20i 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 30. 1917. 



GLEANINGS. 



In the Faryn Journal of JNIay, advice as to carrying 

 poultry is given. The proper vcay to carry a fowl is to place 

 it under the arm, the head pointing to the rear, and the feet 

 held firmly by the hand. The common practice of carrying 

 fowls by the legs with the head hanging down cannot be too 

 strongly condemned. 



In the Colonial Report for 1914 of the Falkland Islands, 

 which was recently published, it i? stated that, apart from a 

 small school at Darwin maintained by the Falkland Islands 

 Company, all teaching outside Stanley is done by itinerant 

 teachers, two being employed on their 'camp' by the 

 Company and five by the Government in different parts of 

 the Colony. 



In the March number of the Journal of the Jamaica 

 Agricultural Society, the making of coco-nut butter, as a home 

 industry at the present time, is strongly recommended. In 

 a recent test twelve nuts weighing 27 B). gave 3| R. of butter, 

 and the coco-nut meal left weighed 7 B>. The butter can be 

 used for cooking, for making cakes and, where it is liked, in the 

 place of dairy butter, while the meal is of great value for 

 feeding poultry. 



According to Colonial liejJorls (1914-15), Uganda, 

 over 9,000 tons of cotton seed valued at £18,172 were 

 exported from the Protectorate in the early part of the year 

 under review, and this total would have been considerably 

 greater, had not increased freight rates, due to war, acted 

 adversely on trade in this product. The cultivation of 

 plaintains, sweet potatoes, millet, maize, peas and beans was 

 increased to meet demands made necessary by hostilities, and 

 efforts were in hand to meet abnormal future requirements. 



It will be recalled that in 1910 the chief cacao 

 manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom decided to 

 boycott cacao from the Portuguese islands of San Thome and 

 Principe, on the ground that it was produced under 

 conditions closely akin to slavery. This drastic action 

 resulted in reforms being carried out, and the Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs was able, as is stated in the West 

 India Comviitfee Circnlar of May 3, 1917, to express the hope 

 that, in view of the improved conditions in those islands, the 

 boycott would be removed. 



Sugar has always been used in connexion with surgery. 

 According to the Veterinary Record it has been recently 

 used with good results. Two horses with deep wounds 

 of the carpus, were first treated by washing with 

 a solution of sodium chloride, and afterwards the 

 wounds were covered with sugar. Five days later the 

 dressings were removed when the wounds were of healthy 

 appearance. The second dressings were removed five days 

 after this, revealing only a superficial wound, the total 

 recovery of which was obtained in twenty days. 



Sugar cultivation and sugar manufacture in Eastern 

 Bolivia, as reported by the British Vice-Cousul in The Board of 

 Trade Journal of April 12, appear to be conducted according 

 to primitive methods. The juice is boiled in a copper 

 cauldron until it become of the proper consistency, when it is 

 transferred to earthenware crocks with a hole at the bottom 

 for the molasses to drain from, and the refining is done by 

 the claying process, as was the case in the first days of the 

 sugar industry in the West Indies. Antiquated wooden 

 sugar mills are still seen, and most of the iron mills are still 

 operated by animal power. 



In certain parts of Uruguay the farm buildings are a fine 

 white colour even during the wet season. To obtain this 

 appearance a whitewash is used, made of the sliced leaves of 

 the Prickly Pear, which, when macerated in water for twenty- 

 four hours produce a solution of creamy consistence. To this 

 lime is added and well mixed in. When the .solution is applied 

 to any surface, be it wood, iron, or other material, a beautiful 

 pearly white appearance is produced which endures through 

 rain and frost for many years. The editor of the Cyprus 

 Agricultural Journal says that the solution has been tested 

 in Cyprus with good results It may be noted that this 

 u.se of the Piickly Pear is common in the West Indies. 



At Xawabgani in Bareilly district a sugar factory 

 has, it is reported in the London Chaiuher of Commerce 

 Journal of March, been established by State agency 

 as an endeavour to avoid the wasteful methods of .sugar 

 extraction, and from the first report upon the results obtained 

 experience has .shown that the mere introduction of crushing 

 mills requiring greater bullock power would prove no 

 advantage to the cultivators who, in most cases are too poor 

 to purchase a costly mill. The greatest obstacles appear to 

 be the jealousy of the sugar boilers who seem to see in the 

 improvements offered a menace to their obsolete methods, 

 and the stubborn resistance to innovations of any kind on the 

 part of the native cultivator. 



In Farmer's littlletin 787, of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, the pathologist in charge of cotton and 

 truck disease investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 writes: 'There is little encouragement to offer to those who 

 would attempt to introduce the culture of Sea Island cotton 

 into any other part of the country than where it is now grown 

 (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida). Many such trials have 

 been made during the past hundred years and all have failed. 

 Even in the present area the crop is losing rather than 

 gaining ground in competition with Upland cotton, although 

 the production of Sea Island cotton might be increased if 

 market conditions warranted.' The chief obstacles to its 

 extension are the scarcity of labour and the development 

 of trucking mid other more profitable industries. 



