Vol. III. No. .50. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



89 



Agricultural Shows. 



As will be seen from the brief reports given on 

 p. 91 of this issue, successful Agricultural Shows have 

 been held during the last few weeks at Dominica, 

 Montserrat and Antigua. 



A gratif^'ing feature of these shows is the effort 

 that has been made to give an additional interest to 

 the teaching of agriculture in the elementary schools 

 by offering prizes for exhibits of vegetables and plants 

 grown in pots and boxes by children attending these 

 .schools. 



The local committees who had charge of the 

 .arrangements for these shows are to be heartily 

 congratulated upon the success that has attended their 

 •efforts, which did not fail to receive the cordial support 

 .of planters and peasant proprietors. We feel that these 

 .exhibitions are certain to exert a beneficial and stimu- 

 Jating action on the agricultui-al industries of the islands. 

 — t i^»^^ 



:Economical Feeding on Sugar Estates. 



In an article on this subject in the Harjar Planters' 

 Journal of February 13, a review is given of the 

 progress that has been made in utilizing the by- 

 products of the sugar industry for feeding purposes. It 

 is shown that there is a great increase in the use of 

 molasses as a stock-food ; the favourite method being 

 to give 1 to li gallons per head mixed with grain or 

 chopped hay instead of allowing the stock to feed from 

 -troughs direct. In this way the injurious effects, 

 .attributed to molasses when fed in excess, are avoided. 



The economj' of grinding corn is also being more 

 freely recognized, it being known that the meal from 

 .cob, grain and stalk forms an easily digestible mixture, 

 while considerably less grain is used. 



It is also being found that mola.sses is useful in 

 giving a pleasant Havour to chopped foods such as 

 pea vine hay, cane tops, corn stalks, etc. 



Petroleum from Trinidad. 



The last issue of the Bulletin of the Imperial 

 Institute contains an article embodying the results of 

 the examination at the Imperial Institute of samples 

 .of petroleum from Trinidad. 



Two samples were examined, one from a well sunk 

 at Guaj'agnayare in 1902, and the other from a natural 

 spring in the neighbourhood of the well. The latter 

 sample is of quite a distinct character from that 

 pumped from the well : it is stated, however, that this 

 variation may be due to the loss by evaporation of the 

 lower-boiling hydrocarbons from the natural reservoir, 

 from which the second sample was drawn. The first 

 sample contained ll'l per cent, of light petroleum and 

 only 38 per cent, of kerosene (burning oil) and more 

 closely resembles Russian than American petroleum ; 

 while the second contained only 02 per cent, of light 

 petroleum and as much as 70 per cent, of kerosene, 

 which, therefore, more nearly resembles Canadian oil. 



It is gratifying to learn that both these samples 

 represent valuable commercial products and that ' if 

 the oil-field should on further examination prove to be 

 extensive, this discovery of petroleum will no doubt be 

 x)f great importance to the colony.' 



The Agricultural Condition of Venezuela. 



The Journal of the Society of Arts for November 

 13, 1903, has an article on the ' Agricultural and 

 Industrial Condition of Venezuela,' from which we 

 extract the following interesting information : — 



The principle crop is coffee, in which, it is 

 estimated, some 420,000 acres are planted, the 

 production being placed at 8.50,000 bags of 100 lb. 



Two grades of cacao are found in Venezuela — the 

 native crlollo and the trinttajvio cacao, imported from 

 Trinidad. The latter is regarded as inferior in quality, 

 but it grows more rapidly. The average annual crop 

 of cacao is about 8,000 tons. 



Tobacco is grown extensively, but Venezuela 

 tobacco has a bitter taste. The sugar-cane is also 

 widely cultivated. 



The vast forests, which cover Venezuela, contain 

 all the fine tropical woods, (jwing, however, to lack of 

 labour, the exportation of woods is very small. 



Cattle breeding has declined considerably in recent 

 years, although Cuba receives .50,000 to 60,000 head of 

 cattle annually. Leather manufacture is the principal 

 imtive industry, the hides being furnished by the large 

 troups of llames, sheep and goats. 



Coflfee Trade of Columbia. 



A report by Mr. Vice-Consul Spencer S. Dickson, 

 on the state of the coffee trade in Columbia, dated 

 Bagota, September 11, 1903, has recently been 

 published. 



Coffee can be grown in almost all parts of the 

 country where the climate is suitable, that is, where the 

 temperature varies from about .59" to 77" F. A tree 

 from four to eight years old will yield, in small and 

 well-cultivated plantations, about 1 ft. annually. The 

 best coffee is almost always exported, the damaged 

 beans being set apart for local consumption. 



In' the cultivation of coffee, seedlings, raised in 

 nursery beds, are planted at the beginning of the 

 rainy season, the distance apart depending upon the 

 kind of land. The manure most generally employed 

 is the outer skin of the coffee. The favourite shade tree in 

 coffee plantations is the Jack tree {Artocar}) us Integri- 

 folia), although it is stated that it is not used in the 

 interior on account of its being too delicate to stand 

 the long journey. The tree mostly used for this purpose 

 is that known in the West Indies as Pois doux (Tnga 

 laurina), called in Columbia Guamo. 



About six years ago Columbian coffee acquired an 

 excellent reputation, and the price went up. This 

 resulted in the over-planting of coffee all over the 

 country. The labour available for carrying on 

 extensive cultivations was found to be insufficient, and 

 many plantations were abandoned, in whole or in part. 

 The revolution of 1899 gave the final blow to the 

 enthusiasm for coffee planting. 



The exj)orts of coffee in 1896 were valued at over 

 13 million dollars, two years later it had dropped to 

 10 million. The greater part of the produce of the last 

 three years is still stored in the river ports as there are 

 no adequate means of desjjatching it, since the price of 

 transport has become so exorbitant. 



