376 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 27, 1909. 



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^iiricuUiiral |]riu!) 



Vol. VIII. SATURDAY. NOVi:.\ll!i:i; --'7, 1909. No. 198. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The subject of the editorial in this number is The 

 Value of the Results of Field Experiments. It deals 

 chiefly with the limitation of deductions from such 

 experiments, the knowledge that is nec^sary for their 

 clear interpretation, and the methods of eliminating 

 sources of error and making corrections for them. 



An interesting account of the sugar factory work 

 in .Tava daring the last ten years is abstracted on 



oage 371. 



1 o 



Very useful information for those who are inter- 

 ested in ground nuts will be found on pages 372 and 

 373. 



The attention of those whom it specially concerns 

 is directed to the article on the Perini Fibre Plant, on 

 page 37.5. 



In the Insect Notes (fiage 378) of this number, 

 the series of articles on the Natural History of Insects 

 is continued. The subject of Growth is conchuled, and 

 those of Senses and Circulation are discussed. 



The I'^'ungus Notes, on page 379, conlniii iiiiiiDrtant 

 information showing that thoroughness and care are 

 required in spraying experiments and treatment. 



The Students' Corner will be found on page 381. 

 It contains the results (with the exception of those for 

 St. Lucia) of the recent Intermediate Examinations in 

 connexion with the Reading Courses Scheme, as well 

 as information in regard to the scope of the" papGrS 

 that were set at that examination. 



Experiemntal Breeding of Cotton in India. 



In a second paper by Mr. H. M. Leake, published 

 in the Journal and Fr-oceed ings of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal (Vol. V, No. 1), the author records the con- 

 stancy of the fact that certain Indian cotton plants 

 regularly produce the accessory bud to the right, others 

 to the left, of the main bud, but thatthi.s character does 

 not follow Mendelian laws. In the same way, the branches 

 of the main stem continually arise behind the growing 

 jjoint, but the branching of the branches thus formed 

 may take place in this way, or the terminal bud may 

 cease to grow and the new branches may arise lower 

 down: of these two forms of branching the latter is 

 dominant. Further, it is shown that early flowering 

 is a feature of this latter type of branching, so that 

 importance is given to a classification of Indian cottons 

 according to their way of forming branches. 



Hand-stripped and Machine-stripped Fibres. 



An account of experiments, which were undertaken 

 to determine whether the hand-stripped or the machine- 

 stripped fibre from Manila hemp is the stronger, is 

 given in the Phillppiiv .Jour nal of Science, Vol. IV, 

 No. 2. They show that the latter is very considerably 

 stronger than the hand-stripped variety. It is not easy 

 to give a reason for this difference; microscopic examin- 

 ations showed that both kinds of fibre were quite clean, 

 and revealed no differences between them. It is probable 

 that the difference is due to the fact that, in the machine, 

 the pull on the fibre is a steady one, while in stripping 

 by hand it is intermittent, so that a loss of tensile 

 strength takes place. This theor}^ is confirmed by the 

 fact that hand-stripped hemp shows a large number of 

 broken fibres, so that a bundle of it consists of a series 

 of shorter and longer fibres, while that from a machine 

 has practically no broken fibres, and they are all of the 

 same length. 



Manurial Experiments with Young Rubber 

 Trees. 



The Tropical Agricidturist for September 1!)()9 

 gives an account of experiments which have been 

 carried out for the purpose of ascertaining the manurial 

 requirements of young rubber trees. Before manures 

 were applied, the trees were well weeded for 3 feet 

 around the base of each, and the soil was lightly hoed. 

 In each case, the manures were sj)rinkled in a shallow 

 trench 3 inches deep, and surrounding the tree at a dis- 

 tance of 2 feet from the trunk ; the earth taken out of the 

 trench was subsetpicntly put back to cover the manure. 



It was found th.it the employment of a complete 

 m-mure increased the girth of each tree by 1 inch more, 

 in a year, than that of a manure containing nitrogen 

 and phosphorus, but no potash. The effect of the 

 application of nitrogen, only, was very small, so that it 

 is doubtful if this is profitable, especially in view of the 

 fact that the use of this element alone would tend to 

 retard growth later on, owing to the conse(juenb 

 exhaustion of the other plant food constituents. In the- 

 upshot, complete manures are advised in this connexion, 

 and further similar experiments are promised. 



