6 



Average Price per Ton of fair quality Sisal Hemp in the London and Liverpool Markets for 13 years 



from 1879 to 1891 (inclusive ). 



Months. 



1 879. 



1880. 



1881. 



1882. 



1883. 



1834. 



18S5. 



1886. 



1887. 



1888. 



1889. 



1890. 



1891. 





£ 



B. 



& 



8. 



£ s. 



£ 8. 



£ s. 



6 



8. 



£ 8.. 



£ 8. 



£ 



B. 



£ 



s. 



£ 



B 



£ s. 



£ 8. 



January 



23 







32 



10 



28 



27 10 



28 



22 



10 



19 



17 15 



27 



10 



36 







50 







40 10 



28 10 



February 



23 







32 



10 



29 



27 10 



28 



22 



10 



1.8 10 



17 15 



28 







36 



to 



52 







iS 



27 10 



March 



22 







29 



10 



27 



26 10 



28 



23 



10 



18 10 



18 10 



28 



10 



37 







56 



10 



32 



28 10 



April 



21 



i) 



29 



10 



29 



25 



29 



23 







18 10 



18 5 



31 







3S 







53 



10 



28 



28 



May 



21 







26 



10 



29 



27 



27 



2L 







19 10 



18 10 



32 







35 







53 







26 15 



28 10 



June 



22 







23 







29 



28 



26 10 



21 







19 10 



18 15 



30 



o 



32 



10 



49 







26 



28 



July 



22 







23 







27 10 



28 



27 



20 







18 10 



19 15 



30 







29 







50 







25 



27 



August 



24 







24 







26 10 



-il 10 



25 10 



21 







18 10 



24 10 



33 







32 



10 



50 







25 



23 10 



September 



25 







25 



10 



2.) 10 



28 10 



25 10 



20 







18 10 



25 10 



37 







39 







to 







27 



22 10 



October 



23 







25 







27 10 



30 



25 10 



»19 



10 



18 10 



24 



40 







39 







50 







26 10 



22 



November 



29 







25 







29 10 



29 



24 t 



19 



10 



18 10 



26 



40 







40 







45 







32 10 



21 



December 



32 



10 



25 



](. 



28 10 



28 10 



24 



19 



10 



18 5 



26 



39 







45 







45 



I 



29 10 



22 00 



Average £ 



24 



27 



28 



28 



27 



21 



19 



21 



33 



37 



50 



30 



26 



PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



In the couiie of a paper on technical education, before the Easingwold (England) Chamber of Agri- 

 culture, on April 10 last, Mr. J. Harrison read the following letter frim Professor Huxley, which 

 appears also in the Agricultural Gazette of England : — 



" I am afiaid that my opinion upon the subject of your inquiry is worth very little, my ignorance 

 of practical agriculture being profound. However, there are some general principles which apply to all 

 technical training. The first of these, I think, is that practice is to be learnt only by practice. The 

 farmer must be made by thorough farm work. I bi-lieve I might be able to give you a fair account of 

 a bean plan f , and of the manner and condition of its growth ; but if I were to try and raise a crop of 

 beans, your club would probably laugh consumedly at the result. Nevertheless, I believe that your 

 practical people would be all the better for the scientific knowledge which does not enable me to grow 

 beans. It would keep you from attempting hopeless experiments, an 1 would enable you to take advan- 

 tage of the inumerable hints which Dame Nature gives to paople who live in direct contact with things. 



* —J 1 «mJj mo +o t h o. rronor n 1 nr i n pi n) r> which I thi.ilr Mnnlioa tn nil t.p>/-bn ir»il tcnoWincr nf <aphr>nl hova 



ana school girls, and that is, that they should Ws fed from tha ob*erv.ifi>n of the commonest facts to 

 the general scientific truths. If I were called upon to frame a course of element .ry instruction prepara- 

 tory to agriculture, I am not sure that I should attempt chemistry, or botany, or physiology as such 

 It is a method f. aught with danger of spending too muoh time and attention on abstraction and theories' 

 on words and notions instead of things. Toe history of a ban, of a grain of wheat, of a turnip of a 

 shecep, of a pig, or of a cow, proj erly treated, with the introduction of the elements of chemistry phy- 

 siology, and so on, as they come in, would give all the elementary science which is needed for the com- 

 prehension of the processes of agriculure in a form easily assimilate I by the youthful mind which 

 loathes am thing in the shape of long words and abstract no'io is, and small blami to it I am afraid 

 I shall not have helped you very much, but I believe th it my suggestions, raugh as they are, are in the 

 right directum. Yours, &c, 



T. H Huxley. 



PRESERVATION OF POTATOES. 



The difficulty of keeping Irish Potatoes in edible condition in late spring is well known to house- 

 keepers, farmers and merchants. Professor Sehribaux, of the natioual College of Agriculture of 

 Franco, has recently di vised a very simple, cheap and successful method by which he has be m able 

 to preserve Potatoes in edible condition for over a year and a half. This process has been adopted by 

 the Fiench Government for preserving Potatoes for the army. The French Minister of Ao-riculturo 

 publishes the details of the process in the official Bulletin du Ministere de l' Agriculture for March 1891 

 The following is a tianslaiion of the essential p irt of the scheme. The method of preservation con- 

 sists in plunging the tubers before storing them away for ten hours into a 2 per cent, solution of com- 

 mercial tulphurie acid in water, two parts of acid to 100 pans of water. The acid penetrates the eyes 

 to the depth of about one-fortieth of an inch, which serves to destroy their sproutin<* power" it does 

 not have any appreciable effect upon the skin of the potatos. After remaining in the°liquid ten hours 

 the tubers must be thoroughly dried before storing away. The same liquid may be used any number 

 of times with equally good results. A bar. el or tank of any kind will do for the treatment. The acid 

 is so dilute that it does not affect the wood. Chemical analysis shows that Potatos treated by this pro 

 cess arc as nutritious and healthful after eighteen months as when freshly dug; but they are of course 

 worthless for planting. — Science. 



YIELD OF POTATOES. 



In distiict of Red Hills, elevation 1,800 feet, "I planted 203 lbs of potatoes between 7th and 12th 

 January, and they were dug between the 3 1st Mai oh and 4th April, yielding 6Z2 lbs. To.; yield was 

 ■mall, owing.to the severe diought. The potatoes are good, though not large." 



L. F. Ma cKinnon. 



In England, 8 cwt. of potatoes urc allowed for seed per aero, and the yield is from 6 to 7 J tons per acre. W~F~ 



