644 
Supplement to the " Tropical AgricuUurist." [March 1, 1902. 
In this connection it might be mentioned that 
old nut grass bulbs contain a good deal of resin 
which is quite apparent on biting through a bulb. 
Even in the fresh state the bulb is distinctly aro- 
matic from the presence no doubt of resinous 
matter. Some time ago we unearthed a quantity 
of nut grass bulbs which had been buried some 
time in the ground, and discovered that they con- 
tained as much resin as they could well-nigh hold. 
The milk, butter, and cheese yield of a cow is 
of course a variable quantity and depends a good 
deal on the class of animal, the quality and quan- 
tity of food and other causes. Some authorities 
say that a good cow should not produce less than 
250 lbs. butter or 500 lbs. cheese. Others take as 
the standard of production 6,000 lbs. of milk or 
260 lbs. butter or 600 lbs. cheese. In the best 
dairies a cow producing less than 250 lb=<. butter 
per annum is not considered profitable enough to 
be retained. Mr. Miihon. Principal of Queensland 
Agricultural College, always expects a cow to yield 
200 lbs. butter or 500 lbs, cheese, reckoning that 
it requires 2^ gallons milk to make 1 lb. butter, 
and one gallon milk for 1 lb. cheese. 
EAINFALL TAKEN AT THE GOVERNMENT 
STOCE GARDEN FOR FEBRUARY, 1904. 
1 
Monday 
Nil 
16 
Tuesday 
Nil 
2 
Tuesday 
Nil 
17 
Wednesday ,., 
Nil 
3 
Wednesday,., 
Nil 
18 
Thursday 
Nil 
4 
Thursday ... 
Nil 
19 
Friday 
Nil 
5 
Friday 
Nil 
20 
Saturday 
Nil 
6 
Saturday ... 
Nil 
21 
Sunday 
Nil 
7 
Sunday 
Nil 
22 
Monday 
Nil 
8 
Monday 
Nil 
23 
Tuesday 
Nil 
9 
Tuesday 
Nil 
24 
Wednesdiiy ... 
Nil 
10 
Wednesday ,., 
Nil 
25 
Thursday 
Nil 
11 
Thursday ,.. 
Nil 
26 
Friday 
Nil 
12 
Friday 
•12 
27 
Saturday 
Nil 
13 
Saturday ... 
Nil 
28 
Sunday 
•10 
14 
Sunday 
Nil 
29 
Monday 
1^60 
15 
Monday 
Nil 
1 
Tuesday 
•41 
Total in. ...2-26 
• Mean in..,. "08 
Greatest amount of rainfall in any 24 hours 
from 28th to 29th = 160 inches. 
No, of days in which rain fell — 4 days. 
C, DRIEBERG. 
THE SCIENTIST AND THE FOOD PROBLEM. 
It has been said that mankind is never more than 
three months removed from abject starvation — an 
old truth that must always be new and startling. 
That is, if all resources of food production in the 
■world should be suddenly cut off— the wheat 
fields failing to give forth their usual crops, and 
the pastures withering under the feet of the 
flocks and herds, — the existing store of food would 
supply mankind barely a quarter of a year, and 
even before that hunger would have pinched 
thousands of the poor. In this day of overflowing 
abundance such a statement as this comes with 
something like a shock : it shows by how fine a 
thread the life of mankind is suspended. 
It has been pointed out by the pessimistic 
philosopher that the wheat fields of the woild are 
failing year by year, — slowly, it is true, but failing ; 
that in many countries the land is being " cropped 
to death," and already we are hearing of worn-out 
land in Dakota — the paradise of the wheat-pro- 
ducer, Tlie problem, therefore, as seen by these 
pessimists, is simple: The world is reaching the 
limits of its capacity for food production, while the 
population continues to increase enormously : How 
soon will starvation begin ? 
While these philosophers have been making dire 
predictions, however, science has been quietly but 
perseveringly at work to prove that mankind has 
only just begun to sound the world's capacity for 
food production, and that it is practically limit- 
less. The mistake of the pessimists has been that 
they have based their arguments on the present 
knowledge of soil culture, forgetting that science 
might make discoveries which would change every 
condition and suggest entirely new possibilities. 
Somehow, when man seems just at the limit of 
his resources, science and invention step in and 
open new fields, literally as well as figuratively, 
A comparatively few decades ago no one had 
thought of using artificial fertilisers ; now a young 
man in Paris is putting up fertilisers in lictlfe 
pressed tablets, a different kind for each different 
plant. They are accompanied by directions indi- 
cating how often the doses must be given and at 
what time. This, of course, is the extreme applica- 
tion of a new system; but the manufaccure of 
artificial fertilisers for supplying the soil with 
just the elements that it needs to produce large 
crops has now become a great business enterprise, 
and with a constantly decreasing cost of manu- 
facturing power ; the harnessing of waterfalls like 
Niagara, the use of the tides, and the possibility 
of the direct application of the energy of the 
sun promise still cheaper fertilisers and still smaller 
expense of transporting them to the farmer. All 
this will tend to maintain and even to increase 
food production. And then there is the possibility, 
and it is now more than a possibility, of making 
artificial food outright — that is, of combining the 
familiar chemical elements of which food is com- 
posed and producing a food substitute that will 
sustain life. 
No one need go farther than the laboratory of 
Professor Berthelot of Paris to be convinced of the 
great possibilities in this branch of scientific 
activity. The work is already under way, and 
science stands ready, the moment the world lacks a 
complete dinner, to help out with wonderful new- 
food products harvested from retorts and crucibles, 
I have barely mentioned these two branches of 
scientific effort to lead up to the wonderful 
experiments of Professor Nobbe of Germany— ex- 
periments which give an insight iuto the un- 
fathomed possibilities which lie at the hand of the 
scientific investigator, 
Tharandt, in Saxony, where Professor Nobbe 
has carried on his investigations for over 30 years, 
is a little village set picturesquely among the' 
