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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Fkieiary 9, 1918. 



The piassava Hbre.s (it commerce are obtained from 

 the sheathing cases of several species of palin.s. The palms 

 from which thty are obtained are all growing wild in their 

 respective localities, and apparently are not under cultiva- 

 tion for fibre production. Some of iliese have been 

 introduced into the West Indies as on amental plants, 

 notably the kitool palm {Cari/ota wens'. {Kew Bulletin, 

 Nos. f and 8, 1917.) 



GLEANINGS. 



Mr. W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Vin- 

 cent, reports that he has grown two strong plants of 

 Bougainvillaea hybrids from seed fent by Dr. Perez of 

 TenerifFe to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture. At 

 present the leaves of these plants are'more like those of 

 Jinu'jainrillaea '/la/'ra thin B. laterita. 



According to the returns received in the Department of 

 the Director of Statistic- with the Government of India, the 

 number of sugar factoiies working in India in 1916 was 

 twenty eight The annual output of these factories it is 

 difficult to know. Roughly it must be about 100,000 tons. 

 (The Agricultural Journal of Inrlin, October 1917.) 



Among various exotic trees introduced into Uganda, 

 the breadfruit tree is now thoroughly established, and 

 fre(|uently bears fruit. The fine collection of mangoes 

 introduced from India in 1908 has also made excellent 

 grf~wth. (Ainiu'd Re-pnrt Botanic Dej^artinent, I'ganda Pro- 

 tectorate 1917.) 



The sugar crop of Queensland for the season now 

 ending is estimated aa ;U6,000 tons, which it is hoped will 

 be produced from a total amount of canes reaped, estimated 

 at 2,900,000 tons. Thi.s will be the lirgest .sugar crop 

 ever produced in ((lueen.sland, and it is expected that it will 

 realize the value of £7,266,000. (The Australian Sugar 

 Journal, November 8, 1917.) 



Uritish Malaya is now the leading country for the 

 production of cultivated rubber, and the industry ha.s added 

 very substantially to the prosperity ol the Malay Peninsula 

 during the past decade. The tendency has been spreading 

 to devote more and more land to rubber p'anting. .\live to 

 the danger of relying too much upon one industry, however 

 successful, the authorities in Malaya are seeking to encourage 

 development in other directions, and tlieir policy has been 

 warmly approved by resident planter-'. 



Apropos of the interest in tanning now being shown in 

 these islands, the following from the A'ev Bidlelin,'Sos. 7 and 

 8, 1917, may be (i interest. The best mangrove bark or 

 extract is not so acceptable to tanners as oak bark, valonia, 

 quebracho, mimosa bark, etc. ; the principal objection is its 

 deep r(d colour, and it is only corsiderfd satisfactory for 

 tanning leather when u.^ed in combination with better cla.ss 

 substances. 



In an account of a vLoit to the Kothamsted Experiment 

 Station, a correspondent of the Wealf/i of fndin, October 

 1917, is struck with the magnitude of the work done there. 

 Some idea of the work done on .soil at Kothanisted in 

 the course of twelve months may be formed, when it is 

 explained that the farm is divided into more than 200 

 experimental plot", and that each year something like 2.'J0 

 .lamples have to be taken with proper precaution, and 

 preserved for future reference. 



From the report of the Government Cinchona Planta- 

 tions and Factory in Bengal for the year 1916 17 we learo 

 that the acreage under cinchona has been incie.ised to 

 2,405 acres. For an outlay of 4,484,100 rupees ihe G.jvern- 

 inent has received 5,124,900 rupees, and has acquired, within 

 the period 1905-17, additions to factory buildings, etc., 

 a large reserve of quinine, 2,73.'< acres afi'orestid wi'h timber 

 and fuel trees, the 2,40-") acres of cinchona, and a large 

 output of other manufactured products, making a total 

 return in cash and readily realizable assets of 11,766,634 

 rupees. (Nature, December 6, 1917.) 



A recent calculation of the yield of sugar in Hawaii 

 during five-j'ear periods shows the following remarkable 

 development in productiveness: 1902 6 the yield was 4'40 

 tons sugar per acre; 1907-11 the yield was 4-87 tons: and 

 from 1912-16 the average reached was no less than 523 tons. 

 It is claimed that the aggregate production, which increased 

 from 1.', million tons for the first named period to upwards 

 of ."? million tons for the period ended 1916, has been due to 

 better agriculture rather than to increased areas. (The 

 Avstralioii f-'ugar Journal, 'So\emhei- 8, 1917.;) 



Inquiries are often made as to the best way of getting 

 rid of poultry ticks. The Journal of A;! irtdtwe of Victoria 

 for November 1917 gives the following recommendation: 

 A good remedy for poultry lice or ticks is kerosene emulsion, 

 and it is easily made as follows: dissolve 1 ft>. of 

 coumion soap in I gallon of hot water, add 2 gallons of 

 kerosene, emulsify with garden .syringe, heat up mixture, and 

 add 10 pirts of water to 1 of the mixture. Use with a spray 

 pump or syringe. Whitewash, as recommended by many 

 poultry writers, is not as effective as spraying fowl houses 

 with this mixture. 



We are informed that there are two [wsitiens as 

 Assistant Pathologists at present open in the Insular 

 I'^xperiment Station, Porto Itico. The salaries are, respectively, 

 $1,800 and .?1,.')(10 per annum. One of these assistants will 

 devote his time to sugar cane investigations, and the other 

 to ((uestions connected with citrus culiivntion. Applicants 

 must have had i thorough training in botany and plant 

 pathology A Hachelor's degree or its equivalent will be 

 required. Ap[ilications, with a statement of training and 

 experience, may he made to Mr. .lohn N Stevenson, C'hief 

 of the Division of Botany and Plant I'athology, Insular 

 Experiment Station, Rio Pitdras, Porto Uico. 



