FIELD CROPS. 43 



The author summarizes the directions for growing sorghum for sugar as follows: 



"Use seed from cane testing as higli as possible in sugar, from 1.5 to 18 per cent, 

 with juice purities in excess of 80 degrees. Select land which will produce 50 bu. 

 or more of corn after repeated manuring with crimson clover, which crop may have 

 been pastured down or plowed under, or cured as hay. Fertilize with muriate of 

 potash l)roadcast at rate of 160 lbs. per acre. To this add 150 lbs. of nitrate of soda, 

 provided some crop other than crimson clover has immediately preceded sorghum. 

 Seed during the last fortnight in May, in rows 36 in. apart. Let each row consist 

 of two lines of plants 4 in. apart, and in these lines let the plants stand at regular 

 intervals of 6 in. To each plant would then be given 108 sq. in. of soil surface. 

 Cultivate as if for Indian corn. Prepare to begin milling during the last fortnight 

 in September; provide cane for 60 days' work, to close November 15. Such a field 

 so planted and tilled should yield raw sugar in excess of 5,000 lbs. per acre. 



Germination experiments -witli sug-ar-cane cuttings, Z. Kamerling [Meded. 

 Frocfotat. Suikerrift West Juca, 1900, No. 41, pp- 6-17). — Two series of experiments 

 were carried on, the first to ascertain the influence of fertilizers on the growth of 

 sugar-cane cuttings (bibits), and the second to determine the effect of applying tar 

 or Bordeaux mixture to the cut surface of the cutting. 



For the first series of exiieriments 40 pots were used, in each of which 2 cuttings 

 of 3 eyes each were planted. The manures used were potassium phosphate, mag- 

 nesiuni sulphate, and sulphate of ammonia. These were applied to the pots in differ- 

 ent combinations, 10 gm. of salt in solution being used in each case. The salts had no 

 effect upon the growth of the cuttings. 



In the second series of experiments 85 pots planted with 2-eyed cuttings were 

 used. The cut surface of some of the cuttings were coated with tar, others were first 

 washed for h hour and then coated with tar. A third set was treated with Bordeaux 

 mixture, while a fourth was treated with Bordeaux mixture after having been 

 washed for ^ hour. Of the cuttings treated with Bordeaux mixture, 81 per cent of 

 the eyes started as compared with 62 per cent when the cuttings had been treated 

 with tar. The former also started more promptly. When the cuttings were soaked 

 and then treated with Bordeaux mixture a greater number of buds started than in 

 the unsoaked lot and they also began growth more quickly. The soaking before 

 applying tar hastened the commencement of growth, but did not materially increase 

 the total germination. The author attributes the harmful effect of the tar to a clog- 

 ging of the water vessels at the cut surface. — n. m. pieters. 



Cane farming in Trinidad, P. Carmody ( Wed Indian Bui., 2 {1901) , No. 1, jij). 

 S.3-41) ■ — A jtaper discussing the financial and economical phases of the iudustrj\ 



A soil study of sugar beets, W. P. Headden {Colorado Sta. Bid. 58, p}). 46). — 

 This bulletin is in continuation of work reported in Bulletin 46 of the station 

 (E. S. R., 10, p. 743). An outline of the previous work and some of the conclusions 

 drawn therefrom are given in the preface. The experiments here reported were 

 made in 1898 and 1899 on the same plat that had been used in 1897. They embrace 

 a study of irrigation, manuring, and alkali content of the soil in connection with 

 sugar-beet culture, and an investigation on the influence of drying and soaking the 

 beets and the size of the beets on the composition. During these seasons the crop 

 received l)ut one irrigation and was cultivated less frequently than in 1897. In 1898 

 the plat was divided into sections, the alternate ones receiving an application of 64 

 tons of barnyard manure to the acre. One section received a dressing of cut straw 

 at the rate of 14 tons per acre. No further application of manure was given in 1899. 

 Irrigation was unnecessary in 1899, but water was applied from August 31 to Septem- 

 ber 2 and the ground then left to bake and harden. The year before the plat received 

 about 8 in. of rain and irrigation water. The plat also received subirrigation. 



The results show that the appli(;ation of manure mitigated the effects of the alkali 

 and improved the stand of beets in general, but produced beets of inferior shape and 



