Dec. 1894.] 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



225 



Manuring or excessive manuring produces rank, unfruitful 

 vines. Guano is sometimes applied in America at the rate of 

 from 50 to 250 lbs. per acre. Bone dust is also used. 



In America the usual picking season is in October. The 

 berries are sometimes gathered by means of a rake called the 

 cranberry rake ; but the finest and most valuable berries are 

 those gathered by hand as strawberries are picked. 



There must be n)any spots in England, which are practically 

 useless for other crops, where cranberries might be successfully 

 cultivated. The main requirements are a peaty soil with sa,nd. 

 and a good water supply for irrigating the land easily and econo- 

 mically at times during the summer, but it would not be necessary 

 to flood the beds during the winter in this country. 



Insurance of Crops in Russia. 



The Wiener Landwirthschaftliche Zeitung states that the 

 Russian Government has recently devoted some attention to the 

 subject of harvest insurance owing to the terrible distress caused 

 amongst the peasantry of a large part of Russia by the failure 

 of the harvest in 1891 and 1892. A project was started in 1893 

 with the object of affording assistance in the future by means of 

 some form of insurance. The scope of this scheme of harvest 

 insurance was confined to the 50 European Governments of 

 Russia. The project is based upon two forms of harvest or 

 crop insurance, one of which, applying to all peasants' holdings, 

 is compulsory, the other, applying to other kinds of holdings, 

 voluntary. Fields which have been abandoned, or so poorly 

 cultivated as to offer no prospects of a crop, are excluded from 

 insurance; for these no payment is made. The premium 

 charged is on an average about fivepence per acre. Naturally 

 this amount varies according to the condition of soil and climate. 

 Detailed provisions are made for the settlement of premiums, 

 not only in the several Governments, but also in respect of the 

 local condition. Payment of these premiums may be made 

 either in cash or in corn. In the case of compulsory insurance 

 the minimuQ} yield per acre is taken as a normal basis. 



It is proposed that as soon as the scheme has been sanctioned 

 the compulsory insurance of peasants' holdings shall continue 

 for life. 



The National High School for Agricultural Industries 



IN France. 



The Government High School, which was opened at Douai 

 last year, is the newest of the six £coles nationales d' Agriculture 

 which have been established in various parts of France. Two 

 of these institutions — one at Grignon, near Paris, and another 



O 84193. F 



