THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 6, 1914. 



i'- 



"^ GLEANINGS." 



Attention is called in Thr Times for April 25, 1911, 

 to the reformed method of reading the barometer which will 

 be introduced into the daily waather reports next month. 

 The principle of the change will be the adoption of absolute 

 units for barometric pressure in place of mercury inches. 

 The absolute unit is the dyne per square centimetre. As 

 this unit is exceedingly small, a practical unit one million 

 times as great (megadyne) has been suggested and will be 

 used in the daily weather reports. 



Colonial Reports, Miscellaneous No. 88, is composed of 

 a selection of reports from . the scientific and technical 

 department of the Imperial Institute, the publication under 

 notice (No. 5) being devoted to subjects of oil seeds, 

 oils, fats and waxes that have been received for examination 

 during the past jear from different parts of the Empire. 



The Experiment Station Record for February 1914 

 coniains a note on the propagation of cotton plants by slips. 

 Id this method herbiceous slips are pricked out in the hot 

 bed? or greenhouse. The plants from which the slips are 

 taken are removed from the fields to the green-house late in 

 the season and profuse budding is induced. 



Der Pjianzer for March 1914 publishes an article on the 

 kapok tree describing the varieties, pests, prices of seed and 

 the preparation and shipment of the cotton. In another 

 article the coagulation of Manihot latex is dealt with and 

 various methods de.=cribed. A short note includes an account 

 of the cost of a factory for desiccated coconuts. 



Statistics concerning the California orange and lemon 

 crop, published in the fifty-ninth annual report of the 

 California State Board of Agriculture, 1912, show that in 

 1896 the imports of oranges into California from Mexico, 

 the AVest Indies and Italy were worth §2,691,1.31, whilst in 

 1912 the value of the exports of oranges from California 

 •was $3,022,8.59 compared with nil in 1896. 



An interesting publication in the form of the Madras 

 .Agricultural Calendar, 1914-l.j, has just been received from 

 the Superintendent, the Government Press, Madras. Its 

 contents include several articles of agricultural interest 

 written in most cases by the officers on the staff' of the 

 L)epartment. Attention is given to such subjects as co oper- 

 ative sale and credit, impleinental tillage, good seed supply, 

 manuring, particularly ereen manuring, and the like in 

 particular relation to conditions in Madras. 



Under the heading Another Industry for Trinidad the 

 Port-of- Spain Gazette, May 17, 1914, refers to the projected 

 manufacture of bamboo pulp in that colony. It is stated 

 that a factory capitalized to the extent of £30,000 is soon 

 to be erected at Champs Fleurs. Bamboos will be planted 

 and these will be manufactured into pulp, which will be 

 shipped to Scotland for paper-making. 



A copy of a further Act (No 4 of 1914, dated February 

 25), has been received which amends the 'Wild Birds 

 (Protection) Act, 1907', and inter alia, prohibits the expor- 

 tation of the skin and feathers of any 'wild bird' from 

 Barbados. Any person who exports the skin or feathers 

 of such wild birds shall be liable to a penalty not exceed- 

 ing £5. The Act adds the following wild birds to the 

 list of birds scheduled in the original Act: Red seal coot, 

 White-seal coot. 



In a communication received from the Agricultural 

 Superintendent, St. Kitts, information is given to show that 

 a very good and creditable attempt has been made to 

 represent that Presidency at the forthcoming Tropical 

 Products Exhibition. No less than seventy-six different 

 articles have been sent, chiefly cotton and cotton products 

 (for competition for the Presidency's trophy and the 

 B. C. G. A.'s cup); but also sugar, including cut canes and 

 crystals have been sent. 



At a general meeting of the Agriculturil Society of 

 Trinidad and Tobago held April 3, 1914, the question of 

 proclaiming love vine a pest injurious to agriculture was 

 discussed as well as the matter of preservation of bird life. 

 Both these matters are receiving consideration. Efforts are 

 being made to supply the Naparima peasantry with a more 

 standard quality of rice seed and prizes will be offered for the 

 cleanest and best samples of the standard variety. {Proceed- 

 ings or the A'jrirnllwal Societi/ oj Trinidad and Tofjcif/o, 

 April 'l 911.) 



Suggestive economies 



of an interesting nature are 

 referred to in The 'Times for Nfay 8, 1914, in an article on 

 steel manufacture. The gaseous products of coke ovens are 

 stated as likely to become of use in the lighting of towns 

 and works and a possible application of this gas is in the 

 direct manufacture of nitrate by the Hansen process; while 

 it is being sought to obtain from it the hydrocarbons, the 

 derivatives of which are found in india-rubber, and experi- 

 ments are being conducted with a view to the manufacture 

 of artificial rubber. 



A copy has just been received of the report on the Blue 

 Book of Trinidad and Tobago, for 1912 13. Of special 

 interest is the report attached to this, on Forest Conservancy. 

 As for most lines of agricultural work, the past year has 

 been decidedly unfavourable, owing to drought, for activity 

 in connexion with sylvicultural operations. A serious fire in 

 a cedar plantation occurred during the year, in which 

 .50 acres of cedar plantations were burnt over and some 8,000 

 out of 10,000 cedar trees, varying in age from one to five 

 years were killed. The fire appears to have originated from 

 sparks dropped from a traveller's torch. 



A note in the Exijeriment Station Record for February 

 1914 refers to a trial of Niger cake for milch cows in Belgium. 

 'On a ration of hay, straw, mangels, bran and wheat two 

 cows for five days before and ten days after an experimental 

 period of thirty days gave a daily average per cow of 8 17 

 litres (about 8-6 quarts of milk testing 2 59 per cent, of fat). 

 During the thirty-day period in which the above ration was 

 supplemented with from 1 to 2 kilogrammes of Niger cako the 

 average milk production was 8'.5 litres testing 308 per cent, 

 fat. The cows gained 13 kilogs. and 36 kilogs. respectively in 

 weight during the thirty days.' The journal quoted, states 

 that the original paper contains an analysis of the Niger cake. 



