Vol. XL No. 274. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



349 



STUDENTS' CORNER. 



NOVEMBER. 

 First Period. 



Seasonal Notes. 



The economic functions of agricultural departments and 

 experiment stations have alreadj' been referred to in these 

 notes in connexion with cooperation, land settlement schemes 

 and other matters; but for a full appreciation of the various 

 lines of activity the student should read the following: 

 Agricultural News, Vol. IX, pp. 129, 141 and 145; the 

 Annual Reports of the Departments of Agriculture in the 

 diflferent islands, and the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XL 

 There exists perhaps no more important function than that of 

 advising the Government on questions of agricultural 

 legislation and the influence of agricultural societies is 

 important in this respect. Agricultural legislation includes 

 the law of the landlord and tenant and transfer of real estate, 

 the taxation of land and agricultural produce (including 

 by-products, for example rum), the taxation of imports in its 

 bearing upon agricultural progress, and the laws relating to 

 the control of plant and animal diseases. Legislation in 

 relation to agriculture is to a great extent of a local nature 

 and information on many of the points referred to can best 

 be obtained from local sources, but the following references 

 dealing with legislation for the control of plant diseases 

 should be consulted: West Indian Bulletin, Vols. I, p. 309; 

 II, p. 344; III, p. 140; X, p. 197 and Agricultural Xews, 

 Vol. X, pp. 12 and 252. 



The student's attention is now directed to the subject of 

 land-surveying and mensuration in relation to the valuation 

 and improvement of estates. Field-surveying and levelling 

 find their application in the determination of the areas of 

 fields, forest and waste land, and in drainage, irrigation and 

 road-making operations. 



A knowledge of practical surveying and levelling can 

 be utilized to good purpose in estate management without 

 necessarily employing expensive instruments, and the student 

 is advised to obtain one of the several handbooks dealing 

 with this subject from an agricultural point of view. 



The importance of mensuration in estate management 

 hardly needs emphasizing. The student should make himself 

 familiar with methods of calculating the areas of diflferent 

 plane figures and the cubic contents of stacks, manure heaps, 

 stored fertilizers, food stuffs, etc., and the cubic capacity of 

 buildings, carts, etc. 



Building construction is also a subject of great economic 

 value in agriculture but here again, as in the case of survey- 

 ing, text-books must be consulted, though the following 

 references will prove useful and suggestive: Agricultural 

 News, Vols. X, pp. 66 and 333; VIII, p. 364 andXI, p 267. 



Building construction embraces the structure of roof 

 trusses, wall and fence building, flooring for stables and 

 cattle sheds, indoor and yard drainage, construction of cattle 

 pens and covered yards, systems of ventilation, together with 

 their cost and valuation. 



The student will find McConnell's Agricultural Note- 

 book useful in regard to the subjects of surveying and build- 

 ing construction. 



Mechanical as well as civil engineering finds its appli- 

 cation in estate management, both as regards machinery and 

 implements. The construction of steam and oil engines 

 should be studied mainly with the view of learning how to 



test their efficiency and cost of running under different con- 

 ditions, and how to reduce depreciation to a minimum. 



As regards implements the student is advised to obtain 

 catalogues from the big makers and study the construction 

 and special advantages of different types. Draft is an 

 engineering problem of the greatest economic importance 

 and should be carefully studied under the following 

 headings: steam versus live stock, the effect of gradient and 

 soil, attachment of animals to implements, strain, heat 

 values of different rations and fuels. The following refer- 

 ences are given in connexion with machinery : West Indian 

 Bidletin, Vol. X, p. 318; Pamphlet Series, No. 60; Agricul- 

 tural Neivs, Vol. X, pp. 41, 72, 89, 108, 121, 124, 156, 184. 



Questions for Candidates. 

 Preliminary Questions. 



( 1 ) What substances are found in the atmosphere, and 

 which ot these are of direct use to plants ? 



(2) How do roots grow in length? 



(3) In what ways are flowers pollinated in nature? 

 Illustrate your answer by examples. 



Intermediate Questions. 



(1) How much cordwood is likely to be required to 

 boil completely one hogshead of concentrated lime juice? 



(2) Write an account of the German system of co-opei^ 

 ative credit, 



(3) Where and how are artificial manures, containing 

 nitrogen from the air, made? 



Final Questions. 



(1) Discuss the question of the connexion between 

 weather and pollination 



(2) Explain clearly the economic benefits derived from 

 central sugar factories, giving figures as far as possible to 

 illustrate your statement. 



(3) State what you know concerning land settlement 

 schemes; and if you can, compare those of St. Vincent and 

 Carriacou. 



THE3 WORLD'S PRODUCTION OP SILK 

 IN 1911. 



An abstract of a paper in the Bulletin of the Bureau 

 of Agricultural Intelligence and ot Plant Diseases for July 

 1912, states that the Syndicate of Lyons Silk Merchants 

 has published general statistics of silk production, and pro- 

 ceeds to give information concerning these. The statistics 

 are provisional as concerns exportations from the Far East. 



The first table shows that the production of fresh 

 cocoons and raw silk in Western Europe, in 1910, was res- 

 pectively 126,570,400 1). and 1,034,000 tti.; that for 1911 

 was 11.5,310,800 8). and 9,537,000 ft. In the Near East 

 and Central Asia the output of raw silk was 6,160,000 ft. in 

 1910, and 6,193,000 ft. in 1911: in the Far East, it was 

 37,389,000 ft in 1910 and 36,641,000 ft. last year. 



The world's production of raw silk for the years 1910 

 and 1911, calculated from the figures given was 53,889,000 ft. 

 and 52,371,000 ft. 



It is stated in the article that the year 1911 marks an 

 arrest in the progress of the world's supply of silk factories, 

 and this is illustrated by a table indicating that while this 

 supply had increased from 20,913 metric tons in 1906 to 

 24,510 metric tons in 1909, it has since fallen to 23,805 

 metric tons in 1911. 



