Vol. XIY. No 



THE A.GRII ULTURAL NEWS. 



25 



A Substitute for Jute. 



The Board of Trade Journal December '■'>. 1914, 



; thai the failure of bhe usual supplies ol jute from 

 I ign countries is causing sei ius inconvenience in 

 German} to the users of sacks. Increased employmenl 

 is being made of a jute substitute, an artificial fibre 



d 'Textilose', manufactured in various factories in 

 Austria, and also in Germany al Oppeln in Silesia. 

 Si ps are being taken to increase the outpul of this 



rial, whereb} the shortage of sacks will be less 

 ]\ felt. 



Transport of Produce in Dominica. 



In a report recentl} received from Dominica an 

 account is given of the first long distance wire ropewa} 

 in that island. This means of transport has been 

 erected by Mr. Campbell for conveying produce from 

 Neba to Clark Hall estates, a distance of'2g miles. 

 From i lark Hall, a motor lorry furnishes transport to 

 the coast. The working of this arrangement will be 

 watched with interest, since, if it is as successful as i: 

 promises to be, it will be likely to indicate a solution 

 of the transport difficulty in mam rather inaccessible 

 places in mountainous disl rid s. 



Canadian Customs Laws. 



It is of importance to shippers "I produce from 

 bhi West fndies to Canada, if they wish to obtain the 

 full benefits of the preferential duties in that country 

 led b} reciprocitj agreements, that they should 

 comply ex ictl} with Canadian laws in the matter of 

 the filling up of invoices. The following, taken from 

 Heaton's Annual Commercial Handbook ol Canada 

 for I HI 4. p. l'o-I-. will probablj prove useful to shippers: 



Ever} shipmenl must be accompanied by an 

 invoice. Invoices must show the marks and numbers 



01 each package, a sufficient and correct descripti I 



the goods, the quantities and values of the articles in 

 package, and "fair market value", also selling 

 price to purchaser in Canada if sold before shipment, 

 the amount of any freight prepaid on such goods, and 

 the amount of an} freight allowance made by the 

 exporter to the purchaser in I lanada. Invoices should 

 also contain terms of purchase, where goods are 

 actually sold, [fin any package goods are enclosed 

 which are not included in theinvoice of such package, 

 bhi i i i losure (to avoid seizure) should be noted on the 

 invoice of the outside package containing thi enclo- 

 thus. "bhree parcels enclosed" (or as the case 

 may be).' 



In declaring 'fair market valm for g Is 



shipped on consignment, it would seem that some 

 distinction might well be made between the value of 



-'I ill ex pei ntal shipment, say of such things as 



ground nuts or sweet potatoes, and the declared value 

 on large shipments 61 the same kind of products. Such 



£s in small parcels could easih be localh disposed 

 ol :•' remunerative prices, bul their value in any 

 considerable quantit} would be relative!} verj much 

 less in local markets. Consequently the 'fair market 

 value' per pound of ground nuts, tor instance, would be 

 proportionately much highei than ifquotcd per ton. 



Anti-strangles Serum. 



Among the advertisements in the Veterinary 

 Bi cord, November 21 ID 1 4. there is one from the well- 

 known linn of Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., London, 

 drawing attention to their preparations for veterinary 

 use of stn | >io, -or, -us vaccine, and oi anti streptococcus 

 serum, for the prevention and bi i ent of 'strai 

 in horse>. In the •sain, numbei bhere appears a letter 

 from George W. Dunkin, M.I.M .V.S., an arm} veter- 

 inary surgeon, noting the success,, i treatment of this 

 disease b} the serum, but strongl} advocating the use 

 of the prophylactic vaccine. He says that at the 

 Reserve Department in Canterbury, Kit) horses were 

 experimented with. THey were all dee from any 

 macroscopic evidence ol strangles tit'u were treated 

 with the prophylactic and til'u were left as controls. 

 At the end of a fortnight all were examined. Of the 

 fift} which had been vaccinated, only four hadstran 

 ami rw,, oi hers hail abcesses in the neck at the point 

 of inoculation. Of the fifty controls no less than twenty- 

 three had contracted strangles, and in nearly ever} case 

 ilc throat had to be opened. Prophylactic treatment 

 with the streptococcic vaccine is bherefore highly 

 reci immended. 



Change of Seed. 



The question of the advisability, with a view bo 

 improved yield, of changing the seed of a crop grown in 

 an} locality, is one that arises from time to time. 

 Some authorities m the past have advocated this, l>ut 

 lately it would seem that in very manypartsof the 

 world tins opinion has been ver} much modified, to 

 say the least. The officials of the imperial Department 

 oi Agriculture for the West Indies have consistent!} 

 pointed out, both with regard to cotton and maize, the 



better Way of careful seed selection, as a means of 



improving the crop. The Agricu.itu.nd Gazette of 

 A ew South Wales, November ~2. IH]4, is apparently 

 coming round to the same way of thinking In an 

 article on plant improvement, the Writer, J. T Pridham, 

 says about wheat, that change oi seed is occasionally 

 beneficial, l)ii t in most cases does not give nearh such 

 good results as home-grown seed, when farmers \<.<\ 



at tention to the select! f seed. 



In the case I f potatoes, which are a crop of 



vegetative reproduction, and which therefore may be 



supposed to tend to deteriorate re than crops propa 



gated by seed, the writer says: An experienced 

 grower will detect the most productive plants in a crop. 

 and the more careful the selection, the better will be 

 the resulting crops.' He concludes with the following 

 common-sense advice which seems practical also for 

 Wesb Indian growers of tuberous crops like yams [| 

 will very rarel} pa} be substitute fresh seed for home- 

 grown selected seed, unless the former comes from 

 a locality of similar climate, and has Keen a Is,, subjected 



tO select ion.' 



It must also be remembered that the importation 

 ol fresh strains of plants is attended with some risk of 

 disease infection. The selection in the home field of 

 healthy prolific plants for seed of the next crop is one 

 way of keeping awa} man} pests and diseases, 



