174 



THE AGlllCULTURAL NEWS. 



Junk 



1906._ 



GLEANINGS. 



Grafted mango jiliints of the folluwing varieties can be 

 purchased at the Dominica Botanic Station at the rate of 

 2s. per plant : Julie, Gordon, Amelia, and L'ejlon No. ]. 



The donkey .stallion ' Yankee l!o_v' will stand for service 

 at the Agricultural School, Dominica, during the season at 

 a reduced fee of 6s. 



The Journal of (lie Jamaica Agi'icuhural Societi/ for 

 Ajiril contains the draft of a proposed bill entitled ' A Law 

 for the Prevention of the Spread of Contagious Diseases 

 among Animals.' It provides for the separation of affected 

 animals and the notification of the presence of disease ; also 

 the declaration by the Governor of ' infected places.' 



The Shea hxMevtreedSiifyi'ospernnmi I'arkii) is extremely 

 common in the Senegal-Niger territory. It is largely used by 

 the natives for cooking, and therefore they do not destroy the 

 trees. Should a demand arise for this product, the colony 

 could supply lart;e quantities. {Consu/ar Hi/'drt on French 

 AVest Africa, 1001-5.) 



According to the f'oarJ of Trade JourimJ, there was 

 a great shortage in the production of camphor in Fomnosa 

 last 5'ear. The more easily accessible trees have nearly 

 all been cut down. The camphor oil is all sent to the 

 refineries in Japan, where about 49 per cent, of camphor is 

 extracted from it. 



The ^Magistrate of Districts II and III in St. Lucia 

 states in his annual report for 190-5 : ' Agriculture suffered 

 owing to the emigration of the labouring population to Colon 

 and Cayenne. The men leave and the women remain, with 

 dire results to existing cultixation and a consequent decrease 

 in the opening up of new areas. The price of cacao was low, 

 and, despite a fair crop, the spending power of the people was 

 noticeably reduced.' 



Until the year 188t< there was no direct importation of 

 tropical fruit into Baltimore, with the exception of pine- 

 apples brought in small schooners from the Bahama Islands. 

 In one week of 1905 the enormous number of 169,839 

 bunches of bananas were landed at Baltimore. The value of 

 the bananas received during the past year was £:^89,387, a.i 

 increase of £60,000 over 1904. (Consular Reporl on the 

 trade of Maryland, etc., for 1905.) 



Mr. J. E. Beckett, Agricultural Instructor, British 

 Guiana, will shortly be sent on a special mission to the 

 Pomeroon and North West to study the question of rubber 

 production. Mr. Beckett has instructions to make collections 

 of the different rubber-producing plants with a view to their 

 scientific identification. Large quantities of seeds of the 

 Para rublier tree (Ilevea hrasiliensis) have been ordered by 

 the Government from Ceylon. {Argosy, May 12.) 



The Journal of the Jamaica Aijricultural Society is 

 urging banana growers to follow the example of some of the 

 large estates in carrying back their banana trash (brought 

 down to the depots with tlie fruit as packing) and spreading 

 it on the land as a mulch. 



Messrs. Henry W. Frost it Co., of Charlestcn, South 

 Carolina, report under date April 28 as follows : 'Islands and 

 Coast of Carolina— The weather has been favourable for ail 

 plantation work, and the cioii is all planted and only requires 

 rain in some sections to furnish enough moisture to cause the 

 seed to germinate. We have little or no change to rejiort in 

 the acreage or quality of the crop planted. The outlook is 

 for a sood average start.' 



From statistics kindly supplied by the Acting Collector 

 and Surveyor of Customs at Trinidad, it is observed that 

 during the period October 1, 1905, to March 31, 1906, the 

 following shipments of fruits were niade from that colony : 

 bananas in crates, 5,291 : bananas, without crates, 4,691 ; 

 total value of bananas, £2,096. Oranges, 2,993 packages, 

 valued at £1,327 : all other fruit (of which a large portion 

 was probably bananas), £279. The total value of the fruit 

 ship[>ed during the period was thus £-3,703. 



Tabulated analyses of rum produced in British Guiana 

 have been prepared by Professor J. B. Harrison, C.if.G., and 

 publi>htd for general information. It is stated : "This shows 

 that, as in the crop of 1903-4, the variation in the contents. 

 of esters was very great, ranging from 3U"1 to 122'7 parts 

 per 100,000 of alcohol by volume. The mean contents of 

 esters in the rum from distillerres in Demerara was 597 

 part.s, tliat of the rum from distilleries in Essequibo 69'5 

 parts, and that of rum from Berbice 76'1 parts. 



In his re[iort on French West Africa for 1904 and 1905, 

 H. il. Consul General at Dakar describes the efforts made by 

 the Inspector of .Agriculture in the direction of improving the 

 methods of cultivating and gathering rubber. Tlie Govern- 

 ment in turning its chief attention to the creation of new 

 plantation.s, and one of the princi[ial results of the researches 

 and experiments made in this direction, has been the 

 recognition of the fact that in many districts it is more 

 advantageous to plant rubber trees than the ruliber vine 

 (Hoard of Trade Journal.) 



The Annual Rejurrt on the [irimary schools of St. Lucia 

 for 1905 has the following: 'The question of improving the 

 system of agricultural instruction in the primary schools, 

 a very important one, is at present under consideration. 

 There is no doubt but that the great majority of the school 

 gardens of the colony can be divided into two classes : those 

 that have become little market gardens, cultivated for profit, 

 and those which are neglected. Taken as a whole, the state 

 of the gardens is unsatisfactory. There are, of course, a few 

 exceptions.' 



In his reiiort /or the month of ilarch, .Mi-. T. Osmeut, 

 Agricultural Instructor at St. Vincent, reports that during 

 the period under review he has been chiefiy engaged in the 

 distribution of manures for provLsiou crops to allottees under 

 the Land Settlement Scheme. He also visited the estates at 

 Linley Valley and inspected the allotments. He reports that 

 the prices obtained by allottees for ground provisions and 

 arrowroot have been satisfactory, and in one case 75 bags of 

 tannias, reaped from \l acres, netted £15 12s. Gt/., which is 

 a good return. 



