156 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 9, 1914. 



GLEANINGS. 



In Xevis a considerable acreage of cotton has been 

 planted very early this year and is looking in good condition. 

 The shipment of coconuts from Nevis is becoming an 

 impoitant item in the island's trade. 



The results of the St. Vincent experiments with planting 

 arrowroot on the fiat and on banks appear to indicate that 

 the bank system leads to a decrease in yield. There seem 

 to be no immediate advantages derived from the cultivation. 



It is interesting to record the extension in Dominica of 

 factories for the manufacture of citrate of lime. At the 

 present time it is gratifying to report that the demand for 

 fresh lime.s is strong, and the future prospects of the industry 

 are in every way satisfactory. 



As in most of the islands, the weather at Tortola has 

 recently been very dry, and this has been mainly responsible 

 for the poor returns of sugar-cane. Although limes were 

 received very freely during March at the Government Factory, 

 the crop is likely to prove a small one. 



In St. Kitts it is to be expected that the factory 

 facilities in the northern part of the island, which enforce 

 the manufacture of muscovado sugar and molasses, will 

 prove a serious inconvenience to many of the estates. The 

 need of a central factory in this district is keenly felt. 



The researches of ('. B. Lipman and P. S. Burgess, of 

 the University of California, appear to show that copper, zinc 

 iron and lead exercise toxic effects on the ammonifying flora 

 of sandy soils in that State, but have a marked stimulating 

 influence on the nitrifying flora. 



Two papers of some interest in tropical agriculture, 

 which appear in the latest issue of the Journal of Agricul- 

 tural Research (Vol. I, No. 6) are the origin of some of the 

 Streptococci found in milk, and the crystallization of cream of 

 tartar in the fruit of grapes. 



It is of interest to learn that there will soon be seven 

 steam-boiling lime juice plants in St. Lucia and that more 

 will be erected. So far as we are aware, steam-boiling 

 plants for lime juice only occur in St. Lucia. There are 

 several citrate plants in Dominica, one in Montserrat, and 

 one in Trinidad. 



Dr. W. E. Cross refers in Sugar (April 1914), to the 

 demand which exists for scientific sugar plantation managers. 

 The training of men for this line of work is considered by the 

 \Yriter to be worthy of the serious consideration of the 

 industry, and of those who contemplate the establishment of 

 agricultural colleges in the Tropics. 



According to Research Bulhtin No. 30, of the Agricultu- 

 ral Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin, grain 

 food is deficient in calcium but rich in phosphorus. Animals, 

 particularly swine, confined wholly to grain rations, should, 

 receive an additional supply of calcium either as calcium 

 carbonate or calcium_ phosphate or legume hay. 



The interesting announcement is made in the Eevieiv 

 of A'pplied Entomology, to the efi'ect that the injection of 

 bacilli which causes tuberculosis in fish, into the caterpillar 

 of Acliraea grisella -(which feeds upon the wax in bee-hives) 

 pioduces tuberculosis in this insect. The bacilli causing 

 tuberculosis in mammals do not appear to be able to 

 infect insects. 



A note in the Experiment Station Rerord (Vol. XXX, 

 No. 3) states that, contrary to former observations, Azoto- 

 hacter chroococcumhsisheen found in all but one of a series of 

 Java soils, and in this the chlorine content was 386 per 

 cent., indicating sufficient sodium chloride to kill the 

 bacteria. Bacillns racHoLacfer was also found to be generally^ 

 present in Java soils. 



In describing the chemical properties of the rice soils 

 of Hawaii, Mr. W. P. Kelly, in Experiment Station Bulletin- 

 No. 31, says that from fertilizer experiments carried on 

 through seven crops, it was found that the application of 

 150 &. per acre of ammonium sulphate produced notable 

 increases in the yield, but 300 R). per acre proved the more 

 profitable. Potash and phosphoric acid were without effect. 



It is stated in some notes on pine-apple culture in the 

 Hawaiian Forester and Agricidturist that there does not 

 seem to be anything in pine-apple plant selection for uniformity 

 and shape of fruit. The best prepared and cultivated ground 

 gives the most uniform fruit. As regards manuring, fertili- 

 zers have hardly proved worth while on the first crop, but 

 are considered necessary for second plantings, and for ratoons. 



Volume IV, No. 1, of the Bulletin Agricole dn Congo 

 Beige consists of a report on the agricultural conditions of 

 that Colony. Various reforms are suggested ; for instance, 

 easier conditions for land purchase, exemption of agricul- 

 tural buildings from taxation, suppression of import duties 

 on estate material, abolition of export duties on agricultural 

 products, cheaper rates of transport, and lastly, a speedy 

 organization of agricultural credit. 



The Board of Trade Journal (April 2, 1914) states 

 that a company has been formed in Namaqualand, South 

 Africa, with a capital of £6,000, for the purpose of exploit- 

 ing Euphorbia drageana, which grows in the uplands and 

 is stated to yield 17 '6 per cent, of pure rubber and 70 

 per cent, of resin. The company holds a concession of some 

 220 square miles containing about million bu.shes of this 

 plant. 



According to the Monthly Bulletin of Atjrictdtural 

 Intelligence and Plant Diseases (March 1914), an xlmerican, 

 inventor seems to have found a process for ripening cotton 

 by artificial means, which will allow all the bolls to be 

 gathered at one picking. It is stated that the strength of 

 the fibre in the artificially matured bolls is greater, but it is 

 not mentioned how this artificial ripening is effected. 



