376 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



NOVEMBEK 22, 1913. 



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gigricultiirat ^xm 



Vol. XII. SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 22, 1913. No. 302. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Note on the Cacao and Coco-nut Markets. 



Now that rubber has provt-il rather disappointing to 

 its supporters of three or four years ago, there is some 

 suggestion, according to Tlic World (October 7, 1913,) 

 of forming a market lo deal in the shares of various 

 companies producing coco-nuts and kindred material in 

 Trinidad and some of the other West Indian Islands. It 

 is claimed that in these districts the nuts grow to 

 a larger size than in the East. It would seem, however, 

 in view of the fact that the companies are small, that it 

 would be difficult to create a free market in the shares. 

 An encouraging feature attendant on the suggestion is 

 the price of copra, which has risen 20 per cent, to £3B 

 a ton. 



In discussing the London cacao market recently, 

 the editor of Troincal Life draws attention to certain 

 remarks which have appeared in the Tea <ind Coffee 

 Trade Joicrval of New ^'ork, in relation to the effect 

 of the Reciprocity Treaty between Canada and the 

 West Indies on Trinidad's cacao trade. As America is 

 Trinidad's best customer for cacao, both as regards 

 price and qualit}', any legislation than tends to 

 discourage or break up that trade cannot be sympa- 

 thized with. If Trinidad has to depend on Europe for 

 the entire sale of her cacao crop, the market is made 

 a very uncertain one, and prices will be likely to drop 

 to the level of those for British West African. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number deals with agricultural 

 bias in the teaching of subjects other than science. 



On page 87'i will be found described an interesting 

 piece of mechanism under the^ heading of A New 

 Pump for Estate Work. 



Under the general heading of N'egetable Oils, on 

 page 375, appear two articles on pulza oil and lemon 

 grass oil respectively. 



Under the caption Book Shelf, on page 379, are 

 reviewed two works relating to rubber planting and 

 ■-Indian corn cultivation respectively. 



The first of a series of articles on field surveying 

 is given under Students' Corner on page 381. 



Insect and Fungus Notes contain, am<pngi»t other 

 information, accounts of peet* and diseases of sugar- 

 cane and cotton in St. Croi.x. 



The French and German Colonies and Agri- 

 cultural Research. 



'No problem', says L'Ej'pcmsion Colonial (October 

 1, 1913), 'appears more grave, and demands solution 

 more urgently than that of the scientific organization 

 for the agricultural exploitation of our Colonies.' The 

 writer (]\[. Emile P.aillaud) believes that what is need- 

 ed is the establishment in each French tropical pos- 

 session of one or more ex})erimental stations devoted 

 entirely to the investigation of a single crop — the 

 staple crop of each colony. Thus M. Baillaud asks 

 'why in Senc'-gal has not a station, been established and 

 devoted entirely to ground nuts -in CJuinea one for 

 rubber, one for fruit culture and one for kola — on the 

 Ivory Coast, une for cacao (like that instituted with 

 success on the ( !old Coast)— in Dahomey, one for oil 

 palms — in < labon, one for cacau and coffee — in the 

 Congo, one for rubber and thus in each colony for the 

 principal cultivation?' French-grown cane sugar is 

 produced principally in the older colonies (for instance 

 (iuadeloupe and Alartiniiiuc) and here, it is urged, any 

 success which accompanies this cultivation is largely- 

 due to the scientific work conducted in neighbouring 

 colonies belonging to foreign Powers. 



It would appear that, as regards Germany, the 

 policy adopted in the organization of tropical agricultu- 

 ral research embraces principles very similar to those 

 ad\ocated by L'L'.rpnn.sion Colonial. Dr. Walter 

 Busse, of the Imperial (!erman Colonial Office, Berlin, 

 writing in the HiUlctin c/ the Irivperial Institute (for 

 July-September, 1913) refers to the work of the 

 Biological -Agricultural Institute, Amani, and to the 

 Kibongoto Agricultural Experiment Station. Here 

 the work is of a general kind, but during the last three 



