Vol. VIII. Xo. 186. 



THE AGrJCULTURAL NEWS. 



185 



Steamed Bone Meal. 



Steamed bone meal is an excellent phosphatic 

 manure. CDiitaining a hieli percentage of phosphate of 

 lime (about 60 per cent.) and a small quantity of 

 nitrogen (about I'6 per cent.). The phosphate is, how- 

 ever, all in an insoluble condition, and — -like most other 

 manures — it must be used witli due consideration of 

 the land and the crops, if its effect is to be profitable. 

 It is hardly to be recommended on heavy land, e.xeept 

 for such permanent crops as grass or fruit trees. All 

 manures decay slowly — and all insoluble manures work 

 slowly — on lieavy soils, so that the gradual effect pro- 

 duced by bone meal on these soils is frecpiently not 

 appreciable to the ordinary cultivator. On sandy soils 

 or light loams requiring phosphates, steamed bone meal 

 works well, but an improvement in the crop is more 

 often seen when a dressing of potash is also applied 

 at the same time. Phosphates do not appear to be 

 necessary for the sugar-cane crop, but frequently give 

 good results with fruit trees. 



Steam Cultivation at Jamaica. 



.Steam cultivation has been introduced into Jamaica 

 on the property of the Vere Estates Company, the 

 plant having been supplied by Messrs. Fowler & Co.. 

 of Leeds, England. A note on this subject, together 

 ■with illustration, appears in the Bidletin of the Jamaica 

 Department of Agriculture, Vol. I, No. 1 (New Series). 



Tlie introduction of steam cultivation on land for 

 the first time is a matter which always demands a good 

 deal of previous consideration as to whether the soil 

 is of a nature to benefit by this method of treatment. 

 In many cases great harm has been done as the result 

 of ploughing too deeply and burying the normal soil 

 beneath sour, infertile subsoil, which is brought to the 

 top. But it is believed that the fine stretches of deep 

 alluvial land at Vere are eminently adapted for cultiva- 

 tion by steam power. 



As was found to be the case at Antigua, wdiere 

 steam tillage is employed on one or two estates, some 

 difficulty is being experienced with the trash on the 

 surface, which it is at present found necessary to burn 

 before the implements w-ill work properly. This is 

 a serious matter in connexion with the fertility of cane 

 lands. Some progress has been rhade at Antigua in 

 this connexion, and it is hoped that at Jamaica it may 

 be possible to modify the implements in such a way as 

 to render them capable of dealing with heavy surface 

 dressings of trash. 



Soy Bean in Mancliuria. 



Reports on the agriculture of JManchuria show that 

 the two chief crops grown are millet (Soiyli u m rnhjurii), 

 and the soy (or soja) bean {Gh/rine lilsjiiihi). The 

 latter is a crop that has been grown in Eastern Asia 

 from very early times, and has of late years spread 

 westward. Soy beans form a prominent article of diet 

 among the Manchurians. large qu.mtities are exported 

 (in fact this article heads the list of exports in point 

 of value), and the green bush is an important fodder 



plant. The bean.s cntain an oil which, when expressed, 

 is used f)r household purposes in China. The residual 

 bean cake is exported to Japan, where it is employed 

 as a fertilizer. In the year 1907, soy beans and bean 

 cake were exported from China to the value of 

 .^#9,800,790. 



The soy bean is grown in the cotton belt of the 

 United States with considerable success. It is under- 

 stood that this plant is also under investigation at 

 Antigua, in order to ascertain the suitability of the 

 beans as an article of food, its usefulness as a green 

 dressing crop, and f >r improving the soil under West 

 Indian conditions. The bean plants are small but erect, 

 and give a good weight of green bush when grown 

 under suitable conditions. 



Fungus Disease of Funtumia Tree. 



A new ' canker ' disease, affecting the rubber tree 

 Funtumia chistica has been observed in Uganda, and 

 is described in the Kcv: BidlH'm (No 3, 1909). The 

 primary cause of injury is found to be a species of 

 Nectria. The trees are attacked in the trunk, at 

 a point from 4 to 6 feet above the ground, and the 

 diseased area may spread to a considerable extent. As 

 the disease progresses, the bark increases very much in 

 thickness, and becomes much cracked and rugged, pre- 

 senting the appearance of large wounds caused by the 

 disease known as 'Slime Flux. ' 



This dise.-vse somewhat resembles the cacao 

 ' canker ' of Ceylon, also caused by a species of iVt'c/v/a. 

 It causes little injury to the rubber tree, but no latex 

 is obtained from the prn'tions of the tree which are 

 attacked. Spread of the dise.ise would probably be 

 prevented by cutting out the affected areas, and coating 

 over the wounds with tar. 



Irrigation at Barbados. 



In referring to the question of irrigation on 

 Jamaica sugar-cane estates, the Aijrit'idtural Reporter, 

 published at Bridgetown, recently mentioned ari 

 instance in which an attempt in this direction at 

 Barbados has been attended with beneficial results. 

 This is on Sandy Lane estate, the property of Messrs. 

 Thorne & Son, in the parish of St. James. The crop- 

 yielding capacity of thB estate has been greatly 

 improved in the past few years by the irrigation of the 

 fields with water pumped from a well situated about 

 i-mile from the shore. By means of a force-pump 

 driven by a suction gas engine, the water is driven 

 up to a height of abc'ut 40 feet above the pumping 

 station, and from thence it is distributed over all the 

 lower fields of the estate b\' means of pipes and gutters 

 of various descriptions. 



The vigorous condition of the crops at Sandy 

 Lane — even in very dry weather — should be an incentive 

 to other estate owners in certain distiicts of the island, 

 to consider whether it would not be possible to organize 

 a similar system of irrigation on their own property. 



