A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



NEW YOR 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. Tko-,; 



Vol. XIII. Xo. 329. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBER 5, 1914. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Cocii-nut Nur.series 



Cotton Notes:— 



CiiiitoCotti>ii in .Jamaica 



CVitton Exports from the 

 West Indies 



West Intliau Cotton ... 

 Cowpeas ami Maize for 



Fodder 



De|iartment News 



Disease of Poultry, A 

 Fungus Notes: — 



Col) Rot of Corn 



Hot Water Tn^atiueiit 

 for Cotton AntUnu- 



Page. 

 . Sill , 



388 



I 



388 



388 



I 

 3!i5 I 

 3!)2 

 3«o 



396, 



:!!)(; 



nose 



Germicides. Disinfectant >. 

 .Antiseptics, and Deodo- 



r.ants .S!ir> 



Gleanings 3'.)4 



H<'rses in Trollies, Care of :'.itti 

 Improvement of Soils, II 3.s:'i 

 Indian Corn, Notes on ... MINI 

 IndianCorn.Seed Selectiim 38!t 

 Insect Notes: — 



An Ant Exterminati>i- ... '-'lU'J 

 Moth Borer in P.i'itisji 

 Guiana oltli 



P.\r;E. 



International Congress of 



Tropioal Agriculture ... :'>,S7 

 Items of Local Interest ... .3811 



Jamaica Agiicultural De- 

 ])artiuent :-!'.tl 



Maiun-e Waste f i ir 'I'rc >i lical 

 Crojjs, Utili/,a.ti(in of ... ;{'.•:! 



Market Reports :V.)H 



Milk .Supply, Pure :'>'.)(> 



Notes and Connuents ... .'i'.HI 

 Oil Products of Local In- 

 terest .3!II 



< »range Grafting 38(i 



Oranges, Sweet or Sour ... .'WCi 

 Rfibliit Breeding, in faig- 

 land ... .:. ... ... Xn 



Students' Corner 39.5 



Sugar Industry: — 



Beet Sugar in California 385 

 IJianuIators or Sugar 



Drying Machines ... 38.5 

 The Deterioration of 

 Sugar on Storage ... 384 

 Volcanic Action, Ettects 



,,f 3!M) 



Wet Indian Products ... 397 



Improvement of Soils. 



P.\HT II. 



POSSIBLE e.xplanatioii of the fertility of 

 certiiin soils, which contain very small quan- 



_ tities of carbonate of lime, may Ho in the 



fact that these soils are of an open te.xtnre, and that 

 the amonnt of carbonate of lime present is sufficient 

 to permit full bacterial activity, while a similar 

 qtiantity might be insufficient to maintain a tlocculent 

 condition in a clay soil, which might then be unfertile 

 on account of defective physical condition due to defici- 

 ency of lime. 



Reference is made to tfee fact that the accumula- 



tion of fertility in grass-land left to itself, and neither 

 grazed nor mown, is due to the action of the organism 

 known as azotobacter, which fixes free nitrogen from 

 the atmosphere, and that this activitj- is indirectly 

 determined by the presence of calcium carbonate in the 

 soil, without which azotobacter cannot function. 



It is now known that azotobacter is widely di.s- 

 nilmted in West Indian soils, and it is possible that 

 it plays .(U important part in maintaining the fertilitj' 

 ot ctdtivated land. Probably the fertility of long-tilled 

 eane fields is partly due to the activity of this 

 oigani.sm. which is dependent upon a supply of organic 

 matter such as is met with in cane fields: this is supplied 

 by the trash and tops that find their way into the soil, 

 as well as through the medium of pen manure. 



The experiments that have been niidc in the 

 direction of employing molasses as a manure or ferti- 

 lizer, doubtless aim at increasing the activity of the 

 azotobacter. In view of the statement made by 

 Mr. Hall that the activity of this fa'ganism is determined 

 bv the presence of carbonate of lime, one is led to 

 enquire whether, in the West Indian experiments with 

 molasses, the soils experimented upon contained 

 a sufficient amount of carbonate of lime to permit of 

 the full activity of azotobacter under the stimulus of 

 the readily available organic matter of the molasses. 



In the absence of a sufficient supply of lime, that 

 is when the soil has become acid, there is a tendency 

 to the formation of peat, because the bacterial changes 

 which normally take place in alkaline conditions are 

 arrested, and are replaced by changes due to inicro- 

 fungi which do not carry the breaking down of organic 

 matter to the destructive stage. It is pointed out that 

 another kind of peat residts from water-logging, and 

 that this may form even under alkaline conditions. 



