Vol. XIV. NTo. 339. 



THE AOUICL'LTURAL NEWS 



139 



DOWN THE ISLANDS. 



ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST. 



gkenada. It is stated by th Superintendent ot Agri 

 culture (Mr. .1. I'. Moore) tint th large number of lime 

 plants ami coco-nut plants i ib bued in the nurseries 

 air making good progress. As regards cacao, the general 

 inn of the orchards is stated t" have been good, 

 : winds not having made the i i Ives felt until later 



than usual this year. Pickings showed a considerable 

 reduction during the month, but there was a lair prospect of 

 tin- remainder of the crop being obtained satisfactorily. 

 TIr- visit "t the Entomologist and Mycologist of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture involved travelling by 

 the Superintendent, ami resulted in useful observations being 

 obtained. Collection of information concerning thrips is 

 being conducted, [n connexion with land settlements, three 



ings of proprietors were held by the Agricultural 

 Instructor. Concerning reading courses, arrangements are 

 made with the help of the Imperial Department, to 

 establish a library fortheuse of the Vgricultural Cadets. 



!><•>! in n \ . A communication from the Agricultural 

 Superintendent (Mr. Joseph Jones) for March contains notes 

 ■ >t interest regarding the various lim "i departmental activity. 

 In the nurseries usual routine work was being carried on: in 

 the lime experiment stations work principal]} consisted in 

 sanitation operations, for example, weeding, tarring and 

 spraying. In the cacao experiment station, the recording of 

 yields and sweating and drying ol cacao were the principal 

 occupation. Observations relating to staple crops show 

 iliii the demand for green limes in New York was 

 depressed, nor was raw lime juice in great demand, ('aide 



qui it ions showed that ( eeutrate.l juice remained at £21 



per pipe, but it was reported that forward contracts had 

 been made at a much higher price. As regards special efforts 

 on the part of the officers, i considerable portion of the 

 month was spent in travelling, and the estate.-- visited formed 



thl subject of a separate report to the ( 'ol LSsioner of 



ulture. The appointment ot .■ Chemist has been 

 authorized by the Government, and the office takes effect 

 from April 1915. Mr. G.A.Jones, Assistant Curator, has 

 ppointed to the post. During the month the weather 

 was exceptionally dry. only 0"84 inches having been recorded 

 at the Botanic ( lindens. 



moktseerat. Mr. Etobson's report for March contains 

 important references to the cultivation of vegetables in this 

 island. The question of forming an < triioD Growers' Associa 

 fcion is being considered, hut an experiment has tended to 

 show that the lauds at Harris in the middle of the island are 

 nut well suited for this crop. A trial shipment of 37 crates 



of onions was made to Canada on March 23. The date for 

 the commencement of cotton planting was changed to 

 March 20, but as no suitable rains fell, the planting had not 

 yet been started. Attention was given to the distillation 



of hay leaves during tic month, and Mr. Robson paid 

 a vi^it to Antigua in connexion with tin- Onion Growers' 



Association of that island. 



wrioi \. According to , i communication from the Agri 

 cultural Superintendent (Mr. T. Jackson), mostoi the routine 

 work in the Experiment Station concerned the experimental 

 plots of sugar c; , ( >n the estates, in spite ol the dry weather 



experienced during the month, the young cue crop was 



looking remarkably green and healthy, The held- of Indian 

 corn also looked promising, on thi : le. The onion crop has 

 been rapidlj harvested. During the mouth 1,442 crati ol 



onions were shipped from the Association's premises. At 



the time of writing the |. |„,it (April 3) there were T< >< > more 



read] toe., forward. Special work included tl rection of 



new machinery at the Government g id the shipment 



of vegetables to Canada \.s in the othei i lands, the weather 

 during the month v. : ,,\ hot and dry. Rainfall only 

 ti-7 I inches i Botanic Gai 



sr. Mils. liming the month of March work in the 

 experiment stations included principally the reaping of 



Bengal beans, and onions, and the sale of 1,050 He ot -elected 

 cotton seed, liatoou canes were cut and 600 cane plants 

 distributed. At the time of writing, 3,500 tons ol sugar had 

 been made at the ( 'eiitral I actoi j The tonnage ol i me pet 



acre this season has been very disappointing, and the output 



of tic Factory will be below the amount estirn 



Similar disappointment has been felt l.y the muscovado 

 makers. The young cane crop is healthy hut is naturally 

 feeling the want of rain. The precipitation for the month at 

 Basseterre was only 0'48 inch. Appended to the above 

 report (by Mr. K. R. Shepherd), is a summary of the work 



conducted in the Government laboratory by Mr. Watei land, 

 Assistant Chemist; this included soil and lime analyses, and 

 determinations in connexion with syrup, final molasses and 

 cane juice. 



Manuring Tea. The editorial in the 1'ropicat Agri- 

 culturist for .January 1915, deals with the results of the 

 experiments with green manures for tea in progress in Ceylon 

 at Peradeniya. The object of the experiments is to determine 

 whether green dressings can be used as a source of soil 

 nitrogen in place of artificial manures on which at the 

 present time there is a local expenditure of i;.'!i)i Mil III pel- 

 annum. Fifteen (dots have been under experiment since 

 1906. The green dressings used are Crotolaria, Krythrina 

 and Albizzia. At the end of the first year it was found that 

 there was an average increase due to Krythrina of 33 per 

 cent., and to ( 'rotolaria of 1 1 per cent. In the seventh year 

 after treatment, the Krythrina gave 520 ft), more tea per acre, 

 or 74 per cent, more than the control for the same year. 

 Tin other green manure plots, though not so good as Krythrina, 

 showed substantia] increases over the control of the seventh 

 year. The trials have, it will be seen, demonstrated that 

 leguminous plants can he cultivated among tea with mast 

 beneficial results. 



In the Journal oj the Royal Society of Arts for February 

 12, 1915, a statement is made to the effect that coco-nut 

 water has been employed in Ceylon as a rubber coagulant. 

 It is understood that by fermentation the juice is changed 

 into acetic acid, which is the active coagulant. It is said 

 that acetic acid produced in this way gives better results than 

 the ordinary commercial product, especially a- far as colour of 

 the rubber goes. Experiments are being carried on to deter- 

 mine how long the liquid will keep and whether it is pratic- 

 able to transport it from the coconut plantation to the rubber 



eslate. 



In spite of hopes to the contrary, the production of 

 cigars in the Jaffna district of Ceylon has not turned out to 

 he a commercial success. The cigars are quite unsuitable for 

 the British market, and probably also for any European 

 market. According to the Tropical Agriculturist ot 

 January 191."), the heavy duties on cigars in the United 

 Kingdom make it practically impossible to sell anj kind of 

 cigar there at less than Ihd to 2d. each. At this price the 

 consumer has a great varietj ot cigars made from carefully 

 blended tobaccos of fair quality to choose from. 



