A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OK THK 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



^JEW YO 



§0TANIC 



flARDBI 



Vol. IX. No. 226. 



BARBADOS, DECE.MBER 24, 1910. 



Pl'.ICE Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Pack. 



Page. 



Agrieultuial E.xijcriiiient 

 Stiitiims ill tlK'(»fnii.in 

 Coldiiies 408 



Brussbis Exhibition, 



Agricultural Machin- 

 ery at 410 



Carca.sses, Siiiijile JMetlunl 



of Destroying 41.J 



Corn, Value of First (fener- 

 ation Hylirids in ... 402 



Cotton Notes : — 



Cotton Experiments in 



the Bahamas 406 



Cotton-Growing in 



(ileece 406 



West Indian Cotton ... 406 



Cotton Su]i])ly of Jajjan 408 



De])artuiental Reports ... 411 



Dominica Exhiliits at the 



Coloni.il Fruit Show 40.5 



Earthworms in the Soil, 



Work of 401 



Fungus Notes : — 



Summary of Infijrmation 

 Given During the Year 414 



Gleanings " 412 



(ireeii Manures in Calif or- 



nian Orchards 404 



Guinea (Jrass Cultivatii^n 

 in India 



Insect Notes : — 



Insect Pests in the We^t 

 Indies in lit 10 



International Rubber Ex- 

 hibition, I'.tU 



Lemon (iiass Oil in South- 

 ern India 



Market Reports 



Medical Wants t)rdiiiance, 

 Ceylon ... 



Millions. Natural Enemies 

 of ... 



Notes and Coniiuents ... 



Poultry Notes : — 



Iiulian Runner Ducks ... 

 l^lillt^ of r'lyinouth 



Rocks ; 



Prize-Holdings Coinpeti- 



tion in Jamaica ... 



Rice in British Guiana ... 



Rublier in Ceylon 



Society Islands, Trade of, 



lyo'.i 



Students' Corner 



Trees, Ascent of Water in 



'J'he Work ot Kaithworms in 

 the Soil. 



INCE the publication, by Darwin in IScSl, 

 of Formation of Vfr/etable Mould through 

 the Action of ICorm.s, in which he showed the 

 ; importance of the work of earthworms in forming vege- 

 ^' table mould in soils, the useftdness .d' these animals to 

 1 the agriculturist, more particularly in colder climates, 

 i/t h.as been fully recognized. The work of various investi- 

 2 gators has indicated that they increase the fertility of 



the soil through acting as cultivators, and that they 

 may actually take part in the production of plant fond 

 by decomposing organic matter in the soil more quick- 

 ly than this can be done by micro-organisms in it. The 

 first of these effects has been proved conclusively. In 

 regard tu the second there has always been uncertainty. 



In order to find out if the presence of earthworms 

 in the soil increases the rate of decomposition of organ- 

 ic matter, experiments * have been carried out recently 

 at the Rothamsted E.xperimont Station, by E. J. Rus- 

 sell, and the purpose of this article is to present 

 the resiUts of these. The first step was to repeat the 

 older work in order to demonstrate the actual fact that 

 the fertility of the soil is increased where earthworms 

 are present. For the purpose, plants were grown in 

 pots, some of which contained earthworms while others 

 did not. In the former case, the useful effect of the 

 presence of the worms was shown by the better appear- 

 ance of the plants and the higher nitrogen content of 

 the dry matter from them. An investigation at the 

 close of the experiment demonstrated that the origin 

 of much of the additional nitrogen was that contained 

 in the worms when they were put into the pots. 



In order to make allowance for this effect of worms 

 in directly adding nitrogen to the soil, in the rest of 

 the experiments freshly killed worms, equal in weight 

 to the living ones were put into the control pots. In 

 the result, it was found that living worms do not 

 increase the rate of nitrogen formation; as a matter of 

 fact, the percentage of nitrogen was larger in the plants 

 that had grown in the pots in which the freshly killed 

 worms had been placed. 



413 



410 



JOT 



407 

 416 



408 



405 

 408 



41.-. 



4ir. 



40'.l 

 411 

 403 



409 

 413 



40!» 



The next stage in the exjjeriments was to find out 

 if the action of worms is increased in the presence of 



* Described in the Jovntnl of AgrlcuUnral Science, Septem- 

 ber 1910, p. 24(;. 



