Vol. XU. Xo. 29(1. 



THE AGKICULTLTRAL XEWS. 



in a general way to employ rubber in vast (|uan- 

 tiiies as, for insDance, for road.s and p.-ivements. In 

 the case of certain hotels and other public places, 

 rubber courtyards have been laid, and have appar- 

 ently proved economicil as regards wear and tear. 

 It has to be remembered, however, that it i;s cliieHy 

 only rubber-tyred vehicles which traverse these ureas. 

 In the ease of a thi)roui,'hfare. ihe steel tyres of heavy 

 waggons would be likely to have a distinct depreciat- 

 ing eft'ect. One thing may lead to another, in that the 

 introduction of rubber roads might necessitate the 

 universal adoption of rubber tyres for vehicles travel- 

 ling along them. According to Dr. Schidrowitz, the 

 wear of rubber is probably only about one-tenth 

 that of asphalt and wood, a circumstance that will 

 help to lead to a materialization of the main pro- 

 ject. The cost per mile, according to the same 

 authority, is about £"2n,5(jiS. It must be remembered 

 that light has an injurious action on rubber, that is to 

 say, rubber as it is commonly known, namely, vulcan- 

 ized rubber; but on crude, untreated rubber, of little 

 value in practice, light has but a small influence. 

 Hence any would-be introducers of rubber for outside 

 constructional purposes in the Tropics would do well 

 to bear this point in mind. 



In building, particularly for llooring purposes, rub- 

 ber is rapidly coming into use. In cold countries it 

 constitutes a desirable ground material for bathrooms, 

 whilst its use in halls and reception rooms is rendered 

 popular because it is free from dust, is noiseless, and 

 will take paint readily. The use of rubber in building 

 construction offers possibilities, but these uses tend to 

 come under the class dependent on ideas, the concep- 

 tion, or at any rate the application of which necessi- 

 tates sonie pre-existing knowledge of a technical 

 nature. In this connexion familiarity with the physi- 

 cal and chemical properties of rubber is of value. The 

 low conductive capacity for electricity suggests safety 

 from lightning, elasticity (fine hard Para '.vhen 

 properly vulcanized stretches to seven times its own 

 length) suggests springs; poor conductivity for heat, 

 warmth; and so on. 



There is no doubt that a use may be found for 

 rubber in the shipment of fragile cargo, both in the 

 packing and on the ship itself The use of rubber in 

 navigation generally, — for instance rubber decks to 

 facilitate walking during rough weather — has so far 

 received but little attention: but the object of this 

 article is not to put ideas of this kind dircctl}- into the 

 mind of the reader, but merely to stimulate their 

 conception. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



SAMPLING CANE FOR ANALYSIS. 



In the E.rf.eriiwiit Station Rerord for .Tnly 191.'i, 

 it is pointed out that in taking samples of cane for analysis 

 it is almost impos.sible to obtain those which will he 

 representative of the whole field or plot. Apvrt from thi-i 

 source of error due to variation amongst individual canes 

 (a line of work, it may b^ added, which is deserving of 

 increased attention) there i.s an error which arises when using 

 a small laboratory mill for grinding the cane. In this, the 

 extraction is not as complete as it would be on a large scale. 

 Furthermore there is a notable difference between the com- 

 position of the juice expressed and that left behind in the 

 tissues. In order to obtain accurate data along these lines, 

 comparisons were made with the juice obtained by the 

 laboratory mill and from a large sugar mill. The account 

 goes on to .say: — 



'There is comparatively little difference in the sucrose 

 and purity of canes from different plots according to the 

 factory sample whereas there is a great difference between 

 the different plots acccording to the laboratory samples. 



'As additional data along this line, four samples were 

 taken from each of two plots, passed through the liandniill 

 and the juice analysed. In the first set of saraples, there 

 was a variation of 02 per cent, sucrose and 14-5 points in 

 purity, and a variation of 2-3 per cent, sucrose and 6 points 

 purity in the second set.' 



The author concludes that in view of these re.sults we 

 must regard with suspicion any general deductions made 

 from results obtained by pa.ssing small samples of sugarcane 

 through a hand-mill. 



SUGAR AND THE COST OF LIVING. 



The reduced per capita consumption of sugar in the 

 United States is dealt with in a somewhat apposite way 

 in the American Sugar Induftrt/ (.June 1913). 



It is maintained that it is the general high cost of 

 living that has operated to keep the jjer capita consumption 

 from increasing more than it has, and not the tariff nor the 

 cost of production. In other words it is shown that it is 

 the cost of the different commodities that enter alonw with 

 sugar into the preparation of most of the articles of ordinary 

 diet rather than the cost of the sugar itself. A common 

 article of diet— cake— is taken as an example. Cake may 

 be classed as a lu.xury. Sugar enters very largely into the 

 making of this form of food, but so do many other agricul- 

 tural products. If a call for retrenchment comes, a food 

 like cake is likely to be one of the articles cut off. But this 

 decrease is not due to the sugar. 



The United States Department of (.,'ommerce have 

 published statistics showing that the average working man has 

 to pay .50 per cent, more for food at the present time than he 

 did fifteen years ago. With reference to the subject of 

 the consumption of cake, the figures .show that the cost of 

 eggs and butter have each increased 10.') 2 per cent, and 

 G3'6 per cent, respectively, whereas the cost of sugar has 

 increased only 29 per cent. Even milk and flour have 

 increased 402 per cent, and 268 per cent, re-ipectively. 

 Hence it seems fairly evident that the decreased consump- 

 tion jier capita of sugar is limited by the cost of other 

 articles with which it is consumed in large quantities rather 

 than by the price of the commodity itself. 



