A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LVBU.A 

 NEW\ 

 BOTAN 



Vol. X. No. 237. 



BARBADOS, MAY 27, 1911. 



Pkigb Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Page. 



Broom Corn in tlit- 



United States ami 

 •,)ueunsliind 170 



Calcium Cyanamide .nid 



jNitratu of Liiiie ... ]<)8 



Ceylon, exjunts of, ]910... J69 



Cocoa-nut and Ground init 



Meal for Horses ... 169 



Cotton Notes : — 



Annual l{e[)(irt of tlie 

 British Cotton Gnuv- 

 ing Association, I'.UO 100 

 West Indian Cotton ... 16C 



Department News 165 



Fungus Notes : — 



Arrowront Diseases ... 174 



Gleanings 172 



India, Dry Farming in ... 103 



Insect Notes : — 



Ecimoniic Entomology at 

 tlie lin|ierial College 

 of Science and Tech- 

 nology 170 



Ex])eriuients witli llu' 



Moth Borer 170 



International Rubber and 

 Allied Trades Exhibi- 

 tion 



.Market Reijorts 



Blolasses as Food for Stock 



Mycology in Relation to 



idminist ration 



Notes and Connnents ... 



Nitrogen, Potash and 



Phosphates and the 

 growth of Plants ... 



Potassium in the B(jdy, 

 PTse of 



Plant Pii>iiagation, Addi- 

 tional Methods of ... 



Sterilization of Tobacco 

 Seed Bells 



Students' Corner 



Time of Flow of Latex and 

 Yield of Rubber ... 



Woeds, Noxious, Legisla- 

 tion against 



West Indiiin Products ... 



171 



176 

 171 



IGl 

 168 



169 



109 



164 



168 

 173 



171 



163 

 175 



Mvcoloov in Relation to 

 AdmioistratioD. 



^^1 iTUjf HE systematic sttidy of the diseases of plants 

 r^l ^^^^''^"'^' ^^^ application to general agriculture 

 ■.■^€° >OJ'% has developed almost entirely within the last 

 sixty years. Although the existence of various fungi 

 has been recognizt-d for many centuries, yet little if 

 anything was known of their real nature until the 

 middle of last century; their life-histories were almost 



entirely unstudied, and many of them were believed to 

 be abnormal developments of the leaves and other parts 

 of dowering plants. Under such circumstances, it was 

 only natural that nothing should be known of their 

 connexion with plant diseases, and that the latter were 

 generally attributed to bad soil conditions, the occur- 

 rence of excessive rains or drought, and similar factors. 

 In some instances, where large insects, such as the 

 larvae of beetles, or of ntoths and butterflies, were found 

 in considerable numbers in connexion with disease, it 

 was realized that these were the cause; while in others, 

 when the disease was of a violently epidemic nature, it 

 was usually said that the plants were destroyed by 

 a blight. Instances of this are the blights reported at 

 various limes on cacao in Trinidad, and that said to 

 have destroyed the cocoa-nut palm in Antigua. The 

 use of the term 'blight', referring as it does only to the 

 general appearance of the affected plants, shows clearly 

 the complete lack of information that existed among 

 jjlanters and farmers as to the real cause of the appear- 

 ance. This lack of information continued even up to very 

 recent time?: while the confusion between insects and 

 fungi, which occurred among eminent scientific men as 

 late as the forties of the last century, may be found among 

 planters at the present day. There is, however, much 

 excuse for this, as no means were in existence, until 

 comparatively very recent years, for rendering avail- 

 able to the practical man, to whom it was of so much 

 importance, the information that was being rapidly 

 accumulated by scientific investigators. 



The real recognition of the important part played 

 by fungi iti connexion with plant disease dates from the 

 publication in 1860 of De Bary's book on the compara- 

 tive morphology and physiology of the fungi, in which 

 details of life-history and parasitism in the case of many 



