Vol. VI r. No. 173. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



393 



Trinidad Agricultural Department. 



Subject tu tliL' approval of the Secretary of State 

 for the (Jolonies, his Excellency the Actint; Governor 

 of Trinidad has appointed Professor P. Garmody, F.I C, 

 F.C.S.. to be Director of the newly ori^anized Depart- 

 nient of Agriculture for the colony. This appointment 

 (which Professor Carinody will hold in addition to his 

 office as Government Analyst and Professor of Chemis- 

 try) will date from November 1 last. 



The following previously separate Departments 



have been amalgamated to constitute the new Depart- 



tnent of Agriculture : (1) the Government Laboratory : 



(2) the Botanic Gardens (inclui'.ing the E.\periment 



Station, Trinidad : River estate, Trinidad ; and the 



Botanic Station, Tobago) : (8) the Government Stock 



Farms at Trinidad and Tobago, and (4) St. Augustine 



estate. 



^ I ^ 



World's Output of Tobacco. 



The statistical returns of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture place the world's tobacco 

 crop for 190G at 2,201,191,000 lb. Of ihi.s amount 

 690.42!),000 lb., or :31-4. per cent, of the whole, were 

 produced in the United States itself. British India 

 comes second on the list of robacco-pro(hicing countrie.s, 

 the output in 1906 being 450,000,000 Ih. In jjast years 

 Russia has produced more tobacco than any other 

 European country, but the Russiai\ crop fell from 

 214,0.50,000 lb. in' 190.5 to l(i2,020,000 lb. in 1906, with 

 the result that in the latter year, Austria-Hungary 

 headed the European list with an output of 

 187,258,000 lb. At least 100,000,000 tb. were jiroducod 

 in Turkey, and the German crop of 190G was 

 70,734,000 lb. Other producing countries are France, 

 Italy, and Belgium. In South America, 103,717,000 lb. 

 of tobacco are annually grown, more than half of which 

 IS produced in Brazil. The Java crop reached 

 109,250,000 lb., and in Africa, Algeria is the first 

 tobacco-growing country with a yield of 11,6()8,000 lb. 



British Guiana Industrial School. 



Cacao, coffee, and rubber form the chief crops 

 grown at the Onderneeniiiig Industrial School, British 

 Guiana, and the agricultural teaching which the boys 

 at the institution receive, in conne.xion with the 

 cultivation of these and other crops should be of 

 considerable value to them as a means of earning 

 a living on their discharge. 



The produce sold from the school farm in 1907-.S 

 shows a total value of S2,54.S06, while the net j>rofit on 

 the working of the farm fur the year was .S6.SG-92. 



Considerable improvements have lately been made 

 on the cultivated land. The coffee crop for the past 

 year reached 5,372 lb., compared with 3,250 11). in 

 1906-7. 



The weather conditions during part of the season 

 Avere unfavourable for cacao production. The yield of 

 cacao was 1,814 lb., while in 1906-7 it was 2,189 lb. The 

 1908-9 crop, however, has already reached 2,445 lb. 

 Hevea, Castilloa, Funtumia, and Sapiiim rubber trees 

 are under cultivation at the school. The Funtumia 

 plants are doing especially well. 



Rubber at St. Lucia. 



Rubber plants (Castilloa, Hevea, and Funtumia) 

 have been raised in considerable number at St. Lucia 

 Botanic Station, and some estates have made experi- 

 ment;d plantings. In 1906-7, the number of rubber 

 plants distributed from the station was 18,167, of which, 

 however, only some 7,000 were planted in the island. 

 In 1907-8, the total number sent out fell to 7,438, of 

 which only about 2,000 were distributed locally, and 

 the Curator states that at present there is practically 

 no demand fur I'libber ])lants at St. Lucia. The plant- 

 inc's already made will continue to le kept under obser- 

 vation and experiment, and a good stock of plants stiU 

 e.\ist at the Station. 



A consignment of ten packages of seeds of Hevea- 

 hni.-ii,lieih'<i!<, comprising a total of 2,059, was received 

 fr(uu Ceylon in the jjast year. The seeds were packed 

 in charcoal dust, and were altogether about two months 

 in transit. Of the seeds received, 947, or about 46 per 

 cent., germinated. Observations on the condition of the 

 packages on arrival indicate that the best results were 

 obtained from the seeds in those tins in which, on 

 arrival, the charcoal dust was dry. 



The Curator, in his latest An u mil />V/k -/f, expresses- 

 the opinion that Castilloa rubber trees will thrive 

 exceedingly well in St. Lucia, if due consideration is 

 given to the selection of suitable soil and locality. 



Rapid Germination of Seeds. 



One or two methods of treatment are known by 

 means of which the germination of seeds may be 

 accelerated in a remarkable manner, and although 

 this rapid gernunation is of no practical value, an 

 explanation of the methods by which it is broug^it 

 about may not be without interest. 



If seeds are treated with chlorine water (two 

 drops of chlorine to 60 c.c. of water) and then stood 

 in the sun, they will germinate completely in si.x hours. 

 Thi' seeds nuist be removed from the chlorine water, and 

 washed, however, directly the radicle appears. Chl()rine 

 has a decomposing etl'ect on wateriti the presence of light, 

 breaking it up into hydrogen and o.x)gen, and the 

 rapid germination is due to the action of the nascent 

 ox3gen liberated by the chlorine. Hard seeds need 

 a fjreliminaiv soaking in water before steeping them 

 in chlorine solution. Alkaline substances, e.g., ammonia, 

 sodi, etc., in highly dilute solution, also aid the proce.ss 

 of germination. 



Another curious method consists in watering the 

 seeds with a solution of formic acid (1 in 5,000) at 

 a temperature of 25 -30 C. This treatment dissolves 

 the integument, and plants which normally require 

 eicht or ten days will germinate in ;is many hours. 



In some experiments carried out last year in 

 France, and described in Xc Jiird'ni, seeds of radishes 

 anil other Cruciferae were made to germinate in less 

 than eight minutes by plunging them in hot water, and 

 then laying them between rags soak(Ml in boiling water 

 in a smallHower-pot nearly filled with moist earth, and 

 kept at a warm temperature. 



