Vol. XV. No. 379. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



361 



significance, namely, to make the Empire as self- 

 supporting as possible in regard to the development 

 and utilization of raw materials. Science is needed 

 in the internal work of the estfiblishment, and it may 

 be assumed that increased provision for this is included 

 in the new scheme, 'i'here is no doubt that the 

 Imperial Institute will find itself in closer contact with 

 the Colonies and Dominions than waspreviously the case. 



An Interesting Expedition. 



An interesting announcement is made in the 

 Inventory of Seeds and Plants imported by the United 

 States Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction 

 during October to December 1913. An expedition 

 leit Washington to make a careful survey of the navel 

 orange region around Bahia, and also study of orange 

 growing around Rio de Janeiro. Its object was to find, 

 if possible, the origin of the Bahia navel orange, and to 

 discover strains of this remarkable orange which might 

 prove more productive or better in other respects than 

 varieties which have originated in California from the 

 cuttings introduced into North America in 1870. In 

 addition to securing bud wood of promising strains of 

 this orange which haveoriginatedin Bahia through bud 

 variation, the expedition secured the stocks upon 

 ■which the navel orange is grown in its own home. 

 Strong evidence was also found that the Bahia navel 

 originated, probably in Bahia itself, as a bud sport from 

 the Selecta orange, which has been grown there since 

 the earliest days of orange culture in Brazil. 



Egyptian Sheep. 



In the West Indies sheep-breeding has been and 

 is carried on chiefly with a view to the production 

 of mutton, the animal principally grown being the 

 hairy or woolless breed, and the quality of the meat is 

 recognized as excellent. In other warm countries sheep 

 are not exclusively bred for mutton, as appears to be the 

 oase in Egypt, for instance. 



The Bulletin of the Imperial Institute (Vol. XH', 

 No. 2. April- June 1916) contains an interesting note 

 on Egyptian sheep, from which it appears that, 

 although sheep-breeding cannot be said to bean impor- 

 tant industry in Egypt, yet the animals occur in fair 

 numbers in parts of the country. Three breeds of sheep 

 are found in Upper Egypt, viz. Saidi, Ebeidi, and Sana- 

 bawi. In Lower Egypt also three breeds occur. These 

 are the Ooseemi or Merais, rellahi.,and Rahmani. The 

 advantageous conditions of feeding render it possible 

 for the Fellahi ewes to be milked for the manufacture 

 of cheese and butter. The wool is similar to that of 

 the Saidi, being black, long, and silky, with a good 

 deal of gi'ease. A sample of skin wool of this breed 

 ■was priced in Liverpool at 134cZ.-14|c?. per lb The 

 IRahmani, originally imported from Syria, is found 



throughout the north of Beheira and Gharbia. The 

 grazing ground here is good, and Rahmani mutton 

 is consequently of excellent quality, being brighter in 

 appearance than that of Ebeidi, but not so fat. 



A breed of sheep found in the Barqa District of 

 eastern Tripoli and knqwn as the Darnawi, Gharbawi, 

 or Barquei, occurs along the ^lariut coast-line of north- 

 west Egypt. These sheep are well fed and the ewes 

 are milked, whilst the quality of the meat, especially 

 that of the lambs, is excellent. 



Sudanese sheep occasionally come into the Egyp- 

 tian market. They can be recognized by their greater 

 size and absence of true wool, their covering consisting 

 merely of short hairs of no value. The skins, however, 

 are of good quality, and are in demand for export. 



An account of the method of preparing Egyptian 

 hides and skins is given by Mohammed Askar Effendi 

 in Agric. Journ. Egypt (191.5, .5, 81). The principal 

 tanning material used is sant pods {Acacia arahica), 

 the best of which are stated to be brought from the 

 Sudan. 



Peasant Instruction in Grenada. 



In the monthly reports of the Agricultural 

 Instructors, Grenada, for September 1916, recently 

 forwarded to this Office, it is stated that 133 peasants' 

 holdings were visited in the parishes of St. David's (97), 

 St. Andrew's (10), and St. Patrick's (26). All were 

 competitors in the Prize Holdings Competition. The 

 work down on the majority of these holdings is reported 

 to be of a high staqdard. and superior to the average 

 work done on the best worked estates in the island. 

 Pen manure has been applied this year on all but five 

 of these holdings, and it is noteworthy that in the 

 parish of St. David's, mulching with material from 

 outside the holding was done on almost all the lots. 

 The most satisfiictory feature of the work done during 

 the year on these huldings is the draining of the land. 

 This line of work has shown very satisfactorj- progress, 

 and it may now be said that the peasants are realizing 

 the value of draining their cacao fields properly. 

 Progress of vvork on the experiment plots at Morne 

 Rouge, Westerhall, St. Cyr Mountain, and Mt. Pleasant, 

 (.'arriacou, is also reported as satisfactory. In St. 

 George's parish (39), St. Marks (17), and St John's (75), 

 making a total of 131 peasants' holdings that were 

 visited in addition to the above. By far the gi'eater 

 number of these visits consisted in the judging of 

 gardens (provisions) entered for competition in the Prize 

 Holdings Scheme. Some good work was presented for 

 competition, but in some cases, the work was of rather 

 an indififerent kind. 



On the whole, it may be stated that the increased 

 amount of instruction work in Grenada is producing 

 very gratifying results. 



