7(! 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Makih 7, 1908, 



'-^■^ 



GLEANINGS. 



The first shipment of 8t. Vincunt Sea Island cotton for 

 the season sold at prices ranging from 22J'?. to 2d(L 



The prices at the opening for the seastin rif the Barbados 

 sugar market were •fl'To per 100 It), of niuscavado sugar, lie. 

 ]iei- gallon for choice molasses, and Il'c. for fancy molasses. 



An outbreak of anthrax in Guadeloupe was reported 

 some weeks ago, and the Government of the colony has 

 prescribed measures with a view to stamping out the disease. 



At the E.xperiment Station, Tortola, Virgin Islands, 

 nearly an acre is under pine api)les. The variety grown is 

 Black Antigua, and the Annual Bqmt on the station states 

 that the plants are doing well and fruiting freely. 



The apiary at the St. Ijucia Agricultural School gave 

 e.\celk'nt resvdts during the year 19()G-7. A shipment of 

 98.3 Ih. of honey was made to London, which realized the 

 excellent pri<-e of l'9n. per cwt,, or a total of £9 Zx. 



A rainfall of SI -84 inches was registered at the 

 St. Lucia Botanic Station in 1906-7. This was 9-JO inches 

 higher than the rainfall of 190-5-6, but consideraVily below 

 the average for the seventeen j)revious years. 



Balata forms one of the natural products of Dutch 

 Ciuiana, and the quantity collected during 1906 was 297 tons. 

 High prices have recently been obtained, and there has been 

 a large extension of the area undergoing exploitation for this 

 ]>roduct. (British Conxuhtr licp'ut.) 



The largest shipment on record of cacao from Grenada 

 was recently made, when the Cniirn nf (r'ninnila took 1 -1,^.58 

 bags (about 24,000 cwt.) on board for the European market. 

 Limits of space alone prevented even a larger shipment being 

 made. (Girnndd Chronic/e.) 



The Government of (Queensland is reported t(j be about 

 to adojjt measures to encourage the systematic breeding of 

 mules in the colony. So far little has been done in that 

 direction in Australia. South America has 7,000,000 mules, 

 Europe 1,4SS,000, the United States 3,600,000, Mexico 

 33.j,000, and Au.-tralia oidy 1,000 mules. 



The English thorough-bred stallion ' lleau 2nd ' will 

 stand for service at the Stock Farm, Agricultural School, 

 St. Vincent, until further notice. Fee 10.<., attendant, 2,«. 

 The fee for the services of the Ayrshire bull, 'Duke of Truro,' 

 has, in the case of bona fide peasant.?, been reduced to 2.v. per 

 cow until the end of May next. 



The ( Jovcrnincnt of Queensland has otfered a reward of 

 £10,000 for the discovery of an eflective method of 

 destrfiying prickly pcai- (O^xn/^/'f spp.). The cost must not 

 exceed 3.").';. prr acif foi- mtuIi liiinl, and 20.s. l)er acre for 

 forest land. 



Some 9,000 cuttings of cassava and ."),900 cuttings 

 of sweet i>otatos were, during 1906-7, distriljuted free to 

 planters and small hohk'i-s, from the St. Kitt's-Xevis Botanic 

 Station, with a view to improving the ipiality grown. 



.\1 IJii' proi'ut time there are five plots of cacao in 

 Tortola, all of winch have been established during the past 

 few years. Two of these plots contain over 1,000 trees 

 each, and an- now coming into bearing. (I'niini IslnmU 

 E.rjxrhni nf Slalimi I!, i„„l. V.KIC-T.) 



IMangabeira rubber, the i)roduct of a small tree, Ifancornla 

 spcritixa, Gomez, was exported from Santos, Brazil, in 1906, 

 to the (]uantity of 194,777 lb. This shows a slight decrease 

 as comi)ared with the exports of 190-5, but a recent report 

 dealing with the trade of Santos during the first three months 

 of 1907, states that the exj)orts of this commodity sho^^• a large 

 increase over those for the corresponding period of 1906. 



In an article in the J'ininrr and Stockhrei'drr. buyers of 

 basic slag are strongly advised to insist on a guarantee as 

 to the three following points in connexion with their purchase: 



( 1 ) the total jiercentage of phosphate of lime in the slag ; 



(2) the jiercentage of phosphate of lime soluble in a 2-per 

 cent, solution of citric acid ; (3) fineness ( f grinding. 



lilocks of cedar and rubber, both of which are iughly 

 remunerative, are being jjlanted by many owners in the 

 Tacarigua district of Trinidad, where formerly cacao was 

 grown to the exclusion of almost every other product. Cane 

 farming, too, has undergone extension during recent years, 

 there being now 2,300 acres under farmer-grown t-ane in the 

 Tacarigua and I'llaiichi.sseuse Ward I'nion. {Wnnl f'm'mi 



h'rpnrh, 1906-7.) 



A late mnnbcr of the /'nv/«;/ «»(/ .V/oc/V,cf-«/(-r contained 

 an article dealing with the fallacy of the popular idea that 

 brown eggs are richer and better flavoured than white eggs. 

 Chemical analysis .shows that there is no diflerence whatever 



in llir coni]iosition of while eggs and of brown eggs. 



Thirty pounds of onion ^eed were imported from Teneritte 

 into .St. kitt'sXevis during 1906-7 through the Imperial 

 Department of Agricidture. This was sold locally at cost price, 

 but the interest now taken in cotton tei.ds to di.scourage any 

 e.xt.'nsion of ornon plantiiiu. 



The Warden of Oropuche and La Brea in Trinidad, 

 states that cotfee and rice cultivations receive little attention 

 in his Ward I'nion. Cocoa nut cultivation is also on tiie 

 decline, in spite of good i>rices. The .sugarcane lias barely 

 held its own during the past year, cacao receiving first 

 attention on all hands wherever it can be grown. The cacao 

 area in the Oropuche and La Brea Ward I'nion is stated to- 

 be not less than 1 n.OOO acres. 



The infinence of carbon dioxide at high pressure in 

 destroying bacterial life is commented upon by the fr'nrdi-ncf.i' 

 Clirimirli-, which describes some interesting experiments carried 

 out at the Ni'w \'ork Agricultural Station. .Milk which had 

 first been |pastenri,sed, then charged with <arbon dioxide at 

 a pres.sure of l.")0 lb. to the !;(]uare inch and run into 

 ordinary siphons was found to In- ])crfcctly good at the end 

 of forty weeks. Ordinary (unpasteurised) milk, charged i» 

 the fame way, kept good ior .several weeks. 



