A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBR; 



NEW ^ 



BOTA^ 



QARI 



Vol. IX. No. 2J4. 



BARBADOS, NOVEMBER 2fi, 1910. 



Peicb Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Page. 



Action of Ht!:it nil Soils, The 

 Agricultunil E.\.-uniii:itiniis 

 Banana ConmiissiDii of 



British (iiiiana ... 



Bookshelf 



Cacoa-nut Cultivation and 



Copra in Federated 



Malay States .. 

 Cotton Notes : — 



I'se and Maiiufactui-e of 



ELjyptian C<itton ... 

 West Indian Cotton ... 

 Cotton-seed Iinjioitiition 



into West Africa ... 

 Cotton, World's Supply of 

 Creasote for Preserving 



Posts 



Department News 



Fungus Notes : — 

 Additional Note on 



Pink Diseases 



Further Observations on 



Die-Back Diseases ... 

 Gleanings 



309 

 375 



372 

 379 



. .377 



374 

 374 



383 

 371 



377 



383 



382 



382 

 380 



Insect Notes: — 



lntiiiduLti(Mi of the St. 

 Viment '.Jack Span- 

 iard ' iiil<j Montserrat 

 The CcjHpea Curculi 



Laliour-.Saviiii; Contriv- 

 ance 



Leguminous Plants, Wihl, 

 ()l>servati(>ns on ... 



Market Reports 



Notes and Comments ... 



Panama, Agricultural Pros- 

 pects in 



Rubber. Naiidi 



Sierra Leone, Agriculture 

 in 



Students' Corner 



Sugar Industry : — 



Sugar-Cane Vields ami 

 Distances of Plantiiii^ 



West Indian Products ... 



Work LTniler the Food and 

 Drugs< (rdmance, Brit- 

 ish Viui.ina, 1909-10 



;?78 



:',7S 



377 



373 

 384 

 37(i 



375 

 37IJ 



377 

 381 



371 

 383 



376 



The Action of Heat on Soils. 



'N a previous number ut' tin Agricultural 

 Neivs*, a note was given on work that had 



(been carried out by S. T'^. Pickering on the 

 prevention, to some extent, of the germination of seeds 

 in soils that have been heated. This prevention was 

 shown to be due to the presence of some poisonous 

 (to.KJc) substance. Further, as the degree to which the 

 rate of germination is lessened is a])])roximately pro- 

 portional to the amounts of soluble organic matter and 



the soluble nitrogen compounds present, it was suggest- 

 ed that this toxic body must be organic and soluble, 

 and perhaps nitrogenous. There was the further consid- 

 eration that the results showed that soils, even, which 

 iiave not been heated above 20" to 30° C. contain 

 a eertain proportion of the poisonous bodies. Lastly, 

 the work indicated that a similar action to that from 

 heating could be obtained from the employment of 

 sterilizing agents. + 



A series of experiments undertaken by the same 

 investigator for the purpose of determining the nature of 

 this poisonous substance has been described recently^. 

 The ] impose of the first trials was to find out if the 

 analysis of soil extracts would give trustworthy results, 

 for the investigation. This was found to be the case, 

 and a fact that is of general importance has been 

 demonstrated, for it is now known that the extent to 

 which organic matter is present in soils, at any rate in 

 those of the kind investigated, gives useful information 

 as to their nitrogen content. 



To return tij the determinations in connexion with 

 the changes that occui' in soils after being heated, the 

 heating of the soil was continued for two hours, in closed 

 \essels, at the selected temperature. Portions of the 

 soil were then kept in two different ways: firstlj", in 

 open glass pans, water being added from time to tiiTie 

 to keep the soil saturated, and the soil being broken 

 up occasionally, so as to imitate the conditions 

 of ordinary cultivation: in the second case, the 

 soil, saturated with water as before, was kept in 

 flasks, containing about 1.5 c.c. of air in addition 

 to the .soil, which were hermetically sealed. Ordinary, 



+ See also Agricultural News, Vol. IX, p. 33. 



i See the Journal of Agrimiltnral Saieiice, Vol. II[. p. 258. 



