396 



THE AGlllCULTURAL NEWS. 



December 23, 1905. 



GLEANINGS. 



The annual Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition of 

 the Barbadcs Agricultural Societj- was held at Harrison 

 College CD "Wednesday, December 20. 



The British "West India Fruit Co., Ltd., have been 

 awarded a silver medal for their general display of fruit at 

 the Tioyal Horticultural .Society's Show of Colonial Fruit, 

 held in London on December 5 and 6. 



There is a propo.sal in hand to hold the eighth Dominica 

 Agricultural Show at :Melville Hall on the Windward Coast 

 in February ne.xt. This would be the first occasion on which 

 the annual show has been held outside of Roseau. 



In view of the etforts that are being made in Jamaica 

 to establi-sh a trade in preserves, it is of interest to observe 

 that the Jamaica Preserves & Honey Co., Ltd., is advertising 

 for young lime.s, guavas, young ginger, and full mangos. 



It is proposed to hold a Hydrographical Congress in 

 connexion with a Colonial Exhibition to be held in Marseilles 

 from May to December 1 906. The Congress will deal with 

 charts, marine meteorologj-, marine biology, fisheries, marine 

 lal 'Oratories, and many other related matters. 



At a meeting of the Antigua Agricultural and Commercial 

 Society, held on December 1, Dr. Watts extended an invitation 

 to the members of the society to meet him at the Botanic 

 Station on the following Friday for the purpose of inspecting 

 the experiments which were being conducted there. 



The Su[ierintendent of the Botanic Station in British 

 Honduras reports that there are several fairly large 

 cacao plantations establi.shed in the colony. Some of these 

 plantations are already producing good crops. On one estate 

 a cacao-drying ajiparatus lias been erected. 



As the result of the recent Colonial Exhibition, the 

 West India Committee were able to lend a number of West 

 Indian curiosities and articles of interest from Jamaica, 

 Trinidad, and Grenada, for a missionary exhibition, held in 

 Guildford on November II and 1-5. {Wesf Italia Coinmittee 

 Chcidar.) 



As indicating the efforts that are being made at 

 Dominica to establi.sh a fruit industry, it is of interest to 

 note the following items in the returns of produce shipped 

 from the island during the period January 1 to September 

 30, 1903 : 4,23G bunches of bananas, 12,095 barrels of fresh 

 limes, 135,360 oranges, 16 barrels of preserved tamarind.s, 

 and mangos to the value of £217. 



Lender partial .shading of native trees and the Castilloa 

 rubber tree, a cotfee plantation in the Toledo district, British 

 Honduras, is now in a flourishing condition and bears heavily. 



A school garden show was held at Princes' Town, 

 Trinidad, on Friday, December 1. The Port-of-Spahi 

 (Ja-.ettc states that it wa.s, perhaps, the most successful of the 

 three that have been held during the year. The show was 

 opened by his Excellency the Governor, who also distributed 

 the prizes. 



Official figures with regard to the exports of Jamaica 

 for the six months ended November 18, 1905, show large 

 increases in the output of bananas and cocoa-nuts. The 

 c^uantity of cotton shipped has jumped from 8,516 tt>. to 

 38,48-1 R). Oranges, pimento, and rum show a falling of}', 

 as compared with figures for the corresponding period of last 

 year. 



By the R.M.S. 'La Plata,' which left Barbados on 

 December 14, there were shipped through the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture 1,178 bunches of bananas, 

 1 barrel of potatos, and 1 barrel of yams. iSIessrs. H. E. 

 Thome it Sons, Ltd., shipped 200 crates of bananas. By the 

 same steamer the West Indian Fruit Co., Ltd., .shipped 

 800 packages of fruit from Trinidad. 



Trinidad Council Paper No. 118 of 1905 contains 

 particulars supplied by Wardens in regard to the destruction 

 of the mungoose. It appears that the mungoose is numerous 

 in only two out of the fourteen wards. In these two wards 

 bounties are paid for the animals destroyed. In Couva 183 

 have been destroyed at a cost of £34 since November 1904 ; 

 in Tacarigua, from March 1904 to October 1905, 2,498 at 

 a cost of about £440. Between twenty-five and thirty were 

 also destroyed in St. Ann's. 



At a meeting of the St. Vincent Cotton Cirowers'' 

 Association, held on December 6, Mr. W. N. Sands suggested 

 the desirability of members establishing rain gauges on theii- 

 estates, with the view of obtaining accurate records as to the 

 rainfall in the different parts of the island. Several members 

 promised to adopt the suggestion. It may be mentioned 

 that there are at present only two rainfall stations at 

 St. Vincent, viz., at the Botanic Station and at the 

 Agricultural School. 



At the same meeting it was unanimously resolved 

 'that the Government be urged to pass an Ordinance for 

 the protection of cotton growers against cotton stealing.' 

 Speaking in reference to the above, ilr. Sands suggested that, 

 possibly, stolen cotton from the Grenadines was resiionsible for 

 the ' rogues ' that had appeared in the cotton fields this 

 season, and advised growers to see that pickers did not mix 

 such cotton with the Sea Lsland cotton to make up the 

 weight. 



At a large meeting held at !Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 

 November 24, in connexion with the proposed establishment 

 of a central sugar factory in that town, it was stated that 

 capitalists in Canada hacl already sub-scribed £15,000 out of 

 the £20,000 or £25,000 required for the puri.ose. The 

 meeting was informed that it was necessary that some 

 portion of this amount should be raised locally as a guarantee. 

 The company does not propose to grow canes but to purchase 

 them from growers. 



