Vol. X. No. 242. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



2i7 



South Africa is about 900,000. Again, in relation to clothing, 

 the heavy wool and fur garments that were used in former 

 years, in the Canadian and American North-west have been 

 replaced largely by overcoats of cotton duck with blanket 

 lining; it is supposed that this branch of the trade alone 

 accounts annually for 20 million yards of cotton duck. 



In fire-proof buildings, the asbestos covering of the 

 exposed parts of steam and hot-water pipes is supplemented 

 by strips of cotton duck. In houses, wall paper has been 

 replaced to a great extent by cotton cloth, and similarly 

 buckram of cotton cloth has largely taken the place of burlap. 



Rough estimates of the more modern ways of cotton con- 

 sumption are given as follows; cloth signs and advertisements, 

 several million yards; for squeezing water out of clay, in pot- 

 tery establishments, a very large quantity annually; 4 million 

 yards of cotton duck are required by the British Government 

 for making coin bags; cotton bagging is used by cement com- 

 panies to the extent of about 8 million yards, every year; the 

 feed bags for horses account for about 2 million yards of cot- 

 ton duck; enormous quantities of heavy cotton duck are used 

 for driers in wood pulp paper mills and other paper mills; 

 millions of yards of this useful material, as well as of cotton 

 drill are employed for making waggon tops, cushions, water- 

 proof cloaks, 'pantasote', and other articles; millions of yards, 

 also, of a heavy cotton duck, 46 inches wide, are used 

 annually for the purpose of filtering oils. 



These do not include all the instances where cotton is 

 used in conjunction with rubber, more especially as the basis 

 of rubber belting and all kinds of rubber hose, the manufac- 

 ture of which requires 50 million yards, every year. M inor 

 uses in conjunction with rubber are for making gloves, for 

 stift'ening gauntlets, leggings, tennis and gymnasium shoes, 

 and shower bath canopies. 



Other modes of employment of cotton include its use in 

 the covering of trunks and telescopes, in book-binding and in 

 draining mines. All the examples enumerated above do not 

 cover every way in which cotton is utilized. They serve, 

 however, to indicate that its employment exists in many other 

 directions than in the provision ot clothing, and the number 

 of uses to which it will be put in the future is likely to 

 increase with the continuation of invention and the devising 

 of new methods of manufacture. 



AGRICULTURE IN PORTO RICO IN 

 1910. 



The agriculture of the island, with the exception of food 

 crops raised merely for local consumption, consists in the 

 raising of sugar-cane, coti'ee and tobacco. 



SUGAR. The 1909-10 shipments of sugar aggregated 

 284,.522 tons (an advance of 40,000 tons) and were valued at 

 £4,904,400. The average price per ton was £17 3s. The 

 entire production was handled by 43 centrals (factories 

 grinding other cane than their own), 22 lal factories 

 (haciendas) and 6.5 trapiches or small mills. Indications of 

 the growing crop (1910-11) point to a 400,000-ton yield. 



TOBACCO. During the year great improvement was 

 ettected in workmanship, factory conditions, selection and 

 scientific cultivation, with the result that the manufactured 

 output now compares favourably with that of any other 

 tobacco-producing country. During the year there were 

 exported 1.51,724,438 cigars, consumed 92,700,160, total 

 output 244,424,598; an increase over 1908-9 of 19,189,059. 

 During the same period 13,142,000 cigarettes were exported 

 and 393,844,300 consumed, total output 406,986,300; an 

 increase over 1908-9 of 30,816,300. Besides the above, 

 tobacco leaf was exported to the value of £262,149. 



FEUiTs. The aggregate value of fruit shipped was 

 £340,795. The capital invested in this industry appears to 

 be increasing and more land for the purpose is to be taken 

 up gradually. 



OKANiiEs. Oranges to the value of £121,399 were ship- 

 ped, of whish, however, about half were of what is termed 

 the ' wild orange ', that is to say, fruit of already existing 

 island plantations and not the produce of the recent syste- 

 matic cultivations. 



(jRAPES. Grapes to the value of £33,902 were exported, 

 more than double the figures of the previous year. 



PINE-APPLES. The output of pine-apples (whole) reached 

 £115,634 in value, an increase of £23,383. 



The export of canned pine-apples decreased £2,342, 

 owing to the more profitable market presenting itself for 

 whole fruit. 



COCOA-NUTS. Shipments of cocoa-nuts, valued at£45,598, 

 showed an increase of £29,942. 



Minor fruits, shipped to the value of £2,052, declined 

 about 5 per cent, on the previous year's figure. 



coMPANiE.s. During the year 54 companies — 14 for sugar- 

 making, 18 for raising and canning fruit, and 22 for cofi'ee- 

 growing, cattle-raising, and transportation — were registered, 

 with an aggregate capital stock of £10,416,666. 



At the end of last year (1908-9) there were 119 domestic 

 and 142 foreign companies doing business, with authorized 

 capital of £62,365,508 and £4,564,910, respectively. 



Up-to-date foreign companies are required to submit to 

 the proper authorities two reports annually, but a proposition 

 is about to be con.sidered to decrease this to one only. (From 

 Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No. 4657, Annual Series.) 



Details of a new transplanting spade are contained in 

 The Field for May 20, 1911, p. 976. This consists of 

 a cylinder 5 or 6 inches in diameter, open at the top and 

 bottom, and possessing a keen cutting edge. The cylinder 

 is divided into two semicircular pieces, connected and pro- 

 vided with handles, so that the apparatus may be worked in 

 the same way as a pair of tongs. When in use the spade in 

 opened by pulling apart the handles, placing the spade over 

 the young plant to be removed, closing it and forcing it into 

 the soil. It is then given a half turn and pulled out, 

 together with the plant and its roots with the soil clinging to 

 them, the action being much the same as that of a golf hole 

 maker. 



In the Animal Reports on the Proffress of Chemistry, 

 for 1910, is.sued by the Chemical Society, a resume is given 

 of the chief work during the year that has had relation to 

 soil bacteriology. In this, reference is made to the fact that 

 A. Koch has continued experiments which support the 

 results of investigations showing that Azotobacter can 

 accumulate nitrogen in .soil to which sugar and other carbo- 

 hydrates have been added. Other investigators have adduced 

 evidence that the fixation of nitrogen by Azotobacter, under 

 field conditions, is atf'ected to a large degree by the temper- 

 ature. Further, Koch has demonstrated more completely 

 the connexion between Azotobacter and carbohydrates, by 

 showing that where the latter are added to soils in which the 

 organism does not exist, there is no fixation of nitrogen. 

 These matters are of interest in relation to the subject of 

 mola.sses and soil fertility (see Agricultural News, Vols. VII, 

 p. 227; IX, p. 339; X, p. 179). 



