Edible Products. 



110 



[August, 191L 



half of it received a dressing of lime at 

 the rate of 8 oz. to the square yard, or 

 2,420 lb. per acre. The limed portion 

 yielded a crop at the rate of 3,080 lb. of 

 cured nuts per acre, while the yield 

 from the unlimed plot was at the rate 

 of 2,880 lb. per acre. Thus, lime would 

 appear to be desirable as a dressing in 

 Dominica also. The evidence as to the 

 advantage of this in Antigua and St- 

 Kitts is somewhat indefinite. 



In general it seems that in the Islands 

 named in the table, with the possible 

 exception of Antigua and St, Lucia, 

 imported varieties of ground-nuts will 

 probably prove advantageous, more 

 especially as they become acclimatized, 

 and in consequence less liable to disease. 



In order to obtain plants of the im- 

 ported varieties which are likely to give 

 the largest yields, it is necessary to 

 plant nuts of these varieties obtained 

 from plants grown in the previous 

 season in any given island, and not to 

 plant freshly-imported nuts each year. 

 If this process is continued through 

 several years, a strain of plants is ob- 

 tained which is adapted to the local 

 conditions, and is therefore hardy. 

 The acclimatization is probably taking 

 place owing to unconscious selection as 

 much as any other factor. In connec- 

 tion with the acclimatization process, 

 artificial selection of the best nuts from 

 the most promising plants may also be 

 conducted for planting purposes. Work 

 of this kind is being done by Mr. 

 Robson, Curator of the Botanic Station, 

 Montserrat. There is no doubt that the 

 effect of acclimatization and artificial 

 selection will be to produce a strain of 

 plants, of any of the improved varieties, 

 well adapted to West Indian conditions. 



Experiments in Dominica. 



As has been stated already, these were 

 conducted by Mr. J. A. Brooks, formerly 

 Officer-in-charge of the Agricultural 

 School, Dominica, now Assistant Cura- 

 tor, St. Lucia ; it is from the report 

 furnished by him that the following 

 information is taken : — 



Disinfection of Seed. — The first point 

 that suggested itself for determination 

 was the effect of disinfecting the nuts 

 with a solution of corrosive sublimate, 

 to destroy the root fungus on their sur- 

 faces, and to prevent if possible the 

 rooting of the nuts of the Dixie Giant 

 variety which had been observed in 

 several of the lands where these were 

 planted. 



Preliminary experiments appear to in- 

 dicate that treatment of the nuts with 

 J in 1,000 corrosive sublimate solution 



did not reduce the germinating power, if 

 the nuts were washed after this ; while 

 the reduction was small, even when 

 washing was omitted. 



Although the omission of washing 

 appeared to reduce slightly the germin- 

 ating power of the nuts, no serious harm 

 was done by disinfection without wash- 

 ing. Consequently, it was decided to 

 immerse the nuts for five minutes with- 

 out subsequent washing before planting 

 on a field scale. 



In order to test the effect of this 

 treatment on a field scale, an area of 

 2,556 sq. feet was planted with nuts of 

 the Spanish variety. The area was di- 

 vided into two equal parts labelled A 

 and B. One and a half pounds of nuts 

 were sown in each part, in rows 2 feet 

 apart, and at intervals of 1 foot in the 

 row between each hole. The nuts were 

 planted 2 inches deep and two were 

 put in each hole. Planting was carried 

 out in July. The nuts in section A were 

 disinfected before being sown, as des- 

 cribed above ; those in section B were 

 untreated. The plots were reaped in 

 the middle of November. Section A 

 gave a yield of 74| lb. of cured nuts. 

 Section B yielded (WJ lb. 



While the plots were free from root 

 disease and leaf spot, the rust fungus 

 appeared on the treated section on 

 October 13, and, as no remedies were 

 applied, it spread throughout the plot. 

 It did not appear in section B until 

 November 3, and even the plants nearest 

 those in section A were unaffected. 



Effect oj the Rust Fungus. -The re- 

 sults obtained above also throw some 

 interesting light on the effect of the 

 rust fungus, as they indicate that this 

 does very little harm. No individual 

 plant was killed outright, either in this 

 or in any of the plots, as it showed only 

 on the older leaves and those nearest the 

 ground. It was observed, also, that all 

 the nuts from attacked plants were per- 

 fectly healthy, and showed no signs of 

 shrinkage. Furthermore, a comparison 

 of the number and total weight of the 

 nuts borne on plants attacked by this 

 disease with those of the nuts borne on 

 healthy plants revealed no differences, so 

 that in Dominica, under the conditions 

 of the experiment, the rust fungus can- 

 not be said to cause any very serious in- 

 jury. The fungus appeared sporadically 

 a,t different dates, in October, on plots 

 situated some distance from one another, 

 and attacked firstly those plants ob- 

 tained from disinfected seed. There is at 

 present no evidence as to the source of 

 infection, and the land used had not been 

 planted in ground-nuts during the pre' 

 vious year. 



