252 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Aui;usT 11, 1906. 



The Dominica Guardian says of the Agricultural 

 School : ' We wish the school continued success. There is 

 no doubt of the good work which the institution has already 

 done and is still doing.' 



GLEANINGS. 



A large number of banana suckers are being obtained by 

 the West Indian Fruit Company from Jamaica for planting 

 in Trinidad. 



Nearly 100,000 cwt. of lemons (value £400,000) are 

 imported annually into the United Kingdom, chiefly from 

 Spain and Italy. (Atlas of the World's Commerce.) 



Pine-apple canning factories are working successfully in 

 two parts of the island of Porto Rico, and more will be 

 erected as .soon as a good supply of fruit is assured. [Consular 

 Eeport.) 



In St. Lucia sugar-cane cultivation has received an 

 impetus during the year 190.5-fi ; improved machinery, to the 

 value of £10,000, was imported, while four small abandoned 

 muscovado estates restarted work. 



Lieut.-Colonel D. Prain, F.R.S , Director of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, and late Director of the Botanical Survey of 

 India, has been appointed a Companion of the Order of the 

 Indian Empiire (C.I.E.). 



The fifth Agricultural Show for the county of Demerara 

 will be held, under the auspices of the Board of Agriculture, 

 at the Promenade Gardens on September 12 and 13. There 

 will be special prizes for school garden exliibits. 



We hear that a large amount of goat manure has been 

 imported into Trinidad during the past month, and sold to 

 cacao proprietors and others. The manure is imported chiefly 

 from Margarita. {Porto/Spain Gazette.) 



No steps have yet been taken to conserve the vanilla 

 industry at Tahiti, and as a consequence, the price of this 

 product has further fallen from Is. OJrf. per fli. in 1904 to 

 10k?. per ft. in 190-5. (Consular Report.) 



According to the Te.rtile Mercury, Sea Island cotton is 

 now being e.xported from French Oceania. A 220ft>.-lot of 

 Tahiti Sea Island cotton .sold at !?46'71, or at the rate of 

 a little over 21c. per tb. 



According to the report of tlie United States Secretary 

 of Agriculture, 'distillations from Florida camphor plantations 

 have given a good yield of crude gum camphor. The 

 production of camphor on a commercial scale will be tested 

 in the near future.' 



According to the Demerara Argosy, an impetus has been 

 given to rice growing in Leguan by the estates' propirietors 

 making small advances on the crops. ' With favourable rains 

 excellent returns are expected. Rice promises to be the 

 salvation of Leguan.' 



The first issue of the resuscitated quarterly review, 

 Science Pro(jress, has been received. This publication is 

 edited, with the assistance of a strong advisory committee, 

 by Dr. N. H. Alcock and Mr W. G. Freeman. 



During the quarter ended June 30, 4,080,619 cocoa-nuts, 

 of the value of £12, 7-57, were exported from Trinidad : in the 

 corresponding i>eriod of last year the exports were 2,235,149. 

 Of copra 670,-548 ft., of the value of £4,7-30, were exported, 

 and 7,876 gallons of cocoa-nut oil. 



The Cotton Trade Journal, of Savannah, U.S.A., refers 

 to the unfavourable outlook for the Sea Island cotton crop, 

 ' which indicates a materially reduced crop from the present 

 season. At this 'time the outlook for the satisfactory 

 development of the crop is not assuring.' 



In reference to the note in the Agricultural Keirs 

 (Vol. Y, p. 232) on the sale of peppers from Nevis, it may be^ 

 of interest to mention that preparations are being made for 

 trying an acre of Nepaul peppers in three different places in 

 Nevis, with a view to determining to what extent they might 

 take a place among the minor industries of the island. 



According to the Queensland Agricultural Journal, ' all 

 over the state snjall and large areas are being prepared for 

 sisal planting, and the demand for plants far exceeds the 

 supply. Those who have been early in the field, and whose 

 plants are now throwing out suckers, will be enabled to sell 

 them at a good price.' 



Mr. C. H. Knowles, Superintendent of Agriculture, 

 Fiji, writes that a small ginnery, containing one gin worked 

 by water power, will shortly be erected. ' The building 

 will be arranged after the model of the St. Vincent factory, 

 with the gin on a concrete foundation, rising through the 

 first floor, the motor being below.' 



As showing the great difterence in size between the eggs- 

 laid by local breeds of fowls and those from thorough-bred 

 imported birds, it may be of interest to mention that it was 

 found in the trials conducted at the Dominica Agricultural 

 School (see p. 245), that an incubator of 120-egg capacity was 

 capable of holding 150 to 160 eggs of the local birds at each 

 filling. 



According to the Consular Report on the trade of 

 Caracas, the prosperity of Venezuela is wholly dependent on 

 the price of coffee. The only other product of any importance 

 is cacao. Alternative industries are seriously needed. The 

 total exports of coffee from La Guayra in 1905 were only 

 4,015 metric tons, as against 11,018 metric tons in the 

 previous year. 



According to the Bulletin of the Agricultural Departme}if, 

 Bahamas, samples of mangrove bark were recently sent to 

 England and America for reports as to their commercial value. 

 The report received from England was to the effect that the 

 samples contiiined much less tanning matter than the East 

 Indian mangrove, and lost in value through being extremely 

 red in colour. It was not thought it would pay to export the 

 bark, although it would be a useful tanning material on the 

 spot. 



