Vol. XVI. No. 386. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



the soil are somewhat abstruse. AVe know but little 

 regarding the changes that, take . place during 

 its fermentation, as to the waste of nitrogen 

 that may take place, or as to the possible produc- 

 tion of toxins. Nor do we possess any definite 

 data as to the quantities in which, or the intervals at 

 which, the mulch may be most economically applied. 

 Liming and green manuring problems are now 

 however receiving some of, if not all, the attention 

 they deserve, and it may not be long before these 

 matters will be placed upon a mor^ scientific basis. 



Summing up, ihe planter of permanent crops has 

 jast as many problems of soil management to think 

 about as the cultivator of arable land. What these are 

 has been indicated in the present article. As research 

 goes on it may be found that many other matters will 

 call for his attention. The idea that the soil in which 

 trees have been permanently established can be left to 

 look after itself is not rational, any more than it is to 

 suppose that the "bed of a cripple requires any less 

 attention than that of a man who can' move about. 



AGRICULTURAL WORK IN NEVIS. 



The results of tria's made with various crops at the 

 Botanic Station, Nevis, have recently boen received in the 

 form of a ijuarteily report prepared by Mr. W. I. Howell, 

 Agricultural Instructor. On the whole the returns have 

 been satisfactory except in the case of cotton which 

 suffered somewhat owing to the unfavourable weather con- 

 ditions. At the present time much interest centres 

 around provision crops, and the results which have been 

 obtained with experiment plots of these in Nevis may be 

 considered first. In regard to Indian, corn, the return 

 from the plot was 1,500 B). of corn on cob. As regards 

 onions, a crop of about .5,000 lb. was obtained. A plot of 

 Paru peas, black eyes and Lima beans was planted in the 

 early part of the quarter: the plot did fairly well and there is 

 a supply of peas and beans on hand for distribution. A plot, 

 an acre in size, was planted in five varieties of castor seed, 

 the object being to determine whether castor can be grown as 

 a remunerative crop in Nevis, and if so which is the best 

 variety to cultivate. 



Turning to staple crops, Mr. Howell reports that towards 

 the end of December the cane crop was looking fairly well 

 but seemed to show the want of pen manure in some places. 

 Planting for next season was in progress at the time of writing. 



Although the cotton crop suffered through heavy rains, 

 the price ranging for the yields that were obtained was good, 

 being 2s. 3c?. to 2s. 4rf. per tt). of lint. This satisfactory price 

 will tend to stimulate the cultivation of cotton not only in 

 Nevis but in other islands where it grows satisfactorily. Con- 

 tained in the report are the results of the second year of the 

 manurial experiments with coco-nuts. The results will in due 

 course be published together with the first year's figures but 

 it may be stated here that as a general rule the results point 

 to the great benefit which can be obtained from manuring 

 coco-nuts. Cotton-seed meal seems to have proved a parti- 

 cularly valuable fertilizer in these experiment?. 



STEAM BOILERS AND FUEL IN 



THE SUGAR FACTORY 



According to Spencer's Handbook for Sugar Manufac- 

 turers, a lar^je factory of god equipment requires 1'25 to 

 loO nominal boiler horsepower per 1 capacity-ton, or about 

 125 to 15 square feet boiler heating surface. Good mill 

 work and the utilization of the vapors of the multiple effect 

 in juice-heating may mateiially reduce these numbers. In 

 regard to boiler management the Louisiana Planter says: — 



To maintain a boiler plant at high efficiency we nmst 

 have air-tight boiler settings and bagasse feeders; exhaust 

 line oil separators to separate any oil in the exhaust, thereby 

 preventing the oil from collecting on the evaporator tubes- 

 and in boilers: accurate and reliable CC).^ instruments t& 

 maintain good combustion: a register indicator recorder which- 

 indicates the in.stantanenus rate of feeding, registers the total 

 amount of water fed and furnishes a continuous record of all 

 variations in the rate of feeding during every minute of 

 operation. 



The economical operation of the boiler depends on many 

 conditions, most of them variable, yet all of which must 

 be controlled, and if uncontrollable they must be met, if 

 maximum efficiency is to be maintained. 



It is quite impossible for any fireman, no matter how 

 intelligent and experienced, to tell from mere ob-servation 

 whether he is bnrninir his fuel with the right amount of air or 

 with 100 or even 200 per cent, excess. He may be doubling 

 or trebling the waste of heat up the chimney without being 

 able to know it, whereas if he has before him the per cent, 

 of CO^ and the temperature of the escaping gases, there is 

 no more excuse for such waste than there is for great varia- 

 tion in the required steam pressure when he has a steam- 

 gauge before him. Not less than 90 per cent, of the avoid- 

 able heat los.ses in the operation of steam boilers is due to- 

 excessive air supply and since the per cent, of flue gas is 

 a correct index of the excess air it contains, an instrument 

 that will continuously indicate and record this constituent is 

 a most important, if not an absolutely necessary factor ia 

 maintaining maximum boiler efficiency. 



The modern CO ^ instrument has a great many advan- 

 tages. It is very accurate, reliable, has no moving parts, no- 

 corrosive liquids are used and it only requires ten minutes' 

 attention every twenty-four hours. Every move of the 

 firemen is recorded for every second of the day and night 

 and one of the most important factors is the CO-^ indicator 

 for each boiler front. 



The fight against scale has been stubbornly waged but 

 scale has been the victor in nearly everj- instance. The 

 effect of scale in a boiler ordinaril}- is to reduce both its 

 steam generating capacity and its economy since scale is not 

 a good conductor of heat and therefore diminishes the 

 transmission of heat through the boiler plates and tubes. 

 Scale in boilers therefore is a serious matter. In order to 

 prevent its accumulation it is good practice to eliminate the 

 scale forming matter from the feed water before allowing 

 it to enter the boiler. This tan be accomplished mechani- 

 cally by means of separators. At Puunene we have used 

 Dixon's Flake Graphite this past year and find it to be an 

 excellent scale preventative. 



It should be noted that the fuel value of magass 

 decreases very considerably with increasas in the per cent, 

 of moisture it contains. Thus magass containing 42 per cent, 

 of iHoisture has a fuel value per Db. of magass, H.T.I", of .3 1 29- 

 while magass containing 51 per cent, of nioi.stnre has a fuel 

 value of 2468- 



