October, 1909.] 



311 



Edible Products. 



plainly by statins: that (according to 

 Professor Way), the silicate of alumina 

 and potash have a similar chemical u affi- 

 nity for the ammonia of the atmosphere, 

 as hydrate of lime has for carbonic acid. 

 According to the authority already 

 given above, these four double silicates 

 of alumina are formed as follows : Part 

 of the alumina of the simple silicate of 

 alumina has been replaced "by soda, lime, 

 potash, or ammonia- Ammonia is more 

 valuable thau potash, whilst potash is 

 of more value than soda. Strangely 

 enough the silicate of alumina appears to 

 exercise a similar order of preference. If 

 a double silicate of alumina and soda 

 exists in the soil, and lime should be 

 brought in contact with it, the silicate 

 of alumina gives up the soda and takes 

 up the lime instead, and then we get 

 silicate of alumina and lime. The 

 presence of soda will not enable it to 

 displace the lime as the silicate of 

 alumina has a greater affinity for the 

 lime than it has for the soda. If, 

 however, some potash be added, the 

 lime is given up and the potash is taken 

 into combination, and then we obtain 

 silicate of alumina and potash. But 

 when ammonia comes within the in- 

 fluence of this compound there is so much 

 preference for the ammonia that even 

 the potash loses its position, and then 

 we get silicate of alumina and ammonia 

 formed. This being the highest of the 

 series is a very valuable fertiliser, and 

 when turned down the ammonia is con- 

 verted into nitrates, the silicate revert- 

 ing to a lower form and again becoming 

 hungry for ammonia. Its natural crav- 

 ing will again be satisfied when exposed 

 to the atmosphere by the next hoe, and 

 so the never-ending process goes on. 



Since writing the above, I notice a 

 member of the Luskerpur Valley Tea 

 Association, in an interesting article, be- 

 wails the general ignorance of planters 

 of the science of Arboriculture. If I 

 might venture to offer advice to the 

 member of the Luskerpur Valley Tea 

 Association, it would be, on their start- 

 ing sessions (they have been in recess 

 a long time now) to procure a number 

 of school primers on the first princi- 

 ples of agriculture. When they have 

 mastered those and think themselves 

 capable of passing the elementary exami- 

 nation as required by the Agricultural 

 Department, Science and Arts, South 

 Kensington, further arrangements might 

 be made for the members making them- 

 selves fit to try for an " advanced-" By 

 this time they will be better able to 

 understand the subjects they discuss, and 

 also be more able to teach their less 

 fortunate brethren living in the benight- 

 ed valley further east. 



RICE CULTURE ON THE ATLANTIC 

 COAST. 



(From the Louisiana Planter and Sugar 

 Manufacturer, Vol. XLII., No. 2, 

 January, 1909.) 



Elsewhere in this issue we reprint from 

 the Barbados Agricultual Ne%vs extracts 

 from a British Consular Report upon 

 Rice Culture in the United States. The 

 article is quite an interesting one, but, so 

 far as our knowledge of the industry 

 goes, and it comes from considerable ex- 

 perience in it, we believe that this article 

 pertains almost exclusively to rice cul- 

 ture on the Atlantic coast, where it is 

 radically different from rice culture 

 along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 

 Louisiana and Texas and along the 

 Mississippi River in Louisiana, where the 

 bulk of the rice of the United States is 

 now produced. The peculiar methods 

 of stretching rice in order to force its 

 growth, making it keep ahead in length 

 or height by keening water well up to 

 the top of the rice and thus stretching 

 the rice so that it shall get ahead of any 

 opposing grasses, was practised here two 

 or three decades ago, but only to a limited 

 extent. Such practice is usual in South 

 Carolina, but in Louisiana and Texas, 

 and, in fact, along the Mississppi River 

 in the central part of this state, our 

 methods are generally rather ruder ones. 



This British report refers to the dry 

 gi'owth, during which time, afer the 

 stretching of the plant and their gaining 

 after stretching sufficient strength to 

 stand up, the water is drawn off entirely 

 from the land and a period of dry 

 growth is established. The forty or 

 fifty days that may be employed in dry 

 growth in South Carolina are practi- 

 cally unknown in Louisiana, and would 

 result in the development of obnoxious 

 grasses, which every effort is made to 

 suppress. The only actual drying of 

 the lands that occur in Louisiana, be- 

 fore harvesting, is when the fields 

 are invaded by crawfish, which at times 

 come in multitudes and destroy the rice 

 fields, perhaps not quite so badly, but 

 somewhat similarly to the multitudes 

 of locusts that attack the grain fields of 

 Kansas at times. In Louisiana the 

 water is generally kept on the rice field 

 from the beginning of the season until 

 harvest approaches, unless it is taken 

 off for the purpose just given to banish 

 the crawfish. Again, the carefully pre- 

 pared sprout flow that is utilized in the 

 Carolinas is not known here. Rice is 

 planted here just as oats or wheat 

 would be in the North, in what we call 

 our dry culture practice, and in our wet 

 culture practice the rice is sprouted in 



