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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



December 1. 1917. 



GLEANINGS. 



In Colonial Reports — Annual, No. 9.30, it is recorded that 

 petroleum oil was third in value on the list of the exports of 

 the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago in 1916, the value of 

 crude petroleum, fuel oil. and gasolene exported during the 

 year being over £200,000, as compared with £79,000 in 

 the previous year. 



Dr. Garnet, Chairman of the Education Reform Council 

 irangurated by the Teachers' Guild, in a foreword to the 

 report of the Couocil published in 1917, makes the remark 

 that 'the fate of a nation is not likely to depend on the 

 • appreciation of music, art, or literature by its rulers, but 

 it may well hang on their appreciation of science." (Nature, 

 September 27, 1917.) 



Very serious damage is reported to the Sea Island cotton 

 crop by the boll weevil around Valdosta and throughout 

 .Southern Georgia, where a very large percentage of the crop is 

 grown: it is estimated that only one fourth of a crop will be 

 made in this section. There has been some increase in 

 acreage in other sections, which will partly offset this 

 damage, but crop estimates are much reduced. (The India 

 Rubber World, October 1, 1917.) 



The hurricane which pa.ssed over Western Cuba at the 

 end of September did an enormous amount of damage, accord- 

 ing to the Louisiana Planter of October 6, to the crops in the 

 Province of Pinar del Rio, and the Isle of Pines. The fruit 

 crops are ruined, and the cane crop is damaged to some extent. 

 The cane crop, of course, is not completely ruined, although 

 the loss in some places is estimated at about 40 per cent. 

 The tobacco crop has also been almost completely destroyed. 



The Board of Trade Journal, Ociohs'c 4, 1917, states 

 that the hurricane which passed over Jamaica in the last 

 week of September destroyed almost all the bearing banana 

 trees, but that on the whole, the situation of the industry 

 is better than it was after the hurricane ot 1916, because 

 of the number of young trees which have not been des- 

 troyed. The damage done to coco-nut trees al.so in some 

 of the parishes has been considerable. The cacao crop also 

 in the eastern part of the island has beeo seriously damaged. 



A new celluloid product called Satolite has been invented 

 by Mr. S. Sato, Assistant Professor in a Japanese Univer-^ity, 

 and the Satolite Company has been established for its manu- 

 facture with a capital of 2,000,000 yen (yen = 2s. OW.). 

 Satolite is a galaliihmade of gliicine of soy bean coagulated 

 by formalin. It is said to be produced much cheaper than 

 ordinary celluloid, and to have more merits in its use than the 

 latter. The actual manufacturing, it is announced, will begin 

 thi.s autumn (The India Rubber Journal, October 6, 1917,) 



The London correspondent of the North Queensland 

 Register writes that from the earliest days of Queensland 

 English potatoes have hem profitably grown there. The 

 <Jueenslard grower has the advantage that he can produce 

 two crof)s in a year-, averating about 4 tons per acre, but 

 reaching ii.sinith as S Ions on the Darling Downs, thus giving 

 .an annunl return of from S to 16 tons per acre. No very 

 large anas are anywhere planted in the State, but in the 

 aigr'.gate the arta is fairly large. 



From the Journal of the Board of Affriculttire of British 

 (ruiana, July 1917, it appears that a new hybrid bean 

 has been produced by Mr. J. F. Waby. This is a cross 

 between two varieties of Dolichos lablab, the well-known 

 bonavist. It is said to' be a stronger grower, and a more 

 prolific bearer than either of its parents. .Mr. Waby has 

 named this hybrid D. marrocarpa. The beans are used as 

 French beans before the seeds are formed, or if allowed to 

 mature, the seeds are shelled and used as bonavists generally 

 are. 



The Field of October 13, 1917, has a short note on the 

 South American snake eating snake, the black Cribo (Oiyrho- 

 pus cloelia), which, although non-poisonous itself, evinces 

 a partiality for eating the poisonous viperine snakes, such as 

 the deadly ferde lance and the rattle snake, to the venom of 

 which it is immune. The writer of the note describes in 

 an interesting way the manner in which a common English 

 viper was attacked and demolished by a specimen of the 

 black Cribo now in the Reptile House of the Zoological 

 Gardens. 



The Louisiana Planter of August 2.5 contained a short 

 article concerning agricultural conditions in St. Croix, which 

 was entirely misleading. We are glad to see that in the 

 issue of the same journal for October 13, Dr. Longfield Smith 

 Director of Agriculture in that island, publishes a letter 

 correcting the misinformation conveyed in the former article 

 and giving a true picture of cane cultivation there. The fact 

 is that St. Croix has been carefully cultivated for over 100 

 years. The land has been ploughed and forked acd manured 

 almost every year. 



By a Proclamation of President Wilson, issued on Septem- 

 ber 7, it was .'-tated that all permits for the manufacture of 

 sugar would have to be obtained prior to October 1. I'poa 

 receipt of a copy of this Proclamation in Porto Kico, an 

 extension of time for the Porto Rico centrals was requested, 

 because it would be impo.ssible for them to obtain permits 

 prior to October 1. The Porto Rico sugar manufacturers 

 believe that there w 11 be no difficulty in their obtaining 

 permits, even though they could not be obtained in the time 

 specified by the President's Proclamation. (The Lottisiana 

 I'lxnter, Oc:ober l'*, 1917.) 



The -following note in the Journal of the Jamaica 

 Agricultural Society for September 1917, is of interest to 

 fruit growers; 'The usual way to pick even delicate fruit 

 from high trees is to shake them down and try and catch 

 them as they fall. There is however an excellent fruit 

 picker which seems to be an imitation of the human hand 

 as held out to catch fruit; this can be placed at the end of 

 a bamboo or of a stick, so that each delicate fruit may be 

 safely brought down without risk of bruising. ' This fruit 

 picker .seems to lie very cheap, the price being only 2s in 

 Kingston. 



