Vol. X. No. 249. 



THE AQKICULTURAL NEWS. 



359 



winter in order that arrangements may be made to proceed 

 with the developments without delaj', .should the experiments 

 ultimately prove successful. 



lNiil.\. Some very important proposals have been receiv- 

 ed from the Indian Government, and it i.s suggested that the 

 Association should commence certain experiments in the 

 province of Sind. These proposals will shortly be considered 

 by a Special Committee of representatives of the Master Cot- 

 ton Spinners' Federation and the Association. 



THE INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL 



CONGRESS AT MADRID. 



The Jouru'tl of the Board of Atjriculture for September 

 1911 gives a detailed summary of the proceedings at the 

 International Agricultural Congress held at Madrid in May 

 last, which is based on an article in the Journal d'Ar/ricul- 

 ture Pratiqut', the latter publication having given the Board 

 permission to utilize the information jilaced at the dis[iosal 

 of its readers. In turn, the following alistract has been pre- 

 pared from the article in the issue of the Journal of the 

 Board of Ar/rindture mentioned. 



The work of the Congress was comprised in eight 

 sections, namely: (1) economics, (2) statistics, (3) surveys, 

 (4) forestry, (5) viticulture, (6) fruit culture, (7) breeding of 

 live stuck, (8) manures. The scheme followed was to provide 

 material for discussion by the reading of preliminary papers, 

 to discuss the conclusions in these, and to pass resolutions 

 based on those conclusions. For the furtherance of the work 

 the Permanent Commission of the Congress is responsible for 

 the transmission of the resolutions having an international 

 object to the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome. 

 The following paragrajihs present the matters of more direct 

 interest that came forward in the various sections. 



ECONO.Mii's. More than twenty five papers were submit- 

 ted for consideration and the tirst matter to which attention 

 was given was the means of keeping agricultuiist.?, bjth owners 

 and workers, on the land. One of the most interesting [lapers 

 had reference to the provision of housing accommodation for 

 labourers in connexion with the purpose mentioned. Atten- 

 tion was also given to agricultural education, co-operation 

 and agricultural credit. In relation to the last two, sugges- 

 tions were brought forward with respect to the organization of 

 credit societies, and conclusions of a general nature were 

 made. The importance of water supply in Spain led to the 

 reading of numerous papers on the suliject; the demand in 

 that country is for the control, by the State, of water recjuired 

 for agricultural operations. Another matter which came 

 before this section was the interference with the water supply 

 for agricultural purposes by the use of water-power for 

 electric power systems. 



ST.iTisTics. In regard to this section, a series of resolu- 

 tions was made having relation to the following matters: 

 (1) the provision of an otficial statistical department for the 

 issue of information in regard to crop production; (2) the 

 taking of means to obtain in each country, as frequently as 

 possible, the prices current for agricultural products and the 

 quantities offered and sold at the ditlerent rates; (3) the 

 recommendation that the present work of the International 

 Institute of Agriculture at Eome, in connexion with the issue 

 of statistics, should be maintained and extended; (4) the pro- 

 vision of standards of quality of produce in different 

 countries, for the purpose of which the International 

 Institute of Agriculture at Rome should be asked to define 



useful types; (-5) the provision of statistics concerning the 

 more important crops, from the time of sowing until the 

 attainment of maturity. 



SURVEYS. In this section, there was only the adoption 

 of a series of general recommendations dealing with the 

 advantages and disadvantages of different official survey 

 methods. 



FORE.S'rRY. The general conclusions have relation to 

 the following points : (1) the necessity for reafforesta- 

 tion; (2) the recognition of both protective and produc- 

 tive forest areas; (3) complete State control in all moun- 

 taii^ous areas owned by villages or public bodies, and 

 technical inspection on its part for privately owned 

 mountainous land within the forest zone; (4) the delimita- 

 tion and classification by the State of the mountainous 

 regions within the forest zone; (5) the provision of an 

 international code in regard to reafforestation; (6) legislation 

 for, and state support of, reafforestation; (7) the arriving at 

 agreements among the countries interested, in regard to inter- 

 national rivers: (8) the popularizatirm of the pirtial substitu- 

 tion of forestry for cultivation, where this is desirable, by the 

 adoption of Arbor Day schemes and similar measures. 



vitichlturk and fruit-growing. Be.sides the matters 

 having relation to wine-making, attention was given to the 

 classification and exchange of insects parasitic on forms 

 inimical to agriculture. 



LIVE .STOf'K. The most important matter was the feed- 

 ing of cattle; there was also a resolution requesting uniform- 

 ity in regard to sanitary regulations relating to animals, and 

 the teaching of animal hygiene. Attention was also given to 

 methods of treatment of grass lands and the provision of 

 pure seed for pasture crops. 



MANURES. The object of this .section was to collect 

 information concerning the manures in the manufacture of 

 which the nitrogen of the air is utilized. The discussion of 

 the papers presented led to the following conclusion (in the 

 words of the Journal): 'nitrate of lime and calcium cyana- 

 mide are nitrogenous manures well deserving the attention of 

 the whole agricultural world, though more experiments with 

 these manures must be undertaken in ord-r to ascertain 

 exactly how they should be used.' Finally, it was concluded 

 by the Section that nitrate of lime [jossesses an action similar 

 to that of nitrate of soda, while the behaviour of calcium 

 cyanamide i.s apparently like that of sulphate of ammonia. 



The Queensland Timber Industry.— The forest 

 resources of (Queensland are extensive, amounting to 

 40,000,000 acres, or 932 per cent, of the whole area of the 

 State, while 3,836, 191 acres, or 0S9 percent, are specially 

 reserved by the Oovernment for timber. The forests of 

 Queensland yield a great variety of woods noted for strength, 

 durability, and beauty. The Eucalyptus dominates the 

 forests, which contain ironbark, grey, spotted, and red gum, 

 black butt, and turpentine. The conifers, too, are numerous, 

 including .Moreton Ray and brown, and bunya-bunya pines. 

 Among the brush timbers of fine grain are red cedar, beach, 

 tulip wood, and rosewood. In the extensive plateaux west of 

 the dividing range off from the coast there is but little timber, 

 and in the vast basin of the interior usually only .stunted 

 Eucalyptus trees are found. The quantity of timber cut and 

 sawn in Queensland in the latest year for which the particulars 

 are available was 100,760,000 superficial feet, valued at 

 £660,000. (From The Jovnia! of llie Royal Societi/ of Art's.) 



