60 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



February 17, 1912. 



GLEANINGS. 



The announcement is made that an International 

 Engineering ancl^ Machinery Exhibition is to be held at 

 Olympia from October 4 to 26 of this year. Information 

 concerning this exhibition may be obtained from the Exhibi- 

 tion Managers, Machine Tool and Engineering Association, 

 104 High Holborn, W.C. 



It is stated in the Bulletin of tlte Offi'-inl InltUiffence 

 Bureau, Adelaide, that the Treasurer of the State of South 

 Australia has announced the intention of the Government to 

 undertake experiments in the growing of sugar beets. These 

 are to be conducted along the banks of the River Murray, 

 and it is suggested that a large area of swamp land shall be 

 drained for intensive culture. 



The following were the chief exports from St. Vincent 

 during December last: arrowroot 348,260 B)., cacao 33,47t' R., 

 Sea Island cotton 90,625 ft>. (253 bales), cotton seed 

 114,782 ft). 



A report by H.M. Consul at'^Manila estimates the sugar 

 crop of Panay and Xegros in the Philippine Islands, for 

 1911-12, at 125,000 tons as compared with 136,250 tons in 

 the season 1910-11. 



During December 1911, the distribution from the 

 St. Lucia Botanic Station included 140 cacao plants, 100 

 lime plants, 5 budded oranges, 1 grafted mango, 36 other 

 plants, and 52 packets of seeds. 



It has been reported by H.M. Consul at Tamsui that the 

 sugar crop of Formosa was damaged to an extent that is 

 estimated at about one-third, by two very severe typhorms 

 which were experienced at the end of August last. 



The St. Lucia Gazette for .January 20, 1912, contains an 

 announcement by the Agricultural Superintendent to the 

 effect that the holdings entered for competition in the Cacao 

 Prize-holdings Scheme, in the Soufriere district, will be 

 judged after Feliruary 15, 1912. 



The distribution from the Antigua Botanic Station 

 during last month included: 139,864 cane cuttings, 444 cocoa- 

 nut plant.', 840 lime plants, 56 miscellaneous plants, 8,000 

 sweet potato cuttings, 20 packets of Tep/irosia Candida seed?-, 

 and 10 packets of miscellaneous seeds. 



A meeting of the Permanent Exhibition Committee, 

 I'ominica, was held on January 12, at which it was decided 

 not to take part in the London Fruit Show to be held in 

 March next, nor at the International Rubber Exposition, in 

 New York, on September 23 to October 3, 1912. 



The L^nited States Census Bureau at Washington reports 

 recently that the amount of starch manufactured in that 

 country during 1909 was 675,938,000 ft). The value of this 

 starch, which included all the different kinds that are com- 

 monly produced in the United States, was about £3,568,000. 



The Board of Trade Journal fox January 4, 1912, shows 

 that the imports of cotton into the United Kingdom during 

 t4ie fifty-two weeks ended December 28 was 4,321,859 bales. 

 Of this, 486,563 bales were Egyptian, 9,561 British West 

 Indian, 5,599 British West African, 26,482 Rriti.sli East 

 African, and 260 bales foreign East African. 



The report, of the Government Veterinary Surgeon, 

 St. Vincent, for December last, shows that the returns of 

 deaths among stock in the island, during the month, indicate 

 that these amounted to fifty-three. Among them, there were 

 thirteen instances where the cause of death was not ascer- 

 tained: but there was no suspicion of the presence of anthrax, 

 either in the case of these or of any of the other deaths. 



In the rroceedliKjs of the Royal Society, 1911, No. B. 

 565, p. 338, an account is given of work which has .shown 

 that one of the carriers of sleeping sickness, Glossina palpalis, 

 may become infected by feeding on natives suffering from 

 sleeping sickness, whether they were in receipt of treatment 

 by arsenic and other drugs, or not. Further it was proved 

 that such insects, under either condition, retain their power 

 of transmitting the disease. 



According to the Bulletin de I'Ojfice Colonial, June 

 1911, p. 204, the east coast of New Caledonia is specially 

 suited to the cultivation of the cocoa-nut palm. During 

 recent years this French colony has exported 7,000 tons of 

 copra per annum, and the conditions suggest that a large 

 extension of the cocoa-nut indust"'}' may well be brought 

 about. As far as is known, the bud rot of the cocoa-nut 

 palm does not axist in New Caledonia. 



In the Bulletin of the Bureau of Agricultural Intelli- 

 gence and of Plant Diseases for March 1911, an abstract is 

 given of a paper describing a fibrous plant called Caroa, 

 which grows in very large quantity in Brazil. The plant is 

 produced from a bull), and is of such rapid growth that after 

 the fibre is removed, it takes but six months to reproduce 

 a crop from 6 to 8 feet in length. It is stated that rope 

 made from the fibre has a tensile strength ten times greater 

 than similar Manila rope. One ton of fibre is obtainable 

 from 20 tons of the green plant, and a large part of the 

 wastage is said to be suitable for making paper. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture has been informed by 

 the Secretary of the British South Africa Company, that the 

 Board has come to the conclusion that, as the climate and 

 soil of Rhodesia are particularly suitable for growing oranges 

 and lemons, the time has arrived when the industry should 

 be placed under the direction and guidance of an expert in 

 citrus cultivation. Enquiries are therefore being mads for 

 candidates poss^sing practical knowledge of all the stages of 

 citrus production, from planting to the packing of the fruit 

 for export. Communications in regard to the matter should 

 be addressed to: The Secretar), the British South Africa 

 Company, 2 London Wall Buildings, E.C. 



