Vol. I. No. 17. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



261 



We lunlfrstaiid tliat Mr. Cradwick's saiiijiles will be 

 shown at the Legislative Council to-day. They form the 

 best argument for the Government mea.sure of protection 

 that could be furnished. 



CULTIVATION OF BANANAS. 



TREATMENT AFTER PLANTING. 



In pix-vious i.ssue.s (pp. 228 and 224) we have 

 given extracts from Hon'ble W. Fawcett's paper on 

 ' The Banana Industry of Jamaica ' dealing with 

 clearing the ground and planting suckers. We 

 reproduce below his remarks on the care of the plants 

 alter they have been plante<l : — 



VALUE OF PLOUGHlNiI. 



Various oi)inions are held by banana plaiitcr.s about 

 ploughing. Some who have jdanted in light, loamy soils 

 have been reaping excellent crops for some years without any 

 jiloughing. Others, with heavy soil, plough every eight weeks 

 with a 6-inch plough, alternately one way and across. Others 

 again plough only once a year. 



A friend who is establishing a cacao walk with 

 bananas before planting, ploughs, cros.s-ploughs, harrows and 

 when necessary, trenches, afterwards he ploughs with a small 

 plough (with moon-coulter attached) three to six times a 

 year. On banana lines, where a plough cannot work, he 

 forks occasionally and hoes freipiently. He says that the 

 plough is far more effectual in breaking up the soil than any 

 other implement he has tried, and it keeps the land clean 

 much longer. The plough works from 4 to 6 inches deep, 

 and the cultivator 2 to 3 inches. Another planter forks once 

 a year, and uses the cultivator to keep the weeds down. When 

 the grass is too high for the cultivator he uses hoes, and only 

 substitutes the plough for the hoe or cultivator when labour 

 is scarce. Both plough and cultivator are kept to 2 inches 

 in depth in oreer to avoid destroying roots. 



EOOT PRUNING. 



Keeping down weeds, maintaining a .surface mulch, and 

 loosening the soil, are all important matters in the cultivation 

 of bananas as of other plants, and I am of opinion that a 

 judicious pruning of the roots by the jilough is also of great 

 value, for as the roots do not naturally branch but grow 

 straight out to great distance.s, pruning the roots induces 

 branching at the several ends, and a further production of 

 roots from the Inilb. 



A planter for whose judgement I have the greatest respect 

 writes as follows: — 'ido not think that ploughing close 

 to the banana and cutting through the roots does any harm. 

 On the contrary, I am certain it docs good — principally I 

 think, because the cutting gives fresh im|)etus to the roots, 

 and this activity increases the growth of the plant. Take, 

 say, potatos or turnips, which a"e usually grown in drills 27 

 inches wide : so long as a horse hoe can work in these rows it 

 is good cultivatii>n to keep working, even to the damage of 

 some of the leaves. Every time it is put through all the 

 roots crossing the drills must be cut, yet you see the greatest 

 imiirovement in the growth of these [ilants.' 



EXPEKIMENT AT THE HOPE OAKDENS. 



The following experiment, made at a banana plot in 

 Hope Gardens, tlu'ows light on the suliject of the formation 

 of new roots induced by cutting them back. In planting tlie 

 plot lioles ;? feet wide and 2 feet deep were dug, the soil was 

 returned to the holes and the suckers planted therein. The 

 surrounding soil was ploughed and cross-ploughed after the 

 plants began to grow. The soil is deep, rich, black, and 

 rather heavy. 



On November 19, a trench one foot wide and 2i feet 

 dee[) was dug half-way round a one-year old binana stool at a 

 distance of 3 teet from the stem that was about to fruit, and 

 the soil returned. In doing this the thick tlcshy root.s, some 

 of them 5 feet to 6 feet long, were severed. No roots were 

 found below 6 inclies from the surface. Ten days later the 

 soil between the first trench and 8 inches from the stem was 

 removed, to the depth of 2 f^e" 6 inches and returned, cutting 

 otf all the roots with the spide to within 8 inches of the 

 stem. It was noticed when doing this that the roots that 

 were cut otl" at 3 feet from the stem had thrown out numerous 

 fibrous roots down thair entire length. 



A month later, on December 30, the soil was opened up 

 from 3 feet inwards. New roots were seen to have grown 

 out 3 feet from the stem down to a dei)th of 2 feet from the 

 surface. These roots were carefully followed back to the 

 stem : som3 proved to be new roots direct from the stem, 

 whilst others had grown out from around the cut ends of the 

 original roots, one root giving rise to five or six ^^gorous 

 feeders. 



Some of the cut roots did not grow at all but remained 

 just as they were, excei't that they died back some 2 or 3 

 inches ; this was more noticeable near the surface where they 

 woulil come under the influence of dry weather. Some deeper 

 ones had, however, rotted back a few inches, due perhajis to 

 the ragged cut by the spade, or the root itself being injured 

 at its junction with the stem with the pull of the cut. 



The roots on the undisturbed side of the plant simi)ly 

 lengthened out a little and remained near the surface, 

 5 inches being the lowest depth at which roots were found. 



The i)lant did not seem to have suffered any ill effects 

 from the disturbance of its roots on one side. 



LATE PLOUGHING NOT ADVISABLE. 



In my opinion iiloughing so as to cut the roots close to 

 the stem, should not lie allowed when it is possible that the 

 emljryo bunch is being formed, as the stored food-material 

 would be used to form new roots instead of being utilized in 

 the bunch. How this loss of food-material affects the bunch 

 we do not know — whether it delays the shooting, or affects 

 the size of the bunch or the fingers. Tliis subject of the US3 

 of the plough was discussed at the Banana Conference in 

 Jamaica, and as a result some planters do not now plough 

 except after the main crop for the American market is 

 reaped, and not later than November. 



Where ploughing is not the practice, the fork is used to 

 great advantage when the 3'oung suckers are two mouths 

 old. 



Where the rains are constant, and the soil heavy, the 

 cutlass is the best tool in weeding. The hoe and the assam 

 fork and the cultivator are tools used under different condi- 

 tions. The disc-harrow is an admirable instrument, and 

 should be in constant use so long as the soil is sufficiently 

 dry. If the ordinary plough forms a pan, a subsoil plough is 

 used occasionally to secure good drainage. 



Lectures to Teachers at Barbados. 



The first of the lectures to the teachers at the St. 

 Thomas centre, Barbados, on the manner and method of 

 teaching agricultural science in Elementary Sc'aools was 

 delivered at Clifton Hill on Saturday, November 1.5, by 

 Dr. Longfield Smith. Twenty-nine teachers attended. 



The lecture was illustrated by numerous simiile 

 experiments, and at the close cyclostyle notes containing a 

 summary of the lecture and a list of experiments were 

 distributed to each teacher. 



