Vol. VII. No. I6.S. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



313- 



■Cotton and Cocoa-nuts in the Society Islands. 



The Frencli colony of the Society Islands possesses, 

 in common with many of the West Indian colonies, 

 a soil and climate admirably suited for the growth of 

 Sea Island cotton. This fact, according to a recent 

 British Consular Report , has been continually impressed 

 upon the natives by the Government of the former 

 islanils, and Sea Island cotton seed, specially imported for 

 the purpose, has been on several occasions distributed, 

 but owing to the indolence of the owners of land, no 

 more than .50 acres have been planted with the 

 crop. The cultivation of Egyptian cotton, which 

 demands less attention than the Sea Island \ariety, 

 is preferred by the natives, and the former kind is more 

 hirgely grown. In 1907 the total value of the cotton 

 e.xported was £2,07.5, as compared with £1,0.52 in 

 the previous year. 



Cocoa-nut planting is by far the chief agricultural 

 industry in the Soi-ietv Islands, the exports of copra for 

 1907 being valued at" £.59,106, as against £81,759 in 

 the previous year. Cocoa-nuts, vahiefl at £3,.S15. 

 were also shipped in 1907, comj)ar(rd with a value of 

 £8,747 in 1906. The reduced value of the copra 

 e.Kports is partly due to the destructive effects of 

 a hurricane which lately swept over the islands, and 

 partly to a fall in prices. 



School Gardens in British Guiana. 



School garden work is making satisfactor}- progress 

 in British Guiana, according to the latest Annual 

 Report (1907-8) of the Inspector^ of Schools. Model 

 Gardens, to which periodical visits are paid by ihe 

 children from schools in the neighbourhood, have been 

 established by the Department of Science and Agri- 

 culture at several centres, i.e., at Belfield and La Grange, 

 Demerara : at Stanleytown in Bcrbice ; at Bourda : and 

 one in Georgetown. It is stated that a Model Garden 

 is also shortly to be started in Essequebo. 



In addition to the Model Gardi'us there are seventy- 

 eight gardens attat'hed to Primary Schools in the 

 colf)ny, an<l etforts are made to keep the gardens in such 

 a condition that they may be not only of educative 

 value to the pupils, but also serve as object-lessons to 

 the parents in the several village^; 



At the Essequebo County Show, held in iMarch last, 

 the Model Gardens took tw<'nty-eight prizes, and the 

 School Garflens eighteen prizes. The money value of 

 these awards was distributed among the pupils, and 

 this will doubtless serve to stimulate their efforts. 



The old complaint is apparently still heard some- 

 times, that while the teachers recognize the value of 

 the training imparted by a course of school gardening, 

 and while the children are readily induced to take an 

 intelligent interest in the work, yet the grants offered 

 under the Code regulations are insutHcient for the 

 subject to receive as much attention as would other- 

 wise be the case. In British Guiana the teachers have 

 to fence in the plot, get the first heavy work done, 

 and supply the class with tools, etc., in order to qualify for 

 n maximum grant of $100 per head on the number 

 taking the work, which is sehloin more than 20 per 

 cent, of the children attending the school. 



Maize-shelling Machine. 



The introduction of labour-saving machinery does 

 not usually appeal so much to the West Indian planter, 

 who in most cases can obtain a good supply of cheap, if 

 not efficient, labour without difficulty, as to agri- 

 culturists in other countries, more especially in the 

 United States. 



It may be of interest, however, to growers of maize 

 on a large scale, to note that a machine for the purpose 

 of shelling, dressing, and bagging maize is now being 

 Ijuilt b}' Messrs. Robey & Co., Ltd., of Lincoln, England, 

 which promises to reduce manual labour to a mini- 

 mum. The machine is built in three sizes, and it is 

 claii-.ied that when driven by an engine of 8 horse- 

 power, tlie largest size is capable, if required, of shell- 

 ing and preparing maize for the market at the rate of 

 12 tons per hour. 



The construction and uses of the machine are 

 dealt with in a recent number of the Implement and 

 Much liiery Rerieiv,-And it is stated that the large grains, 

 the small grains and offal, the large cobs, and the chaff 

 and broken cobs, are all put automatically into separate 

 bags, directly from the machine, the dust being blov/n 

 away. There is a special arrangement for separating 

 bad ears of corn before they reach the shelling cylinder, 

 and in this way the spoiling of a good sample by bad 

 grains is prevented. 



Rice Planting in British Guiana. 



Some discussion has of late been aroused in British 

 Guiana as to the most suitable time for planting the 

 lice crop, and further, whether or not planters would 

 be well advised to concentrate their attention on the 

 production of one crop only per annum, instead of — as- 

 is now the ;'ase in the majority of instances — endeavour- 

 ing to raise two crops each } ear. 



Long experience in rice-growing countries has- 

 made clear the fact that the most successful crops are 

 those which are sown in the wet season and reaped in 

 the dry. So far as British Guiana is concerned, this 

 would mean planting in May and reaping in September 

 or October. These times are observed in many cases, 

 but as a general rule, when two crops are grown the 

 first r>lanting is made in January, and the crop taken 

 off in May or June. The second crop is sown as soon 

 after as possible, and reaped in November or December. 

 (Jn one side it is argued that a single crop, sown and 

 reaped at the proper time, would give a better return, 

 both in quantity and quality, than the average return 

 at present obtained by growing two crops. This is 

 denied by many planters, who urge that the growth of 

 a second crop materially increases the profits obtained 

 on the year's working, since the cleaning and cultivation 

 which the land receives for the first planting, .serves 

 also for the second crop, which is planted without any 

 expense for cultivation, beyond that entailed for a single 

 ploughing. The cost of raising the second crop is 

 therefore very small. 



A committee has been appointed by the Board of 

 Agriculture of the colony to consider and report upon 

 the question. 



