Vol. XI. No. 260. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



115 



or by antiseptics, in relation to the destruction of the 

 larger organisms (protozoa), and the consequent great 

 increase of the smaller forms of life, including the bene- 

 ficial bacteria, has received attention by an investi- 

 gator, at Rothamsted, who has devised a means of 

 driving the organisms out of the soil and enumerating 

 them, so that it is no longer necessary to obtain them 

 by culture methods. The work described goes on to 

 produce evidence that these organisms — the protozoa 

 mentioned already, or, at any rate, several kinds among 

 them — exist in the soil in an inert condition (encysted), 

 and are thus unable to cause the decrease in the number 

 of bacteria in the way attributed to them by Russell 

 and Hutchinson. This objection cannot be maintained, 

 however, in regard to all the organisms in the soil that 

 may act in this manner, and it has been met to some 

 extent by the supposition that, under the conditions of 

 the investigation, the bacteria themselves were showing 

 little activity, and that this, as well as the activity of 

 the inert protozoa, would be largely increased under 

 favourable conditions of moisture and temperature. 



Other work of interest has shown that Azotobacter 

 and other organisms are capable of increasing the 

 amount of calcium carbonate in the soil by the oxida- 

 tion of calcium oxalate in plant residues that it con- 

 tains, the calcium oxalate being attacked only in the 

 absence of organic matter sufficient fur the needs of the 

 bacteria. A description of the investigation has been 

 given in a recent issue* of this journal. 



The account just presented serves to draw atten- 

 tion to some of the more important results that have 

 been obtained during the past year, in regard to bacteria 

 in the soil. It will be seen that, while these are 

 already of the greatest importance to the agriculturist, 

 the work that is being done, in order to make the labour 

 of investigation possess as close a relation as possible 

 to conditions in nature, will greatly increase the value 

 of those results and render them continually more 

 dependable in their application as a guide in agricul- 

 tural practice. 



SUGAR 



THE UNITED 

 1911. 



TRADE OF 



KINGDOM, 



The following figures giving theimports and exports 

 of sugar, expressed as the nearest ton, into and from the 

 United Kingdom in 1911, are taken from the Inter- 

 national Sugar Journal for January 1912. For pur- 

 poses of comparison the quantities for 1910, taken from 

 the same source, are also included: — 



Unrefined Sugars, tons. 

 391,912 

 173,721 



Germany 

 Java 

 Austria-Hun- 

 gary 

 British India 

 Mauritius 

 British W. I. 

 Islands, Brit- 

 ish Guiana Jf 

 British Hon- 

 duras 



Netherlands 

 Hayti and San "I 

 Domingo J 

 Peru 

 Belgium 

 Brazil 

 Mexico 



Dutch Guiana 

 Cuba 



Philippine ) 

 Islands j 



Russia 



Straits Settle- "| 

 menta / 



France 

 OtherCountries 



Total Raw \ 



Sugars j 



Refined Sugars. 



Germany 



Austria-Hun- "| 



gary / 



Holland 



Russia 



Belgium 



France 



OtherCountries 



Total Refined) 



Sugars 



Molasses 



IMPORTS. 



1911. 

 Quantity, Value, 

 £. 



4,287,246 

 2,815,521 



62,025 756,260 



1910. 

 Quantity, Value, 

 tons. £. 



229,750 2,644,093 

 118,275 1,605,161 



57,520 715,229 



64,398 

 58,696 



1,093,048 

 702,934 



8,871 

 41,496 



96,674 

 589,230 



54,346 750,521 78,748 1,147,200 



30,916 



27,277 



27,157 

 21,185 

 14,751 



8,180 

 6,522 

 3,859 



3,645 



1,747 



1,226 



254 

 18.263 



468,438 



296,273 



293,412 

 282,964 

 138,762 

 103,020 

 91,963 

 29,611 



34,293 



21,686 



16,209 



2,620 

 213,455 



20,216 



76,547 



46,232 

 11,165 

 51,469 

 10,686 

 7,223 

 96,336 



93 

 792 



431 



25,198 



234,063 



1,078,592 



588,000 

 129,180 

 618,752 

 151,434 

 105,252 

 1,371,633 



1,190 



9,389 



6,260 

 329,525 



970,080 12,398,236 881,049 11,420,857 



366,847 



186,137 



145,068 

 110,051 



60,125 

 5,825 



65,791 



5,314,217 



2,724,065 



2,407,165 

 1,683.815 

 1,022,969 

 93,046 

 1,156,580 



334,093 



199,517 



117,877 



2,113 



49,148 



60,708 



80,699 



5,080,325 



3,103,558 



1,809,649 



26,357 



740,071 



1,004,381 



1,369,011 



J 



939,845 14,401,857 844,155 13,133,352 

 158,403 681,455 155,405 700,994 



* Agrkxdtural Neu-j, V..1. Xf. p. 83. 



Total Imports 2,068,328 27,481,548 1,880,609 25,255,203 



EXPOKTS. 



British Refined 



Canada 



Denmark 



Netherlands 



Italy 



Portugal, Azores) 



and Madeira I 



Other Countries 



28,645 440,459 31,363 498,472 

 A summary of the details given concerning the ex- 

 ports of foreign and colonial sugars may be presented as 

 follows. The total of such exports during 1911 was 37,232 

 tons, value £552,904, as compared with 52,364 tens, value 

 £759,692, in 1910. 



