1904.] 



Rubber Seed Cake. 



5» 



The Board are informed by the Foreign Office that the 



Bavarian Ministry of the Interior have recently issued an 



account of the administrative measures 



Agriculture in taken between 1897 and 1903 in that 

 Bavaria. e . . c 



country to further the interests 01 



agriculture. Among other information it is stated that in 

 1898 inquiries were instituted concerning the profits on farms, 

 with the result that the average interest yielded in Bavaria 

 proper amounted to 1*9 per cent., while in the Bavarian 

 Palatinate it was only 1*5 per cent. 



The Government makes large grants in aid of agriculture, 

 the total now approximating to £300,000 per annum, in 

 addition to which special grants have from time to time been 

 made, besides loans partly bearing no interest and partly at 

 3 per cent It is estimated that the total outlay including loans 

 in aid of agricultural interests during the years 1896 to 1903 

 amounted to £2,377,000. 



Of late years considerable areas have been planted with the 

 Para rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) in the tropics, and especially 

 in the Federated Malay States. No use 



^ U ^Gake* ee ^ ^ as> ^ owever ' ^ een ^ oun< ^ f° r tne see ds, and 

 a consignment of these is being investi- 

 gated by the Imperial Institute with a view to the possible 

 commercial utilisation of what has hitherto been a waste- 

 product. These seeds contain a large quantity of oil, and it 

 appears possible that it could be used as a substitute for 

 linseed oil. The Imperial Institute also received a sample of 

 about seven pounds of finely ground meal prepared from the 

 seeds. This was subjected to examination to ascertain if it 

 could be used as a food for cattle. It is said that animals 

 readily eat the kernels in the Straits Settlements. The meal, as 

 sent from the Straits, was found to be unsuitable for this pur- 

 pose, owing to the presence of large quantities of free fatty 

 acids ; but it is thought that if the oil were expressed from the 



