1912.] 



Notes on Agriculture Abroad. 



961 



Nearly all the Belgian slag was imported via Dantzig, and competed 

 successfully against the German product. Here again, adds the Con- 

 sul, is an excellent opening lor British exporters, provided they will 

 give four to six months' credit, and can supply high-graded slag con- 

 taining at least 17 per cent, of phosphoric acid soluble in citric acid. 



Demand for Agricultural Machinery in Bulgaria. — H.M. Vice-Consul 

 at Sofia, in reporting on the trade of Bulgaria in 1910, states that 

 machinery ploughs are supplied in Bulgaria on easy terms by the 

 Agricultural Bank and its provincial agencies. In the case of larger 

 machinery, farmers co-operate to purchase threshers and reapers, &c, 

 which are provided by the bank for 40 per cent, cash, the machines 

 themselves being the security for the remaining 60 per cent. The 

 agricultural society and the Magasin National of Sofia provide machinery 

 on similar terms, most of it being ordered in Austria-Hungary and 

 Germany. 



According to statistics published in 1909, there were at work 

 throughout the country 398,000 native and 84,000 modern ploughs, 

 761 drills, 4,156 reapers, 611 threshers, and 73,700 other agricultural 

 machines. 



Possibility of an Export of Guano from Assumption Island, Sey- 

 chelles.— The possibility of an export of guano from Assumption Island, 

 Seychelles, is discussed in a report recently prepared by the curator of 

 the Botanic Station in the Seychelles. 



The guano, it appears, occurs on the island in two forms, viz., as a 

 shallow formation over the surface, and in pits which have become 

 gradually filled with guano as a result of the washing action of rain 

 water. The amount of surface guano available is estimated at 270,000 

 tons, and of pit guano about 106,000 tons. The latter is stated to be 

 of the best quality, much richer, in fact, than the surface guano, since 

 the action of percolating water in the pits removes much of the organic 

 matter and increases the proportion of phosphate of lime. (Bulletin of 

 the Imperial Institute, Vol. IX., No. 1, 191 1.) 



Agricultural Machinery in Smyrna. — A memorandum on the increase 

 in the use of agricultural machinery in the province of Smyrna, Turkey, 

 has been received from H.M. Vice-Consul at Smyrna (Mr. Heathcote 

 Smith), in which it is stated that a demonstration train was run 

 through the province for nearly 40 days in the autumn of 1909, carry- 

 ing specimens of agricultural machines, which were exhibited and 

 submitted to practical trials at all the principal agricultural centres. 



Great interest was aroused by comparative tests between the local 

 wooden plough and European ploughs. The representatives for the 

 English machines arranged for a dynamometer to be fixed on to the 

 different ploughs when working, and, its reading being very /simple, 

 the peasants were able to follow the demonstration with ease. The 

 increased use of ploughs is seen from the figures relating to imports 

 into the province; these were, in 1908, 1,649, valued at £1,773; m 

 1909, 5,113, valued at ^6,013; in 1910, 4,728, valued at ^"4,386; and 

 in 191 1 (eleven months only), 8,756, valued at ^8,045. The imports 

 of harrows, reapers, reaper-binders, mowers, threshers, traction engines, 

 vine sprayers, and machine parts is also increasing. 



3 u 



