*-*»-'iA'. 



A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XVI. No. 38-5. 



BARBADOS, JANUARY 



1917. 



Price Id, 



CONTENTS. 



31 



29 

 21 



24 



Agricultural Exports from 



Trinidad, J 915 



Basic Acetate of Lead, 



Supposed Precipitation 

 of Reducing Sugars 



by 



Bats in Buildings 



British Guiana, Food 



Supply Question in .. 

 Co-operative Agricultural 



Societies in Great Britaii 

 Cotton Boll \\"eevil. 



Recent Spread of .. 

 Cotton Stainer in St. 



Vincent, Destruction 



of Food-Plants pf .. 



Food Supplies, Local, 



Organization of 



Gleanings 



Green Manures, Relation 



of to Failure of Certain 



Seedlings 



Green-Manuring Problems 17 

 Hawaii, Interesting Hor- 

 ticultural Worlc in ... 19 

 Insect Notes: — 



The Cacao Tlirips 26 



Items of Local Interest ... 20 



2S 

 :>2 



... 20 



30 



23 

 28 



25 



Page. 



Leeward Islands. Adulter- 

 ation of Milk in the ... 25 



Light Production in Ani 

 uials. Nature of 



Market Reports ... , 



Xavel Orang e. < triijiu 

 of 



Nitrogenin Sugar Estates. 

 Absorption and Loss of 19 



Notes and Comments ... 24 



Plant Diseases: — 

 'I'he Status and Treat- 

 Mieutof Coci>-nut Buil- 

 Rot 3(1 



Relative Score Method of 

 Recording Comparisons 

 of Plant Conditions 

 and other Unmeasur- 

 ed Characters 29 



Root Systems of Plants in 

 Reference to Selection 

 and Drought Resist- 

 ance 24 



St . ^'incent, Progress, in 



the Minor Industries of 22 

 Sea Island Cotton Market 22 

 Seed Tajje 25 



Green-Manuring Problems, 



)F recent yeare the subject of green luanur- 

 )ing appears to have received less attention 



» than formerly. In the West Indies this is 



probably due to the fact that this method of fertilizing 

 the soil has been largely given up on many estates as 

 a result of the introduction of cotton and other quick- 

 growing crops of commercial value. It is very much 

 open to question whether green manuring ought not 

 to be more extensively practised. , The difficulty is, we 

 are very much in the dark as to the real value of this 

 method, as to what the effect of the manure on the 

 soil and succeeding crop really is, and to what extent 

 the usual method of turning m the green crop is 



effective and economical. At tlie present time, and 

 for many years past, trials have been made with green 

 dressings at the West Indian Experiment Stations, 

 but these trials have merely consisted in growing the 

 crops to test their yielding capacities, etc., — the work 

 has not had regard to the many matters concernmg 

 application of the dres.sing to the soil, on which at 

 present we are almost entirely in the dark. 



In general practice the aj^plication of green 

 vegetable matter to the soil falls under two categories: 

 (a) arable application where the dressing is turned in 

 in the fielil where it grew; (b) orchard application 

 where green material is collected or especially grown 

 apart from the orchard, and applied at a definite 

 rate around the bases of the cacao or citrus 

 trees. There are also modifietl methods of applying 

 the dressing indirectl\" by placing it in cattle pens, 

 where it is partly eaten and partly trodden in with the 

 manure of the cattle: or the dressing may be cut in the 

 field and applied in conjunction with a complementary 

 dressing of pen manure. All these forms of application 

 present special problems that require solution They 

 open up important lines of investigation that could 

 very well be followed up at West Indian Experiment 

 Stations. 



Considerable light seems to be thrown on the 

 subject of green manuring by C. M. Hutchin.«on's work 

 in India.* It has been found that the complete decom- 

 position of a green crop depends upon the incidence of 

 the rainfall following its burial. This being frequently 

 defecti\e, an attempt was made to see if negative 

 results could be avoided by carrying out the initial 

 stages of the decomposition under artificial conditions. 

 It was assumed that decomposition must proceed, to 



*See Bidlttin No. 113 (1916), Agricultural Research Institute, 

 Pusa — 'A modified Method of Green Manuring'. By C. M. 

 Hutchinson, B.A.. Imperial Agricultural Bacteriologist. 



