284 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 2, 1911. 



GLEANINGS. 



The crop of sugar produced in Madeira was larger in 

 1910 than in any previous year, being estimated at 68,000 

 tons, with a value of about £245,000. More attention is 

 being given on the part of growers to the employment of 

 artificial manures in sugar production, and the imports of 

 these are steadily increasing. 



Notice is being given that the Dominica Agricultural 

 Depf.rtmsnt is offering for sale to planters, for cultivation 

 in the island, 6,000 seedlings of the Para rul)ber plant 

 (Hevea brasiliensis) at the rate of '2d. per plant. Applications 

 for these were to have been received by the Curator of the 

 Botanic Station by the 1st inst., and the plants will be 

 ready for distribution early in next month. 



A report received from the Curator of the Botanic Sta- 

 tion, Dominica, shows that, during July, flowers were 

 setting favourably for the cacao cro]i. The lime crop was 

 normal, and there had been heavy shipments of the green 

 fruit during the month. 



It is reported by the Imperial Trade Correspondent at 

 Durban, that an estimate by the Natal Sugar Planters' Asso- 

 ciation gives the production of sugar in the Colony for the 

 year ending May 1912 as 95,000 tons. The total for the year 

 1910-11 is reckoned at 75,000 tons. 



In the British Medinil Journal for 1910, p. 1145, 

 a paper is given in which the experience of the author is 

 described in relation to the use of bananas for feeding infants. 

 This has led to the recommendation that the fruit should be 

 used for the purpose in the form of the flour, made into gruel 

 or a decoction. 



According to the Trinidad Mirror for August 22, 1911, 

 L'Enteiite Ri'jmfjlicave of Martinique states that machinery 

 has arrived recently in that island, which is being obtained 

 for the purpose of extracting the juice and essential oil from 

 limes. This points to the commencement of a new industry 

 in Martinique. 



The number of bales of cotton imported into the United 

 Kingdom during the twenty-six weeks ended .June 29 was 

 1,999,461. Of these 7,406 "bales were British West Indian, 

 4,049 British West African, 15,835 British East African, and 

 45 bales foreign East African. (From 27tr Board of Trade 

 Journal, July 6, 1911.) 



It is stated by the Agricultural Superintendent of 

 St. Kitts, that the young cotton in the island is generally 

 healthy and vigorous. There is about the same area in this 

 crop as was the case last year. ( )n two estates, cotton is 

 being'picked from the early planted fields, and one bale has 

 already been shipped. 



With reference to the article on page 245 of the last 

 issue but one of the Agricultural A'ews, dealing with Tephro- 

 sia Candida and T. piirjnirea as green manures, information 

 has been received, from the Superintendent of Agriculture, 

 St. Lucia, that the plants of the first mentioned species, under 

 trial at the Experiment Station, have attained a height of 

 8 feet, and that they are flowering, the flowers being 1 inch 

 in diameter, and of a pure white colour. 



According to an abstract in the Bulletin of the Bureau 

 of Ai/riculliiral Intelligence and of Plant Diseases, of the 

 International Institute of Agriculture, the area of cotton in 

 Greece in 1908 was 223 acres. From this a crop of 210,058 lb. 

 was obtained: while the yield rose to 219,538 11). in 1909 

 notwithstanding the fact that the area in cotton was reduced 

 to 200 acres. During last year, there was upwards of 608 

 acres under cotton, in Greece. 



The export of rubber from Ashanti, in 1910, was 1,257 

 tons, valued at £293,320. This is a decrease by 62 tons 

 from the quantity shipped in 1909, but the value has largely 

 increased. The fall in the exports of rubber is entirely due 

 to the lowering of prices toward the end of the year, and 

 very large quantities came in, early in 1911. The exports of 

 cacao amounted to 1,914 tons, valued at £80,388, compared 

 with 1,790 tons in 1909. 



The Xeitschrift fiir Anr/eivandte Chemie, Vol. XXIII, 

 p. 2279, gives a paper which shows that calcium cyanamide 

 containing free lime decomposes on treatment with water, and 

 that the con,sequent rise in temperature causes a loss of nitro- 

 gen: the same effect results from the presence of calcium 

 chloride. The suggestion is made that the addition of fatty 

 matters which would absorb heat on melting will prevent 

 this decomposition and the consequent loss of nitrogen. 

 Another advantage that arises from the admixture of calcium 

 cyanamide with such bodies is that it may be more conven- 

 iently used as a manure, on account of the fact that it is not 

 so easily blown about by the wind. 



The E.r/ierimenl Station Record of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, for May 1911, presents an 

 abstract describing work which has had for its object 

 the finding of means to keep pollen alive until it is 

 wanted for experimentation. The principle of the method 

 described is the enclosing of the pollen in air-tight 

 glass vessels containing water-free calcium chloride. In 

 detail, the pollen is placed in a glass vessel about 2 inches 

 long and ! inch wide. This is plugged with wadding 

 and placed in a larger vessel about 5^ inches deep and 3 

 inches wide, containing a layer of water-free calcium chloride 

 just over 1 inch deep and covered with a layer of wadding 

 about i-inch thick. When in use, the larger vessel is tightly 

 closed and should only be kept open during the short inter- 

 vals when it is desired to introduce or remove tubes contain- 

 ing pollen. 



