820 ewt., as against
11,628 ewt. in 1907.
The manurial experiments with cacao, at the station
and in country districts, have been continued. These still
maintain the principle that this plant repays careful manu-
ring and that tke application of vegetable mulches is the
most profitable form of treatment for it.
At the Agricultural School, five boys completed the
course of training during the year, and all were successful
in being appointed to places, as overseers. There were twenty
pupils in the school at the time of the report. The health of
the boys continues to be satisfactory, and the reports of the
half-yearly examinations show that good progress is being
made. On the experiment plots attached to the school, trials
were conducted with varieties of ground nuts, cacao, rubber
plants, fodder crops and ground provisions. Particulars are
given in regard to the stock, large and small, that is kept
at the school, and an interesting report appears on a ship-
ment to England of honey that was produced there.
BRITISH GUIANA: REPORT OF THE DEPART.
MENT OF SCIENCE AND AGRICUL TURE, 190829.
Fairly satisfactory progress has been made in the
science work at Queen’s College, considering the difficulties
that have arisen through changes in the teaching staff. In
the Cambridge Local Examination of July 1908, the junior
candidates acquitted themselves well. Three courses of
lectures on Nature Study and on Hygiene were delivered to
schoolmasters in the elementary schools during the year.
In regard to the hygiene lectures, the attendance and
progress were good; but those of the nature teaching were
only fair. The attendance at the Model Gardens has greatly
improved and the pupils are doing very good work, During
1908-9, the attendance at six model gardens during the
visits of the Superintendent Teacher was 14,028: in 1907-8,
this was 6,777 for five model gardens. Very satisfactory
progress has been made at the Onderneeming Schoo] Farm,
and, owing to the extent of the work done there, it may now
be regarded as the Government Experimental Farm in
connexion with products other than sugar and rice, and as
the British Guiana Government Stock Farm.
The report on the Botanic Garden gives particulars of
the work with various plants. The total number of plants
placed out during the year was 20,570; the greater part of
this planting has been done in stocking the borders with
flowering annuals.
A request has been made, by the Board of Agriculture,
to the Commissioner of Lands and Mines, for the carrying
out of observations which will lead to the determination of
the yield from tapping Sapdwm Jenmani. In consequence of
a representation that the rice industry of the colony is
suffering owing to ignorance on the part of cultivators,
a committee of the Board has been appointed to consider the
matter, Arrangements have been made for the drawing up
of a Scheme of Courses of Reading and Examinations for the
colony, similar to that which has been formuiated by this
Department.
Vou. VIII. No. 200.
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
415
Arrangements are being made by the Live Stock Com-
mittee of the Board for the importation of a bull immune to
Texas fever. A bull of this kind has already been imported
from the United States, together with three rams. A report
of the Exhibition Committee shows that interest in ground
provisions is wanting, to a great extent on the part of grow-
ers. Statistics issued by the Sugar-canes Experiment
‘Committee show that the area planted with new varieties of
cane constituted 52°9 per cent. of the total under sugar
cultivation in the colony; the greatest increases have
been made by D.625 and B.z08. On the part of the
Subsidiary Products Committee, 13,500 tb. of seed paddy
of the best varieties of rice were distributed free of cost to
cultivators. ‘he work of this committee with rubber trees
has shown that, under the conditions existing on the coast
of Demerara, Hevea brasiliensis and Sapium Jenmani require
shelter from wind and exposure to the sun, if they are to
make satisfactory growth.
MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH ONIONS.
Investigations were commenced at the Experiment
Station, Nassau, Bahamas Islands, in October 1908, for the
purpose of gaining information as to the manurial require-
ments of onions, under the conditions of the experiment.
According to an account in the Bulletin of the Department
of Agriculture, Bahamas, Vol. 1V, No. 3, three sections of
land were prepared for the purpose in the following way:
First of all, the weeds were taken out and removed. Then
the land was forked to a depth of 9 inches, and the manures
applied broadcast; for pulverizing the soil and covering the
manures, the draw-hoe was used. Next, drills 1 inch deep
and 9 inches apart were made, and seeds of red and white
Bermuda onions were sown, and covered in evenly by means
of the rake. Lastly, the soil was made firm by the pressure
of the feet, and the plots were given a liberal quantity of
water. As the watering was done by hand, the labour
expenses were higher than if a modern system of irrigation
had been employed.
The results obtained are summarized in the following
table, in which the figures are given for 1 acre. As the
plots themselves each had an area of only a smal] fraction of
an acre, and as they were not all equal in size, the results
must be taken as being broadly indicative of the actual
manurial requirements of the onion, under the conditions of
the experiment. The value of the yield was arrived at by
taking the retail price of the onions at 1d. per tb.
, : Cost of Cost of Value of Profit.
Manurial treatment. : aa
labour. manure. produce.
ERGO co Gk eo fh Gb ESB cl.
dere ey cts eed Teo) 1010. Oa129 WOON 73 10.0
and bone J
al) ey E
1 b. 18% ecwt. pulver-) ‘ 660 107184 55124
ized sheep manure}
lc. 184 cwt. cotton| . Bate Ba tio
eee al ae 800 107184 53184
1d. No manure ¥ — 43 34-(2 16 8)
2. 36 ewt. cow manure Hs 50.0" “67 1010 16 100
3.18 ewt. cotton seed | 800 56 00 2 00
meal |
In plot le, the cotton seed meal was applied before
planting; in plot 3, it was broadcasted and lightly covered
‘in, after the plants had been thinned out. In all cases, the
thinning out was to the extent of leaving the seedlings 2
inches apart in the row. The sections were. in soils of dif-
ferent fertility. No. 1 (containing plots la, 1b, leand 1d)
was in a soil of what may be termed intermediate fertility.
In section 2, the soil was poor, and in section 3 very poor.
It appears that, owing to the smallness of the plots, the extra
cost of labour in manuring (over the unmanured plot) was
negligible,
In considering these results, it must be remembered
that the experiments were carried ont on an intensive scale.
By this is meant that minute pains were taken in the matter
of the cultivation, manuring, and care of small pilots, in order
that a large yield may be obtained from them. Similar work
would be difficult in the case of very large areas.
It seems that these experiments are worth repeating, the
conditions as regards soil being made similar in every case.
WILD IPECACUANHA AND STOCK.
On page 222 of the current volume of the Agri-
cultural News, it is stated that the question as to the
poisonous effect on cattle of the wild ipecacuanba
(Asclepias curassavica) had recently been raised.
Since then, notes in connexion with this have appeared
on pages 261 and 865. An interesting practical inves-
tigation of the subject has recently been made by the
St. Kitts Agricultural and Commercial Society, the
particulars of which are given below, from a report
furnished by the Honorary Secretary (Mr. F. R.
Shepherd ):—
At ameeting of the Agricultural and Commercial Society,
St. Kitts, it was decided that a sum of £5 should be placed
at the disposal of the Secretary for the purpose of conducting
experiments with a young ox, in order to find out if it would
eat the plant, and if any evil consequences to the animal
followed its administration. The trials were carried out in
the following manner:—
(1) Attempts were made to cause the ox to eat the bush
of its own accord, by concealing the plant in the fodder given
it at night, and by covering the plant with molasses and
offering it in this state to the animal. In both cases the ox
refused to taste the bush.
(2) The whole bush was then finely cut up, and well
mixed with oilmeal and molasses, in balls, on which the
animal was fed every day for seven days, by their being
forced down its throat. No ill effects resulted from this.
(3) A strong infusion of the plant was made by boiling
it in water. Two large bottles of this were given to the ox,
when, as before, there were no ill effects; on the contrary,
the animal seemed to improve under the treatment.
The committee which was appointed to conduct these
experiments came to the following conclusions, as the result
of its observations: that cattle will not eat the plant when it
is growing on pastures; that when the plant is given to them
in the crude state, or as an infusion, against their will, no ill
effects take place; finally, as following what has just been
stated, that this plant is not poisonous to cattle.
Such are the results of a very interesting practical
enquiry into this question. The Department has already
asked for information on the subject, und is indebted
to those who have so far complied with its request.
This request is now repeated, and itis hoped that those
who have made any actual, practical observations in
the matter will communicate them, in order to provide
material which may aid further in the inquiry.
London,— Tue
416
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
DrcemBer 24, 1909.
MARKET) REPORTS.
West Inp1iA ComMITTEE CIRCULAR,
November 23, 1909 ; Messrs. E. A. bE Pass & Co.,
November 12, 1909.
Arrowroot—1 id. to 2d.
Batata—Sheet, 2/6 ; block, 2/- per th.
Brsts-wax—£7 17s. 6d. to £8 2s. 6d.; darkish, £7 15s.
Cacao—Trinidad, 52/- to 62/- per ewt. ; Grenada, 50/- to
55/6 per ewt.; Jamaica, 47/- to 52/6.
CorrEE—Jamaica, 37/- to 56/6,
Corra—West Indian, £24 per ton.
Corron—Fully Fine, 183d.; Floridas, 16d.; St. Croix West
Indian, 173d.
Frurr—No quotations.
Fustic—No quotations.
Gincer—(Quiet ; common to good common, 42/- to 48/- per
ewt.; low middling to middling, 49/- to 53/-; good
bright to fine, 54/- to 65/-.
Honty—30/-.
IstncLass—No quotations.
Live Jurce—Raw, 11d. to 1/- per gallon
£17; Otto of limes, 5/9 to 6/..
Loewoop—No quotations.
Macr—Steady.
Nurmecs—(uiet.
Pimento—Common, 2,3,d.; fair, 275,d.; good, 22d. per tb.
Ruseer—Para, fine hard, 8/13, fine soft, 7/-; tine Peru,
8/1 per fb.
Rum—Jainaica, 2/8 to 5/-.
Sucar—Crystals, 15/3 to 16/-; Muscovado, 12/6 to 15/-;
Syrup, 12/9 to 14/9; Molasses, no quotations.
cencentrated,
New York,—Messrs. Giutespig Bros. & Co., November
26, 1909.
Cacao—Caracas, 11jc. to 12c. ; Grenada, 11}c. to 114c. ;
Trinidad, 115c. to 12c.; Jamaica, 93c. to 10$c. per th.
Cocoa-Nuts—Jamaica, select, $335:00 to $34:00; culls,
$19-00 to $20-00; Trinidad, select, $32-00 to $33-00;
culls, 518-00 to $19°00 per M.
Corrre—Jamaica, ordinary, 8}c. to 8he.; good ordinary,
8ic. to 9c.; and washed, from 10c. to lle. per Tb.
GincER—9c. to 12c. per Tb.
Goat Sxins—Jamaica, no quotation; Parbados, 53c. to
55c.; St. Thomas, St. Croix, St sitts, 48c. to 50c.
per th.; Antigua, 50c. to 52c., dry flint.
Grave Fruit—$2 ‘50 to $3:25 per box.
Limes—Dominica, $6:00 to $8°00 per barrel.
Macre—34c. to 40c. per th.
Nurmrcs—110’s, 9c. to 9}e. per Th.
Orances—Jamaica, $1°00 per box.
Pimento—43e. per th.
Sucar—Centrifugals, 96°, 4°36c. to 4°42c. per Ib. ; Musco-
vados, 89°, 3°86c. to 3°92c.; Molasses, 89°, 3°6l1c. to
3°67c. per th., all duty paid.
Trinidad,—Messrs. Gorpon, Grant & Co., December
1d, 1959:
Cacao—Venezuelan, $11°65 per fanega; Trinidad, $11°15
to $11°50.
Cocoa-Nuv O1r—92c. per Imperial gallon, cask meluded.
Corrrr—Venezuelan, 10}c. per tb.
Corra—$4°10 per 100 th.
Duat—$4-20 per 2:buskel bag.
Ontons—$3°75 to $4:00 per 100 th.
Pras—Sprir $6-00 to $6°25 per bag
Poraros—English, $1:70 to $1°80 per 100 tb.
Ricr—Yellow, $5:00 to $5°10; White, $5:00 to $5:10
per bag.
Svucar—American crushed, $5°10 to $5:20 per 100 tt.
Barbados,—Messrs. Leacock & Co., December 4, 1909 ;
Messrs.
1909.
eit
S. Garraway & Co., December 6,
Arrowkoot—St. Vincent, $3°60 to $3:°75 per 100 th.
Cacao—S11-00 to $1200 per 100 tb.
Cocoa-Nuts—$1400.
Corrrr—
100 t.,
scarce.
Jamaica and ordinary
tio, $9
Hay—$1-20 per 100 th., unsaleable.
Manvures—Nitrate of
soda, $
‘D0 to $11:00 per
‘00; Cacao manure, $48-00 ie:
Sulphate of ammonia, $75°00 per ton.
Mo .asses—No quota
tions.
Ontons—Strings, $2°75 to $3-00 per 100 Tb.
Peas—Split, $6:00 per bag of 210 tb.; Canada,
bag of 120 tb.
$3-40 per
Poratos—Nova Scotia, $1°75 to $2°75 per 160 th.
Rice—Ballam, $4°85 to 5-00 (180 tb.); Patna, $3-80 ;
— Rangoon, $3-00 per 190 th.
Sucar—No quotations.
British Guiana.—Messrs. Wrertve & Ricurer, December
11; Messrs. SanpBacn, Parker & Co., November
26, 1959.
ARTICLES.
Messrs. WI®ETING |
& RIcuter.
Arrowroot—St. Vincent!
Batata— Venezuelablock
Demerara sheet!
Cacao—Native
Cassava—
Cassava STARCH—
Cocoa-NuTS—
CorrerE—Creole
Jamaica and Rio
Libenan
Daat—
Green Dhal
Eppos —
Mezuasses— Yellow
Oxtons—Teneriffe
Madeira
Pras—Split
Marseilles
PLANTAINS—
Poratos—Noya Szotia
Lisben
Poratos-Sweet, Barbados
Rice—Ballam
Creole
TANNTIAS—
Yams-—Wh:te
Buck
Sue ar—Dark crystals
Yellow
White
Molasses
TmorbeR —Greenheart
Wallaba shingles
Cordwood
”
$8°25 to S850 |
per 200 th.
32c. per tb. |
48c. per tb.
|llc. to 12c. per tb.|
S108
$6-00 to $6°50 per
barrel of 196 th,
Sales—scarce. |
| $12 to $16 per M.
12c. to 13¢ per th.
15$c. to 13 $c. per tb. |
10c. per tb.
$4:05 to $4:10 per)
| bag of 168 th.
$3°50 to 85-75
| $1:44 per parrel |
22c. to 25c.
de. to 4$ce. per th.
$6°50 to $6-60 per
bag (210 tb.)
None
24c. to 60e. per
bunch
$2°50
No quotation
SL68 per bag
No quotation
$3°8U to $4:00
32°16 per bag
$2-64
$3-00 per bag
$2°55
|
2h oh
$2°90 to $3:00
$3°70 to $3°80
$2-00
32c. to 55c. per
cub. foot
$3°50 to $5°75
per M.
$180 to $200
per ton
Messrs. SAND-
PACH, PARKER
& Co.
$900 per 200 tb.,
market dull
Prohibited.
d0c. per tb.
12c. per tb.
No quotation
No quotation
$16 per M., peeled
and selected.
12c to 13c. per th.
15jc. per tb.
10c. per th.
$4°25 per bag of
168 tb.
No quotation
3c. per th.
$640 to $6°50 per
bag (210 tb.)
$500
$2°40 to $2-50-
No quotation
$475
$4:00 to $4°30:
$245
$2°80 to $3°00
$3°60 to $3°80
$200 to $2°30
32c. to 5dc. per
cub. oot
$3°50 te $5°50
_ per M.
No quotation
THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS.
Publications on sale of the Imperial Department of Agriculture
FOR THE WEST INDIES.
The ‘WEST INDIAN BULLETIN’. A Quarterly Scientific Journal.
Volume I. No. 1. Out of print. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in original paper covers as issued, price 1s. each. Post free, 1s. 2d.
Volumes IJ, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII:—Price 2s. each ; Post free 2s. 8d.
Volume IX. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Price 6d. each number.
Post free, 8d.
Volume X. No. 1. Flower-bud Maggot of Cotton ; Bonrbon Cane in Antigua ; Bourbon and other Varieties of Cane
in Barbados ; Soils of Nevis ; Cotton Selection in the Leeward Islands ; Leguminous Crops and Soil
Inoculation.
No. 2. Central Factories; The Underground System of the Sugar-oane; The Cotton
Industry in the West Indies ; Observations on Molasses ; The Treatment of Orchard Soils in Cultivation
in the West Indies ; The Scarabee of the Sweet Potato.
Price 6d. each. Post free, 8d.
PAMPHLET SERIES.
The Pamphlets are written in a simple and popular manner and the information contained in them is especially
adapted to West Indian conditions. They contain, amongst other subjects, summaries of the results of the experiment work
on sugar-cane and manures, the full official reports of which have only a limited circulation. The number issued up to the
‘present time is fifty-nine.
numbers are out of print and can no longer be supplied :—
Sucar Inpustry.
Seedling and other Canes at Barbados
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Barbados : Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridgetown. St. Lucia: Mr. M. A. LAWRENCE, Botanie Station.
Jamaica: THE EpucationaL Suppty Company, 16, King Dominica: Mr. J. R. H. Bripcewarer, Roseau,
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British Guiana: Tue ‘DatLy CHRONICLE’ Orrice, Georgetown. Antigua: Mr. S. D. Matong, St. John’s,
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Voz. VIII. No. 200. THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. DecemBer 24, 1909.
THE BEST MANURES FOR COLONIAL USE
eee Sen a uie aye
Ohlendorff’s Dissolved Peruvian Guano—For Sugar-cane and general use
Ohlendorfi’s Special Sugar-cane Manure
Ohlendorif’s Special Cocoa Manure
Ohlendorff’s Special Cotton Manure
Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphates, high grades,
Potash Salts, Basic Slag and all other high-class Fertilizers.
APPLY TO LOCAL AGENTS OR DIRECT TO:—
THE ANGLO-CONTINENTAL (LATE OHLENDORFF’S) GUANO WORKS.
London Agency: 15, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.
Barbados Agents : James A. Lynch & Co., Bridgetown.
1909. (MISCELLANEOUS) M. NO. 5. |THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE COTTON
In the Supreme Court of the Leeward Islands.
PRESIDENCY OF ANTIGUA. FACTORY, LIMITED.
IN THE MATTER OF ‘the Title by Registration Acts BRIDGETOWN,
1886-1906’, AND IN THE MATTER of lands of Eunice Dora
Macandrew and George Allan Macandrew as Trustees nny 1 SE
known as ‘CLAREMONT’ ESTATE, ‘PARRY’S’ ESTATE and CO I ! ON Ss i E D.
‘THE DIAMOND’ ESTATE. AND IN THE MATTER of a mort- {Purchased at highest current Prices, locally and }
gage of the said lands in favour of Felix Thornley Krom the Islands. TERMS, Cash on delivery of
Cobbold and Herbert St. George Cobbold. = = =| =
THIS IS TO GIVE NOTICE that there will be sold in two price compete made us will have prompt
lots by PUBLIC AUCTION on Friday the 11th day of Febru-
ary, 1910, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, at the Registry of the = j= i ae)
Supreme Court in the City of St. John in the Island of Antigua, SULPHATE OF COPPER. P -We stock this
rticle, and all orders received will be promptly
respectively as ‘CLAREMONT’, ‘PARRY’S’ and THE ‘DIA*lexecuted.
ALL THOSE valuable Sugar Plantations or Estates known
MOND’, that isto say: LOT 1. All that Estate known as]* = =
FOR SALE,
‘CLAREMONT, situate in the Parish of St. Mary in the said
On account of death, there is offered for Sale,
Island; LOT 2. All those Estates known as ‘PARRY’S and
A COTTON GINNING PLANT.
‘THE DIAMOND)’ situate in the parish of St. Peter in the said
Island, all as the same are respectively delineated and described
in the plans annexed to the Certificates of Title of the same,
dated respectively the 20th day of March, 1896, the 20th day
Consisting of 3 Asa Lees Single Action Macarthy
Gins, Spiral Seed Conductor, 50 feet long, and One
Crossley Brothers’ Oil Engine, 7} B.H. Power, besides
Gin spares, all only very little used; at a low figure,
of March, 1896, and the 2nd day of May, 1896, Register Book B,
folios 128, 127, and 134, of the Register of Titles of the said
Island ; in favour of Eunice Dora Macandrew and George Allan
Macandrew as Trustees, Registered Proprietors thereof; and
also all things accessory to the saié lands, respectively which
are set down in the Inventories annexed to the Acts of Seizure.
Dated this 11th d iy of November, 1909.
(Sgd.) Rt. H. KORTRIGHT DYETT, Registrar.
Messrs. McDONALD & DOUGLASS,
43, Church Street,
St. John’s, Antigua, B.W.I.
(Solicitors having carriage of the sale.)
For particulars apply to
Executors of the Estate of THomAs Hewitt, Deed.
Christiansted, St. Croix, D.W.I.
—
——__.
Printed at Office of Agricultural Reporter, 4, High Street, Bridgetown, Barbados.
Aly
INDEX.
TNS
204.
297
aol.
Acclimatization of cotton,
— seedling canes,
Africa, entomological committee for, 348.
German East, cotton in, 392.
South, tobacco culture in, 217.
—, soy beans in, 220.
Agar, E. A., 15, 404.
Agave fibre, cleaning of, 295
Agricultural Bank at St. Vincent,
104.
Banks in Bengal, 13.
— Western Australia, 25.
Raiffeisen system of, 15.
conditions in Bermuda, 281.
co-operation in Great Britain, 13.
education, (see Education.)
examinations, 90, 341, 365,
exhibition in Grenada, 396.
instruction, 396.
— at St. Lucia, 185.
— in California, 361.
notes, St. Kitts-Nevis, 205.
production, phases of, 217.
school in Dominica, 414.
St. Vincent, 366.
schools, examination of, 259.
show at Nevis, 78.
— St. Kitts, 94, 396.
— Savannah Grande, 12.
shows, educational exhibits at,
—, good influence of, 94.
teaching in St. Lucia, 265.
Agriculture at the British Association,
BD.
— in the Bahamas, 233.
Katanga, 255.
— South Manchester,
219.
Air, manufacture of nitrates from,
Alcohol from bananas, 344.
— sawdust, 395
— manufacture in Guatemala, 344.
Alfalfa, best conditions for growing,
281.
— flowers, explosion of, 389.
growing for seed production, 389.
Algicide, copper as an, 238.
Alsomitra sarcophylla at Grenada Bot-
anic Station, 140,
Ambari hemp, 375.
Andropogon annulatus at St. Lucia, 184.
Angola, cotton-growing in, 60.
Animals, breeding of, 305,
—, nutrition of, 395.
89
)
381.
123:
el Jamaica,
B61.
Ankylostomiasis in Trinidad, 284.
Anstead, R. D., appointment in India,
39)
= — —-, departure for India,
(il.
Antigua Agricultural and Gomer aN
Society, 14, 302.
—, Arbor Day at,
—, area of cotton in, 359.
Botanic Station, distribution,
236, 332, 334, 348.
—, plants for hedges in, 25, 158.
, broom corn cultivation at, 46.
, cane experiments in, 523, 334.
—, cocoa-nut planting at, 84.
—, cotton exports from, 123, 326.
—, report on from eee 22.
, death of the Hon. T. D. Foote, 9.
, experimental cultivation of oil grass-
es at, 41.
—, onion cultivation at, 44.
, shipment of hay to Dominica, 131.
, experiments with camphor in, 328)
varieties of cassava in,
152.
flower-bud maggot in, 10, 14, 58,
334
oe .
—, good varieties of yams in, 105.
—, green dressing crops in, 43.
hedges and hedge plants in,
ats,
—, improvement of maize by seed selee-
tion, 28.
—, inoculation of leguminous crops in,
151.
—, manurial experiments with sugar-
cane in, 1907-8, 99.
—-, onion production in 1908-9, 69.
, rainfall returns in, 153.
, Sea Island cotton in, 204, 236.
» , report on, from Liverpool, 2 22.
—-, students’ meetings in, 157.
, sugar-cane seedlings in, 67.
sweet potatos, best yielding variety
of, 89.
—, timber trees of, 174.
—, use of Buco hand cultivators, 55,
Ants, remedies for, 332, 396,
Apparatus for trapping insect parasites,
314.
Aramina fibre, 412.
Arbor Day at Antigua, 3.
Arenga saccharifera, 159,
Argentine Republic, irrigation in, 412.
—, stock in, 284.
b)
a
5,
Arrowroot, exports from St. Vincent,
366, 412.
Arrowroot in St. Vincent, 397.
—on pe London market, 31, 95, 127.
L190; 2B Volo ODI Io.
—, — prostuetion in Queensland, 19!
, St. Vincent, tax on exports of, 397
worm, 378.
Arsenate of lead for the fruit fly, 284.
Assam rubber, method of tapping, 27.
Auchinleck, G. G., 375, 403.
Australia, agricultural banks in, 25.
Avocado pear, 132.
—, composition of, 580.
—, shipping of, 245.
—, the Trapp, 180.
223
B.
Bacteria, effects of, on sugars, 307.
— free nitrogen-fixing in the soil, 168,
270.
— in Jamaica soils, useful, 343.
— soils, denitrifying, 297.
—, infection of ‘plants by, 309.
-— on sugars, effects of, 307.
| . .
Bahamas, agriculture in, 233.
—, cotton in, 396.
—, export of grape fruit from, 212.
—, — — oranges from, 212.
pine-apples from, 44, 412.
sisal from, 412.
sponges, 412
tomatos from,
, fruit production in, 212.
grape fruit in, 233.
oranges in, 233.
, pine-apples in, 233.
sisal hemp in, 61, 108,
Bahia, cacao crop of, ‘60,
—, cacao production i in, 182.
Balata exports from British Guiana,
89, 156.
Ballou, H. A., investigations of scale in-
sects and their parasites, 87.
—, report on flower-bud
maggot at Antigua, 58.
—, return from Antigua,
516.
233.
37,
“61.
;
3D.
—, — -— St. Lucia,
= to Barbados from
Montserrat, 106.
—, visit to Antigua, 7.
— ; Montserrat
) — St. Lucia,
418
|
Banana fibre, cleaning of, 293.
— in Malay States, 12.
— flour, preparation ot biscuits from,
28.
— plantations, culture of cowpeas in,
recommended at Jamaica, 156.
Bananas, alcohol from, 344.
, chemical changes in ripening, 20.
—, exports of, from Jamaica, 188, 268.
— in Nicaragua, 229. |
—, market in Great Britain, require-
ments, 133.
—, methods of packing, 133. |
—, preparation of asweetmeat from, 140.
—, shipping of, 245. |
Barbados, anopheles mosquito absent |
from, 106.
at the Canadian exhibition, 233.
blackbird, 215.
, cane-reaping season at, 60. |
—, cotton at, 54, 359.
: — export from, 268.
— factory, increase of capital, 12.
cherry, use for hedge purposes, 158.
—, dairy cows shipped to Demerara, 92.
—, decreasing imports to United States,
281.
—, destruction of rats in, 268.
—, disease of evergreens at, 62.
—, exportation of goats to
Guiana, 108.
—, exports of sugar and molasses,
156, 188, 284.
; — to Canada, increasing, 28.
—, first seedling canes in, 266.
—, handbook of, 233.
—, heavy rains in December, 1908, 12.
, importation of donkeys into, 140.
—, industrial exhibition, 7.
, irrigation at, 185.
—, low price of sweet potatos at, 108.
» price of sugar and molasses at _be-|
ginning of 1909 season, 92
—, produce of, 255.
—, rum manufacture at, 217. |
—, short cane crop at, 1908, 124.
—, sugar and molasses exports from, |
108.
—, sugar-cane experiments at, 5, 19.
—, sugar crop, 1909, 156.
British
92,
—, — estates, purchases of improved
machinery for, 35.
_, -— exports from, 252.
—, tillage experiments in sugar-cane
cultivation, 35.
—, trade of, 348.
— with Canada, 76, 252.
| West African sheep at, 137.
Barbuda bean asa green dressing crop at
Antigua, 43.
Barnard, G., cacao polisher, 244.
Bath springs at Nevis, 150.
Bee-keeping :—
honey and wax in China, 92.
in Cuba, 28, 92.
raising of queen bees, 60. }
Beet sugar industry in Manchuria, 252. |
Beetles, infection of plants by, 309. |
Bombay,
Beetles, predacious on the weevil borer.
392.
Bengal, agricultural banks in, 13.
— beans, use of in lime cultivation, 154.
Berbice, rice area and yield per acre, 99.
Bermuda, agricultural conditions in, 281.
—, fruit fly at, 93.
Best conditions for growing Alfalfa,
Biffen, W., 197, 213, 229, 375.
Birds and agriculture, 215.
Black blight at Grenada, 105.
281.
|— rot of cabbage, 309.
-— cacao, 292, 396.
Blackbird, the Barbados, 215.
Blankit, use of, 275.
| Blights of cotton, 289.
| Bois, Captain, 345.
ground nut export from, 409.
— mango, 350.
Bonavist bean as a green dressing crop at
Antigua, £3.
Book beetle, 367.
Books, preservtaion in the tropics, 367.
Books reviewed :—
Agriculture for Southern Schools, 126.
— in the Tropics, 518.
Cane Sugar and its Manufacture, 383.
Cotton Gins, How to Erect and Work
Them, 254.
Grafting of Uacao, 254.
Insect Pests of Cacao, 126.
Les Balais de Sorciére du Cacaoyer
Provoques par Colletotrichum Luxi-
ficum, 142.
Notes on Dominica and Hints to In-
tending Settlers, 142.
Official Report on Fruit Fly and Other
Pests, in Various Countries 1907-8,
254.
Pronunciation of Plant Names, 147.
Suggestions for Schooi Gardens, 110.
Synopsis of the British Basidiomy-
cetes, 254.
Text-book of Egyptian Agriculture,
368.
The West Indies in Canada in
254.
1909,
| Bordeaux mixture, 379.
— and the colour of leaves,
— lime seedlings, 408.
— spraying, 286.
—-, improved method of prepara-
tion, 29.
—, leaf injury by, 286.
Boreas cutch in, 309.
Botanic Station, Antigua, distribution
from, 172, 236, 332, 334, 348.
— —, British Guiana, 414.
— =, — Honduras, distribu-|
tion from, 382.
— —, Dominica, distribution from,
414.
— —-, Grenada, distribution from,
334.
— — in Mauritius, 41.
—, Montserrat, distribution from,
268, 382.
286. |
—- for ground nut disease, 347. |
3otanic Station, St. Kitts, distribution
from, 350.
— —, --- Vincent, distribution
from,
— —, Tortola, 352.
Bottomley, Professor, inoculation of
leguminous crops, 62.
Bougainvillea, use of for ornamental
fences, 158.
Bourbon cane, 211.
, decay of,
in Leeward Islands,
33.
— in British Guiana, 293.
Bovell, J. R., 213:
Branch, Dr. Christian, the late, 217.
Brazil, cacao output of, 25, 297.
—, fibre industry in, 235.
Bread-and-cheese plant, use for hedge
purposes, 158.
Breadfruit of Ceylon, 7.
— plants of the tropics, 6, 7.
Breeding of cotton in the United States,
326.
British Cotton Growing Association, 333,
364.
Watts, 390.
British Guiana, agricultural exports from
37.
-~, address by Dr.
—, area under cocoa-nuts, 172.
—, appointment of Commission
on Labour Conditions in, 108.
—, articles +e importation of
sugar-canes, 91.
—, balata output from, 89.
— -— Botanic Station, 414.
—., Bourbon cane in, 293.
—, cane sucker in, 218.
—, — varieties, 418.
—, conditions of rice production
in, 60.
~~, East Indian immigrants in, 14.
—, exports of rice from, 172.
; - rubber and ba-
lata from, 156.
: ; — sugar to Canada,
108.
== =, —- — — - United
States, 108.
—, formation of rubber and ba-
lata company, 92.
== —, importation
| from Barbados, 92.
— — — — goats from Bar-
bados, 108.
of dairy cows
—~ identured labour-
—, larger moth borer in, 218
= —, lime cultivation in, 95.
—, mechanical tillage and sugar-
| cane machinery in, 26.
}— —-, model garden, 414.
—, Onderneeming School Farm,
414.
—, project for cultivation of sisal
| hemp in, 95,
la —, purchase of land for rice
cultivation, 12.
419
British Guiana, Queen’s College, 414.
courses
aminations, 414.
—, Report of Sugar-cane Experi-
ments, 293.
— —, rice in, 45, 77, 126, 139,
156, 175,; 187, 201, 223, 238, 271,|
303) 319,335, 383, 399) 367, 407.
= = — crop in, 30, 99.
_— _, — industry in, 12.
— —, — mills in, 12.
-- _, — production in, 95,
130.
-- —, rubber cultivation in, 181.
— —, -— plants on sale in, 28. | —
— —, rum exports from, 28.
— =, — manufacture in, 30.
— —, seedling canes in, 293.
— —, sisal hemp cultivation in, |
140.
— —, sugarcane varieties in, 195. |
—, -— exports from, 28.
—, suggested agricultural school,
commission of enquiry appointed, 12.
—, tobacco-growing in, 25.
British Honduras, Cohune palm in, 124, |
137.
—, cotton experiments at, 28
export of cotton from, 60.
-, revenue of, 348.
, Tice in, 24.
, suggested cultivation of cas-
sava in, 28.
—, undeveloped land in, 382.
British West Indies, imports of cattle, ete.
into, 396.
Broom corn and rainfall, 300.
— cultivation at Antigua, 46.
— market in the United States,
381.
—, preparation of, 270.
Brussels exhibition, 1910, 332.
Buco hand cultivators, 55.
Bud rot of cocoa-nut palm,
Bullet tree, 405.
Burma, increasing ground nut cultivation
in, 124.
—, sugar in, 380.
Butter, deterioration of, 280.
— making, 152.
— tree of Sierra Leone, 345.
C.
276, 373.
Cacao and nutmegs Ordinances of Gren-
ada, amendment of, 252.
— and worn out soil, 292.
—, area in Ceylon, 153, 188.
—, artificial drying of, 73.
—, attack of thrips on, at Tobago, 44.
—, black rot of, 292, 396.
—, Brazilian, 297.
—, Calabacillo, 260.
—-, Criollo, 260.
— crop of Bahia, 60.
—, the Gold Coast, 1
Grenada, 1907-8,
of reading and ex-|
Cacao alte in Cuba,
Cacao, disease of 1908, 411.
—, essay on fermentation of, 204, 220,
237.
—— experiment station at Grenada, 86.
—= — in Ceylon, 236.
—, exports of, 332.
-, — from Brazil, 297.
— — — Tee: ee
— — — German Cameroons,
332.
|—, -— -— Samoa, 412.
=, —_ — San Thomé, 297.
_, = —- Southern Nigeria, 59.
=—, -- — Tobago, 77.
, _— Trinidad , 92, 153, 178, | —
236, 300, 332, 396.
— fermentation ofloliys
—, essay on, 204, 220, 237.
—, Forastero, 260.
-, from St. Thomé and Principe,
re-
fusal of British firms to purchase, 124. |
—, grafting at Gold Coast, 169.
in Dominica, +14.
Java, 116.
Nevis, 205, 350.
St. Kitts, 350.
— Vincent, 366.
-- Virgin Islands, 88.
industry, organization in, 25.
—, Manurial experiments in Grenada,
: — — with, 236.
manuring of, 340.
, mechanical polisher for, 244.
-, origin of floral cushion, 135.
—, pink disease of, remedies for, 260.
—, plantations at Grenada, mulching
operations in, 86.
—, planting in Naparima Union, Trini-
dad, 185.
— plants, distribution
Coast, 169.
— production in Pahia, Brazil, 182
— Ecuador, 175.
—, soils for, 292.
— spraying experiments
183.
— thrips, washes for 281.
— trees, spray mixture for thrips on,
120.
—, use of resin oul for, 61.
—, varieties of, 260.
Calabacillo cacao, 260.
Calcium arsenate as an insecticide, 76.
Calcium cyanamide, 92.
calcium carbide in, 396.
effects of on soils, 275.
nitrogen in, 596.
or Nitrolim, 169.
notes on, 75.
hypochlorite for sterilizing drinking
waters, 39.
— nitrate, output of, 236.
California, agricultural instruction
361.
—, eucalyptus culture in, 169.
California, fruit drying in, 73.
= ee disease of citrus fruits in,
172
of from Gold
in,
Cameroons, German, cacao export from,
97959 +
332.
Cameroon sheep, 76.
Camphor, consumption of, 383.
= diminished planting of, in Ceylon,
| 153
|—, effect of synthetic article on exports
from Japan, 140.
—-, experiments with in Antigua,
328.
— Jamaica, 328.
, uses of, 380.
Canada, exports from, 396.
—, Increasing exports of sugar and cacao
from Trinidad, 156.
— imports from Barbados, 28.
-, * sugar imports trom British Guiana,
108.
—, West Indian exhibits in 361.
—, trade with Barbados, 76, 396.
Canadian exhibitions, 1909, 193.
—, Barbados at, 233.
— National Exhibition, 1909, 285.
— Trade Commission, 337.
Canhamo Braziliensis Perini, 235, 375.
Canna leaf roller, 378
Carbon disulphide for destroying rats,
313.
|Cardamoms in Ceylon, 153.
|Carludovica jamaicensis, establishment
| of, at Grenada Botanic Station, 108.
Carnauba wax, 360.
Carriacou, lime and cotton planting in,
114.
—, value of exports from, 1908, 114.
Carruthers, J. B., appointment as Assist-
ant Director of Agriculture at Trinidad,
60.
Cassava cultivation, returns from in Vir-
gin Islands, 88.
— experiments at Virgin Islands, 172,
; — with varieties of, 152.
— in the Philippines, 220, 316.
— starch, market for in England, 140.
ea
;—, suggested cultivation of in British
at Trinidad, |
28.
Honduras,
—, trials with, in Montserrat, 382.
Cassia fistula on the London market, 63,
223, 239, 319.
Castilloa, method recommended for
planting in West Indies, 143.
— rubber from St. Lucia, 277.
— trees, effects of weather on
red of, 172.
Castor oil plant, cultivation, 118.
—, manurial value of, 316,
—, asa green manure, 118.
Cattle breeding, Danish system of, 403.
—, insurance of in Cyprus, 139,
— judging in Denmark, 403.
—, poisonous effect of wild ipecacuanha
on, 261, 222, 363, 415.
selection of for milking capacity, 250.
cultivation of, in Hawaii,
’
Ceara rubber,
idle
— — in Zanzibar, 300.
— — seeds, germination of, 281,
359.
Cecidomyiidae, new species of, 250.
Central American rubber, 414.
Central Sugar Factories at Vere, Jamaica,
182.
Ceylon, agriculture and trade of, 153.
, agricultural education in, 249.
—, area of cacao in, iS8.
» cacao experiments In, 236.
, copra exports from, 140, 248
, cotton cultivation in, 214.
—, — growing in, 264.
» kush-kush yam in, 2
, new rubber pests in,
» paper-making in, 231.
, shot-hole borer in, 380.
—, uses of breadfruit in, 7.
, valuation of papain ON 140.
water hyacinth in, 252.
China, preserved ginger ce 121.
Chinese taliow tree, 107, 156, 300.
Chocho, 388.
Citrate of lime exports, 140.
from
Dominica,
1038.
Citronella experimental cultiva-
tion at Antigua, 41.
Citrus fruit, cultivation of, 248.
grass,
— _—, — in West Indies, 148
= —, exports from West Indies, |
148.
— trees, collar rot of, 248
a —, stock for, 396.
Cleaning of fibres, 293.
Cloves, export of, from Zanzibar, 241.
Cochin lemon grass, experimental eulti-
vation at Antigua, 41.
Cockroach, poison for, 567.
Cocoa-nut cultivation, 100,
— disease of 1908, 411.
196,
| Correction, 328,
| Cotton, acclimatization of, 204,
| —, area in Egypt, 348.
—— exports from Ceylon, 155.
—, — — Tobago, 77.
— in the Hawaii Islands, 84, 244.
— meal, 2
— oil, 244.
palm, bud rot of, 276, 373.
palms, care of, 373.
planting at Antigua, 84
shells, use of in button manufacture,
76.
Cocoa-nuts, area under, in British Guiana,
172.
— inthe Malay States, 364.
-, uses of, 84.
Coffee disease in Jamaica, 292.
— Mexico, 292.
South America,
- Trinidad, 292,
of, 299.
= 292.
1908, 411.
the New World,
—, remedy for, 395.
— hulling machine, improved, 63.
— imports into United States, proposed
levy of duty on, 28
395.
5.
—, improvement of, 392.
in Costa Rica, 204.
— Java, new, ae
— Virgin Islands,
production in Ee uador, 1 7),
420
Coffee prodnctign in Mexico, 12,
( ohne palm in British Honduras, 124,
1K
Coin, 244,
Collar rot of citrus trees, 248.
Colonial exhibition, 213.
— fruit show, 4, 104, 382
Compost heaps, 94,
Co-operative Credit Societies in India, |
268.
Copper as an algicide, 238. |
— sulphate, impurities in,
Copra exports from Ceylon,
248.
339. |
140, 153,
— Samoa, 412.
, note on, 135,
—, preservation of, 29
Corn and oats for Hones 392.
culture, experiments with
grown and imported seed, 147.
—-, germination test for, 255.
—, twelve-week in Grenada, 300,
Corns on. horses’ feet, 78.
home- |
Costa Rica, coffee in, 204.
— and linseed cakes,
995.
—, animal pests of, 273.
feeding value of,
— at Montserrat, 120, 166, 332.
— St. Vincent, 68.
, blights of, 289.
Beeedicg experiments in India, 240.
— United States,
326.
— in Egypt, 50.
— cake, analysis of, 391.
, classification of Indian by branching,
376,
consumption, increase in U.S., 348.
— of Lancashire, 358.
crop in Virgin Islands, 12.
the United States, 300.
cultivation by Nevis peasants, 102.
—, damage to, by rats at Montserrat,
124.
--, disease of, 411.
tzyptian, in the United States, 326,|—
406.
— experiments
28.
at British Honduras,
— in Hawaiian Islands, 121.
—- recommended at Jamaica,
exports from Antigua, 123, 326.
Barbados, 268.
Carriacou, 114.
Jamaica, 310.
Montserrat, 123
St. Vincent, 366.
Trinidad, Grenada
sritugh Guiana 246.
28.
and
364. |
Virgin Islands, 92. |
a.
— Virgin Islands, 1
— West Indies, 294, 342,
358.
— from Antigua, report from Liverpool,
99
Cotton from British Honduras, report on,
60.
gin and baling press for
sale at An-
ria, LOS.
—— ginning and selection in St. Vincent,
349,
— growers at Nevis, supply of seed to,
lW2:
hints to, 6, 184.
= — at Jamaica, 102.
= — Tortola, 166.
— growing experiments in Jainaica, 332.
— in Ceylon, 264.
412.
-— German colonies,
— Jamaica, 76, 102.
— Portuguese West Africa,
yaiecws
— Corsica,
12.
60.
= — — South Africa, 134,
= — — Tortola, 166.
== — — Uganda, 22.
= —, profitable methods of soil
tillage, at
— grown in United States, 406.
—. hybridizing of Indian, 230,
, hybrids, suppressed and intensified
characters in, 215.
~ pepo into the United Kingdom,
252, 316, 380.
: an German Fast Alrica, 392.
Grenadines, St. Vincent, 366.
-— — Jamaica, 233.
= — Rhodesia, 328.
Russia, 284.
the Bahamas, 396.
— Leeward Islands, 123,
Sea Islands, 38, 6s.
— Virgin Islands, 3 38
Dace 364,
, loss of weight in ginning, 342.
, Mendel’s law and, 230.
planting at St. Croix,
close time in, 60.
— plants, destruction of old, 55, 73, 312.
— at St. Vincent,
68, 166.
—, manurial value of, 9.
—, space between, 6.
, preparation for second picking, 6
— production in St. Lucia, 124.
Southern Nigevia, 59,
- Tortola, 366,
of Dahomey, 412.
—, ratooning of, 54.
—, seasonable notes, 54.
— seed, disinfection of,
—, distribution of,
Islands, 300.
for draught horses, 294.
gas production, 278.
-— stock, 294
in the United aro 294,
production in India, 409,
— selection experiments at Mont-
serrat, 105, 382
—, uses for, 245.
—, selection of varieties for uniformity,
374.
suggested
199.
in
the Virgin
421
Cotton varieties, diversity of, 574.
—, world’s supply, 358.
Cotton Industry :
in Barbados, 359.
Ceylon, 214.
Egypt, 262.
Montserrat,
Nevis, 205, 35
St. Kitts, 550.
the Sea Islands, 198.
area of cotton in Antigua, 359.
— at Barbados, 54.
Barbados Cotton Factory,
capital, 1275
British Cotton
278.
by-products of cotton, 246.
Caravonica cotton in Mexico,
of the United States, 262.
in the Sea Islands, 54.
petition for removal of duty on cotton
exported from Montserrat, 92
revival of, in the West Indies, 3.
Sea Island cotton in the United States,
262.
West Indian cotton-growing, 390.
West Indian on the Liverpool market,
54, 68, 86, 102, 118, 134,
382.
increase of
Growing Association,
t=)
9472
2/6.
RP DQ QQ
(3, eeatoss
150, 198, 214, 2380, 246,262, 278,
294, 326, 342, 358, 374,390, 406.
Courses of reading and examinations
in British Guiana, +14.
Cover crops vs. clean weeding in perma-
nent cultivations, 86.
Covers for protection of food, 316.
Cow, milk organs of the, 541.
Cows and their milk yields, 157.
protection from flies, 171.
Cowpeas, 219.
—, cultivation of for green dressing pur-
poses at Antigua, 44.
—., history of, 213.
— in Australia, 173.
— — United States, 82.
—, inoculation experiments
Grenada, 151.
Criollo cacao, 260.
Cuba, bee-keeping in, 28, 92.
bud rot disease of cocoa-nut trees in,
140.
with at
== —— Ins e2o-
—, cacao cultivation in, 71.
—, cane reaping operations, 60.
—, exports of sugar to United States,
108.
, orange crop of, 1908-9, 108.
—, sugar factories in, 220.
—, — production in, 83, 179, 316.
, timbers of, 57.
—, tobacco cultivation in, 141.
wages on sugar estates, 92
Channel in Egypt, 308.
Cucumber, wilt of, 309.
Cultivation and fertility, 151.
— increased yields, 265.
— of citrus fruits, 248.
Cutch in Borneo, 309.
— the Philippines, 309.
| Danish system of cattle breeding, 403
| Date palm, cultivation of,
| Department news, 7, 19,
Cutch, manutacture of, 309.
Cyprus, insurance of live stock in, 139.
1D):
Dahomey, cotton production of, £12.
36.
Deccan hemp, 375.
Decorticator, a new, 293.
Demerara, export of sugar from, 284.
—, rice area and yield per acre, 99.
Denitrifying bacteria in soils, 297.
Denmark, cattle judging in, 405.
39, 61,.7
LOG LT, 239; LO zoe 229)
357, 375, 403.
Departmental Reports :—
Antigua Botanic Station, ete.,
Sis
1907-8,
27, 35
British Guiana, Botanic Station, 1908-
9, 414.
British Honduras Botanic Station,
1907, 27, 382.
Dominica, Botanic Station, 1908-9.
414.
Grenada, Botanic Station, 334.
Jamaica, Department of Agriculture,
350.
Montserrat, Botanic Station, ete, 382
St. Kitts, Botanic Station, ete., 550.
-—— Lucia, Botanic Station, ete., 277
— Vincent, Botanic Station, ete., 366
Tortola, Botanic Station, etc., 366.
Department publications, 88, 401.
Departments of Agriculture and their
funetions, 65.
Destruction of cotton plants, 312.
— mosquitos, 236,
— rats in Barbados,
— weeds by insects,
Deterioration of butter, 280.
Development of sugar-cane, water needed
for, 211.
Devil’s grass, 60.
Dhak tree, at Dominica Botanic Station,
133:
Diploda disease of maize,
Disease of coffee, 292.
— ground nuts, 315, 347.
— sugar-cane, 315.
— resisting plants, selection of,
Disinfection of cotton seed, 219.
Dissemination of fungus diseases, 515.
Distillation for essential oils, 232
—, useful aid in, 404.
Divi-divi from West Africa, 124.
Dominica Agricultural and Commercial
Society, 165, 220.
— school, 9, 414.
and St. Kitts, ground nut experi-
ments in, 404.
268.
B44.
242.
249.
Dominica, awards to, at Colonial Fruit
Show, 4.
Botanie Station, Ceylon gamboge
tree at, 133.
b]
dhak tree at, 153
distribution from, 414.
Dominica, Botanic Station, queen of
flowers at, 120.
— — —, return of Curator from
;
leave of absence, 7.
vegetabl e tallow tree at,
156.
cacao in, +14.
coasting steamer Yare at, 165.
exhibits in Canada, 318.
heavy rainfall at, 131.
hurricane insurance at, 12.
land development in, 247.
linie and cacao exports from, 103.
— honey from, 15.
— in England, 28
— industry im, 414.
— juice, reports on, 41.
litchi at, 116.
mangosteen at, 5
ornamental flowering plants in, £05.
price of Crown lands in, 156.
prize-holdings competitions in, 414.
— scheme for small culti-
vators, 167.
rainfall in, 233.
representation at exhibition, 414.
rubber in, 414.
Sapium in, 414.
scale insects at, 10.
scholarships offered
School 53.
talipot palm at, 39.
—, trade and prosperity of, 123.
Drugs and spices on the London Market,
31, 63, 95, 127, 159, 191, 223, 239,
?
’
at Grammar
’
319) 35, 399:
Dry farming, 268.
B.
Earthquake countries, construction of
buildings in, 217.
East Indian immigrants in British Gui-
ana, 14.
Zeanda root rubber, 89.
Economic experiments in Nevis,
— St. Kitts, 350.
— importance of the mangrove, 309.
Ecuador, agricultural products of, 175,
—, exports of vegetable ivory nuts from,
172.
Eddos, trials
Editorials :
Agriculture at the recent British As-
sociation meeting, 354.
Animal pests of cotton,
Blights of cotton, 289.
Bureau of Entomology, United States,
Department of Agric ulture, 113.
Canadian E xhibitions, 1909, 193.
— Trade Commission, 337.
Departments of Agriculture and their
functions, 65.
Food supply of the West Indies, 129.
550,
with in Montserrat, 382.
273.
Editorials (Continued.):—
Formation and storage of
OR
201.
Green dressings and their application,
225, 241.
Hurricanes, 209.
Imperial Institute, 521.
Live stock in the West Indies, 17.
Mendelism, 35, 49.
Publications of the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture, 401.
Reading courses and
practical agriculture, 3:
).
Selection in the breeding of estate)
animals, 305,
Sir Daniel, Morris, 1.
Soil inoculation, 145
Treatment of soil in ‘orchard’ cultiva-|
tion in the West Indies, 177.
Timber production, 161.
United States Department of Agricul-
ture, &l.
Value of the results of field experi-
ments, 369.
Edueation, Agricultural :—
agricultural schools,
40.
appointment of agricultural instructor
at Trinidad, 76.
books for students’ courses in agricul-
ture, 76.
sritish Guiana, agricultural training
for boys in, 91.
Dominica agricultural school, report
on, 46,
examinations in agriculture, 90, 341,
365, 381.
French colonial school, 25.
Grenada board of education
cultural instruction, 11,
in Ceylon, 249.
England, grants for, 364.
United States, 235.
proposed farm school at Jamaica, 171.
St. Lucia agricultural school, report
on, 46.
—- Vincent agricultural school, report
on, 46.
scholarship at St.
school, 44.
Lucia
— in British Guiana, appointment of
commission of enquiry, 12.
Eel worms, control of, 280.
oa how spread, 327.
Effect of he soil on seedling canes, 249.
poisonous, of we ipecacuanha on
cattle; 222;.261,
Effects of
363, 415.
275:
- — moisture on stored sugar,
~- —- mulching cacao, 340.
- — soluble manures on the
291.
Ege production of fowls, 296.
Kgg-laying competition, 30, 153.
Egypt, cotton area in, 348.
in, 262
cucumbers in,
348,
molasses,
prize awards at,
and agri-
agricultural
ealoam cyanamide on. soils,
301.
soil,
Egypt, implemental tillage in, 308.
—, melons and other fruits in,
| Enemies of the cotton worm,
examinations in|
—, irrigation and cotton in, 262.
308.
, onlon-growing industry in, 140.
» pumpkins in, 308.
—, sisal hemp in, 348.
—, vegetable marrow in, 308.
Kgyptian cotton, proposed duty on
ports into the United States, 68.
‘Elements of Agriculture’ by Fream, 60.
S14.
England, honey production in, 41.
Entomological Committee for Africa,
Entomology, Bureau of United States
Department of Agriculture, 115.
Escoba, 409.
Essay on cacao fermentation,
237.
Essential oils, distillation for, 232.
Essequebo, rice area and yield per acre,
9%
Eucalypti, propagation of, 345.
Eucalyptus culture in California, 169.
-— trees, and use of leaves of, 56, 92.
ixamination of agricultural schools, 259.
— results, 90, 341, 365, 381.
Exchange of planting material, 302.
Exhibition, Brussels, 1910, 332.
—, Canadian, 193.
Colonial, 213.
Exhibits, West Indian, in Canada,
Experimental tree-growing, 247.
Export of bananas from Dutch Guiana,
220.
204,
561,
— — cotton from Trinidad, Gren-
ada and British Guiana, 246.
-- — pineapples from Bahamas,
412.
— sugar from Barbados, 188.
— - them Canada; 396.
— Jamaica, 188,
—- Uganda, 300.
Extermination of locusts, 236.
Extraction of wax from scums, 360.
F.
516.
268, 310,
Farmer practical, and workers in science,
359.
Feeding
US.,
stutts, in the
259.
—, sale of in Trinidad, 220.
— value of cotton and linseed cakes,
295.
Fermentation of Hawaiian molasses,
Fertilizers, sale of in Trinidad, 22
Fibre, a new Mexican, 409.
— congress and exhibition at Java, 15
412.
— extracting machine, 63.
from the ochro, 380.
- industry in Brazil, 235,
— machine, a new, 293.
plant, the Perini, 255, 375.
Fibres, hand-stripped and machine-strip-
ped, 376.
Field experiments, value of results,
— staff for Philippines, suggested,
inspection of
355,
8,
369.
D350:
| Floors for stables,
|
Fish and mosquitos, 251,
364,
Florida, mango cultivation in, 60.
—, methods of budding the mango in,
2
il.
pine-apple in, 324.
/—, red spider in, 316.
im-! Flower-bud maggot in Antigua, 10, 14,
58, 334.
Food for stock, a suggested, 277,
Foot-and-mouth disease, 24, 111.
Foote, the Hon. T. D., of Antigua, 9.
Forastero cacao, 260.
Forest area of the United States, 380.
— insects, depredations by, 207.
— officer at Trinidad, report of, 172.
— products, consumption of in America,
207.
— reserves in Hawaii,
Forestry in France, 2¢
— Germany, 162.
— Hawaii, 5216.
-— Trinidad, 243.
— .United States, 162, 295
Forests, influence of on soil temperatures,
175
Formation and storage of molasses, 25
— of fungus spores, 251.
Formosa, peppermint oil production in,
412.
—, sugar industry, 412.
Fowls, cholera, the cause of, 118.
—, egg production of, 296.
—, remedy for worms in, 284.
France, decrease of beet sugar factories
in, 76.
—, ground nut oil in,
French colonial school, 25.
Frog hopper of the sugar-cane, 204.
Frost, Henry W. & Co., West Indian Sea
Island cotton, 214, 230), § 246, 262, 278,
294, 310, 326, 342, 358, 574, 390, 406.
Fruit body of the fungi, 283.
drying in California, 73.
exports from Trinidad, 396.
—, legislation relating to, 136.
fly, remedy for, 284.
inspection at Jamaica, 200.
new, 232.
packing and shipping of, 245.
production in Bahamas, 212.
300.
».
137.
5]
— show, Colonial in London, 4, 104, 382.
— trade, Sicilian in, 1908, 377.
— trees, best method of planting, 101,
= —, on grass land, 169.
Fumigation of plants in St. Lucia, 380,
Fungi, fruit body of the, 283.
—, growth of, 267.
— in Jamaica, excursion
of, 140.
Fungus, black, 299.
_— disease of funtumia tree, 185.
— diseases, dissemination of, 315.
red-headed, 299.
shield scale, 299.
—— spores, formation oF; 251.
—, uses of, 2 251.
white-headed, 299,
for collection
’
J
Fungus Notes :—
cottee disease of the New World, 395.
diseases of ground nuts, 347.
ground nuts, disease of, 315.
how fungicides should be employed,
379.
life-history of fungi, 251, 267, 283.
minute forms of life in the soil, 331.
parasitic fungi of scale insects, 299.
sugar-cane, diseases of, 315.
summary of recent information, 411.
G.
Gamboge tree at Dominica Botanic
Station, 124.
Garden Notes :
ferns, cultivation of, 279.
Geerligs, H. C. P., 383, 388.
German colonies, cotton-growing in, 12.
Germany, forestry in, 162.
Germination of Ceara rubber seeds, 281,
359.
— hard seeds, to hasten, 307.
— — seeds of Manicoba rubter,
300.
— test for corn, 255.
Ginger, exports from St. Lucia, 150.
: -— Sierra Leone, 56.
— on the London market, 31, 63, 95,
127, 159, 191, 223; 239, 287; 319,
351, 399.
---, preserved, from China, 121.
Goats (see Stock).
—, method of milking, 171.
Gold Coast, agricultural work at, 169.
—, cacao crop of, 188.
—, distribution of rubber and
cacao from, 169.
—, rubber export from, 396.
Gordon cacao drying machines, 73, 86.
Government Veterinary Surgeon, St.
Vincent, 366.
Grafting of rhizome-bearing plants, 313.
— wax, preparation of, 164.
Grain, destruction of insects in, 137,
Grape fruit, export from Bahamas, 212.
— in Bahamas, 233.
Grass land, culture of fruit trees on, 169.
— oils in Indo-China, 377.
—, pasture, an interesting, 184.
Great Britain, agricultural co-operation
in; 13:
—, molasses imports into, 28.
Green dressings and their application,
225, 241.
— manure and fibre plant, 331
— manuring, 296.
Grenada Agricultural and Commercial
Society, 220.
—, — Exhibition in, 396.
_, — progress at, in 1907-8, 86.
—, Berkshire boar in, 220.
—-, black blight at, 105.
— Botanic Station, distribution from,
334,
Grenada, Botanic Station, establishment
? ’
of Carludoviea jamaicensis at, 108.
—, plant suitable for creeper
at, 140.
a= sales of
—, receipts from
plants, ete., 1907-8, 108.
, cacao crop of, 1907-8, 92.
—, Gordon cacao drying machines at,
86.
, importation of insecticides and fungi-
cides, 124.
, inoculation of leguminous crops at,
151.
, manurial experiments with cacao in,
356.
, mealy bug on cacao trees at, 92.
, millions in, 364.
—, need for extended cultivation
provision and fodder crops at, 108.
, pipe calabash at, 21.
, prize holdings ccmpetitions in, 86,
173, 197, 220, 329.
, rainfall] in, 354.
—, rubber cultivation at, 86.
, science in primary schools, 328.
, teaching of hygiene, 329.
tobacco in, 236.
, twelve-week corn in, 300.
, use of resin oil for cuts on cacao
trees, 61.
, valuation of castor oil beans from,
118.
—, yam experiments at, 156.
Grenadines, St. Vincent, cotton in, 366.
Ground nut, 372.
cultivation in Burma, 124.
disease, Bordeaux mixture for,
of
347.
-- — export from Bombay, 409.
— —- oil, 373.
= = —— ny Indias 409)
— — pods, percentage of seed in,
245.
—— varieties, description of, 373.
— vine for hay, 373.
~— nuts and ground nut oil, value of
on French market, 137.
—, diseases of, 347, 411.
—, distances for planting, 372.
—, experiments in Dominica and
St. Kitts, 404.
5 — Montserrat, 58
5)
— St. Lucia, 268.
In-
-—— the West
?
dies, 206.
—, lime for, 404.
ripening of, 268.
seed selection for, 245, 372.
—, treatment for fungus disease,
?
404.
— —, uses of, 3735.
— —-, varieties and disease, 315,
347.
Growth of fungi, 267.
— palms, 183.
Guano, 103, 182.
Guatemala, manufacture of alcohol in,
344,
Guava and guava jelly, 300.
Guaxima fibre, 412.
Guayule rubber, manufacture of, 409.
Guiana, Dutch, export of bananas from,
99
Juiana Dutch, export of bananas from,
220.
Guinea, German New, rubber in, 3438.
Gums, production of from sugar, 307.
Gypsum, manurial value of, 360.
EL
Hall, A. D., elected Fellow of the Royal
Society, 124.
Hand-book of Barbados, 235.
Harris, T. J., fruit fly at Bermuda, 93.
Hawaii, castor oil plant cultivation in,
118.
, Ceara rubber in, 11.
—, cocoa-nuts in, 84, 244.
cotton experiments in, 121.
forest reserves in, 303.
, forestry in, 216.
introduction of predaceous enemies
of sugar-cane borers, 76.
manurial experiments with rice, 92.
, pine-apple canning factories in 108,
; ——= InLOLs
culture in, 100.
reclamation of land in, 220.
root disease of sugar-cane in, 297.
Sea Island Cotton in, 396.
sisal in, 284.
sugar exports
tates, 108.
, sugar industry, 195.
Hawaiian molasses, fermentation of, 355.
Hay industry, possible development of,
in West Indies, 151.
Hedges and hedge plants at Antigua,
158.
Hibiscus, use of for fence purposes, 153.
‘Hints to Cotton Growers’, 184.
| History of cowpea, 213.
Home-grown and imported food products,
129.
to United
s
25,
— seed, 147.
Honduras, British, Botanic Station, dis-
| tribution from, 382.
—, logwood industry of,
A ——, rubber in, 382.
Honey exports from Cuba, 28.
— production in England, 41.
Hoofs, brittle, remedy for, 364.
Horses, corn, and oats for, 302.
draught, cotton seed for, 294.
—-, when to water, 317.
House-fly, 218.
Hurricane insurance at Dominica, 12.
—— in West Indies, 15.
Hurricanes, 209.
—, rules for guidance in, 230.
Hybridizing of Indian cotton, 230.
| Hygiene, teaching of in Grenada, 329.
Hymenoptera, 234.
= 382.
’
?
‘Insect Pests (Continued.) : —
Imperial Department of Agriculture, |
work of, 2. |
Imperial Department of Tropical Agri-,
culture, suggested, 125. |
Imperial Institute, 321. |
— Malaria Conference, 377.
Implemental tillage in Egypt, 360.
—- St. Kitts, 205.
—, oil tractor for, 338:
Imports into Canada, 396.
— Jamaica, 316.
— of cattle, ete. into the British West |
Indies, 396.
Impurities in copper sulphate, 339.
India, area of cultivation in, 316.
British, sugar crop of, 211.
—, co-operative credit societies in, 268. |
—, cotton seed production in, 409.
—, experimental breeding of cotton in, |
376.
ground nut oil in, 409.
—, Northern, sugar-growing and mant-)
facture in, 243. |
—, oil seeds i in British, 409.
, pine-apples in, 260.
—, scale insects of, 332.
—, sesamum oil in, 409. |
—, wood pulp making in, 268.
work of Agricultural Department!
in, 79. |
Indian cotton, hybridizing of, 230. |
— cottons, types of branching, 376.
Indo- China, grass oils in, 377. |
Infection of plants by beetles, 309.
Injury by tapping rubber trees, 263. |
Inoculation of leguminous crops, 44.
Insects, nervous system of, 394. |
Insecticides, notes on artificial manures |
as, 74.
Insect parasites, apparatus for trapping, |
314.
Insect Pests :
anopheles mosquito, absence from
Barbados, 106.
Antigua, flower-bud maggot of cotton
at, 10, 14, 58, 334.
arsenate of lead as an insecticide, 76.
Bengal beans, use of, 154,
black blight at Grenada, 105.
brown tail moth, importation into
United States of parasite of, 113.
cane sucker, destruction of at Trini-
dad, 12.
caterpillars on cowpeas at Antigua, 44.
cotton boll weevil in United States,
PUSS Wee:
a -- —, increasing control of
by parasitic enemies in United
States, 140.
— stainers, 330.
—— worm, a parasite of the, 106.
—, enemies of, 74, 314.
eel worms on crops in the Leeward
Islands, 14.
—~ or nematodes, 138.
flower-bud dropping of cotton, insect
responsible for, 10, 14, 58, 334.
fowl tick, 118.
fruit fly at Bermuda, 92.
gipsy moth,
States of parasite of, 113.
Hessian fly in United States, 114.
house-fly, 218.
hymenoptera, 254.
insects and disease, 202.
— in stored grain, destruction of, 137.
larger moth borer, 218.
lice and mites on poultry, 26.
mealy bug at Grenada, 92.
mosquitos and millions, 9.
— sanitation, 270.
mosquitos at St. Vincent, 170.
natural history of insects, Part I, 346.
= = , PartIT, 362.
Part III,
Part Vi,
Part V, 410,
new species of cecidomyiidae, 250.
parasites of insects, 42.
parasitic fungi, 202.
scale insects and fungi, 186.
— at Dominica, 10.
— -—— Jamaica, 93.
—~, natural enemies of, 122.
-—— on lime trees, 154.
sugar-cane borers, discovery of preda- | =
ceous enemies of,
sweet potato weevil, 282.
Texas cattle tick in United States,
114.
thrips on cacao at Tobago, 44.
-—, spray mixture for, 120.
transportation of millions, 298.
visit of experts to Jamaica in con-
nexion with, 56.
warble flies, 170.
white ants in Malay States, 28.
— fly in United States, 114.
woolly aphis, treatment of
stock for, 156.
nursery
| Insects, beneficial, 42.
, destruction of weeds by, 344.
-, digestion in, 410.
, metamorphosis of, 362
-, references to articles on,
-, reproduction in, 410.
-, respiratory system of, 394.
Inspection of feeding stuffs in the U.S.,
252.
410.
International Congress of Applied Chem-
istry, 266.
— Exhibition at Buenos Aires, 380.
’
Inversion of sugars while keeping,
307.
Ipecacuanha, wild, 222, 261, 363, 415.
Trrigation, and cotton in Egypt, 262
— at Barbados, 185
— in Argentina, 412.
Italy, tobacco production in, 124.
. . . - |
importation into United
J.
Jack fruit, 7
| Jackson, J. R., ies iar Ce products in
London, 31, 63 12) USO) OWE
223, 239, i 9. 351, 339.
Jamaica, Agricultural Society, cotton ex-
periments recommended by, 28.
—, appointment of committee 7e cotton-
growing in, 76.
—, camphor experiments in, 328.
—, cane farming in Westmoreland, 156,
—, cane varieties in, 156.
—, central sugar factories at, 182.
—, coffee disease in, 292.
—, cotton cultivation in, 102, 233.
—, — _ growing experiments in, 332.
—, Department of Agriculture, 350.
—, erection of central factory, 44.
—, excursion for collection of fungi in
140.
, exports from, 188, 268, 510, 316.
—, fruit inspection at, 207.
imports of, 316.
irrigation on sugar
—, mangos in, 197.
—, manures for sugar-cane at, 40.
—, new companies in, 227.
, overhead transport in, 295.
, plant distribution in, 350.
—, preedial larceny at, 190.
—, preparation of vanilla essence at, 92.
, prize holdings competition at, 201.
, proposed farm school at, 171.
rubber planting in, 44.
rum, 343.
>
150,
estates in,
| —-, scale insects at, 93.
seedling canes in, 313.
— — pine-apples in, 350.
—, soils, useful bacteria in, 343.
steam cultivation at, 185.
, Sugar industry in, 28.
visit of scientists to, 56.
Japan, decline in camphor exports, 140.
rice crop of, 348.
sugar-cane crop of, 300.
261.
aa)
b]
’
Java, new coffee in,
—, cacao in, 116.
fibre congress and exhibition at,
412.
sugar crop of, 12.
—-, —- exports to the United States,
108.
— factory results in,
— industry, 275.
-——, — production in, 188, 268. _
Jemmett, Cea. , departure from Barba-
158,
?
’
371.
dos, 87.
Jequié Manicoba rubber, 277
Jones, G. A., 229.
—, return from leave of absence, 7.
—, Sir Alfred, 408.
Jute, possible substitute for, 255.
K.
Katanga, agriculture in, 2535
Kerry cows, 168.
Kirby, A. H.,
Kirton, C. R., 375, 403.
Kola nuts, exports from St. Lucia,
— on the London market, 31, 95,
159, 223, 239, 319, 351, 399
Kush-kush yam in Ceylon, 252.
299,
150.
iis
L.
Lalang, 312.
—, destruction of by spraying, 55.
Land development in Dominica, 247.
Lantana, 344.
Larger moth borer in British Guiana,
218
— — — -- Trinidad, 218.
Lead arsenate and leguminous plants,
382.
>
Leaf-blister mite of apples, 332
—, remedy for,
J.eaves, cacao, 200.
—, effect of Bordeaux mixture on, 286,
Lectures in country districts, 354.
Leeward Islands, agriculture and trade
in 1908, 123.
—, cotton in,
—, imports
332:
123.
of foodstuffs
= into,
129.
a —, report on sugar-cane experl-
ments, 200.
_— —, science in primary schools in,
339.
Jieguminous crops and soil inoculation in
England, +4.
_ —, experiments in inoculation,
62.
—, inoculation of, in the West
Indies, 145, 151.
— plant, a useful, 405.
—, new, 271.
-—— plants, observations on, 591.
Lemon grass, West Indian in Montserrat,
-, experimental
cultivation at Antigua, 41.
industry in Sicily, 180.
-— in United States,
oil in Sicily, 324.
—, manufacture of, 52+.
203.
ed States, 104.
Life belts, silk cotton for, 393,
Lignum vitae, a substitute for, 186.
Lima beans, poisonous character of, 85.
Lime and lime juice exports from Domini-
ca, 103.
crushing mulls, oil engine for,
cultivation in
228,
British Guiana, 95.
Montserrat, 382.
Nevis, 205.
- St. Kitts, 205.
cultivations, Aaah of Bengal beans
in, 154.
-— exports from British Guiana, 37.
— growing at Nevis, 164.
— Tortola, 152.
— honey from Dominica, 15,
production and consumption in Unit- |
Lime industry in Dominica, 414.
Virgin Islands, 164.
— juice, exports from Virgin Islands,
164.
—- from Dominica, reports on, 41.
— St. Aroment, Dominica,
76.
= — onthe London market, 51, 63,
Gorm, 159) NON, 2S Slo Sol, 399.
— -— tests, 319.
planting in Carriacou, 114.
Virgin Islands, 88.
seedlings in nurseries, 408.
sulphur wash, 511.
Lime and phosphates in soils, 313
-—, influence on plant food in the soil,
Che
jam disease of 1908, 411.
30 Dominica, on the English mar-
ie et, 28
—, method of packing recommended, 36.
West Indian, on New York market,
60.
Litchi, the, 116.
Live stock in West Indies, 17.
Local adjustment of cotton varieties, 374.
Locusts, extermination of, 236.
— ingkanama, 236:
Logwood industry of British Honduras,
382.
— seeds, planting of, 284.
for hedge purposes, 158.
Louisiana, seedling sugar canes in, 227.
—, storm in, 364, 387.
—-, sugar-cane seedlings, D. 74 and D.
C5) aijaky ey en
Love-in-a-mist, 312.
Lumber trade of the West Indies, 409.
M
Mace on the London market, 31, 63, 95,
127, 159, 191, 223, 239, 287, 319.
aoilera 99:
Machine, new fibre, 293.
Madagascar, raphia fibre and wax in, 8.
—, rubber industry in, 28.
Madeira, sugar production in, 316.
Madras, sunn-hemp in, 284.
Madura, as a support for vanilla, 380.
Mahogany trees, growth of, 364.
Maize, breeding experiment in the United
States, $2.
cultivation, 117.
—, diplodia disease of, 242.
—, experiments for improvement of, by
seed selection, 28.
—, exports from Southern Nigeria, 59.
— in Southern Nigeria, 197.
Malaria in the Suez Canal, 348.
league against in Italy, 564.
Malay States, banana fibre in, 12.
, coeoa-nuts in, 364.
Federated, rubber in,
millions for, 314.
—, sago palm in, 197,
349.
+ Ww hite ants in, 28.
| Manchuria, beet
Mango, budding of,
sugar industry in, 252
—, soy beans in, 185.
70.
cultivation in Florida,
60.
—, Mulgoba, 180.
—, normal and abnormal seedlings of,
228
—, Peters, 312.
— plants, grafted,
Botanic Station,
for sale at St. Lucia
124.
—-. Trinidad,
oat) =)
172.
, remarkable variety of, 140.
Sandersha, 252.
, shipping of, 245.
Mangos, chemical changes in ripening, 21.
— ihn Hiamaica, Oe
- United States,
Wiener at Dominica, 85.
Mangrove, economic importance of, 309.
8:
82.
Manicoba rubber seeds, germination of,
300.
Manufacture of alcohol from sawdust,
393.
— =— Cutch, 309.
— — Guayule rubber, 409.
— — lemon oil, 324.
— —— nitrate of lime, 525.
oa — nitrates from air, 361.
—- — oil of lemon in Sicily, 191.
Manure, new, 388.
Sesbania as a green, 331.
—, weed seeds in, 263,
Manurial experiments with cacao, 236.
— onions, 415.
pine-apples, 212.
— —- rubber trees, 376.
— value of gypsum, 360.
Manuring of cacao, 540.
—, relation to meat production, 361.
Marasmius, how SARE 297.
Market reports, 16, 32, 48, 64, 80, 96,
112, 128) 144s 160! 176, 192, 208,
224, 240, 256, 272, 288, 304, 320,
336, 352, 368, 384, 400, 416.
Martinique, experiment station in, and
distribution of economic plants from,
92.
Mauritius, Botanic Station in, 41.
—, preparation of fibres from traveller's
palm, 44.
—, sugar production in, 332.
Meal, steamed bone, 185.
Mechanical polisher for cacao, 244.
— tillage in British Guiana, 26.
— proposed for St. Vincent, 45.
Melons and other fruits in Egypt, 308.
Mendelism, 33, 49.
Mendel’s law and cotton, 230.
Mesopotamia, date cultivation in, 36.
Metamorphosis of insects, 362
Mexico, coffee disease in, 292.
—, — production in, 364.
-—, export of rubber from, 316.
increasing coffee cultivation i in, 12.
—, rubber export from, 316,
Millions and malaria, 106.
— mosquitos, 9.
Ov
’
—
Millions for the Malay States, 314.
— in Grenada, 464.
— — West Africa, 231.
—, transportation of, 29%.
923
Milk, adulterated in Trinidad, 23
organs of the cow, 541.
pastenrization of, 100.
sale at Trinidad, 190.
sterilization of, 316.
——, new method of, 108.
transmission of disease by, 109.
yield from cows, 105.
Minute forms of life in the soil, 331
Mistletoes of the West Indies, 545.
Mode] garden, British Guiana, 414.
Moisture in soil, influence on fertility,
151.
Molasses fed to stock, 12.
importation of, in St. Lucia, 108.
?
— imports into Great Britain, 28.
—, its formation and storage, 257.
—, manufacture of, 204.
—, yeasts in, 355.
Monkey-jack tree,
Montserrat, Agricultural and Commercial
Society, formation of, 156.
area of cotton planted in 1909, 332.
— Botanic Station, distribution, of
plants and seeds from, 172, 268, 382.
= = —, raising of seedling
sweet potatos at, 124.
—, cotton area in, 332.
_, — at, 120, 166.
-, — exports from, 125,
_, —- industry in, 382.
— — seed selection experiments,
?
105.
— selection in, 382.
—, destruction of old cotton plants at,
73.
—, experiments with varieties of cassava
at, 152, 382.
—, ground nut trials in, 382.
—, Increased growing of green dressings,
172.
—, lemon grass in, 382
—, lime cultivation in, 382
—, onion growing at, 124.
—, petition for removal of duty on ex-
ported cotton, 92.
—, rats in cotton fields, 124.
trials with eddos in, 382.
—, variety of Agave Karatto in, 412.
Montserrat’s gift to the Queen, 393.
Moore, J. C., 375.
Morris, Sir Daniel, ie
— ‘resolution re retirement |
of, by ‘attious Agricultural and Com-
mercial Society, 45.
’
—— St. Wancent Aoreulies al
Commercial Society, 1 ris
Mosquito exterminator, 236.
Mosquitos and sanitation, 270.
—, destruction of, 256.
- - —, in Surinam, 298.
fish and, 231,
new parasite on,
and
’
296.
|
Mosquitos, simple trap for, 249.
Moth borer, the larger, 218.
| Mulching cacao, effects of, 340.
Mulgoba mango and Trapp avocado, 180.
Mungoose in Trinidad, num-
bers of, 108.
Murrill, Dr. W. A., visit to Jamaica,
Muscovado sugar in Porto Rico, 249.
extensive
N.
Natal, sugar-cane cultivation in, 163
Natural History of Insects, 346, 362, 378,
| 394, 410.
‘Nature Teaching’, scheme for using,
413.
Naxyma fibre, 412.
| Nervous system of insects, 394.
Nevis, agricultural show at, 78.
bath springs at, 9, 150.
—, cacao in, 205, 350.
—, cotton industry in,
172, 205, 350.
—, — planting competition among
peasantry, 102.
--, economic experiments in, 350.
lime cultivation in, 164, 205.
onions in, 350.
soils of, 199.
supply of cotton seed, 172.
sugar crop returns, 1909, 172
—, vanilla in, 205.
New York, over-supply of fruit
Florida and Porto Rico, 60.
Newstead, Professor, lecture on ticks at)
Jamaica, 44.
Nicaragua, bananas in, 229,
Nicaraguan shade tree, 168.
Nigeria, Para rubber plants in, 335.
— Northern, shea butter nuts in, 172.
— Southern, agricultural products of,
57.
from
|
— maize in, 197.
Nineein 146,
Nitrate of lime, the manufacture of, 3
Nitrification and soil conditions, 345
' Nitrogen assimilation by leguminous
plants, 145.
Nitrogen in calcium cyanamide, 296.
Nitrobacterine, 146,
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, 168.
ene on the London market, 31, 63,
| 95, 127, 19:71:91, 3223, 1287.:319,.354;
399.
Nutrition of animals, 395.
O.
Ochro, cultivation for fibre, 380.
Oil engine for lime-crushing mills, 228.
Oil of lemon, manufacture of in Sicily,
191.
lime, on the London market, 31,
63, 95, 127, 191, 223, 399.
palm as a shade tree, 305,
West African, 221.
-—=, percentage of, in ground nut
245.
14, |
25.) Panama,
seeds, |
Oil seeds in British India, 409.
|— tractor for implemental tillage, 338.
| Onderneeming School Farm, British
Guiana, 414.
| Onion ealtigation at Nevis, 124, 350.
— St. Kitts, 350.
growing at Montserrat, 124.
—, experimental, at Antigua, 44.
— in Egypt, 140.
— production at Antigua in 1908-9, 69.
— in Virgin Islands, 88
-—, manurial experiments with, 415.
Orange crop of Cuba in 1908-9, 108.
— cultivation at Dominica, 148.
-— market in Great Britain, requive-
ments of, 133.
—-, new and superior kind, 4.
;— oil, West Indian, on the London
mi arket, 95, 127.
— thrips, 229,
Oranges, export from Bahamas, 212.
in the Bahamas, 233
—, method of packing, 36.
; budding, 148.
—, shipment of immature fruit, 20.
— suitable box for shipment,
149.
—, shipments to England from South
Africa, 108.
— — packages for packing,
Orchids, West Indian, 153.
Ornamental flowering plants in Domi-
| nica, 405.
165.
P.
| Packing and shipping of fruits, 245.
Palm oil and kernels, shipments fronr
Southern Nigeria, 59.
—, exports from St. Lucia,
Palms, growth of, 183.
grants for agricultural encour-
agement in, 89.
—, locusts in, 236.
Papain from Ceylon,
| Papaw, change of sex of trees, 131,
flower and fruit, structure of, 107.
'__. shipping of, 245.
| Paper-making in Ceylon, 231.
—- the Philippines, 231.
— industries, 231.
— manufacture from wood products, 216.
Para rubber, 414.
— in the Federated Malay States,
349.
150.
valuation of, 140.
297
oa
plants in Nigeria, 335.
- seeds, proposed use for, 47.
trees, abnormalities in, 248.
good growth of, 79
348.
296.
’
| Parameria, rubber from,
| Parasite, on mosquitos,
| Parasitic fungi, 202.
= of scale’ insects
Paris green and leguminous plants, 382.
Pasture grass, at St. Lucia, 154.
Peas and beans as articles. of diet,
299,
y ae
}
130
Pen manure, 94.
—, fermentation of, 47.
—, methods of preservation and
value of, 69.
Peppermint oil in North Formosa, 412.
Percentage of oil in ground nut seeds,
245.
—— seed in ground nut pods, 245,
Perini fibre plant, 235, 375.
Persea, 405.
Peruvian guano, 182.
Peters mango, 312, 350.
Philippines, cassava in,
eutch in, 309.
paper-making in,
school gardens in, 265.
sponge fisheries in, 239.
, suggested field staff for, 233.
Phosphate, production of, 412.
Phosphates effect on composition of seeds,
332.
Phosphorus in the nutrition of animals,
395.
Piassava fibre, 235.
Pigeon pea as green dressing crop at
Antigua, 43.
— peas, 127.
Pimento on the London pee 31, 63,
95, 127, 159, 191,223, 239, 287, 319,
351, 399.
Pine-apple, in Florida, 524.
—, factories in the
Islands, 101, 108.
— culture in Hawaiian Islands,
— exports from Bahamas, 44.
— fibre, 260.
— cleaning of, 293.
—, shipping of the, 245.
220, 316.
231.
Hawaiian
100.
—, soil requirements of, 324.
Pine-apples in Bahamas, 233.
— India, 260.
-—, manurial experiments with, 212.
Pink Disease of cacao, 260.
Pipe calabash at Grenada, 21.
Pitch pine, imports in West Indies,
409.
Plant collections, value of, 269.
Plant Diseases :
citrus fruits, gum disease in California,
172
cocoa-nut trees, bud rot in Cuba, 140.
evergreens, disease at Barbados, 62.
parasitic disease in plants, treatment
ofs Nate
possible introduction through import-
ed sugar-canes, 91.
rind fungus on sugar-cane, 83.
witch broom disease of cacao, 142.
Plant distribution in Jamaica, 350.
Plantain, uses for, 279.
Planting material, exchange of, 302.
Plants, how infected by bacteria, 309.
—, phosphates for, 352.
Ploughs, dise and mould-board, 201.
Polyembryony in orange and mango,
187.
Pomegranate, use of for hedge purposes,
158,
Porto Rico fruit on New York market, 60.
—, muscovado sugar in, 249.
—, poultry keeping in, i21.
—, shipmentof immature oranges from,
20.
—, sugar exports to United States, 108.
—, sugar industry in, 154.
| Poultry, a tonic for,
, cause of death in fowls, 335.
, cholera in fowls, 118.
—, egg-laying competition, 30, 153
—, gapes in young chickens, 78.
, hen breedingand egg production, 153.
a Porto Rico, 121.
— keepers, hint to, 136.
— lice and mites on, 126.
Powell wood process, 249, 408.
Practical agriculture, reading courses and
examinations in, 385.
Preedial larceny at Jamaica, 190.
— in St. Vincent, 204.
| Pre-cooling, 229.
Preserves, waste fruit for, 212.
Prickly pear as a forage crop, 31.
Prize-holdings competitions at Dominica,
414,
: Grenada, 8&6,
lifid, 197, 220; 329:
Jamaica, 201.
scheme for small cultivators
at Dominica, 167.
Propagation of eucalypti, 345.
Protection of seed corn, 194.
Provision crops grown in West Indies,
130,
Publications of the Imperial Depart-
ment of Agriculture, 88, 401.
| Pumpkins in Egypt, 308.
Q.
Queen of flowers, 120.
Queen’s College, British Guiana, 414.
Queensland, arrowroot production in,119.
—, cocoa-nut cultivation in, 196.
—, fruit industry of, 133.
—, invention of cane-reaping machine in,
83.
—, method of budding mango in,
, Tice cultivation in, 220.
—, seedling canes in, 316.
, Sugar-cane seedlings in, 204.
—, sugar crop of, 300.
sugar industry in, 44.
R.
70.
Raiffeisen system of agricultural banks,
13.
Rainfall in Dominica, 131, 233.
— Grenada, 354.
— Tortola, 366.
—, influence of woodlands on, 24,
Rambong, 349, 414.
Raphia fibre and wax, exports from Mada-
gascar, 8.
| Reading courses and examinations, 22
—
Rats, destruction by carbon bisulphide,
313.
I,
385.
Reafforestation in the West Indies,
— proposals, 72.
162.
| Reaper, inventor of, 399.
Reclamation of land in Hawaii, 22.
Red spider in Florida, 316.
Remanso Manicoba rubber, 359.
Report on Sugar-cane Experiments in
British Guiana, 295.
Leeward Islands, 200.
Research defence society, 124.
Resin oil, use for cuts on cacao trees, 61
Residual rubber in tapped trees, 327.
Respiratory system of insects, 394.
Revenue of British Honduras, 548.
— Uganda, 252.
Rhizome-bearing plants,
Rhodesia, cotton in, 328. “=>
—, timber destruction i in, 252.
—, velvet bean crop of, 72
tice crop of Japan, 348.
--, manurial experiments with, in
Hawaiian Islands, 92.
—, purchase of land for,
Guiana, i2.
production in Eucador, 175.
— Queensland, 220.
~~ Trinidad, 73.
—- exports from St. Lucia, 150.
—- in British Guiana, 30, 37, 45, 60, 77,
95, 99, 126, 130, 139, 156, 172, 175,
187, 201, 223, 238, 271, 303, 319,
335, 367, 383, 399, 407.
— — Honduras, 24.
-—, increasing use as stock food, 140.
— industry in British Guiana, 12.
— mills in British Guiana, increase of,
12.
Ripening of cacao, time of, 263.
-— ground nuts, 268.
Rosella (roselle), 388.
Rubber, method for coagulating, 393.
—, Assam, method of tapping, 27.
—, Castilloa, time for planting in West
Indies, 143.
—, Central American, 414.
—, coagulation by leaf infusions, 169,
— cultivation at Grenada, 86.
— in British Guiana, 181.
from Mexico, 316.
Sierra Leone, 396,
the Gold Coast, 396.
British Guiana, 156.
Southern Nigeria, 59.
St. Lucia, 150.
Tobago, 77.
Coast, preparation
grafting for, 313
in British
— capo
ae from
169.
Gold of,
— Parameria, 348.
— in British Honduras,
— — Ceylon, 153.
— — Dominica, 414.
— — Federated Malay States, 349.
_—. — German New Guinea, 348,
382.
Rubber in Nigeria, 335.
— industry in Madagascar,
—— Trinidad, 92.
Para, 414.
— pest in Ceylon, new, 348
— planting in Trinidad, returns from,
76.
>
28.
— plants, distribution from Gold Coast, |
169.
-—, Para, on sale in British Guiana,
8.
prices of, in 1908, 76.
— production in Eeuador, 175.
—, residual in tapped trees, 327.
, root variety of (Ecanda), 89.
seeds, Para, proposed use for, 47.
tapping method, 212.
trees (Hevea), data re yield of, 145.
—, injury by tapping, 263,
manurial experiments with,
9
4
by
376.
-- —, Para, abnormalities in, 248
--- —, —, good growth of, 79.
—_— —, -—, methods of tapping.
107.
— planting of, in Jamaica,
44.
—, the Tonkin, 577.
-—, times for tapping, 361.
—, world’s production of, 268
Rum exports from British Guiana, 28.
—, Jamaica, 343.
— manufacture at Barbados, 217.
— in British Guiana, 30.
Russia, area of cotton in, 284.
8.
Sago palm, 197.
St. Croix, sugar manufacture in, 355.
—, suggested close time for cotton, 60.
St. Kitts, agricultural show in, 94, 396.
best yielding varieties of sweet pota-
tos, 89.
Botanic Station, distribution, 350.
—, cotton industry in, 350.
—, economic experiments in, 350.
—, experiments with varieties of cassava
at, 152.
—, good varieties of yams at, 105.
—, grammar school, 550,
—, suecess of pupils in Cambridge Local
Examinations, 156
—, implemental tillage in, 205,
lime cultivation in, 205,
— manurial experiments with sugar-
cane in 1907-8, 99.
—, onions in, 350.
—, sugar-cane experiments in, 350,
seedlings at, 67.
vanilla in, 205. :
newer varieties of sugar-cane in, 350.
’ Kitts. Nevis, sugar and cotton in, 123,
— oti agr icultural instruction at, 183.
— — school, animals on ser-
vice at, 44.
, extension of
area under cultivation, 8.
St. Lucia agricultural
ships at, 44.
school,
de-
, Situations
sired by pupils leaving, 110.
— teaching in, 265.
— Botanic Station, grafted man-
go plants for sale at, 124.
, Castilloa rubber from, 277.
, cotton production in, 124.
—, experiments in yam
, fumigation of plants in, 380.
, ground nuts in, 268.
, Importation of mongoose into,
10s.
, ratooning
canes, 140.
—, science in elementary schools,
period tor sugar-
—, seedling canes in, 264.
—, sugar in, 264.
St. Vincent Agricultural and Commer-
cial Society, resolution re retirement
of Sir Daniel Morris, 45.
—, agricultural bank at, 89, 104.
= —-, — school, 366.
— —, arrowroot export from, 366,
412
oe — --, tax on export of, 597.
-- | Ayrshire bull ‘ Duke of Truro’
for zale: at, 12:
—, Botanic Station, distribution,
aya
3C6.
—, Buco hand cultivators at,
, cacao in, 566.
—, cotton at, 68.
—; — export from,
—, destruction of old
plants at, 166.
—, ginning and selection of cot-
ton in, 342.
labour shortage at, 45.
366,
adoption of, 45.
—, mosquitos at, 170.
preedial larceny in, 204.
Carib country, 76.
IL’ on sale at, 28
Salts, absorption of, by soils, 265.
— in soils, 329.
Samoa, exports of cacao from, 412.
—, _—- -— copra from, 412.
Sandersha mango, 252.
Sansevieria, 189.
- fibre, cleaning of, 293.
— in Santo Domingo, 348.
San Thomé, export of cacao from, 297,
—, labour conditions in, 124.
Sapium in Dominica, 414.
—— sebiferum at Dominica, 156.
—- economic value of, 107.
~ n 5 5 ° ° |
Sapodillas, chemical changes in ripening,
21.
Sarsaparilla on the London market, 31,
63, 95, 127, 159, 191,223, 239, 287,
319, 351, : 399.
culture !
scholar-| Scale insects and fungi,
186.
—, diseases of, 1908,
of India, 332.
—-, spraying for, 233.
411,
| School gardening, objects of, 286.
| — gardens in the Philippines, 265.
if
|
—-, mechanical tillage, proposed |
— —, uses of, 265.
Science in elementary schools, St. Lucia,
415.
= Grenada, 328.
in eee
Islands, 339.
| Science, workers in, and the practical
farmer, 359.
Scott, Professor, John, 580.
Seed corn, protection of, 194.
Seedling canes, acclimatization
297
227.
of,
, effect of the soil on, 249,
Barbados, the first in, 266.
in British Guiana, 293.
Jamaica, 313.
Louisiana, 22h
Queensland, 316.
St. Lucia, 264.
Tortola, 366.
Trinidad, 204.
, Variation in, 249.
— pine-apples in Jamaica, 350.
| Selection and breeding, aid in, 377.
-— for improvement of coffee, 392.
— index numbers, 377.
— of cattle for milking capacity, 250.
—— — cotton varieties for uniformity,
374.
|-— — disease-resisting plants, 249.
— — ground nut seed, 245, 372
cotton iSeneranin oil in India, 409.
'Sesbania asa green manure, 271, 331.
| Seychelles, vanilla exports from, 364.
| Shaftal, 329.
| Shea butter nuts from Southern N
60.
Nigeria,
Shipping of avocado pears, 245.
—, revival of cane planting in| —
— — the banana, 245.
mango, 245.
— papaw, 245,
— pineapple, 145.
—, thoroughbred stallion ‘ Beau (= rings, 264.
380.
remedy
Shot-hole borer in Ceylon,
— —, suggested for,
380.
Sicilian green fruit trade in 1908, 377.
Sicily, citrate of lime exports, 140.
lemon industry in, 180.
-, — oilin, 324.
Sierra Leone, agricultural exports from,
150.
— —, agriculture in, 150.
— butter tree of, 345,
—, rubber export from, 396.
Silk cotton, a use for, 395.
— treein Java, 279.
—, use of wood
— — as timber
130.
Silver fish, 367.
Simple trap for mosquitos, 249.
Sisal export from Bahamas, 412.
429
Sisal hemp, cultivation in British Guiana,
140.
—- in Egypt, 548.
— industry in the
233
108,
Bahamas,
for, 95.
— in Elawan, 284.
Soil inoculation, 145, 151,
, Movement of water in, 43.
— requirements of the pine-apple, 324. |
— survey work in the United States, 21.
temperature, influence of forests on, |
175.
The, by A. D. Hall, 60.
value of mulching, 76.
Soils, absorption of salts by, 265.
—, action of heat and antiseptics on,
281.
catalase of,
colour of, 216,
for cacao, 292.
lime and phosphates in,
of Nevis, 199.
218.
297.
313.
in the West Indies’, 177.
—, water held by different kinds of,
165.
Sorrel, red, 388.
Sourabaya, exhibition at, 158, 412.
South, F. W., appointment as Mycologist,
11%.
South Africa, shipments of oranges from,
108.
— America, coffee disease in,
Sow, points of, 291.
Soy bean, 222.
— analysis of, 391.
as green dressing crop 43.
in Africa, 220.
— Manchuria, 185.
— United States, 82.
Spathodea campanulata, seeding of, 355. |
Spices of the tropics, 363.
Spider, red, in Florida, 316.
—, remedies for, 316.
Sponge export from Bahamas, 412.
— fisheries in the Philippines, 239.
Spraying, Bordeaux mixture for, 286,
— for scale insects, 253.
Stables, floors for, 564.
Starch manufacture from sweet potatos,
73.
Steam cultivation at Jamaica, 1&5.
Steamed bone meal, 185.
Stock and scion, interaction of, 313.
— at Barbados Industrial Exhibition, 7.
; cocoa-nut meal as food for, 44.
, cotton seed for, 29+.
— mealas food for, 44.
-, sane from Tobago, 77.
: — - Sinan 114.
at St. Kitts agricultural show,
-, molasses as a food for, 12.
—, protection of, from flies, 171.
, raising of in Tobago, 111.
, remedy for sore eyes, 268.
IO2
ado.
94,
— production in the Bahamas, 61. |
— in British Guiana, project |
treatment of in ‘ Orchard Cultivation |
]
Stock, rice as food for, 140. |
—, wiid ipecacuanha and, 222, 261, 363, |
415.
Stockdale, F. A., appointed deputy Chair- |
man, board of Agriculture, British
Guiana, 92.
= = —, departure for British
Guiana 39.
Strophanthus for coagulating rubber,
393
potudents Conner, 45, (61, 77, 90}
109, 125, 141, 157, 173, 189, 205, |
221), Fee 2 269, ee 301, 317,
333, 349, 365, 381, 397, 413.
~- eines. in Hetin: BT.
Sugar beet crop of the U.S., 268.
— effects of moisture on stored, 301
— in Porto Rico, 249.
— — 8t. Lucia, 264.
scums, extraction of wax from,
Sugar-cane, sucrose content of
| broken cane, 387.
— Uba variety of, 163.
-, underground stem of, 329 |
— varieties in British Cine. |
360.
storm-
|
195.
; St. Kitts, #50.
= —, water needed for develop-
ment of, 211.
— -—, weevil borer of, 393.
|= —— — in Natal, 163.
\— —, decay of the Bourbon variety, |
| 2835
= —- experiments at Antigua, 323.)
== — = — Barbados, 19.
— — — British Gui-|
ana, 293.
= = — — St. Kitts, 350. |
= = — in the Leew var |
| Islands, 1907-8, 99.
see —, farmer grown, in Trinidad,
92%
i= —, — —- — prices
of, 35, 276.
— —, frog hopper of, 204.
—— harvester, a new, 85.
— importation and possible in-
troduction of plant diseases, 91.
--, in British Guiana, 91.
—, inoculation experiments with,
in West Indies, 151.
—, manures for, at Barbados, 19. |
= ; — Jamaica, 40) |
-— planting in Carib country, St.
Vincent, 76. |
, ratoons, cultivation of, 115.
—, root disease in Hawaii, 297.
— seedlings at Antigua and St. |
Ritts! 67.
Sugar-cane seedlings, the first at Barba-
21, 227.
—— in Natal, 163.
—— Queensland, 204.
Louisiana, 1
Sugar Industry :—
Antigna Sugar Factory,
at Barbados, 35.
51.
Sundershah mango,
Sunn-hemp in Madras, 284.
Sugar Industry (Continued.):—
Bourbon cane, 211.
cane crop at Barbados, 1908, 124.
— farming in Trinidad, price of canes,
By (Ao),
central factories in Antigua, 123.
= at pene 44, 182.
cultivation of ratoon canes, 115.
imports into United States, 108.
in Hawaiian Islands, i95.
— Jamaica, 28.
— Porto Rico, 154.
— Queensland, +4.
International Congress of Applied
Chemistry, 266.
new sugar companies in Jamaica,
227.
of Formosa, 412.
sugar and molasses exports from Bar-
bados 92, 108, 156.
- — price of,
at Barl yaclos,
1909,
92
|— crop of British India, 211.
— Cuba, 60.
— Japan, 300.
— Madeira, 316.
Queensland, 300.
—, machinery for British Guiana,
6
— returns in Java, 12, 275.
- Nevis, 1909, 172
estates at Barbados, iunproved
2 mechinery for, 35.
— in Mauritius, 332.
-—— exports from Barbados, 252, 284.
=, — British Guiana, 28, 37,
108.
— a = Tobago, 77
=, = —= Seinidad 153,
— factory results in Java, 371.
— growing and manufacture in North-
ern India, 243.
—, inversion of, while keeping, 307.
— manufacture in St. Croix, 355.
— production in Cuba, 83, 316.
Ecuador, 175.
India, 280.
Java, 268.
Madeira, 316.
Mauritius, 332.
-— factories for beet, decreased number
in France, 76.
—— in Cuba, 220:
-— factory ash as a manure, 388.
—- from Antigua, report on, from Liver-
pool, 22.
I import into the United Kingdom,
332.
— in Burma, 380.
— — Cuba, 179.
dos, 266, Sugars, production of gums from,
— —— == Dy ii4-pandeDs 955m a SOM:
| Sulphate of ammonia, world’s production
of, 76.
Summary of recent information about
fungi, 411.
232.
430
Superphosphate, and lime in the
215.
—, qualities and uses of, 135,
Surinam, destruction of mosquitos in,
298.
Sweet lime, for hedge purposes, 15%.
—- potato, seedlings at Montserrat, 124.
—, starch manufacture from, 73.
potatos, good varieties at Antigua
and St. Kitts, 89.
—, low price in Barbados,
soil,
108.
a.
Talipot palm, 72.
— at Dominica, 39.
Tallow tree, Chinese, 107, 156, 300.
Tamarinds, chemical changes in ripening,
21.
on London market,
287, 351.
Tea in Ceylon, 153.
Tempany, H. A., provisional ap pointment | —
in the Leeward Islands, 403.
Acting Gov-
ernment Chemist and iecpenutendent|
of Agriculture for the Leeward Islands, |
61.
Teonon, 377.
Tephrosia, for keeping down weeds, 405.
Tetanus, or lockjaw, 119.
Thrips, orange, 229.
—, remedies for, 281.
Tillage, implemental in Egypt, 360.
Timber destruction in Rhodesia, 252.
preservation of, 249, 408.
— production in the United Kingdom,
161.
—, relation of sawing, and use of, to
rots, 357.
— trees, increased planting of suggested,
12.
Tobacco cultivation in Cuba, 141.
— culture in South Africa, 217.
—, export from Jamaica, 268.
2 — — Tobago, 77.
growing in British Guiana, 25,
— -in Grenada, 236.
— production in Italy, 124.
Tobago, agriculture, and live stock from,
77.
—, export of live animals from, 111.
—, thrips on cacao at, 44.
127, 159,
239,
Toggenburg goat ‘ Bruce,’ 87.
goats in West Indies, 155,
Tomato export from the Bahamas, 316.
Tomatos, exports of, 516.
Tortola, Botanic Station, ete.,
—, cotton production in, 366.
—, rainfall in, 366.
, seedling canes in, 566.
Trade of Barbados, 348.
— Canada with Barbados,
Transvaal, cotton growing in, 134.
Travellers’ palm, preparation of
from, 44.
332,
366.
fibres
| Tree-growing experiment, 247.
Tree-planting at Antigua, 174.
Trinidad, coffee disease in, 292.
|-— and the Colonial Fruit Show, 404.
—, ankylostomiasis in, 284. i
, Amal Report of Collector of Cus-}
toms, 332.
—, exports from, 1907-8, 44.
forestry in, 245.
fruit exports from, 396.
—, grafted mango plants for sale at, 172.
—, grants of Crown lands in 1907-8,
156.
—, imports of cattle, ete. into, 396.
—, increased planting of timber trees
—, increasing exports of sugar and ca-
cao to Canada, 156.
larger moth borer in, 218.
—, milk adulteration in, 23.
—, mungoose in, 108.
-, Naparima Union,
92.
= cacao planting in,
— — —, production of farmer-
grown canes, 92.
price of farmer-grown canes in, 3)
46.
—, returns from rubber planting in, 76.
—, report of Forest Officer, 172
—, rice cultivation in, 73.
—, rubber in, 92.
—, sale of fertilizers in, 220.
» — — feeding stuffs in,
— milk at, 190.
— Sav annah Grande agricultural show,
12.
| —, seedling canes in, 204.
—, suggested establishment of agricul-
tural bank at, 15.
—, — free importation of agricul-
tural materials, 156.
—, trade of, 153.
—, work of Usine
He ee
Tropical Agriculture, proposed Imperial |
Department of, 125.
fruit, chemical changes
of, 20.
|— products on the Hamburg market,
190.
‘Tropical Life’ prize essay, 204,
239.
,
220.
St.
Madeleine, |
in
ripening |
220,
| —, cotton growing in
—, appointment of agricultural inspec-
tors, 44.
a —= —— instructor at, 76, 156.
=, = — Mr. J. B. Carruthers,
at, 60.
—, Board of Agriculture, F. W. Urich
appointed Entomologist, 44.
—, cacao exports from, 92, 178, 236,
300, 332, 396.
—-, —— spraying experiments at, 183.
—-, cane sucker, 218.
—, — — destruction of, 12.
—, cattle breeding in, 137.
Crown lands allotted in, 28.
East Indian immigrants in, 62.
' United
suggested, 12.
| Tropies, spices of the, 365.
Tuberculosis, transmission of by milk,
109.
Typhoid fever, transmission of by milk,
109.
Uganda, agricultural instructor for, 22.
BY)
, 22:
—, exports from, 300.
—, revenue of, 252.
Underground stem of the sugar-cane, 329.
United Kingdom, cotton imports into,
252, 316, 380,
—, import of sugar into, 332.
—, timber production in, 161.
States, agricultural education
in, 235.
broom corn market, 381.
—, cotton boll weevil and its
parasitic enemies in, 140.
— in, 172
;
= —, ~— crop of the, 300.
== -——-, — seed in, 294.
= —, — grown in the, 406.
= —, — industry of, 252.
Department of Agriculture,
81, 97.
Bureau of Bio-
logical al Survey, ae
3 Chem-
istry, 98.
mology, 113.
—, — Ento-
97.
— —, decreased imports from Bar-
bados, 28.
—-, demonstration farms in, 119.
—, experiments
in soil inoculation, 146.
Egyptian cotton
in, 310,
326, 406.
_ forest area of, 380.
— forestry in, 162.
= —, imports of cane-sugar into,
108.
— —, leguminous plants in, 329
lemon industry in, 203.
, — production and consump-
tion in, 104.
—, new plants in, 329.
—, number and value of horses
and mules in, 111.
--, Sea Island cotton in, 262,
406.
United States, soil survey work in, 21.
—, sugar imports from British
Guiana, 108.
- —, Upland cotton in, 406.
—, weather forecasts, 267
Urich, F. W., appointment as Entomolo-
gist in Trinidad, 44.
Vanilla, exports from the Seychelles, 364.
in Nevis, 205.
— St. Kitts, 205.
—. preparation of essence
92.
support for, 380.
Variation in seedling canes, 249.
Varieties of cacao, 260.
of ground nuts and disease, 347.
Variety of Agave Karatto in Montserrat,
412.
Vegetable ivory nuts, exports from Cali-
fornia, 172.
marrows in Egypt, 308
Velvet bean crop, 72
Vera Cruz, Mexico, fruit cultivation in,
at Jamaica,
60.
Virgin Islands, cassava experiments in,
172
— —, coffee production in, 92.
-— —, cotton crop in, 12.
a —, — in, 38.
— —, — exports from the, 123,
230.
-- —, — growing in, 166.
— —, distribution of cotton seed,
300.
— —, lime industry in, 164.
ae —, minor agricultural crops in
88
W.
Washes for cacao thrips, 281.
Water hyacinth in Ceylon, 252.
in soil, movement of, by capillary
forces, 43.
— retention by soils, 165.
—, sterilization of, by caleium hypo-
chlorite, 39.
watts, Dr. Francis,
at St. Lucia, 139.
cs —, and the British Cotton
Growing Association, 390.
missioner of Agriculture, 7.
|
Watts, Dr.
address to teachers. -
|
_—, appointment as C om- |
Francis, work in the Leeward
Islands,
— — —, return from England,
347.
(= — -, from Grenada, 71.
— —- —, to Barbados from |
Antigua. 139.
= == = visit to
and Antigua, 106.
— England on
duty leave, 229.
197, 213.
Weather forecasts
267.
Weathering, rate of, 265.
Weed destruction, spraying for,
seeds in manure, 263.
Weevil borer of sugar-cane, 593,
West Africa, millions in, 231.
—, oil palm in, 221, 303.
African rams, 25
=0.
in the United States,
55.
-— Indian agricultural conferences,
3}
— — Bulletin, 136, 201.
— ~— cotton-growing, 390.
== — — on Liverpool market 6,
22, 38, 68, 86, 102, 118, 134, 150,
166, 182, 198, 214, 230, 246, 2632, | -
278, 294, 310, 326, 342, 358, 374,
390, 406.
- — exhibits in Canada, 361
= — fruit at Colonial Fruit Show, |
4, |
lemon grass, experimental
cultivation at Antigua, 41.
— limes at New York Market,
60.
orchards, 153.
— products on the London |
"Market, SL G33) 955 U2 LOOF LON:
223, 239, 287, 351, 399.
re- atorestationt 162.
of, 122
; — Grenada, 61,
375.
= — —, = — Sta eliucia,
87, 181.
Es —, -—- — St. Vincent, |
scale insects, natural enemies
|
a
Dominica
}
' Wolstenholme, C.
West Indies, cotton exports from, 294,
342, 358.
exports of citrus fruits from,
148.
export of wood from, 409.
hurricane insurance in, 15.
- lumber trade of, 409.
, mistletoes of, 345.
possible dey elopment of hay
inductes in, 131.
Wheat-breeding at Cambridge, 50.
White mustard as green dressing crop
at Antigua, 45.
| White pine, imports in West Indies, 409.
Whitewash, recipe for making, 75.
— and stock, 222, 261, 363, 415.
Wilt of cucumbers, 309.
Woburn fruit farm, tree planting ex-
periments at, 101.
M., 6, 22, 38, 54, 68,
86, 102, 118, 134, 150, 166, 182, 198,
214, 230, 246, 262, 278, 294,” 310,
326, 342, 358,.374, 390, 406.
Workers in science and the practical
farmer, 359.
World’s cotton supply, 558.
Worms in fowls, remedy for 284.
Wood, export from West Indies, 409.
Wood products, paper manufacture from
216.
Wood pulp making in Heke 268.
Woodlands and rainfall,
and water- aie 149.
Woolly pyrol, inoculation experiments
at Antigua, Di:
Ye
Yam experiments at Grenada, 156.
— vines, supports for, 105.
| Yams, good varieties of, 105.
Yeasts in molasses, 355,
Zanzibar, Ceara rubber trees in, 500,
—, cotton in, 364.
—, exports of cloves from, 412,
—, yield of sugar-cane in, 252.
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