76 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Februaey 27, 1904. 



GLEANINGS. 



Good West Indian kola nuts sold recently for 5hd. per lb. 



At a meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, 

 the Cliairman (Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.il.G.) stated that the 

 exports of West African cacao in ltS93 were =£9,000, and 

 in 1902, £94,000 in value. 



The following report and valuation on a small sample of 

 cotton sent from Hannay's plantation, Barbados, has been 

 recently received : — ' Bright, clear, good, silky .staple. 

 Value per lb. on spot, \3d. to 13A(/.' 



It is announced that the Trinidad Agricultural Society 

 Las made suitable arrangements for the permanent exhibition 

 of commercial sam})les of the jiroducts of Trinidad in the 

 Board of Trade Building, ilontreal. 



The Superintendent of the Botanic Station, British 

 Honduras, gave two lectures with practical demonstrations to 

 elementary school teachers on Tuesday and Wednesday, 

 January 5 and 6, at the Botanic Station. (The Clarion, 

 January U, 1904.) 



We learn from the St. Vincent Governiiient Gazette of 

 January 21 that it is proposed to charter a vessel to ply 

 between St. Vincent and Grenada every Friday, arriving at 

 Grenada in time for Saturday morning's market. It is 

 hoped tliat in this way a market will be found for St. Vincent 

 fruit and vegetables. 



According to ludinn Planting and Gardenimi of 

 January 9, careful experiments have been conducted in the 

 Government Laboratory at ]\Iuktesar, which show that 

 quinine is absolutely useless in cases of rinderpe.st. Inocu- 

 lation treatment for this disease is, on the other hand, 

 growing in poiiularity. 



The total value of the produce shipped from Tobago to 

 Port-of -Spain during the year 1902-3 is given as nearly 

 £30,000. The shipments include 1,086 cattle, 1,823 goats, 

 2,203 pigs, 3,260 dozen of eggs, 2,0.30 dozen of fowls, 16,600 

 gallons of cocoa-nut oil, 2,000 bags of cacao, 226 tons of 

 sugar, and over 500 tons of vegetables. {Our We^itern 

 Empire, January 15, 1904.) 



In view of the .spread of the cotton mite at Montserrat, 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture is advising the 

 planters that at the close of the i)resent season all the old 

 cotton jilants should be destroyed (if possible by fire) and 

 not a single one left to carry over the disease to the next 

 season. Also that, as far as possible, the planting for the 

 next season be established on fresh land and with selected 

 seed obtained outside the island and carefidly disinfected 

 beforehand. 



It is announced that arrangements have been made 

 through the Trinidad Agricultural Society for the importation 

 of Gros ^Michel banana .suckers in regular shiimients by each 

 lioyal Mail steamer. These will be sui)plied in retail lots at 

 cost i>rice subject to a commission of 5 per cent. It is 

 estimated that the cost landed on wharf will be 15s. per 

 hundred. 



The PharmnceuticalJouriial of January 30, 1904, states: 

 ' A Congo plant, known as Iboga, has been examined by 

 Landrin and Dybowsky. It is stated to possess properties 

 similar to those of coca and kola. It is a woody plant of 

 low growth, with a large root. The natives use all parts of 

 the plant, but jaefer the root, as being more active. Its 

 physiological properties are due to an alkaloid named 

 ibogaine.' 



The Farmer and Stoelc-hreeder of February 1 contains 

 notes l)y the Veterinarian of the Oklalmma Experiment 

 Station on the treatment of mange in cattle. A cheap and 

 effective remedy can be prepared from tobacco and suliihur 

 as follows : ' Place 1 lb. of tobacco leaves or plug in 1 gallon 

 of water and allow to stand for twenty-four liours ; boil and 

 allow to stand over night. INIix 1 lb. of sulphur in a gallon 

 of water ; remove tobacco leaves from the infusion, and mix 

 this with the sulphur water, adding 4 gallons of water.' 



A Colonial Products Exhibition was ojiened at Liverpool 

 on December 29 b}' the Duke of JIarlborough. The 

 exhibition owes its initiation to Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G. 

 Among the stalls, which attracted a considerable share of 

 attention, may be mentioned Mr. Thomas Dowd's West 

 Indian Exhibit, containing a fine selection of Jamaica fruit.s, 

 and the display of banana products (' Bananine ' bread and 

 flour) by ^fr. Wm. Alfred Jones, of the Jamaica Produce 

 Compan}-. 



The Jamaica Times of February 6 announces the follow- 

 ing results in connexion with the recent teachers' agricultural 

 course : — 



' Mr. Cousins gave £2 and Mr. Fawcett £1, as prizes for 

 the best forked patch of land. !Mr. G. A. Eobinson, Mr. L. 

 Virtue and !Mr. Hay gained 97 marks out of a maximum of 

 100. They got £1 each. A further prize of £1 was given 

 bj- Mr. Cousins for the liest essay on the course. Mr. Jabez 

 Stewart won this.' 



According to the Textile Mercury of January 2.3, notice 

 has been received by the Cuban Mee-Consul in London 

 ' that the province of Santa Clara will be able to export, in 

 four month.s' time, an imjiortant amount of Sea Island cotton, 

 which is the l)est quality, and a smaller amount of the 

 Upland, whicli is not so good.' 



This is interesting as showing that Lapland cotton is not 

 so satisfactory in Cuba as Sea Island, thus confirming the 

 experience in the British West Indies. 



An intere.sting paper on a familiar subject, the relation 

 of temperature to the keeping property of milk, has reached 

 us from Storrs, Connecticut. 'The view of the writer, 

 Dr. H. W. Conn, the well-known dairy bacteriologist, is 

 that the keeping of milk is more a matter of temperature 

 than of cleanliness. At 50' neither of the lactic ferments 

 makes much growth, but i)utrefactive Ijacteria develop, and 

 though these may not make the milk sour, they make it 

 unwholesome. Milk, whicli has been kept sweet by exposure 

 to low temperatures, should lie viewed with suspicion. 

 {Nature, January 29, 1904.) 



