188 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 5, 1901, 
FARMING AND STOCK IN TRINIDAD: 
OFFSPRING OF "CINGALESE" 
CATTLE, 
Government Farm, Trinidad, June 13, 
{The Editor " Tropical Agriculturist.'") 
Dear Sir, — May I ask you again to accept 
my Annual Report. I cannot say whether 
there is any matter of importance therein : 
simply that last year was successful, and 
that the department has been removed to 
much larger and superior ground and the 
work can therefore be widely extended. 
The Cingalese bull has quite recovered from 
his broken leg and is as pugnacious as ever. 
Two calves have been born to him, altogether 
unlike the sire. They are marked like Alder- 
neys, and I wonder whether theseCingalese are 
a distinctive breed or only dwarfed by inbreed- 
ing and environment. Every one is struck 
by the unsimilarity between sire and pro- 
geny. The bull was put to a well-bred red- 
poll heifer, first time. She produced a bull 
calf, a strong sturdy animal, but a nondescript 
showing no characteristics of either parent. — 
I am, yours truly, 
C. W. MEADEN, 
[We must ask Dr. Sturgess to give an 
opinion on the question raised by Mr. Meaden : 
we know of no records available to show how 
far back Sinhalese cattle have had their pre- 
sent distinctive characteristics. Mr. Meaden's 
Report is a very practical and satisfactory 
one, such as no doubt we shall be getting 
from the " Gangaroowa Farm" by and bye. 
We make a couple of extracts of local interest 
and application and showing the good work 
done :— 
The chief occupation during the year has been 
the transfer of the Farm from St. Clair to St. 
Joseph. The latter place will in time become an 
ideal farm. There is an extensive range of first- 
class land for stock, well-watered and laid out 
for irrigation. The work of the farm can be 
widely extended to the evident advantage of the 
colony. A fine .set of buildings are in the course 
of construction. In acquiring this property the 
Government will be in a position to produce the 
meat, as well as milk, for the Medical institutions 
at a great saving. I have shown above that 
384 lb. of meat was produced at a eo^t of $4-80. 
This quantity at the present contract rate would 
cost $28 80. If there were sufficient stock on hand 
to fulfil the institutions' demand for beef, a clear 
saving of $7,000 per annum might be made in their 
expenditure. This is a question worthy of con- 
sideration, and whether it would not be advisable 
to spend a sum of money in the purchase of 
stock so that the supplying of beef might be 
speedily undertaken. This would net interfere 
with any private enterprise as all tlie money for 
beef practically "oes out of the Colony. Another 
advantage to the Government wouhl be that they 
would have a large reserve of cattle on hand in 
the event of a beef famine. Twice during the 
year, the Colony has had to face this though for- 
tunately without greao inconvenience. Quoting 
from tlie Port-of-Spain Gazette the following was 
stated— 
" Ab present there is very little beef to be had, 
and on some days during the week the sales close 
as early as noon. The larger and more important 
proprietors can boast of having a few head of cattle 
in their pens, but this is not so with the smaller 
proprietors who have to go a scouring ail over the 
country, with much inconvenience and with little 
and in some cases no success." 
Altiiouoh Trinidad may never be a pastoral 
country still she ought to be in a better position as 
regards her meat supply. An enterprising firm 
introduced a first consignment of cold storage meat 
Afith apparent success. This would till a certain 
demand, but would be of little jservice to the poor 
or country districts. 
Altogether the sale of stock during the year real- 
ized $3,727 60, and stock to the value of 81,396 
was transferred to the Tobago Farm. This with 
the production of 132,000 quarts of milk and leaving 
live stock in hand to the value of $18,500, off 
about 150 acres of land, i^, I respectfully submit, a 
record of a good year's work. A profit ot 9"32 per 
cent was made upon the capital outlay. 
At a time when " poultry " are under local 
notice, the following is of interest : — 
Sale ot poultry and eggs realized during the 
year £12 7s 32d. The White Minorcas were dis- 
posed of. These fowls were unsuccesslal : they laid 
a large number of fine eggs but generally they 
provea unfertile and any chickens produced died. 
The probability is that in a tropical climate their 
abundant egg-laying tended to weaken their 
fertility. The Silver Wyandottes have proved to 
be suited to the climate and soil and their intro- 
duction has been a success ; they grow to a good 
size and lay well. Silver Dorkings were imported 
during the year and so far promise to make a use- 
ful addition to this branch of the Farm. Dorkings 
are well-known for their table qualities and their 
introduction will be useful. 
Ed. T.A.] 
THE REARING OF " HELOPELTIS 
ANTONII." 
{To the Editor of the "Tropical Agriculturist,") 
Salatiga, (Java), 7th July, 1901. 
Dear Sir,— In reading the very interesting 
Helopeltis antonii sign., published in the 
Tropical Agriculturist of June, 1901, I was 
struck by the mention that Mr. Green was 
not able to rear up this insect from the egg 
to the adult. One year ago I also made 
some observations on Helopeltis antonii and 
I found that rearing up this insect is very 
easy, bringing up the freshly-hatched larvai 
on young cacao pods, which are often re- 
newed (every 1 or 2 days) and kept in closed 
glass-boxes. In doing so I could point out 
that the larva? of H. antonii change their 
skin five times. The freshly-hatched larvae 
are about 1 to l'2o millimeter long, the pro- 
cessus of the sentellum is visible, but only 
0-2 millimeter long, while nothing at all is 
to be seen from the wing rudiiuents. After 
the first moult the wings are indicated, the 
hind edges of the meso and metanotam pro- 
jecting slightly behind. After the 2nd and 
3rd moult these rudiments become bigger 
and bigger, so that, after the ith, they ex- 
tend themselves to the middle of the length 
of the abdomen ; and with the 5th moult 
the insect acquires its perfect wings. As to 
