380 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Decembee 9, 1905. 



The Collector General reports a steady increase in the 

 exports of minor products from Jamaica. This he regards 

 as a wholesome sign, stating: 'The minor products belong 

 distinctly to the pieople of the country and in the record of 

 trade done therein is to be found the index to the condition 

 of the peasant proprietors.' 



GLEANINGS. 



The sum of £213 17s. 11(7. has been expended by the 

 Government of Barbados in the destruction of the mungoose 

 during the year IQOi-.'J. 



Itubber is by far the most important of the exports of 

 tlio Ivory Coast, the total amount for the jear 1904 being 

 1,-531 tons valued at £201,400. {Consular Report. ) 



The annual Agricultural Show under the auspices of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture will be held at Charles- 

 town, Nevis, on Thursday, .January 18, 190G. 



The annual local Agricultural Exhibition for peasant 

 proprietors and tenants on sugar estates at Barbados, 

 organized by the Imperial Department of Agriculture, was 

 held at Bushy Park estate on Tuesday, December 5. 



It is stated that a company has been started in Porto 

 liico for the purpose of organizing a trade in di'awn-thread 

 work. It employs 700 girls. This product will be placed 

 by the company on the New York market. 



The Excise Report of the Comptroller of Customs for 

 1904-5 states that both the aggregate quantity and the value 

 of the rum exported from British Guiana last year were less 

 than in the previous year : quantity by 1,278,305 gallons, 

 and value by !?188,197. 



The Wt'st India Committee Circular of November 10 

 contains an illustration showing the decorations in Trafalgar 

 Square, Barbados, on the occasion of the Trafalgar centenary 

 celebration. It is from a photograph taken by !Mr. Henry 

 A. Ballou, B.Sc, of the Imperial Department of Agriculture. 



In their Sea Island Cotton Pieport for October 28, 

 Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., of Charleston, South Carolina, 

 state : ' In South Carolina a larger proportion of the crop 

 has been harvested than in previous year.s, and it is thought 

 that the outturn will hardly equal the last.' 



The operations of the branches of two American wood- 

 cutting firms established at Belize, British Honduras, are 

 responsible, according to the Annual Report on the colony, 

 for the large increase in the output of mahogany and cedar 

 during the last two years. 



It is mentioned in the report of the (,'ollector General in 

 Jamaica that ' a small steam plant has been erected near 

 May Pen for preparing und^rella and other sticks, and for 

 manufacturing cart and waggon wheels and fruit bo.xes. 

 !Many thousand sticks have already been exported; the 

 business is in its infancy and promises to do well.' 



The output of logwood extract from Jamaica has steadily 

 increased during the last four years, from 5,149 packages of 

 the value of £26,144 in 1901-2 to 9,560 packages of the 

 value of £63,689 in 1904-5. In the same period the output 

 of logwood has decreased from 41,107 tons (value, 

 £103,795) to 29,972 tons (value, £75,679). 



According to the Beport on the Lands and Mines 

 Department in British Guiana for 1904-5, the amount of 

 balata obtained during the year was 497,999 lb. The 

 decrease in output of 741,499 ft), was due entirely to cutting 

 down of oiierations by the licensees on account of the dep)res- 

 sion in prices. 



lieporting on a visit to the mission stations of Orealla 

 and Epera, on the Corentyue Kiver, British Guiana, 

 Mr. Edgar Beckett, Agricultural Instructor, says: 'It is 

 interesting to note that in the forests behind these missions 

 Vanilla planifolia, the vanilla of commerce, grows quite 

 luxuriantly and is reallj' very common.' 



The ' Coco-de-mer' or ' double cocoa-nut palms' are 

 growing well, and now form stately plants, quite distinct 

 and unique, even in their own section of the Palmae. 

 There are three plants in a group near the Bungalow attached 

 to Government House ; and one in front of the Gardens. 

 (Annual Beport on the Botanical Department, Trinidad,, 

 1905.) 



In his report on the Trinidad Botanical Department for 

 1904-5, ilr. J. H. Hart mentions that a considerable number 

 of notices were issued under the ' Agricultural Protection 

 Ordinance ' for the destruction of Cuscuta or ' Love vine.' 

 (See Ai/rirultural Kews, Yol. Ill, p. 185.) 'If regularly 

 carried out, there is evidence that the Ordinance will prove 

 sufficient to abate the nuisance, if not entirely to eradicate 

 it.' 



It is mentioned in a recent Circular of the Boyal 

 Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, that better yields will probably be 

 obtained from maize ' if the male flowers of half — or even 

 more — of the croji are removed while in the young state. 

 The young male inflorescence can be easily withdrawn 

 without damaging the plant. By this means a large saving 

 of plant energy is effected, which may be diverted to the 

 production of better leaf and fruit.' 



A meeting of banana growers was held at Barbados on 

 Friday, December 1, to receive the report of the deputation 

 which waitetl upon the Chairman of the Boyal Mail Steam 

 Packet Co. After addresses by the President of the Agri- 

 cultural Society, the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 and Captain Owen, it was decided to adjourn the meeting 

 until the growers had before them definite proposals from 

 the British West Indian Fruit Co. in reference to the purchase 

 of bananas locally. 



