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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



XOVEMBER 27, 1909. 



MOKTSEREAT: BEPOBT OX THE HOT A NIC 

 AND EXPERIMENT ST A TIONS, WOS-i). 



The expenditure for the year was £552 lis. Qd., of 

 which £541 4s. 9rf. was from Imperial, and £11 6s. 9(/. from 

 local, funds. 



The number of plants and cuttings distributed was 9,321 

 and 117,067, re.speetiveh'; besides these, a large quantity of 

 seeds was sent out. Chief among the plants were limes and 

 the papaw, and among the cuttings, sweet potato and 

 cassava; the seeds were, for by far the greater part, those of 

 leguminous plants, such as white pigeon peas and cowpeas, 

 horse beans and sesbania. 



In the cotton seed selection experiments, trials were 

 made with lUver.s, Stirliug and Gilbert's seed. A report 

 by Mr. Wolstenholme on the lint from the selected plants 

 showed that the best was from the Stirling variety, which 

 was lustrous, fine and strong, and of fair length; the second 

 best from this variety was said to have a staple wanting in 

 fineness and rather brittle. The best lint from the Rivers 

 type was reported to be strong and of good length, while 

 that from the Gilbert's type had the longest staple, but had 

 a tendency to weakness. The produce from all these has 

 been used to form nurseries in the next year. 



The trials with American varieties of ground nuts were 

 not satisfactory; they will be continued, however, as better 

 results are expected after acclimatization. Experiments were 

 made with two kinds of lemon grass — West Indian (Cinubopo- 

 f/on rifratus) and Cochin (C/e.''»osMs) —and good yields were 

 obtained from most of the plots. The general result of two 

 years' investigations with the local and Columbian varieties 

 of cassava has been that better yields have been obtained 

 with the former than with the latter. 



At the Harris's Statio:;, two years' trials with Porto Eico, 

 Dominica and local varieties of eddos have shown that these 

 give very .similar yields of tubers per head, though 'Itolliza,' 

 from among the Porto Rico kinds, and 'Barbados', of those 

 from Dominica, show a superiority to all the others. 

 The plots on which bananas have been grown since 190G, 

 without the introduction of fresh .suckers, have demonstrated 

 the effect of pen manure in producing an improved yield. 



The season was an unfavourable one for the cotton 

 industry, chiefly owing to the weather conditions; the total 

 export of lint amounted to 238,959 lb., of a value of 

 £12,000. The prices received ranged from l.«. Oirf. to 

 Is. 2d.; that they were not higher was due to the depressed 

 state of the market. Tlie ero)) raised by peasants was 

 represented by 200,719 lb. of seed-cotton. 



An ex])erimont is being conducted in one of tlie lime 

 fields of the .Montscrrat T.imc .Juice Company for the purpose 

 of gaining information as to the best method of cultivation 

 for this plant. It is only in its initial state, as one 

 crop of limes has, so far,- been reaped. Up to the present, 

 the results arc in favour of clean cultivation as against 

 cutlassing alone, forking twice a year and cutlassing, forking 

 twice a year and ordinary cultivation, and ordinary cultiva- 

 tion alone. 



The efi'ects of Paris green and lime, and lead arsenate, in 

 relation to their use as insecticides for caterpillars and to 

 their employment on leguminous plants, were tried. Both 

 were successful in destroying caterpillars, but even the 

 weaker mixtures of the former with lime caused more or less 

 'scorching' of the leaves, while damage from lead arsenate 

 only occurred when it was used in an unmixed state, and 

 then was only slight. 



BRITISH HONDURAS: REPORT ON THE 

 BOTANIC STATION, I'.JOS. 



The number of plants distributed during the year was 

 6, l-")7; more than half of these were of logwood. Para 

 rubber seeds to the number of 12,000 were imported from 

 Singapore, in response to a special order. These were sown 

 in the nursery, as well as 2,000 cocoa-nuts from selected 

 trees, for subse(|uent distribution of the plants. The demand 

 for plants, chietiy those which are ornamental, has fallen off, 

 probably as a result of the recent removal of the Station to 

 a new site. 



In spite of the fact that the last two years have been 

 exceptionally dry, good results have been obtained, among 

 minor croiis, with pigeon peas (received from the Commiss- 

 ioner of .\griculture for the West Indies), yams, arrowroot, 

 cotton and velvet beans. The Superintendent of the Botanic 

 Station made several visits to estates for the purpose of 

 giving advice, more especially in connexion with cacao, 

 rubber and cocoa-nuts. 



The report states that the old logwood industry of 

 British Honduras has now fallen to a very low place in the 

 list of the Colony's agricultural exports, and that careful 

 consideration is reipiired in the matter of finding something 

 to take its place. In the northern districts, the cutting of 

 logwood used to be the chief occupation, and the trees grew 

 wild and plentifully at one time, but are now scarce. This. 

 scarcity is simply due to the facts that nothing was done 

 toward raising new plants and that no protection was pro- 

 vided for the -self-sown seedlings; thus the trees died out in 

 many places. 



The report further states that good land is readily 

 available, high up the Belize river, for the raising of such 

 plants as bananas, cacao and rubber, but that, in .si)ite of the 

 fact that produce can be carried cheaply and easily by motor 

 boat from this district to Belize, there are as yet, no impor- 

 tant plantations on the river. Cocoa-nuts have been in good 

 demand, in the American market, for .some time, but little 

 has been done to increase the supply, and some of the 

 plantations have suffered from drought. 



Colonial Fruit Show in December. 

 Tile date of the Royal Horticultural Society's coming 

 Colonial Show is December 1 to 4. The schedule contains 

 many improvements on those iu previous years, as a result 

 of the Society's continuous experience in the special require- 

 ments of Colonial fruit exhibitions. The chief classes are as 

 follows: — 



(1) Collection of fruit and vegetables, fresh and dried. 



(2) Collection of fresh fruits and vegetables. 



(3) Collection of dried fruits and vegetables. 



(4) Collection of nuts, spices, and such-like. 



The medals 0|f the Society will be awarded at the dis- 

 cretion of the Council. 



• Another sectipn of the schedule provides for exhibits of 

 preserved fruits, etjp. 



A lecture will be given at 3 p.m. on the first day 

 (December 1) by Mr. Robert Newstead, A.L.S., F.E.S., on 

 'West Indian Insc9t Pests'. {I'>a2ncal Life, October,- 1909.) 



