A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



^ 





Vol. XV. No. 362. 



BARBADOS, :\[AKCH 11, 1910. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Do Soil Explosions Pay ? 



( [jTX V URING the last three j-ears a con.sidei-able 

 amount of attention has been given to the 

 ', idea of soil improvement by means of the use 

 of explosives. As with ever}- newly introduced idea, 

 there has been a tendency on the part of certain 

 sections of the Press to ride it to death, and it becomes 

 desirable on this account to see how far the recom- 

 mendations put forward fall into line with the results 

 of carefully conducted experiments. 



In doing so, it may not be amiss to make brief 

 reference to the general discussions on the subject 



that have come under our notice. An interesting 

 and extremely well illustrated article is to be found 

 in the Agricultural Gazette of Neiv South Wales 

 for January I'.H'A, which suggests the great value of 

 dynamite in clearing bush land. In this an account 

 is given of the ditferent kinds of explosives that 

 may be used, and the methods of firing them, the 

 latter being either by means of the safety fuse, or by 

 electric-it}'. It is indicated, in this article, that the 

 advantages accruing from the felling of trees by dyna- 

 mite lie, not only in the fact that the stump is 

 removed, but also in the fact that the small 

 limbs are broken off by the concussion, and fall. 

 In another reference, in the Cuha Magazine for March 

 ini:^, attention is called to the value of explosives in 

 the breaking up of hard-pan in citrus cultivations in 

 Florida, where 4-oz. charges of 30 per cent, dynamite 

 have been exploded under trees with alleged results 

 of an eminently satisfactory kind. From the purely 

 physiological aspect of soil aeration, the Planters' 

 Chronicle (February 8, 1913) strongly advises a careful 

 eujployment of this form of subsoil cultivation. Strong 

 advocates, also, for the use of explosives are the editor 

 of Tropical Life, and the editor of the India Rubber 

 World. In a reference to the subject in the latter 

 journal (tor April 1, lOlo) a point is made of the fact 

 that the use of explosives should tend to destroy soil 

 parasites, as well as being useful as a means of prepar- 

 ing holes in which to plant young rubber trees. 



Many more references of a similar kind could be 

 mentioned, but our object is to consider the results 

 of practical experiments that have been made, especially- 

 in the West Indies. ILseful trials have been made by 

 the Agricultural Departments in Dominica, Trinidad 

 and Antigua. • 



