Vol. XI No 262 



TUK AOKlCtrLTURAL XKWS 



151 



AQBIGULTURE IN TRINIDAD, 1910-11. 



CACAO. The exports of cacao continue to increase in 

 quantity, 57,858,640 B)., of the value of £1,230,097, having 

 been exported during the year ending liecember 31, 1910. 

 The manurial experiments at Kiver Estatejjiave l>een con- 

 tinued, and also on private estates in different parts of the 

 Colony. It is too early yet to draw conclusions. Spraying 

 experiments, conducted by the Board of Agriculture, indicate 

 a profit over the cost of the spraying. Diseases of cacao, fortun- 

 ately not very serious, have continued to receive careful 

 attention. To promote better methods amongst small growers, 

 a Cacao Prize Competition [see Ayrkultural Sens, February 

 17, 1912, p. 53] has been arranged, and is expected to pro- 

 duce useful results; the number of entries, 430, was much 

 larger than was anticipated. 



SUGAR. The exports during 1910 amounted to 46,2-tS 

 tons — an increase of slightly under 1,000 tons over those of 

 1909, Special attention has again been devoted to the study 

 of the froghopper, which is a destructive insect pest. In 

 addition to the local officers, an entomological expert from 

 England, specially engaged by a grou[) of proprietors, has 

 conducted investigations. The pest, however, is one which 

 is very difficult to cope with, and no certain and practical 

 method of eradicating it has yet been discovered. 



coco-NUT.s. The cultivation of this tree is being extended 

 in certain districts of both Trinidad and Tobago. Disease.^, 

 as in other parts of the world, have caused some difficulty, 

 but care is being taken to keep them in check. The exports 

 during 1910 amounted to 18,872,962 nuts, 2,046,621 It) of 

 copra, and some oil, making a total value of £86,823. 



RUBBER. This product continues to receive much atten- 

 tion. Large supplies of Castilloa and Funtumia seeds are 

 available locally, as also moderate .supplies of Hevea seeds 

 from local trees. Experiments in tapping and preparing 

 rubber have been continued by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and planters in Tobago are making marked advances. 

 Trees of both Castilloa and Hevea rubber give normal yields; 

 of Funtumia but little is known at present; 7,376 h. of 

 rubber, valued at £1,395, was exported. 



RICE. This industry continue.-* as hitherto in the hands 

 of small growers, the majority of whom are East Indians, 

 who mostly produce for their own use. 



BANANAS AND OTHER FRUIT. The experiments conducted 

 by the Department of Agriculture on the Government Eattte, 

 St. Augustine, continue to demonstrate the profitable use of 

 pen manures. The disease which earlier threatened the 

 banana cultivation has been largely reduced by rotation of 

 crops. At St. Augustine the expenses of the banana cultiva- 

 tion were £1,092 (including rent charges, etc.), and the 

 receipts £1,647. The profits would have been greater, but 

 3,500 bunches were lost during the disorganization of the 

 mail service. The total shipments of fruit from the Colony 

 amounted to £19,9.")2. 



AORicuLTUR.AL SHOWS. One successful show was held 

 during the year. ^ 



GOVERNMENT FARMS. The Farm in Trinidad has been 

 enriched during the year by the importation of Guernsey, 

 Jersey, Shorthorn and Gujarati cattle, a hackney mare and 

 pigs. The stallions, etc., continue to be in good demand. 



The future of the Tobago farm has formed the subject 

 of investigation by a committee, which has recommended 

 limiting it to a stud farm. A shorthorn' bull, pigs and 

 poultry have been imported. 



RIVER EST.VTE. This estate, managed by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and used for experimen^l work, has had 

 a successful year. The crop was the largest on record; the 



expenses were £1,312 (including £654 capital charges) and 

 the receipts £1,585. 



INFLUENCE OF BOTANIC .STATIONS ON MINOR INDUSTRIES. 



One important means of encouraging minor industries is by 

 the distribution, at reasonable rates, of good plants and seeds. 

 During the year there has been a check in this direction 

 owing to other views having been held previously, with con- 

 sequent diminution in the nursery stock available. However, 

 60,484 plants were distributed (by sale, exchange or gratis) 

 including in order of numbers: cacao, sugarcane, sisal hemp, 

 timber trees, fruits, rubber, coffee. In addition large num- 

 bers of seeds were disposed of. Seed of hybrid cotton 

 and tobacco, raised in Tobago for the Department of Agri- 

 culture, are being distributed free from the Botanic Stations. 

 Grafted mangoes and other high-class fruits are prepared. 

 In addition, the officers of the stations maintain touch, as far 

 as is practicable, with the cultivators, and give advice when 

 desired. Rubber tappers are being trained to be available on 

 estates. (Colonial Reports — Annual, No. 699.) 



PARTIAL STERILIZATION AND FERTILITY, 

 The effect of partial sterilization in increasing the 

 fertility of soils has received attention in several issues 

 of the Agricultural News, as for instance, in Vol. IX, 

 pp. 3:1 and 107, and in the last issue, on p. 131. Further 

 experiments, having for their object the investigation 

 of partial sterilization on the activity of nitrogen fix- 

 ing bacteria in artificial culture, are thus described 

 shortly on pp. 14 and 1.5 of Bulletin No. 113 of the 

 Pennsylvania Slate College Agricultural Experiment 

 Station: — 



It has been noted by many observers that the treatment 

 of the .soil by ether, chloroform, carbon bisulphide, and other 

 antiseptics that are capable of sterilizing it more or less com- 

 pletely, is followed, at least after a short time, by increased 

 vigour of crop growth, similar to that produced by a dressing 

 of nitrate of soda. 



Two theories have been advanced to account for this 

 effect: one, that the antiseptic kills the organi.sms hostile to 

 the useful soil bacteria, and thus favours their highest devel- 

 opment and effect; the other, that these antiseptics directly 

 stimulate the plant itself. 



In the course of an extensive study of the bacterial flora 

 of a General Fertilizer Series, G. C. Given compared the 

 amounts of nitrification in different portions of a culture 

 medium, severally inoculated from the soils of various plots. 

 Of these inoculated media, some were partially sterilized 

 by heating in an autoclave for five minutes, at a pressure of 

 17 &. to the square inch, corresponding to a temperature of 

 254" F.;the remainder were left without such modifying treat- 

 ment before incubation. .- At the end of an incubating period 

 of thirty days, it was found that the partially steriliz-.-d cul- 

 tures had produced from 1"6 to 29 times as much niliic acid 

 as the corresponding unsterilized cultures; or an aver.ige of 

 twice as much from the soils of five plots representing as 

 many different fertilizer treatments. 



These results show that the resistant nitrifying bacteria 

 of these soils have been far more active after partial steriliza- 

 tion of the inoculated culture media^ and support the former 

 of the two theories above .stated. In partial sterilization, 

 either by heat 01 by aid of antiseptics, greenhouse men have 

 the means tor diminishing the activity of certain injurious 

 organisms, and for increasing that of other helpful agents. 



