Vol. X. No. 245. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWS. 



291 



has been held that the occurrence of these insects in 

 enormous numbers accounted for the unusual preva- 

 lence of :<ug-ar-eane diseases a few years ago. Butter- 

 flies and moths sometimes puncture ripening fruits for 

 the purpose of feeding, and the punctures provide easy 

 access for spores and germs of disease and decay. 

 Lastly, certain insects carry, mechanically attached 

 to the hairs of legs or body, disease-producing germs or 

 spores, which are likely to Hnd suitable lodgment on 

 the plants visited by them. 



Proof, based on experimental evidence, is not 

 available for many instances of the relation of insects 

 to the spread of the diseases of plants, in the West 

 Indies It seems likely, however, to take an example, 

 that in the ease of thrips on cacao there may be 

 a very definite connexion between the s[)read of certain 

 diseases and an abundance of the insect. The abrasions 

 made by the feeding of enormous numbers of these 

 minute insects would offer, so it would seem, very good 

 opJDortunities for the lodgment of spores and the 

 entrance of disease. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



THE COMPOSITION OF SUGAR-CANE 



SEED. 



An investigation is being cariiod out, at tlie Sugar 

 Experiment Station, New (Jrlean«, Louisiana, for tlie purpose 

 of obtaining information concerning the composition of 

 sugar-cane teed. An account of this is given in the Inter- 

 national Sugar Journal for July 1911, p. 362, and this is 

 employed &s the source of the following particulars. 



Attention is first drawn to the large importance whicli 

 the seed of the sugar-cane has gained in recent years, in 

 relation to the production of new varieties: it is this variation 

 in the plants that can be raised from sucli seed that has 

 rendered it po.ssible to obtain tlie large number of varieties of 

 sugar cane that are now at the disposal of the experimenter 

 and the planter. When such seeds are analyzed, varia- 

 tion is seen to be a quality of its composition as well as 

 of its power to produce plants. This fact may be illustrated 

 from the following table taken from tlif article in question, 

 in which the results of the analysis of cane seed from 

 different sources are given: — 



The seeds used for analysis included both the husks and 

 the kernels, as well as the covering of hairs; it was found 

 impossible to separate the former owing to the small size of 

 the seed. In considering the analysis, one of the most 

 striking matters is the variation in the ash content and in 

 that of the lignin and of the soluble carbohydrates. In the 

 case of the last-mentioned, it is likely that the differences 

 can be accounted for by the fact that the seeds employed ia 

 the investigation were of different ages. 



The amount of water-soluble carbohydrates is seen to be 

 about 1 per cent. These were found to contain reducing 

 sugars, including glucose, but no sucrose was found, in spite 

 of the making of careful tests. It may be that the absence 

 of sucrose was due to its disappearance in the time that 

 elapsed before the seed could be analyzed. Another body 

 whose presence could not be discovered was methyl pentosan. 

 It was shown that the cellulose in the seed was ordinary 

 glucocellulose. 



All the kinds of cane seed examined were found to 

 contain lignin, but this substance was not present in the 

 hairs covering the seed. It is intended to pursue further the 

 investigation, particularly in regard to an examination of 

 the non-carbohydrate bodies in the seed. 



MOLASSES AND MILK PRODUCTION. 



The use of molasses as a food for stock has received 

 attention several times in the Agricultvral News. Further 

 interesting work relating to the matter is described in the 

 Jonrnal of the Board of Agriculture, Vol. XVIIf, p. 146 

 (May 1911), which presents an abstract of investigations 

 carried out at the Hohenheim Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Germany. 



The mola.sses was used more especially as a condiment, 

 and the way in which the investigations were made was 

 to compare the milk production, when unappetizing food 

 mixtures were employed, with that when the same mixtures 

 were used, but with the addition of molasses. At the same 

 time parallel experiments were carried out with foods rich in 

 condimentary stuffs other than molasses. 



The result of the trials was to show that the 

 effect of the addition of molasses, as a condiment, to 

 unappetizing food mixtures was to increase the milk pro- 

 duction by 50 per cent., and to make it equal to that 

 obtained when condimentary food mixtures were employed. 

 This leads to the suggestion that molasses may form 

 a useful purpose in its addition to tasteless or unsavoury- 

 food, with the object of making this more readily accep- 

 tible to animals. The matter is particularly important 

 as regards milk production, especially in view of the further 

 interesting conclusion that the more a ration is lacking in 

 sweet-tasting or sweet-smelling constituents, the greater is 

 the effect of adding molasses. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Mr. F. W. South, B.A., Mycologist on the Staff of 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture left Barbados 

 on September 10, by the S.S. ' Korona ' for Dominica, 

 for the purpose of making investigations into the 

 fungus diseases of various plants. Mr. South will 

 probably return to Barbados on the 20th instant. 



