ISS 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 3, 1916. 



The sugar crops and exports in regard to Brazil are 

 dealt with in a note in The Board of Trade Journal for 

 February 17, 1916. The sugar crop for 1914-15 amounted 

 to 716,000 bags of sdgar, of which by far the largest amount 

 was sent to the United Kingdom, being another example of 

 the great demand for cane sugar during the past year. The 

 crop for 1915-1 fi is expected to be a late one, and smaller 

 than the previous crop. 



GLEANINGS. 



Volume VII, Part -3, of the Journal of A>iricvltural 

 Science, contains a series of important papers by Kothamsted 

 investigators on the formation and translocation of carbohy- 

 drates in plants. These are of great chemical interest, and 

 will prove useful to investigators interested in the subjects 

 ■dealt with. 



A review of a book called 'The Tropics', by C. 1! Enoch, 

 appears in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for 

 March 24, 1916. This is described as containing a great 

 aniount of information, carefully put together, and as being 

 rich in suggesitons as to the further development of the 

 various countries described. 



Id regard to the amount of efiective arsenic in cattle 

 dip, it is stated in the Rhodesia Agricidtural Journal for 

 December 1915, that in calculating the strength of a dip 

 half the arsenate of soda has to be deducted, since this 

 substance haS; as far as present knowledge goes, onl,\- half 

 the quick killing power of arsenite. 



A useful table showing the digestible food units and 

 prices of feeding stutt's is to be found in the Journal of the 

 Jloard of Afjrirulture (EngUnd) ior March 1916. This list 

 contains most of the principal tropical feeding stuifs like 

 coco-nut cake, palm nut kernel cake, ground nut cake, 

 rice meal, and cotton seed meal. Palm nut kernel cake 

 appears to be one of the cheapest feeding .stutt's, but its dige 

 tible food units are low, namely 90'5 compared with 145 ' 

 ground nnt cake, which is one of the highest. 



for 



I'seful iulorniation as to the principal cultivations in 

 the different wards of Trinidad is contained in Council 

 Paper No. 9 of 1910. In Arima, cacao is the chief staple, 

 with cotfee and some rubber. In C'ouva, sugar-cane is 

 principally grown. Sangre Grande is well known for its 

 cacao, though rubber is rapidly increasing, (.'acao is the 

 cheaf cro}) in Montserrat as it is also in Oropuche and 

 T.rt Brea. In Napaiinia there i> Kliout an equal area ^^nd^M 

 cane and cuca<i. 



It is reported in the Australian Sn/jar Journal for 

 March 9, 1916, that the Queensland sugar crop for 1916 

 has been estimated by the General Superintendent of the 

 Bureau of Sugar E.xperiment Stations at about 180,000 tons, 

 provided the remainder of the growing .season is favourable. 

 This would be considerably in excess of last year, when 

 a drought occurred, but would fall far short of the crop for 

 the record year of 1913. Exact figures will be available 

 in .luly next. 



The Agricultural Experiment Station at the Kansas 

 State Agricultural College has issued a Bulletin (No. 205) on 

 corn growning. This deals, amongst other matters, with the 

 respective tnerits of the two methods of cultivation, namely, 

 listing, and surface planting. The former is adapted to 

 regions having limited rainfall and light types of soil. The 

 latter is adapted for conditions tending towards an oppo.site 

 extreme. The bulletin contains, as well, useful notes on the 

 storage of corn, and on insect pests of this crop. 



An interesting article on cloves, their history and dis- 

 tribution, appears in the Perfumery ami Essential Oil 

 Rerord for January 1915. It appears that the French have 

 done much in order to introduce this tree into different parts 

 of the tropics. They carried it to Mauritius and to their 

 western colony of Cayenne. It is not generally known that 

 the French have successfully introduced cloves into the 

 French Congo, where the tree flourishes in several places in 

 the Gaboon. It appears that the tree has not flourished in. 

 (_'ayenne. 



Breeders of ducks in the West Indies should procure 

 a copy of Farmers Bulletin, No. 697, issued by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. This deals with the 

 difterent asjjects of duck raising, selection and methods of 

 feeding receiving special consideration. As is well known, 

 ducks may be fed on the rations recommended for fowls and 

 chickens, but better results are usually secured by feeding 

 more green and vegetable feeds and a larger proportion of 

 mash. The bulletin is well illustrated to .show the different 

 breeds of ducks and the dittercnt kinds of houses for keeping 

 them in. 



The war and its relation to rubber planting was dealt 

 with in an interesting article in the Iiidii Rubber Journal 

 for February 5, 1916, It is stated in this that the supply 

 of plantation rubber will be more than doubled within the 

 next five years. Ai regards demand, it is thought that this 

 will remain steady, the big war demands being niore or less 

 conterbaUnced by the reduced luxury demand. Another 

 article in the same journal for .lanuary 22, deals with rubber 

 production and prices in 1915. Figures show that the 

 world's total production in 1915 was 146,000 tons, compared 

 with 80,000 tons in 1910, 



