136 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 26. 1913. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Pepartment of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for copies of the 'Agricultural 

 News' should be addressed to the Agents and not to 

 the Department. 



Local A[/ents: Advocate Co., Ltd., Broad St., 

 Bridgetown. London Agents: Messrs. Dulau & Co., 

 37, Soho Square, W. The complete list of Agents 

 will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Afjricultural News: Price !(?. per number, 

 jiost free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 2s. 2c/. Post free, 4s. 4rt. 



Vol. XII. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1913. No. 287. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Effects of Manurial Salts oa Germination. 



Some interesting series of experiments ha\e been 

 carried out by Rusche with temperate species of 

 cultivated plants, to test the effect of such salts as the 

 nitrates and chlorides of sodium and potassium uiton 

 the rate of germination, l^e results obtained are 

 abstracted in the Journal of the Chemical Soclelij for 

 Kebruary 191-'5, and since the etTects observed are 

 likely to have their parallel in regard to tropical 

 species, the following facts are noted as being interest- 

 ing ard suggestive. 



Potassium chloride was found to act not unfavour- 

 ably on the germination of cereals, peas, rape and beet, 

 but unfavourably in the case of clovers and other 

 leguminous fodder plants. Sodium chloride was found 

 to be more uiifavoiu-able than the potassium saltexceptj 

 with barley. lupin.<, serradella and rape. Nitrates are 

 generally more favourable than chlorides; ammonium 

 nitrate, however, resembled the chloride in being dis- 

 tinctly injurious, especially to clover.-". Of all the salts 

 employed, sodium and potassium carbonates were found 

 to be the most favourable As regards the length of 

 roots, nitrates produced the shortest root.s with cereals. 

 The longest roots were obtained with sulphates and 

 phosphates. In the case of peas, the longest roots 

 were obtained when no manure was used. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The leading article in this number deals in 

 a general way with some of the more recent lines of 

 investigation on Heredity in relation to Agriculture, 



On page I'-il will be found a note describing views 

 in America on the c--tablishment of a Tropical 

 Universitv. 



The practical signiticacce of subsoil water in rela- 

 tion to the cultivation of crops is discussed in an article 

 on page ]'13. Certain points in this article are referred 

 to under .Students' Corner. 



On page l;]4- a description is given of the recent 

 Anglo-American controversy in conne.xioa with the 

 j)hagocytic theory of soil protozoa. 



Under the caption Itsect Notes, on page l.'>8, the 

 bubject of root borers pnd other grubs in West Indian 

 soils is continued from the.' last nuniber of this journal. 



A comprehensive account of the proceedings of 

 the recent Tuberculosis Conference in Trinidad is 

 presented on page 139. 



The Fungus Notes in this i.ssue compri.se Part II 

 of the description of work in the West Indies , on the 

 parasitology of the red rot fungus ctf the sugar-cane. 



Explosives in Agriculture. 



Since the beginning of the current year an unus- 

 ually large nuniber of agricultural journals have called 

 attention to the importance of explosives in the 

 cultivation of land. An interesting and extremely 

 well- illustrated article in the Agricultural Ga'cllc of 

 Neiv tiouth WalfS (January 1913) emphasizes the 

 value of dynamite in the clearing of bush laml. An 

 account is given of the different kinds of explosi\es and 

 the methods of tiring, the latter being either by moans 

 of the safety fuse or by electricity. It is indicated 

 that the advantages accruing from the felling of trees 

 by dynamite lie, not only in the fact that the stump is 

 removed, and but also in the fact that the small limbs 

 iTe broken otf by the concussion and fall. The Culxt 

 Magazine for .March 1913 calls attention to the value 

 of explosives in the breaking up of hardpan in citrus 

 cultivations in f'lorida, where four-ounce charges of 

 30 percent, dynamite have been exploded under trees ir» 

 bearing with eminently satisfactory results. From the 

 purely physiological aspect of soil aeration, the Planter's 

 Chron icle {Fehvnnry 8. 1913) strongly advises a careful 

 employment of this form of subsoil cultivation: and 

 lastly reference must be made to the advocacy of 2'ropi~ 

 cil Life, and to that of the India Rubber World (April 

 1, 1913) which devotes an editorial to the subject, indi- 

 cating the value of dynamite for preparing holes for the 

 actual planting of rubber trees, and its utility as a des- 

 troyer of animal and vegetable parasites. In the West 

 Indies, perhaps the greatest use of dynamite would lie in 

 the removal of large boulders of volcanic rocks which 

 at present on many estates so seriously interfere with 

 the thorough cultivation of the soil. 



