140 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 23, 1904. 



GLEANINGS. 



The St. Lucia Voice of March .31 congratulates the 

 pupils and master of the Castries Roys' Primary School 

 on the succes.s of the recently established school garden. 



There are a few vacancies for suitable pupils at the 

 Agricultural School and Exi)eriment Station at St. Lucia. 

 Application for admission should be made as early as possible 

 to the Curator of the Botanic Station. 



Prices for copra are slightly easier, being S2'7.") per 

 100 11>. AVe understand that practically all the cocoa-nuts in 

 the island, for some months to come, have been engaged at 

 very fair prices. (Trinidad Jfirrur, Ajiril 8.) 



The St. Croix Jiu/tctin states that the smaller planters 

 on the contiguous estates have signed contracts to deliver 

 cane to the Bethleliem Central Factory, the cane growers to 

 receive 6 per cent, in sugar of the weight of the cane. 



One hundred and ninety-one bunches of bananas, 10 

 crates of mangos, 1 2 bales and 3 bags of cotton and 1 2 bags 

 of cotton seed, were shii)ped on the R.M.S. 'Orinoco' for 

 Southampton. 



It is stated in the Hiujir Pl<inte)'^s Journal that a new 

 use has been found for bagasse, viz., for the manufacture 

 of cardboard. A company, known as the Fibre Board 

 Company, has been formed for the purpose in Boston. 



Jlore cane sugar for refining purposes is reaching the 

 United Kingdom than for years, and Liverpool seems to be 

 getting the preference as the port of arrival. The heavy 

 dock charges of London do not conduce to increasing supplies. 

 {International Sugar Journnl.) 



American Gardening for February 20 has the follow- 

 ing : ' Never plant seeds in dry soil, or in .soil that is less 

 moist than the seeds, as the drier soil will extract the 

 moisture from the seeds and the germ will die. The finer 

 soil particles are, whether for potting, the garden or the farm, 

 the more their surface is increased for taking u}) and holding 

 moisture, the greater the surface for root-hairs to work upon.' 



In acknowledging the receipt of a copy of the West 

 Indian Bulletin (Vol. 4, no. 4), Mr. W. A. Orton, of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industiy, I'.S. Department of Agriculture, 

 an eminent authority on the cultivatif)n of Sea Island cotton 

 in South Carolina, writes : 'This publication .should prove of 

 great value to your cotton planters, since, from its clear 

 treatment of the culture of Sea Island cotton, it forms a very 

 valuable addition to our cotton literature.' 



Reiiorts received from St. Vincent in resi>ect of the 

 wfirking of the Central Cotton Factory are of a very 

 satisfactory character. The machinery works smoothly and 

 effectively and a large shipment of cotton is to be made by 

 this mail. 



Be sure to include ground nuts in your order for garden 

 seeds. Half a gallon of seed will contain about 400 kernels, 

 enough to plant 200 hills, which, with proper care, should 

 yield 2 bushels. CSround nuts are as easily grown as Irish 

 potatos, the method of culture being similar. (Farm Journal.) 



A French patent for the production of a substitute for 

 India-rubber has been taken out by Fayolle. The ingretlients 

 used are glycerin treated with sulphuric acid ; afterwards 

 formalin is added and later pure phenol. The new product 

 is .said to be suitable for use in rendering fabrics waterproof 

 or as an electric insulator. 



A lecture was recently delivered in Jamaica by the Hon. 

 T. H. Shari> on the cotton industry, ilr. Sharp is reported 

 by the Bm'/i/ Tvlefjraph of March 31 to have ' e.diibited 

 samples of the Sea Lsland and Ui)land cotton, and pointed 

 out that, owing to the texture of the latter, it fetched a nuich 

 larger price.' There is, of course, an error here, as it is the 

 former, the Sea Island, that fetches the higher price. 



Jlr. W. E. Broadway reports that the yam and sweet 

 potato crops were recently dug in the ' Food Index Plots ' at 

 the Grenada Botanic Station. Of the yams, the heaviest crops 

 were yielded by the ' White Water ' and ' St. Lucia ' 

 varieties, one tuber of the former variety weighing 23], tt>. 

 In the sweet potato plot the best results were obtained from 

 the ' Moko ' variety, which is also the favourite variety with 

 the people of the island. 



According to the annual report of the Secretary of the 

 Jamaica Agricultural Society, there are now forty-one 

 affiliated branch societies with a total membership of 2,.563. 

 The Prize Holdings Competition scheme has been carried 

 through with considerable success in the pari.shes of 

 Hanno\er and Westmoreland. There were seventy-eight 

 entries in the former parish and ninety-two in the latter. 

 The judges exi>ressed their gratification at the efforts of the 

 cr)mpetitors. 



The Hill Garden at Curepipe, :Mauritius, is chiefly for 

 nursing iilants that cannot be grown at the tropical garden 

 at Panii)lemousses owing to the climate. Large iiuml)ers of 

 seedlings are raised yearly — Juniperus, Finns sinensis, 

 Eurah/jdus—and are planted on Crown lands in different 

 parts of the colony or sold to private persons for re-afforesta- 

 tion purposes. A lle-aftbrestation Ordinance has been passed, 

 and arrangements under the ad\ice of an expert forest officer 

 of the Indian Forest Department are now Ijeing matured to 

 give eff'ect to it. (CO. lieport, 1902.) 



It is officially stated that the I'nited States Government 

 spends six and a ipiarter million dollars (XI, 2.50,000) in 

 promoting its agricultural interests, while the several States 

 and territories expend something over four and a half million 

 dollars (£900,000) for a similar purpose. These make a total 

 of ten and a ipiarter million dollars (£2,050,000) expended 

 annually in advancing the interests of agriculture. It is 

 added :"' this is certainly a most liberal figure and much more 

 than is being expended by any other Government in the 

 world for the same purpose.' 



