THE AGRICULTUitAL NEWS 



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TJu /'/c7i/lcpr J:iniiary J5, 1919, remarks that many of 

 the plant diseases fcir which it hJis become the fashion to 

 bespeak the services of a plant pathologist are really the result 

 of bad cultivation, and the remedy is in rational treatment and 

 not in physic. The insects and fungi to which diseases ai'e 

 due become troublesome when thi- cultivator his, usually in 

 ignorance, illuscd his- plants When the conditions of soil 

 and climate are unsuitable, plants easily fall a pn y to the first 

 disease that comes along. Every country should grow tlje 

 plants that thrive best in it. 



GLEANINGS. 



The Commonwealth Goveriiinent of Australia has pur- 

 cbav-ed the entire output of sugar from (.Queensland both for 

 the season 19l8l!t and for \hat of 1919-20. The total 

 amount of money involved in th^'-purchase is stated to be over 

 ^IfiOMO 'f^n i7i>-- B<i'i:,< .., Triilr A"/"/,;/, October 10, 

 lot's ', 



It is desirable to call attefition to the harm likely' to 

 result to poultry from the use of for>d that contains salt in any 

 qnantity. Poultry of all kinds ate 'very susceptible to salt, 

 and many cases have lately been brought to light in which 

 pi't)hry have died from diarrbaa of a fatal type resulting 

 from taking salt foods. {TheFidd, January 25, 1919.) 



The DaUy Expresi, January 1 .'5, 1919, draws attention to 

 bniioingof three steameis which are tr. have a speed of at 

 least 15 knots for the special purpose of carying fruit from 

 America atd the Wtst Indies to the United Kingdom. Hiih 

 erto the vessels in this trade have not for the most part been 

 built with due regard to the necessilies of this trsde in perish- 

 able products — speed and ventila'yoa— and con.sequ''iiilv nmrli 

 of the fruit has b<en shipped in a h*lfripe state. 



The po.ssibilities.of Ceylon are^reat with regard to agricul- 

 tuie, but beyond the few piouuct^ to which capital has been 

 attracted the agricultural conditions ate admittedly very back- 

 ward. Ceylon is rapidlybecomingdependent on three indus- 

 tries — tea, rubber, and coconut8»«biit the caui-es of the decline 

 o( its other pioducts seem 'to ueed -tareful investigation, 

 (''nr instance, all the sugar rcqii«»ed is. imported, although it 

 could be produced ill the coUifry. (The Colujiial Jonrnal, 

 October 1918.) 



The general tra'le ni (Ju.ideloupc and its dependencies 

 has made conunual jirogresp since the outbre:ik of the war. 

 Krom43,72.«,5JO francs in 1914 it inrrea.wl to 07,100,802 

 francs in 1910, Rud reached yO,0.70.0"8. francs in 1917. 

 Such an cxf raordinury development, doubling tli" money value 

 of the triide wltliin f'nir jrarc, indicates efiVctively the 

 influinccof the war i>pon tin- 1 cooomic po."<ilion of Guadeloupe. 

 Docomrnfary Leade a. In'' " ■ ' "iwl lri<-,iitiit(- nf A..r;.iiiii,io 

 Home, December 19 IS ). 



In an account ( f exptriinen^s on the improvement of the 

 da'e palm sugar industry in I'crgal p'lbliched in the Memoirs 

 of the Depmiiiieiil of Ai[ri(iilliire in Iiidiif, Chemical Series, 

 Vol V. No. '•i, it is staled that India produce:' at least 

 .'500,000 tons of sugar per ye;ii from various piilrae. Uengal 

 iH 8<iJ to produce about 100,000 Ions of ibis quantiiy. 

 Eurojitan fiims in Jludras fr. cha e about 2.5,000 ton.s tf 

 raw palm sugar for n fmirig aijil distilling purposes annually; 

 »o that this is an inrhistiy, !'"■ annual v. lu»; of who.se output 

 in normal times i* rou.hly 2i million pounds sterling. 



A campaign against ankylostomiasis was started ia 1917 

 in the Seychelle.s, under the auspices of the Internationaal 

 Health Board The "campaign is being most thoroughly 

 conducted, and is carried out by means of a house to house 

 visitation, all who are infected being treated. It has been 

 found that 90 per cent, of the people are infected, and the 

 improvement owing tKfiie treatment is already visible in the 

 general health of the (tbpulation. People of all classes have 

 offered themelves for . treatment with greait keenness. 

 {Colonial Repo7-ti — >mjual. No. 9(54.) 



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The Director «J^,' Agriculture, Cyprus, notes in his 

 Annual Report tha^ duri'g the year 1917-18 there 

 has been a gre.it e.xtension of the tobacco industry in that 

 •island This is an old industry, revived by the advent of a 

 number of well-U) do war refugees from Syria and adjaceat 

 tobacco growing countries, who have not only taught the 

 C'ypriots proper methods of tobacco cultivation, but have 

 expended considerable' capital in developing tho industry 

 In order, however, to safeguard the cultivation of foodstuflfs, 

 tobacco planting, was only permitted ly license. 



It appear.s that unusual intert.st has been aroused m 

 the production of cotion in Eastern Peru, and that the acre- 

 age is being e.x'enr). i.^_^n excellent grade of cott' n is being 

 raised . from ."Scv Isli^nd ^eed imported from the United 

 S ates. Al! of i\\\< cotton has an. extraordinarily long staple, 

 while the libr;- i> w.y silky, and comjiares fuvjurably with 

 the be.'^t Sea l-l:'ii'i and Egyptian cotton. So far, all the 

 cotton raised has been jihinped to Liverpool, but producers 

 are I'ow considering iTcp'^rtation to the Uui'od State? as well 

 (The /»rt'/V7 /,',-AA...- ]]^0tld, Octob^- 1 "> ' « ) 



Krom lite rep'irt of the VPorlui'j; "i coo[\r;iiive credit 

 societies in Mauriiiu'? for thf year etidcd June 30,1918, it 

 appears that the number of societies in active operation w^ 

 twenty thre?, while the n"inber of .shareholders w^is 2,767. 

 Dr. Tempany, l)ir cior of Agriculture, who is ex ofDcio 

 Registrar of thes'.- LioiFcties, states th tt he is able with satis- 

 faction to record his opinion Ihit their present positioii 

 continues to be sound, ai.d that the societies appear to be 

 fimly established iri the colony. Further expl.inuiion may 

 be expected in ilm n^nx^,- h.^ iIv diom i.i.i h t.,(ii,<i in strength 

 and solidity. 



In a recent drought, which lasted over two year.", no 

 appreciable rain f^U on the Gilbert Irlands in the Pacific. 

 Many lives have, li(> ,vcver, been saved by the use of conden.'^ed 

 water. In previous timi,'B, when there was no such resource, 

 lilc seems to have btcu susiainid by the natives by drinking 

 tho viiioous hum 'ur iii tlie (yc of tho flying-(ish. In dry 

 weather these fijuig lith ("hch are of a. larger variety than 

 tho£e found in tln^ Atlaiiticj cm be caught iu great numbers 

 at night. It is said by iLe naliveii thai only the eyes of theae 

 flying-fish contain a vitreous humour po scvsing ihe quality 

 ly which life iiKiy be siisiaiir d in times of drought if the 

 supply is «uflici('iit. (The Colonial /ournal, Oclolier 1918.) 



