Vol. XIII. No. 312. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



121 



•meteorological conditions would be if the earth were 

 fixed and the sun went round it in twenty-four hours 

 as the ancients used to suppose. 



A New Tropical African Genus allied to Citrus. 



In the Jourii'i.l of Agricultural Research (Vol. 1, 

 No. 5), Swingle and Kellerman, of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, show that the African 

 species of Limonia constituting the section ( 'itropsis of 

 Engler are related to Citrus rather than to the Asiatic 

 species of Limonia. This conclusion, based on a study 

 of herbarium and living material, has been confirmerl by 

 the results of e.xperiments in grafting, which show that 

 the African species belonging to the section Cit)opsis can 

 be budded easily and grows well on all the commonly cul- 

 tivated species of ( 'itrus. The genus Citropsis resembles 

 Citrus in the general structure and appearance of the 

 flowers and fruit as well as in the texture, venation and 

 general type of the leaves. It diffeis from citrus in 

 having 4- or rarely 5-merous ovaries, with only 

 a .single ovule in each cell, and in several othi^r Moral 

 and vegetative characters. 



The African cherry oranges — as the species of 

 ijitropsis are called popularly — are likely to prove of 

 some economic value because of the high flavour of 

 many of the fruits and the large assimilation area of 

 the foliage, drafting experiments have been conducted 

 and C. Sclnvelnfurthii will grow vigorously and rapiilly 

 on sweet orange, sour orange, grape fruit, and lemon 

 stocks. This species is also adapted for growing inde- 

 pendently on rather poor soils and seems to be resistent 

 to disease. 



Attempts to raise hybrids between Citrus and 

 •< 'itropsis are in progress. So far flowers of the 

 common lime (Citrus <iurantifolia) pollinated with 

 (Jitropsis Schireinfiirthii set fruit and produced 

 seed. This seed was not fertile; but further crossing, 

 and with other species, will no doubt lead to the 

 successful production of a very interesting and 

 possibly valuable group of hybrids. 



— — ^^^■♦--^ 



St. Kitts Agricultural and Industrial Show, 



1914. 



The Eighth Agricultural and Industrial Show was 

 held under the auspices of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture and the St. Kitts Agricultural Society at 

 the ( irammar School, Dasseterre, on February 20, 101 -I-. 

 The exhibition was formally opened by His Honour the 

 Administrator. The President of the Society (Mr. 

 C. Forbes Todd), the Superintendent of Agriculture 

 for the Leeward Islands (Mr. H. A. Tempany, B.Sc), 

 and the Agricultural Superintendent, St. Kitts (ilr. 

 F. R. Shepherd;, were amongst those who were also 

 present. In the course of the proceedings, regret was 

 expressed at the absence of His Excellency the Governor 

 and the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture. An 

 incident of considerable interest r.nd significance was 

 the presencation of the first class final certificate of the 

 Imperial Department Examinations in Practical 

 Agriculture to .Mr, W. Owen, and the important 

 •atmouncement that .Major .Montgomery, the owner of 



Molineux estate, who was present at the exhibition, 

 had promoted the successful candidate from the posi- 

 tion of overseer to that of manager of the property. 



In regard to the exhibition itself, the display of 

 exhibits compared flivourably with that of previous 

 years, except in the live stock classes. Planters should 

 make a definite attempt to improve their working 

 stock. Concerning crops, the sugar-cane exhibits pro- 

 vided in several cases very fine specimens, one lot of 

 twi-nty-four cut canes weighing 2-50 lb. The cottoa 

 shown was of a very high standard. There were the 

 usual flowers and fancy work exhibits, (jutside, the 

 driving and riding attracted much attention, but the 

 competition was not as keen as usual. 



The total number of exhibits this year was 723 

 as against 811 in 191o and 736 in 1912. 



West Indian Bulletin. 



The West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XIV, No. I, is 

 just being distributed. This number is devoted to the 

 subject of peasant agriculture in the West Indies, and 

 contains a more or less continuous story of the 

 establishment and results achieved by Land Settle- 

 ments, Credit Societies, and other forms of co-operatioa 

 in the West Indies. A useful feature of the number is 

 the introductory article, which outlines in a general 

 manner the efforts made in aid of peasant agriculture 

 in the Windward and Leeward Islands. 



Agricultural Position in St. Vincent. 



In his address before the Legislative Council, His 

 Honour the Administrator, St. Vinceno, referred with 

 regret to the abnormal climatic conditions experienced 

 during 191-S, but remarked upon the ameliorating 

 influences of more favourable weather since November, 

 which has to a considerable extent improved the 

 general outlook for Sea Island cotton. During the 

 1912-lS season, the area under Sea Island cottoa 

 underwent a reduction of some 600 acres, but this has 

 to a large extent been put under other crops so com- 

 pensating in other ways the deficiencies involved 

 through a lesser acreage under cotton. 



His Honour referred, in continuation, to the 

 depression of the intercolonial arrowroot market, which, 

 was possibly due to the increased production for 

 cassava starch, for which, it is interesting to note, the 

 St. \'incent Agricultural Department is attempting to 

 find a market in North America. 



Facilities will be available during the 1914-1-5 

 cotton season for having cotton seed crushed at the 

 < iovernment cotton ginnery by the new oil- expressing 

 plant which is about to be installed. This will enable 

 planters to return to the soil as manure, the chief 

 mineral ingredients which cotton takes from the land. 



This review of the agricultural position of the 

 Colony was concluded with a brief reference to the 

 purchase of the estate of Belair for Land Settlemenn 

 purposes, and to the putting into action of the Agricul- 

 tural (,'redit Societies movement which is or should be 

 closely connected with the I^and .Settlement Scheme.., 



