Vol. IVII. No. 428. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



303 



of nuts per day, and spreads them out on a 'patio', or drying 

 ■floor, where they remain for several weeks. This drying loosens 

 the kernel from the shell. The native then cracks the nuts. 

 The average man is able to crack and separate the kernels 

 irom about 100 to 1251b. of nuts per day This gives 

 about 1-5 BEi. of kernels, for which he is paid approximately 

 •5c. per fi). 



Many attempts to improve upon the natives' methods 

 Lave been made, and many machines have been tried with 

 the object of doing away with the hand cracking. Almoatall 

 these experiments have failed. The nut is so hard and so 

 difficult to crack that the ordinary commercial nut crack- 

 ing machine is useless. Also these machines are usually 

 of a complicated nature, and therefore unBtted for use with 

 the unskilled labour available. Other forms have been tried 

 on the principle of the rock crusher. These machines crack 

 the nut as well a.3 the kernel, instead of only cracking the 

 shell, thereby causing a portion of the oil to be pressed to 

 the surface. In the warm, humid climate of the tropics, 

 -fermentation takes place very rapidly, and the oil becomes 

 rancid. Recently a new process has been patented in the 

 United States and foreign countries, which bids fair to solve 

 the problem. The nut as soon as gathered is passed through 

 a rotary husking machine, which removes the outer covering, 

 thus assisting in more rapidly drying the cuts. They are then 

 delivered by a conveyer to a machine which throws the nuts 

 against a breaking plate with a speed of 9,000 feet per minute. 

 This is sufficient to crack the shell of the properly dried nut, 

 but does not crack the nuts that rare not yet sufficiently 

 tempered. The broken nut is then passed through a separator, 

 which separates the kernels from the shell. The capacity of 

 a single unit of the plant is about 40 tons of dried nuts 

 per day. The kernels are then put through an ordinary copra 

 drier, and when sacked, are ready for market. Upon arrival 

 in the United States, the kernels are treated to almost iden- 

 tically the same process as coco-nut copra for the extraction 

 •of the oil. 



UNIVERSITY EMPIRE STQDY. 



A letter has been addressed by the Imperial Studies 

 Committee of the Royal Colonial Institute to the universities 

 of the United Kingdom, urging that, under the changed con- 

 ditions which must be expected after the war, the importance 

 -of founding endowments for the adequate teaching of Empire 

 subjects, and in particular the history of the Empire, should 

 be placed in the foreground. Very encouraging replies have 



been made. 



According to T/te Times for June 28, the following 

 resolutions of the Committee indicate their view as to the 

 best methods of promoting Empire study at the universi- 

 ties: — 



'In every university in the Mother Country, the Domin- 

 ions, and Dependencies, there should be a chair of colonial 

 and 'imperial history, with adequate salaries to the professor 



and staff. 



2. 'In all universities there should be adequate arrange- 

 ments, including specialized libraries and properly endowed 

 studentships, for post graduate work in colonial and Imporial 



history. . , 



3. 'In such universities there should also be a chair ot 

 the history and organization of commerce. 



4. 'Professors of the above subjects should once at least 

 in each complete period of seven years be allowed one year's 

 period of special leave on full salary, that they may travel to 

 investigate and report on the prevailing conditions of trade 



and industry, the natural resources, methods of administratioo, 

 and progressive organization and development of the different; 

 parts of the Empire. 



5. 'During such period of special leave, the professors coa- 

 cerned should have facilities afforded for conference with tha 

 staffs of the universities visited, for delivering lectures in 

 such universities, and addresses to the general public. Suit- 

 able travelling allowances should be made, and each sucli 

 professor should be accredited by his own State and university. 



6. 'The system of travelling fellowships should be com- 

 pletely organized and greatly extended throughout the entire 

 Empire. 



7. 'Reports by professors under paragraph 4, and tha 

 research work of post-graduates under paragraph 5, should ba 

 published in appropriate form, and widely circulated. 



s. 'Specimens and samples of the staple products of tha 

 Empire, reports as to conditions and prospects of trade, tha 

 extent of natural resources, photographs, and films illustrating 

 the customs and habits of native races should, by arrangement; 

 with the proper authorities, be supplied to all universities. 



9. 'Each university should, within its area or sphere o£ 

 influence, arrange with the local education authorities for a 

 series of extension lectures and addresses on the problems of 

 the Empire and its administration.' 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE. 



The President of the Board of Agriculture (Mr. K. K. 

 Prothero), in the House of Commons on July IS, reviewed tha 

 operations of his department during the past twelve months. 

 After alluding to the work of Professor Russell at Rothamsted, 

 in connexion with the turning of grass land into arable, and the 

 production of an effective insecticide, and of Professors Wool 

 and Hopkins at Cambridge, on animal nutrition, he illustrated 

 the possibilities of scientific research in agriculture from 

 Professor Biffen's well-known plant-breeding investigations. 

 He pointed out that, after examining a number of varieties 

 of foreign wheat, Professor Biffen discovered a Russian wheaD 

 called ghirka, which resists rust. Now rust destroys annually 

 thousands of quarters of wheat, but this ghirka wheat was of 

 no use to the British farmer because its yield was miserably 

 low. But Professor Biffen, by using the Mendel system, was 

 able to transfer the rust resisting quality of ghirka to a high- 

 yielding English wheat, and though that wheat has now beea 

 in use for several years, it has shown no tendency whatever 

 to revert either to the rust tendency of one parent, or the 

 low-yielding tendency of the other. He has now produced 

 a wheat which produces a high quality of straw — a fine, stitf, 

 upstanding straw — and a high quality of yield of grain, s:> 

 much so that without pushing it will produce 42 bushels t ) 

 the acre, and by pushing, up to 72 bushels to the acre. li 

 also possesses a very high quality of disease resistance, which 

 is so highly valued by both millers and bakers, aud which is 

 recognized in increased prices. 



Mr. Prothero added: 'Hiiherto the plant-breeding work 

 has been hardly applied to any of the crops of the farmcc 

 except wheat — though it has been applied to barley — atd 

 mainly to wheat suitable to the Eastern Counties. But 

 suppose you apply it to the wheats and barleys used in otLtr 

 districts, to oats and rye, to temporary grass and potatoes. 

 There is an extraordinary list of possibilities opened to tha 

 British farmer. If, lor instance, you could produce a potal.j 

 which was immune '.(om blight and immune from warn 

 disease, it would be an invaluable boon t^ English agricul- 

 turists, and there is every prospect that that may be achieved ' 

 (The '/ournttl oj th: Royal Scad} of Arts, AuguafO, 191S ) 



