338 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



OCTOBEK 22, 1904. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



is a comiuerciai undertaking, working along co-opera- in the West Indies may realize the possibilities of 



five lines, which has set itself steadily to inij)rove the this profitable undertaking. At the same time we 



(juality and the appearance of the honey shipped, desire, by mentioning the efforts of the Jamaica Bee 



With this object in \ lew a board of examiners was Keepers' Association, to give prominence to the 



appointed, which iiisj)ects every package sent by necessity' of taking steps to secure that only a good 



members to the Association for shipment. The grade of hotiey and wa.\ shall be shipped. 



product is graded by the examiners, and if it is found 



to come up to the re()uired standanl, the jiackage is ' 



branded with the Association's stamp. In the market 



reports Jamaica honey has, during the last few months, 



been quoted at from lo-<. to '.iOs. per cwt. 



In regard to Jamaica bees'-wax, it has already 

 been mentioned that the exports have of late declined 

 somewhat. It is interesting to note, however, that, 

 according to a writer in the Journal of the Jamaica 

 AriricuUand Society (Vol. YII, p. 186), Jamaica wax 

 always finds a read}' sale in the market on account of 

 its undoubted purity. It fetches from .£7 lO.-.'. to 

 £cS lo.s. per cwt., as against .£6 10-*. to £7 7s. (Ul. for 

 French, Italian and Spanish wax, and £(3 IOn. to 

 .£6 15.S. for wax from Madagascar. It is jirineipall}' 

 used in the manufacture of boot and furnitui-e polishes, 

 for tailors' wax, photographic compositions, etc. Of 

 late years there has been an increase in the exports 

 to the United States and a decrease in the shipments 

 to the United Kingdom. This piroduct is now quoted 

 in the London market reports at £7 10s. to £7 12-«. Gd. 

 per cwt. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture has 

 given considerable encouragement to the bee-keeping 

 industry in the West Indies, and there ore indications 

 that the business is being taken up with a ceitain 

 amount of enthusiasm in .some of the islands. In 

 St. Lucia, csj)ecially, distinct progress has been made in 

 recent years, and there are now a fairly large number of 

 colonies ke[)t in modern hives. So far, the exports trom 

 St. Lucia and the other islands in which bee keeping 

 has been taken up have been in ver}' small quantities, 

 but there is every indication that in the course of 

 a few years, when there will be less necessity for 

 thinning colonies for purposes of increase, a large 

 hone}' yield w ill be obtained. Of course, it must be 

 understood that much of the success that has attended 

 the establishment of this industry in Jamaica is due 

 to an abundance of honey flowers, especially logwood. 

 In Barbados, for example, there is not much prospect 

 of bee keeping being carried on successfully on a large 

 scale on account of the scarcity of honey -yielding 

 flowers. 



We have given the above short sketch of the 

 progress in this industry in Jamaica that bee keepers 



Sugar-cane Experiments at Barbados. 



At a meeting of the Barbados Agricultural Society 

 held on October 14. a paper was read by Professor J. P. 

 d'Albuqiierque and Mr. J. R. Bovell on the results of 

 the sugar-cane experiments carried on at Barbados 

 under the direction of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture. The following is a short suinmar}' of the 

 results with seedling canes: — 



In the first place, we invite your attention to the compar- 

 ative results of a few of the best seedling varieties for the 

 past five years, together with those obtained with the Wliite 

 Transparent variety. 



As you are aware, these canes have been grown on 

 duplicate plots in several estates situated in rejiresentative 

 parts of the i.sland. The plots usually contain 100 stools of 

 canes each ; they are cultivated under the ordinary conditions 

 of the estate where they are grown, and care is taken to 

 elimhiate any error that might be due to the growth of one 

 variety interfering with that of a neighbouring one. Xow, 

 while the plots are small, there are several of each kind and 

 an average is taken of each varietj', and there is distinct 

 evidence, wherever the.se result.s can be brought into 

 comparison with those of the canes grown on the ordinary 

 estate scale, to show that the results of the plots agree very 

 well with the results on the estates. 



In black soils, an average of five years" experiments shows 

 that plots of White Transparent plant canes yielded about 

 2?. tons of sugar \\er acre. This, we think, agrees fairly well 

 with estate results when it is remembered that the land of all 

 the fielils upon wliicb these canes were grown was good land. 

 The plots of White Transparent ratoon canes in black soils 

 yielded about I ton of sugar per acre. 



In red soils White Transparent plant canes gave a little 

 less than 2 tons of sugar per acre, and the ratoons gave 

 about 1 h tons of sugar per acre. These results again agree, 

 we think, very well with those on a large scale on similarly- 

 situated estates. 



The black soil districts are not generally regarded as 

 favourable to ratooning. In black soils, therefore, the 

 results of plant canes are looked upon as aU-important. 

 Looking at the results for the five years, only two seedling- 

 varieties, viz., 1!. 208, and B. 147, have exceeded in their 

 yields those of the White Transparent variety. 



On the average of five years' experiments, the differences 

 in favour of 15. 208 and B. 117, as compared with the 

 standard variety, are small, amounting to 5 per cent, in the 

 case of B. 208, and I per cent, in the case of B. 1-17. 



