Vol. XIII. No. 31 ; 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEW.S. 



201 



Meat Scarcity in Temperate Countries 



An article in The Times for May 19, 191 -l, calls 

 attention to the increased world's competition for meat 

 supplies whiih is being felt in certain temperate 

 countries. The United States which used to send 

 huge consignments of meat to Great Britain has sent 

 nothing at all during the last two years; instead it has 

 abolished its meat tariff and is importing on a large 

 scale. At present the keenest comjietition is taking 

 place between British and American buyers for the 

 available supplies of Argentine and Australian meat. 



All this as regards England makes a call upon the 

 British farmer, but it is a "question for doubt as to 

 whether he will be able to cater fully for the increased 

 demand. 



The advancement in the price of meat will have 

 a tendency to reduce its consumption, and the public 

 are likely to resort to a greater extent to highly rich 

 albuminous food of a vegetable nature imported from 

 the Tropics. In this way the competition for the supply 

 of meat may be of indirect value to the Tropics. 

 Finally, there are some grounds for suggesting the pos- 

 sibility for certain parts of the Tropics, where large 

 tracts of pasture land occur, or where conditioius are in 

 other ways suitable for the production of meat (for 

 instance, pork), to seize upon the present economic 

 situation described in The Tirnes. and endeavour to 

 establish a trade, though it even be small at first, with 

 European countries, and possibly America, in animal 



products. 



^-^^^•"♦-^ 



Agricultural Progress in the German Protect- 

 orates. 



The interesting information presented in the form 

 of an abstract in the Montldy Bulletin of Agricul- 

 tural Intelligence and Plant Biswases (April 1914) 

 was derived from the official report of 1914 published 

 by the Imperial Ministry for the Colonies, on the 

 German Protectorates. 



During the year dealt with by the report, the 

 market conditions for the principal products exported 

 were favourable, with the exception of those for rubber. 

 Sisal yielded good crops and sold easily at high prices, 

 whilst the production of coffee increased. In the 

 Kameroons there is good future prospects before 

 a flourishing banana industry owing to the formation 

 of a firm for the exportation of this fruit. In Togo, the 

 plantations have increased in number and in extent. 

 In German New Guinea, a similar extension has 

 occurred. 



The establishments of the Administration for the 

 Promotion of Agriculture have continued to develop 

 and have displayed great activity, especially in German 

 East Africa. Extensive veterinary measures for the 

 control of cattle plague have been organized in this 

 colony, and in German South- West Africa, the cam- 

 paign against the diseases of live stock in general has 

 been continued. In German New Guinea, the basis 

 of a veterinary service has now been laid. The agri- 

 cultural experiment station in Samoa during the year 

 tinder review has been newly organized and special 

 xt1;ention is being paid to the Phytopathological 



Service. For forestry, :he chief measures have con- 

 sisted in the creation of new forest reserves, especially 

 in East Africa and in Togo. The forest reserves in 

 East Africa extended, in lOLS (April I), over an area 

 of 1,8.33,817 acres against 1,197,040 acres in 1912. 



The foreign trade of all the protectorates rose 

 from £11,700,000 in 1911, to £12,890 000 in 1912. 

 This is principally due to the total increase of trade 

 in East Africa. 



Manurial Experiments in the German Colonies. 



In connexion with the above outline of agricul- 

 tural progress in the German Protectorates the same 

 journal calls attention in another abstract to the 

 extensive scheme of manuriai experiments recently 

 planned in the German tropical Colonies. 



In Kameroon, in order to establish a rational 

 system of mamring, the Agricultural Experimental 

 Institute at Victoria has organized a series of manurial 

 trials based on the system adopted by the German 

 Agricultural Society and modified according to local 

 rcijuirements. 'I'hirty-two series were running ia 

 1911-12, and these were increased to forty-seven in 

 1913, embracing the following crops — cacao, Funtumia, 

 Hevea, Manihoc, oil palm, bananas, tobacco, maize, 

 cotton, earthnuts, sweet potatos, and pine-apples. 



In Togo, the agriculture is chiefly in the hands of 

 native cultivators, and here the manurial trials are 

 being carried out on their own plantations in the hope 

 of eventually inducing the peasants to use fertilizers. 

 In (ierman New (iuinea, thirty-five series of trials are 

 now in operation distributed over the same crops men- 

 tioned under Kameroon in addition to coco-nuts, coffee, 

 castor oil and vegetables. 



The result of the first year's trials in Samao is 

 said to have shown that in the case of the taro crop 

 {Colocasia antlqaorum) the experimental plots, which 

 had previously been under cacao, gave on manurial 

 treatment crops of tubers equal to those on virgin 

 land. Moreover the formation of these tubers was 

 greatly stimulated, and the number of new shoots 

 formed averaged ten per plant or twice the usual 

 number, so that not only was the harvest larger bub 

 the means of propagation was also increased. 



Owing to the trials referred to above having only 

 recently been instituted, conclusive results in the 

 majority of cases are not yet available. But from the 

 organized nature of the experiments it would seem 

 that in a few years time they should provide much 

 useful and intere.sting information that may in certain 

 cases be applicable even under conditions obtaining 

 outside the German Colonies. 



Department News. 



Mr. P. T. Saunders, M.R.C.V.S., having concluded 

 his terra of appointment on the Staff of this Depart- 

 ment leaves the West Indies for England by the 

 R,M.S. 'Danube' on the 24th instant. Mr. Saunders 

 will represent the Department at the forthcoming 

 International '^eterinary Conference in London. 



