Vol. XVI. No. 397. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



2iy 



A WEST INDIAN SOURCE OF TANNIN. 



In view of the demand which at the present time exists 

 for tannin material, it may be well to call attention to the 

 value of the pods of Acacia arahka a tree very common in 

 Antigua and other West Indian islands under the name of 

 'Cossie', or 'Cassit'. . 



In India, these pods are known as Babul pods, and in 

 the Sudan by the came of Sant pods. According to the 

 Bulletin of the Imperial Institute. \o\. IV (1906), p. 96, 

 a sample received from the Sudan contained as much as 

 3.5-4 per cent, of tannin, and this tannin produced a toft 

 light coloured leather. It miy be suggested that a larger 

 yield of tannin would be obtained if the pods were crushed 

 and the seeds screeced or sifted away. But in India, accord- 

 ing to the sime journal [Vol. XIV, p. 614 (1916;], the tan 

 liquor prepared from the pods speedily undergoes deteriora- 

 tion and is therefore not u.sed for tanning. It appears that 

 at high temperature, such as occurs in India and the tropics, 

 a fermentation of an undesirable kind sets in. This fermen- 

 tation is mainly due to a fungus— a species of Mucor— 

 which acts upon the large amount of sugar in the pods. 

 It can, however, be stopped by boiling the liquor, 

 by keeping it at a low temperature or by the addition of 

 antiseptics." An infusion of 4 oz. of pods in 20 oz. of water 

 was found to ferment badly, but no fermentation took place 

 within a week when carbolic acid or phenazola was added in 

 strengths of 3 and 25 per cent, respectively, or over An 

 objection to the use of phenazola alone is its alkaline nature, 

 but it has been shown that it is equally effective when 

 .slightly acidified with acetic acid, and it is recommended for 

 use when carbolic acid is not available or is too costly. The 

 use of antiseptics to arrest undesirable kinds of fermentation 

 in tanning pits is, of course, well known in Europe, but 

 a drawback to their use is that they may arrest desirable, as 

 well as undesirable, fermentations. The experiments that 

 have been carried out so far in India were merely with 

 aqueous infusions of the pods and not in the presence of skins 

 and hides, and it will be interesting to have the results of the 

 large scale trial which, it is stated, is to be conducted in 

 a tannery in the United Provinces. 



While this material may not be very suitable as a tanning 

 agent in the tropics because of its liability to ferment, this 

 disadvantage is not likely to be of importance in cold 

 climates, and it would seem that this material may be very 

 acceptable in England at the present lime. It would seem 

 -worth while, therefore, to collect it for shipment. 



Advances upon Agricultural Produce.— 



An < )rdinance, No. 14 of 1917, repealing the Agricultural 

 Produce Ordinance of 1906 and published in the Trinidad 

 Royal Gazette of June 8, 1917, has been passed by the 

 Legislative Council of that island to make provision for 

 securing advances on agricultural produce. By section 4 of 

 the < )rdinance, when any land together with the crop thereon 

 and the produce to be reaped and manufactured therefrom are 

 mortgaged by any instrument in writing as security for the 

 paynient of money, such crop and produce upon severance 

 from the land shall not be deemed to be personal chattels but 

 shall for all purposes be deemed to be lawfully mortgaged 

 and charged. It is also made lawful for the owner of any 

 sugar factory to mortgage or charge sugars made from canes 

 to be purchased by such owner from farmers and others. 

 An instrument in writing may provide that the whole or any 

 portion of the sum advanced shall be devoted to specific 

 purposes or that the whole or any portion of the crop shall 

 be delivered to the mortgagee or that any money received by 

 the mortgagor in respect of the crop shall be applied in the 

 manner specified in the instrument. 



RICE IN TRINIDAD. 



The present crop of paddy (unhusked rice) in 

 Trinidad is roughly estimated at 40,000 bags (of 160 lb.) 

 grown on some -5,000 acres. Swamp rice is principally 

 grown, the cultivation being carried on by small pro- 

 prietors and tenants, mainly East Indians. The chief areas 

 of production are in the Oropuche, Caroni and Chaguanas 

 district', but small patches exist in other localities. Hill or 

 upland rice is also cultivated on a very limited scale in many 

 parts of the Colony. A considerable proportion of the crop 

 is hulled in the houses of the growers in simple pounding 

 mills, and the surplus sold to the rice mills, of which there 

 are three at work, situated at Port-of-Spain, St. Augustine 

 and Chaguanas. The total capacity of these mills may be 

 stated at 100 bags of paddy per day. These mills are 

 capable of dealing with more than double the present rice 

 crop of the island. The yield of cleaned rice is approximately 

 60 per cent, of the weight of the paddy. 



In a report of a special committee of the Boirdof 

 Agriculture of Trinidad, which appears in the Trinidad and 

 Tohago Bulletin, Vol. XVI, Part I, and which was adopted by 

 the Board, February 21, 1917, are to be found valuable 

 suggestions for the encouragement of the industry. It is 

 recommended that the Depart,ment of Atriculture should con- 

 tinue its trials of imported rices, especially those of British 

 Guiana, India and Louisiana varietie.s, but that no (general 

 distribution of the seed of such varieties be made until it 

 has been shown that they are suited to local conditions and 

 give better returns than those already urown. At present, 

 there seems to be no need to recommend the establishment of 

 co-operative mills by a direct Government subsidy, but it is 

 suggested that steps should be taken to acquaint rice growers 

 with the mode of working such enterprises as co-operative 

 rice mills, which future development of the industry may 

 render desirable, and which could readily be established 

 through the me lium of the Agricultural Credit Societies 

 Ordinance. Measures are to be taken to ascertain the 

 suitability of certain areas for irrigation schemes and, if such 

 schemes prove feasible. Government assistance might be 

 afforded by the guarantee of interest on the capital expendi- 

 ture required, and this proposal is recommended not only in 

 view of the attraction which would be afforded to East Indians 

 to settle in the Colony but also of the urgency of incieasing- 

 the local food supply. 



Correlative Characters of the Rice Plant. — 



From a study of rice varieties grown on the lowlands of 

 the Philippine? to determine the relative values of the moat 

 apparent characters, especially in their relation to the period 

 required by a variety to reproduce itself and to the degree of 

 reproduction, some of ihe m ist stricking results, according to 

 the Experiment Station Record, Vol. 36, No. 6, were as 

 follows: The length of the growing period of rice, if not less 

 than 120 and more than 180 days, has no appreciable effect oa 

 yield. Extra early maturity is to be had at the expense of yield. 

 Late maturity is conducive to loss through disease, insects, 

 etc. A variety that tillers freely produces more grain per acre 

 than one that does not; but when rice is transplanted, tillering, 

 can be largely regidated by the number of plants set in the 

 till. Tillering, the number of grains per panicle, and graia 

 size are compensating charact-r.'. The long period of devel- 

 opment in the rice plant permits of environmental influences 

 not found in such plants as oats and barley. It appears that 

 the medium characteristics, and not the extremes, resuh in 

 the highest consistent yields. 



