A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



LIBRARY 



NEW YORl 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. Z.^^ 



Vol X. No. 229, 



BARBADOS, FEBRUARY 4, 1911. 



Prics Id, 



CONTENTS. 



Agricultuie ami Hygiene in 

 Grenada .Sohouls ... 40 



Agi'icul tural Research, State 

 Aid for 43 



Brazil, Trade and Agricul- 

 ture of, 1909 41 



Canadian Trade in the West 

 Indies and British 

 (iuiana .'ff 



Cotton Notes : — 



Ciittiin Seed Meal as 



Human Food 38 



West Indian Cotton ... 38 



Department News 42 



Electricity in Agiiculture ... 43 



Fungus Notes : — 



Two Diseases of Citrus 

 Trees in Florida ... 46 



Gleanings 44 



Grenada, Work of Agricul- 

 tural Department ... 39 



Ground Nuts, Machinery 

 for Threshing 41 



Insect Notes : — 



A Summary of Entomolo- 

 gical Information in the 



Pagk. Page. 



(Insect Notes continae<l) 

 Aijricnitiiial Ncirs and 

 Wtst Iiuliitn Bulletin in 



1910 42 



Labels and Phmt Stakes, 



Pre.servaticm of ... ... 4.3 



Market Reports 48 



Notes and Comments ... 40 

 Prize Es.say, ' Tropical Life ' 39 

 Plants and Heavy 



Manuring 33 



P(jtato Meal in Incia ... 47 

 Rice in Britisli Guiana ... 47 

 Shield Budding for tlic 



Mang 30 



Stock Importation, St. Lucia, 



Bonuses for 41 



Students' Corner 4D 



Sugar Industry : — 



Demerara Seedling Canes 



in Louisiana 35 



The Sugar Market, 1910 35 

 Sui)erphos]>hates in Soils, 



Behaviour of 40 



Weeds, Distribution of ... 41 

 West Indian Products ... 47 



Plants and Heavy Manuring. 



UCH attention has been gi\en by investi- 

 Sgatora to problems connected with the 



•manurial requirements of plants. They have 



devised elaborate e.xperiments for the purpose of finding 

 out the proportions in which various manures should 

 be applied to the soils in which the plants grow, in 

 order that these shall flourish to the best effect, and 

 give the most economical returns. The consideration 

 of the action of manures, in so far as these are supposed 

 to feed the plant, has been the chief guide to the e.xperi- 



menter, in making his plans and devising the tests to 

 be conducted by him. The importance of this part of 

 agricultural investigation justifies eminently the care 

 that has been bestowed upon it. The question may be 

 asked, however, as to whether or not this is the only 

 aspect of manuring, in relation to the plant, that has 

 to be taken, if a fair appreciation of the connexion 

 between the two is to be gained. 



The answer to this is that there are other 

 aspects to be taken in regard to the subject; for one 

 thing, it has been long concluded that the provision of 

 plants with an adequate supply of food generally 

 increases their jjower to withstand the attacks of pests 

 and diseases. There has not been much regard, how- 

 ever, for the other side of the subject; that is, the pos- 

 sible aggravation of disease through the use of excessive 

 amounts of certain manures. It is the present purpose 

 to consider recent work that has been done in this 

 Connexion, and to deal with the outcome of this in 

 a sreneral manner. 



Investigations * in connexion with the die-back of 

 citrus trees, in Florida, are being conducted at the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station in that State, and it 

 is the results of these that furnish much of the mater- 

 ial which follows. The experiments were suggested by 

 the circumstance that the effects of this disease were 

 increased in intensity when large quantities of artific- 

 ial manures were employed, the amount of these 

 required to bring on the disease being somewhere near 

 the maximum quantity that the plant could endure. 

 The problem was suggested, therefore, as to whether 

 the injury is brought about by the degree of concent- 

 ration of the manure in the soil, as a whole, or whether 



* See Report on, the Florida Experiment Station, 1908-9, 



