THE AGIIICULTUUAL NEWS. 



Jani'ap.v 4, 1913. 



GLEANINGS. 



It is announced that the success of the Textile Exhibi- 

 tion held recently at Soerabaia, Java, has led to the decision 

 to hold a rubber exhibition at Batavia in the year 1914. 

 This will include everything connected with raw rubber, both 

 wild and iilantation, and similar products such as balata, 

 jelutnng and gutta. 



Among the exports of Peru during the year 1910-11 

 there were included: cocaine value £60,287, rubber (wild) 

 1*78,540 kilos, value £546. 565, rubber (Sernamby de Jebe), 

 703,112 kilos, value £207,809, rubber (Caucho), 135.810 

 kilus., value £42,405, rubber (Sernamby de Caucho) 

 a, --'36,105 kilos. 



A table given in the Pfoceedinrja of the Agricultural 

 tSocieti/ of Trinidad and Tohago for November 1912 shows 

 that the total export of cacao faom the island during that 

 month wiis 329,730 B). The amount shipped previously was 

 40,143,025 R)., making a total for the first eleven months of 

 3911 of 40,472,755 ft. 



The bulletin of the South African Department of Cus- 

 toms and E-xcise for September estimates that, on account of 

 drought, the total output of sugar in Natal for 1912 will not 

 exceed 100,000 tons. As there is a gradual increase in 

 production, the consumption in South Africa will shortly be 

 supplied, and Natal will have to become a sugar-exporting 

 country. 



With relation to the influence of molasses on soils, it is 

 of interest that a paper in the Journal of Indvsfi ial and 

 Ji'nr/ineering Chemist ri/, 1912, p. 272, describes work which 

 showed that when sugar and molasses were added to sewage 

 filter beds nitrification was checked. The addition was some- 

 ■what u!"'ful, however, in that it partly cleared the beds of 

 organic matter. 



In the Dominica Ga.ette for December 6, ,1912, it is 

 .shown by means of a table that the citrus exports from the 

 island for the first eleven months of last year were as follows: 

 titrate of lime 3,222 cwt., I'cuelled lime oil 979 gallons, 

 distilled lime oil 3,862 gallons, orange oil, 80 gallons, limes 

 34,288 barrels and 3,057 boxes, oranges 1,348 barrels and 

 2,434 boxes, concentrated lime .juice 127.661 gallons, raw- 

 lime juice 492,331 gallons. 



A report published by the Barbados Education Board, 

 in the Ofii-inl Gazelle for November 18, 1912, states that, as 

 regards the subject in the curriculum for pupil teachers 

 described as Science, the results of the recent examinations 

 >liow that, as usual, very little time seems to have been 

 devoted to the subject. The reason fi>r this is adduced that 

 the science paper is optional. 



The Uganda Otiicial Gazette for October 31, 1912, gives 

 notice that all plants, seeds, bulbs, etc , consigned to tlie 

 I'ganda Government Entomologist for examination and fumi- 

 gation will, in the absence of any arrangements for their 

 clearance through the Customs, transportation and reship- 

 nient, be handed over to an agent for the purpose, and that 

 all charges incurred in this way must be paid by the importer. 



The Annual lieport of the i)irector of Agriculture, 

 Cj'prus, for 1211-12, states that the area sown with cotton 

 by private growers in the island has increased largely during 

 the past two years. In one district a grower has imported 

 a considerable quantity of Eg)ptian seed which he has dis- 

 posed of readily to other growers. This proprietor claims 

 that his yield of lint on seed cotton has been 33 par cent. 

 The advice is given that earlier planting of cotton is recjuired 

 in the island. 



The Experiment Stat ion. Record for July 1912 gives an 

 abstract of work showing the effect of ether and carbon bisul- 

 phide applied to soil in which plants were growing. Ether 

 caused a greater total yield as well as a higher amount of 

 combined nitrogen in the plants, immediately afterwards; but 

 in the second crop both tbe.se quantities were smaller, and 

 sometimes less than in the controls. It seem.< to be shown 

 that both these substances act in stimulating the growth of 

 the plant, rather than that they posses.-^ any influence on the 

 nitrifying and denitrifying organisms in the soil. 



A report by the Acting British Council at Casablanca, 

 Morocco, states that the linseed crop of the Province of 

 Showia will be short, but that the quality will be good. At 

 Mazagan it is reported by the liritish Vice-Consul that about 

 4,400 tons of this crop, value £66,000, has been shipped 

 already from this port, and that about 600 tons were waiting 

 for export. Tic Jioard of T'rade Journal for October 31, 

 1912, from which these details are extracted, states that 

 H.M. Vice-Consul at Safli in the same country, reports that 

 there will be a small crop of linseed of good quality this 

 year, and that the cultivation of linseed in this district is 

 diminishing. 



Information regarding tomato seed oil has appeared in 

 the Agrirultnral .W".?. It seems, now, that the oil has just 

 appeared on the market. According to the Cluimher of 

 Commerce Journal for November 1912, L'Agriridture Coni- 

 merciale states that the oil comes chiefly from Italy, where 

 in the Province of Parma alone, 600 tons of a semisiccative 

 oil have been manufactured from the seeds of about 

 84,000 tons of tomatoes. The fresh fruit contains 1 1 per cent, 

 of seed. In the dried residue from preserved manufacture 

 the percentage of seed is about 66, and this residue when 

 extracted with carbon bisulphide gives about 12 per cent, 

 of oil. The tomato oil cake can be used for manure. Oil is 

 also obtained from the seeds that are separated by fans from 

 the skin, and this amounts to about 16 per cent. 



