Vol. IX. No. 20:; 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



23 



Europe, of mills using American cotton. Wild .speculation 

 in the raw material has completely upset confidence, resulting 

 in a reduced demand from the great markets of the world at 

 a time when there is overproduction of manufactures and 

 general trade depression. These conditions together make 

 organized curtailment of production an absolute necessity, 

 ami it would be suicidal to abandon this policy until the 

 industry is brought into sounder and healthier conditions. 



PINE TRESS FOR THE TROPICS. 



A valuable official report on the forests of British 

 East Africa hasjusD been issued. Aniong the many 

 subjects with which it deals, that of the pines which 

 are suitable for growinor in tropical climates is of 

 present interest, especially in view of the efforts that 

 are being made toward reafforestation in some of the 

 West Indian islands: — 



The pines have their greatest development in cold 

 countries; they mark the limits of tree vegetation going 

 towards the North Pole. They are abundant, and sliow no 

 loss of vigour in extra-tropical countrie.s, both at high and 

 low levels; the pines of the Mediterranean region and the 

 jiines of the Himalayas, of Yunan, and of Central America 

 demonstrate this. But pines do more. They extend into 

 tropical climates, jiure and simple; witness the pine forests of 

 Mergui, of Cuba and of the Phili[ipines; while in Timor they 

 are well into the southern hemisphere, though still in the 

 tropics. When started by man in the extra-tropics of the 

 .southern hemisphere they grow with vigour, and at several 

 ])oints in South Africa have become completely naturalized. 

 On Table Mountain and in the Cape Peninsula the intro- 

 duced pines, Finn.'! Fiiiasto and P. I'inen, have been natura- 

 lized for about 200 years. 



How far the artificial cultivation of pines in an entirely 

 trfipical climate could be attempted with success has not yet 

 been proved; and in a country like liritish East Africa, 

 vliich has both a tropical coast and extra-tropical highlands, 

 pine-planting should be pushed forward with vigour on the 

 highlands, but for the present tentatively and pxperimentally 

 only on the coast. There is a demand for firewood at 

 Mombasa, and this could probably be best met by planting 

 Casuarina equiset(foiia, as mentioned elsewhere in this report. 

 Nevertheless, as regards tropical pine.s, it should be borne in 

 mind, that some of them have hard, heavy timbers, suitable 

 for use in the tropics, while the demand for firewood would 

 absorb the otherwise waste wood in the slabs, tops and 

 branches. Some of the tropical jiines are no doubt as heavy 

 and full of resin as some extra-tropical pines. Pinus cannr- 

 it'iixis has, in its heart-wood, a timber so lull of resin, that it 

 is almost imperishable, and weighs 601b. to the cubic foot. 

 Such a pine would furnish an ideal firewood for the l^ganda 

 railway. 



The tropical pines that hav3 been described and recog- 

 nized as good species are the following nine (M. Masters.) : — 

 Pimis Merkusii, of Tenassarim and the Burmese 

 lowlands. 



,, Khasya, of the Burmese lowlands, and extend- 

 ing to 10,000 feet elevation. 



„ insularis, of the Philippines and Timor. 



„ occidentalix, of the West Indies. 



,, oocarpoides, of the ^Mexican coast lands. 



" f 'f «»'«• I of Cuba and the Isle of Pines. 



„ tert/irocarpa, j 



,, fiahamensis, 



„ massoniana, of tropical China. 



FEEDING COWS FOR MILK PRODUCTION. 

 Every cow has two limits with regard to feeding. 

 Firstly there is a limit of capacity; that is, the total amount 

 of feed the cow can possibly eat. Secondly, there is a limit 

 to the amount of feed eaten that can be made use of in keep- 

 ing up the energies of the body, and in producing milk. All 

 food supplies between the.se two limits are worse than wasted; 

 because they not only give no return w^hatever, but once in 

 the stomach, it requires extra work for the cow to rid herself 

 of the exce.ss; thus using time when .she could otherwise be 

 at rest. On the other hand, when we consider that about 

 60 per cent, of the food eaten goes to carry on the workings 

 of the difterent parts of the animal body, and that only the 

 remaining 40 per cent, is available for milk production, we 

 see how necessary it i.s, in order that the cow should do her 

 best work, that the food should be just enough to reach the 

 limit where economical production stops. This limit varies 

 with every cow. For, perhaps, no two cows fed the same 

 amimnt will both give the most economical return.s. One 

 of the cows, if fed a few more pounds a day, would give 

 larger returns, but this might nut be the case with the other. 

 Hence there may be a considerable waste in feeding for milk. 



This brings us to an important point. The dairyman 

 should keep a complete record of each cow in his herd, 

 including both a feed record and a milk record. Then, onl}-, 

 is he in a position to find the standing of each cow, and to 

 tell which cows are profitable and which are unprofitable. 

 Then, only, can he know how much feed he can afford to give 

 to each cow to make the highest profit. In connexion with 

 these facts, tests have been conducted with cotton seed meal, 

 cocoa-nut meal, sorghum silage and sweet potatos. For the 

 test with cocoa-nut meal and cotton seed meal, four cows 

 were .selected frf)ra the dairy herd and divided into two lots 

 in such a way that the period of lactation in each lot would 

 be as nearly comparable as possible. The feeding-time was 

 divided into three equal periods of twenty-one days each, 

 with seven days' preliminary feeding before each of these 

 periods, so as to change the feeding gradually. Each lot 

 received the same amount of bran and shorts, but the cotton 

 seed meal and the cocoa-nut meal were not fed in equal, but 

 in approximately equivalent, rations, which were calculated 

 from the results of the chemical analysis, so as to contain 

 equal amounts of protein. The conditions of the test with 

 sorghum silage and sweet potatos were the same as given 

 above, except that six cows were selected from the herd 

 instead of four. The first test was undertaken to ascertain 

 which of the two manufactured feeds it would be most 

 profitable to employ as a milk-producer, at current prices. 

 The second was to ascertain which of the two home- 

 grown feeds it would be best to use as a milk-producer, 

 taking into consideration the cost of growing them. The 

 first test was conducted during July, August and September; 

 the second during January, February and ^larch. The 

 results were as follows: — 



1. One pound of cotton seed meal was found to be 

 equal to nearly 2 lb. of cocoa-nut meal for milk production. 



2. Cocoa-nut meal is only equally profitable, as a feed 

 for milk production, at about half the price of cotton seed 

 meal. 



3. One hundred pounds of sweet potatos were found to 

 be equal, for milk production, to 160 fc. of sorghum silage. 



4. Sweet potatos are only as profitable as sorghum 

 silage, for milk production, at about one and a half times the 

 price of the latter. (From Bulletin 09 of the Florida Experi- 

 ment Station.) 



