Vol XI. No. 273. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



331 



»cale insect lias recently been introduced into Florida on 

 imported stock and is already well established there. 



New plant diseases, againt the entrance of which there 

 is at present no bar, may even more seriously jeopardise the 

 farm, orchard, and (orest products of this country. Imported 

 potatoes from Newfoundland are now bringing in the potato 

 wart disease, which, wherever it has been introduced in 

 Kurope, and also in Newfoundland, puts a stop to potato 

 culture. The importation of white pine seedlings is now 

 bringing in the European white pine rust, which, if estab- 

 lished and disseminated, will destroy much of the value of 

 cur white pine forests. Absolute quarantine against these 

 two plant diseases is the only means of keeping them out. 

 The chestnut disease, now practically shown to have been 

 introduced on trees imported from Japan, illustrates what 

 may quickly happen from such unchecked introductions 



More than half of the important insect enemies and 

 plant diseases now established in this country have been 

 brought in on imported nursery stock, and new insect 

 enemies and new diseases are being thus introduced every 

 year. Twenty different insect pests, new to this country, 

 some of them very formidable in the ( )ld World, have been 

 intercepted in the inspections of the imported material by this 

 department this year,and this does not include the iniioduction 

 rf brown- tail moth nests and other European pests with 

 imi'Orted seedling stock. 



A properly enforced quarantine and iuspi ction law in 

 the past would have excluded many, if not most, of the 

 foreign insect enemies and plant disi ases which are now 

 levying an enormous annual tax amounting lo several 

 hundred million dollars on the products of the farms and 

 orchards of this country. 



In spite of the many pests which have already gained 

 foothold and the control of which will be a permanent 

 annual charge on production, there remain many other insect 

 pests and plant diseases with equal capacity for harm which, 

 fortunately, have not yet come to us, and it is to protect 

 from these new dangers that legislation is now sought, not 

 with the intention of prohibiting the trade in imported stock, 

 but to throw such safeguards around it as will most protect 

 both the importers and the subseijuent purchasers of such 

 Stock. 



The insect pests and plant diseases that have come in 

 are probably here for all lime, but certainly no reasonable 

 cbjection can be made to the etl'ort to safeguard the future. 

 The conscientious importer will be benefited, and the home 

 producers, the dealers, and all the great fruit and forest 

 interests will be protected by suitable inspection and quar- 

 antine legislation. 



A NEW COVER CROP. 



The following is taken from the first number of 

 the Ayricvltural Bulletrn of tlie -Federated Malay 

 States, which is a new publication issued by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of the Federated Malay States 

 and the Planters' Association of Malaya. The plant 

 referred to is closely related to the plant called the 

 yam bean {Dolichos Lahlah) in the West Indies: — 



I»uring the past eighteen months seeds of some thirty 

 varieties of plants have been procured from India, Philippine 

 Islands, Barbados, Antigua, etc., for the purpose of attempt- 

 ing to secure a cover crop for this country which would 

 fulfil the necessary requirements. After a long series of 



experiments I have come to the conclusion that one of the 

 cover crops that may possibly meet with success is 

 Horse Gram [Dolichos f-ifori's]. 



Dolichos belongs to the family of the Leguminosae and 

 is either sub erect or twining inhabit. It is largely culti- 

 vated in South India and is wild in the Himalayas. It is 

 stated that on the plains of India this pulse is grown either 

 as a green manure or as a cattle food and fodder, and that 

 few Indian crops are perhaps more valuable in this respect 

 than the horse gram, especially when grown as a green 

 manure. Its great value in this respect lies in its power, 

 in common with other leguminous plants, of fixing atmos- 

 pheric nitrogen in the soil through the agency of bacteria 

 contained in the root nodules and by so doing it increases 

 the fertility of the soil and indirectly the growth of the 

 rubber growing amongst it. Being a close-growing, dense 

 shading plant it keeps the surface soil damp and prevents it 

 from being baked by the heat of the sun. 



Although not deemed a superior pulse it is largely used 

 by the poorer classes owing to its being perhaps the cheapest 

 of pulses. The husk is regarded as a valuable cattle food. 

 The split peas may be reduced to a meal or may be boiled or 

 fried and eaten with rice or other articles of food. There is 

 a fairly extensive trade done locally with the seed. 



CLLTivATiON. The ease with which it may be cultivated 

 recommends it most highly. The plant may be made U^ 

 grow at any season of the year as it requires but one shower 

 of rain to start its growth, but even if this be not obtained 

 the seed will remain alive for months in the soil and ger- 

 minate after the first rain. 



The land should be chungkolled, or when possible 

 ploughed, the weeds collected and burned, and the seed sown 

 broadcast at the rate of 12 to 15 lb. per acre. It is advisable 

 to cover the seed and this may be done by breaking up the 

 surface lumps of earth or chungkolling the land to the depth 

 of one or two inches. No after-cultivation is necessary 

 until the crop is mature, which is in about five months' time. 

 The seed is then collected, and if a second crop is required, 

 the land chungkolled and the seed resown. It is advisable 

 to plant the second crop as soon as the first has died down in 

 order that the weeds may not have an opportunity of getting 

 the upper hand. Horse gram grows on the poorest land but 

 it is best suited to a mixed soil. 



\ ALLE AS A covKi: CKui". Two plots, similarly weedy, 

 and containing lalang, were selected for this experiment, 

 these areas were chungkolled and in one of them .seed of 

 horse gram sown. Two crops were obtained in one year 

 which necessitated weeding the land twice. Comparing this 

 with the control plot which Lad to be cleaned every month it 

 will be seen that there is a great saving of labour, and that 

 from an economic point of view it i.s most satisfactory. As 

 to its primary value, namely the checking of lalang growth, 

 I would not go so far as to say that it eradicates weeds, but 

 it had certainly the advantage over the control in that the 

 plot containing it was freer from lalang at the end of the 

 year's experiment It has an advantage over most other 

 crops in dying down naturally and therefore has not to be 

 eradicated by chungkolling, previous to tapping, as Java 

 Crotalaria, Tephi'o^ia purpurea, etc , have to be. In view of 

 its power of checking the vigorous growth of lalang, its 

 beneficial chemical, mechanical and bacteriological effect on 

 the .'oil and the saving of the labour bill, I would recommend 

 that this cover crop be given a trial, where a cover crop is. 

 required. 



