Vol. XVII. No. 410. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Application of Science to Agriculture. 



The British Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, 

 in reporting on the aim, objects, and results of the first 

 year's work, 1916-17, devotes considerable space to the 

 work of the sub committee on the application of science 

 to agriculture. This sub-committee was constituted 

 'to inquire into and report upon the work at prfsentin 

 progress on the application of science to agriculture, 

 and to make such recommendations as they think fit 

 with a view to promoting the application of engineer- 

 ing to this subject.' The sub-committee reports, 

 amongst other matters, that it believes that a great 

 future awaits the development of electrical applications 

 to agriculture. While on the one hand, in Germany 

 enormous developments have taken place in agricul- 

 tural districts, and farmers have increasingly utilized 

 electric power, on the other hand, m England, unhappily 

 no applications of electricity to agricultural purposes 

 beyond those within the power of stationary motors 

 have been made. The sub-couimittee believes that 

 a metter which requires practical experiment and 

 proof is the application of electricity to ploughing and 

 cultivation, reaping and binding, etc. An electrically 

 propelled plough or other agricultural machine would 

 be both simpler in construction, and easier to handle, 

 inspect, and repair than an oil-driven machine. 



As an outcome of tliese recommendations of the 

 sub-committee, the Conjoint Board passed a unanimous 

 resolution on October 10, 1917, as follows: — 



'The Conjoint Board recommend that the Board 

 of Agriculture be asked to grant the necessary funds for 

 designing, constructing, and testing practically an 

 electrical tractor and certain other agricultural machines, 

 and to appoint the agricultural sub-committee, or some 

 of its members, as an executive committee to superin- 

 tend the designing, building, and testing of such plant, 

 and to prepare a report thereon.' 



— ^ — 



Cross-Pollination of the Mango. 



Interesting work in this direction is being under- 

 taken by the officers of the Hawaii Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, according to the report for I9I6. 



The first phase ot the work was the determination 

 of a suitable technique for the pollination of the mango; 

 and the second, the origination, if possible, of new 

 varieties combining desirable characters now found in 

 different varieties, as, for example, the rich colouring 

 of one with the flavour and texture of another. 



On the mango there may be several hundred 

 flowers in a single cluster, which is only able, however, 

 to mature a few fruits. In cross-pollinating, therefore, 

 it is necessary to select a few of the best flowers, and 

 to cut out the others to prevent their setting fruit. 

 This makes it possible to segregate the selected flowers 

 from chance fertilization by covering the cluster with 

 a paper bag. Frequently the best flowers are found 

 on the very short branches of the flower-cluster near 

 the outer end of the central stem. When such is the 

 case, the flowers are removed from the larger side bran- 

 ches, without cutting ofl' the side branches themselves, 

 which might cause the whole cluster to fail. The flowers 

 at the end of the cluster are not disturbed. In carry- 



ing on this pollination work the flowers are prepared 

 the day before transfer of pollen is made. The flowers 

 are emasculated, and any others that might pollinate 

 them are removed; the whole cluster is then covered 

 with a large paper bag which is removed the next day 

 for pollination, and is replaced immediately. Later 

 flowers on the cluster may be operated upon in the 

 same manner. 



Bougainvillaea Seedlings. 



With reference to Bougamvillaea hybrids noticed 

 in the issue of this Journal for November 3, 1917, in 

 a letter, dated December 14, 1917, Mr. A. J. Brooks, 

 Agricultural Superintendent, St. Lucia, says that he 

 has successfully raised a plant from the seed obtained 

 by Dr. G. V, Perez by crossing H. lateritia and B. glabra. 



This seedling was unfortunately eaten down when 

 only an inch in height, and remained dormant, with 

 only half an inch of bare green stem, for nearly seven 

 months. By keeping it under a glass bell-jar, and 

 treating it with mmute doses of sulphate of ammonia 

 every two weeks throughout the dormant period, the 

 reward has been obtained of having two strong shoots 

 given off from the roots, and it is now making satisfac- 

 tory progress, though it has not yet flowered. 



It will be interesting to get further details when 

 the flowers appear. Mr. Brooks's experience bears out 

 Dr. Perez's observatiois on the great vitality and 

 i-eproductive power of the roots of Bougainvillaea. 



Mr. W. N. Sands, Agricultural Superintendent, 

 St. Vincent, also records that he has successfully raised 

 plants from root-cuttings of the brick-red Bougainvil- 

 laea, as recommended by Dr. Perez. This is worth 

 noting, as the variety in question is not readily propa- 

 gated by means of stem-cuttings. 



Botany and the Living Plant. 



In an article published in the New Phytologiat, 

 November 14, 1917, on the influence of aeration of the 

 nutrient solution in water culture experiments, the 

 authors, Walter Stiles and Ingvar .Jorgensen point out 

 the need for a synthesis, of the science of botany. They 

 say:— 



'Our whole outlook on the physiology of the plant, 

 resulting as it does from incomplete researches on 

 isolated organs, and imperfect generalizations derived 

 therefrom, fails to realize the plant as a unit, or to 

 consider it as a whole. Thus the law of the minimum, 

 .Hid the special case of it called the principle of limit- 

 ing factors, are not of general application to the activi- 

 ty of the plant as a whole, on account of the interaction 

 ot factors and the processes dependent on them. We 

 are still waiting for the more exact statement which 

 shall properly express ths law of physiological relations; 

 in other words, we are still waiting for a more satisfac- 

 tory primary survey of the life of the plant. We are 

 waiting, in fact, for that science of botany which will 

 embody physiology, ecology, and agriculture, and make 

 it the science of the living plant as a whole, having as 

 its basis an elementary analysis of the plant's activities 

 in relation to environmental and hereditary factors.' 



