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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol XVIIL No. 444. 



BARBADOS, MAY 3, 1919. 



Pkicb Irf. 



Paob. 



Paob. 



A Broader Mycology. 



II 



f\ the editorial of the previous issue of this 

 Journal, portions of a letter of Mr. C O. 

 Fiirquhai-son to the Assistant Director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, were quoted as evidenc- 

 ing the D'-cessity for a broad outlook on the part of 

 those engaged in the scientific investigation of agri- 

 cultural problems. The fact that a personal investi- 

 gation of such questions under actual field condition.s 

 is requisite, if satisfactory conclusions are to be reached, 

 is enipha:^iTOd in the letter quoted. 

 >/ 



K Auother requisite for successful experimentation 



f is what may be called a scientific imaginative faculty. 



Not only must the investigator take a broad view of 

 the subject he may have, to study, but he must look 

 far ahead, and be able to devise appropriate methods of, 

 experiment. Otherwise his research is likely to become 

 merely a matter of attention to insignificant details, 

 which d > not) tend to any real elucidation of the ques- 

 tions involved Some further quotations from Mr. 

 Farquharson's letter illustrate from his experience this 

 point In dealing with cotton and ground nut'troubles 

 his scientific imagination evidently stood him in good 

 stead. He writes: — 



'The optimum planting date for American cotton 

 here is about July 17. Every day planting is delay- 

 ed after that in a noimal rainfall year increases the 

 risk of a short crop. The great limiting factor after 

 that is the Harmattan, which come,s on about 

 November or December after the rains have stopped, 

 but before any marked response to that, in the way of 

 leaf fall, has set in. Once the Harmattan .sets in (it m 

 more or less intense from the start) defoliation is rapid. 

 That is followed by a meagre flush of new foliage, th« 

 leaves of which are greatly reduced in size. Flowers 

 may still, arid do, continue to appear, but the bolls are 

 undersized, are often badly worm-infested, and whe» 

 mature their cotton is rarely worth picking. Now vou 

 might think that it might pay to plant ii week or tw* 

 or even a month earlier. Well, I rested the point bv 

 serial plantings, and found that June plantings or evea 

 more ibnormally early are hopeless: the plants became 

 the prey of the authracnose fungus, Fusariuma, 

 physiological "red rust'', and dear knows what e!.se. 

 By the end of July th -y are the most stunted, miserable, 

 riowerless, boll-less things you could imagine, blighted 

 beyond recovery. I do not believe that spraying W'Jul4 



