SUGAR CROPS,

erous vegetative branches than when planted early. Early planting is therefore advisable as a means of restricting the development of vegetative branches.

Abortion of early fruiting branches on both axis and large limbs is common in a greater or less degree to all stocks grown from imported seed. Even the Arizona acclimatized plants frequently abort their lowest fruiting branches. Some of the selected acclimatized types of Egyptian cotton originated in the United States bear fruiting branches at lower nodes on the stem than the stocks of imported Egyptian cotton. Selection for low fruiting gives promise of being a practical means of increasing earliness and yield. Of the six Egyptian varieties grown in Arizona in 1909 from imported seed, Nubary most nearly resembled the acclimatized stocks in putting out fruiting branches at comparatively low nodes of the stem.

A method of recording branching habits of cotton by means of diagrams has been devised (Reference to the original publication is made for description of them). The diagrams show the location of branches, the development of fruiting branches, and the stature of plants. Such diagrams promise to be of value as records in the cultural and breeding study of cotton.

Preliminary experiments in «topping » young plants have resulted in stimulating the growth of buds in the axils of cotyledons. Branches just below the point where the plant is topped make an excessive vegetative growth and tend to assume an upright position in place of the severed axis. The topping of nearly mature plants to hasten the ripening of fruit has not yet been adequately tested.

Egyptian cotton plants grown on soil containing a considerable quantity of alkali restrict the development of limbs and reject their early fruiting branches.

Differences in the branching habits of the different Egyptian varieties grown from imported seed are not sharply defined, because of the diversity within each variety, and hence cannot at present be used to distinguish one variety from another.

29- Cultivation Experiments with Dried Seeds of Sugar-Beets in Hungary. JANESÓ, B. Anbauversuche mit vorgetrocknetem Zuckerrübensamen in Ungarn. Oester- Ungar. Zeitschrift für Zuckerindustrie und Landwirtschaft, Year XLI, Part 5, pp. 691-697. Wien, 1912.

Hastening the first developmental stage of the sugar-beet is now recommended as the best protective measure against the attack of rootrot, and to attain this end, different methods are adopted, such as husking, previous soaking of the seeds, manuring the rows, and finally, drying the seeds before sowing.

The last treatment is recommended by D. Hegy, Director of the Royal Hungarian Experiment Station for Vegetable Pathology and Physiology at Magyaróvár. The preliminary experiments in the laboratory showed that drying the beet-seeds had the effect of hastening the ger

mination and the first developmental stage of the beets; therefore the Royal Hungarian Agricultural Experiment Station of Magyaróvar, together with the above-mentioned station, determined in 1911 to induce practical agriculturists to make experiments with dried seeds of sugarbeet. Two varieties of Kleinwanzleben from different sources were selected. The half of both varieties of seed was dried at 45°C. until the original water content was decreased from 14 or 15 per cent to 6 to 8 per cent. The other half of the seeds served as a control and was not treated before sowing.

The drying process improved the germination properties of both varieties; of 100" seeds" 83 undried seeds germinated, giving 183 seedlings, while 87 dried seeds germinated, producing 213 seedlings. The second experiment of 100 undried eeeds, 91 germinated with 220 seedlings, and of 100 dried seeds, 96 produced 275 seedlings.

The experiment with dried and undried seeds was carried out on 48 farms in Hungary in parallel strips each of at least about half an acre. The opinion of the experimenters was not unanimous. In 14 cases out of the 32 experiments on which reports were sent in, the effect of drying the seed was favourable, and only in one case did this treatment have an injurious action on the development of the plant. In the 17 other cases no special effect on germination was produced by drying the seed, not even where root-rot made its appearance.

The yield was ascertained on 30 of the separate experiment plots. The topped beets per acre were on an average as follows:

The sugar content of the beets was tested, but there was no decided or consequent difference between the beets grown from dried or undried seed.

Although the above experiments, which only lasted for one year, give no decisive result as to the efficacy of drying beet-seed, they show that, under certain conditions, intensive drying of the seeds can have an accelerating effect on their germination and the development of the plants. In order to obtain still further light on the question, the experiments will be continued by the Experiment Station.

30-A Contribution to the Question of Changes Occurring in Sugar Beets during Storage.

FRIEDL, GUSTAV. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Veränderung der Zuckerrübe während der Aufbewahrung. Oesterreichish-Ungarische Zeitschrifi für Zuckerindustrie und Landwirtschaft, Year XLI, Part 5, pp. 698-712. Wien, 1912.

Theoretical investigation has already often occupied itself with the question of the changes which sugar beets undergo in store. Most of

the researches, however, dealt solely with the sugar, and the other substances were neglected; but it is just these dangerous producers of molasses, which play a large part in sugar-manufacture. In order to investigate this matter, in the autumn of 1910, sugar-beets were collected and stored in clamps on the experimental field of the Experiment Station of Magyaróvár in such a manner that weekly samples could be taken for the purposes of analysis.

The writer gives in tables the results of this experiment. Other tables give data relating chiefly to the weight, amount of sugar, and quotient, which have been supplied by Hungarian sugar-factories. Reference is also made in this paper to the works of Proskowetz, Marek, and Bruckner dealing with the decrease in sugar content during the storage period, and the writer gives the following summary of his own investigations: It must be considered as an established fact, that the sugar content of beets decreases greatly during the time the latter are in the clamps. A portion of this apparent relative decrease is due to the large amount of water which is taken up, causing the juice to become diluted. The absolute, or real, sugar loss is brought about by the respiration processes of the living roots.

This loss can be avoided through interrupting the vital activities of the beets, which may be effected either by allowing them to freeze, or by drying them. These methods can naturally not be adopted by the manufacturer and recourse must be had to a different kind of clamp The sort to be preferred is one which with the least means will keep the roots at the lowest possible temperature. The loss of saccharose by means of respiration is caused by the formation of invertose as an intermediate product. The formation of the invert sugar is however a very lengthy process, but nevertheless, is more rapid than its consumption by respiration, thus in time it accumulates. The intensity of respiration. depends entirely upon individual properties, but it is also influenced by external influences like temperature and the supply of air.

The stability of the nitrogenous compound is a great contrast to the instability of the saccharose. Until the late spring, the total nitrogen content suffers no absolute diminution. At the end of the storing time, the albuminous compounds alone split up into simples bodies. This fact has an unfavourable action on the ratio between sugar and molasses, and the quotient sinks.

The glutamin present seems chiefly to have increased, from which it may be deduced that beet albumen is rich in glutamic acid. The glutamin present in the autumn does not change into glutamic acid, though a similar alteration was stated by Scheibler to occur in the case of asparagin.

No noticeable difference was found in the autumn and spring betain

content.

ETESSE, Le Caoutchouc en Casamance, Senegal. —- L'Agriculture pratique des pays chauds, Year 12, Nos. 114 and 115, pp. 231-238 and 310 and 315. Paris, Sept-Oct., 1912. Casamance, which is a long strip of land bordered by Gambia on the north and Portuguese Guinea on the south, is especially rich in lianas and other rubber yielding plants. Rubber is one of the chief articles of export from Senegal, which country exported in 1910, 737 726 lbs. of this product, worth about £87,000. Senegal may be divided into two districts as regards rubber production: Senegal, properly so-called, i. e. the district between the river of that name and the frontier north of British Gambia, which produces and exports principally pea-nuts; and Casamance, where rubber is most produced and exported.

The exportation of rubber, which from 1895 to 1905 rose from 50 010 lbs. to 883 656 lbs., has decreased during the last few years, and the writer has set himself the task of investigating the possibilities of mantaining the present important position occupied by rubber in the trade of the country. To this end, he sets forth the present conditions of its production.

I. Rubber from wild lianas.

Although some small plantations of rubber trees exist, it may be said that all the rubber exported at the present time comes from the wild lianas, which g ow in nearly all the forests of Casamance.

They belong to the genus Landolphia and the most common species is Landolphia florida which, however, is neglected by the natives on account of the inferior quality of its rubber. This plant is known to the Europeans under the name of « false rubber liana» and to the natives as <mad », « mantianpo », and « foufoufole ». The Casamance rubber is furnised by Landolphia Heudelotii, L. senegalensis and L. tomentosa; the latter seems to be preferred by the extractors, and is called « toll », « tolè ». or « torè».

These lianas are not found now, as formerly, in all the forest. They have disappeared before the knife of the « manjacque» or rubber collector, and there remain only three large rubber districts, those of Bayotte, Balante and Fogny. Until lately, the natives extracted little rubber from them, but they were very particular, that no stranger should come and tap their trees and thus these stands have been preserved.

Collection of the latex. The latex has only lately been collected by the natives of Casamance, and hitherto only by those of British Gambia and Portuguese Guinea, the « Akus» and the «Mandiasos» or « Manjacques ». The first are intelligent and careful; they usually tap the lianas and obtain, by means of coagulation with lemon juice, a very pure rubber, which is now little found in Casamance, « aku prima », known on the European markets, by the brand A. P. The second are careless, quarelsome and overbearing, they care nothing for the preservation of the lianas or for the production of first quality rubber, and the natives are obliged to defend themselves against these invaders and

RUBBER,

GUM AND RESIN

PLANTS

to proceed themselves to obtain the rubber. They tap the lianas by means of incisions, which are made too close together and, coagulate the latex at once by watering the incisions with salt water, with which they also wash the wounds made on the lianas. The rubber thus presents the appearance of large drops, or more or less elongated filaments, which the Manjacques roll into a ball. In the evening, they plunge this into water, or place it under ground; next day, it is taken out and fresh rubber added to it till it reaches the required weight. Then some rubber is rendered soft by means of putting it into boiling water and fashioning it into bands of some centimetres in width, which the native rolls round his ball and which give it the appearance of having been made entirely in this way. The ball is again plunged into water, where it remains until it is sold to the trader, who receives it dripping and still retaining its pink colour.

The aborigines adopt much the same method as the « Manjacques >> and it is difficult to say which prepares the rubber best.

The cost price of tapping is calculated by reckoning that a man collects 26 to 33 lbs. of rubber per month, i. e. about 1 lb. per day. Experience has shown, that at the time when the liana is distended with sap, a Manjacque can without much difficulty obtain 2.2 lb. of rubber a day, but during the bad season he can only get 9 to 13 lb. per month. Preservation of rubber and trade.

The rubber obtained is preserved in water or in the ground till the time of sale, which is thus deferred till the fall in price is over. Before accepting the rubber, the trader cuts the balls into two or four pieces to assure himself that they do not contain sand or earth. The purchaser puts the rubber once more into salt water, where it remains. till it is exported, when the rubber is packed in casks while still damp. This method of preserving rubber is peculiar to Casamance and influences the price of the product; in Portuguese Guinea, on the contrary, it is kept dry after it has been smoked. Rubber kept always moist tends to become more sticky and to lose its resilience; sometimes it even putrefies.

Four trade marks are recognized in Casamance.

The A. P. quality has almost disappeared, and A. is now considered the best; after this comes A. M., which does not contain earth, and B. which, besides various other impurities, contains also sand and even mud. In any case, it appears that A. alone is absolutely free from earth, so much so, that firms which furnish this quality are exempt from the risk of fluctuations in the market and can always sell it under the most advantageous conditions; while the qualities. A. M. and B. are often neglected when prices fall.