194 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



June 24, 19n. 



to be an incorrect view, by the following considerations: 

 firstly, that all plants exhibit much the same composi- 

 tion in regard to the substances provided by the soil; 

 secondly, that a plant grown under different conditions 

 shows as much variation in the composition of the ash 

 as obtains between that of the ash of entirely different 

 plants; thirdly, that where plants are found in nature 

 always to contain some definite substance such as silica 

 and potash, or where they are foinid to flourish 

 specially on lime soils, as with leguminous plants, there 

 is generally no advantage, under the conditions of 

 experimentation, in affording to these plants a special 

 supply of the particular constituent, or of growing 

 them under the definite condition that seems to be 

 demanded in nature; lastly, as with plants, the chemi- 

 cal examination of different soils shows them to be 

 much alike in composition. 



The true explanation of the definiteness of the 

 distribution of plants in nature is found in the circum- 

 stance of the large competition that is always taking 

 place where there has been no modification of condi- 

 tions by the inteiference of man. This is so much the 

 case that plants are found growing in waste and barren 

 soils, or on exposed sea beaches, simply because they 

 cannot there be further ousted by the competition of 

 other plants. There is nothing intrinsic in the nature 

 of these situations such as to favour their growth in 

 any particular way; this may be shown by rearing 

 the plants in a rich soil, where they are relieved from 

 the comi)etition of other plants, when they grow better 

 than in what is generally termed their native habitat. 



In a general way, the physical and chemical 

 attributes of a soil have the largest infiuence in the 

 limitation of plants to certain areas. The former 

 govern the water content of the soil, and often to some 

 extent its temperature and the humiditj' of the atmos- 

 phere. In the chemical a.spcct, it is the acidity or 

 alkalinity of the soils that exerts the greatest infiu(mce; 

 though with some plants there are special circumstances, 

 such as the possession of fungi associated with their 

 roots (Microrhiza), which serve to modify this condition. 



Much more work remains to be done before the 

 subject can be definitely described or understood, and 

 there is an added difficult} owing to the fact that in 

 making investigations the experiments must inchide 

 the element of competition among plants, nmch as it 

 . exists in nature. As has been indicated, the matter is 

 of practical importance, more particularlj' as an effi- 

 . cient substitute is required for the empirical method of 

 ascertaining the composition of soils on which certain 



plants are known to fiijurish, and of comparing this 

 with that of the soils on which it may be intended to 

 grow ihose plants. The work of the future must be to 

 ascertain the reasons which underly the choice that has 

 to be made in giving the plant the soil conditions that 

 are best suited to it. 



THE IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRI- 



OQLTURE AND WEST INDIAN 



PROSPERITY. 



At a dinner given by the West India Club on the 

 16th instant, to the West Indian representatives at the 

 Coronation, the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, in pro- 

 posing prosperity to the West Indies, delivered a speech, 

 in which he expressed the follnwing facts and senti- 

 ments, more particularly in regard to the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture and the West Indies: — 



'In the last twelve years Parliament had voted 

 over one and a quarter millions, in one form and another, 

 to West Indian purposes. It must, he thought, be 

 a source of congratulation to all concerned, that for the 

 last six years no grant-in-aid of general revenue had 

 been required, and that, with the exception of what was 

 contributed to the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 and to the transatlantic mail subsidy, the West Indies 

 were now independent of financial assistance from 

 Imperial funds. The toast he was now going to ask 

 them to drink might well be — not prosjierity — but con- 

 tinued prosperity, to the West Indies. For the attain- 

 ment of that happy result the main share of the credit 

 was due to those who had persevered with courage, 

 enterprise and patience in the fiee of adverse circum- 

 stances. Far from letting sugar estates go out of culti- 

 vation in the bad years of the nineties, the}- had 

 improved methods, in many cases at great expense and 

 with no little risk; had rebuilt factories, renovated aiid 

 remodelled their machinery and jn-ocesses, and liad now 

 placed themselves in a position in which, as he tinder- 

 stood, they could face with equanimit}- the competition 

 of beet sugar. Nor were all the eggs any longer placed 

 in one basket. Fruit, cacao, cotton, arrowroot, rubber, 

 were all contributing to the gon<'ral prosperity. He 

 desired to refer for u moment with the warmest appre- 

 ciation of the work of the central DeiJartiuent of Agri- 

 culture, established in 1<S98 at the cost of the Imperial 

 Government, presided over with distinguished ability, 

 first by Hir Daniel Morris, and now by his successor, 

 Dr. Francis Watts. The work of that Department was 

 universally and gratefully acknowledged b}' the 

 planters to be largely responsible for the improved 

 state of affairs in all branches of agriculture. He 

 believed itwould be difficult to find any case in which any 

 analogous experiment made by the Home Government 

 had attained such speedy and satisfactory^ results. The 

 outlook was thus full of jtromise. and it was noc less so 

 by reason of the fact that the i'anama Canal was now 

 approaching completion.' 



