Chemical Composition of Plants. 



375' 



Raiffeisen Banks in Ireland. 



The - Eleventh Report of the Congested Districts Board for 

 Ireland indicates that there are now 56 Raiffeisen Agricultural 

 Banks in the congested districts, and that the Board voted during 

 the year ending March 31st, 1902, the sum of £400 for the 

 preliminary expenses incurred by the Irish Agricultural Organi- 

 sation Soci ty in establishing them. The capital lent by the 

 Board amounts to ^3,200, and the banks have obtained £2,276, 

 from other local sources. 



The Report states that these sums, although small and falling 

 short of the capital which could be beneficially employed, are not 

 in fact so insufficient as might be supposed, for it is one of the 

 principles on which these banks are constituted that they shall 

 each work in such a small district that the members may all be 

 known to one another. The financial success of the banks must 

 be measured by the profits made by the individual borrowers 

 and not by the gains credited to the bank. 



Evidence of the benefits derived by the borrowers from the 

 employment of the loans made to them continues to be highly 

 satisfactory. The loans are usually invested in the purchase of 

 calves, pigs, or sheep, and the profits made amount very 

 frequently to as much as 50 or 100 per cent. The care with 

 which loans are issued is shown by the fact that the banks suffer 

 no losses from bad debts, and the Board have no doubt that they 

 will gradually and surely acquire a stability and a position in, 

 public estimation which will enable them to obtain as much- 

 capital as they require, and that they will become less dependent 

 on official support than they are at present in this respect. It is. 

 reiterated in the Report that these small societies have a social 

 and educational value far in excess of the immediate economic 

 gain which has invariably followed their formation. 



Influence of Environment on the Chemical 

 Composition of Plants. 

 The Year Book of the United States Department of Agri^ 

 culture for 1901 contains an article by Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief 



