Vol. XVIIl No. 46]. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



405 



It will be seen tliat rain is greatly needed over half the 

 island, if there is to be a satisfactory spring of the young 

 crop, and if the old crop is to make U|) for some of the lost 

 lime caused by the severe drought which prevailed daring 

 the first half of the year. 



The planting season is .^till in full swing. Some estates 

 in the black soil have finished, but the majority have still 

 some acres to plant. Even in Sc. Lucy, where pUnting is a> 

 a rule most forward, pUnts are still being cui everywhere. 

 It is, as yet, too soon to pronounce on the gener<l start 

 made by the youug crop, but we have been very favourably 

 impressed by the vigour of ihe shoots seen by us in some 

 fields, while in others we do not think the start has been 

 as regular as was expected. In the south of the island, plant- 

 ers are somewhat anxious concerning the plants put in ten 

 dajs ago. A rain is very nectssary immediately after plant- 

 ing to settle plants in their new habitat, and to induce imme- 

 diate germination ; but very much also depends on the 

 quality of the plant and on the condition of the soil. Again, 

 we believe that some plants should be planted with the drill 

 and others with the fork. A good deal depends on the kind 

 of eye which the seedling has. 



At a meeting of the Agricultural Society held on the 5th 

 instant, it w^s advocated by the Hon. G. L. Pile that tht 

 sugarcane experiments carried on by the Depart- 

 ment of Agricultufe should I'e extended by the establish- 

 ment of one or more additional experimental stations. This 

 would be an excellent plan, but could not many planters 

 assist in this matter by themselves experimenting on a small 

 scale with the assistance of the Government Department of 

 Agriculture ? 



We are very pleased to state that, with the weather 

 which has prevailed in the north of the island, the cane cr"p 

 there has developed splendidly. In St. Lucy, right down 

 to the seashore, the fields h*»e so far improved that it seems 

 probable that next year's crop will be only inippreciably 

 behind this year's results. 



In the blick soil the yam crop shows fair promise, but 

 in other parts of the island a very moderate return is antici- 

 pated ; some fields are altogether a failure. 



Since thi-< report was written a very refreshing rain has 

 falltn in the southern part of the island, and we learn that on 

 Thursday night a rainfall of 5 inches was registered in some 

 parts of the paiish of St. Lucy. (The Rarbados Agricultu- 

 ral Reporter, December \'i, 1919.) 



GERMINATION OP CAMPHOR SEEDS 



In view of the interest which is now being taken in the 

 cultivation of camphor trees ic many p*rts of the tropics, an 

 article published in the Journal of Agricultural Research 

 August 1-5, 1919, on the effect of removing the pulp from 

 camphor seed on germination and the subsequent growth of 

 the seedlings is of importance. 



It would appear that it has been noted in various places 

 that the germination of camphor seeds has been unilorinly 

 low. In Florida, for instance, in commercial plantings, 

 where unpulped seeds have been planted with a modified 

 cotton-seed dropping machine, the averasfj number of seed- 

 lings brought to transplanting age on 1 acre of seed bed has 

 been approximately ■J0,000. Now to plant an acre of seed 

 bed requires approximately 200,000 seeds. The geimination 

 has therefore averaged ony about 10 per cent., which corres- 

 ponds with the results recorded in various other couotries. 



As a consequence of this low germination there has been no 

 great extension of camphor planting on a large scale in 

 Horida because of the limited number of seedlings annually 

 available. ° ' 



The author of the article referred to above, .Mr. .1 A. 

 Russell, of the Bureau of Plant Industry. United State 

 Department of Agriculture, has undertaken a series of 

 experiments in germination of camphor seed after different 

 treatments to determine, if possible, the cause of this low 

 germination 



Seed from a tree growing in the vicinity of Orlando, 

 Honda, was selected for the purpose of the experiment. 

 Ihis tree was twenty years olJ, and was a typical example of 

 the camphor trees m Florida from which seed is gathered for 

 commercial planting. The author describes in detail the 

 conditions under which the various lots of seed were collected. 

 and the treatment of each before planting, and he then 

 details the experiments. Ths most notable result appears to 

 be the very greatly increased germination obtained when the 

 seed is pulped. 



The following is Mr. Russell's summary of the results of 

 these experiments : — 



In the season of 1916-17 ctmphor seeds were planted 

 under various conditions. The e-xperiment wis repeate I in 

 the season of 1917 18, and commercial conditions were 

 cloiely approximated. 



'Removing the pulp from the seeds were found to 

 hasten germination by an average of two weeks : it also gave 

 an increase in germination of approximately -5 2-5 per cent. 

 over that of unpulped seed. 



'Drying the seed with artificial heat at .5.5° C. destroyed 

 all vitality. 



'Soaking the seed in water apparently did not hasten 

 germination; neither did it increase the percentage of seed 

 that germinated. 



'Soaking the seed in sulphuric acid of 5 per cent by 

 weight destroyed all vitality 



'Seeds picked up from the ground showed less vitality 

 than those picked from the tree, but removal of the pulp 

 increased and hastened germiuation. 



'Allowing the seed to fenneat, and the pulp to decom- 

 pose in closed vessels destroyed all vitality. 



'A freeze on three successive nights, during which tha 

 temperature fell t) 26° F, did not destroy the vitility of all 

 the .seed: it did, however, imp.tir the vitality, and reduced 

 the number of seeds that germinated by approximat(?ly 50 

 per cent. 



'Seeds planted early in the winter required a longer 

 time to germinate than those planted in mid winter. The 

 former average more sturdy trees. 



•When the pulp was removed, and the germinatim of 

 the seeds was hastened, a larger and more sturdy de;dling tree 

 was obtained for transplanting than when the pulp was not 

 removed. The increase in the number of ieedling!< of trans- 

 planting size secured by pulping the seed amounted approxi- 

 mately to 600 per cem. 



From a commercial point of tIpw, removal of the pulp is 

 derirable, even through the l.ibour must all be done by hand. 

 The increased germination, and the well developed trees that 

 result, will repay many times the cost of the labour involved* 



'It is believed that in commercial plantings the remjval 

 uf the pulp from the seeds will increase the percentage of 

 germination by at least 200 per cent., thus proj icing -10,000 

 more seeding trees to each acre of seed bed. This estimate is 

 believed to be very conservative, and eyen a much gi eater 

 increase may be expected. 



