156 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May U, 1910, 



yir. V. ('. Eancrot't, of Mooiisbiiie Plantation, St. George, 

 Barbados, states that he has for sale four young half-bred 

 West African raui sheep by ' Alaki; one of the rams imported 

 by the Imperial Department of Agriculture. Two of the sheep 

 are three months, and the others two months, old. The price 

 wanted for each is £1. 



GLEANINGS. 



L'A(/rici(lti(re Fiulique d0_s Pays Cluiwls gives informa- 

 tion which shows that the consumption of vanilla in Canada 

 in 1908, was 15,518 ft. 



The exports of rubber from the Para District in February 

 1910, were as follows: to the United States 3,018,284 kilos., 

 Europe 2,481,916 kilos. {Board of Trade Journal, April 7, 

 1910.) 



The date of the International Rubber and Allied Trade 

 Exhibition to beheld at Olympia, to which reference has 

 already been made on page 60 of the current volume of the 

 Agrindtural Xeir.'-, is fixed for June 1 2 to 28, 1911. 



The total amount of guano extracted from the Peruvian 

 guano deposits in 1909 reached 73,578 tons. Of this quantity 

 50,378 tons were exported to Europe and the United States, 

 and the rero.aining 23,200 tons were devoted to national agri- 

 cultural i)urpo.ses. ( Peru To-Dai/, February 1910.) 



The formation of societies for the insurance of live 

 stock has attained a cor..siderable development in France. 

 According to the latest statistics, there are in existence 

 6,730 of these societies, representing a capital of £15,400,000, 

 as against 1,469, possessing a capital of £2,300,000, in 1897. 



According to the Louisiana Planter and Siujar Jfanii- 

 facturer for April 2, 1910, the imports of .sugar into the 

 United States, for the seven months ending January 31, were 

 750,569 short tons, of a total Value of 36 million dollars, as 

 compared with 880,412 .short tons valued at 39 million dollars 

 for the same period the year before. 



The International Suyar Journal for April 1910, states 

 that the total imports of sugar into the United Kingdom for 

 the year ended March 1910, were 9,122,118 cwt., valued at 

 £6,153,970, and the exports, 129,112 cwt, of a value of 

 JE98,817. The corresponding figures for 1909 were 8,431,925 

 cwt. and £4,701,718, and 135,224 cwt. and £95,025. 



The exports ot cotton by sea from Briti.sh India to for- 

 eign countries for the year 1907-8 was 8,562,024 cwt. of 

 a value of Rs 257,025,196. The similar figures for 1903-4 

 were 7,931,075 cwt.,U-alued at Rs 243,761,404. During the 

 intervening years, the amounts were somewhat less than this. 

 ('.Juartd-h/ Journal i^ llie Department of Ai/ricultun', Bengal, 

 Januiry 1910.) ' 



Accoiding tf) the London Daily Tdeyraplt of the 5th 

 ultimo, much inconvenience is being caused in England by 

 the shortage of bananas. This is chiefly due to the bad 

 weather that has been experienced recently in Jamaica and 

 Central America, and the smaller shipments from the ( 'anary 

 Islands. 



The total value of farm products raised in the United 

 States in 190!l was about £1,752,000,000 as compared with 

 £1,555,600,000 for 1908. The chief crops for 1909 were: 

 corn, 2,772,376,000 bu.shels, of a value of £330.564,400: 

 oats, 1,007,353,000 :bushels (value £81,634,800) and wheat 

 737,189,000 bushels (value £146,009,200). {Boardof Trade 

 .7o«nM/, No694.) 



Tlie honey and wax industry in Hawaii is valued at 

 approximately §200,000. About 830,000 worth of honey was 

 produced during 1907, and '?(),000 worth of wax. It is estimat- 

 ed that the number of colonies of bees at present in the 

 territory is about 20,000, and it is believed that thi.s 

 number nniy be doubled. (Oleanim/s in Bee Culture, April 1, 

 1910.) 



It is stated in ia recent number of the Ainicultnnd 

 Journod of British East Africa that tlie three decorticating 

 machines chiefly used in German East Africa are the Mola, 

 the Finnigan-Zabri.-<ki and the Xeue Corona. Of these, the 

 last-mentioned is the most generally used machine, as it can 

 produce 2^ tons of clean fibre per day, while the Finnigan 

 Zabriski and the Mola can only turn out |-ton and 2 tons, 

 respectively. 



An arrangement has been concluded between the 

 Government of British Honduras and the Western Land 

 Syndicate of Hull by which it is likely that this colony will 

 become a larger producer of liananas than has been the case 

 heretofore. The agreement is that the syndicate gives the 

 Government the land on its estate which the latter requires 

 for constructing the Stann Creek Railway, together with 

 wood and ballast, and undertakes to cultivate yearly increas- 

 ing areas, in return for concessions that have been grant- 

 ed to it. (Colonial Office Journal, April 1910.) 



An account of an experiment which was i>erformed in 

 connexion with dry farming is given in the A;i) icnltural 

 Journal qt the Cape of Good Hope for March 1910. It 

 .serve.s to uphold the great benefit that is derived by cultiva- 

 tion in dry land farming, and to show that the relative amount 

 ot evaporation which takes place in different parts of the 

 colony is likely to determine as to whether dry land farming 

 is possible in all parts having the same rainfall. Experience 

 has already shown th^t it is quite likely that a 20-inch rain- 

 fall in some districts is no better than one of 15 inches, 

 where the evaporation is relatively lower. 



