NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Mr. J. F. Sears, B.H., has accepted 

 an engagement with the Nova Scotia 

 Fruit Growers' Association. Mr. Sears 

 is a graduate of the Iowa Agricultural 

 College, Ames, Iowa, and will take up 

 the work as director of the Nova Scotia 

 School of Horticulture at Wolfville. 

 Professor Faville, who has had charge 

 of the work for some years, and who has 

 been very successful, resigned last sum- 

 mer to take up similar work at one of 

 the leading American experiment sta- 

 tions. 



That Great French Preserving 

 Process which was so lauded by inte- 

 rested persons at the World's Fair, con- 

 sists according to Prof Saunders, chiefly 

 in the use of sulphur. Recently also a 

 package of the powder was examined at 

 the Indiana Experiment Station, and 

 the compound was found to contain sul- 

 phur, charcoal, nitrate of soda, cane 

 sugar, and common salt : thus : — 



14-2° per cent. 



Cane sue-ar, 

 Salt, 



Nitrate of soda, 1,6 



Sulphur, jy^. 



Charcoal, moisture and in- ' 



soluble matter, 25.64 



The essentials of the directions for 

 the use of this material were that the 

 compound should be burned in a closed 

 space and the fumes arising from the 

 burning be absorbed by water placed in 

 suitable vessels, and that the fruit in 

 some cases should also be exposed to 

 the fumes. Finally the fruit was to be 

 placed in the water which had absorbed 

 the fumes of the burning compound and 

 the vessel closed. The burning of the 

 compound would result in the pro- 

 duction of sulphur dioxide, also known 

 as sulphurous acid, as one product, and 

 it is this substance which exerts the 

 preservative action in the process. The 



other ingredients are merely to aid in 

 the burning of the sulphur. 



This sulphur dioxide is an intensely 

 poisonous gas and its use prohibited 

 as a food preservative in European 

 countries. When the gas is absorbed 

 by water sulphurous acid, a powerful 

 therapeutic agent, is formed. There is 

 no doubt that its preservative action will 

 be effective, for it is one of the best 

 antiseptic and bleaching agents. But 

 there are grave objections to the indis- 

 criminate use of powerful therapeutic 

 agents in food The parties having the 

 material and rights for sale state that the 

 material or process is covered by a 

 patent. On inquiry at the U. S. patent 

 ottice it was learned that the patent 

 with the number said to belong to this 

 process was issued for some sort of 

 machinery and had no relation to this 

 subject. 



The British Weeklv has it that Mr. 

 Kipling has not changed his opinion of 

 the Canadian climate in spite of the end- 

 less exclamatory periods after " Our 

 Lady of the Snows." It would seem 

 that he is indeed wedded to his idols, 

 for he has contributed the following skit 

 to "Wee Willie U'inkie," the juvenile 

 periodical edited by Lady Marjorie Gor- 

 don, the daughter of Lord Aberdeen : — 



■' There was once a small boy of Quebec, 

 Who was buried in snow to the neck. 



When asked : ' Are you friz ? " 

 He replied: 'Yes, I is, 



But we don't call this cold in Quebec.' " 



Programmes are out for the meeting 

 of our Association at Waterloo, on the 

 15th and 1 6th, and may be had on ap- 

 plication to the Secretary at Grimsby. 

 A large and important meeting is ex- 

 pected. 



462 



