"Vol. Vir. No. 17.3. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



389 



CACAO EXPERIMENT PLOTS AT 

 ST. LUCIA. • 



Cacao forms one ot the cliief crop.s under experi- 

 ment on the land worked in coiinexion with the 

 :Sd. Lucia Agricultural School and, as in the experi- 

 ments carried on at Dominica, great advantage has 

 Testdted to the cacao trees from mulchinw the 

 rsoil with grass, leaves, etc. In the l!)0()-7 season, 

 it is mentioned that two applications of grass' were 

 made, one in C)ctober and a second in Januar}'. 

 Altogether, about 18 tons of grass were applied to 

 .a plot 1 acre in e.xtent. As a result, there \va^ 

 a very noticeable impiovement in the vigour of the trees, 

 which passed through the iliy season in much better 

 ■condition than in pre\ious year.s, drojijiing their leaves 

 more gradually, and remaining practically free from 

 fungoid and insect troubles. 



In further refei'er.ce to work with i-ieao at the 

 Agricultural School, the latest Annual Report — that 

 for 1907-8 — contains the following: — 



The improveuient shown by the cacao on une plot as the 

 result of luulchiiiy, reported upon last year, has been 

 maintained. During the year, the plot wa.s cutlassed in 

 ^lay, and mulched with gras.s in July, cutlassed again and 

 mulched in October, but owing to a heavy flood on. Octobei' 1 9, 

 which washed otf all the mulch and fine surfacq, mould, the 

 jjlot had to be re-uuilched again, as it was necessary to 

 provide inunediate protection to the surface roots of the 

 trees which had been cxjiosed. .\ third cutlassing was given 

 in February. 



The trees are six and a half years old, and from the time 

 they connnenced to bear in 1906 u;) to the end of .July 1908, 

 diave yielded in dry cacao and its equivalent as seed, a total 

 of ;^06 111., ot which 259i lb. were obtained during the period 

 from April 1907 to June 1908. The total yield to date 

 would have been much greater had the development of the 

 trees been more uniform. In a )iortion of the plot the soil 

 is very heavy, and as the result the development of ilie trees 

 in this part has been retarded. 



A second plot, IJ acres in e.xtent, was weeded in May, 

 August, October, and February ; the drains were cleaned, 

 and the more backward trees manured with bone meal and 

 dry blood. The trees were pruned, and fruits removed 

 from several of them winch were fruiting at two and a half 

 years from the date of planting. 



There are welcome indications of a growing interest in 

 the practice of Tuulching as a means ,of maintaining and 

 increasing the fertility, and improving tl^e physical condition 

 of the soil in cacao orchards. The nudched ]ilot at this 

 .station has ; been visited by several local planters, and 

 information respecting the methods ad<:ipted has been sought 

 and given. Mulching is now being tried ^n sevend large 

 •cacio proijertie^', and the practice is likely to be extended, 

 with beneficial results. 



Plants have been prepared in baniboo pots for use as 

 stocks on which to work grafts from some of the best cacao 

 trees at the station, and several grafted plants which have 

 already been raised will be planted out in one of the new 

 plots. We have a tree of the .-Vlligator cacao {Thfoliromn 

 jteiUof/on(() from which grafts will be worked on Forastero 

 and Calabacillo stocks. 



Four plants of llicolirniiui am/vxtifoiui. were received 

 from the Superintendent of the Trinidad Botanical Depart- 

 ment. Three of them have grown well and will be tried a.s 

 stocks for grafting purposes. 



PIPE CALABASH AT ST. LUCIA. 

 Several roferences to the cultivation of the African 

 Pipe Calal>ash (La<jcnarla rulyaris) have been made in 

 past numbers of the Arjricultiiral Ncirs (see Vol. VII, 

 pp. 123 and 2li9). Seeds of this plant were some time 

 ago obtained from South Africa by the Imperial Com- 

 missioner of Agricidture and distributed to Botanic 

 Stations in the West Indies. The Curator of the 

 St. L'lcia Botanic Station makes the following reference 

 in regard to the seeds received by him : — 



Two seeds of the African Calabash Pipe (lourd {Lmji'iin- 

 ria vuh/aris), received from the Imperial Conunissioner of 

 Agriculture, wcxe sown on arrival, and one plant was set 

 out near an oldeom|)ost heap, where it grew well. Of the froit.s 

 that formed, forty came to maturity. The vines commenced 

 flowering in December, and the fruits ripened in the following 

 April as the vine was drying up. All the fruits that rested 

 on the ground acquired croriked necks, while those suspended 

 fromsujiports remained straight, as would be expected. A plen- 

 tiful supjdy of seeds w.is obtained, and they have been widely 

 distributed in the islaml, and tu other Botanic Stations. 



LEGUMINOUS PLANTS AND SOIL 

 IMPROVEMENT. 



The attention of planters at Crenada is drawn to 

 the value of leguminous plants as agents for soil 

 improvement in cacao and other plantations, in an 

 article ' Agricult;ure and the Nitrogen Problem,' that 

 appears in the GrrmnJa Bulletin of Miscellaneoim 

 Information for October last : — 



The article is written by the Agricultural Superintendent 

 of the island, and in the course nf it, Mr. Anstead refers to 

 the large number of legumimius plants, many of them being 

 wild, which exist in Orenada. In addition to the web known 

 exam})les, such as the different varieties of peas and beans, other 

 members of the Leguminosae which occur frequently in these 

 islands are Crotolaria, Phaseolens, Indigo, ground nuts, and 

 the 'sensitive plant' {illininsd 2>iii/i(:a.), while among the tree.s 

 are the Immortel, Flamboyant, Cassia, Sanian, and Logwood. 

 All these plants and trees are a means of enriching the soil 

 in wliieh they grow, by the stores of nitrogen assimilated 

 from the atmosphere by the bacteria as.sociated with their 

 rootlets. 



It is iiointed out that if, in.stead of allowing ordinary 

 weeds to grow in cacao ])lantations, the soil were sown 

 with some legununous ernp, and this crop when full-grown 

 turned into the soil, and a fresk supply of seed sown, 

 a dressing of nitrogen in a I'eadily available form, and at 

 little expense, would every time be given to the eacao crop. 



The best species of plant to grow for this purpose has 

 yet to be decided by experiment. Woolly pyrol, jiigeon peas, 

 and different varieties of cowpeas are all easily grown, but 

 some of the wild jdants, such as Crotolaria are worth a trial, 

 while the horse ur sword bean iVnmimdia enxif/jrii/is) (also 

 known in Grenada as the 'Over-look bean ') gives a heavy top 

 i;rowth and plenty of gieen material to supply humus. 



In the case of old cacao trees which have become 

 thickly covered-in, it is of course dilHcult to get any crop to 

 grow in the dense shade .so formed. With cacao in younger 

 stages, however, it is at least worth while to make a jjrelimi- 

 nary trial in this direction, and it .should be remembered that 

 wherever weeds flourish, a leguminous crop of some kind 

 would also grow. 



