380 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 1, 1906. 



GLEANINGS. 



It is stated in the Animal Rejwrt on the Bahamas, 

 where sisal hemp cultivation is the chief agricultural industry, 

 that some of the local schooners now use home-made ropes 

 and hawsers. 



It is satisfactory to note that citrate of lime has become 

 an article of export from !Montserrat. It is hoped to publish 

 further information in regard to the establishment of this 

 industry in a future issue of the Ar/ricuUural Neivs. 



The Agricultural Superintendent in Grenada announces 

 that a limited amount of seed of an improved Guinea corn 

 is now available at the Botanic Station and can be obtained 

 on application, at the rate of 3(/. per lb. 



The Manager of the Bath estate, Dominica, announces 

 that the estate will purchase raw lime juice, for manufacture 

 into citrate of lime, in any quantity on a basis of London 

 prices for concentrated juice, le.ss the cost of manufacture 

 and other expenses. 



For carefully picked and thoroughly dried Sea Island 

 cotton, free from leaves, trash, etc., the charge for ginning 

 and baling at the St. Vincent Central Cotton Factory will 

 be at the rate of 2c. per K). of lint. The seed will be 

 returned to the grower in the bags in which his seed-cotton 

 was sent in. 



The Curator of the Botanic Station in the Bahamas has 

 been good enough to offer to give a course of teaching in the 

 principles of agriculture to any teachers who may care to 

 avail themselves of it during the summer vacation, and it is 

 hoped that many teachers will embrace this opportunity. 

 {Annual Report.) 



According to the International Sugar Journal, the 

 Peruvian Government has recently started a Sugai Experi- 

 ment Station, which will be modelled, as far as possible, 

 after the station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association. 

 In addition to actual analytical and research work in the 

 laboratory, field experiments will be started. 



Under the authority ot the ' Importation of Plants 

 Diseases Prevention Ordinance, 1906,' the Governor-in- 

 Council has prohibited the importation into St. Vincent of 

 all plants, seeds, berries, etc., from Ceylon, Natal, South 

 India, Mauritius, and the Straits Settlements ; of all cacao 

 plants or trees from South America, and of all portions of 

 the banana plant from Trinidad and Tobago. 



The Dominica Permanent Exhibition Committee for- 

 warded a consignment of fruit for the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Colonial Fruit Show, to be held in London on 

 December 4 and 5. In all, forty -two crates and five barrels 

 of fruit were despatched. 



The Bavarian farmers note with satisfaction tliat 

 mistletoe (Viscum album), formerly a dreaded parasite on 

 apple trees, has been graduall}' decreasing by the use of it 

 for Christmas decoration, a custom lately introduced into 

 Germany. {Consular Report.) 



The Agricultural Instructor at Nevis writes : ' The 

 broom corn at the Experiment Station is now stripped from 

 the brooms, and the latter are ready for disposal. I can 

 spare some seed if any Botanic Station requires it. There 

 is also available some seed of the red cow peas.' 



Elsewhere in this issue of the Agricultiiral Nncs, an 

 account is given of the spiral method of tapping rubber trees, 

 which has given good results with the Para rubber {I/evea 

 Irasiliensis) in Ceylon. Dr. S. Soskin {Trojxnjiilnnzer, 

 January 1906) recommends the adoption of the same method 

 for tapping trees of Funtumia elastica in German West 

 Africa. 



With a view to obtaining definite and reliable results, 

 attempts were made at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Ceylon 

 to propagate Para rubber by cuttings. The net result was 

 that at the end of the year not a single plant was obtained 

 from the 3,000 cuttings, demonstrating the fact that, under 

 the conditions at Peradeniya, at any rate, Hevea is not 

 adapted to propagation by this means. 



In regard to the storm that blew over St. Kitt's on 

 September 1, it has been pointed out that ever}' leaf of the 

 sugar-cane for some di.stance inland, north-west of Basseterre, 

 was killed by the spray ; also a field of corn had every jjlant 

 blown down. On the other hand, neither the Guinea grass, 

 exposed on the edge of the cliff to the full blast, nor the 

 larger cotton near the cliff" was affected by this spray. 



According to the report of the Government Chemist in 

 Cej'lon, since the publication of the pamphlet on the distilla- 

 tion of camphor from leaves and shoots, the [ilanting of 

 camphor trees has somewhat extended. Several distillations 

 were made with shoots from estates at elevations ranging 

 from under 2,000 feet to over 6,000 feet, the yields varying 

 from 11 6 to 1"71 per cent. Leaves and twigs distilled 

 separately showed that the ratio of the camphor content was 

 about 3 to 1. 



The Barbados Weekli/ Illustrated Paper, commenting on 

 the probable lower yield of cotton in the island, mentions 

 that this is stated to be due to the worm having been present 

 in greater numbers, and also ' to the fact that those people 

 who were anxious to put in large quantities of cotton did so 

 without having carefully prepared the land. Disappointment, 

 undoubtedly, will follow on such actions, and those who have 

 been careful in preparing the land will, no doubt, reap 

 a beneficial harvest.' 



Mr. J. Jones writes : ' A very handsome flowering shrub 

 growing in the Botanic Gardens, Dominica, has lately been 

 identified at Kew as Steriphoma 2Mradoxum, a native of 

 Caracas. The clusters of unopened flower-buds are of a rich 

 crimson colour, which later turn orange, and open just 

 sufliciently for the yellow petals and stamens to protrude. 

 The plant has not yet borne seed, and appears difficult to 

 propagate bj- cuttings. It should prove a suitable plant for 

 grouping in beds on lawns, as it flowers freely in a sunny 

 po.sition.' 



