380 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



NOVEMBEE 2G, 1910. 



GLEANINGS. 



Cotton picking in St. Vincent is being actively done, 

 and the Central Cotton Ginner}- was opened, to receive seed 

 cotton, on the first of this month. 



It is reported from St. Kitts that the sugar-cane is 

 growing well, since the receipt of good rains. As regards 

 cotton picking, satisfactory returns have been received so 

 far. 



The series of articles on the goats of Barbados, which 

 appeared in the JiarUidus Standard during the months of April 

 to November 1910, have been published in book form, with 

 illustrations from blocks in the possession of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture. 



The distributitin of plants from the Dominica Botanic 

 Station during last month included the following: limes 2,800 

 Para rubber 610, cacao seedlings 32-5, grafted cacao 18, 

 vanilla 300. The total distribution for the month was 4,086 

 plants. 



The condition of the sugar-cane crop in Antigua is stated 

 not to be promising, generally, but good yields are expected 

 on a few estates. The distribution from the Antigua Botanic 

 Station during October included 3,882 plants and 10,000 

 cuttings, most of the latter being sugar-cane. 



It is stated, on the authority of the Belgian Legation at 

 Caracas, that the coming cotton crop of Venezuela will be less 

 than that of last year, being 600,000 sacks (1 sack = 62 kilos.), 

 instead of 700,000 sacks. The reason for the lower yield is 

 given as the sudden arrival of the spring rains, as well as 

 drought during the fruiting time. 



Arrangements have been made for Dominica to partici- 

 pate in the London Fruit Exhibition, 1910, to be held from 

 December 1 to 3 next. Thej' are in the hands of the Per- 

 manent Exhibition Committee, and exhibits which were 

 entrusted to the care of this Committee left Dominica by 

 Royal Mail Steamer on Novemlier 13. 



A consular report shows that the cotton crop of Hayti, 

 last year, amounted to 3,61.5,972 Bb. Nearly all of this was 

 sent to Europe, as the merchants are of opinion that they can 

 get better prices there than in the L^nited States. The area 

 under cotton in the llepublic becomes larger every year, and 

 the prospects of the cotton-growing industry are good. 



The most recent reports concerning the cotton industry 

 in Montserrat state that the crop has matured early, and that 

 most of it will be reaped before the end of Decemlier. 

 Attacks by the cotton worm and a certain amount of boll 

 dropping have taken place, but there was no evidence of the 

 presence of the tiower-l)ud maggot at the time of repoiting. 



An Ordinance to be cited as The Uganda Cotton (Amend- 

 ment) Ordinance, 1910, has been made recently in that Pro- 

 tectorate. This is to be read as one with the Uganda Cotton 

 Ordinance, 1908. Its special purpose is to give the Governor 

 the power to make rules controlling the purchase and sale of 

 raw cotton, in addition to the power to make rules, contained 

 in the Ordinance of 1908. 



The British Acting Vice-Consul at Hakodate reports that 

 a wide area in the north-eastern part of .Japanese Sakhalin is 

 'tundra', covered with moss or lichen to a depth of many feet. 

 A concession for the use of this moss has been grantetl by the 

 Government to a Japanese merchant, who proposes to erect 

 a mill and to manufacture pulp tor paper-making. 

 Board of Trade Journal, September 1."), 1910.) 



(The 



With reference to the announcement on page 364 of the 

 last number of the Agricidtural Neirs, to the eflect that 

 proclamations in connexion with the regulation of the importa- 

 tion of plants or material, for planting purposes, had been 

 made recently in Antigua and Dominica, it should be stated 

 that a similar proclamation was made in St. Lucia, on October 

 28, 1910, under the third .section of the Plants Protection 

 Ordinance, 1 909, of that colony. 



The Annals of Tropical Medicine ami Parasitology, 

 Vol. IV, No. 2, contains a paper dealing with the factors in 

 the transmission and prevention of malaria in the Panama 

 Canal Zone. The investigations which are descril)ed showed 

 that the mosquitos CelUa albimana and C. tarsimacu/ata 

 were the most efficient transmitters of malaria; while it was 

 found impossible to infect An-ibalzaf/ia malefactm- with the 

 disease. (Fronj, iWi<«re, September 29, 1910!) 



A statement appeared in a recent number of the Agri- 

 cultural News (No. 220, p. 306), to the eflfect that the 

 Thwaite System of Electro-Culture is under trial at the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Information has been since 

 received, through the courtesy of the Director of the Pioyal 

 Botanic Gardens, that this is not the case; but that an 

 installation of the system has been fitted up at the Gardens of 

 the Royal Botanic Society, Regent's Park, London. 



The Board of Agriculture of Great Britain has issued 

 a rew order in connexion with anthrax, for the purpose of 

 obtaining more trustworthy statistics, so that more effective 

 legislation may be made in regard to this disease. It 

 enables the veterinary officers of the Board to examine the 

 evidence submitted, in connexion with the disease, to the local 

 authorites, as well as to carry out experimental investigations 

 on their own part, before a decision is made as to the real out- 

 break causing the disease. 



The results of chemical analysis and of determinations of 

 the water capacitj' of composite samples of soils from the 

 sugar districts of Queensland are reported in the Annual 

 Report of tin- Bureau of Sugar Erperinient Stations, t^ueens- 

 land, for 1909. As a result of a comparison of the solvent 

 action of 1 per cent, solutions of asjiartic, acetic, citric and 

 hydrochloric acids, the author states: 'Maxwell's aspartic acid 

 method is considered the most useful, and the one which 

 approximates most closely in showing the amount of the 

 necessary elements availalile for cane crops.' {Experiment 

 Station R,-n,rd, Augu.st 1910, p. 120.) 



