120 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



ArEiL 16, 1910. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for Copies of the ' Agricultural 

 News ' should be addressed to the Aj^ents, and not to 

 the Department. 



Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge- 

 town, Barbados. London Agents : Messrs. Dulau & 

 Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents 

 will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural News: Price Id. per number, 

 post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d. 



Agricult ural fleiuii 



Vol. IX. SATURDAY. APRIL 16, 1910. No. 20s. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



In view of the fact that the subject of the 

 introduction of useful birds is being given some 

 attention in the West Indies at the present time, this 

 matter is discussed in the editorial. 



Useful information relating to the propagation of 

 the avocado pear (Fersea graiissima) appears on page 

 116. 



On page 117, suggestions are made for utilizing 

 the influence of injury in producing the early fruiting 

 of mango plants for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 value of seedlings while they are still young. In 

 connexion with these, an illustration (Fig. 20) is given 

 of a mango stock that bore fruit when it was twenty 

 months old. 



Information concerning the composition of the 

 later of various rubber plants is presented on page 119. 



The Insect Notes of this issue (page 122) have 

 relation to the flower-bud maggot of cotton, and to the 

 screw worm. 



A New Rubber. 



It is reported by H. M. Consul at Loanda, 

 Portuguese West Africa, that rubber is being prepared 

 there by the natives, from Carpodinus (jracilis hy 

 stripping the bark, and beating it while it is immersed 

 in water. GarjMdinus gracilis (Kciv Bulli't in, 1838, 

 p. 303) belongs to the same natural order as the plant 

 (milk-withe) that gives Foi'steronia rubber in Jamaica 

 (Fnrsteronia ftoriliunda), and the ' JIacwarrie-balli ' 

 {F. gruciiis) of British Guiana. Rubber has been 

 known to be given by species of GarpodiniLS, for 

 several years. 



The fourth part of the series of articles that are 

 being given under the head of Fungus Notes, entitled 

 The Chief Groups of Fungi, appears on page 12G, and 

 has for its subject the Ascomycetes, ~ 

 reproduced after Miliardet. 



Fig. 22 



IS 



Interesting facts are brought forward in the 

 information relating to the care of minor articles used 

 on estates, on page 127. 



Prizes Awarded at the Agricultural Schools. 



On page 71 of the current volume of the Agricul- 

 tural Neu-s, the results of the half-yearly examination 

 of the Agricultural Schools in Dominica, St. Vincent 

 and St. Lucia, held in December last, were given. 



As is usual at the second half-yearly examination 

 of the year, prizes of books were awarded on the results. 

 Of these, the senior prize, for the boy who gains the 

 hirrhest marks of those in the senior classes of all three 

 schools, was won by D. Derrick, of St. Vincent Agri- 

 cultural School. This is the fifth time in succession 

 that this prize has been won by a pupil at that school. 

 Prizes are given for the best junior boy in each of the 

 schools; these were awarded as follows: Dominica, 

 E. Butler; St. Vincent, D. Davis; St. L\icia, G. Moise. 



Prizes in the practical part of the curriculum; that 

 is for work in the garden plots and in the field, are also 

 given in the case of each school. Those for the best 

 work in the garden were gained as follows : Dominica, 

 W. J. Lewis; St. Vincent, D. Derrick: St. Lucia, 

 R. Mason. For work in the field, the awards were to 

 N. Abraham, D. Derrick and B. Monrose, in the same 

 order of schools. 



The Garlic Shrub. 



A note on the garlic shiub {Bignonia alliacea) 

 has been received from BIr. Joseph Jones, Curator of 

 the Botanic Garden and Experiment Station, Dominica, 

 in which he states that a specimen of this plant in the 

 Garden has recently flowered. This was originally 

 received from a planter in the Windward District of 

 Dominica, who stated that it was grown by the 

 peasants at La Plaine and that the leaves were used by' 

 them as a substitute for garlic {Alliain satirmn). 

 Mr. Jones states further that the plant appears to have 

 been brought to La Plaine from Martinique, and 

 describes it as possessing a climbing habit and showy 

 flowers; these are pale-purple in colour, on opening, but 

 become white in a few hours. 



The plant is a native of Guiana and the West 

 Indies; it is known as the garlic shrub because the 

 leaves and branches, when bruised, emit a powerful • 

 odour of garlic. The leaves are divided, with elliptical, 

 leathery leaflets, and the stem is square. 



Duss {Flore Phanfriigainiqiw dcs Antilles Fran- ' 

 gaiscs) gives the common nome for the plant in Marti- 

 niqiie as ' bignone a Tail ' (garlic Bignonia), and states 



