Vol. III. No. 63. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



301 



b 



ST. Kirrs-XEvis .- report.^ ox the 



BOTANIC STATION AND AdRICULTURAL EDUCA- 

 TION, 190.J-4. 



L'otanic and Experiment Stations. — During the year the 

 ■Curator, ilr. V\'m. Lunt, died, ar.d ilr. V. R. Shepherd was 

 phiced ill teni))orary charge. 



The total rainfall at the station during the year was 

 only 39'54 inches, or 10 inches less than in the previous 

 year. In consequence the station suffered very severelj', and 

 the experiments were corisiderably interfered with. 



The sugar-cane e.xperiments were continued at the 

 central station at La Guerite and seven out-stations. 

 Owing to the dry weatlier, the reaping was much delayed, 

 -and no croiis were taken off during the year under review. 

 The plots for reai>ing next year are all well estaljlished. 



A branch station has been started at Nevis, where it is 

 proposed to carry out experiments with various economic 

 plants. 



The new industi-ies— cotton and onions — have been 

 taken uji in the presidency, and planters have ordered seed in 

 ■considerable quantities through the station. 



Agriculttirnl Eduaition. — The reports deal with the 

 work of the Agricultural and Science Master. Mr. Relling's 

 duties consisted in giving instruction in agriculture and the 

 Allied sciences at the Grammar School and in delivering 

 lectures to elementary school teachers. 



There were eight agricultural scholars at the school 



during the year. Attention was given to practical agriculture 



in the garden as well as to the school lessons. A large 



number of economic (ilants were grown, and instruction was 



iven in budding, grafting, [iruniiig, hybridizing, etc. 



AGRICULTURE IN QUEENSLAND. 



An interestino; article on Queensland in the 

 Ge(i>/r((-iihired Joarnal for Augu.st contains the follow- 

 ing reference to the economic jjroducts of the colony: — 

 Of the 360 kinds of Australian grasses, about three- 

 fourths are met with in Queensland. Associated with these 

 in their natural growth, is an esculent herbage of highly 

 r nutritious quality, and it is doubtless owing to the natural 

 l-commingling of these diminutive forms of vegetation tliat 

 the famous pastoral resources of the country are everywhere 

 unsurpassed. Most of the grasses possess phenomenal 

 Itvitality, and even when ai)parently annihilated by crushing 

 fdroughts, they shoot furth luxuriantly after a shower of rain. 

 The economic natural resources, although full of [iromise, 

 liave not j'et been fully utilized. There has been little or no 

 attempt to develop them ettectively, and this is no doubt 

 owing to the greater attention l.iestowed upon other more 

 itempting industries. All kinds of tropncal and extra-tropical 

 fruits grow abundantly in the wild state and under cultiva- 

 Jtion. Vegetable oils of commerce are met with everywhere, 

 ^nd fibrous jilants are numerous, many of the fibres 

 manufactured from the latter being of excellent quality. 

 -About eighty varieties from the neighbourhood of Brislxino 



liave been successfully treated by the late :\rr. M'Pherson, 

 who obtained the highest award.-; for them at international 

 exhibitions in Australia and elsewhere. They are very fine 

 in texture, and it would pay handsomely to establish an 

 industry for their manufacture. There is a splendid 

 opening in Queensland for the manufacture of vegetable 

 oils, especially the essential oils of the Eumb/pli, of 

 which several varieties are met with. There are altogether 

 about 360 known economic plants in the colony, of wiiich 

 some 130 have been introduced. 



Tobacco grows to perfection in the Stanthrope and 

 Killarney districts, and it is locally manufactured to some 

 extent, the (|uality and flavour of the weed being greatly 

 appreciated by consumers. Coffee is cultivated in the 

 northern district, east of the main range, where the soil and 

 the climate are especially favourable to the growtji of the 

 plant. Cotton and arrowroot find congenial fields in the rich 

 lands of the southern district, on the eastern side of the main 

 range. Fruit growing is an industry that has hitherto 

 received very little attention, but for the extension of which 

 there is great scope. 



FORESTRY IN HONGKONG. 



The following- extract from the Report on the 

 Botaniad ami Atf'on'dnti.on Department oi Hongkono- 

 is of particular interest as showing the value of 

 a systematic policy in the matter of re-afforestation : — 



The time has now arrived for the colony to profit to the 

 full extent by the foresight of the Government of a former 

 generation. 



In the late seventies tree planting was seriously 

 undertaken, and from the yeai- 1882 to 1885 the annual 

 expenditure of $12,000 was expressly sanctioned for 

 afforestation, and from 200,000 to 300,000 young pines were 

 planted each year. As the island became more" conqiletely 

 covered with jilantations, the operations and annual votes 

 gradually diminished, until the present time, when the 

 planting of a few thou.sand trees can be covered by a small 

 jmrtion of the tree-planting vote of !?3,4.o0. As a result of 

 this policy there are now nearly 5,000 acres of pine upon the 

 island, and the oldest plantations, now between twenty and 

 thirty years old, are ready to fell and replant. 



The pine plantations are of very various ages and sizes 

 and much time has been devoted during the year to a careful 

 examination of them and subsequently to delineating them 

 on maps and schedules so that a systematic working idan 

 can be drawn up to ensure as far as jjossible a uniform 

 annual outturn of timber. The surface of the island has 

 been divided for this purpose into seven main divisions, and 

 each of these into six to eight blocks containing from 50 to 

 300 acres of pine plantations each. The primary object of 

 this preliminary inspection of the plantations was to obtain 

 statistics upon which to found a working jilan for the future 

 but the results have a further interest as showino- what 

 return the Government have for their outlay of former years. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Mr. L. Lewtou-Brain, B.A., F.L.S., M3^cologi.st and 

 Agricultural Lecturer on the staff of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture, left Barbados in S.S. 

 'Dahome' on Tuesday, September 6, for St. Lucia and 

 Dominica, for the pui'pose of insjjecting the Agri- 

 cultural Schools in those islands. Mr. Lewton-Brain 

 was expected to return to Barbados to-day. 



