l1-2 



THE AGKICULTDRAL NEWS. 



May 25, 1912. 



GLEANINGS. 



The amount of cotton shipped from Antigua up to the 

 end of April was about 42,400 lb. Indications existed that 

 the area of cotton planted will be somewhat largely increased 

 during the coming season. 



A note in the Board of Trade JoM-nal for February 29, 

 1912, states that, although the rice crop of 1911, in .Japan, 

 was considerably below the estimates, it was, however, 10 7 

 percent, above the 1910 crop, and 52 per cent, greater than 

 the normal crop. 



By the end of last month, lands were being prepared on 

 a few estates in St Vincent for cotton-planting; harvesting 

 was practically completed. Cotton seed for planting pur- 

 poses was, in the usual course, being selected and disinfected 

 at the Central Cotton Ginnery. 



The Proceedings of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad 

 and Tobago tor April 1912 .shows that the total amount of 

 cacao shipped from Trinidad during that month was 

 6,291,709 ft. The total export of cacao from the island for 

 the first four months in the year was 30,702,105 ft. 



The United States Vice Consul General at Buenos Ayres 

 reports that the first cotton growing colony has been formed 

 in Argentina. A large area of land has been set apart for 

 the purpose, and it is the intention to subdivide this into 

 small farms of 125 to 250 acres, and to oflfer these to immi- 

 grants remaining in the country, on the distinct condition 

 that no other plant than cotton shall be cultivated on them 

 as a main crop. 



A report received from the Director General of Agricul- 

 ture in Egypt shows that, early last month, the temperature 

 was favourable to cotton-growing, and that sowing was gen- 

 erally ten days earlier than in the previous year, 75 per cent. 

 of the crop having been planted. Germination and growth 

 were good; a few attacks of sore shin had been reported. 



Information received from Antigua as to the agricultural 

 conditions during last month shows that drought was still 

 being experienced. The condition of the young cane crop was 

 fair, considering the lack of rain. The plantations of young 

 coco-nut palms were standing the drought well, and this was 

 being resisted fairly successfully in the lime cultivations. 



The trend of some of the chief agricultural interest in 

 St. Lucia is shown by the fact that there continued to be 

 a fairly large distribution of lime plants, by the Agricultural 

 Department, during last month, the number being 1,850. In 

 addition to these, there were .sent out: cacao plants 300, yams 

 500 ft., corn seed 2 gallons, horse beans 1 gallon, vegetable 

 seeds 29 packets. 



A note in the Demerara Daily Argosy Mail Edition of 

 April 27, 1912, states that, in connexion with the severe 

 drought that is being suffered in the Colony, cane pests are 

 very prevalent, especially the smaller moth borer, which is 

 doing extensive damage. The statement is made that as 

 many as two million caterpillars of this pest have been collected 

 and destroyed on one estate since the beginning of the year. 



At a recent meeting of the Demerara Permanent Exhibi- 

 tions Committee, it was decided that, owing to the severe 

 drought, it would not be expedient for the Colony to be repre- 

 sented at the forthcoming International Rubber Exhibition, 

 owing to the impossibility of making a collection of exhibits 

 that would be serviceable and representative of the Colony's 

 resources. It is hoped, however, that arrangements will be 

 made for the distribution at the exhibition of literature pre- 

 senting an account of the Colony and its industries. 



According to the Bulletin of Agricultural Statistics of 

 the International Institute of Agriculture, for March 1912, 

 the total area under cotton in India is estimated at 

 20,631,598 acres as compared with 22,859,363 acres last 

 year; this is a decrease of 97 per cent. The estimated out- 

 turn is 3,135,000 bales of 400 ft. of clean cotton, as against 

 3,853,000 bales last year, the decrease being 186 per cent. 

 The figures refer to the Indian agricultural year 1911-12, 

 but the greater part of the crop was picked before the end 

 of 1911. 



It was stated, in- a paper read before the Royal Society 

 of Arts, on March 26, that cotton-planting in British North 

 Borneo has practically passed the experimental stage, and 

 that it has been proved that the soil and climate are well 

 adapted to the cultivation of this plant. Favourable reports 

 were received on .samples sent to Hong Kong and Japan, 

 and a suggestion is made that the cultivation should be taken 

 up on an estate scale in one of the more populous districts, 

 where women and children would be easily available for the 

 work of picking. 



The que.stion has often been asked if the nodule organ- 

 ism of leguminous plants, Pseudoinonas radicicola, is capable 

 of living alone in the soil, and fixing nitrogen, without the 

 presence of such plants 8ome light has been thrown on the 

 matter by experiments conducted in liquid media, sand and 

 soil, and described in Reports of the Virginia Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, 1909-10, p. 138, which appeared to show 

 that the organism will live in the soil where the host plant 

 is not present, and will accomplish a certain amount of nitro- 

 gen assimilation. 



Investigators have found that carbohydrates may be 

 built up under the influence of the ultraviolet rays, and in the 

 absence of chlorophyll. The E.rperiirient Station Record for 

 August 1911 gives a summary of further work that has been 

 done in the matter, showing that neither formaldehyde nor 

 carbohydrates are formed from carbon dioxide and water, if 

 potassium hydroxide is absent; in its presence formaldehyde 

 was formed, but no carbohydrates. For the formation of 

 sugar from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, in the presence of 

 pn'assium hydroxide, under the influence of the ultraviolet 

 la.) s, it was found necessary that the hydrogen should be in 

 the nascent state, 



