THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



jANtfAKV 11. 19H>. 



EDITORIAL 



Head Office ^v^ ?;.-,>« 



NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 Bpeciinens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner. Imperial Dep;irtment of Agricnlture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copirs oi the 'Agricultural 

 News' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 addressed to the Agents, and not to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 page 4 of the cover. 



Imperial (Jommissicnier of Sir Francis Watts, K.O.M.G., 



Agrirulfnre fnr the West Indies. D.Sc, F.I.C., F.C.S. 



SCIENTIFIC STAFF. 



Scientific Assistant and (W. R. Dunlop.* 



Assistant E'litor \Rev. C. H. Bniiich, B.A. 



Entomologist H. A. Ballju, M.Sc. 



Mycologist W. Nowell, D.I.C. 



Aisistaiit for t'otlan litsearcK S. C. Harland, B.Sc.t 

 CLERICAL STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 



(h. A. Corbin. 

 ■^P. Taylor.* 

 I.K. R. C. Foster. 

 Miss B. Robinson. 

 Miss W. Ellis. 



Chief Clerk 



Cltrir.al Assistuuti 



Typist 

 As^i-it'jitt Typijit 



Atliitayd for Fub(icatioii.'< A. K. Price, Fell. Journ. Inst. 



*Stco)idfd fur Military Service. 



tfrorirfcrf by the Imperial Ih'purlmeid of Urieidiiic aiid 

 Itidiintriat Hesearcli. 



giuriciiltural ^leiufi 



VoL.KVIII. .'^.VrLT.DAV, .JANTAKV 11, 1919. No. 4.S0 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



Co-operation among agricultural workers, especially 

 those engaged in scientific work, is ihe subject 

 of the editorial in ihis issue. 



The Root "System of Maize- 



The root system of any plant ought to be borne in 

 mind under cidtivati in, for it is evident that, according 

 to whether the roots penetrate deep into the subsoil or 

 whether they are chiefly within a few inches of the 

 surface, cultural operations ought to be modified to suit 

 the habit of the plant. Interesting observations on the 

 root system of maize or Indian corn, by H. Wenholz, 

 Inspector of Agriculture, are recorded by him in the 

 Ai/riculturui (fir.itte of New South Wales, Ctctober 

 19l!S, with recommendations as to the cultivation of 

 the plant, based on these observations. 



It would seem that although maize roots have 

 been found to penetrate to 4 or 5 feet in good soils, the 

 crop is not generally a deep-rooting one. This is 

 especially to be observed in the later stages of growth, 

 in which the bulk oi the feeding roots are situated in 

 the surface soil. 



When the plant,s are about 12 or IS inches high, 

 the roots will be about fi inches from the surface 

 between the rows, gradually approaching to within 8 

 or 4 inches of the surface, at a distance of (! or 8 

 inches from the maize plants. After this, a large 

 number of feeding roots approach to within H 

 or 4 inches of the surface between the rows. The 

 lateral spread of the roots depends on the dry- 

 ness of the soil, the roots extending very quickly 

 in a dry soil In a dry season at (Jrafton, New South 

 Wales, during the early growth, roots were found to 

 have extended 'A fVet laterally towards the adjacent 

 row by the time the plants were IS inches high. 

 In ;i more normal season, the roots of adjacent rows 4 

 feet apart were found to be interlaced, when the crop 

 was not (juite 2 feet high. In a wet season the roots 

 will not ha\e spread so far. 



From these t>bservations, the following recommen- 

 dations regarding depth of cultivation can be made: — 



1. Deep cultivation should not be given close to 

 the rows, but ma) be given between the rows in early 

 growth. 



2. Shallow cultivation throughout should be the 

 rule after the jilants are about Is inches or 2 feet high. 



In a wet season deeper cultivation can be given, 

 not only because the roots do not spread so(]uickly, but 

 because a little root pruning does not do so much harm. 



I'nder Insect Notes on page H> will be found the 

 Krst part of a summary of tin- report of the Govern- 

 ment Entomologist in .lamaica for the year 191 7- bS 

 On page 11 there appears an interesting note on cock- 

 roach control, together with two short notes on other 

 insect pests. 



A aiiminary of the informal ion during I'.tbS, under 

 ihi- heading Plant I lisea.ses, in this .Journal, is given on 

 page 14. 



The article on page -i — 'Cane rrrHus Meet Sugar- 

 is if importance. 



A Useful Little Fish 



The usefulness of the inUiion {Hirurdiintt' jxieci- 

 loitleii), as a destrojc r of mos<juito lurvae, has|often been 

 noticed in articles in the Af/ricultural New/i. Another 

 little Hsh, belonging to the same family, and useful for 

 the same purpose, is the subject of an article by 

 C. Raveret-Wattel in the BuUctin de In Sucii'U 

 Nutiortalc rV Acdiinit.tatio'n dc France, December 1917, 

 which is reviewed in the Ai/riciiltural (iazelto of 

 C,iiiail(i.Auu,nst, li)l.S. 



(r((ii)i>n'<in (ifiinis isdescribed iis .i Vfry small fish 

 (the laigest specimens rarel) attain ;i length of n cm ) 

 belonging to the fimily Cyprinodontidae, which closely 

 resemble Cyprinid.n' in outward appearance, but are 

 differentiated b\ several characters^ notably the pres- 



