Vol. IX. No. 204. 



THE AGRICULTCJKAL NEWS. 



' The Guide Book to St. Vincent.' 



A small guide book to St. V'iiicent has just been 

 compiled by the Hon. Mrs. C. Gideon Murray, wife of 

 his Honour the Administrator: it is sold ac the piice 

 of tlireepence. It chieriy contains short descriptions 

 of various interesting features of the islaijd, together 

 with itifurriialion, in regard to the prices of hire of 

 vehicles, and tho.se of various articles of purchase, that 

 should be of great use to the visitor or tourist.. 



Rubbers and Fibres in Fiji. 



A report on agriculture in Fiji for the year 1908 

 has recently been received. It shows that satisfactory 

 results have been obtained with Para rubber (Herea 

 hrazllievsis), Assam rubber {Flriis elastica), and 

 with West Afnc:in rubber {Funtumia elaffita), 

 but not with C'asf'dLnii dantlca. Ceara rubber 

 trees {Maniliot Glazuirli) were planted, but were 

 speedily blown down, and this variety has not been 

 replanted. It is also stated that two specimens of 

 two native rubber-producing trees (Alsionia sp.) 

 were planted iu December 190'S. The chief ditticulty 

 with this plant is that, when the bark is cut in the 

 usual manner, the late.x will not How, so that, to obtain 

 the rubber, the leaves are broken ofT, and the latex 

 which runs from the broken surfaces is allowed to 

 collect on them. Subsequently, the partially coagula- 

 ted late.K from a large number of the leaves is made 

 to adhere by working with the hands. Tiials are also 

 being made with Jequii' ( JAu* ihof il icliiitinna) Manicoba 

 rubber and with Remanso {Miuiihdf piauhii'-nsi)<) 

 Manii/oba rubber. 



As regards fibres, experiments are being made 

 with sisal hemp, bow-string hemp (Samevieria sp.), 

 Manila hemp {Musa tcxtilis), and ra.mie {Boeh merla 

 nivca and B. niven, var. t"nacl><i<im<i). All these 

 were successful, e.Kcept those with the bow-string hemp, 

 and samples of the fibres received very good reports 

 from the Imperial Institute. 



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The Development ofWitclies' Brooms of Cacao. 

 An interesting article appears in the Frocccding.^ 

 of fh)' Agriridtuiui Societ;/ nf Trinuhid and Tahago, 

 which contains useful information on this subject. It 

 is pointed out that the chief distinguishing character 

 of witches' broom is what is known as hypertrophy, that 

 is growth in directions which are not followed under 

 conditions of normal development. This hypertrophy 

 generally consists in the fact, that the twigs in witches' 

 brooms are generally from two to si.x times as thick as 

 normal ones. Witches' brooms develop from both 

 terminal and axillary buds of ordinary branches, from 

 the terminal buds of suckers, from that of young stems 

 which have not yet branched, and from buds situated 

 on the trunks and older branches, which would nor- 

 mally become fruiting branches. 



It is explained that the phenomenon known as 

 ' growing through tlie witches' broom ' is caused by 

 ji partial infection of the bud, which does not extend 

 to its tip, so that the apex develops normally, while the 

 ' broom ' is produced below it. 



The characteristics of the hardened pods which are 



a symptom of the presence of the disease are (1) the 

 hard consistenc}' of the affected area ; (2) the hump 

 which is found on young and half-grown pods : (3) the 

 hypertroph;,' of the stalk ; (4) the ' black spot ' seen on 

 pods that are nearly ripe. 



'Star blooms', which result from the production of 

 a great number of crowded blossoms on individual 

 stalks, or from lateral ramification of an enlarged fruit- 

 ing branch, are really fruiting branches in which are 

 exhibited symptoms of hypertrophy, together with an 

 abnormally' strong tendency to branching. 



The 'Grenada Handbook' for 1910. 



A copy of the ' ( irenada Handbook' for 1910 has 

 just been received, through the Colonial Secretary of 

 that island. In this, which is the fifteenth yearly issue, 

 the standard of usefulness of the publication has been 

 maintained. The bulk of it consists of seven parts, the 

 contents of each of which are as fellow's: Part I,, 

 almanac and chronicle of events: Part II, descrip-, 

 tive and historical sketch of the colony: Part III, 

 information relating to the Government, ecclesiastical 

 lists, members of boards, etc., persons licensed to prac- 

 tise and follow various professions and callings; Part IV, 

 institutions, schools, clubs and insurance companies; 

 Part V, postal, licence and tax infonnation: Part VI, 

 financial matters, meteorological statistics, flora and 

 fauna, the dependencies of the colony, sessions of the 

 supreme and magistrates' courts, money, weights, 

 measures, and other, tables: Part VII, general and 

 local directory. The book is indexed, and contains 

 an illustration of the new jetty at Carriacou as 

 a frontispiece. 



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Cassava Farine for Feeding Young Calves. 



L Agriculhirc FratiijUf! des Fays Chaud-s for 

 November 1909, contains an article in which work is 

 reviewed that has been lately communicated to the 

 French National Society of Agriculture, in connexion 

 with the feeding of young calves on food containing 

 cassava farine in the place of potato starch. The 

 experiments were not only made by investigators well 

 versed in the question of cattle-feeding, but also by 

 small holders who, for the greater part, had never 

 attempted artificial nourishment on skimmed milk. 

 The results were quite satisfactorj', and the calves 

 prepared for the butcher appeared to be very little 

 different from those which were raised upon skimmed 

 milk mixed with potato starch. As for the latter food, 

 the economy effected, in the feeding, over that of those 

 which had been brought up on milk alone was consider- 

 able. It reached, in fact, 4.5 centimes for each kilo- 

 gramme (about 2d. per lb.) of the live weight, for animals 

 weighing 90 kilogrammes. 



Cassava farine has marked advantages over potato 

 starch. For one thing, the latter becomes hard and 

 lumpy on cooling: the cassava mixture, on the contrary, 

 naturally forms a liquid and is easily incorporated with 

 the milk, making it easier of digestion. It is possible 

 to mix as much as 50 to 70 grammes of cassava farine 

 with each litre of milk; that is 1 oz. to 11 oz. per pint. 



