THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 8, 1910. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



The whole section received a dre.s.sini 

 meal at the rate of 600 



GROUND NUT EXPERIMENTS IN 



MONT«ERRAT. 

 In the last issue of the Agricultural A^eics, an 

 account was given of recent experiments with ground 

 nuts in Dominica and St. Kitts. The following are 

 the results of somewhat similar experiments which 

 have been conducted in Montserrat during the last 

 season. The area of each of the plots was as follows: 

 Carolina Running and Spanish, ^rV-acre; Gambia, 



Limed plot, 

 tti. per acre. 

 2,740 

 1,440 

 2,340 

 325 

 of cotton seed 

 per acre. 



The figures represent the actual weight of the nuts after 

 they had been dried for one week in the sun: this is not the 

 weight of the marketable nuts, as it was afterwards dis- 

 covered that they continued to lose weight for some time 

 after the records had been made. Calculations on the weight 

 before and after completely drying would seem to show that 

 a fairly true estimate of the actual returns may be obtained 

 by deducting one quarter of the quantity given above, in 

 each case. 



As regards the diflferent varieties, the tests are not truly 

 comparative, as the Gambia was planted a fortnight later 

 than the Carolina Running and the Spanish, and the local 

 variety a fortnight later than the Gambia. This is an 

 important consideration in view of the fungus disease 

 (JJredo (irarhadis) which attacks the plants. There is little 

 doubt that this disease shortens the life of the ground nut 

 in Montserrat considerably, but it is noticed that, if old 

 plants having the disease are not growing in the vicinity, it 

 does not develop to a serious extent until the growth of the 

 ground nut is fairly well advanced. This is probably the 

 reason why the local variety gave such poor returns in the 

 above trial, for it was to leeward of the other plots, and con- 

 sequently the fungus attacked it early. 



The time for reaching maturity was 3i- months for the 

 Spanish variety, and 4 months for the others. 



In comparing the results of these trials with those of 

 other seasons, it is to be observed that the returns of the 

 imported American varieties have much improved; the 

 quality of the nuts, however, leaves something to be desired. 

 The shells of the Carolina Running still remain large, but 



the kernels do not fill them nearly so well as they did 

 in the case of the pods which were first received for planting. 

 The Spanish variety seems to have become reduced in size, 

 and the pods are not as large as those which were first 

 obtained. 



It is useful to note that the pods of the Gambia and 

 Spanish varieties adhere well to the stems, allowing the 

 plants to be pulled out of the ground with the fruits still 

 attached. On the other hand, those of the Carolina Running 

 require to be dug, and the Buco baud cultivator has been 

 found to be a very useful tool for this work. 



In considering the results, it is probable that the 

 improved yield is in a great measure due to favourable 

 weather conditions. 



NITRIFICATION IN SOILS AND IN 



SOLUTIONS. 



In the E.rperimer.t Station Record of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Vol. XXI, No. 2, an 

 account is given of the conclusions which have been 

 reached in an investigation of the process by which 

 nitrogen is inade available in soils and in solutions 

 (nitrification). From this it appears that investiga- 

 tions in this direction, in which solutions are used, do 

 not give results that are immediately applicable in the 

 case of soils. 



(1) Many soils which can nitrify ammonium sulphate 

 and cotton seed meal mixed with them, fail to nitrify 

 ammonium sulphate and cotton seed meal when used as the 

 inoculating material for solutions, such as those of Omelianaki 

 Wile}" and Asbby. 



(2) Nitrification is absent or very slight, in saturated 

 soils. 



(3) Nitrification in some soils proceeds as fast as 

 ammonification, converting the ammonia to nitrate as fast as 

 it is rendered available by the ammonifying organisms. 



(4) Nitrification in extract of soil is, in some instances, 

 very slight as compared with nitrification in the soil itself. 



(5) Nitrification in soils increases in intensity with 

 the amount of inoculating material used. 



(6) Some nitrifying soils do not nitrify when placed in 

 solutions, even though a very large amount of inoculating 

 material is used. 



(7) Nitrifying organisms from sewer beds nitrified 

 better in .solutions than in .soils. 



(B) Tests in solutions are not adequate to indicate the 

 nitrifying vigour of a soil. 



