280 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 31, 1912. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



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 Barbados. 



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Slgricutturat Hriufi 



Vol. XL SATURDAY. AUGUST 31, 1912. No. 270. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



In this number, the editorial is concerned with the 

 subject of The Stimulation of Plant Growth, and gives 

 consideration to the question as to whether manures, as 

 well as certain subst.ances in the soil, may act as 

 stimuli for changes in the plant that will lead to 

 increased nutrition and therefore quicker growth. 



Chlorocodon Root OiL 



A note on Chlorocodon Whiteii in relation to its 

 use ;'s a tibre plant was given in the Agricidtural 

 Xeo-s. Vol. X, p. 285. 



The Semi-Annual Report of Schimmel & Co., 

 dated AyvW 1912, refi-rs lo the fact of the occurrence 

 of this plant in (ierman East Africa in the wild state, 

 arid say.s, on the authority <>f the lujperial Bioloijioal- 

 Agricullural Jns-itute of Amani, that; ir, is cultivated 

 by the planters lor the sake of the hairs whiijh cover 

 the seed. 



When the information was sent to Messi.s. Schim- 

 mel, a i-ainple of crystals was also despatched, which had 

 been obtained by steam-distilling the green root frona 

 wild plants, the crystals being intended for comparison 

 with those that had been prepared previously by thali 

 firm. The account of these is contained in the Semi- 

 Annual Report dated October 1911, p. 33. 



The two sets of crystals proved to be identical. 

 The crude product, which was pink in colour, melted 

 at about o-5 C; its recrystallization from water gave 

 white crystals which, after being dried in vacuo over 

 strong stilphuric acid, melted between 43 and 4.5 'C, 

 resembling the ciystals similarly prepared previously. 

 Further, ni) depression or melting point was shown by 

 a mixture of the two samples of crystals. 



Chlorocodon Whiteii may possibly prove to have 

 a value in addition to that of its use as a fibre plant. 



A review of the last Annual Report of the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Agriculture, British Guiana, will 

 be found on page 277. 



Page 278 presents an account of investigations 

 regarding the possible poisonous projjerties of cotton 

 seed meal, under certain conditions. It will be seen 

 that the conclusions reached do not indicate that there 

 need be any alarm in regard to the employment of 

 a product that is well established as a useful food for 

 stock, in the West Indies. 



The different systems for using atmospheric 

 nitrogen in making artificial manures are described 

 shortly on page 279. 



The Insect Notes are illustiated, and appear on 

 pages 282 and 283. They consist of the former of two 

 articles describing a recent visit of the Entomologist of 

 this Department to St. Kitts. 



A recent publication dealing with the coco-nut is 

 reviewed on page 286. 



287, 



A note on the sapucaia nut is contained on page 



The Employment of Nitrates by Plants, for 

 N utrition. 



Work on this subject receives short description ia 

 the Experiment Station Record for May 1912, p. (J2.5. 

 In the experiments, wheat seedlings were grown in 

 light and darkness, in the absence of carbon dioxide, this 

 gas being excluded in order to prevent the ordinary 

 building up of plant food in the leaf from taking place. 

 Calcium nitrate and other mineral salts were supplied 

 to one lot of the plants: while the others were given 

 the same mineral salts but no calcium nitrate or any 

 form of salts containing nitrogen. 



Where no nitrogen was supplied, the plants losli 

 a part of the nitrogen that the\' contained originally; 

 those to which nitrates had been available absorbed 

 a large proportion of them, forming nitrogenous com- 

 pounds, the process taking place equally well in dark- 

 ness and in light. 



The suggestion was obtained that amides are 

 formed in plants not only by the breaking down of 

 albuminoids but also in the building up of the compli- 

 cated nitrogenous bodies (albuminoids or proteids) 

 from nitrates; this was shown by the fact that the 

 nitrogen contained in amides was found to increase 

 most abundantly in the plants receiving nitrates. 



The author considers that, in the formation of 

 proteids from nitrates, in plants, there are two distinct 

 stages: the change from the nitrates to amides, and the 

 change from amides into proteids, or albuminoids; light 

 was however found necessary for this transformation to 

 take place. 



