usurers, getting more and more into debt every year. But, should steps be taken: 1) to relieve this situation by the organization of credit societies, 2) to improve transport, and 3) to create experimental stations for the guidance of the native cultivators, the profitable cultivation of cotton is capable of immense development, and having satisfied the demands of the Russian market, a large surplus of medium quality American Upland cotton could be put on the other European markets. II. Transcaucasia is a far richer country than Turkestan, more densely populated, and more varied in every way. It is essentially mountainous, and besides mineral riches possesses a fertile soil, a good climate, and a sufficient rainfall. Vines, fruits, tobacco, tea, maize, cereals are all cultivated. The districts suitable to cotton are in the south-east, in the valleys of the Aras and the Kur, where the rainfall is smaller and irrigation can be practised. Cotton is a far less important crop in this country than It has only been introduced about 10 years and plantations are not numerous, being still in the experimental stage. But it is safe to predict that Transcaucasia would easily produce as much cotton as is being produced in the whole of Turkestan to-day, and moreover its geographical position is far more favourable for reaching the European markets. For the present, however, no considerable output from that quarter is to be expected. 667 The Cotton Industry of Northern Nigeria. ·Bulletin of the Imperial Institute Vol. XI, No. 1, pp. 70-79. London. January-March 1913. "Cotton has long been cultivated by the natives of Northern Nigeria, and the markets of the more northern parts have been frequently visited by caravans from North Africa in order to obtain the cotton used in the weaving industry of that part of the continent. Hitherto transport difficulties have prevented the cotton of the northern districts being exported to the United Kingdom, but the completion of the Baro-Kano railway will enable this vast and populous area to be tapped. Up to the present the efforts to encourage cotton cultivation amongst the natives have been confired to the Niger and Benue valleys, and with this end in view the British Cotton Growing Association erected ginneries at Lokoja, at the junction of the Benue and Niger rivers, and at Ogudu on the Niger in the Ilorin province. More recently a large ginnery has been erected at Zaria, further north. The Ogudu ginnery, however, was closed on the opening of the Lagos Government Railway, the cotton from this district being ginned in Southern Nigeria. " "In the Kans and other northern districts, the indigenous cotton is short stapled with white lint, whilst that of the Benue and Niger valleys is long stapled with tinted lint. Plantations have been formed by the British Cotton Growing Association at Lokoja and Ogudu, where experimental work has been carried out on the acclimatisation of exotic seed, selection of native seed and varieties, rotation of crops, time of planting, comparative tests of varieties, cultivation by draught animals, etc. Exotic cottons have also been experimentally cultivated at some of the gaol farms. "Complete statistics of the exports of cotton from Northern Nigeria are not available, but some idea of the production may be gained from the following figures, showing the quantity of unginned cotton purchased by the British Cotton Growing Association and by merchants in recent years: " SUGAR CROPS A collected report is given of the samples received for examination since 1909. Out of a total of 14 samples, 12 indigenous varieties and one improved American Upland were valued as approximately equal to the current price of "middling" American, while a second improved Americar Upland variety was valued at 9d per lb. with "middling" American at 6.60 d per lb. 668 SCHANZ, MORITZ in Cotton in Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Beihefte zum Tropenpflanzer, Vol. 14, No. 1-2, pp. VII+ 180. Berlin, February 1913In the above double number of the supplement to Der Tropenpflanzer, the writer gives a brief historical review of cotton cultivation in Egypt; he then deals with the natural and economic conditions of 1) Egyptian and Sudanese agriculture in general (soil, climate, irrigation, tillage, schools and associations, forms of tenure, credit systems); 2) the cultivation of cotton in both countries (especially varieties of cotton, seed cotton and seed breeding, cotton growing, pests of the crop, profits, uses, and export and import of cotton). 669 The Distance apart for Sugar Beets. Experiments in Hungary. — JANCSÓ. BÉLA in Mesögazdasági Szemle, Year XXXI, Part 4, pp. 192-194. Budapest, April 1913. The high cost and bad conditions of labour in Hungary oblige farmers to have frequent recourse to the use of agricultural machines. In sugarbeet growing, horse-hoes are much employed and are very useful, not only because they do the work more cheaply than hand labour, but also because there is frequently a deficiency in labourers. It is obvious that the greater the distance between the rows, the more successfully horse-hoes work, even when in the charge of unskilled labourers. Hungarian farmers are beginning to find that the usual space of 14 3/4 ins. between the rows is not sufficient, and already some of them are trying to exceed it. The present question under discussion is whether, and how far, this limit can be safely exceeded in Hungary, without decreasing the quantity or quality of the crops. In order to solve the problem, the Royal Hungarian Agricultural Station has made experiments on 13 estates according to the following plan: Names of estates As is seen, the tests served for the comparison of four different distances between the rows and two between the plants. The minimum distances were taken as 14 3/4 by 8 14 in, these being the usual distances in Hungary. 213 sq. in. 25 × 12, Table II gives the average results of the experiment plots. The latter were numbered in the following manner: differences in the crop of less than 5 per cent. were not takem into consideration, but were noted down. Crops 5 per cent. below the maximum were numbered I; those from 5 to 10 per cent. below, 2; those 10 to 15 per cent. below, 3, and so on. The columns are arranged according to the increasing distances. According to this table, the maximum crop was obtained with a distance of 163 X 8 4 in., while larger distances gave considerably lower crops. It is interesting to note that, with the same space betweer the rows, the yield was inversely proportionate to the distance between the plants in the rows. A distance between the rows of 25 in. caused a reduction in the crop, even when there was no drought. A slight increase in the distance had no bad effect on the sugar-beets, but if the space was further increased, the quality of the beets suffered in proportion. Firally, the experiment proved that with the distance of 16 3 X 84 in. a better crop can be obtained than with that of 14 3/4 X 84 in. which is usual at present in Hungary. Nevertheless, the writer is of opinion that the question of distance depends upon climatic conditions and upon the quality of the soil. Thus, in a district with more frequent rainfall and where the soil is richer in humus, the space of 16 3/4 in. between the rows is too much, and beets grown under these conditions do not thrive so well. He advises every farmer to make experiments to decide the best distance to be adopted in his special case. 670 The Use of Commercial Salt as a Fertilizer for Sugar Beets in Hungary. JANCSÓ, BELA in Köztelek, Year 23, No. 23, pp. 808-809. Budapest, March 22, 1913. The wild form of the cultivated beet is Beta maritima, which is found growing in saline soil and in a salt-laden atmosphere on the coasts of Europe. This fact led experimenters to try whether mangolds and sugar beets took kindly to the application of kitchen salt as a manure. In order to test the effect of this fertilizer, the Royal Agricultural Station at Magyaróvár begar a series of experiments in 1909, using however commercial salt instead of the kitchen article, as being less expensive. The experiments of 1909 and also those of 1911 showed that, under certain conditions, the beet reacts satisfactorily to the application of this substance, but that if the soil is too heavy, the salt easily gives rise to cracks, which hinder the development of the plant. By order of the Ministry of Agriculture, these experiments were continued last year on the State Domains and at the Agricultural Schools. The writer summarizes the results of 23 experiments arranged in four groups: I. Experiments on sugar beets on eight estates with heavy clay soil using 315 lbs. of commercial salt per acre. In four cases the salt increased the crop, in three it had no effect upon it, while in one the result of the application of the fertilizer was to reduce the yield. II. Experiments at seven different places using 235 lbs. of commercial salt per acre. Here also the crops were increased in four cases. On the Mácsa State Stud farm at Gödöllö, on the contrary, the yield of the control plot exceeded that of the salted plot by 600 lbs. ; but owing to the drought prevailing during August and September, the heavy clay soil of this estate only yielded a very poor crop. III. Four experiments using 160 lbs. of salt per acre; of these two gave good results; in the case of the others, which were on loose sandy soil, the salt had no effect. IV. Experiments with different amounts of salt. The results obtained show that, in order to increase the beet crop, at least 160 lbs. of salt per acre must be applied; if the amount is raised to 320 lbs. its action is more efficacious. On the Fogaras State Stud farm the fertilizer was applied in the rows. This experiment showed that 160 lbs. of commercial salt applied in this manner have a more noticeable effect than 320 lbs. broadcasted. All these experiments therefore show that this inexpensive compound can, under certain conditions, increase the sugar beet crops, but it must be used with caution where the soil is heavy. 671 - The Date Sugar Industry in Bengal. ANNETT, H. E. in Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, Vol. II, No. 6, pp. 282-389. Calcutta, March 1913. Out of a total of 3 000 000 tons of raw sugar or 'gur' produced annually in India, at least one-tenth, or 300 000 tons, and probably more, is produced from palms, so that the industry is still a considerable one, though it seems to have declined somewhat of late years in favour of imported products from Java. Bengal accounts for about a quarter of the total produce, and the writer made an extensive study of the agriculture of the date palm (Phoenix sylvestris) in the Jessore District, including methods of cultivation and tapping, and of the manufacture of raw and refined sugars. The yield per tree varied considerably both with individual and with plantations, but 170 lbs. of juice may be taken as an average yield per tree throughout the date sugar districts; this estimate is considerably lower than any which have been made previously. On boiling down, 170 lbs. of juice forms 21 4 lbs. of gur, and with 240 trees to the acre, 2.3 tons of gur may be obtained per acre, a higher yield than can be obtained from cane in the same districts. The raw juice contains 8 to 14 per cent. of sucrose, associated with practically no glucose; but, owing to imperfect methods of collection, I to 2 per cent. of glucose is formed during the process. The boiling is carried out in small earthenware pots, and results in a loss which may amount to 20 per cent. of the sucrose, while the refining processes cause further wastage. Each cultivator possesses his own primitive boiling plant, and the gur is the staple marketable commodity. Large quantities are consumed locally, and the surplus is sold to middlemen who either transport it to more distant parts for direct consumption, or sell it to native refineries. Calcutta is the chief market, and large quantities are there made into |