194 



In this i)amphlet the colony and long house systems are de- 

 scribed, and bills of material for different houses are given. 



Milk Staiidanis. A study of the Bacterial Count and the Dairy 

 Score Card in City Milk Inspection by W. K. Brainerd and 

 W. L. jMallory. \'irginia Agric. Exp. Sta. Bulletin No. 194. 

 This bulletin discusses the use of the dairy score-card in regu- 

 lating the sanitary condition of city milk, and reports results of 

 studies to determine the relation between the bacterial content of 

 milk and its rating as measured by the score curd, and the value 

 of the bacterial count as a supplement to the score card in city 

 milk inspection. 



Relation of Calcareous Soils to Pineapple. 



Chlorosis, by P. L. Gile. Porto Rico Agric. Exp. Sta. Bulletin 11. 

 A chemical study of chlorotic soils and plants. 



MECHANICAL RUBBER TAPPERS AND GATHERERS. 



The late J. B. Carruthers when at the head of the Botanical Gar- 

 dens in Trinidad, expressed himself as doubtful of the possibility 

 of planters of Hevea anywhere in the Americas competing with 

 those in the Far East. He acknowledged that everything in the 

 way of climate, soil and moisture was ideal in the Guianas, for 

 example, but the labor cost seemed to him an insurmountable 

 obstacle. That is to say. 15 cents a day as against 40 cents for 

 a coolie was enough to make a marvelously profitalile business in 

 Malaya unprofitable in Guiana. Were Para rubber to drop to 

 50 cents a pound and stay there, it doubtless would cause those 

 who are considering planting in the Americas to pause, but such 

 an eventuality is hardly possible for years to come, at least. Plan- 

 tation Para costs in the Far Fast, say, 25 cents a pound. In the 

 Guianas it may cost 35 cents, perhaps 40 cents, but even at that it 

 will be a marvelously profitable crop. 



Then, again, it must be remembered that labor costs in the Fast 

 are gradually going up. It is not improbable that with the enor- 

 mous expansion in planting in Ceylon, the Federated Malay 

 .States. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, etc.. labor will become .scarcer 

 and wage scdcs appreciate considerably. Then, too, there is the 

 mechanical faculty of the American i)lanter to be taken into ac- 

 count. It is bv no means thinkable that the last word has been 

 .said upon methods of tapping, gathering and coagulating. With 

 trees .set in orderly rows equally distant one from another, who 

 can say that it is impossible to operate mechanical tappers and 

 gatherers that will do the work of hundreds of coolies? When 

 the Yankee gets too far behind in the race for any sort of 

 supremacy, he is likely to discover some .short cut that lands him 

 at the goal with the rest. lie certainly is far behind in the pro- 



