Vol. XIV. No. 347. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



267 



WEED DESTRUCTION. 



THE BLOW LAMP FOR KILLING WEEDS. 



In the Agricultural News for SftJvember 21 last, (see 



Volume XIII. |>. - '• 7 -"• > a brief absti a yen of an article 



which had appeared in the Jo the Royal Horticul 



N \iety. The abstraci i titled Explosives unci 



the Blow Lamp in I be G irdi 



Among tlu> uses to which the blow lamp had been put 

 by the writer oi the original uticle was the killing of weeds 

 in drivi - md paths. 



in order to tesl the value ol this method of weed 

 killing, trials have been made at the headquarters of the 

 Imperial Department of Agricultme in Barbados, using 

 .i in dium sized blow lamp burning kerosene; it has been 

 found that the weeds which commonly occur in these drives 

 are not satisfactory killed bj this means. In the first place, 



the weeds are t leep-rooted; and si idly, some of them 



an- si i fleshy and. succulent as to require an undue amount 

 of time and fuel to scorch them. It may be added that 

 this trial was made mi an ..] ] drive, that is to say, grass and 

 weeds were well established, and they keep reappearing in 

 spite oi the use oi the blow lamp and of frequent weedings 

 with the hoc. Possibly in the case of a drive newly laid 

 down and freshly marled, the Mow lamp would lie more 

 ■, ,i- it would, if property u ed, have to deal only with 

 \<i\ young wrnU which had not yel got established. It is 

 possible, therefore, that there are situations and conditions 

 in which this method of controlling weeds may lie of service. 



instances improvement i t., the prevalence of w Is was 



noted, luit neithei i made the improvement that was 



1" be sun in the tenni lawn. The plot which wa 

 weeded and received the application ol ammonium sulphate 



was the Letter of these two, the results more in .nlv appi 



ing thos,- yielded l.\ ill, tennis lawn itself. 



Ankylostomiasis in Grenada. - In connexion 



with the editorial on the subject of h""k worm disease in the 



tropics, which appeared it cut issue of the Agricultural 



tfeiof, it may be well to call attention to an instinctive paper 

 read by Dr. McDonald at a meeting of the British Medical 

 Association (Sectional Branch), Grenada. The papei 

 entitled The Disposal oi Unman Excreta in tin- Tropics. On 

 account of the importance of this matter in regard to hook 

 worm disease, a considerable amount of detail i givenas to 

 the best methods of disposal and deodorization. Briefly the 



CUStomary methods of disposal throughout the tropics are: 



l) water carriage, (2) human carriage, (3) original perm 



disposal, and ( I) natural disposal. All I lies" are dealt with 



and criticised at considerable length The most important 

 point, however, raised by Dr. McDonald, is the great \alue of 

 salt. Under ordinary circumstances the besl deodoranl and 

 disinfectant, is dry earth, but where ankylostomiasis is 



common, salt mixed with dry earth or sand i- a safer 

 disinfectant and a good deodorant. Salt has the . 

 advantage of killing the hook worm. It also helps I i 

 away Hies. Its more extended use for the purpose in 

 question is strongly advised. 



ERADICATING WEEDS WITH MANURE. 



Tic artich turf, which ippeared in the Agricultural 



Slews for January 30 of this year, gave directions for iniprov- 

 wns, in which fhe principal grass was devil's grass 



Ion dactylon), by means of an overdose of ai mini 



sulph .1 



This method has now 1 n tried on a tennis lawn in 



i with excellent results. The tennis lawn had 



formerly been well covered with devil's grass, but a very 



considerable mixture of weeds had come into it, especially 



'li|»- being the so :alled duckweed (Synedrella nodi- 



ii I -mall leguminous plants, and nut grass | ( 'yperus 



fits). These were so abundant that the lawn had to 



ore the application "I ammonium sulphate was 



The rate of application recommended was .'!.', lb. "t 

 ammonium sulphate in 1 gallon- "i water per 100 square feet, 

 The application was made at this rate, using for the purpose 

 a watering pot with a moderately line rose nozzle, and light 

 showers fell almost daily tor a shojl time after. Asa result 

 ii, lawn has greatly improved, the weeds having quite 



disappeared leaving an almost pure growth of devil's grass, 

 except for some nut grass. This last is too deeply rooted i" 

 be affected by the action of the sulphate of ammonium, but as 

 this grass, "I' sedge, does not form patches, and is easily 

 cut by tin- lawn mower, it is of but little consequence. 



In order to check the effect of Weeding, an adjoining 

 portion of turf was treated with the ammonium sulphate 



without 1 icing first weeded, and another patch was v. 



hut did not get any application of tic sulphate. In both these 



Conservation of Soil Moisture. —By the appli- 

 cation of compost cover-, the soil remains soft, moist and cool 

 during the dry season when uncovered soil becomes cracked 

 and baked. By this method of covering the soil, obnoxious 



weeds are suppressed. When the object of tillage is the 

 improvement of the physical condition of the soil, the saving 

 of moisture and destruction "I weeds, compost covers such as 

 are here used may lie substituted for tillage operations. They 

 conserve the water content of the soil so much that in the 

 dry season at least compost covers are a necessity in the best 

 farm management, especially in the case of shrubs, trees, and 

 certain truck crops. The best locally available cover in 

 regard to conserving moisture in the soil is banana leaf cover 

 to a depth of 30 cm., which in our experiments stored in 222 

 days, 2-J-S9 per cent, of the water, which is equivalent to 

 7'S" cm.'of rainfall, or 787 ion- per hectare, s.nl covered 

 with weeds loses much more moisture than that which is 

 uncultivated, and bare. The percentage of moisture in soils 

 is greater at a depth of 30 em. than at 15 cm. (The /' 

 pine Agriculturist and Forester, May 1915.) 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 

 The Imperial Commissioner of Agricultun 

 Barbados on August 13, bj the C.R.M.S. Chignecto 1 

 for the purpose of making an official visil to Grenada. 

 Dr. Waits is expected to return to Barbados by the 

 same steamei \ must 24. 



