Vol. XV. No. 367. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



169 



Cotton in Brazil. 



The State of Parahyba is the largest producer of 

 cotton in Brazil. The cultivated Qotton may be divided 

 into two groups: (1) seeds covered with a white, yellow- 

 ish or green down {Goi^sypiuvi herbaceum and G. hir- 

 sutum, or Upland types): (2) seeds glabrous, united as 

 in Creole cotton (G. pcruvianum), or free as in cottons 

 of the Sea Island type. The length of fibres in Brazilian 

 cotton varies from 25 to 41 mm., and the average yield 

 is as follows: white herbaceous, ginning percentage 29, 

 Creole 23, Seda 30, Caravonica 4(r.5. 



In 1912 the State of Parahyba exported 20,000,000 

 kilograms ot cotton worth £1,344,000, the amount of 

 the export having doubled in ten years. Further 

 details concerning Brazilian cotton may be obtained 

 by reference to the Monthly Bulletin of Agricultural 

 Intelligence and Plant Diseases for December 1915. 



Ensilage Tanks. 



The subject of handling silage is dealt with in 

 Bulletin No. 145 of the Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion of Nebraska. Ensilage pits or tanks are now being 

 installed in the West Indies, in Antigua, so that the 

 Bulletin under review will no doubt be found of 

 interest by many planters. In preparing material for 

 silage it is usual to cut it up. In America it is now 

 a common practice for farmers to buy a 12- or 

 14-inch cutter, co-operatively, and use it on five or 

 six jobs per season. Such an outfit has a capacity 

 of 8 or 10 tons per hour. The bulletin under consid- 

 eration is well illustrated and shows the various 

 devices employed. Of special interest in the West 

 Indies will be the description of hand hoists, and 

 of a home-made hoisting device for semi-pit silos. 

 All those who are entertaining the idea of manu- 

 facturing silage should give this bulletin their care- 

 ful consideration. 



The British Guiana Industrial School. 



Some useful and interesting work is reported on 

 in a recent publication as having been carried out on 

 the farm at the Onderneeming Industrial School in 

 Demerara. Experiments with various economic plants 

 including cacao, coffee, limes, and rubber have been 

 arranged by the Department .of Agriculture and 

 carried out at the School under the general direction 

 of that Department. Reference may be made first to 

 the manurial experiments with cacao which were 

 reported on in the last issue of this Journal. Lime 

 cultivation at the School is receiving particular 

 attention, in view of the fact that a propeiTy equipped 

 factory, similar to that in St. Lucia, is being erected 

 for the proper concentration of lime juice. It is 

 expected that this factory will cost about i?3,000. Con- 

 cerning rubber, the experimental tapping of 200 

 Heveas, of an average age of seven years, is now being 

 carried out, and the yield of dry rubber so far works 



out at an average of a little over 3 fti. per tree per 

 annum, while there is a distinct upward tendency. 

 Lastl}-, in connexion with this Farm School, we may 

 refer to the satisfactory condition of the Stock Farm 

 which contains a Short horn and a Guernsey bull, 

 a Southdown ram and a large amount of feathered 

 stock. The stock farm is not only useful and instruc- 

 tive in the matter of raising high bred animals, but it 

 pays for itself. Thus the accounts of the animal stock 

 farm show the gross expenditure for the nine months 

 with which the report deals, namely, April to December 

 1915, to have been -S'S 18, while the revenue was $1,016, 

 giving a net pi'ofit of .§150. 



Pork and Bacon Investigations. 



The continued high price of pig products render* 

 the question of increa.sed production within the West 

 Indies of importance. A Bulletin (No. 283), issued by the 

 Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, calls to mind the 

 suggestion to use sugar factory scum cake as food for pigs. 

 In feeding experiments in Ohio it has been found that 

 corn supplemented by soy beans, linseed oil meal, wheat 

 middlings, tankage and skim, milk in proportion such 

 that the nutritive ratios of the rations are as 1: 65, 

 does not furnish mineral matter of the amount and 

 kind requisite to maximum growth of bones. Scum 

 cake, however, contains a large amount of calcium 

 phosphate, and for this reason it might constitute- 

 a most important supplementary foodstuff for pigs. 



Results of considerable interest are contained in 

 the Report of the Chief of the United States Bureau 

 of Animal Industry for the year ended June 30, 1916. 

 For several years an attempt has been made in 

 America to find an antidote for cotton seed meal 

 poisoning. Sulphate of iron and other mineral sub- 

 stances have been tried, and although it has been 

 found possible to reduce somewhat the danger of 

 poisoning by the use of the iron salt, this substance 

 is not an absolute preventive. In the West Indies 

 it would be very useful if an antidote could be found, 

 in order that in the islands where cotton is grown, the 

 meal might be used as a food tor pigs. 



In the same report two experiments are described^ 

 the object of which was to study the effect of replacing 

 corn in a ration with desiccated sweet potatoes. The 

 results have indicated that sweet potatoes in the dried 

 form are too bulky fur hogs, and that the animals cannot 

 consume a sufficient quantity to lay on good gains.. 

 Another experiment showed that fish meal forms 

 a very effective supplement in a grain ration for pigs. 

 It was found equal, if not superior, to tankage. 



Lastl}-; the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture has plans in progress for the study of the effect of 

 feeding forage crops on the quality of pork. 



A large amount of information is available con- 

 cerning the profitable feeding of pigs, and those inter- 

 ested in the subject should give the matter full 

 attention, particularly as regards the proper balance of 

 rations, and the effect of different substances upon the- 

 composition and consistency of the meat. 



