■2-20 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



July 11, 1908- 



Owing to the re-annexatiou of five estates bj- the 

 Goveniinent of St. Lucia, a further area nf 900 acres has ik>w 

 been adrled to the Crown lands of the island. These land* 

 are on sale in lots of 5 acres or upwards, at £1 an acre, 

 payable in four or more instalments. 



GLEANINGS. 



The cultivation of camphor trees now extends over an 

 area of 900 acres in Ceylon. The area would be still larger 

 but for the .scarcity of seedling camphor trees. {Me.fsra. 

 Sfhiniiiul li- Co.'^ Rrpnrf, A\m\ 1908.) 



Mr. (ieorge Fraser has been appointed Acting .-Vgri- 

 cultural Instructor at St. Vincent, in place of ^Mr. Thomas 

 Osnient, who has been transferred to the :i|ipointnient of 

 Wanlen of the Leeward Coast of the isjaiul. 



It is stated in the Di'imTiiiii ('lir'iniflr that the ilce 

 planters of the Corentyne coast of Herbice number over 1,300, 

 and it is estimated that the total number of labourers 

 engaged in rice planting in the colony reaches about 3,600. 



The re|iort dealing with the work of the ITsine St. !Marie, 

 Miirtiniipie, states that during the season ]90fi-7, this factory 

 handled 44, .^)6.") tons of cane, for which a price of ^3"1"J i)er 

 ton was jiaid. The canes gave a return of S-40 per cent, of 

 sugar. 



The J'tjii of'iSiKini (I'lf.rttc mentions that large areas of 

 C'rown lands have of late been taken up in the Na[)a- 

 rima Ward Union district. Since the commencement of the 

 financial, year (April 1 last) 2,000 acres havi' been applied 

 for — an average of over 6.50 acres per luontli. 



From the beginning of the season up lo .Inly 2 last, 

 t21,883 tons of sugar and 42,837 puncheons nf molasses jiave 

 been exported from Barbado.s, as compareil with 2-3,7-")2 

 tons of sugar and .*)4,.")20 (juncheons of molasses, ship|ied dur- 

 ing the corresponding period of 1907. 



Iteports from Hriti.sh Ouiana are to the effect that more 

 attention is being paid to cocoa-nut cultivation, and there is 

 a steady increase in the exports. Dealers comi)lain, however, 

 that the nuts are too frequently delivered before^ they are 

 fully ripe, and as a result the prii'e obtained is lower than 

 that coniniHiided by nuts from Trinidail and .lamaica. 



liiilli'tin So. y..' <){ the Florida .\gricultural F.xperinieiil 

 Station deals with the cultivation, nianuiing ami ulili/ation 

 of .sorghum. ( 'ertain varieties are shown to have given fi'om 

 (5 to as higli as 19 tons of green forage jier acre, or if allowed 

 t<) mature, they have yiehh'd from -"lOO to over 2,1110 Ih. of 

 "rain per acre. 



For the year ending June 30, 1907, homegrown farm 

 liroduce, having a total value which reached the enormous 

 figure of 61,0.55,000,000 was exiiorted from the I'nited 

 States. This represents an increase of .$79,000,000 as com- 

 )iared with the figures of the previous year. The value of 

 the cotton exports was .-? 182,000,000. 



Sea Island cotton is grown on a small scale in some 

 districts of Forto Itico. The latest report on the Agricultural 

 Exi)eriment Station states, however, that the cotton area does 

 not .show signs of increase, and that it is diffictdt to interest 

 planters in the cultivation of the crop. 



Welcome showers of rain were experienced ii: St. ^'incent 

 about the middle of June, and cotton planters immediately 

 started preparing their land for the coming season's crop. It 

 is reported that notwithstanding the present drop in the 

 price of cotton, the acreage planted will not be less than that 

 of last year. ( Jrowers can obtain selected cotton seed at the 

 Central Factory at -"ic. jier 1t>. 



An additional sum of .'?10,000 (being part of a grant 

 received from the I'nited States) will ne.xt year be .spent 

 on agricultural education and experiment work in Porto 

 liico. The greater portion will be spent on the erection 

 of buildings, the development of the Experiment Station, 

 and in starting new lines of work. (Pinto B/ro Tnius, 

 May 28, 1908.) 



Half the sugar-i-ane area of India is situated in the 

 I'nited Frovince.s, but owing to the deficient rainfall experi- 

 enced during the past year, the crop retiun in these l^rovinces 

 has been un.satisfactory. Only 91(),31() tons were yielded 

 from an area of 1,481,737 acres, this being a decrease of 

 l.'7 per cent., compared with last year's crop. India will 

 therefore need increased sugar imports this year. 



,\n article in the Ci//^^ yiVr/e"' draws attention to the. 

 fact that owing to rapid exploitation, the .-^uiiijly of red cedar 

 (Vt'drcla odorata) will soon be exhausted in Cuba, unless 

 steps are taken to plant this tree on a much larger scale than 

 is being done at present. The red cedar is a hardy, quick- 

 growing tree, and will produce good timber on very poor 

 soil. It is from the wood of this tree that the boxe.s for 

 ( 'ulian cigars are made. 



The Joiniiiil of the Jamaica Agricultural Soeiety OhiV 

 last) mentions that the Society has obtained a small supply 

 of liengal beans for distribution within the island. This 

 bean is used for green dressings, and in the experiments 

 with leguminous crops conducted at Barbados in 1900 it 

 gave the best return out of thirty kinds of plants tried. The 

 Fiengal bean grows like the Velvet bean, and gives almost 

 as profuse a vegetation. It is adaptable, however, to 

 a greater variety of soils. 



Figures are given in the latest ri'pnrt of the Secretary 

 of the I'niteil States I )epartment of .Agriculture in relation 

 to the rapid growth of the beet sugar industry of the 

 republic (luring the last twenty years. In 1887, the out- 

 put of beet sugar was about ."jGO tons; in 1891, th(^ quantity 

 was (i.OOO tons; in 1893, it was 22,344 tons; by 1897 it had 

 reached 4."),24(i tons, and two years later, 81,729 tons. In 

 1901, the outimt had advanced to 184,606 ton.s, in 1903, to 

 240,604 ton.s, in 1906, to 483,000 tons, and in 1907, it 

 rea<-lie<l .500,000 tons. 



