410 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Decejibee 19, 1914. 



GLEANINGS. 



Practically the entire Hawaiian t-rop of sugar for 1914 

 is now harvested. It will run to sliglitly over 62.5,000 .short 

 tons, 2.5,000 more than the previous high output. (The Louis- 

 iana Planter, November 14, 1914.) 



It is possible that the final sugar crop of Cuba for 1914 

 may reach something like 2,G00,000 tons. Within two or 

 tliree years Cuba will ahnost surely exceed in its sugar 

 production the .^,000,000 ton line that is estimated generally 

 for the British East Indies. (Ibid.) 



Colonial Reports — Annual, No. 809, .shows that the 

 imports into the Bahamas during the year ended December 

 31, 191.3, were valued at £403,529 as against £358,111 in 

 1912. Tlie exports for the same period were £263,954 and 

 £276,115, respectively. 



The export of bananas from Costa Rica during 1913 

 ■was 11,170,812 bunches worth £1,068,977 more than half 

 of the total exports. The total area under cultivation in 

 this crop was 95,400 acres. (Diplomatic and Consular 

 Reports, Annual Series, No. 5363.) 



During 1913 the Gold Coast e.xported 113,239,980 lb. 

 of cacao, valued at £2,489,218, compared with 86,568,481 lb. 

 of a value of £1,642,733 in 1912. This increase was largely 

 due to the fact that a greater number of farms had come into 

 bearing; also that a large proportion of the crop of 1912-13, 

 being late, was shipped in 1913. (Colonial Reports — Annual, 

 No. 806.) 



In Bulletin 279, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 the conclusion is reached that liming has added materially 

 to the yield of corn under every treatment, and on the 

 untreated land. It is also stated that the conclusion seems 

 to be justified that lime applied to the corn crop in liberal 

 quantity has encouraged the production of nitrates for 

 several succeeding crops. 



In a letter received by the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture dated Ociwber 22, 1914, from Mr. Leslie Gordon 

 Corrie, President of the Queensland Acclimatization Society, 

 it is stated with respect to some sugar-cane cuttings: 'The 

 cuttings arrived safely by parcel post from Antigua in 

 excellent condition. The packing in damp charcoal on this 

 occasion was a complete success. The close boxes are right 

 and you just hit the right amount of moisture.' 



The cultivatiiin of ground nuts is by far the most impor- 

 tant industry in Gambia. Of exports to the value of £867,187 

 the value of ground nuts (64,169 tons) was £622,398. The 

 Colonial Report for 1913, No. 805, says that the ground nut 

 is likely to continue to be the only article actively cultivated 

 for exportation as long as it is in good demand, until some 

 more easily grown crop for which there is a market is 

 discovered by the local non-strenuous agriculturists. 



The mail steamer which arrived at Tilbury on October 28, 

 brought over, as a gift for the wounded soldiers and sailors 

 from certain planters in Dominica, 19 barrels of fresh limes, 

 besides 6 cases of oranges and grape-fruit from the Botanic 

 Gardens. A first shipment of 150 cases of oranges and 

 limes were to be forwarded from Trinidad for the same 

 purpose by the mail of October 27. It is also anticipated 

 that fruit is forthcoming from .Jamaica, so that it may soon 

 be possible to send fruit to the base hospitals in France and 

 Flanders. (The West India Committee Circular, November 

 17, 1914.) 



Experiments on cane crushing carried out by the 

 Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, recorded in Bulletin 

 No. 42, 1914, [uove that with care a very high extraction has 

 been obtained from the ordinary bullock mill of three rollers 

 largely used in India. In 1913 the extraction varied from 

 87'2 to 71"3 per cent., according to the variety of cane 

 experimented with. Such a high efficiency however car.not 

 be maintained by the cultivators for any length of time with 

 their very often itnderfed cattle. 



In storing kafir (Guinea corn) in large bins, great care 

 must be taken that the grain does not heat The kafir seed 

 is hard and Hint}- aaid often not as dry as it appears. The 

 grain should not be put into bins in large quantities until it 

 is thoroughly dry, and until it has been well cleaned. Kafir 

 grain that contains dust, dirt, and chafi" -vvill heat worse in the 

 bin than clean grain. Grain that is to be used for planting 

 [jurposes should never be threshed and stored in bins. (Kansas 

 Afjricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 198.) 



During a recent ^isit to St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. H. A. 

 Tempany, the Superintendent of Agriculture for the Leeward 

 Islands, addressed niee tings on the subject of the situation 

 of the cotton industry existing in the two Islands at present. 

 In the.se addresses Dr. Tempany took very nearly the. 

 same lines as in his address to the Agricultural and Com- 

 mercial Society of Antigua, reviewed already in these 

 columns. He pointed out that in St. Kitts a further exten- 

 sion of sugar-cane growing might be advisable. In b<3tli 

 islands he believed that it would be well to increase largely 

 the area under cultivation of maize. The growing and 

 export of onions, on the lines which are being found profit- 

 able in Antigua, wa>i ' also advocated by him, as a helpful 

 industry during this time of depression in the cotton trade. 



In the hydrometer used for the lubber content of 

 Hevea latex, the instrument is graduated in density figures on 

 the stem, and a table is issued with each instrument. Special 

 hydrometers are issued by the scientific apparatus makers, 

 graduated at 84°F. for use in the Tropics, since it is often 

 impossible even in a laboratory in the Trojiics to reduce the 

 •temperature of the liquid to be tested to 60"F., the tempera- 

 ture at which most densities are calculated in temperate 

 climates. With instruments which are graduated at 84°F. 

 the density of the liquid is compared with water, taken as 

 I'OOOO at 84°F., which is found to be approximately the 

 shade temperature in this country. (Agricultural Bulletin of 

 the Federated Malay States, .July 1914.) 



