Vol. VIIL Xo. 188. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



217 



Rum Manufacture at Barbados. 



From the particulars set out in the report on the 

 Excise branch of the Customs Department at Barbados, 

 it is seen that tour rum stills were worked in the island 

 during 1908, viz , the West India Kuni Refiner^', Ltd. 

 the Premier, Canington in St. Philip, and Jlount Gay in 

 St. Lucy. 



Altogether, 228, 513 gallons of rum were manu- 

 factured during the year, as compared with an output 

 ■of 210 U 12 gallons in 1907. Of this quantity, by far 

 the greater profiortion was made by the West India 

 Kum Refiner}', Ltd., which turned out 164-,923 gallons, 

 or 78 per cent, of the whole ; 28,149 gallons were made 

 at the Premier, 19,o01 gallons at Mount Gay, and 

 16.140 gallons at Carrington. With the e.Kception of 

 4,414 gallons sent out of the island, or issued as ' ships' 

 stores, ' all the rum manufactured was consumed locall}'. 

 Ill- « -IIII 



Tobacco Cultuie in South Africa. 



Considerable attention has during recent years 

 been given to tobacco cultivation in the South African 

 colonies, since it has been demonstrated that leaf of good 

 ■quality, suitable for local consumption and for e.xport 

 can be produced in several districts. In the Orange 

 River colony a small tobacco experiment station was 

 established in 1907 on the Vaal river, in the centre of 

 the largest tobacco-growing district of the colony, and 

 about twenty imported varieties of the plant are being 

 tested. A small curing and fermenting shed has also 

 Tjeen erected for treating the produce in an up-to-date 

 manner. The seeds of the varieties of tobacco that 

 have given the best results are being distributed to 

 farmers in the locality. 



In 1900, the value of the tobacco imported into 

 South Africa reached £246,229, but as the result of 

 increasing local production, the imports fell to a value 

 of £160,238 in 1907. The e.xports of tobacco in the 

 ■corresponding period increased from £2,403 to £4,574. 



Construction of Buildings in ' Earthquake ' 



Countries. 



The question of the most suitable method of 

 -constructing buildings in countries liable to earth- 

 quake is one that is periodically discussed in technical 

 journals. Buildings of masonry or brickwork are 

 distinctly out of place, and it would appear that 

 only the lightest woodwork should be used, as in parts 

 of Japan ; or, where a more permanent type of erection 

 is needed, some method of monolithic construction 

 should be adopted. Thi.s was recently discussed in 

 an article in Conm'tc and Constructional Enyi- 

 -iieerinf/, where the claims of reinforced concrete as 

 a suitable material for building purposes in countries 

 known to be subject to earthquake were strongly 

 advocated. The writer states it as his opinion, that 

 the use of reinforced concrete iu its simplest forms 

 possesses advantages superior to those which result 

 from the employment of steel frames covered by con- 

 crete — a method largely adopted at San Francisco. 



The points brought forward should be of interest 

 to those who are rebuilding at Kingston, Jamaica, at 

 the present time. 



The late Dr. Christian Branch, of St. Vincent. 



The community of St. Vincent have suffered 

 a severe loss through the recent death of Dr. Christian 

 W. Branch, M.B., CM. (Edin.), Medical Officer of Health 

 for the Kingstown district of the i.-5land. Dr. Branch, 

 who was but thirty-nine vears of age at the time 

 of his death, had held official medical appointments in 

 a number of the West Indian i.-^lands, including the 

 Virgin Islands, St. Kitt's-Xevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 

 and the Bahamas. At St. Vincent, in addition to the 

 official pdst already' mentioned, he acted as surgeon to 

 the hos]iital, and Medical Officer to the gaol. Only 

 last year he took the couise of work relating to tropi- 

 cal diseases given at the London School of Tropical 

 Medicine. 



Dr. Branch was a devoted worker, and took a keen 

 interest in the many branches of scientific study bear- 

 ing upon his profession. He was especiallj' interested 

 in bacteriology and parasitology in general. In 1902, 

 when he first went to St. Vincent, he drew attention 

 to the existence and spread of anthra.x in the colony, 

 ami in the same year was employed by the Govern- 

 ment to draw up a report on the disease, which 

 included recommendations as to the most approved 

 methods for stamping it out. Dr. Branch also prepared 

 a paper ' Anthrax at St. Vincent, ' for the Agricultural 

 Conference held at Trinidad in 190.5, which was 

 reprinted in the West Indian Bidletia, Vol. VI, p. 101- 



Phases of Agricultural Production. 



The editor of the Experiment Station Record in 

 reviewing the report of the United States Secretary 

 of Agriculture mentions in one place the phases which 

 agricultural production passes through. He says that 

 the Lmited States ' is passing through historical phases 

 of agricultural production. First comes the exploita- 

 tion of virgin land b}' the soil robber, a proceeding 

 that is justified by the poverty of the settler or his 

 lack of capital ; next is the diminished production per 

 acre, which surprises the farmer, and for which he is 

 unable to account ; next is the receipt of information 

 from the scientist as to the means of improving the 

 productivity of the land, with slow, response; in the 

 course of time, especially when the next or perhaps the 

 third generation takes the farm, important advances 

 are made, at first irregularly and mostly on the farms 

 of the leading farmers, and subsequently with increasing 

 diffusion and accelerated speed.' 



This is of interest to the agriculturist in the West 

 Indies, where the various phases mentioned above can 

 all be seen, There are the islands where the virgin 

 land is being exploited, there are the islands or the 

 localities where the diminished returns are being 

 obtained, and there are the planters who, listening to 

 the advice of the scientific agricidturist, are experi- 

 encing the slow betterment of estate conditions. 



