2i6 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 6, 1910. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 Barbados. 



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^jnciiltural ^xm 



Vol. IX. SATURDAY. AUGUST 6, 1910. No. 216. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The Value of Agricultural Experiment Stations 

 forms the subject of the editorial. It is treated vvith 

 special reference to the lasting worth of the discoveries 

 made, and to be made, at such institutions. 



Interesting information concerning the sugar-cane 

 in Porto Rico appears on page 243. 



An article, commencing on page 244, gives useful 

 facts concerning the selection of cocoa-nuts for planting 

 purposes. 



The considerations in the extracts from an article 

 on the manufacture of paper from megass, given on 

 page 247, are of present interest. 



Part IV of the series of articles on the Acarina or 

 Mites, appearing under Insect Notes, will be found on 

 page 250. 



Useful information in relation to broom corn is 

 given on page 2.51. 



On pages 254 and.- 255, the Fungus Notes deal 

 wth the most recent work that has been done in 

 connexion with the diseases of cocoa-nut palms. 



Comparative Values of West African Coflfees. 



The .journal d' Agric idture Tropicale for last 

 June gives inforrtiation obtained from an article in 

 Teysmannia, for March 1910, which presents the 

 results of investigations as to the relative value of three 

 West African coffees, namel}- Cojfea canephora, var. 

 l-oiullownsl!-<. C. exciisa and C rolnista. The sam-' 

 pies examined had been prepared by the wet method, 

 and the parchment had not been removed, owing to 

 the want of the apparatus necessary for the purpose. 



The account shows that a first trial, made at the 

 end of November 1909, under the auspices of the 

 Colonial Bank of Sourabaya, with samples sold locally 

 by Chinese merchants, showed that the values of the 

 three coffees in the order mentioned above were 

 respectively 34 to 35 florins, 37 florins, and 3550 florins, 

 per picul. 



The following description of the prepared samples 

 has been given by an Amsterdam broker: Kouillou, 

 good berry, imperfectly cleaned, which would be better 

 for the removal of the parchment: taste somewhat 

 acid, wanting in delicacy: worth 26ic. to 27c. Excelsa, 

 strongly resembles the small variety of Liberian: colour 

 yellow, skin browil; taste leaves something to be desired; 

 value 26c. to 26ic. Robusta, berry small, colour uni- 

 form, taste satisfactory, value 27c. to 27 ic. 



Tlie Influence of Forests on Climate and Floods. 



The conclusions given in a paper contained in 

 a rep'iit prppented to the United States House of 

 Representatives, on the influence of forests on climate 

 and floods, are given in the Experiment Station Record 

 for May 1910 (Vol. XXII, No. 6). These conclusions 

 show that (1) there is strong evidence that the removal 

 of forests has had no effect in creating or increasing 

 droughts in any part of the world; (2) the amount of 

 rainfall controls the rate of forest growth, but the 

 presence of forests has little or no effect on the 

 rainfall:(3) rainfall is controlled by conditions thatexist 

 at such altitudes as to preclude the possibility of there 

 being any effect , on it through the presence or absence 

 of forest covering, the buildings in villages and cities, 

 etc.; (4) during the time that accurate observations 

 have been made in the United States, the rainfall has 

 not increased or decreased to an extent worthy of con- 

 sideration: (5) the cause of floods is excessive rainfall; 

 (G) the area of the upper waters of a river is so small, 

 compared Avith the total area of the watershed, that 

 except locally in mountain streams, the amount of 

 water flowing will not be sufficient to cause floods, even 

 if the removal of forests allowed the water to lun off 

 more quickly: as a matter of fact, if the removal of 

 forests was responsible for general floods over a water- 

 shed, it would be necessary, in order to prevent this, to 

 reaftbrest the lower levels, which are generally already 

 taken up for agricultural production; (7) the flow of the 

 United States rivers is not materially aftected by any- 

 thing but the rainfall; (S) there is no difference between 

 the present levels of the high and low waters and those 

 of former years; (9) the frequency and duration of floods 

 are not greater than they wore formerly. 



