280 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 3, 1910. 



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gi0riciittiiral ^nm 



Vol IX. SATUEDAY, .SEPTEMliEI! 3, 1910. No. 216. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



In the present number, the editorial deals with 

 The Purpose and Value of Agricultural Tours and 

 Conferences, and useful facts are quoted from South 

 African experience in connexion with the former of 

 these. 



An article given on page 274 presents a gener; 

 account of cyanogenesis in plants. 



■al 



Recent evidence as to the possible fertilizino- 

 influence of sunlight is collected on page 275. 



The state of fruit and fruit-growing in .Jamaica is 

 described on page 27(3, in matter reproduced from 

 a recent report by the Agricultural Department of 

 that colony. 



The Insect Notes, on page 282, give a general 

 account of Insecticides. 



A summn,ry of recent investigation in connexion 

 with legume inoculation appears on page 283. 



On pages 280 and 287, the Fungus Notes deal 

 with two interesting fungi that are described from 

 St. Lucia. 



Calcium Cyanamide and Nitrate of Lime. 



Several notes under the above heading have 

 appeared from time to time in the current volume of the 

 Agricultural Nev-s (see pp. 169, 18.5, 217 and 249). 

 These have reviewed experiments undertaken in differ- 

 ent parts of the world for the purpose of comparing the 

 manuria! value of calcium cyarkiimide and uitrate of 

 lime with that of nitrate of soda or sulphate of 

 ammonia. Reference to these notes will show that the 

 general result of such investigaiions has bet-n to 

 indicate that the two first-mentioned manures possess 

 a very similar manurial value to that of the ochers. 



This conclusion is supported by experiments which 

 are described in the Report on Field and Pot Culture 

 Experimcntf', 1909, of the Woburn Experimental 

 Station of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 

 It is stated in this report that it is evident, in the case 

 of those experiments from which conclusions were drawn, 

 that there is little to choose between the four materials 

 — calcium cyanamide, nitrate of lime, nitrate of soda 

 and sulphate of ammonia — so far as the efficacy of the 

 nitrogen contained in them, respectively, is concerned. 

 The evidence from the trials shows that the differences 

 in action of these manures do not always tend in the 

 same direction; nor are they sufficiently regular to indi- 

 cate that one manure may be preferred to the others, 

 provided that the nitrogen in each costs approximately 

 the same amount per unit. It is pointed out that this 

 circumstance makes it interesting as to what the prices 

 of these manures will be in the future. 



The Camphor Trade of North Formosa, 1909. 



The shipments of camphor (which is a Govern- 

 ment monopoly) from North Formosa, during 1903, are 

 given in the Dipiomatic and Considar Reports, No. 

 4.500, Annual .Series, as 6,670,660 Ih. The profits from 

 the monopoly were small, on account of the lowering of 

 the price of camphor in order to drive Foochow and 

 synthetic camphor from the market. 



According to the same authority, 4,795,907 ft. of 

 camphor ml was produced: all this was shipped to Japan 

 to be manufactured into camphor, of which a yield of 

 about 40 per cent, is obtained. 



Large tracts of forest abounding in camphor trees 

 will be opened for collecting during the next few years. 

 A gradual reduction of the supply of trees in the 

 settled districts is taking place, but compensation for 

 this is being obtained by making plantations where the 

 conditions are suitable. Experiments are being contin- 

 ued in connexion with the production of camphor from 

 leaves by distillation, but the investigations have not, 

 so far, led to anything being attempted in this matter, 

 on a large scale. 



The statement has been made that the Govern- 

 ment Monopoly Bureau has restricted the output of 

 camphor and camphor oil for 1910 to 6,670,000 ft., 

 and 7,330,000 ft., respectively. The demand for cam- 

 phor from Formosa is likely to become greater, on 

 account of the recent establishment of two celluloid 

 factories in Japan. 



