Vol. XV. No. 358. 



THE AGrJCULTURAL NEWS. 



The foregoing represents a very valuable system 

 of education. In our editorial on, the Museum in 

 Practice in a recent issue, we strongly advocated the 

 utilization of Gardens in this way, and the hope maybe 

 expressed that an attempt will be made to apply these 

 American ideas, to some e.xtent at least, in the West 

 Indies. 



Exhibition in Formosa. 



The Journal of Agriculture, New Zealand, for 

 October 20, 1915, announces that the Department of 

 Asfriculture of that Dominion has been advised by the 

 Japanese Consul-General at Sydney, that an industrial 

 exhibition, promoted by the Governor of Formosa, is to 

 be held at Taihoku, Formosa, from April 10 to May 9, 

 1916. Cordial invita'ions to exhibit products are 

 extended to South China, Hong Kong, the Common- 

 wealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, 

 British India, Dutch India, French India, Siara, and 

 the Philippine Islands. Intending exhibitors are 

 requested to communicate to the Governor of Formosa 

 as early as possible particulars of the exhibits, area of 

 spa'-e, and nature of stands required. All articles of 

 exhibition will be admitted free of Customs duty, and 

 the use of floor-space, stands, etc., will be free. For 

 those who desire to erect buildings, or annexes special 

 facilities will be given. 



Poisonous Principle of Cotton Seed. 



Cotton seed meal when fed to pigs has so often 

 proved poisonous to them, that its employment for 

 this purpose is looked upon rightly with suspicion, 

 although it is so largely used as a food for other 

 animals. What substance actually imparts this toxic 

 ijuality to cotton seed has been a matter of enquiry by 

 chemists for some time. 



The Journal of Agricultural Research., Novem- 

 ber 15, 1915, published by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, contains an article by 

 W^. A. Withers and F. A. Can-uth, in which satisfactory 

 proof seems to be given, based on experiments by the 

 authors, that the active toxic principle in cotton seed 

 is a substance to which the name gossypol has been 

 given. This was first isolated from cotton seed oil, 

 and named by Marchlewski in 1)S99, but the authors 

 of the article under review seem to have been the first 

 to demonstrate its toxic property, and to have shown 

 that it is more easily isolated from the cotton seed 

 kernels. 



It was pointed out in an article by Dr. Tempany 

 in the West Indian Bulletin (Vol. X, p. 121), that the 

 spots, observable under a lens when a cotton seed is 

 cut across, varied in colour from a yellowish brown to 

 deep green; and that this deepening of tint was an 

 infallible test of the age of the seed, fresh seed always 

 presenting brown spots, while seed kept for some time 

 showed this by the darkening of these spots. This is 

 a most useful guide in selecting cotton seed for 

 planting, since the seed when kepft loses its power of 

 germination (juickly. 



Messrs Withers and Carruth have demonstrated 

 that these spots are, as Handueck had pointed out, 



secretion cavities, and that the secretion contained iit 

 them is gossypol, which they isolated successfully. By 

 many experiments, chiefly on rabbits, they proved that 

 this substance was in it.self always fatal after a few 

 days when administered to the animals even in 

 small doses daily, or in one large dose. They also- 

 demonstrated that the toxic properties of gossypol are 

 destroyed by oxidation. Thus to obtain a non-toxic 

 feed methods have been suggested by Withers and 

 Ray, of the North Carolina Experiment Station, of 

 treating the cotton-seed meal by one of these methods: 



(1) Extraction of the gossypol from the kernels 

 with ether or alcohol. 



(2) Treatment of the meal with an alcoholic 

 .solution of an alkali, which affords conditions for rapid 

 oxidation. 



(3) Treatment of the meal with iron salts, which 

 seem to form an insoluble compound with the poisonous- 

 principle. 



Futher research on these lines may possibly lead 

 to a wide extension of the employment of cotton-seed 

 meal as a foodstuff. 



Pasteurization of Cream for Butter Making. 



The results of experiments conducted to determine- 

 the value of pasteurization in the manufacture of 

 butter, the effect on the flavour of the butter, on th& 

 keeping qualities, on the body, on the chemical compo- 

 sition, and on th<> mechanical losses, are eiven in the- 

 Experiment Station Record (Vol. .S.S) for October 

 1915. Sour cream was pasteurized by the continuous 

 and vat methods, and the continuous method using- 

 the forewarmer. Fairly satisfactory results were 

 obtained by the continuous method of pasteurizatioa 

 during the summer season, but during the winter- 

 season, when the cream had to be heated from a low- 

 temperature to a high pasteurizing temperature,, 

 a metalic flavour often resulted. The amount of fat 

 lost in the buttermilk was greater in the buttermilk 

 obtained from pasteurized cream. 



In vat pasteurization the body of the butter was 

 somewhat inferior to that of both the raw cream butter- 

 and that from the cream pasteurized by the continuous- 

 method, in that it was not so clear, and appeared 

 a trifle sticky. The butter from pasteurized cream,, 

 either sweet or sour, scored higher on flavour, both 

 when fresh and after storage, than that from raw 

 cream. Vat pasteurization appeared to be the most- 

 efficient method of sour cream pasteurization for 

 improvement of flavour, although the average fat 

 content of the buttermilk from vat-pasteurized cream 

 was 023 per cent., as against 0"115 per cent, for 

 buttermilk from cream pasteurized by the continuous 

 method. 



Butter manufactured from raw cream had a higher 

 moisture contt.'nt than butter manufactured from cream 

 pasteurized by the flash method. Prolonged heating 

 of sour cream produced a higher moisture content in 

 the resulting butter. The percentage protein content- 

 of the resulting butter was not influenced by the 

 pasteurization of sweet cream, but was decreased by- 

 pasteurization of sour cream. 



