Vol. XIII, Xo. 323. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



297 



A siiuu'what nnii.--ual tVinu'^uC iiKitnr plough is 

 ileseiibed in tht:- Jourrxil of Agricidture "f New 

 Zealand tor Aj)ril 11II-1-. The machine ivtViivil to is 

 the latest iiKidel <it' the Wyii's motor plough. This 

 machine differs t'roui most in that there are only two 

 wheels for carrving the frame ami engine. In tact the 

 implement strikingly resembh's in general appearance 

 an ordinary plough, fjr it possesses stilts which are 

 handled with the object of guiding the machine by the 

 ploughman in the usual way. It would seem that the 

 machine under consideration is nmch more likely to 

 prove a practical succes.s than the more cumbersome 

 ;»nrl intricate appliances which endeavour to dispensi? 

 entirelv with the skill of the agi-icultural laliourer. 



Agricultural News Market Reports. 



We regret that the disturbeil trad<- ciindii ions at 

 present existing have intei-fered with the publication of 

 euirent prices for West Indian products. For many 

 })roducts on the London markit no ijuotations are 

 given, whilst .Messrs. Gillespie Bids." r<'port from New 

 York has not been received. 



In Uarliados owing to legislation pi-ohibiting the 

 txportatiou of liiodstuffs, the usual (piotations have not 

 been haniled in by Messrs. Jas. A. Lynch A: Co., Ltd., 

 and Mes.srs. T. S. (Jarraway 6: Co. 



It has been considereil advisable to allow the 

 unrevised figures to stancl, and it is hoped that it will 

 lie possible to bring the.se up to date in our next issue. 



Canadian Sugar Duties. 



The ( 'anadian Trade Commissioner (Mr. K. H. .S. 

 Flood) has furnished this Office with a schedule noti- 

 fving lecent changes which have been made in the 

 Customs' Tariff of Canada, on account <jf the war. Some 

 ■of the items affect products from the West Inilies, pai-- 

 ticularly sugar. All sugar above No. l(j Dutch Standard 

 in coloin'. and all refined sugars of whatever kind testinu' 

 not more than iSS , were pi'eviously taxed 72c., !)."k'. and 

 9:k-., for British preferential, intermediate and general 

 tariff', rt'spectivelv. The.se duties have now been in- 

 creased to SI 52, *1!)8 and $l-!)8. It will be seen that 

 this constituti's an im])ortant rise, though it is accom- 

 panied by a consideral)le preference increase. The 

 West India Committee GircuJar publishei] the follow- 

 ing information received by cablegram from (Ottawa: 

 ' On raw .sugar testing iHf the general duty i.s raised 

 from 57ic. to .'i?L87i, and a preferential from 40|c. to 

 §10."i|: and on refined sugar the genei-al duty is raised 



from Si 0(1 to S2(l7 



iiii'ti-renti.-d diit\ from .S4c. 



to Sl(>:l' 



The duty on lime juice has also been rai.sed. Lime 

 juice and fruit juices containing more than 25 per cent, 

 of proof spirit have been rai.sed from S2'-1'0 to .s.S'OO. 



The above changes, especially those in regarfl to 

 sugai-, will doubtless affect the planter in the West 

 Indies, especially where the un-rchant buys sugar on 

 the basis of all co.sts included. It is obvious as well 



that the Canadian ccjnsuiiier will ha\e to bear the burden 

 of a high retail jjrice, especially in view of the tact that 

 the shipment of white sugars from Europe to Canada 

 i.s entirely suspended. 



International Commission on the Chemical 

 Analysis of Soils. 



According to Xatwn tor August (i, lill4, a meet- 

 ing of the International Commis.sion on the Chemical 

 Analysis of Soils was held at the Forestry Research 

 Station, Munich, on April 23-4. 



The first discussion centred round the ivlative 

 merits ofHilgard's method, and the members finally 

 decided to unite in their efforts to obtain a standard 

 method, and to investigate thoroughly the different 

 methods side by side for their particular lypes of .soil, 

 (ireat interest was shown in the discussion on the esti- 

 mation of the easily soluble .soil constituents. The 

 reniai'kable part about this discussion was that no 

 method involving the use of organic acids such as citric 

 acid was even mentioned. The methods of Hall and 

 Dyer, and the American official method, used almost 

 exclusively in England and America, resj)ectively, 

 appeared t<i be \ ery little employed on the Continent. 

 It was unanimotisly decided that for the jnupo.ses of 

 the Commission, members for the present should con- 

 tine their work of extraction with water and COo. 



At the meetings in the laboi'atory a large collec- 

 tion of soils of Bavaria and other German States, as well 

 as from the colony of Togoland, were shown to tho 

 visitors. 



The Utilization of Local Minerals. 



An article in the Pliilippine Journal of 

 Science for February 1914, contains some sugge.s- 

 tive information in connexion with the manu- 

 facture of Portland cement from local minerals. 

 A simple type of horizontal stationary kiln is 

 desciibed, heated by a powerful gasolene burner 

 which seems very successful for the experimen- 

 tal bui'ning of cement. The residts obtained sh(jw 

 that the Philippine matei'ial examint'd, produced 

 good cement when u.sed in thi' ratios for .silica, 

 alumina, lime, and oxide of iron « hich are successfully 

 used in other countries. The quantity thus experi- 

 mentally pi'oduced was .sound and of high specific 

 gravity and tensile strength, and demonstrated that 

 Philippine minerals are well adapted to the niamifac- 

 ture of Portland cement. 



'I'hese experiments prompt one to enquiie whether 

 it may not be equalh" possible to utilize the material 

 existing in the West Indies, capable of making Portland 

 cement: particularly in colonies such as Trinidad where 

 fuels such as petroleum and natural gas may serve as 

 sources of fuel. 



In a more general but no less important way, the 

 investigation is suggestive as regards the manner ia 

 which the industries and welfare of a colony, other 

 than those pui'ely agricultural, may be advanced by the 

 existence of scientific institutions such as those associ» 

 ated with the University of the Philippines, 



