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THE AGraCULTUKAL NEWS. 



Apeil 4, 1908. 



BRITISH GUIANA AND WEST INDIAN 

 AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE. 



At a general nieetiiig ot the Royal Agricultural 

 and Comiriercial Society of British Guiana, held on 

 March LS, the following resolution, relative to the hold- 

 ing of the ne.vt West Indian Agricultural Conference, 

 was proposed by the Hon. B. Howell Jones, seconded 

 by Mr. P. P. Fairbairn. Town Clerk of Georgetown, 

 and unanimously carried by the members of the 

 Society : — 



Whereas, since the establishment of the Imiierial 

 Department ot Agriculture in the West Indies, Agricultural 

 Conferences have been promoted and held Ijy the Depart- 

 ment, at Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica, at which delegates 

 of this Society have been received and entertained : 



Be it resolved, that this Society cordially invites Sir 

 Daniel Morris, Iv.C.M.G., to hold the next Confei-ence in 

 British Guiana, and promi.ses to assist and .support him 

 in carrying out such a Conference, and will be happy to 

 receive" and entertain any delegates from the West Indian 

 Islands who may be appointed to attend to reiiresent the 

 various Governments and Societies. 



Doniiniea. In addition to this, l,31t! acre.s of trees have been 

 planted, but have not yet arrived at the fruiting stage. As 

 1 )r. Xicholls (lointed out, therefore, the output of limes and 

 Hint- proilncts from Dominica will prol>ably be greatly 

 increa.-iril within a few years. 



DOMINICA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



An interesting meeting of the Dominica Agricul- 

 tural and Commercial Society was held on February 

 29 last, under the presidency of Dr. H. A. Alfiird 

 Nicholls, C.M.G. 



Mr. A. R. C. Lockhart, delegate of the Society at 

 the recent West Indian Agricultural Conference, presen- 

 ted his report on the Barbados Conference. A resolu- 

 tion was unanimously carried e.xpressing the warm 

 appreciation felt by members of the society for tlie 

 efforts of the Imperial Comniissioncr of Agriculture in 

 bringing about such a successful gathering. 



The subject of lime cultivation was then discussed. 

 A letter from Dr. Watts was read dealing with the ipiestion 

 <if mixing the juice of sour oranges with lime juice intended 

 for concentration. As the result of cx])eriment (See A;/riciif- 

 iural Xcirx, Vol. A"I, p. 3-tO), it apjieared that this was not 

 a practici' to lir iceonnnended. .luirr of the -wild lime, 

 however, may In; nuxcd witli lime jiui-L> lor concentration 

 without harmful effect. 'Hie I'.cngal bean is frequently 

 allowed to ginw over lime trivs in Dominica, since it appears 

 that this has an iuHuencc in checking scale insests, but it was 

 stated that in districts where the rainfall is heavy, the bean 

 tended to kill the lime trei's. Iteferc^nci' was made to wued- 

 ing and forking under lime trees. Three weedings a year 

 were generally regarded as siifheient. The hoe may be 

 recommended for wcnling under the trees on Hat land, and 

 tin- cutlass upon hill-siik's. A good way to dispose of the 

 weeds is to use them for midrliing purjioses. The benetieial 

 ettects of forking in the formation of a loo.se layer of suiiace 

 .soil, by which undue evaporation of moisture was prevented, 

 were dwelt upon by Dr. N'iclioHs, but stress was laid n|)on the 

 importance of care Ijeing excrci.sed in foiling, >iiicc it i> so 

 easy to cut and brui.se the roots. 



Mr. .\. .1. i'.rooks, ()flicer-iu-charge of tlic Agricultural 

 Sciiool, spoke in favour of nurseries for raising lime plants, as 

 oj.posed to planting at stake in the field. Care and attention 

 given in the nursery resulted in the development of better 

 root svstems on the young lime plants. 



Froni iiguies brought lielore the meeting, it would appear 

 lli;ii tlitr- are now L',."^*-"-' -'cres of lime trees in bearing in 



A NEW METHOD OF EGG 

 PRESERVATION. 



An interesting method of preserving fresh eggs by 

 means of tlesiccation has lately been put in operation 

 in Sydney, New South Wales, according to the 

 February Consular Re-ports of the United States. 

 There appears to be no reason why the process should 

 not become a success, in common with modern methods 

 of preserving meat, milk, and fruit, and it should 

 result in a considerable cheapening of this popular 

 article of food. 



The process was invented by a chemist of Victoria, 

 Australia. The results obtained have been so .satis- 

 factory that the Farmers and Settlers' Co-operative 

 Societ)', of Sydney, has erected an extensive plant for 

 the manufacture, on a large scale, of ' e^g powder.' 



The following account of the process is taken 

 from the Ckmsulat Rej^ort : — 



The process is as simple a ijue in principle as tliat of 

 jiresevving fruit by sealing it hermetically at a Ijoiling 

 temperature, or of pasteurizing milk. Eggs, fi-eed from the 

 .shells are dried at the relatively' low temperature of 54 •5° C. 

 (1.30' F.). The operation can be rapidly executed in con- 

 tainers kept at this temperature, from which the air has been 

 exhausted, and from which likewi-se the aqueous vapour 

 i.s withdrawn as fast as it is given off by eva;)oralion from the 

 eggs. 



The advantage of this nietlniil consists in the fact that 

 there is no alteration in the chemical composition of the 

 eggs. There is simply a loss of the greater part of the 

 ^^ater held mechanically in combination, as when fruit 

 is dried by free exposure to the air and sun, or by more 

 rapid artificial methods. When thoroughly desiccated and 

 brought by pulverization into the state of coarse ]iowder, the 

 egg material can be preserved foi- ;ni indelinite period in 

 ordinary packages, if kept in a diy place. 



Tlie eggs arc 'reconstituted ' by the simple additicju of 

 water to the dry powder, the resultant mass being ijuite 

 indistinguishable from newly beaten-up eggs. Before the 

 method was accepted as a basis for industrial exploitation, 

 it was submitted to exhaustive critical tests by the Victorian 

 Department of Agriculture, which ilemonstr.ited that purity, 

 ease of digestion, flavour, etc., were entirely unaffected by the 

 opi'ralions of desiccation, preservation for a long period, and 

 rcconsti'tution by the addition of water, jirovidcd that fresh 

 eggs were cnq)loyed at the outset. 



From the economic stand|ioint it is evident that the 

 cost of eggs as an ;u-ticle of food will be notably reduced 

 when large tracts in remote regions are utilized for the 

 purpo.se of poultry r.iising. An important factor would be 

 the low cost of freight for a comiuict powdered material as 

 contrasted with llie expense of transporting eggs in the 

 natural fragile condition, containing 74 jier cent, of water, 

 and involving nnicli waste space in i)acking'. Tlie simplicity 

 of preservation and the ease with which a variety of .savoury 

 dishes can be expcilitiously prepared fiom eggs enhance the 

 value of such a t'oiid preiiaration, not only for the ordinary 

 household, but also for the emeruenoies of travel. 



