Vol. IV. No. 73. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



■20 



Experiments with Rice in British Guiana. 



The recently issued ' Report on the Agricultural 

 Work' in British Guiana cuntiiins an account of 

 interesting experiments with varieties of rice. 



Several carefully selected varieties of rice were 

 imported from Ceylon with which the e.xperiments 

 were carried out on an area of about 3 acres. Certain 

 of these varieties show promise of being of high value 

 for cultivation in the drier districts of the colony. 



A further experiment was commenced in March 

 1904.. The varieties grew with much vigour, the 

 imported varieties maturing in four mouths, while the 

 'Creole' took five. In the majority of the cases the 

 proportion of straw to paddy was excessively high ; 

 further experiments are to be undertaken to discover 

 an explanation of this. The yields of paddy per acre 

 obtained from most of the imported varieties were 

 from 20 to 30 cwt. ; from the 'Creole' 14-6 cwt. 



Barbados Banana Industry. 



We publish on p. 23 an important report by 

 a Committee of the Barbados Agricultural Society in 

 reference to the shipment of banana.s. The present 

 position of the industry is briefly as follows: — 



Till July of last year everything had gone well, 

 and growers had obtained good prices for their fruit. 

 But from that time, owing to the warmer weather 

 encountered by the steamers and also the exceptionally 

 large crop of English fruit available during the 

 summer months, many of the bananas arrived in poor 

 condition and low prices were obtained, which scarcely 

 paid for the crates and cost of packing. 



The point has been established that if the bananas 

 are carefully selected and well packed, and shipped in 

 cold-storage chambers, there is little risk about their 

 arrival in good condition. So far, only the ' Tagus' 

 and the 'Trent' are fitted with Hall's system of cold 

 storage, and it is suggested that the fruit should be 

 shipped by these steamers. 



Another suggestion is that bananas should, as far 

 as possible, be so planted as to cause the principal 

 supply of fruit to come in during the cool season 

 .(November to May). But it is not thought desirable 

 that there should be any entire cessation of shipments. 



The Committee report that the fruit is now 

 again arriving in England in good condition. 



It may be mentioned that from January to 

 'October 31, 1904, <S,012 single bunches of bananas 

 were shipped and 3,0.56 bunches in double crates. 



were rather fewer, but still showing greater care and 

 attention in their production. The Elementary School 

 children's exhibits were verj' numerous and showed 

 a distinct improvement on former years. In this 

 section special interest attached to the exhibits of 

 inarched and budded mangos and avocado pears, 

 for which a Diploma of Merit was given to the master 

 and children of Good Intent School. 



The following additional Diplomas of Merit were 

 awarded : Blowers estate, for yams, sweet potatos, and 

 guinea corn ; Dunscombe estate, for stool of B. 20.S 

 canes and crate of bananas packed for shipment : 

 Whim estate, for un-ginned Sea Island cotton ; 

 Grazettes estate, for ginned Sea Island cotton. 



Great interest was taken in the keen competition 

 for the prizes offered by Mrs. Dickson and another 

 lady for the best-kept working donkey. These were 

 offered with the view of enlisting a wider sj'mpathy 

 with these hard-working little animals. 



His Excellency the Governor, in distributing the 

 prizes, expressed the pleasure it had given him to 

 attend the Show and congratulated Sir Daniel Jlorris 

 and his co-workers on the success of the exhibition. 



Sir Daniel Morris saiii that he was very pleased 

 with the fifth Local Exhibition ; the articles were 

 better than on previous occasions and the attendance 

 was much larger. He noticed a general improvement 

 in the quality of all the produce shown. 



Local Exhibition at Barbados. 



The annual Local Agricultural Exhibition for 

 Peasant Proprietors took place umler the auspices of 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture, and by per- 

 mission of the Hon. Forster AUeyne, at Dunscombe 

 plantation, St. Thomas, on Tuesday, January 24. In 

 spite of the showery weather the attendance was above 

 the average. 



The exhibits were of particularly good quality, 

 especially in the classes for fruit, vegetables, and small 

 stock. In some of the sections, however, the exhibits 



Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Exhibition. 



A brief notice appeared in the Agrk-ultund j^hwh 

 (Vol. Ill, p. 404) with reference to the list of awards 

 secured by the West Indies at the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Exhibition of Colonial-grown Fruit, held on 

 December 14 and 1.5, 1904. From the papers received 

 by last mail we learn fuller particulars with regard to 

 the West Indian exhibits which may be of interest to 

 our readers. A catalogue of the exhibits has also been 

 issued by the West India Connnittee. 



The West Indian Section was organized by the 

 West India Committee and included official exhibits 

 from Barbados and Dominica. The latter was a large 

 and representative exhibit collected by the Agri- 

 cultural Societ3^ The Royal Mail Company's exhibit 

 from Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados drew forth 

 considerable admiration for the manner in which it 

 was staged as well as for its remarkable variety. 

 Messrs. James Philip & Co. displayed various West 

 Indian fruits, preserves, honey, and pickles. Messrs. 

 L. Rose & Co.'s exhibit from Dominica included limes, 

 lime juice, etc. 



As has been announced, gold medals were 

 awarded to Dominica and Barbados. The Jamaica 

 fruit which received a gold medal was that exhibited 

 by Mr. A. W. Gardner, of Kingston. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle of December 17, 1904, 

 in an article on this Exhibition, says : ' Another 

 Colonial Exhibition will be held in March next, 

 which will, no doubt, be more complete and more 

 fully representative than the present one, wherein the 

 pine-apples in particular were by no means good 

 examples of what the West Indies can produce.' 



