Vol. V. No. 115. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



297 



Lime Planting in Dominica. 



The Curator of the Botanic Station in Dominica 

 reports that the demand for lime plants has become so 

 great that it is no longer possible for the station to 

 furnish the number required. 



During the past six years over 200,000 common 

 lime plants and 12,000 spineless lime plants have been 

 distributed from the station. It is not difficult to make 

 a rough calculation of the area thus planted with lime 

 trees. After allowing a percentage for failures, this 

 number is sufificient to plant, at 1.5 feet apart, 1,000 

 acres. 



During the year 1905-6 over 41,000 lime plants 

 (including .5,970 of the spineless variety) were sent out 

 from the station. 



The time has now arrived when established 

 plantations should organize their own nurseries and so 

 allow the Botanic Station supplies to be reserved for 

 new settlers. 



Banana Growing in Queensland. 



The banana has thriven in this state, says the 

 Queensland Agricultural Journal, for some fifty j-ears. 

 The principal varieties grown are the Cavendish, Sugar, 

 and Ladies' Fingers. 



Tne Cavendish banana, a Chinese variety, is the 

 one most universally grown in Queensland and Fiji. 

 It was introduced by missionaries, first into Fiji, from 

 the Duke of Devonshire's conservatories at Chatsworth, 

 and from Fiji to the Tonga Islands, and thence to 

 Queensland. It now forms a very important item 

 amongst the exports of North Queensland, where it 

 thrives admirably and is grown on a fairly lars^e 

 commercial scale. 



Apparently but little attention is paid to cultiva- 

 tion in Queensland, when once the plants have begun 

 to bear, and in this connexion the writer of the article 

 under review makes useful suggestions. The stalks 

 that are left lying about in the grove form a breeding 

 place for insect pests. It is suggested that these should 

 be removed to a heap or pit. Then again, it is desirable 

 that superfluous suckers should be removed to admit 

 light and air, and to prevent the hiding of insects. It 

 is necessary also that the bearing of the fruits should 

 be regulated by the intelligent pruning of suckers. 



Rubber in Uganda. 



The presence of Funtumia elastica, the Lagos 

 silk rubber tree, in Uganda, was unknown until 1903, 

 and therefore the report of Mi-. M. T. Dawe, Officer-in- 

 charge of the Forestry and Scientific Department, on 

 a botanical mission through some of the forest districts 

 of the protectorate in 1905, to determine the distribu- 

 tion of Funtumia and of other important rubber plants, 

 is of considerable interest. 



Three important sources of rubber in Uganda 

 were found, viz., Funtumia elastica, Clitanclra 

 orientalis, and a new species of Landol2)hia, viz., 

 L. Dawei. The first is only sparsely distributed, but, 

 in the districts visited, it appears to be the most 

 common in the Budongo forest, except in such localities 



where the large Muhindi tree {Cynometra Alexandri) 

 predominates. This tree is very common in the forests 

 of the protectorate, but it usually represents a dry 

 district where conditions are not particularly suitable 

 for rubber. 



The other two are rubber-yielding creepers and give 

 excellent vine-rubbers. Landolplda Dawei existed 

 in almost all the swampy districts visited and proved 

 to be the most widely distributed rubber-yielding plant 

 in the protectorate. It gives an excellent first-class 

 rubber and, therefore, is a plant of considerable 

 economic importance. It is interesting to note that 

 the rubber vines are never found with the Muhindi 

 tree, which shows that they thrive only in comparatively 

 damp localities. 



The discovery of so large a distribution of rubber- 

 yielding plants throughout Uganda is of considerable 

 importance, when rubber is of such great commercial 

 value, and the fact that Funtumia elastica is indigenous 

 to many localities shows that conditions of climate and 

 soil are suitable for its cultivation. 



Nitrogen in Rainfall. 



A paper in the Journal of Agricultural Science, 

 Vol. 1, part 3, by Dr. N. H. J. Miller, discusses the 

 amounts of nitrogen as ammonia and as nitric acid in 

 the rainfall collected at Rothamsted. 



Since January 1888 the ammonia in the Rotham- 

 sted rainfall has been regularly determined each month. 

 Nitric nitrogen has been determined uninterruptedly 

 since September 1886. The average amount of 

 nitrogen in the fornjs of ammonia and nitric acid 

 during the thirteen harvest years, 1889 to 1900-1, was 

 3'84. lb. per acre per annum. The amounts of nitrogen 

 in the monthly samples of rain depend partly on the 

 temperature and partly on the amount of rain, being 

 least in February and greatest in August, when, in 

 addition to an increased temperature, there is also 

 a large amount of rain. 



The amount of total nitrogen in the Rothamsted 

 rain is compared with the amounts found in other 

 parts of the world. It appears, contrary to expectation, 

 that the total nitrogen may vary enormously under 

 apparently quite similar climatic conditions, ditierences 

 of climate not being necessarilj' coincident with great 

 variation in the composition of the rain. Thus, the 

 102 inches of rain which fall in British Guiana do not 

 supply to the soil more, but rather less, nitrogen than 

 the 27 inches at Rothamsted. 



In non-tropical rain the ammonia is greatly in 

 excess of the nitric acid, while the rain collected in 

 British Guiana and Barbados contains a large excess of 

 nitric acid over ammoniacal nitrogen, which is attributed 

 by Professor Harrison to the prevalence of violent 

 thunderstorms ; for it must be stated that this 

 condition is not uniformly the case in tropical countries. 

 It is evident from the results that tropical rain 

 does not supply to the soil an essentially greater 

 amount of nitrogen than the rain of temperate 

 climates, the average total nitrogen for tropical countries 

 is only 3'58 lb. per acre, with a high average rainfall 

 of 68-3 inches. 



