364 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 9, 1912. 



GLEANINGS. 



The Jamaica Gazette for September 5, 1912, notifies for 

 general information that a Bill passed by the Legislature of 

 Jamaica, namely Law 6 of 1912, entitled A Law for the 

 Encouragement of Agricultural Loan Societies, has become 

 law. 



It is stated in the Official Messenger, St. Petersburg, for 

 September 17, 1912, that the Kussian Department of Agri- 

 culture has decided to form next year several new experiment 

 stations, to encourage cotton-growing, in Russian Turkestan 

 and th3 Trans- Caucasus. 



Official returns dated September 3, 1912, show that the 

 Japanese rice crop for the present season is estimated at 

 55,293,945 koku, or 274,257,967 bushels. This is 7 per 

 cent, greater than the crop of last year, and 12 6 per cent. 

 over the average for the past seven years. 



The Superintendent of Agriculture, Grenada, states that 

 the next meeting of the Grenada Agricultural and Com- 

 mercial Society will be held on November 15 at the Botanic 

 Gardens. A guide leaflet will be issued by the Agricultural 

 Department to members for the purpose of showing the chief 

 points of interest in the Gardens. 



An Ordinance, No. 9 of 1912, St. Lucia, dated October 

 12, has been enacted for the purpose of amending the Minor 

 Products Protection Ordinance, 1 899. It adds a sub-section 

 to section three of the latter Ordinance, to the etfect that, in 

 sections eight, fifty-one and fifty-two of this Ordinance, 

 'minor products' includes limes and coco- nuts. It may be 

 cited as the Minor Products Protection Ordinance, 1899, 

 Amendment Ordinance, 1912. 



The Bulletin of Agricultural Statistics, of the Internat- 

 ional In.stitute of Agriculture, Rome, for September 1912, 

 states that the condition of the Egyptian cotton crop was 

 excellent, and that the worm had entirely disappeared. The 

 state of the United States cotton crop on August 28 is 

 described as 748 per cent, of normal as compared with 

 73 2 at the same date last year, and with 73 6 per cent. — 

 the average condition on August 25 for the last ten years. 



According to Colonial Heports — Annual, No. 718, the 

 crop of ground nuts of Gambia in 1911 was the third largest 

 recorded, and as prices were exceptionally high, the value of 

 the crop was easily in excess of that of any previous year. 

 The amount exported was 47,931 tons value £437,472, com- 

 pared with 58,456 tons valued at £387,943 in 1910. Except 

 for the 'picked nuts', which go to England, most of the 

 product is .shipped to France to be crushed in the oil mills. 



The report of the Sudan Central Economic Board for 

 last July gives detailed attention to the occurrence in the 

 Sud in of the plant {Calotropis procera) yielding Ushar fibre. 

 A sample of the fibre was valued at the Imperial Institute in 

 May 1912 at £24 per ton, with Mexican sisal hemp at the 

 same price. This plant is related to the Madar or Mudar 

 fibre plant of India (C. gigantea). C. procera has been natura- 

 lized in the West Indies, where it is sometimes called French 

 cotton, and the hairs from the seeds are used in decorating fans. 



The following appears in a report on a recent examina- 

 tion of candidates for pupil teacherships and of pupil 

 teachers, Grenada, printed in the Government Gazettf for 

 October 15, 1912: Agriculture: 'This is all theory, and is 

 well done. The answers to the papers on Blackie (1st and 

 2nd year) disclosed accurate and familiar knowledge of the 

 year's work. The 3rd year standard was higher, and furnished 

 less scope for memory work. Questions on the handling of 

 this or of that product as permanent crops, at any stage, met 

 with poor response.' 



Comparison of figures given in Diplomatic and Consular 

 Reports, Annual Series, Nos. 4953 and 5969 shows that the 

 exports of cotton from Galveston during 1911 amounted to 

 3,022,131 bales, while the receipts at Savannah, for the 

 twelve months ending August 31, 1911 were 87,583 bales. 

 The value of the cotton shipped from Galveston was 

 £37,758,219, and was less than that in 1908, namely 

 £35,752,535, although in tliat j'ear the shipments reached 

 a record amount, being 3,289,354 bales. The total crop of 

 United States Sea Island cotton for the period September 

 1910 to August 1911 was, as indicated, 87,583 bales, 

 compared with 96,656 bales for the previous season and 

 101,420 bales for the similar period in 1909. 



At a meeting of the Board of Management, Jamaica 

 Agricultural Society, on August 15, 1912, the following 

 resolution (copied from the Journal of that Society) was 

 passed unanimously: 'That in the interests of the fruit growers 

 of the island, this Board hereby asks the Government, in the 

 negotiations for a weekly subsidized service of steamers 

 between Jamaica and the Dominion of Canada, to give special 

 consideration to the claims of those growers, or associations 

 of growers of fruit in this island, who desire to make direct 

 shipments of fruit to the markets of the Dominion, and to 

 include in the term of contract between the two countries 

 provision whereby the growers should always have the 

 preference of the space on the subsidized steamers. ' 



In Colonial Reports — Annual, No. 725, it i-i shown that 

 the total value of all sea-borne exports from tlje Gold Coast 

 during 1911 was £3,792,454, against £2,697,706 in 1910, 

 the increase being chiefly due to larger shipments of cacao, 

 gold and specie. The exports of the principal articles during 

 1911 were as follows: cacao 88,987,324 ft. value £1,613,468, 

 gold and gold dust 280,060 oz. value £1,057,692, specie 

 value £321,145, rubber 2,668,667 ft. value £219,447, 

 palm kernels 13,254 tons value £175,891, native timber 

 13,973,396 cubic feet value £138,821, and palm oil 

 1,610,209 gallons value £128,916. Increases over the 

 values of the previous year took place in cacao, gold and 

 specie (as has been indicated); in all the other cases mentioned, 

 the exports decreased. 



