Vol,. V, Nfl> 105. 



THE AGRIOULTURAL NEWS. 



135 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



The following report of Messrs. Wolstenholme 

 & Holland on the condition of the Sea Island cotton 

 market is dated April 4, 1906 :^- 



We have to report a continuance of the good demand 

 for Sea Island descriptions of cotton at firm prices, all 

 offerings of desirable qualities being readily taken. 



The sales include Barbados cotton from 15(/. to It^i'/.; 

 St. Vincent, 1 Id. to 1 9t/.; St. Kitt's, UArf. to I'd.) Antigua, \f)d. 

 to 19(/.i Nevis, Whl.; and Montserrat, Hit?. 



The buyers of qualities over \Qif. per lb., having 

 a limited consumption, have generallj' .supplied their require- 

 ments, and we think there will not be much further demand 

 for extra qualities. 



Writing on the condition of the 8ea Island cotton market 

 for the week ending March 23 last, the Cotton Trade Journal 

 says that it closed active and firm with the demand good 

 from all sources. 



' The week brought out comment from the country as to 

 what effect the higher prices and better market will have 

 oil the coming Sea Island acreage. The opinion is freely 

 expressed that it will cause a change in sentiment, and that 

 a larger acreage will be put in by some planters than was 

 contemplated by them recently. Preparations are in progress 

 for the new crop, with ploughing going steadily on in all 

 sections.' 



SCIENCE NOTES. 



Supply of Nitrogen to Plants. 



Mr. J. Jamieson, Director of the Aberdeenshire 

 Agricultural Research Association, has recently issued 

 a report in which he claims to have discovered that 

 all plants can feed upon the free nitrogen of the 

 atmosphere by the agency of hair-like structures on 

 the leaves. 



The microscopic examination of the leaves of some 

 plants showed that, amongst the ordinary hairs, club-shaped 

 processes could be seen. These were empty at first, but 

 after they had developed, they contained a little albumen 

 near their tips. This gradually increased in amount, and 

 extended down to the base of the process. 'On a few 

 microcheniical tests' ilr. Jamieson bases the arguments 

 for his ' important discJDvery,' and concludes that these hairs 

 manufacture the albumen from the nitrogen of the air, and 

 then pass it along as food to the plant. 



No experiments appear to have been conducted to show 

 by analysis that plants have ' fixed ' any nitrogen during 

 their growth, and the large mass of work dealing with this 

 subject that has been done during the past sixty years at 

 Rothamsted and elsewhere is entirely dismissed. As early 

 as 1840, Liebig in his report on 'Organic Chemistry in its 

 Application to Agriculture and Physiology ' drew up a scheme 

 by which he suggested that plants obtained their nitrogen as 

 well as their carbon from the atmosphere. Experimental 

 evidence showed, however, that a normal vegetation, with few 

 exceptions, could not supply itself with the necessary 

 nitrogen from atmospheric sources. 



Leguminous plants have since been shown to be able to 

 fix aitrogen by the agency of bacteria in certain nodules 



on the roots. Mr. Jamieson denies the presence of any 

 such bacteria, and therefore dismisses any possibility of 

 improving land by means of leguminous crops. 



It is to be regretted that such an 'important discovery,' 

 which has resulted from misinterpretation of certain facts 

 familiar to any botanist, should be quoted without comment* 

 Moreover Mr. Jamieson is giving advice to practical farmers 

 in Aberdeenshire to alter the .systems of their cropping and 

 manuring, systems which have been devised after years of 

 experimental work. 



The Industrial Production of Nitrogen from 

 the Air. 



The Louisiana Planter for February 24, 1906, 

 contains ad interesting article by Mr. C. A. Zimmerman 

 on the artificial production of nitrogen compounds for 

 use as manures by agriculturists. From this article 

 the following extracts have been taken : — 



Nitrogen is indispensable for plants because it seems to 

 build up the so-called plant albuminoids. With the present 

 intensive cultivation of the soil, it has become necessary, with 

 many crop.s, to support the soil by the addition of nitrates or 

 salts of ammonia. There has always been a danger of the 

 supply of these nitrogenous fertilizers not being able to meet 

 the demand, and this has clearly been demonstrated during 

 the last few years by the rise in price per unit nitrogen. It 

 is also possible that the deposits of nitrate of soda in Chili 

 will sooner or later become exhausted, and then an important 

 source of nitrogenous manures will be cut off. It has, however, 

 been shown, that the atmosi)heric nitrogen can be transferred 

 into nitric acid by electricity and thence made into basic 

 nitrates. Repeated efforts to manufacture these nitrates 

 on a commercial scale have been tried in America, but the 

 cost of production has always been too high. Now, 

 however, a considerable amount of nitrate of calcium is 

 produced in Norway, whose nitrogen is gained from the 

 atmosphere by means of electricity and making use of the 

 mighty water powers of that country. Several factories are 

 in operation, and other plants are in construction in Dalmatia, 

 in the Austrian Alps. The details of the production and the 

 methods practised in the different factories are strongly 

 guarded secrets. 



The agricultural importance of the artificial productions 

 of nitrogen compounds, such as this basic calcium nitrate, 

 cannot be too greatly appreciated, and it would be gratifying 

 to know that other countries intend to extend, still further, 

 this industrial production from atmospheric air. 



FACTS ABOUT TURKEYS. 



The following brief notes on turkeys, which may 

 be of interest to readers of the Agrtcidtural News, are 

 taken from the Farm Journal for February 1906 : — 



Medium-sized turkeys are the best for breeding. The 

 eggs are usually fertile and hatch well, and a flock of six 

 should raise from 75 to 100 young a year. Turkeys will 

 thrive on any ground upon which people can live. 



It is a mistake to sell the older birds and retain the 

 younger ones for breeding ; for the turkey is not fully 

 mature until two years, is at it.? best at three years, nearly 

 as good at four, and is profitable as a breeder up to its fifth 

 year. 



Wholesome food, freedom from lice, and dry, healthy 

 quarters are the secrets of success. 



