36 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



February 11, 1905. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



SEEDLESS LIMES. 



The Hon. \V. H. Poiter writes from Dominica as 

 follows in reference to seedless limes : — 



I observed in the A;//ici</tin-a/ A'tirx (Vol. Ill, p. 41"2) 

 a parrtgnijih to the effect that the Suiieiinteiidt'iit of the 

 Royal Botanic (Janlen-s at Trinidad will supply Botanic 

 Stations with plants of the seedless variety of lime as .soon 

 as stock is available. 



It may interest readers of the Aff)->cu/turid JVeics to learn 

 that seedless lime plants are being propagated at the Botanic 

 Station here from budwood suiiiilied from my property, 

 where a vigorous tree of this description has recently been 

 discovered, and .should a demand for plants arise it will 

 doubtless be possible in a year or two to supply them in 

 large numbers, here as well as at Trinidad. 



DATE PALMS IN JAMAICA. 



The following note from the Annual Report of the 

 Director of Public Gardens and Plantations in Jamaica 

 refers to the collection of Algerian date palms at Hope 

 Gardens, of which mention was made in the lIV.s^ 

 Indian. Bulldla, Vol. V, pp. 147-8 :— 



The collection of date palms is in excellent condition. 

 The plants have been regularly irrigated, and they have been 

 constantly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture to stamp out the 

 date fungus di.sease ((I'rnpliidla plioentris). 



The following numbers flowered from March to August 

 1903, all being females :—Xo.s. 182, lS(i, 187, 189, 191, 

 19-4, 19.5. 



The following numbers flowered during February 1904, 

 all being male plants: — Nos. 193, 196 — (3 specimens). 

 The flower clusters of the male [ilants have been .saved to 

 enable us to pollinate any female flowers that may apjiear 

 later in the year. 



A DISEASE OF CACAO. 



The following note on a disease of cacao trees 

 (DiphxUa cacaoicola) appeared in the Bulletin of 

 Miscclliineouf! Information, Trinidad, for January : — 



This name has been given to a destructive fungus which 

 attacks the pods of Tlifobroma cacao and destro3"s them. It 

 was found .some years since in some of the Windward Islands, 

 but, up to a recent date, it had not actually been detected in 

 Trinidad. A few weeks since, however, a pod was sent to 

 this ofiice infected with a fungus, which, on reference to 

 authorities, has been juovisionally determined as Diplodia 

 cacaoicola. So far, however, the disease has not ajipeared to 



be prevalent or likely to do any considerable amount of 

 damage ; but it will be wise to take stejis to prevent its 

 Sfiread wherever it ajijiears. 



The measures laid down in various papers for the 

 control of the more common Fhi/tophtUora oinniixira are also 

 ettecfive for this disease, viz., the collecting and destroying 

 of all di.seased pod.s, and the burying or burning of the 

 enijjty 'shells' when the beans are extracted. This proce.ss 

 of control is, I am [ileased to record, now being carried out on 

 many of the best Trinidad estates with successful results. 

 In one case a prominent planter who has adoiited it for some 

 time jiast has stated it to be highly successful, and that it 

 has resulted in saving a verj* large proportion of his crop for 

 1901. 



CACAO INDUSTRY OF SURINAM. 



The following extract from the L'onsulur Report 

 on the trade of Dutch Guiana for the year li)03 refers 

 to the unsatisfactory condition of the cacao industry in 

 consecpience of the serious character of the ' Witch 

 Broom ' disease : — 



The cacao industry which was the most important in 

 the colony, .showed no improvement during the year, the 

 total crop being 2,020 ton.s, against 2,187 tons in the 

 previous year and 3,004 tons in 1901. The prospects of the 

 industrj- are very far from bright : many of the proprietors 

 were unable to provide work for their indentured labourers, 

 and had not the Government been able to employ a large 

 number of them on the railway construction, the state of 

 tilings would have proved disastrous to many of the 

 jiroprietors and to the colony generally. In the meanwhile^ 

 of cour.se, the cacao on these plantations suffers, and unless 

 the disea.se dies out of itself the prospects are most dismal, 

 as these under-cultivated estates act as nurseries for the 

 disease and spread infection to their more fortunate 

 neighbours. 



The exports of this article from Surinam during the 

 last few years have been as follows: 1901, 3,1G3 tons, 

 valued at £192,44.5; 1902, 2,355 tons, £135,423; 190.3, 

 2,224 tons, £116,795. 



It may be mentioned that at the recent Con- 

 ference at Trinidad Dr. van Hall, the Director of 

 Agricidture for the Dutch West Indian Colonies, gave 

 the results of his experience with the ' Witch Broom ' 

 disease, contiruiing the great loss caused by it to 

 planters. Spra3ing experiments had been commenced, 

 but he could not as yet record any definite results. 



