THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



NOVEMBKK 



191-1. 



GLEANINGS. 



A LOpy of the Meteorological Keeoid.s of British East 

 Africa for 1911 has just lieen received. It seems very com- 

 plete. The accumulation of such data from all parts of the 

 world will in time reii<ler meteorolojiy proKaMy one of tlie 

 exact sciences. 



The coco-nut crop of the .Seychelles of iyi/5 was the 

 liighest ever produced in tlie colony. The total r>i 26,0.36,206 

 nuts is recorded. Local consumption, it was estimated, 

 accounted for 4 million nuts. Nearly 21 million nuts were 

 converted into copra and e.\ported. {Annual Re2)orf ot 

 Agriculture and L'rovn Landi. Seychelles, 1913.) 



From the same report we glean tliat a small ijuautity of 

 titrate of lime is made in the colony, but the attacks of scale 

 insects give little hope of developing this indu.stry. The 

 report is in favour of growing Bermuda onions in some of the 

 i.slands, as it is thought that the conditions of climate and 

 soil lend themselves to the requirements of onion cidture. 

 Imported onions are retailed at from 12c. to 2nc. per Iti. 



Also from the same lepurt we take the following inter 

 esting note. Experiments have been made in raising hawks- 

 bill turtles in captivity. This work has received a blow from 

 which it may not recover. A disease broke out suddenly in two 

 sea-water enclosures, and all the young turtles were found 

 dead in those enclosures at the .same date, though separated 

 from each other by a deep sea channel and a distance of over 

 6 nules. 



Fr(,m the Louisiana Planter, October 10, 1911, we 

 glean that the sugar crop of Trinidad for 1914 was 

 55,4f<8 tons. A noticeable feature of cane culture in 

 that island is the amount of cane produced, and sold to the 

 factories by the small owners, the numl)er of these selling 

 canes to the factories during this crop being 12,703. There 

 does not seem to be such a development of cane growing in 

 small holdings elsewhere, so far as we know. 



In view of the advice given by the Imperial Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture to the planters of Montserrat on the 

 advisabilitj' and probable profit of growing bean crops, which 

 was printed in the A>/ricultural A^ews of October 21, 1911, 

 the following items taken from the Produce Markets Revieir, 

 September 19, 1914, may be of interest: 'For English 

 marrowfats, high jn-ices are being asked . . . There is con- 

 siderably more demand for really good Japanese jjeas. . . . 

 Ilangoon beans are firmer, and the possibilities of large 

 supplies in the immediate future are remote. . . . Butter 

 lieans are firmer: some dealers seem inclined to buy any 

 eh(\'ip parcels offered." 



A note in the Journal of Heredity, August 1914, accom- 

 panied by an excellent illustration, points out that the 

 ciindition of bareneckedness in fowls seems to be a dominant 

 factor. A barenecked cock and two hens, of the breed 

 frequently met with in the West Indies, were brought to the 

 States. Three-fourths of the offspring of these, when mated 

 with each other, were barenecked: while when mated with 

 ordinary fowls, one-half of the offspring inherited the 

 bare neck. 



The Egyptian Journal Ofticiel of September 22, contains 

 a decree restricting the area of cotton cultivation during the 

 191.5 .season. It is explained that this ste]) is taken in view 

 of the present limited, demand for cotton and the possible 

 rise in the price of cereals. Cotton cultivation in the basin 

 lands of upper Egypt is entirely prohibited. It is forbidden 

 to devote more than one-quarter or, where the land is unsuit- 

 able for growing cereak, one-third, of estates to the cultiva- 

 tion of cotton. (The Board of Trade Journal, October 8, 

 1914.) 



A most drastic step in the endeavour to prevent the 

 importation of fruit infected with any form of plant or insect 

 disease has been taken in British Columbia. The Agricultural' 

 (razette of Canada, September 1914. says that the |)rovinciaI 

 fruit inspectors have l;>een empowered to seize all infected 

 fruit, no inattei' where it is on display, even though it mav 

 have been previously passed by the inspectors. The British 

 Columbian Government are evident!}' bent on minimizing 

 the risk to their large fruit trade, which would ari.se from the 

 importation of infectious fruit diseases from other countries. - 



In connexion with the pamphlet on Indian Corn, by 

 Mr. H. A. Ballon, about to be issued by the Department of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies, attention may be drawn tf) a 

 pamphlet on the same .subject entitled Maize Culture, compiled 

 by A. H. E. McDonald, issued by the Department of Agri- 

 culture. Xew South Wales, as Farmer s Bulletin, No. 78, 

 •luiie 1914. The illustrations are very good, e.speciallj- tho.se 

 showing typical ears and grains of leading varieties. Though 

 the conditions of maize growing in Xew .South Wales and in 

 the West Indies are widely different, there is much inter- 

 esting matter in this liuUetin for the perusal of any planter 

 who may be thinking i>i devoting more attention to the grow- 

 ing of Indian corn. 



The application of motor tractors to farm work is pro- 

 gressing ra|)idly on the sugar plantations of Louisiana. 

 According to Mr. A. B. Blakeniore, in the J^ouisiana Planter^ 

 (Jctober 10, 1914, "a hundred uses can be found for one 

 wherever power must l)e applied on the modern farm.' The 

 first recjuisite for their efhcient use is the laying out of the 

 plantation: cro.ss ditches have to be got rid of. The next 

 item to be considered is the kind of machine to be obtained. 

 The writer referred to, lays it down that the correct .size and 

 power of the motor required for plantation work should be 

 not over 9,000 tt). in weight, with all tanks fiUed: of from 

 20 to 2-5 available horse power: and of the four cylinder type. 

 As regards its construction, he thinks it ouglit to be as 

 nearly 'fool-proof a.s jjossible, so as to allow of its being 

 operated by an ordinarily intelligent labourer, of course under 

 more skilled supervisidu. He says that automobiles have 

 been run for weeks under sealed bonnets without any adjust- 

 ments, and tliat there does not .seem to be any good reason 

 why a tractor cannot be built of the same reliabilit}'. Such 

 a machine, ^Ir. BlakeuKire says, will do the work of twenty- 

 eight mules at the cost of the upkeep of seven, wiU never get 

 colic, and, best of all, does not eat when it is not working. 



