ROOT CROPS both with and without irrigation. In all cases the yields obtained were well aboye the average for each district, and the grain was of high quality. A further proof. of the success of these new varieties lies in the great demand for seed which has arisen during the past few years, and which until now could only be met in part. However, arrangements have been made with three estates to grow a large stock of seed for distribution, which should be sufficient to satisfy all demands, whilst at Pusa the various strains will be maintained in pure culture for purposes of restocking. A certain number of cultivation experiments are also being carried out at Pusa. The first, which concerns the continuous growth of a wheat without manure, shows that after five years' cropping the natural fertility of the soil is unaffected. The next deals with the treatment of the fallow ground previous to the sowing of wheat, and compares the effect of cultivating the ground during the hot weather with the more usual practice of delaying the first ploughing till after the commencement of the rains. The former system considerably increases the yields and the effect appears to be cumulative. Lastly it has been demostrated that waterlogging the land in September reduced the subsequent crop by 50 %, and this result was shown to be due to the lack of available nitrogen, caused, no doubt, by a change in the soil flora. A considerable amount of breeding work was done during the years 1911-12 at Pusa, particularly with regard to the production of new rustresistant varieties with high yielding powers and strong straw. Some interesting facts with regard to the inheritance of characters have been elucitated and a paper on this subject has been published. (1) 358 A Good Tuber Plant: Arracacia xanthorrhiza. Chacaras e Quintaes, Vol. VII, No. I, pp. 8-93 figs. São Paulo, Brazil, January 15, 1913. Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bauer (old synonym Arracacha esculenta D C), an umbelliferous plant, is indigenous to the Bolivian Andes (2), where it is also cultivated under the name of "sacharachaca. It is not widely spread; it is cultivated to a certain extent in Brazil, and deserves to be grown on a greater scale, as it produces a nutritions tuber; it resists frosts, is not exacting, and yields abundantly. It thrives in all kinds of soil excepting pure clay and it allows of the utilization of poor soils which cannot be used for other crops. After ploughing the soil lightly, the side shoots of the parent plant are set at about 30 inches each way from each other. Every plant produces 10 to 15 tubers; harvesting the crop commences the second year and continues throughout the year. Interculture consists in one hoeing. (1) See No. 118, B. Feb. 1913. (2) According to the Index Kewensis Tomus I, p. 193, Oxonii, 1895, A. xanthorrhiza is a native of Jamaica. (Ed.). DE DEGEN, A. (Director of the Royal Seed-testing Station, Budapest) in Mark Lane In the autumn of 1910, the author was twice asked to report on seed samples which consisted of a mixture of Trifolium parviflorum and T. angulatum, and this year he estimates that there are 80 tons of this seed on the market. The two plants are almost always found growing together on the heavy alkaline clay soils of the Hungarian lowlands, where they form the chief constituents of valuable pasture and meadow. They are small annual clovers, and in wet years or in wet spots produce an abundant crop; under drier conditions the plants remain dwarf and therefore produce a short crop, but always of good quality. They are both very early plants, and after the middle of June, if the season be dry, become of little value; the production of large numbers of seeds, which are easily shed, facilitates the process of self-seeding. Wherever similar conditions of soil and climate prevail, these species will probably give equally good results, but all experiments so far show that under other circumstances the plants are of no value. The seeds are finely reticulated, especially those of T. parviflorum. which otherwise resemble those of Dutch clover (T. repens), while the seeds of T. angulatum are more similar to those of alsike (T. hybridum). 360 Cotton Industry in the West Indies. I. SANDS, W. N. The Results of the Cultivation of Cotton in St. Vincent. 2. 3. 4. 5. TEMPANY, H. A. The Cotton Industry in the Leeward Islands. BOVELL, J. R. The Cotton Industry in Barbados. ROBSON, W. Cotton Selection in Montserrat. ROBSON, W. The Manner of Cross-Pollination of Cotton in Montserrat. 6. ROBSON, W. Sakellarides Cotton in Montserrat, - West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XIII, No. 1, pp. 1-28. Barbados, 1912. I. Exports of cotton: Caltivation of Cotton in St. Vincent FORAGE CROPS. MEADOWS AND PASTURES FIBRE CROPS Sea Island cotton 3587 acres; Marie Galante 1093 acres; Total 4680 acres. Percentage of lint to seed cotton: 24 (Marie Galante, white) to 26.5 (Sea Island, vhite, and Marie Galante, stained). Cotton growing is now the chief industry of St. Vincent. The Government Central Cotton Ginnery, managed by the Agricultural Department, is the largest in the Colony and deals with more than half of the cotton output. Under an Ordinance of 1909 all lots of seed cotton less than 100 lbs. in weight have to be sold to the Government Central Ginnery. The largest quantity, however, which can be purchased from any one grower without the permission of the Administrator is 4000 lbs. The Central Ginnery anticipates one-quarter of the estimated value of the lint per lb., less 5 c. for ginning and shipping charges and export duty. At the end of the crop, a bonus equal to three-quarters of the net profits is distributed. This system of sale has encouraged cotton-growing by the peasantry. In 1911, 542 small planters grew Sea Island cotton or 916 acres. Selected and disinfected cotton seed is furnished to them at a low price by the Department of Agriculture. Under the provisions of the Cotton Disease Prevention Ordinance of 1910 all growers are required to destroy by fire all cotton bushes of the previous cotton season on or before April 30 in St. Vincent and on or before March 31 in the Northern Grenadines. The Ordinance does not apply to the Southern Grenadines, where practically only the perenrial Marie Galante cotton is grown. Pests and Diseases. No attack of the cotton worm (Alabama argillacea) has been recorded during the past four years; its chief natural enemy, the Jack Spaniard (Polistes annularis) is now protected on nearly all estates. The local cotton stainer (Disdercus delauney) is always found in large numbers towards the end of the crop. It is advised to destroy, besides the cotton plants toward the end of the season, other plants which supply food to this insect pest, that is the silk cotton (Eriodendron anfractuosum, John Bull or Mahoe (Thespesia populnea), Tobago bread nut (Pachira spruceana) and Ochro (Hibiscus esculentus). Damage was also caused by the leaf blister mite (Eriophyes gossypii) and black scale (Saissetia nigra). Bacterium malvacearum and anthracnose (Colletotrichum gossypii) were the most dangerous diseases. Cotton crop of 1910-11 in Antigua: 96 992 lbs. of lint; average yield 173 lbs. par acre. In Anguilla, the young crop has suffered very much from the attack of a small beetle which cuts down the young plar ts. At Montserrat the growth suffered from the attacks of the cotton stainers (Dysdercus andreae) and of the flower-bud maggot (Contarinia gossypii). 3. The Cotton Industry in Barbados. Acreage under cotton from 1906-7 to 1910-11. 28 824 acres Average yield: Cotton lint 4 529 870 lbs. of the value of £ 285 746 The average production per acre, which was 338 lbs. of lint in 19021903 when cotton cultivation was begun in Montserrat, has constantly diminished and was in 1910-11 153 lbs. In order to counteract this evil, the Department of Agriculture has undertaken work for the improvement of the quality and quantity, either by selection or by crossing selected Sea Island cotton with very hardy varieties. The results so far obtained confirm those found by O. F. Cook of the Department of Agriculture of the United States, in that the hybrids proved to be very variable. These showed parental characters (those of the parent plants), interparental characters (intermediate), extra parental characters (not within the parental groups or between them). The latter could be divided into suppressed, intensified and primitive characters. By the continued selection of a cotton which in 1908 had fibres 36.1 mm. long and 35.7 per cent. of weak fibre, and in 1909 yielded 2376 lbs. per acre of unginned cotton, in 1911 a variety, Grant, was obtained with fibres 46.2 mm. in length, 14.4 per cent. of weak fibre and producing 4 406 lbs. per acre of unginned cotton. In 1909, this cotton was estimated at 11d. per lb. in 1911 at 16 to 17d. per lb., taking Sea Island cotton at 17 to 19d. per lb. as a base. Cotton selection has been carried on rrinterruptedly at Montserrat since 1906. The following method of perpetuation of a particular strain is adopted. The seeds of the plant selected in 1909 are planted in the breeding plot in 1910. In this year six of the plants are marked and the seedcotton collected into separate bags, the lint is submitted to spinning tests and the seeds of the two plants showing the most desirable features are retained for planting in 1911. The two plants ir 1911 are treated as if they were separate strains, and six plants are again re-selected and the seedcotton collected separately, from both types, the lint of the twelve plants being subsequently examined. Thus the inheritance both for breeding qualities (yield) and lint characters comes into perspective, and the type showing the best all-round features is perpetuated. In the course of these selection experiments it has been shown that the germinating power of seeds can be destroyed by the heating of seed- cotton and also when seeds are stored in bulk after ginuing. As a rule cotton seeds show a high germinative power as they come from the field, but when the cotton is picked, this is not always the case. This suggests the neces sity for making germination tests before deciding which seeds are to be reserved for planting purposes. Thorough sunning of the seed-cotton before storing should obviate the possibility of heating, and subsequent to ginning the seeds should not be stored in large bulk. 5. The Manner of Cross-Pollination of Cotton in Montserrat. A large number of insects have been found in Montserrat associated with the cotton plant, such as the Jack Spaniard (Polistes sp.), lacewing flies (Chrysopa sp.), lady-birds, grasshoppers, Syrphus or hovering flies, etc. More closely associated with the flowers were beetles, ants, honey bees, one or more species of small Dipterous flies and an unidentified species of thrips. The Dipterous flies and the thrips may aid self-fertilization to a little extent. While the bees Dielis dorsata, Centris haemorrhoidalis and Megachile (?) martindalei carry pollen from one flower to another. The average percentage of flowers cross-pollinated by D. dorsata is thought to be 21, ranging from 4 on a dull, showery day to 33 per cent, on a bright day. The following are the results of preliminary experiments conducted at the Experiment Station in Montserrat during 1911-1912. The behaviour of the plants on the whole indicates that this type will prove to be hardier and a heavier cropper than the Sea Island cotton. 361 - Cotton Experiments in the Cape Province. Van Ryneveld, A. in The Agricultural Journal of the Unton of South Africa, Vol. IV, No. 6, pp. 831-842+XII plates. Pretoria, December 1912. Attempts at growing cotton have been made in various parts of the Cape Province, but the absence of any system of experiment and the want of the necessary supervision have made the results practically useless. A large portion of the Cape Province is not suited to the growing of this crop, and it was resolved to test the suitability of a certain area where the conditions of labour, soil, climate, and rainfall seemed to indicate the best chances of success. The site chosen was at the Big Umgazi, in the District of Port St. John's, Pondoland. The soil consists of a rich, dark, heavy sandy loam, and was moderately moist at planting time. Ten pounds of seed was used per acre. The land was only ploughed up once, namely just before planting, and harrowed. A shower of rain (about 0.35 in.) fell the evening after planting. Plants were thinned out |