356 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



NOVEMDER l\ 1909. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH CACAO 



IN GRENADA. 



Interesting details of ex])erinicnts in connexion 

 with the manuring of cacao that have heeii conducted 

 bv Mr. W. M. Malins-Smith at Diamond estate, 

 St. Mark's, Grenada, have been received from him. 

 The results are given here for the benefit of readers 

 o[ the Agricultural News. \Yhile this is done, the 

 Department does not hold itself responsible for the 

 statements which are made with respect to any 

 proprietary chemical manure. 



The manurial treatment (according to the table 

 supplied by Mr. Malins-Smith) on the different scciions 

 was as follows: — 



Section 1: 1907. — Basic slag, S cwt. (April): sid- 

 jihate of potash, 2 cwt. (May); sulphate of ammonia, 

 2 cwt. (September). 



Section 2: 1907. — Swift's trojiical manure, 10 

 cwt. (June). 



Section 3: 1907. — Sheep manure, 2] tons (April). 



Section 4: 1907. — Wood ashes, 4 hogsheafls 

 (April): sulphate of ammonia, 2 cv.-t. (September). 



Section 5: control; no manure. 



Section G: 1907. — Lime, 1 -j hogsheads (April). 

 190S.— Pen manure, 20 tons (May). 



Section 7: 1907. — Lime, If hogsheads (April); 

 sulphate of ammonia, IJ, cwt. (September). 1908. — 

 Basic slag, 4 cwt. (May). 



Section S: 1907. — T.S.G. cacao manure, 10 cwt. 

 (June). 



These cxpcrinu-nt." in niiuuuing wore begun in 1907 for 

 the purpose of testing the I'clative value of several complete 

 manures and combinations of fertilizers on large areas of 

 excellent bearing cacao which had not been manured or 

 forked for several years, and which at the time was giving 

 a yield of 5 bags of 180 lb. eacli per acre. 



In March April 1!)07, tlie plots were carefully forked 

 and all dead leaves, wecdings, etc. were buried. The manure 

 w-as then applied broadcast on the surface, evenly distributed 

 throughout the plots. Tlie trees were then carefully, but 

 lightly, pruned, the prunings being left on the ground to 

 serve as a nuilcli over the manure. In June, the plots were 

 weeded and all dead leaves and prunings were carefully 

 buried near the surface of the soil. From June to September, 



all suckers w-ere removed from the trees and the drains in 

 the field cleaned out. In 1908, the manurial treatment was 

 not repeated, and the only manure applied that year was 

 that used in completing the combinations in sections 6 and 7. 

 Cultural work done in 1908 comprised the burying or ' bed- 

 ding ' of all wecdings, dead leaves and [irunings in tlie month 

 of June: light pruning; removing suckers; cleaning tlrains; 

 weeding, etc. These plots were eitablished on a basis of 

 equality in cost of manures and area. Each plot was care- 

 fully measured to one acre; they are all adjacent to one 

 another. A sum of £.5 was spent in manures on sections 

 1 , 2, ;3, and 8. 



The wood ashes applied to section 4, being a by-product 

 of the estate, cost nothing. The same may be said of the 

 [len manure applied to section 6, except that it cost £2 for 

 application. The cost of applying manure to the other 

 sections was only 2s. to 2.S. 6(7. per acre. In section 7, only 

 £3 \bs. was spent on manures. The same amount was spent 

 on every section for cultural work, i e., £8 10s. for the period 

 from April 1907 to Augnst 1909. The figures given in the 

 table of results are for the peril id of 2 years' crop — September 

 1907 to August 1909, inclusive. 



It will be observed that the yield of the control section 

 increased by 1 J bags in the first year over the previous average 

 yield of the field. This, presuniabh-, was due to tbe forking 

 and bedding. With the exception of Nos. 1 and 7, all the 

 sections dropped I bag in tlie .second year. 



These exjierinients tend to prove the great advantage 

 which accrues from manuring even good, bearing cacao, and 

 that an average yield per acre of .5 bags of 180 lb. each, which 

 most planters agree is excellent, can be easily increased by 

 50 per cent., leaving a big increase in jirofits to the planter. 

 TLey also prove the superiority of T. S. C. cacao manure, and 

 .show that it is the most profitable complete manm-e that can 

 be u.sed for cacao. 



RESULTS. 



Section. 



Ccst ..f 

 nianiue. 



£5 

 iT. 

 1".") 

 £1 12.V. 



£4 5«. 

 £3 l;w. 

 £5 



Cost () 



cnlti 



vation 



yisir 

 £8 10s. 5i 



r«s 



„.. 8 

 „ 7A 

 61 



f ^■'«''' "' ''"S«- Incre;>sed P"'""' ("» 



yiel.l, in "<>>'■;"'"■•«) 



Total, bags, (-^t -■* 



1st 2nd 



year. 

 5i 



7 



5 



?4 l\ 



11 



14?, 



15 



14 



1L\ 



15i 



la 



17 



) 



per 



-t-3 



+^ 

 + h 



+ 05 



-)-£ 



b. 



(i (is. 8.;. 



7 Os. <W. 



+ £ !)1:K4</. 

 -)-£ 9 ]s.4</. 



-I- £12 8s.4rf. 

 -£ o l.s. 8(J, 

 -H£1713s.4d. 



