Vol. XVI. No. 396. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



20-5 



SHIELD-BUDDING OF COFFEE. 



In the Philippine Agricultural Review, the horticul- 

 turist in charge of the Lamao E.Yperiment Station during 

 a visit to the cotfee di.stricts in Java was surprised to find 

 that, although in the coffee industry, seedling plantations 

 are as a rule taken as a matter of course, a considerable 

 acreage is planted in arafted trees. The grafting operation in 

 Java consists in a cleft graft on young stock about the thick- 

 ness of a lead pencil. The graft instead of being waxed i.s 

 covered by a glass tube to exclude water. It has to be 

 remembered that from a given number of scions twice as 

 many buds may be obtained as grafts — a fact in connexion 

 with coffee which is worthy of more than ordinary attention, 

 when it is borne in mind that grafted trees with normal 

 habit are obtained only when scions are taken from stems or 

 the vertical growth of the suckers, scions from the horizontal 

 branches producing plants of dwarf and spreading habit. 

 It follows that the increase of grafted plants from a single 

 tree is necessarily very slow during several years. 



In a course of some experiments in budding and grafting 

 coffee at Lamao in 191.5 and 1916, when waxed tape was 

 exclusively used, the net results indicated that in the case of 

 cleft grafting, the use of tape and wax is a decided improve- 

 ment upon the use of unwaxed material supplemented by a 

 glass tube covering the graft. 



Shield-budding is simpler than grafting and can be 

 performed more rapidly. Good success has been obtained by 

 using well matured, green, iiuu-^ie.ij.eU budwuod with buds 

 3'5 to 4 centimetres long; the age and appearance of thp s'ock 

 at the point of insertion are apparently important; the buds 

 should be entirely covered with waxed tape. 



AGRICULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



IN ENGLAND. 



In the April number of the Journal of thf Board oj 

 Agriculture (of England and Wales), the principal article 

 deals with the question of agricultural reconstruction, which 

 as a matter of paramount Imperial importance emphasized of 

 late by the submarine menace, has been engaging public 

 attention throughout the United Kingdom, and a complete 

 revolution in the agricultural policy of the home country 

 appears to be in contemplation. 



In 1916, in view of the need of increasing home-grown 

 food supplies in the interest of national security, a .sub-Com- 

 mittee of the lieconstruction Committee was appointed to 

 consider and report upon the methods for effecting this 

 increase, and an interim report upon those aspects of the 

 question which reijuired legislation was submitted in January. 



The report states that, by the adoption of a complete 

 policy by the Government, and by a steady persistence in it, 

 a large proportion of the foodstuffs now imported could be 

 produced in the United Kingdom, and that a large addition 

 might be made to the production of cereals and potatoes, not 

 only without a diminution of the production of milk and 



wheat but with an actual accompanying increase of that 

 production. The policy to be adopted embraces among 

 other things, a more intensive policy of grass and arable 

 lands, the improvement of live stock, the conversion of much 

 grass land into arable, the introduction and encouragement 

 of the beetroot industry, the provision of good cottages fo(: 

 agricultural labourers, the system of small holdings and of 

 agricultural education, and the improvement of the status of 

 the departments of agriculture with power enlarged and 

 enforced by association with existing agricultural and 

 administrative bodies both national and local: last and not 

 least, a basis of security and stability of the conditions, 

 under which agriculture is to be carried out in the future, 

 is to be the foundation of the whole structure, for without it 

 the increase of production cannot be realized. 



To secure this basis of stability the report recommends 

 that a minimum wage for the ordinary agricultural labourer 

 be fixed, and that a minimum price for wheat and oats be 

 guaranteed to the farmer. Wage Boards consisting of equal 

 numbers of representatives of the agricultural employers and 

 labourers in given areas .should, it is suggested, be appointed 

 to report to the Agricultural Department as to the maximum 

 weekly wage to be adopted in that area. The Departments 

 should do everything possible to check any tendency on 

 the part of the farmers to reduce their permanent staffs. 



The lowest figure at which, in the opinion of the 

 sub-Committee, a guaranteed minimum price would be 

 likely to give farmers a reasonable security against loss in 

 growing wheat is 42.s-, per quarter, and in growing oats 23s. 

 per quarter. Xo period for the duration of this guarantee is 

 suggested, because so long as wars are possible, it can never 

 be compatible with national security to deprive agriculture 

 of the stability of the price of cereals. An initiatory increase of 

 the guarantee in the first two years after the declaration of 

 peace is recommended, for it is believed that the impetus 

 •which this temporary additional guarantee will give to the 

 policy of the plough will be well worth the risk of a tem- 

 porary additional charge, should there be a drop in the 

 after-war prices of cereals. 



It is urged that time be given to all concerned to adjust 

 themselves to the new conditions dictated by considerations of 

 national safety, until the standard set before all classes 

 interested in agriculture be attained, namely, not to be 

 content until the whole of the soil of the United Kingdom 

 is producing the greatest possible return of foodstuffs or of 

 timber. 



Great importance is a'tache:! by the sub-Committee to 

 the establishment of the sugar-beet industry, and the 

 Government is urged to arrange without further delay for a 

 complete test of the commercial possibilities of manufac- 

 turing sugar from home-grown beet. It is hoped that the 

 test will prove that a considerable proportion of the 

 sugar consumed in the United Kingdom can be grown 

 therein, and that the introduction of the beet crop into the 

 rotation will increase the yield of other crops. In short, it 

 is believed that the augar-beet industry will be a contribution 

 of much importance to the increased production of foodstuffs 

 in the United Kingdoiu 



Since the above report was submitted, legislative action 

 has been taken by the introduction into Parliament of the 

 Corn Production Bill, which it is hoped, will ensure 

 82 per cent, of the food required in the United Kingdom 



being grown, and will result in 8,000,000 acres being added 



to the existing arable area. 



