Vol. XVI. No. 391. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



]21 



Exportation of Rice Prohibited from Demerara. 



The Barbados Advocate for Friday April 13 lias 

 an editorial on the above subject, and draws attention 

 to the effect which tl.e decision to prohibit theexporta- 

 "tion of rice except by licence will have upon the 

 neiorhbourinar Wesn Indian colonies. It is understood, 

 however, in certain quarters, that the prohibition is 

 likely to be only temporary, and has been nnposed with 

 the object of enabling the >!ritish Guiana (Jlovern- 

 nient to collect a reserve supply in order to strengthen 

 -the security of its own position in the event of any 

 serious shortage of imported foodstuffs, particularly 

 cereals. 



The extent to which neighbouring colonies are 

 dependent upon British Guiana for rice is considerable. 

 In 1915, ISarbados alone imported 13.615, Sdii lb. of 

 rice, of which 10,304,120 lb. was for local consumption. 

 The amount credited to British Guiana was 5, -Ho, 229 lb. 

 or more than half the amount locally consumed. The 

 -4 cZ;(>i';a<e expresses the opinion that there is need at 

 the present time for a certain amount of correlation of 

 action, and of interchange of opinion' between the differ- 

 ent Governments in regard to the food-supply question 

 particularly: this view has been expressed editorially 

 also in the Agricidttiral JVews. If Barbados is unable 

 to get rice from Demerara, the Advocate says Barbados 

 must retaliate and prohibit the exportation to Demerara 

 of sweet potatoes. This kind of tit-for-tat policy 

 however is not in keeping with ihe gravity of the 

 present economic situation, and an attempt should be 

 made to confer regarding the foodstuffs question with 

 a view to strengthening iho position of the West 

 Indian colonies as a whole. Trinidad, for example, 

 ought to be able to obtain most of her meat supply 

 from British (iuiana and St. A'incent and not from 

 Venezuela as she does at present: or better still, 

 Trinidad might raise more live stock localK, especially 

 in view of the fact that the uianure produced would 

 be of great value on the cacao estates which at present 

 ■:ive not in most cases adequateh- fertilized. 



First Year's Work of the Ceylon School of 

 Tropical Agriculture 



Interest attaches to the report on the first year's 

 ■work of the School of Tropical Agriculture, C'eylon, 

 which appears in the Tropical. AgriculturUt for 

 January lit] 7. 



It will be lemembered that the School was opened 

 in January 1916. A Final Examination was held 

 during December 1916, and it is to this that the ronorts 

 of the Registrar and Examiners refer. 



The Final Exauiinations comprised fourteen written 

 papers; and three practical examinations, one each in 

 Plant Diseases, Planting, and Horticulture. Of the 

 fourteen papers, there vvere seven niajoi papers, re- 

 quiring a higher percentage of pass marks, than the 

 seven minor papers. Major papers were set in Botany, 

 Economic Products (2), .Soil, Accounts, Planting luid 

 Horticulture: minor papers in Chemistry, the Animal, 

 Agricultural Engmeering. Plant Dis^eases, Crop I'est.s, 

 • Co-operation and Manures. 



Fifty-six students sat for the examination: seven 

 obtained a first class with (50 per cent, marks and over 

 twenty-one a second class, with a percentage of between 

 50 and 60: and thirteen otb.ers satisfied the examiners. 



It is stated that the results shov.ed few surprises, 

 the passes almost being exclusively limited to the 

 steady workers. 



The report of the E.xaminers published in the 

 journal referred to above, indicate that the students 

 showed a tendenc}' in the direction of 'cramming', and 

 some of the answers lacked conciseness. It would 

 appear that the practical examinations revealed only 

 a moderately familiar acquaintance with the various 

 operations. 



It would be interesting if some of the questions set 

 were published in order chat some idea of the standard 

 required by the Examiners could be obtained. 



Year-Book of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 

 1917-18. 



Jt is hoped, in the Introduction to this attracti'^e 

 looking volume, that it will 'furnish members with all 

 such information as they are likely to need in their 

 everyday life as "tillers of the earth ".' Perusal of 

 the subject-matter, however, does not enable us to see 

 how this hope is likely to be fulfilled. For instance, the 

 planting notes, which occupy some forty pages, deal al- 

 most exclusively with garden vegetables and fruit trees; 

 references to the staple cultivations of the colony — coco- 

 nuts, tea. rubber and cacao are almost entirely omitted. 

 'I'he section on Pests and Diseases also seems to be 

 unsatisfactory, particularly the notes dealing with pests, 

 inasmuch as practically no reference is made to specific 

 pests that give rise to trouble in Ceylon. 



Some of the statistics and tables will be found 

 useful in a general way, and the information 

 concerning the various- agricultural institutions 

 in Ceylon will be found useful for reference not only in 

 ( jeylon but also in other parts of the tropics. One or 

 two miscellaneous sections, for example, those dealing 

 with dry-farming and shade trees, are good, but as we 

 have already implied, much more might have been 

 done to make this Year-Book of greater interest anfL 

 value to the planter and business man. It should have 

 been possible to incorporate briefly the results of 

 investigations by the Departments of Agriculture in. 

 Ceylon and other colonies where similar conditions 

 prevail — the results of inanurial experiments with caca» 

 and coco-nuts, experiments in regard to the tapping 

 and vulcanization of rubber, varieties and the selection 

 of seed, etc. A short review of the market prices for 

 the principal products during the past year would 

 have been an interesting feature. 



The volume contains a section embodying veterin- 

 ary notes: but speaking generally, the volume is mori^ 

 in the nature of a Vear-Book of a Horticultural than or 

 an Agricultural Society, as we understooil the two 

 terms in the West Indies. 



