364 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



November Vi 



1917. 



Besides the shipment to the United States fronv 

 Dominica of green limes, which are wrapped individually in 

 paper, and packed in barrels with holes for ventilation, 

 pickled limes are also exported. The process of pickling is 

 not very complicated. Sound yellow fruit are put into vats- 

 filled with sea-water, and after a time they are removed, and 

 packed in barrels of sea-water and shipped to Boston. Some- 

 times as much as §8 a barrel is obtained for this pickled 

 product. (The Dominica Chronicle. October 2-t, 1917.) 



GLEANINGS. 



Few West Indians realize that tea is produced in the 

 West Indies, yet, according to The Times Trade SxipplemenI, 

 September 1917, the exports of tea from Jamaica in 1915 

 were 20,552 fc., valued at £l,3-t3. 



The Voice, of St. Lucia, October 6, 1917, comments 

 upon the difficulty local tanners are experiencing in obtaining 

 skins for the manufacture of leather, and suggests that the 

 Government should make enquiry into the local supply of, 

 and demand for skins, and that exportation be only permitted 

 in case of an excess supply. 



According to the Porto/Spain Gazette, October 2U, 

 1917. froghoppers have made their presence felt in Trinidad, 

 but measures are being taken to control the insect by means 

 of the parasitic muscardiue fungus. One planter has 

 decided to build eighteen new fungus cabinets, and other 

 estates are taking similar steps. 



The wholesale price of cattle has been fixed in Trinidad 

 by the Government. A Proclamation issued on October 

 3, 1917, enacts that the maximum prices of live cattle 

 imported into the Colony for the purpose of being slaugh- 

 tered and used for food shall not exceed 6e. per lb. (The 

 St. Vincent Sentry, October 26, 1917.) 



A company has recently been formed in Curacao, 

 l)utch West Indies, to erect a factory for the manufacture 

 of tanning extract from divi-divi pods. These contain from 

 35 to 50 per cent, of tannin, but they are a bulky product 

 for their weight, and the preparation of an extract should 

 save a good deal in cost of freight. {^TUi- Times Trade 

 Supplement. 'August 1917.) 



According to the Indian Rubber World (Xew York) 

 the total value of the declared exports from London to the 

 United States in the five months, January to May 1917, 

 amounted to §78,779,911 against -§77,1 1.5,135 in the 

 same period of 1916. The .shipment of rubber was valued at 

 §31,4-17,629, being actually 40 per cent, of the total exports 

 from London to the Ignited States of America. 



At a meeting of the Board of Agriculture of Trinidad, 

 held on October 18, 1917, the Committee decided that it 

 ■was desirable that seedling canes should be raided in Tiinidad. 

 In the past they had been obtained almost exclusively by 

 the introduction of Barbados and British Guiana .seedlings 

 As however, canes are markedly affected by .soil and climatic 

 conditions, ir was probable that by raising seedlings locally, 

 cants more suited to local conditions might be obtained. 

 (Tiie PorlotSpain Gaietle, October 20, 1917.) 



It will probably surprise many peop'e to learn that 

 China ranks third among the cotton-producing countries of 

 the world. It is hardly a wild statement that China could 

 be made the leading cotton-producing country. Experiments 

 made in the vicinity of Shanghai during the last few years 

 show that the yield per acre can easily be trebled under 

 ordinary scientific cultivation, and there is practically no 

 limit to the extent to which the area might be increased. 

 (The Journal of the Royal Society ~of Arts. August 31, 

 1917.) 



Experiments on the effect of manures on coco nut trees 

 are being made in the island of Nevis. From the report of 

 the Porto llico Exprriment Station, 1915, it appears that like 

 experiments have been in progress there since 1912. Little 

 effect on the yield of nuts was apparent during the first two 

 years, but, during 1915, from trees receiving a complete 

 manure at the rate of 10 lb. per tree, a gain of 30 percent, in 

 the yield of nuts was obtained, and with 20 ft>. per tree, 

 a gain of nearly 60 per cent, above that from the unmmured 

 control plot. 



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 the 

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Nine thousand motor tractors have been ordered 

 the Food Pioduclion Department to carry through 

 scheme to add 2,000,000 acres to the arable land of 

 country in time for the harvest of next year. Up to 

 present nearly 1 ,000 have been received from the manu- 

 facturers, the completed total being expected to be 

 delivered before the end of March. Of this number 6,000 

 have been ordered from the Ford Company, 1,000 from 

 British manufacturers, and 2,000 from other American firms. 

 (The Times, August 24, 1917.) 



The Field for September 15, under the heading 'Tropical 

 Vegetables' quotes largely from the annual report of the 

 Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Dominica, regarding garden 

 crops and vegetables in that island. In addition to widelj- 

 cultivated food crops of the tropics, Dominica possesses three 

 wild plants which yield tubers of good nutritious (juality. 

 These are (1) the Carib yam common throughout the damp 

 districts of the island, (2) a species of Dioscorea, probably 

 an escape from gardens, but now common throughout the 

 island, which is known locally by the name of Bib.i-oule; 

 and (3) a food-plant, the 'Topee tambou' (Calathea Allouya). 



A number of maize experiments, both for green fodder 

 and grain produce, are conducted under the supervision of 

 the Department of Agriculture, Xew South Wales. Some 

 of these, as to the method of sowing, are of interest. Two 

 tests in this direction were made on three stations with the 

 Improved Yellow Dent corn: in one of these single grains 

 were .sown 15 inches apart in the field: this gave a yield on 

 one station of 69), bu.'hels per acre, and on the other of 

 56 bushels per acre: in the other, hills of three grains were 

 planted 2 feet 6 inches apart, giving a yield in the first case 

 cf 93^' bushels per acre and in the other case of 60 bushels 

 per acre. (Report of the Department of Agriculture, Xew 

 South Wales, for the year ended June 30, 1916.) 



