Vol. XVI. No. 390. 



THK AGRICTILTURAL NEWS. 



10! 



THE FOOD SUPPLY OF THE 



PHILIPPINES 



The l^hilippine Islands, like those ol th" British West 

 Indies, annually import large quantities of foodstutl's. The 

 chief ainoni; these is rice, and als" cacao, coffee, ilry legumes, 

 potatoes, onions, starch, canned fruits and veiretables, and 

 even fresh vegetables and fruits thai could readily be grown 

 in the islands, t^ommenting on this fact the I'ldlippine 

 A;/ricii!tural Ri'view (Vol. IX, No. 3) says that this situa- 

 tion cannot be viewed as anything but deplorable An idea 

 of the extent of the importations is obtained by reference to 

 the value of the various articles imported during 1905 and 

 J915, respeitively. The value of the rice imported in 1915 

 was •'?G,:224,"275. Very considerable quantiti'^s of fruits and 

 vegetables, particularly fresh vegetables, contirue to be 

 imported: thus the value of the fresh vegetables imported in 

 1915 was .fSli.ol."), coinpired with nil in 1905. In 1915 

 the value of the refined sugar imported was .$192, 482, and 

 molassses 637,349. It is satisfactory to note that all the 

 corn consumed in the island— and this amounts to a very 

 large quantity — is produced locally. It would be interesting 

 to know what arrangements are made in the I'hilippines 

 for storing and distributing the large quantity produced. 

 Flour and other articles that cannot be produ ed in the 

 Philippines are imported in amounts that are relatively 

 insignificant compared with rice, beans, cacao, coffee, fruit, 

 tea, and vegetables. 



The number of the PhiUpiniie A;/i ieiilt/zral Reineir 

 from which the above information is taken, contains an 

 iiiterestini! and useful synopsis of the different food plants 

 that are grown in the Philippines in various localities, and at 

 various altitudes. This list contains references to a good 

 many fruit trees to which attention has been given in the 

 Philippines during the last two years, lieference is also 

 made to the cultivation of temperate vegetables such as 

 caulitiower, celery and turnip. It is interesting to note thit 

 the latter plant exhibits special development according to the 

 altitude at which it is grown. An elevation of 600 metres 

 at least is required for the produriion of fairly good roots. 

 Abovi' this elevation the quality of the roots is increased 

 in proportion to the ri.se in altitude up to 1,200 metres, 

 where the growth of the turnip is very satisfactory. 



A BRITISH CATTLE RESERVE IN AFRICA. 



A letter appears in Uniled Empiie for January 1917. 

 calling attention to the immense cattle reserves existing in 

 Nigeria. It is stated that these reserves have been travelled 

 over and inspe.-ted by a rancher oi great experience, and he 

 Las reported that the lands contain not less than 5,000,000 

 head of cattle, that is to say more than exist to day in the 

 whole of Australia. The trouble has been to secure adequate 

 reserves of land to allow for collecting and fattening prior to 

 railing to Lagos. This is the first .^tep necessary for capital 

 to be put up to secure the erection of refrigerators. The 

 only other clifficulty for developing this new source of meat 

 supply is the [iresent one of securing shipping for conveying 

 frozen carcases from Lagos to Kngland. There is little doubt, 

 as soon as shipping arrangements have become more normal, 

 that in Nigeria will bo a British source of meat supply 

 a,nd one situated very much nearer to Great Britain 

 that) Australia and New Zealand, or even South Africa; and 

 neprer too than the Argentine whirh at present is the great 

 beef exporting country of the world 



RICE FLOUR IN DEMERARA. 



The iJemerara Daily Argoxi/ of ilarch 17, contains a 

 report of a recent meeting of the Flour Substitute Committee. 



Mr. Bancroft intimated the receipt of a mill from 

 Messrs. Sprostons Ltd , and the purchise of one from Messrs 

 Brooker Bros. McConnel .t Co. Ltd. In that connexion 

 Profe.ssor Harrison submitted several simples made from the- 

 machinery referred to. He pointed out that they had encoun- 

 tered some difficulty in getting the rice reduced to flour with 

 the machines at their disposal He called the sample tlaked! 

 rice, and of that some portion had been sifted. It appeared 

 to him that in order to pro luce rice Hour to the extent to 

 give commeroial returns they would have to get special Hour- 

 preparing machinery With reference to the making of bread, 

 the Profesor continued, it seemed to him that the most 

 beneficial returns were obtiined not by mixing the flours i'l 

 the first instance, but by preparing separate dough of the 

 respective mixtures and then working them up together. 



Mr Bancroft said with the machinery they had acquiredt 

 they could handle about 100 B). of stuff per day. 



Dr. Wise remarked that bread was being made on 

 a large scale at the Public Lunatic Asylum with a mixture 

 of rice, cassava and wheaten flour. 



Mr Bancroft exhibited several loaves of bread from 

 the Penal Settlement made of wheaten and cassava and 

 wheaten and rice flours. The loaves, he remarked, were 

 about five days old. The speaker also mentioned the 

 receipt of a number of very good loaves from Mr. Mansell's 

 bakery. These were received shortly after the last Com- 

 mittee meeting. 



Adulterated Bread — .^.n uncrupulous baker will work 

 into his bread as much salt as possible. Experts say that 

 an increasingly large amount of salt may be put into bread 

 without the consumers being aware of it. The idea is that 

 bread loaded with salt weighs more heavily on account of the 

 moisture which it will retain. To find out the real value of 

 bread from the stand-point of weight, a little experiment may 

 be followed. Take two samples of equal weight, and bake 

 these in an oven for an hour At the end of this time weigh 

 again That which is the heavier is the better value. The 

 addition of alum to bread to make it white (often used to 

 mask an inferior flour) is much to be condemned. Small 

 quantities of alum taken n^ularly in this way are very 

 harmful. Happily a simple test for the discovery of alum 

 in bread is available. Take a sample of the suspected article 

 and place it in a saucer. Then pour over it a solution of 

 carbonate of ammonia. If alum is present in the bread it 

 will turn black, but if the bread is pure no change will take 

 place (Wealth of Indii, December 1916.) 



The acreage under tobacco in Pihodesia during 1915-16 

 was less than the previous year, but the acre-yield showed 

 improvement, being 4s6 lb. as against 309 tt). per acre the 

 year before, with the result that the crop reaped increased 

 from 426,423 Bb. to 637,201 Bo., or ani ncrease of 494 per cent. 

 (The Rhodesia Agricidtural Journal iov December 1916.) 



