"Vol. III. No. .58. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



221 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Canada. 



The folloNving is Mr. .J. Russoll Murray's report, 

 ■dated June 9, 1!)04, on West Indian produce in Canada 

 •during the month of May : — 



A general improvement in business Las Ijeen apparent 

 ■ ilui'ing the last month. New importing oiders have been 

 is.sued with care and on a limited scale, the large stocks not 

 liaving sufficiently decreased. The Budget just presented to 

 Parliament contains only one item of interest to the West 

 Indies and that is the placing of \Vest Indian molasses on 

 the free list. As this amounted to 1-fc. per gallon, it will 

 prove an additional barrier to the importation of mixed 

 jnolasses. 



SUii.VR. 



Importations direct to ilontreal of British West Indian 

 sugars are represented by the ariival of S.8. ' Xaparima ' 

 from Trinidad with 11,000 bags of Refining Grades and the 

 S.S. ' Nordkym ' from Barbados with U,OOS bags and 2,946 

 Lhcls., wluch is ecpral to 4,-300 tons. Since the is.sue of my 

 hist report the Beet market has seen considerable fluctuations, 

 the highest point being reached on ilay 24, viz., 9s. 7-lrf. 

 when the retrograde move began, and to-day's figure is 9s. 2|f?. 

 Local granulated sugars were advanced 10c. to l-5c. per 100 lb. 

 Ziluscovados in London are again ijuoted down to 9s. 3d. 

 Local sales of West Indian have been irregular, several oilers 

 Laving been declined owing to sellers feeling confidence in 

 advanced prices to follow, and witli European and Cuban 

 reports favourable to sellers we may yet see an entire 

 recovery in prices. Nova Scotia has recently received some 

 12,000 tons of British West Indian .sugar and about 4,-500 

 tons are expected shortly. Canada's imports of West Indian 

 sugar will this year be the largest ou record. 



JIOLASSES. 



The molasses trade has been steady, but demand only 

 fair. The Schooner ' M. -J. Taylor ' is expected here shortly 

 with a cargo from Barbados, and others will be shortly 

 following. The free entry of West Indian molasses will 

 stimulate trade and imi)rove the general standard of quality. 



COCOA-XUTS. 



The market has been steady and prices well maintained, 

 notwithstanding the lownes.s of quotations in New York, 

 though these have improved .some 10 to 1-5 per cent. The 

 demand for cocoa-nuts has Ijeen nuiet. Trade in desiccated 

 products has been very quiet during the Spring. .Jamaica 

 cocoa-nuts are being distributed at •'$24-00 to ■'i?26'00 c. it f. 

 Trinidads may be quoted at .-72000 to S21-00 e. A f. No 

 other British West Indian nuts are on the market. 



>'0TES. 



Sugars. — Consignments of Grocery sugars under IG D.S. 

 we can handle to good advantage now. 



Cocoa-nuts. — Cocoa-nuts from other islands sucli as 

 Dominica and Tobago can nriw find a good place, and we 

 shall be glad to answer inquiries and to receive consignments. 

 For Jamaica and Trinidad nuts we can place contracts. 



Oudva. — AVe have in(iuiries for guava fruit pulp in 

 bulk put up in tins for jam manufacturers. 



Onions. — In good demand. Sample lots from the 

 Virgin Islands turned out well and will sell freely. No 

 West Indian ou niarkef. 



Molasses. — We have inr|uiries for Antigua molasses. 



EDUCATIONAL 



School Gardens in Grenada. 



The following note, on elementar}- school gardens 

 in Grenada, is supplied hy Mr. W. M. Smith, Acting 

 Agricultural Instructor in that island : — • 



At the St. Jlark's Anglican scho<d garden, a few turnips 

 have been growii, which were quite unusually large, the 

 majority weighing Ijetween 2 H). and 3 &. Some carrots, 

 too, grown there were excellent in size and (piality. 



At the Roman Catholic school garden. Bakers Bush, 

 St. George's, some first-class onions have been grown. 



St. Lucia Agricultural School. 



The half-yearly examination at the Agricultural 

 School, St. Lucia, was held on May 24, 2.5 and 26. The 

 following is the general report of the examiner 

 (Mr. L. Lewton-Brain, B.A., F.L.S.). In addition to 

 tliis, special rejDorts, on all the subjects taught at the 

 school, were prepared : — 



In most of the subjects, the senior boys have done very 

 well. The worst papers done were those in Botany, in which 

 only one boy obtained more than half the highest possible 

 marks. The practical work in the field has evidently been 

 well taught and the boys display a tliorough knowledge of 

 practical details. The practical work in the lecture room i.* 

 not so well known, the master should take great care that 

 the boys see and understand every detail of the experiments 

 performed by him, and should explain carefully and .see that 

 the boys understand what it is each experiment proves. The 

 boys should be allowed to perform some of tlie experiments 

 themselves. This weakness was pointed out in my last 

 report. 



Vincent Goring comes out at the head of the senior class 

 and has done excellent papers throughout, but especially in 

 the Chemistry, Agriculture and Arithmetic. Flavien has also 

 done very well, but is rather weak in Chemistry and Botany. 

 DuBoulay's weakest papers were Botany and Agriculture. 

 Montague and Lpdce have done worse this time than in the 

 last exanunation ; their papers are weak throughout. Pedriel 

 has somewhat improved his position, but he is still very low 

 in the list. 



The junior class is small and the results are very uniform : 

 there is little to choose between any of the boy.s, as the marks 

 show. The two new Ijoys have done very fair papers and 

 I regard them as promising pupils ; tlicre is little to choose 

 between them. 



The examinations at the St. Vincent and Dominica 

 Agricultural Schools were held in the week beginning 

 June 20. The reports on these examinations wdll be 

 published in due course. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Mr. W. R. Buttenshaw, M.A., B.Sc, Scientific 

 Assistant on the staff of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, returned to Barbados from his official visit 

 to the Northern Islands on Friday, .June 24. 



Mr. H. A. Ballou, B.Sc, Entomologist on the staff of 

 the Imperial Department of Agricultiire, will leave 

 Barbados, on Monday, July 4, by the R.M.S. 'Eden,' on 

 an official visit to the Northern Islands. 



