Vol. VI r. N'o. 151. 



THE AGItlCULTUUAL NEWS. 



37 



DOMINICA PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The unnual genei-al mectiiig of the Dominica Planters' 

 Association was held un December nO, Hen. A. D. Lock- 

 hart, M.X.C., presiding. 



The following gentlemen were elected to form the 

 Coramitteft for tlic ensuing year : Hons. J. ( '. Macintyre, 

 AI.L.C H. A Frfimpton, M.L.C., ]\Iossrs. W. ]). lliviere, 

 L. L. Bell, E. A. Agar, and A. St. Hilaire. 



Ur. {}. C. Downing was re-electe.l Honorary Secretary 

 and Ti'easurer. 



'I'he meeting, in acknowledging the receipt of the publi- 

 cations of the Impe"'^' Department of Agriculture, pa.<sed 

 a hearty vote of thanks to Sir ])aiiiel Morris for tlie c.'nipli- 

 ment paid them. 



Messrs. E. A. Agar and L. L. Dell were elected to 

 represent the Association at the West Indian Agricultural 

 Conference of 1908. 



ONION CROP IN ANTIGUA, 1907-8. 



The toUowiiiL; repiirton the present seascm's onion 

 crop in Antigua has been received from Mr. Thom.iS 

 Jackson, Curator of the Botanic Staiion in the island : — 



In Antigua, onions are grown as a catch cro[i, prcvinus 

 to the iilantin'; of the sugar-cane. 'J'his year the area planted 

 is about oi acres. The crop is not one which is grown 

 by many planters. Of the -Oi; acres growing in Antigua 

 at the present time, 40 acres are planted l>y the Hon. F. 

 Holborron, and 8 acres are planted on North Sound estate. 



The greater jiart of the .seed for this crop was imported 

 from TeiTeritfe, through the Imperial DepHrtmtnt of Agri- 

 culture, and sol 1 to planters at tlio price of cost and charges. 

 The germination of the seed was good, anil tm liouhle has 

 been e.xperienced in transplanting the young onions fnmi the 

 nursery to the field. With the e.xeeption nf a slight attack 

 of cateriiillars, which did no material d;:mage, the croji has 

 not sufi'ered from any insect attack. 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN TRINIDAD. 



In tlie report tor ]U!)li-7(ni tlieWaril Uni.msi.f 

 Trinidad, t.hc Waiiieii of Croimilie .iiitl La Liea makes 

 the following refeieiiec to tobaccj growing in iiis 

 district : — 



The peasant proprietdis of Ompuche nnd Siparia seem 

 to have almost given up the cidtivation of the flagrant weed, 

 which is to be regretted, as Siparia tobacco once ranked, ne.xt 

 to the best Havana. In spite of efforts to induce the plants 

 ers to grow and cure the leaf according to scientific and 

 ai)proTCd methods, they still adhere to their primitive ways 

 with the usual disheartening results. 



It is estimated that in this Ward (inly GO acres were in 

 cultivation with tobacco during 190G-7. 



In the lieport of the (.'urator of the IJoyal ]!.itan;e 

 (iardens iov l'J0i)-7, meiitioii is made of a method of cultiva- 

 tion and a process of curing tobacco, sncoessfully carried out 

 at the St. C!lair ENperiment Station. It would be of benetit 

 to the tobacco i)lanl ers of this Ward I'liioa if the Agricultural 

 Instructors could impart this melf.od to them, in order that 

 a once profitable industiy might l.e revived. 



Permits for the removal by water of 7,36l' lb. of native 

 grown tobacco were issued by the Warden during the year, 

 but as considerable (piantitics are now removed by land, foi- 

 Avhichmode of tran.sit no permit is needed, this ([uantity does 

 not represent the total outjiut. 



SUPERPHOSPHATE. 



The method of mainifactnie, and the qualities and 

 uses of tlii.s well-known phosphatic manure are discussed 

 at considerable length in the Journal of the British 

 Agricultural Organization Society for December last. 

 The subject is treated pi-iinarily from the point (jf view 

 of the British farmer, but the .•lecompanyiiig extracts 

 arc worthy of note by ngiiculturists in all jjarts of the 

 woild who may have occasion to use sujierphosphate : — 



In the purchase of superphosphate, it is sometimes 

 necessary, from a [iractical point of view, to take the [physical 

 conditicm of the manure into consideration ; that is to say-, 

 a good su])erphosphate should be a fairly dry, friable powder, 

 and should not readily become wet and sticky. Unfortunately, 

 this tendency to stickiness is more common in the high 

 grades than in the low, and it arises from the fact that in 

 their anxiety to dissolve as much of the phosphate .as possible, 

 the manufacturers use rather more acid in proportion than 

 they do for the lower grades. A sticky super[ihosphate is 

 exceedingly disagreeable to handle and difficult to distribute 

 e\enly, so that it is worth while to remember that aay 

 wetness or stickiness can be most easily corrected by 

 thoroughly mixing 2 cwt, of steamed bone fiour witli each 

 ton of superphosphate and leaving it in a heap for a day or 

 two. 



Lime must on no account be mixed with superjihosphate 

 because it converts the water-.sokdile phosphate into the 

 reverted phosphate which is only .soluble in dilute acid, and, 

 if the mixing is carelessly done, a good deal of the phrjsphate 

 will go back into its original insokxble state and be quite 

 valueless. 



It is sometimes stated that the acid superphosphates 

 have a tendency to make land sour, particularly the heavy 

 lands ; but the proper way to correct any tendency in this, 

 direction is by giving the land an occasional dressing of lime. 

 It has lieon calculated that 1 cwt. of liiue per acre is more 

 than sufficient to correct the acidity of any reasonable dress- 

 ing of su[ierphosphate, so that an ordinary agricultural dress- 

 ing of burnt or groiuid lime would be sufficient for many 

 years. It is well worth, mentioning that on many soils, 

 |jarticularly the clays and sands, dressings of lime have 

 a wonilerfid effect in increasing the result of subsequent 

 dressings of superphosphate. 



As a source of phosphatic food for plants, no manure 

 is more reliable and certain in its results than superphosphate, 

 hut it must be borne in mind that it sui)plies nothing' 

 but phosphate, and that this is only one of the numerous food 

 substances that plants require. A great many soils contain 

 a fair quantity of nitrogen, abundance of potash, and all 

 the other plant foods with the exception of ])hosphate, and 

 it is on these soils that superphosphate is all that is recpiired 

 to increase considerably the crop yiohls jjroduced. On other 

 soils in which nitrogen or [lotash is deficient it is tiseless to 

 apjily large dressings of sujierphosphate alone, because the 

 plant will have used U|i all the available nitrogen or potash 

 and have ceased to grow before it has been alile to utilize 

 half the jihosphate supplied by the manure. In such cases 

 a suitalile (ptantity of nitrogen or potash should be applied 

 along with the phosphate. 



Oenerally speaking, 3 cwt. of "26 jier cent. sMperphosphate- 

 A\ ill supply all the pho.sphate required to make a complete 

 manure with 1 cwt. of nitrate of .soda (or | cwt. of sulphate 

 of ammonia) and i cwt. of sulpliate of pota.sh; indeed, 

 a ]iowerful general manure can be made by mixing super- 

 l)hosphate, suliihate of ammonia, and sulpliate of potash in the- 

 projiortions mentioned. 



