Vol. XV. No. 374. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



277 



in getting their fields established; many of the fields having 

 to be planted three or four limes, and consequently nearly all 

 are irregular. A fair acreage was planted in provision crops 

 during the month, chiefiy sweet potato, cassava, and Indian 

 corn. In regard to pests, it is mentioned that cotton 

 worms attacked a few fields liut they were kept in 

 check by the prompt use of Paris green. The young 

 cotton at one estate was attacked by Lachnopus, which 

 did a fair amount of damage. The coco-nuts at Pinneys 

 ■estate and Jones were visited during the month: a fairly 

 large shipment of nuts from Pinneys was made. The 

 following plants were distributed from the Station during 

 the month: Bread and cheese seedlings 3,000, cotton seed 

 620 8)., sweet potato cuttings 9,900, cassava cuttings 1,150, 

 and 4 Bb. Indian corn. The rainfall for the month was 1454 

 inches: for the year to date 31 19 inches. 



VIRGIN I.SLANDS. Mr. Fishlock writes to say that there 

 is a considerable revival of interest in both the cane and 

 cotton industries. As regards the former, a number of small 

 new cultivations have been started, and as concerns the latter, 

 appearances at present point to a good crop. Kain fell 

 in measurable quantity on twenty- three days in the month, 

 the total precipitation being 941 inches; the average for the 

 month for the previous fifteen years was 3'93 inches. 

 The weather from the 8th to the 16th was disturbed, the 

 movements of the clouds, wind and barometer indicating the 

 passage of two distinct cyclonic disturbances to the south- 

 west of Tortola. Work in the Experiment Station at Tortola 

 was of the usual routine character. 



Demerara Government Lime Juice Factory. 

 — The Daily Argosy mail edition for August .5, 191(5, men- 

 tions the establishment of a Government factory for dealing 

 ^ith lime juice, as an accomplished fact. The plant is in 

 operation at Onderneeming, and work was started during the 

 first week in July last. A correspondent, writing to the 

 Argosy, states that the Essequebo district has been placarded 

 with posters informing farmers and others that fresh limes 

 will be bought in large or small quantities, and the people 

 •are said to be now diligently gathering all the fruit they can 

 get. and conveying it to Onderneeming. The plant, which has 

 been erected at an estimated cost of §3,100, consists of 

 a small three-roller mill, with rollers 3 feet by 12 inches driven 

 by a 3 h.p. oil engine: there are the necessary strainer-s, 

 and tubs so graded that the quantity of liquid which they 

 contain can be estimated at any time; from these the liquid 

 is pumped into a collecting vat at the top of the building, of 

 the capacity of .iOO gallons. The process of distillation 

 described is similar to that obtaining at the St. Lucia 

 Government lime juice factory. The Argosy's correspondent 

 adds that when he visited the factory, there were on hand 

 ready for .shipment 3 hhds. of concentrated lime juioe and 

 1 jar of distilled oil. 



Panama Hat Palm {Cmludovka palmata) has been 

 largely propagated during the year, about 1,000 plants having 

 been raised principally from seed. The success which has 

 attended the formation of a Panama Hat School in Surinam, 

 may possibly lead to the formation of a similar institution in 

 this colony. The plant grows very readily, more especially on 

 light land. (3n the semi-pegassy land in the North West 

 District it grows rapidly. Trials on heavy clay land such as 

 occurs on the coast-lands of the colony have not been attended 

 ■with the success obtained on lighter land. The plants when 

 growing under favourable conditions take about eight months 

 to attain a size suitable for the making of hats. 



PINE-APPLES FROM THE AZORES. 

 The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, in the issue 

 for June 23, states that St. Michael pine-apples — the raising 

 of which has for years been the principal industry of the 

 Azores — promise to follow in the wake of the Azorean 

 orange. The orange was destroyed by a parasite; the pine- 

 apple industry promises to be destroyed by over-production, 

 combined with the reduced purcha.sing capacity of Hamburg 

 and London markets since the war. In fact, the war has 

 forced ruinous prices upon the local growers, many of whom 

 are turning to different lines— some to tomato cultivation 

 and some to the orange— while others are emigrating to the 

 United States. A once tiouri.shing industry, yielding nearly 

 £200,000 a year to the people of St. ilichael, has thus come 

 to a standstill. The 1913 exports were valued at 

 £109,000, and in 1914 they had declined to £64,000. 

 According to a report by the I'nited States Consul at St. 

 Michael, the pine-apple industry of the Azores dates back to 

 1860, when it was discovered that the soil and climate of St. 

 Michael lent themselves to the production of a superior 

 fruit. Because of their size and luxuriant foliage St. 

 Michael pine-apples sold at prices reaching £1 each 

 in the early days of the industry. Now thousands are 

 engaged in pine-apple culture. The result, as stated, has been 

 over-production. When the production reached 50,000 

 cases annually, or 600,000 pine-apples, fancy pine-apple stock 

 still brought 6s. to 8s each in the London market. To-day, 

 when the production is more than 2,300,000, the producers 

 are obtaining only 6d. to 1«. M. each for their fruit. When 

 the war destroyed the European market, the local growers 

 endeavoured to dispo.se of their fruit in New York, Lisbon, 

 and Gibraltar, but nowhere with marked success. The 

 Azorean pine-apple being a high priced fruit, it was soon dis- 

 covered in New York that it could not compete with the 

 cheaper Hawaiian product. At the time when the report was 

 written, only Lisbon was buying in considerable quantities, 

 and was proving to be an unprofitable market. Growers in 

 St. Michael, it is said, were actually selling their crops at 

 2.5 to 50 per cent, below the cost of production. In former 

 years Hamburg took about 65 per cent, of the St. Michael 

 pine-apple (Oardener's Chronicle.) 



We have received a copy of a small pamphlet entitled, 

 Notes on West Indian Hurricanes, by F. H. Watkins. This 

 gives an account of the causes and origins of hurricanes, the 

 description of the course of the 1899 cyclone being of special, 

 interest. This storm formed about August 5 in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Cape Yerde Islands and finally ended its existence 

 at the mouth of the Loire, after taking thirty-.six days to com- 

 plete a trajectory around the Atlantic Ccean via the West 

 Indies and the United States of more than 1,100* miles. The 

 most useful part of the pamphlet is perhaps that dealing with 

 warnings of approaching hurricanes, and the rules for deter- 

 mining the position and direction of an approaching storm. 

 The notes would have been strengthened by the inclusion of 

 a diagram illustrating the structure and passage of hurricane.s 

 in the West Indies. 



*This figure, given in the Pamphlet, mu.st be erronenu.s: it 

 is probably intended to be 11,<X)0 miles. — .Ed, A,N. 



