45 
BAHAMA PINEAPPLES. 
The shipments of preserved pineapples from the Bahama 
Islands during- 1906-7 amounted to 117,396 cases, nearly double 
the exports of the previous year. The Board of Agriculture 
of the colony has made a special grant of £100 to assist in 
cultural and mammal experiments with the crop. 
TOBACCO IN ST. KITTS. 
The experimental cultivation of tobacco in St. Kitts is still 
in progress. The results so far obtained are said to be promis- 
ing and point to the eventual establishment of a cigar tobacco 
industry in the island. 
A NEW RUBBER TREE. 
A new rubber tree, Palo Amarillo, has been discovered in 
Mexico. It belongs to the same natural order as Hcvca and 
Manihot and is reported to thrive on rocky soil in temperatures 
of from 62° to 68° F. and at altitudes of from 15,000 to 19,000 
metres. The latex of the new tree is yellowish white and it 
does not coagulate rapidly. The yield of Palo Amarillo is said 
to be good and in view of the altitude and temperature at 
which it flourishes, if its cultivation proves to be profitable, 
this new tree will greatly extend the rubber producing area of 
the world. 
SORGHUM POISON. 
In its early stages of growth it is well known that sorghum 
or Guinea corn, frequently acts as a poison to cattle, and death 
has often resulted where animals have broken into a field of 
growing corn. The mature sorghum, however, is a safe food, 
and may be fed to stock with impunity. The poisonous prop- 
erties of the young sorghum are due to the presence of prussic 
acid, but the amount present gradually becomes less as the 
plant grows older, and has practically disappeared by the time 
the seeds have ripened. 
The Queensland Agricultural Journal, in a note on sorghum, 
advises that a good drink of sweet milk or of molasses diluted 
with water be given to any animal showing symptoms of ill- 
ness after feeding on sorghum, as in experiments conducted by 
the Queensland Department of Agriculture, this remedy has 
been successful. Sweet potato vines also contain a glucoside 
which yields prussic acid, and the occasional death of pigs is 
attributed to this cause in Australia, although in the West 
Indies this vine is consumed in large quantities by cows, pigs 
and other stock, and as far as is known no fatal results have 
attended its use. 
