Vol. XI. No. 273. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



320 



more readily in the manganese soil, but this is probably 

 because the circulation of air is better in this kind 

 of soil. 



The Jamaica Farm School. 



A review appears, on another page, of the Keport 

 <}{ the Director of Agriculture and Island Chemist, 

 Jamaica, 1911-12. In this, want of space prevented 

 detailed attention from being gi\en to the subjects of 

 the report, among these being the Farm School at 

 Hope, and it is thought well to make larger mentioa 

 liere of this institution. 



With reference to the pmspects of continued 

 success of this school, it is of interest that the report 

 states that accomodation, consisting of a new dormitory 

 and class-room, was provided during the year for 

 twelve additional students, and that improvements and 

 additions to the former buildings were also made. The 

 additional room for classes made it possible to divide 

 these in a better way, for study. Additional stables 

 and two stave silos were also erected during the year. 

 The statement is made: 'The development of the stock 

 farm has given the students uuii|ue opportunities of 

 obtaining experience in the handling ana management 

 of various classes of li\e stock.' 



Another interesting matter in the same connexion 

 is that over forty applications were received for twelve 

 vacancies for students at the farm, in January. These 

 were filled from among the applicants, who showed on 

 the whole a considerably higher educational standard 

 than that possessed by applicants when the school was 

 started. The full number of students — thirty-six — is 

 in residence. 



The Head Master, in reporting on the conduct and 

 progress of the students states: 'The conduct of the 

 students has continued to be satisfactory and I aia 

 able to report considerable progress on the part of 

 some, both in the acquiring of knowledge and manual 

 skill and in the development of a keener sense of 

 responsibility and reliability than was at first evident.' 



Growing Crops With N itrogen fixing Plants. 



The Agruidlural Neivs, \'ol. X, p. 59, contained 

 an article dealing with the results of growing crops 

 together with leguminous plants, with special reference 

 to increased growth and the enhanced content of 

 nitrogen in the plants that are not leguminous. 



An abstract in the Experiment Station Record 

 for ]\Iay 1912, p. (il7, gives attention to the results of 

 somewhat similar work in which peas and barley and 

 oats and vetch were grown separately and together, as 

 indicated, in pots, and these plants and corn and horse 

 beans were raised in the field with and without 

 manures. 



It was found that the dry matter of the mixed crops 

 was higher in amount than that of the separate crops, 

 but smaller in comparison with the weight of seed 

 used. The employment of manure affected the quan- 

 tity of dry matter produced less in the case of mixtures 

 than where crops were grown separately. In the mix- 



tures, again, leguminous plants were poorer, while 

 cereals were richer, in nitrogen, than in the case of the 

 separate crops — a fact that is attributed to the diminish- 

 ed growth of the cereals and not to the presence of the 

 leguminous plants; while the lower nitrogen content of 

 the latter is considered to be due to their smaller 

 growth. 



The nitrogen content of the leguminous crops 

 showed an increase onl}' when their growth was poor 

 and there was a sufficient amount of nitrates in the 

 soil. The employment of manures affected the nitrogen 

 content of the cereals to a greater degree than that of 

 the leguminous plants. 



Lastly, the amount of nitrogen produced per unit 

 area was greater in the mixed crop than th^; sum of the 

 ((uantities of nitrogen produced by the separate crops, 

 but it was influenced to a greater degree by manures 

 when the plants were grown separately than when they 

 were mixed. 



The Cause of the Jamaica Earthquake, 1907. 



An account of this earthquake was given in the 

 (Jeograjihical Journal for March 1908, by Dr. V'aughan 

 C'ornisb,F.ll.G..S., F.G..S.,and extracts from this appeared 

 in the Agricultural News, Vol. VII, pp. 123, 139 and 

 17.5. The issue of the first-mentioned journal for 

 September 1912 now contains a further article on the 

 catastrophe, by the same writer. 



The evidence of the earthquake itself, and that of 

 the after-shocks, has led Dr. Cornish to conclude that 

 the tremors originated in two regions, "one near the 

 shore south-of-east from Kingston, and the other, less 

 precisely located, in the mountainous region within the 

 triangle formed by the points Xewc^istle, lUiff Bay and 

 Glengoffe.' 



The first inclination was to attribute the earths 

 i|uake to subterranean agencies, but a subsequent visit 

 to the island in 1910 has caused the conclusion to be 

 reached that it was caused by the redistribution 

 of surface material through the transport of 

 such matter, from the area of their head-waters 

 in the Eastern part of the island, by the rivers 

 Hope, Buff Bay, Wag Water and Yallahs. Dr. 

 Cornish states. 'My theory of the cause of the 

 earthquake is that it was due to a disturbance of 

 pre-existing equilibrium by this modern redistribution 

 of load, that the southern tremors came from 

 subsidence with fracture at sea near the mouth of 

 Hope River, and that the northern tremors were 

 produced by elevation with fracture near the Gaps.' 



The matters adduced in the article lead to the 

 comforting statement that it is reasonable to think that 

 the earthquake was brought about by a familiar, 

 everyday agency, which may be seen at work, operating 

 at a slow and fairly regular rate, and not by any- 

 gigantic and deep-seated cause, unlimited in its powers 

 to destroy and likely to act at any moment. There ist 

 the additional satisfaction that the necessarily slow 

 reproduction of the agency means that a long period 

 must elapse before a similar catastrophe can take place. 



