Vol. IX. No. 219. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEW8. 



297 



Trade and Commerce of the Seychelles, 1909. 



Nil. (i4."} of the Colonial Reports — Annual, shows 

 that a normal crop of copra, amounting to 2,32:? tons 

 was obtained in the Seychelles (hiring 1909. 'I'hi- pro- 

 duction of guano was 17,488 tons, ar.iJ there were half 

 a million tons in reserve at the end of the year. The 

 crop of vanilla was very short, being only 11,2()7 kilos., 

 valued at Rs. 200,34.5 '(£18,000 ). The quality ot the 

 cinnamon bark shipped vva.s inferior; it.s quantity was 

 1,044 tons, and the e.\port is likely to decrease. The 

 high prices of copra checked the export of cocoa-nut 

 oil, so that the amount sent away was only 1,764 hecto- 

 litres (about 89,000 gallons). 



Among the remaining important agricultural pro- 

 ducts, cacao appears as a decreasing export amounting 

 to 4,()78 kil<is., while a new industry, namely the pro- 

 duction of essential oils from cloves and cinnamon has 

 led to the shipment of .584 litres of such oils. The 

 numbers of fruits of coco-de-nier, and of cocoa-nuts, 

 exported, were 8,802 and 91,907. 



A New Method for Felling Trees. 



The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for 

 August 12, 1910, contains an abstract of an arti'jle b}- 

 thr Berlin correspondent of the London Tuu^.s which 

 deals with a simple method that has been invented for 

 the felling of trees. This consists in cutting the trunks by 

 the friction of a steel wire about 1 millimetre (5'j-inch) 

 in diameter. Practical tests have shown that a tree 

 about 20 inches thick can be cut through in si.\ minutes. 



The wire is worked to and fro by an electric 

 motor, which may be actuated by means of a 10 h.p. 

 petrol motor and dynamo, which are kept outside the 

 forest. The severing action of the wire is derived from 

 the fact that it becomes hot through friction against 

 the tree, and actually burns its way through the timber. 



The i-hief advantages of the method are that there 

 is no need to insert wedges into the cut; the cut may 

 be made immediately above or below the ground; and 

 that large tropical trees can be felled by a single oper- 

 ator, with the absence of anv waste of timber. 



Sesbania Aculeata as a Green Manure. 



Several notes have appeared recently in the Agri- 

 cultural Neios {Vo\. VIII, pp. 271 and 831; IX, pp. 124 

 and 185), dealing with Sesbania acioleata as a green 

 manure. In conne.xioii with these, Mr. R. D. Anstead, 

 recently Agricultural Superintendent in Grenada, and 

 now Planting E.xpert to the United Planters' Associa- 

 tion of Southern India, gives the following information. 



Several species of Sesbania are used in India as 

 a green dressing for tea; among these, is dhaincha 

 which is 8. aculeata. The two species of Sesbania com- 

 mon in Southern India are S. aciUrata, Pers., and S. 

 aegi/ptiaca, Pers., which is being most successfully used 

 in connexion with tea cultivation in the VVynaad. For 

 this crop, it is sown just before the mon.soon, and after 

 three or four months, when it is about 4 feet high, it is 

 cut down, and used as a mulch, or is turned into the 

 soil. Mr. Anstead states that the roots of all the species 



are smothered with nodules in dense masses — more so 

 than in any other plant that he has seen. 



It may be mentioned that it was stated in the 

 Agricultural Neivs, Vol. VIII, p. 271, that S. aculeata 

 occurs in many islands in the West Indies, and that 

 a description of it was given. -S'. aegyptiaca is also 

 found in this pait of the world; it is an under shrub, 

 with leaves provided with many leaflets, and with 

 yellow flcjwers in which the standard is dotted with 

 purple; the pod is swollen at intervals along its length, 

 and attains a size of b to 7 inches. 



As has been suggested before, observations and 

 experiments with the different species of Sesbania in 

 the VVcst Indies would be of much interest, especially 

 in relatiiin to their po.ssible adoption as plants for green 

 dressings. 



The Blackbird of Dominica. 



This is the same as the tick bird of several of the 

 West Indian islands (Crotophaga ani); it is quite 

 different from the blackbird of Barbados [Qiuscalus 

 fortirostris). 



Enquiries have been made recently by Mr. 

 .1. .Tones, ( "urator of the Dominica Botanic Station, as to 

 whether the blackbird is regarded by planters in that 

 island as being of any value in reducing the number of 

 insect pests. It is the general opinion that the bird is 

 not harmful as it lives largely on grasshoppers and 

 other insects. In one case, it was stated that the birds 

 had been observed to pick the ticks from cattle; there 

 was, however, the more general idea that they do not 

 remove the ticks, but accompany the cattle because 

 their movements in the long grass cause the grasshop- 

 pers to rise, and thus to be easily caught by the birds. 



This evidence as to the feeding habits of the Domin- 

 ica blackbird is supported by the circumstance that 

 the gizzards of three of them that were shot recently 

 were found to contain grasshoppers, crickets and 

 numerous seeds of a native bush. 



The Rubber Industry of Brazil. 



The Board of Trade Journal for August 4, 1910, 

 gives information concerning the rubber industry of 

 Brazil, which has been furnished by H.M. Legation 

 in that country. This shows that the exports of 

 rubber, duiing 1909, amounted to about 39,000 tons, 

 valued at £18,926,0()1, while in 1308 they were about 

 38.206 tons, valued at £11,784,637. 



It is supposed that, when rubber commences to be 

 collected from the territory that has been recently 

 secured by treaty from Peru, and when the means of 

 communication have been improved b}' the Madeira- 

 ^lamore Railway, there will be a large increase in the 

 production. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the supply of rub- 

 ber in Brazil appears to be almost inexhaustible, the 

 responsible authorities seem to be fully alive to the 

 harm that may accrue from the industry by the com- 

 petition of plantation rubber, and by wasteful methods 

 of collection. This is shown by the fact that they are 

 at present encouraging the laying out of plantations, 

 and are granting various privileges to cultivators. 



