■232 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Ti-LY 26, 1919. 



EDITORIAL 

 Head Office 





NOTICES. 



— Barbados. 



Letters and mutter lor publication, as well as all 

 'Specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All .-ipplications for copies oi the 'Agricultural 

 Hews' and other Departmental publications, should be 

 •iddresscd to the Agents, and nut to the Department. 



The complete list of Agents will be found on 

 tpage 4 of the cover. 



Imptrial Commissioner of 

 Agric^tltiire (or the If'est IiiOies 



Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G. 

 D.ScF.LC, F.C.S. 



SCIENTinc STAFF. 



.S<:ituUfic Asnslant »n.i W. R. Dunlop. 

 AsS'Stant Jiditur ^ 



BiitomologUt H. A. Ballou, M.Sc. 



Mycologist \V. Nowell, D.I.C. 



AMistant for Cotton liesmrch S. C. Harl.ind, B.Sc.+ 



CLEKrCAl, STAFF. 



A. G. Howell. 

 fL. A. Corbin. 

 Taylor. 



Chief Clerk 

 Clerical Assistants 



Typist 

 AssistaiU Typist 



Astisiant for Publicatiota 



(h. 



\l'. xaj 



iK. R. C. Foster. 



Miss B. Robinson. 



Miss W. Ellis. 



A. B. Price, Fell. Joum. Inst. 



iProvided by the Imperial DepartmetU of Hcieiditic and 



Industrial Research. 

 *8ei;onded for Military Seri'ice. 



gigriruHural ^tm 



Vol. XVIIL SATURDAY, .JULY 26, 1919. No. 450. 

 NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



New Method of Determining Soil Acidity. 



Soil acidity is the term nsiially applied when 

 infertility of soil can be coriected by the application of 

 lime. There are many factors tvhich cause this con- 

 dition, the presence of real acids being only one of 

 them. Methods used for detecting or determining 

 soil acidity generally do not measure the acid there, 

 but may depend upon man}' properties of soil mass in 

 no way related t" acidity. Some recent work by 

 F. E. Eicc and S. Osougi, reported in the Experhnevt 

 Station Record for February 1M19, has led to the 

 discovery of a method for measuring so-called acidity 

 in soils through the inversion of sucrose in .50 c. c. of a 

 solution of cane sugar, to which has been added from 

 o to 10 grammes of the soil to be examined. The 

 power of the soil to catalyze the reaction of c^ne-sugar 

 inversion is a measure of its acid, and is probably the 

 only method which can n.easure the acid bound up 

 with the soil solid phase. It might be added by w.iy 

 of explanation, that the expression catalyze means that 

 the soil brings about the inversion without itself 

 undergoing any cheinieal change. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The eilitorial in this issue dcils with agricultural 

 costing, a system which should aim at effecting 

 economy in estate expenditure. 



At page ■22.S will be found an article dealing with 

 the position of the cocoa manufaelurer in lelation to 

 the grower of cawio. 



A new solanaceous forage plant is described on 

 page 235. 



Irii-ect notes in tliis issue deal with the spread of 

 the Mexican boll weevil in the United States. 



A note appears at page 229 on the lai'ge white- 

 seeded Lima bean in (irenada. 



Sugar Cane Cultivation in Uganda. 



According to the Report of the Department of 

 Agricultuie, 1917-18, the cultivation of sugar-cane in 

 the I'gaiida Protectorate is being gradually extended, 

 and Inrge numbers of canes have been distiibuted for 

 planting purposes. The varieties include Bourbon, 

 Purple and Yellow, Uba, Scaly Seedling Java and 

 B. Nos. 8922, l.")2.S and -l.")9(). Encouraging the cultiva- 

 tion of the Bourdon owing to its susceptibility, and the 

 Uba owing to its high fibre content is somewhat curious. 

 In regard to the three last-named cane-s, it is not clear 

 whether these are Java or Barbadian seedlings. It is 

 stated that several European planters are taking up the 

 cultivation of the crop on a luger scale, but beyond the 

 increase in the manufacture ot jaggree, nothing of a 

 more advanced nature is contemplated at present,. The 

 department has on order from India an improved type 

 of mill for the manufacture of jaggree, but already small 

 plants are working, and the jaggree finds a ready local 

 market. It would appear from the report that at 

 present there is no extensive development in the 

 matter of cane-sugar production for export, but no 

 doubt the new preference in favour of iMiipire sugar, 

 recently passed by Parliament in (Jreat Britain will 

 have an effect in the near future upon sugar-cane 

 production not only in Uganda, but in other parts of 

 Africa as well. 



The Value of Recoi'ds. 



The United States Deparlmeiit of Agriculture 

 has issued, a.s Fnrmrrs' BvlhUn !/>■!'/. a very clear and 

 concise j)amphlet on 'tirowing Sugar-Cane for Sirup' 

 as the Americans now spell what we know as syrup. 

 Most of the information contained in this pamplet is 

 nothing new to sugar-cane planters iu the West Indies. 



