19181 FIELD CROPS. 33 



[Work with field crops at the St. Kitts-Nevis experiment stations], 

 P. Watts {Imp. Dept. Agr. West Indies, Rpt. Agr. Dept. St. Kitts-Nems, 1915- 

 16, pp. S-5, 6-10, 23-28). — This continues work previously noted (B. S. R., 

 35, p. 134), reporting variety tests with sweet potatoes, cassava, yams, corn, 

 eddoes, peanuts, tobacco, and peas; field tests with teff grass and white velvet 

 beans; and mauurial and seed-selection tests with cotton at both stations. 



The sweet potato varieties Brass Cannon, Playwell, and Caroline Lee again 

 gave the highest average yields, amounting to 16,300, 15,666, and 15,288 lbs. per 

 acre, respectively. Cassava varieties French No. 3, with an average yield of 

 14,612 lbs., and Jackroe, with 12,760 lbs. per acre, gave the highest yields for 

 the 12 years the tests have been in progress. Of the yam varieties Bottle 

 Neck Lisbon and Crop gave the highest yields, 24,750 and 22,000 lbs. per acre, 

 respectively. 



In fertilizer tests with cotton at La Gu^rite an increase of 24 per cent was 

 obtained with manure and one of 19 per cent from complete fertilizer. The 

 average yield of seed cotton for all plats for the 1915-16 season was 1,374 lbs. 

 per acre and that of all check plats 1,340 lbs., while the average yield of the 

 check plats for the 12-year period was 1,223 lbs. per acre and that of all the 

 plats under experiment 1,214 lbs. At Nevis the plat receiving 4 cwt. cottonseed 

 meal was second to the manure plat, and gave 116 lbs. per acre more than the 

 complete fertilizer plat. 



Seed selection No. 217 gave the highest yield of seed cotton per acre, 998 lbs., 

 with No. 342 (S) second, with 949 lbs. 



Hay and pasture seedings, W. R. Hechleb {Iowa Sta. Circ. S9 (1917), pp. 

 12, figs. 3). — The more important seeding questions are briefly discussed and 

 suggestions made relative to the production of different hay and pasture crops 

 in Iowa. Perennial plants, both leguminous and nonleguminous, are noted for 

 permanent forage production, together with annuals regarded as satisfactory 

 substitutes when permanent seedings fail or the stand is seriously injured by 

 winter weather. 



The value of cover crops, J. B. R. Dickey (New Jersey Stas. Circ. 85 {1911), 

 pp. If). — The use of leguminous cover crops is recommended as a partial sub- 

 stitute for high-priced nitrogenous fertilizer. It is estimated that with plow- 

 ing under a good cover crop a fertilizer carrying 2 per cent nitrogen will suf- 

 fice for potatoes or truck crops, while cereal crops would require no mineral 

 nitrogen. 

 Directions for growing cover crops in New Jersey are briefly outlined. 

 Wheat and rye, F. App {New Jersey Stas. Circ. 87 {1917), pp. 4). — This out- 

 lines the ways and means of securing increased wheat and rye production in 

 New Jersey. 



The determination of the races of corn, R. Ricci {Staz. Sper. Agr. Ital., 49 

 {1916), No. S, pp. 219-243, fig. i).— This is a general review of methods ad- 

 vanced for the identification of the races of grains, with a discussion of their 

 application to the identification of races of corn. Methods involving measure- 

 ments of the ear and kernel are discussed at some length, with special refer- 

 ence to the biometric method of De.Cillis (B. S. R., 26; p. 43; 28, p. 331). 



Flax growing experiments, 1914 and 1915 {Dept. Agr. and Tech. Instr. 

 Ireland Jour., 17 {1916), No. 1, pp. 3-19). — Fertilizer experiments supplementing 

 others previously noted (E. S. R., 32, p. 136) and conducted at ten centers in 

 1913 were continued through 1914 and 1915. 



The highest yield, amounting to 476.5 lbs. of scutched flax per acre, was 

 obtained from an application of 1.5 cwt. of muriate of potash and 0.5 cwt. 

 of sulphate of ammonia as compared with a yield of 412 lbs. per acre from 



