156 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



May 6, 1916. 



A useful and important general suggestion is contained 

 in a booklet by John D. Rockfeller, Jnr., entitled The Colorado 

 Industrial Plan. This seeks to solve the difficulties attendant 

 on the harmonious working of capital and labour. It 

 advocates the representation of employees on the Board of 

 Diiectors in any industrial concern, and shows that such a 

 plan is at the present time successfully operating at the coal 

 and iron mines of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. 

 The booklet is well worth careful perusal by all those con- 

 cerned with capital and labour. 



GLEANINGS. 



The Reform of the Man of Science is the title of a sug- 

 gestive article in i\^(;<Mre for March 16, 1916 It advocates 

 that there should be less exclusiveness in scientific circles, 

 and that an attempt should be made to include in learned 

 societies successful financiers and business men, particularly 

 those of great administrative ability, even though they may 

 not be deemed scientific in the academic sense. 



We have received a copy of the first number of Genetics, 

 a new periodical devoted to recording American investigations 

 in full detail, bearing on heredity and variation. Subscriptions 

 amounting to 270 have been pledged in advance, which is a 

 sign that this Journal is heartily welcome by those interested 

 in genetics in the United States. The Journal is well illus- 

 trated and edited. The papers are purely scientific and have 

 no special reference to agriculture, excepting so far as all 

 biological information has eventually its application in the 

 production of crops and animals. 



A note in the Barbados Ac/ivcate of April 20 calls attention 

 to the scarcity of pigs in that island, the price of pork having 

 gone up considerably. It is said that the establishment of 

 sugar factories in districts where the windmill formerly pre- 

 vailed has resulted in the production of less by-products 

 such as are used as pig food. It takes not less than 200 

 pigs to keep up the weekly supply of pork dressed at the 

 Barbados public abattoir. 



According to The Bourd of Trade Junrmil for February 

 3, 1916, contracts have been entered into between the 

 Mexican Government Commisson for the Begulation of the 

 Henequen Industry and the hemp producers of the States of 

 Yucatan and Campeche on a profit-sharing basis. It appears 

 therefore that the institution of the conimissioTi has, to all 

 intents and purposes, transformed the hemp industry in 

 Mexico into a Government monoply. 



An interesting note on the fluctuations in prices of pig 

 products appears in The Board of Trade Journal for January 

 20, 1916. It is pointed out that in the United States hogs 

 are maize fed, and that the biggest profits arc got when the 

 animals are fed on gfiod maize. Consequently the price of 

 good maize effects the price of maize fed hogs. So closely 

 related are the prices of maize and hogs, that an approximate 

 estimate of the latter can bo made from the price of the 

 former. 



Practically the whole of t]»e black soil crop of sugar- 

 cane in Barbados for 1917 has been planted with the seedling 

 B 6450, and in the red soil district about half the young 

 crop is composed of the same variety. B.6032 gives promise 

 of very satisfactory results, and a small area of this has been 

 planted. It may be recognized by unusually stout shoots 

 and broad leaves. This seedling is said to be hardier than 

 8.6450, but judgment must be reserved until it has been 

 generally tested (Barbados AyrieuXtwid Reporter, April 22, 

 1916.) 



The reaping of the sugar-cane crop in Barbados was 

 going on apace during April. It is difficult to say what 

 would have happened this year or how far the reaping season 

 would have been prolonged without the help of factories, 

 which bought outside cane. The yield per acre has been 

 excellent everywhere, and the juice has reached a high 

 standard of purity. The general return of first crop canes 

 per acre is 30 tons; here and there, however, fields have been 

 cut which have given as much as 44 tons. (Barbados 

 Agricultural Reporter, April 22, 1916.) 



In connexion with British trade after the War, the Board 

 of Trace has issued a report of an advisory committee with 

 respect to measures for securing the position, after the war, of 

 certain branches of British industry. The report is of general 

 interest, but it would have been satisfactory to see sugar in 

 the list of branches of industry to which attention should be 

 directi>d. In this connexion it may be noted that the West 

 India Committee have published their correspondence with 

 Colonial Governments on the possibilities of the sugar-cane 

 industry extension, in pamphlet form. A copy of this 

 pamphlet has bren sent by the Committee to the Prime 

 Minister. 



Paper is being manufactured in Cuba from the megass 

 of sugar-cane. The megass is carried from the sugar mill in 

 cars to the paper mill where it is digested in live steam, 

 beaten into pulp, treated with chloride of lime, and eventually 

 made into the paste, which when run over wire screens dries 

 as paper. The paper obtained from cane pulp is said to equal 

 if not exceed in quality the paper manufactured from imported 

 kraft stock, and it can be produced and marketed at a price 

 considerably lower than that (]Uoted for kraft paper. The 

 output is sold in Cuba for local consumj)tion. Further 

 imformation on the subject will be found in the Journal of 

 the Royal Society of Arts {or December 31, 1915. 



