92 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March -25, 1905. 



GLEANINGS. 



During the past fortniglit \M Uales of West Tndian 

 cotton have Ijeen imported into Great Britain. {W<-i<f India 

 Committee Circular.) 



The value of bananas imported into tlie United 

 Kingdom during January was £73,92.3 as against £.5-5,799 

 in the previous January. Similarly, oranges shfnv an increase 

 of £34,174. 



The opening price for Antigua molasses is 20c. per 

 Imperial gallon, package included, at which a cargo lot has 

 been bought. (Bennett Brvson it C'o.'s ' Market Report,' 

 March 8.) 



The degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) has been 

 conferred by the l^iiiversity of O.'iford upon Mr. H. H. 

 Cousins, M.A., F.C.8., the Government Analytical and 

 Agricultural Chemist for Jamaica. 



For .some time experiments have been in progress in 

 Trinidad with a view to the use of bamboo pul^i for paper 

 making. A syndicate jn-oimses to ship to Euglancl the 

 bleached pulp ])repared in cakes. {Port-of-Spain Gn:t1te.) 



In his opening speech to the Legislative Council of 

 Jamaica his Ivvcellencj- the Governor stated : ' I am 

 informed that there is in England a good market for all 

 jiroperly cured tobacco, and that the supply is uueipial to the 

 demand.' 



A barrel containing pumjikins, papaws, cddfies, beans, 

 etc., was shipped by the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 from Barbados by the I!. M.S. ' Atrato' on March 11, for the 

 Iioyal Horticultural Society's second exhibition of colonial 

 fruit. 



By the R.M.S. 'Atrato,' which left on March 11, 2,327 

 bunches of bananas were shipped from Barbados. This is 

 the large.st shipment ever made by one mail. There were 

 also .shipped 8 barrels of sweet potatos and 2 barrels of 

 yams. 



The Manchester Correspondent of the Cotlu)i Trade 

 Journal, of Savannah, Georgia, writes : ' The new crop of 

 West Indian cotton now beginning to arrive will seriously 

 compete with Carolinas. Some -5,000 bales of We.st Indian 

 ■will be marketed this season.' 



"Slv. \\ . il. Smitli writes from Grenada: 'So-called 

 "male" cacafi trees are to be found in several places in 

 Grenada. They flower in profusion almost throughout the 

 year. Occasionally a pod may be seen on then), which 

 consists solely of shell and core, there being no beans and no 

 cavity,' 



A young ram goat, six months old (the ofTspring of the 

 Department's stud goat 'Bruce',) is for sale in Barbados. 

 Further particulars may be obtained at the Head C)fKce of 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture. 



In regard to the exports of honey and bees'-wax from 

 -lamaica in the year 1903-1, it is stated in the Annual 

 Report : ' Bees'-wax holds its own. Honey shows an advance. 

 The value of these two products together was £20,8-52, 

 against £19,617 in the previous year.' 



At the regular monthly meeting of the Trinidad Agri- 

 cultural Society held on March 1 4, the discussion on the 

 cane-fanning industry was resumed. Finally, Mr. Wyatt's 

 motion urging the necessity for placing the industry ' on 

 a firm, satisfactory, and permanent footing' was agreed to. 



According to the Hoard of T'rade Journal, it is 

 luiderstood that the plant for the Hinton-Naiulet process, 

 which was made in Glasgow for Trinidad, is now experi- 

 mentally at work on this year's crop in that island. The 

 J'orl-qf-Spiiin (lazette of March 14 contains a descrijition of 

 this sj-stem and of the plant which is in operation at 

 Caroni estate. 



\\'ith reference to the note in the last issue of the 

 Ai/rieu!tural JVeu^'s on epizootic lymphangitis, it may be 

 mentioned that the Board of Health at Barbados notifies that 

 no animals suftering from this di.sease will be allowed to be 

 landed : also that the landing of cattle from Antigua is 

 prohibited so long as the skin disease, supposed to be 

 caused by tick bites, exists in that island. 



Mr. \\. if. Smith writes from Grenada that at Nian- 

 ganfoix estate 2,000 fruits were piicked from one orange tree 

 during the last croj). The tree is 30 feet high and spreads 

 ils l.iranches about 25 feet. The large yield is attributed to 

 the apjilication of basic slag and snljihate of ammonia to the 

 cacao field in which the tree is growing. The fruits were 

 of good size and flavour. 



With reference to a note in a recent issue of the 

 A<jrieultural News (Vol. 1\, p. 53) on the destruction of 

 rats and mice by means of cultures of pathogenic bacteria, it 

 may be mentioned that the suggestion has been made to deal 

 with the mungoose in a similar way. It would be 

 interesting to know if anything of the kind has ever been 

 attempted with the mungoose. 



In the report for 1904 of the Police Magistrate for the 

 western district of St. Lucia it is stated : 'During the last 

 season the cacao crop was good generally. This season, on 

 the lower lands, the crop is good and promises well ; on the 

 higher lands it is decidedly poor, and fears are entertained 

 that there will be no improvement later. It seems that an 

 excess of rain benefits the lowlands and injures the 

 highlands.' 



The Gardeners' Chronicle, referring to a method of 

 seasoning wood by impregnating it with a solution of sugar, 

 suggests the utilization of sugared wood for such objects as 

 mangle-rollers, stool legs, and for any other pur[)ose where 

 stability is the principal consideration. Sugared wood, it is 

 stated, is not susceptible to attacks of fungi, while the 

 addition of poisons to the sugar solution will prevent its 

 destruction by insect pests. 



