Vol. X, No. 250. 



THE AGKICDLTURAL NEWS. 



377 



Details are presenteil concerning the stock farm, 

 and an appendix contains a statement of revenue and 

 expenditure in connexi«in with this. The section of the 

 Report dealing with the farm concludes oy stating that 

 the rainfall for the twelve months ended March 81, 

 1911 was 112'1 inches as compared with 91"5 inches in 

 the preceding year. 



Agriculture in British India, 1910-11. 



Returns issued by the Commercial Intelligence 

 Department of India show that the yield of rice in 

 1910-11 was .554,029.000 owt., from 57,852,000 acres, 

 as compared with o57,1.3(),000 cwt., from 58,119,000 

 acres, in 1909- 10. The similar figures for wheat were 

 9,954,800 tons and 29,794,500 acres, and 9,633,600 

 tons and 28,10{v500 acres. As regards cotton, the 

 figures are given for the quantities exported from India 

 and consumed in the country in and outside mills (not 

 the net exports and consumption); they show that the 

 quantities thus designated were 4,6.30,000 bales, as 

 against .5,228,000 bales in 1909-10. 



Of oil seeds, the totals of pure and mixed linseed, 

 and rape and mustard seed, were 557,800 tons and 

 1,250,300 tons: in 1909-10 they amounted to 427,800 

 and 1,218,400 tons. Pure and mixed sesame totalled 

 511,600 tons, as compared with 560,800 tons in the 

 previous period. 



Others of the chief products are given, as regards 

 yield, as follows, for 1910-11 and 1909-10 respectively: 

 ground nuts, 479,900 tons and 459,300 tons; jute, 

 7,932,000 bales and 7,206,600 bales: indigo, 38,100 

 cwt. and 39,300 cwt.; sugar-cane, 2,226,400 tons and 

 2,127,100 tons. 



Trade and Commerce of St. Lucia, 1910-1 1. 



The Annual Report of the Treasurer of St. Lucia, 

 1910-11, has just been published in the Gazette for 

 September 30. 



It shows that the total value of the exports during 

 the year was £238,955. Of this, £ll(i,307 was the value 

 of domestic produce, £116,861 that of bunlcer coal, and 

 £5,987 that of the produce and manufixctures of places 

 other than St. Lucia. 



Sugar and cacao were the chief domestic products, 

 making 92 per cent, of the total value of such produce. 

 The details are: sugar 5,275 tons, value £65,747; cacao 

 8,187 bags of 200 lb., value £40,935. 



The chief among the other domestic products 

 exported were in value as follows: molasses £1,914, 

 cotton £1,302, hides £699, firewood £682, and mangoes 

 £521. There were increases in all these cases, over 

 the value for the previous year, except in those of hides 

 and mangoes; the value of the cotton exported was more 

 than treble of that in 1909. 



Information concerning the direction of the export 

 trade of domestic products during 1910 shows that the 

 percentage to the United Kingdom was 69, to British 

 Colonies 12, and to foreign countries 19; the proportion 

 of the exports to the United Kingdom and British 

 Colonies has increased from 768 per cent, in 1909 to 



81 per cent, in 1910, while that to foreign countries has 

 decreased from 232 percent, to 19 percent, for the 

 same period. 



It is pointed out that the total trade between 

 Canada and St. Lucia in 1909 was returned at £15,449; 

 in 1910 it was £26,258. Much of this increase is due 

 to the fact that information concerning the country of 

 origin of the produce was given in the later year, on 

 the Customs entries forms. Nevertheless, a gratifying 

 increase in the value of St. Lucia exports to Canada is 

 reported, as in 1909 it was £6,321, in 1910 £11,460, 

 and the suggestion is made: ' it is most urgent for 

 St. Lucia's future progress that every effort be made to 

 retain the Canadian market, even to sacrificing tempo- 

 rarily a certain amount of revenue.' 



Excretion from the Roots and Stomata of 

 Plants. 



It has long been known that the ash of plants 

 grown in nutritive solutions contains different propor- 

 tions of the constituents from those present in the 

 solution that was taken in by the roots. Liebig's 

 explanation of the matter was that the roots expelled 

 those constituents that are not needful to the plant, 

 and caused the apparent discrepancy. 



In pursuance of the subject, work has been under- 

 taken which has been described in ('om-ptes Rendv^a 

 de I'Academie des Sciences, Paris, February 20, 1911. 

 A review of this contained in the Balletin of the 

 Burexu of Agricultural Intelliyence and of Plant 

 Diseases, for March 1911. shows that maize plants were 

 cultivated in sterilized mineral solutions, and the resi- 

 dual liquids examined; these were found to possess an 

 alkaline or acid reaction, according as they contained 

 originally, when they were absorbed by the roots, sodium 

 nitrate and ammonium sulphate, or magnesium sul- 

 phate or ammonium nitrate. 



Where the solution contained calcium carbonate 

 and sodium nitrate, the reaction became alkaline, and 

 it was shown that this condition was due to the 

 assimilation of nitric acid. Roots were found to excrete 

 organic compounds, particularly sugars and malic acid. 

 When roots cause the solution in which they are grow- 

 ing to become alkaline, this is found to contain malic 

 aciil, which neutralizes the residual soda derived from 

 sodium nitrate. The process is for the malic acid which 

 has neutralized the soda to become oxidized by the 

 roots, the sap of which remains acid. Another interest- 

 ing conclusion is stated to be the effect that the variation 

 in the quantity of ash constituents in plants is brought 

 about partly by the elimination of mineral substances 

 by secretions from the leave.s. These secretions are of 

 such a nature that the moisture collected in the evening 

 or in the morning from leaf surfaces contains chlorides, 

 calcium and magnesium sulphates, nitrates, ammonia 

 and organic compounds. 



The review mentioned summarizes the position as 

 follows: ' The elimination of mineral substances through 

 the roots and by the leaves is a cause of continual 

 variation in plant ash.' 



