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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



December 21, 1912. 



GLEANINGS. 



Meetings of the Agricultural Societies both of St. Kitts 

 and Xevis were held during last month, at which it was 

 •decided to hold agricultural shows in 1913. 



During November the weather was unfavourable in most 

 ^districts of St. Vincent for cotton- picking owing to the heavy 

 a-ainfall. At the Botanic Station this was 10 91 inches and 

 *t the Experiment Station 1051 inches. 



A note in the Journal cV Agriculture Tropicale for 

 ^October 1912, announces a method that has been devised 

 d'or simplifying the extraction of ramie fibre by acting 

 •chemically on the gum in the bark. It also mentions a pro- 

 posal for making paper paste from the ramie plant. 



The Board of Trade Journal ioi Ociohex 'i\ , 1912, con- 

 stained a note stating that the British Acting Consul-General 

 at Eio de Janeiro reports that the coffee crop in the State of 

 Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been severely injured by frost after 

 a long drought, and that it is estimated that the coming crop 

 "will be much smaller than that of last year. 



The distribution from the Antigua Botanic Station 

 during November comprised the following: lime plants 11,797, 

 ■onion sets 3,-500, coco-nut plants 739, Eucalyptus plants 83 

 and miscellaneous plants 91. There were also .^ent out 2,000 

 .sweet potato cuttings, and 9 packets and 1 bag of seeds. 



The Honorary Secretary of the Barbados Goat Society 

 lias forwarded a copy of the prize list of the show of this 

 Society that was to be held on December 18. At this show 

 A firsc prize of §10 and a Diploma of Merit were offered 

 by the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, in the class 

 ^lilch Goats. 



According to the Lancet, 1912, Xo. 19, p. 1291, the 

 amount of ammonia in rain which falls after a period of 

 ■drought ('rare rain') is much greater than that in ordinary 

 rain. Water which fell in Lordon as rain, after a five weeks' 

 drought, contained 525 gr. of ammonia per gallon, which 

 is about seven times more than is found in normal rain, in 

 ^England. 



The use of hydrogen peroxide as a fungicide and stimu- 

 lant in connexion with germinating seeds receives attention 

 in an abstract of a paper in the Experiment Station Jiecord 

 for August 1912. Investigations have shown that dilute 

 solutions of hydrogen peroxide facilitate germination and 

 stiiii'alate the active development of plants, and that at the 

 "^■-me time this substance is effective against certain fungi. 



The value of the experts from Sierra Leone during 

 1911 reached £1,300,238. Among these (according to 

 Colonial Reporti> — Annual, No. 724) there were included 

 42,892 tons of oil palm kernels, and rice to the value of 

 £4,715; the shipments of rice have decreased because of the 

 greater local consumption. The rubber produced in 1911 

 was the lowest recorded during the past ten years, being 

 only 16 tons value £5,918. 



Xature for November 7, 1912, gives attention to the 

 last issue of the yearly memorandum of the chief engineer of 

 the Manchester Steam Users' Association This shows that, 

 with the present prices of oil, it is not profitable to burn oil 

 rather than coal until the price of the latter has risen to 

 38s. per ton: but that oil can be used profitably in internal 

 combustion engines whenever and wherever the price of 

 coal is higher than 15.s. per ton. 



In the Journal of the Chemical Society for September 

 1912 an abstract of a paper is given showing that by- 

 repeated extraction with boiling alcohol (96 per cent.) 

 a glucoside has been is'Olated from the seeds of Para rubber 

 {Hevea hrasiliensis) which is found to be identical in every 

 way with the phaseolunatin isolated by Dunstan and Henry 

 from the seeds of the Barbuda or Lima bean {Phaseolus- 

 lunatus) and from the roots of the bitter cassava. 



A report issued by the Commercial Intelligence Depart- 

 ment of India shows that the areas and yields of the principal 

 crops of that country during 1911-12 were as follows, the 

 figures being subject to revision: rice 56,443,000 acres and 

 521,992,000 cn-t., wheat 30,386,800 acres and 9,813,.50O 

 tons, sugar-caue 2,331,700 acres and 2,390,400 tons, jute 

 3,106,400 acres and 8,234,700 bahs, and cotton 20,333,000 

 acres and 3,925.000 bales, this quantity of cotton including 

 exports from India and that consumed in the country in and 

 outside mills. 



The Bulletin of thu Bureau of Agricultural Intelligence 

 and of Plant Diseases for October 1912 contains an abstract 

 of a paper which shows that watermelons investigated by 

 the authors contained: juice 43 per cent , rind 47, and pulp 

 10 per cent. The ash in the juice amounted to about 025 

 per cent., and of this one-eighth was insoluble. Pieducing 

 sugars were present to the extent of about 5 per cent, of the 

 juice, and sucrose about 1 per cent. The fermented juice 

 gave 2 5 per cent, of alcohol by weight, which yielded 

 ultimately 175 per cent, of pure acetic acid. 



Copies of an Order made by the Governor-in-Executive 

 Committee on November 2 1 last have been received from the 

 Superintendent of Agriculture, Barbados. This prohibits 

 unders Section 45 and 46 of the Trade Act, 1910(1910 6) the 

 importation into Bardados of sugar-cane and other gramina- 

 ceous plants, and matters connected with them, from South 

 America, Central America, British Guiana, Trinidad, Tobago, 

 Grenada and St. Croix; and prescribes the conditions under 

 which plants, etc., may be imported from such countries^ and 

 repeals the Order made on May 23, 1912. Articles manufac- 

 tured, or dried articles, from plants in the order Gramineae, 

 such as barley, guinea corn, maize, rice, rye, oats, wheat, and 

 hay, or similar articles may be exempted from the operation 

 of the Order, at the discretion of the Superintendent of 

 Agriculture. 



