Vol. X. No. 228. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



25 



The exports that show the greatest advances are 

 wheat and wheat-flour, pulses and millets, seeds, raw 

 cotton and raw wool; the only decreases of any account 

 occur in regard to raw jute, indigo and coftee. As 

 reg-ards cotton, reckoning on the averao-e of the three 

 years ended 1908-9, the share of this jiroduct was 30 

 percent, of the total value of raw materials exported 

 from India; while in 1909-10 the proportion came to 

 37i per cent., so that raw jute was supplanted by raw 

 cotton, in its former place as the most nnportant article 

 exported. 



Of the chief countries that trade with India, the 

 United Kingdom occupies the first position, and the 

 total value of this trade rose from £75,000,000 to 

 £81,000,000. Next come the principal foreign countries 

 in the following order: German}', China, United States, 

 Japan, Belgium, France, Java and Austria-Hungary. 



The general revival of the trade of India is reflected 

 to some extent in the fact that, while the net imports 

 of silver decreased considerably, those of gold exceeded 

 I65 million pounds sterling, which is the highest total 

 ever recorded, and that there was an increase of 7'7 

 per cent, in the aggregate tonnage of shipping entering 

 and clearing at Indian ports, over the (]uantities for 

 the jjreceding similar period. 



The nde made by the Board of Education on May 

 21, 1909, which was passed by the Legislative Council 

 on August 6, of the same year, is hereby rescinded. 



Practical Agriculture and Sanitation and 



Hygiene in Grenada Schools. 



According to the Grenada Gvrerirriient Gazette (nr 

 December 15, 1910, Rule 128 of the (Grenada Primary 

 Education Code, which defines the conditions under 

 which bonuses may be given to head teachers from any 

 sjjecial sum voted from public revenue for such [)urposes, 

 has been amended by the addition of provisions having 

 a general effect, as follows. 



A special bonus, as a lump sum of money, shall be 

 paid to the head teacher of a combined school for effi- 

 cient instruction in Practical Agriculture and Sanitation 

 and Hygiene, provided that, where classes contain less 

 than twelve pupils, the amount to be paid shall not 

 exceed one-half of that which would otherwise be 

 awarded. 



Necessary conditions to the making of the grant 

 will be the possession of a school garden, of a standing 

 satisfactory to the Board of Education, and the teaching 

 of the subject by a properly ipialified teacher. It is 

 left to the discretion of the Inspector of Schools, in 

 cases where no gardens exist, to permit the qualifica- 

 tions to be fulfilled by the giving of adequate instruc- 

 tion with plants in boxes, tubs, or pots. 



The teaching of agriculture may now bo under- 

 taken by teachers who gained First Rank in the exam- 

 ination held after the Courses of Lectures delivered 

 under the auspices of the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture, in 1900. Other teachers will have to qualify 

 themselves at an annual examination held for the pur- 

 pose, of which due notice will be given; such examination 

 will be held under the direction of the President of the 

 Board of Education. 



Rubber Planting in Cochin-Ohina. 



An account of the measiu'es that are being taken 

 by the Government of Cochin-China for the purpose of 

 encouraging the rubber industr}' in that country appears 

 in the issue of the Depeehe Goloniale for November 15, 

 1910. The grant of concessions, for plantations having 

 soil consisting of the so-called ' red earth ' have been 

 recently subjected to new regulations. Such conces- 

 sions are now only made in certain provinces on the 

 undertaking that the land is used for the planting of 

 rubber. All holders of concessions are bound to plant, 

 each year, at least one-tenth of their holdings, if these 

 are less than 500 hectares (1,250 acres) in area, and 

 one-twentieth if the area is greater than this. The 

 minimum number of trees per hectare is 120, and the 

 planter only enters into complete possession of the 

 land granted to him when half of this is growing rub- 

 ber trees. 



Tlie Distribution of Weeds. 



A short note on the various methods b}' which 

 weeds may be distributed is given in Nature for 

 October 27, 1910. This contains an interesting instance 

 of a way in which such distribution may take place, in 

 connexion with the exhibition of commercial activity. 



It appears that, a few months ago, an advertise- 

 ment resembling a jiaper butterfly was distributed in 

 various countries, including Australia. Affixed to this 

 was the burr of the burdock {Arctium Lajypa), which 

 apparently was attached for purposes of novelty and 

 attraction. The Agricultural Gazette of New SoiUh 

 Wales, for August 2, 1910, has the following statement 

 with reference to this: ' The Chief Quarantine Officer 

 for Plants has informed the Under-Secretary for Agri- 

 culture of a most extraordinary method whereby an 

 objectionable weed might be broadcasted throughout 

 the State. It appears that, as an advertising medium, 

 some printed paper, rejjresentative of a flying insect, has 

 been sent to Australia, and the genius who invented 

 this particular style of advertisement, in an endeav- 

 our to make it more realistic or uncommon, had 

 attached to each specimen the burr or seed of the 

 noxious weed burdock {Aretiiivi Lap^ja). The authori- 

 ties in Western Australia had called the attention of 

 the Director of Quarantine to the use to which the 

 burr of this noxious weed was being put. It is need- 

 less to say that business firms stopped the issue of the 

 advertisement under notice as soon as they knew there 

 was a serious objection to its use.' 



This forms a notable illustration of the unsuspected 

 ways in which harmful plants may be introduced into 

 a new country, and furnishes an argument for the exer- 

 cise of vigilance in regard to this matter, especially 

 where agriculture is the staple industry of a country. 



