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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



I'euruaey 19, 1910. 



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GLEANINGS. 



In the St. Lucia (ra.ette for the ■22nd ultimo, there is 

 published a list of plants, with prices, that will be on sale at 

 the Botanic Station during the present year. For exported 

 plants, the sale prices will be 50 per cent, higher than those 

 given in the list. 



Notification has been made that the next International 

 Rubber and Allied Trade Exhibition will be held at Olympia, 

 in May or .June 1911. For further particulars, application 

 should be made to the organizing manager, Mr. Staines 

 Manders, 7.5, Chancery Lane, London, "W.C. 



In the A'jriculturnl yeics, Vol. VIII, p. 300, attention 

 was drawn to the fact that plans were being made for the 

 establishment of an English scheme for producing beet sugar 

 in Linc'jlnshire. It is now stated that these have failed, but 

 there are hopes of a revival of them in the near future. 



The Colonial Report for .Jamaica, 1908-9 (Xo. 62(3) 

 contains the following statement: The standard of teaching 

 in the primary schools appears to be gradually improving, and 

 much greater attention is being given to elementary science, 

 agricultural teaching, and manual training, than formerly. 



An official announcement has recently been made that 

 an exhibition to be known as the (irand Exhibition of .Japan 

 will be held in Tokio from April 1 to October 31, 1912. The 

 exhibition will cover an area of about 292 acres, and all 

 foreign Governments and peoples are invited to take part in it. 



The following points of a good sample of broom corn are 

 given in the Jlhodesian Affricitltiirn/ Jonrnnl for December, 

 1909: length of fibre not less than 14 inches; length of butt, 

 not more than 4 inches. The fibre should not be coarse or 

 stiff; it .should be tough and flexible, not brittle; the colour 

 should be pale with a green tint throughout. 



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

 serrat, for December 1909, shows that the following was the 

 distribution from that station for the month. Plants: limes 

 1,000, papaw l,'iOO, cacao 175, ornamental 40: cuttings: 

 sweet potatos 4,300, sugar-cane 2,485, (Tliriridla mat-iJuta 

 300, cassava 100, ornamental 450. 



The largest spinning mill of the Chemnitz district is 

 exhibiting fabrics made from caravonica cotton and silk 

 cotton (kapok). It was at the instigation of the manager 

 of this mill that careful experiments in manufacturing 

 fabrics from these two fibres were made in Germany, and 

 tlie results have been more than satisfactory. The fibres 

 seem to flourish in the German African colonies, and produc- 

 tion on a large scale is being attempted. 



All interesting article on hurricanes and hurricane relief, 

 by his Honour F. H. Watkins. I.S.O , appears in the Colonial 

 Office .Journal for .January 1910. In connexion with thi.s, 

 reference may be made to the editorial in Vol. VllI, Xo. 188, 

 of the A'/rirulfurdl Xevcg, as well as to the footnote on page 

 2;jO of the su(;-3eedin<; number. 



Estimates by the District Officers give the area under 

 cotton ill the Province of Eastern liengal and Assam, for 

 1909-10 as 97,700 acres against 97,200 acres for the prev- 

 ious year. Owing to unfavourable weather conditions, it 

 is expected that the outturn will not exceed two-third.s 

 of last year's croi>; and accordingly, it is estimated at 14,600 

 bales of clean cotton. 



On the ._22nd uhimo, premiums amounting to £25, 

 which were granted by the St. Lucia Agricultural Society, 

 were distributed to 19 petty proprietors and peasants, for 

 cotton growing. In the unavoidable absence of the Hon. 

 E. J. Cameron, C.M.G., Administrator, the presentations were 

 made by the Acting Administrator, the Hon. A. De Freitas. 



According to the Dijdiiiiiiific and Consular Jieports, No. 

 4386, Annual Series, the export of sesamum seed from China, 

 during 1908, was 2,133,851 cwt., as compared with 874,657 

 cwt. in 1907',' and the production for 1909 will probably 

 exceed that of 1908. Large cjuantities of the seed are 

 exported direct to Europe, where it is said to be used for 

 makinc the finest lucca oil. 



Bulletin Xo. 138 of the I'niversity of Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, entitled Pasdurixatioyi (is 

 a -Factor in Makiny Butter from Cieam Skintnted on t/ie 

 i'Vjr.vi, has just been issued. As a summary of several inter- 

 esting conclusions, it is stated that pasteurization does 

 not improve the quality of butter made from sour cream 

 obtained on the farm. 



The Bulletin of A>jricultural Ivtonnation, Trinidad, 

 Xo. 61, Xew Series, gives a recipe for an emulsion to be used 

 for plant diseases, which is due to Professor Carmody. It is 

 called kerosene-lysol emulsion, and consists of: kerosene 6 

 volumes, lysol 2 volumes, water 100 volumes. It is stated 

 that this solution, on account of the germicidal properties of 

 the lysol, is fully equal to a 10-per cent, kerosene emulsion, 

 and that in some cases it would have to be further diluted 

 before use. 



In order to encourage the exportation of fruit from 

 Brazil to Europe, the Government of that lie[niblic has 

 decided to in.sist that ships with ' packet priveleges ' must be 

 supplied with cold storage room for fruits and other perish- 

 able agricultural products. For the same purpose, prizes 

 have been instituted by the Government which will be award- 

 ed to any one who can jirove to the Minister of Agriculture 

 that he has exported the largest quantity of fruit, in good 

 condition, within a period of eight months from the date of 

 the issue of the decree, provided that the quantity exported 

 is not less than 50 tons. 



