AfUlICULTURAL NEWS. 



1915. 



GLEANINGS. 



An Ordinance has been passed in Dominica; to provide 



for the administration and disposal of Crown Lands. 



A provision is made t" tin' effect that it the grantee "i lessee 



"I any Crown lands neglect to comply with the conditions 



igreed to, the land shall revert to the Crown. 



By an Order-in-Council, the names of certain birds in 

 the Virgin islands have been removed, according i" the 



Leeward Islands Gazette, f i the protected list in the 



Wild Birds Protection Ordinance, 1014. The birds referred 

 to are: the pelican, the man of war bird, ami thr booby. 



An interesting ace Hint of Nigerian leather appears in 



the Journal or thr Royal Society of Arts for April 23, L915. 

 The method of treatment of leather in West Africa can lie 

 divided into four operations: depilation, bating, tanning, and 

 dyeing. These operations are described in the article referred 

 t>'. ami the dyes employed ate mentioned. 



in connexion with the article which appears on another 

 page of this issue on the subject of tick eradication, it is 

 interesting to note that the Jamaica Gleaner for May 21, 1915, 

 refers to an experimental dipping vat which is now in course 

 .,i erection at the Hope Farm School. The results following 

 the use of this appliance will he watched with interest. 



A formula for the measurement oi logs is given in the 

 Agricultural Gazettt «j New South [Vales tor April 1, 1915. 

 The superficial contents of any hull log may lie determined 

 as follows: take the mean girth of a log in inches, divide by 

 four, . > ii*l square it: multiply this result by the length of the 

 log in feet, and the result will he the contents of the log in 

 superficial feet. 



A statement appears in Natvtlte for May 20 L915, to the 

 t tint tin' I'o' idenl ol i le- Board of Edm at ion in 



England In- announ I the proposed formation of an 



Advi orj i out I to 1 :erned-with industrial and scientific 



research. The suggested L'ouncil^will deal with the general 

 question oi the relation ol ence to I lie State, and its 

 form it ion should result in increased application of science to 

 industry, 



An import -int in i ei cerning coffee cultivation in 



Southern [ndia appears to be thepollinati f the (lowers 



by bees (Apt in certain districts, considerable 



numbers have been destroyed iy the native tribes,*and it has 



ill hat ' state m imagers should eomniunicate 



the boundaries of the adjoining g lands which 



reqi ition, which would assist the forest department 



to put a stop to all inteii'in hi. with thi of bees. 



I ry 191 5. i 



In his address to the Legislative Council of St. Vincent, 

 during March 1915, His Honour the Administrator referrei 



at some length to the importance Of maize cultivation as 



a new industry for the Colony. The fact that a small corn- 

 drying plant to be installed by August next was mentioned. 

 The scheme was warmly supported by several members oi 

 the Council. His Honour's address will be found in 

 the St. Vincent G ver^ment Ga ■><• for April l'9, 1915. 



An interesting article appears in the B tanical Journal 

 for April 1915, dealing with ramie thread. The plant from 

 which this is obtained belongs to the same natural order as 

 hemp, and then- are two species, one of which is purely 

 tropical, while the other grows in semi-tropical or even 

 temperate region-.. It is said that ramie is cultivatied in 

 most parts of the tropics, including the West Indies. The 



most important use of ramie is in the manufacture of gas 

 mantles, but for this purpose fibre from the semi-tropical 

 species is principally employed. 



A new Canadian sugar refinery is described and illus- 

 trated in the Louisvim Planter for April 10, 1915. This 

 large establishment has been erected by the Atlantic Sugar 

 Refinery, Ltd, at St.'Johns, NVu Brunswick. Directly in 



front of the building is a wharf where steamers can come 



alongside to be loaded straight from the refinery, and 

 throughout the establishment every effort has been made to 



secure the highest efficiency in sugar refining at the lowest 



pussilili st, utilizing the very best machineries that can he 



had for all of these various purposes. 



An instructive table in 'llu Journal ><< the Board <>< 

 '/rode, April :J'J, 1 'J 15. show- the difference between the 

 exportation of rubber from Brazil during February 1914 and 

 February 1915. For that month last Mar Brazil -cut t.. the 

 United State- 1,848,136, and to Europe 3,359,322, making 

 a total of ■V_'i>7. 1 5s kdogs. I luring February 1915, Brazil sent 

 to ilc United States 3,531,905, and to Europe 2,837,289, mak 

 iuga total of 6,369, 1 :'' ; kilogs. 1 1 kilog. = l'-l' Hi. i. These figures 

 seem to show that the embargo placed by Great Britain upon 

 Eastern rubber necessitated bigger purchases from South 



America by the I " n it .-.I State-. 



An attempt made to utilize COCO-ntlt oil for rifle 

 lubrication in England ha- not proved altogether satisfact ry. 



\ C parison between the oil referred to and the ordinary 



service rifle oil showed in favour of coco-nut oil after seven 

 days' keeping, but a large amount of fouling appeared on the 

 barrels treated with .coeo nut oil after keeping one month. 



i it nil i- therefore considered inferior to service rifle 



oil for the purpose ol preserving gun barrels. The 

 samples used were Trinidad and Ceylon oil-, respec 

 lively. The} yielded 4>almos uk. Tin' 



Trinidad oil ..I,, ither.more freo acids (4 - 9.pei 



against 51 per cent.) but the oils were considered of- equal 

 value with regard to their gun barrel preserving properties. 

 (The Monthly Magazint of the 1 • 



C<>ni'< • re. n' Liverpi >ol, Apt ill' 1 !' 



