60 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Febkuary 23, 1918. 



GLEANINGS. 



According to Natutr, January 3, 1918, Professor T. 

 Johnson, of the Royal College of Science for Ireland, has 

 introduced under the name of Inometer, a new form of food 

 chart, constructed on the principle of the thermometer. The 

 degrees on the scale represent large calorie?. 



The KUm of Acacui aralji.ca is an impor ant minor 

 produc of India. I' is no' 'he 'rue jium arabic, which is 

 oH ained from A- Senegal, but is lEe Indian gum arbic of 

 cciiiiiierce. The gi'm exudes fpf^n aneo'ijl}'. or is procnred 

 by ir.cisions in ihe bark, in the form of smaM lumps varying 

 in furm and size. A good tree is s ated 'o yield about 2 ft), 

 of gum a year. {Forest /3?<V/e^in, No. 3-5, India. ) 



Some interesting fiaures as regards the fish supply of 

 Trinidad are given in the fori of-ilpain Gicette .January 6, 

 1'J18. It appears that for the week ended .January 4, there 

 were sold in ihe market 40,39i> lb. of fish Of this quantity 

 33 392 tt). were king-fi.''b. which were sold according to size 

 at 6, 12 or 16 for #100. Aea'ch of ihis fish, amouniing 

 io400B>., which arrived a' San Fernando, was sold ai 10 

 for *l-00. 



Accordiigloa repori received by 'he De[)artment of 

 Trai!e and Commerce of O 'awa from 'he Canadian Trade 

 Commisbioner a'. S . .lohns, Xewfonndland, the colony's 

 po ato crop should exceed 2,-500,000 bushels. This figure 

 represen s a s'lpply per head for ihe year amoun ing 'o ivvice 

 asnv'ch as is ordinarily cons med. so thai ihere should be 

 a considerable surplus available for seed p; rposes and for 

 export 10 Ksrope. (Uvited Em/iire, January 1918.) 



At the Carrera Convict Prison in Trinidad the prisoners 

 aie engajjed in various useful employments, mat making 

 from coconut husk fibre 1 ting one of them. Loe-iily, nearly 

 all the stores, many of the churches, and a large number of 

 motor car owners purchase mats from the pri.son. The indus- 

 try has {.Town tosucb anextent that it is understood that hard 

 ly any mats are imported from abroad. On the contrary, 

 St. Kitts and others of the smaller islands now import mats 

 from Trinidad. (The Voict of St. Ai/c/a, February 2. 191b.) 



The United States has succeeded in establishing ii sue 

 cessful dye stuff industry since the war began, and it is found 

 that American dyes are as good as Qerman dyes, according to 

 a report made by the Pinreau of Koreign and Domestic Com 

 merce. Formerly importing annually m much as $10,000,000 

 worth of aniline dyes alone, the l'nite<l Siates exported during 

 ten ii,"4.ths of last year ^\ 2,-500,000 worth of dyes to foreign 

 countries, and exjorts are growing rapidly [Scunce, Jan- 

 uary 2.5, 1918.) 



The area under rice in P>ritish (luiana for the year 

 1916 amounted to 57,000 acres. The total yield was 

 72.000 tons of paddy. The rice grown was of excellent 

 quality: 13 000 tons of rice and 300 tons of rice meal 

 were exported durinw the year. The very keen demand 

 among planters of rice for the .specially selected seed produced 

 at the experimental fields of the Hoard of Agriculture 

 steadily increa.sed during the year. {Colonial lujiorts — 

 Annual, No. 937.) 



In Denmark a Government committee has been experi- 

 menting with 'he European stinging neule as a so'irce of 

 fibre sui able for manufacture of textiles. It. has been found 

 possible to make fromnetile fibre, fine rope, strong sring, 

 coarse linen, sail cloth, sacking, and binder I wine. Sheets, 

 cycle tyre covers, and fine ma eriil suilable for clothing can 

 also be made, but have no' as ye' been produced in Denmark 

 owing 10 lack of exprnsive, delica e machinery. {The Board 

 of Trade Journal, Jau' ary 3, 1918.) 



The to al produc ion of rice in the United S ates of 

 America was 2,000,000 ft. in 1866; it has now reached 

 350,000 000 ft), last year. Hundreds of mile.s of irriga'ion 

 canals in connexion with this cultivaion have been con- 

 structed, iiice has been ihe redemption of 'he prairie lands 

 of Texas and Lo iaiana. {(Jneensland Atiricult iiral Journal, 

 December 1917.) 



The principal export from Gambia is ground nuts. 

 During 'he year 19 16, 46,366 ions of ground nuts, valued at 

 £506,098 wereexpor ed, less than half of iheexpori of the pre- 

 vious year, bu' in consequence of higher prices the value was 

 greater by £105,663. For the first time in the last fifty years 

 the United Kingdom received a larger portion of the crop than 

 was shipped to France. The export to the United Kingdom 

 amounted to 22,371 tons, and to Fiance, 19,313 tons. In 

 1913, out of a total crop of 67,404 tons the figures were 984 

 tons to the United Kingdom, and 42,420 tons to France. 

 {Colonial Reports — Annual, Xo. 936.) 



The fridia [iidilier World, January 1, 1918, states ihit 

 Egyp iau cotton occupies ihe third place among long staple 

 CO ions, the Irne Sea Island being the firs' grade, and Georgias 

 and Floridas the serond. There are .seven chief varieiies 

 grDWii in Egypt of which Aahiiiimi and Sakellarides form 90 

 p. r cent of the yearly imporlalinns into ihe Unite I S'a'es of 

 Egy|i'ian cotton. In lengih, .\shunii occupies ih^ lowest 

 grade, the stai)le being as a rule abon' 1] inches or less. It 

 is brown in colour and not as clean and strong as 'he other 

 varieties Afifi or .Muiafifi forms the bulk of the Egyj)iiau 

 crop 'Ihe saple is very s'rong and regular, and \\ to If 

 inches in length 



For use on their estates in Trinidad the S'e. Madeleine 

 Sugar Company, Limi ed impor ed some pedrail wagons with 

 Ihe idea that they would be useful for getting canes o-t of 

 the field in wet weather The manager of the S e. Madeleine 

 factory writes tlm in i s present form the fedrail wagon, 

 which is a fiat i ray shaped box fixed on 'op of 'he pedrails. ia 

 uiisuiiable for the haulaae of nines as i is lop heavy and is 

 apt 10 turn over even wih a half load no' only in the fields 

 bui in ihe 'races. On mud *.\' traces also 'he mud ge s ihrough 

 the rails, and clog.s ihy whole machine. They answer, however, 

 splendidly on hard roads for car ing gravel, lumber, or 

 anything when ihe load is no' piled loohigh, and one mule 

 or two oxen can easily haul from 1 lo l^ tons. 



