108 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March 30, 1912. 



It is estimated by the Government Statistician of 

 Queensland that 0§ ^rea of sugarcane cut Ijy 1912 will be 

 96,3'JG acres, yiel3Tng l,56i,993 tons of cane. The quantity 

 of sugar is expected to be 17C.076 tons; this, as is pointed 

 out in the Australian Si'iai' Journal ior January 11, 1912, 

 has been exceeded on three previous occasions, namely in 1 906 

 with 184.377 tons, 1907 with 188,307 tons, and 1910 with. 

 210,7.56 tons. 



GLEANINGS. 



The cabled particulars, subject to correction, issued by 

 the Colonial Secretary of the Gold Coast Colony show that the 

 exports of cacao during 1911 w-ere 89,61.5,241 D)., valued at 

 £1,622,424. The similar figures for 1910 were 51,691,810 fc. 

 and £875,352. 



The shipments of cacao from Trinidad during the month 

 of January 1912 are given in the Procetdinqs of the Agricul- 

 tural Society of Trinidad and I'oUvjn for January and Febru- 

 ary 1912, as 10,757,066 fc. The output for the same period 

 of last year was 5,848,611 B). 



The plants distributed from the St. Lucia Botanic 

 Station during last month amounted to 1,713, and included 

 limes 1,000, cacao 613, and nutmegs 50 There were also 

 sent out 1,500 Liberian coffee berries, 102 packets of seed 

 and 2 bushels of horse beans. 



'ihe E.tperiraoit Station Jiecord,Yo\. XXV, p. 577, gives 

 attention to a paper in which the results are described of 

 ji chemical and physical analysis of the butter, body fat, and 

 lard oljtained from animals that have been fed on cotton seed 

 products. The investigations showed that cotton seed oil 

 vas present in practically all of these. 



The Government Gazette oiihe TedetAled ^Malay States 

 iov January 19, 1912, shows that the exports of cultivated rub- 

 ber from those States during 1911 amounted to 19,695,330 lb.; 

 <luring the previous year they were 12,212,526 B). The 

 .'ihipments for December 1911 were 2,147,859 R)., as com- 

 pared with 1,234,669 fb. for December 1910. 



Reports from the Virgin Islands show that the cotton 

 crop of this season is very late, the reason being the con- 

 ditions of drought that existed during last year: cotton was 

 still coming freely to the ginnery during last month. The 

 condition of the sugar canes is mostly poor. A fair crop of 

 limes was being reaped in the month mentioned, and the 

 trees had improved. 



In a short note on the United States census statistics- 

 for 1909, the Jfodern Sugar Planter for February 10, 1912, 

 states that, notwithstanding the great losses from storms 

 during that season, the amount of sugar produced on planta- 

 tions in Louisiana was 325,497 tons. In the sime year the 

 molasses manufactured amounted to 942,997 gallons, the 

 rotal sugar products, including refined sugar, being valued at 

 .S63,775,000. 



A final forecast of the sugar-cane crop of Eastern Bengal 

 and Assam for 1911-12 shows that the total estimate for the 

 province is 179,300 acres, as against 181,-300 acres in the 

 previous season. The area in this district represents some 

 81 per cent, of the total area under sugar-cane in British 

 India. As regards outturn, the estimates average 89 per 

 cent, of a rorm^l yield, but in several cases they are too low. 



Cotton cultivation has been newly introduced into the re- 

 public of San Domingo, and according to the Journal of the 

 Royal Society of Arts for February 23, 1912, the success that 

 has accompanied the introduction has led many of the more im- 

 portant agriculturists to take it up in the place of less re- 

 munerative crops, and this movement has been aided by failure 

 in the tobacco crop. The variety of cotton grown is said to 

 be Sea Island mixed with an indigenous kind. 



The account of seeds and plants imported into the 

 United States, contained in Bulletin No. 233 of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry of that country, which deals with the 

 ]>eriod January 1 to March 31, 1911, and was issued on 

 February 20, 1912, gives a short description of a variety of 

 date received from Tunis, and known as Menakher. This is 

 stated to be a large fruit of good quality and excellent 

 flavour, known only from the Jerid Oases in Tunis, where it 

 has become extremely rare. It is intended to propagate 

 the variety in the South West of the United States. 



The Gardener's Chronicle for February 24, 1912 mentions 

 experiments described in Le Jnrdin, in which potato:s were 

 found to be superior, for use in the grafting of the grape vine, 

 to any form of grafting clay wax. In actual practice, after 

 the surfaces of the stock and scion, which should be of about 

 the same diameter, have been prepared for grafting, a hole of 

 the proper size is cut in the potato and this is slipped over the 

 stock, the scion being then placed in position and the potato 

 drawn up and secured in such a way as to surround the graft. 

 The method is said to have been particularly successful 

 during hot and dry weather. 



At a recent special meeting of the Bubber Growers' 

 Association, held at the London Chamber of Commerce, it 

 was decided to present to the forthcoming International 

 llubber Exposition a series of gold, silver and bronze medals- 

 for free competition among all rubber exhibitors at the ex- 

 hibition. The samples submitted must be of a commmercial 

 nature, weighing at least 1 cwt , and* any one exhibitor may 

 enter more than one sample for exhibition. The latest tinae 

 for entries is August 1, and these must be made to Mr. A. 

 Staines Manders, Grand Central Palace, 4:6th to 47th Streets^ 

 Lexington Avenue, New York. 



