Vol. XIII. No. 330. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



403 



shrubs, which shut out the light troiu the young plants, it 

 will be necessary to clear these out. In its wild state vanilla 

 does not grow on bare soil, and it is more natural to leave the 

 ground covered with a carpet of herbaceous weeds. 



After planting the cuttings, all the care that the planta- 

 tion requires, until the vines begin to flower, is to keep the 

 growing supports pruned, and in case any of the vines grow 

 too high, to turn them down. This turning down of the 

 vines is most important, and must not be neglected. As 

 soon as a vine has reached the length of 10 or 12 feet, 

 it should be loosened from the tree for about the top half 

 of its length, and hung over a convenient branch. It is on 

 these hanging branches that the flowers are produced; and as 

 long as the vine can continue to climb it will not bloom. 

 Hence the necessity of turning down. The end of the vine 

 should not hang lower than a foot from the ground. It must 

 be pinched off when it reaches that length. In detaching 

 the upper part of the vine from the tree it is best to cut the 

 tendrils carefully close to the vine rather than attempt to 

 loosen them from the tree, thus saving time, and possibly 

 the vine, which is more brittle than the tendrils. 



A certain amount of pruning is necessary. It is bene- 

 ficial to remove the branches which have fruited, cutting 

 them off' clSse to the top of the post. The plant will replace 

 them by others, which will be of full length by next flower- 

 ing sea.son. A small stej) ladder is useful for the operations 

 of turning down and pruning. 



ilcFarlane suggests that on a vanilla plantation both 

 species of vanilla should be cultivated, as they flower at 

 different times, and so the estate can be kept working for 

 most of the year. 



DOWN THE ISLANDS. 



ITEMS OF LOCAL INTEREST. 



ST. VINCENT. A meeting of the Agricultural and 

 Commercial Society, to discuss the agriciUtural situation, was 

 held on November 11, at which His Honour the Administrator 

 presided. The Agricultural Superintendent held meetings 

 of small owners during the month at -everal country villages. 

 Six hundred cuttings of sweet potato were distributed from 

 the Experiment Station, and "240 lime plants from the 

 nursery in the island of Bequia. 



.ST. Luci.\. The Land Settlement at Reunion is pro- 

 gressing, twenty-two lots having been already sold. The 

 land at the Experiment Station, let in small lots free to 

 families in the village for the duration of the war, has been 

 planted throughout with food crops, which are in excellent 

 condition, and are well taken care of. The second lime crop 

 promises to be a good one: 8,600 lime plants have been sent 

 out from the station during the mouth. The sugar crop is 

 beginning to be reaped in many localities. The Assistant 

 Director of Agriculture and the Superintendent of the 

 Industrial School, British Guiana, are expected to pay a visit 

 to St. Lucia early in 1915, for the purpose of examining into 

 the working and management of the Government Linie 

 Juice Factory, in view of similar projects in BritLsh Guiana. 



DOMINICA. The Annual Examination of the Imperial 

 Pepartment of Agriculture for estate overseers was held on 

 November 23. Among the plants distributed from the 

 Experiment Station there were 1,8-50 lime plants and fifty 

 Para rubber. Some improvement will soon be made in the 

 Botanic Gardens by the erection of a new iron fence near 

 the south gate. 



M0NTSEER.4.T. A further experimental shipment of 

 twelve dozen pine-apples was made to Canada on November 5 



— -t crates of ripe pines in cool storage, and 4 crates in 

 hold .space. An experiment has been started with sweet 

 potatoes to test the value of cuttings from tubers, compared 

 with those from vines. One quarter acre of onions has been 

 planted at Harris's Station. 



ANTIGUA. An improvement has been made in the 

 Botanic Garden by filling up and grassing over the unsightly 

 rubbish yard on the western lawn. In the distribution of 

 plants there were included 823 coco-nuts, 633 eucalyptus, 

 231 bay trees, 52,600 onion plants, and 3,000 sweet pcjtato 

 (■uttings. Though the cane crop seems to be improving, more 

 rain is required. Further trials in making corn meal are 

 in progress. 



ST. KITTS. The fine rainfall in November ha.s 

 considerably improved the sugar-cane crop. It will how- 

 ever be late in maturing. Owing to the backward con- 

 dition of the ratoons, the (question of good plants for the 

 next crop is a serious one. On muscovado estates plants are 

 being obtained from the canes left over from last crop, but 

 on the estates in the factory systeni dependence has to be 

 put on plants from second ratoons, and here the need of 

 cane nurseries makes itself felt. The greater part of the 

 cotton crop has been reaped, and on the estates the land is 

 being prepared for planting cane. Wiere cotton is a perma- 

 nent crop the new growth is coming on well. A meeting <)f 

 the Agricidtural and Commercial Society was held in 

 November, at which Dr. Tempany read a paper dealing with 

 the agricultural situation. This is referred to in an'jther 

 column. From the Experiment Station 1,750 sweet potato 

 and 2,000 casava cuttings have been distributed. 



NEVIS. The cane crop, on the whole, looks very prom- 

 ising throughout the island. The cotton crop is reaped, the 

 average return having been about 130 ft. of lint per acre. 

 It is to be regretted that fields of old cotton, planted early 

 in 1913, are still standing in certain parts of the islaniL 

 The provision crops, especially sweet potatoes, are doing 

 well. There have been distributed from the Botanic Station 

 1,000 sweet potato cuttings, 2,750 onion plants, and 8 ft. 

 of Guinea corn for .seed. Dr. Tempany read a paper to 

 a meeting of planters on November 26 on the same subject 

 that he had dealt with in St. Kitts. 



Red Guinea Corn. — A variety of .sorghum from 

 East Africa, where it is called Dhurra, is known in .Jamaica 

 as red Guinea corn. The Journal of the Jamaica Agricul- 

 tural Society, August 1914, contains an article in which the 

 drought-resisting capacity of this variety is greatly praised. The 

 writer of the article says that in the Liguanea Plains this year, 

 during a time of severe drought, when maize did not grow 

 6 inches high, and even sweet potatoes were dried up, a crop 

 of Dhurra came to maturity in a little over three months, 

 and formed fine heads with large grains. There are dry 

 parts of .Jamaica where crops of maize were planted this 

 year, which failed entirely through drought, whereas red 

 Guinea corn would almost certainly have produced a good 

 crop within five months. 



The large red grains of this variety are not hard, and 

 are easily ground or pounded into a flour which makes 

 excellent porridge and cakes. There are other virtues in this 

 sorghum: if by accident an animal eats down a part of 

 the field, it will spring up again: it needs no replanting for 

 a second crop; and further, when the first heads are cut off, 

 three or four smaller heads grow on the same stem lower 

 down, and at the same time ratoons spring from the roots 

 so that every month throughout the year, and longer, crops 

 of grain may be picked. 



