Vol. XI. No. 277 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



393 



~Rice in Corea, 1911. 



It is hoped that the export tax oil rice raised in 

 ■Corea will be removed soon, as this will improve the 

 conditions of the industry notwithstanding the fact 

 that the rice taken by Japan has to pay an import 

 - tax. Attention is drawn in Diplomatic and Cori'^ular 

 Reports, No. 4899 Annual Series, to the fact that the 

 Japanese intend Corea and Formosa to be the sole 

 producers of rice for use in their country, and better 

 methods of agriculture in Corea should go a long way 

 toward the attainment of this hope. In 1911 the 

 exports of rice from Corea decreased from 10S,935 tons 

 -worth £(340,830 in 1910 to 7.5,286 tons worth £-539,390 

 in 1911. The improved conditions fop the circulation 

 of money, in the peninsula, now enable the Coreans to 

 hold their rice crops for better prices. 



An Important Constituent of Rice Husks. 



In the Agricultural Xews, Vols. X, p. 34-5; XI, 

 pp. 55 and 339, attention was given to the possible 

 connexion that exists between a diet consisting mainly 

 of cleaned and polished rice and the prevalence of such 

 diseases as beri-beri. Further information regarding 

 the matter is available in an abstract of a paper 

 •describing recent work on the subject, contained in the 

 Journal of the Chemical Society for October 1912. 



In the investigation, it was shown that as in former 

 cases hens, doves, mice and other animals fed exclu- 

 sively with shelled rice become ill and finally die, after 

 a great loss of body weight. The ett'ect is caused by 

 "tthe absence of a substance essential to life, which i.'^ 

 found in rice husks: it has been called Oryzanin. 



The necessity of oryzanin in supporting life is 

 proved further by adding it to artificial diets of fat, 

 proteids, carbohydrates and salts, when the diet, origi- 

 nally inerticient, beodmes useful. 



The operience with the animals mentioned was 

 'Confirmed in the case of dogs. Without oryzanin, they 

 waste rapidly, and when given 0'3 gram of that sub- 

 stance daily they quickly recover. 



The writers discuss the relationship of the absence 

 of oryzanin to beri-beri. The substance has been found 

 to be fairly widely distributed in various foodstuffs. In 

 obtaining it from rice husks, these are first freed from 

 "fat by the use of ether, and the residue is extracted 

 with alcohol. 



Bubber ofHevea Confusa from British Guiana. 



Under this title, the Bulletin of the Imperial 

 Institute for October 1912 gives a note on Hevea con- 

 fusa, which is indigenous to British Guiana, where it is 

 known as Hattie or Sibi. 



The plant is a large tree, distinguishable from 

 S. hrasiliensis by its bark being perfectly smooth 

 <except for the presence of scattered minute prickles; the 

 bark of the Para rubber tree shows distinct longitudinal 

 ;grooves. 



Attention is drawn to the fact that the rubber fur- 

 nished by H. confusa is weak and has hitherto been 

 ^X)nsidered of little or no commercial value. A sample 



received at the Imperial Institute in July 1911 was 

 however, of very satisfactory composition, and rubber 

 of the kind would doubtless be saleable, although the 

 product was deficient in elasticity and tenacity. 



It is said that the trees give a small yield in 

 rubber, and that experience in British Guiana, Jamaica 

 and Java has shown that there is no improvement in 

 the returns, under ctiltivation. 



The sample from British Guiana consisted of 

 biscuits of very dark rubber, clean, well prepared, and 

 in good condition. The rubber was soft, however, and 

 tore readily when stretched. An analysis which is given 

 shows that the loss on washing was 14 per cent.; the 

 percentages of caoutchouc, resin, protein and ash in the 

 dry washed rubber were 923, IS, 49, and 10, respec- 

 tively. It was valued at about 4s. per lb. in London, 

 with fine hard Para at 4s. 8cZ. 



■This sample of the rubber of H. confusa was very 

 satisfactory in composition, the dry material containing 

 92 3 per cent, of caoutchouc and only 18 per cent, of 

 resin; notwithstanding this it was very deficient in 

 elasticity and tenacity.' 



It is stated that it is impossible at present to 

 assign a definite n-ason for the poor physical characters 

 of the rubber. 



Paper-making from Bamboos. 



It appears from the Bulletin de la Societe Beige 

 d' Etudes Colonial's for September to October 1912 

 that the French Colony in Tonkin has just become 

 practically interested in a new industry. A factory for 

 making paper paste from the bamboo has been built, 

 and commenced to work in March of this year. It is 

 sutticiently large at present to produce yearly 6,000 

 metric tons of paper paste by the soda process. 

 Pernussiiin has been obtained for cutting in the bamboo 

 forests for a long period, and the factory is thus assured 

 of a supply of raw material. 



Emphasis is laid on the importance of the effort, in 

 the light of the fact that the world's production of 

 paper paste is about >>,000.000 metric tons; 55 per cent, 

 of this amount is furnished by Europe, and the 

 remainder by the United States and Canada. The 

 well-known fact of the greatly increasing demand for 

 paper, as well as the circumstances that a smaller area 

 of forests is year by year available and that the 

 Governments of various countries are taking energetic 

 measures for the conservation of the forests, have had 

 the result of increasing the market price of paper. 



The work of investigators has shown that certain 

 bamboos may be used with facility for the pur- 

 pose: they yield more than 50 per cent, of cellulose, 

 are harvested cheaply and can be cut up easily. It 

 appears also that the paste obtained from such bambooa 

 is of excellent quality and would be superior not only 

 to the paste made from wood but also to that obtained 

 from esparto grass. 



As is pointed out in the article, the investigations 

 ■ — provided that future experience does not invalidate 

 their worth — may yield results of the greatest 

 importance. 



