Vol. XVI. No. 395. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



191 



"The total weight of the tractor tully loaded with fuel 

 and water, as weighed by us, was 23] cwt. 



"The tractor is light for its power and consequently light 

 on the land, is easily handled, turns in a small circle, and 

 leaves a very narrow headland. 



"The motor is quickly started up from cold on a small 

 supply of petrol. 



"After these trials we proceeded to Messrs. Ford's works 

 at Traflford Park, Manchester, where one of the motors had 

 been sent to be dismantled and inspected in detail. 



"We find the design of ample strength, and the work of 

 first rate quality We consider the driving wheels rather 

 light, and we understand that a new and stronger pattern is 

 to be supplied in future. 



"The tractor is designed purely for working on the land, 

 and the wheels, which are fitted with spuds, should be pro- 

 vided with some protection to enable them to travel on the 

 road when moving from farm to farm. 



"Bearing the above points in mind, we recommend ,under 

 ■existing circumstances, that steps be taken to construct 

 immediately as many of these tractors as possible." ' 



It may be added that a great deal is being done bj' the 

 Ministry of Munitions on some of their lands, to pojjularize 

 motor traction, and a note on this subject appeared in the 

 last issue of the Agricultural News. The co-operative use of 

 a motor plough in England is described in ihe Journal of the 

 Board of Arjriculture of England and Wales for June 1916. 

 while the same .lournal for October 1916 deals with the trial 

 of tractors for a variety of agricultural purpose.", and the issue 

 for January 1917 with trials made in France. There is no 

 doubt that very soon the motor tractor will be a common 

 object on the English farm. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



An Experiment m Long-continued In- 

 breeding. — More than 25,000 guinea-pigs have been 

 reared by the Bureau of .\nimal Industry on its experi- 

 mental farm at Beltsville, Md., to test the effects of inbreeding. 

 Brother and sister have bem mited in each generation, and 

 some of the families have now reached the seventeenth 

 generation. While a few strains have run out, others are 

 nearly as vigorous as are the control families. But the 

 ■important fact is that there is no general deterioration; the 

 various defects that have appeared are not correlated. One 

 family becomes strong in one respect and weak in another; 

 in a second family conditions are exactly the reverse. 

 Such a state of affairs does not lend any support to the 

 popular idea that inbreeding necessarily produces degen- 

 eracy. The various kinds of deterioration are to be 

 accounted for in different ways. In general, the belief of 

 geneticists is apparently confirmed, that even long-continued 

 inbreeding does not necesarily mean deterioration. It tends 

 to make the members of a family more alike, and to 

 perpetuate all variations that occur. If the strain is a good 

 one, inbreeding will improve it; if it is a weak or defective 

 one, inbreeding will bring the defects into prominence and 

 probably lead to the elimination of the strain. When the 

 results of this investigation (which is in charge of Dr. 8ewan 

 Wright) are finally published, they .should furnish more 

 precise and detailed information about the effects of 

 inbreeding than has heretofore been available. (From the 

 loiiru'd of Heredity.) 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol- 

 lowing report on the London drag and spice market, 

 for the month of April 1917: — 



There is little or no change to be reported in the general 

 condition of the drug ant' spice markets since our last report 

 for March. All the same drawbacks exist to prevent 

 increased demands at increased prices, with the result that 

 purchases are made in decreasing bulk sufficient only for 

 present demands. The entry of America into the war has also 

 had much to do in unsetlling the markets for the moment, 

 in view of the possibility of supplies of war necessities being 

 drawn to America. The following are some of the principal 

 items. 



<:INGEE. 



This article has been in but little demand throughout 

 the month. At the last auction on the 25th smill purchases 

 were said to have been made of Sierra Leone at 1:5s. per cwt. 

 in Liverpool. In Mincing Lane some 200 bags of rough. 

 brown Calicut were offered, and bought in at 70s. to 75s. 

 per cwt., and out of 110 bags of fair limed Japanese offered, 

 80 were sold at 49s. per cwt. 



S.iRS.iPAEILL.-l. 



At the first drug auction in the month, namely on the 

 llh, the offerings of this drug were limited to 25 bales of 

 Mexican and 4 of native Jamaica, neither of which fouud 

 any buyers. Later on ia the month it was said that there 

 were enquiries for both grey Jamaica and Lima, both of 

 which were expected to arrive shortly; meantinre some sales 

 of native red Jamaica had been made at Is. Qd., and Mexicaa 

 at Is. 5rf to Is. 6c?. 



CITRIC .iCID, AN.X.MTO, CASHEW NUTS, I'ANELLA ALBA, KOLA, 

 LI.ME JUICE, PIMENTO, TAMARINDS, AND AEKOWEOOT. 



At the beginning of the month citric acid was firm at 

 from 3s. Xd. to 3s. M. per B)., maintaining the latter price 

 for the rest of the month. 



Annatto seed was in good supply, fair bright being 

 quoted at 8rZ. At the first auction on the 4th of the month 

 as many as 57 packages of cashew nuts were offered, none 

 of which, however, found a buyer. Ten packages of Canella 

 alba bark also were offered at this auction and none sold, 

 while 90 packages of kola, also brought forward at the same 

 sale, were all disposed of, 13 packaj'es of West Indian 

 fetching ^)\d. to ■r'ld. per Bb. for medium to bold; whole nuts 

 and halves, African, which were reported as very scarce, 

 were disposed of at the following rates; good sound quarters 

 S\d. and '\d. for slightly wormy. Lime juice was represented 

 at the same auction by 36 puncheons, only 9 of which found 

 buyers at the following rates; fair pale raw Grenada Is. 9<^. 

 per gallon, and brown Trinidad Is. 6d. 



The quotation for pimento in the early part of the 

 month Avas from 4,^,^ to i\(}. per ft., and at the end of th6 

 month 150 bags were offered and bought in at i\d. A 

 consignment of tamarinds was brought forward at auction 

 on the 12th of the month; the price asked was 40s. per cwt. 

 for new Barbados, duty paid. Quite at the end of the month 

 a consignment of some 46 barrels of good manufacturing 

 St. Vincent arrowroot was offered and bought in at o\d. to 



Hd. 



