152 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 15, 1909. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 Barbados. 



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 post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

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glgricultural JleiuH 



Vol. VIII. SATURDAY. .\IAV 1.5, 1909. No. 184. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The work that has been done on the subject of 

 soil inoculation, with the object of increasing the 

 assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by leguminous 

 crops, is reviewed in the editorial. Some further notes 

 on inoculation e.xperiments, carried out last year in 

 some of the West Indian islands, will be found on 

 page 151. 



Experimental work has shown that it is more 

 advisable to raise crops from home-grown than from 

 imported seed (page 14Z). The relations between 

 woodlands and water supply are briefly discussed on 

 page 149. 



Useful and interesting information on citrus fruic 

 cultivation in the West Indies, with especial reference 

 to ])ominica, is given irt the article appearing on 

 pp. 148-9. 



It has been observed that when Bengal bean 

 plants were allowed to climb over lime trees at Mont- 

 serrat, the attacks of scale insects on the lime trees 

 diminished (i)age ]o4). 



yu 



An interesting article dealing with Toggenburg 

 goats, more especially in tile West Indies, appears on 

 page 155. ; 



Attention is drawn to the article ' Hedges i-nd 

 Hedge Plants at Antigua,' that will be found on Tjai^e 

 15iS. This deals with the characteristics of various 

 plants useful for establishing hedges (for ornament or 

 otherwise) in the West Indies. 



Experiments with Varieties of Cassava. 



The importatnce of cassava as a source of food 

 supply in the West Indies is indicated by the fact that 

 experiments involving the trial of a large number of 

 varieties of this prop, both native and foreign, were 

 carried out in 19(;)-7-8 at the Experiment Stations at 

 Antigua, Montserrat, St. Kitt's-Nevis, and the Virgin 

 Islands. The varieties ' White Greenaway ' and ' Red) 

 Greenaway, ' didi especially well at Antigua and 

 St. Kitt's, giving yields .at the rate of from 13,000 to 

 14,000 lb. per acrsK. At St. Kitt's, however, the ' Small 

 Leaf ' variety did best of all, returning 14,202 lb. per acre. 

 ' French No. 3 ' land ' Blue Top ' appear also to be 

 j)romising varieties of cassava. These gave crops at 

 the rate of from.TO.OOO to 13,000 ft per acre. At 

 Montserrat the 'Bloody Mind ' cassava gave the- 

 highest return (15,456 th. per acre). Jamaica cassavas 

 tried at Antigua that did especially well are ' Blue 

 Bud Black,' and ' Shuana Sweet. ' 



Several varieties imported from Colombia were 

 tried in the diflerent islands. These grew less vigor- 

 ously and gave much smaller returns than the native 

 kinds. The Colombian cassavas are sweet, however, and 

 well adapted for culinary purposes. 



- — ^^^^-♦-^ 



Butter Making. 



Butter of high quality is not often met with in the 

 West Indies, although there is no doubt that with due 

 attention to the feeding rations given to cows, cleanli- 

 ness in milking, skill in ripening the cream, and churn- 

 ing and washing the butter, etc., a better article might 

 often be turned out. In the tropics there is no doubt 

 that it is better to use a small separator than to wait 

 for the cream to rise to the top and then to skim it off". 

 Two good separating machines are the 'Alpha-Laval' 

 and the ' Melotte,' both of which are manufactured in 

 a nuniber of sizes or capacities, the smaller grades of 

 which can be worked by one boy. A larger quantity 

 of butter of superior flavour is obtained from 'ripe 'or 

 acid cream than from the same volume when fresh, and 

 therefore the creani should always be allowed to stand 

 until acid. ' Starter.%' i.e., skim milk or whey, contain- 

 ing lactic acid bacteria are frequently used to accelerate 

 the ripening of the cream, and these form a valuable 

 nu'ans of influencing the Havour of the restdting butter, 

 which appears to be largely determined by the particu- 

 lar strain of lactic bacteria responsible for maturing 

 the cream. For this reason it is always advisable that 

 the ' starter,' at the outset, be obtained from a farm or 

 estate where butter of good quality is known to be 

 regularly manufactiured. A quantity of starter suttt- 

 cient to bring about the required acidity by the time 

 churning is to takoiplace, is added to the cream after 

 senarating. This is then covered with a muslin cloth 

 and placed aside. When the butter has been churned 

 a portion of the buttermilk is drawn otif and used as 

 'starter' for the next occasion. It is important to 

 wash the butter tlioroughly with several lots of water 

 on completion of churning, as in this w;iy particles of 

 curd are eliininateik which have a bad inHuence on the 

 keeping qualities of the butter. 



