1-24 



THE AGRICULTUr.AL NEWS. 



AntiL ;t, 1904. 





GLEANINGS. 



iSixtj- bales of cotton and 200 crates of bananas were 

 shipped from Barbados to England by the S.S. ' Atrato ' on 

 March 26. 



The Bulletin of St. Thomas (l).W.I.) announces that 

 labourers are wanted to plant cotton. Application.s to be 

 made to Lawyer Jiirgensen. 



The second annual .sale of stock took i>lace at Woodlands 

 Stock Farm, Grenada, on JIarch 25. The .sale included 

 horses, Zebu and Hereford cattle, native milch cows, poultry, 

 etc. 



According to a writer in the Journal d'A^/n'culture 

 Tropicale, it is possible to change the se.x in the papaw plant. 

 It i.s stated that if the male papaw be topjied, as soon as its 

 sex is ascertainable, the tree will bear good fruit. 



The Curator of tlie Tobagf> Botanic Statuju reports that 

 tlie Parasol Ant is causing considerable damage throughout 

 the island. The .small settlers have been assi.sted by the 

 Botanic Station in destrnying this [lest with carbon bisulphide. 



According to the Aimiud Report of the Department of 

 Publie Gardem, Jamaica, the trees of mangosteen, planted 

 behind the Superintendent's house at Castleton Gardens in 

 1875, fruited heavily during the year. There are now six or 

 seven fruiting trees of this delicious fruit. 



Vanilla planifolia grows vigorously at Gastleton, and 

 one [ilant growing over the high limbs of a tree of Spondias 

 lutea has produced several pods although the flowers were 

 not fertilized by hand. 



The Centenary of the lioyal Horticultural Society of 

 England was celebrated on March 7 last. Tliis Society has 

 a si>lendid record during the last hundred years and deserves 

 the hearty support of lovers of gardens in all parts of the 

 Empire. 



A leaflet (No. 100) has recently been issued by the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries : it is entitled ' Pig 

 Breeding and Feeding.' This leaflet will be found to 

 contain much valuable information on the subject with 

 wliich it deals. 



According to the Consular Repior I on the trade of Alexan- 

 dria for 1902, the exports of cotton were 6,621,608 kantars 

 (about 292,651 tons): this is 16 per cent, more in quantity 

 and 23 per cent, more in value than the average for the four 

 preceding years. The exports of cotton seed amounted to 

 17,5-10,515 bushels — 9 per cent, le.ss in quantity, but 8 per 

 cent, more in value. 



A tree of Monodora tenui folia (natural order Avonaeeae) 

 is reported by the Curator to be flowering for the first time 

 at the Grenada Botanic Station. A similar tree is, also, in 

 flower at the St. Lucia Botanic Station. 



It is stated in the India-ruhber Journal that rubber 

 l>lantcrs in the Malay Peninsula are using aluminium cups 

 for tapping ]>nrposes. By this means it is hoped to avoid 

 iin|iuritit-s and discolouring dive to rust. 



At a recent meeting of the Trinidad Chamber of 

 Commerce it was suggested that steps should be taken to 

 advertise tlie colony for the purpose of attracting tourists. 

 It was stated that a sum of money had been placotl by the 

 Government on the estimates for this purpose. 



According to official returns recently published by the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the estimated total 

 produce of potatos in Great Britain in 1903 was 2 913 713 

 tons from 564,286 acres. This represents a yield of '5-16 

 tons to the acre ; the average yield for ten years is 5-S9 tons. 



In the discussion on the estimates 



the Jamaica 



Legislative Council, it was stated by tlie Colonial Secretary 

 that for eleven months of the year ended March 31, 1904 

 there had been a cash balance of £251 on the working of the 

 Prison Farm at Spanish Town. 



The Curator of the Grenada Botanic Station reports, 

 that satisfactory crops of onions have been reaped in the 

 island, during the past season, at Government House- 

 grounds, Good Hope estate and the Botanic Station. The 

 .seed used was that imported from TenerifFe by the Inii)erial 

 Department of Agriculture. 



It is stated in the Annual Report of the Jamaica IJoard 

 of Agriculture that nearly all the grafted nutmegs at the 

 Hope Ex}>erinient Station flowered in January and February,, 

 which are the windiest months : many Howers and even- 

 leaves were blown off; a few held and the nuts are developino- 

 in the same way as the old .seedling trees. These were hand- 

 fertilized. 



Mr. William M. Smith, Acting Agricultural Instructor 

 at Grenada, writes that sheep manure is being used in larr'e 

 quantities for cacao this year. It is brought in sdiooners. 

 from Venezuela, Bonaire and St. Martins. Artificial 

 manures are also being applied. It is gratifying to observe 

 that the value of high-class culture is being recognized by 

 large and small cacao cultivators in Grenada. 



The Natal Agricultural Journal of January has an 

 interesting note on horse sicknes.s, due to the bite of a 

 mosquito. It is not shown that the niosquito gets the 

 infection from an unhealthy animal, but this is the case- 

 with most of the insect-carried diseases. Protection of 

 horses from night insects is the only effectual preventive, as- 

 there seems to be no cure, when once the disease has beea 

 contracted. 



In reply to a circular despatch of Jlr. C'hamberlain, 

 September 9, 1902, Briti.sh Guiana, Trinidad and the 

 Leeward and Windward Islands have exi)ressed themselves- 

 in favour of the adoption of the metric system [of weights- 

 and measures] ; Jamaica and British Honduras recommended 

 the adoption of the .system of the U.S.A. The reply of 

 Barbados is, on the whole, unfavourable. ( lI'-.sV Indiat 

 Committee Circular.) 



