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•the plant. Take, say potatoes or turnips, which, are usually grown in 

 drills 27 inches wide ; so long as a horse hoe can work in these rows 

 it is good cultivation to keep working, even to the damage of some of the 

 leaves. Every time it is put through, all the roots crossing the drills 

 must be cut, yet you see the greatest improvement in the growth of 

 these plants.' 



The following experiment, made at a banana plot in Hope Gardens, 

 throws light on the subject of the formation of new roots induced by 

 cutting them back. In planting the plot holes '6 feet wide and 2 feet 

 deep were dug, the soil was returned to the holes and the suckers 

 planted therein. The surrounding soil was ploughed and cross-ploughed 

 after the plants began to grow. The soil is deep, rich, black, and 

 rather heavy. 



On November 19 a trench one foot wide and 2\ feet deep was dug half- 

 wa v round a one-year old banana stool at a distance of 3 feet from the 

 stem that was about to fruit, and the soil returned. In doing this the 

 thick fleshy roots, some of them 5 feet to 6 feet long, were severed. 

 No roots were found below 6 inches from the surface. Ten days later 

 the soil between the first trench and 8 inches from the stem was 

 removed to the depth of 2 feet 6 inches and returned, catting off all 

 the roots with the spade to within 8 inches of the stem. It was 

 noticed when doing this that the root< that were cut off at 3 feet from 

 the stem had thrown out numerous fibrous roots down their entire length. 



A month later, on December 30, the soil was opened up from 3 feet 

 inwards New roots were seen to have grown out 3 feet from the 

 stem down to a dep h of 2 feet from the surface. These roots were 

 carefully followed back to the stem : some proved to be new roots 

 direct from the stem, whilst others had grown out from around the cut 

 ends of tbe original roots, one root giving rise to five or six vigorous 

 feeders. 



Some of the cut roots did not grow at all but remained just as they 

 were, except that they died back some 2 or 3 inches ; this was more 

 noticeable near the surface where they would come under the influence 

 of dry weather Some deeper ones had, however, rotted back a few 

 inches, due perhaps to the ragged cut by the spade, or the root itself 

 being injured at its junction with the stem by the pull of the cut 



The roots on the undisturbed side of the plant simply lengthened 

 out a little and remained near the surface, 5 inches being the lowest 

 depth at which roots were found. 



The plant does not seem to have suffered any ill effects from the 

 disturbance of its roots on one side. 



In my opinion ploughing so as to cut the roots close to the stem 

 should not be allowed when it is possible that the embryo bunch is 

 being formed, as the stored food material would be used to form new 

 roots instead of being utilized in the bunch. How this loss of food- 

 material affects the bunch we do not know, — whether it delays the 

 shooting, or affects the size of the bunch or the fingers. This subject 

 of the use of the plough was discussed at the Banana Conference in 

 Jamaica, and as a result some planters do not now plough except after 

 the main crop for the American market is reaped, and not later than 

 November. 



