Vol. I. No. 12. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



183 



The Usefulness of Botanic Stations. 



The list of plaiit.s (listributcd by the Botanic 

 Station, Dominica, during the year ending JIarch :^1, 

 11)02, affoid.s an excellent example of the u.seful work 

 being done by these institutions in promoting the 

 agricultural welfare of the West Indies. This branch 

 of the Work of a Botanic Station is apt to be overlooked 

 b}' the casual visitoi'. It makes very little show and 

 3"et demands an enormous exj)enditure of time on the 

 part of the most skilled members of the Station staff. 



The nurseries, so laboriously filled during the 

 months of preparation, with plants raised from seeds 

 and cuttings, are rapidly emptied at the planting 

 season and all the work has to be commenced afresh. 



The Dominica Station during last season dis- 

 tributed 00,500 economic i)lants in addition to large 

 quantities of seeds, pine suckeis, onion sets, etc. 

 Amongst the more important items were 37,000 limes 

 and 72.5 of the new spineless variet}': 12,000 cacao 

 plants: over 1,000 nutmeg plants; 3,000 .sour orange 

 plants for stock, and some (!00 budded oranges. Of 

 special importance were 450 rubber ]jlan's, fur the 

 cultivation of which Dominica seems well a('at)ted. 



Report of the Scientific Commissioners. 



The Preliminary Rei)ort of Drs. Tempest Anderson 

 and J. S. Flett, who were appointed by the Ro^al 

 Society to investigate the recent volcanic disturbances, 

 has been issued in the FroceetHng-s of the Ruijal 

 livrl('f)j. Vol. 70, ])p. 423-45. The sequence of events 

 in St. Vincent and JFartinicpie is concisely given, and 

 the general similarity of the volcanic phenomena in 

 the two islands indicated. The violent eruption of 

 Mont Pelee on July 9, which they were so fortunate as 

 to view at close quarters and yet escape unharmed is 

 graphical!)- described : — 'The sailors cried "The mount- 

 ain bursts" ! In an incredibly short space of time a 

 red hot avalanche swept down to the sea. . . 

 Undoubtedly the velocity was terrific. Had any 

 buildings stood in its path they would have been 

 utterly wiped out and no living creature could have 

 survived the blast. . . There can be no doubt that the 

 eruption we witnessed was a counterpart of that which 

 destroyed St. Pierre.' 



The three fine plates with which the report is 

 illustrated bear testimony to Dr. Anderson's skill as a 

 photogi-ajjher. The Commissioners express their 

 thanks to the various officers and others who mitigated 

 their labours and to the members of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture in the various islands who 

 'received us with the greatest kindness, and gave us 

 invaluable help throughout.' A full account of the 

 volcanic jihenomena will appear in the forthcoming 

 number of the Wettt India n Bulletin, which it is 

 hoi)ed will be published next month. 



Budded Citrus Stock. 



The superiority of budded citrus plants seems to 

 be well appreciated in many parts of the West Indies. 

 The large number distributed during the past year 



from the Dominica Station, where great attention is 

 given to this work, has been noted above. Mr. J. H. 

 Hart, Superintendent of the Royal Botanic (Jardens, 

 Trinidad, writes: 'The fact of the demand being 

 beyond the su|iply proves to the hilt that the value of 

 budded stork is a well-recognizcfl fact.' He adds that 

 young budded jjlants can also be obtained from Jlessrs. 

 Reasoner Brothers, Florida, at 25 to 30 cents per post. 

 'They come fiirly well, but are not so strong as our 

 own buds.' 



West India Isinglass. 



In reply to the inquiry on p. 154 as to the .source 

 of West India Isinglass, Mr. J. H. Hart writes : — 



'This is brought from the mainland rivers and 

 bartered here for goods. It is the "sound' of a species 

 of sturgeon found there in considerable quantity. It 

 is shipijed from Trinidad to Europe by several of our 

 merchants.' 



Mr. Hart was good enough to accompany his 

 ivmarks with a small ' s(nind ' about seven inches in 

 length, and five ounces in weight. 



Destruction of Fish at Barbados. 



A correspondent, who is deej)ly interested in the 

 fishery prospects at Barbados writes in reference to 

 the illegal destruction offish going on in this island: — 



Ha.s your attention been called to the .systematic 

 destruction of the tish of the best descriptions which visit 

 our coast in vast shoals in this and the iireceeding nionthf^, 

 by poachers using dynamite to kill them ? A visit to the 

 tish market any day will sati.sfy you that the legitimate 

 cajiture wants regulating, to prevent immature tish being 

 cajitured and sold. The subject of the tish-food of this 

 conimuuity seriously wants looking after to .secure the 

 abundance from wanton waste. The capture of bait is also 

 another source of wanton Avaste of young fish and fish-food. 

 It could all be controlled for the benefit of the food sujiply 

 of the comnmnitv. 



Rubber from Young Trees. 



In the Annual Report, 1001, on tiie Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, Mr J. H. Hart writes : — 



'Some few j-ears ago I jiublished an informal 

 account of an analysis of a year-old tree, made by a 

 gentleman who had undertaken the study of the latex 

 of Ca>!tillo<i, and he reported finding 8 per cent, of 

 rubber: but it is now evident that although rubber 

 material may have been found, it was of inferior qualit\', 

 and only the larger trees, eight or ten years old, can 

 be depended U])nn to furnish rubber of good quality. 

 It was anticipated tlniD rubber material could have 

 been extracted from one-year-old-trees, but this has 

 ])roved illusor}', for although, chemically, the rubber is 

 there, yet it is not in such a condition as to make it of 

 market value, and up to the j)resent no chemical 

 process has been devised wdiich will change the soft 

 and sticky material obtained from young trees into the 

 hard and elastic produce afforded by mature trees.' 



This point was also dealt with by Mr. Hart at the 

 Agricultural Conference of 1900. (See Went Indian 

 Balldin, Vol. II, ],. 102.) 



