Vol. I. Xo. G. 



THE AGRICULTL'ltAL NEWS. 



87 



grape-fruit to numerous fricnils. In the case "fthe 

 grajie-fruit he eiiclesed directions as to t!ie manner of 

 jirejiaring and eating it. The acknowledgments 

 received were recently jiuhlished in full in the Jumaicd 

 Glcdiirr. One gentleman wrote: 'I did not know- 

 honey coidd be got from Jamaica': another 'our 

 Scotch heather-honey will (]uake when it sees this 

 West Indian rival' ; a third ' the grape-fruit prepared 

 as you described was delicious. A.s a result we read : 

 ' Mr. Dickson, the salesman in England rjf the Janraica 

 Bee-keepers Association has obtained the contmct to 

 supply the entire fleet (of over one hundred shii)s) 

 belonging U> Me.s.-rs. Eider Dempster & Co., with 

 Jamaica honey and guava ji-lly.' 



Stock at St. Lucia. 



In order to improve the breed of beef cattle at 

 St. Lucia, at the request of the Agricultviral Society 

 in that island, the Imperial Department of Agricul- 

 ture made a grant for the purchase of a shorthorn 

 bull. A fine animal was recently imported through 

 the Department of Agriculture at Nova Scotia and 

 landed at Castries on Marcli 8, last. By last mail 

 the Administrator reported that the animal had died 

 somewhat suddenly at Choc from an affection of the 

 stomach. It is generally believed that well-bred short- 

 horn bull.s are very delicate in the tropics. It has 

 certainly proved so in this case. Probably a Hereford 

 bull would be found better suited to the climate of St. 

 Lucia. 



Lagos Silk Rubber at Trinidad. 



On ]jage 5-1- of this Jijurnal we drew attention to 

 the Central American rubber tree (CantUliw ) and the 

 Lvgiis silk tubber tree (Fii ntumla) a.s the mo.st 

 promising rid)ber trees at present for cultivati<in in 

 the West Indies. Sir Hart, the Superintendent of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, in his Anniutl 

 Jti'pini for 11)01-2 comments on the hardv nature of the 

 Lagos silk rubber tree. He writes : — • 



' The trees have given a fine croj) of seed during the 

 l>a.st season, ami a larg:- ijuantity of plants have heen raised. 

 From present ai)ipearances it is a tree that will stand, proba- 

 bly, more harilship than any of the other rubbers, as it can 

 bear exposure to the sun although it does not grow fast in 



such situations A plot of this rubber hii.^ heen 



planted at 3 feet apart and in the full sun, in order to test 

 its growth luider the conditions of close planting and jjiowtli 

 without shade.' 



Peaberry and other Coffees. 



The Qiii'nisld lul Afiriritltarnl Jovrnid contains 

 this interesting note on the relative \-alues of Peaberr}' 

 and other Coffees : — 



'The )Santos corresiiondeiit of the lira:illini Rfview 

 remarks that when com])aring the roasting and drinkinw 

 qualities of washed coffees (the finest qualities of which were 

 selling at the time he wrote at $9.00 to $9. .50) with tho.se 

 of superior Peaberries which fetch from .'$9.50 to !?10, one 

 cannot helji feeling rather distressed about the strange and 

 incomiirehensible ways in which the coffee trade is carried on. 



On the one hand, he .says, a [lerfect roasting and ta.sting 

 produce is otfere<l at jirices from .50.^-. to .">4.s., whilst for 

 pealierries full of Maek beans, cherries, stones, sour beans, 

 and of no roasting merit, and evidently tasting like an 

 ordinary flat bean, good if not regular, there is an eager 

 demand at prices from -^fs. to •")7.'!. Evidently miimfiis vult 

 (lecipi. If people would only learn at last that, round and 

 flat coffee lierrics grow on the very same bush' 1 — Plant in^ 

 Oj'ini /n. 



m -» ■ 



Shade in Cacao Culture. 



Just MS the use of leguiuinoirs plants in crop 

 rotation in temperate agriculture is a legacy from the 

 agriculture of the p.ist, .so the use of leguminous trees in 

 Cacao culture in the tropics has been handed down 

 from the ])rebistoric agricultui-e of the native races of 

 South America. That this is .so is .seen from the follow- 

 ing passage taken from Acostas' account of cacao in 

 Thi- Ndfii ml (itxl Munil liintor;/ of flic lixlic.s. 1590, 

 Hakluyt Society Edition, 1880 :— 



' The tree wheretm this fruite growes is of reason- 

 able bignesse, and well fishioned ; it is so tender, that 

 to keep it from the burning of the Sunne, they plante 

 neere unto it a great tree, which serves only to shade 

 it, and they call it the mother of cacao. There are 

 plantations where they are grown like to the vines and 

 t)live trees of S])aine. The jtrovince where there is 

 givatest trade in cacao is Guatemiala. There grows 

 none in Peru, but this country yields coca, respecting 

 which there is another still greater superstition.' 



^ ♦ P I 



A new Cacao Experiment Station in Java. 



An interesting development in tropical E.xiioriment 

 Station work has recently taken place in Java. As is well 

 known there are in that island two Experiment Stations 

 entirely devoted to the investigation of questions relating to 

 the cultivation of the .sugar-cane and the maiuifacture of 

 .sugar. The funds reipiired for these stations are suljscribed 

 b}- the planters them.selves. In 1901 a new station, entirely 

 devoted to the cacao industry, was started at Salatiga under 

 the dir.^ction of Dr. L. Zehutner, late Entomologist to the 

 West Java Sugar Experiment Station. Two bulletins of 

 the new cacao .station, dealing with insect pest.s, have been 

 received by the Department and will be noticed in a future 

 number of the AgrifuUural Xev^. 



Tree-planting Competition. 



From the Jaiini'il of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, we extract the follo\\ing note on a tree- 

 planting prize competition, described in the Ajjricul- 

 fttral Journal of the Capo of Good Hope, Vol. 

 XIX, pp. 387-408 :— 



This paper gives the result of tiie conqietition held, in 

 terms of the resolution of the Honoural)le the House of 

 Assembly. The plants u.sed in the formation of the new 

 plantations at Diep Kloof, George, at an elevation of about 

 800 feet, were Acacia inollissima and A. pycnantha, and 

 90,000 trees, averaging 20 feet in height and 1,0-50 per acre, 

 have been established. While at Schoonberg, George, on 

 the o[iposite side of the Outeniyua ^Mountains, the planta- 

 tion entered for competition is eom[)Osed entirely of Blue 

 Gum ( Eucalyptini (llobiihi:<) with the exceiition of some 

 300 E. Jifersico/or planted in one block. 



