Vol. XVI. No. 398. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



239 



The third competition is to encourage the improvement 

 of the cultivation of cacao among small owners in Grenada. 

 Only peasant proprietors holding not more than 10 acres of 

 land of which not more than 5 acres are cultivated in cacao 

 are allowed to compete. The prizes to be allotted are in 

 3 classes: class I, 3 acres and not exceeding 5 acres; class II, 

 1.', acres and not exceeding 3 acres; class III, i-acre and not 

 exceeding 1 .', acres, and amount to £26, ranging from £1 10s. 

 to £o. Competitors who had not commenced work by May 31, 

 1916, will be disqualified. In judging, the following points will 

 be considered and the following maximum marks awarded; 

 draining, 3-5; tilth or tillage, 1-5; bedding, mulchingor pai 

 manuring, 15; pruning, 10; weeding or cleanliness of the 

 field, 10; general condition of the holding, 10; and the 

 manner in which the pods are reaped, o. 



for planting. There are a few fields of potatoes, planted 

 during the middle of March, which are nearly ready for 

 market, and those planted with the rains in April are 

 making excellent progress. We predict that potatoes will be 

 very plentiful towards the end of the year. The Governor-in- 

 Executive Committee has, by an Extraordinary Gazette, 

 notified that sweet potatoes shall not be retailed at a dearer 

 rate than 5 R. for 10c. and that the price in the field 

 must be fixed so as to enable hucksters to purchase at a price 

 not exceeding l^c. per Jb. 



Sugar is being quoted at I4-.50 per 100 Bb. for both 

 muscovado and crystals. The molasses market is now 

 closed as the entire crop has been sold. {Agricultural 

 Hepor'er, July 1-), 1917.) 



AGRICULTURE IN BARBADOS. 



The change in the weather which took place on .June 

 20 has been a permanent one, and the result has been the 

 conversion of the face of the island into a sheet of livid green. 

 The weather for July could not have been more favourable. 

 We have had showers or rains practically every day up to the 

 present time and, except in some districts in the parishes of 

 St. Lucy and St. Peter, there has been no heavy rain to cause 

 damage by way of 'wash'. Over certain parts of these 

 parishes there was a very heavy rain during the twenty-four 

 hours ending 6 a.m. On the 7ih instant, some gauges 

 measured nearly 6 inches. Over a limited area, roads and 

 fields suffered as a result of this downpour, but, elsewhere, 

 nothing could have been more satisfactory than the way the 

 rain has fallen for the first half of the current month. In no 

 parish has the record been under 4 inches, while the average 

 will be somewhat over o inches for the fifteen days. In spite 

 of the severe drought through which the island passed during 

 the earlier months of the year, the rainfall to the end of 

 June is practically the same as that recorded for the first 

 half of last year. 



.Several of the factories are still boiling second quality 

 sugar, and, in some instances, it will be a few weeks before 

 they will be able to make up the figures of this year's output. 

 Doubtless, with the progress of sugar . chemistry, this work 

 will grow less and the major part of the molasses will be 

 consumed in first quality crystals. In most of our factories, 

 the bests result fiom the 'working back' of second quality 

 sugar cannot at present be obtained because of the lack of 

 vacuum-pan power. In some instances, one pan has to do 

 all the work at great inconvenience and at some loss. It 

 was asked at an earlier stage of our factory system what 

 would be done with the refuse molasses, but it will very soon 

 be found that, with further improvements, the supply of this 

 molasses will not exceed our need for reining purposes, and 

 for stock feed. 



The tillage for the crop of 1919 is in full swing, and 

 already some estates have dug one-third of their cane-holes. 

 This progress is most satisfactory. In some instances labour 

 is not sufficient, but we have heard but little complaint. 

 Sheep manure is being liberally and extensively applied to 

 the fields now under preparation. Apart from its other 

 fertilizing properties, this manure is thet)nly form in which 

 potash can at the present time be obtained. 



The statutory area to be put under ground provisions 

 has almost been planted. Many estates have already 

 fulfilled their contract, and we are sure that, by the end of 

 July, every plantation will have done ^o. In St. Lucy's 

 parish some difficulty has been exiieiienced in obtaining slips 



AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA. 



After three comparatively dry seasons, normal rains well 

 distributed throughout Xigeria resulted in increased yields 

 from both permanent and annual crops, and although, as is 

 shown in the Colonial Report of that Colony, the only 

 increase in 191.!) as compared with 1914 of importance in 

 the exports was that of cacao. In the Southern Provinces 

 the efforts made to develop the cacao industry are beginning to 

 bear fruit, and to foster this cultivation in the Benin district 

 thirty-two sites for plantations were selected and the owners 

 were shown how to lay them out. Increased attention was 

 given to the instruction of farmers in the preparation of this 

 product, curing demonstrations being given at several cen- 

 tres. Merchants again assisted this wSrk by paying a higher 

 price for cacao cured under the auspices of the Department 

 of Agriculture. Very favourable opinions have been ex- 

 pressed by brokers and cacao and chocolate manu- 

 facturers as to the quality both of the michine-dried and 

 sun dried products, but the latter product is considered to be 

 superior. It is fortunate that in Nigeria the principal cacao 

 harvest coincides with the dry seasons, where it is rarely neces- 

 sary to resort to artificial means to cure the crop. To encourage 

 farmers to lay out their farms in a proper manner, a planting 

 competition was organized. Prizes were offered for the best 

 farms of 250 cacao trees provided with the necessary shade 

 trees. The requisite plants were supplied by the Department 

 and agricultural officers assisted the competitors by selecting 

 suitable sites and explaining the objects and conditions of 

 the competition. In the Northern Provinces ground nuts 

 have been purchased at Kano on a scale surpassing all previous 

 years and the limit of output is not yet in sight, although the 

 purchasing power of trading firms was seriously hampered by 

 lack of shipping facilities. The work started at the Maigana 

 Experimental Station in 1913 with the object of raising an 

 improved type of cotton seed, has met with cons-iderable 

 euceess and the prospects of cotton growing in the district 

 have never been brighter. One of the exotic introductions 

 which has met with great local favour is sugar-cane. Five 

 varieties of pedigree seedling canes were obtained from 

 Barbados in 1914, and three of these, now in cultivation on 

 native plantations, are highly esteemed, not only on account 

 of their superior size but also because of the relative richness 

 of their juice as compared with that of the indigenous variety. 

 Choice fruit trees were also imported from the West Indies 

 and are being successfully propagated by budding and 

 grafting, The-se will supply a long-felt want in the N'orthera 

 Provinces where hitherto fruit has been most dilfi^ult. lio 

 obtain. 



