364 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 12, 1910. 



A meeting was held at the Head Office of the Depart- 

 ment, on October 27, 1910, for the purpose of discussing 

 prelimin iry matters in connexion with the proposed formation 

 of a ( ioal Societ}- in Barbados. At this, arrangements were 

 made hiv holding a larger meeting of those interested in the 

 matter, and a scheme of subjects for discussion at that meet- 

 ing was drawn up, following suggestions by the Im[ierial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. 



GLEANINGS. 



The Board of Trade Journal for October 0, 1910, shows 

 that the exports of rubber, of domestic production, from 

 Ceylon during last July were 2,254 cwt. The shipments for 

 the same month of last year amounted to 1,055 cwt. 



Information has been received from the Curator of the 

 Botanic Station, Antigua, as to the state of the cotton crop 

 in that island, in regard to insect pests. This shows that, 

 although some attacks by caterpillars had been experienced, 

 the flower-bud maggot had not appeared, at any rate up to 

 the end of October. 



The Experiment Station Record of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Vol. XXII, Xo. S, p. 719, gives 

 a note of a paper by H. Pellet, in which it is concluded by 

 the author, from analyses of the deposits in furnaces in which 

 molasses is burnt, that a loss of potash takes place not only 

 through the volatilization of potassium sulphide, as has been 

 suggested, but also because of the volatilization of other potash 

 salts. 



A History of British Mammals, by G. E. H. Barrett- 

 Hamilton, B.A., M.R.I.A., F.Z.S., is being published by 

 Messrs. Gurney and Jackson, 10, Paternoster Row, London, 

 E.C. This will be issued in about twenty-four monthly parts, 

 making three volume.', at the price of 2.s. f>d. net, for each 

 part. The complete work will contain twenty-seven full page 

 plates in colour, fifty-four in black and white, and upwards 

 of 250 smaller illustrations. 



H M. Trade C'jmmissioner for Canada in England (.Mr. 

 II. Grigg) reports that two Commissioners have been appointed 

 by the Canadian Department of Agriculture for the purpose 

 of investigating the causes of the decline of sheep-rearing in 

 Canada, with a view to the adoption of a comprehensive policy 

 on the part of the Canadian Government, and the undertaking 

 of definite and extended measures that will be likely to operate 

 toward the encouragement, improvement and develop- 

 ment of the industry as a whole. (The Board of Trade 

 Journal, September 22, 1910.) 



According to the Grenada GovernmeHl (kv.ette (Extra- 

 ordinary) for t)ctober 7, 1910, an order in Council, dated 

 September 16, 1910, has been made, under the Import Duties 

 Ordinance, 1905, whereby live stock may be imported into 

 the island, ' in cases where the Governor-in-Council is satisfied 

 upon documentary or other .surticient evidence, that the 

 importation of any animal or animals is likely to improve the 

 breed of such animal already in the Colony.' 



The Colonial Office Jour nil {or October 1910, p. 140, 

 states that Messrs. John Downham li; Co. have produced 

 a decorticating machine which, it is claimed, can deal with 

 120,000 to 150,000 leaves in ten hours, and will extract 

 97 to 98 per cent, of the available fibre. The machine is 

 described as being of solid construction, and free from vibra- 

 tion. The price is £600 — the same as that of the 'World's 

 Decorticator', which was described in the Aijricitltural News, 

 Vol. VIII, p. 293. Mention was made of other decorticating 

 machines in the Ai/ricultural Neifs, Vol. IX, p. 156. 



The Planters' Chronicle for June 4, 1910, gives an 

 address by Mr. R. D. Anstead, B.A., Scientific Officer to the 

 United Planters' Association of Southern India, and lately 

 Superintendent of Agriculture, Grenada, in which he states 

 that he had seen, in Southern India, plants of Ma.nihot 

 dichotoina and M. piauhyem-is growing successfully in a light 

 .soil, at an elevation cf 5,450 feet, and with an annual rain- 

 fiill of 50 inches. The trees were one year old, and had 

 attained a height of 6 to 8 feet, with the first branches 3 feet 

 jroni the ground. 



A description is contained, in a recent number of 

 Teymiannia (Vol. XXI, p. 60) of a new disease of coffee 

 which reseml>les,in many respects, .Bos^)-e//a co/ertc except that 

 it attacks the roots as well as the stem. Careful examination 

 of the wood of diseased trees showed that the fungus caused 

 dark-brown areas to be formed on the wood, beneath the 

 bark: these latter are likely to appear later as lirown or black 

 spots on the bark. The fact that the disease attacks the roots 

 makes its control, by cutting down the trees, impossible. It 

 can only be eradicated by digging up, and burning, the 

 affected plants. — 



Duiiug last month, Proclamations were made, in Antigua 

 and Dominica, under the Plants Protection Act, No. 4 of 

 1897, Antigua, and the Plants Protection Ordinance, 1907, 

 Domiuic.i, respectively, by which the importation into these 

 Presidencies of any banana plants, or any material for planting 

 or articles connected therew ith, is prevented from all coun- 

 tries of Central and South America, and from Trinidad. The 

 same Proclamations prohibit absolutely the importation into 

 those Presidencies of all cocoa-nuts, cocoa-nut plants or any 

 material for planting or articles connected therewith, frotii 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and all countries of Central and 

 South America.' 



In Science, Vol. .VXXl, p. 434, a summary is given of the 

 results of experiments with Guayule rubber {Pnrthcnium ar- 

 (jeniatam) which was grown under irrigation in Mexico, for two 

 years. At the end of the time, the irrigated plants had made 

 eight times as much growth as those which were not irrigated, 

 but were only found to contain minute cjuantities of rubber. 

 Under conditions of drought, however, or when the irrigation 

 water was withheld, the amount of rubber in such plants 

 increased; and the conclusion is reached from the trials, that 

 although rapidly growing Guayule plants may only contain 

 a small amount ol'rubber, this may approach the maximum 

 in dry seasons. 



