u 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Febeuaey 5, 1910. 



GLEANINGS. 



The amount of cotton produced in Togo, French West 

 Africa, in 1908, was 423 tons, as compared with 301 tons in 

 1907. 



Unginned and ginned cotton to the value of £6,670 

 and £7,117, respectively, were shipped from the Uganda 

 Protectorate during the quarter ending September 30, 1909. 



The quantity of copra exported from Java during 1908 

 was nearly 95,O0O tons, which is the largest amount since 

 1905. The quality is stated to have been generally poor, 

 and prices fluctuated considerably, the lowest being I3s. id., 

 and the highest £1 3.s. 4(7. per picul (136 lb.). 



It is stated in the Re2Mrt on the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the Gold Coast ioT 1908 that that Department had 

 introduced improved varieties of sugar-cane from the West 

 Indies, and that these varieties appeared to do fully as well 

 as any of the native ones. 



A te.xt-liook entitled Practical School Gardenimj, by 

 v. Elfnrd and iSamuel Heaton, has just been issued by the 

 Clarendon Press, at the price of two shillings. It contains 

 a highly suggestive chapter on ' Discovery Lessons', the 

 contents of which are of general interest in relation to nature 

 teaching. 



The degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture has 

 been recently constituted at the Manchester University. The 

 final examination for this degree includes the following 

 subjects: agriculture and estate management, engineering and 

 surveying, agricultural chemistry, botany and zoology, 

 geology, economics, and agricultural law. 



The A nniKtl Report of the Comptroller of Customs, British 

 Guiana, for 1908-9, shows that the value of the total exports 

 of the colony for that period was •i?10,100,047; this is an 

 increase of Ijl, 884,639, or 186 per cent., conipai-ed with 

 that of the previous year. Seventy per cent, of the total 

 exports was formed by sugar, rum, molasses and cattle food. 



An attempt is being made in St. Helena to develop 

 a fibre industry, and the year 1908 was the first period at 

 which the fibre exported actually affected the trade returns. 

 The output of fibre and tow during the year attained a value 

 of £3,557. The fibre produced is that of New Zealand flax 

 (rhormimn tena.e). 



A review has been received of a booklet entitled 

 Sanitary Jfethoils in Dairies and Coicsheds, by A. Melhuish, 

 which is published by Messrs. Xewton, Chambers k Co., 

 Ltd., Thornclifl'e, near ShefHeld. The review would appear 

 to show that the information contained in the work is 

 specially applicable to cases where dairying is practised on 

 a small scale 



According to the Board of Trade Journal for November 

 2.5, 1909, 3,533,007 bales of cotton wer_^ imported into the 

 United Kingdom during 1909, to November 18. Of this 

 ciuantity 6,173 bales came from the British West Indies. 



The report of the Curator of the Botanic Station, Mont- 

 serrat, for November 1909, shows that work in connexion 

 with cotton selection has been done at Dagenham, Itichmond, 

 Bethel and Brodricks, as well as on the plots at Grove 

 Station. The number of plants selected was 15 at Dagenham, 

 16 at Bethel, 11 at Richmond and Gat Brodricks, in addition 

 to 70 plants in the plots at the Botanic Station. 



The Annual Report of the Immigration Agent-General, 

 British Guiana, gives interesting figures showing the develop- 

 of the local rice industry that has been rendered practicable 

 by the immigration of East Indians. The amount of 

 rice imported annually, twenty years ago, was about 40 or 

 50 million pounds. During 1908, only 2 million ponnds 

 was imported, while there was an export of 7 million 

 pounds. 



An account of a new use for the Nicaraguan shade tree 

 {Gliricidia macnlata) is given in No. 61 of the Balletin of 

 Agricultural InforuMtion, Trinidad. It consists in cutting 

 ott' such parts of the branches as may have grown sufficiently 

 to extend below those of the cacao trees which it protects, 

 and using them as a mulch. Such material should form a 

 valuable addition to the matter that is available for mulching 

 in cacao orchards. 



A paper in the Comples Rendus de VAcademie des Sciences, 

 Paris, No. 148, shows that superphosphates, when used as- 

 manure in spring or autumn, rapidly become less easily- 

 assimilated, owing to the formation of basic phosphates. 

 In soils rich in humus, however, the process does not take 

 place to the same extent, because part of the phosphoric acid 

 is fixed by the organic matter. Experiments conducted by 

 the author show that the best results were obtained by mix- 

 ing the superphosphate with an organic manure previous to 

 its application. 



During 1908, cotton to the value of £15,000 was 

 exported from Porto Rico. The amount of cotton grown 

 was double that of the preceding year chiefly on account of 

 the freedom of the crop from caterpillars. Similarly, the 

 value of the year's export of pine-apples was more than 

 double that of 1907; it reached £56,454. There was 

 a large decrease in that of coffee, amounting to £80,920. 

 This is due to the removal of protection from this product, 

 and its consequent competition on level terms with that from 

 Brazil. 



The Second International Food Congress, which was 

 held in Paris during last October, was devoted to obtaining 

 definitions of the operations which may be permitted in the 

 manufacture of substances intended for consumption as food. 

 JIuch attention was given to cocoa and chocolate, and there 

 was a great difference of opinion between small and large 

 producers as to the use of alkalis in jireparing cocoa. It was 

 finally resolved that the use of alkalis .should be tolerated in 

 cocoa manufacture for the present, but that a decision should 

 be obtained eventually from an International Commission 

 on the subject. 



