184 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 6, 1914. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



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 News' should be addressed to the Agents, and not lo 

 the Department. 



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

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giDricultiinil fleiuH 



Vol. Xm. SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1914. No. 316. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



A University tor China. 



It is intimated in the Incorporated Cliamber of 

 Commerce Liverpool, Monthly Magazine, April 19l4, 

 that the chamber has been asked to memorialize the 

 government to set apart a portion of the Boxer indem- 

 nity funds (£16,600,000) for the purpose of founding 

 a British University in China. It is stated that such 

 a university would be a great asset to the Chinese 

 commercial relations in England. The sum aimed at 

 is £250,000 and it is e.xpected that a great deal of this 

 may come from the source already refeired to because 

 the receipts from China on indemnity account do not 

 affect the British Budget since they are paid into the 

 National New Sinking Fund. It is understood that 

 the proposal has the strong support of Sir Edward 

 Grey, various other ministers and seventy members of 

 Parliament, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer has 

 already offered £150,000 out of the Budget if the 

 public subscribe £150,000. 



Whereas the proposal for establishing a British 

 University in China out of British money is 

 a very commendable one, it would seem somewhat 

 hard that the small amount of capital (say £40,000) 

 requisite for the establishment of a similar institution 

 in the British Tropics cannot be obtained either 

 from public or government sources when for both 

 Imperial and economic reasons the claims of the Tropics 

 are so infinitely greater than those of China. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editorial in this number deals with meat 

 production in the West Indies. The general princi- 

 ples of feeding and selection for the production of 

 a good type of annnal are discussed and attention is 

 given to that important part of the subject — the 

 control of slaughterhouses and markets. 



Under the heading Sugar Industry, on page 179' 

 certain changes and developments in Cuba and Porto 

 Rico are described. On this page also, appears an 

 article dealing with the subject of molasses as a food 

 for stock. 



An interesting discussion of the orange oil 

 industry in relation to the West Indies will be found 

 on page 180. 



Live Stock Notes, on page 183. comprise two 

 important articles on cattle tick eradication, and the 

 breeding of swine under tropical conditions, respec- 

 tivelv. 



Under Insect Notes the review of the Report on 

 Insect Pests in Barbados, 1912-13, is continued from 

 the last issue of this journal. 



A very suggestive theory is explained in an article 

 entitled Nitrification and Disease, which will be found 

 on page 187. 



the Rothamsted 

 1913. 



Experimental 



Eeport on 

 Station, 



i)r. Russell's Annual Report on the research con- 

 ducted at the Rothamsted Experimental Station for 

 1913, outlines the principal sections of work which have 

 engaged the attention of the chemical and biological 

 staff during the year under review. 



An important aspect in regard to soil investiga- 

 tion brought out by some of the manurial experiments, 

 is that of soil type. It is now clearly recognized that 

 crop production is largely limited by soil type. When 

 this IS the case, no mere addition of foodstuffs will 

 necessarily rectify the conditioiis. 



Work in the laboratory has largely concerned the 

 supply of nitrogenous plant food. The researches have 

 been directed to the elucidation of the chemical 

 reactions involved in the production of nitrates in the 

 soil, the agents bringing about the changes, and the 

 influence on the whole process of soil and plant con- 

 ditions. An important part of this work has been the 

 micro-biological studies already referred to from time 

 to time in this journal. A new and important con- 

 clusion arrived at during the year is that quicklime 

 in the soil behaves like other antiseptics and causes 

 at first a depression and then a great increase in 

 bacterial numbers, but a permanent depression in soil 

 protozoa. 



Special lines of research wl^ich are now being 

 carried on at Rothamsted include soil gas analyses, 

 work on soil colloids, and the effect of inorganic 

 poisons on plant growth. 



