70 



THE AGRK'ULTUKAL NEWS. 



June 21, 1902. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Luttfis ami iiiattLT for publication, as well as all specimens 

 fur naming shmilil be adtlrusseil to the Imi'KRIal Commissioner 

 OF Ai;rki LTiKE, Head < >ffice : P.arbados. It is iiavtioulaily 

 desired that no letters lie addressed to any member of the statl 

 by r.ame. Snch a course will entail delay in dealing with 

 them. 



Communications should always be written on one side only 

 of the paper. It should be under.stood that no contrilnitions 

 or specimens will, in any case, be returned. 



All ajjplications for coj)ies of the '.\gricvdtural News' 

 should be addressed to the Local Agents and not to the 

 Head Ottice. Where no Agents exist subscriiJtious at the 

 rate of '.h. 3./ per annum, payable beforehand, will be received 

 at the Heiid ( »liice. 



Correspondents sending newspapers should be careful to 

 mark the paragrajihs they wish to liring under notice. 



gigriciiltunil pflu^. 



Vol. I. SATUIiDAY, M'SE L'l, I'.tOi'. N. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Botanical Adviser for the Colonies. 



It has been announced in the /yniilaii Gnzeftc 

 that Sir \\'illiam T. Thiselton-Dyer, K.C\:\I.(i., F.R.S., 

 Director ot the Royal Botanic CJarden.s, Kew, has been 

 a)>])oiiite(l Botanical Adviser to the Secn-t.-tiy of'-State 

 tor tlie Colonies. 



What Our Rivals Are Doing. 



Of late year.s the beet sugar indu^)try in the 

 United States of America has made extraordinary 

 progress. In California during the last eainj)aign the 

 Oxnard factory produceil :n,2.50 tons (2,000 Ih. each) 

 of sugar, and the Chino factory 12,500 tons, a total of 

 .5:1,7.50 tons. These figures repre.sent the output of 

 only two factories. The average sugar cro]j of Barba- 

 dos is about 51,000 tons, and i>f Antigua and St. Kitts 

 together about 24,000 tons (2,240 tt).) 



Scientific Commission for St. Vincent. 



Conunentiiig on the Scieiititic .Mission fur the 

 study of the recent Volcanic Bhenoniena in the West 

 Indies, Xattirc sa^'s : 'The idea was mooted in 

 conversation in the ante-room of the Royal Society at 

 the last week's meeting and Dr. Tempest Anderson, 

 who has probably examineil and photograjihed volcanic 

 jiheiuimeiia in more regions tJian any other Englislnnan 

 at once expressed his readiness to undertake the 

 journey.' Fortunately it was found jjossible to arrange 

 ibr Dr. Flett, the petroiogist to the ( leologieal Survey 

 to come also. 



The two mendiers of the ( 'ommission will 

 approach their subject from \eiy <litfii(iii points of 

 view. ' Dr. Anderson's wi(l(\ experience as a traveller, 

 especially in volcanic districts, with his skill as a ))hoto- 

 graj)her, and Dr. Flett's intimate knowledge ot'all sides 

 of petrology, will insure, by their working in combina- 

 tion, that nothing will be inis.sed and important acces- 

 sions be made to our knowledge of vulcanology.' 



Drs. Anderson and Flett arrived at Barbados, on 

 the R.M.S. ' Trent' on Sunday the .Sth. inst., and left 

 by the mail of Jl'jiiday for their destination. 



Tree Planting in Trinidad. 



Trinidad su))plies a good object le.sson of the 

 beneficial results of tree ])lanting, a subject dwelt on 

 in our issue of June 7 (pj). 50 anrl 55). In the Aiinnitl 

 Ri'l>iirf (for 1901) on the Botanic Gardens, Mr. Hart 

 the Superintendent, says : — 



' The trees in .Jerninghain .\ venue continue to grow 

 raiddly and the tliree years' growtli since iilanting in March 



1899, is more tlian could have l>een exiiected The 



trees on the wharf have generally made good [irogrcss .... 

 The .lubilee tree, planted by Sir C. C. Knollys, K.C.M.d, 

 in 1S97, is now over twenty-five feet high. It has a large 

 spread of branche.s, i.s in excellent liealth and will probably 

 make a handsome and iiermaiient tree. 



No one need therefore be debarred from planting 

 trees on Arbor Day, through the fear of having to wait 

 many years before obtaining tangible results. 



Barbados Local Agricultural Show. 



In 11)01 and 1!)02 very successfiil local Agricul- 

 tural Exhibitions, for peasant projaietors and small 

 owners, were hehl in Barbados supported out of the 

 funds of the Imperial Department of Agricidture (see 

 also p.22.) On Friday the (ith. inst. a Committee 

 meeting was held to make the preliminary arrange- 

 ment for the show to be held on January ^'•i, 15)03, at 

 Todds Plantation, St. Johns. 



Seeds are being im]iorted for fi-ee distribution to 

 peasants and school children. In tmler to encourage 

 an interest in plants at an early age, special jnizes are 

 offered to school children for plants grown in boxes, 

 ])ots and small tubs. At the last show, notwith- 

 standing the novelty of the sidiject, the .school 

 children exhibited .some well-grown jilants. Turiier.s 

 Hall School, of which Mr. C. T. .Murj.hy is lua<l 

 master, gained a wt41 deserved Uijdoma of merit in 

 addition to the money prizes of the in<lividual .scholans, 



— -^^ ♦ ^m^— 



Green Sorghum Poisoning. 



Some recent reseaii-h work in the Si-ii'ntifie 

 De])artment of the Imperial Institute would appear to 

 have atl'orded a solution to the vexed <piestion of why 

 cattle are sometimes jioi.soiied by green sorghum, 

 (Soiyhnni vubjurc,) locally called (iuinea corn. 



Cattle fre(pientl3' eat .sorghum with impunity, but, 

 there is no doubt that at other times they sutl'er 

 severelv, death being not infreijuent. Up to the 

 present no .satisfactoiy explanation ha.s been given. 



