Vol. XII. No. 289. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



105 



material as received, was as lullous: .Moisture, 138 per cent ; 

 crude proteins, iS'S per cent., consisting of true proteins 

 22 5 per cent., other nitrogenous .substances 3-3 per cent ; 

 fat, 3'5, per cent.; starch, etc., 4ns per cent.; fibre, 4.9 

 per cent.: ash 32. 



The nutrient ratio was 1: 'J^, this being the ratio 

 between the percentage of crude proteins and the sum of the 

 [lercentages of starch and fat, the latter being first converted 

 into its starch equivalent. The food units were found to be 

 122 1, (the total obtained by adding the percentage of 

 starch to 2'5 times the -sum of the percentages of fat and 

 crude proteins). 



The bean.s contained no alkaloids or cyanogenetic 

 glucosides. 



In order to determine their coninieroial value, the seeds 

 were submitted to a large firm of merchants in London, who 

 valued them at from £■') 10.<:. to £7 per ton, c.i.f. United 

 Kingdom ports (February 1913). The firm added that these 

 prices repre.sent the value of the beans as a feeding stutf for 

 animals, ;is it would liardly be possible to find a market for 

 them in the United Kingdom for human consumption. 



There seems to be no doubt that these beans could be 

 safely used as a feeding stufi' for cattle, since they are 

 already so employed in Mauritius (see Ihdletin No. 24 de la 

 Station Agronomique de Maurice, 1910). On account, 

 however, of the high nutrient ratio of the beans, it is con- 

 sidered advisable to dilute them with other feeding stuffs 

 which are not so rich in proteins. 



Fruit Growing in the Canary Islands. — An 



interesting article appears in The Field, for March 15, 1913, 

 which describes the decline, during recent years, of fruit 

 growing in Teneritfe and Las Palmas. 



The original staple industry in this Colony was the 

 production of cochineal, which was eventually threatened 

 with extinction consequent on the discovery of the aniline 

 dyes. The advent of this calamity necessitated the intro- 

 duction of new industries, and the inhaliitants commenced to 

 cultivate on an extensive scale, bananas, and later, tomatoes 

 and potatoes. For a while the position of the island 

 remained prosperous. Eventually, however, keen competi- 

 tion and excessive cropping induced infertility in the soil, 

 with a consequent deterioration in the grade of produce 

 exported. 



It is stated that the quality of the bananas and 

 tomatoes sent, at the present time, from the Canary 

 Islands is distinctly unsatisfactory. As far as bananas are 

 concerned, the consumers in England have no cause for 

 anxiety in view of the amjile supply from the West Indies, 

 but the inferiority of the vegetables is not so easily ignored 

 It would appear that there is every need for scientific control 

 of agriculture in the Canary Islands. Besides this, however, 

 there are several serious obstacles to be considered in con- 

 nexion with the financial side of cultivation in the Canaries: 

 land is es[iensive in view of keen compciilion. and grave 

 diHiculties are experienced as regards the supply of fresh 

 water. Altogether it would appear that the commercial 

 situation as regards agriculture in Teneriffe and Las Palnias 

 is far from being in a state of permanent prosperity. 



Referring to agriculture in Morocco, the Journal of the 

 Iioi/al So'-ieti/ of Arts for April 11, 1913, states that the 

 orange gardens around Letuan are said to yield fruit of most 

 delicious tiavour, and in spite of years of total neglect 

 thriving fig and olive trees are found in every part of the 

 country. Agriculture, generally, in Morocco, is very 

 primitive. 



FATE OP TUBERCLE BACILLI OUTSIDE 

 THE ANIMAL BODY. 



A very extensive investigation of the mode of dissem- 

 ination and outside behaviour of the organism causing 

 tuberculosis in animals comprises Bulletin No. 161. of ihe 

 University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 The author of the paper is Dr. (.'. F. Briscoe. 



In the summary to the Bulletin it is stated first, that 

 there are four recognized types of tubercle bacilli; human, 

 bovine, avian, and a type that infects cold-blooded animals. 

 The tuliercle bacillus does not form .spores, nor does it 

 .secrete a soluble toxin, though the fact that pois"ns 'are 

 produced is well recognized, since tubercles can be brought 

 on in animals by the injection of dead cultures. 



The author next proceeds to emphasize the importance 

 of definite knowledge as to the powers of vitality of the 

 organism outside the animal body, namely its capacity for 

 resisting conditions of environment inimical to its existence. 



The tubercle bacillus, although it does not form spores, 

 is one of the most resistant species of bacteria; it can, 

 however, be killed in a few minutes to a few hours when 

 exposed to direct sunlight. The time of killing is less at 

 higher altitudes, but it is ten to fifteen times longer in 

 diffused light. 



Tuberculosis sputum reduced to dust and inhaletl by 

 animals causes tuberculosis, and a much less amount is 

 necessary to produce the disease by inhalation than by 

 ingestion, though infection by ingestion is believed to be more 

 common than is generally supposed. 



It is next pointed out that a decrease in the number 

 of cases of tuberculosi.s can, in many places, be correlated 

 with an improvement of the water-supply. It is reported 

 that tubercle bacilli live for several months to more than a 

 year in water and other material 



As regards the exact time that tubercle bacilli live under 

 certain conditions of environment, it was found that whereas 

 pure cultures of non-spore-bearing organisms and the 

 vegetative cells of spore-bearing germs exposed to direct 

 sunlight in thin smears were killed in half to six minutes, 

 the human, bovine and avian types of tubercle bacilli exposed 

 in the same way were killed in one to four minutes. 



The former group of organisms exposed to desiccation in 

 the dark died in one to four days, spores of />' sn/jtilis took 

 thirty-five days; the tubercle bacilli, four to eight days. 



Pure ciiltures of bovine tubercle bacilli mixed in cow 

 manure and exposed in a 2-inch layer in a pasture field in 

 the .sunshine remained alive and virulent for two months. 

 Guinea pigs inoculated with germs exposed in manure in the 

 shade developed the disease with greater severity than 

 those animals which were inoculated with germs not protect- 

 ed from the sun. 



Tubercle bacilli in the manure of a naturally infected 

 cow, exposed in the .same manner as the artificially infected 

 manure, were dead within two weeks after exposure, whilst 

 those bacteria in garden soil and in a dead tuberculobis guinea 

 pig buried in garden soil were alive on the 213th and 71st 

 days, respectively, and dead on the 230th and 99tli days, 

 after first exposed. 



Tubercle bacdli live for more than a year in running 

 water. A watering trough harbouring these germs may there- 

 fore be a dangerous source of infection to cattle. 



Another possible source of infection is the bones of 

 tuberculous animals wliich have been ground and utilized for 

 manurial purposes. The danger from this source would, 

 however, be obviated if tho bones were steamed as is fre- 

 quently done. 



