THE FERTILITY OF SOILS IN 

 THE TROPICS. 



SOME NOTES ON CERTAIN POINTS IN RELATION TO 

 THE PROBLEM OF SOIL FERTILITY IN THE TROPICS. 



By H. A. TEMPANY, B.Sc., F.I.C., F.C.S. 



Superintendent of Agriculture, Leeward Islands. 



DURING recent years considerable attention has been 

 directed to the problem of soil fertility, the last decade 

 having been productive of a number of important addi- 

 tions to knowledge in this connection; of especial signi- 

 ficance has been the prominence which biological factors 

 have assumed in relation to the question. The results 

 have, however, been attained under temperate conditions, 

 and up to the present time no special attention has been 

 directed to the aspects presented in this connection by 

 soils in tropical countries. 



In temperate climates the biological activities of the 

 soil are of necessity limited to a marked extent by the 

 relatively large annual temperature range; during the 

 spring, summer, and early autumn the processes in 

 question attain their maximum energy, but the inter- 

 vention every year of a winter period during which 

 activity in this direction is very greatly reduced, if not 

 entirely suspended at times, constitutes a limiting factor 

 of prime importance; the natural sequence of events 

 under these conditions is therefore that of an alternation 

 of periods of great and small 'biological activity which 

 grade one into the other with the advance of the seasons. 



In the tropics, on the other hand, the natural state of 

 affairs differs markedly from the foregoing; the absence 

 of a well-marked period of cold weather, except in a 

 minor degree, which is characteristic of a great number 

 of localities, combined with a set of conditions which 



