268 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Au<;usT 20, 1910. 



GLEANINGS. 



At a special meeting of the Montserrat Agricultural 

 Society, held last month, his Excellency Sir E. Bickham 

 Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G., Governor of the Leeward Islands, 

 consented to become the Patron-President of the Society. 



The Mark Lane Express, No. 4,084, p. 11, contains an 

 article in which attention is drawn to experiments that have 

 demonstrated that an increase takes place in the efficiency of 

 superphosphate as a plant food, if it is mixed with well rotted 

 farmyard manure. 



The reports of the Agricultural Instructor, St. Vincent, 

 for May and .June of the present year, show that successful 

 work is being done in that island in the matter of using 

 mechanical implements for purposes of cultivation, and that 

 in parts of the island, the area planted in cotton during this 

 season has increased. 



In connexion with the article on page 101, of the current 

 volume of the Agricultural y^eivs, entitled Why Plants are 

 Green, attention i-< drawn to an editorial, dealing with the 

 same subject, in the Gardeners^ Chronicle for January 1-5, 

 1910, from which suggestions were taken for the first- 

 mentioned article. 



An account of the Cyclone Tractor, which is being 

 exploited in Africa by the African Union Transport Company, 

 Ltd., is contained in the Ndtitl Agriculfvral Journal for 

 May 1910, p. 487. From this, it appears that the tractor is 

 of simple construction and easy to work. The price of 

 a machine of 2-5 to 30 h.p., in London, is £425. 



A recent report of the Sudan Central Economic Board 

 states that the area in cotton cultivation in the Blue Nile 

 Provinces has considerably increased of late, chiefly owing to 

 high prices and the making of the raihva)-. The Government 

 is proposing to issue .seed to cultivators in order to encourage 

 the production of cotton by them. 



Information received from the Curator of the Montserrat 

 Botanic Station sh'iws that a good stand of cotton has been 

 obtained over the greater part of the island, but that rain 

 has been required on the windward coast and in the northern 

 district. The total area of cotton planted is larger than that 

 of last }'ear, and there-is increased activity among the small 

 growers. 



The amount of cotton lint exported from the Uganda 

 Protectorate during the first three months of the present 

 year was 13,197 cwt., of a value of £37,416; the similar 

 figures for 1909 were 10,247 cwt. and £30,003. The ungin- 

 ned cotton exported during the same period amounted to 

 29,922 cwt. and 12,800 cwt., valued at £22,180 an.l 

 £11,229, respectively. 



The value of the raw sugar imported into the United 

 Kingdom during the first six months of the present year was 

 £0,700,375: during the same period last year, it was 

 £4,258,901. In the first-mentioned period, most of the 

 sugar was obtained from Cuba and Germany, while the 

 value of that imported from the British West Indies, Briti.sh 

 Guiana and Britisrh Honduras was £784,504 



A small booklet containing descriptions of the exhibits 

 by the Wellcome Chemical Itesearch Laboratories at the Japan- 

 British Exhibition, London, 1910, has been received. This is 

 especially useful because of the references to the literature 

 concerning the active principles of plants which it contains, 

 and on account of the information which is given concerning 

 the substances that have been i.solated from the different parts 

 of various plants. 



A note stating that there was evidence that bacteria 

 have some effect in hastening the corrosion of steel in soil 

 was given on page 252 of the last issue of the Agricu/tuinl 

 3'e?('.s. In relation to this, information which appears in the 

 Sugitr Jket for July 1910, p. 103, shows that bacteria also 

 have an action on coal, producing changes, with the libera- 

 tion of carbon dioxide, which do not occur if the coal is pro- 

 tected from the action of such organisms. 



The Board of Trade Journal for .June 23, 1910, states 

 that information has been received from a reliable source, 

 which shows that^a by-product in the manufacture of terpin- 

 eol, called Terpinolene, is being used in Catania (Sicily) and 

 neighbouring districts for the purpose of adulterating essence 

 of lemon, orange and liergamot. Terpinolene is said to be 

 made in Marseilles for this puriiose alone; it is entirely harm- 

 less and cannot be detected in the oil unless the quantity pres- 

 ent is greater than 12 per cent. 



The Earl of Crewe, Secretary of State for the Colonies, 

 while presiding over the eleventh dinner of the Corona Club, 

 on .July 7, stated that, if he were asked to select the Imperial 

 object to which a large sum of money i-ould most profitably 

 be devoted, he would name without hesitation the cjuestion 

 of research into the causes of tropical diseases of men, 

 animals, and in the vegetable kingdom —research, of course, 

 with a view to discovering means of prevention and cure. 

 (The Lo)idon Standard, July 8, 1910.) 



The Jamaica Gaxelte for .June 9, 1910, shows that 

 a ])roclauiation has been made under the Seeds and Plants 

 Importation Law, 1884 (.Jamaica), and A Law in Aid of the 

 Seeds and Plants Importation Law, 1884 (.Jamaica), which 

 is Law 25 of 1891, by which is prohibited, until further 

 proclamation, the importation into .Jamaica of any banana 

 plants, suckers, cuttings, or earth, packages or tools having 

 any connexion with them, coming from all countries of 

 Central or South America and the island of Trinidad. 



Arrangements have been made by which part of the 

 lawns at the St. Kitts Botanic Station, which were made for 

 use as recreation grounds for j)roperly organized clubs, or for 

 schools, have been set apart for the use of the Basseterre Lawn 

 Tennis Club and the Girls' High School. This has been done 

 by rescinding Rule No. 9, Section 3, of the Botanic Garden 

 Regulations Ordinance 1900 (St. Kitts-Nevis), and by substi- 

 tuting a rule which allows games to be played, with the per- 

 mission of the Curator, on such terms and for such fees as 

 he may from time to time prescribe. 



