Vol. XIII. No. 318. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



■217 



help to establish a new industry whereby the large 

 amount of motor fuel cow consumed could be made, 

 sold and used on the spot. If only as an experiment, 

 euch action would attract world-wide attention to the 

 practical possibilities which undoubtedly lie before the 

 use of alcohol as a motor fuel. 



Meat Scarcity. 



The suggestion that was ^nade in the last issue of 

 the Agricultural News concerning the effect of meat 

 scarcity upon the consumption of tropical foods is 

 strengthened by an article in a recent number of the 

 Produce Marhets Rcvieiv (London, May 23, 1914), 

 which says that if the price of meat rises to a point 

 that restricts its consumption, one man's inisfortune 

 may be another's opportunity, and the grocer may be 

 able to increase his sale of meat-substitutes of which 

 bananas and dried fruits and legumes are of proven 

 worth. As a matter of fact the most likely reaction of 

 the meat scarcity will bean extension of cattle ranching 

 to places hitherto lying idle or else devoted to other 

 agricultural purposes. The Tinvyi for May 26, 191-i, 

 calls attention to the growing importance of cattle 

 raising in Southern Rhodesia. Liebig's Extract of 

 Meat Company have large estates in this country, which 

 has been found very suitable for ranching and the cattle 

 industry in general. Provided the demand for more 

 meat continues to grow in the United States, we may 

 see in the near future a profitable export industry 

 established in the undeveloped savannah lands of 

 British Guiana. Reference to the business with which 

 the Liebig Company is concerned suggests thr.t it might 

 prove profitable to prepare meat extractin British Guiana 

 and export the meat in this concentrated form rather 

 than in bulk which would offer great difficulties as 

 regards transport. These difficulties would be got over 

 if only the extract were shipped. There would, of course, 

 in addition, be the usual by-products — hides, tallow, 

 etc., — and these should materially augment the profits 

 that may reasonably be expected to accrue from the 

 acceptance of the proposition that we have suggested. 



Effect on Coco-nut and Palm OH Trade 



The scarcity of cattle, besides increasing the price 

 of meat, has made animal fats more expensive. This in 

 turn has increased the demand for coco-nut oil, which 

 will now tend to constitute the only instead of a supple- 

 mentary ingredient of margarine. During 1913 

 the price of copra was high — £33 per ton — but as 

 a result of speculation on the market it has slowly 

 slipped back to £2.5 10s. The stronger demand now 

 existing should stimulate increased shipments, -and 

 there is every probability that the price will regain the 

 higher level, provided other and cheaper oils cannot be 

 found to take its place. Palm oil has entirely ousted 

 coco-nut oil for the manufacture of soap. It is possi- 

 ble that the edible oils from some of the newly investi- 



gated nuts from West Africa and elsewhere may come 

 to be a further competitor of the coco-nut and find 

 a use as ingredients of margarine. It has to be 

 remembered that the labour charges are much less in 

 Africa than they are on capitalized estates in the West) 

 Indies and the other old-established regions of the 

 Tropics. This is one of the reasons, as pointed out oa 

 page 220, why the competition of West African cacao 

 is so serious. 



A New Veterinary Diploma. 



An article in Tlic Times (June -i, 1214) says: 

 'The most important feature of the 71st annual report 

 of the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary 

 Surgeons for the year 1913-14. approved at the annual 

 meeting of the College yesterday, is the proposal to 

 establish a Diploma in Veterinary State Medicine. As 

 has so frequently been urged in The Times, the veter- 

 inary profession deserves to occupy a much more 

 important position than is at present accorded to it. 

 The new diploma would, it may be hoped, have the 

 effect of bringing human and animal medicine into 

 still more intimate relationship in the great field of 

 public health, in which, indeed, it is essential that they 

 should meet aud co-operate. The problems of disease, 

 it has been proved, are as wide as the animal kingdom 

 itself.' 



Candidates for the new Diploma will be required 

 amongst other things, to receive six months practical 

 instruction in meat inspection, hygiene of byres, stables 

 and markets under veterinary inspectors or teachers 

 lecognized for that purpose by the Royal College of 

 Veterinary Surgeons. 



It is to be expected that this new innovation will 

 pave the way towards a wider understanding of the 

 inter-relationships between the diseases of man and 

 domesticated animals, and be the means whereby 

 public health will be rendered more secure. 



Ornamental Hibiscus in Hawaii. 



The genus Hibiscus of the Natural Order Malva- 

 ceae is one which possesses the distinction of containing 

 not only many species of useful fibre-producing plants, 

 but also many forms which are noted for the decorative 

 value of their flowees. As regards the latter feature of 

 the genus, the large amount of interest which is being 

 taken in the West Indies— particularly in Trinidad 

 ^in connexion with newly introduced varieties 

 and species seems to warrant the attention of 

 readers being drawn to Bulletin No. 29 of the Hawaii 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, which describes with 

 coloured illustrations a large number of native, intro- 

 duced and hybridized forms of these ornamental shrubs. 

 Of particular interest is the matter which refers to the 

 hybridization experiments conducted in Hawaii with 

 Hibiscus. The various forms possess many characters 

 of interest to 'oreeders, and remarkable cases are 

 quoted in which hereditary characters fail to blend. 



