¥oL. XI. No. 273. 



TBE AQKIOULTURAL NEWS. 



321 



JAMAICA: Ay y UAL REPORT OF THE 

 DIRECTOR OF AGHICULTURB AND ISLAXD 

 'CHEMIST, l'.)lhhl. 



This report is issued as a Supplement to ihe Janwax 

 ijiuctte of August 29, 1912. It iciuHiences by reference to 

 the severe drought that was experienced in Jamaica during 

 part of the period under review. The general observations 

 =ire then concerned, among other matters, with the state 

 of the gardens at Hope and Castleton. where by adding to 

 4he plant collection and improving the con<!itions of the 

 buildings and similar matters these places are being made 

 more attractive and interesting. .Additional land has been 

 taken in on the leased property belonging to the Department, 

 .»nd a matter of some small interest is that Cassia sia/iit.a is 

 Bjeing used in this and other places to form a live fence. 

 Strenuous efforts have been made toward the acclimatization 

 •of imported dairy stock from England, Canada and the 

 ■^Jnited States; much difHculty has been experienced, chiefly 

 Bjecau.se the imported cattle do not appear to acquire any 

 appreciable immunity from Texas fever even after they 

 recover from a severe attack of the disease; better results are 

 he\ng oljtained with young stock, the progeny of the 

 imported cattle, and much assistance is derived from the use 

 •of trypan blue as a remedy against the fever. Confidence 

 is expressed that this work will be successful eventually. 

 A short review is given 'concerning the recent outbreak of 

 the Panama disease of bananas; it has been phown to be 

 actually the Surinam form of the disease. This is not the 

 •ijniy enemy of banana cultivation that is being observed, as 

 Jive distinct diseases of the j)lant have been found in Jamaica 

 since January 1911, four of which are of such a dangerous 

 type that they have been scheduled for compulsory treatment 

 under the Diseases of Plants Law. The seriousness of these 

 diseases and the fact that the existing variety of banana is 

 better than any other kind for growing in Jamaica lead to 

 the conclusion: 'The preservation of this variety i9 therefore 

 of supreme commercial importance to the island.' 



Interesting details are given iii the report of tlie 

 Superintendent of Public Hardens which deals with the 

 Hope Gardens and Experiment Station, the Castleton Oar- 

 dens — Kingston, the King Street Gardens, the Hill Gardens — • 

 <Cinchona, the Bath Garden and Nursery, and the Herbarium. 

 This section concludes with the Keport of the Superinten- 

 dent, King's House Gardens. 



The sugar exported from the island during last year 

 ■was 20,000 tons, which is the greatest amount since the year 

 1902-3— a period of high average production; of the quantity 

 SO per cent, went to Canada. Several estates have co-oper- 

 • ated to enable a well-equipped central factory to be estab- 

 lished at Rose Hall, but the poor season has made the 

 results only moderate so far. There are signs that Jamaica 

 arum is recovering from the depression of two years ago, 

 partly because the planters have by means of a maximum 

 1>roduction of sugar reduced their output of rum. Among 

 seedling canes, ]i.208 is stated to continue to do well in 

 anany di.strict3 and its area of cultivation is being rapidly 



extended. D.62-5 has ilso confirmed the promise that it 

 gave on its first trials in Westmoreland on strong soils. 

 Among the locally produced seedlings, J. 71 and J. 72 appear 

 to be useful, and it is intended to try them more largely. 

 Reference is made for further details to Bulletin Xo. ■"> of 

 the Department of Agriculture. In a report of the Superin- 

 tendent of field experiments, favourable mention is made of 

 B.208, B.147 and D.ei-"), and it is stated that the Jamaica 

 seedlings promise so far to do all that is exiiected of them. 

 In spite of the drought, the increased price of cottee has 

 made this product worth nearly twice as much (over 

 £1-50,000) as it was six years ago- -an encouraging feature 

 in what is mostly a useful peasant industry. The case with 

 cacao is at present far otherwise, chiefly because of bad culti- 

 vation and neglect; though confidence is expressed that there 

 will be a large improvement in the future. 



In 1911, the export of banana.s reached its highest viluu, 

 having become worth nearly 1| million sterling, and it is con- 

 sidered that it will soon reach a value of at least 2 million 

 pounds a year. Emphasis is again laid on the necessity for 

 a strict watch in connexion with banana diseases in Jamaica. 

 The security of the valuable coco nut indu.stry has been 

 increased by the passing of the new Plant Diseases Law, which 

 makes compulsory the treatment of coco-nut trees affected 

 with bud rot, and in several districts both planters and 

 pea.sant cultivators have adopted energetically measures of 

 eradication. It is estimated that over 20 million nuts were 

 exported during 1911, at good prices. The export value li 

 ritrus fruits continued to show a fall, and there does not 

 appear at present to be any prospect of the revival of the 

 industry. The growing of mangoes extends, and there has 

 been a good demand for grafted plants of the Bombay mango. 

 Cassava dried by a United States pat'^nt process is being 

 tried. Trials are also being made of the chief varieties of 

 the castor oil plant, in consequence of the recently enhanced 

 price of the oil. Exhibits of Jamaica rubber were sent to 

 the last International Rubber i^xhibition in London, and 

 although the specimens were mostly resinous in quality and 

 roughly prepared, the recorded tapping results of the Castilloa 

 trees compared quite favourably with those from this species 

 in other countries. Efforts have been made to increase the 

 interest in Castill'ja and a representative collection of all the 

 chief species and varieties of this tree has been planted a 

 Castleton, for eventual trial of their rubber yielding capacity. 



The section dealing with agricultural education includes 

 the report of the Senior Travelling Instructor, the report of 

 the Travelling Agricultural Instructor, the report of the Head 

 Master at the Hope Farm school and the report of the Veter- 

 inarian. These contain details of interest pertaining to th; 

 subjects with which they deal. The report on the Hope 

 Stock Farm is mainly statistical and serves as a useful record. 



The report on the Government Laboratory shows that the 

 number of official samples examined and analysed during th& 

 time under review was more than double of that in any of th-j 

 previous years. Among the work done for the Department of 

 Agriculture there figures the bacterial examination of water- 

 supplies; the results of the tests are shown to have been 

 generally favourable. In the work connected with veterinary 

 pathology interesting experience is described with Texa.=i 

 fever, which has received a large amount of attention o:i 

 account of its importance in the island Regarding fermen- 

 tation work, the distribution of pure yeast cultivations and 

 the maintenance of a supply to prevent delay in ca.ses of 

 urgency have been continued. This part of the report 

 concludes with details regarding the staflf, publications and 

 revenue of the Jamaica Department of Agriculture. 



