Vol. XV. No. 372. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



2.j3 



TRADE AND AGRICULTURE OF 

 JAMAICA, 1914-15. 



The report on the Blue ]!ook of .Jamaica for the year 

 1914-15, is issued as a supplement to the Jamaica Gazette 

 for December 2, 191-5. From this the following interesting 

 information as regards the trade and agriculture of that 

 colony during the period reviewed, is abstracted. 



The total exports for the year amounted in value to 

 £2,901,53-3, being an increase of ,£-i7-l:,326 over those of the 

 previous year, while the imports decreased by £271,626, the 

 total value being .£2,56-5,820. The year 1914 was agricul- 

 turally prolific, and notwithstanding the handicap of war 

 conditions and the competition in the island's principal fruit 

 market of a phenomenally abundant crop of home-grown fruits, 

 the domestic exports of the year actually constituted a record, 

 having been in e.xcess of those ot 1911 by upwards of 

 £22,000, when from the figures are eliminated the value of 

 re-exports. The growth of the total export trade of the 

 colony in the forty years since 1874, given in periods of ten 

 years, is shown to be as follows: — 



£. 

 1874 _ _ _ 1,442,080 

 1884 _ _ _ 1,483,989 

 1894 — — — 2,075,689 

 1904 _ _ _ 1,436725 

 1914 — — — 2,904,533 



Figures are also given showing the trend of trade, the 

 markets accepting the colony's exports in each of the years 

 specified, and the percentages falling to each, these being as 

 follows: — 



1874, 1884, 1894, 1904, 1914, 



per cent, per cent, per cent, per cent, per cent. 



United Kingdom 792 434 26-7 18-9 18-2 



Turning to agriculture, it is seen that the acreage 

 returned in 1914-15, grouped under the four main divi- 

 sions of the returns, and compared with the average of the 

 four preceding years, produces the following: — 



1914-15. Average 1910-14. 

 Acres. Acres. 



Tilled lands 273,111 271.316 



Guinea grass 172 864 148,157 



Commons 566,153 513,342 



Wood and ruinate 1,1 14,283 1,216,256 



There is thus an increase in each description of land subject- 

 ed to some sort of care and culture, wi:h consequent falling off 

 in the area returned as being in wood and ruinate. A further 

 classification of the tilled lands under the particular cultiva- 

 tion to which they are dedicated, shows that the crops and 

 areas for 1914-15 were as follows: sugar-cane, 31,727 acres; 

 coffee, 18,175 acres; coco-nuts, 29, 73 1 acres; bananas, 

 85,854 acres; cacao, 11,081 acres: ground provisions, 

 63,640 acres; mixed cultivation, 28,603 acres; minor 

 items, 4,293 acres. Compared with an average of four 

 years 1910-14 (which is given in the report), the figures show 

 that the cultivation of bananas, coco-nuts, and minor items 

 is increasing at the expense of all other staples. In this con- 

 nexion it is remarked that, last year (I'.'IS-H), it was recorded 

 that the cultivation of canes, coffee and cacao was on the 

 down grade, and the figures here given .show that the down- 

 ward tendency has not yet been arrested, canes showing 



a further decrea.se of <507 acres, coffee 4,694 acres, and cacao 

 634 acres. 



It is hoped that the very strong position of sugar in the 

 world's markets, and the favourable position of cacao, will 

 result in much more attention being given to these products 

 in the immediate future; but the indications are that coffee 

 will continue to give way to fruit-growing. The great 

 increase in the coco- nut area — 12,000 acres — is attributed to 

 the return to bearing of groves that were destroyed in the 

 hurricane of 1903, and had to be replanted. Bananas show 

 an increase of 3,790 acres over the average. Ground pro- 

 visions show a falling off of 8,421 acre.s, probably due to lands 

 being less exclusively devoted to root crops than was 

 formerly the case; and minor items exhibit an improved 

 acreage of 187 acres. 



The exports of cacao for the year achieved a record 

 both in quantity and value, similarly the export of coco-nuts. 

 The Panama disease of bananas has given some cause for 

 anxiety, owing to the difficulty in securing adequate 

 measures of quarantine annrng the small owners whose fields 

 were infected with the disease. A stringent law was there- 

 fore passed, and the staff" of Inspectors has been increased so 

 as to secure efficient control of this and other serious 

 diseases of plants. 



The variousplant nurseriesdistributed 145,000cacao plants 

 during the year, mainly to small settlers. By these agencies 

 340,000 cacao plants have been distributed to the peasantry 

 during the past three years. 



It is recorded that the staff' of the Department of 

 Agriculture has recently been strengthened by the addition 

 of an entomologist. 



The prussic acid content of sorghum receives attention 

 in a paper in the Journal of Agricultural Research for 

 May 1916. Unhealthy .sorghum plants usually contain 

 more hydrocyanic acid than healthy ones. The unhealthy 

 condition may be due to various causes, and it is thought 

 possible that under such conditions, the plant produces urore 

 glucosides for the sake of the stimulating hormones in it. 

 Adequate water-supply is usually accompanied by low, and 

 inadequate, by high, hydrocyanic acid. 



Amongst the conclusions arrived at by the officiating 

 Imperial Agriculturist of the Agricultural Research, Pusa, 

 India, in connexion with green manuring in India, is that 

 the subject requires closer investigation than it has hitherto 

 received. In particular, the place occupied by leguminous 

 food and fodder crops in the rotation appears to require 

 study, with a view to ascertaining to what extent fertility 

 is kept up by their means. The whole subject of green man- 

 uring in India will be found dealt with in Bulletin No. 56 

 of the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa. 



The best commercial method of determiuing the quality 

 of an egg is by the process of candling. This method consists 

 in holding the egg before a bright light and looking through 

 it towards the light. The egg should be held below the eye 

 thus enabling the observer to note readily the size of the air 

 cell. A Bulletin (No 353), issued by the Department of 

 Poultry, Husbandry, of the Cornell University, contains a large 

 amount of information on the interior qualities of eggs, and 

 has some very tine coloured illustrations showing the candling 

 appearance of different (|ualitie.«, and the open appearance of 

 market eggs. There appears to be a great deal of variation 

 in the quality of individual eggs, and this subject might 

 receive more attention in the West Indies. 



