Vot. XI. No. 256. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



63 



EXPERIMENTS WITH TOBACCO IN 

 CEYLON. 



In a report by the late Chairman of theTobacco Commit- 

 tee of the Ceylon Agricultural Society (Dr. J. C. Willis, M.A., 

 late Director of Agriculture), it is pointed out that the results 

 of past experiments in tobacco cultivation' in Ceylon have 

 shown conclusively that conditions are suitable for tobacco- 

 growing and curing, fur European consumption, on a large 

 scale, in that island; and the opinion is given that, with proper 

 supervision and careful experimentation, a profitable tobacco 

 industry may be built up in a few years. 



The area employed in the experiments, namely 20 acres, 

 was unfortunately insufficient to give enough tobacco for 

 proper fermentation, and the product sold at a low price. For 

 the furtherance of the matter, it will be necessary to com- 

 mence a long series of experiments with Sumatra and other 

 tobaccos, in order to find out the best-growing seeds, and the 

 best methods of cultivation and curing. It is considered that 

 the yearly amount required for the work, including seed 

 selection, will be not less than £1,670 for the next four or 

 five years, or more. 



These facts have led the Committee to conclude that it 

 is not advisable to continue the trials on a commercial scale, 

 particularly on account of the want of funds on the part of 

 the Society. It records, however, its sense of the importance 

 of such investigations, and expresses the hope that experi- 

 ments in tobacco growing may be taken up by ihe new 

 Department of Agriculture, with the as.sistance of an expert, 

 who would train a few officers in order thai they may be in 

 a position to succeed him, when his contract terminates. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



EFFECT OF CULTIVATION ON POISONOUS 



SUBSTANCES IN PLANTS. 



The note below is reproduced from the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle for October 28, 1911. It is of interest to read 

 it in relation to the article entitled The Poisoning of 

 Cattle by Sorghum, appearing on page 21 of the last 

 issue of the Agricultural Neivs 



It is generally recognized that plants which, in the wild 

 state, contain poisonous substances of a nitrogenous character, 

 tend, under the inrtuence of cultivation, to contain a smaller 

 amount of these toxic principles. Come.s, for example, has 

 stated that if a plant, which, in its wild .state, was of thera- 

 peutic value, be cultivated for several generations on manured 

 and irrigated soil, it becomes in time quite useless, owing to 

 the disappearance of the active principles. A familiar example 

 is afforded by the almond, the prussicacidforming glucoside 

 of which, always present in bitter almonds, has disappeared 

 from the cultivated sweet almond. Conflicting statements 

 have been made of late years as to the toxicity of different 

 varieties of Pha.seolus beans, some of which have been proved 

 to contain prussic acid in the form of a glucoside. Recently 

 Messrs. Scurti and Tommasi, of the Rome Agricultural 

 Chemical Experiment Station, have determined the effect of 

 nitrogenous fertilizers on Phnseolus vulgaris and P. multi- 

 florus, collecting and analysing the seeds in each case. Par- 

 ticular attention was directed to the amount of non-protein 

 nitrogen, which is taken as a measure of the toxic principle. 

 The results conclusively show the presence of a larger propor- 

 tion of non-protein in the beans from the un manured plants. 

 The application of sodium nitrate, for example, reduces the 

 amount of toxic nitrogen in the .seeds to about one-third of 

 that present in the seeds of similar plants grown on un- 

 manured soil. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol- 

 lowing report on the London drug and spice market, 

 for the month of December 1911: — 



The month of December started with a very moderate 

 amount of business in the matter of drugs, a position not 

 unexpected, nor likely to increase, as the Christmas holidays 

 and stock-Uking seasons approach. The supplies brought 

 forward, however, even up to the middle of the month, were 

 very large. Practically no business was transacted in the 

 last two weeks of the year, so that our report will, neces- 

 sarily, be a brief one. 



GINGBR. 



At auction on the 6th of the month there was no de- 

 mand, and the whole of the offerings were bought in. On the 

 1 3th, again, there was no demand; some 200 bags of good, 

 brown rough Calicut were offered, and bought in at 50s. per 

 cwt., and 12 cases bold cut at 90'. There was no ginger 

 offered after this month. 



NUTMEGS, M.\CE AND PIMENTO. 



On the 6th of the month, 32 packages of Eastern nutmegs 

 were brought forward, and the bulk sold at Ihd. for 68's. No 

 West Indian wa.s offered. Of mace. 25 packages of West 

 Indian were sold at 2s. \d. to 2s. 'ul. per lb. Again on the 

 1 3th a steady sale was made of 66 packages of West Indian, 

 good pale fetching 2s. 6rf. per lb., ordinary to fair 2s. M. to 

 2s. 4'/., red 2s. \d. to 2.«. M, and broken Is. \\d. to 2s. \d. 

 There has been but little demand for either pimento or arrow- 

 root, but at the end of the month small sales of the latter were 

 effected at Zhd. per B). for fair manufacturing St. Vincent. 



SARSAPARILL.\. 



In the early part of the month supplies were exceed- 

 ingly small, and there was a demand for grey Jamaica and 

 native Jamaica, both of which were met at auction on the 

 14th, by the offerings of 16 bales of the first named and 17 

 bales of the latter; 14 bales of the grey Jamaica met with 

 purchasers at \s. \Qd. for fair fibrous, and Is 3rf. for ordinary 

 very coarse; and for 8 bales of the native Jamaica, Is. per lb. 

 was paid for fair red, llrf. for dull red, and M. to 9Jd. for 

 part slightly damaged yellow; 8 bales of Lima-Jamaica were 

 also offered, and all sold at Is. to Is. \d. per lb. 



TAMARINDS, OIL OF LIME AND LIME JUICE 



At the beginning of the month. West Indian tamarinds 

 were firm and scarce; enquiries were made for Barbados, and 

 13s. in bond was paid for Antigua. There were fairly large 

 arrivals of East Indian, one consignment, consisting of 43 

 casks fair Calcutta, fetching 12s. A fortnight later West 

 Indian were still reported scarce, Antigua commanding 14s. 

 and Barbados 17s., in bond. Distilled oil of limes from 

 Dominica fetched, in the middle of the month. Is. 2d. per St., 

 and for a case of hand pressed, 5s. \d. was paid, although it 

 was said to contain a quantity of orange oil. At the end of 

 the month, no West Indian distilled oil of lime was to be had 

 under l? 4rf. per lb. West Indian lime juice continues scarce: 

 Is. Zd. per gallon is demanded for ordinary raw, while for 

 better qualities Is. 4d. to Is. Qd. is asked. 



