ToL. I. No. 2. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



29 



RECENT REPORTS. 



British Guiaiiu. Repirt on the Botanic (Inrdeii^ and 

 their iiKjrk for the year lOOO-lOdl . By (J. S. Jeiiman, F.L.S., 

 Government Bota<iist and Superintendent. 



Tliis reiiort contair.s an iKccunt uf the gtneral routine 

 work at the Botanic Gardens with interesting and \'aluat)le 

 notes on economic iil:ints. The work on seedling and other 

 ■canes carried out at thj Gardens is not inchided in tliis 

 report. The rainfall daring 1900 was 8894 inches, an 

 increase of 36-21 inches on that of ths previous year, 

 but yet 4'08 inches below tha mean of the last 21 years. 

 The number of plants issued from Ajiril 1900, to March 

 1901, was nearly 20,000, valued at :?2,061. Among the 

 economic plants introduced into the Gardens during the year 

 may be mentioned, the best varieties of Grenada cacao, the 

 navel orange and native sjjecies of Ilevea. Interesting notes 

 are given on the large number of varieties of mangos under 

 experimentiil cultivation, on .Jamaica cocos {Colombia), sweet 

 jwtatos ani artichokei. A variety of native cotton in which 

 the cotton is easily removed from the seed.s was obtained from 

 the interior. A number of leguminous plants wa^ grown for 

 experimental purjioiei with a view to their utilization as green 

 dressings. Numerous interesting natural history notes are 

 given relating to native and introduce! plants, and to tho.se 

 used as food plants by the nxtive Indians in the interior. An 

 aeeount is given of the pra'.tical instruction carried out liy 

 the Agricultural Instructor in various pirts of ths Colony. 

 There is a melancholy interest attached to this report, beingthe 

 last by Mr. .Jenniin befo'.-e his deith. In fact the rejKirt 

 appears to have been submitted by him the day before he 

 (lied. He practically created the beautiful Botanic Gardens 

 at Georgetown and carried on, in association with Professor 

 Harrison, a long series of exi)eriments with seedling and other 

 canes. He made large collections of the indigenous plants of 

 British Guiana and was a recognize! authority on West 

 Indian ferns. 



The Economic Feedin'j of I'laatatioii Stock under present 

 conditions of hi'jh-priccd f/rain, hy Dr. W. C. Stuhbs — 

 Louisiana Sugar Planters" Association, March 15, 100,1. 



(Surjar Planters' Journal, March 22, 1902.) 



The paper deals with the feeding of plantation i^toek — 

 horses and mules. 



A horse or a mule weighing 1,000ft) can be maintained 

 on Kj.'.ft) of hay or 10ft) hay and 5ft) of oats or 4ft) of corn. 



A horse exerting himself to the utmost consumes nearly 

 one half more food per unit of work than with ordinary 

 draft. 



A LOOOft). hor.se re<iuire.s 14-4ft) of digestible food daily 

 for mo<lerate work, l.'VClb for average work and 16'6ft) for 

 heavy work. This requires 10ft) of timothy hay with 11-.5, l-"> 

 and 20ft3 of mixed corn and oats for the three kinds of 

 work. 



Tlie Louisiana sugar mules weigh l,200ftj, and do very 

 heavy work. Each reipiires 18-32ft) of digestil)le nutrients 

 per day. The practice in Louisiana is to feed the mules with 

 12Ib of })ea vine hay and 16ft) of grain. This sujiplies 

 19'48ft) of digestible nutrients and ai)i)ears to contain too 

 much i)rotein. 



A change in feeding is desired on account of the high 

 prices of corn and oats. Dr. Stubbs suggests a ration of i»ea 

 vine hay, cotton seed meal and molasses — (1) 12ft) i)ea vine 

 liay, 10ft) molasses and 6ft) cotton seed meal. This ration 

 <?ontain.s 18-73ftj. digestible nutrients with an albuminoid 



ratio of 1 : 4-4. The 6ft). of cotton seed meiil may be altered 

 to (2) 3ft). meal and 6ft). of corn, or (3) 2ft) of nie;U and 

 9 ft) of corn. The sound diet would give 2074 ft) digestible 

 nutrients or an albuminoid ratio of 1 : 5'4 ; the third 21 ■33ft). 

 digestible nutrients or an albuminoid I'atio of 1 : 5'9. 



The .saving in the case of these three diets above is 17 "3, 

 12'6, and 9'7 cents per day per mule. 



Those intending to adopt the new diets are advised to 

 begin with 1ft) of cotton seed meal per day and grailii.illy 

 increase up to the ration atlopted. 



Molasses is fed to stock in Louisiana extensively with 

 excellent result.s, a mule eating daily with relish 8 to 12ft). 

 Dr. Stubbs thinks it almost a criminal waste to sell molasses 

 a few cents per gallon and buy hay, corn and oats at 

 present [)rices. 



The use of cotton seed meal is likely to increase as a 

 stock feed on account of its low price. Six pounds jicr day 

 is the maximum quantity recommended, and this (jnantity 

 should be approached gradually. 



Ceylon : Cacao Canker in Ceylon. Circular Xo. 23 of 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylm. By J. B. Carrufhers, 

 F.L.S. October, 1001. 



The writer of this pamphlet has evidently had excellent 

 opportunities for studying the cacao canker disease in 

 Ceylon, having spent ujjwards of a year in investigating the 

 life-history of the fungus and visiting the various estates in 

 the Colony. 



From the account given of the general symptoms and the 

 microscoi)ic characters of the disease, it wouhl api)ear that 

 the canker disease of Ceylon is very similar to that of the 

 West Indies, and that both are apparently caused by closely 

 related funo-i. In Ceylon, however, the disease seems to have 

 done far more damage than in the West Indies, as Mr. 

 (Jarruthers speaks of whole estate.s having been wiped out 

 thereby. Further, in Ceylon the canker fungus attacks cacac 

 pods to a considerable extent which, so far, does not .seem tc 

 have been recorded in the West Indies. Much work, how- 

 ever, still remains to be done both in Ceylon and in the West 

 1 ndies to clear u^) all the questions relating to the c;acao 

 fungi and their work. 



The fungus Phytophthora is mentioned a.s appearing on 

 cacao pods, but the part played by this form does not seem 

 to have, so far, been fully investigated. 



While the investigations of the lifediistories and the 

 l)art played by the fungi — Kectria and Phytopht!u,ra—\n 

 the Ceylon cacao diseases, given in this Circular, aie not yet 

 (juite complete, the paper is a valuable one from the 

 practical side of the question, and for its suggestions for 

 future work on the improvement of the cacao. 



The relatively enormous number of young pods which. 

 <lie off, and the consequent loss of energy of the ti-ee is alluded 

 to, and the necessity of a study of this .piestion emi)hasised. 

 The .starting point of such an inipiiry woul<l_ necessarily be 

 the manner in which the cacao flower is pollinated. Useful 

 information in experiment station work on the improvement 

 of cac^ao might easily result from such an investigation. 



It is pointed out that Forastero pods are not destioyeil 

 by fungi to the same extent a-s those of the 'old red' cacao 

 of Ceylon, which have a thinner epidermis than those of 

 Forastero. Again attention is willed to the fact that some 

 cacao trees bear their main crop in the dry sea.son when 

 the danger of fungoid diseases of the i)od is at a mini- 

 mum. The production of a new variety of cacao with a 

 thick i)od-epidermi.s, a .smooth bark and a tendoicy to boar 



