"Vol. VIII. Xo. 18h<. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



219 



AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH MANCHESTER, 



JAMAICA. 



As a resale of the li.-ibilitv to dfoufrhL from which 

 the district of South ^Manchestei-, Jamaica, suffers, 

 agricultural conditions in that region are in an unsatis- 

 factory state, and this was lately made the object of 

 enquiry by a Committee of the Jamaica Board of 

 .Agriculture, in the hope that some means might bo 

 found of im[)roving existing conditions. The report 

 of this Committee was submitted to the Board of 

 Agriculture at a recent meeting. 



It is .suggested in the report tlwt the small settlers of 

 South Manchester luight make greater efforts to obviate the 

 eifects of drought in certain seasons by increa.sed attention 

 to quick-growing and drought-resisting grain crops, like 

 varieties of peas, beans, and corn — e.specially Guinea corn — all 

 of which can be stored for a considerable time, as is done in 

 the dry districts of Trelawny. Cassava would also be 

 a useful crop to grow, since it could be stored as farine. 



The Committee consider that every endeavour should be 

 made to encourage the people to make the most of the crops 

 .now growing there (a) by improving their methods of culti- 

 vation, and ways of harvesting and marketing their crops ; 

 (/>) by keeping live stock suitable to their means and con- 

 ditions, i.e., cows, goats, sheei>, or rabbits ; and {(■) by the 

 careful use of manure saved from such stock by penning and 

 feeding. 



Cotfee is the staple crop of South ^lanchester, and the 

 Committee recommend that this cultivation should be 

 encouraged, and every effort made by the Agricultural 

 Instructors to introduce improved methods of cultivation, 

 pruning, mulching, and manuring, and also to bring about co- 

 <3peration for the sale of the prockice. 



The drought-resisting character of cas.sava, its usefulness 

 as an article of food, and the fact that it can be exported in 

 a manufactured form, make it a desirable crop to be enc(jiu'- 

 aged in South Manchester, and if its cultivation could be 

 •established on a large scale, it would, in a great measure, 

 provide a solution of the difficulty of finding a good ready- 

 money crop for the dry districts. 



Since a good water supply is of the greatest importance 

 on holdings — both for agricultural and household purposes — 

 it is reconnnended that more and larger tanks should be 

 advocated and encouraged. 



It was also reconnnended that demcjn.strations or experi- 

 ments be carried out on cultivators' own holdings under the 

 Agricultural Instructor for the district, and that a sum of 

 money for this purpose might be asked from the Covernment, 

 to provide necessary expenses. A sum of £2-5 nught enable 

 ten such plots to be taken up in different parts of the 

 district for one year. Longer experiments and more plots — 

 involving the expenditure of a larger sum of money — would 

 be still more effective. 



While the Committee recognized that it does not always 

 pay to take oranges to distant markets from Soutli Manches- 

 ter after the middle of October, it points out, in the report, 

 that since orange trees are already established all over the 

 district, experiments might, with advantage be directed 

 towards inducing the trees to fruit at an earlier period, when 

 there is a good demand and a larger price, on the same lines 

 as are succe.ssfully carried through on several private groves. 

 No expense would be involved in such exi)eriinents, but only 

 a small outlay of time and effort on the part of the owners of 

 the orange trees. 



COWPEAS. 



In the Yciirhdok of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for 1907, there is an article; 

 entitled ' Some New Work of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry,' from which the following notes on the 

 l)roduction of new varieties of cowpeas are copied: — 



The cowpea is one of our most important crops, 

 especially for the Southern States, and is coming to be 

 looked upon as the clover of the South. Although there are 

 numerous varieties of this important crop, nearly all of them 

 fail in some important particular to give satisfactory results. 

 Either the vines produced are too long and they are conse- 

 ciuently difficult to harvest, or the leaves droji off' early, or else 

 they fail to .set seed properly. Again, it is found that many 

 of the varieties are subject to diseases of various kinds, both 

 the parts above and the parts underground being affected. 

 It seems very desirable, therefore, to .secure two or three new 

 types of cowpeas which may be planted generally throughout 

 the Southern States and wdiich under varied conditions of 

 soil and climate will mature a good crop of seed in such 

 a way that it may be readily harvested by machinery, if 

 necessary, and also will have characteristics of growth that 

 will enable the farmer readily to harvest a crop of hay if hay 

 is desired ; tyjies, furthermore, that shall be resistant to the 

 various root diseases, will hold their leaves well, and will 

 produce seeds which are able to maintain their vitality for 

 a considerable time. 



The ideal cowpea is one which is disease-resistant, early 

 fruiting, has an abundance of seed, and is strictly upright, or 

 bush ill habit. To obtain the desired characteristics many of 

 the most promising varieties have been flowered, crossed, and 

 fruited, in the greenhouse during the late winter and spring 

 months. In this w-ay it is possible to get two crops annually, 

 thus reducing by one-half the time when the work will 

 approach completion. The second, and especiallj' the third 

 generation plants in the open field in several instances have 

 shown very satisfactory progress toward ideal forms. Some 

 of the crosses between tlie Indian variet}' and the Iron cow- 

 pea and between the former and the Unknown variety sliow 

 some surprising results. The last-named cross made vines 

 much larger than either [larent, and larger than any of the 

 numerous established varieties in the same field. The major 

 portion of the plants was too late in coming into fruit. 

 About 10 per cent, of these .seedlings came into bearing early, 

 however. This habit of early bearing of the plants is 

 accompanied by an upright habit of growth, with scarcely 

 any long trailing .shoots. The fourth generation of these 

 hybrids will be tested the coming season. 



A peculiar feature in our cowpea hybrids is that many 

 of them do not change the cobmr of the seeds in the first, 

 second, and third generations. Others again, such as the 

 Whippoorwill-Iron and lied liipper-Iron crosses, split up 

 during the third generation into as many as twelve very dis- 

 similar sets of peas. The Whippoorwill and Iron crosses are 

 in every way satisfactory, in so far as earliness and abundance 

 of pods are concerned. Only a very small proportion of the 

 third generation plants come near our ideal of a bush plant, 

 however. 



In conclusion, it may be .said that while tins work i.s 

 progressing satisfactorily, and while results of interest have 

 been secured, the Department is not ready to distribute seeds 

 or plants that have been developed. It is believed that some 

 of these things may be safely sent out at an early day, how- 

 ever, and when they are I'eady, special descriptive circularK 

 will be prepared, and the plan of distribution properly 

 announced. 



