Vol. VII. No. ITd. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



345 



Agricultural Bank for St. Croix Sugar Planters. 



An Ordinance has recently been passed at St. Croix 

 as a result of which sugar planters in the colony are 

 enabled to obtain pecuniary assistance for the cultiva- 

 tion of the cane crop. • 



The Government of the colony is prepared to 

 advance before October 81, 1908, an amount not exceed- 

 ing £1,600 from the St. Croi.\- Immigration Fund, to be 

 expended solely in connexion with the sugar industry. 

 Planters may not borrow a sum which exceeds £1 per 

 acre of canes cultivated, and no advances will be madi' 

 to cultivators having less than 10 ' acres in canes. 

 Loans made in this way will form the first claim on 

 the growing crops, and in the case of estates manufac- 

 turing their own canes, the sums advanced must be 

 repaid, together with 4 per cent, interest, in three equal 

 instalments, in April, May, and June next. Where canes 

 are sold to central factories, the loans -will be repaid by 

 means of a certain fraction of the paythent for each lot 

 of canes delivered. Sums not repaid by June 1.5 next 

 will be charged 6 per cent, interest afiier that date. 



During the six months from Xovt'mber 1 next, the 

 Government is also prepared toadyanct- another £4,000 

 from the same source, on the same general conditions 

 as above. In this case no loans will be made to culti- 

 vators having- less than .5 acres in cane. 



Castor Oil Plants as Green Dressing. 



A crop of castor oil plants was lately grown in 

 a field at Molyneux estate, St. James, Barbados, for 

 green dressing purposes, and a sample plant has been 

 analysed at the Government Laboratory of the island. 



From the statement of analysis, it appears that the 

 total weight of the crop per acre (1,210 holes) was 

 (i,6.5.5 lb., containing 2,323 it). (34'91 per cent.) of 

 organic, or humus-forming, material. The amount of 

 nitrogen added to the soil by the crop is shown to be 

 333 lb. per acre, of phosphoric anhydride 213 lb., and 

 of pota.sh 53-2 It), per acre. 



A better idea of the actual valiie of castor oil 

 plants for green manurial purposes will'be obtained on 

 comparison of the above figures with those relating to 

 vari(jus leguminous crops grown for the same purpose 

 in experiments carried out at Waterford plantation by 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture in 1900. 



The crops under trial included woolly pyrol, cow- 

 peas and Bengal beans. While as alrAidy mentioned, 

 the amount of organic matter yielded by the castor oil 

 plants was 2,323 It)., that a<lded to the soil by green 

 woolly pyrol was 2,0(J9 It)., by cowpea Vines 2.730 Hi., 

 and by Bengal beans 3,902 lb. The great difference, 

 as might be expected, lies in the amoutlts of nitrogen 

 incorporated into the soil as the result of cultivating 

 castor oil plants and leguminous plants such as the 

 above. While the castor oil crop contained 33-3 lb. of 

 nitrogen per acre, the woolly pyrol crop yielded 4.S It)., 

 the cowpeas 70 lb., and the Bengal beans 120 lb. In 

 the case of the leguminous crops, too, a considerable 

 quantity of this nitrogen would be obtained from the 

 atmosphere, Avhile the castor oil plant merely returns 

 to the soil what it has previously taken from it. 



Malaria at Mauritius. 



The prevention of malaria in Mauritius forms the 

 subject of an important report recently prepared for 

 the Colonial Office by Jlajor Ross, F.R.S., who lately 

 paid a visit of three months to the colon}*. 



Some idea of the prevalence of malaria in Mauritius 

 may be gained from the facts that of 31,022 school 

 children examined for the purpose, more than one- 

 third were found to have their blood infected with the 

 parasites causing the diseasf;; that the number of deaths 

 due to intermittent fever amou^nt to 31 per cent, of the 

 total ; and that the annual cost of the disease to estate 

 owners in the island is estimated to reach £43,300 in 

 loss of labour, and to the labourers themselves £10,000 

 yearly in loss of wages. 



In the course of his report Major Ross sets out, 

 under ten different heads, the details of a definite 

 scheme of action which he has "formulated for dealinjf 

 with malarial fever in the colony. The most important 

 measures included in this scheme are the periodical 

 examination of children in schools and on estates for 

 the discovery and treatment of those already infected, 

 continuous house-to-house distribution of quinine, and 

 the steady carrying out of various works, described 

 respectively as ' major ' and ' minor,' for the improve- 

 ment of drainage, the destruction or filling up of pools 

 in which mosquitos can breed, and the destruction of 

 larvae. The cost of carrying out the recommendations 

 is estimated at about £9,000 per annum. 



Sweet Potato Weevil at Barbados. 



The best methods for dealing with the sweet 

 potato weevil ('Scarabee' or 'Jacobs'), attacks from 

 which have been unusually prevalent at Barbados this 

 year — a fact generally attributed to the dryne.ss of the 

 season — formed the subject of a paper read before 

 a recent meeting of the Agricultural Society of the 

 island by Mr. H. A. Ballon, M.Sc, Entomologist to the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture. 



It was pointed out that one of the first points to- 

 receive attention, when a crop was attacked, should be 

 the destruction of all infected potatos, either by burn- 

 ing, boiling, or burjing with lime. In clearing a field 

 of a sweet potato crop, it is important (whether the 

 plants are infested or not) to clean up all pieces of vines 

 and roots, so that no food supply whatever is left for 

 the weevils. If pieces of potato are put down in heaps 

 at frequent intervals, these serve to attract the pests, 

 which may then be collected and destroyed — by drop- 

 ping into a can containing water and kerosene. Small 

 heaps of trash lying about also serve as hiding places 

 for the weevils, and if these are .burnt up after a while, 

 numbers of vveevils would almost certainly be destroyed. 

 If it w-ere practicable, it would probably be effective to 

 trash any badly infected field, and burn it over. 



Another point which should receive attention is 

 the establishment of a suitable rotation of crops on 

 land known to have been infested with the weevil. 

 It would naturally be most unwise to grow sweet 

 potatos twice in succession on the same land. It is 

 important, too, that the crop should be gathered 

 immediately it is ripe. 



