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THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 4, 1918. 



The cattle so long described as Holsteins have no 

 conuexion whatever with the German province of that name. 

 They are exclusively from Dutch Friesland. British breeders 

 have at last decided to describe the breed correctly. The use 

 of the term Holstein was always a inisnomei-, and has in 

 recent years become oflfensive. In future, this famous milking 

 breed of the Netherlands is to be known in England — and let 

 us hope in other countries — as Friesian. (The Field, March 

 9, 191S.) 



GLEANINGS. 



H. M. Consul at Para reports that the quantity of 

 cicao exported from the State- of Para, and Amazonas during 

 the year]1917, amounted to 4,691 tons, as compared with 

 .3,314 tons in 1916. The 1917 export was the largest for 

 the last eight years. {T/ie Board of IVade /oiirna/,'Sla.xc\L 

 21, 1918.) 



I'se of horse meat by the people of the United States is 

 increasing rapidly, despite of widespread sentiments sigainst its 

 use for human consumption. Horse meat retails for half the 

 price of beef, and is palatable and wholesome. It can scarcely 

 be distinguished from beef by the average buyer. (The Kan- 

 sas Industrialist, March 27, 1918.) 



The Louisiana Planter, March 30, 1918, states that it 

 appears to be evident that there will be more or less of 

 a reduction in the acreage under cane in Louisiana for the 

 present year, especially in the south-western part of the 

 sugar district. A considerable area of cane land will be 

 put into rice, and some into cotton. 



From the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 and Labour of Porto Eico, it appears that the Entomologists 

 of the Department have found that two plant bugs which 

 are (|uite injurious to tobacco in that i.-^land are new to 

 science. The life-history of tlie more important one has 

 been worked out with method- for its control. 



The tea industry in Nyasaland i.-^ steadily prospering, 

 and the crop exported finds a ready sale in the London 

 nj.irket at aloout \s. per Bj., which i)rice, with the low cost 

 of production, leaves a good margin of profit. The export 

 of tea for the financial year l'.tl6-17 amounted to 420,61.") B)., 

 the local value being £14,022. The acreage increased from 

 4,141 acres in the previous year to 4,228. {Colonial Rcparts 

 — Annual, No. 9.5-5.) 



A comparison of average analyses of seaweed from the 

 Kcw England coast. New York horse manure, and cow manure 

 with litter .shows that the average sea-weed contains less 

 oryacic matter, nitrogen, and phosphoric acid than the horse 

 manure, and that it has about the same amount of nitrogen, 

 much less phosphoric acid, and more potash tlian the cow 

 manure. Seaweeds are relatively defitient in phf sphoric acid- 

 iy\i<i Expu-iment Station /('<ivvv/. Vol. XX.VVII, No. *).) 



The Botanical Journal {ax March 1918 has the follow- 

 ing notice: 'We are sorry to announce that the t'ouncil of 

 the Royal Botanic Society finds it necessary, to its great 

 regret, to suspend for a time the issue of the Holanical 

 /oorii(d. The cost of printing and I'aper, added to the 

 other difficulties with which the Society is faced, renders it 

 manifestly impo.'<fiible to continue publication at tlie present 

 time and it will nft be renewed until circnm.^tances become 

 Dorma-l.' 



The American Consul at llio de Janeiro states that 

 there is a possibility of Brazil's developing a large industry 

 of its native vegetable fibres. One of the most promising 

 of these appears to be that of the Piteira {Fiircraea !;iganlea),_ 

 because of its adaptability to the making of sacks for bag- 

 ging coffee. Potash and wood alcohol are said to be avail- 

 able bye-product.s, thus helping to lessen the actual cost " 

 of extracting the fibre. From 2 to 3 per cent, of the weight 

 of the leaves is said to consist of fibre. (The Colonizer, 

 March 1918.) 



For the successful culture of roses, it is recommended 

 in Bulletin A'o. ig6 of the Univer.-^ity of Illinois Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, that the nitrogen content of the soil 

 should be maintained by turning under, before planting, 

 green or farm manure in preference to commercial fertilizers. 

 If roses show signs of nitrogen starvation- — a lightening of 

 the colour of the foliage — make application of liijuid manure, 

 mulches of manure, or top dressings of dried blood, the last 

 not exceeding 58). per 100 square feet, and applied not 

 oftener than .-^ix weeks apart. JIanure only during sunshiny 

 weather, and most generously during periods of heavy 

 flowering. 



Before the American civil war Florida was looked upon 

 as something of a sugar-producing State, with quite a tine 

 promise for the growth of the sugar industry. The civil war 

 stopped all this development, and the continual decline in 

 prices of sugar, owing to the beet sugar competition in 

 Europe, gradually destroyed the industry. It appears .now 

 that efforts are being made to resuscitate the sugar industry 

 in Florida; and at .Miami a movement is on foot to convert 

 a large acreage of the Everglades into a sugar plantation. 

 Many persons are reported to have con.sented to plant large 

 acreages. One proprietor, it is said, will plant 1,000 acres 

 of his Everglades land in sugar-cane, and will subscribe 

 S-50,000 towards the erection of a sugar factory- (The Louis- 

 iana Planter, March 30, 1918.) 



The i^/(/(/ for March 9, 19Ks, states that Mr. Prothero, 

 in an address to a meeting of agriculturists at Pleading on 

 March 2, made the following remarks which are worth 

 attention in all parts of the Empire: 

 struggle the te.st was endurance. Food 

 most important of munitions of war. 

 leaden and silver bullets, and it is 

 farmers and their labourers to find food 



'In the present 



has become the 



We had found 



now up to the 



bullets. Growing 



food was an insurance to save our own skin. If we were 

 compelled through shortage of food to accept a victors peace 

 from Germany we .-liould be .>kinned alive, ami for many 

 years to come every half-penny of profits we might bring out 

 from the soil by the sweat of our brow would go to paying 

 indemnity taxe.s. If the food lii.e at home broke, it was of 

 no use holding the trenches at the front.' 



