871 
the Journal of the Society of Arts for March Tith, 
an account of the process of the extraction 
of the oil is given. The cultivation of the sun- 
flower in Russia is generally considered very 
profitable, and it ia extending owing to the 
increased demand at home and abroad for the 
seed. At the average yield of 1,350 lbs. of seed 
to the acre, and at the average price of fd. per lb., 
there is an income of about £4 an acre; and 
this can be increa.sed where the grower expresses 
hi.s own oil. Two kinds of oil are obtained 
from the sunflower : tlie better kind is sweet 
and more expensive, the infeior having a bitter 
taste, and is -kl. cheaper. The oil not fit to be 
used as food is used in certain industries. 
Professor Kinch of Cirencester, writing on 
plant food, in the Farmer and Stock-breeder, 
says, that the amount of water present in the 
atmosphere in the form of invisible vapour, 
is very varying, and may be from less than ^ 
to 3 per cent. The higher the temperature, 
the more water vapour can be held in the 
air. In England the average amount of moisture 
in the air is about l-fg per cent. An immense 
amount of water is required by plants to carry 
on their life processes and make up the loss 
by transpiration. It is estimated that to produce 
a bnshel of wheat, about 15 tons of water are 
required. In England about 3,000 tons of water 
are annually deposited. There is about 21 tons 
of carbonic acid gas for each acre of the earth's 
surface. The fact that carbonic acid was decom- 
posed by plants, with the fixation of carbon 
and the evolution of oxygen, seems to have 
been first shown by Sennebier about a century ago, 
though Prie.stly and Ingelhousz had been very 
near it previously. It was however clearly proved 
to be the case by experiments of De Sanssure 
and Boussingualt. 
The Indian Agriculturist referring to the 
Bombay Veterinary School, to which one of the 
assistant masters of the School of Agriculture 
proceeds next month, for a course of training, 
says : — "As a school of veterinary medicine it 
is doing useful work, as is evidenced not only 
by the number of young men trained within 
its walls, but also by the number of animals 
sejit there for treatment. In its inception 
the hospital was intended as a charitable 
one for the assistance of those who were unable 
to pay the fees of high veterinary skill. But 
like other institutions of its kinds its benefits 
are more appreciated by the rich and intelligent 
classes than by the poor and the ignorant. It 
is only natural that the knowledge of such a 
hns]ntal should spread more quickly among the 
int(!lligent tlian among the ignorant ; but when 
wo I'md tlint its benefits are in danger of being 
monopolised by well-to-do clients it is necessary 
that some change should be made to deter such 
persons from using the hospital without adequate 
payment. At present the only charge is for 
feeding tlio animals, all the rest is free. The 
time has come therefore to charge a sufficient 
fee for veterinary attendance. The fee, no doubt, 
will 1h; paid ghidly, im horses are .sent rliere not 
to save money hut to ol)taiu the highest .skill 
available, and these fees will permit the society 
to extend its usefulness by providing large 
accommodation for those who cannot afford to 
pay fees. If the horse stables are full the same 
cannot be said of the cattle sheds. There is 
accojnmodation for about two hundred beasts, 
of which not half is ordinarily occupied. The 
poor are ignorant and timid, and are naturally 
averse to sending their animals to a place where 
they are not allowed to interfere with them. 
They have no idea of the treatment which will 
be followed, of the time they will be deprived 
of their beasts, or of the cost which will be 
incurred. It is, moreover, a novelty, and the 
poor are suspicious of novelties. Many of them 
shrink from using the public hospitals when they 
are sick, and they do not see the use of sending 
their bullocks to hospital. These prejudice* 
have to be overcome, and the hospital authoritiet 
have, we may assume, been working quietly 
but surely in popularising the institution. But 
it is clear that in the beginning the poor must 
be drawn to the place by the most liberal and 
considerate treatment, and by fees which must 
be nominal. When it has once taken hold of 
the public the rush to the hospital will be 
noticeable, and it will be time to raise the 
fees to something like the real cost." 
A gentleman, whose duties impose on him a 
good deal of travelling, and who often meets 
with our Agricultural Instructors about the 
country, urges upon us the great importance 
of a proper system of inspection over the students 
of the school who have been stationed in 
remote parts of the island. By this system of 
inspections, we are told, the Agricultural In- 
structor will always have some one to consult 
in their difficulties, while the Agricultural 
Inspector will be able to personally (and that 
is the only satisfactory way) find out for himself 
what work is being done at each station, criti- 
cise and censure where necessary, approve 
and encourage where such action is warranted, 
and in fact give each Instructor such " tips " 
as in 9 cases out of 10 would never occur to 
his mind. Our informant spoke of these 
instructors in a sympathising tone : " Poor 
fellows, " he said, " it is too bad to leave them 
all alone in some dark place of the earth and 
expect them often to solve agricultural problems 
that would puzzle an expert." In some cases, 
we were told, the Agricultural Instructors are 
under the sway and terror of some native pro- 
vincial grandee who poses as Agricultural Director 
in his district, against whose dictum it would 
be madness to proceed. Others, again, we are 
informed, are being misdirected by those who 
it might be expected would guide them. Much 
more of the difficulties and dangers that attend 
the agriculturist abroad was poured into our 
ears, but our informant being a traveller, we 
may pardonably regard all we heard as "traveller's 
tales," till we can have the very best reason for 
believing it. Still, the fact remains tliat such 
things are possible, and while the possibility 
exists, the danger of the reality exists also. 
In every department the system of inspection 
has been found not only to be good but absolutely 
essential for the satisfactory progress of the 
work of that department, and though a distinct 
agricultural department does not exist per t>e, 
it is most necessary that minor agricultural 
