184 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



JuwB 8, 1912. 



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 Barbados. 



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gigricultiiriit ^tm 



Vol. XI. SATURDAY. JUNE 8, 1912. No. 264. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Contents of Present Issue. 



This number contains the third of a series of 

 editorial articles entitled The Interpretation of the 

 Results of Field Experiments. Its purpose is to recapi- 

 tulate and illustrate shortly the matters that were 

 brought forward in the former articles. 



Page 180 sets forth an account of work that has 

 been carried out in Dominica in regard to the keeping 

 qualities of lime juice of various strengths when it is 

 stored for periods extending to fifteen weeks. 



On the same page, there is also the commencement 

 of an article describing agricultural conditions in the 

 Leeward Islands during the period 1910-11. 



An article on page 183 reviews the reports on the 

 various agricultural institutions in St. Vincent, issued 

 as a departmental report, for the period 1910-11. 



The Insect Notes, on pages 186 and 187, contain 

 illustrated articles dealing with the arrowroot worm, 

 and an explosion of carbon bisulphide under a special 

 condition which is described. 



The condition of agriculture in British Guiana is 

 described shortly in an extracted article on page 187. 



On jjage 190 are presented the Fungus Notes, 

 dealing with the general treatment of root diseases of 

 permanent crops. The subject is taken up in a broad 

 manner, and much practical advice is given in connex- 

 ion with the means to be employed. 



Characteristics of a Hybrid Hevea. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. H. C. Pearson, Editor 

 of the India Rubber World, a description has been 

 received of the main characteristics of the hybrid Hevea 

 rhar. is supposed to be a cross between Hevea brasili- 

 ensis and H. eovfusa. 



It appears that the hybrid branches much more 

 abundantly than either of the plants from which it is 

 considered to have originated; the leaves are larger, 

 broader, and with a point showing a slight curve be- 

 tween the apex and the leaf proper. The bark of the 

 hybrid is thin; wound response is not continuous, and 

 the rubber is short and very resinous. After plants of 

 it have been tapped and the latex removed, the wounds 

 are apt to discharge a greenish, sticky resin, which 

 runs down the bark. 



It is not possible at present to make any definite 

 statements in regard to the identification of seedlings 

 of the plant. The opinion of Mr. Pearson is, how- 

 ever, that there will be found eventually to be differ- 

 ences in venation that will permit the hybrid to be 

 identified, even as a seedling. 



Effects of Different Proportions of Lime and 

 Magnesia in Some Soils. 



An account of a large number of experiments 

 dealing with this matter, conducted during 1907, 1908 

 and 1909 on six different types of soil and with eight 

 different crops, receives attention in the Experiment 

 Station Record for December 1911, p. 725. 



As regards the yield from the plants grown, it 

 was found that, even when the proportions between the 

 lime and magnesia were varied largely, there was no 

 effect on the jeturn. Thus the investigations did not 

 give support to Loew's supposition that the power of 

 plants to produce crops depends in a very definite 

 way on the ratio between the amounts of lime and 

 magnesia in the soil. It may be stated, in passing, 

 that information concerning this theory, and details of 

 other matters connected with it, may be found in the 

 Agricidtiiral News, Vols. IX, p. 95 and X, pp. 60 and 

 328. 



The behaviour of plants toward lime and magnesia 

 varied with the kind of plant, and even when these 

 substances were added to soils containing very small 

 amounts of them, no increase in yield was obtained 

 so that the conclusion is reached that the same 

 plants must be studied in the same soil for several 

 consecutive years before definite results can be gained. 

 Another interesting conclusion of a general nature was 

 to the effect that, although substantially the same yields 

 may be obtained from plants on different occasions, the 

 amounts of lime, magnesia and phosphoric acid con- 

 tained in theip may vary greatly. 



With respect to matters that are of more isolated 

 importance, it was found that the usefulness of lime in 

 gi.jwing mustard is dependent on other factors, in addi- 

 tion to the nutritive value of that substance. Again, 



