Vol. IVIIl. No. 455. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



307 



might add that it is to be hoped that this will include every 

 sugar producer and cane grower of the island) The active 

 board of directors is to consist of no more than seven 

 members, and only residents of Havana will be able to serve. 

 These seven members will be as representative as possible of 

 the sugar producers and cane growers of the six provinces. 

 Various other committees will be organized to look after the 

 diflFerent affairs of the association, and this will include local 

 committees at ea-;h central. The number serving upon 

 these local committees will be dependent upon the mumber 

 of colonos or cane growers who supply cane to tlie Central. 



The work of the association will be divided into nine 

 departments or branches. First, a department of agricultural 

 affairs; .second, a department of industrial affairs: third, a 

 department of immigration; fourth, transportation ; fifth, 

 statistical department, national taxes and custom house or 

 import taxes ; sixth, section of arbitration ; seventh, banking 

 and warehousing section ; eighth, moral and material 

 interests; and ninth, the legal department. 



The economic resources of the association will be of two 

 classes. First, a fixed voluntary contribution of $120 a year, 

 payable in advance; and second, a proportional obligatory 

 xjuota of one cent for each 100 arrobas of cane. The payment 

 of the voluntary contribution does not excuse the payment of 

 the proportional quota, but only those members making the 

 former can be elected to the directorate. 



The second class of members, referred to above, must 

 .pay "pli a year. 



When the directors deem it convenient, an association 

 bank with a capital of $100,000,000 w II be created. 

 There will be 1,000,000 shares of $100 each issued, and 

 only the members of the association may be stockholders. 

 In buying stock, each producer will put up 20 cents for 

 every bag of sugar he produces, and each colono will put up 

 a like amount for every 250 arrobas of cane he sells to the 

 factory. The object of the bank will be to lend money to 

 the members of the association to finance them until such 

 time as their sugar is sold. In this way, if the price 

 offered is not suitable, the producers may hold out until 

 higher ones may be obtained. The bank will also lend 

 money for agricultural work and the building and upkeep of 

 warehouses. Xo other business may be undertaken by this 

 bank unless there is no need of its money by the members of 

 the association for cane growing or sugar production. 



The association will endeavour to have beneficial laws 

 passed, to lower the cost of machinery, agricultural imple- 

 ments and supplies, freight rates, both land and water, and 

 Bational taxes. 



The department of arbitration will act in any disputes 

 that many arise between sugar producers and cane growers 

 such as up to date seem to have been inevitable relative to 

 difference in weights of cane and payment for the same. In 

 cases where one central tries to attract labour from another by 

 offering higher wages the arbitration committee will also act, 

 as well as in dispuu s with the railroads or sellers of equipment 

 and supplies tolhe sugar producers and cane growers. Promo- 

 tion ol immigration will also be included in the duties of the 

 association . 



Realizing that it is absolutely necessary to the succese 

 of the association to have al'. sugar producers and cane 

 growers as members, a circular letter signed by most of the 

 representative sugar concerns has been distributed, urging all 

 growers to attend the preliminary meeting which was held on 

 August 21, 1919. 



It is learnt from a later issue of the Louisiana 

 JPlanter that the association was .succesaftiUy estab- 

 lished on that date. 



SOIL SCIENCE. 



NEW FACTS CONCERNING PEN MANURE , 

 It is well known that crops are not immeJiately 

 benefited by the application of pen manure. \ccor,iin»to 

 a paper in Soil Science (April 1919) the effect of pin mvnurc 

 is not only delayed, but may (ictually cause a decrease io 

 the amount of available plant food in the soil to which it is 

 applied. This decrease in plant food, according to the 

 Californian experiments referred to in the article, goes on fof 

 about forty days after the application of the pen maaure. 

 At the ead of this time when the manure has become 

 well decomposed, it of course adds materially to the avail ible 

 plant food. 



It is further stated that the liberation of large amounts 

 of carbon dioxide in the soil by rotting manure does not 

 always greatly influence the composition of the water extract 

 of the soil. It has been tlie general belief that a large amount 

 of carbonic acid increases the amount of available plant food, 

 through its solvent action. 



The article goes on to say that the water-holding 

 capacity and poiocity of soil are undoubtedly improved by 

 manure, quite apart from increase in soluble plant food, 

 but the latter is increased chiefly or solely by the amount 

 added in the manure, and very little due to reactions set up 

 by the manure in the soil. 



In regard to loss of nitrogen due to the addition uf manure, 

 it is stated that if the soil is kept sufficiently open to the 

 air, there should be no loss. 



In another article in the sime journal, the ammonia- 

 fixing capacity of gypsum (calcium sulphate) in regard to pen 

 manure is dealt with in considerable detail. From this it 

 appears be to unquestionable that gypsum will prevent to a 

 certain degree the loss of ammonia from a mixture contain- 

 ing volatile ammonium carbonate, and it is quite probable 

 that the loss prevention is due to the formation of non- 

 volatile ammonium sulphate by the doable decomposition of 

 ammonium carbonate and calcium sulphate; for no othej 

 means is thought to be possible under the conditions of the 

 experiments described in the article under consideration 



The ammouia-fixing capacity of gypium is apparently 

 dependent on temperature. Tbe quantity of ammonia given 

 off by the ammonium carbonate increa.ses as the temperature 

 rises, and the percentage of it held by the calcium sulphate 

 decreases. 



A treatment of .300 Ih. of gypsum to a ton of pen man- 

 ure would no doubt effect a pronounced ammonia fixation, if 

 the water content were comparatively high. Whether sub- 

 sequent reactions that probably take place in a manure 

 heap would prevent its remaining fixed, and whether the 

 practice of reinforcing manure with gypsun is economical, 

 are questions which are not considered within the scope 

 of the investigations described in the article under considera- 

 tion. 



Concerning the economical side, however, it may be 

 stated that considerable deposits of gypsum exist in the 

 West Indies, chiefly in St. Kitts, and frote this point of 

 view there should be little difficulty in the way of employ- 

 ing gypsnm for the preservation of pen manure in estate 

 practice The chief question to decide is whether the fixa- 

 tion is sufficiently permanent to make the addition of 

 jjypsnm worth while This point call* for further and early 

 investigation. 



