CfOBER, 1900.] 



331 



Scientific Agriculture. 



alfalfa were the crops in connexion with 

 which the investigations were made, 

 nitro-bacterine was the inoculating 

 material employed. Experiments were 

 conducted at the Experiment Station, 

 and also on estates, the property of 

 Messrs. Henckell, Du Buisson & Co., at 

 the instance of the owners. At Grenada, 

 cowpeas formed the crop under test, and 

 a liquid culture preparation, obtained 

 from the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, was employed. The effect 

 of inoculating sugar-cane plants with 

 the material forwarded by Professor 

 Bottomley for that purpose was also 

 tried both at Antigua and Barbados. 



At Antigua the nitro-bacterine culture 

 solutions were prepared at the Govern- 

 ment Laboratory, and it is remarked in 

 the report on the results of the experi- 

 ments, that satisfactory growth of 

 the culture took place in the case 

 of every package. Seed of the different 

 legumes under trial was also inoculated 

 at the Laboratory, and portions of 

 the culture solution were afterwards 

 distributed to the centres where the 

 experiments were to be made, for 

 inoculation of growing crops, and of 

 the soil. Where crop and soil inoculation 

 was carried out, two inoculations were 

 made, at an interval of a fortnight. 



Cowpeas were grown under experi- 

 ment at Oassada Garden and at Fitches ' 

 Greek, and the effects of inoculation 

 both by immersion of the seed in the 

 culture solution before sowing, and of 

 f watering ' the soil with the solution 

 after sowing were tried. In no instance 

 did inoculation have any influence in 

 increasing the crop yield, however. 

 Indeed, the highest return at Cassada 

 Garden was given by the plot sown with 

 seed that had not been inoculated, and 

 which was not watered with the culture 

 solution. 



It is to be presumed (as Mr. Tempany 

 states in his report,) that the soil was 

 well stocked with the bacteria respon- 

 sible for nodule formation on this 

 particular crop, or that the soil was 

 well supplied with available nitrogen. 

 Examination of the roots of inoculated 

 and untreated plants showed that 

 though, on the whole, there appeared to 

 be slightly more nodules on the roots 

 of the inoculated plants than on those 

 which had received no treatment, the 

 difference was not very marked. 



Experiments with woolly pyrol were 

 conducted at the Experiment Station, 

 and at Fitches' Creek, Cassada Garden, 

 and Gambles estates, the experiment 

 plots being J acre in area in every case. 

 It is interesting to note that, in the case 

 of one estate at least (Cassada Garden), 

 the results of inoculation with this crop 



were more definite and satisfactory- 

 From the control plot, which received 

 no inoculation, 330 lb. of green bush 

 were gathered. A second plot, sown 

 with uuiuoculated seed, but the soil of 

 which later received applications of the 

 culture fluid, yielded 700 lb. of bush ; a 

 third plot that had been sown with 

 inoculated seed, but received no further 

 treatment, gave a return of 970 lb. of 

 green busn, while from the fourth plot- 

 sown with inoculated seed and also 

 ' watered ' with the culture fluid— 1,015 

 lb. of bush were reaped. The results 

 for two plot experiments at Gambles 

 estate are also reported, and in these 

 also, although to a lesser degree, the 

 beneficial effects of inoculation are 

 observable. From the untreated plot, 

 30 lb. of green bush were reaped, while 

 50 lb. of green bush were obtained from 

 the plot sown with seed that had been 

 inoculated. It may be added that a 

 good number of nodules were present on 

 the roots of all the plants examined, but 

 it is stated that no marked differences 

 as to number could be observed on the 

 inoculated and the uninoculated plants. 



At Fitches ' Creek and the Experiment 

 Station no results were obtained, since 

 the woolly pyrol plants were destroyed 

 by caterpillars. A scheme of inocula- 

 tion experiments with cowpeas was 

 carried out in 1908 at Grenada at the 

 Botanic Station and on six estates. 

 These experiments were designed to 

 answer two questions : (1) whether any 

 benefit is to be derived from inoculation 

 of leguminous crops such as cowpeas on 

 Grenada soils, and (2) whether, by inocu- 

 lation, leguminous green dressings such 

 as cowpeas can be grown under the 

 shade produced by mature cacao trees. 

 With the object of deciding the first 

 question, two plots, each |-acre in area, 

 were sown with cowpeas, at the several 

 centres, one plot, being planted with 

 inoculated, and the other with uninocu- 

 lated seed. To investigate the possi- 

 bility of growing leguminous crops under 

 shade, plots of one acre in extent, covered 

 with full-grown cacao trees, were planted 

 with inoculated cowpea seed. 



In regard to this latter question, the 

 results obtained at all seven centres 

 were of the same nature, and indicated 

 that inoculation had no effect in encour- 

 aging the growth of the cowpeas when 

 planted beneath the cacao. The amount 

 of shade varied from fairly light to very 

 dense, but in no case did the peas do 

 more than produce one or two leaves, 

 and they soon died, showing all the 

 symptoms of lack of sufficient light, 



Varying results were obtained on the 

 cowpea plots in the open, At the 

 Botanic Station, and on two of the 



