Vol. XVI. No. 406. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



367 



such bacteria in order to control inst ct attacks have led to 

 no conclusive results. 



From the foregoing remarks it must by no means be 

 concluded that the artificial employment of these microbic 

 diseases ought to be given up. Observations of micro- 

 biologists tend to sliow that in certain localities an infectious 

 disease of this nature among insects is capable of completely 

 disappearing, and that in such a case attempts to reintroduce 

 it by means of artificial dissemination would be perfectly 

 justifiable. Perhaps also it may be possible to increase 

 artificially the virulence of the disease, whenever its 

 <lestructive action appears to be weakening. 



It will be seen from the foregoing that if the study of 

 the microbic diseases affecting insects has not yet afforded 

 the key of a method of direct combat against the insects 

 -which devastate crops, it no less presents an aspect of 

 importance, which accounts for the energy with which it is 

 pursued in the United States. The steps already made 

 in this direction are capable of revolutionizing previous 

 conceptions of the factors which regulate plant-eating insects 

 as to the degree of damage which they cause either in their 

 original habitats, or in countries into which they have been 

 recently introduced. These investigations are also of such a 

 kind as to react profoundly on the organization of the 

 struggle against the insect enemies of agriculture. 



In view of the experiments being made with the Muscar- 

 dine fungus as a control of froghopper in Trinidad, and of 

 cacao thrips by Sporotrichum glohuliferum in Grenada, the 

 above considerations may conduce to a hopeful patience. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



BEOIPES FOR COOKING HORSE BEANS. 



The value of the horse beans {Canavatia ensiformis and 

 C. gladiata) as food for human consumption has been several 

 times pointed out in the pages of this Journal, .see for 

 instance. Vol. XV, p. 1-38. Two recipes for preparing them 

 for the table, given in the Journal of the Jamaica Agricul- 

 tural Society for September 1917, will probably be found 

 useful. 



The first is for cooking the young pods as French beans. 

 The pods should be picked when they are not more than 

 about 6 inches long. To avoid their turning an ugly colour 

 in boilinLT, they should be sliced thin into a bowl of cold 

 water, and whenever the knife used shows any stain it should 

 be wiped clean on a damp cloth. Throw off the water in 

 which the pods have been sliced, put them into fresh cold 

 water, and let them stand there for about ten minutes. Then 

 put them on in still another lot of waier, with a pinch of 

 soda added, to boil. They ought not to be boiled longer 

 than about three minutes. 



The second recipe is for cooking the dry beans, the only 

 drawback to which is their tough skin. Put the beans into 

 cold water with about half a teaspoonful of soda added. 

 As soon as they begin to boil take out the beans with a spoon, 

 and drop them into cold water immediately. The skins can 

 then easily be pulped off. Put the beans back into the 

 water with the soda, and boil until cooked, which takes 

 however a long time, 



Doubt still appears to linger in Jamaica concerning the 

 wholesoraeness of these beans; it may be stated, however, 

 that they are being freely eaten in other islands. 



An analysis of this bean made by Mr. H. S. Shrewsbury, 

 Acting Government Analyst of Trinidad, showing its nutritive 

 value, and freedom from toxic substances, appeared in the 

 Bulletin of the Department ot Agriculture, Trinidad and 

 Tobago, Vol. XVI, Part 2. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol- 

 lowing report on the London drug and spice markets 

 for the month of September 1917: — 



The amount of business transacted in the produce 

 market during the month of September is always, even under 

 normal conditions, more or less limited, from the fact of its 

 being the holiday season of the year, and though the two 

 past years have been exceptional with regard to holiday 

 keeping, the case has been different this year; the holiday 

 temperament has been unusually high -a kind of reaction 

 after months and years of unusual depression. But it does 

 not follow from this that the markets have revived corres- 

 pondingly: indeed buyers continue to be satisfied with pur- 

 chases sufficient only to meet present needs. The following 

 are the chief items of interest. 



OIN(,iER. 



At auction on September 13 a good supply of ginger 

 was brought forward, amounting to 893 packages, but 

 nearly the whole was bought in at 75s. per cwt. for washed 

 rough Cochin, and 70s. for brown rough Calicut: 100 bags 

 of Sierra Leone were held at 57s. per cwt. It was stated 

 that some small sales of this latter had been made at Liver- 

 pool at 49s. A fortnight later, namely oa the 27th, at the 

 London auction the offerings were as follows: 257 bags of 

 rough washed Cochin, all of which were held at 68s. to 70s 

 per cwt; of brown rough Calicut 172 packages were held 

 at 65s,, and some 130 bags of wormy Sierra Leone at 52s. M. 

 to 57s. M. Some 60 bags of limed Japanese were also held 

 at 47,s. 6d. 



SARSAP.\EILLA. 



At auction on the 20th of the month sarsaparilla was 

 in fairly good supply, being represented by 19 bales of grey 

 Jamaica, 10 of Honduras. 6 of native Jamaica, and 30 of 

 Mexican. Twelve bales only of the grey Jamaica were 

 disposed of at 3s. 9i. per lb. for fair rolled. None of the 

 Honduras was sold, being held at 3s. per Bb. Of the 

 Mexican, 19 bales were sold. Is. Sd being paid for sound, and 

 Is. 4(7. for slightly damaged. 



CITRIC ACID, CASIA FISTULA, LIME JUICE, LI.ME OIL, PI.MENTO 

 TAMARINDS. 



At the beginning of the month citric acid was in very 

 slow demand, at previous rates; as the month advanced, 

 however, it dropped to 3.s. id. per tti,, but at the end of the 

 month it again rose to 3s. od. At the beginning of the 

 month Cassia Fistula pods were stated to be in small 

 demand, with a limited supply at 60s. per cwt. for lean 

 pods from Bombay. A week later the quotation was 

 70s. per cwt. At the beginning of the month good 

 lime juice was realizing 3s. per gallon, at which price 

 it was said the market was nearly cleared. Lime oil 

 was said to be fairly plentiful throughout the mo .th, West 

 Indian distilled realizing 7s. 6d. per lb , and hand-pressed 

 14s. At the beginning of the mouth pimento was quoted 

 at 3|(i, per lb., but before the end of the month id. was 

 being asked. The large consignment of 137 packages of 

 tamarinds from Madras was offered on the 20th of t-Lie 

 month but failed to find a purchaser. 



