A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



iPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



NEW V< 



Vol. VTI. No. lO.?. 



BARBADOS, JULY 25, 190S. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Manurial Experiments with Cacao 

 at Dominica. 



>^^ [T^* HE results of the manurial e.xperiment.s 

 rv^ ^3j ■^'^'•th cacao that have now been in 

 ^ ^k^^ progress for many years at Dominica, 

 both at the Botanic Station and in country districts, 

 are well worthy of study by planters, since they denion- 

 • strate beyond a doubt the remunerative returns 



obtained by judicious applications of manure to cacao 

 plantations. Attention may here be drawn to the most 

 important and interesting features in the results, 

 farther particulars of which will be found in a paper by 

 Dr Francis Watts, C.Sf.G., that appears in the Wi'xt 

 Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX, p. 138. 



The manurial experiments at the Station have 

 been carried out on uniform lines since the year 1900, 

 and there are five cacao plots under observation. Of 

 these, one has been regularly manured each 3'ear with 

 an application of 4 cwt. of basic phosphate and li cwt. 

 of sulphate of potash per acre: a second plot has been 

 annually treated with 4 cwt. of dried blood per acre, 

 and a third has received a complete manure, composed 

 of 4 cvi't. of basic phosphate, 1^ cwt. of sulphate of 

 potash, and 4 cwt. of dried blood per acre. The fourth 

 plot has been annually mulched with grass and leaves, 

 while the fifth has received no manure whatever. 



The crop returns obtained, which have been 

 recorded since 1902-3, clearly indicate the value of 

 manures to cacao plantations. This may easily be seen 

 from a comparison of the returns yielded by the several 

 manured plots during the five years ending 1906-7 

 with the return given by the uruuanured plot. The 

 use of dried blood alone (plot 3), which is primarily 

 a nitrogenous manure, resulted in an increased vield of 

 187 It), of dry cured cacao per acre per annum, as 

 compared with the unmanured plot. If the dry cacao 

 is valued at the moderate figure of Qd. per lb., the net 

 profit obtained as the result of the application of the 

 dried blood, after deducting the cost of the manure, 

 works out at .j7.s. 6'./. per acre. 



The use rif phosphate and potash on the first jjlot 

 has given au increased crop yield which, on the- 



