156 



THE AGllICULTUUAL NEWS. 



Mav 13, 1911. 



GLEANINGS. 



The exports of rubber from Para, Manaos, Icjuitos and 

 Itacoatiara, via Para, during 1910 were 37,153 tons. In 

 1909 the export was 38,963 tons, and in 1908, 37,013 tons. 



The Li-eirard Islands (rauttc, for March 23, 1911, con- 

 tains a notice which shows that a patent is being applied for, 

 in respect of a machine for extracting cold drawn essential 

 oil from citrus fruits. The applicants are Messrs. W. A. D. 

 Allport and T. J. W. C. Davenport, of Dominica. 



An up-to-date factory, equipped with British machinery, 

 for dealing with ramie fibre, has been completed at Kow-kong, 

 in Kwangtung, China. The factory will also make grass 

 cloth. At Shahow, on the West Itiver, a large silk filature, 

 to be equipped with British machinery, is being erected. {Tlia 

 TcrtiU' Mtrcwtj, March 4, 1911.) 



A report received from the Curator of the Botanic 

 Station, Dominica, shows that the lime plantations in the 

 island are flowering well, and that the prospects of the com- 

 ing crop are good. A similar report from the Agricultural 

 Instructor, Tortohi, indicates that like favourable prospects 

 for the lime crop also exist in the Virgin Islands. 



A communication has l:>een received from the Superin- 

 tendent of Agriculture, Grenada, to the eilect that enquiries 

 are being made in that island as to the possibility of the 

 disposal by sale of the seeds of the grugru palm (Acroromia 

 lasiospatha), and that information is required as to the prices 

 that will be obtainable if such disposal can be made. 



The AijricaHural Bulletin of the Straits and Federated 

 j\[alat/ States, for February 1911, give.? approximate figures 

 for the area of land under rubber cultivation in the various 

 parts of the Colony. The total is stated to be about 100,000 

 acre.s, and it is pointed out that this is fairly large, consider- 

 ing the class of country in which the rubber is planted. 



Information forwarded by the Agricultural Superinten- 

 dent of St. A'incent shows that arrowroot and cassava 

 starches, exported recently, have realized satisfactory prices 

 in the ditterent markets. During the quarterended March 31, 

 1911, the exports from St. Vincent included 288,752 lb. of 

 cotton, valued at £22,8G0, and 151 head of large stock, value 

 £757. 



It appears that cotton-growing in Turkey is undergoing 

 a fairly large extension. The authorities are desirous of 

 introducing the production of Kgy|)tian varieties of cotton, 

 and in pursuance of this, application has been made by the 

 Minister of Agriculture at Constantinople for supjilies of 

 .seed of the best varieties of Egyptian cotton for trial iii 

 Turkey. 



It is stated, for general information, that useful wood 

 preservatives are made by Messrs. D. Anderson <fc Sons, of 

 Roach Eoad, Old Ford, London, E. The name of the 

 preparation sold by this firm is Sideroleum. The firm also 

 produces a roof felt known by the name of Stoniflex, the 

 special purpose of which is to ensure complete protection 

 from rain. 



The Permanent Exhibition Committee of Dominica 

 announces its intention to endeavour to send a collection of 

 the economic products of Dominica to the Festival of 

 Empire Exhibition to be held at the Crystal Palace under 

 the patronage of His Majesty's Government. In consequence 

 of this, the committee has made arrangements for obtaining 

 such information as will enable it to decide whether an cxliibit 

 shall be forwarded. 



According to the laditi-Ituliber Journal, for ilarch 18, 

 1911, the Belgian Committee (at Antwerp) of the Inter- 

 national Rubber and Allied Trades Exhibition has announced 

 that it will award a trophy to the value of 1,000 francs for 

 some special exhibit, the arrangement of the competition 

 being left in the hands of the manager, Mr. A. Staines 

 Manders. In this volume of the Af/rictdtuyal Seivs, 

 references to the Internafional Rubber Exhibition are made 

 on pages 44 and 123. 



The final forecast for the sugarcane crop of Eastern 

 Bengal and Assam is 177,400 acres, as compared with 170,300 

 acres, which is the final estimate for last season. On the basis 

 of a 90-per cent, crop, for which the normal yield is 12 tons 

 per acre, the estimate reckoned on the first of these figures, 

 for the total outturn of 'gur' from sugar-cane this year, is 

 191,590 tons, or about 3 per cent, less than that of last year. 

 The quantity of gur from the juice of the date palm is esti- 

 mated at 537,948 tons. 



Information contained in The Board of Trade Jouriird, 

 for December 29, 1910, shows that the Government of Colom- 

 bia has granted a fifty-year concession for the eslablishmont 

 of banana plantations on an extension of about 12,500 acres 

 of land on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Uraba. The 

 receivers of the concession have to make arrangements 

 within two years for a coastal and river steamship service, 

 and within three years for a regular ocean service for the 

 exportation of bananas and other products. 



H.M. Consul at Santiago, Chili, reports that schemes 

 are being made for the purchase by foreign capitalists 

 of various lands in the south of this State, where there 

 is a variety of large timber of good quality, and espe- 

 cially of land containing wood suitable for the manufacture 

 of paper pulp. The market conditions are stated to be very 

 advantageous for prospective buyers, owing partly to the 

 failure of Chilian Colonization Companies established in 

 1905-(i. (The Hoardof Trade Journal, March 2, 1911.) 



A note in the Junrnal of the Jioi/al Socieli/ of Arts, for 

 March 17, 1911, draws attention to the great losses that are 

 suffered through the damage done to buildings and crops by 

 insects and fungi. After referring to the loss on the Ceylon 

 coffee plantations, from Hemiteia rastalrix, mention is made 

 of the destruction, to the extent of £100,000, of the spruce 

 forests of Bavaria, by a moth, and of the fact that the monet- 

 ary loss through insects and fungi in the United States 

 represents, every year, a sum greater than the cost of the 

 year's upkeep of the army and navy of that countrj'. 



