284 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 29, 1914, 



GLEANINGS. 



According to the Gaydeners' Chronicle tor July 11, 1914, 

 an Anglo-American Forestry Congress was held at Slieplierd's 

 Bush, London, on July 16. Papers were read by Sir W. 

 Selilieli, Professor Henry, and others. 



Venezuela, according to The Board of Trade Joiirnnl 

 for July 23, lias provided for the duty free importation into 

 the Piepublic of certain articles which are destined exclusively 

 for use in manufacturing sugar. These articles include the 

 various appliances employed in Central Sugar factories. 



The Bo%rd of Trade Journal f"r July i, 1914, publishes 

 a copy of an order passed in Australia, stating that no objec- 

 tion will be raised by the customs authority as regards the 

 importation into the (jommouwealth of lime juice containing 

 .sulphur dioxide in the ]iroportion of not more thaii 2 grains 

 per pint. 



The Yearbook of the Royal Colonial Institute, 1914. is 

 a publication which will be found useful for reference in the 

 colonies. The section at the end containing statistics of the 

 British Empire for 191.3 shows the area, population, imports, 

 exports, revenue and expenditure of each Dominion and 

 Colony for 1913. 



It is stated in the Bonvd of Trade Journal for July 23, 

 1914, that a quarantine order has been issued by the United 

 States which prohibits the importation into that country 

 from all foreign countries, living canes of sugar-cane or 

 cuttings or parts tliereof. This notice does not apjily to 

 Hawaii and Porto liico. 



In the Annual Picport on the Piotanic Gardens, Singapore 

 and Penang, for the year 1913, it is stated that the following 

 .species of Araucaria, the well known coniferous trees of great 

 economic importance and ornamental be«iuty, have been 

 planted to form an avenue near the main gate; A. cochii, 

 A. Bidwillii and A. e.rcelsu. 



Airording lo a, note in Nature for July 23. 1914, it has 

 been established in America that the rings of a tree are 

 a measure of its food supply. A connexion ha.s been fi>und 

 thereby lietwcen tree growth and rainfall because in the dry 

 cliniat; of the Plateau of Arizona, where the exhaustive and 

 laliorious investigation was condui'ted, forest food supply 

 depends largely upon moisture. 



In the Louisiana Planter for July 4, 1914, it is stateil 

 that a want is being felt in the Phili])pines for Government- 

 aided sugar factories, such as those that have been so .success- 

 fid in Queensland and Australia. At present, in spite of 

 heavy yields, tlie sugar exported from the Philippines is not 

 (if high quality, and growers are selling at a disadvantage to 

 rctiuers, who arc now asking for 96° crystals. 



An article on sex characters in ])lants appears in 

 The Times for July 2U, 1914. This refers to Profe.ssor 

 Bateson's work at the John Inne's Horticultural Institution in 

 Surrey, England. jV point is made in this article of the 

 colouration experiments, colour factors having been correlated 

 with certain chemical pigments, for example, apigenin and 

 luteolin. 



In the Geographical Journal for July 1914, an interest- 

 ing paper appears describing the geology and geography of 

 the East African trough in tlie neighbourhood of the soda 

 lakes. It is believeil tjiat the origin of a part of the soda in 

 these deposits is due to the action of jilutonic water charged 

 with carbon dioxide which decomposes sodium silicate into 

 isodium carbonate. 



The I'eport of the Government Botanical (Jardens, 

 Saliaranpur, Allahabad, contains the information that an 

 attempt is lieing made to grow limes in this part of India. 

 .Mready se\enteen varieties are under cultivation at the 

 econciniic station including the Dominica spineless lime. 

 A large amount of work has been done at Saliaranpur concern- 

 ing observations on the growth of different species of 

 Eucalyptus. 



According to the Philippine A;/rieuUural Rei'iew for 

 June 1914, a new method for preparing seeds for mailing 

 consists in washing them in a weak solution of carbolic acid 

 and then packing them in moist charcoal that has been 

 disinfected with carbolic acid, ilangosteen seed treated in 

 this way gave a germination of oO ]5er cent, after being 

 shipped from Singapore to New \'ork and from themv 

 returned to Singapore. 



A catalogue has lieen received from the Dailington 

 Fencing Conqiany, Limited, of Lloyd's Avenue, London, E.C!., 

 in which is descril>ed the various types of wire mesli fencing 

 sold by that Com'pany. The publication by means of photo- 

 graphs shows the large number of dilferent uses to which 

 this fencing can be put, including ordinaiy employment for 

 field enclosure jiurposes, the wireing of tennis courts and the 

 ■screenins of machinery and wimlow,-.. 



In the coi'u rxperiments descrilied in the Annual Itep'irt 

 of the Guam Agricultural Experiment Station 1912, No. .>7(), 

 a hard smooth-grain yellow corn from the island of 

 St. Vincent, and No. 589 a similar variety of corn from 

 St. Lucia are promising. No. 576 has produced fully as 

 heavy yield as the common nati\'e variety, and the corn of 

 the former was matured in a season thirty days shorter than 

 the period required to ripen a crop of the ordinary native corn. 



A useful move has been made Uy the Lancashire Educa- 

 tion (!ommittee in the direction <if improving the rujal 

 industries of that country. .A definite agricultural dejjait- 

 meut has been instituted and a. scheme of agricultuial 

 education is to be carried out in coiuiexion with the County 

 Council farm and agricultural school situated near tlie town 

 of Preston. The nature of the scheme is dealt witli in 

 a publication issued by the Education Department during 

 May 1914. 



