Voi, XVIII. No. US. 



THE AGIIICULTURAL NEWS. 



195 



onto me of all efforts has been a deciskn on tlie part of 

 the Otii ■• al Committee to allocate from the (Colonial Devel- 

 opment Fund a grant of .£1,500 for nejt financ al year, 

 which amount may be continued and perhaps increased in 

 subsequent years, to pay for a scientific enquiry into the 

 question of West Indian sponge culture. It is understood 

 that a matine zoologist will be sent at an early da.te to the 

 Baharaas in oider to start making observations It is 

 understood further that this office- will later on conduct an 

 investigation in tie West Indian islands farther south. 



In cont'nuing the letter to Nature it was pointed out 

 that during the war, owing to the naval occupation nf the 

 Mediterranean, CJreat Britain was largely dependent upon 

 the West Indies for it.s supplj' of sponges which are essential 

 to a lariie number of important industries. This in- 

 creased trade, chiefly .secured by the Biharaas, can only be 

 maintained if West Indian production is kept up and West 

 Indian grades of sponges improved so that they can compet- 

 with the Medierranean sponges which are amongst the best in 

 the world. This may or may not be achie»ed by means of 

 sponge culture, but i he investigation in the Bahamas will 

 very soon decide the question. The writer of the 

 letter while in London visited several sponge import, rs in 

 the city, and had the advantage of being shown various 

 grades obta ned from different parts of the wnrkl One 

 point wa<5 c'ri!r:y emphasized by the merchants namel,\ . th•^t 

 everv sij"ntic xx^- uii^t r In.* poor itsqunlity has some industrial 

 use aii.i iliB cfore some value on the market Hence if we 

 can pro.i"''? a large number of somewhat inferior sponges 

 cheaply ennu-.h around the West Indian islands, it may pay 

 as well as a suiiller quantity of more expensive and deli'-ale 

 sponges wh'ch require very special conditions, and a long 

 period in which to mature. 



From enquiries made, the London .■sponge market has 

 had no c.-^ .-ience it- landliiij, Hi.ificially ^rovn sponges, but 

 enquiries are being made of certain New York houses to which 

 it is believed the Florida and Caicos cultivated sponges are 

 sent. 



In conclusion a note may be added here on ihe remarks 

 made in the letter to N.itiin concerning American interest 

 in the subject of sponge culture. Refrrence has already 

 been made lo American progress in Florida, but a more 

 significant fact ca not te fiiiind than a stateniPnt in a recent 

 British Coljniil Tleport on the Turks and Caicos Islands, to 

 the effect that at one of these islands 8,000 acres of sea for 

 sponge culture has been conceded to a capitalist from New 

 York. While we should prefer to see British enterprise of this 

 nature, particularly in a British colony, we nevertheless 

 have to recognize a high degree of consistei'cy in LFnited 

 States action. M st of the marine inveslia I'.on in the 

 West Atlantic his been American : as for example, Pro- 

 fessor Nuttings' recent expedition to Birbads and .\ntigua 

 and his forraei West Indian expedition ; there has al-o liecn 

 the stU'ly on the fishes of Porto Rico by the Uni ed 

 States Government many years ago, and quite recently 

 the oceanographic work by the steamer Bachf. It may be 

 mentioned incidentally, tbat the results of this latter work 

 may be found very valuable as showing the difference in 

 conJi':c:is t^~i'-:'-'a the various luirino environments in 

 these Wiittrs. 



It now rem '.ins to await the investigation of sponge 

 culture in llie West Indies which should be S'arted 

 towards tlie end of the piesent year. Those intf rested 

 in the mariue development of the West Indies, a subject 

 which offeis many pof.sibilities ap>rt from sponge 

 culture, will await the results of the eomiog enquiry with 

 intp.reat. 



NEW QUARANTINE ON PLANTS IN THE 



UNITED STATES. 



According to the Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist, 

 March 1919, a new regulation of the Fed ral Horticultural 

 Board governing the importa ion into the United States of 

 plants and plant products was to become effective on June 1 

 in Hawaii as well as in the United States themselves. The 

 Quarantine OrJer No. .37 has been promulgated by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture to check as far as possible the 

 introduction of any more dangerous crop enemi-s. It has 

 been estimated that the losses in ciops caused by p sts 

 already introduced, it is suppo.sed for the most part t rough 

 the agency of imported plants, amount to half a billion 

 dollars annually. 



Im[>ortant provisions of the new quarantine are as 

 tollows : Permits are required, and regulations must be 

 complied with, for importation of bulbs sui;h as lilins and 

 hyacinths ; for importation of stocks, cuttings, scions and 

 buds of fruit trees and rose plan's ; for the importation of 

 nuts, including palm .seeds, for planting, and of seeds of most 

 other tees, as well as of ornamental shrubs and hardy 

 perennial plants. 



Importations of leaves, except in special cases, and of 

 fruit.s, vegeiables, cereils, and other plant produces imported 

 tor medicinal, food or manufacturing purposes, together 

 with field, vegetable, an! flower seeds are unrestricted. 



All other classes of plants for propagation, including 

 fruit trees, ornamental tr -ea. grape vines, and ornamental 

 shrubs of all kinds, are excluded 



Excluded plants m^y be imported through the agency 

 of the Department of Agriculture in limited quantities, such 

 entry being sifeguarded by thfi highly develo^jed inspection 

 and quaraniine service of the Department. 



The Governing pr nciples in this quarantine is to limit 

 plant introduction lo the classes of plants whi;h have been 

 considered essential to plant produ' tion. To these are added 

 certain classes of plants which can be safeguarded and 

 disinfected. 



The plants permitted entry represent a considerable 

 proportion of foreign plants and seeds hitherto imported, 

 but excliice classes of plants includin;{ all plants wi h earh 

 which are open to special danger with respect to the intro- 

 duction of new pests. 



Disinfection by any known ra<<ans is not pissibte-tn the 

 case of most of the ornamental pUnts excluded, pi ticularly 

 those which come with s jil about the ro its. N i di-infecrion 

 of soil is possiole witliout destroyi )g the p'ant-i, and mmy 

 in.sects are not disclosed by inspec ion. The niiinber of 

 foreign pests, it is stated, which mii^ht very possibly fia I 

 entry into tt e United States, is much larger tban those 

 which have already gained entrance, and the unknovn 

 foreign peats may perhaps be more dangerous thin the 

 known pests already established. Tbese pests are said to 

 be costing the Uuited States each year more than the total 

 value of all imported plants since the foundin-' of the 

 Republic. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 

 Mr. W. R Diiiilop, Scietititic Assistant on the stiff 

 of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, r-^turne'J l» 

 Barb id OS by the S. S. Median from E igland on June 

 19,1919, to ontinuj hi.s •luti'^s in tt; ,d:!jircnMt 

 consequent on his demobilization from] the^Rj/al 

 NHvy . 



