134 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 23, 1904 



THE UTILITY OF FORESTS. 



The following short statement of the uses of 

 forests, which originally appeared in the Boston 

 Transcript, is taken from the Barbados Z)(tt?^ News: — 



Let us take two hillsides of identical slope und ex|iosure, 

 one being forested, the other cleared. The rain falls on the 

 canopy of trees in the one instance and drips softly from 

 leaves and branches and trickles down the trunks. The soil 

 beneath is soft and loose (even in winter it does not freeze 

 hard), a composition of disintegrated rock, decaying leaves 

 and twigs and even logs, and all tied together by a dense 

 mass of roots and rootlets. The rain comes upon this forest 

 soil so softly through the trees that the ground is not 

 compacted and hardened or gullied as it would be if the rain 

 fell directly on the soil. 



The loose and spongy earth takes up the water as fast as 

 it falls, and that which is not seized by the roots for the 

 nourishment of the trees is carried away into underground 

 basins, from which it slowly percolates and eventually conies 

 out upon the surface again as si>rings. So slowly does this 

 filtering go on, the spongy soil holding the water back, that 

 the springs are given a constant and almost steady supiily. 

 Even a drought will actually dry uii but few such. Snows 

 also melt more .slowly in the forest, thereby preventing 

 disastrous spiing freshets. 



In the other case, that of the treeless slope, the rain 

 falls directly on the bare ground and pounds it hard and 

 inijiervious. The water for the most part runs otf super- 

 ficially as from a roof. Not enough water sinks int(3 the 

 ground to help feed a constant spring. The surface run-otf of 

 a hard rain on a bare hillside is moreover conducive to 

 gullying and washing of a most destructive nature, and the 

 waters being poured immediately into the stream beds cause 

 freshets. The freshet waters (quickly rush by, wreaking havoc 

 with fields, bridges and mills, and the ne.xt week the streams 

 are nearly run dry. 



FIBRE PLANTS IN MEXICO. 



The following interesting account of the fibre 

 industry of Me.xico is taken from the Consahi.r Report 

 on Mexico for 1902 ; — 



Another branch which is also a very important one, and 

 which, on account of the small amount of care required, is 

 extending very rapidly, is the cultivation and e-xportation of 

 filires. Mexico is rich in plants which would give very good 

 and strong fibres, if they were only carefully attended to. 

 At present the only fibres that are of any importance and 

 receive any kind of care are henetpien, ixtle and the broom 

 root. The first is extensively cultivated in the State of 

 Yucatan, and the exports are made through the ports on 

 that coast, principally, if not entirely, through the port 

 of Progreso, whence it is carr-ied by vessels belonging to 

 a company formed for the special purpose of conveying it to 

 New York, which acts as the princii)al distributing centre. 

 Ixtle is grown in the more northerly States on the Gulf of 

 Mexico, but especially so in the States of ^'era Cruz and 

 Tamaulipas, finding an easy outlet through the two principal 

 ports of Mexico, namely, Vera Cruz and Tanipico. Broom 

 root is found in more or less commonly throughout the 

 republic, but it is not cultivated. 



The total exports of filires of all kinds in the year 1902 

 amounted to 10.'),9i.S tons, of which 88,0S7 tons were 

 heneqiien ((S.0,691 tons in the rough, and 2,.39.5 tons in 

 manufactured articles, principally hammocks and cordage), 

 and the remainder consisted of 14,0-o-") tons of ixtle (14,036 



tons in the rough, and only 19 tons of manufactured articles, 

 cordage, etc.), and 3,771 tons of broom root. The value of 

 these exports, as given in the otticial returns, was X3,277,501, 

 as comiiared with 103,.518 tons of filires valued at £2,438,979 

 in tlie year 1901. The values of the different filires exfiorted 

 during the year were £2,946,900 for heneipien, as against 

 £204,700 for ixtle and £12.5,900 for bnxim root. The price 

 of heneipien on January 1, 1902, on the New York market, 

 the jirinciiial consumer of this Kbre, was 8jc., gold, a price 

 which was maintained without any marked change through- 

 out the year. The liroom root exported iluring the year was 

 sent almost entirely to Belgium, while the ixtle found its way 

 to the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. 



MR. POWELL IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



Mr. Henry Powell, formerly Curator of the Botanic 

 Station at St. Vincent, and now Assistant in the 

 Agricnltmal Department in the British East Africa 

 Protectorate, writes as follows : — 



The voyage out from England to ilombasa was intensely 

 interesting. At Zanzibar, I met Dr. MacDonald, of 

 St. Vincent, who took me to a fruit plantation in the i.sland. 

 At Pemba, 1 landed at two places and saw magnificent clove 

 and cocoa-nut plantations. 



My headquarters in British East Africa are at Nairobi 

 which is also the headijuarters of the Uganda Railway, and 

 where everything in connexion with the line is now built and 

 repaired. Nairobi is .5,4-50 feet above sea-level and is distant 

 from .Mombasa by rail 328 miles. 1 regard the climate at 

 Nairobi as unique. We are now in the hot and dry season 

 and the temperature ranges fiom about 80' F. in the shade 

 by day to 50" F. in the early morning. There are no 

 inos<juitos, no fever, no excessive perspiration even when 

 hard at work, and as a result Europeans enjoy as good 

 health here as in any part of Europe. English vegetables of 

 nearly all kinds and flowers thrive admirably. 



The Agricultural Department here has only recently 

 been established and we are all busy getting things into 

 shape. At Nairobi we have an Experimental Farm with 

 pedigree stock, including a Polled Angus bull, Muscat 

 donkey, Irish Conemara stallion, fowls, ducks, etc. 

 The crops under trial include wheat, oats, barley, flax, 

 lentils, clover, fenugreek, maize, lucerne, beans, cotton, etc., 

 and it is amazing how well the majority succeed. The 

 sugar-cane also does well here, so that the immense range of 

 cultivations can be understood. Most excellent butter is 

 made and dairying is on the increase, the milk being much 

 richer than in the West Indies. Large numbers of settlers 

 are constantly arriving horn South Africa and other places, 

 and immense tracts of land are being taken up. Ramie and 

 other fibres are being grown and .settlers are anxious to grow 

 the former on extended areas. 



At Naivasha, aVwut 60 miles from here, we have 

 a large pedigree stock farm and the work of the Agricultural 

 Deiiartment extends over many thousands of s<piare miles. 



We have the services of a cotton exjiert from Egyiit who 

 is now touring the country, coastwards, selecting land for, 

 and starting, experiment.s. I am following and shall continue 

 to follow with the greatest interest the results of the 

 ex[ieriments in St. Vincent, and I am convhiced that the 

 cotton industry there will prove a success. 



I am much indebted to yeu for causing the Affri- 

 ciilliiral Neil's and other publications to be sent me, and 

 I can assure you that I continue to take the greatest interest 

 in the work of your Department. 



