Vol. XIV. No. 346. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



243 



pei i I aiti -I States. Thi ig is wha't Dr. ' 



: in i -rial: 



B i. uld b 



d -in i bat tin- wea drying thi 

 resulted in some loss of orgai 



through b The drying process usually 



practised would thus appear ti inl a dei rease in the 



volatile organic matter, md i i enl increase in the 

 ash contei ' Fori unately, as our results, a- well 



I leerr, would h igen during 



the weal bering i u ■■ not of imj at d tnensions. 



The important constituents ol the cake from the 



er point of view are the nitrogen, pho phot i . lime, 



and organic matter. The nitrogi ontent (about 2 per 



id cake) itself makes the press-cake valuable 



as a Fertilizer. The phosphoric acid is present to a lai 



in the citrate-soluble, or 'available' form, and all the 

 cakes examined, but most especiall) the numbers I, lamia 

 from houses where phosphoric arid is used in clarification, arc 

 rich :n i in constituent. 



In the lime, too, whichis contained in good proporti 

 in all a valuable fertilizing material for 



most soils; while the organic matter of which the cakes 

 contain 50 to 70 percent., is a humus-producing material. 

 whose worth should not I" 1 lost sight of. 



Altogether, we see that the press-cakes should be a 

 valuable fertilizing material, being rich in the elements most 



needed by the cane— nitrogen and phosphorus, and in the 

 aees wliieh bring about general soil improvement — lime 

 aial organic matter. 



TROPICAL READERS FOR SCHOOLS: 



(1) The Star of India Readers. Price 4 to 10 annas. 



(21 The Rambler Travel Books. Price Sitf. each. 



(.'!) Rambles among our Industries. Price 9d. each. 



£ lac kie. and Son Limited, London. 



The popularity of Messrs. Blackie and Sons' 'Tropical 



Reader" (a ne\i one of which is-now under preparation) has 



ted the desirability of bringing the above series to the 



notii I West Indian educationists as well. All of thi 



little 1 ks an attractively written and illustrated, and not 



only provide useful elementary information but are also 

 Stimulating to the imagination. They might well be 

 employed in the junior forms of our secdhdary schools as well 



the upper standards ot the primary schoi 



(I) This series is composed ol four I ks, the last three 



following in progressive order the simple lessons contained in 

 Book I. The last twr. are •, . teaching 



lessons in botany and other brain i i I bi-t. o \ being 



presented in a pleasant tri short tales i I 

 Indian adventure and mce a 



with e. .loured plat ills, as it 



Were, into a baited trap, b I d ties 



realizing it. 



1 2 1 For the purpo of this not ice we have sell 

 two of these -The British Empire, and Africa, respec 



tively both i -.pied condil ions Both 



are more than readei - ; ' bej are de ci ipl ivi ihies. 



I ich section in these lit tie volumes is I of an 



extract from a standard work of travel. We are told about 

 Africa by Livingstone, Sir II. \l. Stanley, Sir Samuel 



Baker, Sir Earry John on, Mar) Kingsley and others; 

 concerning India we read Sir Join, Strachey, Sir Edwin 

 Arnold and Sir Frederick Treves; on North America, thi 

 writings of A G. Bradley, Charles Dicki Cooper 



Whitney; and s It will be unnecessary to state that 



from these we gel glimpse of scenerj vividlj and accurately 



ribed, and an account of the habits and customs oi 



the inhabitants not to be found in formal text books. It is 



hoped that the Rambler Travel Books may soon include 



one on the West Indies. There exists abundant literature on 

 which to base the edition. 



('■'>) 'There was.' says the preface in one of this series, 

 'a wise custom of the old trade guilds, the "wander-year", 

 when the apprentice, having served his time, spent a year 

 in wandering from one master to another before settling to 

 his trade. The aim of the wander year was to broaden the 

 knowledge of the young tradesman, and teach him the 

 dignity of his craft.' 



A like purpose has led the publishers to issue these 

 I looks about different modern industries; for it is well that 

 boys and girls, before passing out into the busy life of the 

 world, should learn something of the reality and something 

 of the romance of the great industries by which that life- 

 is sustained. 



One of these books which will appeal to the West Indies 

 is called Cotton and the Spinner. Its pages trace the 

 history of this staple from its growth in the field till it is 

 ready for the loom. A good deal is said about cotton in the 

 field and there are coloured plates giving some idea of the 

 different species, including Sea Island cotton. The greater 

 part of this little book describes the development of the 

 great Lancashire industry, and in our West Indian schools 

 the perusal of these pages should do much to foster an appre- 

 ciation of what depends upon the production of raw material 

 in the tropics — in other words, the importance and dignity of 

 tropical agriculture. 



Reference is made in the report of the Government 

 Botanical Gardens, Saharanpur, for 1914-15, to a School of 



Horticulture established at the Gardens, the main : jed ol 



which is to train a body of young men as overseers for othei 

 Gardens. A successful attempt h t> i made to supplement 

 this Indian training with a course at the Royal Eorticultural 

 School il Wisley in Surrey, i >m tudi nl wh i did 

 this took sec, ,nd place out of sixteen students who sat for the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's i examination for all 



England. 



