108 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 8, 1905. 





^.- j^5^,^> 



GLEANINGS. 



The .Jamaica C(jtton Co. advertises that it will buy all 

 the Sea Islaiitl cotton that is produced in the island, and 

 offers 3(/. jier lb. for good-quality seed-cotton. 



According to the Ci/prus Joxmial, the Director of 

 Agriculture supplies cotton seed (imported direct from 

 America) on payment or on condition that double the 

 quantity of the seed issued is returned. 



The first Agricultural Show held in Esse<juebo (British 

 Guiana) was opened by his Excellency the Governor 

 on Jtlardi 15. The attendance was large and the show 

 appears to have been a great success. 



Mr. .T. H. Hart, F.L.S., Superintendent of the Koyal 

 liotanic Gardens, Trinidad, has left for England in order to 

 assist with the arrangements for the Trinidad Court at the 

 I'olonial and Indian^Exhibition to be opened in London in 

 .May next. 



The ll'tfi India Committee Circu/ar welcomes a new 

 West Indian product — 'Barbalene — a natural mineral product 

 which is now lieing used in the London hospitals, and 

 recommended by skin specialists as a cixre for eczema and 

 kindred complaints.' It is said to be prepared from Barbados 

 mineral oil. 



According to the Jamaica Gleaner there appears to be 

 a likelihood cit' two factories being established in the parish 

 of St. Elizabeth for the extraction of dye from log.vood. 

 St. Elizabeth is essentially a logwood parish. 



A local standard for milk will probably be instituted for 

 Jamaica, and the following has been recommended by the 

 Chemist: Total .solids, 12 per cent,; solids not fats, 8| per 

 cent.; fat, 3] per cent. {Journal of the Jamaica Agri- 

 ndtural Society.) 



With reference to the note in the last issue of the 

 Agricultural News (Vol. IV, p. 92) on the use of bamboo 

 pulp for paper making, it may be mentioned that it is 

 proposed to forward .samples of the ' cakes' to the f(jrthcoming 

 Indian and Colonial Exhibition. 



At a recent meeting of the Grenada Agricultural and 

 Commercial Society there was a discussion on '.shoes 'for 

 cart-wheels. A memorandum, with a sketch of a cast-iron 

 ' shoe,' had been drawn up by the Superintendent of Public 

 Works; it described the best shape of 'shoes' and the 

 correct method of adjusting them. 



A former Resident Magistrate of Jamaica (Mr. Justice 

 Thornton) has written from Singapore that a local veterinary 

 .surgeon has discovered a drug, which, he believes, will 

 exterminate ticks. ' All I per.sonally know of its etticacy is 

 that it was tried on a dog which was being killed by ticks, 

 and its effect was wonderful.' 



The Anglo-Nubian stud goat ' Black Bock ' presented 

 to the Department by Lady Burdett Coutts has been sent on 

 loan to Grenada. He was exhibited at the recent Agricultural 

 Show at St. George'.s, and created a good deal of interest. 

 ' Black Ivock ' is under the care of ^h. E. ^\. DeFreitas at 

 Woodlands, about two miles froui St. George's. 



A conference of cotton growers is i)ro))Osed to bo held 

 under the auspices of the Barbados Agricultural Society, at 

 the Planters' Hall on Friday, April U, at 2.30 p.m. 

 Sir Daniel Morris has promised to attend and deliver an 

 address on the selection of cotton seed and the best time for 

 planting during the coming .season. 



ifessrs. H. W. Frost 1- Co. (piote Soa Island cotton at 

 Charleston as follo's\s : Extra tine, 25c. per R.; extra- 

 fine crop lots at 26c. to 28c. per Dj. From this it will be seen 

 that cotton from the West Indies has been fetching M. to 

 3(f. jier It), more than .simibar grades of cotton from the Sea 

 Lslands. 



His Excellency the Governor, Sir Gilbert T. Carter, 

 K.C.M.G., on the invitation of the Cotton Committee, 

 visited the Central Cotton Factory at Barbados yesterday 

 in order to witness it in full operation. Latterly, a Christy 

 it Norris disintegrator and a Sea Island cotton press have 

 been added to comjilete the equipment of the factory which is 

 now one of the best in the AVest Indies. 



As an article of food the chestnut is much more used in 

 Tuscany, where it is made into a cheap kind of cake, than 

 in the south, where the fruit is merely • roastecl at the street 

 corners in the usual way. The trees grow high up on the 

 mountains, so that the gathering alone is a considerable 

 source of employment to the peasants. {Consular Rcjiort 

 on South Italy, 190-t.) 



The first of a series of leaflets, issued by the Department 

 of Agriculture of British East Africa, contains a list of the 

 principal East African cultivated crops with their English 

 and native names. 'Literature on East African agriculture 

 scarcely exists, and it is now proposed to issue occasional 

 leaflets dealing exclusively with facts interesting to the 

 agricultural and general community of this country.' 



:Mr. A. J. Brooks writes from the Agricultural School, 

 Donunica : ' I have often seen the yam bean {Pachyrhiius 

 tuherosui) described as having white flowers and red seed, 

 but I have never seen any description of the variety 

 conmionly grown in this island. Its flowers are dark-blue, 

 and the seed a dark-brown. I am inclined to think that the 

 blue variety is the more prolific. Experiments are now being 

 earned out here to ascertain if this is .so. A small quantity 

 of seed of the blue variety could lie supplied for distribution.' 



The Imperial Connnissioner of Agriculture has received 

 from the Hon. H. Hesketh Bell, C.M.G., some beans of 

 a wild vanilla, found growing in the forest near ' Silvania,' 

 Dominica, with a request to be informed if they possessed 

 any commercial value. They are probably produced by 

 Vanilla anaromatica, Gr., a species found in Dominica and 

 many of the other West India Islands. This plant is 

 described by Griesbach as having 'capsules 8 inches long, 

 the latter devoid of aroma.' The pods do not appear to 

 contain any seed, only dried, unfertilized ovules. They are 

 of no commercial value. 



