Voi. X. No. 234. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



121 



a written examination and a practical trial in physical 

 exercises. 



It may be stated that the Syllabus of the course 

 in Hygiene and Physical Training is issued as a Supple- 

 ment to Syllabus 2, 1912, which deals with the Certifi- 

 cate Examination of the Board of Education for 

 Teachers in Elementary Schools, 1912. 



Machinery for Cleaning Broom Corn. 



During last year, enquiries were addressed by this 

 Department to the Department of Agriculture, New 

 South Wales, tor the purpose of obtaining information 

 concerning a machine of simple construction flir remov- 

 ing the seed from brcjoni corn. This has been obtained, 

 through the courtesy of the latter-mentioned Depart- 

 ment, and it appears that such a machine is manufac- 

 tured by Messrs. D. Sim & Sons, Morpeth, New South 

 Wales. 



The Department of Agriculture of New South 

 Wales has communicated with this firm, which has 

 consequently forwarded particulars of its machines; 

 these are of two kinds — one for use with horse power 

 and one worked by hand. The former is arranged to 

 be driven directly from the shaft of an ordinary one- 

 horse or pony gear, or by steam powei-; the drum is 21 

 inches long and 14 inches in diameter, and the machine 

 may be driven from either side. The hand power 

 machine is geared at 10 to 1, and contains a drum 12 

 inches in length and 14 inches in diameter. The latter 

 should be particularly useful where broom corn is 

 grown on a small scale and cheap hand labour is avail- 

 able for cleaning the product. 



Hydrocyanic Acid in Linseed Cake. 



The Journal of the Board of Agriculture for 

 February 1911 contains an article <lealing with the 

 occurrence of hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid ) in linseed 

 cake. The subject is important, because samples of the 

 cake are often met with, which on being macerated 

 with cold water, produce free hydrocyanic acid; none of 

 those examined, however, were found to contain more 

 than 0025 per cent, of the free acid; although cases are 

 on record where the proportion was as high as 0051 

 per cent, or 857 grains per ft. It has, however, been 

 found impossible to make sheep eat linseed cake of the 

 latter kind unless they are kept without other food. 



Particulars are given of various experiments with 

 sheep and a heifer six months old, which were fed with 

 linseed cake containing 0025 per cent, of the acid, but 

 no definite results were forthcoming, so that further 

 experiments were made in which jwtassium cyanide 

 was mixed with the food of the heifer, when no re.sult of 

 note was obtained until a gentian ball containing 

 potassium cyanide equivalent to 'iO grains of hydrocy- 

 anic acid was forcibly administered, on the day after 

 a similar ball containing cyanide e(iuivalent to 225 

 grains of the acid had been given in the same way; 

 when the result was fatal in two hours. 



The observations lead to the conclusion that lin- 



seed cake of the kind employed is harmless. Varia- 

 tions in the effects will of course occur with different 

 animals. There were no indications that hydrocyanic 

 acid is a cumulative poison; nor would this be expected, 

 on account of the fact that it is very volatile. In 

 a similar wa\', if the acid is graduallj- freed from the 

 food, it may be taken in quantities which would kill if 

 they were administered in one dose. Finally the investi- 

 gations do not indicate that animals fed on fo(xl con- 

 taining the free acid attain a state of tolerance, although 

 it cannot be said definitely that this is not the case. 



Trials Conducted with 'Water Finders'. 



Much interest is often aroused in the claims of 

 persons called ' dowsers ' or water finders, to be able to 

 discover underground sources of water by the use of 

 divining rods of different kimls. The Journal of the 

 Royal Society of Arts, for February 24, 1911, contains 

 an account of investigations that have been undertaken 

 for the purpose of gauging the value of such claims, by 

 Professor J. Wertheimer, B.Sc, B.A., F.I.C., F.C.S., 

 Principal of the Merchants Venturers' Technical College 

 and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in the Univers- 

 ity of Bristol. 



Considerations of space prevent the details of the 

 experiments from being given here; reference to the 

 journal mentioned already will however show theiu to 

 have been thorough in nature and conceived with 

 regard to fairness. 



The author gives as his conclusion that the 

 motion of the rod carried by the water finder, and the 

 sensations felt by him, are not duo to the action of any- 

 thing outside himself He believes, on the other hand, 

 th:it when such persons state that the}- do not cause 

 the movement of the rod, they say what they believe to 

 be the truth, but are nevertheless misleading them- 

 selves unconsciously. 



Absorbent 'Cotton' from Marine Plants. 



According to the Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale, 

 for February 1911, a patent has been taken out by 

 which a product is obtained from marine plants, partic- 

 ularly seaweed, which is capable of replacing wadding, 

 absorbent cotton, lint and other articles used for band- 

 ages. It is also claimed that it will take the place of 

 wool and hair, for different purposes. 



In preparing the fibre, the first process is the 

 bleaching of the seaweed, by a method that has been 

 patented. It is then boiled under pressure, in an auto- 

 clave, in a liquid containing caustic soda or potash, 

 which has been mixed with resin in such proportions as 

 to produce a soap, and to which one-tenth of its weight 

 of a saturated .solution of zinc chloride has been added. 



The boiling is maintained until the fibres of the 

 seaweed alone remain, and the mass is then dried. 

 The claim is made that the product of the opera- 

 tions is light in weight, and that it absorbs water 

 without shrinking. It also lasts well, and is easily 

 made up into a form in which it can be most conveni- 

 ently used for bandaging purposes' 



