226 



THE AGRICULTUr.AL NEWS. 



July 18, 19U. 



central factories: they ileal also with trade statistics, 

 official correspondence and legislation relating to the 

 diseases of plants and animals, and with a laroe nunihor 

 of other niattei's that are more than merely interesting 

 to the planter and agricnltiiral scientist. The litera- 

 ture, therefore, should he found in the general lil)rarii>s 

 of the offices referred to, and in the Public Libraries. 

 In these latter institutions, it is ti-ne tliat thv Depart- 

 ment's work is now carefully recorded, but it was 

 only after some amount of ti-ouble that this wa.s 

 brought about. With regard to the ])reservation 

 of agricultural literature generally in the above men- 

 tioned (jffices and institutions, the advocacy which 

 this article puts forward may well be e.xtended to 

 include the proper cai-e of literature received from 

 otitside sotirce.s as well, including the ptiblieations of 

 ■other agricultui-al departments, foi' a considerable 

 amount of extei-nal literature of this kind i.s in circu- 

 lation in thosi' islands. 



It may help to ihi\f home the wasteful nature 

 and irrationalism of the neglect under consideration, if 

 We piiint otit that on frequent occasions this Office 

 has received letters of enquiry on technical matters the 

 answers to which resolve them.selves into nothing more 

 than a copy of information presented in a pre\ious 

 number of the Agricultural News or If est Indian 

 Bulletin. This demonstrates on the part of our corres- 

 pondents either failure to make use of the indexes 

 to the above periodicals, or else displays the feet that 

 the \olumes of the journals in their possession 

 are not complete. Unnece.s.sary correspondence of this 

 kind involves much unnecessary work, and is simply 

 dui:- to failure to take full ailvantage of the Depart- 

 ment s publications. 



it is from the practical standpoint that the planter 

 lo.--e^ by his neglect to care for a free and efficient 

 libiary. On the estate, for instance, a pest may make 

 its appearance quite unexpectedly; but in all probability 

 its description and name and treatment are to be found 

 in the Department's literature, A few minutes search 

 amongst a complete set will reveal the desired informa- 

 tion, and not infrequent!)' be the means of .suggesting 

 innnediate action that may turn out to be of no little 

 value, pending the special advice of the Government 

 Entomologist or Mycologist. And heiv it should be 

 .state<l that, in the case of the Windward and Leeward 

 Islands where in most cases specialists are not resident 

 on the spot, scientific information presented by them in 

 the Department's literature is vastly more important 

 to the planter than if these investigators were always 

 available personally. The .same thing holds good in 

 botanical and chemical matter.s, and it in cJearlj in the 



intei'est of planters in places where expert advice is not 

 immediately ol)tainable to do their utmost to iliake the 

 greatest use of literatiu'e, to edticate themselves so that 

 they can apj)ly the information it contains, and to 

 look after this literature carefully in order that it maybe 

 a\ailable at any moment when it may be required. 



SOIL IMPROVEMENT. 



THE LIMING OF SOILS IN THE TROPICS. 



One of the prinoipiil rea.son.s why it ha.s lieeii found 

 ditticult to give advice in regard to the desiral>ility of liming 

 soils in the Tropics is aft'orded by the scantiness of 

 exact information and the circumstance that lime in the 

 soil hastens the decompo.sition of organic matter, the supply 

 of which, tinder most estate conditions, is', limited. But 

 apart from these important theoretical considerations there 

 are the results of actual trials with lime on tropical crops, 

 many of wliich have been discouraging and, in some cases, 

 contradictory. With a view to asceitaining in a general 

 way the extent and efficiency of availalile information in the 

 liming of soils in the West Indies, various authoritative 

 references on the std>ject have been e.xamined, and this article 

 is the outcome. 



It is not consiilercd iicces.sary to enter into tlie well- 

 established facts concerning the chemical, biological and 

 physical action of lime on .soils in general. This information 

 can be readily obtained from former volumes of the Agricul- 

 tural A'eivs. It will be well, however, to state that iu tlii.^ 

 article the term 'lime' is used to represent slaked lime (C'aOH); 

 the unhydrated oxide is referred to as (juicklime (C'aO): and 

 limestone as carljonate of lime (CaCO.. ). 



It is piopo.sed to discuss first the results obtained with 

 lime in actual trials witli cidtivated crops luider field 

 conditions. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH LIME IN THE WEST INDIES. 



Most of the West Indian investigation work on liming 

 the soil has been carried out in British Guiana, the Leeward 

 Islands and .lamaica. In the first named colony (see West 

 Indiav Bulletin, Vol. .XIII. No. 2) it has been shown that 

 'there is a great loss of "available" lime from the .soil of 

 limed sugar-cane plots, tluc mainly eitlier to loss by surface 

 wa.shings, or to the lime being carried into the deeper layers 

 of the soil, or to a large proj)ortion of tlic lime heiTig retained 

 in the soil in the form of silicate. 



'The use of lime residtcd in largely increasetl yields 

 during the earlier years of the trials. But whether or not 

 its use res\tlt.s in profitable increases dejiends on the jjrice of 

 sugar. Its action is principally mechanical in imj)roving the 

 texture of the land, and it is a question of nuich importance 

 whether tliis eti'ect could not be obtained more profitably, and 

 at a lower cost by the use <:>f light ploughs or cultivators.' 



As i-egartls the ett'ects of lime on sugar-cane soils in the 

 Leeward Islands, we have the evidence afforded by the results 

 of several series of trials carried out during 1902-5 

 and described in the Reports on .Sugar-cane Experiments in 

 the Leeward Islands for the years mentioned. In these reports 

 such observations as the following appear: 'The plots receiving 

 lime [in St. Kitts] gave smaller returns than the plots not 

 receiving lime. Small quantities of lime thus a]3plied 

 do not appear to have any manurial value.' Again 



