Vol. X. No. 252. 



THE AQRICULTURAL NEWS. 



413 



STUDENTS' CORNER. 



JANUARY. 



First Period. 



Seasonal Notes. 



Opportunities should be taken of examining cotton bolls 

 at their various stages of development, particularly with the 

 object of noting in what ways they are affected by disease and 

 by abnormal weather conditions. Bolls are commonly lost 

 through boll-dropping, which appears to be due to tlie latter 

 cause. In other cases, the l>olls may be observed to have 

 become woody, and in others still, those near the ground are 

 likely to be attacked by a rot. In some instances, too, the 

 bracts of the bolls that have nearly attained complete devel- 

 opment become flared; on opening such bolls, the immature 

 lint is seen to be discoloured. Try to correlate these dif- 

 ferent appearances with their several causes — disease or 

 otherwise. Bolls which open at a time of damp weather most 

 usually contain matted masses of lint, and there is likely to 

 be loss from this cause. 



In the preparation of land for sugar-cane, careful atten- 

 sion should be given to the detail?, especially in regard to 

 the application of manures and the turning in of green dress- 

 ings. Discuss the use of green dressings on lands where the 

 rainfall is small, as well as their employment in heavy, wet 

 lands. State what conditions are most favourable for the 

 proper changes to take place in green dressings that have 

 been buried in the soil. 



What are the chief precautions to be taken in sowing 

 seed, of kinds of which you are familiar, in nursery beds ''. 

 In such work, small seeds are often covered with a layer of 

 soil that is too thin and too loose, with the result that they do 

 not obtain the moisture that is necessary for germination, 

 and seedlings are not produced from them. It is important 

 that the soil should be compacted by pressure, after seeds 

 have been sown. Why is this the case, and what means 

 exist in practice for effecting it on a large scale ? Give an 

 account of the sowing, in the field, of such a crop as maize. 

 On what conditions does the good germination of seeds 

 depend, and how would you test the capacity to germinate of 

 a sample of seed > 



How is the fact, that plants of the same kmd grown 

 from seed tend to show variation, made use of in practical 

 agriculture? Discuss the matter particularly in regard to the 

 control of diseases and pests. Distinguish carefully between 

 growth from a cutting and growth from a seed. 



What is meant by the texture of a soil, and what rela- 

 tion does this liear to what is known as tilth ? How does 

 good texture assist in the beneficial changes that take place 

 in the soil, as well as with the growth of the plants in it '. 

 Give an account of all the ways, of practical application, in 

 which the texture of the soil may be improved. 



Questions for Candidates. 



PRELIMINAEY QUESTIONS. 



(1) What are the uses of roots! 



(2) Give an account of the general life-history of 



""fs) State the uses of stock to the agriculturist. 



INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS. 



(1) How do roots obtain plant food from the soiK 



(2) Write a description of the life-history of any fungus 

 that you have observed. 



(3) How may the by-products from stock on an estate 

 be utilized.' 



FINAL QUESTIONS. 



(1) Discuss the question of the depth of tillage, in 

 relation to the root systems of different crops. 



(2) Give an account of the ways in which fungi are 

 beneficial in agriculture. 



(3) State the approximate ages at which the male and 

 female of the following should be allowed to breed: horse, 

 donkey, goat, pig, slieep, various kinds of poliltry. 



THE INHhJRITANCE OF MILK YIELD 



IN CATTLE. 



In the Journal of the Board of Agriculture for 

 November 1911, the following abstract is given of 

 a paper denling with the subject of the inheritance of 

 milk yield in cattle, appearing in the Scientific Pro- 

 ceedings of the Roi/al DuMin Society, V6l. XIII 

 (New Series), No. 7: — • 



Professor .James Wilson suggests in this paper, from an 

 examination of milk records, that milk yield is a factor in- 

 herited according to Mendel's principles. Danish records, 

 relating to the breed of red Danish cows, were chiefly consi- 

 dered, as British records have seldom been kept for a long 

 enough period to give information relating to several genera- 

 tions of cows, and American records usually refer to the butter 

 yield, which depend.s upon both the yield and quality of the 

 milk — factors that are inherited separately. In order to con- 

 sider the performance of a cow during a lactation period, it 

 was necessary to apply corrections to the record when the 

 lactation period had been prolonged, owing to a longer interval 

 than the usual twelve months between two calvings, and also 

 on account of the natural rise in milk yield with the advanc- 

 ing age of the cow. With regard to the latter point, Profes.sor 

 Wilson considers, from an examination of the records of the 

 Irish Department of Agriculture's farms, that a cow's yield 

 usually increases up to the birth of her fourth or fifth calf, 

 that is, when she is six or seven years old, and that the total 

 increase, from the first to the fourth or fifth calf, is on the 

 average about .50 per cent. 



•The records of a number of Danish cows and their 

 progeny for several generations are given in the paper, aind 

 Professor Wilson concludes from them that improvement in 

 milk yield by breeding is not a slow and gradual process, aS 

 has formerly been supposed. If a daughter is not on an 

 approximate equality with her dam as a milk producer, she 

 is either much higher or much lower. He divides these cows 

 into three grades, and suggests a Mendelian explanation of the 

 difi"erences between mother and daughter, namely, that the 

 extreme grades are the parent strains, and the intermediate, 

 the hybrid. The records that have been obtained of the 

 progeny of a few bulls also lead to the .same conclusions. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture returned 

 to Barbados on Wednesday, December 13, by the 

 R.M.S. ' Oruba', from an official visit to Montserrat and 

 Antigua 



