Vol. XI. No. 265. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



195 



inclusion of a statement as to the progress that is being 

 made year by year. Though it is desirable in every 

 way that a larger number of candidates should take up 

 the Courses of Reading, and enter for the examinations, 

 it may be said that this progress is satisfactory, 

 and what was stated in a former article* on the 

 subject may be repeated: 'Many of the papers sent 

 up by the candidates at the examinations are of 

 a very encouraging nature, and show that, in their case 

 at least, there was only needed the inducement that 

 has been given by the Department for them to put 

 themselves in the way of gaining an ov^erly and meth- 

 odical view of the ideas and principles underlying their 

 work.' 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



BORDEAUX MIXTURE IN CANE- 

 PLANTING. 



E.xperiments have been conducted recently at the 

 EitH;ion Experimental Agricola, Tncuman, Argentina, 

 for the purpose of investigating the effects of dipping 

 cane-planting material in Bordeaux ntixture for protec- 

 tion Hgainst plant diseases. These are described in the 

 Intermitional Sufjar Journal for Jlay 1912, and the 

 following conclusions are taken Irom ihis source. It 

 may be mentioned that similar experiments have been 

 conducted in the Leeward Islands and Barbados, under 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture. The results 

 obtained in Argentina have shpwn: — 



There seems to be no doubt that dipping cane has given 

 an increased tonnage, altliough it cannot be said that thi.s 

 yeai'.s experiments have proven the matter a financial success. 



It appears that it is better to employ Bordeaux mixture 

 of normal concentration, this 1 per cent, strength giving 

 the better results, and nothing being gained by the use of 

 the stronger solution. 



It appears that there is no injurious effect upon the ger- 

 mination of the cane where it is simply dipped in the 

 Bordeaux mixture or not exposed to it for more than one 

 hour, either in the case of the double or normal strength. 



The cane dipped for an hour in normal strength and in 

 double strength Bordeaux mixture has given better results 

 than the undipped cane. 



Emphatically, it i- best to dip for a short time only. 



It mav be stated, in exiilanation, that 'normal' 

 Bordeaux mixture is described in the article as consist- 

 ing (if 2 kilos, of copper sulphate and 3 kilos, of lime in 

 200 litres of water: that is to say, 1 percent, of the 

 copper salt is used in making the mixture. A mixture 

 of the same strength would be obtained by employing 

 1 ft), of copper sulphate, li lb. of lime and 10 gallons 

 of water, or S'imilar proportions. 



— J ■ - 



*JgricvltHial iVei's, Vol. VIII, p. 386. 



WAX PROM THE SUGAR-CANE. 



Information concerning sugar-cane wax and the 

 possibility of its extraction on a commercial scale has 

 been given at different times in the Agricultural 

 News (Vols. VIII, p. 3(10: X, p. 51; and XI, p. 124). In 

 continuation, the following summary of much that is 

 known about the matter is taken from the Modem 

 Hugar Planter for April 27, 1912: — 



Wax is an important constituent of the filter press cake, 

 being present to an extent up to 1 2 per cent, of the dry rake. 

 This wax can easily be extracted by boiling the dried cake 

 with organic solvents, like alcohol, carbon tetrachloride, etc , 

 and the extract thus obtained is filtered off and cooled when 

 the wax solidifies out as a yellowish white ma.ss. 



Very considerable attention has been given to the possi- 

 bility cf extracting this wax. Among recent work may 

 be mentioned that of Wynberg, in Java, who redetermined 

 carefully the properties of the wax, and perfected a method 

 of extracting it from press-cake. The wax was said to have 

 similar properties to the expensive carnauba wax, and there- 

 fore to be worth probably 20 to 2-5c per lb. 



After this the question was taken up by the Hawaiian 

 planters two or three years ago, and with characteristic pro- 

 gressiveness tbey submitted large samples of the wax to 

 Lewkowitsch, the eminent London specialist on waxes, fats, 

 etc., wliom the)' engaged at considerable expense to examine 

 the wax and pronounce upon its commercial value. Lewkow- 

 itsch's inve.stigation was duly made and his report communi- 

 cated to the Hawaiian Planters' Association Animated by 

 the secretiveness which during the last few years has charac- 

 terized this Association (the replacing of the Ilaivaiian 

 Pl'inier'i' Monthly by a similar journal for private circulation 

 among the members) the results of this work were not 

 published to the outer world. From a private source, how- 

 ever, the writer learned that Lewkowitsch's report had beea 

 to the effect that the wax consisted of a mixture of several 

 chemically different waxes, and that the substance had only 

 a small commercial value of from 4 to .5c. per lb. 



The prospects of economical utilization of the wax are, 

 therefore, vague. The first dirticulty is the danger of fire due 

 to the use of alcohol in extracting the wax. This can, how- 

 ever, be overcome by the use of ca'bon tetrachloride which is 

 non-inflammable, 'fhe value of the product is, of course, 

 what it would fetch on the market, and until quantities of it 

 are produced we cannot be sure what the value would be. 

 It is i|uestionable whether it would pay to extract a product 

 whose value was less than 8 to 10c. per lb., at the least. 

 Other ingredients of the filter press cake do not offer any 

 prospect to economical extraction. . 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left 

 Barbados on .June 17, 1912, by the R.M.S.P. 'Magda- 

 lena', for the purpose of paying visits connected with 

 official matters to Grenada and "Trinidad. Dr. Watts is 

 expected to return to Barbados by the S.S. 'Verdi' on 

 the 28th instant. 



Mr. F. W. South, B.A., Mycologist on the Staff of 

 the Imperial Department of Agricultui^e, left Barbados 

 for St. Kitts on June 4, by the S.S. 'Koronij', for the 

 purpose of investigating fungus diseases of plan tjs in 

 the island. Mr. South was expected to retilrn by the 

 S.S. Parima, on June 21. 



