124 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 10, 1915. 



& 'tav-.Z ■-• to ^ k ^- "J^*J -JSC^r- ^^, 



GLEANINGS. 



Press Bulletin Xn. is of the Hawaii Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station deals with the suppression of weeds among pine- 

 apples by arsenite of soda -pray. In demonstrations this sub 

 stance proved successful, but it is not known yel vvhethei con- 

 tinual usf may result in some injury to the fruit or to the soil. 



The Colonizer for January 1915 refers to the Annual 

 Report of the Government Geologist of Smith Australia, 

 which Contains interesting information r -crning tile radium 



bearing districts of that State. It is interesting that two main 

 radium bearing districts occupy positions which are approx- 

 imately centrally situated within regions containing copper 



lodes. 



A report from the acting Curator for the Virgin Islands 



• states that the weather during February was very dry, and 

 the cotton and limes particularly suffered from this want of 

 moisture. The young coco-nut fields however have made 

 satisfactory growth and do not appear to be greatly affected, 

 Efforts are being made to extend corn cultivation, and to 



• organize an onion-growing association. 



An appreciative article on the Barbados cherry 

 ( Malphigia glabra) appears in Modern Cuba for February 

 191"). It is stated that the plant responds best in a mellow 

 loam or rich garden soil, and if kept trimmed low, furnishes 



.an ornamental shrub for the lawn, though it sometimes attains 

 .a height of L'O feet. It may be added that this plant is 

 ■a suitable one to Use in the matter of hedge making. 



A note on vegetables in British Guiana appears in the 

 Garderners' Chronicle for January 30, 1915. The rather 

 feeble suggestion is made that as some of the English veget- 

 ables succeed in British Guiana, it maybe that British Guiana 

 vegetables might prove successful in England. Lima beans 

 (Phateolui lunatus), and bonavist beans (Dolichos lablab) are 

 mentioned in this respect. It is stated that Lima beans have 

 ■ already been tried in England, but with what success it 

 is not made known. 



In Kentucky, as a rule, the soils of the better agricultural 

 • areas contain much larger amounts of manganese than those 



of the inferior areas. A note on the subject is to be found 



in the Experiment Station Record for December 191 I, which 

 deals with the relation between phosphorus and manganese 

 content of soils: the majority contain more manganese than 

 phosphorus. The surface soils contain more manganese than 

 the subsoils do. 



The Administrator's opening address to the Legislative 



Council of St. Vincent in the .March session of 1915, contains 

 a reference to the importance of maintaining the present 

 agricultural staff in the island, it not of increasing it. His 



Honour a.] le rcfc rence to I hi prospects of a corn gi i >w ing 



industrj in the Colony, which are promising in view of the 



Deration between the Imperial Department and the 



St. Vincent ' [overnment. 



Steps are being taken by the Imperial Institute to 

 secure for England trade based on raw material which was 

 previously in German hands. The Imperial Institute is 

 conducting this policy in regard to senna. Communication 

 between the Institute and the chief British importers and the 

 Egyptian Government has resulted in the prohibition of the 

 export of senna from Egypt I untrj other than the 



I nited Kingdom ami Franci . 



From the Animal Report of the Education Department, 

 a, 1913 1 I, it is observed that uot as much success 

 as might be expected has been attained in the matter of 

 school gardens. It would seem that in Jamaica and in 

 nest other colonies, the best system of instruction for 

 elementary schools is a definite coins,. ,,f box and pot 



work, leaving school gardening as generally underst 1 to 



secondary schools, where the supervision of a specially 

 trained master is permanently available. 



A new feature of the Imperial Institute has been the 

 establishment of a Technical Information Bureau. In 

 addition to the work of examining samples of colonial 

 products with a view to their commercial utilization, the 

 institution makes a special feature of the continuous collection 

 of information relating to them from all sources, and this 

 store of knowledge forms the basis of the new Bureau, which 

 is prepared to answer enquiries on all matters relating to raw 

 materials and their utilization. 



A novel 'spray adhesive' is described in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle for February 6, 1915. It is claimed that an 

 excellent adhesive for zinc arsenite sprays can be made liv 

 steeping sliced prickly pears, Opuntia sp., in water. The 

 mucilaginous extract obtained in this way is said to increase 

 the adhesiveness of the spray thud, and it is recommended to 

 use for this purpose the extract obtained by soaking for a 

 night 15 lb. of sliced pear in 50 gallons of water. This amount 

 is mixed with 3 lb. of zinc arsenite. 



What promises to be one of the most progressive of the 

 secondary school magazines has recently been published by 

 the lioys' Secondary School, Grenada. As Well as informa- 

 tion relating to the work of the school itself, the journal 

 contains a suggestive article by Mr. Hedog Jones, .M.A., 

 Head Master and Editor, on agricultural education in 

 Grenada, in which he emphasizes the necessity of bringing 

 the teaching of the primary schools into a more direct con 

 nexion with that of the secondary school. 



It is noted in the Journal of the Chemical Soeiitv, Vols. 

 107 and 108, that the acid tissues of citrus fruits contain 



oxidases, which are evidently protected in some way from the 



action of the acid. It is suggested that the protection ma\ be 

 afforded by a semi-permeable tissue through which the acid 

 cannot pass. It recurs evident that the membranes are not 

 normally permeable to acid, because lemon seeds frequently 

 germinate while in the carpels; m lemon juice, even when 

 several times diluted, they fail to germinate. 



