328 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 15, 1910. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES. 



Letters and matter for publication, as well as all 

 specimens for naming, should be addressed to the 

 Commissioner, Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 Barbados. 



All applications for Copies of the ' Agricultural 

 News ' should be addressed to the Agents, and not to 

 the Department. 



Local Agents: Messrs. Bowen & Sons, Bridge- 

 town, Barbados. London Agents : Messrs. Dulau & 

 Co., 37, Soho Square, W. A complete list of Agents 

 will be found on page 3 of the cover. 



The Agricultural News: Price Id. per number, 

 poet free 2d. Annual subscription payable to Agents, 

 28. 2d. Post free, 4s. 4,d. 



^Qriculturi il ^xm 



Trade of the Turks and Caicos Islands. 



Colvnial Reports — Annaal.T^o. (j4G is is.sued as 

 a report on the Turks and Caicos Islands, for 1909, by the 

 Commissioner, Mr. F. H. Watkms, I.S.O., lately Commis- 

 sioner of Montserrat. It shows that the values of imports 

 and exports during the year were £2.5,262 and £18,93B, 

 respectively. Tiiese are the lowest values on record since 

 1879. Although increased prices were obtained for the 

 principal export— salt — the shipments fell from £19,439 

 to £1.5.782 in value, the reason for the short crop being 

 the disastrous hurricane of 1908. The value of the 

 sisal ex])orted was lower for the same cause, being 

 £()08 as against £],6(J4 in the previous year. There 

 was also a decrease in the values of the sponges and 

 conchs exported; these were £953 and £.510, respec- 

 tively. 



Vol. IX. SATURDAY. OCTOBER 1.5, 1910. No. 221. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



The editiirial in this number deals with The Growth 

 of Knowledge C'oncerning Soil Fertility. It pre.sents the 

 chief matters brought forward in the opening address 

 given before the Agricultural Sub-section of the British 

 Association. 



An interesting and useful article on the manufac- 

 ture and empliiyment of concrete posts on estates is 

 given on page 823. 



Page 324 cuntains the statistics of cacao production 

 during 1909. 



An ai-tiele on page 325 gives suggestions in rela- 

 tion to green manures that are suitable for employment 

 on wet lands. The information contained in it sh(>ul<l 

 be of use in certain parts of the West Indies. 



The Annual Reports on the Botanic Stations, etc., 

 in St. Lucia ami Tortola, are reviewed on page 327. 



The Insect Notes, on page 330, give extracts from 

 a paper that has appeared recently, which presents 

 information concerning several insect ])ests in Jamaica. 

 The extracts deal more especially with certain harmful 

 insects attacking cacao in that colon v. 



The Fungus Notes contain the concluding part of 

 the articles that have been appearing on Some Diseases 

 of Rubber Trees These articles, together, should form 

 a u.seful suiiiiiiaiy of what is kmiwn uj) to the present 

 concerning such disetuses. 



The Manuring of Rice. 



The Hturaiian Forester and Agricidturist for 

 Julv 1910 contains the continuation of a report on rice 

 and cotton investigations in China and Japan. Atten- 

 tion is drawn, in this, to the fact that the paddy fields 

 of Japan, even after centuries of heavy cropping, have 

 increased in fertility every year, and that this increase 

 has taken place to the greatest extent in their nitrogen 

 content. This condition is contrasted with that existing 

 on Hawaiian rice lands, which are continually becoming 

 more impoverished, especially in the matter of nitrogen. 

 It is suggested that the proper means for rectifying 

 this is the adoption of the Japanese practice of using 

 green manures, compost, and other organic manures, 

 together with crop rotation with intertillage, according 

 to the methods of the Japanese. 



Experiments conducted by Japanese investigators 

 have shown that the use of ammonium sulphate as 

 a manure on rice soils results in an increase of yield, 

 though it is uncertain as to whether this increase will 

 continue to be maintained by the employment of that 

 manure alone. It has certainly been shown, already, 

 that an extensive use of this produces changes in the 

 physical condition of the soil, which may be eventually 

 deleterious 



In consequence of the fact that sulphate of am- 

 monia has continually shown itself to be more readily 

 available for the rice plant than nitrate of soda, the sug- 

 gestion has arisen that this [ihint is capable of assimilat- 

 ing its nitrogen directly in the form of ammonium 

 sulphate. Investigations undertaken for the purpose 

 of gaining certain knowledge on this point have shown 

 that there are good grounds for the suggestion. Rice 

 plants have been found to thrive where ammonium 

 nitrogen was present but where there was complete 

 absence of nitrate nitrogen. It appears to have been 

 proved that ammonium nitrogen and organic nitrogen 

 cannot change into nitrate nitrogen under the conditions 

 of submerged cultivation. It has been shown, furthei*, 

 that under such conditions, very little nitrate nitrogen 

 is actually available for plant nutrition, on account 

 of the extent to which ri^version takes place, and'because 

 of the loss by 1 etching. This matter of the direct use 



