300 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Septembek 14, 1912. 



With reference to the information given concerning 

 cotton production in Uganda, on p. 252 of the Arnirultural 

 News of August 3, 1912, the Uganda Official Gawtfe of 

 June 15, 1912, gives a correction which shows that thu 

 figures for the returns of unginned cotton shipped in the 

 period April 1, 1911 to March 31, 1912, should be 2,275 

 tons value £45,543, instead of 2,105 tons value £42,755. 



GLEANINGS. 



It is announced in Nature for August 1, 1912, that 

 Mr. H. Maxwell Lefroy, sometime Entomologist to the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture, has been appointed 

 Professor of Entomology at the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology. 



Information has been received to the effect that the 

 Fourth International Itubber and Allied Trades Exhibition will 

 "be held in London in June 1914. In the same year the First 

 International Cotton, Fibre, Tropical Products and Allied 

 Trades Exhibition will take place concurrently, but quite 

 separately, in an adjoining building. 



Mr. William Hodgson, the manager of the Nismes estate, 

 who is the proprietor of Plantation Noitgedacht, has 

 despatched a quantity of biscuit rubber, grown upon his 

 plantation, to Xew York for inclusion among the exhibits at 

 the International ilubber Exposition to be held there next 

 month. The rubber, which weighs 10 fi)., is of excellent 

 quality. (The Deitierara Daily Chronicle, Mail Edition, 

 August IG, 1912.) 



H. M. Consul at Lourenoo Marques, in reporting on the 

 trade of Portuguese East Africa in 1911, mentions a valuable 

 product which consists of the fruit of the mafureira tree 

 (Trichilia emetica), the seed of which yields an oil. The 

 tree is widespread in its distribution, but has not been much 

 exploited; the exports of the seed in 1910 amounted to 1,367 

 tons value £7,658. It is stated that the seeds yield about 

 65 5 per cent, of an oil resembling cotton seed oil. 



The distribution from the Antigua Botanic Station 

 during last month included: limes 3,422, Eucalyptus 294, 

 coco-nuts 273 and onion seed 105 R. During the latter part 

 of the month, about 17 acres of limes were planted in the 

 island. The exports of cotton from Antigua during the 

 season 1911-12 amounted to 70,209 ft. 



A note in the supplement to the Chamher of Commerce 

 Journal for July 1912 shows that the imports of arrowroot 

 into the United Kingdom in 1911 were 30,849 cwt., valued 

 at £35,581, of which 29,718 cwt„ valued at £32,019, came 

 from the British West Indies, and 1,024 cwt., valued at 

 £3,254, from other Briti.sh possessions. 



The Federated Malay States Government Gazette of 

 June 21, 1912, shows that the exports of rubber from the 

 Federated Malay States during the first five months of the 

 present year amounted to 13,076,350 ft., as compared with 

 7,119,643 ft. in the corresponding period of last year. The 

 exports for May 1912, were 2,255,034 ft.; for May 1911 

 they were 1,147,488 ft. 



According to the Louisiana Planter for August 10, 

 1912, 30,940 tons of sugar were taken by Canada from Java, 

 in the period May 1, 1911 to March 31, 1912. There is 

 a steady increase in the amount of sugar imported into 

 Canada from Java, as is shown by the fact that in the 

 similar period 1909-10 it was 18,304 tons, and in the similar 

 period 1910-11 the quantity was 23,819 tons. 



A report by the British Vice Consul at Santos shows 

 that the exports of coffee from that port during 1911 were 

 8,719,742 bags — an increase of 1,885,030 bags over the 

 shipments in 1910; at the same time prices were much higher 

 during the first-mentioned period. The crop of 1911-12 is 

 not expected to reach 10 million bags, on account of unfav- 

 ourable weather; although the original estimates were much 

 higher than that. An estimate of about 8 million bags is 

 made for the 1912-13 crop. 



The Board of Trade Journal for June 20, 1912, gives 

 particulars of a patent material made in France and called 

 'bois arme'. This reinforced wood consists of layers of wood 

 planed in small corrugations, a woven fibre being inserted 

 between the layers and the whole firmly cemented together 

 by means of waterproof glue. Great strength, combined with 

 elasticity and lightness, is claimed for the material, which 

 is said to be adapted for use in aeroplanes, poles for wireless 

 telegraphy, ladders, and frames of motor cars and sledges. 



There was launched recently, by Messrs. Alexander 

 Steven & Sons, Ltd., Linthouse, Glasgow, the steamer Chagres, 

 as an addition to the banana and passenger steamers of 

 Messrs. Elder and Fyffe, Ltd., running between Liverpool 

 and Bristol, and the West Indies and Central America. 

 This is a twin-screw vessel of 5,000 tons, and as she is 

 designed for carrying bananas, the principal feature is an 

 insulated chamber of some 250,000 cubic feet in which the 

 temperature is under absolute control. A special interest 

 is that the vessel i.s the first of a new type of steamer intended 

 to take the place of the boats of the late Imperial Direct Line. 



