396 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 10, 1910. 



A note in the E,rperiment Station Record for August 

 1910, p. 1.53, calls attention to a disease of the ornamental 

 plant Evphorbia pihdifefa, which causes the premature shed- 

 ding of its leaves. The disease has been shown to be due to 

 an organism, Leptomonh davidi, n. sp., belonging to the 

 group Flagellatae which, curiously enough, lives in the latex 

 of the attacked plants. 



GLEANINGS. 



It is reported that the first official estimate of the present 

 rice crop in Japan places it at 48,72.5,597 koku (1 koku = 4-96 

 bushels). This is a decrease of 7 per cent, from that of last 

 year, and 0-7 per cent, from the crop of a normal year. 



The most recent estimate places the area under cotton 

 in Eastern Bengal and Assam at 99,300 acres. A favourable 

 season has been experienced, and a good yield is expected. 

 The total area under rice, this year, is 11,794,700 acre.s, 

 ■which is 132,200 acres less than that of last year. 



The report of the Director of Agriculture of the Feder- 

 ated Malay States, for 1909, shows that the number of rubber 

 estates in that colony was 377, the total area of these being 

 500,431 acres, of which 196,953 acre.s have been planted up. 

 The output of rubber during the year was 6,083,493 S)., as 

 compared with 3,190,000 lb., in 1908. 



According to a recent official return, there are at the 

 present time aViout 104,000 acres of land in Korea prepared 

 for the cultivation of cotton. It is said, however, that the 

 seed deteriorates, with the result that a fair (juality of cotton 

 can only be produced by importing seed from America every 

 fourth year. (The Textile Mercury, October 29, 1910.) 



The Chamher of Commerce Journal for November 

 1910, states that it is proposed to hold an International 

 Exhibition in Winnipeg, in 1914. About £500,000 has been 

 subscribed already in Winnipeg, lor the purpose, and the 

 Government of the Dominion of Canada has been asked to 

 contribute a similar sum. 



Information has been received that Mr. Fred Kent of 

 Mount Rich, Grenada, has imported a Castile jack donkey, 

 slightly over 15 hands in height, about three years old and 

 strongly built, with the object of entering upon mule breeding 

 on a fair scale. To the same end, Mr. Kent is now import- 

 ing three or four large mares from ^Montevideo. 



It is announced, for general information, that Mr. Tom 

 Manning, of the Pierhead, Barbados, has imported from 

 England pedigree rabbits of the Flemish Giant breed, the 

 parents of which have won cups and various prizes at the 

 Crystal Palace and other shows. The weight of the animals, 

 when fully grown, averages 16 lb. 



The Geographical Journal for last month contains the 

 interesting statement that Professor de la Torre, of the 

 University of Havana, has found the remains of a fossil 

 mammoth, Amblyrhiza, in St. Martin. This discovery is of 

 the greatest importance, in relation to the study of the past 

 history of the continent of which the West Indian islands are 

 supposed to have once formed a part. 



Mr. Edgar Tripp, Secret.iry of the Agricultural Society 

 of Trinidad and Tobago, has kindly pointed out that the refer- 

 ence given in the Agricultvral News, Vol. IX, p. 346, to 

 Dr. Gough's paper on frog-hoppers, in the Proceedinr/s of the 

 Agricultural Societi/ of Trinidad and Tohagn, is inaccurate. 

 This should be to Vol. X, part 9, instead of to Vol. VIII, part 

 9, of that publication. 



The Cyprus Journal, for October 1910, contains a reprint 

 of parts of the Order in Council No. 276, Cyprus, 1897, by 

 which the importation of plants, seeds, etc., into that island 

 is regulated. In relation to certain stated countries, this 

 affects raw fruits and vegetables, all living parts of plants, all 

 dry parts of plants, packing material, and hay and straw. 

 Special regulations are in force in regard to planting material 

 from countries infected with Phylloxera. 



In an address given before the Committee of the African 

 Trade Section of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, on 

 October 3, 1910, it was pointed out by Sir Rubert Boj-ce, 

 F.R.S., that yellow fever ha.s existed in AVest Africa for many 

 years, but that it had always been taken for malaria. It was 

 further .stated that the realization of this fact was leading 

 to the adoption of increasingly energetic measures in connex- 

 ion with mosquito control in that part of the world. 



No. B. 554 of the Proceedings of the Boyal Society, pub- 

 lished recently, contains a paper de.scribing a method by 

 which the presence of formaldehyde in plants can lie detected 

 even in minute quantities, either combined or free. The 

 investigations with the aid of this have shown that formalde- 

 hyde is combined with chlorophyll in green i)lants, thus 

 affording a possible explanation as to how the supply of 

 that substance is obtained for building up sugars in the leaf. 



In regard to the forthcoming International Rubber 

 Exhibition (see Agricultural News, Vol. IX, pp. 60, 156, 172, 

 220 and 284), the India-Ruhher Journal for October 31, 

 1910, states, in regard to the shield that is being offered by 

 the proprietors of this paper {Agricultural Neivs, Vol. IX, 

 p. 220), that there is no entrance fee for this comiietition, 

 and that ample space for exhiliits will be provided free. No 

 more than three entries, by any one producer, are allowed in 

 the competition, and the samples must weigh not less than 

 10 a. 



A report from the Superintendent of Agriculture, 

 Grenada, .states that, at the last general meeting of the Agri- 

 cultural and Commercial Society, a deputation was appointed 

 to approach His Excellency the Governor with a view to 

 impressing upon him the advisability of providing facilities 

 for handling cotton in that island. As a result, information 

 required in connexion with the erection of a ginnery has been 

 obtained, with a view to giving these facilities. The present 

 area of cotton cultivation in Grenada is 40 acres, and such 

 recent developments should lead to an extension of this. 



