THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Pebevaey 20, 1916. 



GLEANINGS. 



A disc plougli with a second shaft bearing blades which 

 break up the slice, is figured in the Monthly BulUtin of 

 A'iriculiural InteUvieiiceand Plnnt Diseases iox April 1915. 

 The main features are a number of sharp discs, mounted near 

 each other on the same shaft, which cut into the soil by 

 the weight of the whole machine, and lift by friction a slice 

 of earth which is then broken up by a series of knives- 

 mounted on a .second shaft, which may be situated over or 

 behind a disc. In order to prevent the rapidly revolving 

 knives being injured, by stones, or the like, they are not 

 rigidly attached to the shaft but are mounted in such a way 

 as to allow relative moticju between them. The above plough 

 is a recent German invention. 



A note in the Monthly Bulletin 

 (fence and Plant Diseases for May 

 method of examining bone-marrow 

 confirmation of anthrax diagnosis is 

 mining the presence of micro-organ 

 this disease. This information will 

 in places like Demerara and St. 

 attention to the question of anthra.x 



of Agricultural Intelli- 

 191.5, states that the 



for the bacteriological 

 a sure means of deter- 

 lisms which give rise to 



be noted with interest 

 Vincent, where special 



has been given. 



The effect of the war on chemicals and compounding 

 ingredients used in rubber manufacture is dealt with in the 

 India Rubber World for December 1, 1915. The effect has 

 been to increase the price in some cases to an extraordinary 

 extent. For instance, toluol has risen from 40c. per gallon 

 to $4-25 per gallon. White beeswax has jumped from 10c. 

 per ib. to 55c. per ft>. Acetone, which by the way can be 

 prepared by a simple process from molasses, has risen from 

 •12c. per lb. to 'SOc. per ft. 



As usual, the West India Committee CiVcit/ar (December 

 28, 1915) devotes a large amount of its space to a consideration 

 of agricultural affairs in the West Indies, and particularly to 

 the information contained in the pul)lications issued through 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture. An editorial in the 

 issue referred to epitomises Dr. Watts' recent article on the 

 Antigua Sugar Factory, and a special article is devoted to the 

 Montserrat Lime Industry. A full page illustration shows 

 a fine stool of sugar-canes in Antigua on Mr. Thomas Peter's 

 estate. 



The Administrator of St. Kitts has supplied this Office 

 with a copy of a .short Ordinance (Xo. 11 of 1915), which 

 has recently been passed, amending the Sale of Food and 

 ])rugs Ordinance, 1887. The cliief point about this Ordinance 

 is contained in Section 3, which gives the (Jovernor-in-Council 

 jjower to make orders fixing the standard of purity for any 

 articles of food or of any drugs. An Order in Council will 

 .soon be made, fixing the standard of purity of milk in 

 fit. Kitts and Nevis under the above Ordinance. 



The subject of Bulletin No.-i'.J of the Hawaii Agricultural 

 Kxperiment Station is the biochemical decomposition of 

 nitrogenous substances in soils. It .seeks to show the rate 

 at which dift'erent forms of protein, for example, casein from 

 milk, dried blood, and cotton seed meal, undergo ammoniS- 

 cation under varying soil conditions. The different materials 

 are converted into ammonia at greatly different rates. Casein 

 is the quickest, and cotton seed meal and linseed meal the 

 slowest, the highest concentration of ammonia from the 

 former being on the fourth day. The rapidity of the changes- 

 referied to are important, and should receive consideration in 

 discussing the manurial value of crop by-products, such as^ 

 are now being extensively employed as manures on estate's- 

 to take the place of, or at least to supplement, pen manure. 



An enlightening bulletin of the I'nited States Depart- 

 jnent of Agriculture is No. 207, issued from the Office of 

 Markets and Itural Organizations, on the subject of wholesale 

 distribution of fruits and vegetables on large markets. It is 

 •slated that one of the most practical steps the shipper can 

 take to better his condition is to familiari.se himself with 

 business practices, and to secure a better knowledge of the 

 way his produce is handled on the market. At the end of the 

 liuiletin is given a glossary of terms and expressions, which 

 •will be found useful for reference by those who are unfamiliar 

 •»villi tlip methods of marketing produce abroad. 



The Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. VII, Part 2, 

 for September 1915, contains several papers of interest in 

 the tropics, ilr. J. \\. Leather, Imperial Agricultural 

 Chemist for India, deals with the effect of climate on soil 

 formation, and also with the question of .soil gases in con- 

 nexion with the recent Rothamsted work; while an interesting 

 paper by Messrs. Cooper and Nuttall, of the Cooper Labor- 

 atory for Economic Research, discusses the theory of wetting, 

 and the determination of the wetting power of dipping and 

 spraying fluids containing a soap basis. In this latter con- 

 nexion they have worked out a convenient and ready means 

 of comparing wetting powers, consisting in a slight modifica- 

 tion of that employed for the determination of the emulsifying 

 action of soap solution. Two papers appear also on 'probable 

 errors': one in connexion with pig feeding trials, and the 

 other in connexion with sampling in .soil surveys. 



An interesting contrast between the absorption power 

 of live and dead roots is referred to in the Journil of the 

 Chemical Society, Vols. 107 and 108 (December 1915). When 

 live beet roots were placed in solution of calcium chloride, it 

 was found that 41 •SI per cent, of the calcium and 43'74 of 

 the chlorine were retnoved from the solutions. Dead roots 

 of the same i)lant removed 44 per cent, of calcium and only 

 2025 per cent, of chlorine. .Similar results were obtained 

 w ilh carrots. In experiments with sweet maize, the dead 

 roots took up somewhat more calcium than chlorine. The 

 presence of dead cells has, therefore, in some cases a marked 

 effect on the results of plant culture, and it is desirable 

 to avoid toxic solutions, which may kill some of the cell..^ 

 while the experiment is going on. In certain experiments 

 the outer layers of beet and carrots were cut away with 

 a knife, so that the solutions had to penetrate a layer of dead 

 cells before reaching the living tissue. 



