Vol. III. No. .5.5. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



163 



(1) The mo.st favourable plots were subsoiled close, 

 cane holes ciuf^ and manured and cultivated in the usual 

 estate manner. 



(2) The least favourable i)lots were ridged with the 

 disc jilough, turning under farmj'ard manure 8 inches deep, 

 the canes being planted in rows at the bottom of the furrows 



I and cultivated with the Diamond cultivator. 



I| EXPERIMENTS NOW IN PROORE.SS. 



For the period now under review, there are 8,120 

 experiments covering an area of 143'294 acres. The experi- 

 ments may, for the sake of convenience, be divided into two 

 groups — the first consisting of the experiments which were 

 being carried on during the first half-year of 190.'5, the latter 

 the experiments which were inaugurated during the half- 

 year ending December 190.3. 



As a detailed list of the first group was given in the 

 last report {Agricultunil News, Vol. 11, p. 306), there is no 

 necessity for reproducing it here. We may, however, 

 mention that the root fungus, wliich last half-year we 

 reported as existing in some of the manurial plots, is, in s[»ite 

 of the favourable rainfall, still in evidence, and there is no 

 doubt that in some plots it will unfavourably affect the 

 results. We further regret to say that, in some instances, 

 many of the seedling and other canes have also been attacked. 



On the whole, however, the stands of canes on the 

 experimental plots have grown fairly well and will on some 

 estates give large yields. 



The following is a detailed list of the experiments of 

 the second group, the number of plots and areas under 

 experiment : — 



EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURES. 



Of the 106 plant cane manurial jilots, covering an area 

 of l-t'196 acres, twenty -six are in ' Summervale ' field at 

 Dodds, twenty-six in ' Negro Yard ' field at Foursipiare, and 

 fifty-four in ' Ten Acre ' field at Hopewell. 



By the kind permission of Mr. A. Cameron, experiments 

 on eighteen manurial plots, extending over an area of 16"02 

 acres, are being conducted on the estates of Messrs. T. Daniel 

 & Co., Ltd. Of these, six are in ' Logwood ' field at Balls, 

 six in ' No. 2 Lynch ' field at Hamilton, and six in ' Ujiper 

 Gall ' field at Paiby. 



With one exception the canes on the manurial plots have 

 grown fairly well. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SELECTED SEEDLING .4ND OTHER CANES. 



This groui> of experiments consists of 182 plots with an 

 area of 10'815 acres. Of these, thirt3--four are in ' Dixon ' 

 field at Waterford, fifty-four in ' Upper Chapel ' field at 

 Dodds, twenty in ' .Jack Tar ' field at Coverley, twenty-four 

 in ' Cars " field at Husbands, twenty-eight in ' Ginger ' field 

 at Henley, and twenty-two in 'I'lijier Belle' field at Claj'bury. 



On the whole, the canes in this grouji of experiments 

 germinated fairly well and at present there is every prospect 

 of their giving a good return. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SEEDLING CANES OTHER THAN THOSE 

 OF THE FIRST YEAR AND DIFFERENT NAMED VARIETIES. 



In this section of the experiments there are 1,684 jilots 

 extending over an area of 22'264 acres. At Dodds there 

 are 395 plots of plant canes in the following fields, viz : — 

 'Cat Hole,' fifty-five; 'Upper Padmore,' seventy-six; 'Harrow,' 

 thirt3--four ; 'Pilgrim,' forty-two; 'Upper Bay Tree,' fifty-five; 

 'House,' fifty-five; 'Lower Nightingale,' thirty-eight; and 

 'Summervale,' forty. In 'Seven Acre' field at the Ridge, 

 twenty-three ; in 'Cut Hill' field at Hannays, twelve; in 

 'Above the Yard' field at Sunbury, twenty-nine; in 'Garden' 

 field at the Pine, thirteen; in 'Monkey Pond' field at Brighton, 



twelve; in 'Cow House' field at Hanii>ton, nine; in 'South 

 Negro Yard' field at Oughterson, seven; in 'Still Pond' field 

 at Clifton Hall, twenty-four; in 'Simmons liottom' field at 

 Lower estate, eight ; and in 'Sandy' field at Waterford, 1,172. 

 With one or two exceptions, the canes in this section of 

 the experiments have grown regularly and a uniform stand is 

 being obtained. 



YOUNG SEEDLING CANES. 



During December anil .January seeds obtained from 

 some of the old seedlings and from some of the other canes 

 were sown. Owing, we think, to the drought which occurred 

 while the seeds were maturing, their germinating ))Ower was 

 lower this year than any year since canes from seed have been 

 grown, and, although more seeds were sown, fewer grew than 

 usual, and of those that did germinate many apfieared so 

 feeble that they died soon afterwards. Still, however, 1,000 

 have been obtained, many of which are now looking fairly 

 well. 



Our best thanks are due to the proprietors, attorneys 

 and managers who have so kindly placed land at our disposal 

 and for their ready co-operation with us in carrying out the 

 experiments. 



Maple Sugar. 



The Louisiana Phtnfer o( April IG, contains an 

 interesting article entitled: 'Origin of Maple Sugar.' 

 Ifc describes the sacred myths and traditions connected 

 with the maple tree that existed among the Iroquois 

 Indians : — ■ 



The season of sugar making from beginning to end is 

 a sort of carnival or general holiday among these children of 

 nature ; even those who are civilized and working in the towns 

 will drop everything and hurry off to the woods when the 

 sap begins to How. 



Our pioneer fathers made few improvements upon 

 Indian methods of sugar making, but in the course of years 

 buckets have taken the place of troughs ; open pans are 

 used instead of kettles ; the furnace instead of the open fire. 

 The work is done under cover and much of the outdoor 

 poetry of this spring industry has faded into the light of 

 common day, the prosaic air of our workaday life. 



'Sap-run' does not last long ; it comes and goes with 

 the weather and has all the cajjrices of other delightful 

 things, and no one can control its infinite variety. Every 

 woodland creature enjoys the sweet drink. The squirrels 

 slyly help themselves when no one is looking, cows will 

 watch and emjity the bucket while your back is turned, 

 sheep will drink enough to kill them if they have half 

 a chance, and boys must keep constant watch over the liquid. 



But best of all is the delight of the honey bees in the 

 overflowing sap. L^p and down the dark, shining trunks 

 they crawl, sometimes so full of the enticing food that they 

 can scarcely move, and could be brushed away by the 

 handful. 



Fer-de-lance at St. Lucia. We extract the 



following from the annual report on the sanitary condition of 

 St. Lucia, published in the Gazette of April 23 : — 'L^nfor- 

 tunately there is also recorded a death from snake bite. 

 Some fifteen years ago, a week rarely elapsed, or a ride of 3 

 or 4 miles into the country, without my seeing one or more 

 Fer-de-lance. Five or six snakes, 2 to 3 feet long, were alwa3's 

 killed annually by the gang clearing the Victoria Hospital 

 Grounds. Of late years no trace of one has been met with 

 and I have not seen a live snake for several years.' 



