~VoL. XlII. Xo. 307. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



41 



The essential thing in connexion with mutual 



• credit societies is to have here and there someone who 



has the confidence and good-will of the people and 



sufficient energy and enthusiasm to push One meeting 



■ of the people themselves is worth many meetings of 



hikewarm committees. 



£2;penments with Dynamite in Dominica. 



The Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Dominica, 

 0lr. Joseph .Jones) writes to say that interesting 

 ■experiments with dynamite in connexion with soil 

 improvement have recently been carried out on one of 

 the Government lime cultivations. In the first place 

 -Sifty-si.x holes were e.xploded amongst some old trees 

 on poor soil in order to see whao eftect it had. An 

 area has been left untreated in the same Held as 

 • a control. 



A second experiment had for its object) an investi- 

 gation of the value of dynamite for preparing holes for 

 planting budded lime plants. Half the holes have 

 4>een opened up with the explosive; the other half by 

 ■means of an iron bar and spade, in the usual way. It 

 3S hoped to start another experiment of a similar kind 

 ■svith seedling limes. 



It is believed that if the cost works out to be 

 reasonable, explosives may be used with great advan- 

 tage in preparing holes for limes and other citrus 

 plants in Dominica. As regards the opening up of 

 the subsoil on established lime plantations, great care 

 will have to be exercised, since should the experiments 

 l)e followed by strong winds or heavy rains the effect 

 on the trees, owing to their having lost to some extent 

 sheir hold on the soil, might be disastrous. -Methods 

 which have been found highly satisfactory with decid- 

 uous fruit trees in temperate climates may require 

 considerable moditicatiijn in the case of evergreen 

 fruit trees grown in the Tropics. 



From information lately received, it is certain that 

 A considerable number of experiments with dynamite 

 ■will be undertaken on lime estates in Dominica in the 

 i50urse of the next few months, and the results of these 

 and the ones just described will be awaited during the 

 next year or two with great interest. 



Agriculture in West Africa. 



The recent visit to the West Indies of OlScers iu 

 the West African agricultural service is another piece 

 x)f evidence which points to the usefulness of the West 

 Indies as a centre for the study of established agricul- 

 tural methods and conditions. The West Indies are 

 commonly regarded as the 'Old Country' of the British 

 tropical possessions, and there can be little doubt that 

 the introduction of good educational facilities — of an 

 agricultural college — to supplement the natural advan- 

 tages which the islands possess would meet with very 

 general favour and stipport from those interested in 

 the great tropical possessions undergping development. 



An idea as to what extent conditions are different 

 in West Africa can be got, for instance, from the fact 



that t/O extend cot.ton cuhivatica . in the Xorthern 

 Territories of the « Jold Coast, the representative of the 

 British Cotton Growing AgsocjaSion travelled for 120 

 days during the year 191-2,. addressing everywhere 

 meetings of chiefs, headmen and farmers. In the 

 Gambia, to take another nioi-e or less half exploited 

 West African territory, the natives do not raise 

 sufficient food even for local requirements and rice has 

 to be imported. In this Colony, ground nuts are the 

 great cultivation just as is the case in the French 

 possession of Senegambia. In both territories, the 

 (iovernments follow the policy of arranging for the 

 issue of seed nuts to the people under favourable 

 conditions as regards payment. 



In Sierra Leone, the Agricultural Department is 

 making strong endeavours to improve general agricul- 

 tural conditions by the introduction of systems of crop 

 rotations and by altering the present wasteful method 

 of farming, which consists in cutting and burning fresh 

 bush each year to make a new farm. 



A great deal of useful information on these West 

 African possessions will be found in Colonial Reports 

 —Annual, No. 7H.5 (Northern Territories of the Gold 

 Coast, 1912): No. Hu (Gambia, 1912); and No. 7.59 

 (Sierra Leone 1912). A very useful little booklet on the 

 West African possessions is Notes on the West .\fri- 

 can Colonies, issued by the Emigrant's Information 

 Office, London, 



Cacao Estate Valuation. 



A letter appears in the PoH-oj ■Spain Gazette of 

 November 2.5, 1913, condemning the prevailing system 

 of valuing cacao estates in Trinidad by affixing a price 

 to each of a number of trees, and including in this figure 

 the value of the buildings, etc. Valuation by means 

 of the crop is advocated. Cacao, it is stated, should be 

 taken at a standard price of $100 per bag. This figure 

 is raised or lowered according to locality, soil, conditions 

 of upkeep, number of trees, age, appearance, injury 

 caused by vermin, price of labour, transport, fermen- 

 tation facilities and factors of a like kind. Allowances 

 must also be made as regards uncertainty of the weather. 

 The probable average yield being decided upon, the 

 total value is got by multiplication. The valuation of 

 buildings should be kept separate. 



The question of valuing cacao estates has been 

 well discussed recently in the West India Committee 

 Circular and reported on in the Agricultural News 

 (Vol. XII, p. 409). A simple and satisfactory plan seems 

 to be to take the value at ten times the annual net 

 profits plus the value of the uncultivated land and of 

 the buildings. The only disadvantage to this system 

 would appear to be that it involves the ability of the 

 manager — a very variable factor. 



Another method is to attach a value to the trees 

 according to their age and condition; but it would seeuo, 

 on the whole, that no very hard and fast rules can be 

 laid down in the valuation of a cacao estate, since 

 a large number of factors are involved, which for their 

 appreciation demand the application of an experienced 

 mind. 



