92 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



Makch 18, 1911. 



GLEANINGS. 



A report received from the Curator of the Kotanic 

 Station, Montserrat, shows that the distribution of plants 

 during .January last included ; cane cuttings 9,600, cacao 

 plants 233. 



A new regulation has been made by the Government of 

 Jamaica concerning the importation of flour, so that this is 

 not now permitted to be landed in that island in bags, but 

 must be packed in barrels. 



The last annual report of the Secretary of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture shows that the value of 

 sugar and molasses imported into that country, during 1910, 

 ■Was about one and a quarter million pounds sterling. 



It is shown in a report from the British Acting ( 'onsul 

 at Dairen, Manchuria, that the export of sesamum seed from 

 Manchuria has begun lately to increase largely, because of 

 the higher prices in South China, resulting from a greater 

 demand. From two of the Manchurian ports, over 1,.")00 tons 

 was shipped to .Japan during last November. 



Copies of three leaflets, issued by the Permanent Exhi- 

 bitions Committee of British Guiana have been received. 

 These deal with the sugar industry, the balata and rubber 

 industries and the rice industry, and are produced in an 

 attractive and useful form which should help to arouse 

 and sustain interest, where it is required, in the subjects with 

 which they deal. 



It is announced from the St. Lucia Botanic Station that 

 several thousand lime plants are now ready for distribution 

 in the island, from the nursery of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment at Union. The price of the plants is 6(/. per 100, at 

 the Botanic Station, and orders, together with the necessary 

 remittance, should bi' forwarded to Mr. J. C. Moore the 

 Agricultuial Superintendent. 



The number of bales of cotton imported into the I'nited 

 Kingdom during the fifty-two weeks ended December 29 was 

 3,773,012. This amount included 6,,500 bales of Briti.sh 

 AVest Indian cotton, (5,812 bales l!ritish West African. 1C,209 

 bales British liast African, and 24 bales of foreign East 

 African cotton. (From The Board ot Trade Journal, Jan- 

 uary 5, 1911.) 



A forecast of the cotton crop of Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam, dated December 10, 1910, .states that the estimated 

 area is 99,100 acres. When it is considered that the crop in 

 this part of the country represents, on the average of the five 

 years ending 1908-9, about 03 per cent, of the total area, 

 some idea of the extent to which cotton-growing is carried 

 on in India may be obtained. 



Information has been received from the Curator of the 

 Botanic Station, Dominica, to the effect that the prospects 

 for a satisfactory careme crop of cacao are fair. With regard 

 to cacao, it is announced that the judging in connexion with 

 the prize-holdings competitions in Dominica has been carried 

 out recently, with the assistance of that officer, when the work 

 entailed the inspection of no less than thirty-seven small 

 holdings. 



The Agricultural Instructor for the Virgin Islands 

 reports that the total amount of seed-cotton purchased during 

 January 1911, was .5.5,877 lb., for which payments were made 

 amounting to £735 9s. M. These figures constitute a record; 

 they are approached most nearly by those for December 1908,' 

 when 43,000 Itj. of cotton was bought, the amount paid being 

 £439 8s. 3(/. It is further stated that 17,780 ft. (80 bales) 

 of cotton have been shipped so far, for the season, the value of 

 this being £1,333 lO.v., and the whole of it is reported to 

 be of first quality. 



Through the courtesy of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum, Vol. I of The Flora of Jamaica, which deals with 

 the Orchidaceae, has been received. This has been compiled 

 by Mr. William Fawcett, I5.Sc., F.L S., late Director of 

 Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica: and Dr. Alfred 

 Barton Rendle, M.A., F R.S., F L.S., Keeper of the Depart- 

 ment of Botany, British Museum (Natural History). The 

 work consists of 150 pages of text and 32 plates: it should 

 be of the greatest use to those who are interested in the 

 orchids of Jamaica. 



It is stated in an article entitled Some Useful Plants of 

 Mexico, in the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 

 for .January 1911, that there is the expectation that the seeds 

 of Argemone, a member of the poppy family, which is largely 

 represented in Mexico, will be used to produce an oil that 

 will eventually become an important article of commerce 

 both in relation to medicine and its employment in the place 

 of some of the fixed oils This is .somewhat interesting, in 

 view of the fact that one .species of this genus, namely 

 Anjeitione me.rirana, is very common in several of the West 

 Indian islands. 



A new Ordinance, called the Im|)ortation of Plants Ordin- 

 ance, 1911, has been enacted in T'ganda, to be read as one 

 with the Importation of Plants Ordinance, 1908. It provides 

 for the prohibition of particular importations and removals 

 by special proclamation: the destruction of plants which in the 

 opinion of the Botanical .\ulhority cannot be disinfected by 

 ordinary means; and the designation by the Governor of 

 any officer whom he may choose to act under the Ordinance. 

 A subsequent declaration under these Ordinances appoints 

 the Economic Entomologist to be the i'.otanical Authority for 

 the purposes of them. 



The Field for February 4, 1911. states that the most 

 recent report of the National Su,i;ar Beet Council is of an 

 encouraging nature and shows that plants giving 17-0 to 20-5 

 per cent, of sugar have yielded as much as 26°tons per acre, 

 in Cornwall, from 13 to IG tons being common. The result 

 would indicate that roots with a high sugar content and 

 yielding a juice of satisfactory purity can be grown under 

 the conditions of the British climate. A further note, in the 

 next number of the same paper, shows that 1 9 tons per acre 

 of cleaned roots without tops has been obtained at Farnham 

 Surrey, and that the juice of these gave, on analysis in Hol- 

 land, IGA per cent, of sugar. 



