A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



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80TAMC 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. °^«»b' 



OF THE 



Vol. XII. No, 283. 



BARBADOS, MARCH 1, 1913. 



Peiob Irf. 



CONTENTS. 



Paob. 



... 61) 



Pagf, 



B.M.k Shelf 



C;icao Experiineiits on the 



Gold Coast 68 



Citvu.s lCx^ioit> fvoiii South 



Africa in l'.tl2 73 



Cotton in tlio Philippines 6!) 

 Cotton Notes : — 



British Cotton Growing 

 Association 70 



West Indian Cotton ... 70 



West Indian Cotton- 

 i,'ro\vingSeason, 1911-12 71 



Department Nens 69 



Fruits, Confusion in Names 



of Certain 68 



Fungus Notes : — 



Miscellaneous Entomo- 



<;enous Fungi 78 



Gleanings 76 



Insect Notes : — 



The Entomological Re- 

 search Committee ... 



74 



Intmiialinnal Organization 

 of Agricultural Meteor- 

 ology 



Market Reports 



Notes and Comments ... 



Oil from Mexican I'oppy ... 



Rainfall and the Cotton 

 Crop ill St. Vincent 



Silk Production in France 



Soil, Recent Publications 

 on the Fertility of ... 



Students' Comer 



Sug.ir Industry; — 



Sugar-cane Experiment.- 



in Assam ... 

 West Indian Sugar-canes 

 in Queensland 



I'niversity in the Tropics 



Varialiility in the Quality 

 of Seeds and Cuttings 



Water and Life, II 



Wattle Hark, II 



West Indian Products ... 



73 



80 

 72 



7-> 



... 0.7 



67 



72 



6.0 



7n 



Water and Life. 



II. 



i^^^v^l^'HE cnnsideration of water in relation to 

 ji^ '^l^its use and formation in life-processes was 

 ^3^=8^ commenced in an editorial article in the last 

 number but one of this journal. Attention was drr.wn 

 to the facts that water is formed in living beings 

 through respiration, both direct and intramolecular; 

 and that this water has uses le.ss obvious than those 

 chielly served by the water absorbed in the ordinary 

 way: namely those of forming soluble substances by 



hydrolysis and of being freed by the process of dehy- 

 dration so that growth may ensue. The purpose of 

 the present article is to e.xtend and illustrate the 

 subject by reference to specific examjiles of the use of 

 metabolic water which derive a large importance frcm 

 their being matters of daily life. 



The publication* mentioned alroad}', which gives 

 its chief attention to these facts, considers them first in 

 regard to the life and germination of seeds. It is well 

 known that many kinds of seeds may be kept for long 

 periods, and will still germinate, even if they have 

 been exposed to air dried by sulphuric acid and have 

 therefore lost as much water as can be extracted from 

 them without heating. It is also realized that, for 

 this, the seed must have remained alive, and respira- 

 tion, howbeit very slow, must have continued. This 

 slow respiration ensures the presence of at least 

 a small quantity of water in all living seeds. The 

 existence of such respiration is shown by the constant 

 evolution of carbon dioxide and the loss of dry matter 

 from the seed. Practical recognition of these matters 

 is seen in the air-drying of seed that is to be kept, to 

 lessen respiration; and in the storing of seeds in such 

 a way that ventilation for continued respiration, and 

 therefore for life, is ensured. 



Direct respiration does not occur in immature 

 seeds; it could not, indeed, as they are usually enclosed 

 in a fruit, away from the air. When the seed is 

 mature, this respiration is set up and enzymes are 

 formed, so that the stored food is digested The 

 absence of respiration and its results, from seeds in 

 a fruit, accounts chiefly for the fact that they rarely 



* iVisc(nisin Research IJidUliH, No. 22. 



