150 TBINIDAD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. {XVIII. 3. 



The lack of relation between the total rainfall and the cane crop 

 is shown still more distinctly if we compare the rainfall on an 

 individual estate for a number of years with the yield psr acre on 



I "A 



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••• .•• 





t309(, 



"i-^' '7*8' ^7 yfa *rii tin ii-o jj^t <H>' /3-^ in^ ' JfTT 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 4.— Annual rainfall and yield per acre on a Trinidad sugar estate, showing 

 aVjsence of distinct relation between the two. 



the same estate for the corresponding year (Fig. 4). It will be seen that 

 the highest yields per acre between 1905 and ]918 on this particular estate 

 were obtained in years of low total rainfall ^903- 9, 1914-15). 



It is worthy of notice in this connection that the total rainfall 

 of Trinidad is no greater than that of I'mrbados, yet in the latter 

 island a low rainfall almost invariably produces a small crop. The 

 explanation is found in the f.ict that, in spite of similar rainfall, 

 Barbados is very much drier both in soil and atmosphere than Trinidad. 

 The porous coral soil and rock in the former island allows the moisture 

 to drain away more rapidly than do the heavier soils of the Trinidad 

 canefields ; and the more constant sea breezes and the lack of forest 

 areas in Barbados prevent the formation of a stagnant moisture-laden 

 atmosphere frequent over the canefields in Trinidad, where even in the 

 middle of the dry season the cane plants are dripping with dew every morn- 

 ing. A Trinidad sugar estate with a rainfall of fifty inches in considerably 

 moister, in practice, than a Barbados estate with the same rainfall. 



In Trinidad, therefore, it appears that the total rainfall during 

 the year is not an important determining factor in the sugar crop 

 of the island. Even in dry years there is sufficient moisture present 

 to produce a good crop, provided only that it is properly distiibv;ted 

 throughout the year. 



The years of wide spread blight during this period were 1906-7, 

 1907-8, 1911-12, 1912-13 and 1917-18. It will be fcen also that these 

 are not marked by any unusual excess or deficiency in the total rainfall, 

 but may be yeai-s of high or low precipitation. 



