Vol. IX. No. 20.><. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWS. 



121 



that it was cultivated in the Botanic Garden at 

 St. Pierre in that island. Grisebach, in the Flora of 

 the British West Indian Islands, describes the plant 

 under the synonym Adenocali/vina allincea, which 

 should be, properly, A. alliaceum. 



Annual Colonial Report on the Leeward Islands, 

 1908-9. 



This is issued as No. 629 of the Colun iul Reports — 

 Annual. It may be said, at once, that the report 

 shows that a decided increase in the prosperity of the 

 colony, especially of tke chief Presidency — Antigua — 

 is taking place. This is illustrated in many of the 

 statistics given, but more especially by the fact that 

 the exports of the colony, which had a value of £:i99,208 

 in 190(1, increased to £.516,861 in 1907, and £517,467 

 in 1908. Another noticeable fact in this connexion is 

 that the internal trade between the presidencies shows 

 an increase over that of the preceding year, its value 

 being £20,843, as against £17,434 for the year 1907 — 

 an increase of nearly 20 per cent. 



The sugar crop was smaller than it had been since 

 1905, being 28,572 tons, as against 28,419 and 2.5,571 

 tons for 1907 and 1906, respectively. This is attributed 

 chiefly to the heavy rains of September 1906, which 

 prevented the land from being prepared adequately for 

 the next crops, and gave conditions that were favour- 

 able for the development of the root disease — a question 

 that is dealt with in Part I of the Report on Sugar- 

 Cane Experiments in the Leeward Islands, and in 

 Pamphlet No. 63 of the Department Series. 



The two central sugar factories in Antigua made, 

 between them, 5,595 tons of grey crystal sugar, and 

 purchased 6,766 tons of peasant-grown cane. At the Gun- 

 thorpes central factory, it took 917 tons of cane to make 

 1 ton of sugar. The use of megass furnaces and steam- 

 heated pans for making muscovado sugar has been 

 extended, and there are now seven estates on which 

 this method is employed. The demand for Antigua 

 muscovado molasses was much greater than usual, dur- 

 ing the year, and high prices were realized for it. 



In comparison with the set-back that cotton grow- 

 ing has received in Antigua, the industry in St Kitts 

 may be considered to be generally satisflxctory. The 

 yield in Montserrat has decreased, owing to bad 

 weather. The expansion of the industry in the Virgin 

 Islands was maintained. The lime industry of Domi- 

 nica underwent a considerable advance, and that of 

 Montserrat continues to show a steady development. 

 Interest in lime-growing is increasing in Antigua, 

 St. Kitts, Nevis and the Virgin Islands. The export 

 of cacao from Dominica hns decreased; trials with this 

 plant in the more sheltered mountain valleys of 

 St. Kitts and Nevis are being made. There are signs 

 that the cocoa-nut industry maj- become important in 

 Antigua and Nevis. In nearly all the presidencies, 

 a small quantity of onions is grown. 



In drawing attention to this report, mention should 

 be made of two useful maps of the Colony, by which it 

 is completed. 



Rainfall in Dominica. 



The rainfall returns of Dominica for 1909 show 

 that over 200 inches were registered at five stations: 

 Glean Manioc(258-82 inches), Lancashire(248-90 inches), 

 Castle Bruce (242-10 inches), Saltoun (23987 inches), 

 Corlet (217'33 inches). Gleau Manioc thus contmues 

 to maintain its position of last year, as the station 

 receiving the highest rainfall; in that year the precipi- 

 tation was 23618 inches. In 1907 this .station was 

 second on the list, with 22725 inches, Lancashire being 

 first with 247-59 inches. 



Although Batalie had had the smallest amount 

 of rain, of all stations, for the two previous years, its 

 place was taken, in 1909, by Bath, which received 

 6172 inches, while the precipitation at Batalie itself 

 was 6666 inches — a great increase on the amounts for 

 1908 and 1907, which were 36-87 and 40 26 inches, 

 respectively. These figures show that there has been 

 a large increase in the rainfall, even at those stations 

 where it is usually low. 



The mean rainfall at 34 stations was 137-36 inches: 

 this is about 30 inches more than those of 1908 and 

 1907 (106-21 and 108-51 inches respectively). After 

 1906, it decreased by about 20 inches, and remained 

 steady for the next two years: it has now exceeded that 

 of 1906 by 10 inches. 



Manufacture of Paper from the Bamboo in 

 Japan. 



The American Consul at Tamsui, Japan, reports 

 that very satisfactory experiments have been conduct- 

 ed recently, near Kobe, by a company which has been 

 formed for the purpose of manufacturing paper from 

 bamboo pulp. An area of 8,000 acres of bamboo forest, 

 in Formosa, has been leased perpetually to this 

 company, and a factory is being erected near Kagi 

 which will be capable of dealing with 300 tons of 

 bamboo pulp a month: the capacity of this factory may 

 be readily enlarged, so as to make it double its output. 



The Chinese have made paper from the bamboo 

 for many generations, but their primitive methods have 

 only permitted them to employ the shoots for the pur- 

 pose. The company will, on the other hand, make use 

 of both the young and old parts of the plant. The 

 quick growth of the bamboo will prevent the question 

 of the supply of raw material from ever becoming 

 serious. So far, the paper has been made by mix- 

 ing wood pulp with that of the bamboo, in varying pro- 

 portions; the process of preparing the paper from 

 bamboo pulp alone is too expensive, at present, compared 

 with making it from wood pulp. The final object is, 

 however, to use a pure bamboo pulp. 



In its broad outline, the process of manufacture of 

 the pulp is as follows. The bamboo, chopped into 

 pieces 1 or 2 inches in size, is heated in a digester with 

 calcium sulphite. The resulting product is then washed 

 in water, bleached and washed again. Finally, the web 

 pulp is pressed, by means of a machine, into the form 

 of web, dried with the aid of steam, and rolled or cut 

 into sheets. This dry pulp will then be manuHictured 

 into news and book paper at the mills at Kobe in Japan. 



