Vol. X. No. 252. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



409 



Candelilla Wax. 



Several notes on candelilla wax, which is a product 

 of a species of Pedilanthus growing in Mexico, have 

 been given, in this voluDie of the Agricultural A^eu'S, 

 oil page 20o, and in Volume IX, pp. 104, and 124. 



Through the fourtesy of H.B.JI. Con.sii! at Tani- 

 pico, Mexico, planting material of candelilla has been 

 obtained by ihe Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 This was forwarded during last June to the Botanic 

 Stations in Antigua, St. Kitts and Moni'serrat, in order 

 that trials may be made. 



Encjniiies have since been sent to these Stations 

 by this l)e)'artment in order to gain information as to 

 the progress made by the jilants. In reply Mr. H. A. 

 Tempany,B.Sc.. Superintendent of Agriculture, An tigun, 

 states that jilants have been established successfully at 

 the Botanic Station in that island: 3Ir. F. R. Shepherd, 

 Agricultural Superintendent, St. Kitts, makes a similar 

 report; and Mr. W. Robson, Curator of the Montserrat 

 Botanic Station, also states that plants are now 

 growing at that Station, adding that they appear 

 to be capable of being propagated with great ease. 

 In all cases, however, the specimens have made 

 little growth. When they have attained a suffi- 

 cient development, it is intended that the plants in 

 Antigua shall be used for trials of the extraction of 

 the wax. 



and these were made at very unsatisfactory prices, 

 which however have improved later. 



In regard to the trade of Venezuela with the West 

 Indies, the t^tal \alue of the imports was £18,952, 

 £13.820 being with Trinidad, and the rest with Barba- 

 dos. The exports from Venezuela to the West Indies 

 amounted in value to £180,415, taken as follows: 

 Trinidad £175,749, British Guiana £4,560, Barbados 

 £55, Grenada £51. 



An Insect Pest in Samoa. 



An interesting account of the introduction of an 

 insect pest into a new area is contained in Diplo- 

 matic and Consular Reports, No. 4756 Annual Series, 

 dealing with the trade of Samoa for 1910. The intro- 

 duced pest is the rhinoceros beetle {Oryotcs sp.) 

 chiefly affecting cocoa-nut palms, and it is supposed to 

 to have arrived in baskets of earth in which rubber 

 stumps wore packed. 



It is stated that, up to the time of re})orting, the 

 Government had spent nearly £2,000 in making the 

 most strenuous efforts to exterminate the pest, by 

 emploj'ing men to destroy the larvae, by paying for 

 larvae and beetles brought in, and by providing piles 

 of cocoa-nut stumps, where eggs are laid and larvae 

 produced, which are then destroyed. 



Trade of Venezuela, 1909-10. 



The following general information concerning this 

 iuatter is taken from Diploniallv and Consular 

 Reports, No. 4758 Annual Series, issued August 

 1911. 



The exports of coffee, which ;imoiuit to 35 to 50 

 per cent, of the total, were poor; the crop for the suc- 

 ceeding year is expected to be exceptionally good. 

 This circumstance with, an increase in prices, should do 

 much to enhance the general prosperity. As regards 

 the important exports, rubber and balata, the former 

 is obtained from wild trees of Hevea hrasiliensis grow- 

 ing on the Upper Orinoco and the Rio Negro, and the 

 inferior Sernambi is also produced; balata is obtained 

 principally from the Guayana district, i'he exports of 

 asphalt from Venezuela have increased slightly. 



The divi-divi produced in Venezuela is sent chiefly 

 to Germany. That country and the I'nited States are 

 the chief consumers of tonga beans, from Venezuela, 

 whicli is used in the curing of tobacco, and for the 

 extraction ofcoumarin, for employment in the manu- 

 facture of perfumes. 



The chief timber exports from Venezuela consist of 

 fustic wood and boxwood (zapatero). A certain amount 

 of lignum vitae is also exported, as well as some cedar 

 wood. The value of the timber shipped in 1909-10 

 was, in round numbers, £16,000. 



It was feared by the larger sugar planters of Vene- 

 zuela, in 1909, that local prices would fall because of 

 over-production; so that it was determined to export as 

 much sugar as possible. The official statistics state 

 that the value of the exports in 1909-10 was £200,000. 



Ecanda Rubber. 



A note in the Ayricultural News, Vol. VIII, 

 p. 89, gave attention to the plant yielding Ecanda 

 rubber {Raphionaoiic idilis), which is a native of 

 Portuguese West Africa. This was b.ased upon informa- 

 tion presented in the iiefc Bulletin, 1908, p. 209. Since 

 that time, th3 plant has received a full description in 

 the Kew Bulletin for 1909, p. 321, and still another 

 note appears in the same publication for 1911, p. 352. 

 From the last the following details are taken. 



It was understood from the first that the plant 

 would yield good rubber, but further information was 

 required as to the rate of growth of the rubber-yielding 

 tubers, before its cultivation as a pnifitable crop could 

 be recommended safely. 



A decision in the matter h.xs been reached in a re- 

 cently issued Diplomatic and Consular Report on 

 the Trade of the Province of Angola for the year 1910. 

 It states that experiments made by Europeans to grow 

 the plant have shown that, although it is easily rai-id 

 in seed beds, the development of the tubers is too slow 

 to be profitable. 



In support of this, the note in the Keiv Bulletin, 

 last quoted, states that the growth of the seedling 

 plants of Rophionacme utiiis at Kew has also been 

 found to be remarkably slow. 



Seeds of the plant were distributed among some 

 of the West Indian Botanic Stations in 1909, and it 

 will be of interest to know what results have been ob- 

 tained with these. 



