130 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 1G, 1902. 



to their geographical position, are Jamaica, British 

 Guiana, Trinidad with Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, 

 St. Lucia, Barbados and the Leeward Islands. 

 Immediately after, follows the Repcrt of the Educa- 

 tional Section at the Conference of 1902. Mr. Sydney 

 Olivier, CM. (J., the capable and energetic Colo- 

 nial Secretary anil Chairman of the Agricultural 

 Board at Jamaica contributes an important paper 

 on the "RegulatiDn of the cpiality of exported Fruit'; 

 Mr. H. Maxwell Lefroy, F.E.S., deals with ' Sugges- 

 tions for controlling the impoitition of Liscct Pests,' 

 followed by a valuable paper by Mr. W. Fawcett, 

 F.L.S., on the ' Banana Industry of Jamaica.' There 

 can be no doubt as to the thoroughly exhaustive and 

 useful character of this paper, and, in view of the 

 jDOSsible extension of the banana industry into the 

 Les.'.er Antilles the article will be read with great 

 interest in those islands. It is evident from what is 

 being done at Jamaica that successful banana cultiva- 

 tion requires quite as much skill and forethought as 

 cane cultivation. Mr. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., discusses the 

 ' Preparation of Essential Oils in the West Indies': Mr. 

 Williaiii ( !. Freeman, F.L.S., gives an interesting 

 account of the 'Aloe Industry of Barbados'; and Mr. 

 Albert Howard, F.C.S., F.L.S., concludes with 'Sugges- 

 tions for the removal of Epiphytes from Cacao and 

 Lime trees.' 



CACAO. 



APPEARANCE OF POD.S AS TEST OF QUALITY. 



The question of attempting to use the external 

 characters of a cacao pod to determine the colour and 

 value of the .seeds inside it, is commented on in recent 

 re|)orts from Jamaica and Ceylon. In the Aninuil 

 Nr'/mii on the Jamaica Botanic Department for l!)01-2, 

 :\Ii-. W. Fawcett says :— 



A choiiii.st wlio has studied cacao in the various Wt'.st 

 India Islands where it i.s grown, .states that he has formed 

 the oi)inion that not much de[)endence can be placed on the 

 form of the j)od ni making choice of good seed. One seed 

 in the pod should be cut, and the colour noted. This he 

 thinks is a more reliable test than the form of the pod. For 

 flavour lie prefers the white colour in the interior of the seed. 

 But if this kind of cacao is produced by a tree not so 

 vigorous as that yielding seeds with red or purple colour, at 

 any rate the light pink colour is preferable to the jiurple 

 colours. 



Mr. J. B. Carruthers, of the Botanic Gardens, 

 Ceylon, has boon devoting considerable attention to the 

 subject, and in his annual repurt for 1901-2 says: — 



The external .shape and size of the fruit affords no 

 criterion as to the commercial value of the seed within, and 

 may often be a mo.st misleading character. The pods 

 examined — more than 1,000 in all — were of all kinds and 

 varieties and on different estates. They were all measured 

 accurately, both length ways and aroinid the thickest part, 

 and weighed; then they were opened and the number and 

 weight of the seeds and the w.Mght of the fruit-wall recorded. 



It may be added that the Went IiuJiiiii BnUdhi 

 is readily obtainable (price sixpence, post free eight 

 pence) from all Agents of the Department throughout 

 the West Indies. The London Agents are Messrs. 

 Dulau & Co., .S7, Suho Siiuare, W 



PINE-APPLES 



PIXES WITH COCKSCOMIl HEADS. 



Pine-apple growers in Jamaica have been dis- 

 tui'bed recentl}' by the ])ines forming, at times, large, 

 flattened 'cockscomb' tops instead of the normal 

 crowns. It was feared that such monstrosities miglit 

 be handed on from generation to generation, and hence 

 the use of suckers fVom these plants was looked on 

 with suspicion. Mr. H. If. (Cousins in discussing the 

 question says : — 



It has been proved by direct experiment that suckers 

 and even off-shoots from the crown.s of monstrous or ' cocks- 

 comb' [lines develop normally under healthy soil-conditions. 

 The monstrosities ai'e caused by tlie overcharge of nitrogen 

 due to the mechanical and chemical conditions of soil on 

 which the pines had been grown. Magnificent Cayennes 

 have been grown on .some soils this year where the previous 

 crop had largely consi.sted of monstrosities. It was theught 

 at first that a nematode worm was involved, but no 

 evidences of such injury could be otitained, and the 

 foregoing results confirm the opinion formed last September. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH TOBACCO AT 



ST KITTS. 



Considerable interest is being taken in the cultivation 

 and curing of tobacco in St. Kitts. (See p. 53). In the 

 Annual Iteport on the Botanic Station, recently issued, Mr. 

 W. Lunt, the Curator, records the steady progress of the 

 experiments. About half f.n acre was grown near the Station, 

 and the resulting cro]) is being carefully cured, and ' promi.scs 

 well for a first venture.' Plots of tobacco were also started on 

 four est.iti'S. The final results cf these cx]ierinicnts arc 

 awaited with interest. Meanwhile it is gratifying to learn 

 that an independent ]irivate experiment, on a small 

 scale, has been carried through successfully, by Jlr. Williaiu 

 Sprott, a scho:)lmaster of Ba-iseierre, St. Kitt-s. He jilanted 

 a garden jilot, 40 ft. by 25 ft., with jilants raised 

 fiom seed gatiiered from toliacco plants found growing in 

 ditl'eront localities in the island. The plants were set 2 ft. G 

 ins. apart, in rcjws 3 ft. apart. They were given great caie 

 and attention and grew rapidly, i)roducing leaves 3 ft. long 

 by 6 inches wide. Most of the plants i)rotluccd from fourteen 

 to twenty jiairs of leaves. When mature the leaves were 

 harvested and carefidly cured, as far as possible in accordance 

 with the Cuban method. The cured tobacco was pronounced 

 by several per.sons who smoked it, either in pi[ie or made 

 into cigars, to be better than tobacco obtainable locally. 

 This experiment goes to show, that tobacco plants gr<nvn at 

 St. Kitts, cultivated and cured tuider favomable condition.'', 

 are capable of pr(jducing a fair (juality tobacco. 



