348 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 29, 1910. 



GLEANINGS. 



Information has been received from the East Java Sugar- 

 Cane Experiment Station, Pasoeroean, Java, that Mr. J. E. 

 ■van der Stok has been appointed to the post of Director of 

 that station, in the place of the late Mr. J. D. Kobus. 



It is of interest that the distriliution of plants from the 

 Dominica Botanic Station during last month was as follows : 

 limes -1,150, Para rubber 1,000, cacao 300, budded citrus 

 plants 70, grafted cacao 40, grafted mangos 9, making a total 

 distribution, for the month, of 5,569 plants. 



It is reported from St. Lucia that the cotton crop made 

 favourable progress during last month, and that very little 

 Paris green had been recjuired, so far. There were indica- 

 tions, however, that the cacao crop was likely to be late. The 

 planting of limes was continued, to a fair extent. 



The Board of Trade Journal for September 15, 1910, 

 p. 551, shows that the exports of cultivated rubber from the 

 Federated Malay States during the six months ending June 

 1910 were 5,276,793 %.; while for a .similar period in 1909 

 the amount was 2,463,241 lb. The shipments for June 1910 

 amounted to 879,675 lb. 



The condition of the sugar crop in Barbados is good, on 

 the whole; although the canes have been kept back to 

 a certain degree near the sea-coast in Christ Church, through 

 insufficient rainfall. Cotton sowing was practically completed 

 by the end of September, and the general prospects of the 

 new crop may be said to be excellent. 



A report by the acting Superintendent of Agriculture 

 for the Leeward Islands, Mr. F. E. Shepherd, shows that 

 there is a likelihood that promising results will be obtained 

 from much of the early planted cotton in Antigua. It 

 emphasizes the importance of getting cotton fields in that 

 island, into a state of tilth fit for planting early, so that seed 

 may be sown immediately on receipt of the first rains. 



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

 last month, shows that the cotton being grown on allotments, 

 under the Land Settlement Scheme, was making good progress 

 generally. The conditions on private estates were good, and 

 the cotton was making satisfactory growth on most of these, 

 so that with a favourable ripening season, good yields should 

 be obtained. Where implemental tillage has been adopted, 

 an improvement in the crops was .seen, in every case. 



The report of the Agricultural Instructor, Nevis, for the 

 month of September, shows that a satisfactory rainfall has 

 been experienced, with the result that agricultural condi- 

 tions have improved in the island generally. Complaint is 

 made, however, that sufficient precautions are not being taken, 

 by some of the peasantry, in the direction of controlling the 

 cotton worm, thus causing hardship to those who are 

 exercising care in this matter. 



liecent issues of the St. Kitts Daily E.rpress have 

 contained a (rovernment Notice to the efifect that, in conse- 

 quence of the existence, in that colony, of a certain amount of 

 anxiety in regard to the danger of diseased meat being sold, 

 the Central Board of Health was taking special measures to 

 ensure the slaughter of perfectly healthy animals, in the 

 public market. Precautions were also taken in relation to 

 the importation of cattle from Nevis, where the disease that 

 had broken out was abating steadily. 



The 

 Barbados 

 appear to 

 chiefly at 

 who has 1 

 were two 

 Recently, 

 which on 

 Hock. 



attempts that are being made to introduce the 

 blackbird (Qidscalus fortirostris) into Antigua 

 be meeting with success. These have been made 

 Cades Bay, where, according to Miss Johnston, 

 :ept them under observation on this estate, there 

 in 1908, eleven in 1909, and seventeen in 1910. 

 nine more birds were imported from Barbados, 

 being liberated, immediately joined the existing 



A report received from the Curator of the Botanic 

 Station, Montserrat, for last month, shows that the cotton 

 crop in that island had not received any check so far, and 

 that, generally, the prospects were good. Bacterial disease 

 was .spreading, Intt the extent of the damage done by it had 

 not yet been ascertained. Observations on the cotton grow- 

 ing on some of the lighter soils indicated that planting had 

 been too close. The cotton worm was in evidence at the 

 close of the month, but leaf-blister mite had not become 

 prevalent, so far. 



An account is contained in the Natal Agricidtural 

 Jonrnal for August" 1910, page 207, dealing with trials of 

 various machines for gathering stones. The best machine 

 appears to be that invented by Messrs. J. and It. Forgan, of 

 Port Pirie, which gained 83 per cent, of the marks awarded 

 for the various useful characteristics. At the time of the 

 tests, the general opinion was that the picking up of the 

 stones by this machine was better than that done by hand. 

 The machine passed over large stones and fixed stumps with- 

 out injury, and it is capable of treating 8 to 10 acres a day, 

 when worked by a 5-hor3e team and one man. 



An abstract of a paper in the E.r/ie rime nf Station Record 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, for Jvily 

 1910, p. 16, shows that natural waters are enabled to free 

 themselves from bacterial contamination owing to the presence 

 in them of minute forms of animal life (protozoa), which des- 

 troy the bacteria much in the same way as this is dons by 

 similar animals in the .soil (see Agricultural News, Vol. L\, pp. 

 34 and 323). The rate of purification of the water is depend- 

 ent upon the speed with which the protozoa grow, and this in 

 turn is directly affected by the activity of the protozoa, which 

 is influenced chiefly by the amounts of bacterial products in 

 the water. 



