Vol. I. No. 13. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



197 



aUernate liiyers of manure, straw and dry eartli, watered 

 daily with urine and stable washinj,'s collected in a receptacle 

 from stables floored with concrete. 



(2) That such manure should lie ai)plicd broadcast 

 over tlie wliiilc surface of adult plantations and lightly 

 forked in. 



(."5) That artificial manures have in many cases proved 

 more efficacious and chcajier than natural manure. 



(4) That basic slag at the rate of .5 to 10 cwt. i)er acre, 

 ap|ilied in December or .January, followed by 1 cwt. of 

 suljihate of annnonia the following August or September has 

 given the best results in St. Lucia and also Grenada, on the 

 experiment plots worked by the Imperial Deiiartment of 

 Agriculture. The cost of such ai>plications would be from 

 £'2 lOs. to jEo per acre. The results in increased crops have 

 justified the e.xi'euditure several times over. 



(o) Nitrate of soda, 1 cwt. i>er acre, is clearly indicated 

 in the attacks of Diplodia and other diseases wliere the 

 foliage is first ati'ected. 



(6) Bone meal, about i lb. to each hole, is the most 

 satisfactory application when young plants are being put out. 



SEEDLING ONIONS. 



The following hints were contributod by ^Ir. A. J. 

 Jordan, Agricultural Instructor at Montsoirat, to the 

 MdJifufi-nit Henilil. They afford useful information to 

 those who may have found difficulties with the small 

 seedlings. Fuller particulars are to be found in Parnjihlet 

 'No. Hi, Hints (II) Oiiliin Cultivnthyn, to be obtained 

 from all local Agents of the Department, price id.: — • 



The weather in Montserrat has been too dry for 

 sowing in situations wliere no water can be obtained ; Imt it 

 is i)Ossible still to raise plants which will give onions at a 

 time when the market is most favouraljle to the producer. 



A spot of land might be selected close to the house or 

 near water, where attention can be given morning and 

 evening. A bed might then be made, using well rotted 

 manure and breaking x\y the soil very fine, and the seeds 

 sown in drills (rows) 6 inches ajiart. The seed could, in these 

 drills, be sown thickly so that si.x or eiglit jilants could Ije 

 obtained to the running inch. A little tra.sli spread over the 

 beds after they are sown will do much to keep them cool and 

 moist ; but the trash must not be put on heavily. 



When the young plants are about half the size of a. lead 

 pencil they may be taken up with as nmch root as possible, 

 and transplanted into permanent positions. This operation 

 s'lould, of coursa, bo perforai.'d when the rains set in, on 

 a wet day for preference. 



It will 1)6 .seen that a comi)aratively small bed thus 

 sown will give jilants sufficient to plant a relatively large 

 area, for in the bed the plants will be, say, seven to the inch 

 in rows 6 inches apart, while transplanted into a [)lot with 

 rows a foot apart they will be put 4 inches from 

 each other, and if planted in a catch croj) in a cane field you 

 ■will jiut nine plants to a running foot of the caue-bauk ; the 

 banks will of course, be 4 feet apart. 



VANILLA CULTIVATION. 



The main portion of Mr. J. S. Galbraith's excellent 

 account of Van !Ua Cult Ivatum In the Seychelles has 

 already appeared in this Journal (see pp. 67, et seq.) 

 We did not however reproduce the last chapter of the 

 original Bulletin, headed 'Miscellane(nis information 

 and notes.' From this we take the following extracts 

 of interest to cultivators in the West Indies : — 



A fair crop should average about 100 cured pods to 

 the pound. 



V.VKIABILITY OF YIELD. 



The following crops, jiroduced on one e.state will .serve 

 to show how uncertain are the returns from vanilla growing 



here : — 



Pounds. 

 ...1,800 

 ... 120 



40 



500 

 600 



1893 (long dry spell for flowering time in 1892)... 



1894 (rain came too soon and s|ioiled good iiromise) 



1895 (next to no dry spell for flowering in 1894) 

 189G (excellent promise mostly spoiled by too early 



rain) ... 

 1897 (similar to the year before) 



r.\LMS AS SUPPORTS. 



Straight-stenuneil jialms, if stout, may be used for 

 suiiporting the vanilla vines. ISy driving hard-wood pegs 

 into them obli<|uely at suitable heights the vines can be 

 hung about them as in tree forks. 



FLOWERINi; OF CUTTINOS. 



When long vanilla cuttings are planted near blossoming 

 time, some of them often give flov»-ers soon afterwards. It 

 is best to cut these off, as cropi>ing a vine when newly 

 planted lessens the growing power, and it may hang for 

 many months, but in a regular jilantation vines flowering too 

 heavily may bj relieved by cutting otf one or more of the 

 flowering branches. Tluse may b3 planted for the one 

 smiU cro;i they will give — 3 or 4, or up to 10 or 12 pods, 

 according to length and vigour. For this they may be planted 

 close together on low Ijars and i)osts, and need well- 

 rotted manure for inuuediate and abundant nourishment. 

 The best time to plant for this is a few days before the first 

 flowers open ; if cut earlier many of the flowers will die back. 



Cropi)ing branches may be allowed to flower for two 

 years if they have not missed a season, but never more than 

 that, as the pods they then give are invariably very inferior ; 

 the best are on j'ouug wood a year or so old at flowering. 



PRUNINCS. 



Prunings, when not too old, may be set out to rear new 

 plants from. When extending the iilantations it is better to 

 lilant the shoots from the prunings rather than the prunings 

 themselves, if they are over two years old. If flung into 

 jungle, especially among rough ground, rocks, etc., where 

 there is shade and decayed leaves, they grow in a wonderful 

 way without any attention and yield the best of cuttings. 

 When shoots are cheeked for cro])ping branches, some of 

 their tendrils occasionally elongate into iurial root.s, and 

 should then be cut off, or they will keep the branch full of 

 sap and hinder its flowering. 



CRASS AND WEEDS. 



Short varieties of grass seem rather beneficial iri a 

 plantation ; cumbersome weeds should be hand pulled, 

 never hoed. 



(To he continued.) 



