604 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 590. 



But we have yet to work out the reign of 

 intelligence in political life. We have yet 

 to learn that our chiefest political issues 

 are clean, honorable, frugal and efficient 

 administration of the simple duties of 

 public office. We have yet to learn the 

 intimate relation between righteousness, 

 intelligence and economic prosperity. 



Teaching Agriculture in Rural Schools: 

 Professor W. F. Massey, North Caro- 

 lina Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Raleigh, N. C. 



1. The agricultural colleges have been 

 greatly handicapped in their development 

 of efficiency for want of preparatory 

 courses in agriculture in the secondary 

 schools. 



2. Though the time is not yet ripe for 

 the general establishment of district schools 

 for agriculture, the great need of the times 

 is some elementary instruction in the form 

 of branches of stvidy applicable to the work 

 of the farm. 



3. The next great need is the training of 

 teachers. This is beginning to be met by 

 summer-school courses at our colleges of 

 agriculture. School children's interest 

 should center not only on the natural pro- 

 ductions of the locality, but also on the 

 study of the soil, methods of tillage, influ- 

 ence of sunshine, rain and the weather gen- 

 erally on plant life and growth. At .the 

 St. Louis Exposition 8,000 specimens of 

 corn were exhibited which that number of 

 boys in Illinois had raised, 1,250 of whom 

 took prizes ranging from 50 cents to $500. 



4. The south needs this work especially, 

 and must begin with a kind of kindergarten 

 work with the youngest, to be followed by 

 the school garden work for the older or 

 more advanced pupils. The children of 

 the farmer will see in this occupation the 

 future which they seek— a future which 

 will keep them not only from forsaking the 

 old homestead, but result in multiplying 



homesteads, where abandoned fields now 

 await the magic touch of scientific intel- 

 ligence. 



Some Proilems of Agriculture in Texas: 

 Professor 6. S. Fraps, Texas Experi- 

 ment Station. 



The problems of Texas are on the whole 

 those of a rapidly developing country, a 

 search for men, money, crops adapted to 

 the soil and markets to sell them. The 

 maintenance of the soil fertility is begin- 

 ning to be of importance. The cotton men 

 have the boll weevil, the boU worm, dead 

 cotton ; the rice men, to institute a rotation 

 and soil treatment which will maintain the 

 productiveness of their soils. The cattle 

 men are improving their stock. Fertilizers 

 are being used, and their use is increasing. 



Utilization of the By-products of the Cane- 

 sugar and Rice Mills: Professor W. 

 R. DoDSON, State Experiment Station, 

 Baton Rouge, La. 



Louisiana leads aU other states in the 

 union in the production of these by- 

 products, and has done more than has been 

 done elsewhere in determining their real 

 value and encouraging their utilization. 



There are three main by-products in the 

 rice mills of Louisiana : rice hulls, rice bran 

 and rice polish. Rice hulls are practi- 

 cally of no value as foodstuffs, while rice 

 bran and rice polish are of great value as 

 such. Rice polish is now worth from $22 

 to $24 per ton, and it ranks high as a con- 

 centrated foodstuff. Compared with wheat 

 bran, it contains 20 per cent, more digest- 

 ible carbohydrates and 4 to 4^ per cent, 

 less digestible protein. Rice polish is very 

 valuable foodstuff for swine. Rice bran 

 has been greatly adulterated as it rose in 

 public estimation and in value as foodstuff. 

 The adulteration is principally with ground 

 rice hulls, which are practically of no value 

 as food. Sometimes mixed rice and wheat 

 bran are found for sale on the markets in 



