Vol. XV. No. 373. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS 



265 



Onion Seed for the Leeward Islands. 



During the first week in August, the S S. 'Europa 

 arrived at Barbados from Tenerirte and landed 9-50 ft. 

 of onion seed, consigned to the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, for distribution in the Leeward Islands. 

 This large amount of seed, which is sufficient to plant 

 approximately 2-50 acres, shows the great extension in 

 onion growing that has taken place recently in Antigua 

 and elsewhere. The growth of this industry has 

 largely been the result of the activities of the Antigua 

 Onion Growers' Association, the organization of which 

 has been referred to on frequent occasions in this 

 Journal. 



Exports from Dominica, 1915. 



A statementof the imports and exports of Dominica 

 during 1915 discloses that the value of the lime 

 products exported was £170,65.5, compared with 

 £149,018 in 1914, and £142,431 in 1913. An analysis 

 of the first total given shows it to be composed of the 

 following items: raw lime juice, £55,276; concentrated 

 lime )uice, £53,4(39; lime juice cordial, £891: green 

 limes* £48,026: pickled limes, £524; lime oils, £12,469. 

 Other figures that may be noted are coco-nuts, the 

 exports of which were worth £1,582; cacao £39,.301; 

 Bay leaves, £423; and Bay oil, £387. 



The great proportion of these products was 

 taken by the United Kingdom. 



Returns from Different Cane Varieties in 



Demerara. 



The Daily Argosy (Demerara) for Saturday 

 July 22, contains an interesting report showing the 

 results of the cultivation of the principal varieties of 

 sugar-cane crops of 1915, on not less than five planta- 

 tions, and on areas of over 20 acres of the variety. The 

 greatest (juantity of sugar per acre was given by Green 

 Transparent, namely, 2 03 tons: this is followed by 

 D.118, which gave, on an average, 1-98 tons sugar per 

 acre; then by D.185, D. 419 and D.625. The Barbados 

 varieties and the Bourbon come low down in the list. 

 B. 208, for instance, gave on an average only 1-52 tons 

 of sugar per acre. This variety is bracketed with 

 D. 109. The report under notice also gives the areas 

 under the principal varieties of cane in 1915 and 1916. 

 The variety D. 625 is by far the most popular variety 

 in Demerara, though B. 208 and Bourbon occupy very 

 considerable areas. This appears rather curious, consider- 

 ing their yield of sugar per acre is below that of many 

 other varieties.. A decrease in 1916, however, is indica- 

 ted in the case of B. 208. On the other hand, there 

 ■was an increase in the area under Bourbon. As regards 

 the area under other crops, a large decrease is indica- 

 ted for maize and ground provisions, while considerable 

 increases have occurred in regard to the areas under 

 rice, coco-nuts, coffee and limes. 



at on the use of coco-nut cake as a food suitable for beef 

 production on aftermath or other grazing. 



Since the outbreak of war, the shortage of linsee(f 

 and cotton cakes has caused the stock-feeder in the 

 United Kingdom to turn his attention to feeding stuffs 

 which were somewhat unfamiliar to him. Of these 

 coco-nut, ground-nut, and palm-nut kernel oakes are 

 now well-known examples. Recent work has demon- 

 strated the value ot coco-nut cake for milk production, 

 but no information was available as to the value of 

 coco-nut cake as a food for beef production in combina- 

 tion with grass. Hence, as is indicated above, a field 

 trial was conducted last j^ear on the farm belonging to 

 the Cambridge University School of Agi'iculture, with 

 a view to getting evidence on this point. The beasts 

 used for trial, fourteen in number, were Here fords, or 

 of Hereford type, this type of animal being chosen in 

 consequence of the belief that they would be more 

 fastidious about cake than some of the other breeds. 

 The trials consisted of feeding on grass without cake; 

 cake feeding, including coco-nut cake, on grass; cake 

 feeding, without coco-nut cake, on grass. Tables are 

 given showing the results. Following are the conclu- 

 sions arrived at: — 



(1) These trials appear to show that coco-nut cake 

 when suitable in price, is useful, if j udiciously used, for 

 feeding to bullocks on grass; but that it is not very 

 palatable, and so should be gradually introduced into 

 a mixture of more pleasing foods. 



(2) The writers are inclined to advise restricting 

 the amount to 50 per cent, of the concentrated ration. 

 They further think it should be fed with something 

 rather binding, such as cotton cake. 



(3) It is believed that without some such food as 

 linseed cake, which is known to be much liked by cattle, 

 much waste would take place, as it seems that when 

 coco-nut cake is fed the abundant crumb which is 

 formed is only eaten when mixed with something very 

 tempting, .sucli as linseed cake dust. 



(4) It is the writers' opinion that the ration to 

 work up to is a daily ration of 4 ft. of a mixture 3 parts 

 of coco-nut cake, 3 parts of cotton cake, and 2 parts of 

 linseed cake. 



A foot note is added in reference to (3), to the 

 effect that subsequent to these trials, cattle have 

 repeatedly been found to eat freely a mixture of coco- 

 nut cake and ground-nut cake. 



Feeding Coco-nut Cake on Grass. 



The Journal oftlie Board of Agricaltare (England) 

 for May 191(i, publishes details and conclusions arrived 



Vomiting Sickness. 



An important paper appears in the Annals of 

 Tropical Medicine and Parasitnology (issued by the 

 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) on 'vomitings 

 sickness' in Jamaica. Investigations have shown that 

 the majority of cases in which a reliable history, con- 

 cerning this fatal disease, was obtainable, akees (the 

 fruit of 5i/'<7/aa sapi(7a) formed part of the last meal 

 taken in health, and that this article of food could not 

 be excluded in a single case. Administration of an 

 extract of akees produced typical symptoms of the 

 disease in three kittens and one pup. In the paper 

 nothing is said as to the probable nature of the 

 poisonous principle, from the chemical stand-point. 



