Vol. I. No. 



THl 



AciiU'lLTlRAL NEWS. 



35 



iiiiiaiuiiig ill thi' pots too lono-. ami. afti-r they were 

 jilanti'd. t'lMiii the C'xc-^.s.'iivr rainfall in lln' latti-f 

 half of June .iiiil in .lujy ami Avigu.st. 



It w.i.s hojieil tliat thi'v cm 1^-1 would lia\r been 

 .surtlcii^ntl}" ni:it;iiv(l In .\jiiil or ]\I.iy I!t02, to allow of 

 their being testfl, so that onh thise i-ontaining rich 

 ]uicc sho'ild 1>" re-j)lant-(l. f)wing. however, ti> the 

 reasons given above, thisco-ild not be done, an i so now 

 thi'se will have to be re-}j!aut''d ivxt Ue •••nibef solely 

 by their field chanicteis. 



We desire to state that only a certain niiiiib.-i- df 

 the above jilots have been rea))"d. Seedling and other 

 -s;isri>r-cane.s whi.-li w,.^re fo;ind unsuitable foi' fiither 

 •cultivation when tested in l!t01 were not ii'-|ilanted 

 the following ]).'i.-einb"r, eonseijueiitly they were not 

 tested this ye.-ir. 



ellllMliAL SEi.K'TiuN I'l.Ml'. 



In litOI) nin • )i!ot.s of top cutiing.s tiktn from 

 •ciines of B. No. 147, which had been tested for tiicir 

 sacehariiie richness. «er<\ with the pennission of 

 Mr. H. E. 'i"hoi-ae, planted at S.mdy Lane in a field w liieli 

 <"ould be irrigated. These cuttings wei'e divi<led into 

 three gioujis acconling to their clegree of richness, ami 

 «'ach was further subdixiiled into three lots: so that the 

 first jilot which is known .-is ' High-high' contains the 

 i-ichest juice of tlic ricliest group. ' High-middle' 

 contains the medium lich canes from the richi--t group 

 and so on down to the ninth plot, which contains tlie 

 poorest caiii's of tlic ] rest grouji. 



SEEDLING CANES AT BRITISH GUIANA. 



At a meeting oi the lioanl of Agriculture <>t l!iiti>li 

 <!uiiuia liekl on Ajiril L'S, last, tlie st-cretai-y read tlic follow 

 iiig statement ]>reiiaivil by Professor Harrison from the 

 returns rendered to the Sugar-cane Experiments Committee 

 in answer to its circular letter of Fehriiary )•"), addressed 

 to the managers of sugar estates askin;.; for statistical 

 i-.tiinisdf the varieties of sugar-cane, other tliaii the Hoiirlion, 

 in I'ultivation in Hiitisli ({iiiaiia:-- 



\ arieties other than Bourlmn are behig i,'ii>\vn on iCi 

 [ihuitations in tlie county of Denierara, on 7 l)laiitations in tlie 

 County of Es.st:(jiiul)o, ;ui(l tJ in the county of Berliiee ; or on 

 -iS ])laiitation.s in British (jniana. 



Uf the.se |>lant,itious thirty have areas of more than one 

 acre of one kind of vjuiety under cidtivation ; 21 are in 

 Demei-ara, ii in Essuiinebo, and 4 in Berluee. The remaining 

 JS, 4 of which arc in I)cmerara. 2 in Esse(|Uebo, and 1' in Berhice 

 jiavj only small areas of varieties of canes used as nwi-series in 

 (jrder to obtjiin canes for ]>huiting out hirger areas. 



Many of the idantations which are growing varieties Uf 

 canes rm a relatively huge scale liave nui-series of several or of 

 many varieties the cultivation of which they intend to gradually 

 extend. 



Retiu-ns have not been received from two i)lantjitions. and 

 these are includeil among tho.se which are nfit taking jiart in 

 the .search for improved varieties of canes. Including these 

 there are 15 jilantations in British (iuiana on whicli the 

 Bourbon is the only kind of cane cultivated. Five of tliese 

 jilantations are in Dcmerara, two in E.ssei|Uebo, Mud eight in 

 Berbice. 



Tlie areas used for tlie ex]jerimental cultivation of the 

 "varieties other than Bourbon on the estates ])articii)ating in 

 the inquiry vary very greatly, from seven acres as the mini- 

 euum to about 1, til Ml as the maximum. 



< bie plantation i!i Denierara has an area of over l.TjlJlJ 



acres occupied by hirge .scale ex])eriments with varieties of canes, 

 while one in Berbice has over 1,H)I) acres similarly occupied. 



The following shows the various acreages devoted to these 

 experiments : — 



]*ItUlttltUhlS ill 



1 



• >ver 1,500 acres 



" 1,100 acres ... 



Between 500 it <iO<) acres 



400 .V MW acres 



300 ,V 41 K I acres 



-'00 A .'{OU acres 



100 ,V 200 acres 



.50 A- 100 acres 



I'nder .50 acres... 



ti 



The returns sliow t.liat ia Britisli tjuiaua •),282 acres are 

 occu])ied with large scale experiments in varietii.-. of sugar-caiio 

 (jther tliau Bourlioii, 4,5.S8 acres being in Demerara, l,.'i7- in 

 Berbice and '.i~'2 in Essequebo. 



The f<illowing shows the varieties other than Bourbon 

 which are at present cultivated in Britisli Ouiana on areas of 

 mole than one acre in extent :-- 



SUGAR-CANE EXPERIMENTS AT 

 ANTIGUA. 



'i'he following I'xtract fi-oiii the Report of the 

 .Meeting of the Agricultural anrl Commercial Society 

 of Antigua, held on May 2, gives a brief summaiy of 

 the results of the past season's experiments with seed- 

 ling and other canes in that island : — 



i[r. Watts gave a brief preliminary ac -ount of the 

 lesults of reaping the plant canes of the varieties under 

 experiment cultivation in .\iitigiia in 1901-2. He jirefaoed 

 his remarks liy Siiying that he thought it was to the interest 

 of iilauters that they should he informed at tlie earliest 

 IKissible moment of the results of these experiments S3 that 

 they might have ojiportunities of .saving such canes as 

 aiipearod to possess merit, before the reaping season is over. 

 I'lanters are thus enalileJ to estahlisli nurseries of pronii.sing 

 varieties from which they may draw sujiplies for more exten- 

 sive [ilanting at the end of the ye<ir. 



Twenty-three kinds of cane were grown, each on four- 

 teen several jilots. Taking the mean of all the results, the 

 order »i merit, ba.sed upon the iioinids of cane-sugar per 

 acre in the .juice, was as follow s :- - 



