370 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 19, 1904. 



frequently the supply of Paris green was insufficient to 

 meet the sudden demand. Generally speaking, the 

 rej)eated warnings of the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture in regard to this matter appear to have had the 

 desired effect this year, and conscipiently, although the 

 worm and other pests have made their appearance practi- 

 cally in all the islands where cotton is being grown, these 

 attacks have, in most cases, been prom])tly met and the 

 pests kept successfully in check. The cotton leaf- 

 blister mite, which caused considex'able damage in 

 Montserrat last year, has appeare<l in most of the other 

 islands, but it would seem that this pest can be 

 .satisfactorily dealt with by the application of sulphur 

 and lime. The present is a somewhat anxious time for 

 all concerned in the future of this industry, but there 

 are encouraging signs that planters are thoroughly 

 alive to the necessity of doing all in their power to 

 obtain satisfactory results. 



An impetus will, no doubt, be given to cotton 

 growing by the visit of the Deputation from the 

 British Cotton-growing Association. Mr. Oliver's 

 addresses in the different islands have been ^^elI 

 attended and have evoked considerable interest : his 

 observations as to the requirements of the English 

 market should make planters thoroughly realize the 

 peculiar advantages they possess in being able to 

 produce a high-class fibre for which there is a healthy 

 demand for use in a special branch of the textile 

 industry. His suggestions, too, in regai^d to matters 

 that require attention should enable growers to obtain 

 good prices for their j)roduct. Mr. Oliver's strongly 

 expressed opinion as to the excellent quality of West 

 Indian cotton is decidedly encouraging. 



Mr. Oliver is of opinion that, when the cotton at 

 present being grown in the West Indies comes to be 

 marketed, it will be found that the lint grown from the 

 ' Rivei's ' seed will command much higher prices, and be 

 more readily sold, than that grown from seed from last 

 yeai''s crop. None of the latter cotton is likel}'. con- 

 ditions of cultivation being equal, to obtain such 

 good prices as the ' Rivers' cotton, and the best of 

 the 'Rivers' cotton will probably sell for three times as 

 much as some cottons now being reaped from mixed 

 seed. The chief reason for this was that the cotton 

 produced in the West Indies l.vst year was, with very 

 few exceptions, of a mixed character, long-staple and 

 short-staple cotton being mixed in the same bag: 

 consequently the seed from last year's crop is also likely 

 to be of a mixed nature. Planters niust realize that 

 they cannot expect to get first-rate cotton from poor 

 seed, any more than they would expect to get prize 

 .stock from mongrel animals. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Manufacture of Molascuit. 



The Sat/ar FlantfrH Joiu-iidl of October 22 

 contains the following translation of an article on the 

 manufacture of molascuit which appeared in the 

 JdUi-Diil d'Aijriculturc Tropicale. Molascuit, it may 

 be mentioned, is a mixture of molasses and bagasse 

 containing about 80 per cent, of the former and 20 per 

 cent, of the latter: — 



The bagasse is put through a crusher (di.sintogrator) 

 just as it comes from the mill ; after being ground here, it 

 ]iasses into a separator which detaches from it the larger 

 fibres of which the outer bark of the cane is com|>osed, the 

 intention Itcing to retain only the residuiun, or the interior 

 of the cane stalks. Ordinarily, when it has left the 

 se[)arator, the material jiasses through a drier and from there 

 into a hopiier placed above the mixer. The hopper is so 

 constructed that it can turn any desired amount of tlie 

 material into the mixer ; here it is ground and nnxed with 

 a certain proportion of molasses wliich is discharged by 

 a reservoir, also placed above the nuxer. ^\■llen the mixing 

 is finished, the material is put into sacks or fulls into some 

 receptacle to be inunediately packed for sale. 



Maceration and Extraction. 



The following is a letter written by Dr. Walter 

 Slaxwell, ])irector of the Sugar Expoiiment Stations, 

 Queensland, on the subject of the extraction of juice from 

 the sugar-cane. This important subject is treated by 

 Dr. Maxwell in such a common-sense manner that wc 

 place this letter on record as an important contribution 

 to the literature of sugar manufacture: — 



In reply to your questions bearing upon high extraetioa 

 of juice from the cane with and without heavy maceration, 

 I may say that my views are very well known, covering this 

 matter. I have had occasion to discuss the suliject several 

 times, and in relation to the factors which essentially control 

 it. 



It must be clear, in the first place, that the sugar 

 manufacturer in one country, where fuel is £2 per ton, and 

 the sugar maker in another country, where coal is merely 1 2s. 

 per ton, cannot apiuoach the (juestion of high extraction 

 from tlie same standpoint. 



Again, tlie sugar maker who is dealing with a cane 

 containing 10 per cent, or 12 per cent, of sugar is siu'rounded 

 by necessities that the sugar maker knows nothing about who 

 is handling high-class cane containing l.j to 20 per cent, of 

 sugar. The state of maturity, and the relative richness and 

 purity of the cane, with the cost of fuel, govern, first and last, 

 the ijuestion of low, medium, or high extraction. 



In discussing the value of high extraction in the 

 manufacture of medium or high-class cane, the bu.sine?s 

 ipiestion is not what sugar is extracted, but what is exactly 

 obtained in marketable shape. 



It is clearly pure waste of labour, fuel, and time to 

 esjiress, by excess of water, 1 It), of sugar that «e 



