A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



OAli 



Vol. XIII. No. 3-28. 



BAr.BADOS, NOVEMP.EI! l'1, 1914. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Pa.;e. 



Paoe. 



Cotton Notes: — 



Piiiposeil Visit of Cotton 

 Kxpeit to the \\'est 

 Iiiilies '.u'2 



\\\-st Indian Cotton ... 372 



De|iartment News 37" 



IJe|i!iitniental Hejiorts ... 377 

 Kx|ieiiments with .Sweet 



Soia;lunii 381 



Kxiilosivesand Blow-Lani]) 



in the Garden 37o 



Fii)i!j;iis Notes: — . i 



Daiiiping off of .Seed- I 



linys 381) I 



Spiayini; of (Tiound 



Nuts for Leaf Rust ... 380 



(rleanings 378 



Iiii|>rovenient of .Soils, I... 307 

 In(lian Corn ... .37- 



Insect Notes: — 



Ants 37(J 



Effect of Insecticides on 



Certain Plants 3711 



Pests of Peasan<l Beans 37li 



Items of Local Intere-t ... 371 



Land Settlement in South 



Africa 



Market Reports 



Notes and Connuents 



Palm Kernels 



Peas and Beans 



Plant Diseases, Precau- 

 tionary- Measures against 

 .Sjiread of 



Publications of the Imperial 

 Department of Agri- 

 culture 374 



Saltpetre. Refining of ... 374 



.Sisal Planting in Eiust 

 Africa ... ... 



Soil Bacteria 



Students' Corner 



Sugar Industry: — 



Benefits of I'sing Tops 



for Planting 



Paper from Megass ... 

 Tlie Outlook of theCn- 

 tiuental .Sugar Indus- 

 try ... .". 



Cnited States Department 

 of Agriculture 



Veterinary Notes — ... 



... 373 



... 382 



... 374 



... .373 



... 370 



37!) 



... 371 

 ... 374 

 ... 37it 



3G9 

 369 



3G!t 



.375 

 381 



Improvement of Soils. 



Part I. 



11, A. 1). HALL, as President of the 

 lACTriciiltunil Section of the Australian meet- 

 • incr of the British Association, took an 

 intcrcstiriw theme for his Presidential address, when he 

 (iiscussed the winning of new land for agriculture — the 

 bringing into cultivation of land that has hitherto been 

 left tt> run to waste, because it w.as regarded as unprofit- 

 able to tiirni. 



Hv shows that even amongst densely populated 

 Kur<.pean areas. c\>ii within .50 mile.s of London itself 



there are large blocks of uncultivated land which may 

 be considered within the -scope of the subject of his 

 address, while continental Europe contains waste tracts 

 of great size. 



The causes which render land unprofitable to 

 culti\ation may be summarized as rainfall, either 

 e.\cessive or deficient, or not well distributed: the 

 te.xture of the .soil which produces infertility, being 

 either too coarse and sandy, or too close and clayey: and 

 finally the absence of a sufficient supply of lime. 

 Mr. Hall discusses in .some detail the bearing of these 

 factors on the problem in view. 



It maypi'ove of interest to refer to sonu' of the 

 points dealt with, and in some ca.ses to consider their 

 bearing on West Indian agriculture and conditions. 



In the West Indies two phases of winning new 

 land for agriculture are in progress simultaneously. In 

 certain islands, notably in Dominica and St. Lucia, 

 efforts are directed towards the clearing of forests, and 

 bringinsj under cultivation fertile lands as yet untilled — ■ 

 a phase not within the compass of the address in 

 question. In other islands, notably in Jamaica, and in 

 Antigua, efforts are being made to bring under culti- 

 vation land which has hitherto been left to run to waste, 

 because it was regarded as unprofitable to farm. 

 Another class of land that often has to be won back to 

 cultivation, is land that once was under cultivation, but 

 which from defective methods of farming has been 

 depleted of its fertility, and Is now lying idle, or is the 

 subject of attempts to bring it back to cultivation. 

 The cause of infintility in this case is frequently due to 

 the loss of humus, a loss to which tropical soils care- 

 lessly handled, are peculiarly liable. There are not 

 wanting examples of this class in the West Indies. 



In dealing with the question of producing reuumer- 



