Vol. III. No. 68. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



377 



British Cotton-growing Association Deputation. 



As stated in the last i.ssue of the Agricultural 

 A^ciis, the Deputati(jn i'roin the Briti.sh Cotton-growing 

 Association left Barbados in the company of Sir Daniel 

 Morris on Tuesdaj', November 1, for the Northern 

 Islands. 



Wednesday', November 2, was spent at St. Lucia, 

 where addresses were delivered by Sir Daniel Morris 

 and Mr. Oliver at a meeting of the Agricultural Society 

 (the Administrator, Sir George Melville, K.C.M.G., in 

 the chair). An interesting meeting was held at 

 Montserrat on Fri<:lay, November 4, his Honour the 

 Commissioner being in the chair. The meeting held 

 at Antigua on Saturda3', November 5, presided over by 

 his Excellency the Governor, was large and representa- 

 tive. At St. Kitt's his Honour the Administrator 

 presided over a good meeting on Monday, November 

 7 ; at Nevis also a large meeting was held, Mr. Bromley 

 again occupj'ing the chair. 



At all these meetings Mr. Oliver gave most useful 

 addresses which were listened to with great interest 

 by. all classes of the communit3^ Resolutions of 

 thanks were passed to the British Cotton-growing 

 Association and to Mr. Oliver. 



It may be mentioned that in the various islands 

 visited, the cotton was looking extremely well, and it 

 was evident that growers were taking great interest in 

 the success of the crop. 



The Cocoa-nut Industry. 



The Tbnea (Weekly Edition Supplement, of 

 October 14) has an article on the cocoa-nut industry. 

 Figures as to the importation of cocoa-nuts into the 

 United Kingdom are not available, but the imports of 

 cocoa-nut oil in 1903 amounted to 782,632 cwt. of the 

 value of £994,676. It would appear that in this 

 matter the empire is self-supporting, nearly the whole 

 of the imports being from British possessions, chiefly 

 Ceylon, but also New South Wales, JMadras, and 

 Mauritius. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has 

 made an exhaustive inquiry into the culture of the 

 cocoa-iuit and its products. Cocoa-nut production is 

 a factor of economic importance in the island posses- 

 sions of the United States. In the Philippines copra 

 •constitutes one of the chief items of the export trade, 

 bringing to the archipelago from two to four million 

 dollars a year. In Porto Kico the area in cocoa-nuts is 

 .about .5, .500 acres. 



From none of these sources, however, does 

 the United St;ites obtain any large proportion of 

 its heavy imports of cocoa-nuts and their products. 

 These enter the United States as nuts in the shell, 

 iis copra, and as cocoa-nut oil. The imports of nuts 

 amount to 40 to 50 millions. The aggregate value 

 of cocoa-nut oil, cocoa-nuts, and copra delivered 

 for consumption into the United States last year was 

 close on four million dollars. The nuts are derived 

 almost exclusively from the British West Indies, 

 Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, and British Honduras ; the 

 oil from Ceylon and Cochin. 



Exports of Lagos. 



According to the Annual Report on Lagos, the 

 principal items of export from the colony in 1903 were 

 palm kernels and palm oil (£785,859), mahogany 

 (£56,167), rubber (£15,583), and cacao (£6,705). As 

 mentioned in the last issue of the Agricultural Netvs 

 (Vol. Ill, p. 361), thiu'e was a decrease in the value of 

 palm products due to an insufficiency of rain. Probably 

 for the same reason, the exports of cacao show a slight 

 decline ; there is evidence, however, that there is 

 a growing export in this product. 



There was a large increase in the export of 

 mahogany, and the industry is now an important one. 

 A stringent law is required to prevent the cutting of 

 immature trees. The rubber industry is also growing, 

 and efforts have been made to cultivate introduced 

 varieties, but it appears that the indigenous trees 

 have, so far, given the most satisfactory results. 



It is interesting to note that calabashes to the value 

 of £545 were shipped to other ports on the West Coast. 



It is stated that increase in the exports may 



reasonably be expected as regards, cacao, palm produce, 



rubber cotton, and corn ; while, when the cocoa-nut 



trees that have been planted out come into bearing, 



there will be a considerable advance in the export of 



copra. 



■ I ■ 



Ground Nuts in East Africa. 



A writer in the Eaxt Afriai Quarterly recounts 

 his experiences in growing ground nuts. The seeds 

 were sown in August ; in the following February, 

 when the plants began to wither, several were rooted 

 up to ascertain the yield. In some instance.?, as many 

 as 100 to 130 kernels were gathered from one plant ; 

 from specimens of the most backward plants about 

 fifty were gathered. With these data the writer 

 concludes that the average yield was about eighty-fold. 

 The seeds having been planfed 2 feet by 2J feet, some 

 14 lb. of seed must have been planted per acre. An 

 acre, therefore, produced about i ton of nuts. 



The cost of planting, harvesting, shelling, etc., was 

 estimated at about £1 per acre: the freight charges, at 

 about £3 per ton, came to £1 10s. per acre. Adding 

 to this the cost of bagging, etc., the total cost to 

 produce i ton was about £2 IS-?. With the price of 

 ground nuts in London at £10, there was a profit of 

 about £2 5.S. 



The writer does not consider these figures very 

 encouraging, but jJoints out that they are based upon 

 the assumption that hand labour is exclusively 

 emploj'ed. No doubt, with the use of drilling 

 machines, etc., the cost of production might be con- 

 siderably lessened. 



It should be mentioned that in Barbados a yield 

 of 2,000 tb. — nearly twice that mentioned above — is 

 looked upon as a fair crop, whilst yields of 4,000 lb. are 

 not unknown. It will be seen, therefore, that very 

 satisfactory profits might be obtained in these islands 

 by the cultivation of ground nuts. Full information 

 with regard to ground nuts and their cultivation will 

 be found in Pamphlet No. 25, issued by this Depart- 

 ment. 



