Vol. XVIII. No. 4il. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



»» 



These precautions, with a liberal use of a scrubbing brush 

 and 'elbow grease', will ensure satisfactory results in the 

 fermenting house. 



A fter the fermented material, or 'beer', has been pumped 

 over to the still house, the procedure is simple in the extreme. 

 Fortunately the amount of labour required is small, so that 

 it is not difficult to obtain men who' are suitable to be 

 'broken in' for the work, for in starting a distillery there is no 

 class from which to draw trained men. One good pure culture 

 man, two fermenting house men, and two still men, five in 

 all, are all the skilled labour required, so that the labour 

 question is not at all serioi^s in a distillery. If the produc- 

 tion of rectified spirits is required, tht n the problem would 

 become more difficult- 



All the problems to be overcome in an industrial 

 distillery may be summed up in two words, 'temperature 

 ■control'. If this is satisfactory, all the other difficulties will 

 solve themselves. 



AVASALJND PROTECTORATE: REPORT 

 ON THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, igrS. 



This report, which has recently been received, is a record 

 of "ood work done in the face of difficulties. It must be 

 remembered that during the year under review Nyasaland 

 was concerned in providing food to a large extent for the 

 forces operating against German East .\frica. The agricul- 

 tural department made great effort to develop local resources 

 to their utmost, and an arrangement was made with European 

 planters to place under maize for military use an area equal to 

 25 per cent of their cultivation. The resulting crop of .'5,000 

 tors approximately was contracted for at the rate of £5 per 

 ton. and was used instead of imported rice from India. In 

 addition to this production by Earopean.s, arrangements were 

 also made to induce the natives to produce -56 ft>. of maize 

 per hat, and a further 3,000 tons approximately was obtained 

 in this manner. The proluction of 6,000 tons of grain 

 locally, at a cost of £30,000 to £40,000 as against £1.50 000, 

 which 1 similar quantity of imported food would have cost, is 

 rightly regarded by the Director of Agriculture as an impor- 

 tant fact, showing that the protectorate can be more self- 

 Mtipporting in the matter of foodstutfs. 



By controlling the cattle industry also, and paying the 

 natives a fair price for their animals, a reasonable supply of 

 fiesh meat wa.s rendered available to the troops in the field, 

 uX an average of (id per D). as against the cost of l.r. 6(7". 

 per ft. for imported bully beef. 



The two most important crops of the protectorate are 

 tsbacco and cotton. With regard to the first of these, the 

 crop for the year under review was one of the best, and 

 certainly the most profitable tobacco .-rop yet produced in 

 the protectorate Tobacco is now the prHcipal agricultural 

 industry of the highlands, and Nyasaland growths of tobacco 

 have been introduced to the trade in England, the increasing 

 pwmpetitioD for the crop being \h^ best indicatioc of its 



s uitability for home trade requirements. Nyasaland tobacco 

 may be said now to have established an assured position in 

 the tobacco market of Great Britain. 



It is being more and more realized that food crops, such as 

 maize and beans, are beneficially growu in rotation with 

 tobacco, rather than relying on outside sources for all food 

 for estate labourers. 



With regard to the cotton crop of the protectorate, the 

 report states that for the last few years the yield per acre in 

 the Blantyre and Zomba district has been decreasing, largely 

 due to growing cotton continuously without manure, on an 

 extensive rather than an intensive system of cultivation, in 

 areas where climatic conditions are unfavourable. Blantyre is 

 too cold and exposed for successful cotton growing, and is 

 essentially a tobacco-growing district, but there are many 

 thousand acres bordering Lake Nyasa which are most saita» 

 ble for cotton growing. Nyasaland cotton has, however, main, 

 tained a standard of high quality, and in exoeriments carried 

 out by the Agricultural Department, it has proved itself 

 to be best adapted for local conditions, especially when grown 

 from selected seed. Further trials of some of the best types 

 of the longer staple Uganda cotton are being continued. The 

 total production of cotton by Europeans in 1917 was 4,448 

 bales of 400ft. each, valued at £74,133. 



The native crop of cotton shows a total of 1,070 tons, a 

 considerable increase over that of the previous year. The 

 Director of Agriculture considers that the native cotton 

 industry is now well established in certain districts as long as 

 the industry is fostered and supervised by the Department. 

 The cotton grown by the natives commands equal prices 

 to cotton grown on European estates. With regard to 

 future development, a report on the subject ha? been 

 forwarded to the Empire Cotton Growing Committee. 



Another promising industry in Nyasaland is tea growing, 

 under which there are 4,523 acres. The tea planters in 

 Nyasaland, however, laboured under great disadvantages 

 during the season under report, owing to the restriction placed 

 on the importation of tea into Great Britain. Tea is a crop 

 demanding the investment of considerable capital, with little 

 hope of return for the first five years. It can only be 

 abandoned with lo.ss ot capital; and in this respect is 

 unlike annual crops, such as cotton and tobacco, where'profit 

 or loss accrue in the same year as the crop is planted. It is 

 hoped that the future of this industry will be brighter, now 

 that the war is over. 



Among the experiments conducted on the government 

 farms, it is noted that planting cotton and maize on alternate 

 ridges, to ascertain whether early shelter followed by subse- 

 quent increase in room, li^ht, and air would so benefit the 

 cotton that the net results would be better than by growing 

 both crops apart, gave the result of a benefit of about 6,s. 8</. 

 per acre in favour of mixed as against pure cultivation in the 

 case of these two crops. 



The experience in Nyasaland bears out the re'Ora- 

 mendations of the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 to cotton growers in several points. In first pU.», 

 the report states that there is little doubt that improve 

 ment will be more .[uickly obtained by concentration on breed- 

 ing and selecting from establisbe'l strains; and secondly- 

 the vital importance of i-prootin,: md burning all cotton, 

 bushes to avoid the attack- of the i>rincipal cotton pe«tp ib 

 also noted. 



With regard to live ■'nxik, a warning is recordei .1-. t" 

 the risk of sheep raising in Nyasaland, if European breed.s 

 are used. The combin.ation of heat, heavy rainfall, long 

 grass, and endemic parasit-^s of variou.'! kinds ant.= adversely 

 upon sheep of woolbearine breeds, 



