Vol. XI. No. 260. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



12:i 



TRADE AND AGRICULTURE OF 

 GRENADA, 1910. 



The following information concerning the trade 

 and agriculture of Grenada, 1910, is taken from Colo- 

 nial Rej)orts — Annual, No. 701, issued recently: — 



The value of the three principal products of the Colony 

 exported in 1909 and 1910 is given hereunder: — 



1909, 1910, 



£ £• 



Cacao 248,39.s 2.59,365 



Nutmegs and mace 18,135 17,872 



Cotton and cotton seed 8,971 8,019 



The record cacao crop of the Colony, "7 3, 863 bags, \va.s 

 reaped in the year ended September 30, J910, being 6,53+ 

 bags more than in 1909, which was the largest reaped, at that 

 date. Prices, howeter, remained pretty much the same as in 

 the previous j-ear, viz: about 51 <. to 54s. M. per cwt., so that 

 the fullest advantage was not realized from this fine output. 

 The heavy exports of cacao from fiuayaquil and Africa affect 

 the market prices considerably nowadays. 



The nutmeg crop again fell off this 'year, only 6,229 

 barrels and 306 half-barrels being exported in the year ended 

 September 30, as compared with 6,740 barrels and 346 half- 

 barrels in the preceding year; prices also continued unsatis- 

 factory. 



The cotton crop of Carriacou was less than in 1909, 

 2,370 cwt. being exported in the calendar year 1910, as 

 compared with 2,888 cwt, in the preceding year. All of 

 this went to the Ignited Kingdom, but the direction of the 

 cotton seed exported underwent a change in the year under 

 review, £1,440 of the total of £2,221, in value, going to 

 Barbados, where it was purchased by the Cotton Company 

 of that island; the balance went to the United Kingdom. 



The dependency of Carriacou continues to flourish under 

 the stimulus applied to it since 1903 by Ihe Land Settlement 

 Scheme, and the concomitant improved administration. 

 Those who visit the place after an interval of years are 

 surprised to notice the immense change for the better which 

 has taken place In his latest Annual libport the Commis- 

 sioner of the district writes as follows: — 



' In past reports comment has been frequently made on 

 the remarkable transformation which has taken place within 

 -a few years in the general tone and prosperity of this interest- 

 ing dependency. This happy result is so entirely the outcome 

 of the Land Scheme that it may not be out of place my again 

 drawing attention to the fact.' 



Of the amount originally advanced from Colonial Funds 

 ito finance the scheme, viz. £8,450, all but £1,768 had been 

 repaid at March 31, 1911. 



A commencement was made in the island of Grenada 

 with a similar scheme in 1910. An estate called Morne Kouge, 

 in the south of the island, near to the principal town, which 

 had been escheated to the Crown some time ago, was surveyed 

 into lots, and preliminary details settled, but the actual allot- 

 ment to purchasers was not made until 1911. Beyond men- 

 tioning that at the date of this report the lots have all been 

 ■taken up, and that the scheme is making satisfactory progress, 

 other details must be left to the report for the current year. 



The attention of progressive agriculturists in the Colony 

 is being more and more directed to the exploitation of other 

 staple products than those now existing. In Carriacou, as 

 -was pointed out in the Annual Report ior 1908 (see P.eport 

 for that year— No. 628) an important lime industry is being 

 established, and in the current year the first shipment of juice 



has been made. In Grenada, rubber cultivation is extending. 

 At first CastiUoa 'lastira was introduced, but of late j-ears 

 Hevea has taken its place; and in the current year a large 

 importation of seeds from Ceylon has been undertaken by the 

 Board of Agriculture. 



This Board, which was inaugurated in 1909 (see Report 

 for that year — No. 658), did excellent work in 1910, both of 

 an active nature and as preparatory to further expansion in 

 the future. The local Department of Agriculture, under its 

 control, and in close as.sociation with the Imperial Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, gives promise of fulfilling the object for 

 which it was designed. Its affiliation with the Imperial De- 

 partment is proving to be of the greatest assistance in its 

 practical work, and the ready and courteous co-operation of 

 the present head of that Department is an asset of much 

 value to its existence and usefulness. 



Forty-one thousand four hundred and eighteen gallons 

 of rum were manufactured in 1910, being 745 gallons more 

 than in 1909. 



THE JAMAICA CANDLE-WOOD TREE. 



Interesting information concerning this plant is 

 given in the Journal of the New Voi-k Botanical 

 Garden for February 1912: — 



Among some of the rare and little-known species 

 brought from the West Indies by the various expeditions of 

 the Garden, and installed in the living plant collections are 

 a number of specimens of the .Jamaica candle-wood (Pelio- 

 sligmn pte/eoides), one of which Howered at the Conservatory 

 Range 2, on .January 6. 1912. This plant, a member of the 

 Rue family, was discovered on the Santa Cruz Mountains, 

 Jamaica, by William Purdie in 1844, who was making 

 a botanical collection for the Royal tiardens at Kew, and 

 plants grown from seed collected by him flowered there in 

 February 1849. In his Loiies Plantarum, Sir William 

 Hooker described and figured this new plant under the name 

 of Pn'hystigina pteleoixles. As the name Pachystigma had 

 been used for a South African genus in the Madder family. 

 Hooker's plant was renamed two year.s later by Walpers as 

 PeltdSti'imd pteleoides. Subsequent collectors in Jamaica 

 failed to find this species until its rediscovery, after a long 

 search, by Dr. N. L. Britton and Mr. William Harris in 

 September 1907, on a wooded hill at Potsdam, on the Santa 

 Cruz Mountains, probably the original locality, at about 

 2,600 feet elevation. The trees were in young fruit at the 

 time of their visit, and numerous seedlings were obtained 

 from which the specimens at the garden were grown. 



The Jamaica candle-wood, or ptelea leaved Peltostignia 

 i.s a slender tree, sometimes attaining a height of 8 metres. 

 The leaves are alternate, the dark-green leaflets usually three, 

 and closely resemble those of the hop-tree, Ptelea trifotiahi, 

 a native of the United States, sometimes grown in our park*. 

 The flowers are an inch or more in diameter and sweet- 

 scented, with the petals of a creamy white and nearly equal, 

 and the sepals deciduous and unequal, the interior ones large 

 and somewhat petal-like, the outer smaller. The stamens are 

 numerous and inserted on a thick, fleshy disc, and the ovarj- 

 is covered with short hairs giving it a velvety appearance. 

 This species appears from the history of the living material 

 at Kew and here to flower when at the age of five years. 



Herbarium specimens from Southern Mexico and 

 Guatemala from altitudes up to 5,500 feet appear identical 

 with the Jamaica plant. 



