Vol. XVI. Xo. 396. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



201 



have to be added since om- original numbers had to be 

 multiplied. Our tables tell that the number which 

 has for its logarithm .5'7708].S — the answer to the 

 addition — is 589,27-5, which is the answer desired. 



It is well to see how the process can assist a busi- 

 ness man, saj', in calculating what £3,520 would amount 

 to in twenty years at 4 per cent, per annum compound 

 interest. It' this had to be worked out by finding the 

 interest year by year, it would probably take a couple 

 of hours. By Napier's invention we proceed thus: Take 

 the logarithm of 104; multiply that by 20; add to the 

 answer the logarithm of 3,520; find from the tables the 

 number which has this number for its logarithm, and 

 the answer is there 



Planters in the West Indies have oftentimes to 

 measure off plots of land for cultivation and for other 

 purposes, and would find a knowledge of logarithms of 

 great assistance in this as well as in other measurements, 

 and in money calculations. 



All Experiment Workers should make themselves 

 familiar with the use of logarithms. 



The High Price of Agriculture. 



In Bulletin No. .JJff/ of the Ontario Agricultural 

 College (for January 1917) are given particulars of the 

 exports of agricultural produce from the Dominion for 

 the fiscal year 1915-16. Considering the value of the 

 exports of animal produce with that of the exports of 

 agricultural produce, the aggregate for the fiscal year 

 ending March 31, 1916, amounted to .'?37 2,394,380, as 

 compared with a total export value for the same period, 

 of manufactures, including munitions, of $250,052,223. 

 In other words, the total export value of agricultural 

 produce is practically one and one-half times as great 

 as the value of the exports of manufactures, including 

 munitions of war. 



Pressing the comparison still further, the aggregate 

 of exports from all sources, including mining, fishing, 

 lumbering, manufactures and agriculture, for the fiscal 

 year 1915-16, amounted to .$77'9,300,070. Of this the 

 total export value of animal and agricultural products 

 amounted to 48 per cent. For the fiscal years 1911-12, 

 1912-13, 1913-14 and 1914-15, the export value of 

 animal and agricultural products amounted re.spectively 

 to 53 per cent., 51 per cent., •j7 per cent., and 54 per 

 cent. In other words, during tl;e last five fiscal years 

 the exports of agriculture yielded an industrial revenue 

 to the country of more than half — to be exact, 520 per 

 cent. — of the total return from all sources combined. 

 Again, the aggregate export trade for the first five 

 months, April-August, of the current fiscal year, 

 amounted to $443,254,333, of which $222,176,467 

 represents the proportionate value of agricultural 

 products, or slightly over 50 per cent, of the total 

 exports. 



Bearing in mind the fact that the great increase 

 in the export value of manufactured products is 

 attributable almost entirely to the manufacture of war 

 munitions, the financial return yielded to the country 

 hv flcrrittnlture is all the more creditable. 



Molasses as a Fertilizer. 



With reference to the article in the Agricidturai 

 Neivs of June 16, p. 179, dealing with the possibility of 

 usefully employing the waste molasses obtained in cane- 

 sugar factories as a fertilizer for cane land, an article in 

 the International Sugar Journal for April is of interest. 

 According to a patent recently taken out in North 

 Queensland, molasses can be cheaply treated so as to 

 reduce largely its weight and character, hence concen- 

 trating the valuable manurial ash content and at the 

 same time destroying its fermentable sugars, which are 

 converted into humus-like bodies of undoubted manurial 

 value and beneficial to the physical qualities of probably 

 all soils. 



This treatment, which will obviate, it is claimed, 

 the disadvantages attending the application of 

 molasses to the soil, consists, it appears, in evaporating- 

 and partially or fully carbonizing the molasses. If, for 

 example, the process be carried only to the stage of 

 the destruction of sugar, the potash content if an 

 average molasses be used will be about 7 per cent., 

 equal practically to 14 per cent, of commercial sulphate 

 of potash. If, however, it be taken to the full stage 

 of carbonization, the potash content will be abouti 

 20 per cent, of commercial sulphate. If, again, it be 

 pushed to the final stage, the percentage of potash will 

 represent approximately that of commercial sulphate. 



Drought and Pood Supplies in St. Lucia. 



So critical had become the situation in St. Lucia, 

 in consequence of the effects of the drought on effort-' to 

 increase the local food supply in that island that the 

 Agricultural Superintendent, in a Minute to the 

 Administrator on May 28, urged that the mi'm- 

 bers of the Food Committee should be informed 

 of the shortage and that on no account should food 

 provisions either in a raw or manufactured state be 

 allowed to be exported. Every effort was to be made 

 by the officers to push the replanting of sweet potatoes 

 throughout the island as soon as the rains set in. 

 In consequence of this notice a Government Notice 

 was published recommending planters and peasants 

 to pay special attention to the replanting, as' soon 

 as weather conditions were favourable, of large areas 

 of sweet potatoes, inasmuch as sweet potatoes 

 produce profitable crops in three or four months, 

 whereas cassava requires ten to twelve months before 

 it can be reaped. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture in reply to the 

 report of the Agricultural Superintendent draws the 

 latter's attention to what is being done in St. \'incent 

 with the com drier and granary. In view of their high 

 nitrogenous value, the increased production of beans 

 and peas is also advised. 



