Vol. XIII. Xo. .322. 



THE AGPJCULTURAX XEWS. 



287 



vaj'ious kinds <>f tray amuige)noiits (h) by artirii-ial means Ijy 

 an own arrangement whii-h seems to be peculiar to .Mayuinbe. 

 This system consists essentially of a vault umler which is 

 41 cement floor where the cacao is j)]acei:l to dry. The canopy 

 is pierced on the sides and bottom by a number of holes 

 ingeniously cimibineil which lead the lieat under the vault 

 where the cacao is l>eing continually stirred. 



The last and longest section of the article summarizes 

 the principal imperfections in the culture of cacao in 

 ilayumbe. Much of thi.s is of purely local interest l»earing 

 upon hjcal conditions, but tlie following points have been 

 .selected as likely to be of general interest and significance: — 



(1) Enough care is not taken to plant on deep and 

 permeable soil. 



(2; In clearing fore.st land planters do ntjt conserve 

 a mantle of forest on the .summits of the hills for purposes 

 I if soil protection and water-sujjiily. 



(.3) Planters often omit to plant innnediately after the 

 last burning, a ijuick-growing leguminous crop. 



(4) Want of care in Judging the distance of planting 

 according to soil and otJier onditions of the locality. 



{r>) Failure to use the banana as a shade plant fur 

 young cacao. 



(6) Planters make the mistake of endeavouring to save 

 forest trees for shade purposes. It is best to (!Ut down the 

 fore.st completely and plant shade trees separately. 



DOWN THE ISLANDS. 



ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST. 



OKKN4l)A. The Land OtHcers l\eport foj- the months nf 

 June and .July state that at the beginning of the first month 

 the St. ('yr Mountain estate in the parish of St. Andrews. 

 puioha,sed by the Goverinnent lor the extension of the 

 ?^ctt,lement Scheme, has now been formally taken over and 

 a lungor put in i-harge. The estate is about .300 acres in 

 extent, of whi<-h about 60 acres are in cacao cultivation and 

 the renwiuder untilled. The suli-division surveys are now 

 in progress and as soon as these are completed allotment will 

 be pi'oceeded with. The roads through this Settlement are 

 being considerably improved. During .June on the estab- 

 lished settlements, the peasants" time was occupied 

 largely in planting corn and sugar-cane and in the following 

 months the settlers were engaged in weeding and planting 

 ground provisions. At the time of writing (August 12, 1914) 

 the Land ( )fTicer states that the c<>rn crop is a promising one 

 a,nd thio M high yield is expected. This refers to the condi- 

 tion o; the crop at Waterhall: at Morne Rouge, the corn crop 

 ha.s suflercd from the attacks of caterpillars — in several 

 instKiii-i's the fiekls were c(jmpletely wiped out and hail to l>e 

 repliihtiMl. By the end of .July it is stated that the eater- 

 pill;! r pest which had also turned its attention to sugar-cane 

 iiod entirily disappeared. It is satisfactory to report that 

 the lime [ilot at Morne Rouge has fruited splendidly and 

 several Iwiirels of ripe limes are being reaped. 



Acting on the advice of the Imperial (.'ommissioner of 

 Agiiculture, the Colonial Secretaiy has brought before the 

 Agricultural Society a reipiest that consideration should be 

 given a'- once to the necessity of planting up all available 

 HT'eas in pro\ision crops. 



ST. vjNCKNT. Agricultural matters appear t<j Ije in 

 a normal condition in this island vith the exception that 

 some anxiety has been felt, as in other islands, in regard to 

 the possi)iiHt\ of an inadequate supply of food.stutt' on account 



of the war. Previous to receiving advice on the subject fnjin 

 the Imperial ('ommissiont;r of .\griculture, advice had lieen 

 given to all concerned in the island that quick-growing pro- 

 vision crops should be planted as extensively as possible. 



ST. LUCIA. In his departmental notes for July, the 

 acting Agricultural Superintendent in this island states that 

 the cacao crop is flowering freely but that the extension of 

 cacao planting and interest in ca;ao generally, has been 

 checked by the greater attraction for lime cultivation"] 

 This last named crop is coming in well. At the fJovernment 

 l^ime .Juice Factory, after considerable discussion, the 

 amount to be paid on account for limes has been fixed 

 at '2.1. Ri. per barrel. The total crop of last season has 

 been surpassed in the first four weeks of working, and 

 at the time of writing (.\ugust 14) the actual output 

 has been more than double of the whole of the last crop. 

 Five hogsheads of concentrated juice has been shipped and 

 seven more are ready. The lane irop appears to be sufTering 

 from drought in the southern districts but it is stated that 

 the area will be j)robably increased as prices are likely to 

 advance. From the Experiment Station during July over 

 1 .3,000 plants were distributed, which included 12,S00 lime 

 plants, 400 of which were distributed free to Crown land.s 

 hf>lders. In this island also attention has been directed 

 to the ilesiraliility of planting as big an area as po.ssible in 

 pro\ision crops. It is reported that free tenures of land have 

 been made on the (ioveniment Land Settlement to all labour- 

 ers employed on the Reunion estates. This land will only be 

 held for the period required for the growth of one crop of 

 ])rovisions. 



i>oMisic.\. According to the Chronicle for July 29, the 

 Roseau Town Board has ])assed a milk by-law which has been 

 ap[iroved by the Executive Council and published in the 

 Official Gazette. Briefly this by-law lays down that no person 

 shall in the town of Roseau or within one mile thereof, 

 dis|)ose of any milk unle.ss he shall have first obtained 

 a license to do so from the Board. Persons engaged in the 

 sale of milk will be required to wear a badge and such persons 

 «ill be re<piired to accompany to the office of the Board, any 

 agent who ina\- demand an explanation of the conditifni under 

 which milk is being sold at any particular time. The by-law 

 contains regulations also in regard to the proper keeping of 

 milk under I'onditions of cleanliness. 



ST. KiTTs. The Agricultural Superintendent reports for 

 .(ulv that the reaping operations are now concluded at the 

 Basseterre factory. Actual figures are not to hand but the 

 returns are not quite up to those of last season. At the time 

 of writing the muscovado estates were still at work, but the 

 returns were stated to be falling off owing to the lateness of 

 the season. The young cane crop is well advanced and the 

 ratoons have improved with the showers of the last month. 

 The picking and ginning of cotton from the earlier planted 

 fields is in full swing. The returns are not as good as 

 expected owing to the plants growing to bush from the 

 almormal rains of May. The later planted fields on the 

 whole look well but in the case of these also a tendency is 

 shown to develop leaves and branches at the expense of bolls. 

 The Agricultural Superintendent has carried out an experi- 

 ment with root borer grubs and found the adult weevil of 

 these forms to be Exophlhalmus esurienK. This is a result of 

 considerable importance as the insect was not definitely known 

 before to be a pest of sugar-canes in St. Ivitts. An experiment 

 has also been made to find out where the eggs are laid, 

 and they were successfully discovered on the split leaves 

 of the sugar-cane. Thess investigations are being continued 

 with a view to obtaining furtlier information as regards the 

 local haliits of this pest. 



