Vol. IV. No. 78. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



105 



Witch Broom Disease of Cacao. 



A -ivriter in the Montserrat Herald of March 18 

 gives some account of the dangerous witch broom 

 disease and the causes which have led to its prevalence 

 in Surinam. He states that cacao cultivation is carried 

 on there in lands bordering on some of the great rivers 

 which run through the low, flat country lying between 

 the mountains of the interior and the sea. A great 

 part of this land is belov/ sea-level and is also of 

 a heavy clayey nature. 



In consequence of these conditions the soil ai-ound 

 the roots of the trees becomes completely water-logged 

 during the most rainy months — May, June, and July — 

 thus preventing the roots carrying on their functions 

 properly. Moreover, a good part of the surface soil is 

 washed away every year into the drains. The rainfall 

 is over 100 inches annually. 



The writer also states that the trees on many 

 estates are more than thirty-five years old. This, 

 together with the soil conditions, renders them an easy 

 pre}" to the fungus causing the witch brooms. The 

 appearance of the disease is described in an article 

 •which has already appeared in the Agricultural Newf< 

 (Vol. II, p. 117). The flowers of attacked trees are 

 said to fjill off, if any fruit is formed it dries up and 

 fells before reaching maturit}^ As a result of the 

 disease, the writer says, estates which formerly produced 

 800 to 1,000 bags (of 200 tb.) per year, now scarcely 

 produce 100 to 200 bags. 



Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



Mainly through the eflbrts of his Excellency the 

 Governor (Sir Henry A. Blake, G.C.M.G.) an Agri- 

 cultural Society has been formed in Ceylon. To 

 a considerable extent the Agricultural Society of 

 Jamaica has been taken as a model in establishing this 

 new Society. 



The business of the Agricultural Society of Ceylon 

 is conducted through the Board of Agriculture which 

 meets regularly once a month. The Board consists 

 of certain ex ojficio members, including the Director of 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Director of Irrigation, 

 the Conservator of Forests, the Controller of the 

 Experiment Station, and the Superintendent of School 

 Gardens, together with such members of the. Society 

 as may be appointed by the President, who is the 

 Governor. As in Jamaica an important feature will 

 be the local societies whose members will receive all 

 publications of the Society on payment of an individual 

 -subscription. 



It may be mentioned, also, that the Tropical 

 Agriculturist, started twenty-four years ago, which 

 has long been well known in all tropical countries, is 

 now to enter upon a new existence. It is to undergo 

 amalgamation and will henceforward be the official 

 publication of the Society with the title Tropical 

 Agriculturist and Magazine of the Ceylon Agri- 

 cultured Society, edited by Dr. J. C. Willis, the 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Society 

 will then have a 'representative organ to justify its 

 existence and to aftbrd necessary information to its 

 members.' 



Rubber Planting as an Adjunct to Cacao 

 Cultivation. 



In view of the doubts that were expressed by 

 certain members of the recent Agricultural Confei-ence 

 as to the advisability of planting rubber trees among 

 cacao, it may be of intei'est to give the following 

 summary of an article in the Tropical Agriculturist 

 descriptive of cacao cultivation in Venezuela in so f:ir 

 as it has bearing on this point : — 



The plantations visited by the writer are among 

 those jsroducing the cacao known as 'Caracas' in the 

 Ocumare valley. Most of these plantations are owned 

 by General Fonseca ' who was among the first to realize 

 the value of giving as shade to cacao. . . . such a tree as 

 Castilloa elasticu.' 



In 1895-6 about 8,000 plants were put out in 

 places where shade was wanted for the cacao. These 

 trees are now some 36 to 45 feet high and have 

 a circumference of 33 inches. 



'The experiment is specially remarkable as it 

 shows that the Castilloa can be grown among cacao trees 

 without in any way harming their production. Indeed 

 at Ocumare they have noticed no diminution in the 

 number of pods carried by the trees shaded by Castilloa, 

 nor any change in the quality of the bean.' 



Teaching Agriculture in Elementary Schools. 



An address on 'Some Principles of Teaching as 

 applied to Lessons in Agriculture' by Colonel Hicks, 

 Senior Inspector of Schools in Jamaica, to the teachers 

 attending the last annual course of agricultural 

 instruction, has been reprinted, in pamphlet form, from 

 the Jamaica Journal cf Education. It is mentioned 

 that the Education Dejjartment has ordered 1,000 

 copies with the following prefatory note : — 



'This address of Colonel Hicks' is printed and 

 sent out to managers and teachers as being of special 

 interest and value at the present time, when the whole 

 subject of Nature study and agricultural instruction in 

 schools is receiving so much attention.' 



Colonel Hicks briefly sketched the rise of wdiat he 

 described as 'the new education,' which ' devotes itself 

 to the arousing of the power of thinking and independ- 

 ent judgement.' He referred to the provision of 

 abundant material for every scholar to handle and 

 observe the things for himself, and the advisability of 

 allowing the children to perform experiments. 



Jamaica was well for\vard in the school garden 

 movement. Its teachers must justify the expectations 

 that the agricultural instruction given in these schools 

 should be of marked utilit}-. The subject must 

 therefore be made instructive and educative. This 

 could be done by experiment; by the verification of 

 facts by observing; and by direct instruction. They 

 did not aim at sending out their scholars finished 

 agriculturists, but by no means ignorant of agriculture. 



In conclusion Colonel Hicks hoped that what had 

 been predicted of Germany would be true of Jamaica : 

 'The hour must and will come when the eyes, until 

 now struck with blindness, shall be opened and see 

 that the institution of school gardens has been the 

 greatest blessing of the people.' 



