252 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 7, 1909. 



GLEANINGS. 



AL'cording to tbe l'ru[/ri n licjjort uf tin, Vci/luii Ai/ricul- 

 tnral Society, No. XLIV, the Yampee or Kusb-Ku.sli yam of 

 the West Indies has proved too delicate for the comparatively 

 damp climate of the Western Province of Ceylon, as the 

 vine.s at the Government Stock Garden have all died out, in 

 spite of attention given. 



It is considered by many authorities in the United 

 Slates that there is very little possibility of extending the 

 Sea Island cotton industry of that country. The principal 

 reasons for this conclusion are that the cost of labour is very 

 high, and that the crop gives but small returns there, unless 

 it is planted under the best conditions. 



According to No. 4, 1'Jl of the Diiihiiiiulir and (Jimxalnr 

 Jii'poiis, Annual Series (which deals with the trade of 

 Newchwang, China, during the year 1903), experimental 

 farms are in operation in the north of Manchuria, for the 

 purpose of testing the possibility of estal)lislung a beet-sugar 

 industry in that country. 



The value of the chief staple products exported from 

 Barbados during the year 1908 was as follo.vs : muscovado 

 sugar, £279,-536 ; molasses and syrups, £217,712; cotton, 

 £61.579 ; sugars other than muscovado, £8,900. It is 

 a matter of special interest at the present time that the value 

 of imports from Canada was £151,671 as against £101,943 

 for the year 1907. 



The Jiiiard of Trade Jduiaal, June 3, 1909, reports that 

 the number of bales of cotton imported into the United 

 Kingdom during the weekended ]\Iay 27, 1909, was 56,745, 

 including 43 bales Ijritish West Indian and 290 bales I'lritLsh 

 West African. The number imported during the twenty-one 

 weeks ended May, 27, 1909, was 2,1.30,903, including 

 4,080 P.ritish West Indian, 5,711 British West African, 

 3,381 British East African, and 282 bales foreign 1-iist 

 African. 



No. (iOO of the Aiuiiial Culmiial l!r parts gives the 

 fiillowing information relative to the Protectorate of I'ganda. 

 'I'lie revenue collected during the year 1907-8 was £111,883, 

 which was £27,000 over the estimate, and far exceeded the 

 collections of any previous year. The increase, as compared 

 with 1906-7, was over £15,000 ; this increase was contributed 

 to under all heads except those of Customs, land sales, and 

 .sales of old Government property. 



The Natal A'jricultural Journal states that; at the end 

 of the year 1908, the total acreage of farms in Zululand, held 

 under lease from the Natal Government, was 68,565, of which 

 5,524 acres were in cane. The amount of cane cut and 

 delivered for sugar-making during the season just ended wa.s 

 41,200 tons. This was taken from 1,466 acres, making the 

 average yield of cane, per acre, 28 tons. 



The Rijiort of tlie Secretary of Agrindture for Southern 

 Rhodesia for the year 1908, states : ' No properly organized 

 Forestry Division has yet been formed, though the enormous 

 destruction of native timber which is annually taking place, 

 for supplying the mines with fuel, demands that some scheme 

 of .systematic afforestation on a large scale should bs under- 

 taken by the Administration without delay, to avoid the 

 disaster which is bound to follow the denudation of the 

 country of timber which is taking place '. 



An Ordinance has been propo.sed for the ptirpose of pre- 

 venting the importation and growing of the -Hater hyacinth 

 {Eiehornea erassijies) in Ceylon. Its object is to jjrevent 

 the dissemination there of that plant, as it is feared that it 

 may make its way into the inland waters of the island and, 

 being of rapid growth, impede the navigation of them. 

 Power is also taken to extend by proclamation the provisions 

 of this Ordinance, prohibiting importation to any noxious 

 weed or plant to be specified in such proclamation. 



At a fair held at Wilmingham, U.S.A., an exhibit wa.'^ 

 shown for the piu-jjose of denion.strating that bees do not 

 injure sound fruit. It consisted of a three-storey glass hive 

 ill which the bees were working in the two lower storeys, 

 while the upper one contained ripe fruit. Although the bee.s 

 moved freely among and over the sound fruits, they did not 

 injure them in the least, though they quickly made use of 

 the contents of one of -the grapes in the exhibit which burst 

 on the .second day. ({,'liiiin'>i>/s in Bee Cnltnre, Vol. 

 XXXVII, No. 4.) 



The Jtulletin of the Aiirieultural Ex/jerinient Station, 

 University of Wisconsin, No. 170, illustrates the beneficial 

 effect of the inspection of commercial feeding stuffs. la 

 1902, nearly 60 per cent, of the samples of ground corn 

 and oats analysed in that State exhibited either unmistakable 

 or suspicious signs of adulteration. Later, in the year.s 

 1906-8, the policy of inspection which had betn c^'.rried on in 

 the meantime resulted in the disappearance of unmistakable 

 signs of adulteration, while the number of examjiles suspected 

 of it never exceeded 14 per cent, of the total nundier 

 analy.sed, finally reaching the lowest proportion, namely 

 7 per cent., in 1908. 



The Cocoa and Nutmegs Ordinances of Grenada, dated 

 1 896 and 1906, for the regulation of the .sale of those products 

 in that island, have been amended by the Cocoa and Nutmegs 

 Ordinance (Amendment) Ordinance, 1909, so as to include 

 cotton lint and cotton seed. In addition, the rules under which 

 licenses to .sell the above products are issued have been 

 reviseil. Certificates valid for one year are to be granted by 

 a magistrate at special sessions to be held for the purpose, 

 and the Treasurer may or may not, at his discretion in any 

 particular case, issue a license on the production of such 

 certificate. Should the Treasurer refuse a license under such 

 conditions, he must report his grounds of refusal to the 

 (Governor in Council, wlio may confirm or revense his action. 



