172 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 



1911. 



GLEANINGS. 



From a conimunication received from the Superintendent 

 of Agriculture, Barbados, it appears that the total area of 

 cotton grown in that island during 1910 was 4,740 acres. 

 Of this, 4,41 G acres was planted in new cotton. 



During last month, a meeting of peasant proprietors was 

 held at Soufriere in St. Lucia, in connexion with the Prize- 

 holdings Scheme, when fourteen entries for the next Prize- 

 holdings Competition were received by the Agricultural 

 Superintendent. 



The report of the Government Veterinary Surgeon, 

 St. Vincent, for last month shows that, of seventy-four animals 

 which died in the island during that time, only one was found 

 to have succumbed to anthrax. The deaths of cattle were 

 twenty-three, audit was among these that the case of anthrax 

 occurred. 



The extent to which the planting of limes is being taken 

 up in Dominica is indicated by a statement, on the part of 

 the Curator of the Botanic Station in that island, that in 

 response to an ofl'er of 20,000 lime plants by the Agricultural 

 Department, applications have been received from planters 

 for no less than 50,000. 



The distribution from the Antigua Botanic Station 

 during April last included cane cuttings 1,200, lime plants 

 500, miscellaneous 79, diflferent seeds 4 packages. Work for 

 future distribution included the sowing of 2,500 seeds of 

 Jequie Mani^ioba rubber (Manihot dichotomn), received 

 through the Imperial Department of Agriculture, and of 

 about 5,000 lime seedlings in bamboo pots. 



Information received from the Curator of the Botanic 

 Station, jNIontserrat, shows that a considerable area of cotton 

 has been planted between canes, in the Gages and Lees 

 district of that island. This planting is, however, simply 

 experimental at present, but .should eventually aftbrd interest- 

 ing results in connexion with the consideration of the feasi- 

 bility of its adoption. 



The late Mr. J. H. Hart's recently completed treatise : 

 Cacao: A Manual on its Cultwe and Preparation, is to be 

 published during this month by Messrs. Duckworth &: Co. 

 The price is Is. Qd. net, and the book may l,)e obtained 

 through the West India Committee, 15, Seething Lane, 

 Lcindon, E.C. A preliminary notice as to the publication of 

 this work was contained in the AgricuUicral News, Vol. IX, 

 p. 220. 



A matter of some interest to producers and shippers of 

 muscovado sugar has relation to the marking of bags, where 

 these are used in the export trade. It is commonly recognized 

 that by the time the bags reach their destination, whether 

 in Canada or Great Britain, they are almost black in colour, 

 on account of the separation of molasses from the sugar in 

 them. The interesting suggestion has therefore been made 

 that such bags should be marked with white paint instead of 

 black ink, in order that the designations on them may be 

 legible when they are required for reference at the port of 

 entry. 



The American Swjar Industry and Beet Sugar Gazette 

 for April 1911 draws attention to an article in the Rcforme 

 Economique for February 10, 1911, which shows that beet 

 sugar manufacturers in France are faced by a totally unex- 

 pected crisis on account of the difficulty of buying beets at 

 a profitable price. This has arisen from the fact that sugar 

 beets are largely used in the production of alcohol, and owing 

 to the present high prices of this product the distillers can 

 afford to pay sums for beets which are above those that can 

 be given when the roots are employed in sugar manufacture. 



It is stated in the Tropical Agriculturist for December 

 1910, that a large increase of interest in cotton-growing in 

 Ceylon has taken place since the appointmant of local agents 

 of the Briti-sh Cotton Growing Association. Toward the end 

 of last year, the agents imported 5 tons of seed of Sea Island, 

 Egyptian and LTpland varieties; the demand for this was 

 exhausted in a few weeks, and many further applications for 

 seed were received subsequently. The increased interest in 

 connexion with cotton cultivation i.s being shown both by 

 Europeans and natives in the island, and there are enquiries, 

 as well, from outside sources 



In reply to an cncpiiry, the Curator of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Dominica, states that, after making a very close 

 examination of the cocoa-nut trees growing at the Botanic 

 Station and Agricultural School in that island, and after 

 obtaining information from .several planters from different 

 districts, it appears that Dominica is at present remarkably 

 free from insect pests and fungus diseases of the cocoa-nut 

 ]ialm. It is further stated that no ease has been recorded 

 of trees dying from disease. 



The E.rperinient Station Record of the L^nited States 

 Department of Agriculture. Vol. XXIII, p. 2.31, gives an 

 abstract of a ])aper describing experiments on the influence 

 of lime on soil bacteria. The work showed that the nitrogen, 

 both in ammonia and nitrates, could be used by the bacteria 

 for producing the more complex nitrogenous bodie.s, that in 

 ammonia being more effective than the nitrogen in nitrates. 

 The formation of such bodies, using the nitrogen in sulphate 

 of ammonia, was aided by the presence of calcium carbonate, 

 but not to any great extent. The influence of quicklime on 

 soil bacteria was shown to be much greater than that of cal- 

 cium carbonate. 



Particulars have been received from ifessrs. William 

 Douglas it Sons, Ltd., Putney, London, S.W., of a cooling 

 plant, which has been devised for the purpose of supplying 

 the needs of those who require cold storage on a compara- 

 tively small scale. The plant, including the cold room and 

 other ai)pertainances, is stated to costless than £100, and 

 gives a space which can hold more than a ton of solid perish- 

 able food. The further claim is made that the cnmpres.sor 

 can be run directly, coupled to any ordinary form of power- 

 producing machinery, and that it practically represents the 

 limit of simplicity in refrigerating machines, as regards the 

 number of parts that require attention. 



