Vol. XIII. No. 330. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



Ul 



STUDENTS' CORNER. 



THE NECESSITY FOR READING. 



In nio.5t of the iiumbei's ut' the Agricultural News, the 

 Students' Corner has to be filled with practical advice on 

 agricultural matters, because naturally the agriculturist has 

 to be occupied for most of his time in the practical details 

 of the administration of his estate. It would be a great 

 mistake, however, for any planter to think that he had quite 

 done all that he ought to do to make himself an efficient 

 planter, to fulfill his own ideal in fact — for all men have 

 ideals of what they ought to be in their special line of life — 

 if he was satisfied with performing his daily routine with 

 exactness, and even with diligence. The young planter must 

 remember that the business of agriculture is a most serious, 

 important, and complex one. No planter can ever think 

 that he has come to a complete knowledge of his business. 

 That cannot be obtained in any buf.iness whatever. So he 

 must ever be a student, ever learning, ever willing to be 

 taught. For knowledge is progressive. If one only considers 

 how many common-places of agricultural science to-day 

 were absolutely unknown to our ancestors, one is led to 

 acknowledge, that to keep abreast of the perpetual advance 

 in knowledge, one must study. No one can make all 

 researches in every branch of science for himself, but he 

 has the advantage of being able to avail himself of the 

 researches of s[)ecialists in every department, through their 

 published results. Thus the planter ought to be a reader. 

 Of course the planter's life, if he Ls conscientious, is a very 

 busy one. He cannot devote hours and days to the book study 

 of any subject. But he can, and must, if he wants to be more 

 than a human machine, find time to read what results have 

 been obtained by the studies of others in the lines in which he 

 is particularly interested. It is quite a mistake to think that 

 a young planter, even if for e.xample he has successfully 

 passed the final examination in practical agriculture of 

 the'Iraperial Department of Agriculture, has attained his end. 

 Eigiitly looked at, it is only the beginning of his life's work. 

 The passing of the examination shows that he has got 

 a grounding in the principles of agricultural science, and has 

 even gone further, and has begun to put those principles into 

 practice; but the continual improvement of that practice is to 

 be his life's work, which imprr.vement can only come by 

 knowledge, and knowledge can only come by study. Now- 

 adays there is no excuse for the intelligent planter not 

 keeping himself acquainted with the progress of science. 

 It is true that his business is a most complex one, as was 

 said before. He ought to know enough of business to follow 

 the markets, and estimate the prospects of profit on hii3 crop; 

 he ought to know something of veterinary science, in the 

 interests of his animals: some knowledge of geology, so as to 

 think intelligently of his soils; some acquaintance with 

 entomology, so as to maintain more accurately the fight 

 against liis worst enemies, insects of all kinds; and most 

 certainly some knowledge of botany, to enable him to deal on 

 scientific lines wth the plants he cultivates; these all are 

 more or less subjects with which the ideal planter is 

 concerned. The specialists whose business it is to devote 

 themselves to one or other of these sciences place 

 their brains at the disposal of anyone, in their published 

 books. In these islands, the planter, of whatever crop, 

 can find no difficulty in finding material for study in the pub- 

 lications issued by the Inqjerial Department. Canes, limes, 

 cacao, corn, coco-nuts, all form the subjects of painphlet.s, 

 emboclying the results of the most recent investigations. 



Veterinary science, insect pests and fungus diseases of local 

 importance, are also treated in the same way. And should 

 a student like to make deeper investigations into any special 

 branch of science, there are the more technical papers in the 

 West Indian Bulletin, whilji the A(iricultural Neim from 

 time to time has notices of the newest books on agricultural 

 science. So the keen planter must keep on reading. He 

 must cultivate his brains with the same care that he culti- 

 vates his land, and the more he cultivates his brains, the 

 better is he likely to culti\^te his land. 



Although the planter has to be a very complex man, and 

 to have some knowledge of many subjects, yet he must almost 

 certainly have to be more or less of a specialist in some one 

 direction. For instance the planter of canes may be interested 

 theoretically in cacao, but his studies would have to be more 

 particularly directed towards canes and all connected with 

 their cultivation and manufacture. 



It is well to be an all-round man, but every man should 

 strive to know at least one subject well. To know one 

 subject; and here comes in the last bit of advice. Just as it 

 has been said above that attention confined to the practical 

 routine of the work on a plantation is not everything, so it 

 must be emphasized that the acquaintance with books about 

 agriculture or any other science is not everything. Practical 

 experience and observation must be stimulated and directed 

 by reading, and reading must be checked and verified by 

 practical observation. So the way to work is, after having 

 made observations from actual facts, to go to the books on 

 the subject, and find out what those facts mean to the mea 

 who have studied them. On the other liand, after reading up 

 a subject, the student should verify the conclusions by his 

 own observations, or find grounds from his own personal 

 observations to dissent from those conclusions. In this way 

 he will become, what as a student he ought to aim at being 

 in his own small way, really a scientist, which means literally 

 a man who knows. 



Sulphuric Acid for the Destruction of 



Weeds. — After trials of sulphate of copper, sulphate of 

 iron, and sulphuric acid in varying strengths, the author 

 concludes that sulphuric acid in 6, 8 or 10 per cent, solutions 

 (the degree of strength depending upon local conditions) is 

 the most satisfactory spray to use. The solution was applied 

 at the rate of 107 gallons per acre, and killed most of the 

 annual weeds, but it did not perceptibly retard the growth of 

 wheat, although the lower leaves were killed. This solution 

 had the advantage of being efl:'ective in three or four hours, 

 while the other solutions required three or four days. The 

 sulphuric acid solution also had a fertilizing effect on the soiL 

 (The Journal of the Board of Agriculture, November 1914.) 



Up to the time of the Messina earthquake, when large 

 stocks of orange oil were destroyed, there was practically no 

 sale of this in Loudon from the West Indies, the Silician brands 

 entirely holding the market. An impetus was then given to 

 the .Jamaica growers by the higher prices that were offered. 

 The .Jamaica indu.stry, it is stated, suffers from lack of 

 centralization. The Jamaica peasants, with hand machines 

 and bottles, collect and rind the fruit under the trees. After 

 'settling', the oil is decanted, clarified, and shipped to 

 London in copper drums. {Gardeners' Chronicle, October 

 17, 1914.) 



