60 



Jamaica Concentrated Rum and offering to give a Jamaica Govern- 

 ment Laboratory Certificate. 



A memorandum submitted from the Chemist on the subject 

 stated that the certificate was perfectly authentic and was given 

 to the owner of Hampden Estate to enable him to overcome the 

 baseless and uninformed prejudice of brokers and merchants in 

 London. The Secretary was directed to inform Messrs. Baker 



of this. 



Instructors — The Secretary submitted letter from the Jamaica 

 Agricultural Society stating that the Governor having approved of 

 the proposed Joint Committee of the two Boards dealing with the 

 actual direction of the work of the Instructors on the understanding 

 that the Government's control of its own officers remained un- 

 impaired and its right to utilise their services for special work 

 was recognised, the Instructors' Committee of the Society would 

 be glad to co-operate with a Committee of the Board. 



This matter was left in the hands of the Director of Public 

 Gardens and the Secretary who would duly report to the Board. 



West India Agricultural Conference — The Secretary submitted 

 resolutions re the West India Agricultural Conference from the 

 Barbados Agricultural Society, from the representatives to the 

 Conference on board the " Port Kingston" and from the Colonial 

 Secretary's Office, Barbados, all thanking the Board of Agriculture, 

 the Agricultural Society and the Reception Committee for their 

 great kindness and hospitality during their stay in Jamaica. 



Cotton — The Secretary submitted a report re Cotton as follows : 



That he had saved the two Hand Cotton Gins out of the ruins 

 of the office, 4 Port Royal Street, but that they would require 

 some overhauling ; that Mr. L. J. Desporte, at Halfway Tree, 

 who had grown an acre of cotton, was having good results, that 

 the cultivation had been visited by Sir Daniel Morris and Sir 

 Alfred Jones who were very pleased with it, that Mr. Desporte was 

 prepared to put in a much larger acreage, and asked for the use 

 of one of the Gins to gin the crop. He asked leave therefore to 

 send one Cotton Gin to the Railway workshops to be overhauled 

 first. He also submitted samples of Caravonica Cotton grown 

 from seed imported from Queensland. 



It was agreed that the silk cotton variety was promising and that 

 further trials should be encouraged. 



Chemist's Reports — The Secretary submitted the Chemist's reports 

 as follows : — 



1. Agricultural Scholarships. 



2. Report on work of Agricultural Students. 



3. Report Hampden Experiment. 



4. Distillery Progress in Westmoreland. 

 These were directed to be circulated. 



Reports from Director Public Gardens. — The following reports from 

 the Director of Public Gardens were submitted : — 



1. Mr. Cradwick's and Mr. Briscoe's itineraries and reports 



since last meeting. 



2. Reports Hope Experiment Station. 



