Vol. XVIII. No, 448. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



207 



which carries oo the existence of root fansns. This en^i is 

 at ait'P ' ill the breaking down of such material and its 



'The iirst and oiuipiest of these measures comes within 

 the period between the reaping of o..e crop and the planting 

 of the nexf, and consists in thorough preparation of the 

 ground. Early ploughing out of the stools and the subsequent 

 working of the land, so th^t they are broken up and rotted, 

 will usually suffice for their disposition. Whe^e circumstances 

 do not allow of this being done in time, they may be 

 collected and rotted down in heaps. Burning I do not advise 

 becavse of the Irss of organic matter entailed. 



■'There is a ^ood deal ol land, whicli it will le under- 

 stood is that which appioaches the best in quality, on which 

 thorough treatment of this kind combined with adeqmte 

 manuiing and ciiMvation may be expected to supply the 

 necessary margin of safety, and I xui inclined to think that 

 this should be regarded »s the mi' imum for even the best. 

 It is not sufficient to consider whether such treatment is 

 needed in favourable years, but whether its regular adoption 

 is worth while as an insurance agaii'st unfavourable ones. 



'/dotation. — Under less .«atisfactiiry circumstances of 

 climate, soil, or soil condition — and this will apply to most of 

 the land now subject to blight -it is necessary to go further, 

 and clean up the land thoroughly by leaving out a cane crop, 

 bringing it bick into cane by either Spring or Autumn plant- 

 ing, ''ao.^uidiug to CO.. . '-/^e, in ''-rear following tb t in 

 which it W'S reaped, and cultivating it meanwhile in some 

 alternative crop. From the point of view of sanitation 

 from which the subject is at present being considered, the 

 best crop is the one that involves the most cultivation, for 

 which reason root crops are to be preferred The choice 

 of rotation crops will be further discussed in anotlier sec- 



4k>i>. 



'The frequency of alternation is again a question of 

 conditions, and is involved with ihitof the duration of the 

 ratoon crops. TLe choice is open among all the gradations 

 beLvsct-n a practice of clewing up the land at long intervals 

 (n-hieh h done at present in an imperfect and primitive 

 fashion, by throwing out fields when they will no longer bear), 

 and one of intei posing a rotation crop at the end of the 

 longer or shorter succession of ratoons which follows each 

 ie,lanting. 



'^atoohiiig periods — In some cases it may be found 

 sufficient (again with thorough preparation and manuring) 

 merely to reduce the ntJmber of ratoon crop», without 

 rotation, 'the extreme of this policy being the growing of 

 plant canes onli. The last-named measure is worthy of 

 consideration where it is desired quickly to restore a run 

 down soil 



*In judging the results of any of these measures there 

 should be taken into considerition, on the credit side, the 

 value of the improvement in the soil, and that of the 

 insurance against blight secured. These values increase 3t^■p 

 by step with the thoroughness of the policy adopted ; in the 

 system of growing only plant canea, for example, the 

 proieclion aeainst blight is almost complete. 



'7%.' Choice of planting material. — It ia highly desirable 

 that the miterial used in planting should be free from 

 contamination with root fungus, which means thit it 

 certainly should n t be taken from a field notictably infe.stel. 

 If cuttings are free from sprouted root?, and top p'ants 

 h*ve no fungus actu illy between the leaf-sheaths (cane wax 

 must not be raiitaken for fun^^us) th-y are presumably 

 satisfactoiy i'l this respect. 



'Some of the popular ideas on tliis subject of .selecting 

 cane plants are based on mistaken analogies with selection 



app'ied to reproduction by ac':aal seed. It inrolve<? a 

 biological fallacy to ni-jpcsc "^'rt; c''*^'--^- " ,.ii ,; "jrous 

 p aiit canes will K've any.'j'iu ; '■■.'■ " ' .. ...i cd 

 strain as comp red \v..j c;K,r:n^s takaa fmiu the sera ibieat 

 ra'oons, provi led that b uh ar , of the sime vaiiety. Wbat 

 may perhaps be obtained in this way is a better start for 

 the young plants, and a more certain freedom from actu il 

 contamination with root fungus. Bat pr >vide 1 the canes 

 are clean in the latter respect, I know of no established 

 reason why plant canes should be better for the 

 purpose than ratoons. In a well tilled "seed-bed" the 

 young plants when once started seem but little dependent 

 on the support of the cutting, and I think very much 

 better of the prospects of a thin plant under the.se 

 circumstances than of a fat one in a hard or lumpy soil. 



'In good soil, under continuously favourable conditions, 

 tine crops have many times been reaped from plants taken, 

 owing to motives of econimy, from the worst fields on an 

 estate But, since coutiauously favourable conditions can 

 never be counted on, such a policy, so far as it involves 

 the danger of carrying over root fungus, is not one to be 

 recommended 



'The so 'king of the sets in Bordeaux mixture, which 

 was originally recommended as a precaution against the 

 pineapple disease of cuttings, is of very doubtful effiucy 

 ag.iinst the mycelium of root fungus, in fact, as regirds 

 top plants, it may without hesitation be set down »s usele.ss 

 in this respect.' 



( To be eotiJiii/ied.) 



VELVET BEANS FOR STOCK F03D. 



The planting of velvet beans {Stizolol'iifin spp. ) as a 

 green dressing is now known to be very advantageous in 

 these West Indian islands. Farm.'.' s' Bulletin Xo. 962, of 

 the United States Depirtmeut of At?ric'iitire deals With the 

 cultivation and use of 'le>:5 h^ '-i- '-^ '-stated th>- '\e 

 velvet bean is the best annml legume ■••op gcM.va in '^"; 

 South for soil improvement; as a green dressing. Furthermore 

 the beans make an excellent feed for cattle and hogs. Feeding 

 experiments show that from 2 to 2AIb. of velvet bean in the 

 pod are equal to 1 lb. of high grade cotton seed meal. 



Experiments made in feeding the beans to cattle at the 

 Tennessee Experiment Station show that velvet bean meal 

 mixed with an equal amount of cotton seed-meal at first was 

 eit'-n by cattle with relish Later on it was readily consumed 

 alone as tlie entire grain ration. In no case, however, was it 

 fed in greater amounts thin 10 R). per head per day. 



In feeding velvet beans to dairy cattle at the Florida 

 Experiment Station, it was found that milk was produced by 

 feeding velvet beans in the pod at 13-3c. per gallon as 

 compared with 13-7c. per gallon when cotton-seed meal was 

 fed. In a second etperiraent with wheat bran used as a 

 supplementary feed, the cost of producing a gallon of milk 

 on the velvet bean ration was 12'7e,, and with a cotton-seed 

 meal ration 15 60. 



At the Tennessee Statioa it was found that velvet beau 

 meal (pods and beans) could not well make up more than 

 one-third the ration ted U' hogs. By itself it was unpalat- 

 able to them. 



At the South C'lrolina K^periiuent Station it was 

 found that pigs on h lation of two-i birds velvet bean meal 

 arid one third corn meal made a gain during the experiment 

 of nearly 1 Jt). daily, at a consumutiin of about 4A of the 

 ration per lb of gain, and at a cost of about 9c per ib. 



