AoL. XI. No. 269. 



THE AGRICULTUnAL NEWS. 



2GI 



should also be considered in liie selection of stocks, other 

 qualifirations being equal. The vegetative propagation of 

 these plants i.s so recent that no comparative experiments of 

 the suitability of a certain species as a atock for another 

 have been made. 



The most vigorous and as far as is known perhaps the most 

 long-lived species of all the anonas is the mamon, and while 

 the natural habitat of this species is low and marshy land, 

 seven years' e-xperience in south Florida seems to indicate 

 that it makes a good stock on well-drained land: it has a well- 

 developed root system, and transplants well. 



Perhaps the next species in point of vigour is the custard- 

 apple This species succeeds on well drained land and seems 

 to be particularly well adapted to land with a scarcity of soil 

 and where the precipitation is not over abundant. It has 

 & strong tap root but is rather defitient in laterals: however 

 this can be corrected by judicious root pruning. The 

 longevity of the tree makes it ii fairly satisfactory stock from 

 this point of view. 



The sugar-apple grows well on drained land and sueci eds 

 on land having scanty soil. It is less longli%'ed than any of 

 the species under discussion and of less vigorous growth, 

 and would thus appear to be the least desirable stock to use 

 where the other species succeed equally well. Its root system 

 is weaker than that of any of the other species, and like its 

 congener it maj- be transplanted without difficulty. 



The soursop is of good vigour and rapid growth and has 

 a better developed root sj-stein than any of its congeners, and 

 succeeds well on any well-drained, moderately rich soil. 



Judging from the ease with which three-year-old mamons 

 have been cleft- and side-grafted by the writer, this method 

 should prove very successful in the working over of old seed- 

 ling trees. Where for some rea.son the grafts fail, the .sprouts 

 that issue from the trunk may readily be shield budded and 

 the plant treated as already described under the paragraph 

 nn buddins. 



The Worlds Production of Vaniila, 1911-12. 



As a supplement to recent articles dealing with vanilla, 

 in the Agricvltvral A'e»:s, Vol*. IX, pp. 295 and 319, and 

 XI, p. 148, the following has been taken from information 

 supplied by .Mr J. It. Jackson, A.L S.: — 



'With regard to the world's production in the 191112 

 season the quantity is estimated at 590 tons made up as 

 follows: Bourbon 65 tons, Seychelles 13 tons, Comoro and 

 Mayotte 70, Madagascar 60, Nossi IV- 10, Mauritius, Java, 

 Fiji and Ceylon 15, Guadeloupe and Martinique 10, Mexico 

 145, Tahiti 195 ton.s. 



'It is stated in a recent number cf the C/ifuist and 

 Di-uggiit: "the total yield shows very satisfactory dimensions, 

 notwithstanding the shrinkage in the Seychelles and Tahiti 

 returns, but as twice in succession no stocks of con.sequence 

 were left to be carried forward into a new season, the market 

 maintained its high level subject, of course, to the inevitable 

 fluctuations which a passing shortage or accumulation of 

 large arrivals of immature parcels or occasional ulterior 

 motives of speculators, must produce." 



'C>f course it must be borne in mind that the market 

 value depends on the kind cultivated, and the quality aimed 

 at should approach that of the Bourbon or Seychelles 

 varieties.' 



THE BULLETIN OP THE IMPERIAL 

 INSTITUTE. 



The following prospectus of the new issue of the 

 Bulletin of the Imperial Institute has been received 

 from the director of the Institute, and is published 

 here for general information, fc may be stated that 

 an article from the first number of the new issue was 

 partly reproduced on page 199 of this volume of the- 

 Agricultural News, and that similar use has often 

 been made of ])ast volumes of a publication that always 

 contains much tiiat is of interest to those concerned in 

 agricultural development, particularly in the tropics. 



This Bulletin was first published in 1903. It appears 

 quarterly and contains: reports on investigations conducted in 

 the Scientific and Technical 1 )epartment of the Imperial 

 Institute: articles and notes dealing with mineral and 

 vegetable economic products; and a quarterly summary of 

 information on recent jrogress in agriculture and the develop- 

 ment of natural resources. 



Until this year the Bulletin has been published by the 

 Imperial Institute, but owing to the increased demand for it, 

 its publication has now been undertaken by Mr. John Murray, 

 50a, Albermarle Street, London, W., and the first number 

 of the new series has appeared. 



The principal contents of this first number are as 

 follows: — 



Piubber resources of Uganda; some cotton soiLs of the 

 Nyasaland and Uganda Protectorates; kola nuts from British 

 West Africa; coca leaves from Ceylon and the Federated 

 Malay States; aromatic grass oils. Part III; Hibiscus fibrea 

 from the Northern Territories. Gold Coast; timbers fronrt 

 Uganda; sumach from C^'prus; economic products from 

 Mauritius; the coconut and its commercial uses. Part I; 

 cultivation, preparation and utilization of hemp and hemp 

 seed (Cinna/'is s<ifiiri)-, cultivation and preparation of ginger: 

 agricultural work in .Seychelles; candelilla wax: sisal hemp in 

 Quilimane; New Zealand hemp: iron ore from Trinidad; 

 copper-mercury ore from Queensland; native labour regula.- 

 tions in Mozambique. 



The second number, now in the press, will have the 

 following principal contents: — 



Tobacco industry of Ceylon; some new gutta-yielding 

 plants from the Gold Coast: Ficus elastica rubber from. 

 Southern Nigeria: balatu rubber (Ficus Vogelii) from South- 

 ern Nigeria.; the rubber of Crp-ptostegia grcmdiifora; silk frota 

 India; cotton and sisal hemp from Papua (British New- 

 Guinea); fibres from India; utilization of C'aesaljnnia digpna;. 

 oil seeds of Tel/uiria jyedata; Lophira oil seeds from West 

 Africa; oils and oil seeds from Hong Kong; West Africaa 

 cacao; the cultivation of cigar tobacco with special reference 

 to Java; the coco-nut and its commercial uses, Part II; shea, 

 nuts and shea butter; rubber-tapping experiments in Southera 

 Nigeria; economic developments in the Belgian Congo; Wei^t 

 Indian satinwood; oil of 'Nepal camphor wood'; citronella, 

 grass; Meseralrianihemuin Maloni roots from the Transvaalj 

 Rubber Exhibition in Java: cultivation of fibres in Javaj 

 'Boot cotton': Perilla seed and oil. 



The annual subscription to the Bulletin is 10s. 6rf., ot 

 lis. post free; single numbers may be purchased at 2s. 6cf. 

 each, or 2s. 9(/ post free. Subscriptions may be paid through, 

 any bookseller, or if no bookseller is available, they may be 

 sent direct to Mr. John Murray, 50a, Albemarle Street^, 

 London, W. 



