THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 2, 1904. 



POULTRY. 



The following notes are taken tVoiii the Farm 

 Journal of Philadelplda: — 



Let poultry of all kinds fast at least twelve liouis 

 before killing. 



First make a few ben.s pay you a profit, then start 

 a large flock. !Many a man has made a failure by starting 

 on too large a scale. 



No figures, however large, should tempt the breeder to 

 sell his best birds. The best is none too good for the 

 breeder who wants to keej) his stock up to high .standards. 



The business hen is the well-bred hen selected for the 

 purpose. 



Many failnres in poultry keeping have their origin in 

 over crowding. 



AVe ha\e no respect for age when it comes to old hens 

 that have outlived their usefulness. Better sell them at the 

 market price. 



A handful of sunflower seed, now and then, adds lustre 

 to the plumage. 



The Agricultural E.xiieriment Stations tell us that corn 

 is one of the very best foods for poultry ; but they do not 

 tell us to feed it exclusively. Corn exclusively is too heavy 

 and too rich ; something to make bulk must be added. ^Ve 

 know of nothing better than bran. 



SCIENCE NOTES. 



The Formation of Carbohydrates in 

 Green Plants. 



It is a well-known fact that green plants, or parts 

 of plants, in sunlight, are able to build up some form 

 of carbohydrate from the carbon dioxide absorbed from 

 the air and the water taken up from the soil. The 

 process is acconi]ianied by an evolution of oxygen 

 about equal in volume to that of the carbon dioxide 

 absorbed. The process is known as carbon assimi- 

 lation or photo.sjn thesis. 



Very little is known of the intermediate stages in 

 this process. Bae3'er suggested that the carbon 

 dioxide is decomposed into carbon monoxide and water, 

 as represented in the equation: — 



2 CO., '= 2 CO + O., 

 The water is also decomposed, according to this 

 theory, into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and 

 carbon monoxide are then combined into a body 

 known as ' formaldehyde' accoiding to the equation : — 



CO -1- H, = CH. O 

 and this formaldehyde is later converted into sugar. 



One great difficulty in accepting this theory has 

 been that there is no evidence that carbon monoxide 

 is formed and that no jjroof has been offered that this 



gas can be made use of by plants, as it should be if 

 Baeyer's theoiy is correct. 



Some experiments have recently been conducted 

 on this latter point by Messrs. Bottonde}' and Jaek.son, 

 .•md an account of them is given in the Froceediixja of 

 the Royal Suricty (Vol. LXXII, p. 180). The follow- 

 ing abstract of the paper by Prof Keynolds Green is 

 taken from the Bata/aixvltcs Ci'iitralhlatt : — 



The authors publish a preliminary account of researches 

 made on the jiower of green plants to utilize carbon 

 monoxide with a \iew to the bearing of the work on Baeyer's 

 theory of photo.syntliesis. Their results are : — 



(1) I'lants of 7'ro/>»reo///?H will thrive in an atmosphere 

 containing carbon monoxide without a trace of carbon 

 dioxide, provided that the quantity present exceeds the 

 normal quantity of carbon dioxide in the proportion of the 

 relative soluliilities of the two gases in water. Greater 

 quantities might l)e present, even up to 70 per cent., .so 

 long as oxygen was present in normal amount. 



(2) In bright sun.shine a negative [iressure is always 

 observable in the bell jars containing lilants growing in the 

 monoxide, the volume of oxygen exhaled being only 

 that given off when the dioxide is supplied. 



(.3) Starch is formed in plants suiiplied with 

 monoxide and exiiosed to sunliglit. It was found in 



If 



the 

 the 



leaves and in the green stems, especially crowded around the 

 vascular bundles. 



(4) Seeds can be germinated and seedlings grown in an 

 atmosphere containing as much as 65 per cent, of carbon 

 monoxide, organic conq)ounds of carbon being formed during 

 the process. 



The Custard Apple. 



We gave on page 390 of the last volume of the 

 Aijrii'ulturiil Xeirx a note on the .sour sop (Aiiomi miiricatu) 

 together with an illustration showing the fruits and leave.s 

 of the tree. 



I. CUSTAKD APi'LE. 



Fig. 1 shows the fruit and leaves of a closely allied 

 tree — the custard apple (Anoint reticii/iita). 



The tree bearing this well-known fruit is common in 

 most of the West Indian Islands. The fruit is not as 

 popular as that of the .sour .sop. 



It is more or less oval in shape and po.sses.ses a much 

 smoother skin than the sour sop. In Grenada this fruit is 

 called the 'Bullock's heart,' which is evidently a reference to 

 its peculiar appearance. 



The leaves and young twigs are used for tauTiing, while 

 a black dye i.s said to be obtained from the unripe fruit. 



