Vol. XIII. No. 318. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



215 



ing the methods of laiying, so that greater discrimination 

 may be used, instead of paying the same prices for mixed 

 fibre as for fibre raised from pure stocks of seed. 



Inspection of the cotton in the field affords a much 

 better basis of judgement regarding the essential quality of 

 uniformity than the present method of pulling samples from 

 the biles. Field inspection should precede warehouse 

 grading, especially with long-staple cottons. Familiarity 

 with a variety of cotton makes it possible to recognize much 

 smailer percentages of admixture or degeneration than can be 

 detected in the bale; thus affording a greater degree- of pro- 

 tection to the buyer and manufacturer and at the same time 

 offering a greater inducement to the farmer to maintain the 

 purity and uniformity of bis cotton. 



COMMERCIAL NOTES ON ESSENTIAL 

 OILS. 



Messrs. Schimmel iVr C'o.'s Semiannual Report for 

 April 1914 contains information of interest to those engaged 

 in citrus and allied cultivations in the West Indies and 

 elsewhere. Mention is made in the course of the report, 

 that the price of bitter orange oil has dropped considerably 

 during the past six months as a result of poor demand; but 

 it is considered likely that during the next six months 

 improved requests will be made for this oil, and as a result 

 the price will advance to the level of 31 to 32 marks where 

 it stood, about last September. Turning to the notes on 

 sweet orange oil it is said in that month last year the 

 prospects for the crop and the manufacture were not good, 

 but this gave no reason for suspecting any serious fall in 

 the price of sweet orange oil. Nevertheless, no sooner had 

 the new oil made its appearance than prices began to recede 

 seriously, the principal reason for this state of things being 

 the appearance of a powerful competitor of the Sicilian 

 product in the shape of West Indi* orange oil, the quality 

 of which is reported to be equal to that of very f»ir average 

 Sicilian. It is stated that the appearance upon the market 

 of a new source of production has had a paralyzing effect 

 upon local speculation and so the article has been left to 

 itself, that is to say to the natural effect of supply and 

 demand. Finally in connexion with the by products of the 

 orange crop, reference should be made to the statement 

 of Messrs. Schimmel in regard to Neroli oil. This comes 

 from the south of France where the new orange flower crop 

 is said to be very behind hand because of the cold weather 

 which has prevailed in the south of France during the 

 months of January and February, with a result that at the 

 time of writing (the middle of March), the trees are barely 

 showing the first signs of new buds. 



In regard to nutmegs, the marketing of which has occa- 

 sioned some anxiety in the West Indies lately, it is said that 

 there has been a selection of those varieties which are suit- 

 able for distilling, and it has therefore not been necessary to 

 carry out the advance in prices which was lately feared to be 

 unavoidable. Messrs Schimmel regard the decline in the 

 market as practically out of the question, and the present 

 quotations therefore appear to offer an inducement to lay in 

 a plentiful stock. Messrs. Schimmel report that they always 

 have several thousand kilos, in their warehouse and are there- 

 fore able to offer nutmeg oil at advantageous prices. 



During the last few months there has been no lack of 

 sufficient supplies of bay oil and it has therefore been possible 

 to reduce the price. Reference is made in the report under 

 consideration to the excellent qualities of West Indian bay 



oil but parcels of bay oil have been imported occasionally 

 which had been adulterated with oil of cloves and pimento 

 to a degree which made identification almost impossible. 

 Messrs. Schimmel has ascertained that these parcels had 

 found buyers in the European market and they would warn 

 the trade against allowing the price to be the principal guide 

 to buying. They state that by using such oil as descnbed 

 above many a bay rum manufacturer has already lost his 

 reputation and his customers. 



RADIO-ACTIVITY AND VEGETATION. 



An interesting article appears in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle for May 30, 1914, based upon the discussion of 

 the subject of the influence of radio-active substances on 

 plant growth as made by M. Georges Truffaut in Jtm-dinage 

 (.May 1914). 



After referring to the investigations of Professor and 

 Madame Curie, which led eventually to the discovery that air 

 by radium is rendered a better conductor of electricity and 

 provides an electrical method whereby the existence of radio- 

 active substances may be discovered, the article (having 

 referred to the enormous energy liberated in the emanations) 

 goes on to consider the effects of radio activity upon the 

 growth of plants. These phenomena were demonstrated first 

 by Stoklasa, who showed some year-* ago that seedlings 

 treated with water containing radio-active substances 

 developed more rapidly than normal seedlings. Later 

 experiments with plants showed that radio activity produces 

 an effect on vegetation, and that on a soil of no fertility and 

 poor in nitrogen, the effect is but slight. On these first series 

 of experiments were based .M. Truftaut's investigations 

 which involved the use of radium bromide as a radio-actiTe 

 manure The experiments were carried on with various 

 economic leguminous plants, and they showed that the radio- 

 active substance had exerted a marked influence on growth, 

 but that this influence, instead of resulting in an increased 

 yield, brought about a decreased yield. As pointed out by the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, this fact, though at first disconcerting 

 is by no means fatal to the prospects which lie before the use 

 of radio-active manures. For those plants which had the 

 largest doses of radio-active manure were found to suffer most 

 from an excess of nitrogen, whereas the treated crops all 

 exhibited conspicuous evidence of having enjoyed a surfeit of 

 nitrogenous food. This is borne out by the fact that the 

 later crops taken from the treated plants were somewhat 

 larger than those from the untreated, indicating, perhaps, 

 that as the stores of nitrogenous food material in the soil 

 become less copiou.% the radio-active substances produced 

 a lieneficial effect. 



In a second series of experiments the relative values of 

 different radio-active substances were investigated. These 

 experiments were carried out with chrysanthemum-; in pots. 

 From these experiments M. Truffaut concludes that (1) radio- 

 active substances produce a definite effect on vegetation; 

 (2) the insoluble radio-active substances, (e.g. oxides of 

 uranium, give at least as good results as those given by 

 soluble radio-active substances; (3) radio-active mineral or 

 oxides give the best results; (4) the use of black oxide of 

 uranium is practicable because the results are good and th« 

 price is low. This substance costs about £1 per R., and 

 1 lb, suffices for about a ton of soil. It may be dangerous 

 to use radio-active residues of commercial manufactures, 

 since these residues may contain poisonous substances, for 

 example, salts of barium and sulphuric acid. 



