V^OL. IX. No. 216. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NKWS. 



249 p 



The Pine-Apple Industry of Formosa. 



An account of the pine-:i|.ple industry of Tainan, 

 South Formosa, which is contained in Diplomatic and 

 Covsidnr Reports, No. 4,460, Annual Series, shows 

 that this is not in a very hopeful condition. Work, in 

 fact, was stopped for a time, in 1909. It is supposed 

 that about 840 acres of land are under cultivation for 

 the purpose, but, because the circumstance that the price 

 of sugar in Formosa, owing to protection, is from two to 

 three times that in the United Kingdom, fruit preservers 

 cannot compete with foreign producers. The export, 

 to China, of fibre from the leaves, for making grass cloth, 

 showed a slight increase in 1909. 



Calcium Oyanamide and Nitrate of Lime. 



On pages 169, 18-5 and 217 of the current volume 

 of the Agricultural News, notes have been made of 

 experiments which were undertaken for the purpose of 

 comparing calcium cyanamide and nitrate of lime, as 

 manures, with nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia. 

 Further information in connexion with the subject is 

 available in the Journal of the Department uf Agri- 

 culturt' and Technical Instruction for Ireland, Vol. 

 X, No. 2, which contains an account of an investigation 

 giving results that agree with those that have 

 been noticed already; that is to say, that the power of 

 calcium cyanamide and nitrate of lime to produce 

 increases of crops is very similar to that of nitrate of 

 soda and sulphate-of ammonia. 



Methods of Sowing Maize. 



A comparison of the yields obtained by planting 

 corn in rows, one kernel to each place, with those 

 resulting from planting in hills is made in Farmers' 

 Bulletin, No 400, of the United States- Department of 

 Agriculture, which has been issued recently. It is 

 pointed out in this that the advantage of the former 

 method is that it gives each plant a fairer chance to 

 develop normally. The latter method possesses the 

 advantage that the corn can be cross cultivated and 

 kept free from weeds, and the whole soil surface main- 

 tained in good condition, by means of mechanical 

 tillage. 



The experiments that are described all showed 

 that, under different conditions of climate and soil, and 

 with different varieties of corn, better results were 

 obtained by planting the corn in hills, the kernels 

 being spaced .5 inches apart, than by the ordinary 

 method of dropping them close together in each 

 hill. This is because planting according to the latter 

 method results in unnecessary crowding of the stems 

 and roots, so that the plants are weakened and the 

 yield is reduced. It is estimated that, in the United 

 States, the use of seed planters which dropped the 

 kernels separately, instead of all together would add 

 50,000,000 bushels of corn to the annual production 

 of that conntrv. 



The Guava in Mexico. 



An account of the occurrence of the guava in 

 Mexico, more especially in the consular district of Vera 

 Cruz, is given in No. 4,464 of the Aniiwd Series of 

 the Dlphnitatic and Consular Reports. Here, it is 

 pointed out that this plant is very common throughout 

 the tropical region, but that little or nothing has been 

 done up to the present to improve it by cultivation. 

 The wild fruit is small and inferior, but if the surround- 

 ing vegetation is removed, the trees bearing it will 

 grow to 1.5 or 18 feet in height, and the size of the fruit 

 will increase considerably. The commonest varieties 

 ol the guava in Mexico are the red apple-shaped and 

 the yellow pear-shaped. Of these, the second is the 

 larger, and both are heavy bearers, fruit being produced 

 nearly all the year round. It is suggested that efforts 

 should be made to obtain the improved fruits on a large 

 scale by cultivation, and by allowing the trees a proper 

 supply of light and air. 



The Diastases in Rubber Latex. 



An article by V. Cayla, in the India-Rubber Jour- 

 nal of May 2, 1910, points out that the only group of 

 diastases in rubber latex which have been investigated 

 to any extent is that of the oxydases, and that the only 

 rubber latex on which any important work in this 

 connexion has been carried out is that of Hecea 

 brasiliensis. Even here, conflicting results have been 

 obtained, most probably because the material used by 

 different investigators has not been of the same kind, 

 chiefly on account of the changes that take place in 

 latex after its removal from the tree. 



The work of the author has shown that not only 

 does the latex of Hevea brasiliensis contain oxydases, 

 but that all those tested by him in the fresh 

 state and under indentical conditions, may contain an 

 oxydase which is capable of undergoing oxidation in 

 the presence of air (an oxygenase), a peroxidase or 

 a catalase. The activity of the oxydases usually 

 results in the formation of an acid; it is therefore likely 

 that some latices which coagulate in an acid medium 

 may be caused to do so spontaneously through the 

 activity of an oxydase. 



Investigation has shown that oxydases are not the 

 only diastases in rubber latex, for some of them have 

 been found to contain a coagulating diastase, in the 

 fresh latex, which acts like rennet. Attempts have been 

 made to find a diastase in latex which is capable of 

 digesting the albumen present, but without success so 

 far, though this is probably nw)re on account of the 

 delicacy of the investigations than the actual absence 

 of a diastase. 



The conclusion is reached that, as it has been shown 

 that a coagulating diastase is present in the latex, it 

 appears possible that the diastases may be, under certain 

 conditions, able either to cause or assist in the spon- 

 taneous coagulation of certain rubber latices. This 

 demonstrates the importance of ascertaining all the 

 natural processes in the spontaneous coagulation of 

 latex, in order that a rational means of coagulation may 

 be found. 



