FIELD CROPS, 227 



[Field crop experiments], F. Watts {Imp. Dept. Agr. West Indies, Rpts. 

 Bot. Stii. [etc.] Montscrrat, 1913-lJf, pp. 3-9, 13-16, pi. i).— This includes reports 

 of variety tests with cotton that not only consider yield of seed cotton, but 

 length of staple, percentage of lint, strength, fineness, good fiber per 50 seeds, 

 weak fiber per 50 seeds, short fiber per 50 seeds, weight of 200 seeds, and 

 weight of lint; manurial tests with cotton that show a depressed yield with 

 the application of any kind of commercial fertilizer over untreated areas; 

 field tests with hybrid cotton, and variety tests of sweet potatoes and peanuts. 



[Field crop experiments], D. W. Scotland {Ann. Rpt. Agr. Dept. Sierra 

 Leone, 1912, pp. 5-14). — This reports results of field trials at the experimental 

 station at Jala, Mano, with rice, peanuts, ginger, yams, towe beans, hondroi 

 beans, kroo beans, black gram, pigeon pea, Bengal gram, lablab {Dolichos lah- 

 lab), soy beans, milo maize, Guinea corn, bulrush millet, ragi {Eleu-sine cora- 

 cana), korra {Setaria italica), castor bean, cotton, millet, and benni seed 

 ( Sesamum indicum ) . 



In rice experiments it is shown that li bu. of seed gave larger yields, 30.2 bu. 

 per acre, than either a larger or smaller quantity. With the native method of 

 sowing millet and benni seed with the rice (i bu. per acre), the average yield 

 was 16.8 bu. of rice, 177 lbs. of millet, and 24 lbs. of benni seed per acre. Rice 

 that was kept weeded averaged 26 bu. per acre and that left uncultivated 

 yielded 11 bu. per acre. 



Agriculture in the Tropics, J. C. Willis {Cambridge, England, 19H, 2. 

 rev. ed., pp. XVI +223, pis. 24)- — ^This is a second edition with slight changes of 

 the book previously noted (E. S. R., 21, p. 631). 



Natural revegetation of range lands based upon growth requirements 

 and life history of the vegetation, A. W. Sampson ( U. 8. Dept. Agr., Jour. 

 Agr. Research, 3 {1914), Xo. 2, pp. 93-148, pis. 12, figs. 6).— This article gives 

 the results of an investigation to determine a system of grazing that would 

 overcome the deteriorating effect of premature grazing and overstocking, as 

 well as of trampling, in the extensive ranges of the western United States. 



As the result of a careful and scientific study of the vegetation making up 

 the forage, and of the natural factors upon which depends the success or fail- 

 ure of this crop and its perpetuation, a grazing system involving a combination 

 of deferred and rotation grazing has been developed which is now being applied 

 with minor variations to range lands throughout the National Forests. 



Included in the notes on character and distribution of the vegetation on these 

 ranges, aside from timber, is a list of 46 plants which, it is stated, comprise 

 about 90 per cent of the range forage. 



The summary of the findings of this investigation, which began in 1907 in 

 the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon and was undertaken by the 

 Forest Service and Bureau of Plant Industry of this Department, is as follows: 



" Normally the spring growth of forage plants begins in the Hudsonian zone 

 about June 25. For each 1,000 ft. decrease in elevation this period comes ap- 

 proximately seven days earlier. In the Wallowa Mountains the flower stalks 

 are produced approximately between July 15 and August 10, while the seed 

 matures between August 15 and September 1. Even under the most favorable 

 conditions the viability of the seed on summer ranges is relatively low. Re- 

 moval of the herbage year after year during the early part of the growing 

 season weakens the plants, delays the resumption of growth, advances the time 

 of maturity, and decreases the seed production and the fertility of the seed. 

 Grazing after seed maturity in no way interferes with flower-stalk production. 

 As much fertile seed is produced as where the vegetation is protected from 

 grazing during the whole of the year. 



