Vol. VIII. No. 92. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[August, 1902.] 209 
the competition of the artificial product. Indian planters can no longer raise 
the price by withholding the dye when the market is weak, for the artificial 
article is always there to supply the demand, and there is a constant tendency 
towards lower prices. Tea to the amount of 180,000,000 lb. was exported — a 
reduction of more than 10,000,000 lb. — and values fell still more. As to 
coal, the amount sent away was slightly less than in the preceding year ; 
two-thirds of it went to Ceylon, and most of the remainder to Aden and 
Singapore. 
The following table shows the variations which have occurred in the 
prices of certain Indian railway securities, during the past three months : — 
29th May. 30th June. 30th July. 
Bengal and North Western 
I 3 0-I 34 
129-133 
128-132 
Bengal-Nagpur Gua. 4 per cent. . 
105— 109 
105-109 
105-109 
Bombay, Baroda & Cent. India . 
160-164 
158-162 
1 54 -i 5 8 
Indian Midland 4 per cent. 
105-109 
104-108* 
105-109 
Madras Grntd. 5 per cent. 
I 35 _I 39 
137-141 
I 34 -I 39 
South Indian 4^ per cent. Deb. . 
138-143 
U 7 -U 1 
137-141 
Southern Mahratta 3^ per cent. . 
* Ex. 
106-109 
div. 
105-108* 
104-107 
Foreign Countries. — An important item of news arrived from China 
towards the end of the month, when it was announced that Imperial sanction 
was given on the 21st to the scheme proposed by Sir J. L. Mackay for the 
abolition of likin stations in return for increased import and export duties. 
Publication of the details of the scheme was, however, deferred. 
Our usual table of exchanges follows 
28th May. 
28th June. 
29th July 
Paris, cheques . 
25b 2ic. 
25k 17c. 
25k 1 6c. 
Berlin, sight 
20m. 49 pf. 
20m. 46|pf. 
20m. qSpf. 
Vienna, sight 
24kr. 3b. 
24kr. ih. 
23kr. g 6 hh 
Amsterdam, sight 
I2fl. I4§ 
I2fl. 14^ 
12ft. 12J 
Madrid, sight 
34 PS. 65 
34 ps. 40 
34ps. 40 
Lisbon, sight 
. T 1 
4 j. 1 e u. 
42^d. 
4 i fd. 
St. Petersburg, 3 months 
94r. 20 
94r. 1 0 
941'. 10 
Bombay, T.T. 
is. afd. 
IS. 3§-|d. 
is. 3j£d. 
Calcutta, T.T. 
is. 3|d. 
is. 3y|d. 
is. 3y|d. 
Hong Kong, T.T. 
is. 84 d. 
is. Sid. 
is. 8-fd. 
Shanghai, T.T. . 
2s. 3§d. 
2 S. 3 |d. 
as. 3fd. 
♦ 
AGRICULTURAL RETROSPECT. 
United Kingdom. — The weather of July was, on the whole, favourable 
to farmers, and brilliant spells of sunshine of sufficient duration enabled them 
to secure the greater part of their hay crops in splendid condition. The 
late-sown root crops made their appearance under acceptable conditions 
of weather, and by the middle of the month, cereal crops, particularly wheat, 
were ripening rapidly, but the cold and wet weather of the latter end of 
the month will have the effect of retarding the wheat harvest considerably, 
so that hardly an acre of wheat will be cut, even in the most favoured 
districts, before the end of the first week of August. The results of a long 
series of investigations on the ripening of cream, carried out at the Storrs 
Agricultural Experiment Station, New England, U.S.A., although they do 
not furnish an adequate explanation of the causes of the delicious flavour 
of June butter, seem, nevertheless, to throw upon the subject more light 
than has hitherto been forthcoming. Previous experiments had been 
restricted chiefly to efforts to separate from milk or cream different species of 
bacteria, and then, by inoculating Pasteurized cream with pure species of the 
isolated organisms, to determine the influence that each species, if acting 
alone, might exercise upon the cream. These investigations have resulted 
in demonstrating that different milk bacteria vary decidedly in their influence 
upon the character of butter. Hitherto there has been a lack of informa- 
tion concerning the exact bacteriological condition of normal cream before it 
is ripened, or the change in bacteriological content that occurs during 
ripening. The object of these experiments has been to determine, as far as 
possible, the types of bacteria which produce the ripening of cream under 
normal conditions. Without entering upon a detailed account of the 
experiments which Messrs. Conn and Esten undertook, it may be useful to 
glance at the conclusions they arrived at. It is stated at the outset that milk 
as it is drawn from the cow contains great numbers of bacteria, which are 
mostly miscellaneous forms of liquefying bacteria — that is, organisms which 
possess the power of liquefying gelatine contained in the nutritive medium — - 
and other non-acid species. The number of acid bacteria at the beginning 
is very small. All species of bacteria increase during the setting of milk for 
the separation of the cream. For a few hours the alkaline bacteria and the 
others included under the head of miscellaneous, increase quite rapidly, 
whilst the lactic bacteria are hardly in evidence. After about 12 hours, 
however, the lactic bateria have increased so much that they are as 
plentiful as the others, and from this time on they continue to increase with 
great rapidity, until a maximum is reached at about 48 hours ; after this 
they gradually diminish in numbers and eventually they practically dis- 
appear. The ripened cream contains prodigious numbers of bacteria, more 
than are known in any other natural medium, but they are nearly all lactic 
bacteria. After the first 12 hours all species of bacteria, except the 
two lactic species, decrease in relative numbers, and finally entirely dis- 
appear. The two common species, known as Nos. 206 and 202, increase 
regularly from the beginning of an experiment until the maximum. The 
cream as it is received by a creamery is already partly ripened, as indicated 
by the immense numbers of bacteria it contains. All the changes which 
BX- 36 / 110 
take place in the cream under the influence of the miscellaneous bacteria 
have already occurred, and the ripening that goes on in the creamery is due 
wholly, or almost wholly, to the growth of the acid bacteria. A ripened 
cream is almost a pure culture of acid bacteria, but this does not mean that 
the ripening has been produced by these acid bacteria alone. In other 
words, that the lactic bacteria play an important part in the ripening is 
perfectly evident, but that they are the sole cause of the changes occurring 
in the ripening is not so evident. The peculiar flavour of June butter, so 
much desired by the butter-maker, is not due to the development of the 
common lactic bacteria. Butter ripened during the winter months develops 
the two species of lactic bacteria as abundantly and as quickly as does that 
ripened in June, but the flavour does not declare itself. To what this June 
flavour is due the New England experimenters, after investigations extending 
over three years, are not yet satisfied. Whether it will prove to be due to 
the large growth of miscellaneous bacteria during the first few hours of 
ripening, or to a difference in the chemical nature of the cream, remains 
for further experiments to decide. This much, however, appears to be 
established — that the ripening of cream must embrace two phases. The 
earlier one comprises the first 12 hours or more of ripening due to the 
growth of miscellaneous bacteria ; the latter begins after 1 2 hours and is 
due almost wholly to the growth of lactic bacteria. The results of further 
investigations at the Storrs station will be anxiously awaited — the problem 
involved being of the highest technical and commercial interest. 
Colonies.— It is reported that in Ontario crop prospects never looked 
better. This applies, also, to the small fruit and apple crops. Ontario 
produces a remarkably fine quality of apple, the result of many years’ 
careful and intelligent study on the part of the farmer, aided and encouraged 
by the agricultural colleges. A full wheat and apple crop there means a 
handsome revenue to agriculturists. There is also every prospect of a 
large hay crop. The latest advices as to Manitoba and the North-West 
Territories are that everything is looking well, and a large crop of all 
kinds of grain, equal to, if not exceeding that of last year, may be expected. 
A report on Bermuda recently issued by the Colonial Office, states that 
the cultivation and manufacture of arrowroot, which were at one time 
important industries in that colony, have, from various causes, greatly 
declined in recent years. The arrowroot produced in the colony by the 
latest improved methods is of an excellent quality, and there is a good 
opening for investment of a limited capital in this industry. In the few 
attempts made in flax-growing in some of the cooler parts of New South 
Wales, the results, so far as concerned the growth of the plants, have been 
very encouraging. The New South Wales Department of Agriculture has, for 
a long time, recommended the culture of this crop for the sake of the linseed, 
for which, as the dairy industry expands, there is an ever-increasing demand. 
In Victoria, where the facilities for the successful production of flax are 
no greater than is possessed in New South Wales, this crop has received 
considerable attention, and the industry, among farmers subsidiaries, is 
rapidly attaining an important place. Mr. Hermann Wolff, of Traralgon, 
Victoria, in an article in the Melbourne Leader , has given a most instructive 
account of his experience in flax production, and affirms that flax-growing 
ought to become one of the principal rural industries of such States as Victoria, 
New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. The two industries, 
dairying and flax-cultivation, are dependent on each other, inasmuch as the 
linseed is excellent feed for calves, and the oil cake is invaluable as feed for 
milch cows in the winter months. A later report from A'ictoria states that, 
next season, officers of the Department of Agriculture will visit all the districts 
of the State to instruct the farmers how to cultivate flax. 
A report on the agricultural prospects of the plateaux of the Uganda 
railway, by Mr. R. N. Lyne, Director of the Agricultural Department in 
Zanzibar, has been issued by the Foreign Office. From a settler’s point of 
view, the most attractive country that the Uganda railway passes through is 
the Kikuyu country, a district 36 miles long by about 80 miles broad. 
The soil is a deep ferruginous loam. There is not much clay on the surface, 
but as one digs down a greater proportion of clay is met with. The 
Kikuyu country has an admirable water supply, being traversed by small 
streams. Settlement has already begun, and there are now 8 or 10 
Europeans, besides the mission settlements, occupying and cultivating land. 
The staple crop is at present potatoes, two crops of which can be obtained 
in a year. European vegetables and fruit of all sorts, maize, millet and 
sorghum, grow and find a local sale. The product of the country is, as 
yet, probably undiscovered. In no part of the world do the conditions 
correspond to those of these equatorial highlands. A farmer from the eastern 
counties would probably describe the light red soil of the Kikuyu downs as 
a barley land. Barley likes just such a soil, and does not require a heavy 
rainfall. Mr. Lyne would recommend short straw’ varieties of oats for trial, 
and of wheats, he thinks South Australian varieties v r ould be most likely 
to thrive in the dry atmosphere. Rye should certainly find a place in trials 
of cereals. Cotton (American), cinchona, cocaine, jalap, and cardamoms, 
are among the tropical products suited to these high altitudes, and tobacco 
to the low valleys. Coffee-planting has been fraught with so much disaster 
in other parts of the w’orld that Mr. Lyne recommends great caution in 
embarking capital upon this industry in any part of British East Africa. 
It is at present impossible to say wdiether the Kikuyu has any great pastoral 
prospects. The Masai and Wakikuyu herd cattle, sheep and goats, and 
these form their principal articles of wealth and barter. The cattle are 
small, slow to mature, and give little milk ; but they are hardy and docile. 
A shorthorn bull has been imported quite recently to cross with the native 
cows, and other breeds might be tried. Mr. Lyne suggests that experience 
might show that lighter cattle — like the Devon, Kerry, or Dexter-Kerry — 
would be more suitable to the light lands of the Kikuyu. The difficulties 
of market will, however, operate for some time against the profitable 
rearing of cattle on a large scale. With w r ool the case is different, as it is 
not a perishable product. The fat-tailed sheep of the country is the poorest 
