Vol. XVIII. No. 450. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



227 



In Trinidad, sugar aeain experienced a year of good 

 prices and good crops in 1917, the figures and values for the 

 years 1916 and 1917, respectively, being as follows : 

 57,755 tons, value £1,279,369, and 62,654 tons, value 

 £1,459,620. The sugar crop of 62,65 4 tons was also 

 a record one, being 4,899 more tLan in 1916, when 57,755 

 tons were shipped. 



In regard to Barbados, the sugar exported in 1917 

 amounted to 51,960 tons, a decrease of 3,496 as compared 

 with 1916. The quantity and value of the sugar exported 

 during 1916 and 1917 were, respectively, crystals, 38,192 

 tons, value £753,860 ; muscovado, 17,264 tons, value 

 £336,448 : and crystals, 34,770 tons, value £695 443 ; 

 muscovado, 17,190 tons, value £360,990. The decrease of 

 4,214 tons in 1917 below the crop of the previous year, was 

 mainly due to lack of rainfall, the area under which the 

 sugar-canes were grown being practically the same as that 

 of the previous year. 



The principal item of expoit from Mauritiu.« is sugar ; 

 the quantities and values during the year 1917 were as 

 follows : sugai 187,815 tons, value Rs. 54 539,232. The 

 total area under cane cultivation at the commencement of 

 1917 was 198,366 arpents (1 arpent= r04 acres), beine 806 

 arpents more than at the commencement of the preceding 

 year. 



RUBBER SEED SELECTION. 



The India Rubber Journal <>( London, for May 14, 

 contains the following note on the selection of 

 rubber seed : — 



The problem of improving the type of Hevea under 

 cultivation has for many years engaged the attention of 

 botanists in this country, and in the East. It is doubtful 

 whether results obtained in temperate zones would apply in 

 the tropics, but any information dealing with this question 

 is well worth recording, since it may prove useful to 

 investigators on rubber plantations Dr. Cyril West, in a 

 contribution to the Annals of Applied Botany discusses 

 the influence of the degree of maturity of the seed at the 

 time of harvesting upon its germinating capacity. It is 

 obvious that on a rubber plantation, the seed may be 

 harvested prior to the natural shedding of the fruit, or 

 collected when the fruit season is over. The investigations 

 by Dr. West show that there is a difference in the 

 germinating capacity of seeds collected at these two periods, 

 in so far as certain plants in the temperate zone are 

 concerned. He points out that tlie problem is made more 

 difficult by the fact that the length of time during which 

 seeds are stored before being tested for germination is very 

 variable. Immature seeds are less tolerant of storage in the 

 dry condition than matui-! seed. Dr. West points out ihat 

 the total yields from imm;iture seed are generally less than 

 those from mature seeds, because a smaller percentage of the 

 immature seeds germinate. Furthermore, he states that 

 when comparisons are made between yield per plant, the 

 difference in favour of the plants from mature seeds tends to 

 disappear, or even to be reversed. He reminds us, however, 

 that while the yield per plant in the case of the mature 

 seeds represents an average based on a whole population 

 (vigorous and weak plants), the yield per plant in the case 

 of the immature seeds probably represents an average based 

 on the more vigorous members of the population only. It 

 is interesting to learn that in the case of certain cereals, seed 

 harvested at a stage prior to maturity may, under certain 

 conditions, give a better yield than seed allowed to become 

 perfectly ripe upon the parent plant. 



IMPROVEMENT OF LIME TREES IN 

 MONTSERRAT. 



The decline of lime cultivation in most parts of Mont- 

 serrat has been the subject of much investigation and dis- 

 cussion for many years. It appears to be due to several 

 factors which ht»ve o|)erated against this crop slowly but 

 steadily, even since the industry was first started. 



A correspondent who has recently interested himself in 

 the subject has forwarded us a few suggestions which appear 

 to be worth consideration. He believes, what has been 

 recognized for some time, that the principal trouble in Mont- 

 serrat is the lack of atmospheric humidity and irregular 

 soil water-supply. Our correspondent suggests the planting 

 of windbreaks not over 20 feet high, the planting of green 

 dressings, between the trees and the application of green 

 mulch. The soil around the trees to a radius of 3 or 4 feet 

 should be kept clear. Where the soil is found to be hard 

 and cakey, light forking might be found useful, but the soil 

 should never be turned over, the fork being driven into the 

 soil, carefully shaken, and drawn out at intervals of 

 about 6 inches at a time. To these suggestions we might 

 add the planting of Gliricidia between the trees to keep 

 the atmosphere still and moist. Demonstration plots 

 have clearly shown the value of this at the Montserrat 

 Experiment Station. 



Our correspondent's chief suggestion, however, is in con- 

 nexion with manuring. He advises the application of a quick- 

 acting nitrogenous and potash manure like Nitrapo, which has 

 recently been introduced into the West Indies. Such a 

 manure is claimed to stimulate root development as much as 

 the growth of stem and leaves. The cost of this manure, 

 applied at the rate of 250Be>. per acre, would be about $15 

 c.i.f. Montserrat. It is suggested that the manure should 

 be applied, say, once every three years; but this would be 

 determined by the effects produced after the first application. 



PERSONAL NOTES. 



Mr W. C. Fishlock, Curator of the Experiment Station, 

 Virgin Islands, Has been appointed to the post of Agricultural 

 Instructor, Gold Coast. Mr. Fishlock has been connected 

 with the Imperi d Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies for many years He has done a great deal to improve 

 agricultural conditions in the Virgin Islands, and his removal 

 will be a loss to those islands and to the Department. 



We learn that Mr. G. A. Jones, formerly Assistant 

 Curator, Dominica, is doing good work in his new post on 

 the St. Madeleine estates, Trinidad. In addition to general 

 instruction work, he has organized a large number of co- 

 operative credit societies amongst the small growers. 



The ]Vest India Committee Circular ni June 12, states 

 that Professor Maxwell-Lefr y, formeriy Enton ologiston the 

 staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies, is credited with having saved the British Govern- 

 ment £H, 000,000 by devising means of purifying the last 

 four Australian wheat crop.', which could not be shipped 

 owing to lack of tonnage, and became weevily. He invented 

 a machine which, heated to 140° F., kills the weevil eggs as 

 the wheat is passed through it. Professor Lefroy also did 

 good work in Mesopotamia, where he was given a free hand 

 in the direction of sanitation. He has new returned to hia 

 normal position as Professor of Economic Entomology at the 

 Imperial College of Science, London. 



