530 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. [Feb. 1, 1904. 
PUERTO RICO COTTON. 
Mr. A A Paton, vice-chairman of the British Cotton 
Growing Association, states that he has sold through 
Messrs. F Zerega and Co. 13 bales of I'uerto Rico cot- 
ton at 14^d per lb., and 33 bales more are to be delivered 
in Liverpool this week. The first lot was sold in small 
parcels, so that the spinners of the country mif;ht test 
Its rare qualities. Altogether from 1,('00 to 1.200 bales 
are to be shipped this season, and there is confidence 
that the price realised by the cotton just sold will 
stimulate cotton cultivation throughout the West 
Indies. Messrs. F Zerega and Co. presented the above 
association with all the seed ftom the cotton, and 
it ia to be distributed among the West India Islands. 
In the view of Mr Palon this is the finest cotton ever 
imported into Liverpool, and it is noted that for the 
caitivation of this fibre the climate aud soil of the 
islands are peculiarly adapted. A sample of the small 
lot of Puerto Rico cotton just sold was identified by 
an experienced broker (who did not know its origin) 
as good Sea Island. — London Times. 
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. 
The report of the Colonial Secrelary of Trinidad 
for the fiscal year 1902-3 shows a revenue of £788,404 
'which was considerably in excess of that of any pre- 
vious year, aud an expenditure of £737,045. Over 
38 per cent of the revenue was derived from Customs 
while a little short of a quarter of the revenue vy..s 
devoted to public works. On March 3lst last the 
assets exceeded the liabilities by £103,700, while 
the total public debt of the Colony was £1,104,032. 
The trade of the Colony was steadily increased during 
the last ten years, except in 1896, and last year this 
growth was usually large. I'he imports, exclusive of 
transhipments (which decreased greatly owing to the 
disturbed condition of Venezuela), amounted to 
£2,672,087 and the exports to £2,472,181. The Collector 
of Customs attributes this expansion and prosperity 
to the steady development of the Colony itself as well 
as to other circumstances, and adds that the over- 
sea trade has permanently outgrown the provision 
for handling it. Of the imports, more than a third 
were from the United Kingdom and more than a 
fourth from the United States. Not far short of 
half the total export trade was absorbed by cocoa, 
sugar, the next important item, being a little more 
than a sixth of the whole. The statistics show an 
increase of imports from the British Colonies chiefly 
Canada, and an increase of exports also. The trade 
with British North America is growing steadily, and 
there is every reason to expect a still larger develop- 
ment. Immigration from India ia satisfactory, and a 
large amount of money saved by the immigrants is 
invested in cane-farming and rice-planting in the 
Oolony. The sugar industry has been depressed and 
the value of the exports declining, but it ia hoped 
that the Brnsaela Convention will assist it in Trinidad 
and elsewhere. The report adds that " the financial 
condition of the Colony and the steady growth of its 
material prosperity afford evidence of its natural 
resources and of the energy and industry of its in- 
habitants." Tobago, which ia now a ward of Trinidad 
also shows satisfactory progress — London Times^ 
COBRAS IN MADRAS. 
[I have been wonderinf; why our friend Drnm- 
iiiond Deane had discontinued his dissertations ; on 
Green Teas, but the following explains it ; his 
been busy hatching snakes. — Co7'. 
H D D in the following letter to the Bladras Mail, 
seema to have struck the cobra record. lie says : — 
On the morning of the 13th May last, just as we 
were sitting down to breakfast, the mali came and 
said he ha^ seep a large cobra go into a hole under 
an Ipomea bush in the garden not 20 yards from the 
house. We got the bush dug up, aud after digging 
for about half an hour came across a youEg cobra 
a foot long, who raised its hood at once ; another 
stroke of the pickaxe brought four or five to view, 
and in 20 minutes we killed no less than 20 of an 
average size of a foot in length. After some more 
digging a large cobra was unearthed, presumably the 
mother, and finally another small cobra, making a 
record of 22 cobras in half an hour. I was present 
the whole time and myself saw every one dug up 
and killed. "I was curiona to know if this was the 
usual size of a cobra family and wrote to a leading 
authority on the snbiect in Madras for information. 
He told me that little was known of the domestic 
life of the cobra, but that he quite thought this was 
a record, I ought to add that three weeks previously 
we had killed a large cobra in the drawing room. — 
Indian Field, 
PROTECTION OF BIRDS IN INDIA. 
[This is how they protect birds over the way. 
Cannot Mr Farr take all our birds under his 
wing in place of only the Game ones and ran 
the whole show under the au'-pices of The Game 
Protection Society ? It would help to popularise 
the Society I feel sure. — Cor.] 
The Sind Gazette writes : — There are no game law."!, 
a.H such, applying to Sind as a whole, but each 
Municipality mikes its own rules which are sanction- 
ed by the Commissioner in Sind. With the exception 
of three small Municipalities we have now all the 
rules before us, and we find that they are all based 
on the Ahmedabad Regulations and that they are 
practically the same throughout Sind, the only differ- 
ence being that in stating the dates of the close season 
certain birds are included in the list of some Muni- 
cipalities and left out in others. There is no reason 
for this except that those birds or animals that are 
left are rarely found in the district governed by the 
list which omits them. We think it would conduce to 
the convenience of sporDsmen and to the effective 
protection of birds if all the birds were included in all 
the lists, and the rules made of general application 
to Sind instead of to each particular Municipality. 
The rules prohibit the possession of sale during ita 
breeding season of any wild bird or animal which haa 
been recently killed or taken, and the importation 
within Municipal limits of the plumage or fur, and 
make the first offence punishable with a fine of R5, 
and any subsequent offence with a fine of ElO. It ia 
interesting to note that the protection now afforded 
the different kinds of herons and egrets ia chiefly due 
to the exertions made on their behalf by Mr. E H 
Aitken, our present Collector of Customs. — Indian 
Field. 
THE CASHEW NUT. 
Agricultural scientists, says an American contempo- 
rary, are unqualifiedly enthusiastic over the future of 
the Cashew nut, which grows in Porto Rico on a tree 
which attains a height of forty feet. Roasted, no other 
nut can compare with it in delicious flavour, in the 
opinion of David G Fairohild, agricultural explorer for 
the United States. 'Burnt almonds,' aaid Mr Fair- 
child, ' are flat in comparison.' The Government 
believes that American candy manufacturers have a 
good thing in the Cashew nut and that a big market for 
It could be created. Mr Faitchild reeommenda that 
groves be started at once and ihat the sale of the nut 
be pushed. ' It is bound to gain in popularity,' aaid 
he ; ' in fact, the prospects for the Cashew nut are 
really wonderful,' Oil, ink, fram, tar, mucilage, cos- 
metics aud dyes are made from it. The Cashew nut 
grows plentifully in Ceylon, and is frequently eaten 
when roasted as a desert nut. 
