Vol. XI. No, 253. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Simultaneously with the cotton worm plague, came the 

 news that the United States Department of Agriculture has 

 been developing the culture of Egyptian cotton in the United 

 Slates. [See A'lrirultural Xeivs, Vol. X, pp. 151, 230.] 

 The only good results on a considerable scale have been 

 obtained in the Colorado River region, where the cli- 

 mace and other conditions are similar to those in the Nile 

 Valley, and are suited to the long staple Egyptian cotton. 

 Six hundred thousand acres of good land will soon be grow- 

 ing Egyptian cotton in the Imperial, Yuma, Salt, and Gila 

 Valleys. A fifth of this acreage could produce the amount 

 of Egyptian cotton imported each year for the use of New 

 England mills. 



An invention has V)een perfected for the prevention of 

 cotton worm— a kiosk in the shape of a trap. A demonstra- 

 tion was given in June in a field near the Gaffaria Canal, in 

 the presence of a number of well-known persons. The door 

 was closed and sealed. When otficially opened in the morn- 

 ing it was found that more than a thousand moths had been 

 captured during the night. Numl)ers of eggs were also 

 found in the kiosk, such a.s are laid by the cotton worm 

 upcn the leaves of the plant. Something may certainly be 

 hoped from the invention; at the same time it will be some 

 time before it can be placed on the market. 



To regulate the use of cotton seed— a matter in which 

 Egyptian farmers have been very careless — the Agricultural 

 Department is-sues circulars to the heads of villages and 

 government cashiers in the provinces, detailing the manner 

 in which carefully selected cotton seed will be put on sale at 

 the markets of the Egyptian Markets Company, and the 

 facilities to be accorded to farmers in the payment of the 

 price of such seed. The seed is delivered in sealed sacks. 



The most hopeful point in the outlook of the Egyptian 

 cotton market is that, since the arrival of Lord Kitchener at 

 the British Agencj-, the long-discussed plan of draining the 

 Delta is being put in hand. By this means the subsoil water 

 resulting from the irrigation, will l^e drained otl'. The enor- 

 mous cost of the undertaking has prevented the Government 

 from taking up the matter before 



A well-known Egyptian, writing to one of the native 

 pajiers in Cairo last August, suggested as a remedy for the 

 deterioration of the crop, that the whole country should be 

 restrained from planting cotton for a year. He points out 

 that although the remedy is heroic, the price of cotton Avould 

 ri.se during the years following, owing to the great yield of 

 the crop on one hand and its superior quality on the other. 



The crop of 1911-12 is likely to be unfortunate. The 

 temperature nearly all through the summer has been rather 

 below the normal, which was not favourable, the crop 

 being liable to have its growth checked under these circum- 

 stances. In upper Egypt the crop suffered from fogs and 

 blight, and from attacks of boll worm. As the cotton worm 

 apiieared early it attacked chierty the early bolls which 

 usually give the best cotton, so that both in quality and 

 quantity this season's crop is likely to be inferior to last 

 year's. 



In spite of the shortness of the supplj-, prices are lower 

 than they have ever been. Mr. James I. Craig, M.A., 

 F.R.S.E., Director of the Computation Office of the Survey 

 Department, has lately published some cotton statistics. 

 His general conclusion is : ' The causes of the decrease in 

 yield have been largely beyond the control of human agency, 

 but this does not mean that they will be beyond human con- 

 trol in the future.' Some of his conclusions are as follows : 

 ' The rate of decrease is less in Upper Epypt than in Lower 

 Egypt, but still the decrease exists there also. Fart of the 

 decrease in the general average yield for all Egypt may be 



accounted for by the lower average fertility of L'pper Egypt} 

 extension of cotton cultivation to poorer land in Lower 

 Egypt may account for some of the decrease, but scarcely 

 for all. None of these causes, however, will account for 

 the fluctuations about the fairly steady ra'e of decrease. 

 Change of rotation from one of three years to one of 

 two years may account for some of the decrease, but 

 scarcely for all . . . The cultivation of cotton is probably 

 less intensive now than fifteen years ago . . . The value of 

 the crop per head of the agricultural population has nearly 

 doubled in fifteen years.' 



SUBSTITUTES AND ADULTERANTS 

 FOR FUSTIO WOOD. 



Circular 1S4. recently issued under the title Fustic 

 Wood: Its Substitutes and Adulterants, by the 

 Bureau of Forest Service of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, commences by stating that micro- 

 scopic study of a large number of samples of so-called 

 fustic wood, submitted to the Forest Service, has shown 

 that tlie substitution exists of several different woods 

 f )r true fustic, and that this is adulterated by the 

 admixture of them, in a chipped or ground condition. 

 It then proceeds to give the following information: — 



True fustic wood which yields the valuable yellow, 

 brown, and green dyestuffs, conies from the fustic tree 

 {Chloro/ilinni tiiiil(„iii,(i».ViA. = Mii-lu)a liiicfon'n, 1). Don = 

 J/ocM.s tiiictoiia, L.), a native of the West Indies and tropical 

 America. The tree is also called old fustic, fustic mulberry, 

 Cuba wood, j"ellow wood, and mora. It should not be con- 

 fused, however, with the true mora (Dimorplnnnh-a Jfora, 

 B. and H. = Mm-a ci-ciita, Benth.) of British Guiana, Vene- 

 zuela, and part of Central America, the wood of which is 

 rcadilj' distinguished from that of freshly cut fustic by its 

 reddish-brown colour. The fustic tree attains a height of 

 from 25 to 50 feet, and a diameter of 2 feet or more. The 

 nearly white sap wood is very thin, and the greater portion of 

 the tree therefore is heart wood, the only part put to commer- 

 cial use. Freshly cut heart wood is light yellow, but after 

 e.vpo5ure to air and light becomes a yellowish brown. 

 A cubic foot of seasoned wood weighs approxiniitely 50 tti. 



Most of the fustic wood used in Europe comes from 

 South America, while the bulk of that consumed in the United 

 States comes from .Mexico and the British West Indies. The 

 amount entered at United States ports for immediate con- 

 sumption during the year ending June 30, 1909, together 

 with the withdrawals from warehouses for later use, was 2,466 

 tons, valued at •'?34,752. The average value per ton for 1909 

 was 81409, an increase over thatof the previous yearof .$1'99. 



Fustic wood is tisually imported in sticks from 2 to 4 feet 

 long and from 3 to 8 inches in diameter, but appears also in 

 the form of chips, powder, aqueous extract, and paste or lake. 

 The greater part of the supply, however, comes on the market 

 in either chips or large pieces. While it is possible with 

 a microscope to detect filires of other woods mixed with 

 ground fustic, it is often impossible, from the fibres alone, 

 to identify them, because the distinguishing characters of 

 the fibres have been obliterated by grinding. It is compara- 

 tively easy, however, to identify the different woods before 

 they are powdered or ground into pulp. 



After giving illustrated descriptions of woods used 

 for substitution and adulteration, the Circular con- 

 cludes with an account of the microscopic structure of 

 fustic wood. 



