364 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



XOVEMBEK 



1905. 



GLEANINGS. 



A collection of tropical fruits was sent from I'enang to 

 the exhibition held in London this year and obtained a silver 

 medal. (Annual Rcpo)-t on the Straits Settlements for 1901.) 



Limes of good size and i)acked in fancy paper, in 

 boxes of 150 and 200, would meet a fair demancl in London. 

 (Journal of the Jaiiiaira Atirkultural ,^'ocief//.) 



Captain ^f. Short, of Richmond estate, Tobago, writes 

 that scrap rublier from five- and si.x-year-old trees on his 

 estate was recently sold in London at 3(i. Gd. per B). 



A correspondent writes in the Joimial of the Jamaica 

 Agricxdtural Socictt/ : ' I have been told by an old Montego 

 Bay lady that she has used for eighteen years cushion.s 

 stuffed with plantain fibre (from the stem). She says that 

 it outlasts any kind of grass or other stuffing, and is better.' 



Consequent upon the resignation of Jlr. H. S. Hammond, 

 F.C.S., who has proceeded to the Ontario Agricultural 

 College, Guelph, Canada, Mr. E. J. Wortley has been 

 appointed Assistant Chemist at the Government Laboratory, 

 Jamaica, while !Mr. G. D. Goode will succeed Mr. AVortley as 

 Second Assistant. 



With the view of encouraging the arts and crafts of the 

 colony, the Doard of Governors of the Jamaica Institute has 

 decided to continue the annual exliibitions of objects of art 

 industry. The next exhibition will be held in February 

 1906. Medals, certificates of merit, and money prizes will 

 be awarded. 



A tree of Cassia ha.cillaris has recently been observed 

 in flower in Barbados. This plant is not recorded from 

 Barbados by Grisebach or Schomburgk. The former 

 authority mentions its occurrence in St. Vincent and 

 Trinidad. It is a handsome tree witli showy yellow flowers, 

 of the same colour as those of Cassia Fistida. 



The Officer-in-charge of the Agricultural School at 

 Dominica reports that he has a limited number of cuttings of 

 the following varieties of cassava available for distribution in 

 the island : Jack-roe ; Blue Top ; Small Leaf ; French no. o ; 

 White Greenaway; Bed Greenaway ; Bitter no. 1; Bitter 

 no. 4 ; Sweet no. '2. 



^Marked increases in the exports from Madagascar 

 during 1904, as compared with the previous year, are 

 apparent from the tables in the recently issued Consular 

 Jieport. The increase is chieHy in gold, rubber, hides, 

 raffia fibre, and bees'-wax. The value of the exports of 

 rubber has increased 50 per cent., while that of hides was 

 practically doubled. 



Cotton had not hitherto been grown in the protectorate 

 but a trial is now being made. A hybrid between a variety 

 obtained from the head waters of the Amazons and the well- 

 known Sea Island cotton of the .southern states of America 

 has been selected for the experiment. (AniiU(d Ii'rpoit on 

 British Solomon Islands.) 



Tlie Textile Jllercurp publishes a note showing tliat the 

 partial failure of the Egyptian cotton crop of 1904 was due, 

 to a great extent, to the use of poor seed. One cultivator 

 purchased 10 bushels of selected seed and then filled up gaps 

 in the rows with cheap seed bought at the nearest factory. 

 It is not surprising that the crop was of a mixed quality. 



An adjourned meeting of the Barbados Agricultural 

 Society was held on Friday, November 17, for the purpose- 

 of further considering the report on the sugar-cane 

 experiments carried on under the direction of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture during the season 1903-5. 

 A sunnnary of the proceedings will appear later in the- 

 Agricultural Kews. 



A correspondent has recently asked for information in 

 regard to the prospects of the cultivation of ramie or China 

 grass {Boehmeria nivea) in the West Indies. It may be 

 mentioned that no one is growing this fibre plant in these- 

 islands because its cultivation is not remunerative on 

 a commercial scale. The chief drawback is the absence of 

 a suitable machine for extracting the fibre. 



The following articles of export from Jamaica during the 

 quarter ended June 30, 1905, show increases, as compared 

 with the corresponding period of 19Q4 : cotton, 150 bale.?, as- 

 against 21; bananas, 4,425,954 bunches, as against 509,291 ;. 

 and 1,103,382 cocoa-nuts, as against 741,680. Similarly, 

 oranges increased from 584,750 to 2,351,080; honey, 

 61,550 to 82,764 gallons; sugar, 71,577 cwt. to 101,174 cwt. ;. 

 cigars, 8,765 lb. to 11,837 It). 



The Hon. William Fawcett, Director of Public Gardens- 

 and Plantations, Jamaica, writes with reference to the note 

 in the Agrieultural News (Vol. IV, p. 317) on the 'Queen of 

 Flowers': 'I may mention that Lagerstroemia iiidica is 

 usually known here as "June Bush" from the fact tliat it 

 begins to Hower in June. Another name for it is " Crape 

 Flower " from the texture of the petals and the way in 

 which they are crumpled.' 



The Agricultural Superintendent at Grenada writes v 

 ' A flamboyante tree, growing on a steep slope below the 

 Bichmond Hill prison, was in full flower on my arrival in 

 the island on June 6. Since that date it has flowered con- 

 tinuously, and though other trees in the neighbourhood have 

 finished lilossoming for a month or more, it is still a mass of 

 scarlet flowers, rendering it a conspicuous object from the 

 harbour.' 



It is doubtful whether the natives in the southern 

 IKirtion of the protectorate will ever take up cotton growing 

 of their own accord, as a better return is obtained from the 

 cultivation of yams, etc., with far less work and trouble than 

 the cultivation of cotton entails. It remains to be .seen 

 whether the efforts of the British Cotton-growing A.ssociation 

 at Uromi and at Onitsha will prove sufliciently remunerative 

 to permit of the experiment being continued. The chief 

 obstacle is the cost of labour. {Annual Heport on Southern 

 Nigeria.) 



