November 



1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



393 



HOW WEEDS DIMINISH CROPS. 

 A remarkable instance, says Sir J. B. Lawes in one of 

 his letters, of the effect of weeds in reducing growth, is 

 to be found in the experiments carried on by the Duke 

 of Bedford at Woburn. In the second year of these experi- 

 ments a change was made in the management, and the 

 necessity of keeping the land free from weeds was not 

 sufficiently recognised. The following was the annual pro- 

 duce of the same plots of land manured every year with 

 the same artificial manures, consisting ot potash, phosphate 

 and nitrate of soda: — 



1*77 

 1878 

 1879 



l.sjso 

 18S1 

 18S2 



32 bushels per acre. 



14 



25 „ 



24 



45 



33 



In 1878, the year when the weeds prevailed, the artificial 

 manures yielded one bushel per acre less than the plot which 

 was left entirely without manure. But of late years tin- 

 land has been kept scrupulously clean, and it is now, in 

 fact, cleaner than my own land at Rot hams ted. The Woburn 

 soil possesses one great advantage over my own, from the 

 fact that weeding can be carried on without injury when 

 the land is wet. There can be no doubt, however, that 

 the large produce which is obtained, both at Woburn and 

 Rothamsted, as. compared with the produce obtained by 

 ordinary farming, is very much due to the absence of weeds. 

 At Woburn seven un manured crops of barley, grown in 

 succession, have given an average of 27 bushels per acre. 

 This is a product considerably in excess of what might 

 have been expected from a soil which, although fairly rich 

 for the first 9 inches from the surface, is very scanty and 

 poor below that depth. In order to test the influence of 

 weeds I allowed the wheat to shed its seed on about half 

 an acre of land at the top of my experimental wheat field. 

 The crop — which if cut would probably have yielded lb' 

 bushels per acre — has therefore re-sown itself, and will have 

 to contend to the best of its ability with any weeds which 

 may spring up. In writing some time ago upon the depend- 

 ence of the human race for their existence upon some* 

 annual plant bearing a cereal grain, I pointed out how 

 very much the growth of such plants depended upon the 

 care and attention of man; and I suggested that if a field 

 of corn were left to its own resources it was quite possible 

 that not one plant would be found in the field after four 

 or five years. Time will show what will actually take place 

 in the present case. From the appearance of the land, 

 and the prevalence of couch grass and other weeds, I should 

 think that the present crop would be a. very small one 

 indeed, and probably the last that would grow at all. The 

 remainder of the field — now under its forty-first crop — looks 

 exceedingly well. — Leader. 



PINEAPPLE CULTIVATION IN QUEENSLAND. 



Many of our small cultivators are losing an opportunity 

 of employing their time and labour to advantage in neglect- 

 ing the cultivation of this valuable fruit. It has the 

 "advantage of nearly every other in escaping the ravages 

 of fruit-devouring pests; for in our experience we have 

 never known anything but the opossum to meddle with 

 it. Then, again, it enjoys another very great advantage 

 over any other crop in luxuriating in what are considered 

 to be poor and hungry soils ; free sand, or a loam with 

 sand predominating therein, being found the best for the 

 pineapple. In comparison with other fruits, the pineapple 

 is very easily grown, will bear carriage well without sustain- 

 ing injury, and has exceedingly good keeping qualities, if 

 fairly treated and not knocked about or braised. Unfort- 

 unately too many growers lose all concern about the goods 

 they market so soon as they have sold them, and handle 

 fruit without sufficient care and almost as if they were 

 stones. A check must be put upon this, for bruised fruit 

 cannot be kept long, and will not preserve ; so that buyers 

 must protect themselves against the careless and selfish 

 growers who will not study their customers' interests, as 

 only such measures will suffice to bring them to their 

 proper bearings. 



To grow the pineapple well requires a free ard light 

 soil, and as near au approach to a tropical climate as 

 possible. Frost is the enemy of the pineapple, and where 

 50 



frosts are the rule this fruit cannot be a success. Ex- 

 perience has shown that they thrive even in Southern Queens- 

 land anywhere near the coast; but anyone about to make 

 a plantation should be careful to make it as high up on 

 the hillside as possible, or at any rate above the frost 

 level; for it is a well-known fact that frosts settle into 

 the hollows, and the tops of the hills are free,, showing 

 that cold is subject to the laws of gravitation. Supposing 

 the site to be chosen and the soil to be suitable, the 

 next question is the labour, and it is generally a vexed 

 oae. All authorities say trench and manure for fruit of 

 every kind; but unfortunately majorities are not ruled by 

 authorities. Most people calculate when they have a few 

 thousand plants to put in how they shall get them in 

 their places quickest and at the least expense; imagining 

 that there is nothing else worth considering. This is a 

 mistake. The question to consider is — how to treat them 

 so as to get the best returns. If we had £100 to invest, 

 and one thing offering promised 10 per cent profit, and 

 another 20 per cent or more, we should not hesitate in 

 deciding for the latter. Why not employ the same sagacity 

 and forethought in planting? It is passing strange that 

 so few have wordly wisdom enough in such matters. An 

 acre well done is better than two or more slummed; and 

 the double quantity of land will always demand an extra 

 amount of attention to keep it in any measure product- 

 ive, while after the first the better worked land will not 

 require half the cultivation, and at the same time will give 

 fully double the weight of crop. Trenching is the item 

 here insisted on. Laud intended for pineapples or an- 

 other fruit should be broken up at least 20 in. or 24 in. 

 deep ; no other cultivation is worth anything in this climate. 

 "But," says a lover of his ease, " what is the use of Irench- 

 ing sand or a light soil?" The use is to make it lighter 

 and sweeter and more productive ; and, whether an active 

 imagination or good reasoning powers will enable a man 

 to fathom the mystery or not, it is au established fact that 

 trenching, even light soil or sand if naturally well drained, 

 makes a very great difference in the productiveness of 

 such land. Besides trenching, it will pay to use manure. 

 Trenching affords the cultivator an opportunity to bury 

 rubbish of all kinds in the soil to open and enrich the 

 land, and gives him a great advantage in that of surpass- 

 ing his neighbour who burns all the refuse vegetable matter 

 that he makes, or which accumulates on his laud. The 

 cultivator should never burn a handful that he can bury; 

 and the longer he adopts this plan the more will he see 

 the benefit of it, and the more reason will he have for 

 continuing it. T'.ien trench and manure if you would suc- 

 ceed with pineapples. Manure of any kind will answer, 

 bone-dust being excellent and wood ashes also. 



In planting make the rows 8 ft. apart, and put the suck- 

 ers 3 ft. apart in the rows. In two or three years the 

 rows will be continuous, and the clear spaces between will 

 famish facilities for cleaning, cultivating, and gathering the 

 crop which could not be profitably dispensed with. If the 

 surface of the ground is not all covered, the soil below 

 will be fully occupied with roots, which have nothing more 

 than fair feeding ground. Planting'so closelv that every 

 plant robs and starves its neighbour is not wise, particularly 

 in a climate like this, where droughts are frequent and 

 crops are lessened in consequence, A plantation of pines 

 treated as above, trenched 2 ft. deep, and well manured, 

 with the plants no closer than recommenned, would hardly 

 ever feel drought, but would bear heavily in any season. 

 Returns of £100 per acre per, annum would surely justify 

 this. " But," it may be asked, "who ever dreams of making 

 £100 a year from an acre of pineapples?'' There is no 

 dreaming about it, for those who know assert that £100 

 per acre per year is now being made out of them. A 

 German near Brisbane pays £100 a year rent for five acres 

 of pineapples and makes a good thing of it ; and, instead 

 of the supply being equal to the demand, two or three 

 times the quantity at present grown could readily be dis- 

 posed of to men who are trying to develop a trade for 

 the preserved article in the markets of Europe, but can- 

 not get a supply. No industry in the gardening or the 

 planting line offers better inducements to the energetic cult- 

 ivator than the cultivation of this popular fruit, and there 

 is undoubtedly a fortune waiting for any man who will 

 enter upon the growing of pineapples in a thoroughlv 

 efficient and business-like manner. — Queeaslander. 



