Vol. XVI. No. 401. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



277 



were found at the bottom of the bin. Had tlie bin been 

 thoroughly air-tight the effect of the fumigations would have 

 been doubtless more complete. However, there was do 

 indication of mildew observed. 



As a result of this experiment over 4,000 tt). of seed- 

 corn harvested in October last year has been distributed for 

 planting purposes in May and .June this year throuahout 

 Grenada and Carriacou. The seed was clean and bright in 

 appearance, entirely free from mildew, practically free from 

 ■weevils and mo'lis. and possessed an indicated viability of 

 S7 per cent. 



One piece of useful information supplied by this success- 

 ful experiment is that hydrocyanic acid gas can sifely be 

 used in fumigating thoroughly dry seed corn, without seriously 

 affecting its vitality. 



BREEDING OF CORN. 



Field Crops: for the Cotton Belt, the book reviewed in 

 the last issue of this Journal, p. 629, contains in Chapter XVI 

 some interesting ob.servations on the breeding of corn with 

 a view to fixing desirable characteristics. 



Special stress is wisely laid on the possibility of greatly 

 improving corn by breeding, and many proofs of this improve- 

 ment have been furnished in thel'nited States by experiment 

 station.s and other agricultural agencies. The initial step in 

 the improvement of corn, the writer sa)"s, is the selection of 

 the best varieties for the existing conditions, and it is 

 a waste of time and money to breed varieties not well 

 adapted to the soil and climate. When the variety is 

 selected, the simi'lest method to improve still further the 

 corn is by mass selection, which con.sists in .'electing from 

 a field a large number of ears from plants, which conform 

 most closely with the ideal type. The next year this selected 

 seed is mixed and planted, and this method is followed year 

 after year. Mass selection has, as may be readily understood, 

 the disadvantage of not being rapid in its results, and the 

 quiclvest improvement can only be attained when the selection 

 is based on a performance record of different individual ears. 

 Pedigree selection differs from mas.s selection in that, after 

 the first mother ears are selected, a record is kept of the 

 performance of each ear and its progeny. It distinguishes 

 between those plants that are good because of favourable 

 environment and those that are good because of inherent 

 produciiveness. The inherent productiveness of an ear 

 can be ascertained by no other luean.s than by pedigree 

 selection, or the separate culture and exact comparative trial 

 of the generation grown from its kernels. 



The readiness with which maize hybridizes, and the ease 

 with which the plant is manipulated in artificial cro.ssing 

 have served greatly to stimulate the breeder's interest and 

 eft'ort in this method of corn improvement. The two most 

 important objects in pursuing thi.s method are, firstly, 

 recombining the characters possessed by the pxrent plants so 

 as to produce a progeny of increased value, and secondly, 

 securing increased vigour and productiveness. The present 

 conception of plants is that they are composed of separately 

 heritable units known as 'unit characters', and the law 

 governing their transmission was discoveredin 1865 by George 

 Mendel, being known as Mendel's law of hybrids. 

 According to this law the dominant character shows in the 

 first generation hybrid to the exclusion of the other. The 

 recessive character reappears in the second and subsequent 

 generations in one-fourth of the progeny, and thereafter 

 remains pure. In corn, for instance, investigations have 

 shown the following characters to be dominant over their 

 oppo^ites: yellow endosperms over white endosperms: starch 



endosperms over .sweet endosperms: flint quality of gr.uu over 

 dent; and dent quality over sweet. 



Experiments on the lines suggested by the author, 

 especially if records of such experiments were carefully kept, 

 would doubtless prove of utility to growers of corn in the 

 West Indies. 



AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS IN 



PORTO RICO. 



Porto Kico for a very Ion .< time has been a country of 

 small plantations, possibly similar to France, where the great 

 weilth of the country has deen developed by horticulturists 

 and agriculturists in gardens and farms of small area. Th& 

 Loaisiana Planter of July 7, 1917, gives a short account of 

 the colono or tenant system of farming, which was forced on 

 Porto Rico more or less under the old feudal system of the 

 ownership by one man or one interest of the sugar factory, 

 of the slaves, machinery and outfit necessary to engage in the 

 sugar industry, all involving such an absorption of the atten- 

 tion of the sugar planter to the estate developed in this way, 

 as to leave practically no opportunity for small landowners to 

 produce sugar-cane for sale, there being no market for it. 

 The colono )T tenant system has grown out of this, just as 

 it has in Cuba. The instance is cited of one of the large 

 sugar companies that has seventy-one colonos on the company's^ 

 lands, or in some instances on their own lands. The average 

 number of acres per colono was 443. In a general way 

 where the sugar-cane is cultivated by the estate owners 

 for their own account, the results are better in quantity 

 and quality thin when they come from the colonos. 

 I'nder the present system, however, it is found very wise to 

 utilize these colonos as far as practicable, and among them 

 there has been quite a development, some of them cultivating: 

 from a thousand acres up to fourteen or fifteen hundred, 

 receiving financial aid from the factory owners. It was. 

 found that in a list of twenty-one sugar factories .37 per cent, 

 of the cane was grown by the factories' owners, and 63 per 

 cent, by colonos, and that the cost per ton of cane to the 

 estate for their own cane was §392 per ton, and of the colonos 

 §3'89. These figures do not include the cost of weighing,, 

 hoisting, transportation, and such expenses as are essential 

 in the central factory business, whether the canes are culti- 

 vated by the factory itself or by tenants. 



Exliibition of Local Foodstuffs in St. Vincent. 



— A patriotic demonstration and fete, organized by the Kings- 

 town Board and the local West Indian Flag Day Committee, 

 was held at the Court House on August 1 . Among the most 

 attractive exhibits was a collection of native food products for 

 hard times at all seasons, which was arranged by the Agricul- 

 tural Superintendent, Mr. W. N. Sands. The samples 

 clearly showed that in many respects the Colony should be self- 

 supporting. Loaves of excellent quality were exhibited 

 consisting of 25 per cent, native kiln-dried corn meal mixed 

 with 75 per cen^. of wheat Hour and wheat Hour substitutes 

 such as the meals of cassava, cotton seed, breadfruit, sweet 

 potato, and pigeon peas, all of which could he locally produced. 

 Other novelties were coco- nut butter, and lard oil refined 

 from crude cotton-seed oil. Among the other foodstuffs 

 exhibited were peas and beans of diflferent kinds, arrowroot 

 and cassava starches, sweet potato cakes, farine, corn, cassava, 

 sugar, honey, yams, and eddoes. In connexion with the 

 storage of foodstuffs a collection of live insects attack- 

 inf corn and meals was shown, and the method of destroying 

 the pests by means of carbon bisulphide explained. 



