Vol. XV in, No. 457. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XKWS. 



•3 43 



3 feet to 6 feet. 'Ilie woot; i-i D'>"-la.s rir is the .strougest in 

 the worid for its weight, obiiiiaaWe in couiiaerci.U nhea and 

 qi;ant!'ie". It is now rt-cogaized in the wirld's tuirkots as 

 large cor,s;:u.':uon limber?, (^jantities 



are 



tLii best of ail 



s!i ;-.n'd !o th^ Uoi'-'-d K;rgdoD), th'r; coDtiuep"t of Kurope, 

 So I til Africa, India, Caioa, An.^tralia, New ZoalaDd, and 

 iSoiUh America. It js oiji!i:i!ab)-> in tlie largest sizes required, 

 but lliv' 'irtatsr ponioi?, of Dong.,.-? fir dimeiision it, of uonrsei 

 ir>aT!uf«etured and naed in the smailer coinuicrciai sizes! 

 Donalaa Hr Js ib',; kree.st stv-^tura! timber growing in 

 Caaada or tl;<; Unii<;d ';'• ■ us'.'ii luess, h'''i.vevfcT, is ' 



uo nieaKS cocficed to .,.:. . . ,il vTork, ps tho wood 

 most suitable for iKtericr fini.--h work, and is used to au 

 crcTsnous ex;ent on the ]N"or:ii American consincnt for this 

 l>uriip.=;e. Dougias fir is prob;ib!y the most iiaeful of all soft 

 wooJs {::-or?n, ita suitability ghnog it v. very wide rimi^e of 

 USPS. It' is used for s-bipOTildi.Qg, besrss, coiumns, posts, 

 bridgeworb, railway ties, rafters, fioorin^, matr.hings, doors, 

 in"uldin.2s, etc. Size fo.r size It )s tla crjual ia streu»th of 

 lorg Itaf 8;n!!bern pice (pitch pint), but has about io per 

 cent. Ipss wficht tha-i pitch piue. It is exporied ur.plaued 

 for joists, studdir.g, rafter, aad heavy limberi :vid planed as 

 flooring, m!=,lching a ud the like, lil piaoed material n.anu- 

 factiired for interior fi:aish is kiln-dried before shipment. 

 This wood is mo.^erstely hard, but easy tc work, straight- 

 grained, tough, resilient, and durable. 



'The imports of Do;):-;las tir timber into die United 

 Kiogdom were, in 1915, thirty-ei;^ht iriilion feet; 1916, iwec'.y 

 million feet; 1917, thirteen ard a half ni'H'oa feet. Us' ly 

 it is imported in large or " nier ban table" sizes, to bereaaivn 

 here. It has been largely used for railway sleepiT.s, and after 

 having been Uid fo<- over seventeen years or. the Great Wesiern 

 Eailway, out of 1,(516 sleepers only twenty three had been 

 renioved on account of decfiy. There is f:irther proof of the 

 durability of this wood in the fact that a spar of it had stood 

 exposed to all weath = rs as a flagstafi' in the Riyal Girden.s, 

 Kew. for over fifty years ' 



Good Ensilage in Jamaica —An experiment in 

 the making of ensilage at the Hope Farm has been in 

 operation now for eight years, and the results have been 

 completely satisfactory. 



The plant consists of two stave silos, size !'■ feet by 30 

 feet, holding 60 tons each, a Massey f larris ' Blizzard ' Cutter 

 and Blower, which will cut up 3 to 4 tons of forage per ho'ir 

 and blow it into tte silo from the delivery pipe of the blower, 

 and a 20 h.p. gasolene engine. 



One gallon of gasolene costing '2s. 8^ is consumed for 

 each 3 tons of forage cut up. 



Guinea corn in the ear and Guinea grass just arrowing 

 were employed for making the ensilage, and an excellent 

 product resulted. Visitors from the United States gave the 

 opinion that our silage was superior to the average corn silage 

 used in that country. 



' It has now been demonstrated tliat,-l>y making ensilage, 

 it is posi-ible on tin Liguanea Plain without irrigation to 

 secure a constant supply of succulent forage, and that the 

 produce in the form of either Guinea grass or Guinea corn 

 «ilaye is a first class ea.'iilage that is relisfapd by cattle, i-.nd 

 is also quite wholesome. Willi the grass lands at our disposal 

 at the Farm, it is now manifest that six silos of 60 tons 

 capacity each are required in or'er to deal economically and 

 efjiciently with our produce, {foania! lifi/ii: Jamaicck-Ai^fxi- 

 cultural Si'ciety, May 1919.) ../;••;.• 



RIC3 EXPERIMENTS IN TRINIDAD- 



"sfcful re.suhs have boen obtained, and ;.te likely to 



contmae, followir;^ frorr. the rice exp-riments d«cribed by 



Messrs. J. de Verteuil, K.I.G.. and L A. Brunton in tha 



tyuLefiH of the Depart, .y.nt of A^riadtur:, Trinidad -^nd 



Jobr.go, Vol. Wm, Pa,t 2. 



The experiments v7,-!e started in 1 9 U. and were first 

 confined to it study of the compar.itive yield of foar 

 varieties -three from British Guiana, and the fo trth, a local 

 variety. i'"ive years' work shows that Creole Variant -J (from 

 lintish Guiana), and l-rrabau, the 'aeal variety, aia the- 

 oestof tbefour, a:ad tnx> be expected lo yield 20 barrel; of 

 padiy (of ii'O t).; per aero in a nonnal season. 



In 19 U e-ipoiitnt-nts were started to test the intiusaire 

 on yield of early auu laio preparation of the soil. With one- 

 exception, it was found t'jSLt an increase of I 'J to 6-8 br>.g3 

 <>t piddv per acre m<y be expected in favour of the early 

 preparation of the l.xnd. 



Distance planting experinirnts have also been conducted 

 during 'he las: two years. The best results were obiained 

 from pit's flant^edat between 9 ami I 2 inches , 10 inches 

 apart is probably the best planting distend'. 



Wiih a view of asfortaming the smallest number of 

 plant.s that Wiiy be put to a hole when transplanting fr.Jin 

 the nurseries, t.o as lo plait up the largest area possible 

 with the snullest number of plants, experiments were carried 

 out, which uive given derinie r-sulcs. It is not uncommoa 

 to see throwers plant 'ut a handlul of seedlings containing 

 prooably ten to (iftcen plants, in a hole 'I he experiments, 

 ho'vevc-r, have shown that five |>lants to the hole give the- 

 I'ighest yield, owing to the fact thar, wi;h fewer plants, 

 tilleriud ia greatly encouraged, and there must alsi be mucli 

 less competition. It is probable that two to four plants 

 per hole would, in most conditions, be quite enough. 



These useful experimiMits have included recently, the 

 testing of varieties of rice imported from the F.ast — froia 

 Ceylon, India, Java and F'orniosa ; also new varieties from 

 Demerara, Loui.-iana and British Honduras. The t'eyloa 

 varieties gave very aood yields, but the writers appear t • 

 think most highly of Dem rara varieties. 75 Strain 2». 

 and Creole Strdn 2. 



The paddy from British Honduras did not germinate. 

 Lastly, the important worji of seed seltction has been 

 started in Trinidad. The second year's work has shown . 

 that not only has a larger average number of tillers per 

 plant been obtained, but also a larger yield from the best 

 plant, and from the average of fifty selected plants. 

 It is hoped that ly continuing tlie selection of the best 

 plant yearly, a strain or strains of rice may be produced • 

 which will give much larg-^r ciops of paddy than are now- 

 obtained. 



In a paper on suaarcane varieties and froghnpf.er blight 

 in Trinidad, ly Mr- C B. Williams, Kntoraolog st in charge 

 of Froghopper Investigations, the situation is summed up as 

 follows : Xo varielj' of cane at present urown in Trinid;id 

 is immune from diseii.se. Ulu and lUdilli are more resistant 

 than the rest, and the followina recently introduced canps 

 seem worthy of more extended trial, namely Ba.'iU.t2, 

 B.H. 10(12), White Tanna, .tnd H.(?i. The evidence shows 

 that theie i» considerable Viriatioo io re^isbince, and iiientmn 

 should be paid to this poiat, particularly in "-onDexion .vulj 

 ra|i»\npne:w varieties from seed in Trinidad. ■ , , 



