■92 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



March 24, 1917. 



?// 







An important article on tests of boilers with megass as 

 fuel, appears in the Louisiana Plader tor January 27, 1917 

 Tests were made a", four diifei'ent factories with the view to 

 obtaining the amount of fuel consumeil, equivalent evapora- 

 tion, temperatures, hcrse power developed, etc It is 

 understood that the- information 

 issued as liudetin Xo. I'lO of 

 Iniversity 



referred to has 

 the Louisiana 



been 



State 



GLEANINGS. 



It is stated in the Colonial Journal for .January 1917, 

 that the price of logwood last autumn had risen to £22 per 

 ton, and of chips to £25: before the war the prices were £5 

 and £7, respectively. Extract was 2s. and is. iiJ. per tti., 

 having been ^kl. before the war. 



Thymol appears to be a valuable driig'.in the treatment 

 of hookworm. In Jamaica the best results were obtained by 

 making use of both thymol and oil of Chcnopiduni at a suit- 

 able interval. The Ajowan plant which yie'ds thymol will 

 "row satisfactorily in the West Indies. 



Pieference is made in the Colonial J ■unvil for January 



1 7, to the British occupation of German East .Vfrica. Last 



October a branch of the Standard Bank of South Africa was 



opened at Tanga. It is understood also that German-grown 



. sisal is now being shipped to Great Britain. 



An article in the Journal ot Heredity iot February deal-s 

 with bud Variation in lemons. It shows the importance of 

 careful selection nf bud wood for propagation. The low 

 yield in some of the lemon groves of Carlifornia is due to 

 the propagation of the trees from buds of the 'shade tree' 

 strain instead of from the productive strain trees. The article 

 will be read with interest by those connected with lime 

 cultivation in the West Indies. 



Flour standards are discussed in an article in A' !'«/•« for 

 January 18, 1917. It is advocated that instead of increasing 

 the perceiitHge of offal to be included in the Hour, other 

 cereals should be mixed with first grade wheat tloui-. In 

 this connexion corn tlonr (maize starch) is advocated. 



It is stated in the /'ort-o/--^/Kiin Gazette (Trinidad) that 

 the liritish Government has approved of the use of kapok 

 in the manufacture of life preservers, and that henceforih 

 it, is likely that this fibre will take the place of cork. Kapok 

 is obtained from the silk cotton tree (Eriodendun a>if>ac- 

 /jto.'KOT), commonly seen in the West Indies. 



The death of \)i\ X. H. J Miller, of Itotlianisted 

 E.'cperi mental Station, is announced in Nature for January IS. 

 ])r. Miller's chief work was the measurement of the amount 

 .•f the combined nitrogen brought down in the rain, and of 

 the amounts of nitric nitrogen washed out from the soil 

 J'.otli measurements were indispen-sable for the settlement 

 ...'■ iuiiHirtaiit controversies in agricultural science. 



Accirding to the report of the Porto Itico Agricultural 

 Experiment Station for 191.5, efforts are being made at that 

 station to raise some hybrid Vani'las, but up to the present 

 no plants have been obtained from seed. Some very 

 interesting results have been obtained relative to the desirable 

 length for vanilla cuttings. It appears that every advantage 

 lies with the longest cuttings Experiments in the matter 

 of liming, showed that vanilla plants receiving only small 

 applications of lime grew much better than those to which 

 laige quantities were applied. 



Pveference was made in the last issue of the A jricitttura.1 

 News to the progress that is being made in connexion with 

 the eradication of the native food-plants of the cotton stainer 

 in St. Vincent. .\ furtlier report (for February) has been 

 received from the Agricultural Superintendeut, Mr. W. N. 

 Sands. Up to February 2,{v the total number of John 

 Bull trees and silk cotton trees that have been destroj'ed 

 since the beginning of tlie campaign were II. .570 and 

 and 1 3i5, respectively. In addition, thousands of -seedlino.s 

 have been destroyed The total e.x]jenditure up to February 

 28 was £257 Us M 



In Forest Bulleiin No 33, dealing with an enquiry by 

 the Gjvernment of India into the reia'.ion between forests 

 and atmospheric and soil m listure in India, it is concluded 

 that the results .show that there has been no permanent 

 change in the amount of rainfall over large tracts, either for 

 the better or wor.se. Such evidence as is available in India 

 points to the conclusion that the influence of forests probably 

 lends to increase the rainfall, but not in any marked degree. 

 The main rainfall in India depend.s on the monsoon currents 

 whicli are affected by conditions obtaining outside India 

 and not by any destruction or re establishmeut of forests. 



The recent industrial development In South Africa is 

 dealt with in the .][ont/di/ Ma(/a:ine of the Incorporated 

 Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool (December 1916). The 

 export of beef frnm the t^nion continues, and recent reports 

 indicate that a much better and more uniform class of 

 meat is now being sent to the I'nited Kingdom. As rewards 

 dried fruit, between 300 and 400 tons of (.'^pe raisins were 

 placed on the I'nited Kingdom market in 1915. South 

 Africa is making rapid progress in its export trade in 

 citrus fruit, and it is e.vpected that the production within the 

 Union next year will reach about l.OOO.O'JO boxes. Xo 

 reference is made in this article to the production of s^gar. 



