Tot. XI. No. 277. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



301 



The- account closes with a financial statement 

 showing that on November 7 the balance to be raised, 

 to complete the authorized capital of the Associa'ion, 

 namely £500,000, was £22,800. On October 1 it was 

 £2:^,039. al 



AGRICULTURE IN FIJI, 1911. 



The quantities and vilues of tlie chief exports from Fiji 

 in 1911 were as follows: sugar 72,8.34 tens falue £797,274, 

 copra 16,337 tons value £294,245, and bananas 897,345 

 Lunches and 219,551 cases value £151,668. 



The general increase both in quantities and values is 

 gratifying, and it is satisfactory to note that ths anticipated 

 ill-eflfects of the 1910 hurricane were not realized; while, 

 however, the output was considerably less, the value of 

 the year's produce was £32,242 greater than that exported 

 during 1910. An extraordirary increise in the quantity of 

 green fruit exported is noticeable, and it is due to the fact 

 that during the year the banana industry was not afTected by 

 any serious cyclonic disturbance. During the year green 

 fruit of the total value "f £151,668 was exported, of which 

 £33,145 was shipped to the Melbourne market by means of 

 the greater facilities in transport provide'! during the year. 

 The revenue deiived from the imposition nf the Banana 

 Subsidy and Inspection Tax, levied under Ordinance .VII of 

 1911, amounted to £1,397 12s. llrf., against which the cost 

 «f inspection and subsidies on account of tlie banana trade 

 amounted to £6,133 10s. lOd. 



The total area of land under sugar cane cultivation on 

 December 31, 1911, was estimated at 43,358 acres, from 

 ■which were produced 488,534 tons of sugar-cane. The area 

 under coco-nuts, or cultivated by Europeans and exclusive of 

 native plantations, was estimated at 37,562 acres. The esti- 

 mated cultivated area under bananas and pine-apples on 

 December 31 last was 4,692 and 230 acres respectively. 

 These figures do not include native plantations, as to which 

 ■details are not available. It is from native plantations that 

 the greater part of the green fruit exported is produced. 

 Fruit so grown is sold under contract to European buyeri", 



■who ship the produce to the respective markets 



It is hoped that greater facilities for transport and conveyance 

 of fruit to the port of Suva may be provided in the near 

 future, and that the cultivation of fruit will increase con- 

 siderably. This result will follow if planters are guaranteed 

 that vessels suitably equipped for the carriage of fruit will 

 be provided, and that the service will be continued for 

 a definite period. 



The continued increa.«e of exports of^ minor products 

 indicates that more attention might, with advantage, be 

 given to the cultivation of products other than sugar, fruit, 

 and copra. Some considerable area of land is now being 

 leased to planters for the cultivation of sisal hemp. It is 

 anticipated that the production of this fibre will become an 

 important industry in some districts of the Colony. Land 

 in considerable areas unsuited to the cultivation of either of 

 the staple products is available for settlement, and may be 

 utilized in the cultivation of sisal hemp. The quantity of 

 molasses exported during the year was 9,821 tons, as against 

 8,900 tons in 1910. The value, however, placed on the 

 quantity exported is shown to be £1,419 less than that for 

 the previous year. (Taken from Colonial Reports — Annual, 

 >so. 727; September 1912.) 



A NEW FODDER PLANT. 



An article in the most recently received issue of the l\ew 

 Bulletin, on page 309, deals with an African grass called 

 elephant grass which was described in the Bhodcsian Agri- 

 cultural Journal for .lune 1910 as Zinyamunga or Napier's 

 fodder grass. The giass has since been identified at Kew 

 as Pennisetuin jmrpureum, Schum. It is a species widely 

 distributed in Tropical Africa; but as comparatively little is 

 known about it, the purpose of the article in the Bulletin is 

 to give a grief account of what is ascertainable at present. 



The plant is described as a tall perennial grass with 

 a creeping rhizome; the stems (culms) are erect, in tufts 

 containing up to twenty, and are 6 to 10, or occasionally as 

 much as 23 feet high. They are branched, the branches 

 being obliquely erect. The leaves are 1 foot to 2 feet 

 (rarely 3 feet) long and up to 1 inch wide, with a strong 

 midrib which is rounded on the back and provided with 

 a shallow channel above, towards the base. The distribution 

 of P. purpvreum is between 10° N. Lat. and 20° S. Lat. It is 

 found mainly along watercourses and in low-lying marshy 

 land, but also enters the bush and forest in places where 

 there is sutticient light. The stems grow to the greatest 

 height in rich marsh land; on drier soil, as in the savannas 

 of East Africa, they are hardly more than 6 feet high. The 

 plant appears occasionally on abandoned land that has been 

 cultivated, and has in a few cases been seen in a state of 

 cultivation. 



Besides its use as fodder, the grass is employed in Africa 

 for making fences, for the interior walls of native houses, 

 and strips of it are sometimes used for cutting up meat. 

 Like pearl millet, it is said to be an extremely good resister 

 of drought. It may. be propagated like sugarcane, either by- 

 division of the rhizomes or from cuttings or slips. 



The composition of the fodder is compared with that of 

 sugar-cane fodder in the following analyses: — ■ 



Sugarcane Elephant grass 



fodder, fodder, 



per cent. per cent. 



Water 73 63 61-81 



Ether extract 022 029 



Protein (nitrogen >, 6 25) 127 292 



Carbohydrates 1773 17-29 



Woody fibre 532 14-77 



Ash 1-83 2-92 



Juice from the stripped stalks was compared with juice 

 from the cane, the extraction being made by the use of aa 

 ordinary flatting mill for rolling out metals, and was found 

 to amount to 21-3 per cent, of the weight of the straw- 

 compared with 56-6 per cent, in the case of the sugarcane. 

 The juice of the elephant grass was tasteless and contained 

 little sugar, while that of the sugarcane gave 669 per cent, 

 sucrose and 284 per cent, glucose. 



It is authoritatively considered that the rotting grass^ 

 as well as the ash, is a valuable manure. 



The article concludes by stating that the best method 

 of propagating the grass is probably by dividing the plants, 

 or from cuttings, and that as only one seed was found in tba 

 material ricived at Kew, and this was not quite mature, ib 

 is possible that the spikelets of the grass, with their invo- 

 lucres, detach themselves very easily, 



