?0L. XVIII. No. 451. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



291 



be to uplift public opinion, not to bring about its 

 disintegration. In the pust, labour, throughout the 

 world, has been treated unfairly. Labour has a strong 

 case for demanding better conditions. These conditions 

 are to be realized by labour increasing its efficiency. 

 by working more and saving more, and by stating its 

 just demands in a united voice. Better conditions are 

 not to be gained by policies that lead to reduced out- 

 put, squander, militant strikes, and demonstrations of 

 the Bolshevik sort. 



The reader will now see that the seemingly 

 harmless idea of iorecasting the weather by means 

 of the moon s phases, referred to at the beginning of 

 this article, has a very wide and important 

 .significance. Underlying it is a big principle, and 

 that principle is : wrong theories may cause endless 

 mischief. Before we accept a theory let us be sure 

 that it is sound ; let us e.xamine the facts on which it 

 is based, and seek the opinion of the best authorities. 

 If it will stand the light of such a test, it m ly be 

 taught and acted upon ; if it will not, it should be 

 shelved as a relic of merely historic interest. 



COIR FIBRE MACHINERY 



Particulara have been received from London in regard 

 to machinery for turning out coir fibre. One estimate is lor 

 a cnmplete set of Lehmann's laaciiinery to workup 10,000 

 cocc-aut husks in twelve hours and to produce 2,000 h. 

 of coir fibre ready for the market. This machinery consists 

 of: one 1.5 h. p. engine and boiler combined, together with 

 all shaft Dg, pulleys and belts ; one husk crusher ; ten 

 extractors No. B two extraciors No. B^ ; one wil ow ; oia 

 drying machine ; one hydraulic press box, and pumps. 

 Gross weight of this machinery 2-t tons ; shipping measuie- 

 ment 2,14i cubic feet; price £3,151 including picking, 

 cases, and delivery free in Liverpool This price is subject to 

 a commission of 10 per cent, presumably owing to fluctua- 

 tions in the price of machinery just now, as the result of 

 unsettled conditions of production. 



It is noticed that the extractor B is constructed for 

 working by hanJ, but there should be no ditticulty in 

 making the necessary alterations for driving it by power. 



The different operations in turnmg out coir fibre were 

 fully described in the Ai;r/a/'//im/ ^Vars, for -July 1 -J, 1919, 

 p 214, in connexion with .tu account of some coir fibre 

 factories in Trinidad. 



It maybe notfd that the makers of tho aiicbinery 

 referred to above, sell a coir-fibre rope-making nuchine. 

 Each machine is claimed to turn nut about 3,250 yards 

 of rope in ten hours. All descriptions of fibre can be 

 used in these machine.s. The cost of the machine 

 varies according to the diameter of the rope produced A 

 machine lor |-inch rope costs £330 ; one for 1 inch rope 



£540. . . . , 



The Imperial Department ot Agriculture for tha 

 West Indies will be glad to give further information on coir- 

 fibre machinery to those who may require ir. 



FORESTRY IN TRINIDAD. 



The following is reproduced from the Report of the 

 Conservator of Forests, Trinidad, for 1918 : 



From the beginning of the year the Forestry Branch of 

 the Crown Lands Department became the Forest Depart- 

 ment. 



The revenue amounting to £9,628 shows a sati8fi,o;ory 

 increaseof £1,484 or 19 per cent., compared with £7,784 

 or an increase of £778 or 11 per cent, in 1917. The 

 increase is due to a greater demand for native timber owing 

 to the high price of imported lumber on account of the War. 



The total expenditure was £4,869 against £4,924 in 

 1917— a decrease of £55. The surplus was £4,399 compared 

 wiih £-',860 in 1917. The total surplus of the last nine 

 years now amounts to over .£25,000 



The area of plintations has been increased by 84 acres 

 and now amounts to 572 acres. Of the incr.>ase 24 acres 

 consists of open plantations after ilear felling, and 60 acrea 

 of plantations under a shelterwood. 



The estimated stock of planted trees from one to eleven 

 year.^ old is 180,085 on 572 acrps, compared with 141,797 on 

 488 acres in 1917 — an increase of 38,288. 



Tha Eist Indian Teak ( Tectuiii ,<(randis), introduced 

 from Duma in 1913, continues to do well. There are now 

 13,046 01 the plantation. The average girth of the trees 

 measured at 5 feet from the ground on a 5-acre plantation 

 was tound to be Hi inc'ie". The trees are five to five and a 

 half years old from date of sowing the seeds, and are from 

 30 to 50 feet high. 



About 1,000 young teak were raised from seeds 

 collected from trees grown on the plantations. 



In addition to the phnta'.ion work deilt with in 

 another part of this report, an improvement felling of 1,200 

 acres in the Southern Wa'ershed Forest lieserve Las been 

 camel out This together with the 1,200 acres done in 

 1917, and 160 acres in 1916, ,nakes a tot,al of 2,560 

 acres so far covered by improvement fellings 



The operation consi.sted of the cutting of creepers and 

 the girdling or felling of trees of inferior species that were 

 interfering with the beilthy development of the natural 

 regeneration (i.e. self-sown seedlings) of cedar and other 

 valuable species, and the letting in of more light on the 

 leeward side of patches of natural regeneration to encourage 

 the growth of infTe seedlings f f valuable species. The 

 seedlings over 2 feet in height and under 2 feet in girth 

 that were standing over 10 feet apart were counted. In 

 addition to these, theie are doubtlebs many thousand seed- 

 lings of less than 2 feet in height, a proportion of which 

 will eventually develop into trees. 



The cost of improvement fellings for 1918 was 

 £411 6j-. \()d. per acre, and worked out atone penny per 

 plant. 



Owing to the increased area of plantations, the 

 improvemei t felling and the work conn ct-d with the 

 substantially increased revenue, it hxs not been possible to do 

 any new demarcation of forest reserves during the yar. 



In accordance with instructions, proposals h ive been 

 submitted for the reservaiio i of approximi'ely il square 

 miles of forests, either as protection reserves, or for the 

 supply of timber and other forest produce on poor- soil unfit 

 for cultivation in anything but a timber crop. 



These proposals were approved, and the areas were 

 marked appioximately on the Ward Plans and reserved 

 from sale. 



