Vol. V. No. 100. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



57 



Bananine. 



The article on Bananine which apjjears on p. Gl 

 gives some interesting facts in regard to the derivation 

 and uses of this valuable product. Bananine is now 

 made in British factories from British Colonial products 

 and is said to have an extremely high food value, and 

 to be useful for persons of delicate digestion. 



Budded and Grafted Plants at Dominica. 



The Official Gazette of Dominica for January 

 13, 1906, contains the following notices with regard to 

 the supply of budded and grafted plants : — 



'Owing to the length of time required to bud and 

 grow orange plants for sale, it is necessary that the 

 Botanical Department should know early what number 

 ■of budded plants are required for the coming season. 



' Planters requiring supplies of budded oranges, 

 lemons, grape fruit, etc., for delivery during the latter 

 half of the present year are requested to send their 

 ■orders to the Botanical Station not later than 

 February 17. 



'No orders for budded stocks for delivery during 

 1906 will be received after the date mentioned. 

 Budded plants are sold at Qd. each. Grafted mango 

 plants of the following varieties can now be purchased 

 at the Botanical Station at the rate of 2s. per plant : 

 Julie, Gordon, Amelia, and Ceylon No. 1.' 



Bahamas Sponge Fisheries. 



The PhannuccailcalJuarnal for January 27,1906, 

 contains an article on the Bahamas Sponge Fisheries 

 from which the following statements are taken : There 

 are 265 schooners of from .5 to 43 tons burden, and 322 

 sloops of from 1 to 16 tons burden, with an aggregate 

 tonnage of .5,9.52 employed in the sponge fishery business 

 in the year 1904-5. Attached to the vessels were 2,517 

 open boats, and 5,517 men and boys were employed on 

 them. In addition to these, there were 291 open boats 

 engaged, manned by the owners, to the number of 445, 

 who live on the coasts of several of the out-islands. Much 

 alarm has been felt i-especting the future prospects of 

 this industry, which is of so groat economic importance 

 to the colony. Disquieting reports as to the exhaus- 

 tion of the sponge beds, and the increasing quantities 

 ■of small sponges brought to market, which should 

 have been left in the beds to grow to a proper market- 

 able size, led to the enactment of a law under which 

 a Sponge Fisheries Board is established with certain 

 powers for the regulation of the fisheries, and provided 

 with a small annual grant for expenses. Recentlj', as 

 appears from the annual report of the Board to the 

 Governor and Legislature, the Bight of Abaco has been 

 examined, and the result fully confirms the suspicions 

 previously entertained. The report states that the 

 beds are thickly sown with small sponges, which are 

 constantly being gathered by the itinerant fishermen 

 who are continually working over these fields, pulling 

 all the sponge they can find without regard to size or 

 quality, in consequence of which there are very few 

 large sponges to be found anywhere. 



Vegetable Butters. 



The first part of an article on vegetable butters 

 will he found on p. 59 of this issue. This article will be 

 continued in a subsequent number. The different 

 varieties of those substances are discussed and useful 

 information is given as to their nutritive value, and 

 the ways in which they may be used. 



Lectures on Commercial India Rubber. 



In view of the demand that has arisen for the 

 ' Cantor Lectures on the Plants yielding Commercial 

 India Rubber,' delivered by the Hori. Sir Daniel 

 Morris, K.C.MG., at the Society of Arts in 1898, the 

 Council has decided to have the lectures reprinted for 

 general information. The Secretary states: ' This is the 

 first time that any sutticient demand has arisen for any 

 course of Cantor lectures to justify their being reprinted. 

 A good many courses of lectures have gone out of print, 

 but there has not been sufficient demand to justify the 

 cost of reprinting them.' 



■ I ^ 



What is Rum ? 



The attention of readers is directed to a short 

 resume given on p. 63, of a case in which a London 

 wine and spirit merchant was prosecuted for selling as 

 Jamaica rum, spirit which was proved not to be so. 



The West India Committee Circular of 

 January 19, in commenting upon this case, fears that 

 the outcome of it will be to fix Jamaica rum as the 

 only recognized standard. Briefly speaking, rum is 

 the tropically fermented and distilled product from 

 sugar-cane juice or molasses after more or less sugar 

 has been extracted. Its basis is alcohol, and it owes its 

 essential qualities to the presence of flavouring ethers, 

 which are produced mainly under the conditions of 

 a tropical climate. 



Jamaica rum is celebrated for its quality and its 

 flavour, and thereby commands a higher market price 

 than that from the other West Indies. But it does 

 not stand to reason that the rum from Deraerara and 

 Trinidad and the Leeward Islands, though such rum 

 does not contain the proportion of flavouring ethers 

 that Jamaica does, is not quite as much entitled to the 

 name of rum. 



It actually happened in the Stockport case of 

 eighteen years ago, that the analysts took Jamaica rum 

 as their sole standard as to ether contents, and con- 

 demned all other West Indian rum. 



The West India. Committee Circular suggests 

 that the proper course to have adopted would have 

 been, by united West Indian action, to endeavour to 

 put a stop to the sale of imitation rums. It goes on 

 to express itself as follows: — 



'Anything that tends to hinder trade by hamper- 

 ing it with conditions and apprehensions must be 

 prejudicial to it in the long run, and the worst of it is 

 that not only is the Jamaica rum market likely to be 

 affected, but the trade generally, by the present action 

 of the Jamaica authorities, and this when the future 

 of rum is more promising than it has been for some time.' 



