44 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Febeuaky 10, 1917. 



The derelict condition of Tortola is to some extent indi- 

 cated by the export's from the Presidency during the quarter 

 ended December 31, 1916. The total amount of lime produce 

 shipped during the three months was 4 casks of con- 

 centrated lime juice valued at £.36. This period however, 

 is never the shipidng period for cuttou, which during the 

 Utter months of the year is approaching the time for picking 

 to commence 



GLEANINGS. 



According to the Louisiana Planter for December 16, 

 1916, the last crushing season in South Africa closed with 

 a total output of 112,000 tons of manufactured sugar. The 

 estimate for the crop about to be reaped is the same. 



The Trinidad sugar crop for 1917 is estimated in the 

 Porl-of-Spjin-Gazette at 79S,3.50 tons of cane which it is 

 thought will yield about 71,s6-5 tons of sugar. This works 

 out at nil tons of cane to produce 1 ton of sugar. 



At a recent meeting of the Trinidad Board of Agricul- 

 ture the Director of Agriculture reported that Sea Island 

 cotton which had been grown at St. Agustine as a catch crop 

 with canes had been sold in Enaland at 2.s. 6'/. per lb. (Trinidad 

 Royal Ga:.eUe, January 11, 1917.) 



According to the Report of the Education Commission, 

 Trinidad, which has recently Ijcen issued, the average annual 

 expenditure on agricultural instruction in the elementary 

 schools of the colony for the last five years is £1,686 .3s. Oicl 

 This includes emoluments and traivelling allowance to two 

 In.structor.', aggregating £470 a year 



Mechanical tillage, according to the Demerara Daily 

 Chrovicle has made considerable headway in British Guiana. 

 On the rice land the caterpillar system of traction has been 

 in operation for some time and has given complete satisfac- 

 tion. This form of traction can be used on wet land and 

 land which has trenches and ditches more conveniently than 

 any form of locomotion. 



Figures published- in the lioaril of Trade Joarnnl for 

 December 7, 1916, show that in 1916 there were large 

 increases in the quantity of wheat and bacon and pork 

 products generally imported into Great ISritain compared 

 with what is imported in norinal times. Thus during 

 the week ended December 2, 1916, iheie was imported 

 2,221,400 cwt. of wheat com|ured with l_r)92,.'iOO for 

 same week in 



1913, that is beiVire the war. 



the 



The Ajowan plant (Carwrn cnpticam) has been successfully 

 grown in Sc Kitts as well as in Montserrat, St. L'lciaand 

 other islands. This plant produces the thymol of commerce 

 and is native to the colder districts of India. Its successful 

 growth in the West Indies is therefore an interesting botan- 

 icil fact as well as being one possessing some economic 

 significance. The plant in St. Kitts did best under the drier 

 conditions obtaining at La Guerite, on the Leeward side of 

 the island. . 



The cultivation of cotton is being strongly advocited for 

 Queensland by the Agricnltaml Jmirval of the Department 

 of Agriculture of that State. It is believed that Queensland 

 can produce good long stap'e cotton and that the future 

 market will make cotton cultivation in Queensland 

 a paying proposition in .«pite of the fact that they are 

 •without cheap labour. 



Information is given in the Barbados Sl'indard for 

 January 2-5 regarding the forthcoming meeting in Trinidad 

 of the Associated Chamber of Commerce of the British West 

 Indies. At the meeting which has been arranged to take 

 place between February 2 3 and March 4 in Port of-Spain, 

 there will be present twenty-one delegates representing British 

 Guiana and the islands. It is observed in the article that 

 this meeting may result in an important step being made 

 towards the commercial, if not the political, federation of the 

 Colonies concerned. 



I 



According to Rules made by the Governof-in-Council 

 under authority of the Agricultural Products Protection 

 Ordinance, 1906, and published in the St. Vincent Govern- 

 ment G(i:et/e (December 1916) the price to be paid per K) 

 for seed cotton purchased by the ginnery in that Colony will 

 be 2c. based on the estimated market value of the lint, after 

 making the following deductions; 2c. per tt>. to cover cost of 



ginning and baling, 2Jc per 



other 

 duty 



charges, and ^c. per 



making a deduction of -ac. in all 



to cover cost of freight and 

 lb. to cover cost of export 



Information has been received from the Curator of the 

 Botanic Station Montserrat, to the effect that the Agricultural 

 and Commercial Society in that island was, during January 

 reorganized, and that at a meeting held oji the 9th 

 instant, Mr II. F. Shand was elected Chairman and the 

 Curator, Mr. W. Koljson. as Honorary Secretary. The names 

 of the committee are given and it is stated that at one of 

 the me;;tings, two delegates were appointed to attend the forth 

 coming Conference of- the West Indian Chamber of Commerce 

 in Trinidad, namely, the Honourable W. L. Wall and 

 H. F. Shand, Esq. ■ 



Tobacco, both Virginian and Havana, arc grown experi- 

 mentally in St. Kitt9 and are cured and sold in the local 

 market. Large (luantities of tobacco are produced in Tobago 

 from whore it is .sent to the tobacco factory, an American 

 concern in Portof Spain, Trinidad. The cigarettes manu- 

 factured by this firm are of quite a .satisfactory kind 

 and largely consumed in Trinidad. More attention might 

 be paid to the production of tobacco for the local markets in 

 all the islands of the Lesser Antilles on account of the posssi- 

 ble difficulty in the future of getting the usual supplies from 

 abroad 



