316 



Tin: AC RICULTURAL NEWS. 



- I M 1 : 1 1 : 25, 1915. 



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GLEANINGS. 



It is stated in the Chamber o/ Commerct Journal 

 (August 1915) that a new bip line has been 



established between Hull and the I mgo. As a 

 a uew trade in tropical products is expected to I"- brought to 

 the aboi e mentioned port. 



I: rerence was made in the las) issue of the Agricultural 

 .X, ws to a review of the Official Guide to the Botanic < lardens, 

 Dominica, which appeared in Nature. To this may be added 

 the appearance of another appreciative review in the Kew 

 Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, No. • > of L915. 



The issue of tli //■ ,■- l,i i |915 



contains several verjwnterestii including an article 



on the mai iy Dr. article 



consists hi 



monstratii principles r>l mendelian 



A large shipment amounting to 758 tt>. of onion - ied 

 arrived at Antigua by the S.S Guiana' on August 23, for 



bution in the Leeward Islands, from this it is 



bat the area under ns in the Leeward Islands 



will be much great u than in former ones. 



Iteferei i,de to developments in onion growing under 



•I (own the Islands'. 



The Produn Markets Review (August 7. 1915) furnishes 

 the information th.it ;i good proportion of the lemons arriving 

 from Sicily have been in poor condition. < >n the other hand, 

 shipments of oranges recently arriving from South . 

 show a greatly improved condition, and a good demand is 



raising prices. In l.iverr 1, the stocks of ground nuts have 



been much reduced, and as recent arrivals are suitable only 

 for the extraction of oil, then ious shortage. 



A useful and suggestive Bulletin has been issued by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture (Farmers' Bulletin 

 No. 667) dealing with the breaking and training of colts. 

 The bulletin is fully illustrated and is likely to prove very 

 helpful to those who are engaged in breeding horses. 



A report on the season and crops of Assam, 1914-15, 

 has been received in which it is stated that in regard to 

 sugar-cane the season was favourable. For cotton the condi- 

 tions were somewhat adverse. The estimated outturn of 

 sugar cane was 95 per cent, of the normal against 99 per cent. 

 in 191o 14. 



A notification appears in the Gardeners' Chronicle for 

 August 7, 1915, to the effect that Mr. W. II. Brierley, M.Sc, 

 of the University of Manchester, has been appointed by the 

 President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries a first 

 class assistant in the Plant I'athology Laboratories of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 



According to the India Rubier World for September 



I. 1915, tl _• of the growing crop of American Sea 



Island cotton is reported to lie larger tilt-, year than last: the 



estimates vary from 20 to 25 per cent. Generally speaking, 

 the new crop has a good start under favourable conditions 

 that would point to a good average crop. 



It is learnt from the A'ew Bulletin of Miscellaneous 



Information, No. 6of 1915, licit a new species of Crypto 

 has been received from South Africa and it has been 

 determined as C. vaccinii folia, it forms a tall tree, 80 to '.hi 

 feet high and the crowns are dense, well shaped and pictures- 

 que. It should prove exploitable lor furniture making. 



Important results are published in a paper on the 



bionomics of ( ,.,,/ palpalis oi Sierra Leone with 



reference to its pupal habitat, in the Annals of Tropical 

 Medicim and Parasitology, V..I IV \., :;. It appears that 

 the ground around the trunk of oil palms (El,,, is guiuet nsis) 

 which have not been stripped ol their lower petioles 

 constitutes an excellent breeding place; in fact this inset 

 lueed in localities in which practically the only tree is i 

 palm. Stripping the oil palm of the lower petioles would 

 suffice to destroy the breeding ground in such localities. 



The Times for August 12, 1915, urges the substitution 

 of brown sugar for white. It states: •custom has pre- 

 the use of loaf sugar for purposes which other sugars — 

 granulated, Demerara, Barbados, or Java — would do equally 

 well, and in some of the large stores customers are being 

 advised to substitute brown sugar, of which although 

 economy in its use should be exercised, there is at present 



sufficient to meet reasonable demands.' It will be realized 

 that the foregoing advice will help to exercise a favourable. 

 influence upon the demand, for direct consumption, of raw 

 Wot Indian sugars in England. 



It is stated in the India Rubber Journal (August 7, 

 I '.I lot that the buoyancy of kapok which is now being used 

 for lifebelts, appears to he due to minute air bubbles which 

 cling to the tine til .res of the material, and the weakness of 

 the material for the purftose mentioned lies in thedangei ol 

 the removal of these air bubbles by mechanical agitation. 

 If the kapok is enclosed in porous envelopes these bubbles 

 escape and cannot he recovered on drying, so that the 

 buoyancy is very greatly diminished. What is needed 

 therefore, is a good waterpro I covering; hence the relation ,,f 

 kapok to rubber is not one of antagonism, hut of mutual 

 helpfulness. 



