' Vor,. VII. Xo. 1 66. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



28.> 



Till X ID AD : AXXUAL REPORT OX Till-: 

 nOTAXICAL DEl'ARTMEXT, VK>7-S. By .J. H. }Jaii, 

 r.L.S, >Sui«rintendeiit. 



Mr. Hart's report gives a record of the work doiif during 

 the year at the E.xi)eriiiieiital Station, St. Clair : the Hotaiiir 

 Station, Tobago : liiver estate, and at ( lovcrnnieut llcmse 

 Gardens. 



The total expenditure for the year on the Depart im-nt 

 was £.5,521 I'Ik. bhl The large sum .jf £l\4()S I.--. 5^/., 

 however, was realized by the sale of produce, seeds and 

 plants. By far the chief source of revenue was the cacao 

 sold from the Government plantation, Biver estate, which 

 yielded £2,041 IT.v. 'ild. It will be .seen, therefore, that the 

 net cost of the I'epartnient was £3,053 ll.s. 



During the year a total of ■t2,"f>9 plants were dislri- 

 buted from the St. Clair nurseries, which is considerably less 

 than that of last year. The number of cacao plants sent out 

 was 11,()14 : rubber plants were distributed to the number of 

 10,960, while the cane cuttings sent from the station were 

 8,560. In addition about 6U.0U0 seeds were also clistributed. 

 The plants in stock at tlie end of the year numbered 180,().S(). 



Experiments in the cultivation of tobacco, fruit.s, sugar 



■cane, rubbers, fibre plant.s, cotton, and cacao were continue(l 



during the year at St. Clair. Special attention has been paid 



to citrus fruits, and an interesting acquisition to the gardens 



to wiiicli reference is made in the report is a .seedless poinelow. 



It is mentioned that there has been a .smaller demand 

 for rubber [ilants during the i)ast year than in 190(!-7, and 

 this is proliably accounted for by the fall in the price of 

 rubber that has taken place. The rubbers at the Station 

 include three species of llemn, Fiuitiuiiin. ilnstim, ami 

 £^. Atrirami, Cnxtillod daslica, Lnndolpkfi Kirhii, Mniiilint 

 Gla'loi'ii, and Oiloiifadenin Speciosn. The last named is 

 a native Trinidad variety from which a good sample <>( 

 rubber has been produced. 



The remunerative results obtained from the cacao |>lanla- 

 tion at Biver estate have already been mentioned. .\11 the 

 ■cacao produced was sold in the local market and realized an 

 average price of $lt)'30 per 110 lb. 



A sum of £52 IS.t. 6<l. was obtained from the sali' nf 

 banana plants from the nur.sery at River estate. The soil 

 •of the nur.sery, however, appears unsuitable for bananas, and 

 since a number of private growers are al.so now selling [ilaiits, 

 it is propo.sed to discontinue the nur.sery. 



At the Tobago Botanic Station, the total receipt from 

 4he sale of plants, etc., was £27 7.1. 6f/., this being £36 below 

 the sum received in the previous year. ,. Altogether,- 13,483 

 plants were sent out. 



E.xperimental plots of Sea Island cotton were planted in 

 ■July and August. Thfise planted in the former month did 

 the liest, although the dry weather somewhat spoilt the 

 return. The lint produced was of good quality, and further 

 ■ experiments in cotton cultivation are to be carried out in the 

 present year. 



TRIXIhAD: AXXUAT REPORT OF THE <:()\'~ 



ERXMEXT AXALYST, r.ii);-S. By l'rofe..s<.,r P. Cai Iv, 



F.I.C.. IvC.S. 



Professor Carmody's repnit gives an account .t 'lie 

 analytical and educatioii.il work carried on at the (iovcrn- 

 menl Laboratory, Trinidad, during the year. The total 

 numljor of samples analy^d — 1,211 — shows a decrease of 

 OS as compared with- i''190G-7. These samples are 

 classified as follows ; revenue samples, 463 : criminal cases, 

 lt)3 : sanitary, 290 ; agricultural and industrial, 99 ; mi.scel- 

 laneous, 138 ; unotRcial, 118. 



The sami)les classed as ' sanitary ' consisted for the most, 

 ]iart of food and drug.s, milk — of which 189 sauniles were 

 analysed being the article receiving most attention in this 

 section. 



Last year it was reported that there was a, very sati.^- 

 factory decline evident in the practice of adulteration of milk 

 in Trinidad, the number nf adulterated samples being but 

 107 per <;ent. <if the total analy.sed. This was the h'West 

 percentage of adulteration known in the island during 

 Profe.s.sor (.'armody's experience of seventeen years. As 

 a result, for a time, fewer samples of milk were taken for 

 analysis. This has evidently led to a renewal of the practice 

 of adulteration, since, during 1907-8, 24-3 per cent, of the 

 samples of nulk taken were found to be watered. With the 

 object of checking the practice, Professor Carmody recom- 

 mends the rigorous aj)[ilication of the Board of Health'.s 

 regulations as to the non-renewal of a nulk-seller"s licence on 

 being convicted of watering his milk. 



The educational work carried on at the Government. 

 Laboratory consisted of courses of instruction in Agricultural 

 Science, and in Theoretical and Practical Chemistry. 

 Students fnim the Royal and St. Mary's ■ Colleges, as well as 

 l->lementary School teachers attended for instruction, the total 

 inimber being 119. Water culture experiment.*, as well as 

 (".xperiments in the growth of plants in pots and on plots of 

 laud were carried out for purposes of practical demonstration 

 in connexion with the lectures given in Agricultural Science. 



Pii|iils were prepared for the Cambridge University 

 examination in Agricultural Science, and of the thirty-three 

 students entered from Ti-iuidad, fourteen passed the examina- 

 lion. 



Professor Carmody expresses his appreciation of the 

 exc-ellence of the (Cambridge .syllabus in this .subject, but at; 

 the same time he states his conviction that the course is too 

 comprehensive to enable students with the limited amount of 

 lime a\'ailable to those at the Government Laboratory, 

 Trinidad, to prepare for the examination in one j'ear, and he 

 suggests that the time of preparation allowed should be 

 increa.sed. 



TAPPING RUBBER TREES IN CEYLON. 



The methods of tapping Para rubber Uee~ that are 

 beittg practised on various estates in Ceylon, are di.scus«ed in 

 the course of an article wliich apj)eared in the Jiidiaii-Ruliher 

 ■foani'il of .May 18. 



The half-herring-bone system of tapping appeared to b« 

 the most popular one. Results published some time ago 

 showed that although that system gave the minimum yield 

 in a short period of time, yet it was one which ultimately 

 gave a large yield per tree without entailing undue waste of 

 l.ark. 



In the case o( most estates the earliest period at whick 

 tapping operations were started was when the trees had 

 a circumference of 20 inches at a yard fron: the ground. 



