15G 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 16, 1908. 



GLEANINGS. 



A suiiplj- iif good, fresh lime seeds is required by the 

 Agricultural .Superintendent of St. Lucia, who will be glad to 

 hear from persons having seeds available. 



li'epoits from i)emerara state that theiv is a great 

 scarcity of provisions on the fJeorgetown market. A regular 

 sup[)ly of sweet potatos, however, is being received from 

 Barbado.s. 



At the la.st mouthly meeting of the Barbados Agri- 

 cultural Society it was decided that a |jloughing match 

 should be held in the island at .some time in the present year. 



The Port-of-Spnin (rnicftr reports that rice cultivation is 

 much on the increa.se in the southern distiicts of Trinidad. 

 'I'lie cultivation is chieflv carried on bv coolie labourers. 



The seedling canes 1). 74 and U. 9.5 are reported to 

 have again done well in Louisiana during the past crop sea.son. 

 Of the two canes, I). 74 is, on the whole, regarded with the 

 moie favour. (Sinjni- I'hi nl, rx' .Idiinml .) 



The Agricultural .Snpei'intfudcnt of St. ].,ucia has about 

 (iOO strong plants of I'ai-a rubber {Ilnva />rnsi7ieiixis) in 

 bamboo pot.s, ready for immediate disti-ibution (in St. Lucia 

 only), at ')'/. pel' plant. 



The St. l^ucia Agricultural Society is importing £10 

 worth of the best Sea Islanil cotton seed for gratuitous distrilju 

 tion to iiiiendirig plant'jrs during 1908. All applications 

 should be made to tlie Agricultural Instructor. 



'I'he value of the canes purchased from cane farmers by 

 ihf sugar factoi'ies in the Xaparimas and Savannah Orande 

 districts amounted to £2'.). •_'.")() from the beginning of the 

 pre.sent season up to April '!') last, {/'mf-nf' S/,iiiii (l,r.,tl' .) 



"Ww \\ . C Fishloclc, Agricultuial Instructor of the 

 \'irgin Islands, writing on April 20 last, reiiorled that the 

 pre.sent .sea.son's cotton cro|) of the Virgin Islands so far 

 .gathered, amounted to 112 bales of 200 Ih^ each. The ti>tal 

 ci-(.p will jirobably amount to 120 bales. Last year only 

 .")! bale- were .ship[)ed. 



With the object of extending the Iteelvceping industry 

 o| the island, the St. Lucia Agricultural Society is ready |o 

 im])orl, under certain conditions, ^.'10 bee-keeping outfits for 

 intending bee keepers. .Applications shoulil be made to the 

 Secretary of the Society as early as possible. 



The sugar-cane products exported from Harbados from 

 .lanuary 1 to May 7, 1908, amounted to 12,381 tons of 

 sugar and 2,"?,090 puncheon.s of molasses as against 9,243 tons 

 of sugar and 29,147 puncheons of molasses for the correspond- 

 ing period of last year. 



At the meeting of the St. A'incenl Agricultural Society 

 held on Ajiril 18 last. Sir Daniel Morris informed the 

 members that he would make enquiry into the matter of 

 ailding an oil plant to the Central Cotton Factory. If he found 

 that the local demand for oil was considerable, he was 

 |)repared to assist in providing an oil-extracting plant. 



The colony of .Martinique has increased the duty on dry 

 or unprepared tobacco leaves from 2-0.5 francs (.?0'39) to 3'35 

 francs (fO'638) per kilogram (2'2 tti.). The duty on prepared 

 leaves, or black tobacccf) a.-^ it is called, still remains the 

 same, 2'05 francs per kilogram. (U.S. Cciixular Eipoiix.) 



The African woolless ram sheep ' Lgba,' imported by 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture, has been loaned for 

 service in St. Lucia, and is stationeil at the Agricultural 

 School, I'nion. The service fee is l.s., which may be reduced in 

 the case of jieasant proprietors, at the discretion of the Agri- 

 cultural Superintendent. 



An Ordinance has been passed in Trinidad making it 

 illegal tor an) per.son to have or keep in his po.s.session 

 nningoose for breeding or any other puniose. It Jias been 

 thought that under previous regulations mungoose were being 

 bred ill the island in order to obtain the reward otl'ered for 

 their destruction. 



There are three beet sugar factories in Canada, and the 

 industry is liberally subsidized by the Dominion Go\ernment. 

 In spite of this, howevei-, the figures for the past three years 

 show a decline in the production. In 190.5-G the output of 

 beet sugar was 11,419 tons; in 190(5-7,11,367 tons were 

 produced, while in 1907-8 the production fell to 7,943 

 tons. 



In reference to the project (mentioned in the A<i)i- 

 riiltiiritl Xi'ti'x, Vol. VII, p. 60) to introiluce sisal hemp 

 cultivation on an extensive scale into liritish (iuiana, the 

 Driiirrin-ii Chniin'r/i- of May 1 repoits that the whole of the 

 capital necessary has now been subscribed. The .area of 

 lind conced(>d liy the (iovernment for this purpo.se com- 

 prises about 7,000 acres, and is situateil near IJartica. 



.biva exported only 32 cwt. of sug.ir to Crcat liritain 

 during the first two months of 1907, as compared with 33,000 

 cwt. shipped during the corrcsjionding period of the present 

 yeai-. The shipments from I'eru have increased from 74,000 

 to 188,000 cwt. On the other hand, the (xerman exports of 

 sugar to (ireat Hritain dropped from 1,611,822 cwt. in 

 .lamiary and February 1907, to 1,2.5-5,000 cwt. in the .same 

 period of 1<)08. 



The cultivation of the sunflower, for the saki' of the oil 

 in its seed, appears to be attracting a good deal of attention 

 in South Africa. In that country a yield of as much jis 

 .3,250 lt». ol seed per acre has been recorded, although in most 

 iDuntries 1,500 Ih. per acre seems to be a fair average. From 

 15 to 20 jier cent, of oil can be obtained from the seed, and 

 the better qualities are .sometimes employed for cooking 

 purposes. 



