Vol. XVI. No. 396. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



195 



Turning to the detailed report, Mr. Sands states that 

 anticipating high prices, if not reduced supplies this year, of 

 imported foodstuffs, he made arrangements at the G )vernment 

 Cotton Ginnery in August 1916 to store all the Indian corn 

 (maize) taken over from growers on a profit-sharing bisis. 

 By sealing a storeroom, and by the erection of a number of 

 bins, accommodation for 700 cwt. of kiln-dried corn was 

 provided. The purchases of maize amounted to about 

 620 cwt. The payments mxde on account to growers were 

 at the rate of 84c. per 100 lb. for corn on the cob and Ic. 

 per lb. for .shelled corn. Towards the end of last March, 

 owing to the high prices of bread-stuffs and rice, Mr. Sands 

 started to convert the corn which, by the way, had remained 

 in perfect condition, into meal, u.sing the power-grinding 

 mill at the Ginnery. To date about 550 cwt. of the corn 

 has been sold as meal for human con.sumption at the rate of 

 §3'75 per 100 lb., and 4c. per &. for smaller lots, and the 

 demand far exceeds the supply available. Besides thi.s, 

 several corn growers have had considerable quantities of corn 

 dried and converted into meal at the Ginnery for local use. 

 Unless there had been a kiln-drier available, Mr. Sands points 

 out, the preservation of the corn purchased could not 

 have been successfully performed as the corn would have been 

 attacked by moulds. The attacks of grain insects were 

 easily prevented by the use of carbon bisulphide. 



It appears that if large growers generally had made 

 provision for the storage of corn on their e-tates instead of 

 shipping it, and a large number of small growers had taken 

 advantage of the facilities offered for the purchase, drying 

 and storage of corn at the Ginnery, there would have been 

 quite enough locally grown corn to supplj' the demand of the 

 next three months at a reasonable price. 



In view of the prospects of restricted supplies of imported 

 foodstuffs as well as high prices for such as were available, 

 Mr. Sands held a series of meetings in April, which were 

 attended by small owners and renters of land. In all, 

 Mr. Sands addressed people at eleven different centres. In 

 his addresses he spoke, amongst other things, of the necessity 

 of planting and preserving at home certain food crops, 

 particularly with the idea of earr3"ing over the critical months 

 of March to September next year. Mr. Sands called attention 

 to another point of importance. There is reason to believe 

 that a considerable quantity of corn meal suitable for human 

 consumption is fed to horses and poultry. It is believed 

 that meal for this purpose has been purchased from the 

 Government Ginnery. As Mr. Sands points out, inferior 

 grades of corn and of other foodstuffs may be used for 

 feeding to live stock, but it is very undesirable, in view of the 

 large amount of land available for pasturing and the adequate 

 supply of cotton-seed meal and other feeding stuffs, that a 

 high-grade Indian corn should be fed to animals. Mr. Sands 

 suKgests that legislative action should be taken to prevent 

 this wasteful practice. 



FOOD SUPPLY LEGISLATION IN 



BARBADOS. 



On May 16 last, an Act to which reference is made in 

 the editorial of this issue was passed in Barbados to make 

 provision for increasing the production of vegetable foodstuffs 

 in the island for the current year. Ground provisions are 

 defined as including sweet potatoes, yams, eddoes, corn, 

 cassava, peas, beans, and all plants producing crops which 

 provide foodstuff's for human consumption. It is made the 

 duty of every owner or person having chief charge and 

 control over the cultivation of any arable land of 3 or 

 more acres to plant and cultivate it at the time and in the 



manner required by the Commissioners, provided that th» 

 area required to be planted does not exceed 10 per cent, 

 of the arable land of any owner. To carry out the provisions 

 of the Act, seven Commissioners are to be appointed by the 

 Governor-in-Executive Committee, to whom within twenty- 

 one days from the passing of the Act returns of the 

 arable acreage, together with the acreage in first crop 

 canes and that in ratoons, are to be forwarded. On 

 the receipt of the returns the Commissioners will send 

 every owner a notice specifying the number of acres in which 

 he is required to plant ground provisions: the kinds of 

 ground provisions and the number of acres of each kind he 

 is required to plant; and the time or times at which, as soon 

 as weather conditions render planting feasible, he is required 

 to pl-int. Every owner must comply with the requirements 

 of the notice and keep the land so planted in good condition, 

 or be liable to a fine of £10 for every day for which 

 he fails to comply with the provisions of the Act. To 

 ascertain if the requirements of the Act are being carried 

 out, inspectors appointed by the Commissioners will visit the 

 plot.-i planted in ground provisions from time to time, and 

 will have the power to enter at any time between 6 a.m. 

 and 6 p.m. on lands subject to the operation of the Act. 



Under section 10, any person being a male found guilty,, 

 durina the j'ears 1917 and 1918, of stealing, or of abetting 

 the theft of, around provisions, may be sentenced to be 

 flogged in addition to undergoing any other punishment 

 which may be awarded. 



Madagascar Beans in St. Lucia.— The Agri- 

 cultural Superintendent, St. Lucia (Mr A. J. Brooks) has 

 informed the Imperial Department of Agriculture that in re- 

 cent trials, a variety of the M idagascar bean (Phuseolus lunattis) 

 has given extremely good results at Reunion estate, at 

 which the Experiment Station is situated. Mr. Brooks is of 

 the opinion that it is the best bean to grow for general 

 purposes. While it is impossible to give an idea of the yield 

 likely to be obtained, the few plants that were growing at 

 the time of writing were bearing more profusely than any 

 other variety that has been experimented with at Reunion 

 experiment station. The dried beans are of excellent colour 

 and size, being quite white and large, and Mr. Brooks thinks 

 that if the cultivation of this bean were extended, it would 

 prove the most popular one in the local market. The bean 

 is grown on supports consisting of branched pieces of bainboo 

 about 8 feet high, inserted in the ground; these supports are 

 quickly covered by the vines. Up to the present, the plants 

 have remained free from insect attack as well as from the 

 disease known as leaf rust, which is fairly common with 

 some varieties of beans. It may be added that favourable 

 reports regarding the Madagascar bean have also been 

 received from Mr. Robson, Curator of the Experiment 

 Station, Montserrat. 



The live-stock industry has contributed to the industrial 

 revenue of Canada an aggregate of exports, for the fisc il year 

 ending March 31, 1916, to the value of S105,9 9,190. This 

 averages a return of over 2 million dollars per week. For 

 the fiscal years ending March 31, 1913. 19l4, and 1915 

 the animal produce exports have totalled, respectively, 

 $45,773 227. •354,612,072 and .■176,956,002. Thus, within 

 the period of the war, the exports of animals and ammal 

 products have doubled, while for the four-year perio I ilmv 

 have increa.sed practically 150 percent. {Bulletin No_ 2Jfi, 

 Ontario Agricultural College.) 



