30G 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Septembek •24, 1904. 



and American iiiiukets.' Other cacaos from the West 

 Indies — those from Jamaica, Dominica, an(J 8t. Lucia — 

 <are generally classed together in tiie market reports. 

 Dining the present year these have been selling at 

 50s. to Gl.s'. ()(/. It is an interesting feature of the 

 small e.xport of cacao from British Guiana that it 

 obtains sucii a good price (during the present year this 

 has been between ()4.<. and (j5.s.) as to place it, in 

 quality, second only to that of Trinidad : yet strange 

 to say, if we may judge from the exports, very little 

 interest appears to have been taken in the cultivation 

 of this product. 



Of all cacao-producing islands in the West Indies, 

 St. Vincent is the only one unable to show a decided 

 advance. This, of course, is due to the hmricane of 

 1898. In 18!)7 the exports of cacao were of the value 

 of £4,.514 : two years later they were worth only .£ll(j. 

 M'e are glad to observe that this important industr}' 

 has, to some extent, been resuscitated, and in 1902, 

 780 cwt., of the value of £1,-5.58, were exported. 

 Further, it is evident from the number of plants that 

 have been distributed from the Botanic Station that 

 cacao is being somewhat extensively planted in the 

 island. 



The output of cacao from these islands has, then, 

 considerably increased during the last few years. 

 This increa.se has not been confined to one or two 

 islands, but has been participated in, not only by 

 Trinidad and Grenada, but also by Jamaica, St. Lucia, 

 and Dominica. Further, there are many indications 

 that in the ordinary" course of events this increase will 

 be maintained. The planting of cacao has received 

 much encouragement from the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture, and in all the islands mentioned 

 there are evidences that the acreage in cacao has 

 been considerably extended. The best indication that 

 much attention has been given to the planting of cacao 

 is to be found in the large distribution of cacao plants 

 from the various botanical establishments in the West 

 Indies. It will be seen that these institutions have 

 been no small factor in the extension of the cacao 

 industry. From four of the Botanic Stations nearly 

 30,000 cacao plants, in addition to over 17,000 pods, 

 were distributed in the year 190.3-4. In Jamaica, 

 during the last four or five years, the number of cacao 

 plants distributed from Hope Gardens has been nearly 

 50,000 per annum. 



The outlook for this industry is decidedly promis- 

 ing : for, although the world's production has been 

 very considerably increased, the fact that the total 

 consumption has also increased would seem to indicate 



that, for the present at any rate, there need be no fear 

 of a material fall in jiriccs. It is necessary, however, 

 that growers should make ever}- effort to place on the 

 maiket only the best qualit}' of cacao. To .secure this, 

 careful attention must be paid to the curing and 

 (hying. Should there be a serious fall in jjiices. it will 

 be chii'tlv the lower-srrade cacaos that will be affected. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



The Use of Jamaica Sugars for Preserves. 



Mr. H. H. Cousins, JI.A., F.C.S., reports as follows 

 in the Bulletin of the Dcpa it merit of Afiricidtinr, 

 Jamaica, on the results of an investigation into the 

 use of native sugars in the making of preserves : — 



Brown and ^liite vacuuin-pau sugars were obtained from 

 merchants and sugar [ilanters, as follows : — 



These data are very creditable to our Jamaica sugars. 

 The sugars from Cinnamon Hill and Worthy Park were of 

 unusual purity and nearly chemical sucrose. Some of the 

 other sugars were somewhat damp and moist. We have, 

 regularly produced in the island, a sup(Jy of sugars well 

 fitted for preserving if properly sterilized. AVe found, 

 however, that all the sugars were more or less infected with 

 a species of Torit/a with a powerful fermentive action. All 

 these sugars rai>idly developed this organism when intro- 

 duced into sterile nutritive media, even in the iirojiortion of 

 ecpial parts sugar and medium. This shows that unless 

 perfectly sterilized, the native sugars could not .successfully 

 be used for preserving in the usual pro[)ortion oi half sugar 

 to half fruit. 



EXPERIMENTS IN STERII.IZ.VTION AND WITH I'KESERVATIVES. 



Neither boric acid nor formaldehyde, within the limit* 

 at all permissible in a food product, were effective in preserv- 

 ing fruit pulp. Sulphur dioxide, however, proved strikingly 

 effective, and it was tlecided to select this preservative as the 

 best ancl least harmful agent for preserving fruit pulp and 

 jams. 



Provided sterile conditions could be maintained in the 

 containing vessels, steaming proved completely effective in 

 preserving both pulps and jams made with native sugar. 



