I 





A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THK 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



NEW \ 



BOTANi 



CAT' 



Vol. X. No. 252. 



BAEBADOS, DECEMBER 23, 1911. 



Pkicb Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Agricultural SIiows, ]le- 

 comniendations for ... 



Argentine, Agricullure in, 

 " 1910 



C;iiulelilla Wax 



Cocaine in Peru, Produc- 

 tion of 



Cotton Lint, Wax of ... 



Cotton Notes :^ 



British Cotton Growing 



Association 



West Indian Cotton ... 



Department News 



Departmental Reports ... 



Ecanda Rubber 



Fungus Notes ; — 

 Summary of Information 

 Given Duringthu Year, 



Gleanings 



Grape Seed, Oil from ... 



Guayule Rubber 



Inoculation Experiments 

 with Ditl'erentLegumi- 

 nous Plants 



Page. Page. 



Insect Notes : — 

 A Disease of Grass- 

 hoppers 410 



Insect Pest in Samoa, An 409 



Lemon Grass Oils 405 



Market Reports 416 



.Milk Yield in Cattle, In- 

 heritance of 413 



Nitrogen-tixingOrganisms, 



Mineral Food for . . 40« 



Notes and Comments ... 408 



Plant Nutrition, Substitu- 

 tion of Bases in ... 401 



Kuljber Production and 



Consumption 40.5 



Students' Corner 413 



Sugar Industry : — 



Sugar-cane Experiments 

 in Antigua 403 



Venezuela, Trade of, 



1909-10 409 



West Indian Agricultural 



Conference, 1912 ... 408 



404 



407 

 409 



407 

 405 



406 

 406 

 413 

 411 



409 



414 

 412 

 415 

 415 



408 



The Substitution of Bases in 

 Plant Nutrition. 



^HI.S interesting subject has received atten- 

 'tion ill a recently issued journal*, in the 

 ^shape of a translation of a paper read before 

 Iai tiociete Cenimle d' Agriculture de Belgvjue, and 

 appearing in the miinber of the journal of that Society 



* Americfin Snyar Iiuhislry, October 1911. 



for May 7, 1911. Investigations in regard to the matter 

 have been carried out over a period of many years, and 

 it will be well at the present time to draw attention to 

 some of the more important results that have been 

 obtained, employing for the purpose the information 

 presented in the paper just mentioned 



The British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, at the meeting in Liverpool in 1837, requested 

 that a review should be made by Liebig and Dumas of 

 the state of the knowledge, at the time, of organic 

 chemistry. The result was the preparation, by Liebig, 

 of his Treatise on Organic Chemistry, as well as of 

 a special memoir dealing with organic chemistry, in 

 relation to agriculture and physiology. 



It was pointed out in the memoir that the bises 

 most usually met with in plants are potash, soda, lime 

 and magnesia, and that these are capable of replacing 

 one another, in chemical compounds, in amounts that 

 are constant, and are known as equivalent quantities. 

 As these quantities are different in the case of each 

 element, it follows that, when one of them is substi- 

 tuted by another, in a salt, there must be a change from 

 the absolute weight of the old compoimd to that of 

 the new. 



Plants, again, all contain organic acids, which v.iry 

 in nature in the different kinds. These are necessary, 

 in order that the life-processes of the plant shall con- 

 tinue. They usually exist combined with one or more 

 of the bases mentioned. It is probable that the presence 

 of these bases acts as a stimulus to the formation of 

 the organic acids, and this matter receives support from 

 the observation of de Saussure, to the effect that the 

 bases are found in greatest quantity in those parts of 

 the plant nearest to the regions in which assimilation 



