232 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



July 19, 1913. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agriculmnd 

 News' should be addressed to the Agents an<l not to 

 tihe Department. 



Local Agents: Advocate Co., Ltd., Broad .St., 

 Bridgetown. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau & Co., 

 37, Soho Square, W. The complete list of Agents 

 will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



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 post free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 28. Id. Post free, 4s. 4d. 



Iiigricultiiriit J^nufi 



Vol. XII. SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1913. No. 293. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Oontents of Present Issue. 



In the editorial of this number of the Agricultural 

 .Ncirs a review of a recent publication is criticized with 

 the object of emphasizing the ultimate econoiuic value 

 of abstract research in agricultural science. 



Under the heading Sugar Industrj', will be found 

 an article describing results of experiments on the 

 feeding value of canc-top ensilage. 



An ingenious type of flooring for pig-styes is 

 briefly described in an article on page 2'}0. 



Under the caption Uook Shelf, on page 'A'-i] , appear 

 reviews of a recent work on Farm Management and of 

 another on Insecticides, Fungicides and Weed-killers. 



Interesting articles concerning the corn ear worm 

 and the control of froghoppers will be found under 

 Insect Notes, on page 284. 



As a sei|uel to the recent bulletin on the 

 })reparation of Para rubber, lately abstr.icted in the 

 Agricultural Neivs, an article reviewing the informa- 

 tion there set out, has just appeared, and this is sum- 

 marized on page 23.5. 



Fungus Notes, on page 238, comprise an account 

 of a new disease of the castor plant. The concluding 

 -article on this subject and that on the spotting of 

 plantation Para rubber will appear in the ne.xt issue. 



Reducing Rubber Prices to Encourage New 

 Uses. 



The India Rubber W'nrld (.Juno 1, 1913) pays 

 considerable attention to the recent interesting pro- 

 posal emanating from the English finannial press, to the 

 t-tf.-ct thnt rubber plantation (^ompatiie.s should agree 

 lo set aside 10 per cent, of their crops to be held at the 

 disposal of certain English and American manufac- 

 turers jit the fixed price of 2.s. ikl. (GO cents) per lb., 

 to be used solely for purjiuses not hitherto exploited. 

 If adopted, this project would place at the disposal of 

 inaniitactnivrs this year about 4 000 tons of plantation 

 rubber at (iO cents per ft. 



The above- meniioned journal considers that id 

 would be easy to find manufacturers who would 

 religiously live up to this arrangement, but doubt is 

 expressed as to whether any substantial end would be 

 gained by the project. 



The fundamental idea, of course, is the utilization 

 of the 10-per cent, cheap rubber solely for purposes 

 of experimental manufacture. If a new article were 

 produced which did secure recognition, would it 

 necessarily pay to manufacture it on a large scale ati 

 the full market price? If the project materialized it 

 Wduld aj)pear to seem necessary to have a clear under- 

 standing that activity should be directed to the inven- 

 tion of new articles on strictly economic lines. 



Although an extension in the number of uses of 

 raw material will increase the demand for it, a much 

 greater response is occasioned by a reduction in the 

 cost of j)roduction. This particularly holds good for 

 a commodity like rubber for which the demand is 

 economically very elastic. The conclusion cannot be 

 avoided that the 10-per cent, reduction might in the 

 case of this product be more wisely expended by pro- 

 ducers upon an investigation of prof^lems of production 

 rather than upon those of manufacture. With a com- 

 modity like sugar, of which the retail price is relatively 

 low, a parallel action to that suggested above would be 

 likely to prove of much greater benefit — provided it! 

 were possible to discover new and original ways of 

 utilization. 



The Honey Bee and Pollen Collection. 



In Bidlciin No. HI of the Bitnau <>/ EntO' 

 mologg, United States Department of Agriculture, is 

 published a very interesting and instructive paper on 

 the behaviour of the honey-bee in pollen collecting. 

 The following information is abstracted from the 

 summary with which the paper concludes. 



Pollen may be collected by the worker bee upon 

 its mouthparts, upon the brushes of its legs, and upon 

 the hairy surface of its body. When the bee collects 

 from small Mowers, or when the supply is not abundant, 

 the mouthparts are chiefly instrumental in obtaining 

 the pollen. The specialized leg brushes are used to 

 assemble the pollen, collecting it from the body parts 

 to H'hich it first adheres, and transjiorting it to the 

 pollen baskets or corbicuhe of the hind legs. In this 

 manipulation the forelegs gather pollen from the 

 mouthparts and head; the middle legs, from the fore- 



