284 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 3, 1910. 



GLEANINGS. 



It is of interest that several extracts from the Agri- 

 cultural Neirs have been published in the forrn of a supple- 

 ment to the Uganda Official Gazette, the issue being that of 

 July 1, 1910.' 



An announcement in the Grenadi Gorernment Gazette 

 for August 3, 1910, states that advertisements for insertion 

 in the Grenada Handhook for 1911 will be received at the 

 Colonial Secretary's Office until Friday, September 30. The 

 rates for advertisement, payable at the Treasury in advance, 

 are 10s. for a whole page and 7s. &d. for half a page. 



The total deliveries of Cuban sugar, to .July 1, 1910, 

 were 1.689,67.5 tons, as compared with about 1,400,000 tons 

 for the previous similar period. Of the 1,30.5,600 tons 

 exported from Cuba up to .July 1, 1,100,000 tons went to 

 New York, Philadelphia and Boston, 118,000 tons to New 

 Orleans, about 8,000 tons to Canada .and 120,000 tons to 

 England. (The Louisiana Planter, July 23, 1910.) 



The report of the Agricultural Instructor, St. Vincent, for 

 .July 1910, .shows that the general prospects for cotton-grow- 

 ing are favourable, and that success continues to be obtained 

 in the matter of implemental tillage. 



Information has been received that, for the last sugar 

 crop, the Antigua Sugar Factory at Gunthorpes dealt with 

 •IS, 319 tons of cane, from which .5,400 tons of sugar was 

 made, giving an average of 8"95 tons of cane per ton of sugar 

 made. 



A statement in the Jndia Rui'>er Journal for July -5, 

 1910, .shows that the forthcoming International Rubber 

 Exhibition (see A</rirultiiral A^ews, Vol. IX, pp. 60, 156, 172 

 and 220) will be held from June 24 to July 11, 1911, instead 

 of from June 12 to June 28, 1911. 



The Leeward Jsla7ids Gazette for August 4, 1910, con- 

 tains an Order in Council, employing schedule B of Montser- 

 rat Ordinance, No. 2, 1906, by which it is determined by the 

 Governor that the insecticide Abol shall be exempt from the 

 payment of import duty into Montserrat. 



The Su;/ar Beet for July 1910, publishes figures by Otto 

 Licht, the well-known authority, which show that the con- 

 sumption of sugar per head during 1908-9 was greatest in 

 England, Denmark and the United States, the amounts being 

 41 ■13, 35'54 and 32'26 kilos., respectively. 



Information contained in the report of the Agricultural 

 Instructor. Nevis, for last .Julj', shows that the drought in 

 that island was still continuing, and that the cane and cotton 

 crops were likely to be very short. The rainfall at the 

 station for the month was 2"80 inches, and the average for 

 six estates was 2 '07 inches. 



In Trojar<d Life for July 1910, p. 139, reference is made 

 to a paper on the budding of cacao by T. J. Harris, published 

 by the Jamaica Board of Agriculture in 1904. In this, it was 

 shown that cacao can be budded by employing a bud with 

 a square piece of bark, about 2 inches x Jj'-inch thick, 

 attached to it, which is applied, with the usual precautions, to 

 the stem of a cacao tree from which a piece of bark, of similar 

 size has been removed. This is analogous to the method 

 known as the Patch Budding of Mangos (see Agricultural 

 News, Vol. VIII, p. 70). 



An announcement has been received of the Tenth Inter- 

 national Geographical Congress to be held at Rome on 

 October 15 to 22, 1911, under the patronage of His Majesty 

 the King of Italy. This shows that membership of the 

 Congress can be obtained bj' .sending £1 to Aw. Felice 

 Cardon, Treasurer of the Organizing Committee, 102, Via 

 del Plebiscito, Rome. Pensons may become Aggregated 

 Members on payment of half of the above fee. 



According to Nature for .June 23, 1910, the Earl of 

 Crewe, Secretary of State for the C'olonies, has appointed 

 a Committee composed of representatives of the Colonial 

 Office and of the Natural History Branch of the Briti.sh 

 Museum, to consider the protection of plumnge birds. The 

 main i>urpose is to find means of preventing the indiscrimi- 

 nate slaughter of such birds that is taking place in certain 

 parts of the Empire, as well as to obtain the co-operation of 

 all the countries included in it, toward this end. 



Diplomatic and Consular Beports, No. 4448, Annual 

 Series, deals with the trade and Commerce of the Canary 

 Islands during 1909. This gives a rough estimate of the 

 whole trade of the islands, stating that the exports may be 

 valued at £1.200,000, of which amount about £1,000,000 is 

 made up from fruit and vegetables. The quantity of bananas 

 shipped during the year .showed an increase on that for the 

 previous year, being 2,782,299 crates The competition of 

 buj'ers made prices favourable to the growers of this fruit. 



An account of the recent tour of the Demerara Banana 

 Commission, given in the Demerara Daily Chronicle Mail 

 Edition for July 8, 1910, after an interview with Professor 

 Harrison, mentions the variety of banana called the Congo 

 banana, which is stated to he immune from the disease 

 which attacks the Gros Michel. It is stated in the same 

 issue that the Commis.sion has instructed the delegates. Pro- 

 fessor Harrison, Mr. T. A. Stfickdale, and Mr. Wood Davi.s, to 

 ilraw up a report giving the results of their enquiries in 

 Surinam, anil embodying the views of the Commission. 



A book published recently, under the title of Die Tone, 

 gives an account of experiments undertaken by the author, 

 in Austria, for the purpose of determining the cause of the 

 plastic properties of clay. According to the E.rjieriment 

 Station Record of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, Vol. XXII, No. 8, p. 712, the investigations which 

 are described in the book have shown that the treatment 

 of clay with water brings about the formation of colloid 

 substances, and it is the presence of these in the clay that 

 makes it exhibit the property usually known as plasticity. 



