74 
plots was completely wiped out, many of the lime trees being 
carried away by the flood, whilst others were deposited on 
adjacent land. 
In connection with nursery work in the tropics, the humus 
question demands careful attention. With the strong rays of a 
tropical sun beating on exposed land the humus of the soil is 
soon destroyed, and in order-to prevent this it becomes necessary 
to provide a covering of mulch consisting of dried grass and 
leaves. The mulch not only serves as a covering, but eventually 
decays and thereby increases the humus content of the soil. 
The nursery beds adjoining the Botanic Garden receive most 
of the cut grass from the lawns as well as leaves and other 
vegetable matter; whilst those at the Morne are supplied with 
ied grass from surrounding waste patches of land. : 
The method followed here where lime seedlings are grown on 
the same piece of land year after year is as follows :—the beds 
and the paths running between them are made the same width, 
the path being filled with cut grass which eventually decays; 
the following year the paths, in which the grass has been 
trampled under foot and thereby converted into a more or less 
decaying mass, are dug up and converted into beds, the beds of 
the previous year being made into paths. In this way the 
ground serving as paths . for one year receives a good dressing 
of organic matter, and is rested for a period of 12 months. 
In order to show the extent of the nursery work, a table of 
— yearly distribution of plants from 1905 to 1920 is given 
low :— 
1908-6. eR TST 7918-14 =" 4. BB98 
190627 3 83,000 1914-15-  - 67,042 
1907-8 “s © & -Bg‘855 1915-16-. - 65,700 
1908-9 © =. 67,596 1916-17- - 538,640 
1909-10 - - 79,009 1917-18--  - 45,518 
1910-11 - ~~ = 69,295 1918-19-  - 32,609 
1911-12 - ~* 2°96 963 1919-20- - 55,837 
S1918 i +. 784s 
The average annual sale of plants during the above period 
is 63,236. In normal times, however, taking the period from 
1905-6 to 1914-15, the average annual ‘sale of plants was 69,523. 
During the war, as the above figures show, the annual sale of 
plants gradually decreased owing to the absence of many of the 
planters from the island who left to join the arm 
In addition to nursery plants. there is also a 1 considerable 
distribution annually of seeds of rubber, coffee, green dressings, 
fodder grasses, shade trees, papaws, and vegetables. 
Agriculture : Influence of Nursery Work.—Apart from sup- 
plying the immediate. requirements of planters there has always 
been the experimental side of the work for the future improve- 
ment and welfare of the island. 
Past experience of the coffee industry in Dominica, when 
this crop occupied a similar position to that of the Lime of the 
