44' 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Januaey 29, ' 1916. 



GLEANINGS. 



We have been notified by the Board of Trade that it 

 has completed ihe final arrangements for holding a British 

 Industries Fair e^Hy this year. The Fair, which concerns 

 china, glass, Huiiionery, and printing products, will be held in 

 the buildings of the Victoria iluseum from Monday 

 February 21 to Friday March 3, 1916. 



i- Reference '.c mr.do in Farmers' Bidletm, No. 686 of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, to the use of 

 sorghum grain as a human food. It is said that it is not much 

 inferior to Indian corn and might be employed more gener- 

 ally. It is only in Barbados, amongst the AVest Indian 

 islands, that sorghum grain, namely, Ciuinea corn, is used for 

 human food. 



The vali'B of coco-nut husks as a manure is drawn 

 attention to in an editorial in the Tropical Agriculturist for 

 November IOI'j. It is stated that at present, in certain 

 districts of Ceylon, husks are in nearly every instance 

 burnt^a squ.t..dering of wealth deplorable under the circum- 

 .stances S'^''"''ring them loosely over the land before rain 

 sets in is rotr.rded as the most satisfactory way of applying 

 this materii, . ;■,• ihe .S' il. 



An iutere.il lug collection of negro folklore appears in 

 The Carihhear , the magazine issued in connexion with the 

 Boy's Second: r/ School, Grenada. The compilation, which 

 is. by Mr. li"(.og -Tones, M.A., brings out the striking char- 

 acteristic of West African folklore, namely, the strong 

 personificatld.'; of animals, particularly the .spider. The 

 article contiiiLS also a list of West Indian proverbs, many of 

 which will no doubt be familiar to the West Indian reader. 



The p,"' luclion of seedling sugar-canes, which has 

 proved so sic. •;-isful in the West Indies and Java, has not 

 been found .so sptisfactory in India, especially in North India, 

 where acC',...!.,, t:i 'he Arjricu/tural Journal of India the 

 stamens of the oane arrow do not mature, and {'"Hen is not 

 formed in llie cane flowers there. This does not occur, 

 however, iu tl t fu.voured districts of South India, where 

 already some 10,000 new seedlings have been raised during 

 the past two )-oars. 



Discu.sii .j, i.iv Jamaica lime-growing industry, the 

 Journal of i/ic Jamaica Agricultural Socicti/ says that lime 

 trees arc not grown in Jamaica in regular plantations as they 

 are in Dominica. Lime trees are found through grass pastures, 

 and are in districts subject to heavy sea-breezes and long and 

 severe drought. The Journal, in common with its Demerara 

 contemporary, is ])uulishing a large amount of information 

 of lime cultivation presumably with the object of extending 

 the area under cultivation in the respective colonics. 



The behaviour of certain indigo-yielding substances 

 (glucosides) in ditt'erent species of plants is given attention 

 in the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India 

 (Botanical Series, Vol. VII, No. 5). It is very interesting to 

 learn that Wrighlia tinctoria seed when germinated and 

 grown without nitrogen, increases in glucoside content till it 

 becomes about trebble at about forty days. As nitrogen 

 starvation begins to show, the amount decreases, but is still 

 con.siderable when the seedlings are on the point of death. 



In the Geographical Journal for November 191.5, a note 

 appears on a paper bj' a well-known Australian geologist 

 concerning the distribution of legumino.sae and past geograph-, 

 ical changes. The Leguminosae, like the natural order 

 ilyrtacae, appear to have descended from groups of uniform 

 primary types, widely diffused through the tropics in the 

 past, and .showing varying modification in the different 

 e.'vtra-tropical regions to which they have spread. They have 

 accommodated themselves to temperate regions only in later 

 geological times. 



The price of pigs, both bacon and porkers, Avas very 

 high in 191.3, and is still at an abnormally high level. Accord- 

 ing to a publication of the English Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries on prices and supplies of agricultural produce in 

 19 li, the war caused an abrupt ri.se, and the level reached in 

 August was maintained until the end of the year. High 

 prices for pork and bacon have ruled as well in North 

 America, indicating a general .shortage of supplies, which is 

 encouraging to those interested in the establishment of an 

 industry in the West Indies. 



The relation lietween rubber crop and rainfall is 

 a matter of much interest. The India Rubber World for 

 January 1, 1916, reproduces two charts .showing this relation- 

 ship in the case of Malaya and Ceylon, respectively. It 

 ap[)ears that the period of low rainfall which occurs in 

 February and ^larch has a nnich greater effect on the crop of 

 rubber in Ceylon than in ilalaya: but it is suggested that 

 the figures are no doubt affected by the practice on some 

 Ceylon estates of ceasing- or reducing tapping operations 

 during this so-called wintering season. 



The total area under tea in tlie whole of India during 

 1914 was 622,600 acres, which is 2 per cent, greater than 

 that in the preceding year. The cultivation of tea in India 

 has been concentrated mainly in tracts where a heavy rain- 

 fall and a humid and equitable climate permit of repeated 

 flushes and pluckings of the leaf. It is stated in the 

 Planters' Chronicle (November 20, 191. t) that the industry 

 has to a large e.xtent benefited by the war, though the 

 removal of British troops to luirope has made a considerable 

 dirt'erence to the demand for tea in India it.self. 



Sour Soils and Liming is the title of Bulletin No. 261 

 issued from the Department of Agriculture in the Comnion- 

 wealth of I'cnn.sylvania. Keferring to the oft-mentioned 

 acid-producing etlect of commercial fertilizers, it is pointed 

 out that this only holds good to any e.xtent in the case of 

 ammonium suljjliates. Thomas slag is mildly alkaline, 

 while nitrates tend to leave alkaline residues. The 

 acid pho.sphates take very little lime to make tliem 

 neutral or alkaline. The bulletin in (juestion deals with 

 most of the aspects of liming, and will be found useful for 

 reference. 



