344 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 3, 1906, 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 Agriculture, Barbados. 



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gigriculturat MinuH 



Vol. V. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER .3, 1906. No. 118. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this issue draws attention to the 

 desirability ot encouraging closer commercial relations 

 between Canada and the West Indies. 



A further article on the sugar industry of Java 

 appears on p. 339. This is followed by a note on the 

 prospects of the industry in Trinidad. 



On p. 340 will be found a short account of the 

 fruit-canning industry of the Straits Settlements, where 

 there are sixteen canneries with an output, in 190.5, of 

 .548,330 cases. 



A view in the Botanic Station in Tobago is 

 reproduced on p. 341. This shows the plant shed and 

 nurseries, where 13,694 economic plants were raised 

 for distribution last year. 



Among notes of interest to cotton growers (see pp. 

 342-3) are notes on recent experiments in St. Kitt's. 

 One deals with a trial of cotton planted at different 

 distances, as a result of which a distance of 5 feet by 

 20 inches is recommended as likely to give the best 

 results. Interest also attaches to the statement 

 showing the cost of growing cotton in these experiments, 

 which comprised an area of 5 acres. 



A review of a recent publication on fungus 

 diseases of the sugar-cane in Bengal appears on p. 347. 



Notes on the cacao industry in the West Indies 

 are published on p. 349. Very satisfactory progress is 

 being made in St. Vincent ; in St. Lucia, Castilloa 

 rubber is being planted as a shade tree for cacao. 



Industrial Enterprise in the West Indies. 



Speaking Mt the half-yearly general meeting of 

 the Colonial Bank on October 3 last, the chairman 

 (Mr. Harry Dobree), after referring to the agricultural 

 prospects of the West Indies, pointed out that there 

 were signs of industrial enterprise springing up. The 

 logwood fictorj- in Jamaica had proved a distinct success, 

 and another factory of the same kind was in operation, 

 while a third was in course of establishment. 



Mr. Dobree also referred to the possibilities of 

 the fibre industry in which the banana stem might be 

 utilized, as well as the refuse of the cane for paper 

 making. There was, he said, pos'sibly also a great 

 future for the oil industry of Trinidad, as there was now 

 no doubt that immense deposits of oil existed in that 

 island. 



Isolation of Stock in St. Vincent. 



The St. Vincent Govern mcnt Gazi-tte, of October 

 25, contains an announcement, signed by the Govern- 

 ment Veterinary Surgeon, to the effect that a suitable 

 place has been set aside in Kingstown for the isolation, 

 for fourteen da3s prior to exportation, of stock which it 

 is desired to ship from the island. 



At the expiration of that period, if the stock are 

 well and healthy, the Government Veterinary Surgeon 

 will give a certificate, which will be accepted in 

 Barbados and Grenada, to which places such stock may 

 now, under these conditions, be exported. 



Owners of such isolated stock must supply fodder 

 from such localities as may be approved by the Govern- 

 ment Veterinary Surgeon. 



These arrangements have been made to obviate 

 the necessity of quarantining stock from St. Vincent 

 in consequence of the occurrence in that island of 

 anthrax. 



Sugar-cane Experiments in Queensland. 



The fifth Annual Report of the Director of Sugar 

 Experiment Stations, Queensland, contains information 

 respecting the working of the laboratories, the results 

 of sugar-cane experiments at stations located in the 

 sugar districts, and the introduction and trial of various 

 economic plants for the year 1904-5. 



Experiments with the ten best varieties have been 

 started in quadruplicate on land selected for uniformity 

 at the Central Station at Mackay. 



These experiment plots receive the same cultiva- 

 tion, irrigation, and manuring, and have been 

 commenced to ascertain what the best varieties will do 

 in competition against one another. A West Indian 

 seedling, Trinidad S. No. GO, is included in these 

 ten varieties, and results, so far, indicate that it gives 

 unfavourable returns with autumn planting or ratoon- 

 ing under Queensland conditions. 



Experiments with different methods of planting, 

 and with varieties of sugar-cane from different 

 countries, have been continued to determine their 

 relative values, and attention has been given to the 

 raising of seedling sugar-canes. 



