THE AGUKLLTUltAL NEWS. 



May 10, 1902. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter fur ]>nV)licati(in, as well as all speeiiuens 

 for naniiiig slumld be addressed to the Imi-bhiai. Commissioxek 

 OF AciRicuLTURE, Head Ottice : Barb;ulos. It is iiarticidarly 

 desired that iu> letters be ad Iressed to any iiieinbei- of the statl" 

 by name. Such a course will eut^iil delay in dealing with 

 them. 



Communications sliould always be written on one side only 

 of the paper. It should be understood that no contributions 

 or specimens will, in any case, be returned. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural News' 

 should be addressed to the Local Agents and not to the 

 Head Office. Where no Agents exist sul)scriptions at the 

 rate of 3s. 3(/ per annum, payable beforehand, will l)e received 

 at the Head Office. 



Correspondents sending newspapers should be cai'eful to 

 mark the jtaragraphs they wish to bring under notice. 



gi0i'iciiltunil |tcius. 



Vol. I. S.VTritDAV, MAY 10, I'JOii. X. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Agricultural Shows. 



The iifxt 1ii;_m] Agricultiinil Exhihitioii ;it Barba- 

 bos will ])n)bably be hi'ld at Todd.s Plantation in St. 

 John's. These Exhibitions are hold in a difterent 

 ])arish each year and are becoming increasingly 

 |iri)iular. Special prizes are offej-cd for jjlants and 

 iii-oduce grown in school j)lots. At Montserrat it is 

 proposed to organize an Agricultural Show in connec- 

 tio:i with the Cjr.ination t'ostivities in June next. 



Treating Cane Plants with Tar. 



Roferring to the cxporimonts describxl in the 

 Wctt Indian Ballctin Vol. III. p. 73, for treating cane 

 plants with tar to protect them from insect and fun- 

 goid pests, j\Ir. J. 'P. Thorne writes: — 



' This reminds nic tjiat in the early forties the cano 

 crop.s in Barbados were de.stroyed in the red .soils by '•bli_i;lit' 

 and that my uncle J. T. Skinner, who was attorney and 

 nianagci- of JJlack Bess estate for a long i)criod, was the first 

 to succeed in establishing a crop by soaking the ]>1 ints in a 

 mixture of Barbados green tar and water. 1 have no; lieiu'd 

 whether tlio green tar li;»s bi'cn tried in later ycar.s. 



Sugar-cane Crop in Europe. 



It is not generally known that the sugar-cane is 

 still cultivated in Europe ,es])ecially in Southern S])ain. 

 According to a recent Consulai- Report : — 



Sugar-cane is grown all along the Coast of Malaga 

 and the annual yield of sugar is about .'iOjOOO tmn. Theri- 

 are seventeen .sugar factories in the provinces of .Malaga and 

 (Jranada, omiiloying many thousaiul hands, (irinling gen 

 erally begins about the middle of March. This yea", it may 

 commence earlier. 



Production of Beet Sugar. 



The total ])roduction of beet sugar in the United 

 States in the season 1901-2 has aggregated 18.5,000 

 tons, an increase of 140 per cent, from the 77,000 

 tons produced during the se^uson 1900. There wen; 

 thirty-one factories in operation in 1900 according to 

 cen.sus figures and eleven more were started in 1901. 



A New By-product of Sugar. 



Attention has been called to tlie preparation of 

 'molascuit,' a new cattle food .suggested to be prepared 

 in the West Indies from molasses and ' cush cush,' 

 th<! finer ])ai'ts of the fibre of the sugar-cane. Tho 

 ]ii-oj)ortions of the com])osition are (SO to 85 per cent, 

 of mola.sses and 15 to 20 ])er cent, of 'cush cush.' It 

 is claimed that whi'n air-dried, and ready for market, it, 

 presents the appearance of very finely ground oil-cake, 

 and to the taste it is sweet and agreeable. It i.s 

 })r(jbable that in this form molasses, when prices are 

 low, may be ca])able of being utilized to a large extent 

 and 2>rovid.' a valuable food for stock. 



New Varieties of Bananas. 



For some yeans efforts iiave been made by the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew to obtain all the best varieties 

 of bananas found in the tar East, for the purpo.se of 

 introducing them into cultivation in the West Indies. 

 A collection comprising twenty-three varieties w;v.s 

 i'eceiv(Hl by the Imperial Department of Agricidture 

 in 1898 and grown at Dominica and St. Vincent. 

 Sucker.-i from thes(> have since been distributed to 

 Jamaica, St. Lucia and Urenada. By a recent mail 

 a second collection of bananas (in this instance obtained 

 from the Straits Settlements) has been received from 

 Kew. 



Poppers or Chili Peppers. 



Among the recent publications of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture i.s a Bulletin entitU'd 

 ^4 lint of A 111' rif III I'lrlctlcH of Peppcrd, by Mr. W. W. 

 Tracy, Junr., in whicli an attempt is made to 

 I'emedy the confusion caused by the perplexing multi- 

 tude of nam(\s usc'd by different seedsmen. The standard 

 nanu^ of each variety is given, and the name of the 

 seedsiiion who catalogue that variety. Tlir more 

 important synonsiiis are added. This pamjihlet is the 

 first instalment, as an experiment, of a work, already 

 iii MS., which attempts to standardize all tlu' ])rincipa[ 

 varieties of vegetables sold by seedsmen in tlie United 

 States. 



Planting Orange Trees. 



In Jamaica great stress is laid on the fact that 

 (.range trees should not be j)lanted too deejJ^-. It 

 is reconnncnded that when transplanting orange plants 

 frcMii the nurs;'ry to the fi(>ld, preferably after goo<i 

 .showeis, holes shoidd be dug two feet .sijuare and nine 

 to twelve inches dei'p. The hole is to be filled with 

 surl'ace soil mixe I with wood a.shes, pressed firmly until 



