108 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Mjcech 25, 1916. 



GLEANINGS. 



It is stated by Mr. Lyne in the Tropical Aariciilturixt, 

 CVj'lon, for October 1915, that the recently established 

 school of agriculture at Peradeniya is intended in the first 

 place for the training of teachers in the vernacular schools, 

 ■with a view eventually of making agriculture a compulsory 

 subject in the Ceylon code f'f education. 



It is generally believed that the presence of iron is 

 necessary for the formation of the green colouring matter of 

 jdants. According to the Journal of the. Cheviical Sonetu, 

 No. 63c, December 1915, it has been found that a pyrrole 

 salt can take the place of iron. The experiments were 

 •conducted with maize grown in water cultures. 



Attempts to cultivate limes and lemons in Fiji have not, 

 nccording to the Annual Report on the Department of Agri- 

 culture for the year 1914, met with as much success as was 

 anticipated. Some of the limes planted in 1906 are yielding 

 fruit below the average in size. A new plot of selected plants, 

 including a few rows of the thornless lime from Dominica, 

 l»avc been planted. 



In the Wealth of India fi.r iJecember 1915 appears an 

 article on the oil pressing imlustry in the I'nited Provinces. 

 It attempts to show that the establishment of oil cru.shing 

 factories in the United Provinces forms one of the most 

 attractive commercial propositions existing to-day in the 

 ■whole of India. Oil is obtained principally from castor, 

 cotton, linsied, rape, and mustard seed. 



According to the ■/onrnal oj lltrediti/, the percentage 

 of endemic plants in Central America is 70, in India, 60, 

 and in Ceylon, less than 30. It is as high as 80 in the Hawaiian 

 Islands, while Western Australia even surpasses this figure. 

 ■where it is 85. By endemic is meant plants which are 

 native, that is to say, plants wiiich have not been introduced 

 so far as human records can siiow. 



An obituary notice concerning the late Professor Ernest 

 IJle, a leading authority on I'.raziiian rubber trees, appears in 

 the India KiMir U'or/il for February 1, 1916. Profe.ssor 

 Ule in his expedition up tlie Amazon di.-icovered three new 

 .-sjiecies of the Maniliot variety, and he also wrote a book on 

 ^f: ilichotoma, M. hepta' hylla. and M. fa'atihi/enniy. Professor 

 I'll- also did some botanical exploration work in P.ritish 

 1 Juiana. 



Horse beans (Canavalia enxiforviis) have done ver}" well 

 at Morne Rouge and Westerhall in Grenada, both in separate- 

 plots, and as cover crops between limes and coco-nuts. A good 

 supply of seed has been harvested, and considerable quan- 

 tities have been distributed to various parts of the island for 

 trial. As a cover crop and a soil renovator the plant is 

 eminently suitable, and worthy of extensive use, particularly 

 as it is readily and cheaply established. 



A good example of the big profits that may be expected 

 in pedigree pig raising is afforded by information recently 

 received from Mr. S. F. Edge, of Sussex, England. Pigs from 

 one large black .sow during 1915 sold for £101 1.*. 6c/. and 

 left the owner five gilts of high quality for his herd, worth 

 altogether at least £50. Few animals on the farm give such 

 a good return for such a small capital expenditure as pigs, 

 and if an open air system of management is adopted 

 there is generally little trouble in regard to disease. 



A forthcoming meeting of the Royal Society of Arts 

 will be of interest, for at it Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G., 

 will read a paper on the timber resources of Newfoundland. 

 Sir Daniel Morris also presided at the meeting on January 26 

 last, when Mr. J. Arthur Hutton, Chairman of the British 

 Cotton Growing Association, read a paper on the effect of the 

 war on cotton growing in the British Empire. On the 16th, 

 of this month Profes-sor W. R. Dunstan, C.M.G , F.R.S., is 

 reading a paper on the subject of the work of the Imperial 

 Institute for India. 



The growing interest in Roselle, known in the West 

 Indies under the name of sorrel {Hibiscus sabdarifa), as 

 a crop of the Tropics, is referred to in the Philippine Ac,ri- 

 cuUuial Beriiw for October to December 1914. In Hawaii 

 the crop has been planted on quite a large experimental .scale, 

 and one jam manufa(;turer found it po.ssible to pay 40c. p6r 

 D). for the dried product. There is apparenth' a good 

 demand in the Cnited States for roselle product, and it is 

 believed that there is room for the establishment of .small 

 preserving factories in the Philippines. 



The transpiratioh ratio of the sugar-cane plant (that 

 is to say, the number of pounds of water which requires 

 to be transjjired in order to form 1 8). of drj- matter) is lower 

 in the case of the cane than in that of almost any other 

 cultivated crop. The figure representing this value would 

 appear to range between 150 and 200. That is to say, 

 in the production of a crop of canes of 30 tons per acre, 

 1,800 to 2,500 tons of water per acre require to be 

 absorbed through the roots of the plant, and transpired to 

 the atmosphere through the leaves. This amount of water 

 is actually equivalent to from 18 to 25 inches of rain. 



There has been of late years a marked improvement in 

 the goats in Barbados owing to the importation of thorough- 

 bred stock of the Toggenburg and other superior strains. 

 Other West Indian islands may now take advantage of the 

 neighbourhood of Barbados, and import thence some of the fine 

 milk-producing goats.i. Mr. Thos. E. Manning informs this 

 office that he has at present for sale several half and three- 

 quarter bred Toggenburg young goats, both ewes and rams, 

 and that he will give willingly any further information as to 

 price and shipment of them to any other island, on application 

 to him, care of Manning vfc Co. Ltd., Bridgetown, Barbados, 



