Vol. XIII. No. 310. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



89 



Sahara of th.it period is more like a'Niagara to-day. 

 There are books on every branch of the rubber busi- 

 ness, and, it might be said, every twi£( of every branch.' 



— ^ . 



Animals and Plants under Domestication. 



During January, Professor Hateson, Director of 

 the .John Innes Hortifultiiral Institution, England, 

 gave the first of a series of lectures on the above 

 subject. It is stated in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 (January 31, 191-1-) that reference was made to the 

 question whether the variation of domesticated animals 

 and plants can be justly comi)ared with that of 

 the wild species. It was considered that one grave 

 difficulty is the fact that under domestication, 

 no new form has been known to arise which is 

 sterile with the parent form. Owing to recent 

 analytical work in connexion with variation, doubts 

 have been thrown on many of the assumptions made 

 by earlier workers. Darwin accepted the evidence that 

 the numerous types of the pigeon came from a single 

 original form. Xow it is thought that such variations 

 would only occur after hybridization. 



Agricultural Industries in British Guiana, 



1912-13. 



The long-continued drought of 1911-12 resulted 

 in very material injury to the produce of the cultiva- 

 tions in the year under review. The sugar industry 

 in particular suffered severel}', and the immediate 

 monetary loss from the effects of the 1911-12 drought 

 is estimated at not less than .€330,000. Cacao also 

 suffered, but coco-nut and coffee apparently withstood 

 the unfavourable conditions though there was some 

 depreciation in quality. 



In 1912-13 the area under rice amounted to 

 nearly 42,000 acres, yielding -i-l.^-^O tons of paddy 

 last year. The quality of the produce is excellent and 

 will probably improve still further since there is very 

 keen demand amongst planters of rice for the specially 

 selected seed paddy produced on the experimental 

 fields of the Board of Agriculture. 



The planting of Para rubber continues to progress. 

 It is estimated that there are now over 2,700 acres in 

 the Colony under this crop. Experimental work contin- 

 ues to be conducted with Funtumia elastica and 

 CastiUoa elastica. During the year a considerable 

 number of balata trees {Mimusops globosa) were 

 planted at the North-western station. 



The area under coffee was 2,700 acres, and 

 a variety that appears to show great promise is Co^ea 

 robiista, which seems to be well suited to some of 

 the river lands of the Colony. Satisfactory progress 

 continues to be made also in the matter of coco-nut 

 cultivation, the acreage having increased from 12,240 

 in 1911-12, to 14,700 acres in 1912-13. There is con- 

 siderable likelihood of development within the next 

 year or two in connexion with lime cultivation. It is 

 expected that the early erection of uioflhinery for the 

 production of citrate of lime will j^rovide the much 

 desired impetus. 



For further information concerning the agricultural 

 industries in British Guiana, 1912-13, reference should 

 be made to Colonial Reports, Annual — No. 780. 



Meteorological Research. 



It is well known that in temperate countries where 

 the climate is largely influenced by sequences of 

 cyclonic and anti-cyclonic conditions, it is possible 

 to issue forecasts with considerable certainty for a day 

 or two in advance. It is interesting to note that 

 Nature (February 12, 1914) emphasizes the immense 

 value which seasonal forecasts rather than daily 

 forecasts would be to agriculture; for »vere the 

 character of an ensuing season known, it would be 

 nearly always possible to plant crops that would thrive 

 under the expected conditions. It is quite possible 

 that if we had a sufficiency of good charts covering the 

 greater part of the earth, seasonal forecasts might be 

 made. The key to the whole situation lies in being 

 able to foretell the distribution of pressure. Being 

 given a chart with the isobars on it, it is possible to 

 fill in a gi'eat deal more with fair certainty. 



Physicists now recognize that the investigation of 

 the upper air affords vast scope for rendering meteor- 

 ology a more accurate science. Even to the present 

 time, upper air investigation has entirely altered our 

 ideas as to the cause of pressure changes, and it has 

 shown that the conditions above are far more simple 

 than they are below. It seems that surface changes 

 are a sort of by-product of the changes occurring above, 

 but the outstanding puzzle is what produces and main- 

 tains the changes of pressure above. 



Agricultural Industries in Trinidad and Tobago, 

 1912-13. 



According to Colonial Reports, Annual — No. 790, 

 it is estimated that there are 44.5,703 acres of land 

 under cultivation in Trinidad and Tobago, and .597,637 

 acres still available for cultivation, though their sale 

 has been temporarily suspended during the preliminary 

 operations of the oil companies. " The areas appropriated 

 for the several industries are as follows: sugar, 45,292 

 acres; cacao, 32.5,-503 acres; coffee, 4,120 acres; coco-nuts, 

 24,1)70 acres; rice, 13,000 acres; other produce, 33,118 

 acres. 



As regards exports, the only agricultural produce 

 which shows an increase on the value shipped in 1911 

 is copra, the figures for 1911 being £13,264, and for 

 1912, £28,726. Sugar remained about the same, the 

 value of the exports being about £.500,000 for both 

 years. The cacao shipped in 1912 was valued at 

 £1,007,990 as against £1,127,372 in 1911. The falling 

 off in the exports is attributed to the effects of drought. 

 Increases may be looked for in the values for lal3-14 



Although not dealt with in the publication from 

 which the above facts were obtained, it may be inter- 

 esting to note that the area of Trinidad and Tobago is 

 appi"oximately 1,895 sq. miles, with a population of 

 333,552. This gives a density of 176 people per 

 square mile. It is instructive to compare this figure 

 with the density for the Windward Islands, which is 

 317, and with that for British Guiana which is 3 people 

 per square mile. Barbados, as is well known, has as 

 many as 1,036 per square mile. 



