56 



THE AGHICULTUUAL NEWS. 



Feijeuaky 14, 1914. 



EDITORIAL. NOTICES 



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 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultura 

 ^ews' should be addressed to the Agents and not to 

 the Department. 



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 Bridgetown. London Agents : Messrs. Dulau & Co., 

 37, Soho Square. W.: West India Committee, Seeth- 

 ing Lane, E.G. The complete list of Agents will be 

 found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural News : Price \d. per number, 

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|i.flricii ltiirHl fleiuH 



ToL. XIII. SATUr.r>AY, FEBRUARY 14, 1914. No. 308. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



In the editorial in this number the idea of the 

 horticultural nature of tropical cultivations is dealt 

 with, and a uomparsion is made between tillage in the 

 Tropics and the cultivation of the land in temperate 

 countries. 



On page .51 is an article which shows that soil 

 particles have a curious property, known technically as 

 the power of selective adsorption. 



Some Recent OfBcial Notices in Regard to 



Grenada. 



The Grenada (.iv'-rnment Gazette for January 3, 

 1914-, is accompanied by a draft of a bill for an ordin- 

 ance entitled, an.tJrdinance to provide for the destruc- 

 tion of old cotton plants. The Grenada cotton season 

 means the period between the last day of April in any 

 year and the first day of May in the succeeding year. 

 The ( )rdinnnce requires that the holders of land shall 

 destroy by fire in the case of Sea Island cotton the old 

 pUnts before the beginning of the next cotton season 

 and in the case of any variety of cotton other than Sea 

 Island before the end of the season next after that in 

 which such cotton was planted. It will be lawful for 

 any officer, duly auth'irized, to enter and destroy the 

 plants where this has not been done, and to recover 

 the cost of such pulling up and destrtiction from the 

 occupier of the land. Any person guilty of an offence 

 against the ordinance will be liaCile on summary con- 

 viction to a fine not exceeding £10. The Ordinance 

 will apply to the islands of Carriacou, Petit Martini(pie 

 and the Grenadines lying between Carriacou on the 

 north and the island of Grenada on the south. It 

 shall be lawful for the Governor- in-Council from time 

 to time to extend the operation of the Ordinance to 

 other parts of the Colony. 



Another publication recently received from the 

 Government of Grenada contains an unrevised state- 

 ment showing the quantity and value of the principal 

 articles exported from the Colony during 191-"> and 

 1912. The \alue of the exports during 1913 has been 

 considerably bigher in the case of every class of produce 

 than during 1912. For instance, the total value of the 

 cacno exported during 1913 was £303,073 Ids. 4(Z. 

 compared with £22-5,317 4.s. M. for 1912. Again, the 

 value of the raw cotton shipped during 1912 was 

 £9,019 as compared with £10,499 13s. Ad. in 1913. 

 The exports of fruits and spices have shown C'lually 

 large increases. 



The information dealing with the sugar industry, 

 on page o'->, includes two articles on machines for 

 sewing sugar bags, and on central factories in 'Queens- 

 land, respectively. 



Insect Notes, which will be found on page .58, 

 conclude the summ.ay of the miscellaneous informa- 

 tion on entomological matters presented during 1913. 



On the same page are several interesting notes 

 concerning botanical matters. 



Notes on the Pubber Industry, on page 59, deal 

 with the question of variability of plantation Para. 

 The subject is dealt with both from a manufacturing 

 and from a botanical point of view. 



The article under the general heading of Agricul- 

 tural Examinations on page 01, gives a general account 

 to how these are conducted, and presents a general 

 review of the answers to the questions set for 1913. 



Development of German Colonies in 1913. 



The southern regions of the Cameroons are to 

 a large extent dependent on the rubber industry; 

 hence the recent crisis has had a very prejudicial 

 effect upon the commercial developments of these 

 parts. As well as regards the markets, some trouble 

 was occasioned in regard to labour, owing to the 

 difficulty of getting families to settle on the plantations. 

 It might be suggested that some improvement would 

 be effected in this direction if settlement was 

 encouraged by the provision of small holdings so that 

 each family would pos.sess its own property adjoining 

 the larger estates. 



As regards Togoland, the shipments of palm oil 

 products have fallen off very considerably this year 

 owing, it seems, to the drought at the end of 1912. 

 Rubber has suffered from the prevailing low price, 

 and the exports will be much less than in 1912, 

 though cotton will reach approximately the previous- 

 year's yield. 



