NOTES. 197 



Sc'liroetlor assistant in animal husbandry in the university and station, and E. J. 

 Dehviclie suiierintondent of the Northern Wisconsin substations. 



State Experimental Farm in Brazil. — The following facts concerning the Fa- 

 zenda Modelo. at IMracicaba, Brazil, are furnished by its director, J. Willi.\ni 

 Hart, formerly of the University of Illinois : 



The Fazcnda has an area of 319.12 hectares (about 788 acres). AV)0ut 50 

 hectares are luider cultivation, and the remainder is pasture and second-growth 

 timber. The princijtal crops are corn, rice, beans, sugar cane, and cotton. 

 Many variety tests are Ciirried on. One field of corn from selected seed yielded 

 at the rate of 00 bu. per acre. Florida velvet beans, planted in corn at the last 

 cultivation, grew vigorously, and the I'oots were found to be covered with 

 nodules. Plat tests with alfalfa and California burr clover indicate no advan- 

 tage from liming, and that phosphoric acid is most needed. Alfalfa grown 

 under irrigation has given good yields, and garden vegetables are being grown 

 in contour checks and depressed beds. If this proves practicable a profitable 

 field will be opened, as during the dry season from June to November the mar- 

 kets are almost bare of green vegetables. It is also hoped that by means of 

 irrigation the planting of rice may be deferred so that the crop will mature 

 two months later than at present. In this way dry, sunny weather will be 

 insured for harvesting and thrashing. 



A plantation of 9.000 coffee trees and a vineyard of 400 grapevines have 

 been planted on newly cleared land. Over 100,000 seedling oranges and lemons 

 are in nursery rows, ready to be budded. George Weigt. a graduate of the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, England, is horticulturist and pomologist. 



The students of the Louis Queiros School of Agriculture receive instruction 

 In modern agiicultural methods. At present 47 are in attendance. The Fa- 

 zenda is equipped with the latest and best American machinery. The cattle 

 and hogs are mostly native blood, but improvement is I>eing sought through 

 importations from Europe. 



The State of Sao Paulo appropriates about JP2.J,000 a year for the main- 

 tenance of the Fazenda, besides special ai>propriations for the erection of 

 buildings. 



New Experiment Stations in Madras. — The Madras Department of Agriculture 

 has arranged to start a new experiment station at Attur. in the Chingleput dis- 

 trict, and another at Nandyal, in the Kurnool district. The former will be de- 

 voted to the thorough trial of jjereunial and exotic cottons under irrigation and 

 to the growth of fodder ci'ops, and the latter is to be devoted mainly to the study 

 of the varieties of cotton known as " Northerns " and their improvement hy 

 selection and crossbreeding. .V study of the sorghum crop of the Nandyal \'al- 

 ley will also be made. 



Chinese Experimental Field. — The Chinese Government has approved a re- 

 quest made by the native board of commerce at Peking for the u.se of the Loshan 

 garden, which is situated on the Imperial Road outside of the Ilsichih Gate of 

 Peking, with an area of KiC^ acres, as a field for agricultural experiments. In 

 190.J the board was authorized to take measures for the encouragement of agri- 

 culture, but up to the present, with the exception of the few experimental fields 

 and agricultural schools established in Chihli, Shantung, Shansi, Honan, and 

 Fukien, little has been done along this line. 



Agricultural Investigation for Tropical Agriculture. — At the York meeting of 

 the British Association the past summer Prof. Wyndhani Dunstan, in his open- 

 ing address to the section of chemistry, speaking of some of the oi>i)()rtnnities 

 aff(U-ded to applied chemistry in the field of agriculture, said : 



" If we are to compete successfull.v with foreign countries, it is necess.-iry that 

 the position of science in relation to tropical agriculture should be definitely 



