15G 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



May 7, 1904. 





GLEANINGS. 



Tlie rainfall at the Tobago Botanic Station for the year 

 1903-4 was 117'06 inches. This is the heaviest annual 

 rainfall recorded since the establishment of the Station. 



According to the GuiaxUan, the Legislative Council of 

 Dcmiinica has passed a measure for largely reducing the 

 e.xport duties on essential oils manufactured in the island. 



Specimens of the ccjmmon ilontserrat Acacia, which was 

 formerly thought to be Acacia aruhica, have been identified 

 at the I'lOyal Gardens, Kew, as Acacia tortuosa, Willd. 



It is proposed to hold a Colonial and Indian Exhibition 

 at the Crystal Palace during the summer of 190.5. The 

 AVest India Committee has agreed to undertake tlie charge 

 of a West Indian exhiliit. 



In reference to the note in the A ijvi cultural Kews (Vol. 

 Ill, p. 124) regarding the flowering of J/o«offcrrt /f««;>b/(V( 

 at Grenada and St. Lucia, we are informed by the Curator 

 that this tree has flowered annuallj- at the Dominica Botanic 

 Station. 



As stated in our last issue, there are a few vacancies for 

 suitable pupils at the Agricultural School at St. Lucia. There 

 are also vacancies at Dominica and St. A'incent. Applica- 

 tion should in each case be made to the Agricultural 

 Superintendent. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture has placed at 

 the Agricultural School, St. Lucia, a single-acting, hand- 

 power, Jfacarthy cotton gin, received from the British Cotton 

 Growing Association. Two similar hand-power gins are at 

 work at Anguilla and one at St. Vincent. 



Plants from two of the four seeds of the Coco-deiner 

 {Lodoicea, sechcllarum), received last year at the Dominica 

 Botanic Station from the Seychelles, are reported to be 

 growing nicely, and it is hoped that this interesting species 

 will become established. 



Messrs. Bider it Son, Ltd., of Aldersgate Street, E.G., 

 announce the early puldication of a work entitled : 'Timbers 

 of Commerce and their identification,' by Mr. Herbert Stone, 

 F.L.S., F.R.C.I., to whose re|iort on the ' Kesults of technical 

 tests applied to timbers ' we have referred in these columns. 



According to the I'imcs, a syndicate has been formed 

 to exploit the mangrove bark industry. As mentioned 

 in i\\e A'jricultural Xeu'!( {\(A. II, p. -3(51) the mangrove is 

 one of the tanning jilants. Buj-ers are only offering £2 2*t. 6(/. 

 per tr.n for this Imrk, but it is thought that better prices may 

 be offered later. 



A consignment of the best varieties of pine-apples has 

 recently been received at the Tobago Botanic Station from 

 Jamaica. The local varieties produce, for the most part, 

 small fruits which are inferior in flavour to the well-known 

 varieties intrf'duced. 



^[i-. W. E. Broadway writes that there is a .specimen of 

 the Bnllet Wood tree or Balata {Miuiuxopf: ;/lohosa) fruitincr 

 in the Botanic Station at Grenada. The tree is al)out twelve 

 years old. It began bearing two years ago. A fine lot of 

 fruit, of large size and juicy, has just been gathered from it. 

 The fruits of the Bullet Wood tree are said to be delicious 

 when fidly ripe. 



!Mr. .lohn Belling, B.Sc, writes from St. Kitt's : ' About 

 two dozen grape vines (some American) were planted from 

 cuttings at Stone Fort estate in Felirnary 1903. By the 

 following autumn, having been well manured and watered, 

 they nearly covered the arbours and produced a fair number 

 of bunches of ripe fruit.' 



Mr. Belling relates his experiences in the cross-fertiliza- 

 tion of tobacco : ' Some Havana toliacco seed from flowers 

 cross-fertilized by hand yielded undoubtedly stronger plants 

 than the ordinary seed, which I have observed is usually 

 self-fertilized and only occasionally cros.sed by the humming 

 bird or hawk moth.' 



A 8100,000 cassava starch factory is to be built at Lake 

 City, Florida, by a Chicago firm. The citizens of the town 

 provided the site and subscribed for a large block of stock. 

 The mill will have a daily capacity of 120 tons cif raw 

 material, and is expected to be a great aid to farmers in the 

 locality Iiy furnishing a market for cassava roots. [Ej-peri- 

 ment Station Ri-conl, Vol. XV, no. 7.) 



The (f'ardene)'s' Chronicle of Aiiril 9 has an interesting 

 review of a work entitled : ' The present condition of 

 electroculture.' It deals with the subject of the application 

 of electricity to vegetation. There are two stages in the 

 electric treatment — the electrization of seeds and electrocul- 

 ture proper. The latter consists in growing plants in the 

 light of the voltaic arc, etc., and also in electrifying the 

 jilant.s, the air and the .soil. 



According to tlie Tropical A;/riculturist, the exports of 

 tea from Ceylon during 1903 amounted to 1.51,120,009 It), as 

 against 1^4,000,000 ft>. ten years ago. The United Kingdom 

 received about 63 per cent, of this amount. It is pointed 

 out that the amount of tea taken by the United Kingdom 

 has not increased in anything like the same proportion 

 as the outjiut from Ceylon, although her consuinption has 

 appreciably increased. 



In the interest of sugar manufacturers in the West 

 Indies and British Guiana, the West India Committee is 

 taking steps to collect and tabulate statistics regarding the 

 cost of production of sugar on vacuum pay estates. A form 

 is I>eing circulated to estates which the management is 

 asked to fill up, so that statistics may be obtained under 

 certain heads. It is stated that ' cost of cultivation ' is 

 meant to include every expense up to delivery of the canes 

 to the factory door and two-thirds of the Uianagenient. By 

 ' factory expenses ' is meant to be included every expense 

 from taking the canes at the factory and placing the 

 produce f.o.b. 



