172 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 20, 1916. 



The tiuestioii of Mtural versus synthetic indigo is 

 dealt with in Tropical L'fe for March 1916, where it is 

 stated that Messrs. LefWis A Peai of Mincing Lane point out 

 in a recent report, thit there has been a pressing need for 

 natural indigo— a need which is not likely to be averted 

 for some time to come. This firm has approached the 

 Government with a view to getting a stipulation passed that 

 natural indigo must be used for all blue cloth supplied to 

 the Services 



GLEANINGS. 



Some interesting notes on the West Indies have been 

 running in the United Empire, the R'lyal Colonial Institute 

 .JournaL These are largely historical notes. As regards 

 present day information, we i otice that Montserrat is again 

 referred to as the island famous for its limes, while no 

 mention is made in the next paragraph to Doiiiinica in this 

 ^re.spect. 



An account is given in the Veterinary Record of January 

 29, 1916, of the opening ceremony at the new Punjab Veter- 

 inary College at Lahore. In his address, the Viceroy of India 

 referred to the fact that the new college was one of the finest 

 veterinary establishments in the East. This is not altogether 

 unfitting owing to the fact that the Punjab is world famous 

 for its breeds of cattle and horses. 



The Louisianii Plunter tor FehmMy 19, 1916, refers to the 

 interesting event on the 14th of that month, when raw sugar 

 was for the first time moved in railway cars from a Cuban 

 factory direct to a refinery in the United States. The aver- 

 age load per car was 200 bags of 325 Bb. each, so that the 

 steamer which took the cargo to Key West was fully loadtd. 

 The cargo formed a solid through train to New York. 



An attempt is made in Bulletin No. 177 of the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, University of Illinois, to arrive at 

 a definite conclusion as to the value of radium as a fertilizer. 

 Ui)on careful analysis of the known facts, radium, notwith- 

 standing its wonderful energy, is found to afford no founda- 

 tion for reasonable expectations of increased crop yields. 

 The conclusions previously drawn by investigators were not, 

 it is stated, justified by the facts presented. 



Some interesting statistics regarding the acreage under 

 cultivation of different crops in India are given in The Boar^l 

 of Track JoM»"aHor .lanuary 27. The estimates for 191.'»-16 

 of the area under croi)s are as follows: rice, 74,431,000 acres; 

 sugar-cane, 2,.508.000 acres; cotton. 16,2.53,000 acres; jute, 

 2,377,300 acres: sesamum, 3,167,000 acres; and ground nuts, 

 1,742.000 acres. The area under sugar-cane during the 

 previous two years was 2,31-5,100 acre.« in 1914-1-5, and 

 2,545,500 acres in 1913-14. 



In Tli€ Fiehl for March 25, 1916, a page is devoted to 

 a description of cotton growing in the West Indies. The 

 article constitutes a useful review and .should be helpful in 

 the way of bringing the subject before the public both at 

 home and abroad. The article is well illustrated with pictures 

 of St. Vincent and Barbados. The writer mentions the 

 useful work done by the liritish Cotton Growing Association 

 and the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies. 



The Trinidad Agricultural Credit Societies Ordinance 

 passed oil December 21, 191.5, is published in full in the 

 Bulletin 'if the Department of Agriculture of Trinitlad and 

 7't.6a,'/o, Part II, Vol. XV. 1916. As well as the Ordinance 

 itself, the various forms of agreem^-nt are also given and will 

 prove of interest throughout the West Indies, more especially 

 in St. Vincent and St. Lucia, where similar Ordinances have 

 been passed. 



Those interested in the milling of rice in Demerara and 

 Trinidad will no doubt be glad to know that the I'nited 

 States Department of Agriculture has issued a Bulletin 

 (No. 330) from the P.ureau of Plant Industry, entitled The 

 Milling of Rice and Its Mechanical and Chemical Effect upon 

 the Grain. During the process of milling, the hulls, the 

 germ, six of the bran layers and a portion of the seventh are 

 removed. Most of the information is very technical arid 

 practical, and will no doubt be found of much use to 

 anyone interested in the subject. 



The largest irrigation scheme, by pumping, in the West 

 Indies, is described and illustrated in the West India Com- 

 mittee Citcidar for April 20, I91C). This is the Vere scheme 

 in .Jamaica. The scheme entails the damming of a subterran- 

 ean river, diverting the flow for about 1 i miles in the direc- 

 tion of the various estates, and there erecting a pumping 

 station for raising the water about 70 feet, whence it is 

 conducted by concrete lined canalization, following the 

 contour of the foot hills to the existing canals supplying 

 the several plantations, a distance of about 6 miles. The 

 initial progranmic provides for raising about 850,000 gallons 

 per hour. 



The general conclusions of the Departmental Committee 

 appointed by the Hoard of Agriculture and Fisheries of 

 England and Wales to enquire into swine fever, are that the 

 coutinued prevalence of the disease appears to be due princi- 

 pally to its highly catvtagiou.< character, and the ditticulty of 

 its recognition by the pig owner in it.s earlier stages and its 

 milder forms. To this must be added the difficulty of 

 completely tracing the place of origin and a movement of pigs 

 by which the disease has been spread. The extirpation of 

 the disease is practicable only by such drastic measures of 

 slaughter as involve a pnihibitive outlay, and by such severe 

 restrictions on movement as would be fatal to the industry of 

 pic keeping. Present circumstances, therefore, do not 

 encourage the view that the extirpation of swine fever can 

 be speedily acconi[ilished. 



