Vol. IX. No. 208. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



•117 



METHODS OF CAUSING EARLY FRUIT- 

 INQ IN MANGOS. 



On page 22s of the last volume (Xo. VIII) of the 

 Agricultural News, a reference is made to a way in which 

 mango plants may be caused to bear much earlier than is the 

 case normally, in order that the quality of llie fruit that they 

 will yield may be determined. It is stated there that 

 Mr. Joseph Jones, the Curator of the Botanic Station, 

 Dominica, had called attention to the fact that the shock 

 caused to the plants by grafting and heading back would in 

 some cases induce the stock to bear fruit when only twenty 

 months old. Others have found that, similarly, twisting the 

 top of the stems of mango seedling.', slightly damaging them, 

 or binding them, will cause early fruiting, and give an oppor- 

 tunity for determining the value of their produce. 



The illustration on this page (Fig. 20) 

 has been reproduced from a photograph 

 of a grafted mango plant, sent by 

 Mr. Jones. It shows a mango stock, 

 that has been used for grafting purposes, 

 bearing a well-developed fruit, although 

 its age was only about twenty months. 



THE TOGGENBURG GOAT 

 IN BARBADOS. 



The pure bred Toggeiiburg goats 

 ' Bruce ' and ' Pauline ' were imported 

 into Barbados, from England, by 

 Sir Daniel Morris. This breed comes 

 from the Toggenburg Valley in Canton 

 St. Galle, Switzerland, from which place 

 the ancestors of the above pair were 

 ■originally derived. Their markings are 

 quite distinctive, being .slaty chocolate 

 in colour, with white or cream stripes 

 on either .side of the face and ears, round 

 the tail, and below the knees. These 

 markings .seem to be a dominant charac- 

 ter, as even kids oidy one-eighth bred 

 are often perfectly marked. On the other 

 hand, although both Bruce and Pauline 

 were polled, most of their progeny, both 

 pure antl grades, have horns. In their 

 native valley, a horned specimen is 

 rarely seen, because kids with horns are 

 generally killed and eaten. Their milk, 

 Jike that of all Swiss breeds, is deficient in butter-fat; a given 

 quantity is still, however, equal to twice the quantity of 

 cows' milk for domestic purposes. 



This breed has been described by some authorities as 

 ' The Aristocrats of the Goat Family '. Their chief character- 

 istics arc their great leanness, and persistence in giving 

 milk for a long period. Some of them, after travelling about 

 the Continent, were shipped from Antwerp to Canada, then 

 after three days by rail reached their destination, and con- 

 tinued to give milk, though they were never milked during 

 their long travels. They seldom breed more often than once 

 a year, usually having two kids. Some of the half-bred 

 daughters of Bruce have given milk for a very long time. 

 One who won the first prize at the Agricultural Show in 

 1908, giving nearly 1 gallon of milk, returned in 1909 and 

 won second prizes, then giving 4 pints a day, fourteen 

 months after kidding. Another gave 1| pints, 19 months 



after having her first litter, being then si.t weeks in kid. The 

 quantity a ewe gives, six months after kidding, she will 

 generally keep up fox an almost unlimited time. 



Wallace, the son of the above pair of goats, is at present 

 on service in Bridgetown; he is a very handsome specimen, 

 and typical of the breed. Dr. Francis Watts has very kindly 

 undertaken to import a few more of this breed direct from 

 Switzerland, and a ram is expected for a local syndicate in 

 a short time, the others being on order for the other West 

 Indian Islands. 



Toggenburgs have been in much greater demand here than 

 either the Anglo-Nubians or Indians (Punjab), both for local 

 use and shipment; but owners of particularly good ewes are not 

 tempted to part with them at any price. The local value of 

 a fair half-bred ewe is from -SI 2 to §24, but for a really good 

 animal, owners would jirobably refuse 2 to 3 times the latter 

 price. In comparison with the cost of 

 importing a pure bred goat (which 

 may not turn out as good a milker), 

 these prices are low. Authorities assert 

 that any breed of goats can be made 

 into good milkers by selection, and 

 this the natives of the Toggenburg 

 Valley have been doing from time 

 immemorial, breeding only from the 

 longest and heaviest milkers. The 

 result is that not only do these goats 

 give a large quantity of milk, but they 

 can continue to do so longer than any 

 other breed. It is for this reason that 

 the Toggenburg breed is the favourite as 

 a family milk goat, not only here, but 

 in England, the West Indies generally, 

 and many parts of the Continent and 

 the United States. (The /lai'/ados 

 Standard, March 19, 1910.) 



Fifi. 20. Stock of 

 Bearinc Fruit 

 Months 



Gr.\FTED M.V>fG0 



Whes Twenty 

 Old. 



About June 1, 

 a rolling barrel am 



A New Machine for Cultivat- 

 ing Sugar-cane. 

 In view of the increased interest 

 that is being taken in mechanical 

 tillage in the West Indies, the 

 following extract from a letter to 

 the Secretary of the Interior, Philip- 

 pine Islands, which appears in the 

 Fhilippmc Agricultural Review, 

 is given here : — 



I received a cultivator for sugar-cane— 

 300-metre cable which, attached to my 

 traction engine, I have been using for cultivating my sugar 

 plantations This appliance is 3i feet wide, and can easily 

 pass between the rows of cane. It has five spokes, or arms, 

 A\ith five small teeth, which, without any difliculty, penetrate 

 the soil from 1-5 to 18 inches. As it is a single machine, it 

 needs to be drawn across the field by an animal. In order 

 to solve tills dittii-ulty, I contemplate ordering another 

 cultivator of this kind, and will then attach a cultivator to 

 each end of the cable, so that, as one comes across the field, 

 the other may go, and in this manner it will be possible to do 

 about .50 to 60 per cent, more work with little more 

 expense. The sugar plantations worked with this cultivator 

 appear to do better than the others, thanks to these Imple- 

 ment.s, and in spite of the many difticulties which have 

 harassed us. 



