Vol. III. No. 46. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



19^ 



The total value of the exi)orts of molasses dufing the year 

 was £70,860 as against £63,324 for the previous year — an 

 i:icrease of nearly 12 per cent. Mr. Vice-consul Toro states 

 that in the Ponce district, ' there are no less than sixteen 

 jilantations, some of them large ones, which yet make only 

 muscovado sugars, thus tlie large export of mohisses, which 

 amounted this year to 2,766,170 gallon.s, valued at £69,995.' 



The A'ice-eonsul for Mayaguez reports that 640,807 

 gallons of molasses were exported, of which no fewer than 

 thirteen cargoes were in British bottoms for British North 

 America. 



In the report of the Vice-consul at Arroya de 

 Quayama, it is stated that the principal exports are sugar, 

 molasses, cigars, bay rum, and essence of bay. The report 

 continues : ' As all these articles were free of duties in the 

 United States of America, the clitterence in price is so 

 enormous that they cannot be exported to other countries, 

 except in the case of molasses, which in spite of entering free 

 of duty into the United States, nearly all that is made in 

 this district is exported to the Dominion of Canada, 39."),645 

 gallons, of the value of £12,812, being .sent to that country 

 during the past year.' 



It is further shown that of the £70,860 worth of 

 molasses exported from Porto Rico during the year, 

 £65,937 worth (or over 93 per cent.) went to Canada. 



Improvement of the Sugar-cane by- 

 Chemical Selection. 



The following abstract of a paper piibiislied by 

 Dr. J. D. Kobus in the Annales du JanUv Batanique 

 de Biiifcvzorfj, is taken from the Journal of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society for October. It gives 

 a concise summary of the main features of Dr. Kobus' 

 investigation on the subject of the raising of improved 

 varieties of sugar-cane by vegetative reproduction : — ■ 



This laborious and detailed paper on the ' Chemical 

 Selection of the Sugar-cane ' is worthy of close study by 

 every ))reeder of plants, for it gives an account of an attempt 

 to produce by cuttings a race of sugar-cane that should 

 display an increased vigour by an increased yield of sugar 

 and by an increased power of resisting (sereh-) disease. Tlie 

 conclusions drawn obviously have a very important bearing 

 ui)on cultivated herbs that are propagated vegetatively 

 rather than by seeds. 



The conclusions arrived at may be summarized as 

 follows : — 



1. The amount of sugar in the individual stems of one 

 sugar plant was ajit to vary greatly. The author selected 

 for propagation jilants that exhibited small variations, and 

 he suggests that greater success might attend analogous 

 attempts at improvement in the [English] jiotato were more 

 attention ]iaid to the amount of starch in the whole of the 

 tubers rather than in individual tubers. 



2. The variability of the amount of sugar in the 

 different varieties was greatest in thick-stemmed varieties 

 that had long been in cultivation, and least in young ones 

 more recently selected from seed. 



3. The amount of sugar in the cane varied directly 

 w ith the weight of the same. 



4. Heavy plants gave rise to heavy offspring. The 

 same character has been shown in reference to the potato. 



5. The descendants of plants rich in sugar were richer 

 in sugar and heavier than unselected plants. 



6. But the simple .selection of cuttings of heavy plants 

 did not lead to the production of forms markedly richer in 



sugar, though the resulting plants were in general richer in 

 sugar. Indeed, heavy i)lants poor in sugar seemed to have 

 a much worse effect on the amount of sugar in the progeny 

 than did light plants poor in sugar. 



7. Extreme care had to be exercised in the selection of 

 the ground on which the experiments were made ; for even 

 on an ajiparently uniform sod great differences were apt to 

 appear in the individual plants merely in consequence of 

 local variations in the .soil. 



8. A most important discovery was made, namely, that 

 the increased vigour as reflected in the larger yield of sugar 

 was accompanied by greater immunity from the se/eh- 

 disease. 



T AM WORTH PIGS IN TRINIDAD. 



The following notes on the results obtained with 

 Tarn worth pigs at the Government Farm, Trinidad, 

 forwarded by Mr. C. W. Meaden, the Manager, are 

 of interest. It is evident from the financial statement 

 that the experiment has been a success and that this 

 class of pig is suited to West Indian conditions, when 

 careful attention is paid to management : — ■ 



These pigs seem to have adapted themselves to the 

 climate of Trinidad, having withstood the test for three 

 years. They are harily, free from any kind of disease, good 

 breeders, and the sows are careful of their young. No 

 particular process of feeding has been adopted, anj-thing 

 usually jiroduced in the way of garden i)roduce being 

 given cooked. They ai-e comfortably housed in concrete 

 styes with litter. They are fed at 6 a.m., exercised till 

 10 a.m., bathed and given a feed of Para grass and various 

 wild vines, and fed again at 4 p.m. With this treatment 

 this class of pig will keej) in reasonable growing condition, 

 and at twelvemonths .should produce 150 1b. of good, firm 

 pork, the lean and fat being well distributed. Judging 

 from particulars which have been received from purchasers 

 of the young pigs, the introduction may be said to have 

 been satisfactory. In their management it must be remem- 

 bered that as these pigs are pure bred, they should receive 

 rather more care than is usually given to the conunon native 

 animal, especially in their early days. So far as can be 

 learned, the crossing with the common sow has given 

 favourable results. Experiments conducted in Canada have 

 shown that crosses between the Berkshire and the Tamworth 

 have given the best results so far as the i)roduction of the 

 most suitable bacon for export is concerned. The combina- 

 tion has been api>reciated in the bacon market, as the 

 meat produced shows the happy medium of lean and fat 

 which is so much favoured for the breakfast table. 



The following is the financial record of the e.xperimeat 

 for the year : — ■ 



Itevenn-e : 



72 pigs sold at $3-00 per head $210 '00 

 5 ,, transferred to Tubago 



Farm at $3-00 15-00 



Service of biiar to 13 sows at 



filOO 13-00 



$244-00 



E.fpetiditiire : 



Attendant at $8-00 per month $90-00 

 Cost of food for six pigs at 3c. 



per day 65-70 



$161-70 



Profit $82-30 



The register showed for the year eighty-four births 

 from five sows. Of these seventy-two were sold, five trans- 

 feirel and seven died. 



