394 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



plat of it sown in drills 18 inches apart, on July 

 13, was cultivated very much as corn, had no 

 artificial irrigation, headed up in ninety days, 

 was harvested in one hundred and twenty days, 

 and yielded on thin, sandy land at the rate of 

 52 cavans to the hectare. In t$e rice experi- 

 ments, one of the aims of the Bureau has been 

 to reduce to something like uniformity the great 

 number of varieties of rice grown in these 

 Islands. In Carolina golden we have found a 

 variety which is of good size and form, very early, 

 proline, of excellent milling properties, and 

 uniform in ripening. It is a lowland rice, but 

 cannot be transplanted to advantage, ihe 

 native farmer being accustomed to transplant- 

 ing all lowland rice, the distribution of Carolina 

 golden must be made with caution and pre- 

 ceded by educational work pointing out the 

 radical changes in method of planting required. 

 As rice is the most important of our cereal crops, 

 and as Carolina golden appears so nearly to 

 meet the standard of requirements, it is desir- 

 able that we make Jong-continued experiments 

 both with this and other varieties. 



Vanilla. 



Some vanilla plants brought here a few 

 years ago were lost in the typhoon of Sept- 

 ember, 1905, and in view of the depressed 

 condition of the vanilla industry no efforts 

 were made to reintroduce the plant. A few 

 were received as exchanges about a year ago 

 and were planted out at the Singalong ex- 

 meriment station. They have grown excep- 

 tionally well. Some of the plants have made 

 leaders 3 meters long and are quite robust. 

 This rate of growth is unusual, even in Vera 

 Cruz, whore the plant is supposed to attain 

 the highest degree of perfection. It probably 

 indicates that the conditions about Manila 

 are very favourable for vanilla growing and 

 that the distribution of these plants is to 

 be recommended. 



Pineapples. 

 A few of the Natal pineapples brought 

 here from Durban have fruited. In tender- 

 ness and in freedom from fibre and core 

 they are a marked improvement over the 

 Bulacan variety which lias been grown at 

 Lamao. We have lately secured 200 plants 

 of the variety grown in Marinduque and 

 have planted them out along with the West 

 Indian varieties now growing at Singalong. 

 This makes five kinds we now have growing 

 at this station, viz., Smooth Cayenne, Rip- 

 ley, Red Spanish, Natal Canning, and Marin- 

 duque. The trials proposed include fertilizer 

 and irrigation tests, determination of the 

 relative yields and quality of fruit of the 

 different varieties and the production of 

 plants for distribution. 



Coffee. 



The small planting of maragogype hybrid 

 coffee made in Lipa, Batangas Province, four 

 years ago produced last year a first crop of 

 a little more than 1 pound of berries to the 

 tree. Although not immune to the leaf blight, 

 it is so strongly resistant to the disease and 

 has survived so well in that pest-afflicted region 

 that the berries were all quickly bespoken 

 by old coffee planters of the district, quite 

 a number of whom have planted seed beds 

 .or the purpose of renewing their planta- 



tions. As this seed was quite unfit for 

 planting, it is difficult to avoid the conclu- 

 sion that some future disappointment is 

 in store for these planters whose enthusiasm 

 has outstripped their knowledge or wisdom. 

 The few trees at the Singalong Experiment 

 Station are of the same age, and are equally 

 as good as the plants at Lipa, notwithstand- 

 ing the unfavourable environment. 



Cassava. 



Small plantings of the native white cassava 

 were made with a view to testing its growing 

 period, yield, and composition. This variety 

 seems to reach maturity in about ten months. 

 No satisfactory yield tests could be made on 

 accouut of the constant depredations of hogs 

 running at large in the city at night. A 

 number of samples analyzed contained about 

 •28 per cent of starch, which is 2 per cent more 

 than is credited to this root in Florida, where 

 it is grown extensively for the manufacture of 

 starch. Cassava is now receiving some atten- 

 tion from prospective manufacturers of starch 

 ard tapioca in this country. 



Ash Pumpkin. 

 This was grown as a trellis plant, and from 

 a single vine 62 fruits were obtained. Chinese 

 buyers are always on the alert to procure this 

 fruit. The average yield of a single plant of 

 Benincasa is about six fruits, and the extra- 

 ordinary yield cited above was due to the ex- 

 ercise of a slightly modified system of pruning 

 practiced, though rarely, by Filipino gardeners. 

 It consists merely in splitting the main stem 

 and leading branches and inserting wedges, 

 which procedure has the effect of checking leaf 

 growth and developing flowers. In addition to 

 this, " pinching back " was practised with the 

 result mentioned above. 



Seed Geemination. 

 Experiments conducted in Manila show that 

 perfectly fresh seeds of many plants are 

 affected by extremes of either drought or 

 moisture. At altitudes of 4,000 to 5,000 feet 

 these conditions, if accompanied by low soil 

 temperatures, are still more unfavourable for 

 germination. Tamato and eggplant seeds 

 planted at Baguio in January, 1904, failed to 

 germinate and were pronounced defective. 

 Early in May of the same year, when the 

 seeds we're four months older and presumably 

 not improved by age, they germinated freely. — 

 Philippine Agricultural Review, for Jan., 1908. 



PASPALUM DILATATUM AND 

 COCONUTS. 



Fiji, '24th Feb. 

 Deak Sik,— Can any of your readers kindly 

 say whether Paspalum Dilatatum has proved 

 injurious to coconut palms in Ceylon ?— Yours, 

 etc., H. H. T. 



Office of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 



Colombo, April 3rd. 

 Sik,— With reference to your letter of the 

 1st instant on the above subject, I have the 

 honour to inform you that I have never heard 

 of any such injury, and I do not know of any 

 coconut estate in Ceylon where this grass is 

 grown. Paspalum Dilatatum does not do well in 

 the low country.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 

 C. DRIEBERG, Secretary. 



