Vol. III. No. 64. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



307 



It was found, however, under coniuiercial conditions of 

 packing, that uiariualades made with native sugar.s fermented. 

 l?v adding i per cent, calcium liisulphite solution, of specific 

 gravity 1-068, all marmalades made with .Jamaica sugars have 

 kei't perfectly. The preservative is harniles.s and was not 

 found to atfect the flavour of the marmalade. 



MnnQo Jdiiif. — A number of mango jams made with the 

 native sugar.s, before and after treatment with sulphur fumes, 

 liave kept to date — six weeks. No difference can yet be seen 

 between the treated and imtreated jams. A longer trial is 

 necessary before any conclusion can be drawn. 



Pine S/icei in Syruj,. — A trade to the United States 

 in cut slices of pine packed in barrels in a secret preservative 

 liquid (? salicylic acid) flourished for a \\liile, but has, 

 I understand, been destroyed by the prohibiton of the preser- 

 vative by the United States Government. Our experiments 

 indicated that a i per cent, solution of calcium bisulphite 

 was an efficient pre.servative for raw sliced jiines with or 

 without native sugar in the form of syrup. It is hoped that 

 this trade may be resuscitated, as bisulphite could not be 

 prohibited as dangerous to health. 



C0>'C'LUSI0XS. 



Our best native sugars are of high quality, but are 

 all infected with the fermentive Torida,SinA special treatment 

 is requiiel to ensure a sterile preserve. 



Sulphur dioxide and calcium bisulphite ajipear to be 

 the best chemical preservatives for fruit [lulp, fruits in syrups 

 and jams made with native sugars. 



Sugar-cane Experiments in British Guiana. 



Tiie following i.s the concluding portion of Pro- 

 fessor Harrison's report on tlie results of experiments 

 with varieties of sugar-cane in Britisii Guiana: — 



MILLING QUALITIES OF THE V.^EIETIES. 



The opinions as to the milling qualities of the varieties 

 are now fairly concordant. D. 625 is reported by all as 'fair' ; 

 D. 145 in all cases as 'bad';D. 109 as 'good': B. 147 as 

 'fair'; D. 74 as 'good'; Bourbon as 'good': White Trans- 

 parent is described as 'bad,' as 'fair' and as 'good,' and 

 D. 78 in all cases as ' bad.' 



QUALITIES OF THE MEt;.\SS AS FUEL. 



Wide differences of opinion are recorded with regard to 



this. As a rule the niegass of D. 625 is described as ' good,' 



but one experimenter terras it 'poor,' and another finds it 



" ' very bad' ; that of Seal}- is described as 'good ' ; the megass 



fof D. 95 is 'fair'; that of D. 14.5, 'fair,' ' bad,' and 'very 



bad'; that of D. 109 is termed ' poor," 'fair,'ar,d 'good': 



-the megass of B. 147 is usually described as 'fair,' but some 



Ihave found it ' very bad ' ; that of the Bourbon is of course 



•'good,' or even 'excellent'; D. 74 has yielded 'poor' and 



' bad ' megass : while that of the White Transparent is in one 



fejease termed 'good,' in all other cases 'poor,' 'bad,' or 



'very bad, : and D. 78 is characterized as 'fair,' as 'bad,' 



[or more usually as ' very bad.' 



It is not advisable to draw any wide-reaching deductions 

 ffrom these experiments. The}', however, indicate that 

 [several varieties of sugar-canes can be relied ui)on in British 

 '< Guiana to give yields of sugar in quantities equal to or 

 {greater than those obtained from the Bourbon, and that 

 [several varieties — for instance, D. 625, D. 145, and I). 109 — 

 J l)ossess well-marked ratooning qualities. D. 625 and D. 109 

 Fcan be safely recommended to cane farmers for trial, the 

 tformer on relatively heavy lands, the latter on lighter soils. 



Certain varieties — D. 74, the White Transparent, and 

 especially D. 78 — show signs of falling otf in their yields, and 

 the committee feel that as a general rule further extensions 

 of their cultivation cannot be recommended. 



Under factory conditions the marked differences in the 

 saccharine strength of the expressed juice of the canes, so 

 very noticeable in small-plot experiments, tend to disappear. 

 The following .shows whe calculated expression of the juices, 

 their contents of saccharose in pounds per gallon, their 

 Cjuotients of purity, and their quotients of non-sugars : — 



The means of the contents of saccharose in pounds per 

 gallon, of the quotients of purity, of the quotients of non- 

 sugars and of the recovery of commercial sugars iier cent, of 

 indicated sugar in the juices of the varieties during 1901-3 

 are as follows : — 



In considering these results it must be borne in mind 

 that in the cases of many of the experiments the varieties of 

 sugar-cane have been grown on land on which the latter cane 

 does not fiouri.sh, while the Bourbon returns are, as a rule, 

 from land of average quality. 



Sisal Hemp at New Orleans. The following 



table, states the Consuhu- Report for 1903, shows how rapid 



has been the increase in the imports of sisal hemp from 

 ^lexico into New Orleans : — 



1900 ... 1,466 tons, valued at £37,281. 



1901 ... 14,069 „ „ „ £326,314. 



1902 ... 23,365 „ „ „ £644,957. 



1903 ... 31,424 „ „ „ £827,122. 



