274 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 3, 1910. 



the incentive of Lord Milner, then Hieh Commissioner 

 for South Africa, to whom io occurred that much of an 

 educational vahie would be gained if .S(>me of the farmeis 

 of the Transvaal and Orange Free Sr.ate could be given 

 a chance of seeing the ' vastness and the richness of the 

 agricultural resources of the other British Colonies'. 

 A party of seven, consisting of delegates selected from 

 the prisoners of war at St. Helena, placed in the charge 

 of an officer of the Imperial Government, and including 

 the wives of three of the members, was consequently 

 sent on an agricultural tour through England, Canada, 

 Australia and New Zealand, for the purpose of 

 making a study and reports, in connexion with 

 the different methods of agriculture and stock farm- 

 ing in those countries. The tour occupied nine 

 months, and in that time, the party travelled about 

 forty-two thousand miles. It was successful, to a certain 

 extent, but its usefulness was diminished owing to the 

 unsettled state of the country, the smallness of the 

 party, and the fact that no lectures were given, or meet- 

 ings held, on its return. The record of the journey was 

 published, under the title of Ai/riculture Within the 

 Empire, in both English and Dutch, and was widely 

 circulated and favourably received. 



The comparative success of this tour, even though 

 it was not undertaken under the best circumstances, 

 has led to the publication of the bulletin from which 

 this information is taken, with the purpose of suggest- 

 ing that another, larger delegation of South African 

 farmers shall be made, for travel and report. The 

 arrangements for this will be modified in accordance 

 with past experience, which shows that large deputa- 

 tions are of more r.se for the purpose than small ones: 

 that the time of travel should not extend for more than 

 three or four months, as a large limit; that the course 

 of making a thorough investigation of definite problems, 

 at a few places, is preferable to that of hastening, merely 

 in order to cover a large amount of ground; and that suffi- 

 cient opportunities should be provided for tiie relation 

 and consideration of facts in the knowledge of the mem- 

 bers themselves. 



The usefulness of visits to different agricultural 

 centres, with a similar object, has been experienced 

 already, in the West Indies, through the medium of 

 the agricultural conferences that have been held 

 in sever.-il islands. The meetings for the exchange 

 of views, the visits for the purpose of observing 

 various means and methods in connexion with agri- 

 culture, and the reports of delegates on their return 

 from the conferences, as well as the accounts of the pro- 

 ceedings given in the publications of the Department, 



are all matters that pertain immediately to the agri- 

 cultural tour; and although the conferences include less 

 that is of the nature of travel, they afford more time 

 for the immediate study of the problems that arise for 

 consideration. 



It will be well to consider some of the special 

 advantages that are derived from the making of tours, 

 and the holding of conferences, of an agricultural 

 nature. They are particularly effective in the direction 

 of broadening the views of agriculturists in regard to 

 the subjects that interest them most nearly. This effect 

 is assisted mainly by the opportunities that they afford 

 of exchanging ideas and comparing the results of 

 experience, and of viewing new machinery and meth- 

 ods pertaining to agriculture. The occurrence of 

 the meetings that are held in connexion with them 

 from time to time acts as a stimulant to interest 

 in agricultural matters, so that this is prevented from 

 dropping to a low level. Their chief value would appear, 

 however, to be derived from the personal character of 

 the work in connexion with them. Impressions are 

 received and views are exchanged, directly, by indi- 

 viduals who person illy inform others of what they have 

 learned, so that there is a more lively interest in the 

 subje<'ts discussed, and the publications that d^al with 

 them are given an added usefulness. 



The principle of atl'ording agriculturists opportun- 

 ities for individual contact with others who possess 

 similar interests, under different conditions, is under- 

 going a merited extension. Its adoption, by making and 

 holding agricultural tours and conferences, has already 

 become a settled part of ordinary agricultural practice 

 and administration, and the increased degree to which 

 this is done only serves to emphasize its usefulness. 



CYANOGENESIS IN PLANTS. 



The term cyanogenesis has been suggested by Dunstan 

 and Henry, to describe the production of prussic acid by 

 plants. 



The production of prussic acid by a plant wa.s recorded 

 for thf first time in 1800, by a pharmacist named jlolini, of 

 Berlin, who obtained it by distilling water which had been in 

 contact with crushed bitter almonds. Though prussic acid 

 was discovered by a .Swedi.sh chemist named Scheele in 

 1782, its poisonous nature was not recognized until 1803, 

 wlien Schriider explained tlie toxicity of bitter idmonds as 

 being due to the production of prussic acid when the almonds 

 are bruised in contact with water. Even before this time, 

 instances of the poisonous nature of certain plants, which we 

 now know to be due to their power of producing prussic acid, 

 bad been recorded; thus, in the Lihor E.roticovum nf Clusius, 

 published at Leyden in 1 C^Ob, reference is made to the poison- 

 ous nature of cassava, and the remarkable observation is 

 recorded that the roots of this jilant are more poisonous when 



