534 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



[OCT., 



breeding purposes, shall be subject to a duty of $2 '25 per 100 kilos. {4s. gd. per cwt.). 

 Bovine cattle, under six years of age, imported for breeding purposes, and belonging 

 to the breeds of Shorthorn, Hereford, Aberdeen- Angu% Red Polled, Galloway, 

 Devon, Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire and some foreign breeds are admitted free. 



Regulations for the Importation oj Cattle into the Philippines. — The Board have 

 received, through the Foreign Office, a copy of the regulations, dated 5th June, 1908, 

 for the inspection and shipment of live stock imported into the Philippine Islands. 

 These regulations can be inspected at the offices of the Board, 8, Whitehall Place, S.W. 



Demonstration Farms in the United States. — During the past few years an 

 important scheme of demonstration work has been conducted by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, with the object of showing by numerous practical examples 

 over a large area, the advantages of improved methods of agriculture. The work was 

 started in consequence of the depredations of the Mexican cotton-boll weevil, which 

 threatened the entire destruction of the cotton crop in many districts. Since 1904, a 

 grant of £15,500 has been made annually by Congress, and this was supplemented in 

 1907 by a grant from the General Education Board of ,£13,800, so that together, with 

 some local contributions, a sum of about £33,500 was available in 1907-8. Agents 

 have been appointed throughout Texas, southern Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, 

 and a portion of Mississippi, and the work is also being carried on to a more limited 

 extent in Alabama, Virginia, Carolina and Georgia. Altogether 143 agents are 

 employed, and with this force about 12,000 demonstration farms had been established, 

 and in addition, 20,000 farmers had agreed to co-operate and make reports on results. 

 The term "demonstration farm" is used to designate a portion of land on a farm that is 

 worked strictly according to instructions. This is visited by an agent once a month 

 to see that these instructions are carried out and to give further advice if necessary 

 The farmers who work in co-operation also agree to cultivate their crops according to 

 instructions, but are not visited regularly by the agents. 



The effect of these field demonstrations is felt to be of the greatest value in 

 influencing farmers to adopt those improved practices which have become absolutely 

 necessary in order to avoid the ravages of the cotton-boll weevil, and the co-operative 

 demonstration work has proved that by following the instructions of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry a good crop of cotton can be raised in the most infected districts. 



Inspection of Meat for Export in Holland. — The Board have received the Dutch 

 Decree containing the regulations under Section 5 of the Inspection of Meat for Export 

 Law, 1907. These regulations deal with the construction of slaughter-houses, 

 methods of slaughtering, inspection both before and after slaughter, and the marking 

 of meat. After the 1st January, 1909, no meat from Holland should arrive in the 

 United Kingdom without the official label declaring that the meat has been inspected 

 for export. 



Bush Apples for Cider. — The following note has been received from Mr. B. T. 

 P. Barker, the Director of the National Fruit and Cider Institute : — 



In Devon, on account of the wind-swept nature of the country, it is a common 

 practice to grow cider apple trees as half-standards, and not as full standards. Until 

 quite recently cider varieties were apparently not grown as bush trees ; a few makers 

 are, however, starting trial plantations with standard cider varieties in bush form, in 

 the hope that, since these trees come into bearing much more rapidly than standard 

 trees, they will be able soon to bring their plantations to yield sufficient for practical 

 purposes, instead of waiting for fifteen or twenty years, as is necessary with standards. 

 There is also at the Institute a plantation of cider varieties in bush form which appears 

 to be doing very well, and at present there seems no reason why the fruit grown on a 

 bush tree should not be as suitable for cider as that grown on a standard. 



Export of Farm Produce from Brittany. — The British Vics-Consul at Brest draws 

 attention to the possibility of establishing an export trade in farm produce from 

 Brittany to the United Kingdom, via Brest and Weymouth. Some suggestions are 

 given in his report which appears in the Board of Trade Journal, 27th August, 1901. 



