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A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. ^^^4?^ 



Vol. XVI. No. 404. 



BARBADOS, OCTOBER 20, 1917. 



Price IcJ 



CONTENTS. 



Paob. 



Agricultural Returns for 

 England and Wales, 

 1917 ^^25 



Alcohol as a Substitute for 

 Petrol :• 326 



Antigua, Tanning Possi- 

 bilities in 329 



Botanical Gardens, Mis- 

 taken Notions about ... 329 



British Guiana, Trade of 

 in 1915 328 



Cacaf> Thrips in Grenada 329 



Citrus Trees, Top-Work- 

 ing Old 327 



Cotton Notes: — 

 British Cotton Growing 



Association 32(> 



Prohibition of Exports 



of Sea Island Cotton 327 

 Sea Island Cotton 

 Market 



Department News 



Page. 



326 

 3.% 



Farm-yard Manun 

 and Storing 



, Making 



321 



Fibres, , Present A'alue of 



Gleanings 



Insect Notes: — 



Locusts in Britisli Gui- 

 ana ... 



Sugar-cane Wliite Gruli>. 



in Porto Rico 



Warble Flies 



Items of Local Interest ... 



Market Reports 



Notes and Comments ... 



Plant Diseases 



Plants Packed in Ice 



Poultry , Sex Ratio in ... 



Squashes, Two Possible 

 Substitutes for 



Sugar Industry, Possible 

 I'ses of By-products of 

 The 



Weeds, Machine for Eradi- 

 cating by Burning 



West Indian Products ... 



Wood, Utilization of 

 Waste 



329 

 332 



331 



330 

 331 

 324 

 33(! 

 328 

 334 

 329 

 328 



:«3 



323 



329 

 335 



333 



Making and Storing Farm-yard Manure. 



^HEREVER there is a farmer in any part of 

 J the world, whatever the crop he cultivates, he 

 ^^^^^^^^Jhas to face the question of preserving or 

 increasing the productiveness of his land. The fact 

 that the fertility of soil decreases after continual 

 taking crops off it was recognized long before the 

 reason of this decrease was known, and the practical 

 method of preserving fertility by the application of 

 manure was acted on probably long before the begin- 

 ning of history. It is certain that the earliest writers 

 on practical agriculture whose books have come down 

 to our age knew the value of farm-yard manure, and 



gave directions about its use as the great fertilizer of 

 the soil. 



Varro, who lived from 116 to 27 B.C., has been called 

 the father of agriculture, because of his treatise in 

 three books De Re Rustica, which treats systematically 

 of agricultural practice, and is the earliest work of the 

 kind which has survived to the present day. He has 

 much to say about the art of managing the manure on 

 a farm. He insists on two points: first, that the 

 manure should be rotted before being applied to the 

 land, and that there must therefore be two heaps — 

 one fresh and one rotted; secondly, that the heaps 

 should be kept moist by allowing water to run on to 

 them, and by protecting their sides with twigs and 

 leaves. Columella, another Latin writer, whose 

 treatise in twelve books, under the same title as that 

 of Varro's, has also survived to our day, gives many 

 directions as to the storing and utilization of farm-yard 

 manure. He gives instructions as to the manner of 

 constructing the place or pit where the manure is to 

 be kept, and also emphasizes the necessity of applying 

 only rotted manure to corn, although fresh manure 

 might be well applied to grass. These precepts of 

 Varro and Columella became the recognized method 

 of dealing with farm-yard manure through Europe 

 until well into the 18th century, This practice may 

 be summed up as follows: — 



1. — The manure must not be allowed to become 



dry. 

 2. — It must be rotted before being applied to com. 



No attention was paid to bad effects of rain on 

 a manure heap, as neither of these authors had 

 anything to say about it. 



