392 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 15, 1906. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well 

 as all specimens for naming, should be addressed 

 to the Commissioner, Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agri- 

 cultural News' should be addressed to the 

 Agents, and not to the Department. 



Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge- 

 town, Barbados. London Agents : Messrs. Dulau & 

 Co., 37, Soho Square, W., and The West India Com- 

 mittee, 1-5, Seething Lane, E.C. A complete list of 

 Agents will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural Nnvs: Price Id. per number, 

 post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2s. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4d. 



giigriciilturat ^xm 



Vol. V. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1906. No. 121. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The great possibilities of poultry raising form the 

 subject of the editorial in this issue. 



Good results were obtained on a large scale in 

 Barbados during the last crop with seedling cane B. 376. 

 (p. 3SG.) This note is followed by a statement as to 

 the work of the central sugar mills in Queensland. 



An illustration showing sisal hemp growing at 

 the Montserrat Botanic Station appears on p. 389. 



The attention of cotton growers is drawn to the 

 information published on p. 390 in regard to the 

 insurance of shipments of cotton from the West Indies. 

 The ' Seasonable Notes ' on the same page have 

 reference to the effect of the recent heavy rains at 

 Barbados on the cotton crop. 



On p. 391 will be found a resume of the paper on 

 the cultivation of broom corn. 



The ' Insect Notes ' in this issue (p. 394) contain 

 an account of the digger wasps and a reference to the 

 attacks of scale insects on cotton. 



A brief account of the two chief forms of agri- 

 cultural credit banks which have been established in 

 Germany appears on p. 395. 



In connexion with the observation of Arbor Day 

 at Barbados on November 9, 791 plants wei'e dis- 

 tributed from the Botanic Station, (p. 395.) 



Exports of Barbados. 



According to the Annual Report on Barbados- 

 for 1905-{j, the total value of the produce and manu- 

 factures of the island exported was £696,829, as com- 

 pared with £627,678 in the previous year. The total 

 was made up as follows : sugar, £451,491 : molasses, 

 £177,205; cotton, £17,211: other products, £50,923. 



Owing to better prices prevailing for sugar during 

 the early part of the year, the value of the exports of 

 of sugar and molasses was £44,283 more than in the 

 previous year, although the crop fell short of that of 

 1904, the output being 16,507 hogsheads and 5,682 

 puncheons, respectively, less. 



The returns show a steady increase in the exports 

 of minor products of the colony, which, in the year 

 under review, reached £68,036. The items which 

 principally contributed to this total are as follows : 

 cotton, £17,211: fresh fruit and vegetables, £11,804; 

 bananas, £6,706 ; manjak, £9,292 ; and hides, £5,375. 



British Honduras Botanic Station. 



In the Annual Report on the Botanic Station at 

 Belize, British Honduras, for the year 1905, the 

 Superintendent (Mr. E. J. F. Campbell) states that 

 7,542 plants wore distributed during the year : of these, 

 4,600 were logwood ; other plants were distributed a& 

 follows : cacao, 700 ; coffee, 850 ; and rubber, 300. 



Besides the station at Belize, there are nurseries 

 at Stann Creek and Corozal. The Superintendent also 

 has chai'ge of the Government House grounds. 



Appended to this report are three reports from 

 the Imperial Institute on samples forwarded by the 

 Superintendent of the Botanic Station. These were 

 a sample of tobacco (see Agricultural News, Vol. V, 

 p. 141), and samples of cotton grown at the Corozal 

 Station. The reports indicated that the Sea Island 

 cotton had been grown in an unsuitable district. The 

 Upland cottons were of a very good quality and readily 

 saleable at ?>d. to Qd. per If). 



Exports of the West Indies. 



A return was pi-esented to the House of Commons 

 on August 1, 1906, of the average annual exports to the 

 United Kingdom and the United States during 

 each quinquennium ending 1904, 1899, 1894, and 

 1889, from the British West India Islands. The return 

 shows how much of such exports were of sugar and 

 molasses; how much wore of fruit (fresh and dried), 

 coffee, cacao, and tobacco ; together with the propor- 

 tions for each period going to the United States and 

 the United Kingdom, respectively. 



The average annual value of the total exports of 

 the British West India Islands, during the quin- 

 quennium 1900-4, was £5,406,000, of which 26'4 

 represented the percentage proportion to the United 

 Kingdom, and 47'5 to the United States. 



During this period the value of the prmcipal 

 exports was as follows: sugar, £1,296,000: molasses 

 £172,000: fruit, £953,000; coffee, £129,400; cacao 

 £1,402,000 ; tobacco, £28,000. 



