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According to a recent census the total population of the Canal Zone is 50,000. Of this number 24,963 persons are employed either by the Isthmian Canal Commission or the Panama Railroad Company. Of the total population 14,635 are white, 34,785 are negroes, and 583 are Chinese. Of the whites 6,863 are from the United States, and of these 5,213 are males and 1,650 females; 2,030 married men and 1,048 married women; 2,713 single men and 172 single women; 451 children, 232 boys and 219 girls between the ages of 6 and 16 years. There are also from the United States 73 colored persons, 57 males and 16 females. The total cost of taking the census is given at 3,936.36. In sinking an artesian well at Newlyn an interesting discovery has been made in tapping springs of highly mineralized water. The sinking of the well was undertaken for Mr. R. R. Bath, and the Newlyn Ice Company, in connection with the factory which has been erected for the manufacture of ice, to procure water to use in ice-making. A depth of about 180 feet has been reached, two tin lodes having meanwhile been passed through, and water from the springs reached was submitted for analysis to Mr. J. H. Bo sanko, of the Penzance Mining and Science Schools. He was surprised to find that the water was highly mineralized. The simple test revealed an abnormal quantity of iron in the water, showing that it must be running through rich mineral veins. No water of this description has ever been found in West Cornwall, and it is thought that perhaps it may possess medicinal properties of some value. From experiments conducted at Ottawa, in Canada, it appears that there are some slight grounds for the widely-accepted opinion among agriculturists that snow is a direct fertilizer, says the Pharmaceutical Journal. It is found to contain total nitrogen equivalent in round numbers to about a pound per acre of land covered by an average winter snowfall in that district. The amount of nitrogen as . free ammonia was high, but fluctuated greatly, from 0.082 to 0.589 parts per million; the nitrogen as albuminoid ammonia ranged from 0.033 to 0.078 parts per million, and the nitrogen as nitrites and nitrates ranged from 0.027 to 0.390 parts per million. The average of twelve determinations from February 21. 1907, to May 4, was, nitrogen as free ammonia 0.256, as albuminoid ammonia 0.052, and as nitrates and nitrites 0.163 part per million. The value of snow as a direct fertilizer would- appear, so far as the nitrogen content is concerned, to be greatly overestimated. It is intended to continue the experiments both in summer and winter to determine definitely the manurial value of both snow and rain.
