302 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



Septembek 19, 1908, 



LIVE STOCK INSURANCE. 



The insurance of live stock is more or less general 

 throughout European countries by small tenant 

 farmers as well as by large landed proprietors. In 

 different parts of England small proprietors in a given 

 district sometimes effect among themselves a mutnal 

 system of insurance of their domestic stock by the 

 formation of what are known as ' cow clubs ' or ' pig 

 clubs.' These ' clubs ' are really co-operative societies, 

 each member being the owner of one or more head of 

 live stock. 



A .small eiiti-ance fee Ls charged for each animal insured, 

 and the annual subscription is |)ayable in four (piarterly 

 instalments. Most societies demand that animals accepted 

 for insurance shall be marked in such a way that they can 

 be readily identified. The value of the cow or pig as 

 a healthy animal is fixed, and in cast' of death, it is usually 

 arranged that the owner shall recei.e 7-5 per cent, of this 

 value. 



Taking a tepresentative club of this kind in England it 

 may be mentioned that the entrance fee for the insurance of 

 the first cow is 2.s. Gc?., and l.<. for each subsequent cow. The 

 annual subscription is G.s-. per cow per annum. Hence, after 

 the first year the cost of insurance of three ccws would 

 be It'.'.-., while the value of the animals nught be any sum 

 between £3(t and £6.'). In the case of pigs the entrance fee 

 is usually fi.xed at \x. and the, subscrijition at lif. per week 

 for each animal. 



According to the X'llnl Aiiriiull nrnl .Iniunal, efforts are 

 being made to introduce a nuUual live stock insurance 

 system into South Africa, and it may be pointed out that 

 the advantages of such a scheme are well worthy of the 

 attention of Agricultural Societies and other bodies in the 

 West Indies. These ad\antages wr)uld naturally ap{)eal most 

 strongly to the small proprietoi-, who possesses but one or two 

 head of live stock. 



As already nicntioned, co nperative .societies for li\e 

 stock insurance are widespread in many Kuro|iean countries. 

 In HoUaTid, these societies leave grown nj) without otHcial 

 intervention or State aid : in France, liowever, nuituai 

 insurance has only gained gioimil since the State began tn 

 foster and encourage it. 



Since the mutual system referred to appears to 

 have developed to a greater degree in Holland than in 

 any other country, it may be worth wliile to reproduce 

 from tile A'atal Ayrindtural Jounud the j)articulais 

 given relating to that country: — 



The insurance of live stock in Holland has been very 

 generally adopted in the districts wliere small breeders 

 predominate, and although attempts to centralize the local 

 as.social ions have been made at different times, these have nni 

 met with any success. The fidvantages of the local over tlie 

 central fyjie are held to consist in its inexpensive adnnnistra 

 tion, which is usuallv ipnte honorary, and in ihe rontinl 

 wliich members can exercise over eai'h nihrr wIumi the 

 operations are linntcd to a small area. 



In 190() there were .'57,7 societies for the insurance of 

 liorses, having .'!0,t+7 nunnbers, and involxing .")(i,l^l I animals. 

 The number of cattle .societies was 748, with 7l',797 mem- 

 bers, insuring J7.'i,0S)9 aiumals. There were •")() pig .societies, 

 the mendiership of which extended to 4,.'}r)7, with 9,09t> pigs 

 insuri-d ; and there were .").") sheep and goat societies, liaving 

 3,857 mend)ers and accounting for 6,362 animals. The 

 percentage of animals lost during the .same year in each <>f 

 the.se four classes wa.s : hoj'ses, 3 per cent.; cattle 1 "9 per 

 cent. ; pigs 6 per cent. ; and sheep and goats 7 '7 percent. 



The .societies I are usually confined to a very limited 

 distiict, and it is thus possible not only for all members to 

 know each other, but also for the cost of management and 

 administration to be reduced to a minimum. An objection to 

 the small area covered by a society, however, is that in the 

 event of great mortality, .such as an epidemic of contagious- 

 disease, it may get into difficulties, and many of the societies 

 do not undertake to pay comijensation in such cases. 



N'arious provisions are made to prevent fraud, and no 

 comi)en.sation is paid if the death of the animal is attribut- 

 able to neglect. Only healthy cattle are insured, and many 

 societies oblige the members to consult a veterinary surgeon 

 in case of sickness among the cattle, and to give notice to 

 the management, further, various proxisions are found 

 with respect to the payment of comiiensation for certain 

 diseases. Thus it frequent!}- happens that no compensa- 

 tion is paid for cOws which die of a second or third attack 

 of milk fever, or for animals which die of anthrax in 

 a meadow where a ease of this disease has nccurred shortl}' 

 befoi-e 



OITRONELLA OIL. 



The cultivation of citronella grass {Andi-oji^ic/on 

 'narihis) is carried on largely in Java, the Malay 

 Peninsula, ami Ceylon, for the sake of the essential oil 

 which is yielded on distillation. 



On good soil and with a heavy rainfall, the grass grows 

 very cjuic'kly, and .several cuts per annum can be taken, 

 the total return In the best cases being about 5 tons per 

 acre per annum. The grass yields from 0'6 to 0'7 per cent. 

 nf its weight of oil, or from 67 to 78 11). of oil per acre per 

 annum. The price at present is very low — no more than 

 1<. ■_''/. Jier It). — which would at the best, represent a return 

 of no more than £i \\.i. \)cr acre ; but this is undoubtedly 

 only a temporary ^tate of affairs. Not long ago the [irice 

 was l.v. 9(?. ]ier It). 



The grass lasts twelve years before re-planting is 

 required. The i)lant required for distilling the oil from the 

 grass is necessarily somewhat expensive at the start, but it is 

 estimated that an apparatus capable of dealing continuou.sly 

 with the gra.ss fn'>hl 200 acres of land may be installed at 

 a cost of £33."). 



In .]a\a eitninella is grown chiefly as a catch crop 

 between cacao, cocoa-nut or rubber trees, and it is stated that 

 the profits from this croj) are sufficient to pay the cost of 

 maintaining a young rublicr or cocoa-nnt ]ilantation until 

 the trees begin to bear. 



The Ihilli-tiii di' III CliUiiiliir i/'A:ir>cii/tiiri' lU In 

 ('(ifliitirhinf (No. 10, 1907) contains an account, written by an 

 nllicial of the Cochin-China Department of Agriculture, of 

 the [iroduction of citronella oil in the 1 >i.'-trict of .Johore, 

 .Malaya. One of the distilling |ilants visited was installed 

 ill a shed built obliquely on a slope. A boiler, which was 

 capable of sup|)lying an engine of 20-horse power, provided 

 the steam for the distillation and for driving a p\nn]i fur the 

 cooling water. There were two stills, each of which was 

 capalile of dealing at once with 330 It), of citronella grass. 

 The condenser consisted of a box of rather more than a cubic 

 yard capacity, lined with zinc, in which the worm was placed 

 which, issning from one side of the box, ended over a Floren- 

 tini' Mask, intended to receive the oil. Hoth stills were 

 iiperaled simultaneously ; a distillation of 660 lb. citronella 

 gras..*, lasting about two hour.s, yielded about (>'('i9 per cent, of 

 oil, or very nearly 4i lb. It is calculated that eai-h acre yields 

 from 10 to 12 tons of citronella grass, and the net profit is 

 estimated at between £3 and £4 per acre per annum. 



