.3(50 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Novi;iii-.Eu U, 1908 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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^griciiltiirat ^Inuii 



Vol. VII. SATURDAY, XOVKMBF.R W, 1908. No. 171. 



"notes AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The jio^siliilities connet'ted with thf more general 

 cultivation of vegetables and i'ther small crops in the 

 West Indies are di.scussed in the editoi'ial. 



A system of sugar-cane cultivation recommended 

 by the Cuban Agricultural Experiment Station to 

 pl.-mters in the island is described on page 3.5.5. This 

 is followed by .some particidars extracted from the first 

 report of the Barbados Sugar Industry Agricultural 

 Bank. 



Some notes on the orange ti-ade in Spain, which 

 at present is in a somewhat (ieprcssed condition, and 

 ■on fruit production in the Bahamas, will be found on 

 page 356. 



The system of insurance of crops in the West 

 Indies against damage by hurricane is dealt with on 

 page 357, and on the next page reports are given as 

 to the condition of the Sea Island cotton market in 

 England and the United States. 



A brief article on page 35!) disnusses the composi- 

 tion and manurial value of farmyard manure. 



The best methods of dealing with attacks of lice 

 and mites on poultry forms the subject dealt with 

 under Insect Notes (page 362). 



The ' Students' Corner ' is continued on page .'!(i.S, 

 and attention may also lie drawn to the article ' Uubbei 

 in the West Indies ' on the same page, and that giving 

 an account of e-xperimeiits with a nundior of fodder 

 crops at Dominica, which appears on page 3ti(i. 



Rum Manufacture at Barbados. 



I'liim thi' p:irticulars set out in the report on the 

 Excise br.anch of the Customs Department at Barbados, 

 iD is seen that the rum stills worked in the island dur- 

 ing 1907 were five in number, viz., the West India 

 Rum Refinery, the Premier, Cariiiigton in St. Philip, 

 and Mount ( !ay (2 stills) in St. Lucy. 



Altogether 210,012 gallons of rum were manufac- 

 tured during the year. Of this quantity, by far the 

 greater proportion was made by the West India Runi 

 Refinery, Ltd., which turned out 154,5.52 gallons (or 

 70 per cent, of the whole) : 24 372 gallons were made at 

 the Prenuei-, 10,159 gallons at Carrington, and 15,099 

 gallons at Mount Cay. With the exception of 700 

 gallons exported, to other colonies, and 918 gallons 

 issued as 'ships stores,' all the rum manufactured was 

 consumed in the island. 



■! ! ♦- rw -- — 



Tobacco Experiments at St. Kitt's-Nevis. 



Tobacco experiments with Havana, Sumatra, and 

 Virginian varieties are being continued this season at 

 La (juerite, St. Kitt's, under the direction of Mr. F. R. 

 Shepherd, Agricultural Superintendent. These trial.s 

 have now been in progress for several seasons, and while 

 the growth of tobacco both under shade and in the open 

 has been all that could be desired, the process of fermen- 

 tation has, so far, failed to develop the best aroma and 

 the combustible qualities evident in a good sample. This 

 is attributed to the fact that the temperature reached 

 during feiruentation has not been sufficiently high. 

 The (piantity grown is small,' not exceeding 350 If), of 

 cured tobacco, and under these circumstances it is not 

 so easy to produce a high tenqjerature as with a larger 

 quantity. The tobacco under experiment should be 

 ready tor reaping about the end of December, and it is 

 hoped that more favourable residts will be obtained 

 from fermentation than in ]iast seasons. 



— i^Kg>-.o-~ m Bi 



Keeping Powers of Ripe Mangos. 



Some experiments were lately carried out in 

 British (juiaua under the auspices of the Department 

 ot Science iind Agriculture to test the effect of immer- 

 sion tor a short time in a 3 ))er cent, solution of formalin 

 (a treatment which is known to have a preservative 

 influence in the case of many soft-skinned fruits) upon 

 the keeping power oi mangos. The tests were made 

 with 2()0 mangos, belonging to twenty-three diftereni. 

 varieties. The fruits were, in every case, gathered two at 

 a time, one being immersed for ten minutes in the 

 formalin solution, and the other, which was not treated 

 with formalin, being kept under precisely similar condi- 

 tions for control purposes. The mangos were handled 

 with every care, and examined daily. 



Instead of e.\ereising a jireservative influence on 

 the fruits, it was found in praeuically all cases, that the 

 use of formalin tended tu lessen the number of days 

 which elapsed before the mangos became unfit for 

 eating purposes. Inr-ident ally, the experiment has 

 shown that, with careful handling, mangos will, on the 

 average, keep for ten or twelve days in British Guiana, 

 and it is expected that in cold storage their keeping 

 powers would be much increased. 



